Every year for the last several years, I’ve longingly gazed at the Fantastic Fest schedules before the event and then jealously read the reviews coming out of the festival. If you’re like me, your “real life” (work, family, etc.) doesn’t allow you to commit the kind of time that you need to really take advantage of Fantastic Fest. On top of that, it always falls right around the same time as ACL and who has the kind of cash to shell out for both of these things? I might have a better chance next year as my four e-mail addresses falied to win the $50 3 day passes this week (Did anybody get them?) and I’ve decided that I’m going to wait for the lineups and decide if a single day pass is in order for next year.

Anyway, I digress. Even though I couldn’t make Fantastic Fest, which ends tonight, there’s a slew of local bloggers who’ve been posting their impressions. Here’s just a few of them:

• Jette from Slackerwood and Cinematical - Here’s her Fantastic Fest category on Slackerwood.
• Wiley’s Fantastic Fest posts
• The Alamo’s own blog has tons of video posts with those involved in Fantastic Fest
• Not surprisingly, Ain’t It Cool News also has posts about Fantastic Fest, but I’ve always hated the design, layout and organization of that site. It’s pretty much unreadable for me, but if you can handle it, have at it.

Update (2007.09.28 18:16 CDT): I would’ve linked SXSW Flim organizer, Matt Dentler’s, blog, but I didn’t have a good way of linking just his Fantastic Fest posts. You should check out his blog anyway. Also, last night’s surprise closer was Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood.

PS The Alamo Drafthouse newsletter says that VIP badges for next year’s Fantastic Fest are already half gone. So if you want to get in on this stuff yourself next year, you’d better get on it.

The National Enquirer is apparently reporting that Mel Gibson was drinking a Bud at Stubb’s while in town giving a screening of his new film, Apocalypto, at Fantastic Fest. He was also spotted at Sidebar. Seems incredibly stupid if it’s true, but then again driving drunk and then going ballistic on the arresting officers isn’t the smartest thing either, sugar tits.

I blame Britney.

…and probably not the last either.

After the debacle that accompanied Austin’s first attempts at a Mardi Gras parade a few years back, at first I wasn’t totally sold on this First Night idea, but other than being a little hard on my 40-something feet, it was a lot of fun, especially considering how many debut kinks they probably had to work out.

We took the Duval #7 bus both there and back, which turned out to be a fantastic idea because the busses were running right on schedule (just adjusted a block over from the usual Congress stops), and we heard horror stories from people who tried to drive in and park.

We wandered around in the afternoon, taking in the outdoor events and looking for food. Most of the festival food was clustered down around City Hall, so if you were farther up Congress when you got hungry you had to do a little more foraging. Note to organizers: me, I like a lot of food, myself, and I don’t like to walk a long way to get it. More food everywhere. “Gimme eat!”, as Major ______ de Coverley might say.

It was also a little confusing as to which streets were closed to vehicles and which weren’t, so after getting used to wandering around in the middle of the street for a while near City Hall, you’d find out the hard way that cars still wanted to use Congress. Note to organizers: just shut the whole thing down all day. Who wants to drive on New Year’s anyway?

But the events were great fun. The chalk art on the South First bridge was a blast, the Grand Procession was much better than we expected, and the crowds were nice and low key. Just enough people to be festive, but not so many as to make it stressful to have small children. And no drunks. No frat boys. No jello shot sluts. It was a really nice time.

My kids rode in the procession as part of The Pink, a pink snowball art car designed by the students at Red House Studios, most of whom have been on “The Pink” soccer team at Hancock Rec Center at some point. They passed out pink beads and Hostess Snowballs. I ate one. I won’t make that mistake again; some childhood memories are better off staying memories. Well, OK, maybe if you deep-fry it for me…

We headed home after the first fireworks show since the kids were worn out and everybody wanted a sit-down meal some place. If we do it again next year (which is likely), we’ll probably arrive later so that we have the energy to stay later. The after-dark festivities were sounding like a lot of fun as we headed back to the bus.

Shopgirl

• The Movie Guys: "Being a Martin script, however, there are some good moments. One very good scene about halfway through effectively conveys the sad fact that, when it comes to relationships, we tend to see what we want to see and hear what we want to hear, as opposed to what is actually there. This is not a bad film. To compare it to other films starring Martin, it is nowhere near as execrable as Cheaper by the Dozen or Mixed Nuts. Unfortunately, Shopgirl falls short, the work of a gifted writer who just couldn’t quite get a handle on his story."
• Productio Ad Absurdam: "Anand directs his actors well, although I get a very strong impression that most of the three exceptional lead performances were the actors’ creations and had little to do with direction. His cinematography choices bothered me some, especially the gimmicky, almost cartoonish, long shots of Martin’s private plane descending on Seattle and the starscapes. When Tucker mentioned during the Q&A that he was a huge Douglas Sirk fan, I wasn’t the least bit surprised. It shows. Like pantylines."

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Yesterday, Andy and I along with nine other Austinites with quick mouse hands and cash to spare had the opportunity to meet with Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi. Giving a small number of people the opportunity to meet with filmmakers/actors/creative people is a new concept at the Alamo. This was only the third such gathering; the past two playing host to Peter Bogdanovich and the creators of HomestarRunner. Like the others, it was a huge success, due in equal parts to the collection of people who had gathered, the fantastic lunch prepared by Alamo - South Lamar’s chef, John Bullington, and the easy hospitality of Tim and Karrie League.

The married co-owners of the Alamo Drafthouse have been treating Austin to their unique brand of cinematic creativity since 1997, and each year brings new gifts to area film fans. Themed dinners, live music scores, celebrity appearances, rolling roadshows, video karaoke, film festivals, Mr. Sinus send-ups, and road rallies have gradually populated the Alamo pantheon over the years, all the while serving beer and pizzas to grateful patrons. Their recent addition of the celebrity luncheon could easily be a high-dollar sell-out in less scrupulous hands, but instead the Alamo has fashioned a reasonably-priced means of sharing the love among the hoi polloi.
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