Why Top 45?

These are the things that float to the top of my list of activities that I want to do for the year 2012 when I am 45 years old. The list is comprised of things that I have either never tried or have wanted to try and just didn't have the courage or time to do it. Follow along and watch my progress and feel free to comment or add words of encouragement to help keep me going for the next 365 days!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

SXSW Recap - Day 3

Kid-Thing and Bumpers
    
     Day 3 for SXSW was on Sunday.  Many of my friends know that on Sundays, I like to relax in the morning and usually I watch CBS Sunday morning.  Since I didn't get home until 2:30am, which automatically became 3:30am due to the time change, I told Andy when he was dropping me off not to count on seeing me that day and that I was going to catch a couple of movies at the SXSW satellite venue AKA the Alamo Village.  I REALLY wanted to see the documentary, Chasing Ice, about global warming.
Chasing Ice Description below:
     In the spring of 2005, National Geographic photographer James Balog headed to the Arctic on a tricky assignment: to capture images to help tell the story of the Earth's changing climate. Even with a scientific upbringing, Balog had been a skeptic about climate change and a cynic about the nature of academic research. But that first trip north opened his eyes to the biggest story in human history and sparked a challenge within him that would put his career and his very well-being at risk.that started at 5pm, but had to show a couple of houses and wouldn't make the start time. 

Since I had to show a couple of houses, I discovered I wouldn't make the 5pm showing of Chasing Ice and instead, coordinated with my friend, Missy, to meet her and her husband for the show, Kid Thing, just afterwards.  Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, we both got the start time wrong.  I texted her that I would be late and walked into the theater about 10 minutes after the movie started and couldn't see them in the dark theater.  I quickly found a seat to catch as much as the movie as I could.  After about 5 minutes, I could tell I probably wasn't going to like the movie and 10 minutes in I started to feel really bad that I talked them into coming to the movie and paying for it.  Just as I considered walking out, I received a text from Missy that she had the time wrong too and wasn't even in the theater.  Relieved, I quickly walked out and met them for a drink nearby.

Initially I was going to return to see the last movie, Waiting for Lightening, then realized it was slated for our viewing schedule on Tuesday night.  I decided I didn't want to mess up our elaborate schedule and that I might as well make it an early evening and try to recover from the late night before.

Movie Review
Kid-Thing
Director: David and Nathan Zellner
Screenwriter: David Zellner
Description-
Annie is a rebellious ten-year-old girl. She lives on the outskirts of town with her father Marvin, who, when not herding goats, mostly sleeps the day away. Virtually devoid of parental guidance, Annie is left to fend for herself and do as she pleases. With no moral compass, she roams the neighboring lands, shoplifting and engaging in general destructive behavior. Her routine is broken one day while playing in the woods; she hears an old woman calling from deep within an abandoned well, asking for help. Scared and untrusting of the unseen stranger, Annie deliberates on her course of action.
My Review-
I know I really can't do justice in a review of a movie that I didn't see in its entirety, however, I should have known that the subject matter would not appeal to me because I have a really tough time when kids are neglected or mistreated in fiction or reality.  

Bumpers
   Before the SXSW films, in lieu of previews of others movies, they show short videos called bumpers, to whet our movie appetites.  The SXSW website describes them as "Here at the SXSW Film Conference we love film so much we make films for our films! Every year we invite a group of great filmmakers to make 30-second shorts or "bumpers" to be played before each of our screenings. It's like a tasty appetizer before your film meal. They can build excitement, mood, and become talking points in their own right." 
   I had some favorite "How Not to be Lame at SXSW" bumpers of the festival and as soon as they post them online, I will be sure to link them here.  Below are a few bumpers from last year.

The Line - 


The Chase -






Constellations -




Up Next:  Day 4 Recap

No comments:

Post a Comment