Back on Track.... by Adrian

I feel much better now.

Yesterday was fun. We started out our (late start) day with "Beeswax". It was good. The 2 main actresses were "non-actors", as well as most of the rest of the cast. You could have fooled me... and you did... (insert George W. Bush joke here) I thought they were REAL actresses. Everyone in the movie was good. The great thing about "Beeswax" is it was SO simple! We definitely have the capabilities to shoot a feature on that scale.... Hmm, not sure what's holding us back...

THE John Mitchell came into town and met up with us after Beeswax. John Mitchell was our Sound Supreme on "sleet/snow"! We all went to see "Sons of a Gun", which from the trailer and initial preview/review I gave, looked pretty promising. Well, I was kind of disappointed. Daniel described it as "episodic", which it was... I just couldn't think of how to put it eloquently. It WAS about crazy old people, which I like, but I'm more into the humor of old people's craziness, not the TRUE craziness/scariness that they are or have or whatever I'm trying to say here. It was, at times, horrific. Not horrific/bad, but horrific/like I'm cringing and gripping my knees because I'm scared and worried for these old helpless crazies. 

Next we ran back over to the Paramount to catch "Alexander the Last". Well, we were actually going to see "Splinterheads", but there was a crazy line outside the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz, so we decided not to go, which made us 3 hours early to the "Alexander the Last" movie. SO, we ducked into whatever was playing at the Paramount to pass the time, and low and behold, it was "Moon", starring Sam Rockwell. Moon was so slow that it helped me catch up on all the sleep I've been missing out on. I saw the beginning and the end, and slept through the middle. I won't be seeing that one again, even though it was WAY closer to my preview/review of what I thought "Alexander the Last" was going to be about. "Alexander the Last" (4th time I've dropped the title) was good. Great acting, great shots, great MUSIC, and great awkward sex scenes! The sex scenes weren't awkward, they were actually really hot, but they were awkward because you're watching what's supposed to be this intimate, private act that usually no one sees, but there's a HUGE theater full of people watching these two people "get it on"... all sex scenes are awkward in theaters... That's just what I think. 

After "that movie" we went to "that movie's" after/premiere party at the Kharma Lounge and that place was super packed. I couldn't breathe in there (my excuse), so I left to go get something to eat, take a dump, and go to sleep. I went to my friend, Erik's, house and ate Jack in the Box and watched a little bit of this crap-attack movie called "Chocolate" about an autistic teenage girl who watches "Ong Bak" and then goes out at night to beat up bad guys who work the docks. Check it out if you want, but I pretty much told you the whole movie.

I tried to go to sleep early but somebody kept calling me and woke me up every time I would doze off. I think I finally went to sleep around 2 or 3ish and woke up this morning (late again) and walked out to my truck to go pick up Daniel and my truck was gone.

It got towed. Now I don't know if any of you have ever had your truck towed but it's so infuriating! I was so mad. You can't yell at the apartment complex because 1) They don't open until 10am, even if you wait around until 10:45am, they still won't open, and 2) Even if they opened on time, they do have ONE sign posted behind a bush that visitors will be towed if they don't park in the designated visitor area. You can't yell at the tow truck company, because, GEEZ, if I got $200 for every car I picked up, I would be towing vehicles all night long, which they probably did. Good for them... but still F*ck them both and I hope they die slow, painful deaths.

My dad came and rescued me. He picked me up and took me to the impound place and picked up my truck and then I was on my way to the show. I got to The Hideout Theatre and Coffeehouse at 11:30AM, later than I wanted to show up. The showcase rocked socks. We showed last and were the best. I'm not just saying that because I produced and edited the movie, it was actually the best. It got the most applause out of all of them and it was pretty incredible. I picked out three more things I didn't like about the movie, but I guess that's what filmmakers do when they watch their own junk. I'm still really happy with the ending of the movie. It ends so strong and on such a good vibe that I can't help but smile every time I see it. 

We've been sitting around doing nothing for the past couple hours visiting with friends that came out to see our movie. I'm really tired again... and hungry... as usual. The other short that excelled in the showcase was "Martha". I had been looking forward to see that short for a long time and I'm glad I finally got to see it.

Next we're going to see "Humpday" followed by "The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle". Then we're SERIOUSLY considering going to the super screening of SAM RAIMI'S new movie, "Drag Me to Hell"! We're fans of the Sam Raimi and his Spiderman franchise. HAR HAR HAR. 

Long live The Evil Dead.

wake me up before you go,

Adrian Made Blog

Sunday Morning... by Adrian

I will write more later... but today is not going good so far...

Today...

So here's the scoop on what we are up to today, if Adrian decides to wake up anytime soon is...

"Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo" Director, Bradley Beesley
(for my thoughts; see post)

"Beeswax" Director, Andrew Bujalski
I did not find out that this was even playing until I looked to see if it was. I am fan of "Mutual Appreciation" and an admirer of "Funny Ha Ha." Although the latter I don't think translates to the small screen, or is as important today as it had been only a few years ago. Andrew is credited as the creator or the originator of the unkindly titled "mumblecore"-genre. Personally to me it is a label or a genre seems to mean more to fans of the work. But genre creation is scary business, seeing as it often evolves into a cultural infatuation. So I go to "Beeswax" looking for something fresh, and distinctly Bujalski, which inherently states I seek a bit of "mumble" with this one.

"Sons of a Gun" Directors, Rivkah Beth Medow & Greg O'Toole
(for my thoughts; see post)

"Splinterheads" Director, Brant Sersen
I read a review of this that wasn't so nice, and the promo they have on their website sadly doesn't look entirely promising, or for that matter completely terrible. I get a weird Dude/bro Napoleon Dynamite feel from the trailer... whatever, Adrian wanted to fit this one in.

Alexander the Last, Director, Joe Swanberg
(for my thoughts; see post)

Grace, Directed by Paul Solet
This one played at Sundance, but a lot of shit plays there that Sundance thinks they can sell off. No doubt this will get some sort of release, either theatrically or straight to DVD/Blu. I would rather see the midnight shorts and see, David's cohort/producer, James Johnston's new short. But I shall see that later in the week so no worries. Or am I worried... about Grace, it is about Zombie Babies, I'm guessing? Who knows, this falls under the catagory of, I tend to enjoy fucked up movies before I sleep. Perhaps that is comforting. We might miss this one if we can find a good party. I hear there is a Digg Nation party somewhere, and Troll 2 is playing at the South Lamar.

Alright well Adrian just called and he is on his way over, probably almost here, we might miss our first movie of the day, because we have to promote "sleet/snow." It is number one on the agenda today, and then after that movies. I picked films that might feel similar to my film to promote at and see. Luckily, I really want to see all the films we have planned for the day, with the exception of Splinterheads and maybe Grace...

d

One Night Down, Seven to Go... by Adrian

So, I decided to go with a different font for this post... 

Tonight was the first night of the "movie watching week"! We started the day out by going to the Austin Convention Center to pick up our badges and advanced tickets to some shows. We waited in NO lines, we walked right up and grabbed our badges then we went to the bank and Kinkos to make some "sleet/snow" fliers. The fliers were going to take a few hours to print so we met up with my dad and ate at Longhorn PoBoy's, where Daniel and I each had a "Terminator", which was quite possibly amazing.

We went to my mom's place to pick up our luggage, which we left the night before because it was raining and rain sucks and it rained all day today too... Anyway, Daniel fell asleep on my mom's couch and I watched Oprah. After a couple hours, Mr. Crabby Pants Daniel woke up and was like, "MMM, Why did you make me sleep so long? WAH!", and I said, "Sooooorrrrryyyy.", then we were on our way.

Next we argued over wether there was going to be traffic or not, and for half of the ride, there wasn't any traffic and I was all, "HA HA, you negative asshole.", then we hit I-35 and it was bumper cars, and then Daniel jumped on his high horse and rode around in between the slowly moving cars gloating about how he was right and blah blah blah.

So we made it back to Kinkos, then to Jeremy's (our home base), then to S. Lamar to catch the Music Video Competition. 

We weren't late for anything. Daniel just likes to complain when we wakes up... then complain for hours after he wakes up... then complain until he goes to sleep... but it's not like it's all the time...... it is.

So on to ADRIAN'S REVIEWS of movies and junk:

There were three REALLY cool music videos that I thoroughly enjoyed. 

The third place goes to Gnarles Barkley's "Going On", by Wendy Morgan. It was creatively shot, had some fun dancing, I tapped my foot along with the music and the dancing in the video. It was very fun.

Second Place goes to Oren Lavie's "Her Morning Elegance". This video was so frickin' cool that I forgot I had to pee for the past hour. It was stop motion of a girl sleeping and the different positions she twisted herself in while she slept took her on a journey through her bed-world. You'd have to see it to understand what I'm talking about. It's really cool and hopefully Daniel will post a link to it so I can watch it again.

First Place goes to Don McCloskey's "Mister Novocaine", Directed, Produced, and Edited by Peter Rhoads. This frickin' video was so great. I really enjoyed the song and the visuals were so good, I think I smiled throughout the whole video.

There were some other funny ones and some that I thought were poop on a stick, but whatever, I'm not a judge.

After the last music video, we rushed out of the theater so we could catch "You Won't Miss Me". It was cold as balls outside and we could feel it every time someone opened the damn door behind us while we waited in our VIP line (because we picked up "go the front of the line" advanced tickets). We got inside the theater and the director showed up (a woman) and introduced the movie and then we watched it. Daniel said he had been looking forward to this movie for a long time so I was interested in seeing what was so great about it. I couldn't remember what it was so I was just going to enjoy what ever came on the screen. Well enjoy it I did. Technically the movie was shot on like 500 different formats so the aspect ratio and graininess and fuzziness kept changing. As a film student, I notice stuff like that, but I also recognized it as the style of the film. The movie was so incredible that most of the time I thought it was a documentary because the characters were SOOOOO real. Like I said in my review of the trailer, I know a crazy girl like the lead character in this movie so I could relate to her wacky weirdness, but I had no idea that it could be captured so well. Hot damn it was good. I don't see this movie getting any kind of wide release and maybe none of you will ever get a chance to see it, but it was damn good, emotional, funny, sad, and great!

After that we went to the "Film Opening Party", where filmmakers of all shape and sizes (features to docs to shorts) can all mingle and meet each other and talk about movie making. Well, Daniel and I walked around the room like a couple of ghosts, not making eye contact with anyone. We looked for familiar faces, of which I found NONE... except for two actors who I couldn't remember the names of but one of them is old and one of them is in funny movies and has a beard now. Maybe you can tell me who they are? So we mingled with nobody and felt like dumb idiots. I mean, what are we supposed to say to people?! "Hi, we like making movies. Oh, you do too? Let's talk about it!" I don't know! It was like everyone there was already talking to three other people and we were just walking around them trying to butt in on their private conversations.

So we left that crap and went to Treasure Island where my best friend (which I earlier wrote "BF", but realized it sounded REALLY gay), Erik works. He said I didn't look as fat as I usually do, which I guess is a compliment and then he told me some funny stories about bloody faces and big butts. Sidney showed up a little later wearing glasses and sporting an afro which I laughed about for about five minutes straight. Daniel did not have fun at Treasure Island at all. He's not a "dance-club-disco-tech" kind of guy, I guess.

So we finally left there, much later than Daniel had hoped we would, I'm sure, and came back to Jeremy's and ate some chips and started writing about our first day.

Tomorrow we're going to start our day out with The Prison Rodeo Movie. I can't wait. I know that movie is going to be so awesome! We're gonna watch a lot of other stuff too but that's the one I'm most excited about.

Miss-uh-lay-knee-us: I miss my bed. Autum has it and I tried sleeping in it the past two nights, but I didn't sleep well for some reason, even though it was REALLY comfortable. I miss my TV. I miss eating all the time. I miss rock climbing. I miss my family and my friends in Austin. I'm here and I don't have time to spend with them. I miss feeling important. I miss the salami sandwich I ate in my truck in between the last movie and the crap party we failed at. I miss sleep. I miss my good friends in Arlington. I miss some of the bad ones too. I miss the carefree days when nothing mattered and everything was fun.

Until Tomorrow >>

-Adrian (tired as poopcrap and about to go to sleep)

So it begins folks...

So first of all, we managed to get postcards printed at the last minute, and posters go up tomorrow morning. Adrian and I will be on full promotion duty, while at the same time still getting to as many screenings as possible. Went to the opening night party tonight, saw a lot of really cool people and stood on sidelines like a boy at his first high school dance. I feel all so very insignificant and freshman-like. It is hard to throw yourself at people and not sound like you're trying to convince people that you are not just some jack-ass with a youtube account. I wish more then ever I had become a journalist and had a reason to talk with the people respect the most. I did talk to David Lowery, and had a nice conversation with him. I look forward to seeing more of him around this week.

Moving on to what made tonight truly stellar, and that's "You Won't Miss Me" and the Music Video Compilation... which is a compilation I avoid at any festival, mainly because it is such a commercial medium. But I really feel like I've been missing out here. Music Videos range from commercial to well a lot of stop motion compositing expertise. Seriously the amazing programmer of this group definitely had a hard-on for stop motion, but that doesn't mean it wasn't masterfully arranged. Each video climbing atop it's predecessor's shoulders with vigor and pride. With these shorts I will be making a list in order of favorites ignoring ones that I thought were nothing special. Also I will try to find links to the videos, because most of them are on youtube or something.

1. "Count it Off" by The Saturday Nights/"C.R.U.F.F." by Roots Manuva (great cinematography)
2. TIE: "Leave Alight" by Krista Muir (sweet, intelligent, perfect)/"Her Morning Elegance" by Oren Lavie
3. "An Evening with Rthrtha" by Octopus Project (well executed befitting compositing, a color explosion of beautiful)

4. "Winter Hymnal" by Fleet Foxes (great song, claymation worked well to enhance song)

5. "Jerk It" by Thunderheist (SPOILER - it is a Rooster...)

6. "Going On" by Gnarles Barkley (Gritty/Religious/ending sucked)
7. "Hyper Gospel" by Megachurch (completely retarded funny)

I had a lot of fun watching these often ridiculous bits of shear creativity, the worst video of the bunch, was The Knife's video, just dumb, 3 minutes of black silence would've worked better then the over the top wtf of that video. Sorry to the folks behind it, there was not much there for me to like.

and without further hesitation...

"You Won't Miss Me" director, Ry Russo-Young

Even as I type, netflix has already delivered a DVD of "Orphans" and it waits for my return, quietly in my mailbox. It will be the first order of business when I get back, because what I got from her latest film was nothing but confidence in anything by this woman. Before I discuss plot or the beautiful cinematography or the amazing music, I will say that Stella Schnabel will always be remembered for this film. This film, likewise, will be remember for her, and her triumphant discourse. I was very excited to see this film, and was even more pleased with my experience. The film is shot on VHS, miniDV, Super8, Super16, and HD giving it a stark documentary feel. At times it feels as though you are watching a security camera or , someone's camera phone recording from the other side of the room. The director discussed during the Q & A that she felt that people didn't notice the changing aspect ratios or the degrading and upgrading of the image quality, or if they did it effected their attitude toward her or their experience with her. I felt a lot of things, and all those feeling were the subtle steady had of Young's mise en scene or Stella's jaw dropping performance. I am trying to think of the images of this film to describe but, what stands out to me, was something I initially disliked, with was the motocycle shots, but as the film went on, these shots provided me with much needed comfort as I sat closer and closer to Shelly. The more we see of her on screen the more we know here, we cringe when she does something she shouldn't, we laugh when she is acting ridiculous, but more so, nothing is pressuring you to feel those things. And those feelings are subtle. If you are used to slow motion action scenes or over the top sex scenes, a la Watchman. You might miss out on what this film really has to offer. I almost wish that this was the first movie I ever saw. Like I was saying, the motorcycle, this is where the near brilliant score weighes in for every beat, hurting you to feel this happy fantasy. I will no doubt be talking about this film for years to come. For the one sentence review, think Cassavetes' Woman Under The Influence, but without a cross-eyed Peter Faulk, without all the love and security he brings, and add a fondness for video/film formats. Great start to what I'm sure will be a great festival.

D

Trailer Party!

So I watched all the FEATURE trailers that we'll be watching. We're purposely skipping the BIG movies that will be coming out in the next few weeks ("Observe and Report", "I Love You, Man", and some other junk), so that we can see the good indie films that might not ever see a theater or distribution.

Here are my thoughts on the individual previews I watched (In alphabetical order)

45365 - I think this movie looks good... Daniel says we might see it, maybe. I think I might kick Daniel in his maybe face. Dirty dumbo donkus dork.

500 Day of Summer - I have high hopes for this one. The trailer is Aamazazing. The HORRIBLE narration makes me want to pull out my own tongue, but the quick glimpses of what looks like singing and dancing makes my toes twinkle.

Afterschool - looks good... reminds me of my younger years... fighting, sex, fantasizing about crazy happenstances... or more what I wished my younger years would have been like...

Alexander the Last - There is no trailer for this movie and I don't know how to read so I have no idea what this is going to be about. However, I am hoping that it will be loosely based on Alexander the Great's conquest of Earth, but set in space. The "Alexander" will be a lone warrior starship from a historical space battle, and it's rag-tag crew of misfits and stowaways will have to fight their way through hordes of de-humans (a human-like species that are mushy on the inside and wear their bones on the outside) and other battleships. They will eventually discover that the "promised land" that they are trying to get to for most of the 4 hour movie does not exist and the only thing they have is each other. Then their ship will run out of oxygen. Credits. Or... I guess their ship could run out of oxygen in the opening credits, then it could be a short. I guess we'll see.

Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo - Not what you would expect. If you read the last description of what I get from movie titles, then you can see that I hope for the most ridiculous... Well this story is about the insect crave in Tokyo and how people own insects as pets and I guess how insect marketing is a very lucrative business in Japan. The trailer has some very funky music that I enjoyed and some pretty pictures as well.

Bomber - Road Trip/Old People/Life Movie. I love old people. I think they are funny. There are some really nice road shots in this movie that I am jealous of. I think it will be one of those "carpe diem" movies, where old people teach us youngsters the value of life and let us know that we're wasting it by sitting in front of computers blogging all day.

Brock Enright: Good Times Will Never Be The Same - this is a documentary about a crazy artist. I wasn't surprised by anything in the trailer because I hang out with a crazy artist. I'm not going to say who, but his name starts with a "D" and ends with a "aniel Laabs". You want real crazy? Check out Daniel's self made bathtub documentary.

Exterminators - Wow... this is what people spend their money on in SXSW? It has Heather Hot Boogie Nights and that old lady from American Pie and Legally Blonde. It looks bad... not bad enough to be good... just bad. Daniel says it is on our list as a "place holder" but I'm beginning to question his real motives and his overall taste in film.

Grace - a movie about birthing, demon babies, flies, breast blood-milk, vampires, hatchets, bottles, rubber gloves... i just started writing whatever I think I saw in the preview. Baby horror movies are great... like enemas.

Iron Maiden: Flight 666 - Rock... Roll... Pantera behind the scenes... but not. Iron Maiden lives on forever and they prove it through their undying rockstardomism.

It was great, but I was ready to come home - College girls in a foreign country... Costa Rica? I've been there and if these girls ruin it for me, I will hate them and myself. Girls make me want to throw up. Why do they ruin everything? Why do I love them so? Oh gross... (took a break to gag myself)

Lesbian Vampire Killers - For such a corny name, and expecting it to be nothing but corny, this one actually looks pretty well produced. I think this is one of our "midnight madness" movies, so I'm sure it will be enjoyable. If not, I will blame it on the lesbians.

Luckey - Heart-wrenching documentary about a quadraplegic father and the wife and son that take care of him. I bet it's good. Tears will rain down upon the desolate earth.

MakeOut with Violence - Low budget, unique, zombies? Possibly. Might be some sick and twisted necrophiliac stuff... I'm turned on just thinking about it.

Modern Love is Automatic - Punk Rock Preview! Horrible sound! Bondage and Boredom! There's a girl named "Adrian"? That's impossible. The trailer started out cool... I had a headache at the end and might have blacked out.

My Suicide - I think this will be great. It's on our "IF WE HAVE TIME" list. It's going to be about the life of teenager and how he knows the world through media. There's some rotoscoping and other cool effects. I'm excited. We're gonna see it. I'm moving into the "We're gonna see it" list.

Over the Hills and Far Away - A journey of a father and son to find a cure for the son's autism. Horseback riding and Mongolian healers. I'm down.

Son of a Gun - More old people humor. I can't wait. This one actually looks really funny and I'm sure it has a heart warming story attached to it. Big ears, white hair, missing teeth... I love it.

Sorry, Thanks - awkward relationships and awkward moments. I'm used to that. Let's all love awkwardness together!

St. Nick - KIDS! The first line in this trailer got me. I'm gonna love it. I know it. I'm writing a short about a child and how they see the world and how it's difficult for adults to see the same things that they see, so this will help me with my movie... I hope.

Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo - OMG! I watched the whole preview with a dropped jaw... Inmate gorging bulls run around and have a field day on fleeing prisoners that are ecstatic to be "off the yard". Omg. Everyone enjoys a trampling! "You don't want to see anybody get hurt or get killed, but if they do, you darn sure don't want to miss it." -random spectator of the prison rodeo.

The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle - Oh geez... crazy effects and crazy craziness! I'm ready to get my mind grapes plucked! Let's do this, Rocket Punch!

Trimpin - I thought maybe this one was about some new dance and got really excited... then I learned it's just ANOTHER movie about ANOTHER crazy old man... what's with the crazy geezers this year?

All of these trailers can be seen on SXSW.com, under film and then "trailer viewer".

We're going to see PRAYER FOR ANIMALS tonight at The Hole in the Wall. It's Jeremy's band. It will be my first time praying with animals and I'm sure I will enjoy it.

Laundry's almost done...

Oh, if anyone wants to make any donations to the Adrian Make Movie's Fight Against Starvation at SXSW 2009 Fund, please contact Daniel or Adrian and take them to lunch.

Thank you and God Speed.

-CJW3 (Adrian)

11

My buddy, Fred has posted a song on his mixtape dedicated to ME! It is pretty funny (Howlin' All in the Mood). For otherwise has been an extremely ridiculous day, that definitely ruled and seeing as how I can never comment on anything on Fred's blog... I will respond here. "Thanks Fred"

Also a shout out to TEAM HURRICANE, mainly for being the single-handed greatest new way for being stuck in a long unmoving sxsw line and enjoying it. Team Hurricane we salute you.

D