SXSW 2008: DAY THREE

I had a volunteer shift at 9am on Sunday, which was really 8am, due to the crappy daylight savings. My shift ended around noon, so I walked over to 6th and got a couple breakfast tacos from Torchie’s, and then met up Daniel at the Austin Convention Center for “They Killed Sister Dorothy.” It was another documentary from the same distributor as “Wesley Willis’s Joyride,” but this was something complete different.

For starters, it’s one of those documentaries that is so insane, it seems fake, but I assure you, it’s very real. Basically, it tells the story of Sister Dorothy, a nun who spent decades in Brazil as a missionary and citizen of Brazil. She became leader of community and an advocate against the mass destruction of the rain forests until one day in 2003, when the 72 year old nun was shot 7 times in the middle of the village. The movie is at times, gut retching, but most of the time, it is completely riveting, especially the insanely Shakespearian courtroom scenes. The film received a extended standing ovation, followed by an emotion Q & A with the director, Sister Dorothy’s brother, & her best friend.

Afterward, Daniel & I got back in line, saw Eugene Merman, and watched Judge Dredd buy a coffee from Starbucks. We then watched “Super High Me,” Doug Benson’s pot-smoking send up of “Super Size Me,’ in which he goes 30 days without smoking pot, followed by 30 days of nonstop smoking.

It was everything I thought it would be, which is to say, very funny, but instantly forgettable.

Next up, we went to the Paramount, and saw “The Promotion,” a satirical Comedy staring John C. Rielly, Seann William Scott, Jenna Fischer, Lily Taylor, & Fred Armisen. The film tells to the story of 2 Grocery Store Assistant Managers competing for the same Store Manager promotion. It was a lot funnier that I thought it was going to be, and actually reminded me a lot of “Election.”

We then watched “Run Fatboy Run,” introduced by “Director” David Schwimmer. The new comedy has an impressive pedigree, staring Simon Pegg & Hank Azaria, and sporting Michael Ian Black as a co-scripter.

All of that made me wish the movie was a little bit more biting. It was funny, but syrupy sweet, plus I could of really done without all the slapstick. Not bad though.

Lastly, we saw “Dance of the Dead,” a Zombie Comedy that has a lot of charm. Filmed in Rome, Georgia, the movie is a lot of fun, playfully (but not condescendingly) poking fun at the conventions of both Teen Sex Comedies and Zombie films.

It is easily the best of the Round Midnight movie I’ve seen thus far this year.

--Popkoff

SXSW 2008: DAY TWO

Saturday was extremely exhausting, mostly due to the “bad” daylight savings which resulted in me only getting 3 hours of sleep and prevented me from writing this post sooner, so here it goes.

I only managed to see 5 films on Saturday out of an intended 6. First off, I saw a documentary entitled “Secrecy,” which was about the immense amount of classified information that has been created in the wake of 9/11, the validity of it, and it’s effect on national security.

The film was good, but it got a little repetitive at times. Overall though, I give it a lot of credit for maintaining its objective point of view. It managed to detail several instances in history in which the media’s revealing of classified info completely under-minded our government information-gathering-capabilities, but also represented various ways in which our government’s intense secrecy and lack of communication harmed our national security. Apparently, the movie is going get some sort cable screening at some point, plus distribution to the educational circuit.

Second up was another documentary about the last 3 years in the life of cult-music-icon, Wesley Willis, entitled “Wesley Willis’s Joyrides.”

I thought this film was quite good, insightful, & surprisingly touching at times. After the film, the director did a Q & A in which he seemed to get choked up at just talking about Wesley.

After the Q & A, I drove from the Alamo South downtown and met up with my friend Boyd at the Ritz, we saw a film called “The Lost Coast.” It was preceded by a short entitled “Sunlit Shadows,” which I thought was better than the actual movie we watched. “Shadows” was about a loving couple lying around the house all day, but it was done in an eloquent and interesting way, showing scenes narrated by the guy in the relationship, and then re-showing the same scenes, but this time inserting the woman’s thoughts about them. It was a uniquely accurate account of love.

“The Lost Coast” was about a group of old high school friends who wander through San Francisco on Halloween night, two of them are forced to confront their unspoken sexual history. There was the potential for good film in this premise, but unfortunately, this was not it. It wasn’t terrible though.

Next up was one of my most highly anticipated films at this years festival, Harmony Korine’s “Mister Lonely.” The film was surprisingly straight-forward for Korine, but still considerably odd and beautiful. The plot centered on a Michael Jackson impersonator who meets a Marilyn Monroe impersonator, played by a completely foxy Samantha Morton. The two of them make a connection with one another, and she invites Michael to a commune populated entirely by other impersonators, Charlie Chaplin, Abe Lincoln, Madonna, etc.



I completely loved this movie, and was caught off guard by how optimistic and whimsical it was, plus Harmony Korine was there for a Q & A, that not only included a story about why Austin makes Harmony think of butter, but also, yet another amazing Werner Herzog story.

Because we stayed for the Q & A, we were unable to get into our next film, “Explicit Ills,” but I did see Rosario Dawson walking around. So we killed time until midnight and then watched a movie called “Shuttle,” which was a horror pic about some college students who take a shuttle from the airport that turns into what Wesley Willis would call a Hellride. Man, this movie sucked. As my friend noted, it was a completely unnecessary entry into an already over-saturated genre of torture films, not to mention the whole movie could of ended at any point if the characters characters in it would just make the most obvious & logical decision. This is the second year in a row that the Round Midnight films have been really weak.

Okay that’s all I can type now, I got another movie in 45 minutes, but I’ll catch up sometime in the next day or two

--Popkoff

SXSW 2008: The Fluokids & Flosstradamus

March 9th and 10th, Farrell the head honcho over at the great music blog Fluokids will DJ for FREE at the imeem.com party at the Beauty Bar. Launched in 2005, Fluokids is more than a blog, it's a youth movement - an internet and musical revolution whereby enthusiasts and DJ's alike can download the newest and most wanted music coming out of Europe. By constantly posting remixes, these Gallic laptop maestros are pushing what people will like tomorrow. Teaming up with labels like Edbanger, Kitsune and Modular, the Parisian crew of seven regularly DJ all over Europe, and by their own admission are "nerds with an ultra-developed social life - as much on cyber platforms like MySpace as in real life."


Also on the imeem.com bill March 10th at the Beauty Bar is Chicago's own Flosstradamus. The Flosstradamus kids are part of the next league of mash-up/edit teams around the world blurring the lines between scenes and dance music genres. Expect their DJ set to include anything and everything from Baltimore Electro to mainstream top 40's pop, to classic R&B, these kids will make you shake your ass.

Expose on French Disco including Fluokids







Flosstradamus meets Matt and Kim


-Mr. Mark

SXSW 2008: DAY ONE

Okay, it’s 2:55AM, so I’m going to try and keep this brief. I managed to see 4 movies tonight despite the fact that the film schedule is so unaccommodating. Basically, instead of having 3 simple rounds of films, 7:00 start times, 9:30 start times, and midnighters, the schedule is stacked in a way that makes so that the next film that you want to see determines the film you’re going to see before it. If you really want see the film at 8:00, you better see the one at 6:00 instead of 6:30, regardless of whether or not you want see it.

At any rate, I beat the system tonight by literally running from theater to theater. First off, I saw "Goliath" at the Austin Convention Center. In 1997, the Zellner Brothers made a film called "Plastic Utopia" that was a hit at the SXSW festival that year. Critically well-received and rarely seen, the film had my friend Justin Lincoln in it, playing the role of Corduroy Boy. I enjoyed "Plastic Utopia" very much, so when I saw the Zellners had a new film, it was a no-brainer for me.

"Goliath" is a dark Comedy about a man going through a divorce, who becomes obsessed with finding the one thing he has left from his marriage, his cat, Goliath. At only 80 minutes, the film feels a little slow paced, but it still has the same dark Coen-esque humor of "Plastic Utopia." To my surprise, it also has Justin Lincoln too, playing the divorce lawyer. It was actually a pretty revelation for me, because I recognized his voice before I even saw him on screen. The film also has Willy Wiggins in it as a man who gets fired in a bathroom stall, and the guy who does the introductions at the Austin Film Society Essential Cinema screenings, as a private detective.

Next up was "Ano Una," a film that I actually built up, which made the screening a little tense for me. Nerves aside, this was the best film I saw of the night. Between 2004 and 2005, the director took hundreds, possibly thousands of photos of his surroundings. He then compiled some of the photos into some semblance of a narrative, and then added a voiced-over dialogue. The effect was wonderful and constantly interesting.

I then ran to the Paramount to see "21," the new mediocre Kevin Spacey Blackjack movie. The film is yet another entry into the crowded "Rise to Power/Fall from Grace" genre, not to mention also another movie that tries to make card playing a spectator sport. To quote Hank Hill, "What makes celebrity’s think we want to watch them play Poker?" Also, next year will mark the 10 year anniversary of the death of Kevin Spacey’s career.

Finally, I went back to the Alamo Ritz to see THE ONLY MIDNIGHT MOVIE ON OPENING NIGHT, "Otis." The film is a "Political Film," but also a "Dark Satire" about a 40 year man who kidnaps teenage girls and forces them to take part in High School Football/Cheerleader/Prom Fantasy. The film stars Illiana Douglas, Kevin Pollock (both of whom were in attendance), and Daniel Stern. The twist on the teenage kidnapping set-up is lifted write out of "Fight for You Life," in which the tormented family circumvents Police justice, opting instead for Vigilante justice. It’s a little more complicated than that, but I digress. Overall "Otis" was not that bad though. It’s one of those movies that as it wears on, it takes on its own kind of cinematic logic. As my friend Boyd put it, the more ludicrous it got, the more he warmed up to it as a whole.

Okay, so that was my first night. Time for bed!!

SXSW 2008: Lindstrøm

Imagine, it's 1978 you are at a disco; intoxicated, dancing, the lights are making you hallucinate. The DJ segues from a funky 4/4 string fueled number into Donna Summer's "I Feel Love". The speakers vibrate with a highly syncopated synthesizer arpeggio, you are immediately transported from the dancefloor into outer space. This is what happened to me the first time I heard Lindstrøm's 2005 single "I Feel Space", it introduced me to the Norwegian "Space Disco" sound. Along with Prins Thomas and Todd Terje, Lindstrøm makes music that is a throwback to disco without irony or sarcasm. Having released over 20 singles for Azuli, Smalltown Supersound, Eskimo, Expanded, Modal, Bear Funk and his own Feedelity imprint and just as many remixes; his sound has expanded into a restrained take of Italo Disco meets hypnotic percussion and off the wall synthesizer arrangements and a steady 4/4 beat.
This year, Lindstrøm debuts his new imprint label, Strømland. It's first inaugural release was the Dominique Leone single "Claire". Leone, a writer for Mr. Popkoff's beloved Pitchfork Media, has a full length set for release on May 20th. The single was a stomping vocal house track with wonderful shuffling percussion. The B side to the single featured the track "Clairevoyage", a scorching remix by Lindstrøm collaborating with Mongolian Jet Set. True to the Lindstrøm sound it is hypnotic, repetitive, and infectious pulling Arp, Moog, Fairlight and crazy vocals into the mix.
Lindstrøm will be playing 4 dates during his spring world tour. Austin, Paris, Mayrhofen, Austria, And Kiev. So you guys better recognize.

Feedelity Records

Lindstrøm Myspace

Lindstrøm will be playing the Smalltown Supersound Showcase
@ the Thirsty Nickel (325 E 6th St)



Lindstrøm "There's a drink in my room and I need a hot lady" [mp3]

Dominique Leone "Clairvoyage" [mp3]

Lindstrøm "I Feel Space"


---Mr. Mark

SXSW 2008: Cryptacize

When Nedelle Torrisi (who has previously toured with Jens Lekman) & Chris Cohen (Deerhoof & The Curtains) watched a YouTube video of percussionist Michael Carrieira elaborately playing a cowbell, California’s Cryptacize was conceived.

With the recent Asthmatic Kitty release of their debut album, “Dig That Treasure,” the trio unloaded an atomic bomb of Super Sweet Minimalistic Pop that most likely demolished the hearts of every Indie Rocker within a 20 mile radius. Their sound is sparse, yet it intricately flows in directions that you would never expect. The songs are beautiful and lighthearted, but never seem cutesy or jokey.

Cryptacize are playing for FREE at End of An Ear (2209 S 1st) on Friday March 14th at 1:00, and again at the Okay Mountain Gallery (1312 E Ceasar Chevez) at 4:00.

They will also be playing their SXSW showcase show at the Central Presbyterian Church (208 E 8th) on Friday March 14th at 11:00pm.




No Coins (mp3)
We’ll Never Dream Again (mp3)

--Popkoff