Things I learned at SXSW 2008
Posted by Brittanie · March 25th, 2008
1. Eugene Mirman is funny.
By saying things like, “If you tell the authorities, I will go back in time and prevent your birth,” and inviting black ninjas to tell the audience to “Ef” themselves when Elf Yourself won in the Amusement Category at the Web Awards, Mirman won my heart. SXSW needs to keep him on the MC line-up.
2. Launching balls is fun.
No, really. All you do is launch a ball. They won the Critic’s Choice Award at the SXSW 2008 Web Awards. Find out why by playing it here.
3. Going to shows for free is better than having a badge.
Unofficial parties like NPR’s Thursday Showcase at the Parish or Red Eyed Fly’s free pre-SXSW show are examples of why I will never purchase a music badge. The free day shows usually have so much free food and drink to put anyone into a SXSW binge that a badge seems pointless. Don’t get me wrong, if someone gave me a badge, I would never turn it down. But I did see some pretty awesome shows for free including performances by Yeasayer, Bon Iver, A. A. Bondy, and Vampire Weekend now playing on NPR’s site.
4. 
is the new FaceBook, is the new MySpace.
I overheard some bloggers in the Bloghaus room dissappointed that they didn’t reach their followers quota. That’s when it hit me. Nerds 1, Cool Kids 0.
5. Frodo d.j.s like a bad hobbit.
Elijah Wood, who I think is dating one of the Donnas, ended up “iPod spinning,” a.k.a. messing around on his iPod in front of turn tables, at the Habana Annex day party. In the past, I have seen him duck behind a booth at Maggie Mae’s and play songs off his iPod for the inebriated crowd’s pleasure, and this year he made his way in between acts at Habana Annex. It was more fun looking at the posters on the wall.
6. Moby is awesome.
The Mohawk hosted a secret show Tuesday night during SXSW with Moby as the guest dj. Afterwards, everyone charged the stage and got down with Moby and his bad self. In this photo, taken off of Flickr, he’s pointing to a pivotal moment in the set, right before the beat hits the roof.
7. Frank Warren from PostSecret can make a strong man cry or propose.
PostSecret started as an art project in which people mailed their secrets anonymously to Frank on homemade postcards and turned into a form of therapy. He created a blog where he posts the top ten postcards received over the week every Sunday. SXSW Interactive invited him to speak about the PostSecret project at the conference this year and I was lucky enough to get a seat. Frank showed some of the postcards that didn’t make the books, including the one above. Throughout the discussion, I think I teared up about 6 or 7 times, especially during the proposal at the end, which was the best part. A guy from the crowd said he had a secret and so Frank offered him the mic on stage. Then he proposed to his girlfriend! I almost peed my pants waiting for her to walk on stage hoping to God she said “yes”. Someone put it online so you can watch it here.
I didn’t get to go because the RSVP list closed before I had the chance to get on it, but the idea of her cooking to her hubby’s metal music frightens me. I don’t want my lovely host, Rachel Ray, subjected to such crude taste. But supposedly she digs it. And that’s more power to all those heavy metal kids. Even you can get a girl like Rachel Ray!
9. SXSW Plague a.k.a SXSARS or just got the South By Blues?
Everyone got sick after SXSW. Some due to allergies which Austin has plenty of, but others blame loneliness after SXSW. Nevermind the crowded venues and eating near the gutters on sixth street. We’re not sick because of bacteria, or allergies, or any other air-borne disease. We got the South By Blues. Anyone will tell you, after SXSW, you go into a deep depression. No more free shows with free food and drink, no more drunk late nights with international strangers, no more L.A.-style party hopping from rooftop garage to concerts in the park. We are all bummed out. Our immune systems shut down from the week’s get-up-and-go partying, and it catches up with us by invading when we’re at our lowest, back at work, typing away to the conundrum of everyday work boredom.
10. Never underestimate the power of the ultimate blogger family!
Probably the best showdown in nerd empowerment, the SXSW interactive mob turned hostile when BusinessWeek Journal’s interviewer, Sarah Lacy, became lame. She interviewed (more like said a statement and waited for a response) Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook, and didn’t even do that as much as promote her own book. Well, the nerds got their revenge by twittering within the crowd without her knowing and when it came time to charge the stage the entire audience was already on board. Lacy retorted by defending herself saying things like “just try doing what I do for a living…it’s not as easy as it looks” and turned it over to the mob rule. The mob used their chance to get the answers they were waiting for with questions like “Other than really rough interviews, what do you think is the biggest obstacle that Facebook faces?” And when she became offended, she asked someone from the crowd to message her why they thought it was “rough” to which the blogger crowd happily agreed and asked “what is your e-mail?” To her surprise, giving out this information did not clear things up.
Good blog comment to catch up on this.
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April 1st, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Great post, this was true to my experience as well. Still need to check out Launching Balls.