Had to do a little work at my day gig, some minor stuff that required my attention. No biggie (other than getting up and rocking at 8 o’clock in the morning). Then I came home and wrote up all the first day stuff – and there was a ton of it. The first four days of the festival are jam packed with goodness. During the Monday thru Thursday, as it closes, it will be a hell of a lot less though. I like going to some of the stuff during the week because there are far less people and you can stretch out and relax and enjoy the movies a bit more.

Web went to some of the Panels during the day and we met up a little after 5pm and he regaled me with war stories of meeting all kinds of interesting people during the day. In addition to Pete Barnstorm from www.screenplayers.net, Web also met some hottie chicks (not that he could stop talking about the woman back home) and Shane Black, who wrote at least one of the “Lethal Weapon” movies. I stayed home and worked while Web was out pimping the site and his scripts. I think he took some pictures too, which he will probably put on this page.

Web also met the guy who made the movie “Angels Crest,” Michael Couto, and told me some really interesting stories about the panel that he was on. Web said that there was some elongated tuning fork analogy about the writing process and he explained it to me as Couto had explained it to him. It was intense. I was hoping we might meet Couto out on the town later that night so I could tell him how much I liked his film. Web also met the guys who made a short film called “Gaydar.” He sat at a Roundtable with them and when they saw his F13 and “Not Gay” buttons they started to take him to task. Web had to explain that even though he is straight, he is the co-founder of the gayest website on the net!

We decided to grab a bit of grub before we got to the Westgate for “Das Experiment” and “The Safety of Objects.” Also on the agenda for the evening was a midnight rock show by Hobble at the 710. I wanted to dress appropriately, so I wore my purple, shiny girl’s shirt with blue jeans and my Vans topped off by an old black suit coat that I have which is falling apart.

As we were about to leave, Web asked me why I didn’t have any make-up on, so I went and put some purplish silver lipstick around my eyes and on my lips. We then proceeded to go to the straightest restaurant I have ever been to in Austin, the Chinese buffet place right across the street from the Westgate. I had never been there before but we went in on a lark and because it was close to Westgate. It was a really nice, clean, fancy buffet and there were all kinds of straights and families in there. I stuck out like a turd in a punchbowl. I felt really self-conscious, but ate and chatted with Web and had a good time anyway. When we were in the buffet line, I was looking for chicken on a stick, just bullshitting and trying to make small talk while I was feeling so self-conscious, and this sweet young kid, probably 11 or 12 or so, showed us where it was. Web and I joked about how his parents probably chastised him later for talking to the freak. Kids are so cool. They’re generally so accepting and easy-going. Wouldn’t it be great if we could all be like that as adults.

Went to the Westgate for “Das Experiment” and it was fairly well-attended. These films tonight were the sneak studio indie stuff, so there wasn’t going to be directors in attendance or anything. About the only thing of interest that happened was that the little AFF volunteer girl who introduced the film called it “The ‘Das Experiment.’” Which I thought was funny.

The AFF trailer on the first film was a new one to me with an older guy pitching an updated “Welcome Back, Kotter” film which was damn funny. The second film had the same trailer as I saw on day one, but it was in the wrong format. This usually means that the print has either been built-up incorrectly or the projectionist is using the incorrect lens. I went up to the AFF volunteer and explained that the film was in the wrong format, and she told me immediately and simply that the trailer was flat and the film was scope. Boom. Problem explained. I really liked that this young lady knew exactly what was going on and knew what she was talking about. Awesome job.

Nothing much else to say about the two movies (read the reviews). I liked both of them but Web didn’t like “Das experiment” anywhere near as much as I did. Somewhere in the film, they lost him and they never got him back. I found it riveting even though there were some leaps of faith.

Between the two movies, I ran into Jan, my friend from the sneaks here in town. Jan usually tries to go to the same venue during the day, but she told me she had came from The Paramount and watched “Emperor’s Club.” The big joke on that film, which everyone is now saying is, “I liked it the first time, when it was called ‘Dead Poet’s Society.’”

We got out of the second film at 11:30 and Hobble was schedule to go on at the 710 at 11:30, but I knew that on a Friday night, it would be more like 12. Web and I hoped in the F13moble and headed down to 6th Street. We got there quickly but had to park about 6 blocks away. By the time we walked into the 710, it was 11:55 and I could hear Hobble playing inside. We paid cover and the door guy told us it was their first song. I went to the bar and there was Mark Brauner, my co-host from the cable access show I do called “Lube TV.” I totally forgot we had agreed to meet up at the show.

I had left my camera in the car, so I didn’t get to take any pictures of Oriah and Hobble rocking their asses off. This was the loosest and most grungey (not the best word to use) show I’ve seen them do in a long time and it really rocked. Oriah was on fire. He even rolled around in some broken glass shards. It was very Iggy. He didn’t bleed or anything, but after he took his shirt off and rolled around on stage and got all sweaty, he had this heavenly glow, the sheen of a punk angel. He’s so sexy. Web, Mark and I were joking about his package (straight guys are so funny) and Mark called it “Pack-tacular.” Hehe.

Oriah is just a showman and he never fails to put on the best show you will see in Austin. Of course, the band, his backbone, were just as shimmering as he was. These guys rock. They were plagued with a couple of tech problems and Oriah even rocked so hard that he practically destroyed the right side of Gene’s drum kit during one song, but it didn’t stop them from proving themselves to be a rock force to be reckoned with. I fucking love to see these guys. They did “8-Track Tape Player too, one of my all time faves. And they ended with “Backwards DJ.” Yes. Yes. Yes.

After saying a quick hello and goodbye to Oriah and his sweet female love interest Holly, I met another friend of mine named Holly who was there to see He Kill Three, the night’s headliner. She is doing some work at a recording studio here in town and is going to record the band here soon. I want to catch them now. I’ve always wanted to see them, so now I have a reason.

On the way out of the club, we ran into “Rock Opera’s” Bob Ray and Jerry Don “Toe” Clark. Bob is such a cool guy and me and Web were just talking about how he should direct Web’s script, “The Herd.” Jerry has been living in San Marcos lately (why?) and is fixing to move back to where he belongs – Austin. I love seeing Jerry cause he always hits me up for some weed. When the fucking star of “Rock Opera” is hitting you up for weed, you know you have made it in Austin cinema!

We walked the 6 or 7 blocks to the Driskoll for some typical AFF after party schmoozing. I was already pretty toasted by this time so I don’t, of course, remember everything that went on. I saw Kim who was a big AFF person last year and hugged her and caught up with her. She is working out in L.A. now for some music video production company. She said it really took her a long time to find a gig in L.A., but the fact that she found one is pretty impressive to me.

Ryan Williams was there, of course, and I had a good time talking to Kim about how Ryan was so sweet and innocent now but L.A. will make him jaded and next year he’ll be inviting all of us up to his penthouse suite at the Omni to snort coke of some bitches’ stomach. Kim laughed and kept saying, “but he’s like my little brother.” Ryan’s such a cute and sweet guy, it was fun and funny to imagine him getting jaded.

I looked over at some of the couches and there was Brandon Howe, sitting back and chilling like he owned the place (which he did). He must have had 4 or 5 hanger-on lounging around him, hanging on his every word, not that he was saying much, just looking cool, so I stepped right over to him and put my face in his lap like I was going to blow him. Brandon is the most easy going and reflective actor ever to come out of Austin, so he just reached out and grabbed my head and started pounding my face in his crotch. One of his cute little fanboys said, “too rough, too rough” so I had to explain to him that there was no such thing as too rough.

I got to chat to Brandon for a bit and the rest of the room melted away. He’s out in L.A. now to working on some project out of turnaround with Steve Martin, based on Martin’s play, the one about Picasso at some café or something. Brandon ran off a short list of the actors involved and, of course, I can’t remember any of them but Martin.

Brandon looked suave as fuck and Brauner and I joked about how he looked like a young Pacino (he looks a gazillion times better than a young Pacino but there is enough of a slight resemblance to pitch it out in L.A.). I started making jokes about pitching “Son of Insomnia.”

Web brought over Michael Couto, the director of “Angels Crest” and I rode his jock about how good his film was for 15 or 20 minutes. It was true though, his film is awesome. Web had told me that he talked to Couto a lot about writing the film and we discussed about how the film was all on the page, its unique narrative structure isn’t something that was manufactured in post during editing. That was cool. Couto has several moments in the film where you have to believe the protagonist and you have to buy into his mindset. There are also at least two moments where you have to see a situation exactly as the protagonist see it and Couto is technically flawless as a filmmaker in these scenes. We buy it perfectly, exactly as we must. We talked about cinematography, shooting in the woods, his actors, and just about everything you can think of. It was awesome to meet him and he’s a really talented and intelligent guy who can charm the socks right off of you. He’s looking for smart and creative people to be his audience and he’s trusting his own instincts, rather than conventional wisdom or, make that, Hollywood wisdom, that that type of audience exists. I hope his film gets the word of mouth and following it deserves. He’s hoping to take it to Sundance and I think it would be very well received there.

It was getting late and they were turning up the lights at the Driskoll so we gathered up Brauner and decided to call it a night. We ran into Macy, the attractive and smiling hostess from the opening night party (at that hotel by the Paramount) and said hi. She said she would be working at the party on Saturday at Cedar Street, so we told her we’d try to stop by.

On the way home, Brauner started telling us about all the problems he’s having with this woman he is living with. It was pretty insane stuff. I have never seen Mark quite this drunk before, so we checked to make sure his car was in a safe place and then we took him back to my pad. He passed out on the recliner. Web settled in for a night on the guest sofa. We talked about his really getting “The Herd” made and how to make it happen. He was looking for a young male for the lead, “The new James Dean,” he said, and I tried to come up with someone. At first I thought maybe Ashton Kuther from that 70’s show, cause the film is a comedy. But then I started thinking maybe James Franco of “Spider-Man,” but that is probably because he played Dean in a telepic. Now I’m thinking Jesse Bradford or Tom Welling of “Smallville.” (Why not Brandon Howe?)

We talked about doing a trailer and having Bob Ray direct it (a great choice for the film but that won’t help you sell it, unfortunately). For the trailer, we wanted some wild-eyed, drug-crazed teen out in a cow pasture fucking with the cattle, and I can think of no one better for that than Wiley Wiggins. He was so great as “Fuck Up #2” in “The Faculty.” (Hehe). Seriously, Wiley is a great choice for the trailer.

Here’s schmoozing you!

Lodger 2002 @ AFF2002