It may be seem like an eternity of tinnitus and day parties ago, but during the interactive component of SXSW, the annual ScreenBurn Arcade had some serious buzz moments.
There was a lot of player interest in the Nvidia GeForce 3D Vision system, which uses the built-in depth information in games to create a stereoscopic 3D image (How good is it? Well, it's sure no Virtual Boy.) SXSWi even had its own little Metallica moment, with a hands-on demo of Bionic Commando, developer GRIN's reboot of the classic Capcom franchise from the '80s. The game, being developed for PC, XBox 360 and PS3, doesn't ship until May, but the multi-player deathmatch mode demoed was smooth and intuitive.
The secret surprise guests? The Indigo Girls. Perez's party is packed – sundresses, great music, and fag hags as far as the eye could see – but there's still room for YOU (if you RSVP'd).
Last night when Margaret Cho took the stage at the Velveeta Room, we thought were ready, but honestly, we weren't ready! Although the set was unnaturally clipped, the folks at the Velveeta Room were movin' the acts through, Cho played three songs and did some traditional stand-up as well. Our favorite moment? A sex-text message sent, by accident, to her mom. Lots of jokes on the multiple meanings of "come" ensued.
Enjoy one of the selections Margaret Cho played "Eat Shit and Die" below*
We spoke with Atlanta artist (and really, that should have a CAPITAL "A" on it) Janelle Monae. We apologize for how loud the background noise gets, with sirens adding a soundtrack to her explanation of the runaway androids that populate her musical Metropolis. Plus, she is very soft-spoken, but please have a listen. The sound improves about halfway through, as Ms. Monae explains why she felt it important to support Black Pride in Atlanta this past September by paying them a surprise visit. (And if you live in the South, you know how cool this is.)
Although SXSW Interactive is over, the smell in Exhibit Hall 2 still lingers. That's because EH2 played host to the free-to-all arcade known as Screenburn.
It took me back, as my father was (and still is) a gamer. When I was a kid my brother, father, and I played co-operative shoot-em-up games, shouting such gems as "In your face!" and "Dead! Dead! You're Dead!" at each other, while never taking our fingers off of the keyboard. But honestly, I got nothing on the kids who were playing in the Screenburn Arcade. You could tell they had been playing for hours on end, perhaps because their tech-dweeb parents were attending panels in other areas of the convention hall.
I just know when I use words like "transcendent," you dear readers must roll your eyes. But truly, like Booji Boy on a bungie, my experience at Devo at the Austin Music Hall SXSW 2009 hovered above all others.
I'll leave the reviews to the music section, but will share this:
So the loudest part of SXSW has arrived in full force with the music component unfurling. But the film festival is still here as well, and could teach these guitar-wielding whipper-snappers a thing or too about shocking the public. What could be more rock and roll than a film star, stark naked, on all fours, being stroked by strangers and urinating in the street?
OK, so the stars of Artois the Goat had a very good excuse for such behavior when they turned up for the film's world premiere last Sunday: They are goats.
Artois the Goat has its final SXSW screening tonight, March 20, at the Alamo Ritz at 7pm.
Every morning at SXSW Interactive, SX stafferAri Styles led a yoga class for attendees. She led us through gentle stretches, deep breathing, and at least one hard pose designed for strengthening. Each day's exercises were different, though each day had a theme of yoga poses to help people who spend most of their time sitting in a chair and working with a keyboard. As we lay in Savasana nearing the end of each class, Ari spoke briefly (“Letting go... letting go... let go.”) to lead us into deep relaxation. Finally, as we sat in prayer pose, she ended with a spoken gratitude practice.
This was a really beautiful place to connect IRL and to feel better both mentally and physically throughout the festival.
Looking back over Dr. Keely Kolmes' list of five things we can do now to improve our mental health from her Therapy 2.0: Mental Health for Geeks panel, Ari's yoga class gave us four of the five things!
Here's the list again, from an earlier post:
1. weekly gratitude practice
2. breathing and mindfulness practice
3. connecting with others
4. exercise
5. thought tracking
Psychiatrist Keely Kolmes and writer Thomas Roche presented this Tuesday afternoon core conversation, which felt much like sitting in an AA meeting or other group therapy session. One after another, for almost an hour, audience members described their experiences with a relatively new category of neurosis – Information Anxiety caused by information overload.
One young woman said she feels she has lost the capacity for solitude and she wonders if it is gone forever. She recently noticed that it has become extremely unusual for her to take a walk or drive the car without checking email and twitter during the walk or drive. She feels that she doesn't have a sense of wholeness unless someone else is validating her experience fairly constantly throughout the day. Others talked about feeling terrible guilt when they didn't electronically check in constantly, about sitting and tweeting in the same room with people they could be talking to. One man felt that the increased capacity to understand comes with responsibility, which feels like a great weight. Several people spoke of boundaries – how technology helps us hide and gives us a false sense of intimacy which can cause problems in online relationships.
