While Electra and Elise Avellan (aka the Grindhouse babysitter twins) were undoubtedly fan favorites at this weekend's Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors at the Renaissance Austin Hotel, they didn't get the biggest crowd response at Saturday's Q&A about their new movie, The Black Waters of Echo's Pond. That went to writer/producer Sean Clark, for the line "I was dropping goo on the ladies. You can quote that."

The twins spend much of the movie (described by Clark as an evil Jumanji) wearing black full-eye contact lenses and drooling a thick, vile slime. But anyone who has been near a horror set knows things can be a little less creepy in front of the camera. "The problem," explained Elise, "was staring in the face of your twin who is supposed to be an evil possessed creature, but the contacts made her look like Bambi."

From Creature from the Black Lagoon to House of Wax, 3D cinema and horror movies have always gone hand-in-claw. While the current resurgence in the technique has been dominated by big budget outings like Meet the Robinsons and the upcoming U2 3D, the new movie starring Austin's own Angela Bettis (of May and Roman fame) proves the tech is getting affordable.

Scar (which had a five-minute sneak preview at the Fangoria Weekend of Horror) is a small-budget slasher flick which looks to hit the twisted psychology that attracts self-declared "spazz" Bettis. But the big news is that the film-makers went for the new Real D technology. "I went to a demonstration of the technology," said producer Norman Twain, "and I said, 'we're going to do this picture, which was called Freckle Face back then, in 3D." So Twain hired cinematographer Toshiaki Ozawa, got hold of a Hi-Def 3D camera rig from NHK in Japan ("They're the most stable," said Twain), hired translators, and set about adding that third dimension. For anyone expecting it to just be axes coming out of the screen, the opening shot is Bettis jogging, and it's still creepy.

With three Real D systems in and near Austin, and with this being Bettis' home town, Twain was positive that there'll be some scarification here when the film opens later this year.

For most Sundance festivalgoers, the opening-night film was In Bruges, a hitman slice-of-life story directed by playwright Martin McDonagh that stars Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleason, and Ralph Fiennes. It’s scheduled to open in Austin in a couple of weeks on Februray 8. For me, still in Austin, the opening-night film was U2 3D, which press-screened on Wednesday night at the IMAX Theater at the Bob Bullock History Museum. The feature-length film is premiering on Saturday at Sundance, but it is also due to open at the Austin IMAX next Friday, January 25. For me it served as my kickoff to Sundance.

And what a kickoff – not only for a celebration of film but for the new year as well. It’s certainly the most fun I’ve had a movie in a long while. It may also be the best concert film since Jonathan Demme’s Stop Making Sense.

Sure, it's a lot to shell out, but 10 grand buys you not just dinner, but dinner conversation at the Nobelity Artists and Filmmakers Dinner on Sunday, Jan. 27 (inspired by the Nobelity Project, itself inspired by Turk Pipkin's documentary, Nobelity, about Nobel Prize winners). A $10,000 donation will net you a table of ten hosted by celebrities, artists, and thinkers like Owen Wilson, Kinky Friedman, Mike Judge, Dixie Chick Martie Maguire, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright. Smaller spenders can get individual seats for $500 and $1,000. Proceeds support the Nobelity in Schools program and the filming of Pipkin's followup, One Peace at a Time. Interested? Contact [email protected] or call 512-263-7971.

Facebook is fast becoming the one online networking site to rule them all, so it makes sense its founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, will deliver the Sunday, March 9, keynote address at SXSW Interactive … which itself has become the essential place for techies to meet, talk shop, and, we're told, make geektastic love (seriously, we hear it's like the high school caf, only cooler).

Zuckerberg – who, at 23, puts me, you, and everyone we know to shame in terms of sheer go-getter-ness – joins previously announced keynote speakers Frank Warren (founder of the addictive PostSecret Project) and Jane McGonigal (game designer of World Without Oil). SXSW Interactive runs March 7-16; for more info on badges, panels, and all other things interactive, check out their site here.

Hands down goes to Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay, the followup to 2004's terrific Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, a stoner comedy even a straight-edger could love. Harold and Kumar's on the shortlist of newly announced SXSW Film titles, which also includes a doc about G.W. homebase Crawford, TX, the aptly titled Crawford, and Mister Lonely, the first narrative feature from Gummo's Harmony Korine in eight years.

No coy excuses for the absence of Marginalia over the last few months. But the blog is back and now mobilizing to check out the 2008 Sundance Film Festival's peaks and peeks. Beginning this weekend, Utah's Wasatch mountains will be seen from picturesque solid ground (no ski slopes for this klutz) but the festival films will be viewed from an up close and personal position. Join me in the annual search for the Sundance heat.

They called Steve Coogan, Simon Pegg, and Team Gervais/Merchant, not to mention punk, long before our side of the pond caught on. So it’s no surprise that the Brits have seen the future of the South by Southwest Film Festival … and let’s just say they’re urging shades. Number one on the Guardian’s list of predictions for film in the year 2008: “The new Sundance is SXSW.” By now, It’s old hat calling Sundance old news, but kudos to our British compatriots for recognizing SXSW’s role in the ascension of mumblecore. The only downside? They predict SXSW Film’s so hot, “Paris [Hilton] is probably packing her bikini as we speak.” Yikes.

Ding dong: The Golden Globes are (more or less) dead. In the wake of a celebrity walk-out (stars like George Clooney pledged not to cross the writers' picket lines), NBC announced today it was killing Sunday's broadcast, choosing to air instead a brief news conference. The Envelope, the L.A. Times's arm devoted to award-season speculation, said this: "The scrapped program would be the first awards show to fall victim to the Writers Guild of America strike, and February's Academy Awards also could be in jeopardy."

Which makes me wonder: Will the insane web machine of awards-show prognostication also fall victim? Site after site, from the Envelope to bloggers like The New York Times' Carpetbagger David Carr and Hollywood Elsewhere's Jeffrey Wells have been running numbers for months now, waxing incessantly over opening-day receipts, brand-name recognition, and Academy demographics. But if the awards shows are reduced to, well, the awards, and nothing else – stripped of their glitz and public profile – maybe we'll all lose interest in them as sporting events.

Doubtful, but consider this: Mass audiences may just tune in to the Independent Spirit Awards, the only WGA-approved show out there. Imagine: a world where the watercooler talk made for hot debate over which newbie deserves the John Cassavetes Award. (The home state vote goes to Chris Eska for August Evening). The Spirit Awards air on IFC on Saturday, Feb. 23.