Academy Award-winning screenwriter and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Horton Foote passed away yesterday at the age of 92. Foote, a native Texan, was perhaps best known for his Oscar-winning screen adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird. Foote was inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame in 2003. Click here to read Robert Faires' interview with him at the time.

After all the back-slapping in Senate about Moving Image Industry Day this morning, it was actually the House doing the legislative heavy lifting on Texas cinema. Texas Film Commission Director Bob Hudgins told the House Culture, Recreation and Tourism Committee that, over the interim, his agency had initiated new production assistant and location scouting training programs to build up the talent pool. He also touted the new Film Friendly Texas program, which teaches communities how to attract and nurture film productions. The other part, he explained, involves teaching communities "how to set up guidelines that will protect them," so that productions don't strip them like locusts. He was also particularly proud of the achievements of the remarkable Texas Archive of the Moving Image. So what about the moving image incentive program? Hudgins, who is a big advocate for the extra latitude HB873 would give his office, said so far it was most successful in attracting game development and commercials, rather than TV and movie production (mainly because Texas is pretty much the only state to incentivize them.) He also sold the gaming industry as a great way to get kids interested in math and science, and said UT is considering a game design program.

There was a little star power in the Texas Senate this morning with the passage of Senate Resolution 371, making March 4 Moving Image Industry Day at the state capitol. Cue a standing ovation (sadly, not for resolution authors Bob Deuell and John Carona, but for members of the Texas Motion Picture Alliance, including alliance president Don Stokes, Vice President of Business Development MPS Studios Meredith Stephens, and some guy called Richard Linklater.) Also in attendance were legendary Texas character actors Burton Gilliam (famous for having the first line in Blazing Saddles) and James Hampton (if you're under 40, he was Michael J. Fox's dad in Teen Wolf: over 40, the caretaker in the original 1974 The Longest Yard.) Quick six degrees moment: They both appeared in Evening Shade with Burt Reynolds. By no small coincidence, the House Culture, Recreation and Tourism Committee is currently discussing House Bill 873 – the new tweaks at the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program.

How cool is this? SXSW has announced the last-minute inclusion of director Sam Raimi, who will be screening a "work in progress" cut of Drag Me To Hell, his upcoming return to the horror genre. Raimi will be on hand at the Paramount Theater, midnight, Sunday, March 15, and although we don't know a whole helluva lot (sorry) about the production, we do know Alison Lohman gets to climb into a soggy grave (see accompanying pic) and looks good doing it. Knowing Raimi, who first came to the attention of the Fangoria/Dead Central set via his now-classic 1981 gutbuster Evil Dead, and later revivified Marvel Comics sagging fortunes with his whiplash take on Spider-Man, there's bound to be some gooey eyeballs flying around. No word, though, on whether or not Raimi's longtime pal/stooge Bruce Campbell is in the pic -- the Old Spice shill and man with the lantern jaw may be letting his screaming brain rest for a while, but either way, SXSW coup is -- say it with us -- groovy!

The mayoral candidate forum carried live on ChannelAustin last week (cable public access channel 10) is now available to view online. Public access hosts and producers Pam Thompson of Austin News Real and Peggy Vasquez of Hispanic Today LIVE co-hosted the forum, presenting questions to the candidates culled from Austin area organizations. Mayoral candidates Lee Leffingwell and Brewster McCracken participated in the live broadcast. Carole Keeton Strayhorn was invited but did not participate.

Are you an out-of-towner coming in for SXSW, not knowing the first thing about the venues, the bus system, the ins and outs and insider info about Austin? Or are you a local who’s not looking to buy a badge but still wants to enjoy a slice of that tasty SXSW pie? Either way, we can't recommend enough the guides put out by our friends at Slackerwood. (Okay, we’ve actually never met, but Jette and I did swap emails about our, er, disgruntlement about certain votes cast by our fellow members of the Austin Film Critics Association. Beer ya at South by?) In addition to updating its venue guide, with pros and cons of each of the participating theatres, Slackerwood has also just published a guide for locals thinking about buying film passes or tickets. It’s good stuff. Check out the venue guide here and the how-to for locals here.

In addition to that whole Oscar-winning business, Jonathan Demme has proved again and again to be the master of the music doc. He's chronicled the Talking Heads, Robyn Hitchcock, and Neil Young already, and he's going back for more with Young: SXSW Film has just announced it will premiere Demme's latest, the performance doc Neil Young Trunk Show, come March.

Fans of pornography (I know you're out there) have a reason to get out of the house and off the computer this Friday as adult video superstars Stoya and Jesse Jane come to town to promote megabudgeted triple-Xer Pirates 2: Stagnetti's Revenge. Pirates demographic leans more toward the adventurous couple looking to spice things in the bedroom than the solo spanker searching for the ultra-hardcore stuff. With its big budget, A-list talent, special effects, and actual narrative, couples might find themselves fast-forwarding through the sex scenes to get to the next chapter in the story (or maybe not). Speaking of the sex scenes, they are sensual as opposed to exploitative and tightly edited unlike the more amateurish (and cheap) production values typically found in porn these days. And thankfully there aren't many close-ups of bobbing pimply man asses which seems to be prevalent in adult films for some unknown reason. Keep an eye out for the 4-DVD collector's edition set which features a surprisingly large amount of bonus materials including extended scenes, a blooper reel, an audio commentary, special featurettes, and much more. Stoya and Jesse Jane will be signing copies of Pirates at the Adult Video Megaplexx (7111 S. I-35, 442-5430) Friday, Feb. 27, from 8-11pm. For more on Stoya and Jesse Jane, click on the image gallery at right and …

Conventional wisdom holds that gaming and tech industry types are not the masters of social skills. An overgeneralization, yes, but I unashamedly identify with that demographic and embrace my awkward “charm” in social settings. Five years of South by Southwest attendance has taught me that the festival doesn’t suffer charmers for long. And while individuals may be kind, the mob is ruthless. I decided to make a concerted effort this year to network and schmooze – both words that until this point needed air quotes for me to even say.

I decided to attack SXSW head on and address my inability to schmooze at a networking party at Shangri-La on the Eastside. My initial plan was to ask a stranger if they had a “pick-up line” to meet people and then use that line on the next stranger and so on until I was slapped silly or basking in the attention of industry bigwigs.