Short Cuts

Gluteal Numbation Summation Dept.: While most of Austin was out enjoying the thrilling 3-D Wonderama that is the Mall on Saturday, Dec. 14, Harry Knowles' Fourth Annual Butt-Numb-a-Thon at the Alamo Drafthouse Downtown seared the backsides of the assembled faithful for 26 straight hours and netted a cool $5,400 for the Saturday Morning Film Club, Knowles monthly film program for cinematically deprived youth ("You know -- for kids!"). Director Robert Wise and actor Bo "Buford Pusser" Svenson, fresh off of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, dropped by for some frenetic fan groping, and the wisely absent Rob Zombie was mocked for his "inane" feature debut House of 1000 Corpses, which played at the Butt-Numb-a-Thon to a mostly sneering audience. All in all, sez Knowles, a great haul for a worthy cause and enough posterior pain to last until next time. (There's always Chain Drive if you need more.)... Congratulations are in order for a trio of Austin filmmakers who made it into this year's Sundance Film Festival Shorts Program. Richard Linklater ("Live From Shiva's Dancefloor"), Francesca Talenti ("The Planets"), and Scott Calonico ("The King and Dick") are all in the running for the famed Park City, Utah, fest, which runs Jan. 16-26, 2003. Yo, Austin, knock 'em dead... South by Southwest news: SXSW V10.0 will be premiering Ron Mann's new Go Further, with Woody Harrelson, and Scott Roberts' The Hard Word, with Guy Pearce. Other notable films (screening as part of this year's Most Memorable Films of the Last Decade program) include the rarely seen Linklater debut "It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books," Tim McCanlies' great Dancer, Texas Pop. 81, and a personal fave, Aviva Kempner's The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg. There are acres more yet to be announced, of course, but that's pretty cool for starters. More on the fest when the press releases really begin flowing. For now, we've got a Mogwai to dress up like Kris Kringle. Hold still, you.