sxsw film pass day three

I was awakened this morning by a wonderful Texas thunderstorm. That and a cat who seems to know that the clocks sprung forward night before last.

Yesterday I saw Film #4, Beautiful Losers.

The most memorable cultural movements in history have always developed organically. More often than not, they have been the simple result of a few like-minded people coming together to create something new -- usually for no other purpose than a common love of doing it. In the early 1990's, a loose-knit group of American artists, many just out of their teens, unwittingly started just such a movement. Rooted in the popular underground youth subcultures of the day, such as skateboarding, surf, graffiti, punk and hip-hop, they created art that reflected the alternative 'do-it-yourself' lifestyles they led. Over the last decade these artists and the subcultures they sprang forth have become not only popular, but have sparked the most influential cultural movement of our generation. BEAUTIFUL LOSERS is a theatrical documentary film that explores the creative ethos behind this growing movement through a collective portrait of ten of these artists.

This was the best movie so far. It was inspiring, it was touching, funny, sad. I laughed, I cried. Well, I didn't actually cry, but there is some sadness in it that...saddened me.

One of the artists featured in the film was none other than Harmony Korine (wrote Kids, wrote and directed Gummo, Julian Donkey-Boy), standing mostly around the tiled dragon of Dragon Park in Nashville, Tennessee. I'm not a fan of his movies; S hates his movies, and said that Harmony's this, that and the other thing (I don't want to misquote him and I don't remember exactly what he called him -- self-centered?) but he doesn't like him, creatively or personally, apparently, according to having seen him speak at a film festival in Nashville. But I found him to be charming and really the sad clown of the film. I gained a new perspective into his work because they showed an early film of his in which he plays a mentally or physically handicapped (or both) person living on the street, playing the banjo and doing a funny little dance I suppose for money. It's about ten years ago now that he did that, but he is still able to do that funny little dance, which I thought was impressive. He says he doesn't want to make movies like anybody else is making, he wants to make movies that are different... I can appreciate that. (And I think S can too.)

I spent the hours between that movie (which ended at 2:45) and the late one (10:30) working at home. I was afraid that if I didn't do the work that was available over the weekend, it wouldn't be there this morning. And I was right; I just looked at the company website and there is no work to do. Which is good; it frees me up to see the three films I have on my list for today.

Perhaps the 10:30 film is the best film in the festival so far, but I wouldn't know because I didn't get in. It was shown at the Alamo on South Lamar, the one with the big theaters, and not even all the people with badges got in (badges go in first, then passes, then they sell leftover seats after that). I got there too early, I thought, sat in my truck and smoked a cigarette because I didn't want to be the biggest geek in the building. I was in a respectable place in line -- twelfth or something -- but there were a lot more people with badges, so... Also, there seemed to be a whole lot of people who worked on the film or were somehow on the guest list going in the theater before they even let any of us watchers in.

The movie is called Nerdcore Rising. It was on my long list of movies but got cut off of the short list, but then I met the editor of it at Super High Me (and he was cute) so I decided to go. There are two more showings of it in the festival, so I'll try to see it another time, now that it's such a festival hit.

I almost talked myself out of going anywhere at all last night. I was tired from work. I smoked a bowl to try to inspire myself, and then I thought up an outfit I could wear (because of the cute boy, I guess) that inspired me -- I even wrote it down in my little book I've been carrying around with me to write notes in:

Sun. night -- I worked all day and felt lonely. Got high, trying to inspire myself not to stay home. Then I took a dump and got inspired by the Sun, then I got inspired about an outfit. Sexy brown pants, Me Infecto T-shirt, black Navy shirt, black socks and wing tips, "natural" leather jacket I got in Santa Cruz, and black Kangol I got at Cream when Judy was in town. All items of clothes that have some specific pleasant memories. Even my earrings -- or the holes anyway -- that I got with Russ in NYC.

I've written a lot of tidbits in my little book that maybe I'll share later, but right now I've got to hurry up and get ready to walk in the rain to see a movie that starts at 11.

After much personal deliberation last night, when the lines were dispersed, I decided to go to Magnolia and write. I was close to Magnolia already but didn't have my three-ring august chagrin binder, so I came home first -- had to feed Timmy anyway. I spent a good hour sitting in a booth over a Neptunian Landscape and a short stack of gingerbread pancakes, one with pecans, one with bananas, working on chapter four. That felt very productive.