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14 Things You Should Know About SXSW 2013

By Joanna Robinson | Lists | March 13, 2013 |

By Joanna Robinson | Lists | March 13, 2013 |


There Were Moments Of Pure Nerd Joy: Like the fact that Joss Whedon and the cast of Much Ado About Nothing travelled to Austin together on a bus. Like the damn Partridge Family. You can see highlights here. And they’re adorable.
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There Were Moments Of Pure Nerd Despair: Literary geek god Neil Gaiman (and his lovely and talented wife) were in attendance this year. Why was Neil Gaiman in Austin? Why to interview TV producer Chucke Lorre (“Big Bang Theory,” “Two Broke Girls,” and “How I Met Your Mother”) of course. That’s right, one of the greatest literary minds of our generation was sent to ask gorram Chuck Lorre about “creativity.” I cringe.
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We’ve Crowned A New Pajiba Prom Queen: Though she’s not exactly new to the scene, Brie Larson has been flying enough under the radar that we all really feel this might be a break out fest for her. If you didn’t already love her in “United States of Tara,” Scott Pilgrim or 21 Jump Street, one of her three festival films is sure to win you over. Keep your eyeballs peeled for Spectacular Now, Short Term 12 and Don Jon.
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The “Bumpers” Are Pretty Cute: Before each film, SXSW shows a short little movie meant to throw some love on the festival and filmmaking in general. This year, being the 20th anniversary, we were treated to the “Best Of” the bumpers. My favorite is below and you can watch them all here.

Goodfellas - SXSW 2013 Bumper from SXSW on Vimeo.

Ain’t Nothing Fancy About Being A Blogger: I don’t care how much of a famous internet personality you think you are, if you’re trying to blog and attend the festival, odds are you will spend some portion of the weekend with your ass on the floor trying to wring some precious power out of the wall. I have measured out my weekend in “low battery” signals.
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Some Films Will Pleasantly Surprise You: One of our favorites was a little movie called Milo that is about a butt monster. Yes. A. Butt. Monster. Full disclosure, the film was written by Pajiba reader Benjamin Hayes (who is adorable), but I wouldn’t lie to you. The film is fantastic, campy, stupid, smart and fun. See it.
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Some Films Will Unpleasantly Surprise You: The Pajiba vote on Before Midnight is split (and Dan will have an official review up later), but as someone who absolutely adored the first two I will caution you to temper your expectation for this third installment of the Celine and Jesse show. The last 20 minutes are rough as hell.
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Festival Audiences Are Delightfully Engaged: Maybe it’s the sleep deprivation or the alcohol served at every venue but there’s nothing more lively than a festival audience. Sometimes this can be obnoxious when, for example, the whole theater is already in the tank for a film. The fanboy hooting and hollering can be a bit much. But when something alarming happens (e.g. in Mud or Spectacular Now) and an entire packed house gasps in unison? That’s a powerful feeling.
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Don’t Read The F*cking Screen Cards: Unless, of course, you want the intentionally obtuse plot of Upstream Color spoiled for you right before the movie begins.
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Hell Is Interactive People: We film nerds look down on the tech nerds. It’s the way of the world. You shall know them by their orange badges and the dazed, almost fearful look of people who don’t get outside often. SHUT UP IT’S WORSE THAN OURS. You should see them trying to walk around. It’s like a bunch of ants after someone dropped the honey.
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Sometimes You’ll Confuse A Famous Actor For A Film Blogger: It’s not my fault. He’s very jowly and that’s usually the film blogger’s defining characteristic.
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Some Films Will Put You Off Your Tacos: Just like swimming, don’t eat an hour before or after you see Evil Dead. Trust me.
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Winter Was Biking: Austin was teeming with pedicabs but, without exception, these were the finest. I very nearly stole one but I couldn’t quite figure out how I would get it on the plane.
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I Think We Can All Applaud The Unofficial Theme: If Much Ado, Spectacular Now and Drinking Buddies are any indication, we Pajibans aren’t the only ones who enjoy our booze by the vatfuls. We wish we could have taken you all with us but, rest assured, we poured out* a Shiner Bock or 50 in your name.
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*down our throats.