Great film by a friend

We went to screening of a film called "We Go Higher" about children of some of the people killed on 9/11. Our friend Sara Hirsh Bordo is the producer.

Hot air, indeed! Lots of it!

 We were walking to dinner and got a photo of this hot air balloon inflated and showing its pretty colors. Spectacular.

We're getting into the act

These actors posed with us the other day in the park. Snazzy duds!

Costumes from Aeronauts

Here are some of the outfits actors in the film wore.

More filming in the hood

A film crew in the parking lot a block away seemed to be involved with a scene featuring the red car in the back of this photo.

Rodriguez

Some real stories are so much like fairy tales that they seem like fiction. In the SXSW film festival in March we saw "Searching for Sugar Man" and walked out of the film (1) charmed by the early seventies recordings of Rodriquez we'd never heard before; and (2) amazed and almost disbelieving of the story in the documentary (which is, however, pretty darn accurate as far as I can tell). You can catch up on the story here or check out the movie site here. But last night we caught up by attending a Waterloo Records in store and then a sold out packed concert at Antone's. All I can say is that I wish I'd had his records when I was buying Dylan and Janis because they feel like a piece of that era that was always missing.

Ted Nugent Plays the Banner

I took this shot of Ted Nugent playing the Star Spangled Banner to open the 2011 Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards last night. He did quite a rocking job of it. The event presented awards to Rip Torn, Renee Zellweger, John Hawkes, the Friday Light Lights cast, and Spoon. We had terrific seats up front so I was able to snap some decent photos. This party is the unoffcial kickoff for South by Southwest each year. We will be posting shots from "South By" over the next week or so.

Koolhaas Houselife

Recently, Linda and I attended a screening of "Koolhaas Houselife," a film about "the daily intimacy of an architectural icon." The film was shot from the perspective (mostly) of Guadalupe, the woman you see on the screen, who has to deal with maintaining a home in Bordeaux. This home is known as an architectural icon and it presents some very challenging situations for the people who keep it up on a regular basis. Very engaging and it drew a large crowd. The film was shown at the new rooftop venue at The Arthouse in downtown Austin.

Film Festival Winding Down

We haven't gotten to participate in Austin Film Festival as much as we'd like. But we saw "Black Swan" at the Paramount tonight and shot this picture after. The film that was second on the bill is about women who grasped for equality in the auto industry. Bravo Eloise for your support. We would have watched it, but we can only do one movie a day just now.

Celebrity bartender last night

Last night, the Austin Film Festival hosted a party at Ruth's Chris Steak House in downtown Austin--a short walk from where we live. The celebrity tending bar was Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, shown here on the right. The lovely lady on the left is Wendy, Ruth's Chris' professional bartender.

Ms. Nicholson is probably best known for her role in "Fletch," where she played the love interest of, yes, Fletch. She has also been in episodes of Seinfeld, Law & Order, Sex and the City and Boston Public. Central Texans know her best as "Tyra's mom" in Friday Night Lights, the terrific series filmed here in our area.

Austin Film Festival got a lot of good pr out of the party. There is still time to sign up for the Festival and for the Film & Food party, possibly the best bargain in town. For $85, you get unlimited food from twenty top restaurants and open bars. 7-10 pm, Wed, Oct. 21 at The Driskill. 478-4795 or http://www.austinfilmfestival.com/new/film_food. The auction will even have tickets to see American Idol and The Late Show with David Letterman. (Sorry, I had to get in a plug.)

Right Under Your Nose

Congress Avenue from the bridge north to the Capitol has lots of high-profile office buildings and a few private homes but also still has lots of places to duck in for some real Austin atmosphere. Looking away from the controversy over the strip center trying to becoming a Marriott you can find spots like the Elephant Room, a local coffee shop (Little City) and some fine locally-owned restaurants. Between Sixth and Seventh on the east side you will find Hideout. Besides a coffee shop they have a little stage with occasional music groups up front, Internet access computers, piles of good reading to borrow and two performance spaces in back and upstairs. We've been to Cabaret-type shows and movies there. They are famous for comedy improv shows, though, and have one coming up. Besides an array of coffee drinks, beer, soda and such, Amy's Ice Cream and drinks made from same are available and some pretty nice food. (I had a three-cheese toasted sandwich the other day that was very good.) Their little screening room is sometimes pressed into service for film festivals, but we often take advantage of the coffee and food when we are going to the Paramount as well. FFP was mistaken for Sydney Pollack here during a fest. And the woman actually claimed to know Sydney.

Conversations in Film

Barbara Morgan, Executive Director of AFF, and Dan Petrie, Jr., Hollywood writer, director, producer.

The Austin Film Festival has been celebrating the writer's role in film for over a decade. In October, there is a huge film festival and conference. But there are some interesting events throughout the year, too. Yesterday, FFP and I heard Dan Petrie, Jr. talk about writing screenplays. Then we saw "Beverly Hills Cop" which he got writing credit for after the script had been through a Hollywood saga. He took some Q&A after that and put up with a reception where he was peppered with questions from would-be screenwriters. (Not us...we are dilettantes, quite happy to hear about the creative process and watch the results while writing other things. Well, FFP writes a column. I'll stick to my motto: "Pretending to write but only blogging.")

I left the AFF banner in here so you could observe the barbed wire logo. We have participants and films from all over the world. But the festival likes to play with its Texas roots with its logos and posters.