I'm not great at eulogizing, so I'll leave it up to those more eloquent than I. Please click here. And here. And here. And here. And here. And most of all here, but... steady yourself before clicking on that one.
Amid the chaos of that day, when all I could hear was the thunder of gunshots, and all I could smell was the violence in the air, I look back and am amazed that my thoughts were so clear and true, that three words went through my mind endlessly, repeating themselves like a broken record:
Well, actually, I got back on Tuesday, but the last two days have been recovery days. Sweet mercy, what a trip. Easily one of the top five vacations ever. The Pajibites are the absolute balls, and we had a great time. Sure, I didn't see much music or movies, which, considering that it's a music and movie festival, is a little weird, but whatever.
Things I did do:
Get raving drunk. Repeatedly.
Eat a minimum of 7 burritos in four days.
Eat my weight in barbecue.
Avoid hard liquor, except for a couple of Jameson's with the Boozehound, Ted Boynton.
Get a new tattoo. My first impulse tattoo in a long time, and I love it. I was like the Pied Piper of tattoos - next thing you know, four others in our group had 'em as well. I take no responsibility, and will not accept angry phone calls from wives and/or mothers.
Saw Sam Raimi's upcoming horror flick, Drag Me To Hell. It was fantastic. Phenomenal. Scary and hilarious. I literally yelped at one point, much to the amusement of those around me (shut up, Henry). Anyway, I might review it for the site when it comes out, but either way, I look forward to seeing it again. Words cannot convey the awesomeness
Anyway, that's the short version. It was exhausting, but great. Oh, and in case anyone's curious -- every news post I wrote for Pajiba this week, I wrote while drunk.
Well, day one of my time at SXSW is now behind me. It's been... hectic. In a good way.
Friday night I went out with Mrs. TK and some friends for a fantastic dinner and drinks evening (to celebrate my birfday on Saturday), part of which included, I kid you not, grasshopper empanadas. With actual grasshoppers. They were goddamn delicious, so "ewww" all you want. Of course, we got home late, which made the fact that I had to be up at 3:30 AM the following morning all the more brutal.
But I soldiered through it, and with a surprisingly debacle-free journey, made it to Austin on time. One thing I did NOT realize until I was in the airport in Boston - it's Spring Break. Holy fuck. What a nightmare. 1000's of college kids swarming the airports, like hormonal locusts with poor diction. It was pretty crazy.
Anyway. Austin. I've yet to see any movies or music acts, but that's because for me yesterday was a mostly getting-to-know-you kind of day. Actually, a better description would be that it was a getting-to-know-you-by-getting-completely-shitbombed-with-you kind of day. But most of the Pajiba writers were there - Prisco, Rowles, Nosek, ShepRitz, Boozehound/Boynton, Freilich and Stephens. It was, in short, a fucking blast. I ate nothing but burritos for three meals (what? I like burritos, OK? DON'T YOU JUDGE ME!), drank... um... a bit, and a grand time was had by all. Got to meet a couple of Pajiba readers, who were awesome. Went to a dirt-hole of a karaoke bar and witnessed the glory of ShepRitz and Prisco singing "Bust a Move" and Dustin belting out a howlingly drunken rendition of "Sweet Caroline," complete with all of us providing backing vocals. It was quite a scene.
Anyway, that was Austin in brief. It's been grand. On today's docket: going to Ginny's Little Longhorn Saloon to see Dale Watson, as well as possibly play chickenshit bingo. What's that, you ask?
Yeah. I'm excited about it too. Tonight, I might catch a movie. Or I might just fire down some bbq and some cheap Texas beer and have a goddamned ball. Either way, I'm happy.
First, I wrote an article on Pajiba on my favorite instrumental songs. That is to say, not my favorite pieces, but my favorite songs by bands that usually sing, but in this instance, didn't. Oh, shut up and go read it. CLICK, punks!
Second, I'm hiring again. I'm mired in resumes, and it's fucking exhausting. I can't even begin to tell you how tiring it is. I was briefly toying with doing another goofy-assed resume post, but... it's different this time. It's actually really depressing this time around, because I know a lot of these applicants just lost their jobs to layoffs and downsizing and all the other casualties of a Bush-botched economy. So it's harder to take the usual amount of glee that I once did in reviewing them. I mean, this is an entry-level position. The last time I posted for it, I got about 25 responses. This time? 120. Most of them people completely unqualified, or worse, completely overqualified. It's pretty sad stuff. And thus, I'm not going to make a mockery of those people, even if they'll never know. It just wouldn't feel right. Sorry.
Third, SOUTH BY FUCKING SOUTHWEST!! For those who don't know, SXSW is a weeklong music and movie festival in Austin, TX, and I am going. On Saturday. My broke ass could only afford to go for four days, but it should be a riotous four days. I'm meeting most of the Pajiba folks there, and it should be a rocking good time.
That's about it. Hell, that's quite a bit. Oh, I've got an album review going up tomorrow, too, so check Pajiba around noon for that tomorrow.
Amid the chaos of that day, when all I could hear was the thunder of gunshots, and all I could smell was the violence in the air, I look back and am amazed that my thoughts were so clear and true, that three words went through my mind endlessly, repeating themselves like a broken record:
You're so cool.
You're so cool.
You're so cool.