Monday, March 24, 2008

After reading this, I'm looking forward to the book. I found her answers charming, not what I expected at all!

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

y'know, i wouldn't blame you if you no longer believed me when I said I'd get back on a regular blogging schedule. Kinda like the little boy who cried wolf.....

I'm now in Austin, back for my 12th sxsw. The weather has been cool and rainy since I arrived, though that is supposed to change today. No big dramas (yet!) like the lost eyeglass crisis of '07, or the string of broken down rental cars that plagued me in the early years.

Instead, I bring you this:

"Recycle or go to Hell, warns Vatican"


Details in The Guardian.

The last two days have been spent nosing around the Film and Interactive conference and festival(s). Music begins tonight, and that's when my work really begins. Though I have been lucky enough to get a bunch of interviews out of the way early in the week----perhaps giving me a chance to actually hear* some music on Friday and Saturday.


*a dream of mine. You might find it hard to believe that, in all the years I've been coming to this confab, I've never managed to have a day when all I do is listen. I always start out by saying I'm going to be smart and schedule all my business for the first couple of days, and spend the meat of the music festival actually hearing music....but it never happens. Why? Well, because I don't rule the world. I usually have a schedule, in ink, but for some reason no one else wants to follow it. My 1030 meeting wants to postpone to 1 because something/someone more important came along. My 1 can move to only 11 or 5. The one event I really want to attend all day is at 5, but does last til 7, so if i do the 1 at 5, i should be able to make part of it. But then at 4, the new 5 gets invited to do live tv, and I have to wait til they're done. Which is 530. And then their phone starts ringing with people saying "oooh, i saw you on tv...." And they have the gall to take the calls, and I don't complain because I want the story. So i walk out at 630, and finally reach my destination at 650...because I walk instead of trying to move the car, which is really the wise idea because traffic is gridlocked by tourists who sure as hell aren't going to pay for parking because that lot doesn't offer receipts and if they can't get reimbursed for the expense, they're damn well not going to pay for it.

So we'll see. Right now I've got a rather full afternoon tomorrow, including a chat with someone known for having a lot to say, but being rather shy and not easily drawn out. However, we've gone through this drill several times, and I've always had good luck getting something interesting from him without it being too painful. For either of us.

More later. Really. In the meantime, entertain yourself with these pictures from New Zealand. These are from Fox Glacier.



This is not.

The meerkat brought out the family for the first time on the day I visited the Auckland zoo. There are three little faces, i hope you can find them all!

(oops, this hotel connection keeps timing out. You'll have to come back for the cuteness!)