Adiós, SXSW 2018. Overall, it was a good conference. The weather was nearly perfect. Free food was a little scarce, but food trucks were abundant. My Interactive highlight was seeing Bernie Sanders from the third row. I went to ten movies. My favorite was The Dawn Wall. Bill, the serious film fanatic, counted up 28 movies. Here’s what else I discovered this year…
The final day of SXSW 2018 fell on St. Patrick’s Day. I wandered around the Austin Convention Center, joined friends for lunch at Gus’s Fried Chicken, and then walked across town to the stages at Whole Foods and Waterloo Records. Throughout the afternoon, downtown became more and more crowded as holiday revelers arrived. Bill and I had hoped to see the evening’s world premiere of Isle of Dogs, but we were unable to snag express passes, and around 4:30 PM, we heard that the line was already impossibly long for the 8 PM screening. So Bill headed off to see a different movie and I decided to head home.
My SXSW Day 8 began with Keith Urban and ended with Keith Urban. No complaints there. In-between, I visited the Gaming Expo, saw a movie premiere at the Paramount Theater, and heard lots of good music.
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Today was a SXSW Music day. This morning Bill and I went to the Four Seasons Hotel and tried to get into the KUTX morning concerts. Alas, we arrived too late and the room was already at capacity. After a quick breakfast, Bill went off to see some movies, and I mostly hung out at the Austin Convention Center. I especially like the Radio Day Stage there. That huge room is never crowded, the sound system is clear, and the lineups are stellar.
SXSW Interactive has now switched over to Music. Bill and I started out the day with a highly-recommended documentary at the Alamo Lamar. Bill continued with SXSW Films while I hung out at the Austin Convention Center in the afternoon. We the met back up for music in the evening. The weather was perfect. It was a delightful day.
This was the last full day of SXSW Interactive. People were starting to leave, so most sessions weren’t crowded. I tried a variety of non-tech subjects today: faith, space, food, and comedy. Oh, and I finally found some free snacks. Note to 2019 self: Hang out more near the Food sessions.
During the first half of SXSW, I typically just see movies in the evenings and focus on Interactive sessions during the daytime. However, I couldn’t resist seeing The Director and the Jedi on Monday morning, even though it messed up the rest of the day.
Today was a mostly good SXSW day. I attended a nice variety of Interactive sessions and enjoyed a movie at the Paramount in the evening. My only complaint is food-related: once again I missed lunch. My mid-afternoon search for free food was a waste of time. I finally gave up and paid for a meal.
Saturday was a hot day in Austin—the high was around 90—but most of my time was spent indoors at Interactive sessions or Film screenings. I had no time to search for free food, but I did get to eat both lunch and dinner while watching movies at the Alamo Ritz.
SXSW has begun! On this first day, I attended SXSW Interactive sessions and then finished with a movie. In-between I searched for free food. Just a typical first SXSW day.