Due to the Daylight Savings Time switch, fewer sessions were scheduled for this morning, so I explored the Creative Industries Expo (formerly known as the SXSW Trade Show). I also visited the German Haus, The House of Denmark, and some pop-ups on Rainey Street. Free on-street Sunday parking made it easier for Bill and me to see a movie at Zach Scott Theatre and then drive up to the Austin Film Society for another screening.
Creative Industries Expo
This year’s show was smaller than the pre-pandemic years. The US government had a large presence with agencies such as the CIA, NSA, and TSA all looking to hire. The I learned that the US Copyright Office jobs were related to reviewing all kinds of patent applications…might be interesting, might be boring. One highlight was the delicious baklava at the Turkish Airlines booth.
Design in Tech Report 2023
I arrived early for the Ryan Gellert Keynote and ended up in the Ballroom D overflow room. I watched John Maeda, VP of Design and AI at Microsoft, speak about Artificial Intelligence. He even referenced Eliza, an old operating system from the 1970s. I should say tried to watch this session, because that overflow room was an overflowing crowded mess. The SXSW volunteers didn’t seem to have any staff oversight and kept letting folks into the room. I was glad to see that these issues were addressed the next day.
Keynote: Ryan Gellert
Patagonia’s CEO, Ryan Gellert, was interviewed by Katie Couric. On September 14, 2022, the company’s owner, Yvon Chrouinard, had announced that the company would be restructured, with all profits going to fight climate change. According to Gellert, “We want to inspire change in the apparel industry.” Everything we make has an impact. …. [and everyone needs to] take responsibility for the impact.” For this reason, Patagonia repairs, buys-back, and resells their clothes. Gellert said that mixing materials is the most complicated problem on both the front-end and the back-end of apparel manufacturing. Interestingly, Patagonia recently acquired a cracker company called Moonshot to address agricultural food chain issues.
Hung Up on You
The four surviving band members attended this world premiere screening about the history of The Zombies. You, too, will probably recognize most of their songs from the ‘70s & 80s. The band will be playing a few times at SXSW in the coming week.
Love to Love You, Donna Summer
Yet another documentary where I knew most of the songs, but not much about the artist.
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