grace

… filling in the negative space with positively everything

SXSW 2009 Post-Mortem : An Interactive Tale Full of Sound and Fury

Entering the Microsoft TechSet Bloggers Lounge at SXSW this year was like stepping into a living tag cloud: the words “social media,” “online,” “Twitter,” “Facebook,” “blog,”"twitterati,” “social media,” “retweet,” “startup,” “hashtag,” “social media,” and – did I already say this? – “social media” hovered over the laptop-and-cable crowded tables. Energy was high as people connected online and offline, sharing ideas, information, and the occasional gossip. You got the impression something big, something cutting edge, was happening there.

Then it hit me. During a visit to the lounge, I had a Daily Show “Moment of Zen.” As one blogger raced around the room asking for retweets, the room turned into a scene from Shakespeare’s Macbeth:

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

The pomp, urgency, self-importance, adulation bordering on idolatry…it was all farce. If the Internet made the world flat, it also created a new class stratosphere: Web-Celebrity, populated by people whose biggest claims to fame are the numbers of followers and “friends” they have in online social networking sites. As James Wolcott said of self-styled celebrity Ann Coulter, the Web-Celeb is like “the Paris Hilton of postmodern politics, an elongated zero, a white-hot sex symbol symbolizing nothing” – after all, they may be hot, but what real substance, what genuine value, do they create?

SXSW 2009 – The Skinny…It’s Not So Bad After All

It seems like the Hipsters hit SXSW Music en masse this year: no matter which show you went to, you were drowned in hordes of twiggy men sporting preciously-mussed coifs, cleavage-accentuating v-neck tees, low-rise kicks, and skinny jeans. Miles upon miles of skinny jeans. Forget “junk in the trunk” – when did it become fashionable to show off the junk under your hood?

As we trooped off to various events at SXSW, Matthew – a vintage/retro slacks man – couldn’t take it anymore: sick of the sea of skinny, he ranted to Ned, Annelies, and anyone else within earshot about how much he hated skinny jeans. In response, we scanned the crowds and pointed out the much less appealing alternatives. (As Ned eloquently put it, “There’s a whole lot of unattractive walking around.”) This diversion turned into a week-long mission to highlight really poor wardrobe choices that show “Why You Shouldn’t Hate on Skinny Jeans.” Here are some of The Best of The Worst…keep an eye out for Lennie the Bunnyman:

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SXSW 2009 : Interactive Rocks!

Although I’ve been to SXSW for Music and Film in the past, this is my first year going to Interactive…and the common sentiment among techies I’ve serendipitously bumped into is: “If I hear ‘Social Media’ one more time I’m going to punch someone in the neck.” Hear hear. It seems like the value of content, meaning, and function are getting buried by the fascination with tools, technology, and “Twitterati.” With all this talk about Social Media, who has time for BEING social?

As SXSW veterans keep saying, there’s more value to be had in the hallways than in the sessions. In regards to getting a sense of real community, that value extends to the streets, parties, and unofficial events like BarCamp Austin. During the Texas Film Commission reception at Iron Cactus, guerilla rappers did a drive-by performance. Surrounded by techies at the Happy Cogaoke party at Scoot Inn, all rocking to co-working community evangelists like Alex Hillman and Tony Bacigalupo as they worked their karaoke sets, I finally felt like “we’re all in this together.” Doing the Humpty Dance with Gillian, then getting covered in silly string with the judges while doing the Time Warp didn’t hurt either.

If you couldn’t make it to SXSW, you can still share the moment via the following videos…make sure to surf through and check out Tony’s prize-winning performance!

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