Travis Smith: my resume, bio and photos back to the main blog page

I Went to SXSW

posted at 11:20 pm
on Mar. 23, 2007

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[-[-GAH!!!-]-]

Picture that as the sound of me surfacing from under the load of a thousand tiny To Do items, things like “Clean cat litter” and “Redo press nav graphic” and “Make list of things to blog about.”  On top of those To Do items, pile actual tasks, like launching a few Web sites, and unpacking and getting ready to sell my house.  Then on top of that pile the whipped cream of stress, all the photos I took at SXSW this year.

SXSW, the interactive-music-movie-whoarewekiddingit’saPARTY conference in Austin, was superb this year, and what made it even more fun was going with Matt and seeing all the people I’d seen last year, double plus good to see them again.  The evening events were once again great, and while I don’t think I had the same stamina as last year, I had an inkling of what to avoid, and that helped compensate.

The lack of stamina (failed my CON saving throw?) was a direct result of the flu caught from Northern Voice this year (next year’s slogan: Catch Moose Fever!) and I’m basic over it now, I’m pretty sure almost.

Definitely the best panel I attended was Wil Wright’s keynote talk about Spore (official site) (his new Sims-like computer game) and the comparative construction of narrative in film and video games.  He talked about twice as fast as most conference speakers, and often had no words on his powerpoint slides.  Basically, the man is an idea machine running at full tilt, and it was a wonderful experience to sort of mentally jog along side him for a while.

I also noticed that though it was a large keynote type session, those who might ordinarily have been checking email, twittering and otherwise dividing their attention were totally focused on him.  Lesson here: SXSW attendees are very smart and you have to go pretty fast to keep their attention.

It was too bad we didn’t have Hop Studios represented on a panel this year.  I’ll have to try to rectify that next year.  I’m focussing more and more on citizen journalism, and I think by next year I’ll have something interesting to say—and maybe if I talk as fast as Wil Wright, I’ll only need a 15 minute panel, which they can surely squeeze in, right?

ps where are the SXSW photos? I finally decided to post and get to the photos when I get to them.  Stay tuned!



 
 

 

Previous entry:
A Time to Rent, A Time to Sell

Next entry:
Water Bottle Riddle

Overheard

“The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.”

...who said it?

“Almost every American I know does trade large portions of his life for entertainment, hour by weeknight hour, binge by Saturday binge, Facebook check by Facebook check. I’m one of them. In the course of writing this I’ve watched all 13 episodes of House of Cards and who knows how many more West Wing episodes, and I’ve spent any number of blurred hours falling down internet rabbit holes. All instead of reading, or writing, or working, or spending real time with people I love.”

...who said it?

“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”

...who said it?

“I play with variables constantly.”

...who said it?

“Only the person who has learned Continual Love coming from a heart of Gratitude/Worship can effectively deal with the problem of loneliness.”

...who said it?

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