SXSW Rolls Into Austin

Interactive festival kicks off in Austin.

South by Southwest rolled into Austin over the weekend as the interactive and film festivals kicked off. The music festival starts later this stretch.

I proposed a session for the conference called “Getting the Right Domain Name(s) for Your Business”. But SXSW opened up panel selection to a voting process, and I didn’t want to put a banner on DNW that stated “Vote for me!”. Of course the typical techie who attends this show comes with Mac in tow and thinks domain names ought to be free. They also think Flickr.com is a good domain name.

Last night I went to the Digg party at Stubb’s where the crowd was amused by a magician with spiky hair who belonged on Letterman’s stupid human tricks. First he stuck a beer bong tube around his body, through his nose, and out his mouth to fill up four cups with a mixture of milk, water, orange juice, beer, and liquor (which he and three cast members from an online tv show drank). He then stuck a nail through one eye socket and pulled it out the other.

I had seen enough at that point. Besides, looking around I realized I didn’t belong in the crowd. I didn’t get the memo regarding needing a few piercings or thick black framed glasses. SXSW attracts a certain type of artsy coder. It wasn’t my type of crowd. And if anyone there found out what I did for a living, I think I would have been crucified by the slashdotters.