Crumb.

The film portion of the South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival is well underway, and this year it's a bit slow for me.

I did go the Austin Film Society's open house at Austin Film Studios.

Kind of cool to get a bit of history on the 20-acre facility, the onsite vendors, and the potential for the space.

I was bummed the tour wasn't more inclusive of the available office space, interaction with the onsite vendors, etc.

It was also an "open house" in the negative sense of the word -- kind of a "come in, hang out, whatever" kind of shin dig, and not lot of energy or positive vibe, which was (understandably) a bit of a downer.

Plus it was like 90-degrees yesterday as we wandered around what was the tarmac of the old Austin airport.

I did run into Stephen, a student producer for whom I auditioned for a role as Batman. I'm pretty picky about student films, but this was Batman. They ended up casting based on who fit the suit, and the mean spirited side of me was happy to hear they didn't have a good experience with the actor.

Stephen and co. seemed like good folks though, and I hope cool things come out of SXSW for them.

And for me.

I'm an AFS member, which got me in to the open house, but gives me no other discounts during the festival -- not even the AFS sponsored events, which seems a little embarrassing.

I am going to try to hit The Cassidy Kids tonight. There are some real talented folks in this film, and I'm also supposed to meet "someone who knows someone" tonight.

I've been hearing that a lot lately, so whatever. If it happens, it's gravy.

Maybe see you there?