South by
Southwest (
website ho!) is an annual
film/music festival, where some
crazy shit happens. Often written up by its abbreviation,
SXSW (lots of nodes there, as it turns out), this
rite of spring goes to
town in
Austin, Texas. Which is in the South, and though not really the "far West" can be called Southwest with a straight face. The name references a highly regarded
1959 Cary Grant movie,
North by Northwest. The South by Southwest tradition kicked off in 1987, and has in turn served as a place for "
indy" films to premiere -- those that are perhaps not quite ripe for the
Cannes Film Festival or the
Sundance Film Festival.
With the festival running for about a
week and a half, and offering dozens of stages and screening rooms, the
opportunity exists to place hundreds of
bands and
films on
display, and an attendee with a clear idea of when and where things are can take in at least
dozens of these. Naturally, there are also
parties. And
after-parties. And after-after-parties. And if you make it to all the parties, you'll sleep through a lot of the bands and films, but just tell yourself that they only show the shitty ones early in the day anyway, and you'll be steeled to hit all the stuff really worth going to.