Welcome to South by Southwest 2009

At Zappos.com, Tony Hsieh has fostered a culture where extraordinary customer service is the norm. On Saturday, March 14, hear him talk about how good deeds can help you leverage the power of your audience to massively extend your brand. As a preview, you can read this story for a glimpse of a company that blazes its own trails, including paying its employees to quit. Tony previously spoke at SXSW 2008 in his presentation "Top Ten Lessons Learned in E-Commerce."

Lance Myers is an Austin-based animator, a SXSW alum and previous juror, and a regular contributor to the DIONYSIUM series at the Alamo South Lamar (The Next Screening is TONIGHT, September 3rd). SXSW programmer Lya Guerra asks him some questions about the series, and in turn, learns about the Greeks and animation and the direction of mankind in general.

So Lance, could you give me the precise definition of "Dionysium"?
The original dionysia were political, philosophical, religious events held yearly in ancient Greece. Kind of like SXSW—they were meant to encourage creativity and rowdy drinking. Ours is held monthly because too much of a good thing can be beautiful.

Dionysium has been called evocative, fun and The Austin Chronicle proclaims it "…a night of diverse intellectual pleasures." Are you the brains behind all this intellectual pleasure? If not, who is responsible for all this evocative diversity, etc.?
I cannot take credit for founding the Dionysium. It was created by a friend of mine from New York named L.B. Deyo. While living in New York, L.B. used to host a monthly event called the Athenaeum, which was more of a round table discussion than a theatrical presentation, like this is. So when he moved here he teamed up with an old friend, Buzz Moran, and created this.

When was the inaugural Dionysium event?
June 2, 2004. My original role at the Dionysium was to sketch while the event was happening. Those drawings are still posted in the archive section of dionysium website.

So there are lectures and music. You supply the animation and the analysis thereof. Does animation play a role in the Dionysium series as a whole?
Animation is not necessarily a pivotal part of the event. But championing the fine arts is a big part of what we’re doing here. And I just happen to be an animator who would like to see my craft taken seriously. So it’s my own personal mission, and the Dionysium is a perfect platform for carrying it out.

I don't mean to lead the witness, but it seems the Alamo South is the perfect place for this series...Is my sweeping assumption correct?
Yes. You are correct! Tim League is obviously a big supporter of innovative theatrical events. Many thanks go to him for believing in the idea. And the Salvage Vanguard Theatre should also be commended for adopting the event as a function of their organization.

Was this event conceived and constructed to avoid an "Idiocracy" type scenario, 500 years from now, or is it simply too late?
Might be too late. I’m thinking about doing a rotoscoped version of “Ass” the movie. Or maybe “Ow, My Balls!”

Briefly, what's on the table for the September 3rd program?
I’m not sure about the full lineup, but I can tell you about what I’ll be showing. It just so happens that my parents will be in town and attending the event and they have requested to see something created by their son. So, since I don’t have a brother, I’ll be showing episode number 6 of my web series, The Ted Zone.

As of 11:59 pm CST on September 1, the voting apparatus for the SXSW Panel Picker has been disabled. That said, you can sill browse the more than 1300 proposals submitted for next spring -- and you can still leave comments on the ideas that seem most intriguing to you. We plan to announce the first batch of confirmed programming in early October, so please stay tuned to this website for complete details. Also, thanks to the more than 15,000 people who signed up for accounts for this year's Panel Picker voting interface. Talk about the power of the community!

Given the massive surge we have seen today on the SXSW Interactive Panel Picker voting interface, we have decided to keep the polls open through the Labor Day weekend.

Votes and comments will be accepted through 11:59 pm on Monday, September 1 -- so you should have a little more time to browse the 1300+ proposals that have been submitted for the 2009 Interactive event.

Also, if all goes as planned, we should be making the first round of programming announcements (i.e., accepted ideas) in early October. Happy voting, Happy Labor Day, Happy SXSW Interactive.

If you are a new media professional living in the London area, then be sure to attend our second annual networking event on Monday evening, October 6 at Digress City in Moorgate. This get-together serves as the Opening Party for Virtual Worlds Forum Europe, a three-day confab for corporates, brands and all those wanting to learn how to harness the power of virtual worlds to engage with clients, suppliers and customers. VWF includes four industry-leading keynotes from Mel Guymon (Google), Geoff Iddison (Jagex), Craig Sherman (Gaia Online) and Luba Cherbakov (IBM), plus a lineup of more than 80 expert speakers. Exhibitors include Unity3d, Twinity, Testronic, Freggers, Disney, sMeet, Entropia Universe, Forterra, Habbo, Fatfoogoo, Parature, Iovation and Yogurt.

Please  RSVP immediately to attend the October 6 party as space is very limited.

Thomas Logoreci was a writer and actor in the very well received short film A Day's Work, at last year's SXSW Film Festival. SXSW's Lya Guerra catches up with him and finds out what he’s doing when he’s not winning awards or programming shorts for a festival in Albania, and makes him choose between his life’s passions.

1. What's going on with the life of A Day's Work? A Day's Work has gone on to a number of other festivals. But myself and Ed were most pleased by winning the grand jury prize at the SF Shorts fest here in our hometown of San Francisco a few weekends back.

2. Okay, you write and act. You have to choose one, which would it be? If I had to chose one, I'd probably go with writing. Though last year, after we shot 'Day's Work', I went down to Albania and worked on that country's most expensive film to date - Fatmir Koci's Time of the Comet. I played a small role as a bandit in the film (in the photo I'm the one on the left).

3. You also program films for a film festival in Albania. What kind of festival is it and how to you find films to fit it? The Tirana Intl. Film Fest is a mostly shorts fest that also honors several world-renowned filmmakers by showing a number of their features. Luckily this year, owing to 'Day's Work', I've seen a number of the best shorts from around the world. My main task now is to contact all these filmmakers and book their small masterpieces into the Tirana fest. The Albanian capital, Tirana, has only two theaters for its population of one point two million. So people are starved for good movies. Maybe it's a holdover from Albania's time as socialist republic but it makes me kinda glad that the festival charges no admission.

4. Any new productions in the works? Right now I'm wrapping up editing on a decade-long project chronicling the Olympia, Washington music scene. The feature is called Try This at Home. It's culled from over 150 hours of tape and features talk and performances from Elliott Smith, Sleater-Kinney and Negativland among others.

Not sure what SXSW is all about? Check out the video below for a glimpse of what you're in for at SXSW 2009. Thanks to the folks at Super! Alright! and our sponsor, Dell Lounge for putting it together and making it happen.

Have you checked out the SXSW Panel Picker voting interface yet? This innovative application lets the web community (that's you!) vote and comment on which panel ideas are most relevant for the 2009 event. Whether you want to browse all 1250+ ideas, or focus on particular sub-categories such as accessibility, fashion, music, Ruby on Rails, blogging, sports, or Drupal, the Panel Picker is a lot of fun. But the good times will be coming to a close soon as voting ends at 11:59 pm Central Standard Time on Friday, August 29. See you at the polls!

Our good friends over at the Austin Chronicle have started a new online film debate series called Film Fight. What is Film Fight, you ask? Here is a description from their website:

Film Fight is a monthly series in which the Chronicle's film critics go head-to-head on all things filmic. Cast a vote for each day, Monday to Friday, for who you think won the day. Join the fight yourself by commenting on our blogs, and you just might win a prize.

Intrigued? Me, too. So, get thee over to the Chron's Film Fight website and comment and vote!

Think your website is what's happening? If your site was launched or redesigned in 2008, then enter it in the 2009 SXSW Interactive Web Awards. Websites can be entered in a variety of categories from Activism to Technical Achievement.

To find out all you need to know about the 2009 Web Awards Ceremony, including when it takes place (March 15, 2009) and how much it costs to enter your site ($10 before October 17), check out the Web Awards section of the SXSW Interactive site.

Missed the 2008 Web Awards? Check out the finalists and winners from last year's competition. You can also listen to the podcast of the 2008 ceremony to relive the fun with emcee Eugene Mirman and The Ninja from Ask A Ninja.