Here’s the video. I uploaded more photos here.
It’s pouring down rain right now here in Austin, with the most beautiful thunder and lightning show I’ve witnessed in ages. We don’t really get thunder and lightning very often in SF — maybe once a year, if that. Interestingly, it’s usually around the time of my birthday when it happens (Autumnal Equinox). It doesn’t feel like my birthday right now. But I’m up on the second floor of a Victorian B & B with huge open windows and candlelight, so it feels quite sweet nonetheless.
SXSW is weird. It’s a convention that has a bit of an identity crisis, thinking it’s more of a creative festival. The panels in the Interactive section certainly have a lot of ideas and thoughts to take back home with me, but the attendees are lots of people that are mostly, to me, pretty much hanging out with big “for sale” signs around their necks. And the web celebrity thing is weird — not for my personal experiences here, because I’m totally on the DL, not doing any “web celeb” panels (truthfully, I’m not in those cliques), and I don’t think anyone really knows who I am except my friends. I’ve worn my badge for all of ten minutes — yesterday, to get my schwag bags. Mind you, there are some pretty talented people here, people who have things to offer that MSM isn’t ready for, or wouldn’t quite know what to do with — yet (agencies *are* signing people, and sniffing vlogosphere panty in the halls, for sure). But it’s the people that are 2.0 ambitious, the ones you can smell the vessel-constricting desire for fame (and money) on. Some of these people have achieved a bit of the mainstream attention they long for oh so bad, and are pushing their way ahead — I think, not knowing where they’re pushing to. That’s the funny thing. Where do they think they’re going? Don’t they know that celebrity is transitory, but being the butt of a Defamer post is forever? I mean, there really was a woman at one of the hipster-riddled emo-haircut startup parties last night who’d just had a few single-family-home-in-the-Castro down payment sized investments of cosmetic surgery on her young face (now Forever Young), who posed for Scott Beale in hopes of a photo but then wouldn’t approve a single shot for his use –even though to me, her photos looked great. There are some seriously aspiring assholes here.
There are no answers to any of my questions about this stuff. I’m just observing, that’s all. Here, in the dark, with the crazy shower outside and the ghostly, lightning-backlit trees.
The Sex and Computational Technology Panel today was a blast. qDot did a fantastic presentation, Cory Silverberg was inspiring and thoughtful (and I *love* him), Amanda Williams was a funny moderator, and Johanna Brewer was brilliant. It was nice to have so many people talking about teledildonics and machine sex, and the failures and hopes for this kind of tech. Most exciting were Silverberg’s ideas about how biometrics and teledildonic technology could be used to gain better and more accurate data on sexual response for studies: imagine if instead of people trying to have sex in lab conditions, we got data from people having sex in their natural environments (like at home), with the information being transmitted to doctors in real time via a web interface. We’d have more accurate sex information, that’s what. Of course, there was a bit of discussion about machine sex and loving the machine — I suggested re-purposing the three laws of robotics for role-play.
So that panel was great. And I’m having fun subverting security with Jonathan Moore, like sneaking into exclusive lounges where we don’t belong and taking poser pictures, then leaving, and social engineering friends into “exclusive” parties. (Congrats to Jonathan and Kevin for making the front page of Teh Chronic!) Plus, it’s really great to see Rachel, and I’m excited to see that Podtech is going all out for the Vloggies this year — I’ll visit the pimped-out booth tomorrow, w00t!
But I’m feeling like a fish out of water with all the scenemaking going on — out of water, even in the rain. I’m really not looking forward to being the critical voice on the monetizing panel tuesday. Or maybe I am. I wish I’d brought my GETV “I was internet famous once” t-shirt to wear. Someone told me last night that they tried to give one of my (upcoming tuesday) co-panelists one of our shirts, and that the person refused, offended. Interesting, no?
