The activities of the last few weeks, work, the Con (which has suddenly become fashionably backlashed; I love it), the recapping, all that... it's kept me grounded to Austin, earthbound to Central Texas; October was the, "I can't go anywhere" month.

But I haven't seen my parents in weeks and weeks when they only live an hour away, I've lost sight of what the outside world is like (Hello, Toronto? It's me, Omar. Can you hear me?) and the temperature changes, the fuckarow teasing ("You like it cool; now it's 93. You like the warm as a change of pace. Fuck you, little man, it's a cold morning! Don't even try to guess. I'm nature and I'm a WOMYN."), have jangled me a bit, like a rabbit being tossed down a hill in its cage.

So I'm leaving town tonight. Packing some clothes, not sure when I'll back. Underwear, some PS2 games, my laptop, and a tank of gas. It's nice, an untethered feeling I can pretend to embrace (even as "buy enough food for 3 days of cat needs," and other thoughts like it echo in the skull) as I contemplate the road, my road tunes, my road frame of mind.

The road is calling. I'm going to answer it and not look back.

Until I look back. But I'm going to try to limit that.

Beyond Borders: This seems a little unlikely, but I'm starting to wonder if I've ever actually seen an Angelina Jolie movie. I carefully sidestepped both Tomb Boobler movies, I never saw Girl, Interrupted, I briefly considered Original Sin, but skipped it, never saw Pushing Tin, or Life or Something Like It, only saw the coked-out Japanese fashion parts of Gia, I'm not into stuff like Gone in Sixty Seconds at all... Folks, I've NEVER SEEN one of her movies? I can't believe it. Because she's been in a lot of stuff. Do I think she's hot? Well, sort of, although the image of her carrying 12 refugees on her bosom and all the sex she must have had with one BB Thornton certainly don't help. Do I think she can act? Well, surely she must have done something right in Girl, Interrupted. Maybe I've subconsciously kept myself from watching her on film because I thought on some level I might really like her or really come to despise her. She exists for me as a celebrity, not an actress, and i have more mental images of her walking red carpets than I do seeing her well up with tears or shoot some robot in the head. That said? I won't be seeing Beyond Borders, and not just because of its shitty reviews. I just would hate to break my streak at this point.

Bubba Ho-tep: We saw the preview for this when we saw Kill Bill (which I really, really liked. Tarantino is still one of the only filmmakers who can give me an honest-to-God jolt of surprise at the movies) and it looked like what one of my upper-up bosses would call "A hoot." Bruce Campbell needs no more coolness points in his life: He's hoarded them all. And Ossie Davis is always at least interesting. I like when he says something really gruff like in Do the Right Thing where Da Mayor goes, "You don't know... SHHHIIIT!" That rocks. Anyway, he plays JFK, who survived and is now black. And Bruce Campbell is Elvis. They fight an Egyptian monster. It's based on a story by Joe R. Landsdale. How does that not sound like a bad-ass movie? Unfortunately, the movie is getting mostly stinky reviews (although Bruce is getting props), including one nasty comment accusing the movie of trying to will itself into becoming a cult movie. Well, it was a good idea at least.

Madame Sata: When I hear the phrase, "the transvestite legend of Brazil's urban folklore," I tend to think, "That's the movie for me." However, this week is busy and I have about as much time for "the transvestite legend of Brazil's urban folklore" as Ethan Hawke has for a sex addicts anonymous meeting.

Millennium Actress: From everything I've heard and the preview I saw, this is just like a melodramatic soap opera, told in Japanese animation. "It sounds girly," I told our critic. "It's very girly," she responded. Which is not bad in anime, as evidenced by one of my favorite movies, Spirited Away, but this one sounds like it's got a lot of crying and mournful heartbreak music in it. And it sounds like it's somehow based on Jem and the Holograms.

Radio: Ow. Ow. My head. Ach. Can't do it. Can't write about this. Is it sad that I was hoping this would be the fictional biopic of Radio Rahim? Yep, two Do the Right Thing references in one movie roundup. This movie looks like ass and I will flush its contents accordingly.

Scary Movie 3: This could have been really good, and it's not really terrible, it's just not that funny or interesting or original. It's the same jokes done way better in movies like Airplane! (it's the same director), but if I wanted to be intermittenly amused for an hour and a half with tiny semblances of Funny, I could just stay home and watch SNL. My full review is in the paper today.

Wonderland: Some people still watch Val Kilmer movies, but I don't know who those people are. This one's about John Holmes, but apparently doesn't really say a damn thing about him and you'd probably be better off renting Boogie Nights and watching it again. I'm sure Boogie at least has a better soundtrack.

DVDs: Finding Nemo! Fuck yeah! That's enough to keep me entertained for two weekends.

I didn't post more Jcon photos last night because I got busy, but they're coming soon. There's lots of really funny entries and pictures out there and it's been a great week for hearing different perspectives about our little party. And of course, there's the requisite drama, but of course we knew we weren't going to please everyone. We didn't know we were going to horrify, offend or otherwise emotionally scar others, but it shouldn't surprise me that among all the cool, funny, well-adjusted journal/blog people out there, there are some who are walking eggshells waiting for any excuse to crack and cry for attention. So, poor them. I'm sorry you're an egg.

Don't like photos? Too bad! Get a faster connection!


Party people doing party things. Notice Master V. in the white shirt. That's a handsome man.


Pretty ladies at the bar. But then, I'm totally biased. Also, to the right of the frame: Jcon + beer makes you sleepy.


Jcon cuties!


The Webcam Master (he is "Beau," not "Mr. Jette") and the driving force of Web Writers Weekend 2003 taking a well-deserved break on the swing.


"Viva! Viva la JournalCon karaoke!"


I like karaoke.


Al is smiling because I had that rose in my teeth and found out only later it had been all over the floor.


No, you don't understand. I really like karaoke. A lot.

Tomorrow: The secret Sunday night BBQ run.

Jeff thinks you guys are hellasmart.

A new recap of Smallville is up.

I'm not writing about JournalCon. There are plenty of folks out there doing a great job of recapping it, so I'm not going to do it. I'm just gonna offer a few quick thoughts, then for the next few days, I'll be posting a few photos as a time. Deal? Deal.

Quick thoughts: We started working on Jcon almost two years ago when after the Chicago Jcon, a bunch of us Austinites decided we wanted to host. We lost the bid last year to San Fran, but won it for this year and it was almost a year of meetings, budgets, handout and just work. But it was fun and our little dysfunctional Jcon family went through rough times and great times, the greatest being the event itself which made all the work worthwhile. I didn't do nearly as much as I should have because of how busy the last year has been, but I was lucky because others on the Host Committee just completely had their shit together and helped my disorganized ass along. And judging by the fun people seem to have had, it was a really great job.

Other notable thing: I got bras thrown at me while I karaoke'd. I met more wonderful people in addition to the ones I already knew. Some friends I hadn't seen in a while came back to town and some folks from Austin I never get to see gathered together. I was exhausted and headachy for most of the weekend (mostly just lack of sleep and stress over the Saturday Night Show), but I tried to put on a happy face (er, I kind of have to with this site) and have as good a time as my body would allow.

The Saturday Night Show: I couldn't believe how well it came off. It was first thing I've kinda-sorta ever produced theatrically and the joy I got from hearing people laugh and clap was immeasurable. I had unbelievable help in the sound booth, at the door and from the performers. I was sad that a lot of folks missed it who I know would have enjoyed seeing the performances, but thrilled that all the worry I had about it ended up being for nothing. (Well, not exactly for nothing: If I hadn't been so stressed, I wouldn't have been so attendant to trying to get all the little details right.)

Karaoke: Unbelievable, as always. Jcon Karaoke cannot be desribed. It has to be experienced. We made some converts that night, I think.

And that's it for now. I don't want to bore those who don't care about the event, I can't write about it as well as many who already have and I don't want to make those who missed it and are sad about it feel any worse. But I can share pictures, at least.



Pineapple Girl: Queen of the Con


Anna Rain: Webcam Co-conspirator


The Fab'lous Chamber Room + Swag Pool Table


Allison guitar surprise pic #1


Allison guitar surprise pic #2


Allison guitar surprise pic #3

Tomorrow: Karaoke pics.

Staying over at the house of cat pee is Ms. Emily of Mildew:



She has decided to brave the smelly futon (and the other cat with her photogenic naughty parts) and joined a posse of last-day-of-JournalCon diners/movie-watchers on this late evening. It's wonderful having company and if I have my way, I'm going to adopt her so she can stay in Austin forever. How expensive can raising a 22-year-old be?

I'll write more about the weekend when I have time -- for now it's bedtime and then our houseguest gets an early flight.