The Doppler Effect

This year, several teams got to move in to the convention center a day earlier than in the past. The "tech team", as we're called, didn't have access to our normal space, but instead moved in to a room on the mezzanine level, along with about 70 rented iMacs.

These iMacs will be used at the badge pickup and wristband pickup areas, and must be preloaded with the software we use for these purposes. In the case of the badge pickup line computers, this process is quite detailed. Several plugins and scripts need to be installed, and each one has to be configured to run on that specific computer. There are many opportunities for error, and when you think you're done and go to test, it sucks when it doesn't work, because you basically have to start over and see what you missed or got wrong. It took us about eight hours to get 37 of the machines ready. Luckily, the wristband pickup line computers don't need to take and store photos in the database, so they'll be much easier to set up.

Tonight is my last "early" night, wherein I got to come home at a decent hour and get some last-minute housework done. Tomorrow night, we'll do a dry run on our badge pickup process, with SXSW staff and volunteer crew chiefs picking up their badges, and the Austin Chronicle staff getting their badges printed, to be delivered to them later. Traditionally, a large number of staff and crew chiefs gather at a club after this dry run, and have snacks and drinks, so a late night becomes a later, inebriated night. Good practice for what's to come, I suppose :-)

Apparently, Charla and I were the two people who suggested Ze Frank be invited to emcee the SXSW Web Awards ceremony. We got our picture taken with him after the show last night.

Today I finally created and seeded the "SXSW 2007 Showcasing Artists - Release 1" bittorrent file. There's 739 songs, totaling just over 3.1 gigabytes. Grab it here.

In the seven summers I've worked at SXSW, this one has been the most intense by far. Every summer, we redesign our website's look, and we usually make tweaks to our ecommerce application and other private web apps. This summer, we trashed our old coupon system and created a new, hopefully more intuitive one. We also added a major module to the app that music festival applicants use to share information with us. Starting this year, we're asking that rather than mailing us CDs and presskits, that the artists upload mp3 files and other documents or web links that will give us the clues we need to determine their viability for a SXSW showcase. That brings us to another all-new application, which I created for "grading" and taking notes on each artist based on the music and materials they present to us. Most of you will never see the fruits of any of the hard work I've just mentioned, though.

You can, however, take a look at the sharp design of the 2007 edition of SXSW.COM. Our Web Awards coordinator, Shawn O'Keefe, did what we feel is a superb job of showcasing our 2007 identity in a bright, clear and easy to use website. All of my Web Team mates really stepped up to the plate this summer, as did the entire staff of SXSW when it came to testing, providing content, proofreading, and suggesting direction for the new site and all its attendant applications.

Someone has organized a Lego playpen to take place in the Austin Convention Center during SXSW Interactive, March 10th through 14th. The first floor of the Austin Convention Center is open to the public during SXSW, so we can assume the Lego Playpen is, too. Come get your blocks off!

http://playpen.sixfoot6.com/

They're asking for donations to buy more Legos for you to play with.

The SXSW ClickGuide! will be available soon, and it's complement, hundreds of full-length songs as well as many Film Fest trailers, are available now. The BitTorrent files which allow you to download this massive amount of content have not been getting as much attention as the ones we released last year. That's probably because last year, wired.com interviewed me and some other music industry professionals and wrote an article about it.

So go and download the torrents we've currently got available, and check back tomorrow, when there will be two new releases with over 200 new songs and 20 new film trailers.

Earlier in the week, I bought a 24" Redline aluminum-frame bmx cruiser during my lunch break. Since then, I've either had to work late or the weather's been crummy, so I haven't gotten to ride it. Jason went and bought himself a cruiser yesterday, so we made a run to the beers store together after it stopped raining.

I didn't really like the knobby tires it came with, so after some office server/network work was done this morning, I went and bought some slicks for it. This is important because I don't plan on riding trails or dirt soon... this bike's main mission is to get me around the streets, alleys and sidewalks of downtown Austin during the ten days and nights of SXSW craziness. After that, I might put the knobbies back on and hit some trails though.

I was gonna just link to The San Benito All Stars post about this, but it's been two days, and nada, so I guess I'll break the news about my new kicks:

Nike has seen fit to outfit SXSW staff with new shoes for the past three years. This year's model, designed by the wife of a co-founder of SXSW, are too cool for words...





From what I've heard, the orange swoosh is a nod to the University of Texas. The green suede is an expression of respect for our troops. The blue, which is in the bubble in the heel, symbolizes the politically "blue" nature of Austin... Travis county was the only blue county in Texas on the 2004 presidential electoral maps. The laces are for holding the shoes snug upon one's feet.

Here's some sage advice from a Japanese blogger:

"It is enormous, is. When being spare time, please try seeing carefully."

From here
Translated by Google

Despite the fact that I'm still exhausted from driving so much last weekend, I managed to drag myself out to the season opener of the SXSW Pufs' softball game. I arrived at the field with a 12-pk of Tecate, and for quite awhile I thought I'd be the only one there rooting for my team. Eventually, others showed up... Mother Mary, Tammy, Kristen, Dan and Eve were there to help cheer on the team.

The PUFS ended up winning 13-8... YAY! Way to start the season, Pufs!