Eugene Weekly

Pickathon is not your average summer festival. I’d heard that, before I went last year, but you have to experience it for the difference to really be clear. It’s not small — it sprawls over 80 acres of Pendarvis Farm, outside Portland — but it feels small, intimate and unexpectedly comfortable. It’s not crowded. It’s laid-back, but not super-hippie. You don’t go to get all jacked up on cheap beer and fast food; you go to nibble ice cream and maybe find a shady corner of the beer garden to enjoy a microbrew. Continue reading →

Where were we? Or rather, when were we? Last month. Let’s just cut to the chase. Continue reading →

This is one in a series of posts about the panels at this year’s South by Southwest — most panels were part of the Interactive track, but some were in Film or Music. All raised a lot of questions, some of which I’ve asked below; I hope you’ll want to join in the conversation. Continue reading →

Erik Abel (aka Animal Farm’s Gen.Erik) from Focused Noise sent over a link to this video, which is sort of a video scrapbook/goofy behind-the-scenes look at the experience Focused Noise artists Animal Farm, Serge Severe and Mic Crenshaw had at SXSW. Skinny men in green bodysuits, missing Thai food restaurants, free hugs in the middle of the street — it’s all here. Continue reading →

There’s a simple reason why it’s three weeks down the line and I’ve yet to write about SXSW Interactive, which is the part of SXSW with the most panels: Every time I sit down to do just that, I feel like the top of my head pops off and things just start pouring out — unsorted thoughts, ideas, information, complaints, exclamations, genuine glee. It’s just SO BIG. It’s a nerd and tech conference; it’s got too many tracks to keep track of, unless you’re really focused on the design aspect or the development stuff or the personal stuff or … whatever it is you want out of it. Continue reading →