Preparing for AFF

I leave for the Austin Film Festival TOMORROW! Tomorrow morning at 4 a.m., to be exact. Craziness.

My life is in chaos as I am trying to get everything done (papers, presentations, etc) before I leave town. I have three papers, a test, and a giant presentation on the Tuesday when I get back, but since I'll be gone Thursday through Sunday (a HUGE chunk of my study/prep time), I've been trying to do as much work as possible before leaving.

All that work hasn't left me a lot of time to get excited about the Austin Film Festival. But as soon as Thursday morning rolls around, I am whipping out that conference and film schedule and going to town with a highlighter. I heard that Blue Valentine will be playing (!!!!!), which I'm stoked about (note previous exclamation points) and definitely want to see again (was lucky enough to see it in Cannes).

Other films I'd love to see:
Black Swan
Conviction

And to me, the best part of the Austin Film Festival isn't even the watching movies part (though that's awesome). The best part is the conference element, which is screenwriting focused. Even though I don't have any particular interest in screenwriting, I most definitely want to write in my future (be it novels, magazine articles, or short stories). So I'm really looking forward to going and feeling inspired to write more (fiction, that is).

Can't wait!