Today began with something spooky. With no alarm clock, I woke up at exactly the same time as yesterday. Except that the “exact same time” today isn’t really the same time as yesterday, it’s one hour earlier!!! How did my un/subconscious self know???
Of course, I followed that up by trying to do some work, without coffee. I got a decent bit done, as in I’m only two days behind instead of four, but I didn’t get to the Convention Center until around 11:00 a.m. In my own warped sense of time, that’s what counts for “late.”
On the plus side, it is finally sunny!!!
I had a respite because, according to the SXSW website, a panel I wanted to see at 9:30 a.m. was canceled, rescheduled, or something. At any rate, it disappeared from the schedule.
I had a hearty breakfast of coffee and two danishes from one of the many Jo’s Coffee stands scattered around the Convention Center, and made my way to the fourth floor. I was particularly excited this morning, because Jeffrey Tambor, George Bluth himself, was leading an “acting workshop” (#SXtambor on Twitter). Nothing was going to keep me from this. I really mean nothing. I sat through part of a presentation called “What is ‘Social TV’?” (#SXsocialweb on Twitter) just so I would already be in the room (the same Room 18abcd that had caused me so much grief over Joss Whedon yesterday). It was interesting, although it was a bit over my head in terms of both technological and marketing jargon.
Jeffrey Tambor
All I can really say about Jeffrey Tambor’s presentation is that it was awesome. He coached two young actors, Matt and Caitlyn, for our entertainment and edification. As an improvisermand possibly-aspiring actor, it was incredibly useful. Mr. Tambor also confirmed that they will be making an “Arrested Development” movie and ten episodes for Netflix. Life is good.
Blogging, hanging out, art appreciation
I just hung out for a while after that. I did some writing, met a fellow starving artist, and did not make it to the Funny or Die panel.
In the afternoon, I made my way up 6th Street, bathed in sunlight and surrounded by hipsters, to an open house at GoLab Austin. I noticed a distinct but gradual shift as I walked a mere two blocks north from the hip-but-bookish vibe of the Interactive attendees to the full-on-ironic atmosphere of the early music festival arrivals on 6th Street. It foreshadows what is about to befall my city.
GoLab Austin is a coworking space and art gallery. Some good art, and we heard from Shea Little, one of the founders of E.A.S.T. (East Austin Studio Tour) and the forthcoming West Austin Studio Tour. It was a nice break from the technological themes I had been hearing for several days.
Adult entertainment
I met up with a buddy and we decided to hit one more panel at the Stephen F. Austin Hotel. This was only the second panel I had attended away from the Convention Center. On a side note, even though the panels that might be most relevant to my field are at the Sheraton, roughly ten blocks to the north of the Convention Center, I have enjoying the atmosphere and the energy of the Convention Center enough to just stay there so far.
We went to a panel called “Maintaining Sanity and Profitability in Adult” (#SaneProfit on Twitter), largely out of curiosity about how they approach their business models. (Lest you think there was anything prurient whatsoever about this panel, all four presenters were middle-aged and decidedly casual, and there were no visual aids whatsoever.)
The discussion was mostly about trends in both brick-and-mortar and online adult businesses. The owner of Austin boutique Forbidden Fruit, Lynn Raridon, talked about the advantages of a physical retail location over the internet when selling, ahem “intimacy enhancement devices” (her words: “feeling is believing”). At the same time, operating a retail S.O.B. (sexually-oriented business) has its challenges, mostly in the form on legal restrictions. A business where more than a certain percentage of its products or services are legally deemed “sexual” in nature (I think they said 30%) faces extensive zoning restrictions, pretty much limited to industrial areas.
As for the internet, file sharing and “tube” sites (like YouTube but, you know…) are screwing up the profitability of sites that offer prepared content. The growth areas, they say, that cannot be pirated, are live webcam sites and “adult dating” sites. Setting up a webcam site from scratch requires a substantial investment in both hardware and software (make a pun about that and you are dead to me), but “white label” sites offer much of the technology and ongoing support. A person can put their own name on a white label site, the company provides the software, website, etc., and revenues are split, often as much as 50/50 between the company and the performer.
They talked a bit about a Canadian company called Manwin that apparently owns a lot of these tube sites. It you are interested in the business side of such things, I Googled them and found this New York Magazine article from a few years ago.
They talked quite a bit about the stigma of having any involvement at all in the adult industry, even if it is only peripheral, like by offering technical help. Opinions differed as to whether people should downplay their involvement or wear it proudly. Sid Grief, president of AAA News, has been involved in the adult business for 37 years. He said (and I paraphrase somewhat): “Being a pornographer is like being pregnant. There’s no such thing as a little bit pregnant, so be glorious in it.” Connor Young, a webmaster and marketing consultant, said that he thinks it is okay to dabble in adult, but to be careful how much of that you let show.
Jay Kopita, VP of YNOT.com and a marketing consultant with Young, made a very interesting point about social media and marketing. As social media companies are trying to get users to basically market to each other, they are looking into people’s search histories, and psychologists and other professionals are analyzing this data to try to determine what kind of person you are. This does not refer to a value judgment so much as a marketing category. I am not as familiar with Google’s new privacy policy as I should be, but I think it might play a big part in this.
Not going to SXSW parties
A friend told me about a PBS party downtown, featuring the cast of the BBC’s “Sherlock.” Although I know several people who would never forgive me if they knew I had the opportunity to meet, or even stand in the same room with, Benedict Cumberbatch and didn’t do it, they would never forgive me (And if they read this, now they know.) Despite his delightfully-British name and the fact that even I will admit the dude is quite handsome, I went home to watch TV with the girlfriend (having probably neglected to mention thay whole “handsome” thing.)
I did, however, find this unintentionally-funny blog post from a libertarian-leaning blogger on how last year’s PBS and NPR parties during SXSW were a waste of taxpayer dollars since the entire public was not able to go to them. To be fair, even without a badge, I heard you could get in if you waited in line. The bar isn’t big enough to hold all of America, though.
Two days of interactive fun left, so I needs my rest.
Photo credits: ‘Jeffrey Tambor at SXSWi,’ ‘Laugh by Deborah Argyropoulos’ by wondermutt, on Flickr; Benedict_Cumberbatch_filming_Sherlock.jpg: Fat Les from London, UK derivative work: RanZag (Benedict_Cumberbatch_filming_Sherlock.jpg) [CC-BY-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
