Best of Austin party recap

Last night was the Best of Austin party for the new Chronicle issue, and even though I didn't win anything personally this year (c'mon! what boy band is better than CF?), I still got to stop by to partake in the free food and beer as a representative of the Alamo, which won best movie theater and best cheap date place. We've won best movie theater for a few years now, so there wasn't the same sense of excitement that some of the first time winners were feeling, but it's still always nice to know that we're still doing things right and that people are taking notice. If we lost to a Cinemark or something, that'd be a really bad sign for the direction this town is heading in...

Anyway.

The party was at Mercury Hall, which is really well-suited for weddings but worked for a mingling party just fine, too. There was plenty of Curra's (no surprise to people that have been to other Chronicle parties), an open bar with some wine or Dos XX or Lone Star, and a lot of interesting people from the city.

Mingling with the other winners is always my favorite part of the BoA party, and this year was no less fascinating. I got to sit down and eat my Curra's at a table with Erin and Michael from Bird's Barbershop (winners: Best Barbershop) and then they had the Homeslice Pizza people sit down with us (winners: Best Italian Renaissance - you thought I was going to say pizza, huh?) and the people from the crepe trailer on South Lamar joined us, too. Then I got to listen in as they all talked about what it's been like to start a business in town this year, until I started to need another drink.

I walked across the lawn and tapped this guy who was talking to people from Coldtowne and Parrellogramophonograph on the back because I thought he was a friend of mine, but he turned out to be a complete stranger. He was in a good mood, though, and it somehow ended up where I didn't feel as flushed as I should have for totally misidentifying who someone was. Mental note: study my friends' backsides so future shoulder tappings can all be correct.

Tim came by and we went over towards where Kier-la was talking to Robert and Josh, and I think that their awards are my favorites. Robert started this Hancock Hangabouts MySpace group awhile back and it won something, and Kier-la's Music Mondays won "Best Reason Why Mondays Don't Totally Suck" or something to that effect.

Then I got to talk to the Chronicle proofer staff and told Darcie Stevens all about how I was going to corrupt her little sister Caitlin (who you might know as my Sing-Along intern), and Darcie tried to get upset but realized that corrupt little sisters are just an undeniable part of growing up.

All in all, not a bad party. I do prefer the Chron Christmas party, though, because there's nothing more entertaining than a bunch of writers and editors getting sloshed and singing karaoke. But that's only a few months away now...

Small Screen Recap

Last night was our first official commercial-free TV Party at the Alamo Village (as Tim told you about in his post yesterday), and I've gotta say - it was AWESOME. I was nervous about a couple of things going into the show:

1) Would people talk? Audiences in a movie are generally good at being respectful of the people around them, but some people are used to commenting on TV shows because they only ever watch them with their friends. I HATE it when my friends are all talking through a scene and will rudely rewind my DVR to the scene they talked over to remind them that it is QUIET TIME UNTIL THE COMMERCIAL BREAK. So I told the crowd to please not talk at the beginning of the show and explained that I would probably have to personally smack them on the back of the head if they disobeyed, and whoa - the crowd was totally quiet and into it the whole time. I ended up feeling bad because me and my friends were the only ones who talked during the commercials (which were being fast-forwarded through). Next time I'll let everyone know that you're allowed to say what you thought of that part of the episode while we're watching the Aerie girls zip by without having to hear their moronic thoughts.

2) Would the Tivo operation go smoothly? Because if you're not paying attention and you accidentally fast forward too far into the show and I miss an opening line of dialogue or am exposed to a plot point 30 seconds before I should have been then you will have a cranky Drafthouse Henri on your hands. Fortunately, Justin, one of the managers at the Village, turned out to be a super professionaly Tivo master. He was tricked by a Domino's commercial a couple of times and we saw the beginning of it, but for the most part it was perfect. And he was smart enough to pause between Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars to give us a chance to take a bathroom break. Well done, Justin!

With the concerns not being a matter of concern at all there was nothing to do but sit back and enjoy the hugest Veronica Mars ever. I thought the episode itself was pretty bad ass, too, but I don't want to give anything away in case people haven't seen it yet. I never used to watch Gilmore Girls, either, but now I'm glad that we're doing this and I get to come into the show late and just watch and enjoy without getting too up in arms. Those people talk frakking fast, though! Daaaamn!

Small Screen on the Big Screen

Because TV has gotten so freakin' good, we've decided to open up some timeslots at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Village location to feature our favorite shows. Tuesdays at 7:30 PM we'll be screening GILMORE GIRLS and VERONICA MARS back to back, Thursdays at 7:30 PM features MY NAME IS EARL, THE OFFICE and SMALLVILLE and Friday at midnight we'll have last week's BATTLESTAR GALACTICA followed by the current episode. Screenings are free, but to reserve a seat, you need to purchase a $5 voucher for food and drink to use that night. The showtimes are delayed, by the way, so that we can watch them commercial free. For more information, click here