This is what happens: SXSW is such a huge, overwhelming event with so much going on at all hours that the idea of blogging it is just insane. Some people appear to have more than 24 hours in a day, but not me. And then I get home and go to another three-day conference (hello, Lunacon) and there's even more to write about and then I get home finally and rest up and then I can't imagine writing it all up and reliving everything.

So, a few highlights:

• Interviewing Mr. Harlan Ellison (pictured) and his great documentary film director Erik Nelson (the film is "Dreams With Sharp Teeth" at the Driskill Hotel, in the bar mezzanine area. And having some tourists wander in during the chat and Harlan immediately snapping their heads off and ordering them to get the fuck out. (All SXSW interviews located here; click on "Festivals" tab.)
• Running into the filmmakers of "Second Skin," a documentary about folks who play way too much World of Warcraft and Everquest and end up meeting the loves of their lives by doing so, over and over again, until we kept joking that we were mutually stalking one another
• Stubb's! Ribs! Then, getting a call to do a breaking story just as my lemonade arrives and writing up the story at the table while the ribs cooled and getting 'cue sauce on my mouse
• Having a long chat with the affable and talented Jonathan Coulton, who agreeably played the delightful "Shop Vac" at my request during his show later that evening (go download his stuff; he's hilarious and amazing and writes songs about zombies sometimes)
• Becoming deeply irrtated at the frustrating debut feature "Yeast" and yet still finding that that was the most emotion a film has dredged up in me in years
• Winning a 250 gig hard drive storage device (two years in a row of getting a prize after putting my business card in a glass vase!)
• Interviewing the filmmakers and comedian who put together "Super High Me" in a glass-enclosed structure on the SXSW trade show floor. As soon as they started talking about smoking doobage, we got quite a crowd.
• Later getting a tipoff from the publicist that one thing they'd talked about was actually news that we could now report in the issue, and writing up the story on a table outside the press room (which stupidly closed at 6pm)
• Trying to find parking in downtown during SXSW Film/Interactive: Possible. Trying to find parking downtown during SXSW Music, with half of the streets blocked off: Forget it. So I didn't see any music bands.
• Sitting in the Dell Lounge with Morgan Spurlock to discuss "Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden" and trying to ignore the fresh carpet Dell had laid down, which smelled like cat pee
• Lunacon: Just repeatedly running into fun and interesting people who tended to wear Utilikilts, watching little girls squee at seeing Doctor Who memorabilia (including a Tardis ice bucket), giggling over the enormous Tribble in the costume contest, slowly broiling in the hot tub and getting out-walked by a speed-hobbling demon on crutches all weekend. Oh, and there were panels in which one moderator kept saying "apo-clyptic," instead of "apocalyptic." And birthday cake!

Phew. I'm exhausted all over again at writing it out. But I feel better now.

So what have you been doing the last week or so?