Slackery News Tidbits, April 12

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It's Monday morning and a great time to hear all the latest Austin news, or even refresh yourself on some older news after a hopefully long and enjoyable weekend. Here's what we've got:

  • Filmmaker Spike Jonze will be speaking to John Pierson's UT master class -- and as many other students as they can fit in the space -- on Tuesday night. But that's not the only reason he's in Austin. According to MTV News, Jonze is collaborating with Canadian band Arcade Fire on a short film, which will be shot here in Austin. I think the trailer of Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are that was accompanied by Arcade Fire's "Wake Up" was actually better than the full-length feature, so I'm looking forward to hearing more about this short film.
  • Just found out that local filmmaker Emily Hagins's latest feature, The Retelling, will play at Texas Frightmare Weekend in Dallas at the end of this month. (Be warned, the TFW website has annoying audio.) Hagins will be at the April 30 screening and will hold a Q&A afterwards. The fest's movie lineup also includes Survival of the Dead, 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams and the Dallas-shot horror film The Final. We've yet to see a public screening of The Retelling in Austin, and hope to hear about one soon.
  • If you don't read Joe M. O'Connell's site regularly, you miss a lot of interesting film news and photos. Lately, he's been making frequent visits to Granger, the Central Texas town where the Coen brothers will be filming True Grit within the next month or so, and taking photos to show how the town is being transformed for the period Western. Pretty cool. I wish someone would let him sneak on the set during the actual filming and report back.
  • The Houston Chronicle also has a nice story about Granger getting ready for the filming that focuses on reactions from area residents.
  • The documentary I Think We're Alone Now, which played Fantastic Fest 2008, has just announced a U.S. DVD release date of July 27. The movie is about two people who have been stalking Tiffany, the 80s musician who covered the title song of this film. Twitchfilm's report of the DVD announcement includes a trailer.
  • Finally, this is not news at all, but an excuse for some fun. I went to Alamo Lake Creek last night to watch the 2009 Oscar-nominated animated shorts. Some were completely amazing, some were disappointing (oh, Aardman) but it was overall a fun evening. However, I thought that Alamo missed an opportunity for a pre-show, or even a little lagniappe at the end of the official films, to screen one or two Austin animated shorts. More specifically, I wished they'd shown local animator Lucas Martell's 2009 short Pigeon Impossible, which played both Fantastic Fest and Austin Film Festival last year and was as charming as could be. Plus, the street on which the short's action takes place is very Congress Avenue-like. Fortunately, Pigeon Impossible is now on YouTube. I realize I've posted this previously, but what the hell ... here's the embedded video to brighten your Monday morning.