Non-SXSW Slackery News Tidbits, March 4

Believe it or not, film news is happening in Austin that has nothing -- really nothing -- to do with SXSW. Here's a sample:

• On Sunday afternoon, author Alison Macor will be reading/signing her book Chainsaws, Slackers, and Spy Kids: Thirty Years of Filmmaking in Austin, Texas. I intend to be there and am looking forward to a good read ... well, probably not until after SXSW, unfortunately. (I know me. I'll read the book while trying to do fest prep. Sleep is the enemy, as Debbie keeps telling me.) Over at the Austin Chronicle, Kimberley Jones has an interview with Macor, and you can read an excerpt from the book about The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. The book signing is on Sunday at 3 pm at BookPeople.
• Austin Film Festival has announced a discount on Lone Star Badges for the 2010 fest -- they're now only $75 through March 7. Also, anyone who purchases a Lone Star Badge during this time frame is eligible to win a free upgrade to a Weekend Badge ($255 value) during the Oscars -- Moviemaker has the details on this contest. See their website for details. The Lone Star Badge is a one-day conference pass that also gets you first-tier admission into all films, so it's a very good deal at this price.
• The deadline for submissions to Marfa Film Festival is creeping up: March 15. I keep hearing wonderful things about this film fest, now in its third year, so send your movies there and then send yourself there from May 5-9.
• If you went to the red-carpet Making Movies event at the Harry Ransom Center, those photos are now available on Flickr. I admit I like taking pictures and looking at pictures of people on a red carpet who haven't been there before -- it's kind of fun. (And looking forward to doing it myself next week at Texas Film Hall of Fame.) If you didn't go to the event, why not drop by the HRC soon and look at the Making Movies exhibition, which runs through August 1?
• Better yet, head over to the HRC tonight at 7 pm for a presentation on "Lighting and Camerawork in the Films of David O. Selznick" by Trinity University assistant professor Patrick Keating, author of Hollywood Lighting from the Silent Era to Film Noir. The event is free but space is limited, so get there early. HRC has a number of archival resources on Selznick, so this should be good.
• Finally, courtesy of Chris Hyams on Twitter, here's a look at the current message on the front of Vulcan Video, for no reason other than it made me laugh.