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Finally, my swollen city is going back to normal. The annual SXSW Interactive/Film/Music festival is done with, and it's safe to go back outside again. This was my third SXSW--and by "third" I mean the third year that I have been living in Austin while it happened, not the third time I attended the thing. I have neither clout nor cash, and as a graduate student, not a lot of time, anyway. Wah, wah, wah.
The other day someone asked me if being a local was hard during SXSW, and I had to give a mixed answer. The city's infrastructure isn't equipped to handle the giant influx of people, many of whom are assholes or hipsters or both. But SXSW is also responsible for keeping Austin firmly established as an important dot on the American cultural map. And if you like free booze in the day time, well, SXSW is the place to be.
However, because the internet is for bitching (I think that was an interactive panel this year) today's list will concentrate on only the sucky parts of South By. In fact, it will call out the ten most annoying people at SXSW.
10. The Super Networker
This person is all about synergy! And crowdsourcing! And following you on Twitter as soon as he finds out you have a Twitter account even though you are standing right there and talking to him. He will force his card on you and also the card of his buddy who he thinks can totally hook you up with that thing he thinks your company/film/band totally needs, and yo bro, are you staying at the Driskill or what, do you want to get a drink later?
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9. The Cab Stealer
The cab-seeking clusterfuck usually starts about 1:20 a.m., when people start spilling out of wherever they are and begin trying to get back to wherever they think their hotel might sort of be. Nevermind the fact that downtown Austin is relatively small and walkable, when your iPhone battery is dead and you don't know which way north is, a cab begins to be a necessity. Which is why it's so maddening to stand on the corner of Congress and Wherever for 15 minutes waving at taxis while some asshole a block down the way stumbles out of the bar and straight to the curb and grabs the cab you were destined to take home. (The situation is even worse for Austin locals: we'd love to grab a cab ride home from bars we actually go to--read: ones that are not downtown during SXSW, however every taxi in the city is circling a five-block radius between Guadalupe and Red River. At least we know how to use the buses ....)
