Friday, March 03, 2006
 hey im famous!
before i flew off to amsterdam the austin chronicle asked me to write a few words about attending the SXSW interactive annual week-of-fun. because i was so fixated on going to holland and kissing my best friend goodbye who was moving to africa for two and a half years i totally forgot what i had written.
well tonight Hugh Forrest, the man in charge, who has now invited me two years in a row to speak there emailed me at midnight my time which is i think 2am texas time to let me know that my thing was in the paper.
so thanks Hugh for letting me know.
heres some of what i wrote you can read the rest here
for some reason they edited out the part where i said that i liked that a lot of the people look like they play in Pavement. i thought it was funny
voici:
Austin Chronicle
March 3, 2006
The Summit
We asked some of the loudest, clearest, and leading voices in cyberspace why they're coming to SXSW Interactive, what they bring to the proceedings, and who they want to encounter. Here are their responses.
 Tony Pierce, tonypierce.com
I'll be going to SXSW Interactive for three reasons. The first is because I'm speaking on two panels. You have no idea how flattering it is for me to be asked to speak on any panels, let alone two.
One of the panels is one that I was on last year: "Blogging While Black," which got a really good turnout. I can't wait to meet up with all of the panelists again because they're all super-cool people from very different backgrounds, and, together on one stage, we're pretty much nothing like what people probably expect.
Another reason I'm going is to speak on a panel about creativity and finding one's voice, and I'm very nervous about that one, because hell if I know how to explain my creative process or finding my voice. I have a feeling my voice found me, or, probably more accurately, settled on me after striking out with cooler people.
I'm also going to SXSW because I'm a big giant nerd and a fanboy of so many of the other bloggers and innovators who will be there. Last year, I felt like a kid at an all-star weekend. I wanted everyone's autograph and, this year, I'm actually going to get them.
A long time ago, I realized that I had all of these baseballs signed by people whom I didn't really know, so why not get autographs of my friends and lovers? Then, I figured, why stop at that? Why not get autographs of people I really appreciated? So, this year, I'll hopefully have my baseballs signed by people like Ev Williams, Doc Searls, Craig Newmark, Jason Kottke, Heather Armstrong, and Nick Denton.
Last year, I got to meet Ana Marie Cox, and I pretty much died. Not only was she super hot, but also really really nice and laid-back – but shorter than I thought she'd be ... exactly like how movie stars are. I got to buy her a beer and watch her be surrounded by tons of other dudes like me who just smiled like goofballs and said, "Uh, yer purty."
I also got to have lunch with Jason Goldberg, Eric Case, and Biz Stone from the Blogger/Google team. I had e-mailed them and talked to them on the phone over the years, but to actually sit down and thank them for all their work on Blogger and pick their brains and have them ask me questions was one of the best lunches I ever had, and I didn't have to pay for my burger!
top picture of mc brown + because my girl cathy at city rag said i should have more pics of dudes + photo credit the incredible azalea
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Previously on busblog...
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