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• Posted Interview: John Krasinski's Hideous Men to Austinist
  Almost completely unadaptable for the silver screen, David Foster Wallace's work has been something that most screenwriters wouldn't dare touch, what with the monolithic footnotes and the complicated structure of his prose. This precedent, however, was not enough to deter a young John Krasinski (who you may know as Jim from The Office or from this spring's Away We Go), who began adapting the 336 page collection of unbridaled male-mind ruminations when he was in his early 20s. Over seven years later, Krasinski's passion project Brief Interviews with Hideous Men will be hitting the theaters this weekend, with several already-sold-out live appearances by Krasinski tonight and tomorrow at Austin's own Alamo Drafthouse Ritz. SInce not everyone will be able to attend those particular screenings (but there are still plenty screenings of the film without the writer/director/actor for you to check out), we decided to chat with Krasinski about his motivations behind this project, the value of truth and honesty, and what it feels like to step inside the mind of one of America's finest literary treasures.
• Posted Interview: Brant Sersen Brings His Carnival of Splinterheads Back to Austin to Austinist
  It's possible that you could call writer/director Brant Sersen a cultural anthropologist. With a knack for exploring various subcultures, albeit in a ficticious way, he has created two feature length films now that ingratiate themselves into not often profiled communities. The first, Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story, which won the Narrative Feature Audience Award at SXSW 2004, chronicled the rise and fall of a paintballing icon. Sersen's second, Splinterheads, is opening this weekend in Austin at the Regal Arbor Cinema, and brings us the story of a manchild townie who's life is suddenly swept up in the absurd world of a traveling carnival as he is enchanted by one of its minions: a beautiful, geocache enthusiast con artist. We had the pleasure of exchanging an email dialogue with Sersen this week, wherein we talked about discovering things you may not have had the opportunity to ever see, the inspiration behind his storytelling and the publicity benefits of being linked with the Montauk Monster. Sersen's second, Splinterheads, is opening this weekend in Austin, and brings us the story of a manchild townie who's life is suddenly swept up in the absurd world of a traveling carnival as he is enchanted by one of its minions: a beautiful, geocache enthusiast con artist. We had the pleasure of exchanging an email dialogue with Sersen this week, wherein we talked about discovering things you may not have had the opportunity to ever see, the inspiration behind his storytelling and the publicity benefits of being linked with the Montauk Monster.
• Posted Closing Night of the Austin Film Festival: Our Final Film Picks to Austinist
  It's been a long and glorious eight days, eight days during which we saw some extremely memorable and well crafted films, got to listen to talented, engaging filmmakers and screenwriters, and enjoyed the company of other cinemaphiles at the Austin Film Festival. But the show's not over yet, and tonight you have one final chance to catch some brilliant flicks that have already received some great buzz.
• Posted Austin Film Festival Preview: The Vicious Kind to Austinist
  In a roadside diner somewhere in Connecticut, on a snowy afternoon, Caleb Sinclair (Adam Scott) takes a momentary break from his omnipresent cigarettes to tell his younger brother Peter (Alex Frost), whom Caleb is reluctantly chauffeuring home for Thanksgiving holiday, that all women are whores. So begins the misanthropic and misogynistic journey of The Vicious Kind, the new feature by precocious writer/director Lee Toland Krieger (at 24-years-old and two feature-length movies under his belt, precocious may be an understatement).
• Posted Austin Film Festival: Thursday Panel & Film Picks to Austinist
  Excitement and anticipation was thick in the air last night as Austin Film Festival goers began to claim their badges and passes. Today is the first day of AFF 2009, and while it starts a little bit later than all the other days, there is still a lot of content to pack in this afternoon. Here are the things we think you should ink in on your schedule.