South by Southwest 2018

As if we thought we'd seen the best of South By, this year's films swept us away. They measured up to past favorites, like When You Were Strange about the Doors, Love and Mercy on Brian Wilson, Muscle Shoals, and Twenty Feet from Stardom. The Case Against 8, Tiny House and Best of Enemies also come to mind. For Mark, meeting Gene Cernan after seeing Last Man on the Moon was the bar to reach. For me, it was meeting Ethan Hawke at the premiere of Born to Be Blue. The best of SXSW 2018 for us? Won't You Be My Neighbor on Mr. Rogers; Elvis Presley, the Searcher; Ali and Cavett; The Director and the Jedi; Wild Nights with Emily on Dickinson; Alt-Right: Age of Rage; and The Dawn Wall on climbing El Capitan in Yosemite. What we did not get in to see (our badges were the way to go, nevertheless) were the big, most anticipated movies: Ready Player One, Isle of Dogs, and A Quiet Place. It didn't matter to Mark. Getting to talk to Dick Cavett was the ultimate. For me, it was revisiting Star Wars with the director of The Last Jedi and the ever-entertaining Mark Hamill.