On the Hot Blog, David Poland weighed in as well, bemoaning the way SXSW is being "tweeted" to death rather than critiqued by a lot of folks there. And he's right ... it seems I've seen a lot more tweeting and a lot less critiquing from folks attending that fest, most of whom I like and respect as writers. This whole cutthroat, bloodletting orgy of "FIRSTS!" and 140-character commentaries about the fest, which seem to be more about waits in line and parties and the "feel" of the fest than about the films, I've just found irritating. I never was a personality well-suited to the constant need to feed the ever-hungry blog or Twitter feed.

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You already know of Ramin Bahrani's work from his feature films Man Push Cart, Chop Shop and Goodbye Solo (and if you don't, shame on you and go hunt them up and watch them, pronto). Bahrani has a new short out, Plastic Bag, narrated by Werner Herzog, with cinematography by Bahrani's talented longtime collaborator, Michael Simmonds.

Somewhat reminiscent of The Red Balloon, Plastic Bag is the tale of a plastic bag who falls in love with the woman who takes him from the grocery store, is used by her, and ultimately discarded, after which he goes on a lonely search buoyed by wind and water to find his beloved lost "maker."

If you are going to be at SXSW, try to catch Plastic Bag there, where you can see it on a big screen, the better to appreciate Simmonds' gorgeous cinematography. One of these days, if there's any justice in the world of film, both Simmonds and Bahrani will win Oscars for their work. If you're not already a fan of their work, for Pete's sake, get on the bandwagon now; when they get rich and famous, you, like a snooty hipster music fan, can say that you loved their work long before the hoi polloi caught on.

If you can't make it to SXSW, you can watch the film online. It's embedded above, it's lovely, it's well worth the time it will take you, trust me. Enjoy.

History was made sunday night when Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Director. Surprisingly, there's not been much posturing about whether Bigelow won the award because her work actually merited it above the work of the other nominees, or whether she won because it was "time" for a woman to win a Best Director Oscar and she happened to be the nominee with a vagina, even on some of the male-dominated sites where one might expect to see it. People seem genuinely pleased for Bigelow that she won, and not unhappy with the recognition for The Hurt Locker as Best Picture as well. Best Director was the one category I really cared about at this year's Oscars, and I'm thrilled for Bigelow that she won.

The question is whether her win, like a pebble tossed in a lake, will create a ripple effect that will benefit other female directors. I'm not convinced that it will -- this was a crack in the Hollywood glass ceiling, not a shattering -- but time will tell.

Variety would be better served trimming down management or getting rid of the fancy office space and transitioning to mostly virtual offices, having people work from home and saving on infrastructure, than saving money by getting rid of its lifeblood, the writers who write the words without which, there would be no Variety. Or better still, cut in half what they're paying president Neil Stiles, who had the audacity to say, "... the critics were cut as a cost-saving measure."

Well, thanks for clarifying, Mr. Stiles. That speaks volumes about Variety's priorities. Someone needs to axe Stiles as a "cost-saving measure" and pay the writers. What a sad, sad day. It would be great if freelance critics would unite in boycotting writing for these assholes at all, but sadly, that's not going to happen. Even though Variety has repeatedly shown it won't think twice about screwing writers over right and left, there will always be someone who will think the perceived value of writing for them is somehow worth it.

There are some things you cannot put a price on, and integrity is one of them.

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You can check out some of the films already submitted or enter your own film right over here. Some of the entries are surprisingly good; it made me think about what some of my talented filmmaker friends could come up with to show their world two minutes. If you make and submit a short to this competition, let me know so I can check it out.

My fellow fest circuit junkies -- not to mention all you indie filmmakers out there looking for a great fest to showcase your hard work -- should add Oxford to your list of fests to check out; If you're ever fortunate enough to be invited to attend as a filmmaker, juror or panelist, do not turn it down.

Ethan Nicolle, a comic/graphic artist, had the idea to collaborate on a comic with his five-year-old brother Malachai after a holiday family visit culminated in the two of them playing a story/game Malachai came up with about Axe Cop and Flute Cop. Ethan was so entranced with Malachai's storytelling that he worked with him to develop the first four episodes of Axe Cop and put them online, and they are freaking brilliant.

Go check out Axe Man for yourself. You won't be sorry, I promise. Seriously, how often do I send you anywhere?

Quick, someone option this before Uwe Boll gets the idea to do something with it! Axe Man. Love it.

Update: I read Axe Man to Luka, my six-year-old, and he totally dug it. Luka makes his own comics, most of them about Luka-the-Box, and he sells them (mostly to me) for $2 a pop. He's clever already, that one. Neve (almost 13), who is really into comic and manga, is now pondering a collaborative effort with her brother, thanks to Axe Man.

So Luka wanted to send an email to Axe Man to say how much he likes it. I helped him send the email, and Ethan responded immediately. Which proves that either (1) Ethan is a very cool guy, or (2) that Ethan, like me and so many of my friends, spends way too much time on the computer and his therefore checking his email constantly, or (3) both. Anyhow, it was very cool of him to respond to Luka so quickly and to be encouraging of Luka's own ambitions as a comic writer/artist.

Luka also wants to be a pizza man and a mountain climber, dual ambitions that he decided to combine into being a pizza man who delivers pizzas to people who live on top of mountains. I guess he'll have to squeeze "comic book artist" in there somewhere. He makes movies too (and for the record, many of his movies are better than some of the dreck I've sat through at Sundance).

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Darius Goes West isn't just a great movie because it's about a kid with a disease, though; it's a great movie because it tells a great story, and the story is about the friendship between Darius and these young men, and how that friendship lifts him up and makes something that would have been impossible for him, possible. There are many scenes in this film that are heartwarming, but my favorite by far is the first time Darius goes in the ocean. Suddenly, with his friends supporting him and keeping his head above water, Darius is free of the gravity that binds him. There is a joy on his face -- and on the faces of all his friends -- as he laughs out loud with a child's delight.

Now Darius and the team behind DGW are on another journey, this time to raise money for research for Darius's disease, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, in the Chase Community Giving Challenge. Out of 500,000 causes, the DGW team made it to the second and final round. Moreover, the Ginder family has agreed to match every vote cast for DGW in the Chase Community Giving Challenge with a $1 donation to muscular dystrophy research.

If you haven't seen Darius Goes West, you can watch the entire film for free right here (and if you like it, buy the DVD, eh?) and while you're there, you can cast your vote for this most worthy of causes. So go on, head on over there ... what're you waiting for? The DGW team needs YOUR vote to win.

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That said, here's my 2009 Top Ten Films list ...

1. Up in the Air
2. The Hurt Locker
3. An Education
4. Goodbye Solo
5. In the Loop
6. A Serious Man
7. Where the Wild Things Are
8. Precious
9. Beaches of Agnes
10. District 9