Is SXSW America’s Best Film Festival?

I may catch some flak for posing that question. So I'll just stand back now and let the true film-festival junkies fight over which festival, in their opinion, really is number one. (Does it really matter?)

Last year, Indie Slate Magazine sent me to cover some of the moviemaking aspects of the prestigious South by Southwest (SXSW) film, interactive and music festival in Austin, Texas.

It was the fourth or maybe fifth time I had attended and reported on the film and interactive portions of SXSW for various print-media publications.

The world, of course, has changed a lot in the past year. Print-media gigs -- especially paying ones -- are disappearing faster than globally warmed Arctic ice. And this time, I really don’t feel like spending a thousand bucks or so of my own money just so I can blog about SXSW 2011 to maybe 38 distracted readers momentarily squinting at their iPhones.

Therefore, in case you missed last year's article, I am presenting below a modified and somewhat updated version of what I previously wrote about SXSW.

The general advice for attending SXSW this year is very simple: Bring lots of money to Austin and be early, sometimes very early, for every panel and movie you hope to see.

Everything will be expensive – and crowded.

-- Si Dunn

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SXSW: Is It America’s Best Film Festival?

By Si Dunn

By all standard measures, South by Southwest 2010 was a box-office smash.

SXSW’s three festivals—film, music and interactive – all saw attendances rise sharply over 2009. SXSW Film 2010 scored a 33% increase, with more than 9,500 people and organizations buying badges. The music festival, which typically draws the biggest crowds, scored an 11% increase, with more than 13,000 badge holders. And the high-tech interactive festival soared to more than 14,200 badge buyers, also a 33% gain over 2009.

Meanwhile, SXSW-related sales surged in bars, restaurants, hotels and other businesses clustered along Austin’s famed 6th Street and nearby thoroughfares. Popular attractions in South, Central and North Austin also benefitted, as people came to SXSW from across the United States and world.

By some estimates, SXSW 2010 gave Austin an economic bump of more than $100 million.

SXSW has bragged that at its Film Conference panels “world-class speakers, creative minds, and notable mentors tackle the latest filmmaking trends amidst the unmatched social atmosphere of the SXSW experience.”

Many SXSW 2010 film panels were, in fact, well-attended, and not simply because the panelists were well-known. There was a visible hunger for information, and most panel moderators had done their homework. They posed thoughtful questions and made sure each panelist got turns in the spotlight.

Danny Costa, an independent film distribution consultant and principal at San Francisco-based DeLarge, said that he considered SXSW simply “the best film festival.” While having some “misgivings” about SXSW 2010, he still viewed it as “a success. The programming was strong--though distinct from past years--and there were some really great panels, particularly the crossover panels that included panelists and topics from both interactive and film,” he said.

Victim of Its Own Success?

Of course, whether it’s Sundance, Cannes or Tribeca, every successful film event draws critics and criticisms, as well. SXSW Film 2010 proved it is no exception.

Logistical problems ranged from not enough available movie seats to inadequate access for handicapped festival goers. Some badge holders and ticket-buyers complained, after long waits and being turned away, that the media and filmmakers’ friends were getting almost all of the screening seats in the smaller venues.

According to Eric Kohn in the Wall Street Journal, some film fans blamed the extra-long lines on people from SXSW Interactive trying to check out movies, too.

Karina Longworth, writing in the Village Voice, predicted an ominous future for SXSW Film: “As the once-boutique festival attains a higher profile, the community of idiosyncratic filmmakers it fosters could be at risk of getting glossed over by hype,” she stated.

But she also noted that it has “taken a long time for the masses to care about stuff that SXSW audiences eat up,” such as mumblecore movies starring Greta Gerwig, “…if they ever come to care at all.” Indeed, some movies wildly popular at SXSW never get distribution or bomb at the box office, she pointed out.

Yet, distribution deals have never been the point at SXSW’s film festival, Jay A. Fernandez argued in The Hollywood Reporter. In his view, the “laid-back Lone Star love-in” atmosphere just helps film fans and industry people enjoy “a new crop of films without the pressure of marketing concerns.”

Simon Rumley, writer-producer-director of Red White & Blue, could have had the feature’s North American premiere at a festival other than SXSW. But, after shooting in Austin, he decided it made “100 percent sense for us to come back and help celebrate and promote the film with the people who supported it and helped make it.”

The Sweet Side of Success

Still, SXSW Film has had several noteworthy sales successes during its 17-year run. The Hurt Locker, for example, debuted at SXSW 2009 and later won six Oscars and numerous other awards.

Austin producer-director-writer Reagan Peterson expressed disappointment with some SXSW 2010 panels. “I learned some stuff, but I think the Austin Film Festival has better information,” he said. “A lot of it [SXSW panels] feels like a rehash of what they heard at Sundance.”

But did he agree that SXSW may now be America’s best film festival? “In terms of film, yeah,” Peterson said. “The best way to get the bang for your buck [at SXSW] is to get a film pass and go to every movie you can.”

Film-Interactive Trade Show

Several moviemakers and movie fans expressed dismay that display spaces at SXSW’s Film-Interactive trade show were now become almost completely dominated by high-tech companies pushing hardware, software, networking services and “solutions.”

The Louisiana and Texas film commissions both had high-profile booths highlighting state production incentives. Montana and Nevada also had displays. Kodak had one of the few other movie-related booths.

DeLarge’s Costa, however, saw this as a natural outgrowth of social media tools such as Twitter. The growing ability for “filmmakers and other creatives” to share information online “takes some of the necessity away from having a physical presence at the fest,” he said.

The Future?

Costa in 2010 predicted continued success for SXSW.

“SXSW has shown itself…to be an ideal mix of productivity and pleasure with a healthy dose of genius--from the minds of creatives, innovators and businesspeople alike--thrown in for good measures,” he said.

Many other festival goers echoed his sentiment, even as they grumbled about the bigger crowds and higher prices.

As for SXSW 2011, some of the 2010 attendees offered straightforward advice: Bring lots of money and show up early--for everything.

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Si Dunn is a screenwriter in Austin, Texas, and owner of Sagecreek Productions LLC.

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'Machete' Incentives Whacked by Texas Film Commission

This was bound to happen under Texas' flawed production measures that offer state incentives to producers of movies, television shows and game programs.

As reported by Charles Ealy in the Austin 360.com movie blog, Robert Rodriguez's controversial 2010 movie "Machete" -- which took a fictional whack at some of Texas' and Austin's images -- has had its state grant application rejected by the troubled Texas Film Commission.

The film commission's head recently announced his resignation, and Texas' production incentives will be easy political targets early in 2011. That's when the Republican-dominated Texas Legislature returns to session and faces a massive $24 billion, two-year state budget shortfall.

Specifically, "Machete" was hit by the "negative fashion" clause in the incentives statutes. A Republican-ramrodded clause enacted into law in 2007 forbids Texas state incentives to any kind of film, TV or game project that contains "inappropriate content or content that portrays Texas or Texans in a negative fashion, as determined by the [Texas Film Commission] office, in a moving image project."


Apparently, Utah is the only other state that takes a similar, thin-skinned approach to try to "protect" its image and how its people and places are portrayed in movies, TV shows and electronic games.
 
Charles Ealy reported that Rodriguez's Austin, Texas-based Troublemaker Studios could have reaped a refund of about $1.75 million on the estimated $10 million spent in Texas to make "Machete."  

For more background on the "negative fashion" (also known as "negative light") controversy, here are links to my previous blog posts about the flawed and troubled state production incentives in Texas:

http://datelineoblivion.blogspot.com/2010/04/texas-production-incentives-will-they.html

http://datelineoblivion.blogspot.com/2009/07/texas-needs-to-rework-its-movie-tv-game.html

http://datelineoblivion.blogspot.com/2009/06/fiction-is-as-fiction-does-waco.html

http://datelineoblivion.blogspot.com/2009/06/censorship-issue-remains-alive-in-texas.html

http://datelineoblivion.blogspot.com/2009/05/waco-movie-controversy-takes-new-texas.html

http://datelineoblivion.blogspot.com/2009/05/texas-movie-incentives-censorship.html

http://datelineoblivion.blogspot.com/2009/05/texas-movie-incentives-texas-movie.html

http://datelineoblivion.blogspot.com/2009/05/waco-production-company-on-texas-we.html


-- Si Dunn

Movie Project Update: "Criminal Conversations"

Actors Wes Studi, Maura Dhu Studi and Anthony Arkin are now attached to star in my screenplay, Criminal Conversations.

Logline: A man meets up again with his ex-wife while his current spouse is dying and his ex-wife's current husband is suing her for divorce and trying to prove she is guilty of adultery.

California-based movie distributor FilmWorks Entertainment, Inc., has delivered a letter of intent (LOI) to distribute the movie, which will be directed by Stephen Jules Rubin.

The character-driven romantic dramedy is seeking additional funding and donations, and the movie is scheduled to be shot in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in January, 2011.

The one-sheet is available here. A recent draft of the script can be read here.

Donations of any size can be made via Paypal to si@sagecreekproductions.com.

Donors will receive on-screen thanks in the movie's ending credits. It is not necessary to have a Paypal account to donate.

For more information on this project and how to become involved in it, please contact:

Si Dunn
Sagecreek Productions, LLC
3800 N. Lamar Blvd., Ste. 730-131
Austin, TX 78756
sidunn@hotmail.com

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Texas Needs to Rework Its Movie, TV and Game Production Incentives

The Austin American-Statesman gets it, and that newspaper doggedly is staying on the Texas Legislature's case, even if many Texas politicians and entertainment people seem to be paying scant attention.

"State officials shouldn't be cast in roles of movie producers, scriptwriters or fact checkers, yet that's exactly where Texas legislators have put them," the Statesman editorialized in its July 3, 2009, edition.

A Republican-ramrodded clause enacted into law in 2007 forbids Texas state incentives to any kind of film, TV or game project that contains "inappropriate content or content that portrays Texas or Texans in a negative fashion, as determined by the [Texas Film Commission] office, in a moving image project."

Apparently, only Utah takes a similar, thin-skinned approach to attempting to "protect" how that state and its people are portrayed in movies, TV shows and electronic games. The other 48 states apparently are happy just to encourage any and all entertainment companies to spend money inside their borders and let courts, lawyers and lawsuits handle any controversies arising over "accuracy" or portraying anyone "in a negative fashion."

The July 3 Statesman editorial stated: "Legislation that denies tax incentives to movies that put the state in a negative light puts Texas Film Commissioner Bob Hudgins in a situation that is as uncomfortable as it is untenable."

The Statesman called for the law to be rewritten "to remove the negative light criteria that Hudgins used to deny tax breaks to a movie about the 1993 raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco."

The Waco movie project might have brought an estimated $30 million to the state economy and created dozens of jobs for Texas movie workers who now have to commute to Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico or other states to earn paychecks.

But the project about the disasterous 1993 Branch Davidian standoff in Waco should not be the only focus of opposition to the "negative fashion" clause in Texas' moving-image production incentives.

The bigger issue is how much the restrictions -- and the ongoing controversy over them -- may chill the overall movie, TV and game production business in the state.

Producers looking to spend money on entertainment projects that have Texas subjects or Texas settings may decide to go to other states, just so they can avoid all risk of running afoul of overly protective Texas legislators or a state film commission subject to political pressure and narrow-minded laws.

After all, with current movie, TV and game technology, "Texas" can be created almost anywhere. (Remember the controversy over the Civil War movie Cold Mountain, which partially was shot in Romania, with Romanian army troops serving as "Yanks" and "Rebs" and the Carpathian Mountains doubling as North Carolina?)

Some opponents of the Texas Film Commission ruling, including this writer, have voiced opinions that the Waco movie would be a work of fiction, no matter how truly "based on real events" it is, and the Texas Film Commissioner thus has been tasked by state legislators to censor fiction.

As the Statesman and others have noted before, some of the most successful and enduring movies about Texas, including Giant and The Last Picture Show, have not portrayed Texas and Texans in a positive fashion. Neither have movies such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and TV shows such as Dallas. But Giant and Dallas particularly have brought tons of tourism dollars to Texas and are still infusing cash decades later. And other movies and TV shows, including the definitely inaccurate Walker, Texas Ranger, also will pay tourism and "image" dividends to Texas for many years to come.

"Tax incentives should be given to projects that will have a positive impact on the state's economy," the Stateman declared in its July 3 edition. "The criteria ought be clear, and producers should understand that not everyone is going to get an incentive. Decisions on incentives should be based on the economic benefit to the state -- not on someone's slippery notion of what's negative and what's not."

The Statesman gets it and is keeping the ball rolling. Now, do any of the leading lights within the Texas movie, TV and game industries get it, and are they doing anything to help get the "negative fashion" clause eliminated as soon as possible?

Texas entertainment jobs are on the line at a time when every new job definitely counts.

-- Si Dunn

Fiction Is as Fiction Does: The 'Waco' Movie Controversy Rolls On

One essential point –- fiction -- keeps getting missed as criticisms and free publicity continue for the screenplay for Entertainment 7’s Waco movie project.

No matter how “accurate” anyone thinks it should be, a screenplay –- any screenplay -- is a fabrication, a “play” for presentation on a “screen.” And any movie made from the screenplay will be even more of a fictional representation, once the director, actors, crew and post-production specialists have added their own contributions to the finished product.

The ex-FBI agent who lashed out at the screenplay on the front page of the June 24 Austin American-Statesman certainly is free to criticize the “accuracy” of how he thinks people, places and events are depicted in the script. However, anyone who witnesses or takes part in an event will have his or her own memories, interpretations and opinions of what happened -- or did not happen. Even if a million video cameras had recorded every moment of the 1993 Branch Davidian standoff from all sides and angles, there is absolutely no way to create a screenplay that could get the standoff “right” in every person's view.

A screenplay compresses people, places, things, images and circumstances into a stylized structure with three acts. A screenplay tells a story, and that story always is fiction, even when it is based on “real” events.

Even unscripted “reality” TV shows are unreal. They are just one more form of fiction (bad fiction).

Speaking of “real,” the real result of Texas' controversial "Ogden provision" (ironically named, since Utah is the only other state with a similar, thin-skinned restriction) is that State Sen. Steve Ogden of Bryan, Texas, can take credit for creating new moving-image industry jobs…in Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico and elsewhere. Those states, and almost any others including Utah, likely will have no qualms about hosting -- and profiting from -- movie, TV or game projects that portray “Texas or Texans in a negative fashion.”

Sen. Ogden got the "negative fashion" provision added to state law in 2007, the Austin American-Statesman says, "after controversy erupted around the Texas-filmed 2006 sports drama "'Glory Road,' which tells the story of 1966 Texas Western Miners, and, according to school supporters, exaggerated racism at East Texas State University."

It has been noted in the Statesman and elsewhere that classic “Texas” movies such as Giant and The Last Picture Show and TV shows such as Dallas probably could not qualify for current production incentives, because they sometimes depict Texas and Texans “in a negative fashion.” Yet those productions continue to bring tourism dollars to Texas and expand the state’s aura around the world many years after they disappeared from theaters and networks.

The Ogden provision puts the Texas Film Commissioner in the unenviable position of trying to verify the “accuracy” of fiction, a writing form in which anything goes, and to use that "accuracy" as one of the criteria for judging “negative fashion.” Some call this censorship or a state legislative attempt to override free speech provisions in the U.S. Constitution. Others just call it "dumb" and "bad business." Texas has had dubious reputations since at least 1835, yet it has managed to do quite well for itself, thank you very much.

Any movie version of the Branch Davidian standoff would be fiction. The standoff could even be staged in a parallel universe on the planet Yargon in the year 3456. But if the script portrayed “Texas or Texans in a negative fashion,” the project still might not qualify for state production incentives.

At the very least, the continuing controversy over Waco may cause many movie producers to consider spending their money and shooting their “Texas” movies anywhere but Texas, so they won't run afoul of state restrictions and state lawmakers.

As long as the 2007 “negative fashion” restrictions stay in place, perhaps the state’s famous “Don’t Mess with Texas…” slogan should be expanded. It could now include “…or We’ll Diss Your Screenplay and Keep Making Our Moving-Image Workers Cross State Lines to Find Jobs.”

-- Si Dunn

Waco and Branch Davidians Cited by Iran's Supreme Leader

According to "The Lede," the New York Times blog, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has cited the 1993 Branch Davidian standoff in Waco, Texas, as a reason for rejecting American criticism of Iran's response to opposition protests.

In a translation posted by Iran's Press TV, Ayatollah Khamenei stated at the end of a recent speech:

"During the term of a previous US government, eighty people affiliated with the Davidian sect were burnt alive in their compound in Waco, Texas. For some reason these people were disliked by the then US administration. Eighty people were burnt in that building, how dare you talk of human rights?"

Clearly, the Ayatollah doesn't know much about the circumstances behind the Waco standoff and its tragic outcome, just as he doesn't seem to understand much about why so many of his own people keep clammoring for fair elections and greater freedoms.

Many Americans, of course, don't know or remember much about the Waco standoff, either. One recent attempt in Texas to make a movie about the events apparently was stalled when it ran afoul of a particular clause in Texas' state incentives for moving image productions. That clause does not allow awarding state production incentives to projects that depict "Texas or Texans in a negative fashion..."

Recent rumors were that Waco would be shot in Louisiana, Oklahoma or New Mexico, where there would be no restrictions against depicting "Texas or Texans in a negative fashion...."

-- Si Dunn

'Waco' Movie Controversy Takes a New Texas Twist

One of the producers involved in the controversial movie project Waco has resigned her post as head of international sales for Entertainment 7 and contends that political "pressure from above" the Texas Film Commission caused state incentives to be denied to the $30 million production, which focuses on the 1993 Branch Davidian standoff that left more than 80 people dead.

Tara Wood adds that her work on the Waco project "as it pertains to assistance with funding" is complete, and she will return to Austin soon to focus on her Texas-based entertainment distribution company. Emilio Ferrari, head of Sherman Oaks, Calif.-based Entertainment 7, will remain the Waco project's lead producer, she says.

"It’s very unfortunate that Texas will not benefit from this project," she says. "I’ve lived in Austin for 15 years, going back and forth to L.A., and have been actively involved in trying to get the film community back on track. This is quite a blow. I was very encouraged when the most recent bump in incentives went through, because it actually allowed us to consider Texas to shoot. I’m shocked at this [Texas Film Commission] decision.

"Since Mr. Ferrari has made that ridiculous statement 'will never ever shoot in Texas,' I have left his company as head of international sales of Entertainment 7. I’ll be damned if I worked this hard to have someone be that reckless! I have a Texas-based distribution company and will put all my efforts there again."

Ms. Wood notes: "When this all went down, the last thing I wanted was to be associated with anything against Texas or the Texan people. My argument is against the language in the provisions [which bars portraying "Texas or Texans in a negative fashion" in any project seeking state production incentives]. In my opinion, this is blatant censorship, and ‘the state’ of Texas needs to take a step into this generation. The picture is going to be made with or without Texas, with another state reaping the benefits, most likely Louisiana (again). It was unfortunate that [Texas Film Commissioner] Bob Hudgins has been attacked in all of this. He made the mistake of taking the blame and becoming the state’s scapegoat by stating it was his decision. If you know Bob, you know he wouldn’t deny the Texas people the benefits. I firmly believe there was pressure from above."

-- Si Dunn

Texas Movie Incentives = Texas Movie Censorship

"We can tell the story, 'The Scoundrels of Texas.' We have scoundrels. As long as we portray our scoundrels accurately, then those projects, you know, will be able to be included in the program," Texas Film Commissioner Bob Hudgins recently told News 8 Austin.

Hudgins was responding to questions about his recent decision to deny state assistance to Entertainment 7's movie project Waco, on the grounds that events depicted in the script did not accurately portray what the Branch Davidians and others said happened during the violent 1993 standoff near Waco that left more than 80 people dead.

Of course, who can judge what is "accurate" and what is not? One hundred people watching one incident will see it one hundred different ways and can create one hundred totally different accounts of what they just witnessed.

Movies -- unless they are billed as documentaries -- are fiction, and in fiction, anything goes. Nothing is "real."

As Austin actor and writer Curtis Wayne has pointed out: "Did The Sopranos paint New Jersey in a good light? Do you think NJ would vote 'yes' on incentives to have it shot there, knowing what they know now? Of course they would. This is silliness."

The provision invoked by Texas Film Commissioner Bob Hudgins goes beyond "silliness," however. State legislators have imposed outright censorship conditions that deny incentives to moving image projects which portray "Texas or Texans in a negative fashion."

Texas has long prided itself on being big, bold, strong and independent. But in this ridiculous case, it is attempting to protect itself in the same manner that a small-town Chamber of Commerce might try to guard the business image of its population-10,000 burg.

I repeat, movies are fiction, and in fiction, anything goes -- including "factual" inaccuracies and Texas buffoons and crooks. Was the TV show Dallas an accurate description of Big D, Texas and Texas oil tycoons? Yee-haaa! That's a big NO, cowboy. Has the fact that Dallas stayed on the air for 13 years, until 1991, somehow stopped or hurt Dallas-related tourism? No, people still show up from all over the world eager to see Southfork Ranch and other memorabilia of the series.

Texas definitely has not been hurt by this bald-faced bit of fiction. Indeed, the state has made a ton of money from it and equally inaccurate shows such as Walker, Texas Ranger. And Texas could keep making tons of money from Texas movies and TV shows, even those that criticize the state and mock the attitudes and mannerisms of the citizenry. We can be embarrassed all the way to the bank.

The Waco movie project had an estimated budget of $30 million, much of which would have been spent in Texas. The production company also wanted to shoot another movie in the state. Now, according to Entertainment 7's Emilio Ferrari, his company will "never ever" shoot a movie in Texas.

Quite a few Texans, some of them currently unemployed, were counting on those movie jobs, and now they won't be working. The production company also will not be buying food and supplies and renting equipment in Texas. This is a much bigger embarrassment than enduring 120 minutes of celluloid fiction showing federal agencies and Waco's Branch Davidians ending up in a violent shootout, standoff and deadly fire.

If the Texas Legislature has any sense at all (and, quite often, that is strongly questioned by Texas voters), the "in a negative fashion" clause should be stripped out of the Texas moving image incentives statutes just as soon as possible.

-- Si Dunn

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"Waco" Production Company on Texas: "We Will Never Ever Shoot in That State"

By Si Dunn

Emilio Ferrari, described on the Internet Movie Database website as "one of Hollywood's busiest independent producers," is hopping mad. Ferrari, an executive with Entertainment 7 in Sherman Oaks, Calif., is vowing to "never ever shoot" another movie in Texas.

The Austin American-Statesman reported May 20 that Texas state tax incentives have been denied for Entertainment 7's movie project Waco because of alleged "factual inaccuracies" in the script.

Waco focuses on the violent 1993 standoff between federal law enforcement agencies and the Branch Davidians led by David Koresh, at a compound near Waco, Texas.

Texas State Film Commissioner Bob Hudgins rejected the incentives, telling the American-Statesman that his decision was based on restrictions put into place in 2007 by the Texas legislature. A provision (introduced by Republican State Senator Steve Ogden) restricts filmmakers taking tax incentives from depicting "Texas or Texans in a negative fashion" in their productions.

Hudgins told the American-Statesman that his decision to deny the incentives to Entertainment 7 was "not censorship at all," and he added that Entertainment 7 is welcome to shoot Waco in Texas--without state financial assistance.

But Emilio Ferrari, in an email sent to Dateline: Oblivion from the Cannes Film Festival, sees things much differently:

"First of all, for the record, the script on the story of what happened in Waco is very accurate. Years and years of research and our co-producer is someone whose Waco doc won an Emmy and was nominated for an Academy Award. Also, it's pure bullshit what the head of the film commission said about the script having factual inaccuracies. He has had the script since last year and loved it and couldn’t wait for us to come there and shoot and was helping us with locations, etc. And now, suddenly, the script is no good, like he is amazingly now an expert on Waco based on his years and years of research. Come on, give me a break. We all know what’s going on here. It's politics in full force. And...it's pure censorship and political pressure," Ferrari stated.

"We were also going to bring another film to shoot there (Texas) with a studio behind it, but now, after all this, we will never ever shoot in that state. And we shoot a lot of films."

This news likely will be disappointing to many who work in Texas' struggling moving images industry. Hopes for new productions and new jobs have been running high since Gov. Rick Perry signed Texas' new production incentives legislation into law April 23 at Robert Rodriguez's Troublemaker Studios in Austin.

The Waco movie was expected to create numerous production jobs in Texas.

But as Ferarri told the American-Statesman, "It's not a movie about Texas. It's about an incident that happened there, but it could have happened anywhere."

In this case, after the incentives rejection, Waco very likely will now be filmed "anywhere"--except Texas.

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Two Moments in Austin (Photos)

Texas Senate in Action (April 29, 2009)
(Photograph copyright 2009, Si Dunn)

"Record Low" Temperature (May 15, 2009)
(Photograph copyright 2009, Si Dunn)