South by Southwest, the 9-day technology, film, and music conference in Austin, Texas, got canceled in 2024.

Artists criticized the sponsors. Locals groaned about the tech sector's power and influence. The U.S. Army sponsored a yoga class.

Amid nonstop cultural criticism, the event was a sea of discourse. Which, has always been the goal since its 1987 inception. This time about A.I.-generated burgers, extending the lifespan of dogs, saving the world from climate change, what makes a "unicorn" boss, and poop.

At the intersection of science and art, things got weird. We were on the ground for 9 days, and this is what we learned.

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• Man with schizophrenia shows how his service dog lets him know he's hallucinating
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• A.I.-powered cheeseburgers

SXSW 2024: Highs

Music

I really enjoyed the performance of Japanese group Tokyo Syoki Syodo—their lead singer was an incredible performer and I left the show feeling like I’d just had a shot of espresso. At the same venue, I saw Belgian pop group Ada Oda, whose fun, free-spirited take on indie pop totally captured the crowd and really had me excited about the future of the group. Similarly, La Sécurité, an art-punk band from Montreal, had me bopping and bouncing their entire set, thanks in large part to their use of wall-of-sound instrumentation and the group’s incredible drummer. To close, I’ll give a quick shoutout to Telehealth and Folk Bitch Trio for their fantastic shows—and the inimitable Tierra Whack for sending the festival out with a bang. —Braden Bjella

We don’t need to be afraid of A.I.

I entered the festival feeling like I would be terrified about the future of artificial intelligence. I left not really feeling that concerned about it. Upon chatting with people at the festival and attending several panels, it seems that there’s a growing understanding that, whether the tech companies want to admit it or not, there’s just some things that artificial intelligence currently cannot handle and won’t be able to manage for some time. For example, much has been made of A.I.’s tendency to hallucinate, but unless companies are able to develop an A.I. with the full intelligence of a human being (which, to be clear, is still a distant dream), that’s going to be a bug that will need to be taken into account with all work involving A.I.. Instead of replacement, companies are now pushing A.I. integration to help rid the workplace of menial tasks. There are, of course, issues with this idea that I’ll get to later, but for now, I left feeling like A.I. is not wholly the revolutionary thing that many are making it out to be—whether companies will accept that or not is a different story. —B.B.

Tech companies are aware of, and afraid of, their workers

Following the “Great Resignation” and the countless articles about “quiet quitting,” companies went on full PR pushes to try to get people to be enthusiastic about their jobs. Sometimes, this took the ludicrous form of simply calling workers who wanted job flexibility “lazy”; other times, jobs actually listened to workers’ needs and tried to make their roles more appealing to younger people entering the workforce. Attending panels this week, it seems that the latter approach is winning. Companies seemed genuinely concerned about how they will attract and keep talent, especially given the numerous benefits of job-hopping that we’ve covered at the Daily Dot. Furthermore, there was much talk, lip-service or otherwise, about making those at work feel comfortable and finding ways to ensure that they can perform their work to the best of their ability. This is a baby step, to be sure, but it was a positive development that I was excited to see. —B.B.

The Black Keys play nice

One big band always makes it a SXSW year. Usually on the eve of a new record. Sure enough, Akron, Ohio rock stars the Black Keys flew down to deliver a keynote address, premiere a documentary about their long road back from near self-destruction, and of course play some big music in an intimate space to build buzz. The duo also took over SXSW centerpiece club the Mohawk with intention on Thursday, and used the shindig to admirably uplift a suite of Black blues artists as their main support like Robert Finley and Jimmy "Duck" Holmes. The line between ally and thief when it comes to rock music is so fine. Their work on the right side of it was enough to make me a fan of a band I'd previously thought was inessential and opportunistic. —Ramon Ramirez

Quirked-up white boys take over

It’s no surprise that quirked-up white boys happened to be everywhere following the re-release of Talking Heads' much-applauded concert film Stop Making Sense. Austin electro-rock locals Font is fronted by a loose canon singer whose presence ranges from writhing around to shouting through his T-shirt pulled up over his head. Instrument-switching art-rockers Godcaster also struck a controversial performance. Arms up over his head like a Michaelangelo painting in a crop top, the lead of the New York-based band shuffled offstage to make intense eye contact with wary viewers. Their otherwise quiet keyboardist also took to the mic for their final song, wriggling about without moving from his square foot of the stage. This off-kilter kind of performance, especially if the audience isn’t egging it on, has a dash of pretentiousness, but it’s a more entertaining form than those who disregard their audience with faux nonchalance. Maybe quirked-up white boys have always ruled the world, or maybe—just maybe—we’re living in the David Byrne-aissance. —Laiken Neumann

Bosses are in

There was a panel about what makes a unicorn boss that honestly I thought would be ridiculous and self-important. But turns out the answer is to be kind, helpful, and reasonably disruptive. At SXSW, people high enough on the corporate ladder to expense a flight to Austin seemed more humble and self-aware than ever. The glassy-eyed opulence of business leaders who champion dumb products was thankfully missing in every one-off conversation I partook in. —R.R.

Celebs vibed

Travis Kelce's movie was good. Stanley announced a new cup. Sydney Sweeney talked about her problematic DMs. Elon Musk had someone make him a sandwich as he spoke about aliens and fired people. Selena Gomez gamified mental health with an app. The Cowboys royals announced a Last Dance-style Netflix doc. —R.R.

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• What was up with all that Pourri?
• TikTok stars welcome TikTok ban
• Gen-Z is now "climate quitting"
• Peso Pluma rants onstage

SXSW 2024: Lows

The environment

Technology and the environment existed in two separate worlds at SXSW. For example, I went to a panel about the future of car technology. During the panel, one of the guests brought up the very real issues surrounding the cobalt mining needed to produce an electric vehicle, then proceeded to sing the praises of a new company that was developing batteries that do not need this cobalt. This is a positive development, but it was curious to me that it was mentioned at all, given that a significant portion of the rest of the panel was talking about the benefits of using A.I. in cars. Artificial Intelligence requires an incredible amount of electricity, with some estimates claiming that a single day of operation at OpenAI uses about 17 thousand times the amount of electricity as a typical American home. Sure, many companies brag about their eco-friendly initiatives, but without recognizing how these initiatives compete with, and in effect negate, their other developments, it comes off as little more than greenwashing. —B.B.

Over-reliance on A.I.

Remember how I said I wasn’t afraid of A.I.? That comes from a purely technological perspective. From a practical perspective, many companies appeared to be fully ready to integrate A.I. into their work, even if it does not currently make sense to do so. Like I said before, A.I. has a tendency to hallucinate information, which, while that may not be an issue if someone is simply having fun with an LLM, could have dramatic implications in fields like healthcare and journalism. Everything produced by an A.I. at the current moment must be meticulously fact-checked, which begs the question of whether using it at all is worth it. I worry, I would argue justifiably, that companies will begin to integrate this technology without performing these required checks—making for a worse world and poisoning the well of all future content. —B.B.

SXSW “official” is dead

If “Keep Austin Weird” means anything to you, you know that the city’s residents have been railing against its massive growth in recent years. The corporatization of Austin has long hit its biggest event, which was founded in 1987 as a relatively small music festival—but this year took an extra beating with one of its super-sponsors, the U.S. Army. Over 80 musical artists dropped out of official showcases to protest the U.S. Army and its ties to the Israeli military, as well as featured festival programming from Raytheon (now RTX) subsidiary Collins Aerospace and BAE Systems. Several organizations held protests throughout the week, including a lineup at Austin City Hall of several artists who dropped out of official events. If previous rallies against little-to-no pay for musicians weren’t the final nails in the coffin, this definitely could be. In terms of music, this year especially, the unofficial showcases are the most fun anyway. —L.N.

Tragedy on Red River

Cody Shelton, a 26-year-old chef from the Dallas area was killed in a hit-and-run late-night crossing the street downtown. The area is popular for SXSW nightlife. This 10 years after another awful SXSW hit-and-run left 2 dead. The pointless nature of the preventable tragedy is enough to make us all want to go home. Especially when that could have been anyone and it happened to a promising young man who was just enjoying himself out and about. —R.R.

The future of SXSW

This year, SXSW took on both the U.S. Army and the C.I.A. as sponsors. This was a breaking point for lots of musical guests, who have long complained about their lack of pay as well as the dwindling need for artist showcases given the rise of internet promotion. Additionally, given the ongoing crisis in Gaza, many artists saw SXSW’s acceptance of these sponsorships as a move that tied their work to the U.S. Army and CIA—something of which they were understandably not a fan. Consequently, more than 80 artists pulled out, and several made statements before their sets about how this would be their last year at the festival. As many panelists of the week stressed, the personal is political, and unless SXSW fully internalizes that message, this could be the instigator of a downward spiral for the festival that could see many artists refusing to return. —B.B.

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Few names are as buzzy in Hollywood and beyond as Sydney Sweeney’s. 

From her rise in the controversial Sam Levinson show Euphoria to her recent roles in rom-com revival Anyone But You and Marvel’s Madame Web with Dakota Johnson, Sweeney seems to be everywhere. 

However, in her increasing fame, she’s also stirred up controversy. 

Sweeney has faced rumors of cheating with her Anyone But You co-star Glen Powell, allegedly lied about working as a tour guide at Universal Studios, and become the Ender of Wokeness, per conservatives, after her appearance on Saturday Night Live.

A lot of her buzz and controversy has stemmed from discussions, judgments, and consumption of one thing—her body. 

As Sydney Sweeney noted during her featured speaker session at South By Southwest on March 12, she’s frequently subjected to objectification by people online. 

“My DMs are not a safe space,” she said in response to an audience question. “There is no respect in those.” 

However, little recognition has been given to her achievements in the industry at only 26 years old. A shining gem outside of the realm of oft-debated nepo babies, Sweeney grew up in a working-class family in the small town of Spokane, Washington. She’s been vocal about her struggles to make enough money as an actor—even though she appears to be highly successful in the public eye. After scoring breakout roles in shows like Sharp Objects and The White Lotus, she’s now turned her attention to producing.

Sweeney revealed that she had to convince her parents to let her audition for an indie film being produced in Spokane when she was 10 years old. So naturally, she created a five-year business plan to present to them. She went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in business, something that informs how she navigates Hollywood.

“I am a business,” she said. “You are a business. Every actor is their own company.”

A primary intention of Sweeney’s career is to do things that scare her—and her Saturday Night Live performance was one of those frightening experiences. Despite being an actor, Sweeney said she has terrible stage fright. 

“It was terrifying, guys. It was so scary,” she said of her guest appearance on March 2. “My mouth dried up. I’m having panic attacks thinking about it. But it was so fun.’ 

The fear continues—in more ways than one—with Sweeney’s upcoming role as Cecilia in the nun horror flick Immaculate, which she also produced. Sweeney called the character her most “terrifying” yet, and the film, premiering at SXSW Film and TV Festival on March 12, has been a long time coming. 

Sweeney initially auditioned for the role at age 16. She didn’t get the part, but soon after the film fell into industry purgatory. Since 2014, however, Sweeney has been launched into stardom and founded her production company Fifty-Fifty Films. Through her effort, the project actually got made. 

“I got to make it myself, which when I’m sixteen-—I didn’t know,” she said. “Now, I look back, and I’m like, ‘Syd, you made it.”

While producers are often associated only as names on the checks, Sweeney takes a much more personal route, stating that she “parents” her projects. “I’m part of it from the beginning to the end.”

Sweeney wants to ensure her work is a space of equality, considering the group effort that the creation of a film or television show requires. “I truly believe that it takes everybody to create something. It’s not just one person,” she said. “I want to be 50-50 with all of my partners. I want to make sure that everyone has equal deals, feels that they are all equally at the table.”

Fittingly, she also gave endless thanks to her collaborators, those who taught her important lessons that she’s carrying forward as a leader in the industry. She cites Sharp Objects director Jean-Marc Vallée (“He saw in me what I hoped other people would see in myself.”), casting director David Rubin, and Michael Mohan, the director of Netflix’s short-lived series Everything Sucks!, as empowering collaborators. 

Mohan and Sweeney reunited to work on Immaculate, which he also directed. She credited her work with Mohan on Everything Sucks! as the moment she found her own voice on set. “I realized I wanted to be part of more than just acting,” she said.

And despite the creeps in her DMs, Sweeney is here for the real fans of her craft. As she noted, “Being able to connect with so many people through my characters is why I do it.”

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The rise of “Sephora kids,” 10-year-olds ransacking the shelves at the beauty store for viral brands like Drunk Elephant and Laneige, has made its way to business research.

Many consider Generation Alpha, which includes kids born between the years 2010 and 2024, to be the next target in marketing, and a South By Southwest panel held by Morning Consult’s head of industry intelligence Joanna Piacenza only furthers that argument.

And per Morning Consult’s studies, these kids know brands unlike any other.

Piacenza’s polling research noted that Generation Alpha is quite online. In fact, she described them as “screentime pros.”

“It’s most definitive of who Gen Alpha are,” she said. 

Per Morning Consult’s research, 39% of kids spend at least 3 hours online each day, while 24% spend at least 7 hours a day on their smartphones. “If they own one, and three-fourths own one by the time they’re nine,” Piacenza added.

She noted that tablets are “universal” for Gen Alpha across class and race lines, giving legitimacy to the “iPad baby” phenomenon. However, Piacenza said that once these kids acquire smartphones—those become their primary point of internet access. “It happens around the 8-10 age,” she said of the time kids become glued to their mobile devices.

These children have grown up online—rather than having a dream job like astronaut or teacher, many of them wish for a career as a creator. And many of them have already started.

For example, 7-year-old twins Koti and Haven have garnered over 4.8 million followers on TikTok as @garzacrew, where their mom posts Get-Ready-With-Me videos for the twins, befit with puffy headbands and Drunk Elephant Bronzi drops. 

Creators both their own age and those older have majorly influenced Gen Alpha, as YouTube is the most popular social media platform among them. Similarly, Piacenza said today’s children have a “rosier” view of influencers than others. 

“They’re not quite as jaded as Gen Z when it comes to influencers,” she said. 

The top influencers among Gen Alpha, per Piacenza’s research, include Mr Beast, Blue Ivy, and the infamous Paul Brothers.

Here’s where the brands come in. Morning Consult’s research found that 46% of older Gen Alphas request groceries and snacks by brand name. Similarly, 43% of Gen Alpha parents take fast-food trips at least once a week to feed their kids. 

Piacenza’s main point? These kids are decision-makers. 

“They have purchasing influence,” Piacenza said. “They are a part of the conversation.” 

A large part of this is how their parents, primarily of the Millennial generation, are raising them. Gen Alpha’s parents are more likely to talk to their kids about finances than previous generations—and they’re including them in their financial decisions. Per Piacenza’s polls, 28% of parents eat different foods than their Gen Alpha children at family dinner—talk about picky eaters.

“Millennials are doting on their children in a way that parents before them haven’t,” she said.

Piacenza noted that 48% of Gen Alpha’s parents are “financially fraught,” citing “one and a half” recessions, the pandemic, and historic inflation. “Gen Alpha parents are very stressed out,” she said, a parent to a 10-month-old herself.

Through Morning Consult’s polling research, Piacenza said that Gen Alpha is going to be more fiscally conservative and continue the patterns their parents pass on to them, like choosing generic over name brands.

However, their brand selectivity seems like it will alter our culture and economy—and looking at today’s average Sephora consumer, it appears it already has.

As Piacenza put it, “They’re going to be opinionated about your brand before you’d expect them to.” 

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If you’ve kept up with Selena Gomez’s online presence, you’re familiar with her habit of announcing social media breaks—only to post again moments later. This typically happens when Gomez becomes embroiled in celebrity drama—a recent example is the speculative shade fans attributed to her with a lip-read conversation between her and Taylor Swift at the Golden Globe Awards in January.

However, the former Disney Channel star opened up about her diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder and experience with psychosis in her 2022 Apple TV+ documentary Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me.

As Gomez has become more vulnerable with her mental health struggles both on Instagram and in media, she launched Wondermind to increase access to mental wellness resources and decrease stigma.

And, Gomez announced at her South By Southwest Festival featured panel on March 10, the company will soon be launching an app.

Wondermind, founded by Gomez, her mother Mandy Teefey, and entrepreneur Daniella Pierson in 2021, is an online resource stressing the importance of daily mental fitness in the same way we focus on our physical wellness. Pierson described Wondermind in an email to Forbes as “a sexier, more entertaining competitor to Psychology Today, WebMD, etc. for the millions of people searching about mental health daily.”

Teefey said during the panel that her experience at a mental health rehab center following her work on the second season on Netflix's 13 Reasons Why showed her the importance of access to resources. This led her to create Wondermind.

"When I was there, there were some people that didn't have the resources and were being asked to leave," Teefey recalled. "That was a big marker for me in [realizing] sh*t that's wrong. Like, can I give them my insurance? How can I help them? ... They're talking about suicide. How are you gonna let them leave?"

During the panel, Gomez also opened up about the moment she first realized the importance of mental health. She said it was when she and her mother watched the 1999 Winona Ryder film Girl, Interrupted, based on author Susanna Kaysen's experience in a mental health facility in the 1960s.

"We ended up having one of the most honest conversations that we've ever had together," Gomez said, noting her mom's vocal nature when it came to mental health. "I really appreciated it, and it allowed me to not be scared."

However, Gomez also noted that each individual's mental health journey requires their own effort.

"You can't force someone to do it," she said. "It's just not—it doesn't work. There's a lot of people that cared about me more than I cared about myself, that really wanted me to do things that I wasn't ready for. I had to hit my rock bottom."

"I had to do it at my time, and it took a couple tries," she continued. "But I'd like to think and hope that I'm in a much better place."

Fellow panelist and New York Jets defensive lineman Solomon Thomas shared the impact of vulnerability on his mental health journey. As an athlete, Thomas said he's working to end the stigma that toxic masculinity creates regarding men's mental health struggles. "I was raised in the locker room," he said. "Being emotional... wasn't allowed."

But Thomas has made the effort to "erase this archaic mindset."

He said that opening up about his sister's suicide—and hearing the impact on those who listened to her story—helped him process his own struggles.

"That's the first time the spark hit me. Because that's the first time in my life I felt seen," he said. "I didn't feel crazy. I felt like, 'I'm not wild for being anxious or depressed right now.' This is all normal... I finally realized how many people are struggling."

@dailydot Selena Gomez drops a therapeutic gem at SXSW. #selenagomez #sxsw #sxsw2024 #rain ♬ original sound - The Daily Dot

Each of the panelists noted the importance of journaling, therapy, and meditation as coping mechanisms for their mental health struggles. And toward the end of the discussion, moderator and licensed therapist Dr. Jessica Stern led audience members and panelists in an exercise that she called the Three Ws.

She asked everyone to think about one wish, one wonder, and one win—perhaps a taste of the kind of exercises that will be available on the Wondermind app.

"The top three reasons people don't do therapy is: they don't have the time, they don't have insurance, or they don't believe it works," Teefey said. "So let's gamify it and see."

Still, the Wondermind team recognizes that an app on your phone is not the only solution.

As fellow panelist, Wondermind consultant, and licensed therapist Dr. Corey Yeager said, "Healing must come from within."

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If you're on the Internet, you've heard about the viral Stanley cup craze—whether it's the tackling at Target stores over the exclusive Valentine's Day collaboration or the immortal Stanley cup that survived a car fire.

The brand is on fire (no pun intended), and it shows no sign of stopping.

Stanley 1913 announced the launch of two new products, a hands-fee, carry-all Quencher cup and a soft cooler at their filled-out South By Southwest panel on Saturday.

Vice President of Global Brand Marketing at Stanley 1913 Jenn Reeves spoke to a sea of Stanley cup-carriers and marketing aficionados alike at “The ReFresh: How Classic Brand Stanley Rebooted on TikTok" panel.

While the brand has made headlines in the last year, it was actually founded over 100 years ago. William Stanley Jr. launched the brand in 1913 after inventing the vacuum-sealed technology used in many temperature-controlled liquid holders. Stanley cups were long associated with gruff "man" activities like camping.

In the last few years, however, everything changed—and so did Stanley 1913's profits.

The company made $75 million in 2019, but just four years later, in 2023, its profits skyrocketed to $750 million, per NBC. Reeves explained how the brand multiplied its profits tenfold in such a short span.

"What sparked it was women," Reeves said plainly. "... In the immortal words of Beyoncé, 'Who run the world? Girls.'"

The brand's shift to prioritize women as consumers—first by launching the popular Quencher and then releasing it in a variety of colorways—led it to connect with a dedicated fanbase. The focus on digital marketing, notably TikTok, and exclusive partnerships (hello, Target Valentine's Day collab!) also played a role, Reeves said. She cited collaborations with Grammy winner Lainey Wilson, e.l.f. Cosmetics, and Dae Hair.

Still, much of Stanley's good press has come straight from consumers—Reeves noted the viral car fire incident and the company's response. Stanley gifted the woman whose car went up in flames a new vehicle.

@stanleybrand #stitch with @Danielle ♬ original sound - Stanley 1913

Reeves said that knowing the brand's consumers also helped them grow their fanbase on TikTok, where Stanley cups became the primary receptacle for the infamous WaterTok.

"We know she's going to Target—for home, for beauty, for health, for family," she said. "But she's also going to Dick's [Sporting Goods] for her own fitness, family, and sports. And then Amazon. If she has to have a Quencher by 6pm and doesn't want to get in the car, then she's gonna go to Amazon."

Stanley's new product launches, including the Quencher cup carried by a shoulder strap rather than a handle, further the brand's commitment to its female fanbase.

"Women have a lot to carry," Reeves said. "So the only thing better than our Quencher, having a handle, is having it hands-free."

Reeves also fired subtle shade at competitor Hydro Flask, who mocked Stanley over the brand's use of lead earlier this year.

"We don't really talk about our competition," she said. "We focus on our consumers, our community, our customers and our creativity. That's it."

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Covering revolutionary hashtags from #MeetMeInTemecula to #BlackLivesMatter, a new docuseries on the rise and impact of Black Twitter is set to begin streaming on Hulu May 9.

Based on the series of WIRED articles by Jason Parham, Black Twitter: A People's History traces how the social media platform was shaped by Black folks and how they used it to spark legitimate change.

The documentary, directed by Prentice Penny (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Insecure), features insights from a variety of communication experts, Black Twitter employees, and originators of hashtags that instigated actual movements—including #OscarsSoWhite and #UKnowUrBlackWhen. Talking heads include J Wortham, W. Kamau Bell, Roxane Gay, Ira Madison III, April Reign, Rembert Browne, and more.

Penny's project looks at how the platform given to Black voices shifted global attention, particularly igniting online outrage over the murders of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. On Twitter, no one could look away or ignore their voices. But as Black people were heard, this led to increasing backlash from the alt-right and white supremacists.

Black Twitter ties the increasing power among Black voices to the counteractive rise of Donald Trump—befit with reaction memes from 2016. This connection becomes all the more prescient as November's election approaches and we're seeing Trump's potential return to the presidency.

While the documentary acknowledges Black Twitter's impact on serious issues, it also dissects the humor and culture that have shaped the internet as we know it today. From Squat Bae to Crying Jordan, these memes altered the way everyone communicates online via the use of visual language like GIFs and reaction memes.

At the documentary's premiere at the South By Southwest Film & Television Festival yesterday, Penny noted the intentional balance between humor and gravity.

"The same way that Black Twitter uses GIFs and memes to punctuate things, we felt the need to do that too, right?" he said at a Q&A following a screening of the series' first two episodes. "We need to make things feel fast and quick, the way you process information, right? So for us, it was like, 'How do you take the feeling of our Twitter and put that in a documentary?'"

Penny also noted the importance of documenting the existence of Black Twitter amid growing movements to halt discussions on race. At least nine states have passed legislation to ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory in schools since 2021, denying students the tools to understand the country's history of race. Additionally, Texas banned Diversity and Inclusion initiatives in universities starting in 2024.

"We're making this documentary as you're sitting in a country of certain states trying to ban books or burn books, or rewrite narratives about what slavery was or wasn't," Penny said. "So, Jason [Parham] had this very prophetic vision of, 'Let us document this now because it could all go away.' And we're literally watching it all go away."

"And the irony of that, to me, is that so much of Black culture is told through oral tradition, right? So we don't have a lot of physical records of us being here, and then the fact that Black Twitter could go away when we actually have a digital record of it, but it could just become oral history is bizarre to me."

As Twitter has changed in recent years due to its purchase by Elon Musk, many have been left wondering where the future of the platform, now called X, lies. Penny hints at the film's exploration of how X has altered Black Twitter—but we'll have to watch the third part to find out.

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The first day of 2024’s South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas was met with protest, including a speech from Eve 6 guitarist, Jon Siebels, representing Artists Against Apartheid.

Several musicians set to appear in official SXSW showcases have dropped out amid the current war in Gaza, citing the U.S. Army’s financial support. Chicago singer-songwriter Squirrel Flower first announced the cancellation of her sets on March 4, sparking the boycott among several other artists, including indie singer-songwriter Eliza McLamb, Atlanta rock project Mamalarky, and Brooklyn post-punk players Proper., among at least eight other artists.

Siebels urged more artists to drop out.

“They’re not getting paid sh*t anyway,” he said. “So they might as well.”

At least 80 people gathered outside the Austin Convention Center, the hub for the 9-day festival covering tech, film, and music, among other sectors, to call out the festival for accepting funding from the U.S. Army, and participation from Collins Aerospace, a subsidiary of RTX (Raytheon), a company that supplies weapons to the Israeli government, is also holding two events as part of the festival’s tech showcase.

The U.S. Army serves as a super-sponsor of this year’s festival, hosting several events like army-inspired yoga classes, robot fights, and a panel on “the greatest innovator in the history of the world.” 

The protest, organized by the Party of Socialism and Liberation, called out the military’s financial support of the Israeli army. U.S. Army handed over $3.8 billion in military aid to Israel in 2023, per Al Jazeera. 

“We’re not trying to harass the average South By-goer,” one of the event organizers said. “We’re here to call out the war profiteers.”

Siebels said that after 20 years of both attending and performing at the festival, things have shifted drastically. 

“This used to be a place for new artists to come and showcase. This used to be a place where you might be able to see your favorite band in a small club or in a parking lot,” he said. “Artists really made SXSW what it is.”

“Something changed in the last couple years. Now, instead of being a haven for artists, we have the Department of Defense, CIA, Raytheon and its subsidiaries trying to run the show,” he continued. “These institutions are directly responsible for the settler state of Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.” 

Siebels also called out SXSW’s trajectory after 50% share of the festival was purchased by Penske Media Corporation in 2021. The corporation also owns Rolling Stone, Variety, Art Forum, the Hollywood Reporter, Vox, the American Music Awards, and the Golden Globe Awards.

He noted Penske’s firing of an Art Forum editor last fall after he signed a letter demanding a ceasefire. 

“Behind the veer of progressivism and innovation, you have people like this whose only allegiance is to promoting hate, violence, and now genocide,” he said. “Shame on South by Southwest and their billionaire owners for bringing these warmongers into our town.”

@dailydot Jon Siebeis of Eve 6 speaks at the #SXSW ♬ original sound - The Daily Dot

Additionally, SXSW has been under fire in prior years for its refusal to pay artists who perform at the festival. Over the summer, the festival announced that starting this year, bands would be paid $350 and solo/duo acts would be paid $150, per the Austin Monitor. 

Siebels also detested the artist rates.

“With all the money that South by Southwest brings in every year, they can't even pay the artists a wage that will cover their costs,” he said. “Artists are losing money to come here will be paid, quote-unquote, in exposure. Can you pay your rent on exposure?”

@greg.j.stoker Disrupt all you can this weekend! #raytheon #merchantsofdeath #veteran #savegaza #ceasefirenow #endwar ♬ original sound - Greg Stoker

The protest also featured speeches from veteran and activist TikToker Greg Stoker, as well as Austin-based synthpop group TC Superstar, who also dropped out of their official SXSW shows.

“If you have an official showcase, please drop it,” TC Superstar frontman Connor McCampbell said. “[Expletive] SXSW, free Palestine.”

The Daily Dot reached out to SXSW via email for comment.

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Early into the People's Choice Awards, it's clear the ceremony has an uncanny vibe. Winners have been easy to guess, as those happen to be the only nominees in attendance—notably Billie Eilish, who won Best TV Performance for her role in Hulu's Swarm, and Tom Hiddleston accepting the Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy award for Disney Plus' Loki.

But even Adam Sandler, honored this year with the People's Icon award, felt the lack of sincerity.

Frequent co-star and former People's Icon winner Jennifer Aniston announced the award, noting that he recently received the more prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. As Sandler accepted the award he hinted at an obvious fact: No one really wants to be there.

"I know you don't like doing stuff like this," he said to Aniston, before unfolding his written speech. He then joked that he thought he'd won People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive award.

"This is gonna be a little humiliating," he said, before delving into his lengthy speech to accept the award for being the hottest man alive. "...'Cause they said I gotta talk a few minutes."

Sandler then donned a voice reminiscent of his goofiest characters á la Billy Madison or Happy Gilmore.

"Hello ladies and gentlemen, my name is Adam Sandler," he grovels. "And I am the sexiest man alive! Can I get a hell yeah?"

Raunchy references colored his speech. "About freaking time. For decades, Adam Sandler has been waiting patiently on the sexy bench, legs wide open," he says.

The actor eventually gave up his act to give some real thanks to his collaborators, his family, and of course—the people. However, some viewers would like to recount the PCA ballots to ensure the show isn't just a marketing stunt.

As one Reddit user wrote, "This is the strangest awards show ever. It feels like no one wants to be there."

And another replied, "I don't want to be here."

This year's awards are presented by NBC and streaming on Peacock, and it also happens to be the first year NBC did not present the much-maligned Golden Globe Awards.

@dailydot Adam Sandler couldn't take his People's Choice acceptance speech for his Icon Award, so he pretended it was for People's Sexiest Man Alive. #PeoplesChoice #AdamSandler #TV #Icon ♬ original sound - The Daily Dot

As viewers in the Pop Culture Chat subreddit pointed out, the show is also airing on the same evening as the BAFTAs.

"Why would you have the Peoples Choice Awards on the same day as the BAFTAS?" one asked. "Like literally every single important movie star from the year is in England."

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The post ‘I am the sexiest man alive!’: Adam Sandler accepts the wrong award at People’s Choice Awards appeared first on The Daily Dot.

This story was originally published on Passionfruit.

Vancouver-based indie-pop auteur Haley Blais could be considered a veteran of the vlog generation. Before the music industry strived for trending TikTok audios, the 28-year-old singer-songwriter found a digital home on YouTube, where she could share both her music and snippets of her life.

“I don’t even remember doing it,” Blais told Passionfruit of starting her channel in 2013, which first featured lifestyle content standards like monthly favorites and lookbooks. But Blais always included her quick-witted humor, something that also subtly permeates her confessional music.

And as she stepped away from her classically trained opera path, Blais opted to post covers online, soon making her channel a dual space for both vlogs and music. On YouTube, she could get her music out there when she didn’t really have a footing in the local scene yet.

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An ode to those who refuse to take the easy way out, Julio Torres’ directorial debut Problemista oozes bold world-building and off-kilter laughs as a curious look at artistic dedication and the U.S. immigration system.

Torres stars as Alejandro, an awkward Ecuadorian immigrant in pursuit of the American dream: being a toymaker for the massive corporation Hasbro. With one tuft of hair always out of place (a la The Little Rascals’ Alfalfa), he drags his feet through a trash-ridden New York City with the demeanor of Nathan Fielder, though he doesn’t fully rely on the same discomfort of the lauded cringe comic.

Problemista

Release Date: TBD
Director: Julio Torres
Release: Theatrical
Julio Torres' directorial debut juggles cartoonish visuals, immigration anxiety, and artistic dedication. And it co-stars Tilda Swinton as a brash hyper-Karen.

Co-star Tilda Swinton, on the other hand, emits pure demand and entitlement as a brash hyper-Karen art critic, Elizabeth Ascencio. Her terminally ill but cryogenically frozen husband, Bobby (RZA), is Alejandro’s client at FreezeCorp, a cryogenic facility that hasn’t yet figured out how to reawaken its customers. When Alejandro loses his job—and in turn, his visa sponsor—he latches onto the erratic Elizabeth, in hopes that putting up with her antics can earn her signature on his visa application.

While Alejandro’s main goal is to remain in the U.S. so he can apply for Hasbro’s “Talent Incubator Program,” Elizabeth sets her mind on fulfilling Bobby’s dream of a solo showcase for his 13 paintings, each one an egg depicting a different quality (“shy egg,” “intelligent egg”). Alejandro joins her quest, building a strange relationship with his menacing boss along the way.

Torres, a stand-up comedian and creator of Spanish-language HBO comedy Los Espookys, is known to lean into the alternative, and Problemista similarly holds no bounds. The film packs bold visualizations into its real-world narrative—expanding a common, albeit quirky, story into a colorful hero’s tale. As a result, Problemista feels like a storybook, and its narration by Isabella Rossellini (I mean, who else?) and haunting choir-driven score by Robert Ouyang Rusli only play into its cartoon-isms.

For example, Alejandro imagines Craigslist, the website via which he must pick up cash-paying odd jobs, as a personified, glitchy creature (an enigmatic Larry Owens) that dangles him over a dark abyss. Similarly, Elizabeth transforms into a red-eyed cave-dwelling monster, a hydra that Alejandro, dressed as a measly knight, must slay. With a set design that mirrors the same playfulness and dedication as that of a Disney theme park, Problemista leads a wonderful welcome into the wacky mind of our leading weirdo.

Problemista will be sure to draw comparisons to fellow A24 release Everything Everywhere All at Once by its visual quirks alone, but there’s no multiverse here, only the never-ending puzzle of the U.S. immigration system.

Torres’ vision is perhaps most pointed in its depiction of the hoops of immigration. The loss of a visa means the flipping of an hourglass, counting down the minutes until an immigrant (quite literally) disappears. Alejandro remains trapped in an unsolvable escape room that keeps him spinning in circles. As Rossellini narrates, “The maze is impossible to navigate unless, of course, he is willing to bend the rules.” These literal visualizations offer space to laugh at the absurdity of the system, but also comment on its legitimate issues. 

Additionally, Alejandro’s relationship with his mother (Catalina Saavedra) who remains in Ecuador lies at the heart of his inspiration. Represented by the colorful 3D-rendered monuments he and his mother had dreamt up, this connection carries the film’s earnest baseline.

However, the Problemista’s final message lacks clarity; it lends too much empathy to Swinton’s Elizabeth, drawing a connection between her and Alejandro as “outsiders” who have very unique, but strong-willed dreams.

Elizabeth is best portrayed as the shadow-puppet hydra, and later, the cave-dwelling monster that Alejandro must face. Here, she becomes less of a character to be understood and more of a personification of the problems to overcome. Her most laughable aspects (her entitled white woman sensibilities, the iPhone flashlight that remains on during each scene, her obsession with the archival system FileMaker Pro, etc.) play into the de-characterization. As this monstrous image, Elizabeth equals a learning opportunity for Alejandro. “Become a problem for them,” she instructs him, and that he does.

While Alejandro puts her advice to use, the final act’s resolution whisks away his struggles with the power of pure manifestation. 

“I live my life like a little rabbit,” Torres explained during the Q&A following the film’s SXSW world premiere. “Sometimes I have to remember, just in case, I have little claws.”

As inspiring as this is for the rabbits who forget about their own claws, the swiftness with which Alejandro overcomes his problems teeters on the all-too-familiar “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” message—even though this appears to be something Torres intended to critique.

Still, what makes Problemista worthwhile is Torres’ bold mind. A series of colorful objects rendered throughout the film’s locations are irresistible—even if the film’s themes aren’t quite polished into the narrative. To simply bear witness to his extended-length humor is an honor.

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The post Review: A24 film ‘Problemista’ is colorful, hilarious, and overwhelming appeared first on The Daily Dot.