Apple shows up, Star Wars stars, and news from elsewhere
Good morning, South by Southwesterners!
It’s time to unplug. The Interactive section of SXSW is over, and sadly, so is our coverage. No more swag; no more breakfast tacos; no more wristbands—it’s time to head back to reality.
It has been a pleasure to be a part of your routine this week. Let’s stay in touch! As a reader of this newsletter, you’ll receive our regular Quartz Daily Brief—if you don’t get it already—as well as coverage from future tech events. (If that’s not for you, simply unsubscribe at the bottom of this email.)
Mike is in town through until Thursday, however, so be sure to look out for more dispatches from Quartz on our site. Rock on.
What to watch for today
Apple turns up. If the tech giant isn’t hosting an event, its presence is usually quite minimal. However, the company’s head of web services, Eddy Cue, will be speaking with CNN’s Dylan Byers this morning on curation in digital media. Apple upended the music industry’s business model with iTunes, and is leading similar charges with Apple TV, and Apple Music, so this should be an interesting discussion at a festival whose roots are in music.
Apple’s accessibility director, Sarah Herrlinger, will also be speaking Mar. 15, on how companies can enhance the user experience for disabled users.
London’s mayor talks tech. Sadiq Khan will be interviewed by Huff Post editor Lydia Polgreen this afternoon about how Britain’s capital has evolved in recent years, and how it can meet the challenges that come with rapidly advancing technology. He’ll also discuss social media’s role in hate speech, with the unique perspective as the first Muslim mayor of a large western city.
Meet the new George Lucas. Disney is putting its next Star Wars trilogy in the hands of The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson, who will write and direct at least the first film in the series. He’ll speak to Vanity Fair’s Joanna Robinson at the convention center about how his career led to heading up the world’s most beloved media property. SXSW is also premiering a documentary about Johnson’s process as a Star Wars director and Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill, will be there alongside Johnson.
🎉 Party planner 🎉 As Interactive wraps up, the more tech-heavy parties give way to bands and shows. But here are a few of the last parties we’ll be stopping by tonight: Meow Wolf, the mad interactive art installation in New Mexico, is hosting an all-day party at Empire Garage; XPrize is hosting an event at Speakeasy at 8:30pm; Soundcloud will be throwing back-to-back parties tonight and Tuesday at Native Hostel; and the country of Spain is hosting a happy hour at the convention center at 5pm. After spending last week in Spain for Mobile World Congress, Mike has missed eating tapas for every meal.
And the rest of the festival
Just because we’re leaving you doesn’t mean SXSW is over. The festival runs through Mar. 18, and there’s a ton of music and films for you to enjoy. Here are a few of the things we’ll be sad to be missing:
Lyor Cohen, who got his start in the music industry with Russell Simmons and Run-DMC in the 1980s, led both Def Jam and Warner Music Group for a time, and now heads up music for YouTube, globally. He’ll talk about the seismic shifts upending the music industry on Mar. 14 at the convention center.
Isle of Dogs, Wes Anderson’s much-anticipated and exceedingly twee stop-motion animated film will close out the film festival on Mar. 17. The movie, which opens on Mar. 23 in the US, tells the story of a young boy’s epic journey to recover his exiled dog.
Tomorrow, creator Dan Fogelman and the cast of NBC’s This Is Us, including Mandy Moore, Milo Ventimiglia, and Justin Hartley, will offer an inside look at the show, which airs its season-two finale on Mar. 13.
Performances. Southby’s roots are in music, and this year won’t be any different. Artists Keith Urban, Willow Smith, Tinashe, Action Bronson, Superchunk, Shakey Graves, members of The Wu-Tang Clan, Okkervil River, Ted Leo, and Pussy Riot will appear. Here’s a full list of everyone playing official SXSW events—which is far easier to search than the official app or website.
There are also tons of unofficial performances across the city throughout the week, and some of them are truly random. For example: At Stubb’s on March 17, there’s a concert whose bill includes Salt-N-Pepa, Girl Talk, Kurt Vile, Albert Hammond Jr. of The Strokes, and Waxahatchee… hosted by Rachael Ray (of Food Network fame) of all people.
What everyone is talking about
Elon being Elon. Fresh off a late night partying with Snoop Dogg, Elon Musk answered questions at a decently attended surprise event at the convention center yesterday afternoon. He made headlines by telling the audience that SpaceX will be able to make its first flights with the ship it intends to fly to Mars in early 2019. He also discussed the possibility of a World War III, who will rule Mars, and how AI will kill us all. Pretty standard Musk topics, at this point.
Who won SXSW?
HBO, hands down. From day one, all anyone could talk about was Westworld thanks to Giant Spoon’s remarkable recreation of the town of Sweetwater from the series. Festival-goers donned black and white hats around Austin-like badges of honor. And enthusiasm hit new heights on Saturday, when the show’s creators and cast took the stage and released two sneak peaks of the upcoming second season. HBO wrapped up on Sunday—the final day of its activation—with a panel at the Fairmont on how the massive transmedia franchise used experiences, a chatbot, a robust microsite, and Reddit and other social media to build the world outside of the show. Spoiler alert: It wasn’t cheap.
It also gave a glimpse of the biggest Easter egg from the activation on social media for anyone who didn’t get to join in the experience first hand.
More highlights from yesterday
Quartz x Stubb’s. We celebrated the launch our Quartz Messenger bot in style last night. Thanks to everyone who stopped by!
Melinda Gates rouses the audience. She gave a wide-reaching and inspiring keynote address alongside a panel of innovators including Joanna Coles of Heart Magazine, entertainment lawyer Nina Shaw, and TaskRabbit’s Stacy Brown-Philpot that touched on the importance of paying it forward and elevating other women and marginalized groups.
Barry Jenkins reads the Moonlight speech that was never given. For the first time, he read aloud the Oscar acceptance speech that he would’ve delivered after winning Best Picture last year, if not for the La La Land snafu. The Moonlight director published the speech, which encouraged people not to impose limitations on themselves, last year.
Our favorite frat houses
Puppies. Enough said. Ashley snuggled a fluffy pup named Halibut and seriously considered taking him back to New York with her. The critters were at The Leap Lounge on Rainey St., which was hosted by Mars Petcare and Michelson Found Animals, and featured GPS pet-tracker Whistle, and Austin Pets Alive (which supplied the adorable animals).
It’s Sony. The Japanese tech company (which is trying to stage a bit of a revival right now) had one of the best houses at SXSW. You could spend hours at the space just trying out all the different things on show. Some of Mike’s favorites included the AR air hockey game, the VR soccer penalty game, a crazy fiber-optic light surround-sound art installation, and of course, everybody’s favorite robotic dog, Aibo.
The Mashable house. There might be some trouble at home, but you wouldn’t know it at the media outlet’s house on 6th St. The house had puppies, a ball pit, a VR arcade, a temporary tattoo stand, and myriad selfie stations to keep guests entertained. And last night, Mashable had its annual “Mashbash” party which was jam-packed as ever. DJs Taiwo Hassan and Mick spun late into the night.
Quartz eats
Ashley, a cheese obsessive, sniffed out free cheese shots with all the fixings in the SouthBites Trailer Park at the top of Rainey St. They’re from Sartori, a Wisconsin-based cheesemaker, which also handed out free samples of cheeses including its rich, Merlot-soaked Bellavitano.
Mike had his first Texas barbecue experience at the Quartz party at Stubb’s—home of that barbecue sauce in your grocery store—and it was an admirable start:
🌮Pro-tip 🌮 Stop by a local H-E-B grocery store on your way out of town. We hear the corn-flour blend tortillas are magical. You can make your own breakfast tacos after you’ve left Austin.
Seen and heard
“If you do not control access to your body, you control nothing,” said Hilary Rosen, a notable strategist and partner at SKDKnickerbocker during the Time’s Up panel today. Rosen is the founding co-chair of Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund.
Last year, actors dressed as the handmaids from Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale caught everyone’s attention as they walked in unison throughout Austin. This year, Hulu just had some of the outfits in glass boxes around town.
Overheard by a man leaving the Spectrum Reach Lounge, poised to shove a burrito in his mouth: “There’s nothing better than free food.”
Over the weekend
Five people died when their helicopter crashed into the East River in New York. The helicopter went down near Roosevelt Island on Sunday evening, killing all five passengers; the pilot was able to free himself and was rescued by a tugboat. The helicopter had been chartered for a photo shoot.
The EU and Japan pushed to be exempted from US tariffs. In Brussels, European Union and Japanese trade officials lobbied their US counterparts (paywall) for exclusion from Donald Trump’s new tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. The EU says it will slap $3.5 billion on products imported from the US if it does not receive a waiver.
Xi Jinping became president for life. The National People’s Congress voted to abolish the two-term, 10-year limit for presidents on Sunday, paving the way for Xi Jinping to rule China for the foreseeable future. Only two delegates, out of almost 3,000, voted against the measure.
Matters of debate
Astrology is a form of escapism. In tumultuous times, there’s an increasing willingness among young people in particular to question the arranged order.
A prestigious reputation could be a liability for companies in discrimination lawsuits. Activist investors and the media are more willing to make an example of firms that have a “halo” to tarnish.
Transgender activism will lead to a backlash. Advocates must be careful to use accurate language to describe the issue.
Surprising discoveries
Tesla needs a valet. It wants a manager of “exceptional ability” to fix its California HQ parking problems.
Black Panther is now Marvel’s fifth billion-dollar movie. After a strong opening in China, the superhero blockbuster became the 33rd movie ever to gross 10 digits.
A Canadian woman will appear on the country’s banknotes for the first time. Viola Desmond, who was arrested and fined for sitting in the whites section of a cinema, will feature on the C$10 bill.
Our best wishes for an inspiring day in Austin. Please send any final thoughts, comments, and leftover tacos to us, Ashley, and Mike. The best way to keep up with news while you’re on the go this week is the Quartz app for iPhone and Android.