When I first got a taste of South-by-Southwest back in 2011, I knew I had to do it again. Two years later I am getting ready to return to Austin for another weekend of panels, meetups, and drinks. Lots of drinks.

While I am sad I won’t be going out with rockstars like Ryan and Carlos, I am excited to know that a few friends of mine will also be in town this weekend. I cannot wait to reconnect with old friends and make some new ones.

That being said, if you are reading this and are planning to be in the area- I want to meet you. If you see me in Austin, say Hi. Feel free to contact me via Twitter or Facebook. I’ve narrowed down my conference to a few top choices each day and you can see those over at the SXSW Scheduler and over at Sched. There’s a good chance I’ll try and make some of these panels- but we all know how it can be at SXSW. Maybe I’ll get distracted by a flash mob or foursquare with foursquare.

Here’s a rough schedule of what I hope to do at SXSW:

Thursday March 7th, 2013

Early as hell flight to Austin: DCA to AUS (via DFW)

Badge Pick-Up

Check into my South Austin crash-pad (thanks Airbnb!)

Settle in. Trip to H-E-B? Go on a run?

Going Out! Top options:

SXSW Startup Crawl 2013 presented by Rackspace 

BIG BASHH

Friday March 8th, 2013

Picking up some Moo swag

SXSW Interactive! Top Choices:

The Next Big Thing IS Not a Gadget

What Marketers Should Ask Themselves About Social

Opening Remarks from Bre Pettis

#catvidfest: Is This the End of Art?

It’s Reddit’s Web. We Just Live In It

How to Rank Better in Google & Bing

Going Out! Top options:

Spredfast Bash

Saturday March 9th, 2013

Private Brunch

SXSW Interactive! Top Choices:

How Twitter Has Changed How We Watch TV

Time Shifting: Is Sports the Last One Standing?

A Home on the Web: The State of Blogging in 2013

Al Gore on The Future

Going Out! Top Options:

DC Tech Meetup

Awesomest Journalism Party. Ever. III.

Chevy Tweet House

Deadliest Catch presents The Captains’ Concert at SXSW 2013

Pop! In & Party with PayPal at SXSW

Sunday March 10th, 2013

Wonder if I’m still alive.

SXSW Interactive! Top Choices:

Shooting, Producing, Selling: Secrets of Web TV

Mythbusting: Engineering a Viral Video

From YouTube to Global Sensations: The Ap”peel” of Annoying Orange

The Art of Brand Integration: FreddieW and Its Position as Video Game/Entertainment Marketers Secret Weapon

Web Series Meet Up

Social Media Was Fun. Has Measurement Killed It?

Going Out! Top Options:

SXSW Film + Interactive Fusion Party presented by Fandango

MashBash at SXSWi 2013

Nat Geo Celebrates The ’80′s & Today Featuring Girl Talk

Monday March 11th, 2013

SXSW Interactive! Top Choices:

Current Trends at SXSW Interactive

Creating & Keeping a Kickass Photo Community

Julie Uhrman & Josh Topolsky Keynote

The Making of a Meme

Photographer Meet Up

Going Out! Top Options:

Riviera Partners Presents: SXSW Tech Skeeball

Tuesday March 12th, 2013

Get the hell out of Dodge: AUS to DCA (layover in DFW)

After watching 94% of the nominated films, here are my predictions for the Academy Awards this year in my Will win, might win, should win format.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Will win: Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables)

Might win: Sally Field (Lincoln)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Will win: Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln)

Might win: Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)

Should win: Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Will win: Amour

Might win: Zero Dark Thirty

Should win: Moonrise Kingdom

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Will win: Argo

Might win: Lincoln

BEST ANIMATED FILM

Will win: Wreck-It Ralph

Might win: Brave

BEST SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

Will win: Paperman

Might win: Adam and Dog

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Will win: Life of Pi

Might win: Lincoln

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Will win: Anna Karenina

Might win: Les Misérables

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Will win: Les Misérables

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Will win: Life of Pi

Might win: Skyfall

BEST SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)

Will win: Curfew

Might win: Buzkashi Boys

BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM

Will win: Searching for Sugar Man

Might win: The Gatekeepers

BEST SHORT FILM (DOCUMENTARY)

Will win: Inocente

Might win: Open Heart

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Will win: Life of Pi

BEST SOUND EDITING

Will win: Argo

Might win: Life of Pi

BEST SOUND MIXING

Will win: Les Misérables

Might win: Argo

BEST FILM EDITING

Will win: Argo

Might win: Lincoln

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Will win: Life of Pi

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Will win: Skyfall

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Will win: Amour

BEST DIRECTOR

Will win: Ang Lee (Life of Pi)

Might win: Steven Spielberg (Lincoln)

BEST ACTOR

Will win: Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)

BEST ACTRESS

Will win: Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)

Might win: Emmanuelle Riva (Amour)

Should win: Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)

BEST PICTURE

Will win: Argo

Might win: Lincoln

Should win: Zero Dark Thirty

(Disclosure: I work at a marketing firm who has the great fortune of doing work on many of these films)

Oh yes, I have a blog. I should tell you what I’ve been up to.

Went to the BCS National Championship Game. It was pretty cool. Here’s one of many photos I took:

And look it’s that guy with a pretend girlfriend:

Still reviewing lots of shows.

• Seussical at Imagination Stage
  
• Dreamgirls at Signature Theatre
• A Killing Game at Dog & Pony DC
• The Pajama Men at Woolly Mammoth Theatre
• Les Miserables at National Theatre
• Zorro at Constellation Theatre

Saw the Wizards win a game. Visited the Spy Museum to see the new Bond Exhibit. Started watching Oscar films. Went to the Inaugural Parade and a couple Inaugural Balls.

I was also honored to be nominated for some 20SB Bootlegs Awards.

Right now I’m just trying to keep warm as DC finally experiences a Winter. I’m also in a weekly Skeeball league. That’ll be interesting.

Despite the fact the was out of the office for almost two whole weeks, it feels like the holidays came by and went. Maybe it was because I spent the first part of my break trying to get so many holiday videos posted. Maybe it was because I packed every other day of vacation with meetups, errands, and things besides sleeping in and relaxing. Maybe it was because my body refused to let me sleep past 8:30 on days I tried to sleep in.

It’s probably because it’s the second weekend of January and I’m finally finishing this post. Ya I haven’t had a consistant schedule yet.

I don’t mean to make it sound like I didn’t enjoy my break, I really did. I caught up with friends old and new and spent a lot of time organizing, reflecting, and planning the rest of my life.

So once again I look back at the past year because in the immortal words of Pitbull, “To understand the future, we have to go back in time.”

Work

NMS continues to be what I do between the hours of 9-5. This year saw more creative assignments which ranged from photos of wine to videos at the BCS National Championship game in New Orleans. I also found out that people dig me in cargo shorts. 2012 also brought lots of moments where we played as hard as we worked. Pie Eating Contests, Holiday Parties, Visits from shark mascots, Scavenger Hunts, Shady deals at Rhodeside Grill, and Happy Hours were just some of the office highlights in 2012.

I’ve had a lot of fun, traveled a bit, and accomplished a lot. In 2013 I don’t want to just get stuff done- I want to own it.

Social Media

I did some pretty excited things because of social media in the past year. Besides the fact I made a pretty cool Gangnam Style video, there was also that time Pepsi made a video for me or that time Warby Parker made a video for me.

Oh ya, Warby Parker selected me to be their “Class Rep” when their “Class Trip” came down to DC. It was a great experience which will continue in 2013 in the form of lots of cool WP frames. Be prepared, 2K13 will equal lots of hipster frames.

Other bloggy things I did: painted my nails pink, talked about blogging at the National Defense University, went to a red carpet movie premiere, watched revelers at the White House on Election Day, observed Kobe Bryant at his weirdest, and reviewed lots of theatre.

I’ll admit that I didn’t blog much here as I did over at We Love DC, and honestly I think it’s going to be a direction I’m going to head more towards as I re-imagine this little space on the web. Expect to see some changes here in 2013.

Friends

I traveled a lot this summer (more on that later), one of my favorite trips had to be spending a weekend with all of my favorite vloggers at VidCon. It’s been great having friends all over the country you can just meet-up with to bowl or dance with.

I also spent time porch sitting with pie, surviving Hurricane Sandy in a Google Hangout, brunching in a chair Barack Obama sat in, and pretending to be a Spy in Foxboro, MA.

Family

Kim finished her masters at UConn and landed a pretty cool gig at Notre Dame. Diana finished her masters at NYU and is back at Tor. Danny is still at UMass Dartmouth and found a McDonald’s Gift Certificate while shopping for coats at a Savers Thrift Store. Good to see all my siblings are doing well.

However one of the most notable family moments of 2012 was the time I ran into my cousin An for the first time after living in the same city as her for six years. I guess we run in different circles.

Theatre

I reviewed around 24 shows this year. I liked some of them and I hated some of them. Joanna and I rocked the Helen Hayes awards back in April and while I remain retired from Stage Managing, I did do a favor when it came to Green Screens and the Wizard of Oz.

I think in 2013 I’m going to focus my We Love DC writing solely on Theatre and other A&E topics. I’ve split my time between different beats and I want to “go back to basics” in a sense and will concentrate on what I’m good at.

Travel & Special Events

2012 will always be known as the year of the Wedding. I attended or worked seven of them, which led to a very travel heavy summer. I don’t think I traveled as much as I did in 2011 but I had a pretty good follow-up year. Here’s the year in travel in photo form.

New Orleans, LA: BCS National Championship Game

San Antonio, TX: H-E-B Beauty Roadshow

Las Vegas, NV: Channel Partners Conference

Storrs, CT: Kim’s Graduation

Boston, MA: Ryan’s Bachelor Party

Worcester, MA: Ryan’s Wedding

Champaign, IL: Chris & Erica’s Wedding

Anaheim, CA: VidCon

Atlantic City, NJ: Ben’s Bachelor Party

Cantonsville, MD: Ben & Linday’s Wedding

Williamsport, PA: Little League World Series

Richmond, VA: Carrie’s Wedding

Nashua, NH: Jimmy Wedding

North Chelmsford, MA: Got a new(er) car

Orlando, FL: Channel Partners Conference

Oak Hill, WV: White Water Rafting

Cornwall, PA: Doug & Katie’s Wedding

Washington, DC: Color Run

Charlottesville, VA: DMB Birthday

(Photo by Instagram user liz4dmb41)

Today I typically make a statement of how hopeless and romantic I am. Today I enter the final year of my 20s and I can say I am still both. In the weeks leading up to this day I made several foolish decisions that can confirm this.

The first of which was to attempt to celebrate a day that I’ve failed to rally my friends around for several years. I can’t have a big bash like my other friends, it’s the problem of having a December birthday. The second decision was to instead purchase tickets for a Dave Matthews Band show this weekend, something where I’ve failed to find a proper date for time and time again.

Still romantic in thinking I can do something special for my birthday and still hopeless in trying to make it come true.

However this time around I gave up looking for a date and sold my extra floor ticket and decided to embark to Charlottesville this weekend by myself. I’m done trying to make my birthday perfect, I was just going to make it the best that I could.

Would have I wanted to celebrate my birthday surrounded by all of my friends? Of course. Would have I wanted to celebrate my birthday with someone on a perfectly planned DMB trip? Of course. There’s nothing I want more than to simply be with the ones I love in my life.

But sometimes you just have to go it alone and that’s what I ultimately had to do when I packed up my car and drove down to C’ville to see my 35th Dave Matthews Band show.

It wasn’t what I originally envisioned when I bought two tickets for a December 15th Dave Matthews Band show, but it was quite the adventure. I met a couple of band members after the show and got some photos, autographs, and memories that’ll make this solo trip worth the cost.

Tonight I won’t be throwing that big bash where all of my friends come out, instead I’ll be at watching the Patriots game and hopefully I’ll be with at least a couple of friends so I’m not cheering by myself.

In the end I think a couple of friends is enough for me. Maybe one year I’ll have that big party but for now I’ll make do with what I got.

Well first off I have to say how thankful I am for all of my friends, family, and fans of my Gangnam Style DC video. It racked up a quite a few hits and got some attention from a few places:

• The Washington Post
• Washington City Paper
• Social Times
• Mix 107.3 FM
• Guest of a Guest
• In The Capital
• Plus some awesome tweets from SMCDC, Google DC, Arena Stage, and Famous DC.

I cannot thank everybody enough for your support! I’m working on a proper thank you video/behind the scenes vid to post up.

I’ve also been writing as usual up on We Love DC, here’s the latest in bullet form.

Theatre Reviews

• Signature Theatre’s Dying City 
• Washington Savoyard’s Rocky Horror Show
• Kennedy Center’s Jekyll & Hyde

Washington Wizards

• Season Preview
• Home opener vs. Boston
• Wizards lose 9th straight vs. Indiana

Other Stuff

• Nat Geo’s Seal Team Six Premiere
• DCWeek Primer
• Election Celebrations at the White House
• Warby Parker Class Trip in Georgetown

Talking about the Warby Parker Class Trip, this past couple of weeks I got to hang out on their bus and show their crew a good time when I could. Expect some more stuff from their visit when it gets posted.

Hope everybody had a great holidays! Can’t wait to get back to DC.

Ever since I decided to dress up as Psy for Halloween I wanted to make a video with my costume. This is what happened.  I hope you enjoy watching it and if you feel inclined, share it with a friend!

Life updates: I’m featured on 20 Something Bloggers, I have an exciting new partnership with Warby Parker, and I’m working on a new video project that may or may not be Gangnam Style related.

Back during VEDA, my pal Eleni Zoe filmed a vlog about her favorite American products.

The catch is she lives in Greece, and can’t get a lot of the products mentioned in the video. So I decided to hit the supermarkets and send her a package of all of her favorite American items!

UPDATE

Here’s Eleni’s video of her opening my package! It’s really cool to be able to see somebody across the world open up a gift you gave her- it’s like Christmas morning!

What would you want in your overseas care package?

Wow.

After that whole VEDA thing, I kinda fell off the web for a bit as I recovered from all of the epic-ness.

Now I’m back to my We Love DC thing as both the Theatre season and basketball season ramp up.

I can’t believe I haven’t written anything for WLDC since I reviewed Church back in July. I am going to roar back into things with a review of Taking Steps and two fall preview videos from me and the WLDC crew: