Greetings from Austin everyone! I’m going to be here for the next two weeks where, just like last year, I’ll be covering the film and music parts of the South by Southwest Festival. This looks to be a good year. On the film side, there’s the premieres of Source Code (the new movie from Moon director Duncan Jones), Paul, and Bridesmaids. However, I’m more excited to see the new films from Ti West, Takashi Miike, and Miranda July. On the music side, I imagine enfants terribles OFWGKTA will be everywhere, along with 1990s revivalists Yuck, psych-glammers The Smith Westerns, and brittle folk-rockers Wye Oak (whose new album, Civilian, came out on Tuesday and is highly recommended by both Michael and myself).

I’ll be posting daily updates here and tweeting things as they happen on our twitter account, @tangledupinwire, so be sure to stay tuned!

Hi Folks,

So I’ve scored a badge for the Austin Film Festival, which means that you can look for daily dispatches from the sea of film and TV that is about to descend on Austin, TX this week. Highlights of the program include Darren Aronofsky’s gonzo ballet film Black Swan, Danny Boyle’s man-cuts-off-his-own-arm epic 127 Hours, and a presentation from David Simon that I believe is called “You’re Welcome…For The Wire, I Mean.” For real-time updates follow TUiW on Twitter (@tangledupinwire) and check back here every day for a postmortem of what is surely one of the top 3 film festivals in Austin!

Tangledupinwires asks: Had Party Down managed another season, would we have seen Constance again? And we’ll add: How do you feel about its cancellation?
It makes me very sad, for several reasons. It’s one of those shows, just by the nature of the premise — catering, where people come and go so much — that they could have mined the improv comedy world of L.A. to come up with another cast of just as fabulous people, I think, to fill in for those who’ve left for fame and fortune.

Make sure you read the whole interview here.

Monday: Twin Peaks Season One

Jonah kicks off the week with David Lynch’s weird and mysterious Twin Peaks. The show follows an FBI agent investigating the mysterious murder of a homecoming queen in the town of Twin Peaks, which seems to have an endless supply of oddities. Our Twin Peaks reviews will start a week after the rest, due to it’s fewer number of episodes and the Memorial Day holiday on Monday. CBS has all of the first season (except the feature length pilot) for free on their website here.

Tuesday: Homicide: Life on the Street Seasons One and Two

Before there was The Wire, there as Homicide, based off of David Simon’s book of the same name. With a pilot directed by Barry Levinson, Homicide ushered in a new era of gritty cop shows. Michael will be taking on both Seasons One and Two of the show, both included in the same DVD set. Homicide is not available for free (legal) streaming online, but Seasons 1 & 2 are available on Amazon for as low as $9.99 here.

Wednesday: Veronica Mars Season One

Kristen Bell got her big break by playing the title role of Veronica Mars for three years, and Jonah will be taking a look at the show’s first (and best) season. Veronica Mars is film noir mystery set in the middle of a wealthy suburban high school, and was easily one of the most underrated shows of the mid-2000′s. Jonah will be reviewing two episodes a week to stay in pace with our four other shows. The first season of Veronica Mars is available for free streaming online at The WB Website (Warner Bros. TV, not the network) and can be watched here.

Thursday: Dead Like Me Season One

Bryan Fuller made a name for himself with Pushing Daisies and for his work on the first season of Heroes, but he created Dead Like Me, a dark comedy about a girl that dies and becomes part of a gang of Reapers, bringing people from life to death. Michael will review the first season, which can be found on Hulu here or on Netflix Instant Streaming!

Friday: Deadwood Season One

We’ll close out the week with dueling reviews of the first season of Deadwood, the acclaimed western drama from NYPD Blue‘s David Milch. The HBO show garnered 8 Emmys in 28 nominations, and was one of the more critically acclaimed shows of the 2000s. Deadwood is not available for free (legally) online, but is available on Amazon or iTunes.

As the work week winds down and you’re looking for ways to kill time at the office, might I recommend http://whatsmytwitteraccountworth.com, a website that claims to tell you how much your Twitter account is worth. According to them, my account is worth $32 (or, to put it in the terms that I put all my money into, 5.66 KFC Double Downs) while my esteemed coblogger’s is worth $28 (a mere 4.95 Double Downs), thus confirming my superiority. I tried check on @tangledupinwire (which you should all be following), but numbers don’t go that high. How much is your Twitter worth? Let us know in the comments and have a good weekend!

Sorry things have been quiet around here for the last couple of days; Michael and I have been making the long road trip from Austin to California. Now, with an assist from In-N-Out Burger, we’re ready to face Coachella. Stay tuned to the blog and our Twitter feed (@tangledupinwire) for updates all weekend long.

All right everybody, we’re going to be taking the next couple days off to spend some time with our respective loved ones. We may post sporadically next week, but we won’t be picking up regular posting again until next year. We hope you have a restful holiday. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you in 2010!

P.S. If you’ve got some free time, why not catch up with our Best of the 2000s and Best of 2009 retrospectives.