There will be a few Texas Rollergirls nursing tender heads this morning. Last night's fifth annual Whammy Awards, like any good awards bash, was gushy, exciting, celebratory, long, and tinged with a little sadness. The ceremony had an Asian theme (including hiding the winner's names in lovingly hand-stuffed fortune cookies), and that was re-enforced by the near-total domination of Rice Rocket.

My first few film picks all turned out to be winners. The Black List, which just received word as the festival opened of a sale to HBO, is a collaboration between filmmaker Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and interviewer Elvis Mitchell. The documentary offers clips from interviews with some 20 influential African-American figures on a variety of subjects. Collectively, their abbreviated dialogues demonstrate many of the commonalities but, moreover, the differences among them regarding individual and racial identity. Pretty fascinating stuff and trenchant as can be in this moment in time when the campaign for the presidency is inciting a closer examination of identity politics.

Got plans tonight? Cancel them. There’s no better way to honor the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. than watching the footage of James Brown’s April 5, 1968, concert at the Boston Garden. It’s screening tonight at the Alamo Drafthouse at the Ritz for a measly $2.

The concert was scheduled to take place less than 24 hours after the assassination of King in Memphis. There were uprisings in Detroit, D.C., and Chicago, but Boston was a powder keg. Mayor Kevin White wanted to cancel the show but aides convinced him nothing would keep more people in their homes and off the streets than allowing Brown to perform and televising it on local station WGBH. Brown was convinced – ever the capitalist – after he was compensated $60,000 to cover potential losses from breaking an exclusive TV deal from a televised New York concert. Yes, Brown was still trying to get paid but nobody else commanded the respect to pull it off. As Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts wrote after Brown’s death on Christmas morning 2006, “How many riots did the Supremes ever head off? If Miami was on the verge of racial warfare, would anyone call Beyonce?”

"That's just a little bit theoretical," said Rep. Dawnna Dukes about the liberal credentials of presidential hopeful John Edwards last week. "Obama and Hillary are both as liberal, but that's his persona, because John Edwards happens to look more like the Kennedys."

Of course, that was before Barack Obama told the Reno Gazette editorial board that "Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America." Edwards quickly leapt in, slamming the idea that any Democrat might hold up the anti-labor hero of deregulation conservatives for note. The networks, however, say no problem. Calling Reagan a non-controversial figure, "Only on [Edward's] side of the Democratic party would you feel comfortable condemning him," Jonathan Alter of Newsweek said on MSNBC last week. CNN this morning discarded him as "the angry white man."

One of the reasons for going to a movie convention is the little secrets you find out from the guests. Like when special effects wizard Tom Savini revealed to the crowd at this weekend's Fangoria Weekend of Horrors there's something he can't stand.

"I hate having fake blood on me," said the man who helped spread enough of it around for Dawn of the Dead. But on is a big step up from in. As an actor in the up-coming Lost Boys 2: The Tribe, at one point he was being picked up by another actor, who was dressed in a wet suit and had a tube up his sleeve, ready to pump a spray of fake blood. Unfortunately, with his hand being where it was, Savini realized "I could feel the blood going up my ass. I was getting a fake bood enema."

For those who wondered why he's spending more time in front of the camera, rather than doing effects make-up, he had some sad news: as he gets older, the tiny detailed work is harder on his fingers. However, he still had some handy hints for up-and-coming gore auteurs: if your fake blood is going to be splashed against a white background, add a little green dye, "or it'll look like Strawberry Kool-Aid."

Hmmph. And all this last roadtrip I thought I just didn't need new glasses.

Come to find, the sudden clarity on the road is the result of a decade's worth of fontastic highway sign design courtesy of Don Meeker and James Montalbano, designers of the Clearview font, adopted as the official U.S. highway font.

And if you think we're nerds for noticing things like which areas have made the change and which have not, check these geeks who are keeping score.

While Electra and Elise Avellan (aka the Grindhouse babysitter twins) were undoubtedly fan favorites at this weekend's Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors at the Renaissance Austin Hotel, they didn't get the biggest crowd response at Saturday's Q&A about their new movie, The Black Waters of Echo's Pond. That went to writer/producer Sean Clark, for the line "I was dropping goo on the ladies. You can quote that."

The twins spend much of the movie (described by Clark as an evil Jumanji) wearing black full-eye contact lenses and drooling a thick, vile slime. But anyone who has been near a horror set knows things can be a little less creepy in front of the camera. "The problem," explained Elise, "was staring in the face of your twin who is supposed to be an evil possessed creature, but the contacts made her look like Bambi."

From Creature from the Black Lagoon to House of Wax, 3D cinema and horror movies have always gone hand-in-claw. While the current resurgence in the technique has been dominated by big budget outings like Meet the Robinsons and the upcoming U2 3D, the new movie starring Austin's own Angela Bettis (of May and Roman fame) proves the tech is getting affordable.

Scar (which had a five-minute sneak preview at the Fangoria Weekend of Horror) is a small-budget slasher flick which looks to hit the twisted psychology that attracts self-declared "spazz" Bettis. But the big news is that the film-makers went for the new Real D technology. "I went to a demonstration of the technology," said producer Norman Twain, "and I said, 'we're going to do this picture, which was called Freckle Face back then, in 3D." So Twain hired cinematographer Toshiaki Ozawa, got hold of a Hi-Def 3D camera rig from NHK in Japan ("They're the most stable," said Twain), hired translators, and set about adding that third dimension. For anyone expecting it to just be axes coming out of the screen, the opening shot is Bettis jogging, and it's still creepy.

With three Real D systems in and near Austin, and with this being Bettis' home town, Twain was positive that there'll be some scarification here when the film opens later this year.

The Austin legislative delegation has united against the plan by the State Preservation Board to remove the Capital Metro bus stop from 11th Street in front of the Capitol grounds. The stop – possibly the busiest in the entire Cap Metro system – serves at least 1,400 riders on a typical weekday, providing a direct stop to 27 different routes and effectively serving as a transfer point for 20 other routes nearby. The SPB says that the stop must be removed to facilitate what it is says are needed security upgrades to the Capitol. (See previous stories here and here.)

In a letter to Gov. Perry, the eight lawmakers serving the city of Austin said "of concern to us is that the decision to move this Capital Metro bus stop from its current and long-time location was made without input from Capital Metro, the City of Austin or the hundreds of citizens who use this stop daily."

Click on "continue reading" to see the full text of the letter.