SXSW: ‘Kick-Ass,’ ‘Leaves of Grass’ and flight delays on Day 1

BY SEAN O’CONNELL

Somebody is trying to tell me something.

As you read, my laptop fried yesterday. But I trudged on, with the annual South By Southwest Film Festival in my sights.

I’m still waiting to get there. [follow Sean’s travel odyssey on TWITTER.COM/HOLLYWOODNEWS minute by minute.

Because Delta arrived in ATL nearly 30 minutes after we were scheduled, I missed my connection to Austin. By 5 minutes. I could still see the plane. But the door was closed, and the gate attendants wouldn’t let me proceed. “Everyone is delayed,” she told me. For the record, it’s raining outside, which shuts ATL down. Planes, if you didn’t know, are immune to water.

I’m sitting at the gate, waiting to board a 2:10 p.m. flight. I’m on standby. They just announced the plane won’t leave until 3:18 p.m. Terrific.

So, before the festival even begins, my SXSW schedule has to change. No longer will I be able to check out Niels Arden Oplev’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” a thriller about a journalist investigating a missing body. But I’m still targeting “Kick-Ass” at the Paramount. If I miss that, I’m going to kick someone’s Delta Airlines ass.

After that, it’s on to “Leaves of Grass,” which stars the versatile Ed Norton as an Ivy League professor and his estranged twin brother. I’m not sure if it’s a comedy, but the premise makes me chuckle. And after this trip, I have a feeling I’m going to need a few laughs. And a drink. And some BBQ.

Austin, here I come?