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Dennis Does Austin (LGBT Film Festival), Part 1

Alamo
Story and photos by Dennis Hensley

Howdy from Austin, Texas! I'm here for the 21st annual Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival , where two short films I wrote, Screening Party  and Reunion , played last Friday afternoon at the Alamo Ritz Drafthouse Cinema, the festival's home.

The Alamo Ritz is a movie house that was clearly created by film lovers for film lovers. The atmosphere's great and the food's delicious. Before I left L.A., I saw The Women with Meg Ryan and I was underwhelmed. Now that I've experienced the Alamo, I realize what was missing from that film for me; deep-fried pickles. Deep-friend pickles could have made that film palatable.

aGLIFF was nice enough to put me up at the swanky Austin Hyatt . Town Lake is nearby and there's a bridge that goes over. I was told upon my arrival that millions of bats spend their days under the bridge and if you go there at sundown, you can watch them flee for a night of carousing. My old friend Alan who lives here and I joined a throng of other bat groupies and dusk and though we did see some bats, it wasn't the swarm we were hoping for. After 45 minutes of waiting, we weren't going to be satisfied unless we left that bridge covered in bat leavings, which we didn't.

Austin's a great food town and here's a bit of what I've eaten so far: green chili enchiladas at Z'Tejas , meat loaf like mom used to make at The Woodland and French toast the size of a futon at Starlite. To satisfy our sweet tooth, Alan and I hit Amy's Ice Cream s in the trendy South Congress shopping area, where an adorably shaggy ice cream scooper named Adam smashed 'Nilla Wafers into my Mexican vanilla ice cream then tossed the scoop under his leg and into a cup like Tom Cruise in
Cocktail. The man's an artist.

Apart from the super fun film fest, my favorite hang so far in Austin has been Barton Springs Pool , a natural spring public pool that stays a crisp 69 degrees year round. This place is so charmingly retro. I kept expecting to see Baby from Dirty Dancing practicing her lifts in the shallow area. I got up the nerve to take the plunge and the water was so refreshing, like a Mountain Dew commercial come to life. There's also lots of male eye candy, a total Sausage-Fest if you know what I'm saying. More sights of Austin to come…stay tuned.


Story and photos by Dennis Hensley

Howdy from Austin, Texas! I'm here for the 21st annual Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival , where two short films I wrote, Screening Party  and Reunion , played last Friday afternoon at the Alamo Ritz Drafthouse Cinema, the festival's home.

The Alamo Ritz is a movie house that was clearly created by film lovers for film lovers. The atmosphere's great and the food's delicious. Before I left L.A., I saw The Women with Meg Ryan and I was underwhelmed. Now that I've experienced the Alamo, I realize what was missing from that film for me; deep-fried pickles. Deep-friend pickles could have made that film palatable.

aGLIFF was nice enough to put me up at the swanky Austin Hyatt . Town Lake is nearby and there's a bridge that goes over. I was told upon my arrival that millions of bats spend their days under the bridge and if you go there at sundown, you can watch them flee for a night of carousing. My old friend Alan who lives here and I joined a throng of other bat groupies and dusk and though we did see some bats, it wasn't the swarm we were hoping for. After 45 minutes of waiting, we weren't going to be satisfied unless we left that bridge covered in bat leavings, which we didn't.

Austin's a great food town and here's a bit of what I've eaten so far: green chili enchiladas at Z'Tejas , meat loaf like mom used to make at The Woodland and French toast the size of a futon at Starlite. To satisfy our sweet tooth, Alan and I hit Amy's Ice Cream s in the trendy South Congress shopping area, where an adorably shaggy ice cream scooper named Adam smashed 'Nilla Wafers into my Mexican vanilla ice cream then tossed the scoop under his leg and into a cup like Tom Cruise in
Cocktail. The man's an artist.

Apart from the super fun film fest, my favorite hang so far in Austin has been Barton Springs Pool , a natural spring public pool that stays a crisp 69 degrees year round. This place is so charmingly retro. I kept expecting to see Baby from Dirty Dancing practicing her lifts in the shallow area. I got up the nerve to take the plunge and the water was so refreshing, like a Mountain Dew commercial come to life. There's also lots of male eye candy, a total Sausage-Fest if you know what I'm saying. More sights of Austin to come…stay tuned.


Story and photos by Dennis Hensley

Howdy from Austin, Texas! I'm here for the 21st annual Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival , where two short films I wrote, Screening Party  and Reunion , played last Friday afternoon at the Alamo Ritz Drafthouse Cinema, the festival's home.

The Alamo Ritz is a movie house that was clearly created by film lovers for film lovers. The atmosphere's great and the food's delicious. Before I left L.A., I saw The Women with Meg Ryan and I was underwhelmed. Now that I've experienced the Alamo, I realize what was missing from that film for me; deep-fried pickles. Deep-friend pickles could have made that film palatable.

aGLIFF was nice enough to put me up at the swanky Austin Hyatt . Town Lake is nearby and there's a bridge that goes over. I was told upon my arrival that millions of bats spend their days under the bridge and if you go there at sundown, you can watch them flee for a night of carousing. My old friend Alan who lives here and I joined a throng of other bat groupies and dusk and though we did see some bats, it wasn't the swarm we were hoping for. After 45 minutes of waiting, we weren't going to be satisfied unless we left that bridge covered in bat leavings, which we didn't.

Austin's a great food town and here's a bit of what I've eaten so far: green chili enchiladas at Z'Tejas , meat loaf like mom used to make at The Woodland and French toast the size of a futon at Starlite. To satisfy our sweet tooth, Alan and I hit Amy's Ice Cream s in the trendy South Congress shopping area, where an adorably shaggy ice cream scooper named Adam smashed 'Nilla Wafers into my Mexican vanilla ice cream then tossed the scoop under his leg and into a cup like Tom Cruise in
Cocktail. The man's an artist.

Apart from the super fun film fest, my favorite hang so far in Austin has been Barton Springs Pool , a natural spring public pool that stays a crisp 69 degrees year round. This place is so charmingly retro. I kept expecting to see Baby from Dirty Dancing practicing her lifts in the shallow area. I got up the nerve to take the plunge and the water was so refreshing, like a Mountain Dew commercial come to life. There's also lots of male eye candy, a total Sausage-Fest if you know what I'm saying. More sights of Austin to come…stay tuned.

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