A little mix-up with picking up my pass got us off on the wrong foot, but pleasant conversation in the line for “Chicago 10″ pulled me out of the mood.

And that was a good thing, because “Chicago 10″ was a great movie, and I would have hated to be in a funk when it started. Seriously great movie: giddy, heartbreaking, infuriating…. I was 9 during the convention, 10 during the trial. It’s rare for me to wish I was slightly older, but I have only vague recollections of that time in our history! My first political thought was that my parents shouldn’t vote for Nixon, because he wanted NASA to be part of the military. That must have been around the same time, so I suppose I was a little peace-activist wanna-be.

It’s an interesting mix of archival footage like news clips of the events and animation for the scenes that had to be recreated from court transcripts or a radio show that Hoffman called into to report on the trial’s progress. Great voice talent, but I recommend not knowing who all it is until it’s over. Part of the fun….

Paul Krassner was available for questions after the show, and he told an interesting bit that had to be cut: It seems that the women who were involved were angry that they never got to talk to the media or got arrested or such, so the guys started saying that they had subpoena envy. Some of them broke away from the peace movement and started the feminist movement. Plausible, but unlikely to be the whole story. My first political involvement was in the feminist movement. Recollections of that could fill a blog post, but I’ll have to set that aside for now, because I saw another two after “Chicago 10.”

I passed up the opportunity to see “The Walker” (releases in December) next and went to the Hideout for “Generation XXL” and “Mike Rides a Bike.” One is a charming documentary about a 27-year-old who learns how to ride a bike, and the other is a great companion for “King Corn,” which is my favorite documentary ever. I wish “Mike” had credits, because it was fun so I’d like to know more about it. It’s plainly Austin-made, though. (“King Corn” will be at the Ritzy Alamo on November 9 according to the movie’s site. I’m so glad. Life is good.)

So far, AFF is pleasant. Not quite as all-out as SxSW. The crowd is smaller, more polite so far—mostly industry, mostly out-of-towners; at SxSW, it seems like the crowd is mostly locals and people in the music industry who are biding their time while they wait for their jobs to crank into high gear. It’s only been the one night so far, and I don’t have the tiara on, so people aren’t recognizing me, but SxSW regulars seem scarce.

Balloting requires pencils to write in the movie and the rating, which seems dreadful. I bet it’s a lower return rate than the pre-printed ballots that you tear at Sx.