1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Outhouse 2001: A Film Odyssey. Ahh, the first "concept Outhouse." Well that year I had been nominated by Kyle to be Vice President, so I accepted and actually won. Well really that meant Mark was the General, and I was sort of Captain of the ground troops. Which was perfect for me, 'cuz Mark had the vision for it all and I was glad to do whatever he asked me (I wouldn't have known what to do otherwise!).

Landry decided that his own film should not be eligible for competition at Outhouse 2001 because he had a hand in selecting the judges. Clark Kent strikes again. But with "Untitled" in the can, there was that real outhouse, which lay in pieces in Landry's apartment, to attend to.

Landry wanted a parody of the Space Odyssey theme, substituting the black outhouse for the infamous monolith. He rallied a handful of Cinema Club members, rented three monkey suits, and trudged out to Highland Road Park for the daylong shoot.

One month later, the droll dialogue of HAL 9000 is seeping through the speakers in the darkened Union Colonnade Theater. "I'm afraid, Dave." The maniacal computer voice gives way to Landry's intro to Outhouse, perfectly timed to the famous 2001 theme song. As the enlightened ape sits down to have his first "outhouse experience," he grabs a roll of toilet paper. The screen fades out, then in, as the toilet roll is flying, slow motion through the air. Another music video for Landry, and another hit. The audience roars with laughter and applause. Outhouse 2001 has landed, and it's bigger and better than ever.

"The thing is, if the city of Beaumont can put on a quality festival like Spindletop, then Baton Rouge has no excuse," Landry told The Reveille.

The highlight of this one had to be getting to know everyone, and coming up with little ideas for flyers and for the now infamous intro. Hawking people down in Free Speech Alley and things like that. I got my Reveille editor to save some space for Cinema Club articles, so Patrick Richardson wrote a nice summary of the club and I did a little piece on all the films that were running at the festival. Mark, Kyle, Paul, Joe, Britt, Erin, Will and lots of other people really came together in the final push, and the festival was definitely a kind of peak in a way.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4