Checking in became a bigger event than anticipated for many SXSW attendees who headed over to the Austin Convention Center on Friday afternoon. A computer glitch slowed check-ins early on, then later in the afternoon, large crowds emerged.

Arriving festival-goers seemed to take it in stride. For Brian Brooks and I from indieWIRE it was a chance to catch up with familiar faces: look there's Janet Pierson, oh hey Bryan Poyser, hi Ron Mann, Charles Pugliese good to see you, howdy Mark from Atlanta, hey Erica from Athens! etc etc. Great to see cool folks...

The fest kicks off tonight with a number of first screenings of films and a party or two after that...not to mention the Texas Hall of Fame over at Austin Studios. We're gonna try be as many places as possible tonight... [Eugene Hernandez]