Every year the masses board airplanes, VW buses, trains and spaceships (just kidding) to converge on the weirdest city in America: Austin. Why? Well, they're going for the music, food, technology, and cinematic goodness brought upon by South by Southwest, the nation's largest interdisciplinary media festival.

South by Southwest, or SXSW for short, is an annual event. If you're part of a band or musical act then getting to play on the SXSW stage in front of thousands of festival attendees is a big deal. The film festival portion of the event also happens to be one of the premiere festivals in the entire world. Getting your short or feature length narrative or documentary film accepted into SXSW is like getting accepted in Cannes or Sundance. It's a big deal.

What can attendees look forward to this during the March 7-16 festival?

Fugitive Edward Snowden is going to speak live thanks to the power of the web. In an exclusive interview from somewhere-within-Russia, everyone's favorite whistleblower will talk about his U.S. government shaming leaks, surveillance and online privacy. Talks with film luminaries such as Nicholas Cage and Tilda Swinton are also taking place at SXSW 2014. In the need for a little rap action? Mac Miller will be gracing the SXSW stage with his innovative rifts on March 15. Lady Gaga will be vamping it up as well.

In terms of the films, Chef opens up the film festival portion of SXSW. Chef stars Iron Man director Jon Favreau, John Leguizamo and Latina sensation Sofia Vergara. Other can't miss events include popular after parties and a communal BBQ (for an additional fee of course) are also available to attendees.

If you can't make it to South by Southwest this year don't fret. The iTunes Festival will be streamed live to iTunes account owners for the amazing price of $0.00. That's right Apple Inc., a company notorious for its exorbitant product markups, is streaming an entire slate of sponsored concerts for free.

SXSW is an annual event. So go ahead and clear your schedules for two weeks in early March 2015. Get saving though, the festival is expensive and airfare and room and board ain't cheap either. A platinum pass can near the $2,000 mark, and even hostels with bunk beds can run hundreds of dollars for a short stay.

If you're an Austin resident (and can prove it), hopefully you grabbed one of the discounted wristbands before they sold out. Unfortunately, cinema and electronics buffs don't have access to any such wristband.

Are you attending South by Southwest 2014? If so, what are the events your most looking forward to? Let us know in the comments section below.