Sundance film festival

Well, I had intended to post a blog or two about my trip to the Sundance Film Festival while I was there. Unfortunately my parents don't have internet access in their condo, so that was out. Then when I got back home my internet went out for a week, so no blogging could be done. But in the month and a half since then I've just been really lazy.

So since I'm at work, and I'm bored, here's a blog. (I saw a lot of movies, but will talk about those later maybe)

I've been to Park City a few times for skiing, and visiting my parents who have a second home there, but I had never been during the festival. Park City is a tiny town compared to modern mid-west metropolises. It is segregated into two parts that sort of twist around the mountains. The main downtown area is like every other ski-resort type town, basically a main street with trinket and souvenir shops (actually Park City has a much higher density of bars and night clubs on Main Street than any other ski town i've been to) and some auxillary side streets with crappy little houses.

With the festival in town, the streets and parking lots overflow with way too many people. It is exactly like that episode of South Park when Robert Redford moves the festival to South Park and incurs the wrath of Mr. Hankey.

I decided to volunteer for the festival in order to get some free stuff, including movie passes for every 4 hour shift that I worked. The whole experience was a blast and I can't wait to do it again next year.

The following is a brief list of some of my experiences.

On the first day I was there, I saw a movie in the morning and had some time to kill before my volunteer shift. So I took the bus down to main street so I could walk around and maybe see some celebrities. And as I was riding the bus I was thinking about what celebrities I might see and how I might react to them. I thought to myself "If I see Jared Leto I'm going to kick him in the nuts." Not ten minutes later, as I stood on the corner smoking a cigarette, who should come walking down the opposite sidewalk but Jared Leto. I decided not to run across the street and kick him because I didn't want to go to jail on my first day.

On another day after lingering around Main Street, I went to the bus stop to go to my shift and noticed an incredibly good looking young woman waiting for a bus. So I decided to get on that bus too. We made eye contact, she smiled, I struck up a little generic, touristy conversation. It turns out she has a sexy english accent, her parents are both Saudi Arabian (which explains the raven hair, big brown eyes, and sweet chocalate complexion), she's a professional ski instructor, and she's going to see a specific movie later. What a coincidence that I was going to that same movie! (Of course I hadn't actually had any intention to see that movie because it looked really stupid. I was actually planning to go see Patti Smith play in an intimate venue for festival volunteers only.) So, I go to the movie, I "accidentally" run into Sophie (she had a french name too) and her british friend, I sit down in the row in front of them so not to be too creepy, and start up another little conversation as we waited for the movie to start. It's going ok, I found out a little more about Sophie, like that she's mad at her overbearing boyfriend for being a jerk about her going to see so many movies without him, when all of a sudden who should sit down right behind her but Quentin Tarantino. Needless to say, I was quickly phased out of the conversation. Then the movie started. and long story short, I spent the rest o f the week alone.

On the last night of the festival I was waiting in line for a movie when someone bumped into me. It was Maria Bello, it was pretty sweet.

While walking down Main Street I "accidentally" bumped into Ian Zeiring(sp), or perhaps better known as Steve from Beverly Hills 90210.

Other celebrities I saw:
Woody Harrelson, Alan Alda, Sarah Jessica Parker, Virginia and Michael Madsen, Dennis Hopper, Ben Kingsley, Matthew Broderick, Ray Romano, one of the guys from Nip/Tuck, David Wain from The State, Leonor Varela, Sandra Oh, and others who I can't at the moment remember.

Good times.