PARK CITY RECAP: PART 3

FRIDAY
We had another nice leisurely morning, and then went to the galleria mall to steal their wi-fi connection. Then we grabbed perhaps the worst lunch we’ve ever paid too much for, a cow-themed deli/ice cream parlor called…COWS. The omnipresence of cows did not make the cold, hard pizza taste better. DZ ate turkey chili for the second day in a row and remained unimpressed.

After that, we went back to the condo to relax.

Later, we decided to check out the Cantina Brew Pub above the Wasatch. Despite the presence of Galaga, it wasn’t that great. Meep couldn’t even PLAY Gallaga because it was wedged behind the pool table, which was in active use. Instead, we took loads of pictures of each other and then went back to the condo.
I suppose we were all ready for a good night’s rest, anyway.

SATURDAY
This was the latest Meep and I had gotten to sleep in. We rose around 11 and hung out for a while. Back to the Future was on TV! The boys all left; DZ and BenDur to check email, and Kamikaze to start his day of watching Troma movies.

Meep and I got ready and met DZ and BenDur back at the galleria mall. We hit the last few “lounges” we hadn’t been to, in a last ditch effort to accumulate as much free stuff as possible. Meep attempted to find the red Sundance shirt she’d seen at the beginning of the week, but they appeared to be all sold out.

The 4 of us got sushi at Kampai, a place that DZ and BenDur had been to before we got there. The food was, of course, a bit more expensive that sushi should be, but it was DAMNED tasty.

Next, we met Kamikaze at Rum Bunnies Beach Bar, where the Troma festivities were happening all day. We got there in time for the last film, Horror Business, a feature documentary about the difficulties of being an independent, extremely micro-budget horror filmmaker. It featured the guy from American Movie, finally coming back to directing after a 6 year absence, and the makers of a movie called Zombie Honeymoon that DZ knows. It was a pretty amusing documentary, but most of it had to do with how WACKY some of these guys are. One guy was just an ANGRY person, and actually yells at a drive-thru employee at one point. Another guy is a horror animator, and he is interviewed sitting in a high-backed black chair, in front of a fireplace, shrouded in darkness. I love this guy and must seek out his cartoons, one of which is called Son of God vs. Son of Godzilla. Who knew a goth could have a sense of humor (besides me, of course).

After the last movie, they set up for the panel discussion which was called “Filmmaking in the age of the $15,000,000 independent movie”. It was actually quite an informative panel. Everyone was really honest and Lloyd used his “moderating” duties to make lewd jokes about oral sex the entire time. I love that guy. One of the guys on the panel is involved in making a number of upcoming video game movies including…PAC MAN. Not kidding. He said he had no idea how it was going to be shot.

After the panel, we met Matt Foster, the programmer for Dragon*Con (which played Snow Day, Bloody Snow Day last year). He was very nice and told us that we should have been at Dragon*Con because the theatre was standing room only. We said we’d wanted to go but didn’t have enough money. Maybe next time.

We also gave a screener to a guy from the Willamette Weekly who had spoken during the panel. Not sure if anything will come of it, but it doesn’t hurt.

We grabbed a quick dinner at Doolans’, a sports bar across the street, and then returned to Rum Bunnies for the long-awaited Troma Party.

At Lloyd’s book signing, he’d given us “invitations” to the party, so there was a small hope that the $10 cover charge would be waved. No deal. The invitations were as meaningless as Kiel telling us they’d show “Snow Day” at a secret screening. Oh well. I guess I don’t mind giving $10 to Troma.

While we were waiting outside for the doors to open, we met an actor and another filmmaker and chatted with them briefly. The actor gave us his reel and his business card (something I’d seen for the first time in Park City: an actor’s business card is like a mini headshot resume without the resume).

Finally, the doors opened, and we went in and commandeered a booth. Kamikaze, BenDur and Meep took advantage of $2 Stellas (again with the Stella), and I drank increasingly large glasses of wine for $4. See, the bartenders weren’t the usual staff of Rum Bunnies, but Troma volunteers. So they did NOT care how much wine they gave me. This led to me getting retardedly hammered. But more on that later.

DZ began to draw cartoon portraits of all of us on napkins as comic book characters. It began with him drawing Meep as Joey Lauren Adams (because she had been doing an EERILY accurate impression of the squeaky actress for the past few days). Then he drew a picture of Kamikaze that made him look like Preacher. So that led to him drawing me as Little Orphan Annie and BenDur as Doc Ock. Faye was drawn again as Jean Grey and me again as Michelangelo the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. The filmmaker we’d met outside saw this happening and wanted one of his own, so DZ drew him as Aquaman. For some reason, neither Meep nor I can remember who DZ drew himself as. Regardless, Meep has the napkins at home and will scan them at a later date. Meanwhile, the actor we’d met outside began talking to me, and, Meep observed, getting a little bit lecherous. Gross.

Eventually, the two of them wandered off, and a bohemian looking woman came over. Turns out she was the writer and director of a short film called Confederate Zombie Massacre, which had played at many a festival with Snow Day. She said they’d been tracking our progress because our films were similar in theme (and therefore audience reaction), so she knew that if an audience liked Snow Day, they’d probably like her movie too (and vice versa). She was really cool, and invited us to their condo the next night for a spaghetti dinner and 3D movie-a-thon. I wish we’d met them earlier in the week.

DZ and BenDur began to tire and decided to walk home, leaving me, Meep and Kamikaze to our own drunken devices. Well, me and Kamikaze were drunk, anyway. Meep managed to stay pretty sober and cognizant.

At some point, a local Utah band called “The Street” played. They hearkened back to the age of hair metal anthems, and we were really enjoying it at the time. We all got free CDs so I’ve yet to check and see if they still sound good without having imbibed a bottle of wine. They played several original songs and then broke into the covers (which were crowd pleasing, but not as impressive). Lloyd showed up and danced around a bit. There was also a dancing Toxie.

At one point (and I say this because most of the night is a blur after DZ and BenDur left), we were approached by a reviewer from Slug Magazine, who remembered us from then panel discussion. (DZ had asked a question and introduced all of us and our film to the room). He was pretty drunk too and we had a fun (I think) conversation for a long time. Meep gave him our card and told him to email us and we’d send him a DVD. I’m thinking we should probably try to follow up with him though. He was still drinking heavily when we left the party.

I’m not sure what time we left, but by the time we did, I was having a great deal of difficulty walking on my own volition. We decided to walk home through the fresh fallen snow (it had been snowing really hard all day), and this would have been a fantastic idea if I hadn’t been so wobbly. Part of the trouble was that Meep kept making me laugh. And it was that hard laughter that makes it difficult to move even if you have all your faculties in tact. And I definitely didn’t. I remember little from the walk home apart from Meep holding me up and trying to motivate me by talking me through it like we were hobbits trying to get back to the Shire. At one point, she told me we were in Mordor. I believe there are pictures on her camera of me in Mordor.

After we passed through Mordor, we stopped at the Prancing Pony…I mean 7-11…for some nachos. I panicked, proclaiming that I was far too drunk to go inside. Instead, I banished myself to the corner behind the garbage can, and waited for Meep and Kamikaze to return with sweet cheesy chippy salvation. Luckily, 7-11 was a stone’s throw from the condo, so I didn’t have far to stumble after that.

Once home, I stuffed my face with nachos, loudly stomped around the condo waking up poor DZ, drank water till uncomfortably bloated, and then passed out in bed. Troma really does know how to party.

SUNDAY
I woke the next morning AMAZINGLY lacking in physical consequences for the night before. I was marginally under performing, but there was no headache and only a few moments of nausea later in the day. I don’t know why the hangover fairy has been so good to me lately, but I’m going to do whatever I can not to piss her off again.

Kamikaze was the first to get ready, so he took one for the team and went to the theatre to get in line for our first movie of the day: The Decent. This is the movie that we managed to buy ONE ticket in advance for. BenDur joined him later, and then, later still, DZ, Meep and I managed to venture out. We were able to purchase one more ticket for the movie from a random person who was selling, but since we were first in the wait list line, and the last day of the festival is apparently the least crowded, we were all able to get in no problem.

The Decent kicks ass. By the director of Dog Soldiers, it is about a group of “extreme” women who go on a spelunking expedition in the Appalachians. And yes, they do encounter some monsters eventually, but the character development between these girls is so understated and effective, and the caves they navigate are SO treacherous looking, that you are terrified long before they encounter anything unnatural. All I could think during the first hour was “People actually go spelunking for FUN?!”

I would like to see this movie again in the theatre with an audience that has actually been to a movie. This was seriously the most irritating audience at a horror film I have ever encountered. They talked at normal volume throughout the movie asking things like “Oh wow, are those BONES?!” and “Look at all that blood!”

We went back to the condo for lunch after the movie. While we were waiting in line for The Decent, Kamikaze managed to score 2 tickets to the last movie of the festival, a horror movie called Salvage. Meep was going to go, since she’d only been able to see two movies during the festival, but she wasn’t in the mood when the time came, so I went in her stead.

Salvage was OK. It wasn’t terrible. I’ve certainly seen worse no-budget horror films. But it did have one of those irritating “twist” endings that people are so fond of sticking in their horror movies these days. Jesus. When can a psycho killer go back to JUST being a psycho killer and nothing more?

Kamikaze and I met the gang back to the condo and then we headed up the block to the Confederate Zombie Massacre condo.

The room was full of like-minded indie filmmakers and artists. We went around the room introducing ourselves and then spent the rest of the night shooting the shit, helping them finish their food, and watching stuff on one guy’s 3D movie projector.

I think we’ll definitely keep in touch with these guys. They were really easy-going and friendly. Hooray for Tromadance bringing people together!

Unfortunately, we had to call it an early night, as we were all pretty bushed and we had a plane to catch.

The next day, we bid a fond farewell to our condo and Park City. Goodbye, Park City. It’s been fun. We’ll hopefully see you again some day when we’ve earned some credentials.

February 3, 2006
Categories: Dear Diary, I Made Movies . Tags: travels . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

Here are the first batch of pictures from our Park City adventure. I will link to the second batch once Faye uploads her pictures (including the one of me and CHG!)

February 2, 2006
Categories: Dear Diary, I Made Movies . Tags: travels . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

PARK CITY RECAP PART 2

Things forgot to mention yesterday: Dom, Sarah, Jacob and I saw Roger Ebert on the bus, bundled up in his green parka. Dom and I saw Joey Pants walking down the street, being interviewed and Ben walked next to Paris Hilton who “smelled like money”.

TUESDAY
We had a nice leisurely morning in the condo, and then Ben, Dom, Jacob and I went to Main Street for lunch. Faye, sadly, was still too ill to move. As we perused the menu of a “bistro”, I heard a familiar voice. We looked up in time to see Crispy and Courtney (how cute!) walking in to the bistro. They emerged a few seconds later, Crispy stressing about not having enough time to eat before they had to get somewhere. Ben happened to note a girl doing a double take as Crispy and his bride-to-be passed her.

We settled on lunch at “The Eating Establishment”. This is the restaurant where it had taken Sarah ages to get seated and served. There wasn’t too long a wait this time and Sarah had liked the food she eventually got, so we decided to give it a try. We didn’t have much time to argue, as we had a movie to get to. I probably should have ordered breakfast because their lunch menu was lacking in vegetarian options. I got a simple, cold veggie sandwich, the ingredients of which probably cost about a $1. Including tax and tip, I paid $12 for it. For bread, lettuce, cheese, cucumbers and mustard, it wasn’t a BAD sandwich. It just felt like a rip-off. Everyone else seemed to like their fancier, meat-filled meals. We all tried some of Dom’s warm, fresh-made beer bread and THAT was delicious. So it looks like I just screwed myself. Still, it wasn’t the first overprices, mediocre meal I had in Park City, and it wouldn’t be the last.

After lunch, we caught the bus to our theatre to see the only movie we had physical tickets for: “Wristcutters: A Love Story”. Starring that doe-eyed kid from that Cameron Crowe movie I hate about classic rock music and groupies, and Shannyn Sossamon, flat line-delivery extraordinaire, “Wristcutters” is a dark romantic comedy about suicides searching for meaning in their purgatorial afterlife. It sounds kinda cool, and there are some elements of the movie I really liked. The music, for instance, was really interesting and set the tone well. The color-correction was interesting. The make-up, or lack-there-of, on all the actors definitely made them look dead, without looking cheesy or vampiric. The performance by Shea Whigham was amusing and engaging. But damnit, I hate Shannyn Sossamon. She is so irritating and untalented. Therefore, I had NO interest in seeing her and the lead get together. There were a number of “conveniences” indicative of a romantic comedy that they used which pissed me off and, as the movie was based on a short story with a rather bleak (albeit REALISTIC) ending, they decided to Hollywood-ize it for the script. This resulted in a groan-worthy happy ending which, I feel, totally undermined the tone of the entire story. Of course, I’m sure that hot-topically depressed teenage goth girls, and fans of Cameron Crowe in general are going to “discover” this movie and adore the crap out of it.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that the movie was introduced by the director of programming at Sundance who admitted to being friends with the director and said that he submitted the film “just in time” and that “luckily” he was selected. Boy, that really IS lucky.

After the Q and A, Ben went up to talk to the director, and to find Jake Busey, who was in the movie too. He found Busey on our way out the door, shook his hand and said hello. After we’d moved on, Ben regretted not having asked for a picture with him. Not to worry, though. His day would come…

We went back to the condo and checked on Faye. Everyone was pretty tired, but Jacob and I decided to go out anyway. We met some of his friends from California, as they were just finishing up dinner at Bandit’s. We had two drinks there, and then they left us to go back to their condo to get drunk in their hot tub. They invited us to go with them, but we wanted to be out. We could get drunk in our OWN hot tub.

Next, we checked out a cover band in a basement bar called The Spur. They weren’t bad, but they were kind of loud. Also, the place was full of uppity types adorned in fur, and Jacob’s one ounce of scotch cost more than it should have.

We then checked out O’Shucks. As soon as we walked in the door, we knew we’d made the right decision. They were playing classic rock, there was no fur or white puffy ski jackets in the entire bar, you could shuck (get it?) your peanuts onto the floor, and you could buy a beer that was AS BIG AS YOUR HEAD. Jacob got one of these beers, and I got a house wine which was still quit impressive in its own right. It took a while for Jacob to get through his beer, and they rung the bell which sounded like last call, so we took off. Jacob suspected, however, that they were being pretty lenient with last call times that week. We vowed to return to O’Shucks to make the most of our “membership” amidst the divey goodness.

WEDNESDAY
Faye was finally feeling better and was ready to face the world. Before we headed out, we said goodbye to Sarah who had to return to her life. Then Faye, Jacob and I headed to the Box Office to see if we could buy any tickets for any of the movies we wanted to see the rest of the week.

I had the brilliant idea (as it had been so much fun before) to walk to Main Street. There was a small sidewalk along the road that could be seen from the bus, and it didn’t look that treacherous. I’d walked back from two places already (albeit from a different direction), so I didn’t think it would be that difficult.

It was. The wind whipped us all around. The altitude got to us, and we were all breathing hard within minutes. Faye hadn’t been up for two days, so she wasn’t enjoying herself either. The mere MILE we had to walk seemed to take forever. So much for THAT bright idea.

When we finally, got to the Box Office, we discovered that there was ONE ticket left to ONE of the movies we wanted to see. We bought it, and then went to find something to eat.

We got a table at the Wasatch Bar and Grill. (By the way, everything in Park City is a bar and grill.) I thought perhaps I could order the deluxe quesadilla without any chicken. “The quesadillas are pre-made,” responded the waitress. Really, what I wanted was the beans, so I asked if they had a side of beans I could order. “Nope. Everything is pre-made”. So I got the plane, pre-made cheese quesadillas. Faye ordered some chips and salsa for us all, and a salad, and Jacob got the pre-made chicken fajitas which came with…a side of beans. I didn’t mind my quesadilla at all, but Jacob wasn’t impressed with his meal. The chips and salsa, we all agreed, were quite delicious, however.

We stopped, quickly, at a candy store to buy reinforcements before meeting Ben in the waitlist line for “The Darwin Awards”. This was the premiere, and though we’d been to a premiere before (“Art School”), this one was crazy. People were DESPERATE to get in there to see, I guess, Winona Ryder and Joseph Fiennes and Metallica. I really could take it or leave it, but we didn’t have any other plans for the day and thought, since we were getting there 3 and a half hours early, that we would be alright.

The scene was a most horrific display of humanity. People were selling wait list numbers (which aren’t worth anything if there aren’t any empty seats for ticket holders), and people were trying to scam their way into the wait list line. We met Evil Scarf Lady, whom Ben had seen before, yelling at the theatre VOLUNTEERS, and trying to shove her way in front of everybody. Some crazy lady singled Faye out and kept trying to get Faye to give her her phone number so they could “double their efforts”. It was impossible to tell what she really wanted because she kept changing her story. First she was meeting a “friend” there and then she just wanted to hook up with someone as a “safety measure” for getting in. We’d say “no thank you”, but she just kept coming back. Eventually, they told us that if we weren’t in the first 20 people, we weren’t getting in, and that perhaps even those 20 people might not get in (take that, Scarf Lady), so we left. But not before losing a little more faith in humanity. If people act like this about a stupid fucking MOVIE that they’ll be able to see (for cheaper) in a few months anyway, imagine what they’d be like after a major disaster when money is meaningless and food and medicine are scarce.

We headed back to the condo and decided to spend our evening watching one of our free “Cry Wolf” DVDs. “Cry Wolf”, as we learned when we received the DVDs, was made because the filmmakers won some contest as put on by Chrysler. Their script, and accompanying short film, earned them $1m and lots of help to make this movie. They shot it in Richmond, VA (and I swear to god, one of the locations is my high school cafeteria), with no-name actors and Jon Bon Jovi, and had nothing but incredibly nice things to say about how Hollywood treats independent filmmakers. Well, you won a fucking CONTEST sponsored by a big American car company. Of COURSE they’re going to be nice to you. But why you won, we can’t figure out because your script is AWEFUL. Another stupid “twist” ending “horror” movie with very little blood and NO redeeming values whatsoever won this contest? I’m not sure if that gives me hope for our script or makes me think that we will never be appreciated.

Their winning short was on the DVD too. It was a poorly scripted, flashy little thing featuring a Chrysler sports car.

THURSDAY
I really wanted to see “Stay”, the film written and directed by Bob(cat) Golthwait. We didn’t have tickets, I was slightly disheartened by what happened at “The Darwin Awards”, so Jacob and I got to the theatre FOUR hours early. It paid off. We were first in the wait list line. We chilled, listened to comedy on my i-pod, ate burritos from the burrito stand across the way, enjoyed the beautiful mountainous scenery. Dom joined us after a few hours, and the three of us ended up being among the 15 or so that they let in to see this VERY sold out movie.

“Stay” is a fantastic film. It’s a great example of how a very solid script and great acting can make the fact that you have a $0 budget seem like a minor inconvenience. The movie is hilarious and fucked up (everything that happens is a result of one misspent night, by the main character, of dog fellatio) and uncomfortable and universal all at once. I daresay it brought tears to my eyes at one point, and that’s no easy feat for me. SEE THIS MOVIE, if you are able.

After the movie, Bobcat gave a little speech about how humbled he was that so many people had come out to see his movie. He said he was very nervous and was going to keep it short, lest he throw up on stage. He also relayed a story about a woman at a previous screening who, as a result of seeing the movie, felt compelled to tell him about HER experiences with receiving cunnilingus from her dog. She said “I can tell you this because I know you won’t tell anyone”. “Sure,” he said to us, “until the next screening.”

Jacob, Dom and I bussed to Main Street to catch Lloyd Kaufman signing books at Dolly’s Bookstore. After some prompting, Lloyd remembered us, and “Snow Day”, from the ComicCon. He asked why we didn’t submit it to Tromadance. Of course, I told him that we DID submit it and were rejected. He said he was surprised, because our movie was so good. He called over one of the directors of the festival and introduced me to him. He said “This is one of the directors of this really good short. We should try and squeeze it into the Secret Screenings tonight.” The guy said OK and took the DVD. He gave me his cell number and told me to call him “later on” to find out when and where the Secret Screenings would take place. Lloyd took another button and the festival director, Kiel (yes, that's how he spells his name…should have tipped me off), had a DVD and business card. Things seemed promising at that point.

Next stop was the liquor store, to buy the biggest, most potent bottle of wine we could find. I touched base with Faye who, along with Ben was having her own adventures on Main Street. She and Ben had just happened upon a concert/expo thingy for Brendon Small’s new cartoon. Then they were to catch a special bus full of VW owners (of which Ben is one), that were to be whisked to a secret screening of “Little Miss Sunshine”, the big darling of the festival.

Jacob, Dom and I stopped in at the Stella Artois tent, where they were giving out free Stella and free Stella MINTS! Jacob and I each drank our allotted beers and the three of us chatted with some students from New York who were a lot of fun.

By the way, you should know that during Sundance, ALL of Park City is sponsored by Stella Artois. In fact, EVERYTHING is sponsored by something. This is why, whenever possible, we decided to take photos of each other displaying a corporate logo of some kind. It would have been harder to AVOID logos in our pictures.
After our fast and furious Stella orgy, we got some dinner at the Hungry Moose, and went back to the Condo for a brief rest. I called Kiel and left a voicemail. Then I laid down for a nap. I was asleep for 10 minutes when Faye called. I told her I was waiting to hear back from Kiel, and she told me that she and Ben were on their way to a super secret VW party. I told her I’d call her when I knew what was going on.
Shortly after that, Kiel called me back. It was obvious that he hadn’t listened to my voicemail and just called back his missed call. I asked him what was going on for the night. He said “I just got out of the shower. Call me back in half an hour”. I realized after we hung up that he had no idea who I was.

I called him back in 45 minutes, and explained who I was straight away. He was very gruff and said the screenings probably wouldn’t happen until around 1 or 1:30. If we were still “out and about” then, I “could give [him] a call. Right now, we’re going to Cicero’s for karaoke”. I told him I’d call later. I thought perhaps he was just awkward on the phone. I was very excited to tell Jacob that I knew where there was karaoke in Park City! I called Faye, who was in the midst of lots of free VW sponsored Stella with Ben. She said she’s meet us at Cicero’s when we got there.

The lady at the door was very nice. She asked if we were filmmakers. We said we were. I waited for her to say “Can I see your credentials?”. She didn’t. Instead, she handed me and Jacob a voucher for the cover charge and said “We want to take care of the filmmakers.” I’m glad SOMEBODY does. We moseyed in and found a table and started looking through the book. They had NONE of my sure-fire standards and this was not a crowd for experimentation. I finally settled “heaven is a place on earth” which had gone over well before. Faye (2 Stellas in) and Ben (9 Stellas in) showed up a short while later. Apparently, Jack Busey had been at the VW party. Ben and Faye sat next to him and eavesdropped as he chatted up two ladies. Ben would loudly exclaim “Did you hear what Jake Busey just said?! Did you see what Jake Busey just did?! I’m losing respect for Jake Busey!” Of course, Faye DID hear and see what Jake Busey said and did, because he was RIGHT NEXT to them. Ben did get his picture with Busey, though.

Jacob saw a Tromette that has been at the book store and started chatting her up. I saw Kiel on my way back from the bathroom and smiled at him. He smiled an annoyed “please God, don’t talk to me” smile back at me so I decided to leave him alone and resign myself to the fact that he only took the movie because Lloyd told him too. Why does Troma hate “Snow Day”? I would have thought it would be right up their alley. Oh well.

Faye, Ben and I all put in songs. Ben got to sing early because he bribed the karaoke DJ. Faye and I, to our knowledge, were never called.

The karaoke festivities were curtailed by a screening of a short called “One Sung Hero”, about a karaoke singer. That was when we figured out that the party was SPONSORED BY the short, which starred some lady, a chick from Mad TV and Kyle Gass of The D. The short was pretty bad. It was like a Mad TV sketch without the budget. After it was over, Faye, Ben and I left and Jacob remained with him Tromette. I guess he eventually made it to the Troma condo with her, but of course, “Snow Day” was never played.

Stay tuned for the final installment…

February 2, 2006
Categories: Dear Diary, I Made Movies . Tags: travels . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

PARK CITY RECAP PART 1

As with my last long trip, I will break this up into segments so as to give myself time to compose, as well as to assuage the eyes of my readers.

SATURDAY
Faye and I arrived in Salt Lake City around 12:30 and were promptly picked up by Dom and Sarah. On our way to Park City, we stopped at a strip mall to eat lunch at the “Training Table” and buy some new pants for Sarah. The Training Table was an interesting concept wherein people find a seat, decide what they want to order and then pick up the phone that’s behind their table and call in the order to the front. When your order is ready, they call you on your phone and you go up front to pick it up.
As we ate our burgers, Dom noticed a drip coming from the ceiling and landing onto his tray, dangerously close to his food. The drip was a suspicious brown liquid leaking from a creepy swell in the ceiling above our heads. We decided to finish eating as fast as possible, and get out of there, lest a rotting corpse crash through the ceiling at any given moment.
Our next stop was the Nordstrom Rack, so that Sarah could replace the jeans she’d trashed in a drunken outing the night before. The place was packed with scary ladies and skankilly clad teenage girls. Welcome to Utah!

We pulled into our condo in late afternoon and got settled in. Ben was waiting for us. I very briefly met one of the other girls who were staying with us (friends of Sarah’s from Colorado). The other girl, I never met, for reasons that would become clear eventually.
Next, we hit the grocery store for essentials like tea and bread for toast and felt pictures to color with markers.

After a brief rest, we headed to Main Street to check out the heart of Park City. Immediately, we had a celebrity citing in the form of Nick Nolte. He was just as liquored up as when then the others saw him a few days earlier. How do I know this? Well, he was hanging his head out the window of an SUV like a puppy, gawking at the passersby. I can only hope, for his sake, that he was as tanked as he looked.
We didn’t stay out too late, as we were travel-weary and we couldn’t really get in anywhere anyway. We didn’t have the energy to stand in line and pay covers. We figured there would be plenty of time for that later.

SUNDAY
We were supposed to see a shorts program at 8:30am, one of which was written and directed by Bob Odenkirk. We had tickets and everything. The trouble was that the box office was in one direction, and didn’t open until 8am, and the theatre was in another direction. There was no way we could make it. Instead, we ate breakfast and moseyed at a country pace over to the box office to pick up the rest of our tickets. Given my lack of understanding for Utah geography (one theater was apparently a good 3 hour drive away), as well as scheduling conflicts, we had to exchange most of our limited pre-purchased tickets for vouchers. This is the first of many lessons learned about the whole festival process, should we ever decide/have reason to come back. 1) DO EXHAUSTIVE RESEARCH ON MOVIE TIMES, LOCATIONS AND PARTY SCHEDULES BEFORE LOGGING ON TO PREPURCHASE YOUR TICKETS DURING YOUR LOTTERY TIME. They don’t let you come back, or exchange for other shows, and by the time you get to Park City, everything will be sold out. You can wait in waitlist lines in case people don’t show up, of course, but who wants to do that for every show? Apparently, us.
We decided to get some lunch at a Thai restaurant. We were seated right away and the food was delicious. Sarah called us from having breakfast with her Colorado buddies. In the time it took us to head to Main Street, get tickets, find a place for lunch, sit down and get served, Sarah had been waiting to be seated and eat at another location. She joined us just as we were finishing up our delicious meal.

After we finished eating, we wandered the streets looking for free crap. There is much free crap to be had in Park City. Unfortunately, most of the GOOD stuff is allocated to people with “credentials” (i.e. filmmakers with films in the festival and actors who are recognizable). We discussed choosing celebrities we could pass for. Dom, it turns out, bares a striking resemblance to the current incarnation of Paul Giamatti. We know this because there is a picture of Mr. G in a Sundance publication and the similarities are uncanny. (side-by-side comparison forthcoming). Faye and I were really screwed, however. The closest celeb Faye could pass for is a young Jane Curtain and I a fat Thora Birch. We couldn’t think of anybody for Ben. Jacob looks just like Tom from Queer Eye, but he hadn’t arrived yet, and we were pretty sure that if we didn’t know his last name, we couldn’t pull it off anyway.

Instead we settled for the plebian freebies which included lots of magazines, mints, chap stick, vitamin supplements, sunscreen, mints, crappy DVD’s mints, coasters and mints. Everybody had a damned mint with their logo on it. Nobody in Park City had a reason for foul breath.

We also checked our email briefly at one of the free email stations. Dom came over and told me that he’d just seen Fairuza Balk upstairs. Of course, I ran upstairs to see if she was still there. I heart Fairuza. She WAS still upstairs, wandering around looking confused.

Sarah took her leave of us and then we began the exhausting task of trying to find somewhere to watch “the game”. I generally not in the least bit interested in football, but Faye and Ben wanted to watch and I wanted to drink with them. Dom came along because he is cool like that. As we wandered, we ran into someone that Ben new from a movie he was in. We chatted briefly, and continued our search, eventually finding a table in a basement bar called “Bandits”. Just then, Mark called me and I talked to him as best I could with loud sports fans shouting around me. A Denver game was just finishing up. We ordered some beer and Dom tried to order a snack, but they were apparently out of everything he wanted.

Then, the guy Ben knew walked in with his wife. The young Seattle couple, Holly and John, were also looking for a place to watch the game, so we invited them to sit with us. Everyone enjoyed the first half of the game, and then the bar owner informed us that we had to leave at half time due to a private party coming in. John went to scout another location, and came back minutes later to tell us that there was actually a small faction of Seahawks fans in the bar next door. Not only that, but there was PLENTY of room for all of us. We drank up and went next door. Indeed there was a faction, lead by a very drunk man in an Ichiro jersey (even I, a non-sports fan, can appreciate the humor in that). He was extremely excited that the amount of Seattleites in the bar had just doubled. As a show of his gratitude, he bought us all a round of “Seahawks”, a blue drink he’d just invented which looked like barbicide and tasted like cough syrup. Still, a free drink is a free drink. We muddled through them. The waitress informed us that we had to order food if we were ordering drinks. John asked her if this was one of those weird Mormon rules, and she said that it was.

To my surprise, they had a “full strength” beer menu alongside their 3.2% menu. I immediately began ordering Stelllas to make up for the urine-colored water I had been drinking previously. The rest of the game went by swimmingly, as the Seahawks kicked ass. And I found myself enjoying the camaraderie and city spirit. I’m still not a football fan, but I love Seattle, and I’m glad that such things can make my city happy.

After the game, we met up with Sarah and went to the No Name Bar. When we got to the door, the bouncer informed us that it was “one in one out” and to wait in line outside. Just then, a group of locals entered the bar. He told them the same thing. One lady loudly proclaimed “but I live here and I know ______”. He let them in. We waited patiently outside. More people saw us in line, went in anyway, and were ushered outside. Eventually, about 10 people had left, and he said we could come in. In Utah, bars are allowed to have full-strength beer if they are “private”. That means that they can charge you for a “membership” which is good for 3 weeks, and, with that membership, you can bring in up to 8 guests. Sarah bought a membership, and I guess, there was a cover as well, because Faye forked over $20 for us and we were let in. The place was standing room only, the music was loud and it was full of fratty types. It was the kind of place where, in Seattle, I would have turned right around and walked out. But we were on an adventure and we’d paid, so we stayed. Eventually, we wormed our way onto a table. Dom and Ben left and it was just us three girls. We shared the table with a gay couple for a while. They were waiting to get a “call” so that they could get into the private party at the Queer Lounge, where apparently, the year before, they’d witnessed Alan Cumming dry humping someone in a corner all night. After they got their call, the three of us had seats, and the straight men in the bar swooped in like vultures. It was alright for a while. They were gentlemanly enough and they paid for our beer. Lots and lots of beer. Faye played shuffle board with one of them. Eventually, though, new guys showed up and started getting a little pushier. I had to pull the “that’s my girlfriend” move on Sarah and we realized it was time to go. We had been drinking (albeit lots of weak beer) for 8 hours, so there was little argument on the matter. As we were gathering our stuff, I heard a guy behind me chatting up two girls. “I’m the executive producer of this movie”, he told them. I turned to see who he was. Just as I turned, I saw him point directly at me and say “and she’s the star of the movie. That guy over there, he’s in it too. So is she.” “Aha,” I though. He’s pulling the old “I’ll make you famous” scam on them. But outside the bar, Sarah gave me a postcard she’d gotten from the director of the very movie the guy was talking about. And lo and behold he WAS an executive producer. Why he told them I was in his movie is beyond me. Perhaps he was so drunk that he thought I was someone else?
We got back to the condo, I drank uncomfortable amounts of water, we carb loaded, and then went to bed.

MONDAY
Poor Faye awoke with a terrible illness. Not a hangover, mind you, but some sort of horrific, vomitous, feverish flu. She wasn’t going anywhere for a while. Sarah and Dom went to try and catch “Giant Buddha’s”. I gave Jacob a call because I realized that we had NO IDEA when he was getting in. Jacob called me back and said that he was at the SLC airport and would be at the condo in an hour.
He arrived in time for me, Jacob and Ben to catch the Q and A for “Science of Sleep”. Well, we WOULD have, had there been a Q and A. But apparently, Michel hadn’t shown up for the screening. Instead, we walked back to the condo in the snow. It was a pleasant and short walk. I picked up some fries and milk shakes for us and Faye at BK and we ate them while watching Patton Oswalt’s Comedy Central special. Laughter and grease did not help Faye feel any better, unfortunately. She was not well enough to go with us to wait in line for “Art School Confidential”.

Ben, Jacob and I agreed to wait in line for Dom and Sarah, who had just spent the morning in a line and didn’t want to do it again.

We passed the time with free magazines and Battleship on my cell phone. The 3 hours went by quickly. We managed to squeeze in to the theater and Dom and Sarah arrived JUST in time to squeeze in with us.

I really liked “Art School Confidential”. It was written by Daniel Clowes and directed by Terry Zigoff, the same team that made “Ghost World”. To me, it felt exactly like a Daniel Clowes graphic novel, with off-beat (and sharp-featured) characters, bizarre jokes and an ambiguous ending. Sure, it had some problems, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. After the movie, was, perhaps, the WORST Q and A I have ever witnessed. Questions like “you were really funny in this movie! You’re really funny! Are you going to be in anything else?” and “I would like to preface my ‘question’ with a very long, pretentious ‘insight’ into your film and then ask you something asinine that I think makes me sound intelligent and impressive.” Luckily, Clowes fielded most of the questions and he refused to pander to such inanity.

After the movie, I bolted to the bathroom. Ben, I guess, had lingered behind. I met Dom, Sarah and Jacob in the lobby. Dom was on the phone to Ben, who was telling Dom that CRISPIN GLOVER was still inside the theatre. There was a bit of confusion (by Dom) and panic (by me), as we tried to figure out what was going on and if Ben was once again going to get to meet one of my favorite people without me. Ben knew his testicles were on the line, so he snuck me back into the theater. At first, I had trouble FINDING Crispy. I was looking for an 8-foot tall pale man with black greased back hair. Instead, Ben pointed me toward a perhaps 6 foot tall tan man with light brown hair. Crispy was Hollywood. But he was still smartly dressed in a blue pinstripe suit and escorting a TINY blonde woman. I nervously approached him, told him I was very excited to meet him, that the Beaver Trilogy is one of my favorite movies, and could I trouble him for a photo. He was very cordial, agreed to the photo and asked where we were from. I told him Seattle, at which point, he plugged his “What Is It?” tour and told us to check the website for a future date in Seattle. And then he went on his merry way, and I was left in the afterglow. I wasn’t nearly as smooth as I’d imagined I’d be and I couldn’t remember any of the questions I’d always wanted to ask him, but he was clearly trying to get somewhere else and was nice enough to stop for as long as he did. And now I’m met Crispy. New MySpace photo forthcoming. Thank you, Ben, for sharing your “Jessica’s Idol” magnetism with me. I forgive you for the Joss Whedon incident.

Then we headed back to the condo. We stayed there briefly, and then Dom, Sarah, Jacob and I headed to a cast and crew party for “Crossing Arizona”. Sarah and Dom had met one of the producers in line at a previous movie. In their conversation, she discovered that the producing team was also behind the “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” documentary. Since pretty much all of us are huge Hedwig fans, the producer said we should come to their party. It was held at a Mexican restaurant in a strip mall. The drinks were free (and mixed by the crew themselves), as was the chips and salsa bar. Yum! We chatted with a bunch of people and promised to try and see their movie later in the week.
We decided to walk back to the condo, which I really enjoyed. The magic of being in a wintery wonderland still hadn’t worn off for me. Everyone else, I think, was just cold.

To be continued…

February 1, 2006
Categories: Dear Diary, I Made Movies . Tags: travels . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

I'm back in Seattle and Crispin knows I have a ton of monkey work to catch up on so who knows if I will be able to post my Park City recap this week. I do want to say hello to everyone though. So hello! I missed you guys. Park City was so much fun and a lot of good things happened to propel us toward making the feature. These things were more so in regard to emails we received whilst there than to do with things that happened there. However, just BEING there put me (and others, it seems), in a positive frame of mind. We CAN make movies. We ARE talented (or at least in league with other successful people). We just need to remember the first rule of MovieClub: ABP (Always Be Pimping). It may seem annoying to us, but EVERYBODY does it and that's how they get noticed and meet people that can help them on their way. As long as we pimp in a NICE way that is respectful to other people (more rare than you'd think), we shouldn't ruffle any feathers and most folks will (ideally) become just as interested in our work as we are based off of our rampant enthusiasm.

We got some REALLY REALLY good news upon our return from Park City yesterday. I'm not sure I can say what it is yet, but let's just say that investing in our movie just got a lot more attractive.

GO TEAM!

January 31, 2006
Categories: Dear Diary, I Made Movies . Tags: travels . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment