Differences

I went to a friend's apartment tonight for games. It was nice to know that I could step out my building and get there without having to rely on anyone else.

I went grocery shopping, and miss being able to pay two bucks for an entire gallon of milk, avocados for fifty cents, 18 eggs for a dollar fifty. I paid $2.39 for a half gallon of milk, $1.50 for one avocado, and $2.19 for a dozen eggs.

I miss the large grocery stores in Salt Lake; walking into Wal-mart felt like walking into an airplane hangar. Space is much more limited here, and therefore grocery shopping is ten times worse.

I washed my hair and didn't notice any dry flakes afterward. The cold in Utah is so dry that I couldn't keep anything moisturized, especially my scalp.

I rode the bus at 10:00 at night and felt normal.

I got off the plane at JFK and there was no one with a "Welcome Home Aunt Julie" sign. No one to give me a hug and put my suitcases in their car and take me home. Instead there was a cab driver who took me home.

I got to where I needed to go without having to scrape snow and ice off a car.

I walked out of my apartment and walked to Baskin Robbins, then ate an ice cream cone as I walked down Broadway back home.

I walked down Fifth Avenue and was never the only person on the street.

I rode the subway and walked to church.

I was alone, and yet didn't feel lonely.

Back in the City

I made it back to the city today. It feels good to be back. While I'm getting readjusted to the Eastern Time Zone and into blogging again, check out two of my friends' really cool blogs about umbrellas and dating. They're definitely more interesting than what I could be writing about right now.

Eleven Movies in Ten Days

For ten days my life has been nothing but movies. It's been all I've talked about, all I've thought about, and been how I spent all my free time. I saw eleven movies in ten days, culminating with the two Best of Fest screenings tonight in Salt Lake. The list of the movies I saw:
--Helen
--Art and Copy
--500 Days of Summer
--I Love You Phillip Morris
--The Messenger
--Cliente (A French Gigolo)
--Five Minutes of Heaven
--Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
--Paper Heart
--Afghan Star
--Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire

And now it's all over. Sunday we closed the doors and dismantled all the computers and printers. I said goodbye to awesome people that I met and shared this great experience with. Today was my last time with Jodi, Alya and Sommer. I'm so glad that I got to work with such great people and that I truly loved spending my time with them (which is good since I spent more time with them than with my family and friends during the festival). Here's a few pictures of Jodi, Sommer and me having fun with the camera before leaving.


Farewell, Sundance, and thanks for a great time!

Two Movies, One Party and One More Day

As the rain fell down on Salt Lake yesterday, I set out for my final full day of working Sundance. And after that was done, it was off to one more double feature. Thankfully Lauren, one of our Ticketing Agents who came all the way from Tennessee to work the festival, was going to the same movies as me and offered to give me a ride so I wouldn't have to walk in the rain (my, oh my, my inner New York-self was cringing at how lazy and walk-averse I've become while in Salt Lake). The first movie of the day was Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, which just so happened to be directed by and written by, and starring, John Krasinki. Unfortunately, it was the last day of the festival so no one was there for a Q&A afterward. How very sad. Then it was off to the Broadway to see Paper Heart, probably the second best film I saw at Sundance. Sweet, simple, cute, endearing, funny, it was almost the complete opposite of Brief Interviews. And that is why Sundance is so great--all the diversity.

And then we were off to Park City for the Awards Party. This might sound really cool, and it was definitely a fun time, but it's not like it was this huge party with a ton of famous people. By the time the Festival wraps up on Saturday night, most of the major celebrities are gone. So the party was mostly Festival staff and volunteers, locals who had passes, and the few filmmakers still left who won an award (or didn't). And most of them aren't really "famous" or celebrities, so if I tell you I saw the chick from Paper Heart, Charlynne Yi, you're not really going to get excited. Same thing for seeing the director of a documentary I saw at the Festival. A few minor actors were there, but nobody like what I've seen just working at the Crew.

But, to my utter delight, Joseph Gordon-Levitt was there. You might remember me talking about his film I saw earlier in the week and how I'd like to get my hands on him. I didn't want to make a fool of myself, and he was almost always surrounded by pretty chicks, but I also didn't want to miss my chance to to at least be next to him. So Laure, being a great friend, said she would walk next to him with me and push me into him. I felt a little strange doing that,and just settled for my back brushing up against his and tried to maneuver my way around the crowded party. That was enough for me, because in all actuality it's the character he created that I liked so much, not him the actor. I did try to get a picture of him on my phone though. It's really bad quality, but just take my word for it that that's him in the red shirt.

I danced the night away, and totally rocked the dance floor when "Single Ladies" played near the end. I used to be totally shy about dancing in front of people, but I think my inhibitions get lessened when I'm surrounded by people who are drunk. I don't drink, but the people seeing me dancing would just think that I've had a few too many so it's easier to let loose. We finally made it home, very late, which caused me to be late to work this morning. Oh well. It's the last day of the festival.

Double Double Features

Day 8 of the Sundance Film Festival. Movie count: 6. With time seeming to be going by in rapid pace, I decided to make the best use of my credential and free tickets and did two double features in two consecutive days. Wow. It was a little crazy, and I was more than a little tired, running on very little sleep each night, but when else will I be able to get into any movie that I want in a festival and not have to pay for it?!

Tuesday was the first of the Double Features. I was up late the night before visiting with Lindsay-loo and Scott, and then had to be up way too early for work. So, much to my disappointment, my body sort of just gave up once I sat down for my second screening of the night at 9:00. The film was I Love You Phillip Morris, starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor as soulmates who meet in prison. The premise was interesting and buzz-inducing, but the film was just so-so, and while I did nod off through a big chunk of the middle, I don't really feel like I missed out on much.

But there was no way it was going to live up to the fabulous film I saw just before it at Rose Wagner, 500 Days of Summer. This film was simply wonderful; a romcom set in LA, it was done just perfectly, something that's awfully hard to do in romcom land. The characters were great, the story great--everything was so real that I could relate to all of it. Hands down, the best film I've seen so far at the Festival. I love this film!

Yesterday I did another double feature after work, taking advantage of my early shift. But I new that if I was going to make it through both films and not have a repeat of the previous night's head-bobbing, I would have to take a nap first. It was another late night before and early morning rise, and the nap was refreshing and just the right thing to keep me going.

The films in the second double feature, The Messenger and Cliente (A French Gigolo) were good, okay, nothing great or worth writing home about. I had to adjust my original movie plans for the night; I don't have a car and didn't want to walk the five blocks (how lazy has this New Yorker become!) to the Tower Theater, so instead opted to see a movie at the Rose Wagner instead, since it's just a block away from the TRAX stop. I'm pretty sure that the movie I passed on, Arlen Faber, was probably better. The French film was okay, and at least entertaining. The title might lead you to think it's some seedy movie about prostitution and such. It's not. And, I stayed awake during it.

But nothing has compared to the love and joy I have fore 500 Days of Summer. If I could get my hands on the soundtrack AND Joseph Gordon-Leavitt AND Zooey Deschanel's wardrobe, I'd be one happy chick!

I'm Alive!

Hello all! You might be wondering if I'm still alive in Salt Lake, or if I froze to death, was hit by a car, attacked by a crazy person on the TRAX, mobbed by angry ticket-buyers or just busy and lazy. It's a combinatin of both the latter for my absence in bloggging recently. While I have access to internet while at work, I don't necessarily have the time. With the festival finally underway and the work required leading up to it, I haven't had all the free time I've usually had while at work. And since moving into Emily's new digs I've been without internet when I get home, when I have all the free time in the world. So here I am, in between helping people get their tickets, turning away people trying to get us to reprint their tickets and managing all the Ticket Agents, finding the time to let you all know that I'm still alive. It's taken me 7 hours to write just this little bit!

There's been a lot of things that I wanted to blog about, but since losing the momentum along with the internet I'm way behind on all those things. So look for one big post before I leave the mountains for the skyscrapers on January 29th.

I Was Mooned!

By the actual moon, of course. Did any of you look up in the sky on Saturday night to behold the total awesomeness and aweness of the biggest full moon in years? I saw it, and boy was it breathtaking! I of course didn't have my camera with my, so could only take a mental picture. It was so large and beautiful that I couldn't take my eyes off of it, even when I got on the train. I made sure I sat in a seat that I could look out and see the moon while the train was moving. I just couldn't stop staring at it! I never cease to be awed by the moon and how beautiful it is. I don't know why the moon appears to be bigger, as its actual physical size is obviously not changing, but I do know that it was amazing and I hope you all got to see it.

Ticket! Ticket! Get your ticket!

This past weekend wasn't nearly as crazy as I was expecting it to be. Sundance offers tickets to locals before they go on sale to the public, as a way of compensating them for taking over their cities for two weeks. Everything is very orderly; people had to pre-register online to get an assigned time-slot and day to purchase their tickets. Half hour increments were allotted, and Sommer and I controlled the lines. We had a master list, alphabetized for each time slot, and would check everybody for their confirmation e-mail and Utah ID. We felt a little like bouncers when we got to tell some people they couldn't be admitted because they weren't on the list. A few people had their day confused, and some missed their time slot by just mere minutes (one man complained to me that because he was "120 seconds late he couldn't purchase his tickets"!), and had to be turned away.

The news was even there:

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

You can see me near the end, when they show the line. I'm wearing a blue sweater standing at the front of the line. It was a long couple of days (I got there at 7 AM and didn't leave til 8:30 at night) but it was a good time. Sommer and I had fun laughing and being crazy because we were so tired. Even lots of the locals were fun and interesting to talk to. It sure brings out a wide cross-section of people. And now I gear up for more Locals ticket sales this weekend and then for the Festival. Maybe I should start catching up on sleep now....

I Have Confidence

Saturday is going to be the start of a crazy bunch of days. If I can make it through Locals Only Ticket sales this weekend, which is our busiest time at Sundance, then the rest of it will be a breeze. So to get myself ready for it, I present you with my inspiration, Maria Von Trapp.

I watched The Sound of Music this week and I always love experiencing something as an adult that I cherished as a kid. Whenever we'd visit my grandma when I was young, my sister and I would immediately put The Sound of Music in the VCR and proceed to watch both tapes. It's a pleasant memory that, when watched now, seems even sweeter. I pick up on more things as an adult, such as the movie taking place during WWII and involving Nazis. I notice much more the total scrumptiousness and complete charm of the Captain, something completely lost on me when I was more infatuated with Rolfe and Friedrich as a kid.

So I look to this weekend with confidence in sunshine, in rain and that spring will come again. If I feel like I'm sixteen going on seventeen, I'll just think of raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens and white copper kettles if I get scared. Somehow I'll make it through, and even though there's probably no Captain waiting for me in a gazebo at the end of the festival, I can at least climb my own mountain.

Happy New Year!

I know it's a little late, but that's better than never, right? Maybe not, but here's my first post of the New Year. My dad used to say that a goal not written down is just a dream; to make it an actual goal it needs to be written down. Well, I haven't written any of mine down, which means my mental New Year's resolution list of being better with my time management, making goeals and lists for myself, and being better motivated have already been broken. Probably because I didn't write them down! Well, consider this writing them down. And now that they are down on "paper" I better get crackin'.

With the new year there always comes reflection. Well, sometimes. I find I'm usually always reflecting, but then never acting on what I've learned or gained from the reflecting. This past year, 2008, was spent entirely in New York (minus the last two weeks that I was in Salt Lake) and it was quite fun. My sister came out to visit, I quit a job, worked with Tribeca and Sundance Film Festivals, melted in the summer heat, road the Amtrak to Greensburg, PA, my mom came out to visit, my roommate got married. I hope to also reflect on the ups and downs I've had, and that I can finally feel at peace with past events and people. I hope to be able to trust myself more and trust others, too. So Happy New Year to you and I hope that you too can achieve your resolutions.