Sundance trip - Day ..1 - Jan. 15th, 2007
Okay, so I'm in Veags on Monday night. Starting my 2 week trip into the unknown.
-jb
p.s. Congrats to Forest Whitaker for winning the Golden Globe for best actor for "The Last King Of Scotland."
Forest and JB from Nodance Year 6
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Sundance trip - Day 2 - Jan. 16th, 2007
Okay, so I'm still in Vegas. Trying to get to Park City. This town has a hold on some folk. I'm lucky enough to know when to dribble down, so lucky for me, I only lost it all in 4 hours, instead of 3 hours. The horror...the horror...
As I have a few cocktails, my game gets worse, but I get luckier, so go figure.
Please send me paypal, cause that smart ass Blackjack dealer took it all, and I don't have enough gas money to get to Park City (*not really--don't send money).
However, by sloshing through a 4 am blackjack table, I did network with some TV folk. These guys (younger than me, btw) won the Golden Globes last night in TV, for some shows on NBC. Apparently, NATPE is happening at Mandalay. (NATPE = National Association of Television Production Executives). They were really cool, but went to Notre Dame back-in-the-day, so I can't vouch (lol--that's the Trojan in me talking from my summer at USC). Just kidding, Ben and Paul. I dig your shows, man.
Yes, there really is a Vegas convention named after TV executives. lol.
How I ended up in this maelstrom is beyond me. I should be writing.
One more Vegas Day, and then Park City. I swear.
Once again, it hits me that it's my 11th year in a row heading to Park City for Sundance. Something about it makes me smile. It's beyond "been there, done that."
It's my air.
-jb
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Sundance Trip 2007 - Day 3 - Jan 17th
Still in Vegas.
Saw Chuck "the Iceman" Liddell at Tabu nightclub last night. This guy was rockin', and was swarmed with fans. He took photos and signed autographs for everyone, and was just about the coolest guy on the planet. Despite wanting to rage like a Roman, Chuck took the time to shake hands and pose for endless photos in between beats. Try to imagine being interrupted by a photo-seeking stranger every three seconds of your life, and that's a good indication of what it's like to be a UFC champion in Vegas on a Wednesday night.
I'm leaving Las Vegas for Park City tomorrow (or is that today?).
Heard it's cold.
-jb
p.s. Did anyone catch the LEAVING LAS VEGAS ref?
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Sundance Trip 2007 - DAY 4 - Jan 18th, 2007
Okay, so I finally leave Vegas for Park City. Drove the extra 6.5 hours with clear skies. Got down to -9 around Provo. Brrrrr. I have one thought on my mind: late-night-condo-jacuzzi. The canyon scenery on the drive is amazing, and you really know you're in Utah when you see the snow, 3.2 beer, and anti-pornography billboards. Ahhhh Utah...
Gotta say the rented H2 makes a great thunderous Behemoth for the road trip (sorry Mother Earth. I will compensate).
The random shuffle Park City 2007 intro song (the song that randomly plays when you exit I-80 @ Park City) was "Bite The Hand That Feeds" by NIN, so I feel Trent has blessed our trip with good karma. It completes the drive up to Main Street. I can't quit you, Trent.
I just kept thinking that the bubbling hot wacooz was gonna be well deserved.
Drove the Behomouth up Main Street around 9pm. The anticipatory festival charge is already in the crisp Park City air. Whatever that means. Saw the old Nodance stomping grounds at Main Street Mall. Harry-Os bar had a line already (Harry-Os is a huge bar on Main Street that houses name-level bands and DJs--about 1500 peeps). A few new bars and restaurants on Main, but most everything is the same. Sundance banners everywhere. The sidewalks aren't jammed with people yet (that will come FRI and SAT), and Main Street is a corridor of lights.
Made the annual trip to ALBERTSONS to stock up on groceries. The Park City Albertsons grocery store is a mega-store that's been in Park City before running water. Luv this place. It used to be the only beacon of civilization until the Olympics came in 2002, and Park City finally stepped into the 1980s.
Checked into the condo, and spent the next 3 hours unpacking the Behemoth into the 4-story place. As my lungs scream, and my head pounds, I quickly remember that walking from the bottom floor to the top floor is murder in the thin mountain air. Advice for would-be Sundancers out there: Start at the top of Main Street and walk DOWN--always walk DOWN Main Street--never up). I forget this rule constantly, and always pay the price. When you walk DOWN Main Street, you can have conversation with friends. When you walk UP Main Street, conversation is replaced with group wheezing, misery, and 15 minutes of silent rest when you reach your destination.
I finish the unpack, and shoot a round of stick with some CNN action. Crazy Chinese. It's 4 am and I'm wide awake. Still on Vegas time. Winding down.
Finally alone, I slip into the 103 degree waters and melt away. Looking up at the goddamn billions of stars I'm staring at, I remind myself to get to the mountains more often.
Boyd's
BLOGLife From The 2007 Sundance Film Festival
MORE PICS SOON
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Boyd's
BLOGSundance Film Festival Trip - Friday Jan 19th, 2007
DAY 5
Sundance 2007 Banner on Main Street
Main Street lights
The Indomitable Gary Coleman
(Gary's big on the indie scene. His last several projects have grossed a combined buncha money (note to self: not really). Don't lose sight of the irony here--this is what Sundance has become, and I'm fucking sick of it. (i.e. washed up ex-security guard posing by a Harley--no offense to Gary). There needs to be a new Sundance rule: if you're a celeb desperate for camera time, you MUST be in a film at Sundance in order to come to Park City. FOCUS ON FILM. Paris, go home, it's never gonna happen.
Why do these celebs come here? 'Cause the cameras are here, and if Paris Hilton walks down Main Street, another young filmmaker goes unnoticed (meaning the newspapers will print the PH photo, instead of the young filmmaker photo).
Filmmakers, Revolt! Revolt! Revolt! Where is the new breed? Where are the 20-something filmmakers plastering Main Street with their movie posters trying to gain attention for their fledgling film? Where's the Kurt Cobain of the indie film scene? Oddly, if the the media can't find the new Tarantino, they'll cobble him together with the remnants of Sundance-festivals past.
The conditions are ripe for a sharp kick in the ass...and the revolution will be digitized.
I wish there was some kind of island of lost celebrities, but with no 'Survivor-like" competition. The show consists of c-list celebs that sit around and bore each other to death, and the first celeb to change the subject to themselves gets booted. Wanna see the visual definition of "silent stalemate?" Ask two desperate celebs to talk about each other. ; >
Another note to self: possible Day 5 Sundance burnout affecting blog entry.
Main Street Again
JB @ The Delta Lounge
No Name Saloon on Main Street
Panorama of Condo Deck in Deer Valley
Buncha Stairs (don't attempt this without a portable oxygen tank)
The Airborne Lounge (my last memory of Friday night)
But still a loveable virus...(Airborne VIP)
Filmmakers Scilla Andreen, JB, Carlo Scanduzzi
Sundance Film Festival Trip - Friday Jan 19th, 2007
Boyd's
BLOGLife From The 2007 Sundance Film Festival..MORE PICS SOON
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Boyd's
BLOGLife From The 2007 Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival Trip - Saturday Jan 20th, 2007
DAY 6
It snowed. I got cold. The Lakers lost. The end.
Snowy Main Street
Main Street Traffic
Sundance Film Festival Trip - Sunday Jan. 21st, 2007
DAY 7
The All-American Rejects played Harry-Os. Matisyahu closed. This party was friggin' great. Open bar for 1000 people. Thank you Ray Ban.
Ray Ban @ Harry Os
Nick and Tyson, All-American Rejects
Nick Wheeler, AAR
Tyson, AAR
Tyson with bass
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BLOGLife From The 2007 Sundance Film Festival..MORE PICS SOON
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Boyd's
BLOGLife From The 2007 Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival Trip - Monday Jan 22nd, 2007
DAY 8
The Egyptian Theater on Main Street
Poster Kiosk
Eddie Murphy signs autographs
*So I'm walking up Main Street, and suddenly see droves of sprinting cameramen. The bigger the celeb, the faster the cameramen move. Out pops EDDIE MURPHY. Eddie was very nice to sign autographs, and was cracking jokes with the fans. I'm rarely star-struck, but must admit that Eddie got to me. Just remembering all the times he's made me laugh since the 80's, and it kinda hits you in the face when you're in person.
One weirdo fan barks, "Don't call it a comeback, Eddie. You never left, man. Never left." Eddie cracks, "I'm just going to the bank, guy."
He put a smile on everyone's face, then jumped into a waiting SUV. Gone. 12 hours later, Eddie was nominated for DREAMGIRLS. Karma? U be the judge...
Eddie Murphy 2
Filmmakers Mason Canter, JB, Markus Canter (@ Doolans)
*TRUE STORY: Harvey Weinstein drops by Doolans. I'm stunned. He's alone and engrossed in a cell phone. I ramble off to the bathroom and nearly collide with Mr. Weinstein in the bathroom doorway. He looks very surprised to see me, as I fall through the opening door. Six more inches, and my directing career ends at Doolans. Luckily, my cat-like reflexes saved us both from a collision, and we parted ways. Harvey rules, mang.
ICM party red
*Went to the ICM party at the Igloo (Village at the Lift). Kernan hooks our group into the VIP, and we drink copious amounts of Vodka. Emile Hirsch and Ian Ziering were there (NAME DROP - look out below!) Pressed some palm, then proceeded to corner a gracious film exec and babble about my new "friend" from Brazil (or is it Brah-Zeel?)
Note to self: end all lame drunken stories with a vampire or two.
Markus Canter, Mike Kernan, Mason Canter, JB
ICM party white
JB in Deer Valley
Boyd's
BLOGLife From The 2007 Sundance Film Festival..MORE PICS SOON
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Boyd's
BLOGSundance Film Festival Trip - Wed Jan 24th, 2007
DAY 9 & 10
I squandered my Tuesday. Was going to ski, but was too tired to make it up to the immaculate conditions on the slopes--Sunny, clear, and warm. Had a bad lunch at my favorite spot which kinda soured me. Feels like Sundance gets shorter every year. It has an intense opening weekend, then it becomes a ghost town on Sunday night. I saw industry companies breaking down their storefronts as early as Monday morning. Sundance is a 10-day blitzkrieig, with 5 super-nova hot days of intense parties and screenings. I'm still snickering at the nubs that choose to come in the 2nd weekend, and those poor Sundance second-half pass holders.
Went to the "Rocket Science" party @ Celsius, then a final late night jacuzzi. After 10 straight days of this, my body can only take so much. Thanks so much to the Fabulous PR girls Tracy and Eva for hooking me up with endless options (Fabulouspr.com).
Tired and happy, I wander to bed. Slept like a baby.
But before drunk-dreaming, I pondered the last week and half of my life.
I met a publicist who chastised me for not seeing any movies, and that I was just in Park City to party. (FYI: Tickets are really hard to get until mid-week, I will eventually see everything several times, and she hadn't seen any either.)
My response: I don't come for the parties. If I wanted "the party," I'd go to Vegas. I come to Park City to meet and reconnect with hundreds of filmmakers from around the globe, and share the hardships that we have chosen for ourselves. As indie filmmakers, we travel a long, lonely road. When we "Mecca" in Park City, it's our chance to be around others that are like us, to cross-pollinate ideas, and to talk shop. All this is happening in this tiny mountain atmosphere, where we slowly build our community.
Kinda like the island of misfit toys.
And maybe one day, when my film plays Sundance, I can look back, see that long road, and realize my path was unique to me.
Yet, I travel with the knowledge that I never walked it alone.
-jb out
p.s. It sure beats war.
Boyd's
BLOGLife From The 2007 Sundance Film Festival
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Life From The 2007 Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival Trip - Jan. 30th, 2006
DAY 16
I'm still on my trip.
I left January 15th. Today is the 30th.
I'm startin' to feel like Martin Sheen in "Apocalypse Now"
--but like way at the end of the film when he's all greased up listening to Kurtz drone on and on...
Tango. Tango. Send the airstrike. I need to get home.
-jb
Boyd's
BLOGLife From The 2007 Sundance Film Festival
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"Life From The 2007 Sundance Film Festival"
WEDNESDAY January 31st, 2007
DAY 17
17 days out.
Finally, the eagle has landed. And it was good.
Laundry, Round Table pizza and 3 weeks of Tivo.
Sometimes the simplest things make it all worth it...
-jb out
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