J in the UT

Sundancin' Again

2011-11-26T04:31:00.000Z

Paperwork approved – I am once again a Sundance volunteer, and will be working as requested, with the same theatre team at the same theatre. It was such a great group. I’ve completed a few afternoons of volunteer work already for them as they start prepping for the Festival. The offices of the Sundance Institute are nestled in a neighborhood a little ways up a mountain in Park City. There’s a hotel and the base of a ski lift right by the Institute and the first day I went to the office I was early and sat outside with what must have been hotel guests as well as some locals returning from a hike sitting outside and enjoying a beverage in the bright afternoon sun among the beautiful fall colors. Literally everyone looked like they’d stepped out of the Eddie Bauer catalog with their rustic but expensive looking clothes. And EVERYONE had a dog, and not mutts, but interesting breeds. I walked into the beautiful office and again, dogs, a very common accessory in the office. I know folks who have lived here all their lives are probably over the whole rustic ski lodge interiors, but it’s still fresh and different to me, and the Institute offices are no exception.

A few Fridays ago my volunteer job was to walk and time my walk from one theatre location in Park City to many others so this could all be documented in the transportation map for the festival. It’s definitely feeling like winter here but the sun is usually out. How fun to spend the day walking around that beautiful little ski town listening to one of my favorite movie-themed podcasts and help them prepare for the festival. Not a bad Friday at all.

Me and George Drive the Loop

2011-11-11T05:05:00.000Z

Sunday morning and everyone is in church. No need to go there to see the glory of a higher power. I drove the Alpine Loop a few weeks ago, just me and George Harrison. I've been listening to All Things Must Pass since watching the new two-part doc and it was the perfect soundtrack.

Fall Color Part One

2011-11-11T04:55:00.000Z

Every weekend in October I would drive somewhere close by to see the color. Here are pics taken this year from my favorite spot last year.

Some Random October Shots

2011-10-30T14:58:00.000Z

Saw this downtown and at the time didn't know what it was about.

A Rainbow in my Neighborhood

I'm not promoting Firestone, just loved the shot

KGriff Brings It

2011-10-30T14:53:00.000Z

Months ago I got tickets for me and a friend to see Kathy Griffin. As the date was approaching it was the only thing that kept me going. Turns out the Kathy Griffin fan base in SLC is small but mighty. The show was on a Friday night and I hadn’t realized until that day that the Church of Latter Day Saints was having their general conference weekend Saturday and Sunday in Salt Lake City. What is general conference? From what I’ve read in the newspaper and heard from folks, it’s a time for the church leaders to preach to the masses, focusing on a few topics. The last general conference was kind of controversial because one of the “prophets” (not my word, theirs) gave what was considered a very anti-gay message. Now people travel from all over to be HERE for general conference. In fact the person I went with had family friends staying with her from Australia who had travelled here for the conference. I wondered as the evening approached, would Kathy know she was in town while the Mormon crowds were gathering? Of course she did.

As my friend M had told me, if you like her Bravo stand up specials, you’ll love her live because she really dishes and there’s no censorship. Topics of conversation – Michelle Bachman and her husband (especially his clinic), the LDS church, Cher, Kate Winslet, Paula Abdul, Nancy Grace, her autistic dog, and much much more. I was a little worried that my friend would be offended by something in the show, but she seemed to enjoy it too.

See the temple in the background

As we were leaving the hall, it was a little strange to be walking down this beautiful winding staircase with that giant temple in the very close distance. Which two things don’t belong together? That building and the contents of the show.

Art and Ice Cream

2011-10-23T18:39:00.000+01:00

Brigham Young University has an art museum. I probably would have never stepped on the campus except I heard about this exhibit and wanted to see it myself. A colleague of mine and I decided to plan to take a long lunch one Friday and go see it. He was familiar with the campus. He didn’t go there but grew up in the area and has a family member who works there. Besides this book art installation, which is composed of 100,000 books and a sight to see, I was very impressed with the rest of the museum. They had a Picasso, lots of Georgia O’Keefe, some gorgeous western landscapes and a temporary quilt exhibition from Alabama. I fully expected to walk in and see nothing but religious-based work.

After we finished up at the museum, we were looking for a place to eat lunch and my friend suggested the creamery on campus. Little did I know that BYU also has its own dairy run by the students in the agriculture program so the ice cream they serve at the creamery is made from BYU cows. We used this as an excuse to have ice cream for lunch. Our conversation tended to focus on what it’s like to have grown up a member of the LDS faith only to now not be part of it. There is something about being a member of the church when you’re close to headquarters that seems to change the experience, make it more a competition between the members on who can outwardly prove they are following more strictly than their neighbor.

A Year Later...

2011-10-23T18:20:00.000+01:00

The two most expensive shelter cats seem to have gotten comfortable at our place.

Oh It's Been Awhile

2011-10-22T07:19:00.000+01:00

It’s been awhile so I’ll just make a list of the highlights.

1. A. turned 16, got her permit and so now every time we leave the house she turns to me with an energetic smile and says, “Can I drive?!” I can’t believe the progress she’s made since that first drive around the neighborhood that didn’t hit fifteen miles an hour until the very end.

2. A. went to her first semi-formal dance and had to sew straps on her strapless dress to match the dress code because we all know that two pieces of ribbon it the fine line between modesty and whatever the opposite of modesty is.

3. I took the summer off from exercise and now I’m paying, big time. Here I go starting over.

4. I’ve completed my script outline, and have moved on to writing the first fifteen pages of the script. The actual dialogue writing is hard!

5. The fall colors are just amazing! More on that later.

Adele Finally Arrives

2011-08-27T16:09:00.000+01:00

Can we talk for a minute about how ridiculous service charges are for concert tickets? Good God, they can be close to 50% of the ticket price at times. Back in February when I was down by the venue The Depot I noticed they actually have a box office so you can buy tickets for their venue service charge free. I bought a ticket for Adele thinking not many folks probably knew who she was here in the U.S. but I hoped she could get a decent crowd, especially on Memorial Day weekend and it was only $25 free and clear! Little did I know her second record would be released and she’d blow up in America.

The day of the gig came. We were in the middle of moving house and I actually thought about not going but then thought it might be just what I needed. So I park in one of the parking decks downtown and start walking to the venue. I’m half-way there and I see tour buses parked outside and a crowd milling about. A homeless guy comes out of nowhere and says, “Are you going to that concert (pause waiting for a response) It’s cancelled!!!” He said that last bit with pure delight. I get up there and sure enough there are signs saying that they have cancelled the gig. We learned from her later that she was in the middle of her sound check and it was obvious that she couldn’t go on. She burst into tears and cancelled the rest of her North American dates. I called A and said, “The gig’s been cancelled. You want to go see Bridesmaids?” So the night was not a total bust.

The next week at work I overhear a work colleague that I know very casually sharing with someone else about the gig being cancelled and I couldn’t help myself, I had to go talk to her about it. This was like finding an oasis among all the people that look at me sideways at work when I mention going to a concert. We agreed when the dates got rescheduled, she (E) and I and our other co-worker who also had a ticket (M) would all go together.

So getting back to the service charges…they announce new dates and much to my disappointment, a different larger outdoor venue. I don’t mind outdoor venues but I think an Adele show is better suited to an indoors small club, but heck I’ve got a ticket and I didn’t pay the now $45 plus service charges at the new venue. As we were talking to others while waiting in the crowd, no one seemed to pay less than $70 for their ticket.

We got there super early and sweat in the sun until the gates opened. When they did M got in first. I got stuck at security behind the woman trying to bring a picnic into the venue. He was about three deep to the front of the stage. The venue kinda sucked. The layout was weird and the stage was really low which puts someone’s height into question and how well they can see the stage. M is 6’6”. Now if I were that tall would I go stand in the front of the stage, probably not, but Adele is his favorite and he was undoubtedly the most excited of us three to see the show. I was standing slightly behind him but had a good view of the stage. Then the three harpies came and stood next to me directly behind them. These were three probably college-age very short girls who were pounding the beers and talking about being so drunk when they went to see Britney Spears that they didn’t even remember the show. Okay, immediately my judgemental flag comes up, not because of the drinking but because they think Britney Spears is truly a good night out not understanding the irony of seeing a “concert” of someone who doesn’t even pretend to sing anymore . They are really loud, really obnoxious and start talking about how they’ll probably puke before the night is up. After knocking into me several times and me just ignoring it they start complaining about M and how he is ruining everything because he’s so tall. He needs to move and it gets much worse than that. He can’t hear any of this probably because of the huge distance between his ears and their filthy mouths. Finally right before the opener (Wanda Jackson), they start tapping him to tell him to move. I can’t take it anymore and explain to them that he paid for a ticket just like they did and if they can’t see they need to move somewhere else. This caused a huge argument and in my mind I was thinking of the headline, “Local Woman, 41 Takes out Rage of Past Bad Concertgoers on Three Short Students”. I calmed down, turned to the side and prepared to enjoy Wanda.

If you don’t know who Wanda Jackson is, she’s a contemporary of Elvis Presley, and Jack White recently produced a record for her. She is a living legend, and all I could think was wow, I’d skip Adele if I could go back and just listen to Wanda’s stories. She had a great rockabilly band backing her and she sounded fab. Well, of course the three harpies didn’t appreciate seeing an old woman on the stage and was openly mocking her as well as calling me a “tall bitch”. What’s funny about that is these girls didn’t realize they were secretly delighting me, I mean to focus in on the one physical quality I enjoy in myself, ha! I had the last laugh. But nevertheless, their constant shrill chatter was getting the best of me so I decided to relocate which was kind of a bummer because we had a great spot near Adele’s gay contingent who had great signs and provided a celebratory vibe, unlike “the three”.

So I found myself wandering a bit for a good spot. Adele took the stage with just a piano to sing “Hometown Glory” and the crowd went wild. This venue fit about four times the amount of people as the original venue and also had a several floor parking deck that was full of people looking for a free show. She gave a shout out to the “car park” a few times during the show.

When someone sings a break up song and you’re no near a break up but you feel like she just summed up the way you feel, that’s the real deal. She sounded amazing. My favorite point came towards the end of the show after the sun had gone down and she sang a cover of Bob Dylan’s To Make You Feel My Love, which is on her first record. It was difficult to find a good spot without a lot of chatter, a by-product of the outside venue I think, but during that song, I was by myself in a quiet place and I was moved to tears. When it was time for an encore she let the audience know she was supposed to go off the stage and act like she was done and then come back but she didn’t like encores so she was just going to step off for a moment, kick off her shoes, have a drink and be right back and she was. During the encore she played her most popular singles which the crowd was obviously waiting for. My pal E, having a huge grudge against the “johnny come lately” fans talked through the whole thing saying stuff like, “If she would have played this first I bet half the venue would have cleared out. These people aren’t really fans”. I get the point but again, the chatter was ruining the moment. Can’t that wait for the drive home?

All in all I’m glad I saw her but really wished it would have been back in May in that club setting.

Her Month with J Ends

2011-08-20T15:33:00.000+01:00

The part of this trip that A has been on that gave me most worry was A flying home alone. The reason was because she would be dropped off not in Singapore, but in Phuket, Thailand because J’s family were continuing to sail for a few weeks. This meant A would have to take a one-way flight alone on an Asian budget airline to Singapore which got her to the airport at 1am and then her flight from Singapore would leave at 6am. That flight from Singapore by the way was a funny one. It stopped in Tokyo, then on to Atlanta. Then after a lengthy layover she’d have to fly five hours west home. I was worried about her getting her bags in Singapore, being in the airport alone for that length of time, etc. I contacted my work colleagues in Australia and New Zealand who fly through Singapore a lot. They assured me they’d done the same themselves and that the Singapore airport is very populated in the middle of the night and also a very nice airport. One of my colleagues even called me, asked for A’s plans and then emailed me back her cousin’s personal cell phone and work details because he was a senior engineer at the Singapore airport and said if anything came up, he’d be happy to make sure she got where she needed to be. My friends J and M in Atlanta said if she had any troubles with her flight home, they’d be happy to pick her up for the evening. I was so touched but not surprised at all by their generosity.

So it’s 3am in Singapore which means her first flight is over and A calls me over Skype (thank goodness for Skype!). She’s sniffling so I immediately get worried and ask her what’s wrong, is she having trouble getting checked in for Delta? She quickly dismisses all that and says she’s in for the next flight but that she’s tired and she misses me and doesn’t want to get on a plane for 20 hours. Unfortunately she’s inherited our inability to sleep on planes. She calmed down and started telling me about the trip. I was at work so I told her to call her dad and they talked for a good hour, and then she was ready to go.

The flight tracker on the airline websites now is awesome! We were able to keep up with her the whole way. She called from Atlanta in a much better mood having eaten some Krystal burgers. I told her she sounded much better than she did in Singapore and she said that it was because she wasn’t on the verge of an emotional breakdown, lol. She proceeded to tell me about all the fun Japanese candy she bought in the Tokyo Airport and how on the flight she was able to watch her all-time favorite movie from their movie library, Singing in the Rain.

After we picked her up last night we plugged her camera into the television and looked at her pictures, heard stories about gangs of monkeys, Universal Studios in Singapore, jetskiing, cats sitting in drink refrigerators on Thai islands, bartering in the markets, and the amazing food. Most of all we heard about all the laughs she and J had. They were emotional to part when the time came. I’m so glad they remain such close friends. She thanked us for the trip and then I was off to bed as she and H continued to talk. She’s had an amazing summer.

The Staycation Just Ain't Happening

2011-08-14T22:31:00.000+01:00

After the road trip and a few days back home, I took A and J to the airport. They weren’t on the same flights but both of them were flying to Singapore to meet J’s mom and boyfriend, and J’s three brothers. A didn’t sleep a wink the night before. After getting J checked in and in the security line, I got A down to where she needed to be and got her checked in. I was trying to make her answer all the questions the airline agent was asking to start preparing her for getting herself to her connections through San Francisco and Tokyo. We got to the security line and she burst into tears from fear. It might have been fear but I also think she was just exhausted. She called me when she was on the flight to Tokyo and since then the cell phone has been turned off.

After Singapore they will be on to Malaysia and then sailing through some islands to Thailand. I got an email from J’s mom today saying they’ve been jet skiing, parasailing, night diving, and scuba diving and A has been game to do it all.

Here back at the ranch we were hoping to have a staycation after we dismissed ideas of travelling ourselves because of work schedules. Basically the two of us are working opposite schedules and on top of it we’ve both gone through a round of a very nasty cold so the anticipation of this time to ourselves has turned out to be better than the actual time. Oh well, at least one of us is having fun.

My friend T did invite me yesterday to take a drive to Mirror Lake while H was at work. It was absolutely gorgeous and at least twenty degrees cooler than back home due to the altitude I suppose. As she and I were driving up there I was getting so light-headed. When we got to the highest peak, we were at 11,000 feet and I truly thought I was going to throw up. I guess it was a mixture of not eating and altitude. I had no idea that could happen. But as you can see the surroundings were stunning.

Oh Amy

2011-08-14T22:14:00.000+01:00

This post is long overdue but because of all the activity here I hadn’t had a moment to sit down and ponder. Amy Winehouse is so entwined in my English experience that I can’t think about it without thinking about her. She seemed to be the reigning tabloid queen the whole time we were there. My buddy K became a fan when we were both still in St. Louis before I did. But now Amy’s Back to Black record is about the only one that the three of us could put on in the car and not want to kill each other. My fave – Love is a Losing Game, H’s fave – Back to Black, and A’s fave – Tears Dry On Their Own.

After her divorce she ended up for months and months in St. Lucia and my good friend and work colleague happened to be vacationing in St. Lucia at the same resort as her for a few weeks. My friend’s portrait of Amy was quite different than what you read in The Daily Mail or The Sun. She was just a young woman who loved to laugh and sing. Hearing these stories from St. Lucia made me happy. She seemed to be getting back to herself and I couldn’t wait to hear more music.

I’m afraid her best came out of suffering so it’s probably right that there will be no more music. I’m attaching here my favorite performance of hers. It was after a swirl of bad media attention that she showed up and performed my favorite at the Mercury Prize Awards.

Road Trip Complete

2011-08-09T04:19:00.000+01:00

We had always discussed going on a road trip when J visited so she could see more of America. It turned out due to H’s commitments, it was a girl’s road trip, just me and them. We both had our iPods packed with playlists and the night before the trip as I was driving home from work I burst into tears. J will be starting a new school in the fall and A will be 16 in just a few weeks and it all is moving so fast. I sometimes just want to hug A and tell her not to go so fast. Life starts to get more and more complicated from this point on. I guess I’m feeling pretty emotional about it all.

It was great to see the two of them still having such a strong bond, to see the two of them still skip to the car like babes after 16 hours at Disneyland, to sing along in the car to a song we all liked as we stared out the window at the desert landscape or the traffic depending on where we were. When we were driving through the Mohave Desert and my car struggled to keep us cool, J was asleep in the back and I had my iPod plugged in. Ain’t No Mountain High Enough came on and both A and I sang along. I had to look out the passenger window so she couldn’t see my face. Where has the time gone?

Portion Control

2011-08-09T04:18:00.002+01:00

Having J in America for a few weeks has made me look at us through European eyes. She commented on the portions at restaurants and how wasteful it seemed. She was giving A a hard time for all of ther texting. When I asked J if she texted that much she said no because she didn’t have an unlimited plan. So does availability drive overindulgence? I think so. Funny though, as wasteful as Las Vegas is when you think about the energy expended for all that is, she was charmed beyond belief.

The Apple Pan

2011-08-08T04:41:00.000+01:00

I had a love/hate relationship with the Mildred Pierce miniseries this year. Love the Kate Winslet but her American accent is pretty bad. The storyline is pretty melodramatic but I loved the setting. The Apple Pan reminds me of that Calfornia of old.

Disneyland for Two, Conan and James Dean for Me

2011-08-06T19:12:00.000+01:00

The girls were at Disneyland from 8:20am to midnight. I couldn’t have done it. I was shocked to be driving to Anaheim to pick them up at midnight to be sitting in bumper to bumper traffic. I guess it’s the only time they could do road work.

So what did I do while they were at Disney? I took a chance and drove over to Warner Brothers studios to see if I could get a standby ticket to watch a taping of Conan. The traffic gods were with me and got me there just in time to pick up a ticket at 10 and to be told to come back at 1pm to see if there were slots. In the interim I went over to Griffith Park Observatory. I’ve had an obsession with James Dean since I was a teenager when I read all the biographies and watched all his films so visiting a location from Rebel without a Cause was a must. I’ve been there once before with one of my high school friends but it was at night. It was a bonus on this visit to listen to a poor high school teacher trying to get a group of teenage boys to appreciate the architecture of the observatory. You can imagine how willing they were.

At 1 I found out that I had gotten a ticket and was trying to maintain composure when I was squealing inside. There’s a lot of waiting when you’re going to see a recording. They run you through a metal detector and then they make you wait in two different places, one outside the actual Warner Brothers lot and the other in a holding pattern on the lot. When it was time to finally go to the studio it was about a ten minute walk to our building and there were about five different handlers making sure we stayed in line and no one strayed.

I sat next to a guy in the military stationed in San Diego who was super excited to be there. He told me he’d been trying to see Conan for twelve years. I felt bad telling him I’d walked up and gotten a ticket that day. I asked him who the guests were and he rattled off Jon Favreau, Jayma Mayes, and a musical guest he wasn’t sure about.

The recording moves very quickly. There are no retakes. The only extension from the show you see on tv is an opening comedian and the band plays longer to pump up the crowd at the beginning. After the show wrapped Conan told the audience that usually this was the point where the taping ended but he needed to record another interview that he thought we’d enjoy so he was going to change his shirt and pretend it was another day. After he returned we found out that James Franco was coming out to be interviewed and the crowd went wild. He was definitely the best interview, very funny.

The bad part about going to see Conan was that they turned us loose at 5:30pm, and in the middle of rush hour. After getting through the traffic and checking into our Santa Monica hotel, I went to grab some food and took a quick nap before Disneyland pickup.

Beautiful flowers at a random Burbank gas station

A view from Griffith Park Observatory

Why can't those boys appreciate this beauty?

Ah, traffic!

Lindy Hop in Anaheim

2011-08-06T07:11:00.000+01:00

Before driving to California, as the girls slept I went down to the lobby of New York New York to have some coffee and finish Rosemary’s Baby, which I had started to read before the trip. As an aside if you’ve ever thought about reading the book, just see the film. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that was so faithfully brought to screen. It’s not a well-written book so Polanski’s adaptation is definitely better.

Anyway, they were playing some big band and Frank Sinatra and I thoroughly enjoyed this. While the girls walked around Downtown Disney later that night I headed to the live big band that was hosting a Lindy Hop dance contest. The music was so great. Big band music puts everyone in such a good mood. I was watching young and old approach break out into dance. Beautiful night, and fireworks to boot!

A Little Downtown Disney

2011-08-04T03:43:00.000+01:00

After we checked into the hotel we walked to Downtown Disney. While Vegas was literally like walking around in a clothes dryer with hot breeze blowing in your face, Anaheim had a cool evening breeze and lots of sailors.

Day 2 - Vegas by Day

2011-08-04T03:35:00.001+01:00

I really wanted to visit the Neon Boneyard while in Vegas and we could not get a reservation so we did a quick self-guided tour to some of the older signs. In honor of The Killers, a quick visit to Sam's Town waaay off the strip was a must. I really miss the kitschy, cheap steak dinner Vegas of old.

The vintage signs are the best. This was perfect against such a blue sky.

Oh Brandon, we've seen London, we've seen Sam's Town

The original Las Vegas Welcome

Unfortunately I spotted this great vintage shoe sign as we were leaving.

Day 1 - Vegas at Night

2011-08-02T04:33:00.000+01:00

Strolling along the strip. Soundtrack - Friendly Fires' Show Me Lights

A Post in Pictures

2011-07-29T19:18:00.000+01:00

We promised J a Great American Roadtrip during her visit. So here we go, us girls on the road.
Day One of our vacation - 5am wake-up, on the road by 5:50
Itinerary - Zion National Park then on to Las Vegas

5:50am - must have coffee

Beggar Squirrels at Zion National Park

Zion National Park

The View from our Room - New York New York Hotel - Vegas

To Anonymous

2011-07-27T18:45:00.000+01:00

I took down my post about the documentary Tabloid. I am not a journalist and made a mistake in saying in my review that Ms. McKinney was on parole in England. The documentary led the audience to believe that she was somehow released out of jail in England but awaiting some follow-up legal action and fled the country in disguise. So I guess if they use the same legal jargon I should have said she was out on bail (?) Nevertheless, no matter what I think about the entire situation, from the beginning to the end of the documentary I never thought she harmed that missionary in any way and I am certainly not and never will be a member of the LDS church.

So anonymous, I was shocked to get this comment on my blog post:

NOTICE OF INTENT TO SUE: Consider this official notice that your article has been turned over to Ms. McKinney's libel attorneys and that you are going to be sued for the false and defamatory comments you made about her as well as for Reckless Disregard for Truth, a facet of her libel actions toward you and others who contune to spread the Mormon press hoax. First of all, as a Christian girl with high moral standards, SHE WAS NEVER CHARGED AND THUS NOT CONVICTED OF RAPING A 300 pound 6'5 inch Mormon! And since she was never even convicted, she is certainly not "on parole", as you LIED in saying! What a dishonest ignorant person you are! You have commited Criminal Libel and can actually be arrested for what as well as a civil suit lodged against you, which we plan to do. And by the way, are you a member of the Mormon CULT yourself? Hundreds of books and ex-Mormons KNOW they are a cult, are you really that stupid that you think they are a "religion?"

Since my review is no longer posted, here's a link to what Roger Ebert had to say as well as what the Salt Lake Tribune said about the screening that I saw.

J Arrives

2011-07-23T16:19:00.000+01:00

The Music Never Stopped at Red Butte Garden

A’s best friend from England arrived on Monday night. She’ll be with us until the first week of August when they both fly to meet J’s family in Singapore. It’s been great to see her again, she’s such a funny kid. This week we went to an outdoor screening of a Sundance film at Red Butte Garden which was a beautiful setting although we were freezing. We also went to see The Decemberists Thursday night. I liked them better when it was the 80s and they were called R.E.M. That was part of the free summer concert series in SLC. Yesterday they went to an amusement/water park all day.

J’s only observation when we’ve been riding in the car…”there are a lot of fast food restaurants here”.

The Decemberists

One of the Scariest Experiences Ever

2011-07-17T18:16:00.000+01:00

So far I am loving the Screenwriter's Project. I've met with my mentor once and she gave me some great tips. It has got to be one of the best feelings in the world when you write something and someone describes what they took away from it and it is EXACTLY what you wanted to convey.

We had our first peer group meeting. We've been broken up into smaller groups of 10 to meet on a monthly basis and have what we've written so far read aloud to the group. Act One outlines are what we are currently working on. First off, I loved hearing everyone's ideas. There were a few that just by hearing the Act One outline I'd so buy a ticket to see. My outline was the last to be read and I stared at my shoes the whole time. The feedback was so helpful and it inspired me to re-work a few things. One of my peers said they didn't know where the story was going to go and she was excited to hear the rest. Of course because I'm slightly OCD that night I dreamt about that like it was the biggest pressure of my life.

Can't wait for next month's meeting!

This Kicks a Cupcake's Ass

2011-07-03T19:33:00.000+01:00

We’re having a bit of a staycation while A is in St. Louis. Today while H was doing homework I ran a few errands and then went to a matinee to see Beginners. I was in the same part of town as Mrs. Backer’s Bakery and stopped in for this delicious treat. If you like the frosting piece of a layer cake this one is for you. All sides of the triangle are covered in buttercream and then toasted pecans are pressed into the buttercream. It’s topped with chocolate buttercream and the center is german chocolate cake with the traditional coconut pecan frosting in the middle. As my friend B would say, “It’s so good it’ll make you want to stand up and slap your mama”.

Eating this last night compelled me to exercise this early afternoon in the 100 degree heat, but it was worth it.

Flying in the U.S. of A.

2011-07-03T03:02:00.000+01:00

A. travelled to St. Louis last weekend to babysit for our friend RB and on the weekends she’ll get to see her bestie. Her flight was at 7am so we headed to the airport at 5am and I realize now I looked like a homeless person with my hair in a messy bun, sweatpants and flip flops and a t-shirt that I’d slept in that was a subscriber’s gift from Entertainment Weekly that says “I love Jake Ryan” with a picture of the guy from Sixteen Candles. But literally I thought this would be a walk her in, make sure she gets checked in okay and then walk out, 10 minutes tops. Well, the state of U.S. airports and airlines made this trip a bit different. They’d cancelled her flight for who knows what reason and were going to book her on an 11am flight until I asked the only airline employee around, a woman at the platinum counter (which pissed off the actual platinum customers) and they re-routed her to another airline on a 7:15am flight.

The line to the other airline was super long and now that you have to pay for checked baggage, it looks like for this airline at least, the only self-check terminals were for carry-on only. It was very stressful for everyone involved and I found myself at the airport for over an hour getting her sorted. Oh, and the airport was SUPER BUSY. I expect that on a Sunday afternoon but I was surprised at 6am.

I consider myself a seasoned traveler and even I was confused about where to be for this flight check-in. The use of self check-in sometimes means there is just one person at an airline’s counter to handle everything else which makes things highly inefficient. Couple that with the non-seasoned travelers and in the case of Sunday morning non-English speakers and it’s a recipe for disaster. When one of the airline staff came out in the crowd to ask if anyone had a boarding pass already and I got her attention to just ask her if we were in the right line because we’d been re-routed from another airline she literally just walked away from me without even acknowledging that I was talking to her. In the middle of this stressful experience, this woman, looked like a business traveler around my age tapped me on the shoulder and said, “I love your shirt” with such sincerity. I could picture her as a teenager, swooning over Jake, LOL.

So while A is now in St. Louis safe and sound and having a grand time, I REALLY feel for my business travelling friends more than ever. It’s a jungle out there. Pack your noise-cancelling headphones and some meditation music because I think you probably need it once you board the plane.

Scuba Certified

2011-07-02T16:03:00.000+01:00

A. needed her open water scuba diving certification for her trip to Singapore this summer so I enrolled her in a course. Until I had to look for one I hadn’t noticed how many dive shops there were which puzzles H. Why are there so many when we are nowhere near a place to scuba dive?

I have never wanted to scuba dive and watching this course progress I wanted to do it even less. It was a two-week course that had book work and then practice in a swimming pool and then they were doing an actual dive to get the sign off on their certification. Where in Utah would this happen? Read on.

First after I signed her up at this dive shop I was told (I swear!) that class began Tuesday night at 7pm but to get there about 15 minutes early because there was paperwork. Well, I misjudged traffic and got her there promptly at 7 which I was a bit embarrassed about until A told me that class actually began at 6:30 meaning we were 45 minutes late. Then I was humiliated. The second night I was told by the instructor to pick her up at 9:45 only to arrive then and A tell me that class had been over for 25 minutes. I hadn’t even looked at my phone. Great, I’d become that parent. The next week I asked H to take her because I just couldn’t face the instructor.

I don’t think people are meant to go underwater and breathe. Here’s why, A would come home and say I need to get my fillings checked because my instructor says if there are air pockets in them my teeth could crack from pressure during the dive, or my ears won’t clear and that’s a bad thing. My eardrums could be affected. Suddenly, we need a full body scan to uncover her health issues for a recreational activity?

So it came time to do the actual dive which takes place at The Crater about 45 minutes away. Really cool. It’s also a place for mineral baths and the resort around it really reminded me of Germany. Funny, Europeans always make fun of Americans for going to McDonalds when they are abroad or looking for other American things. They are just as bad! I heard lots of foreign accents and languages at The Crater. In fact, as I was sitting in the car reading waiting for A to finish, I looked back to the entrance of the crater and there was a man and woman walking out of the crater as if they’d just finished a mineral soak. The man took off his towel and was walking in the resort completely naked. Something tells me he wasn’t American.

In the end, she’s certified and I’m glad I won’t be there to witness her doing this in a real life setting because it scares the heck out of me.

The State of Movies Today

2011-06-19T16:04:00.000+01:00

We had a great first event for the Screenwriter’s Workshop with Actor/Writer/Director Keith Gordon who has been mentoring up at the Sundance Labs and came down for a Q&A with us. Keith was in some very popular films in the 80’s like Christine, Back to School, and one of I somehow ended up watching every time it was on cable because I thought the whole premise was so strange, The Legend of Billie Jean. Before the event, we had a private screening of his film Waking the Dead and then we also got a copy of the script to read so we could see how sometimes what is written on the page gets changed when it’s being filmed. This film was adapted from a novel of the same name.

He had some great stories about experiences as an actor as well as being an independent filmmaker and some advice about the screenwriting process. But after the evening I was depressed thinking about the state of film today. He said that it was a difficult time for film and also an exciting time. It’s difficult because many of the independent film companies of the 90s are long gone and it’s really hard to make a movie and get it distributed. Mainstream cinema is geared towards teenagers and they don’t take a chance on anything new or different. He also said that a lot of the complex stories are now making their way to television instead of feature films. The good news is that equipment has gotten so cheap and if you aren’t interested in the mainstream there are ways to get your product out there that were never available before. The fact of the matter is that people aren’t necessarily going to the theatres to see a film. They are watching them on their mobile devices or computers as well.

As a lover of the movie-going experience I was depressed by the first part of this equation. I am afraid I will find myself going less and less to the cinema because the things I am interested in won’t be portrayed there. Besides the Harry Potter films I never go see the summer blockbusters because they are sooo boring and there is nothing new there. I can’t help but think if people would stop going to see those films, maybe there would be a change, but in all honesty, it’s probably more complex than that.

I would recommend the film we discussed, Waking the Dead, with Jennifer Connelly and Billy Crudup. It’s one of those films that’s open to interpretation and pretty haunting. It’s available to stream on Netflix.

HoJo

2011-06-19T15:29:00.000+01:00

Howard Jones, 80s synth pop star will be coming to the Sandy Amphitheatre in July to perform. When I saw that I thought oh this venue must be one of those places that books nostalgia acts. Then a few people at work mentioned this to me and also mentioned how many times they’ve seen Howard Jones. Turns out he’s very popular in Utah and visits often. I don’t think he’s a nostalgia act here. One of my work colleagues sends me a daily “HoJo” video from youtube to entice me to buy a ticket. I may go just to experience. He told me I needed to brush up on the material because here in Utah his concerts are sing-a-longs.

Don’t know who Howard Jones is? Here’s a video of one of his popular songs. It’s shockingly mellow.

Pioneer Wear

2011-06-19T03:51:00.000+01:00

I pass the window of a store that specializes in white dresses for women attending LDS temple services and recently they have had pioneer costumes in the window.

Then this week I saw this ad in a local circular. Sharing time?

High Tech 70's

2011-06-13T13:52:00.000+01:00

Trying out the fish eye feature on my camera

I thought I would share with you some of the hot features that came original with our house. Didn’t everyone who was a child of the seventies know someone who had this oven and this clock NEVER displayed the correct time?

Yes, get jealous, we have an intercom system through the whole house. There’s a central unit in the kitchen that even has a radio so you can pipe the radio throughout.

And my fave, the awesome tile mural in the master bath. I can just picture someone picking out tiles for the bathroom and being offered this “up sell”, and thinking, yeah, I work hard, let’s kick it up a notch. When I am taking a shower I do find myself saying “Never eat sour watermelon”. I wonder why.

Parade Days

2011-06-13T13:46:00.000+01:00

I’m sure you’ve gotten the gist here or from other outlets that the Mormon families are pretty wholesome. There are things about their activities that feel very old timey to me, like for example, they LOVE a parade.

When I was leaving work on Thursday I noticed that tarps, blankets, and lawn chairs had started to line the streets of this particular town. I found out from some locals that it was carnival and parade time, woohoo! While it is kinda cool that everyone participates because they still have a collective experience which is becoming not so common in every day American life, it makes me think evil thoughts. Friday morning there were even more place settings by the side of the road. I was thinking what fun it might be to rent a big U-Haul truck and drive through the town at 3am scooping up all the blankets, tarps, and chairs. It would teach them to be so trustworthy that their stuff was safe! Man, suddenly I feel like the Grinch in The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and I imagine they would act just like the Who’s and enjoy themselves anyway.

Speaking of evil thoughts, when we were having the carpets cleaned at the rental house, we were trying to get this sheepskin rug cleaned as well and the carpet cleaner wouldn’t touch it for fear of damaging it. So I called around and found a specialty leather and fur place. The conversation went something like this:

Me – Do you clean sheepskin rugs?

Store – Yes.

Me – About how much would that cost?

Store – Well we charge by the skin so you should flip it over and count the number of seams.

Me – I think it’s just one, oh no I’ve flipped it over and there’s actually four.

Store – So you have a four skin rug, that will cost …

That last line was said straight. I had to hurry the conversation along so I could get off the phone to laugh.

Screenwriting

2011-06-11T14:42:00.000+01:00

A few months ago I saw an advert here for a Screenwriter’s Program sponsored by the Film Society. They were planning to pick 30 people to participate in a year-long writer’s program where at the end with guidance and peer workshops, you will have a completed screenplay. During that time, they would invite folks from the industry to present to the group and mentor as well. I’ve never considered screenwriting but have always loved movies and am actually getting back into them much more after moving here with Sundance and having a great local theatre that shows foreign and Indie film, so I submitted a pitch…and was selected! There began the week where I haven’t had to produce anything but a pitch yet and I’m feeling probably overly good about myself…and then the truth sank in, I’ve got a lot of writing to do and it’s probably going to be crap.

We had our first meeting Wednesday this week. Driving to that meeting I seriously almost turned around. I was physically shaking at the thought of talking to others about my pitch and feeling like I really shouldn’t be there. I park in the garage and see this young beautiful college student obviously headed to the same place I’m headed and feel that much more intimidated. Great, I’m going to be the oldie in the room. But when I got in I was pleasantly surprised. I wasn’t the oldest in fact there is a woman who is trying her hand at this for the first time who is 80. There are also a number of university professors, folks who work in film or television production, a full-fledged novelist, writers/directors of either short film or commercials, etc. What a great mix of people and the folks in charge are super encouraging. I couldn’t be more excited about this experience.

Here’s to a thrilling and also scary new pursuit.

School's Out

2011-06-11T14:24:00.002+01:00

And Sophomore year is over. This week even though school is out she has been studying for her driver’s permit, her scuba class, and a food handler’s permit so she could go to work some with H. At the end of the month she’ll be heading off on a solo flight to St. Louis to nanny for our friend RB for a couple of weeks. This is a double win for her because not only is she a big fan of RB and her family, but she gets to see her bestie in St. Louis.

So she’s taking this scuba class so she’s ready for her Asian vacation with her buddy J and it’s two nights a week. Seeing the studying that has to happen and listening to the stories makes me even less interested in scuba diving than what I was before. The first night after class she got in the car and said the teacher said that everyone should probably get their fillings checked for air pockets because if your teeth might crack from the pressure. Then she told me the next night that she was having trouble making her ears pop, which you’re supposed to do and one guy in her class said he had to have some kind of surgery on his ear canals because they were small, etc. I was laughing as she was telling me this saying that I didn’t realize that just attending scuba class would rack up a number of healthcare bills. How does one even check for air bubbles in fillings and what is supposed to happen if you have one, remove it and start over?

After the second night I came home and told H that he was going to have to take her to scuba next week. I pride myself in being someone who is almost never late. The first night of her class I swear I was told it started at 7pm but get there 10-15 minutes early for paperwork. Because of me misjudging the traffic we got there right at 7. I was feeling bad about not getting there early and feeling worse at the end of the night when A told me class actually began at 6:30pm. No wonder I got a tight smile from the instructor when she joined them in the classroom. Then second night I get her there early and feel pretty good about it. I stick my head in the room and verify with the instructor that they’ll wrap up around 9:45pm. I go about my business. I get there at 9:45 and A and the instructor are the only ones sitting outside a darkened building. She tells me they’ve been done for about 25 minutes and they’ve just been chatting. I can’t believe this! Especially after the guy at the counter told me that that particular instructor’s classes never get out early because he’s “long-winded”. I have now become that crazy parent with time management issues. I was telling my friend T about this over lunch and she assured me that local people are always late and they call it “Mormon standard time”. I told her yeah it was the first time I thought about lying about A being an only child and telling the guy I actually had six other children and so my responsibilities are great, and there’s just no way I can be bound to his timeline.

Fave Pics from Pride

2011-06-05T23:35:00.000+01:00

Pride in the SLC

2011-06-05T23:25:00.002+01:00

Fab morning in Salt Lake City, it went from being too unseasonably cold for me to handle it to being downright hot today. It was A’s first Pride Parade and once again a good time was had by all.

We saw Grand Marshall Roseanne Barr – check

A. saw one of her best friends marching and ran out to hug him - check

We saw a load of drag queens with muscles – check

We saw some great signage – check

A lone bagpiper playing Do Ya Think I’m Sexy - check

We heard GaGa’s Born This Way at least twice, and once as a group of guys in camouflage twirled batons – check

It was great to see Roseanne. She grew up in SLC and her brother was being recognized for his charity work this weekend. While she has done some wacky things I think the early days of Roseanne were brilliant. I will sit down and watch some of those early episodes whenever I catch them on. She told reporters that she was so happy to come back to SLC and find it being a lot more accepting of diversity.

Cleaning

2011-06-05T23:23:00.002+01:00

During our move when we were cleaning it was obvious our lack of deep cleaning had caught up with us. I’m not one to regularly clean windows, baseboards, etc. I’m more of a is the kitchen sanitary and the bathroom clean kind of a cleaner. As we were driving a load of stuff to the new place I was on my soapbox telling A how that wasn’t going to happen again, that we were going to clean more regularly. She said to me, “I don’t get it. It’s not like not doing that kind of cleaning impaired our quality of life”. Well played A, I didn’t have a response to your two dollar sentence.

Home Sweet Home

2011-06-04T14:52:00.000+01:00

The View from the Living Room

For the past four years the places we’ve lived in included shared walls with neighbors and this last place, had loud neighbors who often burned dinner in the basement as well. The thing I’m enjoying most about our new place is that it’s all ours and any sounds are our sounds.

It is kind of a funny house, very Mormon with six bedrooms and a huge food pantry. Read this if you don’t know about the whole storing food for a year bit.

A Musical Event with a Not So Happy Ending

2011-06-04T14:42:00.000+01:00

I bought a ticket to see Adele months ago. This was before her latest record had come out, and before she became huge in the U.S. So now the date of the gig is approaching, Sunday, the day before Memorial Day and we are in the thick of our move cleaning the old place and unpacking at the new and I’m exhausted. But I get ready to go anyway to this sold out show thinking maybe this is the break I need. As I’m walking to the arena, this homeless guy yells out to me, “Hey are you going to that concert? It’s cancelled!” I keep walking, see the tour buses outside the arena, and then…see the signs stating that the show is cancelled and will be rescheduled at a later date. People are standing around telling their tales, “I flew here just for this show”, etc. I think back to the homeless guy. Wow, he’s having a little bit of fun raining on our parade tonight, and I laugh.

Well, I will be entertained tonight, so I dial A, tell her that the show is cancelled, and ask her if she wants to go see Bridesmaids.

So now Adele has cancelled the rest of her whole North American Tour and the reports in the press today say they're "investigating" rescheduling. She not only sold out all the dates, but they even upgraded the venues in some cities like San Francisco.

Tuesday to Tuesday - Music Bookends Moving Bullshit

2011-06-04T14:27:00.000+01:00

Rice-Eccles Stadium

I don’t recall if I mentioned this but after arriving in Utah last year I was reading the entertainment newspaper and found out that U2 was going to be playing the University of Utah just up the road in June. I went over to the box office to get a ticket and the attendant announced, “Oh that’s postponed. The lead singer hurt his back”. Lead singer? Does this kid not know who Bono is? A few months later after Bono had gone through back surgery in Germany they rescheduled for May 24, 2011, eleven months after the original date. I bought two nosebleed seats and was feeling like I should go but not really looking forward to it. Bono’s schtick can be pretty preachy. Well, it’s been a long winter of no live music so when last week was rolling around I was suddenly very excited to go even though they were predicting rain. A went with me. She’s not a U2 fan but I told her she’d still enjoy it. As they walked to the stage to Space Oddity, 40,000 people lost their minds. They played a good variety and because it happened to be Bob Dylan’s birthday, a little of Bob was sprinkled in here and there. It was a spectacle of the best kind, massive in scale and capable of giving everyone, even those of us in the cheap seats, a terrific experience. I don’t know why I doubted it would be an amazing show. I guess it was the stadium setting, but that “lead singer”, he’s a charmer.

A week later, A and I were headed for a very different experience at a small venue to see Arctic Monkeys. Funny, this is a band that headlines the huge music festivals in England but here on this tour they’re playing pretty small places. They came to the stage to the sound of The Guess Who’s American Woman, plugged in and ripped through a variety of hits from the back catalog and their soon to be released record. Also a great show, and while I was up in the 21 and older balcony, A had pushed her way up to the front and was next to a superfan. After the show we waited around a bit and talked to the superfan and his older brother who had been travelling around the country following the band. Superfan seemed to have two great loves, Arctic Monkeys AND Harry Potter. He was sporting a Griffendor hoodie and would not shut up about those two things. As we stood in line so A could get here picture taken with Alex Turner, superfan said, “Getting your picture taken with Alex Turner for the first time is the greatest first you’ll ever experience”. Nothing against Alex but he way oversold that.

Pic by A.

On a related note, I nabbed a poster for the film Submarine at the show and then when meeting Alex Turner failed to ask him to sign it. Alex wrote a number of the songs on that soundtrack. If you like British humor, do seek this film out. The music really does fit perfectly.

So Much Going On

2011-05-31T22:28:00.000+01:00

I always like to start my whine by saying that in the grand scheme of things I am a very lucky person. However, the last two weeks have been extremely stressful. We’ve had incompetence at its highest level with our closing, which precipitated a not so great ending to our lease at our current place because we couldn’t nail down our move date. I won’t bore you with the details, but that kind of stuff makes me a nail-biting insomniac. Maybe I should have reacted to the move as our cat Clive did. He figured the way to play this move to new surroundings was to first spend a night in an empty kitchen cabinet and then pee on our brand new mattress. Thank goodness I noticed it and it had a zip off top so I got it before it soaked through. Oh pets, they overestimate our love, don’t they?

Sales, Sales, Sales

2011-05-21T14:36:00.000+01:00

There are a few cultural differences here due to the high concentration of Latter-Day Saints in the area: Open Houses for property that’s on the market are usually on Saturday instead of Sunday. Also Garage Sales/Estate Sales/Rummage Sales are all usually Friday/Saturday, and maybe even on Thursday. I guess the high number of stay at home moms makes this okay. Because we need so many things, we’ve been hitting some estate sales but I must admit I’m pretty bad at this. At estate sales I’m too busy looking at people’s books to figure out the person that once lived here, and the rest of it, I’m not good at looking at a pile of junk and finding the bargain for me. No instead a few weeks ago I walked out of one of the sales with a 1960’s edition of Life Magazine thinking the cover was so cool I might frame it. Who am I kidding? That sounds too much like a project and frankly what I need is silverware, not décor.

And by the way, we've had two closing dates now that haven't happened because of the incompetence of our bank guy and his problem with paperwork, which isn't that supposed to be a banker's specialty? We are supposed to close Monday and neither of us have any confidence. It's been the most frustrating bank experience ever.

Coffee in Utah

2011-05-21T14:32:00.000+01:00

I picked up this copy of City Weekly recently and was really annoyed by the cover. I thought it was going to be a church thing but it wasn’t. The article did go on to describe why Mormons don’t drink coffee, which I've been asked at least ten times. Read here if you’re interested.

New Camera

2011-05-14T14:58:00.001+01:00

Finally got a new point and shoot. Had to share my fave of one of the boys.

And one of the night sky

Movin on Down

2011-05-14T14:51:00.000+01:00

.We’re moving at the end of the month. We’ve bought a house in the next town south and I say we’re moving down because we won’t have our beautiful view of the lights and mountains anymore. I’m not the only one who will miss it.

Yes I’m excited about having our own place, but I need to get past the actual moving to appreciate it. Funny when we moved into this place, I loved the fact that it was decorated because I wasn’t born with that gene. The longer we’re here, the more I feel that décor closing in on me. It all feels cluttered. Does anyone really need a lasso in their bathroom with a picture hanging in the middle? I’m here to tell you, it’s difficult to dust rope.

Tornadoes in the South

2011-05-07T14:46:00.000+01:00

We lived in Alabama for a total of eleven years and I will contend that it’s the place that I became an adult and a place where some of my favorite people in the world still live. It was amazing watching the coverage of the area last week especially knowing that the folks living there didn’t quite know the extent of the damage because they couldn’t see the coverage. Friends in other parts of the country who also once lived there, we were all reaching out to each other to see if everyone we knew in common were accounted for. My friend B who is a library director in a small Alabama town called after the tornadoes and she was describing the scenery to me. She also told me that she’d gotten a call from someone outside of Alabama who’d called the library to find out about some elderly relatives who lived out in the country. They were trying to verify that they were okay. My friend B did what she could to assure them and then drove out to this couple’s place to deliver the message and had obviously chatted with them for a while because she shared some details about the family. I told that story to someone I work with and they were amazed that someone would do that. It didn’t surprise me at all that first off that B would do that. She’s that kind of person and she, like many I know feel strongly about the community mission of a library. But I’m sure there are hundreds of similar stories from the tornadoes because that’s just how people are in Alabama.

A Spring Like No Other

2011-05-05T13:50:00.000+01:00

Here are some pictures from last Saturday. By the end of the day all of this was gone.

Speaking of the Royal Wedding

2011-05-05T13:48:00.000+01:00

I’m glad that’s over! Not because I didn’t enjoy it because I did wake up early to see some of it and did get a little teary eyed when they stepped out of Westminster Abbey as man and wife. It’s because unconsciously or consciously it seemed like everyone here when they talked about it decided to use a faux (horrible) British accent. Nails on a chalkboard people!

What did we learn from that event? Well wedding clothes (besides the bride) are bad everywhere you go. The hats were great but that solid color from head to toe or the bright blue with a floral or the purple with a floral looked like something you find at Easter at TJ Maxx on the sale rack, but you know those people probably paid a fortune.

Tim Gunn Visits Utah - For the First Time

2011-05-05T13:46:00.000+01:00

Handsome and dapper

After errands on Saturday A reminded me that Tim Gunn was coming to the Gateway Mall in SLC for a promotion at Lucky Jeans. She really wanted to see him. I guess Mother Nature is also a Tim Gunn fan because by the afternoon the snow had stopped and the sun had come out and we stood by the side of the runway outside waiting for him. From where we were standing, we could see him waiting in the wings to come on stage. A waved at him and he smiled and waved back. She got all teared up, hahaha. The silver fox was as charming and loveable as all his fans hope he is. He introduced a runway show, talked about classic fashion rules and trends for the summer. He also gave us some dirt on his least favorite PR contestants like Kenley, Wendy Pepper, and this year’s winner, Gretchen. According to Tim, the editing room is kind to everyone so if someone is coming off in a less than favorable way, you should see all the footage, it’s even worse. Tim had just gotten back from covering the royal wedding and shared his distaste for Eugenie and Beatrice’s clothes and we all agreed.

This is so English girl at a music festival

We didn’t get a chance to speak to him personally. I wish I would have been able to because I wanted to tell him how moving his It Gets Better video was. We love you Tim Gunn!

Migration to Utah

2011-04-30T15:19:00.002+01:00

This week it’s been a year since we moved to Utah. I can hardly believe it. I might write another reflective post but right now in the spirit of Utah and their Pioneer Days in July where they reenact that great move to Utah, I think this family might need to reenact our migration. It would require an Icelandic volcano and a 10 x 10 British hotel room, the same clothes for about 30 hours, several F bombs in the Denver airport while wading through the security line once again, A delirious from lack of sleep deciding as we eat horrible airport pizza that we don’t love her anymore, and our bags beating us to the SLC airport. Would people line the streets to watch that reenactment in parade form as they do in July? I think not, but only now is it truly making me laugh as it didn’t when it was happening.

My B&B Housemate Comes to Visit

2011-04-30T14:58:00.000+01:00

Before visiting Phoenix my British friend H came to visit for the weekend. She was vacationing in San Francisco with a friend but flew over to see us for the weekend. H and I work together but we also lived across the hall from one another at the B&B for a few months while she was waiting for the paperwork on her flat purchase to get sorted out.

We had a great time catching up and it was a proper spring weekend with the sun gleaming across the snow-capped mountains. She thought it looked pretty spectacular, and in fact we had a laugh most of the weekend about our colleague who thinks the mountains are depressing. On Saturday we did the grand tour, driving over to Park City and checking out Main Street and then driving to Salt Lake City, taking in the view of the city from the top of the main library, walking all over the place including up to the capitol building, through Temple Square and then drove out to the Great Salt Lake and watched some crazy person wade in the water. Throughout our little journey we counted up four brides on their own getting pictures taken, three wedding parties, and one engagement photo in the works. H’s comment, “They’re all so young”. Yes, that’s how they do it here in Utah! We even found a bride on the banks of the Great Salt Lake.

On our way home Saturday evening as I stopped to fill up the car, I asked H if we should pick up a film at the Redbox. This concept absolutely thrilled her. The Redbox seriously needs to find its way across the Atlantic.

Phoenix

2011-04-23T03:36:00.000+01:00

The view from the plane

Finally warm sun on my skin! Had to go to Phoenix this week. Hadn't realized that I haven't been on a plane since we moved back from England.

Sitting on the porch of the local British pub

Phoenix's first Catholic Church

A Downtown Park

Downtown Phoenix from the Hotel

Movie and Entertainment

2011-04-23T03:25:00.002+01:00

Took A to see Scream 4 the other night. Definitely not my pick! As we were sitting in our seats three teenage boys started walking towards our row. One of them had on a full length bathrobe over a pair of jeans. I pointed this out to A who thought it was so cool. My comeback, “You wouldn’t think it was so cool if I was the one in the robe, now would you?” He must have been ailing from gastro-intestinal distress because he treated us to a belch every five minutes during the film.

Snow and My Chemical Romance

2011-04-23T03:24:00.000+01:00

Not only is Seb wondering why the neighbors haven’t cleaned their back patio but he’s also sick of the snow like I was a few weeks ago. A was desperate to get right up in front of the stage at the MCR show as sell as meet the singer, Gerard Way. We went there at 3pm in the afternoon so she could get in line. I sat in the car and read a book. She stood in line as it snowed outside and made some new friends. While she did push her way all the way to the front as I watched nervously from the sane 21 and older section, there was no meeting Gerard.

Looking at Houses

2011-04-03T20:13:00.000+01:00

We’ve probably looked at about 15 houses now and drawn a few conclusions. To live as close as we currently do to A’s school and be in our price range we’d have to buy a house that needs about $20-50K’s worth of repairs. We’re not in the mood. We have started working with an agent that we met in the process. Interesting fact, he says right now the private sellers are having a difficult time competing with the bank owned properties on the market. The private sellers can’t drop their prices usually because they can’t afford to lose what they’ve put into a house.

In our search yesterday we looked at a house obviously owned by someone older who has passed. A & I had a good laugh with the agent looking at these curtains. He said he’s sure he had those in his bedroom growing up, in fact he thinks his mom made him a neckerchief out of that material.

I’d be tempted to put an offer in ONLY if this painting was part of the sale. Now the house is completely empty but they leave this painting up in the living room. What a lady, huh? Looks like she’s wearing a negligee with floral accents and that signature in the corner of the painting makes it look like mom’s hiding an upper arm tattoo under the gauziness of the nightgown.

My New Shoes...

2011-04-03T19:18:00.000+01:00

Feel great but aren't as motivating as I'd hoped. I still have to put them on and march my butt outside the house.

House Hunting

2011-04-02T14:53:00.000+01:00

I don’t watch HGTV. In fact when I go to the gym and it’s on one of the televisions it makes me anxious. Maybe if I didn’t have champagne taste on beer pocket I’d feel differently about it all. So it’s with that attitude that we start dipping our toe back into the real estate market. One of my colleagues in Sydney, Australia was asking me recently what the housing market was like because there had been a news story where houses were selling for a dollar in the States. I laughed and said, yeah maybe in places where no one wants to live! After the first week of research I can firmly say that in desirable places here prices haven’t dipped significantly. The cheap houses are still in bad locations and in terrible shape.

In our first week we made a rookie mistake, we looked at a house that’s probably about $75K more than what we want to spend and it ticked all of the boxes. The house has been very well-maintained; it’s in a beautiful neighborhood close to where we live now. It has a great yard including a wraparound patio with a mountain view. I want to cry when I think about it.

So now back to reality, looking at properties in our range. Somehow I’m even less excited.

One funny thing about the whole process that seems universal is the realtor pictures on their websites and business cards. Now I’m all for capturing your best self on film. Look at Elizabeth Taylor. I still want to think about her in the arms of Monty Clift in A Place in the Sun when she was at her most beautiful. But a woman who showed us a house this week gave me her business card that had her picture on it and I had to do a double take. The pic must have been taken in the early 80’s. It was comical. When you’ve gained at least 50 pounds or aged at least 20 years and you aren’t Liz Taylor, it’s time to update the pic.

Saturday Protesters, I'm Right Behind You

2011-03-28T00:07:00.000+01:00

From The Guardian website

Just please just leave what little money I left in my HSBC account please. After watching the documentary Inside Job, why aren't we doing the same in America?

Miscellaneous in March

2011-03-26T14:43:00.000Z

I’ve been missing England lately. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that we’ll probably be moving again here soon and I’m nostalgic for a quieter time. But also because it’s still winter here and winter by the end of it, always bums me out. I’ve been annoyed by the “family” atmosphere of Utah. By the end of my time here, I may not like kids at all. I was telling K that I think if I’m going to be part of the village raising children I’d like to be asked, but instead everywhere I turn I see women out with a gaggle of children unable to control all of them so you’ve got to keep an eye out for children in peril of being hit by cars in the Target parking lot. It reminds me of something my friend B always used to say, “Never have more children than you have hands”. I don’t find it noble at all to continue to have children and expect others to contribute. I guess I don’t find it noble to have a bunch of children, full stop. H was telling me while we were cooking last weekend that he’d read a study from the UK that said that people lie about how fulfilling raising a family is to others. But here, it’s WONDERFUL. Everyone has a smile on their face when discussing children. A few weeks ago at work I was standing among a group of colleagues who were almost cooing about a co-worker who’d gone into labor that morning and was about to have her first baby. They were all in that how exciting and sweet state of mind when I added, “Well I guess we’re all having a better day today than she is”. I got a very puzzled look. Keep in mind this was three men and a woman who has no children, so they’ve never experienced the joy of childbirth. I prefer the cynical British view on family.

But then a colleague from England came to visit this week, bringing that shitty overcast weather with her. There were a few people I worked with in the UK that I would classify as embodying the British mentality and she was one of them, and by the time she left, I wasn’t missing the UK anymore, lol. My favorite comment she made was “I can’t decide if staring at these mountains all the time would be nice or depressing. I think they’d be depressing”. I had to tell her that when they weren’t bathed in fog and no sunshine like all of Britain they were quite stunning so she was quite wrong. Don’t make me get defensive for Utah!

I’m trying to get energized again about running. This week has been bad. For my birthday I decided I wanted a really good pair of running shoes. H and I went yesterday to a running store and the guy helping me had me roll up my pant legs and run on the store treadmill to look at the position of my foot and then suggest some shoes. All I could think was thank God I recently shaved my legs or that could have been super embarrassing. I got a great pair of shoes and I’m anxious to give those a try today. I’ve been getting blisters on the bottoms of my feet and he told me cotton socks were terrible to run in and I should try and swap those out.

Last, we’re contemplating buying a house so we visited the bank yesterday to get our paperwork squared away before looking at anything. We were amazed when they told us how much we qualified for that banks still are letting people who get approved for a loan spend beyond their means. We’ll probably buy something for less than half of what we’ve been approved for. Let the bargain shopping begin!

Spring, I'm Waiting For You!

2011-03-12T16:28:00.000Z

It’s been awhile. Work has consumed me. Turning on the news and it’s like the world is going mental. I’ve been feeling really blue with nothing interesting to say, so I’m trying to focus on something to look forward to and the coming of spring is always a good thing. My friend H from the UK is coming for a visit in April. I can’t wait to see her and catch up.

No skiing for us this year. This summer A’s best friend from England will be coming for three weeks before the two of them go off to Singapore to meet up with her friend’s family for quite an adventure. She can’t wait. This little adventure requires scuba certification so those lessons have trumped skiing until next year. While H doesn’t believe me, I’ve looked for an excuse NOT to ski this year. I admit it I’m scared. I know my limitations.

Thanks for Nothin!

2011-02-21T23:29:00.000Z

One of the best feelings, the tranquility of Sunday afternoon when you have Monday off, but yesterday was ruined. Our landlady who lives in California was in town and wanted to come by and pick up some of her belongings in the garage and meet us. It took a turn for the weird, lasted five hours, and in the end had H helping her pack her car including tying down some stuff on the top, and her taking art she wanted to take back with her directly off our walls. Did I mention we’re paying for a FURNISHED place? It was obvious although we’re paying her a premium, she thinks we’re house-sitting for her and she’s doing us a favor.

While the last thing I want to do is move AGAIN and leave our gorgeous view, we’ve reached the point of no return. Ugh. H keeps saying not to be mad but to think about this as a good thing. I need to work through my mad and my anxiety.

On the bright side on Saturday as A and I were talking about this visit, A was trying to guess what she’d look like and bet me an ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. I won. Of course when I won she had to tell me that that didn’t include the “gotta have it” large size at Cold Stone. So after a morning run, we headed over to get our “like it” ice creams. I joked that when the woman asked me what mix-in I wanted I was going to respond with, “hang on, I’ve got a list” to make it the most expensive “like it” in history.

Convince Yourself That Everything is Alright...

2011-02-18T05:04:00.001Z

It was a full moon last night

So let me preface this by stating that I in no way think I’m cool, hip, or any of the above terms. I realize more this year than any that I’m lame. Back a few months ago, missing the live show experience and scanning the concert listings in SLC and being very unimpressed with slim pickings I saw that Pete Yorn was going to be in town. Seeing Pete Yorn is kind of like seeing the best parts I remember of St. Louis. K and I went to see him at Vintage Vinyl our favorite record store for an in-store set. We also saw him at our favorite venue, The Pageant, and then our last concert in St. Louis was Pete as we sat on the steps of the Arch. Pete was bringing some of my favorite STL memories to me. How could I not go?

But as I mentioned, I’m lame, and as the snow began to fall as I drove home from work, I began to think I’d just skip the concert and stay wrapped up in a blankie and watch my favorite show, Top Chef All-Stars. I even said to H, “Do you think it’s safe out there?” giving him the opportunity to give me the okay to stay home but he said it looked fine to him, so I bundled up and headed out. It was as if it was meant to be because I got primo parking right in front of the venue (see how lame I am?) I walk in to the opening act, Ben Kweller who very soon after I’m there invites a friend from Salt Lake City to juggle as her performs. I look around at the crowd and think how even the nightlife has a wholesome quality in the SLC. Juggling, really? I could be listening to Anthony Bourdain put a chef in their place at judge’s table.

So I didn’t quite expect the night to turn into Caligula. Let me just say Pete sounded great and he played a lot of the old favorites. For that I wasn’t disappointed and the crazy around me kept me from getting too nostalgic. Was it his strong shoulders and the five o’clock shadow or a hangover from Valentine’s Day that made it seem like everyone standing around me had taken ecstasy before the headliner? In between songs a woman standing next to me howled at the singer, “You make me wet!” After the next song, as Pete said, “This song” and then took a pause. Another lady standing to my right yelled, “Is it called DO ME?!” But the strangest thing and I’m not making this up, was the two very drunk girls to my left who after making a spectacle of themselves, caught the attention of a couple also to my left. The woman in the couple looked like she stepped off the set of a porno and while I can’t say here what was being discussed, let’s just say the four of them were arranging some group activities after the show. Seriously? On a Wednesday night in Salt Lake City in front of a singer/songwriter?

Me, I picked up a ticket to see Adele in May at the box office and was in my pjs by 11:15pm.

Couch to 5K - Done

2011-02-05T16:20:00.001Z

With all the Sundance hullabaloo I forgot to comment on the Couch to 5K program. I finished! And I’m still running. Having time to just listen to music and zone out when I run, is very therapeutic. Here’s the iPod playlist that got me to the end. Are they my favorite songs? No, I might not listen to some of these at all but they all have a great tempo.

Warm-up

Entertain – Sleater Kinney (perfect 5 minutes long)

Run

4 Minutes –Madonna

Starlight – Muse

Lazy Eye – Silversun Pickups

Sink Into Me – Taking Back Sunday

Mind Eraser, No Chaser – Them Crooked Vultures

I Will Follow – U2

Check Yes Juliet – We The Kings

Cool-down to news podcast

Last Festival Post

2011-02-02T04:16:00.001Z

Okay, so I'll stop going on and on about movies and make this my last post about Sundance. Sunday, the last day of the festival, I decided to not try and use all of my last three vouchers but instead just use one and take A and try and use my one last guest voucher for her. The movies on Sunday were very full. Our chances looked pretty good in the waitlist line as we pulled numbers 4 and 5 so that meant that if there were at least five extra seats, we were in. The movie in question, to.get.her. I don't want to give too much away but only to say that I liked it more after listening to the writer/director's explanation and message.

to.get.her Q&A

As we were queueing in the waitlist line another volunteer from Portland came up to us and asked us if we wanted the two extra tickets she had been given which meant we got to step out of the waitlist line and into the actual line, we were in! Immediately I started thinking, this means we can see one more film since we don't have to use our volunteer and guest vouchers! I had to calm myself. H must have seen the OCD in my eyes earlier in the week when I told him I was going to use all my vouchers. At some point it stopped being about the actual films and just an obsession to see more more more!

After the film upon our return I told H that I had sat through 20 screenings over the last 10 days and looked forward to annoying all my friends and family as throughout the year movies were released and I was able to say, "Oh I saw that at Sundance". He said sitting through a work week's worth of movies was his idea of hell but I would have been ready to do it again. So here's the list, with Another Happy Day being the only one that annoyed the hell out of me.

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey

Submarine

Pariah

Like Crazy

Higher Ground

How to Die in Oregon

Another Happy Day

Miss Representation
Granito
The Black Power Mixtape
Grab
Troubadours
Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey (2nd viewing)
Rebirth
Position Among the Stars
Salvation Boulevard
Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure
The Music Never Stopped
Becoming Chaz
to.get.her

Double Feature Saturday Night

2011-02-01T04:18:00.000Z

Saturday morning I say to H, “I’ve got six volunteer vouchers left which means I can see six more movies”. H says, “You don’t have to use all of them”. Me, “Yes I do!” Due to some Saturday morning commitments I decided to try for a double feature. Saturday night was awards night which only certain people can attend. I was hoping that and the awards party might keep the crowds away from the screenings but the opposite took effect. The Sundance Festival passholders were en masse trying to see as much as possible. My early arrival though guaranteed me a seat at The Music Never Stopped, part of the U.S. dramatic competition and one of my favourite movies of the festival. It is based on a true story in one of Oliver Sacks’ books. J.K. Simmons is in it, who recently played Juno’s dad in the film Juno. What a sweet story. Even the guy sitting next to me was blotting away tears.

The second of the double feature was a documentary called Becoming Chaz. From what I understand Oprah Winfrey caused quite a stir walking down Main Street during the festival. I understand she might have bought the rights to this documentary, which follows Sonny and Cher’s daughter Chastity as she transitions from female to male. It did a pretty good job of answering the obvious questions that everyone has without being too sensational. I had no plans to try and see this one but several of the other volunteers recommended it.

Unfortunately because it was awards night there were no Q&As as part of these screenings. Before the screening of Becoming Chaz began, the theatre made the no Q&A announcement stating that the filmmaker was not available. A guy sitting behind me said loud enough for me and the people around to hear, "What about Cher? We were hoping for Cher." Nevertheless, it was a good night at the movies.

Friday's Lineup

2011-01-31T12:51:00.000Z

I got a late start but was hoping to line up several movies for the day. In the end I only saw two, a comedy and then a documentary.

Salvation Boulevard starred Ed Harris, Greg Kinnear, Pierce Brosnan, Marisa Tomei, and Jennifer Connelly and was a farce based on the Christian mega churches. It was hilarious! If you can laugh at organized religion look out for this one. Religion and cults seemed to be a running theme in the festival lineup.

Shut Up Little Man! Filmmakers

The second film I saw was an Australian documentary about an American story. It was called Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure, and I really enjoyed this one. Back in the 80’s these two young guys from Wisconsin moved out to San Francisco and was living in a dump apartment with very thin walls. Two men lived next door. One sounded like a raging homophobe and the other sounded gay and they would both get very drunk and have horrible arguments. The guys started taping them. In the pre-internet era, these tapes went viral. In fact this young filmmaker in Adelaide Australia heard about them this way. In telling the story lots of questions come up regarding privacy and morality. The Q&A was great. There was an older gay gentleman in the audience who was really angry that these young men capitalized on these men, especially since a lot of the content of the arguments was homophobic rants, which taken out of context becomes “frat boy humor”. He had some very interesting points and the filmmakers encouraged him to share his thoughts.

Last Day of Volunteer Work

2011-01-31T12:33:00.001Z

Once again I had the opportunity to see three documentaries on the day I volunteered.

A popular pre-movie gathering place at Temple

The first was Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey which I had already seen. After the film I ran into the editor and told him I’d seen it twice now and I laughed and cried the second time just as I had the first. He asked if I’d seen it the first time at the volunteer screening and added that that was a highlight for them. Everyone involved with the film was so nice and very willing to talk to everyone who had questions after the screening. Did you know there is a “muppet geek” community? There were some bloggers at the screening who’d been at multiple screenings of the film because of the Jim Henson content. Oh, and when we were setting up for the screening we reserved five seats and the theatre manager said those were set aside in case “Bob wanted to come see Elmo”. Bob = Robert Redford. I started to have a mini heart attack because where I was positioned for the screening, I would have been watching Bob watch Elmo. Setting aside seats for him as well as for the jury happens at a lot of screenings but due to schedules often get rearranged and they don’t use them. Alas, he didn’t come to the screening, and that’s probably a good thing. I don’t know if I could have taken that.

The second screening was a documentary called Rebirth. It followed five individuals who lost family on 9/11 filming them each year since the tragedy. Once again, I absolutely sobbed. As a mother, one of our fears is the thought of dying and leaving our children motherless. Because of this very real fear, the teenager who lost his mother really moved me. I seriously wouldn’t have been able to deal with the rest of the day if the film hadn’t ended on a positive note for him. This film wasn’t exploitive at all but beautiful. One of the gentleman profiled in the film, a rescue worker who lost his best friend, was there and people were just walking up and hugging him afterwards because they were so moved.

The last documentary of my shift I knew nothing about. I knew it was the third in a trilogy and it was called Position among the Stars set in Indonesia. At the Q&A I learned that Indonesia used to be a Dutch colony and the filmmakers, brother and sister, were of this mixed heritage. This film was an unexpected treasure. First, it was the most beautiful film I saw at the festival. Several of the shots could have been stopped and framed. It was also a fascinating look into a multi-generational family dealing with the changing times, from the grandmother straddling village and city life to the teenager living in a slum but still wanting a cell phone and to go to the mall like teenagers in America. She becomes the family’s only hope to escape poverty. A. would never sit and watch this film but boy I wish I could get her. It would make her very appreciative of what she has.

Funny, one of the elements of the film is an uncle who raises fighting fish which he bets on in hopes of making a fortune. Something significant happens to the fish in the documentary and so one of the audience members asked about the fish at the Q&A. The director said that the government has made changes to no longer allow the importing of these fish for betting. So now he says that two men meet and place their cell phones standing up next to each other on vibrate and then people call the phones. The first one to fall loses. It just goes to show that there is a very strong belief in lower classes that gambling is a way out no matter what.

Slums of Park City

2011-01-30T16:18:00.000Z

As I walked around Park City I ran into a few boarded up houses very close to the heart of the action and thought what is up with this? Why would there be these little houses boarded up in prime real estate territory? I was talking to a local about this, someone who has lived in Park City all their lives when in the early days of Sundance the filmmakers used to hand out tickets on Main Street and beg people to come in and see their films. He told me that he knew the guy who owned the houses and he’s renovating them. He paid nothing for them and now they’re million dollar homes.

Wednesday at the Festival

2011-01-30T16:09:00.001Z

Wednesday was a volunteer theatre shift day. My job was to help people re-enter the theatre after they’d gotten up to go to the bathroom and I saw two celebrities in line to see the documentaries for the day with no fanfare. One of them was Todd Oldham who probably thought I was a stalker because I kept staring trying to figure out the man behind the beard. The other was an actor I’ve seen a ton on television but I don’t know his name. It will take me awhile to figure out who he is. I was also able to sit in on one documentary called Grab, which was very good. It’s the type of documentary I love, giving a glimpse inside a culture the average person would never have access to and to see how traditions are born.

After my shift I stayed at the theatre and queued for a ticket to see Troubadours, which I really loved. David Crosby had some of the funniest lines in the documentary. It was a packed house because folks were hoping that Carol King or James Taylor would actually be at the Q&A but because the premiere had already happened they weren’t there. We did have a Q&A with the filmmaker. The audience was really interested in knowing why Joni Mitchell who is part of the documentary was not interviewed in it and the filmmaker had to explain diplomatically that she declined and she wasn't the only one. He didn't add any additional details.

Before Troubadours I had to wait in the volunteer line and I struck up a conversation with a young volunteer from New York who works for the Food Network. She was super excited because one of the only things she wanted to see at Sundance was a short made by MCA from the Beastie Boys and she actually ran into him, told him how much she wanted to see it and he said, well I’m headed to the airport so have my ticket. She was over the moon. I of course asked her a ton of questions about Food Network (and the MCA encounter) and also the films she was there to see. It’s representative of some of the great conversations I’ve had with other volunteers. There were three young ladies on my shift who had all applied to film school and were telling me about that process. I had to laugh when one of them asked me if I was going to film school. I answered with, “No, that ship has sailed”. Here’s a list of some of the other folks I’ve met. The younger folks all seemed there to make contacts.

A young man from SLC trying to break into the technical side of filmmaking

A woman from SLC who’s been volunteering with the Sundance Institute for many years before Sundance was Sundance

A Dutch woman living in America who came to the festival last year and decided to volunteer this year

A woman from California who has a ski condo here and got interested in volunteering for the first time

A woman from Austin who is here visiting her son and decided why not volunteer during the day while he is at work

A woman from Canada who has worked at the Toronto Film Festival and also works for a repertory theatre company part of the year

A woman from Atlanta who recently relocated with her family to Park City and looked at it as a good way to meet people

Two women from Manhattan who started coming to Park City as a ski vacation and got interested in the festival

The Sundance Effect?

2011-01-29T22:18:00.000Z

I think English filmgoers are pretty stoic. My friend L recently told me she went to see the film The Secret in their Eyes at a London cinema and the audience clapped at the end, something she’d never seen before. When we got back here and I started going to movies again in the States, both A and I commented on how easily the audience responded. Anything that might give someone a hint of a smile brought about belly laughs. When I went to see Let Me In a few months ago I was annoyed by all the things the audience laughed out loud about. It wasn’t that funny.

Fast forward to seeing Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey last week where the film was introduced by the director who watched the film with us and then fielded questions afterwards and again the audience was so animated. Now the film was absolutely sweet and deserved the laughs and noises of approval but it made me wonder if what I was experiencing the rest of the year at other movies was the Sundance effect. Are folks here so used to going to films with filmmakers where they feel the need to be so encouraging that they are overly effusive?

As I was chatting to a few other volunteers Sunday night as we all waited to get into the film Like Crazy I threw my theory out. One of the other volunteers said she thought that people were overly effusive because people in Utah still consider going to the movies family entertainment and they are just not as jaded as other audiences. Well, that might be true if I was going to see Avatar at the local Cineplex but must of the time I’m going to the Salt Lake Film Society theatres which don’t really cater to the family entertainment kind of audience. So I still think there might be something to my theory…

Oh, and P.S. if you don't mind subtitles I recommend The Secret in Their Eyes. It reminded me a lot of a 70's era Al Pacino film like And Justice for All.

First Volunteer Shift

2011-01-29T22:04:00.000Z

Tuesday was my first day of volunteering at the theatre. I seriously had no preconceived notions of being able to see the films but lo and behold my first day I was an inside usher with a headset and everything. Ushering inside the theatres means watching for pirating, making sure cell phones and other electronic devices are off, and of course directing people to the loo. It also means you get to watch the films and the Q&As with the filmmakers before cleaning the theatre for the next screening.

Wearing the headset was kind of interesting because at least at our theatre, the manager is very strict about not letting people into the theatre once the film has been introduced. The filmmakers are usually seated close to the door and besides people coming and going being distracting to the viewers, supposedly it drives the filmmakers mental. Inevitably as the movie was about 5 minutes in I’d hear someone outside the theatre message to our theatre manager because someone was begging to get in. The answer was always the same, sorry.

So I got to see three documentaries on my first shift so after that day, I didn’t feel like seeing films in the evening and just headed on home.

Here are the titles and a few brief words about each.

Miss Representation – I hope this gets distribution because it needs to be seen by everyone, especially parents and teachers. The documentary does an excellent job of depicting the media’s images of women in a very non-partisan way. There are some excellent women in media, the arts, and politics interviewed.

Granito – I think I would have responded more to this film if I’d seen the director’s earlier documentary When Mountains Tremble, since I had no knowledge of the genocide and conflict in Guatemala. However, it was very interesting and amazing to see how sometimes true documentary filmmaking can be capturing a moment in time that no one else is capturing. I think so often people take for granted that they don’t live in a country where the situation is so horrible that they must leave to make a better life.

The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 – I had skimmed through the description and the word “mixtape” made me think this would be more music-related. Instead the filmmaker was using that term to describe the mixture of footage he compiled together of Swedish journalists interviewing key players in the black power movement happening in the United States. During this film I really wished I wasn’t wearing my volunteer uniform because I really wanted to ask some questions. I was curious if during the making of the film if the Swedish filmmaker had watched interviews that maybe American journalists had done with these same players in that time period to see how different the interviews were. Without the internet and the freedom of talking to someone outside the U.S. I wonder if they were more expressive about their feelings. Again, really nicely put together, and many of the cast of Pariah were in the audience watching this film.

Interesting Perspective

2011-01-28T09:15:00.000Z

And I mean interesting the way the word "breathtaking" was thrown around on Seinfeld to describe that ugly baby. I was waiting in line on Monday to get into a press and industry screening of a film called Little Birds because I missed seeing an audience screening when someone in line started talking to me. She was a tiny blonde woman who also wanted to see the film. It was an odd conversation because without asking me anything about me she started grousing about the fact that it used to be the people that volunteered for Sundance were all aspiring or acting filmmakers, writers, or actors. Now as she’s standing there talking to volunteers, she finds out they are opthamologists or secretaries and what’s the point of talking to them at Sundance, when she can talk to them any time. I thought to myself, should I tell her right now not to bother with her next statement or question since I’m the riff raff? She didn’t win me over anymore when she told me she’d gone to the premiere of Being Elmo and said she felt like she’d had “treacle poured over her” with an eye roll. As one of the Sundance programmers said when introducing Being Elmo, if you don’t like this film you must have come into this world as an adult and never been a kid. After listening to this woman, it should be added or you insist on carrying your European sensibility to that jaded level that grates on American nerves.

I actually didn’t mind that there were no spots available for the film so I could walk away and not be talked at anymore.

Monday's Agenda - Sundance

2011-01-28T08:48:00.000Z

With no volunteer shifts on Monday I was still trying to decide which film to see in the morning as I drove to Park City. Red State, Kevin Smith’s film looked most interesting to me but I didn’t think there was a chance at getting a volunteer ticket so I headed over to see Higher Ground, directed by and starring Vera Farmiga. Higher Ground is adapted from the Carolyn Briggs’ memoir, This Dark World, which I now want to read. The festival film description calls it a “moving story about the transformative powers of faith and doubt”. What was great about the film was it wasn’t heavy-handed at all and it wasn’t preachy on any particular side. Vera conducted a Q&A after the film and spoke about the challenges of a directorial debut that spanned eras and all that means to a production as well as battling pregnancy hormones the whole time. Her character in the film starts out as a small child and grows to an adult. We were all pretty amazed at how much the girl playing her character as a teenager really looked like her and it suddenly made sense when the credits rolled and we learned it was actually her 16 year old sister who played the part. Her sister was there at the screening as well but busy watching Vera’s toddler so she could answer our questions. Carolyn Briggs was also there and fielded a question herself. When talking about religion I thought she said something really profound and I’m really paraphrasing here but it was something like religion provides one with all the answers, which makes living easy. But it takes a brave individual to live with questions. Questions I wanted to ask Vera at the Q&A but would have never dared since it would have blown my serious movie lover cover… what does George Clooney smell like? Working with Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson and Mark Wahlberg on The Departed, tell me every single detail. Oh, and hottie alert in this film - Boyd Holbrook, who plays her husband when he was a teenager.

After the film I stared at Richard Ayoade from the IT Crowd as he chatted with another volunteer I’d been talking to in the hallway. I thought I’d get out and enjoy the sunshine and take a walk along Main Street. I saw the photographers and the autograph hounds with those stacks of pics they then sell online ascending on Lea Thompson. One of them put a racy glossy black and white pic in front of her and she said, “Ooh where did you find this one?” with a giggle.

I then headed over to the press tent and sat in on a press screening of a documentary called How to Die in Oregon. Did you know that Oregon as well as Washington allows someone who is terminally ill and has less than six months to live to get a prescription to end their own life? I knew this movie would be a downer and it didn’t disappoint. I have never been so grateful for the dark of the movie theatre as I sobbed throughout the entire thing. The content was excellent and showed a range of situations. Walking out of the theatre I didn’t know how I stood on the issue but I know that I felt like the filmmaker made me understand and appreciate the feelings of everyone in the documentary. Some of my fellow volunteers said that many of the people in the documentary were at the documentary premiere and how moving the process was for them. I'm glad I saw it and it reiterated some advice I had received from a fellow volunteer, go to some films you know nothing about and might not pick for yourself.

My last screening on Monday was in Salt Lake City and it was a film called Another Happy Day, described as a dysfunctional family drama, written and directed by a very young Sam Levinson. This is where my streak of great films comes to an end. I’ve talked to other volunteers who really liked it but I got way sick of Ellen Barkin crying and some of the characters being caricatures that were just too amped up to work. No doubt this will probably get picked up for distribution, because of the all-star cast but it won’t be a film I’ll sit through again. One fun aspect of the screening, when I was waiting in line to get in there was a group of teenage boys hanging out also waiting to go in and their conversation made me wonder if they were in a film in the festival. When Another Happy Day starts rolling I realize they’re all in this film.

What was great about Monday… it felt really decadent that my only responsibility and pursuit was to see as many films as interested me that day. Three in a day, when else would that seem normal unless at a film festival?

Last Day of Volunteer Duty

2011-01-27T12:54:00.000Z

Last day of volunteering – I wrote down a list of films I’ve seen so far in the festival and told H that I’m up to twelve. He shook his head like that sounded like nothing he’d like to do. The thing that is pretty great about seeing films here is how dedicated the theatre staff is to making the movie going experience the best it can be. No one is allowed into the theatre once the introduction of the film begins. Everyone in the audience really does turn off their cell phones, they keep the talking to a minimum, and of course the sound and picture quality is the best it can be.

Lots to Write About

2011-01-26T12:50:00.001Z

But life after I get home from the festival has gotten in the way. A's best friend from England is coming this summer for a few week visit and then A & J will be flying to Singapore to catch up with J's family. A will be with them right up to when school starts. Very exciting for A but trying to use some points to book her travel and coordinate with the family has been stressful.

So here are a few pics from Monday to make due until I can sit down and write.

New Frontiers houses art installations

No sign of James Franco but here's the sign for his art installation

One of the art installations was about Johnny Cash

Actress Leah Thompson with fans and autograph seekers

Good Choices

2011-01-24T13:30:00.000Z

I met up with my colleague J yesterday. She booked us tickets to see Pariah in Salt Lake City. Not only are their Sundance films in Park City, but several are screened in Salt Lake City, Ogden, and the Sundance Resort in Utah County. The guide to Sundance in the newspaper last week talked about SLC being the best place to see the films and after yesterday I would agree. The parking issues aren’t severe, and there isn’t the media circus that is Park City to distract from the purpose.

Meeting up with J ahead of time was funny because right now my attitude about the festival is nothing but positive having seen two great films. She’s been going to Sundance screenings for years and seen some things that she thought were crap so she’s much more level-headed. But this time around, we both agreed she picked a winner. Pariah had us laughing and crying at the end, and was beautifully shot. After the film almost all the principal actors, the writer and director, producer, cinematographer, and even the costume designer all came on stage to answer questions. The film has been 5 ½ years in the making, yet was filmed over 19 days in Fort Greene in Brooklyn. My favorite film genre has always been the coming of age story and this one is a favorite in that category for sure.

Writer/Director of Pariah and cast members

One thing that was kind of funny, we were in this big theatre sitting in the balcony to see Pariah and the lights went down, then just as the opening Sundance credits rolled, there was an issue with the lights and they came back on in the balcony. You could still see the screen but it was a bit faint. A few random folks in the audience shouted “lights” hoping someone in the volunteer crew would fix the issue before the actual film began. Then when the film began and it hadn’t gotten fixed, a desperate sounding “LIGHTS!” came from the audience. I turned to J and started laughing saying “Oh my God lights people, lights!” in the most pleading and desperate voice. It was as if all these cinephiles were going to lose their minds if the film wasn’t shown in the most perfect of settings. They ended up stopping the film until the light issue could be sorted and then started again to great audience applause.

Later last night there was a film that I thought A might like and I’ve got two guest waitlist vouchers to use so we headed back to downtown after dinner to see the film Like Crazy. We stood in our respective lines with our waitlist and volunteer tickets and both got in. As we stood in line we both talked to other festivalgoers. I had a nice chat with some fellow volunteers who were sharing their faves so far. I was reminded once again how Americans really will bare their souls to the folks they’re queuing with and during the festival this has made me very happy.

As I was waiting for A to join me I picked two seats towards the back for us and just as we were settling in for Like Crazy to start, who got ushered in and seated among us normal folk? Tobey Maguire. He walked about a foot from A, who I thought was going to burst into tears. As he was seated her comments were, “OMG Spiderman, our mission is complete”. I don’t think she watched the film, she watched Tobey watching the film. He really did look like a normal chap. Dressed in jeans and a jacket he blended right in and wasn’t with an entourage, he was alone, and we saw him exit out a side exit during the middle of the Q&A after the film.

Oh, so how was the film? I enjoyed it. The female lead who A thought looked so familiar, was beautiful and I could see her really having a career after this. The end was a bit ambiguous leaving everyone to wonder if they stayed together. The director wanted it that way.

So far I’ve loved everything I’ve seen. Will today also be a success? Fingers crossed.

Random Pics from Sundance

2011-01-23T00:28:00.000Z

Sundance - Saturday on Main Street

2011-01-23T00:22:00.000Z

This probably won’t go down as my fave Sundance day. A got home late last night from a friend’s house so we didn’t have time to sit down and look to see if there was a film today she’d be interested in seeing, and so she just wanted to go and walk along Main Street. I woke up out of sorts but bundled up and got ready to go after morning errands. SLC = Sunny, Park City = Quite Different.

When we got on Main Street immediately we saw Peter Dinkalage and Bobby Cannavale catching up with each other. If you haven’t seen The Station Agent which they are both in with one of my favorites, Patricia Clarkson, definitely put it on your list. Just a few steps away we saw Paddy Considine. After that and the snow starting to really pick up, I would have been fine heading home. We walked around a bit longer, saw some of our favorite buskers from Salt Lake, and then headed out. I was concerned with the snow coming down we’d be delayed getting home but again, SLC = Sunny and we were amazed at how different the climate was when we returned.

Took a quick shot of Bobby and Peter

Volunteer Perks

2011-01-22T10:36:00.002Z

One of the most wonderful perks of being one of the 1650 volunteers at Sundance is the volunteer screenings they hold and I was able to go to two on Thursday. The first film is part of the U.S. Documentary Competition, Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey. I can’t recommend it enough. It was a bonus that the director, cinematographer (who are wife and husband), and editors were all there to announce the film and do a Q&A at the end. What a labor of love. They’ve been working on the film for over six years and showing it to the volunteers was the first time they’ve shown it to an audience. I think they were very pleased with the audience reaction. I believe it was one of the editors who commented that he noticed every time Elmo the puppet himself was on the screen and talking into the camera was when the audience smiled and laughed the most. What can I say, we all fell under Elmo’s spell.

The second film was adapted from a popular UK novel that I read last year called Submarine. It’s one of those quirky, witty, British coming of age films. The cast was great and the art direction and cinematography was way more creative than my mind’s eye when I think back to the way I perceived it as I read it. The audience responded very positively to that film too.

As I walked back to my car shivering the whole way I was thinking how I impressed I was that people volunteered for some of the outside jobs like transportation coordinator, helping people in and out of the shuttles. It’s cold here!

Sundance - Theatre Training

2011-01-22T05:13:00.001Z

Volunteer check-in done, theatre training done, now it’s time to see some films before I start my shifts. I’m working at the Temple Theatre which is out of the main thoroughfare in Park City so everyone has to take a shuttle to the venue. I’ve never noticed it on the side of the road before but I’ve been passing it every time I come into Park City. Why is the Temple Theatre named as such? Because the theatre’s “day job” is as the Temple Har Shalom. The temple is three years old and during the tour we were told that when it was constructed, they collaborated on the design with Sundance so it could be used as a venue. As we were sitting in stadium style seating in the theatre we were told that this was the same place that services were held. It’s a beautiful building. The films that are shown at this venue are all documentaries this time around.

Pre-Festival Volunteering Done

2011-01-16T17:25:00.000Z

I went yesterday to the Park City Marriott to help with Headquarters setup. This is where festival staff, filmmakers and press will be located during the festival and it was pretty cool to see. I spent my day mostly in logistics where radios, headsets, and other communication devices were being barcoded, scanned, and inventoried among other things. I met a lot of people that I assumed must have worked for the festival but they were volunteers like me. The dedication and the motivation in everyone is obvious in the way they tackle tasks. The excitement for the festival to begin is building.

Oops

2011-01-16T17:24:00.000Z

Thought living in Utah would guarantee fresh mountain air? Not so much in the winter. We’ve got something called inversion that happens and here’s a description. It looks foggy when it’s in effect. So we didn’t realize until this week that we might have been contributing to the problem. A coworker said to me “It’s a red burn day in Salt Lake County”. I had to look this up. Again here’s a description. I love having a fireplace again and now we’re wondering, how many days we had fires going when it was a red day?! I need to pay more attention.

Snowshoes Anyone?

2011-01-15T14:14:00.000Z

I was talking to a co-worker one day in the kitchen asking what he did over Christmas and he mentioned that he’d been doing some snowshoeing and cross country skiing. I asked him more about snowshoeing like where one did this and if you could rent the gear. He said that REI rented snowshoes and polls which come in handy. I was interested.

Fast forward to last Friday night when H and I went out to dinner. I start telling him about this in the car when we’re coming home, how this co-worker went snowshoeing and how enjoyable it is. After 21 years of marriage, even before I can finish my story I can sense that H is just waiting for me to finish so he could say, what are you getting at here? So I finish the story with, “So would you be interested in trying that?” His tone was hilarious with a touch of outrage that I’d ever suggest such a thing and his response was, “Not especially…what’s the purpose?” Hahaha, and you know, I didn’t have an answer. I only answered his question with another question, something like, “Don’t you want to wear those cool snow shoes?” I don’t remember if there was an expletive in his response but I’m sure you can guess, his answer was no. I’ve been laughing about this conversation for over a week now. I’ve since done some research and found this website which touts snowshoeing as a fast-growing winter sport. Sport? Come on, that’s a bit of a stretch isn’t it? Nevertheless, I am interested in trying it because honestly the idea of skiing or snowboarding scares the devil out of me.

This actually got me thinking about that hilarious website Stuff White People Like which I’m listening to on audiobook right now and another popular activity here, snowboarding. Check out what SWPL has to say about snowboarding here.

Volunteering for Sundance - It Begins

2011-01-15T13:42:00.000Z

Last weekend was my first weekend volunteering for the Sundance Film Festival. I worked in the box office in Park City. If you live in Summit County, which is where Park City is located, you can register for a timeslot to purchase tickets early. When I arrived for my shift at the box office on Saturday, I was shocked at the number of people. During my shift I probably checked the IDs of about 500 people. The other volunteers were great to work with, especially the veterans who shared lots of festival tips with me. Park City residents in general are posh and usually not year round residents, but just come for ski season. Many of them queued for their tickets directly off the ski slopes still wearing some of their gear. I've never been to Park City during ski season and when I left the box office on Saturday night and walked down Main Street it had an energy that I'd never experienced there before. It's really a great place to visit.

Today I’m off to help set up the headquarters for the festival in Park City. I have some additional training to attend this week and they are screening some of the films for volunteers before the festival which I plan to attend. Everything officially kicks off on Thursday and I can’t wait!

If you’re interested in reading about the films being shown at the festival or the festival itself, go here.

Groupthink

2011-01-14T14:14:00.000Z

Merriam Webster defines groupthink as:

a pattern of thought characterized by self-deception, forced manufacture of consent, and conformity to group values and ethics

A co-worker told me yesterday that this Friday night he'd be sleeping outside in a canyon with his eleven year old and his scout troop. He was given the choice of sleeping in a snow trench or a snow cave. Of course the kids think this is the greatest idea in the world but what adult proposed this to the group and how did they all agree?

End of the Day

2011-01-14T14:08:00.000Z

As I was leaving work last week I took this picture. One of my colleagues came out and saw me standing in the parking lot and asked me what I was doing and when I told him that I'm just amazed at how different the mountains can look every day, he said, "I guess I just take it for granted".

My Mini Marathon

2011-01-02T04:06:00.000Z

I have a longtime friend who is also working on a workout plan. It’s been one of our topics of conversations for too long to admit. She’s started seeing a personal trainer, a young man who has one of those Southern frat boy first names that is actually a last name to most people, like Mason or Harper, so while I’m sure he shows up for the sessions in some kind of workout gear, in my mind he shows up in boat shoes with no socks, some plaid shorts and a polo with the collar popped. Her stories about their sessions make me laugh out loud, mostly because when he asks her to do various things she doesn’t give in without a fight. She told me that whenever he asks her to run she asks him to tell her a story to help her through it. I’ve been thinking about this for the past five weeks and it makes me smile every time. I wish he was there with me when I start running telling me a story too.

I started this in the UK and didn’t finish it but this time I’m determined. I just finished week 5 of the nine week Couch to 5K running program. Yesterday was the day where I had to run for 20 minutes nonstop for the first time in the program. I told A, who was also running on the track that if I died in the middle to kick me over to the side so I was out of the way for the other runners. I made it through but did require a nap in the afternoon afterwards, lol. I told A we need to plan to run a 5K in the spring. It’s our 2011 goal.

The typical signs of the weight loss resolutions are all in place. Yesterday A and I made a run to the mall and in a department store we passed a display of those Skechers Shape-Ups. Contemplating a purchase was an older lady who looked to be accompanied by her adult daughter and her husband. As we passed I heard the daughter say to her mom, “You’ll fall over!” in that what the hell are you thinking you’re not buying those tone. Just as my teenage years flashed in front of my eyes when they said "it's a girl" in the delivery room, my senior years flashed in front of me at that moment, when A will be getting her revenge on me, refusing to let me make a crazy purchase.

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T16:57:00.000Z

Do you believe what you’re doing at midnight will prevail through the year? If that’s true I’ll be paying $800 to A when I land on her property in Monopoly. H had to work in the morning so it was just the two of us ringing in the New Year with some homemade sushi, some homemade turkey mini burgers, and sparkling juice. I’m not going to say that I wish all of us a happy 2011. Let’s face it, there will be ups and downs but I hope all of us can find the joy in the happy times here and there.

Wedding Anniversary

2010-12-30T20:56:00.000Z

Big 21! Last year we were drinking Spanish cava with no thought of coming back to the U.S. and this year we’re snowed in in Utah. You never know what the new year will bring. Through all of it I’m glad to have my partner by my side.

A Few Movie Suggestions

2010-12-30T20:54:00.000Z

Driving to Idaho the other day reminded me a ton of the desolate scenery in the movie Winter’s Bone. I didn’t know after I watched it what I thought of it but I’ve thought about it quite a few times since then so it certainly made an impact. Besides catching up on old seasons of The Office and 30 Rock, I’ve watched a few good documentaries.

Here are some recommendations…

Banksy’s documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop

Chris Rock’s Good Hair

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work

I also watched the controversial Joaquin Phoenix documentary I’m Still Here but I wouldn’t say I recommend it. It’s got some brilliant moments but most of it is hard to sit through. His hair alone kept me interested. It always makes me laugh when someone faces the world with bed head.

Favorite Beverage

2010-12-29T16:25:00.000Z

They Have a Certain Style

2010-12-29T16:24:00.000Z

I did some research to see if these murals in Union Station were part of a public works program but they were not. However, the artist is famous for some of his public works murals. If this was a conservative community I'd almost wonder if the artist wasn't having a laugh on them.

Union Station - Ogden

2010-12-29T16:18:00.000Z

Idaho

2010-12-29T03:54:00.000Z

When adding up the number of states she’s visited, my friend L stipulates that you must sleep in a state for it to count. I think just having a meal in a state should suffice, and if you count A and I eating a bag of Smartfood popcorn in a gas station as H buys a lottery ticket, then we’ve been to Idaho! There seems to be nothing to do in Idaho besides the lottery. When we walked in there a guy was in line buying 100 scratch tickets and the line was pretty long. It was a spur of the moment drive up and if we were ever to go to Idaho again, it’s pretty obvious you’ve got to get kind of deep into the state to find life.

It was pretty cold today. As we drove up we passed a Nissan pickup truck that had two dogs in the back and I was feeling pretty bad for them. When we passed the truck, I said to H that the driver looked like the guy on Mythbusters. He was wearing a beret and had one of those walrus mustaches and smiled when I passed. H’s response was, “Maybe he was trying to bust the myth that dogs won’t freeze solid in the back of a pickup truck in winter”.

Here’s a picture of Idaho. Funny we left beautiful sunny blue skies in Utah and got up north and it was white all around.

Should've Known

2010-12-29T03:42:00.000Z

Today was H’s only day off while A& I are also off so I suggested with the weather nice we take a drive north to Ogden. I was reading in a guidebook that it had a refurbished Union Station and a nice little historic district. I’m glad it was only an hour drive because there was not much to see. When we walked in the Visitor’s Center, this was one of the displays. When Lassie’s visit is a highlight, there ain’t much going on. When I read about Union Station, I was picturing something like the St. Louis Union Station. I need to re-think my perception of things out here in the wild wild west.

The Perfect Gift

2010-12-25T05:19:00.000Z

We make a quick dash into one of those stores that advertise 60% off department store prices to see if they have some oversized coffee mugs. Walk in the door and it looks like a bomb went off inside. You have to look through a lot of crap to find the hidden jewels in that store and it looked like all the jewels were gone and no one had been kind in tossing the crap aside to find them. All that seemed to be left was expired tins of European biscuits and opened bottles of scented lotions. Eureka! We found an acceptable mug and headed to the returns counter which looked to be checking people out and had the shortest line. As we stood there buying the mug one of the employees got on the mic and announced something to this effect, “Please stop by any of our registers to pick up a gift card for that special person on your list. If you’re still looking for that perfect gift, you’ve run out of time”.

Christmas Dessert

2010-12-25T03:19:00.000Z

Recipe compliments of the Barefoot Contessa -- Delicious!

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-24T17:06:00.002Z

This week I heard lots of stories at work of mammoth Christmas gatherings. It all made my head hurt. When I described our tiny celebration, just the three of us, I inevitably got that sympathetic look. Oh that’s so sad, they aren’t having a big celebration. H has to work every day until around 2pm so for A and me this holiday is all about not getting out of pajamas unless we have to.

Sorry, this is headed into a rant so if you love Christmas and all the presents, you might want to flip to a different channel right now. Last night A and I headed over to Target. We’re keeping the presents very simple this year. I was looking for something specific for H and we walked through the cooking section just to see if there any small items like a really cool peeler, that he might like. Of course A was drawn to the appliance that looked like a giant cupcake. As she opened it up we realized it was an actual electric cupcake maker (shaped like a cupcake) designed to make 6 cupcakes in no time. While she thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, it made me mad. It exemplifies to me the waste. Who would buy this? It’s one of those stupid gifts that might be purchased for the person who has everything. If someone has everything, why try and buy them something? I looked around in Target at all the people buzzing through for presents and wondered, how many have people on their list out of obligation that they have no idea what to buy for and when they give that gift on Christmas day, the receiver gives a shrug, throws the present in a cabinet when they get home and it will never again see the light of day? In this economy, that all should stop happening but I’m afraid it isn’t. I personally don’t think Americans have been thinking hard enough about their lifestyle and making changes to preserve what’s important in these tough times. We seriously don’t need so much crap.

Kids should be learning a lesson right now about cutting back in hard times, but I’m afraid that parents instead are trying to shield them from reality. My grandfather lived with us growing up and I spent a lot of time with him. He lived through the depression. I don’t realize the impact he had on me until my husband or a friend laugh at one of the phrases I occasionally use. I once when I was very mad at A told her off and finished it with “You can stick that in your pipe and smoke it” which caused H and A to burst out laughing, completely ruining the point I was trying to make. Besides the funny phrases, he did tell me a lot about living with nothing and how spoiled people were these days (the heady 1970s). Looking back I’m so glad to have had that experience. I think Americans may be facing an economic challenge similar to the depression but we are handling it differently, our sense of entitlement getting in the way.

As Dennis Miller likes to say after his rants, “That’s my opinion, I could be wrong”. I’ll finish by saying it is a time to reflect and appreciate what is important and what we are grateful for. I do wish you all a very happy holiday.

Breakfast Recipe

2010-12-19T15:50:00.000Z

Pumpkin – I’ve been obsessed since I returned to America and always have a can of pumpkin on hand. This recipe originates from Jessica Seinfeld’s Deceptively Delicious cookbook but I’ve modified it. Yes, Jerry Seinfeld’s wife wrote a cookbook and if you have picky eaters who won’t eat vegetables, this book is brilliant.

Pumpkin Oatmeal

1 c. skim milk

1/8 c. packed brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

½ c. solid pack pumpkin

Healthy pinch of sea salt

1 c. old fashioned Quaker Oats (not the quick oats)

Mix everything but the oatmeal on a saucepan on medium heat. When it starts to slowly boil, add the oatmeal and cook for two minutes.

If I have time, like on weekends, I will toast some nuts in a pan to put on top, whatever we have in the house. I’ve tried it with pecans, walnuts, and almonds and they’re all good.

This recipe makes two servings.

Be warned, it doesn't look too pretty. I've had both members of my family walk into the kitchen, look in the saucepan and say, "What is that?!" I think it's delicious, filling, and has the power of oatmeal and pumpkin in one bowl!

First Training Down

2010-12-18T16:03:00.000Z

Completed my first Sundance Film Festival volunteer training this week!