Dancing in the Sun
First of I’d like to thank Mom, Dad and Sallie Mae for making it possible for me to go on this trip. As my first study (kinda) abroad trip from Eckerd this has been a great one. Living in Park City, just minutes from Main Street for 10 days was a great growing experience. Attending the film festival and participating in all of the activities that goes with it was amazing. Never have I seen so many BlackBerrys and iPhones in one place. When new President Obama was sworn the theatre I was sitting in at 10am lit up with a blueish LCD glow from all the text messages and emails from happy friends all over the country.
Riding the buses from our condo to the movies and Albertsons and restaurants all over the city was a great time. Some of the funniest moments of the trips happened on those early morning, going to a 9am movie or on those 2am bus rides back from the Midnight Features. Back in the condo, lots of time was spent in the living room blogging and joking or in the condo relaxing and looking at the stars late a night. It was a great time when Jack and I discovered the water color changing neon lights with a White Owl. I must admit that I did almost burn the house down when I put my freshly baked peanut butter fudge brownies on a seemingly cool burner that wasn’t. That didn’t make Nate very happy when he walked in at 230am after a full day of movies. For the first 7 days of the trip the weather was beautiful, not very cold with clear skies and a bright sun. The ground was covered in snow but we weren’t getting any. The town had a very postcard picture look to it if you viewed it from our porch. On the 8th day we got a bunch of gross rain that produced very grey skies and killed the postcard effect. But Saturday and Sunday we were delighted to see some snow fall, in all about 3 inches had fallen by the time we took of from SLC.
Many of the movies I saw were great “labors of love” that were engaging and passionate. My favorite movie by far was Adventureland. The Greg Mottola film was a hit with the audience and will be a great summer release sometime in the near future. With great acting out of Jesse Eisenberg and Kristin Stewart and a hilariously witty script I fell in love with the circumstance and the story. Another movie I really liked with the Vicious Kind which I saw on the same day. A great story about love, desire and family, it exceeded any expectations that I had for it. You Won’t Miss Me was another amazing film with great cinematography. The use of 5 different types of film made for a beautiful look. I also got to talk to the director of Vicious Kind at this film as he sat 3 seats away from me. 500 Days of Summer was another film that I really enjoyed watching. Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon Levitt really shine bringing to life a really quirky, funny story. The film I had the most fun watching though was definitely The Carter, the documentary about one of my favorite musicians, Lil’ Wayne. Even though it wasn’t a very good documentary, it had many elements of a music video, Weezy provided more than enough entertainment. Brooklyn’s Finest was really good too. Even though it was a lot like The Departed, it had a very great New York feel and all the acting was suburb, especially Don Cheadle. Bronson was a pretty good film, it didn’t blow me away or anything but the lead actor, Tom Hardy did a great job transforming himself. Why We Laugh was a very informational documentary, more a visual text book but the interviews with famous black comics provided funny insight into their world and humor. The biggest disappointment of the festival came when I chose to see The Informers over the award winning documentary We Live in Public. I went and saw the star studded movie at 8:30 am and instantly regretted it as it wasn’t very good and I’d much rather have used my Public ticket.
Overall, amazing experience.
Tags: 500 Days of Summer, adventureland, Bronson, Brooklyn's Finest, park city, The Carter, The Informers, Tom McGrath, Vicious Kind, We Live In Public, Why We Laugh, You Won't Miss Me