Slopes and Sundance

Second year in a row we went skiing during Sundance week in Park City, Utah. It's awesome, the slopes are empty and the sidewalks are packed with celebs, posers, film geeks and video crews. It makes me happy on many levels. This year we took in some of the Sundance events as well as skiing and despite cutting into my nap time, it was really cool.

We went to a taping of the NPR show "Says You" and that was great fun - such a clever group of people having a great time with language and lore. The two Sundance films were a hit - Clubland - and a miss - Year of the Dog (I couldn't disagree more with the review linked here - it wasn't charming or comedic, no one is treated kindly in this film and it was painful to watch). Clubland is an Australian film featuring a love triangle between a boy, his lover and his mom. Mom is an entertainer who wants to keep her boy to herself. The movie was funny, touching and all around wonderful. After the screening, the director, producer, writer and several of the actors answered questions and talked about the film. It was the positive end of the spectrum of movie going/festival experience. Year of the Dog, not so much. The best thing I can say about it was the theater was stunningly beautiful. The cast - Molly Shannon, John C. Reilly, Laura Dern, etc - was top notch, but the story was painful. If you see Clubland at a multiplex near you, GO, GO, GO. They did get a distribution deal, so be on the lookout.

Our only celeb sighting was Richard Dean Anderson (I think) heading to the slopes. I got busted on last year that our only celeb was Rosie O'Donnell, but look what a good year it was for her. It sure looked like MacGyver was about to hit the slopes, but I didn't have Little Willy with me to yell out his name and make a positive id so I could be wrong. Either way, I clearly suck at celeb stalking, but I can report that last year's must have accessory of a little dog in your coat is totally out in '07. No little dogs to be seen. Lots of fur on hats, coats, boots, etc but none of it on actual animals... yuck. The other thing that was out this year was free street schwag. Mr. Redford reportedly objected to how commercialized the festival had become and was urging everyone to "Focus on Film." But, but, but I LIKE free stuff... I'm a total schwag ho and I'm very disappointed by this artsy, high brow attitude. Just kidding Mr. Redford...