2:45 PM
Spent most of the day so far wandering around downtown Park City, A QUAINT, SCENIC LITTLE MOUNTAIN TOWN WITH OLD-FASHIONED CHARM AND PERHAPS, JUST PERHAPS, THE SECRET TO TRUE PEACE OF MIND CAN BE FOUND IN THEIR OLDE RUSTIC WAYS.

In other words, it's an upscale honky kind of town - Carmel, CA, with snow. Slightly cute but also slightly nauseating. But I'm just trying to get the lay o' the land, exploring the expensive, expensive shops and avoiding skiiers.

I have bumped into John Malkovich coming out of an elevator, and I have walked past Gus Van Sant. So far, nothing mortifying has happened.

I've finagled a ticket to a press screening of "The Laramie Project" (review once again forthcoming), although the term 'finagle' seems to give me entirely too much credit in the procurement process. Of course, "tickets do not guarantee entry" so I'll have to loiter around outside like a schnook.

I am now an "industry insider." I should call somebody and give them "The Hot Scoop On What's Hot Now!" for their We/Us/Them/Hot/Sexy/Famous People Magazines.

I will be "totally stoked" when tonight is over, because I will be able to fuckin' RE fuckin' LAX about what my job will be and whether or not I can DO it.

Movies I hope to see:

Love Liza - directed by Dick from High Fidelity.
Love in the Time of Money - I like the title and keep hearing good things.
Devil's Playground - documentary about Amish teenage rebels - can't get more entertaining than that!
Narc - action yarn featuring Busta Rhymes.
Our America - Josh Charles from "Sports Night" helps inner city youths escape the ghetto.
Miranda - Christina Ricci (who's all over this festival, movie-wise) as a mysterious exotic woman.
Cherish - Tim Blake Nelson is in it.
The Good Girl - I don't WANT to have a thing for Jennifer Aniston, but I fear I do.
XX/XY - Same goes for Kathleen Robertson.
Run Ronnie Run - A flick from the Mr. Show guys, also featuring Jack Black! WOO!
The Jimmy Show - Frank Whaley doing stand-up comedy of a 'biting' nature.
Gerry - Gus Van Sant's new Matt Damon movie, although they've downgraded to Casey Affleck.
FUBAR - just looks high-larious.
The Dancer Upstairs - Malkovich, and since I ran into him, I feel obligated to see his directorial effort here.
Human Nature - Guy what wrote Being John Malkovich.
Two Towns of Jasper - documentary on the town where they dragged James Byrd behind a pickup truck until his body disintegrated back in 98.
Killing Time - a maybe, comedy about a dude wandering around Manhattan and getting into hijinks.
Storytelling - It's Todd fucking Solondz. Frightening thought, yet I feel darkly compelled to investigate. Plus John Goodman.
The Man From Elysian Fields - James Coburn as a "larger than life character," promising to eat up the screen. I'll always watch that.
13 Conversations About One Thing - expect this McConaughey flick to be called "Lovely Hearts" or "Playing By Soul," because movies aren't allowed to be released with titles like that. Alan Arkin is cool.
Lucky Break - Full Monty guys do another comedy, this time about prison.
Bark - girl quits talking, starts barking. Features Lisa Kudrow, though. I'm on and off about her.
Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys - Jodie Foster's in it. True, that wasn't enough to see "Anna and the King," but it'll be enough here.

So, you see, lots of movies to see. I won't see them all, because they have the audacity to make me juggle my schedule to fit THEIRS. The unmitigated GALL is astounding. So I'll let ya know what I see.

DAY 4 - 1/12/2002

12:08 PM
So I caught The Laramie Project last night - good flick, well done - and I saw Redford through a window eating at a restaurant. Then I did my job and am infinitely more relaxed in my ability to deal with the simple task of holding ballot boxes, then counting people as they enter. I'm down wit it. I'm a bright young man, I can handle this.

I desperately required sleep this morning, as I didn't reach my bed until about 3 AM, so I unfortunately missed my self-mandated viewing of "The Dancer Upstairs," featuring my first celebrity encounter of the festival, John Malkovich. Ah, well. I've seen photos of Joshua Jackson running around with some freaky hair. I'm more impressed with that guy after "The Laramie Project," although it doesn't erase The Skulls from my memory. But that's more Paul Walker's fault. If I see him here, I'll probably spit on him, or at least sneer unpleasantly at him.

So I've gotta shape up and ship out so's I can catch "Love in the Time Of Money," which I'm choosing over "Gerry" today. It's Gus Van Sant and Matt Damon, so I'm sure I'll be able to see it later, but it's with Affleck Beta and it's two guys on a hike improvising a lot. Not insanely appealing. Plus the promo shot for "Money" is Jill Hennessy crawling over a table, which is automatically more viscerally appealing than Affleck Auxiliary watching a sunset.

I will "catch you on the flipside," as all the kids are saying.

DAY 5 - 1/13/2002

3:00 PM
So much for the "Love in the Time of Money" choice. Got moving too late, wound up having to see Gerry, and good lord, I don't recommend it. It was torturously drawn out, but that seemed to be the point... so it succeeded in being infuriating to watch. Got to walk by both Afflecks, though, in the lobby.

The movie list now stands at Pumpkin, Britney, Gerry, The Good Girl and The Laramie Project. Got hosed out of Love Liza today, so I'll have to haul my ass out of bed early again to catch it later, as I got up at 7:30 AM today (went to bed after 3 AM) to go see The Good Girl (featuring Jennifer Aniston doing people) which I almost got shut out of anyway even though I arrived an hour ahead of time. Sumbitch. It feels colder today - I had to zip up my coat for the first time.

I've yet to see an incredibly powerful film - I want at least one of these bastards to move me to tears. The only thing that's come close so far is the conversation I overheard on the shuttle over to this theater, where I'm currently in line to see "Sex and Lucia (Lucia Y El Sexo)," which entailed three late-teen chicks bragging about how they flew all the way from New York JUST to see Mariah Carey. Yes, Mariah fucking Carey is here promoting a movie called "Wisegirls" that she did with Mira Sorvino for some goddamned reason. How vomitous.

So, tonight, I'm working during the big Benicio Del Toro award ceremony and then hopefully getting to see "Run Ronnie Run," from the Mr. Show guys. Promises goodness. Off I go.

DAY 6 - 1/14/2002

3:41 AM
Holy fucking Christ on a shitburger cracker, Run Ronnie Run is the funniest goddamned film I've seen in AGES. Everyone must see it as soon as possible. It's rumored to be released theatrically around April. It's about a loser mullet-head fuckup that gets arrested a lot on reality cop shows and becomes a sensation throughout the nation, and it just never stops being funny. Most comedies have those long lulls between high-larioius antics, but this thing just NEVER STOPPED. I was spastically laughing like a chimp at a beat-off contest.

Of course, when something is this good, it'll have to be fucked with. I spoke with one of the men behind the film after I watched it, and I was informed that New Line Cinema is most likely going to force them to cut more shit out of it, after he declared that the stuff they already DID cut out was some incredibly awesome stuff. I'll be pissed if this gets hacked up before it's released nationwide. If that DOES happen, it better get a director's cut DVD, because I'm buying it immediately.

Got to play like I was important during the award show, scooting people from place to place security-guard-like, getting close-up to Benicio Del Toro and getting to tell Kevin Pollak that I love him. Got to see Bob Odenkirk later, too. Saw Anna Faris and Jessica Campbell last night, saw Kyra Sedgwick and Dave Matthews walking right by me tonight.

This shit is pretty fun. I'd recommend the experience so far. Gonna try to see "Cherish" and "Storytelling" tomorrow, and maybe even "Real Women Have Curves," rumored to be magnificent. Hot damn. Good-ass movies.

Frontrunner for best film I've seen here is "Run Ronnie Run." We'll see if anything beats it.

Onto Day 7!