Yvette's Inner Geek Blog

I love this photo! Taken at dusk with a Canon Rebel on auto (‘cuz I’m fancy like that). It’s the top of the Old Town Transit Center on Main Street in Park City.

Trying to get this posted before midnight so it still counts for my 365 day challenge. I’m getting into a groove, though… I just need to get started earlier in the day to make sure that I don’t cop out with a photo and a few words when I get tired or busy. Like tonight.

I’m still in the process of uploading photos to Flickr from the last couple days. That includes weeding through the duplicates, tagging them, labeling them, etc. I didn’t take photos of even half the stuff I wanted to, partially because my camera is still new and it was snowing most of the time and I didn’t want to get water stains all over the lens. Marie had my point and shoot camera for the day and she caught some great photos as well. I still need to empty that memory card. Thanks for being patient with my procrastination.

I am home now from my second shift at the Sundance Screening Room, which was fairly uneventful. I saw two films today: Winter’s Bone and Please Give, both of which I highly recommend.

Yesterday I drove up to Park City with my friend Marie, and the day was filled with a lot of starts and stops and interesting things and disappointing things and SNOW and then a treacherous white-knuckle drive home that thankfully ended safely. I want to spend more time sharing the details of the last two days, but I am beat. I have a lot to do tomorrow so I can’t afford to skimp on the sleep tonight. My eyes are dry and heavy. My teeth are brushed. My face is washed.

What I’m trying to say is… good night! I’m sure that coffee in the morning will help me recall my weekend adventures in a much more clever and coherent way than I am able to right now.

CLEVER, can I just say that? S’no? Snow? Heh heh…

The excitement of my evening shift for the festival was dominated by the weather. It, uh, sucked. The road that leads into Sundance Canyon was closed for an hour or so shortly before I arrived because of snowfall and dangerous conditions and accidents. Hooray! It was open when I got there, but a cop stationed with flashing lights at the mouth of the canyon, right by the huge “snow tires/chains/4-wheel drive required” sign, stopped me to check. I have a little all-wheel drive Subaru (with relatively new tires, thank the flying spaghetti monster) so I was permitted to pass.

I took it slow and made it safely. The resort was blanketed in snow and totally gorgeous. Night skiing is new this year, so there were a lot of skiiers still on the mountain and clomping out in the parking lot. My cell phone reception sucked almost as much as the weather, possibly due in part to the weather, so I didn’t get to send the cell phone photos I took. But Twitpic is working, so yay for that! I did upload some photos to Flickr.

I didn’t end up watching much of either movie last night, but got to know the new volunteers and re-learned a little about people I worked with last year. I got my white volunteer jacket (which I have NOT yet dirtied), which fits for the most part.

The biggest adventure started after my shift ended at 10:30. I don’t have time to tell it in full right now because I’m supposed to meet my friend Marie and drive up to Park City in a little bit. But I didn’t get home until almost 1:30am. And it involved a little bit of this. Oooo, teaser!

Last week I got this email from the Sundance Film Festival volunteer manager that made me giddy.

Hi Yvette,

We have a need for a translator one day for two hours, to translate Norwegian, and your application indicated that this would be something you’d be willing to do.  It’s for a film screening with a group of high school students, the Director is seeking assistance for the Q & A session. If this is a skill you feel you have, I’ll send along the details, and we’ll see if it fits in your schedule, too.

My stomach flip-flopped when I read that. The application she referred to was one that I originally completed in 2007 and basically just renew every year without looking at it too closely. I’d forgotten that I put Norwegian down as a language spoken. I probably checked the box for “willing to translate” with a snicker because most Norwegians speak way better English than I speak Norwegian.

I learned Norwegian when I was an exchange student a hundred years ago and have kept it up pretty well via frequent contact with my host family over the years. (My “little sister” is coming to visit again in February, in fact.) Though I was nervous about the prospect of assisting with translation, especially in front of a theater filled with hyper-critical high school students, I said I’d do it. Even when I found out that I needed to be in Park City at 7am.

While waiting for more information, I looked up what Norwegian films were showing this year at the festival. No feature-length ones that I could find, but there are three shorts: The Fight, Little Miss Eyeflap, and Still Birds. That middle one, aka Skylappjenta, is about a Pakistani-Norwegian girl, directed by Iram Haq which is a distinctly non-Norwegian name, and its language is listed as “Norwegian/Urdu.” I guessed the director of that was a Pakistani immigrant who speaks Norwegian but wasn’t great with English.

Unfortunately, I just received the news that the director backed out of the event, so my Norwegian services are no longer needed.

Damn.

I never found out exactly which director was coming, so I’ll probably never know with which director I could have hobnobbed. On the bright side, I don’t have to leave the house at 5:30am on Wednesday.

I will be heading up to the Sundance Resort this evening to work my first box office shift. I get to pick up my volunteer coat and hope that it fits… they hadn’t received the women’s coats yet when I checked in last week. It’s mostly white, so I’m going to have to be very careful not to drink coffee, hot chocolate, or Diet Coke while I’m “in costume.” Because I will spill and/or dirty it up no matter how careful I am.

I’m going to attempt to see as much of HOWL as I can once all of my box office paperwork is done. I doubt I’ll stay late to watch Restrepo—it’s just not something I’m terribly interested in seeing.

Tomorrow morning I’m heading up to Park City with my friend Marie and who knows what we’ll end up seeing. Films, wait-list riots, celebrity nudity… I’ll be tweeting it all. And maybe trying out Twitpic to share some crappy photos. I don’t have an internet-capable phone, but I am set up to receive Twitter direct messages… so please interact away! I mean, interact toward. Me. Er, something.

The drive up to the Sundance resort is more familiar now—I hug each curve against sheer mountainside with less adrenaline and know exactly when my time to turn approaches.  I know where to park and I walk confidently up the nearest steps, where the deserted ticketing area is illuminated by a the low hum of a fluorescent floodlight. It’s cold. I see my breath. No sounds except my own footsteps. I walk past an empty ski rack toward the edge of the light, confidently stepping onto a dimly lit paved path.  I know this place.

Last year when I reported to the Sundance Screening Room for film festival volunteer orientation night, I didn’t really know where I was going. When I could find signposts, they weren’t clear. I was nervous that I was in the wrong place; I didn’t even see any people walking around. I can’t remember if this huge evergreen tree was decorated with lights then, but it was tonight. It made me smile.

I knew exactly where I was going tonight and had no fear of getting lost on the winding paths that lead deeper into the resort. They’re not that long, really. I familiarized myself with them last January and then learned shortcuts and new paths when I volunteered for the Sundance Institute over the summer. Walking familiar paths in the dark on a solitary winter night spreads a sense of peace over me.

The orientation/check-in was pretty straightforward and similar to last year’s, except that I knew some of the people this time. I slipped into easy conversations with fresh faces. At times I felt like a goddamn high school senior, calling out names of people I remembered and waving and chatting about what we’ve been up to since last January.

The group of volunteers at the Sundance resort is tiny and tight-knit in comparison to the number of volunteers at the festival hub in Park City. It was easy to get lost in the crowd when I checked in there for the festival in 2008. Sometimes it’s good to lose yourself in a crowd, but for me, I love the small and informal nature of the festival team at the Sundance resort.

Volunteer check-in tonight meant picking up my “staff volunteer” credentials and information along with a free Sundance 2010 water bottle. There were no women’s jackets (apparently they’re stuck in customs, which I guess means they’re not made in the USA) so I won’t get mine until my first shift next week. They’re mostly off-white (this is not good for my clumsy nature) with red and black accents, sponsored again by Kenneth Cole. They look nice, but instead of having a removable vest as the inner lining, they have zipper-removable sleeves. I predict that will result in lots of lost sleeves around town.

While standing in that haphazard line waiting for my turn, my eyes drifted to the wall of foam-backed photos. Just like last year, the photos were from the summer Sundance Institute. I giggled a geeky giggle when I saw this one of Denis O’Hare:

Because I was there. Sitting right behind the professional photographer when that photo was taken.

Part of my summer volunteer duties, outside of the inglorious lifting and organizing, involved transcribing video notes for Denis O’Hare and Lisa Peterson as they workshopped a one-man version of the Iliad. It was an exciting, surreal experience that made me catch my breath at times. Even though I saw pieces of the play coming together in person and in video clips, I didn’t understand how powerful it would be when performed on stage. If I am able, I want to see the final version of An Iliad at Seattle Repertory Theater in April/May.

(As an added bonus, Denis and Lisa are both fabulously nice people.)

So, that was my night. Another exciting lead-in to mid-winter Sundance excitement. I’m really looking forward to the next two weeks!

It’s time again for the Sundance Film Festival, where I’ll be volunteering for the third year in a row. This year, I’m going to make sure that I take better advantage of my benefits, i.e. see more movies and spend more time in Park City.

I had no idea what I was getting into when I filled out my first volunteer form back at the close of 2007. It was a stressful time for me personally; a time when I felt isolated and beat down by things that were beyond my control. After two years of living in Utah, I had very few local friends and distancing relationships with old friends. It’s hard to be a left-leaning, non-religious, well-balanced late-twenty-something in the heart of strenuously quirky Mormon Country!

I didn’t blog about it because it was too personal, but it got to a point where I knew I needed to do something. I needed to do something for me. To help get me to a point where I could say that I was enjoying life and not just plodding through it, feeling victimized by all the things that were being thrown at me. The Sundance Film Festival had been on my mental To-Experience checklist since we moved to Utah, and I made the conscious decision to stop dicking around already and start doing.

The future becomes the past so quickly.

Volunteering turned out to be a fantastic decision. I had a blast, and wasn’t sorry at all about sleeping less and even taking a day (was it two?) off work. It rejuvenated my creativity and enabled me to meet a rainbow of people, some of whom I’m still in touch with at least on a Facebook-friends level. It was a great distraction from my stress-points at the time. It tickled my spirit for adventure. It helped me understand that whatever twists and turns are thrown my way, a small step toward living a richer life can go a long way.

[Idaho trip summary is still in the works, once I get off my busy/lazy butt and upload the photos.]

My writer friend Ted is spending the month of June traveling across the country, staying with kind friends along the way. Ben and I managed to convince him to make a weekend stop in Utah along his journey. It has been rainy and stormy and chilly the entire weekend, effectively presenting Ted with the image that Utah has a wet, temperate climate. Though we can certainly use the rain here, this is a false image. It’s also ruined our plans to take him on scenic tours, short hikes, and have a barbecue.

We attempted to win a hot air balloon ride on Saturday morning, getting up at 6am to do so. We watched the balloons inflate, but then were given the sad news of some “safety first” crap because of incoming storm cells and that meant the balloons would not be launched at all. This made Ted very sad. I still feel guilty, even though the weather was not my fault.

Some friends came over Saturday evening and helped us inaugurate the new cornhole boards. We were able to clear out space upstairs to play this otherwise outdoor lawn game, and it went very well. Our Utah friends seemed to enjoy this Cincinnati-based game that started to become popular while I was living there in the early part of this decade. (Can we say “early aughts” or is there some other way to say it? Early 00s or Early 2000s just don’t seem right.) Once the cornhole craze died down and winners of a mini-tournament were declared, we headed downstairs to play Rock Band. Ben succumbed to (a lot of) peer pressure and sang. He’s the Guy Who Doesn’t Sing In Front of People so this was a very big deal. I’m very proud of him. Though I know it may never happen again.

Today was another crappy weather day, and we postponed a scenic drive up to the Sundance resort until after 4pm. When there was a break in the weather, Ben, Ted, and I jumped in the car and actually saw a little sunshine heading up Provo Canyon. Now, I volunteered the past two years at the Sundance Film Festival, and have worked a few heavy-lifting shifts this summer for the Summer Labs, so I could look all cool and stuff by saying hi to one of the Sundance Institute managers.

The timing was good, and we were invited to sit down in the screening room with a crowd (under 100 people) of visiting directors, writers, producers, and Sundance staff for a private screening. It’s great to know people! The Summer Labs are for creative types (who have to go through a competitive application process) to workshop some scenes from their manuscripts.

The screening consisted of 1-6 scenes from each of about 10 screenplays, and we were warned beforehand that they were very rough cuts. Some looked more promising than others, but it was really cool to glimpse into the lives of Professional Film People. We were cautiously aware that we didn’t really belong, so we tried to be inconspicuous.

And we kept our cool when Alfre Woodard was introduced and then sat right behind us. And also when the lights came up at the end and we noticed that Alia Shawkat was sitting three empty seats over from Ben. She put on a baseball cap and slinked off pretty quickly, not giving any of us the opportunity to walk up to her and awkwardly/fannishly say hello and then maybe lick her face. It’s probably for the better.

This whole volunteering for Sundance thing is turning out to be one of the best decisions I ever made. It makes living in Utah a little brighter, even on a somewhat dreary day like today.

Welcome to another “a few things all at once” post!

• I missed Worldwide Dungeons and Dragons Game Day yesterday. *sadface* But one of my local friends is preparing to be a kickass DM, so there’s something D&D for me to look forward to. *happyface*
• I started another semester of classes at Utah Valley University, where I’m working toward a 2-year degree in Digital Media (technically it’s “Digital Communication Technology”) which sounds kind of vaguely Technical with a splash of Cool. And it is. I already have my bachelor’s degree in English/Creative Writing, so it’s kind of weird to be gunning for as associate, but hey, it’s achievable, man! And all of my general ed requirements transferred and/or are waived because of the pre-existing degree, so that’s nice.

  This summer I’m packing in all of my art classes that count as Digital Media electives: 2D Design (required, actually), Typography (LOVE this class), and Drawing I (because I’d like to be able to hand-draw something by which I’m not embarrassed). I’m the only Lady Student left in my Digital Motion Picture Essentials class, i.e. Making Crappy Short Films 101. Half of the class dropped after the first day when the prof presented himself as an egotist asshole. I get along with the 7 other guys, so the class is still fun. And I’m excited to be learning how to use Final Cut Pro.

• A few weeks ago, I applied for a part-time summer internship and was offered a position right away. I didn’t realize at first that it was unpaid, but I decided to go for it anyway for the college credit and potential resume/portfolio boost. After two weeks, though, it became clear that I was not going to benefit much from the experience, and I quit. It is very out of character for me to quit a job so quickly, but the fact that I wasn’t being paid made it easier. Oh, and the fact that the woman in the cubicle next to mine played her music at an unprofessional volume, AND it was country, AND she sang along. Gah.
• Quitting that “job,” however, has freed up my availability to pimp my freelance writing services and to volunteer more for the Sundance Institute, which runs a bunch of “artist labs and workshops” for film directors, screenwriters, etc. This is the first year they’ve accepted volunteers outside of the annual winter film festival. So far, I’ve just been moving boxes and doing inventory and asking a lot of questions. Not surprisingly, I love hanging out at the Sundance resort and doing “backstage” stuff for the incoming workshops. I’m hot for creative environments. Also, I’m really looking forward to sorting office supplies. I was serious when I told the venue/production manager that office supply stores put me in my zen place.
• Ben and I drove up to Boise, Idaho, two weekends ago, and life has been pretty busy since then. I have notes but need to formulate that into more of a coherent story. Stay tuned!

The entire festival is over at this point, so you can view all of my photos from Sundance 2009 here. (Of course most of them are nature and environment-related because I couldn’t very well take photos of the movies, could I? Well, technically I could have, but I chose to follow the rules and refrain.) Here’s my recap with some selected photos.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

I had a beautiful morning drive up Provo Canyon to the Sundance Resort Screening Room for another 10am-2pm box office volunteer shift. The first film shown was Barking Water, which people seemed to like but made them cry. I received hands-on box office training while the film was showing, though the process was slowed due to the fact that the festival’s internet connection wasn’t working. I learned that the Sundance Resort, because it’s away from the festival hub of Park City, doesn’t receive as much support as you’d think it would.

Don’t worry, nobody’s bitter about it or anything. Until the snacks run out, that is. Read more…

I skipped the Sundance Film Festival volunteer pre-party on Wednesday night because I was exhausted and not up for the long trip to Park City, let alone hanging out with a crowd of a thousand people. I was going to meet up and carpool with my friend Jenny, who I met at last year’s festival, but I bailed on her. We’d been emailing a little and I told her I wasn’t sure about going—and then I declared my final decision via text message. To prove how cool she is, Jenny responded: “Boooooo.   that’s okay, I forgive you.”  I appreciated her unsolicited forgiveness and went to bed early.

Friday morning, after attending classes from 8-10am, I started driving up Provo Canyon into the mountains. I forgot to bring my camera, which is a shame because it was a beautiful day.

As much fun as I had volunteering at the awesome Sundance venue of Egyptian Theatre in Park City last year, I requested shifts at the Sundance Resort this year because it’s a much closer drive. It’s turning out to be a dramatically different festival experience than last year.

The environment itself is extraordinarily low-key. Unlike the Egyptian, which is smack dab in the middle of the busy festival on Main Street in Park City, the Sundance Resort is 45 minutes away from Park City and offers only one theater. A path starts at the base of the mountain, where skiiers and snowboarders line up for the chairlift, and winds past rustic and unadorned resort buildings, outdoor art globes that encourage environmental responsibility, and an in-ground fire pit with benches all around. The wood smoke drifting through the cold, mountain air adds a distinct aroma to the mountain resort ambiance. Bridges cross over a cold, rushing creek, and wooden signposts direct pedestrians at forks in the path. The Screening Room, as it’s aptly called, is a golden-hued wood building nestled among, and mostly obscured by, tall trees.

I walked up the well-worn wooden steps and into the lobby at 10:45am, where I was greeted by a flurry of staff members and volunteers preparing for the kick-off of the first film. Though Park City venues screen five or six films a day during the festival, from 8:30am until after midnight, Sundance screens only four films a day at set times: noon, 3:00pm, 6:00pm, and 9:00pm. I introduced myself to new faces and re-introduced myself to the people I met at the prior week’s training session, picked up my volunteer uniform, then dove right in to on-the-job box office training. Having worked at the front desk of a hotel for four years, the job itself was not a big deal.

People relaxed a little after the first film (Carmo, Hit the Road) started, and that’s when I was able to get to know some of them a little more. It’s exciting to discover new people who live in Utah County, appreciate independent film, and who are not only nice but also swear, watch R-rated movies, and drink wine. As most imports to the heavily Mormon-influenced world of Utah County will tell you, it can be a very difficult and isolating place to live if you are not Part Of The Culture. Hell, I have Mormon friends who grew up elsewhere who agree that it’s a wacked-up place to live. Anyway, it’s just nice to meet new people and not have to dance around Who I Really Am.

The director of the first film, Murilo Pasta, walked into the lobby about halfway through its screening. He gave a big hug and Brazilian besos (kisses on each cheek) to Bonnie, the theater manager, and then came over to the volunteer table and greeted the few of us with warm handshakes and “It’s nice to meet you, [each name here].” Most of the directors I saw last year barely even gave the theater manager the time of day, but Mr. Pasta (tee hee) was obviously a different brand of director. Of course he’s Brazilian, so that may have had something to do with it.

He held a Q&A session with audience after the film, and schmoozed with filmgoers in the lobby afterwards. The “box office” where I was stationed was basically a table by the entrance to the theater, so I had a front row seat to it all. The job is pretty easy—besides taking money and doing some paperwork, I just stood there looking official and answered questions as people asked them.

I had a short shift and was able to stay to watch the 3:00 film, Corazón del Tiempo (“Heart of Time”). Some parts were difficult for me to follow because I’m not familiar at all with the political situation or the Zapatista revolution of rural Chiapas, Mexico, but otherwise I enjoyed it. The rural setting was beautiful and the depiction of the tight-knit community very compelling, but I really loved the relationship between the sun-wrinkled, toothless grandmother and her preteen granddaughter.

I went home after the film and the rest of my night was kind of boring and filled with falling asleep on the couch. I had planned to go up to Park City today, but I’m not sure if that’s going to happen since I have a lot to do otherwise. I’ll share more exciting Sundance events as they occur—my next shift is tomorrow morning.