Las Vegas, Day 2: "The 4th Floor" Screens

Do you want to hear something interesting? My hotel room at Fitzgeralds is on the 4th Floor. The elevator is programmed to say, "welcome to the 4th floor" when the doors open. Yesterday's screening of "The 4th Floor" closed out the 4th screening series of the Filmapolooza, which happened to be exactly at 4:00 in the afternoon. It makes you wonder what odd occurences will happen today regarding the number '4.' We'll just have to wait and see.

So yesterday was the official screening of "The 4th Floor," at the Filmapolooza, and it was met with great response. People laughed at all the right parts, and Bruce's 'Rasberry' character was a huge hit during both of his appearences, espcially the scene with the blender, which produced a sound from someone in the crowd that sounded like a barking dog. ...I'm not kidding. I think someone even got Marty's sign-language clue regarding the toilet, as a few abrupt chuckles were heard in the back of the screening room just after he did it.

It did, in fact, close out the fourth screening, which contained some pretty good short films that I believe will stand as our stiffest competition so far, as most were well produced and creatively done. Of course, there were a few duds in there, but among the best were Las Vegas's buddy film "Yard Sale," Alberquerque's hysterical musical "A Bit Off Key," and New York City's superhero film "Das Tagebuch," which defined its superhero as a ordinary, genuine good person, not your typical 'man-in-cape" scenerio. Columbus's romance "Imagine This," was well-shot and cleverly written, as was San Jose's sci-fi, population control flick, "Ratòn." The stand-out for ridiculousness though was Portland, Oregon's "Mr. Merryweather and The Magical Meth Lab," a bizarre musical take on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that does indeed feature flavored crack rocks, liquified methamphetimines and the magical Golden pill, the key to entering the garage-based lab that was hidden around the world in illegally-distributed bottles of pills.

Did they save the best for last? I may be a bit biased, but you bet your stones they did.