Barrista's and the Strip

Deciding to skip the last screening of the day, my friend Erin and I left the Hilton to go grab some dinner. We drove around for a bit before finally deciding on an Italian restaurant that's a favorite of her brother's named Barrista's. Upon walking in, I was immediately reminded of an dimly-lit version of Buca di Beppo. There were old photos everywhere, a huge collection of nostalgia lining the walls and ceilings, and dining tables within nooks and crannies scattered throughout the restaurant. Plus, the place comes with unlimited free wine. And it was actually a decent house selection. No wonder her brother loves this place.

We ordered our food and spent the next few hours catching up over our meals. I unfortunately wasn't able to eat much again, even though I devoured my lunch earlier in the day. The queasiness I had suffered from the day before had returned almost immediately upon sitting down and I wasn't able to fit more than a few bites of a fantastic plate of lasagna down my throat before calling it quits. It was embarrassing, sure, but Erin was really cool about it. Surprisingly enough, sipping the wine over the next hour or two at the table actually helped settle my stomach quite a bit and before we knew it, it was well after 9:00. She needed to get back home since she had to get up early for work in the morning and I needed to get back to the hotel to change and find out where everyone was at.

After dropping me off and saying our good-byes, I headed back in to get changed. My buddy Jason was out somewhere on the strip and I wanted to catch up with the pub crawl event that the head of the Filmapolooza committee was sponsoring. It was nuts. First it started at Gustav's at Paris, then over to the Bellagio's Sensei and on to the Spanish Steps at Ceaser's Palace (as I'm told it's not the REAL Ceaser's Palace...like, Ceaser didn't actually, live there.) The next stop was the Sport's Bar at the Mirage then Gilley's Bar at Treasure Island and finally ending with some Bullriding at KC's. Unfortunately, my camera was in the hotel room during this entire saga, so I'll have to post a few internet-found pics instead.

Today's big event is the Q&A with Jason Reitman, Ivan Reitman's son and director of Juno, Thank You For Smoking and the recently released Up in the Air. Shortly after will be the final screening of films followed by the Awards Ceremony, where we'll find out who's making it to Cannes and who's going to win the Top 48 Hour Film of 2009. Dinner and the awards party will be taking place after wards at the Las Vegas Country Club, just across the street from the Hilton. Wish us luck!

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.

Somersaults of a Flu-like Nature

My body was bound to crash at some point and I'm actually impressed that I went as long as I did. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start from the beginning. I mentioned yesterday that I flew across the country on nearly a single hour of sleep. Compund that with the series of late nights that I had during the week preparing for the trip, dealing with a few insomniatic issues a few of those nights as well (it's an ongoing problem that occurs when i have a lot on my mind), and one of the longest, most stressful weeks at work that I've had in recent memory, and you have, simply put, a complete physical shut down. Welcome to my first night in Vegas.

I was okay until the middle of the first screening, which was when my stomach decided it was going to start training for the Olympic gymnastics team. You know that feeling you get in your mouth right before you blow chunks, where you start salivating like a St. Bernard? Yup, that was me. Granted, I never actually got sick, but the ongoing sensation of it was even just awful. I knew I hadn't eaten since the plane, so I got myself a chicken wrap from a deli in the hotel before returning back for the second screening. That actually did help for a while, but it wasn't long before the queeziness returned.

After a short nap following the screenings, Brian, Amy and I went out for dinner where I barely choked down a half of a breadbowl soup and a ceaser salad. For the rest of the night, I was miserable. It's my first night back in Las Vegas and all I want to do is go back to the room and sleep, but I wanted to tough it out for as long as I could. Plus, Erin was planning on coming down to meet us after she was done babysitting, so I figured at some point I might hit my second wind (it might actually be around my fourth at this point...but, semantics). Down the street, the committee was holding a kareoke event for all of the participants of the Filmapolooza, so the three of us went down there to check that out. ...and no, I did not sing. It was fun and I chatted it up with a bunch of the people there, but I was crashing hard. After about an hour, I made the conscious decision to head back to the hotel and call it a night. It was around 11:30pm, west coast time.

I feel 100% better this morning, but I think the lack of sleep left me suceptible to a minor head cold. No worries, I have some medicine here, so as long as I knock that out in the next few days before the hike, I'll be fine. Plus, the dry desert air out here will do me some good. I felt bad about bailing on Erin last night, but I recieved a message from her this morning from around 3:30am letting me know that she had passed out on the couch, so it all worked out. She's planning on heading down here today to see the screening of "The 4th Floor", so I'm sure we'll hang out for the rest of the day after that. We may even head out to Red Rock Canyon for the afternoon if we have some time. I hope so...I heard it's amazing out there.

The third screening starts in two hours. I think I may grab some food and sit out by the pool for a while before then.

Las Vegas, Day 1: The Filmapolooza Begins

Welcome to Las Vegas. "What happens in Vegas, stays in..." ...nope, I'm pretty much going to chronicle it all here.

So my friend Erin picked me up from the airport and drove me to Fitzgerald's Hotel on Fremont street, where I'll be sharing a room with Brian Bowers, the producer for the Cleveland division of the 48 Hour Film Project. The rates were incredibly reasonable (somewhere around the lines of $32/night), so split that in half and I'll basically be paying a third the cost for my whole trip of what it'd cost for just one night at the Hilton on the strip. The cab ride over to the convention center is around $12, so split that again and I'll still be saving plenty of money. It's all about being economical.

Erin and I origianlly made plans to watch all of the screenings together, but she had some things come up yesterday that she needed to get done, so we said our farewells in front of the hotel and made plans to meet up later after she was done babysitting her niece and nephew. I brought all my bags up to the room and met Brian's girlfriend Amy, who then shared a cab with me over to the Hilton where they would be holding all of the screenings for the films. This sort of threw me off.

It's not a theater. It's a ballroom. The proejctor is beautiful and they have a nice stage sort of set up, but it's still a hotel ballroom...off-yellow textured wallpaper, horrendous floral carpeting, uncomfortable metal-framed chairs...just not what I expected from a movie screening. From what I hear, they usually do set this up in a theater, but this year the Filmapolooza is in association with the NAB show, a film-maker's convention taking place at the hotel. Options for space were limited, so they had to improvise. Okay... I'll give them that.

Yesterday was the first two rounds of screenings and if I may be completely candid, I wasn't impressed. Some of the films were just odd, containing little to no story, shoddy camera work and embarrassing displays of acting. This isn't to say that there were a few however, that were clever or done well. "Day Off" was campy and fun to watch. "Subterfuge" had a great sense of quirky humor by using clever cutaways to develop it's characters and "Western Promises" was a brilliant display of handling the 'western' category...without actually shooting a western. This could've been my favorite from the entire day. But films like "Halycon" and that near-slient one from Beijing were beautifully shot, but that's about it. I didn't once see a useful combination of good direction, cinematography and writing. As I've gotten compliments on "The 4th Floor" from many people on these very aspects, including the 48 Hour Judges Panel, this gives me hope. The top ten films go to Cannes Film Festival next month. Keep your fingers crossed.

The previously mentioned films may also be viewed at: www.48.tv/

And Away We Go...

I took my time last night. I cooked some dinner and relaxed for a bit before tackling the last bit of packing I had left. Most of it was already done, but I first needed to make sure my bills were paid, my mail was held and that everything with the house was in order before double checking that I had enough clean underwear to last me the week. ...because we all know that you can never have enough clean underwear.

It was around midnight when I realized that I was still wide awake. I had planned on getting to bed early so that I was fully rested for the flight and the busy day ahead that the Filmapolooza had planned for me, but it just wasn't happening. Maybe I had too much on my mind. I tried to lay down for a bit, but it was no use. I was charged. 2am soon rolled around...then 3...then 4...

I first woke up at 5:15 to my cell's alarm. I sat up, acknowledged the insanity of traveling across the country on a single hour's sleep and leaned over to pet my dog, who was laying peacefully next to me. ...That's the last thing I remember.

Needless to say, I was a bit rushed this morning, and I just hope I didn't forget anything. I'm pretty sure I didn't,...I was fairly thorough last night, but with my luck, I'll realize somewhere on the trail that I'm missing something crucial and have to rely on everything Bear Gryll's ever taught me in order to survive. ...at least I was on time for my flight.

I'll be landing in Las Vegas soon. The flight has been fairly uneventful except for the sporatic screaming child two rows in front of me. I swear...there's always one. I ate a muffin and the smallest bowl of cereal I've ever seen in my life, both accompanied by a midget bananna. How un-PC of me, I know. But seriously, it was like the size of my index finger (insert "that's what she said" comment here.)

We just flew over the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, so I can imagine that our descent will be happening fairly quickly. Which means I'll have to put my computer away before the evil stewardess-lady gives me the stink eye again. Again, you ask? Yes, again. First off, she's frightening. Like, little Damien's Nanny-frightening. (What was her name?...damnit.) Second, I get it. My bag is supposed to be ALL the way under the seat in front of me. Those last two inches just might throw off the weight balance of the plane and could possibly send us careening smack into the side of a mountain like a bloody dart. You're a hero lady and you may have saved us all.

Alright , there's my cue. Next up, Filmapolooza 2010.

The Art of Efficient Packing

As departure looms (10 hours!), and I've begun to start organizing what I'll be bringing along with me, it has become ever-more obvious that I'll be packing for nearly 3 different trips all wrapped up in one. Las Vegas and the Filmapolooza event will require some nicer clothing, including a suit and nicely polished pair of boots.

Immediately after I leave Las Vegas, I'll be driving into the Havasupai Indian Reservation, where, following a 10-mile hike from the car, I'll be camping for the next three days with nothing to eat, wear and live on other than what I'll be carrying my back. This calls for a completely different mindset of packing, in that I have to consider weight, distribution and absolute necessity with all that plan on bringing along. Following a grueling hike out of the canyon, the last four days of my trip will consist of an casual, yet overdue visit to my extended-family in Phoenix and Tucson before heading back to Cleveland on Monday morning.

Suits and casual wear in one case. A 3-day living supply in another. My computer, camera and journal in a carry on. Let the journey begin.

Destination: Las Vegas | Havasu Falls | Phoenix

My last post on this blog was nearly six months ago while I was on vacation in North Carolina. Since then, I've drove down to Cincinnati for Homecoming in October, followed by a trip out to Connecticut in early November to see an old high school friend, Craig and his then-pregnant wife, Heather. I'll may eventually write up a few articles on those trips in a flashback style, but I'm in no rush to do so. Since then, aside from a few back-and-forth drives to Youngstown, my travels have been kept to a fair minimum. Until now.

This past August, I put together a team of friends and collegues to produce and shoot a film for the 48-hour Film Project that ended up being called 'The 4th Floor." We had 48 hours to write, shoot and edit the film, and our efforts paid off. Two weeks later at the Cleveland awards ceremony, we were awarded the 'Best Film' selection for the city of Cleveland, meaning that our film will move on to the next round of judgment during the annual Filmapolooza, an event which happens to be taking place in Las Vegas next month. Am I going? You better [expletive] believe it. If our film is selected as the top ten out of it's 80 competitors, it will move on to the 2010 Cannes Film Festival in France. Consider my fingers crossed.


So next month, I'm spending three days in Vegas attending different films and booths throughout the NAB floor show. I'll be the first to admit that Vegas isn't my favorite city, but I'm lucky enough to have a few friends in the area, so we'll all have a good time, no doubt. However...three days isn't much of a vacation for me. I travel out west about every other year, so this is the perfect opportunity for me to explore a few things that I've been meaning to do for quite a while, see some family that I'm overdue to visit and spend a good full week relaxing in the Arizona sun.

More details are sure to come, but as soon as the Filmapolooza wraps, I'm planning on driving out of Vegas in my trusty little rent-a-car and heading east towards the Grand Canyon. Before I reach it however, my route turns north along a small Indian highway that runs for 65 miles before dead-ending in a parking lot overlooking the canyon. From there I'll enter the Havasupai Indian Reservation, one of the most remote reservations in existance, hike 10 miles into the oasis where I'll spend the following two days camping and relaxing by the turquoise-blue waters of Havasu Falls. After my hike out of the canyon, I'll jump back into the car and head south through Sedona and into Phoenix and Tuscon, where my uncles and their families both reside. I'll hang out down there for a few days and help them out a bit before catching my flight back to Cleveland.

I plan on documenting this trip fairly heavily, so try and keep up. I may even make a small documentary out of my experiences in the Havasupai Indian Reservation. I'll be sure to keep everyone posted. I leave on April 10, so until then...signing off.