Sundance Fundance?

Living in a resort town comes with an expected flow of foreigners (i.e, anyone not from Utah) but the barrage was heightened ten fold in the last two weeks with the Sundance Film Festival. I had participated in this wondrous event when I lived in the Salt Lake valley. I saw Smart People with Dennis Quaid and SJP before it came out in mainstream theaters. I saw a documentary about the making of an opera about the making of the A-bomb and Oppenheimer's life (surprisingly interesting). I attended free concerts on Main street and reveled in seeing Adrian Grenier from Entourage walking down the street. I instantly became star struck and only stopped shrieking long enough to babble incoherently to my friend who had not noticed him walk by. Honestly, how can you not notice someone who looks like this, famous or not?

Anyway, since moving to Park City my Sundance experience drastically changed. I expected it to be two weeks of nonstop fun and excitement cruising Main street in hopes of spotting someone famous; seeing movies that may one day hit mainstream theaters or just make me feel more cultured; finding our way into industry-only parties. Boy was I mistaken!

My daily ritual mail run became nearly impossible because of the insane amount of traffic and overpriced parking spots that were few and far between. They were seriously charging $20 to park in a city owned lot that I had parked free in the day before the festival started. Unbelievable.

Getting anywhere or doing anything was both outrageously expensive and time consuming. We did go out a few nights to Cisero's on Main street because a friend is staying with us while bartending there. We were able to participate in Sundance without having to shell out too much for it. Thank you, Steve!

And instead of seeing three or four movies over the course of 10 days like the years before, I only saw one and it's because a friend had an extra ticket. I just couldn't justify the time, money and effort it would take to get to the theater and deal with the crowds. (I really hate crowds)

I did see some recognizable people, however. I won't call them famous because two are reality TV stars and one is someone you would know but not likely be able to name. I saw Gretchen and Slade from the Real Housewives of Orange County at Smiths last week. It was really bizarre. I had just watched the most recent episode of RHOC the night before and then there they were walking down the aisle toward the deli. (She looks better on TV and he is really tall)

The other guy I saw is named Danny Trejo and usually looks like this in movies:

He looked a little nicer in person, but not much. There were no smiles for those he granted photo ops.

I also heard that Chace Crawford from Gossip Girl had been at a party we stumbled upon around 2am earlier that night. Of all the movies at Sundance, his was the one I wanted to see the most. But I didn't think my better half would enjoy 90 minutes of me drooling at the screen. Hey, I may be married but I'm not blind.

But now that Sundance is winding down, we locals can return to our normal routines. I can get the mail in under an hour for free and with less road rage. We can get into bars where they conveniently remember our names now that they can't charge a $25 cover. And I can start planning my vacation to a warmer climate in time for next year's film festival.