Asthma, new roomies, Sundance...it's been a busy day.

Things are really starting to wind down here at the home of the Sundance Film Festival. The first five days are always the busiest and then most of the stars and out-of-town folk head home.

Which explains why John Krasinski and the rest of the cast and crew were not present when I watched Brief Interviews With Hideous Men this evening. BUMMER. I really wish I could have seen him. Oh well...

Here's the really bad news: I didn't like the film. Here's the good news: I don't believe it's been picked up yet so it might not even be released. I'm lucky I even got to see it! I really, really wanted to like it but I didn't completely understand what the message was, or if there even was one, and I thought it lacked flow. Plus, Krasinski has a monologue at the end that seemed so rehearsed and unnatural. It made NO sense, or maybe it did make sense but it was just stupid, or maybe it went right over my head. I don't know. Good for him for taking a risk though- I mean, that's a huge part of Sundance.

I was wondering after watching Motherhood last night (we'll get to that in a moment) if part of the reason I was enjoying the films so much was because they were part of the festival. With all the excitement, how could you not like the film? But Brief Interviews proved that theory to be incorrect.

Okay, so Motherhood. This was a cute, quirky little film about what is sacrificed when you become a parent. Uma Thurman plays a mother of two who really misses working and having an adult life. She used to be a writer and she keeps a blog!! Minnie Driver and Anthony Edwards also star. Last night was the PREMIERE of the film! All of the stars were there and even Jodi Foster ,who has a cameo, showed up. Although I never actually saw her. The director just said she was there and thanked her for coming. There was a short Q & A and the director was very cool and pretty outspoken, Minnie Driver was hilarious and Uma Thurman came off as very sweet and almost a little shy. I did like this movie a lot and I think that anyone who is a mother will really enjoy it!



Director Katherine Dieckmann answering questions about Motherhood.







Uma Thurman talks about the film.






I am so glad that I was able to attend Sundance! The festival isn't over yet but I don't have tickets to any more films and I'm working everyday until it's over, so Sundance and I have most likely parted ways for now.

Onto the other news of the day...

I took Neve to the vet this morning for a shot and I explained to Dr. Lund that she breathes really fast and sometimes she has little coughing fits. We talked about it for a while and he listened to her lungs, which apparently make a bit of a swishy sound, and told me that he thinks she has asthma!! He gave her an injection and I have to let him know if it helps. She has an appointment to get spayed next Wednesday, but if the coughing and rapid breathing haven't stopped, we can't go ahead with the spay. If the shot he gave her doesn't end up working I might have to get a little kitty inhaler for her! So far no coughing today so I really hope that the medicine is working!



I thought this picture I took of Neve was really cute!








I love this pic of Belami and Neve. They have been sitting together a lot lately! I love it that they are such good buddies!



And one more thing...

As some of you know, Laura Lee moved out last week so Suzette put an ad in the paper for a new roommate. Today a girl named Erin came over to look at the place and meet me and Suzette and her family. We all feel like it's a good fit so Erin and her boyfriend move in tomorrow! She seems so nice and I think everything will work out quite well!. They will only be here until the middle of March at the latest. Erin loves cats and she seemed to really like Belami and Neve!

I'm working on making the apartment nice, comfortable and cozy! Suzette gave me a couch and I have it set up with my $2 coffee table and I love sitting here by the fire every evening, reading, writing on my blog or whatever I end up doing. The kitties love it too!

Sundance is about storytelling. Storytellers can broaden our minds: engage, provoke, inspire, and ultimately, connect us.
Robert Redford

SUNDANCE!

Okay so I'm actually pretty pooped from my long day but I wanted to let everyone know how my first Sundance experience was.

Everyone keeps saying how mellow this year's fest is and it's most likely due to a couple of things: the inauguration and the economy. Main Street is usually so packed you can hardly move but today it was empty enough for a nice stroll in the sun. This is also the first year that it hasn't snowed during Sundance, according to the locals.


Here's a shot of Main Street. You can tell it's pretty quiet.





I started my day with Adventureland, which I really liked, it was funny and sweet. It will be in theatres in the next couple of months since it already had distribution before coming to Sundance. Greg Mottola directed this (he also did Superbad) and it stars Kristen Stewart Jesse Eisenberg, Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig. When it was over Anna and I took the bus downtown for an early lunch at Zoom, a restaurant owned by Robert Redford. I had some delicious vegetarian chili and baked mac and cheese. Yum!!

As we moseyed about Main Street I had my first celeb sighting when I brushed shoulders with Liam Neeson as he walked by us! Actually I guess you could say my shoulder brushed his elbow- he is really tall!

Right after that a woman asked us if we would like to attend a panel about the film La Mission starring Benjamin Bratt, and we figured why not?! I don't have tickets to this film, but after seeing a clip and listening to the director and cast discuss the material, I'm interested in seeing it! It's about a very violent, macho-type guy living in the Mission district of San Fransisco who finds out that his son is gay. The cast and crew, including Peter Bratt, Benjamin's brother who wrote and directed the picture, talked about the film which was very interesting and then there was a "Q & A" which turned out to be very uninteresting. No one really asked any questions, people just raised their hands and told little stories about their own lives while everyone else just sat there thinking "Why are you telling everyone this?"



The Bratt brothers talking about La Mission. That's Benjamin on the left.




After walking around a bit more we took the bus back to my apartment to relax before heading out to see Adam starring Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne and Peter Gallagher. This film is in competition so everyone gets to vote on what they thought of it. I really liked this one, it's about a guy with Asbergers and his relationship with a woman who moves into his apartment building. There was also a "Q & A" after this with the stars of the film and the writer/ director, Max Mayer. This "Q & A" was better because people actually asked questions but then this one dumb guy basically told them that he didn't like the end of the movie and you could tell that the director and actors didn't really know what to say.


Here is Max Mayer speaking about Adam.







Hugh Dancy, who plays the title character, answered questions about the film. BTW- he is SO CUTE!!







Rose Byrne, who portrayed Beth, also talked to the audience.





Before the film started we spotted Claire Danes who I believe is dating Hugh Dancy. (LUCKY!!) I was determined to get a photo with her because as with most people of my generation, I'm a big fan of hers! She wasn't too thrilled about taking the photo it seemed, but I figure it must be hard when you are just trying to enjoy the festival and people keep stopping you for a photo op, so I guess I won't hold it against her.



Here's the photo. I look like a dumb ass but I'll blame that on the fact that there was a row of chairs in between Ms. Danes and me and the fact that the camera seemed to be on a bit of a delay. The movie star, however, looks flawless... go figure.


It was a fun day and I'm so glad that I get to experience the festival! I love going online at the end of the day to see which celebs are hanging out in my backyard. I love being among the first to see these films and I love being surrounded by all of these people who LOVE cinema!

It's a miracle, really, that movies- independent movies, especially- get made at all.
Nick Hornby

This is a miracle I am grateful for!

Sundance, my White Christmas, Neve.

Well folks, long time, no... write! I am once again very sorry that I haven't posted in quite some time. We have been slammin' at work so I've been really tired when I get home and usually end up just watching a movie and going to sleep. Which leads me to some recommendations for all you lucky readers!

I watched Stepbrothers and thought it was hilarious! Totally worth watching if you want a chuckle! I also watched Hamlet 2- very funny as well, but a little odd. Still something I would recommend for some good entertainment. I watched Tropic Thunder recently and again, really funny! I went to the movies twice this past week too! I saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- good, visually quite stunning and a little sad at parts but also uplifting. It reminds me of Big Fish, which I love! My buddy, Chris Masterson, was in the audience when we saw this, kinda cool. The other movie I saw was Bedtime Stories, with my friend, Anna, and her little girl, Zoe. It was so funny too! My, I've been watching a lot of comedies lately!

Speaking of films, I bought my Sundance tickets today!! I bought tickets for 4 movies: Adam, Motherhood, Adventureland and Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. It's a whole process, as I've told you before, to get these tickets, and today was the last step. I picked up a guide to all of the films and went through to find the ones that I was interested in seeing. Then I had to pick the showings that fit into my schedule at work that week. I was lucky because there was only one movie I wanted to see that was sold out. That movie was I Love You Phillip Morris starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor. Some of the other people in line went to check out the "sold out board" and had to pick totally new films. One guy told his friend "We suffer from good taste." It looked like pretty much everything they had picked was no longer available! I am psyched for the festival! I can't wait to be a part of that- so cool!! Park City is going to be CRAZY! Here is a link to the film guide if you want some more info on my choices or any of the other films:

http://www.sundance.org/festival/filmguide/alphabetical.asp?alpha=a-c

I can't believe that 2008 is over! It was a big year for me with the move. What did you do last year that you're proud of? Any New Year's resolutions? I never really have one and this year is no different. Hmmmm... I'll have to think about it and get back to you.

I know everyone is wondering about my first Christmas away from home. It was a White Christmas in more ways than one. First there was a lot of snow and second, my friend, Stacie who I spent the day with, her last name is White. Hehe... It was very nice at Stacie's. Her family is so sweet and inviting, but it's just not the same as being with my crazy and wonderful relatives. That was probably the biggest difference- my Christmas was very calm and relaxing this year- we didn't even get out of our pajamas all day! That's not the case back in Norwell! The excitement of the holiday actually came when Stacie and I tried to drive back to Park City that evening. The weather was so bad, there was so much snow, that we had to go back to her parents and leave in the morning! She lives about 2 hours north of PC in a little farm town called Paradise and there are a couple of canyons that we have to drive through to get there. The road through one of the canyons actually ended up getting closed due to the weather so it's a good thing we turned around!

Belami and I received a pretty great gift this year- a new kitty!!! There are some stray cats who live at Stacie's grandmother's house and one of them kept running inside every time someone opened the door, but we had to just keep putting her back out. She was very sweet and clearly didn't want to be an outdoor kitty. To make a long story short, as I'm sure you've already guessed, I just couldn't leave this little girl out in the cold so I brought her home and now she lives with B and me! I named her Neve (think Neve Campbell for pronunciation) because it means snow. She is absolutely precious and so unbelievably affectionate. I brought her to the vet thinking that she was a kitten but Dr. Lund looked at her teeth and told me that she is actually a little over a year! Even he was shocked because of her size. I really like my vet, by the way! He decided not to charge me for the exam because he thought it was great that I decided to keep her and he knows how expensive the first visit can be. She is totally healthy so that's great news. I am going to have her spayed at the end of the month. Her and Belami are getting along great! He is in love with her already, but she's taking a little more time to really love him. He doesn't exactly know how to play it cool and his enthusiasm scares her a bit at times, but so far so good and it will only get better! Here are some photos of Neve.




Here I am with my new baby! Isn't she cute?!










And again.









She loves this little bed up on the windowsill. It's fleece on the bottom so it's a little slippery and some mornings I wake up with it on my head because the kitties have knocked it down!








I think she has beautiful eyes! A classic torti with a split face! I hope she likes getting her picture taken with me for a mom!!









This photo gives a good size comparison. I know it's a little hard to see how much smaller she is, but trust me, she's little.








I hope you enjoyed my photos of the new addition to my little family! I apologize again for taking so long to write! Thank you to everyone who sent us Christmas gifts. It was very nice of you to think of me and even though I was so far from home I felt loved and missed and that in itself is a pretty nice gift.

I can't wait to see most of you in a week! Knowing that soon I'll see everyone kept me happy and excited over the holidays! I keep telling myself it doesn't matter when you see your family, just that you do get to see them!

Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving, make every day a holiday and celebrate just living!
Amanda Bradley

What a great idea!