So this valentine's day I got a parking ticket, which came in a wonderful pink envelope. I got on to the SLC government's website to pay my fine. When you pull up the page, you go to https://apps1.slcgov.com/ManagementServices/ALE/ale.asp. On this page there are 4 options for looking up citations and parking fines. You can search for fines by the number on the citation, the driver's license number, the case number (for more serious violations) and last but not least, the license plate number. I suddenly realized the power this gave me, looking up violations by plate number. I was able to see the several $100 plus violations that our UPS driver had incurred, such as handicap violations and such. What a serious hole SLC!! Maybe you should restrict it to something that isn't shown to every person who can see your car? Not that it's really bad, but its a small glimpse into people's lives. Thanks government!
Plastic Life is a flickr set of photos by Vincent Bousserez showing tiny little plastic people who explore someone's house. It's sort of whimsical to think of all these little people showing up and exploring while you're gone. It's available here.
It's a good thing someone is getting this DVD since I'm pretty sure that after spending money for such a worthless piece of crap they'll need some reassuring.
Every year a bunch of friends from Las Vegas come up for Sundance. This year they were wise and rented a hotel room in Prospector Square right around the corner from Eccles Theatre, which is where all the movies we saw were at. This year wasn't as lucky as last. We got into 4 of the 7 movies we tried to see. We saw Humpday, Spread, Rudo y Cursi, and I Love You Philip Morris. Those are IMDB links if you want summaries/photos of the movies.
Humpday - During a getaway at a sex-positive commune, best pals Andrew (Joshua Leonard) and Ben (Mark Duplass) find their friendship tested in strange new ways when a dare leads them to contemplate filming a live sex scene for an amateur porn festival. As the shoot date looms, our heroes must contend with two major logistical difficulties: Ben's wife, Anna (Alycia Delmore); and their heterosexuality. The tension between friends is palpable and it's filmed in a way that translates the tension to the theatre. I love the contrast between the two people as they are essentially exposed to be leading fraud lifestyles. It's a fun movie that will, unfortunately, never make it to mainstream theatres for it's content.
Spread follows the life of Jason (Ashton Kutcher) who has made a career out of targeting older women and using them for anything and everything … in exchange for a little sex. But the player gets played when he meets Heather (Margarita Levieva), a pretty waitress who knows every trick. Before Heather came along, Jason had a foolproof arrangement with Samantha (Anne Heche), a successful attorney who was happy being "friends with benefits." But now he might actually be in love. Spread made me want to punch Ashton Kutcher in the dick even more than I already want to. Ashton Kutcher pulls off the role that his entire life essentially is - being the pretty boy of the group. His character mooches on everyone until they give up on him. This movie took a great stance in not following the traditional Hollywood story line and shows his character some real growth.
Rudo y Cursi is probably my least favorite of the 4 we saw. Stuck working on a banana ranch, two super competitive soccer-playing brothers dream of getting off the farm and finding stardom: Beto (Diego Luna) as a pro goalie and Toto (Gael García Bernal) as a singer -- but it might break them. When a professional soccer team ignores Beto's goalie skills in favor of Toto's fancy footwork, Beto signs on to a rival team, and the battle between brothers is on. It was a relatively unpolished film, in my opinion that left me wondering why I cared about these two idiots. It was funny, but sort of bland.
I Love You Philip Morris - When upstanding Texas cop Steven Russell (Jim Carrey) realizes he's gay, he changes his entire life and pulls a series of bold con jobs that lands him jail -- where he meets his one true love, cellmate Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor). When Morris is transferred to another prison, lovesick Russell mounts a series of jailbreaks just to be with his beloved soul mate. This movie was hilarious. Jim Carrey plays the life of an oddball who has some serious con skills. This one was probably my favorite simply because it worked so well and kept me guessing till the end.
As a result of attending these, I took some videos of the actor conversations following the film. My favorite has to be this story from Ewan McGregor following the screening of I Love You Philip Morris:
I'm official!!
I'm off for the next 3 days to Sundance in Park City. Should be fun!!
A happy 2009 to everyone. Here's a cool video to start of the year:
2008 was a pretty normal year for me. Nothing terribly bad or good happened, which I guess is a good thing.
January
In January of 2008 it was my first time going to Sundance in a serious way. I've lived in Utah my whole life and it took a bunch of friends from out of state to get me to go. Aside from generally freezing my ass off (lessions for this year) it was way fun. Sundance 09 starts in 2 weeks and I can't wait!
February 08 was, like Rachel's February, not very exciting. I just went to school and remembered that it was cold. Maybe that's why it was forgotten? My only post from February was voting in the Utah democratic primary. And 9 months later we were graced with an Obama win. Horray!
March
March is the month of Anám's birthday. March was also the month Anám decided to go to Ireland without me for his birthday. That was also a cold month, if I remember. I posted this great photo from early morning:
April
April was when the sun returned to our happy abode. I busted out the camera and decided that it was time for spring to be. Too bad some of the photos included me and my pasty legs. The pink flamingos survived another harsh winter to enjoy a summer in the hot Utah sun. I also got mad at the Salt Lake City Marathon that ruins our city.
I'm of the opinion that May is the best month of the year. Why? Because it's my birthday!! We had amazing Japanese food from Tsunami in Sugarhouse and made a night the people at the bowling alley nervous.
Whats brown and sticky? A stick.
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A baby seal walks into a club. The end.
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Why did Ernest Hemingway cross the road?
To die. Alone. In the rain.
June was the month a lot of people got their stimulus package. Remember that $300 check that was supposed to save our economy from hell? Yeah well that worked. I visited howispentmystimulus.com and found some fun, snarky posts.
I also discovered the joy that is the talking Jesus action figure.
Oh July was a busy month! To start it off, I moved to my own lil apartment in Sugarhouse. After I moved I celebrated the 24th (Utah holiday) by blowing stuff up. We got some cool photos out of the extended capture on my camera.
In August I finally got around to watching Mad Men. I am addicted and was so sad that the abnormally short season had ended so quickly. I'm just happy it's coming back soon! I also gave a short tutorial on how to make iTunes smarter.
September
September saw the heating up of the election, hurricane Ike, and a $700B bailout. What a joyous time for the national news cycle.
October
Like October, November exists for one reason: Thanksgiving. We had a feast with all our friends, and most importantly, layered Jell-O. If that's not Utahan, I don't know what is!
December saw the end of my undergraduate studies with a BA in International Business. I'm so happy to be done. Now I just need to find a real job (said in the Pinocchio voice). We went downtown to see the lights at
2008 was a great year filled with fun and I look forward to the adventures that 2009 brings me. Happy New Year everyone!
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