some girls wander by mistake.

waiting for the sun to rise.

i had an outstanding visit to nyc. the conference location was optimal, just a few minutes walk from central park (which had ice skating all over the ground, i had no idea), random house publishers (where i had lunch with teamradvak), radio city music hall (where chrissigrl was working an event and staying nearby), and so forth. seriously, for a town so "big," nothing seemed further than 15 minutes away, on foot or by subway.

i will probably devote a separate post to TOC/O'reilley, but for those of you who asked about margaret atwood's keynote, it was incredible. filled with humor and insight. she was so humble, so wise and didn't miss a beat. i tweeted a lot, and i am sure video or transcript is out there. short version: completely charming and inspiring.

monday night i met verybadhorse's sister for sushi and a nightcap near union square.

tuesday m. and i met up for dinner at a little thai place in hell's kitchen, then went to see "la cages aux folles" (qc: style for musical ok as set?) on broadway, the debut evening of the new cast featuring harvey fierstein's first time in the role of zsa-zsa (a role he all but created when he wrote/adapted the script in the early 80s). the cast also featured the original angel from "RENT." (!!!) the entire performance was stellar. i've never felt more gay.

wednesday i had a VIP pass for a filming of the jimmy fallon show. i tried to get tickets for letterman before i left to no avail; my friend c. had a hook up for NBC so i figured i better run with it. NO JOKE, the same day i was expected at NBC studios, my phone rang twice with a call from a 212 number, no voicemail: i called back and it was someone from letterman.

seeing a television filming is an impressive, well-oiled vehicle. i should have figured, but i had no idea. the experience is seamless, with virtually no down time, and a constant and tangible high energy level. (the VIP entry was a sweet deal, but it did seem that general admission can be a bit of an ordeal and time suck.) from the minute the audience is assembled and seated, the "entertainment" begins, first with a crowd warmer, then the band (the roots, with a special guest appearance by mos def). fallon comes on and there are absolutely no re-shoots, probably the biggest surprise to me. there are something like 7 cameras, 2 women who blot-and-powder fallon between breaks. a crew of maybe 30. the band plays the entire time that would be a commercial break. and then it's done.

wednesday evening was my last in town, and i was able to fit in a whole lot of socializing. took the subway into the east village for drinks at a fancy tequila bar with sparkle_m0ti0n and his partner, then back up to a pub to have a nightcap with c., manningkrull & m., who had just come from the gipsy kings show. it was a perfect night.

thursday i checked out of my hotel and met k. for breakfast and a tour around MOMA, which i somehow never got around to visiting before this trip, but the splendor and breadth of its collection ensures i will definitely return. then, off to newark (which i definitely won't do again).

and the rest you know.

the more days that pass, the harder it is to write a coherent update. and thus, here it is, a summary of days 2-5.

it has snowed every day (except today) since i have arrived. i can actually see how people who grow up around white stuff might get annoyed or stifled by it: it has been unforgiving.

my department seems to be overstaffed. so basically, the opposite of last year is true: there are too many of us, too little to do. that, paired with a general feeling that everyone in our department is very happy to be here, means the festival feels completely different. kids? i had a day off yesterday. my shifts are short. i've seen two films a day every day since friday.

so mostly i've been handling filmmaker check-in, which is also open to the jurors and the occasional panelist. the jurors are all fascinating: quick-witted, hurried, eccentric in some way. the directors are, almost universally, the nicest people i interact with. they are also, surprisingly enough, far lower maintenance than the volunteers: when faced with "free jackets," volunteers whine about what sizes are available, their dislike of the color (i'm guilty of this) or cut, how thin the material feels, that there are no matching accessories like 2008. the directors, on the other hand, are thrilled to receive something, anything. most seem humbled and gracious, often opting to give part of the schwag-loot to their spouses or producers or assistants. often, interacting with certain charismatic directors makes me more interested in their films: many things on my "to watch" list literally came from having a particularly pleasant or funny shared moment with them, and wanting to support their art, their extension of themselves.

a few directors are here that i did not get to meet, including phillip seymour hoffman, todd haynes, and spike jonze, which is unfortunate, but understandable. i basically meet 60% of directors every year, it seems, so that's not bad odds. besides, i'd have stiffled any inner velvet goldmine fangirl for haynes (and doesn't he live in portland?), anyway.

my first shifts were a breeze. thursday i worked and didn't do much else, save lots of walking in snow and slush (ugh), grocery shopping, and eating. i may have been minutely jet-lagged (if not in reality, definitely from the air quality and my sinuses), so i didn't go to any of the volunteer screenings or anything. for a brief moment that night, i remember wondering/worrying about whether the festival had been hyped up in my overactive brain. i was kind of bored; i went to sleep early.

friday i worked until 1, then headed over with my roommate to the new frontier to experience some of the installations. the new frontier was definitely stronger this year than last, with some very fantastic art and film. i basically liked everything--from an icelandic 4-screen song played in 4-parts, to a farmer's display of free produce and time-lapse produce footage (along with packs of seeds as PR), to joseph gordon-levitt's hitRECord.org song experiment, to a google earth interactive map. all of it was fantastic.

after the new frontier on main, i crossed over to see pepperminta at the egyptian, then tried to get into hesher's press & industry screening, but couldn't, so i saw vegetarian instead. film reviews forthcoming for both.

friday night my roommate came home in tears, because her theatre manager treated her (and apparently others) poorly, and she was disappointed in the festival and her expectations. she felt like she was singled out for being a first-year volunteer, and being a smoker. i consoled her for the better part of two hours (really.), and she was bummed that there was nowhere for us to go (transit limitation, 1am last call, the snow), so made me promise to take her out on saturday night.

saturday i worked a few hours, then tried to get into howl but couldn't (i forgot about this part of the festival), so i hurried over and caught armless instead, which was very enjoyable. from there i headed over to the tweet house, a private event which i was invited to (i sent an application weeks ago but paid it no real thought as to whether i would get in or not). i expected a small (120 people is what the email said) group of nerdy tech people and brainiacs and people into sexy gadgets, but my expectation made up about 20% of the population: the rest were schmoozers, sponsors/vendors, and those ready to party. kind of annoying. i stayed for a while, forced down a new line of flirtinis called "dirty blonde," and took pictures. levar burton (!) was hosting a virtual tweetup for haiti, so i stayed for part of his presentation, but left after 30 minutes of technical difficulties.

later saturday night i attended the world premiere of sympathy for delicious, which was followed by a Q&A by director mark ruffalo, and castmembers (including juliette lewis and orlando bloom). after the film ended, i tried to get a hold of my roommate (but failed), so i headed back down to main street to meet up with petite_chou's friend who i had never met, which is apparently something i do quite well. a text from him around midnight said: "i'm wearing a gray sport coat and an orange plaid shirt" and i realized i didn't know what a sport coat was. awkward moments later after making eye contact with 5 men in grey coats, i was approached, and we hung out for a moderate amount of time, walking off main with a (too large) posse and trying to find something to do that wasn't packed, VIP, or stupid. we couldn't really find anything, and the offer of going back to party with a bunch of boys in a hot tub was not particularly appealing, so i took the last bus back home and called it a night.

sunday i got the day off (!), because my boss (tucker) is totally amazing and beautiful. i awoke and made it to the am screening of hesher, which was fantastic. i went back to my lodging (2 minutes from the racquet club venue), made some grub and did some work, after which i realized i needed to head over to another venue if i had any interest in getting into to it. you see, it works like this: every venue has X number of seats for volunteers reserved, and they give out tickets 1 hour before showtime. when shows sell out (nearly all do, especially the first weekend), they waitlist tickets. a volunteer is eligible for a waitlist ticket if they can't get in as a volunteer. (with the exception of press & industry screenings, which are not open to the public, and we can always get into, so long as they aren't filled with P&I.) but this was the world premiere of the runaways i was hoping to get into, so i didn't want to mess around. i arrived around 2 hours before the film (maybe more), and being early in line, i was pretty much guaranteed a seat. apparently, waitlisters had started lining up 6 hours before the film. guys, it was 9 degrees last night. after my first hour in the cold, i literally had to go inside just to warm up. i had fantasies about hypothermia and frostbite (how would i know? what would my toes look like?), that's how cold i was. by the time the movie was ready to begin, i was grateful to be inside and seated.

i'll write a film review later, but i just want to say: what the hell is going on with the kristen stewart fans of the world? jesus christ, girl is not exceptionally talented, yet everyone was freaking out. during the Q&A after the film (where the director, joan jett, cherri curry, kristen and dakota fanning all were on stage), a GROWN WOMAN IN HER 30s/40s god damn BROKE INTO BLUBBERY TEARS telling kristen what an inspiration and amazing actress she was, and how much her films (hello, twilight brainwashing!) meant to her. i actually said "REALLY" loudly to myself, which caused a few of my neighbors to either chuckle or glare at me.

sunday night i had 2 parties to attend, but one was at the tweet house (which i was having an impossible time getting excited about). the other was at star bar for some sort of seattle music tribute thing featuring beach house, but google-fu told me the show wasn't free, and seeing as i'd already seen beach house once before, and couldn't imagine a worst forum to see them at, i decided it wasn't worth the excursion. and again, 9 degrees, people. bitter cold and wind and snow.

today was epically beautiful--so much sunshine it hurt, no snowfall--and i began my morning by heading to main street to meet up with chrissigrl for a screening of exit through the gift shop, a banksy film. afterwards, i walked main street in search of a supposed banksy graffiti piece, and found it on a yellow wall of a coffeeshop building. on my way back to headquarters, i passed adrian brody, who made too much eye contact with me and made me uncomfortable.

here's something kind of embarrassing: sometimes "hot" celebrities really are hot. adrian brody and orlando bloom? ridiculously aesthetically pleasing humans. you don't want to think they are; you don't want to be that type of person. and then you see them and you realize...day-amn.

last night my sister and i watched 9 to 5, which is one of those movies we grew up watching frequently. oh, man, i had forgotten so much of it, and how completely amazing it is. it's particularly funny to remember that this movie made me want A Job when i was a little girl (specific memory of the xerox room, for example). and 1980! while not particularly ahead of its time (quite obviously, behind 2 of the 3 waves of feminism), it holds up pretty well. i've just been obsessing, as i am oft to do, and learned that there's a musical now.



some of you might know i have some inappropriate dolly parton love in this louisiana heart (and plenty of lily tomlin love, too, i'm no fool), but i had forgotten how god damn adorable she was. and the theme song? amazing. stuck in my head all day (particularly humorous considering i was conducting interviews all day). i heard "9 to 5" a couple months ago when i was out at a dance night, and i (as well as a decent portion of the crowd) freaked out. i'll definitely be playing it more often in the future, myself.

but back to dolly, herself: at my last job in FL, we handled dixie stampede (for those of you not in the know, this is dolly's attempt at a tourist attraction in orlando, FL: a buffet plus show), and dolly was known to occasionally drop in to approve ads and whatnot. i never got to meet her, though, which is a shame, it might have been pretty funny to bump into her on my way out the door or something.

anyway, you owe it to yourself to revisit this gem of a film. bonus points if you've ever experienced your share of a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot of a boss.

so tonight i didn't bring my camera(s) to the theatre for my screening of manure (the only time i am sans camera this whole trip), and of course it's the world premiere, with Q&A with michael polish, billy bob thornton (again! that makes three brushes), tea leone, kyle mclaughlin, and some guy from the american office.

boo.
i mean the picture would've turned out crappy anyway...right?

paul saltzman. peter callahan. spike lee. adam eliot. ross katz. robert townsend. stanley nelson. bobcat goldthwait. zhang yuan. jeff lipsky.

(waiting/holding out for michael polish, doug pray, steven soderberg, cory mcabee...)

noteworthy: i saw billy bob thornton in the lobby of HQ, where i'm working. it made my heart go boom, boom, in a very embarrassing way. there will hopefully be more to report on this subject later.

spike lee.

the bitch magazine event on saturday was a great success! i played music for most of the night, switching off with dj linoleum. the VIP event began at 6pm and was a private party, well-catered and well-attended. i met judy chicago (twice, technically: the first time was to get my old copy of through the flower signed, talk about publishing, and take a very awkward picture; the second time because andrea didn't want to go up alone so i "introduced" her to judy and took another picture. afterwards, judy asked if she should start charging for photos and i said "sure! i'd pay!" and she asked "how much?" to which i replied "$45! i don't know!" it was ridiculous, but she had a tremendous laugh that i was glad to have made happen).



the main event started around 7pm. the art was incredible, and i saw so many pieces i would've liked to bid on/own (except i have undeniably expensive taste in art, so i didn't). i think i played music until close to 11:30, helped tidy up a little and then headed out.

thanks to all who came out to support the night! here's to hoping the night was a huge success for the magazine, and they make it through another year and another auction!

thursday was the terrific sensory-overload that is last thursday on alberta. i had been asked to DJ at the nest (my regular "first wednesday" gig), but over the course of 48-hours that request wavered back and forth: by the time i got home from work on thursday, it was a yes, then briefly a no, then ultimately a yes, so i hauled all my gear through the crowds on alberta street to DJ the patio. shortly thereafter james relieved me, so i could walk around with suzie and ph0enixinflight for some photographin'. after exploring, we made our way back to the nest, and were joined by some more peeps (including lj-friends aimeegee and thetathrees! yay!). james and i did our usual tag-team DJ sets, the owner closed the patio down around 11pm, and james and i hung out for another hour or so before heading home.

friday i secured tickets to see antony and the johnsons in september, and i'm so beyond excited (he'll be playing backed by the oregon symphony). friday was also the first day of true summer heat (read: FL flashbacks), and working from home was more than fairly uncomfortable. i took a break to stop by bitch magazine to pick up some schtuff for our upcoming art auction, but found their office to be non-A/C'd as well. friday evening james and i biked downtown (my first foray into crossing the river by bike!) to hit up the fez briefly. really, the whole thing was an experiment to see how i'd do, potentially, after a show/gig/night out (since the late night buses are limited--once an hour--and cut off at 1:30am). the ride itself wasn't too laborious (5.5 miles, about a half-hour--which is pretty comparable to busing it), but i was disappointed to discover that the while the ride downtown is easy-peasy (except for a certain suicide bike lane maneuver before the broadway bridge), riding back home is practically all uphill...pretty much the opposite of my preference. still, doable.

saturday i spent the day with ben, hanging out and trying not to be miserable as portland hit 99 degrees. (it completely astounds me that this city lives without air-conditioning, though i suppose one can suffer through 6 weeks of discomfort when the evenings are cool.) saturday night, james and i attended a party (housewarming?) hosted by several apple employees that had moved close to us (but in a much sketchier part of the NE). they had A/C. and cupcakes. and really? that's all that mattered to me saturday night. the party itself was kind of boring, and we got into weird conversations with a few people who made us realize how not "normal" we are, comparatively (yes, even in freaky portland).

sunday james and i spent the day at various stores, pretending to shop but really just zombie-walking through cold cold commercial centers (like everyone else seemed to be doing). i did happen to procure a few items: shortbus on DVD (which we watched sunday evening), a $3 necklace, a fan, and a bra. we also bumped into art alexakis of everclear at forever 21: i enjoyed learning from his wikipedia entry today that he owes more than $120k in credit card debt and has filed for bankruptcy (hilariously ironic, as i saw him shopping!). on our way home, in one of portland's many "FREE" boxes, we found a rice cooker, which i've been dying for. ah, portland.