This weekend I descended upon two towns known for their oppressive heat during the highest temperatures of 2010. Why you ask? Well, once to speak, once to party, both because of something I greatly endear - FILM. Yes, lit folks, there's the connective tissue, our motif in the land of making meaning of things. Coincidence, maybe. Or kismet. (shoulders shrug). Let's just go with it for now.
Could this weekend go down as the busiest of my career. Possible, running only close second to the infamous Daily Strodl of April 2007 when I covered a gang shooting, a body washing up onshore, the NB Junior Lifeguard's Pier Jump, and the Opening Night of the 8th NBFF (dominated the Daily Pilot Page 1.)
Ok so, flight out of SNA (JWA) 6:45 am (PST), Thursday. Connecting flight through Dallas (DFW), where my father always said baggage goes to get lost/hijacked. Leave 20-30 mins late, as the stewardesses decided to harass a youngish looking 13-year-old lad. Land in Little Rock around 2:30 pm (CDT) to the cries of the fest driving coordinator remarking on late I was, as if I flew. Driven directly to the Riverdale 10 Theaters in township of the same name. Met Levi Agee (@camsontheradio), Emily Reeves (@reeves501) and Carol Dysinger (@CampVictory) at the BBQ joint, the name of which has something to do with a hog, but is escaping me nonetheless. I will remember and take with me the meeting and time I spent with this woman more than others, I feel. Connection, interaction, reciprocation, good conversation, integration, non-condemnation mixed with sagely deliberation. But that's not till later.
4 pm. (CDT), the four of us speak to a semi-full house on the uses of Social Media in Marketing for Film Festivals. It went rather well. Exchanged numerous business cards. Shared and received gads of useful connective tissue for the film maker and festival professional. Friend Danny Buday, director of Five Star Day, attended and asked some interesting questions. We spoke about so many mini-topics that still surprise me that others don't have the knowledge of in this almost untapped resource, infinitely useful for indie film professionals with little or no marketing budget. What does it cost to post an update or event? Right!
A slew of new friends made in the AR. The Little Rock Film Festival staff that (Brett, Levi, Eli, Kelsey, and of course Hilary - Ryan Hougardy!) A Bill Clinton action figure (talking) that I've decided to reprogram to say less-than-politically-correct things. "I did not inhale." Or "Define 'is'." Party with a strange band that danced in all purple. Walks and talks, Joey Lauren Adams, freaking awesome pizza - one of the many things sneakily swiped off the counter by the bartender. Breakfast with Carol. Geeking out over social media with her for her film Camp Victory, Afghanistan (amazing, first doc to make me openly shed tears.) Race to catch 4:25 pm. (CDT) flight. Connect again in Dallas where I met the Taco Bell angel who subsequently helped me sneak Bill onboard, as I had by then exceeded the two-bag limit, accumulated an entire bag o' swag in my travels.
Land in Las Vegas 8 pm. (PST). Picked up by Alicia and Danielle and proceed toward a slew of stories, reconnects, moments of extreme humor, and horror (as I was apparently first to pass out and then get photographed), markable conversation, attempted conversion. Few of which amused me more than the end of Friday evening, on exodus from the Foundation Room in Mandalay Bay Hotel where I spent my last few minutes coaching a young bachelor on the most important piece of advice anyone will throw at him - Eat, that's it, and make sure she does too - and maybe a few other tidbits. At which point, our friend began to tear, and tell me how he simultaneously loved and hated me, but would never forget me. I then entered the elevator with him, made sure he had his friends, and deviously jumped out. Goodbye friend, fair journey down matrimony.
Drove home Sunday through hours of shameless sleeping, 105 + heat, milkshakes and ridiculous leaving-Las-Vegas traffic.
Met up with my childhood companion and cohort (@peterbuttwater) whom I've been absent from for one decade, but we're all fine like nickels on a dime. Enjoyed a good meal and conversation, one that seemed not missed, rather ten years on pause.
I tell you all of this in relation to the song quoted in this post's title, the lyrics to which finish "...I'm gonna be so elegant." And wondered as I listened to this verse ten too many times during my trip, and pondered my journey and other ups and downs, how I would come out the other end of too much to do, too little explanation for my voracious brain, a compacted amount of interactions and a chipping sense of silence in other areas. Well, the world can be an unfair place at times, but your lows will have their compliment of highs.
I met and did unfathomable things in this passage of moments. They have been lost in the movement of time and progression of me, but still reside and stamp their entrance and exit in this definitely comical, and currently, at 10:41 pm. (PST) seemingly less-than-fair state of...things.
Well, Life: Don't give up on me, and I won't give up on you. (That's all I got. It's late and I'm riding a wave of mixed disappointment right now.)
Tune in tomorrow for "Social Media Talks on the Film Festival Front Lines" and "A Recap of the Carnegie Hall Medal of Excellence Awards for one Mr. Henry Segerstrom - The Forefather of Culture in Orange County."
Posted via email from Kellyfornia on the state of... well, things.
