The Official GarlickDance film festival took place on Saturday July 21, 2007, and was a HUGE success. Tons of fun. We had a good turn-out of about 40 people at the Utah Chapter of GarlickDance, and about 30 met for the Oregon Chapter, which took place at the same time.
Now for Logan! Since my movie features several Loganites and several others helped in one way or another, there has been much demand to see my movie. Here's the deal, though...just watching my movie would be fun, but to really appreciate the whole GarlickDance thing, you gotta watch several movies. If you read my last post, you know the deal about the shared-script. The first few movies shown in the festival, unfortunately, suffer somewhat, because the audience is often not very familiar with the script, but after watching a few, half the fun of watching becomes waiting to see how the next movie is going to use a given line of dialogue, or what crazy stuff they chose to fill-in-the-blanks that were provided in the script. So rather than just watch my movie, for the Logan premiere of my film we're going to watch all (or at least most of) the movies from the film festival. "Where" and "when", you ask? Well here's the plan...
Our friend Janey works over at the Cine-Four theater by Winger's, and she told us that she can let us watch the movies there!! Isn't that awesome!?! Here's the only catch...it has to be late, and due to several scheduling conflicts, we can't do it on a weekend unless we wait 3 or 4 weeks. So here's what we're planning. 1 week from today (Monday, July 30) we're going to watch the movies at Janey's theater. We're meeting there at 11:30pm, and should start fairly shortly thereafter. Yes, it's a work night, yes, it's late...There's nothing we could do about it. But here's the deal: If we watch all the movies it's only about an hour long (and we'll probably skip a couple of them), and since you know well in advance you can make sure you get plenty of sleep the night before and even plan on taking a nap that afternoon or something, so you'll have the energy to come watch!
I'm really excited for this! I think it's going to be way fun! Hopefully anybody who's interested can make it! Oh, and this is really open to anybody who wants to come. If you know someone who might be interested, invite 'em. I don't want hecklers - remember that the films are all made by amateur filmmakers...for some this was their first movie project ever - but the more the merrier, I say.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
GarlickDance Info & A Dream
After several months of work, I'm THRILLED to announce that my 2007 GarlickDance Film Festival entry will have it's premiere showing tomorrow night at the Official GarlickDance Film Festival in West Point, Utah. It's awfully short notice, but anyone interested in attending can contact me for details. Sometime in the next week or two a Logan showing will take place...we may not watch all of the films at the Logan showing...maybe just the best few and mine...We'll see what people want to do.
For anybody unaware of what the GarlickDance film festival is, it's my family's version of a yearly family reunion. We've never been much for just getting together and having a BBQ...we prefer to be entertained...and who's more entertaining than us!?! So each summer for the last three years our family has organized this mini-film festival. "Mini" in that (A) the festival is small, and (B) the films are short. There's a 12 minute time limit on each film (including credits, previews, outtakes, etc.) but I think this year the average film length is only about 7 minutes. This year there are 11 entries in the film festival. Entrants include: myself, my sister, both of my parents, 2 aunts, 2 uncles, a cousin, a nephew, and 2 family friends. Yes, if you count that up there's 12 people, but two of the directors collaborated to make a single film. In the film festival, each film uses the exact same script. The trick is that the script is riddled with mad-libs-esque blanks. These blanks allow the filmmakers to fill-in the necessary customizations to adapt the script to their unique idea.
Originally this shared-script idea made all of us a bit nervous that we'd end up with nearly identical movies...this has never even come close to happening. It's amazing how the exact same dialogue can be used in such completely different situations! Last year's film festival ended up with many of the movies being some sort of action film. This year it sounds like comedies are the predominant genre...of course, I've not seen them yet, so I can't be sure.
Okay, well that's about it for GarlickDance information. Let's talk about my latest dream!
*** Dreamt July 19-20, 2007 ***
It was time for school, but I really didn't want to walk up to the university, so I decided to take the recliner (yes, the recliner). Next thing I knew I was whizzing up 200 West on a light brown recliner. The only tricky part about driving a recliner, it turns out, is that they spin, so you really gotta keep your balance as you're crusing down the road or you might get spun around backwards and not be able to see where you're going.
Eventually I got to a dead-end (which I don't remember ever encountering on 200 W in Logan in real life), so I got up and picked up my recliner and ran into the HUGE house that was blocking my path. My idea was to cut through the house then I'd be back at the road and could continue on my way. Unfortunately there was a very narrow stairway in the house that led up to the front door, and my recliner simply wouldn't fit. At about this point I realized that there were several people in the house looking at me..I tried to ignore them as I started heading back out. It was also then that I noticed how remarkably light the recliner was...maybe 20 lbs tops. Not bad at all considering the engine and wheels and stuff that must have been attached under/inside it. I got back outside where I'd entered and mounted the recliner and headed back to ButterKnife, trying to think how else I could get up to campus. I thought about taking my bike, but I didn't know where to put it up on campus, then suddenly I thought, "Oh man, where would I have put the recliner?! It'd be way harder to find a safe place to keep it than a bike."
I made it back to ButterKnife Estates and when I entered it was now dark outside. I greeted Thad and started to chit-chat with him, when I noticed that several people (none of whom I recognized) were coming in and congregating in our front room. I tried to ask Thad about it, but he kept shushing me. Apparently he owed some of these people something, so he was letting them use part of our house for the evening.
I went downstairs to my room and noticed that I'd been followed my parents' cat, Gus. "Get out of here, Gus!" I shouted. Unfortunately Gus is a very old cat who's pretty much deaf and quite stubborn, so he wouldn't leave. I picked him up and took him out a couple of times, but he kept running back in. I really didn't want him in there, because he's kinda not fully with it these days and sometimes has bladder control issues. Again I went to pick him up, and when I did he latched onto my right hand. Thankfully I was wearing a bowling glove, so it didn't really hurt, but he kept attacking the back of that hand, and it was just really annoying. I finally got him off and kicked him out of the room long enough that I could close and lock the door. I was trying to figure out why he'd been so keen on attacking my right hand, so I took off the glove, and that's when I remembered that I'd dripped some barbeque sause on the back of that hand, which is what he must have been going after. I started off to find a sink where I could wash the barbeque sause off my hand, but I woke up before I made it there.
***
For anybody unaware of what the GarlickDance film festival is, it's my family's version of a yearly family reunion. We've never been much for just getting together and having a BBQ...we prefer to be entertained...and who's more entertaining than us!?! So each summer for the last three years our family has organized this mini-film festival. "Mini" in that (A) the festival is small, and (B) the films are short. There's a 12 minute time limit on each film (including credits, previews, outtakes, etc.) but I think this year the average film length is only about 7 minutes. This year there are 11 entries in the film festival. Entrants include: myself, my sister, both of my parents, 2 aunts, 2 uncles, a cousin, a nephew, and 2 family friends. Yes, if you count that up there's 12 people, but two of the directors collaborated to make a single film. In the film festival, each film uses the exact same script. The trick is that the script is riddled with mad-libs-esque blanks. These blanks allow the filmmakers to fill-in the necessary customizations to adapt the script to their unique idea.
Originally this shared-script idea made all of us a bit nervous that we'd end up with nearly identical movies...this has never even come close to happening. It's amazing how the exact same dialogue can be used in such completely different situations! Last year's film festival ended up with many of the movies being some sort of action film. This year it sounds like comedies are the predominant genre...of course, I've not seen them yet, so I can't be sure.
Okay, well that's about it for GarlickDance information. Let's talk about my latest dream!
*** Dreamt July 19-20, 2007 ***
It was time for school, but I really didn't want to walk up to the university, so I decided to take the recliner (yes, the recliner). Next thing I knew I was whizzing up 200 West on a light brown recliner. The only tricky part about driving a recliner, it turns out, is that they spin, so you really gotta keep your balance as you're crusing down the road or you might get spun around backwards and not be able to see where you're going.
Eventually I got to a dead-end (which I don't remember ever encountering on 200 W in Logan in real life), so I got up and picked up my recliner and ran into the HUGE house that was blocking my path. My idea was to cut through the house then I'd be back at the road and could continue on my way. Unfortunately there was a very narrow stairway in the house that led up to the front door, and my recliner simply wouldn't fit. At about this point I realized that there were several people in the house looking at me..I tried to ignore them as I started heading back out. It was also then that I noticed how remarkably light the recliner was...maybe 20 lbs tops. Not bad at all considering the engine and wheels and stuff that must have been attached under/inside it. I got back outside where I'd entered and mounted the recliner and headed back to ButterKnife, trying to think how else I could get up to campus. I thought about taking my bike, but I didn't know where to put it up on campus, then suddenly I thought, "Oh man, where would I have put the recliner?! It'd be way harder to find a safe place to keep it than a bike."
I made it back to ButterKnife Estates and when I entered it was now dark outside. I greeted Thad and started to chit-chat with him, when I noticed that several people (none of whom I recognized) were coming in and congregating in our front room. I tried to ask Thad about it, but he kept shushing me. Apparently he owed some of these people something, so he was letting them use part of our house for the evening.
I went downstairs to my room and noticed that I'd been followed my parents' cat, Gus. "Get out of here, Gus!" I shouted. Unfortunately Gus is a very old cat who's pretty much deaf and quite stubborn, so he wouldn't leave. I picked him up and took him out a couple of times, but he kept running back in. I really didn't want him in there, because he's kinda not fully with it these days and sometimes has bladder control issues. Again I went to pick him up, and when I did he latched onto my right hand. Thankfully I was wearing a bowling glove, so it didn't really hurt, but he kept attacking the back of that hand, and it was just really annoying. I finally got him off and kicked him out of the room long enough that I could close and lock the door. I was trying to figure out why he'd been so keen on attacking my right hand, so I took off the glove, and that's when I remembered that I'd dripped some barbeque sause on the back of that hand, which is what he must have been going after. I started off to find a sink where I could wash the barbeque sause off my hand, but I woke up before I made it there.
***
Monday, July 2, 2007
Lost: The Musical...sortof
*** Dreamt: June 30 - July 1, 2007 ***
I was at the performance of a musical being put-on by my highschool drama teacher. In fact, the performance was in my high school auditorium, except that it had somehow been converted into an amphitheater; basically it looked EXACTLY like my highschool auditorium, except that (A) it was quite a bit bigger, and (B) there were no walls nor a ceiling. I have no idea what was supporting the stage curtain or backdrops. Surrounding both the seats and backstage was a HUGE grassy field...it was actually quite cool.
Right before the performance (which was to be of "State Fair") my brother's friend Rachel, who was apparently in the musical, ran out and asked if I'd come up and be in the show because it didn't have a full cast. This was no surprise to me, because the director had often done this to make rehearsals easier, then would grab random people at the last minute to fill in the rest of the roles. I said, "sure" and went up on stage and pretty much immediately the show began.
I don't really remember what happened in the musical, but it was more like "Lost: The Musical" than "State Fair". There was a plane crash, and my character had been hit with some shrapnel in the gut during the crash, so I actually spent much of the first act lying on my back acting as though I was in grave pain. Then the song "The Wells Fargo Wagon" - yes, from Music Man - began, and my friend Rachel came and grabbed me and pulled me up to be her dance partner. I kept trying to tell her that this was completely unbelievable, because my character had some large chunks of metal in him, so he really shouldn't be up dancing, but she insisted that some time had passed so my character was much better by now. We sortof danced off stage and she told me, "okay, I'm going to run out there and you follow me; I'm going to jump up and you need to catch me and lift me up high over your head." "WHAT?!" I gasped, but it was too late, she'd already started cruising out on stage again, so after her I went. We got near the center of the stage where she raised up her arms to her sides and lept up into the air fully expecting me to be there to lift her even higher. Being that I'd never fully caught up to her, however, I didn't quite catch her in time to lift her up. Rather, I just sort of got my hands on her waist and she immediately came back down with me not really doing anything to even slow her fall. I apologized, but she seemed okay with it.
Then it was intermission. I walked a little way out into one of the grassy fields off to the side of the backstage area, and Ferrell Cool (an elderly man who lives up the street from my parents) came over from the audience to congratulate me on a job well done, and even gave me an Halmark 'congratulations' card. I thought it was an extremely nice gesture.
Just then Ray, another older fellow from my parents' neighborhood shouted over to us, but then realized that he'd probably interrupted Ferrell congratulating me, so he kinda got embarassed and apologized, telling us to continue our conversation, and that he'd tell us what he was going to say when we were finished.
I never did hear what it was, though, because I - as always seems to happen at the end of my dreams - woke up.
***
Being in musicals is a rather common dream for me. I'd say at least once a month or so I dream about being in one musical or another. It's interesting to me, however, that it's usually for an impromptu performance, and yet I feel no anxiety over it. This - of course - isn't always the case, as you know if you happen to be one of the lucky people whom I told about my dream where I was supposed to be in an all-french version of West Side Story.
The most distressing thing really about this dream was that the musical was set to be "State Fair." Ugh, if you have never seen this stinker of a musical, consider yourself lucky and steer clear of it. The only people known to like it are those who saw the movie version when they were little kids, and since they were too young to realize how horribly stupid and cheezy it is, they grew to love it, and they still hold a special childhood affinity for it in their hearts.
My favorite part of this dream was how the director was known for not fully casting the musical, then just grabbing additional people from the audience at performance time. Wouldn't it be fun if that's how shows really were? Just think, you Wicked fans, if you went to see your beloved witchy musical, only to find yourself getting pulled on stage before it started to be part of the ensemble!
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