Reflections on Park City, UT

Nestled into the valleys of the Rockies between Salt Lake City and Wasatch National Forest lies a small town that was once a mining village, and today comes alive as a sort of "alternative Hollywood" for 10 days every winter. It's Park City, Utah - a truly beautiful place. Looking back on my week-long holiday there, which passed by far too quickly, I have taken away some thoughts/ advice on the town itself and the Sundance Film Festival it hosts.

1. I have never seen a ski town quite so charming. True, I have been to very few ski towns at all, but I cannot imagine one that surpasses PC. Small multi-colored bungalows line the mountain-sides sloping up from Main St, which is crowded with small boutiques, restaurants and stands trying to sell passer-bys $20 lift tickets in exchange for "just 30 minutes of your time." The wonderful thing is that the quaint old houses are authentic, or at least many of them are, dating back over a hundred years to the mining days. Also, the people there are all soooo nice. Approach someone and comment "I'm on the waitlist for a movie" or "I really should have worn another layer today" and you've made a friend. And the overall pace is sl o  w    e        r . The people move at a more leisurely pace, and the cars don't speed and are far fewer in number. It really is refreshing.

2. If ever I take a winter to be a ski bum, it will be in PC. Which makes me wonder why the term "bum" is used when in fact ski town employees often work long hours, scarcely finding time to make it down the slopes without five ski-wiis following in their tracks. One concierge at our hotel said he'd clocked in 93 hours that week. I'd venture to guess he didn't get a single run in.

3. Regarding Sundance, BUY TICKETS BEFOREHAND. If you don't have tickets and you want to see a movie, plan on 3-4 anxious hours waiting, sometimes with a slim chance of ever being allowed through the doors. The official time to pick up your wait list number is 2 hours ahead of time, but 3 gives you more of a chance that you'll make it. You do risk being asked to leave the premises that early, though. Once you've got your number, you're free until 30 minutes before the show, when you line up and wait. And wait. And wait. And just MAYBE, you get in. If you're lucky. We were lucky 5 out of 6 times we tried. Not too bad, but next time I'll be sure to buy tickets ahead of time and avoid standing around for hours and hours.

4. Talk to people you meet. During the film festival, there's a buzz around town amongst the PIBS ("people in black," as the locals refer to the movie people, who dress in all black and each carry 2 cell phones wherever they go). With hundreds of films to chose from, it's hard to know what is actually worth spending $15 on. But as the week goes by, word spreads about what's being picked up and what you can miss. Also, you never know who you'll meet - after seeing Holy Rollers, I ended up in the same shuttle as the man who played the rabbi in it.

5. Two words: après ski. The only thing better than flying down the mountain all day is the "after ski" at the end, preferably in a hot tub in the snow, beer in hand. It may just have been my favorite part of the whole week.

Star-sighting at Sundance

When I found out I'd be coming to Park City for the Sundance Film Festival, I was excited for a number of reasons, one of which was the hope of seeing some celebs. Many people in town during this week have similar expectations of sighting "someone famous," whoever that may be. Yesterday walking up Main St, a limo passed by and someone yelled "Are you famous?!" at the vehicle, to which the guy inside replied "yea" and there was a collective "cool! whoa!" in response. No one actually knew who it was, but that wasn't the point - they'd at least heard someone of importance.

I decided that I would try to blend in with the celeb atmosphere aka perhaps be mistaken for being a star myself (decidedly unlikely) - or at least come as close as possible in Target jeans and hand-me-down "vintage" sweaters from my aunt. Well, today I came probably as close as I'll ever come to a big-shot personna, dressed as a marshmellow in my ski attire. My brother and I were taking a break from the slopes, treating ourselves to hamburgers and fries at a picnic table by the lift. We got up to leave, and were snapping in our boots to skis when my brother looked up.

I think that's Adrian from Entourage over there.

He pointed someone out, and I immediately dismissed the possibility. He insisted, and I reflected on my star-spotting track record so far this week: missed Adrian Brody when I nearly pushed my shopping cart into him at the grocery store; missed Kevin Federline walking right by me on the sidewalk; and anyone else I thought I saw turned out to be wrong. So we both stood there and stared - my brother and I - for what must have been about 5 minutes before deciding to go talk to who my brother had determined with 100% assurance was Adrian Grenier.

My opening line: are you Adrian from Entourage?

Not my finest moment, but how exactly do you start such stalker-esque conversations? Of course the people who started to flock toward Adrian at this point made it clear that he was indeed the infamous star. I tried to recover my lame opening line with you're show is great. What are you doing here at Sundance? to which he responded I've got a movie here as if that should have been obvious.

post-Adrian sighting excitement

After that it was clear that Adrian was ready to get back to his snowboarding, and the conversation disolved to a weak goodbye - no picture, no autograph, no proof whatsoever of the encounter. I swear this actually happened though. And honestly, who can blame Adrian for not being over-friendly? If I was a world-famous celebrity, I'd do just what he was doing: join the rest of the Canyon's skiers and snowboarders in bulky snow gear and red-rimmed goggles, enjoying my brief anonymity - that is until spotted at a picnic table over hot cocoa. Damnit.