Sundance '08

Where Film Takes Place

... and where a lot of snow play takes place. Or at least that's how we festival.



We saw the movies Kicking It (documentary about the Homeless World Cup) and Incendiary (Michelle Williams and Ewan McGregor). I LOVED Kicking It, and you'll get to see it because it got picked up by ESPN! There are some heart-of-gold people in that movie, and it has a sense of humor. It's about a World Cup for the homeless and impoverished. Through soccer, they gain self-confidence and a sense of solidarity with their fellow human beings. Many have gotten their lives on track ("kicking the habit") because of it. We also met one of the coaches before the movie! He seemed somewhat surly at first probably because we beat him by narrow margins to the waitlist line, but he warmed to us later.

Incendiary the movie was okay, but the acting was amazing. Unfortunately, uncharacteristic of how things usually go the large Eccles Theater, none of the actors were there! Ewan McGregor did however send a video clip of himself talking about the movie.

Here are some more celeb pics. :)

Quentin Tarantino

Scott Wolf

Dennis Quaid

Bill Rancic

Snow Bunny Returns

The frequency of my skiing was greatly reduced when I decided to live in the great non-mountains of Michigan. I went twice to the Boyne Mountain area, and it was all right. I've also been to the holes and mini-hills like Alpine Valley, not to be confused with Alpine Meadows, Lake Tahoe. Anyhow, it became sort of a once-a-year ski event, and I even stopped bringing my skis to MI. But now being back on the west coast, I've already made multiple day trips to Lake Tahoe and visited the great resorts of Utah. Utah! (That's what it looks like on the license plate.) See if you can tell where's where.

A

B

C

D

Answers:
A. Sugar Bowl, Lake Tahoe, CA
B. Alpine Meadows, Lake Tahoe, CA
C. Deer Valley, Park City, UT
D. Snowbird, Little Cottonwood Canyon, UT

Note the new goggles in D. 50% off! Also, B occurred right after the big wave surf contest Mavericks. D is substantially more snowy than A-C, and can be declared thus far, the best day of skiing of my life.

Arm-shots show even less when your head is enlarged by a helmet. :P

New Year's 2008 in Costa Rica

This year was like all the others.

We surfed all day, inevitably became exhausted, took a nice long nap, and then got up in time to celebrate New Year's... for about an hour. We just made it in time to get to a club 15 minutes before midnight, and then left soon after the clock tolled twelve. Whaddyagonnadooo? In past years, it's been skiing all day, and then managing to stay awake just barely past twelve. Party animals, I know.

So on this day, New Year's Eve, it happened that I was surfing with a crocodile in the waters at Jaco beach. I was happily surfing along, when I noticed that some of my fellow surfers had gone ashore, and that there was a small crowd forming at the water's edge. I went to shore, only to have someone ask me if I had seen the crocodile. What??? Thanks, guys, for letting me know that there was a croc in the water. Thanks for not waving me to shore. Jeeeeeez.

After enjoying the warm waters of the Costa Rican Pacific beaches, Pete and I went to the volcano and rainforest. And oh my, does it RAIN in this rainforest! It basically rained the entire time, but it just ranged from drizzle to torrential rains. Loud scary torrential rains. However, the rainforest made for an amazing landscape for zip lines! On some of these lines, we went straight through clouds, and all you could see around you was white. Simply amazing.



We also went to the hot springs. This was my first time at a hot spring, and it was so much fun!! I was told that not all hot springs are like the ones in Costa Rica. In Costa Rica (La Fortuna), they have water slides!

PURA VIDA!!