Into the Hazard

Jessica Bauman's Into the Hazard (Henry 5) is a contemporary, stripped down Henry V, using video and an ensemble of six to compress and distill Shakespeare's sprawling epic into a cogent and illuminating reflection of our current political landscape. Neither pro-war nor anti-war, Into the Hazard (Henry 5) is the story of how the actions of a few people in power, fueled by charisma and questionable motives, can change the course of history.

January 31st at 4:30 and February 1st at 2:00pm

The Tank
279 Church Street (between White & Franklin)
RSVP to intothehazard (at) gmail.com

Sundance 2008 Film Festival review: Runs at Park City

posted by guest-blogger Miguel

The well-groomed Runs at Park City are excellent for the someone at an
intermediate level, but the easily offended should STAY AWAY!
(Spoilers follow) When the experience began at the "First Time" lift,
I had little reason to think that was a double entendre. But it became
clear soon enough.

On the advice of an attendant, I loosened up on a trail called Single
Jack (named after 1/2 of a great Tennessee drink) and tried the
Thaynes Lift and a trail called Redstone (Blue), which goes by a nice
historic Oar mill. I thought everything was on the level, but soon I
realized the back mountain had some lewd surprises.

On my next run I took the turnoff at Glory Hole, a trail for more
experienced riders which was rough enough that I lost control and fell
over on the way to Motherload Lift. These explicit names left me with
no choice but to look at the rest of the mountain in a new light:
names such as "Lucky Boy," "Mel's Alley," "Eureka," "Climax," and
"McKonkey's" simply must draw a 2nd look. Let alone a famously easy
trail called "Homerun."

Anyway, the mountain is quite glorious and will leave you glowing, so
to speak, but those with delicate sensibilities might want to take a
pass on the map when they ski or snowboard at Park City.

Reporting from the 2008 Sundance Film Festival,

Guest blogger Miguel

Home!

I'm back in Brooklyn after a week in Park City, Utah at the Sundance Film Festival.

I'm exhausted and a little under the weather...

I've got a few more things to blog about - like my favorite film of the festival - Sugar, written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who I had the pleasure of meeting.

Also, my fun day with Flickr friend Mike Hedge.

And I'm still hoping that Miguel will write one more Sundance review...

But right now I'm waking up, eating some food, and starting to think about all the work I have to do this week!

Happy Sunday!

Swag

It's fun to go to parties and get free stuff. Most of it I won't use, but some is really great!

Here are some of the items I have received so far...

Party

Okay, last night I went to an awesome party, thanks to Kelly!



We had to take a cab for 20 minutes or so to a condo. Not just any condo. This one is owned by the dude who invented the magnetic strip. Or...so I was told.

And it had a basketball court INSIDE.

And there were something like 5 gazillion people who wanted to get in. We had wristbands. And were on the list.

We were greeted at the door by Pat Swinney Kaufman, the Executive Director of the NY State Governor's Office for Motion Picture and Television Development.

Kelly told her I was a photographer and her eyes lit up. So I offered to take some photos for her. Then, for an hour and a half or so, I followed her from room to room, taking pics.

Pat with Jacqueline Bisset:


Pat with Rachel Dratch:


Pat with Morgan Spurlock:


All photos here!

Other fun stuff...

Here's Kelly hangin' out:


There was super yummy food...lobster and tiny pancakes with caviar. Delicious. And I fed the waitstaff.

Me: This is so good...have you tried it?
Boy: No.
Me: You can't?
Boy: Not really.
Me: But if I feed it to you, you really have no choice, right?

So I gave him some lobster.

And also? OMG! IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!

;)

Sleeping Arrangements

(this topic was suggested by Sam)

When you travel with members of the opposite sex, you kinda assume other people are gonna assume stuff.

Here is an example of a conversation (it's the general idea of it - exact wording may have been slightly different)... Miguel and I were talking to Sperling.

Sperling: So you two are together?
Hilary: No.
Sperling: You didn't travel together?
Miguel: We traveled together.
Sperling: What did you think I meant?

(Miguel & Hilary give a look - isn't it obvious?)

Sperling: Oh. So you traveled together, but you're sleeping in separate beds.

---

As if everyone at Sundance has the luxury of their own bed.

We actually have a decent amount of space for three people. And we're right on the shuttle route. But many, many people cram large numbers of people into their space. It's not so bad!

Still, as much as we all love each other, I think we all feel like this when we finally get the place to ourselves for an hour or two:


When I was here in 2001, I had a hotel room at the Yarrow to myself. With two beds.

What a waste!

But nice for me.

:)

Delta Fly-In Movie Competition

Last night I met up with Kelly at the Delta Lounge, where the winner of the Delta Fly-In Movie competition was announced.

The winner was CTRL Z, directed by Robert Kirbyson.



See all five films here. They can also be seen on select Delta flights.

What I didn't know until I got there was that Ed McGinty also made the finals with his short film - Morning Fall. You may remember that I worked on his and Joe McGinty's short film tribute to Coney Island, Million Dollar Mermaid, over the summer. It was so nice running into him and Noelle!

Here are the finalists - Ed is on the left. The presenter was Cheryl Hines.


Another finalist was Bob Giovanelli, perhaps better known as "Film Festival Bob". I hadn't met him before, but I had heard about him. Kelly introduced us - such a great guy! Here we are at a party later:



Congratulations to all of the finalists!

Speaking of Josh Hartnett...

I just remembered something funny from several years ago.

I brought my niece to the Mall of America. While we were there, she was super-excited because we saw someone who looked just like Josh Hartnett.

But why would we see him in Minneapolis?

Well. Let's see. Miguel went to high school with him. Miguel's from Minneapolis. Therefore, Josh went to school there too.

I've decided it WAS Josh Hartnett. ;)

Sara will be so excited! (Even though it IS years later.)

By request...

I spoke to my dad today and he requested that I tell more about the partying I've been doing here at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

So, here we go.

Last night I went to the Sundance Channel party at 350 Main. My friend Jen (who I used to work with at NBC) now works for Sundance and she invited me and two guests. I brought Miguel and Sperling (who I met on Facebook because of the Sundance group on there).

The party was packed! Before M & S arrived, I was hangin' out, lookin' around the room. Decided to go to the bar and get a beer. There was a woman at the bar, who I said hello to. When I apologized for interrupting her conversation with the man next to her, she said "I don't even know him". To which I replied "Well, then. You should talk to me instead!"

She said I saved her.

The boys arrived, we chatted it up and met a few other people while there. Luke Wilson arrived, went to a corner and busied himself with text messaging or something of the like.

I had a lot to drink...a beer, a couple bourbon on the rocks and jack and cokes, some champagne. But the thing about Utah is...everything seems to have less alcohol. (To get the "good" beer, you apparently have to drive to Wyoming.)

We stayed at the party till the end and then went to the Delta Sky Lounge to hang out until the next party. Miguel joined us. We had a couple glasses of wine. Great space to hang out! In addition to the wine, we had a bit of key lime pie. OMG! I LOVE key lime pie! (That was for Matt.)

Then Miguel went off to have dinner with Matt and couple other friends and to a screening.

Kelly and I went to the next party at Riverhorse. I remember going there for dinner in 2001, but had never been to a party there. We had some champagne and water. And we met an older actor who struck up a conversation with me about photography. [insert fauxtobooths when flickr is no longer acting up]

We got a little bit of yummy food and then headed back to Delta Sky Lounge for a party that Josh Hartnett was supposed to be at. Josh, as it turns out, went to high school with Miguel. We didn't see him, but we DID meet a very cute boy (Mitch) from American Teen. Yeah, he was only 20. (Of course, we kind of assume he was lying and was actually 19. But then, if he was going to lie, why wouldn't he say 21? Hmmmm.) We tried not to scare him too badly.

Just wondering now why I didn't think to do a Fauxtobooth with him. Perhaps it was the three bloody marys I had. SO GOOD - super-spicy and yum.

Towards the end of the party, I realized I didn't have my room key. Oops! So Kelly and I split up and I walked up to Slamdance to meet up with Matt and Miguel. They had just seen Goodbye Baby. And who was in it? And also in the lobby? My old friend Kevin Corrigan. We smiled and waved across the room. But I left him alone.

Then we dropped Miguel off at the room and Matt and I went grocery shopping. I'm no longer allowed to touch California Cuties.

The end!

Tuesday, January 22, 2008 by Matt Semel

Matt: Today Miguel and I went snowboarding and saw a good movie at Slamdance. We saw very little of Hilary, so I can't really comment on what she did. Either way, it wasn't as fun.

Hilary: OMGOMGOMGOMG! I HAD SO MUCH FUN I HAVE TO TYPE IN ALL CAPS! WAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

AHAHAHAH! (Then your screen breaks into many pieces due to Hilary's sheer excitement.)

Inside Jokes

Matt, Miguel, and I have developed many inside jokes.

This is one of them, in iPod alphabetical order.

Just - Radiohead
Just A Body - King of France
Just A Closer Walk with Thee - Lalo Schifrin
Just A Gigolo - David Lee Roth
Just A Gigolo - Thelonious Monk
Just A Little Lovin' - Dusty Springfield
Just A Photograph - Jesse Harris
Just Because - Elvis Presley
Just Can't Go to Sleep - The Kinks
Just Coffee - Lalo Schifrin
Just Like A Woman - Bob Dylan
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues - Bob Dylan
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues - Nina Simone
Just Like You - Roxy Music
Just My Imagination - The Temptations
Just Once In My Life - The Righteous Brothers
Just One Smile - Dusty Springfield
Just the Way You Are - Billy Joel
Just You, Just Me - Edward Norton

Sundance Reviews: Installment 1

Hi. My name is Miguel Drake-McLaughlin. I'm a New York based filmmaker and a friend of Hilary's. I'm pleased to say that I'll be writing reviews on Hilary's Hideaway for the 168 Hour Adventure at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

Today I'll be reviewing Soldier Hollow.



Soldier Hollow started off on a bad note: at the very beginning, we were informed that there was no National Guard member to supervise the shooting range. This was in spite of the fact that I called in advance the week before to arrange for a day of biathlon training at the Olympic Course there. Apparently our reservation was lost, not that they apologized or anything.

Having driven some 40 minutes or so from our festival lodging, we decided that even though we wouldn't be able to use air rifles for target practice, we would still rent cross country skis to take advantage of the spectacular conditions - it was about 25 degrees and lightly snowing. Once we got on the trail, Hilary immediately remembered her skiing form (she was out-of-practice) and Matt learned how to "skate" quite quickly. Even though there had been some serious snowfall, there were several groomed trails for every level of experience, and the scenery was wonderful. I will be excited to see my pictures when they get back from the lab.

I enjoyed using Matt's heart rate monitor to see what my ability to ski and come to a rest was (it turns out that conventional wisdom which states that you'll be tired exercising at high altitude after a night of heavy drinking is largely correct). It was disappointing to be shooting pictures instead of a gun, but whatever-I'll do it in Lake Placid or something.

We had decent but unremarkable burgers for lunch in an impressive-looking building.

All in all, I have to give Soldier Hollow a positive review, even though I have been looking forward to biathlon training all year and they screwed that up‚ it was still great to ski at a world class facility.

Check back tomorrow for more reviews from the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

Sunday January 20, 2008 by Matthew Semel

The correct (aka Matt's) Perspective on our morning:
Today we woke up early to try to see a movie called "Up the Yangtze". We got there nice and early and waited around for a long-time because we were on the waitlist. After getting our numbers we ran to Albertsons, got some muffins at the Starbucks there, and then went back to stand around for 45 minutes to find out that we weren't going to get in.

The lies (aka Hilary's Perspective) on the morning:
OMG! I'm SOOOOOOOOO excited to be at Sundance. We got a bright early start and had a lovely walk down to the Holiday theaters. There was a beautiful sunrise and so much snow! I LOVE Sundance! We didn't get into the movie, but we had so much fun waiting in line, talking about the festival, and joking around. And to top it off, we all had the best almond poppy muffins. Delicious!


The correct perspective on the afternoon:
Deflated, we returned to our condo. Miguel thought it would be fun to go to see an experimental film in Salt Lake City called "casting a glance" about Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty in the Great Salt Lake. We got there early and had to kill a lot of time walking around empty SLC. There was nothing to do there and we were all very very bored. The movie was bad and we left early.



Lies from Hilary:
Excited, we returned to our condo. Miguel thought it would be fun to go see an experimental film in Salt Lake City called "casting a glance" about Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty in the Great Salt Lake. We got there early and had a to kill a lot of time walking around exciting SLC. The was so much to do and we were al very very excited. The movie was great, but we were so excited to see the jetty that we left early. We also took some great pics. I LOVE SUNDANCE.






My perspective on the evening:
We went to a lot of parties and had a genuinely good time.

Hilary's perspective:
OMG!!!!!!!!!!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Kevin Corrigan

Yeah! I also met Kevin Corrigan, who I adore.



And when I left the party, he said "bye, Hilary!"

:)

To tide you over...

Here are all the photos I've uploaded so far...

Yesterday was much more awesome than Matt would tell you. Movie, four parties, lots of free food and drink, new friends... YAY!

Today we're going to try some skiing and shooting.

OMG!

Matt has never seen me so drunk.

Guest Blogger: Matthew

Dear Hilary's Devoted Blog Readers,

Hilary has invited me to be a guest blogger on her illustrious blog for our fun trip to the Sundance '08 Film Festival in Park City, Utah. I am humbled and honored by this distinction.

The theme for my posts is going to Matt's perspective vs. Hilary's perspective. Hilary has an amazing knack at making it appear that she's always having the most incredible time. Don't be fooled: she's tricky. It's all a ruse. Remember, my perspective is right. She is just a very very good actor. Please keep this in mind after I have been kicked off her blog and she continues posting "amazing" stories about the "wonderful" time she always has. Lies, all lies.

Matt

Jack Black

Oh, yeah.

So...yesterday we were walking down Main Street when Jack Black appeared.

A man yelled to him that he wanted to have his babies.

Then all sorts of people screamed and ran to catch up with him.

?!?!

I've never seen that sort of behavior at Sundance. My experience has been that you see all sorts of well-known people all the time and no one bothers 'em.

Weird!

Sundance: Day 1

Got up at 4:40am for a 7:00am flight.

Landed in Salt Lake City at 10am.

Hit the ground running... Matt, Miguel, and I got the car rented, drove to Park City, and had lunch.

We then went to an art installation followed by an NYU party (where we all ran into people we know). Had a couple glasses of wine.

Went to a Slamdance shorts screening. Miguel knew one of the filmmakers and I knew someone connected to another. Happy hour followed. More wine.

Grocery shopping. Dinner cooking.

Sleeeeeeeep?

I need to fill in details, but am too tired!

Andrew Marks:


Danny, Rania, & Miguel:

I'm totally on the Salt Lake City runway.

and so begins the 168 hour adventure.

Matt, Miguel, and I enjoyed some snacks provided by our jolly flight crew.

There's snow.

We're choosing items from sky mall.

P.S.

Seriously...last night was super-fun.

I didn't mean to be flippant.

Sam.

Yadda Yadda...and Adventure!

Last night I went bowling. Here are some pics of me with my friends (Sam, Julie, Joe). It was fun. Yadda yadda.



But in OTHER news... As you may be aware, I'm heading to Sundance on Saturday. It was suggested that I do a series of posts for our 168 Hour Adventure. So I'm gonna.

What can you expect?
- an average of one post every 8 hours
- special guest bloggers
- some very brief, very lazy entries

I'm sure you're as excited as I am!!

And stuff.

Night of Losers

Last night I stage managed Loser's Lounge at Joe's Pub. It was a private party - a surprise birthday gift from a husband to his wife. Not too shabby, eh?

Anyway, between stage manager duties, I managed to do Fauxtobooth shots of all the performers. Here are a few! (All can be seen here.)

Royce Peterson, Victoria Liedkte, and Sherryl Marshall:


And I had a super time in general.

Even the folks who work the Public (but not specifically Joe's Pub) were dancin' around in the back - much more fun than their average night pointing people to the bathrooms and the proper theaters. ;)

The music was lots of fun. Two special guests were Trombone Shorty (who played on four songs and was fantastic) and Graham Parker (he was in the band Rumour - you'd probably know his songs, like "Local Girls", which I've had in my head since the show). :)

Here they is:


And a couple more shots from the night...

The band closing their ears during sound check:


Trombone Shorty and Connie Petruk from "backstage":

Loser's Lounge and Cool New Toy

I spent several hours yesterday working rehearsal for Loser's Lounge. They're playing a private show tonight, which I'll also be stage managing.

During my downtime I worked on photos for 10ton and continued plans for Fauxtobooth.

Then I went out to dinner with my friend Adrian... I had a giant bowl of some sort of chicken coconut curry soup. De-lish! (Oh. Losers were talking about Rachel Ray at rehearsal yesterday, so that was typed in her ultra-perky way.) After food, we got drinks and talked about life and work and happiness and stuff. And then he gave me a Christmas present! (There's no way I could have waited a few hours to give someone a present if I had it right in my bag.)

It's SO COOL!!! He got me this kit to make my own pinhole camera. I may bave to bring it to Sundance with me... And I'll probably document the making of the camera too. (Thanks, Adrian!! You rock hard.)



When I got home, it was back to photo work till 2am. Funny how none of this stuff feels like work, though. :) :)

10ton Shoot

Sunday was a fun day of shooting with 10ton!

They're working on a really cool project that I'll be able to tell y'all about soon. I helped out as a still photographer and AD.

Some photos from the day that won't give anything away:

Mat & Chris:


Mark, Jason, Miguel & Matt:


The fun ended earlier than I expected, so I spent Sunday night working on Fauxtobooth. (Thanks to Joe for making my business card look cool!)

Mike Doughty's New Video

My friend Sara is in Mike Doughty's new video for his song 27 Jennifers!

Fun! I wanna be in a video! ;)

Fauxtobooth

I'm gearing up for my Fauxtobooth project at Sundance. Fun!

Into the Hazard (Henry V)

Yesterday we started working on the video portions of Into the Hazard, a new take on Henry V directed by Jessica Bauman and produced by yours truly.

You can come see it at The Tank on January 31 and February 1.

More info soon.

Friday Night

Last night I hung out with Sara! We started out going to a photo exhibit at the Guggenheim.

This gentleman works at the Guggenheim. I snapped this shot after he joked that we weren't allowed to take photos that didn't include the staff.



I took it quickly - I wasn't planning on posting it until he said something about it appearing on Flickr. Then I was all like - you wanna play that game? ;-) I tagged it as his co-worker suggested - "Guggenheim Weirdo".

After the museum, we went to Danielle's bday gathering at Solas. Then we had these fries with jalapenos and sweet chili sauce. Mmmm....yummy!



And finally I had a little super-secret adventure in Brooklyn Heights. (Only Sara and my mom know!) :-)

The next few days will be work-filled. Producing today, AD'ing/photographing tomorrow, stage managing Mon & Tues. All fun projects! More to come.

Once in a while...

Once in a while I do super-fun things and don't document them.

:)

Ever just listen to yourself?

It was a gorgeous 60 degree day in NYC.

I was on my way home from Manhattan on the B train when I thought to myself "I should walk across the Manhattan Bridge and take some photos". When the train stopped at Grand, though, I sat there. Then the train doors didn't close for longer than usual. And I said "Fine! I'll do it then!"

So I enjoyed the beautiful weather, snapped some fun shots. AND I ran into sculptor Tom Otterness on the bridge! I stopped him to say hello. I'd met him a couple months ago at a tour of his studio during Open House New York. He was nice.

I've been in a cheery mood since. YAY!

Some shots...

The Moth StorySLAM

Tonight I went to the Nuyorican Poets Cafe to enjoy the Moth StorySLAM.

An old friend introduced me to the Moth years ago and I've been attending sporadically since. The stories are usually decent, sometimes excellent. I try harder to go when Dan Kennedy is hosting. He's the author of Loser Goes First: My Thirty-Something Years of Dumb Luck and Minor Humiliation (which I've read) and Rock On: An Ofice Power Ballad, which is to be released by Algonquin Books in February. He also contributes to McSweeney's and has a site called ReallySmallTalk.

The evenings go like this:
- a theme for the night is decided ahead of time
- people who want to tell a story that goes along with the theme put their names in a bag
- ten of those people are chosen to tell five minute stories
- the stories are scored by three groups of audience judges (I've been a judge before. I'm glad I've done it, but prefer not to. I like just hanging out and enjoying it all.)
- the winner (who scored the most points) moves on to a bigger competition at a later date

Tonight's theme was "scars". Physical, emotional...however the storyteller wishes to interpret it. It ranged from sex-related scratches and golf-related head injuries to more serious subjects like abuse.

If you wanna go, you should get there good and early to get a seat. Tonight (since I went alone) I decided to go when the stories actually started instead of an hour or so earlier to be able to sit down. I ended up only being able to hear for the first five stories. Then some of the crowd left at halftime and I was able to watch the rest from upstairs.

Here's a photo from the end:


When it was over, I said a quick hello to Dan and Jen (producer/curator). They agreed to do a fauxtobooth. Hooray!



Stay tuned for more info about DK's new book. I have it pre-ordered... :)

Jumpology: Roosevelt Island

Update: We were blogged elsewhere too! :) Check it out.

On Sunday afternoon, 13 of us (me, Sam, Joe, Emily, Matt, Sara, Doug, Alexis, Chad, Shawn, Joyce, Lee, and Kimi) took the Tram from 59th St & 2nd Ave. to Roosevelt Island.

Did you know you can use your regular metrocard to get on the tram? I didn't! Cool.

Anyway... We jumped. We photographed. We ate. We had a grand time!

Here are a few photos from the day. (See all mine here. And see the Jumpology pool here.)

The gang:


Girlight (Emily & Sara):


Kimi:


Sam:


Joe:


The Hospital:

Show

I belong to a very cool photography meetup. And the guy who runs is also runs a wine meetup. He's puttin' the two together and featuring photographers' work at the wine events.

Anyway, this March I'll be one of three photographers whose work will be shown. The theme is Southeast Asia, so I will be choosing ten photos from my trip to Malaysia.

Help! :)

More info as it gets closer...