speaking of my pasty complexion, today i got my first sunburn of the season! mrs. noz, i, and a couple of other friends went on a bike ride today. i was expecting a real ass-whoopin from the ride, what with it being the first exercise of the season. my legs are a little sore, but it's not nearly as bad as i feared. it took me a couple more hours to notice the sunburn on my face, arms, legs, and neck. pain in multiple parts of the body is a wonderful thing.
i did manage to get to a single film tonight, shadowboxer, which i highly recommend. the only problem with it is that it looks like it's already gotten a distributor and will be released this summer to a theater near you. as i think i said earlier, my goal with the film festival is to see stuff i will never have another chance to see, so that officially makes this one a wasted ticket.
on the other hand, it was filmed in philadelphia (it was even dedicated to the city in the closing credits) and so the theater was filled with actors and extras waiting to finally see themselves on the big screen. and the director and producer did a Q & A at the end. usually these Q & A things sound nifty in abstract but turn out to be kind of insipid in practice. and this one was no different... i guess that last bit doesn't fit as an "other hand." oh well. it was still fun to watch with the mother of an actor with a minor role get all excited to see her boy get his head blown off on the big screen.
here's another thing about the festival: because i'm a member of the philadelphia film society every morning i get an email listing all the films that have sold out and imploring me to buy my tickets in advance. most people seem to have taken that to heart or get turned away if they show up at a performance and see the "sold out" sign. but it's bullshit. part of the fun of the festival is seeing things on a whim. and just because things sell out doesn't mean you can't get in. you just ask to be put on the waiting list (which is often just another line). for every showing the festival holds about a bunch of seats for the VIP festival pass holders (who don't have to worry about such things as tickets or sold out performances). those seats are not counted when they say that a film is "sold out" because the fest has guaranteed the VIP people a seat even if they show up at the last minute.
so what happens is that they hold back a bunch of seats when they sell tickets. then after everyone is seated, they count to see how many empty seats are left and then let that number of people off the waiting list into the theater. again, because they got to guarantee VIP holders a seat, they are really conservative on the number of seats they hold back, so in virtually every case most, if not all, of the waiting list gets in. in my 4 years of going to this festival, i've been on the waiting list at least 8 or 9 times, and every time i've managed to get in.
luckily, my blog as such a small readership so i can mention stuff like this. if word ever gets out, and everyone tried the waiting list thing, it probably wouldn't work as well anymore. so anyone who reads this, try to keep it under your hat.
