You Ever Want To Give Me Something, You Can Give Me Christmas Balls!

My favorite one-liner Sundance film has been The Extra Man starring that creepy preacher guy from There WIll Be Blood and crazy character Kevin Kline. It's based on a novel of the same name by Jonathan Ames. Kevin's character is what he calls an ageing "extra man", NOT an escort (but really yes). He spits out the best one liners like the quote seen the clip below.  


If you are a modern gentleman, enjoy reading Fitzgerald, and loved A Fish Called Wanda, you will love The Extra Man.

So Who's Going to Win Mr.?

 My last customer of the day today was none other than Morgan Spurlock, the writer, producer, and director of super famous documentary Super Size Me! This year Morgan was a juror for the festival which included him seeing at least 27 films in competition and judging which one was the best of fest. If you want to know what he bought, to bad, my lips are sealed just as his were when I asked him who was going to win this year....

Blue Valentine

By accident I stumbled into a panel discussion at the Filmmakers Lodge on Main Street. I turned out to be a Q&A about making the film Blue Valentine, a film showing at Sundance staring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. What luck. I snapped a few blurry pictures, as flashes were not allowed, while Ryan (remember how cute he was in The Notebook) told behind the scenes stories.

Hello From Sundance!

A big hello from the Sundance Film Festival! I have been so busy working that I have now just barely been able to post something BUT it was so worth the wait! Crazy and surreal things happen in Park City at this time of year, in fact I can't count how many times I have said, Now I've seen everything.

My current favorite film is called Exit Thru The Gift Shop. It documents work by some of the most famous street artists working today including Banksy. If you don't know Banksy, you should. He is, in my opinion, the most interesting artist alive today and the best part is no one knows who or where he is or what he looks like. It's a brilliant mystery. Keeping his identity a secret has allowed him to put up his art in slightly illegal ways that draw alot of attention but don't get him in trouble. His work is beautiful, smart, always interesting and always right on. I definitely have an art crush but as I have no clue what he looks like my attraction is for his talent yes, but mostly for his sense of humor. He makes me laugh and I love him for that.

As his film was at Sundance, so was he. And as the true bandit that he is, he left his signature on Park City, incognito of course. When I heard the good news, I rushed to Main Street to take pictures of his works before they are destroyed by "the man" who have NO idea what they are doing as they cover up Banksy's colorful statements with boring gray sludge. Remember when Darth Vader shot the Death Star at Princess Leia's planet and Obi-Wan Kenobi fainted a little bit because he felt a strong disturbance in the force? That was me. I fainted a little bit as the street cleaners destroyed Banksy's mark on Park City Utah, home of only about 12,000 people. And he was here.

Back to Work!

Torino is finally getting back to normal as the last Italian holiday, La Bafana, is over and people are getting back to work. True to ending the party mood, it snowed all day. Here is a picture of Bafana herself, greeting childeren in Piazza Castello (my piazza). Strange that children would love a witch but hay, we love an elf called Claus.

Can You Say Willie Wonka?

Willie Wonka in Italian is spelled G-a-l-u-p!  Galup is a Italian candy store with chocolate covered everything. They also have pannetone, cookies, cakes, gummies, coffee, chocolates, candied fruits.....in other words is also Italian for Heaven. My pictures don't even do it justice.

Frozen Champagne New Years

 We had a beautiful New years Eve. We had a table with friends at a tiny restaurant (with only 4 tables) in a small villiage called Champlas nestled in the mountains on the border of Italy and France. We ate homemade gnocchi and drank local red wine. Close to midnight we all went outside to welcome the new year and to see the fireworks and when we looked up we not only were greeted with a full moon but it also had the halo effect happening around it. I was magical. I was told that we wont have another full moon on New Years again until 2028! After the countdown the guys opend the champagne and sprayed it all over everyone which immediately froze and so we went back into the restaurant with bits of champagne frozen in our hair. A beautiful way to start TwentyTen!