Not impressed.

Sundance has arrived. Considering my love for film, I am surprised that I have yet to attend even one showing at the festival. Next year I am going to be on the ball early enough to get a few tickets. It has been something I have wanted to do for a while. Someone remind me to do that... The only thing that really irks me about Sundance is the obsession with celebrities. Every year, star struck BYU students march up to the mountain to stalk celebrities and imitate the paparazzi. The best part is that hardly any of them even have tickets to see a film. It is so embarrassing that they flock to the celebrities to take photos and convince themselves that they "went to Sundance." I'm sorry, but, you didn't "go to Sundance" unless you saw a film or attended a party there. Plus, people don't seem to have any shame about begging for a photo or an autograph. I would be humiliated. I also laugh at the kind of celebrities who walk the streets at Sundance. Paris Hilton is always spotted there with her posse. You can't tell me she has any interest or knowledge about film. I guess I'm just not that impressed with meeting famous people (unless their names are Barack Obama or Chris Martin). Maybe it's because I grew up in Oregon, where we have no celebrities, instead of Southern California or New York City. Maybe I just took a page from my Opi's book, who never had any sort of interest in celebrities. He was the head pastry chef at the Benson Hotel in Portland for many, many years. During his time there, he made all sorts of beautiful pastries for presidents, celebrities and well-known rich people. Some of our favorite memories of my Opi are ones when famous people requested to meet the pastry chef. By force, my Opi would walk to the table and with little interest he would say hello. When offered a free autograph, he would turn it down and respond "I'm not interested in your autograph unless you are interested in mine." That kind of lack of interest is such a slap in the face to famous people who think they are on the top of the world. I would love an opportunity to do that someday.