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So last night after watching PT Anderson's There Will Be Blood (see trailer below)



The Awards Ceremony was casual and fun - there was even a break in the middle for a quick round of Fantastic Feud, where the host of the other night's Feud Scott Weinberg took on the winner of the Feud in a round of movie geek knowledge in the category of directors of sequels. These guys know their stuff!

Awards were traditional - traditional for Fantastic Fest, that is - beer mugs were the awards, presented full of beer, and award winners were expected to chug on stage. For the short films and lesser awards this was doable (single Stella Artois serving size), but the feature length were big steins, 2 Stellas worth. For those who weren't in attendance, volunteers were found. One of my favorites, Exte (Hair Extensions) won, and they called for a volunteer - I, never shy in public, raised my hand and shouted "Yo!" and Scott Weinberg called me out. I start in on it and the crowd is chanting "Chug! Chug!" and I start to dribble down my chin about 2/3's of the way through. Scott says "He's dribbling!" like it is a flag on the field foul or cheat, and in my head for some reason I'm amending it to "He's dribbling....like a little girl!" and I start to laugh and lower the mug. The crowd, dissapointedly says "Awwwwwwww........" but I laugh, breathe, and polish it off to crowd approval. I am such a drunken attention slut in those situations. What can I say? Maybe comes of being the littlest kid in class (was 5 ft 4 as a high school sophomore, now 6 ft 4). Anyway, Mary Sledd was ever on the job and snagged this shot:


Yes, technically, that is me working - drinking on a stage with Tim League, in his best 70s Telly Savalas look (you shoulda seen the pants!). Somehow, that furthers my career. Right? Sure. Maybe. Anyway...

After the final big award (I was going to list those but can't find'em on website, will update when I get'em), which went to Nacho for Time Crimes (and I heartily agree with the decision), we all caravanned over to Donn's Depot for the closing party, which was a total blast. Free booze for quite a while (Thanks Tim, Carrie, and sponsors!), and many good conversations. It is always surprising who knows who how. One award winner's producer turns out to know Mark & Aldey at Offhollywood and writes software for AJA. Who knew?

And then, home and to crater into bed. Another Fantastic Fest, indeed.

VIP badges are already sold out for next year, unfortunately - so I missed my slot on that AGAIN. They'll go on sale sometime next year with more badges.

I'll amend the award winners when I get the list, and post the YouTube-able content associated with'em.

-mike

Labels: FantasticFest