Daily Loaf

You came, you saw, you voted: The winner of this year’s College Guide contest is Amanda Abadi of the University of Tampa. Her inventive video, which could be retitled “Crocodile Dundee Meets UT,” drew 6,694 votes. Amanda wins the title CL College Guide 2009, plus a CL briefcase stuffed with movie and concert passes, CDs and DVDs and assorted CL gear plus a $500 shopping spree from CL Deals.

Submission #1: Alex Vera | My UT: “Yes, I’m Losing My Mind”

Alex Vera
University of Tampa
Junior, Graphic Design
21, Tampa
My UT is: “The Minaret, my second home.”

Alex’s video takes viewers behind the scenes for a day (and night) in the life of the UT students who put out the school’s Minaret newspaper. Note the tempers fraying as the night stretches into morning.
(Editor’s Note: Despite any impression you might get from the photo, Alex is not UT’s Spartan mascot. We just happened to have a Spartan costume at the photo shoot, and Alex is an amazingly good sport.) Read the rest of this entry »

It’s Saturday night in Park City and another festival is winding down.  The first weekend of the festival is always the most chaotic and crowded.  I find the second weekend more pleasant even if it is a bit sad to see things coming to a close.  Shuttle buses are less frequent, people more relaxed.  For the first time in ten days it is snowing, and with the weather everyone seems to be mellowing out, finding some place to stay warm.

I had a ticket to the Grand Jury Prize Documentary Award winning film – and had settled down into a cozy seat in the Library theater, waiting for the announcement as to which film it would be.  I was slightly disappointed to hear it was something I’d seen just yesterday – I’d been hoping to catch something I’d missed – but in hindsight the award makes complete sense: Ondi Timoner’s We Live in Public was disturbing but brilliant, a powerful portrait of an internet pioneer with a remarkable vision of the future we are living now.  Unlike many of the documentaries that played at Sundance this year, this one (by the director of Dig!) makes inventive and entertaining use of the possibilities of the medium, and was definitely not made for a PBS audience.

I’ve seen just over 30 films here in Park City, at both Sundance and Slamdance, and in my opinion this is the strongest lineup I’ve encountered in the years I’ve been coming to the festival.   Read the rest of this entry »