Day Four: skiing + Indie Mogul Party + Weird night

Yesterday was a weird day. I went over to Deer Valley to go skiing with friends...only to spend half the day chasing them all around trying to meet up. This was partially my fault as I ended up getting a spontaneous ski lesson from Scott, a nice old man who was out visiting his daughter. We were sharing a lift when half-way up I realized that I hadn't checked the level of the runs from the top and from the chair they looked pretty difficult. So I turned to my lift partner and asked him, "what level are these runs?" He replies, "blacks and double blues, although the double blues are just as hard as the blacks." The fear on my face must have been obvious because Scott offered to ski down with me and help me out if I needed it. Well I needed it. And he ended up spending most of the morning working with me. By the time we were done, most of my friends were done for the day or off to watch football, so I ended up having to ski alone...which was a fair trade-off as Scott had made me a much better skier than any instructor I've ever had. With my new confidence I was zipping down double blues like it was nothing.

Indie Mogul Party
After skiing I headed back to the condo to get ready for another night of parties. We were kicking off the night with The Hollywood Reporter's Indie Mogul Party. It seemed fun, we were on the list, so why not. (Note: for Sundance parties it is critical not to arrive fashionably late as the line is always long.) This was the case we when got there at 10:30 for a party that started at 8. The line was ridiculous.

But we waited for a while because they had a kick-ass DJ and we wanted to dance. Two of my favorite celebs, Adam Scott (Tell Me You Love Me) and Rex Lee (Entourage), were in line so it couldn't have been that bad. (ps both of these kids are much shorter than anyone can imagine from TV - cameras may add 5 pounds, but they also must add 5+ inches too) The party wasn't that bad. They had broken a lodge into five rooms...two with masseuses ready to give free back rubs, one for lounging, one for eating, and one was the dance floor.



Unfortunately the dance floor was full of middle aged housewives trying to shake their tailfeathers...a scene I'm unable to block from my memory. It was slightly humorous until they tried to Crank That Soulja Boy which looked more like a bunch of women having clonic-tonic seizures. If I had a time machine I would've gone back and shown those old ladies how to crank that soulja boy for reals. (Note: this picture was taken to capture my "WTF?" expression when the old hoots started trying to supersoak that ho)

Soon we were unable to handle the dancing, so we hopped in a cab with two cute boys and headed downtown to meet The Colonel who was at the Delta lounge hanging with Seth and Matthew Perry's crew. It started to pour snow on the way downtown which for some reason inspired LF to change into four inch heels...this still baffles me as she is my most practical friend. I, on the other hand, am not so practical. While standing in line to get into the Delta lounge, we were approached by three nice looking boys. Here is how the conversation went:

Boy 1: Ladies, how are you tonight?
LF: Fine, thanks.
Weezie: Freezing.
Boy 2: Well would you like to go to a party?
Weezie: We're about to go to a party in here.
Boy 2: Would you like to go a party at Jamie Foxx's house?
LF: (turns to me) Um...where is his house?
Boy 2: At his mansion in Deer Valley.
Boy 3: We were there on Friday night. It was sick.
Boy 1: (begins naming off celebrities that were there) namedrop, namedrop, namedrop, the peeps from The Hills.
Weezie: like Brody Jenner?
Boy 1: Yeah - he was there. Took his shirt off to play bball with Jamie Foxx's crew.
Weezie: hmmm....Brody Jenner with no shirt.
LF: How will we get there?
Boy 2: We've got the karaoke cab waiting for us right there.
Weezie: You had me at Brody Jenner, but the karaoke cab seals the deal.

So we went off to Jamie Foxx's house with three strange boys in a karaoke cab...i warmed us up with my best rendition of Gin & Juice on the long ride up into the dark hallows of the Deer Valley mansions. I can't believe we weren't chopped up into tiny pieces. But a fun and random night ensued.

Frozen River

In both a heart-wrenching and heart-warming fashion, Hunt intertwines the desperate determination of two mothers doing what they can for the sake of their children. All I knew about the film going in was two women somehow came together to help one another smuggle immigrants across the border from Canada. Coming out of the film I was amazed that I actually didn’t want the women to get caught.

Both Misty Upham and Melissa Leo were fabulous and the cinematography was beautiful…unbelievable that it was a low budget film. It won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Dramatic Freature, so check it out when it makes its way to the theaters.

Sundance Day Two: Skiing + Zoom + Parties

Day Two was supposed to be low-key. We slept in, I went skiing – good day on the slopes as it was at least 20 degrees – and then we got ready to go out. The Colonel got into town just in time to join us for dinner at Zoom – Robert Redford’s restaurant which is AMAZING!!!! It is so amazing that I passed up tickets to the Opening Night Premiere of “In Bruges” because eating there was more important. And it was worth it...except next time I should not kick off a night of heavy drinking with a Zoom margarita. Post dinner activities = going from Zoom to Easy Street to the Kenneth Cole party.

Side Note: Sundance Parties

The Sundance party scene needs a brief explanation. There are some fabulous parties, but getting into them can be an awful experience…even if you’re on “the list.” During the first weekend of the festival local Park City bars turn from Doolan’s, Harry O’s, and J.B. Mulligan’s into NYC and LA hotspots like Stereo, Tao and Marquee. So basically we wait in line to go to the same clubs we try to avoid in Manhattan to party with celebrities we see day in and day out at the bank, grocery store, etc. It is the most ridiculous thing…I mean really dumb. But not so dumb and ridiculous that I don’t make sure I’m on every list possible so I can get into the parties. I know I’m a hypocrite.

Kenneth Cole Party at "Stereo"

This is why I felt so bad on Saturday morning
Originally uploaded by weezienyc

So back to the Kenneth Cole party. LF + Colonel + Me get to “Stereo” to a line full of people trying to whine/bully their way into the bar. It is 6 degrees outside and no one was getting in because the bar was at full capacity…people were literally flipping out.

There were these two girls totally losing it because they couldn’t get in…yelling at the doorman – “we are ON THE LIST!!!…calling their friends who were inside…more yelling. Then there were the three guys next to us that were all (in meathead voice), “um, do you not know who we are, yo?” I was cold and a bit tipsy & I thought it would be fun to play with these assholes. Turning to the boys I chimed in with “I don’t know who you are, but WE are really important. (turning back to the Colonel) And should actually be on the VIP list.” (I mentioned before that the Zoom Margarita may have been a bad idea) The boys rolled their eyes and looked at us like we were crazy.

But about two seconds later, the door opens and our friend Danny points the three of us out to the doorman. We walked into the party leaving the meathead dudes and screaming LA girls outside to freeze…but not before I turned to the boys and softly whispered, “I told you we were important.”

The party was super fun. Our friends already had a table when we got there, so it was cool to just sit back and watch the LA crowd act up and spot celebrities mingling about. Most important take aways = Woody Harrelson is much better looking in person, so is Emily Mortimer and I have no business drinking vodka on the rocks with red bull chasers.

Explanation: It's colder than Vernal

Ok - last year when we were out at Sundance, LF and I cracked up every time we watched the weather because Vernal, a small town in Utah was always 20+ degrees colder than everywhere else. It's 19 in Park City, 22 in Salt Lake City and -4 in Vernal. So we started saying, "It's colder than Vernal in here."

One day I said this in a cab full of non-Utah folk, so I had to explain it and one of my cab mates thought it was so funny she wrote about it on NPR.