GUEST BLOG: Life lessons from Mario

Danielle Carlsen » 1.25.10 »

Video games have always been a big part of my life. The original Mario Bros on the old school NES is, to this day, one of my most favorite games. I'm not a competitive person, and I don't care if other people beat me at games, but I'm always competing with myself and trying to get better scores, faster times, etc. When I was little, I used to time myself to see how fast I could beat the game. 6 min and 52 seconds is my record (using warp levels of course). Anyway, I know every kid in the world used to try and jump over that damn flag pole at the end of each level. "What could possibly be over the pole and beyond that little castle?!" was the thought on everyone's mind the second Mario was sliding down the pole.

One day a little device came out called Game Genie--some of you may remember this--and it had a whole book of cheats for all sorts of games. One cheat for Mario Bros was super high jumping powers. FINALLY!!! MARIO COULD JUMP OVER THE POLE!!! My hands shook with anticipation as I held the controller after entering the code, rushing to reach the end of the level. After years of playing and wondering I would finally discover what awaited me beyond that menacing pole with the triangle flag. Soon I reached the end of the level and jumped waaaaaaay over the pole, held down the B button and just started running. And running. And running...until the time ran out and Mario died. THERE'S NOTHING BEYOND THE POLE! It was so disheartening, but it has become a valuable metaphor in my life. Some things are just better left unknown, left to the imagination. Not everything is as awesome as you want it to be, or expect that it would be. Thank you, Mario, for teaching me that lesson.

Moderator's Note » This is our first guest blog, so please let us know how you like it as an on-going feature.

Danielle works in the film and fashion industries as a professional hair and make-up designer. She and Josh first officially met at a Jared Gold fashion show where Danielle was primping up the models that Josh was filming for a reality-show. You can contact her directly at danielle@acaydia.com.

NEWS: Best of fest

Joshua Ligairi » 1.14.10 »

After a hugely successful World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, Cleanflix is launching into the New Year. We'll be playing film festivals all over the world from Sweden to San Jose. Stay tuned for more info to see when we will be coming to a town near you. The first three festivals we are announcing are Gothenberg, Big Sky, and Cinequest. These are all well-respected venues. Göteborg International Film Festival is in a corner of the world that I haven't made it to yet, so I am thrilled to be sending the film there. Big Sky has a special emphasis on documentary and Cinequest focuses on ground-breaking films outside the norm. That makes both fests very appealing to us. There are a lot of festivals out there and it takes awhile to separate the wheat from the chaff, but we are really excited about our selections so far. All good things. More to come! Visit the blog often (or just follow us on Twitter) for updates.

LIST: The Films of 2009

Joshua Ligairi» 01.05.09 »

It was an interesting year for movies. The industry was turned upside down by the financial crisis, not because business was actually affected by the economy, but because Hollywood money-men were afraid it would be, and so over-corrected us into preemptive recession mode. The plus side is that gigantic blockbusters like Star Trek, Transformers, Wolverine, New Moon, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Terminator, and Avatar made this one of the highest grossing years in Hollywood history.

The bad news is this year's "surprise" success will only encourage Hollywood to follow this business model of relying on mega-budget proven entities and staying away from those risky original visions. What does this have to do with me? Well, let's just say that it was not the best year to bring an independent documentary to the table with hopes of distribution. If this was 2004, I'd be a rich man. But enough about the business (and me). Let's talk about the movies themselves.

Each year I make a list of my favorite films. I don't give the films numbered rankings, but I do rate them in some way. My goal is to highlight every film that I feel is above-average and worth a watch, while also giving some insight into my personal taste. That's what blogging is all about, right? Getting personal? These are the movies that caught my attention this year.

This first set of films were, as Hans Landa might say, the crème de la crème. There weren't a lot that knocked me off my feet, but I found each of these films extraordinary in some way. Anvil! The Story of Anvil is the most conventional of my choices, but this documentary about aging rockers is amongst the most touching films I saw this year. It is a fascinating portrait of the lengths artists go to for their art, and the endurance it takes to survive crushing disappointment. That Anvil! didn't even make the Academy short list is shocking.

The rest of the films in this category all feel slightly ahead of their time. They are brave, inventive, and imaginative films that showed me something I'd never quite seen before, or at least not in this way. One of those films, Inglourious Basterds, is indeed the masterpiece that its creator, Quentin Tarantino, pronounces it to be in the final shot of the movie. Were it not so, that final shot may be infuriating, but Tarantino earns it by showing us something new and daring...and good. Basterds is the Nazi film to end all Nazi films and it is not only the best theater-going experience that I had all year but, as mentioned in my post "Inglourious Catharsis," one of the best theater-going experiences I have had in my entire life.

Excellent (2009) These were my favorite films of the year.

Anvil! . The Brothers Bloom . The Hurt Locker . The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus . Inglourious Basterds . Of Time and the City . A Serious Man . Where the Wild Things Are . The White Ribbon

This next set of films were also quite good. The documentaries were each extremely revelatory about human nature and the fictional films were all buoyed by strong performances. Each displayed a mastery of craft in its own way, perfectly striking an appropriate tone for the subject matter, while not falling into stale convention. Like the films in the previous category, each of these pictures brought something new to the table, expanding their given genres, and thinking about visual storytelling in new ways.

Very Good (2009) These films were also extremely enjoyable.

500 Days of Summer . 45365 . Bad Lieutenant . The Beaches of Agnes . Best Worst Movie . Bright Star . Broken Embraces . Coraline . The Cove . District 9 . The Dungeon Masters . Everlasting Moments . The Fantastic Mr Fox . Food Inc . Goodbye Solo . Humpday . Humble Pie . Me and Orsen Welles . Moon . The Most Dangerous Man in America . Must Read After My Death . Paper Hearts . Pontypool . The Road . Sherlock Holmes . Sugar . Trouble the Water . Up . Up In the Air . Winnebago Man . World's Greatest Dad . You the Living . Zombie Girl

It would be incorrect to classify these films as the "leftovers." While not my absolute favorite of the year, the films were by and large better than the majority of this year's cinematic offerings. Each of these is a great film on its own terms.

Above Average (2009) These were solid movies and better than most of the crap out there.

Adventureland . An Education . Art and Copy . Brothers . Burma VJ . By the People . Collapse . Crazy Heart . Crude . Delightful Water Universe . Drag Me to Hell . Duplicity . Every Little Step . Extract . Facing Ali . Funny People . Garbage Dreams . Good Hair . Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince . Hi, My Name Is Ryan . The House of the Devil . In the Loop . The Informant! . It Might Get Loud . Killshot . Limits of Control . Lymelife . Men Who Stare at Goats . More Than a Game . Nine . No Impact Man . Objectified . One Good Man . Paris 36 . Peace Mission . Pirate Radio . Police Adjective . Ponyo . The Reckoning . Resolved . Rip! . Sin Nombre . A Single Man . Soundtrack for a Revolution . Sunshine Cleaning . Tales from the Script . Thirst . Trucker . Tyson . The Vicious Kind . Watchmen Director's Cut . Waterlife . We Live in Public . What's the Matter with Kansas? . Which Way Home? . White On Rice . The Young Victoria

While I am confident that I could defend all of these choices, I'm not going to. These are those movies that I know are arguably bad in a conventional sense, but that for me really struck a nerve. Whether it was the nostalgia, the ambition, or the sheer audacity, each of these films had something that I really latched onto.

Guilty Pleasures (2009) I'm embarrassed by how much I liked these movies.

Crank 2 . Deadgirl . Observe and Report . Knowing . New World Order . This Is It . Whip It . Zombieland

Each year there is a group of movies that I want to see because I like the director or the trailer looked interesting or someone has told me is worth seeing, but I just can't seem to bring myself to shelling out the cash to see in the theater. These are those movies.

I’ll Catch It On DVD (2009) Kinda wanted to see it, but not that bad.

9 . Big Fan . The Box . Bruno . Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs . The Goods . The Hangover . The International . Invictus . The Lovely Bones . Monsters vs Aliens . A Perfect Getaway . State of Play . Terminator Salvation . Two Lovers

I'm most disappointed this year with four guys that I think are comedic geniuses but somehow turned out really sub-par tripe in place of the life-altering films one could expect from their resumes. These geniuses are named Woody Allen, Larry David, Ricky Gervais, and Harold Ramis. Their films were so bad they made me question myself. Was I the one in the wrong? Suddenly, up was down, black was white--but that's not to say I won't buy their films on DVD (with the exception of Ramis'). Please, guys, redeem yourselves with your next films. And please, Hollywood, allow them to make next films. Now, a little advice for the makers of the other films on my shit list: Don't ever compare your movie to Brick. It seems not even Rian Johnson's films can stand that comparison, so don't even try. Also, don't take a beloved property from my childhood and then bastardize it. Each action figure sold is reserving a plot of land in hell. Finally, don't make a really great first film and then follow it up with much, much worse films. Simple.
Biggest Disappointments (2009) I really tried to like these movies but didn't.

Angels and Demons . Assassination of a High School President . Gentlemen Broncos . GI Joe . Halloween 2 . The Invention of Lying . Jennifer's Body . Nights and Weekends . Public Enemies . Whatever Works . Wolverine . The Year One

Save the hate mail for my upcoming blog post, "Dances with Fern Gully: Or, My Problems With Avatar." I do not hate these movie--I enjoyed some of them--but none of these movies are as good as people are saying they are and, frankly, a couple of them outright suck.

Most Overrated (2009) I didn't like these as much as you did.

Avatar . Away We Go . Blind Side . Bronson . I Love You, Man . Julie and Julia . Paranormal Activity . Star Trek . Transformers 2 . Trick r Treat

Sometimes films don't come to your area, sometimes you don't hear about a film until it is too late to catch it theatrically, and sometimes you just run out of time. There are only so many hours in a day, days in a week, and weeks in a year.

Didn't See It (2009) But I wanted to.

35 Shots of Rum . After School . Antichrist . Coco Before Chanel . Departures . Disgrace . The Headless Woman . Il Divo . Incendiary . The Informers . Julia . The Last Station . Living In Emergency . The Messenger . Mugabe the White African . Precious . Seraphine . Sergio . Silent Light . Skin . Summer Hours . Taking Woodstock . Tokyo Sonata . Treeless Mountain . Under Our Skin . Valentino The Last Emperor

Most Anticipated (2010) Looking forward to next year.

Alice in Wonderland . The Art of the Steal . Bear Nation . Cemetery Junction . Cleanflix . Colony . The Cross . Date Night . The Deep Blue Goodbye . The Expendables . The Fighter . Four Lions . Get Him to the Greek . Google Baby . Greenburg . Green Zone . Hesher . Howl . The Human Factor . I Love You Phillip Morris . I'm Here . Inception . Jack Goes Boating . Kick Ass . Last Play at Shea . Looper . Master of Space and Time . Mystery Team . Nailed . Ness . Paul . The Prince of Providence . Restrepo . Robin Hood . The Rum Diary . Schmatta . Scott Pilgram vs the World . Shutter Island . Silence . Snowblind . Submarino . Suburbicon . Sympathy for Delicious . The Thorn In the Heart . Tron Legacy . Under Great White Northern Lights . You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger . Your Highness . Waiting For Armageddon . A Walk in the Woods . The Wolf Man . Wonderful World . Youth In Revolt

BLOG: Who ya gonna call?

Joshua Ligairi » 11.25.09 »

I've often imagined getting the Thanksgiving phone call--you know the one--but it just hasn't happened yet. This year was the first time that I actually believed it could. Not with all my heart, mind you. I save a little slice of that just in case, so if things turn out poorly, my heart doesn't break or burst. You've got to leave a little wiggle room. That said, I was pretty confident this year.

As the day drew nearer, I held out hope--but nothing. When I woke up Thanksgiving morning, I had hope--still nothing. I called some peers, some who had gotten the call in the past and others who hadn't, but all of them hoping for a call this year, and each with specific insight into how it all worked.

"They make all the calls before Thanksgiving," the first said matter-of-factly. "You think they are going to spend the whole holiday on the phone?" That made sense.

"No, no, no. You can still get the call by Friday," the next postured. "They aren't in any hurry." Well, that was true too. They weren't under anyone's deadline but their own. This could be good.

My next call confirmed that suspicion and took it further. "I've heard that they deliberate over the weekend." It is a whole new world this year. New management. They are shaking things up." Maybe I had plenty of time. I didn't know what to believe.

Finally, "You would have gotten the call by now." And that was probably true.

Still, as I peeled potatoes and washed fresh cranberries, I continued to hold out just a glimmer of hope. But at a certain moment during dinner, I started to feel it and, as the night wore on, that damned sinking feeling started to set in. This had never really been a problem in the past because until now, I had never truly believed I stood a chance. But this year was different, wasn't it?

"Don't be stupid," I told myself. "You didn't actually think you were going to get the call did you?" I thought about it for a long time even though I already knew the answer. I lied, "No, no of course not. That would be crazy."

So, as I mentioned before, I have never received that precious call. It just never occurred to me until this year that perhaps I never will. And you know what? Others call. Life just simply moves forward. To quote another whose phone did not ring this year, "Do your work. The rest is in God's hands."

Still...what would this feel like?

BLOG: Blinded with science & hit with technology

Joshua Ligairi » 11.18.09 »

They say that the Sixth Sense will change your life. No, not M Night Shyamalan's ghost movie, but something with a twist that is much more impressive.

You may remember my post from a few months back where I claimed to hate technology. That is still the case. I am analog through and through.

As a quick aside, I was driving with an acquaintance recently, jamming some bad Pat Benatar on my iPod, but routed through the tape deck in my car via those old cassette adapters that came out way back when with the invention of the Discman. "What the hell is a Discman?" you ask. I don't have time to go into it, but trust me, the tech is outdated. The dude in the car with me, being the type of person that cares about stuff like that, made some quip about how it was appropriate that I was blaring stale pseudo-rock through a jurassic tape deck. Guess what? I don't give a care. And I'll rock "We Belong" all night long.

But back to not-Night's Sixth Sense. I hate technology. The problem is that technology just keeps getting easier and easier to integrate into my life of cassette tapes and butter churns. Also, I have to market myself. I wish that weren't the case, but it is true. I have to market myself like I am hawking spray-on-hair on cable television at 2am. "What the hell is spray on hair?" you ask? I'm not exactly sure, but I think it is outdated tech as well.

Anyway, with the combination of living in a digital world and needing to tell others about my work, I am put in the position of having to accept the notion that interfacing with technology is a real part of my future. Imagine then, my excitement to hear about the Sixth Sense--software that will, some day soon, provide me with a paper laptop!



If you love technology as much as I do, check out TED. If you love Pat Benatar and Thomas Dolby as much as I do, let's hang out.

PRESS: In This Week's Cleanflix Interview

An interview with Cleanflix co-directors Andrew James and Joshua Ligairi by In This Week's Spencer Sutherland. Direct link to the original article at In This Week's website here.


Spencer Sutherland » 09.22.09 »

CLEANFLIX AT FILM FESTIVAL IN TORONTO

Looking for all the action, adventure, and comedy of Hollywood's biggest hits -- without the pesky sex, swearing, or violence? For no-R-rated-movie-abiding Mormons, CleanFlicks and its edited films were a godsend. The only problem was that the films' copyright holders weren't happy with the idea of someone else chopping up their intellectual property.

In their new documentary, CleanFlix, Utah filmmakers Andrew James and Joshua Ligairi tell the story of the rental chain -- and the culture that spawned its success -- while following founder Daniel Thompson through a bitter lawsuit and public sex scandal. Throughout the film, the directors refuse to take sides (even they seem to have different opinions on the matter), but certainly raise plenty of questions about censorship, religion and Hollywood.

IN recently caught up with the two filmmakers as CleanFlix made its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Why was this was an important story to tell?

James » It is a topic that is widely misunderstood. We also wanted to ask questions about art, censorship, religion and sex, and I think the film brings up a lot of ideas that are worth talking about.

Ligairi » I'm interested in art that expands understanding of the human experience. We're showing the world this specific cross-section of American culture that many people have no idea even exists. But the film is even fresh for those that think they know the culture and the topic.

You are heavily ingrained in both the art of film and Utah culture. Is there a clear-cut right and wrong in this story from either side?

James » Yes and no. It's clearly wrong to make money by altering and selling copyrighted material that doesn't belong to you. That's as clear-cut as it gets, at least for me. However, if there were legal ways to do it, I think that question becomes much more difficult to answer.

Ligairi » The movie answers a lot of questions, but it also challenges the audience to ask some questions of themselves. There are a lot of gray areas here. I have varying opinions on the issue depending on what angle I am looking at it from. The idea of censorship is very troubling, and that is key here, but if we look beyond that for a moment, there are all kinds of other issues at play. Making the film has helped me realize how nuanced the potentially polarizing discussion actually is. The film is full of information (and hopefully insight), but it also requires some work on the part of the viewer. I'm more proud of that than anything else.

As a filmmaker, what would be your response if you found that edited copies of CleanFlix were floating around?

James » I would be upset, especially considering the fact that we've talked about doing our own "clean" version of the film. We've spent three years making it and labored over every little decision. It would be frustrating to see a lot of that work being arbitrarily changed by a third party.

Ligairi » Personally, I could care less. I don't believe in auteurs. Art belongs to the world. While there is great meaning for me personally in the act of creation, I can't deny that the film changes depending on the viewer. Each audience member brings something different to the table and what they bring literally has the power to change the meaning of the film--if only to them.

The end user has some rights. I'm not talking about this in the capitalistic sort of way that the sanitizers often do--the 'I bought it and I can do what I want' argument. I'm speaking from the theoretical standpoint that, as a filmmaker, my transmission hasn't served its full purpose until it is decoded by a receiver, and try as I might, I can never control the way it is received. If that answer is pretentious or over-intellectualized, the shorter answer is that we are toying with doing our own clean version anyway, so it probably won't come up."

If clean movies were ever able given a legal green light, do you think there is a market for edited films outside of Utah?

James » People often talk about this large market for sanitized films outside of Utah, and I suspect that there probably is, but one can only speculate. People tend to point at polls or cultural identity as a way to identify such a market, but CleanFlicks and companies like CleanFlicks never really took off in other places, so it's difficult to say.

Ligairi » Time will tell. All indicators point to a considerably large market. My guess is that it is as big as the market for unrated films, for instance. CleanFlicks had about 70 locations across the United States and was substantially bigger online. In the end, 80 percent of their business was online and outside of the state. We focus on Utah because it took Mormon culture to create CleanFlicks, but it was spreading everywhere and they were still growing at a rapid rate when they were shut down.

Because Walmart refuses to sell CDs with an Explicit Lyrics label, any artist who wants to sell records puts out a clean version. Would filmmakers be willing to do the same if a big retailer said 'No more R-rated movies'?

James » Filmmakers edit their films for airlines and television, so I imagine that they probably would, but again, that is just speculation. I guess it depends on the studios that own the films in question.

Ligairi » The music industry is probably the best comparison, yet it almost never comes up. Mainstream artists like Eminem, or whoever, don't complain about doing their clean versions because it is just part of the industry--the same way television and airline edits are part of the movie industry. A lot of cooler independent musicians opt-out and decide that they would rather leave their music intact than have it play on the radio or be sold at Walmart. That is a financial sacrifice that they make for their art. You don't see a lot of filmmakers willing to do that right now.

Though James and Ligairi are busy showing the film off at foreign festivals, they hope to have their U.S. debut at Sundance in January. Until then, Utah audiences can follow the movie's journeys at www.cleanflixthemovie.com.

Direct link to the interview at In This Week or check out Spencer Sutherland's blog The Sutherland Manifesto.

BLOG: Huck, flack, spin, & buzz (kill)

Joshua Ligairi » 09.20.09 »

Sometimes you've got to be careful what you wish for. In the film industry the wishful thing is "buzz." My mind is recalled to the early Christian notion that those things which you can see will pass away while those things that are invisible are eternal. In the case of indie film, once you're out there, there is no going back. For that reason we were discouraged from having our film reviewed by major news outlets such as The New York Times because, although a positive review from the Times may help, a negative review will kill the film dead in its tracks. So, the idea is to put a review like that off as long as possible, while building a strong grassroots appreciation for the film. Due to forces outside our control, like premiering at a major film festival, we are becoming evermore visible. What do we do now? There isn't really anyone to tell you this stuff. We've decided to run with it.

Just as predicted, there has been the good and the bad. The reviews are rolling in and, for the most part, have been positive. Still, those few bad reviews really stick in my craw. I don't mind so much when they are right about the problems the film has. There are plenty of valid criticisms. I have a few myself. For instance, there are certain things that aren't included in the film that I wish were but, for one reason or another, were impossible to include. I know that we couldn't have included those things, so I let it go, but the critics have no way of knowing our process, so I don't fault them when they can't let it go. I'm also happy to agree to disagree with a critic on certain points. And then, of course, some things are just a matter of personal preference or taste. All of that is fine. But there are two types of reviews that I cannot abide.

The first thing that drives me crazy is when a critic is reviewing your film, based not on what they are watching, but on the film they were expecting to see. This happens all the time, of course, but it was a particular problem with Cleanflix because the topic had been oft-reported on by the entertainment news community. They all thought that they knew what the film was going to be when they walked into the theater. The thoughtful ones were happy to be surprised. Many found that their expectations had been exceeded. The rest were upset that their false expectations hadn't been met. And it is not as though we had tricked them with marketing--we didn't even have a trailer! They just weren't willing to review the film on its own terms. Long gone are the days of Pauline Kael. Annonying. That said, this complaint is nothing compared to my major complaint.

The second thing that drives me crazy, and I mean to the point of distraction, is when a critic chides us for something that they missed. You know, like, they say that our film is missing something that it is clearly not. Did they go to the bathroom during that scene? Were they digging around in their popcorn? Maybe they were busy tweeting that our film was a let-down. I don't know. What I do know is that whatever it was that distracted them, caused them to miss some vital piece of information that I was later blamed for.

The problem is that this approach is key to film criticism these days. Critics see a film once and write their review. That's just the way it worst. For that reason, it is difficult to get after them too much. I would be hard pressed to watch a film once--live--and then be expected to have total recall a day or two or seven later when writing a review. Of course they are going to miss things. Of course they are going to get a few things wrong. It is expected and totally reasonable. The problem is that many of these reviewers aren't in touch with themselves enough to know when they are fuzzy on the facts. In fact, often the opposite is true. They approach your film cock-sure, dragging you over the coals for things they claim the film is lacking, but in actuality is not. This isn't as much of an issue with bigger films, because enough people have seen and reviewed such a movie to expose the reviewer as the one who is out of the loop. But with a film like ours, an indie film being seen for the first time at a festival, the critic is among the first to review the movie and, if they mess up badly enough, they may ensure that nobody else gets the chance to review the movie in the future.

Photo from TIFF Cleanflix premiere in Life.

I am loathe to report that the majority of our negative reviews had at least one, if not several, instances of the reviewer claiming that we had missed opportunities that we hadn't. I cannot began to communicate to you my level of frustration that is pent up when reading such reviews. How is one supposed to react in a situation like that? In normal life (especially in this online culture we're living in) I would write back and verbally rip this guy to shreds. I can't do that as a filmmaker. I literally had to talk myself out of writing a scathing letter to a bumbling critic for an entire hour on one such occasion. In the end I was glad I didn't because to do so would only have been worse for my film.

Look at the flack Bruce Willis took for defending Live Free or Die Hard to talk-backers on the AICN boards. People were surprised he would stoop to that level. Well, what would you do if a bunch of people you didn't know were trashing something you cared enough about to dedicate more than a year of your life making and promoting? I'm not surprised in the least that Bruce wanted to defend his flick. The reality is, you just can't do it. Learning to deal with criticism is just part of being a film professional. Filmmaker Richard Dutcher, who actually appears in Cleanflix, gave me some good advice. He said to read the bad reviews once. Just once. Really listen to the critic and see if there is anything to learn. Then, throw it away. Read the good reviews a hundred times. That helped and has stuck with me.

And, of course, there is a positive side to this whole thing. The best part is that, based on the acclaim of Cleanflix, I'm going to get to keep making movies. Also, it is just fun knowing that people you like and respect are talking about you and your film. Just being online the last couple days and seeing Peter Sciretta tweeting about our film with guys like Jason Reitman and Frank Marshall has given me goosebumps. Malcolm Ingram of Small Town Gay Bar and SModcast fame was at our final screening. Danny Boyle almost walked into the screening, but it turns out he was at the wrong theater. Bummer. But there were many appreciative industry elite and there was a great press turnout as well. Our publicist even said that he spotted Elvis Mitchell at one of our screenings. No word from him yet, but Elvis, if you're out there, I'm a big fan of The Treatment. Call me.

One little highlight that you probably wouldn't expect to be one is that I sat and chatted with Peter from /Film and Alex from First Showing after a screening. I'm something of a film geek and I actually get a bigger kick out of knowing that /Film or Ain't It Cool has reviewed my film than even Variety or the Hollywood Reporter (even though we had a great interview with THR). And not only that, but they liked it. What a relief. I have promised to send a copy of Cleanflix to the Film Junk and Filmspotting podcasts, and I'm grateful that I have the excuse of waiting until our next film festival before I send it because I'm kinda nervous to hear what Adam and Matty, or worse, Greg, Sean, and Jay think of the movie I spent two years making. I don't know what I'll do when Roger Ebert finally reviews it.

I know that this probably sounds weird, a filmmaker excited to meet a blogger, and I know that it is usually the other way around, but when you are just starting out, you are a dyed in the wool geek such as myself, and you have been reading these guys forever...well, there is no denying that the whole experience is just thrilling. So, in the end, you take the good and the bad and hope that the buzz you've worked so hard to build doesn't turn out to be a buzz-kill.