Awesome Weekend!

Chandelier at the Shrine Auditorium

Last weekend was one of the funnest ever! Friday night my friend and coworker Alia and I attended the Jules Verne Adventure Film Festival opening night gala and awards ceremony at the historic Shrine Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles. The Jules Verne Adventures organization, which has hosted film festivals in France for 15 years and is making its American debut this month, seeks to educate the public on the beauty and abuse of our natural ecosystems by exhibiting films that celebrate the spirit of adventure and environmentalism.

Malcom McDowell hosted the red carpet event to kick off the festival and presented Lifetime Achievement Awards to George Lucas and Dr. Jane Goodall. Harrison Ford also appeared to receive the Spirit of Nature Award. Special effects legend Ray Harryhausen appeared on stage for a special commemoration of King Kong's live stage debut as "The Eight Wonder of the World" in the original 1933 film, which was filmed at the Shrine. It was fun to watch that clip again on the big screen inside the actual theater! Then the presenter revealed the original King Kong model used for the stop-motion animation in the film. Only the metal armature is left; all the rubber and hair covering the frame have been lost over the years. The model was a gift for Harryhausen.


Storm Troopers await the arrival of their creator, Mr. Lucas

I sneaked my camera in and took a few pictures which you can view here.

Saturday included a quick drive down to San Diego with my friend Heidster to attend a San Diego Women Film Festival screening of the documentary she and our friend Heather made last year. The film is titled The First Timer's Club and it features interviews with 30 demographically diverse women about the experience of losing their virginity. It's quite a clever film and the three of us enjoyed seeing it despite poor attendance and technical glitches with the DVD. Good thing the girls had brought two spare copies!

Afterwards we met Randy and the boys at Starbucks to relax and celebrate. Randy and Heather's kids are so cute and smart, and they are growing up so fast. Gabriel, who just turned four, recently found out that his favorite Uncle Scottydude used to live in his room! Heidi and I made our way back to Los Angeles in record time thanks to a surprisingly low volume of traffic for a Saturday night. We also relished the opportunity to use the carpool lanes on the freeway.

Earlier in the evening I received an exciting phone call from Barry Dennen, the original Pontius Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar. Barry phoned to invite me to the Roger Waters concert at the Hollywood Bowl the following evening. It was such an exciting experience I had to give its own blog entry which you can read below.

So anyway, how was your weekend?