It's Time!

I’m launching this blog just in time for the Outdoor Retailer convention and the Sundance Film Festival. For a long time now, the last week in January has been my busiest of the year, and this is gearing up to be a big one.

I’ll be writing stories about Sundance for the Seattle Times, but I’ll be adding a lot here that you won’t see there (including, I hope, some juicy gossip and celebrity encounters). Outdoor Retailer is a trade show for the outdoor recreation industry, which means people like me go there to find out about the latest and greatest in outdoor gear. I’ll pass along what I find out about that, too.

I was at the Salt Lake airport yesterday watching the hordes descend. It struck me that it’s pretty easy to tell which were in town for which event:

Sundance clothing: tight designer jeans, funky hats, ridiculously inappropriate outerwear, orange Puma sneakers or high-heeled boots
OR clothing: nondescript relaxed-fit jeans, baseball caps or wool hats, ridiculously overbuilt outerwear, comfy leather shoes
Sundance luggage: pricey
OR luggage: got free at a previous show
Sundance rude behavior: refusal to get off phone even when talking to customer service person
OR rude behavior: talking loudly and obsessively about snow quality and their last outings
Sundance build: slender bordering on sickly
OR build: athletic
Sundance male/female ratio: about 50/50
OR male/female ratio: about 70/30

Of the two, you would think Sundance would be more fun. It’s busier, with more going on in more places. But the affable crowd at OR will probably be having a better time in Utah.

Stay tuned for more updates…

Linas Phillips (writer/director/actor) in a scene from "Bass Ackwards," a film I'll be following. Photo by: Sean Porter / A Furnace Films Release

Linas Phillips (writer/director/actor) in a scene from “Bass Ackwards,” a film I’ll be following. Photo by: Sean Porter / A Furnace Films Release