5/14/2007 : The crazy begins...

A pretty hideous issue became evident today and needed extensive attention that I wasn't necessarily able to give it due to all the other issues arising during the day. Had to leave for dinner with the problem still up in the air and that made for a less than relaxing night. Upon arriving back, I found that they were able to sort things out in my absence. Other things to do so I couldn't go to bed in celebration, but still nice.

5/15/2007 : Setup on the Festival grounds.

Brought the remote USB key update station equipment down to the Majestic and the Palais stands today.

Set them up and got familiar with the procedure. We made around 1200 custom Hollywood Reporter USB flashdrives and distributed them to major execs and stuff. They'll come to our stands and update the drives with the next day's schedule and information. It's a great idea. Not sure how many people will take advantage of it, or just use the drives. Dinner was pizza back at the office. I have a feeling this is going to become a regular occurence.

5/16/2007 : Scooter ride through Cannes.

Was missing some equipment today and needing to pick up some things for colleagues, so Phillipe took me along on the scooter to the local stores. Was really fun, but didn't get a full sense of it since his head was in the way. I'll have to sit on the handlebars next time. Despite an inordinate amount of issues coming up today, nearly everything was resolved by dinner and I actually was able to leave and go to sushi with everyone. It was an incredible dinner and I was finally able to relax. Good dinner. Probably won't happen again, but so it goes.

5/17/2007 : Majestic beach.

Nothing surprising today during the support hours. Had to run down to the Palais when their internet was down. Was good to get out of the office briefly. The highlight of the day, though, was the Marche Party. This was the first big party of the festival and I was impressed. Because I went... And drank... And enjoyed it. Almost all of the staff went and it was small enough that you were never very far from someone you recognized. The party was setup on a pier and an accompanying beachfront platform. Good, moody lighting and strange, almost techno, music in addition to a live swing band made for a neat atmosphere.

My camera got a little drunk. Night mode apparently has too long of an exposure and my twitchy hands make for interesting photos.

We have pictures of all the staff, but mine came out very blurry so none for you. I'll get some from others later. Oh and btw... My caviar photo? It's going in the paper tomorrow! =)

5/18/2007 : More of the same.

Figured I should continue to update even if nothing spectacular is happening during the day. Was pretty generic. Lots of calls and one run to the Palais to fix an internet outage. Went to dinner at Grandma's wheelbarrow again and this time got steak and mushrooms. yum. On the way back from dinner however, some of the crew wanted to stop by the India party. I went along just for company and while we were walking on the beach for what couldn't have been more than 5 mins, a HUGE fireworks show breaks out. This wasn't the finale, but gives you a sense of what we saw.

It was a good night.

5/19/2007 : Settling in.

Finally set up the American Pavillion station so hopefully I won't have to make 3 runs down to the beach a day. Received a nice Amazon package from I assume the Jess. Thanks Jess!

Work wasn't terribly taxing, but required two trips to the outlying areas. Going to find shots of all our booths eventually, but here's the Majestic and Palais stand and the American Pavillion tent.

For dinner we went to an excellent Morroccan restaurant. There was delicious lamb. Delicious frenchfries... oh. And her.

I love Morroccan food.

5/20/2007 : Of Fires and Fireworks.

Well, earned my paycheck again today. Spent 7 agonizing hours trying to fix a connection problem between us and the States that basically ground one of the people here to a halt. We fixed it half way through, but then I had to spend the rest of the time trying to replace the duct tape with a permanent solution. Exhausting. Good thing there's *THE* fireworks show tonight. Don't know what I saw two nights ago but.. well... you'll see for yourself.

Or maybe you won't. All my pictures came out badly. I'll steal one from a coworker eventually. But here's a video of the lesser action. In addition to a static platform that they launched the fireworks from, they also had fireworks setup on the back of boats that would ride around the water. A really cool idea and a great result.

5/21/2007 : For once, a slow day.

Actually had free time today and went on a market run. Finished a bunch of my old expenses... Went to the most delicious dinner of the trip. Took a 3 mile run afterwards at 2 in the morning. Was starting to go a little crazy being cooped up.

5/22/2007 : Another slow day... and the Red Carpet Deathproof Premiere.

Another agonizingly slow day. Everything went perfectly... The sun was shining... The birds were singing... and I had NOTHING to do. Music was listened to, DS was played, and the day went by fast enough. By the end of the day, people are talking about a possible event for the night. There's a big party going on and there's a red carpet premiere for Deathproof. Of course, I didn't bring a suit. I figured I wasn't going to be able to make it. Fortunately, one of the staff here not only had an extra suit, but was also my exact size! So, lightened from the burden of pride in my packing ability, I was able to fit into his suit and 4 of us set out to the screening. It's kind of hard to describe what a surreal experience this is. Walking to the theater in a suit and tie... ok. Stepping past the guards with your shiny ticket stub... pretty cool. But then you step up onto the red carpet and walk the 100 feet through a gauntlet of photographers. None were taking our pictures, of course, but still it's incredible. Bear in mind this is at the Palais on the top steps from the previous red carpet picture.

We walk up those stairs, make our way inside and on the way to our seats pass... [Reserved for Quentin Tarantino, Rosario Dawson, Rose McGowan, Robert Rodriguez]. They're 4 rows in front of us. All this time they're projecting the footage from the arrivals into the theater itself, so we're watching the rest of the patrons walk the carpet and mocking them for their attire. And then the stars arrive and make the 20 minute crawl down the lines of reporters. Quentin is the first one into the room and it erupts into applause. After we all settle down, there is a short film as a warm up. Very cute. Man talking in theater about his job to the guy next to him... who's an assassin. Assassin kills the man with a hammer in a suitably gory fashion. Everyone, now splattered with blood, goes back to watching the movie. Then Deathproof begins. Started slow, but by the end were were cracking up and loving it. Very fun movie and I'll definitely see it when it comes out with the rest of you guys. All the other invitees apparently loved it as well because when the movie finished there was 20 minutes of standing ovation as Quentin waved at the crowd.

We left after that and eventually made our way to the Deathproof party. Despite missing a pass to the party, they let me in with the ticket from the screening, due mostly to Issabelle. She can be very persuasive. So we got inside and wandered around. Saw the dance floor, grindhouse movies being projected on the walls, the ice skating area out back complete with ice block chairs, table and sofa, and the hot dog / popcorn cart. Fun atmosphere all in all, but everyone was really pushy and inconsiderate and toes were stepped on. So we left after about an hour. I'm still glad I at least got there.

5/23/2007 : Oh right... France doesn't normally have A/C.

So, at 10am in the morning, after a 4am evening, I get two issues. Internet is down at the Palais and A/C is down in the office. After waiting with the maintenance people for an hour, I find out it can't be fixed while we're in the office. So we'll need to suffer for the next two days and I'll have to take drastic measures to cool things down in the evening.

5/24/2007 : Wrap party and a swim in the Mediterranean.

Was slow up until 12:00 when we had another network connectivity issue. Took 2 hours to resolve that, so that was fun. Then had nothing else to do but wander around packing whatever people weren't using. The wrap party started at about 8 and I partook in the toast and a glass of exquisite champagne. People were mingling for about 3 or four hours until everyone ended up in a single circle talking. Drinks were consumed and laughs were had. And then someone suggests going for a swim... in the ocean. At 2 in the morning. This seemed like a fantastic idea to most of us as were were in various stages of inebriation. So we wandered down to the beach with a group of 9 and at least 6 of us... Myself included... Stripped down and swam for around 20 minutes. This felt like the real wrap party. Floating on your back in the south of France without a care in the world. I can't think of a better way to recover from this trip. It was the best night I've had in a long while. And no, you bastards... There are no pictures.

5/25/2007 : Picking up the pieces.

Spent 7 crazy hours trying to pack up three weeks of our lives into boxes. Didn't have time to stop and think so everything was fine, but when everything was done, I crashed. Had a nice time talking to people and a nice dinner, but it quickly set in how much of this I'd miss upon getting back to LA. I'm packing my clothes now. Tomorrow is going to be a very long day.

5/26/2007 : The flight back.

Back in the states and adjusting after, effectively, a 23-hour workday. Thanks to everyone for all the positive feedback about the trip. It was nice to hear that you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed making it. See you all soon.

-Brian