esrosedotblog

FESTED

John is attending the

Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films and Film Market.

The largest Festival and Market for short films in North America, Palm Springs ShortFest features over 350 new shorts from around the world for an audience of more than 20,000 film enthusiasts, along with seminars, panel discussions, master classes and in-person tributes. 5000 films were entered.

The jury selected films are shown in blocks of 1-2 hours. Similarity of theme is at least attempted. There might be as many as four or five in one block.

John will see most of them.

I used to go. I even enjoyed it.

But then, after the initial blush, the realities of marathon film watching came to the fore.

It is hard work. I just couldn't do it.

It is very hard to select when and where to go to see the 'best' on offer. I was constantly behind.

My eyeballs and brain can only take so much. I started to forget what I had seen before.

Whiteout.

Then there is the crowd factor.

OK.

I admit to a bit of agoraphobia. But you gotta admit that the agora is not all that happy a place sometimes.

There are lines in the agora.

People are rude.

Some people walk all over your boundaries. Sometimes, it is like sitting next to a 'talker' on an airplane. There is no defense.

No book, no crossword, no laptop will stop them.

And so on.

There are just too goddam many people.

So I quit.

I was fested out.

That is not to say that the experience cannot be rewarding. John will see a lot of short films that I wish I could have seen.

It is just that my balance went to 'tilt'. The cost/value relationship bonked.

There is a sizable representation of gay films in every festival here. After all, 'the gays' take up as much as 40% of the population, at least in Palm Springs.

Missing them is somewhat irksome as well. But the turnout for the gay films is even larger than for the other blocks.

Have you ever been in a densely concentrated batallion of faggots?

Take my word. It is not liberating.

So, I will stay home with Franklin and enjoy not cooking dinner each night.

We will miss John but he will be here in the mornings and sometimes during the days.

We will get fleeting glances of him as he runs off to the next showing.

And then, it will be over for another year. Wednesday.

Nice.