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I have a friend from college visiting this weekend so I finished painting the first wall and got all the furniture back in place and the TV plugged back in. The detritus and clutter is still out on the porch. Turns out the chaise section of the couch makes a decent guest bed if you're not too big. This friend is notable as being the only friend I ever hung out with regularly who could win at "6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon". So when I heard there was a film festival up in Santa Barbara, I thought she'd like it.

It has been raining on and off in varying intensities which I hoped would keep the crowds down some, and that may have been the case, since we got into both movies we'd chosen to see. We headed up after brunch and made good time. We found parking, found where to buy ticket passes, saw a rainbow, and then had some time to kill and went shopping while it wasn't raining. Santa Barbara has a charming street for shopping and we got some stuff, including some decorative sticks for me. Thinking it would be bad to take the sticks into a theater, we stashed stuff at the car, grabbed a bite to eat and stood in line for Garbage Warrior.

Garbage Warrior is a film about an architect who is trying to build houses to be self-sustaining "earthships" using a combination of new and recycled materials. Some of his creations look like piles of trash, some look like jewels. The state shut him down and took away his license, and I could see their point. They were unable to determine if his houses were safe. However, his point was also good - we need to be able to test new ideas without being stifled by the old ways, in order to prove new ways of doing things and work out the kinks when they go wrong. Except for the fact that the cameraman needed help with focus and liked to follow him around so 2/3 of the screen for 1/3 of the movie was of his upper back, it was interesting and watchable. (my rating 4/5)

Imitation on the other hand, failed the Sharky Test: I would rather have lost those two hours of my life, never to see them again, than seen that movie. Unlike the people on one side of us, we decided not to risk climbing over seats to escape. Maybe we should have lived on the edge a bit more. It got a 1/5, from a lot of people based on the comments, only because I couldn't give it a 0. Or a -5. It started out confusing and pointless and never improved. Had I not read the blurb in the brochure, I would not have guessed what the "plot" was. The characters were Too Stupid to Live (TSTL), every last one. The boy was cute (only redeeming feature, and his acting was ok), and the lady was a manipulative user that stole his car, twice, stranding him in unsavory places. The best part was when the boy found some information on a note card and ate it instead of telling the lady and the guy sitting next to us almost wet himself laughing. Then later that guy pretended to eat his rating card.

Well, we're off to Hollywood today to do something or other. Having a good time, wish you were here.