in addition to providing me with a weekend full of movies to watch, i can always depend on fantastic fest to give me at least ONE good story that i will tell and re-tell until everyone has heard it a billion times and i have to stop telling it out of fear of paying for several surgeries due to excessive eye rolling.
this year, i got TWO stories.
first up: the hipster boat party
after the success of the white party and the pirate party, henri’s been itching for a reason to rent out a boat again. along came “donkey punch,” a movie about a bunch of hipsters murdering each other on a yacht, and boom, excuse received!
with the help of fernando, the Ultimate Hipster, henri concocted a party out of the following:
1) a bunch of film nerds
2) austin’s most sceney scenesters
3) a boat
4) loud DJ beats
as you can imagine, the result was *quite* a spectacle.
here’s caitlin, christi, meredith and friend (sorry friend! i don’t know yr name!). caitlin and meredith, being both film geeky AND cool, served as a bridge over the great cultural divide.
matt and meredith had all of the right ingredients in their hipster wardrobe: scarves, fedoras, american apparel tights, cowboy boots and cheap beer.
my favorite matt quote of the night: “these are the skinniest jeans i have. but on this boat, they’re, like, hammer pants.”
as matt noted, there was some Serious Fashion on this boat. oh and lots of tattoos.
i don’t even know what to say about this couple, but she gets major points for carrying around a long stem cigarette holder (not pictured, unfortunately).
and then there were these weirdos.
as you can imagine, the film nerds were a little taken aback by all of this pageantry. but, when in doubt, the best thing you can do is dance, and that is exactly what everyone did.
it was a gorgeous night, with the austin skyline glowing behind us and cool breezes carrying the music straight into the rooms at the nearby hyatt (sorry erica!!!!!).
and the best part? no one was murdered!
my second story occurred on friday night, which quickly became one of the funnest and most surreal nights of my entire life.
it all began with a phone call from tim (alamo owner) to henri: “do you want to go to uchi with bill pullman?”
uh… WHAAAAAAA.
ok honestly i was kind of more excited about the prospect of eating at uchi than bill pullman, even though i do love him (mostly for being in “newsies” but also for playing the president in “independence day”).
so we went to uchi! with bill pullman! and it was so fun! he told us about his fruit tree orchard and henri and i told him about random alamo events, like the bat cave before batman. and we ate DELICIOUS UCHI FOOD. he was exceedingly easy to talk to, and also super good with names, which i really admire.
did i mention that he rode to uchi in thomas? thomas was totally starstruck.
but the night wasn’t over! hours later, he came over to henri and me at the karaoke party and told us that he wanted to have a party! in his suite! at the driskell!
sweet cracker sandwich!
so we rounded up some alamo staff and random fantastic fest folks and trooped over to his room! caitlin and i actually walked over with him, and after i remarked that his suite “is the kind of place where presidents stay” (ya’ll, it was POSH), he replied, “or people that PLAYED presidents!” HAR HAR HAR bill pullman i love you.
here’s a picture we took in the presidential suite. note the presence of his camera– he took pictures of us, too! we are totally friends!
the party was a smashing success, and bill (FIRST NAME BASIS muhahaha) actually had to kick people out around 5 AM or so. but he kept a few of us around so we could take him to eat, cos he was hungry. he repeatedly exclaimed, “THIS IS SO FUN! I’M HAVING THE BEST TIME!”
sounds like someone ELSE i know… ahem.
we walked to katz’s, where the waitstaff proceeded to ogle bill pullman for our entire meal. in fact, at the end of our breakfast (?), our waiter came over with two cds and said, “i’m sorry, i know this is weird but uh i couldn’t pass up this oppotunity to give you some of my work.” uhhh AWKWARD. the best part is that one of the cds is simply labeled “butthole surfers.”
though he graciously received them, bill didn’t keep them, which means i may have some potentially excellent blog material…
to be honest, it was reeeeally hard to sit around a diner with bill pullman and not burst into “king of new york.” but i managed to surpress my newsies insticts. because i have dignity.
my favorite part of the night was the following conversation:
sarah: i haven’t been to katz’s in aaaages!
bill: when was the last time you were here?
sarah: uh, for my birthday. two years ago.
bill: why did you come here on yr birthday?
sarah: well… because… um, my birthday was themed around my favorite movie… which… is… “you’ve got mail.”
bill: [explosion of laughter] YOU’VE GOT MAIL IS YR FAVORITE MOVIE?!!!!
sarah: DUDE, you were in “while you were sleeping,” so shut up!
bill: touché, touché.
around 7 AM, as the sun began to rise, we walked bill pullman back to his hotel. he alternated between exclaiming what a good time he had and teasing me for liking “you’ve got mail.”
it was the perfect surreal ending to a perfectly surreal and amazing night.
LINKS
these pet ads are amazing. now i want a puppy even more, so i can buy him/her products!!!
check out dolly parton on ellen. LOVE HER.
this is a pretty interesting article on the changing stats of abortions in this country.
bill pullman sounds very down to earth! your life is crazy.
it kind of would have been funny if, when you said your favorite movie is “you’ve got mail,” bill pullman STOPPED laughing, stood up, and walked out of the restaurant.
I don’t think we can be friends anymore. You hang out with Bill Pullman. I’m having chicken nuggets for dinner. Some things just aren’t meant to work.
that’s a pretty cool weekend. Pullman sounds like a nice guy. Got a job offer today, one that might allow me to telecommute from Austin, at least it was talked discussed.
talked discussed? I guess I’m tired. I wrote “talked about” and then meant to change that to discussed. haha. off to catch last nights episodes of Heroes.
I cannot believe you shared a post with Bill Pullman. He deserved his own entry, seriously. I want to watch Newsies right now!!! I think it’s pretty neat that you met him and that he though you were cool. Good move, Bill. Sarah is fun peeps.
While you may have partied all night with Bill Pullman, you are such a hipster that you have the exact same purse as one of my 11 year old students! Seriously, I’m going to have to show her this picture tomorrow. Maybe all of those Dear Diary posts are getting to you… Do you want me to dig up some more fashion tips from my sixth graders?
i love Bill Pullman!!! totally jealous and star struck now.
seriously… i don’t know which is better… meeting Amber from Buffy or Bill Pullman. It’s a toss up.
aw, thanks jennifer! i appreciate the vote of coolness.
becky, i got my purse in mexico! i had no idea it was a highly desirable item for the tween crowd.
talena, i know. i keep trying to figure out the same thing.
The next time (and by “next” I mean “first”) I stay up all night, I am going to call it “pulling a Pullman.” Who knew he was such a rockstar? (And FYI, I will still watch “While You Were Sleeping” when it comes on Oxygen.)
Yes, but Bill Pullman didn’t flavor trip on saturday night. Point, me.
Why was Pullman in Austin? Did I miss that? Also, wasn’t Pullman in Sleepless In Seattle? That’s practically the You’ve Got Mail Prequel. (And not just because Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan are in it)
What a fun night. Dancing on a boat in Austin is definitely on my long-term to-do list. Are both of those supposed to be hyphenated?
Whoa! Partying all night with a celebrity? You are a rockstar!
I LOVE this story. Bill Pullman is awesome.
I almost fell out of my chair! I heart Bill P. so much! And I love your conversation you posted!! What a great comeback, go Posh!! Loveloveloveit, and makes me wish I had your life if only for one awesome Bill Pullman filled night!
And the festival isn’t over yet…
My student got her’s in Mexico too… I took a picture of it today to email to you tomorrow. All the kids in 6th period thought it was funny.
I cannot believe you didn’t make him say the whole speech from Independance Day while at Katz’s. Possibly standing on a table. Certainly with a megaphone.
Also wouldn’t it be funny if yr waiter was actually a member of The Butthole Surfers and now worked at Katz’s?
it feels like fantastic fest has been going on for a month.
Oh my gosh, thank you Sarah. I’ve been so stressed out at my job lately, and this post made me laugh for at least 2 minutes straight. Thanks for some much needed relief.
I read the flavor tripping post before this one and, not having read this post yet, the comment about the bags under the eyes kind of made it sound like you were sleeping with Bill Pullman. But now I understand that what you were doing was *not* sleeping with Bill Pullman! (Wait, that didn’t sound right either…) Sounds like an unforgettable night.
Wow, what an amazing weekend. I am jealous. Especially jealous that you got to enjoy the boat party as apposed to getting yelled at all morning by people who were woken up by a loud party on a boat. I am not bitter, just must remember to request off next time Alamo throws a boat party. Although I was very tempted to give out Henri’s cell number to the people. Great stories. And I do like that you made fun of While You Were Sleeping and then pointed out Sandra Bullocks restaraunt..Priceless.
OMG. I lurve While You Were Sleeping! Top Ten for sure!
Mega-bonus points for sassing the dude who gave the “this is our independence day” speech.