SANTA BARBARA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL’S GALA OPENING: Film locally, screen globally

4.1.1

From environmental artists to family dramas that span generations, this year the Santa Barbara International Film Festival is more home-grown than ever, with many films and many more of its filmmakers sporting Santa Barbara addresses. And the festival’s new artistic director, Roger Durling, said it’s about time.

“This year we’ve put much more thought into (the Santa Barbara filmmakers) section,” said Mr. Durling. “I’ve been banging the drum about this since we started. We should be more community-focused.”

To attach Santa Barbara to the name and not show our own artists, he said, “would be hypocritical.”

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My vewy foist digital camera

You are looking at the first photo taken with my new Canon Powershot A70. We got a little bit of cash during the holidays, so we finally got a camera after using the low-rez photos on my DV camera using the memory card. It was good in a pinch, but it was still a pinch.
Much online research and price-checking led me to choose the Canon and get it for $269 (list is $299) without tax and with free shipping. Thanks, www.mysimon.com! The online shop that had that deal was Willoughbys out of New York. I also bought a 256mb card from B&H for $50 something to replace the paltry 16mb card that ships with the camera.
Okay, so it’s not much of a photo, but it’s the first one I took. Rather flowers than a messy apartment…
This came just in time. Jessica’s mother, aunt, and two of her sisters are coming tomorrow for a two-week stay. Expect some blogging to come, as we are going to Phoenix and Vegas.
Yep…