Loving the luxury and solitude! I'm having a blast! The American Lounge offers complimentary chair massages, drinks, snacks, pictures, wi-fi, and charging stations! Miami beach....nothing more to say! It's like my beach home, away from home! My hotel today, the Surfcomber, I'm LOVING! The room is spacious, everyone is friendly, if you need ANYTHING they get it, footsteps away from the beach, lounging by the pool, my room is right off the elevator. Today, I've networked and met a few film makers! Their films will be showing this week. I've also met some spectators...this one lady told me she won an all-expense trip here, hotel stay, $1000, ect. She said she always enters contests, and happened to have won this one! Ah-mazing, I thought! I never knew in those contests; you could ever actually WIN! Keep eyes and ears open for Full Circle. It's an independent film from a promising writer/director! You go boy! I'm enjoying my first day! And that massage at the Ritz in the American Lounge hosted by American Airlines wasn't too bad either ;-)
Day 2
Nice complimentary tea and coffee! My only complaint against the hotel is that they told me my resort equipment (towels, chair, umbrella) would be available by 8...turns out it's actually 9...and at 9 there was still no one available, even though I was able to sit on the chairs they'd put out, there weren't towels so, who really wants to get wet?! Lol
I have two workshops today! Excitement!
The first, The Art of Voice Acting, disappointed me slightly since Cree Summer wasn't apart of the panel as previously advertised. However, the other artists were great too! I met the first black voice of the Joker from the animated series, he's also Barney Rubble, the red-neck white man from Cleveland Show, Lester, and a plethora of others. His name is Kevin Michael Richardson. There was also Louie, the alligator from Princess and the Frog, Mr. Michael Leon-Wooley, whom have a hilarious story of a voice-over ad he had to do. Can't share it with you because he's saving it for Leno! Good luck friend and congrats in advance! Lol! All in all; that panel was informative, funny, entertaining, and I'm grateful for the nuggets of advice they threw out!
Best Man Holiday was my next workshop and it was not surprisingly packed!! Morris Chestnut, Sanaa Lathan, Nia Long, and Malcolm D. Lee all were interviewed by Shaun Robinson about the two year process of getting the film completed.
Afterwards, I went to dinner with friends and watched the White Hot Miami Heat beat the beloved Spurs in the championship game! Whoo Hoo!!! The energy was Outstanding from the arena to the streets! Parties everywhere! We ended up at a rooftop party dancing the night away :-)
Day 3
I lounged on the beach and allowed the sun to kiss my skin. Downtime for the majority of the day. Just the ocean and the staff of the Ritz serving these refreshing smoothie shots, or samples.
Later that evening I attended a private VIP reception sponsored by American Airlines and hosted by Regina King. They served up wine and appetizers! The crabcakes were ah-mazing! There I mingled and met several different people from all over in the industry and out including, but not limited to; Sallie Richardson, Bill Duke, Jawn Murray, and Dondre Whitfield all while still receiving chair massages!
After the two hour reception I met up with friends to attend the HBO Comedy Wings competition where four comics: a gay man, two other men, and a woman competed to earn a spot on. Why, you ask do I mention the man being gay; because it was the basis of his comedy act! Lol! Consequently, the woman, Zainab Johnson won! Look out for her as she's representing for the ladies!! The comedy show, by the way was hilarious and I commend all four contenders for their journey!
Day 4
This was another beach day for me! I enjoy the relaxation of the sun, sand and waves! Besides, I had to recover from the heavy networking and totally out of the box persona I had unleashed the night before.
After being drained from the sun I attended a day party where, I was ready to go before I got there! Let's face it; I'm so over the crowded club full of pretentious people I don't know, drinking, dancing and pushing through a crowd! I'm just beyond it. No offense to those that enjoy that scene.
Day 5
I fully enjoyed the amenities of my balcony suite at the Ritz and spent my morning into the evening lounging at the pool. I'd dip in every now and again. I met a man, an older gay man whom referred to me as, "Gorgeous" that gave me quite a bit of history and the happenings of South Beach than i bargained for. He was a pleasurable companion to lounge with. My evening was spent touring South Beach and the greater parts of Miami on a hunt for photo ops with my own personal photographer LOL. Notably Brickell where I drank martini's at the Blue Martini.
Day 6
I bid adieu to South Beach and headed home just minutes away from the championship parade. If only my thinking cap would've been on; I would've taken a later flight lol! However, my ride home was good with the exception of the lady that sat next to me smelling of sour cream! Once back in Houston, as fate would have it, the same kind traveler whom I met on the shuttle heading to Miami, the same kind traveler that allowed me to skip the check-in line with him since he was a pass holder, and the same kind traveler that was heading to the same festival as I, is the same kind traveler that I met back up with in the parking lot to pick up our cars! We exchanged our experiences with the ABFF and discussed highs and lows and means of improvements, and decided that we'd keep in touch in preparation for next years film festival!
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