Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala

Last night I attended the 20th Annual Awards Gala for the Palm Springs International Film Festival. The black tie event was held at the Convention Center in beautiful downtown Palm Springs. Thousands of fans and celebrity-watchers lined the streets early for a glimpse of their favorite stars. When I arrived, there were stretch limousines lined up approaching the red carpet, dropping off celebrities non-stop. The press was in full force, hundreds of international photographers, TV networks, Entertainment Tonight, and newspaper reporters all packed along the red carpet entrance. As I walked in I saw Ron Howard giving an interview, Dakota Fanning signing autographs, Tom Bosley posing for photos, along with Kathy Bates, Mira Sorvino, Suzanne Somers and Mary Hart just to name a few. It was a night of celebrities galore. I took most of the photos here, although I borrowed a few of the red carpet from the Desert Sun. Enjoy!
The Red Carpet!

above: the Red Carpet entrance, where celebrities were ushered into the building.

above: Mary Hart, host of the evening's events

above: Mira Sorvino poses on the red carpet

above: Dakota Fanning who was so sweet and gracious to fans.

above: Leonardo Di Caprio looking dapper.

above: Leonardo DiCaprio really looks great up close too.

above: Kathy Bates says hi
The Awards Gala

Once inside, there was a cocktail hour to allow all the guests to arrive and be seated. The Pat Rizzo orchestra entertained the audience with terrific jazz and swing standards.

above: the dinner tables were festive and set with salads ready to go. Beautiful centerpieces of red roses adorned the tables.

above: Dessert was a delicious "chocolate bombe" cake. Yum!
The Award Ceremony

above: Amy Adams accepts the Spotlight Award

above: Anne Hathaway with the Desert Palm Achievement Award for Acting

above: Clint Eastwood accepting the Career Achievement Award

above: Ben Stiller was a presenter who introduced Dustin Hoffman.

above: Dustin Hoffman with the Chairman's Award

above: Dakota Fanning accepts the Rising Star Award

above: Donald Sutherland

above: Frank Langella

above: Freida Pinto accepts the Breakthrough Performance Award for "Slumdog Millionaire"

above: James Cromwell

above: Josh Brolin

above: Leonardo DiCaprio accepts the Ensemble Performance Award on behalf of the cast of Revolutionary Road, who were also present on stage.

above: Sean Penn accepts the Desert Palm Achievement Award for "Milk"

above: Ron Howard accepts the Director's Lifetime Achievement Award

The Glamorous VIP After Party!

Following the Awards Gala, I attended the exclusive VIP After Party, held at the Parker Palm Springs hotel and resort. The after party had a restricted guest list, most of the celebrities attended and chatted with the guests. The dance floor area had "Pop Art" images of the celebrity award recipients.

above: the curtain into the VIP area within the After Party. Leo DiCaprio's Pop Art image hangs at the entrance.

above: a Pop Art image of Dustin Hoffman

above: Leo Di Caprio and Amy Adams Pop Art outside the VIP seating area.

above: Anne Hathaway Pop Art above the dance floor.

above: here I am posing with a bejewelled guest with a fan that read "No Paparazzi", which illuminated when a flash went off. Great way to dissuade photos, huh?

The Palm Springs Savant Celebrity Friend Photos

above: With Freida Pinto

above: with the lovely and talented Anne Hathaway

above: Pals Ben Stiller and Josh Brolin

above: James Cromwell is so much taller than me. We had a nice chat.

above: With Suzanne Somers-she's practically my neighbor, and really, really sweet. We discussed her new book "Breakthrough".

Well that's all for today-hope you enjoyed my coverage of the Palm Springs Film Festival Awards Gala. I'll cover a few of the films later this week. Thanks for stopping by today!
-Rick Rockhill

Gearing Up For The Palm Springs International Film Festival

Once again, Palm Springs in buzzing with last minute preparations for the 20th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival which begins this week. This year's film festival is slated to screen 210 films from the US and 72 other countries. An impressive 77 films are premier screenings, (14 world premiers, 48 U.S. and 16 North American). Our festival also boasts a significant number of films nominated for Oscars In fact, The Desert Sun newspaper lists that we are screening 50 of the 67 films submitted for Best Foreign Language Film Academy Awards. if you live nearby, I highly recommend checking out as many of the films as you can. The best way to enjoy the film festival is to purchase a pass. Click here to find out more. If you live out of town, there are plenty of good hotel deals to be found here in Palm Springs.


The Palm Springs International Film Fest kicks off Tuesday night, January 6th with the annual black tie star-studded Awards Gala, featuring Clint Eastwood, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Ron Howard, Dakota Fanning, Amy Adams, Anne Hathaway and Dustin Hoffman. Our festival also attracts a number of other high profile celebrities who either live in Palm Springs or visit to attend the Awards Gala. I've blogged about the film fest for several years; regular readers may recall these photos from last year's event, when I met teen heart throbs Zac Effron and Vanessa Hudgens, among a several of other interesting celebrities.

above: with Zac Effron and Vanessa Hudgens

above: Cate Blanchett, Kate Winslet and Brad Pitt all made a splash at the Palm Springs Film Festival in prior years. Stay tuned this week, I'll be covering more of this year's film festival. Thanks for stopping by today!
-Rick Rockhill

Sunday Art Review: Dolly Art!

Initially I had a more serious art feature planned for the first Sunday Art Review post of 2009. Then I decided that we need to lighten things up a bit and have some fun. A bit of Dolly Parton usually brings a smile to my face, which was the inspiration for this week's Sunday Art Review: Dolly Art! Whether you like her music or not, Dolly Parton has a colorful personality and larger-than-life persona (among other things). From the very beginning she established a unique look that she has leveraged to the hilt. When speaking of her looks, she has said: "You'd be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap", a nod to the over-the-top image she carefully crafted over the years. Other than photos and album covers, there isn't a lot of "Dolly Art" floating around the web, but I did manage to dig up these fun images. I led off with the Dolly Pop Art (above). Here are a few other interesting pieces:

above: Would you believe, this is made of seeds and corn husks?

above: a caricature by artist Don Pinsent.

above: I call this Yellow Dolly

above: This is an image of Dolly painted on the nose of the 134th Air Fueling Wing of the Air National Guard

above: an interesting image by Angel Rodriguez Lopez

I found these "fast facts about Dolly Parton on the cbs news website:

* Dolly Rebecca Parton was born in 1946, the fourth of 12 children, in a cabin with no electricity or indoor plumbing, in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains in east Tennessee.
* She has sold more than 100 million records.
* She has two theme parks (Dollywood and Dollywood's Splash Country), her own recording company, and a chain of "Dixie Stampede" dinner theaters.
* She was the first of her family to graduate from high school.
* Parton has written about 3,000 songs; she says she has been writing songs since she was 7 years old.
* She has appeared in movies including "Nine to Five," "Steel Magnolias", "Rhinestone", 'Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" and "Straight Talk"
* She has been married for nearly 40 years to Carl Dean, a construction worker.

I hope you enjoyed today's Sunday Art Review. It may not be a great deal of "serious" art, but it sure is fun. And besides, I'm not a professional art critic anyway.

-Rick Rockhill

The Saturday Seven: Vexations About Facebook

As if I don't spend enough time with my laptop fiddling with Blogger. I recently joined Facebook and Twitter just because "everyone's doing it". Being over 21, I don't completely understand it yet, but I'm starting to catch on. A year or two ago I joined MySpace and since I'm over 14 I definitely never got it. Facebook seems to be fairly user-friendly and doesn't take long to learn the basics. That being said, there are some things that I still mystify me and other things that drive me crazy. This was the inspiration for another scintillating edition of the Saturday Seven: Vexations About Facebook. It is a fascinating bit of programming, because it uses algorithms to link up people or find friends. Your interests, hobbies, where you went to school, work, etc all give Facebook clues about who you are. It can be a really fun site to use. What some people fail to remember is that nearly everything you type or upload is visible to everyone, or at least your friends and network, depending on how you set it up. I've seen people have "private" online conversations with someone else not realizing that their entire network of friends was reading along about "how that Suzie So and So is a conniving beyotch". Oh my. So take note, you have to select the "wall to wall" option for those truly private conversations. Anyway, onto my Saturday Seven: Vexations About Facebook:
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#1 Content is Written in Stone: There are lots of things that once added cannot be edited, only deleted. For example: any comments you make, any status updates, comments on walls, or comments about someone else's photos.
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#2 Friend Finder: Facebook looks at your mutual friends and suggests all sorts of people you know, or should know. 90% of the time I have no idea who those people are.
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#3 Status Updates: The never-ending flow of updates about people. Foolish things people post like- "I've just started the laundry" suddenly becomes news. It's like a news network for non-news. Sometimes the updates get overwhelming...being constantly inundated all kinds of junk. Fortunately there is a feature to "see less about so and so" which will reduce the amount of junk mail that appears on my wall.
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#4 Sponsor Ads: These annoy me and are NEVER related. I use their feedback box on the ads and use the drop down option "I find it offensive" in the hopes they will someday think I am a prude and give up.
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#5 Social Applications & Groups: I'm constantly blocking all kinds of applications that are meaningless to me. I don't have time to comb my hair, let alone spend hours online chatting about Shaun Cassidy's haircut in the 70's
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#6 Virtual Gifts & Applications like that: I never accept them, I don't understand them and I'm bored by them. "So and so passed you a drink" or "So and So is giving you flowers". What's the point? (I sound cranky here).
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#7 Photo Limitations: For some reason Facebook has a hard limit of sixty photos per gallery. If you have vacation photos to upload that becomes a problem. I have trouble uploading more than 10 at once. So it is time-consuming. I prefer flickr, snapfish or one of the other online photo share sites.
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Well that's my list. What about you? What do you think about Facebook? Any other things annoy you that you'd like to share? Go ahead, leave a comment, this is the first Saturday Seven of 2009 so splurge!

Easy Stuffed Peppers

One moment I'm sipping champage with mega celebrities, and the next I'm being Chef Gordon Ramsey in the kitchen. You just never know what you'll find on this ridiculous blog of mine. One of the things I enjoy about taking a few vacation days off from work is having the time to cook, particularly things that take more time and planning. For example, I had a craving for stuffed peppers. There are lots and lots of ways to make them, depending on your preferences and cooking style. I usually make them without breadcrumbs, and often vary the recipe based on what is in the house at the moment. For this batch, I used ground beef, although I prefer lean ground turkey. I thought I'd show you how easy it is to make stuffed peppers, although this is not intended to be an exact recipe, just follow the photos and humor me.

Step one- thoroughly wash the bell peppers, and slice off the top, carve out any seeds.

Step Two: I sliced up some locally grown medjool dates, and also some mushrooms, set aside

Step Three: saute ground beef with sliced onions, olive oil and fresh minced garlic. I added some fresh spinach once the beef was cooked, just to add some vitamins and color. Mix in the mushrooms, dates and season to your preference. I added some sea salt, thyme, sage, and some steak sauce.

Step Four: Add two eggs, and mix thoroughly. The eggs serve as a binding agent to make the mixture stick together. I added some cheese and let it melt in the cooked mixture.

Step Five: stuff the peppers with the cooked mixture, top with some cheese. be sure to add some water to the pan before covering with foil. Then bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes. My secret is to add some vermouth or sherry to the water in the pan while it bakes.

Step Six: for the last 10 minutes, remove the foil to allow the tops to brown nicely. Mmmm they sure make a delicious meal, don't they? So easy, a monkey could make them!

-Rick Rockhill

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, and welcome 2009! New Year's Eve turned out to be quite exciting. The night started out at home with some close friends, relaxing over conversation to catch up on the goings-on of life in Palm Springs. We had dinner reservations at my favorite restaurant, Melvyn's (the same place we went for Christmas dinner). It was very busy with a well heeled crowd. Gentlemen were generally in suits or tuxedos; most ladies wore fancy dresses, gowns with sequins or feathers, and were dripping in diamonds and pearls. The entire ceiling was covered with balloons throughout the dining room and lounge which provided a festive atmosphere throughout. After our sumptuous dinner, we hit the lounge to enjoy the live music and a good round of people watching too. Of course I managed to stop for a New Years Eve photo with my usual martini. Next, we went to the home of a MAJOR singer celebrity who invited us to their home here in Palm Springs. I cannot reveal whose home it was, and I did not take any photos (although it killed me not to do so). I want to be invited back, so I shall respect this person's confidentiality. Suffice to say, it was a major thrill to be in his home. The house is perched way up high on the side of the mountain, with a spectacular view of the desert floor. I chatted with this super famous person for quite awhile and really enjoyed the conversation. While at the party, another famous celebrity showed up, a well-known actress who I've always admired. She looked great and was there with her husband. (Sorry to be so clandestine with the details). Anyway it was a fun evening and a memorable way to ring in the new year.

above: photos from Melvyn's restaurant, with all the fun balloons covering the ceilings. It was a great night out!
New Year's Day Video
I've prepared a New Year's Day video for you with my web cam, I hope you have time to check it out, either from YouTube or the Blogger video further below.

Happy New Year to you.

-Rick Rockhill

Koshimi Comes Home Again

On this last day of December, the final day of 2008 I decided to write one more post in memory of my beloved Koshimi. You see, yesterday I went back to the vet's office to bring Sheldon for his surgery to be neutered. It was difficult to be back; the last time I was there it was to put Koshimi to sleep. Once I dropped off Sheldon I went to the reception area to pick up Koshimi's ashes, which were being held since he was cremated last week. I didn't know what to expect but I definitely was not ready for it. The vet tech was very considerate and expressed her sympathy as she handed over a large brown paper bag that was labeled with Koshimi's name and the date of his cremation. As I took the bag in my hands, it felt much heavier than I expected. I still had not opened the brown bag yet, but I started to get a little teary so I made a mad dash for the door to get to our car. Once in the car I opened the brown paper bag- there I saw the most beautiful cedar wooden box, with brass hinges, secured shut with a brass pad-lock. I was immediately reduced to tears as I gazed down at this little box that contained the remains of my beloved dog. I sobbed for awhile, feeling overwhelmed again with sadness. In addition to the box, there was a nice certificate of cremation, stating that my pet was "respectfully handled and cremated" (see below). They also included a little green sheet of paper, rolled up with two poems on either side. I wanted to share them here and tried to type them here for you several times but it was just too much for me to handle. All I can say is they are the most beautiful poems for people who love their pets. Anyway once I got home, I found a nice spot in the house for Shimi's ashes. His beautiful cedar wooden box now rests in our library where he used to like to curl up next to me. On top of the box is a photo of him, young and vibrant- how I shall always remember him. He was my best bud, and I miss him so very much.

We are grateful to have Owen and Sheldon in our lives, both are wonderful pets and members of the family. Having Koshimi's ashes here at home will help to bring some closure for me. It just feels better having his final resting place with us. I feel like I can now close this year and enter 2009 with a sense of peace. Thanks for reading today, sorry to bring things down. Tomorrow I'll be back with a New Year's Day video, I hope you can join me then.

-Rick Rockhill

Hot Ham and Cheese Sandwich with George Foreman's Grill

So far this Christmas is turning out to be one of the best in a long time. We both took this week off on vacation, so between the Christmas Eve break last week and all this week, it feels like being off a long time. It is a healthy break from work, and I like nothing more than to be able to relax at home in the desert. We're working on a project at the house-parts of the kitchen are torn up and a total mess. I've been taking photos so it will likely turn into a post later in the week. When lunch time rolled around today, I went to the refrigerator to pull something together. Of course, nothing appealed to me at all. The spiral baked ham was staring at me through the plastic Saran Wrap with a muffled voice: "eat me, eat me, I don't have much time left". I cringed. Blech, I'm sick of cold ham, I thought. But I HATE to waste food under any circumstances. I pondered what my next move would be. Pizza? Pasta? Frozen something or other? Then I remembered I had a George Foreman grill buried deep in the cabinet somewhere. A hot ham sandwich sounded perfect! So I went to work.

above: I carved a few slices of ham, and some fresh sharp cheddar cheese...

above: I piled the ham and cheese on slices of wheat bread and placed in on the George Foreman grill...and in no time...
VOILA! My hot, ham and cheddar cheese sandwich was ready! The cheese was oozing from the sides of the sandwich, the bread was all toasty and crisp! I found the jar of kosher dill pickle spears and called it lunch. It turned out to be a perfect lunch for a winters day. I guess a bowl of tomato soup might have made it even better, but it was plenty of food and I was satisfied. The best part was that I didn't waste any of the ham. And now I thought I'd close with a joke I received yesterday from my friend Pete:

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A lady goes to the bar on a cruise ship and orders a Scotch with two drops of water.

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As the bartender gives her the drink she says, 'I'm on this cruise to celebrate my 80th birthday and it's today...'

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The bartender says, 'Well, since it's your birthday, I'll buy you a drink. In fact, this one is on me.'

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As the woman finishes her drink, the woman to her right says, 'I would like to buy you a drink, too.'

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The old woman says, 'Thank you. Bartender, I want a Scotch with two drops of water.'

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'Coming up,' says the bartender. 'Thank you, says the old woman.'

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Shortly after, the old woman says again, 'Bartender, I want another Scotch with two drops of water.'

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'Coming right up,' the bartender says.

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As he gives her the drink, he says, 'Ma'am, I'm dying of curiosity. Why the Scotch with only two drops of water?'

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The old woman replies, 'Sonny, when you're my age, you've learned how to hold your liquor. Holding your water, however, is a whole other issue.'

Happy Tuesday!

-Rick Rockhill

Bowling Bonanza!

This past Saturday, members of my usual "poker gang" met for a night of dinner and bowling. We started at a popular restaurant called "Manhattan in the Desert", but the wait for a table of six was close to 30 minutes and we had bowling to do, so we decided to leave. Next up was "Cipolline", an Italian restaurant with a reasonably priced menu. I had chicken Parmesan, which came with a side salad, pasta and veggies. The pasta was overcooked, but the chicken parm was decent. I've eaten here once before and liked the food, although the service both times was just fair. There wasn't anything wrong with it, but the servers don't have a whole lot of personality so it seems very transactional: Sit. Order Food. Eat Food. Pay Bill. Go Home. Anyway the food hit the spot and soon enough we were on our way.
We arrived at Palm Springs Lanes ready for our Bowling Bonanza. I bowl about once per year, so my only expectations were that I would have a few laughs with friends. I figured I'd be lucky to break "100" at all. The scary bowling alley attendant assigned us our lanes and set us up for a few hours of play. Palm Springs Lanes had been renovated since the last time I was there. The lanes have what looks like "laser lights" moving down each lane. It actually was pretty cool.

above: soon enough we were in full swing, in heavy competition.

above: My game name was "Ricky Ticky Taffy"-my first game I had three strikes and scored 109! I was thrilled.

above: The second game I was off and only bowled a 79, needless to say I didn't take a photo of those scores! But the competition heated up, and soon my game was "en fuego"...

above: Game three I had two strikes, but picked up a few spares, and hit 137.

above: I wonder if my score was good enough to make coverage in "Bowling News"?

above: I converted this photo to black and white just for the fun of it. These are some of the "Poker /Bowling Gang", heckling each other on every frame. It was a fun night all in all, I hope we make it back for another night of Bowling soon. I'm curious if you have any bowling tips or secrets to help me improve my game...

-Rick Rockhill