Swagdance

My Sundance 2009 story has been running in some gay regional publications, but the swag sidebar - always something to look forward to - got snipped, it seems. So... here it is!

You Can’t Stop The Swag

There were fewer lounges, lodges and big brands, but VIPs (and their friends) could still load up with suitcases of swag. In fact, much of it was extremely useful – brands and chains like Nivea (at House of Hype), St. Ives, Sephora, AMC Theaters, and Conair gifted VIPs with moisturizers, hair care products, body treatments (Elijah Wood received a St. Ives facial), AMC tickets, Divine fair trade chocolates, Givenchy Phenomenon mascara, and other useful items. “It’s like you went to a free Target,” observed one of my condo mates. The Hollywood Life House upped the cool factor with hip Onitsuka Tiger sneakers, T-shirts and adorable Tokidoki dolls; Whiting and Davis metal mesh bags; and tasteful White House Black Market clothing/accessories. L-R-G Gifting Villa’s Radius Earphones and Creative Recreation sneakers were fab giveaways. And Village at the Yard, where I ran into Chris Meloni, proved a favorite spot thanks to its T-Mobile Diner comfort foods (like “Touchscreen Turkey Pot Roast” and “Google Maps Mac & Cheese”), Fred Segal Fun mini-outlet (which featured the Black Boy Collection’s way-cool T-shirts and sweater depicting gay poet/icon Langston Hughes as a child), and Nickelodeon’s insanely fun Spongebob Squarepants lounge. Visitors included Jane Lynch, Philip Morris’ Ewan McGregor & Rodrigo Santoro, Richie Rich, Michael Cera, and Susan Sarandon, whom inquired, “Why is it a sponge?”