A helicopter just landed in front of me. I can’t see who got out of it, but an entourage met them at the landing pad and rushed them off from beneath the blades. I find this amusing. You see, I, too, was brought here by helicopter. Many many helicopters, actually. I modeled a swarm of 3D helicopters that got me started working on LOOP. I never would have guessed that over a year later I’d be representing the film at the Cannes film festival. And yet, here I am. And I’m excited.

After my flight ordeal, I was both exhausted and jet lagged. I slept in until about 11:30. Eventually, I figured I should get up to get my festival accreditation and cell phone, so I dragged myself out of bed. My hotel is about 2.5 miles from the palais where most of the festival activities take place.

I tried to get a week-long bus ticket, but the tabac where one buys such things was closed. I decided to walk:

Basic recap of my day: slept till noon, walked a couple of miles along the beach under the warm Mediterranean sun, collected access badge for biggest film festival of the year. Oh, and did I mention, boys, that the beach was a topless beach?

Yeah, it was a hard day.

I'm all official now. I missed out on the opening film, Blindness, but there are hundreds of others, so I'm sure I'll see something good eventually.  A couple of quick pictures from the opening of the festival.  This was the arrival of all of the judges.  Natalie Portman is in there somewhere.