Somehow, I have remembered to take photos on my vice-filled journey through the CineVegas Film Festival, and while a lot of them didn't come out as I planned, you can see a couple (along with a bunch from Getty Images) in the gallery below. You'll find shots of the parties, of the fest in motion, of fire-breathers in bikinis, of naked women covered in paint (ahem, see above), of singing sensation Bijou Phillips, and even a candid shot of the world beer pong champion (I think you'll be able to figure out which one that is). Wish you were here!

I'm coming to you live from the tenth annual CineVegas Film Festival in the fabulous Palms Casino and Resort. Yes, that's the very same hotel where the Real World Vegas clan turned a hot tub into a simmering cauldron of gonorrhea. Thankfully, I'm staying in a different suite. I arrived late Friday night, was also fortunate enough to attend the now legendary Britney Spears party, and woke up yesterday with a crippling hangover.

The fest is sponsored by Grey Goose, and to quote the greatest songwriter/pants-wetter of our day, Fergie, Grey Goose got this girl feeling loose! I can't seem to turn around without being handed a cocktail. I can certainly see why Nicolas Cage had such a problem with alcohol in that movie about leaving Las Vegas ... strangely, its title escapes me right now.

I don't like the word "awesome" very much. At least, not for the last 10+ years. Every time I hear the frakking word, it sends my brain back to high school and that whole cheerleader chant: "A-W-E-S-O-M-E! Awesome, awesome, to-tal-ly." AH! That being said, the word still means all of that super-cool stuff, so maybe this new festival will help reclaim the word in my tired-of-cheerleader-chants brain. indieWIRE reports that a new fest called "From Here to Awesome" is getting set up as a "New Discovery and Distribution Festival."

Co-founded by Lance Weiler (Head Trauma), Arin Crumley (Four Eyed Monsters), and M dot Strange (We Are the Strange), the new Awesome Fest is now accepting video submissions from filmmakers "explaining why they think their film is 'awesome.'" Through the wonder of the Internet partners MySpace, YouTube, and Current TV, audiences can zip through the submissions and vote on their favorites. In the Spring, the ten top picks will get screened in theaters, on the net, and zoomed onto your portable device of choice.

But here's the kicker -- any and all revenue is going directly to the lucky filmmaker. As if that wasn't enough, the filmmakers keep all of their rights. Weiler says: "Less and less films are getting traditional distribution deals. From Here to Awesome is an attempt to answer some of the largest issues facing filmmakers today -- discovery, distribution, and sustainability by putting the power to distribute in the hands of the filmmakers and their audiences." Good luck, fledgling filmmakers!

What kind of movies will be playing at the brand new Kansai International Film Festival in Osaka, Japan next month? If you're a visual-type person, go to the site, select your language and then allow the neat little embedded Quicktime trailer to tease your eyeballs. The organizers say they wanted to feature "a different spin on Japanese films, mixing both the east and west in cinema." They explain that most people don't realize dozens of independent films focusing on Japanese culture are made by Western directors each year; a few Western directors have even moved to Japan in order to explore the country by cinematic means. Motivated by a desire to highlight these lesser-known films, the small staff will present all 32 selections for free -- no charge, zip, nada -- which sounds like a pretty good deal. Let's see ... how much is air fare to Osaka?

What do you get for nothing? Mostly shorts, conveniently grouped into a variety of themes: experimental, documentary, local filmmakers, comedy, "Dark Side" and "Culture Clash," plus two screenings of "Wabi Sabi" films. That latter section is particularly intriguing for a Westerner; "wabi sabi" has been described as "a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience." Several feature-length films are also included. Jellyfish looks at an accordion-loving restaurant worker and his best friend, a constantly-dreaming mathematician. Rock N Tokyo documents Japanese rock and rollers Guitar Wolf (Wild Zero), The 5678's (Kill Bill: Vol. 1), Jet Boys and Nine. Bondi Tsumani "follows the psychedelic adventures of four punked-up manga-inspired Japanese characters ... as they travel up the East Coast of Australia." Biographies of the filmmakers can also be found on the site. The Kansai International Film Festival seizes the heart of Osaka during the weekend of August 24-26.

Paolo Cherchi Usai worked on his film Passio for six years. Scored to Arvo Part's "Passio," the film has been hailed by many as a masterpiece. Documentarian Ken Burns says "It seeks to do what most films and filmmakers shrink from: make a statement about all and everything; about who we are, where we have been, and where we are going." Werner Herzog thinks the film should be sent into space to represent human life, along with Beethoven's "Ode to Joy." And you will likely never get to see it. Usai doesn't want Passio to be in theaters or released on DVD. To make absolutely sure of it, he has destroyed the film's negative. Says Usai: "Film was never meant to be permanent. Film was born as something ephemeral. I consider film more as a performing art than an art of reproduction."

Passio made its U.S. premiere Friday at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City as part of the Tribeca Film Festival. It had only been performed once before - an Australian exhibition. Usai made just seven prints of the film, and will only allow viewings accompanied by a live orchestra and chorus. Says Usai: "This is a different animal. I wanted to make something where every experience will be radically different from another experience." Passio is a silent film full of disturbing, obscure film images such as: "the skull of a black man being measured by white scientists, a woman's seizure, the scraping of an eyeball," etc. The images are allegedly so extreme that a viewer fainted at the Australia screening. The film's mission is to expose "our neglected or repressed collective memory." If Passio sounds like something you might be interested in seeing, well...sorry. You probably won't get the chance.

If I described Diggers as being about "four old friends who struggle to (finally) mature in the face of grown-up stresses, miseries and generally unpleasant turns of event," you'd probably respond with something like "Oh yeah, just like 45% of all indie/comedy/dramas I've seen this decade." And you'd be right -- it's not a stunning sense of originality that makes Diggers worth watching; it's the actors, combined with the asset of a surprisingly insightful screenplay that does the job. It's amusing to note that while screenwriter Ken Marino's old State-mates are out banking huge coin writing chaff like Let's Go to Prison and Herbie: Fully Loaded, his first screenplay is a much more personal and low-key affair.

While Diggers would most likely be labeled a "drama," the truth is that there's a lot of solid wit to be found here. It's just couched in between a lot of (surprisingly compelling) melodrama, which helps the 'funny bits' to succeed more often. Plus, Diggers is packed with really strong performances, particularly from likable folks like Paul Rudd, Lauren Ambrose, Sarah Paulson, Josh Hamilton, Maura Tierney and Ron Eldard. Marino gives himself a very juicy central role, but the guy manages to steal every scene he's in, so it's not like it's a bad thing. (His scenes with Ms. Paulson are really quite excellent.) Rudd, Eldard, Hamilton and Marino make for a quietly compelling quartet of old pals; the guys exhibit a clear and casual chemistry that helps the semi-familiar material go down a lot more smoothly.

If you've turned on the television at all this week, you're probably aware that there's a film at Sundance called Hounddog, in which there's a rape scene featuring 12-year-old Dakota Fanning. There's been a lot of talk about the rape scene in theory, but most of it has come from people who haven't, and may never, see the film. After being shut out of the film's sole Sundance press screening, I swung by a public screening of the film, to find out what ticket buyers had to say after seeing it for themselves.

Lancaster, California has a film festival. If you've ever been there then you understand my statement. The town is small, was formerly known for its plethora of alfalfa fields and thus has little to attract an audience there. Unlike Palm Springs -- a desert resort community -- Lancaster is over an hour outside of Los Angeles and has a public pool with one adult lane. The point? It still has a film festival.

Darryl MacDonald, Godfather of film festivals, could be partially responsible for Lancaster's conception. MacDonald is partially responsible for most film festivals big and small. For Variety, MacDonald gave some pointers on how to make a film festival -- if you're thinking of creating one -- successful.

Here is a quick outline of what to do:

• Find a distinguishable characteristic for you film festival. Variety stated there are about 1,500 film festivals a year in North America alone.

• Figure out how to attract filmmakers to show their films at your festival.

• Money! You have to pay for publicizing your fest, the facilities to play your film, and much more.

• Gain credibility. MacDonald says this takes time and "you get that one of two ways: You buy it or you get a lot of celebrity participation."

What do you do if Angelina Jolie isn't interested in Lancaster, Pennsylvania or California? Then it's your job as the creator of your festival to come up with something clever. Yes, the festival will cost a lot of money but if you love film and there isn't a festival for miles then make one yourself. Go forth and good luck!

The extremely popular online virtual reality world of Second Life is getting a new real-world addition: the Sundance Film Festival. If you haven't ventured online in Second Life yet, the best way I can describe it to you is to imagine The Sims times about one million. It's an extremely detailed virtual world that allows users to customize every possible aspect of their appearance, and even develop professions, as well as own real estate and build whatever you want on them. Second Life has many real-world counterparts that exist virtually, like Dell and Toyota, and now Sundance will be joining them.

The first time I ventured into Second Life was a couple of years ago, and after an extremely disorienting first 30 minutes or so, I began to get the hang of things. It's a bit like Tron meets Virtuosity meets What Dreams May Come. Once you create your avatar, the virtual representation of yourself in the game which can be male or female, and look like you or not, then you are released head-first into the sprawling vastness of the Second Life universe. Your character can literally fly, like Superman, to any location in the game, and interact with the environment and other denizens of the virtual. You can do things like find a job, go sightseeing, and even purchase genitalia for your avatar. Yes, it's that detailed.

Sundance is going to be trying to duplicate the festival experience online, by way of the Sundance Channel. Vincent Tibbett, one of the Sundance avatars for Second Life told Netscape's Karina Longworth, "Imagine hanging out with people from your local art house theater. That's the environment we plan to replicate in SL." Having spent two trial weeks inside this world, and also being a veteran of the Sundance experience, I'm not sure how well it will translate, virtually speaking. Still, if it serves as another outlet to introduce films to the world, real or not, I'm all for it. Sundance is a great film festival, but it is often limited by the fact that you have to journey to Park City, UT in order to see many of the films, especially in the different Shorts and Animation categories, that you might never see anywhere else. If Second Life can give users a chance to experience Sundance films from the comfort of their own home, then how can it not be a step in the right direction?

The film launching the Sundance Second Life experience is Four Eyed Monsters, which was written and directed by two people popular in the vlogging world, Arin Crumley and Susan Buice, which should help it make an easy transition to the digital world. We'll be tracking more with the Second Life Sundance presence as it develops. In the meantime, be sure to visit our sister site dedicated to all things Second Life.

Let's play the question game again. I'll ask you a series of questions. If, at any point, you answer no to one of the questions, you can probably stop reading this post, as it will no longer interest you. I'll doubt you'll do that though, because really, who stops in the middle of a 200 word article? That's like stopping halfway through a piece of toast. You could do it, but ... why? It's not like it's a big commitment. Ready? Good.

1. Do you like Kevin Smith?
2. Do you appreciate amateur films?
3. Do you enjoy alcohol? (not an actual requirement, just a bonus for those of you who do)
4. Do you have 20 spare bucks?
5. Will you be in or around Los Angeles on Wednesday, September 6th?

If you answered "yes" to most of these questions, you might want to make your way to Cinespace sometime around 6pm this upcoming Wednesday and join Kevin Smith and a collection of other fans for the big Movies Askew Film Festival. The 12 films that will screen have been culled from thousands of shorts collected by Smith and company over the last year, and the big winner will be announced after the final flick screens -- sometime around midnight. The prize includes a fancy camera, a fancy TV and sound system, and a position working on the next View Askew film. You can read more about it here, if you happen to be interested.