No I didn't walk down any red carpet, but I saw some others doing it last night at the opening to the Sydney Film Festival. It's yet another thing about people that I just don't understand. Someone walks down the red carpet and stops in the middle for a few photos. Onlookers stare at them and admire them (or something) and get all excited. Then they walk to the other end of the red carpet and get interviewed.

The interviewing bit I understand. Sometimes these people have interesting things to say about their art. I just don't get the red carpet and all the people watching. What about these people is worth going out of your way to look at from a distance? If they were aesthetically appealing enough to travel for then it would all be good, but they're not. They're just famous people.

The red carpet didn't bother me, as I could just walk past it to the bar. The half hour or so of speeches did a little. The traditional owners of the land were "recognised" too often to be interesting and the NSW minister for the arts proved herself to be either a bad public speaker or a dope. Three of the five speakers had something useful to say though.

Having said all that, it was a worthwhile event to go to. The film (Looking for Eric by Ken Loach) was entertaining. It's good to be watching a lightly humourous film in a crowd packed with beautiful people, all keen to laugh at any hint of a joke to demonstrate they understood it.

I'm struggling to not sound like a horrible cynic. In actuality I had a good time and really enjoyed the film. There are a bunch of other SFF films to look forward to over the next couple of weeks, and the opener has given me some confidence about them.