Long Standing Ovation

According to this article, a screening of Fahrenheit 9/11 received a 20 minute standing ovation, the longest in Cannes history.

So how does that work, a 20 mintue standing ovation? I think I've been involved in standing ovations of maybe about 2 or 3 minutes and they seemed really long. I was certainly only feebly clapping during the last minute. But 20 mintues? That must've felt like an eternity. And don't these people have parties to go to? What does Michael Moore think of this and what's the pyschology of a standing ovation?

These are all questions.

Update: Actually, one of the comments reminds of a time when Mike Elliott and I gave a standing ovation to ourselves for what was probably something like 20 minutes. But that was in our living room and I think Mike was smoking a cigar. So you can see how that would be less uncomfortable than say standing amongst the filmerati in a screening room.

Ebay Habits

I've been slowly developing a moderate ebay habit and am curious about a beaviour that I see on most auctions.

I've been looking at cameras that usually go for around $300. Every camera that I've looked at has bids starting at 1 cent and that go up in about 5 dollar increments. Do these people actually think they're going to win the auction and does that ever actually happen?

Arielle thinks that they're just ebay addicts who love to bid on the chance that they may win it. But I don't buy that - is there some strategy that I'm just missing?

Scaley Seams and The Hora

Adam and I went up to the Gunks recently to do our first multi-pitch ascent of one of the routes there. Previously, we'd just been top-roping (walking up to the top and draping a rope down the cliff) all of our routes. Adam posted some pictures to his site for your enjoyment.

And this weekend, Arielle and I took the glorious Amtrak service to Boston for her brother's bar mitzvah which exceeded my wildest expectations. What better way to spend a weekend than eating great food and examining the social habits of the lesser spotted 13 year olds. All I know is that Arielle's brother is way cooler than I was when I was 13. We'll be taking him to Six Flags New England with a couple of his friends for his bar mitzvah present in June sometime... I think I'm more excited than he is.