This is the new and improved "Park City Diaries," presented by indieWIRE. It will feature filmmaker festival journals and links to clips, trailers and video podcasts. (We invite you to recommend video links.)

Get the latest from Park City at indieWIRE.com.

In the Hollywood Reporter today, Anne Thompson looks at how blogs are changing the way people read about the Sundance Film Festival (including a plug for this very blog):

As blogs become more successful, they are challenging traditional media, and this year's Sundance marks a fascinating juncture...Sundance founder Robert Redford may lament all the buzz surrounding Sundance, but with all the blogs in attendance, that buzz will be louder than ever.

There's already been a lot of talk about the grocery store...maybe too much talk? Well, Brian Brooks reports for iPOP (on indieWIRE) with a shot that captures the scene at the local Albertsons in Park City...including a chance encounter with John Waters. Pictured here is a shot of a sign on the front sliding door of the store, with Albertsons and Budweiser joining forces to welcome Sundance attendees.
[Photo by Eugene Hernandez/indieWIRE]

...there's a term for Sundance I havent heard before. On his blog today, Anthony Kaufman weighs in with the intriguing title: "Suckdance: Money, Deals and Talent-Hunting in Park City". He then goes on to summarize the latest coverage from a Variety special Sundance issue that he wrote for...

Hola, I`m isabel Coixet. this is the first time I`m going to Sundance and I`m excited, melancholic, anxious, paranoid, deliriously happy and fucking scared. In fact I`m thinking about NOT going. Yeah. I`ll stay in bed watching the Coast Ivory version of Big Brother eating Cherios and rice milk until I `ll puke. Wait, maybe it`s nice pucking in the snow. OK, I`ll go. It`s funny, you spend your life as a filmaker wanting to go to Sundance and then when the moment cames you just want to escape. I love making films, talking aboiut them is another story....

More errands on the first full day in Utah as we gear up for our Sundance which has started to kick into full gear (get the latest in the special Park City section). The word for Wednesday was "S-N-O-W", which is pictured here falling in front of the Egyptian Theater on Main. The current National Weather Service advisory forecasts a significant amount of snow over the next 24 hours leading up to the opening of the fest (and as many people make their way to Park City).
[Photo by Eugene Hernandez/indieWIRE]

The indieWIRE crew arrived in Utah this afternoon, a few hours before the snow started to fall. Watching the news tonight...the weatherman is predicting between 1 - 2 feet of snow from the big winter storm heading our way; its all expected to fall between now and Sundance's opening night Thursday. Around town, things were quiet. We ran into a few publicists and a bunch of Slamdance folks participating in the traditional first-day-in-Park-City-ritual...stocking up at Albertsons.
[Photo by Eugene Hernandez/indieWIRE]