If you’ve followed my blog for very long, you remember the whole Amy’s Baking Company fiasco. There was an episode of Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsay where he supposedly did something he never does – he walked away. The episode went viral in a big way. So many haters came out of nowhere. So many people posted all kinds of bad things online based on what they saw on this TV show. I found it all pretty interesting, and it became a huge thing here in Scottsdale, where I live, and where Amy’s is located. It went so crazy that the restaurant closed for a while, but ended up scheduling a grand re-opening, which I had the opportunity to attend.

I and the group of friends I was with were some of the first people there the night of the grand re-opening. At first we were told not to post anything on social media that night, but after talking to Samy and letting him know that we weren’t there just to be haters, but that we would be fair and genuinely wanted to try the food and experience their restaurant, he said it was ok. So I tweeted about it and posted pictures of my food. Ricky tweeted about it. And the other couple with us posted on Yelp. And, well, we honestly had a good experience. We ordered drinks, appetizers, and meals, and we all split our food with each other. We even had pizza. The only thing we didn’t have were desserts, which was unfortunate because that is what Amy was rumored to do best.

It was an odd night. We were on TV for being there and talking to reporters afterwards. I had a reporter from the Associated Press tweet at me and want to talk to me on the phone about it. We were mentioned in the local and national news. Ricky and I got our 15 minutes of fame, I guess. And we got a lot of interesting and somewhat comical feedback about it. I blogged about it, but since I’ve switched my site over to a new platform you won’t see all the crazy comments that I got. But I am still archiving my old site, so definitely visit the post over there too. You won’t want to miss some of these comments. I have never gotten as much feedback on any other blog post on my site. I was accused of being a plant, paid to be there and say positive things about it, which cracked up all my friends that normally follow me on Twitter and read my blog, since they knew it wasn’t true. The whole situation was pretty wild. It’s crazy how nuts people online will get over a restaurant they’ve never been to and will likely never go to, all based on a reality TV show.

So that was a few months ago. Let’s fast forward to just a few weeks ago. I had friends in town visiting from Philadelphia who had seen the Kitchen Nightmares episode and all the aftermath, and they wanted to visit Amy’s for themselves. I was curious to see how Amy and Samy were doing also, so I met them there to hang out and actually get to try some of Amy’s desserts this time. And I have to report, the desserts are actually really good. The restaurant wasn’t busy when we were there, but Amy and Samy seemed to be in good spirits and gave us great food and good service. Lucky for them, the hoopla seems to have died down. My friends actually went back several times while they were in town because they loved the desserts so much. They also had a hummus appetizer, which they claimed was really good as well. (I think that was one of the appetizers we had at the grand re-opening, if I remember correctly, and I think I agree with them about how good it is.)

Fast forward even more to this past Friday night. The season premiere episode of Season 7 of Kitchen Nightmares, where they decide to make another visit to Amy’s Baking Company. Curiosity got the best of me, and I decided to watch this episode as well. Halfway into the episode, I was pretty disappointed since they had not really shown anything new. It was all a rehashing of the previous episode, plus a bit of “bonus footage” that they hadn’t shown the first time, all still along the same lines as that episode. They did send a reporter (not Gordon Ramsay) back to Amy’s to see how things were, but none of this was shown until the last 10 minutes of the episode. And it was pretty much just more of the same. You could tell that they egged Samy and Amy on to try to catch more of “the crazy” on video. But really, this whole episode was pointless. All it was was a rehashing of the same thing from last time. Are Amy and Samy crazy? They’re a little odd, sure. But having been to the restaurant more than once now… it’s a good place to eat. It’s not a place I visit often, obviously. But I’d go back again. The food was good, the desserts were good, and the service was good. And honestly, I think more highly of them than I do Kitchen Nightmares. Their season premiere “Return to Amy’s Baking Company” was a pretty crappy episode. It was weak and only done for ratings, because they knew people would be interested. But it was far from good TV. Try again, Kitchen Nightmares. And Amy and Samy, just keep doing what you’re doing. You might be a little wild and crazy, but you’re doing just fine.

I started this blog because… well, I’ve pretty much always had a blog. Since I’ve known what one was, I’ve had one. I started out years ago with Xanga, basically writing whatever I wanted, however short or long of a post I wanted. In some ways, I still kind of do that. I’ve been through different names and designs for my blog, finally coming up with the idea of “girl vs planet”. I’m not even sure how I came up with it, but I like it. I think it will be around for a long while. I think it adequately describes what my blog is. The planet thing kind of has multiple meanings. First of all, it’s an indication of my love of travel. Also, I think the whole “girl vs planet” idea kind of sums up what it’s about… the experiences I have. Whether it is a book I read, or a trip I took, or just what’s going on in life in general, it’s a good description of what my blog is about.

Now, on the other hand… where do I want to go with it? Initially, and for a long time, I have never cared much about who reads or doesn’t read my blog or how much of a following or how much traffic I have. But now I’m kind of starting to. Not because I really feel the need for more attention, but because the more “attention” I get, the more I can do with it. For example, it gave me the opportunity to be a part of the Phoenix Film Festival this week. I love that. The best thing I can provide them in exchange for the festival allowing me to be there on a press pass is passion. Passion about this event they are having. Enough passion that I do everything I can to make sure people know about it. Enough passion that I want to share it with however many or few people are reading this. I like telling people about the things I’m passionate about. That’s what passion is, I guess.

I’m kind of unsure of what to do or where to go from here, though. In a way, I felt sort of like a fraud with a press pass at the festival. My blog doesn’t have a huge following. I review films sometimes, but I know I’m probably not the best film critic. I don’t follow any film critic rules, I just write what I think about the film. And I know that I don’t want to just write about film. I like writing about all kinds of things, and I’m wondering if maybe that is a downfall. I write about books I’ve read, movies I’ve seen, places I’m traveling to, what I think about the series finale of TV shows. The blog is about all kinds of experiences I have. Hence the tag line – “One girl. One planet. One experience at a time.” But how does that gain a following? People generally aren’t going to care about finding one person’s blog about all different kinds of things, are they? Instead they are looking for a movie review site, or a book site, or a TV site, or a travel site.

Eventually, it would be my dream to somehow monetize this blog. An even bigger dream would be to earn my living from writing, hopefully in some form like this. I love writing, but I can’t see myself writing a novel or a screenplay. But I also have a hard time believing I could ever gain enough of a following to make a living from a blog like this, so I’m not sure where to go with it.

So that’s where you guys come in. I know I don’t have a ton of readers, necessarily, but I do know people read this. (And every once in a while, someone even comments!) What do you think? I’m kind of begging for feedback on this one. If you’re reading this now, what brought you here? I know most of you are just my friends that see the posts I put on Facebook or Twitter or you follow me on an RSS reader. But what makes you come and read? Is it just the fact that you know me? Or do you genuinely think my writing is interesting? What makes you visit a website that you go to regularly (besides something like Google or Facebook)? Do you think my blog/website would do better if it was just one focus, or do you like that I write about all of my experiences? Personally, I like finding other people’s blogs. I like reading about other people’s experiences. I can’t really imagine just writing about one aspect of my life, because I have so many interests and different things I’m passionate about. But I’m not sure how far that’s going to get me.

So please, tell me what you think. Comments here (or if not here, Facebook or Twitter or wherever) are very much appreciated. What should I do? Where should I go from here?

Today is officially the last day of the Phoenix Film Festival. For those of you out there that have absolutely no interest in it, you can breathe a sigh of relief, as this will likely be my last post about it for a while. Unless I decide to revisit any of the movies that I chose not to review. If that happens, well, just deal. Trust me, there are plenty of other posts on the way as well.

I wrote a post recapping most of the weekend. You can read it here. A few things have happened since then, so I figured I’d do a full recap of everything now that it’s all over. Oh, and I essentially have skipped the last two days of the festival. There were movies I would have liked to see, but honestly, this introvert is a bit wiped out from the first five days of the festival and decided that having some downtime to recharge was a better idea.

So first off, here’s a list of all the movies I’ve seen in the last few days as a part of the festival (in the order I saw them, even!):

1. SOS: Save Our Skins
2. Teddy Bears
3. God’s Pocket
4. The Shower
5. Little Hope Was Arson
6. The Joe Show
7. The Sacrament
8. Jake Squared
9. Billy Club
10. Dom Hemingway
11. The Trouble With The Truth
12. Oculus

Then here are links to all of the ones that I’ve reviewed:

• God’s Pocket
• The Shower
• Billy Club
• The Trouble With The Truth
• Oculus

If I had to pick a favorite of all the ones I saw, I’d probably pick The Trouble With The Truth, followed by The Shower. Pretty much all of the movies I saw had or were something different… something not quite like the mainstream films you’d head to your local multiscreen theater to see on a given weekend. That’s one of the things I like about the fest, one of the reasons I made the effort to be there for a second year. Another reason is the people. I met some great people last year, but working as a volunteer made it a bit harder to truly connect. I was either busy volunteering or watching movies the whole time, really. This year was different. (I even got a chance to talk to Paul Osborne finally, who I followed on Twitter after his movie Favor became one of my favorites from last year’s fest.) I’m so glad I got the opportunity to attend with a press pass this year. I would’ve paid for my ticket if I had to, but I also liked the obligation of providing coverage of the festival. Without that, I may not have posted as many reviews or blogged or tweeted as much about it. And honestly, doing all of that really did contribute to some of the most rewarding parts of the event for me.

My previous recap ended with the Copper Wing awards ceremony on Sunday night. So let’s pick back up with Monday. Monday night I headed to the theater in anticipation of seeing The Trouble With The Truth. I also had a heads up that Lea Thompson would be there, as she was on the interview list sent out to press. (Bummer that I didn’t get an interview with her, but being a lowly local blogger, I didn’t really expect to. But one can hope!) When I went into the movie, I headed for what had become my normal seat over the weekend – middle of the first row in the back section. Sitting there puts you right in the middle, close enough to the screen so that you get the big screen movie theater effect well, and it allows you to put your feet up on the metal bars in front of that row. There were some people that had sat at the closest end of that row, then the other end was blocked off. I started excusing myself and stepping over people when I was stopped by a lady standing up that said that the entire row was saved. So I headed to the row behind it. No sooner had I sat down when I realized who the first person I had stepped over was – Lea Thompson! I had been a fan of her since I was a kid, having watched Caroline in the City when it was on. And of course, I’ve seen all the Back to the Future movies (Marty McFly’s mom!). I’d also seen The Beverly Hillbillies movie she was in as well. I took advantage of the few minutes before the movie started to meet and get a photo with her.

After meeting Lea (and watching the movie with the lead actress sitting right there watching it in front of me) and really enjoying The Trouble With The Truth quite a bit, I knew that there was no way my night was going to get any better, so I skipped my second movie and headed home.

Tuesday evening I headed back again to see Oculus. I was expecting a lot from this movie. I watched the trailer, and it looked good and scary. I’d also read nothing but good reviews for it, so I was expecting something scary and unique. Well, while it had some good chills, it was anything but unique in my opinion. I left pretty disappointed, as did some of the festival staff that I talked to about it. You can read my review of it here.

Tuesday ended up being my last day at the fest. I had tickets for Kidnapped for Christand Proxy on Wednesday night, but honestly I just really needed some time to rest and relax. I’m also missing the closing movie Boyhood to do the same tonight. But truthfully, the rest of the festival was so much fun that I don’t really feel like my experience is any less for missing these last two nights.

While meeting Lea Thompson (she was so nice!) was definitely one of the highlights of the festival for me, I do have to say that I think hanging out with the guys from The Shower might have been close to the top of my list of experiences there. I have Twitter to thank somewhat for that, as tweets, retweets and replies back and forth with Alex Drummond and the others in between movies are part of what inspired me to find them to talk more after their Q&A session on Saturday. Honestly, these guys are just a lot of fun. And so, so nice. I was happy to run into them again in time to grab a beer with Alex and Paul Natonek before the awards ceremony. (I was sad that Andy Hoff had left before I got a chance to ask him about his experience on How I Met Your Mother!)

Not only is The Shower worth checking out if you like comedy with a splash of blood involved, but I think I enjoyed hearing the stories behind the film just as much. You can read some of Alex’s experiences making it at his site, waiterdirector.com (aka “How To Make A Movie In 18 Years”). I definitely plan on keeping up with these guys as they visit more film fests and seeing what happens to The Shower.

All in all, the Phoenix Film Festival this year was everything I was hoping it would be. Great movies (and a couple not-so-great) and the opportunity to meet the filmmakers, actors, other press (shout out to Caleb who I was glad to find on Twitter after I talked to him briefly before my first movie of the festival – he also found a filmmaker to adopt for the weekend), and just generally some really cool and interesting people. Thanks to Twitter for keeping us all connected before, during, and after the festival. So goodbye #PFF2014 – have to say I can’t wait to see what’s in store for next year!