iPhoto poops on me

• I've attempted to upload from my Canon s45 three times and it craps out.
• iPhoto's folder and rolls make no sense.
  Supposedly I should be able to preserve the information contained in my old file structure by moving folders into iphoto one at a time. See this from apple's site:
  

  You can also drag individual photos or an entire folder from the Finder into iPhoto's photo viewing area. If you drag a folder, a film roll is created with the folder's name. If the folder you import contains subfolders, film rolls are created with each subfolder's name.
  

  
  I have found this doesn't work. Update: What may work is to be in a folder and then do the import from there.
  

• I am unable to create new rolls. Mostly this is grayed out but if you go to the top of the library folder and select a few photos it isn't. Even then when I execute the command nothing happens. I have never had a roll besides last roll.
  Update: My new take on rolls is that they aren't supposed to work unless you are importing them from the camera. This makes intuitive sense except that I would still think you should be able to create a new roll.