TIFF '09 Day Ten

So the Toronto International Film Festival is winding down... I worked six nights at Roy Thomson Hall and saw just three films, all at other venues and the last two of them today. The Invention of Lying, Max Manus, and The Young Victoria. "Lying" was Ricky Gervais' entertaining new comedy that will be in theatres any day now. Max Manus was a conventional WWII drama with great performances and a true-to-life plot. "Victoria" was a fairly standard high quality Brit period piece about the early life of Queen Victoria, starring Emily Blunt. All worth the time and all last-minute "rush line" screenings. The essence of Festival attendance!

I have to say that this year was tough though. I worked at my real job most days and at TIFF I found myself coping with a heavy workload as a Volunteer Captain. The two Co-Captains I usually worked with basically abandoned their posts to spend time "helping" in the section of the theater that the talent were seated in. When I reluctantly raised the issue with the Volunteer Coordinators I found myself the target of "revenge" complaints. Yuck. Earlier this evening I realised that I had forgotten to pickup my ticket for Sunday night's Staff/Volunteer party, but when I called to see if there was any way to still get it the answer was "No." Double yuck.

I officiated another kid's "triathlon" race this morning, the local Beaches Best Kids of Steel duathlon. That was a much more enjoyable experience, so I'll get some rest and reflect on my TIFF experience when I've got a bit more emotional energy.

Last weekend I took a few days off from volunteering at TIFF to rest and travel up to Huntsville for the Ironman 70.3 Muskoka race. Last year's 5:58:25 result has been soundly crushed by this year's 5:35:06 time. Very satisfactory, but it means that I now owe myself two race reports...

Listening to: Like a Stone by Audioslave from Audioslave.

TIFF '09 Day One

I was volunteering at the Toronto International Film Festival last night, working as Volunteer Captain at Roy Thomson Hall. The Opening Gala was Creation, a biopic about Charles Darwin starring real-life husband and wife Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly ("English naturalist Charles Darwin struggles to find a balance between his revolutionary theories on evolution and the [his] relationship with [his] religious wife, whose faith contradicts his work." according to imdb.com). Jennifer looked great in a towering pair of heels, which came off the moment she got to the Green Room :-). The film seemed well received by the audience and the evening went smoothly from my perspective. I'll be back at RTH all next week, so I hope this is a sign of things to come.

Through the evening I circulated around helping where needed and making sure the volunteers were in position at the right times. The big change this year was the move of the Red Carpet from the normal east entrance to the west side of the building, which opens onto a pedestrian park. This resulted in a lot less congestion during admission, but the Red Carpet team had to deal with a much more spread-out environment and they had tons of communication problems due to balky walkie-talkies and incomplete talent schedules. It looked great to the casual eye though... There was even an excellent high definition video feed from the Red Carpet into the theatre as well as the internet and a few other Festival locations.

Now I have a bit of down-time before my Ironman 70.3 race up in Huntsville on Sunday. I'm going to try to take it easy so I can get to the starting line with better energy reserves than I had at Ironman USA back in July. (Yes, I will post that race report soon!)

Listening to: A Day in the Life (in glorious mono!) by The Beatles from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Countdown to the Film Festival

The Toronto International Film Festival starts on Thursday night... I've been involved in some of the training and orientation sessions over the pasts few months and during TIFF (Sept. 10 - 19) I'll be volunteering at Roy Thomson Hall most evenings. This grainy snap is from inside the auditorium at RTH, a few minutes before the theatre volunteers arrived for their orientation.

Today I drove up to Wilcox Lake for a short ride (60K). Along with the start of TIFF I also have my last triathlon of the season on Sunday, the Ironman 70.3 Muskoka race up in Huntsville.

Listening to: Was a Time (Favretto Remix) by Whigfield from David Rocco's Dolce Vita.

Winding Down

TIFF is over now for 2008. I only managed to get to three films, all of which were enjoyable. The last film I saw was a Press & Industry screening of Cooper's Camera, which was a demented comic short that would have fit perfectly on the old Canadian TV satire SCTV. Too bad it was really feature length! My son had wanted to see it too, but he never got himself organised enough to join me. The People's Choice Award winner, Slumdog Millionaire, was a film I tried to get to several times but the final free screening took place Saturday night when I was already up in Huntsville for my final triathlon of the season.

Here's how that last day played out... Up at 5:00 AM as usual for the last two weeks, back standing under the cold blast of an air conditioning outlet. I had started the Festival in t-shirt and shorts, by the last day I was wearing fairly heavy pants and a thick sweater. Didn't stop me getting a pretty solid chest cold though! I finished work at 1:00 PM, hurried back home to throw my race gear into the car. The forecast for race day was rain, and lots of it. So I threw in rain jackets, cycling booties, arm warmers, cold weather riding gloves, etc.

I headed north and two and a half hours later I was at the Deerhurst Inn in Huntsville registering for the race and setting up my bike. Just in time! There was only 40 minutes left to access the transition area. I connected with my friends and made my way to their nearby cottage and tried to spend the evening quietly getting healthy. It was so nice to be with friends, lots of emotional and practical support was on hand.

The TIFF "marathon" was over, the next one started in about eight hours.

Listening to: (Far From) Home by Tiga from Sexor.

Advice to the Film Lover

So I've been working at the Toronto International Film Festival's Festival Box Office beside Dundas Square for ten days now, starting generally at 6:00 AM. I did the same thing last year. Things are starting to settle down at last, and today was quite easy. Here is some insider's knowledge for ticket buyers...

Advance Ticket Packages: Great idea; saves money and gives you (almost) first shot at available tickets through the lottery process. Every year though there are long lineups of frustrated people. They line up to get their selection form, they line up a few days later to drop off their completed selection form and a third time to pick up their allocated tickets. It's a great chance for me to get to know everyone, chit-chat, etc. Here is the way to do it without sacrificing six to ten hours of your life. Sadly we'll only have a short chance to get to know each other this way:

• Don't wait for your selection form to decide on your choices. Use the TIFF web site to make your choices before you even come down to the Box Office the first time. Fill out the form on the spot and give it back to us.
• When you fill out the contact information do it very carefully. If we can't correctly read your e-mail address you won't get a helpful e-mail later telling you which of your selected films you were able to get tickets for. You'll be in the dark until you pick up your physical tickets.
  
• Remember that you don't have to select all your films up front. You'll get vouchers for any remaining choices that are easy to use during the Festival. Leave a few vouchers for hot tip films.
  
• Don't come down the first day with all the OCD types to spend a half day trudging toward the front of the line. Wait a day or two for the crowds to subside. It's a lottery. Your selection form goes into one of a number of cartons. This year there were 68 cartons and the randomly selected starting carton was the ninth one. This means that this year the first people to drop off their selections were actually among the last to have their choices processed.
• Mid-morning and mid-afternoon are generally quieter times of day at the Box Office.
  

Donor Ticket Packages: Same as above, but your selections get processed before the above 68 cartons. The donation threshold for access to this early access dropped this year to $250. If you really, really, really want to get your exact film selections this is an option worth considering.

Pre-Festival Single Ticket Sales: A few days before the Festival begins individual tickets go on sale. Once more it will be all about crazy long lines and frustrated people. Trust the Festival's programmers. The "big" films will be in "big" theatres. You don't need to be first in line to get tickets to a particular screening, wait a day or so!

In-Festival Single Ticket Sales: The Box Office will open at 7:00 AM, but the line ups to buy tickets or convert vouchers will start several hours before.

• After the first few days the Box Office will often be pretty quiet and the 7:00 AM die hards will likely be processed in the first ten minutes. Sleep accordingly.
• Try buying your tickets online or by phone and picking them up at the theatre on the day of your first screening.
• Screenings can swing from "on sale" to "off sale" and back again as allocations change. Don't give up and check as early as possible on the day of screening, when ticket allocations are most likely to be released.
  
• Rushing a screening is often a successful way to see a film, even if it's sold out. Knowing how soon to join the rush line is a black art, but two hours is probably a sensible outer limit.
  

Hope this helps someone next year!

Yesterday I was able to get some Festival tickets for Sheryl, Tamara and myself for the new period piece The Duchess, a film about Princess Diana's equally scandalous 18th century ancestor the Duchess of Devonshire, starring Keira Knightley. Well produced, but I found Keira's performance a bit forced and the plot, "woman trapped in a loveless marriage", lacking in nuance. Great sets and locations though!

Today I rushed More Than a Game, the documentary about the grade school basketball team that included Lebron James. Loved it, recommend it. The director made interesting "dimensional" use of photographs to flesh out the footage he got from the early days. A great tale of talented boys learning to be men, nearly undermined by LeBron's seduction by celebrity.

Listening to: I'm In Love With The System by Forgotten Rebels from In Love With The System.

Opening Night

Back home from the Toronto International Film Festival's Opening Night Gala party. A late night, but a good time. Noshed on abundant tasty things, indulged in a variety of adult beverages, hung out with old and new friends... This is a photo of the Amarello Girls.

Back at work in three hours though, so "night everyone!". The TIFF screenings started today (Sept 3rd), but I've already been on the job since August 27th...

My Ironman Canada report is done, but I'm waiting to scan some photos before posting it.

Listening to: Call On Me (Eric Prydz vs Retarded Funk Mix) by Eric Prydz from Ministry of Sound - The Annual 2006.

A Boy and his Bike (redux)

Last year during the Toronto International Film Festival my street bike was stolen. A week ago the Toronto Police made a big bust, uncovering a stash of over 3,000 stolen bikes at a local "bike dealer". That's a mind-boggling number of bicycles. Seems more like a compulsion rather than a business, unless the goal was to help keep crack heads in ready money.

The police decided to set up a massive temporary "come and get your bike" depot, with fairly lenient proof requirements, so I headed down this afternoon to see if I could find my poor old Trek 800. No luck, but I did snap this iPhone photo of just a fraction of the bikes the police were trying to return.

Speaking of TIFF, I'll be on staff as a Box Office Line Supervisor again this year. I'll cut back the volunteer side this time though so I can actually see a few films...

And speaking of film, last night Sheryl and I took in the new version of Brideshead Revisited on the spur of the moment. There was an outstanding TV mini-series version back in the eighties. This much shorter film version stands up, although the homosexual subtext rises to the surface a bit too bluntly and plenty of other nuances are lost. Ben Whishaw as Sebastian Flyte and Michael Gambon and Emma Thompson as Lord and Lady Marchmain really stood out. Nothing like a tale of declining aristocrats and manipulative Catholic mothers!

Listening to: Precious (Michael Mayer Balearic Mix) by Depeche Mode from Precious (Remixes).

Boy, that was quick.

The Sprockets International Film Festival for Children has been and gone. I only volunteered for one theatre shift, although I worked several days before and after. It seemed to go by very quickly as a result. I still enjoyed the post-festival party at the Drake... I only saw a bit of one film, La Citadelle assiégée, a Canadian/French co-production about life within an African termite mound. Lots of interesting microphotography, but even the boys who I thought would love the scenes of inter-species combat were grossed out by it! A volunteer who watched most of the screening said she felt really itchy afterwards.

Sheryl's still in Australia visiting family, so keeping her little dog Barkley has been my main preoccupation. He's getting four walks a day to reduce the risk on indoor poops, which has been mostly successful. I've been keeping up my training, although sometimes it's a bit tricky. Last Wednesday I wanted to get to my triathlon club's Computrainer session but I was working, off and on, at The Shopping Channel all day. A slight last minute juggling of our air times gave me enough of a window to race back into town for the workout. I didn't even change out of my "on-air" gear and managed to forget my cell phone and wallet, but I got the session in! On the weekend I did a half marathon-distance training run, which was tough but satisfying. I need to get my aching calves looked at though, it feels like I might be verging on a shin splint.

Today was busy, two "go-sees" at opposite ends of town, a hope of getting a swim workout in between them, and a ticket for an afternoon screening at the Hot Docs documentary film festival. The first go-see was a really big call and I ran into a bunch of girls from my modeling agency so I had someone to chat with while I waited for the 50(!) people ahead of me to be seen. In the end I was called up ahead of schedule, which I think was a good sign. That shoot would entail two weeks in the Dominican Republic! I was still there much longer than anticipated, so the swim workout got dropped and I had to drive down to the Hot Docs screening rather than enjoy a bike ride there. Hot Docs isn't closely associated with the Toronto International Film Festival, but there were lots of TIFF acquaintances there anyway.

I'd bought my ticket for the screening of Cuban Song, which was being shown with Blood and Incense. Both documentaries had no narrative. Cuban Song was good, but I find those latin beats so fluid and relaxing that I often, well, fall asleep! Interesting footage, and they used six different performances of one song to tie the film together. The other film, Blood and Incense, was a surprise for me. It dealt with cock fighting in Bali, and used a fascinating blend of stills, video and freeze-frame stills to portray the Balinese ceremonies and cock fighting contests. Some pretty gruesome imagery, but the impressionistic way it was presented was very effective. Hot Docs goes on for the rest of the week, I might try to get to another screening.

Listening to: What A Day That Was by Talking Heads from Stop Making Sense.

A Boy and his Bike

Over the last week or so I've been cycling downtown to the Toronto Film Festival box office at around 5:30 AM and putting in up to 20 hour days. It's been cool to cold and pitch dark, but mostly under clear skies with lots of stars in the heavens. Just yesterday morning I was savouring the pleasure of speeding through the night under my own power and thinking about how much pleasure I get from my mountain bike. Sure enough when I came out of the Varsity cinemas that evening my beloved Trek 800 had been stolen.

Now I just want to watch The Bicycle Thief over and over again. Everyone is very sympathetic, but Toronto is apparently the bike theft capital of North America.

Later that night I watched the Gala screening of The Walker, Paul Schrader's new political thriller, with Sheryl, her daughter and son in-law. I'm afraid that it was a bit of a disappointment. But the fun began when the director realised that the film was being screened with the reels out of order. It took almost an hour to correct the problem, but we were treated to a wide-ranging question and answer session by Paul and Lauren Bacall, who appeared in the film. That was way more interesting...

By the way, thanks for nothing Colin Farrell. Yesterday the Hollywood star took up the cause of a habitual Yorkville beggar. He bought him clothes, paid his rent for a year and gave him some money to live on. Now we've got panhandlers coming out our ears as they look for their own pot of gold. This afternoon we had to get the police to drag an unstable woman out of a theatre where Sidney Lumet was giving a talk.

Listening to: Weighty Ghost by Wintersleep from Welcome to the Night Sky.

Emerging from my cocoon

It's been hard to find time for blogging lately. My father's wake, moving into my new townhouse, a general flurry of activity and a bit of an emotional dead zone have conspired to keep me away from the keyboard. So here's a ten minute summary of the last few weeks...

Chris returned from camp having ultimately enjoyed himself but missed his "second life" in World of Warcraft. His mother has bought him a MacBook laptop in the belief that this will help him with high school. Jury's out on that one I think. He's been at my place for a few days but has mostly been with his mother since getting back from camp. He returns Monday for his week with me although the house is still mostly heaps of boxes. He's also finished his first week of high school, which seems to have gone well. I'll need to pump him for details tomorrow. While he was with me he had an "introduction" morning to get familiar with his classmates and get the lay of the land and seemed to be comfortable with the prospect of high school.

My half brother Hugh was in town for a week or so staying with my sister. He helped me move in along with Sheryl and my friend Adrian. Hugh, Chris and I spent some time together, watching Ratatouille and spending a day at the CNE. The CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) is Toronto's classic end-of-summer fair. We watched the Canadian International Air Show, which Chris deeply resented, rode the roller coasters and observed piglets and baby goats. Hugh is now visiting my brother in upstate New York but should be passing through town in another week. Maybe I'll have a place for him to stay this time.

What about me? Well I've been busy ignoring the piles of possessions scattered throughout my townhouse. I've also been teaching my Running Room clinic and trying to stay on top of my own training. I've got the crazy idea of going down to Australia for my father's final wake and doing an Ironman triathlon at the same time. It's also Toronto International Film Festival time. This year on top of my usual volunteering I've got a paying job helping operate one of the Festival's box offices. For the last week I've working from as early as 5:30 AM until early afternoon as a Box Office Line Supervisor. In the afternoons I've been a Volunteer Captain at various theatre venues. This will continue for another exhausting week. Didn't help that on Opening Night I went to the Gala party and stayed out until 3:30 AM, leaving just 90 minutes for sleeping before the next day started!

Speaking of the Toronto International Film Festival I've managed to see two films so far, which surprised me given my wild over-commitments; When Did You Last See Your Father? and Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Both are excellent films with great performances, camera work and scripts. The first film hit a bit too close to home, dealing with a man coming to terms with the impending death of his father. These films will undoubtedly be released widely, I generally try to get to films at the Festival that are unlikely to show up on North American screens but these happened to fit my free time slots.

Listening to: The Reasons by The Weakerthans from Reconstruction Site.

Argh.

My father's "wake" will be held in Regina this Sunday. I've just finalised my flight out Saturday evening and will book a hotel after a good(?) night's sleep. I've still got to get ready for my next Running Room clinic on Thursday evening, start preparing for a contract job with the Toronto International Film Festival (yea, I've got a job!) and get fitted for a hearing aid.

Hearing aid! Did I hear myself correctly? Yep. I'm going to be doing a TV commercial for just such a product in two weeks. I think I'll either be a "busy chef" or a "commodities trader". Mine will be fake, but it will be created the standard way. This will happen just as I finish moving into my new townhouse and before the Film Festival starts. While Chris is getting settled into his new high school...

I saw Moliere earlier this evening. Sheryl enjoyed it, probably for the 17th century costumes and great French estates. The film imagines that during an undocumented period of Moliere's life he lived the plot of his most famous comedy, Tartuffe. I found it entertaining but spotty and didn't really enjoy Romain Duris' performance as Moliere. Too late for any deep thoughts, so I'll sign out for now.

Listening to: Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen from A Night at the Opera.

Audience of One

I met an internet fan on the weekend! At the Toronto International Film Festival Staff Party someone said they recognised me from "my pictures." They'd found my Flickr photos while looking for photos from TIFF.

Now if only someone would discover my blog my life would be complete... Oh, a job would be good too.

Listening to: What's My Scene by The Hoodoo Gurus from Blow Your Cool!

TIFF '06 - Now it's over

I'm just back from the TIFF Staff Party at the Berkeley Church (which is no longer one). It was the usual mob scene of huge happy crowds, panicked bartenders and lousy, but hungrily scavenged, food platters...

It was nice to see so many friends and nice to blow off some more steam. The open bar helped with that. Once again the men's washroom was over-run by determined women, once again the dance floor was packed, once again the party continued until we were booted out by the event staff.

Back to looking for a job later today when I wake up...

Listening to: Good Times Roll by The Cars from The Cars.

TIFF '06 - Day Ten

Today was the last day of the Toronto International Film Festival. My shifts are all done and Yorkville seems like a comparative ghost town. I would have liked to have been down at Roy Thomson Hall to savour the moment and perhaps catch the closing film, Amazing Grace, though. Instead I had some more time with my son which was just as good really.

Sheryl and Dusty went to see their producer friend Denise Pinkley's film Bella this afternoon, where it was announced that Bella had won the People's Choice Award. They called her up after the screening to congratulate her. She was back in New York and had only just heard about the news. Bella seems to have led a charmed life for a film, written in a month and completed in a year.

Sarah Polley's film Away From Her also had a great reception, with a bidding war over the distribution rights and talk of an Academy Awards nomination campaign. Not bad for a debut feature. Her father and mine are good friends, I hope they don't start comparing their children's accomplishments.

But my Festival isn't over just yet... Tomorrow night is the Staff & Volunteer Party! Yee-hah!

Listening to: She's So Young by The Pursuit of Happiness from Love Junk.

TIFF '06 - Day Nine

Today was a day off for me, so after last night's late finish I slept in. I joined up with Sheryl later to catch the 3:00 PM screening of Seraphim Falls, which stars Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson as post-civil war cowboys locked in a relentless pursuit. It was beautifully filmed in New Mexico, but the story line was a bit under-developed and went way off track when the main characters reached the desert.

It was nice to be a 'civilian' at the Festival today, although there were new and old TIFF acquaintances everywhere. Now I'm at home catching up with my son, who I've seen very little of this week... I think we'll try to catch a film together tomorrow.

Listening to: Talk by Coldplay from X & Y.

TIFF '06 - Day Eight

Now this is what the Toronto International Film Festival is all about! Everything fell into place for me tonight...

It was a good night again at Roy Thomson Hall, with enthusiastic crowds for Bobby (or "Bahby" as some patrons called it) and Infamous. Everything went smoothly and nearly on schedule in spite of the 15 limos pulling up to the Red Carpet for Bobby and Sandra Bullock, Sigourney Weaver and Toby Jones showing up for Infamous. Bobby was well received by the audience, I wasn't around for the finish of Infamous, so I don't know what the audience thought of it.

Back in the dressing rooms we got a bit silly decompressing now that Closing Night is in sight. Then I headed up to Ultra Supper Club with some of the TIFF staff. We had passes to the Deep Dish after-party from fellow Volunteer Captain Donna's company, Diageo, who were sponsoring the event. There was a big crowd at the door but she got us through. DJ Dubfire was spinning great tracks and in spite of the intermittent rain (or perhaps because of the free-flowing Penka Vodka) we had a great time on the roof-top patio. Perhaps the best moment was breezing in past a self-important acquaintance who remained on the wrong side of the velvet ropes...

Listening to: Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) by Eurythmics from Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This).

TIFF '06 - Day Seven

Heavy rain in the middle of the afternoon made a poor prospect for the Toronto International Film Festival this evening. The weather cleared up before the line-ups formed outside Roy Thomson Hall, but the other venues must have had a miserable afternoon...

The films today were Breaking and Entering and Black Book. We had good turn-outs for both. Both were over two hours long so admission to Black Book was complicated by the patrons exiting from Breaking and Entering. A reasonable Red Carpet this evening, with only a little craziness for Jude Law, Juliette Binoche, Robin Wright Penn, Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack. Juliette Binoche ended up using my hand as a writing surface as she signed autographs! Director Paul Verhoeven was there with Carice van Houten (she looked good whoever she is) for Black Book.

Breaking and Entering had a good response from the audience, I left before Black Book was over. The audience liked Mon Meilleur Ami last night, which I will have to wait to see in general release.

Listening to: The Cave Of Swimmers by The Academy Of St. Martin-in-the-Fields from The English Patient.

TIFF '06 - Day Six

A damp night at the Toronto International Film Festival. Tonight's Gala films were Dixie Chicks - Shut Up and Sing, the documentary about the Dixie Chick's politics, and a French comedy called Mon Meilleur Ami (My Best Friend).

The Dixie Chicks looked great, but their security detail made our lives difficult. They insisted on taking them along through the lobby along an un-secured route, which meant we had to form an instant human wall... Mon Meilleur Ami is a film that I want to see, maybe I'll get a chance tomorrow.

Listening to: Landslide by Dixie Chicks from Home.

TIFF '06 - Day Five

Sheryl and I got in to see a Press & Industry screening of Macbeth at noon today. It was an interesting interpretation of the material. It was set amongst the underworld of present day Australia, with Aussie accents but full Shakespearean dialog. If I had to sum it up in one sentence, it would be "Sam Peckinpah does Shakespeare." Great performances and a clever plot, but the gore could have been cranked down a bit I think...

This evening at Roy Thomson Hall I was Volunteer Captain for the Gala screenings of Away From Her and Bonneville. As usual I didn't get to see them, although I was able to get all the interested volunteers in to see Bonneville. Pretty good crowds for both and once again we were scrambling to manage the crowds inside the lobby. I caught a bit of the stage party for Away From Her. Sarah Polley, the young Canadian actor who directed it, is a versatile young woman. Sarah and her cast, including Gordon Pinset, Julie Christie, and Olympia Dukakis, were warmly greeted in the theatre. Joan Allen, Kathy Bates and Tom Skerrit showed up for Bonneville.

My son was looking after himself this evening, and he stayed up until I got home just a little while ago. Much too late for him to be up on a school night, we'll see what happens tomorrow...

Listening to: Big Me by Foo Fighters from Foo Fighters.

TIFF '06 - Day Four

This afternoon I was Volunteer Captain for the Gala screening of Never Say Goodbye, a new blockbuster "Bollywood" film. I never got to see any of it, but it seemed to be well received.

For me the big story was trying to keep things together in the theatre lobby. Although the screening wasn't sold out the audience and on-lookers were "very enthusiastic" about seeing megastars Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan. This was a problem because we had very few volunteers in the lobby compared to our usual contingent. They'd all been pulled outside to help with the lineups. That left just four of us to handle the crowds inside. I almost got trampled!

The film was also three hours long, with an intermission. This meant that I had to stay at the theatre longer than anticipated and complicated my dinner plans. I'd invited Sheryl's family over for, ironically, a casual Indian dinner. I had a big container of one of my sister-in-law's fabulous gourmet Indian sauces (a Tikki Masala) that I wanted to cook, but I had wanted to tidy the house up first. I never had time for that because of the length of the film, and when I opened the sauce I found that I'd waited too long to use it! I dashed out to pick up a more commercial replacement... The result was still delicious and even Sheryl's grandson, who is a bit picky, tucked into it with enthusiasm.

I ended the evening back at TIFF with Sheryl, trying to get into a Press and Industry screening of For Your Consideration, Christopher Guest's new mockumentary. Unfortunately it was sold out, so we both had a much-needed early night. Last night Sheryl had been out late with a friend and the Producer's reception for Bella, a drama that has a lot of buzz. Neither one of us have seen it though! Tomorrow I'm back at Roy Thomson Hall.

Update: I forgot to mention that the day started at my friend's house watching the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. The day's racing news was that Michael Schumacher, who is Formula One's most successful driver of all time (and also today's race winner), will be retiring at the end of the season. Michael will leave a controversial legacy behind him, but there's no question he was (and is) a very skilled driver. Who will take Michael's place at Ferrari? My favourite driver Kimi Raikkonen, who started on the pole today in his McLaren but finished behind Michael. I've spent years criticising both Michael and Ferrari, I guess I'm going to have to make some accommodations... Fernando Alonso was in contention until late in the race, even with a questionable five place penalty at the start for an incident during qualifying, until his Renault engine failed. Fernando will be taking Kimi's place at McLaren in 2007. Is your head spinning trying to keep track of all the changes? Mine is! The big story from the track was a very strong performance by newcomer Robert Kubica who managed to take third place in his BMW Sauber in just his third race.

Listening to: Marvellous by The Lightning Seeds from Jollification.