Las peliculas

Today the Toronto Internation Film Festival (TIFF) released the official film list - everything that will appear at the 2005 festival from September 8-17. Scrolling through the list of titles and directors (no links to descriptions yet) things look pretty good. I am already hedging my bets about which films might be in my VISA Screening Room series each night at 9:00pm and thinking about which additional films I want to cram into my 10 days of movie madness.

For the second year in a row, I will be giving an informal lunchtime presentation on the topic of the film festival. About 30 colleagues usually attend and I plan to talk about this year's notable films (and stars), how to buy tickets and my not-so-scientific-method of picking what films to see. I usually approach it first by director, then by title ( if it's particularly unique or interesting) and finally by word of mouth or buzz.

More on my film selection theories in the next blog. Now it's time for RockStar: INXS!

Red Eye and Me and You

Saw Red Eye on opening weekend. New "it girl" Rachel McAdams from Ontario did a great job (opposite that creepy Cillian Murphy who was recently in Batman Begins). She's even more fun in Wedding Crashers. (See Aug 10 blog entry "Summer Vacation" for more on that film.)

Still want to see Broken Flowers (trailer looks awesome) but did get to the small, charming movie Me and You and Everyone We Know written and directed by performance artist Miranda July.

Oh, and you've got to rent Kung Fu Hustle. Although a bit gory, it was so much fun and the soundtrack was great. Rent it and send me your comments.

SJR Reunion

Discussion is already underway about the 2006 SJR Reunion... it will be 25 years for the class of '81. We started a team blog: www.sjr81.blogspot.com

Consensus on the dates is on or around the August Long Weekend in 2006. The school is holding a Homecoming in Winnipeg this weekend, Aug. 26-28 2005 so we may want to coordinate with that date next year to maximize attendance and support.

We'll get an evite out shortly so start collecting email address.

Class of '81
Come to Winnipeg next year
Can't wait to see you!

Summer Vacation

Just got back from our summer vacation out west: Calgary and Winnipeg. Nice to see family but what a whirlwind! I managed to read The Rule of Four in 4 days (is that part of the rule?) The pacing and puzzle is similar to The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Rich is now reading Angels and Demons. (I get it next.)

Saw Wedding Crashers in Toronto before we left - lots of fun. My Uncles tell me they used to crash all kinds of weddings in Winnipeg. Who knew?

My brother Stephen is a star dancer at the Ukrainian-Kyiv pavilion at Folklorama, Winnipeg's annual cultural festival. Too bad we missed him perform because we had a plane to catch. My brothers, Richard and I hit a few pavilions ourselves on Saturday night including the Celtic Ireland Pavilion. It had been almost 20 years since I was singing along to the Unicorn song with an Irish Rover (first time at Expo '86 in Vancouver.)

Looks like there are a lot of reunions to plan/attend in 2006: 20 years since Expo, 25 years since SJR, and an ADPi 75th Anniversary coming up fast this September. Anna and Shelley - I'll go if you go... We'll see in a month.

Next movie I plan to rent is Kung Fu Hustle. The trailer looks awesome! Ivana will be sorry she dissed it!