Last Friday of 2006

Last night we had a lovely evening out with friends. Started with cocktails at the swank Pantages Hotel on Victoria St. (next to the Canon Theatre)

Pantages Bar Lounge
Sleek, chic, yummy mixed nuts &
five-buck martinis

Yes, you read it right. Five dollar Grey Goose martinis no less. And who can resist bar nuts in the bar? Not me.

Then we walked to The Keg on York St. for dinner.

Hangin' at The Keg
Marci and Greg are the best
More good times next year

Merry Christmas from haikugirl!

Hope you had a great Christmas. We had a relaxing and enjoyable Christmas Eve Eve, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Lots of delicious food (R is out running it off as we speak!) and great conversations with family and friends.

This Christmas Santa was very good to haikugirl and bought her a MacBook Pro - so sleek and sexy. Now I have no excuses not to make my movie! Expect big things from haikugirl and her new Mac in 2007 - starting with a new email address and website.... Stay tuned!


What a lucky girl -
Now I have a MacBook Pro
Santa is the best!

Thanks again to Santa for the biggest and best surprise ever! Guess those Mac/PC commercials are effective (not to mention the constant barrage of pro-Mac emails from my dad ;-)

Casino Royale

Casino Royale was AWESOME! Everyone's favourite adjective to describe it is raw and I would agree. This is a back-to-basics Bond with great stunts instead of special effects and I am officially printing this retraction to my earlier post that Clive Owen would be the best Bond. Daniel Craig totally pulls it off and does a superb job. This high octane movie has lots of action (check the trailer), amazing locations, fast cars and very few gadgets. I say MMMMM - WAY TO GO!

Casino Royale
Daniel Craig is a great Bond
hip, raw and sexy

4 more days & Golden Globe nods!

Christmas is coming in 4 days and I'm ALMOST ready. Today is my last day of work for 2006 (yippee!) and then we're home for the holidays.

Plans for time off include everything haikugirl loves:

movies, music, food,
shopping, cooking, hanging out
waiting for Santa

Be sure to check out the Golden Globe nominations - with trailers and make your personal picks before the LIVE telecast on Monday, January 15, 2007 at 8:00pm EST on NBC. I hope Penelope wins Best Actress but she has stiff competition from Helen Mirren's stiff upper lip as The Queen.

more haiku for haikugirl

Chris S (from the Hargrave) sent me another haiku:

MM partied large
today, is she less perky?
can she still haiku?

And of course the answers are: no, I'm fine and yes, definitely!

Work demands are high
Priorities always shift
Can't wait for time off!

gotta run... BYE!

Volver - at last!

I can't believe I'm only getting to my review of Volver now. Saw it November 26 and was blown away. I think it is Almodovar's best film and definitely Penelope's best onscreen performance ever. She has this other dimension when acting in her native Spanish and she is truly outstanding. The entire female cast deserved the award for Best Actress at Cannes. Definitely deserves an MMMMM rating.

At lunch on Friday we were trying to think about potential nominees for best actress and actor for the Oscars and naming quality female performances was tough. Penelope tops my list, they'll probably nominate Cate Blanchett for Babel (haven't seen it yet) but most of the movies this year have focused on men's stories. They may have to nominate Kate Winslet for The Holiday because there's not much else to consider. Except Catherine O'Hara in For Your Consideration, which - true to its premise - already has Oscar buzz.

haiku at the Hargrave

Saturday night we made ourselves a delicious dinner at home: thick, juicy beef tenderloin grilled to perfection by Rich on the BBQ, with yummy sides by haikugirl: garlic mushrooms, roasted mini-potatoes and crunchy sugar snap peas. I should have been a snackerazzi and taken a photo it was so good!

Then we headed out to the Christmas Party at our local pub The Hargrave on the Danforth. Lots of fun, dancing, chatting, even penning a few haiku:

Party at the 'Grave
Mary Margaret got her groove on
she got it on, now

Christmas time again
Hargrave Party with our friends
Chris writes great haiku

The evening ended on a high note: in the 50/50 raffle we won a fantastic down parka (XL with a Guinness logo on it) Yay MM and Rich! Chris wrote:

Mary Margaret won
Richard got a new jacket
Richard owes her sex

The Holiday and Pavlina's Birthday

Had a Girls Night for the Film Club on Friday: went to see The Holiday. A charming movie that put us in the mood for Christmas and New Year's. Kate Winslet is lovely and Cameron Diaz does fine as Amanda. I just want her job/life/LA home with built-in recording studio that she uses to edit movie trailers. Jack Black's at-home studio is the new model for ours upstairs (complete with Herman Miller chair.) He plays a guy who scores movies and he does this great bit in the film where he walks through the video store with Kate Winslet and points out all the great soundtracks. Lots of sweet moments in the film - especially for Kate Winslet's and Jude Law's characters. I sometimes felt Cameron Diaz was a bit out of her element with the other acting heavyweights but her wardrobe is da bomb.

After the movie we headed to Il Fornello on the Danforth to have dinner and celebrate Pavlina's birthday. She was sick all week so we were happy she felt well enough to come out for the evening. We had yummy food and even sang Happy Birthday with a candle in the creme brulee. Bonne Fete Pavlina!

Christmas Classics

Are you in the Christmas Spirit yet? A colleague found this funny link:
It's a Wonderful Life in 30 seconds re-enacted by bunnies
-- a perfect capsule summary of the 2+hour movie.

It's not Christmas until I've seen How The Grinch Stole Christmas (the ORIGINAL , NOT the Jim Carey version) and A Charlie Brown Christmas - here's an interesting article on how it came to be...

Christmas is coming
lots of TV specials on
nothing beats The Grinch

Lucy's birthday

We celebrated Lucy's 40th birthday on Saturday, Dec. 2nd at Mimosa Bistro on Yonge St. What a lovely party! Her husband Dave organized everything from the menu, invitations and even cut her a rap video: "everybody stand up and cheer, Lucy's turning 40 this year!" It was a wonderful night, as you can see by the photos...

Gordian Knots and Sudoku

My clever Risk Management friends in government offer help to public servants struggling with their own Gordian knot. Their 1-day Risk Management courses - like their movie recommendations - are superb but, alas, only available to fellow Ontario Public Service (OPS) colleagues.

And now: today's haiku (after wrestling with my own Gordian knot this morning:

haikugirl enjoys
solving sudoku puzzles -
her morning mind stretch

Perhaps I should be calling myself sudokugirl now? Not until I can complete a diabolical puzzle without cheating.

City Vote 2006

David Miller won
TO's Mayor once again
4 years like Congress

Watched Citytv's slick coverage of the municipal elections across Ontario. The results looked great on CP24 and Rich did a fantastic job making the countdown timer work. Yay Rich! It's all at citynews.ca

mirror neurons - COOL!

Spent an energizing day at the CSTD conference where Dave Chalk gave an enlightening presentation about his challenges growing up with dyslexia and how mirror neurons can play a role in learning. He calls it the most significant scientific discovery since DNA. The implications are definitely fascinating.

Mirror neurons explain our ability to empathize with others and to see an action and repeat it, like monkey see, monkey do. There's a study of dancers showing how the visual brain and the movement control brain (pre-motor cortex) respond to watching movement - truly fascinating stuff. It made me remember my years of Ukrainian dancing when our instructor would say "mirror image me" and we'd have to follow him on the spot, and somehow we did it.

Google it and research for yourself. Let me know what you come up with.

Where's Volver?

Our Film Club was all set to see Pedro Almodovar's Volver on Friday, November 3rd but it was nowhere. Babel was finally released in Toronto and none of us could face a 143 minute movie after a long week of work so we bailed and agreed to hold out for Pedro. Still trying to find out when it will be released in TO so we can plan our next movie night.

Anybody know
when Volver is in TO?
It might be Christmas

Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing!

Saw this last Friday Oct 27 at Varsity with Mary and Pavlina and LOVED IT! The movie is an engaging piece about the chicks and their lives after "the incident". Very emotional and a great girl power flick.

Afterward we went downstairs to Indigo to get their new album Taking the Long Way - awesome. Missed their concert in Toronto but you can check out the film and their tour schedule online and maybe catch them at a venue near you.

Film Club is still on for Volver on opening night Nov 3rd. It's been a high estrogen start to the season with Dixie Chicks followed by Volver. One reviewer said: "this film is mostly about women, girls sticking together across generations, separations and misunderstandings, bonding and being able to rely on each other."

Girl Power Film Club:
Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing,
followed by Volver

Happy Hallowe'en!
(C'est l'Hallowe'en, C'est l'Hallowe'en...)

The Prestige

Went for brunch Sunday Oct 22 at Tinto on Roncesvalles with Sue Duska from Calgary and met her brother Nigel and his wife Teresa. Teresa Kelly was there with the lovely Pascale and then we went our separate ways in the rain. Rich and I took the Queen streetcar clear across town to the Beach Cinema to see The Prestige. Very interesting movie about rival magicians played by Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman. Richard was still thinking about it the next day at work.

Thanksgiving... mmmmmm

Had a yummy, happy Thanksgiving weekend. We had beautiful weather and I was on a rampage in the kitchen. After grocery shopping early Saturday, we became the House of Meat: I cooked rack of lamb for Thanksgiving on Sunday with cranberry orange sauce, roasted root vegetables and garlic mashed potatoes, followed by my signature chocolate pecan pie. Then Rich cooked a spicy, perfectly medium rare Prime Rib Roast on the holiday Monday. Is your mouth watering yet? MMMMMMmmmmm....... We even have chicken in the freezer so I can make a delicious Moraccan couscous when the next cold spell hits.

Off work Tuesday (great shopping) but back to the madness yesterday. Today I have an e-learning conference downtown with SkillSoft.

Andy Warhol

Went to see Andy Warhol / Supernova at the AGO, subtitled Stars, Deaths and Disasters. Curated by David Cronenberg - with his smooth narration on the audioguide - the show was interesting, albeit a little short and repetitive. The familiar silk screens are there, including the AGO's own Elvis as well as Elizabeth Taylor and Jackie Kennedy. The exhibition covers work from 1962-1964 and shows 4 looping films - each running 8 hours or more - so what you see depends on when you go. When I started my tour, girls were eating bananas on a couch, half an hour later there was explicit gay sex.

I especially loved 2 pieces: Andy's photo portrait, by artist Robert Mapplethorpe taken in 1986 only a year before Andy died, and a gorgeous silk screen print in the second room that showed a woman who had fallen from a building onto the roof of a car. She was lying on her back, perfectly intact in a delicate position, with the roof of the car poetically rumpled around her. Stars, Deaths and Disasters indeed.

India at TIFF

Whoops - only posting my TIFF reviews now for two great films by Indian directors:

Kabul Express - from Director Kabir Khan deals with two Indian journalists who get dropped in Afghanistan (literally) and try to score an interview with the Taliban. Shooting this movie was apparently dangerous but like No Man's Land from 2001, this film speaks more to the similarities between the cultures and the futility of war.

The Indian community was out in full force swooning over the dishy (and funny) male stars John Abraham and Arshad Warsi. The actress who played the "American journalist" was so NOT from this continent that her scenes got in the way for me but still, this was one of my most enjoyable films at TIFF this year. MMMM

The Namesake - the latest film from director Mira Nair was very touching and highly personal. It is her adaptation of the novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri. Having just seen Bride and Prejudice on TV yesterday followed by Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightly, I remembered that the last Indian wedding I had seen on film was during The Namesake. Essentially this is an immigrant story: an Indian couple go to live in the US, the husband a lecturer at the university, the wife adjusting to their apartment and the snow until they find a place in the suburbs. They have 2 children, a boy and a girl and name the boy Gogol, after the father's favourite author. Gogol is played by Kal Penn, of Harold and Kumar go to White Castle fame. His acting is a bit wooden but that doesn't detract too much from the full arc of the tale. I like the journey back to India the family takes together and how they celebrate in their home, right up until it is sold. It is interesting to see another culture deal with prejudice, choices and guilt. See it and call your parents. MMMm

Different directors
Two brave settings and stories
Message is the same

Club Film 06-07

Les amis, it's time to start thinking about MOVIES for our film club this winter. Here is what I propose:

I would start this Friday October 6 but Mary is away for Thanksgiving weekend so let's say:

Friday October 13: Manufactured Landscapes

Friday November 3: Volver (release date)

Friday December 8: Breaking and Entering (release date)
- directed by Anthony Mingella with Jude Law, Robin Wright Penn & Juliette Binoche

All 3 were at the festival. We can even squeeze in Babel with Brad after it opens on October 27th. Then plan for something else at Canada's Top Ten in January.

Check the IMDB movie release listing for more films/dates.

Club Film is coming soon
Time to catch up on TIFF films
Hope you like my picks!

Porter Air

Read on CP24 that Porter Airlines won approval to fly out of the Toronto Island Airport. No one is probably more thrilled about this than our friend Paul who's been working to build Porter Air for months now. Check out their website http://www.flyporter.com/ and see the groovy cartoon raccoon mascot (how urban Toronto is that!)

But all is not without controversy as this USA Today post shows. Having our Mayor against you isn't fun but the choice to fly another airline to Ottawa or Montreal is definitely appealing. Stay tuned to see how this evolves.

Showcase Ontario 2006

Since the Spring, I have been working on the Steering Committee for Showcase Ontario 2006. This education and exhibition takes place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and attracts about 6000 attendees each year, mostly from the public sector.

Last night was the Showcase Merit Awards Dinner and one of the initiatives I'm working on won an award for Working Together for our partnership with the federal government: The Institute I&IT E-Learning Gateway. Yesterday I finally met the people I had been working with virtually since last November and we received our award and enjoyed a lovely dinner and celebration. I had also organized an E-Learning Panel that afternoon which included 3 panellists and generated a lot of excellent questions and discussion.

Today is Day 3 of Showcase and my team OPS Learning & Development has another panel discussion about how our branches support the OPS HR Plan. It's going to be busy going to the show and helping prepare for the panel at 2:00 today.

Between the SJR Reunion, the FilmFest and Showcase, September has been a hectic month. I'm looking forward to some downtime in October - can't believe Thanksgiving is less than 2 weeks away!

Fall tv

Monday night saw 3 minutes of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and was not impressed. Think I have to get in on an episode from the beginning but I'm having trouble seeing Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford as anything but Chandler and Josh (from West Wing).

A much better show is Smith starring Ray Liotta and Virgina Madsen. He is a high-end thief who holds down a day job but plans elaborate heists. His team is hard core and last night's show had interesting composition and high production value. I will be watching it again next week for sure.

Paris, Je t'aime

This final festival flick was the perfect ending to a great fest. Paris, Je t'aime is a compilation of short films by 21 international directors made for a delicious 2 hours of gorgeous scenes of Paris and unique situations and storylines.

Alexander Payne (co-writer and director of Sideways) showed up as Oscar Wilde in Pere Lachaise cemetery to coach a commitment-phobic Brit to go after his fiancee - this by Wes Craven. Payne also wrote and directed a charming French "essay" overdubbed in good French with a bad American accent by a middle-aged postal carrier. Another funny one was Joel and Ethan Coen's scene at Tuileries Metro station where Steve Buscemi gets into trouble waiting for the train. Tom Tykwer did a mini Run Lola Run with Natalie Portman and her blind boyfriend and Isabel Coixet help show a philanderer the error of his ways in a Bastille restaurant.

Some films touched upon racial tensions and the gap between the social classes, while others were just dull. The Gus Van Sant one was just like him: somewhat annoying and pointless. The one about vampires by Canadian director Vincenzo Natali was particularly lame (his movie Cube which came out of the Film Centre and was mediocre at best but apparently it has a massive following in Europe.)

Ultimately, the film compilation was like a wine tasting: you open up each bottle, nose it then swish it around in your glass for a few seconds, and in the first taste you pretty well know how good it's going to be. Some wines you savour every last drop, others you spit half out into the bin. How fun to be an armchair traveller basking in the glorious views and stories of such a great city. MMMMm

The Banquet

The Banquet was a gorgeous but bloody tale of ancient China. Beautiful costumes, sets and music. I always like to see at least 1 bamboo forest in every festival and the scenes in this theatre in the forest were unbelievable. Lovely to see the beautiful Ziyi Zhang (of House of Flying Daggers and Memoirs of a Geisha) in action.

Essentially, it is a retelling of Hamlet so everybody dies and they're pretty sneaky about it (here, take my wine, oh, it's poisoned.... here, grab my sword, oh, it's poisoned.) And of course, the poison is the most deadly thing on earth (next to the human heart ;-)

If you like Crouching Tiger, you'll like this. Another 2 hour investment. MMMM

subway advertising - what up?

Saw a subway car plastered with ads for Jericho, some new tv show. There's a picture of a good looking group of young people in the foreground and and what looks like a sinister mushroom cloud in the background.

I don't know anything about the show but the ads sound dumb - read them and see:

Jericho. The day everything changed.
Jericho. In times like these, can hope survive?
Jericho. An ordinary guy. An unexpected hero.

Holy grilled cheese sandwich Batman! I liked Citytv's ad for Supernatural last season: "Hot guys. Hot show." Obviously style matters more to them than content...

TIFF Press Conferences

Since we've been living in our house and have Bell ExpressVu, I've missed having access to the Press Conferences on Rogers cable (running 24 hours a day).

This year, I no longer need to feel left out. I can watch the TIFF press conferences on ExpressVu channel 307 and have seen several good ones this week: Volver, Babel, Dixie Chicks, Kabul Express, Breaking and Entering, Fay Grim. The moderators are sometimes annoying but it's great to hear stories from the stars and directors. Sean Penn is already in trouble for chain smoking throughout his press conference.

The only downside are the horrible, repetitive trailers for the hosts who are supposed to be taking us to the stars and hot spots. For favourite movies they list: Lady and the Tramp, Back to the Future, Dazed and Confused and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Only 1 guy talks about movies that were at TIFF last year but he also starts with the question "What are you wearing" which I haven't heard on any red carpet outside of Hollywood.

Snow Cake

Snow Cake was a good vehicle for Alan Rickman and Carrie Anne Moss but they were not there tonight. Sigourney Weaver was, along with other principal Canadian cast members, but I didn't pull out my camera in the theatre (besides the fact you get yelled at for doing that now which has never been the case in all my years at the fest).

Snow Cake was filmed in Wawa, Ontario (with the big Canada goose by the lake). The producer Niv Fishman (who produces Slings and Arrows) celebrated the screenwriter as someone to watch. I thought Saturday's film Stranger Than Fiction had stronger writing. I found most of the opening exchanges between Rickman's character Alex Hughes and Vivienne (Emily Hampshire) were heavy with cliches.

The writing got fresher and the performances were fine but it's tough to watch someone play an autistic adult, even though Sigourney Weaver was pretty convincing. Some scenes were a bit too much - like we were watching I Am Sam. Would be interesting to watch on tv or to rent on DVD. As a UK-Canada co-production I expect it will end up on tv sooner or later. Scenes of driving in northern Ontario and Rickman's quest to get to Winnipeg made me smile. MMM

Winter in Wawa
Don't want to eat a Snow Cake
Alan Rickman kicks

Golden Door

Golden Door from Italian Director Emanuele Crialese was a touching, inventive film. I liked his vision and although the pacing was slow, it was realistic. It followed a family in Sicily at the turn of the century as they struggled with their decision to emigrate to the new world. After seeing postcards with giant vegetables and animals and money trees and climbing to the top of the mountain and leaving their rock offering for the madonna to wait for a sign from her, they decide to go ahead. Father and sons trade their animals for clothes and leave with Nonna and the two neighbourhood girls who were "promised" to two Americans. At the port, Charlotte Gainsbourg starts to hang around them and claims she is travelling with them because her American fiance dumped her.

Scenes on the boat were more than half the screen time (and felt as long as it probably was for the travellers). The entry requirements and examinations at Ellis Island seem excessive and discriminatory to us today but immigration still requires variations of these requirements for immigrants today. There was no score but the director used 2 songs: Michael Buble, Feeling Good ("It's a New Dawn, It's a New Day, It's a New Life....) and Nina Simone, Sinnerman (a rythmic, rollicking spiritual that still sings in my head). For the director's clever use of milk and oversized vegetables and a haunting group shot as the boat leaves port, I give it MMMm

Golden Door was slow
pacing matched the new world trip
no wonder I fly

After the flick we walked and walked through downtown checking out restaurants around Yonge and King and ended up grabbing a quick pint at a quaint Irish pub.

Radiant City - Sept 12 part deux

Richard and I have seen every film that Calgary Director Gary Burns has brought to TIFF. Radiant City is a documentary about suburbia shot mostly in Calgary. My friends in Winnipeg know the co-director Jim Brown who works for CBC. The treeless developments with an endless maze of cul de sacs and 2 car families hit home. But despite their large lots and 2 car garages, many of these people are no further away from their neighbours than me.

That's not my main problem with this movie. The repartee, particularly by the eloquent 12 year old, is engaging as are the interesting suburbatrivia. As the story starts to escalate to a wierdly tragic end, the directors shoot through their documentary status and reveal that they used hired actors who were not a real family and that most of the film was scripted. HOW CAN THIS LEGITIMATELY BE PART OF REAL TO REEL??? Aren't there rules? How can they do this and build us up for a fall? Yeah, maybe the suburbs are evil but the do-cirectors are evil for misrepresenting their project. For fraud and being about 25 minutes too long, MMm (better than Guy Maddin but not by much. Canadian filmmakers what's happening to you???)

grim suburbia
Radiant City it's not
neither is this film

The Fountain

Director Darren Aronofsky is married to Rachel Weisz. She stars in his new movie The Fountain with Hugh Jackman. It takes place in 3 eras: 1500 AD during the Spanish Inquisition, present day 2006 and 2500 AD. The leads are reincarnated and connected in each epoch. In Spain, Rachel is Isabella and sends her conquistador out to find the Tree of Life for its amazing restorative sap. In present day, Hugh is a research doctor trying to find a cure for his wife Izzy's growing brain tumor. In the future, Hugh is bald and does a lot of yoga in a bubble where he lives with the Tree of Life (whose bark has hairs that respond to his touch) and he is haunted by visions of his wife. The bubble is floating through space trying to reach a dying star (shabalah?).

I loved my TIFF companion Ivana's reaction to the movie: "If I see another star explode I'm going to lose my mind." This film was ambitious and didn't quite deliver. Fans of Aronofsky's Pi and Requiem for a Dream (both of which feature his mainstay Ellen Burstyn) may like this film. The director warned the audience to put those out of their minds. I haven't seen them but this guy is one of the American indie darlings who's graduated to bigger budget films. Just cuz you have a script idea with a time travel hook, pretty good actors and tons of special effects, doesn't mean you have a compelling, touching film. Rachel Weisz looked good on the red carpet for a young mom and flattered her husband by telling us that "seeing your husband be really good at what he does is sexy". Well, I think I have more right to say that than she does. MMM or EVS (meaning WHATEVER - as Rock Star Supernova finalist Toby Rand would say)

Rachel Weisz looks great
Hugh made a sexy doctor
wait for DVD

10 Items or Less - Sept 11 part deux

10 Items or Less is a charming low budget film starring Morgan Freeman as an actor who is considering a role in an indie film and gets dropped off at a dumpy grocery store and meets Paz Vega, the fast-thinking, efficient cashier in the express lane who knows the score but is having trouble mustering the confidence to find herself another job.

When Morgan's ride doesn't show - she lets him ride with her and they have a lovely adventure getting the keys from her ex, shopping at Target, and doing a "run-through" for the "role" in her upcoming "audition" (aka interview). Both leads are charming and Director Brad Silberling (Moonlight Mile) succeeds in capturing the buddies' wit and tenderness on a sunny afternoon in LA.

A treat to see both stars at The Elgin but you can wait to rent it. MMMM

10 Items or Less
Checkout line and list for life
What's in your Top Ten?

For Your Consideration

Noon Monday at the Elgin. We took the day off work and were not disappointed. For Your Consideration, directed by Christopher Guest, was the film Norman Jewison was most looking forward to at TIFF 2006. It was a hilarious sendup of all things Hollywood: Entertainment Tonight, MuchMusic (specifically Much on Demand style shows), Charlie Rose (and his penchant for telling his guests stories and interrupting them), and the stars' obsessions with winning the Oscar prize.

When Catherine O'Hara's character gets wind of Internet buzz that she may be up for an Oscar, her imagination goes into overdrive. At first, she's all about "the work" on her small film Home for Purim. Then the fabric of the film starts shifting and she looks like a plastic surgery victim gone wrong.

In a rare move, they had Q&A after the Elgin screening and ALL the stars were onstage: Director Christopher Guest (Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman) and all the regulars from those movies: Fred Willard, Harry Shearer, Catherine O'Hara, Jane Lynch, Bob Balaban, Jennifer Coolidge, the other guy from Spinal Tap, Parker Posey (I LOVE her), and co-writer Eugene Levy. They talked and joked for a half hour (as funny as the film!) which kept us smiling as we walked up the road to Salad King - one of the best cheap Thai restaurants in the city (and a favourite haunt for nearby Ryerson students). Definitely one of our favourite moments at TIFF 2006, despite the sad anniversary of September 11th. MMMMM

relax, laugh and watch
For Your Consideration
mocking Hollywood

Catch a Fire

Tim Robbins towered above everyone in the red carpet line as we went into Catch a Fire at the Elgin. He gave a solid performance as Nic Vos, the Colonel who apprehended and questioned suspected terrorists in South Africa in the late 70s, and turned in a convincing Afrikaaner accent. His prime suspect was Patrick Chamusso, a foreman in the Secunda oil refinery who was accused of planting the bomb that blew up part of the refinery. Only, he wasn't there that night - he was out of town coaching a boys soccer team and spending the evening with his son by another woman. For this reason, he refused to provide an alibi for his non-involvement but, after seeing his wife tortured, he confessed to the crime. The injustice led him to leave secretly for Mozambique and join the African National Congress (ANC) which was actively involved in terrorist activities at that time. After surviving a slaughter at the ANC base, he became a key player in planning another, more deadly explosion at the refinery.

The movie is powerful and Derek Luke (Antwone Fisher) does a great job playing Chamusso. Luke, Robbins and the beautiful Bonnie Henna who plays Chamusso's wife all looked great onstage. At the end of the screening, they introduced the real-life Patrick Chamusso who waved from the loge. If you're up for tough subject matter, this is a worthwhile and moving film with a positive message: forgiveness and reconciliation are the true paths to freedom. MMMM

Patrick Chamusso
African freedom fighter
forgiveness is key

Stranger Than Fiction

The World Premiere of Stranger Than Fiction was a treat to see in "the beautiful and historic" Elgin Theatre on Saturday night. Director Marc Forster introduced the film and stars Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman strode down the red carpet inside the Elgin lobby and stayed to watched the film with the audience.

Ivana scored great photos of the stars on the red carpet and Dustin Hoffman was particularly gracious stopping to shake hands and speak to people, even signing an autograph as he pulled away in the limo. Emma looked lovely and Will Ferrell hammed it up onstage before the screening. Director Marc Forster (who did Monster's Ball and Finding Neverland) was a sweetheart onstage and off.

The film was an absolute delight. A beautifully written script and superlative performances made for a laugh-out-loud experience, my best at the fest so far. See this film when it comes to theatres in November - a funny, heartwarming movie. MMMMM

The Wind that Shakes the Barley

Saturday at noon at the Elgin. No stars but we're all smiles.

This moving and beautifully shot film packs an emotional wallop. Cillian Murphy is a doctor, Damien, who is set to leave for London where he will work in a hospital. Before Damien leaves, he and his family suffer a bloody attack by the occupying British army and the soldiers also terrorize the driver of his train at the station so he forsakes his trip and joins his friends in the grass roots Irish Republican Army (IRA). The rag tag lot begins training and starts securing arms and executing bloody attacks on the soldiers in their midst. The soldiers retaliate and Damien's family is often the target. It is powerful to watch the women, including his grandmother, try to stand up to these soldiers.

The rift between the brothers comes to a head when a peace treaty is signed which creates a separate parliament for the republic of Ireland and calls for the removal of British troops. These political gains were not enough for Damien and several of the IRA members because the attached conditions were unacceptable: citizens must swear an oath of allegiance to the King and be subject to a Governor General. Teddy and Damien cannot reconcile their opposing positions and the conflict between the brothers escalates to a tragic end.

This movie was tough but touching to watch and Cillian Murphy turns in an excellent performance as Damien O'Donovan. By shining the light on this historical conflict in Ireland (which persists to this day), Director Ken Loach illuminates the tragedy and futility of current political and military conflicts. MMMMM

Brand Upon the Brain!

Winnipeg filmmaker Guy Maddin's latest film Brand Upon the Brain! is a black and white silent picture. It was produced by The Film Company out of Seattle and they composed an original score for the film which was performed by members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO). The loges beside us were filled with the foley guys (time for an instructional haiku, courtesy of Ric):

when you see a film
foley is the sound you hear
foley guys are cool

In fact, on my 5M rating scale, Guy Maddin gets 1 and the orchestra and foley guys get 5. Throughout the screening I kept looking over to the loge to see what the foley guys were doing to generate the sounds. They played an oboe-like instrument for the deep fog horn and rolled a big drum to mimic the rustling wind. At one point, they were reaarranging a corpse onscreen and the foley guy was twisting and breaking celery to mimic the bones cracking. Later, there was some flesheating going on and the foley guy chomped on a juicy orange. They slammed a small door, crumpled plastic wrap and rustled a mess of cassette tape. The experience of the live sound and music was amazing. I also thought this would be a great thing to do with kids in the classroom - watch a silent movie and get them to participate in creating the foley.

Not sure when this might turn up again. Since they require live performances, I heard they were going to do it in a couple other cities and then that's it. Seems a waste of the $11 million investment. I guess they could record a performance and sync it with the film but I'm in no hurry to see it again (foley: good, film: bad) but I never would have picked it so I was glad to see it in the series. Unless you're a Guy Maddin fan (like Piers) I wouldn't recommend it. MMMMM (foley) M (film)

The Pervert's Guide to Cinema

TIFF 2006 started Thursday night at 5:00 with the screening of The Pervert's Guide to Cinema. Director Sophie Fiennes was in the house at the ROM and during the Q@A afterward she shared her stories working on the two-and-a-half hour film with philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavoj Zizek. Slavoj was a funny and engaging throughout and talked to us from the Bates Motel in California, from a motorboat in Bodega Bay (of The Birds fame) and from fateful room 773 from Coppola's The Conversation with Gene Hackman, among other locations. Some might argue with his insights but he referenced an amazing and eclectic array of movies, everything from science fiction (The Matrix, Alien Resurrection, Solaris - not the one with George Clooney) to David Lynch, Hitchcock and Disney. The film was packaged in 3 parts for broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK which would be the most comfortable way to enjoy it (rather than the seats at the ROM) but it was a great kickoff for what is shaping up to be a fun FilmFest. Look for the the super ego, the ego and the id at a film near you. MMMM on my 5-M rating scale.

Couldn't get into the after party at the beautifully redesigned Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art so we headed to Michelle's Brasserie in Yorkville for delicious Tuna Nicoise.

SJR Reunion Weekend a SMASH hit!

It was sooooooo lovely to see my old SJR classmates on the sunny September Long Weekend in Winnipeg. Everyone looked fantastic and had gorgeous smiles in the photos. Now we just have to find a way to share them! I will post a few more pix each day.

HUGE THANKS to Hardev and Jane and Neil for being awesome co-organizers. Thanks guys - we all appreciated your hard work and the turnout was excellent! Neil you sweated blood to produce your slideshow and it was awesome! The King's Head Pub on Friday night was fun - it warmed my heart to walk in and recognize familiar faces, many I hadn't seen in years. Saturday night's venue (Squash Club) was perfect allowing for intimate chats and madness on the dance floor. The dinner and company were fabulous and karaoke was a blast. I WILL SURVIVE! especially if I know I'll get to see you all again.

Thanks to everyone for coming! Loved seeing you. Let's not wait another 25 years!
xx Mary Margaret

TIFF presentation #1

Delivered a lunchtime presentation on TIFF for colleagues at work (Treasury Board Office). It was the third year in a row I did it and once again very well received. I am delivering another presentation tomorrow for the Office of Economic Policy (OEP).

Back at work this morning, sifted through my emails (only 127 unread - the Inbox is a bigger problem with over 1100). I'm too tired to switch any more movies - will just try to RUSH for The Pervert's Guide to Cinema on Thursday for a grand total of 15 movies.

LIVE update from the TIFF ticket line

The wonderful Pavlina and the irrepressible Ivana are at the TIFF Box Office AS WE SPEAK trying to sort out picks. Ivana got no choices (since she didn't submit second choices) and is talking with Piers (yes Piers Handling, Festival Co-Director) to try to score tickets to Friday night's GALA Volver by Pedro Almodovar (since we may not see him early on Saturday morning and we can only RUSH for that)

This LIVE update is brought to you by haikugirl blogging in Winnipeg via many feverish cell phone conversations with the ladies in line.

Isn't technology amazing? What a wonderful, wireless world...

TIFF: The Results Are In!

We submitted our ticket order on Thursday Aug 31 (thank you Pavlina!) We were in Box 11 and TIFF randomly picked Box 22 (out of 40) to start filling orders. By the time they got to our envelopes, I got only 2nd choices and no group picks. When I get back at work on Tuesday, we'll go to the Box Office and see what's available for the group. I'm sure we'll find something in the 352 films screening this year !

Here is my current Festival Film List (total = 13):

Brand Upon the Brain! - Fri Sept 8, 6pm Elgin
The Wind That Shakes the Barley - Sat Sept 9, 12pm Elgin
Stranger Than Fiction - Sat Sept 9, 6pm Elgin
Catch a Fire - Sun Sept 10, 6pm Elgin
For Your Consideration - Mon Sept 11, 12pm Elgin
The Namesake - Mon Sept 11, 6pm Elgin
The Fountain - Tues Sept 12, 6pm Elgin
Radiant City - Tues Sept 12, 8:45pm Cumberland
Golden Door - Wed Sept 13, 6pm Elgin
Snow Cake - Thurs Sept 14, 6pm Elgin
Kabul Express - Fri Sept 15, 6pm Elgin
The Banquet - Sat Sept 16 12pm Elgin
Paris je t'aime - Sat Sept 16, 6pm Ryerson

Depending on what's available, I may trade my tix for The Banquet and get 4 for another suggested group pick: Fay Grim (starring Parker Posey and Jeff Goldblum)

haikugirl's final TIFF selections

Okay people,
After a concall with Pavlina yesterday (and based on her discussion with Alison) the first choice for the group pick is now Stranger Than Fiction on Sat Sept 9 at 6pm at The Elgin. Babel on Sun at 11:30am (Brad looks so sad) will be the second choice for the rest of the group if we don't get our Sat night pick. Ivana and Antonio - I will see you at both Saturday screenings and at Babel on Sunday (we may need to schedule a nap!)

R and I are only going to 3 movies together this year. Besides the group pick on Sat night, we are going to try for Volver Sat morning at 9:30am and Calgarian Gary Burns' Radiant City on Tuesday at 8:45pm.

I think this year's programmers are on Ritalin because the lineup includes a lot of guns and wars (remember 2001???)

Pavlina - I plan to leave work early Thurs Sept 7 to RUSH for The Pervert's Guide to Cinema at the ROM (Wanna come? Remember Le Fantome d'Henri Langlois??) This one sounds like a 2 hour rant by a guy who looks like the streetperson in Huff with musings on cinema from Hitchcock to The Matrix - and directed by Sophie Fiennes, sister of Ralph and Joseph. The perfect way to gear up for the fest - n'est-ce pas?

That concludes this broadcast till we can pick up our picks on Labour Day Monday.

Thanks Pavlina for filling in our orders - we owe you the first martini on Saturday!!!!

TIFF Schedule is LIVE!

Browsed the TIFF Official Film Schedule and I think the scheduling gods have smiled upon us this year. We knew about our 6pm VISA picks (which are quite good) but somehow the gods don't want me to see The Last Kiss at this year's fest because they did their best to put it up against every other movie I'm already planning to see. Not to worry - Zach Braff will be in theatres soon enough (and I did see the original Italian version of the film at TIFF 2001.)

We know from past experience that if we want to see stars, we'd better plan to attend the film's first screening at the festival. We are planning for Babel on Sunday morning at 11:30am after its 9:30pm GALA at Roy Thomson Hall the night before. We have seen stars in the daytime at the Elgin (Dogville, Punch Drunk Love) so I guess we'll see if Brad gets out of bed in time.

Saturday night's VISA screening of Stranger Than Fiction looks funny and brings a lot of star power including Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman and Maggie Gyllenhaal, all of whom are mentioned in the TIFF news release of stars coming to the festival. Guess we'll have to see what box we're in to know what our final picks are. The Fountain on Tuesday at 6 is a backup but Hugh Jackman isn't expected and the last time I saw him in a sci-fi historical thing was Van Helsing (one of the top 10 WORST moview of all time) so this one may bite too.

Scroll down to the 6pm VISA Screening post Aug 26 to check out other trailers I've found online and tell me which movies you'd be picking. Others I'm hoping to see this year are The Wind That Shakes the Barley (Palme d'or at Cannes), Manufactured Landscapes, Radiant City (the latest from Calgarian Gary Burns) and The Banquet or Paris je t'aime.

Festival Schedule
second guessing programmers
always a crap shoot

haikugirl joins Your Blogs @ TIFF 2006

haikugirl @ TIFF
posting reviews on my blog
come back and comment!

Signed up today to be a member of the Your Blogs community at TIFF 2006. Participating bloggers must agree that their blogs will "contain a substantial portion of content" related to TIFF 2006 and agree to grant TIFFG and its subsidiaries "a perpetual, royalty-free, transferable, irrevocable right to reproduce and/or quote from the original content" on my blog. Pretty heavy stuff - should I be checking with my lawyers later? Still, my nightly movie reviews during the fest - and my patented 5-M movie rating system and brilliant haiku - are sure to meet those criteria and attract visitors. I welcome reader feedback and comments - please bookmark the TIFF link at the button above or my blog address http://www.haikugirl.blogspot.com and visit often during the fest!

Googled the movies in the 6:00pm VISA Screening Room lineup (see previous post) and am even more thrilled with the programmers' selection. Bravo! We're in for a great range of films and lots of visiting stars - my fellow filmgoers will be pleased.

Now if only we can be in a good box when we submit our selections for our 10-coupon books next Thursday to round out our viewing choices. The complete schedule comes out August 29th and we will be studying it carefully to make the best possible picks.

Check out my TIFF 2005 reviews in the September 2005 archive and be sure to scroll down to see my red carpet photos of Johnny Depp and Keanu! TIFF 2006 is 14th FilmFest and you can read my hommage to the festival through the years at MM's TIFF Flashbacks.
Note: Flash Player 5 or higher is required to view that site.

Talk to you online at www.haikugirl.blogspot.com!

6pm VISA Screening Room Schedule

Okay FilmFest friends.
Here are links to trailers and info on some of the films in the 6pm VISA Screening Schedule at "the beautiful and historic" Elgin Theatre. We can still try for Babel on Sunday Sept 10 at 11:30am but may want to consider one of these others as the "group pick" (or a back-up this year) or we might find something else (like The Last Kiss) once the complete schedule comes out on August 29th:

Friday Sept 8 - Brand Upon the Brain! (Guy Maddin - Director of The Saddest Music in the World)
Saturday Sept 9 - Stranger than Fiction (Marc Forster - Director of Finding Neverland and (coming soon) The Kite Runner) Starring Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah, Emma Thompson
Sunday Sept 10 - Catch a Fire (Phillip Noyce) Starring Tim Robbins and Derek Luke
Monday Sept 11 - The Namesake (Mira Nair - Director of Monsoon Wedding)
Tuesday Sept 12 - The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky - Director of Pi and Requiem for a Dream) Starring Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz and Ellen Burstyn (who was nominated for an Oscar in Requiem)
Wednesday Sept 13 - Golden Door (Emanuele Crialese)
Thursday Sept 14 - Snow Cake (Marc Evans) Starring Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver and Carrie-Anne Moss
Friday Sept 15 - Kabul Express (Kabir Khan)

8 films + extra choices + full-time work
= an exhausting, exhilarating 10 days in Toronto!

TIFF - The Heat is On!

Just exchanged emails with my FilmFest gang. We are pleased with our 6:00pm VISA Screening Room lineup (but I'm still disappointed so many of the movies I want are Gala Presentations at Roy Thomson Hall - I'm not paying $50 a movie to see stars from the 2nd balcony).

We need to try for a group pick and Babel on Sunday at 11:30 stands out as a great choice. I want to take the Monday off to see For Your Consideration - the new Christopher Guest film with his cast of hilarious regulars. I am also interested in The Wind That Shakes the Barley by Ken Loach since it won the Palme d'Or at Cannes this year. I can't believe I'll see Guy Maddin at TIFF on the first Friday night!! (used to loathe him, now I think he's marginally acceptable.)

VIVE LE FESTIVAL!

Mon blogue

Surfing on a saturday morning I discovered evene.fr and an online tribute to Bernard Rapp, a French TV host (and author and filmmaker). Interesting to read about his life.

Speaking of "son amour pour le 7e art" (le film) - I am getting excited to see the final list of films at TIFF 2006 which is announced this Tuesday, August 22. Seems the latest News Releases only mention the Galas, of which Volver by Almodovar is one. Guess he's gone mainstream because we always saw his stuff in the VISA screening room. Hopefully they'll have some great, edgy films in this year's lineup. Anything must be better than Snakes on a Plane.

Saw World Trade Center
Human story worth seeing
Stone was respectful

TIFF 2006 - the Buzz has begun

I've been checking out the News Releases on the TIFF 2006 website at bell.ca/filmfest. One GALA All the King's Men features an INCREDIBLE CAST of stars, including Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Patricia Clarkson, James Gandolfini, Mark Ruffalo, and Sir Anthony Hopkins. Unfortunately, we won't be seeing that this year since A) GALA tickets are almost $40 - I'd rather see a play or live music and wait to see the film in the theatre) and B) the last film we saw with Sean Penn (The Assassination of Richard Nixon) was pretty slow and dull, saved only by his appearance before the screening - only rent it if you can't sleep because it would be more effective than Ambien.

I'm also excited about the Talent Lab - TIFF invites leading filmmakers (Paul Haggis and Mary Harron are coming this year) to share their expertise and stories with up and coming filmmakers esspecially selected for the program. Talk about a dream come true! One of the lucky directors is Lara Fitzgerald - I know her sister Justine through David Chemla who used to room with her and went with her to Law School at McGill.

Another interesting GALA is Dixie Chicks - Shut Up And Sing - a documentary of the Dixie Chicks after the lead singer's remark about George Bush on the eve of the Iraq war. I bet they'll come to the screening - it's the first time a documentary has been screened as a GALA in 14 years.

Guy Maddin is screening his latest silent film Brand Upon the Brain! this year with orchestral accompaniment. Likely in the 9:30 VISA series and we switched to the 6:00 VISA sreenings this year. Now that we have a new time slot we will need to stake our claim to our regular seats on the right hand side of the Elgin near the front - the perfect spot to see the stars walk by as they come offstage.

I am still on tap to do my annual Learning Lunch presentation at work for my former Ministry of Finance colleagues. It's always a lot of fun to eat lunch and talk movies for an hour and give them tips on how to buy last minute tickets. I have started preparing my presentation and have to finish while I'm away in Winnipeg because that's the week the schedule comes out.

To prep for the SJR Reunion, Anne Gregory came over Thursday night and we spent the evening scanning old photos from "back in the day". I need to get that montage ready, but first - another coffee!

high school reunion
lots to do before the day
better book my flight

Little Miss Sunshine

A friend gave us a pass to an advance screening on Wednesday night of the movie Little Miss Sunshine. This film was laugh out-loud funny and maybe the best movie I've seen this year. Each character is so well drawn and the performances are truly amazing. It's a family road movie that will have you laughing and sometimes crying at the same time.

I LOVED IT! SEE THIS MOVIE when it comes out this Friday, Aug 4th - the start of the August long weekend. And check out the trailer and soundtrack on the website.

August means I only have 1 month to get ready and confirm things for the SJR Reunion in Winnipeg. Can't wait!

Uma as G-Girl and British Open

My Super Ex-Girlfriend was fun. Uma was a great super-hero but her character was pretty neurotic and she did really mean things to Luke Wilson (like throw a shark at him!) Luke was okay and Anna Faris (of Scary Movie fame) was quite funny. Wait to rent it unless you love Uma like we do. I will re-watch Kill Bill for my Uma fix next time.

We saw it last night at Yonge & Eglinton because it wasn't playing at any of our regular theatres downtown. Afterward, we wound up at a nice little restaurant in south of Eglinton: Mirabelle. Yummy prix fixe menu and great chat with the South African owner afterward.

Because of him I got up to watch Ernie Els and Tiger Woods play in The Open Championship (they only call it the British Open in North America). Very challenging course in Liverpool and then in a flash thunderstorm our satellite went out so I only caught the end result (Els had come back from -10 to tie Woods at -12 (71). Quite an amazing comeback. Looking forward to Sunday.

The Devil Wears Prada

Finally saw The Devil Wears Prada with Ivana and Antonio Wed night. Our book club was supposed to go see the movie together and discuss it afterward but nobody's schedule could coincide.

Liked the movie and especially the fashions. Meryl Streep was perfect and Anne Hathaway had the BEST Chanel outfits (I wanted them all). Paris in March looked great (if a little chilly) and Stanley Tucci was fun.

The clothes were so amazing my hairdresser said "It makes Sex in the City look like Old Navy." Brilliant and true! Well, I took the quiz and found out the designer for Sex and the City is the same as The Devil Wears Prada movie (Patricia Field). Take the quiz on the website and learn ALL YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW about fashion. I scored 100% on my second attempt and here is what Miranda said:

"Never in wildest imagination did I suspect you would actually succeed. You've done fairly well and while I detest fawning over anyone, I am, in my own way, rather proud of you. Now get out of my sight - you are as irritating as that vulgar thing you call a shirt."

Next movie: Uma in My Super Ex-Girlfriend.

Scotland

R & I just got back from 6 days in Scotland. Flew into Glasgow on Canadian Affair - nice service and meals included - and then caught a train to Edinburgh. Stayed in the hip Hudson Hotel on Hope St. near St. Charlotte Square. After 1 attempt at a Scottish breakfast (including Haggis and Blood pudding) stuck with Starbucks for lattes and muffins the rest of the trip ;-) Edinburgh is a gorgeous, medieval city with Edinburgh Castle on the hilltop at one end and then across the Royal Mile The Palace of Holyroodhouse - the Queen's home in Scotland. Both lovely to tour and we covered the entire city on foot (tiring but worth it!) On to Glasgow where the people were also very friendly. Lovely seafood dinners at the Mussel Inn in both cities - fresh mussels with a spicy tomato sauce. mmmmm. Bit of shopping then turnaround and come home! Next time we'd go further out into the Scottish countryside but only with a driver since I am not comfortable on the wrong side of the road.

Gone wireless!

We finally took the plunge and bought a wireless modem. Only problem is we still have a problem with our home Internet connection so we're mooching off somebody else's wireless in the 'hood and trying to do basic things like pay bills and search for flights. Meanwhile work is still hectic (someone said if I were a cartoon character, I would have circles around my body and exclamation marks around my head - like the Tasmanian devil.) I think it's more like my head is spinning around like the girl in The Exorcist (that's v.o. version originale les amis, not some cheesy 21st century remake) and I actually feel like there are sharks swimming around that.

Let's see if I can successfully book tickets for Spamalot using this wireless connection. STAY TUNED!

Happy 40th Birthday & Happy 4th Anniversary

Today is Richard's 40th birthday. Happy Birthday Rich!

It's also our 4th wedding anniversary. Hooray!

Tonight we're celebrating with dinner at Canoe.

A toast to you all... From us and the Topless Girls of Glitter Gultch.

Check out the latest updates on the sjr81 blog

My friend Joe the filmmaker

Got an email from my friend Joe Kuehne in Washington, DC who is one of my filmfest buddies. He recently entered the 5-day Documentary Challenge and placed in the Top 12 worldwide!! Here is his email:

It was a documentary short competition (9 minutes max) that was open to teams worldwide and had to be completed in five days. We did it at the end of March, and found out two days ago that we were selected as one of the Top 12 from the competition. That means our film will be packaged with the other 11 finalists as a feature-length series that will be sent to film festivals around the world.

They already have commitments from events in DC and New Zealand, and there's even one in Canada (I think it's in Toronto). That last one is sponsored by the National Film Board of Canada and the Documentary Organization of Canada. There's also a TV distribution deal in the works, and we're still eligible for all the major
awards for the competition, which will be given out in July here in DC. I'll keep you posted on dates and other info.

CONGRATULATIONS JOE!

Met in line at TIFF
Now documentary STAR
Joe we're proud of you!

Joe also spent the past weekend doing the 48-hour film project, also in DC, which started Friday at 7:00pm (read: NO SLEEP this weekend.) He is directing, his cohorts are writing and another TIFF buddy Shawn is the DP.

GO TEAM JOE! We can't wait to see the final product - pls bring tapes to TIFF in September.

Breast Friends Forever

I'm posting this message from my friend Joelle Segal on the anniversary of this event:

One year ago today, my sisters, friends, and I held Breast Friends Forever for the first time ever, an evening designed to tribute the strength and courage of all women & men who have battled breast cancer. The whole concept was inspired by my mother, Dody Segal, who lost her own battle with breast cancer in 2004. The night was both magical and extremely successful!!

With about 100 cancer survivors attending and about 400 supportive guests, we raised over $30,000 for Gilda’s Club Barrie Ontario! To celebrate the first anniversary of Breast Friends Forever, we’ve re-vamped the website, adding pictures, slideshows, and videos from the best moments of Breast Friends Forever 2005. If you were unable to attend the event, or if you did attend and you would like to re-live the magic, TAKE A LOOK!

-> Click on http://www.breastfriendsforever.ca/
-> Go to the Video and Pics page
-> Now have some fun!

My personal favourites are the BFF Video Clip (a brief synopsis of the evening, rolled into a very entertaining 1.5 minutes) and the Atmosphere/Action at the Silent Auction. You will also find Laugh Therapy, Silks performances, the amazing singer Liz Rodriquez, who made everyone cry, and more! You might even see yourself on the videos!

Due to popular demand, we are in the works of trying to bring Breast Friends Forever back next May 2007. If you have any suggestions, or if you would like to be involved, please email me at joelle_segal@yahoo.ca

Thanks again for all your 'support'!

Joelle Segal
34A

Akeelah and the Bee

See this charming movie! Akeelah and the Bee is a fictional story (unlike the documentary Spellbound) which follows an 11 year-old girl through a series of spelling bees. Starbucks Entertainment is a co-producer so they are advertising on all their coffee sleeves.

I love how Akeelah taps or skips as she spells and it's lovely to watch the relationship develop between her and her coach (Laurence Fishburne). I especially liked the idea of "50,000 coaches" - how everyone we know plays a role in our success.

Great message - nice movie - take your kids (but note the 2-hour running time) MMMm

Viva Las Vegas II

Flew to Vegas April 20 on WestJet for a quick 4-day, 3-night package. For the second year in a row, it was the perfect getaway. Stayed at the Hilton once again, right on the Las Vegas Monorail (my favourite mode of transport). Richard and I walked the strip and saw all the hotels, went shopping one morning, had an amazing dinner at Joe's Seafood & Steakhouse (delicious) in the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace (beautiful) and saw Cirque du Soleil "Mystere" at Treasure Island (ti).

We got to meet up both with my Uncle Wes and Aunt Marcella AND with my parents whose trips coincided with ours. Here we all are at the Freemont Experience - the lightshow in old Vegas.

Addicted to Sopranos Season 6

Okay, I never gave this show the time of day for the first 5 seasons but now I am hooked on The Sopranos Season 6. They had a catch up weekend and showed the first 4 episodes back-to-back on Saturday and then the 5th episode on Sunday night. It is so well done. Forget the violence, it is a total psychodrama. I must see all the episodes this year.

I've seen 3 episodes of Huff season 2 and it's okay ("a-ight"). It seems to be missing some soul. But Tony Soprano has got soul and self-discovery in spades.

Or maybe I'm just watching too much TV.

I admit I'm hooked
Sopranos on TMN
Tony - what a guy

See you in September!

I received the letter from the SJR Alumni Office this week. We finally got it out! Don't recognize some of the names of the missing - are they sure they're part of our class? Still, looking forward to seeing people in Winnipeg this summer.

Another STAR SIGHTING: Saw Dustin Hoffman outside the Indigo at Bloor and Bay last Thursday. He was smiling so I knew it was him (didn't talk to him, though - did wonder if he thought Indigo was better than Borders in the US.)

Maybe I'll hit a movie this weekend. The premiere of Huff on Monday night was aight but depressing.

Still need addresses!

Hey Class of '81!

Please email your current mailing address to Kari Parke at SJR parkek@sjr.mb.ca to receive a letter with more reunion details.

Check the Reunion evite for updates or post your comments at the sjr81 blog.

A History of Violence

Cronenberg in Cannes
Snapping shots for Premiere mag
movie was intense

Saw A History of Violence on DVD last night. Pretty intense. A clutch grabbed my heart when it started and didn't let go until the closing credits 95 minutes later. This is a violent film but it is compelling and has great performances. MMMM out of 5.

The DVD Special Features really gave insight into Cronenberg's style and approach as a director and it was fun to watch him work. His experience shines as we see him effortlessly create a relaxed set and manage to direct without being controlling. The short piece about their premiere at Cannes was enjoyable. And in one deleted scene, Ed Harris gets blown away by a shotgun and is lying there with a massive hole in his chest. Cronenberg comments: "Well, normally I would have had him take a gun out of his chest but I already did that. It would be like an hommage to myself. Which I am not above, by the way." That cracked me up. And William Hurt sounding exactly like Maria Bello's Uncle Pete from Philly was funny too.

Anyway, watch it and let me know what you think.

Reflections on Oscar

Oscar Night '06
Gangstas, Cowboys and Bacall
No surprise with Crash

That about sums up my reflections on Oscar Night 2006, Sunday, March 5th. I was worried for Lauren Bacall and wondered if she would make it through her introduction. She should have had a buddy like Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep who co-presented for Robert Altman.

Of course the surprise of the night was Best Original Song "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp". Jon Stewart did a great job improvising on that one. Overall, I was pleased with him as host for the evening. I was nauseated the next morning by Seamus O'Regan's dismissal of Reese Witherspoon's acceptance speech as "too earnest". I used to like him on Canada AM but now he annoys me. Alison S is right - he is a poor interviewer, especially at 7am.

I wasn't completely surprised about Crash. It was a great way to acknowledge a massive cast and position a movie internationally 2 days before it's DVD release. I even enjoyed seeing it again on The Movie Network recently - I had forgotten some of the nuances and was reminded of the fall and redemption (or redemption and fall) of each of the characters. I think it's interesting that it takes a Canadian to shine the light on U.S. domestic problems so effectively. Too bad no one will do that for us.

Jon Stewart was fun
Hooray for Oscar Winners
George and Reese and Paul

Check the AMPAS official site Oscars.org for a complete list of winners and the official site of this year's telecast Oscar.com for the latest fashions and trends.

The Zen of Starbucks cups

Found a great quote on my Starbucks cup today (The Way I See It #53):

Be exceptional. Make tremendous efforts to be extraordinary. What a privilege to be here on the planet to contribute your unique donation to humankind. Just make sure you do so...
-Shelby Lynne, musician

Shelby says she's just "a running fireball full of shit and emotion" who believes each song she writes "needs to be individually great - better than great. There's no room for mediocre in my thinkin'. My standards are pretty high."

I don't believe in mediocrity either. Make it an extraordinary day.

Visit the sjr81 blog

I created a companion blog to this site. Visit http://sjr81.blogspot.com to see the latest reunion discussion.

Be sure to forward the e-vite link to anyone we've missed and check back for the latest RSVPs!

Reunion e-vite

Now it's official. This week SJR finalized the date for the 2006 Homecoming and this morning Hardev called to discuss the Class of '81 Reunion plans.

Now the e-vite is live so please save the date in your (electronic) calendars and be sure to join us in Winnipeg on September 1, 2, and 3, 2006! Wouldn't it be nice to exceed the 80% turnout rate that the Class of '80 achieved last August? I personally want to see all those people I haven't thought about in 25 years...

Where are you Class of '81?
And what are you doing September 2nd?

Enron and Flight Plan

Picked up these 2 movies from Blockbuster to watch Saturday night. The guy around the corner from us went out of business so we have to go further afield to rent movies now.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is an interesting exposé of the Enron scandal. Lots of interviews with the author of the book of the same name and several others who were at the company at the time (surprisingly several women). It's stunning to see the Enron execs incriminate themselves as they reassure not only investors but employees to keep their stock while unloading their own. A fascinating portrait of hubris and treachery done with more flair than Michael Moore. MMMM

Flightplan - not so cerebral. The movie trivia is more interesting. Jodie Foster is okay. Peter Sarsgaard is good at being bad. Bad guy Sean Bean takes a turn at being the good guy pilot. MMm

Caché

Saw Caché (Hidden) at the Cumberland Friday night with Mary and Pavlina. This French film was at TIFF 2005 but we couldn't fit it into our schedules or get tickets. Overall, I liked it but parts of it really bugged me. Nevertheless, it does spark a lot of discussion and theorizing.

Caché stars Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche as a married couple who receive a series of videotapes showing their tony French apartment under surveillance. The tapes are accompanied by violent but almost childish drawings. At first they dismiss is as a prank by one of his fans (he plays a famous TV talk show host a la Bernard Pivot) but the tapes persist and it adds to the conflict in their already-strained marital relationship (we never see them kiss or touch - only argue).

Now, if this story took place in a major North American city, most of us would have gone to the police after the first tape. Somehow Auteuil refuses to contact them but lies to everyone telling them of course he's gone to the police. In fact, he goes off solo to confront the person he suspects (someone from his childhood that he wronged). Would any one of us ever show up ALONE at a low-rent apartment to confront a stranger we suspected of terrorizing us? Of course not. This is why this film starts to get infuriating, like my most frustrating movie of all time: A Simple Plan.

As frustrating as this movie can be, it is chilling and thought-provoking as we start to connect the dots and concoct our own theories about who's behind the tapes. And the stark way Michael Haneke shot and directed this adds to the suspense. See it, but you'll have to suspend your disbelief if you are a CSI fan like me. MMMm

Straight Dude's Guide & Brokeback to the Future

First there was The Straight Dude's Guide to Brokeback:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10342237/

Then there was Brokeback to the Future. It's pretty funny to watch this video. I can't believe someone would take the time to go through all 3 versions and splice together these scenes.
Make sure your sound is on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfODSPIYwpQ

Star Sighting at Starbucks

This morning I was getting my traditional Grande Non-Fat Extra-Hot Extra-Foamy Latte at the Yorkville Starbucks (Bay & Cumberland) when I saw Clive Owen walk in behind me. After I ordered I turned to tell him: "I loved you in Closer and thought you should have been Bond." He said "Thank you" and ordered his Grande Skinny Cappucino. He looked his typical rugged self but pretty good for 9:00am and was wearing a white down parka and jeans. Seeing him certainly cheered up my morning.

What's been keeping me up at night

I have been working on an e-learning project with people in the Office of the Provincial Controller (OPC) in the Ministry of Finance (MOF) - former colleagues when Modern Controllership Training was still in that ministry.

It's been a long, hard road. We started last June with a plan and didn't get humming until November and December 2005. Now we are almost finished building the course and it has grown to 100 pages online. The toughest part was getting all the content together in enough time - the main SME or Subject Matter Expert was still giving me pages to add on Thursday. Definitely not cool but my consultant/developers (former colleagues from Sun) have been amazing at turning around the endless changes.

The e-learning course looks amazing and when we launch this coming week (after a pilot with representatives from other ministries) we hope it meets the goal of helping all 25 ministries to complete their procedures at year end.

Olympics in HD

It was quite something to see the Opening Ceremonies live from Torino on Friday night in glorious 16:9 HD. The spectacle was so imaginative and surreal. And hearing Pavarotti sing was very moving - I thought Nessun Dorma was a good choice. The only problem is, it looked like he was lip synching like Ashlee Simpson on SNL because the sound and picture were not synchronized. On Saturday's coverage, it was the same story - and just as distracting. But only on English CBCHD. The French SRC had it synched. I know it takes coordination (Richard says HD poses even more problems than a normal TV feed) but HEY. You got the contract so make it work! I will update this post if I see CBC has resolved the problem. Stay tuned (or post a comment if this is a problem for you!) I remember watching the Opening Ceremonies from Nagano in 1998 (obviously pre HD) and the Japanese hosts organized a worldwide relay with different groups singing Beethoven's Ode to Joy. It was unbelievable how everything was perfectly synched and nobody missed a beat (I remember Peter Mansbridge marvelling at this on air too). And now 8 years later Canada seems to be struggling with the new technology. Guess we'll have to wait and see how this turns out...

ed. note: by Sunday Feb. 12 they had this bug worked out. Even Don Cherry was in sync ;-)

Alison's 40th

Alison and her husband Paul hosted a perfect party - a wine tasting evening in celebration of her 40th birthday (officially January 29th). Her parents, in-laws and several friends came from Montreal. Paul even flew in Alison's sister Lisa and her family (husband Mike, daughter Lucia and baby Henry) from London, England as a surprise! I'm sure it was as big a thrill for Alison to see her extended family as it was for her kids Ethan, Emily and Sophia to hang out with their cousins they don't often get to see. The evening was so SMART:
Spectacular organization
Memorable wines (5 to sample - everyone had a different favourite)
Amazing food (the birthday cake was divine)
Riveting conversation (especially about movies & music with David XXX Ray)
Terrific party!

Alison and Paul
Awesome hosts with super wines
Thanks for a great night!

Looking forward to Alison's birthday dinner later this month with les Filles...

Good night, and good luck.

After a relaxing Pilates class at the Yoga Sanctuary, I walked across the street to the Carlton (the original multiplex - now people have home TVs bigger than these screens) and made the 7:40 screening. 93 minutes later I emerged, thoughtful and smiling. Loved this movie! Great cast, Cool black and white, Cool jazz (I went out later that week to buy the soundtrack.) David Strathairn is so good as Edward R. Murrow. Too bad he'll lose to Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote on Oscar night. George Clooney did a great job co-writing, directing and producing. Bravo George! Who cares if Angelina doesn't want you as godfather. This movie was an especially perfect alternative to a night at home watching the other George (Dubya's) State of the Union.

Le sofa est arrive!

We finally arranged to have the sofa delivered. They were supposed to come Friday, January 20th but apparently they were still dismantling the giant sectional and could not deliver it until Saturday around noon. (I had to phone them 2 hours after they were supposed to be here to find this out but HEY I'm only the client....) So today on a snowy Saturday they showed up and took 5 pieces of leather sofa down to the basement (they still had to remove the back door, Richard cringed when they scratched his paint job). And then they began to reassemble it. It took these 2 guys an hour and a half but it looks gorgeous. Jan was our guest from Vancouver for part of the weekend and she agrees that the contrast stitching looks cool and the new favourite seat in the house is the chaise end of the sectional - with a perfect view of the HDTV.

ex-Montrealers Unite!

Saturday night we had 15 people in our home: 10 adults and 5 kids. This was the first test for the new basement and according to Tomas (Dori's son) "the basement is perfect." Phew! He was impressed with the open space ("good for playing hockey") and of course the new TV. Emma and Luiza forged new friendships and "les boys" Gabriel and Alexandre were in fine form. David C (our Top 40 under 40 lawyer) brought hors d'oeuvres and was an amazing sous-chef helping me prepare all the ingredients for my jambalaya (mmmm). Shelley must have spent 3 days chopping every vegetable known to mankind which meant we had plenty to dip in delicious eggplant dip (from Sun valley) and more to enjoy in the refreshing salad. Tom B provided another amazing dessert: homemade Black Forest Torte. (mmmmmmm) Gina (with her arm in a cast after a spill in Florida), Linda, Jeff and Bruce rounded out the guestlist. A wonderful evening of food, wine and friendship.

Anticipation... frustration

Last year, you read about the trials of our basement reno. In 2006, we thought we would finally move ahead and start using the space more often (hence the incentive of our TV purchase) so I bought a new leather sectional to complete our "basement loft". Yesterday I came home early from work to take delivery but the two guys couldn't get it into our basement. (They actually reminded me of the demented movers we used in November 2002 - not strong problem solvers.) After removing the door and tilting it, part 1 of the couch got stuck in the stairwell. Tossing and turning tonight in my bed I felt they should have tried removing the legs or some other way to maneouver it in the space but like I said, thinking out of the box was not their strength. Basically they seemed bitter about doing the things they needed to do (i.e. taking the door off its hinges) and didn't even come with their own tools (I supplied the measuring tape, screwdriver and hammer.) We thought of putting it upstairs and moving our current sofa and love seat down but we weren't sure they would fit in the stairwell either. And then I'd be paying these bitter guys extra to do it all. Richard and I will need to go back to the store and check out our options. A real drag since we are expecting 15 people (friends and their kids) for dinner on Saturday. I think Simon at work jinxed me because he kept saying about my delivery "it's not coming, it's not coming" and now he's right. Stay tuned for the next chapter...

Mary's Birthday Dinner

Tonight Mary Long invited a few of her closest friends for dinner at Pure Spirits Oyster House in the Distillery District to celebrate her 40th birthday. It was an absolutely wonderful evening from start to finish. The food and company were divine. We started with a round of Cosmopolitans for our toast to Mary then fresh oysters followed by soup or salad and a choice of mains. I had the salad with beef tenderlion and portobello mushrooms (very tender and tasty) and ended with dessert and chocolate espresso martini (pretty intense). Mary opened her presents and got to visit with everyone throughout the evening. We finally closed the place at 1:00am. I agree with Carol: 40 is the new 30. Happy Birthday Mary!

Birthday and Brokeback with Les Filles

Tonight we celebrated my birthday with Les Filles (Sarah, Pavlina and Alison). We met at Winners and took the streetcar east to Gio Rana's, 1220 Queen St. E at Leslie. It's an old bank ("a strip mall style bank" as Alison noted) and there's no sign outside - just a big nose over the door like at his other location near Yonge & Eglinton. The place filled up quickly even at 6:00 on a Friday and we got started with beers and then a yummy Shiraz. Scrumptious appetizers and sides and my main (ossu bucco with Cremini mushrooms) was so tender it fell off the bone.

No time for dessert because we decided to try to see Brokeback Mountain at the Beach cinemas a short cab ride away. We got there and grabbed coffees but the only seats available were in the front row. Pavlina and I bailed and found single seats further back but Alison and Sarah didn't want to move (despite the annoying people around them). It was a heartbreaking movie and the performances were very strong. Heath Ledger deserves every prize he wins - muttering like a young Brando in cowboy boots with a convincing accent that belies his natural Australian one. Jake Gyllenhal is also very good as are the supporting actresses Michelle Williams (Heath's new partner) and Anne Hathaway (sporting a Farrah-like blonde hairdo - a sharp contrast to her natural rich brunette in Ella Enchanted and Princess Diaries).

I kept thinking about the movie the next day - it's not so much a gay cowboy movie as it is a movie about nurturing your relationships and being true to yourself. These guys probably couldn't have been together because of the era, and so they settled for the standard choices of marriage and kids and only came alive once or twice a year when they got together. Although most straight men won't see it, they should. And the Alberta mountain scenery is gorgeous. MMMM

Merci les Filles for
Osso bucco and Brokeback
Ang Lee is redeemed

P.S. Anne Hathaway is also starring in The Devil Wears Prada which will be released in June 2006. Les filles will go to the movie ensemble and then we will review both the film and the book at The Pilot (since we're a bit behind in our book club meetings) ;-)