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)