TIFF11 roundup

So I ended up watching 10 different films this year. There was only one that I didn't really like, there were a couple that I thought were okay and the rest, I really loved.
Only one of the films that I saw won an award, in fact, most of the winners weren't ones that even made my short list.

So in order that I watched the films, here they are:
1. Girl Model
2. Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope
3. Whore's Glory
4. First Position
5. In Darkness
6. Monsieur Lazhar
7. Killer Elite
8. Undefeated
9. Trespass
10. The Oranges

I admit, I didn't put a lot of effort into my reviews this year. I didn't bother to give synopses of the films, as I figured that people could read them from the TIFF website themselves.
I was reminded that I'd have a better chance at getting a Q&A after a screening if I attended the premiere of a film during the festival.
Anyway, it was a great festival. There are always more films to see than I have time for. I'm pretty lucky that I've been able to attend so many of them and that my schedule allows for daytime screenings on weekdays and even multiple screenings in a day. Three a day is my limit and I find that to be a lot. By the end of it, I'm exhausted, but then I met some folks that do five or six in a day - crazy!
I love the buzz of the festival. I'm glad that it takes place in the city.

The Oranges

The final film that I saw during this year's edition of the TIFF was The Oranges.
I suppose my theory that earlier screenings during the festival have a better chance of having Q&As is proving to be true. I'm going to have to keep that in mind for future festivals.
You can read the synopsis of the film here. Anyway, this first was, ummm...okay. It had some funny one-liners and such, but it seems relatively uneventful. It was enjoyable, but I didn't love it. It was cute, but it wasn't groundbreaking. I feel like this film had a lot of potential. From the beginning of the film, just the style of the movie, how the characters spoke and their interactions with one another, even the type of music they used, I thought that it would be similar to Juno.
It was okay, but it just didn't extend itself to the extent that it could be. I don't think this review is doing this film any justice. Which is too bad. It was pretty cute. I'm just tired, I suppose.

- picture courtesy of www.tiff.net

Trespass

I picked Trespass (official website here) because I'm a sucker for 'heist'-type movies. Well, I was a sucker for picking this movie.
It was horrible.
I never seem to give negative reviews on this blog about anything. I always try to find something good about everything, but I really can't with this one.
It was ridiculous. It was so forced. It was so wacky. It was so frenetic. It was so weird.
During the screening, people were laughing at all the wrong times. I figured everyone else in the screening also didn't like the movie, but then as I was leaving, I heard someone say that they really loved the movie. So then, maybe I thought I was taking the film too literally. As soon as I got home, I actually went online to check whether or not the film was actually supposed to be a parody. When I found some reviews that blasted the movie, I felt better about my judgement of the film.
The crappy part is that I'm sure it's going to get at least a limited release in theatres because of the big names that it has in the film.
There was no one representing the film to introduce the film at the screening or do a Q&A. Too bad, I would have loved to hear what they had to say.
Oh my gosh, I completely do NOT recommend this film.

- picture courtesy of www.tiff.net

Laryngitis

I've lost my voice. It's a teacher's worst nightmare.
What was a nice little cold decided to attack my poor overexposed larynx.
Now that I think back, I can kind of see the progression of how it happened. Coughing on Tuesday morning while I was teaching and using my voice to its full capacity. Tuesday afternoon, throat feeling tired, but unlike what usually happens after a busy day in the classroom.
Wednesday daytime, voice is super sexy and raspy. Chugging warm liquids and styling some scarves. Seems to be getting better as the day goes on and head to my evening class with strategies of how to get the class talking more than me. It's torture, but I survive.
Thursday morning. No voice. Nothing. No sound what soever. It's still such an interesting phenomenon for me. It's not painful, although everyone I try speaking with says that it sounds painful. I am physically speaking the same way that I would any other day, and the same amount of air is coming out, but there no vibrations going on. It's such a strange sensation.
So, it's a virus so there are no drugs I can take to get over it faster. I'm just taking on as many home remedies as I can handle. I hope they don't cancel each other out somehow. I've been told to let my voice rest. Don't speak if possible.
The rest of Thursday was spent trying not to talk, but it's kind of impossible in my field. I wasn't teaching, but when you're around people, you kind have to talk. And there were various meetings and events that I really couldn't just ignore. I did show up 'fashionably late' to one event because I knew that the beginning was a mingling-type situation, so I thought if I could skip that part, it might work out better.
I took this morning off. It was nice to sleep in, because I need it and just haven't been able to afford to do so. So that's a blessing in disguise, but I was supposed to be doing something very important this morning, so I'm frustrate that I had to cancel. And I'm lucky to be working with a very understanding colleague on another project so that freed up part of this afternoon and Monday. So, my strategy is to be a hermit as much as possible for these next couple of days. As I don't have the habit of talking out loud to myself, it's the only way I can possible attempt to not use my voice.
I just desperately want to get my voice back again for Tuesday. I've got a cracking lesson planned that I'd really like to execute.

Undefeated

Another movie, another documentary. Undefeated (official website here) follows the Manassas Tigers' run to win their first ever playoff game. The storyline is pretty close to athletes preparing for a big competition, so obviously I would love the film. And I did.
Not only are we following the team as they search for success on the field and learn more about the personal lives of some of the team members, but we're also finding out about the coach of this football team. Coach Bill Courtney is as much a star of the film if not the star. I am in complete awe that he volunteers his time to coach. There are some teachers who are paid to do their job who don't do half of what he does for those kids.
And as you would think for a film about a team from a rough area of town this film is less so about doing well in the game but more about how these young men develop their identities, pursue their dreams, and strengthen their character. I forget the phrase that the coach kept repeating to his team, but ultimately it was about how the way you handle defeat really defines you.
The Q&A with directors Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin as well as special guest Coach Bill Courtney was great. They answered a wide range of questions relating to the film's content to the filmmaking process. All three of them had create personalities that showed their passion for the film and the subject matter.
I don't know if this film will get wide-release (probably not? Do documentaries get wide-release?) but I'm sure it'll get picked up at some level. Maybe a limited release in select cities or for DVD or TV. It has to. It's an amazing story.

- picture courtesy of www.tiff.net

Killer Elite

Killer Elite (official website here) is a big, Hollywood blockbuster movie with big name celebrities and is getting wide release. All of this means that I shouldn't have selected to watch the film at TIFF and just waited to see it in theatres, but I'm a sucker for hitman movies. I love those silly movies that involve characters plotting someone else's demise. I like finding out the sneaky and creative ways that do the deed. In the same vein, I like heist movies.
So, Killer Elite was good fun. These movies aren't supposed to be cerebral or anything, but there are crazy action scenes and that's all that I'm really looking for. If you're the type of person that judges a movie when you see a character jump off of a bazillion-floor building or run from bullets without getting hurt, this isn't the movie for you.
Apparently it got some bad reviews and the director, Gary McKendry addressed them in the Q&A. He talked about how he just wanted to make an over-the-top film 'for the boys', because at the end of the day, boys love films with lots of things exploding and big fight scenes. Ahem - some girls like them too.
The Q&A had a different kind of tone than most of the others ones that I've attended. There was a lot more conversation about the process and questions about this being his first feature film.
So, the film was entertaining. That's probably how I would best describe it. There was one flaw, though. The film is set in the 70s and they drive cars that were around back then, most of the men are sporting classic moustaches and relevant attire...except for Jason Statham's character (well, and his leading lady and Robert De Niro's character as well). So that struck me as really odd, but it wasn't so bad because dressed in present-day garb, he's pretty good to look at. Ha.
The film is in theatres now or soonish (sorry, I don't actually keep track of these things) so if you like these kind of films, go watch it. It's pretty much everything you'd expect this kind of film to be.

- picture courtesy of www.tiff.net

Monsieur Lazhar

Monsieur Lazhar is a film about immigration, communication, and education. I'm starting to hit the wall about writing these reviews because I'm so worn out, but that doesn't mean that I didn't like the films. It just means that I think that the TIFF write-up and any other reviews that you can find on the internet can do a much better job than I can in this current state. So I think I'm going to skip the synopsis part of my write-ups and see what I can fit in to a short one-liner.
Anyway, The one word that I would use to describe this film is subtle. I does touch upon some interesting issues, but either I'm too dense to get what they were trying to say or maybe they just didn't make as big a deal out of the issues as they could have. I would have like more of the issues front and center and flushed out a bit more. Basically, I the film finished and I was expecting more. It was nice, but I think that there was so much more potential there.
This film was by the same director as the film that I watched (and loved) a couple years ago, C'est pas moi, je le jure!. There are definite similarities between the films. Children who really capture the audience, some tough issues and quirky characters and somehow an Amelie-esque feel to the film. I wonder if I say that about all films that are in French. But something about the simple nature of the films, and the style of the dialogue reminds me of Amelie. And the cadence of the speech...which, yeah, I guess could be just the fact that it's in French.
There was a Q&A with this film, but I didn't really get much out of it. The director, Philippe Falardeau, once again shared how he worked with children on-set, he answered questions with humour and even imbedded humour in a scripted pre-screening introduction with one of the children from the film. The young boy was great int he film, but I thought the young girl (who wasn't at the screening) was superb. I would have liked to hear her talk about her experiences.
So in the end, although the synopsis caught my eye and of course the fact that it related to teaching, schools and education, it wasn't the portrayal of the story that really made me enjoy the film. It was good, but as I previously said, I thought it could have done more. But I think this is a personal preference thing. People all around me loved the film and the audience gave the team that was at the Q&A a warm round of applause. So yeah, the real reason this film is great is the cast. I thought each member of the cast did a wonderful job in their role and their emotions, interactions and delivery of their lines really made me enjoy the film.

- picture courtesy of www.tiff.net

In Darkness

There have been may films about the atrocities against the Jews during World War II. In Darkness is a feature film, based on a true story of Leopold Socha, a sewer worker, who, as a result of his profession and knowledge of these underground tunnels becomes a hero just as Oskar Schindler of Schindler's List did.
This film felt a tad bit long. I think there were moments in the first half of the movie that could have been cut out (the runtime was 145 minutes), but as the film continued, it just got better and better.
What stood out in this film? I'm not sure. I loved Schindler's List, but I can't think of something in particular that I loved. Well, there was the amazing score John Williams. I didn't notice this film's score to be be something extra special (I would assume, because it's a week later, and I can't seem to remember the music in detail), so I guess it can't be that. In Schindler's List, there was the girl with the red coat. In this film, there was a girl in blue boots. The cast was very good in both films. The subject matter, was of course, very powerful. I guess there wasn't one thing that I can pinpoint as to why this film was incredible, but it definitely was.
One thing to note is that instead of 'Hollywood' actors playing the roles and speaking in English, this film used Polish actors speaking in Polish and German. This was one of the director's, Agnieszka Holland's important pieces of the film. Apparently she was approach a couple time to make the film, but she hesitated, not really wanting to go back to this topic and also to not do a typical Hollywood blockbuster take on it.
Before the screening, director Agnieszka Holland introduced her film and brought many people from her team along with a couple actors up on stage. It seemed like a very long intro to me, as I thought we could just as easily met these folks afterwards during the Q&A...but there wasn't one. After the film, the director came back onstage (to a standing ovation), and once the audience had taken their seats again, she brought up that little girl with the blue boots onstage. I've forgotten her name, but she wrote a book about her experiences and this was of course an inspiration for the film. A few words of thanks and then they walked off-stage and the lights came on. I wonder why they decided not to do a Q&A?
So I'll definitely recommend the film. You'll get all of the same emotions that you would watching Schindler's List. Schindler's List is an award winning film and this one, although I have no idea if it's going to get picked up for wide-release, it's just as emotional. Of course there were many moments where emotions were running high, but there was one stand-out moment in which the entire audience gasped. Incredible.

- picture courtesy of www.tiff.net

First Position

I think anytime you have a documentary following competitors preparing for a major competition, you're going to get a good result. The film will inherently have suspense, have the audience be rooting for their favorite - I've yet to see a film with this kind of premise that I didn't like. Jig, from Hot Docs 2011 was the most recent film that I saw that followed competitors preparing for an event and it was fabulous. Coincidentally, TIFF version of a leading-up-to-a-competition doc was also about dancers, but instead of Irish dancing, the topic of the film was ballet.
First Position (official website here), was one of the few films that I was 100% sure I wanted to see. My process in picking films is to go through every single film, read the programmer's notes, and just cut out the ones that don't catch my eye. After the first round of cuts, I'm usually left with about 50 or so films. Amongst those films, I'll make note of any films that really catch my eye and I definitely, definitely, definitely want to see. I think this year I ended up with 2 or 3 films in this category. Last year, Waiting for "Superman" made it into that category.
Anyway, the film followed six dancers as they prepared for the Youth American Grand Prix. As to be expected from a film of this genre, there was a variety in the backgrounds of the dancers. The rich dancer. The poor dancer. The not-the-typical-body-type dancer. The has-a-sorta-stage-mom dancer.
Also like most of these films, there wasn't anything groundbreaking about the film. Sure you learn a little bit more about ballet (or whatever the topic is), but the dedication, sweat, pain, tears, passion, adversity, triumph and the rest of the stuff that come with it. That's nothing surprising.
The one potential flaw with this film is that each of the dancers is a success story. I'd read a review before I watched the film was 'ruined' this ending for me, so I guess I'm going to ruin it now for everyone else (although, if you're enough of a die hard, you'd already know how these dancers did at the competition anyway). Usually you expect at least one character to 'lose' and then make a speech about how they're not going to to give up their dream and/or they've had a good run and they're happy with what they've accomplished either way, but in this film everyone ended up succeeding. At least for the meantime.
In the Q&A with first time filmmaker Bess Kargman, she addresses this criticism and says that her intention was to follow special characters. She used to be a dancer so she picked these dancers to follow because she could see that each one of them had an 'it factor'. So really, she picked winners right from the beginning.
So why it this film so amazing? It's the subject matter, it's the amazing dancing, but it's probably more the characters which makes the film great. Bess did a great job picking characters (there were a couple more dancers that she followed, but she only ended up using these six...not sure why - although the rest of them have bit parts in the film) who not only had great back stories, but also had great personalities to follow. I'm sure that the characters weren't always "on", but some really great moments were captured in and included in the film. Some very funny moments, I might add.
So yeah, I'd recommend this film.

- picture courtesy of www.firstpositionfilms.com

Here's to another great festival

I've decided that tonight was my last night for TIFF for this year. There's still a weekend's worth of films still left to see, but I've had a good run with the ten films that I did watch. Although there was one that I actually didn't like, (and I can usually interpret or analyse the heck out of a film until I start to like it) two were so-so and the rest I enjoyed. This year was my busiest in terms of non-TIFF stuff during TIFF, and I am battling my obligatory beginning-of-the-school-year cold.
I have a very busy couple of months ahead, so I think it's best if I take it easy this weekend and not get tempted to watch more films. Let's wait and see if I break or not.
As I said, I had a pretty good success rate with my films this year. And as always, I've had a good experience, but there were some things that I noticed from this year that I hadn't in previous years. Screenings were not very punctual. In previous years, I would join the ticket holder line 30-45 minutes in advance and not even be close to the beginning of the line. It was what I had to do to ensure that I would get a good seat. this year, I would stroll arrive to the theatre 10 minutes before the scheduled start time, not have a bad position in line, or even just stroll right into the theatre five minutes before the screening would start and not even bother with the line at all. I can't imagine that I selected films that were much less popular than ones that I'd selected in previous years, but rush lines seemed short or non-existant. I was able to buy a ticket for one of the screenings that I was going to rush, and joined a rush line 10 minutes before the scheduled start time of another and the line was probably only 20 deep. I used to show up to rush lines one hour before screening and still be concerned that I couldn't get in.
Volunteers seemed less organized and/or assertive and this mainly came out in line-up confusion. At AMC, corralling in a different theatre than that in which the screening will take place isn't a new idea, but boy, were there glitches. And I shouldn't have been able to go all the way to the theatre at the TIFF Bell Lightbox before being told that the line-up for the screening was downstairs and outside of the building. And it was five minutes before showtime...why was the line still outside. Even more entertaining was that when the line was finally let into the building, we had to snake our way through the cordoned area set up just outside of the theatre...for a line. So why did we have to line up outside in the first place? And when we were basically just entering the theatre, just bother having us snake through? It was strange.
But, as always, seatmates were cheerful and friendly (unless they were in the industry - and then it was touch and go), those introducing the films were enthusiastic and there was a nice vibe in the city.
All in all, it's been a great festival and hopefully I'll have a chance to write-up about the rest of the films that I saw soon.

Whores' Glory

Whores' Glory (official website here) is a triptych about prostitution in three locations around the world: Bangkok (Thailand), Faridpur (Bangladesh) and Reynosa (Mexico). We get an inside look at a brothel in each location, meet some of the girls/ladies who work there, some of the folks who are in charge of the girls/ladies, and some of the folks who are customers.
This is the third film that I saw at the festival and all three have been documentaries thus far. I'm figuring out that I like documentaries because I like to learn. I like to understand and I like to know about different components of our world. I specifically like to know about people, their stories, their lives and why they do what they do. People are fascinating.
Brothels and prostitution don't really come up as topics in every day conversations. It's not something that's commonplace in my environment. It really is another unknown that I honestly can say that I have no judgements about. I don't know enough about it to make any judgements about it. I may know what pop culture says about it, but that doesn't make me feel like I actually know anything about the topic.
This documentary did a great job of giving me the chance to hear from people whom I probably will never have a chance to meet and seeing their world. It was amazing what the filmmakers were allowed access to, and just how candid everyone being interviewed was. It wasn't always that I was shocked at what they were saying and their perspective of reality. I mean, I suspected as much to be true, but as I said before, these topics just aren't talked about on a regular basis in my environment so it's pretty stunning to hear so much of it in a concentrated piece.
Not all of it seemed 'sad'. As I thought, some of it seemed to be just another way of life. But, as the film progressed things got more and more grim. The reality of some situations, and hearing the girls speak about their realities was pretty heart-wrenching.
This was a film that would have had a great Q&A. To find out more about the topic, to find out more about the process and how the production team was able to, well, get access to it all. Here's where my thoughts of a strategy for knowing which screenings to attend didn't quite work out. The director was supposed to have attended, however, he just won an award at the Venice Film Festival for this film and so, Venice beat out TIFF. This, I will accept.
Luckily, the film's website is a great place to find out some more information. It is well worth a read.
This film is also well worth a watch.

- picture courtesy of www.tiff.net

Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope

Another film, another documentary.
At Hot Docs this past year, I watched Morgan Spurlock's POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. It was entertaining. Not the most amazing piece of work that I've ever seen in my life, but definitely entertaining. I was pretty sure that watching Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope would be equally as entertaining. I was right.
The fun started as soon as I arrived to the theatre. Stormtroopers lined the sidewalk. They kindly moved aside to let me pass. Going up that long escalator in the Scotiabank, I had a prime view of all of the different characters who were standing on the accompanying stairs to welcome us to the show. I think I only recognized 10% of the characters. There were more characters wandering around the hallways upstairs. Some posing with other festival-goers for photos, others just hanging out. I was expecting a couple folks in line to be dressed up as well, but I guess those folks go to the actual Comic-Con instead of just going to a documentary about it.
The documentary did a great job of profiling some classic Comic-Con attendees. Aspiring illustrators, aspiring costumers, figurine collectors, a legend from the comic book collecting world, and a pair of nerdy fans who are ever-so-deeply in love. Interspersed between the storytelling of their time leading up to the convention and time at the convention were interviews with some big names in the biz (I assume so - I clearly know nothing about this 'biz') as well as some great snippets with other attendees.
The documentary tied the scenes together through comic-esque drawings. Freezing real footage which morphed into drawn images, zooming out to a page of the comic book of the doc and panning to the next panel and zooming in to reveal the next vignette to be told.
There were at least a dozen folks (including Stan Lee, whom everyone around me was freaking out about - meh. No big deal. Although, he does seem to have a lot of charisma, is a great speaker and comes with his own well=dressed security guard) onstage for the post-screening Q&A. This was the world premiere, so I guess this was the place to be. I think that's going to be my strategy. I love the Q&As and the first screening of the film is at least the TIFF premiere, if not the North American premiere or the world premiere, so chances are there will be someone from the production in attendance and willing to speak about the film and/or answer some questions about it.
Again, this film wasn't ground breaking, but I sure enjoyed it. It's neat to get an inside scoop into Comic-Con and hear about some real-live stories. To follow adventures, root for the characters and of course smile when they give you the 'where are they now' update that (of course) takes place during the end credits.
It's definitely a fun film to watch.

- picture courtesy of www.tiff.net

Girl Model

Here we go!!! I'll be seeing at least 8 films this year, and I'm pretty exhausted from life, but at least I'm not sick like I was last year. Fingers crossed I don't get sick any time soon.
So, to my first film of the festival, Girl Model (official website here). This is a documentary about a former-model turned scout, her work in Russia scouting girls for the Japanese market, the Russian girls who hope to become models and make it big not only for themselves, but for their families back at home in Russia, and then the experiences of these girls in Japan - a very foreign locale.
So, my take on the film - umm...what the huh?!? I still haven't figured out what kind of movies I like. Is it ones with a happy ending? Ones that throw your for a loop? Ones that make you think? Ones that are predictable?
The film highlighted some obvious ideas: the younger the better, the skinnier the better, models can be naive, models and their families could be relying on the girls for success and a new life, agencies are crafty, etc.
I know that I don't like films (maybe I should be more specific and say documentaries) that don't examine an idea in depth. Not only is this one of those documentaries but I also feel like it was just so wishy washy, confusing and even the filmmaking part of it didn't seem particularly intriguing. I mean, it wasn't particularly artistic, creative...it wasn't...errr...special.
See, I know that when Thom Powers introduces a film, he has say good things about it, but he really pumped up this film saying that it was the first documentary that he picked to be in the festival. He just "knew" that early on in the year that this film was something special. I wish I understood what he saw in this film.
I'm mighty glad that we had a Q&A with the producers and one of the more experienced models featured the film. There weren't many questions from the get go. Maybe the audience was as confused or disappointed as I was. And then, after the filmmakers gave a wishy washy answer to a question, I was about to give up complete hope. Maybe they were just completely wishy washy in general. But then, as they kept talking, they started 'revealing' more. Their wishy washiness in answering questions seemed to be because they were trying their best to be as diplomatic with their answers as possible. Basically, that part of the industry was just as confusing to them as it was to us and they were just as aghast as we were about some of the realities but for some reason needed to be careful how they dealt with it. The model didn't really have anything super enlightening to say, but in a way, her confusing and roundabout answers further solidified the notion that the industry is confusing and not fair, but aspiring models, especially ones who are so desperate to have a 'better life' just accept its weird ways, that it's an industry with some strange characters and that it's a pretty tight-knit, defensive and secretive community.
And once the lightbulb in my and the rest of the audience's head went off that there was actually more to the story that the filmmakers were hesitating to telling us, all of a sudden everyone had a question to ask. And just as to be expected, there was only time for one more question. It was a great question to tried to further get the filmmakers to voice their actual views on the issues and to help us better understand what the heck was going on with this world, and since it was clear that we figured out 'what was up', they opened up a little more to basically say, 'yeah...it's messed up'. And they also talked about a bunch of things that they'd encountered or filmed that gave you a better sense of just how wacky the world is, but I have no idea why these episode just weren't included in the final cut of the film.
So the film wasn't stellar, but thank goodness for that Q&A. I wonder if it was supposed to be a film that seemed like it was telling this on-the-surface (but wishy washy) tale, but that you were supposed to be so unsatisfied by the film that you were supposed to realize that there's more to it that the filmmakers just couldn't actually portray. I don't know...it seems like a lot to ask from an audience.
Sigh.

- picture courtesy of www.girlmodelthemovie.com

Friday afternoon ponderings

As I wander around campus and see the Froshies doing their thing, I wonder...
Do people look at me and see a weathered and grizzled graduate student or a sprightly and eager frosh?
The fact that I'm not wearing a fluorescent coloured t-shirt as part of Orientation Week festivities is a giveaway, but once that's all over, is there anything about how we present ourselves superficially that distinguish us?

Insider information

I don't get a chance to go into the ROM very often anymore. Other items on my portfolio are needing to be first priority, so I can only pop into the ROM when I've got extra time.
It's not that I have tons of time in my schedule right now, but I was able to squeeze in the annual departmental meeting in today (well, I took the one-hour lunch 'break' to run down the street to go in to school and get some work done - sigh).
BUT...as always, there are exciting things at the ROM.

1. Maya is coming in November!!! The lead curator for the exhibition, Justin Jennings, came in to chat with us and his enthusiasm was contagious. It's clearly going to be a great exhibit (which will be going to the Canadian Museum of Civilizations afterwards) and his talk brought me back to some of the stuff that I remembered learning about in Grade 8. Yeah, our school had a trip to Mexico...that's how we rolled. Anyway, the sites that we went to all of those years ago aren't going to be featured in the exhibition because they're too recent. This exhibition is looking back at pre-Spaniards stuff. It's not only that the topic that Justin was presenting about really great, nor was it that he was an exceptional presenter, but the fact that he was SO excited to share his love of the topic, his excitement for this exhibition...you couldn't help but be excited too. He was clearly geek-ing out as he was presenting some of the artifacts and details of their culture. Like a kid in a candy store.
It just further illustrated the importance for a teacher (speaker/presenter/etc.) to be passionate about the subject that they're teaching. Passion and genuine enthusiasm for a topic can get you a long way. I hope that my passion for my subject matter comes across when I teach. I'm pretty sure it does. In fact, I'm very aware of how giddy I got when I gave my intro talk about Calculus each time I taught that course. Sure, my students were laughing (at me), but I knew that they knew how excited I was about the topic and how much I wanted them to be excited too. I'm looking forward to getting that kid-in-a-candy-store feeling starting next week (roller coaster car is still going uphill...)

2. findthebabybison. Duuuuuude...when this finally goes public, it's going to be soooo goooooood. I wanna spill the beans so bad!

Must stay focused!

I've finally managed to get back to transcribing those interviews that I did in the Spring (and was supposed to transcribe by May), and was getting into the groove of it, but now there are fighter jets doing loop-de-loops and other fancy tricks right outside my window. Blargh.
It's funny that there's a whole line of Porter planes waiting on the tarmac for the show-off to finish its gig before they can take off.