Wee update

I have been busy. And sick. So less of the posting business has been happening.

Nonetheless, I have two things to say (whoa - I just flashed to this song all of a sudden):

1. I was in a flash-mob dance party. Of sorts. It was more of a planned and non-secret flash-mob, but it was lovely. I had a blast. We danced to Dirty Bit by the Black Eyed Peas.

2. There's a student in a Grade 3/4 split class wearing a Threadless shirt right now. Kids are cool.

WORK!

In love...

I just set the irobot Roomba loose for the first time and...swooooon! I need to give it a name. This is most definitely the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

Go Glee!

At first I was watching Glee because I liked the singing and dancing, and then I enjoyed the guest appearances, but I have to admit that I'm really getting hooked. I really enjoy their ability to make fun things in the top-40 music world and even the show itself. I haven't hit the point where I'm appreciating the long-term storylines though. I'm purely enjoying each episode as a discrete entity. The way that they've packaged the episodes thematically is lovely. Keep it up, Glee.

Moncler does it again!

Love it!
I love Moncler more and more. Feel free to watch their previous fashion show again. And I still want to be part of a dance-party flash mob. A good one.

New experience

Sweet. I think I have laryngitis. This no voice thing is kinda cool.
It was especially cool during my presentation today.

And I'm a benevole...

18 hours after the day started (and it began when I was already tired, with a nice cold developing), a delayed, no - canceled flight and expensive taxi ride later (fo shiz...but I didn't have to pay the bill), I am finally home from North Bay. At least I have raspy-sicky voice to show for it.
Stellar weekend.

Seriously?

And now it's 'Copacabana'.

Strange musical choices

When checking-in at the airport, 'The Right Stuff' by New Kids on the Block was playing. I'm waiting at the gate to board my flight and being serenaded by 'Stop' by the Spice Girls.
So strange.

James Stewart

I don't know if I'll write a textbook in the future, but if I do, I probably won't be as successful as James Stewart.
I used his Calculus: Early Transcendentals text (4th Edition) for MATH120 in first year university. We fondly referred to it as Stewie. My copy is sitting in a box with all of my other math textbooks in my storage room.
The reggies used his Calculus: A First Course for OAC calculus.
I want an integral house.

Thunder Soul

Before I do my little write up about this most recent installment of Doc Soup, I have to talk about the screening that I missed last month. In January, I remember hemming and hawwing about whether or not to go to The Mouth of the Wolf. The write up wasn't particularly compelling. The trailer wasn't particularly compelling, but it has gotten rave reviews at some other film festivals.
Turns out, I made the right decision. Prior to this week's film, we were read some of the e-mails that Hot Docs had received after last month's film. We were read a selection of comments that were all supposed to be negative. They were pretty funny to hear. I think my favorite was, "Too innovative!" So Hot Docs didn't choose the best film for their audience. But I do agree with them that it's nice to throw a curve-ball at us every so often. They just now know not to go too far. Hilarious.
Anyway, so this month, the documentary that they screened was Thunder Soul. This film had been part of Hot Docs 2010 and won the People's Choice Award, so they thought that they should bring it back from Doc Soup. The write=up from the Doc Soup website is as follows:
Conrad "Prof" Johnson composed original funk songs and arranged fantastic stage antics with Houston’s Kashmere High School Stage Band. He became the first black high school bandleader with an all-black high school band to win the Texas state championship in the 1970s. His "give it all you got" attitude made the group unstoppable, leading them to win 42 out of 46 contests over the course of the decade and establishing them as international funk legends with tours in Paris and Japan. THUNDER SOUL combines archival footage of the kids in action, showing off their James Brown showmanship, platform shoes, and Bootsy Collins-type rhythms, with the band members' recent reunion. With nothing but love for the father of funk from their youth, they practice for the first time in three decades, hoping they "still got it" enough to perform a tribute show for the ailing 92-year-old Prof.
So the film was great. I mean, it had me at music and education. When that band played at the final reunion...whoooooo wheeee! If you didn't feel like dancing or at least bopping your head, there is something wrong with you.
Apparently the band played after some screenings at other festivals. Jea-lous.
I think some seriously musical folks would enjoy this film as well. There's some music history and talk about genres that I don't know much about in there. Click here to hear the Kashmere High School Band sampled by DJ Shadow. This is a film that has quite a few different levels.
So on top of the music, my heart was melting at one of the main messages of the film. The Post-film Q&A with director, Mark Landsman confirmed that the film was trying to bring attention to the lack of funding towards the Arts in schools. In the film, Prof made it clear that he believed that music in schools does more than just provide students a chance to learn an instrument. So much more.
And of course, the other message of the film: a great teacher can be...life changing.

This film is getting wide release in the States in the fall. That probably won't help my readership in any way, but this is a darn good film. And maybe one day you'll watch it.

- picture courtesy of www.thundersoulmovie.com

Happy New Year!

I hope you have a hoppin' good year!

Snowstorm!

Apparently there's going to be a big snowstorm tonight. I'm looking forward to wearing my Moon Boots. Wheee!
An ex-pat friend was asking if this was a 'regular' winter, but I didn't know the answer. Other people tell me that the past couple of years have been very mild, and of course I wasn't in the country prior to that. And then before that, I was living in K-town which was ridiculously cold and snowy.
So basically, I don't remember what 'regular' Toronto winters are like.

FEAST Toronto

A couple weeks ago, I attended the inaugural FEAST Toronto event. It was splendid.
As the website states:
FEAST (Funding Emerging Artists with Sustainable Tactics) is a community dinner and funding event. Artists and designers are invited to present proposals for art-or design-based, community-oriented projects during the dinner. Everyone attending the dinner votes on which project they would like to fund, and the project with the most votes is given a grant from the money that is raised from the dinner.
I wasn't really sure what kind of crowd would turn up for this sort of event, and I'm not entirely sure what kind of crowd it was, but the people whom I chatted with at the event seemed really nice. I happened to be sitting at a table that seemed to be comprised of friends of one of the organizers of the event and many of the other tables seemed to be comprised of presenting artists and their supporters. I think our table was the only one that didn't have participating artists at it. It was a pretty small venue.
Anyway, we got to know our tablemates over appetizers and as we got settled into our main course, the presentations began. There were 9 project proposals spanning a wide range of ideas and media. There was visual art, performance art, participatory art, sculptural art, and multimedia. I found it hard to decide which one to vote for. The three that I found most interesting were:
Psychic Cooking - The simple story is that David Frankovich does a tarot card reading and instead of the traditional cards, he uses various canned goods. Each of the food items has a symbolic relationship to the real tarot cards. Then, along with basic ingredients of rice and spices, he makes you a meal out of the food that turns up from your reading.
Field to Feast - They did a pilot project with a rabbit. So they killed a rabbit, and did all that taxidermy business. The rabbit was the guest of honour at a dinner that contained, ummm...it. Other ingredients to the dishes were part of the rabbit's diet and habitat. The dinner also consisted of diagrams to illustrate what part of the rabbit diners were eating, and a really neat detail was that each diner had a napkin with the diagram to illustrate how the rabbit was prepared. Not to be eaten, but to be, errr, stuffed. They were hoping to have a lamb the next time around.
Out of the box planters - You may know of Sean Martindale from his Poster Pocket Plants project. It was amazing. This time, Sean wants to take busted up planters (think, the big square ones on University Ave. on the sidewalk that each have a tree in them) and do something cool with them. He didn't seem to articulate exactly what he was going to do, but with his track record, I was game.
I ended up picking the project that I thought would get the most exposure. I want as many people as possible to experience art. And in the end, Sean won the grant.
A student grant was also awarded from two proposals. Matt Moreland, an OCAD student who created Xeroxr.com won the grant and his plan is to create a Xeroxr magazine.
It was a wonderful night, and I'm hoping to attend the next event. I think Sean and Matt are supposed to give a report about what they ended up doing with the money and I'm looking forward to seeing what other artists decide to participate and what great ideas they come up with.

Good to know

...that good fashion and academia are not discrete entities. Sure, the Venn diagram may not have a huge intersecting section, but it exists all the same. There was a prof wearing some really slick, navy, Etro pants today. This is the prof who I often see wearing all-black. There was another prof who was wearing a pair of stand-out, mustard-coloured socks today. The man is going up for tenure, yet he still has enough sense in him to wear amazing socks. Something to strive for.

Nobis

In my continued hunt for a great winter coat, I discovered Nobis. I'm almost afraid to write about it, because I know that word is getting around that this company is making some great coats and heaven forbid it become out of control like those Canada Goose coats. These companies have definite similarities, but I assert that these coats are nicer. Umm yeah, so apparently, Nobis got someone who used to be at Canada Goose to come over and design their stuff. The goal was to make a more upscale product.
Yeah. I enjoy.
Now, if only someone could decided to make an upscale UGG.

Oh, those tech-savvy people

In the workshop today, the guy beside me pulls out a slick-looking wireless keyboard. Uh, okay. At first I thought that he was going to pull a stunt like those folks who practice the piano on cardboard keyboards. Yes, it's ridiculous, but given the topic of the workshop, it was vaguely plausible - especially since I had no idea where he was going with just having this wireless keyboard. Anyway, he finally pulled out an iphone, propped it up against his Moleskine, pushed his keyboard close to it for a second and then I saw the devices synch, the screen popped up like a regular monitor, and the typing began.
Amazing.

Also, he was wearing a great scarf. I don't think it's a coincidence. He was, however, wearing a Canada Goose parka. I knew it was too good to be true.

This could be useful...

So apparently there's a new textile dye that doesn't fade. "More than 50 per cent of clothing is black." Really, that's it? Oh right, they're talking about in general, not just for me. Ha.

Museum Secrets

There's a 'documentary' series about Museums around the world that is being aired on the History Channel (and then posted online - woohee!). Episode 3 stars Toronto's very own Royal Ontario Museum. Of course, the museum is very excited about this. I am also excited, so I clicked to watch the trailer for the episode. Ummm...they make it look like some E! True Hollywood Story expose or something. Or at least the narrator's voice does.
I'm wondering if the episode will highlight anything that I didn't already know about the museum, as the trailer didn't seem to give me any great insights into the place. Based on the title of the series, I thought that they might talk about the ROM's resident ghost, but nope, it seems like it's more about how we had a barosaurus under our noses this entire time! Incroyable!
Anyway, I'll still watch the episodes. I'm sure I'll get something out of it.

Neil Pasricha: The 3 A's of awesome

I'm still bummed that I wasn't accepted to be an audience member for TEDxToronto, but thanks to TED, I can catch a glimpse of what I missed.
I've seen the book in stores, but of course I was never compelled to open it up and read it. Obvious character flaw.
I just quickly perused the website and it is pretty awesome. It's true, we have our bumps in the road, but all in all, life is awesome. There are so many things that we encounter, see, experience, smell, accomplish, touch, and the list goes on...there are just so many things that are awesome.
Reminding yourself and those around you about the awesome things, well that's awesome too. I'm wondering what will happen once Neil gets to 1000. Clearly, there are more than 1000 awesome things, so I hope that he keeps going.
So awesome people, in this awesome world...have an awesome night!

The Cube

I've been scoping out the winter coat situation for awhile now, and while I probably won't buy a new one anytime soon, this one seems interesting...at least in concept.
Max Mara has a collection called The Cube. These down filled coats pack themselves into bags. Okay - they're not the most stylish bag, and it's not like this is a new idea, but I'm intrigued nonetheless.
For someone who needs a super warm coat, and one that can be packed easily (and discretely), this might be a nice idea. Am I going to act on it? Doubtful.

Crawling back towards world domination!!! I mean, control.

I win!!!
Yesterday, I was stressed out about not being able to find a bracelet.
Today, I looked around in some more places that I could have possibly put the bracelet, but to no avail. And then, thanks to a jaunt down memory lane on flickr, I was reminded of the last day that I remember actually having (and almost wearing) the bracelet. That day had been crazy but since I actually am in full control of my life, I was still able to figure out a couple more places to look.
And I found it! Booyah!

It's all downhill from here...

I think I'm slowly starting to loose it. Literally.
Awhile back, I realized that I misplaced my old passport. I still can't find it. Last night, I couldn't find a special bracelet. Both have extremely high sentimental value (yes, I realize that I think that everything has sentimental value). I didn't have a lot of time to look for the bracelet last night and somehow managed to suppress a frenzy, but looked for it today. I looked in all of the spots that I thought it would be, but to no avail.
I really hope that all of my misplaced items turn up. You see, I'm convinced that I'm immune to loosing things. I like to think that I'm on full control of my life and all of my belongings. We'll see how that goes...
Please don't make jokes about me getting old. I'm happily in denial. Thanks.

Globe Bistro

Although the front room was completely empty (I was later assured that this front room is just the overspill room and that they like to put their patrons in the back - which was nicer - and even on the second level), I got a really good vibe from this place as soon as I took my seat at the table.
Globe Bistro is one of those restaurants that does the local thing and it was lovely. I'm a sucker for good plating and good service, so Globe had more points going for them. Okay, so the service was good, but it wasn't exceptional. But good is still better than mediocre.
The food was nice. I think all of it was good, but it wasn't mind blowing. The elk was actually quite tasty, and the tobacco smoked beef tasted, well, porky. I was told that my porky reference should actually be an association to bacon and those smoked hams from my youth. The appetizers and dessert were also good, but again not anything special.
It was also pointed out to me that the space used to be a bowling alley and they they repurposed the lanes for flooring. In fact, many other patrons were noticing it was they walked by our table, pointing out the arrows by their feet.
Anyway, I thought that the restaurant was quite nice. Decent price point for the food, ambiance and service that you get. Like I said, I had a good feeling about this place right from the get go. I would definitely go back.

Price point: mid-range
Ambiance: 4/5
Food: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Would return again: yes

Moncler F/W 2010

I saw something that reminded me of this show. I know it's old, and for some reason, I thought that I had already posted it, but I guess not? Anyway, it's a great show. Still on my bucket list - attend a fashion show.

Centro

Centro is a well-known, high-ish end restaurant. I quite liked the ambiance of the place. Comfy chairs, not too dark lighting, high ceilings and some cool features. My first impression of the restaurant led me to believe that I would enjoy this meal. The food was decent, but I wasn't particularly impressed with what I had. Maybe my expectations were too high? I don't think so, though. The service had potential, and I don't know if it was because we had a big table and our waiter knew that it was for a special occasion, but I found it a little excessive. I've experienced European service, and while at times it seemed excessive, it didn't completely annoy me. This service did. In Europe, it was very frequent, but it always seemed to have a purpose. Here, it didn't. Or at least the timing was off. I felt like I was told things that I really didn't care about, or at completely the wrong time. Since my expectations of this place were high, I would think that even with our big table, everyone would be served at the same time. I do remember one instance that all of our plates didn't come out at the same time, which surprised me. I hope I'm not sounding too critical, but something about the service, was off. But not all the time. At times, I though it was okay. I guess I'll go back to my original sentiment in that it had potential.
And it's a shame because, like I said, I had a good first impression of the place.

Price point: mid-high
Ambiance: 5/5
Food: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Would return again: yes

Luma

Back in September, I had said that I would start doing quick reviews of restaurants that I dined at. Oops. Forgot to follow through.
So this review will be brief, as I think many future reviews will be (if I remember to even do them). Maybe these reviews will be more for my own reference for future dining purposes.

Luma is a newish restaurant in the TIFF Bell Lightbox. It's part of the Oliver & Bonacini family of restaurants and I would assume, by looking at the price point, that it's supposed to be on the nicer end of the spectrum. I'm a sucker for good service and well plated food, so it was a mixed experience for me. Service was NOT good. Our table was forgotten about on a couple occasions, and we had to get some of the heads of service involved, when I don't think they were supposed to be. I'm hoping that their involvement would highlight that someone else on their team is slacking off, but I don't know if that message will get through. The service was saved by someone on loan from Canoe. He was great and made sure that we felt like we were being well looked after.
The plating was nice. I thought they paid attention to how the food looked, and on the taste side, I wasn't too disappointed. The scallop sashimi was light, refreshing and flavourful. The tuna tartare was also tasty. I quite liked my tagliatelle, and it was much more filling than I had expected. The dessert was also quite nice - my opera cake was forgettable, but the buttered popcorn ice cream tasted better than it sounds and the chocolate Pop Rocks it was served on top of were super fun.
So yeah - I guess the food was nice...but the service was very disappointing.

Price point: mid-range
Ambiance: 4/5
Food: 4/5
Service: 2/5
Would return again: yes

Happy holidays

At this time of year, a lot of people settle in front of the TV to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas, Home Alone, Love Actually, or The Sound of Music.
I watched Requiem for a Dream. Ha.
I've had a borrowed copy of the DVD in my possession for three years and have had really good intentions to watch the film, but I don't tend to be in the right mood to watch this kind of movie. Not to say that the holidays put me in the mood to watch this kind of film, but I figured that I would probably never be in the right mood, so on a quiet night in, I just decided to go for it.
It's an interesting movie. Probably not my favorite that I've ever seen, but it's interesting. I thought it started sort of slowly, but I think this is a movie that the more you think about it or watch it, you'd be able to get more out of it. And of course, the soundtrack is amazing. Amazing enough that a bazillion ice dance teams skated to its soundtrack during last year's Olympic season.

Also - Happy Holidays, folks!

A little lost

I'm thinking that I shouldn't have left my September-September framework to get a January-January agenda (albeit a classic Moleskine one). There are a bunch of events in the New Year already piling up, and I have nowhere to make note of them. I need to get organized. I need a new agenda. I need to be less picky in buying one. I'm feeling a little flummoxed.

A lovely laptop cover

Anyone need a 15inch laptop cover? Canvasco has this beauty. Hop Kanada!

Some things never change

A blast from my 4-year old past:
"You were about as tall as my knee and you always had a big smile for everyone. I think you found life pretty delightful back then."

Conflict resolution

Overheard in a school office:
"Are you happy with this being a, 'Say you're sorry, end of story' kind of situation?"
"Yes, sir."

Shaken to the core

I'm not the best at dealing with my emotions. I'm not the best at explaining what's going on when I feel something. Like, seriously feel something.
While watching Waiting for Superman, I started crying. I was pretty confused about it because I don't think of myself as a crier. I thought through my emotions, and I think that I understand why I responded that way. Nonetheless, I was shocked how I reacted to my feelings.
It happened again. I just got an e-mail that shook me to my core. I love it, maybe more than your average person, when things connect. When you find out the world is small and you feel like there's too much of a coincidence of what's happens in life. So that part of the e-mail was great, but then I started reading into the subtext of the e-mail and again I was surprised at how strongly I was reacting. When things get really personal. When thing really hit at what you're passionate about. I guess that's when you react in surprising (or maybe extreme?) ways. At least, that's how it seems to be for me.
As I've said, there are some things that I need to pursue.

"School board considers paying needy students"

There's an article in the Toronto Star that talks about an idea that has the TDSB paying "needy" students for things including good grades, attendance at school, involvement in programs.
From skimming the comments on the webpage (I haven't looked at the Twitter page that they referred to), it seems as though people are bashing the idea. I, however, I can come up with both pros and cons to the proposal, but there's not enough information to really make an informed decision. I would like to learn more about it.
I also hope that in the future I will directly be involved with policy, institutional, systematic, or similar kinds of changes. That would be so exciting.

"Gifted"...in the Globe and Mail

The Globe and Mail is doing a series about giftedness. Here are the articles thus far.
When I'm passionate about something, I find it hard to articulate my thoughts about it...which probably isn't good for my profession. Also, I need to pursue this area in more depth. I have to.

Definitely not the norm

I was sitting beside a Kindergarten student during afternoon snack-time. She turned to me and asked for my help. She couldn't open her bottle of San Pellegrino on her own.

Les ailes d'Hermes

This website by Hermes is quite cute. Some videos are better than others. I quite like the fingers skateboarding.

Freitag's new Hazzard

I'm liking the new Hazzard backpack by Freitag.

A disappointing workshop

This afternoon, I attended a workshop about networking. It was a complete disappointment. It's not necessarily that I had high expectations, but it's a topic that I think is very important and something that I want to learn more about, improve upon and think that it will be integral in my future.
It was such a horrible workshop. The presenter seemed too confident, too much of an entrepreneur, I was pretty disgusted. I don't feel as though I learned anything from the presentation other than confirming some of my feelings about networking being kind of sleazy. I know it's an important part of life, but I still like to think of it as something that can come from a genuine place. If you think that's naive, too bad. I truly believe that it can be done without that dark side coming out.
The presentation was horribly done. Instead of learning any valuable skills, I felt like a commodity, only there to trade information with others in the room. One could argue that our networking was valuable to our future, but it was ridiculously superficial.
It was a 2.5 hour workshop, and two hours were spent finding out about everyone's career interests one at a time. We learned about all of the wonderful contacts that our presenter could provide for us, and were constantly reminded of the value of LinkedIn (I'm not sure how I feel about this). After a 10 minute break, the final 20 minutes were spent going through a powerpoint presentation in which we learned of all the successes of our presenter and in the last four minutes (seriously) we finally learned some basic networking ideas. I had a conversation with the presenter during the break. She had asked me who she could introduce me to so that I could get closer to my goals, and I honestly couldn't think of anyone, nor was I sure that I wanted to be (at this point, I was already disillusioned by her 2 hour ramblings about who she knew and how she'd be able to introduce us to all of them). It was almost as if her actions backfired, and I didn't even want to be associated to her. As opposed to me wanting to get into her network so that there would be a reciprocal payoff, I wanted to stay as far away as possible.
It was like she thought the only reason I wanted to be there was to get introduced to some important person that may advance my career. Although I'm apparently a green link (sequential thinker, list maker, summarizer, quick witted, don't like wasting time, visual, know what I expect from things, make a beeline for my target - I guess I did learn something, however, it wasn't made clear what the point of this knowledge was...I mean, I already know what I am), I wanted to learn more about the process rather than get just a name out of the workshop. I told her this, and although she kept saying "what can I do to help you", I got no help other than being reminded of mundane etiquette that everyone in my world knows. I was told about all of the wonderful things that I do, which doesn't seem helpful, because I do them already, so why bother telling me about it. Whether they are conscious or unconscious things, I do them, so tell me about the things that I don't do. When asked what I wanted to learn about (this was done in another round-about way that talked about things that I already knew about), we both agreed that it wouldn't be helpful to learn about obvious basics (that she proceeded to outline and explain in great detail - this woman is so ridiculously ineffective!), so I proceeded to tell her that sometimes you don't know what you don't know so you can't articulate exactly what you want to learn. I think it's her responsibility as the 'expert' to be able to provide us with that next step and be able to tell us (from her prolific experience) what more we need to learn. Is this where I'm supposed to toot my own horn and admit that I'm lucky that I've had a variety of experiences and opportunities to learn and develop the skills that were being (but I really don't think were) presented in this workshop and since I already have the skills and knowledge about all this stuff, that's why I felt do annoyed by the sub-par performance?
Ugh. I was so annoyed. I wanted to get up and leave.
The write-up about the workshop was completely misleading. Instead of learning about networking, I wasted 2.5 hours of my life and felt sorry for all the rest of the people who were subject to the presenter's wrath. I have no doubt that she's successful, but she does it in a way that is completely different than I would ever do. I may never be a millionaire like she is, but I much more comfortable in the way that I view life and other people. Sometimes workshops are ridiculous. I wonder if I'm more judgmental of presenters because of the field that I'm in. And I feel like my rant isn't really explaining the situation. If only I was more eloquent. Maybe I should attend a workshop about that.

Schooled by a Kindergartener

I was reading a Scooby-Doo book to a wee Kindergarten student this morning and had some trouble. You see, it was a learn-to-read kind of book that had pictures in place of many words. I had to get my new friend to tell me who all the characters were. I hid my lack of Scooby-knowledge by encouraging her to help me read by saying all of the words that were pictures. Rather quickly she got tired of this and said, "Can you just read the book for me?" Yes darling...now that you've told me who Fred, Velma and whoever that other girl's name is, yes, I'll read the book for you. I had to get her to remind me about Fred and that other girl's name a couple more times. Obviously, the names didn't stick.
I, clearly, missed out on some classic TV as a child. And this child of the 21st century, knew more about the stars of my childhood than I did. How strange.
It was mighty fun being in an elementary school again. I listened to the barely audible morning announcements over the tinny PA system, sat in a chair so that my knees were almost hitting my chin, sat on the rug for storytime, squished 6 bodies onto a loveseat, got told that I was pretty, you know, all the good stuff.
Education is a wonderful thing.

Trivial dilemmas

May hair seemed to be a great length a month ago. Now, it's too long. The dilemma is that I decided awhile back that the next time I cut my hair, I want to cut off a significant amount. It's long enough to donate to an organization that can turn it into a wig for cancer patients, so that's the goal. I've already decided the style of cut that I'm going to get, but I don't really want to have that style until warmer weather rolls around. That's not for months. Also, I want to give my blunt bangs more exposure. This new 'do has gotten some interesting reactions. Anyway, I thought that I could last until the spring, but my hair is entering 'too long' zone. I don't want to wear my hair up for the next couple of months, so I'm getting antsy. I could just trim my hair, but I'm concerned that they'll chop it too short. Actually, I just don't know where to go for a decent trim. I visit hairdressers for cuts, not trims. Another annoyance is that static-y hair season is upon us. Woe is me.

Life goes on...

...at warp speed!
It's been a busy busy run, but I've enjoyed it. I've been overwhelmed at times, but everything's gone pretty well (I think).
I'm taking a break from marking, which I haven't done in a while. It's time consuming, but I'm enjoying the process and finding out more about my students. Some of them have come up with really great ideas that I will most likely borrow.
I recently got to ride around in a stretch limo. My first in many years. I was at a competition and the company was a sponsor, so we got transported around in style. It was funny. Definitely not normal. I wonder what the skaters thought when they saw us all piling out of the vehicle. Maybe it'll encourage some of them to join our ranks?
Back to marking I go. Just a couple more assignments to get through and then I'm out the door to go furniture shopping. 10 months in this place and the living room is still bare. It takes time.

Head in the clouds

There's a lot going on right now. The beginning of the year (I can't believe that we're already a month in) is pretty hectic. New classes, new routine, new commitments, etc. I'm really happy with everything that's going on, but I'm pretty overwhelmed. There's a couple big deadlines coming up and I'm feeling the stress. I keep telling myself that it'll calm down a bit in November, but I don't know if that's actually true. Things seem to happen and I don't really get as much of a break as I need. And I have a pretty big, semi-self-imposed deadline on December 1st that will keep me in check for November anyhow. Or at least, I hope it does.
Today was a long day. A pretty consistently busy day. I got things accomplished, but I still feel like there's lots to do. I desperately wanted to take a nap, but I pushed through and continued to work until the time for my reward for surviving the day came.
I was so dazed by life and everything that's going on that I almost went the wrong direction on the escalator. If I didn't have the habit of putting my hand on the railing before stepping on, I would have been toast. It took a couple seconds for me to register that my hand was moving toward me rather than away for me to clue in that I probably wasn't supposed to be using that particular escalator. I must have looked like a complete do-do (and I recall no understanding how someone could get so close to the escalator before realizing that it was going the opposite way - could they not see the stairs and railing moving the wrong way, the people coming at you instead of away from).
It was a first.
Luckily, me plan to end the note on a high worked. Docsoup FTW! I was a little concerned that I would fall asleep during the screening, but I didn't even get bored or wonder when the movie would be over. It was great.
Sons of Perdition was a great documentary. I'm so exhausted right now, that I don't feel like writing a synopsis of the film, but basically it follows a couple boys who left the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints in Colorado City, Utah. I learned about something I know very little about, and was thoroughly confused about their culture. It's obviously a different way of life, but add on top of that a different mentality. I wasn't able to understand it all. I'm now making mental connections to my studies about cultural theory and ethnography. It's pretty fascinating, and just the other day, I flipped past Sister Wives. Well timed, my Hot Doc friends.
Anyway, I really enjoyed the documentary, and filmakers Jennilyn Merten and Tyler Measom were on hand for a frank Q&A.
I was rejuvenated from watching the film, and happily walked to do an errand before heading home. The weather outside was lovely. I think I had enough energy in me to walk home. But instead, I hopped on the 510 and promptly started to let my mind go until now when I am getting rather close to turning into a pumpkin. And so, I shall end my post.

Am I some sort of legend?

I've recently met a young lady who seems to know who I am. The only common ground that we've found so far is that we attended the same elementary and secondary school, but I had come and gone even before she had entered the picture. Most of my teachers had retired by the time she was at the schools, so we're pretty sure none of them were spreading my gospel. That, and of my classmates, I was not the top student that I would think they'd be talking about. Don't worry, this isn't a self-deprecating thing, sure, I wasn't top-of-class, but I wasn't at the bottom either. We might dig a little bit more to find out exactly how our paths have crossed, but it was nice to think that I was a little bit of legend in some right.

TIFF10 awards

The TIFF awards have been announced.
I'm more than a little stunned by the winner of the documentary award. As I wrote, I didn't really like Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie very much. I'm wondering how they calculate the winner. Is it purely by average, or does the number of votes make any difference?
I am happy that for once, one of my favorites made the list. It didn't win, but runner-up is pretty good.

Porter FTW!

Two more reasons I like Porter:
1. You can bump your reservation up two flights...for free!
2. They have a lounge in Ottawa where I'm blogging from. It's just as great as the one in Toronto.
Porter! Porter! Porter!

TIFF10 roundup

There's still the final weekend of TIFF to go, but for me, the festival is done. This year, I saw eight films. I had more commitments during the festival than in previous years, so I was limited in what I could see. My TIFF experience was hindered by being ill, and seeing three films in one day didn't work out so well this time around. Still, a successful festival, and I'm already looking forward to next year.

So here's the order in which I watched my eight films:
1. Inside America
2. Waiting for "Superman"
3. The Piano in a Factory
4. Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie
5. Blame
6. The Sound of Mumbai: A Musical
7. Buried
8. The First Grader

I'm looking forward to seeing if any of the ones that I saw get an award. My favorites were screenings 2, 7, and 8, so we'll see what happens.
I'm hoping to get to the Bell Lightbox to check it out soon.
Woohoo TIFF!

The First Grader

The final film that I saw during the festival was The First Grader. It was super good and I can give the premise of this film pretty easily as well. Based on a true story, the film is set in Kenya and is about an 84 year old man who seeks to enroll in Grade One after the government announces the opportunity for free education for all.
This film is touching, inspiring, terrifying, funny and educational all in one go. There are so many messages that one could get out of this film. The screening that I attended was sold out. At the time of the screening, the film hadn't been picked up for wide-release, and I have no idea if it will. Obviously, I think it deserves it. Some parts were a little difficult to watch, and I'm not sure how some of the issues would be received by, umm, the UK. History is history, but there are many cases where history is either downplayed or attempted to be forgotten.
Director Justin Chadwick (of The Other Boleyn Girl) was in attendance, along with two of his producers. They did a great Q&A, which the TIFF people seemed to draw out as long as possible an even cut the end credits to do so. They don't usually do that, but I'm glad they did. We learned that the children were all from local Kenyan schools and about the process of how he was able to get them to "act" without actually coaching them on what to do. It seemed as though he often just put them in different situations and recorded their genuine reactions.
Having been to Kenya, I liked seeing some familiar landscapes and the film gave me a better understanding of some of the things that I only slightly heard about while I was there. I now have a better understanding of the history of Kenya, its culture and traditions. I specifically liked making further connections about my pretty basic understanding of the tribes and their relations in Kenya.
I really hope that this film gets wide-release. One audience member asked about if there was concern about how the film would be received in the UK, but the director said that he thought it was important to tell this story and that the British know what happened. He said that he (as a Brit) didn't know about it and even the Kenyans that he worked with on the film didn't know the story either.
This movie is pretty darn special. You'd think that the link to education would be most appealing to me (and it was the main reason why I'd picked the film in the first place), but I don't think that it was my favorite part of the movie. Of course I took lots of messages about education from the film, but it's those other lessons that I learned and the way the film wove its story together that I liked. Two thumbs up!
What a great way for me to end the festival!

- picture courtesy of www.tiff.net

Buried

I said that I have difficulty summarizing movies that I like. This would be an exception. Buried (official website here) is about a man who wakes up in a coffin with only a BlackBerry. I could tell you a little bit more, but I think with this film, the less you know, the better the film will be.
The film stars Ryan Renolds and that's it. It is a one-man show. The film takes place in a coffin and that's it. It is a one-set show.
I'm impressed with the fact that they could have a 95 minute film with just one actor, one location and still make it interesting. Try and think about how you would go from scene to scene or change shots in that kind of situation. I thought it was neat how they did it. And the music they used really helped the situation as well.
The movie even makes you think about issues that are pretty intense. Not just, the "what would you do in that situation" kind of questions, but some other things that I don't want to give away. Seriously, the less you know, the better.
Director Rodrigo Cortes did not stay for this screening. He was at the first one though. I should try to remind myself to attend earlier screenings of the festival, because this has happened a couple times previously. Luckily, producers Adrián Guerra and Peter Safran were around and they did a Q&A with the audience. I'm pretty sure that most of the audience didn't think there would be one because no one mentioned anything about it during the intros, and by the time the lights came back on, there was only a small portion of the sold out crowd that was still there. Sucks to be those who left, because the Q&A was great.
Apparently, there were 7 sets used. I couldn't figured out how some of the shots were done, but I guess that's what adds to the appeal of the film. I was impressed at how quickly this film was made. I think they said that it was shot in 18 days, and Ryan flew out to Barcelona on his vacation to get the movie done as a pretty measly (for what he was capable to bringing in) salary. He clearly really believed in this film and with good reason. It sounded like Rodrigo Cortes was super into the film, willing to go all out, had a really strong vision for the film and everyone else jumped on board pretty quickly.
This movie is getting wide release, so I would definitely recommend people to see it then.

- picture courtesy of www.tiff.net

The Sound of Mumbai: A Musical

The Sound of Mumbai: A Musical (official site here) is a documentary about the lead up to a musical performance by children from slums in Mumbai, accompanied by the Bombay Chamber Orchestra and taking place at the National Centre for the Performing Arts.
As with most documentaries, we meet the stakeholders involved in the story. Some of the children, their families, their teachers, members of the orchestra, the Viennese conductor who makes the trip to India to work on this project, and the environment from which the children come to the locale in which they will be performing.
This documentary gives an account of the childrens' lives and their journey to the performance date. It really just tells the story of who they are and what happens, but only delves a little bit deeper into the issues that could be really compelling. I believe it is obvious that this opportunity is a once in a lifetime chance for the children, even if they did not live in the slums. For any child to perform on a National stage is something special, so although this part of the story warmed my heart, it was not compelling enough to have me think that this is a special documentary. It is only at the end, that the filmmaker weaves in the deeper issues that I would have liked her to further pursue, that of the fact that the opportunity was like a dream, and now that it's over, what? Nothing has changed in their lives. This experience is one for the memory books, but does it propel them to anything more.
Unless the filmmaker wanted to show the simple answer of no, I don't think that she did this issue justice. This was director Sarah McCarthy's first documentary and her attendance at the screening showed how dedicated she was to the project and to her craft. The film's website shows that her team is taking this documentary to a level of giving, which is quite nice. During the Q&A, she gave us a couple updates on the children and mentioned that the children loved the film (and didn't seem to be thrown off by some of the negative or pessimistic, albeit realistic, components of their lives that were illuminated - a fear of hers) and she will be returning to the town again in the fall for more follow up.
The festival is a great time for movie lovers, as they get a concentrated opportunity to see different films, but it's important to remember the impact that a festival has on a filmmaker. As a young, first time director, Ms. McCarthy was obviously honoured and grateful to be at TIFF. She even presented TIFF's documentary programmer, Thom Powers with a mini-trophy thanking him for his support. It's easy to forget the impact that TIFF has on those people making the film that we go to see.
So anyway, it's a pretty good film. Nothing above and beyond, but gets the job done.

- picture courtesy of www.tiff.net

Blame

Blame is an Australian film about a piano teacher who, after a day at work, returns home to be attacked by five, well dressed (in black), masked intruders, to be tied up, drugged and left to be dead. But things go wrong and a "party" ensues with all six characters.
I watched this film at the end of a long day with three screenings, but stayed interested in the film throughout, perhaps due to the nap I'd had previously?
It was a pretty good film, but again, not the best piece of work that I'd ever seen. The ending was quite good (which I always appreciate) and the film started off well, but in between, there were moments that seemed a bit too drawn out. There were a couple moments that drew laughs from the audience, although I'm not sure if they were supposed to be funny moments. I was sitting beside someone who works in the industry, and she laughed a couple times during the film, although my take is that she was laughing because she didn't like the film. I admit that her reaction did affect my viewing experience. It made me doubt what I was watching, and succumbing to peer pressure, I think I appreciate the movie less than I would if I didn't think that someone else (especially someone in the business) didn't like the movie very much. I made a mental note to try to restrain my snarky comments about a film which watching it, as they may affect other viewers. I just can't help if I think something is ridiculous. Usually, in that case, I too start laughing, as I often can't believe what I'm watching. I try to cover up my laughing by covering my mouth, but I'm usually laughing so hard that's it's pretty obvious what's going on. I'm sorry to all of those audience members whom I've offended due to my outbursts. Especially that one time I took up the offer of going to watch Twilight. That was a bad one, and I know I annoyed people sitting next to me. Seriously though. That was a ridiculous movie. Alas, I digress.
So Blame seemed quite good, but didn't keep me on the edge of my seat as much as I would have liked. This movie just didn't take it to the next level.
This was the first feature film by director Michael Henry, who did stay for a Q&A (not super informative). I think he did a pretty good job. Not quite the thriller that I'd hoped it would be, but decent.

- picture courtesy of www.tiff.net

Meow...

Clicky

Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie

Quite high up on my list of films to see during the festival was Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie (official website here). I have to say, I was disappointed with the film.
David Suzuki is a Canadian icon. We know a lot about him, he has done, and continues to do great work...he seems like a pretty stellar gentleman. Of course, his greatness is the main reason why I wanted to watch the film, but unfortunately, it meant that not much of the movie was new, or more insightful than what I already knew about the man.
Dr. Suzuki recently gave a lecture significantly named "The Legacy". As I watched the documentary, I felt like I had paid to watch a teaser version of the lecture. As we learned from director Sturla Gunnarsson and Dr. Suzuki's Q&A, the documentary was actually made so that the lecture would be the final piece of the puzzle and act as a culminating thread to tie all of the vignettes together. We found out that the lecture was actually being written as the footage of the documentary was filmed and we could see that some of the footage shot for the documentary was actually shown in the backdrop of the lecture.
I still very much respect was Dr. Suzuki does, however, this documentary was disappointing. If I knew nothing about the man, perhaps I would have enjoyed it, but as I've said, I learned nothing new, and for that
reason alone, I was not impressed. This film is getting wide-release and I can see that it would be easy to market and many people will enjoy it, but as a movie to watch during TIFF, an event that I like to feel like I'm privy to something really special and unique, this did not do it for me. I know what Dr. Suzuki's message is, so even the discussion from the Q&A wasn't enthralling. I was happy to see him, you know, be in the same room as him (I'm definitely not immune to getting star struck), but yeah, I've said it all already.
In hopes of being optimistic, I watched this film in the middle of a long day, and really wasn't feeling very well. I dozed off a couple moments (how embarrassing), so maybe I fell asleep for all of the best parts, but I'm doubtful.
I liked An Inconvenient Truth, which was based off an Al Gore lecture, so it can't be the lecture part of it that bothered me. And of course than documentary was also about the environment, so that's not it. I definitely liked Waiting for "Superman", so it's not that this documentary picked a timely issue. I guess this documentary was more of a biography than anything else, and I can't think of something similar off of the top of my head.
So, I would say that I would not recommend paying a large sum to watch this film. When it shows up on CBC, definitely watch it. That's exactly it, this movie belongs as a TV feature documentary on a Sunday night with family, not as as a special TIFF movie.

Also, unrelated, about half of the seats in the theatre were reserved for special guests. That was a little strange. The screening of Waiting for "Superman" also had a large amount of reserved seating much of which was labeled for specific folks, which was different because usually it's just marked "reserved" (I was sitting within arms reach of the one labeled "Gates", and although the seat was filled, it didn't look like the Gates that I thought it would be). I thought that maybe since Dr. Suzuki was involved, there would be a bunch of people attending who were stakeholders in the movie. But half of the theatre seems like a lot. Well, it was. In the end, only six (six!!!) of the seats were filled by special guests. The rest were opened up for attendees who scrambled to get prime seating last minute, and for those who had waited patiently for rush seating. Something about this specific reserved seating bugs me. Almost like the special sponsor seating at the Olympics. Okay, end rant.

- picture courtesy of www.legacy.davidsuzuki.org

The Piano in a Factory

The Piano in a Factory is about a father who tries to secure a piano for her daughter during a custody fight. It's a very sweet story, with quite a few funny moments along the way. This movie reminded me of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Micmacs à Tire-larigot. It wasn't as stellar, but something about the band of hillbillies, their quirky sense of humour and the muted colours in the movie made me think back on that film.
I can't place my finger on why this film wasn't as good as Micmacs, but little touches like the use of Super Mario Brothers (the original!), and little musical interludes would seem like this film would have that special touch. It did, but I'm still not raving for some reason.
I did like watching the interaction of the main characters and their dedication to each other...I don't know. There just wasn't that extra something to get me hooked. I know that I wasn't feeling well that day, so maybe my grogginess didn't help the situation, but I'm not sure if that's a good enough excuse.
Unfortunately, the director, Zhang Meng wasn't in attendance so I couldn't get better insight into the film. He was supposed to come to the festival, however he had visa issues and I guess couldn't get one in time. His producer, Jessica Kam did attend, and she introduced the film and a very, seemingly prepared way. She gave the audience a nice context of the film and described how in the 90s, many factories in Northern China closed down or downsized, leaving many people out of work and finding it hard to make ends meet. These people end up looking for other opportunities to make money, although there are many empty factories still standing and their skills are going to waste...enter the central predicament of this movie.
I definitely did like it, and since I'm pretty sure that it won't be getting a wide release in North America (although, it will be getting released in Asia, and we were told that we actually watched the director's - longer - cut of the film), I'm glad I saw it at the festival. I'm disappointed in myself that I wasn't feeling 100%, so my interpretation of the film could be clouded by that fact, but such is life.

- picture courtesy of www.tiff.net

Waiting for "Superman"

When faced with the daunting task of selecting which films I want to watch at TIFF, I literally go through each of the hundreds of films and read the synopses. I bookmark the films that I think sound vaguely interesting, and usually, after this first cut, I'm left with ~50 films. Usually I'll immediately see ~20 films that I know for sure will make it on my short list and after I start to go through the 50 films again, I realize that I should just go with my gut and simply re-examine those 20 films. As I was going through the list this year, nothing was sticking out. Sure, a lot of them sounded okay, but there was only one film that I knew I would be on the shortlist. Waiting for "Superman" was that film.
Made by Davis Guggenheim, of An Inconvenient Truth, I will be surprised if this film doesn't get as much press as the aforementioned film. This documentary has many similarities to An Inconvenient Truth, for me, the most striking, being the final credits.
This film is all about education, specifically in America, but applicable to Toronto (the region which I'm most familiar) as well. I'm not eloquent enough to give a good synopsis, so I will just direct you to the TIFF writeup. I've noticed that when I think something is fabulous, I just reference another write-up because I don't think that I can do the film justice and leave it to a more credible source. Clearly, this film is no exception.
To be honest, it started off kind of ho-hum. It predictably introduced us to the characters of the film and told us their stories. The pace seemed kind of mundane, but now that I think about it, An Inconvenient Truth has a similar feel. Some shocking issues and moments that made you connect on an emotional level with the characters were introduced, and without realizing it (or maybe, now that I'm analyzing it, you do), you're sucked in.
I wasn't surprised by anything that I saw. It was disappointing at times to be reminded of the issues. It was gut wrenching for the characters that we'd met, but of course, they're not special cases. There are many others just like them that weren't featured in this documentary.
I'm not really sure that the film gives any solutions to the problem. It shows some solutions that have made some reform, and it shows attempts to reform but faced with bureaucracy.
The last 20 minutes of the film really tugged on your emotions. I sort of teared up. I know that I wasn't the only one because I heard sniffling all around me. And as the film was nearing it end, and a story was completing its course, I was outright crying. I was shocked at my reaction. I thought it would just be a small wave, but the tears just kept coming. I don't think I've ever had a reaction like this to a film and I'm not sure if my reason for crying was what the producers imagined. I'm sure that your heart is supposed to be hurting for the children, and I guess to a certain extent it was but I think I was more crying out of a personal sense of fear and responsibility.
I don't say the following from a vein that marginalizes other professions. For all I know, everyone else is in the same boat, I just don't know about it. The thing is, I have chosen to be in a field that is always under scrutiny. I have chosen to be in a field that everyone cares about. I have a passion for what I do, I love it, I enjoy it, it makes me happy, but not for one second do I forget the impact that I have in my position. That is, truthfully, part of the reason why I chose it. To this end, I feel a huge sense of responsibility. Sometimes it feels like an enormous weight. I want to do a good job. I do not want to disappoint anyone, and it's not really that that gets to me. Maybe I'm just so invested in it. Or it's a self-imposed weight. I don't really know, but that's why I was crying. Maybe it's the timing of when I watched the screening compared to where I am in my career and what I hope to do, but those tears kept flowing. I was scared. Scared that I won't be able to do everything (or at least make a dent) in an area that I care so much about. Was I feeling helpless? Was I feeling that this issue is something that I desperately want everyone to care about? I don't really know how to put it into words what I was feeling during those final moments of the film.
There was an instantaneous standing ovation for the special guests in attendance of the screening. They included, each of the children featured in the story and their family members, Davis Guggenheim, Lesley Chilcott (the producer of the film), John Legend (who wrote a song for the film), Geoffrey Canada, and Bill Gates.
There's so much rock star power behind this film, that I can't wait to see how far it goes. I haven't had the chance to sit down and really go through the film's website, but I'm sure that a lot of care and attention was put into it, so hopefully I will have a chance to do so soon. Of course, I encourage others to do the same.
The post-film discussion involving Gugenheim, Chilcott, Canada, and Gates was moderated by TIFF's Thom Powers and didn't really have any groundbreaking moments. I'd heard everything that they said previously, but it was nice to be reminded and reassured of actions that I take in my research and how best I need to phrase my intentions. One of the issues is that teachers fear being evaluated because they think that they will be judged in a negative light. Sometimes it comes from insecurities that teachers have (some rightly so) and they get defensive. They put up walls and don't engage in the discourse. I, along with many others, want to illuminate what's being done well. I observe, ask, and analyze the positive things that are in the profession. By no means do dismiss the negative actions that take place, but I would rather report on hopeful things rather than be a finger pointer. I am still sorting through my viewpoints and understanding about critical theory, but so far I do not want to take that route.
Towards the end of the discussion, audience members piped up that they wanted Thom to take questions from the audience. While I like audience participation, on a topic such as this, I wasn't sure how it would go. It was pretty clear that there were a lot of stakeholders in the audience (I know everyone's a stakeholder in education, but in this case, I mean professionals in the field), and this demographic of individuals can create quite a roar. Teachers are often like to hear themselves talk. They like to rant. They like to vent. Today was no exception. The first "question" has no question attached to it, but Geoffrey Canada diplomatically created one from the rant. The panel was really great at letting the audience feel like their voice was being heard. It's an important attribute to have when working with educators.
The final message of the discussion was the same as the final message of the film and that of the film/website/campaign as a whole. Encourage change. Make change. Be change. There are so many things in the world that deserve change. Global warming got its time in the spotlight, and this time education has its chance. As I said, there are so many other issues that deserve attention as well, but I'm interested to see the effects of this issue getting attention of such epic proportions.
Obviously, I would highly recommend this film. I wouldn't be surprised if this screening ends up being the most memorable event of this year's TIFF for me.

- picture courtesy of www.waitingforsuperman.com

La Bettola

I think I'm going to start reviewing restaurants that I dine at. They will be pretty simple, but fun, just like every other surface rambling that I do on this blog. Chances are, I won't have any pictures of the food because unless it's something ridiculously stellar, I'm a little bit too sheepish to take pictures of my food at restaurants. I'll leave that to someone else.
We went to La Bettola for dinner and I liked the experience. The newest edition to the Terroni family, the experience started off right by the way that I was greeted. I arrived earlier than everyone else, and enjoyed being at the table waiting for everyone else, while getting some work done, eaves-dropping on conversations and people watching. The team was super friendly and kept checking in on me without being annoying.
The restaurant gives a relaxed vibe, while being chic at the same time. The food (menu here) was quite tasty. And I was intrigued by the number of daily specials that they had. Good selection and decent prices.
The Barbabietole e Caprino made me change my mind about beets. I thought I didn't like beets, but these tasted like candied corn. Not the Halloween incarnation, but the flavour reminded me of sweet corn and the candied lemon zest made them taste super yummy. The goat cheese wasn't at horrible as I'm used to thinking it is, and the lamb's lettuce gave me a wonderful sense of nostalgia for dinner parties at a colleague's house in Switzerland.
My Sveltina pizza was light, but exactly what the menu described. I thought the pizza crust was nice and spongy (I don't know if that's supposed to be good nor if it's an accurate description of the texture, but I liked it) and easy to cut through, probably due to their relatively new knives. I knew the combination of toppings on the pizza would not disappoint me. The spiciness of the arugula was a good contrast to the sweet cherry tomatoes. The tomatoes were room temperature, so I guess they made it onto the pizza after it came out of the oven along with the arugula. The pizza was very 'white', with a limited amount of cheese on it.
The washroom had a special touch as well. Instead of trendy music, they played an Italian instructional tape. A fun touch.
We arrived at the beginning of the dinner rush, by the time we left, there was a long line waiting to get in. La Bettola is directly adjacent to Osteria Ciceri e Tria, also of the Terroni family. They share an entrance, and I overhead the hostess asking prospective diners if they had a preference between the two restaurants or if they wanted to be seated at the first table that comes up in whichever restaurant.
I hear that La Bettola is open for brunch.

Ambiance: 4/5
Food: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Would return again: yes

Spotted

The 2010 Toronto Board Meeting, rolling by. I had to ask what was happening, and giggled happily when it was explained to me. There were some smartly dressed longboarders out there! What a fun idea.

Inside America

Inside America (official website here) was the first screening that I attended at the Toronto International Film Festival 2010. In my haste to select films, perhaps, I misread or misinterpreted the synopsis. I had thought that this film would be more of a documentary, rather than a feature film. I love a good documentary, and of course the subject of youth finding their way through tenuous times is an easy fit for my taste. By the time we got to the Q&A, I realized that I had not really misread the synopsis, as the lines between feature film and documentary were blurred in film.
This film is about youth in Brownville, Texas, mainly those who grew up in the rough part of town. There are a couple main characters, and we live through their lives and relatively stereotypical problems that one can draw from their surroundings.
Although, now that I've had some time to reflect about the film and had the benefit of the Q&A, I will not rave about this film, most likely due to my personal experience watching it. Unfortunately, I had selected a seat in the theatre, which was ultimately too close to the screen. I spent a lot of the film, watching the bottom right corner of the screen to put a damper on the splitting headache that I was getting from the massive, jarring picture that was overwhelming me. I wasn't feeling 100% that day, and the flashing pictures and way that the film was shot made me feel nauseated. A steadycam, might have made it better for me. Staring at that little corner of the screen still allowed me to see the entire picture, so I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything. I was getting a similar feeling as how I get when a migraine is looming and I feel dizzy and the room feel like it's growing and things get echoey and overpowering. Not helping the situation was the fact that seated beside me, was a gentleman who must have had a couple alcoholic beverages at dinner. I felt dizzy and ill. There were a couple points during the film that I way hoping that the end was near, because I was so uncomfortable. I know the film was decent, but I wasn't able to enjoy it to the extent that I would have if the circumstances were different.
Some of the content of the film was downright shocking. A lot of it is stuff that for some reason, I associate with "only in America". The amount of security in the school, the infatuation with guns, so I guess it wasn't just the setting that was uncomfortable for me, but some of he content as well. I do not hear a lot of swearing on a regular basis, and I'm in a field where I've trained myself to use more child friendly words and need to reprimand children for saying them. The amount of swearing in this film also made me uncomfortable.
I really benefited from the Q&A with Barbara Eder. She was able to solve my dilemma of how truthful the stories were, and sadly, although she did write a framework for the film, the themes that were used were based off of experiences that she'd heard about or saw first hand when she was there. It was neat to hear about the production and how the team used entirely amateur actors who were pretty much acting out their real lives. I had to marvel at their use of gang members.
During the Q&A, Barbara stated that she didn't really have a "message" behind this film. She wanted to share a couple stories and let them speak for themself. I can see that she was successful in her mission, however, as an audience member, I would have liked a little bit of resolution to her storylines as well as more depth for each of the stories. Looking at all of the angles and really examining the issues. I felt like in some ways, although I appreciate the different and strong topics of stories that she chose, they were dealt with in a little bit of an obvious an surface manner.
I'm a little bit unsure of how much I liked this film. Right after it finished, I wasn't completely happy, but as Barbara spoke, I appreciated it more and more. As I said, I was affected by my surroundings during the screening, but all in all, it wasn't a horrible film.

- picture courtesy of www.insideamerica-themovie.com

Hermes hottie

Me-ow.
If only I were rich. And some sort of preferred customer. I'll take a Birkin, please!

Here we go!

Summer's over. Things are starting up again and I'm not really ready for it. I could have used another week. Or at least a week where I didn't feel the pressure of preparing for the next thing. Or another week of blistering hot weather. Is it time to put away my tank tops?
I'm not sure if I should be proud, or disappointed in myself. I didn't have any ice cream from Greg's. I had a little sample while at the shop buying gift certificates, but never got a scoop for myself. I had told myself that I would treat myself to a scoop on my birthday, but I never got around to it. There was too much else going on that day.
Maybe I'll make my way over there next week. Maybe I'll have an afternoon snack there on the 14th. The 14th will be a very momentous day.
Anyway, here's wishing all of my compatriots in education a great year!
Allez!

Goyard, Le livre

This is pretty crazy. I mean, I'm sure it's amazing to flip through, and it's a limited numbered edition (with its own numbered trunk), but it's still pretty crazy. Or maybe that's what makes it crazy. A heaping price tag to match, naturellement .
One day, I will have a Goyard bag. One day.

Best! Balcony! Ever!

I've got a great view. Superb, I'd say.
I love everything that I see from it. The traffic, the water, the buildings, the far away towns, even the States.
I love that I can (and did!) watch G20 motorcades.
I love that I can (and did!) watch the Festival of Fire.
I love that I can (and am!) watch the Canadian International Air Show RIGHT NOW. It's so lovely and loud. I'm watching a beast of a plane wander around the harbour. It's crazy! prior to this plane, there was a plane with smoke coming out of its bum doing corkscrews and loops. This is so cool! I wonder where all of the planes take off and land?
If I had a good camera with some zoom-in powers, I'd be taking pictures like mad. But I don't, so I'll link to some other people who do have those capabilities.

Update (1.15pm): Some of the planes take off from the Toronto Island Airport. I just saw a wee red one take off and then join in on the fun. I would love to be in the cockpit of one of those planes doing barrel rolls and other funky stuff.

Update (1.27pm): Three wee yellow planes are sitting side by side on the runway. I sense a pas de trois as the next act! But first, business as usual for Porter. A couple planes taking off and landing.

Update (1.28pm): I was wrong, three wee planes still sitting on runway, and a solo plane does it's jaunt in the harbour.

Update (1.39pm): Three yellow planes in the air! Watching them take off was cool.

Update (1.56pm): Three wee yellow planes deserve best in show! Super fun and brownie points for drawing a heart in the sky. Canadian Harvard Aerobatic Team FTW!

Update (2.11pm): Another heart in the sky. Better shaped than the one made by the three wee yellow planes. This guy is a pro. I wonder if there's a reason for the smoke out of the bum (other than to make patterns in the sky). It must be so fun hanging out in the sky. He currently looks like a dead bird, just shot out of the sky. Serious stalling at the top, and just drifting down. So cool.

Update (2.29pm): Another yellow plane in the air. Actually two, but one's pulling the other along. Apparently, it's the "Bellanca Scout Tow Plane and the Schweizer 2-33 Glider". Right-o. Was that just a drive-by, errr, fly-by? My point of view isn't complete unobstructed. But all I saw was a fly-by and they've already landed at the airport.

Update (2.40pm): The show is great fun, but I'm getting plane fatigue. Four hours is a long time to keep anyone's interest. The waiting between acts is making me a little bored, so I'm glad to be watching the show from the comfort of my place. There's another duo of planes flying around right now, but I can't figure out which of the advertised planes they were. It was definitely a fly-by, so I'm guessing it was something related to the Canadian Air Force. Binoculars would have been fun for this event.

Update (3.09pm): Encore performances? There's a wee red plane in the air again doing crazy tricks.

Update (4.00pm): Final act for the show in the sky?

Final update (4.32pm): Show's done, and I've changed my mind. Nine planes at a time makes for the best act of the show. And I guess, making hearts in the sky isn't an original idea afterall. That was a cool display. Once, seven of them swooped so close to my building, it was an
awesome moment. As in, I literally had some awe. Well, more than some, but you know what I mean. Of course I didn't have my camera ready at that moment. I was too busy staring. I know that it must take a lot of practice and attention to get these performances together, but
it just looks like they're playing up there in the sky. I imagine the pilots whooping and hollering at each other through their mics. Having a grand 'ole time. I wonder if birds see the show and want to join in on the fun. I suppose the noise would throw them off.

Anyway, it was fun to watch. I'll have to put it on my calendar for next year.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

I went to watch Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. I was looking forward to seeing a film shot and set in Toronto (I love Toronto!!!) and to see the adaptation of a graphic novel that I know a lot of people love.
Well, I didn't really like the movie. I mean, I can't really say that I disliked it, per se. I can appreciate it for what it is, but I suppose the genre isn't for me. I felt like I didn't understand the jokes enough to really enjoy the film. Lots of people in the theatre were laughing and at times, I really couldn't understand what was so funny. It wasn't one of those 'I get that it's stupid humour, and I just don't like it' moments, I genuinely, didn't get it. I'm wondering if it's due to the fact that I don't know much about gaming culture. There were a couple moments that I could understand the humour, but I felt like it was geared towards a younger audience. In that regard, I was intrigued to read the graphic novels and get a better sense of why younger folks are drawn to the medium. I know that graphic novels are a great way to get school-aged youth reading more, so I really want to understand it better.
I thought that they cast the characters nicely, or at least they seemed to play their parts well (I mean, I don't know if it was accurate to the graphic novel). The storyline seemed cute. As I suspected, I did enjoy seeing Toronto in the film and glimpses of Canadiana, although, I would have liked to see more of the city (again, this could have just been because the graphic novel is set entirely in one area of the city).
I really hate to be negative, and I really don't think I am. This movie just wasn't for me. At least I didn't find the movie to be boring.

- picture courtesy of www.scottpilgrimthemovie.com

Dang!

I just found out that one of the films that I'm watching for TIFF10 is getting wide release just a couple weeks after the festival. If I had known, I probably wouldn't have picked it. I mean, I did go see The Wrestler, but for that one, not only did I want to see it because it sounded good, but it had gotten an award at the Venice Film Festival. And, I guess I was really hoping for a Q&A. It's no secret that the Q&As are my favorite part of the festival.
So, I'm a little peeved that I picked a "Hollywood" movie, but hopefully the film will be amazing and there will be a killer Q&A afterwards.