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!