September is here
We're heading north to my brothers' cottage this weekend for some serious goofing off, swimming and card-playing. Then its back to work - while finding time to see these films at the Toronto Film Festival...

(final list!)

Friday September 9, 2005 Tideland, Terry Gilliam, 2005 VISA SCREENING ROOM (ELGIN) 6:00 PM Saturday September 10, 2005 Sketches of Frank Gehry, Sydney Pollack, 2005 VISA SCREENING ROOM (ELGIN) 12:00 PM Sunday September 11, 2005 Sisters in Law, Kim Longinotto, Florence Ayisi, 2005 CUMBERLAND 2 9:30 AM Into Great Silence, Philip Groening, 2005 ISABEL BADER THEATRE 12:30 PM The Well, Kristian Petri, 2005 VARSITY 3 8:15 PM Monday September 12, 2005 Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen, Don Owen, 1965 VARSITY 7 12:15 PM Snow in Venice, Don Owen, 1970 VARSITY 7 12:15 PM Richler of St. Urbain Street, Don Owen, 1971 VARSITY 7 12:15 PM Monique Leyrac in Concert, Don Owen, 1966 VARSITY 7 12:15 PM My Dad Is 100 Years Old, Guy Maddin, 2005 CUMBERLAND 3 3:15 PM Rome, Open City, Roberto Rossellini, 1945 CUMBERLAND 3 3:15 PM Tuesday September 13, 2005 Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man, Lian Lunson, 2005 VARSITY 8 3:15 PM Memory for Max, Claire, Ida and company, Allan King, 2005 CUMBERLAND 3 7:00 PM Wednesday September 14, 2005 51 Birch St., Doug Block, 2005 CUMBERLAND 3 8:30 PM Thursday September 15, 2005 The Heart of the Game, Ward Serrill, 2005 VARSITY 8 1:15 PM Friday September 16, 2005 Sunflower, Zhang Yang, 2005 JACKMAN HALL THEATRE - AGO 5:30 PM Saturday September 17, 2005 Pavee Lackeen, Perry Ogden, 2005 CUMBERLAND 1 11:30 AM L'Enfant, Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, 2005 RYERSON 2:45 PM

  posted by John : 10:41 PM

 
Death by rumour

  posted by John : 9:05 AM

 
I've never visited New Orleans before. Having seen San Francisco, its now next on my list of US cities, and its just a one day drive from Austin. One hopes it will stay intact after this hurricane hits in a few hours. But they say its more powerful and twice as big as Hurricane Andrew, and amazingly much of the city is 10 feet below sea level. Anticipation of the devastation to come is being expressed in this NOLA blog.

  posted by John : 8:48 PM

 
Last night we went to a taping of the TV show Pop Cultured with Elvira Kurt (a Comedy Central Canada program). Crispin Glover was the guest. This has been a CG year of sorts for us, starting off with seeing his slideshow and film screening. Then the other night we watched his remake of Willard - the rat movie - which was pretty good. During the brief and speedy interview last night he shared some interesting thoughts on how movies that approach taboo subjects won't get any promotion. And how Good vs Evil has always been where the big studios feel safe. He is spending his time making money doing big feature films (I wouldn't have known, but he was in Charlie's Angels) - so that he can fund his pet projects.

Not that I've seen very many of the films that Crispin Glover has done, but my favourite bit is still from his movie Rubin & Ed where he takes his dead cat across the desert in a cooler. Nothing if not original.

  posted by John : 6:46 AM

 
Deck Party
A fine summer evening on the deck with old friends, on a birthday weekend. Entertainment was provided by FiFi GG and the Racoons.



  posted by John : 6:25 AM

 
Anzo, that song we were talking about "Don't Laugh At Me" was appartently turned into a country hit. "Music row song of the year" in 1999. Here's this lesser-than-the-original version. Kind of ruined in that way Nashville has of sapping the life out of good songs, but it was a ripe gem of a lyric for that market. The writer Steve Seskin, who I see has gone on to turn the song into a picture book using the lyrics, which includes a CD which I assume has him performing the song.

  posted by John : 10:22 AM

 
West Coast trip pics
Got it together enough to get some pictures from our California trip posted. We had a really wonderful time, and I'm sure we'll be going again sometime soon.

photo gallery panorama gallery

  posted by John : 9:43 AM