#AdaTIFFmems - A little gratitude goes a long way

TIFF isn't just about the celebs, except it is about the celebs.  As much as you vehemently deny being a stargazer, you're still going to have those "wow" moments when Jessica Chastain goes zipping past you to sign autographs.

That isn't my story though (even if it did happen twice - 2 yrs in a row).

Recognizing that mega stars see thousands of people in a day and faces are a blur, it's still nice to be on the receiving end of some form of acknowledgement.  I can still remember the first and last celebrity that took the time to thank me (both at the Elgin).

The first was Dustin Hoffman.  We were doing security on the red carpet, forming a bit of a human blockage to keep the crows back.  Mr. Hoffman got out of his car and started up the carpet, I was one of the first volunteers he saw, and he greeted me with a smile and "thank you".

Last year I was at stage door checking on my volunteers, and the crowd out there was thick with onlookers as (I realized too late) Morgan Freeman was due to exit any minute.  With security inside and a crowd I had no hope of pushing through outside, I was stuck at the door.  As I held it open Mr. Freeman walked through, also taking the time to thank me.

#AdaTIFFmems - Roasting Marshmallows over the Eternal Flame of Hope

Speaking of crazy stories from the overnight line (see yesterday's #AdaTIFFmems), how about the time we roasted marshmallows over the Eternal Flame of Hope? Simply because it was one of those things we always said we were going to do while waiting in line, and so we finally bit the bullet and did it (and no security came out to stop us).

True story...

#AdaTIFFmems - The time I played frisbee at 3am

The time mentioned in the subject heading may not be entirely accurate, but this story did take place in the wee hours of morning.  As I mentioned in a previous post, you can expect a number of "overnight line" stories and this is one of them.

It was one of the first years that the TIFF Box Office was at Metro Centre, with the line-up snaking along the King St. entrance, around into David Pecault Square Park.  If I remember correctly, this is the year Sachin, Jae, Eddy, Brenda, and I were all camped out together.

When we say 'camp out' we don't mean we're stuck in that one spot for 16 hours, we often spot friends joining the line and go talk to them, or make coffee runs etc. I was wandering around the back of the line out of boredom in the middle of the night when I noticed two guys throwing a frisbee around.

This was during a time when I still played pick-up Ultimate Frisbee, so I was eager to join in. I could practice my throws and stretch my legs a bit.  The three of us tossed the frisbee around for a while, we did a round of intros after where I learned the two guys didn't know each other either. How cool that three random people waiting to buy movie tickets could have this opportunity.

Hours later after the sun had risen and we had all packed up our gear in anticipation of the box office's opening, I spotted the guy who'd brought the frisbee.  "Good luck with your tickets!" I said to him.  To which he replied "Oh, I'm not here for tickets."

...?

I went back to my spot and told Sachin what had happened, to which he speculated "Did this guy just happen to walk by David Pecault Square at 3am with a frisbee, or did he pruposely come by with a frisbee knowing that people would be here and might want to play?"

We'll never know.

#AdaTIFFmems - Everyone starts somewhere...

Even when you've been doing something for 17 years (I got my start helping out at sign-up sessions as opposed to the festival itself so it has now officially been 17 years) it all had to begin somewhere. For me it was in the spring of 1999.

It's hard to remember a time when I spoke on the phone socially with people other than my very closest friends & family, but once upon a time it was considered a normal social practice to phone acquaintances or friends you weren't so close with just to 'chat'. Believe it or not, I did it too.

Darrin E. was a classmate from high school. We didn't really run in the same circles, but between shared classes and friends of friends, we got on well enough that we'd talk on the phone once in a while.  After high school ended a lot of us set off in different paths, I think Darrin did some travelling, and I went to study at Ryerson. In the spring we managed to catch up over the phone, and one of the things he told me he'd done over the past months, was volunteer for the Toronto International Film Festival.

'How cool!' I thought, and asked him for more info.  He told me how to send an email to the volunteer manager to sign up...and I guess you could say the rest is history.

I never actually saw or spoke to Darrin again. I guess when I was signing up to volunteer for TIFF, a part of me naively thought "oh, I'll see Darrin there" never really taking into account how I would find one person amongst hundreds (it was hundreds then), and that is if he even did return to volunteer.

Don't get me wrong, we're friends on Facebook, and far as I can tell he's living life and having a good time like many others on my social media feeds. I guess it was a case of people drifting away from each other.  I did send him a note on FB once to say thanks, sometimes the smallest gesture or remark can have the greatest impact, without either party realizing until years later.

And while we haven't crossed paths since, I have run into other high school (Solmaz) and elementary school (Diem) classmates in my years volunteering at TIFF. [insert "small world" comment here]

#AdaTIFFmems - How we got ourselves into the Pontypool party

After I announced this blog project, my friend Jae brought up today's tale, noting that in addition to my own memories I was also looking for contributions from friends.  It so happened this story was already on my list of favourites...I once told it to the Festival Daily newspaper when they were writing profiles on certain volunteers.

Those of us who use volunteer vouchers or buy tickets without a package, we're pretty fervent about being first in line on 'single ticket day'. We make a point to line up early - VERY early.  It went from showing up at dawn, to trekking out in the middle of the night, to meeting our friends in line at midnight, to the evening before, to lunchtime the day before.  You get the idea. Because we have been lining up overnight for many years now, it's only natural a number of our stories stem from the overnight line, including this one.

One year the Festival Box Office was at Yonge & Dundas (without a doubt the sketchiest location the box office has ever been at), and so Sachin, Jae, and I were sitting in our camping chairs outside on Dundas St. in the early morning when a semi-drunk dude with a broken flip flop, who had just come from the bar, staggers up and joins us in line.

He tells us he's the producer of Bruce McDonald's film Pontypool (really, I thought he was a homeless guy at first glance).  They hadn't given him enough tickets to the screening so he had to purchase more.  There is a 4 ticket max for each patron, so he was trying to enlist our help, with the promise that he'd invite us to the film's party, which was going to be one block away at the Imperial Pub.

We weren't quite sure what to make of this questionable character, what kind of a producer walks around in broken shoes that you'd normally wear to shower with at the gym, and has a film party at the Imperial? But when the box office opened, he did start handing us wads of cash.  So we thought "ok, fine", got him his tickets, not sure if he'd make good on his promise to invite us to the party.

Well he did. We got the date and time from him, showed up to the Imperial Pub with even a few extra friends in tow, and he was at the door to let us all in.  Good party from what I recall. All just for indulging the semi-crazy looking guy and buying movie tickets for him!  Sweet deal.

#AdaTIFFmems - The binoculars on Yonge St.

I have volunteered at the Elgin Theatre since my first year at TIFF.  It's conveniently located on Yonge Street near Queen, it's in the heart of Toronto where anything and everything can and will happen.  I always say nothing I see down there would surprise, but sometimes, things do anyway.

Standing in line is arduous, the ticketholders line at the Elgin typical starts about 1.5hrs before each show and can stretch from the theatre all the way north to Shuter St, wrap around Shuter to Victoria street, and then south again to as far as Queen St. However one of the perks you may encounter while shuffling your feet, waiting for them to open the theatre, is the swag.  Official sponsors and other eager marketers often hand out freebies in line.  It's not unusual as a volunteer to saunter out to the front to find everyone has a McDonald's coffee in hand for example, but on occasion the swag is a bit more unusual.

One year Sun Life Fianancial was handing out binoculars, I can't remember the tie in... a chance to catch a closer glimpse of your favourite star perhaps? But it makes for quite a jarring moment when you step out onto Yonge St. and 300 pairs of binoculars are pointed in your direction as patrons test out their new toy. (I can only describe it as a Wes Anderson nightmare moment, except Moonrise Kingdom had not ever been made at that time)

#AdaTIFFmems - The time Don McKellar implied I was fat

The big countdown clock on the TIFF Festival page today is showing 40 days until the start of TIFF 2015 - also dubbed TIFF 40.

As I alluded to in my last post, I would like to share some random TIFF-related memories for the 40 days leading up to the festival, so let's kick it off with...

The Time Don McKellar thought I was fat!

This one actually isn't during TIFF, but rather at TIFF's international film festival for kids, which in 2001 was still called Sprockets.

That year I was supposed to be helping out with tech, wiring speakers, setting up equipment etc, but I had a stupid freak accident right before the festival and sprained my ankle.  Since I couldn't balance on crutches and lift speakers at the same time, they found me a desk job at Canada Square, which was signing volunteers in and out with my friend and fellow volunteer Valesca.

Filmmaker/actor Don McKellar was at the theatre for a special Sprockets event that night and he came over to talk to then volunteer manager Bob, whom he was acquainted with.  He was quite nice, and even took a poloroid of Bob, Valesca, and I, in which the perspective of the photo made it look like Valesca and I were much larger than Bob.  Don McKellar made a comment about this, but his choice of words made it sound like he was implying Valesca and I were fat.  Mr. McKellar was quite embarrassed when he realized his poor choice of words, he got a bit flustered and even tried to back pedal, explaining that he was calling Bob shrunken, not us fat.

(I may still have the alleged photo somewhere in my home, I will post it at a later time if I manage to find it)

TIFF40 and Ada17

On a more personal note, I was recently asked by the TIFF Volunteer Office to share my favourite volunteer memory as part of a video project they are working on.

Those who know me well, would probably say I'm big on memories.  I'm in love with the past, up until my late 20's I kept very detailed journals about the various social events my friends and I attended. I poured my thoughts, unfiltered and rambling, into notebooks and online journals (I'm a little bit afraid to reread some of that stuff sometimes, it's like when I stopped writing fiction, all emotions and their intensity were transferred into those diaries.  Anyway...) My obsession with 'the good times', in addition to the fact that I have been a TIFF volunteer for 16 festivals now (coming up on my 17th), means I naturally have many stories swirling around.

Oddly enough I couldn't think of a single 'favourite' story, not even an inappropriate celebrity story that I should not be sharing. I eventually thought of a couple things to say.  At one point I turned to Facebook to see if my friends that I'd met over the years at TIFF had any input, mostly that led to some inside jokes and light discussions.  I don't know how many people I know will echo this sentiment, but I always say my decision to volunteer for the Toronto Film Festival in 1999 has made all the difference in my life. I didn't know it then, but this decision would be about so much more than just a love of film; the friendships that I've made, the people I've met, and much of how I've evolved in some way ties back to TIFF.

The TIFF 40 celebrations has got everyone looking back, so I'm jumping on the bandwagon.  I had such a good time remembering all the zaniness we've gotten up to over the last decade and a half that I'd like to share 40 TIFF-related memories leading up to the festival.  Not ranked in any way, just 40 little tales that come to mind and make my heart happy to share.  Hopefully through these stories you'll start to understand why I make the statement above as I do.

In turn, if you have any stories about me at TIFF (preferably happy, but I'll take the good with the bad), I invite you to send them to me and I'll post them alongside my memories. I would ideally like to post one memory for each of the 40 days leading up to TIFF 2015, but we'll have to see how realistic that is.

Shall we hashtag it all #AdasTIFFmems?

On second thought, who cares if I'm in your TIFF memories or not.  If you have a good story share it! Can't wait to see what you guys come up with!

Insomnia. Also...

No, not the movie... just this writer.

If you are also having trouble sleeping, try giving this a read... it's what I've watched and read between March to June...

-------------------------

numbered = films
not numbered = TV
" " = started books/plays
n = 2015 release
f = my first time viewing 
(#) = number of episodes watched


-------------------------


2/27-3/1
House of cards (8)

3/2
House of cards (2)

3/3
House of cards (1)

3/4
House of cards (1)

3/5
House of cards (1)
49. Obvious Child - f
Big Bang theory (1)

3/6
The walking dead (1)
Banshee (1)

3/8
Banshee (1)
50. Hector and the search for happiness- f

3/9
The Amazing Race (3)
Bates Motel (1)

3/10
The walking dead (1)

3/11
The Following (2)

3/12
Seven up (30min documentary)

3/13
Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown (2)
7 plus seven (52 min doc)
Banshee (1)
The Amazing Race (1)

3/14
51. Pretend We're Kissing - f n

3/16
52. Divergent - f

3/17
Bates Motel (1)

3/18
53. Shooting the Musical - f n

3/19
54. Insurgent- f n
The Following (1)
The walking dead (1)

3/20
The Big Bang theory (3)

3/21
Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown (1)
55. 21 Up - f

3/22
The Walking dead (1)

3/23
Bates Motel (1)
The Big Bang Theory (1)

3//24
The Following (1)

3/25
56. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - f n
The following (1)

3/26-27
Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown (2)

3/31
57. Spy - f n
Big Bang theory (1)
"The DUFF"

4/1
Big Bang theory (1)
Bates Motel (1)

4/2-6
Anthony Bourdain's parts unknown (1)
The Amazing Race (1)
Game of Thrones (1)

4/7
Bates motel (1)
The following (1)

4/8
Game of Thrones (2)

4/9
Seth's Dominion (doc not feature length)

4/10
Game of Thrones (1)
58. Last of the Elephant Men -f

4/11-5/1
Game of thrones (8)
59. The circus dynasty - f n
60. Thank you for playing- f n
"The queen's fool" by Phillippa Gregory

5/2
61. The arms drop - f n
62. 3 still standing- f n
63. Speed sisters - f n
Bates Motel (3)

5/3
64. The cult of JT Leroy - f n
65. Original copy - f n
Anthony bourdain's parts unknown (1)
Game of thrones (1)

5/4
Bates Motel (1)

5/5-5/6
Game of Thrones (1)
Amazing Race (2)

5/7-5/9
Amazing Race (3)
66. The Avengers: The Age of Ultron - f n
Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown (1)
"9 lines of metro" (travelogue comic by Neil Slorance)
The following (1)

5/10
67. The age of Adaline - f n
"Seven days in Berlin" (travelogue comic by Neil Slorance)
The following (1)

5/11
Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown (1)
Game of Thrones (1)

5/11
Bates Motel (1)

5/12
Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown (1)

5/13-16
68. Banksy Does New York- f n
69. Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of belief- f n

5/17
70. Clouds of Sils Maria - f n
Game of thrones (1)

5/18
The Following (1)
The Amazing Race(1)
The mind of a chef (1)

5/20
71. 50 shades of grey - f

5/21
72. Seeking a friend for the end of the world - f

5/22-24
"Optic nerve 14" Adrian tomine
"Seconds" Brian Lee o'malley
Game of Thrones (1)
73. John wick - f

5/26
74. Pitch perfect
75. Pitch perfect 2 - f n
The mind of a chef (1)

5/27
The mind of a chef (1)

5/28
The mind of a chef (1)

5/29-30
76. Late Quartet - f

5/31
77. 54 (Director's Cut)
Game of Thrones (1)

6/1
The Following (1)

6/2
The Following (1)
The Mind of a chef (1)

6/3
The Following (2)

6/4

The Following (1)

6/5
78. Jodorowsky's Dune - f

6/7

Game of Thrones (1)

6/9

79. Boyhood

6/10

80. Dazed and confused 

6/12

81. Before Sunrise

82. Before Sunset

6/13

The Mind of a Chef (1)

83. Me and Earl and the dying girl - f n

6/14

Game of thrones (1)

6/15

84. From Macau to Vegas - f

6/18

85. Before Midnight 

6/19

86. What's your number? - f

6/21

87. Searching for Sugarman - f

6/23

88. Chicken with Plums - f

6/24

89. Brokeback Mountain

6/26

90. Mortdecai- f (worse movie I've seen this year)

6/27

Under the dome (2)

6/28

91. Madame Bovary - f n

6/30

True detective (1)

92. The DUFF - f

February - the month that movies go to die or succumb to illness

...oh no wait, that's just me succumbing to illness!

One minute it was 30 Films in 31 Days, then February rolled around and work picked up, but before the brunt of that could hit me - the flu did instead. And that was that. I lost two weekends in an already short month, and spent about 2.5 work weeks in a fog.  Being able to speak at an audible level again was a triumph, and only coughing in the late night and early morning now is downright sensational.

I can't claim illness was the sole cause of my absence, there was also a little something called House of Cards (which I think took up one of the weekends where I wasn't so sick...).  I binged through 8 episodes, nothing to brag about I know, and when I went in to the office on Monday, was informed by my boss that he and his friends got through them all in one sitting (harkens back to the legends of the LOTR or GOT marathons doesn't it?)  Afterwards I thought "why did I stop Sunday night and go to bed? I would continued and when he found me facedown on my desk on Monday I could've claimed "house of cards" and he would have understood.  Next year...

So...how 'bout them Oscars? I don't know if there are any readers of this blog who only read the blog and not follow me on other forms of social media? I highly doubt it, therefore I'm sure you're aware that I like to use the major film/TV awards shows to practice my live tweeting.  Not that I've ever searched for the definition of "live tweeting" but I've been led to believe it involves recapping information as well as providing some commentary, I think this year I just leaned towards providing fashion commentary.  Pretty ludicrous coming from someone who's hardly an authority.  Still, I had my fun and as always I thank you for not unfollowing me over the past couple of months. I'm still trying to figure out why everyone was freaking out over Margot Robbie's outfit at the Oscars though, it's well-fitting dinner & cocktail attire on a beautiful woman, but that's about it.

As for Birdman taking Best Picture over Boyhood, I'll say it... it was a shame.  Not because Birdman doesn't deserve accolades, but because it didn't deserve to be titled 'best film of the year'.  It was 'the finest technical achievement of the year' and it was 'michael keaton's best performance ever'.  Period. No more. But moving on...

You'll get to see my Top 10 of 2014 at some point, now that no one cares I'm no longer feeling the pressure (my apologies to like the one reader who might care... Jerry? Maybe Lynette too?)

In attempts to get a little back on track (before I go on vacation next month... so maybe I can be "on track" for a couple of weeks?) I'm looking forward to seeing some of what the Canadian Film Fest has in store later this month, as well a couple of blog columns in their infancy on Toronto Film Scene about Canadian Film History and Movie Merch (yes, one is so related to the other...).  Here are the links to the inaugural entries in case you missed them:

http://thetfs.ca/2015/02/26/canadian-film-history-oscar-winning-actors/
http://thetfs.ca/2015/02/12/movie-merch-hot-topic-dresses-like-favourite-movie/

Lastly (for now) I had previously alluded to how I wanted to recap my media consumption like Steven Soderberg did, so I'll leave you with my notes from Jan/Feb to puruse/ignore as you see fit.

--------------------------

numbered = films
not numbered = TV
" " = started books/plays
n = 2015 release
f = my first time viewing 
(#) = number of episodes watched

Jan 1-7
1.In Time - f
2.Fury - f
3.the avengers

4. How to steal a million - f
5. 71 - f n
6. The bling ring
7. Funny girl - f
8. Selma - f n
"The forbidden game trilogy"
"It's not easy being green"
9. What Richard Did

1/8
10. Kingsman: The Secret Service

1/9-11
11. The fifth element
12. Inherent vice - f n
13. A clockwork orange
"Dark crystal creation myths vol 1"
"Secret societies"

1/12

14. 13 Assassins

15. Foxcatcher - f

1/13

16. The Ides of March - f

"A bunch of pretty things I did not buy"

1/14

17. What we do in the shadows

18. The Babadook- f

1/15

"The cute girl network"

1/17

19. American Sniper - n f

1/18

20. Wild - f

21. 127 Hours

1/19

22. Lovelace - f

1/20

23. Out of Africa - f

1/21

24. American Hustle

25. A Place in the Sun

1/23

26. Triplets of Belleville- f

1/24

27. Two days, one night - f n

28. And god created woman

1/25

29. A girl walks home alone at night - n f

30. Once Upon a time in America

1/27

31. Revenge of the Green Dragons

32. The Killer

1/28

33. Hard Boiled

1/29

34. 20 Feet from stardom -f

1/30

35. Guardians of the Galaxy

1/31

36. Still Alice - n f

2/1

37. Cake - n f

2/2-5

38. Jupiter Ascending- n f

Banshee (3 ep)

"Shallow Grave" (John hodge)

2/6

Banshee (1)

39. Life as we know it - f

2/7

Banshee (1)

40. Bridget jones's diary

2/8

Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown (1)

2/9

Anthony Bourdain's parts unknown (1)

"Act like a lady, think like a man"

2/10

41. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason- f

2/11

The Walking dead (1)

Game of Thrones special 

2/12-14

42. About Time

43. The Philadelphia Story

Banshee (1)

Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown (1)

2/15

Better Call Saul (2)

44.War and Peace - f

Big Bang Theory (3)

2/16

The Walking dead (1)

"Trainspotting" screenplay by John Hodge

2/19

45.Xmen days of future past 

2/20

Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown (2)

2/21

46. (Korean movie whose title I could not translate) - f

47. It's Complicated 

48. Bringing Up Baby - f

2/22

Big Bang theory (2)

2/23

Big Bang theory (1)

2/24

Banshee (1)

Big Bang Theory (1)

2/25-26

The walking dead (1)

2/27-3/1

House of cards (8)