Pre-TIFF Tally

Ok, half a day pass and some volunteer vouchers, minus a few favours and "private transactions" (for lack of a better description) later, I am currently in possession of 14 hard tickets and looking forward to earning 16 more vouchers to complete my TIFF movie selections.

Each year a bunch of us wild, rollicking, and generally insane moviegoers converge around 2am to line up at the TIFF box office the night before single tickets go on sale. But long before that, our inboxes will see many a group email planning for this night. We'd assessed the issue of which box office to go to based on number of kiosks, popularity in location, acessibility to public washrooms, 24 hr coffee shop, etc.

Our initial decision was to go to Nathan Phillips Square, where, by the way, the fry truck and hot dog stand - not to mention pristine Sheraton Hotel washrooms are available all night. Although not walled, there is also some overhead shelter provided should it start to rain - no wonder it's hobo city down there, they've got it made!

I made of point of sleeping a little bit less the night before, and then enjoying a cup of chamomile tea on the walk home (maybe the word "enjoy" is the wrong description for the combination of hot tea & 24C weather, but it served its purpose) so that I would sleep like a log from the hours of 7pm to 12:30am.

However putting myself out of commission during those hours, caused me to miss Eddy's initial warning that there was already a line-up of 15 persons by 11pm at NPS! This was cause for a bit of alarm when I woke up, but all were dispatched quickly once the word got out.

Upon doing some recon at Metro Square, Darrin and Adil sent word to the rest of us, who were 20-something in line at NPS that it was still deserted over on King St. We debated spreading some (humourous to us) false rumours at NPS, but in the end just high-tailed it over to secure out first-group-in-line spots.

It takes a certain kind to do this overnight line-up, these are just a couple of pics of the fellas I'm in cahoots with:

However it's also some of the greatest company I keep on a yearly basis, these freaks and geeks inspire me to be more obsessive, more movie-informed, and throw caution and sleep to the wind. Not to mention our efforts always pay off in the end.

And with that I give you my updated TIFF 09 Schedule:

Thu Sep 10
3:45pm - Varsity - Bright Star P&I (RUSH)
9:30pm - Elgin - Broken Embraces (RUSH)

Sat Sep 12
6pm-ish - My Queen Karo/Up In the Air (RUSH)
9pm-ish - The Disappearance of Alice Creed/Solitary Man (RUSH)

Sun Sep 13
9:30pm - Scotia - Accident (RUSH)
11:59pm - Ryerson - The Loved Ones

Mon Sep 14
7:00pm - Tanner Hall (RUSH)
9:00pm - Invention of Lying (RUSH)
11:59pm - Bitch Slap (RUSH)

*I will have to obtain tickets for at least one or two of these shows if I plan to catch all 3

Tue Sep 15
6:45pm - AMC - Jean Charles
9:15pm - Ryerson - Vengeance

Wed Sep 16
9:15am - Scotia - Leslie, My Name is Evil
12pm - Scotia - Youth in Revolt
11:59pm - Ryerson - Soloman Kane (maybe)

Thu Sep 17
9:45am - Scotia - High Life
12pm - Micmacs (most likely, I have a ticket but may trade it)
4:30pm - I, Don Giovanni (RUSH)
8:30pm - A Single Man (RUSH) (maybe)

Fri Sep 18
9:00am - Varsity - Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky P&I (RUSH)
12pm - Ryerson - Whip It
2:15pm - AMC - Gun to the Head
(hop in cab)
4:15pm - Scotia - Perrier's Bounty
(hop in cab again)
6:00pm - Ryerson - Hipsters
9:00pm - Ryerson - Mr. Nobody
(go home and die)

Sat Sep 19
9:45am - Varsity - Dogtooth (most likely, I have a ticket but I might trade it)
12pm - Mother and Child (maybe - the titles & subject content are SOOO not me :P)
2:30 - Elgin - The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
either 6pm Young Victoria or 9pm People's Choice, depending on the film, will be rushing either way
11:59pm - Ong Bak 2 (RUSH)

I hope to be able to obtain more advance/same day tickets as the festival gets going, so I won't be rushing more than a handful of films.