day two.

So I was sprawled out in the back row at Innis Theatre last night, on the middle aisle (my safety zone - lots of room to stretch out and dump my stuff, and close enough to the exit for a quick escape in case of a boring movie), thinking that the bathroom in the basement of Innis is a pretty good representation of hell on earth. Don't believe me? Go check for yourself next time you're there. I know that the 15 other women in line thought the same thing - I could see it in the beads of sweat rolling down their foreheads and in the crazy in their eyes. Note to self - pee at the preceding destination, or avoid Innis all together. Those chairs just don't cut it.

I had just come from The Oath at the Bader. (Yes, like I've said, my schedule is a living, breathing organism. For those of you who are actually paying attention, you'll note that I was supposed to be seeing And Everything is Going Fine, but between us, it looked really effing boring. There's only so much archival footage I can take.) The Oath was awesome. I would have ripped it a 5 if I was inclined to participate in that barbaric practice of rating movies by ripping a number on my ticket and putting it in a box. On a scale with such little range, I can see little evidentiary value in asking people to rate a movie before they've seen all of the ones they plan on seeing. It's all relative, non? A 5 today might be demoted to a 4 tomorrow. I hereby DEMAND that Hot Docs implement an online voting system system so viewers can vote after they've seen a bunch of flicks. I'll even get my friend SK to design it for you for free. Ok, SK? Thanks kid! Just give me the word, Hot Docs! Besides, I never would submit my ticket at the end of a movie. If I don't keep my ticket stubs, how am I supposed to remember what I've seen? (I have the retention skills of a gnat).

I was interrupted in my note taking at this point by an announcement from the front of the theatre that the director will not be joining us for a q&a afterwards. ...Whaaaa????---no director??? b-b-bu I chose this screening of Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go because it was a retroprective screening, and I assumed I could hear from the director. For shame. On me. For missing Gasland or Disco and the Atomic War to watch 2 hours of behaviourally demonic children having temper tantrums. I can throw a mighty fine tantrum myself, so there wasn't much new here for me. (The audience agreed with me - the flick ended with a freeze frame, but still no applause until the 5th frame of credits! The Oath? Applause on the first credit. The Applause-o-meter tells it all.)

By the way, there is now a link to my blog from the Hot Docs website, so welcome to all new readers, if you've made it this far! I even have my very first follower who is not a personal friend - hello Mad Hatter, I like your reviews! And can someone leave a comment so I know you're reading, otherwise I'll assume I'm typing into a vacuum and I'll start letting you know what I really think. If I could ever figure that out. Worse, this blog could devolve into a dumping ground for my failed limerick repertoire. The choice is yours...

The following five movies were recommended to me by the cool couple in front of me in line for The Oath, and were in turn recommended to them by their friend, who is "the guy who runs Hot Docs":
- 12th and Delaware
- Gasland
- Bhutto
- Parking Lot Movie
- Osadne

This is a conversation between the two people sitting beside me at the Bader waiting for The Oath to start:
guy: I'm seeing 6 movies this weekend.
date: After a while it's like information overload.
guy: Yeah...
date; I mean, I can sit through two dramas in a row.
guy: Yeah...
[silence]

Today is going to be tricky - I'm already torn about what I'm going to see first, but I can decide on the ride up, because it's either going to be at the ROM or the Bader. And then there's the rain - please don't steal the plastic bag from the seat of my bike. You know who you are. Let's all try to get along today.

One last thing! Thanks a bunch to ZalkEn for the shiny new profile pic, taken in front of the Elgin before Babies. ZalkEn thinks the shot is a little dark but I am to movied-out to Photoshop that thing...

Gotta jet!