1.

A week and a half ago, a tall fence went up in Toronto. I was very excited about this fence. I like fancy shiny things that serve a large purpose - in this case, to keep rabble-rousers and assassins away from the G20 leaders. The fence was not continuous. There were empty spots everywhere, and you could walk between fences and have an entire street to yourself. There were lots of police hanging around, more police than I had ever seen in Toronto before. They were mostly on bikes, and they congregated around the hot dog stands. I was very excited about the fence. 

brief.

So there's another film festival coming up in Toronto called the Worldwide Short Film Festival. It's only 2 hours long. Hey-o!

It's actually 6 days long, and it starts tomorrow. WSFF sent me some DVDs to watch before the festival, since I won't be in town to catch the flickettes in the theaters. So far, I've watched a whole bunch of short movies from programs such as Midnight Mania: Freaky, and Midnight Mania: Creepy (I have not managed to identify the distinction between the two, except that there seems to be more children in the Freaky collection, confirming my suspicions that children are freaky).

Now, there are many ways to make a bad short film. Like by skimping on the actors. It's one of the reasons that I love docs so much - I never have to suffer through, what's the word, oh yes - insufferable - acting. And if you think that it's easy to sit through just 4 minutes of bad acting, then you haven't seen Dinner Date (Part of the Laughter Without Borders program).

But there's also many ways to make a good short movie. Like by getting a historian shitfaced on absinthe, filming him while he gives a history lesson, then getting some famous actors to lip synch the drunken narration. If that sounds like a winning formula to you too, check out the Celebrity Shorts program, featuring the likes of Will Ferrell as Abe Lincoln and John C. Reilly as Tesla.

There's something for everyone at this tiny little festival, and you'll save a whole bundle on Ritalin by taking in your movies 5 minutes at a time.

Have fun, let me know how it is!