tuesday night.

Bottle of water at the Bloor Cinema: $2

Medium popcorn with butter at the Bloor cinema: $4

Dinner at the Bloor cinema: $6 (you thought I was going to say priceless)

I would have liked to have had dinner at the Bloor, except that in the commotion of the lobby before David Wants to Fly, I accidentally inserted myself right into the middle of the popcorn queue. I obliviously hunted through my survival kit for that elusive $10 bill (I don't want to be the jackass paying with a debit card as everyone is clambering to get into the theatre on time). Anyhoo, the guy behind me catches my attention and asks me, "excuse me, are you in line?" at which point I look up and notice 7 people behind me, in an obvious line up, giving me the stinkiest eyes I've ever been dealt. (Haha, I just thought of a lynch mob. Get it?) I made eye contact with each of them, threw my hands up and flashed a toothy, over-compensatory grin, and said "well, turns out I don't have any cash anyways!" and trotted out of the lobby, through the swinging doors, through the main hallway and outside onto the sidewalk. That's right, I ran away. Classy.

David Wants to Fly is what I was looking for last night. I've seen a lot of heavy movies (smuggling, political conflicts, terrorism, sunshine, lollipops) so I was looking for something lighthearted yet informative. The director put a lot of thought into his composition and opened up the world of transcendental meditation. The movie was bright and had good rhythm. It managed to be many things - a coming of age story, an expose, an homage to David Lynch's movie making, but it didn't feel cluttered. And the subtitles looked great. (Distracting subtitles are one of the great peeves of documentarianists all over the world - you know, the wrong colour, a coloured bar in the background, or even the wrong translation.) My favorite part of the movie was when the filmmaker was interviewing Lynch, who wiggles his hands like a reproducing amoeba when he speaks, which gave the whole crowd a serious case of giggles.

Before that I watched Feathered Cocaine. Between this movie and The Oath, I've spent quite a bit of time looking at Osama Bin Laden's face lately. He has nice eyebrows. 

On tap tonight:
Thieves by Law or Blank City, followed by Sex Magic.

day sixty eight. monday night.

I'm done numbering the days. I can't keep track anymore.

It's Monday night, and I just got home from Sins of My Father. It was a quality documentary about the son of Pablo Escobar, who was 16 when his father died. The movie stayed very close to its subject, resisting the urge to stray into the larger context of Pablo Escobar's life and the Columbian drug trade. And the animation during the title sequence was mesmerizing. If you don't have much time, just go see the first 10 minutes of the movie.

I had just come from Gros Morne at the Drake. Kudos to Hot Docs for trying something new, by screening a movie at a bar with a live soundtrack. If you weren't there, you missed it.

I arrived at the line up for Sins of my Father at 9:10, fifty minutes before the movie started. I rolled up to the back of the ticket holders line and had this conversation with the man in front of me.

Me: Hey, do you mind saving a spot for me?
Ear Bud Guy: [looks baffled]
Me: I just want to go bring this gelato to my friend in the rush line and eat it with her [holds up two oozing Dolce gelato cups].
Ear Bud: [looking incredulous] How long are you going to be gone?
Me: Well, probably until the line starts to move, then I'll come back.
Ear Bud: [not having it]
Me: [wondering where the guff is] We're all allowed to save an extra spot in line for someone else, so, you could just, well, save me a spot. I could be your someone.

As if on cue, Round Head sidles up to Ear Bud.

Round Head: [to Ear Bud] Hey Doug.
Me: Maybe I should ask this guy. [Rotates body 30 degrees to the right to face Round Head.] Hello. Do you mind holding a spot for me while I go eat this Gelato with my friend in the rush line?
Round Head: Sure, no problem!

Crisis averted.

Tomorrow is a nights of toss ups. I am waffling (mmm) between Feathered Cocaine and 12th & Delaware for the 6:30 screening, then David Wants to Fly, Canal Street Madam or Marwencol in the 9:00 spot.  I'll do some thinking in the shower tomorrow morning and check back in during a lull at the office.

hot docs box office.

I love you Hot Docs, but your website kinda sucks.* It's really hard to find the link for purchasing tickets online, so here it is friends:

Hot Docs online box office

* That's not very nice of me. What I mean to say, is that it could use some improvements, especially when it comes to navigating towards the online box office. Fair.