Tombrarian

Sarah suggested visiting the ROM, which, I am ashamed to say, I have yet to visit. One of the reasons is that it is across the street from one of our favorite museums, the Gardiner Museum, which is the only Canadian museum dedicated to ceramics. They have recently renovated, so we’ll probably set aside some time to visit both of these museums. These museums are easy to get to. They are right at the Museum stop of the subway.

Only 10 more days until the Toronto International Film Festival. The tiffreview blog has a helpful and fun 3 part series about planning for the festival (part 1, part 2, part 3). These tips originally come from Crunchy Squirrel Goes to Toronto. One suggestion I agree with is to resist the urge to avoid major releases. I am a huge David Cronenberg fan and A History of Violence was at last year’s festival, but I knew it would get a bigger release and I would go see it when it came to town, so I cooled my heels and struck it from my list. For me, film festivals are more about seeing films I might otherwise miss out on.

That said, sometimes it’s a bit of a tough call when a film has some big names, but isn’t really a mainstream movie. Last year, I saw 3 films that came to Philly later, but it wasn’t a safe bet that they would. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, Caché, and Thank You for Smoking all came through town, though the first two only briefly. So, I am glad I saw them in Toronto. Plus, randomly selecting unfamiliar titles can lead to a lot of disappointment, so although I would avoid the major releases, I would still select a few that feel like safe bets. (As a side note, I was impressed enough with Thank You for Smoking that I’m using it in a class I’m teaching this semester).

The 3 part series is geared toward the more serious festival goer who is looking at 30 or more films (although the suggestions are helpful for anyone). Alas, I will be in Toronto for only 5 days, so I will be seeing probably fewer than 10 films.