WFF Day 2

Day 2 of the festival started early for me. I spent most of my day making up delegate bags. I ran some errands around the village and went back to making more delegate bags. My shift ended at 5PM and I was able to catch one of the Borsos Competition Films called Picture Day.

Picture Day part of the Borsos competition. It's a coming of age story about a rebellious teenager who has to repeat her last year of high school. She is caught between adolescence and adulthood which are represented in the two guys she is with. The first being the lead singer of a band and the now high school kid she used to babysit. The standout bits in the film for me are the improve moments between  As well a fellow Capilano grad produced the film which is awesome.

At 8PM I watched another Borsos film called My Awkward Sexual Adventure whihch was hilarious. It's about an accountant who doesn't know how to perform in the bedroom department. His girlfriend is fe up with falling asleep during sex so Jordan visits his friend in Toronto and ends up enlisting Julia a stripper with dreams of opening a restaurant to help him win back his girlfriend.

Just as I arrived back at the hotel one of the vollies asked if I was up to go out to a party in Creekside. Of course I said yes. I ended up chatting with the Director of the film Picture Day, Kate Miles Melville and other industry people. What started as a boring day ended pretty well.

Whistler Film Festival Day 1

I arrived in Whistler yesterday at 1PM. Checked in at the Volunteer room and got my Capilano Film T-shirt. I checked in at the Tantalus Lodge grabbed my bed and got ready to start my first volunteer shift. I ended up going on an hour long errand in Function with one of the staff to fix a picture frame. We successfully put it back together with crazy glue and plexiglass. It was still on the wall when I left tonight. After that I greeting pass holders and directed them to accreditation. Grabbed some sushi for dinner  before I had to do head count for the Opening Reception and Gala. At around 8PM a few of us Cap grads went out for a drink and then headed to the 11PM screening of American Mary.

American Mary is a about a surgical student who needs to pay off her student loans and instead of becoming a stripper she ends up stitching a guy up for $5000. Word gets out that she is a good surgeon and the next thing she does is remove the bits from a woman who wants to be Barbie. And that is just the beginning of the film. American Mary is a blend of body modification, revenge and a psycho main character played by Katherine Isabelle (Ginger from Ginger Snaps). The cinematography was beautiful and I really enjoyed the use of classical music instead of the typical horror scores. However there were a few story holes and hums but for a niche genre it did the trick.

A good start to the festival.

Cold Specks Concert

Last Night I had the opportunity to attend the Cold Specks concert at St. James Hall. THe sound in there is incredible. Cold Specks is the stage name of Al Spx, a Canadian singer-songwriter based in London, England. Her musical style is doom soul and with an influence of deep south gospel. The power in her voice is phenomenal. I also really enjoyed the fact that the group had a wood wind element from Bass Clarinet to Baritone Sax. The CBC was also recording the concert for CBC Music. 

Check out their new album "I Predict a Graceful Explusion".

Official Website

Flight

from wikipedia

On Tuesday I was in Abbotsford visiting my grandparents and we decided of course to go to a $3 movie. We saw Robert Zemeckis' new film "Flight" starring Denzel Washington. Denzel plays Captain Whip Whitaker an alcoholic pilot who miraculously saves a flight from crashing but becomes under the public eye when the NTSB have to decide who is to blame. Although the movie is centred around the plane crash the film focuses on Whip's struggle with addiction. I haven't seen a performance from Denzel like this since Training Day and Man on Fire. Of course John Goodman and Don Cheadle gave great performances, both providing some comic relief. And I have to point out Canadian born Bruce Greenwood who plays Charlie, a former copilot to Whip and now the head of the pilot's guild. Greenwood and Cheadle work to get the case against Whip dismissed.

Skyfall

As a big James Bond fan I of course saw the newest film. And I have to say it definitely did it for me. There was a great mix of new and old which was one of the themes in the film. Even though Sean Connery will always be Bond to me I do like looking at Daniel Craig. I thought he brought class to the character. And his banter with Judi Dench was awesome. Another thing that did it for me was having Albert Finney join the team. (I know fans were hoping of seeing Sean Connery, but lets face it Mr. Connery is retired) And I have always loved Albert Finney ever since I saw him in Two For The Road with Audrey Hepburn.

I wish we could of seen more of Ben Wishaw's character Q but I guess we'll have to wait for the next instalment. Javier Bardem as the villian is always great to watch but I thought this was a bit of a cop out as his character reminded me of Heath Ledger's Joker from The Dark Knight.

I also really enjoyed the Adele theme song to Skyfall. It reminded me of the older Bond songs sung by Shirley Bassey and Tom Jones.

The Deep Dark Woods

So it was my birthday November 1st and part of my present from my mom was tickets to see The Deep Dark Woods concert. While I'm not a big fan of Plants and Animals who were the main act I love The Deep Dark Woods.

Rah Rah opened the night. They are a band from Regina, Saskatchewan that play the accordion, fiddle and have songs about being from a small town. My favourite song of theirs is Art & a Wife.

The Deep DarkWoods were great. They played from their new album. Mellow songs with a great rhythm. And lead singer Ryan Boldt looked so much like a lumber jack, I loved it. If you haven't heard of these guys check out my favourite album of theirs, Winter Hours.