Reports are saying that Roy Halladay will not re-sign with the Blue Jays after his contract expires at the end of the 2010 season.
To paraphrase Hall and Oates:
He's gone
Oh I, oh I'd
Better learn how to face it
He's gone
Oh I, oh I'd
Pay the devil to replace him
He's gone
What went wrong?
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Prom Night in Mississippi
Prom Night in Mississippi was one of my favorite films from the 2009 Hot Docs film festival, and I was thrilled to see it released theatrically in Toronto this weekend. I had tweeted about the film, posted about it on various Internet message boards, and also wanted plunk down my $10 at the theatre to further support the film. A fortuitous surprise was the that director and producer of the film, Paul Saltzman and Patricia Aquino, were available for a Q&A after the screening. They were in Toronto (along with actor Morgan Freeman) to promote the film.
I think I've blogged about it before, but I think the story the film tells is an important one. And it's one that's very fairly and touchingly told. For many years, the high school prom in Charleston, Mississippi had been segregated. There was the Black prom and the White prom despite the fact that the school was fully integrated (70% Black students, 30% white students).
Actor Morgan Freeman, who had lived in the town as a child, offered to pay for the prom if it would be integrated. We come to hear from the students themselves about their own feelings towards each other, and the attitudes that they were brought up with.
The Hot Docs audience loved the film, and the people in the small screening I attended also enjoyed it immensely. It's an important film for young people to see and the filmmakers are working to get the movie out to high schools and colleges. Where it has been shown, it has been wildly successful.
I'm blogging about this movie again because I really hope people will see this movie. It's heart-warming. The ingenuousness of the students is touching. And what they're doing--breaking a vicious cycle, a sad history of racism--is very powerful. So go see this movie--don't make me tell you again!
I think I've blogged about it before, but I think the story the film tells is an important one. And it's one that's very fairly and touchingly told. For many years, the high school prom in Charleston, Mississippi had been segregated. There was the Black prom and the White prom despite the fact that the school was fully integrated (70% Black students, 30% white students).
Actor Morgan Freeman, who had lived in the town as a child, offered to pay for the prom if it would be integrated. We come to hear from the students themselves about their own feelings towards each other, and the attitudes that they were brought up with.
The Hot Docs audience loved the film, and the people in the small screening I attended also enjoyed it immensely. It's an important film for young people to see and the filmmakers are working to get the movie out to high schools and colleges. Where it has been shown, it has been wildly successful.
I'm blogging about this movie again because I really hope people will see this movie. It's heart-warming. The ingenuousness of the students is touching. And what they're doing--breaking a vicious cycle, a sad history of racism--is very powerful. So go see this movie--don't make me tell you again!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Carrie Fisher
Carrie Fisher is doing a one-woman show on Broadway called Wishful Drinking. It's about her life (daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, with a backstage pass to the Hollywood Life, who had battles with mental illness and addiction, and who played the iconic Princess Leia in the Star Wars movies) and is supposed to be a hoot.
I was just watching an interview with her on Broadwayworld.com and I liked this line she had while explaining how, back in the day, she was milling about in the bowels of Studio 54 with the likes of Halston, Liza, Truman Capote and Steve Rubell in the secret area for celebrity drug use. She says she was "A fly on a very ornate wall."
Here's more from Carrie Fisher (when she was doing this show in California):
I was just watching an interview with her on Broadwayworld.com and I liked this line she had while explaining how, back in the day, she was milling about in the bowels of Studio 54 with the likes of Halston, Liza, Truman Capote and Steve Rubell in the secret area for celebrity drug use. She says she was "A fly on a very ornate wall."
Here's more from Carrie Fisher (when she was doing this show in California):
Lone Scherfig
I've loved the work of Danish director Lone Scherfig since seeing Italian for Beginners several years ago. Since then I've gone to see her subsequent films when they played at the TIFF and she's always been there to introduce her films and do a Q&A. Italian for Beginners was a wonderful ensemble romantic comedy, set in Denmark, with a motley mix of characters who come together romantically at the end.
Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself, despite it's title, is a very pleasant film, set in Scotland, again about romantic yearning and a man who tries to kill himself and (comically) fails. Trailer.
Just Like Home was the next Scherfig film I saw. It's about the quirky inhabitants of a small Danish town. Some of the actors from Italian for Beginners appear in this cute film.
In her most recent film An Education she has harnessed her full talents in a film that will finally earn her recognition as a top-flight director. Based on Lynn Barber's autobiographical book, An Education is about Jenny, a very smart young woman who is swept off her feet by a suave older man (Peter Sarsgaard) who introduces her to a life of sophistication that she yearns to escape to. She foolishly abandons her previous plans of applying to Oxford and a life of rigorous (and dull) study with uncertain outcomes. Jazz clubs, fancy restaurants and trips to Paris seem so much more exciting to a young woman in 1960's England. But her education comes when she discovers that such a life has its price, esp. when it's built on a fraud. A wonderfully put together film, with terrific performances by the cast (led by the radiant and effervescent Carey Mulligan as Jenny), lovely period design and score (I have the soundtrack CD and am enjoying it much). The film has seen very positive reviews, and one anticipates a smattering of nominations come award season.
I'm quite happy that Lone Scherfig will finally get the recognition she deserves. Here's a video interview with her where she talks about directing An Education.
Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself, despite it's title, is a very pleasant film, set in Scotland, again about romantic yearning and a man who tries to kill himself and (comically) fails. Trailer.
Just Like Home was the next Scherfig film I saw. It's about the quirky inhabitants of a small Danish town. Some of the actors from Italian for Beginners appear in this cute film.
In her most recent film An Education she has harnessed her full talents in a film that will finally earn her recognition as a top-flight director. Based on Lynn Barber's autobiographical book, An Education is about Jenny, a very smart young woman who is swept off her feet by a suave older man (Peter Sarsgaard) who introduces her to a life of sophistication that she yearns to escape to. She foolishly abandons her previous plans of applying to Oxford and a life of rigorous (and dull) study with uncertain outcomes. Jazz clubs, fancy restaurants and trips to Paris seem so much more exciting to a young woman in 1960's England. But her education comes when she discovers that such a life has its price, esp. when it's built on a fraud. A wonderfully put together film, with terrific performances by the cast (led by the radiant and effervescent Carey Mulligan as Jenny), lovely period design and score (I have the soundtrack CD and am enjoying it much). The film has seen very positive reviews, and one anticipates a smattering of nominations come award season.
I'm quite happy that Lone Scherfig will finally get the recognition she deserves. Here's a video interview with her where she talks about directing An Education.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
