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September 3rd, 2000 4 days to go and Counting |
Only 4 days to go until the beginning of the 25th Anniversary of the Toronto International Film Festival. My first hurdle of this year's festival will be Monday when we pick up our selections. A couple of years ago, the Festival organizers decided to switch from a first come first served basis to a pseudo-random draw in an attempt to discourage huge line-ups on the drop off day and to try to satisfy those lazy assed people that couldn't drag themselves out of bed at 4am to line-up with the rest of us slobs. Hey you really want to see a movie badly enough you have to be willing to make sacrafices, but I digress. To continue my train of thought regarding the random policy they implemented last year. As orders are dropped off they are put in numbered cardboard boxes. In previous years these boxes would be filled sequentially, with the new policy, the organizers draw a random number from 1 to however many boxes were submitted. This random number becomes the starting point of the order filling. Last year we were about half way or 2/3 back from the starting box and got most of our picks. If not first choice, then at least second choice picks. Well as Bill Cosby would say, I told you that story so I could tell you this story. This year my friends and I dropped our selections off and found ourselves in box 36. Actually the last people in box 36. The random draw is not made until after 10am, so hurrying off to other appointments, we thought we would hear later in the day what box was drawn. Later that afternoon I receive a phone call from Don who tells me that he had heard the random number drawn was 37! Can you believe it! In case you haven't been following a word I have said, that means we are going to be the LAST people to have their orders filled! Don has been busy plotting strategies, and consulting chicken entrails looking for alternative films should none of his picks be honored. I am taking the lazy route and waiting until the morning we pick up to see how bad the situation is before I panic. The only other early news at this stage in my journal is I've already got my Film Festival cold out of the way (or almost out of the way). Remember that burn-out I was telling you about, well sitting in a theatre with a couple of hundred other people for days on end when you haven't been getting enough rest usually results in a cold either during or after the film festival. Well I decided to avoid the rush and caught a cold a full week before the festival started. Purely unintentional, but should work out nicely provided I can recover in time for the festival. Build up the immune system before I wade into a festival of germs. Well that's about it for now, check back here in a couple of days time to see what the fallout was from our selections. I will also be posting a list of the films I have chosen at that time. Until Later.... |