Again

So as it turns out, we weren't leaving at noon, but rather they just didn't know when we were leaving.  I guess they figured if they sent a confusing enough message, we'd probably get in touch, which was the desired outcome.

Anyway, they rebooked us through Minneapolis, and not too much later (7:00) than we were originally scheduled.  So that's nice.

Of course, no sooner than we finished our rather flagrantly priced airport breakfast sandwiches, we received another message from Delta.  Our new flight has been delayed, departing at 8:00, arriving at 8:39.  I guess we're going SST.  Unless they really just mean, "Hey, could you give us a call?"

The Miracle

Delta says our flight has been delayed.  Our original itinerary had us leaving at 6:35 AM, arriving at 9:39 AM.  Our new departure time is noon, but still arriving at 9:39 AM.  Delta has discovered time travel.  They're going to make billions!

Resolution

TIFF called back, by the way.  Apparently, they've had a recent surge in "Contributor" level memberships, or at least that was the explanation I was given as to why we only received 80% of our first choice selections this year, after we got 19 of 20 in 2009 and 17 of 20 in 2008.  Do I buy it?  Not completely.  But if it is true, then it raises a frightening question: If I wasn't a "Contributor" level member, what percent of our selections would we have received?  And now I am to believe that I have to renew my membership to get the level of service I had grown to expect by merely buying tickets?  It's not a happy thought, and I love the festival.

The man who called from TIFF was nice enough to throw in a couple extra vouchers for the mix up in our order, though, so it appears you, faithful reader, have 21 reviews forthcoming.  There are a few of you out there, right?

Meanwhile, if we want to see The Ides of March, Take This Waltz, and The Island President, we'll have to rush for them (see Appendix B of my "How To Festival" post).  Sadly, we didn't get tickets to those films.

TIFF, we have a problem...

Yesterday, I received an email notifying me that my ticket selections had been processed.  I excitedly opened up the email, performed a quick count of movies on our schedule, and sure enough, we had 20.  Then I looked a bit closer and noticed that once of our second choice picks was among them.  "Bummer," I thought, "we didn't get all of our first selections."  I set out to see which ones we didn't get, and discovered that we received all of our second choice picks, and rather indiscriminately.

We are double-booked three times in two days.  I don't know if you've tried it, but watching two movies at once is quite challenging, particularly when the theaters are over a mile apart.

I'm sure TIFF will rectify the situation by replacing our second choice tickets with vouchers for the three double-bookings, but that overlooks another little issue.  This year, we bought a membership to TIFF.  At our contribution level, I was told that our ticket order would be processed "before the general public".  It would appear that we're in a rather large group and that all of us pre-general public people picked the same films.  Or perhaps our order was processed among all the other John Q. Public's orders.  I'm more than a little irritated, and less than enthused about renewing my membership next year.

TISFF

When we were putting together this year's schedule, I thought I noticed a trend toward shorter films.  Being a math geek, I set out to calculate the average length of this year's films versus the 2009 films (the last time we went).  Now, I don't have the kind of time on my hands that I can average the lengths of 300+ films for each season, so I stuck to the films we'd picked.  Sure, perhaps we just happened to pick the shortest films they had out this year, but I doubt it.  For the sake of argument, I'll treat it like a random sampling.

Last year, our average screening was just over 111 minutes long.  This year, we nosedived to just over 98.5 minutes, over 12.5 minutes shorter than 2009.  Is it an industry trend?  Sheer luck?  I don't know, but maybe, just maybe, producers are trying to play into the hands of our short attention spans.  Either way, we could call this year the Toronto International Short Film Festival.

2011 Schedule

Maureen and I spent the better part of five days reading film summaries, rating films, negotiating (which she does professionally -- not fair), sorting, scheduling, etc., and came out with this year's schedule.  We were participants in a pilot program to enter selections online, instead of the traditional and tedious method of circling entries on a printed schedule and using color-coded highlighters to denote order of preference.  Unfortunately, we still had to pay the full cost of the Out of Town Selection Service, which includes overnight freight back to Toronto.  But, if the pilot goes well, perhaps we won't have to next year.

But I digress.  The point I was going to make is that the schedule of our picks is attached to the blog for your viewing pleasure.  See the link in the upper right hand corner for a pop-up version, or the full schedule is embedded at the bottom.  We had to make a few second choice picks, so you'll notice some overlapping.  I colored the second choices differently, but for whatever reason, the second color is lost when I embed the calendar.  I say hrmph to blogger on this point.  Our second choices are thus noted by the text "(2nd)" following the title of the film.

We tried to balance light-themed films (Juan of the Dead and Sons of Norway) with more heavy themes (The Ides of March and Think of Me).  We also made sure we would spend enough time reading during the festival -- at least in term of subtitles.  Lastly, we arranged for a new novelty -- a complete day off.  That's right, on Thursday, September 15th, we're not attending a single screening.  What will we do instead?  Whatever we feel like, of course.

One other note: If you click on a movie in the schedule, and then click on More Details, there is a link that will take you to the TIFF film summary for that screening.  While you're there, you may find yourself perusing the 300+ films showing this year and subsequently complaining to us about a film that we should have seen.  Happy reading!

I'm back...

After a rather action-packed year off, Sean On Film is back.  Last year, Maureen and I opted to go to Hawaii instead, where we pedaled bikes around Oahu for 100 miles, hiked around Waimea Canyon, took an aerial tour of Kauai, went snorkling, and got engaged.  If you're going to miss the festival, that's pretty much the way to do it.

The Honolulu Century Ride was the culmination of a significant fund raising effort for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through Team In Training.  Maureen is a survivor of what she affectionately refers to as The Hodge, so it was a great way to give thanks for being able to hang out and have such a great time together.  If you would like to take on a physical challenge, get free training to meet your goal, and raise money for a great charity, give them a try.  It's a wonderful organization.

But this year I'm back, and with help.  Now that we're married, Maureen owns half of this blog and will not only be running from theater to theater with me, but also offering her own reviews.  Say hi, Maureen!

We're ticketed, both air fare (thank you frequent flier miles!) and festival-wise.  We have a room booked at a B&B in Cabbagetown, a new neighborhood for both of us, as the last room was, as a certain Canadian songwriter might say, ungood.  Alas, not much blog action will be coming in the near future, as the film schedule doesn't get released until sometime in the vicinity of August 23rd.

Hang in there, film fans.  It's only 6+ short weeks away!