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Toronto Type (and a few from Creemore)

I know I’ve been inactive, and heaven knows I don’t want to be one of those bloggers who aplogizes for not posting more often, but work has been busy and my social life is _soooo_ happenin’…

So to make it up to you, here’s a gift: some tasty specimens of found type I grabbed this weekend here in Toronto (and, like the title says, a few from Creemore).

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Pigs in Space

Of all the reasons to not buy the newly-released Star Wars trilogy on DVD, whether it be because of George Lucas’s editorial changes or reported audio problems, this behind-the-scenes photo from the set of Empire, found on the fourth bonus disc, is not one of them.

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Overheard on TV

“If your whole life is wireless, shouldn’t your soup be?”

I guess, you’re right, Campbell’s.  I guess my soup should be wireless.  I can’t believe I’ve suffered through wired soup this whole time.  And they say innovation is dead.

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Film Rest

Well, the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival is over.  I’m back in regular society, enjoying daylight.  Reviews of all 27 movies I saw are up at CinemaToast.

I don’t know if I was fully prepared for seeing so many movies in one week.  My body is tired, my eyes are sore, and my butt is a little numb.  I saw movies by filmmakers from Canada, the States, the UK, Australia, Japan, France, Austria, Italy, Hungary, South Korea, China/Hong Kong, Iceland, Germany, Spain, and Belgium.

Bring on TIFF 2005!

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The Talker

Please read my latest festival adventure.  Why do I always attract the crazies?

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Papermaniac

In between film festival screenings today I spent a couple of hours scouring through the treasures at Papermania, a show devoted to paper collectibles: trading cards, movie stills and lobby cards, newspapers, magazines, postcards, viewmaster reels, stock certificates, vintage advertising.  You name it, if it’s printed on paper, they’ve got it.

At every table I visited I was asked “What is it you collect?” Clearly most visitors to the show are, like the dealers, avid collectors of specific items, whether it be fading antique photographs of ghostlike strangers or Garbage Pail Kids cards.

I picked up a handful of various turn-of-the-century ephemera that caught my eye with all its keen typography and ornate design work.  But the following two pieces are the highlights of my visit.

The first is a card game from 1933 called ‘Lexicon’ by Waddington’s:

It’s a small little box shaped like a book (attributed to an author cleverly named Atozed) which holds a small game that is obviously a precursor to Scrabble (which also dates back to the 30’s but wasn’t mass-produced until 1948).  The box itself is a little scuffed, but the cards within are almost new.  Like a mammoth preserved in a glacier, trapped inside the box, the cards and miniature rule book show no sign of yellowing or dogearing.  I was very excited to find it.  You can see another version here.

The other piece I found today that is near to my heart is a little get well message from the caped crusader in 1978:

Hello kids, Batman here!  Feeling under the weather?  Why don’t you explore my Bat-cave by simply pushing your finger deep within this puckered starburst!  That’s a good citizen!

If the front isn’t disturbing enough, opening the card will reveal an image of The Joker with a fleshy pink cylinder poking out of his mouth.  No joke.  I also picked up a similar Wonder Woman card that reads “Do your part to help during the energy crisis...” and then upon opening: “How about inviting me over, and then turn off the lights!”

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Hogwash #4

Here’s another batch of corny cartoons from my high school days.  The last three in particular seem to scream 1997.

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Gee

Who wants a gmail account?  I have 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 to give away…

All gone!  Thanks for playing.

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And it Burns, Burns, Burns…

So this morning I arrive at work, like usual, and hop into the elevator.  At this point I notice a sign covering the button to the fifth floor: NO ACCCESS TO THE FIFTH FLOOR.

Interesting.  I press the button for the fourth floor, deciding to walk the last flight, attributing it all to the elevator’s shady history of always being out of service.  Yet upon arriving at the fourth floor, a sign is posted on the stairwell: NO ACCESS TO THE FIFTH FLOOR.

Odd.  Clearly the maintenance department is working on the elevator, thus obstructing the entrance to the stairwell as well.  I guess I’ll have to walk around to the other side of the building and take the other stairs.

But what is posted on the entrance to the other stairwell, and inside the other elevator?  NO ACCESS TO THE FIFTH FLOOR.

I head back down to the main floor, and the front desk, where I ask security, “What’s going on on the fifth floor?”

“Oh that?  Yeah, you can go up there… don’t worry.”

What a crack security team.  In fact, it’s this very security team that, this weekend, allowed a criminal being pursued by the police to break into the building, access the fifth floor (via the aforementioned shady, security-challenged elevator) and light a bunch of fires to distract the fuzz.  “You’ll never take me alive, coppers!!”

Luckily my department had a locked cage door designed to keep potential arsonists from setting fires to all my action figures, sketchbooks, and toy robots (and, to a lesser extent, I suppose all our actual work-related paraphernalia, too).

Some weren’t as lucky and are now the proud owners of charred work stations.  Luckily for them, however, upon opening their e-mail they will see, immediately following administration’s explanation of the weekend’s events, a reminder for the first in a series of Stress Management Luncheons.

UPDATE: Here’s the news story thanks to Pony

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Videogames

Unintentionally filthy description of a videogame by a ten-year old this weekend:

The alien whacked me off, and I was so angry at him for whacking me off that I took my big gun and whacked HIM off!

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LetterJames

LetterJames is an addictive little type toy.  Fair warning though: the site has _lots_ of pop-ups!

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Hogwash #3

More cartoons from my youth:

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Not Me

Idea stolen from Pony.

I might never be the kind of person who...

• Wakes at the crack of dawn
• Needs a cup of coffee every day
• Remembers birthdays
• Can keep a datebook
• Has the perfect pair of jeans
• Watches sports
• Has enough music
• Understands and benefits from investment banking
• Knows his claret from a Beaujolais
• Enjoys beach vacations
• Eats a balanced breakfast
• Knows when to stop
• Makes a mean meatloaf
• Gets a piercing
• Buys a car
• Remembers to call you back

(and also several of Pony’s...)

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Festival Festival

After a gruelling process, I have narrowed down my selections for the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival.  If all goes well, I’ll be seeing the following:

• Les Revenants (French zombie artfilm)
• Creep (Horror with Franka Potente)
• Undertow (Noir thriller)
• The Alzheimer Case (Flemish hitman thriller)
• The Machinist (Sleep deprivation thriller with Christian Bale)
• House of Flying Daggers (Martial arts epic)
• Five Children and It (Fantasy from Jim Henson starring Eddie Izzard)
• Enduring Love (from the Ian McEwan novel)
• The Limb Salesman (Canadian science fiction)
• Darwin’s Nightmare (Globalization doc)
• Phil the Alien (Canadian sci-fi comedy)
• Palindromes (Todd Solondz’s latest)
• Dead Birds (Civil War era horror film)
• Millions (Danny Boyle’s latest)
• Bad Education (Pedro Almodovar’s latest)
• Downfall (German Hitler drama)
• Small Mall (Icelandic comedy)
• Old Boy (Korean superviolence)
• Kontroll (Hungarian thriller)
• Kung Fu Hustle (from the director of Shaolin Soccer)
• The Brood (classic Cronenberg)
• The Libertine (Work-in-progress Johnny Depp pic)
• Zebraman (Wacky Japanese superhero)
• Modigliani (Biography of the artist)
• Primer (Time travel thriller)
• Arsène Lupin (French jewel-thief adventure)
• The General (Buster Keaton classic)
• Steamboy (Japanese animé)

Whew!  I’m going to be filling CinemaToast to the brim.  With an average of three films a day over the period of a week, I don’t know when I’ll get a chance to write my reactions!

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