The Polyphonic Spree

Can I just tell you how great The Polyphonic Spree is? I’d heard of them as long as two years ago, since they’re a Texas band and they usually play at South By Southwest. I finally picked up their CD a few weeks ago, and just want to recommend it.

The Polyphonic Spree are a “band” of more than 25 singers and musicians, all dressed in gospel choir robes, and singing the most joyous music I’ve heard in a long time. They have a gospel-hippie vibe that’s infectious and I have to admit that their music almost makes my heart burst every time I hear it. It’s so full of joy that I want to cry. Wacky, eh?

Check out some live performance video here (crappy RealPlayer software required). Lots more video available at the band’s site, too.

Gah! I just checked their site and they’re playing in Toronto on September 29th and 30th. Anyone wanna come hear some great music and watch me crying?

TIFF 2003: Early Picks

Last night, Paul and Brent came over to our place so that we could all make our choices for the Toronto International Film Festival which begins on September 4. This part of the process is always frantic. You have to mark your choices down in a printed schedule, which must be dropped off before 10am tomorrow. These schedules are placed into numbered boxes, and at 10am, one number is drawn out of a hat. This lucky box is the first to have its orders filled, and then the box whose number follows it, etc. Last year or the year before, we were in the box before the lucky box, meaning that our order was filled last. I think we got half of our choices. Regardless of how lucky you are, you almost never get all of your choices, which means last-minute scrambling to plug something into your schedule. It helps if it’s something you want to see, and of course it helps if there are tickets left by the time you’ve decided and then stood in line. So, it’s always an adventure.

Here are my preliminary picks. If I’m very lucky, I might get 13 or 14 of these:

Last night was such a blur that I’ve only just now realized how skewed my choices are toward American and British films, and documentaries. The good thing about not getting all your first choices is that some of your last-minute substitutions turn into the happy accidents that make that year’s festival memorable. So, no matter what happens, I’ll be seeing some great films in the next couple of weeks.

War Stories

Since getting home from our trip to Poland, I’ve become very interested in the Second World War. Brent and I have been watching Band of Brothers and I’m reading Antony Beevor‘s excellent account The Fall of Berlin 1945.

While we were in Poland, Brooke interviewed the pastor’s mother, who had been deported from her home in Bialystok, Poland to Siberia by the Soviet army at the beginning of the war. She’s going to be writing an article about the story. In the course of her research, she’s discovered a great site called TimeWitnesses, which has assembled recollections from people who lived through some of these horrific events.

I am reminded again to be grateful for the ways we can use technology to make sure that we never forget the past. And then I wonder who (if anyone) is collecting these stories in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Weekend

Another busy weekend has come to an end. This morning, Brooke and I ran in another race. Actually, two races. The Don River Run is both a 5K and a 10K event. Brooke ran in the 10K race, as the culmination of the 10K class she’s been taking at the Running Room. If you recall, I’d injured my knee and didn’t take that class, so I ran the 5K race. We both did ok, though I wasn’t too happy with the gigantic hill just before the finish. Read more here. Tonight, we met up with some of the people from her class at The Host, a very nice Indian restaurant. Brooke’s going to repeat the 10K class so I can join her. We start (again) this Wednesday night.

Last night, we stayed in to watch Saturday Night at the Movies on TVO, our public television station. They were screening Mildred Pierce (1945), starring Joan Crawford. It’s a great combination of film noir and shameless melodrama, and it’s the inspiration for the name of a very nice restaurant here in Toronto.

On Friday night, Brent and I went to see American Splendor (2003), about comic book writer Harvey Pekar. All I’ve been able to say to Brooke about it is: “What kind of woman is your bride, Harvey. Is she a nerd?” (you’ll need to see the movie now, won’t you?!). Excellent work all around, and nice to see one of my favourite character actors, Paul Giamatti, get a larger canvas.

I promise to try to be more interesting from now on. I’ve been neglecting you. The film festival is coming up fast, so I’ll be writing my traditional mini-reviews of the 15 films I’ll be seeing this year. Tuesday night we’ll be going over the schedule and guidebook choosing our films, and next Monday (Labour Day), we find out whether we got all of our first choices. This is always a frantic time of year for us, but it’s always worth it.

My Blackout Story

Well, yesterday around 4:15pm, we lost all power, along with 30-50 million other people. It was actually pretty boring for me. You see, I was home sick from work. I had no appliances running except our air conditioner, and when it shut off, I thought maybe it had blown a fuse or something. I’d been reading, and still feeling sick, so I decided to have a nap. When I woke up around 6:00pm, there was still no power.

Brooke walked in about an hour later, telling me that she’d walked two hours home from work, and had to walk up the fourteen flights of stairs to our apartment. We went out shortly afterward to try to buy batteries for our radio, which was a bit of an adventure. There was a brave soul directing traffic at Mount Pleasant and Eglinton, the nearest major intersection, and lots of people were out walking around. Most of the stores had closed, and the ones still open were selling out of water and batteries. Ice cream was half price at most convenience stores, though we didn’t buy any.

After getting back home (and walking the fourteen flights of stairs), we just listened to the radio until it got dark around 9:00pm. We lit a couple of candles, but were in bed by 10:00pm. Our power came back on around 2:00am, but we didn’t really sleep that well, since we’d turned off our air conditioner. This morning, we were advised that the Premier of Ontario had declared a state of emergency, and that all non-essential employees were advised to stay home from work. The subway wouldn’t be running today, and may not run again until Monday.

So, it’s actually been pretty boring. This is the first time in 24 hours that I’ve been able to connect to the internet. Since we’re still being advised to conserve power (due to possible rolling blackouts), I’m going to shut down again now and just wait for the sun to go down. Maybe we can watch some TV tonight.

How are you all doing?