On the scene at TIFF

Well, I've already had the first of the feasts I enjoy every year at The Foxes Den here in Toronto while covering the world's greatest film festival. Tomorrow, I start seeing movies. Tonight, while disembarking from the subway, I couldn't help noticing a genuinely clever ad -- apparently, not one circulated widely, if at all, in the United States -- for the irredeemably wretched Disaster Movie. If only the film itself had been this amusing...

Taking Toronto

I've already had my first feast of wings at The Foxes Den, so I'm ready to take on the Toronto Film Festival. Trouble is, I've already had to face my first in-the-field crisis -- I forgot to bring along the electrical cord to connect my CPAP machine -- and I'm exhausted after a night of fitful sleeping. But I press on. Will report more developments as they occur.

A fox among the chickens

Certain malcontents have complained because the Toronto Film Festival has moved its press office back to the Sutton Place, the swanky hotel that served more or less as Festival Central back in the 1980s and '90s. But I must say: I'm very, very happy for the press center to be back on Bay Street, close to my favorite pub -- excuse me, my favourite pub -- in all of Toronto: The Foxes Den, where the beer is cold, the wings are hot, and the mood is mellow. Well, except when there's a Jays game on the TV. Then the mood has been know to turn, well, less mellow. But never mind: You'll likely find me there during this year's fest, munching on fowl and either quaffing brewskies or sipping Merlot after a hard day of moviegoing, and occasionally raising a glass to my dear, departed buddy, Sid Adilman.

Hey, do you think that maybe I can sleaze the pub management into spotting me for some free grub if I agree to lead film discussions on premises...? Nah, I didn't think so, either. But it's like my son always says: You dribble and you shoot, and you hope you score...