Peanut Gallery

The Final Goodbye

09/15/08 05:08 PM

Until next year, TIFF. Our desk will never be the same.
(Photo by Jen McNeely)

Our eyes feel like they’re bleeding; our lungs are steel wool. There are 13 empty cups and bottles surrounding our laptop. Every so often we reach to take a sip and—blech!—that latte’s from last week, circa Burn After Reading. Press releases, batteries, loose change, Vaseline and deteriorating apples litter our desks. Caressing our feet are swag bags, many of the boxes half-open from 3 a.m. chocolate quests. A dead moth has been wilted in a puddle of Baileys for nine days, and each day we check to see if it has altered form; for whatever reason, this was a source of comfort. Days were spent tearing through Yorkville, dashing from one interview to the next, stalking celebrities and making friends with doormen. Subsisting on coffee and nuts, we plowed through the streets like vamped-up Harriet the Spies, ears perked and eyes alert for the most provocative scoop. In the evening, clothes were torn off and makeup pressed on; then, a game began to find glamour in the pile of dirty laundry. A hobble up to Dundas in ridiculously steep stilettos would end with the violent hailing of a cab. Nights were a maze, us searching endlessly for the most happening TIFF hoo-ha, knocking back a half-dozen dirty martinis along the way. So many new friends were made! Returning home, battered by the decadence, the night would end with some bleary-eyed typing, sorting of all the miscellaneous cards collected (“Henry who?”), and two Advil for good measure.

Now, when we look into the immediate future, all we see are country fairs, pumpkins and corn. The biggest thing on our agenda is what to be for Halloween, and this is making us angry. We miss you, Brad Pitt! Goodbye, everyone! Until next year.—Jen McNeely

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Peanut Gallery

THE BEST & WORST OF TIFF ’08: Our Scene & Herd reporters list their most desperate moments, most exciting celebrity encounters and most hostile starlet

09/15/08 04:51 PM

Our lives as TIFF reporters: Of particular note are the organic macaroni
and cheese and the ET Canada press pass.
(Photo by Melita Kuburas)

Most unexpected confession from a celebrity: “I mean, I have sex…and my sex is very, very boring. Very sloppy. I mean, I’m a total bottom and don’t get up on top,” said Kevin Smith, director of Zack and Miri Make a Porno.

Most frustrating “look but don’t touch” moment: The cake buffet at the Holt Renfrew bash was for your eyes only. And once, Brad Pitt was 20 feet away, giving us a raised-eyebrow stare-down, but he remained totally off limits. Many more best and worsts, after the jump.

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You Are Here

TIFF Round-Up: A short look at the festival that was

09/15/08 03:55 PM

Raise high your cameras, Toronto (Photo by Sam Javranouh )

And…scene. TIFF is over for another year. We heard good things about The Wrestler and bad things about Burn After Reading (“burn after viewing” some say). A few critics grouched about the cult of celebrity that grips the city once a year, recalling those halcyon days when it was all about the films, while other critics got whacked with binders of some kind while trying to see one of said films. Someone crashed the InStyle party (not us—we wouldn't have been wearing head-to-toe black). No one crashed One X One (though an attempt was made). Brad Pitt came, saw and split. Yeah, it was quite the year. More

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Cinemania

Interview with Deepa Mehta: We ask the director about Brampton, spousal abuse and her new film, Heaven on Earth

09/15/08 02:55 PM

Deepa Mehta at the opening of Heaven
on Earth (Photo by korbybanner.com)

Heaven on Earth tells the story of a young woman, Chand, who leaves her home in India to be married to a man she doesn’t know, Rocky, in Toronto. She is introduced to her new family members at Pearson airport, and they seem welcoming—but as soon as they return to their suburban home in Brampton, presumed marital bliss turns into a nightmare fraught with fear, isolation and helplessness. For many living in Toronto’s downtown core, Brampton is a pocket of the GTA that is often looked at from the rearview mirror of a zooming car. In Heaven on Earth, though, we witness a terrifying portrayal of a turbulent existence masked by cookie-cutter homes and green lawns. More

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The Velvet Rope

Swag roundup: The IT Lounge

09/15/08 12:55 PM

The venue: NKPR’s IT Lounge at the Windsor Arms Hotel, staffed by the most cheerful publicists of the festival. Must have been the complimentary cupcakes.

The stars: The Degrassi kids, Strombo, Jennifer Aniston, Paris Hilton, Benji Madden (with sunglasses on, natch) and Queen Latifah stocked up on loot from Olay, Goody, ACE, Esprit, Fila and Teva.

Feel-goodery: An option to donate gift bags to a charity auction for Big Brothers and Sisters, and to sign the Wall of Heroes. Mom and Dad received shout-outs, as did Oprah and Madonna. Wives, children and Jesus got one mention each. Agents got none.

Media treats: A candy bar, Fiji water by the crate and endless cupcakes in the media room.

Rating: 9/10, with extra credit given for the stylist who, without comment, flat-ironed even the stickiest heads during last week’s heat wave.—Katy P

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You Are Here

Cadence Weapon garners plenty of one-hand clapping

09/15/08 12:49 PM

Cadence Weapon
(Photo by Dakota Blue)

Cadence Weapon must have sensed that the damp audience at Dundas Square needed a pick-me-up, so when he took the stage at TIFF’s closing ceremony on Saturday, he did a brief imitation of bellicose rapper Fat Joe’s “I Make It Rain.” It’s even funnier when you consider the Edmonton rapper’s own, un-thuggish style: he wore an embroidered shirt made by his grandma, who he said was about 80 and to whom he dedicated a song about cellphones. He also poked fun of the audience’s umbrella-in-one-hand clapping and allowed three cute, soaking boys to be his dance crew onstage. Even though it began to pour, Cadence and DJ Skratch Bastid attracted a pretty large crowd by making people smile, dance and forget the festival was over. When he asked the (mostly young) audience if they’d seen a lot of movies, a rather unenthusiastic grumble gave him his answer. "What is a movie, anyway? A bunch of moving pictures?" he mused. Just like…life? "Think about it," he said. More

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The Velvet Rope

Goldie Hawn declares herself “hockey mom” in front of Kevin Sorbo, Tie Domi and Kelly Carlson at glitzy SickKids fundraiser

09/15/08 12:34 PM

(Photo by Alan Light)

Just when we thought we wouldn’t attend a party serving bite-sized burgers for at least another year, we hit up Muzik on Friday night for Goldie Hawn’s cocktail reception for the Rally for Kids With Cancer Scavenger Cup. Celebrity guests were teamed up with luxury car owners, who each raised at least $25,000 for the SickKids Foundation. It was nice to be at a party where jeans and hot pants were the attire of choice and the food was a sampling of dishes from some of Toronto’s best restaurants (Blowfish, we’ll see you and your salmon-mango roll again very soon). The biggest money raisers had first pick of celebrities; NBA alum Jerome Williams, playboys Monica Leigh and Stephanie Glasson, actress Kelly Carlson and her boyfriend Tie Domi were among the first to get drafted. Thankfully, about halfway through, they chose celebrities at random so there was no embarrassing those who got picked last. Highlights for us included getting touched by Hercules himself, Kevin Sorbo (who was so nice, posing for pictures with people), and seeing Celebrity Duets winner Alfonso Ribeiro (you may remember him as Carleton on Fresh Prince of Bel Air), who did not do the Carleton dance. More

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The Velvet Rope

Wheelchair-bound fan slapped by rabid gawker as Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson land at Ultra

09/15/08 11:27 AM

Linsday Lohan and Samantha Ronson at
a circus-like Ultra on Friday night
(Photos provided by Ultra)

What do Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson have to do with the Toronto International Film Festival? Nothing. And everything. Headlining the eTalk party and closing out 10 days of star-studded excitement at an unofficial TIFF party at Ultra, this tabloid twosome overshadowed the film program and created a pop-culture media circus over personalities, champagne, short shorts and intoxicated blitz. Critics got angry, Torontonians got confused and little girls became violent, trying to push their way to the VIP front lines for a glimpse of the red-headed troublemaker. Our own LiLo sighting and a slap fight with a wheelchair-bound fan, after the jump. More

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Cinemania

Bill Maher and Larry Charles talk to us about religion: Five life-altering things we learned in 10 minutes

09/15/08 10:34 AM

Bill Maher doesn't know what happens
when we die, but he's not above making
fun of those who think they do.
(Photo by Joshua Smelser)

We sat down with politically incorrect talking head Bill Maher and comedy genius director Larry Charles to talk about religion, ridiculousness and their new film, Religulous. Five things we learned in 10 minutes:
 
1. Religion is for rubes, not critically thinking adults “If you’re religious, you come off looking stupid. You’re defending indefensible, primitive, mythic thinking. If you’re an adult and you still believe this stuff, I’m sorry, you can’t have adult ways, and you’re a rube,” Maher says with conviction. What are you saying, Bill? Jonah wasn’t eaten by a whale? The next four lessons, after the jump. More

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