I’m finally back to blogging after a rather fun-filled and somewhat tiresome weekend.
Friday night we TIFFed it. The evening began with a trio consisting of family and friends enjoying a wine-laden dinner at Dimmi. The place was packed. Line-ups that wrapped around the building filled with bodies secretly praying for a Brad Pitt and George Clooney sighting. Of course there were the flock of elderly women dressed in teenage girlicious clothing in hopes of luring these celebrity men from their ridiculously hot celebrity women (like come on, honestly, do you really think you stand a chance against Jolie?) and that’s always fun to gawk at. After dinner we casually strolled the streets of yorkville, latte and cigarette in hand, just hanging out, listening to music and people watching. The night was nice and lax but when the rain took over we called it a night.
Saturday I threw a yard sale in attempt to get rid of the enormous amount of “stuff” that I have amassed over the years … I’m talking clothing (tonnes of it), shoes, home decor, baby clothes, toys, wireless phones, old computer and laptop .. the list is endless. Albeit a successful yardsale, it will be the LAST one I ever do. I just cannot handle people who want to bargain on valuable, mint condition items. I certainly would rather give them to someone in need of them for free than sell them to someone who wants to pay nothing for them. This yard sale was never about making money, it was to simply serve as an easier means to ridding myself of a bulk of belongings that I would otherwise have to figure out how to dispose of. In fact, the money made is going to be donated to charity and any remaining clothing items will go to a local shelter. So the moral of the story is … I will never do a Yard sale again! Lesson learned … FINI!
The day, however, was capped off nicely with another night of TIFF. I was sent some film gala tickets from a very kind family member who happens to be in the media industry. The tickets were for a UK documentary called Blood Trail. Although I went into the evening with less than high expectations for what I was about to view, I was suprisingly shocked. The documentary was excellent and disturbing in so many ways. The producers Richard Parry and Vaughan Smith, british journalists themselves, follow the life and career of amateur freelance photographer Robert King. The film begins with King as a carefree twenty four year old in 1993 Bosnia with ambitions of snagging a Pulitzer for war photography. He is followed from Sarajevo through to Chechnya and Iraq. In his journey, we the audience, learn that you have to be a little “disturbed” to take on such a task. Shooting from front lines he bares witness to dismembered bodies and cold blood killing in its most honest way. I say honest in that his pictures don’t sugar-coat war, but rather they depict the realities of casualty; innocent civilians, young soldiers and death in the most gruesome way. King ultimately goes on to make the cover of major mags including TIME, but he comes out of his journey a different man. Like most soldiers, he becomes desensitized,
”yeah I’m cynical, how many dead bodies have I stepped over… I’m kind of damaged goods.” (King)
Setting apart emotions to achieve the task at hand. And that he certainly does as he goes on to explain in the film,
“I didn’t want to mourn silently in my fucking room.” The allure of wine, women and war is an intoxicating, if self-destructive mix (King).
At the end of it all, he is a changed man through and through. Loud sounds that go off startle him and images of war constantly play in his mind and so it is completely understandable when we see that he retreats to the woods to lose himself in the tranquility of nature. However, it is here that we also learn that the motion of killing follows him because in this tranquility he hunts for deers.
In the final scene of the documentary we are left to wonder about whether he continues to photograph war, chasing the epic picture and all its ugliness and the answer is yes, because despite the question of why he does it by those who surround him, he simply replies “its just a job.”
I cannot speak anymore about how great I thought the movie was. I will admit that I was disturbed by the fact that casualties of war were exploited in some way by the pictures, but another part of me can appreciate the desire to bring the real essence of war to the forefront. Yes our men are brave and fight for the freedoms of our country, but something that often gets missed, is the faces of the innocent people that die in this pursuit.
I seriously suggest you check out the documentary’s site at http://www.blinque.co.uk/bloodtrail/index.html
We were able to meet Richard Parry, Vaughan Smith and Robert King after the premiere and they were cool chaps!
Rounding off the weekend was a Sunday consisting of typical household errands; grocery, laundry, cleaning… yada yada yada
Back to monday … where one day bleeds into the next
Oh here are some pics of the get up I mustered up for TIFF day 2:
