Post by Ace on May 17, 2006 11:41:05 GMT -5
Sure on it's face this looks like it belongs in off topic but keep reading til you get to the story of doodle snappage 
National Post
In competition
With its miserable beaches, horrible weather and appalling food, how can the South of France ever hope to match the movie mecca that is Canada's largest city?
Chris Knight, National Post
Published: Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Each year, two major festivals bookend the summer movie season. Cannes, now in its 59th year, is well known for art-house fare, and yet ironically gets the most attention from its splashy Hollywood productions, such as the 12-day festival's curtain-raiser tomorrow, The Da Vinci Code, or last year's red-carpet treatment of the final episode of Star Wars.
On the other end of summer is the Toronto International Film Festival (Sept. 7 to 16 this year), only half as old as Cannes but already seen as one of the world's premiere movie events. Toronto was the official launch pad for such serious Oscar hopefuls as Capote, Crash and Brokeback Mountain, yet retains its image as a people's festival -- even city-dwellers who have never attended a screening will likely have stumbled across a giant line snaking out of one of the downtown theatres.
But for those largely unacquainted with movies in either the south of France or the south of Ontario, we offer a point-by-point comparison of the two biggest festivals in the world. Clearly, Toronto has bragging rights on several fronts.
CLIMATE
CANNES: Lousy for movies. The days are warm, the nights cool and the sunlight and yacht light sparkle on the waters of the harbour. Who wants to watch Lars von Trier's latest anti-American screed in such circumstances?
TORONTO: Perfect for movies. In spite of a recent spate of warm, sunny Septembers, Toronto's festival usually coincides with dreary downpours. What better weather for huddling in a theatre?
- - -
STARS
CANNES: Galore, but not to the untrained eye. The handlers carefully push them from one flashbulbic event to another, treating them like props in a careful egg-and-spoon race.
TORONTO: Galore, up close and personal! There was a time when a scruffy-looking Nick Nolte counted as a major sighting. Now you can bump into Gwyneth Paltrow. The stars are less shy because most of them shoot films here and feel comfortable in the city.
- - -
SECURITY
CANNES: Tight. The hundreds of blue-jacketed usher/guards seem to be surete wannabes and are adept at frisking, wanding and searching -- and at saying "Non."
TORONTO: It would be wrong to call it loose, but Toronto's volunteer crowd of ushers and ticket takers, roundly applauded before each screening, are more likely to be budding film critics or even filmmakers than bouncers in blue. Case in point: Don McKellar was once a volunteer.
- - -
CELEBRITY CRITIC SIGHTING
CANNES: Chicago scribe Roger Ebert in breezy khakis.
TORONTO: Roger Ebert dashing across windy, rainswept Bay Street.
- - -
OUTRAGEOUS ANTICS
CANNES: Topless stars on the Croisette, snapped by photographers.
TORONTO: Pierce Brosnan's doodles snapped up by an enterprising Post reporter.
- - -
CAFFEINE
CANNES: Too difficult. Order a coffee to go and the French will look at you as though you just asked for a brisket of koala bear.
TORONTO: Too easy. If the Tim Hortons on every third corner don't lure you in, Starbucks sends out roving bands of barristas with tanks of java strapped to their backs.
- - -
CRITICS' PET PEEVE
CANNES: Jumpseats at the end of each row in the screening rooms. Just when you think you've got a nice aisle seat with plenty of legroom, someone plops down next to you, boxing you in.
TORONTO: No food or drink in the NFB screening room. Where are we supposed to drink all that coffee?
- - -
TALLEST MAN-MADE OBJECT
CANNES: Tom Hanks's hair.
TORONTO: CN Tower.
- - -
LARGEST RETRACTABLE ROOF
CANNES: Tom Hanks's hair.
TORONTO: Rogers Centre.
National Post
In competition
With its miserable beaches, horrible weather and appalling food, how can the South of France ever hope to match the movie mecca that is Canada's largest city?
Chris Knight, National Post
Published: Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Each year, two major festivals bookend the summer movie season. Cannes, now in its 59th year, is well known for art-house fare, and yet ironically gets the most attention from its splashy Hollywood productions, such as the 12-day festival's curtain-raiser tomorrow, The Da Vinci Code, or last year's red-carpet treatment of the final episode of Star Wars.
On the other end of summer is the Toronto International Film Festival (Sept. 7 to 16 this year), only half as old as Cannes but already seen as one of the world's premiere movie events. Toronto was the official launch pad for such serious Oscar hopefuls as Capote, Crash and Brokeback Mountain, yet retains its image as a people's festival -- even city-dwellers who have never attended a screening will likely have stumbled across a giant line snaking out of one of the downtown theatres.
But for those largely unacquainted with movies in either the south of France or the south of Ontario, we offer a point-by-point comparison of the two biggest festivals in the world. Clearly, Toronto has bragging rights on several fronts.
CLIMATE
CANNES: Lousy for movies. The days are warm, the nights cool and the sunlight and yacht light sparkle on the waters of the harbour. Who wants to watch Lars von Trier's latest anti-American screed in such circumstances?
TORONTO: Perfect for movies. In spite of a recent spate of warm, sunny Septembers, Toronto's festival usually coincides with dreary downpours. What better weather for huddling in a theatre?
- - -
STARS
CANNES: Galore, but not to the untrained eye. The handlers carefully push them from one flashbulbic event to another, treating them like props in a careful egg-and-spoon race.
TORONTO: Galore, up close and personal! There was a time when a scruffy-looking Nick Nolte counted as a major sighting. Now you can bump into Gwyneth Paltrow. The stars are less shy because most of them shoot films here and feel comfortable in the city.
- - -
SECURITY
CANNES: Tight. The hundreds of blue-jacketed usher/guards seem to be surete wannabes and are adept at frisking, wanding and searching -- and at saying "Non."
TORONTO: It would be wrong to call it loose, but Toronto's volunteer crowd of ushers and ticket takers, roundly applauded before each screening, are more likely to be budding film critics or even filmmakers than bouncers in blue. Case in point: Don McKellar was once a volunteer.
- - -
CELEBRITY CRITIC SIGHTING
CANNES: Chicago scribe Roger Ebert in breezy khakis.
TORONTO: Roger Ebert dashing across windy, rainswept Bay Street.
- - -
OUTRAGEOUS ANTICS
CANNES: Topless stars on the Croisette, snapped by photographers.
TORONTO: Pierce Brosnan's doodles snapped up by an enterprising Post reporter.
- - -
CAFFEINE
CANNES: Too difficult. Order a coffee to go and the French will look at you as though you just asked for a brisket of koala bear.
TORONTO: Too easy. If the Tim Hortons on every third corner don't lure you in, Starbucks sends out roving bands of barristas with tanks of java strapped to their backs.
- - -
CRITICS' PET PEEVE
CANNES: Jumpseats at the end of each row in the screening rooms. Just when you think you've got a nice aisle seat with plenty of legroom, someone plops down next to you, boxing you in.
TORONTO: No food or drink in the NFB screening room. Where are we supposed to drink all that coffee?
- - -
TALLEST MAN-MADE OBJECT
CANNES: Tom Hanks's hair.
TORONTO: CN Tower.
- - -
LARGEST RETRACTABLE ROOF
CANNES: Tom Hanks's hair.
TORONTO: Rogers Centre.
