Wednesday, 12 September 2012
Sunday, 9 September 2012
Drowning Mistakes in Maple Syrup
When I got home from Italy, one of the first things I did was go food shopping. I guess I was just tired from the airport shuttle having dropped me off past 1am, because when I went to Monoprix (basically the French Target) later that morning, I grabbed buttermilk instead of regular. How did I realize that something was amiss? With my first bite of cereal. I used to like drinking buttermilk as a kid, but now...not so much. So what to do with an entire liter?
Having found maple syrup at Monoprix, I decided pancakes were my best bet for using up the buttermilk. But following recipes here is much easier said than done. There are no measuring accoutrements in my apartment (but besides, the French don't use cups and tablespoons anyways), and I left my scale in my locker at school. So it was time for some freestyle cooking.
In the end it turned out pretty well, despite my guesstimations, but I barely made a dent in the buttermilk. Either I'll be eating pancakes for days, or it's time to find some other buttermilk recipes. Biscuits, anyone?
Having found maple syrup at Monoprix, I decided pancakes were my best bet for using up the buttermilk. But following recipes here is much easier said than done. There are no measuring accoutrements in my apartment (but besides, the French don't use cups and tablespoons anyways), and I left my scale in my locker at school. So it was time for some freestyle cooking.
 |
| Les ingrédients |
 |
| I had an apple in the fridge. Why not use it too? |
 |
| Caramelizing with butter and sugar. Just like we learned in class. |
 |
| Voilà! |
In the end it turned out pretty well, despite my guesstimations, but I barely made a dent in the buttermilk. Either I'll be eating pancakes for days, or it's time to find some other buttermilk recipes. Biscuits, anyone?
Thursday, 6 September 2012
A Comparison of Major International Film Festivals
A few days ago I returned home to Paris (so strange that actually feels true now) from the Venice Film Festival, where I saw a few great films, some decent ones and, inevitably, a couple of that's-two-hours-of-my-life-I'll-never-get-back ones. At the behest of previous editors I've kind of addressed what it's like being at Cannes and TIFF (that's the Toronto International Film Festival for you non film nerds), but instead of doing that for Venice I thought it might be more interesting to compare them based on things they don't tell you before you go. And maybe by the end of this I'll be able to definitively pick a favorite. But first, a little background information.
TIFF: the biggest North American film festival in terms of the number of features (in the hundreds) as well as hordes of press and industry (P&I) people it draws, but still manages to be about the fans thanks to vast public programming taking place in theaters all across downtown. Its mid-September timing makes it a significant launchpad for studios looking to premiere their Oscar bait.
Venice: the oldest international film festival in the world. Taking place slightly before TIFF it's an ideal platform for generating early critical buzz - most notably in recent years for Black Swan and Shame. Less accessible to the public, it's more of a P&I event.
Cannes: taking place in late May, the festival is a bit outside the awards orbit. But who cares? It's by far the most iconic and well-known. And boy do they capitalize upon it. A friend once aptly described the festival as "everything about is really far up its own ass."
Each of these festivals has its own distinct personality, if you will, and serves a slightly different purpose in the big scheme of the movie world. But let's get down to the details. How do they work? And how well do they work? (Bear in mind that as a student journalist I value cheap and free things very highly).
COSTS
TIFF is hands down the most affordable. As a major urban area Toronto offers plenty of options when it comes to accommodation (hostels! hotels! a friend's basement!) and cheap-but-good eats.
There is reasonably priced food to be found in Venice and Cannes if you look hard enough (or are willing to live off of sandwiches from beachside vendors for a week), but it's the accommodation that really breaks the bank. Both are relatively isolated and residential areas, which means that during festival time prices inflate to obscenely high rates.
Venice is possibly worse in that sense, because the festival takes place on the tiny island of Lido. You can ferry in from elsewhere each day, but when it's a matter of getting more sleep between a 10pm screening and a 9am the following morning, time is money.
FREE SWAG
Upon checking in at the accreditation desk, you usually receive a little something extra with your badge. TIFF provided a tote bag filled with mostly promotional stuff, but there was a nice pen and water bottle in there too. Venice went with a simple tote bag (the kind that eco-friendly shoppers take to the grocery store) with the Biennale di Venezia logo. Cannes coughed up a nice messenger bag (big enough for laptop, so I ended up using it for most of the festival) along with a copy of the official festival program, which at the others you would have had to purchase separately.
LANGUAGE
Cannes and Venice are bilingual, meaning that every film not in French or Italian (respectively) is subtitled. If the film is not in English either, it means the dreaded double subtitles. French/Italian subtitles take priority and are displayed in the normal location on the bottom of the screen, while English is projected onto a separate screen slightly below the main one. At best it's distracting. At worst, because I'm short, if I get a bad seat it means I probably won't understand everything that's going on.
SOCIAL SCENE
Festivals are also known for their parties, but since I am neither high-ranking nor well-known I usually don't hear about them until after the fact. However, I will say that certain Cannes parties are relatively easy to crash. This is because many take place in the tents of the beachfront pavilion, or on yachts. Access to TIFF and Venice parties, I assume, is more restricted.
VOLUNTEERS/STAFF
TIFF recruits an army of volunteers each year, so even if the first person you ask doesn't know the answer to your question, it's okay because there is guaranteed to be at least five others people nearby!
Cannes and Venice prefer to employ bouncer-like men who stand at all major entrances and exits wearing suits and sunglasses. If you ask them a question not in their native language, the default answer will most likely be, "No," or, "It's closed."
VENUES
TIFF's recently-constructed Bell Lightbox is the main hub for press, with large comfortable auditoriums, good wi-fi connectivity and a press lounge that serves free food and coffee all day. Thanks to the press lounge, I spent very little pocket money during the festival.
Cannes and Venice have relatively similar palazzos that are restricted to the public. The grand architecture is all very nice and beautiful but the bathrooms are terrible. Simply put, there are not enough for the thousands who pass through each day. I'm sure you don't want to read that much detail as much as I don't care to write it, so let's just say that I kept myself intentionally dehydrated to avoid having to go very often.
As for press facilities, Venice set aside practically an entire floor of the palazzo for their use, with decent wi-fi connectivity across the entire festival area. No free food, but there were multiple pop-up cafés set up with reasonably priced options.
Cannes' press room was much too small considering the number of journalists and photographers present - at peak hours it was difficult to even find a place to sit on the floor! But it did have a nice view of the water, and the red carpet leading from the photo call area to the press junket room passed right by the window.
No free food at Cannes, but you could drink espresso to your heart's content thanks to sponsor Nespresso. Much to the dismay of the press, wi-fi access was restricted to the press lounge, and in order to connect each time you had to input your individual un-memorizable sequence of letters and numbers.
WHAT YOUR PRESS PASS GETS YOU
In order to facilitate the thousands of journalists that come each year, Cannes has a hierarchy designated by badge color. Certain screening rooms require press to queue according to their badges, with access granted by descending priority. Basically this means that the top three levels are certain to get in, while it's not unheard of for lower level press (namely, me) to wait in line for an hour and be denied access because the theater is full. And this is for press-only screenings.
Venice separates press into Daily, Periodicals and Media Press, with the former taking priority during entry. Although with my Periodicals badge I never had any problem getting turned away from a screening because it was full.
TIFF, thankfully, is egalitarian in its accreditation. All P&I have the same badge, which grants access to all P&I screenings and industry events, as well as five tickets to any public screenings of the badge holder's choice. (Or at least this was the case in 2011. Hopefully they haven't changed anything).
FINAL VERDICT
While I would gladly return to any of these festivals, I think TIFF wins.
TIFF: the biggest North American film festival in terms of the number of features (in the hundreds) as well as hordes of press and industry (P&I) people it draws, but still manages to be about the fans thanks to vast public programming taking place in theaters all across downtown. Its mid-September timing makes it a significant launchpad for studios looking to premiere their Oscar bait.
Venice: the oldest international film festival in the world. Taking place slightly before TIFF it's an ideal platform for generating early critical buzz - most notably in recent years for Black Swan and Shame. Less accessible to the public, it's more of a P&I event.
Cannes: taking place in late May, the festival is a bit outside the awards orbit. But who cares? It's by far the most iconic and well-known. And boy do they capitalize upon it. A friend once aptly described the festival as "everything about is really far up its own ass."
Each of these festivals has its own distinct personality, if you will, and serves a slightly different purpose in the big scheme of the movie world. But let's get down to the details. How do they work? And how well do they work? (Bear in mind that as a student journalist I value cheap and free things very highly).
COSTS
TIFF is hands down the most affordable. As a major urban area Toronto offers plenty of options when it comes to accommodation (hostels! hotels! a friend's basement!) and cheap-but-good eats.
There is reasonably priced food to be found in Venice and Cannes if you look hard enough (or are willing to live off of sandwiches from beachside vendors for a week), but it's the accommodation that really breaks the bank. Both are relatively isolated and residential areas, which means that during festival time prices inflate to obscenely high rates.
Venice is possibly worse in that sense, because the festival takes place on the tiny island of Lido. You can ferry in from elsewhere each day, but when it's a matter of getting more sleep between a 10pm screening and a 9am the following morning, time is money.
FREE SWAG
Upon checking in at the accreditation desk, you usually receive a little something extra with your badge. TIFF provided a tote bag filled with mostly promotional stuff, but there was a nice pen and water bottle in there too. Venice went with a simple tote bag (the kind that eco-friendly shoppers take to the grocery store) with the Biennale di Venezia logo. Cannes coughed up a nice messenger bag (big enough for laptop, so I ended up using it for most of the festival) along with a copy of the official festival program, which at the others you would have had to purchase separately.
LANGUAGE
.JPG) |
| Bilingual signs at the palazzo in Venice |
Cannes and Venice are bilingual, meaning that every film not in French or Italian (respectively) is subtitled. If the film is not in English either, it means the dreaded double subtitles. French/Italian subtitles take priority and are displayed in the normal location on the bottom of the screen, while English is projected onto a separate screen slightly below the main one. At best it's distracting. At worst, because I'm short, if I get a bad seat it means I probably won't understand everything that's going on.
SOCIAL SCENE
 |
| Fireworks at the Firefox Flicks party at Cannes 2012 |
Festivals are also known for their parties, but since I am neither high-ranking nor well-known I usually don't hear about them until after the fact. However, I will say that certain Cannes parties are relatively easy to crash. This is because many take place in the tents of the beachfront pavilion, or on yachts. Access to TIFF and Venice parties, I assume, is more restricted.
VOLUNTEERS/STAFF
TIFF recruits an army of volunteers each year, so even if the first person you ask doesn't know the answer to your question, it's okay because there is guaranteed to be at least five others people nearby!
 |
| Security on the red carpet at Cannes. |
Cannes and Venice prefer to employ bouncer-like men who stand at all major entrances and exits wearing suits and sunglasses. If you ask them a question not in their native language, the default answer will most likely be, "No," or, "It's closed."
VENUES
TIFF's recently-constructed Bell Lightbox is the main hub for press, with large comfortable auditoriums, good wi-fi connectivity and a press lounge that serves free food and coffee all day. Thanks to the press lounge, I spent very little pocket money during the festival.
 |
| Theater seating 1300 at Cannes. |
Cannes and Venice have relatively similar palazzos that are restricted to the public. The grand architecture is all very nice and beautiful but the bathrooms are terrible. Simply put, there are not enough for the thousands who pass through each day. I'm sure you don't want to read that much detail as much as I don't care to write it, so let's just say that I kept myself intentionally dehydrated to avoid having to go very often.
 |
| Main entrance to the Palazzo del Casino |
Cannes' press room was much too small considering the number of journalists and photographers present - at peak hours it was difficult to even find a place to sit on the floor! But it did have a nice view of the water, and the red carpet leading from the photo call area to the press junket room passed right by the window.
 |
| Walter Salles, Viggo Mortensen and Kristen Stewart promoting On the Road |
WHAT YOUR PRESS PASS GETS YOU
In order to facilitate the thousands of journalists that come each year, Cannes has a hierarchy designated by badge color. Certain screening rooms require press to queue according to their badges, with access granted by descending priority. Basically this means that the top three levels are certain to get in, while it's not unheard of for lower level press (namely, me) to wait in line for an hour and be denied access because the theater is full. And this is for press-only screenings.
Venice separates press into Daily, Periodicals and Media Press, with the former taking priority during entry. Although with my Periodicals badge I never had any problem getting turned away from a screening because it was full.
TIFF, thankfully, is egalitarian in its accreditation. All P&I have the same badge, which grants access to all P&I screenings and industry events, as well as five tickets to any public screenings of the badge holder's choice. (Or at least this was the case in 2011. Hopefully they haven't changed anything).
FINAL VERDICT
While I would gladly return to any of these festivals, I think TIFF wins.
Friday, 31 August 2012
Travel Diary: Venice
 |
| My first view of the Grand Canal |
I arrived in Venice just in time for the first rain in several months, according to my host. Sure enough, as soon as I finished lugging my suitcase up to the fourth floor apartment (Venetian buildings don't have lifts), there was a clap of thunder followed by screams from outside - presumably from tourists caught unaware. By the time I had showered, changed and mapped out a plan to find a place to eat dinner, the rain had let up and only a brisk wind remained. But after the sweltering heat of central and southern Italy, I welcomed it. The storm made the pavement slick and ridden with puddles, but it also cleared the sky, leaving behind streaks of clouds that made it look like an Impressionist painting.
My tour guide, a Venetian local, likened her hometown to living "in a museum." The entire city is a UNESCO World Heritage site that runs on tourism, meaning that residents must comply by keeping up traditional appearances. Despite Venice's myriad museums and churches, the only major sites I visited were St. Mark's, the bell tower and the Grand Canal via boat tour because, as Rick Steves' aptly put it, the best site is the city itself.
Even with a map I found it tricky to navigate so I spent a good part of my stay wandering aimlessly, reassured by the fact that I could never get too lost on an island. My apartment was about a 25 minute walk to St. Mark's, a trip I made many times, but because all the "streets" look vaguely identical it meant that each time my route was slightly different. And while the high cost of living has led to a considerable exodus of locals within recent decades, the upshot for visitors is that it means the streets are quite safe, even after dark.
 |
| San Marco post-storm and exactly how I like it: without tourists and pigeons. |
Shopping in Venice was a treat, thanks to all the specialized artisan shops. Venetian specialties include elaborate Carnevale masks, prints and paper goods, but there are also outlets for lace and handblown glass from the nearby islands of Burano and Murano respectively. But perhaps the most surprising (and random) Venetian tradition I partook in was attending a lively performance by Interpreti Veneziani at Chiesa San Vidal. I'm not generally a huge Vivaldi fan, but when most bars are closed Sunday night it's a fun diversion.
Thursday, 30 August 2012
Travel Diary: Rome
 |
| Il Vittoriano on Piazza Venezia |
I spent most of my time in the historic Pantheon neighborhood. At night, when the temperature dipped to a pleasant balminess, the old town came alive with buzzing trattorias and osterias and people sitting in darkening piazzas, admiring the floodlit landmarks and absorbing the atmosphere.
I was sad to leave and can't wait to return, in part because the food there was excellent. Some of my favorite places, by way of a friend who visited Rome last summer, are:
- Il Cartoccio for deep-fried fish, artichokes, cheeses, you name it.
- Sant'Eustachio for coffee/espresso.
- Old Bridge for gelato.
- Le Fate for their fixed price student menu. (10€ for appetizer, pasta, dessert and glass of wine).
 |
| Spanish Steps at night. |
- Il Cartoccio for deep-fried fish, artichokes, cheeses, you name it.
- Sant'Eustachio for coffee/espresso.
- Old Bridge for gelato.
- Le Fate for their fixed price student menu. (10€ for appetizer, pasta, dessert and glass of wine).
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Travel Diary: Vatican City
Since I'm not a religious person, my interest in the Vatican primarily stems from my high school obsession with Angels & Demons. That, and everything about it is sort of shrouded in mystery and scandal. I'm sure at some point I learned some things about it in AP European History but that knowledge is long gone. Luckily I had a great tour guide to explain what I was looking at in the museum and church.
I don't usually enjoy guided tours because the explanations provided tend to exceed my attention span, but Valerie (of Rome Walks) was awesome. She paid each person in our intimate five strong group careful attention, answering all our questions and catering to our specific interests. Valerie was both highly knowledgable and engaging - less like a historian and more like a storyteller.
She spoke at length about Michelangelo and Raphael (the artists behind the Vatican's most famous paintings) and their differences in style and personality, as well the scandal and drama stirred up under various popes - like the Borgia pope who allegedly organized orgies and Julius II who was the driving force behind the city's most ambitious building projects.
After going through the museum, we took time to admire the Sistine Chapel before ending the tour with the famous St. Peter's Basilica. No words can describe the beauty, grandeur and intricacy of it. Not even the photos do it justice.
Note: Tour groups get to skip the line to get inside. Queuing outside for hours to get in might not be such a big deal in cooler months, but in 90 degree weather it's probably the last thing anyone really wants to do. And unless you're already a Catholic history nerd, you'll probably learn something new.
 |
| St. Peter's Basilica |
 |
| The School of Athens by Raphael. Michelangelo is the melancholy figure in the center with his head on his hand. |
She spoke at length about Michelangelo and Raphael (the artists behind the Vatican's most famous paintings) and their differences in style and personality, as well the scandal and drama stirred up under various popes - like the Borgia pope who allegedly organized orgies and Julius II who was the driving force behind the city's most ambitious building projects.
 |
| The Gallery of Maps - my favorite room in the museum. |
 |
| One of many photos from St. Peter's Basilica. Check out the rest on Flickr. |
Tuesday, 28 August 2012
Travel Diary: Sorrento & Capri
The best way to enjoy Italy despite the searing summer heat is, hands down, on a boat in the Mediterranean, where you can either dive into the perfectly blue water or sip an ice cold Nastro Azzurro as you zoom past the villa-studded Amalfi coastline. It's divine.
Leaving Sorrento (gorgeous seaside town about an hour's train ride from Naples), behind, a small contingent from my hostel in Naples jumped on a boat and headed for the island of Capri. Our driver took us the long way around to the marina, stopping periodically so we could jump in and swim through some of the island's many caves and grottoes.
During our afternoon break we stopped at the marina on the far side of the island. Although there was a lovely beach right by the pier we decided to take the funicular up to the hill-top town of Anacapri.
The main shopping street boasting designer names was packed with tourists both foreign and national. Since I wasn't really in the mood to splurge on a Roberto Cavalli bikini or pair of diamond earrings, for me it was more enjoyable to take in the views and get lost in the town's winding, labyrinthine passageways.
We returned to Sorrento tired, slightly sunburnt but very content. I enjoyed a nice dinner and wine at a seafood restaurant overlooking the piazza with some newfound friends before hopping the Circumvesuviana train back to Naples, where we passed the time playing charades.
 |
| Sorrento |
Leaving Sorrento (gorgeous seaside town about an hour's train ride from Naples), behind, a small contingent from my hostel in Naples jumped on a boat and headed for the island of Capri. Our driver took us the long way around to the marina, stopping periodically so we could jump in and swim through some of the island's many caves and grottoes.
 |
| Yup. Swam through it. |
During our afternoon break we stopped at the marina on the far side of the island. Although there was a lovely beach right by the pier we decided to take the funicular up to the hill-top town of Anacapri.
 |
| Capri as seen from the funicular. |
The main shopping street boasting designer names was packed with tourists both foreign and national. Since I wasn't really in the mood to splurge on a Roberto Cavalli bikini or pair of diamond earrings, for me it was more enjoyable to take in the views and get lost in the town's winding, labyrinthine passageways.
 |
| Off the beaten path at Anacapri. |
We returned to Sorrento tired, slightly sunburnt but very content. I enjoyed a nice dinner and wine at a seafood restaurant overlooking the piazza with some newfound friends before hopping the Circumvesuviana train back to Naples, where we passed the time playing charades.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)