Hot Docs

Reporter: "People say you're a vulture for publicity." Alice Cooper: "What's wrong with that?"

Sunday night I went to the Hot Docs documentary Doc of the Dead at the Hart House cinema.  This screening wasn't sold out, so I managed to get a ticket when I arrived there.  While I was waiting for the film to come on, they kept repeating this piano theme three times a minute! (I measured the time with my watch.) It became a steady drip-drip-drip like Chinese water torture.  The documentary itself was about zombie movies and the whole zombie subculture, including zombie weddings:  it reminded me of the time I saw Toronto's annual zombie walk, which included an undead Pope.  They also discussed issues like zombies who can run fast vs. those who can't.  I guess I should see Night of the Living Dead someday.

Monday afternoon I went to the festival headquarters in Cumberland Terrace and bought a few more tickets.  I couldn't get into the documentary about the making of Top of the Lake or the one about the expert who says slums are the solution rather than the problem. (Sure hope I can find them on Netflix or somewhere.) Two of the three screenings I did get into were at the Bloor:  that place is huge and rarely sells out.  But there was a delay on the Bloor line between Yonge and St. George, so I ended up taking the streetcar west from St. Clair station and was pretty late.

Last night I saw Super Duper Alice Cooper at the Bloor.  As with Purple Rain, I sat near the balcony's back row.  The first half was uproarious. (I didn't realize that the incident of killing the chicken onstage--he says it was killed by the audience after he threw it out to them--happened in Toronto!) But the second half got more serious, talking about his battles with alcohol, then with cocaine.

Yesterday afternoon I finally went to the Jones library in the east end to explain I'd lost their book. (Before doing so, I took the opportunity to go to Wychwood library and get my library card renewed.) They're going to contact the other libraries and see if the book shows up within the system, which will take a couple of months.  Glad that's over with.