The Tragically Hip at Jackson Triggs Winery: Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON

The Tragically Hip at Jackson Triggs Winery: Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON

June 28 2012


I was very lucky to get tickets for this concert.It was at a Winery at Niagara on the lake called Jackson Triggs. Now this was really not my thing but I knew Liz would love it and I was right.She loved it and the venue was prefect.Very small and great seats and a great view.I think maybe 300 people but I am not sure, After Liz sat in just about every seat she found some she liked and they where excellent..A great view we had 3rd row great view.The sound was clear and the band was the best I have ever seen.I think this was 6 th time i have seen and Liz has seen them 3 times.

I love that the Hip is huge in Canada and plays huge concerts ib Canada but in the usa they play to way smaller crowds. So THe hip are Canadian and we love them

Great Concert Great Venue

ps we will need to check out this venue again as i know Liz loved it

set list

At Transformation
Grace, Too
Bobcaygeon
Love Is A First
Man Machine Poem
At the Hundredth Meridian
Ahead By a Century
In View
The Last of the Unplucked Gems
Gift Shop
Fireworks
Poets
Courage
It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken
Drip, Drip, Drip
New Orleans is Sinking
My Music at Work

Wheat Kings
Goodnight Attawapiskat
Blow at High Dough

Juan of The Dead

Toronto After Dark Summer Screenings

Juan of The Dead

June 27 2012

So Liz and I are back at the bloor for the first time since the renovation and it was kinda nice.It is wierd but when it was a run down place it flet like home,but that being said the new place is great.I also think that if the renovation had not been done the place would have closed..so anyway the movie.

Juan of the Dead was great, i loved it. Very funny and lots of action.it is a Cuban Zombie film and i belive the first Cuban film I have ever seen.Lots of great Kills and and a few things I have never seen on film before.

The second movie Liz and I did not see as we had a busy the next night.

Great start to the Summer Screenings

PS I want to buy this movie on blu ray and I even tried to find a Juan T-shirt but could not find one..keep looking

I would say 8 out of 10.

garry

Barenaked Ladies (without Steven Page)

Barenaked Ladies performed at Massey Hall

Friday November 26, 2010

So this was one of those concerst I was worried about seeing. This would be the first time we saw BNL without Steven Page and I thought they may suck. I was so wrong we both loved them, in fact I think Liz liked them better then me. They are fun band and seem to really have a good time. Seeing them at Massey Hall is great becuase it is a smaller venue and the sound was great. They did miss Steven a bit on voacls but they where still very good

We will go see them again - I would think they are Liz's favorite Canadian band.

4 out out 5

SET LIST

Who Needs Sleep

The Old Apartment

Falling for the First Time

Rap

Every Subway Car

Easy

Another Heartbreak

Lovers in a Dangerous Time

Ordinary

The Sound of Your Voice

It's All Been Done

Too Little Too Late

Brian Wilson

On The Lookout

You Run Away

Four Seconds

Big Bang Theory Theme

One Week

Pinch Me

If I Had $1,000,000

Magic/Empire State Of Mind/I've Got a Feeling/Baby/California Gurls

ENCORE:

Alcohol/Feliz Navidad

Blame It On Me

Tonight is the Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel

Stargate Universe Live

Stargate Universe Live
Friday, November 12 2010

Liz and I like the the stargate show SGU well actually Liz likes it more then me but I kinda like it. Not enough space battles for me but I still enjoy the show. The Space Channel here in Toronto did a live show with the full cast of SGU and they showed an espoiside. The tickets were free so that was nice and we went down to watch the show. It was alot of fun and both Robert Carlyle and Louis Ferreira came on first and both talked openly about the show. The rest of the cast soon followed and it was great to see them all LIVE. I love seeing how they film this stuff and all the the behind the scenes stuff but I have to tell you parts were kinda boring and later when we watched it on TV we both said it was just as cool watching it on TV as it was being there. That being said I am glad we did and it was FREE.

If you're not a fan of SGU I say give it a shot as it's a good show.

garry

Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Sometime in November--Princess of Wales Theatre

Priscilla Queen of the Desert

First thing first - very gay play. Not that it was not fun but super gay. We bought cheap seats again and then moved to better ones which was easy to do as there where lots of seats around. This play is amazing visually, simple and beautiful. The colours are breath-taking (hey, now I sound gay). The play is so much fun and there are lots of songs we all know and sang along to. If you can see this play, go. It's alot of fun.
4 out 5

garry

Jason Bonham at the Sony Centre

Jason Bonham Experience at Sony Center October 29 2010.

I was on the fence about seeing this show. Liz and I have seen bands do Queen, Kiss, and the Beatles and we liked them all. But this had the a guy in the band who was the son of the original band Jason Bonham son of Johmn Henry Bonham of Led Zeppelin fame. So I went. And I'm really glad I did, the show was great. The singer didn't look a thing like Robert Plant but he sounded great. A fun show and I would go back to see them anytime.

3.5 of 5

garry

Set List:
Rock And Roll
Celabration Day
Black Dog
Your Time Is Gonna Come
Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
Dazed And Confused
What Is And What Should Never Be
The Lemon Song
Thank You
Moby Dick
Break
Good Times, Bad Times
I'm Gonna Crawl
Since I've Been Lovin' You
When The Levee Breaks
The Ocean
Over The Hills And Far Away
How Many More Times
Stairway To Heaven
Kashmir
Encore
Whole Lotta Love

KISS Cups (pre-Dragon Con)

So I just wanted to mention undertaking that was the Kiss Cups on promotion at 7-11 stores in the US. Buy any pop and get it a FREE KISS CUP!

Firstly, with less than 24 hours until our 6A.M. flight departure time, I had to work out where the stores were located on or near our route to Buffalo airport. I also needed to phone each of these stores and ensure they had the much coveted items. I was insanely busy at work but "luckily" my other half knew I'd keep my priorities in order and get the important stuff done.

As it turns out there were only two likely stores, one on the route and near the airport, the other out of our way by 30 minutes or so but also near the airport. (I'd like to remind you that our flight was at 6am and we live approx 3 hours from Buffalo airport.)

So we pull up to the first store at some ungodly hour. Needless to say, I'm totally breathless with anticipation so you can imagine the crushing agony when we couldn't find the cups. I was desperately hoping that the cups were behind the counter. Or maybe in the safe with all the money and other super-important stuff that you don't stolen. So best thing to do is ask the guy who works there. Said guy was clearly not employed for his customer service skills as he ignored us and the other customer waiting at the cash register in favour of emptying the garbage out front. This chore was performed with the reverance and slow pace that I would associate with the coronation of a Queen of England. But then I'm not an employee of 7-11 so I have no idea how the employee hand-book requires these things to be handled. Eventually I ran out of patience and went out and asked him as politely as my "you'd better be the one willing to get in the car with my pissy spouse if you answer incorrectly" attitude would allow about the damn cups. Unfortunately the response was not what I'd hoped and caused much anguish. Garry even suggested that I should have called the stores more recently than 13 hours ago at hours and in fact that maybe I should've done it at midnight when I gotten up for this clearly godforsaken trip! You can imagine how much I loved him at that exact moment.

So with muttered recrimations and the air awash with tension we headed on to the second store. It seemed like we drove for eternity. I started to wonder if Buffalo had inbred red-necks, the movie ones who would rape me (not so good) and murder Garry (not such a bad option right now) as I was sure we'd never make it to the airport. Finally we got to the 7-11 and guess what! They had the sacred cups!! Right there, beside the soda fountain for the whole world to come and look at and for the blessed few to actually buy!! YES!

Finally we can start the vacation part of this escapade!

L

This was the first day and already Liz was wondering what kind of a fool is she involved with..lol
Off we go to Dragon Con
garry

Dragon Con 2010

Dragon Con 2010

Liz and I love this con. It's in Atlanta and it's HUGE.This is one Con that we plan to go to every year. It's always on the long weekend so we take an extra day off and fly from Buffalo on the Friday. The flight from Buffalo is always early so we leave the house at like 2am and the flight is 6am. Leaving this early is easy for me but a bit early for Liz. Getting to airport and boarder was really easy and the flight was fast. Off the plane and we went to the hotel which was great because they let us check-in to our room early. Then off to get our pass which was the only shit part of the con....it took 2.5 hours to get my pass and that was the only problem with this con. I hear they're going to change things up next year which I really hope they do.

A big part of the weekend was just walking around and sitting in on different panels. And the best part is all the people dressed up and just watching what's going on. The other great thing this year was Liz paced herself had a mid-afternoon nap which helped us stay out later which was different from last year and I really enjoyed it.

some highlights from the con are:

Stan Lee's talk

All The Star Gate Panels

Crux Shadow (one song I saw)

Star Trek The Next Generation panel with all the stars

True Blood Panel (Lafayette was so quiet and Sam was great)

The Klingon panel with them dressed in full make up - should have done a picture with them

Liz buying Star Wars stuff (hey I thought was my thing)

Chick-fil-A the best chicken sandwich on the FUCKING planet

watching Claudia Christian walk out of the Babylon 5 panel - very weird

Larry Hagman was there and looked okay for an old guy

10 minute walk through art show- thats all I need

walking a bit around downtown Atlanta

Steam Punk Party

thats all I can think of...but I know I am missing lots as it was just so busy.

The flight home was easy and I got to have Chick-fil-A again - yummy. I was worried about crossing the boarder, that it would take forever on the Monday evening of a long weekend.But what we did was drive over to the Peace Bridge and crossed over there which was a breeze. I think we were at the boarder for about 10 minutes it was fucking great - that is the way we'll always come home. I think we got home by 9pm which was amazing.

Well we bought our tickets for next year's con and I can't wait. I plan to be there every year that I can and I think I can drag Liz with me.

garry

It was loads of fun and the entertaiment never stopped. Next year we're thinking of going a day early so that we don't have to miss stuff on Friday. We were so excited to get there that spending 3 hours in line (some of it in separate lines as we eventually line up based on our last names) really took the wind out of our sails. And also for next year: remember that we need our ID to get our passes. I knew that but STILL left Garry's wallet in the hotel and had to run back for it. It's waaaay too hot to be running anywhere in Atlanta but at least the crazy line-up meant I didn't have to kill myself lol. After going for our first Chick-Filet, Garry got to see lots of panels while I saw a few, checked out the art show and napped so that we could go out late every night (from 9/10pm til 2am) watching all the night life. I ate a lot of junk but also had the odd salad and drank a lot of water so I managed to keep going. I also got in line for things so that we could get better seats which worked out nicely - we never sit near the front but we like aisle seats with lots of leg room so it's handy not to be too late lining up. Although not a big deal if we're late either. The lining up was also good as it meant I chatted to lots of people which was fun. I love the bumper stuff that the Con puts on the screens before panels, some of it is hysterical and you tell they've put a lot of work into them. Must point out that very large police officer in front of me at Starbucks who ordered a rasperberry mocha is NOT the reason that I feel safe in downtown Atlanta lol. And Stan Lee rocks! Looking forward to next year already!

L

Notes for next year:

book flight for Thursday

leave at 1:30am if you have a 6am flight - this year we got to the airport at 3:50am which was shortly before the check-in counter even opened.

Toronto Maple Leafs vs Ottawa

Wednesday September 22, 2010

Leafs vs Ottawa

I got some free tickets to the second Leaf pre-season game of the year. Pre-season game kinda suck as most of the good players sit out from both teams so you end up seeing alot of guys that won't even be playing for the team this year. But at least I got to go to the ACC and see my team. The game to be honest was a bit boring and my team seemed a bit slow. But Liz and I had fun and my team won so that's cool.

Leafs beat Senators 4-1 in pre-season play..is this OUR cup year? (PLEASE GOD)

I hope I get too see another game this year.

garry

Toby Keith @ Molson Canadian Amphitheatre

Thrusday September 23 2010
Toby Keith Molson Canadian Amphitheatre

I've always liked Toby but sometimes when I listen to him I feel my IQ drop. Still, I like his basic, fun country tunes. There were alot of people at the show and some of them wore cowboy hats which I have to say really made me laugh. I was a bit pissed that I didn't wear my cowboy boots as I really miss wearing them but Liz won't let me. I get a feeling that the boots are going to make a come back though and I'll be ready when it happens. The show had alot of smoke and fire and was very entertaining. Opening the show was Trace Atkins who I really only know from the apprentice. He was okay but I really didn't know any of his songs.
It was a good night and worth it. I don't think I'll see either of them live again but I'll watch the videos and buy the cd's.

Toby was 3 out 5
garry

SET LIST:
Bullets In The Gun
American Ride
I'm Just Talkin' About Tonight
Whiskey Girl
I Wanna Talk About Me
God Love Her
Get Drunk and Be Somebody
Trailerhood
You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This
Who's Your Daddy?
As Good as I Once Was
I Love This Bar
Should've Been a Cowboy
Weed With Willie
Beer for My Horses
How Do You Like Me Now?!
ENCORE:
A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action

Our Town

Liz and I decided to do something different so we went to the movies. I know, so rare for us. There was no Superhero or sci-fi movie so we went to see a real adult movie THE TOWN. It was a story about Irish guys in Boston who happen to make a living robbing banks. The movie stared Ben Affleck who I really like and he also directed the movie. It was really good and the story was great. I usually don't really like these kinda movies as they are too real life for me but this movie was great.

The basic story is: "as Ben plans his next job, a longtime thief tries to balance his feelings for a bank manager connected to one of his earlier heists, as well as the FBI agent looking to bring him and his crew down". That's it in a nut shell. I love the scene at the baseball stadium and after seeing this movie I think I would like to go to Boston

Anyway....go see this movie

4 out 5

garry

I liked this one. Not too slow or too silly but nicely done and well worth seeing. And Ben is very easy on the eye - never hurts.

4/5

L

Roger Waters The Wall Live

ROGER WATERS--THE WALL LIVE

Wednesday September 15 and Thursday September 16 2010

The Wall is my favorite Pink Floyd album and could be my favorite album of all time so I was very excited to see it played live on stage. I decided to go see see 2 out of 3 Toronto shows. The first night I was on the floor and the seats where kinda far back but we could see everything and the show was okay. The second night I was up higher and I could see the full stage and it was fucking great. The wall was an amazing thing. At the start of the show the band play and then they start to build the wall so by the end of the first part of the concert the wall is all you see on the stage. It is huge. As the wall goes up the visuals on it are just breath-taking. There was a bit of a political messenge about ending all wars and I mostly just don't pay attention to that shit but this message I get behind 100% - wow look at me, all serious lol.

But the show was fucking great and my only regret was not seeing it on the 3rd night but something tells me he will bring it back through Toronto before this tour ends - I hope so. I was just a little surprised there was no other Pink Floyd songs in the encore but after the second night I understand why.

Wednesday night--3.5 out 5

Thursday night -- 5 out 5

set list
In The Flesh?
The Thin Ice
Another Brick in the Wall, Part 1
The Happiest Days of Our Lives
Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2

Goodbye Blue Sky
Empty Spaces
Young Lust
One Of My Turns
Don't Leave Me Now
Another Brick in the Wall, Part 3
Goodbye Cruel World
Hey You
Is There Anybody Out There?
Nobody Home
Vera
Bring the Boys Back Home
Comfortably Numb
The Show Must Go On
In The Flesh
Run Like Hell
Waiting For The Worms
Stop
The Trial
Outside the Wall

garry

KISS @ Molson Canadian Amphitheatre

KISS Friday September 10, 2010

So the 33rd time I've seen Kiss and you know what.....it was one of the best concerts I have ever seen. The band was having a great time and really seemed into it. The venue was packed and I had great seats, 14 rows from the front and dead centre, pretty close to the best seats I've ever had to see the worlds greatest rock band. Gene was great with the blood and fire and the sound was just amazing. I was really thinking before the concert began that maybe I had seen them too many time but this was the best concert I have seen. If they were to come back next week I would go again. Actually no matter what I will be going back every time they play Toronto or anywhere near here.

Kiss fucking ROCKS..

SET LIST

Modern Day Delilah

Cold Gin
Let Me Go, Rock 'N' Roll
Firehouse
Say Yeah
Deuce
Crazy Crazy Nights
Calling Dr. Love
Shock Me
I'm An Animal

100,000 Years
I Love It Loud

Love Gun
Whole Lotta Lovesnippet (Led Zeppelin cover)
Black Diamond
Detroit Rock City

Encore:
Beth
Lick It UpWith "Won't Get Fooled Again" snippet by The Who

Shout It Out Loud
I Was Made For Lovin' You
God Gave Rock 'n' Roll to You II (Argent cover)

Rock And Roll All Nite

So Kiss 5 out 5

33 down and before I die I want to hit 50 = 17 to go

garry

Resident Evil: Afterlife

Resident Evil: Afterlife--IN 3D

Now the dates are getting mixed up so I'm just going to post things as I remember them. It was a Saturday and Liz was going to see some TIFF movie about something serious (ie boring) subject so I thought, let's go see a Saturday afternoon popcorn movie like...Resident Evil: Afterlife in 3D. I've seen all the other Resident Evil movies and I enjoyed them all and this one was just as fun.The 3D was not great and kinda funny, in fact all the 3D effects were done in slow motion and I am still not sure why. But the movie itself was fun and I really liked it. I love Milla Jovovich in these movies and she really kicks ass and she seems toenjoy herself.

I'm sure my movie was better then the artsy movie Liz saw.

Resident Evil: Afterlife - in 3D go see it if you want a fun time at the movies.

4 out 5

garry

Fan Expo 2010

Friday August 27 to Sunday August 29 2010

FAN EXPO

So Liz and I went to Fan Expo again this year. As I've done for the last 10 years. This year it was back in the small part/north building of the convention centre. That was a huge mistake. I'm not sure why they put it in the samller building as last year the larger south building has issues coping with the crowds, needless to say this move proved to be a disaster. The initial line up to get in was annoying but it was not that bad for us really. Saturday was the worst day for crowds. At one point Liz went out to grab lunch and almost couldn't get back in, she begged, the gods smiled on her and got back in but reading on-line lots of people went out (to get food mainly as there was really notthing in the expo) and they ended up getting stuck outside for 3-4 hours. The shit part was I heard people who bought tickets on the day of the event jsut walked right in - now that sucks. They say next year they're going to fix this problem - I say let's wait and see. But they have to do something as there are TONS of pissed off people on-line.

Now on to the con.

Friday, Liz and I just walked the floor and saw what was happening and what I might want to buy. The funny thing is that every convetion I go to, I save lots of cash to buy lots of stuff but you know what, I hardly buy a thing. This year I bought some cheap dvd's and thats about it. I can't rememeber but I don't think Liz bought a thing.

A few notable things we saw at the con were:

Summer Glau - nice girl but a terribly boring interview

William Shatner - blow hard but I do like to listen to him talk

Seeing Greg Lamersons film - Slime City Massacre and talk with Greg

Lance Hendiksen - great Q and A

The Wild Hunt - movie, seeing it finally

Tron Preview in 3d and their booth on the floor

Aliens seeing a preview of the Blue Ray

That's all I can think of for now. The con was okay, just too busy. Saying that I know I will be back next year and if I am going you know I'll dragging Liz with me.

garry

Blue Rodeo Part 2

Blue Rodeo Molson Amp August 26-2010

Dave Stock and myself

In March I took Liz to see Blue Rodeo in Oshawa and I had a problem with the lady behind me talking non-stop. Well I think I may owe her an apology. Last night the first 7 songs all I could hear was people talking and then I realized why - all they played were new songs, one old song that people knew, that was it. People weren't paying attention and just talking to each other. So Oshawa housewife - SORRY.

The second part was way better and therefore the crowd was way better. I liked the second half but to be honest I was getting kinda sleepy and didn't really get into it. They played some songs I love and that was cool but the damage was done. Then when the encore came they sang an old hit and then a new song....as soon as the new song started we left....a new fucking song most people don't know in the encore - bullshit.

So Blue Rodeo are on the list. The list is bands I will proably never see again. I would go see them again if they play hits only.

I would say 2.5 out of 5. I should have arrived 30 minutes late and left 15 minutes early. Too bad.
garry

How Now Mrs. Brown Cow !

August 21 2010

How Now Mrs. Brown Cow

We thought we'd go see this play as it's a huge hit in Dublin, Ireland. It looked like fun and the seats were going for cheap.

One great part was we bought $25 seats and since we are sneaky and saw open seats we moved down to the $88 seats which was great. The seats were great and the play was fun. It was weird as the best part of the play was when someone made a mistake or if they couldn't stop laughing and the other actors just keep on going. When I first heard about this play I thought really a guy dressed up as an old lady, how funny can that be....well it was really silly and very funny and I know we'd go see it again if they came back for another run with a different play.

Good fun and lots of laughs.

4 out 5

garry

This was totally silly and lots of fun, mainly thanks to the main actor and script writer. He never let an obvious gag go unsaid but was plently clever enough to say the ones we didn't see too. He's not shy about swearing constantly either. And watching the other actors try to keep it together while they recited their ridiculous lines was worth the $25 all by itself.

4/5

L

Piranha 3D

August 22 2010

Piranha 3D

Well it's not worth the extra money for 3D. In fact I'm not sure it's even worth seeing at the regular prices. I mean it wasn't horrible it was just not that good. I did have a few laughs. There was also alot of tits in this movie and that was the first time I saw them (loads and loads of them) on the screen in 3D so I guess that was kinda cool. But it would have been even better if I was 14.

A few cool kill scenes but really no need to see this movie. 2.5 out 5

garry

Silly but entertaining popcorn movie. If you know any 13/14 year old boys buy them the DVD for Christmas.

3/5

L

The Expendables

The Expendables

August 20 2010

I had Friday off from work so I wanted to see the movie The Expendables. It was great. Tons of action and fights. I loved it. (Liz sat this one out and it was probably not for her.) The core of the film revolves around Stallone and his core team - Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture and Terry Crews. I mean for a guy like me who loves the '80's does it get any better?? Dolph Lundgren was great and I think this movie will help him get future work. I can't wait till part 2 and I know there will be one.

GREAT MOVIE 5 OUT 5

garry

Toronto After Dark 2010

We are going to do a short run down on all the movies we saw:

Doghouse

A bunch of English guys go to a small British town that is over-run with females that have turned into Zombies.I would say this was a go0d movie not great.At times it was a bit slow and the story seem to drag,but the crowd was fun and it was ok--2.5 out 5 G

Was super excited for this one but I didn't actually love it as much as I'd hoped. 2.5/5 L

Evil in The Time of Heroes

This was not for me this movie--in fact I fell asleep and then Liz and I left early,so I really can't rate this movie but what i saw it sucked.

Agree with Garry - sucked.

Cargo
Is a sci-fi thriller from Switzerland. It's set in the 23rd century and the Earth is uninhabitable. Humans crowd onto space stations and try to scrape together enough money to travel to a new planet. It was made on a small budget but it didn't show. The movie was good, a bit slow but still ok. The only real sci-fi movie at the festival so with that in mind--i liked it. 3 out 5 G

I really enjoyed this one. It's a "there's someone else trapped in here and they're killing us" movie set in space. Great acting and miracles done on a budget. 4/5 L

RoboGeisha

“Violent, unrepentantly silly….loaded with wildly over the top set pieces… an explosion of cult excess…truly remarkable” - Twitch Film. So as you can see from this quote this movie is just pure silly. This ridiculous, over the top B-flick has so many WTF moments you’ll lose count, along with the number of weapons that fly out of the girls rear ends! Pure fun and rip roaring good time.Crowd was so into it. I loved it. Lots of Fun 3.5 out 5 G

You gotta watch it with a crowd to get anything out of it. So long as you follow that instruction 3.5/5 L

The Last Exorcism

Best movie I saw so far at the festival. Scary without really showing that much. At one part I actually got chills and there was nothing but what I thought may happen....great scene. The excellent director, Eli Roth although he's the producer of this movie. He's great talking, kinda like Kevin Smith, so that really added to the whole experience. I really liked the movie and so far I would say this will be a successful movie to the general public. 4 out 5 G

Disturbing movie and super creepy. There was always hints as to what was going to happen but I had no idea how it would come together. Really enjoyed it. 4/5 L

Aliens vs Ninjas

I really wanted to see this movie but I just could not stay awake. It did look like fun but it wasn't really grabbing me. On another night I may have loved this movie but this time...just didn't work. I cannot rate this movie as I did not watch it till the end and Liz and I just left early.

Clearly the universe took pity on me and made the usually inexhaustible Garry sleepy! So I got to go home rather than sit through this nonsense. Based on the 10 minutes I saw before falling asleep in my seat 0/5 L

Phobia 2

Five scary tales from Thailand, from the same talented team behind Phobia 1. I thought this may suck and I was kinda right. I would say 2 of the tales were good but at least 1 was terrible. I'm not sure Asian horror movies are for me, they all seem the same and often involve a scary half dead lady. But the last tale was fun and really made the movie fun and well worth seeing. The buzz around the cinema after was that most people loved this movie so I am thinking maybe I am just not into these movies. 2.5 out 5 G

Well Garry was insisting this would be good so he never let on to me that he was expecting anything other than great entertainment! It turns out that he was half right. The first half was dire but it got much better as it went along and the last tale was really well done. 2.5/5 L

Centurion

Romans battle Celtic forces in this brutal new action film a great movie. I was expecting this to suck but it was pretty good. Lots of good kills and the blood was kinda fake looking but still very fun and lots of cheers and yells from the packed crowd. I would see this again on dvd. 4 out 5

Didn't love this one as much. 3/5 L

Heartless

A disfigured young man is haunted by demons on the streets of London in this acclaimed new horror thriller. It was a SLOW movie and I was at work since 6am so there was no chance I was going to make it. What I did see looked kinda weird and artsy so really not for me. N/A

This was slow and strange and it could have gone either way but I liked it. 3/5 L

Black Death

An investigation of witchcraft is at the centre of this medieval horror tale starring Sean Bean (LORD OF THE RINGS). This was a great movie. Way better then I thought it would be. It was very epic. That's what I love about this festival is movies I would probably never see. If it ever comes near you go see it. 4 out 5

Sean Bean - 'nuff said. Although he's not at his hottest in this movie (it is about the plague after all) but he made me want to see it. Glad I did. 4/5 L

I Spit on Your Grave

Very gruesome remake of the controversial rape-revenge horror film of the same name. This was one fucked up movie and I loved it. This was the best movie of After Dark for me. Very violent and way over the top. It was gross in parts and hide your eyes in spots and if violent acts bother you stay away. I think Liz even hid her eyes in parts. After the movie I was on "the twitter" and wrote that I loved the movie and I won a cast autographed poster so that was great. Loved the movie 5 out 5 G

Definitely not for the faint of heart as this movie was brutal. I felt ill during rape scene so I looked away for a lot of it. And her revenge scenes were just too icky for me, especially the eye-balls one. But it was very well made and the acting was great. 4/5 L

Rubber

A story about Robert, a killer tire with feelings! I was thinking this would be the HIT of the festival and I was looking forward to seeing it. So as we sat in our favorite seats - right side, 6 rows from the front I was pumped. But just as fast I was realizing that this movie sucks. It was horrible. Usually weird is great but in the case it sucked. A shit movie. When it was over all most everyone in line agreed it was terrible which is rare. 0 out 5 G

Absolutely dire 0/5 L

The Human Centipede - Closing Gala Film

Last film for this year. Liz was excited about this one. It was about a madder-than-mad doctor sews 2 girls, and a Japanese tourist, together – butt-to-mouth! And marchs them around the house - very fuckin weird. I was on the fence about this movie and after watching I think I was right. It was ok but after you saw them all together it's kinda over. The crowd seemed to love it but it just didn't work on me. Different but not great 2.5 out 5 G

Have to agree with Garry again. I was hyped for this movie but it was just nuts. 1.5/5 L

Well that's it for this year. I had a great time at the After Dark this year we meet a few people and talked to many and it made a real difference to the experience. Next year I'm going to take the week off and that way I can enjoy the movies more and I want to hit the bar after the movies and talk to more people and just enjoy the festival more.

Garry