Tuesday, September 13, 2005

cK and n8 at the Sony Film Classics Party

Red Carpet, Celebs and free drinks!

In September every year, Toronto is host to its annual Film Festival - the biggest in North America and rated second to the Cannes Film Festival in France. This year, is the 30th year of this prestigious event. So many movie stars, directors and producers make their way here to see films previewed first before they hit the rest of the movie outlets worldwide. Seeing the celebs are one thing, but catching them at a party is another. That's why when I won 2 VIP tickets to an invite-only party at The Brant House, I was excited and invited my pal, N8 Dogg to join me...

So n8 and I got there kinda early and saw the red carpet in the front, the lights and stage area for the photo walk-on... it was just like back in Hollywood. The Sony Film Classics Party invited major Hollywood players such as Keanu Reeves, Vince Vaughn and Benjamin Bratt just to name a few. Around 10pm, everyone started showing up. So n8 and I got in our "guest list" line and upon entering was given 4 free drink tickets with our invite. Once we were inside the Brant House, it was a low lit lounge with a lot of modern and designer decor. The hard wooden floors were the only thing that kinda seemed a little too country bar-ish for this type of venue, but other than that it was okay. N8 and I went to the bar to use our drink tickets. The night was also sponsored by some new Ford vehicle, so a special sour apple mixed drink was one of the specials. N8 and I tried it and it was pretty good.

The DJ was playing music to cater to a general crowd. Starting with house beats and working his way to some popular current dance/hip hop songs. Even though the place was filled with all industry types, there were a lot of star gazers there looking to just break their way into the industry. I was taking pics with my palm pilot, which doesn't have a flash built in. It was next to impossible to take a shot of any celebrity that was there close up. Here are some pics taken that night by Aristea Rizakos of some of the events attendees.

Keanu Reeves	Doug Gilmour	Lisa Ray

One of my highlights of the evening was getting the free h'orderves. I got so excited when they would walk by with shrimps, thai chicken on a stick, little goat cheese on crackers... it was good! By the end of the night, the servers would just come and find me because I always took whatever was in their tray. The night moved on smoothly, but n8 and I didn't get to talk to any celebs. There were so many there that you could have been next to one and didn't know it. The major Hollywood types were in the VIP lounge that was kind of hidden from the rest of us. It was a good party and I was glad to have been invited.

Here are the pics that I took of my Palm Pilot: