Blogger Brackets and CIFF - What a Week!

Well, today is the last day of voting for the Blogger Brackets competition. Thanks to all of you, I'm in the Championship Round!! I really am amazed that I've made it this far and am SO thankful for everyone's support and votes. We'll find out who wins on April 2nd. If you haven't voted already, you can cast your vote HERE. Voting ends TODAY at 5pm.


No matter what happens, I already feel like I've won. It was such an honor to be included. Any time I'm having a bad day I can look back and remember all the awesome people who were excited for me and kept me going on this incredible ride. THANK YOU!!!!!


In addition to the excitement of making it to the final round, it's been a fun but exhausting week at the Film Fest. Only one film so far has been a disappointment: 17 Girls. How the French could take a shocking true life story  about teen pregnancy and make it a snoozer of a movie, I'll never know!


I saw a great film called Come As You Are. It's a fun Belgian road trip movie about three young disabled men who travel to a special brothel in Spain so they can finally lose their virginity. It's a riot but also very touching. If you can find this one on Netflix or the library, I highly recommend it.

Today I took the day off of work. It will be nice to be able to hang out downtown during the day and not have to rush to get down there after work. I'm going to see The Salt of Life. I'm really excited to see this one because it contains the same character "Gianni" from one of my favorite movies from a previous Fest: Mid August Lunch. Both are Italian films about a middle aged son who still lives at home with his elderly mother. This time, Gianni is trying to get his groove back and find love. It's on stand by but if you get in line by 3:20, you have a great chance of getting in.


I'm rounding out the final weekend of the Film Fest with these films:


King Curling - a comedy about of course, curling! And who doesn't love that!

Tokyo Playboy Club - a dark look at the underworld of Tokyo's crime scene. It's my first Japanese film at a Film Fest. If you play the trailer, be prepared for some loud crazy music...

The Art of Love is available this weekend with subtitles. There was a mix up last weekend when we were originally supposed to see it and the copy that arrived was in French only. This is my favorite kind of CIFF movie - French, romantic, and sexy. I'm so glad I get the chance to see it on Sunday. Tickets ARE available so grab 'em while you can.

I'm also seeing the Family Shorts program #2 and the Jury Award Winner Shorts. The shorts are always the highlight of the CIFF for me. I wish that more of them weren't scheduled at 4pm during the week so I could see a lot more of them.


And what have I been eating? I finally got some movie theater popcorn! Even though I'm a popcorn fiend, I rarely indulge because it's so bad for you. But every year at the CIFF I get some at least once, maybe twice. We were shoveling it in our mouths so fast that I didn't think to take a picture. Of the popcorn... or the mess we left in the hallway from missing our greedy mouths.


I've been slightly obsessed with Noodlecat and went AGAIN on Tuesday. I tried their vegetarian special: quinoa with roasted root vegetables. 

It was fabulous! Loaded with beets, it was also pretty to look at. It was served with baby carrots from the Chef's Garden and a celery root puree. The tonkatsu (fried pork) and chicken yakitori buns and the super salad rounded out the meal. Another great evening perched on the bar stool at Noodlecat!


Don't forget - next week the Film Fest is no more but Cleveland Independents Restaurant week kicks off. You can dine at some of the city's best restaurants for $33 for a 3 course meal. It's a great deal and the perfect excuse to try that place you've been meaning to get to but just haven't gotten around to yet. Make your reservations now because it's a popular event and you don't want to end up eating dinner at 10pm!