Four things every man needs to survive TIFF

Four things every man needs to survive TIFF

Comfortable Dress Shoes
After 10 days of partying, standing all night and walking everywhere, our dogs are barking, and we have an entirely new appreciation for how difficult heels must be for women. Sneakers aren’t usually appropriate for TIFF parties, so a man must find shoes that don’t pinch and he can walk in comfortably. One pair we wore was brand new with leather soles. When we slipped and fell on the tiles in St. Clair station before starting our night, we knew we needed some help. Or insoles. We were definitely not gelin’.

A Girl
Thankfully, we hustled our way onto the guest list of most of the TIFF after-parties we attended. For the ones where we weren’t on the list, however, having a beautiful woman with us certainly helped matters. We also found that people, celebrity or otherwise, were much more interested in talking to us when we had girlfriends than when we were flying solo. The other great thing about having a lady present is that she can carry all of your sundry items in her purse. Negative points if she brings a tiny clutch with her.

Just the Right Amount of Alcohol
TIFF parties can sometimes be a bit much, especially if one is completely sober. House music blasts eardrums, people are extremely aggressive in their path to the bar and the heat can be unbearable. A few cocktails definitely helps smooth the rough patches and give us a lot more confidence when trying to talk to celebs. Of course, one can overdo it in this department. After two drinks, we think we’re charming. After six, we still think we are, but the reality is usually something else all together. Beware.

BlackBerry
Kind of boring, we know, but our BlackBerry was our most indispensable tool. We haven’t taken detailed notes by hand since university, and it shows. When we wake up the next morning from a night on the town, quotes from stars scrawled on napkins don’t have quite the same punch. With our BlackBerry, we were able to write everything down and simply email the notes to ourselves, saving us a lot of time in the morning when we were busy guzzling water, eating leftover pizza and scrambling to write articles. And let’s not forget the camera function—photos of famous people never looked better than dark and blurry at three mega pixels.