TIFF 2025 Review: 'Dinner With Friends' Gives an Accurate Depiction of What It Takes to Keep The Group Chat Alive
It’s no secret that the older we get, the harder it is to keep up with friendships as adults. Between having kids, careers, and even distance playing a factor, organizing a simple hangout session with your friends can require planning weeks or even months in advance. Dinner with Friends, directed by Sasha Leigh Henry, explores the gatherings that happen between 8 longtime friends as they laugh,…
Hugh Culber, one of the most frequent regulars at the gym at any post or starship he’s ever been assigned to, no doubt.
This one has been long time brewing (in fact, ever since Paul imagined it in this early narration), but in the end got made on a quick whim now, almost without me even noticing. Something about the old proverb of “well begun” and all that, I suppose.
This is also on twitter and on instagram. And listed here with all the rest of the Disco/Culmets works, as always.
Note to (poor) Paul: “a lot of times while you were too busy working”.
A rare occasion of a character not modeled after an actual on-screen background actor. As if anyone even sees this note.
I keep coming back to putting Hugh in that shirt. Makes sense, it being the workout gear of the personnel, after all.
This left-most guy wasn’t really modeled after an extra on the show either, but made to slightly resemble one. Imagine a bit higher, swept back hairline (and, eh, clothes on them) and you might recall having seen someone vaguely like them in the very first episodes aboard USS Discovery. But not really...
Now, that fellow peeking in the far background however, is one of the original Disco-shirt wearers on screen, from s1ep7. Izaak Smith - playing a jogger, who witnesses Paul making a scene with Michael in the hallway. This is my second time including them, yet, no way in any satisfactory capacity, leaving me still wanting to feature them more prominently.
My personal favorite details in this piece: the swallow-delta tattoo (harking back to old sailor designs), and a blurry glimpse of Hugh’s service number (quite illegible, but just knowing it’s there is greatly pleasing), nonexistence of which I first remember lamenting over in this ancient post (curiously coincidentally, also in reference to tattoos - the only other instance, iirc), and which Dead Endless too finally graciously provided. Love it! And mean to use it at any reasonable instance (which might not be a lot, but hey! It exists now!).
This illustration’s true legacy? For once, Hugh is the least nude individual portrayed (yay?).
Edit: Gah! Just realized a major flaw in the pic: the “Disco” on the shirt should read in reverse in the mirror image, of course! (Same for the delta in the tattoo). Rather than go and reverse those rather obvious objects, I just flipped all the more inconspicuous non-mirrored elements instead. So there - fixed.
We're dancing in our seats #Risers!
Angela McLean at The Magazine interviewed Ashley Leggatand Izaak Smith about their roles on Rise The Show, how they broke into the dance scene and so much more! Check it out
And if you've missed it, check out RISE here: http://bit.ly/WatchRiseOnline
What does it take to play Cary on RISE? Find out in this behind-the-scenes video with our leading man, Izaak Smith!
And don't forget to check out the digital pilot on ABC Spark Canada: http://bit.ly/WatchRiseOnline
Check it out #Risers, our leading man Izaak Smith was interviewed by The Vancouver Sun about his role as 'Cary' on Rise! - http://bit.ly/IZAAK_RISE
Have you seen the digital pilot yet? What are you waiting for! Watch it here: http://bit.ly/WatchRiseOnline
A driven young street dancer who enters a TV dance competition in a bid to lift himself and the grandmother who raised him from their hardscrabble life.
I'm assuming you a lot of you are dancers. If so, you should watch this awesome new dance show on ABC Spark featuring some of SYTYCD Canada's best dancers. :)
