Wednesday, September 27, 2006

The Show to end all shows

As part of International Music Day (September 31) I've received the go-ahead to interview an up and coming band at the Kool Haus this Sunday night.

Les Trois Accords will be playing as part of a CBC Radio 3/Bande a part Sirius satellite radio showcase. They're all francophones, so it should be a challenge for my rusty school French - but here we go - we've got a direction for the blog!

For information on this free concert, check out: http://www.bandeapart.fm/seevousplay/index_en.asp (Update: It appears to be sold out - a free show - what gives??)

STAY TUNED!!!

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Facts & Figures

What time is it at the start of post? 4:32 p.m. EST

What are you watching on TV? Forest Whitaker talk about his film the Last King of Scotland, on Oprah

Reading on the subway? The Undomestic Goddess (goddless chick-lit dreck, I know, but I can't help myself), by Sophie Kinsella

Listening to? Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton (they are part of a CBC Radio3 live show being put on at Kool Haus in Toronto soon), Brazilian Girls, Super Furry Animals, Mash-Ups, and selections from Cat Power's great unlamented album 'The Greatest.'

Doing this weekend? Dunno, but it will probably involve seeing my friend Ian's band Thomas Matheson play the Rivoli on Saturday night and see my friend Ams' new apt in the Beaches

End of post time? 4:37 p.m. EST

I'm out for the day!!

Monday, September 18, 2006

My top 7 at TIFF and.... birthday party ideas?


Much to recap today. A guide to some of the films I saw, some that had hype, and the ones I wished I had seen. Also, I have the duty to get my a** to South Africa in time for CBC's host broadcast duties at the soccer World Cup festivities in Durban..... should be fun!!

So, in no particular order, are some of the Canadiana - followed by a special feature on the Kiwi ones I saw with my lover, that Merino-wool wearin', Marmite-loving expat - that in my humble pie opinion, may or will make some kind of an impact in the coming moviegoing saison:

1. Fido

In a world where zombie movies have become all too common place, a new film seeks to put yet another spin of the genre on the map: zombies as pets/menial servants.

Young Timmy (Canadian actor K'Sun Ray - do ya think his parents
might've been hippies?) longs for his emotionless father and frigid mother (the Matrix Trilogy's Carrie-Anne Moss, another Canadienne) to pay attention to him.

Instead, they purchase from ZomCor down the road a pet zombie (the always brilliant Billy Connolly) for their son. And when zombie pet's collar malfunctions, B-movie hilarity ensues....


2. Monkey Warfare

An original screenplay, one real-life Toronto locale (the West Queen W. nabe of Parkdale) and a kickass soundtrack about revolutionary music all combine to make this one of my 2006 TIFF highlights.

A laid-back plot (written by an ex-editor, Reg Harkema, as it turns out), the story spins out randomly from the origins of two secretive loners and maybe lovers, Dan (McKellar, again playing oddball like he did in CBC's Twitch City and Child Star with panache) and Linda (Wright, master of the one-liner) smoking pot and scavenging through garbage for hidden treasures, to the sudden danger presented by Dan's encounter with less-innocent-than-she-seems Susan (Nadia Litz).

The Kiwi didn't really like this one, but I've gotta give Harkema his due: this is the first film to educate me on the counterculture revolutionary movement of the 60s and 70s, and how cool records can still be!



3. Sarah Polley's Away From Her


This is Sarah Polley's (anyone of my Generation will recall her of the late, great, Road to Avonlea) extremely assured debut feature, is an apparently absorbing and affecting adaptation - enough alliteration already! - of the Alice Munro short story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain". As I would like to read the story before seeing the film, I imagine it will be a lot like my Grade 10 required reading, The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence.

Slow, ponderous, but likely to be entirely compelling (and depressing, just like the Polley starring vehicle The Sweet Hereafter) grounded by lead actor's Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent's performances. Pass the hankies!


4. John Cameron Mitchell's Shortbus


Made by a New Yorker, but starring a fellow Public Broadcasterite, Sook-Yin Lee, this film courted controversy for its opening graphic sexual montages, as well as its much-hyped, well opening graphic sex montage.

I absolutely loved the soundtrack and film to Mitchell's first film, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and cannot wait to see this in a live (lovey and I tried to get tix, but as with any controversy-courting film at a film fest, it was one of the first to be sold out).

Count on this to be the first of many films coming out in the coming years that take to embracing Third-Decade malaise: ie. the fear thirtysomethings have of losing their youth and/or appearing unhip. A must-see.

5. Sharkwater


I missed this one, by fellow Lawrence Park (by way of North Toronto) high school graduate Rob Stewart about the illegal shark-finning enterprises springing up in parts of Latin and South America to support a burgeoning trade for shark fin parts in Asia.

The mostly underwater-shot film was first viewed by Yours Truly at a rough cut screening at Stewart's birthday party late last year, and I can't wait to see the finished product.

Someone puts his WASP-y, North Toronto connections to good use. Yay!


6. Manufactured Landscapes


Another fully affecting (this time documentary) film, about Toronto photographer Edward Burtynsky, if the screen-grabs are anything to go back, I'm definitely going to have to buy the accompanying Burtynsky coffee-table book.

Another must-see for a rainy day rentals at Queen Video, fo' sho'.


All film briefs were compiled by My Canadian Tuxedo, courtesy of free weekly Now Toronto magazine Annual Film Fest Guide, Toronto Life magazine, or TIFF's website itself.


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As for my upcoming 27th B-Day (as Beyonce would say) -- no idea what's happening yet, other than to say it will involve food, drink, laughs, and probably somebody white-boy dancing (I hope?)