One of my favorite film moments takes place during the opening titles of the Gilles Adrian scripted French film "Delicatessan". As the camera wends its way through the garbage produced by the small apartment building that is the story's setting, it finds one piece of detritus or another to match each of the film's craft credits. Discarded script pages identify the Screenwriter, a rusty camera acknowledges...
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GIRLS WITH WINGS
A Country band named "Alabama" had a hit a few years ago called "Angels Among Us" which proposed the theory that there are -- well -- Angels among us. Angels that guide us in the right direction in times of trouble.For the last three days I've been about an hour away from another of my relentlessly insightful postings about the intricate behind the scenes machinations of the Canadian TV & film industries when the ground has...
LAZY SUNDAY # 47: FIREWORKS
I had the extreme good fortune of seeing each of the "Three Knights" perform onstage. The Knights being Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir John Gielgud and Sir Ralph Richardson, three of the English language's greatest actors.To many (including the first two on the list) Richardson was considered the best of them all. But I never saw any of the performances that made and established his reputation. Instead...
YOUR 15 MINUTES ARE -- JUST BEGINNING!
I'm not a recognizable figure on the Club scene. Couldn't tell you the difference between "Electro", "Cool" or "House" if my life depended on it. And much as I enjoyed "It's All Gone Pete Tong", I still can't get my head around the concept that guys who play records are Stars. Just what exactly separates them from the dude in the bad tuxedo who does the same thing at weddings anyway? But I went to "Cirque", Toronto's hottest,...
CHINA BEGINS MANUFACTURING CANADIAN TV
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LAZY SUNDAY # 46: RECAPTURING THE PAST
Somebody in London once told me that the best way to sense what that city used to look like was to "Look Up". Apparently, the most extensive changes we make to our urban environments (beyond simply knocking buildings down to make room for new ones) are cosmetic and tend to occur only at street level. So to get the sense of how a historical locale appeared back when it was famous, simply raise your...
BAILING OUT A LIFESTYLE?
I need to admit from the get-go that my understanding of economics is best exemplified by the look on my accountant's face sometime between his uttering "You did what?" and dropping his head into his hands. Oh, I can understand a balance sheet, bring a film in under budget and discern that a financial report from a Canadian producer has got more holes in it than a WWI battlefield -- but some of the other things related to our...
LAZY SUNDAY #45: WHAT? TOO SOON?
I was as elated as most people by the election of American President Barack Obama last week. And while others like DMc were pondering the serious questions of how this watershed moment might change primetime television, I couldn't help wondering what it would do to comedy. For the last eight years, President Doofus has kept the comedy mills better supplied than the post-Lewinsky years of Bill Clinton....
THAT AIRPLANE THING
I flew to Edmonton early this morning and when we took off the plane did a mini version of this... Only lasted a few seconds but it was awesome cool and somewhat spectacular from the inside! I always thought it had something to do with breaking the sound barrier, but apparently it's related to humidity, atmospheric conditions or other things above my pay grade. It got me thinking about the other "once in a lifetime"...
THE DEAR JOHN LETTER
Dear John, I regularly read and enjoy the television column you write for The Globe and Mail newspaper. Even on the rare days when I don't agree with your comments, I know they come from a place of intelligence and insight that (the inexplicable affinity for Soccer aside) deserves consideration. And I appreciate how tough it is being a critic. Quite simply, no matter what you write, you're always going to piss somebody off. I...
LAZY SUNDAY # 44: WATER GRAVE
Okay, so technically, this didn't get up on Sunday. It wasn't that "fall back" thing. I was busy. But I wanted to squeeze it in because it has more to do with our traditional day of rest and revitalization than anything I've posted in the past.As some of you know, one of our current projects is a reality series based in the world of Gospel music. For a guy who doesn't come from that neighborhood,...
