They go by a lot of different names, film society, movie club, cinemateque; the places where you can see films that won’t play the multiplexes and may never even arrive at the local Art House. In Paris, a city that has has more movies showing on any given day than any other city in the world, it might be a hole in the wall on the Champs Elysees, still screening Hollywood Film Noir classics years after their last North American...

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We’re into the final stretch and the two teams of Gladiators we watched last year are waiting in their separate Vomitoriums to battle anew. Since the time of Caligula, the sight of old adversaries strapping on their armor to seek revenge or a reprise of victory has held a certain additional excitement. Yeah, it’s fun to see somebody new get a shot, but the storylines in a battle rejoined are brimming with possibilities. ...

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Like a lot of writers, I’m a big fan of conspiracy theories. Not because I actually believe any of them. But because they so perfectly exemplify the “What if…” premise that begins the formation of every good story. Apparently, mass tragedies like 9/11, the Boxing Day Tsunami and most assassinations so disrupt the foundations some people cling to that “Shit Happens” just isn’t an acceptable explanation. They need to believe that...

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“Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive.” – Sir Walter Scott (albeit sounding a lot like Shakespeare). It turns out I may be a lot smarter than I think I am. Not to mention there’s a little bit of Kreskin in me. (No, not that part – his predicting the future thing). In fact, if I had just a little less self-respect, I could probably be making a pretty good living as a consultant. You see, I was starting...

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Turns out Mathew Modine and I have the same favorite joke.And he tells it very well.Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be Cowboys -- or watch this clip before they're all growed up in the first place.And enjoy your Sunday.CowboyAtom.com: Funny Videos | Cinematic Comedy | Romantic Comed...

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Thank God it’s Friday and I can finally talk about something important. The Hockey Pool… The Third Round -- always the toughest because everybody’s tired, everybody’s hurt and the thought of being this close to the final showdown makes every tiny error seem like a career ender – looks like it might be shaping up to be a short one. Home teams have ruled so far with Detroit taking the kids from Chicago...

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Once again I'm overwhelmed by the response to something I've written. Bill Brioux, DMc, Cunningham, Michael Geist and Inside the CBC, thanks so much for the links and kind words for the post below this one. Your readers have been flooding over here in an obvious endorsement of their trust in your opinions. Just one thing – and don’t take this personally, because I know it’s accepted web-speak -- aren’t you getting as tired...

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The image above is taken from the published minutes of the in-camera sessions of the CRTC’s license renewal hearings last week. The entire document is available here. Don’t rush to grab it in the hope it will finally give you some much needed insight into what’s really going on in Canadian television. Because those blacked out lines are repeated on virtually every one on the report’s 251 pages. One wonders why anybody bothered...

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Luckily, it's a long weekend (at least here in Canada) so you've probably got time to take on one of my favorite looooong songs.Back in my rock 'n roll years, radio DJ's loved the long song. The first I remember was Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone", a story I imparted a while back. But then I moved on to "In-a-Gadda-da-Vida", Vanilla Fudge's "You Keep Me Hangin' On" almost anything by Pink Floyd --...

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Round Two is over and it’s on to the Conference finals. In the West, two “Original Six” teams will compete to move on. In the East, twin sets of relative newcomers who’ve been recent runners up go at it. On both sides of the bracket, one team of stars and veterans will face a gang of speedy young guns. This is turning into a Stanley Cup Playoff for the Ages. Don Cherry and CBC can drop all the F-bombs they want, but who really...

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I spent a couple of days shooting in my old home town this weekend. Actually we had two shoots on the go, one in Regina and one in the middle of a Hamilton thunderstorm. I hear the dailies on that one are awesome. And I gotta tell you -- working without endless form filling funding or network letters all this “broadcast model is broken” talk must be testing any bank’s confidence in bridge financing  -- is truly freeing....

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