Have you ever watched the goings on in a dog park? All the Poodles, Labs and Golden Doodles bouncing around with one another, being nice to the purse dogs, sharing sticks and tennis balls. Then – the gate opens and in walks a Rottweiler tricked out in a shiny spiked collar or soiled bandana. The mood suddenly changes. Not among the dogs. Among their owners. The people present are already stiffening,...
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Sometimes A Great Notion
Often, we get caught up in causes which appear just, seem to support fairness and carry the hope of solving complicated problems. And then someone speaks with complete clarity on how simple the solution might really be. What follows are words which deserve your consideration… ...
ROAD FOOD
I’m amid another of my epic “If it’s Tuesday, this must be Edmonton” road trips. And over the years, I’ve learned that it’s not just armies, but film crews and screenwriters that travel on their stomachs. But while we live in a nation of plenty with an immense diversity in local produce and culinary selection, our highways seldom lead to anywhere other than tasteless, high-fat, high sodium burgers and dried out chicken fingers....
Lazy Sunday # 187: Sam & Ralph
I was doing a couple of location shoots last week and took my sheepdog along for the ride. Somewhere in the middle of the prairies, she needed a walk and I punched “Rest Area” into the GPS, finding one a couple of clicks up the road. Like most Prairie roadside stops, it was little more than a grove of trees in the middle of nowhere and as we approached I noticed what looked like a lump of roadkill...
Lazy Sunday # 186: Finding The Words
Winston Churchill once said of Americans – “They will always do the right thing -- after exhausting every other possibility”. Observing the current level of animosity and rancour that exists in American political debate, it’s hard to imagine that Americans will ever again find common ground and be able to treat one another with decency and respect. And then you have moments like the ones that occurred...
The Meanest Man in Hollywood Was A Canadian
OUR HOLLYWOOD HISTORY (10/10) Lazar Meir never knew precisely where he'd been born. It might've been in Russia or the Ukraine, it might've been on a boat to North America. It might've been in Canada or even the United States. Heck, he didn't even know which year marked his birth, let alone the month or the day. What's more he could never prove his parents' name was actually Meir. There simply was no documentation and neither...
Lazy Sunday # 185: The Wheel Of Death
We all take pride at doing something really well. Even if it isn't a really big thing, it gives you a deep sense of satisfaction. I'm personally in awe of people like surgeons and sharp as a tack lawyers, or cops who solve murders. But I also get a thrill seeing somebody parallel park in like three seconds using one hand and not even glancing in the rear view. That shit just impresses the hell...
The Canadian Who Made The Movies Talk
OUR HOLLYWOOD HISTORY (9/10) Virtually any respected encyclopedia, reference book or history of the motion picture will tell you that the first movie with sound was Warner Brothers' "The Jazz Singer", released on October 6, 1927 and that Al Jolson's "Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain't heard nothin' yet." were the first words spoken onscreen. Like a lot of stuff that comes out of Hollywood, this is pure bullshit. Because...
The First Actress Hollywood Destroyed Was A Canadian
OUR HOLLYWOOD HISTORY (8/10) There is an oft repeated tale that those who run afoul of the Rich and Powerful in Hollywood are "Blacklisted" or become "Gossip Fodder" or are otherwise driven from the community. The sad truth is that these stories are not always fiction and the practice began with a stunningly talented actress named Marie Prevost. She was born Mary Bickford Dunn in Sarnia, Ontario on November 8, 1898. At the...
