James Franco, Jon Hamm, David Strathairn. Docudrama that looks at the creation of and controversy around Allen Ginsberg’s beat poem, Howl.
She says: The movie cuts between Ginsberg’s reading of the poem (either actual reading in a cafe, or enlivened with animation of the words), the obscenity trial it was at the center of, and an Ginsberg being interviewed about Howl. Not for everyone, but as someone who had heard of Howl but had never heard Howl, I found it interesting.
He says: The canoeing guys asked me about the movie. I really didn’t know what to say.
The Globe and Mail has spent a fortune redesigning itself—again. And certainly, I have no problem with the smaller page size, the increased colour, the glossy pages. But the content…?
The rumor was that, in trying to attract a younger audience (or something), there would be more “fluff”. But really, I find it’s in the “fluff” — the arts, the life stuff — that have been downsized the most.
The 7-day TV listings on Friday I used to program the PVR to? Gone.
Rick Salutin’s always interesting Friday column? Gone.
Tabitha Southby’s often hilarious Saturday column? Gone.
Movie reviews? Greatly reduce. Book reviews? Ditto.
The Style section, which I used to generally love its seemingly being aimed primarily at rich Torontonians, is barely worth looking at anymore. Pictures of expensive clothes. Repeats of the Style emails I already get. Russell Smith’s column reduced to a paragraph. Wine reviews now in list format, with rating numbers. So easy to scan–I sometimes miss it completely!
I’m starting to feel like I should be getting a discount, I’m getting so much less that actually seems worth reading. For the first time in many years, I’m actually think of cancelling my subscription.
Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake. An inside look at those responsible for the creation of Facebook.
She says: Witty, fast-paced, and fascinating look at the anti-social nature of the man who created Facebook. Made me want to read that old New Yorker profile again.
He says: A really fascinating movie about really sad, unlikeable men.
Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel Weisz. After years of con jobs, one of two brothers wants to quit. His brother convinces to do one final con. It will all work great—as long as he doesn’t fall in love.
She says: Its quirky style reminded me a lot of the TV show Pushing Daisies. The plot twists and connection between the actors kept me interested. A very interesting film—in a good way.
He says: Man, I’m tired. [Then later.] I think I missed too much sleeping to follow the plot.
I lost it quite some time ago, and I always found it irritating that I had to make a phone call—rather than fill in on some kind of online form—to get it replaced. So I didn’t bother. I don’t really go to Cineplex theatres all that often. I don’t like them. They’re tacky and crowded. Most of their movies play either too early, or too late. (6:45 or 10:00? These are my choices?) After charging me too much, they play too many commercials and movies. (The “pre-show”, they call it. Ha!)
But, if you want to see 3D or big-scale epics—and I sometimes do—they’re the only game in town.
And it would niggle at me that I’d have to say “No” to the “Do you have a Scene card?” prompt. So, having formed the plan to see The Social Network this weekend (review soon, but in short, it was good) I made the phone call and a new card is on its way. So someday, I may earn a free movie. At the theatre I hate going to.
In fact, points accumulation is our cornerstone of our family budget. We have a joint MBNA TravelRewards card, and we use it as much as possible. Because we have family in Timmins, and it’s far to drive there, but expensive to fly. But with this card, a mere 15,000 points gets you there by air, for only the cost of the taxes on the ticket. Yes, it has an $85 annual fee, but trust me, we save quite a bit more than that on each ticket. And yes, the interest rate on it is appalling, so it’s absolutely critical to pay it off in full each month. But so far, that’s not been a problem. And the points have also taken us to Boston and San Francisco.
But why stop there, eh? (That would hardly be Canadian.) So despite the resulting bulging wallet, I also carry:
Air Miles card. Though I get the majority of my Air Miles by paying my Primus phone bill, and few more from shopping online through their portal, I still carry the actual card around in case of stops at LCBO. Of course, I don’t use these points to travel—they accumulate far too slowly for that. Mostly, I cash them in for gift cards to Chapters or iTunes. Which take three weeks to arrive, and then you have to go through the bother of redeeming before you have any actual free stuff in hand. Kind of an exercise in patience, this card.
Shopper’s Optimum card. Because I do go to Shopper’s semi-regularly. I don’t have much strategy here. I usually just wait until it gets to $10 off, then cash that in the next time I spend at least $60 there. I have no idea if that’s a wise approach.
Club Sobey’s, because it’s the nearest grocery story to my house, and actually, points accumulate pretty fast on this puppy, at least if you spend as much on food as we seem to. Strategy here is to redeem $15 once it reaches $30 off. (Because it’s faster to get from $15 to $30 off again than to start from $0.)
Beat Goes on card. A retro card, matching the retro products they carry (physical CD, LPs, and DVDs): Made of paper, you get a stamp with each purchase; when it’s full, you get a free CD or DVD.
Then there’s all those stores who track your points for you, at the store, sans plastic. Meaning that I’m currently also accumulating points at:
Is that a lot? Am I a points queen, completely typical, or just a lightweight?
Apparently, I don’t see much of a downside to these reward programs. I did hear that those who are savvy about using points credit card (meaning they always pay them off, but also accumulate enough points to get rewards) have a slightly inflationary effect for everyone else who doesn’t do that. That is, prices rise slightly for all to helping pay for my rewards. Umm, sorry about that, I guess.
And yes, there probably are times I’ve selected a particular product or even store because I get points there. But I don’t think it’s out of control yet.
Then, finally, the whole privacy issue. But really, given how much Google, for example, knows about me, what’s the big deal about Sobeys Inc. knowing that I buy food? Or Air Miles thinking I’m a wino with a modest phone bill and occasional online shopping habit? And Cineplex? They must think I haven’t been to a movie there in three years, when the Social Network caused me to break my fast.
In yet another week where we seem to have something on every night, tonight’s event was a wine-paired dinner at Bloom, the newly named student-run restaurant at Conestoga College. But I just couldn’t resist the offer when it showed up in my mailbox.
It was a four-course dinner, with wine, for $36. The featured winery was Fielding Estates. The menu was as follows.
Amuse: Apple turnover, red pepper mousse, and spicy sausage of some type. Seems a weird mix, but every thing was quite nice.
Starter: Lobster Bisque scented with Vanilla and Basil Wine: 2008 Fielding Chardonnay
I was very impressed with this wine, which turned out to be a small batch of 200 cases, so I may not get to have it again. The lobster bisque was also nicely done. I wasn’t so sure about vanilla scenting it, but it was a moderate flavoring, just giving the soup a touch of sweetness. The little spoon we were given to eat it with was kind of awkward, but it did look cute with the little bowl.
Second course: Salt Cured Foie Gras accompanied by Mango and Pineapple Salsa served on Toasted Brioche Wine: 2008 Fielding Gerwurztraminer
They do a nice cold foie gras here. It’s not strongly foie gras flavored, but has a lovely texture. Mango isn’t totally in season and so the texture wasn’t ideal, but that’s a quibble. The taste was still fine. The Gerwurtz, which is available at LCBO, was less impressive than the Chardonnay but still a very nice wine.
Main: Navarin of Lamb, Mint and Celeriac Sauce, Sweet Potato Rosti and Harvard Beets. Wine: 2008 Fielding Carbernet-Syrah
A “navarin” turns out to be a stew kind of thing, combined with peas and potatoes along with the celeriac. The whole thing had a slight sweetness that was quite appealing, and excellent texture. The rosti and beets were a little tougher than they should be, but tasted quite. The wine was quite delicious. Not big, but fruity enough and with the acidity necessary to make it food friendly. It’s a mix of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Syrah. Available from the winery.
Dessert: Chocolate and Caramel Baked Alaska Wine: 2007 Select Later Harvest Gewurtztraminer
The wine was very nice, with an apple sweetness to it. It didn’t quite stand up to the dessert, but that’s OK. The dessert on its own was quite fine. The caramel was pretty subtle, with the slightly chocolatey meringue and ice cream predominating.
All in all, definitely a deal for $36.
The service had the slight awkwardness one might expect of students learning their craft, and generally lacking in downright funny moments of the now mythical “wine cupboard” night. But it was slightly amusing to be told that they had only one type of tea, “and I’m not sure what it is. It starts with O.”
Last night Jean and I took in some belated Halloween viewing and watched the pilot episode of AMC’s new series, The Walking Dead. All I knew about it was that it was about zombies, and it was supposed to be good.
So I was expecting it might be kind of scary, but wasn’t expecting it to be quite so—intense, I guess, as the warning said.
Because this not be a “fun” zombie series. In fact, they’re not called zombies at all, but walkers—the walking dead, you see.
But I should backtrack. The premise is a small town sheriff who is shot and goes into a coma. When he awakens from it, he finds the world much changed. Most people in it are dead. But some—well, it’s not quite accurate to say they don’t stay dead, because they are still dead, but they don’t stay still. They rise. They lumber around. They look for live flesh to feast on. The only way to stop them is to damage their heads (shooting being the most efficient way). While easy enough to get away from one on one, in a frenzied crowd, it’s a different story.
The whole thing is treated quite seriously, and is therefore horrible. Decaying corpses. Adorable little girls with teddy bears but rotting faces. Pathetic paraplegic zombie woman. And worst of all, loved ones rendered as walkers. Could you shoot the face of the person you loved and just watched die?
So. It was good, but it really wasn’t the ideal thing to watch right before going to bed.
If you’re curious, AMC is rerunning the pilot this Friday, apparently. Then it’s continuing on Sunday nights, in Mad Men’s old time slot.
Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard. A 16-year-old girl takes up with an older man, and starts to reconsider her plans to attend Oxford.
She says: A simple enough story, but a great, funny script by Nick Hornby along with strong acting by all made it very engaging. You do kind of want to tell this young girl to run screaming from this older (though charming) guy who is tempting her away from university, but the character is very intelligent, and her arguments about how much an education will benefit her at time (early 1960s) when career prospects for women are very few can’t that easily be dismissed.
He says: This movie just made me way too uncomfortable. The whole premise was wrong. I could barely watch it.
Through the So You Think You Can Dance Canada season, I’ve been taping my favorites to DVD. In advance of tonight’s final show, I just rewatched them all. Be interesting to compare my picks with the judge’s.
Week 1
Bree and Edgar – Sexy hip-hop
Of course, with Bree having been eliminated so early, no way this will be in the final show. I love how sexy it is, but that’s apparently the very reason these two ended up in the bottom three that week: People were offended by it! (In the video, the actual dancing starts around 1:37.)
Hani and Tara-Jean – Nico’s jazz routine
Yep, also won’t be there, given than Hani was the first to go! Seemed completely unfair, though, both that he ended up in the bottom 3, and that the judges dismissed him along with his injured partner.
Week 2
Nathalie and Mackenzie – Hip hop
Seems I either love the hip hop or am completely indifferent to it, and this one, I loved. I think it’s partly the song, which I liked so much, I bought! (Also a very rare thing for me, with hip hop.) And these two white, contemporary just did a great job with it.
Charlene and Jeff – Contemporary
Having rewatched, I have to say, I don’t think I’d include this one. It was fine, they danced it fine, but there was just so much contemporary this year! Nothing especially stood out about this one. I can’t even remember the choreographer, but it was probably Stacey Tookey.
Danielle and Sebastian – Theatre
This one, on the other hand, was very memorable. I think Sean Cheeseman may be my favorite choreographer. This seemed to suit Danielle and Sebastian perfectly.
Week 3
Amanda and Denys – Quickstep
Someday, someone needs to explain to me why in the ballroom dance classes I take, quickstep is considered one of the easiest. It’s typically the first one you learn. Yet on this show, it’s taken as gospel that it’s the hardest. Either way, Amanda and Denys nailed it.
Charlene and Jeff – Hustle
Oh my God, just as impressive on the second viewing (well, it’s more than my second). Still think this is the best disco I’ve ever seen on one of these shows. They were amazing.
Week 4
Nathalie and Mackenzie – Blake’s contemporary
I think I’d like this better if I didn’t now know that the tatoos represent Blake and Mia Michaels (are we ever going to find out what that was about?), but it was a fairly striking contemporary piece. And at least neither was supposed to have a disease.
Amanda and Denys – House
The number that, insanely, landed these two in the bottom three. Aren’t they great? (By the way, this is the closest Denys got to hip hop in the entire competition.)
Week 5
Charlene and Mackenzie – Latin
Some sexy Latin thing they did. Another one that, on retrospective viewing, I’m not sure deserves a place here.
Amanda and Sebastian – Contemporary
Amanda is afflicted with something here—Alzheimer’s? An eating disorder? I don’t remember. (When I tape, unlike YouTube, I don’t include the intro.) Sebastian tries to uphold her. Clearly, I liked it at the time, but they did way too many of these “issue” dances this year. (Ever since that cancer number made a big splash on the American show…) Caused each to lose something in the repetition.
Claudia and Denys – Samba
Clearly I wasn’t being overly picky this week, but Denys was great as usual, and Claudia kept up reasonably well.
Danielle and Edgar – Contemporary
Mostly notable for how well Edgar handles this dance, given that it’s not his genre. Danielle looks remarkably strong (physically, not as a dancer) with him. And, I love this song!
Week 6
Janick and Denys – Tango [Edit: Paso Doble]
Possibly at some point I just started taping everything Denys did? Although this was a good tango paso doble (and Janick’s first appearance on the DVD). But I can’t say I particularly remembered it before rewatching it just now.
Amanda and Mackenzie – Afro-jazz
Another one I didn’t remember all that well, but it is nicely done.
Claudia and Jonathan – Hip hop
This one, I actually remembered! Because I was so surprised how good they both were. On rewatch, I remained particularly impressed with Jonathan (and Claudia still wasn’t bad). But don’t expect to see it again, as they’re not top 10, and there’s a tour to promote… [On edit: Or, not so much, apparently…]
Group number by Mia Michaels (results show)
Even though I taped some, I’ve been mostly ignoring group numbers and solos in this list (as it’s already insanely long), but had to include this, as I think it’s possibly the single best thing done all season. Wow. Just, wow.
Week 7
Danielle and Denys – Contempory (military loss)
On rewatch, this really is my favorite contemporary number of the season. I can tell the story without any preamble, it’s incredibly touching, Danielle is just amazing, and Denys is Denys.
Week 8
Edgar and Amanda – Hip-hop mannequins (Luther Brown)
I think Amanda actually held her mannequin positions better than the hip-hop boy, but whatever, it was a very fun number. (Amanda is actually quite amazing, especially given her young age.)
Janick and Jeff – Blake’s jazz fusion
Nice sexy number, with whips and cages! I was impressed how well Jeff, who looks so Pillsbury dough boy, pulled this off. Amazing what eyeliner can do. Great dancing doesn’t hurt, either. (And apparently not offensive often for either to be eliminated, which is good.)
I’ve left off the “Top 4” show, as it’s not taped yet, but my favorite there was definitely the Sean Cheeseman “royalty” number that Janick and Jeff did. After that, Nico’s contemporary with Denys and Janick.
My picks (not necessarily predictions) for top dancer are 4. Janick 3. Jeff 2. Amanda 1. Denys.
Thursday I went to see Joseph Boyden talk about his new book, his first non-fiction effort, Louis Riel & Gabriel Dumont. I was flying solo, but not because Jean wasn’t interested. Boyden is perhaps Jean’s favorite novelist, and being Métis himself, he’s also interested in the Riel story. But weirdly, Jean was busy listening to another author that night—Kevin Callan, who writes humorous non-fiction about canoeing and other outdoor activities.
I have to admit that one of the main things I was wondering about Boyden is whether he looks as good in person as he does in his author. From my second-row seat, it quickly became apparent that, yes he does. The shock of black hair, the great smile with the gleaming white teeth, the compact body, the cool leaf tatoos on his forearms… It all adds up to someone perfectly fun to spend an hour looking at.
Fortunately, though, he was also quite interesting to listen to. He explained how he’d found it very difficult to get this book completed. Having to stick to facts (instead of the “lies of fiction”), trying to cover the lives of two men in a mere 45,000 words, were huge challenges. It took him about 3 years to complete the book.
Of course, he did learn a lot about the two men. He pointed out that Riel was not fighting just for the rights of the Métis, but of all the settlers on the land the railroad was to come through, whether Native, white, or Métis. And when McDonald sent in the troops, he says it was Riel’s refusal to follow Dumont’s advice and engage in guerilla warfare that doomed them. He was very moved by reading the transcript of Riel’s trial, where Riel was fighting not only the charges against, but also his defense team, who were arguing that he was insane.
During the Q&A, we learned a bit more about Boyden himself. He says his interest in Canadian history likely comes from having an elderly father, born in 1898. (His father died when Boyden was 8.) This set many of us off trying to do that math in our heads… And he thinks that his ability to write from a woman’s perspective (as in Through Black Spruce) was helped by having seven older sisters, who frequently dressed him up as a doll. And he’s currently working on two novels, one a continuation of the Three Mile Road / Through Black Spruce series, and another centered around the Jesuits arrival in Canada.
In general, he came across as quite charming and pretty funny, particularly for one whose books are a little dark.
Afterward, I stood in the line to get my books signed: Through Black Spruce, which I had before, and the Riel and Dumont one that I bought on the day. Fortunately I had something to say other than what seemed to be overly obvious, that being that I’m a fan of his writing. “I think you know my mother,” I said. Because, you see, they’d previously worked together at Northern College in Timmins. It can be a small world.
We didn’t have high expectations of our trip through Northern Ontario, but thanks to perfect weather all week, plus the fact that Ontario does happen to look gorgeous in the fall, it was actually a really nice getaway. I’ll have a full report later, but in the meantime, here are some highlights.
BYOB in Tobermory. We’d decided to dine at Molinari’s in Tobermory. They make Italian food, and I’d noted a bit wistfully on the way there that it was too bad they weren’t licensed, as a little red wine is very good with Italian. On arrival, we were the only patrons. We informed the owner that we’d like to have dinner there. Great, he said. But, he added, did we know that the LCBO was still open? It took a minute, but we figured out what he was alluding to. OK, we said. We’ll just pop over there, then come back. Just wait, he said. I have to pick up some stuff there anyway. Just lock up the door there, and I’ll drive you. And he did.
Aren’t small towns great?
No corkage fee, either. And very good food, at a very good price.
The colours of Manitoulin. We experienced great fall colours everywhere we went, really, but we were particularly struck by them on Manitoulin Island—maybe because we went there first, maybe because we weren’t quite expecting them, maybe because that’s where we did the most hiking. At any rate, it was just beautiful.
Petting a porcupine. Science North in Sudbury was fun in general, but especially cute was when the porcupine in the nature area made a run for it. (He was out of his cage while it was being cleaned, or something.) The trainer eventually corralled it, and while out, we were able to make his acquaintance. He was very cute, and felt kind of like straw to pet.
Fine dining in Northern Ontario. After a series of delicious dinners featuring items such as Moroccan lamb, mushroom risotto, elk carpaccio, green seafood curry, chocolate valrona cake, we realized that not only had we not had a bad dinner on this trip, but the overall food quality probably beat our last trip to France. This would not have been possible in Northern Ontario in years past.
Finally walking the AY Jackson lookout trail. I’m not sure how many times we’ve driven by it, but this year we finally hiked the AY Jackson Lookout trail near Sudbury. It’s really gorgeous. I can see how it might have inspired some paintings.
*** 
I have to admit that one of the main things I was wondering about Boyden is whether he looks as good in person as he does in his author. From my second-row seat, it quickly became apparent that, yes he does. The shock of black hair, the great smile with the gleaming white teeth, the compact body, the cool leaf tatoos on his forearms… It all adds up to someone perfectly fun to spend an hour looking at.
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