On the DEWLine 2.0: Dwight Williams

So it's finally happened.

I was kind of hoping he'd live just long enough to be in an Alpha Flight movie. I don't know which character would have been a good fit, mind you...

And for the record, I did get to meet him once, at the Magnetic North festival. I thanked him for Bob Fraser (Due South) and Duff McArdle (Power Play).

https://www.cbc.ca/1.6760868

Oh, thank heaven. It's his birthday coming up, not his obituary!

I said it in person years ago, but saying it again here: thank you, Mr. Pinsent!

https://www.cbc.ca/archives/the-many-roles-of-gordon-pinsent-s-long-and-varied-acting-career-1.5207987

At 720 PM: Damn. Just found out that I missed out on the (successful) launch of TESS. More exoplanet-hunting about to get underway!

At 830 PM: Noting also: this is Bat Appreciation Day *and* National Canadian Film Day.

Double feature of your favourite Bat-movie and the Canadian film of your choice?

Just got home from my second viewing of Hyena Road. The first time, I left the cinema feeling shocked. Tonight, I left in a state of anger.

And I'm not quite sure of where to aim that anger.

Does that make sense?

Okay.

I voted on Friday night.

Then I went to see Paul Gross's new movie Hyena Road, which was - as expected - disorienting. I don't know that it'll compare to the greats of the genre, but I did get a sense of what the latest Afghan War's been like for Canadians serving in the middle of it. Which, aside from making back the money spent on it, was all that Gross really wants out of it. I figured if I didn't see it ASAP - premiere night, as it turned out - I wasn't going to have much chance beyond that. I've mentioned before that Canadian movies tend to get short attention from our movie theatre chains, and fully expect this to be no different, even though it should be.

Hyena Road, people. If you've got violence-trauma triggers, be warned. The fight scenes are bloody. But I do believe it's worth the time and money to see at least the once.

Come to think of it, not being patient was exactly why I voted at the advance poll on Friday after work too. I just didn't want to cope with any more pressure to vote "strategically". One acquaintance has accused me of maintaining "purity", but I can't trust a party that turns its back on several of its best contributions to Canadian life to avoid the inevitable false accusations of terrorist sympathy. And those accusations were trotted out by the incumbents anyway on other excuses.

Anyway. A more positive note...

Today, I listened to Chris Hadfield's Space Sessions: Songs From a Tin Can for the first time, having picked up the album at Compact Music yesterday. As you might expect from Hadfield, there's more of a country/folk vibe off the album. You may consider that either ironic or totally expected given that this was the first ever album with the vocals recorded Up There.

There's a certain exceptionalist satisfaction I get from that. Admitted freely. It took a Canadian to do this. No one from anywhere else thought of it.

And now I'm headed off to see the 6 PM showing of The Martian. I bought, read and enjoyed the book after looking at the first trailer. I figure they've got enough good raw material to work with. If my brains are working properly after getting home again, I'll let you know what I got out of it later tonight.

Later, all!

And for the Canadians reading this? Please vote. I don't need to know for whom, I don't need to be able to approve of your choice(s) before or after the fact. Ever.

Just vote.

Finally!

Now how many other funding sources have they got lined up?

Starring Brent Butt and Amy Smart, in case anyone's wondering.

I saw this movie tonight. It was a quiet little gem of comedy/noir and I had fun watching it. Was a little afraid the screening room projectors were going to be completely off-line for this, but that got solved before the trailers started.

If you're looking for more info:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/corner-gas-star-brent-butt-promotes-new-film-no-clue-1.2561761
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/brent-butt-returns-in-noir-comedy-film-no-clue-1.2567341

Keep an eye out for it.

From this morning's hardcopy edition of the Ottawa Citizen, by David Reevely:

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Uncertainty+over+Lansdowne+cinema+engulfs+World+Exchange/8864752/story.html

A couple of reactions...

1. As I told Reevely on Facebook, having read the article, I'm surprised that the movie-screening rooms at Place de Ville are still intact after two decades, given that so much else of the underground mall there as originally built is now given over to governmental offices and meeting spaces.

2. I see that Diane Deans has reached a similar opinion to mine re: the downtown core and the expected influx of new residents adding to the need for cinema screening rooms. Could there be an impetus sufficient to rescue World Exchange, revive Rideau Centre *and* Place de Ville, and preserve Lansdowne, Mayfair and Bytowne?

Feel free to discuss any or all of these as your interests guide you...

1. On movies: I went to see Gunless on Monday, The Trotsky on Friday...and I had fun watching both of them. Seems like it was a good week for me to see CanCon movies overall.

Haven't seen Iron Man 2 yet, although I fully expect to enjoy it as I did the first film.

2. InsideTheCBC.com asks a simple question about bias issues, and look at all the dog-piling going on in response. Amazing, isn't it?

I'm reminded of a recent installment of Age of Persuasion, "Where the Power Resides", wherein the power of the audience was discussed at some length. In the course of this episode, a clip from a Rod Serling interview was re-aired wherein Serling spoke of his POV on that episode of Lassie wherein she gave birth to puppies. Whereupon the producers and network responsible were flooded with what apparently turned out to be a handful of people cranking out letters of complaint by the thousands levelling accusations of producing and airing obscene material. Nonetheless, despite the source, the letters had their intended impact. Sad, and precedent-enforcing impact.

3. Watched "Flesh and Stone" on Doctor Who tonight. Fun, and more than a little chilling at all the points where it was intended. Including the final act, I daresay.

4. Noticed in Flash # 2 this week that the noble habit of fictional municipalities having their own Departments of Motor Vehicles in the DC Universe is apparently continuing...and with DNA profiles included on their smart-strips as well. We can probably blame the Durlan participation in the Alliance Invasion of 1988 for that last item, but the former - the bit about municipal DMVs? - that bothers me more than a little. Seeing as we've known for some years that - for Barry Allen's hometown's example - Central City's in Missouri, what's the point of devolving DMV duties onto Central City?

Any theories?

Note to seanchaidh, themoo37, fajrdrako and anyone else interested: I think those of us wanting to see the above-mentioned Paul Gross movie had better move PDQ if we want to see it before the theatres pull it for being a CanConMovie!

Which theatres is it playing in again?