Thursday, August 25, 2016
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Toronto Cult Film & Video Festival (1992) Schedule
October 24, 1992
7:00 pm -- I Hate Your Guts -- Director: Roger Corman
9:00 pm -- Bust a Move -- Julian Grant
11:00 pm -- Nekromantik 1 -- Jörg Buttgereit
October 25, 1992
7:00 pm -- Black Sunday -- Mario Bava
9:00 pm -- Dracula (Spanish version) -- George Melford
11:00 pm -- Scum of the Earth -- Herschell Gordon Lewis
October 26, 1992
7:00 pm -- Fugitive Girls -- A.C. Stephen
9:00 pm -- The Sensuous Wife -- Joseph F. Robertson
11:00 pm -- The Love Feast -- Joseph F. Robertson
October 27, 1992
7:00 pm -- The Last Pogo -- Colin Brunton
9:00 pm -- Not Dead Yet -- Ruth Taylor
11:00 pm -- No Skin Off My Ass -- Bruce LaBruce
October 28, 1992
7:00 pm -- Satan's Bed -- Unknown
9:00 pm -- Der Todesking -- Jörg Buttgereit
11:00 pm -- Forbidden Zone -- Richard Elfman
October 29, 1992
7:00 pm -- Teenagers from Outer Space -- Tom Graeff
9:00 pm -- Five Minutes to Live -- Bill Karn
11:00 pm -- Deadbeat at Dawn -- Jim Van Bebber
October 30, 1992
7:00 pm -- Short Attention Span Theatre -- Various
9:00 pm -- Nekromantik 2 -- Jörg Buttgereit
11:00 pm -- Homicidal -- William Castle
October 31, 1992
7:00 pm -- Satan's Sadists -- Al Adamson
9:00 pm -- Amodeo Bingo Martyr -- Steve DiMarco
11:00 pm -- Nash the Slash: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari -- Robert Wiene
12:00 am -- Rocky Horror -- Jim Sharman
___
Yesterday I posted the above guide's cover.
Monday, August 22, 2016
Sunday, August 21, 2016
Friday, August 5, 2016
Thursday, August 4, 2016
Great Bike Lanes on Bloor Street (Toronto)
Back in June I posted a piece titled "Royal Ontario Museum Pull". Included as one of the pictures was this image:
Things have changed a little on this section of Bloor Street. Check out the new, and essential, dedicated bike lanes:
Things have changed a little on this section of Bloor Street. Check out the new, and essential, dedicated bike lanes:
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Toronto in a Haze of Heat and Humidity
Looking west! Somewhere in there is the C.N. Tower and Toronto's downtown core.
Friday, July 15, 2016
Mums! (Aren't Always Right)
Tonight I watched an episode of the CBC 'comedy' series Schitt's Creek and I got a flashback: Seeing comedic actors Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara ply their trade in material far away beneath their talents reminded me how funny they were in the classic Canadian comedy series SCTV.
I discovered the show when it was titled, simply, Second City Television. How we stumble upon a certain television series, especially one that goes on to great heights, has long interested me. In the case of me and SCTV it all started in early 1977 through my weekly scans of TV Guide magazine. For many weeks I would note the listing for something called Second City. It would appear with the numbers 6 and 41, which translated as the Global Television Network. ("Global" in those days was the new kid on the dial but it delivered a fine range of fare; unlike the plastic rubbish can it is today, and has been for years.)
One evening I decided to sit down and sample this "Second City" thing. I liked it. My fifteen-year-old head got much of the humour. I did not know it at the time but what I had watched was an episode from the first batch, which was produced at the Global studios on Barber Greene Road in Toronto.
I had to tell others of my great discovery, one I categorized as a video equivalent of David Livingstone's discovery of Victoria Falls....well, Mosi-oa-Tunya, more properly.
Mum! She'll be my first convert. As this week's episode unreeled on the Zenith, she and I sat in silence. That's right, as in "no laughter". I wanted to laugh but I realized that emitting anything even mildly resembling a positive reaction might read as lacking class to my British born and raised mum.
End credits: The next day I brought up the issue with my mother. "Why didn't you like it?", I asked, darn well knowing the answer about to come my way. My dad overheard this and became curious as to what serious discussion was playing out before him: "What's that?..."
I figured it was prudent to let mum answer: "Oh, it's called Second City. They're trying to do a Monty Python but it doesn't work."
Mum was so wrong....
I discovered the show when it was titled, simply, Second City Television. How we stumble upon a certain television series, especially one that goes on to great heights, has long interested me. In the case of me and SCTV it all started in early 1977 through my weekly scans of TV Guide magazine. For many weeks I would note the listing for something called Second City. It would appear with the numbers 6 and 41, which translated as the Global Television Network. ("Global" in those days was the new kid on the dial but it delivered a fine range of fare; unlike the plastic rubbish can it is today, and has been for years.)
One evening I decided to sit down and sample this "Second City" thing. I liked it. My fifteen-year-old head got much of the humour. I did not know it at the time but what I had watched was an episode from the first batch, which was produced at the Global studios on Barber Greene Road in Toronto.
I had to tell others of my great discovery, one I categorized as a video equivalent of David Livingstone's discovery of Victoria Falls....well, Mosi-oa-Tunya, more properly.
Mum! She'll be my first convert. As this week's episode unreeled on the Zenith, she and I sat in silence. That's right, as in "no laughter". I wanted to laugh but I realized that emitting anything even mildly resembling a positive reaction might read as lacking class to my British born and raised mum.
End credits: The next day I brought up the issue with my mother. "Why didn't you like it?", I asked, darn well knowing the answer about to come my way. My dad overheard this and became curious as to what serious discussion was playing out before him: "What's that?..."
I figured it was prudent to let mum answer: "Oh, it's called Second City. They're trying to do a Monty Python but it doesn't work."
Mum was so wrong....
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Toronto Public Library: "Runnymede" Branch
Until now, I had never been to the Toronto Public Library's "Runnymede" branch. As a matter of fact it had been many years since I last strolled about the area of Bloor Street and Runnymede Road.
What a difference two decades makes. I have a good visual memory and I'm sure that the last time I was there that section of Bloor was not so finger snappin' happenin'.
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
"The Cobbler's Cat" - Poem
The Cobbler's Cat
It's the Cobbler's Cat
for this the
pet's got the
nicest shoes
makin' for the
finest moves
a twist in tail
the 'tude of
a Street Dude
this furry feline
don't get no
boos!
that's what's
a
Cobbler's Cat
It's the Cobbler's Cat
for this the
pet's got the
nicest shoes
makin' for the
finest moves
a twist in tail
the 'tude of
a Street Dude
this furry feline
don't get no
boos!
that's what's
a
Cobbler's Cat
***
2016
Simon St. Laurent
Simon St. Laurent
Sunday, June 19, 2016
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Another Canada Post Star Trek 50th Anniversary Post
Today I went into a Canada Post outlet to buy some stamps and saw that there was another model of Canada Post Star Trek 50th Anniversary display post. The post I blogged about last Friday was also there.
Friday, June 10, 2016
Canada Post's Star Trek 50th Anniversary Post
Canada Post is doing quite the number in celebration of Star Trek's upcoming 50th Anniversary: canadapost.ca/startrek
One of the most famous and most analyzed television series of all time premiered on September 8, 1966 on NBC. Here in Canada CTV premiered the show two days earlier.
When I was in my local post office today I was most impressed by this display post:
One of the most famous and most analyzed television series of all time premiered on September 8, 1966 on NBC. Here in Canada CTV premiered the show two days earlier.
When I was in my local post office today I was most impressed by this display post:
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
And Then For Something Completely Different: A Poem
Time Merchants
This morning I coffeed
on Yonge Street
with an old friend
caught up on
issues since
I last saw him
last week
He and I disbanded:
My friend went back
to his conference and
I decided
to do something I
rarely do
anymore
walk up Yonge
"Look at all the
bloody
Vertical
Cracker
Boxes!
(going up
or already spiking
the cloudy sky)"
This town is out of
control
Zoning going to
The Twilight Zone
Yonge Street has
changed
much these last few years
helped
by Premium stacks
sprouting
from holes
Before I made it
to Bloor Street I
was stopped by
a woman selling
something
in front of a shop
Cosmetics
Me?
Why not?....
No, I
don't use facial moisturizers
but I should
Perhaps
I could
The sales lady was
in top form
having worked a little sales
I know the bad
and
the good
The cosmetic's test was done
on my forearm
but
I can imagine
With every peek into the bathroom
mirror my imagination tweaks
with age
** return **
Bloor Street
away
less
eventful
***
2016
Simon St. Laurent
Simon St. Laurent
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Yes, Russia Did Win the Space Race. And How!
Tonight on Ontario's superlative television network, "TVOntario", plays 'part one' of the fine BBC documentary film Cosmonauts: How Russia Won the Space Race.
That great race to the island in the sky was won clearly by the USA, leaving the USSR in Earth orbit.
But.
The contest itself was not only of note but of one note.
The Soviets were never serious about the affair. I won't go into a political history lesson here, but suffice to say, where the Americans hit the moon several times their opposition stayed in town, so to speak, establishing an outpost around Earth in the form of the Salyut (and later, Mir) space stations. On these platforms they learned about human physiology in weightlessness and conducted numerous scientific experiments.
From the Soviet Union's "feigned" moon attempt sprouted the outstanding Soyuz spacecraft, modified versions of which ferry men/women and supplies to the International Space Station today. (This space cadet considers the Soyuz "system" to be one of the great man-made machines.)
Throughout the 1960s the game became the moon: the ice hockey net; the basketball hoop; the goal line and the uprights. Easy to say in hindsight, yes, but there was a whole field to be played.
There's so much more to the story.
Cosmonauts: How Russia Won the Space Race
Tonight at 10 p.m. on TVOntario
That great race to the island in the sky was won clearly by the USA, leaving the USSR in Earth orbit.
But.
The contest itself was not only of note but of one note.
The Soviets were never serious about the affair. I won't go into a political history lesson here, but suffice to say, where the Americans hit the moon several times their opposition stayed in town, so to speak, establishing an outpost around Earth in the form of the Salyut (and later, Mir) space stations. On these platforms they learned about human physiology in weightlessness and conducted numerous scientific experiments.
From the Soviet Union's "feigned" moon attempt sprouted the outstanding Soyuz spacecraft, modified versions of which ferry men/women and supplies to the International Space Station today. (This space cadet considers the Soyuz "system" to be one of the great man-made machines.)
Throughout the 1960s the game became the moon: the ice hockey net; the basketball hoop; the goal line and the uprights. Easy to say in hindsight, yes, but there was a whole field to be played.
There's so much more to the story.
Cosmonauts: How Russia Won the Space Race
Tonight at 10 p.m. on TVOntario
Sunday, June 5, 2016
Books - Lots and Lots of Books
Living for many years in Toronto's "Annex" neighbourhood has made me more than a little familiar with Ten Editions Books.
Today this Annex Dweller realized the shop is not as familiar to me as I had led myself to believe. There is a back room with even more wonderful used books -- lots and lots of books.
Books are important to me. I have a few bookcases, holding pulp and paper bound as information and joy. (One case alone is devoted just to film & television subjects.) As a matter of fact, on average, reading is more important to me than watching films or television.
The two times I've admitted to preferring spending time in front of text over moving images the answer I got was the same: "Not me, I'm a visual person."
"Ahh....so am I." (It may appear to be a contradiction, but I've been known to cast surprises.)
I'd rather hang around in a bookstore than panic and salivate over a television remote. An old friend of mine, like me, has worked in film and television for years, and when he comes into town we hit the wonderful local used bookstores. What impresses me most is his enthusiasm for different subjects. (It's so nice to see a filmmaker get his "stuff" from outside of movies and television.)
Ten Editions Books has been at the same address (698 Spadina Avenue) since the epic year 1966.
Today this Annex Dweller realized the shop is not as familiar to me as I had led myself to believe. There is a back room with even more wonderful used books -- lots and lots of books.
Books are important to me. I have a few bookcases, holding pulp and paper bound as information and joy. (One case alone is devoted just to film & television subjects.) As a matter of fact, on average, reading is more important to me than watching films or television.
The two times I've admitted to preferring spending time in front of text over moving images the answer I got was the same: "Not me, I'm a visual person."
"Ahh....so am I." (It may appear to be a contradiction, but I've been known to cast surprises.)
I'd rather hang around in a bookstore than panic and salivate over a television remote. An old friend of mine, like me, has worked in film and television for years, and when he comes into town we hit the wonderful local used bookstores. What impresses me most is his enthusiasm for different subjects. (It's so nice to see a filmmaker get his "stuff" from outside of movies and television.)
Ten Editions Books has been at the same address (698 Spadina Avenue) since the epic year 1966.
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