Month: October 2012

  • Stylish Neighbourhoods

    New York City-based Complex Magazine published its list of the 50 Most Stylish Neighbourhoods in the World last week. These are the go-to places in global cities, areas that – apparently – emerge as destinations for unique fashion, style, and culture. And to my utter surprise, my little neighbourhood here – Gastown – is listed as the 4th most stylish neighbourhood gobally. The top ten for your information are:

    1. 1st Arrondissement, Paris

    2. Harajuku, Tokyo

    3. SoHo, New York

    4. Gastown, Vancouver

    5. Kreuzber-Friedrichshain, Berlin

    6. Wynwood, Miami

    7. Sodermalm, Sweden

    8. Ladbrooke Grove, London

    9. Central Districk, Hong Kong

    10. Brera, Italy

    Go figure! My own pereception of Gastown does not necessarily mirror Complex’s. Mainly because the place is overrun with tourists during the cruise season May through October. Tourists and style hardly go hand-in-hand. And while, sure, Gastown is completely charming and has some of the country’s finest restaurants and uber chic boutiques within its tiny precincts, the ‘it’ spots for stylishness has moved on to Railside me thinks. 

    … but let’s onwards to some stylish (and not so stylish) movies …

    Saam gwok dzi gin lung se gap (aka Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon)

    Based on the 600-year-old novel “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” by Luo Guangzhong, director Daniel Lee’s sweeping movie has common-man cum war hero, Zhao Zilong (Andy Lau) rise to fame by rescuing the son of warlord Liu Bei (Hua Yueh). Charged with liberating the land from the evil warlord Cao Cao (Damian Lau) and his just-as-mean daughter Cao Ying (the always brilliant Maggie Qi), Three Kingdoms is full of the shock and awe requried of Chinese action movies but fails in its character development. It is more a series of battles – done brilliantly for sure – linked together with talkie bits, which is rather a shame for sure as the acting of both Lau and Qi deserve better. However if you are a film buff new to this genre or this period of Chinese history, do pick it up. My rating 6 out of 10.


     
    Saint Ralph
    The year is 1953 and fourteen year old Ralph Walker (Adam Butcher) remains self-reliant despite the challenges life has presented him. He lives alone in his family home and lies to authorities that he is living with his grandparents. His widowed mother, who is perpetually hospitalized, thinks he is living with a friend. His father is dead. Not surprisingly Ralph is obsessed with girls – in particular nurse Alice (Jennifer Tilly) – and is often in trouble at St. Magnus Catholic School in Hamilton and brought up before the school`s strict headmaster, Father Fitzpatrick (Gordon Pinsett). In an effort to redirect his hormones Father Fitzpatrick orders Ralph on to the school`s cross country running team. There, under the guidance of the team`s unorthodox coach, Father Hibbert (Campbell Scott), Ralph finds his stride – so to speak – as he makes a bid to run in the Boston Marathon. Wholly unbelieveable as it is, this quintessentially Canadian film, directed by Michael McGowan, with equal parts folksiness and quirkiness delivers a heart-warming story with enough laughs and drama to make it to the finish. My rating 7 out of 10.
     

    Case 39
    A film that demonstrates the problems that arise when you rewrite it umpteen times. Result – silliness and disaster. It starts fine enough with the audience becoming hot and bothered by the parents of wee Lilth Sullivan (Jodelle Ferland) who are bent on roasting her in an oven. You read that right. That all ends poorly for them and enter Emily Jenkins (Renee Zellweger trying to become scream queen), a social worker who opts to adopt Lilth. When Lilth moves in all manner of odd/strange/creepy/usual (take your pick) things start to take place and Emily begins to suspect not all is good or right with the wee one she’s adopted. Seems Lilth is particularly good at sensing one’s worse fears (albeit through statically telephone calls) and ending the lives of Emily’s acquaintances. All this is confirmed by Emily’s friend Lovejoy, er, Detective Mike Barron (none other than Ian McShane being, well, Lovejoy with an ounce more heart). Director Christian Alvart tries hard to knit it all together and deliver some scares but really we sort of know what’s up from the get-go. Just another demonic possession; and not a good one at that. Yawn. My rating for the horror of it all (and I’m being faceitious here), 3 out of 10.
     

    Ritânâ (aka The Returner)
    Americans will focus solely on the fact Titana is a mix of several US franchise movies – The Terminator, Matrix, Independence Day to name but three. Purists will focus on the – granted – gaping plot devices and holes within the script. But, if you can sit and just watch this film for its entertainment value alone, you’ll enjoy it. Directed by Takashi Yamazaki, Ritana centres on a young Japanese girl, named Milly (Anne Suzuki) who is one of a handful of remaining humans who have survived an alien invasion of earth in 2084. Milly travels back in time to 2002 and hooks-up with a mercenary named Miyamoto (Takeshi Kaneshiro) to attempt to find and kill the original alien who sent the signal to destroy mankind. In that hunt they come up against a mafia boss named Mizoguchi (Goro Kishitani) who is actually keeping the alien and the ship he arrived in captive. Ritana is full of that smooth bullet action wizardry found in Matrix as it deploys its kungfu magic, and is a visually stunning film to watch. The action is well paced and despite rather oblique fuzziness on what’s actually going on is worth returning to again and again. A solid, fun movie to watch in all its stylized fashion. My rating 8 out of 10.
     

     
    Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
    This latest edition of the money-making franchise starts robustly with lots of good fun as director Rob Marshall lets Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) do his usual scchitck. In this romp the absence of Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightly from the pirate ship is certainly compensated for by the arrive of Angelica Teach (the beautiful Penelope Cruz) as Captain Jack’s new foil. The quest this time out is the fabled Fountain of Youth. Jack’s nemiss, Blackbeard (an excellent Ian McShane) is back as as well. But after starting well, the film sputters along and this reviewer lost interest as soon as things moved to the ship Queen Anne’s Revenge. One wonders if this franchise has set sail into becalmed waters and whether Captain Jack ought to walk the plank and be done with it. My rating 4 out of 10.
     

     
    Haevnen (aka In a Better World)
    Susanne Bier directs this Danish creeper that deals squarely with revenge. Amid the story of Anton (Mikaek Persbrandt), who commutes between his home in Denmark and a nameless west African refugee camp, lies the central story of his son, Elias (Markus Rygaard), who is being bullied at school until he is befriended by new kid on the block, Christian (William Johnk Nielsen). Christian, obviously a very troubled teenager, leads Elias in progrom of revenge on his bullies that forces both boys and their families to come to terms with the complexity of human emotions. If you can ignore the subplots in Haevnen that try to juxtapose Anton’s mission in west Africa with the game afoot at home – a device that simply fails – there is a darker theme about the cost of revenge that does make the film worth a peek. Both young actors are good and carry the film between the ever sombre looks of Anton. Haevnen won the Oscar for best foreign film in 2011 that should have easily gone to either Biutiful or the superb Canadian film, Incendies. My rating 6 out of 10.
     


  • Portland

    1) Japanese Garden, Portland

    After returning from adventures in Calgary on Thursday, we were immediately flying off to Portland on Friday for a long weekend to meetup with friends, Karen and Paul, who flew in from Chicago to meet us. This was essentially a foodie run. The last time I was in Portland was waaaay back in 1980 (or so) to visit family who lived in Coos Bay. We took up residence at The Nines, right downtown and instantly started chowing down. First up was a visit to Departure, the hotel’s Modern Asian-inspired rooftop restaurant. Portland is known, especially, for its eat local, eat sustainably take on food and kudos go to chef Gregory Gourdet for a fabulous meal. G and I both admitted the pork belly we ate here was probably the best damn pork belly we’ve ever eaten.

    2) our hotel; 3) the living/dining room in our suite

    4) more of the room; 5) our bedroom

    6) G heads to the club lounge; 7) the bathroom

    8) Departure; 9) the pork belly

    10) the view from our suite; 11) looking down into the central lobby on the 8th floor

    12) G and I head to dinner

    On Saturday we ventured out to Portland’s Japanese Garden, which is purported to be the most authentic Japanese garden outside of Japan. We would concur. It’s a lovely spot set beside the International Test Rose Garden (Portland is known as the city of roses!).

    13) the International Test Rose Garden; 14) G heads to the Japanese Garden

     

    15) the zen garden; 16) the exhibit inside the pavilion

     

    17) more flowers; 18) Karen and Paul heading to meet me

     

    19) the Zen Garden

     

    20) this is how they do the lines; 21) more of the zen garden

     

    22) cranes; 23) a perfect place to reflect

    We also made stops while in Portland at Voodoo Donuts (the lines, the lines!); the Saturday Market (open Sundays!); Pine Street Biscuts (OMG, so good – with a nod to Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, which put this iconic place on the map); Deschutes Brewing (OMG, the beer!); the Roxy (the greasiest dive ever in the Pearl District; complete with our visit with transvestites); the Kells Irish (yes, more beer).

     

    24) Voodoo Donuts; 25) inside the tiny shop

     

    26) what do you want?…; 27) we opted for a box-full

     

    28) maple bacon donut; 29) oreo, peanut butter donut

    30) lemon chiffon and peanut donut; 31) baby voodoo donut (filled with raspberry)

    32) beer a brewing at Deschutes; 33) we did samplers, of course

    34) we had mac n cheese; 35) beers galore!

    36 & 37) wandering through the market

    38) the bar at Kells; 39) Pine Street Biscuits

    40)  what you want? … 41) I ordered the McIsley

    42) G ordered the “Reggie”; 43) me so happy

     

    44) the pilot got permission to fly right over the crater of Mt St Helens on our way home (that’s Mt Adams in the background)

     

    45) … oh, and there was shopping of course while in Portland … with NO tax!!!

    Paul and Karen flew back to Vancouver with us and we continued the eating adventure here. On Thursday we headed up to Whistler for the day as Paul was keen to see the sites there. 

    46) Karen & Paul in Squamish; 47) looking back at Howe Sound

    48 & 49) there was lobster feasting at Earl’s in Whistler

    50) Paul and Karen at International House of Ice Cream in Vancouver … decisions, decisions … they have 218 varieties available in house always!

    I’ve since been to Saskatoon and back and am SO looking forward to the next two weeks of doing nothing in Vancouver before heading east again for stints in Toronto, Blue Mountain and then London.

     

  • Who has seen the wind…

    1) the ash among the Mitchell homestead

    I spent Sunday through Wednesday in Alberta. Firstly in Calgary before moving on to a wee camp outside Cochrane and finally a quick visit to Edmonton before flying home. While near Cochrane I had the honour of staying at W.O. Mitchell’s homestead. Born in Saskatchewan, Mitchell (often known as the Mark Twain of Canada) is best known for his iconic 1947 novel, Who Has Seen the Wind, which chronicles the life of young Brian O’Connal growing up in small town Depression-era Saskatchewan.

    2) the home where I bunked the night; 3) early the next morning … snow has fallen

    4) always take the path less trodden; 5) my bed for the night

    6 & 7) there is a small library with a memorial to Mitchell; 8) the next morning, a mule deer eyes me

    9) on the porch; 10) the main room

    The Globe & Mail quite rightly called this novel, required reading for all Canadian high schoolers, “One of the finest Canadian novels ever written”.  Here, here!

    The novel has never been better quoted – set to Joni Mitchell’s song, Both Sides Now - then during the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. As Donald Sutherland reads, you get a sense of the devasting lesson life under the big flat sky of the prairies births, even to young boys.

    I would walk to the end of the street and over the prairie with the clickety grasshoppers bunging in arcs ahead of me, and I could hear the hum and twang of wind in the great prairie harp of telephone wires. Standing there with the total thrust of prairie sun on my vulnerable head, I guess I learned – at a very young age – that I was mortal.

    W.O. Mitchell, Who Has Seen the Wind

    And spending a night there, amid the paths and trees he wandered, and rising to the the season’s first snow settling on the ash and pine, I understand. I understand.

    10) the snow falls … a short video I took

    11) do you see the wind?….