I don't want to play spoiler on my contribution to the Killer63 short horror film fest at the Mayfair, but the above image is from the Boxcar Cadavers video that I directed and it involves my talented friend Jennilee Murray being shoved in the trunk of a car. Be there Saturday night to see it and a dozen other diversely terrifying offerings.

It looks like we have everything together and assembled for the Killer63 screening on Saturday. So, y'know...a whole massive two days before the actual event. Not a lot of time to publicize the mini-fest, so just trying to get the word out via the magic of the internet while I can (don't know what people did before blogs and e-mail and Facebook and all this stuff).

The lucky number 13 shorts in the line-up will include (in not this exact order):

Never Bet the Devil Your Head - Kristian Larivier
Until the Fat Lady Sings - Rob Kantu
Bagra - Tom Jardine
Stop 21 - James Campbell
Seance - Robin Kasparik

Plus an 8mm zombie graveyard short from Petr Maur, two brand new shorts from Jeff Campbell, three works from Chris Chitaroni & Jimm Moir's Skywardkick Productions, and a pair of terror themed music videos from Canadian bands Hunter Valentine and Boxcar Cadavers (I directed the latter one). The work ranges in length from 5 to 18 minutes, and all combined comes in at about 100 / 105 minutes.

A couple of stills from Jeff Campbell's shorts "StalkHer" and "Dead End", both premiering this Saturday night (October 16th at 9pm) at the Mayfair Theatre.

Last week my film-making friends and I multitasked the shooting of a Boxcar Cadavers music video which will also serve as my entry into this years Killer63 festival. It involves rock and roll, kidnapping, and a nice girl locked in the trunk of a car. Even though it happened in the 11th hour, and well past my own set deadline, I'm very glad that we got to shoot the thing. It's a project that I've had on the brain for years, actually originally intended for another band that one of the Boxcar guys used to be in by the name of Crankenstein.

The shoot went well, and it's in the midst of being edited. Hopefully we'll have it all done by tomorrow...a whole three or so days before the actual festival screening. Such last minute stressy hectic deadline crunching feats are normal in such things. Every year I intend to get all this organized like a month in advance...never quite works out though. Maybe next year!

Only have time for a quick update, running off to the Mayfair soon to go check out the silent movie / live music night. Am equally excited for tomorrows screening of Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell, which has an amazing poster and tag-line. On top of that, it's got no less than two Star Wars legends: David Prowse (Darth Vader) as the Monster, and Peter Cushing (Grand Moff Tarkin) as Victor Frankenstein. And of course, it is also a very rare chance to see a Hammer horror classic up on the big screen.

Come check it out tomorrow (Sunday the 3rd) at Lost Marbles Geek Night at the Mayfair at 8:30.

There's at least a different version of Batman that pops up once a generation or so (sometimes things switch up even faster than that). Batman was the number 1 show that kids in 1966 rushed home after school to catch. For 120 episodes (over a very small period of time), and then one movie, Adam West and company's interpretation of Batman's world enthralled a generation.

Though it was not the original or the last live action version of Batman to make the leap to big screens, there were a number of serials in the 1940's and of course many incarnations to follow, most people for a very long time considered this Batman to be THE first and ONLY Batman. So much so that those not in the know to what Batman was like in the comic books before or after this era got kindah pissed off when Michael Keaton donned the cape and cowl for Tim Burton in the the more loyal to the source material film in 1989. Quite a few now grown up fans were pissed off quite and felt insulted that their childhood hero was being ruined.

Now, when I was a kid I hated this version of Batman. Loathed everything about the show. Because my Batman is Dark Night Returns, my Batman is Michael Keaton, my Batman is the genius animated series from Bruce Timm and Paul Dini.  My Batman wasn't bright colours, goofy dialogue, and shark repellent. And my Batman definitely didn't make use of on screen sound fx for fight scenes.

Then I saw the movie on VHS. And it was one of those laugh so hard you almost die moments (if you're not in the know...just wait for the shark scene). Although not my Batman, this Batman could still be greatly appreciated. The characters, the design, the style, the script...all weren't that far off in terms of a tribute to what was going on in comic books at the time. And the car! Man that's a cool car!




Batman swings into Lost Marbles Geek Night this Sunday September 26th at 8PM. A rare chance to see the geek classic up on the big screen.

The cool factor level that the Mayfair continues to attain helped in getting it mentioned over in the UK on a film program on BBC Radio (check out about 5:45 into the show). Specifically, the topic of conversation involved the above and beyond skills of our projectionist. I can only hope that being talked about on a Ricky Gervais podcast cannot be far behind.

So, in the September Mayfair schedule amongst a few other places, there was the news that Killer63 has been pushed up a lil' bit due to the packed nature of the October schedule. Meaning, the deadline has been pushed up a lil' bit for submissions to Octiber 6th. Forgot to mention it here though I guess. Now if there's one thing I know about trying to put together one of these mini-festivals, it's that not very many people hit deadlines (writer of this blog included). But let's do our best here people!

Thanks to everyone who's contacted me about getting a film in, any more questions or comments over the next month or so, lemme know.

Of course The Crow is memorable as the haunting final performance of Brandon Lee. Who like his movie-star father before him, died in his prime with so much possibility laid out before him. Lined up as his big break-through role after a few B-grade action movies, many thought that Brandon was the next big thing. And if not for some very bad luck and a freak accident, he would likely have been.

The whole sad tale has an extra brooding and creepy tinge to it, thanks to the fact that the film is about a central character that comes back from the dead. And in a way, Brandon Lee came back from the dead amidst publicity and praise to perform his final role up on the silver screen.

On a lighter note, I will always remember The Crow as the first R rated movie I attended as an 18 year old. For which I so smartly forgot my ID, but luckily got into anyhow.

The Crow hits Lost Marbles Geek Night at the Mayfair - Sunday September 5th at 9pm

Tonight's the night for one of the biggest Geek Nights of all. Our partners in geek hipness, Lost Marbles, presents it's third annual Kid Robot / Munny designer vinyl art toy event (this year titled in the movie tie-in themed name: The Colour of Munny). Mayfair doors open at 8PM for the gallery portion of the event, where you'll be able to check out the toy embellishing and adapting talents of dozens of local artists. And, as if that's not reason enough to attend, there will be a live art showcase and a ton of prizes.

Following that, at 9:30 will be the Canadian premiere of the much buzzed about documentary, The Vinyl Frontier (fresh off of it's screening at Comic Con). A history of the vinyl toy trend featuring all the artistic luminaries who helped make it an underground cult phenomenon.

Anyone who says there's nothing to do in Ottawa isn't coming to the Mayfair.

Off to celebrate the release of the new line of Kid Robot's Dunny toys at Lost Marbles tonight. There will be similar events across North America (or even the whole world I guess), but the kewlest store of all is Lost Marbles of course.

A good lead in to the upcoming and much anticipated Colour of Munny event at the Mayfair. And best of all, both events will give you the chance to get free stuff. Everyone loves free stuff!

I know it's a pretty heady statement, and it's never good to get people's hopes up too high before seeing a movie, but I'm pretty sure that King of Kong might be my favorite documentary...like ever.

Who could've ever have imagined that the world of competitive video game playing could be more exciting than the average big budget Hollywood blockbuster? More specifically, a documentary about a competition revolving around a fairly simple early generation game where a King Kong knock-off tosses barrels at you (you being Mario in this case). And on top of that, the movie hits you with a more insane unbelievable story, and one of the best hero / villain match-up's you've ever seen.

Don't miss out on the special Lost Marbles Geek Night screening of King of Kong: Fistful of Quarters. You'll never look at a video game the same way again.

(Sunday August 15th at 9pm at the Mayfair)

A quick reminder of tonight's Lost Marbles Geek Night screening at the Mayfair. If you love Joss Whedon...and if you don't, well, I'm not sure yer allowed to go to the Mayfair if that fact about you comes out...be sure to check out this great lil' documentary about the rise, fall and rise again of Firefly / Serenity.

It'd be a much better documentary if we lived in a world in which the story ends with a whole bunch of giant successful awesome Serenity movies. Alas we live in a world where people would rather see Deuce Bigelow 2 and movies like Serenity don't make money. Sad sad times indeed.

Lost Marbles Geek Night at the Mayfair - Sunday August 8th - 9pm

As I sat in the Mayfair for Geek Night a couple days ago (our first of the Lost Marbles sponsored era), the movie started, and it came to mind the I dropped the ball and didn't do a blog entry for the film. Been busy and distracted, just slipped my mind. So, I neglected to plug our screening of Blood on the Flat Track (where I fell in love with an absolutely insane roller derby player by the name of Basket Casey), but I still have time to at least promote the upcoming double-bill roller derby bout. All the pertinent info can be found at the Rideau Valley Roller Girls website. Don't miss out, could be the last bout of 2010.

Believe it or not, the fifth year of Killer63 is upon us. Ottawa's annual independent horror collective will return to the Mayfair on October 23rd. Deadline for submissions is October 12th. So get out there and start making horror shorts!

If anyone has any questions about the event, please feel free to contact me at: batturtle@gmail.com

Ghost World came out nine years ago!? Son of a bitch the passage of time from when a movie first came out is making me feel old lately! Did you realize that the first X-Men movie was the years ago!? A decade! Man.

Anyhow, the film Ghost World is based on the comic Ghost World, which was written and drawn by underground comics mastermind Daniel Clowes. Go buy a Daniel Clowes book, or go check one out at the library, they are all good across the board pretty much. The film was directed by Terry Zwigoff, fresh off of his universally acclaimed (and also comic book themed) documentary Crumb. Well, not exactly fresh off...it was seven years between projects.

Ghost World tells the fairly simple tale of a pair of high-school grad social outcasts living in a weird surreal suburban world. A strange lil place filled with strange lil characters going about their strange lil lives. Featuring a very young Thora Birch & Scarlett Johansson (well before her cat-suit, kick-ass Black Widow turn), and in a indie film cred one-two punch, the film features not only Illeana Douglas, but also none other than Steve Buscemi.

DC Comics, back in the 80's ran with a slogan which emphasized that DC Comics aren't just for kids anymore. Which kind of backfired, 'cause now no kids read comics at all. But that's a different rant. Ghost World (both book and film) is one of my go to examples for folks naive to the fact that comic books aren't just dudes in spandex hitting each other. Don't get me wrong, I love a good super hero comic as much as the next geek. Though still in this day and age of pop culture, folks still seem shocked that stuff like Road to Perdition or History of Violence or From Hell or 30 Days of Night do indeed come from comic book inspiration.



Ghost World is a prime example of a great comic book translated at it's best into an equally entertaining movie. Catch it at the Mayfair on July 25th at 9PM for Sunday Night Geek Night, as presented by Lost Marbles.

I lived in Vancouver when 'Quick and the Dead' came out. My mind escapes me on the name of the theatre where I saw it, but it was this great Mayfair type place that was right beside a bowling alley and showed Ed Wood movies, Planet of the Apes, animation fests and all kinds of cool stuff. I'm pretty sure they used it recently in an episode of Fringe (with the fake alternate universe movie titles on the marquee) but I might be wrong about that.

Anyhow, onto the topic at hand. Some people seem to dismiss this movie 'cause it stars Sharon Stone. Yes, I can't really admit to being a fan of hers either. If only for willingly appearing in movies the likes of 'Catwoman' and 'Basic Instinct 2' one should be heavily reprimanded.

Here is what she should be defended for though...especially for her actions in the year 1995 (or at least for her two films released in 1995). Her other movie that year was 'Casino', which of course was directed my Martin Scorsese. And Scorsese is a genius and can do no wrong and is the most respected filmmaker of our time if not all time. So if he wants to put that lady from 'Sliver' in his movie, clearly she's got some kindah talent hidden underneath there somewhere. She even got herself an Oscar nomination out of it.

The other movie she had released that year was the one for the blog topic at hand, 'The Quick and the Dead'. It's like a Clint Eastwood 'Man With No Name' type story, except change the man to a woman. In this case, that woman being Sharon Stone. She got a producer credit on the film, and used her Hollywood power of the time to throw her weight around on two interesting points of cinema history. One, she fought to give an unknown (to North America) actor by the name of Russell Crowe a lead part. Check out his imdb resume post and pre Quick & the Dead and see how that effected his career. Two: She also fought for a director named Sam Raimi who had just come off of a big flop of a movie that some geeks are a little bit familiar with by the title of 'Army of Darkness'.

So just for one night, put your Sharon Stone hatred aside, and come out to see a real kick ass western at the Mayfair.

Quick and the Dead, presented by Invisible Cinema – Sunday Night Geek Night – July 11th – 9:30pm

Happy Roller Derby Movie Night eve! Join the Rideau Valley Roller Girls for the highly anticipated special Sunday Night Geek Night screening of Kansas City Bomber (Sunday July 4th at 9PM at the Mayfair). What better way to celebrate the 4th of July than to cheer on Raquel Welch and a team of roller derby girls from Kansas?

Oops...here I went and found a kewl Alpha Flight picture on the old inter-web to make use of for a Canada Day best wishes greeting...then I forgot to make use of it. So a slightly belated 'Yay Canada!' to one and all.

I had to work last night tearing down one of the Canada Day stages downtown. You ever want a harrowing challenge for yourself? Head north on a street while tens of thousands of folks are heading downstream against you. Madness.

Saturday night I did my first bit of volunteering for the Rideau Valley Roller Girls. In retrospect, not sure what took me so long to do so. Guess I was content and enthralled enough in my watching of the sport from the sidelines. When the question arose if I wanted to help out though, I was all in. Now I get to ad 'score catcher' to my resume. As with many events big and small in my life, I seem to manage the avoidance of anything in the way of photographic evidence that I was there (I don't think there's any proof I lived in BC or have been to New York a couple times). I am in the above shot, a bit Where's Waldo style though.



Segueing nicely into other roller derby related news is the next Sunday Night Geek Night at the Mayfair. We'll be screening the drive-in derby classic Kansas City Bomber in association with my Rideau Valley Roller Girl friends. I've been trying to track down this one for pretty much the duration of my association with the theatre. And through a crazy chain of events (well...ebay) we now own an actual print of the thing. So we might make it an annual tradition, show it before the start of every roller derby season or somethin'.

The next Sunday Night Geek Night - July 4th at 9PM

I remember the pop-culture boom that was Beavis and Butt-Head. At one point in 1993 - 94 or so, they were everywhere. They seemed to be on every magazine cover, t-shirt, and entertainment news clip. I did not like them. To be fair, at this point I hadn't actually seen the a single episode, I was purely judging the product before actually having seen it. We didn't get MTV in Canada at the time. Or if we did, it wasn't regular cable...and it was before that there internet contraption made watching every single thing ever made readily available for your viewing enjoyment.

In a fateful post-high school vacation to Florida, my two friends and I spent a large chunk of our get-away in my aunt and uncle's backyard pool. A backyard pool that just happened to have a TV nearby to it. So we got to be in the pool, eating amazing junky American food, while watching TV. They were good times indeed.

One beautiful sunny Florida afternoon, instead of doing something useful or vacation like, we were again in the pool. And on the aforementioned pool-side TV was a Beavis and Butt-Head marathon. On that day we watched a hell of a lot of Beavis and Butt-Head. And also on that day I fell in love with everything and anything Beavis and Butt-Head.

What people who never watched the show (like me) didn't know was that it was hands down smartest show on television. Really. Pure genius. Then I noticed that a lot of people who I thought were cool (David Letterman, Patrick Stewart) were also fans. It started getting more accolades and praise from legit media sources and not just those MTV slackers. Then a lot of people kind of realized that Mike Judge was a cartoon makin' genius. Or at least I think so.

Maybe the pinnacle of his animated genius is the one and only big screen adventure undertaken by the duo, Beavis and Butt-Head Do America. A grand adventure of two idiots on a quest to find their missing TV. There's an awesome dream sequence, nifty secret celebrity cameo's, a Rob Zombie hallucination segment, and an amazingly put together story (even more impressive 'cause it's a pair of characters who are usually in short episodes of which a big chunk is music video cut-aways).

I miss Beavis and Butt-Head. I wish for the day that Mike Judge returns to Beavis and Butt-Head. And I am ecstatic to see it on the big screen again for the first time since 1996.

Sunday Night Geek Nights presents Beavis and Butt-Head Do America at the Mayfair Theatre - Sunday June 20th at 9PM

I cannot tell a lie. I have absolutely no emotional connection to the GoBots and their fight against (or with?) the Rock Lords. None the less, I think the concept of showing bad Hanna Barbera style 80's Saturday morning animation up on the big screen a great thing.

GoBots being screened at the Mayfair came to fruition upon tying to get a hold of the Transformers animated movie (best death scene in a movie EVER!). It, alas, is unavailable. That lead me to jokingly ask 'Can we get the GoBots movie?' To which the Mayfair's head programmer said 'There's not a GoBots feature is there?'. And sadly enough, not only did it exist, but it was available. It's a strange backwards world.

So, although I haven't actually seen this movie, I can guarantee you this: It is better than a Michael Bay robot movie. Promise.

Sunday Night Geek Night:
GoBots Battle of the Rocklords - June 13th at 9pm at the Mayfair.
With upwards of NINE GoBots toys to give away, thanks to those fine geeks over at the Comic Book Shoppe

Another awesome event happens at the Mayfair this Saturday, a triple bill screening of the original (pre - Crystal Skull) Indiana Jones trilogy. Plus, thanks to our friends at Quinn's, you can sneak over to the adjoining Quinn's patio and get an Indy themed burger, or maybe try some eyeball soup.

As a true fanatical bonus to the event is a very special screening of Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation (Friday the 11th & Saturday the 12th at 7pm). Learn all about the film over at the un-official Indy site: TheRaider.net

Having the adult animated comic book anthology Heavy Metal play at the Mayfair puts geeky Kodachrome memories of my high school youth back into my brain. I watched the film a number of times back in the long ago times of the late 80's to early 90's.

The comic magazine itself, was exploitative, filled with lots of sex and violence, outer space and monsters, a ton of imagination, and work from some of the greatest writers and artists around (what more could a 13 year old want from a publication!?).

The cartoon itself over-flows with legendary geeky talent. Featuring the work of producer Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters), writer Dan O'Bannon (Alien, Return of the Living Dead), comics legends Richard Corben, Bernie Wrightson and Moebius, and the voice talents of SCTV alums Eugene Levy, Harold Ramis and the late great John Candy.

Plus, in a local bit of film history, the project was partially animated in none other than Ottawa.

The very nice looking re-release print of Heavy Metal, on June 6th at 9:30, only at the Mayfair, only for Sunday Night Geek Night.

Oh...and we'll be giving away some swell DVD's thanks to our friends at the bestest video store around, Invisible Cinema.

In 1985, Michael J Fox starred in one of the most successful, highly praised, most beloved, and some would say one of the best films of not only the 80's, but of all time. Teen Wolf was not that movie.

It's amazing the kind of stuff that used to get green lit by the powers that be in Hollywood. And even more amazing, that the movie must have done a bit of business. It spawned a non-Michael J Fox sequel (the wittily titled, Jason Bateman starring, Teen Wolf Too) and even a Saturday morning cartoon (though to be fair, even the Rubik's Cube starred in a cartoon back then).

Relive the good ole' days of 1980's teen monster cinema on May 30th at 9:15 for another Sunday Night Geek Night. This one sponsored by Invisible Cinema, who have supplied some great 80's themed DVD's for us to give away to those brave enough to attend.

Back to the Future was the biggest film of 1985 (now...my favorite film of '85 was Goonies, followed by Pee Wee's Big Adventure, then maybe Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome...not to detract from Back to the Future mind you). It was also critically praised across the board, garnered a giant fan-base, spun-off a pair of sequels, an animated series, a theme park ride, has an awesome theme song by Huey Lewis & the News, and made director Robert Zemeckis a Hollywood powerhouse. Some people even think it's the most perfect screenplay of the 80's. Which is a pretty heady statement considering the movies that came out in that decade.

I needn't bother going into a plot synopsis, everyone knows that already. What I will emphasize is that this special 25th anniversary screening is being presented on the only available 35mm print in North America. And sadly, it very may well be the last chance to see it in such a format up on the big screen.

So, come on out for an extra special Sunday Night Geek Night at the Mayfair, May 23rd at 8pm. And even more incentive, my friends at Lost Marbles
have supplied a pair of very awesome prizes (I'll have to think up some extra hard trivia to make sure they go to a deserving home).

I've said it before and I'll say it again: If you haven't seen Buckaroo Banzai, Buckaroo Banzai is the coolest movie that you've never seen. Hands down. I'm so confident of it's pinnacle of awesomeness that I won't even go into details on what it's about. I'll let those unfamiliar with it's brilliance jump in to the story completely spoiler free and have their minds blown to it's fullest potential.

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension at the Mayfair for Sunday Night Geek Night - May 16th @ 9PM (Plus! Awesome prizes to give away from The Comic Book Shoppe!bv).

GEEK NIGHT #1



I've been involved with throwing my ideas into the ring for Mayfair screenings for a while now, but I must say that this lil' experiment of a project has me very excited. I put forward the request to be given a shot of doing something with our most dead of time-slots, the Sunday late show. A little while back I went to a show on that night, and five minutes before show-time it was me and the projectionist and another employee hanging out in the box office...besides for that the place was empty (a couple people showed up last minute, but think the attendance that night hovered around five people).

Seeing as we have such luck with theme specific events, I thought focusing on our geeky offerings might be the way to go. A bit risky showing cult stuff in such a time slot, but I thought that we might have a shot at creating a brand new Midnight Movie kinda' tradition for our fine patrons. And seeing how well the last Roller Derby night did, plus great turn-out's for The Big Labowski and Army of Darkness and other such classics, my spirits are now high.

We kick things off with Howard the Duck. Forget Iron Man 2...this is the comic book movie you want to spend your money on this weekend! In an age of comic book movies at every turn (Kick Ass, The Losers, Jonah Hex, Scott Pilgrim, The Green Hornet...) it's easy to forget how rare they once were. Howard the Duck came just after the Superman sequels and before the concept of mining comic books for ideas returned to Hollywood's attention with the likes of Batman and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

It had a popular and acclaimed Marvel Comics character as its centerpiece, was produced by the creator of Star Wars, and had a script from the Oscar nominated writers of American Graffiti. What could possibly go wrong!?

The Mayfair's next great tradition, our very first officially tagged Sunday Night Geek Night, happens on May 9th an 9:30. Prizes, fun, and a legendarily bad movie up on the big screen.

Just wait till you see what we have planned next!

This upcoming Saturday May 1st is the ninth annual Free Comic Book Day. I can't believe it's up to nine already...time flies. Anyhow, I'm stuck working like a chump on FCBD, which seems wrong, pretty sure that I'm having my basic human rights oppressed by having to work on such an important national holiday.

Anyhow, that should not stop you from heading over to your nearest comic store and snatching up amazing comic free-ness (like maybe that Tick comic pictured above there). I will be sure to sprint to a store on my lunch break, grab up an armful of books, then run back, then complain about having to work and not being able to read comics. Life is so hard.

If there are two things that I love, it's the Mayfair Theatre and Roller Derby. Imagine the joy my cold Grinch heart gains at the possibility of combining the pair in an amazing Reese Peanut Butter Cup like impossible combo!

This Sunday night we welcome back the Rideau Valley Roller Girls to the Mayfair with a special screening of the acclaimed documentary Hell On Wheels. It was to be the first of our Sunday Night Geek Nights, but the schedule got too packed with other stuff. This awesome event will stand alone, and SNGN will blow your minds in May.

So join both of our Ottawa teams, the Slaughter Daughters and the Riot Squad, for the Ottawa premiere of Hell on Wheels at the Mayfair, Sunday April 11th at 9:20.

Music composer and director Mike Dubue hard at work during the amazing Night of the Living Dead: Live. One of the many awesome events which happen frequently at the Mayfair (besides for just good ole' fashioned movie screenings). I was told today of the possible follow-up film which Mike's going to give the 'Mayfair Live' treatment to, it will also be amazing (and I predict again it will also be sold out).

I admit that there was a slight hesitation in going to see the CJ Ramone show in Montreal. Thought it might be an over-the-hill rocker sadly riding the coat-tails of the band he was in years ago. Happy to report that it was great. Just great. It's clear that CJ loves the Ramones, that he knew the Ramones, and of course he was and is a Ramone. Did my heart good.

The Frighteners is one of those great movies that should've been a giant hit, but was not. I already wrote a thing about it on the Mayfair blog, so I won't bother completely repeating myself here. I love this movie, and even I'm guilty at having missed out on seeing it on the big screen back in '96. At long last that will all change this Friday night, thanks to the mad with power birthday movie clause of Mayfair partnership.



"Well, I'd be excited to go and see it...but I'm not paying to get in to the thing" is an often repeated sentiment when talking about a movie we can get, that maybe might not appeal to a theatre full of ticket purchasing patrons. Luckily, the Mayfair audience is often on the same page as us, so we get to play all kinds of great pictures. Which makes picking out something extra special even more difficult. The Frighteners was my runner-up choice this time around (sorry Hudson Hawk...maybe the powers that be will let us play you next year), but a great runner-up it is.

A rare chance to see the Peter Jackson directed and Michael J Fox starring scary funny ghostbustin' adventure on the big screen. Friday March 26th at 11:30PM at the Mayfair.

You work on a whole bunch of horror movies and all of a sudden you're always the guy on set asked to dress up an actress with some fake blood to make it look like she has a bullet wound in the head. I wasn't even an fx guy on the project, I was doing sound. Then next thing you know I'm kneeling over an actress as she pretends to be a corpse as I invade her personal space while applying fake blood to her forehead with a Q-Tip. Ah, the fun of crewing on some indie movie magic.

Pretend complaining aside, this weekend I was glad to help out one of my frequent collaborators on a short that she was producing and had co-written. As it stands now the project is called Dry Clean Only, but I hear that that might change by the time the project finishes completion.

Mentioned this screening last month, but now that the days are upon us I'm going to bring it up again (that movie being 'The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights). For me, this is the Mayfair movie of the month. I always take away a lil' bit of a sense of accomplishment when a movie that I've really been pushing to get shown at our fine theatre finally makes it's way to us...that and it makes me feel somewhat mad with power.

Anyhow, I have a feeling that this movie is going to be (A) awesome, and (B) that we're going to get a very good turn-out. I've had more questions sent my way and more requests to buy advance tickets (of which there are not) then any other thing in recent memory (right up there with the 'Silents is Golden' stuff and 'Rocky Horror').

So, if you love Canada and you love rock n roll, you better get out to the Mayfair on the 10th or 11th (at 9pm both days) for the White Stripes and their adventures Under Great White Northern Lights.

A couple days ago, I accompanied some of the rest of the Mayfair gang over to city hall for a Heritage Day presentation ceremony. The Mayfair won the 'best theatre architecture in Ottawa ever' award...or something along those lines. The funny part is the nice congratulatory letter signed by the mayor. He was pretty much nothing but unsupportive and against any attempts made in saving the place. If it were up to him there'd be no Mayfair in existence right now. Take that Lex Luthor! (he looks like Lex Luthor).

My friends at the Rideau Valley Roller Girls have their first bout of the year tonight! And in an excellent turn of events, at the last minute they've been moved to a larger venue than planned at Carleton University (from the Norm Fenn Gym to the Raven's Nest). Hence it's not sold out anymore, and tickets will be on sale at the door (well, for a bit...until it sells out again). Way more fun than any silly Olympic games you might watch on TV instead.

In 2007 (and in years since then) I greatly enjoyed working at the Blues Fest here in Ottawa. The musical highlight for me was the White Stripes, who were in the midst of a cross country tour of our fine country, in which they were hitting every single province and territory. Today I found out that after months of trying to track it down, the powers that be are FINALLY going to let us screen 'White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights' at the Mayfair. A rock n roll documentary on the topic of the duo's quest across Canada. Keep an eye out for it on March 10th / 11th. Their fine band has done so much for us, the least you can do is come and see their movie.

Some of the highlights of my life now include: having my e-mail read by David Letterman as part of the CBS Mailbag, getting letters published in comics like Buffy and Hellboy, witnessing the last game of hockey ever played by Wayne Gretzky on Canadian soil, shaking hands with Bruce Campbell, and now I've had George Romero (yes...that George Romero!) type my name in an e-mail correspondence.

The latter is Mayfair related, and I will have more news on it soon.

Life kinda' got in the way of TV watching, as it so often tends to do. Wanted to send out a week late shout out to the greatness of the final few moments of Conan's oh so short tenure on the Tonight Show (which I didn't get a chance to see until yesterday). Counting down the moments to the big September come-back.

"Please do not be cynical... Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get, but if you work really hard and yer kind, amazing things will happen. I'm telling you, amazing things will happen."

Next month, the Mayfair will host another short film festival: Painted Lips and Lolly Licks - The Sexy Film Festival. Showcasing short films that explore romance, sex, or the erotic. Submissions of short films at 10 minutes in length or less can be sent in for consideration to be screened, deadline is February 5th (meant to put this info up a bit earlier...better late than never though i guess).

Entries will be judged by friend of the Mayfair, Sasha Grey. Grand prize winner gets a Mayfair gold card (meaning you can go to unlimited Mayfair movies for a whole damn year!)

For more information check out the 'Painted Lips' site or contact the festival organizer at: lee@themayfair.com