Had a few interweb issues, but finally got a couple of my projects sent over to the 2nd Annual Sudden Impulse Film Fest. Amongst a batch of other short films, they will be screening a pair of my directorial efforts, The Fantasy and the fake trailer Overkill. So if you are in Toronto on Saturday July 6th, get to the Big Picture Cinema on 1035 Gerrard Street East for an evening of cinema, stand-up comedy, and music.

Tonight I finally got to partake in the delicious foods offered up at Union613. One of my bestest friends has been working there cooking up delicious dishes for a while now, where they make up a Canadian style Southern American menu. Unfortunately for me, but a plus for those of more of a carnivorous diet, the menu is mostly filled with lots of BBQ style duck and pig and catfish and lots and lots of meat. So, if that sounds like something that makes your mouth water, get yourself over to 315 Somerset Street West in Ottawa.

Good news though! If you are a pesky and picky vegan like I am, we can now eat at this fine establishment too. For my side I got the string beans, tasso, almonds & leek dressing. For my main course I got charred mirliton with quinoa, sunflower seeds, grilled veggies, roasted pepper pureé, smoked tofu ‘mayo'. Go there and eat.

Wake in Fright (aka - Outback) is an impressive though greatly disturbing dissent into madness tale set in the wilds of Australia. Especially if you happen to be a kangaroo. You can catch the film that left Martin Scorsese speechless, that Roger Ebert thought was amazing, and screened at Cannes in both 1971 and 2009 at the Mayfair tonight at 7:00pm, Saturday June 29th and Sunday June 30th at 8:45pm.

Today I got a Mystery Science Theatre 3000 silhouette on my arm. I would show you a picture of it, but it is all bandaged up and painful and gross still. I continue to prove that I am a bigger geek than you are.

Elle Fanning stole the show away from giant space monsters and lense flares in Super 8. I had a sense that what we had on our hands here was a uber-talented young actress with a future in Hollywood, and hopefully not a Linsay Lohan train-wreck (poor Linsay...how so I did love Mean Girls).

In her latest acting effort, the talented teen plays a distraught girl living an immensely complicated life under the looming and very possible threat of a 1960's nuclear holocaust. It's another shining and powerful performance from Elle, and you have one last chance to see her in Ginger & Rosa, tonight at 7:00pm at the Mayfair. Plus...Christina Hendricks plays her mum.

There is a bizarre movie geek conspiracy theory floating around the interwebs that Stanley Kuberick intended for The Shining to be viewed forward and backward. By doing so, numerous visual overlaps happen that reveal thematic interesting visuals. It's something that is just crazy enough to be true if you know anything about the life of Mr Kuberick.

I think that it's a fascinating experiment and well worth your cinematic spare time. I also think that you might find just as many seemingly on purpose cross-over images if you do the same to any movie ever made. You can have a chance to judge for yourself whether it's nonsense and coincidence, or madman artistic vision when the Mayfair screens The Shining: Forward & Backward on Wednesday June 26 at 9:00pm and Thursday June 27th at 9:30pm

Did you know that Stanley Kubrick was hired by NASA to fake the moon landing? It's true! Learn other such amazing stories when you watch the completely factual documentary Room 237 at the Mayfair tonight at 9:45pm and Tuesday June 25th at 9:00pm.

It's not every day that you get to see music legend David Byrne biking to work. I got to witness such an amazing sight as I was walking to Jazz Fest from work to partake in the David Byrne / St Vincent concert. It was as an amazing of a show as I had hoped, featuring the two aforementioned performers and a giant horn section. And he did not fall under the David Bowie habit of only wanting to perform his latest music offerings, and hit the crowd with a trio of Talking Heads offerings through-out the night.

The constant risk of outdoor concerts is that the weather just might rear it's ugly head and cause havoc. It did just that tonight with a constantly looming storm that finally hit during the end of the night. A good portion of the crowd evacuated their lawn-chair safety for dryer ground. Those who didn't run away were treated to an extended encore that was again dramatically hit with some well lit rainfall paired up with excellent musical accompaniment.

Willie Nelson a couple nights ago and Wynton Marsalis next weekend. Summer is an excellent time for music in the Capital. I'm sure you are all jealous if you are not here.

It's time for some derby in Ottawa, with a Rideau Valley Roller Girls double header tonight! It's a double dose of Ottawa battling Toronto with the Riot Squad vs the Smoke City Betties and the Slaughter Daughters vs the Gore-Gore Girls. Doors open at 5:30pm at the Barbara Ann Scott Arena, all pertinent info can be found over the the RVRG site.

Mirror Comics released this teaser image and a blurb about Zomkeys, a comic book written by me and drawn by Barb Felix. Since they are talking about it I guess that means that I can start spreading the word and begging everyone to buy a copy too. The one-shot comes out this fall, just in time for Halloween. I will be making frequent updates about th project leading up to its grand release. The comic is very highbrow, just like Sandman or V for Vendetta or Maus...except with more scenes of monkeys attacking people.

Got to see an advanced sneak preview of Th Lone Ranger tonight, the retelling of the classic character from a modern day Hollywood blockbuster Disney perspective (in case you haven't heard of the movie). I like westerns, Johnny Depp and director Gore Verbinski, so on the surface this is a movie that is seemingly right up my alley. One can't help but have a little bit of hesitation at the thought of Johnny Depp taking on a Native American side-kick character in a wild west movie.

It brings up an interesting debate and line of questions...to which I do not know the answer. Is it wrong for Johnny Depp to play Tonto? Is this the equivalent to the uncomfortable portrayal of Orson Welles in blackface in his take on Othello? Is it wrong for Tom Hanks to play a gay man in Philadelphia since he is straight? Is it wrong for Phil LeMarr to play the Japanese character in the animated series Samurai Jack because he is African American? Is Cate Blanchett allowed to play Bob Dylan in I'm Not There even though she is a different gender then the real life character she is portraying? This is a genuine series of pondering running through my brain due to Johnny taking on the role of Tonto instead of The Lone Ranger (which was supposedly the initial idea).

I really enjoyed The Lone Ranger. It was paced and packed with all kinds of quick slapstick levels of action and adventure, featured some fine performances, a great score from Hans Zimmer, and yes...I thought Johnny Depp was pretty great. Sure, he happens to be a giant movie star thanks to the unexpected success of Pirates of the Caribbean a decade ago, but he is also extremely talented at what he does. Like most mainstream blockbuster type films now-a-days, the movie is much too long, but otherwise a lot of fun. I hope that my enjoyment of the western does not make me a racist.

The Place Beyond the Pines reunites Blue Valentine director Derek Cianfrance and star Ryan Gosling. It is another character driven and rather heavy dramatic tale that again does not follow the traditional three act screenwriting structure.

Blu Valentine is an emotionally wrought film about the highs and lows that some go through over the years of an evolving relationship from meting to dating to marriage to conflict and disaster. When I saw it at the Mayfair a couple years back, my friend who accompanied me and I were both single, and the film left us rather emotionally crushed. It was quite the mountain climb to watch the characters jump back in fourth in time from happy to sad, and we roller coastered along with them. In fact,she leaned over to me at one point and said "I don't think I can get through this".

We gritted our teeth and made our way through the rest of the excellent film, even though it made for depressing results and makes one feel like you shouldn't bother to have a relationship ever again. I am happy to report that not only did the movie end up Oscar nominated, my friend and I both found much better significant other luck than the characters in the movie soon after.

I was quite impressed with their latest collaboration. It's a bit of false advertising if you go into it thinking that it's a bank heist movie starring hunky Ryan Gosling. That is a portion of the movie to be sure, but it is actually a generational tale about crime and conscious and family and forgiveness featuring talent like Eva Mendes, Bradley Cooper, Ray Liotta, Bruce Greenwood and Dane DeHann (who I thought was great in Chronicle).

You can see if you agree with me or with the critical negativity that seems to have been lashed at the film, we screen The Place Beyond the Pines tonight at the Mayfair at 6:30pm

I've said it before and I'll say it again...I don't care about Tom Cruise's personal life or religious believes or thoughts on medication or marital status or height. I don't care about any of those things. All that I can tell you for sure is that he is consistently in movies that I like and has been for a very long time. I appreciate that he's a super-star who isn't afraid to do a supporting part (Magnolia), a cameo (Tropic Thunder), heavy drama (Born on the Fourth of July), play the bad guy (Collateral), and his one ongoing franchise (Mission: Impossible) keeps getting better & better.

The latest in a long line of good Tom Cruise movies screens tonight at the Mayfair. Oblivion, the post-apocalyptic sci-fi epic from the director of Tron: Legacy, producer of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, & co-starring Morgan Freeman, screens tonight at 9:30pm.

Writers Keith Giffen & JM DeMatteis and artist Kevin Maguire were the creative team on one of my favourite comic book series of all time, Justice League International. They put a new spin on the super-hero genre, distancing from the dark & gritty theme's running through the genre at the time with a slightly more real world & comedic view of characters in funny costumes battling evil.

Their new offering will be Justice League 3000, and that's about all we know so far. Except for these amazing costume designs reinterpreting the DC icons for their futuristic turn from Howard Porter. Nerds have already taken notice of a green eyed, ginger Flash...looking a lot like Wally West (the fan-favourite speedster who has been disappeared since the DC Universe reboot). I will judge this book I haven't read from the guys who are working on it and the cool costumes that the central characters have on and conclude that it is going to b awesome. Or at least better than the other Justice League books currently on the shelves. But most likely awesome.

Even a lifelong movie watching addict like myself has holes in his cinematic checklist. Even more-so than that, even if you consider yourself in the history of motion pictures, there are always some that fall through the cracks of knowledge. In the slim category of not only movies I hadn't seen, but have never even heard of, was Breaking Away. The film recently came up in conversation coincidentally enough on not one but two podcasts that I listen to, Nerdist and Doug Loves Movies. Evidently it's on of those movies that no one knows exists, but those who do put it up on a cherished pedestal. Then as fates would have it, it popped up on the Netflix. All I knew about it was that it had something to do about bikes. I like going into movies blind, I won't give away too much about the plot, so you can do so as well if you haven't seen the movie either. It's kind of an American Graffiti or Stand By Me feel to it, a small town set coming of age in America tale. I am glad I finally found out of the films existence, it may just be on my favourites list now as well.

Watched the stand-up special Kristen Schaal: Live at the Filmore thanks to the magic of interweb streaming teevee and the Comedy Network. I'm not quite sure I can pinpoint exactly when I fell in love with the lovely young comedian...might have been when she stripped to reveal a Wonder Woman costume during a rant on the Daily Show. Then she was in The Muppets and Toy Story 3 and one of my favourite teevee shows in an age, Bob's Burgers. So many favourites!

This stand up special hits expected levels of comedic entertainment, and also reaches levels of bizarrely uncomfortable turns it's worthy of Andy Kaufman like comparisons. I loved it, especially the purposeful train-wreck twists taken as her performance reached it's conclusion. It's a bravely humorous turn at times that will surely make some viewers so squeamish to the point of running away from the program. I say that in a complimentary manner.

Another round of Kid Robot's Dunny vinyl toy-line was released today! It snuck up on me, kind of forgot about it 'til I was walking by the local Dunny dealership (Lost Marbles), and saw the latest collection on display in their front window. There is always a mystery figure, even on top of the blind box surprise that they have always been sold in. In an uncommon bout of good Dunny luck (I never get my favourite ones from the sub-sets that I want), I got not one but two different versions of the rarity. I managed to refrain from spending all my monies and just bought the two...for now.

I love comic books. I love comics of all shapes and sizes, whether they be about super-hero's saving the universe or a historical World War II drama or a gritty western or a brave autobiographical love story. There are a lot of great comics being produced, even so, the bad greatly outweigh the good (but to be fair, that's the same statistical average as in movies and teevee shows and books).

In today's market, a couple of big publishers greatly smash the independent offerings in their power at getting attention and getting in front of reader's eyes. I have no issue with the mainstream, books like Hawkeye from Marvel or Batman & Robin from DC are great reads. There is also the not so new comic book publishing habit, but seemingly quickly expanding trend, of licensed offerings adapted from the world of teevee and movies. Again, I have no problem with this, and currently have comics like Doctor Who and Buffy on my monthly pull-list. There costumed hero's from billion dollar box office hits and familiar faces from popular franchises filling up the comic store racks, sometimes with little room for a store to take risks on anything else. It's a constant point of anguish that the indie genre of comic books and its great diversity of output has an incredible difficulty uphill battle in getting a new readers attention.

One of those books that deserves your attention is reMIND. A truly original fantastical adventure tale, reMIND stars a tech savvy young woman who lives in an airplane topped lighthouse in a town obsessed with the Cryptozoological legend of lizard men. When her lost cat reappears with the new skills of walking (one two legs) and talking, then the fun really begins. reMIND is my favourite kind of comic, one with a lot of originality from both script and visual sides of the project. I found myself reminded of the work of Sam Kieth at times, a big compliment seeing as he is one of my all time favourite comic creators (by happenstance he also supplied a pin-up and a praising quote for the back cover of the first volume). The combination of character design and creatures and above ground and underwater cityscapes looked like something that Jim Henson might have put into a movie in his Dark Crystal era of filmmaking, and is perfect in scope for this imaginative bit of comic book storytelling.

The books are also the nice combo of kid friendly and just as good of a read for an adult, an ever growing bit of rarity. As an added bonus, the story is completely self contained into two thick hardback volumes, a nice thing in a comic book world often filled with endless complicated cross-over's. Although the story wraps things up at the end of volume 2, I would gladly read the continuing adventures of the characters in this world.

To read all about the 15 year long trek behind the scenes publishing adventure that lead to this book seeing the light, and to find out how to read the book for yourself, go check out the reMIND site.

The flagship Batman title as written by Scott Snyder and drawn by Greg Capullo is delving into an extended flashback territory. The latest story-arc takes things out of the current time-line, and zaps happenings back to the building block days of Bruce Wayne dressing up like a bat and dispensing vigilante justice to the people of Gotham City.

The corner-stone Bat book has been on a great run since it's re-numbering, and the first issue of Year Zero (in Batman #21) gets the always tricky prequelizing of a franchise off to a great start. The DC Comics relaunch into the New 52 universe has taken some flack from critics and fans, some of the criticism deserved. The reboot has been far from a train-wreck though, with Batman being one of their many worthwhile comics on the shelves worth a look. The best thing about stuff like Year Zero, is that it sets things a bit outside of always jumbled continuity cross-overs, so you don't have to worry about having to be knowledgeable of the dozen other Bat-books to know what the hell is going on.

Mark your calendar and re-arrange your weekend plans so your can drop by the Mayfair to partake in not one, not two, but three whole motion pictures featuring the adventures of Indiana Jones.

Festivities begin at 11:30am with Raiders of the Lost Ark. Amongst other bits of awesome, the original Indy adventure features Marion Ravenwood, my favourite female movie character of all time. Temple of Doom screens at 2:00pm, which I saw at the exact right age to wish I could be as lucky as Short Round and get to be Indy's sidekick. The Last Crusade wraps things up at 4:30pm, a generational adventure just perfect for Father's Day eve. Get ready for an excellent afternoon of cinema on Saturday June 15th that will leave you humming John Williams music for days.

This week at the Mayfair we have a very different cinematic double dose of Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell. Sam Raimi takes on the directorial reigns of the latest step into L. Frank Baum's fantastical universe in Oz: The Great and Powerful. Alas, Bruce does not play the Tin Man or Cowardly Lion, but he does show up in a fun cameo.

Then up is the latest installment in the Evil Dead franchise, as produced by Sam and Bruce (along with their frequent collaborator Rob Tapert). It was actually produced by them too, not one of those fake producing titles like Stan lee on the Marvel movies. The film has been tagged as a re-make or a re-boot, but it's really more of another horrific tale set around the same location and unfortunate chain of events. It could almost be called Evil Dead: The Next Generation if not for Hollywood's love of simplicity in titles now-a-days.

Oz screens Tuesday June 11th at 7:00pm and Evil Dead on Thursday June 13th at 9:00pm. For a truly rare and interesting genre shift of a cinematic Sam and Bruce experience, come out on Wednesday the 12th for the family friendly Oz at 7:00pm and the wonderfully terrifying Evil Dead at 9:45pm. It will indeed be groovy.

A friend of mine lent me a big stack of 3rd generation Blue Beetle trade-paperbacks to read. The Jaime Reyes incarnation is one of her favourite characters, his predecessor Ted Kord is one of mine. I ignored the latest version of the character for years, was angry of his existence, and never gave him a chance. I loved the 2nd generation Blue Beetle very much, and after his untimely gun-shot to the head demise I really had no interest in reading an outer-space themed re-boot of my favourite member of the Justice League of my youth.

Especially since this version of Blue Beetle was co-created by Keith Giffen, one of my favourite writers (and co-writer of many of my favourite Blue Beetle tales of all time), it's especially amazing that I gave this series a cold shoulder. The story picks up in a very Kyle Rayner / Green Lantern fashion, with a young man being in the wrong place at the wrong time and stumbling into the life of a super-hero. And because Jaime is a high school student with all the everyday problems of youth mixed with super-heroics, there's also a bit of an early Peter Parker / Spidey vibe.

I fell in love with the character and his family, which they wisely intertwined into the history of the character's legacy that came before. He hangs out with the grand-daughter of the original Blue Beetle, looks up to Ted Kord with much hero-worship (one can even spot a WWTKD banner posted on Jaime's wall), and starts up friendships with Ted's former JLA team-mates.

I have learned of and been reminded of a couple of valuable lessons. Do not fear change and give things a chance. Maybe I should give some multi-coloured head-band TMNT comics a shot now too?

Today we departed the fine city of Boston after a much too short of a visit. New York gets credit as being the greatest city in the U.S., but I think thy might have some competition for that title. The horror that happened during their recent marathon can't help but be on ones mind, and I can't imagine how anyone could want to cause harm to such an amazing place filled with such lovely folks (which is the confusion that everyone feels I'm sure). They picked themselves up from that terrible event, the city did not shut down, the people did not hide in their homes, and they continued to live on proudly proclaiming that they are Boston Strong. I four short days the people of Boston were friendly and helpful and chatty and completely welcoming. I will miss the city and look forward to visiting it again.

It was a rain soaked day in the city of Boston. We braved the bad weather in between sprints between the dry safety of public transit and museums. It was an overwhelming day of history, science and culture as we hit not one but three museums around the city. We saw dinosaurs, we saw great pieces of art, we saw a big Tesla coil that could play Darth Vader's march with lightning Sith like bolts of electricity.

Speaking of Star Wars music...we partook in the instigation of the trip and capped off our day by attending the Boston Symphony Orchestra again, this time conducted by John Williams. Mr Williams is a lovely, humble, quiet spoken gentleman with a clear love of his motion picture orchestration career. I figured that I would get choked up at some point in the evening, and it hit as soon as he walked out onto the stage. He has written many of the greatest movie scores of all time after all, including all of those Star Wars movies that I love so much.

It was an interesting selection of musical choices, including Hook, TinTin, Lincoln and a selection from a pre-Jaws fame tevee series called The Cowboys. The highlight amongst a program of highlights was when they screened the River Phoenix young Indy scene from The Last Crusade, without a musical score. Mr Williams did a commentary over the clip, explaining how he might take notes or discuss what was needed with Spielberg. Then he and his orchestra played the full score over the re-played scene. If I learned one thing tonight, it's that Boston loves John Williams. I don't think I've ever been part of such an enormous introductory or end of night ovation for a performer. It squarely falls under once in a lifetime experience for sure. And yes, he did confirm that he is getting ready to compose some new Star Wars music.

I am not a fan of baseball. Every so often when I am visiting the States, I have a tourist and a when-in-Rome kinda' attitude on the subject, and I go and check out a game. I always have a good time in doing so, not so good as to want to partake in watching more than one game every every seven or eight years, but a good time none-the-less. Tonight we went to a Red Sox game (is it just me or is Red Sox one of the weirdest name and logo in all of sports?).

Baseball as a sport takes a lot of flack from non-believers. It takes criticism for being too long, too boring, and too concerned with the most minute of uninteresting statistical pieces of trivia. I agree with all of those thoughts. I also find the strange conundrum that despite my disinterest in the sport, I don't think I've ever seen a baseball movie that I didn't like. The thought of watching a whole game on teevee seems intensely unappealing to me though. That's why taking a whole bunch of games and condensing them into two hours of entertainment (like thy did in Moneyball or Bull Durham or Major League or any other baseball movie) seems to be for the best.

The catch with being at a live game is that you notice that even the most die hard of a fan doesn't seem to be all that interested in the game a whole lot of the time. There's more concern with catching peanuts or participating in a wave or singing Sweet Caroline, the slow paced events on the field seem secondary to the theatrics and traditions going on around the stadium. I was most excited that our collector's cup, containing what would be an illegal amount of cola in some cities, had Carl Yastrzemski's name on it. To be honest, I didn't even know that Carl played for Boston and I couldn't recount any of his accomplishments to you. I can tell you though that he was referenced in a Simpsons episode when Milhouse wanted a card that featured the player with big sideburns.

We walked off the street amongst a giant crowd of tens of thousands and got a pair of cheap tickets in the standing room only section. We were sneaky enough to grab a couple of nearby folding chairs, and before the end of the game went up to actual seats. The baseball stadium surroundings and the fans were great, and the game wrapped up in true movie moment fashion. 3 - 3 tie, bottom of the ninth, the super-star fan-favourite player gets a home run to win the game. Then after running the bases he jumps into a crowd of awaiting team-mates and rips off his tam jersey to reveal a Boston Strong shirt. The crowd goes wild and we all head for the subway.

It's no wonder that people love the city of Boston. Sure, the subway cars give out an ear piercing screeching wail and sound like they are about to derail at any second, but otherwise it's a great place. We hit daylight from the subway tunnels to be surrounded by wonderful architecture, kind residents asking if we needed directions, and food trucks offering up all kinds of vegan delicacies.

Th big event today was attending the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and I'm pretty sure that there is no nicer place to partake in being an audience member listening to live music. The place has a great mix of commoner's and the super rich, all melded together with Bostonian pride. All you have to do is flip through the evening's program to see how many million dollar plus donations were made to the theatre to get an idea of the bank account heights of many of the patrons in attendance. There were a lot of the rich elite, but also families and students and people getting to the event via the subway.

The theatre had an interesting vibe of classical artistry and the high-brow community, yet was laid back enough to have an audience that responds to a greeting from the conductor, has servers delivering drinks, and a candy bar. The ushers all war American flag bow-ties,and it's clear that they are experts in and proud of their profession. And a lil' touch that I really liked is that every one in the audience dressed up for the occasion, a lil' bit of formalism that I find people have given up on now-a-days when they attend the orchestra.

Tonight's program was a collection of Pixar scores with big screen movie-clip accompaniment. I will leave alone my disappointment and dislike of the two Cars movies, and focus on the rest of their amazing library of animated motion pictures. I love Pixar's output, from Toy Story all the way through Brave (...except for Cars, but I just pretend those don't count). The scores for the films are just as impressive as the scripts, animation or actor's performances are throughout. I think putting on these kind of pop-culture crossover nights are great ways to trick people to attend a live event, and best case scenario leads to interest in checking out various other offerings from a symphony. If you don't get choked up on a night like this while listening to / watching excerpts from Up or Wall E, you are a cold heartless automaton indeed.

Got some money exchanged, all packed, passport will not be forgotten, all ready for the trip to Boston tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing the shrine to Matt and Ben, amongst other historical and cultural landmarks.

Matt Smith is leaving Doctor Who, which will usher in a regeneration of the character and a twelfth actor stepping in to the role. I understand that being Doctor Who is a lot of work and that and actor might want to explore different roles, I none-the-less have a hard time wrapping my mind around how someone could walk away from a gig like this one. It's a pretty bad average when you consider that there's been a different Doctor about every 4.5 years over the 50 year run. Of course there's countless years of time travel between televised adventures that we aren't privy to.

Leaving on top vs overstaying your welcome is a tough balance to maintain when in a situation like this I can imagine, plus those Brit's have no fear in keeping projects shorter instead of running a concept into the ground. I will still be very sad to see Matt go. Though I was also quite devastated to see the tenth Doctor go, and things have turned out just fine in his absence. I was ready to give up on Doctor Who after the departure of David Tennant, I think I've gained more of an over-all appreciation of the legacy since then though. Even though it has been spoilered for usall, I can pretty much guarantee the shedding of a geeky tear when the current Doctor dies and the new one is revealed.

We opened up the Mayfair yesterday and this-afternoon for Ottawa's annual Door's Open event. Over the weekend, thousands of participants could explore landmarks, churches, businesses, buildings, houses, and all sorts of interesting architecture and hidden pieces of local history. There was a thought that folks might not be too interested in such a thing at the Mayfair since they could always come and check out the theatre while seeing a movie. We happily stood corrected on that thought.

Over the two days we showed off our pride and joy to 600 interested Ottawa residents. We had points of interest mapped out throughout the theatre, ranging from the stain glass windows, to an 80 year old seat, to an Alien. The real star attraction without a doubt was the tour of the projection booth. People love seeing behind the scenes of the movie presentation magic. So, for an extremely long line of inquisitive fans of cinema, I showed off our classic 35mm and shiny new DCP projectors for half a dozen or so at the time (it's pretty packed quarters in there). There were many a question, and to a person everyone seemed quite fascinated in how movies make it from production to the bi screen.

If you ever want a bit of an ego boost, co-own a theatre and then show it off to a bunch of compliment giving residents whoa are all thankful that the Mayfair is still there instead of a chain store or a parking lot taking its place.

Much delayed in mentioning this, but the second issue of Brian K Vaughan and Marcos Martin's digital only comic book series The Private Eye is currently available. The creators promise that this series will never be available on paper, so the only way to read and support this series is to do so via the interwebs (and you can pay whatever you want...one penny or a hundred bucks or whatever you see fit). I highly recommend that you do so.

At first glance, a movie like Spring Breakers might seem like pure exploitation cinema. And it is. The story of three trouble-making girls and one religious do-gooder friend and their spring break adventures features gratuitous nudity, graphic sex, bad morals, drug use and gun filled brutal violence. It also happens to be an enthralling drama, an exciting crime story, and has moments of clever laugh out loud comedy. The casting of some Disney teen idol actresses gets beyond the publicity gaining gimmick and shows off the all four of the quartet have some actual acting chops. And if the exploits of girls in the midst of summer fun criminality wasn't enough for you, James Franco also is on hand to steal the show as a charismatic wrapping drug kingpin by the name of alien. I dare say that it might even stand shoulder to shoulder with other similar genre motion pictures the like of Trainspotting and Reservoir Dogs.

Spring Breakers screens at the Mayfair tonight at 9:15pm with follow-up shows the next four evenings.

There's a spoiler-iffic reveal so great in Angel & Faith #22 that it reminded me of the good ole' days of commercial break cliff-hangers that held me in such entertained rapt attention back when Angel was a teevee series. I actually gasped in surprise. Much like when Angel gained a spin-off show from Buffy, I still am a fan of both, but Angel & Faith has been a better comic right from the first issues debut. Writer Christos Gage has done a fine job at the helm of the series under the creative supervision of mastermind and executive producer Joss Whedon, along with some great artwork from break-out talent Rebekah Isaacs. We're never going to get more live-action adventures featuring the vampire with a soul, thankfully we have comic books to fill the vampireless void.

The only thing I like more than a good western story is a good weird western story (like Bubba Ho-Tep...or something featuring dinosaurs or ghosts...or maybe dinosaur ghosts). All Star Western # 20 features the books usual bounty hunter star Jonah Hex in a team-up adventure with lost in time partially amnesiac super-hero Booster Gold. Long time Jonah Hex scribes deliver another entertaining western tale, this one with a sci fi twist, and continue to produce maybe the best comic from DC's New 52.

I have not sen The Rep as of yet (subtitled: A Documentary about Independent, Repertory, Cinemas), but I have to say that it is by far one of the catchiest movie posters I've sen in a very long time. I am looking forward to this new Canadian doc, even though I have a feeling that it will have a lot of footage of closed down movie theatres and that that will make me sad.

The Rep makes its Ottawa Premiere at the Mayfair on Wednesday May 29th at 9:15pm and Thursday May 30th at 9:30pm. It may end up as a bit of a sorrowful tale, but you can take pride that you will be both supporting an indie movie while in an indie theatre by watching it with us.

I am the perfect age to have been a die hard Nirvana fan, the band's breakthrough album was released while I was in high school. I was on hand for the rock n roll revolution that the Seattle band instigated, the copy-cat expensive fashion rip-off's, the Weird Al cover, the movie Singles, and everything else that spun out from the grungy, dimly lit,lyrically garbled high school gym set music video. I remember standing at the bus stop and being hit with the information that Kurt Cobain had committed suicide.

Luckily, the end of Nirvana was not the end of drummer Dave Grohl. He proved do have even more musical skills than that of a drummer when his Foo Fighters album was released, which although under the guise of a band was performed 100% by Grohl. Over the years, on top of putting together a number of Foo albums with an actual band backing him, he also filled up his schedule playing with bands the like of Queens of the Stone Age and Tenacious D, and participating in the music side of the pre-fame Beatles film Backbeat. He can also can be spotted cameo style in an episode of The X-Files or the most recent Muppet movie.

His latest project in a seemingly always packed schedule is taking up directorial reigns for the movie Sound City. The documentary focuses on a very special sound board from a gone extinct Californian recording studio that had everyone from Fleetwood Mac to Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers to (of course) Nirvana record on it. The doc covers both rock n roll history that has surrounded the device, and explores the evolution of the technology and changes to music production (very akin to film production and presentation that has effected the Mayfair over the past couple years). And of course it is filled with a whole bunch of amazing music...the highlight being a reunion of the surviving members of Nirvana with none other than Paul McCartney filling in on vocals.

Sound City has a couple more screenings at the Mayfair, tonight (Monday May 27th) at 9:30pm and Tuesday May 28th at 9:15pm

No time to blog! The glorious day is finally here! If you call me I won't pick up the phone. If my doorbell rings I will not get up off the couch to answer it. We live in an age of miracle and wonder. Time to marathon through as many episodes of Arrested Development season four as possible before the rest of life gets in the way. Cue the theme song and some Ron Howard narration!

The more I listen to Doug Benson do his Bane impersonation on Doug Loves Movies, the more I realize that I think the whole Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy is just a mess. Glass half full, at least the horrible vocal choice made by Tom Hardy (who I otherwise think is an amazing actor) has lead to Doug Benson movie geek hilarity and the excellent movie quote game - Bane or Lincoln. A game in which you try to deduce whether a line of dialog is from a super villain or a U.S. president is shockingly difficult. Well, if I have similar feelings about Man of Steel, at least it will likely lead to some good material for the DLM podcast.

Christine is my favourite kind of horror movie. It doesn't over-explain, it doesn't reveal the secret origins of the monster, it doesn't bother with scientific realism in its storytelling. What we have here is a simple story about an evil car. In other hands that might've turned out rather silly, but from the Stephen King book and under John Carpenter's direction it packages into a very entertaining modern horror classic. It's on of those strange examples of a villain-centric tales where you find yourself cheering for the bad guy. Weirder still in this case since that character happens to be a car.

I hadn't seen the movie for a very long time. In fact, I'm pretty sure the only time that I've seen it was on VHS in all of it's ingloriously low visual quality and chopped up pan-and-scan sub-par presentation style. So, to see it now in glorious re-mastered DCP style, with a crisp colourful image and sharp quality sound was just great. Christine with her bright red paint job and shiny chrome attachments (I'm not a car guy...I can't give you specifics) looked glorious, and the soundtrack of classic rock and roll was perfectly crisp and clear. I know that a number of traditionalists lament the extinction of film, but presentations like this one make me confident that the digital future is just fine.

Christine rolls onto the Mayfair screen tonight (Friday May 24th at 11:30pm) and Sunday May 26th at 8:30pm.

This upcoming Saturday night (May 25th) marks the 2013 home opener for the Rideau Valley Roller Girls. Canada's number one home team, the RVRG Slaughter Daughters take on the KDG Disloyalists from Kingston. Then the RVRG Riot Squad battle home town rivals CCDD Dolly Rogers.

Advance tickets are $12, or $15 at the door...for more information check out the Rideau Valley Roller Girls site. It is the only sport that matters.

This slipped by me, but DC Comics has recently come to their senses and returned Power Girl to her original costume. Well, sort of...it has all those New 52 lines all over the place, but it's close enough. Much nicer than the costume that she was put into since the universe re-booted. Now, if the writing in the World's Finest comic would improve as well, I just might go back to checking out the adventures of one of my favourite characters. Until then I'll just go back and read the Justice League comics and Amanda Conner solo-book issues. I promise that I like the character for more than just the revealing costume. Put her in pants and a shirt without a big hole cut out of it and I would still think she was cool. I swear.

Tomorrow night the Rideau Valley Roller Girls present what is sure to be a modern day Canadian cult classic, The Burlesque Assassins! This retro 1950's era piece of cinematic action and adventure features beautiful and deadly heroes vs the evils of cold war communism. It is playing for one night only, and I guarantee that it will be more fun than any playoff hockey game that might be going on at the exact same time. Plus, the theatre will be filled with actual burlesque and derby girls.

The Burlesque Assassins screens tomorrow (Wednesday May 22) at 8:45pm at the Mayfair.

Not a single minute of Star Trek Into Darkness passed where I was not overwhelmingly entertained. For this and the previous Star Trek film from JJ and company, there seems to be a bit of negativity coming from some that they are not real Star Trek movies. If by not real the pessimistic Trekkies mean that they don't like movies that are filled with a well crafted scripts, excellent performances, and a ton of comedic moments, dramatic tension and thrilling adventure...then I am ok with this Star Trek incarnation that some strangely consider fake.

Shockingly and frustratingly, there still seems to be a lot of people who do not understand that JJ Trek is an alternate universe to previous the Star Trek set of teevee shows and movies. They do not negate or replace or erase what has come before, a Next Generation era that Leonard Nimoy's Spock traveled from in the previous film is still clicking along in the alternate side of the sci-fi universe to these cinematic tales. Believe me, I love Shatner's Captain Kirk, quite a few of the previous films, Deep Space Nine, and a whole bunch of things about Star Trek that has come before. Bu, I do not fear storytelling change, and I definitely won't disregard the achievements of these new movies just because they might seem like re-make's at first glance.

I dare say that there might not be a more worthwhile and fun to watch Hollywood movie released this year. I am very much looking forward to Star Wars Episode VII.

Th good news is that the season finale of Doctor Who was spectacular. I was surprised by twists and turns, I laughed, I was scared for the characters, I got choked up, and the cliffhanger final moment blew my mind. I don't know how anyone could possibly want anything more in an hour of entertainment. The bad news is that now we have to wait until the far off time of November for the 50th Anniversary pay-off. If I could hop into a TARDIS to get there sooner I surely would.

I have now seen the complete trilogy of U.S. presidential historical films released in 2012: Abraham Lincoln vs Zombies, Lincoln, and now Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. I'm not sure which one is my favourite. One has zombies, one has vampires, one has Daniel Day Lewis. Tough call. Though I will say that despite the cg vampire monster faces, a horror movie trend which I've never been very fond of, Vampire Hunter was surprisingly not horrible. That's a backhanded compliment at best, but I was expecting terrible and was rewarded with pretty good. I wonder what Abraham Lincoln part IV will be about?

Sometimes I think the best way to see a movie that is actually pretty good, is to have first heard that the movie was really bad. Entering into a cinematic experience after having read a whole bunch of negative reviews makes a good movie somehow seem great. I had a hell of a time finding a critic to quote while writing about Paris-Manhattan for Mayfair purposes. It has rather poor numbers on both the Rotten Tomatoes and imdb. So, when I saw the film and I enjoyed it quite thoroughly, I was quite confused as to why it didn't receive a more favourable response from the critical masses.

Paris-Manhattan is the feature directorial debut from Sophie Lellouche and stars Alice Taglioni. It's a lovely French romantic comedy about a young woman obsessed with the films and philosophy of Woody Allen.She has a giant Woody Allen poster up on her apartment wall, and she even hears his advice giving voice via audio snippets from some of his classic works. All she wishes for is to be swooped up in a comical intelligent romantic entanglement straight out films the like of Annie Hall or Manhattan.

Any time that I see a movie like this that I am impressed with that the critics aren't, I get genuinely confused as to what more they could have possibly have wanted from this nice lil' tale. It's like when I find out that someone doesn't like Goonies or Army of Darkness or The Big Lebowski. I usually stand firm in my belief that movies are subjective...but in certain cases I must admit that I am a hypocrite if you disagree with me, and I would just have to tell you that you are wrong. If your spirits aren't lifted by the time the credits are rolling, especially after a great climactic pay-off, you might want to re-examine your state in life and try to cheer up.

Paris-Manhattan, well worth your time (especially since it clocks in at a speedy 77 minutes), screens at the Mayfair tonight at 9:00pm, May 18 at 8:30pm, and May 21 - 23 at 7:00pm.

If I were anywhere near Moncton this weekend (specifically on Saturday May 18), I would be attending the first annual East Coast Comic Expo, which I learned about while chatting with Nick Bradshaw last weekend at the Ottawa Comiccon. This good ole' fashioned 1 day comic book convention features special guests such as Nick (Wolverine & the X-Men), Andy Belanger (Swamp Thing), Becky Cloonan (Batman) and more.

Doors at the soon to be closed down Beaver Curling Club open at 10am, and the first 200 people through the door get a very limited edition print from Nick. There will be activities for the kids, role-playing games, costume contests, and even Iron Man himself will be in attendance! I will hazard a guess that there is absolutely nothing more awesome going on in Moncton that would be more fun than going to the East Coast Comic Expo.

I was depressed and saddened and effected way too much then I logically should have been by the death of a fictional character when writer Grant Morrison recently killed off Batman's sidekick and Bruce Wayne's son Damian Wayne (aka - Robin IV). It's a compliment to the medium of comic books and its storytelling power, and the skill of the writer, that I was put in such a state of mourning.

The good news is that the young characters death has caused some excellent plot-lines to domino in effect in the aftermath. The Batman & Robin book is rotating through gust stars for the time being. Last issue was Tim Drake / Red Robin (aka - Robin III), this month is Jason Todd / Red Hood (aka - Robin III), next month is Batgirl. Jason Todd has a particularly knowledgeable history that identifies him with this current chain of events, as he is not only a former Robin...he's a formerly deceased Robin. This issue starts as a reunion team-up, and culminates into a rather tense father / son style clash.

This issue also features more from surprise new character, Carrie Kelly, the Robin from The Dark Knight Returns alternate time-line. Some comic nerds seemed angry at her inclusion in the New 52, but I like to actually read a story-line before forming an opinion. I always keep in mind that some readers were likely angry when Hal Jordan was Green Lantern instead of Alan Scott, or Barry Allen was Flash instead of Jay Garrick. Remember that a comic book, when at it's best, always takes risks and throws out shocking turns at its readers and attempts to surprise with soap opera in a cape caliber plot-twists.

I continue to hope that all this is leading back to a Damian resurrection. These are all good dramatic tales in the Batman line of books, but I don't care, I'd rather have that lil' punk 10 year old Robin in a hoodie back. Who will take care of Bat-Cow?

I interviewed Nick Bradshaw over the weekend for the geek doc that we are in the midst of filming. I mentioned the list of folks being interviewed to some of the other subjects, and every time that Nick's name was mentioned the response was that he's the nicest guy. I can confirm that these statements are true. An Atlantic Canada resident, Nick has a connection to Ottawa via attending college here, and he was very glad to have a comic con excuse to return. If you are not familiar with Nick's resume, please check out his work on Army of Darkness, Danger Girl, and his current run on Wolverine & the X-Men.

Nick was kind enough to draw me a quick pensive Wolverine sketch as we chatted and filmed, and I always like to show off the sketches I manage to acquire. I love the tiny pointy Wolvie ears.

I got this complete set of Marvel toys, and a DC set that I didn't even know existed, all conveniently gathered and sold at a very reasonable price. I have learned a valuable lesson about collecting gumball machine toys. Instead of trying your luck via putting a coin into a machine and getting doubles...just wait and buy a complete set at a comic convention. Some see these type of things as a waste of money and collectors of dust. I see them as awesome and I remain impressed in myself that I don't delve into the depths of hoarder status and spend way more money on such things. I will reward myself by trying to track down the Thor and Captain America figures that I am missing from series 1.

Today I was in the front row of a packed auditorium of geeks (thank you media badge), all there to see, listen to and ask questions of Nathan Fillion. If you ever want to feel what an out-pouring of love and admiration feels like, be in a crowd at a comic con when Bruce Campbell or Joss Whedon or Nathan Fillion step out on that stage. Nathan Fillion knows how to play the game, he is an excellent public speaker, he's genuine and funny and it is very clear that he is quite appreciative of the place he is in.

He had fellow Canadian and Firefly co-star Jewel Staite join him on stage, he crashed her panel yesterday because Summer Glau lost her passport and couldn't be in attendance. They were great on stage together, evident that they are actual friends and not just putting on a routine to appease the fans in front of them. By the time the time was wrapping up, he spoke of how proud he was as a Canadian and to be a part of the Firefly legacy and how thankful he was for these fans. Then he got choked up and had to hold back the tears. This made his on-stage friend cry as well, and I'm pretty sure all the geeks in the crowd were equally moved as they burst into a round of applause.

Moments like this make me set aside any feelings of negativity I might have towards some of the greedy aspects around celebrity and conventions ($70 bucks for an autograph!?) and make me happy that we are all a part of this wonderful geeky world that has evolved around us.

Will Wheaton gave a really great geek pride speech too. What a turn of event his life has taken when you take into account that in the late 1980's many Trekkie's had quite the hate on for him. Now he is a king of the interwebs and blogs and various forms of gaming. The mindset is pretty much that the geek title isn't all about billion dollar movies as our identity. It's about doing what you love and follow dreams and think big and don't care about how people judge. If you get punched in the stomach by a bully who then rips up the comic you were reading, and then return the next day and read more comics, you are proudly a geek. Geeks are brave and follow dreams and love things in a true and un-ironic manner. If you war an Archie shirt because you love Archie, you are a geek. If you wear an Archie shirt because it is retro and you think it is stupid, you are a hipster. Big difference.

Yes, I got also choked up when Nathan Fillion did. To be fair, so did the opening scene of JJ Star Trek and various scenes in Scott Pilgrim. I am an emotional geek.