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Archive for 'Misc'

Polytechnique, by Denis Villeneuve (in The Walrus)

Montreal filmmaker Denis Villeneuve brings the Polytechnique massacre to the screen Twenty years ago this December, as they finished up their last week of classes before the Christmas break, fourteen young women at Montreal’s École Polytechnique were killed by twenty-five-year-old Marc Lépine, who entered the school with a semi-automatic machine gun sheathed in a garbage […]

Nothing Beats Montreal Beets (In The Montreal Buzz)

Everybody knows that Montreal is the place with the most beautiful women and the best foie gras this side of the Atlantic, but we excel in the vegetable department as well. Let it be known, from this point on, that Montreal has the best beets on the planet… Technically, the many varieties of red, yellow and […]

Montreal, C’est toi ma ville (National Geographic Traveler)

A comprehensive online guide to Montreal written for National Geographic Traveller’s Places of a Lifetime franchise: “Je me souviens” (I remember) is Quebec’s provincial motto, and history is present everywhere in Montreal, a city teeming with architecture and culture from the past three centuries. Canada’s second largest, third oldest, and most cosmopolitan city is also a […]

Paul Merrick, Vancouver architect (in The Walrus)

Almost Grown: Paul Merrick, whose firm is one of several designing Vancouver’s Olympic Village, thinks his beloved city is finally outgrowing its architectural adolescence. If cities are like human bodies, as Paul Merrick says, then West Vancouver is the city’s long left arm thrown out into Burrard Inlet. Marine Drive, the road that hugs much […]

Sucker Punch, by Zack Snyder (Hour Magazine, cover)

Women on the Verge: Sucker Punch puts weapons of destruction in the hands of babes A sucker punch is synonymous with what’s called a “dirty hit,” or misogynistically, a “bitch move.” It’s a hit that takes the recipient unawares, usually from behind. But Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch is nothing if not full frontal (though not […]

H2Oil, by Shannon Walsh (Hour Magazine, cover)

Dirty oil, sold dirt cheap: Montreal filmmaker Shannon Walsh’s H2Oil digs deep into Alberta’s multi-billion-dollar oil industry As Canadians, we are the proud owners of what may be the most environmentally destructive undertaking of our or any other era. The multi-billion-dollar industry that extracts oil from the Athabasca oil sands is internationally controversial and environmentally […]

Hobo with a Shotgun (Hour Magazine, cover)

Shot in Halifax: HwaS is transgressive independent cinema at its very best…or worst, depending on the time of day Forget lobster, bar fiddles and the Cabot Trail – once Hobo With a Shotgun hits screens next week, Nova Scotia may soon be famous for gore-spattered urban decay. The aptly named debut feature directed by 28-year-old Jason […]

Merry Christmas from Stella (Hour Magazine, cover)

All Sex Workers want for Christmas is a Charter Challenge, etc Why is the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms Émilie Laliberté’s Christmas wish list? Our cover model is a sex worker and spokeswoman for Stella, Montreal’s community organization by and for sex workers. There is still a long way to go before sex workers […]

Due Date (in Hour Magazine, Ottawa Xpress)

Expectations are high for Due Date, screenwriter/director Todd Phillips’ follow-up to last year’s The Hangover, a dirty little flick set on the seedy side of Sin City, starring semi-unknown actors, that became the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. The Hangover‘s most memorable quality, besides the Phil Collins/Mike Tyson cameo, wasthe wildcard in a movie of wildcards: Zach […]

Sustainable Seafood: Sydney, Australia

Five stops on my crustacean vacation in Sydney, written for onAir, Air Canada’s monthly newsletter. 1. To get myself in an aquatic frame of mind, I start by heading to the venerable Sydney Fish Market, the city’s source for all things fishy since 1945. It’s also the largest fish market in the southern hemisphere and […]