The Niagara Independent Film Festival is back this year for its eighth round, hailing filmmakers from all over the country, local and otherwise. The festival is being held in downtown St. Catharines from June 22-23, with the intent of fostering a film scene not just locally, but nationally.
The NXNE Festival came to a close on Sunday, June 10, after supplying the city of Toronto with four crazy nights of great live music from over 450 artists. The big draws included performances by Dinosaur Jr., Peaches, a reunion of Urge Overkill and a three-night stint from Soundtrack of Our Lives.
This summer, it is possible that residents of the Niagara Region will wake up from their peaceful slumber to find that their city has been overrun by brain-thirsty zombies. Think: a more condensed version of 28 Days Later. Thanks to St. Catharines resident Sarah Hockley, the living dead will roam the Garden City on July 13 - well, for at least an hour and a half, anyway.
Last night, as I watched the headlines on the 11 o'clock news, I had to double-check the channel. I was watching the CTV National News, but it looked remarkably like StarTV. First story of the night: The G8 Summit. Second story of the night: Paris Hilton is released from jail.
On May 31, a few hundred people gathered in the park beside OCAD to see the man with the most secrets. His name is Frank Warren and he is the author of the best-selling PostSecret books and creator of the PostSecret Web site, PostSecret.com. The event, which marked the first time Warren did an appearance in Canada, was put on by Harper Collins Publishing outside the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD).
In this follow up from Judd Apatow, director of the instant hit 40-Year-Old Virgin, every woman's worst fear is realized. This film is a laugh-out-loud, slightly overlong commercial for birth control, which manages to still make a case for the joys of parenthood, marriage and life.
Artist: Wilco Album: Sky Blue Sky Label: Nonesuch Recommended Listening: "You Are My Face", "Walken" 4/5 stars Let me first state that I waited in anticipation for this album ever since hearing that it leaked to the web weeks before its official release date.
Vaguely reminiscent of old National Geographic stills and the long-running David Suzuki series The Nature of Things, Discovery Channel's Planet Earth captures the beauty of the universe with breathtakingly vivid imagery that few have seen before. Already being esteemed an epic of modern-day cinematography, Earth appears a filmmaker's masterwork, as opposed to a painstakingly detailed documentary five years in the making.
After a strenuous day looking for a stylish summery couple of students, we were so close to the end of our fashion ropes we almost chose a trendy professor to be our Brock Boy (yes, Dale Bradley - we're talking about you). But then, in the very same courtyard we saw Shannon, exhibiting a very classy summery look with her lovely satin blouse and Bermuda shorts.
