False Positives

If you see one “hockey-kids-xmas-comedy-drama about a queer couple who gain custody of an 11 year old boy” this is the movie!! (imdb listing)

You may have already heard about it, based on the book of the same title, from the Toronto International Film Festival or the coverage it has received for having the support of the NHL and Toronto Maple Leaf’s. ( see also this from the New York Times)

It stars (Ottawa, Canada born) Tom Cavanaugh ( best know from the show “Ed”), Ben Shenkman (Cavanaugh’s co-star on the show Love Monkey) and Noah Bernett, Jeananne Goossen (Falcon Beach), Graham Greene (numerous) and Sheila McCarthy (numerous).

Mongrel Media has a trailer up on YouTube, and here are the reviews (from the Film Fest) from Xtra (who also has a YouTube video from TIFF with interviews), Tribute. I’ll add more when the msm newspapers publish reviews.

Update: The Globe and Mail has Stick-handling a touchy subject, and it’s review is Movie scores with goalies and glitter (3 out of 4 stars) ; Toronto Star: ‘Breakfast With Scot’: Playing for the other team;

Update : Randy McDonald links in from his wide ranging and well named blog : A Bit More Detail.

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in the video category:

• Evolution, the Dove Self Eesteem short film - that exposed the manipulation of the female image in the media. (advertising)
• Die Hard - Music Video (YouTube) The story of John McClane (Yippie Kah Yay Motherf**ker!) and an updated with 4th verse for “Live Free or Die Hard”
• Sex and the City / Matrix parody - A spoof short film showcased in 2000 MTV Music Awards, performed by comedian Jimmy Fallon.
• Musica Globalista via Bruce Sterling OMG “Imagine that you are an endearingly bonkers 21st-century Brazilian female pop artist who wouldn’t hesitate to make a total YouTube spectacle of yourself with some handheld video cams and a production budget of maybe five bucks”. A tribute to the Discovery Channel?
• Diaper Wars! - The baby version of Star Wars!

For Web Tech stuff

• and incomplete list of Top Web Apps in Canada, startups that are reaching the global market.
• and Dispatches From the Hyperlocal Future - Bruce Sterling riffs from 2017 : with ultra Mobiles, geotagging, social broadcasting, and all those black-and-white barcode “nano to astro”. Nothing that far fetched. There is also a “cool” demo of a iphone++ gizmo in honour of iday

under culture we have :

• via Boing Boing: Yo Yo Girl Cop, Dasepo Naughty girls and New York Times :Asian Cinema, Swimming in Crime and Cuteness we have theNY Asian Film Festival 2007, which inculde youtube trailers for most of its films and the awesome NY Asian Film Festival 2007 festival trailer
• Will was busy :Word & Phrases Shakespeare Invented - In all of his work Shakespeare uses 17,677 words. Of those 1,700 were first used by Shakespeare. By far the most important individual influence on the development of the modern English that we speak today.
• Where On Earth Was Middle-earth? : the map of Middle-earth overlapped with one of Europe, - The Shire is in the South-West of England; The Grey Havens are situated in Ireland. â�¢ Eriador corresponds with Brittany. â�¢ Helmâ��s Deep is near the Franco-German-Swiss border tripoint, Mordor is situated in Transylvania, with Mount Doom in Romania.
• SF Signal: SF/F Writers Who Blog - SFSignal maintains a useful and expansive list of science fiction and fantasy writers’ blogs

And under optimistic Space we have

• a vehicle powered by a so-called Mach-Lorentz Thruster. too good to be true?

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Via PhotoJunkie I came across Infest Wisely, a lo-fi sci-fi movie.

Shot in Toronto and made up of seven segments - each by a different director (Jon Sasaki, Kirby Ferguson, Craig Macnaughton,Chris McCawley, Jim Munroe, Rose Bianchini,Benny Zenga - I saw its special advance screening (for $5) at UoT’s Innis Town Hall last night (May 18th).

Wow! A great story, well told. So, What is it about? “There’s a new, chewable nanotechnology that lets you take photos with your eyes, cures cancer and eliminates body odour. But the early adopters are realizing they got extra “features” they didn’t count on. And no one told them once they spread through the bloodstream, it’s harder to uninstall than your average computer virus.” Thats the setup. They handle that and the consequences much better that anything out of the Hollywood film/television establishment.

Made for ~CAD$ 900, in 6 weeks of shooting and 9 months post production, with lots of donated labour and gear (not to mention Celtx, the open source per-production software for scripting and story boarding).

If you missed the advanced screening you can checkout the trailer, request a screening at our local neighbourhood film festival or starting May 22 watch each of the 7 episodes, one each week from the web site (or there is also a feed).

The film is under a creative commons licence : Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs.

I may never go to a public washroom again, or look at a Cat quite the same way. Can I interest you in a stick of gum?

Update : The first episode Obsolete is out!

Meet Digger, a hacker whose psychological aversion to the Internets is so strong he’s turned to mugging ATMs for money.

Digger is play by Sean Lerner of TTC Rider, and TTC Subway Rider Efficiency Guide fame.

Cory thinks its Killer : Chewable eyeball cameras: sf video podcast

All the episodes are out as is a BitTorrent version, a 700MB high-resolution .AVI file with XVID compression suitable for full screen viewing.

And Infest Wisely is going to have its world premiere in Las Vegas next month at Defcon 15 the underground hacker convention.

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Omini’s listing for Super Cinema have been update till the labour day weekend. As they have done in past summers, it’s slightly warmed up leftovers from the past year( and older). They have also have messed up the listing for August 28th:

DRIVING MISS WEALTHY (2004) - COMEDY - 14+
A police superintendent determined to get rid of a dangerous triad chief dispatches three undercover officers to Infiltrate the underworld. Things do not go as planned when three sexy policewomen are sent to look after the men.

No! That’s not Driving Miss Wealthy is a 2003 film (shown on Omni TV in December 2005) review here by I Love Hong Kong Flim. So, wrong title or wrong description? Either way copy and paste gone bad, and less editorial oversight, and knowledge, than yours truly.

Past listings start here for Spring 2006

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Omini’s listing for Super Cinema have been update till the end of June. Past listings start here for Winter 2006

The pickings look slim, but there are a couple look worth watching such :

Kung Fu Mahjong 2 (Saturday, June 3) is an sequel to last year better than expect funny love story, playing off of a “Kung Fu Hustle” theme.

China’s Next Top Princess (Saturday, June 17) which is not the Comedy which Omini thinks it is, Starting “2R” : Race Wong and Rosanne Wong, is from December 2005, not 2006! (If Omini needs me as a fact checker they have problems!).

Last summer’s Omini’s film run was a bad re-hash. Looks like I’ll be watching more direct from HK dvd’s rather. Films like “2 Become 1″ ( Miriam Yeung), ” Election 2″, “All About Love”, “Cocktail”, “Fearless” (Jet Li’s final martial arts film), “Isabella”, “The Shopaholics” (Cecilia Cheung and Sean Lau Ching-Wan)

update : here’s Summer 2006

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Last night I saw the limited release Russian film “Night Watch” or “Nochnoi Dozor”. Wow. I don’t usually go for this sort of thing but I heard some buzz and I’m glad I gave it a go.

A fantasy-thriller set in present-day Moscow. Good battles Evil, the balance of power hangs on a thread, prophecies foretold, yadda yadda yadda. We’ve seen this a million times, but this is not your old Hollywood formula crap.

With a nod to Buffy and the Matrix, this is a seriously weird, and very well done, film. The special effects managed to not get in the way, the Acting is superb, and even the English sub-titles add value.

Night Watch came out in 2004, and was the official selection from Russia for the Academy Awards 2005, as well as being the #1 box-office movie in Russia.

I’m looking forward to “Day Watch” (Dnevnoy dozor) and “Dusk Watch”, this being a trilogy (the last filmed in english since it was co-financed by Fox).

This ends culture day at False Positives….

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The Winners for the 2005’s 42nd Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival the winners have been announced, and Stephen Chow’s ‘Kung Fu Hustle’, the story of hidden kung fu masters who resurface to battle gangsters, won five Golden Horse awards. (A sequel is in the works.)

other films of note:

‘Election‘ , a gritty take on triad warfare, won for only won for “Best Original Screenplay” and “Best Sound Effects” after having 11 nominations.

Miriam Yeung (in the very good ‘Drink Drank Drunk‘, a romance in which she plays a beer promoter who falls for a chef) lost to Shu Qi for Best Leading Actress in the Taiwanese Film of the Year ‘Three Times‘ (three love stories set in 1911, 1966, and 2005). Qi Shu is most well known to norther Americans for her role in 2002’s ‘The Transporter’.

The amusing ‘Initial D‘, a movie based on a Japanese manga about street car races, won Anthony Wong a well deserved Best Supporting Actor award.

A World Without Thieves, staring Andy Lau and Rene Liu as slick thiefs, won for Best Screeenplay Adaptation.

really all the winners and nominees are worth a viewing. Love Hong Kong Film has more

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Via Lossless and wongkarwai.net, we have the Wong Kar-Wai calendar, Wong Kar-Wai being the Hong Kong producer/director/writer of 2046, In the Mood for Love, Chungking Express - my favorite - , and many more.

Image of Maggie Cheung - who was amazing in Clean - and the thrilling Tony Leung Chiu Wai - go see Infernal Affairs - via http://www.wongkarwai.net/

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Yep, we saw Serenity in its Toronto opening, to a packed house.

Joss Whedon ( as per the PVP tee shirt : Joss Whedon is my Master Now) did not disappoint. The Cast acted their Hearts out. Things were Reveled, and No Punches were pulled. There was much blowing up. Friends will be greatly missed. And they made a Difference. It was intense. ‘I Am A Leaf Of The Wind, Watch Me Soar’

This is how it’s done.

Now I can enjoy the spoilers, browse the FireFly Wiki, re-read the Neil Gaiman and Joss Whedon Time Magazine Interview, and watch (Via SF Signal) again Mosquito, a

fan parody of Firefly, called Mosquito. This 10 minute film takes the form of a behind the scenes documentary of the short lived TV series, Mosquito. Very funny, especially the part about the Canadians and Ukranians being the ‘meek’ who inherit the Earth.

For more see category Sci Fi and LinkBlog SciFi

No Power In The ‘Verse Can Stop us Now

quick links:

• web comics: There’s no place I can be since I found…, and Joy of Tech
• Highly recommended is John Rogers’ Kung Fu Monkey blog, in particular :
  The Pilot Pitch - Background (how the economics of TV works and doesn’t, and how it is changing and isn’t) and Writing: The Pilot Pitch - the Room; check out his Global Frequency
• Star Wreck: In The Pirkinning, the Finnish Star Trek / Babylon 5 parody movie is out on DVD and torrent
• and the more main stream Aeon Flux is coming soon. Update : Now not until Dec/2005.

and a Linkback to Julian at the mighty NsfTools.com

Update Oct 7th : Via Uk based (where the movie just opened) Big Dumb Object we have his own spoiler free review, news that the First 9 minutes of are Serenity online (! what a great marketing idea! ) and Gary Westfahl’s review from Locus Online.

also : Lee @ Mnemosyne links to the brilliant (and full of SPOILERS) Serenity in 2000 Words or Less. “Whedon, you bastard!”

Update: Just in Time for Xmas! the Serenity (Widescreen Edition) is now available for shipping December 20, 2005!

• Format: Ac- , Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Available Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Commentary by: Writer/Director Joss Whedon
• Deleted scenes and outtakes
• Future History: The Story of Earth That Was
• What’s in a Firefly
• Re-Lighting the Firefly
• Joss Whedon Introduction

Dec 6th update via SFSignal we have Serenity with Hand Puppets ..LOL madness : “We always knew those Japanese commercials screwed with your brain!”…”This isn’t the Firefly crew you’re looking for.”…”Run like hell now, strangle Joss Whedon later!”…”Did I say dying? I meant kicking reaver ass from here to Tuesday!”….

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Update : Late Winter 2006 is up

Omni TV 2 (channel 14 on Roger’s here in torontoland) has posted their listings (now at now at http://www.omnitv.ca/ontario/tv/supercinema/, see below) of “Super Cinema Night” for Sept Oct, Nov and early Dec are now up.

Jan 5th 2006

Update: Omni TV 2, in thier “wisdom” changed the url for listing, but kept the old page up!
It’s now at http://www.omnitv.ca/ontario/tv/supercinema/. Stupid Rabbit!. Sorry for not catching this sooner.

I’ve previously blogged their schedule for Spring 2005, Winter 2005, and Fall 2004. This summer they were runing either really bad movies or reshowing from the past 12 months. the next couple of months looks more promising.

If you are looking for more good Kong Kong Movies look over the winners and nominees for The 24th Hong Kong Film Award or Hong Kong’s The 10th Golden Bauhinina Awards, also the links under Movies

All Movies run on Saturday’s at 9:00 PM and go for 2 hours till 11:00 PM.

September 10 Himalaya Singh 2005 Comedy

Way over the top, Silly Hong Kong meets BollyWood done Kung Fu Hustle style with out any of the pluses that might come from that, althought there where a few funny bits and the girls (Cecilia and Cherrie ) are very cute.  Ronald Cheng, Sean Lau Ching-Wan, Cecilia Cheung Pak-Chi, Gauri Karnik, Francis Ng Chun-Yu, Cherrie In

September 17 Addicted 2002 Drama

South Korean Film also know as Jungdok. Man who may be possessed by his brother? sounds creepy.  Lee Byeong-Heon, Lee Mi-Yeon, Lee Eol

September 24 Beyond Our Ken 2004 Drama

Looks interesting, and well done. Winner of Best Screenplayer in Hong Kong’s The 10th Golden Bauhinina Awards. The Chinese title translates as “Revenge of a Princess”.   Daniel Wu, Gillian Chung, Tao Hong, James Wong

October 1 Korean film “Sword in the Moon” also know as “Cheongpung myeongwol” 2003 Action

Two close friends,17th century Korean swordsmen, face each other.  Very good sword fighting clamied.   Choi Min-Su, Jo Jae-Hyeon, Kim Bo-Gyeong

October 8  My Sweetie 2004 Comedy

A light weight romantic comedy.   Sammy Leung, Stephy Tang Lai-Yun, Ella Koon, Kristal Tin, Yan Ng.

Very Very Light weight.

October 15 Korean film Pisces or Mulgogijari 2000 Drama

Looks interesing, and could be very good ( based on the IMDBreview).   Lee Mi-Yeon (Lee Mi-Yeon), Choi Woo-Jae (Choi Wu-Je), Yoon Ji-Hye (Yun Ji-Hye).

Ack. I’m not a fan a Korean domed romance films.

October 22   “Crazy N’ The City” 2004 Drama

Cop Soap Opera, with a little comedy with its drama. looks promising.   Eason Chan Yik-Shun, Joey Yung Tso-Yi, Francis Ng Chun-Yu, Yan Ng Yat-Yin, Chloe Chiu Shuet-Fei, Meng Zhang, Kara Hui Ying-Hung, Lam Suet

October 29 The Ring Virus 1999  Horror

This is not ‘Ringu’, but the Korean adaption of the movie based on Suzuki Koji’s bestselling novel.  Eck! run away run away.   Shin Eun-Kyung, Jeong Jin-Young, Bae Doo-Na, Kim Chang-Wan

November 5 Hidden Heroes 2004 Comedy

Another screwball Comedy but this one with “robots from the future”. Oh Dear.   Ronald Cheng Chung-Kei, Charlene Choi Cheuk-Yin, Raymond Wong Ho-Yin

November 12 The Legend of Gingko  2000 Action

A Korean channeling of Conan the Barbarian, only without the good parts.  But does the hero get to become Governor? Kim Seok-Hoon, Kim Yun-Jin, Seol Gyoung-Gu, Choi Jin-Sil, Lee Mi-Sook

November 19 One stone Two Birds  2005 Comedy

A slapstick comedy that parodies recent HK sword flims such as House of Flying Daggers, Hero. (which may be a good thing or not)    Jackie Wu, Ruby Lin (Lam Sum-Yu), Eric Tsang Chi-Wai

November 26 Hwaiteu ballenta-in aka White Valentine 1999 Korean Drama

Sounds like a romantic drama, very worth watching, especially because this is the debut film of Jun Ji-hyun, who has since gone on to star in the 2001 big hit My Sassy Girl (aka “Yeopgijeogin geunyeo” which if/when my sister-in-law returns the dvd I can watch!, a very good - if a little slow moving - romance film with a clever and sweet ending. I had the directors cut, but I don’t if that changed the ending or inserted more material. Anyone are to comment? ), which became as massive Asian hit, and eventually became one of the most popular South Korean films among Asian-Americans in the United States.  Hey, she has a Wikipedia entry so she must be Big!  Park Sin-Yang, Jeon Ji-Hyeon, Jeon Mu-Song, Kim Se-Jun, Kim Young-Ok.

December 3 : Rules of the Game (1999) Action

Darker than average triad flick that frustrates. Might be interesting to see if the tanned Louis Koo can be believeablie in a non comedy role. Louis Koo Tin-Lok,  Kristy Yeung Kung-Yu,  Alex Fong Chung-Sun, Sam Lee Chan-Sam

December 10 Turning Gate or “On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate” or “Saenghwalui balgyeon“ (2002) - Drama

Looks like it could be very very good.   Kim Sang-Kyung, Yeh Ji-Won, Chu Sang-Mi

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