Jim Dandy Goodness: 02/12/2012

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Vic Toews is Just Playing Footsie With Your Privacy

Don't be mad at Vic Toews, he just wants to play "show and tell" with your private affairs. Long winter nights in Steinbach can get lonely, and you don't always have the company of a fresh new dalliance (or two) to keep the Manitoba winter at bay. So be nice to Vic, and let him play show and tell. It's how he shows he loves you.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Calypso + Innovation = Success!

Far from being just a party sound about good times, calypso can, and does, address the concerns of today. Even older tunes that concerned themselves with economic issues of yesteryear can be applicable to our modern times. Case in point, "Cuttin' Wood" by Mighty Terror. This happy ditty, part parable, part cautionary tale, could be used in any entry-level business course. The lady in question owns a saw mill. She has come up against some hard wood which her mill cannot handle. Rather than lose out on the potential income from taking on this massive log, she seeks outside consulting help to inform her of the best way forward. The lesson learned is one for the ages; knowledge is power, seek help before jettisoning any project, and lube. Lots of lube.

"Real Time" Will Bring A Cloud To Your Sunny Day

There is no better month than February, and no better time in that month than Valentine's Day, to watch "Real Time". It will bring joy and misery to your dreary, love-starved day like few movies can. And you can see it on Netflix.

"Real Time" stars Jay Baruchel as Andy, a choss-pile of human failure. Andy's bad luck and bad bets have finally caught up with him in the form of hit-man Randy Quaid, who gives Andy one hour to do anything he wants before he puts Andy down with a bullet to the head.

Filmed in Hamilton, Ontario, "Real Time" is a at once sad, depressing, funny, and delightful. Hamilton is made to look like an absolute shit hole. This did not take much work on the part of the special effects team--they just filmed it as is. To be fair, they could have filmed it in London in February and had the same soul-sucking result.

Baruchel does a fine job as Andy, a loathsome character you really want to punch in the mouth. Quaid is surprisingly understated and effective as Reuban the hit-man with a heart, in spite of the curious Australian accent he affects. Acting veteran Jayne Eastwood is typically good in her small part; I think there's some arcane federal regulation that ensures she's in anything filmed in Ontario, but it's for the better.

The real star of "Real Time" is the soundtrack. From well-known Canadian artists like The Stamperders ("Sweet City Woman"), to Chlliwack's "Fly At Night", to the Hip's "Scared", the Can-Con soundtrack is the delightful part of this slow, but never laborious film. Sure, some of the tracks are well-played standards, but their placement in the film, and their use as a narrative tool, set the movie apart from other films about failure and gambling in Hamilton.

So for this Valentine's Day, get a six of 50, some chips, and sit down with your old lady or old man, and watch Real Time. Let them know how much worse it could be and that they should be thankful they settled on you. You, the big door prize.