Nature / Writing

So if you follow me on any social media, you probably already know that Volume 5 of the Toronto Comics Anthology Osgoode as Gold  is currently on Kickstarter. The campaign video even includes a shout-out from co-editor Megan Purdy for the story I wrote, "The Goosefighter", which has art by Austen Payne: "The Goosefighter" is a Western-inspired tale about a young woman whose day is ruined by a territorial Canada goose on the York University campus. It is one of 27 new Toronto-set short comics that fill the 220 full colour pages of this collection. Cover by Irma Kniivila As I write this, the Kickstarter is at just under $6000 raised out of an original $15,000 goal, with the rest of the month to go. I've been rather casually posting about it as a great way to support the T oronto Comix Press and the creators by pre-ordering your physical or PDF copy of the book. But today - TODAY - they announced the stretch goals. (If you're not familiar with c...

Let's cut to the chase - I highly recommend the German film At Eye Level ( Auf Augenhöhe ) and it's only got one more screening at this year's TIFF Kids; tomorrow (Sunday April 9, 2017) at 3:30 pm. Suggested for ages 11-13 by TIFF Kids programmers, it's unfortunate that the marketers who put together the trailer and chose the visual look for its title screen seem to be trying to sell it as some kind of wacky family comedy: There's humour in it, certainly, but this is a lovely relationship film - not just in terms of the blossoming father and son relationship, but in the way it presents friendship as well. Mostly male friendships, which range from being strained within the confines of a group home for children to being thoughtful and compassionate, though still far from perfect, in the adult world. One of the most beautifully understated arcs is how young Michi (Luis Vorbach) changes how he relates to other kids, including his former roommate Justin (Marco L...

TRIO - The Hunt for the Holy Shrine is a high-quality adventure film that owes a lot to Indiana Jones. Recommended by TIFF programmers for ages 10-13, this subtitled Norwegian film follows four friends (I assume they started out as a trio in the Norwegian TV show of the same name, and the team gradually expanded) as they race to solve the mystery of Saint Olav's lost shrine before an internationally-known art thief and her henchmen get there first. Like most movies of this type, enjoying The Hunt for the Holy Shrine starts with a healthy suspension of disbelief. The biggest for me was that the tablet owned by Lars the techie is able to do absolutely anything he wants it to do (where do I get the helicopter flying app?). But it's all in good action/adventure fun, and it's worth forgoing realism for the sake of a good teen treasure hunt. The production values in this are high, making great use of a variety of locations. From sweeping shots of picturesque fishing v...

So, this is what I've been up to lately. Working at the Humber Arboretum as a Communications Assistant, which includes such onerous tasks are running around the woods learning about maple syrup harvesting while making this video:  My favourite part of this was that I smelled like wood smoke for the rest of the day. I think it's an important thing, to smell like wood smoke every so often.

Thursday March 24, 2016 I've been busy pouring over the programming for TIFF Kids 2016, which starts on April 8. There are a ton of great-sounding new films I'm excited about seeing, but I'm also thrilled to see that Toronto families will get two more chances to see one of my favourite films from last year's festival. Paper Planes  is a 2014 Australian film directed by Robert Connolly and starring Ed Oxenbould as Dylan, an 11-year-old dealing not only with his mother's death, but with his father's debilitating grief. Discovering competitive paper plane flying gives Dylan somewhere to focus his energy and a way to to make new friends; which at first only drives he and his dad (Sam Worthington) further apart. I usually only take Steve to two or three TIFF Kids movies a year, so I always hope they'll turn out to be good ones. He came with me to Paper Planes  and we both thought it was a wonderful family film. I highly recommend checking it out this ...

Sunday March 20th, 2016 Yesterday I read a fun article on The Varsity Newspaper website that reviews the contents of several Little Free Library boxes in Toronto . Writer Lisa Power wonders what the box contents tell us about Torontonians, but of course as Power herself admits, the contents could really just indicate which books the locals most wanted to get rid of. So when we took a nice Sunday walk in the park (this was the International Day of Happiness, after all), we checked in at a local Little Free Library  to see what the contents had to say. Which was mostly that it's time for me to round up a few contributions! Maybe this says we love our books too much to give away? I don't know if most people really do use Little Free Libraries to read-and-return, or if they tend to keep what they like and leave other books to replace them (or maybe never return OR replace, based on these shelves). We do a little mix of both - I've definitely read and returned, and r...

Sunday July 5, 2015 Thumped!  doesn't appear in the printed Toronto Fringe Festival guide because it was a late addition to the FringeKids! lineup, brought in at the last minute to replace an out-of-town show. Production company Ten Toes wasn't even on the Waiting List after the lottery draw in November, which suggests that the Fringe organizers ran through quite a few companies before finding someone so ready-to-go on short notice. It's a nice thing that Thumped! was added to the lineup, because with a simple story and a focus on movement, it's a good show for the very youngest Fringe-goers and can serve as a suitable first-time theatre experience. Thumped! follows rabbit friends Chase and Hide (Emma Letki and Kelly Morden, though I confess to not remembering which one was which)  as they set out to follow a map to a secret carrot patch. This is essentially a dance show for kids, with large stretches of stage time dedicated to the bunnies moving through their ...

Monday April 06, 2015 It is time. I love spring for the returning birds and the awakening trees and the influx of kid's movies at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. Tomorrow I'll be diving into the TIFF Kids Film Festival with glee, starting with a full day of movies on Tuesday and industry programming from Wednesday to Friday. I'll try to pop in here to give you the scoop as much as I can, but really - if you're in Toronto and have kids (or work in kid's media) you really should make the migration to King Street for yourself: Check out the two-week slate of films and family activities at http://tiff.net/festivals/tiffkidsfestival15 Connect Online: Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Wattpad | Goodreads | Google+

Sunday May 25, 2014 For the most part, I was glad there were children between us and the snakes. They weren't there in a human-shield kind of way - the snakes weren't dangerous and the kids weren't that coordinated anyway. When Steve and I first approached the Sciensational Sssnakes!!  display at Saturday's Spring Bird Festival in Sam Smith Park, we were both pleased and disappointed by the size of the crowd. Pleased, because it was wonderful to see so many children interested in learning about the frog, turtles, and snakes that nature educator Jenny Pearce had on hand, but disappointed because it didn't seem like we were going to get a chance to personally reconnect with Ross, the Everglades rat snake Steve had so enjoyed hanging out with  last year . Children take turns gently handling a hog-nosed snake. We watched the kids for a few minutes and I was impressed by how careful they were not to hurt the snakes, as per Pearce's instructions. Then Steve...

Monday April 21, 2014 I really enjoyed going to the TIFF Kids International Film Festival, but after more than a week straight spent inside dark theaters watching movies or inside bright theaters watching panel discussions, it was time to spend some time outside. One of the first things I saw on today's nature jaunt was a red squirrel. I've seen them before in the park, but not very often and not for a long time, so this made for a great start. Then there were many of the usual suspects for this time of year. A grackle took time to pose on a rock for me, I pestered a robin while he/she was in the bath, and the red-winged black birds were out in force: I also saw Northern flickers, a night heron, plenty of tree swallows, a brown creeper, lots of ducks and geese and sparrows, and heard a woodpecker. It had been a very nice walk and I was ready to go home when a passing young couple noticed my camera and I heard the woman say "Tell her about the owl...

Sunday April 20, 2014 This is another place-holder post to recommend "Felix" from South Africa, which  won the TIFF Kids Festival Jury Award Ages 8-10   and so will get an additional screening tomorrow (Monday April 21) !  Of course I also recommend both of the other feature-length award winners that screen again on Monday, "Regret!" and " Side by Side ". Take your pick - you can't lose! Felix lives with his widowed mother and his two younger siblings in a lower-income community in South Africa. He dreams of being a jazz musician like his father, and his acceptance-with-scholarship to a private school seems set to offer new musical opportunities along with academic ones. But after losing her husband due to his hard-living musician's lifestyle, Felix's mother is distraught by her eldest son's dreams and makes Felix choose between exploring his talent and remaining part of the family. Felix  is a lively, energetic and colour...

Sunday April 20, 2014 This is a place-holder post, as I'm heading out to do family Easter things shortly, but I want to recommend "Side by Side" from the UK, which  won the TIFF Kids Festival Jury Award Ages 11-13   and so will get an additional screening tomorrow (Monday April 21) !  That said, I also recommend both of the other feature-length award winners which will screen on Monday, "Regret!" and "Felix". Take your pick - they're all great! "Side by Side" is about a brother and sister whose lives are in upheaval and set out on a quest together across the Scottish countryside. Unlike many sibling relationships in kids movies (which are often either antagonistic or buddy-buddy/ying-yang/perfect-partner-crime-solving-duo), "Side by Side" offers a fun and realistic look at siblings who can at once love and hate each other. They are both baffled by the choices their sibling makes, and yet offer each other the best c...

Monday April 07, 2014 Assuming I don't sleepily smash my alarm clock to little bits, I'll be out the door nice and early tomorrow to get to the TIFF Bell Lightbox for the first morning of the 2014 TIFF Kids International Film Festival. Formerly known as Sprockets, TIFF Kids offers screenings and events for children and young teens, plus industry events for the people who work, study, or are trying to break into the world of kids media. I attended the festival for the first time last year and was blown away by both the films and the sessions I attended - unfortunately my decision to register came at the last minute, so I didn't set aside time to prepare beforehand or blog after the fact . But this year my notebook and I are ready*, so expect a lot of posts about kids movies from around the world over the next two weeks. Got kids? Got a whole class of kids? Just like movies that are made for kids? Check out  http://tiff.net/festivals/tiffkidsfestival for this year...

Wednesday March 12, 2014 Warning: This post contains images of dead birds, which may be disturbing to some readers. On the other hand, that's kind of the point. On Sunday night, I told Steve I was planning to go to the Royal Ontario Museum in the morning while he was at work. He asked if there was something special going on I wanted to see. "I don't really want to see it," I said, "but it seems like a thing that should be seen." Every year, volunteers from Toronto's Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP) patrol the streets near tall buildings during the spring and fall migration seasons, looking for the hundreds of birds who will accidentally crash into the confusing walls of glass that reflect sky and trees in the daylight and shine with attractive electric lights in the night. I say accidentally, but that's not really true. Accidents are unpreventable. Bird collisions can be greatly reduced with  bird-safe building design , both at the...

Sunday February 23, 2014 I mentioned in my  not-related-to-the-Olympics hockey post that Steve and I went on several mini-adventures last weekend. Another one of those was attending the inaugural session of Shut Up and Write, Toronto which was held in the Balzac's Cafe at the Toronto Reference Library on Saturday the 15th. The idea of the event was for a smorgasbord of writer-types to gather at the large communal table in the coffee shop, each bringing whatever they most wanted to work on. The group would write together silently for 25 minutes, then take a short break to say hello, socialize, and get a drink before going back in for another 25 minutes of focused work. Or, that was roughly the idea. In practice, it was pretty loose in terms of when you wanted to chat and when you wanted to work. Apparently the first "Shut Up and Write" events started in San Francisco and the idea has spread from there, so I'm sure the atmosphere and the game-plan are differen...