TORONTO – It wasn’t too long ago that the Romantic Comedy genre or “Rom-Coms” were major studio productions which enjoyed massive marketing pushes and wide releases. From the 1990s to the mid 2000s, the genre drew audiences using classic meet-cute encounters and feel-good romance tropes. But the hopeful optimism of those 90s Rom-Coms reflected a time period still unaffected by the Internet, and its diabolical offspring – “social media”…
TORONTO – Hard times ahead for “bail-jumpers” in Ontario: the provincial government led by Doug Ford will soon introduce legislation that would require an accused person or their surety to provide a cash security deposit in the full amount ordered by the court. This initiative would improve bail compliance, keep violent, repeat offenders behind bars and make it easier for the province to collect forfeited bail payments when bail conditions are violated.
TORONTO – It seems as only yesterday when, ten years ago, the Hospital known affectionately as Humber River Health, HRH, (and its companion entity, Humber River Health Foundation,HRHF) opened its doors to the general public as the re-incarnation of three publicly funded hospitals servicing the area of what used to be known as the communities of Weston and Downsview. The claim of the day was that it would be the first fully digitized healthcare hospital in the GTA. It was…
BELEM (Brazil) – COP 30 has once again proved to be a flop, as was the case with COP 29 last year in Baku, Azerbaijan (as we wrote here). This time, the United Nations Conference of the Parties on climate change — held in Belem, Brazil, a few days ago — almost collapsed, but a compromise was ultimately reached: a final political agreement was unanimously approved by the 195 states that participated in the conference (with Donald Trump’s United States absent). But it’s a sham agreement: there is no explicit reference to a roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and gas. →
TORONTO – Filmmakers are often seduced by what’s happening beyond their borders. At best, it produces artists like Quentin Tarantino, whose work is heavily influenced by Japanese exploitation flicks and Italian Spaghetti Westerns. But mostly, it’s a profit seeking exercise that produces terrible cinema. In the case of Tom Ford’s latest work – an adaptation of Anne Rice’s novel Cry to Heaven – hopes remain high…
