The Incredible Mr.Limpet with a Quebecois twist ...

Quebec film director Denis Villeneuve may get a trip to Los Angeles this summer. A committee of Canadian film industry reps picked his quirky film, Maelstrom, as Canada's entry to the Academy Awards. The film isn't even out in general release yet, but it earned special mention at September's Toronto International Fim Festival. (But only a special mention -- Quebecers loved it a bit more, making it winner, Best Canadian Film, at the 2000 Montreal World Film Festival.) The feature goes into theatres next month and we can all judge for ourselves, whether this has a shot at bringing home the Oscar.

Maelstrom actually gives new meaning to the word quirky, with a few ideas beyond David Lynch's twisted imagination. "part thriller, part baby-blue porn," said one critic. It's narrated by a fish, who tells the story of a free-spirited young woman (Marie-Josee Croze) whose life spirals into chaos after she is involved in a hit-and-run accident. And that's just for openers, the plot gets more convoluted after that, with a battle between life and death told by a trout on the chopping block. Dr. J at the Movies wrote: "Maelstrom is alternately bleak, depressing, and uproariously funny, and it is also inventive and unpredictable."

Where Are They Now File? All this talk going on about Shift magazine has got me to thinking about one of the cyber mag's founding fathers, Evan Solomon. For years Solomon was everyone's literary and technological darling. You couldn't open up a paper without some mention of his comings and goings. Solomon was the host of Newsworld's great show Futureworld. Why CBC ever dumped that treasure is a mystery to me. Solomon was golden. His observations on technology and society were endlessly quoted. It seemed he could do nothing wrong.

Then Solomon bowed out of Shift to work on his literary pursuits. His novel Crossing the Distance came out and got very respectable reviews. He's still the host of Hot Type, working on another novel, occasionally subbing on The Magazine and had the great honour of dialoguing with Susan Sontag at The International Festival of Authors. Phew. Clearly there are no flies on this guy.

But that's not what interests me. What I find fascinating is why did Evan get dumped from the Canadian celebrity files? Was he over-exposed? Maybe that's the case. Yet that sure hasn't stopped the gossip mongerers from still yapping endlessly over Mansbridge's hair or Wallin's defection. Never mind drooling over Paul Gross.

Did Evan get sick of the press or did the press tire of him? He's certainly got the goods for endless salacious coverage. He's young. Smart. Accomplished. And incredibly good looking. What's going on? Got any ideas?

Book Her: Well, the one nice thing about Margaret Atwood being a judge on the recent Giller Prize was, her latest book The Blind Assassin automatically became ineligible to win the $25,000. Not her best work, by far. In fact, I spent Labour Day weekend reading this heavy-handed attempt at merging sci-fi, pop psych and the Canadian landscape and came away with a big headache ... and I'm a fan. But apparently that's just the kind of thing those British book critics love. Imagine my shock when I heard that Atwood won the even more prestigious Booker Prize in London the other night. It is indeed an expertly-crafted, multi-layered story. But it was just so depressing. Well, the good news is, Canadian booksellers say this is going to mean a bonanza for them, just in time for Christmas, new interest has been generated in a local author. And it's likely to have a spinoff effect, because other great Canadian novels -- like Giller co-winner David Adams Richards' Mercy Among the Children -- are on display right beside Atwood's doorstopper. And no matter what her other faults, Atwood has been a great supporter of Canadian arts and letters. Got an opinion? Read the book and want to agree or duke it out?