Want to Slag Toronto?

This week The Globe and Mail is running a series of articles on Toronto's perhaps misguided attempts to become a world class city. Blake Gopnik's attacking Mayor Mel Lastman for the moose invasion. (Just in case you don't know about them, the city has been overrun by sculptures of the four-legged critters and many cultural types are barking, complaining that they're not art, merely corporate posturings.)

The Globe's assembled a host of famous personages to offer up commentary on where Toronto's heading. The line-up includes folks like Frank Gehry, Don McKellar and Joan Chalmers. In yesterday's edition, instead of turning to London or Los Angeles for inspiration, we were given an essay on how the former steeltown of Pittsburgh has transformed itself into a cultural centre. Is Toronto really in that much trouble?

What do you think? Should corporations be ponying up more money for grand architectural structures like the Guggenheim in Bilboa? How about a simple little opera house that seats 2,200 people? Or is Toronto just Canada's largest provincial outpost filled with a bunch of hillbillies who shouldn't worry a whit about preserving old architecture, the opera, ballet or culture at all? Got an opinion? Talk to me in our Cultural Policy/Funding discussion group

Links:
They're tall, they're tacky, they're Toronto's Globe story on the moose invasion.

How Steeltown got its groove back Globe story on Pittsburgh

Small Town, Big Ambitions A list of the entire series of stories.

New Film Festival Kicks Off
The Niagara Indie Filmfest begins today. This is a new artist-run festival that focuses on Canadian short film and video. Categories of competition are animation, drama, documentary, comedy and experimental. The festival not only gives filmmakers the chance to show their work, it's also designed to encourage discourse between moviemakers and movie buffs. Workshops and seminars are included. (Actually you'll have to wait for the workshops until 2001 since the festival is still working out a few logistical kinks. But since they're only charging 2 bucks a head, who can complain?) Cash prizes for the cream of Canada's cinematic crop will be awarded June 24th.

The Niagara Indie Filmfest
June 22 and June 23
Brock University
St. Catharines
(905) 688-5550 Ext. 3998

Fine Tuning
Tonight, CBC TV continues its festival of gay cinema with a broadcast of director Denys Arcand's Love and Human Remains. The film, based on a play (and subsequent screenplay) by Brad Fraser follows the fortunes of a pair of ex-lovers who are still roommates. Talk about a recipe for disaster. Fraser also addresses the strain of ambiguous sexuality, how do you fall in love in the age of AIDS, of course there's plenty of the old ultra violence. There's this pesky wacko who's running around the city murdering unsuspecting women. Love and Human Remains is Denys Arcand's first English language film. Be sure to tune in or tape. Midnight on CBC-TV.

Drop me a line.