Movies: The List

I just came back from the movies after watching The Wolverine with the J Man. Great movie. Not one of my all-time favourites, but very good.

And that got me thinking about my favourite movies. I’m not a movie buff, so there’s lot’s I haven’t seen, but I’m old, so I’ve seen a lot of movies. Number one on my list is – and always will be:

Apocalypse Now!

I’ve blogged about my favourite Vietnam movies (love the genre) and this one comes out on top on my all-time everything list as well. I’ve seen it many times, most notably at the front row (we were late) at the IMAX Theatre at the Cinesphere at Ontario Place. Always epic. The Director’s Cut is pretty awesome too. "I love the smell of napalm in the morning. It smells like…victory.” Duvall damn near steals the movie – he’s that good.

The Departed

This was the movie where I learned to appreciate Leo’s craft. And if I had any doubts as to his action hero chops, they melted away quickly. It's Martin Scorsese’s best film, and he has directed some of the best movies ever produced in Hollywood.

Schindler’s List

The most evocative movie I’ve ever seen and a shining example of how true heroism can be found in the most unlikely places. A magnificent film.

Shawshank Redemption

This one is on everybody’s list, no? It’s on mine. Triumph of the human spirit stuff. A classic.

After the big four, I have a bunch of great movies that are on my list. I just can’t rank them. They’re all awesome. They include thrillers like the Bourne Identity, action movies like Raider’s of the Lost Ark and Die Hard, and classics like Casablanca (more memorable lines than any movie in history, with Apocalypse Now! a close second) and To Sir With Love.

There are sports movies like Bull Durham (I wish I’d written Crash’s speech to Annie), super hero films like The Avengers (spectacular)and Dark Knight and more Vietnam movies, such as Full Metal Jacket, Boys in Company C and Platoon.

I have courtroom drams like 12 Angry Men and Philadelphia, movies that I can’t even begin to categorize, such as Last Tango in Paris, and more thrillers like Untouchables and Blood Diamond. Coming of age films like Stand By Me make my list, as does Green Mile, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Rain Man.

I didn’t forget comedies and animated features either, such as Austin Powers: Goldmember (that behind-the-curtain scene with Austin and Mini-Me gets me every time), Mask, Aladdin and Kung Fu Panda.

And I can't forget The Untitled Work of Paul Shepard, because it stars the wonderful and legendary (not to mention my sister-in-law) Mary Krohnert.

That makes 28 movies, which is a pretty arbitrary number. So I better post this now before I change my mind.

Maëlle, Kaley and the smokin’ cop

We’ve got a new guy on our crew this week. Young fellow – just 18 – and the son of one of our new investors.

He’s also a champion snowboarder in the Snowboard Cross discipline. “Number six in Canada,” Tyler tells me proudly, and it’s all true. I looked it up.

But while I think it’s very cool to be working with a potential future Olympian, I was more interested in hearing him talk about Maëlle Ricker, Canada’s gold medal darling from the Vancouver Olympics. They’re in the same discipline, see, and Tyler says that when he’s in training with the National Team, he trains with her every day.

Never one to let a golden opportunity slip by, I told him that the next time he sees her, to tell her that I love her. Then I told him again, in case he didn’t quite understand the urgency.

Maëlle Ricker is a multiple X-Games champion, an Olympic champion (becoming the first Canadian to win on home soil) and a role model for young Canadians and indeed, any aspiring athlete. She’s also beautiful, just a little bit goofy, and at a couple of months from her 35^th birthday, way too old for Tyler.

But not for me. Tell her, Tyler. Tell her that my unrequited love is tearing us apart.

Don’t worry about forgetting. I’ll remind you every day.

*

Speaking of unrequited love, I just heard that Kaley Cuoco and Henry Cavill broke up.

I didn’t even know they were dating. But given that Big Bang Theory is a Warner Brothers production and Warner Brothers owns DC it tells me that Kaley – and I love Penny on BBT to bits – is a real team player.

But I think she’s playing for the wrong team.

Now I think anyone who watches or even has heard of Big Bang Theory knows the characters (with the exception of Penny) are nerds/geeks and are fans of comic books.  They’re not fans of all comics, mind you. Just those in the DC universe. You know, Superman (who Cavill famously portrayed in this summer’s blockbuster smash, Man of Steel), Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, etc. Those are also the characters you’ll see on Sheldon’s t-shirts, as well as the characters which might get a plug on the show.

I’m not surprised Marvel doesn’t get any love on the show (though Raj did dress up as Thor in an episode and if I recall, got lucky) but Ms. Cuoco could be better off expanding her horizons in her personal life.

Just think of the stars she could be including in her social calendar from the Marvel universe: Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth and Hugh Jackman, to name just a few.

Or even Scarlett Johansson.

Jes saying...

*

And while I’m on the subject of beautiful women, we met a stunningly gorgeous cop the other day.

We were on our way back from a job and we stopped at a bin at the Durham Centre to unload our yard waste.

And there she was.

She was standing between the garbage bin and her cruiser, taking a break and having a smoke. Now I quit 13 years ago and I no longer associate sexy with smoking, but I made an exception with this woman. She really made it work. All of us – there were five in the truck – were momentarily left with jaws agape. I can tell you my heart skipped a beat.

Then Jim made a joke about something and she smiled. And I melted into a puddle of goo.

Strong, powerful women have always excited me, and Durham Regional Police have been attracting quite a few women in that exclusive category into their ranks of late.

This officer was a perfect example of that hiring policy.

Please hire more.

Go, Go, GO station

While media attention was focused on police takedowns, assault charges and cries of corruption in Oshawa’s council chambers last week, a far more important issue was back on the radar in the Motor City.

The new GO Train station at the long-abandoned Knob Hill Farms site is a go again.

Well, here’s hoping anyway.

We all got excited a couple of years ago when Metrolinx declared it was building three new GO stations in Oshawa as part of an expansion of the train service into Clarington, with the main station to be located at the massive Knob Hills site off First Avenue.

This is the same First Avenue that lost Knob Hill Farms, its jobs and its cachet, in 2000. This is also the same First Avenue that watched as ... damn near nothing happened in the ensuing 13 years, unless you count a short-lived flea market as something significant. And yes, it’s the same First Avenue that lost Pittsburgh Glass Works in 2009 (a site occupied by a glass factory for nearly 100 years) and the entire Zellers Plaza membership list in the years that followed.

(Except for a furniture store where everything is on sale, all the time. Want a couch for $149? This is the place.)

Normally it’s pointless to cry over every neighbourhood that falls on hard times, but it’s called First Avenue because it’s the first important street you see as you come off the 401 at Simcoe, Oshawa’s main drag. With cars being built behind you and what looks like a ghost town in front of you, you’d forgive visitors if they thought they made a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in Detroit.

So when Metrolinx said two years ago the Knob Hills site was the perfect spot for the central GO station, we said, “yes it is,” and “build it please.”

That’s what I said anyway.

And then, just as quickly, Metrolinx pulled out, citing unspecified environmental remediation costs and the inability of the crown agency to agree on a price with the land owner. “No longer interested,” was the statement from November, 2011.

Now the deal is back on the front burner, as Metrolinx has decided that coy negotiating tactics weren’t going to work. They’re going to expropriate, instead.

It’s win-win for everybody, including the land owner, so shed no tears, please.  The land is currently generating zero revenue and is costing plenty in land taxes. Expropriation offers market value. And it offers the residents of Oshawa a solution to a huge headache that has plagued this city for a baker’s dozen years.

A new GO station would mean jobs and it would completely revitalize a historic and important neighbourhood, and a highly visible one, at that.

And it’s certainly far more important than changing regimes at City Hall.

That’s just politics.

Now if expropriation would only work for the Genosha Hotel, we’d be getting somewhere.

Yvonne Gone

Yesterday was a big day for the J Man.

First day of school for Grade Six. Not Big Man On Campus just yet – he’s got two more years for that – but it reminded me of my sixth grade year back at Yvonne Avenue Public School in Downsview.

Grade Six was the senior year for us in 1970 in the wacky world of the North York Board of Education, where junior high extended to the ninth grade, even though we were in the high school system by then. I (ahem) suffered through two teacher strikes in my high school days and during the first strike I stayed home while the other, less fortunate, Beverley Heights Junior High School kids had to go to school.

But I digress.

The reason I was reminiscing about my own Grade Six year is my old school has been reduced to a big pile of rubble. And I hate it.

I shouldn’t be surprised. The school has been closed for many years. A real long time, actually.

The school was occupied for brief periods over the past couple of decades – it was a temporary Catholic school for a while, and the community – where my Mom and Dad still live – made use of it for a spell as well – but mostly it was vacant, looking all the while like the Lord’s Manor, sitting up on the hill and gazing down on its subjects.

Truthfully, the school always looked bigger than it really was. There were maybe 120 of us in my final year – my happiest year in school (at least until college) – and enrolment was down to about 80 in the years before its closure. The neighbourhood got older and when new residents did move in they tended to gravitate to Catholic schools.

It happens.

But in all the ensuing years the school stayed in its noble spot: a reminder each time I came home of my childhood and its cherished memories.

Yvonne P.S. is where I grew up. It’s where I played on all the sports teams – two years on the soccer team, in fact – and I wore the school’s shiny gold jersey proudly. Yvonne is where we played shinny on the outdoor rink in the winter. It’s where I had my first kiss. Almost, anyway.

It’s where so many of the best memories of my youth spring from.

And now it’s gone. Yvonne is gone.

In its place the Toronto Catholic School Board will erect a new building to replace two local schools scheduled for closure: St. Gerard Magella, which opened across Black Creek from Yvonne after I finished Grade Six, and St. Phillip Neri, which has a history dating back to 1942.

The new school will be called St. Andre, commemorating a man of the cloth from Montreal who had a special connection with the sick and suffering and was so popular that more than one million people – virtually the entire population of Canada’s biggest city – viewed his funeral procession when he died in 1936. Brother Andre was beatified by Pope Benedict in 2010, the first Canadian male and the second Canuck overall to achieve sainthood.

So that’s good, I guess.

An old pal saved the school’s address letters from the demolition team, and a plaque honouring a long time janitor will be restored to its place of honour when the new school is built.

Also good.

That, and our memories, is all we have left.

Stan Lee

He is the legend. The Man. Stan The Man. And there he was on stage, mere metres from a thousand or so of his biggest fans, all of whom waited an hour or more in line just for a chance to see him; to hang on his every word.

Creator or co-creator of nearly every character in the Marvel universe. Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, the X-Men, Thor, Daredevil, Iron Man.  You could argue he is bigger than any super hero on the list. He is Stan Lee, and at 90 years old (91 on December 28) he ain’t slowing down just yet.

This is his thing now: talking to fans, spreading the good word about everything Marvel. Watching as his creations move to the big screen and make billions at the box office. He obviously loves his job (who wouldn’t?) and the fans – his fans – can’t get enough of him. They even ask him for marital advice – he’s been married for more than 65 years, which is not nearly as long as he’s been in the comics business – and they ask him about the secrets to living a long life.

“Don`t die,” is his response.

Eventually they get around to asking about the comics and how he came up with all those characters in the early 60s, launching the Silver Age of comic books. But if the fans were expecting some nuggets of comic writing brilliance, or even something he hasn’t told a few thousand times before, they would be disappointed.

But not too disappointed. It’s Stan Lee, man.

“I had to. It was my job,” answered the ever pragmatic Lee. “My boss asked me to come up with some superheroes and I had bills to pay, so I came up with super heroes.”

First out of the fertile mind of Lee was the Fantastic Four, which debuted in November 1961. The Hulk followed in May and in August 1962 he hit the home run with Thor and the Amazing Spider-Man.

Spider-Man, Marvel’s biggest star (besides Lee, of course), was also Lee’s favourite character, partly because the wall-crawler almost never made it into print, thanks to a sceptical Martin Goodman, Lee’s boss.

“I wanted a teenage super hero because there weren’t any of those around. And I wanted him to have problems,” he said, recounting a much-told tale that is never exactly the same with each telling.  “But my publisher thought it was the worst idea I’d ever had.”

“He said, ‘no one wants a teenage super hero – they’re only sidekicks. And no one wants a super hero with problems. That’s why they’re super heroes.’”

Lee decided to give his idea a shot in the Amazing Fantasy book, which was scheduled to be cancelled.

“We were killing the book so I figured I’d get it out of my system ‘cause no one cares what we put in the last issue,” he said. “After the sales numbers came in (Goodman) came back and said ‘remember that Spider-Man character we both loved?’”

These days Lee doesn’t get too creative anymore – though there is a movie in the works that features a brand new, Lee-created, Chinese super hero called the Annihilator – preferring to spend his time keeping an eye on his empire. He does voice-overs for animated features, works on new media projects, keeps an eye out for new artists/writers – “we always have to be on the lookout for new talent” – and hangs out with fans at conventions like Fan Expo.

The huge success of Marvel’s movie division has also been a pleasant diversion of late for Lee. The Avengers took in more than $1.5 billion and the Iron Man series has also been wildly successful. And we’re not even counting other Marvel properties, such as the Spider-Man and X-Men franchises, which are in the hands of other studios.

The films have been so successful, in fact, that there’s a back-up in the movie production department. The second Thor film opens this fall, the second Captain America movie will be released next year and Avengers 2, Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy are in production. That doesn’t leave much time for other projects, pleads one fan to Lee.

 “It’s not that Marvel and Disney don’t want to do it, but there are only so many days in the week and only so many people to do it,” Lee answers. “We’re trapped by our own success.”

After all these years and all these characters, another fan asked, was there a character he’d like a do-over on?

After some thought, Lee said, “maybe Diablo,” a villain he dreamed up in 1964.

“I was pressed for time on a Fantastic Four story and I don’t even remember doing it, so I guess I’d like a do-over on that. Did anybody even read that issue?”

One fan said he had and declared that it “wasn’t bad.”

“Oh well, I guess there’s nothing I’d do over,” he said to much laughter. “Everything’s great.”

By the way, Lee’s secret to marital bliss with wife Joan? Humility. “Here I’m being treated like royalty but at home she just wants to know if I took out the garbage.”

That’s why he’s Stan the Man.

Toadmageddon

It was Toadmageddon in Ajax this week.

Well, maybe not that bad, but there sure were a lot of them, and we found them in the worst possible spot. For them, anyway.

In the parking lot.

Toads have been getting some positive press these days, what with toad lovers around the world rallying to provide safe crossings for the little fellows as they head back to their spawning grounds by the millions in the spring. The carnage on the roads is pretty nasty at that time – toads, like people, will get pretty reckless when it comes to love and sex – so it’s understandable that people will want to give them a hand in their travels.

Considering all the stereotypes – you know, the warts and everything – I think it’s awesome there are people who will hop to it for the little toad. One friend of mine has named her local backyard toad and remains hopeful that a kiss will transform the creature into her Prince. I told her that only works with frogs, but she was not to be dissuaded.

Mr. Toad

Anyway, with all the fuss over the spring mating migration, there’s nary a hue and cry over what happens when they’re all done in the summer and it’s time to go back to wherever they came from.

Which brings me to the other day, when dozens of little fellows were found in the parking lots of a plaza in north Ajax, all blissfully unaware of the dangers as they hopped their way from the pond. All was good, in fact, until we got to the high traffic areas and we started to see the bodies.

The things they do for love, huh?

Safe travels, little toads.

While I’m on the subject of cute little critters, I saw a budgie on Highway 2 in Ajax, just the day after the toad episode.

For a second I thought I was back in Australia, where these brightly coloured birds hail from. This guy was scratching about in the dirt in the middle of the road and as we were stuck in a traffic jam, I got out and cautiously approached her with the hope of, I dunno, seeing her fly onto my hand, I guess.

No such luck, as she flew away to the apparent safety of the parklands on the south side of the road.

A true bird in a gilded cage, she was somebody’s pet and her chances for survival are slim. But I’m hoping for the best.

The beautiful Budgie

And finally, speaking of all creatures great and small, I come to my personal nemesis in nature: the wasp.

I have been stung dozens of times by wasps in my day, including twice on the lip (once in front of the National Monument in Washington, D.C.), so it’s obvious we don’t get along.

Most of the incidents occurred in my childhood, but I have been plagued by the little bastards in my grown-up days as well.

Today was the latest encounter.

We were beautifying the landscaping beside the drive-thru at a Tim Horton`s in Pickering when I felt the first sting on my wrist. In the second it took me to realize what was happening I noticed three things. One: I`m standing on top of a wasp nest; two: there are a couple of dozen wasps angrily buzzing around my legs (can you blame them?); and three: I got stung again. This time behind the knee, and it swelled up pretty quick.

Little bastards. Lucky I’m not allergic.

The Bastard Wasp

(While this is going on I see a couple of dudes having a good giggle in their car in the drive-thru. They threw up the windows pretty damn quick, though.)

Not counting the wasp which came between the back of my hand and the window in the truck on the way back to the shop, I do get my own back on occasion, however.

My favourite wasp story happened 20 or so years ago in Etobicoke. There was a nest on the outside of my two-storey walk-up that I didn’t think much about until I entered the apartment one summer’s day to find several hundred wasps, having burrowed their way through the walls, making themselves right at home.

What to do? My fiancee headed straight down the stairs to safety so it was up to me to be strong and do something.

Can't say my bookie would have given me great odds, but I grabbed the vacuum cleaner and waded into the fray. Thuuup. Thuuup. Thuuup. And so on, until the bag was full of angry wasps and our apartment was safe once again.

And I only got stung twice.

Little bastards.

Better Days

It’s been a nightmarish ten days. My dreams are of better days ahead.

I spent the weekend worrying about David, my Father-in-Law. I’m still worried, but the last report I have is of him sneaking past the nurses to steal a smoke outside not long after his surgery, so I guess I can relax on that front.

On Thursday I paid my respects to a friend who died of lung cancer, and spent the afternoon after the funeral offering support and listening to stories told by his family.

The same day Doug died – the previous Saturday – my boss and his wife had to deal with the death of her younger sister, who was killed after a late night collision with a tree in north Pickering.

The next day I’m hearing the sad news from a colleague that his Step-Mom is terminally ill, with a prognosis of only a week or so to live.

Damn.

We’ve been sending lots of love and positive energy to David, who checked in to Hamilton General to deal with an aneurysm near his stomach. Doctors discovered a nasty blood clot on his lung during the operation, so that wasn’t a great update, and the two transfusions, the collapsed lung and the bout with pneumonia that followed didn’t fill me with good vibrations either.

But, like I said, he’s already been seen escaping from the clutches of his captors to grab a smoke, so he appears to be on the mend.

You get yourself home, David, and let Lene take care of you. I’ll be paying you a visit in Burlington soon.

My hope for better days ahead for David was preceded by memories of the good ol’ days gone by with Doug, who is the older brother of my pal Colin. Our day with Doug was bittersweet, as these occasions tend to be.

Doug, or Pluto, as he was affectionately called (because he was out there), had always lived life to excess, from his soccer playing days back home in Scotland as a youth – he was quite the talent, once upon a time – to his later years as a hard-partying, hard-living man here in Canada.

So the announcement that he had cancer wasn’t in itself shocking, especially as he had been feeling poorly of late. He was given nine months, which could give he and his family time to plan; to prepare.

He was gone in three weeks, after the cancer spread to his brain.

The funeral was difficult, especially for his nephew Justin, who lived with Doug, but the stories told by his family at his wake – usually involving Uncle Pluto falling asleep (anywhere), running out of gas (everywhere), or drinking (almost any time), helped ease the pain somewhat.

Doug lived just a short walk from one of the properties we maintain, so I'll always remember meeting him in the darkness on  random mornings as he strolled to the store. He'd be up before dawn every day, as I am, and we'd always stop and chat.

I'll miss that.

Rest in Peace, Doug. You have a lovely family and you will be missed.

R.I.P. as well to Cheryl, and prayers and love to Brian’s Step-Mom.

Better days ahead.