Pierre Berton

It’s fitting that Pierre Berton would leave us the day after a celebration of great Canadians. Nobody mined our country’s history as assiduously as he did, finding nuggets of national glory and, sometimes, shame. Much of what I know about story, and...

John Morgan

It was more than a quarter century ago, but the Royal Canadian Air Farce showed some remarkable kindness to a 15-year-old aspiring writer. The Farce had come to Ottawa, and at the end of the performance, I ran to the front of the hall and buttonholed Don Ferguson,...

Damn puppets.

Just got back from seeing Team America.Here’s the thing about movies when you have a young child: you don’t go out to see one in the theatre unless you’re damn sure you’re going to like it. Because if you drop the money for a babysitter, movie...

At the festival…

In our mini-mini-mini version of the Toronto International Film Festival, we’ve seen two films that really grabbed us.Walk on Water, an Israeli film written by Gal Ochovsky and directed by Eytan Fox, is just brilliant. It’s entertaining, deeply moving and...

Insolent swine!

Just watching The Last Samurai on DVD. One of the samurai warriors who have captured Tom Cruise’s character has just barked “Insolent swine!” at him.The writer must be especially adept at stifling his gag reflex to have penned a line like that. (So...
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