The Wachowskis built 1.5 miles of highway for their Reloaded set piece, got 300 some cars from GM that were not deemed to be road safe for consumers, and after filming one of the five best car chases in cinematic history, recycled all that material into affordable housing in Mexico

If you’re interested in the history of Toronto moviegoing, the origins of rep/art-house, and how it all ties to today, there’s a lot of new content at my substack, The Downtown Theatre.

Got up early in hopes of catching this photo before work this morning. There's only a few days each year where it's cool enough in the morning to make this shot possible. Thankfully, today was one of those days! #wildlife #birds

There's a post going around about Sam Neill announcing he's cancer-free after five years fighting lymphoma. It's true.

Almost a kilometre of new lakefill. This project will be a disaster for Toronto’s waterfront. The Port Authority has a plan. They are choosing to keep it secret and leak it piecemeal so we can’t get a handle on it. www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Another film added to my nope, never to be seen again list. Don't Deliver Us From Evil. But please DO deliver the bleach strait to my ears & eyes post-haste. (Great costumes though)

In today’s Toronto Star I check in with Alan Zweig on his landmark doc, Vinyl, ahead of a Revue screening on Tuesday. It’s less a film about record collecting than a fascinating portrait of how we use our obsessions to fill the holes in our hearts and souls. www.thestar.com/entertainmen...

ORLANDO is on Crave so I was going to make @goddamneddie.bsky.social watch it for the 1st time. Until I saw it would have ad breaks. So after a few minutes of yelling SACRILEGE! A DESECRATION OF CINEMA! I rented it off Youtube so we could watch it sans ad breaks.

Taking a Working at Heights course is pretty harrowing. I don't particularly like being up high -- but when the fall force math popped up on screen I was treated to a you're damn lucky you didn't die montage of all my short person need to reach something adventures.

“For sale: private jet, never flown.” Suck it, Hemingway

At No Frills, 450g of PC brand brie is $15. At Costco, 550g of name brand Normandie brie is on sale for $8.99, and 600g of Kirkland Signature brie is $10.99 (regular price).

HELP LIKE HELL as we build a hunger-free community together. We are raising funds to fight food insecurity, with all proceeds going towards goods for Toronto's Parkdale Community Food Bank. Visit us at www.sixthcirclecharity.com to learn more and donate. #helplikehell #satanism #satan #toronto

BEHOLD - our poster for our SOLD OUT screening of ELVIRA: MISTRESS OF THE DARK by Last Johny on the Left !! With cocktails by Shameful Tiki, and sponsored by @baystreetvideo.bsky.social ! Our event is SOLD OUT but a rush line will be in effect! revuecinema.ca/series/dumps...

Excited for our sold out @canfilmday.bsky.social screening of Blue Rodeo: Lost Together w/ special guest director Dale Heslip! We're excited to talk about the doc and archival research!

The Peace Bridge had maybe 5 cars on it every time I drove by it over the Easter weekend. Once upon a time traffic would be backed up onto the QEW on long weekends. I wonder how much of a hit the Broadway Market took this year.

This thread explains how prison libraries are already run on a shoestring budget and all books are donated. Eliminating prison libraries is a crime.

The Canadian that went to the moon did a Docs for Schools Q&A when I was working for Hot Docs and when he showed up in a flight suit the completely full theatre of kids went bananas. It was one of the best Q&As I've ever seen too. Some of the most thoughtful and interesting questions.

a spacecraft landing is literally like ALL THE SCIENCES AT ONCE textile strength is important and wind and water are important and what kind of metal they used on the outside and the trajectory of re-entry and the distribution of weight and mass inside the thing and atmospheric conditions and

Love this

Even if I have a dog I can bring around to places I don't think I will. It's not fair to everyone around you and quite frankly, it's not fair to the dog a lot of times either. I see so many that are clearly stressed and uncomfortable but those cues are ignored or just not known by their owner.

I like how many ppl are like"this is a dog owner thing specifically" when this "I want mine fuck you" attitude is literally the bedrock of the anti masking and maga movements

Caught Marc by Sophia last night at the lightbox and I'm still on the fence about it. There's something about it that doesn't work -- or at least didn't work for me.

Six months before rep-house pioneer Bob Huber opened the legendary CinemaLumière at College & Spadina, the short-lived Cinecampus revived one of Toronto's oldest theatres. thedowntowntheatre.substack.com/p/cinecampus...

The Revue Cinema announced its complete lineup for BLEAK WEEK, June 1-7.

That skeet reminds me -- if you're ever in St. Catharines make a point to stop at Pique-Nique! It's a neighbourhood spot. The coffee was great, and the prosciutto, arugula with aioli croissant sandwich I had was incredible.

Toronto has a real lack of cafes that also serve real food, like even something as simple as a sandwich

It's almost WALPURGIS NIGHT and Dumpster Raccoon is summoning the MISTRESS OF THE DARK! This April, Dumpster Raccoon is delighted to present ELVIRA: MISTRESS OF THE DARK! Trailer by Nathan Boone - screening sponsored by @baystreetvideo.bsky.social! ONLY 15 TIX LEFT! revuecinema.ca/films/dumpst...

I don’t do much film programming anymore, but when duty calls, I will serve. Presenting a 35mm print of Roger Watkins’ incredible CORRUPTION for the Revue’s BLEAK WEEK on June 3. thedowntowntheatre.substack.com/p/bleak-week...

- Sudden Fury w Brian Damude - Darkest Miriam w Naomi Jaye - Watership Down w record Guillermo del Toro intro - Cube w Vincenzo Natali - Trouble Every Day - The Dirties w Matt Johnson - Rude w Clement Virgo - Exotica on 35mm w Atom Egoyan! oh my god, this is an amazing series

Launched a little micro-cinema programme for Downtown Theatre subscribers. And tonight is the first anniversary of this little project! Always happy to screen this print.

I'm honestly at a loss of what to do with myself career wise. I need more schooling to change careers but now OSAP is being revamped and literally every industry across the board is doing layoffs or just not hiring. It's incredibly demoralizing.

jesus ratatouilled a lot of saints

Might be the greatest opening paragraph of anything ever.

Stop worrying about what YA books to let your kids read and let them sort it out with V C Andrews and cocaine era Stephen King as God intended

I never read the wiz kid books cause they came out when I was 13 and in the Sweet Valley University / Fear Street / Christopher Pike / VC Andrews / Stephen King trenches and I wasn't about to go get books from the baby section of the library. Unless it was Matilda. That was the exception.

Today is the 115th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire: 148 workers killed, most of them young Jewish immigrant women. Survivors like Pauline Newman fought for child labor protections. The @forward.com asks what it means that those protections are eroding again. forward.com/opinion/8095...

Project Hail Mary was a fun ride. I didn't realize my friends had gotten tix for IMAX and I was like well, shit. Didn't set off my motion sickness though. Have a feeling it's cause I was sitting off centre. (Definitely not at all cause I was busy trying not to cry loudly)

DUMPSTER RACCOON is ECSTATIC to debut its PRIDE LINEUP! Kick things off w gay erotic masterpiece PINK NARCISSUS - w LIVE SUNG ACCOMPANIMENT by musicologist/countertenor! THEN join us for ~problematic~ queer disaster SLEEPAWAY CAMP - w icon VIVEK SHRAYA's new album! revuecinema.ca/series/dumps...

As if I'm not already standing over my le creuset stirring my bubbling soup, tossing in cloves and bay leaves and pretending I'm a witch.

if you're going to put a character on a $400 copper pot, make it a character for adults, like the goat from The VVitch, or Werner Herzog

“Started out with a kiss/How did it end up like this?” is a great lyric but also come on man I bet you can connect those dots!!!

The continuum from the Toronto board of trade to ford & his ancient ideas about Niagara being “Vegas” and the same old - we don’t talk about the mediocrity of the Canadian business establishment enough & how it undermines Canada. Maybe they stink.

“AI can never be AI without humans. It is not artificial intelligence. It’s African intelligence...We are training our own death. We train ChatGPT and it’s killing us slowly.” Kenyan workers are still the underpaid labor behind AI training, moderation, and sex chatbots. Now, they're fighting back.

Watched DEATH IN VENICE in a 1st year uni seminar course in the basement of Northrop Frye on the Carnivalesque in culture and as the movie was coming to an end the guy sitting behind me yelled out HERE COMES THE DEATH IN VENICE and that remains one of the funniest cinema experiences of my life.

Fascinating story

Love how the defence is: he's a collector! That makes it more acceptable, how? Those 1814 Battle of Fort Erie plans should be in a museum and not privately owned either.

Yeah, echoing that. Catch EPiC in a theatre. It looks and sounds incredible. Hot Docs is running it sometime soon and the 4K laser projector there means it'll look extra sharp. I finally made my way to The Playhouse in Hamilton so that's where I saw it this weekend.

LISTEN TO DANIEL

worth remembering, David Lynch directed “fix your hearts or die” specifically at transphobes. it wasn’t a generic “no mean people allowed” statement, it was said by his Twin Peaks character in defense of a trans woman he cared for and deeply respected.

My latest for @thestar.com. Increasing surveillance and extending police powers doesn’t solve homelessness or drug use on transit — it merely opens up the broader public to arbitrary punishment, including the potential for jail time and $10,000 fines. www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...