http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY8eJ4JHBms

If you’re in Toronto and looking for something to do this evening (Sept. 23, 9 p.m.), you should mosey over to Lula Lounge (1585 Dundas St. W.)  in unassuming Portu-dale to check out my Istanbul pals Baba Zula.
I was fortunate to hook up with them by chance, as I spent far too many of my […]

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Over at his New York Times blog, filmmaker Errol Morris (Thin Blue Line, Fog of War, Fast, Cheap and Out of Control) discusses the possibilities and perils of using dramatic re-enactments in his documentaries. Unlike Michael Moore, Morris holds his audience’s intellect in high regard, and thus feels compelled to meditate on the implications of […]

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In 1994, while living in Japan, I spent a few days in Hiroshima with old friend and then budding Tex-Mex troubadour Mike Takasaki. (My favourite Takasaki aphorism: “In the desert of grudges I am a camel.”) As required by any visit to the city we lingered around the Peace Park and its many memorials for […]

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The South Pacific nation of Vanuatu (220,000 people dispersed over a vast archipelago) has long been an incubator for some of the more curious manifestations of human culture. Most famously, in the aftermath of World War II Vanuatu became a hotbed of cargo cults, one of which still worships noted xenophobe Price Philip. Less known […]

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My article on the affect copyright issues are having on documentary filmmakers—stifling creativity and discussion of critical issues in the process—is in the current issue of Maisonneuve (“Copyfight”).
For more material on the subject, check out the work of Brett Gaylor at opensourcecinema.org, one of the filmmakers I interviewed for the article. His latest project, The […]

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It’s been almost a month since I dismounted from the snowmobile and my hands are still numb. The persistent vibration from gripping the handlebars have given me arthritis. One must get back into the swing of things, however, and so here are four interesting postings elsewhere of note.
CHAD—Photographer and fellow traveller Don Weber, now based […]

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Two magazine articles I recently wrote are now out. First, Maisonneuve’s latest has my feature on ’60s experimental filmmaker Arthur Lipsett and the excellent new documentary about his life, Remembering Arthur. Lipsett’s first short for the NFB, Very Nice, Very Nice (1961) helped revolutionize avant-garde and mainstream cinema; its non-linear editing juxtaposed faces and architecture, […]

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