Arts Friday | Oscar Contenders Already Playing in Theatres

November 16, 2018A & E, Cinema, Vancouver, VanRamblingsRaymond Tomlin

It’s that most wonderful time of the year: the season when blockbuster holiday movies and Oscar contenders collide.
Do you like to take yourself too seriously and lecture people on the pitfalls of British period pieces? No worries: VanRamblings has your back.
No matter what you’re looking for, November probably has it in store for you. Today on VanRamblings, the best movies — Oscar contenders, and just plain, flat out good fun inside a darkened movie theatre, plus a probable Best Picture Oscar winner opening next month that is a must-see — but mostly, films currently playing at your local multiplex (and at the Vancouver International Film Festival’s Vancity Theatre) that you should keep an eye out for during the early part of the 2018 holiday season.
Holiday Movies & Oscar Contenders Currently Playing in Vancouver

A Star is Born
Whaddya mean you haven’t seen Bradley Cooper’s smashing directorial début? This multiple Oscar contender, since it’s October 5th opening weekend, has (as of Wednesday) already grossed a record $330,259,035 on a puny $36 million production budget. You don’t care about that stuff? Fine. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t see the single most entertaining film on offer this holiday season, worth every penny you’ll pay at the box office.

Transit. Opens today. Vancity Theatre.
Christian Petzold’s masterful new film, Transit, opens today at the Vancity Theatre for a limited, seven screening run. A refugee portrait that lands at a place of piercing emotional acuity, Petzold’s adaptation of Anna Seghers’ 1942 novel takes a brazen, bounding risk right off the bat by stripping its story — about a German concentration camp survivor seeking passage to North America in Nazi-occupied France — of any external period trappings, relocating it to a kind of liminal, sunburned present day. As Variety critic Guy Lodge writes, “there’s a method to the madness of Petzold’s modern-dress Holocaust drama: Transit invites viewers to trace their own speculative connections between Seghers’ narrative and the contemporary rise in neo-Nazism and anti-refugee sentiment, all while its principal story remains achingly moving.” Startling and gut-wrenching. Recommended.

Say it with me, “Melissa McCarthy. Best Actress Oscar winner.” I knew you could. Currently screening exclusively at Vancouver’s Fifth Avenue Cinema.

77,000 women and men are currently being held in conversion therapy across North America. Arising from a motion moved by retired Vancouver City Councillor Tim Stevenson, gay conversion therapy is now banned in the city of Vancouver. Boy Erased oughta provide some insight into why that is.

The most compelling reason to see A Private War is Rosamund Pike’s stunning, sure-to-be Oscar nominated performance as Marie Colvin, the American war correspondent who died in a bombardment while covering the Syrian government’s 2012 siege of Homs. Absorbing & transformative.

Academy Award winner Damien Chazelle’s First Man has emerged as the most compelling, Oscar contending movie of the holiday season, a film that demands to be seen, a lock Best Supporting Actress contender in Claire Foy, with a raft of other Oscar nominations sure to follow. A must-see film.

Widows. Opens today. Cineplex International Village + more.
Tour-de-force filmmaking from Academy Award-winning director Steve McQueen & the breakout surprise of the holiday season that has catapulted Viola Davis into the Best Actress Oscar race, Widows is gracefully written, soulful, smart and darkly exhilarating, weaving statements on race, gender, crime and grief into a tick-tock heist plot, a sinewy treat of a film that seamlessly intertwines close-up character studies & big picture politics into a mournful, brilliantly tense and strikingly relevant entertainment that will have you gripping your seat throughout its taut 140-minute running time.

Alfonso Cuarón’s Golden Lion winner (that’s Best Film to the uninitiated) at this year’s Venice Film Festival will win the Best Picture Oscar at the 91st Academy Awards on Sunday, February 24th, 2019. You read it here first.
And we don’t mean Best Foreign Language Film — we mean, the Academy Award for Best Picture. Period. Funded by Netflix, and due to début on the streaming service in mid-December, Roma demands to be seen on the big screen. But where? Yep, Vancity Theatre programmer Tom Charity has managed to secure the exclusive rights to screen Alfonso Cuarón’s new film next month, as the film is meant to be seen: in a darkened theatre, in comfy seats, in the respectful, hushed confines of the Vancity Theatre.
From Friday, December 14th at 3pm (when I’ll see the film), through Thursday, December 20th at 8:20pm, this year’s certain Best Picture Academy Award winner will screen an unprecedented three times a day (except for Sunday, December 16th, when Roma will screen only twice).
Update: Due to demand, more screenings of Roma have been added, daily through December 31st (not Christmas Day). See Roma as you are able.
Think of it as a very special post-Chanukah / early Christmas present from the good and fine and tremendous folks at the Vancouver International Film Festival, and the esteemed and erudite (and cinema-loving) Tom Charity — the best darned gift any cinema lover could wish for this holiday season.
Click here to book your screening of Cuarón’s Golden Lion winner, and treat yourself to great cinema. You’ll be mighty glad you did — we promise.

#VanPoli | East, West | North, South | Vancouver | A Divided City

November 14, 2018#VanPoli Civic Politics, BC Politics, Politics, Vancouver, Vancouver Votes 2018Raymond Tomlin

In an article published in the Vancouver Sun on Monday, reporter Dan Fumano quotes urban geographer Aaron Licker as saying …

“We’re adding people in these areas (Fairview & Mount Pleasant) that vote for parties that want more density,” said Licker, whose company Licker Geospatial Consulting does work for clients including civic governments and real estate companies. “The NPA can play to the single-family homeowners (on the west side of the city) forever, but they’re declining in terms of population. Forty years ago, most of Vancouver lived in single-family areas, but now most of Vancouver lives in multi-family zones.”

Licker’s thesis: the old east side / west side divide that dictated electoral outcomes in Vancouver is no longer as relevant as the north-south divide.
To that end, Licker publishes the following graphic …

While VanRamblings doesn’t dispute Licker’s thesis outright, we’re not so sure that his hypothesis — despite the graphic you see above — that it is the north-south divide, rather than the traditional east-west divide that is the determining factor in which neighbourhoods vote for which parties, and which Mayoral candidates.
According to the data we publish below — taken directly from the vancouver.ca website (take a look at the drop down menus to see how your neighbourhood voted, not just for Mayor but, if you scroll down, for Council, Park and School Board) — we’re not so sure that the east side-west side divide is quite as irrelevant as Mr. Licker would have us believe.

You’ll note, almost universally, voters on Vancouver’s east side voted overwhelmingly for the progressive, VDLC-endorsed candidate for Mayor, Kennedy Stewart.

For the most part, the west side continues to vote in their class and monied interests, while the east side votes in their working class voter interests.

You’ll note, almost universally, voters on Vancouver’s west side voted overwhelmingly for the right-of-centre business candidate for Mayor, Ken Sim.

Single family dwelling west side voters tend to want to pay less property tax, while east side voters want government to provide neighbourhood amenities, inject a bit of humanity into the decision-making at city hall, and acknowledge the diverse cultural & ethnic make-up of our neighbourhoods.
Never the twain shall meet?
The new Vancouver City Council has a palpable opportunity to break down class and economic barriers, and govern for the whole city, be prudent fiscal managers, while providing services to the community. Vancouverites have never voted for as diverse a Vancouver City Council, with an independent Mayor who is dedicated to broaching the divide, and a Council with elected members from five different political — when has that ever happened in our city previous to the October 20th election?

The answer: never. All of which means, it’s time for change in Vancouver politics. No more of this left-right, east-west, north-south divide — we see what that’s done to our neighbours to the south. Is that what we want in Vancouver, in Canada? Perhaps I’m naïve, but I think the answer is no.

#VanPoli | City Council | The First Day of the Rest of Their Lives

November 12, 2018#VanPoli Civic Politics, BC Politics, Politics, Vancouver, Vancouver Votes 2018Raymond Tomlin

Vancouver’s new City Council meeting for the first time, l-r: Councillors Rebecca Bligh, Christine Boyle, Colleen Hardwick, Pete Fry, Adriane Carr & Mayor Kennedy Stewart + Councillors Melissa De Genova, Jean Swanson, Michael Wiebe, Lisa Dominato and Sarah Kirby-Yung, where in City Council chambers 10 motions will be presented for a vote

Tuesday, November 13th, 2018 marks the first day that the newly-elected Mayor and 10 City Councillors get down to business, with a raft of motions due to hit the floor, either in late morning, or after the lunch break — it’s going to be a busy day at Council (which doesn’t sit well with retired City Councillor George Affleck, as may be seen in his cautionary tweet below).

Even so, there’s work to be done, campaign promises to be kept, even if such does occur amidst the 30-day intensive orientation process to which our new Mayor & Councillors continue to be subject through December 7th.

Did we mention that former Park Board Chairperson Sarah Kirby-Yung is our favourite newly-elected City Councillor — which takes some doing, cuz we just sorta love all of our new City Councillors (and Mayor), and what a great communicator we’ve long known Councillor Kirby-Yung to be, and of how much she is on your side, and how much she wants work to “work across the aisle”, for you, to bring good governance to City Hall, as she knows our Mayor and all of our new City Councillors intend and will strive for …

At Tuesday’s first official “business meeting” of the new City Council, there are controversial motions, and some not quite so controversial.
On the relatively non-controversial side of the ledger (at least, let’s hope the motion emerges as non-controversial) is Councillor Pete Fry’s motion on the creation of A Renter’s Office at the City of Vancouver, long overdue, an idea that all three of our new Mayor, Kennedy Stewart, Councillor Fry, and Councillor Christine Boyle (who has seconded Mr. Fry’s motion) talked about on the campaign trail, and intend to represent the interests of renters.

Councillor Colleen Hardwick’s motion seeks to eliminate duplexes across a large area of Vancouver currently zoned for single family residences. Duplexes: eliminating this form of “gentle density” ameliorates Vancouver’s affordable housing crisis how? The Straight

On the more controversial side of the ledger, unsurprisingly given what we know of the mover of the motion, there’s Councillor Colleen Hardwick’s motion to dump the duplex, which strangely and perversely seems to have some support on both sides of the aisle at City Hall, the near unanimous “duplex motion” passed by the previous Council designed as one of many measures to create “gentle density” and increased affordability in single family neighbourhoods throughout the city (full disclosure: VanRamblings’ daughter, husband and two grandson’s live in & own a duplex in Kitsilano).
Before continuing, VanRamblings’ readers may want to look at Jennifer Bradshaw & Albert Huang article in The Straight, which reads in part …

“Duplexes were the first step city staff recommended under the last council toward increasing “missing middle” multifamily homes in the city, as part of an affordable housing plan. Before this, all multifamily homes, including duplexes, rowhouses, social and co-op homes, were banned on 75 percent of Vancouver land, and only the most expensive type of home, single-detached houses (historically known as “single-family houses”) were allowed.

The new councillor’s move to reinstate the ban on duplexes is the polar opposite of the direction Vancouver should be going for …”

At the very least, response to Councillor Hardwick’s motion oughta be interesting (which, as we all know, constitutes the old Chinese curse).

Social Housing. 58 West Hastings. What the site could be (left), what it is now (right).

Again, before continuing, it’s worth reading Nathan Crompton, Steffanie Ling and Caitlin Shane’s June 19, 2018 column, Battle for 58 West Hastings: Broken Promises and Co-optation in The Mainlander.
Here’s the bottom line: after years of activism by Jean Swanson, Wendy Pedersen, Ivan Drury, residents of the Downtown Eastside, and activists citywide, in 2011 Gregor Robertson and the members of his Vision Vancouver Council team “purchased” 58 West Hastings from developer Concord Pacific, swapping 58 West Hastings for another site at 117 East Hastings. Soon after the swap, on the steps of the Carnegie Centre, Mayor Robertson announced that it was his intention and the intention of Council to develop 130 units of social housing on the 58 West Hastings site.
Seven years on, regrettably and egregiously no such work has begun, as Vancouver’s homelessness housing (and opioid) crisis continues to burgeon.
To begin the process of addressing that appalling situation, at Council on Tuesday, newly-elected Vancouver City Councillor Jean Swanson will introduce a motion to “recommit (Council) to the community vision of 100% welfare / pension rate community controlled social housing and the former Mayor’s promise for the site at 58 West Hastings Street.”
Now, there are seven more motions that are due to come before Council on Tuesday, ranging from a motion by Councillor Swanson to protect woebegone renters from renovictions and aggressive buy-outs by developers, to a motion by Mayor Kennedy Stewart to strike an emergency opoioid task force, all of which motions (and more) may be found here.

Here they are: your new Mayor & City Councillors, in chambers and ready to get to work

Vancouver City Council meetings are live streamed here, and are available online afterwards. Tuesday’s Vancouver City Council meeting will begin at 9:30am, with all of our electeds chipper, in place and set to get to work.
This is your city, folks, and your new Vancouver City Council — who mean to do well for us. It’s worth taking a boo at the work in which our new Mayor and Council mean to engage, to break down your sense of isolation, anomie and cynicism, and to engender hope for our future.

The Music of One’s Life, The Gift of Music from My Son

November 11, 2018A & E, Music, Pop Culture, VanRamblingsRaymond Tomlin

From the late 1960s on, I have been gifted with having a series of publications publish my music reviews. My love for music started much earlier than that, though — in all likelihood, probably from the womb, because my mother loved music, our home filled always with the popular music of the day, which seemed to give my mother life, and succeeded almost always in bringing joy into our home.
The gift of the love of music was passed on to my children, by both their mother and me, both of us from an early age finding succour and sustenance in music that embedded itself into the lifeblood of our lives.
My son, Jude Nathan Tomlin, extended our family’s love of music beyond mere singing in the home, or playing music on the home or car stereo: Jude makes music, and has traveled the world as a progressive house D.J., playing his own special brand of house music. Most, if not all of his music collection is on vinyl, because he (and many others) experience the sound of music that emanates from vinyl as fuller, warmer and more intimate.
Over the years, every now and then, Jude would run across a piece of music that was not intended to be digitized, and had not been digitized, but as he knew that almost all of my music is either on CD, DVD or mp3, Jude would take pity on his poor dad and convert the vinyl “song” he had discovered into a high quality mp3 to add to my music collection (although he’d find the juxtaposing of the words “high quality” and “mp3” a curious construction indeed, and mutually exclusive concepts … still and all …).
Even today, I could not find Transglobal Underground’s remix of Dub Tribal’s Elastic Reality anywhere as an mp3, or on YouTube, so I uploaded the “song”, which you’ll find at the top of today’s Music Sunday column.
I recall one day not all that many years ago, when Jude arrived home from his travels, his sitting down at my computer, whereupon he added Transglobal Underground’s remix of Dub Tribal’s Elastic Reality to my iTunes music collection, and subsequently to my iPhone’s 5000+ song collection of music. I find the song calming, as does Jude, and as he knew I would.
Jude continues often, if less often than previously, to provide me with the gift of music, as he did some years ago with the second song on today’s Music Sunday roster, an historical piece of music by The Art of Noise, featuring the late British actor John Hurt performing the narrative vocal, the song about Claude Debussy, titled, The Holy Egoism Of Genius.