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When debt is crushing, call Westmount’s 4 Pillars So, you’re seriously in debt, huh? Join the club. I don’t know many people who get by paying for things within their financial means, resisting the urge or the need to dip into their savings or using credit cards to pay for things – absolutely required or not – during these trying days. It’s seriously tough out there. And that’s when you pick up the phone and give financial consultant Chris Southey a call. Last fall, while going through a particularly rough patch, with creditors calling me constantly and having just started a small newspaper, I heard a radio commercial for 4 Pillars Consulting Group, a Canadawide chain with 40 branches that helps get you out of financial woes pertaining to strained credit. Having nothing to lose by calling, I left a message. Within a very short time, a call came in and a pleasant British voice resounded at the other end of the line. I was on my way to financial relief.
Cont. p4
Briefly Bram * Briefly Bram * Briefly Bram
I was enraptured last weekend… by an excellent smoked salmon supper It’s R2K + 1 hour, or Saturday, May 21, 2011 at 7 p.m. for those who aren’t insane. The nuts called it The Rapture and if they were correct, I’d be dead now, rather than writing you. Some geniuses decided that “the end is nigh” and predicted that all life would cease for we Earthlings this evening, as I write this column. I was SO worried about it that I totally forgot… until an email showed up in my in box as a sobering reminder of the fragility of life. At exactly 6 p.m., the moment when life as we know it was predicted to come to a shuddering halt, I was actually talking to my friend Pasquale Massa outside his outstanding shop, QualtiFruits in Cote Saint-Luc. Massa and I often engage in banter about the banalities and curiosities of life and I suppose that if life would have ended that moment, being embroiled in some discussion about the ridiculous notion of The Rapture would have been the way to go. As it stands, I bid Pasquale a fond farewell, promised I’d see him when the next issue of The Local Seeker comes out and headed home… to watch a National Geographic documentary dealing with new findings regarding the nasty Cretacious-Paleogene (commonly known as the K-T event) asteroid that killed the dinosaurs 65.5 million years ago. Now, let me tell you, if humankind is going to be wiped out some day – in an extinction-level manner (meaning nothing left), THAT is the likely way it is going to occur: Sudden, unexpected death from the sky. NASA recently estimated that there are more than 2,000 gigantic objects zooming through our solar system, without snow tires, posing a potential E-level threat to Earth. As we are crushed by a 1,000 foothigh tsunami or broiled in seconds by temperatures approximating those on the surface of the sun, there won’t be any time to ponder what is happening. Just crack us open like lobsters: We are done.
things vampirric ever since. In this issue of the paper, I have written an homage to the classic 1931 films – both the American and Spanish versions – as a tribute during its 80th anniversary year. But in the current issue of SCREEM magazine, an excellent Pennsylvania-published twiceannual publication that I write for now and again, I have a feature on Westmount-raised Dacre Stoker, great-grand-nephew of Bram, who in 2009 saw his co-authored novel Dracula: The Undead published to great international acclaim. Dacre, who grew up playing hide and seek in the mansions of his friends the Molsons and Bronfmans, penned the first tale revisiting characters created by his ancestor in over a century and that’s really exciting stuff. He also talked to me about how the book has done in the 2-3 years hence, Bram’s visits to Montreal as he toured as manager of Europe’s legendary thespian, Henry Irving, and just how weird fans can be when blood is involved. All in all, a good read if you’re into that sort of thing. SCREEM is available on news-stands and this issue just happens to be dedicated to the vampire genre. Time and time again, Tremblay proves he’s not a suitable mayor This issue’s Last Call with Sol column reminds us, once again (geez, HOW many times do we need to get hit on the head before we “get” it?) why Mayor Gerald Tremblay is as desirable as dung to preside over Montreal as its mayor. This time, as Sol points out, the Bixi scandal provides ample evidence that the longer Tremblay is in office, the more he fiddles as we burn economically, the more our infrastructure will crumble into dust… and us along with it. I love Sol because he isn’t afraid to ever tell it like it is. He really cares about what happens to us, unlike certain politicians who are in it solely for the power and the glory. Tremblay could give a course in that – maybe he can teach one with Professor Mike Ignatieff. As for WHO to install as mayor, rather than the PQ-trained separatist who is a nightmarish substitute at best, all we need is someone with a brain and a beating/honest heart. Anyone?
Rapture, my foot. I am a very open-minded sort who believes in, and writes about, Bigfoot, UFOs, crop circles… pretty much any unexplained phenomena is fodder for my imagination. I see these as part of nature, explained by not-always-understood universal laws, rather than by dogmatic religion. I do believe there is a creative energy out there – call it God or what have you – but to believe that this energy is fixated on our meager little lives is, to me, a crazy notion. Just as there was no Rapturous event today, there will be no 2012 extinction, either. The ancient Mayans carved their history into five distinct periods and stopped after that. Why? No one knows. But I can tell you, for certain in my mind, that they were not soothsayers or prophets and God has nothing to do with our eventual elimination as a species. It’s just the way things go in a random universe. Y2K; The Rapture; 2012; The hundreds of self-proclaimed messianic figures who have turned up throughout history and then vanished, relegated to it like so much refuse: All bunk. Yes, I believe in so many things, but glorified and predictable doom and gloom is not one of them.
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Stoker revisited In the late 1800s, Irishman Bram Stoker wrote the seminal vampire novel, Dracula, which has had such a tremendous influence on all
The Local Seeker, West End Montreal Edition Volume 2, Number 11, May 27 2011 Founded by Julia Lucio and Mai-Liis Renaud 2010 Published by Local Seeker Media Group, Cornwall, Ontario The Local Seeker does not accept responsibility for errors, misprints or inaccuracies published within. The opinions and statements of our columnists are not to be presumed as the statements and opinions of The Local Seeker. Managing Editor: Bram Eisenthal
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Last Call with Sol - Sol Boxenbaum
Spring has
As economic scandal, Bixi should be mayor’s swan song I would like to take a few minutes to say something favourable about Mayor Gerald Tremblay. I would like to but, unfortunately, I can’t think of anything. Time-after-time, he becomes a magician. He makes money disappear when it’s for a worthy cause and, lo and behold, it reappears when he gets his heart set on something that will catapult us back to the twentieth century. Voila, Ladies and gentlemen The Streetcar! In a city where we can’t be trusted to turn right on a red light, he wants to put streetcar tracks in the middle of the road, hoping these same drivers don’t run over the disembarking passengers. But that’s not his biggest flaw. When the City of Montreal was asked to fund a food bank so that people would not have to go to bed hungry, His Honour claimed we had no money (“Let them eat cake” seems apropos here someplace). When it was asked to fund an animal shelter, the city had no money. When we must navigate the city, carefully avoiding potholes in virtually every single sector and must duck concrete falling from overpasses… pas d’argent! But Bixi bikes? We become bigger and better than banks, loaning out more than one hundred million dollars at 2% interest per annum to rescue a failing business that the majority of the population neither needs nor wants. We destroy businesses in the downtown core, as we remove parking spaces and expect shoppers to travel by bike. The privately owned corporation that operates Bixi bikes was four days away from learning the results of a study that had been conducted over the past year on the viability of the company when the Directors discovered that they were on the verge of bankruptcy. They were about to fire nine of their employees and then the Board was going to resign en masse. But the news leaked and the brilliant Mayor immediately told the Board to rehire the nine employees, promising a bailout of $31 million. Would it not have made more sense to await the Auditor General’s report and perhaps to examine the books to see where money was going and what type of salaries were being paid to the employees? Maybe the cause of the losses incurred by the operators dictated that nine or more employees should be let go and was linked to the fact that, just maybe, some of the fat cats at the top were being overpaid? Suffice it to say that the Mayor is incompetent and should be replaced sooner rather than later as more and more controversy is going to surface in the weeks to come. The only problem is there is nobody suitable on the radar screen… certainly not the separatist leader of the opposition. It’s closing time. ED NOTE: What a tremendous column about one of the worst mayors in our history… and that’s saying a lot, because we have had a string of terrible municipal leaders. Thanks for saying it like it is about this feckless and useless political thug, Sol. What a major disappointment he has turned out to be to us all. Time for more than one head to roll at City Hall.
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When debt is crushing you, there is only one call to make: Westmount’s 4 Pillars (continued from cover)
So, you’re seriously in debt, huh? Join the club. I don’t know many people who get by paying for things within their financial means, resisting the urge or the need to dip into their savings or using credit cards to pay for things – absolutely required or not – during these trying days. It’s seriously tough out there. And that’s when you pick up the phone and give financial consultant Chris Southey a call. Last fall, while going through a particularly rough patch, with creditors calling me constantly and having just started a small newspaper, I heard a radio commercial for 4 Pillars Consulting Group, a Canada-wide chain with 40 branches that helps get you out of financial woes pertaining to strained credit. Having nothing to lose by calling, I left a message. Within a very short time, a call came in and a pleasant British voice resounded at the other end of the line. I was on my way to financial relief. Southey and I exchanged pertinent details and within the week, I had arranged a meeting with him at his Westmount office. Since then, I have worked with him at restructuring my debt to the point where a substantial part of it is gone… without the need to go a route I really wanted to avoid, declaring personal bankruptcy. But during our talks, I learned a lot about both Southey’s business and how and why we get into the trouble we do. Raised in England, schooled on Brighton’s south coast and a university grad in London, where he obtained his business degree in 1972, Southey emigrated to Canada in 1975, working in the accounting department of a large international conglomerate in Toronto. In 1978, he was transferred to Atlanta to help a division of the company that was in financial trouble and was brought back to Toronto seven years later to head the wallpaper division. The company grew to be number one in its field during his 15 years there and was eventually sold in 1998.
individuals and small companies that have debt problems. The move from working with corporations with debt problems to those of individuals was fairly simple for me from a technical viewpoint, but even more satisfying in that I see the results directly with people and their families.” The fact he is part of a company with so many franchises enables him to utilize a large resource pool if necessary. “I can talk to my colleagues in the event that I find a problem I cannot solve or when I simply need reassurance. Our solutions are individually tailored dependent upon each person’s own situation. “The biggest problem with individuals facing debt problems is that they tend to be embarrassed about their situation, refusing to address it until the last moment… when they reach the maximum limits of their credit cards, etc. Certainly if someone is paying one credit card with another, it is a sure sign that something is going to happen shortly. Other signs to watch for are: 1. Only being able to make minimum payments on credit cards 2. Only being able to make interest payments on lines of credit 3. Not able to save money on a regular basis 4. Cashing in on savings / RRSPs to cover monthly living expenses. Southey doesn’t see things getting much better in the near future and, in fact, predicts that other realities will create even more debt for people. “With respect to the future, interest rates on mortgages are at the lowest level seen in many, many years and this will not continue. This means that mortgage payments will eventually start eating into disposable income, although we have not seen a decrease in the rates charged on credit cards.” As for why he loves what he does, Southey says that “certainly solving people’s debt problems and seeing them continue living without having to lose their homes, etc., is personally very fulfilling.” You can reach Chris Southey at 4 Pillars Consulting Group, 4141 Sherbrooke W., Suite 650, Westmount, Quebec H3Z 1B8. Tel: 514-312-7707. Or email him
From then until he opened the Quebec branch of 4 Pillars in 2007, Southey worked in Ste. Marie de Beauce, helping restructure a major window and door company that had considerable debt problems. You see the pattern by now, I suppose. Southey is a sort of anti-debt superhero and he is quite good at it, a claim I can personally vouch for. But why has debt become such a problem today? “I have probably heard all the reasons,” Southey told me. “It is true that the last 20 years have seen an incredible increase in levels of debt – both government and personal – and perhaps debt has become an accepted way of life. The last three years have seen an increased ability of obtaining credit and, even though the levels of insolvencies have increased, this has not had a major impact on the profitability of certainly Canadian financial institutions.” At 4 Pillars, Southey finds realistic solutions within each scenario. “The Company is a franchise organisation that specialises in assisting
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Entertainment Entre Nous - Shlomo Schwartzberg
The Good Wife: The best show on television today The second season of CBS’s The Good Wife, created by Robert and Michelle King, just ended recently and it was even better than the first. The CBS series is that rare network drama that is cast in shades of grey and allows all its myriad and fascinating characters to show their flaws and display their dark sides. The focus of the series is Alicia Florrick (E.R.’s Julianna Margulies), who, when the series began, was sandbagged by the news of the infidelities of her husband, Cook Country State’s Attorney Peter Florrick (Sex and the City's Chris Noth, who plays the character Big). She decided to stand by him, as a ‘good’ wife, and was forced - because of economic circumstances - to go back to work as a litigator, a profession she briefly held thirteen years earlier before leaving to get married. There, she had to win over sceptical younger coworkers, including private investigator Kalinda Sharma (Archie Panjabi), and tried to impress Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski), one of the firm’s heads. In addition, she had to come to terms with her romantic feelings towards Will Gardner (Josh Charles), whom she knew from law school and who had invited her to join his firm. That’s a lot of plot for an hour-long show and that’s not even mentioning the complex and dramatic cases argued in court each week. The chief virtue of the series is that it refuses to simplify the adult and emotional situations the characters find themselves in. Kalinda, for example, would have seemed to be an obvious foil for the older Alicia; you would expect the younger woman to resent her for returning to the work force and becoming, in effect, her superior, but it didn’t play out that way. And the potential romance between Alicia and Will was never teased out the way it often is on TV but gradually moved towards a believable consummation, as revealed in the last episode of this season. Referencing real life events, from the economic fallout in America to the Egyptian revolution, the superbly acted, written and directed series compels even as it illuminates. We often speak about the sexual frankness, honesty and unpredictability of fine cable series such as The Sopranos and Six Feet Under. But operating within network restrictions on language and nudity, The Good Wife is fully their equal. At the moment, there’s no better show on the air. A graduate of Ryerson University’s School of Journalism, former West End Montrealer Shlomo Schwartzberg is a veteran film critic, has regularly reviewed films for various publications and lectures on film and TV studies. He was the director of programming for the Toronto Jewish Film Festival for seven years.
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Read On! - Andreas Kessaris
Investigative journalism provides captivating reads Most times I pick up a newspaper or turn on the news I am inevitably disappointed by what passes for investigative journalism these days. Long gone are the days of Woodward and Bernstein digging over tons of scrap papers or Mike Wallace really sticking it to someone who cheated a widow out of her life savings. Most “journalists” today just lazily look things up on Google and pass it off as their own work or are too afraid to dig deep and ask tough questions fearing either lawsuits or that they will be denied access to important people. Now I enjoyed reading Give Me a Break by John Stossel and Stupid White Men by Michael Moore, but I would not call either effort a well-crafted, serious piece of investigative journalism. The books themselves are structured to be more entertaining than informative. If you are looking for excellent, hard-hitting, serious journalism, I have two books for you. Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser was not only informative, provocative, and sometimes a little shocking, but it is also finely written and structured. In it Schlosser peers into where our food comes from and pulls no punches in his approach. The book’s only flaw is in the last chapter where Schlosser gets a little preachy and starts offering his advice on how the food industry should change. Hey Eric, we are not idiots! And stop being Michael Moore! Give us the facts and let us come to our own conclusions. Rebecca Skloot’s inspired The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks completely blew me away. It is the story of an African-American woman who had her cancer cells taken from her without being asked, and how those cells (called HeLa) were used to create the polio vaccine, map the human genome, and in the development of a multitude of other medicines and therapies. In her book she not only explains the science involved, but also the legal and philosophical ramifications of taking someone’s body tissues and using them for scientific experiments without the consent of the patient. But unlike Schlosser, she doesn’t get on a soap box, instead opting to leave it up to us, (thank you for the trust and respect, Rebecca). But Skloot goes even further by introducing us to Henrietta’s descendants who, ironically, cannot afford health insurance and are unable to benefit from the innumerable medical breakthroughs the HeLa cells helped bring forth. In doing so she not only gives us the story of the science, scientists, and the moral debate, but also the unforgettable saga of an American family. Read on! www.essaysbyandreas.com
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Bells WeddingBells Wedding
Wedding reception math: How to know how much you need of everything (ARA) - Acting as your own planner can help save money on your wedding reception. From ordering wedding napkins and favors to deciding how much cake and drinks to have on hand, you can keep a handle on costs by self-managing as many reception-related tasks as possible. But how do you know how much to buy? Buy too little of any important item and you could run out, leaving guests hungry, thirsty and disappointed. Buy too much and you'll waste money and be faced with the challenge of getting rid of leftovers. The reception experts at My Wedding Reception Ideas.com, a leading online resource for brides seeking unique wedding favors, wedding decorations and wedding supplies, offer these tips for calculating how much you'll need of key reception items: Beverages With all the dancing and celebrating they'll be doing, your guests are sure to work up a thirst. It's important to calculate the right amount of beverages to buy so you don't run out. A good rule of thumb is to plan for one drink per person, per hour. You may need more or less depending upon the make-up of your crowd. Lots of kids? You'll probably need less alcohol and more soft drinks. Plenty of adults who love a good party? You may need to adjust the amount of alcohol accordingly. Here are some averages to give you a starting point: * Beer - Three to four beers per person. * Champagne - Two glasses per person (mostly for the toasts). * Wine - Three quarters of a bottle per person. One bottle of wine or champagne yields about six to seven glasses.
Montreal “Wedding of the Century” had One of the more memorable weddings to take place in quite some time (sorry, Kate and William) featured a media connection, when The Suburban’s Avi Sochaczevski and wife Arlene hosted the “wedding of the century” last weekend at their Laurentian estate. Son Arieh Sochaczevski took Elissa, daughter of Erna and Dr. Ilan Benjamin, to be his lawfully wedded wife before over 250 guests in a ceremony that took place in a massive tent beside the Sochaczevki’s palatial home, on the lip of their private golf course. Rabbi Reuben J. Poupko, spiritual leader of Cote Saint-Luc’s Beth Israel Beth Aaron Congregation, performed the nuptials with Cantor Moshe Shur, musical entertainment was provided by the outstanding The Directors – the band that performs at the title character’s wedding in the feature film Barney’s Version, fronted by crooners Tony Picciuto and Randy Katz, and delectable cuisine was superbly created by West Ender Elan Corcia and his team. In celebration of the Jewish festival of Lag B’Omer, guests took advantage of a break in the rain to party outside briefly in front of a massive bonfire.
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* Soft drinks Three to four servings per person. A 2-liter bottle holds seven to nine drink servings. It's always good to err on the side of caution and order more than you think you will need - about a third more is standard. Check with your distributor before you order; some will allow you to return unopened bottles. Food If you'll serve cocktails and hors d'oeuvres before the reception, limit this time to an hour or 90 minutes - you don't want guests filling up before the main event. Estimate three hors d'oeuvres per person, per hour - roughly five per person for the entire time. If your reception will be a cocktail/hors d'oeuvres event without a sit-down dinner, increase your calculations to 12 pieces per guest. If you're serving a sit-down dinner, one plate per person per course should be your starting point. You may choose to ask the kitchen/caterer to have some extras on hand in case anyone requests seconds or some last-minute guests arrive. For the wedding cake, simply tell your baker how many guests will attend and they can recommend the size cake you'll need. It's good to estimate more servings than invited guests as some may want seconds or bring last-minute additions to the party. If you'll serve desserts other than cake, estimate one to two servings per guest. Napkins
Personalized or plain, linen or three-ply, wedding napkins are a wedding reception must-have item. It's hard to imagine going overboard and having too many napkins, but it could happen - and if it does you media connection may find yourself using those napkins at your first anniversary celebration. To ensure your napkin buying is on target with your needs, follow these guidelines: * Two to three cocktail napkins per guest for the bar area. * One cocktail-sized napkin per guest for the cake table. * One and a half dinner or luncheon napkins per guest at the meal table if you won't be using linen napkins. For example, if you'll have 100 guests, plan for 150 dinner napkins. Finally, favors
The newlyweds share a quiet moment in front of a special bonfire for the Jewish holiday of Lab B'Omer Photo: Bram Eisenthal
MAY 27 (pg. 7)
This one may seem obvious - one favor per guest. In reality, however, you need to allow for breakage (What if someone drops a box of favors on the way into the reception hall and several shatter?) and guests who may ask to take an extra favor home for a relative or friend who wasn't able to attend. Increasing your favor purchase by just 10 percent won't cost that much more, but could allow you to send guests home with an extra favor or two.
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Home Fixin’s - Shayne Lonn
Still rolling with the ball? A running toilet is possibly one of the most annoying, and simple to fix, problems found in households today. Once upon a time, people had a floating ball in their toilet, anchored to a fill valve, which would rise with the water level in the tank after flushing and shut off the valve upon reaching a certain height. Ballcocks and fill valves have evolved tremendously over the years. They are now replaced with more efficient, one piece fill valves which plays the role of both fill valve and ballcock. For those people still operating with a giant ball in their tank, a running toilet is a problem they are constantly fixing. Whether its bending the arm to adjust it, or moving it off another mechanism upon which is has become been lodged. The fastest way to determine the problem is to take the tank lid off and observe the flushing cycle (no worries, the water in the tank comes straight from the cold water pipes and is as clean as what comes out of your taps). The tank lid is fragile so you may want to put it in a towel and set it aside. If water is constantly running in the tank, but the water level isn’t rising, the problem is a worn-out flapper. The flapper snaps in and out of place and, as such, is easily replaced. If the water rises but never shuts off and keeps spilling into the overflow cylinder, the ballcock or fill valve is not properly adjusted. You must bend the arm suspending the ball downwards to lower the cut off point on the fill valve. If you already have a one piece fill valve, adjusting it should be done by a professional or by someone who has installed a fill valve before. If the tank takes an unusual amount of time to fill then the problem is a waterlogged fill valve and the mechanism must be replaced. Of course, if you see a ball in the tank, my recommendation is you replace it for a one piece fill valve. The best product on the market is the Korky® QuietFill®Fill Valve & Flapper. All pieces mentioned in this article can be found at any home improvement or plumbing store and are easily installed with the right basic tools and reading of instructions. So with these basic tips, fixing your leaky toilet should be a task that you can complete yourself… and, if not, you can always call your trusted Local Seeker home renovations and maintenance specialist! Shayne Lonn is the Local Seeker’s trusted home renovations and maintenance specialist. He can be reached anytime at his company, Lonn Renovations & Contracting Services, at 514-886-5940 or e-mailed at shaynelonn@gmail.com
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Yoga U - Chantalle Kudsi
Celebrate life’s breath with this simple exercise We hear a lot these days about the importance of “being present.” But what does that mean, and how can we cultivate presence in our lives? Being present means having our attention in the moment. It means to be aware, to observe, from a place of inner stillness. One way to cultivate presence is through breath awareness. For many of us, breathing happens so unconsciously that we pay virtually no attention to its depth or breadth. Yoga gives us tools to practice bringing the breath back into the body. Breath Awareness Exercise 1. Sit in an upright position, either on a chair with your feet on the ground or cross-legged on the floor. 2. Close your eyes and breathe normally. Notice your breath. Do you breathe through your mouth? Is your breath shallow or deep? Is the inhale longer than the exhale (or vice versa)? Just observe, no criticism. 3. Place both hands on your lower abdomen. 4. Breathing in through your nostrils, breathe into your hands. Let your belly expand gently outward like a balloon. Do not force the breath. 5. Exhale through your nostrils, letting your belly recede back toward the spine, away from your hands. Again, do not force the exhalation. Belly muscles should stay relaxed. 6. Repeat for a few cycles. Remember to breathe in and out through the nostrils. 7. Now, remove one hand from the lower abdomen and place it on the chest. 8. Inhale into the belly, and as the breath fills this area, allow it to naturally rise up like a wave into the chest cavity, where your other hand is resting. 9. Exhale, letting the breath travel down from the chest to the belly once again, where the belly gently recedes back, exiting all of the breath. 10. Repeat, beginning and ending each breath at the belly, gradually extending and expanding your inhalations and exhalations. Feel the sensation of the breath traveling upward into the chest and expanding the ribcage in three dimensions, like a barrel expanding its circumference. Feel the sensation of the barrel contracting in size as you exhale the breath back down where it exits from the belly. 11. Remember not to force your breath: Let it expand naturally. See if the inhalations and exhalations can be even in rhythm. 12. Release your hands. Resume normal breathing. Ask yourself: What does it feel like to breathe deeply? What is it like to be present in my own body, to take my awareness inward? Chantalle Kudsi is a yoga & meditation teacher in the West-End. She can be reached at chantsomething@yahoo.ca
Our Parent Franchise, the Local Seeker in Cornwall, Ontario, is holding its Fundraiser for Breast Cancer and Local Seeker one year Anniversary awards on June 29th at the Cornwall Golf and Country Club. Tickets are $55. Entertainement provided by Seaway DJ and Montreal Speaker/entertainer Wendy Farha. Call 613-935-8101 for details or to buy tickets. It’s the event of the summer!
THE LOCAL SEEKER,
MAY 27 (pg. 9)
"The best Portuguese chicken around." Sol Boxenbaum Last Call with Sol
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Letters From L a L a L and - Steven Goldmann
we have to rescind the offer. In a flash it was gone. Tears of joy became...well, you know. The reason had nothing to do with me and, quite frankly, all these years later not all that important. What is important is as I write this: I feel a new beginning taking hold. And I see the number 7 wherever I look. It is as if the week is starting with a fresh plate. The next seven days will be special and important, the next seven months may actually see me start a film and the next seven years dreams – no, goals - may come to pass. THE LIST--The titles of the seven projects that I have been working on. I name them here in my seventh letter for luck!
May this seventh letter be the luckiest one of all So this is my s e ve nt h Letter from La La Land. Not sure there is anything truly special about that, but as many of us know the number seven (7) itself is certainly loaded with import, this across religious lines. In Judaism we find the seven-day concept quite often. Think of the seven days of mourning and the seven day rejoicing period following a wedding... and, lest we forget the most obvious: Creation… the week. The number 7 signifies completion or perfection (Genesis 7:2-4; Revelation 1:20). It is often called “God’s number,” but more often then not we call it a “lucky number.” So let me say it loud and clear - I am hoping that this seventh letter is my lucky one!
gig. One of the seven things I have been working on has finally moved into second gear. I am being paid to write a script, which, if it is good, will lead to me directing the movie...if my luck holds.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Down Under The Human Fly Red Devil Lie A Boy and His Dog The Unburied Deadfellas Sex Drugs & Rock ‘n’ Roll
ED. NOTE: Steve, to know you is to love you and after seven columns we are all getting to know you better all the time. Best of luck from The Local Seeker. Keep us in mind if you need a small community newspaper in a starring role!
Luck is so important in this town. You can work hard and follow all the rules, but not without at least a little luck, I tell ya. You can’t get excited about anything, even good news, because in a flash it can all be taken away from you. Five years ago on a Monday, I was offered a 40 million dollar movie by NEW LINE PICTURES. You read correctly - 40 mill! The offer arrived in writing, it was real. All the hard work had paid off, I was getting my big break and there were tears of joy. Tuesday they called back and said a whole pile of wonderful things about me, my work, all the ego stroking that It seems to have coincided with any artist needs and loves. Then some good news. I signed a they added the free fall off the contract to start a job! Yup, I got a Empire State Building line: But
THE LOCAL SEEKER,
MAY 27 (pg. 10)
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Dracula at 80 - Bram D. Eisenthal
Which stands the test of time, the American or Spanish version? As a film fan and a horror buff to boot – and not in a twisted way at all… I am not necessarily a fan of gore, unless it is used to enhance a story or is “tastefully” done, if that is possible – it would be remiss to let 2011 go by without commemorating one of the first talkie films in history, the 1931 version of Dracula. Starring Hungarian expat Bela Lugosi as the seminal Count, the film featured so many firsts, as well as inspired direction by Todd Browning, chilling makeup by Universal Studios makeup department head Jack Pierce (who would become foreverrenowned soon after for his work creating the Frankenstein Monster makeup for Boris Karloff ), DP Karl Freund’s moody cinematography and terrific sets by Charles D. Hall. Yet, don’t “count” me as part of the group of cinephiles which considers Dracula one of the finest horror films in history. The truth is, I never liked it much. Lugosi certainly has style, but I find the movie quite hammy, despite the fact that some of Lugosi’s lines (“I am Count Dracula” and “I don’t drink… wine” have become legendary in the annals of film. And if you want to rent some memorable latter-day remakes, try to find the 1973 made-for-TV version starring Jack Palance as a very sympathetic Dracula, the exquisite 1979 version featuring a suave, sexy Frank Langella (yes, the very same actor who performed so wonderfully as the late, much-maligned American president in Frost-Nixon) and the subsequent 1992 version, my personal favourite, starring Gary Oldman as Dracula and Anthony Hopkins as Van Helsing. While working with him in 1997 on the Isle of Man, shooting the film Treasure Island, the since-deceased Palance, an Oscar-winner for his deadpan-funny work in the Billy Crystal vehicle City Slickers, confided to me one day over Cuban cigars that Dracula was likely his most beloved role. He was earnest and quite passionate about it, too. Yet if you want to be really impressed by 1931’s Dracula, look no farther than the Spanish version of the film, which is included in the 1999 Universal Studios Classic Monster Collection DVD package that features a restored version accompanied by a new score from Philip Glass, one of the better New Age composers in the business, and his Kronos Quartet. I had totally forgotten about the Spanish version when I sat down to revisit the original Dracula recently. For anyone who has not yet seen it (and that is most of you, I estimate), this remarkable film is a stand-alone gem for many, many reasons, not the least of which is its 30-minute extra length. First of all, it was shot alongside the American version on the exact same sets throughout the night, after Browning and his cast had their way with the material during the daytime. Second, director George Melford (who had helmed the silent classic The Sheik, starring Rudolph Valentino, a decade earlier) and cinematographer George Robinson skate circles around Browning and Freund, as they shoot the film using much bolder imagery and actors that are more seductively attired. The editing is also much more fluid and the effects more technically impressive. In many ways, it appears to be a different film, even though it utilizes the same basic script. And the fully-Hispanic cast (remarkably, Melford was a unilingual Anglophone -“yes, there ARE such things!” - who required a translator to communicate with his cast) included Carlos Villarias (deceased in 1976) and Lupita Tovar (still living) who, in my opinion, more than hold their own when compared to the American leads. Villarias is a very suave Dracula, though not known as superior to the stage-trained Lugosi, who originally played the role on Broadway in the late 1920s. The one knock against Villarias’s performance is his excessive use of corny reaction shots that border on the ridiculous, although that is as much the fault of direction as it is acting. Regarding the key character of Renfield, while Dwight Frye’s work in the American version has drawn rave reviews over the decades, Pablo Alvarez Rubio’s characterization in the Spanish version was much more disturbing and seemingly natural. Frye died way back in 1943, while Rubio continued to act until his death 40 years later. Even today, the film is a joy to watch, while I find the American version stilted and corny. I can certainly believe that some audience members fainted while watching it in American movie houses, because that bygone-era was naïve and, really, what could anyone compare Dracula to back then? Talkies, by their very nature new and exciting compared to previous silent movies, had little in the way of peers at the time, with the exception of Al Jolson’s The Jazz Singer, the first theatrical talkie. And, really, what’s more exciting and sensationalist for audiences, a film about a man’s guilt over embarking on a career as a showman instead of a rabbi OR the story of an undead bloodsucker creating havoc in London? Still, a movie’s worth has everything to do with how well it holds up over time and I think the Spanish Dracula is still marvelous to behold, even if we have become somewhat jaded in this big-budget, special-effects laden era. May “Soy Count Dracula” resound with equal magnificence as Lugosi’s Hungarian-tinged English catch-phrase for time immemorial. As a major player in the creation of a Spanish-language classic that arguably outshines its American cousin, the oft-forgotten Villarias deserves the respect of any film fan. It’s almost time to celebrate genre films, including some of the best international horror you can view on the large screen, as FantAsia will soon shroud Montreal once more. This year’s 15th incarnation will take place from July 14 – August 7, 2011. Go to www.fantasiafestival.com for updates and previews. More to come on FantAsia in the pages of The Local Seeker.
THE LOCAL SEEKER,
MAY 27 (pg. 11)
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I hope you have enjoyed this issue. We are working on our next issue of 2011, and it will be out June 10th
Bes t, Bra m
Deadline for next issue: Friday June 3 12:00 noon
THE LOCAL SEEKER,
MAY 27 (pg. 12)
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