MONDOmagazine

Towards the Carbon Neutral City
September 22 @ the Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place

By Tina Chu

After mounting a successful exhibition at the MaRS Centre this summer with Behnisch Architekten, Thomas Auer of Transsolar ClimateEngineering returned to Toronto for a presentation entitled Towards a Carbon Neutral City.

A continuation of Ecology.Design.Synergy (see a previous related post here) and a part of Toronto’s Green Building Festival, Auer’s presentation showcased how Transsolar’s engineering innovations and architectural collaborations translate to the streets.

Building sustainably for Transsolar, involves more than being carbon neutral. While achieving a low footprint is a priority, equally important goals for Transsolar are whether or not the space it constructs is comfortable, vibrant and a place people desire to inhabit year-round. Read the rest of this entry »

Kevin Bundy, Claire Calnan, Christian Goutsis, Damien Atkins. Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann.

The Clockmaker
By Stephen Massicotte
Directed by Bob White
Featuring Christian Goutsis, Damien Atkins, Claire Calnan and Kevin Bundy
Runs until October 24 @ Tarragon Theatre

By Daina Valiulis

If you’re a Jehovah’s Witness coming to knock on playwright Stephen Massicotte’s door, be prepared for a debate. In this remount of The Clockmaker, which debuted in Calgary in 2009, winning the Outstanding New Play award at the Betty Mitchell Awards for Calgary Theatre, the atheistic Massicotte presents gentle questions regarding the afterlife and the First Clockmaker in the sky.

Set in an indistinct time, in the first scene we meet our Everyman, a nervous clockmaker named Heinrich Mann (Christian Goutsis, who comes to Toronto from Calgary in a reprisal of the role) being interrogated by the mysterious Monsieur Pierre (Damian Atkins) under an archway reminiscent of an old clock tower for a crime he is about to commit, or may have already committed. Time jumps around. Read the rest of this entry »

The Big Bang Theory Season Three
Directed by Mark Cendrowski
Warner Brothers, 2009-2010

By Miles Baker

As a comic book nerd, as a computer nerd, as fantasy nerd, as a pop culture nerd and as a Nerd with a capitol “N,” I should love The Big Bang Theory.  It’s probably the only show on network television that regularly references the works of Stan Lee and doesn’t snicker at them. Well, it doesn’t usually snicker at them. It does present some meganerds as heroes — but that isn’t enough for me. I like the show, it gets a few chuckles out of me but that’s about all I can say.

In third season, the meganerds once again have a series of misadventures where they learn nothing. Well, nothing really. I mean, if they learned anything they wouldn’t have the problems that will spark the next episode. The biggest plot development is that Leonard and Penny begin to date steadily. This will serve as a springboard for a lot of the plots this season. And, usually, it turns out that Leonard is actually a bigger dick than Sheldon, the character who doesn’t have empathy. So, that’s maybe a problem? Read the rest of this entry »

Easy A
Directed by Will Gluck
Sony Pictures, September 2010

By Caesar Martini

My new favourite red-headed actress* stars in Easy A, a movie about the worst kind of prostitution — fraudulent prostitution. If you can’t count on a whore to do some actual whorin’, what kind of world are we living in?

(*  A position previously held by Nicole Kidman before she injected enough collagen and botox into her face to kill a horse, and then by Lindsay Lohan before she did the same and then followed it up by snorting enough cocaine to kill Scarface.)

Emma Stone plays Olive, a witty but anonymous high school girl in small town California who inadvertently starts a lie about her virginity (specifically, her lack thereof). Thanks to technology and the age of digital information, she’s instantly labeled as a tramp by the entire school. Read the rest of this entry »

Ryan Hollyman as The Count, Ashley Wright as Fernando, and Ngozi Paul as Julia. Photo by Bruce Zinger.

Fernando Krapp Wrote Me This Letter: An Attempt at the Truth
Written by Tankred Dorst
Translated and directed by Matthew Jocelyn
Starring Ngozi Paul, Ashley Wright, Ryan Hollyman & Walter Borden
Runs until October 16 at the Bluma Appel Theatre

By Jen Handley

When the title character in Fernando Krapp Wrote Me This Letter: An Attempt at Truth has to answer his wife when she asks him if he loves her, he says “love shouldn’t be talked about,” which is supposed, I think, to be funny, because the play consists mostly of three people talking with each other about whether or not they love each other. But director Matthew Jocelyn, who also translated the Tankred Dorst play, does everything he can to keep his audience from feeling like they have to sit up straight and figure out what Dorst thinks about the nature of love and/or betrayal and/or reality. He chooses instead to let the script essentially serve as a soundtrack to a carefully choreographed and often gorgeous series of stage pictures. Read the rest of this entry »

Avengers #5
Brian Michael Bendis (w), John Romita Jr. (p), Klaus Janson with Tom Palmer (i), Dean White (c), Marvel Comics.

I’m cooling on this book fast. It’s an ambitious story, to be sure, but it feels cluttered. There are red herrings, character cameos, timeline cameos… in the end when it’s revealed what the real threat was I struggled to remember what it supposedly was in the first place. I’m hoping that the next story is a little less manic and has more time to focus on one thing rather than juggling a whole lot of… everything. – Owen Craig.

Owen’s rating: 3.5 out of 5

Avengers Academy #4
Christos Gage (w), Mike McKone (p), Rick Ketchum & Cam Smith (i), Jeremy Cox (c), Marvel Comics.

Best Avengers book on the stands. Easy. The characters shine, their motives fascinate me and I can’t wait to see what happens. Seriously, if you loved the early issues of Avengers: The Initiative (like I did) then this book is a slam dunk. Plus… $2.99. – Owen Craig.

Owen’s rating:4.5 out of 5 Read the rest of this entry »

By Shane McNeil

Another year has come and gone for Toronto’s favourite circus of cinema and schmooze.

While it’s easy to use the 11 days to chase stars and get advance looks at the year’s Oscar contenders (or, as the case may be, a week’s head-start on seeing Easy A), some of the world’s most renowned and some undiscovered filmmakers have the chance to strut their stuff for Toronto’s cinephiles.

Here’s a round-up of just one way to have effectively killed off the last 10 days with a round-the-world trip in darkened theatres.

Mexico: Gareth Edwards created a sci-fi fantasy that pits two Americans against a host of giant monsters that threaten the sovereignty and security of the U.S. in Monsters. While not on par with some of the recent creature-feature/social-issues classics, it might garner a look when it hits multiplexes. Still baffled with why this made TIFF though, especially outside Midnight Madness. Read the rest of this entry »

By Sean Kelly

I saw a whopping 14 films during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, which is actually quite small when you consider the fact that the most hardcore festival-goers tend to see up to 50 films. Still, I saw an average of three films a day, with screening days starting at noon and ending around 11:30. As such, while I would have loved to write full reviews for all the films I’ve seen, it was pretty much impossible. Now with the festival over, I’d like to touch on the remaining films I saw this year.

Submarine
Directed by Richard Ayoade
UK
Part of the Special Presentations Programme.

As the film begins with the main character imagining the increasingly extravagant ways he would like to be remembered if he died, I knew this film was going to be special. This is one smart and funny British comedy about a 15 year old boy, who sees the world in his own ironic way. I definitely consider this to be one of the highlights of this year’s festival and if you love the films of the UK, you are sure to love Submarine. Read the rest of this entry »

Skullkickers #1 & 2
Jim Zubkavich (w), Edwin Huang & Chris Stevens (a), Misty Coats (c). Image.

I’m going to get this out of the way — Jim Zubkavich is a buddy of mine. And the last couple weeks have been amazing for him. His new series from Image is getting buzz. Big buzz. A second printing before release?! That’s big buzz and good orders. That’s awesome.

It’s also awesome for a very selfish reason—it put the pressure off me. If I didn’t like Skullkickers I wasn’t obligated to review it. It’s not like the book needs to coverage.

That said, I think this is a good book that you should buy it, so I’m adding my voice to the many others who have already praised Skullkickers.

Fantasy. Action. Comedy. That’s all you need to know. If you like two of those three things than this is the book for you (though, chances are if you’re on this site than all three are your bag). For me, it’s an easier sell. I love fantasy comedy and there’s not enough of it in the world. Read the rest of this entry »

Resident Evil: Afterlife
Directed by Paul WS Anderson
Sony Pictures, Sept 2010

By Caesar Martini

Why do I keep going to see Resident Evil movies?  They’re so consistently terrible.  The first one was adequate, the second one (Resident Evil: Apocalypse) was as close to a crime against humanity as a motion picture can come, and the third one’s (RE: Extinction) main virtue was that it wasn’t as bad as the second.  Sigh.  Well here we go. Read the rest of this entry »

Monsters
Directed by Gareth Edwards
UK
Part of the Vanguard Programme

By Sean Kelly

When I first heard of the independent sci-fi film Monsters, it almost sounded like District 9 meets Cloverfield. After seeing the film, I also found myself recalling the sense of isolation felt in 28 Days Later.

The set-up is quite simple, six years ago a space probe carrying alien samples crashed in Mexico. The area of the crash site was quarantined, and in the present day of the film, attacks from giant squid-like alien monsters have become a part of life. Read the rest of this entry »

Amazing Spider-Man #643
Mark Waid (w), Paul Azaceta (a), Javier Rodriguez (c). Marvel Comics.

Web swinging around New York with a two-minute-old baby — that’s the action in this comic, and it kept me pretty on edge the whole time I was reading. That’s a pretty successful comic experience. Not only that, but the villain to hero ratio is excellently high without feeling forced. For example, your basic Legion of Doom will have a lot of villains hanging around, fighting for leadership but still being a relatively effective force against the good guys because… of bad writing. Usually, the way they’re presented, these bad guys can never work together. But in this issue of Amazing Dr. Octopus is in charge, everyone knows it, now lets get that Spider-Man. There’s also an interesting claustrophobic effect by how many eyes are glued to Spider-Man, physically and electronically, as he’s trying to hide away and make the change to Peter Parker. Last but not least I have to mention how much I love Azaceta’s drawings of Spidey swinging around, the physics look great and the angles are really cool. — Isaac Mills

Isaac’s rating: 4 out of 5

Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine #3
Jason Aaron (w), Adam Kubert (p), Mark Roslan (i), Justin Ponsor (c), Marvel Comics.

I was going to wait for the trade on this one, but it’s just too damn much fun. I can’t wait. Jason Aaron continues to totally rock everything he does with what basically amounts to being the most epic interpretation of The Odd Couple ever. This issue continues to build Spider-Man and Wolverine’s friendship/rivalry/annoying each other while bringing the awesome. In this case awesome includes a new twist on “The Living Planet” and the use of a Phoenix Force gun. Come on, how is this anything less than completely awesome? I’m completely loving it and can assure I will NOT be waiting for the trade for issues 4-6. – Owen Craig.

Owen’s rating: 5 out of 5 Read the rest of this entry »