The Detective and the Hockey Guy

Posted on 29/05/2016 by pixel5117/06/2017

PRIVATE EYES – Season 1 Episode 1 – SPOILERS

Angie Everett, P.I. (Cindy Sampson)
in a more casual moment.

Angie Everett (Cindy Sampson) took over her father’s detective agency when he was killed in a car crash. Angie is acrophobic, loves her work, and seems to suspect that the car accident that killed her dad was not an accident. Her father was a cop before he was a detective, and his uniform is in a glass case on the wall of Angie’s office/home.

Everett and Shade discuss the case
on a hotel balcony.

In the course of an investigation, she meets ex-pro hockey player Matt Shade (Jason Priestley). Shade, whose phobias have yet to be revealed, has a very intelligent, legally blind teenage daughter Jules (Jordyn Negri), and a somewhat philosophical father (Barry Flatman). Shade planned to take a job as a hockey scout but soon after meeting Angie Everett, he decides to stay in Toronto (where his daughter is going to school), and change careers.

The dialogue is sharp and the show is fast paced. Angie is charming and witty. (Sampson seems very relaxed and natural in the role, and brings a great deal of warmth and energy to the show.) Matt is comfortable with being a famous ex-hockey player and uses his fame to aid in the investigation, a tactic that will only work until people realize that he has switched careers. He always looks like he needs a shave. Priestley’s character is less hard-boiled than one might expect him to be.

The Code (episode title) that Matt’s father made him write out when he was fourteen.

PRIVATE EYES is unmistakably set in Toronto. Priestley told The Televixen: “The series of books that the show is based on [The Brad Shade novels by Gare Joyce] are set here in Toronto so we knew we were going to shoot the show here. We made the decision early on to not base the show anywhere else and shoot Toronto for Toronto. Toronto is a beautiful, international, multicultural city…A lot of other shows come here and try to masquerade this city as other cities but we thought it was a great opportunity to show this city off and not have to try to pretend that it’s somewhere else. And not have to shoot around the CN tower because it’s big.”

Matt Shade (Jason Priestley) Jules (Jordyn Negri), and Matt's father (Barry Flatman)

The Shade family: Matt (Jason Priestley), his daughter Jules (Jordyn Negri),
and Matt’s father (Barry Flatman)

The series was created by Shelley Eriksen (who wrote 8 episodes of CONTINUUM) and Alan McCullough (who wrote the LOST GIRL Season 2 finale). Eriksen wrote the pilot, the finale, and episode seven. In the course of the ten episode first season, Everett and Shade will pursue cases involving (among other things): the hip hop scene, magic clubs, fine dining, and horse racing. Priestley was injured when thrown from a horse during filming of one episode (probably the horse racing one) in Mississauga. He seems all right now.

The theme music is the 1981 Hall and Oates song Private Eyes, covered by Vancouver based electronic duo Dear Rouge (Drew and Danielle McTaggart). Danielle is originally from Red Deer, Alberta, hence the group’s name.

Episode Three, titled ‘The Money Shot’ is directed by Anne Wheeler, who directed BETTER THAN CHOCOLATE, and BYE BYE BLUES. Tassie Cameron, one of the creators of ROOKIE BLUE, wrote Episode Five, the title of which is ‘The Six’. (The first mention of PRIVATE EYES was a June 2015 tweet from Shelley Eriksen that read: “Wrote a pilot, Shaw ordered to series, Jason Priestley starring, and I’ve got the best consultant, Tassie Cameron, to help with the kickass.”)

Everett and Shade

Ennis Esmer is Detective Kurtis Mazhari in seven episodes. Clé Bennett is Detective Derek Nolan in six episodes. Both of them appeared on LOST GIRL. (Bennett was the original Ash, and Esmer was a lawyer in Judgement Fae.) In the first episode, Natalie Lisinska, who was Aynsley Norris in Season One of Orphan Black turns up as Jamie Linfoot, and Allana Harkin (Coach in LOST GIRL episode 2.16) is Linda Sinclair.

Jordyn Negri in DARWIN

NOTES

Jordan Negri (Jules) is Beth in the science fiction film DARWIN, which stars Molly Parker and is about a future in which people interact with one another entirely through electronic devices. DARWIN was filmed in Sudbury, Ontario, and has a 15 June release date. A trailer is available on YouTube.

Ennis Esmer (Kurtis) will be Brian in John Madden’s political thriller MISS SLOANE, about ruthless Washington lobbyists and the way they deal with the issue of gun control in the US. Production began in Toronto last February, and the film is due for release sometime in 2017. Esmer will also be Bobby Ferguson in the TV drama SHOOT THE MESSENGER, which will premiere this summer on CBC.

PRIVATE EYES airs Thursdays at 9pm on Global TV in Canada.

REVIEW: THE BIRDER – Natural Selection vs The Peter Principle

Posted on 24/01/2016 by pixel5117/10/2018

– directed by Ted Bezaire – SPOILERS

Tom Cavanagh is endearing as Ron Spencer in THE BIRDER

Tom Cavanagh as the endearing ornithologist Ron Spencer in THE BIRDER

SAMANTHA SPENCER: “Things change, dad. I know you want to be the HOO [Head of Ornithology] but you don’t always have to be the lead bird to get where you’re supposed to be.”

Rebecca (Allana Harkin) and her boyfriend (Scott Cavalheiro) telling Ron he needs to move out.

Rebecca (Allana Harkin) and her boyfriend (Scott Cavalheiro) telling Ron that
he needs to move out.

You may know Tom Cavanaugh from THE FLASH for his role as Eobard Thawne aka Dr. Harrison Wells. He is ornithologist Ron Spencer in THE BIRDER (renamed THE BIRD MEN for a U.S. release that hasn’t happened yet), and the two characters have something in common — an inability to let go of the past. The difference is that Wells never sees the light, but Spencer comes out ok.

From either version of the title, one might think there are birds in the movie. This is not true. The only bird to make an appearance is one lone prairie falcon, and it was there to make a point. The falcon is Spencer’s lifer (A lifer is a bird that is having trouble finding its way home, usually because it’s been blown off course during migration.) Instead of stopping everything else and focusing on his once-in-a-lifetime birding experience, Spencer decides to put himself back on course instead.

Laura (Tommie-Amber Pirie) believes she is a dog whisperer. It is unclear why this part of the story was not explored to a greater extent.

THE BIRDER is completely unpretentious and pleasantly funny. Ron Spencer is a charming bumbler who eventually gets it right. His daughter Samantha (Cassidy Renee) is wise beyond her years; and his improvised best friend (Ben, the newly-hired high school janitor, played by Mark Rendall) is single-minded in his pursuit of his high-school sweetheart Laura.

Scott Cavalheiro in LOST GIRL episode 5.4

Graham Greene, the gruff and grumpy Rafe McCawley on DEFIANCE, plays a similar character here (Ben’s step-dad Manny).
Three LOST GIRL alumni are in the cast: Tommie-Amber Pirie as Laura, Allana Harkin as Ron’s ex-wife, and Scott Cavalheiro as Ron’s ex-wife’s boyfriend.

THE BIRDER was filmed in Windsor, Ontario. The park in the film seems to be a blend of Point Pelee National Park in Leamington, Ontario, and Wheatley Provincial Park near Chatham. The DVD can now be purchased from Amazon Canada.

NOTES

Tommie-Amber Pirie as Vanessa in CLUSTERFUCK

Tommie-Amber Pirie (Laura) will be Vanessa in the comedy CLUSTERFUCK, directed by Iranian/Canadian filmmaker Mazi Khalighi. Brian, the film’s central character, is in the midst of a late-20’s life crisis which causes him to not recognize that his best friend Maggie (Glenda MacInnis) is in love with him, and instead to determinedly pursue Vanessa, who is not. In the trailer/pitch video for the film, Tommie-Amber wears a Pelee Region Provincial Park t-shirt from The Birder. CLUSTERFUCK should begin to show up at film festivals sometime later this year.

Graham Green as Manny, Ben’s grumpy step-dad in THE BIRDER.

Graham Greene (Manny) is Buffalo in the film UNNATURAL, the story of an attempt to genetically modify Alaskan polar bears to help them adapt to climate change, with horrific and deadly results. The film had a US theatrical release last October, and is available on DVD in the UK under the title MANEATER. It can be streamed on Amazon video.

Scott Cavalheiro (Darcy) will be Will in the Joan Carr-Wiggin film LOVE OF MY LIFE, about which nearly no information has been released. It was filmed in Sault Ste. Marie and is a comedy with a great cast that also includes Katie Boland, Hannah Anderson, and Naomi Snieckus. Cavalheiro is also Luke Evans in Kris Holden-Ried‘s short film THE EPITATH, which asks the question: What would happen if people knew the day on which they will die, but not the year?

Pixel 51’s 5 Best Photos of 2015

Posted on 30/12/2015 by pixel5130/01/2019

#5 — SOKO (photo by Alice Baxley)

Soko above the haze. This photo was taken in Los Angeles last July. Soko’s black (onyx?) arrowhead ring next to the necklace with a key, and palm leaves positioned nicely in the background create a memorable image. Soko captioned it “in my happy place”.

Alice Baxley

Alice Baxley‘s website describes her this way: “Alice is a music documentary photographer. She was born in Japan, raised in Hawaii and now resides in Los Angeles. Once a musician herself, she is passionate about music and loves to capture musicians’ unique personalities through raw moments, and their journey as an artist.”

Baxley’s twitter is full of pictures of pizza and quotations from Kurt Vonnegut. She has photographed Soko before.

#4 — RAINBOW FIRE (photo by Allana Harkin)

Allana Harkin in LOST GIRL episode School's Out

Allana Harkin in LOST GIRL episode 2.16

This picture was tweeted by Allana Harkin last 7 July. Harkin identified the location as Brockville, Ontario, and it appears to have been taken from a boat in the St. Lawrence River. As she said in the tweeet, she was in the “right place at the right time”.

Harkin is the actor who played Detective Carlisle in the 2014 film PATCH TOWN. She was also the high school gym teacher in LOST GIRL episode 2.16 (School’s Out). Her most recent film appearance was as Doctor Vernon in A SURROGATE’S TERROR, which first aired on Lifetime in March, 2014.

#3 — KSENIA SOLO (photo by Stephen Busken)

Stephen Busken

That gown brings spun sugar to mind. This photo has an odd perspective (Ksenia Solo seems distant from the camera (except for the hem of her gown) and that’s another thing that makes it fascinating. It is part of a shoot for DuJour Magazine, but for some reason didn’t make it into print. Another photo with the dress (the one with the carousel) did make it into the magazine.

Stephen Busken is a photographer who works out of Los Angeles and New York. The bio on his website consists mainly of a list of past clients. Among the magazines in which his photographs have appeared are: Vanity Fair, Brazilian Vogue, Ad Week, Italian Elle, People, Conde Nast Traveler, House Beautiful, and Town & Country.

#2 — FORTY BELOW (photo by Michael H. Davies)

Michael H. Davies

Michael H. Davies took this photo in the mountains 45 minutes by snowmobile from Pangnirtung, Nunavit, 2300 kilometers north of Montreal. It shows local resident Markus Siivola throwing how tea into the air as he bends backwards. In the -40^o weather, the tea freezes as soon as it’s tossed. Davies said he got the idea when he saw a similar photo elsewhere, and decided he could do better. “I went through the science of it,” Davies told CBC news. “I figured, ‘OK, I need 40 below, I need calm winds, I need the sunset in the background so it lights up my fog when I film it.'” Davies is originally from Pontypool, Ontario,
and is a trained painter, photographer and glass blower.

#1 — DUSTIN QUICK (photo by Elizabeth Parker)

Elizabeth Parker

An image of Dustin Quick from a shoot titled Beauty in Space. If this were a character in, let’s say, a STAR TREK episode, that hair might be a coiled appendage, or possibly an antenna array. The reddish-golden skin might be functional as well as decorative, changing colour to indicate different emotional states like a mood ring.

Elizabeth Parker captures images on her Nikon, then creates textures and styles in after-capture. Trained in the art of digital transformation, she textures mood, emotions, and thought. Her use of vibrant colours and abstract imagery provokes instant reaction. She finds inspiration in almost anything, from the shapes of birds wings to dreams and colour combinations. Parker says that conceptualizing the shoot is almost as exciting as actually shooting it.

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