Tag Archives: Toronto

The Listener – ion

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The Listener, a Canadian show which has been airing on ion for the last several months kicks off it’s fifth season, in America, September 30.  Yes, this is a case where the Canadians have already seen the entire season, and now we lucky Americans are getting a chance to watch this fun show that is set in, and filmed, up in Toronto.

Listener Toby LoganThe Listener centers on Toby Logan (Craig Olejnik), a man who can hear the surface thoughts of those around him — when he chooses to listen in.  As a child he had not learned that sense of control, but now, as an adult, fortunately for his own sanity, he has.  In season 1 he was a paramedic who used his gift to help better understand how people came to be in need of a paramedics services, how they came to be injured, if they were overdosing what drug might have led to the situation, that sort of thing.

In time he met a cop who realized just how much help Toby could be in solving cases… and Toby is a man who wants his gift to be a gift.  He wants to use it to help people, wants to believe it has a good purpose and can be used for good reasons.  At heart he is a good man looking for a good life.

Now, as season 5 opens, he is part of the IIB, Integrated Investigation Bureau, where he works with tech genuis Dev (Rainbow Sun Francks), and IIB Sgt. Michelle McCluskey (Lauren Lee Smith) as part of a team put together by Alvin Klein (Peter Stebbings) who realized early on that there was more to Confidential Informant and “face reader” Toby Logan than he was being told.  (Yeah, they come up with a few fun ways to try not to tell people what Toby is up to.)

This show has a lot going for it, not the least of which is well written characters.  The friendship between Toby Logan and his best friend Osman (Oz) Bey (Ennis Esmer) is fantastic.  In Season 1 they shared an ambulance, but Toby’s changing and evolving life did not create distance between these two friends.  They are a great example of always remembering the people who are an important part of your life, and making sure you make time for them.

If you have not already tuned in to an episode of The Listener, add it to the list of shows you give a chance, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised, and reminded that Canada is turning out a lot of quality shows these days.

LInks:

The Listener @ Wikipedia
The Listener @ ion
The Listener @ Fox International
The Listener @ IMDB
The Listener @ NBC (7 episodes of the first season aired on NBC)

Fans may recognize Peter Stebbings from Jeremiah or Crossbones, Lauren Lee Smith from Mutant X, Rainbow Sun Francks from Stargate: Atlantis, or Ennis Esmer from L.A. Complex – and he currently has a pilot on Amazon called Red Oaks.

Sony Centre in Toronto presents Movies with Live Scores

Gladiator with a symphony performing the score in the foreground, a fantastic way to hear the music and see the movie.

Gladiator with a symphony performing the score in the foreground, a fantastic way to hear the music & see the movie.

There was a time when silent movies were accompanied by a live musician playing an organ, or a piano.  Somewhere over the years theaters shifted to the sound being delivered along with the film, and audiences grew accustomed to an entirely pre-packaged experience being shipped off and delivered to them.  Admittedly it gives the director, and the musicians, more control over the final product.  They are no longer wondering if the musician in each town and theater is timing the crescendos to the exact moment the director wanted it to hit, if the haunting moments of a characters theme are synced to the exact movements of an actor — now all of that is determined in the editing phase and the sync of music and action is set, and every audience now sees the same film, experiences it in the same way.

But at the same time we lost that sense of live music.  The feel of the orchestra performing, the power of all those instruments coming together to add another layer of depth and breath to the film we are watching.  The scores of soundtracks are labored over in the production phase, so often composed just for this film, and the film edited so that the images play in harmony with that music.  Many of us may think of certain songs as being a part of holiday celebrations and fireworks shows, or being the perfect song to get our juices flowing as we get ready to start our day, or the ultimate finale to a tough work out.  However, first and foremost, in many cases, they were envisioned in a far different way.

Often when the score is being recorded the musicians will even have the film playing, so they can see the dramatic moments their music will be figuratively dancing with.

One of the booths at Fan Expo Canada was for a Symphony, with a great presentation about how at the Sony Centre in Toronto there are upcoming opportunities to step back in time, and see movies as they were once experienced.  Instead of silent films accompanied by just an organ (see one of those organs at Casa Loma) the audience will have the chance to watch a modern cinematic wonder accompanied by a full symphony — think Gladiator (Hans Zimmer’s and Lisa Gerrard’s sweeping score) or the Star Trek (Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony performs the Score by Michael Giacchino) that relaunched the ever-popular science-fiction series on the big screen.

Links of interest:
Sony Centre and an article Sony Centre recommended on Why movie scores sound better live from the Den Of Geek

Hans Zimmer’s score to Gladiator continues to be one of the composer’s most famous and admired accomplishments, selling millions of copies. An original member of The Buggles (Video Killed the Radio Star), multi-award-winning Zimmer conquered the world of pop music before tackling scoring films. His list of credits include writing the scores for Oscar®-winning films, 12 Years A Slave, Thelma and Louise, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Lion King to name only a very few.

Gladiator follows loyal Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe), who is betrayed when the emperor’s ambitious son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), murders his father and seizes the throne. Reduced to slavery, Maximus rises through the ranks of the gladiatorial arena to avenge the murder of his family and his emperor.

Sony Centre For The Performing Arts and Attila Glatz Concert Productions present
GLADIATOR LIVE
Friday, December 5, 2014 @ 8pm
Sony Centre For The Performing Arts, 1 Front Street East, Toronto
Ticket prices range from $47-$97
Ticket prices do not include service or delivery fees
Tickets can be can be purchased in person at the Sony Centre box office, over the phone at 1-855-872-SONY (7669) or online at www.sonycentre.ca

Dave Bautista

One of the panels at Fan Expo Canada that I was particularly interested to attend was that of Dave Bautista.  I was entirely unsure what to expect.  I did not know if there would be a lot of wrestling questions, or a lot of Guardians of the Galaxy questions… I had no idea how the wrestler/actor would come across — but on all scores I was curious.

Dave Bautista

Dave Bautista

I was late to the panel, because I was coming from one in the South Building, and his panel was in the North one.  While I was there, the questions were predominantly about Guardians of the Galaxy, with a few about wrestling in general, and his time as a wrestler.

Dave Bautista came across as an incredibly thoughtful and entertaining person.  He clearly considered his answers, enjoyed talking with those who came to hear him, and as you can see from the photo, instead of sitting up on stage in the chairs, and being elevated up above the crowd, he came down to our level and was at more of an eye to eye level with his fans.

When a kid asked him whether he would be a good guy or a bad guy if he returned to the wrestling ring he gave a well thought out answer about how it is more fun to be the bad guy, and more options are open to him, but at the end, he also told the kid not to feel bad about booing him and calling out against him.  That you can still like him, and boo him when he is the bad guy in the ring.

Tardis outside Rogers Centre

Tardis outside Rogers Centre

Tardis outside Rogers Centre

As we looked outside one of the windows during the walk between the North and South buildings of the convention center at Fan Expo Canada, on the top of a small rise in a park we saw a Tardis surrounded by fans!

Brilliant!

When we found our way outside it was surrounded by fans, we tried to take photos of it with the CN Tower in the background, but the light was not in my favor, and the CN Tower came out as a striking silhouette, and I know the shape in front of it is the Tardis, but I doubt anyone else would recognize it as that.  I did however find an angle from which the Rogers Centre, otherwise known as the Skydome, could be seen in the background.  A little fun with the focus made for a whimsical photo, and helped respect the privacy of the fans enjoying the Tardis.