Step into The Burrow, a cozy new Euro-inspired restaurant in Hotel Sask.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
a day ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Enchanting interludes
Somehow, Heather O'Neill has crafted a delightfully fleeting, 200-plus page epic. Valentine in Montreal has the principal features of the daunting form, but all in charming miniature. O'Neill, much and justly celebrated as a resoundingly successful Canadian poet, short-story writer, screenwriter, novelist and journalist, was able to fashion this riff on the traditional literary genre by adapting another conventional publication form: Valentine is not so much a modern novel as it is a compendium of a traditional serial. In 2023, a Montreal Gazette editor asked O'Neill to compose a serialized novel, very much in the Victorian mode. Suspecting failure would accompany the unusual effort, O'Neill nonetheless dove in, hoping it would not just challenge her chops but connect her with writing and writers past, especially Charles Dickens. More, it could help her realize her belief that good fiction ought to be democratized, something the archaic serial form had done — and perhaps could still do — so expediently. Elisa Harb photo Heather O'Neill (right) has enlisted her daughter Arizona (left) to illustrate her two most recent books. O'Neill is probably most famous as the unicorn double winner of CBC's Canada Reads: her own extraordinarily beautiful and moving novel, Lullabies for Little Criminals (2006), won the 2007 competition, and she last year was victorious in championing Catherine Leroux's 2020 L'Avenir (in English as The Future, 2023 translation by Susan Ouriou). O'Neill's credentials roster is long, wondrous and vigorous, including cherished novels in 2014, 2017, 2022 and 2024 (the most recent The Capital of Dreams), as well as collections of poems (1999) and short stories (2015). Throw in the scripts for a difficult-to-find but lovely-to-behold feature film, Saint Jude (2000), and the eight-minute short End of Pinky (which can be found on YouTube), and you have here an artist bursting with talent and skill at the absolute and sustained top of her astounding game. Our micro-epic voyageur here is Valentine Bennet, a young, shy, lone-but-not-lonely and humble heroine who is utterly content with her modest work at a dépanneur at the Berri-UQAM métro stop. Valentine lives to dwell in her métro beneath and amidst the city, and is therefore deeply disturbed when her entrenched patterns are upset. She is quickly thrown much outside her world — or at least much further into it. Valentine, orphan (Dickens!) and amateur poet, learns that she has a doppelganger, Yelena, a ballerina, an artist of a different stripe. Valentine must quest out into the urban world, more Yelena's than her own, using her métro as her steed. She must acquaint with eccentric strangers, she must dodge the dodgy and she must figure out who she really is. All this in 30 quite steadfastly short, serial chapters. These instalments are all discrete and intended to be read, as O'Neill herself announces, in a single, Saturday-morning-with-coffee-and-eggs sitting. To be sure, there are recaps of whence we've been and dangles of whither we go, but it is all done without inelegant intrusion. En route, there are cases of mistaken identity, there in an unearthing of an aged common ancestor who herself used to galivant across Europe in full bohemian but somehow lucrative mode. And there is a forbidding Montreal underbelly, something literally called 'the Mafia,' but barking more than biting. And there is also a very dear romance in this little Romance. The dalliance cannot and does not fully fruit, but it is there, and it brings with it, too, the requisite wisdom and sadness. Valentine in Montreal just abounds in interlude. There are moments in each of the 30 little pieces to make you grin, to make you chortle aloud; all gracefully connect and carefully construct. Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. More, the book is accompanied by delightful, childlike illustrations — a least one, and often several, per chapter. The artist, Arizona O'Neill (the author's daughter), typically poaches a moment of the text, usually a figurative one, and runs with it in an absolutely frolicsome way. Because one has to pause over the images to realize what is going on, the artwork is able, most delicately, to enhance the text. Throughout, Heather O'Neill's habitual mastery loiters. She is marvelously writes in a manner that briskly moves all things well along while peppering in, again and aptly again, turns of phrase that catch your breath and even command an immediate re-reading. Oddly, it is not so much the subtle, lurking metaphors as the more direct, almost-preening similes that achieve this: O'Neill is writing about and revelling in writing as she writes. 'Think about how I am telling this story as I tell it,' she seems to whisper. It could not be more enchanting. Laurence Broadhurst teaches English and religion at St. Paul's High School in Winnipeg.
Winnipeg Free Press
10-07-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
What's up: Dalnavert, Postmodern Jukebox, Lana Winterhalt, Grant's Old Mill's 50th, food tour
Are you kicking yourself for missing another First Friday? Each month, the Dalnavert Museum opens its doors for free on the Second Saturday. Built in 1895, the Victorian era manor was painstakingly restored — it's always either lovingly or painstakingly, huh? — in the 1970s before becoming a national historic site in 1990. On every second Saturday, the museum and visitor centre runs free games and craft activities while also offering a chance to explore what's considered one of Western Canada's finest examples of Queen Anne Revival architecture. — Ben Waldman Postmodern Jukebox brings its Magic and Moonlight Tour to Winnipeg on Saturday. Led by American musician, pianist and arranger Scott Bradlee, Postmodern Jukebox is a musical collective that reimagines modern-day pop hits as 1920s jazz, swing, doo-wop and Motown classics. In the early 2010s, Bradlee began experimenting with these throwback covers on YouTube — but it was 2013's 1930s jazz-inspired cover of Macklemore's Thrift Shop that first went viral. Sold-out live performances all over North America and Europe followed and now, a decade on, Postmodern Jukebox is bringing its Magic and Moonlight Tour to Winnipeg. Any genre, any era, you name it, they've (probably) done it; covers of everyone from Chappell Roan to Radiohead to Green Day to Celine Dion have all appeared on recent PMJ setlists. As Bradlee recently told the Pacific Northwest Inlander, 'You're gonna hear basically 100 years of popular music styles in 100 minutes.' Concertgoers are also encouraged to dress in their best vintage threads (any era acceptable) to achieve the full effect. — Jen Zoratti Megan Wilson photo Indie-pop artist Lana Winterhalt Megan Wilson photo Indie-pop artist Lana Winterhalt The Handsome Daughter has never been content to just sit pretty. But the freshly renovated West Broadway bar – best known as one of Winnipeg's premiere punk, hardcore and metal venues – has been getting extra experimental lately. Among its growing variety of eclectic programming it's added is Garage Days, a free two-set acoustic concert every Sunday in July. If you're not at the folk fest this weekend, consider checking out folk flavoured indie-popper Lana Winterhalt. ('Like Feist, but more self-obsessed!' reads her website.) In their glowing review of Winterhalt's latest record, Recovering Theatre Kid, the magazine Exclaim! writes: 'Pairing heartfelt lyrics with tender and memorable melodies, Winterhalt deserves a standing ovation.' Handsome Daughter's intimate patio may not accommodate a full house, but the warmth and talent emanating from last Sunday's concert drew plenty of passersby from the neighbourhood. They provided a standing ovation of sorts, cheering the performers from the sidewalk and across the street. — Conrad Sweatman SASHA SEFTER / FREE PRESS Grant's Old Mill is on the Sturgeon Creek Greenway Trail. SASHA SEFTER / FREE PRESS Grant's Old Mill is on the Sturgeon Creek Greenway Trail. The replica of a water-powered grain mill, originally built and operated by Métis leader Cuthbert Grant in 1829, turns 50 years old this year — and on Saturday Grant's Old Mill will play host to all manner of activities to celebrate a half century of the historic site. Located on Sturgeon Creek just off of Portage Avenue (in front of Grace Hospital), Grant's Old Mill is located roughly in the same spot as the original mill, which operated between about 1829 and 1832. The site now offers demonstrations on how flour mills operated, as well as historical information about Grant and his fellow Métis. The Cuthbert Grant Day celebrations kick off at 9 a.m. with a pancake breakfast that runs until 11 — get your fill for just $5. Throughout the rest of the day there will be free entertainment, including a jigging contest, a market featuring Métis and Scottish artisans, live music from fiddlers and pipers (as well as Catie St. Germain), cultural demonstrations and more. With the exception of the pancake breakfast, all events are free — bring a blanket or lawn chair and enjoy the green space around Grant's Old Mill all day. — Ben Sigurdson Blu Fish is a Japanese sushi restaurant on Bannatyne Avenue. Blu Fish is a Japanese sushi restaurant on Bannatyne Avenue. Ready, steady, eat your way through menus of Blu Fish, Amsterdam Tea Room and Deer + Almond during the Savour the Exchange Food Tour, which takes place every Wednesday evening throughout the summer until August 27. Dig into to maki rolls, sashimi and tempura at the Japanese sushi restaurant on Bannatyne Avenue then head to the Exchange's famed cocktail spot Amsterdam Tea Room to sample some of their best offerings before meandering down to small plate maestros Deer + Almond on Princess St. Remember to wear comfortable clothes and shoes and most imporatantly, and don't forget to bring your appetite. Advance booking required. — AV Kitching
Toronto Sun
09-07-2025
- Toronto Sun
REVIEW: In ‘Superman,' the original superhero is back with a brisk new attitude
Published Jul 09, 2025 • 5 minute read David Corenswet as the title superhero in "Superman." Photo by Jessica Miglio / Warner Bros. Pictures/DC Comics Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. It's been almost 50 years since Christopher Reeve starred in 'Superman,' the 1978 movie that opened what is now an endless spigot of superhero movies. It didn't invent the tropes of messiah-like figures with supernatural powers or the building of elaborate on-screen worlds only to reduce them to apocalyptic rubble, but its contours have now been imitated, elaborated, iterated and just plain stolen so often that the original looks wan and generic by comparison. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account 'Superman' has been remade since then, with different actors in the role, and often with directors seeking to contemporize the hopelessly square Clark Kent and his upright alter ego by giving them a brooding, existential sense of solemnity. The impulse was understandable – hey, it worked for Batman! But the tone was all wrong for a protagonist who, since his inception in World War II-era comic books and then in an iconic 1950s television series, embodied American ideals at their most forthright, wholesome and optimistic. In 'Superman,' James Gunn's latest installment, David Corenswet comes closest to matching Reeve's inimitable – and still definitive – combination of innocence and casual brute strength. (Until now, Corenswet has been best known for TV roles in shows such as 'House of Cards' and 'We Own This City.') As the human and humane anchor of a movie that is often awash in frenetic action, jump-cutty narrative and pulverizing violence, he exudes his own brand of centred, self-confident calm: the Man of Steel as Man of Stillness. This 21st-century Superman is fighting all the evils of the era – technology, tribalism, fake news and his own messianic myth – but Corenswet keeps it all reassuringly old-school, making a convincing case that nice guys not only can finish first but can do so without bluster, bellicosity or constant bleating into the manosphere. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. To his credit, Gunn pushes a much-needed reset button on 'Superman,' banishing shadows and pretentious self-seriousness in favour of a bright palette, brisk storytelling and occasional jolts of bracing humor. He starts the movie in the middle of the hero's journey: Clark has already arrived in Metropolis, where he works as a reporter for the Daily Planet; he's dating a colleague, Lois Lane ('The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel's' Rachel Brosnahan), who knows all about his red-caped persona. As 'Superman' opens, Gunn dispenses with the backstory in a refreshingly efficient few lines of on-screen text that bring the audience up to the present moment, when the otherwise indefatigable Superman has suffered his first genuine beat-down, from a hulking armored monster called the Hammer of Boravia. (Although Supe's origin story is recapped throughout the movie, it helps to know the begats going in.) This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. From left, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy and David Corenswet as Clark Kent. Photo by Warner Bros. Pictures/DC Comics What ensues is a two-hour battle between good and evil, the latter personified by the dependably venal Lex Luthor, here played as a swaggering tech-bro by a startlingly bald Nicholas Hoult. Luthor rarely refers to Superman by name – he calls him 'the Kryptonian' or 'the alien,' at one point convincing the Pentagon that the guy sent from another planet to save the world was really sent to control it. Meanwhile, Luthor is masterminding a military operation overseas reminiscent of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Gunn doesn't overplay present-day political echoes, but he makes sure they're unmistakable: In one of his most clever asides, he reveals Luthor's fake-news farm to be a room full of monkeys, typing manically into keyboards and sending increasingly preposterous lies straight into the social media hive mind. ('Superman doesn't have time for selfies,' the stalwart Clark declares sanctimoniously in one of the film's most amusing scenes.) This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor. Photo by Warner Bros. Pictures/DC Comics Gunn's de-mopeification of 'Superman' is undeniably welcome, although the zigging, zagging and bouncing around begins to feel like being trapped in an Adderall-fueled pinball game: One moment, Lois and Clark are having a tartly amusing argument-slash-interview in her apartment, the next they're in Luthor's 'pocket universe' being guarded by Bermuda-shorts-and-aloha-shirt-wearing minions. Characters appear out of nowhere, only to be ignored until they come in handy later; fans who know about the Justice Gang will recognize the Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) and Mister Terrific (a scene-stealing Edi Gathegi), but others might need a crib sheet. Major plot points occur in a matter of minutes in 'Superman,' which blithely dispenses with the details in the time it takes for Superman's legions of fans to turn into haters; blink twice and they're back, asking for his help to repair crumbling buildings, mass panic and a world-splitting rift in the time-space continuum. Or, you know: another Tuesday in Metropolis. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The manic sound and fury of 'Superman' don't signify much, and the constant visual, verbal and sonic barrage feels like being pinned to the floor by Krypto, Superman's Milk Dud-eyed, cock-eared dog whom Gunn shamelessly enlists to recruit the audience at every conveniently adorable turn. (Alan Tudyk is just as cute as 4, Superman's C-3PO-esque robot helper.) But just when the movie threatens to pummel viewers into a hyperstimulated pulp, it locks into something genuinely enjoyable: The random mayhem and playfulness merge harmoniously enough to allow Corenswet's sincerity to take hold and for some fizzily satisfying chemistry to develop with Brosnahan, who infuses Lois with an appealing measure of skepticism, even when she's literally being swept off her feet. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Read More Still, it's impossible to ignore that, somehow, it all feels rote and regurgitated. And Gunn has only himself to blame: The quippy, sometimes snarky attitude he injected into 'The Suicide Squad' and 'Guardians of the Galaxy' at first invigorated the comic book form; now they feel played out. (The naughty bits he delights in sneaking into his movies also feel off-kilter for a character as wholesome as Superman: When he says the s-word, it's as if the world really might be crumbling.) By the end of 'Superman,' the title character has cheated death more than once, repairing body and soul by way of the yellow sun that gives him renewed life and vigor. He has battled a megalomaniac, a Kaiju-like monster, myriad bots and at least one semi-human buzz saw. And in a moment that earned appreciative guffaws at a recent screening, he has helpfully set up at least one more movie in the DC Comics not-so-pocket universe. In Corenswet, Brosnahan, Hoult and their co-stars, Gunn has clearly found a capable, congenial ensemble to usher Clark, Lois and Lex into a new era. The question is whether there are any new stories left under that yellow sun to tell. – – – Two and one-half stars. Rated PG-13. At theatres. Contains violence, action and profanity. 129 minutes. Rating guide: Four stars masterpiece, three stars very good, two stars OK, one star poor, no stars waste of time. Uncategorized Sunshine Girls Toronto Blue Jays Canada Crime
