It was like CBC Celebrity Day or something. At least, that was how it felt as a crowd of us stood in line in the big hallway at the CBC Head Office building last week, waiting to be admitted to a live taping of The Hour.
We already knew we’d see George Stromboulopoulos, the show’s host. It was a bonus when he appeared in the hall as well, but what we didn’t expect was Natalie Brown, star of the comedy program, Sophie, to stroll by. Nor, soon after, an appearance by three stars from the other recent hit, Little Mosque on the Prairie. Sitara Hewitt (Rayyan Hamoudi), Carlo Rota (Yasir Hamoudi), and Zaib Shaikh (Amaar Rashid) happened along, and chatted with several people near the front of the line, giving out autographs and engaging in several impromptu photo shoots.
I remarked to someone in front of me, “This feels like Hollywood.”
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I still can’t say with certainty, “I liked the Death Note anime,” yet when I heard that the film based on the manga and animated series would be shown in Canada on September 15, I couldn’t wait to see it. And I fretted over whether the filmmakers had done a good job of translating it to live action.
Death Note is about a young man who finds a notebook from the Shinigami, Japanese death gods. It can be used to kill someone by writing their name while following certain rules. At first, Light Yagami kills only criminals whom the law hasn’t satisfactorily punished, but soon he kills as many justice officials as criminals, when the police go after Light himself. They know him only as “Kira,” a serial killer, while he proclaims himself “the god of this world.”
Heading the search for Kira is another young adult, known as “L.” What makes the story so fascinating, despite its macabre subject matter, is the back-and-forth intellectual game between these two brilliant young men. What riveted me for each anime episode was the intense chess game of move and counter-move played by the two main characters.
So I fretted: how could a live action film possibly capture the intellectual plotting of these two? For most Death Note fans, this battle of intellects is the main story. Then there was the question of whether all the characters could be captured properly by live actors. There was a lot to be anxious about.
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I had an interesting dining experience yesterday, at a place called Rawlicious. You might not expect much of a restaurant if the fare is only raw food, but I’d heard good things about Rawlicious, and to my great pleasure, they turned out to be true.
Yes, this enterprise comes laden with philosophy, but you can dine happily without considering it much. If you ask questions, the staff will answer, or you can peruse magazines with articles on nutrition and the national food supply. And on the restaurant’s “Food for Thought Friday,” patrons can participate in a communal table in the “Zen Den,” watching films on the politics of food, and discussing them afterward. According to the Rawlicious website, they will soon be offering “Wellness Services” too.
So the philosophy is there if you want it, but my friend and I came for the food. We wanted to discover what sort of restaurant-style meals could be created when all ingredients were raw. And Rawlicious provided a satisfying variety of selections.
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