Toon Talk: The Dance at the Gym

A time-honored rite of passage for every high schooler, the annual event known as “prom night” has also frequently figured prominently in the cinematic genre known as the “high school movie.” From the celebratory (High School Musical 3: Senior Year) to the disastrous (Carrie), proms make ideal backdrops for such typical high school movie tropes as first loves, youthful heartbreak and plenty of teenaged angst. All that and more is on display in the new Disney high school nonmusical titled Prom, now available on Disney Blu-ray and DVD.

Despite initial appearances, Prom is a touch more realistic (and a whole lot less obnoxious) than your average Disney Channel movie. That is, if you can overlook the fact that, a la Grease, half the cast looks well past their high school years. And, hewing closely to its Disney pedigree, such real world teen hijinks as smoking, drinking, cursing and “getting to third base” are nowhere in sight. Which, let’s face it, is hardly true to life but hardly unexpected in a wholesome family friendly enterprise such as what we have here. Furthermore, one is not likely to expect Prom to remake the high school movie wheel, and it is more then safe to say that it doesn’t...

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of Prom at LaughingPlace.com.

Patio Party at the Farmers' Market

You know it's local when the Saskatoon Farmers' Market hosts a party. It's this Sunday 5-8 pm. The number of patio days left this summer are numbered, so take advantage of this opportunity!

Monthly Wallpaper - September 2011: Documentaries

With "back to school" time, September is the month for learning. And in film terms, that means Documentaries, our subject for this month's Movie Dearest Calendar Wallpaper.

On display are some of the all-time best nonfiction films, including the Academy Award winners Bowling for Columbine, Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, An Inconvenient Truth, The Living Desert, March of the Penguins, The Times of Harvey Milk and Woodstock.  Also on view are such gay faves as Grey Gardens, Madonna: Truth or Dare and Paris is Burning.

Just click on the picture above to enlarge it to its 1024 x 768 size, then right click your mouse and select "Set as Background", and you're all set. If you want, you can also save it to your computer and set it up from there, or modify the size in your own photo-editing program if needed.