local seeker - west end - may 27

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TAKE ONE - IT’S FREE!The We s t E n d Community paper

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When debt is crushing,

call Westmount’s 4

Pillars

So, you’re seriously in debt, huh? Join the club. Idon’t know many people who get by paying for

things within their financial means, resistingthe urge or the need to dip into theirsavings or using credit cards to pay forthings – absolutely required or not –during these trying days. It’s seriouslytough out there. And that’s when youpick up the phone and give financialconsultant Chris Southey a call.

Last fall, while going through aparticularly rough patch, withcreditors calling me constantlyand having just started a smallnewspaper, I heard a radio

commercial for 4 PillarsConsulting Group, a Canada-wide chain with 40 branchesthat helps get you out offinancial woes pertaining tostrained credit. Havingnothing to lose by calling, I lefta message. Within a very shorttime, a call came in and apleasant British voiceresounded at the other end of

the line. I was on my way tofinancial relief.

Cont. p4

THE LOCAL SEEKER, MAY 27 (pg. 2) FREE CLASSIFIED ADS: 514-975-5545 www.westend.thelocalseeker.com

things vampirric ever since. In this issue of the paper, I have written anhomage to the classic 1931 films – both the American and Spanishversions – as a tribute during its 80th anniversary year. But in the currentissue of SCREEM magazine, an excellent Pennsylvania-published twice-annual publication that I write for now and again, I have a feature onWestmount-raised Dacre Stoker, great-grand-nephew of Bram, who in2009 saw his co-authored novel Dracula: The Undead published to greatinternational acclaim. Dacre, who grew up playing hide and seek in themansions of his friends the Molsons and Bronfmans, penned the first talerevisiting characters created by his ancestor in over a century and that’sreally exciting stuff. He also talked to me about how the book has donein the 2-3 years hence, Bram’s visits to Montreal as he toured as managerof Europe’s legendary thespian, Henry Irving, and just how weird fanscan be when blood is involved. All in all, a good read if you’re into thatsort of thing. SCREEM is available on news-stands and this issue justhappens to be dedicated to the vampire genre.

Time and time again, Tremblay proves he’s not a suitable mayor

This issue’s Last Call with Sol column reminds us, once again (geez, HOWmany times do we need to get hit on the head before we “get” it?) whyMayor Gerald Tremblay is as desirable as dung to preside over Montrealas its mayor. This time, as Sol points out, the Bixi scandal provides ampleevidence that the longer Tremblay is in office, the more he fiddles as weburn economically, the more our infrastructure will crumble into dust…and us along with it. I love Sol because he isn’t afraid to ever tell it like itis. He really cares about what happens to us, unlike certain politicianswho are in it solely for the power and the glory.Tremblay could give a course in that – maybe he can teach one with

Professor Mike Ignatieff. As for WHO to install as mayor, rather than thePQ-trained separatist who is a nightmarish substitute at best, all we needis someone with a brain and a beating/honest heart. Anyone?

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The Local Seeker, West End Montreal Edition

Volume 2, Number 11, May 27 2011

Founded by Julia Lucio and Mai-Liis Renaud 2010

Published by Local Seeker Media Group, Cornwall, Ontario

The Local Seeker does not accept responsibility for errors, misprints or inaccuracies

published within. The opinions and statements of our columnists are not to be presumed as

the statements and opinions of The Local Seeker.

It’s R2K + 1 hour, or Saturday, May 21, 2011 at 7p.m. for those who aren’t insane. The nutscalled it The Rapture and if they were correct,I’d be dead now, rather than writing you. Somegeniuses decided that “the end is nigh” and

predicted that all life would cease for we Earthlings this evening, as Iwrite this column. I was SO worried about it that I totally forgot… untilan email showed up in my in box as a sobering reminder of thefragility of life.

At exactly 6 p.m., the moment when life as we know it was predictedto come to a shuddering halt, I was actually talking to my friendPasquale Massa outside his outstanding shop, QualtiFruits in CoteSaint-Luc. Massa and I often engage in banter about the banalitiesand curiosities of life and I suppose that if life would have ended thatmoment, being embroiled in some discussion about the ridiculousnotion of The Rapture would have been the way to go. As it stands, Ibid Pasquale a fond farewell, promised I’d see him when the nextissue of The Local Seeker comes out and headed home… to watch aNational Geographic documentary dealing with new findingsregarding the nasty Cretacious-Paleogene (commonly known as theK-T event) asteroid that killed the dinosaurs 65.5 million years ago.

Now, let me tell you, if humankind is going to be wiped out some day– in an extinction-level manner (meaning nothing left), THAT is thelikely way it is going to occur: Sudden, unexpected death from thesky. NASA recently estimated that there are more than 2,000 giganticobjects zooming through our solar system, without snow tires, posinga potential E-level threat to Earth. As we are crushed by a 1,000 foot-high tsunami or broiled in seconds by temperatures approximatingthose on the surface of the sun, there won’t be any time to ponderwhat is happening. Just crack us open like lobsters: We are done.

Rapture, my foot. I am a very open-minded sort who believes in, andwrites about, Bigfoot, UFOs, crop circles… pretty much anyunexplained phenomena is fodder for my imagination. I see these aspart of nature, explained by not-always-understood universal laws,rather than by dogmatic religion. I do believe there is a creativeenergy out there – call it God or what have you – but to believe thatthis energy is fixated on our meager little lives is, to me, a crazynotion. Just as there was no Rapturous event today, there will be no2012 extinction, either. The ancient Mayans carved their history intofive distinct periods and stopped after that. Why? No one knows. ButI can tell you, for certain in my mind, that they were not soothsayersor prophets and God has nothing to do with our eventual eliminationas a species. It’s just the way things go in a random universe.

Y2K; The Rapture; 2012; The hundreds of self-proclaimed messianicfigures who have turned up throughout history and then vanished,relegated to it like so much refuse: All bunk. Yes, I believe in so manythings, but glorified and predictable doom and gloom is not one ofthem.

Stoker revisited

In the late 1800s, Irishman Bram Stoker wrote the seminal vampirenovel, Dracula, which has had such a tremendous influence on all

Managing Editor: Bram Eisenthal Creative Design: Julia Lucio

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I was enraptured last weekend…by an excellent smoked salmon supper

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As economic scandal, Bixi should bemayor’s swan songI would like to take a few minutes to say somethingfavourable about Mayor Gerald Tremblay. I wouldlike to but, unfortunately, I can’t think of anything.Time-after-time, he becomes a magician. He makesmoney disappear when it’s for a worthy cause and,lo and behold, it reappears when he gets his heartset on something that will catapult us back to thetwentieth century. Voila, Ladies and gentlemen -The Streetcar!

In a city where we can’t be trusted to turn right on a red light, he wantsto put streetcar tracks in the middle of the road, hoping these samedrivers don’t run over the disembarking passengers. But that’s not hisbiggest flaw. When the City of Montreal was asked to fund a food bankso that people would not have to go to bed hungry, His Honourclaimed we had no money (“Let them eat cake” seems apropos heresomeplace). When it was asked to fund an animal shelter, the city hadno money. When we must navigate the city, carefully avoidingpotholes in virtually every single sector and must duck concrete fallingfrom overpasses… pas d’argent!

But Bixi bikes? We become bigger and better than banks, loaning outmore than one hundred million dollars at 2% interest per annum torescue a failing business that the majority of the population neitherneeds nor wants. We destroy businesses in the downtown core, as weremove parking spaces and expect shoppers to travel by bike.

The privately owned corporation that operates Bixi bikes was four daysaway from learning the results of a study that had been conductedover the past year on the viability of the company when the Directorsdiscovered that they were on the verge of bankruptcy. They wereabout to fire nine of their employees and then the Board was going toresign en masse. But the news leaked and the brilliant Mayorimmediately told the Board to rehire the nine employees, promising abailout of $31 million. Would it not have made more sense to await theAuditor General’s report and perhaps to examine the books to seewhere money was going and what type of salaries were being paid tothe employees? Maybe the cause of the losses incurred by theoperators dictated that nine or more employees should be let go andwas linked to the fact that, just maybe, some of the fat cats at the topwere being overpaid?

Suffice it to say that the Mayor is incompetent and should be replacedsooner rather than later as more and more controversy is going tosurface in the weeks to come. The only problem is there is nobodysuitable on the radar screen… certainly not the separatist leader of theopposition.

It’s closing time.

ED NOTE: What a tremendous column about one of the worst mayors inour history… and that’s saying a lot, because we have had a string ofterrible municipal leaders. Thanks for saying it like it is about this fecklessand useless political thug, Sol. What a major disappointment he hasturned out to be to us all. Time for more than one head to roll at City Hall.

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When debt is crushing you, there is onlyone call to make: Westmount’s 4 Pillars(continued from cover)

So, you’re seriously in debt, huh? Join the club. I don’t know manypeople who get by paying for things within their financial means,resisting the urge or the need to dip into their savings or using creditcards to pay for things – absolutely required or not – during thesetrying days. It’s seriously tough out there. And that’s when you pick upthe phone and give financial consultant Chris Southey a call.

Last fall, while going through a particularly rough patch, withcreditors calling me constantly and having just started a smallnewspaper, I heard a radio commercial for 4 Pillars Consulting Group,a Canada-wide chain with 40 branches that helps get you out offinancial woes pertaining to strained credit. Having nothing to lose bycalling, I left a message. Within a very short time, a call came in and apleasant British voice resounded at the other end of the line. I was onmy way to financial relief.

Southey and I exchanged pertinent details and within the week, I hadarranged a meeting with him at his Westmount office. Since then, Ihave worked with him at restructuring my debt to the point where asubstantial part of it is gone… without the need to go a route I reallywanted to avoid, declaring personal bankruptcy. But during our talks,I learned a lot about both Southey’s business and how and why weget into the trouble we do.

Raised in England, schooled on Brighton’s south coast and auniversity grad in London, where he obtained his business degree in1972, Southey emigrated to Canada in 1975, working in theaccounting department of a large international conglomerate inToronto. In 1978, he was transferred to Atlanta to help a division of thecompany that was in financial trouble and was brought back toToronto seven years later to head the wallpaper division. Thecompany grew to be number one in its field during his 15 years thereand was eventually sold in 1998.

From then until he openedthe Quebec branch of 4Pillars in 2007, Southeyworked in Ste. Marie deBeauce, helping restructure amajor window and doorcompany that hadconsiderable debt problems.You see the pattern by now, Isuppose. Southey is a sort ofanti-debt superhero and he isquite good at it, a claim I canpersonally vouch for.

But why has debt becomesuch a problem today? “I haveprobably heard all thereasons,” Southey told me. “Itis true that the last 20 yearshave seen an incredibleincrease in levels of debt –both government andpersonal – and perhaps debthas become an accepted wayof life. The last three yearshave seen an increasedability of obtaining creditand, even though the levelsof insolvencies haveincreased, this has not had amajor impact on theprofitability of certainlyCanadian financialinstitutions.”

At 4 Pillars, Southey findsrealistic solutions within eachscenario. “The Company is afranchise organisation thatspecialises in assisting

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individuals and small companies that have debt problems. The movefrom working with corporations with debt problems to those ofindividuals was fairly simple for me from a technical viewpoint, but evenmore satisfying in that I see the results directly with people and theirfamilies.”

The fact he is part of a company with so many franchises enables him toutilize a large resource pool if necessary. “I can talk to my colleagues inthe event that I find a problem I cannot solve or when I simply needreassurance. Our solutions are individually tailored dependent upon eachperson’s own situation.

“The biggest problem with individuals facing debt problems is that theytend to be embarrassed about their situation, refusing to address it untilthe last moment… when they reach the maximum limits of their creditcards, etc. Certainly if someone is paying one credit card with another, itis a sure sign that something is going to happen shortly.

Other signs to watch for are:

1. Only being able to make minimum payments on credit cards2. Only being able to make interest payments on lines of credit3. Not able to save money on a regular basis4. Cashing in on savings / RRSPs to cover monthly living expenses.

Southey doesn’t see things getting much better in the near future and, infact, predicts that other realities will create even more debt for people.“With respect to the future, interest rates on mortgages are at the lowestlevel seen in many, many years and this will not continue. This means thatmortgage payments will eventually start eating into disposable income,although we have not seen a decrease in the rates charged on creditcards.”

As for why he loves what he does, Southey says that “certainly solvingpeople’s debt problems and seeing them continue living without havingto lose their homes, etc., is personally very fulfilling.”

You can reach Chris Southey at 4 Pillars Consulting Group, 4141 SherbrookeW., Suite 650, Westmount, Quebec H3Z 1B8. Tel: 514-312-7707. Or email him

Get SEEN, not LOST!

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that you will get prime placement, every time. Our advertisers always come first!

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The Good Wife:The best show on television today

The second season of CBS’s TheGood Wife, created by Robertand Michelle King, just endedrecently and it was even betterthan the first. The CBS series isthat rare network drama that iscast in shades of grey and allowsall its myriad and fascinatingcharacters to show their flaws

and display their dark sides.

The focus of the series is Alicia Florrick (E.R.’sJulianna Margulies), who, when the series began,was sandbagged by the news of the infidelities ofher husband, Cook Country State’s Attorney PeterFlorrick (Sex and the City's Chris Noth, who playsthe character Big). She decided to stand by him, asa ‘good’ wife, and was forced - because ofeconomic circumstances - to go back to work as alitigator, a profession she briefly held thirteenyears earlier before leaving to get married. There,she had to win over sceptical younger coworkers,including private investigator Kalinda Sharma(Archie Panjabi), and tried to impress DianeLockhart (Christine Baranski), one of the firm’sheads. In addition, she had to come to terms withher romantic feelings towards Will Gardner (JoshCharles), whom she knew from law school andwho had invited her to join his firm.

That’s a lot of plot for an hour-long show andthat’s not even mentioning the complex anddramatic cases argued in court each week. Thechief virtue of the series is that it refuses tosimplify the adult and emotional situations thecharacters find themselves in. Kalinda, forexample, would have seemed to be an obviousfoil for the older Alicia; you would expect theyounger woman to resent her for returning to thework force and becoming, in effect, her superior,but it didn’t play out that way. And the potentialromance between Alicia and Will was neverteased out the way it often is on TV but gradually moved towards a believable consummation, as revealed in the last episode of thisseason.

Referencing real life events, from the economic fallout in America to the Egyptian revolution, the superbly acted, written and directedseries compels even as it illuminates. We often speak about the sexual frankness, honesty and unpredictability of fine cable series such asThe Sopranos and Six Feet Under. But operating within network restrictions on language and nudity, The Good Wife is fully their equal.

At the moment, there’s no better show on the air.

A graduate of Ryerson University’s School of Journalism, former West End Montrealer Shlomo Schwartzberg is a veteran film critic, has regularly reviewedfilms for various publications and lectures on film and TV studies. He was the director of programming for the Toronto Jewish Film Festival for seven years.

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Investigativej o u r n a l i smp r o v i d e scapt ivat ingreads

Most times I pick up a newspaper or turn onthe news I am inevitably disappointed bywhat passes for investigative journalismthese days. Long gone are the days ofWoodward and Bernstein digging over tonsof scrap papers or Mike Wallace reallysticking it to someone who cheated a widowout of her life savings. Most “journalists”today just lazily look things up on Googleand pass it off as their own work or are tooafraid to dig deep and ask tough questionsfearing either lawsuits or that they will bedenied access to important people.

Now I enjoyed reading Give Me a Break byJohn Stossel and Stupid White Men byMichael Moore, but I would not call eithereffort a well-crafted, serious piece ofinvestigative journalism. The booksthemselves are structured to be moreentertaining than informative. If you arelooking for excellent, hard-hitting, seriousjournalism, I have two books for you.

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser was notonly informative, provocative, andsometimes a little shocking, but it is alsofinely written and structured. In it Schlosserpeers into where our food comes from andpulls no punches in his approach. The book’sonly flaw is in the last chapter whereSchlosser gets a little preachy and startsoffering his advice on how the food industryshould change. Hey Eric, we are not idiots!And stop being Michael Moore! Give us thefacts and let us come to our ownconclusions.

Rebecca Skloot’s inspired The Immortal Life ofHenrietta Lacks completely blew me away. Itis the story of an African-American womanwho had her cancer cells taken from herwithout being asked, and how those cells(called HeLa) were used to create the poliovaccine, map the human genome, and in thedevelopment of a multitude of othermedicines and therapies.

In her book she not only explains the science involved, but also thelegal and philosophical ramifications of taking someone’s bodytissues and using them for scientific experiments without theconsent of the patient. But unlike Schlosser, she doesn’t get on asoap box, instead opting to leave it up to us, (thank you for the trustand respect, Rebecca).

But Skloot goes even further by introducing us to Henrietta’sdescendants who, ironically, cannot afford health insurance and areunable to benefit from the innumerable medical breakthroughs theHeLa cells helped bring forth. In doing so she not only gives us thestory of the science, scientists, and the moral debate, but also theunforgettable saga of an American family.

Read on!

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how much you need of everything

(ARA) - Acting as your own planner can help save money on yourwedding reception. From ordering wedding napkins and favors todeciding how much cake and drinks to have on hand, you can keep ahandle on costs by self-managing as many reception-related tasks aspossible.

But how do you know how much to buy? Buy too little of any importantitem and you could run out, leaving guests hungry, thirsty anddisappointed. Buy too much and you'll waste money and be faced withthe challenge of getting rid of leftovers.

The reception experts at My Wedding Reception Ideas.com, a leadingonline resource for brides seeking unique wedding favors, weddingdecorations and wedding supplies, offer these tips for calculating howmuch you'll need of key reception items:

Beverages

With all the dancing andcelebrating they'll be doing, yourguests are sure to work up athirst. It's important to calculatethe right amount of beverages tobuy so you don't run out. A goodrule of thumb is to plan for onedrink per person, per hour. Youmay need more or lessdepending upon the make-up ofyour crowd. Lots of kids? You'llprobably need less alcohol and more soft drinks. Plenty of adults wholove a good party? You may need to adjust the amount of alcoholaccordingly. Here are some averages to give you a starting point:

* Beer - Three to four beers per person.* Champagne - Two glasses per person (mostly for the toasts).* Wine - Three quarters of a bottle per person. One bottle of wine orchampagne yields about six to seven glasses.

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* Soft drinks -Three to fourservings perperson. A 2-literbottle holdsseven to ninedrink servings.

It's always goodto err on the sideof caution andorder more thanyou think youwill need - abouta third more isstandard. Check with your distributor before you order; some willallow you to return unopened bottles.

Food

If you'll serve cocktails and hors d'oeuvres before the reception,limit this time to an hour or 90 minutes - you don't want guestsfilling up before the main event. Estimate three hors d'oeuvres perperson, per hour - roughly five per person for the entire time. If yourreception will be a cocktail/hors d'oeuvres event without a sit-downdinner, increase your calculations to 12 pieces per guest. If you'reserving a sit-down dinner, one plate per person per course shouldbe your starting point. You may choose to ask the kitchen/caterer tohave some extras on hand in case anyone requests seconds or somelast-minute guests arrive.

For the wedding cake, simply tell your baker how many guests willattend and they can recommend the size cake you'll need. It's goodto estimate more servings than invited guests as some may wantseconds or bring last-minute additions to the party. If you'll servedesserts other than cake, estimate one to two servings per guest.

Napkins

Personalized or plain, linen or three-ply, wedding napkins are awedding reception must-have item. It's

hard to imagine going overboardand having too many napkins, but itcould happen - and if it does youmay find yourself using thosenapkins at your first anniversarycelebration. To ensure your napkinbuying is on target with your needs,follow these guidelines:

* Two to three cocktail napkins perguest for the bar area.* One cocktail-sized napkin perguest for the cake table.* One and a half dinner or luncheonnapkins per guest at the meal tableif you won't be using linen napkins.For example, if you'll have 100guests, plan for 150 dinner napkins.

Finally, favors

This one may seem obvious - onefavor per guest. In reality, however,you need to allow for breakage(What if someone drops a box offavors on the way into the receptionhall and several shatter?) and guestswho may ask to take an extra favorhome for a relative or friend whowasn't able to attend. Increasingyour favor purchase by just 10percent won't cost that much more,but could allow you to send guestshome with an extra favor or two.

Montreal “Wedding of the Century” had media connection

One of the more memorable weddings to

take place in quite some time (sorry, Kate

and William) featured a media connection,

when The Suburban’s Avi Sochaczevski and

wife Arlene hosted the “wedding of the

century” last weekend at their Laurentian

estate. Son Arieh Sochaczevski took Elissa,

daughter of Erna and Dr. Ilan Benjamin, to be

his lawfully wedded wife before over 250

guests in a ceremony that took place in a

massive tent beside the Sochaczevki’s palatial

home, on the lip of their private golf course.

Rabbi Reuben J. Poupko, spiritual leader of

Cote Saint-Luc’s Beth Israel Beth Aaron

Congregation, performed the nuptials with

Cantor Moshe Shur, musical entertainment

was provided by the outstanding The

Directors – the band that performs at the

title character’s wedding in the feature film

Barney’s Version, fronted by crooners Tony

Picciuto and Randy Katz, and delectable

cuisine was superbly created by West Ender

Elan Corcia and his team. In celebration of

the Jewish festival of Lag B’Omer, guests took

advantage of a break in the rain to party

outside briefly in front of a massive bonfire.The newlyweds share a quiet moment in front of a special bonfire for

the Jewish holiday of Lab B'Omer Photo: Bram Eisenthal

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Still rolling with the ball?

A running toilet is possibly one of the most annoying, and simple to fix, problems found in households today.Once upon a time, people had a floating ball in their toilet, anchored to a fill valve, which would rise with the waterlevel in the tank after flushing and shut off the valve upon reaching a certain height. Ballcocks and fill valves haveevolved tremendously over the years. They are now replaced with more efficient, one piece fill valves which playsthe role of both fill valve and ballcock.

For those people still operating with a giant ball in their tank, a running toilet is a problem they are constantlyfixing. Whether its bending the arm to adjust it, or moving it off another mechanism upon which is has becomebeen lodged.

The fastest way to determine the problem is to take the tank lid off and observe the flushing cycle (no worries, the water in the tank comesstraight from the cold water pipes and is as clean as what comes out of your taps). The tank lid is fragile so you may want to put it in a toweland set it aside.

If water is constantly running in the tank, but the water level isn’t rising, the problem is a worn-out flapper. The flapper snaps in and out of placeand, as such, is easily replaced.

If the water rises but never shuts off and keeps spilling into the overflow cylinder, the ballcock or fill valve is not properly adjusted. You mustbend the arm suspending the ball downwards to lower the cut off point on the fill valve. If you already have a one piece fill valve, adjusting itshould be done by a professional or by someone who has installed a fill valve before.

If the tank takes an unusual amount of time to fill then the problem is a waterlogged fill valve and the mechanism must be replaced.

Of course, if you see a ball in the tank, my recommendation is you replace it for a one piece fill valve. The best product on the market is theKorky® QuietFill®Fill Valve & Flapper.

All pieces mentioned in this article can be found at any home improvement or plumbing store and are easily installed with the right basic toolsand reading of instructions.

So with these basic tips, fixing your leaky toilet should be a task that you can complete yourself… and, if not, you can always call your trustedLocal Seeker home renovations and maintenance specialist!

Shayne Lonn is the Local Seeker’s trusted home renovations and maintenance specialist. He can be reached anytime at his company, Lonn Renovations& Contracting Services, at 514-886-5940 or e-mailed at [email protected]


"The best

Portuguese

chicken around."

Sol Boxenbaum

Last Call with Sol

Celebrate life’s breath with thissimple exerciseWe hear a lot these days about the importance of“being present.” But what does that mean, and howcan we cultivate presence in our lives?

Being present means having our attention in themoment. It means to be aware, to observe, from a place of innerstillness.

One way to cultivate presence is through breath awareness. For manyof us, breathing happens so unconsciously that we pay virtually noattention to its depth or breadth. Yoga gives us tools to practicebringing the breath back into the body.

Breath Awareness Exercise

1. Sit in an upright position, either on a chair with your feet on theground or cross-legged on the floor.

2. Close your eyes and breathe normally. Notice your breath. Do youbreathe through your mouth? Is your breath shallow or deep? Is theinhale longer than the exhale (or vice versa)? Just observe, no criticism.

3. Place both hands on your lower abdomen.

4. Breathing in through your nostrils, breathe into your hands. Let yourbelly expand gently outward like a balloon. Do not force the breath.

5. Exhale through your nostrils, letting your belly recede back towardthe spine, away from your hands. Again, do not force the exhalation.Belly muscles should stay relaxed.

6. Repeat for a few cycles. Remember to breathe in and out through thenostrils.

7. Now, remove one hand from the lower abdomen and place it on thechest.

8. Inhale into the belly, and as the breath fills this area, allow it tonaturally rise up like a wave into the chest cavity, where your otherhand is resting.

9. Exhale, letting the breath travel down from the chest to the bellyonce again, where the belly gently recedes back, exiting all of thebreath.

10. Repeat, beginning and ending each breath at the belly, graduallyextending and expanding your inhalations and exhalations. Feel thesensation of the breath traveling upward into the chest and expandingthe ribcage in three dimensions, like a barrel expanding itscircumference. Feel the sensation of the barrel contracting in size asyou exhale the breath back down where it exits from the belly.

11. Remember not to force your breath: Let it expand naturally. See ifthe inhalations and exhalations can be even in rhythm.

12. Release your hands. Resume normal breathing.

Ask yourself:

What does it feel like to breathe deeply? What is it like to be present in my own body, to take my awarenessinward?

Chantalle Kudsi is a yoga & meditation teacher in the West-End. She can bereached at [email protected]

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Our Parent Franchise, the Local Seeker in Cornwall,

Ontario, is holding its Fundraiser for Breast Cancer and

Local Seeker one year Anniversary awards on June 29th at

the Cornwall Golf and Country Club. Tickets are $55.

Entertainement provided by Seaway DJ and Montreal

Speaker/entertainer Wendy Farha. Call 613-935-8101 for

details or to buy tickets. It’s the event of the summer!


So this is mys e v e n t hLetter fromLa La Land.Not surethere isa n y t h i n gtruly special

about that, but as many of usknow the number seven (7) itself iscertainly loaded with import, thisacross religious lines. In Judaismwe find the seven-day conceptquite often. Think of the sevendays of mourning and the sevenday rejoicing period following awedding... and, lest we forget themost obvious: Creation… theweek. The number 7 signifiescompletion or perfection (Genesis7:2-4; Revelation 1:20). It is oftencalled “God’s number,” but moreoften then not we call it a “luckynumber.” So let me say it loud andclear - I am hoping that thisseventh letter is my lucky one!

It seems to have coincided withsome good news. I signed acontract to start a job! Yup, I got a

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gig. One of the seven things I havebeen working on has finallymoved into second gear. I ambeing paid to write a script, which,if it is good, will lead to medirecting the movie...if my luckholds.

Luck is so important in this town.You can work hard and follow allthe rules, but not without at leasta little luck, I tell ya.

You can’t get excited aboutanything, even good news,because in a flash it can all betaken away from you. Five yearsago on a Monday, I was offered a40 million dollar movie by NEWLINE PICTURES. You read correctly- 40 mill! The offer arrived inwriting, it was real. All the hardwork had paid off, I was gettingmy big break and there weretears of joy. Tuesday they calledback and said a whole pile ofwonderful things about me, mywork, all the ego stroking thatany artist needs and loves. Thenthey added the free fall off theEmpire State Building line: But

we have to rescind the offer. In a flash it was gone. Tears of joybecame...well, you know. The reason had nothing to do with me and,quite frankly, all these years later not all that important.

What is important is as I write this: I feel a new beginning taking hold.And I see the number 7 wherever I look. It is as if the week is startingwith a fresh plate. The next seven days will be special and important, thenext seven months may actually see me start a film and the next sevenyears dreams – no, goals - may come to pass.

THE LIST--The titles of the seven projects that I have been working on. Iname them here in my seventh letter for luck!

1. Down Under2. The Human Fly3. Red Devil Lie4. A Boy and His Dog5. The Unburied6. Deadfellas7. Sex Drugs & Rock ‘n’ Roll

ED. NOTE: Steve, to know you is to love you and after seven columns we areall getting to know you better all the time. Best of luck from The Local Seeker.Keep us in mind if you need a small community newspaper in a starring role!

May this seventh letter be the luckiest one of all


Which stands the test of time, the American or Spanish version?As a film fan and a horror buff to boot – and not in a twisted way at all… I am not necessarily a fan of gore, unless it is used to enhance a storyor is “tastefully” done, if that is possible – it would be remiss to let 2011go by without commemorating one of the first talkie films in history,the 1931 version of Dracula. Starring Hungarian expat Bela Lugosi asthe seminal Count, the film featured so many firsts, as well as inspireddirection by Todd Browning, chilling makeup by Universal Studiosmakeup department head Jack Pierce (who would become forever-renowned soon after for his work creating the Frankenstein Monstermakeup for Boris Karloff ), DP Karl Freund’s moody cinematographyand terrific sets by Charles D. Hall.

Yet, don’t “count” me as part of the group of cinephiles whichconsiders Dracula one of the finest horror films in history. The truth is,I never liked it much. Lugosi certainly has style, but I find the moviequite hammy, despite the fact that some of Lugosi’s lines (“I am CountDracula” and “I don’t drink… wine” have become legendary in theannals of film. And if you want to rent some memorable latter-dayremakes, try to find the 1973 made-for-TV version starring JackPalance as a very sympathetic Dracula, the exquisite 1979 versionfeaturing a suave, sexy Frank Langella (yes, the very same actor whoperformed so wonderfully as the late, much-maligned Americanpresident in Frost-Nixon) and the subsequent 1992 version, mypersonal favourite, starring Gary Oldman as Dracula and AnthonyHopkins as Van Helsing.

While working with him in 1997 on the Isle of Man, shooting the filmTreasure Island, the since-deceased Palance, an Oscar-winner for hisdeadpan-funny work in the Billy Crystal vehicle City Slickers, confidedto me one day over Cuban cigars that Dracula was likely his mostbeloved role. He was earnest and quite passionate about it, too.

Yet if you want to be really impressed by 1931’s Dracula, look nofarther than the Spanish version of the film, which is included in the1999 Universal Studios Classic Monster Collection DVD package thatfeatures a restored version accompanied by a new score from PhilipGlass, one of the better New Age composers in the business, and hisKronos Quartet. I had totally forgotten about the Spanish versionwhen I sat down to revisit the original Dracula recently. For anyonewho has not yet seen it (and that is most of you, I estimate), thisremarkable film is a stand-alone gem for many, many reasons, not theleast of which is its 30-minute extra length. First of all, it was shotalongside the American version on the exact same sets throughoutthe night, after Browning and his cast had their way with the material during the daytime. Second, director George Melford (who had helmedthe silent classic The Sheik, starring Rudolph Valentino, a decade earlier) and cinematographer George Robinson skate circles around Browningand Freund, as they shoot the film using much bolder imagery and actors that are more seductively attired. The editing is also much more fluidand the effects more technically impressive. In many ways, it appears to be a different film, even though it utilizes the same basic script.

And the fully-Hispanic cast (remarkably, Melford was a unilingual Anglophone -“yes, there ARE such things!” - who required a translator tocommunicate with his cast) included Carlos Villarias (deceased in 1976) and Lupita Tovar (still living) who, in my opinion, more than hold theirown when compared to the American leads. Villarias is a very suave Dracula, though not known as superior to the stage-trained Lugosi, whooriginally played the role on Broadway in the late 1920s. The one knock against Villarias’s performance is his excessive use of corny reaction shotsthat border on the ridiculous, although that is as much the fault of direction as it is acting.

Regarding the key character of Renfield, while Dwight Frye’s work in the American version has drawn rave reviews over the decades, PabloAlvarez Rubio’s characterization in the Spanish version was much more disturbing and seemingly natural. Frye died way back in 1943, while Rubiocontinued to act until his death 40 years later.

Even today, the film is a joy to watch, while I find the American version stilted and corny. I can certainly believe that some audience membersfainted while watching it in American movie houses, because that bygone-era was naïve and, really, what could anyone compare Dracula to backthen? Talkies, by their very nature new and exciting compared to previous silent movies, had little in the way of peers at the time, with theexception of Al Jolson’s The Jazz Singer, the first theatrical talkie. And, really, what’s more exciting and sensationalist for audiences, a film abouta man’s guilt over embarking on a career as a showman instead of a rabbi OR the story of an undead bloodsucker creating havoc in London? Still,a movie’s worth has everything to do with how well it holds up over time and I think the Spanish Dracula is still marvelous to behold, even if wehave become somewhat jaded in this big-budget, special-effects laden era.

May “Soy Count Dracula” resound with equal magnificence as Lugosi’s Hungarian-tinged English catch-phrase for time immemorial. As a majorplayer in the creation of a Spanish-language classic that arguably outshines its American cousin, the oft-forgotten Villarias deserves the respectof any film fan.

It’s almost time to celebrate genre films, including some of the best international horror you can view on the large screen, as FantAsia will soon shroudMontreal once more. This year’s 15th incarnation will take place from July 14 – August 7, 2011. Go to www.fantasiafestival.com for updates andpreviews. More to come on FantAsia in the pages of The Local Seeker.

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I hope you haveenjoyed this

issue.

We are working on

our next issue of

2011, and it will be

out June 10th

Deadline for

next issue:

Friday

June 3 12:00 noon

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