Film’s Most Famed Flotation Devices
Top Ten: PFDs
Baywatch may have made the red lifeguard torpedo float a familiar sight to TV watchers, but it's not the only object that bobs up to the top of the pop culture imagination when it comes to PFDs
By The Ex-Press
(June 7, 2017) Baywatch’s red torpedo may be the most famous, but as summer approaches and boating season begins in earnest, The Ex-Press felt it was time to celebrate the personal flotation device and its other star turns, from Titanic’s grand finale to Benjamin Braddock’s extended backyard float. The formal history of what we now call the “PFD” dates back to 1854, when a British naval inspector by the name of Ward created a cork vest to be worn by lifeboat crews. Yet, there are images of Assyrian sailors using inflated animal skins as early as 860, as well as the creation of a formal anti-drowning society that dates back to 1767. Humans and water have a love-hate relationship: We're drawn to the water's edge, but according to the scant ...
Land of Mine: A War Movie Like No Other
Movie Review: Land of Mine
Denmark's best foreign film contender didn't win an Oscar, but this truth-based drama about young Germans forced to clear beaches blows up war movie cliche by focusing on consequence instead of action
A Brief Encounter: Captain Underpants
Movie Review: Captain Underpants
Who cares about London or France when you've got a superhero rocking underpants? Dav Pilkey's potty-obsessed character makes a memorable debut with as much fart as he has heart
Waiting for Gadot
Movie Review: Wonder Woman
The long-awaited big screen debut of DC Comics' fair-sex superhero proves inspirational as it forces the viewer to see the world of man from an empowered female perspective
Voulez-Vous Poulet Avec Moi? Marmalade Meets Chicken
Recipe: Marmalade Chicken
A mixture of marmalade and grainy mustard slathered on a thigh or drumstick makes for lovely, burnished chicken pieces, glazed, juicy and succulent, with just the right mix of tangy sweetness. Yum.
By Louise Crosby
(June 7, 2017) At the rate things are going, there may not be many warm, dry days of summer this year, which means we have to make the most of every moment. And in the food department, that means eating well without spending hours in the kitchen. As the beloved English food writer Nigel Slater puts it, “sometimes we cook purely for the pleasure of it, understanding the provenance of our ingredients, choosing them with great care, thoughtfully taking them on the journey from shop to plate.” Other times, he says, “we just want to eat.” Well, here’s the perfect recipe for those times when we just want to eat, and fast. This marmalade chicken, from Mr. Slater’s 2013 cookbook Eat: The Little Book of Fast Food, will have you fed and ...
Baywatch reveals power of floating red torpedo
Movie Review: Baywatch
The American Dream always looks better on the beach in a bathing suit, so get ready to soak up some eye candy as Dwayne Johnson resuscitates a small screen classic
Are you ready to rumble Rhubarb Crumble?
Recipe: Rhubarb, Oat and Pecan Crumble
Destined to give your lips a pucker, those first shoots of rhubarb are a sign that spring has sprung, and it's time to cook up some soul-soothing oat, pecan crumble
By Louise Crosby
(May 19, 2017) Yes, it has stopped raining and, yes, the tulips are out, but how do we know that spring has truly arrived? Rhubarb is here, of course, and it’s time to make crumble. Legend has it that, as a child, I would eat rhubarb straight out of the ground, not minding its tart taste. Kids do crazy things. These days I like it gently cooked and sweetened, in upside-down cakes, pies, crisps, cobblers and crumbles. I especially like these comforting, homey desserts warmed and topped with plain yogurt or a scoop of good vanilla ice cream. This crumble, from Rustic Fruit Desserts by Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson, is a classic, and so quick and easy to put together. The contrast between the soft, stewed fruit and the crunchy oat-and-pecan topping ...
Loving the Alien
Movie Review - Alien: Covenant
Ridley Scott gestates another fiendish fetus in the continuing Alien saga, yet for all the blood, gore and acid burns, Covenant leaves a gaping hole
Helena Guttridge, Mayor Gregor and Auntie Irene
People: Irene Howard, History Is Her Story
Mayor's tribute to Vancouver's first female councillor strikes a personal note for Rod Mickleburgh, who in turn honours a chronicler he calls 'Auntie Irene'
By Rod Mickleburgh
(May 17, 2017) - At the age of 70, my beloved Auntie Irene, under her scholastic name of Irene Howard, published her definitive biography of Helena Gutteridge, Vancouver’s first woman “alderman”. Ten years later, when she was 80, she completed her remarkable book Gold Dust On His Shirt, a moving saga of her family’s working class life in the gold mines of British Columbia, feathered with impeccable research of the times. At 90 she published a very fine poem, which is reproduced below. And one morning last month, at the age of 94 and a half, Auntie Irene sat in the front row of chairs arrayed in a room off the main lobby at city hall, looking as elegant and vivacious as anyone who pre-dated Vancouver’s Art Deco municipal masterpiece by 14 years ...
