Five cent fine on wastrels the first step in a social change marathon

Wannabe environmentalists such as I, who are tempted to celebrate Loblaw’s announcement this week that it will charge shoppers five cents per plastic bag, may have to put the bubbly back in the fridge.

I know that corporations in general are worse polluters than consumers, but there’s a difference between landfill litter and other weapons in the polluter’s armoury. The City of Toronto told me on Wednesday that shopping bags akin to Loblaws’ make up only a proportion of one type of litter collected from the streets of Toronto, which in turn accounts for only 27 per cent of annual Toronto litter.

I shouldn’t disparage the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee though. With 44,000 cubic metres of landfill-bound rubbish yearly, it has – literally – a mountain to climb, albeit an underground one. Unfortunately the real culprits, all 3,000,000+ of them, are much closer to home. Actually, they’re in the home – mine and everyone else’s in the GTA. The majority of that 27 per cent is from a grubby smorgasbord of retail and non-retail items that, when put together, spell fast food packaging. What annoys me even more is that a significant proportion of them are plastic bottles and jars that could have been recycled, if the previous owner had managed to carry them that marathon distance to the nearest garbage bin, and mustered the staggering concentration required to pick the correct hole of the three. As I discovered, once whatever-it-is hits the street, then the city has to regard it as “contaminated,” and it goes the way of the bubblegum and everything else.

Thus I don’t make myself very popular giving people the ‘hairy eyeball’ when they grumble that there’s no school close enough to them for their first-born, that the ambulance should have arrived one minute sooner, or that there’s a massive power outage on the West side of Toronto. I just quietly wonder how many schools, hospitals, or power stations could be bought with the $20,000,000 that the city wastes every year clearing up after Torontonians.

RocknRolla will never die

Movie review of "RocknRolla".
Published on facebook.com, 10th November 2008.

Definitely a pleasant surprise, particularly when the choice to see this over 'whatserface gets married' (sic) was decided by a coin toss.

Like The Matrix and The Game, RocknRolla was one of those movies I knew nothing about before seeing it (thanks Terri). Snatch seemed a little like 'more of the same' when I saw it, and I won't mention the effort with Madonna in-between, but this movie feels as if Guy Ritchie went for the safe bet and then directed the s**t out of it.

The cast is a nice mixture of known actors, for example a much more charismatic character for Butler than his stiff (pun intended) mythological king in "300". Also Newton's character has a bit more zip about her than the doe-eyed and dappy Tom-Cruise-beard in Mission Impossible 2.

Of course, Wilkinson's gangland boss is also a far cry from the tormented and redundant pressganged stripper in "The Full Monty", although a pair of Ray-Bans, colourful language and a teaspoon of cockney rhyming slang isn't quite enough to make his character go down in the most delightful way as Mary Poppins would say.

I guess there's a lesson for straight men here in that Butler's charm, ultimate desire to get Newton into bed, and knack for luring her into underestimating his grit - if nothing else - demonstrates how Ritchie can make an armed robber seem like Casanova. This, chaps, could be what women mean when they say they can't help but like bad men.

It's really the newbies that shine though. We have a convincingly closeted gay, but that just has the women cooing all the more. There are various ensemble actors and henchmen, and Quid as both the elusive plot lynchpin and deus ex machina-cum-narrator nailing his various scenes. However, it would seem that Ritchie teases the most considered performances from his cast and this, along with the Beluga of irony and seminal East/West-end London sets, glues everything together nicely. All in all it's a gangster flick without the gore, sufficient swearing and pyrotechnics to keep things ticking over nicely, and while - yes - it does seem to sag a little in the middle, Ritchie manages to escalate each of the passing minutes enough to hold the attention.

In the end I think it's more than just brain candy and, dare I say it, not just a 'guy' movie, so I hope there will be a follow-up as the final scene alludes. Can Ritchie stay consistent though?

Jacqueline Parker, consultant, DDB Public Relations

Jacqueline Parker, Consultant, DDB Public Relations (worked indirectly for Glyn at DDB Public Relations):

“I worked with Glyn for a year at DDB Public Relations. During that time, while I did not report to Glyn, I often went to Glyn for advice on direction and to have him proof read materials I had written for clients. Glyn was not only a great mentor, his knowledge of the industry was immensely helpful to me in my own position. Glyn was always very strategic and had a firm grasp of his clients need and how to manage them.” 26th August 26 2008.

Richelle Gillett, senior consultant, DDB Public Relations

Richelle Gillett, Senior Consultant, DDB PR: worked indirectly for Glyn at DDB Public Relations:

“Glyn is organized, conscientious and enthusiastic, a pleasure to work with. A good leader and team-mate. He's a sharp ideas-man, has lots of initiative and is motivated to get the job done & done well.” 21st June 2008

"Balls" is right, all else is just plain wrong

Movie review of "Balls of Fury".
Published on facebook.com, 20th June 2008.

I'm not going to spend much time reviewing this - it's not worth it. Spoof of one of the Bruce Lee movies (Game of Death?) where table tennis replaces Kung Fu. Even Christopher Walken couldn't save it, and I didn't laugh much despite being wasted when I watched it. Avoid.

Heather Boissoin, director of Sales & Marketing, Org Matters Solutions Inc.

Heather hired you as a Agency in 2006 (DDB Public Relations)

Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, Creative

“Glyn was wonderful to work with as a Manager at DDB in Public Relations. He had some very good "out of the box" ideas and came up with a very creative approach to our business problem. He completed a business proposal on time and within the budget discussed during the briefing. I would work with Glyn again and found him to be extremely detailed and task oriented with a better than average personality.” 17th June 2008.