It’s entirely possible that an early work by the next Atom Egoyan or David Cronenberg will screen on Wednesday night at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. With the 2013 Student Film Showcase featuring the best from post-secondary schools around the country and the Jump Cuts Young Filmmakers Showcase kicking off the evening with Toronto-area high-school students’ films, the night will be a coming-out party for a new crop of talent. Judging by the polished creativity of some of the entries, it’s safe to say that young people are more prepared than ever to start telling stories on film from an early age.

According to CBC’s Chris Boyce, the goal of this weekend’s CBCMusic.ca Festival is twofold. First and foremost, the CBC wants to celebrate Canadian music. Second, it wants to celebrate CBC Music, the broadcaster’s online music service, which launched a little over a year ago.

In 1996, Theatre Columbus premiered playwright Michael O’Brien’s “freely adapted” take on the famous Beaumarchais play The Barber of Seville, which was written in 1775. O’Brien’s version mixed in music from the 1816 opera of the same name by Gioachino Rossini, as well as original tunes by composer John Millard. The adaptation also propelled the story forward a couple centuries, with pop culture references galore. With Theatre Columbus co-founder Leah Cherniak at the helm, the musical ended the season with six Dora Award nominations (it won three) and plenty of critical acclaim.

Seventeen years later, Soulpepper Theatre is remounting this zany reimagination of The Barber of Seville, updated once again by O’Brien, Millard, and Cherniak. But, for some reason—the change in decade, or company, or sense of humour—whatever had made the original so magical, has faded, save for a few key performances.

How long did it take to write?
Well, I was working on designs and photographs while writing it so the process of making the book wasn’t exactly a linear one. However, the entire process including designing and editing was a speedy seven months.
Can you offer any advice for people trying to build a garden on a balcony?
Understand right from the start that rooftops, fire-escapes and balconies are very special environments that have their own needs ֠the information on most plant tags don’t account for this stuff. For instance, balconies are often more exposed to wind and sun than your average backyard. In addition they can be built using heat-absorbing materials such as cement, brick, and tarpaper. Even a shady spot can be too hot and will wilt plants that can’t take the heat. Get to know your conditions and adjust yourself accordingly – some of these so-called negatives can be positives if you understand them. Don’t be discouraged!
Get to know your limitations. Plants look cute and manageable in the spring but can grow into a high-maintenance nightmare by mid-July, especially on a super-sun exposed rooftop. New balcony and container gardeners have a tendency to get crazy, growing too many plants without realizing how much watering they’re going to be doing when the summer heat intensifies. Start out with a few plants in your first year and expand your collection in the second season once you’ve got some experience.
Use containers that are appropriately sized for the plant. New balcony gardeners often make the mistake of trying to grow large vining tomatoes in tiny pots.
What are you planning for your garden this spring?
I’m suffering from the cobbler’s children syndrome this year– I haven’t made any solid plans. I’m looking forward to figuring out a new layout for the deck container garden. My planter boxes were a bit sad last year so I’m thinking of getting something big to add height. I expanded the street garden last year so I need to work more on improving the soil there as well as figuring out a better layout. I just kind of plopped some tolerant plants in there last year and left it at that.
What is your company Fluffco about?
We’re a creative services company. We work for clients to pay the bills but we also create and maintain some of our own projects. In that sense Fluffco is the umbrella company for all the various projects we produce.
How did you get involved in the PUBLICity?
I have contributed a few images to Spacing Magazine and was invited by Matt Blackett (the organizer) to be in the show.
How long have you had your Making Happy photoblog? Do you have a theme your try to keep to?
I started the site in January 2003. I had a weblog on the Fluffco site but felt it needed its own home. I wanted to produce something that didn’t have my name on it to see what happened. Of course lots of people know about it now so that’s not really a factor anymore. When I started the site the idea was to make an online sketchbook but photography took over and that was that. There is no theme.
What’s your favourite part of Toronto to photograph?
That’s constantly changing. I tend to just carry my camera with me wherever I go and take photos as I see them. I spend most of my time in the west end so that tends to be the scene for many images. However we have been making some trips to the east end specifically to take photos – mainly because it’s new terrain. I can tell you that my most hated part of the city to photograph is the downtown core (the business and tourist districts). I rarely, if ever see anything there that catches my eye.