“Sin La Habana”: The Hunted is Also the Hunter

Leonardo (Jonah Acosta Gonzalez) and his girlfriend Sarah (Evelyn Castrado O’Farrill) want to escape Cuba to a better land of milk and honey. Leonardo has a great opportunity to leave Cuba on a ballet tour of the National Ballet of Cuba but as he is not cast in the lead role of Romeo he has an angry spat with the director and he is expelled from the Ballet.

Well there is a rather common technique in Cuba amongst those with few morals and that is to marry a foreigner tourist, go to the land of milk and honey, “get your papers” and bring over your loved ones after dumping the tourist.

Leonardo focuses in on a mid thirty-year-old woman from Montreal, Nasim (Aki Yaghoubi) who is a victim of an abusive husband. Nasim is just so sweet and innocent you feel a sadness seeing how she is to be manipulated. Leonardo as noted by the director of his former ballet company, is the best dancer but lacks respect and humility. Sarah is ambitious as a lawyer she understands she can make a lot of money in the land of milk and honey.

Well matters progress to a light romance between Nasim and Leonardo in Havana and Nasim returns to Montreal then Leonardo 4 months later all expenses paid. Sarah understands there may be sex involved but pleads with Leonardo when you do have sex don’t look her in the eyes and save that for me. Nasim and Leonardo have sex in Montreal and she asks him why don’t you look at me in the eyes?

Nasim is warned by friends that Leonardo may have lovers in Cuba. I think she suspects his motives which may be somewhat irrelevant as beneath that sweet exterior lies a hunter after prey.

Leonardo is rejected in two dance auditions and lands a job at a meat processing plan as an illegal making $5 an hour. A work buddy suggests pay a Canadian to marry Sarah and bring her back which he does paying $5,000 for the deed.

Leonardo frequently dreams of Havana and he dearly misses it. Nasim’s father is furious at her bringing a black man into his house and threatens never to talk to Nasim again.

Sarah pops up in Montreal and the sex between her and Leonardo certainly wasn’t what it used to be and she can’t look him in the eyes whereas lately he has been looking into Nasim’s eyes during lovemaking. After Leonardo and Sarah’s less than successful lovemaking he looks through her phone and there she is in a picture hugging a man she met at a law conference in Havana after Leonardo had left for Montreal. This man had suggested she go to Toronto to practice law as it would be easier to be licensed to practice in Ontario than Quebec. Nasim had also looked at Leonardo’s laptop and saw love notes from Sarah. So all three assemble at a coffee shop and all three seem equally unhappy.

Sarah then hops on a bus to Toronto while Leonardo has a promising audition with a Montreal ballet company. He returns to Nasim’s house. He stares at it. Should he go in?

A story about treachery, deception and the loneliness attendant with immigration. Is Leonardo going to be the big loser? He is a manipulator who gets what he deserves and is Nasim, seemingly so sweet, really a shark?

Well as you try and figure out these questions involving these flawed human beings enjoy the tremendous soundtrack filled with both modern and traditional Cuban music and a couple of melancholic and well positioned Persian songs. Gonzales is really an accomplished ballet dancer and a current principal at Bayern Staatsballett in Munich.

“Sin La Habana” premiered at the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma in Montreal where it won the the Prix de la Distribution. The film will have its International Premiere at the 2021 Miami Film Festival.

The film is directed by award-winning Iranian-Canadian director and musician Kaveh Nabatian. English subtitles. 95 minutes in length.

You can catch the trailer here https://vimeo.com/512545304

You can see virtually

MIAMI FILM FESTIVAL 2021   Silverspot Cinema Screening Sunday, Mar. 7 @ 2:30pm ET   Virtual Screening Information Monday, Mar. 8 @ 12:00pm ET  For tickets, click here

Canadian Provinces looking for more health dollars from federal government to defray COVID costs

NEWS RELEASE

Ontario Renews Calls for Ottawa to Provide Fair Share of Health Care Funding

Additional Funding Could Help Province Increase Access to Critical Health Care Services

March 4, 2021

Office of the Premier

Table of Contents

  1. Content
  2. Quick Facts
  3. Additional Resources
  4. Related Topics

TORONTO ― During a virtual news conference today Premier Doug Ford and his fellow Premiers renewed calls for the federal government to increase its share of funding for provincial and territorial health care to 35 per cent.

“Rebuilding our health system after a once-in-a-century pandemic requires an all-hands-on-deck approach,” said Premier Ford. “With wait times for backlogged surgeries growing and our long-term care homes in desperate need of more support, it’s never been more important that the federal government work with the provinces. All of the Premiers urge the Prime Minister to become a true funding partner and increase the federal government’s share of total health care spending to 35% through the Canada Health Transfer, and to maintain this level over time with a minimum annual escalator of at least 5 per cent.”

If the federal government were to increase its share of the Canada Health Transfer to 35 per cent that would provide Ontario with more than $10 billion in additional health care funding. This funding could be used to:

  • Increase access to home and community care so seniors can stay in their homes longer.
  • Build more long-term care beds, faster, and continue to improve the quality of care the most vulnerable receive in long-term care homes
  • Address the large backlog of surgeries and procedures that has accumulated during the pandemic, and which will cost approximately $283.7 million this year and is anticipated to cost up to $300 million next year
  • Improve wait times and increase access to services and procedures at hospitals, including diagnostic scans, and many types of surgeries with long wait lists

Ontario has taken decisive action to end hallway health care, hire more staff, reduce waitlists and ensure more people get access to health services. The government invested $594 million in 2020-21 to address longstanding capacity issues and wait times in hospitals, including adding up to 64,000 additional  MRI and 45,000 additional CT operating hours and funding additional surgeries including cardiac, cancer and cataract procedures.

To protect the most vulnerable seniors, Ontario has made improvements and investments in long-term care, including investing over $6 billion in 2020-21 alone. To help more seniors remain in the comfort of their own homes and communities, Ontario is providing 32.6 million hours of personal support services, about 9.2 million nursing and therapy visits and 2.5 million nursing shifts.

“I stand ready to work with the Prime Minister to ensure all Canadians get the health care they need,” said Premier Ford. “We’re doing our part in Ontario and it is time for the federal government to come to the table with a significantly larger share of funding so Canadians can get the care they need and deserve.”

Quick Facts

  • Health care accounted for nearly 42 per cent of Ontario’s program spending in 2019-20 – it is the biggest category of expenditure in the Ontario budget.
  • It is estimated that it will take approximately 2.5-3.5 years for hospitals operating at between 110 to 120 percent above normal surgical operations to catch up on elective surgeries. The largest wait lists are for orthopedic and eye surgeries.
  • Under the original Medical Care Act passed in 1966, the federal government covered 50 per cent of eligible hospital and physician expenses. Today, the federal share has fallen to 22 per cent of total provincial-territorial health spending.
  • Without action, the federal share of health care funding will decline to less than 18 per cent by 2040. The current health care funding gap of $28 billion nationally is expected to grow until it reaches $80 billion a year by 2039-40, and over $30 billion for Ontario.
  • Between 2017-18 and 2020-21, the cost to deliver Ontario’s top five health priorities (Hospitals, OHIP, Drug Programs, Long-Term Care, and Home and Community Care) grew by $13.2 billion.

Mutantism on the March”:Chapter 12;” Squid ends up in the Green Mountain State”

Chapter 12;” Squid ends up in the Green Mountain State”

Squid roamed the earth and the oceans in search of something or anything. He hitched up with a school of dudongs in the Indian Ocean but their perverse sexual activities disgusted him and he parted company. Everywhere he travelled it seemed to be the same full of savage brutes with menacing weapons. It was becoming increasingly important to Squid that he required some intelligent human contact. Every time he tried to intervene with the local human culture it met with disaster leading to frustration and hostility. It was time to recognize their culture was backward leaning and interfering with it brought little success. It was best to leave them alone.

So where could Squid settle down? Anywhere it suited him. He did swim along in a beautiful lake engulfed by a rugged but beautiful land. Spotting a group of humanoids he crawled out of the lake. Their initial curiosity turned to terror at this gigantic squid. Squid remember how converting into a humanoid calmed down the Cro-Magnons so he transformed into a humanoid but this increased the terror and a good many prostrated themselves and begged for mercy. This caused Squid to laugh in a hearty fashion which had the effect of relaxing the natives.

He was taken to a council meeting of the elders. Upon hearing the story of a huge creature crawling out of the water then transforming into a humanoid the chief proclaimed him a god. Only a true god could live in both water and on land. The old water god was quickly jettisoned and Squid became that new god.

Squid quickly picked up their language and spoke with them and they revered him as the first god they had seen. Squid had felt it was tempting to advise them the gods of the tribe were rubbish and the only true gods were the Greek Gods but he remembered his promise of not interfering with local culture. With this in mind Squid concluded it was better to leave them with beliefs in their gods and not to fraternize with them. If he was to live amongst them he could throw a wrench into the finely tuned mechanics of their cultural system so he isolated himself becoming more god-like and restricting his appearances to public feasts, thunderstorms and funerals.

So he departed the encampment and dug himself a very fine cave making a comfortable and secluded home. Food was no problem as the natives regularly brought food offerings He spent a good deal of time discovering the area. He did love the lake and he spent hours swimming in it sometimes disappearing into the hinterland meeting exciting people and often living with them for weeks. Many natives had seen a huge sea monster cruising on top of the lake and years later this monster was referred to as the ‘ghost of Lake Champlain” . In Scotland he was referred to as the Loch Ness Monster.

Uruguayan Tannat!

Yes there are over 270 wineries and counting in Uruguay. Vines were first brought to the country by Basque immigrants. The signature grape of the country is the tannic Tannat. More Tannat is grown in Uruguay than anywhere in the world.

God bless the so very adventuresome Liquor Control Board of Ontario for taking a huge risk in bringing in this Juan Carrau Tannat. Please do not be frightened!

In colour black cherry. On the nose cherry predominates but there is also some chocolate covered cranberry, earth and pomegranate. On the palate big tannins but certainly not huge. There are cherries, cherry liqueur and a thin coating of chocolate. What strikes me is both the delicious simplicity but a sense of pureness. It demands an asado platter of grilled meats but as we are not in Uruguay you can try your hand at an asados which might include beef, lamb, chicken and sausage. Or keeping it a bit simpler an Argentinian dish which would be a grilled side of flank with chimichurri sauce with a red onion salad.

I was expecting a much rougher and tannic wine that would need a few years to soften but this wine is immediately accessible which may be why the LCBO selected it. Goodness, no need to frighten off customers! Why it is so easy going you can sip it without food. Although I was expecting a tiger I encountered a pussycat. With a Tannat from France I just might say give it a few years in the bottle to soften. With this Tannat it is ready to drink and keep it hanging around for a few years if you like but I do not think it will improve with age.

As BBQ season approaches with vaccines making it possible to invite people over you may want to stock up on this wine and impress the gang with your “unique” find. Yes you are now a wine savant!

Now the bottle says produced and bottled for Juan Carrau so in effect they may simply have bought from a third party and put their name on the bottle? The Juan Carrau name has been a wine producer in Catalonia in Spain for ten generations.

(Juan Carrau Tannat 2019, Las Violetas, Canelones, Montevideo, Uruguay, $18.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 638791, 750 mL, 13%, Robert K. Stephen A little birdie told me so Rating 90/100).

Poetry Corner: “To the Liquor Control Board of Ontario”

To the Liquor Control Board of Ontario

Happy joyful people in your Vintages catalogue releases
but your need for safe profits has me falling to pieces

California you love
the lure of high turnover chokes you with its glove
an easy sale

Where is wine from British Columbia, Quebec and Nova Scotia?
the quality is there but look for them on your shelves and only tokenism (at best) is found
as for consumers you have ghettoized them with your lack of creativity

Take the safe path with your tried-and-true wines
over years and years you have shown no innovation
to the consumers of this great Canadian nation

Is it the insatiable greed of a monopoly?
the lack of courage and guts of its top management team?
the buyers not knowing the difference between the wines of Slovenia or Romania?
are British Columbia wine producers
from some leper colony?

Quebec too risky perhaps with its hybrids and Nova Scotia too?
at the end of the day your behaviour shows to wine consumers huge disrespect
Afraid of direct shipments to consumers might deprive Ontario of its tax?

The bottom line is the amount of jobs and revenue created in Canada if you scale down your
pumping out of European and Californian wines
and focused on increasing Canadian wares on the shelf
I am not buying the argument you make that your private order system gives consumers a truly global choice
We really know what’s going on here

Robert K. Stephen

Counterbalance Collective’s “Pineapple”

Perhaps the raciest of Counterbalance Collective’s efforts at short films. Ed (Scott Murray) and Jane (Leanne Noelle Smith) return home from a party with cupcakes celebrating some event. Innocent and sweet.

It’s all rather normal for a young couple. Enjoyed the party and now time for sleep.

Well Ed and Jane appear initially as happy Millennials but all is not what it appears to be. Isn’t that reality?

Ed and Jane (such innocent and common names) have a bit of a fetish going on! Jane is a domanatrix and gets her whip out but fumbling Ed forgets his usual lines but on they go to sex as the pineapple in the living room gets rumbled around during the sexual escapade. Yes so things are not as they might appear to be as the doors of a domestic environment close to the world. Is this perversion or a different degree of normality?

Whatever it is it works for Ed and Jane. Does it work with you?

Counterbalance Collective challenges societal norms with what might be an outdated version of normalcy.

As our Canadian former past Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau said the state should not be interested in what goes on the bedrooms of the nation. Counterbalance Collective seems to disagree with this? You can see the short here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqeoQ_Hqy0U&feature=emb_logo

Just Like Me Meditation Practice

Is there someone in your life or for that matter in the world that is giving you some grief. It could be an employee at work, a friend that has turned annoying, an obnoxious relative or even a political figure. The Just like Me meditation practice attempts to bridge the hostility gap. If someone is annoying or bothering you have negativity affecting you. Assuming this person has not done you terrible harm or done something unforgiveable the Just Like Me Meditation practice just might enable you to better tolerate this person or perhaps even forgive them.

A sample text of the meditation would be as follows;

Begin by being aware that there is a person in front of you, either in your mind or actually sitting across from you. A fellow human being just like you. Silently repeat the following phrases while looking at your partner.

This person has a body and a mind, just like me. 

This person has feelings, thoughts, and emotions, just like me. 

This person has during his or her life experienced physical and emotional pain and suffering, just like me. 

This person has at some point been sad, just like me.

This person has been disappointed in life, just like me. 

This person has sometimes been angry, just like me.

This person has been hurt by others, just like me. 

This person has felt unworthy or inadequate at times, just like me. 

This person worries, just like me. 

This person is frightened sometimes, just like me. 

This person will die, just like me.

This person has longed for friendship, just like me. 

This person is learning about life, just like me. 

This person wants to be caring and kind to others, just like me. 

This person wants to be content with what life has given, just like me 

This person wishes to be free from pain and suffering, just like me. 

This person wishes to be happy, just like me. 

This person wishes to be safe, strong, and healthy, just like me.

This person wishes to be loved, just like me. 

Now, allow some wishes for well-being to arise.

I wish that you have the strength, resources, and social support to navigate the difficulties in your life with ease.

I wish that you have the strength, resources, and social support to navigate the difficulties in your life with ease. 

I wish that you’ll be free from pain and suffering. 

I wish that you’ll be peaceful and happy. 

I wish that you’ll be loved because you are a fellow human being, just like me. 

Whether your partner is right there with you, or you have brought your partner into your mind, thank that person for doing this practice with you. Give thanks in whatever way feels appropriate. 

Thank you for doing this practice.

How to Grow Rich in Spite of the Pandemic: Part 1: Savings Up and Expenses Cut

I like to see what our neighbours in Quebec are thinking about the pandemic. In the March edition of the Quebec magazine L’acualité there is an article entitled “Comment Vieillir Riche Malgré La Pandémie” which we can translate into English as “How to Grow Rich in Spite of the Pandemic”.

One part of the article can be translated as “When the Pandemic Hit in March 2020”. What did it say? It was about a pianist Jérôme Beaulieu who returned from France after playing in some jazz concerts. He quickly lost 75% of his revenue due to cancelled engagements. He and a singer joined forces to offer handyman/renovation services but he did have some experience as he learnt from his builder father. Like 2 million other Quebecers he took CERB benefits.

By the end of April 2020 one man out of five and one women out of 4 were unemployed in Quebec. The HEC Institute in Quebec noted that 29.5% of Quebec households had a change in the status of employment. Yet weekly wages in the first five months of 2020 were 7.2% greater than in the same period in 2019. 55% of households experienced a decline in household income. So not everyone was on the losing end.

The article gave an example of a man Felix Cadotte that was working in technology and ecology in Sorel Quebec whose job was changed into full time from being part time. He eliminated wardrobe costs, restaurants and sold one of his two cars so he had a full-time job with less expenses which enabled him to accelerate his savings for a new home and a baby on the way! Quebecers were forced into a life of involuntary simplicity and rediscovered the virtues of staying at home and saving. As Natalie Bachand the president of a non profit group promoting savings in Quebec said,” The pandemic has made us realize the superfluous amount of money spent on trips, vacations and restaurants. And when all this disappears we see our real needs.”

According to a June 2020 survey conducted by SOM 85% of Quebecers reduced their consumption and 59% eliminated or cut an important expense. 50% of Quebecers reviewed their budget and financial priorities two thirds of those as a matter of prudence and not  as an obligation. One half of those surveyed wished to be better prepared for the next crisis.

Pierre Leblanc president of a trustee in bankruptcy company Groupe Leblanc noted many had reduced their monthly expenses by $400-$800.

The savings rate of Canadians was 27.5% in the second quarter of 2020 whereas it was 2% in the fourth quarter of 2019 according to Statistics Canada.

Louis-Bernard Dubé a financial planner with iA Group in Terrebonne noted that many people panicked with the fall of the stock markets between the 23rd of February and the 20th of March in 2020 but in six months the markets rebounded to where they were prior to the slump. Dubé noted, “Those that kept a level head and did not sell ended up in the same situation. Those who sold for the most part ended up losing.”

Mutantism on the March: Chapter 11 “All Goes Well in the Dinosaur World Until Their Extinction”

Chapter 11 “All Goes Well in the Dinosaur World Until Their Extinction”

Adjustments to the above world particularly when Squid transformed himself from a squid like creature to a humanoid figure was quite agreeable. He concentrated all his efforts into upping the dancing skills of the dinosaurs. There were some initial difficulties encountered by Squid in instructing the rather clumsy beasts but with his patience and after studying their muscular system he developed a different method of instruction that worked wonders. Audiences loved the new moves and heaped praise upon Squid skyrocketing his reputation so that he was seen at the finest cafes sipping palm brandy with the elite of the dinosaur community. His Know and Chew dance and the Fossil and Footprint dance were huge audience hits. Squid even started writing plays which were received as clever and witty.

Everything was going Squid’s way and the only direction to go was upwards but happiness is but a fleeting situation. A series of drastic events rocked the dinosaur world. A rapid population explosion depleted the food supply. Then a mysterious virus polished off the remaining dinosaur community leaving Squid alone with huge stacks of Lawless Milk records and no pupils or audiences. After weeks of listening to these horrible recordings Squid felt for his own mental health it was time to leave. So one day he transformed himself back into squid like form and swam off.

He did find humanoids and this gave him great hope but to his disappointment they were surly and uncultured quite unlike his dinosaur and underwater friends. They wore animal skins, were dirty and smelt worse than dinosaur shit. They even had the nerve to chase him and threaten him with spears grunting savage mumbo jumbo. Their idea of fun seemed to be hunting and drawing strange drawings in the caves they lived in. When they were not fighting amongst themselves they revelled in roasting large animals that they had killed. Then after big feasts they would dance some bizarre dance by the fire. What clumsy creatures they were.

On a rare occasion some tribes would shyly offer him victuals and even their women! But most often they would chase him with spears. This uncivility was disgraceful to Squid so when he had enough of these buffoons he would transform himself into a squid terrifying them and they ran screaming in terror back to their caves.

Squid eventually found a willing group of savages and attempted to teach them dancing but they couldn’t understand the most basic foot movements and ended up in tangled heaps on the ground. Quite frankly they were more interested in drawing symbols on cave walls than they were in dancing. Well at least they had some interest in art as crude as it was. Hopelessness with his crowd was inevitable. His experiences slowly transformed him from an optimist into a pessimist. If this is what these earth people were like now what on earth would they develop into in the future?

Perhaps somewhere he could discover beings who wanted to dance. So at a crocodile roast at the cave drawers guild he announced his intentions to leave. Nobody really cared anyways. Maybe now they could concentrate on drawing instead of dancing!

CALLEN SCHAUB aims to ease lockdown burden with new Colour Therapy Collections (Press Release)

Montreal-based artist Callen Schaub knows exactly how emotionally exhausting winter can be, especially with lockdowns in effect across the country. After reflecting on his mental wellness, Callen has set out to help others through the medium of his work. Every Friday at 5pm EST, Callen goes live on Instagram and TikTok with his new Colour Therapy Collections initiative.

These live CTC sessions are a social media experience wherein Schaub curates a pallet of colours and paints with them. Callen’s goal for each session is to evoke emotions and engage with his audience to start a conversation about how different colours impact our lives. Every session will serve as a vehicle to explore the emotional significance of different colour combinations while spotlighting alternative ways of improving mental health. 

During his time in lockdown, Callen thought about everything that made him happy and realized he could spread that happiness to others through painting. From his own experiences and his previous exploration of chromo-therapy, Callen learned just how impactful colours can be on a person’s mood. It was from that realization that Colour Therapy Collections was born. 

The live painting sessions use incredibly vivid colors to provoke and explore the full spectrum of emotions. After each session, Schaub uses his comment section to elaborate on the palette of colors chosen and further advocate for the de-stigmatization of mental health. Callen believes that “just because you cannot see it doesn’t mean it is not there” and through the rollout of the Colour Therapy Collection, hopes to make a positive (and colourful) impact on the issue of mental health.