Vancouver’s 20th Annual GEMFest Film Festival: “Saigon Kiss”: Much Not Said and Much Not Done Imbued with Massive Tension and Mystery!

“Saigon Kiss” might be misleading in that Saigon no longer exists having being renamed Ho Chi Minh City after the fall of South Vietnam. And there is a kiss but not quite the one you might expect and maybe even deserve with all the tension leading up to a moment that does not happen.

Ho Chi Minh City is a city of a never-ending flow of scooters and motorcycles and you witness that in the film. Quite a miracle I was not run over the last time I was there.

Mo (Nguyen Va Truc) cruises along in her motorcycle refusing to answer her phone. It would appear she is trying to escape an unpleasant call. She assists Vicky (Thuong Le) at the side of the road with a conked-out scooter. A random encounter becomes  what one senses may be a journey, possibly life changing.

Pay close attention to this Vietnamese 22-minute short film and it all becomes more beautiful at its conclusion. Sizzling anticipation so marvellously captured. 

Directed by Hong Anh Nguyen.

Playing 6March2025 at 13:00hrs at VIFF as a Canadian premiere part of the Hatch Short Programme.

The 20th anniversary of GEMFest champions women in film and gender diverse films.

RKS 2025 Film Rating 92/100.

Amy Pickenbobber Released in Rights to Water Swap Deal: Spoof News Services: Pico Island, Portuguese Azores: 21February2025

Amy Pickenbobber the Grade One student from Guelph, Ontario who was last seen being escorted from the Toronto Blue Jays training camp in Dunedin Florida by a MAGA Patriot Squad on 10January2025 to a waiting military airplane and transported to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base was released today walking down the passenger ramp of a TU-134 Cubana Airways charter flight that landed Pickenbobber at the Pico Island Airport in the Portuguese Azores. She was greeted by her sobbing parents, the Mayor of Guelph Billy Bunion and the 15th Scottish Highland Infantry bagpipe band.

In return for Pickenbobber all water rights in Concession #156 of the Township of Guelph were ceded to Steve Bannon’s “Always in Hot Water” water bottling company.

The Canadian government will seek in court to annul the deed of transfer as against public order” categorizing the transfer of Pickenbobber to Guantanamo Bay as a kidnapping. The Office of MAGA Patriot Squad Control and the Secretary of Homeland Paranoia of the United States, Cristal Numbhead, referred to Pickenbobber’s journey to Guantanamo Bay as a “inter-nations” quarantine justified by Pickenbobber’s contact with the highly transmissible Bluejayosis as permitted under the United States “Quarantine Act for Foreigners”. The United States government denies any involvement in the inter-nations transfer of Pickenbobber instead referring all questions to The Office of MAGA Patriot Squad Control.

It is reported the Pickenbobber’s have negotiated a movie deal with Keanu Reeves production Company JWick based in Hamilton, Ontario.

RKS Literature: The Unreal of Wasted Effort (Yasunari Kawabata)

“Though he was an idler who might as well spend his time in the mountains as anywhere, he looked upon mountain climbing as almost a model of wasted effort. For that reason it pulled at him with the attraction of the unreal.”

Yasunari Kawabata, “Snow Country”, 1956

Tentative Deal to End Ukraine Conflict Found in McDonalds’ Toilet Stall in Riyadh: It is a SHOCKER!: Spoof News Services: 25February2025

(SPOOF EXCLUSIVE)

Our reporting team at the Saudi Arabian meetings to end the Ukraine conflict has unearthed what appears to be a tentative outline of a peace plan. Our Spoof team found the plan handwritten on looseleaf fullscap on the floor of a toilet stall at a McDonalds on King Pooba Street in Riyadh. A courier for the United States government on his way from the central meeting room stopped for a Double Camel Cheeseburger and a date shake at the McDonalds and unused to foreign food had a violent case of the runs running to the toilet moaning and groaning enveloped by great clouds of fetid gas and fumes. In his despair, his stupefaction from the gas and violent contortions a very important  paper must have fallen out of his possession and was located by the Spoof team.

The handwritten notes, unfortunately splattered with human waste including date pits, fully explain the reasoning behind the attendance of the Turkish, Israeli, North Korean and Peoples Republic of China delegation. Here is what Spoof makes of its find.

The United States of America

  • Ceases all funding of the Ukrainian War of Aggression against Russia
  • The remainder of Ukraine not ceded to Russia becomes a state of the United States
  • United States pulls out of NATO
  • Gaza to become a state of the United States with exclusive rights of Kushner Real Estate Corporation to develop a new riviera
  • Canada to house approximately 2,600,000 former residents of Gaza in its Northwest Territories; Possible sending of Chinese Uyghur Muslims to the Canadian province of Newfoundland based on the “Come From Away” principle
  • Zelensky to be sent to exile in Haiti
  • Grants free trade/no tariff access to the United States to Russia
  • Withdraws from the United Nations

The Russian Federation

  • Receives all of Crimea
  • Pays for the reconstruction of Crimea
  • Receives all Russian assets seized during the Ukrainian conflict
  • Receives free trade access to United States markets
  • Withdraws from the United Nations
  • Will be able to establish 4 teams in the National Hockey League

The Peoples Republic of China

  • Receives Taiwan without interference from Russia or the United States
  • Withdraws from the United Nations

Israel

  • Receives West Bank
  • Sends all West Bankers to work at Gaza Riviera properties as caddies at golf courses, restaurant staff and amusement park managers
  • Withdraws from the United Nations

Turkey

  • With assistance of the United States receives 7 Greek islands in the Eastern Aegean to become part of Turkey
  • Agrees to permit the Russian Federation to establish 4 military bases in Turkey
  • Withdraws from NATO

North Korea

  • Permitted to establish a National Basketball team in the United States
  • Exclusive rights to establish dog farms in select locations in Crimea and establish “Hot Dog” fast food restaurants in Moscow, Istanbul, Gaza Riviera, Tel Aviv and Puerto Rico

Spoof reminds readers what is found on the floor may not be worth a hill of beans but we are on the story ahead of everyone as usual.

President Donald Trump Speaks to All 50 States Concerning the Ebola Outbreak: Spoof News Services: Rectum, Connecticut: 20February2025

The Ebola outbreak with a ground zero thought to be the The Toronto Blue Jays spring training camp in Dunedin, Florida has roared out of Florida with cases and fatalities being reported in Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri and Louisiana.  

Official United States governmental sources have pointed to Amy Pickenbobber, (pictured here at The Municipal Pool in Guantanamo Bay) a Canadian first grader visiting her idols The Toronto Blue Jays at the ballpark in Dunedin as being ground zero for “Bluejayosis” as President Trump has referred to the Ebola disease. Victims hemorrhage to death and die writhing in a pool of blood. Pickenbobber is currently a guest of the United States at VIP accommodations at the United States Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay. Apparently hostage exchange negotiations are currently underway between Canadian and American governmental officials.

President Donald Trump, currently enjoying a vacation with Russian President Vlad Putin on the Black Sea convened a hasty press conference to praise the outbreak’s beneficial effect on strengthening the Golden Age. He stated in part, “Canadians have started this very bad flu, Bluejayosis, in Dunedin Florida using a cute and supposedly innocent first grader Pickenburger and a can of flu bug germs hidden in a can of Canada Dry Gingerale to spread disease throughout the United States. Pickenburger is where she should be as a untrustworthy alien enjoying American hospitality at our Marine base in Squatanamo Bay. Americans need not fear. We went through the Spanish Flu here in 1967 wreaked upon us by a Mexican grape picker Caesar Chavez. The flu only makes Americans stronger through improving genetics. Those who survive this flu pass on their stronger genes to future cadres of the Golden Age. The weak will not survive. The strong are the core of our Golden Age. Our leading Secretary of Health Rob Bubblehead has advised me to treat this flu as anything more serious is an attempt by left wingers to discredit my administration and denigrate the work of my Special Advisor Moron Tusk who has rationalized the health bureaucracy in the United States by eliminating it. We should follow his recommendation of avoiding the wearing of masks, washing hands and  visiting wet markets and instead make yourself a cup of hot tea with two ounces of Tennessee bourbon and going to bed early.”

Spoof News Services: Turkish, North Korean and Israeli Delegations Arrive at Saudi Arabian Ukraine Peace Talks: 20February2025

Delegations from Israel, North Korea and Turkey have arrived in Riyadh. It is uncertain what role they have in relation to the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict. The Saudi Arabian Foreign Ministry acknowledged not only the presence of these delegations but the earlier arrival of a delegation from the People’s Republic of China they initially had stated were Chinese businessmen investigating the possibility of establishing a chain of Chinese restaurants in the Kingdom. No answer was given by Saudi officials as to why these delegations had arrived.

In a press conference this morning President Donald Trump said only, “Get ready for a deal baby. I love a deal. America loves to watch me dealing.”

A small group of anti-Russian demonstrators, Greek students on a exchange programme were seen outside The Hilton Desert Inn in Riyadh where many of the American and Russian delegation were staying. Sources say they were rounded up and have yet to be heard from. The Saudi Foreign Ministry stated the group were most likely fossil fuel haters and to hate fossil fuel is an affront to the King subject to beheading.

RKS 2025 CANADIAN Wine: KEW Vineyards Marches to the Cabernet Drum

A blend of 38% Cabernet Franc, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon and 27% Merlot. 13% of the blend was dried out in the appassimento fashion. Matured in French oak for 18 months.

Aroma: You can certainly discern slight richness in the aroma imparted by the appassimento influenced portion of the blend giving the wine a richness it would not otherwise have. Black cherry rules the roost with black currant, blueberry and vanilla.

Palate: Despite some of the richness on the nose the palate presents itself as stern hiding its fruit. Grippy tannins in that they cling lightly to the palate. Blackberry and cassis. Short and austere finish.

Personality: On my nose you might think of me as a softy but as far as marching I am a tough Canadian Highlander.

Food Match: Built for food and not sipping. Meaty pizza or Pasta a la Norma.

Cellarbility: Will tramp into 2027 nicely.

Price: $21 CDN.

RKS 2025 CANADIAN Wine Rating: 88/100. Natalie MacLean Community Score 88.

(Kew Vineyards 2020 Soldier’s Grant, VQA Niagara Peninsula, KEW Vineyards Estate Winery, Beamsville, Ontario, 750 mL 14.5%).

RKS 2025 CANADIAN Film: “Morningside”: Life, Suffering and Death in Scarborough, Ontario: Classic American Inner-City Drama?

Scarborough is one of those “distant” suburbs of Toronto so far away from Toronto it is sometimes referred to as Scarberia. Not a great reputation among many of us Torontonians. My sole experience with Scarborough is that it is a landmark for me driving home from Montreal on the 401 Highway ironically signalling I am back in Toronto!  

In “Morningside” we have similar issues to black inner city American films but the similarity ends with genre identification. We have the drug dealers, the gun violence and tragic collateral damage to the innocents but all in a truly Canadian fashion if I may label it gritty, rough, honest and highly believable. Ain’t no Hollywood going on here.

Although initially you might conclude there are too many characters and subplots in “Morningside” its slowness is measured and gels into excellence concluding in an overwhelming tragic fashion.

This “oh so Canadian” production has an excellent cast with Ki Ki Hammill as Amber a standout. A splash of brightness and sparkle!

Directed by Ron Dias it has a Canadian theatrical release 21February2025 and a multi theatre release in Detroit 28February2025. RKS 2025 CANADIAN Film Rating 93/100.

Cover Photo Courtesy of The Impact Series.

The Voice of the Golden Age: Animalistic Canadians Engage in Horrible Acts of Anti-American Violence: Plattsburg, New York: 19Febraury2025

Two days ago violence crazed Canadians uselessly opposing becoming the 51st state of our glorious United States smashed up McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets in a Canada wide spasm of anti-Americanism.

Added to the illogical generalized hostility towards the United States the unruly mobs protested the “quarantine” and transportation of Guelph Ontario grade one student, Amy Pickenbobber to United States naval quarantine facilities in Guantanamo Bay. The little Canadian saboteur was no doubt sent by the leader of the igloo people, Pierre Elliot Justin Trudeau, to the Toronto Blue Jays training camp in Dunedin Florida with Ebola virus concealed in her Dr. Pepper can. 3,456 residents of Dunedin and 14 members of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team including star slugger Happy Guadalajara have died felled by Bluejayosis.

Many of the glazed eye attackers, such eyes no doubt affected by fentanyl so prevalent in Canada, gushed further hatred as a result of what they call the “murder” of Sonny Blister, the President of the Canadian Snowbirds Association at his winter home in Palm Springs California. Police reports call his disappearance a missing persons case with strong suspicions he fled up to the mountains with Maria Jiminez a ultrasound technician at the Palm Springs Eisenhower Centre of Prostate Management. Leads by the Palm Springs Police Department report Jiminez and Blister were seen smooching and cuddling at the Pig and Rooster Restaurant in the late evening hours the day before his disappearance.

In response to this violence the United States Department of Homeland Paranoia has today required all Canadians entering the United States to obtain a special untrustworthy alien visa and is requiring all Canadian residents residing in the United States to register as untrustworthy aliens with local police departments.

Readers should note The Voice of the Golden Age is the successor to the now disbanded and fraud plagued Voice of America. It is privately owned by the Renard Broadcasting Corporation and under contract to the United States Department of Homeland Paranoia.

Spoof News Services: Canadians Now Required to Obtain Visa for Travel in the United States: Washington:19February2025

The United States Department of Homeland Paranoia announced today effective immediately all Canadians travelling to the United States of America will require a special “Untrustworthy Alien Visa CDN-6”. The visa will cost $999USD.

All Canadian residents currently in the United States will be required to register as Untrustworthy Aliens at local police offices.

Minny Xenophobia of Homeland Paranoia stated, “The riotous rampage of Canadian Marxists yesterday attacking McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets in Canada is tantamount to an attack of core Golden Age American values President Trump is instilling in the hearts and souls of Americans. Canadians are untrustworthy and a visa is one way of controlling the poisonous spread of Marxism in the United States by violent Canadians.”

The president of the Canadian Snowbirds, Sonny Blister, residing in Palm Springs California could not be reached for comment. His wife, Plumpy Blister, said he was last seen yesterday heading for his morning climb on the Rancho Mirage Trail 67. His water bottle and blood splattered hat was last seen at a rest station on the trail but no trace of Blister.