Vax passports, TIFF prices and TCM logo

 

Ontario is introducing vax passports Sept. 22, first by an informal method by showing existing vax certificates and then Oct. 22 for the phone app. Quebec already has the app. I will be spending October in Montreal. You need the app to get access to “non-essential” services likes restaurants and – ta da – movie theatres. Montreal’s Festival of New Cinema takes place in October. I intended to go. Now I’m not so sure. I’m resisting the entire concept of passports. I’m vaccinated and encourage others to get vaxxed. It’s not that. It’s the idea of giving up yet another small piece of freedom – actually, a significant piece of freedom since social life is so important to all of us – to government control. Will this become a permanent feature of daily life and what will be added to the app in the future – proof of other vaccines, our criminal records, credit scores. income tax statements? It’s not that I’m against safe environments – duh. But I’m double vaxxed. Health authorities have been telling us from day one that vaccines offer overwhelming protection against Covid. Therefore why should I be concerned whether someone sitting near me is vaxxed or unvaxxed, especially when Canada has such high vax rates? I admit this new government protocol is so powerful that it might be difficult to resist and I likely will cave. But, hey, it was just another freedom we used to have.

I looked over this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) offerings but among the films garnering the most media attention I saw only one, Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho, that stirred any interest. It wasn’t available online but only for in-person tickets. I checked out a few other films but at prices of $19 - $26 per, call me cheap but I wasn’t going to ante up for something I was ambivalent about.

Turner Classic Movies has changed its logo. Yes, I know most things must change and this was probably an attempt by TCM to attract younger viewers with buzzier graphics but an unadorned sans-serif font. I lamented several years ago when TCM dropped its film opening introduction showing city dwellers on apartment terraces gazing at a giant TCM Feature Presentation sign. I used to rebel against change. Now I know it’s just inevitable.