Ad Astra 2012


Steampunk cosplayers at Ad Astra








Murdoch Mysteries

The realm of television crime dramas is rather crowded. With the remaining Law and Order spinoffs, there are the various CSIs, the JAG spinoffs of NCIS and NCIS:LA, and any number of cop and lawyer dramas. It's difficult to find a part of the market that isn't already saturated with the competition. Murdoch Cast

Murdoch Mysteries, which airs on City TV, fits an interesting niche, breaking new territory as a Victorian era detective story set in Toronto, which strives for period authenticity, within a fictional narrative. There doesn't appear to be a lot of competition in this admittedly small niche.

Stephen Harper in cameo for Murdoch Mysteries

Still, it is a niche that has found its fans, including our current Prime Minister. Murdoch Mysteries is not the first show in which Stephen Harper has played a cameo role. Like former Prime Minister Paul Martin, Harper has previously appeared on Corner Gas. What's not to like, for our prime minister? Victorian crime fighters may have had limited tools, but punishments were severe. Capital punishment was still on the books, and a failed hanging formed the plot for one episode of the show. The current government's "tough on crime" persona seems to be a good match for Murdoch Mysteries, where the lead character is morally upstanding, almost to a fault. Murdoch's morality works to humanize the Toronto of the 1890s, bringing compassion to the otherwise unenlightened days of criminal enforcement.





Of the characters in the show, perhaps the most amusing is Constable Crabtree, whose youthful enthusiasm leads him to extrapolate towards modern technology from what he sees Murdoch use on the show. As noted on the Steampunk Scholar blog, Crabtree's role in the web series "Curse of the Lost Pharaohs" leads much closer to the realm of steampunk, incorporating other common steampunk elements.

Scott Pilgrim vs The World

Ok, so very late to the party here. I was going to ask how I managed to miss this until now, but from the box office receipts, I'm not the only one who did. I tend to think I have a slightly better reason than others, what with a toddler and all. If it's not made by Disney, I often don't get the chance to see things in theatres. I haven't really been a Michael Cera fan, I've never seen Arrested Development. While I thought Superbad was an amusing movie, Cera's role was eclipsed by Jonah Hill and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, not to mention Bill Hader and Seth Rogen.

The only other Cera flick I've seen was Juno, where he again plays second fiddle, this time to the wonderful Ellen Page. I don't know. I guess Michael Cera just plays that shy guy, staying out of the lime light. He's never really been that big of a draw for my attention. If I had ever seen Arrested Development, maybe I'd think otherwise.



While I don't visit Toronto often enough to recognize many of the scenes, those filmed at Casa Loma were instantly recognizable.

This movie is underrated in my books. It's high energy, and a lot of fun. Worth watching.