Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

What will happen to Caribbean Carnival '20? By Stephen Weir The Caribbean Camera has learned that the Festival Management Committee (FMC) which runs the annual Toronto Caribbean Carnival will meet later this week to decide what is going to happen to this year’s annual July festival and their signature August 1 Grand Parade. With the announcement on Tuesday that the City of Toronto is cancelling all major events until June 30 (and leaving the door open to closing all further summer events) because of the virus pandemic, carnival stakeholders must decide if they are going to proceed with the parade, moving it to a later date in the year or simply postponing it until next year. For the FMC, the timing for its 2020 Toronto Caribbean Carnival, is now a big crapshoot. If the festival is to proceed with its mid-July kick-off, the mas’ bands have to begin opening their mas camps, holding band launches, building costumes and renting trucks for the parade. If the City ends up ex...

Forget Kodachrome Colour, Photographer Jenny Baboolal will be Green all over at City Hall and at this summer’s Grand Parade By Stephen Weir Jenny Baboolal Photographer and long-time film maker Jenny Baboolal is not only showing her photography in Toronto’s City Hall, she will also be talking about her environmental concern around carnival celebrations at the Toronto Caribbean Carnival official launch at city hall and at the Grand Parade.  The traditional Nathan Phillips Square launch for the annual carnival and parade usually attracts 5,000 to 10,000 fans who are interested in the Carnival Arts.   As well the annual parade can attract up to a million spectators gaga for all things Caribbean, takes place on August 3 rd this year along Lakeshore Blvd and at Exhibition Place.   “ Everyone is aware of the climate change crisis and wants to make a difference,” Jenny Baboolal told the Caribbean Camera. She is going Green during Carnival and has already forme...

Damiãn Garth Brown outfront of the Scotiabank movie theatre in Toronto By Stephen Weir  for Caribbean Camera newspaper At 6ft 2, Damiãn Garth Brown is a really big man for a very small part in a new Hollywood blockbuster. But, come to think of it, so is principal star Matt Damon, who, like Damiãn, is only five inches tall in the new Lilliputian comedy Downsizing. Damiãn  Brown on his way up Set in the near future, scientists have discovered how to shrink humans to five inches tall as a solution to overpopulation. Matt Damon and his wife Kristen Wiig decide to abandon their big world stress filled lives by   getting small and moving to a new downsized community — a choice that triggers life-changing adventures. The 37-year Jamaican Canadian plays an orderly who helps Damon adjust when he wakes up small in Downsizing. “This was the first big budget film I have worked on – I even had (albeit briefly) a trailer on set at the Pinewood Studio in Toronto. ...