"Makers" by Cory Doctorow (2009)

I like what Cory Doctorow is all about. He’s an advocate for file sharing and fewer and less stringent copyright laws. He is a prolific and acclaimed science fiction writer, a diplomacy expert and intellectual who never graduated university, a generally creative person and someone who seems to fight for what he believes in.

I like the fact that he (according to Wikipedia and based on the tone of his new book “Makers”) believes companies should own the rights to sell their products, but that anyone who wants to share them after purchase should be able to do so.

And I like that he seems to live this out, essentially giving “Makers” away as a serial.

I also like that he wrote a book ("Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town") that is set in Toronto’s Kensington Market and whose main character is the son of mixed parents – a washing machine and a mountain.

And he's Canadian too.

But I wasn’t crazy about his latest book – which is also the only one I’ve read. I was excited about the concept, though. It's set in the near future and focuses on two indie-minded inventor geniuses (Perry and Lester). They take the discarded tech junk the world has tossed out and turn it into cool, useful stuff.

I myself have a sometimes-bad habit of scavenging old junk from the ends of people’s driveways in order to turn it into other cool stuff, which I think might be partly why the concept resonated with me.

Their world, it seems, is a nightmare vision of what ours probably will become. Mass-produced consumer Wal-Mart culture has gone too far, and the thousands of ubiquitous strip malls, big box stores and fast food restaurants -- the byproduct of that consumerism -- have essentially imploded. By sheer volume, it seems, they have been devalued to the point where almost nothing is worth anything.

So Perry and Lester take the worthless junk, which is available by the truckload (Tickle-Me-Elmo’s are one such item) and hack it. They start a movement, inadvertently, that becomes known as New Work, and is documented by Suzanne Church, a tech reporter who joins their little rebellion.

Eventually, their movement morphs into something else. Now jaded, the two inventors create an interactive, almost amusement park-style "ride," where riders can add, change or remove features based on what they like and don't like. The more people that take part, the deeper the becomes, and a story begins to emerge in the ride that begins to develop a following all its own – and Lester and Perry once again become the unlikely, unwitting fathers of a massive, worldwide movement.

They also help give heart and vibrancy to a shantytown of castoffs from the soulless culture they live in.

And of course along the way they make enemies -- the main one being the Walt Disney Corporation.

Like I said, I really appreciate the concept here: A futuristic society that’s close enough that we can easily identify with it, a believable mixture of products, technology and terminology we know, and a selection of other stuff invented and imagined by Doctorow, most of which is both fantastical and believable all at once.

I also liked the clever inventions Perry and Lester create, and their organic style of inventing.

But I didn’t like everything. For one thing the book felt way too long. I really had to fight to get through the last third. It got to the point where I felt he had made his point, but just kept belabouring it, on and on and on until I found it hard to care.

Oddly, Goth culture plays into this story too. And I found his descriptions and understanding of that sub-culture group a little awkward.

For one thing, in the book Disney has dedicated an entire section of Disney World to all things Goth. And they come in droves to explore it and experience it. They love it. That just doesn’t sound realistic to me, but then I don’t know that much about the culture to say for sure.

Also, it can be argued that the heroes of the book sell out, big time, along the way, something that just didn’t seem to fit with the way their character had been portrayed for most of the book.

In the end this book is a great concept with smart ideas and pretty decorations, but with so-so writing and humdrum storytelling.

"Invisible City" (2009 directed by Hubert Davis)

This week I went to see “Invisible City,” a documentary about Toronto’s Regent Park.

While we were there, my friend Jed told me that he had heard others who had seen the film say they couldn’t believe this place was in downtown Toronto. It wasn't that they were shocked by the poverty or the quality of the housing or anything like that, but just that it looked so unfamiliar.

And it’s true, Regent Park is one of those places that people in this city drive through all the time, but that few people ever have reason to explore. And for that reason, it really is an “Invisible City” – everyone knows it’s there, everyone knows its reputation, but to the vast majority of Torontonians, it doesn’t really exist.

We saw the film at The Royal, where a three-day run was extended by two nights due to the huge response and large crowds that attended.

The film, directed by Academy Award-nominee Hubert Davis in 2009, follows the lives of two young men, Mikey and Kendell, over the course of several years as they come of age in Regent Park.

As their lives are changing, so is their community. Canada’s oldest housing project is in the midst of a major “Revitalization” that is meant to transform it from a planned ghetto community to a so-called mixed housing community.

Phase One of the development is underway at the beginning of the film, with some of the buildings being torn town and a massive hole excavated for the condo-style buildings that are meant to replace them.

The boys are finishing up their time at Nelson Mandela Park Public School and getting ready for high school. Since Regent doesn’t have it’s own high school, the boys get sent to schools outside of their community.

Mikey and Kendell face challenges both in their community and outside, at high school. Mikey attends a wealthy high school in Midtown Toronto where he seems alienated and out of place. Kendell struggles with the discipline required by the basketball team he joins at his new school, where the coach says they bring in players from Regent to add toughness and edge to their team.

Both of the boys live with their mothers, their fathers largely or entirely absent from their lives. Both struggle with making the right choices, dealing with anger and pressure from friends and tension with police. Their mothers struggle with trying to connect with their boys, protect and encourage them, while also being tough when they need to.

One constant for both is Ainsworth, a former CFL player who is their teacher at Nelson Mandela. He seems to understand the boys and their need for positive role models, and sticks with them over the years, staying in their lives, checking in and dispensing wisdom and friendship when he can.

"Someone once said everyone needs someone in their life that they don’t want to disappoint,” he says at one point -- not grandstanding, just being honest about his motivation.

There is a little bit of hope in this film and quite a lot of heartbreak as the camera sensitively follows the boys’ struggles and challenges as they work out the kind of lives they want to live, the kind of men they want to be. Both are handled sensitively and without judgment.

It’s obvious that Davis earned their trust – something that takes time and commitment in Regent Park. The boys speak to him honestly and openly about their struggles, mistakes and the forces at work in their lives, opening up a window into their hearts.

The film is also just beautiful to watch, accurately and artistically rendering the unique community that is Regent Park, a separate, and invisible, city within the city.