Yo…
A classic February 29th Frasier refence you can only drop once every four years.
Frasier: “Well Dad, his birthday only comes around once every four years. As a matter of fact, this day only comes around every four years. You know, it’s like a free day, a gift. We should do something special, be bold! It’s leap year, take a leap!”
Martin: “You know, I was just about to say the same thing to you.”
Of course it’s a sitcom so all the leaps the cast take to celebrate leap year end up badly. Yet hilariously.
So…it’s a Leap Year. Well?
Are you…gonna take a leap?
There’s many reasons to start a podcast. One of the odder reasons why I started My Summer Lair was I recognized it would be a distinguishing platform to show listeners how special Scarborough is. (I’ll bring the Scarborough to you.)
Though often maligned in the local media…and admittedly there is violence and shady operators it is a place where creativity flourishes.
The beef patties are spicy, the characters are characters and the slang is top shelf. To give you a sense of all of that (well, except for the beef patties) here’s my recent conversation with Alex Mallari Jr.
Alex is a Scarborough Superstar.
He was a My Summer Lair guest before for The Adam Project (a Ryan Reynolds movie on Netflix). Super fun sci-fi movie. Highly recommended!
Additionally, you’ve seen Alex in Ginny & Georgia (also on Netflix) and he was so mean to J Lo in Shotgun Wedding (Prime Video this time!).
In Code 8: Part II Alex plays Sergeant "King" Kingston which is now streaming on Netflix:
Just like Code 8 Alex is back.
Alex had a brief role in the first Code 8 movie back in 2019. (It’s on Netflix if you wanna check it out.)
For the Code 8 sequel his character as Sergeant Kingston has expanded and it turns out he is a corrupt police officer. And sloppy too, he committed a murder but left a 14-year-old girl alive as a witness.
Oh and you instantly discern he’s a corrupt cop because of the facial hair. That’s funny…cos it’s true. In the attached MSL conversation he shares: “I wanted that kind of classic corrupt cop mustache that’s always just been portrayed in Hollywood.”
Sergeant Kingston is on the Lincoln City police department. (I asked…was your character name Kingston a coincidence or a Scarborough reference? What do you think he said?)
Understand that around 4% of people living in Lincoln City possess special abilities. Basically, they’re X-Men mutants minus the X-buckles. One of the 4% is Connor (played by Robbie Amell) and he is an Electric (an electrokinetic).
If you saw him in Sherren Lee’s Float movie without his shirt off oh you know he’s electric.
Sherren Lee co-wrote Code 8: Part II. Here’s an audio clip from that conversation…
As you saw in the first Code 8 movie streaming on Netflix, Robbie was approached by Stephen Amell who is Garrett a TK (telekinetic) criminal.
Code 8: Part II begins five years after the original movie, with Connor coming out of prison, stepping into a job as a janitor. The ex-con wants to be good so that means rejecting his former criminal partner Garrett. It’s a solid post-prison plan...only one slight problem with that.
A 14-year-old girl has witnessed the murder of her brother by corrupt police officers. She turns to Connor for help who in turn enlists Garrett. Welcome to life in Lincoln City: corrupt cops, coverups and controversial super powers.
Alex and I unpack Code 8: from his facial hair to his name Kingston to his four legged co-star…a menacing robotic dog. (No worries: Code 8: Part II is a sci-fi movie, not a Netflix remake of Turner & Hooch.)
What makes Code 8 special is it’s unique IP: it’s not based on a book or a comic book or even a video game. When you go to a Marvel movie many of them like Captain America: Civil War have been loosely adapted from popular comic books for the big screen. Well-read audiences can sorta know what’s going on: nerds are psychics.
Here, Code 8 is all original and yet all super powers and all sci-fi and yet there’s no crystal ball for anyone.
Before we wrapped up this conversation Alex provided a Morningside update. This upcoming feature film is set in Scarborough’s Morningside community center during the Danzig shooting.
Alex and I end where we started talking about Scarborough because...that’s “the Code.”
And while Alex and Code 8: Part II are chilling on Netflix, if you head over to CBC Gem you can check out Hard Falls, a moving short film written and directed by Alina Vita Kulesh. She’s a Ukrainian-Canadian filmmaker.
For Hard Falls Alina went back to Scarborough, the same neighbourhood and building where she grew up as an immigrant.
“To create even more authenticity, we filmed the short in Scarborough, in the exact neighbourhood and apartment building where I grew up,” adds Kulesh. “This was personally humbling and rewarding for me.”
Even if I didn’t tell you that, there’s an affection for the location that comes through the camera.
The TV Guide description of Hard Falls is:
“In Hard Falls, three best friends navigate the complexities of their lives, facing hardships at home as they part ways for the evening. Anchored in themes of immigration, family dynamics, girlhood, and mental health, the film offers a deeply resonant exploration of the nuanced loneliness of growing up.”
Scarborough means many things to many people.
But, what Scarborough is synonymous with is stories. The ones we eagerly tell on film and the ones we freely share from our lives.
A third and final Scarborough connection…Big Tings are happening in the borough most thorough.
On Conductin’ Thangs a 1991 rap song Maestro Fresh Wes enshrined my Scarborough high school. Yes!
“From Birchmount just north of Glendower
Those who oppose I will devower
Because I’m asiatic and I got the power
To say the kind of rhymes that make you say hot damn
Isn't that the brother that went to L’am…”
L'Amoreaux Collegiate, is a Scarborough high school we both attended. Representing is so powerful when it gets dropped in a rap song. Most of us who grew up on ‘90s rap knew LA even if we’d never been there.
Maestro has a new compilation album dropping on March 1st: Rap Prime Minister. This isn’t a greatest hits album; it’s curation…these are some of his favourite recent songs. Maybe they’ve been overlooked or under-valued…well here they are. Check it out. Can we expect more Scarborough references?
#SetTheVCR: The movie about that guy from Bill & Ted will be on Apple TV+ on March 1st. Ridley Scott will neither confirm or deny his Napoleon movie is a Bill & Ted spin-off. See for yourself tomorrow. (After you check out Alex in Code 8: Part II. Duh!)
#PantsWorthy: An Evening With Jon Stewart will comprise of only five dates. Kicking off on March 1 at Bardavon 1869 Opera House in Poughkeepsie, NY and making comedy stops in York, PA, Princeton, NJ and Stamford, before wrapping up in Wilmington, DE at The Grand Opera House on April 27.
This stand up comedy tour is not exactly a...Daily Show. Are you going? Would you go? Dude’s done the Daily Show (and that type of savvy political humour) for so long now, I can’t remember what Stewart’s original stand up was like.
In part, I shared this tour because I wonder if Eddie Murphy could come back to the stage. I dunno.
More bustle than hustle…
Sammy Younan
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Sammy Younan is the affable host of My Summer Lair podcast: think NPR’s Fresh Air meets Kevin Smith: interviews & impressions on Pop Culture.
The Sweet & Special Scarborough Spotlight