... And I don't own a van or a car.

From the BBC:

Car sleepers are on the rise in California which has been hit hard by the housing crisis

Santa Barbara boasts a classic laidback California lifestyle, with uncongested beaches, wholesome cafes and charming Spanish-style architecture.

Of course there's a hefty price tag: nestled between the gentle Santa Ynez mountains and the inviting Pacific Ocean are multi-million dollar homes.

But in this sun-washed haven of wealth, many live far from the American dream.

In a car park across the street from luxury mansions, the evening brings a strange sight.

A few cars arrive and take up spaces in different corners. In each car, a woman, perhaps a few pets, bags of possessions and bedding.

Across the street from homes with bedrooms to spare, these are Santa Barbara's car sleepers.

Homeless within the last year, they are a direct consequence of America's housing market collapse.

I was hoping for ironic in the headline. I hope it didn't come across as overly flip. This is a human tragedy.

While all political candidates spin, U.S. Republican nominee John McCain's campaign has developed an unprecedented track record of distortions and outright lies. But some political science research indicates there may be method to his madness.

From the Globe and Mail:

They still make cult movies, don't they? It's hard to tell sometimes, seeing as how many of the flicks that became staples at North America's repertory theatres and campus film societies – e.g., The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Pink Flamingos – are now pushing 40. And as we learned from all those nights we spent watching Logan's Run, anything that old is not to be trusted.

It's not that there aren't newer films that are just as deranged as the original midnight movies. The trouble was that with the waning of the rep circuit and the audience's isolation and fragmentation due to home video and DVD, it became more difficult for a prime piece of cinematic audacity to develop the following it might have once earned via late-night engagements at neighbourhood theatres.

One very welcome development in Toronto's film scene is the resurgence of the cult movie, presented the way it should be – on a big screen in a room full of rowdy patrons, rooms like the revived Fox Theatre in the Beaches and Trash Palace (see www.trashpalace.ca for schedule and not-so-secret secret location). Ironically, with their retro-grindhouse, cult-oriented programming, such venues cater not to the boomers who watched El Topo whilst stoned out of their minds, but to later generations of movie fans whose education in cinema's seedier side was conducted principally through home viewing and who are hungry for a more participatory experience.

Presented at Innis Town Hall at the University of Toronto's Innis College and open to the public free of charge, the Free Friday Film series is another sign of life. Brandishing a purist attitude (they only screen 35-mm prints – no DVDs), the student programmers are admirable for their willingness to add new faves to an increasingly musty canon of cult flicks. Screening Friday night is one such candidate, which has already earned the reputation as one of the decade's most mystifying yet delightful movie curios.

Here's some of the Innis screenings

• Funky Forest: The First Contact (tonight)
• Open Your Eyes - Oct. 3
• Buffalo 66 - Oct. 17
• La Haine - Nov. 21

Here's an earlier post on Trash Palace. And here's a 2005 effort -- Cult movie experiences in theatres: Time to let go?