You might suspect that Canada is a dull kind of place, but not a bit of it. There is one activity at which they excel: Rock, Paper, Scissors (RPS). They turn out world RPS champions on a regular basis (yes, there are such things), and now what might once have been considered merely a trivial pre-adolescent game has gone mainstream. After the exposure given it by April Mullen and Tim Doiron's new film, Rock, Paper, Scissors: The Way of the Tosser, it may never be the same again. It's going to be really big! Found across a wide range of cultures, RPS speaks to some deep part of us, which is perhaps why an alternative name for it is "The Well." Our guides to the intricacies of this zen-like pursuit are Gary, Holly and Trevor. Gary is good with his hands (though with an aversion to throwing paper, which is a bit of a disadvantage) and his dream is to beat off all-comers - including creepy arch-rival Baxter Pound - to seize the crown at the RPS World Championships. This is not just about winning against the other entrants though, it's about self-knowledge and rigorous discipline, and the transcendent wisdom that comes from a life dedicated to RPS.
It's unfortunate that the gravitas of this important tool, which could easily be used as a way to attain world peace, is slightly undermined by the connotations of the word 'tosser' of which Gary and his colleagues are surely unaware, being Canadian. Never mind. After watching him train, and compete at the highest level, this hymn to the pleasures of tossing is bound to be a boost for RPS. Expect it to go global on the back of their documentary, with Gary a kind of secular patron saint. Not so much a way to pass the time, more a philosophy of life, and who knows, one in which Canada may one day have to cede the tight grip it currently enjoys.
