When I was finishing up high school in 1996 I heard a rumour about a new movie that was coming out.  It was about a man who built a suit to fight a grizzly bear.  And it was a documentary.

It took me years to find a copy of the movie: Project Grizzly (I’m also now a proud owner as Wendy bought me a copy for Christmas).  This movie was an instant classic.  It followed eccentric North Bay resident Troy Hurtubise on his epic journey to create a suit that would him enable to battle a grizzly bear and live.  All this in the name of “grizzly bear research”.

The best part of the movie is watching how Troy tested the suit.  He had himself thrown off the Niagara Escarpment.  Result: “I’m fine”.  He had a truck with a mattress attached to its grille run into him.  Result: “I’m fine”.  Finally, he had a log swung from a tree to hit him.  Result-you guessed it-”I’m fine”.  I wish I was making this up but I’m not-someone’s even YouTubed it here.

Anyways, eventually he went to Alberta to test the suit.  If you want to know what happens, rent the movie.  Unfortunately, since the movie things haven’t been too good to Troy.

It cost him his marriage (his wife had basically no part in the movie).  His brother went to Afghanistan with the Canadian Army and he tried to create a new type of body armour.  Didn’t work, but instead he created a fire retardant paste (apparently Diet Coke may have been an ingredient); alas no buyer.

Then he stumbled upon his greatest uncorroborated creation: Angel Light.  It is a magical x-ray that can see through walls, etc.  Funnily enough, this has not sold too well either.

His most recent exploits have been trying to create a Halo-like suit that soldiers can wear into combat.  However, it’s not going to well and he’s been forced to put it up for auction on eBay.