A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

please take the time to watch this 24:36 min video. it's beyond awesome!!

moot or hooey?

more successful positive world change has been made by individuals than any government in history.

Fat Pig

Neil Labute is the master of uncomfortable. Take the title of his controversial play, Fat Pig. With two, three letter words, he manages to outrage, a clever ploy that dares us to ask him to explain himself. And he does just that, with elegance, fluidity, and intelligence. The title may be a shock value tactic, but the play itself is clever, honest, insightful, and true.

Fat Pig, is a dark comedic look at how we are perceived and how we perceive others. The harsh truths behind who we are, with plenty of cringe in the process.

Labute thrives on exposing human frailty, cowardice, and vulnerability. He's also very good at comedy. His timing is superb. He can throw you into fits of laughter, and have you shifting in your seat, exposed and uncomfortable, before you've taken your next breath.

Director Michael Scholar Jr. has done a great job at staging the play in a way that keeps the audience focused and engaged. The set is minimal and shifts direction, both physically and metaphorically, at several points throughout the performance.

Kathryn Kirkpatrick delivers a brave and stellar performance as Helen, the object of Tom's (Lawrence Haegert) desire and Haegert pulls us in completely with his performance, giving us hope that he'll come through in the end. Jennifer Mawhinney and Aaron Craven's characters (Jeannie, Carter) provide the cringe. Their dialogue is rich with all we try to hide in ourselves.

Fat Pig is a play that everyone should see. If you can get past the title, it's definitely worth the time.

On Stage: Fat Pig

Where: Performance Works, Granville Island

When: May 20 – 30

Tickets: Tues – Thur & Matinees $21.50; Fri – Sat $25.50

contact: 604 684 2787

moot or hooey?

Labute has never drawn from personal experience for any of his characters or stories.

Idol Finale

I think America got it right.

I wanted to see them both win, and in the end, they did.

They are both great singers, but Kris said it himself, that he wouldn't know where to start in doing this on his own.

Now he'll have an entourage of people guiding him through to stardom.

He'll need that. It's a tough road.

Adam, he'll be just fine. He's been in the business long enough to know how to handle himself, and he's sure to get snapped up in a flash, if not by Simon himself.

Like I said before, If the results had been the other way around, I think Kris, for the reason above, would have stood a good chance at getting lost in the crowd as so many talented Idol finalists have done in the past.

That truly would have been a shame. He is one talented guy.

I've been a huge Adam fan from the get go. I accidentally caught Adam's audition one night while channel surfing, and that was that.

Adam will indeed reach "Madonna" status regardless, that, I am sure of.

So no regrets, "it is what it is"

moot or hooey?

Queen is looking for a new front man, and Adam is being considered.

final countdown

what the heck was that?

the grand finale of Idol performances and it just kind of (yawn)...

first, there were the repeat performances.

why?

why on earth, after (a) America and the judges have already given their opinions on the songs long ago, (b) it is the year 2009 and there are a freakin' gazillion crazy wild songs out there to chose from, and (c) with these two guys being as awesomely talented as they are at song choices and interpretations there of, would they ask them for a repeat performance, hmm??

why wouldn't they ask the contestants to pick their all time favourite song and do that instead?

a further glimpse into who they are, what they're capable of, and what we might expect to see on an album.

I'm just saying!

then there were the songs chosen by Simon. not Simon Simon, the other Simon.

I thought they were both ok, but just ok. no fault of the boys though.

both contestants did a great job on their songs, regardless of what the judges said, which brings me to what the judges said.

lol, this is rich.

"didn't like the songs. they weren't lively enough or good enough for this level of competition."

...bah, hahaha, you're kidding... right?

certainly they must realize they had no choice in the matter. that the songs had been hand picked... by a television producer. (a businessman, but I'm sure he's very musical)

I suppose someone had to crash and burn once the blunder was exposed.

and who's gonna bite the hand that feeds them.

last but certainly not least, the dismal DioGuardi song.

next to letting Paula get up on stage and lip sync her new single, that was one of the lamest things Idol has ever done.

poor Kris and Adam.

it wasn't right for either of them, the judges concurred. hmm, and yet somehow...

even Kara's face read clear the unsettling drudgery of the oversight, droning home the element of confusion that clung like hair to a glue ball over the night.

the boys must have been laughing their heads off when they heard that song for the first time.

that's probably where Kris' comment of Adam and him deciding "it wouldn't be a competition tonight, and instead, a great performance" came from.

"well, there's not much we're going to be able to do with this one" (high five)

after tonight, I really don't care much who wins. I love them both, and I think they both deserve record deals.

so, with that, I'm hoping that Kris wins tomorrow.

not because I think he's a better singer, but for this:

if humble, quiet Kris wins, he'll get an Idol record deal and have an entire entourage of people helping him through the transition to stardom.

He'll need that.

And there will be no doubt in my mind that someone will sign Adam as well, immediately, if Simon Cowell doesn't get to him first. Adam just stands out that much.

now if Adam wins, I'm not 100% sure that would work the same way for Kris. it should, and it'd be insane if it didn't, but I think there would be a good chance he'd get lost, like so many Idols in the past regardless of their awesome talent.

I'd like an opportunity to buy both their albums.

moot or hooey?

American Idol is going to let Alexis Grace go one tour with the others.

well who'd a thunk

I sure didn't see that coming... well, not really.

ok, so Kris really rocked it out last night. But Danny has never been in the bottom three, ever. Kris has been there a couple of times.

I guess at this point anything can happen.

who knows what they'll come up with for next week.

All I know is Adam better have his skates laced tightly, 'cause the race is on.

moot or hooey?

when Gokey cuts his record, he's going to guest star Jamal.

omega 3-6-9

Here's a glimpse of the journey I took:

Omega,

"great O"

standing O

Lambert's numbers are 3, 6, 9

He was the bomb tonight, no doubt...

however, I think Kris rocked the personal choice songs tonight more than anyone.

I was a little baffled at the song the judges picked for Danny.

All along they've been harping on him, and the others, about playing it safe and not picking songs with enough of a melody. It sounded like that song had six notes and that was it. All up high where he does his best work, yes, but a little surprising at the simplicity of the piece.

The song he chose for himself was a ton better as far as I'm concerned.

Kris, I thought did well on both songs, acing the second and clearly showing he has a huge gift. I agreed totally with Simon that the judges were lame in picking a song then placing blame on Kris for not doing it the way they wanted it to be done.

Personally, I've not been able to figure out why Kara is a judge, period.

If she's not cowardly echoing Randy, she's traveling down her narrow line of tunnel vision at the speed of light, surely not sound, or she may have picked up some audio expertise along the way.

Adam did quite well with Simon's choice of song, and it was a good choice. I didn't hear anything new though. Maybe that's one of the perils of being exceptionally exceptional. If Adam could have been just a little rotten in a couple of the previous rounds dammit!

I'm just mad at the $50 bucks I dropped the other day on eco-friendly eyeliner.

never mind.

The second song was good too, but how does one ice icing... glitter!

regardless of how this turns out, I'm buying tickets to catch the tour in Vancouver BC.

I know Adam's theatrical hands will be tied, but that won't stop me from hoping he burns a Wicked Ring of Fire in the middle of the stage.

way to go boys!

moot or hooey?

Madonna's manager has asked her not to contact Adam until after the announcement of the Idol winner.

Idol thoughts

I've thought from the very beginning (auditions) that Adam was the person to win. I still think so.

I'd originally pegged Adam, Danny, Allison, and Alexis as the top four. Not bad.

I do think that everyone's a winner this season. The top five anyway.

Adam's passion stands out though, and he has the showmanship to truly be great.

If he doesn't do something great through Idol, Tarantino is sure to write something for him.

I'LL write something for him!

I think Danny will be a very close second, Allison third, and Kris fourth.

Danny is very main stream and sexy. If he had just a bit more of an edge I think he'd pull ahead of Adam.

Allison can do everything. The only thing that's standing in the way of soaring past the boys is her age. She has yet to develop a "hunger" for what she wants.

I love Kris' voice. He has a very unique sound like REM, Aerosmith, Nirvana, but he's a bit too timid. If he doesn't reach out and grab it soon, it'll slip away from him.

having said all this, I think they're all ready to cut albums. Their careers have already been made. It's simply up to them to lasso the wave and ride it out.

moot or hooey?

if you ignore your hunger for 15 minutes, it won't come back until you've passed the ability to consume a full meal.

fortune teller

apparently i have to confess.
i went to have my fortune read and was told i need to write.

so, once i get back to vancouver, i will be inundating you with photos and stories of japan, until every rock has been turned, every blade of grass has been dusted.

yoyogi koen tokyo tomorrow, should put the proverbial icing on that cake.

moot or hooey?
if you do not do what your fortune teller tells you to do, you will be visited by large furry animals.

harajuku

tomorrow I board a plane to Tokyo.
the first place I'm going is Harajuku.
and if I manage to bump into these two, I'm never coming back :)

moot or hooey?
America may be the land of milk and honey, but Japan is the land of magic and truths.

deja vous? or simply really bad secret keepers...

well if it wasn't obvious before, it sure is now!
Adam's won Idol.
A standing ovation from Simon? hmm

So Allison gets a record deal too, eh.

And Scott said he wanted America to know he was versatile before they said goodbye.
He's going home?

Tonight was a strange night.
It reeked of betrayal.
Kind of like they'd all sat down and discussed what the outcome would be... with the top four, that is.

So Adam, Allison, and Danny have made deals already. Who's the fourth? That's the only thing I've not been able to peg. I'll bet though, that it's Matt or Kris. Just a feeling.

moot or hooey?
the odds of winning 6/49 are 1:64, while the odds of winning Super 7 is 1:12. The odds of winning Idol, 1:4, the others are just there for ratings.

CTV blooper

I don't know about you, but it drives me bonkers when people in the media publish ads, air commercials, read the news, and the like, with major grammatical errors.

It used to be that news editors and broadcasters, TV and radio hosts, etc, were reliable sources of proper grammar. One could always rely on them getting it right.

With all the possibilities to access Spell Check, Editors, Proof Readers, Grammar Check and a gazillion other things set up with the explicit purpose of aiding the writers and readers, there really shouldn't be any reason for grammatical mistakes.

This year's commercial build up to Tuesday's episode of American Idol ends with the announcer blurting out "this week the Idols will sing songs from the year in which they were born in"

Honestly CTV. no one caught that?

moot or hooey?

in Jan of 1989, the Mainichi daily news published the death of Emperor Hirohito, only he hadn't died yet. All those responsible were immediately fired.

more of my fav photos from '08

world's largest bath tub on L'ile de Porquerolles, in the south of France.Galapagos salt water Iguana (about a meter long), a projectile sneezer.
Sam, in a Lego box.
sea turtle tracks, Galapagos. It was mating season, but this is a G rated blog...I think.
Zorro's saddle, Costa Rica ranch in the northern hills. Zorro was off in the woods carving zeds in the trees.. on foot.
Lago Chico, Chilean/Argentine border. An awesome but very cold swim!
Heron, western Ecuador. Just as beautiful as the herons from the sanctuary in Stanley Park, Vancouver.
Chilean Mount Fuji, from high in the hills of Tinquilco.
back yard of American Astronaut Brian O'Leary's Ecuadorian oasis, along the Peruvian border.
visiting boyfriend George, on The Hour just before my friend Richard's documentary "Cubers" aired.
George tries solving the Rubik's Cube. moot or hooey?
George was so absorbed in solving the cube, that we missed the first 10 minutes of the show.

Nick of time

you know, I hate to say this, being the Adam fan that I am, but I really liked Nick's performance tonight. I still can't look at him when he sings, but I sure loved listening.

Adam pulled it back a bit which I think was a smart thing to do. Ear sex.
He was smart to change up the look again as well. Eye sex.
Kudos for acknowledging the band. I'll bet they're all on their cells right now, dialing your number... seriously.

Allison, omg, tried to do too much. In my opinion, that was an untouchable song. Gwen S. already did everything I ever wanted to hear done with it.

Danny was ok, but I didn't hear much of a difference between this and his other performances.

Megan, when is she going to find the right song. I love her voice but she may have blown it tonight.

Matt, I didn't really like it that much. He sounded like a cheap cover singer.

Scott, he didn't actually do that badly tonight, but again, it wasn't enough to stop me from going into the bedroom to finish folding the laundry.

Anoop, well, what can I say. Sayonara? perhaps. A strange choice of song. Again, someone who's really not that bad, when he has a little guidance. Unfortunately right now, he has no idea where he's going or how to get there.
But just to show you pretty much anything can go full circle into something amazing, I'm sharing this incredible rainbow that sat over my house the other day.

It's either a rainbow or an awfully large contact lens.

moot or hooey?
when you see a double rainbow, the colors on the second one, are reversed.

Kiefer gets naked

I hate all the skinny ass photos on the net these days.
How are we supposed to blog properly about the people we love... 

Tonight it happened. Lucky season seven!!
Kiefer got naked!
Oh yes he did. He took his shirt off then he dropped his drawers, in public. It was awesome!
So the camera didn't shoot below the belt. That's irrelevant when one has imagination.

Let me tell you how it goes down.

The alley is dimly lit. Jack Bauer is wearing a white cotton shirt. You know, the kind women like to wear on sleep overs. He's just removed his pants.

He looks into the distance, then gently pulls his arms out of his shirt.

He stands there half naked in the middle of the street, awaiting orders from the fully clothed woman with the examining wand.
She stares without saying a word.
He somehow knows what she wants. 

We all know what she wants.

He hesitates, gives one of those "here? now?" looks, does the "oh I give in" slump of the shoulders, then slowly steps out of his tackle holders.

He doesn't move, like he's waiting for something. The audience goes wild!

Jack apologizes for all the scars on his chest. 

The woman breaks into a sweat. She thinks she can read her name over his left nipple.
She's snapped back by the little tattoo of the pizza deliver boy on his bicep and tells Jack she's going to have to "lock him up" but before that, she's going to give him a "shower".

Jack stands in the middle of the street spread eagle (gawd!) while they soap him up from head to toe.
When she's done with him, she "tests" him to see if he was exposed to anything harmful, and lets him go.was it good for you? 'cause it sure was good for me!

moot or hooey?
tonight's episode won't be posted on the web because of its racy content. 

(I've just posted the photo below 'cause it made me laugh way too hard. Enjoy it while it's still here.)quote read "Jack hates Nemo"

Idol guitar

I couldn't resist posting this great photo from my trip to LA last month.
(Ndugu Chancler, moi, Patrice Rushen, Paul Jackson)

My friend Ndugu did a music workshop with my friend Patrice, and Paul Jackson. It was awesome of course. How could it not be with three of the industry's best.

They graciously volunteered their time to sit in a room filled with budding musicians, and gave their all to these kids. It was inspiring.

LA is an incredible city, but what makes it so, are the amazing people who live there.

moot or hooey?
Paul Jackson sat next to Adam Lambert and played guitar during his performance of Tracks Of My Tears, on American Idol.

the tracks of my tears

OMG!!

ok, I guess I should mention who I'm raving about (as if it wasn't too obvious)
the amazing Adam Lambert.

He did it!
He needed to get personal and close, and he rocked tonight's performance to a standing ovation from Smokey Robinson.
How awesome is that!!

I think anyone who's seen Adam's performance of Dust in the Wind would know he was totally capable of it though.

Adam is on his way. Just make sure you keep an eye on Allison, your fiercest competition.

moot or hooey?
Adam has already been offered a recording contract regardless of the outcome of AI

tonight's the night, everything's gonna be alright...

Motown is gonna make or break a lot of the contestants tonight on American Idol.

I'm guessing Adam will do something by Diana Ross. He loves the Divas!



moot or hooey?
they're saving the "save" card for Scott

POLECAM - ICONIX HD RH1

this is the new camera i'm saving up to buy.

take a good look.
this is the wave of the future!!

this awesome little HD camera has won a multitude of industry awards to rival its competitors.

check out the specs on this beauty.

ok, so i'm going to have to save a few thousand dollars to get all the bells and whistles i'm looking for. i just hope i can do it before i'm ready to go to camera with my documentary in september.

way to go Polecam!!

moot or hooey?
by the time my doc is ready to shoot, there will most likely be two more updated models of this camera on the market.

RIP: a remix manifesto

Brett Gaylor's ambitious documentary, RIP: A Remix Manifesto, is an eye-opening, insightful, and amusing look at one of the pressing issues of the Internet Age: how corporate culture and copyright laws are putting a censoring headlock on freedom of expression, knowledge, and creativity.

The film's central protagonist is Girl Talk (Gregg Gillis), a mash-up music master at creating “sample” songs: songs made up by snippets or “samples” of pre-existing songs.

In an illuminating sequence Gaylor shows how metamorphosing a previous idea, evolved over the years and into Girl Talk's show.

“The Staple singers had a song called 'The Last Time' and The (Rolling) Stones basically riffed on that to create their 'The Last Time'.” he says. “Andrew Oldham then did the instrumental of 'The Last Time' which is basically the refrain that you're familiar with from The Verve and that became 'Bittersweet Symphony' and then Girl Talk takes it one more step and adds the Ying Yang Twins.”

In a day and age where it's common understanding that pretty much nothing is new, that everything borrows from something and has done so for centuries, Gaylor questions why it's illegal to create something new out of scraps of things from the past. According to copyright laws, art itself can be illegal.

Gaylor explores the right to “fair use” or “fair dealing”, a legal defence that allows an artist to “borrow” from another to make a point. Should Intellectual property be protected or shared.
He believes the past should be fair game.

And he doesn't limit his argument to the music industry. Copyright culture in general. The Corporate Copyrighting of plants, animals, insects, and diseases and the very real threat that poses to society.

Gaylor started a web site, posted his rushes and invited users to remix them any way they pleased. Some of the footage made it into the film such as the one segment 16 students got together and altered into an animation piece.
Check out his film web site

RIP opens this weekend at The Ridge Theatre (3131 Arbutus at West 15th)
Screening Times: 4pm, 7pm, 9pm daily

Director Brett Gaylor will be in attendance for the 7pm and 9pm screenings March, 20th

moot or hooey?
Gaylor doesn't have the rights to any of the music in his film

Idolizing Lambert

Adam Lambert is definitely my favourite this year. I think that's pretty obvious.

He's in a league of his own and it excites me to no end that he shakes up the judges the way he does.

He'll get picked up regardless, and I'll be first in line for tickets to his show.

I hope he gets to show his gentler side at some point during the competition though. He can deliver, and I think the judges as well as the audience need to know he can make that stretch. It'd be a shame if we never got to see that.

We know how original and hot he can be, now let us get close.

As the performances evolve, so do the performers.

Allison Iraheta is awesome. She's my new second favourite to Adam. She is so versatile. Can do country, rock, pop, pretty much anything they throw at her, and she's so incredibly young to be able to handle that with such grace.

Anoop Desai really shone this round, and he is definitely third on my list of great singers. I'm just not sure he has the versatility and audience appeal he'll need to make it to the top four.

Danny Gokey. I love this guy. I think he's a great singer, but he may have shot himself in the foot with the "Jesus" song. Kind of like the little blond Elvis from the last American Idol. Jaydee Bixby.

That's it.

I wasn't really that impressed with the others this week and it broke my heart that Alexis Grace didn't smoke that song. She's such an awesome singer, and totally marketable.

Lil Rounds, though I love her voice, didn't showcase it properly this week. This would have been a perfect opportunity to do a heart stopping ballad, and she would have knocked it out of the ballpark.

Megan Joy. I like her. She's very marketable but I'm not too sure where she'd fit. I'm still waiting and hoping to hear something remarkable from her.

moot or hooey?

although originality is a must, necessity is the mother of reinvention.

Adam Lambert

what can I say, I simply love this guy. his imagination, talent, and fearlessness.
a true entertainer!
best thing I've seen in a very long time.

moot or hooey?
Adam Lambert is on his ninth time around.

are you a mensa genius?

Here's a little test for you all.

You have to work out what the numbers and letters mean.

Scoring:
1 to 5 average
6 to 11 somewhat intelligent
12 to 18 intelligent
19 + genius

example:
24 H in a D = 24 Hours In A Day

1) 26 L of the A

2) 7 D of the W

3) 7 W of the W

4) 12 S of the Z

5) 66 B of the B

6) 52 C in a P (WJs)

7) 13 S in the USF

8) 18 H on a G C

9) 39 B of the O T

10) 5 T on a F

11) 90 D in a R A

12) 3 B M (S H T R)

13) 32 is the T in D F at which W F

14) 15 P in a R T

15) 3 W on a T

16) 100 C in a R

17) 11 P in a F (S) T

18) 12 M in a Y

19) 13=UFS

20) 8 T on a O

21) 29 D in F in a L Y

22) 27 B in the N T

23) 365 D in a Y

24) 13 L in a B D

25) 52 W in a Y

26) 9 L of a C

27) 60 M in a H

28) 23 P of C in the H B

29) 64 S on a C B

30) 9 P in S A

31) 6 B to an O in C

32) 1000 Y in a M

33) 15 M on a D M C

moot or hooey?
only two Mensa members have ever achieved full marks for this test.

Bachata!!!!! yayaya!

Bachatas
by tryptico

check out this amazing bachata dance video.

moot or hooey?
if you can dance, you can get a hot date in pretty much any latin country.

Idol Update

Ok, after tonight's performances, it's pretty clear who the top four are going to be...

only trouble is, no one's fessing up and it's driving me mental.

Here's how I think it's going to unfold.

Adam Lambert is a clear in. He's going to win the whole thing. End of story.

the other three in the top four are going to be Lil Rounds, Danny Gokey, and Alexis Grace. Having said that though, Matt Giraud, Allison Iraheta, and Jorge Nunez will give them a good run for their money.

The others, sayonara, two by two.

moot or hooey?

it's a huge shot in the foot to choose to sing a song that's been within somone else's top five hits.

 

Louis C.K.

this is soooooo funny!!

check it out while it's here.

moot or hooey?

the only reason they don't make the entire plane out of the material they make the little black box, is that it'd never get off the ground.