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LE NEWSLETTER
March 12, 2009
Well Happy St. Patrick's Day (a
little early). Get ready for all the local Irish pubs to be full to
capacity! Please drink responsibly. And am I the only that got really
screwed up by the time change this year? I don't know whether it's
morning or evening or when the end of my day has come. Now I'm aware too that
Spring Break is coming up ... let's be a little more cautious behind the wheel
as there will be more young people out in the streets.
Check out all the exciting news so please take a walk into your weekly
entertainment news!
::TOP STORIES::
Michael Jackson Announces Comeback In London
Source: www.globeandmail.com
- Reuters
(March 05, 2009) LONDON — U.S. pop star Michael Jackson announced his long-awaited comeback on
Thursday, telling hundreds of screaming fans he would perform in London this
summer and calling it his “final curtain call” in the city.
Wearing a military-style black jacket decorated with silver sequins and
punching the air, the 50-year-old revealed his plans on a makeshift stage at
the 20,000-capacity O2 Arena where he will play 10 dates starting on July 8.
“Thank you all...this is it,” said Jackson from behind a pair of dark glasses.
“These will be my final shows ... performances in London. When I say this is
it, I mean this is it. I'll be performing the songs my fans want to hear. This
is it, this is really it, this is the final curtain call.”
Music promoter AEG Live, which has signed a deal with Jackson, said that the
10-show Las Vegas-style “residency” could be extended if there was sufficient
demand for tickets.
AEG Live president and CEO Randy Phillips did not rule out further co-operation
with one of the world's biggest music stars, telling Reuters that his company
had a three-and-a-half-year plan to work with Jackson.
“He could gross well over $400-million over the three and a half years,” he
said.
The agreement could involve developing a big-screen version of Jackson's hit
song and video Thriller.
Asked about concerns over Jackson's health in recent years, Phillips said
Jackson had passed a four-and-a-half hour physical examination with independent
doctors.
Jackson, still viewed as “The King of Pop” by his fans, has lived the life of a
virtual recluse since his acquittal of child abuse charges at a 2005 trial.
His last album of new material was Invincible, released in 2001, and his
position as one of pop music's biggest acts has been increasingly overshadowed
by bizarre behaviour, a changing appearance and questions about his health.
But fans in London were not concerned.
“Of course it's worth it,” said Shuhena Begum, who travelled from the central
English city of Birmingham to see Jackson. “My whole family is mad about
Michael -- he's the greatest,” the 21-year-old added.
She said much of the negative press about Jackson in recent years was
unjustified.
“People are out there trying to look like Barbie dolls and yet no one says
anything about them, but whenever it's Michael it's different.”
There has been scepticism that Jackson is capable of playing a string of gigs,
and this would be his first concert series in 12 years. British bookmaker
William Hill has already offered odds that Jackson would not turn up for the
performances.
He is one of the biggest pop stars of all time, with an estimated 750 million
records sold. Thriller, released in 1982, is the best selling album
ever.
If he can pull it off, the string of concerts at a single venue would be both
lucrative and less demanding than a full-fledged tour.
But if the comeback fails to materialize, or is regarded as a flop, Jackson
would find it harder than ever to resurrect a career that has lain lifeless for
so long.
Jackson performed in London at the World Music Awards in 2006, but that
much-hyped return was described by critics as a shambles after he sang, in a
broken voice, just a few lines of his charity single We Are The World.
Fellow performer Prince gave his profile a major boost with a successful
21-night stay at the O2 in 2007 which amassed a reported $22-million, and
Britney Spears is due top appear there in June.
Jackson began his musical career with his siblings in the Motown group the
Jackson 5 and went on release a string of hit solo albums.
What To Buy For The City That Has Everything
Source: www.thestar.com
- Christopher Hume
(March 05, 2009) Not every day does a city turn 175. That's not old by civic standards, it's
true; some cities have been around for millennia. But here in North America,
it's getting up there.
And let's face it; despite the problems and an increasingly creaky governance
structure, Toronto has done pretty well so far. The world may think we're a bit
dull, but in times like these, that translates into the most precious commodity
there is: stability. Why, even our banks are still profitable, not that we hate
them any less for it.
So, in keeping with the birthday spirit, here are a few gift suggestions for
the city that, er, has everything:
A NEW SQUARE AT YONGE AND BLOOR: Now that the 80-storey condo on the southeast
corner of Toronto's most important intersection seems to be on hold – keep your
fingers crossed – let's use the site for a new public square. The size is
right, but best of all is the location. It's perfect. If we're not careful, the
property could end up as a parking lot; a square is infinitely preferable.
Given the mess we've made of the other three corners, this could be the one
that makes up for earlier mistakes.
LA RAMBLA OF TORONTO: Close Yonge St. south of Bloor and, voila, instant
Barcelona. Okay, it sounds crazy, but why not? How much traffic does Yonge
really handle? Besides, a car-free main street would do wonders for downtown
business and attract visitors from all over the world, let alone the GTA. The
merchants would shout and scream at first, yet they'd be the big winners.
Besides, Yonge is well served by the subway and access isn't a problem. The
scheme could also help create a string of public spaces extending from the
waterfront past Yonge-Dundas Square up to Bloor. Brilliant!
While we're at it, what about dedicated pedestrian zones throughout the city?
Kensington Market; Gould St. at Ryerson University; St. George St. where it
runs through the University of Toronto; Yorkville and John St. come to mind as
ideal candidates for pedestrianization.
A CHARACTERISTIC CUISINE: Quebec has poutine, Chicago pizza, Philadelphia its
cream cheese. What is Toronto's trademark dish? The answer is everything and
nothing. That's great for residents, who have all the choice in the world, but
what about tourists? What is the one thing they have to eat for a complete
Toronto experience?
BETTER STREET FOOD: We've heard the talk from City Hall about relaxing
Toronto's Victorian rules and regulations for street food, but so far nothing
has happened. Still the same old hot dogs and sausages, fries and pop – it's
kids' food, disgusting, unhealthy and infantilizing.
A BETTER `BETTER WAY': The transit system we have is fine as far as it goes,
but it doesn't go far enough and hasn't for ages. It was built for a city that
had half the population it does today. Little surprise then that Toronto has
fallen behind much of the world. Every year we do too little and the city loses
ground. Have we reached the point of no return? Perhaps not, but we're
uncomfortably close.
A CONTEMPORARY ART GALLERY: No offence to the Power Plant or MOCCA, but neither
has the capacity to be a major player on the art scene, either local or
international. The project would mean a new building – a Gehry original,
perhaps? – preferably on the waterfront, and would continue the momentum
created by the city's noted cultural renaissance. Given the banking sector's
continued profitability, it could be counted on to provide philanthropic input.
BENCHES: Sounds ridiculously simple, but think about a city awash in benches, a
city that doesn't view the act of sitting down in public as a form of
loitering, an antisocial statement, one to be discouraged. Instead, imagine a
city that welcomed you to sit, relax and enjoy the scenery. What about a
program for artists, architects and designers to make chairs that would be
installed around the city?
A NEW HOCKEY TEAM: The Toronto Maple Leafs are no longer a hockey team; they
are a metaphor for failure and, worse, failure that succeeds despite itself.
Win or lose, it makes no difference, so of course the Leafs are indifferent.
A WORKING PLANETARIUM: The old McLaughlin Planetarium beside the Royal Ontario
Museum has been closed for years. During its time, it was a venue for light
shows, dramas and even a bit of astronomy. Now the marvellous domed structure
has been reduced to nothing more than a hunk of real-estate meat waiting to be
cooked.
MORE 24-HOUR RESTAURANTS: It isn't often we find ourselves searching for a
place to eat in the middle of the night, but when the need arises, it is
inevitably desperate and must be obeyed at any cost. Besides all-night donut
shops and a few restaurants (Fran's, 7 West Café), there is pathetically little
to offer hungry Toronto troglodytes. We've been sleeping on this problem for
far too long.
175 Reasons To Love Toronto
Source: www.thestar.com
(March 05, 2009) With
Honest Ed's, Nuit Blanche, and too many Chinatowns to count, there is no place
on earth like our city.
1. It is the centre of the (Canadian) universe.
2. Jane Jacobs called it home.
3. Our first mayor led a rebellion.
4. We can finally buy a decent burrito.
5. We can hang up our laundry without stirring up gossip.
6. We have independent bookstores in every neighbourhood – and new ones
are still opening.
7. Our sports teams wear blue and purple, and we look damn good in blue
and purple.
8. We have a Little Malta.
9. And a Little Azores.
10. There are so many Chinatowns, we've lost count.
11. There's a festival for every neighbourhood and ethnic group in the
city – and about a dozen crammed into every summer weekend.
12. A million people can crowd the streets during one of these festivals
and nobody gets mugged.
13. Gays and lesbians can marry here.
14. There's a perfect, tiny old church in the courtyard of the Eaton
Centre.
15. And a prayer labyrinth.
16. North America's most stable banks are based here.
17. The elegant footbridge at the mouth of the Humber that has inspired
thousands of photographs.
18. The surreal spectacle of Church Street on Halloween.
19. Long before wi-fi, we could predict the weather by looking at the
beacon atop the Canada Life building.
20. Violent crime is actually going down.
21. The downtown population is actually going up.
22. Admit it: A couple of the seemingly thousands of new condo dwellings
are actually rather nice.
23. One of the city's best golf courses runs underneath its busiest
highway.
24. We can watch (and cringe at) young daredevils at Cummer Skateboard
Park.
25. The newspaper reading room at the Toronto Reference Library.
26. We have a restaurant devoted to poutine.
27. Those streetcar drivers who assert themselves over the automated
voice system with their own personal shout-outs for various intersections and
attractions along their routes.
28. Going down the giant escalator at the Paramount – er, Scotiabank
Theatre.
29. Working up a sweat on the old wooden indoor running track at Hart
House, followed by lunch at the Gallery Grill.
30. Dining on pho at 2 in the morning.
31. The inspirational messages on the Inglis billboard keep Gardiner
Expressway commuters uplifted.
32. Touring local history (and stopping for a game of chess) at Mount
Pleasant Cemetery.
33. The private viewing booths at the NFB's Mediatheque.
34. That guy – you know the one – who insists on wearing shorts in the
dead of winter.
35. We proudly display our favourite of Spacing magazine's iconic
buttons of TTC subway stations.
36. We dutifully separate our garbage into black, blue and green.
37. Learning to love theatre classics, thanks to Soulpepper.
38. Michael Snow's Canada geese sculpture in the Eaton Centre.
39. If you're bored by what you're watching at the Winter Garden
Theatre, you can admire the faux greenery.
40. The artistic Utopia of the gorgeously restored 401 Richmond and the
Wychwood Art Barns.
41. We've got more cyclists per capita than Vancouver.
42. The SkyDome (okay, Rogers Centre) when the roof is in the process of
being opened or closed.
43. Basking in the sun at the Canada Master tennis tournament (okay, the
Rogers Cup).
44. From the Humber Bay butterfly habitat, the city looks almost
beautiful.
45. The dim sum is as good as the tapas. (And the antipasti are as good
as the panchan. And ...)
46. We've got a sugar museum. And a shoe museum.
47. When you look up you can see hawks circling.
48. The double-decker Go trains flashing by cars gridlocked on the
Gardiner.
49. We are a hockey city, baseball city, basketball city and now a
soccer city.
50. We are sometimes also a cricket city.
51. Eating your way across the globe at St. Lawrence Market on a
Saturday.
52. The Dakota Tavern, the west end's roots-music rec room.
53. Watching leaves turn at the Toronto Botanical Garden in the fall.
54. Stopping in your tracks as a bigger-than-you-remembered Porter plane
descends over the harbour.
55. The flume log ride at Ontario Place.
56. Without us, where would they film movies set in American cities?
57. Honest Ed's shrine to kitsch even lets Toronto fill in for Vegas
from time to time.
58. We never have to stop traffic for a Stanley Cup parade.
59. A family of beavers made a home for themselves at the Music Garden.
60. Yonge-Dundas Square was supposed to be Toronto's answer to Times
Square. It's really no comparison, but don't you want to give the city a big
condescending hug just for trying?
61. Colin Partridge's vivid tree carvings in High Park.
62. Getting to the Toronto City Centre Airport necessitates a ride on
the world's shortest ferry route.
63. Bumping into a towel-clad celeb at Stillwater Spa.
64. Marvelling at the machines that churn out sweet walnut cakes in
Little Korea.
65. Chilled-out revellers and circus performers at free summertime
Promise parties put Cherry Beach on the map.
66. You can pay $5 for a cup of coffee at a growing number of specialty
cafes – or still get your double-double for 90 cents.
67. For 10 star-struck days in September, Toronto is justified calling
itself Hollywood North.
68. The raging fandom on display – for lacrosse! – at Toronto Rock games
is inspiring.
69. Spotting a big, beautiful white-tailed deer nibbling greenery at G.
Ross Lord Park.
70. Watching a big ugly amphibious Hippo bus taking a swim in the
harbour.
71. The legendary white squirrel.
72. We've now got a deli and bagels that make trips to Montreal almost
unnecessary.
73. The smiles on everyone's faces during the first warm spell of the
year.
74. A hive of indie rock, from Apostle of Hustle to Woodhands.
75. Hip hop too: Kardi, K-os and K'Naan call it home.
76. Scouting for migrating birds at the Leslie Street Spit – but look
out for the snakes.
77. Nuit Blanche, for letting us see the city with fresh eyes.
78. The gorilla compound at the Toronto Zoo.
79. The intimate zoos at High Park, Riverdale Park and Centre Island.
80. A huge festival that treats authors like real celebrities.
81. Exploring the cottagey, car-free Ward Island neighbourhood and
wondering why we don't all live there.
82. The united nations of Baldwin Street.
83. Tai chi at Christie Pits.
84. The sad, poignant sculptures at Ireland Park.
85. Being able to overhear – and see – top-shelf jazz from a comfortable
perch outside the Nathan Phillips mainstage tent during the jazz festival when
you can't afford a ticket.
86. Getting back to nature, almost, in a meandering ravine.
87. Housing is getting more affordable by the month.
88. The view of the city as you drive south on the DVP.
89. Riding your bike along the DVP and Gardiner during the annual Ride
for Heart.
90. Lively literati – from Michael Ondaatje to Bryan Lee O'Malley –
helped make this a city of the imagination.
91. Enza, supermodel.
92. The glass staircase in the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing
Arts.
93. The glass floor at the CN Tower.
94. The perfect blend of old and new in the Brookfield Place atrium.
95. Top-notch, small-scale comedy at Bad Dog, Comedy Bar, Second City –
and a dozen other barroom stages.
96. Basking in verdant luxury in the backyards of the wealthy along the
Belt Line trail.
97. Shirtless Zanta doing pushups in the cold.
98. Extensive back-alley graffiti, some of which is better than the
stuff hanging in galleries.
99. Gehry, Libeskind, Alsopp: Thank you, thank you, thank you, for
giving us architecture worthy of debate.
100. Spotting the almost mystical garbage train on the TTC late at
night.
101. Fig and molasses, chestnut and birch syrup ... and other exotic
flavours from Kensington Market Organic Ice Cream.
102. The care that goes into irrepressibly quirky allotment gardens.
103. Winter? What winter? Eating, shopping and working in the PATH.
104. Rightfully beloved Massey Hall has welcomed too many big names to
count.
105. Distillery delicacies: Mayan hot chocolate at Soma, organic beer at
Mill Street Brewery, exotic fromage from A Taste of Quebec and a meat pie from
Brick Street Bakery, enjoyed in the city's most cinematic setting.
106. The surprisingly vibrant beach volleyball scene at Ashbridge's Bay.
107. Helping a student by riding a rickshaw.
108. Listening to live music at the restored deco classic Carlu.
109. Eating brunch three times a day, every day, in Leslieville.
110. SARS made us stronger – and the resulting benefit concert found a
use for the empty expanse of Downsview Park.
111. Ron Baird's landmark kinetic steel sculpture on Dufferin St. south
of Steeles Ave.
112. The smell of baked goods at Bathurst and Eglinton subway stations.
113. The giant glowing pill-shaped classroom in the Leslie Dan Faculty
of Pharmacy at U of T.
114. There's a downtown driving range that doubles as a drive-in
theatre.
115. The CN Tower withstands some 50 lightning strikes a year.
116. We saw a guy take his Christmas tree home on the subway.
117. The Dufferin Grove organic farmers market is open every Thursday
from 3 to 7 p.m. year round.
118. Going for mojitos at Julie's.
119. Then listening to live Cuban music at Lula Lounge.
120. Hopping from one you-call-that-art? gallery to another on Queen
West for Thursday-night opening receptions.
121. Coming across a part of the city transformed for a movie shoot.
122. The impossibly ornate, painstakingly constructed Hindu temple that
seems totally out of place alongside the 427.
123. Sipping from a green coconut and wishing Toronto had palm trees
during Caribana.
124. Lining up for Hakka food in Scarborough.
125. Dancing to a band from a faraway land in the open air at
Harbourfront.
126. Reading a book on the bizarre slab of granite on Yorkville Ave.
127. Feeling like you're the first to discover fresh pupusas on Augusta
Ave.
128. Jackie Richardson, a one-woman musical treasure.
129. Dusk Dances and Shakespeare in the Park: keeping green space
interesting.
130. Pillow fights, Zombie Walks, subway parties, Manhunt and Capture
the Flag: keeping it weird.
131. Spectacular patios – the Madison, Quigley's and the Rectory, to
name just three – filling up at the first sign of good weather.
132. The "secret" patios hiding at the back of dozens of restaurants.
133. Grazing among the cow statues in the TD Centre plaza.
134. Watching glass blowers performing their molten arts at York Quay
Centre.
135. Lying on the grass for a concert at Molson Amphitheatre.
136. Determining your favourite pa'an-wallah – by sampling them all – on
Gerrard Street.
137. Collecting your winnings – even if you're at a loss overall – at
Woodbine Racetrack.
138. The fact that decades after Mies van der Rohe designed them, the TD
towers look brand new.
139. The myriad and lovely stained glass windows on Annex-area homes.
140. Singing karaoke with the Gladstone Cowboy.
141. Doors Open proves that yes, we do give a damn about architecture.
142. And there's more to like here than just the Flatiron Building.
143. Neil Young and Glenn Gould were both born here.
144. The Rolling Stones surprise us with a secret concert once in a
while.
145. Off-leash areas of parks, where dog owners sit on picnic tables and
mingle while their furry charges roam free.
146. The harbour lit up with sails at sunset on a windy summer's eve.
147. Watching an extended streetcar accordion its way around a curve.
148. Winter DJ skating parties.
149. The overhead OMNIMAX screen and comfy chairs you can lay back on at
the Ontario Science Centre.
150. Trying not to puke while riding the Zipper at the CNE.
151. Surviving the vomit comet.
152. The awe-inspiring R.C. Harris fortress of water filtration.
153. York University's ravine-shrouded Glendon campus.
154. The best movies you've never heard of at Cinematheque Ontario.
155. The best movies you missed the first time around – for a better
price – at neighbourhood rep houses.
156. Ogling the old-money opulence of Rosedale.
157. And the nouveau opulence of the Bridle Path.
158. The sights and smells of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.
159. Summertime drum circles at Trinity Bellwoods Park.
160. We have had two World Series championships when cities that have
had franchises longer – that means you, Houston and San Diego – haven't had
any.
161. Finding the perfectly musty tweed jacket in Kensington Market.
162. Watching a dance lesson through the expansive windows of the
National Ballet School.
163. A taste of Dover at Bluffer's Park.
164. The historic outdoor pool at Sunnyside Park.
165. Helping the artisans make meals from scratch at Black Creek Pioneer
Village.
166. Actual gold in the windows of the Royal Bank tower makes us almost
nostalgic for days of excess.
167. Winterlicious and Summerlicious, when we can afford to dine amongst
the expense-account set.
168. The city is finally realizing there's a waterfront.
169. The Mayor is your Twitter buddy.
170. Looking out from a rooftop lounge, you can see how much the city
has changed in the last decade.
171. We're nicer than they say we are. We're just a little shy
sometimes.
172. Big enough to be anonymous. Small enough to know your neighbours.
173. It's easy to leave.
174. It's just as easy to come back.
175. If we don't love it, who will?
Rashida’s
Rhapsody
Source: Kam Williams
(March 09, 2009) Born in L.A. on February 25, 1976, Rashida Leah Jones is the younger daughter of jazz
icon/composer/arranger/record producer Quincy
Jones and actress Peggy
Lipton of Mod Squad fame. Rashida was raised in Bel Air and
attended the prestigious Buckley School where she was a member of the National
Honor Society and voted the “Girl Most Likely to Succeed.” The academic
overachiever also received religious training at a Hebrew school en route to
Harvard University, and she continues to practice Judaism today.
Not one to shrink away from controversy, the brainy beauty came to the defense
of her father as a teenager when he was criticized by Tupac Shakur in a 1994
interview with Source Magazine. During a rant against interracial
relationships, the late gangsta’ rapper specifically indicted Quincy Jones for
marrying a white woman, adding that his children were “all mixed and
[expletived] up because they were biracial.”
Although some might question the wisdom of even getting into a pissing fight
with a gun-toting, convicted felon who advocated selling crack to kids, Rashida
nonetheless summoned up the gumption to confront Tupac, publicly taking him to
task for his scathing remarks. His curious response, however, was to woo her
big sister, Kidada, and by 1996 the couple was engaged and planning their
wedding when ’Pac was blown away in an ambush which remains unsolved to this
day.
The next year, Rashida graduated from Harvard before kick-starting her acting
career in the TV miniseries The Last Don. Since then, she’s been a staple on
the tube, appearing on such shows as Freaks and Geeks, Boston Public,
Chappelle’s Show, and most recently, The Office. And her new sitcom, Parks and
Recreation, where she will co-star opposite SNL alum Amy Poehler, is set to
premiere on NBC on April 9th.
Although twice named to People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People in the World
list (in 2002 and 2007), Rashida remains grounded, having been romantically
linked not only to heartthrob Josh Hartnett, but also to relatively
homely-looking guys like Tobey Maguire, SNL’s Seth Meyers, Mark Ronson, and
John Krasinski, a fellow cast member on The Office,.
Here, she talks about her new movie, I
Love You, Man, a romantic comedy where she
plays the fiancée of a nerdy loner (Paul Rudd) desperate to make a friend
(Jason Segel) to serve as best man at their impending wedding.
KW: Hey Rashida, thanks for the time.
RJ: No problem.
KW: What interested you in making I Love You, Man?
RJ: First of all, the script was hilarious, and it was just really nice to find
a female character that was dynamic, outspoken, interesting and actually an
important part of the plot.
KW: How did you feel about the picture’s bawdy brand of humour?
RJ: I’m not easily offended. I have a pretty high tolerance for raunchiness or
shock value, so I’m the wrong person to use as a gauge. I just liked the fact
that the comedy, for the most part, is definitely based in reality which
naturally lends itself to making crazy jokes.
KW: I’m probably a little more prudish than the average person, because I will
admit that at the screening I attended, the rest of the audience was howling
from beginning to end, and they even gave it a hearty round of applause at the
end. I loved it, too, but I was certainly shocked here and there.
RJ: That’s great!
KW: How did you like working with Paul Rudd and Jason Segel?
RJ: They’re both absolutely just the most generous, kind and hilarious people
I’ve ever worked with. It was really a treat.
KW: I see that your new sitcom, Parks and Recreation, will be premiering soon.
Will you continue to appear on The Office?
RJ: It’s not looking that way at the moment, because I’m playing a different
character, and those shows are scheduled to come on back-to-back.
KW: You’ve got a new movie and a new TV show. Which medium do you prefer to
work in?
RJ: It’s nice to be able to do both TV and film. They both have their advantages
and disadvantages. Hopefully, I’ll be able to bounce around in both.
KW: I was very impressed by your performance and chemistry with Paul in this
film. So, if it’s a big hit, as I suspect, I’d guess this is going to be a real
breakout role for you.
RJ: Thank you. I hope that that’s the case. If not, at the very least, I’m
really proud of it. I think it turned out really well.
KW: I know that you also sing. Any plans to pursue that further right
now?
RJ: Music will always be a part of my life, but career-wise, acting is where my
heart is.
KW: I heard that you have a photographic memory. Is that true?
RJ: No. I don’t know where that came from. I think my dad might have said that
in a moment of pride, adding to the list of things he’s proud about.
KW: Speaking of your father, is there any truth to the rumour that he was the
taxi driver for the Fresh Prince of Bel Air?
RJ: No, that’s not true. Who told you that?
KW: My son, who knows every episode inside and out. It sure looks a lot like your
Dad in that opening sequence. And his name comes up as executive producer right
after the cabbie’s seen on the screen. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4BQxpXYPk8&feature=related]
RJ: I know.
KW: Incredible! I always thought that I had a piece of inside knowledge that
the cab driver was Quincy Jones. But you would know. Do you think the actor
even looks like your Dad?
RJ: Kind of. I can’t really remember, but kind of.
KW: I’ve always told people that it’s Quincy Jones, but I guess I’ve been wrong
all these years.
RJ: I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong.
KW: Well, it’ll be interesting Googling to get to the bottom of it now. You’ve
made People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People twice, five years apart, most
recently in 2007. How does that feel?
RJ: It feels really nice. Maybe I’m getting better with age.
KW: What I find just as interesting is you’re making Harper’s Bazaar’s Best
Dressed List.
RJ: Yes, thank you.
KW: How would you describe your sense of style?
RJ: I like to wear what make me feel great, which can mean the color, or that
the fit’s right, or that it’s just an interesting piece of clothing. I like to
change it up.
KW: Do you have favourite designers?
RJ: I do have designers that I love to wear, like Philip Lim and Marc Jacobs
whose stuff I know will look good on my body. But still, I always like to
express myself by changing things up.
KW: What was the idea behind that series of hilarious public service announcements
you and Natalie Portman made together? I saw them on youtube. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7xT3eiX35w&feature=related]
RJ: It was right before the election, and we went to the writers of Funny or
Die because we basically wanted to do something poking fun at those political
commercials which we felt were way too serious. So, we decided to do something
really stupid.
KW: How do you feel about Obama’s winning?
RJ: I’m elated! That was the only hope we had left in this country. It made me
feel really proud to be an American for the first time in a long time.
KW: In terms of Judaism, are you Orthodox, Conservative or Reformed? Do you
keep a kosher kitchen?
RJ: No, I do not keep kosher. I grew up reformed. I never had my bat mitzvah,
but I still practice and go to synagogue on high holidays.
KW: Who are you inviting to your Seder this year at Passover?
RJ: You know, I don’t have a Seder. I always have to piggyback on somebody
else’s. I’ll probably go to my friend’s parents’ house.
KW: I’m not Jewish, but I wrote a piece about a Seder I was invited to that
look like the United Nations, since they had invited a motley group of people
of every color, creed and ethnicity. There were more Gentiles there than Jews.
RJ: How nice. That’s real the spirit of Passover.
KW: What was the source of your beef with Tupac?
RJ: He did this interview in The Source Magazine in which he started ripping on
interracial relationships, saying that they ruined the black race and stuff
like that. I got pretty irate and frustrated, so I wrote him an open
letter.
KW: When he was murdered, did the police come to speak to you?
RJ: No.
KW: Just kidding. How did you feel when your sister, Kidada, started dating
him?
RJ: He apologized a lot, but we had to work through it.
KW: Is there any question no one ever asks you, that you wish someone would?
RJ: That’s a good question, but no, I can’t come up with an answer to that,
because I’m so used to being asked everything. [Chuckles]
KW: The Columbus Short question: Are you happy?
RJ: That’s really sweet. Yes, I actually am happy. Thank you for asking.
KW: The Laz Alonso question: Is there anything your fans can do to help you?
RJ: Not for me particularly, but something that irks me is the crazy,
stalker-ish, aspects of this voyeuristic culture. People are never really
satiated by looking at celebrities whose lives have nothing to do with their
own. It’s just supporting this really awful culture where people are being
harassed and stalked every day, every minute of the day. I don’t think that’s
what people bargained for when they decided to become an actor or singer. It
can start with people not supporting that tabloid culture.
KW: That’s probably why the WASP philosophy is that your name should only in
the paper twice, when you’re born, and when you die.
RJ: There you go. I like that. That’s a very good philosophy, but I think I’m
way beyond that now. [Laughs]
KW: The Tasha Smith question: Are you ever afraid?
RJ: Yeah, definitely. I’m afraid of roaches.
KW: Then don’t move to Manhattan.
RJ: I know. I’ve lived in New York, so I already went through that.
KW: The “Realtor to the Stars” Jimmy Bayan question: Where in L.A. do you live?
RJ: I live in L.A., but I’d rather not say where.
KW: I understand. Teri Emerson would like to know, when was the last time you
had a good belly laugh?
RJ: During the entire filming of I Love You, Man. It was incredible how much I
got to laugh on the set.
KW: The bookworm Troy Johnson question: What was the last book you read?
RJ: I am reading this book called Human Smoke by Nicholson Baker. It’s an
account of the events leading up to World War II from different perspectives of
people around the world.
KW: What was it like growing up with such talented and well-known parents?
RJ: I don’t know what it’s like to not grow up with that, because I don’t have
the other experience. But my parents made a concerted and effective effort to
really keep us normal. I had a wonderfully loving, supportive and sheltered
childhood, so it never really occurred to me that that was an issue until I
went to college.
KW: How did you like Harvard?
RJ: It was great. I had a wonderful experience there.
KW: Have you ever traced your ancestry?
RJ: Yeah, my dad had our family tree done a long time ago. My great-great
grandmother on one side was a slave. We were able to trace our ancestry back
through her owner’s lover and her owner who gave her his last name. On the
slave owner side, there was a long lineage which included American presidents
and Winston Churchill. I don’t know a lot about my mom’s side, but she’s Irish-
Jewish on one side, and Russian-Polish-Jewish on the other side.
KW: The music maven Heather Covington question: What music are you listening to
nowadays?
RJ: I’m a big Kanye West fan. And I really like this singer/songwriter named
Bon Iver.
KW: What was the biggest obstacle you’ve had to overcome in life?
RJ: I would say dealing with sickness and death.
KW: I’m sorry to hear that. Thanks again for the interview, Rashida, and best
of luck with both the new movie and new TV show.
RJ: Thank you.
To see a trailer for I Love You, Man, visit: HERE
To see Rashida Jones and Natalie Portman speak out on the global financial
crisis, visit HERE
To see the Fresh Prince opening theme to judge whether Quincy Jones is the cab
driver, visit HERE
Simmons
And Stronach: Hope To Make Beautiful Music Together
Source: www.globeandmail.com – Guy Dixon
(March 10, 2009) The
blood-spewing, kabuki demon is happy to talk “360 marketing” and the search for
teen acts to tailor into the next big thing – even a Jonas Brothers-like boy
band, if that's what it takes.
“I'd like to sign three acts the first year,” said Gene
Simmons by phone from Beverly Hills, Calif., about his new
Canadian record label. He's in Toronto tomorrow to make a keynote speech at
Canadian Music Week, taking a break from recording KISS's first studio album in
10 years. Although, he quickly noted, the band is in no hurry to finish the
album any time soon, not when Simmons has so many other pots on the stove,
including his newly resurrected record label, Simmons Records.
If it's unlikely to think of Simmons, who drooled blood on the cover of KISS
Alive! II, looking for squeaky clean teen bands – an even stranger image is
his business partnership with ex-politico Belinda Stronach, now back in
the fold as executive vice-chair of Magna International, and a silent investor
in Simmons Records.
But is it such an about face? The KISS bassist turned marketing whiz, turned
reality-TV celebrity, turned record-label front man has always had business in
his makeup. The result of all that stage paint, platform boots, pyrotechnics
and blood-red food colouring are the more than 2,500 licensing deals KISS has
signed, according to Simmons's website.
The resurrection of Simmons Records, which had a less than spectacular
existence under the BMG umbrella in the 1980s, came about through a deal with
Universal Music Canada, hence the focus on Canadian acts.
The head of Universal Canada, Randy Lennox, has been conspicuously in the
market for partnerships with new, unconventional record and media companies,
such as his involvement with the Toronto-based upstart WIDEawake Entertainment
Group, which recently bought the back catalogue recordings of the Death Row rap
label.
Simmons's marketing company, Simmons Abramson Marketing, had been working with
Magna Entertainment's horse-racing operations. Meanwhile, Simmons had gotten to
know Stronach further when they were exploring potential real-estate
investments.
But with Magna Entertainment now in bankruptcy protection and real estate
having lost its lustre, Stronach is now investing in a record label which has,
it must be said, a highly bankable public face. Simmons is currently filming
the latest season of his domesticated rock-star-father reality show Gene
Simmons Family Jewels, and he has a hand in everything from a line of
clothing to comic books. You can even buy T-shirts with Simmons's face embossed
on a $100 U.S. bill with the captions “Go Green With Gene” and “Gene Simmons
for President.”
“I love getting up every day and filling it with as much as I can, otherwise
I'd be home watching I Love Lucy,” Simmons said.
He thinks a record label should handle all aspects of a band, from image to
songwriting, in the same vein as Motown. And every career move should be
carried out with an eye out for tie-ins with licensing deals, TV, movies, you
name it – that “360-degree” approach to marketing.
Simmons was a little short on the specifics about where his new label has gone
since November when word got out about its development. Then as now, Simmons
has been touting the Toronto party rap band Down With Webster, which
Simmons confirms he's “unabashedly” clamouring to sign. There is still no
signed deal, although he's hopeful. He also suggested, despite his Henry
Higgins talk of grooming for success, that he would need to do little, if
anything to ready that group for the charts.
Just last weekend, an e-mail circulated by the Ottawa band Rudeboy claims that
Simmons has been phoning Craig Simon's house and sending e-mails to say how
much he likes the group. Simmons apparently also added in the message that “as
a fan of the Special and the English Beat, let me say how much I enjoyed your
stuff.” Gene Simmons and ska?
Ultimately, Simmons is open to all ideas. “I'm looking for the next U2 and Led
Zeppelin. The only thing that matters is ‘Do you have the goods?'“ he says, but
adds “it's not enough to be [just] a band.”
Meanwhile, he's getting set for a stadium tour of South America with KISS,
before a swing back to Canada for a few gigs in July. Tomorrow, during
Simmons's keynote speech at Canadian Music Week, expect a lot more talk about
360-degree marketing, branding and making the impossible possible. As he likes
to say, “TV, music, politics, we're all in the same business. You need to use
any and every tool possible in this really difficult economic period.”
::SCOOP::
Joe Fresh Style & Loblaws Launch
Cosmetics Collection
Note from Dawn: Most of you
have probably heard of the Joe Fresh Style™ clothing line by
Loblaws,
found in many chains of Loblaws stores across the country. Joe Fresh Style™ is the brainchild
of Joseph Mimran, who, among many accolades, also founded the hip urban
chic of both Club Monaco and Caban. The Joe Fresh Style™ is casual chic designed
for Canadian fashionistas that include value as one of their style
priorities. If you’ve been to one of the
stores, you will have found stylish casual and weekend wear for an exceptional
value.
Now, they
join the beauty and cosmetic ranks with Joe Fresh Beauty™. You can expect the same value and consistency
in this line of cosmetics. I was fortunate enough to obtain a variety of the
beauty products which range in price from $4 to $8 (!!) The extensive selection includes all the
colours of the season, not to mention incredibly modish packaging.
I’ve made
some notes below (noted with
*Note) beside the
products that I was able to try and noted some of my favourites. At the prices stated below are such a good
buy, you cannot go without trying
a handful of these cosmetics for your face, eyes and lips and welcome in spring
with that youthful glow!
Joe Fresh Style
& Loblaws Launch Cosmetics Collection
Source: Joe Fresh Style
(March 4, 1009)
TORONTO, ON – Joe Fresh Style, the epitome of
affordable chic, and Loblaw Companies Limited are launching an inspired
collection of stylish and well-priced cosmetics aptly named Joe Fresh
Beauty. The comprehensive range of face,
lip and eye products will be available in March ’09 in over 250 stores across
Canada.
The Joe Fresh Beauty collection remains true to
the Joe Fresh Style brand of offering customers quality products that are both
fashionable and affordable.
Joe Mimran,
Creative Director, Joe Fresh Style, says “The approach we’ve used with the
fashion collection translates beautifully to cosmetics. We want to dress our customers from head to
toe and that includes make-up. For us,
it’s always about value, style and quality.”
With these
three attributes top of mind, the collection has been created to be comparable
to prestige lines that are frequently used by make-up artists, found in
department stores and boutiques nationwide.
Every item, from cheek tint to fine tip liquid eyeliner, is designed to
have superior wearability and lasting coverage.
To ensure
quality products across all categories, in 2008 the Joe Fresh Beauty collection
was sampled to top make-up artists across Canada to rave reviews.
The
collection features over 60 shades for lips and eyes. The colour palettes are designed to work
effortlessly everyday with seasonal colour introductions to reflect the
trends. Foundation shades work well for
almost all skin tones and are consistent across all three formats: liquid,
cream and pressed powder.
Using the
following seven key Joe Fresh Beauty products, women on the go can create a
naturally beautiful look in five minutes or less: cream foundation, duo
concealer, cheek tint, fine tip liquid eyeliner, mascara, brow pencil and
moisturizing lip tint.
To accompany
the new cosmetics collection, Joe Fresh Beauty also offers make-up brushes and
other accessories.
The Joe
Fresh Beauty collection has 200 SKUs with prices ranging from $4-8 for make-up
and $2-16 for brushes and accessories.
“The
partnership with
For store
locations across Canada, visit www.joe.ca.
ABOUT LOBLAW COMPANIES LIMITED
Loblaw Companies Limited is Canada’s largest food distributor and a
leading provider of general merchandise, drugstore and financial products and
services. Through its various operating banners, Loblaw is committed to
providing Canadians with a one-stop destination in meeting their food and
everyday household needs. This goal is pursued through a portfolio of store
formats across the country. It also offers one of Canada’s strongest control
label programs, including the unique President’s Choice and no name brands. Loblaw is one of the
largest private-sector employers in Canada, employing over 134,000 full-time
and part-time employees.
JOE FRESH BEAUTY
Product
Fact Sheet
FACE
|
Product Name |
Size |
Colours |
Price |
|
Light Weight Foundation (liquid) |
30 ml |
$6 |
|
|
Cream Foundation |
9.5 g |
Light 1, 2, 3 |
$8
|
|
Pressed Powder |
11 g |
Light 1, 2, 3 |
$6
|
|
Duo Concealer |
4.5 ml cream |
Light, Medium, Dark |
$8 |
|
Bronzer |
11 g |
Glow, Sun Kissed, Tan |
$8
|
|
Cheek Tint |
4 g |
Berry, Bronze, Nude, Cherry, Peach, Pink |
$4
|
|
Blush* |
7 g |
Plum, Berry, Rose, Pink, Pale Peach |
$6
|
EYES
LIPS
ACCESSORIES
|
Product Name |
Price |
Features |
|
Manicure & Pedicure Kit |
$10 |
Nail file, scissors, hindostone, nail
clipper |
|
3-in-1 Tweezer Kit |
$12 |
Interchangeable tweezers |
|
Eye Grooming Kit |
$10 |
Tweezers, eyelash curler, brow and lash
brush |
|
Manicure & Pedicure Kit |
$12 |
Soak dish, nail clippers, nail brush,
emery board, toe separators, orange stick |
|
Brush Kit |
$16 |
Powder, eye shadow, eyeliner and crease
brushes |
|
Cuticle Trimmer |
$14 |
|
|
Cuticle Pusher |
$6 |
|
|
Emery Board |
$2 |
|
|
Matchbook Emery Boards |
$4 |
|
|
100 Blotting Papers |
$6 |
|
|
8 Cosmetic Wedges |
$4 |
|
|
Duo Sharpener |
$3 |
|
|
Compact Mirror |
$6 |
Regular & 2x magnifying |
BRUSHES
|
Product Name |
Price |
|
Powder Brush |
$14 |
|
Blush Brush |
$12 |
|
Foundation Brush |
$12 |
|
Concealer Brush |
$8 |
|
Brow & Lash Brush |
$8 |
|
Crease Brush |
$8 |
|
Large Eye Shadow Brush |
$8 |
|
Small Eye Shadow Brush |
$8 |
|
Eyeliner Brush |
$8 |
|
Fine Liner Brush |
$8 |
|
Kabuki Brush |
$12 |
|
Retractable Lip Brush |
$8 |
|
Retractable Powder Brush |
$14 |
Joe Fresh Beauty Spring/Summer ’09
Trends
Source: Joe Fresh Style
(March 4, 1009)
TORONTO, ON - Joe Fresh Beauty, the new cosmetics line from Joe Fresh
Style and Loblaw Companies Limited, brings colour, quality and affordability to
consumers across Canada in early March ’09.
Just in time for spring/summer, the collection boasts beautiful neutrals and an
array of colours for all ages and ethnicities.
The colours draw its inspiration from the Joe Fresh Style fashion
collection, with shades like cherry blossom, faded violet and denim.
The inaugural collection offers a wide range of fresh hues for eyes, lips and
cheeks for an everyday-wear look, accentuated by a selection of bold colours
and unique products to create a more dramatic face.
For spring/summer ’09, Joe Fresh Beauty offers some fun beauty tips that will
work for day or evening.
Bare but Groomed: For all seasons,
“the look” starts with gorgeous, healthy looking skin. Joe Fresh Beauty’s liquid foundation is
formulated to match your skin tone, or for a dewier glow, try the cream
foundation.
Brow Wow: Bold brows are back, but
need to be groomed. The Joe Fresh Beauty
brow powder duos and brow pencils make brows stand out while the brow gel tames
any stray hairs.
Drama Queen: The modern look this
spring combines minimalism with bold features.
Try the new smoky eye in black or midnight, or for a more metallic
looking eye use bronze, pebble or silver.
Fresh Flush: For a glowing cheek, try the new cheek tint or powder blush in
peach.
Glamour Girl: Liner is no longer
simply worn in a straight line. Think
glamour when applying the black or brown eyeliner pencil or go for more drama
with the liquid liner.
Hot Lips: Spring/summer lips are all about haute colour. Joe Fresh Beauty’s cream lipsticks in ruby
and watermelon and matte lipsticks in berry, fuchsia and poppy create hot looks
for warmer weather.
The Colour Purple: Every spring/summer collection needs a dash of pretty,
and in 2009, it’s all about lovely purple eyes with faded violet eye shadow.
::TRAVEL NEWS::
Miami To Canada: We Like You; We Really Like You
Source: www.thestar.com
- Greg Coates, Travel
Advisory
(March
06, 2009) A "Miami Loves Canada" promotion has been
launched by five Canadian tour operators and the Greater Miami Convention &
Visitors Bureau, offering travellers booking Miami packages free room nights.
The "Stay a Night on Us" campaign offers a free night's stay when a
special Miami package is booked through one of the operators by April 30 for
travel through September. Travellers also have a chance to win a Valentine's
Day trip to Miami in February 2010. Canadian partners include Air Canada
Vacations, Alio Tours, Holiday House, Royal Scenic Tours and Sunwing Tours. www.miamiandbeaches.com
or call 1-800-933-8448.
AEROMEXICO ADDS TORONTO: AeroMexico has expanded its North American operations
with new service to and from Toronto. Daily, non-stop flights to Mexico City
offer connections to 40 destinations throughout Mexico, as well as to cities in
12 other countries in Latin America, Europe and Asia. Flights depart Toronto's
Pearson International at 9 a.m., arriving in Mexico City at 1 p.m. (CST). See www.aeromexico.com.
CRUISE PROTECTION PLAN: Norwegian Cruise Line has introduced a new "Book
Safe Travel Protection Plan," which fully reimburses passengers who are
forced to cancel due to a job loss. Travellers purchasing the plan, which
starts at $29 (U.S.) per person, can cancel at any time up until their
scheduled departure if a job loss occurs. See www.ncl.com.
ELITE PLUS: New on Sunwing Airlines' summer domestic schedule (June 15 to Sept.
11) out of Toronto is the airline's Elite Plus service, offering advance seat
selection, seats with extra legroom, priority check-in, advance boarding and a
30 kg baggage allowance. The cost is $35 each way.
See www.flysunwing.com or call 1-877-sunwing.
MORE ICELANDAIR: Icelandair has added a sixth transatlantic flight to its
Toronto schedule, which operates from April 1 to Oct. 23. The sixth weekly
flight will be available from June 20 through Sept. 4. See www.icelandair.ca.
HALF-OFF ... PLUS
The Galley Bay Resort & Spa in Antigua is offering up to 51 per cent savings,
with rates starting at $499 per couple — down from $1,015 for superior
beachfront rooms. Bookings must be made by March 31 for travel through Dec. 20.
Contact 1-800-345-0356 or visit www.galleybayresort.com.
DID YOU KNOW? Air Canada has launched a new "Europe Pass," valid for
one year and available with six flight credits (three round trips) for a single
traveller or eight flight credits for up to two travellers. The pass comes in
Executive First and two Economy Class versions starting at $2,994, including
taxes. Those purchasing the pass by April 17 can also take advantage of a bonus
pass offer of two or four flight credits. See www.aircanada.com.
::MUSIC NEWS::
Bettye LaVette Hustling To Become A Household Name
Source: www.thestar.com
- Ashante Infantry, Pop & Jazz Critic
(March 05, 2009) On the scene nearly half a
century, Bettye LaVette has been hailed as one of America's "greatest soul singers,"
but she's only just getting her due.
The Michigan native, who grew up with Motown's finest, including The Supremes
and The Temptations, scored a Top 10 R&B hit at 16 with "My Man (He's
a Loving Man)."
But she floundered on the sidelines for decades before returning to the touring
circuit on the strength of 2005's I've Got My Own Hell to Raise.
Currently on the road supporting 2007's The Scene of the Crime, she
performed recently for presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama at the
Kennedy Centre Honors and pre-inauguration concert "We Are One,"
respectively.
The Toronto Star spoke with the 63-year-old singer by phone from L.A.
this week before her Tuesday night debut on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
She performs at the Bathurst Street Theatre tomorrow.
Q: Are you nervous about your first Tonight Show appearance?
A: No. This is my 47th year in this business. There are things to be
anxious about, but The Tonight Show wouldn't be one of them; maybe a
song I'd never done before, or if I suddenly had to dance, or remember some
lines. If anything was going to make me nervous, it would've been singing for
two presidents in six weeks.
Q: To what do you attribute these high-profile invitations you've been
getting lately?
A: The exposure that I'm getting now that I wasn't getting before. It's
all about exposure; it has very little to do with talent. I've been fortunate
in the last five years to finally find a husband, a booking agency, a manager
and a record company.
Q: What has your husband (her third) contributed to your career resurgence?
A: I'm pretty old, so I was pretty much set when we got married. It's
just that he knows a lot about what I do – he's a record historian and
collector – and he's extremely helpful to me. I think if you burst my husband
open, nothing but musical notes would fall out.
Q: Are you the same age?
A: No, I'm older than everybody. He's only about six, seven years
younger. You have to have several years under your belt to deal with me.
Q: What would be your professional pinnacle?
A: To become a household name. I've worked on that for a very long time.
Up until now I've collected about 100 people a year; now I'm collecting them
faster. I started singing in Detroit in 1962. My first record happened before
(Aretha Franklin's 1967 hit) "Respect." All my friends became rich
and famous. Now I have to do everything that I have to do quick 'cause I'm so
damn old.
Q: You make 63 sound ancient.
A: It's too old to be hustling.
Just the facts
WHO: Bettye LaVette
WHEN: Friday, 9 p.m.
WHERE: Bathurst Street Theatre, 736 Bathurst St.
TICKETS: $32.50 at Ticketmaster
Maladjusting With Francophone Band Malajube
Source: www.thestar.com - Ben Rayner, Pop Music Critic
(March 08, 2009) We Canadians have a habit of
dismissing our neighbours to the south as insular sorts who don't give a toss
about our culture and, as Scott Thompson once memorably put it on The Kids
in the Hall, "show up at the border with skis in July."
By this rationale, francophone pop from Quebec's chances of finding an audience
in the States should be about on par with the survival rate of snowballs in
Hell. But after their ears were alerted by the Arcade Fire to the many wonders
within the Montreal music scene, Americans took to Malajube's 2006 sophomore album, Trompe L'Oeil, in large enough numbers to establish the quartet as an in-demand
international touring act that could play packed houses night by night in
unlikely places like Cleveland, Omaha and Phoenix. Thanks to blog-stoked word
of mouth, the U.K. wasn't far behind.
English Canada isn't exactly a model of tolerance when it comes to franco-pop,
but here the intricate pop of Trompe L'Oeil was taken to heart by a
nation's worth of critics and indie-rock fans, scoring Malajube a nomination on
the first-ever shortlist for the Polaris Music Prize later that year. Suddenly,
Malajube found itself appointed ambassador for the "other" half of
the Montreal underground, the half that conducts its rock `n' roll business in
French and, as a result, rarely gets much mention in Anglo coverage of the
city's recent, globally documented musical blossoming.
Frontman Julien Mineau concedes it was "really flattering" when U.S.
organs like Pitchfork and Spin started singing Malajube's praises,
and says he's still somewhat boggled that the band's latest album, Labyrinthes
– out last month on Montreal indie label Dare to Care – is about to receive an
official American release.
"It's strange. We're lucky to be listened to even though we're in an
English-music world," he says from his home in Ste-Ursule, a rural
community on the north shore of the St. Lawrence. "But it's cool like
that. I'm really happy that we get this kind of attention ...
"Many more bands are getting seen or getting record deals in Quebec
because they realize they can do it by singing in their own language. That's
what I kind of like about it."
Trompe L'Oeil was a bit of a phenomenon within Quebec, as well, logging
loads of mainstream radio play and earning Malajube several offers to sign with
major labels, all of which the band turned down. And with Labyrinthes –
which debuted on the Canadian SoundScan album chart at No. 6 – the band has all
but turned down any further involvement with commercial radio, too.
True to its title, the record is an utterly non-linear rush of gonzo prog
dynamics and capricious mood swings, offering sighing high harmonies and
lulling, beachfront melodies one minute and battering-ram riffery worthy of
late-period Voivod the next. It's a dense, confusing listen at first, but the
ambition and musicianship contained therein transcend any language barriers,
even if the purposefully convoluted end results might alienate a portion of
Malajube's less committed fans.
"We just made a strange record for the fun of it," says Mineau.
"We got lots of radio airplay last time and we were kind of unfamiliar
with that. We weren't playing the same game as other people on the radio, so we
kinda made sure we weren't going to be on the radio again.
"We're still in our 20s, so we can do one last strange record, at least.
Not that it's going to be the last, but we're still young enough to do
experimentation like that."
After something like two years and 300 dates on the road in support of Trompe
L'Oeil in Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Europe and Japan, an exhausted
Malajube was certainly ready for some fun. The sessions for Labyrinthes were
thus conducted quickly and with a minimum of practice, without labouring over
the album endlessly "as if it was the last record we were ever going to
do."
The plan was also not to take the proceedings too seriously, and Mineau
maintains that Labyrinthes' towering prog-rock excesses are mostly
humorous in intent.
"We wanted to stop touring and just get together again and play music for
ourselves – not in front of other people, just to work on the band and
everything, the life of the band," he says. "We wanted to just mix
different kinds of music together to make something new – stuff that doesn't go
together at all. Every track is kinda jammed and you can hear it. Everything's
not perfectly played, but that's the way we did it. It's a work-in-progress
album.
"At some point, we realized we could do any kind of music. We didn't know
what kind of music we were. Malajube, what is it?"
Malajube plays El Mocambo this Thursday night at 9 p.m. as part of the
Canadian Music Week festivities.
Seal Maps Out 14-City North
American Tour
Source: www.eurweb.com
(March 09, 2009) *Seal has announced a spring concert jaunt through North
America that will stop in 14 cities, including Chicago, Toronto, Atlantic City,
New York and Albuquerque, reports Live Daily.
The Grammy-winning performer will hit the road beginning March 31 in
Minneapolis, and continue on through early May. The singer/songwriter's most recent work,
"Soul," hit shelves last November. Produced by David Foster (Celine
Dion, Whitney Houston), the 11-track effort covers classic soul songs,
including James Brown's "It's a Man's Man's Man's World," Al Green's
"Here I Am" and Ben E King's "Stand By Me." The full schedule of North American dates is
below:
April 2009
1 - Chicago, IL - Civic Opera House
3 - Windsor, Ontario - Casino Windsor
4 - Toronto, Ontario - Massey Hall
6 - Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre
8 - Upper Darby, PA - Tower Theatre
10 - Mashantucket, CT - MGM Grand Theater
11 - Atlantic City, NJ - Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa
15 - Columbia, MD - Merriweather Post Pavilion
16 - New York, NY - Radio City Music Hall
18 - Atlanta, GA - Chastain Park Amphitheatre
19 - St Petersburg, FL - Mahaffey Theater
22 - Miami, FL - Fillmore Miami Beach At Jackie Gleason Theater
24 - Biloxi, MS - Beau Rivage Resort & Casino
25 - Houston, TX - Verizon Wireless Theater
28 - Austin, TX - Bass Concert Hall
29 - Grand Prairie, TX - Nokia Theatre At Grand Prairie
May 2009
1 - Albuquerque, NM - Sandia Resort and Casino
3 - Valley Center, CA - Valley View Casino
5 - Oakland, CA - Fox Theater
6 - Los Angeles, CA - Nokia Theater LA Live
Charlie
Wilson Says 'Uncle'
Source: www.eurweb.com -
(March 09, 2009) *Charlie
Wilson, a.k.a. Uncle Charlie, has one of the most distinct and
familiar voices in R&B.
The former lead singer of the very funky GAP Band, laced the ‘80s hits “Burn
Rubber on Me,” “You Dropped a Bomb on Me,” “Early in the Morning,” and
“Outstanding,” and while the GAP Band is legendary, Wilson took his show solo
in 2005 and now the troubadour has released his second solo disc, “Uncle
Charlie,” leading with the hit single, “There Goes My Baby.”
The record debuted at #1 on the R&B Albums chart last month, but the
success of the album hasn’t necessarily been the singer’s greatest promotion
lately. In addition to supporting “Uncle Charlie,” Wilson has also been
speaking out on behalf of prostate cancer testing. Certainly, it’s a worthy
topic, but it’s more than that for Wilson. Just as he was putting the finishing
touches on his new disc, he was diagnosed with the disease.
“I’m feeling a lot better now, for sure,” he told EUR’s Lee Bailey.
According to Wilson, he got the news after going in for a routine annual check
up.
“I do it every year, but my wife
insisted on me getting a PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test. My test came
back 3.9,” he said of the level in his blood. “My doctor was concerned and
asked me to do another test 30 days later. I did the test again, and it came
back 4.9.”
Concerned because the one-point jump was particularly aggressive, his doctor
told him to see a specialist.
“I went to a prostate specialist and he wanted to do a biopsy. So we a biopsy
and he said, ‘Charlie, I have some good news and some bad news.’”
When Wilson asked for the bad news
first, his doctor told him he had prostate cancer.
“I immediately tried to pick my face up off the floor, and my heart had dropped
as well,” Wilson described. My wife turned to him and asked, ‘What’s the good
news?’”
The good news was that his cancer was in the early stages. Still, Wilson said
he was completely devastated.
“I was looking at all the procedures you can do, but when you say cancer, I was
only thinking about chemotherapy. All I could remember was the guy said I had
cancer,” he said. “It hadn’t sunk into me was that it was early state; that I
just need to go through the procedure and be done with it. But I went back to
the specialist and we took care of it.”
Though Wilson did seek out a second opinion, he kept in mind that there was
only a certain window of opportunity to take advantage of procedures his doctor
had recommended.
The singer shared that he felt a little at ease going into surgery when his
doctor asked him for a favour.
“Just before I went under, I saw one of the other doctors in the hallway. He
had something in his hand,” Wilson began. “Here came my doctor, ‘Man, why
didn’t you tell me you were the Charlie Wilson from the Gap Band? Sign my CD!’
And he said, ‘You know I am going to play ‘You Drop the Bomb on Me’ while I’m
doing the procedure.’”
And with a successful surgery, he’s taken the opportunity to take up the cause
and teamed up with the Prostate Cancer Foundation to help fund research.
“I would recommend a guy going to the doctor. Early detection is the key. Early
detection is the message I’m trying to get out to the brothers,” he said. “Real
talk, go get yourself checked out. One in three African American men will
develop prostate cancer. Every 18 minutes, we’re dying of prostate cancer. I’ve
done a lot of performing; this is my time to do a lot of informing.”
Wilson’s performing days are certainly not coming to an end. The singer is
jazzed about his new disc.
“I think I have something on there for everybody,” he said of the album. “My
first single is called ‘There Goes My Baby,’ written by Babyface and
singer/songwriter Calvin Richardson.”
The disc also features a little help
form T-Pain and Jamie Foxx on the track “Supa Sexxy” and from his good friend
Snoop Dogg on “Let It Out.”
“My record is hot to death,” says a proud Uncle Charlie.
To find out more about Charlie Wilson, the new disc, and the Prostate Cancer
Foundation, go to his website at www.charliewilsonmusic.com.
Source: www.thestar.com - Rick Westhead, South Asia Bureau
(March 07, 2009) NOIDA, India – It's 10 p.m. and Palash Sen has a crowd of 12,000 college students eating out of his hand.
Bounding across an outdoor stage in a black muscle shirt and blue jeans, the lead singer of the Indian rock band Euphoria waves his arms and urges his fans to follow suit.
A few metres away, security staff strain to hold a chest-high bamboo fence in place. Students press against it, leaping in rhythm with the blend of traditional Indian music and electric guitars and drums that pulse from giant speakers.
"They're the best!" shrieks Danvi Rekhi, a 22-year-old MBA student in the front row, snapping pictures with her cellphone camera.
A New Delhi-based orthopedic doctor, Sen formed Euphoria in the early 1990s and the group is now widely considered to be India's most commercially successful rock band.
Yet despite its English-language name, Euphoria's breakthrough in India came only after it stopped recording songs in English.
"Switching to Hindi was key," said Sen, sipping a small coffee a few minutes after he left the stage. "English is still not the language of expression in India; it's just the language of communication."
Other pop stars in India are discovering the same thing.
Despite English being the language of commerce in India since the 18th century, not enough young Indians speak the language well enough to connect with English lyrics. And the popularity of Bollywood musicals, with their Hindi song and dance, extends to the recording world, too.
Like the rock group Euphoria, pop star Raghu Dixit, 34, discovered using English didn't work as a way to promote his songs.
In 1999, when Dixit was working in Belgium as a microbiologist, he won a competition and one of his songs was played on a local radio station. It sounded good enough, Dixit said, that music promoters urged him to return to India and start a career as a musician.
But he was told to forget any idea of recording in English.
"I was faking the English accent and struggling to roll my R's," Dixit said. "It just didn't sound real. The truth is, in India, you have 1.1 billion people and only 100 million of them speak English. It's a big enough market that you don't have to do English."
Others are starting to follow Euphoria and Dixit's lead.
The reality TV show Launchpad is about to start its second season on Channel V, one of India's 100-plus cable TV networks. (There were none before 1991.) Styled after American Idol, Launchpad features Indian musicians competing to avoid dismissal from the show.
In its first full season last year, the show started with 10 acts. All were English.
This year, 20 bands will be featured when the season starts airing on March 20 and at least four will perform in Hindi and three others will play Bengali music, said Rohit Gupta, Launchpad's producer.
"We didn't accept bands that played Hindi last year because it's harder to judge bands playing different languages, but this year we really wanted to reach people who don't speak English," he said. "It's too big a market."
With revenue from CD sales negligible, India's top bands rely on concerts to spur profits. Dixit performs seven or eight times a month and said he receives as much as $15,000 for each performance.
Music labels are now starting to promote Hindi songs as cellphone ring tones. "That's where 70 per cent of the revenue in this business comes from," says music promoter Vijay Nair.
As Euphoria star Sen says when he ends the set on the stage in Noida, the possibilities for Hindi-singing stars are beyond euphoric.
Nicole Cabell : Young Soprano Hits The High Notes
Source: www.thestar.com
- John Terauds, Classical Music Critic
(March 05, 2009) On a cellphone from
California's Sonoma Valley, Nicole Cabell sounds like any other tourist happy to get some sun and relaxation.
Not that her working life is anything to run away from. The 31-year-old soprano
was singled out as one of the world's top young singers when she won the BBC
Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 2005. The win catapulted her from
relative obscurity to the world's most prestigious venues.
Her first solo album was released in 2007 to positive reviews. She marked
another milestone in her arrival in the top tier of North American singers just
before Christmas, making her Metropolitan Opera debut as Pamina in Mozart's The
Magic Flute.
When she arrives at Roy Thomson Hall for a solo recital on Sunday afternoon, it
will be Toronto's first live opportunity to hear what all the fuss is about.
Cabell lives in Chicago, but her heart belongs to California – specifically,
the dusty Pacific hillsides of Ventura, which are the very opposite of
glamorous.
Cabell's high school on Ventura's tumbledown Main St. – "all hail to the
black and gold" goes the school song – looks more like a Hollywood backlot
prelude to a quiet suburban life than a springboard to world diva domination.
The soprano's first taste of music came from playing the flute in junior high
band. She needed more. "I wanted to be an instrumentalist, but a marching
band wasn't cutting it for me," she says.
One day, when Cabell was in her mid-teens, her mother heard her singing in the
house and suggested she join a choir.
"By coincidence, there was an audition for a chamber choir the next day,
and I got in," Cabell recalls.
Around the same time, she landed a part in a high school musical. She loved the
experience and soon started singing lessons. "I spend six weeks studying
and they sent me to a classical teacher," the soprano says of her swift
progress.
After vocal studies at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., and
Juilliard in New York City, Cabell landed a spot in Chicago Lyric Opera's young
ensemble. It was a three-year stint that gave her the means to kick-start her
career.
"The only way you really, really know (what you are capable of) is by
doing," the singer says.
She says two of her chief inspirations have been previous-generation soprano
greats Mirella Freni and Renata Scotto. Listening to her solo album, Soprano
(Decca), the resemblance in vocal quality and style is striking.
Early on, Cabell decided she would try to balance opera with symphonic work and
song. For Sunday's program, she has chosen an interesting mix of art song,
ending with traditional spirituals. Her accompanist is Spencer Myer, also
making his Toronto debut.
Cabell says solo recitals are much more demanding than opera. There are all the
words to remember. There are no other singers sharing the stage. "And you
have to switch characters between songs and sets. It needs a lot of preparation
time," she explains.
She's up for the challenge.
Just the facts
WHO: Nicole Cabell
WHERE: Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St.
WHEN: Sunday at 2 p.m.
TICKETS: $25-$65 at 416-872-4255 or roythomson.com
All I Ever Wanted: Kelly Clarkson
Source: www.thestar.com
- Ben Rayner
(19/RCA/Sony)
(out
of 4)
(March 10, 2009) Let's be honest: the
beating poor Kelly Clarkson took over 2007's My December had more to do with the feisty
Texan's decision to oppose the will of the music-biz million-dollar boys' club
– including legendary industry mogul Clive Davis – than any gross deficiencies
on the record's part.
Its sales were sabotaged by bad buzz and a blown-out arena tour, yet the
surprisingly bad-tempered My December was actually another pretty decent
pop album in the tough-chick vein of her 2004 smash, Breakaway. In
co-writing the entire, petulant thing herself, Clarkson might have earned the
ire of her handlers and sacrificed some fans, but she walked away with a kind
of credibility to which few other American Idol graduates can lay claim.
Hearteningly, Clarkson is still sporting black leather and a pugilistic Pat
Benatar pose on All I Ever Wanted. Somewhat more dishearteningly,
though, she's back to sharing the credits with a posse of hitmakers-for-hire –
the ubiquitous Max Martin and Dr. Luke, Katy Perry and OneRepublic's Ryan
Tedder among them – and only seven of the disc's 16 tracks are co-writes, implying
there's been a capitulation on Ms. Clarkson's part. At least the Emily
Dickinson quotation ("Defeat means nothing but defeat, / No drearier, can
prevail!") appended to the CD booklet suggests she's aware of her
situation.
Still, the renewed focus on scientific hooks can't really be used against All
I Ever Wanted. Stuffed to the gills with rousing choruses about
ne'er-do-well boyfriends and persevering through bad times, it's a most
appealing barrage of mildly rocking bubblegum. No. 1 hit "My Life Would
Suck Without You" is a giddy dance-pop cousin to Cher's
"Believe," "I Do Not Hook Up" and "Don't Let Me Stop
You" bristle with barbed girl power, and "whyyawannabringmedown"
is a shouty mall-punk tantrum fated to blast out of 12-year-old girls' bedrooms
for months to come. The ballads aren't quite as fun, but for the most part they
err on the "power" side and, even if the sentiment is songwriter Keri
Noble's, it's hard to miss the conviction with which Clarkson delivers the
"be who you are" message of "If No One Will Listen."
Featherweight, yes, but there are guiltier pleasures out there.
Top Track: "Whyyawannabringmedown." Kelly Clarkson isn't quite
Sham 69, no, but this should prove the catalyst for a few pre-teen rebellions.
U2 Tour Features Recession Pricing
Source: www.thestar.com
- Ashante Infantry, Pop & Jazz Critic
(March 10, 2009) Not since their early '80s nascence when they
played small venues like the El Mocambo and the Maple Leaf Ballroom could you
catch a U2 show for $30 – the bottom price for the band's upcoming tour.
"I can't recall when there was a show with an act of that magnitude that
had a $30 ticket," said Toronto promoter Jonathan Ramos. "It would be
hard for us to find that price for an artist a tier below."
Tickets, which range up to $250, go on sale later this month for the Irish
rockers' "360 Degrees" road show, which kicks off in Barcelona on
June 30 and hits the Rogers Centre on Sept. 16.
"We've tried to come up with a pricing structure that recognizes the
realities of what's going on," said Arthur Fogel, CEO of Live Nation
Global Touring, of the introduction of the 10,000 lower-priced tickets.
But don't consider that another of the socially progressive group's
humanitarian gestures, warned veteran music journalist Larry Leblanc.
"Doesn't it smack of a PR thing to you?" he wondered. "Let's not
kid ourselves, (big concert promoters) take a huge rap because of ticket prices
being as high as they are.
"But the ticket prices are the way they are because the artists are
insisting that they be paid that kind of money.
"A lot of the bands will argue records sales have gone down and seeing a
band live is the last place that they can get their money's worth out of the
fan."
Billboard said the U2 tour is expected to be one of the highest-grossing
ever. The band's 2005-2007 "Vertigo" tour pulled in $389 million,
ranking second only to the $558 million haul for the Rolling Stones'
"Bigger Bang" trek during the same period.
Artists' fees are always the biggest expense, said Ramos, whose Ramos
Entertainment Management Group club and theatre shows generally range from
$10-$60.
"The price is determined by what we think the market will bear based on a
band's history and how they've done in other markets," he explained,
noting that these days, even when fans may not be able to afford vacations or a
new car, the demand for "legacy artists" such as the Eagles, AC/DC or
Madonna is always high. "It's not so much about their last record, it's
about what that artist means (to them)."
Toronto promoter Keith Baker was in discussions to present Chris Brown's first
headlining Toronto show at the Air Canada Centre this summer.
"We were just awaiting the performance at the Grammy awards,"
revealed Baker, whose UCR2 Entertainment organized the R&B singer's 2006
Canadian debut at Mississauga's Hershey Centre. "Everybody was
anticipating the huge global audience that he would be playing in front of
leading to the launch of about five or six dates being planned in Canada."
Now Baker is waiting for Brown to "bounce back" after missing the
Grammy gig and subsequently being charged with assaulting singer-girlfriend
Rihanna.
Baker is also a U2 fan, anxious to buy tickets for the band's Toronto date.
"These kinds of global tours are good for the economy," he posited,
recalling the huge Rolling Stones-headlined concert the city staged to lure
visitors back following the 2003 SARS outbreak.
MUSIC TIDBITS
Queen
Latifah Has A New 'Friend'
Source: www.eurweb.com
(March 05, 2009) *Queen
Latifah fans have spoken. A winner has been chosen in the
singer's quest to choose a track for her upcoming album. Ingrid Woode, of Sharonville, Ohio, will join Latifah in the studio
to record Woode's original song "Fairweather Friend" for the upcoming
"Persona" album, set for release this spring, reports the Associated
Press. The 25-year-old Woode works a "day job" at a pharmaceutical
company, said a spokeswoman for People's Choice, which conducted the contest
with Latifah. The outcome was released online late Tuesday. Latifah announced
the contest when she hosted the People's Choice Awards in January, with
aspiring singer-songwriters invited to submit tunes. The Oscar nominee for "Chicago"
narrowed the submissions down to three, the songs were posted on the People's
Choice Web site, http://www.pcavote.com, and fans selected
Woode as the winner.
Eminem
Promises To 'Relapse' In May
Source: www.eurweb.com
(March 06, 2009) *Eminem's label Interscope released a statement Thursday
proclaiming May 19th as the release date for his upcoming album,
"Relapse," with a single and video set to premiere on April 7. A
second 2009 release, "Relapse 2," has yet to set a street date,
however, Em said in the statement that he's currently recording tracks for the
album to drop in the second half of this year.
"A lot of people were expecting 'Relapse' to drop last year,"
Eminem said in the press release. "I was one of them. Then Dre and I went
back in the studio in September for a few days, and that turned into six
months. We were on such a roll; we wound up with a ton of new music produced by
Dre. Putting out 'Relapse 2' will let everyone get all of the best
stuff." Last year, Em dropped a
freestyle called "I'm Having a Relapse" while promoting his autobiography,
"Eminem: The Way I Am." In January, the Detroit native released
"Crack a Bottle," which has already reached No. 1 on Billboard. The
video for that hit should drop soon, MTV reports.
Haven't We Met:
Emilie-Claire Barlow
Source: www.thestar.com
- Ashante Infantry, Pop & Jazz Critic
(Empress Music/E1)
(out
of 4)
(March 10, 2009) This Toronto singer's
seventh album is defined by her impeccable diction and song-stealing solos by
the likes of guitarist Reg Schwager, pianist Dave Restivo and trumpeter Chase
Sanborn. Barlow is an astute technician with a decent scat who shows off her
eloquence in English, French and Portuguese. However, this pristine collection
of love-laden tunes – "I'm Glad There Is You," "You Make Me Feel
So Young," "You Must Believe In Spring" – lacks passion. Gladly
trade that perfect pitch for more warmth. Catch Barlow's live chat and
performance on JAZZ.FM91 tonight at 7 p.m.
Andre 3000 Cartoon Debuts On Stage
Source: www.thestar.com
- The Associated Press
(March 11, 2008) *Andre 3000's short-lived "Class of 3000" animated series has been adapted
for the stage and is now showing in Atlanta at the Alliance Theatre through
March 29. The Cartoon Network series was about a group of musical kids mentored
by Sunny Bridges (voiced by Andre 3000), who leaves his own international
stardom to return to Atlanta and become a music teacher at his old performing
arts school. The show was cancelled last spring. The play, "Class of
3000 Live," is based on the cartoon's first-ever episode "Life
Without Music," which follows Bridges as he returns to the ATL and
encounters rambunctious 12-year-old Lil' D and seven of his friends, who
persuade him to become their music teacher at the school. All songs featured in
the television series, as well as the adapted theatre production, were created
by Andre 3000.
Malin Akerman Proudly Puts
The Bomb In Bombshell
Source: www.globeandmail.com - Bob Strauss
(March 06, 2009) LOS ANGELES — Malin
Akerman is used to winning people's hearts, usually with sweetly
comedic turns in such lighthearted films as The Heartbreak Kid and 27
Dresses. Her latest role as the latex-clad, butt-kicking superhero Silk
Spectre II in the just-released Watchmen, however, is likely going to launch her into a new
stratosphere of fandom – one that goes way beyond adolescent boys and devotees
of the Watchmen series of graphic novels.
Working on a highly anticipated, big-budget comic-book adaptation – fans have
been waiting 20 years for its release – was a first for the Stockholm-born,
Ontario-raised Akerman, whose parents moved to Toronto from Sweden when she was
2, and who spent a good portion of her youth in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.
Another unexpected first was going brunette. “I prefer being a blonde,” she
says.
Yet another was the chance to work on set in British Columbia, a province
Akerman had never been to before. “I'd lived my whole live in Canada, but never
been to Vancouver,” says Akerman.
“That was mainly because my family is so spread out around the world, when we
travelled we'd go to Europe, and Vancouver's the other way. But I've always
wanted to go there because I'd heard how beautiful it was – and it really is,”
says the actress, who arrives at our interview wearing a black peasant blouse
with dozens of tiny, silver skull appliqués.
There was, however, one part of the region the 30-year-old is all too happy to
forget – a well-known mountain trail called the Grouse Grind, which figured
heavily in the cast's physical training. “It takes about an hour to walk up it.
Our workout was walking up this mountain every day and trying to beat our own
time. That was not fun.”
It seems to have worked, however, as proven by her scenes in Zack Snyder's subversive
fantasy epic. Besides the unforgiving costume and impressive jump kicks,
Silk Spectre, a.k.a. Laurie Jupiter, has a couple of particularly amusing – and
revealing – love scenes with her two of her fellow watchmen: pudgy, retired
masked avenger Nite Owl II (Patrick Wilson); and the glowing, azure Dr.
Manhattan (Billy Crudup), whose nearly unlimited powers enable him to pull off
particularly impressive bedroom tricks.
“Here's the thing: The end result is beautiful,” says Akerman, of the racy
scenes. “It's classy, it's really sexy and amazing. I always check out a script
to see if it's gratuitous or not, and in this case it was beautiful. Of course
it's a big deal, in a sense. But this whole film is about the extent of where
you go with human nature, and that's part of what we do as people. You fall in
love and you make love.”
Adapted from the 1980s comic-book series by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons that
was collected into one of the most acclaimed graphic novels ever published, Watchmen
was long considered impossible to turn into a film. The movie underwent two
decades of development hell before Snyder (thanks to the success of his
previous graphic-novel adaptation, 300) got the go-ahead to make a
remarkably faithful adaptation of the violent, complicated comic.
A main concern of the film's marketers is whether or not Watchmen will
draw enough female moviegoers to make a profit on its $100-million-plus budget
and nine-figure production-and-promotion investment. Akerman, admittedly
biased, says she thinks the film has just as much appeal to women as it does to
your average fanboy. “Maybe I'm not a typical chick, but I really enjoy it,”
Akerman says. “I'm not usually big on violence, but it's not violent just to be
violent. There's an amazing storyline that goes through it. It's really
cerebral. It's like a piece of artwork. … Plus, there's romance in it as well.
“I had male cousins when I was growing up who had stacks of comic books and
were always re-enacting the fights – the Pow! and the Bam!” she recalls. “I
just thought it was a lot of boy stuff, and I was into Barbies and dressing
up.” At 17, Akerman won the Ford Supermodel of Canada competition and a few
years later was landing TV guest spots and small movie roles. She moved to Los
Angeles in 2003, and was soon making more lasting impressions on such cable
series as Entourage and Lisa Kudrow's The Comeback. (She also
began singing for a now-defunct rock band, the Petalstones, in which she met
her husband, Italian drummer Roberto Zincone.)
Next up are two more comedies: The Proposal, with Sandra Bullock and
fellow Canuck Ryan Reynolds; and Couples Retreat, which pairs Akerman
with Vince Vaughn.
Whether or not Silk Spectre opens new doors, she's as pleased as she can be
about where her career has taken her so far. “Me, happy? Ecstatic!” Akerman
says. “I know this sounds clichéd, but it really is my dream coming true. Which
is crazy. I feel so lucky.”
There are times when she longs for home, though. “I miss my friends in Canada,”
she says. “All of my real friends are there, and the places that you grew up in
… it's nostalgic. No matter where you go or how much you love a place, you
never get as strong a feeling for that as for the places where you grew up.”
Special to The Globe and Mail
Perry Picks Taraji For Next
Madea Film
Source: www.eurweb.com
(March 05, 2009) *Tyler Perry has swooped up Oscar nominee Taraji P. Henson to star in his next Madea film, "I Can Do Bad All
By Myself," based on his stage play of the same name.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, production will begin on March 16 at the
new Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta. It is scheduled for nationwide release via
Lionsgate on Sept. 11.
After "Bad," Perry will immediately begin filming "Tyler Perry's
Why Did I Get Married Too," a sequel to 2007's "Why Did I Get
Married." Lionsgate said it will arrive in theatres on April 2, 2010,
Easter weekend.
Perry will write, direct and star in both features, which come hot on the heels
of his current hit "Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail." The film has
led the box office charts for the past two weekends.
In other Tyler Perry news, the filmmaker sent an email to fans denying recent
headlines that suggest he wants to "kill off Madea."
Perry wrote: "Now I have been saying for years that the moment people stop
coming to see her she will die a quick death. For years I’ve said this.
Now, all of a sudden, it’s everywhere that I'm killing her off. That’s strange
to me.
"Anyway, the character is a lot of fun to watch but it's no fun getting
into the costume, let me tell you. I even got a letter from The Queen of Soul
herself saying (and this made me laugh so hard) there are two things that have
brought you over. One is Jesus, and the other is 'Madea'. And you bet' not get
rid of either one of them!...LOL.
"So, with all of that said, I’m happy to announce that my next movie is 'I
Can Do Bad All By Myself' --just for all the die hard 'Madea' fans including
you Ms. Aretha Franklin.....LOL. After that I’m doing 'Why Did I Get
Married Too.' And 'Madea' will be taking a break for awhile. Not dead.
Just a break (smile)."
Film About Regime Of Terror Wins African Prize
Source: www.globeandmail.com
- Katrina Manson, Reuters
(March 09, 2009) OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO —
A film set in Ethiopia about a bloodthirsty regime under which political
dissidents and village children alike were ruthlessly killed has won best movie
award at Africa's top film festival.
Teza, a feature by award-winning director Haile Gerima set during Mengistu
Haile Mariam's 1974-1991 rule, won the top prize late on Saturday at this
year's 40th pan-African FESPACO film festival in Burkina Faso.
Judges praised the film, 14 years in the making, for its strength, depth and
poetry conveying the dashed hopes of a returning intellectual elite. Stunning
village vistas and shoulder-dancing amid ululations in bars capture an
expressive, vital Ethiopian culture.
The plot follows a series of horrific experiences endured by hero Anberber, who
trains as a medical research scientist in Europe. On his return to Ethiopia
full of hope and eager to contribute to his country, he and his friends are
violently and cruelly rejected at home and again back in Germany. Shot in
Gerimas' hometown of Gondar in northwest Ethiopia, the village cast was drawn
from locals during three months of filming, many of whom had experienced the
brutalities of the regime.
Several entries among this year's competition have raised a critical voice and
urged change on the continent.
In the South African film Nothing But The Truth, which won second prize,
director and lead actor John Kani plays a librarian denied promotion, who
believes post-apartheid freedom's dividends have not been realized. In real
life Kani's brother was shot dead in a church by police while reading a poem at
the grave of a nine-year old girl killed during an anti-apartheid riot.
Since Teza premiered in Ethiopia at the start of 2009, Gerima says
cinema halls showing the film, which has also won awards at the Venice Film
Festival, are still sold out two months later. On Saturday night, the winning
film was screened in cinema halls across Burkina Faso's hot, dusty capital
Ouagadougou, where more than 300 films have shown in the past week.
At Cine Burkina, the country's premier movie theatre, three long queues formed
in the dark in all directions, streaming back from any entry point local
cinema-lovers could find.
As increasing numbers of cinema halls close down, African films are squeezed
out by Hollywood action blockbusters and Bollywood musicals.
Sprockets Unveils 70-Film Program
Source: www.thestar.com - Star Staff
(March 11, 2008) Sprockets
Toronto International Film Festival for Children, Toronto's only film fest for the younger set, unspools
April 18 to 24 with 70 films from 22 countries.
Among the movies on offer is an Australian feature for kids 11 and up, Hey Hey It's Esther
Blueburger, starring Oscar nominee (for Whale Rider) Keisha
Castle-Hughes and Toni Collette.
Anjelica Huston, Sean Astin, Giovanni Ribisi and Ron Perlman lend their voices
to Spirit of
the Forest, a story of some brave gophers who band together to help
save their endangered homeland. It's recommended for those ages 5 and up.
Since it began in 1998, Sprockets, a division of the Toronto International Film
Festival Group, has offered kids and teens the opportunity to learn about the
world through the filmmaker's lens. It has made a name for itself as a cultural
event for families and schools, letting young movie lovers see films that
otherwise don't make it to theatres. The varied programs range from Canadian
Shorts to Reel Rascals Shorts, a program especially for Sprockets' youngest
audiences members: children aged three and over.
Special guests, hands-on craft activities, storytelling and post-screening
discussions add to the film program. Directors Pieter Verhoeff (The Letter for the King)
and Somaratne Dissanayake (King
Siri) and Bilaal Rajan are among this year's guests.
"Sprockets exposes kids to the whole big wide world outside of primarily
American mainstream movies," said Canadian filmmaker Patricia Rozema in a
press release. "Short of going to live in other cultures, the kind of
movies they see at Sprockets might be the best way to open their eyes to
glorious diversity of life on this planet."
The Sprockets School Program for Grades 1 to 12 runs from April 20 to 24, with
36 films from 14 countries and explores issues that kids face in the classroom
and the world around them, from tolerance and self-confidence to climate
change.
The films screen at Canada Square and Sheppard Grande theatres.
For tickets and info visit www.sprockets.ca, call
416-968-FILM (toll-free 1-877-968-FILM) or visit the box office at 2 Carlton
St., West Mezzanine level (near the College subway station). Hours of operation
are Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tickets are $6.60 for children and
$10.61 for adults; Reel Rascals and Jump Cuts Young Filmmakers Showcase tickets
are $6.60 per person (prices do not include GST, building-fund fee or service
charges).
Source: www.thestar.com - Bruce Demara, Entertainment Reporter
(March 11, 2008) Playing a woman who trades sex and personal dignity in a bid to get green card status in the U.S. took its toll on Alice Eve.
"I definitely had trepidation about (the role), of course I did, and I think I definitely grieved having done it. I don't think that you escape the human process when you do something like that," said British-born Eve, who plays an Australian actor who succumbs to an immigration officer's demands for sex in Crossing Over, opening Friday.
The film, starring Harrison Ford, Naomi Watts and Ray Liotta, explores several storylines – most of them rife with heartbreak and tragedy – in its examination of the U.S. immigration system and the toll it takes on ordinary people.
For Eve, 27, the role is definitely her toughest to date after lighter fare on stage and screen, in part because sex scenes require nudity.
"Because I'm blond and chirpy, I often get cast in a certain kind of role. To play someone who has an edge and who packs a punch and who has a journey and a crisis was, I think, the thing I was most interested in about this project," Eve said.
It helped to work with an actor of Liotta's calibre, who plays the sleazy-but-conflicted immigration official, she said.
"It's more of a bond that you develop, it's not a friendship really because you don't want to be friends," Eve explained.
"You don't want to sit and chat backstage with Ray. You form a bond. You get very, very close and I trusted him and that was paramount to me, so that we could just do the scenes with ease."
As an actor who travels frequently, Eve said she has become quite "resilient" at crossing international borders, right down to looking ahead upon arrival to see which immigration officer seems to be "smiling the most."
The important thing to remember about Crossing Over, Eve said, is that each storyline – a Mexican mother separated from her child, a Bangladeshi high school student whose essay on the 9/11 terrorist bombings draws the attention of the FBI, a woman at odds culturally with her Iranian-born family, a Korean teenager's conflict with his father – are all based on true events.
In fact, a similar situation to her own character's happened during filming, Eve said.
"It's important to recognize that each story ... is true and not to say `Oh God, that's a bit extreme.' What the film does is it opens the forum for debate," she said.
Eve observed many Western countries like the U.S. and Australia are "driven by fear" in the aftermath of 9/11 and that has a negative impact on how newcomers are perceived and welcomed.
"From the things I've read and the attitude (Canadians) take, there seems to be an interest and a desire to do the right thing and to be malleable in your approach. And it's not driven by fear, it's driven by trying to pick the best way forward," Eve said.
"I think we've got to be compassionate with our borders," she added.
Eve, who went into "the family business" as the daughter of British actors Trevor Eve and Sharon Maughn, said she's also working on two screenplays in her personal bid to create strong roles for women.
"Roles for women, we've got to create them. You can't ask men to write them because how can they, just like women don't necessarily write the best roles for men?" she added.
FILM TIDBITS
Vince Vaughn Engaged To Calgary Real Estate
Agent
Source: www.thestar.com
- The Canadian Press
(March 06,
2009) CALGARY–It looks like Hollywood actor Vince Vaughn is getting hitched to his Calgary
flame. Vaughn, ex-boyfriend of Jennifer Aniston, proposed to real estate agent Kyla Weber, 29, handing her a huge diamond ring,
according to a co-worker. "It's the biggest ring I've ever seen,"
Sylvia Smith told the Calgary Sun, saying she spoke to Weber a few days
ago. Vaughn, whose films include Wedding Crashers and Zoolander,
turns 39 later this month. Star magazine said Vaughn and Weber met at a
wedding last summer in Los Angeles. A source told Star that the wedding
will be in either L.A. or Alberta.
Morgan,
Lawrence Attend Rock's 'Funeral'
Source: www.eurweb.com
(March 09, 2009) *A sizable chunk of black Hollywood has just been cast in
the Chris
Rock-led remake of "Death
at a Funeral," including Tracy Morgan,
Martin Lawrence, Columbus Short, Loretta Devine and Danny Glover. Neil LaBute
is directing the ensemble comedy in which a funeral ceremony turns into a
debacle of misplaced cadavers and family secrets. When things can't get any
worse, a man arrives saying he's the dead man's gay lover and threatens
blackmail. Also joining the Screen Gems
film are Regina Hall, Ron Glass, James Marsden and Zoe Saldana. Rock, who co-wrote the script with Ayesha
Carr, is producing with Sidney Kimmel, Share Stalling, Lawrence Malkin and
William Horberg. Morgan, a regular
on NBC's "30 Rock," recently signed on to star opposite Bruce Willis
in the Warner Bros. buddy action-comedy "A Couple of Cops," which
Kevin Smith just signed on to direct.
Lawrence, meanwhile, last appeared in "College Road Trip" and
"Wild Hogs."
Jada Pinkett Smith Adds 'Schoolmaster'
To Her Resume
Source: The Associated Press
(March 11, 2008) LOS ANGELES - Jada Pinkett Smith is adding another title to her resume: schoolmaster. The actress-producer and her husband, Will
Smith, opened the New Village Leadership Academy in Calabasas, Calif., last
fall. The school is for pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. Now Pinkett Smith
hopes to open a companion high school.
Pinkett Smith says she decided to open the elementary school after
developing a home-school program for her children. The school generated some controversy because
it relies on instructional methods developed by Scientology founder Ron
Hubbard. But the school's director has said it isn't a Scientology
facility. Meanwhile, Pinkett Smith is
set to produce and star in a new series on TNT.
::TV NEWS::
Bryan Cranston's Role May Be The Death Of Him But He's Living
Life In The Fast And Loose Lane
Source: www.thestar.com - Rob Salem, Television Columnist
(March 08, 2009) LOS ANGELES – For a guy
who's been battling cancer for two years – not to mention the accumulated
stress of impending fatherhood, imminent financial ruin and running an illegal
meth lab – Bryan Cranston is looking good.
His hair has grown back. He's gained some weight. He exudes the relaxed and
confident air of a man who's been acknowledged by his peers with a best lead
actor Emmy Award.
"I had three previous nominations and didn't win," allows Malcolm
in the Middle's former father – a wildly comic character and thus the polar
opposite of his tortured role in Breaking Bad, the critically acclaimed (if under-watched) AMC series returning for
its second season tonight at 10 p.m.
"I was pretty comfortable with not winning," Cranston says, "and
I was preparing myself for the same thing. My wife, on the other hand, was
starting to hyperventilate and get sweaty palms, which is very attractive.
(That's) one of the reasons I married her.
"I just told her, 'Relax. Don't get all worked up, because they're not
going to mention my name. Let's just have fun and enjoy this.'
"And then (Emmy presenter) Kiefer Sutherland said 'Bryan Cranston,' and
the first millisecond of that went, 'That sounds familiar ...'
"Hopefully I said something that was coherent and appreciative, which is
how I felt. It was a wonderful night."
Things have been pretty wonderful ever since. For one thing, with Breaking
Bad's second season in the can – a full 13 episodes, compared to last
season's strike-truncated seven – he no longer has to starve himself.
"When we did the pilot, I was 186 (pounds)," he says. "When my
character started his chemotherapy, I got down to 170. When we started up the
second season, I had to go back down to 170. But now we've finished for the season,
so I've started beefing up."
If you missed the first season, tonight's a good chance to get on board, but
know that Cranston's Walt White has already been through the wringer. He began
the series as the picture of banality: an unremarkable chemistry teacher in
Albuquerque, with a pregnant wife and a son with cerebral palsy. Then he was
told he has stage three lung cancer. Determined to leave his family enough
money to survive after he's gone, he makes the fateful decision to use his
skills to start cooking crystal meth.
With a former student Jesse (Aaron Paul) helping him out, they start production
in an isolated RV, but before Walt can strike it rich, he has to worry about
DEA agents (including his brother-in-law) and violent rivals in the drug trade,
one of whom he kills, after much deliberation. By season's end, Walt and
Aaron's meth business had finally made the right connection for the local drug
trade, but it's with a violent and erratic local kingpin named Tuco, so it's
far from clear that Walt will even live long enough for the cancer to get him.
Walt's financial worries are easy to relate to for many in the audience right
now. If its appeal does grow, a third season seems likely, raising the
question, how long can a series based on a guy with an ostensibly terminal
disease postpone the potentially inevitable?
"Good question," acknowledges creator/producer Vince Gilligan.
"I never thought of him dying in the first season. (But) that definitely
is something we think about being on the horizon.
"How far the horizon stretches is unknown. But I knew I wanted to take
this as far as we believably could, and hopefully that will be, you know,
Season 13 or 15."
In the meantime, Cranston is taking full advantage of the opportunity, stepping
behind the camera to direct tonight's return episode.
""Yes, it was difficult," he admits. "I remember (a scene)
where Walt was calculating how much money he needs before he can get out. And
I'm, like, `Okay. Now I want two cameras here and we're going to go on the
other side and shoot that. All right? We ready? Let's ...
"`Oh geez, I'm in this!' And I quickly had to get to the script
and, you know, refamiliarize myself with the lines."
Cranston says he relied on producer Gilligan to get all the details on cancer
right.
"Vince did a lot of research," he says. "I didn't want to do any
because I wanted to learn about it as my character learned about it."
He did have some first-hand experience – and indeed, who among us has not been
touched, directly or indirectly, by cancer?
"My sister-in-law had breast cancer," Cranston reveals, "and I
went with her for her chemotherapy injections, and radiation.
"I noticed in a lot of the patients there was a lot of self-reflection.
There was a lot of quiet time. There was a lot of anger. There was a lot of
resentment. So you run a gamut of emotions..
"That's what is so great about the show, that often his condition will
surface in an emotion that seems inappropriate at the time, but actually, given
the set of circumstances, you can understand and accept.
"So it forces you to do a lot of self-examination, and I think the irony
in this is that Walt looks at what has happened since he was diagnosed with
terminal lung cancer, how his life has changed, and I don't think necessarily
that he would turn it all in if he had an opportunity to.
"He was a walking zombie before, a very depressed man for 25 years –
emotionless, invisible. And all of a sudden, this blew the cap of emotions off,
and there really is no going back emotionally. There's no going back
physically. He can't go back to teaching. His life has changed forever.
"And he's actually, at times, embracing that, which I find fascinating
sociologically."
But it's uniquely difficult to portray. Which is why he tries to leave it
behind on the set.
"He's too exhausting to play, to take anything home," Cranston says.
"Once I take off the glasses and the Wallaby shoes and all that, I leave
it there.
"I'm 52, and I'm running around like ... it's a very physical show, and a
very emotionally draining show. I go home and I'm exhausted. I sleep
well."
And then he gets up and starts all over again.
"For this show to have any success at all, (we had) to have this man be
relatable," he says. "People need to understand him – not necessarily
to agree with what he's doing, but to understand what he's going through and
why he's doing it.
"If we can be truthful in that telling of that, then I think we have a
shot at making a very interesting and compelling story. And hopefully we've
accomplished that. And will continue to do so."
Castle's Sexy Sleuth Could Be Canadian Star's Hit
Source: www.globeandmail.com
- Andrew Ryan
(March 09, 2009) The few surviving fans of Murder,
She Wrote are in for a shock.
The beloved eighties series starring Angela Lansbury as the sensible-shoed
sleuth Jessica Fletcher established the TV conceit of a mystery author being
smarter than the real cops at solving murders. Of course, each case closed with
tea and biscuits.
The concept holds on the new crime drama Castle (starting tonight on ABC and A, at 10), except that Jessica Fletcher is
now a man's role. A rather attractive man, in fact, who is also a single dad
and playboy type prone to hitting on his leggy police-department liaison. And
sit down, dearies: He's Canadian.
Castle is a sleeper show for ABC, which is launching more series than
any other U.S. network in this bleak economy.
Debuting in a plum timeslot following tonight's return of Dancing with the
Stars, the new crime drama opens a spotlight role for Edmonton-born Nathan Fillion as Richard Castle, bestselling author of
crime-horror novels.
A handsomer Stephen King, Castle lives and works in New York, where he is
mobbed by his public and happily grants fan requests to autograph cleavage. He
is the writer as rock star.
"Castle obviously enjoys his fame, and everything that comes with
it," said Fillion recently. "He takes the stories in his novels from
the real world, so he's always searching for new sources, new stories. ...He's
like a child. Every day is a field trip."
Slickly filmed in the same style as all modern crime procedurals, Castle
could be the show to push Fillion over his TV hump.
The rugged actor has not had any hits, though he's fronted previous network
series, including Joss Whedon's ambitious sci-fi western Firefly (11
episodes) or the 2007 action series Drive (four episodes); more recently
he spent a season on Desperate Housewives playing the gynecologist
husband of honorary housewife Dana Delany.
Both good-looking and funny - a rare combination - Fillion was a natural fit
for the role of a bon vivant media celebrity, which left only a trip to the
bookstore.
"Almost all my preparation has come from reading Clive Cussler, James
Patterson and other mystery writers," said Fillion, 37. "Right now
I'm deep into Robert Parker and the Spenser series. It started as research; now
I'm reading them for pleasure."
As he should, Fillion goes over the top as the brash Castle, whose star
presence is played up in the pilot. The launch event for the writer's final
novel in a popular crime series resembles an overblown Hollywood premiere. Does
Tom Clancy get this many groupies?
To humanize the character, the party guests include Castle's precocious teen
daughter, Alexis (Molly Quinn) and his dotty mother Martha (Susan Sullivan), a
man-hungry ex-showgirl. "It's important for viewers to know Castle is a
good father, and a good son," said creator and executive producer Andrew
Marlowe.
At the same party, Castle's editor, also his ex-wife, rails at him for closing
down the series, which has left the writer bereft of book ideas. Serendipity
occurs across town with the discovery of a naked dead woman covered in rose
petals.
Sharp of mind and fashion sense, Detective Kate Beckett, played by Hamilton
native Stana Katic, recognizes the crime scene as a scenario from one of
Castle's books, and picks up the author for questioning. And so the tango
begins.
Whereas Jessica Fletcher seemed to be asexual, or at least celibate, Castle is
a randy chap. The sexual tension between the flighty writer and the hot lady
cop is evident in their first scene together: Castle invites Beckett to spank
him as atonement for past legal indiscretions. She declines, but her police
superiors still believe it's a fine idea for Castle to be involved in the
copycat-killer investigation.
"She's very annoyed at first, because she's forced to babysit this
superstar," said Katic, who last year appeared in the James Bond feature Quantum
of Solace. "But she also admires him because she reads his books. ...
The attraction is there."
And the celebrity author is smitten. Throwing all probability to the wind,
Castle calls in a marker to the mayor - a personal friend on speed-dial - that
gets him assigned as the full-time partner of the sultry Big Apple detective.
The writer has found his new muse. The lady protests, though not too much.
"Their relationship feels to me like a throwback to an older style of
filmmaking," said Katic, citing the romantic films of forties-era director
Ernst Lubitsch as inspiration. "There's a subtle elegance and sensuality
and sleekness to the story."
But very little DNA evidence. Jessica Fletcher never poked with the bodies, and
likewise for this attractive sleuth duo.
There is little in the way of autopsy scenes or other graphic unpleasantness in
the first outing of Castle, and viewers are unlikely to witness any
blood at all throughout the series' tryout run, slated for 10 episodes. Leave
the blood work to the CSI test-tube jockeys in Las Vegas and Miami, say
the Castle creators.
"We call this the ABC crime procedural," said Marlowe proudly.
"Even the crime scenes in our pilot are pretty because they're stylized
versions of crime scenes from his novels. We're not going to focus on the gore.
There's enough of that on TV."
Jerry Seinfeld Bringing Reality Series To NBC
Source: www.thestar.com
- David Bauder, The
Associated Press
(February
26, 2009) NEW YORK–Jerry Seinfeld is returning to NBC as producer
of a comic reality series where celebrities and a referee try to help
squabbling couples make peace.
That's the good news for Seinfeld's fans.
The bad news? Seinfeld said he has no plans to step in front of the cameras for
The Marriage Ref or, for that matter, to ever star in a television
series again.
"It's a young man's game," said Seinfeld, 54. "Nothing could
surpass the experience I had.''
That would be Seinfeld, of course, the sitcom that ended its nine-year
run in 1998, a big part of NBC's golden era. The fourth-place network has since
fallen on hard times, and jumped at the chance to welcome back one of its top
names.
The idea came from personal experience.
Seinfeld and his wife, Jessica, were arguing one day – he doesn't remember the
topic – while a friend was visiting. The friend became uncomfortable and
wondered if she should leave.
"I said, `You know what, I need some help to settle this right here. I
need a marriage ref,'" he said, and the friend obliged.
Seinfeld helped develop the idea with a friend, Ellen Rakieten, who had just
left Oprah Winfrey's production company after working there for 23 years.
She brought the problem-solving experience and Seinfeld added the comic
sensibility. They don't intend to delve into serious stuff, but smaller things
like leaving the bathroom messy. Even, perhaps, about nothing, really.
"I've been married for nine years," Seinfeld said in a phone
interview. "One of my favourite things is talking to guys about their
marriage. It's so funny because it's not your problem.''
Indeed, Rakieten said, "we all fight about the same stuff. When you can
look at it in a funny way and realize you're not alone, it takes some of the
edge off it.''
The hour-long episodes will introduce the couples through filmed reports and
show them fighting. A panel of celebrity guests will weigh in to offer advice
and observations before the final arbiter, a "ref" who hasn't been
selected yet, will settle things.
Being right may not always be the deciding factor, either. The ref will
penalize people for fighting dirty, for instance, Rakieten said. Eye-rolling is
a technical foul.
The team hopes to get the show on the air for next season, but said the timing
hasn't been determined.
All of Seinfeld's sitcom co-stars have tried new TV shows since Seinfeld
ended, with varying degrees of success. Julia Louis-Dreyfus has been the most
successful, on CBS' The New Adventures of Old Christine.'
Seinfeld, who has three children, said that with his family and stand-up comedy
career, he didn't want to make the time commitment to act in another TV series.
Idol Goes From TV Show To Empire
Source: www.thestar.com
- Lynn Elber, Associated Press
(March 09, 2009) LOS ANGELES – In 2001, Simon
Cowell figured a singing contest snapped up by British TV would be an easy sell
in America. Instead, network responses ranged from lukewarm to hostile.
"I was thrown out in one pitch meeting. After 30 seconds, the guy told me
to get out," recalled Cowell, making the rounds with entertainment mogul
Simon Fuller. "The main thing we were being told was music doesn't work on
TV in prime time. We tried to explain that there's lot more than music on the
show.''
So much for Hollywood acumen. The talent contest has "created this whole
zeitgeist," said media analyst Shari Ann Brill. Kelly Clarkson, Carrie
Underwood and Jennifer Hudson are among the singers rewarded with instant
careers in music, movies and theatre.
A chorus of enterprises has gotten a dusting of Idol magic as well, including a Disney World
attraction to the "Karaoke Revolution Presents American Idol" video game. A deal with iTunes for
exclusive show video and song downloads last season coincided with Apple's
emergence as the nation's leading music retailer.
There's even altruistic value in the franchise: The charity initiative Idol
Gives Back raised $64 million (all figures U.S.) in 2008.
Fuller, who started it all with Britain's Pop Idol and carried the
concept to the United States and more than 35 TV markets worldwide, including
Canada, told The Times of London that "pure, simple television is
not that interesting for me; what's far more interesting is trying to create a
cult effect.''
CTV has "suspended" Canadian Idol this season due to the
economic climate and is running American Idol.
For Fox, which gave American Idol a modest summertime 2002 tryout, the
show is a money machine. A 30-second ad on Idol costs around $500,000
and rises to more than $600,000 for the finale, said Ray Dundas, an analyst for
ad-buying firm Initiative.
By comparison, he said, other Top 10 shows, such as Grey's Anatomy, get
closer to $240,000 per 30-second commercial.
The difference reflects both the size of the Idol audience and the fact
that it can deliver the elusive young adult viewers preferred by advertisers,
Dundas said.
American Idol, in short, big-foots broadcasting.
It has dominated as the most-watched series since its third year, a pattern
that's holding true this season even as ratings dip in an overall TV slump.
Two-hour American Idol episodes on Tuesday have averaged 58 per cent
more viewers than the closest competition, CBS's NCIS and The
Mentalist (27 million for Idol vs. 17 million each for the CBS
shows).
"I don't believe there will ever be another show like this. It's the last
of its breed," said Mike Darnell, Fox's president of alternative entertainment.
As a trendsetter, Idol has served as a blueprint for a generation of
shows in which contestants – whether singing, dancing, skating, or swallowing
fire – are vetted by a triad that includes one wasp-tongued TV judge,
preferably with a foreign accent.
Len Goodman of Dancing with the Stars and Nigel Lythgoe of So You
Think You Can Dance (and a former Idol producer) are part of the
elite group.
Idol singers remain irresistible gossip fodder, with unknowns such as
this year's drama queen Tatiana Del Toro heaped with water-cooler and online
attention – at least for the moment.
Michael Jung, a vice-president with Walt Disney Imagineering Creative
Entertainment, helped develop the new attraction that gives visitors to the
Orlando, Fla., park the chance to compete, vote and perform à la Idol.
"It gives you a taste of that next Cinderella story. You could be the next
American Idol," he said. American Idol is in tune with fans,
but can that last?
It's going to be "harder and harder" to sell records in the dramatically
changing industry, said Steve Knopper, author of Appetite for
Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital
Age.
Yet even if its empire is diminished, the show may endure.
"How long did American Bandstand last – 30 years, 40 years?"
Knopper said. "I think Idol is built in that universal way. It's a
talent show. It's not reinventing the wheel."
Ottawa To Merge TV And Web Funds
Source: www.thestar.com
- Greg Quill, Entertainment Columnist
(March 10, 2009) In an effort to encourage the development of
Canadian programming that's more accessible to the iPod generation, the federal
government is doing away with the controversial Canadian Television Fund, the
source of taxpayer subsidies to the Canadian TV production industry, and
combining it with the Canada New Media Fund, which subsidizes digital media development.
Starting on April 1, 2010, the government will invest $134.7 million annually
in the new program, called the Canada Media Fund, Heritage Minister James Moore
said at a press conference yesterday on the Toronto set of the CTV police drama
series Flashpoint. This is the amount that would have been invested in
the two former programs, he said.
"We are levelling the playing field at a time when the industry is
undergoing structural change," Moore said. "The eligibility for
funding for broadcaster-affiliated production will be expanded, and broadcaster
in-house production will be allowed ... including provincial educational
broadcasters and CBC/Radio-Canada."
CBC was previously not allowed to compete for CTF in-house production money.
But under the new guidelines, the public broadcaster's "guaranteed
envelope" will be removed. In 2005, 37 per cent of CTF funding was
guaranteed for CBC productions, reflecting the corporation's historic
proportion of CTF funding since 1996, and confirming its position as the
primary platform for independent productions.
The emphasis of the new broadcast policy will be on drama, comedy, and
children's programming, and will favour productions developed for distribution
platforms other than prime-time TV – the Internet and mobile telecommunications
devices, said Moore, who admitted he watches "more television programs on
my iPod than on regular TV."
The new fund will also support documentaries and variety and performing arts
programming that can demonstrate the market alone would not support their
creation.
"The realigned fund will favour projects produced in high definition and
those that have achieved and demonstrated the most potential to achieve
success, in terms of audience and return on investment," Moore said.
"Applicants will be required to make their projects available across a
minimum of two distribution platforms, including television."
In response to a recent report from the auditor general pointing out
vested-interest potential in the existing Television Fund, whose board
comprises representatives of major broadcast and production industry
stakeholders, the board of the Canada Media Fund will be smaller. Five of the new
fund's seven members will be appointed by broadcasters and program creators,
and two by the government, Moore added.
The establishment of the new fund is a clear rejection of last summer's
recommendation by the broadcasting industry czar, the Canadian Radio-television
and Telecommunications Commission, that the $300-million Canadian Television
Fund be split into two funding streams, one for private networks, the other for
non-profit broadcasters.
Canada's major public and private broadcasters seem happy with the new
arrangements.
Pierre Karl Péladeau, president of Quebecor Media, said in a statement
yesterday that he welcomes the minister's "positive response to problems
of governance, funding and policy. The ... changes will enable the new Canada
Media Fund to focus on quality, successful Canadian content.
"We now have reason to think that the necessary conditions will be created
to promote the development of a strong and creative production industry in what
has become a fiercely competitive international environment."
CTVglobemedia president Ivan Fecan congratulated Moore "for recognizing
the importance of audience success and for putting the audience first in the
creation of this fund. All of us in media exist to serve the audience."
And Richard Stursberg, CBC's executive vice-president, English services, said,
"We like the direction. The new policy puts the emphasis on drama shows in
prime time, and rewards people for making programs Canadians want to
watch."
The removal of the public broadcaster's right to guaranteed funds is of little
concern "provided everyone is one equal footing when it comes to the
mechanism for measuring audience numbers," Stursberg said. "We're
happy to take our chances."
CBC-TV Makes Program Cuts
Source: www.thestar.com
- Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press
(March 10, 2009) CBC-TV is cancelling its long-running series Fashion
File and putting its daytime lifestyles program Steven & Chris on hold due to the financial crunch.
Fashion File will wrap up production for good on March 31, while Steven
& Chris will go on hiatus after production ends on April 15, Kirstine
Layfield, executive director of network programming, said Tuesday in a
statement.
"We remain committed to factual programming and building a strong
afternoon schedule, but like every other media organization right now, we're
facing big challenges as a result of a significant drop in advertising
revenues," Layfield said.
"We're not able at present to make the kind of expenditures we ordinarily
would."
Fashion File, an internationally syndicated series hosted by Adrian
Mainella, has been on the air for two decades. Steven & Chris
launched just over a year ago.
Both programs will be broadcast in repeats when they're finished production,
and will form part of a new afternoon schedule, said the CBC.
The programming changes come a day after Heritage Minister James Moore said the
beleaguered public broadcaster will not be getting any help from Ottawa to cope
with its economic woes.
Last week, CBC/Radio-Canada president Hubert Lacroix said that slumping ad
revenues would force the network to consider deep cuts to staff and
programming. He said revenues had dropped by as much as $60 million and
predicted even tougher times ahead.
Without government help, Lacroix warned that the network have to consider
measures that "would change the very nature of our service to
Canadians." That included adding American shows to the schedule to replace
more expensive original programming and reducing geographic coverage by
shrinking or consolidating local stations.
The economic downturn has affected all of Canada's major television networks.
In recent weeks, Canwest Global put its E! network up for sale while CTV closed
local stations.
Late last year, CTV said the financial crash had forced it to put its popular
singing contest, Canadian Idol, on hold this year.
Layfield said she hoped the CBC would be able to continue working with Steven
& Chris talk show hosts Steven Sabados and Chris Hyndman.
She said the CBC also intends to retain the Fashion File brand, which it
co-owns with Fashion Magazine, for use on other platforms.
TV TIDBITS
Morris
Chestnut Makes 'V'-Line To ABC
Source: www.eurweb.com
(March 05, 2009) *Morris
Chestnut will have a lead role in the pilot for ABC's drama
"V," according to the Hollywood Reporter. The Warner Bros. Television
project is a re-imagining of the original 1980s miniseries about an invasion of
aliens known as Visitors and the resistance against them. It will center on a
female Homeland Security agent. Chestnut will play the woman's boyfriend, who
has a dark secret -- he is a Visitor. The actor's breakout role came as Ricky
in John Singleton's 1991 film "Boyz N the Hood." He recently starred
in and executive produced Sony Screen Gems' "Not Easily Broken"
opposite Taraji P. Henson.
Sherri
Shepherd Gives Life To Lifetime
Source: www.eurweb.com
(March 05, 2009) *As if a day job on ABC's "The View," a
recurring role on NBC's "30 Rock" and a role in the
critically-acclaimed Sundance winner "Push" isn't enough, Sherri Shepherd is about to squeeze in another high-profile project.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Lifetime has ordered an untitled
multicamera pilot for a sitcom that would star the comedian and draw storylines
based loosely on her own experiences. The
project was originally developed for the CW network during the 2007-08
development season. Dave Flebotte penned the script about a woman who chooses
to deal with her husband's infidelity and his illegitimate child by allowing
the child and mother to move in with them. After the comedy didn't get a
go-ahead at the CW, the script went to Lifetime, which is half-owned by ABC
Studios' parent company, Disney.
::THEATRE NEWS::
At 92, Kirk Douglas Returns To The Stage With Sold-Out
Retrospective
Source: www.thestar.com
- Ryan Pearson, The Associated Press
(March 07, 2009) CULVER CITY, Calif.–Kirk Douglas emerges from behind a black curtain and
walks purposefully, if a bit unsteadily, to centre stage.
"When you have a stroke, you must talk slowly to be understood," he
says, smiling to a largely empty theatre at a rehearsal of his new one-man show
Before I Forget.
The 92-year-old actor emphasizes each syllable as clearly and firmly as he can
through the speech impediment caused by a 1996 stroke.
"I've discovered that when I talk slowly, people listen! They think I'm
going to say something important." Douglas waves both hands as if scoffing
at the concept, then takes a seat in a black leather easy chair.
Plenty of people are willing to listen. The four performances of Douglas's show
this week sold out. The site: Kirk Douglas Theatre, opened by Center Theatre
Group in 2004 after a $2.5 million U.S. donation from Douglas and his wife,
Anne.
"You know, I never wanted to be a movie actor," Douglas says.
"My goal in life was to be a star on the stage. Now I know how to do it –
build your own theatre."
Douglas, who has appeared in more than 75 movies, developed this show after
writing nine books, including My Stroke of Luck and his most recent, Let's
Face It. "But I found it was easier to write a one-man show than to
present it," he said, referring to his speech impediment in an interview
in. "But that's a challenge for me, and I have always welcomed a
challenge."
The nearly 1 1/2-hour performance features clips from Douglas's movies
and public appearances, including his acceptance of an honorary Academy Award
in 1996.
Douglas talks understatedly about his famous family and friends like the
briefly-married couple Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra. He recalls one night when
they were all staying at the same New York hotel and Gardner came knocking on
his door, sobbing. "She had just had a violent argument with Frank, who
seized a gun and he threatened to shoot himself," said Douglas, who also
recounted the incident in his latest book. "I calmed Ava down and she went
back."
Douglas clearly enjoys the process of looking back at the people and projects
of years long past. He notes in the interview that he's most proud of his work
on 1960's Spartacus, created during the anti-communist paranoia of the
1950s.
"It was a low point in our history," Douglas said. "I hired
Dalton Trumbo, who spent a year in jail, because he was blacklisted, and I
hired him under the false name of Sam Jackson. ... Well, I was ashamed of
myself for being such a hypocrite and in the middle of shooting, I decided to
use his correct name. And Spartacus was the first movie to use the
correct name of a blacklisted writer. And the blacklist was broken. That's
something to be proud of."
Douglas says his determined return to the stage – where he got his start in
show business – isn't intended to inspire others his age. He only wants to keep
doing what he does best. "My job is to entertain people," he said.
"And if they find my life interesting, and it takes their mind off the
foreclosures all the problems that we have, then I've done my job."
Idol Alum Steffi D Breaks Out On Broadway
Source: www.thestar.com
- Richard Ouzounian, Theatre Critic
(March 07, 2009) For some people, she'll
always be known as the girl who chopped her last name, put a bow in her hair
and made a big noise as one of the finalists on Canadian Idol in 2006.
But nowadays, Steffi D is carving out a whole new career path for herself as the tortured free
spirit Ilse, in the national tour of the hit Broadway musical Spring Awakening, which is coming to the Canon Theatre as
part of the Mirvish subscription season, starting March 17.
It's been an exciting and convoluted career path for the young woman born
Steffi Didomenicantonio in Orleans, Ont. And she's still only 19.
"It might sound pretty quick," she laughs on the phone from her
Michigan hotel room where the show is playing, "but I've been singing and
stuff since I was four, so it's a pretty long time for me."
Usually, that early and strong an interest in a theatrical career indicates
some pushing from the family involved, but the exact opposite was the case in
this scenario.
"My God, no!" she whoops in that high, endearing voice. "My
whole family is medically oriented. My father is a radiologist, my aunt is a
dermatologist, my mother is a pharmacist, my brother is training to be a
doctor. I'm the odd one out."
At first, they all thought it was cute when little Steffi would entertain at
family parties, singing into her plastic microphone, but as she got older and
held on to those dreams, things changed a bit.
"I warned them early on this was what I wanted to do for a career and I
remember my dad shaking his head and saying, `That's a very scary thing,' but
they always supported me."
Her other secret weapon is that she's a multiple triple threat. Not only does
she speak and perform in three languages (English, French and Italian) but her
work stretches from heavy drama to broad comedy, with lots and lots of music in
between.
"I did a lot of competitions as a kid," she recalls, "but most
of them were classically based, with a few journeys into musical theatre."
But in early 2006, when one of her friends told her he was auditioning for Canadian
Idol, she came along for the ride even though "I had never sung a pop
song in my life."
Still, something she did must have clicked, because the judges embraced her and
she was on her way.
The friend, by the way, never made the cut.
When it looked like she was about to make it to the final 22, it was Jake Gold
who talked to her about her name: "It's too long, it's too complicated,
Mulroney's never going to be able to say it right every week. Why don't you
make it shorter?"
And overnight, Steffi D was born. At first, she impressed everyone with her
period tunes like "I Only Have Eyes For You" or mellower pop ballads
like "Kiss Me," but as the weeks went on she stretched the envelope
and her final performance, when she was eliminated from the Top 5 on Aug. 22,
2006 was Nancy Sinatra's assertive anthem "These Boots Are Made For
Walkin'."
"There were a lot of ups and downs on Idol," she recalls.
"It was a very emotional ride. It tests you and then it keeps testing you.
But I have no regrets, no sadness, only great things, good thoughts."
So she moved to Toronto and enrolled in the George Brown College Theatre
School, but before she even knew her way around the TTC, a friend told her
there were open auditions for Spring Awakening.
The powerful musical has knocked Steffi D for a loop when she saw it in New
York, its mixture of edgy Duncan Sheik music and period Franz Wedekind drama
combining to create a timeless portrait of troubled youth.
"When I saw it, I thought `Oh my God, that's just how I feel!' and I know that's
what most other young people think as well."
Less than a week after her open call she was flown to New York and offered a
role in the national tour.
Her character, Ilse, is a victim of abuse, but manages to keep a sweet, free
spirit through it all and that's what Steffi D loves the most.
"She's got some kind of innocence about her, but she also has an old soul.
She grew up way too quickly for her age and now she's coming to grips with
that."
And although her personal scenario has never been as dark as Ilse's, Steffi D
says she can understand what the character is going through "because every
human being has known some kind of despair.
"I took all my life, good and bad together. They made me and they made
her."
She still finds it thrilling to bring this electrifying show across North
America because "it defies all the rules, it breaks all the moulds. The
pain and pleasure of youthful sexuality has never been told so raw and with so
much detail."
Right now, she plans to stay with Spring Awakening as long as she can
and after that, "whatever comes my way, I'm going to take."
And so far, that strategy has worked just fine for Steffi D.
Getting personal with Steffi Didomenicantonio
What was the first role you played on stage?
Lisa Vineberg, Malton
"I was Helen Keller at the age of 11 at the Ottawa Little Theatre."
What celebrity did you want to be like when you were growing up?
Ian Bender, Toronto
"I remember writing in my diary that I wanted to be the female Jim Carey.
I thought he was so funny and I wanted to be the first superstar female
Canadian comic."
What was your favourite week on Canadian Idol?
Cara McRae, Barrie
"That would have to be '80s week when Cindy Lauper came on and taught us
the most amazing things. I sang `It's My Life' and wore these crazy hair
extensions and this tutu. Madness!"
What do you remember most about your last night on Canadian Idol?
Matthew Bair, Cambridge
"When it was all over the judges lifted me up on their shoulders and
cheered for me. It was an incredible moment."
::TECHNOLOGY NEWS::
Video Games A `Balanced' Pastime
Source: www.thestar.com
- London Telegraph
(March 07, 2009) Almost two-thirds of parents
believe video games provide a great social experience, while more than half think gaming
helps to bring their family together, according to a new study from Microsoft.
Eighty per cent of the parents it surveyed said that video games were a vital
component in a "balanced blend" of modern and traditional home
entertainment.
Microsoft's survey, which questioned more than 2,500 parents in the U.K.,
France, Germany, Italy and the United States, along with 1,000 British
children, gauged attitudes on a host of video game issues. It's the second
consecutive year that Microsoft, which makes the Xbox 360 games console, has
commissioned the study.
The research revealed that 81 per cent of British children play video games at
least once a week, with more than three-quarters playing against others online.
One-third of parents admitted to knowing little about who their child was
playing against, and 42 per cent expressed concern online gaming was pitting
their child against older gamers. But only five per cent of children said
they'd encountered a worrying or frightening experience online.
Microsoft's Play Smart, Play Safe study found in the last 12 months, parents
had become more aware of the parental safety controls in modern consoles to
restrict access to specific content and age-rated games: 73 per cent knew of
the controls, up from 60 per cent last year.
Around 69 per cent of children said they wanted their parents to be more
involved in checking the content and suitability of the games they play.
Although 94 per cent of British parents said they felt "personally
responsible" for checking the age ratings of games before allowing their
children to play them, nearly two-thirds said they sometimes let children to
play games that were not suitable for their age. Some 92 per cent of children
were aware of age rating systems, compared to just 60 per cent of adults.
Parents said they'd welcome a central point to get tips and advice about safe
gaming, with 45 per cent calling for a dedicated website, and 65 per cent
saying they would use a parent-child discussion forum to help establish safe
gaming rules.
Apple Launches Smaller iPod Shuffle
Source: www.thestar.com - Jessica Mintz, The Associated Press
(March 11, 2008) SEATTLE – Apple Inc. unveiled a minuscule new iPod Shuffle on Wednesday that takes its "smaller is
better" mantra to a whole new level.
The third-generation Shuffle, a slim aluminum rectangle less than seven
centimetres long, takes up about half as much space as the previous version
even as it doubles music storage space to four gigabytes. To achieve such a
tiny form, Apple had to remove most of the buttons from the body of the $99
device and build them into the headphone cord instead.
"Smaller has tended to work very well for us," said Greg Joswiak, a
marketing vice-president at Apple.
The trade-off for a sub-$100 Shuffle has always been the lack of a screen to
visually navigate through the music stored on the device. The first generation
Shuffle, which launched in 2005, could hold about 240 songs, arguably not
enough to warrant a screen.
Now that the device can carry 1,000 songs, Apple has come up with a way for
people to identify the music they're listening to or find songs they want. A
new feature called VoiceOver can, at the push of a button, speak the song and
artist name or rattle off the list of custom mixes – called playlists – that
the owner has loaded onto the device.
Here's how it works: As you synchronize a new Shuffle using an updated version
of iTunes, your PC or Mac looks at each track and playlist and creates a small
file of a computerized voice speaking the title, artist or playlist name. If a
song is in Spanish or Chinese, say, the software figures this out and speaks in
the appropriate language. Apple says the device can handle 14 languages.
The new Shuffle, which comes in silver or black aluminum with a shiny stainless
steel clip, is set to go on sale Thursday. Joswiak said Apple's own earphones
will be the only option for early buyers, but that other companies plan to make
compatible headphones as well as adapters for regular headphones.
Shares of Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple jumped $4.05 U.S., or 4.6 per cent, to
$92.68 in midday trading.
::OTHER NEWS::
Book of Negroes wins CBC's Canada Reads
Source: www.thestar.com
- Vit Wagner, Publishing Reporter
(March 06, 2009) When The Book of
Negroes emerged Friday as the winner of this year's Canada Reads showdown on CBC-Radio, it was but the latest
in a series of triumphs for Burlington author Lawrence Hill's 2007 bestseller.
Set in the 18th century and involving the story of a young African girl who
regains her freedom after being sold into slavery, The Book of Negroes previously
won the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize in 2007 and the Commonwealth
Writers' Prize a year later. The recognition boosted the book's sales past the
100,000 mark in Canada, while helping its publication launch in the U.S., the
U.K. and elsewhere. The first translation is soon to reach Norwegian readers.
"It's been an unusual trajectory for a book," Hill says. "And a
really gratifying one.
"It started out well, but it didn't look like it was going to become a
bestseller or anything. And then months after it came out, sales started
picking up. Then it won some awards quite a while after it was published, which
stimulated new interest. Usually if a book doesn't make a splash in the first
couple of months you kiss it goodbye and know that it's on its way back to the
publishers."
The Book of Negroes won out over David Adams Richards' Mercy
Among the Children, Gil Adamson's The Outlander, Brian Francis' Fruit
and Michel Tremblay's The Fat Woman Next Door is Pregnant.
Broadcaster and filmmaker Avi Lewis, who championed Hill's book during CBC's
weeklong debate, argues that the past success enjoyed by the novel didn't
necessarily hand him an unfair advantage.
"Everyone on the panel wants to help a Canadian author with their career,
not just give a prize to a Canadian author who is already
well-established," he says. "But ultimately what trumps it all is the
most powerful book. I don't think I really did that much. The book itself
convinced my fellow panellists."
In the process, Lewis ended a winning streak for titles promoted by musicians.
The Canada Reads winner had been championed by a musician in five of the seven
previous years, including the last three in a row. Last year's winner was Paul
Quarrington's King Leary, defended by Dave Bidini of Rheostatics fame.
"As a lifelong wannabe musician, I feel quite vindicated," Lewis
says. "If I have the guts to get up on stage and make my horrible
audiences for an audience, I don't see why musicians should be horning in on
territory that rightly belongs to the talkers of the world."
Hill is at work on a new novel, due for publication in 2010.
"I can't control what expectations other people might have," he says.
"But I'm trying not to have expectations on myself, except to try to write
the best book I can.
"The rest is business."
Finding Faith In Blogging The Bible
Source: www.thestar.com - Leslie Scrivener, Staff Reporter
(March 08, 2009) David Plotz, editor of the online magazine Slate, set out to read the
Bible "fresh," have a personal encounter unmediated by teachers or
scholars, and blog about his findings. A non-observant Jew, "fundamentally
ignorant" about his roots, Plotz, 39, said he felt a veil had been lifted
by the end of the project.
Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous, and
Inspiring Things I Learned When I Read Every Single World of the Bible was published last week.
You say even non-believers should read the Bible to understand literature,
culture and language. It should be mandatory reading in high schools, just like
Shakespeare. Why?
The most wonderful parts of the Bible are more wonderful than you were ever
taught in glancing bits in Hebrew school, and the awful bits are
extraordinarily horrible. The Book of Ruth is like a Jane Austen novel or a
Patsy Cline song. My favourite moments are when biblical heroes grapple with
God ... when Abraham is on the side of morality and God is being taught a
lesson. The Book of Judges gives any horror movie a run for its money.
In every chapter you come across language that has come to us as cliché:
"how the mighty are fallen," "see the writing on the wall"
or "can a leopard change its spots?"
Of course, the Bible was a source of many ethical beliefs and proscriptions.
Leviticus, a much-maligned book, has an invocation about how to treat the poor
and mete out justice, and deeply resonates today. In Proverbs, you the see the
birth of the first self-help book, but very modest. I found that very
appealing. Very Episcopalian.
Why did you read only the Hebrew Bible and not carry on to the charity and
turn-the-other-cheek New Testament?
I'm Jewish. I was reading my holy book to learn about my tradition. I was
giving it a very irreverent treatment, and with my Bible I was allowed to say
these things. Christian readers might have looked askance at a Jewish reader
making light of Jesus in a way I could with Moses or Job. As a Jew, I was not
sure I could have the same freedom.
Here's a line on Sodom and Gomorrah: "After the attempted mass gay
rape, the father pimping, the urban devastation, the uxorious saline murder
..." Did readers object to this tone of levity?
I got a ton of response, 11,000 emails over the year. A very small group (of
non-believers) on the far extreme, atheists, said why read a book of mythology.
Fundamentalist Jews and Christians said I was inviting damnation, but about 60
per cent of those who corresponded with me were well-educated, knowledgeable
Jews and knowledgeable, deeply Bible-loving Christians. I was really moved by
the way they appreciated the project. Both thought I was misguided and made
mistakes. But they saw that I was curious and giving this book they love a
chance. My naïveté, ignorance and openness were in fact a service.
Why do women love the Book of Ruth?
Ruth and her husband Boaz are the ancestors of King David and later of Jesus.
What I love and what women loved ... it's not a story about God, the
geopolitical interests of the Israelites or miracles, it's a story of domestic
life in the way that small gestures create joy and happiness and ultimately
lead to Jesus if you are Christian or King David if you are not. It's
incredibly moving.
Religious practices in the Bible – burning sacrifices and the like – had
nothing to do with your life, until you encounter words from the Friday night
blessing. You found that unsettling.
On Friday nights I have always said the blessing over my sons, blessing them in
the name of Ephraim and Manasseh. That was mumbo jumbo to me. I was reading
Genesis, and saw that Jacob blesses his grandsons Ephraim and Manasseh, and
then the Bible instructs us to bless our own sons similarly. It was a moment of
profound connection between me and my ancestors, the realization that for 100
generations, back through my father's line, men have been blessing their sons
in this way. It made me realize my responsibility to the future to preserve
that continuity.
Why do people in the Bible live so long?
Biblical literalists had very elaborate explanations that after the Flood, the
canopy to protect you from solar radiation was removed. In my view, it's what
happens in all mythology.
You are appalled at the story of Abraham and Isaac, in particular, and a
vindictive God who subjects his people to unconscionable trials of faith.
There are moments of great mercy and justice, but for the most part He's
very capricious and vindictive ... It explains that when difficult things
happen, you can say God is punishing you. Or God has a distinct plan we can't
hope to understand. It's folly for us to claim He's being capricious.
You conclude by saying you left the Good Book "broken-hearted about
God."
If you go into the book thinking God is a hero, teaching us all sorts of
things, as a source of morality and justice, then it's very disheartening,
because God is not that. The most moral moments come from humans.
So what happens when an ignorant person reads the book on which his religion
is based? Has it changed your engagement with Jewish life?
One of the great things about the Bible is that it's a provocation. It doesn't
give you answers to moral questions, but forces you into an argument – it puts
me into a fight with God and with the book itself. Why would (God) do that? Why
kill the Egyptian children? That argument represents a form of belief and
engagement. Even for non-believers, this can be deeply rewarding.
Lots of offers to go for coffee and talk?
So many I would not have to pay for coffee for the next year.
Southern Canadians Now More Active Than Northerners: New Study
Source: Bob Weber, The
Canadian Press
(March 8, 2009) "There are potentially
higher chronic disease risk factors in northern Canadian compared with southern
Canadian populations," says Kathleen Deering, one of the authors of the
paper in the most recent Canadian Journal of Public Health.
"The higher risk factors would point to the potential for higher chronic
disease prevalence in the future."
Northern Canada has long had higher rates of conditions such as respiratory
disease that are blamed on factors including cramped, poorly ventilated houses.
Deering's paper suggests northern lifestyles may be about to take a higher toll
as well.
She and three other researchers compared how northerners and southerners exercise,
smoke and drink and they also looked at their incidence of conditions such as
arthritis, asthma and heart disease. As well, they compared the populations
over time, using surveys conducted in 2000 and 2005.
Strenuous leisure activities have long been more common in the south. But in
the past northerners got more overall exercise because they included more
physical work in their daily lives.
Those days are gone. Southern Canadians are now outpacing their fellow citizens
north of 60 in all kinds of exercise.
From 2000 to 2005, the proportion of northerners considered at least moderately
active increased by seven per cent. In the south, the increase was roughly 28
per cent.
"In the second (survey), northern Canadians were less physically active in
both measures than southern Canadians," says Deering.
Southerners are also consuming less booze and tobacco.
Smoking dropped by 13 per cent in the North, but by 20 per cent in the South.
The percentage of regular drinkers grew more than nine per cent in the North,
outpacing the southern growth of less than six per cent.
The percentage of obese or overweight northerners increased 10 per cent, as
compared with only seven per cent of southerners.
Deering's research didn't examine the causes behind those trends. But she says
they may already be eroding public health in the North.
"For northern Canadian respondents, the prevalence of having any chronic
disease increased more than in southern Canadian respondents."
All chronic disease increased more than eight per cent in the North, while the
figure was less than seven per cent in the South.
Still, Deering says the fact that the incidence of most such conditions remains
fairly close between the two regions means there's time to bring the North in line
with healthier trends in the South.
"It signals a need for monitoring of chronic disease in northern Canadian
populations before the prevalence gets higher," she says. "This is an
important time to focus efforts on chronic disease prevention.
"It's easier to prevent diseases than it is to treat them."
OTHER TIDBITS
NABJ
Presents P.R. Conference In NYC: Veteran Publicist Terrie Williams To Deliver
Keynote Address
Source: www.thestar.com
- The Associated Press
(March 11, 2008) *The National Association of
Black Journalists (NABJ) will present its Conference for Media Related
Professionals on Saturday, March 21, at the Associated Press Headquarters in
New York City. Public relations guru Terrie Williams will deliver the keynote address. Other attendees
include: Wynona Redmond, President of the National Black Public Relations
Society; Marvet Britto, celebrity publicist and frequent CNN contributor; PR
Expert Karen Taylor Bass; Crystal Howard, Director of Public Relations for
ESPN; Myorr Janha, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations for
Russell Simmons Design Group/Rush Communications; Malcolm Berkley Public
Relations Manager for UPS; Mario Armstrong, on-air tech expert for NPR's
Morning Edition; and Errol Cockfield, Press Secretary for NY Gov. David
Patterson. Conference workshop topics
include: The Changing Face of Public Relations: What is Next on the Horizon?;
Using PR to Give Back to Our Communities: Where Corporate Responsibility and PR
Meet; PR in the Matrix: How Advances in Social Media Can Catapult Your PR
Efforts to New Heights; Corporate vs. Agency vs. Entrepreneurship – Which is
Best for Media Professionals of Color?; and Moving on Up – Getting to the
C-Suite. For full registration
information, the schedule and workshops, please visit: www.nabj.org.
::COMEDY NEWS::
Rick Mercer, Canada's Comedic Institution
Source: www.thestar.com
- Joel Rubinoff, Torstar News Service
(March 06, 2009) Say what you will about the
sorry state of Canadian TV, a beleaguered U.S. satellite pumping out generic
comedy and drama series that shamelessly mimic the rhythms of American
blockbusters: you gotta love Rick Mercer.
A 39-year-old comedy maverick whose weekly cross-country jaunts embrace the
quirky and capricious on The Rick Mercer Report (8 o'clock tonight on
CBC), the sharp-witted Newfoundland native is defiantly Canadian in all the
right ways, a cross-border Conan O'Brien – crossed with Jon Stewart – who draws
irreverent inspiration from the days when a scathing political barb could
generate more heated reaction than all the mate-swapping reality bachelors in
the world.
Watching his highly touted series – a Canadian institution on the order of
poutine, beaver tails and Gordon Lightfoot songs – you get the sense Mercer
views himself as a latter-day Don Quixote, a hapless trailblazer tilting at
windmills as he enmeshes himself in one comic snafu after another.
"I know how to get back because there's splatters of blood from my nose
all the way down the ice sheet!" he cracks on a treacherous Thunder Bay
ice-climbing stunt that sees the klutzy adventurer smacking his face.
He doesn't fare much better at ringette, toppling on the ice while practising
with the Cambridge Turbos on tonight's show in a way that makes him not only
the butt of every joke, but a logical candidate for a Canadian version of Dancing
With the Stars.
But that's the great thing about Mercer: just when you've got him pegged as a
self-deprecating buffoon incapable of sober second thought, he'll turn the
tables in his hilarious rant segment, explode with satirical smart bombs, and
caustically blast political bungling and the bureaucratic ineptitude of
corporate Canada.
"Nortel has announced it will be slashing another 32,000 jobs,'' he
harrumphed with mock officiousness on this week's edition.
"That brings the total number of jobs at Nortel to ... Larry in sales! ...
(elongated pause) ... the office Secret Santa may be a bit anti-climactic this
year."
I especially like how he humanizes starchy politicians in a way that feels less
mean-spirited than engagingly subversive, allowing Liberal Leader Michael
Ignatieff to shed his ivory-tower image while helping him move into his new
Ottawa digs – CRASH! there goes the TV set – and poking fun at the former
university prof's self-penned literary tomes.
"Warrior's Honour: Ethnic War and the Modern Conscience,"
cracks Mercer, examining one of the opposition leader's more ponderous titles.
"I read this one – it's really funny!"
Ignatieff, to his credit, displays a sly wit that redefines him for Canadians
as Mercer flings partisan insults ripe for Tory attack ads.
"What are they gonna call you?" poses the acid-tongued comic, voice
dripping with sarcasm. "Egghead? Nerd? Intellectual?"
Ignatieff shrugs. "I don't care,'' he laughs, deflating his pompous
facade.
But Mercer's real talent, in the end, is his absolute refusal to take himself –
or his country – too seriously, making current issues accessible, and engaging,
in a way self-important political pundits could never hope to.
"It's inauguration day in America," he noted during Barack Obama's
historic ascension to the Oval Office. "You can see all the updates and
streaming video at cbc.ca. However, if you'd rather look at pictures of
(Finance Minister) Jim Flaherty's head superimposed on a monkey, check out my
website!"
I can't speak for the rest of Canada, but if there's ever an election for
Self-Mocking Pissant with a Social Conscience, Mercer gets my vote.
New Comedy Uses The Gloom And Doom Of The Global Recession To
Get A Lot Of Laughs
Source: www.thestar.com
- Richard Ouzounian, Theatre Critic
(March 07, 2009) Welcome to the Dark Side,
Master Luke.
It's a very exciting and totally different atmosphere down at Second City these days, where the company is putting the
finishing touches on its latest show – 0% Down, 100% Screwed – which
opens at their Mercer St. digs on Tuesday night.
How can I put it? When you're dealing with the world of satirical comedy, the
worse things are going in the world, the better they wind up on stage.
"We're ultimately a reflection of what our audience is going through,
always," Second City veteran Darryl Hinds says. "Second City has
historically tackled the issues of the day and in recent years, some people
have criticized us for not having enough edge."
Hinds has a point. I remember one devastating sketch in 1991 called Bobby
Rae Superstar, in which the foundering NDP premier acted out his angst in
an Andrew Lloyd Webber opera, while a chorus of irate Ontarians sang things
like "Bobby Rae / I'm okay / Still have my job at the IGA."
And although Mike Harris summoned up a certain amount of venom (who will ever
forget Ontario: Yours to Recover?), the recent years have been –
politically speaking – a case of lobbing softballs gently over home plate so
that the guys could make short, easy hits.
"Well, it was pretty hard to be edgy when nothing was happening,"
admits Hines, a bit defensively, "but now, it's a different ball
game."
A lot of this different tone is coming from Melody Johnson, who's directing the
show. Besides her years of comic experience, she's also a valued member of this
city's alternative theatre community for her work as an actor and author who's
not afraid to venture off the beaten path.
"We set the whole scene with our opening number," she says, which
features the cast as a Greek chorus of fear, playing a chain gang oppressed by
all the ills of modern society: recession, unemployment, insecurity, etc.
But here's the amazing part. According to Leslie Seiler, who's also been
through more than her fair share of Second City shows, "the audience
reaction to this is amazing. It's probably generating the most laughs of any
opening I can ever recall."
"Every time we hit a familiar chord," agrees Hinds, "they roar
out their approval."
Kerry Griffin, who normally specializes in playing the jovial Teflon-covered
guy who escapes all tragedies unscathed, says he gets one of his biggest
reactions in the same opening scene.
"I'm playing the prison guard on top of the chain gang down below,"
he chuckles, "and I look down on all of them suffering and say, `I've got
a cushy job with the federal government so I'm not particularly
affected.'"
"People leap on lines like that," says Hinds. "There is a hunger
and an anticipation for what they see as inequalities in society and it acts as
a release valve for them."
During the past few Second City shows, Marty Adams has been the go-to guy for
broad, hysterical physical humour. He used to sport a John Candy-esque bulk,
but he's slimmed down considerably – maybe to fit the new zeitgeist – and his
comic vision has gotten leaner and meaner as well.
"I love the darkness," he says with relish. "I love sharing
terrible things and discovering that everyone else has been through them as
well."
He pauses and grows reflective for a moment. "Every horrible time I've
suffered in my life, comedy has got me through it. I like to think we do the
same thing for the audience. We exorcise a lot of demons and people leave with
a renewed sense of how things aren't all that bad at all."
But not everything is gloom and doom. Far from it. The zany side of Adams
surfaces in a scene in which he plays the famous explorer Marco Polo, who now
finds that no one remembers he brought pasta to Europe or opened the trade
routes from the East, but is just the name of a silly children's game.
And, of course, there has to be politics. With Hinds in the company (who often
seems more Obama-esque that Barack himself), you just know that you have to
play that card.
And with Seiler, whose specialty is sleek blond disdain, there just has to be
room for Hillary Clinton to slide into the action and take over.
"Harper and Obama get together for dinner," sneers Seiler with her
evil edge, "and Hilary winds up running the show."
But there's another sadder twist and that falls on company newbie Caitlin
Howden, from Montreal.
"Because I'm the newcomer," she sighs, "I get to play all the
timid and meek and docile characters, like Stephen Harper's wife. I mean,
picture my dilemma. Here I am married to the most unappealing man in existence
and then Obama, the sexiest man on Earth, shows up to my house for
dinner."
Reid Janisse gets to play one of the evening's most inventive creations, Jeff
Rockburn, the super-hyper American television know-it-all who wants to bring
all the worst excesses of American TV to the Canadian screens.
"I love this topical buzz," he enthuses. "I like the smart
comedy. We're playing to the reference levels and the shared knowledge of the
world right now, which makes it exciting."
But Janisse also sounds a welcome note of calm on the global situation.
"Look, this is just another recession. They've happened before and gone
away. This one will vanish, too. The problem nowadays is that there's so much
information, so much access. All of this doom and gloom can spread so
quickly."
Although the staff at Second City admit that their audiences have dipped
slightly since the recession hit, they also point out that they're one of the
most price-friendly entertainments in Toronto, with a $23 top except for Friday
and Saturday, when it goes up to $28, and that includes a free improvisational
set.
The other thing to remember is that this isn't some fly-by-night group. This
year marks the 35th anniversary of what used to be The Old Firehall on Lombard
St. (one of the finest comedy venues in memory).
In its heyday, it helped hone the talents of Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Marty
Short, John Candy, Catherine O'Hara and Martin Short, who all contributed much
to the Canadian cultural scene.
That early location of Second City is now the home of Gilda's Club, named after
the beloved Gilda Radner, a place dedicated to the support of cancer sufferers
and their families.
A daily fundraising event called Toonies for Gilda will continue through the
run of 0% Down, 100% Screwed at Second City and there will be other
activities taking place during the year.
So there remains more than a fair degree of hope that out of the current
troubled climate, the Second City – past, present and future – will triumph.
In the words of Janisse, "Audiences need the jokes. For the world right
now, it's a really rough time, but for a comedian, it's gold. We find a way to
make you laugh and then, for just a split second, you stop and say `Hey, is it
really all that bad? I don't think so.'"
SECOND CITY - TIMELINE
Dec. 16, 1959
The Second City opens at 1842 N. Wells in Chicago with Excelsior & Other
Outcries.
April 1963
The company makes its first annual trip to Toronto's Royal Alexandra Theatre.
June 1973
The Second City Toronto opens in a location on Adelaide St.
March 1974
The Second City Toronto opens its first permanent (and liquor-licensed)
location in The Old Firehall on Lombard St.
October 1976
The Second City Toronto debuts Second City TV throughout Canada.
September 1977
Twenty-six episodes of SCTV debut in 55 U.S. markets.
March 1985
Andrew Alexander and Len Stuart acquire Bernie Sahlins' interest in The Second
City, making the North American company Canadian-owned.
November 1997
Second City Toronto moves from the Old Firehall to a new facility at 56 Blue
Jays Way.
October 2005
The Second City Toronto moves to a brand new theatre space on Mercer St.
Career's Jumping For Jon Lajoie
Source: www.thestar.com - Raju Mudhar, Entertainment Reporter
(March 08, 2009) He started out as the
"Everyday Normal Guy," which proved rather quickly, that despite his
protestations, he's an above-average comedian. In fact, Montreal's Jon Lajoie is unquestionably Canada's most successful
web-based comedian, having parlayed homemade parody videos into a worldwide
audience and a sold-out show this week at the Phoenix.
"I do have a lot of opportunities and I'd like to hop on them, because you
never know how long your heat is going to last in this business and especially
since being an internet celebrity is a new thing," Lajoie, 28, says on the
line from Los Angeles. "So I'm expecting my heat to drop in about six
months, but then I always say that."
The heat has lasted a year already, with over eight million YouTube views in
that time of his aforementioned faux-gangsta rap – "Last time I had sex
was in 2003 / And I'm ashamed to admit but it wasn't free" – and his
series of hilarious videos since 2007 have found him important fans in folks
like Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, who feature him on their Funnyordie.com site.
A former singer in a cover band, his strength is being a musical chameleon; one
video mocks (and successfully mimics) hardcore rap, while in the next he's
strumming his guitar in the countryesque, salacious "Song for
Britney." Like a lot of things that catch fire online, his material is frequently
racy; Josh Saltzman, part of the Tim Sims Award-winning sketch duo 7 Minutes in
Heaven, recently sang the praises to The Star of Lajoie's clip "Pedophile
Beards," which advises the fashionable on how to look like a dangerous
predator.
All of this his enabled Lajoie to launch a tour of comedy clubs from Houston to
Miami later this month, but not before his show Friday at the Phoenix, as part
of Canadian Music Week. The next day he'll host CMW's annual Indie Awards,
which is giving him some trepidation.
"I'm used to performing for people who come to see me, so people know what
they're getting into, but here I think some people will be sitting there going,
`who the hell hired this guy?'," he says. "When I start busting out
the `2 Girls, 1 Cup' song, I'm sure they're going to be like what?"
As he works the movie and TV casting circuit in L.A. – he has acting experience
from a Quebec soap – Lajoie isn't known to everyone yet. (While his album You
Want Some of This? came out last year, it only recently became available on
iTunes.) But he is riding an obvious wave of musical comedy along with the
likes of Flight of the Conchords and the Lonely Island.
"Definitely, there does seem to be something out there, right now. It's a
refreshing renewal of the style, because I used to think 'musical comedy,
really?' As soon as I picked up a guitar and started writing a funny song, I
was like, 'Jon what are you doing?' Like I don't want to be (veteran Quebec
duo) Bowser and Blue with an acoustic guitar, you know? I was like I don't want
to be that dude, but the stuff that I do, and that Lonely Island guys
and Flight of the Conchords do, I feel like it's a natural evolution in musical
comedy, like it is going toward something else.
"It just works. I mean Flight of the Conchords, they just reinvented the
whole f---in' game. Completely changed it, and I would by lying if I said they
weren't a big influence on some of things that I do."
Despite trying to figure out the next step in his ascent up the comedy ladder,
he's still constantly working on new material, and just last week he shot and
recorded a new song and video, one that he hopes to unveil in the next few
days.
"That's why I tell the people that represent me down here, I'm just going
to do my thing and keep doing my thing, and if you guys can set up some
opportunities for me, that's fine. I'm doing some writing for TV and movie
stuff, but I have to just keep doing the Internet stuff, because I'm used to
that pace, that freedom," he says.
As for his newest song, "It's kind of like if Coldplay was singing a song
about masturbation. That's what I was going for ... so I kept thinking about
`Yellow,' `Fix You,' and all those slow Coldplay ballads, and I was like I have
to write a song like that. I want a video with the typical Chris Martin slow-mo
walk.
"I was like, I'll make this deep philosophical song about how we're
floating in space, on the edge of time, and in the universe where we can't
define everything, the infinite galaxies, but the thing that we all do, and that
we all have in common is that we all take the time to masturbate. That's
basically the idea."
He recently got an apartment in L.A. because that's where the work is –
although he still has an apartment in Montreal. As for his plans beyond mocking
Coldplay, he says some fans have invited him to be a part of an HBO pilot; he
can't say who's in it, but it's a role written for him. What he's really
excited about is a musical movie pet project that he's been writing.
"I have like five or six songs written, it's sort of like Across the
Universe and High School Musical, but mixed with my f---ed-up brain.
That's the best way I can explain it. So we're probably going out to pitch that
in a couple of months, but I want to get all the songs ready, so I can sell this
thing and get it made."
As long as he keeps the funny songs keep coming, he'll have nothing to worry
about.
::DANCE NEWS::
Baryshnikov Photos Capture Movement In Motion
Source: www.globeandmail.com
- Simona Rabinovitch
(March 09, 2009) NEW YORK — What does
movement look like at a standstill? This question leapt to mind as
Russian-American dancer, actor, choreographer, and photographer Mikhail
Baryshnikov raced
down the corridor of the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York's Hell's Kitchen
neighbourhood. Even just riding in the elevator of this multidisciplinary art
hub and performance space, one senses that important artistic business is going
on: Choreography rehearsed, dreams realized, impossibilities achieved. Small,
statuesque and full of energy, Baryshnikov himself personifies this constant
creative propulsion.
"I'm at a crossroads," laughed the 61-year-old with an icon's dignity
and a child's glee while gearing up for the release of his latest work as a
photographer, Merce My Way. "But I'm pretty much always in that
state."
Over the past two years Baryshnikov used a digital camera to shoot dress
rehearsals of master American dance choreographer Merce Cunningham's work. The
result of his voyeuristic endeavour are photographs of surreal, cinematic
quality: blurred ribbons of colour and ghostlike smears of dancers in flight.
Like their kinetic creator, Baryshnikov's still photographs appear to be in
perpetual motion. A 128-page book of 85 of these images, which showed last year
at New York's 401 Projects gallery, is out this month.
"I asked Merce because I thought his choreography is the perfect subject
for a lens," said Baryshnikov, swivelling on a chair in his small,
windowless office. "I worked with him, I danced with him, I'm a big
fan."
When Baryshnikov began experimenting with digital action photography four years
ago, he had been taking 35-millimetre pictures for almost a quarter century.
Black-and-white portraits and landscapes from his travels line the walls of the
Center, but he had never photographed dance, assuming the results would be
"boring and unnecessary." Then, something changed. Inspired by dance
photography books from the 1940s and 1950s, Baryshnikov realized he might evoke
in a still photograph the energy of movement. His first such exhibit was
Dominican Moves, a collection of social dance images shot in Dominican Republic
dance halls, outdoor cafés and strip joints.
"Dominicans dance everywhere," he chuckled, pulling up photos on his
computer screen. "They dance in gas stations, on the beach, while they are
working..." Riveted by the palette of images, he pointed out a shot of a
middle-aged couple swaying like teenage sweethearts on a terrace that
resembled, in his words, a Pedro Almodovar set. "Look at this," he
murmured. "They are beautiful, ah?" As locals invited him into their
world, he came to understand that Dominicans' relationship to movement is like
a language.
"They are great people, beautifully careless and very demonstrative. They
really listen [to] their own heart, and they're very proud of that
manifestation. And we are such hypocrites, Anglo-Saxons and Slavics. We are
very much internal and depressed people, and very restrained."
Though he lives in New York, the man Time magazine called the world's
"greatest living dancer" feels at home in a culture where sashaying
hips are as common as handshakes. This warmth, he explains, is why he keeps a
summer house on the Caribbean island, where he, his wife, dancer Lisa Rinehart,
and four children spend much of their time. His oldest child, 27, is from a
past relationship with Jessica Lange.
Born in the Soviet Union, Baryshnikov started studying ballet when he was 9. He
was a principal dancer in Leningrad's Kirov Ballet before defecting to Canada
in 1974, soon moving to the United States, where he joined the American Ballet
Theatre and became a household name. Over the years, he's served as artistic
director of influential dance companies (including ABT) and founded others,
performing more than 100 works - both classic and avant-garde. An important
innovator, he challenges not only the limits of the human body, but of art
itself.
He acts, too, appearing in Sex and the City as moody Russian lothario
Aleksandr Petrovsky, and in meatier parts like his Oscar-nominated performance
in The Turning Point (1977) and Tony-nominated Broadway role in Metamorphosis
(1989). Two years ago, he performed the notoriously challenging work of Samuel
Beckett in the New York Theatre Workshop's Beckett Shorts.
"He gives instructions what to do but rarely on how to do it," said
Baryshnikov in praise of the late Irish playwright. "If you're stupid
enough to go on stage you should be smart and strong enough to make these
internal decisions."
While he doesn't travel as much as he used to, preferring to be home with his
family, there are summer gigs in Europe to dance, new shows to produce, and of
course, his work at the Center. "God, my plate is full," he said.
(According to the Huffington Post, late this spring he and celebrated dancer
Ana Laguna will do a world tour of new material choreographed by a trio of talents,
including ABT's Artist in Residence, former Bolshoi Ballet director Alexei
Ratmansky.)
As he hopped between thoughts at light speed, his intense focus on each one
felt like a glimpse into the realm of inspiration, where ideas live before
acquiring shape or velocity. In that quietly infinite world, where Baryshnikov
seems to relax, everything really is possible - though perhaps not all at the
same time.
Special to The Globe and Mail
Mikhail Baryshnikov will sign copies of Merce My Way at the Barnes and Noble
bookstore in New York's Lincoln Triangle tomorrow at 7:30 p.m.
National Ballet's Romeo Returns For His Juliet
Source: www.thestar.com
- Susan Walker, Special To The Star
(March 09, 2009) It is big news in the dance
world when a star of the Stuttgart Ballet decides to leave and join the
National Ballet of Canada.
Jason Reilly had his reasons, both personal and professional, and whichever way you
look at it, Stuttgart's loss is Toronto's gain.
He's spent 12 seasons with Stuttgart, was one of the étoiles of the
international gala circuit, a guest with the Royal Ballet, Royal Winnipeg
Ballet, the Joffrey Ballet and companies in Japan, Korea, Verona, Helsinki,
Leipzig and Santiago. Reilly is evidently a dancer who can sell tickets.
On Wednesday and next Saturday he is guest dancer in the National Ballet's Romeo
and Juliet at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. After that,
he'll return to Stuttgart to finish out the season before taking up his
principal dancer position in Toronto in August.
This strapping, 29-year-old performer will be welcomed by all, including Tina
Pereira, the National Ballet soloist who captured his heart when they performed
together in The Taming of the Shrew in March 2007.
Jason was a "dayboy" at the National Ballet School from the age of
10. When he was 15 ("I was a bit ambitious"), he asked the school's
artistic director Mavis Staines if he could approach Reid Anderson about
getting a job. Anderson was then director of the National Ballet, but later
took over in Stuttgart and invited Reilly to that company the next year. The
thought of what he might do with all that freedom and his own bank account at
16 caused Reilly to postpone until he was 17.
On tour last summer with Roberto Bolle & Friends, alone in hotel rooms,
Reilly started mulling over the idea of going home. For starters, he says, he
missed his family. He's the middle child of nine kids who grew up in North
York.
"I never thought we'd get older," he jokes, his black toque pulled
down toward the black frames of his glasses.
"My sisters and brothers are having kids and starting families. I missed
being an uncle and never meeting my nieces and nephews."
Reilly was also managing his career. "I started thinking about what I will
do when I retire, at 37, 38 or 39. In Europe I see a lot of dancers who reach
that age and it's a shock to their system. They've worked to get their
citizenship and learn German but they don't know what they're going to do.
"I didn't want to be in that situation. This way I can still dance and
retire here."
He made the call to Karen Kain, artistic director of the National Ballet.
"I thought he was a huge talent when he was in ballet school," she
remembers. "He's a fantastic partner, a wonderful actor, a very versatile
dancer. We're getting him as he's coming into his prime."
Reilly, winner of the 2006 Deutscher Tanzpreis Zukunft, a future dancer award,
is pumped about coming back to town. He's a practised Romeo, having first
performed the lead in the John Cranko ballet six years ago. "If a Romeo is
off, I'm the one who jumps in. Once I did nine shows in a row with six
different girls."
In this athletic dancer's repertoire, Romeo and Juliet rates high.
"I love the music, I love the pas de deux, the energy in the second act
... You can be yourself. You get to play with swords; you get to kiss the girl.
It's a lot of fun."
His Juliet is Greta Hodgkinson. The last time they danced together, she says,
they were instantly into form in rehearsals. "He's extremely strong and
coordinated, quite an extraordinary actor and wonderful to play off of."
Pereira admits, rather shyly, that she and Reilly have remained in touch since
that fateful The Taming of the Shrew performance.
"I remember I didn't have a lot of time to rehearse," she says. She
was busy rehearsing for the seventh Erik Bruhn competition, which she won.
"There are a bunch of crazy lifts in Taming, but he made me feel
safe and very comfortable."
Asked whether we can expect to see Reilly and Pereira dancing as a gala couple,
the young man grins. "That would be cool."
::SPORTS NEWS::
Canadian Team Makes Manager Whitt Proud
Source: www.thestar.com - Richard Griffin
(March 08, 2009) Even in defeat, yesterday's
crowd-pleasing World Baseball Classic spectacle at the Rogers Centre was
energizing – with a chance to lead to something defining for Canadian baseball.
Ernie Whitt's squad went down with guns blazing in a 6-5 loss to the United
States, suffering a flesh wound in this forgiving double-elimination format. So
Canada lives to fight another day – and maybe another after that – with
consecutive wins needed to advance to Round 2.
"We know we can play with them," catcher Russell Martin said of Team
USA. "Coming in, we were well prepared and we fell short a little bit.
They didn't take us lightly. They were ready to play. We gave them a run for
their money."
That's an understatement from an understated player. The fans lent emotion to
the game perhaps more than any local baseball crowd this decade, standing and
cheering throughout the final inning after back-to-back doubles by Martin and
local hero Joey Votto had pulled Canada within a run, with one out.
The stage was set for a storybook ninth with J.J. Putz facing Canada's best
hitters, Justin Morneau and Jason Bay. Votto stood on second representing the
tying run, but was left stranded when Morneau grounded out and Bay popped to
right. "I looked over and saw (Matt) Stairs on deck," Putz said.
"Knowing what he can do, I really went after Bay."
That's respect for an opponent. The Canadians have fought hard for it over the
decade since Whitt took over as manager in 1999. Votto had four of Canada's
seven hits in his first WBC appearance. He homered to give Canada the lead in
the third, while Martin, who had two hits, homered in the seventh and started
the rally in the ninth.
"Great crowd," Martin marvelled. "It was one of the funnest
games I've ever played in. I played in the playoffs last year (for the Dodgers)
and it's hard to compare the environment, especially this early. Coming from
spring training, it's a drastic change."
The Canadians have a day off to think about tomorrow's game that will spell
elimination for someone. Considering not that they lost, but how they lost,
Whitt believes the time off after the loss will be easier.
"You want to put yourself in a position to win and I think we did
that," Whitt said. "We had our chances. That's all that you can ask
for. That's the beauty of baseball, getting that opportunity and getting that
chance to win."
Journeyman Mike Johnson pitched well, but there were a couple of bumps in his
four-inning road. After retiring the Americans in the first, Johnson barely had
time to sit in the dugout before his teammates handed the gift of a four-pitch
inning to Jake Peavy. Johnson went back out quickly, walking the first two
batters, then giving up the tying run. Finally, pitching a fourth inning with
his pitch count mounting, Johnson gave up three runs on homers to Kevin
Youkilis and Brian McCann, creating a 4-2 deficit.
"The team that we're putting out there makes you relax a little bit,"
Johnson said. "You know if you give up 1-2-3 runs, our guys are going to
come out and pick you up."
The beneficiary of the four-run fourth, getting the win, was LaTroy Hawkins.
But the biggest winner may be 20-year-old right-hander Phillippe Aumont. After
loading the bases in the fifth – then following the first all-French Canadian
mound visit in WBC history, featuring coach Denis Boucher, catcher Martin and
Aumont – he retired three in a row, the last two on strikeouts, pumping his
fist as he sprinted off the mound. Growth.
The low point was the sound system playing the Fenway Park staple "Sweet
Caroline" during the seventh-inning stretch as U.S. leadoff man Dustin
Pedroia stood in the on-deck circle smiling. "I saw a couple of Red Sox
fans and they were happy," he said. "I don't know if anyone else
was."
Maybe not, but it's certain 42,314 fans went home smiling about the sporting
spectacle they had just witnessed.
NHL
Cracks Down On Fighting
Source: www.thestar.com
– Damien Cox
(March 10, 2009) NAPLES,
Fla.--There are those who believe all fighting
in hockey is wonderful.
There are those who believe it's all idiotic.
Then there are those that believe some fighting in hockey is necessary and
meaningful while just some of the fights are idiotic.
The NHL knew it couldn't please the first crowd or the second, so it's going
for the third.
Today, the league's general managers approved recommendations aimed at curbing
so-called "staged" fights and those scraps that occur as a result of
teammates coming to the supposed rescue of other teammates.
No longer will two players be permitted to line up for a faceoff and then drop
their gloves immediately after the puck is dropped without receiving extra
penalties. Starting next season, the league will assess automatic 10-minute
misconducts to players in those situations, while referees will be given
latitude to decide how involved two players have to be in the play before they
can drop their gloves.
In 500 fights this season up to the first week of February, 108 fights occurred
right after a faceoff, a occurrence that has increased 30 per cent in the past
eight years.
Similarly, another 118 fights occurred because one teammate was coming to the
aid of another after an illegal or legal hit, an increase of 27 per cent over
the past eight years. On 85 per cent of those occasions, the original hit was
clean.
To curb those types of fights, the GMs decided to ask officiating staffs to
more aggressively hand out instigator penalties.
So while the NHL won't ban fighting, it also understood it had to respond in
some way to the public furor over fighting caused by the death of senior hockey
defenceman Don Sanderson in January.
So more than 45 per cent of the fights that had occurred this season by the
first week of February are of a type that will receive extra penalties next
season. The GMs proposals, of course, have to be rubber stamped by both the
league's competition committee and the NHL board of governors.
In essence, Gary Bettman's administration decided to take a stand against the
type of fights few support, although it stopped short of booting players from
the game who engage in staged fights or respond to a clean hit on a teammate by
starting a fight.
"What we're saying is that if you're going to fight, it's got to be a real
fight," said league vice-president Colin Campbell.
The league didn't come up with new regulations on the removal of helmets during
fights, nor did it decide to respond to the request of the players union for
new regulations on head shots.
So not everyone will be happy with what the GMs have decided today.
Then again, with hockey in Canada making everyone happy is impossible.
SPORTS TIDBITS
Raptors' Bosh Gets Guest Weatherman Gig
Source: www.thestar.com - The Canadian Press
(March 11, 2008) Chris Bosh is trying his hand at meteorology. The Toronto Raptors forward will
serve as a guest weatherman Thursday during an appearance on Toronto's CTV
affiliate. Bosh will fill in for longtime weatherman Dave Devall on the CTV
News at 6. Bosh is the latest high-profile celebrity to fill in for Devall, who
will retire April 3 following 48 years as CTV Toronto's weather specialist.
Previous guests included longtime Olympic broadcaster Brian Williams, while
upcoming guests include former WWE star Trish Stratus and Toronto Argonauts CEO
Michael (Pinball) Clemons. Bosh is averaging 22.8 points and 9.4 rebounds in 59
games with the Raptors this season.
4-Team U.S. Football League To Launch
This Fall
Source: www.thestar.com - The Associated Press
(March 11, 2008) Former NFL coaches Dennis Green, Jim Fassel and Jim Haslett
will lead teams in the new United Football League. The league plans to debut in October with four teams in
San Francisco, Las Vegas, Orlando and New York. It announced the coaches
Wednesday. Former NFL defensive co-ordinator Ted Cottrell will coach the New
York franchise. Green, the former Vikings and Cardinals coach, will be in San
Francisco. Fassel, who led the Giants to the Super Bowl, will coach Las Vegas.
Haslett, the former New Orleans Saints coach, will be in Orlando. The UFL is an
outdoor professional football league. Teams are scheduled to play games in
Hartford and Los Angeles along with the home markets. The league also announced
the San Francisco franchise will play games at AT&T Park.
::FITNESS NEWS::
Sexier Arms: 4 Exercises That Stop the Jiggle!
Source: By Raphael Calzadilla, BA, CPT,
ACE, RTS1, eDiets Chief Fitness Pro
Today we
begin with a simple exercise. Your right arm should be at the side of your
body. Please lift it up and out to the side so that your shoulder and hand form
a straight line. Next, simply shake your right arm. Is fat bouncing all over
the place like a bowl of Jell-O? Congratulations, you officially have bat
wings. Let's face it... you're carrying too much body fat.
Everyone is fascinated by women who have sleek and tight arms -- biceps that
look fit with a bit of muscularity and triceps that look tight and firm. It
displays strength and femininity wrapped into one package. In my opinion, this
is a totally sexy look.
There are a few things I've learned about attaining beautiful arms that have proven
themselves time and again. These training concepts are not always seen in gyms
and seldom performed by trainees.
As always, you have to perform cardio and strength training to make changes
because these are the most efficient methods to improve muscles and burn body
fat.
I've designed a simple program for creating tighter arms that will produce
fabulous results. So if your goal is to show off sleek arms in a sleeveless
dress, then you've come to the right place. If you're a man who wants better
looking "guns," the routine will work for you as well.
Many of my customized workouts are based on years of my own personal
experience, as well as trial and error with my personal training clients.
Members of eDiets should also take advantage of the hundreds of additional
exercises with animations and descriptions located on the eDiets fitness
program and Virtual Trainer.
Here's my formula for sexy arms...
1. Antagonist Workouts: Antagonist training refers to working opposing muscle
groups in the same workout. There are many ways to manipulate workout
parameters, but I've had great success performing a biceps exercise immediately
followed by a triceps exercise (also called a superset). One then rests for a
specified time and repeats the cycle. This not only increases blood flow into
the entire arm, but also challenges the cardiovascular system to some degree.
Antagonist supersets allows you to use more weight because the opposing muscle
group gets a bit of a rest as you work the other muscle. This is my
all-time-favorite way to work arms, and I've had my greatest success using this
method with clients and eDiets members.
2. Time Between Sets: Arms respond quite well with a 45-second to 60-second
rest between supersets when performing antagonist training. After performing
the biceps and triceps exercise, one would wait no more then 45 to 60 seconds
and then repeat the cycle. People tend to wait a lot longer than they realize,
or they repeat a set too soon. There has to be some time allotted for recovery,
but not so much that you begin to get stale. This allows you to do more
work in less time and pumps blood volume into the arm.
3. Lower Body Fat: You won't get great-looking arms with elevated body fat
levels. Sometimes new eDiets members tell me that they hate the flab on the
back of their arms and want to know which exercises will make the arms sleek.
It doesn't quite work like that. As you perform your arm exercises and as you
reduce body fat through a slight calorie reduction with added cardiovascular
exercise, you'll see your arms develop the way you want them to. The muscles
will develop slightly from your workouts, and your reduced body fat will then
display sleek muscles.
Balance is vital. A healthy nutrition program combined with a
slight calorie deficit, cardiovascular exercise and weight training is
essential. A proper nutrition program will send just the right amount of
protein, carbohydrates and monounsaturated fats into your body and help your arms
(as well as your entire body) look lean. Cardio will accelerate the fat burning
process, and weight training will stimulate and develop your muscles so that
when the fat comes off, you're left with a lean and tight body and beautifully
sculpted arms.
For four weeks, add the following program to your upper-body weight training
sessions. Place it first in the workout, and then follow with all of your other
muscle groups (chest, back and shoulders). Yes, your arms will be fatigued when
performing the other exercises, but this allows you to prioritize the arms. The
muscles that are worked at the beginning of a workout usually respond the
quickest to changes.
The Workout
A1. Fitball Supine Triceps Extension
Starting Position:
· Hold a dumbbell in each hand.
· Sit on the ball and walk your feet out until
your head, neck and shoulders are supported on the ball with the knees at a
90-degree angle.
· Raise your hips in line with the knees and
shoulders like a tabletop. Maintain the tabletop position throughout the
exercise.
· Holding the dumbbells, extend your arms
toward the ceiling with a slight bend in the elbows.
Movement:
· Slowly lower the dumbbells toward the
shoulders by bending the elbows stopping just short of the dumbbells touching
the shoulders.
· Contracting the triceps muscles, slowly
return to the starting position stopping just short of the arms being fully
extended with a slight bend in the elbows.
Key Points:
· Inhale while lifting the weights.
· Exhale while returning to the starting
position.
· The upper arms should remain stationary
throughout the exercise.
A2. Barbell Double Biceps Curl
(stand with your back against a wall for better isolation of the biceps)
Starting Position:
· Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart
with a slight bend in the knees.
· Hold the barbell with both hands
shoulder-width apart, a slight bend in the elbows and palms facing away from
your body. The barbell should be resting lightly on your thighs.
· Keep your shoulder blades contracted
throughout the range of motion.
Movement:
· Contracting the biceps muscles, raise the
barbell toward the shoulders keeping the upper arm stationary and elbows close
to the body stopping just short of the barbell touching your shoulders.
· Slowly return to the starting position.
Key Points:
· Exhale as you raise the weight.
· Inhale while returning to the starting
position.
Instruction: Perform A1 for 10 reps and immediately go to A2 and perform 12
reps (superset). Wait 45 seconds and perform the superset two additional times
for a total of three supersets.
B1. The Triceps Extension
Starting Position:
· Stand with a dumbbell in your right hand and
your left hand on your hip.
· Press the weight over your head until your
right arm is almost straight with a slight bend in the elbow at the top
position.
· Do not allow the weight to touch your head or
neck area.
Movement:
· Slowly bend your elbow, lowering the weight
until your arm forms a 90-degree angle behind your head stopping before the
weight touches your back.
· Contracting the triceps muscles, slowly
return to the starting position.
Key Points:
· Exhale while returning to the starting
position.
· Inhale while lowering the weight.
· After completing the set on the right side,
repeat on the left side.
· This exercise is not to be performed with
large dumbbells. The technique is more important than the weight.
· You can also perform this exercise while
seated on a bench.
B2. The Biceps Curl
Starting Position:
· Sit on a bench or chair with both feet in
front of your body and your back straight.
· Hold a dumbbell in each hand with your arms
at each side and palms facing forward.
Movement:
· Contracting the biceps muscles, raise the
weights toward your shoulders stopping just short of the weights touching the
shoulders.
· Slowly return to the starting position.
Key Points:
· Exhale while lifting the weights.
· Inhale while returning to the starting
position.
· Your upper arms should remain stationary
throughout the exercise.
Instruction: Perform B1 for 12 reps and immediately go to B2 and perform 12
reps (superset). Wait 45 seconds and perform the superset two additional times
for a total of three supersets.
Perform the workout on three alternate days of the week. Beginners should
perform only one superset of each cycle.
Believe me, the program is not easy -- but it will produce results when
combined with your nutrition program. Time to get to work.
Please check with your doctor before beginning any exercise program.
::MOTIVATION::
Motivational
Note
“I’ve
had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.”
Source: www.eurweb.com - by Mark Twain