- Londo Mollari
But this… this, this, this is like… being nibbled to death by, uh… Pah! What are those Earth creatures called? Feathers, long bill, webbed feet… go “quack”.- Vir Cotto
Cats.- Londo
Cats! I’m being nibbled to death by cats.
Author:
Head Deadhead dead; Pushing Daisies pushing daisies
Like its weekly victims, Pushing Daisies is back for a brief spell before it gets touched by the network’s deathly hand. ABC is burning off the last few unbroadcast episodes starting tomorrow (Saturday the 30th) at 10pm. So if you were one of Ned, Chuck, Emerson, Olive, Vivian and Lily’s (apparently few) fans, check out what’s left before the last minute of life is up for the brilliantly weird series.
T. and Emm
Two letters. Simple, right?
“T.” is T. Nile, a British Columbia-based singer-songwriter-banjo player whose music spans indie-folk, roots, blues, “alt” country, and reggae. “Emm” is Emm Gryner, a singer-songwriter-pianist-bassist who will rock the house and then tear our your heart with a ballad. I’ve known (of) Emm since high school, and met T(amara) last August.
I’ve seen Emm perform many times, in venues ranging from a tent at the Forest Fall Fair to the Glenn Gould Studio. The latter performance was her CD release show for Goddess in February; the good folks at CBC recorded the concert for broadcast, and, better yet, posted the show as a Concert on Demand.
Tamara, on the other hand, I’ve only seen a handful of times, including at a bar in Ottawa during a visit to see my niece and her parents, and most recently at the Trepid House in my old stomping grounds in Waterloo. CBC wasn’t at either of those shows, but as usual were out in front of the crowd, having recorded her way back in 2007.
Emm’s recently taken up with A Camp, a “solo” project by The Cardigans’ Nina Persson and her husband, Nathan Larson. Tamara has hooked up with a trio of siblings, Christa, Laura and Mike Mercey, and pedal steel player Burke Carroll, who collectively go by T. Nile & The Children of Mercey. Tamara’s getting set to release a new CD; Emm, as mentioned above, just put one out.
Despite the surface similarities, there’s really no comparing the two of them: they’re each excellent musicians in their own rights. What they share, though, is the ability to create great music.
Hey Jim
I’m pretty sure Winnipeg wouldn’t mind getting the Jets back, even if Gretzky doesn’t come with them.
Canadians in New York
I haven’t seen it noted elsewhere—perhaps because they’re not “big” names—but the three leads in Monday night’s episode of Castle were all Canadian: regulars Nathan Fillion (Alberta) and Stana Katic (Ontario), and guest star Joanne Kelly (Newfoundland).
(And that’s not all… Torontonian Alex Carter also had a supporting role.) Can’t think of another show not filmed in Canada (i.e. excluding things like Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, etc.) that’s had so many fellow Canucks onscreen at once in central roles. (I suppose 24 comes close, and it almost certainly wins over any other series for most Canadians in recurring roles.)
Fillion’s résumé is well-known, particularly to SF fans through his work with Joss Whedon. (I didn’t realize he was the eponymous Private Ryan… not a surprise considering I’m the only person on the planet not to have seen that film yet.) I’ve managed to miss most of Katic’s work save for her role on Heroes, although she’s got quite the list of credits behind her too. But the one I was happiest to see was Kelly, who’s made her name primarily in the Canadian film and television industry, and who I thought was one of the best parts of both the third series of Slings and Arrows and Jeremiah‘s second season. If Castle makes it to a second season—although indications are that it won’t—I’d like to see the Lee Wax character return.
Leading by example
This impressive minister [Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq (CPC)], under the gun and receiving conflicting news of the seriousness of the situation, opted to be inclusive. She didn’t rush out a press release, somehow blame the opposition or even willingly embrace the limelight. She just did her job, but in such a way that she drew in other MPs and formed a consensus.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Even Elvis made it out to the festival and he’s dead. What’s your excuse?
Communication breakdown
But, you see, except for one exception, none of these grumbles came to me. And that’s the Canadian way too. When somebody has a problem, nobody talks directly to each other. Oh no, no, heavens no.
I’m not complaining, but…
Was this too subtle?
Redesign
Just finished my first major redesign of Theatre in London. It looks a lot less like the default blog template and more like an actual media site. The biggest change is that I’m taking advantage of all of the imagery that’s available: posters are prominent almost everywhere, and I’ve made it easier to display images on individual articles. I’m also quite happy with some of the not-immediately-visible additions, like the overlaid icons for festival productions and the placeholder images for events that don’t have posters. Finally, I think the expanded event listings page and the calendar complement each other a lot better; at one point I had tried to include posters on the calendar too, and it was just an unreadable mess.
There will certainly be tweaks, but I think this is something that can stick around for a while without looking dated. And it’s only taken 12 months to get here!