Category: News: Arts & Entertainment (Page 4 of 25)

Vancouverites looking for unique and hand-crafted gifts (along with some cheap and cheerful gifts) should join me, Rachael Ashe and Heike Kapp at the First Saturday Open Studio sale.

Saturday, December 3, 2011
12:00pm until 4:00pm
1660 East Georgia Street, Vancouver BC
See more details on Rachael’s site.

First Saturday Open Studios is a mini studio tour with a rotating roster of Culture Crawl artists that happens on the First Saturday of every month.

For the First Saturday in December you can visit Rachael Ashe’s studio for a holiday “inventory clearance” sale.

Rachael Ashe will have older artwork for sale (and new stuff), but she’s clearing the deck and has some great metal prints and a selection of altered books.

Me, Monique (Trottier) Sherrett, of Botany of Delight will have a selection of magical muggle fragrances on hand and other perfume creations inspired by the Harry Potter books. I have some Coca-Cola perfume too. Come for the olfactory journey, stay for Rachael and Heike’s stuff.

Heike Kapp, maker of hand-blown glass pendants and art objects, will also have a select display of wares.

Make us a spot on your First Saturday Open Studio tour.

What do you think of when I say “Restricted Cougar”?
Was your first thought of the restricted cougar icon formerly used as a symbol of movie and entertainment designations?

I have no recollection of these animated videos or the restricted cougar icon, but they are certainly recognized in BC. Rest of Canada, do you recognize this made-in-Canada cat?

Here’s what I learned today about the Restricted Cougar of movie designations. The restricted cougar was designed in Canada (in BC actually) over 50 years ago and used in newspapers and on movie posters to warn of audience age restrictions. There were also little bumpers, or short videos, like the one above that were played before a restricted movie.

The roaring cat was known internationally, appearing in newspapers and posters and in theatres as far flung as South Africa. This kitty entered its ninth life in 1997 when classification categories were revised and the “18A” rating was used instead of the “Restricted” ranking. (Although R is still used as a rare class of adult films of artistic, education, scientific, historic or political merit. You know, not porn, but “restricted.”)

Want to revisit the “R” rated films? Play peekaboo with this Prezi timeline.
http://bit.ly/v1agHt

If you’re like me and have no recollection of this pussy cat, then fret not! As the song goes, The cat came back. They thought he was a gonner, but the cat came back. He just couldn’t stay away. Meeeeee-ow.

Consumer Protection BC, who is responsible for the classification of the movies seen in BC and Saskatchewan theaters, has brought the restricted cougar back, at least as shorts on YouTube.

Six of the Restricted Cougar R-rated film designation bumpers are available on the Consumer Protection BC YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ConsumerProBC

I don’t remember this cat. You? Tell me what you remember.

You might remember the 2010 Reading is Sexy calendar.

I was Miss January.

The fine folks at TravelingStories.org have sent me the 2012 calendar that is helping raise funds for their organization, which provides books to kids who have none and strives to inspire a love for reading everywhere.

Traveling Stories finds schools and/or orphanages that want a library but cannot afford one on their own. Usually the school or orphanage already has a room for the library, they just don’t have the books or staff to run it. So far they have launched libraries in Sudan and El Salvador. In the US, their strategy is to inspire kids to read by hosting interactive literary events.

If you’d like to learn more about Traveling Stories, check out their FAQ.

And if you like sexy, pin-ups of reading peeps, then by all means get your copy for only $15. Order here.

Now that James and I are newly married, we have quite a social calendar. Last evening we had the pleasure of attending the Vancouver Opera’s full-on Broadway-style production of West Side Story.

Not only did this production feature the original Jerome Robbins choreography (which is bloody challenging), but the singers and dancers combined forces with VO’s 30-piece powerhouse orchestra to hold our attention. It was wild and loud and worthy of the Tony awards and nominations the original production received.

New to West Side Story? In 1957, Robbins conceived, choreographed and directed the show, with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and book by Arthur Laurents. He’s renowned for this show, it just celebrated 50 years, and it rocked the critics in its day.

West Side Story is a contemporary version of Romeo and Juliet (which the VO is staging next — get your tickets now), set in Hell’s Kitchen NYC (VO’s poster artwork for the show styles the location as Vancouver, which I think is a pretty cool touch).

The thing about West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet is that these are classic stories of love, rivalry, death and remorse that resonate today.

Both open with a street fight between rival gangs.
The girls are betrothed to other men.
There’s a party, then a balcony scene.
A wedding and a couple of dead kids.

So we went, and there were some great moments! The show was directed by Ken Cazan, who worked with Leonard Bernstein, and it was choreographed by Tracey Flye, one of the few in the world officially certified to coach the original Robbins choreography. Talk about pulling out the big guns.

Quote: If you want to see this show, you need to act quickly as it’s close to sold out. Remaining shows run Thursday, October 27, Friday, October 28 and a matinee and evening performance on Saturday, October 29.

Tickets online: http://www.vancouveropera.ca/tickets/
VO ticket centre: 604-683-0222

If you don’t know West Side Story, instead of Romeo and Juliet, we have Tony and Maria (performed by Colin Ainsworth and Lucia Cesaroni) as our star-crossed lovers. Both are highly regarded opera singers for those of you poo-pooing the opera for opening its season with a Broadway-style production. These two have opera chops: Ainsworth, last seen on the VO stage as the love-struck Kristian in Lillian Alling, and Cesaroni, debuting on the VO stage and carrying on as soloist in The Messiah with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, both light up the stage in some of my favourite moments.

Maria in the Dress Shop with Anita. Cleopatra Williams as Anita; Lucia Cesaroni as Maria. Photo by Tim Matheson

Balcony Scene. Colin Ainsworth as Tony; Lucia Cesaroni as Maria. Photo by Tim Matheson

Dreaming of their wedding. Colin Ainsworth as Tony; Lucia Cesaroni as Maria. Photo by Tim Matheson

Beyond the singing, the dancing was gritty and full of energy. The first scene with the Sharks’ women and the dance hall was kung-pow!

Photo by Tim Matheson

So, if you haven’t gone to the opera in a while, West Side Story is a great place to start.

Tickets online: http://www.vancouveropera.ca/tickets/
VO ticket centre: 604-683-0222

And if you enjoyed the Vancouver Opera’s performance of West Side Story, then the rest of the season is not to be missed. A natural follow-up to West Side Story is the opera’s upcoming production of Romeo & Juliet.

The pairings don’t end there. The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra goes Looney Tunes with “Warner Bros. presents Bugs Bunny at the Symphony” running November 19-20. Match that with the Vancouver Opera’s The Barber of Seville, which opens March 17, 2012, and you’ll be finely tuned.

See the VO’s 2011-2012 Season
Tickets online: http://www.vancouveropera.ca/tickets/
VO ticket centre: 604-683-0222

Watch rehearsal video, interviews with the cast and creative team, and VO’s West Side Story TV commercial at http://www.vancouveropera.ca/West-Side-Story.html

Here are a couple of books are on my radar that are clearly NOT for kids.

All My Friends Are Dead
Published by Chronicle Books, this is the funniest sad book I’ve ever read and the saddest funniest book.

Go the F**K to Sleep by Adam Mansbach
I’m still giggling.

Check out this article on how the free PDF drove the book to #1 on Amazon well before its publication date.
http://www.baycitizen.org/books/story/go-f-sleep-case-viral-pdf/

Some of these are priceless.

ShelvAR
The perfect app for frustrated librarians dealing with mis-shelved books. This augmented reality app for Android devices makes rearranging a joyful chore. Developed by Miami University’s Augmented Reality Research Group. www.muarrg.com

National Post says “West is best”
Brad Frenette talks books and publishing on the westcoast with Billie Livingston, Ian Weir, Kevin Chong, Caroline Adderson, John Vaillant, Timothy Taylor, Annabel Lyon, Zsuzsi Gartner, and Steven Galloway. http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/04/29/vancouver/

Rejection Letters
Author Daniel Menaker offers a look at his collection of rejection letters. Bit sad really. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-menaker/a-rejection-is-a-rejectio_b_863291.html

How many books were published in 2010?
Bowker’s Books In Print reports their preliminary estimates of print books published in 2010. Wow, 3.1 million. http://lunch.publishersmarketplace.com/2011/05/when-anything-can-be-a-book-anything-is-a-book/

Philip Roth wins Booker but judge resigns
Carmen Callil retires from the Booker judging panel after the decision to give the award to Philip Roth, whose work she considers a case of ‘Emperor’s clothes.’ http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/18/judge-quits-philip-roth-booker?CMP=twt_gu

UPDATE:
A Book in Every Home
I forgot this story about getting a book in every home. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/16/a-book-in-every-home-and-then-some/

Chromaroma is game that turns London tube travel into a system of rewards and points for its players.

Players sign up with Chromaroma and then provide their Oyster Card data (London’s transit card), along with other details such as teams or friends they want to connect with on the site. Chromaroma imports the player’s Tube history and awards points for each trip. Players can track their stats and also see new ways to travel, new destinations or ways to gain bonus points by connecting with fellow passengers and discovering mysteries attached to particular locations.

Chromaroma from Mudlark on Vimeo.

Chromaroma seems like a great way to encourage transit travel in any city: team up with your co-workers, try to beat your friends’ point score, discover new routes or connections. Very cool.

Xoxolat (sho-sho-la) is open at 2391 Burrard Street (at 8th Ave) in Vancouver and I went in to check it out. Hodie is the owner and gave me a run-down of the store and each of the chocolate lines that she carries. The great thing about the store is that she carries single-origin chocolate bars from around the world (the packaging is amazing) as well as an extensive line of organic, Fair Trade chocolate and Equitable Trade chocolates. The chocolates are junk-free, in that there’s little or no emulsifiers or garbage found in most chocolate.

A great place for chocolate lovers and food geeks.

Chocolate Tastings

Machu Piccu Cafe truffle
Lavender dark chocolate bar
Bacon bar

No photos. Just deliciousness.

Super thrilled to have an independent bookstore in Kits.
Sitka Books & Art
2025 West 4th Ave.
Vancouver, BC, V6J 1N3

Tel: 604-734-2025
Fax: 604-734-2056
Email: info@sitkabooksandart.com

Store Hours: 10 a.m., 6 p.m.
7 days a week

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