Tag Archives: robocop

A Night of Art-ness

Celebs and Media, Distractions, Personal Bits, Toronto

Da At Art With HeartLast night was a busy one for me. Da and I decided to do some Father/Son bonding while hobnobbing (what the hell does that word mean, anyway?) with Toronto’s art elite at Art With Heart.

Da’s never been in the Carlu and was curious as to it’s grandeur. It didn’t disappoint. It’s a beautiful deco setting and the art that was placed throughout was amazing (the website doesn’t convey the demanding presence some pieces command). I have to comment here that the volunteer staff were clockwork perfect. Pleasant, informed docets docents (Andrew helps me spelling!) cheerfully provided information on the art and never patronized. In all, a very organized successful event… I hope. I haven’t heard any numbers back yet, but the joint was packed, and considering Fashion sCares is this Saturday, I hope they made their target numbers!

Find My Brother!Then we shuffled down to Canadian Stage to see my brother in Frost/Nixon. I have to admit that due to some of the reviews coming out of Vancouver, I wasn’t hopeful for this production. But when the curtain fell, I can tell you I was very entertained and greatly surprised. They have worked out all the problems mentioned in previous reviews, except the worrisome opinion that Len Cariou’s Nixon was not satisfactorily mimicking enough, which I tend to agree. I yearned to see the Nixon I remembered as a kid but got a sketch of that ideal. Not saying he did a bad job, he was captivating, but there was no jowly “Rich Little” kind of character play (which my brother does rather spookily at one point).

Oddly enough most of the cast and crew had been in science fiction TV shows (Battlestar, Stargate, RoboCop), including my brother, at one point in their career. Does this say something about Canadian culture?

Tonight, Sharkboy and I are off to see A Chorus Line with Mumsey! I’m being exposed to more culture than an open chest wound in an emergency ward!

Summer’s Last Gasp Pt2

Celebs and Media, Distractions

Continuing on with my Summer’s End post, the movie Blindness caught my eye (oh the jokes just keep on coming at Dead Robot Heavy Industries).

I have to admit that Julianne Moore has been on my “oh my god I hope her career is tremendous and full of really great work!” radar since I first saw her in Safe, but in the last 5 years she’s made some questionable decisions (koff koff Next koff koff The Forgotten koff Laws of Attraction keff kuff hek) only to be replaced with amazing parts, like The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (god who thought of that memorable title?) or like Julia in Children of Men (blink during the really fake ping pong ball trick just before her death – such a crappy cgi gimmick should not have been in there to distract from her death).

Curiously enough, the screenplay is by Canadian Don McKellar, mostly know for hipster projects like Road Kill, Childstar, and the Tony award winning The Drowsy Chaperone . I’m curious to see how he’s handled José Saramago’s novel since he’s been in apocalyptic territory before with his 1998 Sandra Oh sci-drama Last Night. Oh and he was in TV’s Robocop for an episode, but so was my brother so I won’t mention that one, but it’s nice to know he’s dabbled in respected science fiction, so there’s some promise there.

Combine all that with the director, Fernando Meirelles (City of Men, The Constant Gardener), I have a feeling it’s going to be a smart movie. Like Gattica, but without the nice clothes.