March begins tomorrow so get play in motion!

 Who doesn't love the infinite possibility of a little brick? 
The first LEGOLAND is set to open in Canada. If you have kids and are underwhelmed with winter slush, cheer up. The Vaughan Mills Legoland Discovery Centre opens tomorrow. Lego activities, Lego build projects, Lego car races-good, good, great but I'm going to check out Toronto's landmarks made with over a million pieces.

Courtesy: The Torontoist

Don't know any kids? There's an adults only night just for you, once a month. Go forth, Lego nerds. Can we recast date night? Banish those splashy Bachelor destination dates. 
Does your partner know how to play? 

Red Chronicle regulars know well my love of TIFF ( read why here).  Those wizards are always up to something and if Lego bricks make you squirrelly, perhaps their digiPLAYSPACE will provide the right jolt. Opens March 9th.

Have fun playing.

More on play: A Playmobil Movie 

Don't Give away my Alligator Soup!

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Hillary Clinton parties in Indonesia?

Once upon a time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton needed some refreshment and took some time out from her busy schedule for a little R&R in Jakarta, Indonesia -- and she found this is unbelievable?

Why Indonesia? Probably the night away with friends at Cafe Havana, Colombia last year is not enough for setting herself free from pressure.

But this fake news could be only in the head of the ripped guys indulging in some drinking and dancing. Where? Secretary Clinton was in Cartagena to attend the Summit of the Americas, which closed last year. And anybody to be cold sober keep wondering where?

Sober? Well, too much drink will kill you!

However, the parties in Indonesia keep merry without Hillary Clinton being here. Either parties of celebrities or political ones. Expecially after Harlem shake started to shake here, not only celebrities but also politicians would like to dance their interest away. Of celebrities, people talk much about drug case involving the handsome young presenter cum actor, Raffi Ahmad. Of politics, the idea of hanging Anas Urbaningrum in Monas, the monumental park of the landmark of Jakarta come up as classic and boring discourse.

Hillary Clinton won't come here to have another party and laugh and cry for Indonesia.

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Oscar fallout part 2

 So you have an Oscar. Now what? 

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Oscar lip stains

I know viewers and pundits alike love to diss Oscar hosts after the fact but I watch the Academy awards to catch the glimpses of giddy joy from the creative class as they win the giant golden thumbs up from their peers. These people are just people, buffed and puffed as they may be. If you spend any time as I did in the decade I worked in television, you understand they are as vulnerable as anyone, no more heroic, nice or nasty than the rest of us. Bigger paychecks and egos to match but just people. The best moments are when they step out of rehearsed bits and slip on their ballgowns. It reminds us to remove the pedestal.
Every year I nod off at some point and wake up on time for the winners at the end. No, I'm not grey yet. There is simply always a duller than dull lapse in the broadcast when Oscar producers, clearly not interested in pacing rules, have left for the bar.
Here, in no particular order, are the slips and shine from my perch:
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Why man hates accompanying his wife shopping

Once a upon a time, a broke husband had to pretend to be just fine before his wife and said yes when the wife asked him to accompany her to the mall. He thought hard on how to stop his wife from shopping unnecessary things.



For short, task done; the wife fainted as she knew what had happened to her husband.



The illustration above is not a typical reason a man would avoid going to the mall for fear of being unable to pay all what the wife buys.



Even, when he gets everything, he hates being long with his wife shopping. Why? Because he can't stand waiting? Can't stand this fussily consumptive creature? Can't take care of the children when the babysitter is absent?



No, he can't wait for his blog to generate money.

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Why iPhone is more popular than Blackberry

Once upon a time a teenager turned to be autistic as he was glued to his Blackberry. His mother seemed like not there and his father was gone in the air. In fact, the family was in the living room, sitting and towards each other they became strangers for a couple of hours.

Well, that sounds too much, but on another occasion the mother became autistic at work and so was the father, and everybody around was also busy with their Blackberry. But why there's no iPhone available there?

Blackberry is everywhere: on the bus, on the commuter train, in the park, at offices and homes. It is the king which is to be obeyed. You serve your life for it.

How about IPhone? Why is it supposed to be more popular than Blackberry? To answer this question you need to fly to the United States of America. Or just close your eyes and pretend to be there. Got the answer? Good.

Share it to comment box below, Indonesians. No compulsion for the autistic!

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Why Robert Pattinson regrets his role in horror movies

Once upon a time, a cast was wanted to play a role as an evil being. The evil dressed in white gown had to wade across the flood. Robert Pattinson found it was silly and uninteresting so that he skipped this role.

Never mind then, the director didn't force him to take a part in this project. Rather he suggests that Pattinson watch it later when the film has already been done.

But Robert never watched it, instead he was watched by an evil spirit who regrets not to play the role Robert had played.

"Why Robert Pattinson regrets his role in horror movies?" Asked the spirit.

Robert gets confused, so does the evil spirit, and surely anybody reading this article.

It is so regrettable.

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Why Britney Spears dislike bananas

Once upon a time Britney saw a monkey eating banana under a tree around her neighborhood and he smiled at her. But she didn't see people saying why we hate Britney somewhere nearby. The monkey was skinny and amusing and he seemed restless.

There's no news on the Internet why Britney hates bananas. She kept eating fruits she liked but I am not sure whether she likes banana herself or no. All we can find on the Internet still why we hate Britney. Why Eminem hates her, why some other celebrities do so.

It's out of context that bananas will help Britney improve her voice and it is absurd to say it is good as supper after any concert she has had. But it is so amazng to know the fact that people hate Britney. Off course, there's nothing extraordianary about it. There people love you, and there people who don't.

Let's ask the monkey about it. Well he has another languange to tell wheter he likes Britney or hate her.

Anyway, back to the discussion, you know what -- she might not like banana after the monkey cried out, "Can I take part in X-factor?
____________________________

Is Britney Spears Part Of Celebrity Tour To India?

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Why Obama won't come back to Indonesia

Once upon a time Obama left Indonesia for his brighter future, and as dream came true he spent the time to come here once. Now, he plans not to get back to Indonesia. How can it be? According rumor, because there's nobody inviting him to come here.

You know why Obama won't flash back to his childhood by visiting his then residence in Menteng, Jakarta. Because at that time he was busy leading a meeting and there's no agenda about Indonesia as part of his official visit. Is it true that Obama won't get back to Indonesia? Maybe, especially if he's afraid of getting trapped by huge floods which nearly engulfed Jakarta recently.

But the call for Obama to come to Indonesia might be sounded as an invitation to watch corruptors hung in Monas. He won't be invited here to shake his body to follow the rythm of Harlem Shake. He won't be giving speech about disturbing motorists to block the Trans Jakarta busway. Who is the corruptor?

Well, many of them. And yet again, there's another reason why Obama won't come back to Indonesia. The invitation letter is stolen by Aladdin in the sky.

By the way, do you believe Obama is Muslim? Check it out here.

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Get a better mirror

What a week. What a whirl. What words.

Canadian slam poet Shane Koyczan has once again caught international attention for his heartfelt anti-bullying video now gone viral. There is lots to admire here but pay attention to the "Just get over it" line thrown out by an ignorant, unnamed classmate. Was he visiting my neighbourhood where similar throwaway hurts have gone unpunished? Koyzcan is a strong advocate for better Facebook monitoring by all of us. 
I hope everyone's listening. You know who you are.

Talents like his don't burst onto the digital landscape by accident. If that rich voice sounds familiar, you are likely remembering the word bullets Shane Koyczan shot out at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. In case you were asleep and missed it, here is the extended version of We are More.

Those who work tirelessly to combat the toxin that is bullying might well take their cue from this passionate artist: Teach the children of the world to sing, paint and speak in verse. The anger and hurt might just change form.

Words matter.

Have a great weekend.
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Some recent posts you may have missed: I need brave thoughts 
                                                                  We were all children once

Oscar snapshots: Ang Lee
                            War Witch
                            Daniel Day-Lewis

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Daniel Day-Lewis: a little madness goes a long way

stand out: to be conspicuous, distinctive, or prominent.

The success of a film, or other collaborative art form, depends upon an assortment of elements that produce magic. It is impossible to say one element is more important than another.  Yet real balance remains elusive. What stood out when the lights went up?

Here is the third in a series of snapshots of Oscar nominated performances and films: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln.

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A flame in two cupped hands

 

You don't need flowers or chocolate today. I never say no to either (lilies, sweet peas, roses, thanks very much. The darker the chocolate, the deeper my love.)

What is required are the right words. If you can't find them, seek help in literary gods.

Variations on the word Sleep

I would like to watch you sleeping,
which may not happen.
I would like to watch you,
sleeping. I would like to sleep
with you, to enter
your sleep as its smooth dark wave
slides over my head

and walk with you through that lucent
wavering forest of bluegreen leaves
with its watery sun & three moons
towards the cave where you must descend,
towards your worst fear

I would like to give you the silver
branch, the small white flower, the one
word that will protect you
from the grief at the center
of your dream, from the grief
at the center I would like to follow
you up the long stairway
again & become
the boat that would row you back
carefully, a flame
in two cupped hands
to where your body lies
beside me, and as you enter
it as easily as breathing in

I would like to be the air
that inhabits you for a moment
only. I would like to be that unnoticed

& that necessary. 

Margaret Atwood

If sharing a wordsmith is not within reach today, there remains film which gives us heroic and sloppy and goofy and sexy and breathless and slay me! love...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Related posts: 

on poetry: 

                  We were all children once 

 

                   Seeds    

                   I need brave thoughts

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Flashing the Neighbours

I hate it when my ideas get stolen by cool Brit filmmakers.
Guy Ritchie has made a short film for H& M to help plug his buddy David Beckham's Bodywear line.

courtesy: www.theedito.com

I swear. It's my story.
What a pity it remains in my memory bank. No one knows. Except Jim.

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Cole Porter wrote the story of us

     It was just another high school musical in a time before Glee was a hit TV show. I was part of a joint effort between two Toronto high schools to mount the Cole Porter classic Kiss Me, Kate. There were two big solo parts for girls. I wanted to be Kate. She gets to sing the love duets and slap Petruchio.  It was a spirited role and I assumed it would be fun to stare down the guy cast in the lead and call him a bastard in strident theatrical tones. 

The director of the show, in a prescient move, cast me instead as Kate's younger, flirtatious sister, Bianca.

I'm a maid who would marry
And will take with no qualm
Any Tom, Dick or Harry,
Any Harry, Dick or Tom,
I'm a maid mad to marry
And will take double-quick
Any Tom, Dick or Harry,
Any Tom, Harry or Dick.

The rehearsals lasted most of the winter. It was the best of times and... the best of times. By the spring thaw, those strident notes had dissolved into dulcet tones. We were a backstage secret kept by no one: Petruchio and Bianca had their own duet. It wasn't in the script but Cole Porter had his fingers all over it.

In the years since that show, my Petruchio and I have seen Kiss Me, Kate performed twice at Stratford, and once on Broadway, where we told the cast at the stage door that we had named our first child Kate.

This weekend, we will again watch a group of amateur performers ham it up in a Wavestage Theatre Company production of Kiss Me,  Kate. 

The cast includes a talented blonde, my niece, Rhiannon Kyle, who is a far more serious minded Bianca than my precocious turn circa 1981. You won't see it on stage but she has a plan.

Rhiannon has grown up juggling stage rehearsals and school work and says it is all about efficiency. Hers is a generation of sharp focus on the future which, for this teen, include studying international relations and politics. There is little to link her sophisticated turn in this classic show and mine but for some memorable tunes that are still playing in my head 3 decades later.

No video exists of that show long ago but you'll have to imagine me as a guileless teen with no shortage of chutzpah, tripping about the stage and having the time of my life. I didn't know then it would be the script that stuck.

Here's Broadway legend Ann Miller doing the same part. Pretend it's me and you'll get the idea.

 Kiss Me, Kate is playing all weekend at the Newmarket Theatre.  It will be easy to spot Peter and I in the audience. We'll be the ones mouthing all the words.

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Tegan and Sara blasting the generational divide

You know them as indie innovators.
Can you embrace them as pop sensations?

Tegan and Sara, Getty Images

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Red Letter Day: Superbowl ads leaked and other loony stuff

February means the year countdown has begun for the next winter Olympics which begin February 7th in Sochi, Russia.

At least one fan of the games would like to abandon any thought of keeping the games drug free:

The last winter Olympics made permanent dents on our couch.

Read why here

We are all 18 in our heads. Aging gracefully is no longer an option.

There is no such thing as an original thought. Or is there?
Another leaked Superbowl ad:

Yikes. Yellow Pants is NOT invited to my Fantasy Dinner party. But I would hire him to clean my toilets. Maybe he can find his Big Idea in there.

What exactly is the big idea with these ads anyway?
Harvard Business Review deconstructs a decade of Superbowl ads.

I don't watch football so will skip the Superbowl, thanks anyway.
I do love film though, which regular Red Chronicles readers have figured out by now, so I would rather head down to the TIFF Bell Lightbox and watch the Oscar nominated Short Films, now screening there through February 7th.

 I love theatre too. Here's your hot tip for the weekend: Toronto theatre lovers have one final weekend to see the latest brilliance from celebrated playwright Kristen Thomson. Someone Else, a beautifully performed production on stage at the Berkeley Street Theatre, is theatre at its most searing best. I loved it and strongly recommend you see what Crow's Theatre calls" a naked examination of marriage, middle age and the delicate nature of change." If that sounds like nails scratching a blackboard, think again. As actor Tom Rooney explains, "comedy is written around people in trouble."

Have a great weekend.

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