The Final Paper and Innocent Eye

I'm about to dive into my final major paper of my universtiy career. Wow! I think I'm going to write about the pastoral vs. city world in Shakespeare's As You Like It and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Now I have to dive into the Journal world, which is a bit nerve racking, b/c during my educational career I haven't used journal sources that often, so I'm not too swift and don't like to waste time - I turn into a frustrated suck. Hopefully Shakespeare Quarterly will prove to be my buddy and be user friendly, as that is where most of the articles I need to read are published. Dear God let the library be my friend on Monday.

I'm about 3 hours away from hitting the batting cages with some gals from my fastball team. I fucking love softball and miss the crap out of it. Why can't it be summer all year long so that we could practice on the diamonds right now? Frickin' winter.

Ok, just got back from the batting cages and I totally bruised the nerve in my right thumb. Nasty business. But so much fun! The Bruxelles gals are going to kick major ass this year!

Saw MTC's The Innocent Eye Test last night, and I defanitely recommend it. I'm not usually one for the "big" plays at the "big" theatres, but Michael Healey's writing was very witty and well-paced, and the cast was exceptional (Gord Rand, you RULE!!) Aside from a random character showing up, like, 15 minutes from the end who served NO purpose whatsoever, and a little unresolved plot issue (I don't want to giver 'er away for those who haven't seen it, but if you have ... Plutonium? What?), it was very enjoyable. I see a LOT of theatre, and recently I've been very impressed. TPM's Confessions of Punch and Judy, PTE's Marion Bridge, and now MTC's Eye Test have all impressed me, and I've seen them all within 2 weeks. Score! I've only seen 1 tanker since O'Neill Fest, so in the law of averages, Winnipeg is producing some good stuff!

Mel's reading recomendation for the month of March: Miriam Toews' A Complicated Kindness. A local author doing exceptionally well - I couldn't put this one down. I think everyone will enjoy it, but it's especially brilliant for anyone from a small town. You know these people, you know that feeling of having to get out, but not wanting to leave, because it's not just where you're from, it's who you ... are. Defanitely complicated.

Canada ends up 3rd overall, with our highest medal count ever! Woot!

Canadian gals in Torino

I just wanted to give a big WOOP! to all of the Canadian gals coming up big in Torino. Heil started it off in downhill freestyle, and the momentum kept going through women's hockey (Gold!), skeleton, snowboard cross, cross country skiing (Chandra Crawford was awesome!), and - of course! - speed skating! Cindy Klassen is the most decorated female athlete at any Olympics with 4 medals, and she still has one race to go! I think it's a great sign for female athletes in Canada, showing that they have what it takes to compete with the best in the world. The positive results also show what can be acomplished with extra funding. We've ignored our ameteur athletes for too long, leaving them to struggle through years of training with little support, and then expecting them to come up big in the Olympics. Hours of training and thousands of dollars go into every year of training for an athlete on the world cup circuit, and it can be a hard road to travel alone. Canada's athletes need to know that we're behind them for the long haul! Canada's now 4th in the standings, just 2 gold behind the US. Go Canada!!

The Olympics and being Canadian

The Olympics have bound me to CBC television. Luckily, when I came down with a nasty case of the stomach flu on Wednesday, I was able to curl up on the couch, down some Tylenol Ultra, and watch as amateur athletes from around the world came together in the prasuit for the podium and personal bests. But there is always that conflict for Canadian athletes. They have to perform on the day, seem confident but not cocky, disappointed if they don't perform well while not being too pissed at themselves because it is the Olympics and it is just an honour to be there, but they shouldn't just be happy to show up, they should want to be the best without being unCanadian (aka cocky). Yeah, it's a weird dynamic to be a Canadian athlete indeed. Overall, I'm very pround of our team this year. Most of the medal favourites are peaking and adding to the meadal count, many underdogs are stepping up, and things are looking good for Vancouver 2010! And we're still undefeated in women's hockey. I don't care how unCanadian it is for me to say it, but our women's hockey team fucking DOMINATES. Woot!!!

The Hate Game

I just couldn't resist weighing in on this crisis involving the comics that the Danish press released featuring the Muslim prophet Muhammed. Naturally, I have to agree the comics were in bad taste, should not be run again, and the Danish press should issue a formal appology. At this point, however, it is clear the protests are no longer about the comics, but Europe - and the rest of the world's - lack of understanding of Muslim culture. I mean, the comics featured a bomb-shaped turban on Muhammed's head - YIKES!! I think the sheer amount of violence is indicitive of what happens when a segment of society feels marginalized. Be it school shootings resulting from prolonged bullying, or the recent riots in the slums of France, we have seen what happens when humans feel mis-understood, threatened, and victimized. Layer that with generations of abject poverty and violence, and the world has a problem. What really frustrates me is the fundamentalist leaders are blowing this situation out of control for their own gains, encouraging violent protests and hate. It's so sad.

So ... what can we do about it? I think as citizens of a GLOBAL community we all need to get on board and get informed about the cultures, religions, and serious issues of the world around us. War, violence and mis-trust stem from fear, and we fear what we don't know.

what now?

Well, I've entered that point after a play where it's like "ok, I need to start working on another part so I don't feel like I'll never work again." Luckily, all of the pieces of Theatre by the River seem to be falling into place, so hopefully we'll be cast and off and running by the end of the month. Now it's just the financial side of the whole operation that is freaking me out. The problem with being a new company is that you're starting from scratch and have to dish out a whole wad of cash to buy the rights for plays, advertising, and pay for all of the production (sets, costumes, EVERYTHING) before seeing any money come in. So, now I'm off on the wonderful hunt for grant money. Luckily, Dan Kern (awesome headshot photographer - click on his link!) mentioned this great place called the Arts and Cultural Industries of Manitoba, whose mandate is to help artists with the business-side of the industry. SCORE!

After prepping all week for my audition with Shakespeare in the Ruins, I found out Thursday that they were cancelling pretty much all of the auditions for those who are non-Equity members. This I find un-tactful. A) don't have a sign-up sheet specifically for non-Equity members if you haven't alotted yourself time to see them. We who are non-union members work our ASSES off trying to get jobs so that one day we can join the union and actually make enough money in theatre so we don't have to slave away at our crappy regular jobs just to make the rent, so when we get an audition we put everything to the side to prepare for it, so when it's cancelled suddenly it is very disappointing. B) You can't just go to the list and pick-out who you'll see and who you won't. It's unfair and ... untactful. TACT people, tact is the word of the day.

I have a cold. It sucks. I don't like being sick. I only get sick when the weather changes. In Canada, the weather changes often. I hate living in Canada when this happens.

But on a happy note ... Shannon and Matt got into MTC's touring show The History of Manitoba from the Beginning of Time to the Present. Derek got into Dry/Cold's musical Assasins. Woot!! And guess what company they're members of ... Theatre by the River! Yay!

I'd like to recommend a book to anyone who enjoyed Angela's Ashes or just stories of the crazy Irish: Malachy McCourt's memoir A Monk Swimming. It's tragic, yet I laughed my butt off. Oh, the Irish, what story-tellers they are!