So on Sunday the latest edition of Rochdale Rhymes and Readings took place. The room was quite ful and a big hand goes out to the open micers, the crowd and features Jeff Cottrill and David Silverberg. They were incredible. I especially did get a kick out of Jeff Cottrill's tongue-in-cheek piece about writing a slam poem. I was especially glad to have David Silverberg there as the guy hosts a lot, but you don't hear him read enough.
Next month's RDRR will feature Jogindra Siewattran (Yogi) and Carey Toane. It will happen June 22 at the Regal Beagle, beside the Bata Shoe Museum.
I am excited about the slam this weekend. It's the Anything Goes Slam. My first piece will be more comedic parody satire than poetry, but it is the Anything Goes Slam.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Yonge and Dundas 24
So I went to the latest and greatest theatre in town tonight, the Yonge and Dundas 24. Getting in was a big enough challenge for someone willing to pay $13 for a movie ticket. I saw a ticket office, but thought I'd explore the Toronto Life Centre, or whatever it's called. I ended up on the third floor, through a series of escalators and wanted to know how to get down. I was told by a security guard to go up to the fourth floor and take an elevator down as they had no escalators that went down. I got there and found out the cinema was on the fourth floor I tried to get in but was told I needed to go all the way to the first floor to get a ticket and needed to take an elevator. I laughed and tried to get on an elevator but was told I couldn't get on that elevator. That was for patrons only. I needed to walk to another elevator and go down to buy a ticket. I did feel like walking up the street to the Carlton (where a ticket to a more "independent" movie would've been cheaper) but instead bought my ticket to see Iron Man.
Being suddenly hungry, I did buy popcorn and a drink. They were regularly priced for a movie theatre (which is astronomical) but were puny in size.
The cinema itself was pretty good. The seats have a lot of legroom, which is good for a tall guy like myself. Often small theatres are very uncomfortable for me. The movie itself was pretty good. It is as advertised, an action movie based on a comic book. It won't win film of the year honours, but for a comic book action movie, it's good. But if Iron Man could use his advanced technology to win the war in Afghanistan singlehandedly, why do I have so much trouble getting in to see it?
Being suddenly hungry, I did buy popcorn and a drink. They were regularly priced for a movie theatre (which is astronomical) but were puny in size.
The cinema itself was pretty good. The seats have a lot of legroom, which is good for a tall guy like myself. Often small theatres are very uncomfortable for me. The movie itself was pretty good. It is as advertised, an action movie based on a comic book. It won't win film of the year honours, but for a comic book action movie, it's good. But if Iron Man could use his advanced technology to win the war in Afghanistan singlehandedly, why do I have so much trouble getting in to see it?
Friday, May 2, 2008
Apocalyptica
I know it's been a couple of days, but I cannot get out of my head just how good the Apocalyptica show at The Phoenix was on Wednesday night. I found out afterward, Perttu Kivilaakso played cello with a finger broken the night before. I cannot imagine how much pain he must have been in.
But highlights of the show were the crowd singing along to the instrumental cover of Seek and Destroy as well as members of the audience stopping to slow dance to the very mellow cover of Nothing Else Matters. Overall the band just rocked. They were swinging the hair and were not up there to just sit and play. They came to rock.
There were guest appearances by Adam Gontier of Three Days Grace and Toryn Green of Fuel. I'm not putting them down, but I felt as if their appearances took away from the show and the impact of Apocalyptica. I understand Apocalyptica has a new record to sell and that includes non-operatic or heavy metal vocals and more of a mainstream sound. I'm not a fan of the new record, but won't write them off as sell-outs the way I did with Metallica many years ago. I see Apocalyptica as just trying something different and respect it even if I don't like it as they are true artists.
One other slightly disappointing thing with the show was a lack of material from Apocalyptica's all-original and sublime 2003 album Reflections. I guess they had a new album to sell, fans know them for their covers and stuff in the middle had to get cut.
But highlights of the show were the crowd singing along to the instrumental cover of Seek and Destroy as well as members of the audience stopping to slow dance to the very mellow cover of Nothing Else Matters. Overall the band just rocked. They were swinging the hair and were not up there to just sit and play. They came to rock.
There were guest appearances by Adam Gontier of Three Days Grace and Toryn Green of Fuel. I'm not putting them down, but I felt as if their appearances took away from the show and the impact of Apocalyptica. I understand Apocalyptica has a new record to sell and that includes non-operatic or heavy metal vocals and more of a mainstream sound. I'm not a fan of the new record, but won't write them off as sell-outs the way I did with Metallica many years ago. I see Apocalyptica as just trying something different and respect it even if I don't like it as they are true artists.
One other slightly disappointing thing with the show was a lack of material from Apocalyptica's all-original and sublime 2003 album Reflections. I guess they had a new album to sell, fans know them for their covers and stuff in the middle had to get cut.