Honest, Eminent, Keen Rants
Skate Country, put your ears on! There are only two Sketch 22 shows left in Charlottetown this year. Thursday (tonight) and Friday at the Guild. If you haven’t seen the show yet, then there are only two more days for you to find excuses not to go but to go on and on about how you fully intend on going.
Technorati Tags: Sketch22
On the Sketch22 trip to Halifax last weekend, two questions came up for which there was no answer any of us were sure of:
Why do Canadians say “zed” and Americans say “zee”? Here’s the answer. Turns out Americans say “zee” and everyone else says “zed”.
Do seagulls make nests? According to this Cheltenham governement site, they do:
Life Cycle
Breeding
pairs court in April and commence nest building from early May onwards.
In towns the nests tend to be constructed from straw, grass, twigs,
paper and any other materials the gull can conveniently use. These
nests can be large and if they are made of material accumulated over
several years, they can become quite heavy. This means that if a
breeding site is established then the gulls with return year after year.
Just a final reminder for anyone who wants to sign up and play in The Annekenstein Monster NFL pool at The Weekly NFL Picks Page that you should do so sooner than later. Unless you’ve played at that site before, you’ll have to register if you want to play, but it’s a simple registration, and there’s no spam or anything to worry about if you do register.
It’s a pretty simple game to play. However to play it well is more challenging. All you have to do is, each week, pick which NFL teams will beat the team they are playing. But it’s not a straight up pick. It’s based on the betting point spread. Even if you know nothing about football, you should join in and play if you want.
This is the first week of the new season, and there is a game this Thursday, so for this week, people’ll have to get their picks in earlier than usual.
So far, there’s a handful of players listed. Some are from last year, so I don’t know if they’re actually returning or not. If you’re name is listed below, and you’re not planning on playing this year (chicken), let me know and I’ll remove it.
For the rest of you who haven’t joined yet: Come on and play and show us who think we know football how wrong we are.
Players listed in the pool:
RFTT1985
spragger2002
Graham the Conquerer
reverseflash
Jim Simmonds
and last year’s pool winner:
annekenstein
Here’s a link to a YouTube playlist of a BBC parody of 1970s children’s educational TV programs. Each episode is about 9 minutes long. My favourite is Look Around You – Music.
I’ve added a poll widget to the site. I’ll change the poll topic periodically. The first poll concerns some of the characters from this season’s Sketch22 production. If you’ve seen the show this year, which live stage character was your favourite? Choose your favourite from the characters listed, keeping in mind that actors’ egos hang in the balance.
For the record, I voted for Ronnie, the father from Heart & Soil.
update: Full disclosure time. Okay, so it looks like I voted for Amadeus. What happened was: When I originally set up the poll, the border was black. I voted for Ronnie, then decided that the border would look better in red, so I went to the site and changed it. When I re-loaded the poll, I guess it reset the original polling info. Then when I came back here to see the poll results, I inadvertently clicked on Amadeus. So, technically, I voted for Amadeus, but my heart’s pick is Ronnie.
Big Dick ticket
Originally uploaded by The Annekenstein Monster.
Still a great performer, even as a solo act. Big Dick puts on a first-rate concert. Sang “Steal This Cowboy’s Heart” three times!!! Didn’t mind the rain at all.
All morning long, I’d been looking forward to going outside for lunch on this beautiful end-of-summer day, getting a slice of pizza (from Jack’s), taking it to the Confederation Centre concrete lawn, sitting down and eating it. I was looking forward to listening to my iPod, sitting and eating a slice of pizza, and watching the people walk by.
It was all ruined by a bagpiper. Yep. I got my slice, went to the Confed Centre, sat down, all the while listening to various songs on the iPod. Then the bagpiper started. Or, more likely, continued. And wouldn’t stop.
Let me tell you right now that I enjoy a good bagpiping. In its proper circumstance, there’s nothing more lovely than a piper piping. Okay, well not “lovely”. How about stirring? I’m of Scottish heritage and have a special place in my heart for the pipes (not so much with haggis), in its place. There’s nothing more stirring (yeah, “stirring” works) than a piper leading a regiment of Scottish Highlander soldiers off to battle, for instance. Or the image of a loan piper, kilted the whole nine yards, playing out in the glade on a misty, foggy morning. It’ll get me every time. Or, at least, once in a while.
But when I hear the pipes in unexpected and unwanted places, such as by the round benches in front of the Confed Centre on Queen Street, in the middle of a work day, I don’t long for the hearth and heather. I long for a poisoned dart. The problem with the pipes is that the sound travels so far. You can be hundreds of yards away, and the sound still pierces your ears like a banshee’s scream pierces the night. Like the news of Jon Bonet’s not-murderer’s capture, there’s no escaping. Especially when the piper isn’t very good, as this guy was (or is it “wasn’t”?). It sounded like he was hitting random notes. Random high-squawking notes of no particular melody. And of no particular rhythm. And it travelled all over the community, on the wings of the fresh late-summer breeze. Ugh. Not even Rob Zombie’s Dragula through the headphones could dilute the noise.
Go ahead and busk. Just use an acoustic guitar is all I ask. Or juggling pins, if you must. Or get white-faced and mime (can’t believe I’m longing for the silent busking of that mime guy!!) and get caught in an invisible box (outside the box – see previous post). Just do something that limits your range of influence. Don’t go and spoil the whole neighbourhood.
So, anyway, thanks, bagpiper. Thanks for ruining my anticipated lunch hour.
Have you noticed a new slogan used by the Shops of Confederation Court Mall? “Outside the box”. I take it to mean, I suppose, that shopping at this mall is different than shopping at box stores like WalMart, etc. I don’t think it’s all that great.
This from their website:
We invite you to experience the excitement of the Shops of
Confederation Court Mall and our “outside the box” combination of fine
apparel, accessories, great gifts, home decor, dining, superior
customer service and much more.
What makes the slogan fail for me is that The Shops of Confederation Court Mall is, structurally, a big box so the slogan more or less defeats itself in that respect. I won’t bother to comment on the quality of goods/services one can buy/experience there.
Not much to say today. Or lately, for that matter. I am at another (seemingly more frequent) turning point in my blogging career (okay, hobby), where I seem to have let it slip into the dark recesses of importance, and wonder if it’s worth the bother. That it’s now considered a ‘bother’ is maybe an indication of the problem. Perhaps I’ve grown tired of what I’d been writing, and haven’t found a new direction that pleases or interests me yet. Maybe the new TV season will inspire me (heaven forbid that I am pinning my hopes on continued blogging on what I watch on television).
Hey, did anyone catch the final episode of Season Three of Deadwood that aired last Sunday? Did it satisfy you? Seems to be a lot of people on Deadwood forums who are miffed at the way it ended. Me, I loved it. I thought it was a fantastic ending (which I won’t divulge here, to protect the future-viewing of those who haven’t yet, but plan to, see it).
While there is talk, apparently, of a 4 hour miniseries to come that will presumably wrap the series up, I’m not holding my breath and consider last Sunday’s show the final of the series. It’s too bad. I enjoyed Deadwood immensely in its first two seasons, but this season, I became absolutely enamoured of every aspect of it. To me, there has never been a better written TV show, in terms of pure beauty of dialogue and turns of phrase. Yes, every fourth word seems to be ‘fuck’ but, man, you gotta get over that. The acting, too, is second to none. Ian McShane’s Swearingen is one of the best characters ever put to celluloid or video tape. Never has a character clenched his jaw better than Tim Olyphant’s Sherrif Bullock. Every actor seemed to so fully inhabit the characters that they portrayed that it really was like watching friends. (hey, that refers back to the title of this post! People will think, maybe, that I intended that. But, really, it was coincidence)
I quote here, not necessarily an absolute favourite section of dialogue, but one that I really enjoyed.
This bit of dialogue takes place in episode 26 (season three – episode 2). Bullock has just beaten E.B. (played wonderfully, always, by William Sanderson – the “Larry” of Newhart’s “Larry, Darryl and Darryl” fame), and E.B. is being cared for by Richardson, who is his somewhat-stupid slave/helper. E.B. always takes great delight in putting Richardson down and belittling him. I loved this scene:
(In E.B.’s room at the Grand Central, Richardson is hunched over him, applying
balm to the wounds on E’B’s face.)
EB: Could you have been born, Richardson, and not egg-hatched as I’ve always assumed? Did your mother
hover over you, snaggle-toothed and doting, as you now hover over me?Richardson: I loved my mother.
EB: Puberty may bring you to understand what we take for mother love is really murderous hatred and
a desire for revenge. (Hetakes a drink.)Richardson: Will you give your speech to be Mayor tonight?
EB: Whatever night I give it, count on me not to mince words. “Electors of the camp, as to who should serve as Mayro,
reasonable men may differ. But as to who should be Sheriff…we all ought to speak with one voice. And our words should be, ‘turn out the maniac Bullock, who set upon the Mayor unprovoked, who beat him with merciless protraction.’
Bullock should be murdered! We should rise up and murder Bullock! Thank you very much.”Richardson: My father didn’t liked me.
EB: I’d like to use your ointment to suffocate you.
(He flinches as Richardson dobs on more ointment.)
So, anyway. I’m going to miss the show. I’m going to miss the characters. Moreso, I think, than I did/do Six Feet Under. And, yes, I’m going to miss the swearing. The beautiful, beautiful swearing.
Technorati Tags: Deadwood
Sketch22 is performing this weekend and next at the Atlantic Fringe Festival in Halifax. If you’re on the Island and you’re looking for a reason to get away for a weekend, then going to see Sketch22 in Halifax is the perfect excuse. Really, it is. And if you’re in the Halifax area, well, then it only makes sense to come and see the show.
We’ll be performing a total of six times, over two weekends.
Here’s the info:
Sat., Sept. 2: 2 p.m.
Sun, Sept. 3: 3:30 p.m.& 9:45 p.m.
Mon, Sept. 4: 5:00 p.m.
Sat, Sept. 9: 6:45 p.m.
Sun, Sept. 10: 1:15 p.m.
Location is: Du Maurier Theatre, 1593 Argyle Street, Halifax
Tickets are $8
Gather your friends, inform your family, and even make up with your foes. Get everyone you know to come and see Sketch22 in Halifax.
And, of course, if you haven’t seen this summer’s show at the Guild in Charlottetown, there are still four more chances for you to do so. This Thursday and Friday, and next Thursday and Friday.
The Annekenstein Monster 