FAMILY: 30th Kids Fest treats fans to $250,000 CirCo spectacular
Hey kids! Remember how your parents dragged you to Cirque du Soleil and you were bored out of your mind? They promised non-stop action and laughs and fun and pure entertainment, but then it turned out to be a bunch of old creepy clowns that stood around holding umbrellas and riding giant bicycles to the […]
REVIEW: The big-time economics of video gaming
Tom Chatfield admits he loves computer games and may therefore be shamelessly partisan in his book “Fun Inc., Why Games are the 21st Century’s Most Serious Business.” But he is not just your average IT guy bitching about how nobody in the office reboots before calling tech support, or flaming newbies on forums with RTFMs. […]
GIGGLE CITY: John Caponera lives the Good Life
When it comes to stand-up comedians trying to break into television, many are called, few are chosen. John Caponera had his big chance as the star NBC’s The Good Life, co-starring Drew Carey, which was cancelled after the 1994 season. Caponera has since been on Letterman, had parts in big-time television shows like ER and […]
Hot Picks, March 20
Today Gig City is all about adding some class to your drab little lives. Now, usually these days, that’s a metaphor for gay and fabulous. But we mean the old-fashioned kind of classy. Classy, not flashy, and most certainly not trashy. Old-fashioned classy can be entertaining! We promise. First, pop over to The Arden Theatre […]
GIGGLE CITY: Improvising with Stephanie Wolfe
Again we turn to the theatre community for funny people through which to explore the nature of comedy and comedians. Locals theatre buffs know Stephanie Wolfe as a veteran of Die-Nasty, the Live Improvised Soap Opera, which has run every Monday night at the Varscona Theatre for the last 20 years. It was invented in […]
MUSIC: Deon Blyan’s urban exposure at Haven Social Club
If Deon Blyan’s new album Turning to Wave is more about cities than it is about relationships, you probably can’t blame the guy. “I think I got sick of writing about girls,” the Calgary resident says, somewhere on the road in B.C. “I guess it had to happen eventually. It took on this theme of […]
Earth not ready for ‘Mars Needs Moms’
It’s not surprising that ‘Mars Needs Moms’ failed so miserably at the box office – the $150 million film making a pathetic $6.9 million on opening weekend – because Disney KILLED THE WRONG MOM! There’s a rich history of cinematic matricide in Disney animated features, and indeed many stories aimed at children, as parents are […]
MUSIC: DJ may be a Bastid, but he loves audience participation
It’s true what they say. These days, everyone’s a DJ. You’d think that might frustrate someone like Skratch Bastid , who was in the biz before computer software made his job infinitely more accessible. But the Halifax native has wisely embraced the new, inclusive musical climate. Skratch Bastid, real name Paul Murphy, will brought his […]
Edmonton Jewish Film Festival returns in April
Edmonton has a smallish Jewish community, but it is tight-knit and prosperous – and its people are sometimes hungry for authentic Jewish culture, which can be hard to find in the mainstream. And no, Coen Brothers movies don’t count. Cue the Edmonton Jewish Film Festival, back again after a year off, this coming April 3-4 […]
Hot Picks, March 15: Don’t you eat that yellow snow
One of the many great things about Frank Zappa was how he could poke fun at any musical style – and then proceed to play it better than anyone else. Ever see those old videos of his band – longhaired rock musicians sweating over their music stands as they tackled such monstrosities as Peaches En […]
From the Worst Pop Band Ever to the six degrees of Zappa-ration
We treat the events of the week ahead as if they were tea leaves, swirl them into a giant cup of hot water, dump them out and parse their metaphysical meaning. The answer is looking Zappa. Frank Zappa is coming to the Winspear Centre on Tuesday, March 15 – his spirit, of course, channelled by the capable […]
