R.I.P. Vic Chesnutt

On Christmas Day, Athens, Georgia-based singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt passed away at age 45. Rendered a quadrapelgic by a car accident at 18, Chesnutt nonetheless was able to carve an impressive niche for himself in the genre of folk-rock alongside the likes of his hometown colleagues Michael Stipe and R.E.M. In 2004, Chesnutt played a Saturday night gig at the Regina Folk Festival. Headliners that night were The Sadies. Here's a link to a news story on his death (Music-Mix), plus video of him performing his song "Robots" (YouTube)

Boxing Day of Christmas: The Silent Partner

I know that techinically this makes 13 Days of Christmas but what the heck.

This excellent Canadian film from 1978 was directed by Daryl Duke (who directed the Thorn Birds mini-series) and was a remake of a Danish film Think of a Number (1969). This adaptation was written for the screen by a young Curtis Hanson who gone on to direct L.A. Confidential.

Elliott Gould stars as Miles - a bank teller in a shopping mall in Toronto. It's Christmas time and Gould discovers that the bank is going to be robbed. He then comes up with a plan to steal a bunch of money and blame it on the robber - a psychotic Christopher Plummer. When Plummer comes to rob the bank in a Santa Claus suit, Gould gives Plummer some of the dough and keeps the rest for himself. Plummer discovers that he's been taken and a deadly cat and mouse game begins between the two men.

This movie has many twists and turns and to reveal any more of the plot would destroy the fun of watching the movie. This was one of the earliest films from Canada to take advantage of the Canadian government's "Capital Cost Allowance" plans. And it won the Canadian Film Award for best film that year. The cast is stellar and even John Candy has a bit role in it. The film is one of hidden gems that nobody ever really knows about - in fact I can't even find a trailer or a clip of the film but it is finally available on DVD.

Saturday Morning Cartoon

It's Boxing Day so in the spirit of the season I present several cartoons with the literal theme of boxing.

First up it's the short lived I Am the Greatest: The Adventures of Muhammad Ali. The show ran from 1977 to 1978 on NBC.



A little Popeye the Sailor.



And finally we have Mickey Mouse managing a robot to fight a gorilla.

Pick of the Day: Boxing Day Bashes

I've written on the origins of Boxing Day before. It's a British tradition, and relates to the practice of wealthy people giving gift boxes to servants, labourers and other less well-off members of society on the day after Christmas (which is also known as St. Stephen's Day).

Long recognized as a civic holiday in Canada, Dec. 26, in recent years, has become notorious as day where people line-up in the frigid pre-dawn, the cash they received for Xmas evidently burning a hole in their pockets, to engage in an orgy of shopping in the hope of scoring mega-bargains on clothing, electronics and other merchandise. Crass, I know. But such is life in our consumer culture.

Over roughly the same period, another Boxing Day tradition has developed where young adults, having spent the preceding two days with family, escape to their favourite watering hole after supper to blow off a little steam and partake of yet more festive cheer. Boxing Day falling on a Saturday this year presents something of a double whammy, guaranteeing that the bars will be packed. If you're in the mood to party, here's some stuff you might consider checking out:

ORBITAL EXPRESS with Bloodwork, In Darkness and Prophets of the Dead at the Exchange. $10.
DANCE PARTY at O'Hanlon's Pub. Free.
NANCY RAY-GUNS at the Abbey Restaurant. $5.
LET THERE BE THEREMIN at the Fainting Goat Restaurant.
DAN SILLJER BAND at McNally's Tavern. $5.
And Dec. 27, THE EXTROVERTS play the Distrikt. $7 at the door.

Remember, no drinking and driving okay?

Friday Afternoon Christmas Kitties!

Merry Christmas!







And, of course...

12 Days of Christmas: Die Hard

"Now I have a machine gun. Ho ho ho."

It's Christmas Eve at the Nakatomi Plaza in L.A. and for New York cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) it's going to be a long night.

Terrorists lead by Alan Rickman have seized the building and one of the hostages is McClane's estranged wife Holly.

Based on a novel by Roderick Thorp titled Nothing Lasts Forever. The book itself was a sequel to Thorp's earlier novel The Detective which was made into a film starring Frank Sinatra.

John McTiernan directed Predator the year earlier and with this film secured his position as one the best action directors for a brief period. He followed this film up with The Hunt For Red October. It slowly went down hill for him there, Medicine Man, Last Action Hero, Die Hard: With a Vengeance, The 13th Warrior, The Thomas Crown Affair and then the terrible remake Rollerball.

The movie uses Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 throughout the film, terrorists hum it, and it plays through out several big scenes that I won't spoil.

Alan Rickman is brilliant as Hans Gruber, the leader of the terrorists and Bruce Willis is the perfect everyman action hero. He can get hurt (one particularly nasty scene has Willis pulling glass out of his foot) and he can crack wise with the best.

This film is one of my favorites and considered by many to be one of the best action films of all time.

Pick of the Day: Meander

Yeah, Central Library and the Dunlop Art Gallery are closed today. But if you happen to find yourself downtown*, and are in the mood to check out some art, you still can courtesy of this outdoor installation by Laura Hale. It's located in the sunken garden that's visible from the ramp that leads up the RPL's main entrance. With the assistance of students from Connaught Community School, Hale collected a pile of foiliage, leaves, berries and whatnot this fall which, during an early December cold snap, she integrated into a winding river -- or at the very least, creek -- of ice which she created in the garden.

Meander is part of the Dunlop exhibition Mind the Gap! (Dog Blog) which is on at the gallery's Central and Sherwood Village Library locations until Jan. 3. It won't close when the rest of the show does, though, but instead will remain in the garden throughout the winter and into spring. Like the prairie landscape itself, it will be subtly altered by shifts in the weather and the cycle of the seasons. Had Hale installed Meander last winter, it might well have lasted into May. This year, who knows what Mother Nature has in store for us. At the very least, expect Meander to survive into late March.

*I live downtown, so that's no problem for me. If, perchance, I wanted to go somewhere else though, big problem for me. I don't own a car. Cycling is my main mode of transport most of the year, but I don't bike in the winter. Besides, it's minus 37 windchill today. And there's no bus service today or tomorrow. Sunday, there's hourly service of a sort between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. So, short of dropping $30-$40 on a cab ride there and back, looks like I'll be sticking close to home this Xmas.

12 Days of Christmas: Life of Brian

Life of Brian or Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) is a damn funny movie. It's also an excuse for me to have a Monty Python movie on my list. And it sort pertains to Christmas.

Born in a stable a few doors down from Jesus Christ, Brian is mistaken for the messiah most of his life. He gets involved in all sorts of wacky situations, including getting a group of followers.

Brian: "Please, please, please listen! I've got one or two things to say."
The Crowd: "Tell us! Tell us both of them!"
Brian: "Look, you've got it all wrong! You don't NEED to follow ME, You don't NEED to follow ANYBODY! You've got to think for your selves! You're ALL individuals!"
The Crowd: "Yes! We're all individuals!"
Brian: "You're all different!"
The Crowd: "Yes, we ARE all different!"
Man in crowd: "I'm not..."
The Crowd: "Sch! "

And how can you go wrong with movie that has tag lines like

"A motion picture destined to offend nearly two thirds of the civilized world. And severely annoy the other third."

"See the movie that's controversial, sacrilegious, and blasphemous. But if that's not playing, see The Life of Brian."

"The film that is so funny it was banned in Norway."

"He wasn't the messiah. He was a very naughty boy."

The Python crew aren't pulling any punches in this satire of religion. The jokes fast and plentiful and nothing is spared. The film was banned in Norway for a year, Ireland for eight years, Burma, Bhutan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Oman, South Africa, Vatican City and several towns in both England and the United States of America.

Despite all the controversy the film has endured over the years and it still has a huge following. Plus it's funny.

I Really Like Christmas

It's sentimental, I know, but I just really like it. (Christmas, I mean.)



I don't think this song is nearly as good as the Pomplamoose tune I posted yesterday (which is still my new favourite xmas song ever and holy crap did you check out their other stuff like Hail Mary or Little Things or their cover of September which made me reevaluate my feelings for Earth Wind and Fire? No? You should because Pomplamoose is the real deal.)

So, no, Minchin is no Pomplamoose. But I still like him even if his lyrics tend to be waaaa-a-a-a-ay too preachy for my taste. But there aren't a whole lot of xmas tunes for rabid atheists like myself -- and the chorus is catchy -- and I agree with the sentiment -- so I thought it'd make for a worthy xmas eve post....

Oh, and if the whole drinking white wine in the sun line seems a little weird, it's because Minchin is from Australia so I imagine you do that sort of thing at xmas instead of, say, chugging mulled wine while shivering by the fire. Speaking of which... have to get back to the family.

Merry Xmas Dog Bloggers and Dog Blog readers!

Pick of the Day: Germs! Germs! Germs!

I'm not sure when the Saskatchewan Science Centre booked this travelling exhibit, but considering all the fuss there's been lately over the H1N1 pandemic, it certainly is timely. Germs is a pretty broad category, of course. In addition to viruses like H1N1, it also encompasses microorganisms like bacteria, fungi and protoza. All, apparently, are discussed in this show, which even features a short trip through a human intestine.

According to the Science Centre's website, even the healthiest of humans is home to 100 trillion bacteria (that's 100,000,000,000,000, or roughly ten times the number of cells in our bodies). As well, while many bacteria are harmful to humans (pictured, by the way, is a beaded art work by Ruth Cuthand from a series recently purchased by the MacKenzie Gallery which recalls how First Nations were ravaged by foreign diseases during European colonization of the New World), many others are beneficial, both in the preservation of our health, and in the production of foodstuffs like beer, wine, bread and cheese.

This being Christmas Eve, the Science Centre is only open noon-4 p.m. today. But if you're looking for something to do over the holidays, especially if you've got kids to keep busy, check it out. It's on until Jan. 10. To pique your (and their) curiosity, here's the trailer from the 1966 SF flick Fantastic Voyage. (YouTube)