Good Movie, Left Happy

The new prairie dog is out today and full of good reading, including Carle Steel's takedown of the whole online dating racket and not one but two articles about beer.

I'll say that again: TWO stories about beer. Ah, you're running out the door to pick up your copy now. Excellent.

There's also a short write-up on a good documentary playing at the RPL tomorrow. Died Young, Stayed Pretty is a made-in-Canada (well, Calgary) flick about underground rockaroll poster culture: the posters, the weirdos (and in at least one case internationally recognized graphic designer) who make them, their cultural significance--basically the wacky shenanigans of the whole nutty scene.

I saw it tonight with Carle and Paul Dechene, and we were all dazzled, educated and entertained. If you care about underground/outlaw art, rock, punk or gay Elvis, work as a graphic designer or you're in a band in this city, you should see it. It plays again tomorrow night at nine.

Hey, this could even inspire people to build a killer poster culture in this town. Okay, that IS crazy.

Happy Darwin Day!

It's the 200th anniversary of the birth of one the greatest scientists who ever lived, the guy who pretty much invented the field of biology and utterly changed the way people look at the natural world: Charles Darwin. Learn about the celebration here.

CBC radio's Quirks and Quarks did a pretty good show devoted to him this week. And if you want to read that book of his that caused all the fuss, On the Origin of Species, it's in the public domain so it's free to download.

Sadly, there isn't a lot -- if anything -- going on in Regina to celebrate Mr Darwin's birthday. I spoke with the director of the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, thinking it would be a logical spot for something like this. Turns out they had nothing planned. However, in May, he says they'll be launching a Darwin exhibit.

Anyway, if you're hosting some kind of Darwin-related event this evening, please feel free to mention it in the comments.