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Accordion, Instrument of the Gods Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

"The Behaviour of Houses": This Thursday at the Brunswick Theatre

Poster for 'The Behaviour of Houses.

This Thursday, May 10th at 7:00 p.m., my friends from Crazy Go Nuts University David W. Scott and Andrea Medovarski will have a screening of their new film, The Behaviour of Houses at the Brunswick Theatre (296 Brunswick Avenue).

Here’s a synopsis:

Melinda, an aspiring artist with a dead-end job, lives in the city with Colum, who is pursuing his PhD. Escaping her privileged upbringing, Melinda is deeply critical of her family’s business “building suburban bungalows for the moral majority.” When Melinda’s brother, Jeremy, comes to the city for the Home Builders’ convention, he brings shocking news that will change all three of their lives.

As they all try to cope with unfinished family business, Melinda must make the most dramatic choices of all. Caught between her artistic dreams and her family’s demands to take over the business, she must now find her own place in the world.

Main characters from 'The Behaviour of Houses'.

The Behaviour of Houses is a story about finding your voice. It deals with that period in your mid twenties when you have to face up to where you come from – and decide where you’re really heading. It explores the awkward space between what someone says and what they really do.

Melinda is the daughter of a real estate developer who is running from her past. Colum is a PhD student trying to make his own place in the world and create the family life he never had. Jeremy is Melinda’s younger brother. His wild side hides how much he wants to protect those he cares about.

After the movie (it runs 98 minutes), there’ll be an after-party at Boom Shiva (1180 Queen Street West, halfway between the Gladstone and the Drake). One of the lead actors is also a singer so she will be singing there that night. It’s pretty casual, and anyone with musical ability is invited to attend and participate; I’ve been invited to kick out some accordion jams.

Come and support indie film and rockin’ accordion!

Categories
It Happened to Me

Today is "Replace My Stolen Passport in a Hurry!" Day

Canadian passport

What a helluva day. Once I’m caught up with my work, I’ll tell you folks about how I spent the morning and early afternoon: scrambling to replace a stolen passport in order to be able to fly to the States next Wednesday for RailsConf. It’ll be educational: if you ever need to replace a Canadian passport in a hurry, you’ll know how.

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Uncategorized

Belarusian Movie Posters

In Manila, the city in which I was born, movie poster billboards have tended to be hand-painted affairs, with the renditions of the actor’s faces varying with the artist. While their renditions of faces in Filipino movies are within the ballpark, sometimes the faces they paint for stars of American movies are hilariously unrecognizable (I recall a particularly crappy Macaulay Culkin in a poster for Home Alone 2).

Manila’s not the only city to feature home-grown hand-painted movie posters; consider these gems from Minsk, courtesy of the English Russia site. Click each poster to see a corresponding official version.

Belarusian movie poster for '50 First Dates'.
Belarusian poster for 50 First Dates. Click the image to see an official poster.

Belarusian movie poster for 'Bridget Jones' Diary.
Belarusian poster for Bridget Jones’ Diary. Click the image to see the still frame that inspired it.

Belarusian movie poster for 'Sccoby-Doo'.
Belarusian poster for Scooby-Doo. Click the image to see an official poster.

[Found via Reddit]

Categories
Accordion, Instrument of the Gods

Geeks and Guitars at The Press Room Tomorrow Night!

Tomorrow, Tuesday May 8th, another Geeks and Guitars event will take place at The Press Club (850 Dundas Street West), a lovely little bar on Dundas Street West, a bit east of Trinity Bellwoods Park:

Geeks and Guitars

It’s their weekly open mic jam night; Mark Kuznicki gave it a name by which we TorCamp people refer to it. They provide a decent drum kit and amplification for guitar, bass and vocals. There’s a house band that does a handful of numbers, and the free-for-all format allows for either solo performances or group jams.

Joey and James on accordion at the Press Club
You know it’s a good jam night when not one but two accordionists show up.

Here are some excerpts from Martini Boys’ (a trusted reviewer of Accordion City drinkeries) review of The Press Club:

Credit co-owners Shawn Merritt and Natalie Robinson with recognizing a singular opportunity when it came their way and seizing it. They have graced the Dundas West Strip with a hidden gem that will soon be discovered especially since they’ve opened it up on a street that is still a local secret.

Having the opportunity to chat Shawn up it turns out that he did a stint as a columnist in Vietnam but makes it clear that PC isn’t some dry “book club”. His main intention was to eventually offer rare liquors that he’d import from Vietnam: snake flavoured booze, rare flower spiked liquids that one can’t find in your regular bar-around-town. The atmosphere, being more European bar than English pub makes it easy to sidle up next to your neighbour and actually have a conversation, as suggested by the large corner bench that pulls the whole place together.

“The Press Club”, being the newest addition to an area that isn’t yet sullied by overpriced drinks, obnoxious doormen and dress codes in effect will surely succeed in due time. It has just opened after all, the art work that the owners plan to display has yet to make it on the walls, the rare liquors that Sean intends to import have yet to make it across the border, but once the little wrinkles are ironed out, The Press Club will attract more of a Dorothy Parker type than, say, an “Alfie” type.

The jam night doesn’t really get going until about 9:30 or 10ish; I plan to show up avec accordion around then.

Joey and James on accordion at the Press Club
Jammin’ with James on accordion at the Press Club a couple of weeks ago.

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Uncategorized

”I Can Has Cheezburger?”, Featuring Cats and David Hasselhoff

If you like ”lolcats” — pictures of cats with humourous captions, often written in the bad grammar we imagine that cats have — you’ll love I Can Has Cheezburger?, a site that provides a daily dose of lolcats. Here’s one from today, featuring that strange English cat who makes a daily routine of riding the bus all by itself:

If you haven’t yet see the video in which David Hasselhoff is drunk on the floor eating a cheeseburger while his daughter asks him to lay off the booze, click here to watch the video and squirm. I normally don’t do celebrity gossip on this blog, but I consider this case a public service announcement: Live your life as an example to follow, not as a warning to others!

I’m with Treacher on this one (the world’s getting weird when I’m exchanging bons mots and greetings with Jim Treacher and Andrew Levy, two guys who blog on Fox News talking head Greg Gutfeld’s site): I choose to remember the happy times. For your Monday viewing pleasure, here’s the video of the Hoff’s cover of Hooked on a Feeling:

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Uncategorized

Do Not Taunt Happy Fun Boxer!

Do not taunt happy fun boxer.

(Images courtesy of Miss Fipi Lele.)

Categories
Accordion, Instrument of the Gods Music

Learn These Two Chords for Next Tuesday at the Press Club

If you plan to attend next Tuesday’s open mic night — a.k.a. “Geeks and Guitars” at the Press Club (850 Dundas Street West, between Manning and Euclid), you have an assignment.

Make sure you are familiar with these two chords, E and A:

Tablature for E and A chords.

Those two chords are all you need for a number of songs, including one I’d like to try: The Gourds’ version of Snoop Dogg’s Gin and Juice.