Victoria Summer 2001 Under the Sea with Brennan Storr · Monday July 25, 2011 by colin newell
Under the Sea We Off the Hook, or Why I Want to be a Hermit Crab
By Brennan Storr…
I have a pet theory, one that I dreamed up during moments of great reflection –usually while sitting on the toilet or waiting for traffic lights to change. My theory is that this world is the spiritual equivalent of a rock tumbler. The rough, jagged gemstones are new souls: immature, wild and unaware of the damage they do to others.
Through the love and hardship of a thousand lifetimes the rough edges are worn smooth and we emerge from the other end as wiser, kinder old souls – polished gems – and we make our exit. I haven’t gotten as far as figuring out where the stones come from or go to but if you’re looking for hints I always recommend the “Three B’s” – Bible/Bhagavad Gita/Battlefield Earth.
The reason I mention this is because I recently moved apartments and with the hassle involved in moving this middle-class circus from one fairground to another I have decided that in my next life I want to be a Hermit Crab.
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Victoria Summer 2011 Theater with the Blue Bridge Who's afraid of Virginia Woolfe · Friday July 15, 2011 by colin newell
As much as I enjoy a well written, filmed and acted movie – whether it be drama, comedy or action adventure, it never comes close to live theater – especially when it is great theater – like most of the productions that Victoria’s own Blue Bridge Repertory have been delivering.
Blue Bridge Repertory Theater, established in 2008 is led by veteran producer and director Brian Richmond. The founders of B.B. were convinced that the City of Victoria would support a professional theater offering its residents and visitors the opportunity to see world class productions of the great plays while offering early professional artists, many from UVic, the opportunity to work with some of Canada’s most respected directors and actors.
Andrea and I have been supporting Blue Bridge for the last couple of years. With this latest production, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe?, we feel they have simply outdone themselves.
The story revolves around associate professor George (played by the massively talented Andrew Wheeler) and his boozy and combative wife, Martha (played to breathtaking perfection by Meg Tilly) as they wind their way through an evening with a younger faculty member, Nick (in the role a dyed blond Alex Plouffe…) and his capricious and often bubble-headed wife, Honey, (again played to perfection by the skilled Celine Stubel).
“Who’s Afraid” is as much gut-wrenching drama, with impeccably timed witticism and repartee as it is a oddly comedic study on the nature of human romantic and sexual relationships… and their eventual and epic decay into sadness, loss and frustration.
And as much as I expected Meg Tilly, as Martha, to steal the “show”, that would be unfair to the rest of the ensemble cast – the truth is, Ms. Tilly puts everything on the line with her character. Martha is a gin soaked, bombastic whirlwind whose unrelenting cannonade of cyclonic verbal abuse leaves the average viewer, inexperienced with any form of domestic calamity, in a sensory coma. The literacy of the two characters, Martha and George, and their collaborative seduction and corruption of the two guests create a sense of team folly – that keeps us guessing as to their motives and their true feelings for each other.
“Who’s afraid” is a three act play with two 15 minute intermissions – and the intermissions are as as much an opportunity for the audience to grab some oxygen and ground themselves as they are for the cast to take a breather.
For the two of us, neither of whom have ever seen the movie (with Liz and Richard), I had no idea of what to expect. “Who’s Afraid” is a hurricane of journeyman acting and the key to balance is equal participation of all four members. It’s not for the faint of heart or those with delicate sensibilities. There is a visceral sexuality and open-wound emotional vulnerability that would, if not unchecked with the brilliant dialogue, lead to overload in short order. Most of us survived. The audience did dwindle after the end of the 2nd intermission – but that was more a product of the late start and the average age of the audience – many of whom were way passed bedtime.
Meg Tilly’s portrayal of Martha demands complete physicality, full-on, safety off, emotional release. Watching her from the 4th row of the “Mac” wind up and unleash a fury of frustration infused verbal abuse upon an all-to-eager to expiate and thoroughly pecked George… was exhausting – and the relief would come in the final moments of the final act with a completely unexpected and dazzling dénouement.
Andrea commented after the standing ovation – “How does one sleep after a performance like that – how does anyone have anything left to give?”
I have never seen anything like it in my life – like many people, I have witnessed some domestic fireworks in my childhood, most of which began and ended within seconds or minutes and did not involve any physical harm to anyone – But “Who’s afraid” takes you to a place you have never been before, a place you don’t want to be – and it’s only the artful skill of the thespians that allow you to witness the complete extreme of human pain and domestic discourse without completely being blown from the theater.
Meg and the cast of “Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolfe” were utterly brilliant and delivered “the goods” – their interpretation of timeless sexuality infidelity and complete sadness within the context of the drama was flawless. If you were lucky enough to get tickets to this show… Enjoy… and I use that term loosely.
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Victoria Summer 2011 About Victoria - Victory Chapter 3 · Saturday July 9, 2011 by colin newell
We spoke with Matthew Conrad of Victory Barbers yesterday prior to and during a much needed haircut.
Victory Barbers and hard goods for Men is the latest addition to the Atrium on Blanshard – also housing Habit Coffee and Culture, Cook Culture, AJ Organic, Zambri’s and PIG BBQ – a welcome addition indeed.
Photo at left – Matthew Conrad (and Victory Barber mascot “Belle”) holds down the fort at Victory Barbers – Victoria
Sensing the need for a male enclave, Matthew has built this around his own vision but also based on encouragement and recruitment from the likes of Shane Devereaux of Habit Coffee and the ever benevolent Jawl Properties – the owners of the building.
Matthew notes, “Victoria is saturated with Salons – the ladies are well represented in Victoria…” “The classic barber seemed to be near extinction, but the demand has never disappeared…”
In some ways, the craft of male grooming was on the decline in Victoria – but for the staff of Victory, all was not lost. Each of Victory’s skilled scissor wizards (including two lovely ladies) had training from a master barber. And it shows. You feel like you are there – in a modern day wild west version of the classic masculine enclave.
For Matthew and his crew, this joint is all about honest to goodness male grooming without the stigma or labeling of “metrosexuality” – simply, Victory Barbers is a man’s World… inside the confines of the salon. Outside, you are on your own.
My salon barber, Kim, circles skillfully with razor sharp shears taking my reasonable sparse pate to a more civilized place – a better place – a manly place.
I leave the chair and the salon with a rugged Bruce Willis (slight more hair) look. No nonsense.
Matthew concludes, “You might not want a straight razor and hot towel shave every day… but you might love one once a month… a treat. Guys need to indulge themselves occasionally…”
And I agree wholeheartedly.
Victory Barbers is open 6 days a week for walk ins or with a reservation.
Victoria Spring 2011 - Reading with Grant Lawrence at Bolen Books · Monday May 16, 2011 by colin newell
Andrea and I attended a book reading at Bolen Books, Hillside Mall in Victoria B.C. Canada – featuring Grant Lawrence, author of Adventures in Solitude, CBC host, former singer in a Rock and Roll band, outdoors man and self described raconteur…
(And) That latter talent, Grants reading and telling of stories, brought out to shine in one of the first Spring evenings where the Sun poked through a Venusian thick cloud cover that has not broken in what seems like months.
I picked up a copy of Grants book way back in the Fall of 2010 – just prior to a trip to Hawaii, shortly after it had been released… and was more than pleasantly surprised – and if you have not read my little review, it is over here
My wife, Andrea, describes Grant Lawrence as adorable (in much the same way as the staffer at Bolen Books introduced the author) – and got that extra kick when the “voice” was finally attached to the face and the energy within the book. We are big supporters of CBC radio and Grant’s engaging and quirky deliver is an almost instantly recognizable ingredient in today’s CBC radio product. In person, Grant is a natural story teller with a down to Earth folksy and self effacing tone – surprised as much by the success of his soft cover as he is with the engagement of the audience.
And the funny twist for me was the reality that I had read the book cover to cover twice before starting to “bed time” read it to my dear wife – whose response to its first few chapters was less than stellar. And let me clarify this – I often read stories while we are getting ready to fall asleep and the genre is generally action filled Science fiction or mystery… and for some reason, my reading of Grant Lawrence’s work was coming off as a little too poignant. Imagine that. I mean, Grant’s early years were most certainly angst ridden – by any measure. But my deliver was magnifying the sorrow beyond that which was a pleasant read.
So when Andrea heard Grant deliver a troublesome passage (The Pot Luck passage as I call it…) and when it was over, she turned to me and declared “We need to start reading Grant’s book again… but work on your delivery!”
Because as Grant reads it, it is adorable and sweet and yes, poignant.
Gotta work on that part of my style.
Anyway – if you haven’t got a copy of “Adventures in Solitude” – by Canadian author Grant Lawrence… get on it.
Colin Newell lives in Victoria, gets paid to write occasionally, gets rewarded for drinking coffee constantly – and whose opinions are often darker and stronger than the brewed beverage.
Victoria Spring 2011 - Canadian Gas Prices · Saturday May 14, 2011 by colin newell
I have spoken on this issue in the past – about gas price fixing in Canadian markets.
Which I am now preparing to reject. No, not preparing… It’s done.
Let me clarify: I do not believe that the markets are fixed in Canada.
For Gas. Or Coffee. Or Chocolate. Or anything for that matter.
And you’re wondering… “Who are you? Who took our Colin away?”
Here is the thing – 1st year University economics at work. We live in a free market system. That means that the markets set themselves. There are no wage and price controls at work in Canada or the U.S.
As a result, the market moves around to suit the vendors, the suppliers, the executives, shareholders etc. It is the system we have embraced.
And we vote for governments that support the open market agenda.
Actually, all the governments that are available to be elected are all for open markets – there are no socialist parties or active communist parties in Canada (or America). And the ones that are professing to be socialist are dreaming – or digging for votes.
We live in an open market society. Everything is up for grabs. Everything is for sale. And this includes petrol, oil, gas, coffee, water, pork bellies, all manner of food stuffs – anything that can be bought and solid for a profit.
Our governments negotiate and sign trade agreements with other countries that are not as developed as our own – that gives manufacturers the upper hand in maximizing profit for executives, owners, shareholders, etc. It is in the best interest of the free market system to get products made as cheaply as possible to get the most payback for the vested interests.
Gas is no different. The raw materials come out of the ground and are processed and distributed for profit. Yes, I know the raw materials are free – it comes out of the ground after all. But there needs to be an infrastructure for it to end up in your tank as high octane gasoline. That costs money.
And sure, oil companies like banks make obscene amounts of profit – so what. It is a free market system. Is this profit wrong? No. It is a free market system. We live in this system, support it and vote for governments that have a pro-business agenda.
We totally get what we pay for folks.
Coffee (a subject that I know a little bit about) is one of those highly traded commodities.
Imagine every coffee bean produced in a year – Got that picture? Good.
Well, that mountain of coffee changes hands anywhere from 50 to 100 times a year. And most of those folks that profit from coffee, big time, have never even seen a coffee bean or a coffee farmer. Is this wrong? Technically no – I mean, coffee brokers are not in the business of knowing how Juan Valdez is doing with his family in Nicaragua – or whether he and his family have education or health care. Brokers and traders are in the business of flipping product for profit.
Back to gas. Any government that says they are going to “look into high gas prices” are being utterly cynical. This has been happening in the U.S. lately. Obama has stated that high fuel prices need to be looked into. Additionally, one of the most stupid men in America, Donald Trump, uttered some shallow platitudes about taking Saudi by the short and curly and giving them what-for. Actually, considering that Trump is playing a joke on all of us with his Presidential run, he is actually being more honest than Obama.
When we consider that the fuel that goes into our cars comes from a finite supply, and that it is considerably more expensive in Europe – it is likely that the price in Canada and the U.S. is too low. I know, I hate paying $50 to fill my Honda Civic with this stuff – but I am not alone. And if I was in Holland it would be twice that much.
Summary: We live in a free market system where anything goes. Our new Conservative government in Canada plans on throwing Foreign ownership rules to the wind (which I strongly disagree with – but who am I.) Which means that more Canadian stuff is going to be on the vending block – which will increase the cost of living to average Canadian.
And as much as I would love to live in socialist utopia where I did not have to worry about food security, the integrity and safety of my water supply and the roof over my head… I am now ready to face the facts… that this is the society in which we live: A society where everything is for sale and speculation. It is what the majority of Canadian’s appear to want – so we get the results.
