I had an amazing time shooting our new comedy web series Sherlock@Home, about a former cop now stay at home dad who solves neighbourhood mysteries. We were blessed with an amazing cast and crew. Special shout outs go to producer Elena Lombardi and director Jaime Escallon of LuloFilms who made it all happen.
I can’t wait to share the actual show with everyone. Stay tuned.
I like Whitney. I really do. I bet they’d like me if we met. I went to their latest concert in Toronto and thoroughly enjoyed their solid, albeit slight, output. By now you may be waiting for the ‘but’ so here it is: But I’m not sure why they released Light Upon The Lake: The Demos a mere year after dropping said debut. Was it to show how very similar their final product is to the original demos? Was it to show how the final polished album is better, with a cleaner sound, sweeter vocals and a more driving feel to it? Or was it to show that there isn’t a whole lot of back catalogue material for them to draw upon?
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I just saw Chris Rock in concert. It was a great night with some very funny pointed stuff. While I’m a fan of Rock’s, I can’t speak definitely on the history of his material though one routine about keeping your daughter off the pole being the mark of a good father is a great bit about parenting delivered in a very funny, obscene way. I found some of his material (particularly about men v. women and relationships) rehashed and, since his bitter divorce and custody battle, more therapeutic ranting than comedy. But the audience generally lapped it up.
He had this new bit about bullies though that I keep thinking about. Essentially he has put his daughters into private school and when he went to the orientation he heard how the school was proud of its no tolerance of bullies policy. His response was nearly to pull his daughters out of school – they needed bullies to make them tough and ready for the real world where bullies even get elected president. I get it. It was a joke. And kinda funny. But it got me thinking, which is the mark of a good comedy show in my book.
I was really looking forward to seeing what Son Little would do with his new album. His first full length self-titled release established him as someone looking to rework the blues and R&B canon in a new way (or to travel some forgotten byways). That album was spectral, spooky, and a little freaky. It called to mind Screaming Jay Hawkins or Andre Williams. It really grew on me. So, I was looking forward to how he would push things forward on this new outing. Initially, however, [MORE]
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| Syndrome almost falls prey to that classic villain weakness – Monologuing – a critical weakness of fathers, as well. |
There are many reasons to watch The Incredibles – not the least among them the hilarious and doomed Syndrome. Syndrome almost falls for that old hero trick – monologuing. You’re familiar with it, I’m sure: the villain has the hero right where he wants him – tied to a log in a lumber mill, suspended over a pool of mutated electric eels, or his private parts coated with honey and him staked out on a bulldog anthill in Australia etc. – but the hero plays on the vanity, insecurity or grievances of the villain to get him to start talking at length. Meanwhile, the hero extricates himself or waits until rescued by his sidekick.
Kindly check out my latest album review in Quip Magazine:
“Beast Epic”, the latest by Iron & Wine, is a smooth summer listen
Recently I have been asked why I haven’t posted on Pop Culture in such a long time. There are lots of reasons, lack of time being the consistently underlying one. As a father of three boys, scrambling to pick up work, often working three different jobs and – with various home and community responsibilities on top of attempting to bootstrap creative projects of my own – I have no time. But that’s a lie. [MORE]
March Break has ended and so I finally have the place to myself (well, except for my sister’s dog we’re looking after while she goes off for a week of skiing in Whistler with her husband – sigh).
Yes, SIGH.
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Pop Culture: (The Game of) LIFE
My producing partners and I recently received Cogeco development funding for my SciFi comedy webseries, Women Are From Mars. We are currently applying to the IPF for production funding and the more views of our trailer we receive the greater our likelihood of getting funding.
Please check out our short trailer here, laugh and share: