Skripper Time

Hugh Jackman's One Man Show: Wolverine, I Love You.

Colin Firth, we have a problem.  I've just returned from Hugh Jackman's one man show at The Princess of Wales Theatre, and I think he has just ousted you from my #1 slot in my Fave Five. 

Honestly, I can't say that I have enjoyed a show more in the last few years.  That man has more talent in his pinky (especially when said pinky is being wagged in very enthusiastic 'jazz hands') than most people in Hollywood have in their entire botoxed and buffed bodies.  The show was spectacular - he charmed the audience with stories, interspersed with show tunes, singing, dancing and gushes of handsomeness.

The songs ranged from pop songs to a whole medley from "The Man From Oz"  - completely in Peter Allen fabulousness, sequined shirt tied neatly around Wolverine abs (Hugh won a Tony for that role), to a whole tribute to musicals (Singing in the Rain, Sing Sing Sing. etc).  He also did a lovely tribute at the end to the Aboriginal people of Australia, narrated by Olive Knight, a leader in Aboriginal politics and causes in Australia. Complete with a backup orchestra and two foxy female singers, he owned the stage - prowling around it with energy, joy and absolute abandon.

And that's really what I love about Hugh Jackman - whether hosting the Oscars, the Tonys, or slicing and dicing as Wolverine, you really, truly get the sense that he loves what he does.  And he does everything with gusto and heart and pours himself into it.  He told a story about how his main philosophy is to "have a go" at things.  So far so good Hugh!

Did I mention that I was in the 4th row?  And that meant when he came into the audience, I could basically have flung myself into his arms?  It was only for the sake of the show that I remained in my seat - it was so entertaining, even my passion for him couldn't stop it.  I seriously considered chucking my bra at him, but as most breast feeding mothers know, spontaneously removing your bra in public is never a good idea.

There was a moment, yes a MOMENT, that Hugh was singing right to me.  Stared right in my eyes, grinned and belted it out.  Swoon.

My friend Oprah told me that Hugh Jackman is one of the nicest celebrities that she ever met, and I don't doubt it for a second.  Rock on Wolverine!  Have you seen the number he did with Neil Patrick Harris at this year's Tony Awards?  See below - fantastic!

 

How to start a Monday morning right...Thanks Michael Buble!

Many thanks to @judy_sims for sending this through on Monday morning to make my day.  I have had a mild crush on Michael Buble since he kissed me (TWICE - how could he resist, really?) and this just made me smile.  Well done Mr. Buble - and props to you Sam!

 

10 Great Things About Summer

Okay.  It's been a while since I have posted - time has been flying by...weeks turned into months and suddenly I'm rounding August.  I sat on the couch today and started thinking about all the great things that I've done, seen, experienced and had enter the realm of Skripper during the past summer weeks.  So, here goes with my summery top 10 list:

1. Sugarland: Yeah, I'm a little bit country. I went to see Sugarland at the Molson Amphitheatre.  It was a raucous, joyful, belt-it-out kinda show that left me wanting more.  Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush so clearly, openly and obviously love their job and their music that they nailed the entire show.  Didn't hurt that they had a kick-ass set.  Rock on country singers!
   
   
    
   
2. Emilie Jane:  My sweet little god daughter arrived in the world and jumped in my heart.  I will enjoy spending as much time as I can with her before she travels back to Sri Lanka.  Doesn't hurt that her mother and cutest of big brothers are also around for me to enjoy.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Muskoka: Let's hear it for cottage country, docks, warm summer days, ice-cold drinks and reading books lying with one hand shading the sun from your eyes.  Oh, and don't forget encountering deer and wild turkeys on your morning run.
   
   
4. Eclipse: Vampires and werewolves.  I hate to love 'em, I love to hate 'em.  Seriously though, is there any better entertainment than sitting, eating buttery popcorn while watching the Velveeta cheesy teen angst that is Twilight drip across the theatre screen?  Ok, maybe a Sugarland concert - but there's a time and place for everything.



5. TMN and HBO Canada:  Thank-you for saving my summer television viewing.  Thank-you for Nurse Jackie and that great build to the season finale, and thanks for bringing the Entourage boys back. ARI - how I've missed you.
   
   
   
6. My Garden:  I love my garden.  This year it's a bit jungle-ish, but it brightens my day every morning and every evening.  Worth the effort every year.
   
   
   
7. Mitsubishi City Chase:  Team "The Sally Drapers" chased and were victorious.  Oddly enough, we finished far ahead of many of the teams who were running through the city.  We chose to meander and use our very intelligent brains to shave time off our events.  Highlights from this year - watching Sarah pour a shot into a glass that was balanced on her head, and doing an obstacle course in the 30 degree sunshine, only to learn that we had to do it TWICE.  Le merde. 
   
   
   
8. Air conditioning: Sorry David Suzuki...it had to be done.



9. My guy:  He likes me, I like him.  'Nuff said.



10. Everything that's yet to come:  Hey - there's still bits of July, all of August and some of September to go.  Sky's the limit:  a cottage rental with friends and family, couple of pool parties, ice-cream cones, front porch conversations, and some biking to work, along with some running for good measure.

Here's to you Summer of 2010 - so far so good.  Looking forward to seeing what you've got in store for the rest. 

LOST Season 6 Promos: 21 more sleeps!

Seriously cannot STAND IT that we are so close to the premiere of the end of LOST.  See below for a compilation of all the ABC promos.  I went back and looked at my LOST adventure again so that I can relive my ecstasy of 9 hours of living the dream.

Get ready people - JJ will NOT disappoint.  Matthewfoxcharliesalingerjackshepard I have missed you!

Seven Movies in Seven Days: The Wrap Up

Another fabulous holiday movie-fest complete (well, almost complete:  I have my eye on a movie today if I cam motivate myself to get out of my pajamas and off the couch).  The good news:  I enjoyed every single movie.  The bad news: I have to go back to work in 3 more sleeps.  Let's not think about that.

Instead of a full review of each, in the spirit of brevity and ADD, I've decided to summarize my review of each movie into one sentence.  And so we begin, in order of viewing:

1. Alvin and the Chipmunks - The Squeakquel: My two little friends wanted to see it, and their parents owe me BIG TIME.
2. Sherlock Holmes:  Good flick with dark action and humour, would be helpful if Robert Downey Jr. learned to enunciate a little more and mumble less.
3. Avatar: A brilliant spectacle in film-making and creativity, worth seeing on the big screen - the story has some gaps, but the visuals make up for it.
4. A Single Man: Colin Firth, I love you please please marry me.  Ok, fine, the review:  Beautifully scripted, shot and edited story of a man's struggle with the depths of grief and the loss of a great love.
5. An Education: Carey Mulligan shines in this well-woven tale of young love, seduction and the struggle of a young woman to find her path in a pre-defined world - there's some great fashion and a brilliantly blank performance from Rosamund Pike.
6. The Blind Side: A predictable, but still very enjoyable feel-good story filled with some laughs, some crying (ok, just my friend Kate, who bawled throughout the whole movie) and a really strong performance from Sandra Bullock.
7. The Young Victoria: Love, deception, folly and a tiny tiny waist on Emily Blunt - a very good historical movie with a modern feel and a very engaging cast. (as a side note, I had the BEST popcorn of my life during this movie.  Incredible. Thank-you Varsity).

And as I mentioned above, there are still 3 more days until I am chained to my desk - and I'm always game for a movie...any takers?

UPDATE: #8: It's Complicated: Funny - Alec Baldwin is spot on in a variation on Jack Donaghy and Meryl Streep shines (as always) in this very funny romcom.  Recommended.

Priorities, Popcorn and Robert Downey Jr.

A very important Skripper Holiday Tradition:  movies over the holidays (one per day if I can manage it).  I've got a list ready to go - and it includes a movie from both RDJ and Colin Firth (thank-you baby Jesus!).  That and a couple buckets of popcorn and I'm calling it Christmas.

I'm throwing in the Iron Man 2 trailer, because well, it just looks AWESOME.

Invictus Movie Review: Clint Eastwood, Mandela, Morgan & Matt

 "Reconciliation starts here."

Tonight I had the pleasure (courtesy of my friends at Warner Brother Canada) to get a sneak peek at Invictus, the latest Clint Eastwood movie starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, that opens in theatres December 11th.  

Based on John Carlin’s 2008 book “Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Changed a Nation,’’ it presents the true and compelling story of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, when the newly elected Nelson Mandela stood at the helm of a fractured country. Mandela, faced with a post-apartheid world of mistrust, confusion and hatred, latches onto the lagging South African Rugby team, and leveraging the power of sport, looks to the team to provide a catalyst for change, playing into the notion of "one team, one country".

Mandela (Freedman) taps Francois Pienaar (Damon), captain of the South African rugby team, the Springboks, to lead the slightly down-trodden team to win the World Cup (which is being played in South Africa) .  The story of how the rugby team attempts to do that is a slight sidebar to the overall theme of the challenge that South Africa faced in the early days of Mandela's administration.  FInancially, economically and politically challenged, the country and its people were, at the time, flirting on the edge of chaos.  "Invictus" is a short poem by the English poet William Ernest Henley, that Mandela had scribed on a scrap of paper during his imprisonment on Robben Island.  Invictus means 'unconquered' in Latin - and served as an inspiration to Mandela during his darker days.

One of the opening shots of the movie focuses on 2 groups of children playing soccer across the street from each other.  On one side, the Afrikaaner school, big brawny white boys toss the rugby ball back and forth in full school uniform on a perfectly manicured field, while across the road, skinny, tatttered black children kick around a soccer ball in a cloud of dust.  Mandela, recently released from jail, drives by to the utter delight of the black children who scream his name with faces pressed up against the fence, while on the other side, the Afrikaaners stand silently by.  Overly dramatic?  Perhaps - but I don't think so.  What I can tell you is that when I was teaching in Namibia in 1996, I took my volleyball team, which practiced daily in the dusty fields of the rural schoolyard, into the main capital of Windhoek where we were matched against (and got completely creamed by) a team of all-white kids, complete with shiny new uniforms and  polished gymnasium floors.  The social, racial and economic divide was very, very real at that time.

The movie does a good job of telling the story - although a a couple of times it does drag just a tiny bit.  Eastwood presents the narrative in a very understated way, and waits until half-way through the film to rely on a couple of slightly sappy pop songs to dictate mood and emotion.  As you might imagine, there's a climactic game that the entire film builds up to - but it's worth the wait. Freedman is quite good as Mandela, and Damon, with his platinum blond hair and Boer accent does a nice job as the South African captain.  You see hints into the toll of Mandela's commitment to his country - episodes of failing health, a broken relationship with his daughter - but mostly you see how adroitly he was able to express his vision, lead people towards positive change and empower the team around him.

All in all, I enjoyed it and would recommend it as good night out.  What is really did for me was remind me of my absolute awe, respect and admiration for the man that is Nelson Mandela.  His ability to lead, forgive and inspire a nation to do the same was (and still is) unbelievable.  Imagine spending over 27 years in prison, then emerging with a sense of forgiveness towards your captors, intact with a vision of uniting a country that was on the brink of a civil war.  One of my greatest disappointments is that Robben Island opened up to the public 3 months after I left Southern Africa, and it is on my list of must-visit places.  The last two lines of Henley' poem speak volumes about Mandela's approach to life:   I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.  Words to live by.

Review: This Is It - Michael Jackson's Last Show

I loved Michael Jackson when I was younger - and I shared my passion for all things MJ with my cousin.  When we were in grade 8 we traveled (alone!) to see Michael and the Brothers Jackson's Victory tour at the CNE.  We screamed our heads off for 3 hours straight, then dreamed of how we would marry Michael (and his brother Randy - we took turns with who got MJ) when we got older. She was the first person I called when I found out that MJ had died. 

So it was perfect that today, she and I went to see "This Is It",  the movie that chronicles the last few months of MJ's life as he was preparing for his "This Is It" tour in London. From the casting of the dancers (all of whom expressed ardent fervour for the man with the sequined glove) to the fine-tuning of the band arrangements, MJ had (appeared to have?) say in all decisions. Some say that it's evidence of his perfectionism and his artistry - and I don't necessarily disagree.

Watching him work, there's no denying he was talented.  And the sheer magnitude of the spectacle he and his team were building was amazing - the sets, the special effects, the dancing and the music were astounding.  Early in the movie, there's a scene from a press conference where MJ announces to a throng of screaming fans that he'll be playing "all the songs that my fans want to hear".  And from the rehearsal footage - which is in spots grainy and cobbled together - he would have delivered on that promise and then some.

I did walk away wondering how much of the real MJ had been edited out - given the man was not eating, most likely on drugs and emotionally unstable - there must have been moments captured that were unflattering.  I can't blame the filmmakers for the scrub - it's a homage to him, not a reminder of his flaws.  Long time collaborator, Kenny Ortega (who was the tour's director, as well as the director of the movie) clearly knew how to handle MJ - through out the movie he talks to MJ in very measured, deliberate calming tones - almost as if he were speaking to a child.  It was just one of the hints that Michael needed special handling.

And then there's the man himself.  Granted, he's not giving it his all during the rehearsals -  - and nor should he have been.  His appearance remained a distraction through out the movie - his elfin nose, pale white skin and variety of wigs were hard to get past.  Yet when he gets going in the film - you see glimpses of what the concert might have been.  MJ had brilliant dance moves, an incredible sense of timing and presence and a true performer's instinct. Throughout the movie, he tosses out a number of one-liners to the people around him, never really engaging in conversation, but still providing feedback.  "You have to let it simmer" he tells one of his band members, followed up by a stern "I want it to sound like what people heard on the album"  Often he was sub-titled because you couldn't hear or understand what he was saying.  And there were a lot of "It's all for the love" when talking about his music and the performance overall.

Probably the most poignant point in the movie for me was when the Jackson 5 set appeared and the music for "I Want You Back" filled the stage.  Images of the young Michael Jackson - bright eyed, healthy, full of energy and big smiles contrasted with the thin, slightly freakish, yet still enormously talented man on the stage.  How he went from there to here is a million stories long.  At the end of the day - the music speaks for itself.  The man is silent now - and while this movie captures his last days, it doesn't give much insight into MJ himself.  It does however showcase his musical brilliance and his artistry, which is after all, his legacy.

Friday Night Lights Season 4 Promos *SIGH*

Here they are - the season 4 promos for one of my favourite shows, Friday Night Lights.  It's bittersweet because season 4 is only being carried by DIRECTV in the US right now - NBC is picking it up in 2010 (which is NOT SOON ENOUGH).  Watch my friends...watch and weep along with me for our lack of Dillon Panther love this fall.  If you haven't been watching - now is the time to get Season 1-3 and get CAUGHT UP! 

And if you have DIRECTV, feel free to invite me over for a permanent FNL date Thursdays at 9pm at your house.  Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose!

LOST-gasm: LOST locations in Oahu.

Check out the full photoset on Facebook.

Lost-gasm alert. I spent 8 hours today touring the absolutely STUNNING island of Oahu tracking down the many many film locations of my TV obsession LOST.  We were on the road with Ed Kos Hummer LOST adventures except in our case, the Hummer was a Nissan Quest.  Irrelevant! 

We started out early and did the whole perimeter of the island.  Key highlights:  Survivor Beach (complete with Sawyer's tent), Plane Crash Beach and The Other's Barracks.  We also visited several countries (Iraq -  where Sayid was in prison, Nigeria - where Mr. Eko grew up and Thailand - where Jack got an ass-kicking on the beach and then got his cryptic tattoo). Oh, and the waterfall where Sawyer dove and got the Marshal's briefcase and where Jack/Hurley/Kate landed the second time around.  And the spot where the plane fell down and smushed Boone. And and and...!

I would say we saw over 30 different locations in all - brain explosion! So ridiculously cool to stand on the same beach where Oceanic 815 crashed, or look inside Sawyer's tent.   Yes, I am a geek.  Yes, I am proud of it.

We spent 8 hours dissecting LOST theories, reviewing plot-lines and trying to figure out things until our brain hurt and we stopped.  Aaron, our tour guide, brought photos of the scenes that were on the locations we visited, and we took photos of photos to remember what was what.  I threw out all semblance of normalcy and geeked out everywhere.  Some key things to note - a freshly dug grave on Survivor beach (to bury Locke perhaps?) and the destroyed lights and trashed playground at the Dharma compound.  Stay tuned for season 6...how many more sleeps?

Oahu is, simply, one of the most beautiful places on earth.  Every beach, every mountain range is a wonder, filled with lush green, brilliant blues and the whitest sand I've ever seen.  Tie that into the TV show that I love, and you have one very happy Skripper. 

I cannot tell a lie - thanks to @hawaii we actually knew where LOST was filming earlier in the week (turned out to be Sawyer and Locke --- or Jacob/Locke?) but we decided that given our limited time on the island we would rather spend the whole day touring the locations (with the hopes of a sighting) than standing on a street corner for 8 hours for a small glimpse of the cast.  Some would argue it was the wrong decision - but I can live with it.  Now, we still have 2 more days...and if I got another alert...who knows.  Namaste!