Canuckle Hint, Today is the Perfect Game for you

Are you looking for a fun and entertaining way to learn about Canada? Then Canuckle Hint Today is the perfect game for you! Canuckle Hint Today is a word game that has a Canadian theme. Players must use their knowledge of Canadian culture, geography, and history to guess the correct answer. This fun and educational game is sure to provide hours of entertainment for all ages. To help you on your way, here is today's Canuckle Hint: There are ten provinces and three territories in Canada. Can you guess the correct answer?

Happy Canada Day fellow Canuckles!!

just got my first semantle in 25..... how did i not know about this before

The Further Education of a Rogue

The past six weeks have been a busy but fantastic leg on my journey as an actor. As well as volunteering for the One Yellow Rabbit High Performance Rodeo for most of January, I ushered for several other shows which also got me in to see them. “The Robber Bridegroom” with Jupiter Theatre - somehow there is something even more gruesome about the dismemberment and murder of a puppet on stage than the realistic killing and maiming found in horror movies. Very well done and a play that made you think about social attitudes to domestic violence. Then there was the very brilliant “Deathtrap” by Ira Levin with Vertigo Theatre that would make one scream with laughter one minute and scream with horror the next. Next was “Shakespeare in Love” with Morpheus Theatre which was wonderfully done and then there was “Boom X” written, directed and performed by the super talented Rick Miller for Theatre Calgary, which took us through the years of Generation X which is, of course, my generation. I also ushered for Neil Simon’s “Plaza Suite” for Simply Theatre, a classic play that I have never seen before. Again, very well done. I feel that watching as much live theatre as possible is incredibly valuable for anyone wanting to create within that medium. It inspires me for my acting and even for my future writing and directing. 

Ushering for Boom X, Theatre: Calgary.

On the big screen I saw “The Upside” with Kevin Hart, Bryan Cranston and Nicole Kidman, which was good, and on the small screen, I am still working my way through “Orange is the New Black” as well as “The Office” (US version). I also saw “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” starring Frances McDormand and Woody Harrelson, both favourite actors of mine. So good! I listened to several interviews with McDormand after watching that film as I wanted to learn more about her as an actor.  

At the beginning of January, I started a six-week Essentials of Film and TV course with Company of Rogues Actors’ Studio (corogues.com), taught by Joe-Norman Shaw. In 2004, after about a year in Alberta, I took Scene Study I and II with Rogues. It was around that time that I had started to think of acting as more than a hobby, and a passion that could be developed. Both courses, one of which was taught by Stacie Harrison, who still teaches at the studio and whom I spent a day on set with on “Jann” back in September, were a really good experience for me. In both these courses, the students were paired up and given scenes to work on over the duration of the course, which allowed us to delve more deeply into a scene than would normally be the case for a community theatre production. The first session was with an instructor called Natasha who no longer works at the studio, but I will never forget how she told my partner and I that watching our scene (from Caryl Churchill’s “Top Girls”) was like watching “Coronation Street” which was to me, a big compliment. It was one of my favourite shows at the time and I’ve just started watching it again after a hiatus of many years. During Stacie’s class, I brought in long stem wine glasses for use in our scene from “Women of Manhattan” by John Patrick Shanley. Another group asked to borrow them and both ended up breaking during that scene (which was a couple fighting). Note to self: never use favourite items as props – I broke a tray that a friend had brought to a play to use as a prop last year. It was her mother’s and I am pretty sure that that incident has not endeared me or community theatre in general to her mother!

Essentials of Film and TV was different in that it focused on the audition aspect in the film and television world, however we also did discuss working in the industry as well as acting in general. For the most part, each week we were given sides of a scene from a movie to work on with a partner for the next week and then would have a bit of time in class to work on the scene together before it was presented in front of the rest of the class and videoed with each partner acting as the reader for the other one. For one class we had to do cold reads and were given about 20 minutes to prepare and for the last class, it was set up like a real audition with sides provided just a couple of days ahead of time and audition times given. We could not prepare with a partner and none of us got to watch others audition. It certainly felt like a real audition to me despite knowing that it was the last class of a six-week course! I felt that I really improved my audition techniques over the course, even learning to use a chair or water bottle appropriately in the audition room (as that is all that there often is to help set the scene). We had been provided a handout for Uta Hagen’s Six Steps with questions to be answered for the character and the scene. I have started to use this for every character I get to portray in an audition including ones for my theatre monologues. It works. I had the opportunity to practice with two film auditions in January (one being a self-tape) and felt a lot more confident in how I presented myself in an audition. The best take-aways from the class (other than the experience and practice) were to enjoy the journey and to not worry about the outcome of auditions too much as at the end of the day it is about whether an actor’s essence fits the part – apparent when we watched several people do the same scene. All in all, the Rogues’ Essentials of Film and TV, as with any of the courses offered by the studio in general, is a safe place for an actor to develop skills and to practice their craft.

I had my first professional theatre audition with Vertigo Theatre at the end of January. I had submitted my résumé and headshot, but it was still quite a surprise to get an invite to their general auditions in my junk mail one afternoon! I had to prepare two contrasting monologues. The day of auditions, I had already taken the day off work to attend a volunteer orientation session with AARCS as a cat caregiver and chose to go riding prior to that in the morning. I recited my monologues as I drove in the car including reciting them backwards. I am glad I wasn’t at the office as at least riding and AARCS took my mind off what felt like impending doom. By the time I was getting ready to go I was turning into a bit of basket-case - I suddenly couldn’t stand my own company. I was afraid that I would dawdle and be late. I dropped my keys as I was heading out the door, fumbling to pick them up as I juggled my purse and water bottle. (Incidentally, it was the same the morning of the mock auditions for the Rogues class, adding to it, the fact that I dropped my change for parking when getting out of the car on that day!) I took the train downtown and headed to the audition venue, second-guessing myself on its exact location. I headed inside the building and up the elevator and then down the longest corridor ever or so it seemed. I was early and I noticed that the two people that had signed in ahead of me had been in “Spamalot” with me in the fall – a lot of people I know got auditions with Vertigo and Theatre Calgary this year. Soon enough it was my turn. After a brief chat with the panel of two it was time to do my monologues. The first one was Katherine’s speech from Shakespeare’s “Henry VIII”. I honestly don’t know what came out of my mouth for the first couple of lines. I told myself to get a grip and continue and I think I recovered ok. Hopefully it looked better than it felt! The second monologue was Rivka’s opening monologue from “In the Cards” by Caroline Russell-King. It went as well as it ever has. I was sat in a chair and crossed my legs for the most part, however when I uncrossed them, my right leg just shook and vibrated (why couldn’t it have done that when needed in last year’s “Wake in the West”?). After, I sat down for another chat with the audition panel who explained that once the season for next year was announced there would be auditions for specific shows and I could let them know if I was interested in auditioning for any of the roles and that they would let me know if they wanted to see me for anything as well. So it wasn’t so bad after all!

This past week, I took a three-day Stunt Combat Workshop with Adrian Young of AY Action Services. It was an intensive, but fun and rewarding three days. When I joined ACTRA last summer I was asked to fill out a form if I was interested in doing stunts, something I hadn’t really thought about before. This wouldn’t get me stunt work but it would add me to the list of people interested in pursuing the work – it is a hard segment of the industry to get into. The workshop sounded useful, appealing and boundary pushing and so I signed up. It did not disappoint. The first day was mostly unarmed fight choreography and I was able to utilize techniques I learnt many years ago during Tae Kwon Do and the workouts at Canuckles MMA (RIP Max Marin), though I have to get used to “cheating” my hits for camera rather than just almost making contact. I also learnt how to do sit falls as well as forward tumbles. It was an intensive day and I was exhausted by the time I got home, at which time I had a hot bath right away. The next day we added fake handguns to the mix and learnt disarming techniques. We started to put together some fight choreography which we would include in an action sequence for our demo reel to be shot the next day where would we would each get to be the hero. That day finished with wire pulls where the stunt person would be pulled back on a wire into a fall as they were “kicked” or “punched” back. I didn’t feel ready to try this technique myself and so I just watched (as a few of us did). The final day was super fun as we shot our action sequence. I felt that it was a good simulation of a day on set for an action film and I did truly feel like I was either in a video game or an action star. It was a fantastic workshop and once again a safe environment as each participant was able to just participate in the activities they were comfortable with, though there were plenty of opportunities to push personal physical boundaries.

Striking a pose at the Stunt Combat workshop with AY Action Services

We started rehearsals for Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Princess Ida” with Morpheus Theatre at the end of January and it is coming along, though still in its early stages. The show goes up in April. I also auditioned for “The Wedding Singer” this weekend with Front Row Centre. If I get into that show, it will be a very busy Spring for me that’s for sure! 

Happy #Canada Day, fellow #Canucks, here's a friggin #beaver with some digital fixinz... happy 150. to help you celebrate vicariously through other canuckles, a sticker of said confused beaver will be available soon. 🍁 🇨🇦✒️🎪🐻 #weirdshit #ink #comix #creatures #weirdmonsters #comix #monsters #sadmonsters #cartoons #weirdart #weirdoart  #monster  #horror #weird #lowbrow  #illustrations  #critters #popsurrealism #canadaday #mutants #beavers #inks #mouths #canada150   #eh #stickers #comix (at Canada)

Monday, Monday

It’s dreary out, I’m still working on my first cup of coffee, my head hurts, and I’m already caught up on my webcomics. Is this day over yet?

Just had to get that woe-is-me moment out of the way before moving on to bigger and better things. Everyone is entitled to groan a little bit on Monday mornings...

Alright, better things, better things...

Let’s talk Logan, the most recent, and final stand-alone Wolverine movie. 

Simply put, I loved it. The direction it was taken was almost, but not explicitly said to be an alternate take on the still-existing X-Men cinematic universe and that was a brilliant decision. Why does that matter? According to the director, it helped the story to not be strictly beholden to everything that we’ve seen happen in all the previous iterations. It’s been hard enough for the rest of the continuous movies to maintain a solid cohesiveness, so presenting the ultimate end of the main character would have been damn near impossible.

I have to admit one thing about the X-Men movies: I have always really, really, really hated that Wolverine was pushed so hard as the main character. They took a short, surly, broody bad-ass and made him a tall, bishi-looking leading man, putting all the rest of the characters on the sidelines. Yeah, I am definitely resurrecting the argument of comic Wolverine versus movie Wolverine. Is it really that big a deal? No. Did it help sell the movies to a broader audience? Yeah, probably. Did the core story elements of the comics get lost in translation? I definitely think so. Also, I think each successive film (except First Class) was simply an exercise in finding scenarios to show how awesome Wolverine was.

X-Men, in whichever comic book incarnation you prefer, has always been an ensemble cast. Sure, the Wolverine solo comics are inherently focusing on the title character, as the solo movies should, too. Although, it is still mind-boggling how both X-Men Origins: Wolverine and The Wolverine had THE ENTIRETY of their movies to give us some good Canuckle-head story-telling, and still failed miserably. (I guess Origins never had a solid script to start with and it just kept changing WHILE THEY WERE SHOOTING.)

So, why is Logan so good? Short answer: time. They have finally managed to give James Howlett the time required for the emotional investment in his struggles. They don’t hurry anything. There are not actually a TON of events that happen in the movie. Instead, there are a few moments that are given the time necessary to make you feel it. The pacing of the film is extraordinarily well done. There are quiet moments, and you even start to think that things might just turn out okay. While, not surprisingly, the rug does get pulled out from under you, it’s not done with just a big explosion that starts off another round of fights. In fact, explosions are something that there aren’t a lot of in this one. There’s no jumping off a speeding motorcycle into the windshield of a helicopter. They keep everything on the ground and push the story at the pace of real life.

Time is also the main enemy of the story and the primary conflict that the audience faces. We, the viewers, know this is the last Wolverine story (or at least Hugh Jackman-with-mutton chops story), so we have certain expectations. We “know” that the end of the story is the end of the character we’ve been watching for seventeen years, in whatever form his “end” takes. The ticking clock is constantly weighing down on the viewer as Logan struggles through the film, and yet, as long as the film is (two hours and change), it never feels long. I’d even say it feels short exactly because Logan is running out of time.

This is definitely a story that could absolutely not have been done without a decade-and-a-half of previous films. Going back and watching the first X-Men film will be incredibly emotional because we know where Logan and Charles wind up. I’ll be very interested to see where they take the next set of films, particularly without their leading men (both Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart have said they’re done with those roles, unless something big comes along for them, like Deadpool cameos or the never-gonna-happen inclusion in The Avengers). I’m certainly hoping that we’ll get a better ensemble feel like they’ve managed to produce in the last trilogy of films (First Class, DofP, and Apocalypse). Through all that, though, I have to say, they could not have handled the end of Logan any better than they did.