The Arrival by Shaun Tan

Beautiful imagery. Beautiful story.
The Arrival tells an important story of immigration that could apply to every one of us because the truth is we ALL came here from somewhere else.
And if you feel like you don't have time to read, that is OK, there are no words.

Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 7 Up—Tan captures the displacement and awe with which immigrants respond to their new surroundings in this wordless graphic novel. It depicts the journey of one man, threatened by dark shapes that cast shadows on his family's life, to a new country. The only writing is in an invented alphabet, which creates the sensation immigrants must feel when they encounter a strange new language and way of life. A wide variety of ethnicities is represented in Tan's hyper-realistic style, and the sense of warmth and caring for others, regardless of race, age, or background, is present on nearly every page. Young readers will be fascinated by the strange new world the artist creates, complete with floating elevators and unusual creatures, but may not realize the depth of meaning or understand what the man's journey symbolizes. More sophisticated readers, however, will grasp the sense of strangeness and find themselves participating in the man's experiences. They will linger over the details in the beautiful sepia pictures and will likely pick up the book to pore over it again and again.

—Alana Abbott, James Blackstone Memorial Library, Branford, CT

Buy it on Amazon

Coppelia

Went to a rehearsal a couple of weeks ago of George Balanchine's Coppelia at the Pacific Northwest Ballet. Coppelia is a lifelike doll that is so beautiful that one of the men in the village falls in love with her much to the chagrin of a jealous girlfriend. Everyone dances and it work out in the end that the two actually get together and Coppelia ends up as a pile of lifeless limbs. Great.

However the real comedy came because what we were seeing was a dress rehearsal. So periodically we were taken completely out of the performance by a voice from above asking the guest conductor, Nathan, to adjust the music. I am guessing that the person we heard was either the stager or the director or someone like that but her requests started off small but then seemed more worrisome as the rehearsal went on.

She first began with, "A bit slower please Nathan." Repeated several times in about 15 minute intervals.

Which turned into, "A bit faster please Nathan."

Then finally and hilariously, "OK. Now split the difference Nathan."

But the best rehearsal moment came when we were all taken inside the doll maker's shop and someone has flung back a curtain to reveal the tiny room where Coppelia is sitting. Apparently however the curtain was not flung back nearly as much as it should have been because a very round, bearded, and generally scruffy looking stage hand waddles out and opens the curtain the rest of the way. It was this that made me decide that I only wish to attend rehearsals when I go to the ballet.

The Thin Place

The Thin Place is described as the place where the human and the divine meet.

Intiman Theatre's production of the one man drama, The Thin Place, Gbenga Akinnagbe portrays multiple different characters recounting spiritual and religious experiences. The stories are based on interviews with actual people ranging from a local Buddhist meditation teacher, a gay South African Anglican priest, and a survivor of the 2006 shootings at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.

They all describe their history with their different faiths and are tied together by the main character, Isaac, who channels each character when he has seizures. Gbenga Akinnagbe, who was once a part of the HBO series The Wire, described the challenges of a one man show in a post performance discussion forum. He described one of the female roles being the most difficult to get a hold of as an actor.

Despite pretty awful reviews from critics, everyone who stayed for the discussion, had nothing but wonderful things to say of the writer, actor, and the piece as a whole. The set was beautiful in its simplicity and appeared as a dock that extended away from the audience divided by three transparent fiber frames that made the lighting look ethereal. I was really touched by the subject matter (religion, faith, and loss) but in retrospect decided that these were topics that are somewhat overdone. The actor's portrayal of seizures left me unconvinced and removed. They were used as transitions between characters but seemed unnecessary and almost comical.

I think that the performance should be seen by all, if only to weigh in on the discussion.

The Seattle Times is not a fan.

RoboPop!

And the award for coolest idea for a birthday party goes to... Jenny Haight for her role in planning and executing Josh Windsor's Washington Ensemble Theatre birthday celebration!
Much thanks to both of them for making the theater exclusive to birthday guests and free of charge to all.
RoboPop! is the latest display of the Washington Ensemble Theatre's total awesomeness. You may remember me mentioning them before as the people that brought to Seattle a story of Sex, Death, and Meat in Hunter Gatherers. RoboPop! is a star crossed love story of the future and features music to jam to and glorious robotic dance moves.
The story begins by pointing out some obvious differences between humans and robots in a future where everyone seemingly gets along fine until order is disrupted and a war begins. The humans seek revenge after a robot dog kills one of their own and all are recruited to serve the queen who is larger than life and dons a dress made of teddy bears.
Hannah Victoria Franklin gives a Blade Runner-esq performance as the cold and beloved Teddy Bear Dress Queen who seems to be running out of time. And Libby Matthews is great as The Girl who must go against her own kind, mankind, for the sake of true love.
There are many highlights to this particular performance but I think my favorite came when the star robot had to be brought back to life and he (or she?) and The Girl were captured in a moment soundtracked by Spiritualized's Ladies and Gentlemen (see Playlist to the right).
For a production that had no verbal dialogue the themes of robot love and differences overcome shone through.
I won't ruin the end of the story but I will say that the ultimate conclusion was a Stripping Teddy Bear Dance Party Fight.
Happy Birthday Josh!
I love you Washington Ensemble Theatre!

Bronson: Britain's Most Violent Prisoner

You know how people say that love will hit you as soon as you stop looking for it?

I could not agree more. I had given up all hope. Resigned myself to the sad fact that I would never again feel that special feeling. I had even asked around and attempted to be matched in order to find that certain connection. But nothing seemed to do it for me.
I mean I was seeing everyone from Oscar winners and nominees to indies and still I felt nothing.
Until now. My love came to me in the form of a twist on a true life story of Britain's most notorious prisoner, Charles Bronson. Renamed by his bare knuckle boxing manager, after the very famous star of the Death Wish movies, Charley Bronson is a total loon. The film had been sitting at the top of my Netflix for a few months now and only because I knew that it starred Tom Hardy.
* Sigh * Tom Hardy, whom I first fell in love with as Heathcliff in a Masterpiece Theater version of Wuthering Heights (also known as the most depressing and sadly relate-able story ever told). Then discovered that he had gone unnoticed by me in two movies that I have seen multiple times and basically adore, L4yer Cake and Rock n Rolla. He also has a brief and confusing role in a movie called Scenes of a Sexual Nature, which despite the title, is really only meh.
But in BRONSON, he is a God. I later read that he visited 'the queen's most expensive prisoner' when preparing for the role. And what a role it is. The man has been in prison for most of his adult life, 35 years. 30 of those years has been spent in solitary. And basically it seems as though he is just completely off the reservation.
In the film, psychosis and caveman-like qualities reign supreme. Not to mention, Hardy has added about 35 lbs of pure muscle to his build. And oh so British. So very British. Wonderful and British in that special 'I don't give a fuck' kind of British way.
Director Nicholas Winding Refn picks the perfect music and has impeccable timing. As a visual person, I even greatly appreciated the strange dedication to Bronson's prison drawings.
If you like Guy Ritchie movies, ultraviolence in the form of bare knuckle boxing, bad ass Brits, cool as shit music, or full frontal male nudity, you will like this movie. Really if you just like one of the aforementioned traits you should see it. But if you like them all then you will fall in love the way that I have.

Bronson = my kind of chick flick.

Article about Nicholas Winding Refn's newest movie Valhalla Rising

Black Women Conquer the West

Last night the Northwest African American Museum (less than a mile from my apt.) hosted a Central District Forum for Arts and Ideas panel discussion examining the roles that Black women had in conquering and pioneering the West. This was the final panel of the season in their American Heritage Series.
The panel was moderated by Dr. Stephanie E. Smallwood who received her PhD in American History from Duke University (home to the 2010 NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament Champions :) and included Associate Professor and author Dr. Lynn M. Hudson, writer and researcher Esther Hall Mumford, and principal of Browns Point Elementary School in Tacoma Patricia Moncure Thomas.
The discussion began with a short performance by The Hansberry Project of Pearl Cleage's Flyin' West, introduced with a reading by my former Persuasive Communication professor, Vivian Phillips. It was a portrayal of two Black women homesteaders and a conversation that involved dreams of land ownership and equality. Such a great and touching way to start an important conversation like the one that followed.
The discussion was all about the history of the West and the way that regardless of their importance, Black women tend to be left out of it.
As someone who is not Black or from the West I was amazed when this topic really hit home for me. Especially when Patricia Thomas talked about the work that she had done on her genealogy project and the importance of recording the stories of your own family and knowing your ancestry. Patricia has created a book of Moncure (her family name) stories and is her family's historian.
Another fascinating topic of the evening was that of stories and speculations surrounding 19th Century female entrepreneur of African descent Mary Ellen Pleasant also known as Mammy Pleasant. She worked on the Underground Railroad and was considered to be the Mother of Human Rights in California. Panelist Dr. Lynn M. Hudson is author of the book The Making of Mammy Pleasant. Very fascinating stuff!
Last night's panel discussion was not only a history lesson but a life lesson.
And today I begin taking a closer look at my own family's genealogy project.

Great Waves, Winners of Sound Off! 2010

Candysound

SEACATS


On a night where basement bands emerge as real life musicians, Great Waves takes the lead. At the final round of Experience Music Project's Sound Off! 2010 Candy Sound (1st Round Winners), Hooves and Beak (2nd round), Great Waves (3rd round) and SEACATS (Wild Card Winners) competed for the grand prize of all of this great stuff:


- Performance at Bumbershoot 2010
- Live on-air performance on 1077 The End's Locals Only
- 2 days of studio time (including space use and engineer) at Orbit Audio
- Production of one song by producer Glenn Lorbecki of Glenn Sound Studio - KORG equipment - Epiphone gear
- Industry consultation from the Recording Academy
- One song featured for sale in Rock Band through the Rock Band Network, the new suite of tools allowing bands to plug their original songs into the Rock Band game

The finalist round took place on a stage in EMP's Sky Church where just the night before HEART performed to a sold out audience. I arrived to work at the Sound Board booth with friend and classmate Roxy to which I pointed at Great Waves on the list of performers and said, "If this band does not win, the Earth will certainly spin off of its axis." Fortunately that did not occur. The winners fell in this order:

4th: SEACATS
3rd: Candy Sound
2nd: Hooves and Beak
1st: Great Waves

Every one of the kids were completely amazing and the experience as a whole was one to remember and be inspired by. I cannot wait to see Great Waves at Bumbershoot!