Sunday I received an unexpected message from my father inviting me to join him at Neptune Theatre to see the Billy Elliot musical because his partner wasn’t able to make it. I didn’t know what to expect as I hadn’t seen the film, but was pleasantly surprised. Any singing of “solidarity forever” will bring a tear to my eye, so i was in. The prop work was impressive, with lots of pieces on the small stage; the Thatcher puppet was great. Casting was wonderful, with stellar performances from all.
I’ve been playing around with Niantic’s new game Peridot. It’s more Neopets than Pokémon, but there’s some real promise here. I don’t know if it will stick for me as a daily play like Pokémon Go and Pikmin Bloom did, but I’m having fun with it so far.
Viz Manga is a new manga subscription service that offers a ton of comics for $2 USD/month. Keeping the price reasonable like this is a model for getting this content to a wider audience.
On the topic of affordable comic subscriptions, I have to also mention Penlab, which brings komiks from the Philippines to readers with a similar model at ₱149 PHP.
I’ve been enjoying Dracula Daily giving me bits of the novel most days. Today’s entry has Mina practicing using a typewriter and inquiring about “a tall, handsome, curly-haired man???”
Tings Chak’s Where the Concrete Desert Blooms is a wonderful comic exploring the city of Hamilton, Ontario through lenses of activism, history and personal experiences. I loved it when I first read it years ago and rereading it tonight was rewarding.
I haven’t been able to find it easily online, but it is worth seeking out. I’m happy to have a PDF copy always available.
This painting, on a huge canvas, hung on the wall of a house I shared with a bunch of rad folks for years. I don’t think we ever confirmed who the artist was, but it was a joy to have around.
Chelsea McBride’s Socialist Night School is a fantastic jazz orchestra and their performance in Halifax 5 years ago was my favourite live performance of the past decade.
“Revolution Blues” is a standout from their Aftermath album.
One of Chelsea McBride’s other projects is The Koopa Troop, which does fantastic covers of video game soundtracks, like this one from Chrono Trigger and a second from Zelda.
