Tag: Canada

Don’t Get Shrek’ed with the Musical, A Review

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

shrekmusicalShrek the Musical debuted to audiences in Seattle in 2008, and after it moved to Broadway, it played there for three years. In 2009, a show was recorded for video release, but it was delayed until now. Released on Amazon.com Sept 17 as a digital download and on Oct 15 to disk, this show showcases the talent known as Brian d’Arcy James (Shrek), Sutton Foster (Fiona), Christopher Sieber (Farquaad) and Daniel Breaker (Donkey). Amazingly, this musical production improves upon the source and the video release is a must-see for how it adds to DreamWork’s now retired product.

The Blu-ray release offers a behind the scenes construction of the musical, and both releases include a songbook for fans to sing along to. If this release can help Shrek return for some direct-to-video piece, fans can rejoice!

Continue reading “Don’t Get Shrek’ed with the Musical, A Review”

Great Places To Shop: Aberdeen Centre in Richmond

Here in Aberdeen Centre. they have Beard Papa’s, Frappé Bliss, Leung Kee Cantonese Food (my favourite), Ajijiman (Ed’s Favourite) and more!

Aberdeen

Aberdeen Centre
4400 Hazelbridge Way
Richmond, British Columbia
Canada

James Shaw: Ed had this cybernetic glint in his eye. He wanted a new gaming keyboard from NCIX but to me it’s just a keyboard.

You should see how old my computer is. But Ed is the type who likes to keep in touch with new technology. He wrote articles about current and future tech trends for Nexus Newspaper when he was in college, JTM Games currently, and he occasionally contributes to a host of other nerdy websites. But my interest was piqued when he brought me to this fabulous Asian indoor mall in Richmond called Aberdeen Centre.

Ed Sum: Well, let’s simply call James an Aberdeen virgin. He’s never been here before so everything he saw was new to him. I’ve been far and wide; I’ve visited Metrotown in Burnaby, West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, and the “Death Star” of all shopping meccas, The Cube, in Kyoto.

Continue reading “Great Places To Shop: Aberdeen Centre in Richmond”

Even the Dead Have Rhythm

There’s a very funny commercial that aired recently and it’s promoting the Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival. The film festival takes place in Vancouver, British Columbia between the dates of October 25 – 27, 2013. It presents every year a collection of recent feature, short, documentary and animated films from the South Asian family of nations: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan and the Maldives.

The commercial is influenced by Michael Jackson’s 1983 Thriller music video directed by John Landis.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGW_NtaatBE&w=560&h=315]

Starring: Arvind Johal, Arsha Tahir, Kaitlyn Adair and Daniel Joseph.

Director: Raj Aheer
Assistant Director: Daniel Joseph
Video Producer: Raj Aheer
Audio Producer: Score Sound
Written by: Daniel Joseph and Raj Aheer
Executive Producers: Daniel Joseph and Raj Aheer

Source(s): YouTube account visaff filmfest

[Victoria, BC] Gotta what? Gottacon Changes Venues & Dates!

Without the fans support to help Gottacon grow and now these developer’s support, this broad spectrum convention would not have evolved to what it is now, a tour de force of the local geek culture scene.

gc2014logowebfinalPractically five years in the making, Gottacon is making the leap to become a fully realized convention for gamers and the general public alike. This event will now take place at the Victoria Conference Center, running from February 28th to March 2. Nothing has been said for those leap years—does it mean four days of fun than three in 2016? When considering the rate this show is growing, that is possible. Certain conventions in the States have grown from two days to four because of their popularity.

This event is for the gamer in us all. Whether that be with board games like CLUE, role-playing in the fantastic realms of Dungeons and Dragons, card games like Magic the Gathering, miniature battles with Game Workshop’s Warhammer or video games à la Starcraft, this show has it all. This news is particularly exciting for the local gaming community and this author has seen this event grow from its humble beginnings (behind the scenes and in front of) by simply catering to the dedicated gamer crowd than to make it a side-show attraction.

Continue reading “[Victoria, BC] Gotta what? Gottacon Changes Venues & Dates!”

Fresh Out of John Cleese

John Cleese rushed through some of his material so that’s why some bits were not as good.

cleese3James Shaw: John Cleese is a living legend but don’t worry, he’ll be dead soon. He assured audiences that.

Ed Sum: And when tickets to his Victoria shows sold out fast, I have to wonder when his Last Time to See Me Before I Die tour will get resurrected.

There’s plenty of good years left for Cleese to create more fabulous work. He is a very colourful comedian. But for whomever that person was who wrote up the marketing for this show, they left one huge plot hole which left some audiences asking questions about later.

There was no Q&A that was supposed to happen after the show. I can’t fault Cleese for wanting to leave early, especially when he’s now in his 70’s, but something was amiss.

JS: He is a legend in this business not only as a great comic actor but also as a great writer. Some of the funniest material was written at least partly by Cleese. Many of my personal favourites include the British TV series At Last the 1948 Show, Doctor at Large, The Two Ronnies, Fawlty Towers and the feature film A Fish Called Wanda. At this stage of his career, John Cleese has enough credits to his name to host a two-hour retrospective of his life. And what a treat it is to sit through. Although at least some of this material you will find similar if you were in the audience of his 2011 Alimony tour, those on this side of the pond will be mostly unfamiliar with it.

Continue reading “Fresh Out of John Cleese”

[Victoria, BC] Fan Favourites is Perfect with Retro Gamers in Mind

Retro video gamers will be a go-go for Fan Favourites, a new video games and movie store located in Millie’s Lane in Victoria, BC, Canada!

Fan Favourites is Family Run!

760 Yates St.
Victoria, B.C.
(250) 590-1202

Retro video gamers will be a go-go for Fan Favourites, a new video games and movie store located in Millie’s Lane in Victoria. That’s an alleyway located beside the Odeon Theatre, where a “second nerd row” may well be developing in this garden city. This store is tucked between Chef’s Quest, a D&D themed diner, and Dragon Impact, a Martial Art Equipment & Supply store.

Continue reading “[Victoria, BC] Fan Favourites is Perfect with Retro Gamers in Mind”