aster

OH MY GOD!! a movie about sylvia plath! starring stick insect! (ok fine, gwyneth paltrow.) i can't wait! however, because i have visualized all the pivotal events of her life in my mind's eye, this could either be gratifying or just disappointing. i will probably watch it with a derisive, know-it-all air. "it didn't happen like that!" etc.

there is also a new ronnie burkett play, Provenance. i've been hooked on burkett's manic one-man marionette shows since Awful Manors. his best work must be Tinka's New Dress, set in the world of illegal cabarets in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. i'm always amazed at burkett's skill at creating and handling these puppets, as well as the excellent timing and voice acting required to convey such a range of personalities and emotions. you really have to see him working multiple characters at once to believe it...it really makes your head spin. the stories are often excellent as well, full of decadence, cynicism, and bitterness, but humor and redemption, too. i know i've cried at a burkett show, and not just because i'm a big sap who cries at anything, even sad TV commercials.

and the last, but surely the most important, thing...my friend sheri's zine, That's What I Call Hits, is now online for your viewing pleasure! she's living in new york now, and i bet no one there gets the edmonton connection.