Juggling Mike

My favourite festival in Montreal will soon be upon us once more for their 2009 edition! Thats right; the Fantasia Film Festival! While we only got a glimpse of the movies to appear at Fantasia, I am already counting the minutes left until the opening day. The website will be fully updated on Friday, as will the guide be sold. This Friday, there will also be an opening party, an event which I will do my best to attend. Afterward begins the intense trailer-watching and list-making in preperation for the month of July. This list gets compared with my friends, adjusted in consequence, and then posted here to entice everybody else to join me. As in the previous years, there will be a link near the top which will point you directly to my list. You can expect a lot more posts this month as the festival plays out.

To whet your appetite, check out this trailer of Robogeisha, one of the zanier films you can expect from Fantasia. This one falls in the crazy gorefest category which does not take itself seriously. Note that there are a lot of serious movies at Fantasia, and not everything is as goofy as this. Still, Fantasia would not be the same without a couple of movies of this genre. If you’ve seen Machine Girl or Tokyo Gore Police, you know what to expect!

UPDATE: I just realized that Robogeisha is NOT on the press release list that Fantasia sent out. Turns out it is getting released in Japan in 2010. We’ll find out Friday if it will actually be screened at the Festival or not. (Somehow, I doubt it) Nonetheless, it feels a lot like other movies I have seen at Fantasia, and the Geisha Transform makes me laugh every time I see it. Fried Shrimp!

Only 10800 minutes left…

- Juggling Mike

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The Cirque du Soleil celebrated their 25th anniversary on Tuesday. The founder of Cirque, Guy Laliberté, is now worth around 2 buillion dollars, so I dare say the last 25 years have been good to him. He`ll be the first Canadian tourist to visit space in September 2009; something that he can probably easily afford. While he’ll be soaring high over our heads, we’ll continue in letting ourselves getting immersed in the world he’s created. I recently talked avbout their newest show “Ovo”, but I also recently saw “KÀ” and “O” in Las Vegas, so I will give a brief review on each of those as well.

Las Vegas is host to six shows by the Cirque du Soleil. While I would have loved to have seen all of them, they are quite expensive, so we settled on two. The first we saw was “O”, which is done inside, around, and over a huge pool. The name “O” is a play on words since it sounds like “eau”, which is French for water. The show has a very distinct Victorian style to it, but with a perhaps more macabre tone. The pool itself was very impressive since the floor would rise (you couldn`t notice it as it caused no ripples in the water as it rose and descended) and suddenly you had people running on top of the water. The show overall felt less like a circus show (at least compared to Kooza and Ovo) and more like a variety show. While this normally would have been a disappointment, the show in itself was amazing and the stage was incredible. It really makes a difference when your show is permanently located at one place and a stage is built accordingly. There is no way “O” could travel to other cities. It is glued to Las Vegas, and as such, I highly recommend that if you visit the city, that you go see this show. It is not your typical circus show, and it is guaranteed to impress!

The other show we saw was “KÀ”. The setting this time was feudal Asia, and while there is no water, this is another show that benefits from having its own stage. Using the largest hydraulics I have ever seen, the stage rises from below, can rotate 360 degrees horizontally and incline up to 90 degrees vertically. The stage also has light receptors in which it can show certain visual effects depending where the actors are. This was used really well in a certain scene in which the stage is raised fully vertically, and then actors would shoot fake arrows from the aisles. Whenever an arrow “hit”, a physical spike would come out of the stage, and the stage would react accordingly making it look like a cloud of dust just appeared. It really looked like an arrow had been shot at the stage. In this scene, one character was trying to escape the enemy and he would climb the arrows in the wall. They were not attached and if they fell, they would really fall off the stage into the void below (where I presume was set up with mats for their safety). There were also other stages used that could move back and forth around the stage area. The stage area was huge and technically, this show was amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it. Content-wise, it feels a lot more like a theatrical play than a circus show, and it has a lot deeper story than any other show. Personally, I was hoping for some more martial arts, but overall I greatly enjoyed it. Dharti left disappointed, but we had just been spoiled by Ovo and “O”, that she was expecting something along the same vein. KÀ is another show which I heartily recommend if you are visiting Las Vegas.

If you only have time (or money) for one show, I would say go see “O”, but you can`t go wrong with either. Just don`t expect your typical circus show and let your imagination enjoy the ride.

- Juggling Mike

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I fell sick with a fever this weekend, which lasted a couple of days. Now I feel better, but my nose is all messed up. Everything smells the same, although at various degrees of intensity. Fruits smell rotten. Tomatoes, particularly ketchup, makes me gag. I don’t want to even think about vinegar. There is nothing wrong with the food, but my brain is not reacting properly. I washed all my clothes and sheets yesterday, yet instead of that fresh clean scent, it smells the same as all the food.

Of course, since my sense of smell is out of whack, my tastebuds are all screwed up as well. I can only eat bland foods, or else I feel like throwing up. French fries are fine, but if I add ketchup, I just want to hurl. I bought regular chips, but they taste twice as salty. It is really annoying since I love food, and after 3 days with a fever, I have almost nothing in my system. I AM HUNGRY! I just want to devour some tasty nutritious food, but with my senses all screwed up, I can’t do it. I’ll probably end up buying rice cakes at lunch (the regular, bland flavour) and hoping it’ll be enough to sustain me until my nose clears up.

I last had this when I was a kid, probably around 15 years old. It went away, but I don’t remember how long it took. I really hope it clears up soon…

- Juggling Mike

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The Cirque du Soleil has had many shows over the year. While the origins of the show comes from Montreal, I have never really went to see any of them. It was not until 2 years ago when I decided to go check out Kooza. Naturally, I was blown away and I felt rather stupid for missing out on all the previous shows.

Since Kooza, Cirque returned to Montreal with the arena version of their touring show Saltimbanco, but I decided against seeing it. It was not until late 2008 that my interest was sparked once more with the announcement of their new show to celebrate their 25th anniversary. At the time, the show had no name, and we were given no details. That didn’t stop me from buying seats, and come May, the time had come for me and Dharti to go to the circus.

Ovo is the name they chose for their newest show. It takes place in a land of bugs, where grasshoppers, ladybugs, spiders, and other insects live. A mosquito arrives carrying a large egg, and on his arrival, he is tricked, and his egg is stolen. Thus begins his adventure on finding the egg, and at the same time winning the heart of a local bumblee bee. It sounds weird, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. The show’s pace was very similar to Kooza, in which it felt like act after act with a thin plot carrying each act forward. I didn’t mind, as some of the acts were incredible, and the storyline played by the clowns was pretty funny. The music was awesome, and had a very joyous theme to it. I really want the soundtrack.

While many of the acts were incredible, the most impressive act (in my opinion) was the guy on the slackline. While slacklining is quite common in the Montreal parks, this guy took the cake. His final stunt was slacklining while standing upside-down on a giraffe unicycle. Just process that for an instant, and remember that a slackline, unlike a tightrope, will move left and right as you balance yourself. Another act that I quite enjoyed were the men that would trapeze from either side, flip in the air, and land on top of other people situated on a center platform.

Part of my enjoyment of any Cirque show is the stage, which is very modular. What seemed like a normal stage at first, evolved into something much larger than expected. By the end, the small center stage had become longer with hidden trampolines, and culminated into a rock climbing wall with more trampolines!

Overall, Ovo was pure joy, and the only bad point I can mention was “the man with no neck and a giant head” that sat directly in front of me. Still, even with my view obstructed, I had a blast, and I was even more excited for my next Cirque du Soleil show. I left for Las Vegas the day afterwards, where I got to experience two more shows, each more varied than the last. I will elaborate on these in future posts.

Ovo plays in Montreal until July 19th, so if you live in the area, go check it out!!

- Juggling Mike

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Finally, here is my last batch of pictures from Vegas. Just like downtown vegas, the Strip offers so many beautiful night shot possibilities. I only wish I had a tripod with me to properly stabalize my pictures. Nonetheless, I did manage to capture some pretty nice shots. The three of the Paris hotel are probably my favourite. I am a bit saddened that I did not get any good shots of the Luxor, as it is very interesting to see at night; especially from the plane!

The Mirage Volcano
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- Juggling Mike

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While the Vegas Strip is quite a sight in itself, there is another interesting area at the very end on Freemont Street. There are no crazy high hotels, but you get to see a little slice of history with the ca$inos from “old Vegas”. These were the gambling halls that have been taking people’s money for over 50 years. The Golden Nugget was built in 1946, and although it has been revamped for modern day, it still retains some of the charm from back then.

The street is now closed to traffic and offers the Freemont Street Experience on a nightly basis. They installed a curved roof all across the street which is composed completely of LEDs. They also have powerful speakers hanging at every couple of metres. At night, they use the screen to display animations and play music from the speakers. Luckily, this only occurs once an hour, but it is quite impressive to behold. While I’m a technology nerd and fascinated by the technology, I prefer the street when the roof was off and the neons and bulbs illuminated the street.

There isn’t anything very intersting in these pictures, but as a fan of night photography, I had a blast grabbing these shots.

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- Juggling Mike

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While Las Vegas is a big city, the tourists pretty much all stay on The Strip. This is the large street which contains all the hotels and ca$inos. At one end of the strip, you arrive downtown to Freemont street (where the old strip used to be), and at the other you have the open road and airport. The street is pretty long, and luckily they have a bus that travels from one end to the other at any time of the day.

We only went outside the “tourist zone” to score an Indian restaurant and to visit the Pinball Hall of Fame! Imagine a room with 200 pinball machines. I spent more money there than I did in the gambling halls. I love pinball, and although it is a bit out of the way, I’d recommend others to check it out as well. Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures of the place, but I do have some random pictures to share of the Strip.

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- Juggling Mike

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While on vacation, we rented a car to escape the flash of Vegas and to travel somewhere more serene. Our destination? The Grand Canyon! I was not very interested in the landmark before the trip, but Dharti really wanted to see it, so we added it to the top of our list. It took us five hours to get there, but luckily the Nissan Sentra we rented offered a smooth ride. The fact that Nevada and Arizona have great roads helped as well (especially compared to the roads in Quebec).

We arrived at the Grand Canyon National Park right after noon, and we drove the last couple of miles towards the rim with much anticipation. When I first behold the canyon in person, well.. I simply could not believe my eyes. Pictures do not do it justice… it truly is a sight to behold. We spent around 4 hours walking around the rim, and then headed back to our hotel. Although we spent more than double the time in the car getting to and fro, our short time at the canyon was well worth it. Next time, I would try to get a room there and spend the night.

Here are a couple of pictures that I snapped. Once more, pictures do not do it justice… you really have to see it in person to appreciate its beauty!

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- Juggling Mike

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Last week I had a small vacation in the United States. It was my second time entering the states, but it was my first time not nearly being killed on multiple occasions by huge hulking animals. Although we were in elk territory, and we saw a deer by the road, I managed to get home safe and sound without any vehicular damage. Where did I go? Las Vegas baby!

We stayed at the Palazzo hotel, and when we weren’t amazed by O and KÀ, we were out exploring and picture taking. We spent one day at the Grand Canyon, and let me tell you, the 5 hour drive out is totally worth it. (That was where I was sure the wildlife would get their revenge on me)

I have some pictures to share, which I will split across a couple of posts soon.

- Juggling Mike

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My favourite browser just turned 15!
Check out their innovations over the years.

Happy Birthday Opera!!

- Juggling Mike

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