Alas I may not be Richard Yearwood's 'lover', but I do love that this man has no issues with hugging, kissing or telling me he loves me. The feeling is mutual and one of the many reasons I love to both work and play with this man.

These are not simply the ramblings of a gal that is single on Valentine’s Day.  I actually generally prefer my single Valentines, as more people tell me they love me and I am never met with disappointment.  Plus Fuzzywiggle Furrypants Roo makes the best damn Valentine’s cat that there ever was.  She gives even more kisses and hugs than I do (and I’m pretty liberal with mine).

No, this is a philosophy instilled in me thanks to my parents.  And thanks to them, it is the reason that I know where I stand with my family, close friends and many of the people who I work with (who I consider to be family and close friends) ~ they love me and I love them (Hell, at  Ahimsa that seems to be one of the long term prerequisites ~ do they have talent and do we love them ~ necessary after all, when we do long hours, all over the World).  And as I get older and have sadly started to lose some of the people in my life that I love, it is for this reason that I always know the last thing that I said to them ~ I  love you! (and despite saying these words often, every day of my life, they are not hollow words).

And with that, I send all you lovely readers some hugs …

With smooches to Ian MacLatchy for posting this video on our producer, Erica’s, facebook wall, where I spotted it.

Love and Kisses,

Emme xoxo

Lately I watched one of Disney’s newer movies, “Tangled”. It’s based on the fairy tale Rapunzel, but with a few added twists. I must say I was very surprised by how hooked I was after just a few minutes of watching it. Even though I knew how it would end, I still wanted to figure out how Rapunzel would get away from the evil old lady who claimed to be her mother.  (Watch it if you have not yet already done so. Trust me, you will like it a lot).

One of my favourite Disney movies, Tangled. Photo courtesy of Josh Hallet

I always enjoy movies that have a moral behind their story. Yes, Tangled‘s target audience is probably kids; however, Disney seems to have the power to attract people from every age group. I guess it is probably due to the alluring effect of fantasy. I am not ashamed to admit that I want to live in a utopian world with everything being perfect. I would fight for the dream of the world where everyone is treated with respect, where goodness triumphs, and most importantly, where everyone gets a happily ever after — or at least, I would get in line to see a world like that on the big screen Of course, real life is…well…leaves something to be desired, which is probably why fantasies and fairy tales are as popular as they are.  That’s why I was shocked after watching Tangled to read a post about how Disney has stated that Tangled will be its last fairy tale movie for a while.

Take a minute to absorb that. Disney, is taking an indefinite hiatus from making fairy tale movies.

If you’re like me, titles like Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty were in and out of your VCR throughout your childhood. Why would Disney choose to break their 73-year tradition now? Could it be that girls no longer hope to be princesses or have a lovely marriage? Although it seems to be the trend that girls just want to look like Hollywood stars and measure their attractiveness accordingly, it does not mean that the values that we are promoting in the society are right. Also, it does not mean that no girl wants to be treated like a princess, or to find true love and live happily forever.

Love in Disney. Photo by Matthew Thorn.

I love the fact that the princesses in the movies will end up finding their loved one after going through a series of difficult times. Call me naïve, but I believe that somewhere out there, there is the right guy or girl for everyone. My prince probably will not come to rescue me on his white horse (or car, perhaps), but I think that no matter what, he will fight off and slay the dragon in order to win my heart. I don’t mean that he’ll gallop across a burning bridge to do it, but he won’t hesitate to put effort into being with me — and thereby proof his love. I know many of you will probably get jealous, but that is what my boyfriend has done. He has driven two hours back and forth from Seattle to Vancouver every two weeks just to spend the weekend with me. Although this is nothing compared to some long distance relationships, it does make me feel like I am his princess who he values very much.

Anyway, my point is that I am very sad to hear this “no more fairy tales” announcement. It just breaks my heart to know that Disney, my childhood companion, will just abandon the fairy tales that made me an imaginative girl, thanks to the magic they’ve brought to so many kids.

Magical moment at Disney. photo by Knowsphotos

Disney movies give us hope to know that if we try to achieve our dreams, one day we can, like Rapunzel, get out of that tall tower and have some the fulfillment we crave. Dear Disney, please don’t stop making fairy tales. We need your magic to make this world a better place with the spellbinding effects you have on our generations.

And that’s just what they’ll do …”

Photographer: Liz Kearsley

It’s been a long time and many hints in coming, but I am pleased to finally introduce Roamancing in Alpha …

… the site ~ http://roamancing.com

… on twitter ~ http://twitter.com/roamancing

… facebook ~ http://facebook.com/roamancing

… youtube ~ http://youtube.com/roamancing

Just the beginning of what promises to be many a tale of shenanigans and debauchery from the likes of Brie Mason, Sir Von Ritter, Clippernolan, Hummingbird604, Thu Nguyen, Katrina Ham, Alyzee Lakhani, Richard Yearwood, Kelly Lui, Summer, myself and many more whose identies we are keeping undercover just for now.

Smooches from the road,

Emme xoxo

Listening to these lyrics broke my heart, as they are exactly how Dad feels about Mom.  He will forever be falling in love with her again.  Love you Dad!

Now if only I could stumble upon the man that love me like Dad loves Mom.

Kisses,

Emme xoxo

PS Imelda May is live this Saturday at the 2011 Burnaby Blues and Roots Festival.

Thanks Aziz!

If two totally different mammals can find a way to communicate peacefully with love, then why can’t we when it comes to bridging the gap between languages and cultural difference.  Seems we humans could learn a thing or two from these dolphins and this cat.

At 36, I gotta say that love is more important than work, and I say that after just having spent my entire Sunday working (and not on purpose).  I do love my work, but would happily put the love of my life first.  Guessing that at the end of the day that person would support me having both.

My two cents worth.

Emme xoxo

… and I say that as a gal whose kisses today came from a loving little Fuzzywiggle Furrypants Roo and blown from family members across the country.  May not have a ‘plus one’ in my world, but I do have a huge amount of love. Reminded everyday of that.

Valentines love and kisses,

Emme xoxo

Situated in the basement of a church, I really wasn’t sure what to expect, although there was a certain familiarity to the situation, having been dropped off for summer camps in the performing arts by my grandfather in another church based theatre.  Amazing how similar scents and decor can take you back to the perspective and mind of a ten-year-old in about 10-seconds flat. The actual theatre was not what I expected though.  I’d never seen anything quite like it.  The picture doesn’t quite do it justice, but how cool is this:

Such a cool theatre - stage in center with the seats on opposite sides.

The play in question is Playland by Athol Fugard, an encounter between a black and a white man at an amusement park as Apartheid was coming to an end. I happened to be in South Africa around that time, and just as I wasn’t quite sure what to make of South Africa at the time, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of this play at first.  It’s a thinker.

The actors – Michael Kopsa and Tom Pickett – were absolutely excellent.  They had tough and meaty roles full of emotion and heavy in dialogue and they played them beautifully and with such strength and conviction.  Similarly, the set dec was impressive. Drew Facey should be commended on the thought and creativity that was put into this.

Photo by Ron Reed. Pictured L-R Michael Kopsa, Tom Pickett.

What had me befuddled was the story. The ending is beautiful and touching, but the earlier part of the play is weighty in religious convictions.  I wasn’t quite sure what to make of this, especially as I found myself agreeing with Gideon, whom we were meant to hate.  Enough already on the “thou shall not …” and the going to Hell.  First off I don’t believe in Hell and second off, we are so hypocritical and omnipotent on the “thou shall nots …”.  I mean who here amoung us has never killed a mosquito (who I might add is a mother, as it is the female mosquito that sucks blood, as she needs it for her young) or killed a moth that was munching away on your clothes.  Hypocritical!  You’re not sorry about killing that mosquito and yes, it is another living thing.  Yet, the ending of the play was so beautiful and shared such a positive message, whether your religious or not.  Which left me mulling over this all week and hence my delay on this review.

Photo by Ron Reed. Pictured: Tom Pickett.

This is a good thing though.  So often, we shy away from dealing with complex issues that are filled with a lot of grey and really make us question our moral compasses.  And as I was thinking of this this week, it made me more open to interesting conversations, one of which I had with an absolutely beautiful man of the clergy. As an East Indian Man of the Anglican faith, he was much more well versed in others religions and believes and respectful of the beauty and messages in all religions, not just his own. He shared with me that he cringed at manys “thou shall not …” approach to religion, life and being.  What he embraced was love and that is how he approaches all that he does in life.  I watched him for awhile.  There was a twinkle in his eye and his smile lit up all those around him. Beautiful!  And I do believe this was the underlying message at the end of the play (for me, anyhow).

So don’t be afraid to think.  It’s sexy, you know.  You can still catch Playland at the Pacific Theatre. It is on now until November 27th, 2010.

I have a story to tell – and it’s not just any story. It’s a story about a major moment of glory. The fact that I consider this a glorious moment is, I suppose, a testament to my eccentricity. My moment of glory could easily have been another, more balanced person’s moment of abject mortification. Also, as I can’t see any of you, myriad readers, I will have to trust that the glaze over your eyes isn’t sufficiently viscous to prevent you reading.

Firstly, I suppose it has to be established that I’m a bit creepy/fangirlstalkerish about certain musicians. These include The Weakerthans, The Decemberists, The Mountain Goats, Hey Rosetta!, and…Dan Mangan. I have been lucky enough to see every one of my mild (wild?) obsessions live, most recently The Mountain Goats just last night at The Rickshaw, a show which one of my friends described as the closest to a religious experience he’d ever been. In other words: I’ve been to some fantastic concerts. None of them, however, can quite match Dan Mangan’s show at The Vogue in Vancouver BC, on May 8th 2010.

Photo: Christine McAvoy

It was the third time I’d seen Dan live, the first having been at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival in the summer of 2009, where, after chancing upon him performing with a group of other musicians, I made sure to be there every time he was playing, the whole weekend. I then bought his first album and EP, waited with baited breath for his second album, and have lived and breathed Nice, Nice, Very Nice ever since. Needless to say, I was a little bit excited about Dan’s sold-out show at The Vogue. My group of Dan-loving friends that managed to get tickets got there early, and we set up camp in the third row. From the first note of “Sold,” we were absolutely enraptured.

Being the slightly-creepy-fangirl-stalker that I am, I had read some reviews of Dan’s other shows from his nation-wide tour. Many of them mentioned a magical moment during “The Indie Queens Are Waiting,” which is a duet between Dan and the fantastic Veda Hille, when, in the absence of a female vocalist on the stage, the girls in the audience took up Veda’s part. This being a hometown show for Dan, combined with the obvious rapt attention of the audience, led me to believe that the same magical moment would organically occur when Dan played “Indie Queens” at The Vogue. However, and this was an interesting, perhaps even revelatory moment for me – moments have to start somewhere, or in this case, with someone.

The moment of truth arrived: Dan’s wonderful ten-piece(!) band left the stage, leaving him alone with all 1150 audience members. He began playing the quietly mournful “The Indie Queens Are Waiting,” and, the first time that Veda Hille would have sung alone, there was a conspicuous, and total, silence. I swear Dan looked a little surprised, and, with a wry smile, he said, “I couldn’t find Veda Hille, to sing those parts. I don’t know where she went.” Honestly, what’s a girl to do? The next time Veda’s part came around, I was sure that everyone would sing along. So, right on cue, I belted out, “Are we cool now?”

ALONE.

And I was LOUD.

Photo: Christine McAvoy

Dan looked over, straight at the area that I was sitting, and, despite my heart beating about seventeen times its normal rate, I kept singing. This was one of those marvelous moments that teeter on the edge of complete humiliation and endless glory. The girls in the section around me joined in on the “aaaaahhs,” and Dan said, “Perfect pitch!” and “I don’t even need a band!” Each time the group of us sang the next bit of Hille’s part, the rest of the audience laughed, but I swear it was a joyful (not mocking!) laughter. (Really. Someone filmed this and it’s on Youtube, so I’ve had time to assess it whilst my heart is beating closer to a healthy pace.)

Oh, alright…

One of the many reasons that I think the show was so fantastic was the aura of love and support that simply radiated from the audience toward Dan. When they laughed along with us Indie Queens that knew every note of Veda Hille’s harmonies, I knew I wasn’t alone in being proud that Dan is a Vancouverite, and a humble, charming, incredibly talented one at that. The entire concert was a moment of affirmation that I came close to finding in the Olympics, but never truly did until Dan Mangan took the stage, smiled, and began to sing. By the time he played “Robots,” the entire plaid-clad audience was on its feet, singing along, buoyed by the joy of being in a crowd that, for once, wanted only to sing “Robots need love too!” and bask in an atmosphere of what I can only call complicit, reciprocal…well, love.

“Tina’s Glorious Comeback”-level-glorious? Definitely.

Photo: Christine McAvoy

This week’s word:  Mom

Mom: This is not a word that we felines use, except with the feline that conceived us, washed us and fed us, in those first few days of life.  My two-legger refers to herself as my Mom, which leads me to believe that Moms are the creatures that feed us and respond to our every whim.  I refer to my two-legger as my servant, so maybe Moms are that, only I get a feeling that there is something more. Really hate to admit it, for fear that it will get my two-legger to big for her bridges, but I do believe that something more is Love.

‘My two-legger is somewhat of an exceptional Mom, as she acts as a wonderful heating blanket every night (only someone should really tell her that to be a blanket, she shouldn’t move), she cuts me up the succulent green little tree-like things, and she’s always there for a hug when I need one.’

My 'Mom' in all of cuddliness. Someone just needs to tell the silly two-legger next to her to move on. Those are my hugs.

~FFR