AAAaaaahhh, this whole ‘working for a living’ thing is poorly named, I say, because that shit is killing me.   Working in a restaurant in Xmas season can be moider, I’m tellin’ ya.  Especially with a day schedule, that essentially means it’s dark when you arrive at work, AND dark when you finish.  I haven’t seen the sun wince Thursday!  It’s making me all gloomy and depressionable.  But the Foofarah stops for no man (and only three women, none of whom have objected so far, so…), and I’m sure there’s SOMEthing I could talk about that I could, if the wine holds out, I can tell myself somebody actually gives a shit about.

FIRST AND LAST CHANCE TO SEE:  This week sees the second and final week of the god-damned superb MARCEL PURSUED BY THE HOUNDS from Chamber Theatre, at the legendary Carleton Tavern.  Wednesday through Saturday, check it out!   And starting up, we got a whole slew of action…GCTC and Company of Fools team up for A MIDWINTERS DREAM TALE, and the Ottawa Little Theatre premieres I HATE HAMLET, both starting on the 29th for good long runs.  For good SHORT runs, there’s Sock ‘n Buskin’s THIS IS OUR YOUTH, TotoToo’s HIS GRACE (I think…it’s no longer mentioned on their website, so maybe’s it’s gone away until another day..?), and SAUCE BRUNE at La Nouvelle Scene.  Still plenty to see and do this week, kids, so get on out there.

Oh, and apparently there’s some sort of CAPITAL CRITICS CIRCLE award ceremony happening right now at the OLT…good on them, and congrats to all the nominess and winners.  For my money, they’re all winners…shame the CCC seems to have missed the two best productions of the year, tho.  More on that in a month or so.

Also, a big shoutout to Dead Unicorn Ink and their sold-out remount of their Fringe killer PLAYING DEAD this past week.  It sounds like it was a grand success, and I had a hoot seeing the show again in a more proper venue.  The tech especially ran WAY smoother, the zombies were as cool as ever, and I can’t wait to see what they have cooking for the 2012 Ottawa Fringe.  By the by, the O-Fringe just had their lottery for the 2012 edition, and if you wanna see the companies that made it in (of course you do), check it out on their website HERE.

Sigh.  I was gonna write other stuff, like some comix blather, but I just can’t can’t muster the will.  Maybe a little something from Buffybot’s playlist will liven me up:

…yeah, okay, that’s better.  But I still don’t want to laden the chud down with too much comic talk…Jim Lee’s design skills SUCK, can I just say that?  Everyone in the Justice League looks like they shop at the Gap now.  It’s stoopid.  So there.

DIGI60:  There’s omething positive!  This Saturday, I’ll be heading out to Centrepointe theatre to watch on e batch of the entries in this year’s Digi60 film competition.  Specifically, the batch with Ken Godmere’s short film bur in it, featuring himself, Garret Quirk, Jen Vallance, and the unlovable schumck writing this post slinking around behind the bar, trying not to get in anyone’s light.  I’m pretty stoked to see how Ken’s going to present this film, which was staged and shot in SUCH cool ways that I can’t even fathom how he’s gonna mke it work.  But Ken is kinda magic like that, so…should be a good time, folks.

AUDITIONIZING:  Nothing new to report since last week…I’ll likely be missing one audition I’d sort-of planned on, for Jodi Sprung-Boyd’s new Moliere presentation.  I read the play and it sounded fantastic, but chickened out.  They were all students trying out for it!  And I’m just a creepy old dude who LOOKS sort of student-ish.  It’s better this way, trust me.  But I have another one planned in a few weeks, and THIS one, I’m getting my hopes up for.  Stay tuned.

MY CURRENT FAV’RIT SHOWS ON TEEVEE:  Community, Dave’s Old Porn…shit, I can only think of 2.  Oh well. Actually, Castle and Mentalist are cool, too.  I’d kill to see a crossover (as, in a way, they’re both essentially the same show).

FAV’RIT ALL TIME SHOWS:  The Young Ones, Twin Peaks, Firefly, Mighty Boosh, Doctor Who.  And there’s lots more where that came from.  LAND OF THE LOST, for example.  Or the entire Krofft oeuvre, really.  In fact, here’s Cyndi Lauper singing the theme song to ELECTRA WOMAN AND DYNA GIRL:

Now that your evening is much, much better than it was before, I’ll tell you that Andy Massingham has just won best pro actor at the CCC awards, and Third Wall picked up one for BLACKBIRD.  Kudos, folks, you do yourselves proud.  That’s the only winners I’ve scoped on Twitter so far, and that’s as much work as I’m currently willing to put into it.  Hope everyone has a pleasant Monday, pleasanter than mine, and if anyone wants to join me this wednesday at Carleton for THIS IS OUR YOUTH, lemme know.  I’m starting to set a rather grim record for not being able to score dates even when I have free tickets (I may have tickets to Thursdays MIDWINTERS DREAM TALE premiere, or I may not…I’m really not sure.  Theatre can be confusing sometimes).

Peace, love and soul, everyone,

The Visitor (and Winston)