Catwoman

Eartha Kitt, a talented woman who played Catwoman – and the best one at that – in the Batman series in the 1960s passed away yesterday at the age of 81. When I first saw her on Batman she was already a celebrity -  like all the other villans on the show. She was also a talented singer, actress and stage performer. However, I will remember her most for her sultry voice.

St. Jacobs

Some friends may go on a day trip this weekend somewhere in small-town Ontario. I was reminded of a similar day trip I took in 2004. We went to Stratford to see a musical. However, on the way, we stopped off at the Village of St. Jacobs, where there is a large Mennonite population. Mennonites shun the use of technology and modern conveniences.

While there, I was lucky enough to see a horse drawn carriage – and even luckier to capture it with my camera-phone through the back seat of our car!

Hairspray

In 2004, I read a newspaper article about an American Idol candidate, Vanessa Olivarez. She was cast in the stage musical Hairspray that opened in Toronto in May 2004. From this, I decided to go see it. I liked it so much that I saw it twice in its short run of less than six months.

On a recent flight, one of the film selections was the film vesion of the musical. I watched it and thought it was a bit corny, pun intended, and a big disappointment. I thought it was a vanity play for big actors. I don’t often wade into these waters of reviewing films because I don’t really watch very many. I often joke to friends that I watch more films on airplanes than I do in theatres – there is more fact to this as I’ve taken more airplane trips in the past two years than then number of times I have stepped into a movie theatre – so please don’t consider this a review of the film. However, imdb.com has a fairly good rating of the film. I’ll borrow the dvd from a friend, who loves musicals and is likely to have this film in his library so I will watch it again.

Regardless, in the film, I recognized neighbourhoods and even buildings. One location ia a local public school, Lord Lansdowne public school.

It is a space-age Jetson’s-like building that stands out in Toronto and is very cool for a public school in Toronto. No detail from this building has been spared, from the spiral design smoke stack or the roof that resembles a pastry cutter or roof of the adjoining building roof that resembles a crinkle cut chip. The building looks just as good, and tasty too, from space as it does from Earth!

It is unlikely we will see many more original designs in this city as the planners prefer rectangles to organic shapes and boring as opposed to exciting – but I hope architects don’t ever give up on Toronto! Boring buildings, like the the film are probably produced for the enjoyment of the masses. Enjoy it while you are able!