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Review: L’affaire de la rue de Lourcine et All That I Am

Friday night brought Vero and I to two plays in which her friends were appearing in.

The first was at the University of Ottawa campus and was entitled L’affaire de la rue de Lourcine. I was delighted to see Martin and Mario stumble into the waiting area dressed up in vintage outfits while drinking a ‘supposed’ bottle of wine. I even had the honour of having Mario lean up against me in his drunken stupor.

The was a preamble to the actual play as the two men end up waking up inside the house after a night on the town and they can’t remember what actually happened that night. Hilarity to the nth degree ensues as it is discovered that someone was killed the night before and they are trying to piece together the events of the night before in a comical fashion.

I also like how I didn’t know Martin and Mario were actually in the play when they came in through the door drunk and I thought they were just goofing around. Vero had a good laugh at that as she knew it was part of the show.

This was probably the best play I have seen so far as it had me in stitches. They spoke in an over-the-top fashion and their mannerisms were very exaggerated. Much like how I sound when I speak French. 😉

Two thumbs up for this play. Special mention goes to Veronique (the other one) for her hard work on the play! It was fantastic!

We then headed over to the Bronson Center to catch another play where our good friend Chantelle (or is that Chantal) was appearing. I had not even known that she acted so was excited to see her.

This was my first time at the Bronson Center and I wondered what type of venue it would be considering I’ve heard a few bands had played there before. Turned out to be an auditorium style venue so I thought it would be strange to have bands play there. It’s like I was back in high school.

The play was called All That I Am and was a focus on five different women throughout the ages, with a focus on religious figures (such as the wife of Simon Peter, which Chantal played). Being that it was a religious sort of event, I am making the assumption that the audience was mainly from the church that the actresses were from. Let me also point out that the crowd under 65 were severely outnumbered by the old-timers.

Chantal came out and did a wonderful monologue and it was quite funny. Then it skipped over to the next woman who was performing her monologue (the play was entirely monologues) and it kind of dragged on and before you knew it, Palmer had decided to take a little nap.

When she left the stage I figured I would see what the next woman had to say but this was an even worse experience as she had no microphone so we could barely hear her. Instead of straining my ears the whole time I decided this would be an opportune time to catch a few more Zs. I don’t think Vero minded too much considering it wasn’t our friend’s part which I was napping through!

The last two women provided an entertaining monologue which kept my interest and then Chantal came back out to wrap things up. All in all, Chantal’s part was worth the admission, plus the final two ladies. What do I know though? Everyone seemed to enjoy the entire thing, so I am blaming it on my nap.

iplaying: Bleeding Words – Mobile (Tomorrow Starts Today)

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Meet Dora

On Saturday, a new clothing item entered my life in the form of a fedora. I thought this snazzy hat should come with a name. Meet Dora the Fedora.

On Saturday, considering Vero and I had some time to kill before heading over to Aunt Dinah’s surprise birthday party, we kept driving towards the Yorkdale Mall.

Now, I’m not from around the big city of Toronto so I wasn’t really expecting a zoo which was the parking lot around 2PM on a Saturday. However, after a relaxing drive from Ottawa, I wasn’t too stressed in finding a parking spot and managed to acquire one in 20 minutes.

My goals of the trip to the mall were simple:

  • Visit the Apple Store.
  • Buy a laptop bag.

I wanted a laptop bag that would be small enough to fit inside my backpack. Why do I want a laptop bag if I have a laptop? Well, for one…I don’t want thing getting scratched up inside my backpack. Who knows what lurks inside there! I think I have something growing inside one of the pockets actually. Plus, simply purchasing a laptop bag would not be sufficient for my needs as I am a scholar with many books, as well as my lunch and swimming gear.

The Apple Store was quite a zoo also. Literally hundreds of people sat there playing with the laptops and accessories. It was a pretty neat setup I must admit. You should check it out. Everything is out in the open to try out – even headphones.

I scoped a laptop bag which seemed to fit my needs but I then thought I should buy a new backpack (as mine has seen better days and I’ve had it since college. I think 10 years is enough time to retire Ole Faithful.) We headed over to Bentley Bags where I picked out a snazzy pack and got to the cash to discover it was 50% off! BONUS! You know me, I am…frugal? Is that the word? Either way, paying $12 for a backpack is my kind of deal. They made my day.

I headed back to the Apple Store, picked up the laptop bag and we were on our way out when Vero wanted to stop into the Aldo Accessory store.

Lo and behold, the hat had a heavenly glow emitting from it and something in my mind said “It will be mine. Oh yes…it will be mine.” I tried the hat on, all the ladies in the room turned their heads, and then I decided to buy it.

I dig the hat. I’ve been looking for a fedora for awhile and couldn’t find one I really liked. I’ll have to get used to wearing it for awhile. The logistics of wearing a hat in the year 2007 is a difficult one when you are also semi-concerned about how your hair shouldn’t look like bedhead when you arrive to work.

Now I am wondering the proper etiquette for wearing a fedora. The fedora exudes more of a spirit than a regular ball cap would. Here are some questions for the masses (perhaps those that were around when fedoras were in style could help me out here):

Nowadays, hats seem to be a fairly significant accessory in the clothing you wear. One cannot wear the fedora within the sphere of a workplace (well, at least MY workplace), but what about social events? Is it proper to keep your fedora on when you are having tea over at your Grandmother’s house? What about a party? I could see that going over well…but overall, is the general rule of thumb that you shouldn’t be wearing a hat indoors, plain and simple? What are the old vs. the new rules when it comes to the fedora (or hats in general for that matter?)

I’m not only wearing it for the coolness of old factor, but I want to bring back the qualities of old also. This is part of my constant effort to be a gentleman.