Breaking the Crust at my first official Cupping

Breaking the Crust
Cupping
Cafe Cohen - Barista Jason Cohen
Roaster - Cultivar - Dallas, TX

Jason Cohen - Cafe Cohen - Cupping w/Cultivar...
of course making a fun face, that I didn't see when I took the photo ;o)

http://www.cafecohen.com/

Jonathan w/Cultivar Coffee - instructing us before we 'break the crust'
at the cupping at Cafe Cohen


http://cultivarcoffee.com/

Jonathan Meadows - Cultivar Roaster - Barista - SCAA 2011 5th Place...
http://www.usbaristachampionship.org/?p=southcentral&s=comp

Jonathan Meadows - Roaster - Barista - White Rock Coffee - Lakewood Advocate Magazine...
http://lakewood.advocatemag.com/2010/05/launch-qa-with-jonathan-meadows/

note: one of his specialty drinks is made with espresso, ruby red grapefruit & raw honey...
not exactly what most folks would think to throw together in a coffee mug right?!

Cupping at Cafe Cohen - love these tilted bowls for the smelling/tasting of
5 different roasts: 4 Cultivar & 1 Guest roast...
Cultivar Coffee (previously Stir Coffee was here) is inside Good 2 Go Taco...
http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2011/may/05/coffee-operation-inside-good-2-go-taco-stir/
note: Jonathan Meadows with business partner Nathan Shelton co-own Cultivar Coffee...
thought curious that Cafe Cohen is inside Great Harvest like Cultivar Coffee is inside Good 2 Go Taco - one tho in Lafayette, LA while the other is in Dallas, TX...

Cultivar Coffee logo on a roasted bag of coffee...
think coffee cup instead of a globe - which coffee
is from around the world, so that is fitting
Coffee Cupping...

Wiki explains it...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_cupping

Coffee Research Org explains it...
http://www.coffeeresearch.org/coffee/cupping.htm

Counter Culture Coffee--shows another photo of what may be 'breaking the crust' in the glasses that are used for Cortado's & also in Cafe Cohen's case, that 'off the menu' request called a 'J-Co'...
http://counterculturecoffee.com/cupping

close up view of the 5 roasts on the Cafe Cohen counter

during our Cupping w/Cultivar - Guatemala, Rwanda, Columbia, Costa Rica

& the guest roaster in the black bag (that Ugh--I forget the name of, will have to ask)

leftover grounds at the bottom of the tilted cupping bowls,

next to the Cultivar Guatemala roasted bag of beans...

Jonathan - proof that he does wear many hats,

he roasts, he's a Barista, he also does the dishes...

(who told me at times they have a table of 14 roasts to taste at once -

which I can hardly keep track of the 5 we had, with 2 favorites...

this time one that I didn't pick last cupping with just Jason trying

to create a cupping experience - now this time it's rather official?!)

Thank you, Cafe Cohen - Jason, Cultivar - Jonathan

& Great Harvest Bread Co for giving Cafe Cohen the Coffeebar space!!

Cultivar Coffee - Facebook page...

http://www.facebook.com/cultivarcoffee

Cafe Cohen - Blog - an earlier cupping w/Cultivar & Nathan that time...
http://www.cafecohen.com/blog/
(note: which somehow I missed, no matter I'm the mayor on Foursquare?!)

Wiki List of Coffee Varieties mentions 'Cultivar' - which may very well be why they chose their name, Cultivar Coffee (I've yet to hear the rest of the story, but here is the proper description...)

Cultivar, the botanical term, is normally and correctly used for selections and forms of cultivated plants; it must be visually distinct from other cultivars, and it must be possible to propagate it reliably.

Found a Coffee Cupper's Handbook by Ted Lingle on Sweet Maria's webpage (who claim to be an online Coffee Univ) - 66 pgs at $38 - includes a Coffee Cupper's Flavor Wheel on the inside cover
http://www.sweetmarias.com/sweetmarias/miscellaneous/books/coffee-cupper-s-handbook-full-edition.html
(note: Wow--still it's way/Way over my head, so not for my coffee table...or not this year?!)

Link to a YouTube about a Cupping Room--tho it's downunder, so no visit anytime soon (perhaps there's one here in the US too, just a Coffee Cupping Room...hmmm...on the list of coffee adventures yet to be had...)
http://youtu.be/pBJwOC7H4lg

To get to be an official cupper, there is a test, here is a 'taste' of that testing on YouTube with Coffee Video Magazine - Sensory Skills Test...
http://youtu.be/us91z1O_r_Y

 

a Cupping Spoon - in stainless - that you can order online
say off Amazon.com for about $10 - set of 2

Coffee Cupping Equipment - one example...

Dozen Cupping (silver) Spoons $22
Set - 3 Dozen - Cupping Bowls porcelain/heavy Glasses $82
Plastic (blue) Cupping Trays $3.75 ea
A fully plumbed Cupping Table $16,050
all prices per Coffee Tec... http://www.coffeetec.com/default.asp
(note: I'm getting the idea, like all else, it's an expensive coffee lab adventure...
you'll note on the YouTubes if they use one of these Cupping Tables, that turn
& you can spit in little side sinks, what it costs above...I'm not sure I would
spit at that if I had to consider the costs?!)


Photos following of that earlier Coffee Cupping at Cafe Cohen w/just Jason -
so perhaps not so official as with Cultivar Coffee Roasters & Jonathan,
but it was a great First Experience at Coffee Cupping for sure (my first time
to hear about 'breaking the crust' for one thing, bit by bit I'm learning enough
about coffee to be perhaps dangerous, just a bit...either that or a Coffee Geek?!)

beans & grounds lined up on counter
(yes, it's a very sunny day)

from the other direction, the 4 roasts for the day on the bar...
(this is when I'll discover that I don't know Rwanda roast,
but I like it the best, surprised me - after my beloved Guatemala)

Jason in the sun, Jason is sunny already--getting ready to poor

hot water over the grounds so we can have a smell, then a taste -

of our unknown coffee roasts...

and the smelling has begun, as is our lineup -

me & the boys, in the sun with our regular spoons,

that we correctly dip into hot water after each dip

(so no double dipping going on right?!)

Jason does a demo for us, we know nothing...
except it's early & we've not had our caffeine for the morning,
so it's amazing for one we can wait, or that we can focus?!

Thanks for the Coffee Cupping Tester Morning Cafe Cohen--Jason?!
Now we were ready for Cultivar & their fancy Coffee Spoons & slanted bowls!!

The Toe Tactic (trailer)

The Toe Tactic or Find Your Beef Jerky

The Toe Tactic
by Emily Hubley

photo credit: film poster image - from AcA webpage

Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers
7:30pm AcA Lafayette, LA

descript/blurb from local newspaper calendar...
"From Bible-belt to Iron Curtain, the movies featured in this year's ongoing tour will transport viewers into new worlds with these extraordinary dramas & documentaries..."

Link to the movie's webpage...
http://www.thetoetactic.com/

Cast & Crew...
includes noteables or ones I noted...
Jane Lynch - as Honey Strumpet (& she's one of the animated dogs come to visit in human form) - in the bar scene as the waitress/MC for Standup/Talent night...
Mary Kay Place - as Mona's Mom - who at one point gets to sing on the doorsteps of her daughter's apt (the lost lunch song - often I forget she sang first, then acted wasn't it...)
Daniel London - as the Elevator Man, whose face I kept thinking I should know (but was it because of Patch Adams I can't say for sure...)

The Rest - I thought I should note, as the faces looked familiar & they moved/spoke well as actors but I just couldn't place them from where they had come...
Kevin Corrigan
Lily Rabe
Jon Glaser
Sakina Jaffrey
Novella Nelson
Ann Dowd

Animated voices - of course I couldn't put a face to...
the dogs: Andrea Martin, David Cross, Marian Seldes, Don Byron
the maestro (the bird) - Eli Wallach

photo credit: copyright The Toe Tactic 2008 - but used in a number of articles/blogs/reviews...photo still/image/photo is all over Google images...again how to properly give credit to this 'still' of the animated dog girl & the real girl, caught in a flash in the same scene with each other...
(my note: what's the best about this image is that this dog girl will morph into an actress you'd recognize right off & love her 'foxy' ways - think more of the trickster fox rather than anything else...like all other animated parts to the film, they are fleeting - so in other words this animated character does not stand there & talk to Mona, she as animation flashes on/off/changes finally into the real character in the bar scene...(this was a misconception that I had from reading the description/summary they had at the AcA about the film...)


my notes after viewing the film - The Toe Tactic...

About these drawings/these animated dogs & bird - to me they are a bit god like as they play their card game - then they're also a bit 'spoken word' poetics...along with them there is the music, on piano or guitar, the songs, as well poetic & then the actual poetry in snippets at times, in words...especially lovely when they show up on scraps of paper in a box, pulled at random in the Poloroid Lady's apt when Mona is there on her secretarial assignment - I would of loved to have had such an assignment as a Kelly Girl myself, back when I was nearly a girl & by then I'd already lost both my parents & a grandparent in relation to Mona having lost her father whom she played the most marvelous game with - in a tic tac toe fashion but with symbols of different meaning than just an 'X' or an 'O' in the squares...

The Toe Tactic - title
a play on Tic Tac Toe - as the game in part, to say us who've played it...but for Mona & her Father, he's given another explanation for this toe in the sand at the beach - where the photo was taken of her waving in front of their game in the sand, her & her father who's gone in the present day...I'd like to replay the movie again, to that part & hear him explain it all again - relating that toe in the sand for digging into a space, to find a space, as a philosophy of life & then along with this what could be considered seriousness he adds something like "find your beef jerky" - outta the blue, a random comment, but you could probably make more of that than the "toe tactic" - either way it makes you think & I like that, the whole movie makes you stop to think awhile...

Randomness - or is it...
there are all the drawn items on the cards that the god like dogs retrieve along the way, from the real life following Mona...which are then embelished with poetics, they're changed into symbols, as was her game with her father, those spirals & such....
there is for instance the mention of  'find your beef jerky' followed by an empty package of beef jerky on the ground - this however you know is 'not' her 'beef jerky' (her 'meat' of life, of sustenance...)
there are those drawn birds in frames of the Poloroid Lady's apt, that move, that answer her, that are not actually a part of Mona's world, curious that - Mona is 'not' the only one being overseen by god like creatures, in her case dogs, in the other's birds (but then the maestro of the dogs, is a bird - who keeps the order, who keeps the card game going, that game of symbols...)
more & more randomness - there is a wallet lost & a wallet found, there is a cell phone taken & there is a cell phone returned, etc...but they tend to tie the characters together in a thread, as Mona weaves her way thru them, thru her day, thru her coming to her terms with her father being gone & she coming to the point of forgetting him...

In talking with the filmmaker after the film showed - the Q&A session...

Personal items in the background - they abound in this film, we are told that for instance all the paintings in the Poloroid Lady's apt are actually paintings that Emily's mother painted...I began to ask myself then how much more was hers, is that cement mushroom under the old porch of their old/sold house from their garden, are those chairs in the apt they fall asleep on from the old family house, the file box with the scraps of papers/drawings/poems/words in them something else from her household...was there need for a 'props dept' as she put together her scenes - if not at the houses or the apts, then perhaps the bar scene...which we were told Emily's brother edited & it was one of her scenes she remembers when asked what parts she liked or that came together better than expected maybe...

The Elevator Man had to make up his songs, with his guitar, his guitar with an amp in the case - which at the Sundance Institute, I think it was, came in handy when there was no such equipment...the filmmaker/Emily had made up the words to the songs, say Wrong Building or 'a new one' (which was what the Poloroid Lady had told him in an earlier elevator ride...) but she not made the music for the songs - they fit so perfectly together in the end & for him to be doing a Standup/Talent night at the bar...it was wonderfully random in turn that he'd taken the words for his poetry/music from his elevator rides/the people in them/translating them into his own spoken word poetry of sorts, but spoken along with music played on his guitar (again another less an item for the props dept to find for him, as it was his own...)

The Lost Lunch song - by Mona's Mom, by Mary Kay Place, again the words were there but she had to make them into a Mother's song, a made up, playful song, one that a mother would of made up with her/for her daughter when she was a girl...a melancholy one, sung missing her daughter, as she sat in the present day time on her daughter's doorstep at her apt bldg, having missed her again, her daughter avoiding her at her apt & on the phone as well...the filmmaker/Emily admitted that Mary Kay Place wanted another part, but when she was told she had to sing this song, as it was known she could sing & did that before her acting then she finally agreed (now don't quote me on this, but this is what I gather from the Q&A session - Emily rambled along randomly as well, with an off center answering of the questions, as perhaps she did in her film as well...)

When asked if it was the real world or her real world made into imagination/animation she answered back that it was the reverse & it was the imaginary world that was brought back to/was rooted into the real world - I like her view of the world, it's a thinking outside the box if ever there was such a view... & she did dispel that 'crazy' idea lingering, that she does not walk around seeing animated dogs pop out everywhere...but compared it to being alone & walking along & thinking quietly & having your imagination working in your head - she does not admit to seeing in shapes, as synethesia maybe, but I'd say she thinks in poetry & draws (in both senses) from that to create her creatures, in this case dogs/birds/symbols (but then I've not seen any of her other short animated films to compare...)

Her next project? to set up a theatre experience - the real characters in the foreground & in the background on the screen the animated ones...so that the audience can experience it all as they will, they can focus on whatever parts they want to, either the real or the imaginary on the screen...I for one will look forward to her next project, this was perhaps her longest film - this part real/imaginary or animated world/story at 90 min's...which started I think from what she said with less the animated figures & poetics going on, at first they were to be a break, a breathe, along the way, but soon took over & rooted themselves into more & more until they were entwined all the way through (keep in mind these are my words & not hers for the most part, as I do not have a photographic memory or whatever you would call one from hearing someone & remembering everything rather than seeing it...)

When the director/producer of the Hurt Locker had her to lunch - to ask 'why animation' - as if animation were to be separate, would ruin the film, imagine this from someone who is perhaps strongly focused on the real life, not the imaginary & that film took on death in a very different way - Oh to have been a fly on the white linen at that lunch...now sadly I cannot recall her full answer, The Toe Tactic filmmaker/Emily's answer, but she brought up her Dad working for Disney (which right off made me think "she has it in her blood") & that type of cartoon/animation - am guessing she was trying to bring up the historical aspects of animation, but what she's done in this film is not cartoon, it's also not live people put into a cartoon or a movie either, as some others have done (that last part my 2 cents) - in any case, no matter I didn't remember her long rambling answer in total, I just liked what she'd done with her real/animated combination in this particular storytelling & I agreed with a fellow in the audience who said at first they thought they might find it distracting, but it wasn't, it just all somehow fit the story, her story, Mona's story (if it can be taken apart from Emily's story...)

Other links for the film - The Toe Tactic...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0969348/
note: in the User Reviews section after this webpages Storyline summary - someone mentions what I didn't notice before...more plays on words & on the game Tic Tac Toe with the 'X's & 'O's in the criss cross grid - it's been done in reverse Toe Tac Tic for the title - why I didn't see that before, which is yet another reason I need to rewatch the film to catch all that I missed the first time 'round...of course the Dad takes it further with his 'toe' 'tactic' reference - of a toe in the sand, a further play on the word & a game of a different color, that game called life...

A 2009 review in the NYTimes...
http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/movies/28tact.html
note: a bit bitter review, but am taking that as a person who could be an 1/2 empty type in life in general...but I did catch that it's Open Mike Night I should of referred to earlier & not StandUp Night, tho they are standing up & now I'm wondering what's the difference? there are people standing up, speaking words or poetry or music, there is music, there is at least one guitar, plus there is humor... nevermind, not that point to argue with this reviewer...I would take them up on this last line of their review: "...you have a saccharine-sweet, intermittenly irritating fable about the salve of creativity. Or something like that."

The Trailer on YouTube...
http://youtu.be/u4LYmGlfYww
note: from the beginning of the trailer...
Take a Journey
to a Magical Place
where imagination
& the physical world
become one
and about the game...
her Dad says, telling her about the 'toe tactic' in the film..."I have a new trick for you...I call it the Toe Tactic...and I promise you, you will be able to deal with whatever it is--in time..."
Music was by: Yo La Tengo

Synopsis from Kino Lorber - experience cinema...
http://www.kino.com/video/item.php?film_id=983
note: a curious personal note, as the theaters/movies in Norway were called "Kino" - I lived there for 2 yrs a yr ago & haven't seen that word since...

"Writer-director-animator Emily Hubley’s feature length debut The Toe Tactic is a “highly emotional fable” (Gillian Reagan, New York Observer) that imaginatively fuses live action and animation (in the style Hubley memorably brought to life in Hedwig and the Angry Inch). "

Another YouTube - an interview of the filmmaker/Emily Hubley, at South by Southwest/SXSW in Austin, TX Film Festival
http://youtu.be/sy38HznJqRg
note: you get to hear/see the filmmaker/Emily & her film - as she says: it's complicated, a layered thing...& I find I still love her smile, to be that happy to smile like that would be wonderful I think or to make something creative in life to make you want to smile like that would be special...

YouTube from the 60's called The Hole by John & Faith Hubley, Emily's parents (remember the one mention of her Dad working for Disney) - it won the short subjects Academy Award in 1962...
"The film uses improvised dialogue from Dizzy Gillespie and George Mathews"
http://youtu.be/bz90dvQbcIk
note: went off to Google to read the Wiki about the family, I find that not only did her brother eidting work on her film - The Toe Tactic - but that her sister, Georgia Hubley, plays/sings in the band that did all the background music for the film too - Yo La Tengo...(which you know I'll have to look up next on YouTube--has anyone said how amazing YouTube is lately?!)

image credit: from Contact tab on Yo La Tengo webpage...
am guessing someone in the family likes to draw...hmmm...wonder who that can be?!
(I'm betting Georgia Hubley's sister Emily Hubley had something to do with it, unless other's in the family besides Mom & Dad can also draw/animate...)

Yo La Tengo - official site...
http://www.yolatengo.com/

YouTube Yo La Tengo - Green Arrow...
http://youtu.be/IkwpmS4wd0Q
note: for a taste of background music for The Toe Tactic...

YouTube Yo La Tengo - Sea Urchins - from the album: The Sounds of the Sounds of Science (2002)...
http://youtu.be/yaSbBKa3sSw
note: right now I can't find the soundtrack for the film - The Toe Tactic...another reason to rent/upload/rewatch/relisten to the film...

Movie Info/Reviews on Rotten Tomatoes - plus 3 photos, including the animated dogs/people...
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1213274-toe_tactic/

Local - AcA - Acadiana Center for the Arts - Lafayette, LA...
http://acadianacenterforthearts.org/PageDisplay.asp?p1=8061

photo credit: black & white headshot on her webpage on her Bio page...see link below this...
(I really like black & white images, maybe I should do my headshot this way...hmmm...Yes, I know I am 'not' a filmmaker--but so...so what--will ask my photog friends what they think then...)

Emily Hubley's webpage link...
http://www.emilyhubley.com/bio/bio.html
http://acadianacenterforthearts.org/PageDisplay.asp?p1=8061

photo/image credit: from Awn.com article & copyright The Toe Tactic 2008
(how do I properly give them credit, either of them--this is the conundrum in blogging...)

Animation World Network - Emily Hubley Talks Toe Tactic...
http://www.awn.com/articles/emily-hubley-talks-itoe-tactici

Southern Circuit - Tour of Independent Filmmakers - Blog...
http://southerncircuit.blogspot.com/2012/02/introducing-emily-hubley.html

Photo Credit Note: if I need to remove any/all of these photos someone in the know please tell me so - I use them not for profit or abuse, but who would you contact to say Hey I write a blog on blogger that hardly 10 people read so is it OK I borrow/use a few photos/images to add to all my writing randomness stream of consciousness about the reaction to the film The Toe Tactic after viewing it on the Southern Circuit Tour here in Lafayette, LA at the AcA - or to at least go along with the links I found about the film so it won't all look so boring?! Thank You Much, Emily Hubley!!

RE: Beef Jerky
If you don't know what beef jerky is - you must live under a rock/in a foreign country that doesn't import/grew up vegan (hint: I'm trying to be funny) & if you care to you can go to this link & read more about what it is & see some photos of the stuff (something that for sure tastes better than it looks...) Link: www.JackLinks.com - they make Beef Jerky/Meat Snacks, but then so can you with a recipe & a drying method...(I'd have to find a way of making it/keeping it w/o MSG in it tho...) Better yet, let Wiki explain it to y'alls... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerky

Zoo Zoo--No I do not studder...

Zoo Zoo--No I do not studder...

photo credit: Imago Theatre header...
Polar bears & Hippos & Penguins--Oh my...
(just like the Wizard of Oz would say only it's more than Lions & Tigers & Bears--much, Much more...)

Wed Feb 1, 2012
AcA - Lafayette, LA

photo credit: poster from Imago Theatre webpage...
of course it's the Penguins, who play musical chairs
- a clever universal game that perhaps all school children get to play
at school or at birthday parties

Imago Theatre
"...is part dance performance, part clever adult theater & part kids' costume spectacular..."

"It's a circus! It's a zoo! It's Zoo Zoo, & it's a world all its own.
 The int'l acclaimed Imago Theatre will bring this family hit to the AcA's James Devin Moncus Theater for Acadiana's entertainment pleasure. (*I'm sorry this writing is like old Ringling Bro's Come & See the Show 'entertainment pleasure' - but it's not like that at all?!)
 This Cirque du Soleil-style acrobatic show is set in a uniquely accessible French-influenced avant-garde playground (*now this is coming closer to being a description that fits the bill...)
Expect penguins playing musical chiars, a cat trapped in a giant paper bag (*now sadly this was a spoiler & good thing I did not read it ahead of time...) hippos with insomnia, anteaters as waiters & a madcap revue of illusion, comedy & fun (*it was that, even for an adult in attendance w/o a child or grand-child in tow as an excuse?!)"

photo credit: Post - Musical Fun at The New Victory's Zoo Zoo...
from nycitymama.com blog - a really nice photo of the 1 waiter anteater w/the clever quick zippy party favor tongue...

Note: this Zoo Zoo is not to be confused with this ZooZoo of Vodaphone fame (which I didn't even know about...) Link to Wiki... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZooZoo

Also not to be confused with Zoo Zoo (Mighty Boosh Mashup) on YouTube...
Link to YouTube... http://youtu.be/s1bkY9ZsHkI

Link to Portland Oregon Tribune, their local paper - where Imago Theatre & Zoo Zoo are from - their local newspaper article: "Imago-nation uncaged"
http://www.portlandtribune.com/features/print_story.php?story_id=129003035063180100

photo credit: PortlandTribune.com - as in Portland, Oregan where Imago Theatre/Zoo Zoo come from...this is my fav animal mask image, of the Hippos - the first image I'd ever seen of the production & so I was intrigued from just the masks, though they didn't sit in a chair/chairs during the Lafayette performance--there they had insomnia & were rolling all over a bed on stage at the AcA...

Link to Imago Theatre webpage...
http://www.imagotheatre.com/
(note: where you can find the link to the Zoo Zoo Tour..)

About Imago Theatre...

"Founded in 1979 by Carol Triffle and Jerry Mouawad, Imago Theatre's original productions have toured internationally for over two decades. The universal nature of Imago's work has won audience and critical acclaim in tours across Asia, Europe, Canada and the U.S. Imago has been hailed by critics world wide for its sophisticated, highly entertaining works for all ages."
Link to Imago Theatre - On Tour - Zoo Zoo...
http://www.imagotheatre.com/zoozoo.html

"Imago Theatre, best known for FROGZ and internationally acclaimed for its special brand of vaudeville, comedy, acrobatics and illusions, is proud to announce its latest family hit ZooZoo, which combines mime, dance, music and special effects. Featured creatures include Polar Bears, Bug Eyes, Anteaters, Frogs, Rabbits, Hippos and Penguins. Recommended for ages 3 and older. Take a look at our schedule of tour dates to find a show near your location."

photo credit: from UTC.edu...of my new fav masked bunnies...
sigh...to have seen them in action--must search for another video...

Link to YouTube to watch excerpts from the Zoo Zoo performances...
http://youtu.be/-uhqo2zL-KY
(*note: again, some spoiler alerts--I found it more amazing to watch it without knowing anything about them except the photos for the flyers looked fantastic & I wanted to see them in action...but I was happy to see a bit more of the bunnies, as I'd missed them being a volunteer/usher at the door & coming back inside late after the intermission...also I would of asked them why the polar bears didn't have their big blue balloon, did it pop & they couldn't find another for the Wednesday performance or what...but one day I'll go watch it all again, maybe with - or again without - children with me as a great excuse, though you don't need one--it is like going to see Cirque du Soleil in miniature, so perfectly acceptable as an adult to go watch the fun--right...)

photo credit: Imago Theatre webpage...

the bunnies  (the cutest) I didn't get to see in motion--in another production,

Big Little Things

Link to the Imago Blog - a look into the minds of Carol & Jerry...
http://imagotheatre.com/blog/
(note: from reading it seems they have a new show in the making--Cat's...not that London Theatre District version mind you--which oddly enough is coming to Lafayette, LA this month at the Heymann Center...)

photo credit: from Imago Theatre webpage...

am not sure if it's the actual costumes or their rendering of them -

once it's out & there are posters/ads then we'll know what the Cats look like

(but if anything like all the rest of their costumes/masks then they'll be fantastic?!)

Links to local media...

Link to The Advertiser's photo gallery of ZooZoo...

http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=DG&Dato=20120131&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=201310802&Ref=PH&odyssey=mod%7Cgalleriespic

photo credit: TheInd.com - Zoo Zoo's frogs...

Link to The Ind article: "Zoo Zoo coming to AcA - A zoo so nice they have to say it twice and perform two nights next week"

http://www.theind.com/arts-a-entertainment/86-aae/9799-zoozoo-coming-to-aca

Link to KATC.com - channel 3 - Zoo Zoo press release...

http://www.katc.com/news/aca-presents-imago-theatres-zoozoo-a-circus-a-zoo-and-a-world-all-its-own/ (note: what no photos? no vidoes?)

Link to KLFY.com - channel 10 - Zoo Zoo press release...

http://www.klfy.com/story/16611246/imago-theatres-zoozoo-a-circus-a-zoo-and-a-world-all-its-own?clienttype=printable

Link to AcA - under Youth Performance Series - Zoo Zoo...

http://acadianacenterforthearts.org/PageDisplay.asp?p1=7929

(note: tho again there should be no age limit on Zoo Zoo's performances...)

Link to AcA Facebook page - post on Zoo Zoo...

http://www.facebook.com/acadiana.arts?sk=wall&filter=2

About Jacques Lecog - their teacher, his school...

Link to read more on Wiki about Jacques Lecoq - who the founders, Carol Triffle & Jerry Mouawad, of Imago Theatre/Zoo Zoo base their methodology on his teachings & Carol Triffle studied with him & completed his exclusive pedagogical program at the L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Lecoq

(note: many interesting students of his & his school--go read more at both links...Ariane Mnouchkine founded  Théâtre du Soleil & wrote/directed Molière was one I found especially interesting, another mentioned in the local papers as well was Geoffrey Rush...)

Encounters - not of the extraterrestrial type

Cinema on the Bayou

Sunday 1/29/12

Link to Film Festival webpage...
http://www.cinemaonthebayou.com

 

photo credit: www.cinemaonthebayou.com one of the many taking off in the canoes scenes...

Encounters

Link to the description of the film...
http://www.cinemaonthebayou.com/onefilm.cfm?film_id=193

 

photo credit: from the film makers webpage www.mofilms.ca in French, the orig cover...
and in French Encounters = Rencontre

Encounters (Louisiana Premiere)

Melanie Carriere and Olivier Higgins

2011 52 min. Color

This documentary film tells the story of a group of young Innus, Huron and non-Aboriginal Quebeckers, who together travel an ancestral land and water path, 310 km long, which joins Lac Saint-Jean and Quebec City. Along the way, they learn about themselves and each other. This is another wonderful film from the award-winning filmmaking team of Melanie Carriere and Olivier Higgins, based in Quebec, for whom questions of identity, social fabric, land protection, and social justice inspire their projects. 

French with English subtitles.
Click for filmmaker's web site (MoFilms)

photo credit: Lise Breton 2010 took this & put it on InfoCulture.Biz from the couples/the film makers Asiemut film project at the time...

(they look so happy & so young, to be film makers - or to be a couple that rode bikes from Mongolia to India & still looking this good?!)

photo credit: again from their Asiemut film, biking from Mongolia to India...uh, if I could read French I may be able to tell you who took the photo-could be they set up their own camera...but never the less, it was on this webpage...

http://www.teteslibres.com/lesailesdemoncoeurlourd/2007/04/04/asimut/

(note: so they went from a huge bike riding adventure in Asiemut to the journey with the native teenagers in Encounters, again on bikes & hiking & canoeing as well--with their camera?! do I detect a theme, besides full on nature--does there have to be hardship...)

Link to their film webpage - Mo films...

www.mofilms.ca

"films is a production company based in Quebec city, who wants to linger in the debates and social issues of our times. Questions of identity, social fabric, land protection and social justice are all subjects that inspire our projects..."

From my evening of viewing, finally almost the whole entire film too...

~lots of nature, Canadian nature, beautiful (I have never been to Canada & I have a passport...)
~lots of teenagers, but native ones trying to understand their culture & how it relates to 'others' - no matter which 'others' & just trying to make it from the beginning to the end of this specific journey & it does look like it was a journey through the wilderness (camping & riding & hiking--often in the rain, I would of been done with it all very quickly...)
~lots of sitting around the campfire at the end of the day to ask How was your day? which surprised me, they showed up & they said something, they shared & they also shared with the camera--because after awhile I'm guessing it faded into the background of the film makers holding it, this couple that went along on the adventure with them...
~lots of healing going on, though I haven't a clue about native peoples in Canada--one can imagine...

At the end (this is not a spoiler) you saw that the kids were going to stay in touch, as the one girl brought a group of the others to her village--I can't even say which native tribe of Canada she is, it doesn't matter really in the end...she was the one though that had never finished anything up until that journey...
It was a kind of Wisdom Quest I think for her & many of these teenagers...they shared a long hard endurance adventure together in the wilderness - at one point a Shaman came to speak with them too, which would of been awesome if you were or weren't a native person (or I'd of called him that, I may be wrong, he could of just been an Elder of a tribe--I wasn't there & I can't rewind the movie now either) & I would hope they're still staying in touch today & that other kids like them continue to go on this Nature Adventure in Canada, along a river that their ancestors probably used as well (also possibly without a camera crew following along with them the whole time...)

It was great too at one point in the film, they got lost--plain & simple...
Going up a mountain trail in the woods, so there's that decision--do we go back, do we go ahead...
Wondering if you'll find 'the' trail that you need, again I would of been so done/Done even before then--being rained on for days, wet clothes, wet shoes, it would of been a drowning, bogged down feeling all over (but these kids/teenagers came thru the other end of that, so it was great to watch that too...)

How far is 300 km? About 186 miles?!
Oh my I would of fallen down & never gotten up at like mile marker 10 or maybe 20--tops?!

Délivrance - of the French Canadian kind

Cinema on the Bayou

Sunday 1/29/12

http://www.cinemaonthebayou.com/

7th Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival

Jan. 25-29, 2012
The dramatic film "Delivrance" will make its U.S. Premiere on the opening night of the Festival at AcA with New Brunswick filmmakers Donovan Richard and Danny Thebeau in attendance.

 

Délivrance 2011
"When all is lost, only deliverance is left to gain."

Link to review from Cineman on the Bayou Film Festival webpage...
http://bulldogpublicity.wordpress.com/2011/08/24/anna-silk-for-a-weekcbc-premieres-delivrance/

This dramatic narrative feature film tells the story of the escape in 1756 from Fort Beausejour by Pierre-Henri Surette and his followers, and Surette's return to battle for the rest of the men who were left behind before their deportation by the British. The film was shot primarily at Fort Beausejour (in the fort's ruins), in the areas of Memramcook and along the Petitcodiac River.
The film premiered across Canada this past fall with great fanfare. The amazing cast and crew created "a great snapshot of the hell Acadians were subject to during the great expulsion," says film and music writer Jim Lavoie. "Well written, directed, shot and acted, this is one film that 'Delivered' as promised."

The film is in both French and English, with English subtitles.
Click for filmmaker's web site

My notes from the evening...

As I was a volunteer I was doing that & not getting to watch the whole film--but did get to step inside at the end when there was a Q&A, my fav...because you hear people speak with passion normally about what they're trying to do & I like to listen to them give you a sneak peek into their creativity...

With these 2 (writer/film maker) I learned they had a lot of family/friends help them with this, but that they also all got paid--even in Canada...

And they took a car ride together somewheres in Canada & came up with the whole story along the way--would of loved being in the backseat for that...

They didn't want to do a documentary, they wanted to fictionalize the history with a story (I'm sure many people can tell family stories about what happened to their relatives at that time) & so there could be more films--will see if they follow that story of the Acadiens expulsion (their word) to say other locations where they fled to...They both knew that Southern Louisiana would be interested in the film as many fled here...

Also there were characters on both sides that were not all good or bad - as the groups were as well, not all bad or all good (as is real life if you think of it, so it was good they tried to portray that in their film too...)

Again I didn't see but 1 scene before a reunion of 2 groups of Acadiens that had been separated, 1 was being marched to a ship, the other had escaped & were helping others escape, so there was firing on the soldiers--then at a house/barn they were meeting up with the women & the children running to meet them, with the ship on the river in the background (I thought the film makers did well with the costumes of the times too, but what would I know not being of any Acadien descent that I know of...)

Don't think I didn't look twice at the title of this movie--I've grown up with movies & TV & the first Deliverance I'd heard of was a movie, that had canoes, banjos & squealing like a pig involved...but I just knew that this one would have nothing to do with that one, tho there was a river & trees & people running around the woods with guns in that (from what little I saw,) but that was about it that I can tell...then too the titles are spelled differently, as the French way is Délivrance...

On a lighter local note, they were asked about the food they enjoyed since coming to Lafayette or if they enjoyed the Cajun Food while they've been here, which they liked & want to come visit again, not just for the food--but it seems one of them is not fond of  Boudin, there was something with the soft texture that he thought would take some getting use to, like you'd need to acquire a taste for it...I like Boudin now, but could agree--if you're looking for a sausage it's not that...(they need to come during the Boudin Festival & try a whole bunch of choices is what I'm thinking?!)

note: both my pic's - can ya' tell I went to the Boudin Festival 2011?!

A Weaverly Path - Vimeo

A Weaverly Path Trailer from Kenny Dalsheimer on Vimeo.