It came from the web! Dr Horrible

It’s an original musical by Joss Whedon starring Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia Day and Nathan Filion. I won’t go too much into the plot, but I will say that the super villain is actually the hero in this one.

It’s both funny and touching, the songs are catchy and it started on the internet (thanks in large part to the writer’s strike) and has gone on to win an Emmy. That something of this quality can start viral is quite an inspiration for those of us involved in web video.

This song (not even the best number in my opinion) inspired the duet in JC Sunshine that was part of our musical episode:

While I would have gladly embedded the official video on Hulu, that site is not available in Canada where I live. If you like what you heard and saw, though, please visit their site and support them by either ordering the DVD (available in some stores, too) or download it through iTunes.

You see, it seems that to be more personal, I need to post more stuff that I like rather than what I do. So this is my first attempt to be less all-promo-all-the-time (as another friend said I came across as).

I love Star Wars. In fact, I have always been a little obsessed with it. While on a whole, the three new films can’t come close to the original series, I do feel that Revenge of the Sith is a strong second best overall (after Empire).

One of the first albums I remember owning when I was a kid was the Star Wars Adventures in ABC, which I found for download here. I’ve even checked out Wookiepedia more than once.

While I may write more about Star Wars and its cultural impact/political ramifications and justify my love in some sort of activist context later, for now, here’s a real funny video from the good folks at College Humor, you’re welcome:

My first "music video": a scene from the duet in JC Sunshine's St-Valentine's Day Musical Massacre

Recently, though, it did, in the form of JC Sunshine’s St-Valentine’s Day Musical Massacre.  We turned the season 3 premier of the web-TV comedy show I host into a musical and my character got to sing in one original duet and an ensemble piece that is a parody of a song from RENT.

The episode’s quite funny (yes, I know I’m biased) and the show’s production values have increased significantly since last season, so I recommend/hope that you watch the whole thing.  There are new characters like Suzie (Suzie Soleil), JC’s number one fan and the special guest is Cupid (actress Mylène Robic).

If I’ve done my job, you should be convinced to watch the episode on demand which you can do here.  If not, here’s a sample of my singing:

It's the way business is done, unfortunately

For months now, the artists of Café Cleopatre and the rest of the Save the Main coalition have been fighting the good fight against the Angus Development Corporation and the Tremblay administration’s attempts to evict them in favor of a skyscraper office tower in the center of the Quartier des Spectacles.  I’ve supported the coalition from the get-go and now have a chance to help out with my acting and writing.

Following on the heels of Lapdance for Prince Charles, a comic appeal to the Prince, a noted heritage buff, on his recent visit to Montreal, comes Demolition in a Box.  This new video that will hopefully go viral (like the last one did) is a mock infomercial promoting a product that is essentially what Angus and the city want to do to the lower Main.

I play the pitchman in the English version (below) alongside Ėmilie Laliberté of STELLA, the sex workers’ rights organization who plays the prospective developper.  In the French version which premiered last Friday at Club Sin in Café Cleo, the roles are reversed.

Enjoy and please spread:

French version is here

They weren’t the only ones, though. A group of supporters of Café Cleopatre (with a few theatre activists like me there in solidarity as well), hoping to stop the planned demolition of their performance space by noted developer and former small-time fraudster Christian Yaccarini‘s Angus Development Corporation, were there to greet the prince.

The plan was to deliver a plea in person to Prince Charles, a noted heritage buff, in hopes that he would take action to save the lower Main from this Tremblay administration-backed project. They had already issued an open letter and video plea, but despite considerable media coverage from The Gazette, the Montreal Mirror and even Paris Match, the prince has yet to respond.

Here’s the video:

JC Sunshine (played by me) gets ready to ride a bike

The theme was biking and in keeping with it, we filmed a segment (the show is live, but some of the segments are pre-recorded) where JC (my character) learns how to ride a bike.  Unlike JC I did learn how to ride a bike when I was younger, so his struggle with the bike was acting, but there was a bit of truth to it.

In recent years, I decided on a few occasions to try riding again, something I haven’t done in decades.  On every one of those occasions, I wasn’t able to do it, either due to the bike being too high off the ground or the rider being in the middle of a night of partying.  I thought it meant I couldn’t ride.

This isn’t good, considering my lifestyle and finances would be greatly improved by being able to ride a bike.  Also, I support bike culture and bikes as probably the best means of transport when feet aren’t an option.  I even attended the Bicycle Film Festival and wrote about it.

When we shot this scene, I was a bit nervous, but by the end of it, I discovered that you never do forget how to ride a bike.  You just need to have the confidence in the moment needed to do it.

Now, my lifestyle can actually jive with my politics better and it’s thanks to this scene: