Arts and Culture

 If you haven't yet got plans for tonight – or even if you do – you won't want to miss out on the big happenings downtown, for a good time AND a good cause.

It’s a rare thing to gain exclusive, invite-only access to the world premiere of a film. Almost as rare for this writer is an impromptu trip through Vancouver and the Sea to Sky Corridor to bear witness to such an event: I don’t like leaving my house. Even more rare (and now we’re talking almost cryptozoologically rare) is when little old Rossland can take pride in the combined efforts of a small group of our own that will leave an indelible mark on the action sports world- forever.

I’m not exaggerating. Sometimes the stars align.

 A delegation from Castlegar’s Sister City, Embetsu, Japan will be reunited with their host students from Castlegar on Aug.10. In the summer of 2008, eight Castlegar students, from Grades 7 and 8, travelled with Curt and Yuri Kutschera to Japan,  where they experienced Japanese culture and generosity in person.
 

Now these Castlegar students will get the chance to return the hospitality by hosting their friends from Japan while showing all that is special about the Castlegar area.

 Whenever I go to a comedy I lower my expectations. As someone once said, 'life is easy; comedy is hard'. How many truly classic comedy films are there in the world? I don't mean just funny movies, but movies that are funny AND quality productions/stories? Not that many, really. I'll go with His Girl Friday and Raising Arizona as two of my favourites. Other classics include What's New Pussycat?, Duck Soup, Groundhog Day, perhaps, and....it's a pretty short list in my humble opinion.

 Outsiders find Castlegar bloomin' beautiful – at least that's the hope of Communities in Bloom (CiB) organizers after judges toured the city last week.

 It's often hard, in life, to know how to tell friends from enemies and valuable, nurturing relationships from ones that are a waste of time and effort. This problem is nothing new: it's dogged humanity since the dawn of time. Good news, though! That problem, for me at least, is now solved. For the rest of my life, when I meet a new friend-candidate I'll ask a simple question: did you like The Twilight Saga: Eclipse? If the answer is 'no', we can talk. If the answer is yes, I will have nothing further to do with you.

Summer in the Mountain Kingdom heralds the arrival of all kinds of fun stuff: open patios at local restaurants, museum and mine tours, snow-free (hopefully) hiking trails, and our own local musical theatre production, The Gold Fever Follies.  This ever-changing, dynamic show, consisting of stories loosely based on actual historical events in Rossland's history, will see its 24th season this year, and after my preview the other night I can say with confidence that this year's Follies is the must-see event of the summer.

 Is it a communal kitty litter?

 Children's entertainers from the TV show Down By The Docks will be sailing into the Castlegar Public Library on July 7 at 10 a.m.

Upon dropping anchor, Leroy The Lobster and friends from Down By The Docks will take you on a Jungle Safari to explore the Amazon, African and Asian jungles. Who knows what adventures await us when sail up the Amazon, walk through Africa or drive in Asia.

This is the 10th anniversary of Down By The Docks performing at libraries for the Summer Reading Club.