The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz Review

Last week I went and saw The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz (MSBB), a two hour play by Manitoban writer Armin Wiebe and directed by Kim McCaw. MSBB is a one set play that focuses on the inner relationships between four core characters, Susch, Beethoven, Obrum, and Teen.

Set on a small Mennonite farm in the prairies, MSBB takes a look at the life of devoted married couple Susch and Obrum Kehler. The big problem between the two lovers is that they can't have any children. They have great bed shaking sex but unfortunately none of their fornication has lead to tiny unpaid farm helpers.

That's where Beethoven Blatz comes in. Beethoven is a strange piano obsessed chap who comes into Obrum and Susch's life to fix a broken piano Obrum had bought for his wife. As the play progresses the audience doesn't learn too much about Beethoven (other than he's slightly mad). But he gives the play its central conflict and resolution as Susch and Obrum come to terms that they can not reproduce with each other.

And last, there is Teen, a neighbour of the Kehler's and Susch's best friend. She is the moral one in the play who tends to speak her mind and is always looking out for her friend's happiness.

All four actors in MSBB do a really good job playing their parts. Eric Nyland plays the off kilter Beethoven with ease and a craze that comes off effortlessly. Tracy Penner nails the her part as the wife who struggles with her love for her husband and her want for a child at any cost. Tom Keenan does a fine job as the hopeless husband, but his Mennonite accent seemed to wane at times. Daria Puttaert did a good job at portraying strong hearted and one line zinger Teen.

Armin Wiebe said in his talkback that it he started thinking of ideas for this play in 1996.
Having watched the play, it is evident that the characters have lived inside his head for a long time, all having fully fleshed out character traits and wants.

His talkback in a whole was rather vague to me however, as I don't think I received a deeper understanding for the play after he spoke to us (the uncomfortable writer persona shinning through). When asked why he featured Ludwig Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata (Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor), the response we received was because he liked it. I was hopping for more of an explanation as the piece is rampantly featured in the play, but que sera sera.

MSBB is not a play that I would have picked to go to myself. The plot for the play isn't the most original, but the characters and their quirks made the play interesting overall. I'd give it 3 Roger Ebert's out of 5.

My Mother Bought a 3DS - Welcome to the Game System Revolution

A tinier me on the 3DS

My mother bought a 3DS this past weekend. She headed down to Shoppers Drug Mart handed over her chalked filled points card and got a virtually free gaming system. Yes, my fifty year old mother owns a 3DS before her technological and game system savvy twenty-three year old daughter.

Luckily for me, I have a kind mother who has let me fool around with her shiny aqua 3DS. (Okay, I ran away with it and she is at the moment hunting me down. So if I don't return any calls or if you don't see me in the next week -- I'm six feet under.)

Old vs New

The 3DS is approximately the same size of a DS Lite, but it weights a bit more than its game device ancestor. When I first opened the 3DS, I was surprised at how capable the 3D graphics were. It is like having a small 3D movie theater in the palm of your hand. I like not having to wear the horrible 3D glasses over my own prescription pair (which has to be one of the most uncomfortable things ever). The downside is that you really have to stare straight-on to get the full 3D effect (or it looks all awkward with lines all funny and shapes blurred).

The system comes with some AR Cards that let you play a few simple 3D games like fishing and archery. They're not much, but they do show off the power of the game system. But after a few playthroughs, they become monotonous and don't add much to the gaming repertoire.

These are the cards that hold a window into your 3DS' soul

Unfortunately, I don't own any 3DS games yet. Yeah, so not much is going on in that department. I did try a few DS games on the handheld however, and they play fine. I really like being able to use the slide pad as it makes playing games feel more natural after playing on the bigger consoles (I played Okamiden and it felt right at home having played its bigger mama game before). The downside to playing DS games on the 3DS is that games are stretched and get a washed-out effect, colours muted and drab looking. There is a cheat to get a better resolution if you hold down the Select and Start button when you press the game icon however. It makes the game screen really tiny though, four big black bars surrounding game image on the top and bottom screen.

Another downside is that the Nintendo eStore will not be available until May. That means no downloads (DS or 3DS wise). No internet connection as it is either. For a $250 machine, you think they would at least have the internet working for their launch. And let 3DS users access the DSiWare shop.

Me and my mother's 3DS

As of now, the 3DS is only a beautiful piece of equipment that sits in its personal cradle imploring me to buy a game that will show off its full potential. I stand my my previous post that Nintendo hasn't released any game that I need to play right now (I have a real cat and Super Street Fighting IV is on every system). I'll be waiting not so patiently for the summer and fall releases instead. Bur for now I'll stick to playing PC games like Wandering Willows and Gemini Rue (a Pokemon/Animal Crossing/FarmVille/Rune Factory hybrid strategy game and a noir-thriller adventure game), until Nintendo really wants to wow me.

George Takei as Spider-Man

You have my vote Mr. Takei.

Nintendo 3DS

The Nintendo 3DS came out Sunday in America, bought by thousands of people who couldn't wait to get their hands on the 3D gaming system. Unfortunately, I was not apart of that vague statistic.

Besides living on a student budget, the 3DS game launch hasn't released anything that I have to buy immediately. Not even knowing about future releases like Zelda: Ocarina of Time can make me purchase the 3DS in a impassioned Nintendo frenzy (I still own it on the N64). But hearing about later releases such as Harvest Moon, the Phoenix and Layton crossover, Paper Mario, and the Shin Megami Tensei games, I question if the previous sentence was just said out of bitterness and jealously.

I think I might wait for the next incarnation of the 3DS to come out (like I did for the DS). Nintendo tends to launch their systems with a small handful of games I'd like to play, but as its catalog grows bigger and its selection better, my need to buy their system grows with it.