YOU LOOK SO LOVELY IN THE MOONLIGHT

The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz is a play written by former Creative Communications instructor Armin Wiebe. He’s the author of three novels set in the fictional town of Gutenthal, Manitoba, and wrote the award-winning novel Tatsea. The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz was Wiebe’s first foray into playwriting.

The play was produced by Theatre Projects Manitoba, and directed by Kim McCaw. It was staged at the Rachel Browne Theatre in mid-April.

Photo of Armin Wiebe

The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz is play about a Mennonite couple, Obrum (Tom Keenan) and Susch Kehler (Tracy Penner), who live on the outskirts of town and are unable to conceive a child after two years of marriage. Obrum, a hard-working farmer purchases a piano in a state of disrepair. He invites Beethoven Blatz (Eric Nyland) to fix the piano, with the hope that Blatz will eventually teach Susch to play the instrument. The story unfolds from there. 

The central theme of the play is about unfulfilled desires that are seemingly unattainable. Obrum and Susch want to conceive a child, but are unable to after two years of marriage. Blatz wants to play music with his sweet Sonya, who presumably died in his homeland.  Teen (Daria Puttaert), Susch’s best friend, wants to foster an unconventional relationship with her.

Picture of the set used in the play

In so far as the play went, I enjoyed it for the most part. The one aspect of the production I did not like was the repetitiveness. Susch kept repeating ad nauseam that she was unable to conceive a child, and that it made her feel empty and unfulfilled as a woman and wife. I personally didn’t think that point had to be emphasized quite as much as it was. I think it was quite evident that that was Susch’s major grievance.

I also thought the play went through too many periods of inaction and introspection. The play had many scenes that weren’t really necessary. The characters’ desires and inner conflicts were evident, and the scenes that provided constant introspection were, in my opinion, pointless. If some of these scenes were removed, the pace of the story would be greatly improved, and there would be no lulls in the play.


During a talkback with Wiebe following the play, he explained that the play was an adaptation of a short story he wrote 15 years ago. I thought it was very interesting that even though the original story was written so long ago, that the process of revising and editing it to the point where it could become a play was constant.   

Regardless of my minor issues with the play, I thought as a whole The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz was amusing and entertaining.  

A FUTURE IN MEDIA PRODUCTION?

Not this guy...

Well, it's official. I know how to use Final Cut Pro - poorly... but that doesn't matter.

I shot this montage as a school assignment. It's supposed to be humorous, but I'll let you be the judge. The music track is by Wolf Parade, and the song is Modern World. I got my sister to star in the montage. Many thanks to her for putting up with my incompetent directorial debut.  I'd like to think that if I had to do it over, it would look much better...

That being said, I still like what I shot. Enjoy! (hopefully...)

NO SUCH THING AS PRIVACY ONLINE

As a student in a communications program, I use various social media tools, whether it be Facebook, Twitter, or blogging for that matter. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that there's no such thing as privacy online. The very notion that something you put on Facebook is private is, quite frankly, laughable.

This is why I found this story very amusing...

According to an article I read on CTV's website, a junior Conservative staffer named Tony Phillips used his Facebook page to blast Stephen Harper's media strategy. Harper's team has placed restrictions on the number of questions the media can ask him while campaigning.

Phillips works as a communications and legislative assistant to British Columbia MP Dona Cadman. He's clearly in a position where he should keep his views to himself; however, he decided to write "when Sun Media starts to attack our AMAZING government, you know stupidity has prevailed amongst communications people."

'Stupidity' it seems, has made its way to Cadman's communications people...

MP Dona Cadman

Now, I don't necessarily disagree with his statement. Harper should be more open to questions from the media. However, Phillips is in a position in which he never should have made those comments in the first place. As a staffer for a Conservative Party MP, those kinds of statements should have been kept to himself.

The funny thing is that I genuinely believe he thought those comments would only be seen by his friends. This becomes quite clear given what he told the Canadian Press.

The Canadian Press contacted him for an interview regarding the statements he wrote online. Phillips stated "I can't comment on that because that's a personal Facebook page and being in the political position I'm in, that would not be the best career move for me." He added, "I did (share my opinion) with my 800 (Facebook) friends, of which you are not one of them."

The moral of this story you ask? Don't write compromising statements on Facebook about your employers. Privacy settings are a joke, and anything you write will ultimately come back to bite you in the ass -  as I'm sure Tony Phillips has learned.