Gary Friedman and Sharon Gelber are offering workshops and lectures that explore creativity, and activating the brain to prime the learner. These workshops will be held in Europe, Canada and the United States-I’ve emailed and will update when I find out where in Canada they will be held. I’m particularily interested in the Puppetry on Television Workshop. Check out more information, including videos at http://africanpuppet.blogspot.com/

Mike Harding (Chief Puppeteer) at Applefun Puppetry has listed his new schedule. If you are in the Toronto area, I recommend bringing the kids and checking out one of his shows.

Check out Applefun Puppetry Schedule HERE

Okay this post is really specific to people who live in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA); CANADA for people who weren’t sure. I am a bit of a puppetry video collector. I have tons of puppet DVD’s and videos of shows that some people don’t even realize are on DVD or video. I also like to collect more mainstream puppet show DVDs and today I found something I am totally excited about.

At Loblaws stores (specifically the one in Milton, Ontario) I found the Nanalan DVDs that came out a couple of years ago and that seemed to have disappeared from any store completely. They are not the newer CBC 30 minute episodes, but rather the earlier YTV shorts (At least I think they are; I haven’t even opened them yet). At any rate I have them now and they were under $4.00 each. If you too love the Grogs and are a collector of puppet related DVD/videos, then get to the Loblaws in Milton or check you local Loblaws to see if they have them.

An event over Christmas made me remember a short film I saw a couple of years ago called ‘The Firefly Man’. It’s a mixture of many different styles of animation and puppetry.The film is not only a feast for the eyes but also has a good story element following the circle of life and death.

I saw the film on a dvd which I think was called “shorts - best of the fesitvals” but I noticed while searching the internet that you can watch the short film on the atom films website. Click here for the link