The Buzz

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This article was published 27/11/2013 (1391 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RANDALL KING / MOVIES

Movies about heaven are for real

Coming soon to a theatre near you — and launching a full-court press on your heartstrings — is director Randall Wallace's feature drama Heaven Is for Real, based on Todd Burpo's book about his young son returning from a near-death experience with mysterious knowledge of past events. Shot in Winnipeg earlier this year, the movie is due April 16 next year, but the trailer has just been released and is on view at http://wfp.to/8rR.

BRAD OSWALD / TV

From Anatomy to automotively

It turns out McDreamy really wanted to be McSpeedy all along. Patrick Dempsey — a.k.a. Grey's Anatomy's resident heartthrob, Dr. Derek Shepherd — has a very nice career as a TV actor, but what he'd actually like to be is a race-car driver. And he gets to pursue that dream in the new docu-reality series Patrick Dempsey: Racing Le Mans, which premières Sunday, Dec. 1, on Discovery World. "When you're in a long (running) show, there's less discovery and more of an endurance (test) of having to be present and to do your job and find ways to keep yourself turned on in something that you know is going to be A, B, and C," Demspsey said last summer. "It doesn't change. In a race, it changes constantly. Every lap, every corner, every moment of that day is changing. And that, to me, is very exciting and keeps me alive."

ANTHONY AUGUSTINE / MUSIC

Haunter plays final show

Winnipeg noise-pop slackers Haunter are, unfortunately, calling it quits after releasing one of the best local albums of the year, Rivers & Rust. Before they move on to other projects, the group is also releasing a collection of B sides, outtakes and rarities on Bandcamp. It's released using a name-your-price model, so if you like what you hear, make sure to pay something for your download. Preview the group's other albums at haunter-music.bandcamp.com. Haunter will perform one last time on Nov. 29 at the Windsor. Lukewarm and DJ Co-op are also on the bill.

JEN ZORATTI / MUSIC

Sweet (local) sounds of the season

Winnipeg multi-instrumentalist and producer Rusty Matyas (Imaginary Cities, Weakerthans) teamed up with his wife Savanna (an occupational therapist who happens to have a great set of pipes) to record the just-released Stocking Stuffers, a candy-cane sweet collection of their favourite holiday songs, including an original titled Under the Mistletoe. Initially conceived to be a gift for friends and family, the project developed into a fully produced, full-length album well worth decking your halls to. Digital copies are available on iTunes and physical copies are available at Music Trader, Into the Music and the Folk Festival Music Store.

KEVIN PROKOSH / THEATRE

We know him

Yes, that's former Winnipeg actor Rob Slade twerking in the video for Lily Allen's comeback single Hard Out There. A veteran of every local stage, Slade decamped for London in 2005 and has since appeared in the Bond film Casino Royale, played multiple characters in the computer games So Blonde and ShellShock2 and is the voice of Robert Carlyle's computer in The Final Enemy. In Allen's satirical swipe at sexism in pop music, Slade gets plenty of face time as her hip-thrusting doctor.