Local Arts

WINNIPEG: Frank Albo, a real-life Robert Langdon, is warming to his topic. "This building," he says, "is telling a story. It's telling a story through the language that temples spoke." The building is the Manitoba Legislature.

TROY, N.Y.: Pretty nearly everyone can describe Uncle Sam, the symbolic face of the United States. He has a top hat, a goatee, red-and-white striped pants and a blue jacket (colours borrowed from Old Glory, the U.S. national flag), right? Wrong.

Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker Random House, 289 pages, $26 The Earth's rotation is slowing down and everything is affected as the days and nights get longer.

Ensemble performing Christmas opera-oratorio Saturday

Jesse Cook performing at the Orpheum Theatre Sunday night

Erin McPhee Top 10 Albums 1. Kathleen Edwards Voyageur (MapleMusic) 2. Fiona Apple The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do (Epic Records) 3.

THIS year in film was full of stories associated with the disenfranchised, the 99 per cent. Whether by the happy accident of studio timing or quick-thinking in the editing room, it was "in" to be "out.

EVERY Tuesday night while she was studying at Dalhousie University in Halifax Rose Cousins would perform on Open Mic nights at the Tickle Trunk, a little basement bar that doesn't exist anymore.

WHEN December rains get you feeling Grinchy, there's no better cure than the upcoming lineup of holiday films, several of which are poised to enter the Oscar race next year. (A few are definitely not.) See if you can spot the difference. Dec.

Marcus Mosely Chorale Christmas Concert - Joy! An Evening of Gospel Music in the Christmas Spirit at St. Andrew's-Wesley Church, 1022 Nelson St. at Burrard, Dec. 7 and 8 at 7: 30 p.m. Tickets $25.