North American VA Update: July 2009!

Hi Moonies! We've got another North American VA exclusive for you all at the end (we always save the best things for last)!

The Death of Alice Blue to Finally Have Canadian Premiere!

A movie we have been following for a very long time is finally going to premiere in its home country! The Death of Alice Blue (part I - The Bloodsucking Vampires of Advertising) has been invited for its Canadian premiere to the Montreal World Film Festival. This one runs from August 27th to September 7th, and we'd tell you more except that as of this writing none of the films showing this year have been announced on the site. We wonder if any of the VAs in this one (Barbara Radecki, Katie Griffin and her husband Michael Kulas) are going to attend? Congratulations to Park Bench and Alex Appel for finally getting this movie a premiere in Canada and here's hoping it gets a distributor so the rest of us can see it soon!

A Sapphire Shines Again!

Lyon Smith (Prince Sapphire) shared some news and stories with us! He has his own official site now which we encourage fans to go visit - he posts a lot of really cool links to his works too! While his time on Sailor Moon wasn't as pleasant as many fans may think it might have been, he is also excited about a possible redub and if he was given the chance he would do it again! Hey FUNImation, are you reading this? Consider Canada for a re-dub! This is our second official VA that has confirmed to be interested in reprising their role for a re-dub of Sailor Moon (this is great news for Operation Moonrise)! Some fans may not know this behind-the-scenes story, but when Lyon was first cast he was called in to replace Tuxedo Mask. It was his first series that he had landed as a regular! At the time though, production was too intense (and we've heard similar stories from other actors from those first years). But the show did launch his voice career, and since then he has voiced memorable roles in other anime, cartoons and video games! He played Pythias in Mythic Warriors: Guardians of Legend, the Mysterious Guy in Biohazard 0, Kevin and Michael in Beyblade, Ed in Get Ed, Magma in Spider Riders, and he is currently appearing in Bakugan Battle Brawlers which has been a huge hit with the kids all over North America! In the first season he played Masquerade, and in the second season (which is recording right now) he plays Prince Hydron. And this prince's voice is based on none other, but the Japanese voice of Prince Diamond! We really admire Lyon Smith for watching episodes of Sailor Moon in Japanese - we're not sure how many others have (we know Roland Parliament did for sure). He will be reprising his role as Masquerade for the upcoming Bakugan video game. And there's even more Lyon to be heard in CBC's Magi-Nation - he plays the hero, Tony Jones! In another awesome coincidence, Lyon was also a student of Roland's!

Lyon Smith is also a budding musician - he writes his own music and also helps out with sound design for plays in Toronto. He currently composed music and worked sound design for the play A Singularity of Being, which is loosely based on the life of Steven Hawking. Lyon's music is really worth checking out if you're into alternative rock! He covered the song You Believe in Rock and Roll for a David Bowie tribute album (2.CONTAMINATE) which is on iTunes. He has his own site for fans to check out his music - and altrock fans will take a liking! There's even a bit of experimental and mashing in there too. And best of all, all the music is free! He is also on MySpace as well. We once again encourage all our readers to check out his music.

Special thanks to Lyon and best of luck on your upcoming works!