; Fun! Fun! Vancouver!: July 2011

Monday 25 July 2011

The Outgames are Here!



So the North American Outgames are in town this week!

I'm volunteering for them and it's been fun and chaotic and a great way to meet new people! I'll be volunteering all week, and it's Pride as well! So, definitely hoping to have a good week ahead!

Anyhow, happy Pride to everyone and enjoy the Outgames!!

Wednesday 20 July 2011

Teenage Dream



Oh to float around on a cotton candy cloud. That's what Katy Perry did last night at her last Canadian stop of her sold out California Dreams tour. I managed to snag tickets to the exclusive event after checking on Ticketmaster every single day until more tickets were released.

I loved that the entire show centered around her "kitty" and following her into a magical world full of candy and cupcakes. Her cover of Whitney's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" was a high point, as were all of her hits. I wished she had saved Teenage Dream for later on in the show instead of opening with it, but it was still awesome to jump up and down screaming like a schoolgirl when it started.

"Have you guys ever been depressed? Some of you don't even know what that word even means. Oh to be nine again." She was very interactive with the audience, talking and making jokes. It was nice to see that she comes across as funny and quirky live as she does in her videos. Her sense of humour really shines through! She talked about going bowling in Vancouver, how she loves Canada because we spell "coloured" the right way, because there is colour in U!

From the moment we stepped into the stadium, we were greeted with folks selling cotton candy. How fun is that! She had several moments where she allowed audience members up on the stage, including one lucky guy who was only allowed up if he took his shirt off. He complied, got up there, and got a kiss from Katy and she even allowed him to return one. Very sweet!

And not to mention the entourage of fans she brought up to dance during I Wanna Dance With Somebody. She took one girl aside and asked if she wanted to take a photo together for her Facebook. Too cute!

And then there's her singing ability. I've seen her sing live on tv and it has SUCKED. So, I did not expect much. But she delivered! She sounded great last night!

It was a fun show, light and fluffy and perfect for the summer!

Thursday 14 July 2011

Martin Creed exhibit

This past weekend I visited the Rennie Collection, currently hosting an exhibit on British/Scottish artist Martin Creed. I was really excited about this show because it was one of his pieces that reached out to me one cold lonely night. Specifically, it was the piece "Work No. 560 - Everything is Going To Be Alright" which is on permanent display here in Vancouver on the outside of the Wing Sang building.



The first piece that you experience is a room full of pink balloons. It's titled "Half The Amount of Air in Any Given Space" and you literally have to walk through this room. I was basically screaming the entire way because I was TERRIFIED that one of the giant balloons was going to explode in my face. I have a major fear of balloons popping!!

I quite liked the second piece, named The Broccoli Prints, of which there were 1000.

broccoli prints by spinning_around


One of the most hilarious and unique things I've ever seen in an art gallery has to be this installment, titled The Runners. It features stone-faced sprinters running through the art gallery at 20 second intervals. When the tour guide was trying to tell us about a piece, it was hard to not break into laughter when suddenly a sprinter would round the perimeter of the room. We were told that The Runners represent life (if death = stillness, then life = fast motion). The artist also wanted to create art in motion, as the runners become a blur of colour.

sprinter1 by spinning_around


sprinter2 by spinning_around


There was also a film of people inducing vomiting, and a room full of metronomes going. I highly enjoyed and recommend this exhibit! It runs until October.