Scar Tissue at the Arts Club on Granville Island

I knew nothing about Scar Tissue until I was reading their promo brochure. It was a play based on a novel by Michel Ignatieff (yes, the politician) about a family coping with the mother's Alzheimer's Disease and facing the reality that the children and grand children may carry the same genes.

This story was written for the reality of  looking into the sometimes difficult relationships we have with our parents and siblings and maybe trying to understand and forgive not only their flaws but also our own.

The Importance of Being Earnest & The Barber of Seville

I NEED ART!

I've been in a cave for the past year. Or is it more like a tunnel? Well, OK, in reality it's only librarianship school (although there are many a times when I am in serious darkness).  In any case, I'm starting to get a glimpse of light. I am coming to the end. 

For the last month, I have worked on reports on Energy Consumption in Indonesia and Japan, The Impact of the Housing Market in Canada, The Print and Non-Print Serial Collection of a Small Library, have catalogued many items, done an inventory of a photograph archive, researched reliable Image Scanning Vendors in the lower mainland, and have answered countless reference questions. 

My brain and body are aching for balance!

I've started going to yoga again, started my training for the half-marathon in May that I have signed up for, and this last two weeks, I went to see the Canucks vs Bluejackets, saw The Importance of Being Earnest and The Barber of Seville. 

First the Canucks. I went on St. Patrick's day -- the one where Edler got his groove on. Going to a live game is so much more exciting than not. The whole place was thumpin' with that cracking ice sound and light effects. That dancing little boy was even there as mini-Fin.

On Thursday, I saw Oscar Wilde's, The Importance of Being Earnest at the Stanley Theatre. The main character was that guy from the A&W commercials, Ryan Beil. I did not enjoy him. His accent and intonations were ridiculous and exaggerated. I read the Georgia Straight review, they weren't impressed with the show at all. I, on the other hand, didn't mind it. I enjoyed the story and the other cast members. I found the set was quite playful and unexpected. Overall, I think it's worth seeing.

Last night, was the third show of the Vancouver Opera -- The Barber of Seville. I really liked this one. Maybe it's because I needed a light topic after so much heaviness. This was fun and light. I really liked the female lead, she was beautiful and she was not afraid to be goofy. She was quite funny when she was mocking and mimicking the antagonist. This would be a good one to go to if you've never gone to the opera.

So, that's it for my Art fix for now. Back to work for me.

The Graduate

I went to a see Last Tango in Paris with a very young friend last year when it played at Vancity Theatre. It was both our first time seeing this very famous movie that everyone seemed to know about. The most famous scene being the butter scene. Anyways, my friend was absolutely appalled and disgusted. She could not understand why this movie would be so famous. I, being the older one (saw more movies/experiences) earnestly attempted to defend "art." I explained that "art's" existence is not to be liked or loved, "art's" job is to invoke emotion - good or bad.

http://www.artsclub.com/20102011/plays/graduate.htm

When you see good art (theatre in this case), you instinctively feel something. The Graduate failed to make me feel. I did not empathize with the characters. I cannot exactly identify the reasons why, maybe it's because I had the original images of Dustin Hoffman, Ann Bancroft and Catherine Ross and expected too much (like seeing a movie after reading the book). 

"In 1996, The Graduate was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It ranked as the seventh greatest film of all time on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies." <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Graduate>

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf

http://www.artsclub.com/20102011/plays/whos-afraid-of-virginia-woolf.htm

What a beautiful night it was on Saturday with the snow falling and all of Granville Island blanketed in white, it was just magical. This peaceful, Christmas feeling outside was in direct contrast to the feeling that "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" invoked. Don't get me wrong, I liked it. I'm just saying it's not warm and fuzzy.
I could only imagine how draining it was for the actors to be on this play. The main characters of Martha and George, seemed to had poured themselves in the roles. If you had never seen it before, You Tube it and you will see some excerpts from the movie with Liz Taylor and Richard Burton.

This play took zinging and cocktails into olympic level.