September 2010 – Nicolas Demers

Vancouver International Fringe Festival

I don’t think I’d ever gone to a Fringe show before, and this year I went to two! It should have been three, but I’d double-booked myself on Friday and missed Morgan Brayton’s Raccoonery. I thought about rescheduling (which would have meant buying another ticket, since Fringe policy clearly states there are no refunds or exchanges), but I’d just come down with a cold, so that plan was kaput. Still, I got to enjoy two really excellent shows:

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

Dr. Horrible, live on stage, in front of an audience! And it was awesome. All the scenes, all the songs, plus a few extra surprise ones from Commentary: The Musical, which I’ve never watched so they were brand new (“Ninja Ropes,” “Nobody’s Asian In The Movies”, and “Nobody Wants To Be Moist”). All the classic lines were there, eagerly awaited (“The hammer is my penis.” “The thoroughbred of sin?”), along with a brand new one that got a big laugh from the crowd: when Billy and Moist were discussing truly evil deeds to impress Bad Horse, Moist suggested “slashing funds to the BC arts community.”

(Ooo, politics! See, it’s funny because the Campbell government is evil.)

They did a great job of adapting the action for a small stage with very few actors (for example, in the heist scene the truck was first a tiny remote-controlled one, then left completely offstage.) The actors were fine; the actress playing Penny was a little weaker, and I thought her voice was too soft, but aside from that, no complaints. I absolutely loved the show.

Fucking Stephen Harper

I wasn’t really sure what to expect with Fucking Stephen Harper: How I Sexually Assaulted the 22^nd Prime Minister of Canada and Saved Democracy. I sort of thought we’d get a humorous retelling of the incident where he accidentally touched Stephen Harper’s junk and was charged with sexual assault (though that charge was eventually dismissed). What it turned into was a blistering rant on Canadian Conservative politics, the explicit homophobia of lots of Conservative neanderthals past and present, including the dead-eyed Bush Lite currently running our country, and the apathy of many gay Canadians who think we’ve got it pretty good here. And we do, no question, but there are people in power right now doing their best to turn back the clock and impose their version of Christianity on the country. Whether or not they succeed is up to us.

I really should start on Marci McDonald’s The Armageddon Factor, shouldn’t I?

Lighthouse Park

A few photos I took the other day in Lighthouse Park, West Vancouver.

Davie Day 2010

Ah, the Davie Day festival, the time when local businesses and community groups come out to shine. In the last five years my attendance has been pretty sporadic—last year, for instance, I just remember briefly going up and down Davie Street, saying hi to a few friends, and that was it. But this year, I thought I’d be a little more involved. That meant pictures!

The stretch of Davie between Thurlow and Bute held all the fair-like attractions: an old-time picture booth, complete with faux vintage clothes, a display of vintage cars, a play area for the kiddies in front of the police station… and hunky guys with swords!

Didn’t expect to see the Academie Duello here, since they’re not local to the West End. But I’m also glad to see them, since I missed their show at the PNE. Didn’t quite work up the nerve to handle their swords, though…

And more PNE-style goodness: a horse-drawn carriage! Don’t see those too often outside of Stanley Park. And blacksmiths actually forging shoes!

West of Bute was the haven for local artists. All up and down the street I checked out lovely paintings, sculptures and various crafts. No pictures, though.

The east end, between Thurlow and Burrard, is where you’ll find all the political and activist groups. And ping-pong, for some reason.

I volunteered at the Outgames booth, helping to spread the news about what’s coming to Vancouver next summer. Though to be honest, mostly I stayed under the tent because the weather had turned cold and rainy.

And to be even more honest, I’m not that enthusiastic about the games anymore. The volleyball event still hasn’t been officially declared since VGVA decided not to host (a decision I supported, for many reasons which I won’t get into right now), forcing the Outgames board to look for another host group. I guess Volleyball BC is the next logical choice, but it looks like that hasn’t been finalised. So… there may not even be a volleyball event? Well, that’d be kind of a bummer but, in the grand scheme of things, not that big a deal. It’s only a North American event, after all, and there are plenty of other volleyball tournaments going on. So yeah, we’ll see what happens.

PNE 2010: Rain, Candy, Pigs and Quacks

We got in right under the buzzer. Some friends and I made our annual pilgrimage to the PNE on September 6^th, the very last day. It was cold and showery, but I didn’t let that bother me. There was fun to be had!

First, Candy Nation, a history of candy through the ages—well, really just modern candy, since 1900 or thereabouts, though there were a few bits about sweets of the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

And of course, no candy exhibit would be complete without some actual (ridiculously cheap) candy to buy. I, uh, may have indulged in a few pieces.

Then the dog show, always fun. I caught the tail end of it (no pun intended) last year, which consisted mostly of bloopers: you know, releasing cute little puppies in the arena while older dogs are trying to do their thing, sure to get a laugh or an awwwww from the audience. But we sat through the early parts, and it’s actually pretty exciting, with some real tests of skill.

My only question is: one of the dogs was introduced as “Lady Gaga”, but I don’t think it ended up competing. What happened to Gaga?

The biggest disappointment was missing a performance by people from the Academie Duello. But we left the dog show too late, and got to there (apparently) just after the duellists had packed up for the day. Boo. Still, no big deal. The rain had stopped for the moment, so we wandered around looking at cans.

Then, contortionists. It was a pretty good show, though we had to run under cover when the rain came back. Those kids do have the skill, but most of them didn’t have much of a stage presence. Ah, well, I’m sure they’ll grow into it.

And no visit to the PNE is complete without a tour of the prize home (this year, it’s somewhere near Kelowna).

And then you’ve got the farm, with the duckies and bunnies and cows and horsies and huge sows with their eight (count ’em!) suckling piglets.

Speaking of pigs, I watched them race for the first time. It was a lot of fun, though over too soon. Those pigs can really run!

Mini donuts, cos you gotta have mini donuts at the PNE!

On the other hand, no visit to the PNE marketplace is complete without running into a couple of pseudoscientific garbage. Here we have an “ionic footbath”, meant to detoxify and help you live longer. The (ionic) water is supposed to turn different colours based on which organ the toxins come from, but all the ones on display and in use were the same dark reddish brown colour.

And in the Home Depot pavillion (along with many booths, including one model of the upcoming new BC Place, complete with animation of the retractable roof), artwork from some artists in the East Side Culture Crawl. Can’t wait!