Being Cultured: Best of the Week

Best things I watched last week (I forgot to post this last Sunday):
I was completely blown away with the sweet movie Adam, starring Damages' Rose Byrne as the neighbour of a man who has aspergers syndrome. It is a sweet but atypical rom-com that was perfect for my exhausted state of mind on Saturday afternoon while G was at work.
I was disappointed by this week's Private Practice and Grey's Anatomy. Sometimes I wonder why I still watch them. Make it or Break it was great as always this week.

Saturday(yesterday):

We finally checked out the Canamade marketplace in Gastown. The space used to be "Storywum", an interactive look at B.C.'s history. That major attraction only lasted for 2 years. It was expensive and just a bit inaccurate in its portrayal of how B.C. became B.C. Anyhow, the future of the space looks good. If everything works, it will be a series of art studies for various mediums and could be an interesting community space in the heart of the downtown eastside (DTES).

What about the marketplace, though? Well...it was disappointing to say the least. In fact, I am embarrassed that the art within the space is what international visitors saw as representative of Canadian art! I had been looking forward to going to Canamade for months. It was around for the Olympics and then again for the Paralympics, closing today. There are many 'craft' fairs in the city that are temporarily set-up throughout the year. The ones that I have been to have been a lot more interesting and featured much more diverse art and craft.

After going to Canamade, G and I went to check out the Canada Pavilion/Live City Downtown. The lineups were really long for all of the Olympics, so we waited until the last minute to check things out. We went through the lineup and poked around all within 40 minutes. Going to this was another huge disappointment. This is how we want to represent ourselves to visitors?

Hume: Canada's Olympic pavilion an ugly pre-fab dud

Feds' official building is a $10 million architectural portrait of public-sector cynicism  - you can read some of the criticism here and see a short video with some peoples' reactions to this monstrosity. 

CentrePlace Manitoba was also within the same area. You can look at the pavilion here. 


After grabbing a bite to eat at Nuba, we wandered around Robson St. for a bit before heading to an early show at the Media Club. I won tickets for G and I to go to the 'POSTDATA - 
BRIAN BORCHERDT, JULIE FADER' show. I really enjoyed the venue, which I had never been to before, and seeing Julie Fader live. The venue is nice and intimate, and Julie invited everyone to move up close to the stage and sit down in front of her. You can listen to her music here.

I watched lots of movies this week: 
-View From the Top starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Mark Ruffalo
-Great Expectations starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke
-Thank You for Smoking starring Aaron Eckhart and in a small role, Katie Holmes
-Proof starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Jake Gyllenhaal