Sounds Like Fun

The Vancouver Art Gallery! The place that I always swear to check out since I moved to Vancouver but never did….till now!

So what’s my take on the place? Honestly? It’s good depending who you go with. Someone who is
1) Into Art (OBVIOUSLY!)
2) A date

If they don’t fall into either of these categories, you will probably dropped $20 just for a 30 minute walk in a nice fancy 3 floored building or you will have to ditch the classless person you went with . Going with the right person or people this could be a full day event!

Unfortunately cameras are not allowed so this review does not come with pictures, it would kind of defeat the purpose of going ;-p. Currently they have 3 different exhibits going on Expanding Horizons: Painting and Photography of American and Canadian Landscape 1860-1918, artworks by Scott McFarland, and From the Collection:Is Only The Mind Allowed to Wander.

The first two collections are your more contemporary type of art and the last is more of an abstract. If you don’t find these interesting don’t worry the Art Gallery changes it collection quite frequently so hit up there website to see what’s on display!

I started a bit late around 3:30 and only so allowed enough time to fully go thru the Expanding Horizons exhibit but I discovered my favorite painting. It was titled Lake Superior and was painted by Lawren Harris, and it is an amazing pastel colored painting of a single cloud over Lake Superior. Just by looking at just made me happy and relaxed! Now that is art!!!

Hopefully I will have enough money to buy it, but for now I will settle for a print :-p. Although I couldn’t find the exact painting online below is a shot of some of his work.

The first recently sold for $3.5 million, and the second one comes close to looking like the painting I liked.

So had the cojones to ask out that someone that caught your eye, they agreed and now you got yourself a date! Congratulations! Only problem…you need a good date idea that’s a little more exciting the your coffee date or dinner and a movie. This will show them you are are unique and thoughtful or at least you can use the Internet :-p.

Well here are my top 10 places to take someone on a date in Vancouver during the Winter season. In no particular order….just what magically pops into my head is the order they go in.

These are perfect first date ideas for things to do in Vancouver as all of them allow for some great conversation, they are not like a movie or a show where you have to “ferme la bush” (yes I’m cultured ;-p) the whole time.

As Mary Jane use to always say to Peter Parker, “You get’em Tiger!”. And remember the city is your playground!

After a long day at the office, I agreed to meet up with some friends at the Richmond Olympic Oval on Wednesday. Driving towards the Oval in the night, it really stands out, it just glows!

The whole complex is very much like the new Vancouver Convention Center, the blend of metal with wood give it a very high tech BC feel. *Thumbs Up*. Admission prices on the other hand *Thumbs Down* $12.50! Yeap that’s right you pay $12.50 for the privilege to skate in a oval, albeit an official Vancouver 2010 Olympic venue :-p.

I laced up my skates, and if you are use to regular ice rink the first thing you will notice about the ice at the Oval is….it is HARD. The Oval is geared for speed skating so the hard ice reduces friction and that’s how records are set. I did a quick lookup and the current 500m Speed Skating record is 34.42 seconds set by Casey FitzRandolph of the US set in Salt Lake 2002.

My personal best was 54.1 seconds, keep in mind I was tired :-p, had hockey skates, had to dodge people, and I had no skin tight aerodynamic suit! I have a much greater appreciate of the skills of the athletes of these events.

What the Oval might prove to be is the great place to workout, as the weight room current overlooks the  whole Oval. So you can people watch as you workout. You can watch the people skate around the oval while people play badminton and basketball in the middle of the Oval. BUT the $12.50 drop-in fee applies to the gym as well!

Hopefully the price will drop to a reasonable rate after the Olympics as for now the only really justification to pay the  ”milk them cause we can” price is purely for the bragging rights.

I would have liked to been more prompt with writing this review but I have been busy setting this website up. If the name doesn’t give it away let me explain: it’s a Halloween Party that takes place on Skytrain! It’s run by Vancouver Public Space Network and this year was the 3rd year.

The event all started at VCC station, where you get to check out the crowd of people you will hang out with for the night. Costumes varied from the classic bedsheet ghost (easy), some hot pirates and some not so hot pirates, some costumes that kept you staring at them SOLELY wondering how they is not freeeeeeze , to my personal favorite Jabba the Hut accompanied by a Princess Leia!

To be honest the skytrain ride itself reminded me of my commute to work, but it we did manage to sing some classic drinking songs, although we couldn’t drink :-p, and my friend did manage to crowd surf her way around the train, probably the first person ever unless someone can dispute it.

After about 40 minutes maybe an hour the skytrain made it’s way to Stadium station where everyone unloaded and a slightly disorganized group of people ventured to Fortune Sound Lounge. I DIDN’T even know there was a club in Chinatown, but there is! (I’ll do a review of that club on a regular night in a future post.)

The music started out to be Top 40 early on to get everyone pumped up and ready to party, but then turned completely to House and Trance. Not the biggest fan of Techno anymore but if you are into it, you would have had a blast!

But with every event it’s the people that make a event fun or not, and the crowd was a good diverse mix of people, and everyone that night had smiles on there faces, and were all open for some small talk.

If you are reading this you have MUST be a veteran Internet guru as you have discovered “The What” page that is currently under construction by 1000 monkeys on 2000 computers…yes that’s right each monkey operates 2 computers at once.

Please visit us later once this page gets going to find out what great fun events there are to do in Vancouver and Victoria.

Sounds Like Fun!

~The city is our playground~