Nuit Blanche, the all night art exhibition got off to a slow, uninspiring start for us this year. We saw a bunch of exhibits that sounded very lofty and meaningful in the writeups, but just didn't measure up when we saw them, mostly because we didn't understand the point. For example, there was the the big log fire at Yonge Dundas Square as well as a large burning metal acorn at Campbell House. There were the "interactive" lights in the lower Bay subway which didn't really do anything. It was cool to see the secret second subway platform where many movies have been filmed, but not worth the huge lineup. At Atrium on the Bay, we watched either 3 people and a dummy (or 4 people with one in a very suffocating mask who didn't move) sitting around not doing too much while a video screen showed upside down images (intentionally or not??)
From our early viewings, I liked "Smile" - the collage of faces broadcast on the Holt Renfrew building while the jazz song of the
title played. Rich liked the visual display on the ROM crystal. I didn't really understand what I was looking at there either, but I find anything displayed on the ROM crystal to be interesting since it is such a unique structure to begin with.
While walking away from the ROM, we came across the ultimate of street foods - a stand selling "Cheese burger Spring rolls" by no less than Chef Susur Lee. Although we're both supposed to be on diets, this was too special an offering to pass by. We rationalized it with the fact that we had been walking around since 1pm that afternoon (having gone to the ROM to see the Terracotta Warriors on free ROM day for AGO members), and would continue to walk until 1am.. that should be worth splitting of a spring roll! And as expected, it was extremely tasty!
Two of my favourite experiences of the night were not even officially part of Nuit Blanche, but just choice to display at the same time to take advantage of the huge crowds passing by, without having to go through the selection process of being chosen for the event.
The first was the art exhibit in the Church of the Redeemer at Bloor and Avenue Road which displayed these beautifully painted spheres with chains attached to them, leading to a series of keys. The balls and chains represented our daily burdens and the message was that we held the key to unlocking them and reviewing the beauty of life - or at least that's what I got out of it.
The second was "Shorts under the Stars"
(http://queenstwestbia.ca/shorts-under-the-stars/) where a set of Canadian short films were being shown in the parking lot of the CTV (and new Chum) building at Queen and John Street. The screen was erected underneath the iconic sculpture of the car crashed into the wall. We sat down and watched about 8 of the 12 movies being shown and loved most of them.
They ranged from comedy to drama, live action and animation and were all very unique in story, style and tone. We walked in just in time to hear the final line of the film called "Family First" where some dark secret was told to the family at the dinner table and they all sat around stunned and devastated until someone decided that what was told had to be a joke. The two secret tellers looked at each other and decided to lie in order to spare their family.. I never found out what the secret was and it's driving me crazy! Our favourite film was a funny and sexy teenage vampire spoof called "You're so Undead" - a play on the phrase "You're so dead" that teenagers use when they're in trouble with their parents. The final line caused a gasp and burst of laughter. We would have stayed to watch them all except we didn't know how many were left and it was freezing to be sitting still outside at almost midnight.
So we left and got to the Bell Lightbox just in time for the last showing of "clean version" of Singing in the Dark, a sing-a-long to famous movie musicals led by comedian Shawn Hitchins,
who was hilarious and a dead ringer for Conan O'Brien, although he claimed he was always mistaken for Tilda Swinton (a joke Conan makes as well). As we all sang lustily to songs like Summer Nights from Grease, Do Re Mi from Sound of Music, Day-O from BeetleJuice and so forth, the host pranced up and down the audience making funny quips, singing at the top of his lungs and passing the microphone around for the audience to sing into.. Luckily we were safely sitting in the middle of a row where he couldn't reach us! People were getting up to dance and act out parts of songs, and then the entire crowd got up to do the Time Warp from Rocky Horror Picture Show. It is not easy to "Jump to the left, and take a step to the right" while standing in a packed theatre.
Then after midnight came a new round of darker movies such as Reservoir Dogs (singing Stuck in the Middle with You while cutting off a guy's ear), Clockwork Orange (singing Singing in the Rain while violently beating up on a couple), and more explicit lyrics (Team America, F**k you, South Park's Blame Canada). The night ended with a rousing rendition of Life of Brian's Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. The two sing-a-longs were the highlight of the evening for us. All in all, it turned out to be a good Nuit Blanche year after all.
Watched a stellar performance of the musical Forever Plaid at the Calvin Presbyterian Church, presented as a fund raiser for a new roof for the church. Forever Plaid is about 4 members of a 50s band called "The Plaids" who return from the dead to perform a final show. It featured 3 cast members of the show from the Thousand Islands Playhouse, plus a special guest star from The Jersey Boys playing the 4th member.
Sullivan show that involved a slew of props and costume changes.
