I’m all about supporting a good cause, especially fun events that in turn also support causes. Next Thursday (February 5th) the Flip N Asian Comedy Show will be at Lafflines Comedy Club.
Photo credit:
puja on Flickr
Art Factora, one of the comedians, describes it as “a stand up comedy show that myself and another Filipino comic have put together with other Asian comics in town to raise money for the Easter Seals 24 hour relay.”
Headliner: Paul Bae
Emcee: Sunee Dhaliwal
Other Comics: Art Factora, Elliot Chan, David Dimapilis, Tom Shiboaka, Dennis Litonjua, and a Special “Honorary Asian” Comic.
The last Flip N Asian show was in November, 2008 and benefited the Greater Vancouver Food Bank [News Leader]
Anyone and everyone is welcome to check this out at Lafflines Comedy Club in New Westminster on Thursday February 5, 2009, doors at 7:30pm. Tickets are $10 in advance ($12 at the door) and can be booked by emailing flipncomedy [at] gmail [dot] com or by calling (604) 828-8007.
In addition to the comedy event, The Standard night club has also donated VIP tickets to anyone who attends the show.
I can see it now, young impressionable girls pasting posters in their lockers and giving gleeful, longing looks at Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan and Abraham while applying layer after layer of lip gloss. They can sing, they can dance, and the Altar Boyz have even got Jesus calling ’em up on their cell phones.
Charles MacEachern, Vincent Tong, Jeremy Crittenden,
David Hurwitz, Geoff Stevens – Photo by David Cooper
Altar Boyz is an irreverent (but never mean-spirited) musical comedy about an aspiring Christian boy band (with one nice Jewish boy) on its Raise the Praise tour. Matthew (the leader), Mark (the sensitive one), Luke (the bad boy), Juan (the Latin lover) and Abraham (the gefilte fish out of water) are all-singing, all-dancing heartthrobs who praise the Lord with funk and rhyme. [City of Surrey]
It’s been a big year for me and the Arts Club. I’ve attended five shows now and each one continues to shine in its own way by being thought-provoking, whimsical, or simply classic. However, it wasn’t until tonight that two things happened that I thought simply impossible…
The first was hearing the words “West Whalley Ring Road” in the dialog of an Arts Club play, and the second was when ‘Matthew’ (the leader of the Altar Boyz) took my hand and pulled me up out of the audience. I was then guided up onto the stage at the Surrey Arts Centre with the Boyz and — well I don’t want to divulge too much, you’ll have to see the show for yourself to get the juicy details or visit their Flickr stream to get an idea.
The entire show is basically a stop on the concert tour for the Altar Boyz, who resemble Backstreet meets *NSync combined with a little Take That and Boys II Men soul all in one. I haven’t left a show giggling and humming tunes in my head since I saw High School Musical with my niece, and although the Altar Boyz are just as pure and innocent, the facetious and cheeky undertones had the audience roaring with laughter several occasions with few pauses in between.
Photo by David Cooper
The choreography is perfection, right down to the Boyz doing the ‘hold your belt buckle and swing your legs out to the side a la New Kids on the Block in ‘The Right Stuff’ video‘ or the ‘pretend to be knocking on a door while hopping in one place like in the ‘Bye Bye Bye’ video from *NSync‘. Yes, actually these are the technical names for the dance moves (in my books, anyway).
This is also the third time I’ve seen Vincent Tong (who plays Juan) in an Arts Club show this year as he was also in History Boys and Beauty and the Beast. His singing is great, presence and humour undeniable, and man has he got some moves. Each cast member lights up the stage, especially Jeremy Crittenden (as Matthew) while he looked at me with sparkling eyes and sang ever so sweetly those few precious words, “Girl, you make me want to wait.”
Directed by Bill Millerd, the Altar Boyz experience is flat out entertaining and will make you smile, chuckle, groan, and maybe… just maybe feel a little naughty (and in need of a good confession).
You can catch them on tour over the next few weeks, which is a fabulous idea since it not only plays to the whole ‘concert tour’ theme, it also gives audiences around the Lower Mainland, and the interior, a chance to check out their local theatre.
Jan 16-31, 2009 – Surrey @ Surrey Arts Centre
Feb 2, 2009 – West Vancouver @ Kay Meek Centre (Sold out)
Feb 3, 2009 – Mission @ Clarke Theatre
Feb 4-5, 2009 – Burnaby @ Shadbolt Centre for the Arts
Feb 10-14, 2009 – Coquitlam @ Evergreen Cultural Centre
Feb 17, 2009 – Vernon @ Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre
Feb 19, 2009 – Cranbrook @ Key City Theatre
Feb 21, 2009 – Nelson @ Capitol Theatre
June 18 – August 1, 2009 – Vancouver @ Granville Island Stage
You can read their tour blog (fully in character) or follow the Boyz on Twitter. I don’t say this often, but I would probably go see this show again (although I would prefer to stay in my seat the whole way through the next time around).
The first time I heard of St Paul’s Hospital was when I was talking to my friend (and neighbour) about where we were born. We were about 9 or 10 years old and she told me she was born at St. Paul’s in Vancouver, which seemed strange to me since my brother, sister and I were all born at Surrey Memorial. I didn’t know that I would grow up and soon live within blocks of the historic building or that its future serving our major metropolitan area would be in jeopardy.
St Paul’s Hospital timeline (source, if not otherwise stated, is VancouverHistory.ca)
- 1892 – The Sisters of Providence arrived from Portland upon recommendation by Bishop Paul Durieu as Vancouver’s population was growing and in need of health care. They bought seven lots on the outskirts of Vancouver for $9,000 and a 25-bed hospital was completed in 1894. [source: Providence Health Care]
- November 22, 1894 – Bishop Paul Durieu blessed it the building (side note: the hospital is not named after St. Paul, but actually for Bishop Paul Durieu himself. [source: VancouverHistory]
- 1904 – 50 more beds added.
- September 1, 1907 – Official opening of a School of Nursing at St. Paul’s Hospital.
- 1912 – Construction began to expand St. Paul’s into a 120-bed hospital.
- 1921 – The staff at St. Paul’s Hospital devised a machine that controlled ether administration in the operating room.
- September 1, 1922 – Margaret Yvonne Middleton (Yvonne De Carlo) was born at St. Paul’s.
- 1959 – Dr Harold Rice at St Paul’s Hospital built Canada’s first heart-lung machine.
- 1960 – St. Paul’s Hospital opened BC’s first biomedical engineering department.
- 1966 – St Paul’s Hospital opened its intensive-care unit.
- 1983 – AIDS Vancouver was founded, the same year that St. Paul’s admitted its first AIDS patient.
- 1983 – Tower completed.
- 1991 – Additional 10-story tower completed.
Photo credit:
quinet on Flickr
In recent years, and with a growing population yet again, the hospital is running out of room. The PHC (Providence Health Care) and they are proposing an upgrade called the “Legacy Project”. As such, a group emerged a few years ago leading an initiative to Save St. Paul’s.
The Legacy Project includes two options. The first is construction and redevelopment on the current site that will take an estimated 15 years. The second (and I assume the less popular) is to build a new facility in South East False Creek on 18.5 acres, which would take 5-7 years.
Tomorrow while I’m on location with CBC’s Coast to Coast they will be speaking with members of the Save St. Paul’s Coalition as it is definitely a hot topic (as it was when I was doing my provincial candidate interviews last fall).
What are your thoughts? Should Vancouver expand and preserve it’s only downtown hospital or would it be better off in another location with more room to breathe?
[poll id=”25″]
Last March Google launched its cities in 3D program and as of this month, Vancouver is on now the list.
If your local government is like many around the world, you’ve invested in developing a 3D model representing buildings in your city’s downtown–perhaps your entire jurisdiction. Or, maybe you haven’t yet produced a 3D model, but you’ve collected the geospatial data necessary for producing a model. With Google’s Cities in 3D Program, your local government, community group, or educational institution can share this 3D data with the public by adding a model of your city or community to Google Earth. [Google Cities in 3D]
Mock ups and colourful 3D representations have been added before through Google’s Sketchup or the 3D Warehouse but life-like designs of over 1,400 Vancouver buildings are now officially available through Google Earth.
This got me thinking about our city’s architecture; from brick and stone to teal and glass, fires, fairs and economies have shaped the landscape. So, which exactly is your favourite building downtown?
This evening I will be joined by other wonderful bloggers to experience Carmen as guests of the Vancouver Opera. We’ll be setup in the lobby to take photos, jot down thoughts, notes, and any interesting tidbits we have to share. Between acts, we’ll have updates and early reviews as well. If you are attending the opera tonight, please feel free to stop by and say hello, and if you’re at home, check back here around 6:30pm for some pre-opera blogging.
Update: I arrived at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre and joined up with the other bloggers, Ami, Tanya, and Kimli. Moments later Terry Harper, the Director of Production was kind enough to sweep us away for a private tour backstage.
It was great to see the sets going up, meet some of the people who make the production happen, and see how everyone gets prepared for the big evening.
I have to say that the Vancouver Opera has been great so far, giving us tickets, as well as putting up a sign near our table stating each of our names and full URLs — the first time of all my 30-some liveblogs that a host has done so (from tech events to hockey games).
At some point I know I’m going to feel like a caged animal (and the “please do not feed the bloggers” note at the bottom of our sign doesn’t help — but it’s cute) however everyone passing by is in great spirits and are asking us some wonderful questions.
The General Director of the opera, James W. Wright, just walked past and shook each of our hands, “now what are you people doing here?” he said in jest as he took time to “speak with his bloggers.” They just keep making us feel more and more special, this is pretty great.
Update: We are now heading in for Act I, we’ll be back soon (my photos are also going up on Flickr).
Update: We’re in the middle of a 20 minute intermission. I’m currently battling a cold and although I spent most of the first act wondering if my nose was whistling or trying to control my laboured breathing I still enjoyed the show. Being that I know French it’s actually a lot easier to follow than Eugine Onegin (which was in Russian) so I didn’t have to look up as often to follow the sur-titles. The set looks fabulous, from this side of the stage, the story is captivating thus far, and boy that Carmen sure is one troublemaker (in her beautiful red corset).
VO Carmen – Rinat Shaham as Carmen – Photo by Tim Matheson
I’m moreso fascinated by the folks in the lobby who stop the speak with us while we’re blogging. Tanya is getting asked about her HP Netbook (since it’s about half the size of my MacBook) and we’re fielding questions from “what is a blog”, “who will read that,” to “is this going on Facebook?”, and “do you get to see the show”? Everyone is very friendly and Ling (whom I met with to first discuss a blogger night at the opera) just brought us over some food after she read on Kimli’s site that she had missed dinner. Things sure are happening fast and in real-time.
We have three more acts to go, so I’ll check back in with more thoughts on Carmen in just a few minutes…
Update: I think I’m going to have to get more in-depth about the actual opera when I get home this evening as I only have about 10 more minutes to give an update. The first act featured an introduction to Carmen and her devilishly seductive ways, literally having a man (Don Jose) take the fall for her. In the second act he returns and must make a choice between his country and his lust erm… love for Carmen, a decision that pretty much ends up being made for him. However, we were also introduced to quite the self-assured toreador, Escamillo and while I am avoiding the synopsis I’m certain he will make a return. Again, very speedy commentary as the 5 minute warning to return to our seats it about to sound. Apologies to the couple at the end of our row as we all file out at every break. And now for Act III…
Update: It’s all over and we’re heading our seperate ways. I’ll have more coverage later but would sincerely like to thank the Vancouver Opera for being amazing hosts this evening (especially Selina and Ling), and I continue to be amazed by their fine productions and unlimited talents, both on and off the stage.
Update: “Who knows why we fall in love,” said a woman sitting behind me at the theatre. The word love was tossed around a lot tonight but I think it means many things… lust, perseverance, passion, and not just for a companion — freedom was also chanted, bellowed, and mourned.
While women in gowns take the arms of gentlemen in tuxedos as they glide through the lobby of the Queen Elizabeth theatre everyone is in good spirits. They pass to say hello to a crew sitting at a table with their heads tilted downward while feverishly typing away, documenting their experiences, then take their seats to discuss Carmen and her motives. “She likes him because she can control him,” said another woman about Don Jose, “but that’s probably also why she loses interest,” mentions another.
The opera is a welcoming atmosphere, for those who may think otherwise, even for someone like me who admits they recognized most of the rhythms from old Bugs Bunny cartoons (or more recently that episode of Family Guy where Brian hears Pearl sing Habanera… but I digress).
Rinat Shaham‘s delivery is captivating and you end up routing for the troubled yet headstrong vixen, while the orchestra, chorus, and cast were each mesmerizing. To say Carmen is a classic is a severe understatement; it’s humorous, playful, melodramatic, and tragic, yet splashed with so much colour even among the drab nomadic settings of a gypsy camp.
You can catch Carmen January 29th and 31st as well as February 3rd and 5th and tickets start at $23 (which is pretty much what you would pay for a movie ticket and a popcorn combo). It’s an opportunity I encourage every Vancouverite to experience — dress up, head out on the town, and get lost in the soothing yet tempestuous melodies of the opera.
