I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas..

And I'm getting one too =D .. I think

That's the frozen waterfall I saw on the train =) I think it's pretty cool =P

It's Christmas where most people reading this blog are, so Merry Christmas to you all. I hope you have a wonderful time, however you spend it, and hope you have a Happy New Year too.. if I don't get to post again before that.

The Art Gallery of Alberta (formerly the Edmonton Art Gallery) is undergoing a reconstruction, thus currently, there is a temporary Art Gallery is located in a few rooms of an office building (admittedly quite a large office building).

In the art gallery there is an exhibit called "The Fun House." It is a collection of perhaps a dozen contemporary pieces which they say are an attempt to create the mindset that the pieces of art aren't actually pieces of art at all, but real-world objects.

The artists attempt to encourage interaction with their pieces, in order to encourage this mindset. Instead of having pieces of art scattered around the walls of the room, with a implied "Don't Cross" line just inside the walls, the Fun House includes pieces of art such as chairs made out of styrofoam, which you are meant to sit on; a little doorway to the 'next' art piece which you must get on your hands and knees to pass through; a ladder which you must climb to view whatever it is on top of that ledge.

Some sort of physical interaction is required to completely view these pieces. Unfortunately, all they have created, to me, are pieces which would have had the same meaning had they been created without these 'special traits.'

They simply have simply been dressed up to appeal to more people. I guess it's what we, as a human race, do a lot of. We try to superficially change ourselves, our sports, our sales goods, so that they appeal to the greater public, but in the end there's nothing different about them.

But then again, maybe I'm looking at it from the wrong angle. When I look at twenty20 cricket, I see a game which is completely different to Test Cricket, or even One-Day cricket. However, someone who has never known or understood the 'standard' forms of cricket (or the standard forms in the last 30 years or so), may see twenty20 cricket as Cricket - the definition of the sport. As such, either cricket is pretending to be something that it is not, or it itself has changed its definition, to suit other people.

Perhaps this is the same as with these art pieces, or people. Maybe, if I were more aware of the artistic world, I would have seen something new and exciting in these pieces. Seen a change that, would make me unsure that this is really 'art' ... or something

Anyhow, I'm bored of that train of thought now - too much thinking.

I fly to Toronto today, so again, I'm not sure how much internet access I'm going to get from now on. Edmonton has been fun. There's not a lot to do, but I've spent the last couple of days (Saturday night and most of Sunday) with Edythe's friends, doing things.

Friday I went to the Art Gallery and saw not much. Due to the temporary location, there were only really two and a half displays. The main one was about Valley - some Canadian artist who was most reknown for his portraits - which managed to catch the personality of his subject in the picture.. or something. There was also the Fun House, and then a few pieces from the main collection (maybe 10 or so), and then a little display with something to do with Ford, or cars in general. Not a heap to look at, but whatever.

Friday night we went out for dinner - had the most awesome steak ever - and then watched Ratatouille, which was actually quite a good movie. I definitely enjoyed it, probably one of the better movie's I've seen in a while. Disney and Pixar win once again =P

Saturday we went to the West Edmonton Mall, which is the biggest mall in terms of ground space I think. It's a pretty awesome place. It has an ice-skating rink, a water park (which some very large slides, and a wave pool), and even a decently-size theme park inside it. As well as, of course, a lot of shops. It was very cool =P

Saturday night I went to a party at Edythe's friend's house, met a lot of people, and did the walk along some road with a lot of Christmas lights. Every house along the road had lights - even the ones that were for sale. I got very, very cold, my feet were numb, and it was absolutely freezing. Quite nice though. I also made my first snow angel =D

Sunday was church. Edythe was playing the piano, so we had to get there an hour and 45 minutes early. I sat around a lot, but the service was quite good, as was the church. It was all very friendly, great sense of community about the place, and the pastor was really friendly too.

Had lunch, tried to go ice skating in the afternoon (on a pond, which would've been ultimate cliche), but the ice was too thin, and the pond was closed =( Had a fairly lazy afternoon, and then Edythe's friends were over for dinner and an evening full of chatting and piano playing/listening.

Anyhow, that's it for now, I've got to get ready for my taxi which will be here very soon. Hope everyone's enjoying their Christmas, and yeah, shall post again soon hopefully.