Scrooged was released November 23, 1988. Image copied from IMDb. I think this picture should be as ubiquitous as Santa.

With the holidays upon us like Bill Murray’s TV-producer-wrath in Scrooged, things can feel a little unreal, hyper-real and maybe even surreal.

Whether it’s getting bonked in the head with a set piece or feeling the need to visit the mall after you finished your shift working in one, this season can test your strength of character.

Will you eat the entire care package of Aunt Betty’s peanutbutter balls while watching the latest episode of CBC’s Being Erica? Maybe. Will you smile at the stranger who cut you off in traffic, er, foot traffic, trying to catch a packed bus home? Absolutely.

Because what is needed now more than ever is a little grace and a whole lot of irreverence in the face of all the holiday heightened expectations. Who needs to rush when you’re not expecting (to do) anything?

Ah, expectations, I’ve had a few.

Except at the latest Draw-by-Night event.

This time around, Draw-by-Night felt like I tossed my bus pass in the air as though it were confetti and hit the city streets in my sneakers for the first time.  Look at all the lights!  The strange store front windows!  All the band posters at each intersection!

Draw-by-Night founder Myron Campbell picked the theme “Corpse” based on the collaborative drawings by the surrealists in the 20’s, or Exquisite Corpse. We took a sheet of blank paper, folded it in three and drew a head or feet.

Photo taken during Draw-by-Night at the Vancouver Film School Cafe. Check out the eyes!

Then we passed our folded sheet  of paper with the starting point for a torso to the next person who couldn’t see what we drew. Then they drew a torso and did the same thing.  When we had what we called  ”a reveal” ready, we all put down our markers to see what we came up with. Here’s a few:

The irreverence was fun and some of the pictures really made us take pause- there was some good stuff in not knowing what the heck comes next!

And to my delight, some really really silly stuff too.

I spoke with Myron Campbell about the event and why passing the paper works so well.