‘Studio™ FAIRA Laura Mooney Arts Editor he Christmas season is just not the same without a multitude of craft fairs featuring incredible amounts of handmade crafts, homemade baked goods, and other essential holiday products as far as the eye can see, and everyone in Prince George knows the cratt fair that every person must attend is Studio Fair. Held annually at The Prince George Civic Center, Studio Fair opened its door for the 37th time from 1 November until 3 November 2013, for local and provincial artisans to showcase their products. This year welcomed many returning favourites to the fair, as well as a few new faces all hoping to capture the hearts of fairgoers with the best of what they can produce. As usual, Studio Fair drew in huge crowds, and the civic center was full to the brim with people eagerly waiting to see what the Fair would hold this year. Before you even entered the main room, the entrance hall was filled with some of Prince George's best artisan guilds. Featuring the likes of Judy Russell, promoting her yearly Christmas production of The Nutcracker, and pottery and wood turners guilds, as well as many other local businesses, you were able to see some of the best the city has to offer for arts and crafts without even entering the main showroom. Once you do enter however, you are treated to a lovely atmosphere with low lights and the aroma of the many food booths that the Studio Fair has become so famous for. The entire room emits a certain glow usually only found during the holidays, and an air of happiness emits from everyone who enters the showroom because they know that Christmas is just around the corner. Some of the standout booths of this year's Studio Fair included a variety of booths featuring everything from culinary treats to fashionable winter wear. The always popular “Pook Toque”, who were featured on the hit TV show Dragon's Den, returned this year with their growing brand name gloves, hats, and now pajamas. Their unique brand of marketing, which includes hand massages and always seeming to know what size gloves you wear, made them a must see booth at the past two Studio Fairs, and here is hoping they will be attending many more. A few of the standout culinary booths included Untamed Feast, who specialized in ridiculously delicious wild mushrooms, Dvorak Gourmet with their popular specialty nuts and chocolate, and The Fishery Seafood with their smoked salmon pate that would make any seafood skeptic fall head over heels. Along with a number of Indian spice booths and even specialty olive oils, this year's food booths were truly some of the best they have ever been. As for arts and cratts, Studio Fair was rich with all kinds of beautiful homemade creations including a new addition Creative Ironworks and Design, which featured handmade iron figures such as flowers and assorted animals for the garden. Their unique beauty was certainly a huge draw in this year's fair. There were also many booths featuring lovingly knit hats and scarves that were even better than those bought in stores, and jewelry that you would never be able to find anywhere else. One could truly spend over an hour just exploring the multitude of options before even purchasing a single item. So needless to say the 3/th annual Studio Fair was an incredible success, and was a great kickoff to the holiday season. With many more craft fairs to come, those who missed this amazing gathering can look forward to attending a new craft fair almost every week, but nothing will ever compare to the fantastic booths seen at Studio Fair, and the knowledge that this is the beginning of the Christmas season. Rater of the Lost Art: (TS Lorde Album Review Laura Mooney Arts Editor Perce: the coolest artist ever to come out of New Zealand, singer and songwriter Lorde has finally made it overseas to North America where she is bringing her smooth brand of art pop to those in need of something more meaningful and relaxing amongst the multitude of repetitive pop songs. The sixteen year old with a mouthful of a name, Ella Marie Lani- Yelich O Connor, released her first EP late in 2012 entitled The Love Club. Through this, she rapidly gained a fanbase in New Zealand and was soon offered a full record contract that would allow her to release her first full- length album called “Pure Heroine,” which quickly escalated in popularity all over the world. Pure Heroine is a mellow mix of songs that feature a great amount of symphonic melodies and eclectic elements such as tin drums. Despite the peaceful music, for the most part the main thing you notice about Lorde’s music is her amazingly beautiful voice that seems much too mature to be emanating from a sixteen year old. With a sultry and sexy purr, the sound can be compared to that of another popular female artist, Lana Del Ray, with both women expressing their unique vocal styles with a mild, not overpowering method. The songs themselves range in meaning from young love all the way to questioning the motives of the music industry, each of which just show how mature this young songstress really is. The more simple songs on the album, such as “400 Lux,” takes on the hollowness of teen love and how it feels when it ends, but as the album continues you can almost feel Lorde opening up and expressing herself like few young artists are able to do. The hypnotic song entitled “Ribs” discusses the youth's fear of growing old, and how as you age you lose the innocence and thoughts you once had as a child. You are forced to realize that the sweetness of youth does not last forever and it is a bitter pill that everyone must swallow. While most of Lorde’s songs do maintain a somewhat light message, two particular songs stand out as being critical and incredibly insightful for such a young woman. The opening song on the album “Tennis Court” discusses how she is not in the music industry to make money or make connections, she is in it strictly because it is what she loves to do, unlike many others. Alongside the compelling music video, which simply features Lorde standing in a black room with simple hair and makeup, not even singing to her own song, she proves herself to be an artist who refuses to follow convention and lets the world know that she will make her music how she wants to. The other song that stands out for being interesting and insightful is the most popular song from the album, aptly called “Royals.” The song focuses on the music industry and the outlandish, over the top videos that today’s top artists make, and what the impact is on the kids that view them. Lorde points out in the song that none of the people watching these music videos that feature fancy cars, insane bling, and bikini clad women, will ever see any of it in their lifetime. It gives them unrealistic expectations about not only what the music industry is all about, but also what their priorities in life should be. Lorde sings about the fact that the youths of today must accept this fact that on average none of them will ever be “royal,” and they must find new role models and new dreams. So on top of being an incredibly beautiful album to listen to, Lorde’s Pure Heroine is an album that speaks truths not often touched upon, and gives listeners new insight into exactly what they are viewing when they turn on a music station. The best part about this new artist is that she is only sixteen, and if she is this good now, one can only imagine how Lorde will only get better with age.