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December 2005 »
It's Wednesday November the 30 around 8:15PM and
Ready? Set. Let's go:
*Craiglist post about B.C. Finance minister (and cover girl & #5 on the Vancouver Magazine Power 50) Carole Taylor is just too good to be true: "Smoking hot...great librarian look. She makes Carol James look-a-like-a-man-a."
*Watching the Conservatives in any election is so much fun, isn't it? Five Reason for saying that, just today: 1. MP James Moore is being challenged in his riding by an old member of the local constituency association who doesn't like Moore's thumbs up to same sex marriage. 2. Three men now in the running to replace the stink of MP Gurmant Grewal (bonus points to formal failed Liberal Shinder Purewal!) 3. Conservative website being programmed by someone to left of Matthew Good (Bonus points for it looking like the Republican's website) 4. Two words: Jason Kenny. (And yes, he was much cooler when he was fat.) 5. Seriously, the Conservative secret weapon, Rona Ambrose, doesn't have her website up. What up yo? (we're we not totally preparing for this for like 17-months? Hello? Bueller?)
*The Hottest thing in the election thus far? The Liberal Party blog. No, that's not a joke. Wink.
*This makes no sense to us. The first debate is set for"Vancouver, [and] will be broadcast Dec. 15 in French and the following day in English. Each will be broadcast between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. EST and include videotaped questions for the leaders from voters across the country." On the other hand, more Gilles Duceppe.
*Unintentionally hilarious: The Green Party signs made of plastic?
It's Wednesday November the 30 around 7:27PM and
Wow. The new
Vancouver Magazine is out with it's Power 50 list (yes Vancouverites, revel in our Gordo overlord once again). But then in the middle of the spread is an article about
Nickelback's Chad Kroeger, calling him "A God". Okay, he wasn't really on the power list, but they do say that Chad Kroeger is, "the most famous and culturally powerful Vancouverite in existence today."
Wow. I think we just passed out, or threw up in our mouths a little bit. Writer Mathew Mallon goes on with his love letter to Chad, "To our deluded selves we may be elegantly coiffed latte-sippers perched on the edge of the Pacific Ocean in our century-defining-city-but Chad knows what [Bruce] Allen knew; that thousands and millions and billions of world citizens view as the land where the mullet never died..."
Don't you feel like Luke Skywalker at the end of Empire? "No. No. It's not true. That's impossible." What a nightmare.
Vancouver Media Fun Quiz: How many days will it take for Vancouver Magazine to update thier website with the new cover? Mmmmm....
It's Tuesday November the 29 around 11:46PM and
Our
Metro Blogging buddies found this absolutely amazing
David Suzuki My Space site. Stop the presses! We won't even question it's legitamacy. At all - not fun and we don't even care. But the irony of the banner ad for "Live and Work in the USA" was so hilarious we just had to blog this.
Serious bonus points must be given to both the Canadian anthem playing non stop and the sassy cheesecake photos of Bruno Gerussi and Pat Mastroianni. Kevin Smith would have a heart attack even thinking about the young nubile Joey Jeremiah. Yes, we just went there.
Yahtzee! We could hardly care if this a fake. It's so amazing, it totally has to be true.
It's Tuesday November the 29 around 11:38PM and
Thank the maker. All is right with the world and the Canucks didn't even play today. Jennifer Good, er "Agent J", is talking about opening a fun lingerie store. "I’ve decided that we are in dire need of a decent lingerie store here in Vancouver," says Jenny. "Not a normal lingerie store like La Senza or La vie, nah those are fine for what they are, but a 'fun' one."
For the love of god, can somebody hook this up please, pronto. Thanks. We're looking at you Mr. Good.
It's Tuesday November the 29 around 7:54AM and
We found this pretty hilarious this moring. Jonah Goldberg writing about the new Peter Jackson King Kong movie:
"But explain to me one thing. A bunch of explorers go to an island. They find a giant gorilla. That's cool. But they also find dinosaurs. They go crazy for the giant gorilla -- which is totally legit. But they're completely nonchalant about the dinosaurs. "Ho, hum, found a T-rex zzzzzz....But did you see that monkey!?!""
It's Tuesday November the 29 around 7:43AM and
Signs of impending doom are everywhere today. Warren Kinsella is predicting a Conservative minority, it's snowing in Vancouver, Mount St. Helens is quietly erupting, the Rolling Stones are playing the Super Bowl and if the Canucks don't win soon I fear we won't have a very happy Jenny Good. That is all.
It's Monday November the 28 around 11:07PM and
We didn't get to see the papers today until now. But it seems to us that 24 Hours really loves guns, since they featured this story,
"Guns barreling North Vancouver" on the cover rather than the Grey Cup frivolity. It's an interesting choice for a paper like this. Who knew:
It's lunchtime at the family-run PHo 66 Vietnamese restaurant on Kingsway and the place is bustling. Service is friendly, and a smiling waiter drops off a bowl of noodle soup along with a plate of stir-fried prawns, then quickly melts back into the kitchen.
It's a typical lunch rush, and the buzz in the restaurant probably compares to that of a month ago, just before a gunman in his 20s walked in and opened fire on two Indo-Canadian gang members who happened to be eating there.
Now of course they are talking about illegal guns, but with some quick Google fun, you get the idea that Vancouver likes it some fire arms. But it is an interesting story nevertheless.
It's Monday November the 28 around 10:17PM and
So we watched the big ticket CBC movie
Intelligence tonight. It is kind of smaller scale traffic with perhaps not enough storylines. The more the merrier, actually. But it certainly did its job well, and made the most out of the subject matter. The main character on the crime side Jimmy Reardon (Is there any connection to the 1988 River Phoenix film
"A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon") is a Tony Soprano-esque worrier who isn't totally comforatable in his place in the world - but aren't all drug kingpins. But that always helps when the show calls for dirty work endings - that they pull off with no problem or remorse whatsoever.
The musical score choice - with just a slight hint of a middle eastern vibe - was a nice surprise and fits in well with the darkness of the story and the setting of Vancouver. The main characters were well played, although some of the lessor ones - Reardon's brother for instance - could have been better served with some better motivations. Overall, they should probably make this into a series - although a suggestion might be to do it Soprano style and blow it up larger for maybe 10 episodes a season, rather than more and spend more money on it. It was also nice not to have a show end, OC style, in a music video montage of all the characters to say Death Cab For Cutie or something more Vancouver. In the words of Matt Stone and Trey Parker In Team America:
The hour's approaching to give it your best / And you've got to reach your prime / That's when you need to put yourself to the test / And show us the passage of time / We're gonna need a montage / Ooh, it takes a montage / Show a lot of things happening at once / Remind everyone of what's going on / In every shot, show a little improvement / To show it all would take too long / That's called a montage / Girl, we want a montage / In anything, if you want to go / From just a beginner to a pro / You need a montage / Even Rocky had a montage / Always fade out in a montage / If you fade out it seems like more time has passed in a montage...
Oh, and last but not least. The show may also benefit from the whole "Fat Clooney" adventures with Syriana, set to open up in the next few weeks. (Completely unrelated, if you look closely on the Syriana website the first review pull quote is from Ain't it Cool News, not some big media company. Interesting. Oh and they have an interesting podcast).
It's Monday November the 28 around 6:04PM and
We couldn't help but notice that during the
171-133 no-confidence vote this afternoon there were some amazing high fives going on on the liberal benches as thier govenment waas being toppled. The back bench in particular there was some pretty amazing ones. And Paul Martin then gave some high fives of his own in the wake of his speech. This probably rivals what
Entertainment Weekly's Dalton Ross said after Martha Stewart's Apprentice show was cancelled, "Donald Trump and George Ross just took part in history's most painfully awkward old-white-guy high five."
Nope. Paul Martin just took that title. Let the campaign games begin.
It's Monday November the 28 around 2:56PM and
Just how bad were the Black Eyed Peas during the Grey Cup half time show yesterday? Well, it took us almost 24 hours to digest just how bad. Worst. Halftime. Show. Ever.
Well, it could have been so much better, if only Fergie had actually fallen down - which she nearly did during one song. Fergie is so classy isn't she? How is it exactly that they are Canada's #1 band anyway. We really like how Darren Barefoot describes the band: "On a related note, I see that the Black Eyed Peas’ corporate whoredom continues." Indeed.
It's Sunday November the 27 around 2:05PM and
It is interesting see that during this weekend's NDP Celebration 2005 fundraiser the lefty kids noshed on Memphis Blues Barbeque meats (how delicious is that stuff.) Oh, the irony of American imperialism hanging over the NDP convention is just too much isn't it. How delicious.
Public Eye Online has the details on the event and the special royal guest there strickly for the medicinal purposes as it were.
It's Sunday November the 27 around 11:52AM and
COLD WAR ROCK
Can you believe that this excellent box set even exists?
Atomic Platters: Cold War Music from the Golden Age of Homeland Security. Johnny Cash civil defense spots, songs about uranium and Krushchev. It's almost too good to be true.
DO YOU WANT TO GO TO THE MOOM, ALICE?
Coudal Partners, the chicago based design firm, has developed the Museum of Online Musuems. Huh? This is a collection of the wonderful things in museums, especially the cool factor of current shows - which send you around the web to say, a collection of Blue Note album covers, a collection of vintage American Steel and Coal Advertising, or maybe even Matchbox cars of the 1970's.
SUNDAY NEW YORK TIMES RIPOFF SECTION
Since we don't have a great paper on Sunday's in this country, we read papers that do. The New York Times Sunday is utter joy. And yes, that is smug. Who knew that Matt Pond PA didn't even live in Philadelphia or Pennsylvannia at all, but in New York (Matt Pond). We like where chess is going with thier new focus on cute chess girls. Smart and Sexy, check mate. And because we love suits so much, learning about a new Wall St. blog, Under the Counter, is way cool.
REFINERY 29 ETC.
This guide to New York's great shops is a very interesting site. As if to confirm the stink of coolness, the site has a handy guide to trendy shops in Paris this week as they explore the Marais area. Speaking of cool, Etsy.com is a beta site for buying and selling handmade things, Ebay style.
WORTH WATCHING
There are some great things to watch this weekend. For starters director
Neill Blomkamp's Alive in Joburg short is worth the download. He directed the Citreon Transformer ad you've probably all seen. This time it's sort of a creepy Alien Nation takes over South Africa kind of thing. (Via
Drawn! who says this is "what War of the Worlds should have been like."). And we can't stop watching the
Sony Bravia commercial, that News Today reminds us to watch again. So we did. And now there is a lot of
behind the scenes stuff, which is amazing. Oh, and if you can bear to watch it
Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning is an insane parody of Star Trek that
Screenhead describes like this: "Star Wreck may be a fan film, but it could well be the Citizen Kane of fan films… well, if Orson Wells was funny, and from Finland."
It's Saturday November the 26 around 8:59PM and
Over at the Shotgun there is a post worth reading. It would seem that the Conservatives, simply not satisfied that they are completely unready for governing this country thought it might be fun if they got explosive former local Rachel Marsden to run as a candidate against Jack Layton in Toronto Danforth. Kevin Libin writes this mind blowing bit of political news:
I was probably one of the 10 non-socialists that did. It's full of CBC journalists, public school teachers, gay and lesbian couples and immigrants who came over 30 years ago but still think they owe Trudeau a favour for it. The Tories wouldn't stand a chance in that riding if Shania Twain was their candidate. But sticking a loose cannon who revels in making obnoxious comments about gays and Muslims, smack dab in the backyard of the Toronto media would not only earn the Conservatives no points in that riding, but would almost certainly ruin their campaign nationally.
So even the Consertives thought twice about this extremly bad idea and they decided against it. Shorter Election Theme of the Day: Charlie Brown meet Lucy. Good Grief.
It's Saturday November the 26 around 7:51PM and
We are pretty lapse followers of The Canucks at best, so we are trying to keep up with them for our readers. Jeff and Alanah at
Vancouver Caunucks Op Ed is a good place for Canucks news. Tonight they have the goods on the unintentionally hilarious public exchange of words between
Todd Bertuzzi and Dick Pound.
Bertuzzi's quote is totally hilarious: "Who's Dick Pound? Tell him to come in our dressing room with our shirts off and we'll see how performance enhanced we are. Tell him he can come hang out with me and see my workout. Trust me, we're not [using steroids]."
Oh my that is so awesome (Oddsnark has more commentary). PS: Thank god for Canucks Op Ed, since there are websites out there like this: The Canuckfanatic's World which are hurting both my eyes and ears. Oh and there are trade rumors about Bertuzzi too.
More: Here's tonight's GLOG at Canucks.com.
It's Saturday November the 26 around 6:48PM and
"Paparazzi Pam" photographs from our own Vancouverite Correspondent Dan Hirner who actually dared to go into the circus of downtown. But we ask, what gives with the unbelievably massive sun glasses Pam? 100,000 showed up for the big parade and Pam "thrilled crowds" all along the route claims the press release. You can watch it from the safety of your own home 10:00am before the big game tomorow.
It's Saturday November the 26 around 2:56PM and
We were reading the latest
BC Business magazine and there was a pretty interesting article about
Cupcakes by Heather and Lori. The idea of a store dedicated to the selling of cupcakes is amazing on its front. Not to belittle the idea, as we have always believed that the cup cake is the superior, more cool, older brother of the muffin - since muffins are really bad cupcakes without icing aren't they?
"Through hard work (12 to 14 hours a day), some astute marketing alliances adn lots of persistent promotion that included personal delivery of cupcakes to anyboyd in Vancouver who had even a passing connection with the media, Cupcakes has grown to the point where it now employs 18 people and is approaching the sweet mark of $1 million a year in revenue."
Holy crap. $1 million in cupcakes? Damn, we're in the wrong business with this blog aren't we. And we imagine that with sugar and flour the profit margin has to be pretty good too.
More on these cupcake babes: BC Business & W Network.
It's Saturday November the 26 around 2:16PM and
This week's Georgia Straight is another rather delicious bit of amusement. The cover seems nearly identical to last weeks, except no cultural Icon, Gwen Stefani, this time. But here are five things we found totally fun in this week's pages of The Straight:
5. The Ginch Gonch single of the week feature. This week it is Alastair. This is all you need to know: "IF YOU COULD HAVE A DINNER PARTY AND INVITE ANY FOUR PEOPLE, DEAD OR ALIVE, WHO'D BE COMING?
Socrates, Rob Zombie, Leonardo Da Vinci and Jesus." No comment really needed is there. PS: Who would really wear anything called Ginch Gonch anyway?
4. Charlie Smith's straight talk on Gail Davidson's case against George W. Bush in Vancouver court. That is so adorable.
3. Shameless love for Gwenny. The headliner for the review of last week's concert is laughably, "Stefani leaves no doubt that she's amazing."
2. Make your own hilarious post election headline: "COPE politicians say they'll stay the course."
1. Profile of NDP candidate for Esquimalt - Juan de Fuca, Randall Garrison. Especially this part: "The problem is a debilitating legacy within the NDP, and within the left in Canada, generally, that has resulted in a kind of political and cultural illiteracy about military policy."
It's Saturday November the 26 around 1:12PM and
Monday night will be the premier of the new Chris Haddock penned tv movie/pilot/series
"Intelligence" on the CBC. We saw a few somewhat interesting print ads last week - enough to make us type in the url. Only to be totally disapointed by the quality of the website or maybe it was simply because I saw that one of the stars was Matt Frewer (Max Head Room, really?). And the trailers and clips don't seem to work very well either, so it's hard to see what it will look like.
The premise sounds a little bit forced, but if anyone can do it, maybe Haddock can. "The movie is a fictionalized version of present day Canadian criminal and intelligence realities," says Haddock. Well, we'll be the judge of that. Review of the show coming Monday night.
It's Saturday November the 26 around 1:00PM and
Nice to hear in late 2005 that the Olympic games is going to have increasing capital costs - as much as 40 - 50 per cent more than anticipated. According to the Canadian Press, "The organizing committee — know as VANOC — is worried about future labour availability and the cost of key materials such as steel and concrete as it tenders the major contracts starting for Vancouver and Whistler venues next spring."
They organizing committee has dealt with this by altering the designs of some of the projects and saving a full $85 million.
More: Gary Kingston, Vancouver Sun.
It's Saturday November the 26 around 12:21PM and
Well we are about 24 hours away from the
93rd Grey Cup. We have some Vancouverites that aren't really enjoying the excitement and the party that has come along with it. Sure some people are bitter that the B.C. Lions choked again and aren't in the game, again.
Mostly our sources liken the core of the city as being more like the Cloverdale rodeo with guys in terrible large cowboy hats or other ridiculous fanwear "walking around with cans of pilsner in their hands." Then again, that's kind of how you'd expect people that live in Yale Town to act when being overrun like that. The Province told us to play nice: "And to the fabulous citizens of the Lower Mainland: Be good to our visitors. Try not to be too smug about the tee time you have booked next week. Be patient. And, most importantly, when you are asked for the hundredth time "which way to the beer tent," tolerantly smile and point our guest in the right direction."
Smug? Like that is a problem and thanks but we'll keep our smugness and pretentions thank you very much. Pete McMartin calls this a chance for Vancouverites to enjoy a "cultural field trip". Come on. I was at the Granville Room last night and it was like a three hour parade of large foam cowboy hats and guys who looked like they were ready to be shot out of a cannon.
You can find out where the events are here.
It's Friday November the 25 around 4:47PM and
We're still a little broken up about the whole Pat Morita passing away business and that is our excuse about the lack of blogging.
It's Wednesday November the 23 around 10:31PM and
*Thank the maker for the return of
Cindy Crawford. She makes a return to the model spotlight on the new cover of
Maxim. We just happened to fall in love with the article title:
"Still Cindy: Like a fine wine of Andy Rooney, fashion's first lady just gets better with time."
*Well, the mighty Gawker Empire has annouces the first casualty, with the canceling of Oddjack. Apparently gamblers don't know how to read. Nick Denton takes it in stride too, "Blog titles are like new TV shows. Some make it; some don't. Oddjack, Gawker Media's gambling site, was one of the ones that didn't. And it's best to cancel the show sooner rather than later." We hope the often hilarious and quite snarky in his own right A.J. Daulerio finds another blog gig soon. You see what can happen here kids?
*Speaking of cancelations. Alias is done. What are we supposed to say about this? Truthfully we are surprised it even limped into this season what with Jennifer's bun in the oven and relationship with buzzkill Ben Affleck.
*We take back anything we ever thought that might have been remotely critical of Wil Wheaton or poker or online poker or even spelling his name with two l's. We're so done with that. Mostly because this sweater is so amazing we can't even deal with it.
It's Wednesday November the 23 around 8:42PM and
It is amazing how boring talking about weather is. When it is the rain, we talk about how it will never stop. But then it is fog, and we stop talking about the rain.
Beyond Robson calls fog, "The New Rain", Metroblog says it is like a "bad vampire movie", and over at Urban Vancouver, they haven't seen this much fog since 1998. We have nothing to add, other than this. Weather blogging is pretty boring. Somebody had to say it.
It's Wednesday November the 23 around 8:22PM and
We are a little jealous of Craig Wong's over at My Dinner Table. He went to, and has a short but mememorable review of, the night with Neil Wyles and Marley Wines at the Hamilton Street Grill. "The power outage to start the evening was sort of a twist, but Neil didn't miss a step and dinner carried on. The highlight of the Marley Wines for me was the Pinot Noir and for the meal it was the surprise dessert, a deep fried Mars bar."
And speaking of totally awesome autumn foods, Steamrollers is running thier insane turkey burrito again. Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and cranberries. And it's in a damned tortilla. They are pretty much the greatest inventions, ever.
It's Wednesday November the 23 around 1:12PM and
Okay. So we thought that with a Canucks game - another victory no less - last night we'd be delighted with some yummy Official Canucks Blogger treats from Jennifer Good. She blogs entry number four but treats us to less Canucky insight and more about blackouts on Granville Street and her dog Little B. "My poor little monkey (who i’ve taken to calling him 'Pucky' as he’s small and black just like a hockey puck) had surgery on his back leg..."
But she is calling her dog Pucky, which is nice.
It's Wednesday November the 23 around 12:58PM and
Micheal Tippett's Now Public is a very cool site about with citizen journalism gone wild and he has some photos and news from a crime scene at 2500 Graveley this morning.
It's Tuesday November the 22 around 10:36PM and
Vanmega has a November mixtape up for listening pleasure - great stuff by the way and mixtapes bring back memories don't they? Now we call them playlists or an iMix. We checked it out and totally went mental for the new
Neil Diamond - then dangerously used out iTunes one-click purchase.
Oh my god Neil's homepage is so amazing with that personal greeting and everything. But nothing compares to his new album, "12 Songs" this week. No wonder he debuted in the top ten for the first time in his career. How much of a little Americana genuis is Rick Rubin? Philadelphia Weekly makes us wonder with this: "Let us now praise Rick Rubin, the burly bearded Buddha-man with a Slayer jones and a hard-on for Donovan's soft underbelly, for he truly is a man for our season."
More: Rolling Stone
It's Tuesday November the 22 around 9:20PM and
Step into the Pear Tree Restaurant and immediately forget that you are across the street from the old North Burnaby Inn. The recent renovations have brought ultra-modern design and funky sophistication to
Vancouver Magazine’s 2005 “Best of the ‘Burbs” restaurant. Chef/Owner Scott Jaeger, matches his bistro’s trendy interior to a tight menu with innovative creations including a delicious lobster cappuccino.
The service is impeccable and very friendly without being over the top. As a bonus the female staff are all very attractive especially the goth-esque bus girl. Appies range from $7 - $15, entrées from $28 – $32, and desserts are $9ish and they are all deliciously worth it. The wine list is also excellent, reasonably priced and included some hard-to-get Okanagan wines including Blue Mountain and Kettle Valley.
Comments from our table included:, “possibly the best beef tenderloin ever”, “possibly the best salmon ever”, and “quite possibly the best lemon-tart ever”. The Pear Tree would definitely not be out of place with the best restaurants in hipper neighbourhoods throughout Vancouver. Maybe when your restaurant is this good you don’t need a website?
The Pear Tree Restaurant, 4120 E. Hastings St. Burnaby. 604-299-2772
This review was graciously researched, written, photographed and eaten by Vancouverite Food & Wine Correspondent Daniel Hirner.
It's Tuesday November the 22 around 6:56PM and
Our post from last night about the impending
Blog War over Vancouver has generated a nice little debate. (Note to staff: graphics featuring nuclear bomb blasts are a winner.) Our friends over at
Metroblogging have a good post recognizing our attitude about playing nice with the other blogs, and calls for us to collectively make fun of CanWest. Done & Done.
Meanwhile, Richard Eriksson over at Urban Vancouver doesn't believe it's a war at all, taking the Jeff Jarvis line that, "blogging is not a battle nor is it a war, but rather it's a conversation." That's a fair point, but just becuase we're in the citizen's media era, doesn't mean that competition has to stop at the url. And what we don't want to do is to drift anywhere near this hopeless direction. Kris Krug, who needs to post more often, says, "but it is is war in that only one site can come up FIRST when you type 'vancouver blog' into google."
At anyrate, all of this is making the Vancouver blog scene a much more fun and lively place. And making fun of the Global Overlords will be good (what evil lies at the Can West Employee Store website for instance- Asper hats?), getting bought out by them (Hi Leonard!) or taking them over (realy? just $10.64/share today) will be even better.
It's Tuesday November the 22 around 6:13PM and
*We saw this ad campaign for AIDS Vancouver when we were having lunch the other day - it was on a coaster at the Fountainhead Pub on Davie. It's another product from our good buddies at
Rethink. Here is the TV ad entitled
"Admiral Winkey" It's all part of a
campaign with the message: "Whatever you call it, thanks for keeping it safe."
*Craigslist founder Craig Newmark is going to jump into the news business promising a new journalist based model that will offer the "wisdom of the masses". This is pretty much the greatest news since the Adidas store hit Granville St. and Jennifer Good discovered the Vancouver Canucks.
"The big issue in the U.S. is that newspapers are afraid to talk truth to power," said Craig. "The White House press corps don't speak the truth to power; they are frightened to lose access they don't have anyway," he said, according to the Guardian newspaper."
*Meanwhile, and just so we are clear about our editorial standards here, we show you the way to our blog crush, Gawker who has endless fun with Kate Moss today in her pre-cocaine and rehab days, "topless, performing some sort of glorious seizure-dance." it's not pretty, but qualifies her to be... Mayor of Vancouver. [Note: After tonight's "My Name is Earl" we would rather have Beau Bridges as our Mayor. We're just saying.)
*Delightfully irresponsible journalism is totally the new black. The Wonkette's headline today, "Bush Drinking Again" is pretty much the best thing we've read since like 9:00 am. "As Daily Kos and other have pointed out, Bush's hat tip to local culture in Mongolia -- drinking fermented yak's milk -- means that the poor guy is drinking. 'Again.'"
*Singing Absolute special holiday bottles? Adrants points out just how great this is.
It's Tuesday November the 22 around 6:03PM and
Wal-Mart is totally in love with the Vancouver election results. So much so that they have gotten thier mojo back and will attemp to apply again to bring the biggest box store of them all to Vancouver.
"We try not to get involved in the political issues, it's not our job," said Wal-Mart Spokesrobot Andrew Pelletier to the CBC. "Our job is to listen to the community and ... put together the [best] absolute proposal for a store on Marine Drive in Vancouver that we can."
It's Tuesday November the 22 around 5:49PM and
This is excellent news. Vision Vancouver is calling for an inquiry about the dualing Mister Greens in the election on November 19th. While Sullivan has denied any wrongdoing, it appears that he asked if he could help James Green out when he was evicted from his office space. But Sullivan's credibility is pretty much debatable since he has a penchant for helping people buy crack and also has a weak spot for prostitutes in need. As Mr. Burns would say, "Excellent." [CBC]
Update: Darren Barefoot commented on this post below that we didn't give you the follow up story or give nearly enough background information on Sullivan's, how shall we put it, 'exotic tastes'. He is absolutely right, we were distracted by all the pretty Kate Moss movie watching, but any additional excuse to post more on Sammy is simply a great idea. More cowbell, as it were. He mentions this backgrounder on the situation from The Courier. We also liked this Bill Tieleman take down in 24 Hours too: "But that's the same Sullivan who is apologizing all over town for giving money to and assisting a drug addict buy and smoke crack in Sullivan's van. The same Sullivan who also gave a prostitute money to buy drugs."
This one at the National Post includes our favorite headline from the election, "Quadriplegic, draft dodger vie for mayor" and is a good backgrounder. Oh, and you shouldn't leave out a nice little Fox News post on a subject like this. But if righty Brit Hume isn't your bag, The Tyee has got you covered.
It's Monday November the 21 around 10:05PM and
Just read this post:
Do you have a 4x4 and would like to do some four wheeling? Are you into eating healthy and would like to fill up a freezer with the best wild (organic) meat? Do you like to hunt or at least are not adverse to the idea of killing your own meat? I am looking for a partner to go deer hunting with before the season closes, i.e. within the next two weeks. It would involve driving for several hours, camping out and spending two days hiking, spotting, stalking and hopefully shooting a buck. We would pool our resources, share the adventure and the meat.
Ah, yes, share the meat.
It's Monday November the 21 around 8:06PM and
Architecture
Palm Springs, what up? Apropos of nothing,
News Today brings to our attention a nice looking, newly reinvented hotel,
"The Parker" Palm Springs. Which is wierd since we were at
Browns on Friday and really enjoyed looking at the photo of
Richard Neutra's "Kaufman House". What sweet joy.
Hollywood Un-North
Set photos from both the insane looking Nacho Libre. Creepy Tom Cruise and the Felicity (Keri Russell) on the set of Mission Impossible 3. The delightful looking Kate Beckinsale and Michelle Rodriguez.
Food & Wine
Waiter Blog writes about Hamilton Street Grill's Marley Farm Winery night: "celebrate the down to earth wines of the Marley Farm Winery (yes, the Bob Marley family!) along with Hamilton Street Grill’s, Executive Chef Neil Wyles, wine-inspired appetizers." Get Jaming December 12th. $20. Damn.
Design, Trends, Etc.
*92 pages of Tyler Durden creepy. The Pink Flyer.
*Industrial Brand Creative. A local Vancouver design studio that blogs some really great stuff.
*The curious tale of the Hurra Torpedo. It's driving Ad Jab insane. Ford Propaganda vs. Insane Norwegian Band? You be the judge.
*Saul Bass's famous "Death Star" logo for AT&T has been updated. Ad Freak has the details.
*The Work Less dude writing at West-Mart recaps the election results by writing about sexing up sustainability. The subhead of a recent Tyee article is awesome: "Because life and death issues can't afford to bore."
It's Monday November the 21 around 6:48PM and
It's nice to see that the BC Liberals got the NDP really drunk and took advantage of them last week when they rammed through that cushy raise for each other. Worst. One Night Stand. Ever. But now the NDP is feeling guilty about it, and want to change their minds. Jak King breaks it down for us: "They will pitch it, no doubt, as 'listening to the voices of the people'. Bullshit! If they had really wanted to know what the people thought, they wouldn't have connived their secret deal in the first place."
Or if they could hire John Kerry's strategist people: "We actually voted for the pay raise, before we voted against it."
Update: The Liberals drank the Kool-Aid too. The pay hike is toast. So now they both just come off smelling like garbage. Bravo.
It's Monday November the 21 around 6:39PM and
Oh, and while we are talking about the every competitive Vancouver Blog world, here's something to think about. While we will be adding more writers shortly, what we really need is an intern!
If you are interested in getting us glasses of Pinot Noir, making runs to Starbucks, ironing, and doing some real research and reporting this could be your calling! Duties may also include closely following CTV's Tamara Taggart, watching Breakfast Television, and calling the Bill Good Show on a daily basis to leave messages just like Bart Simpson does to Moe. And no, we're not joking. 10-15 hours a week of work, sweatshop conditions. Send your resume and a headshot to us and we'll get in touch if you're the right Vancouverite.
It's Monday November the 21 around 5:58PM and
Thanksfully the Vancouver Blogosphere seems to be heating up. Today while we were visiting the lovely
Jennifer Good, we came across someone in her comments section talking about thier new Vancouver blog and asking her to be a part of it (Don't do it. Seriously let's just let Jennifer be Jennifer okay - like a public good we all can enjoy).
Anyway, the Vancouver version of a large blogging group MetroBlogging is setting up shop soon. They claim to be, " the largest and fastest growing network of city-specific blogs on the Web. From San Francisco to Bangkok, from Karachi to Toronto, Metblogs are a hyper-local look at what's going on in the city." Perhaps, like Wal-Mart, they will be asked to leave - we kid, because we love.
It's weird, we must live under a rock or something because we never hear anything about this company - even if Will Wheaton does write for thier L.A. version (then again, he writes all over the place, and let's not forget it's Wesley Crusher for god's sake.) Who knew something existed beyond awesomeness of Nick Denton's Imperialist Blog Universe? Our bad.
So here we go people. The battle for the Vancouver Blogosphere just got kicked up one more notch. Sweet. Bring it on. Seriously though competition is so awesome, and we've already been told to "grow up" and that we are offering only, "Uninformed cynicism. Just what we need more of in the blogosphere" - so this is all really good news. We're psyched!
It's Monday November the 21 around 10:56AM and
One thing we really like about Vancouver is the often funny front pages of the NY Post-esque
"Province". Today's front page is totally incredible. The thing about losing in the playoffs is that a headline like "So Close" is such a silly thing to say - sort of like saying you finished second out of a field of two. The And it's pretty hot that some of the fans feel like they were robbed. "The Lions should have won," said one
longtime fan of the Lions.
And here's a quick reminder of the awesomeness of the upcoming Grey Cup: "The streets of downtown Vancouver will be turned into a festival beginning Thursday, with pancake breakfasts, concerts, block parties and boat cruises on an entertainment schedule that should peak around halftime on Sunday, when The Black Eyed Peas take the stage at B.C. Place."
It's Monday November the 21 around 10:40AM and
Well maybe it wasn't Sam Sullivan, but whatevs, somebody doesn't like Jim Green very much. Maybe it was Philip Owen. [Craigslist]
It's Monday November the 21 around 10:25AM and
Gwen Stefani hit GM Place last night - I wonder if General Motors will drop the sponsorsip of the arena along with the 30,000 workers they dropped right before Christmas. Our reporter on the ground was there and comments that, "some of the bridge and tunnel outfits were fantastic - lots of crinolin and leg warmers" which made for "cold thighs but warm calves." That rules.
Gwen seemed not to dissapoint the crowd as she changed 10 times during the show. Our intrepid reporter also pleasantly reported that there were lots of men in the crowd, obvioulsy enjoying the fact that Gwen's legs went on "forever."
From Blown Speakers has a photo and review.
Update: Finally Jennifer Good has posted her review/photos at her website. She pronounces it, "Best show I’ve ever seen" and has a bunch of yummy Gwenny photos.
It's Sunday November the 20 around 2:56PM and
Whatever your opinion is of the current war in Iraq, and the Global War on Terror more generaly, one journalist is always worth reading. John F. Burns who has been working the Iraq beat for the New York Times since the war began has a very sober and interesting piece in today's paper entitled,
"It's Still a Mystery".
Not only have American forces recently found a secret Interior Ministry torture center in Baghad, with it's 173 starving inmates, the word is that they are slowing uncovering a shadowy Shiite religious movement that has infiltrated the police and is responsible for this and other dangerous developments.
What is interesting about Burn's piece is just how realisitic it's assessment is. That unlike the current political debate in Washington over the war, he tells it like it is on the ground - including the good, the bad, and the ugly, which is refreshing. It's especially refreshing to read, since getting accurate news on Iraq is difficult at best. For instance, while talk of some sort of pull out reaches a boiled water pitch, Burns is reporting this:
"Compared to 18 months ago, the American grasp of the war's complex tribal, ethnic, political and religious hinterland has advanced considerably. Intelligence officers now talk assuredly about inter-tribal rivalries and links between Baathist financiers, Islamic militants and criminal gangs. They display "rogues' galleries" of insurgent cell leaders and where they operate."
Austin Bay - someone we read regularly and respect - has some great information on the disconect between reality and the news we watch or read and part of it is recognizing that there is a terrorist problem in Iraq. He points to an article today at Strategy Page by Jim Dunnigan breaking it down. "First, there is definitely a terrorism problem. Not an insurgency, not a guerilla war, not a resistance. A portion of the Sunni Arab population refuses to recognize the Sunni Arab loss of power in early 2003. They are supporting a campaign of terror to either get back power or, more pragmatically, to get immunity for most Sunni Arabs for crimes committed during Saddams decades in power."
And this translates into pretty positive news, suggesting that American commanders on the ground have now been able to broach the real crusp of the problem: coming to terms with who or what they are fighting. The reality is that more and more Iraqis, and therefore Americans, are coming to speak openly about who they are fighting. It's not just forces from without, but also from within, and Iraqis are increasinly uneasy but honest about the fact that thier own people are now bombing and killing them.
And while the death tolls mount, and pressure on America to pull out increases, there are things that the media, and the activists seem to completely leave out of the debate - which is completely frustrating. Newsweek for instance seems to have burried the real story of the situation in thier latest article on the situation.
"it's not entirely clear that U.S. policy has "failed." The TV news, not to mention Al-Jazeera, doesn't regularly summarize the stunning changes in Iraq, many of them morally and politically worthy. Saddam Hussein is gone and awaiting trial. Schools, hospitals and other institutions are operating in most parts of the country. Voters have adopted a constitution. And even many Sunnis are gathering in political parties that are maneuvering in advance of the Dec. 15 national elections. After the elections, the plan is that Coalition forces will use the growing number of capable Iraqi units to "clear, hold and build" a peaceful Iraq." (Via Riding Sun)
So like most subjects these days, a real and more complex debate should be taking place on this - we should be able to handle it. And yet we are completely bombarded with superficial and doomsday reports coming out of the region. What is most surprising is just how much some people want George Bush to fail so badly that it overides any thought or consideration for the long term consequences - and that is a shame whatever your position is on the war may be.
It's Sunday November the 20 around 2:00PM and
While
everybody in the free world was seeing yet another Harry Potter film (don't get us started, we don't get the whole thing at all and no, we haven't read, watched, or even care about any of it.) Thankfully people still found time to go out and make
"Walk The Line" the second biggest movie of the weekend, with over $22 million at the box office.
Pretty much every review of importance, save The New York Times A.O. Scott who suggests that it, "settles down in the fat middle of the bell curve, providing, if nothing else, an excuse to go out and buy some CD's", have fallen in love with this biopic love story of Johnny Cash and June Carter. And once you get used to Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon doing the singing - and you quite nearly do until the end credits - the movie is far superior to last year's overhyped "Ray." Maybe that's just because we like Cash's music more than Charles'.
One thing that could have been a movie in it's own right was the road tour of Cash along with Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, Roy Orbison, and Waylon Jennings. That could be the greatest road movie of all time, and a timeless slice of American lore. Instead that storyine is scenery for what is a typical musician story including the drugs and comeback that are naturally key.
Is Cash, as Kris Kristofferson once described, "Abraham Lincoln with a wild side?" Possibly, but with every character like Cash, the most interesting things is always imagining how it was that he came to be who he was in a place like America - people who blindly dimiss the cultural hegemony and damage America does, who do well to explore the fact that both Johnny Cash and Wal-Mart came out of Arkansas in the 1950's and 60's.
Ultimetly this movie is about as conventional, and as Hollywood, as it gets, and that will probably be its undoing at Oscar time. The New Yorker asks if it possible that, "the central lesson of Johnny Cash’s life really be that he was a loser until a good woman shamed him into growing up?" But that question makes it at least worth watching, and certainly more so than any of this Harry Potter nonsense.
It's Sunday November the 20 around 9:38AM and
It was a close one, but Vancouver held it's nose, and returned the NPA to govern the city,
electing Sam Sullivan Mayor. Generally those who voted across Vancouver opted to change horses and kicked out at least five incumbent mayors (West Vancouver, North Vancouver City, Surrey, Coquitlam, and Maple Ridge.
The best part was that since Larry Campbell's Vision Party split the left vote it ended up losing the mayor's place and at the same time destroyed the COPE party, which is always a good sign of an election. They gained a lone council seat, and set up a 5-5 right/left split on Vancouver's political scene.
Of course, being Vancouver and politics the vote wasn't without controversy. "Another factor may have been James Green, a political unknown who ran for mayor and whose name appeared just ahead of Jim Green's on the ballot. James Green drew 4,273 votes -- more than the 3,747 votes by which Jim Green lost to Sullivan." That will give the COPE/Vision supports something to bellyache about for the next few years, which might add some spice to the political scene. It's already making conservative publisher/ringleader Ezra Levant giddy with excitement that the right wing has captured the city council.
This is the real good news about all these results, is a super healthy dose of politics is upon us - so thank you voters for giving us our cake, we'll eat it as soon as we can.
It's Saturday November the 19 around 10:41AM and
Every once in awhile, somebody writes something that makes you just smile. This morning that is Colby Cosh. "Nothing against the Accordion Guy, but his headline "Pillow Fight in Dundas Square This Sunday" suddenly made me loathe my own generation. Flash mobs, cuddle parties, neo-burlesque, robot pets, emo, speed dating, network gaming tournaments, live-action remakes of cartoons."
It's Friday November the 18 around 2:37PM and
FRIDAY:
Start the weekend off by spending a few hours with Mr. Johnny Cash.
Walk the Line is alredy garnering serioulsy big oscar buzz, even for Reese Witherspoon. Surprisingly Witherspoon and Phoenix both so thier own singing, what up? What will this mean for the Vancouver connected Capote's chances? Just thinking of movies reminds us that this morning we couldn't actually find a Vancouver Sun review - they have Associated Press reviews. Honestly Can West, get it together.
SATURDAY:
*It's time to find the "fire in your belly" and vote in the elections. Why in the hell is the vote on a Saturday anyway. Not only do the downtown mayoral candidates make us sick to our stomachs, they are ruining a perfectly good Saturday too. [Vancouver Votes]
*How about the Work Less Party's Cirucs? This insane event has a kissing booth, spanking booth, and body painting. Costumed guests pay $3, non-costumes pay $8, first 5 drag queens get in free. Maritime Labour Centre - 1880 Triumph Street. [Circus Party]
*And if you still feel bad about voting for Jim Green or Sam Sullivan, you could mend your wounds by letting off some steam at The Commadore and watching Damien "Jr. Gong" Marley. [Vancouver Events]
SUNDAY:
*Gwen Stefani and her posse of mute Japanese dance machine robots invade Vancouver. Cultural Icons beware, she's taking her lame fashion show to General Motors Place.
*We don't get why this is happening on November 20th. But then again Rogers is sponsoring it, so there you go. The 2nd Annual Rogers Santa Claus Parade at 10:30 AM. So stick far away from Georgia, Howe, and Burnaby Streets. Give us a break.
It's Friday November the 18 around 10:39AM and
*With a day of campaigning left, we finally hear the words that make us roll our eyes more than when a hockey player says he is giving 110 per cent.
Sam Sullivan tells 24 Hours he found the, "fire in his belly." Gross. Meanwhile their writer
Erin Airton tells of a glorious Jim Green mailer, "To insinuate, as Jim Green and his merry Vision band have done in this mailer, that [Sam Sullivan] is anti-gay and anti-choice is like suggesting Santa Claus is a pimp."
*And if that wasn't enough Jim Green is a dirty politician, Ryan Warawa has more on the lies and that Vision is in the pocket of the gambling industry. Which brings us to our second favorite political play, the suggestion of "hidden agendas." Check.
*We are actually surprised that The Georgia Straight has picked Sam Sullivan for it's Straight Slate feature. Yet calling it a "tricky choice" in another article seems like a lame headline, while burying the meat of what a couple of deadbeats Vancouver has to represent it.
*The Vancouver Sun is reporting record numbers of advance voters this year. That means people are engaged in this election right? We suspect that voters just like getting the dirty feeling of voting for terrible candidates and that stink off them before election day.
*Jak's View From Vancouver asks the big question. How is it that Vancouver is like the best city in the world according to all these dumb polls yet couldn't find a leader to save it's life. We particularly like this part of snark: "we have a choice between a self-serving and arrogant "left winger" who helped destroy the only true left-wing party the city has seen since the war, and a right-leaning politico who has been described as "crazy" and who has sat on Council for 12 years doing nothing."
*The Tyee predicts a Jim Green victory. Gulp. This seems to be a third favorite political meme (see also Academy Award meme). That it's "his time". Come off of it, this guy didn't finish second in the 1990 mayoral race, he lost. He didn't "almost" defeat Gordon Campbell in 1996, he LOST. Then there are these two factors: "Green has run an effective campaign by focusing on the issues that brought COPE to power in the last election. " and "He has great hats." Niether of which are true.
It's Friday November the 18 around 10:09AM and
So the week of the big civic election is here and The Georgia Straight chooses to put
Gwen Stefani on the cover. Good for them. Clearly they gave up on caring about this boring election and decided to go with a picture of someone more interesting than either im Green or Sam Sullivan.
We really love it when so called "indie papers" climb down from thier moral highground just long enough to go out of there way and opt for some crass commercialization over the obvious issues of an election. Totally awesome! But the real beef here is in The Straight calling Ms. Stefani a "cultural icon" on the cover. This seems ridiculous anyway. You know ripping off the fashions and styles of young Japanese girls doesn't really translate into icon status - and what happens when that trend enters acid wash jean territory. The article goes on to say it's because she is authentic. Please, spelling Bananas in a very fun way doesn't count. Besides, isn't she married to cheese rocker Gavin Rossdale?
I much prefer the reality check of the Seattle Times, "While Stefani is adept at writing dance-oriented pop, she can't dance (as anyone who has seen a No Doubt concert can attest). That's why she has eight dancers in her show, including four Asian women dubbed 'The Harajuku Girls.'"
It's Friday November the 18 around 7:16AM and
Ah. It's so nice to see the provincial government and the opposition play nice in the sandbox. Yesterday they spent two quality hours snuggling, playing doctor, and then voting themselves a massive pay increase, raming it through the legislature before leaving for the day.
"As question period unfolded, reporters reached for pocket calculators to work out the percentage increases," writes The Vancouver Sun's Vaughn Palmer. "The basic jump looked to be 15 per cent. For the premier it was about 20 per cent. The pension, abolished by all-party agreement, was back as well."
Especially nice to see that the NDP, freshly back in the game wasted no time before sticking thier faces in the trough.
It's Thursday November the 17 around 10:00PM and
A small group of us went to the
LK Dining Lounge today for lounge. It was one of those 75 minute lunches that shouldn't happen in this day and age, and yet they still do. And in Lily Kate's 2,700 square foot beautiful space that is certainly never over run with other guests, it's hard to imagine how they can afford to stay open. Mind you, we've never experienced the dinner scene, so maybe it is super busy at night - in fact they have tweaked the concept since it first open from a more casual fine foods with takeout, to it's now more lounge version 2.0.
Anyway, the space reminds us very vaguely of our favorite hotel in New York, The Hudson with the flagrant use of bright neon green juxtaposed against the grains of beautiful dark woods; all played with a backdrop of subtle house grooves. It's just really a shame that the website (we feel like a broken record as we harp on this kind of thing) is such a bad representation of the real experience.
And the food is decent. And by decent you will just thank god you aren't eating another triple 'o' burger with all the riff raff. The burger is an insanely $14 (That is if you get it with bacon, which is a dumb question. Plus it's served with yam fries and salad), but it's damed good. The soup and other specials are usually delicious and you can't ever really go wrong with the Southern Fried Chicken, Caprese Sandwich, Nachos, or the massive Monte Cristo (yes we've been there a few times) can you? Oh, the cappuccino is always a good call.
It's Thursday November the 17 around 7:17AM and
The Yale Hotel on Granville street
turns 125 today. Back in 1890 it was called the Colonial and was on the street then known as North Arm Road.
To celebrate a piano legend from New Orleans, Henry Butler, (Who Dr. John calls, "visionistical down-home cat and a hellified piano plunker to boot.") is kicking out the jams tonight in the old place. And if you go tonight you will also get the honor of seeing mayoral candidate Jim Green, no doubt sporting some wacky hat and doing shots.
It's Thursday November the 17 around 7:10AM and
Tonight is night one of the $2.5 million BC Poker Championship. So ladies iif you are looking for geeks who stay up late playing poker online, magic cards, and roll playing head on over to the River Rock to find your perfect mate. And thanks for nothing BC Lottery Corp! The goal of making BC a real live poker destination is like so 2004.
It's Thursday November the 17 around 7:03AM and
Beyond Robson points us to the fact that joy of joys, that Buy Nothing Day is just around the corner. Adbusters (who else) has the modus operandi: "For 24 hours, millions of people around the world do not participate -- in the doomsday economy, the marketing mind-games, and the frantic consumer-binge that's become our culture. We pause. We make a small choice not to shop. We shrink our footprint and gain some calm. Together we say: enough is enough. And we help build this movement to rethink our unsustainable course."
This would be really, really cute, if we were still in first year university and still had that massive school girl crush on Karl Marx, his amazingly sexy beard, and promises of wonderful collective economic utopia. Sigh.
It's Wednesday November the 16 around 9:05PM and
Nope that was another movie with Harrison Ford. The trailer for the Vancouver shot Firewall is up. And they really pulled out all the stops with a really great landing page.
Six word trailer review: Worse than a Random Hearts sequel.
It's Wednesday November the 16 around 7:57PM and
*Good news
Battlestar Galactica fans. The show is being picked up for a third season, which will start filming on the alien world of
Vancouver February 2006. That means more chances to run into
Tricia Helfer or
Grace Park.
*TMZ sent a reporter to the Vancouver set of In the Name of the King with Ray Liotta during production and hilarity nearly ensued. Claire Forlani eat a sandwich and then nothing really happens. The real news is that Burt Reynolds has been in town buying stuff to cover up his stretch marked face before filming wrapped on the $60 million future box office bomb. {via Cinematical]
*24 Hours Vancouver reports that Al Pacino is very spry for a senoir citizen and X-Men 3 is a big expensive movie apparently. Oh, and Halle Berry is in town stuffing her face at Gotham. She wouldn't be going there if she saw the restaurant's ridiculously lamely branded website.
It's Wednesday November the 16 around 7:13PM and
*Sadly they don't seem to be coming to Vancouver anytime soon, but The Darkness has what could be the most insane music video for the song "One Way Ticket" we've seen in a long, long time. Golden Fiddle describes it quite rightly as featuring, "Star Wars-type title crawl, Justin Hawkins dressed a wart-hog from hell, and a fish & chips picnic set atop a mountain of Bolivian marching powder (but, unfortunately, no Ben Stiller or Kate Moss) has us pretty much convinced!"
*Speaking of music videos. The insanity continues with Beck's "Hell Yes" featuring the goodness of creepy robots. Again, not coming soon to Vancouver, the bastard.
*Gawker Media's big week as told by thier competition Gothamist. Big Press, Big distribution deal, big speculation. HeyCan West, quick, write this down. Blogs begin to compete for market share in Canada. Just look at our competitor FreshDaily. We get the Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal blogs, but we scratch our heads on the Mississauga one. Let the games begin.
*Ah, young jedi, we see your blogging is about as good as your acting. Is this Hayden Christensen blog? You be the judge.
It's Wednesday November the 16 around 7:36AM and
*The new
Citroen tv spot, "Happy Days" is pretty wicked. (Via
Screenhead)
*Jennifer Aniston is GQ's Woman of the Year. The trailer for her new film, "The Break Up" with Vince Vaughn is out.
*A new short film by Spike Jonze called "How they Get There" tells the tale of how those shoes that you see in the street now and again, get there.
*And how amazing is this creepy Egg Mastercard commercial created by Mother and director Ne-O.
*A Daily workout only buys you 3.7 extra years. Mickey Kaus says we all secretly think. "Only 3.7 years? It almost doesn't seem worth it. I would have thought that figure would be much higher. ...Is this one of those cases where the news is the opposite of what the news says the news is?"
*The Jones Soda 2005 Holiday Pack is absolutely disgusting. "Broccoli Casserole, Smoked Salmon Paté, Turkey & Gravy, Corn on the Cob, and Pecan Pie flavored sodas."
*Ipod cradles made out of solid rock. [Boing Boing]
*Paris Hilton has a new little friend. A kinkajou Monkey named Baby Luv. Defamer is on full Monkey Deathwatch for us.
It's Wednesday November the 16 around 7:30AM and
Sure we have the "highest and the wackiest" housing pricing in the entire country, but it's still not a bubble yet. Depends on what the definition of the word bubble is, we suppose. [The Province]
It's Wednesday November the 16 around 7:19AM and
The Vancouver Sun's big story on the "mud flying" of the mayoral election is a total letdown. If this is mud, we declare we want to see Jim Green and Sam Sullivan fling pooh at each other like monkeys. The only nugget of interest is the picture they chose of Green has him hanging out with ex-MLA Moe Sihota, so you know the douche bag quotion was just stepped up at any rate.
More Mud Flinging: 24 Hours, "At issue is a new four-colour brochure distributed by Green's Vision Vancouver party, which Sullivan says makes a variety of erroneous claims about Green's successes or Sullivan himself."
It's Tuesday November the 15 around 11:23PM and
Nada Surf 2006 tour announced. The Vancouver date for
Nada Surf is February 26 at the amazing Richards on Richards.
The new album, "The Weight is a Gift" actually seems fairly cool (listen to it My Space) and the artwork seems slightly Wes Andersonish, which is always a good call as far as we are concerned.
Damn you iTunes for being only one-click away. Damn you! Paste makes use of the Star Wars lyric reference, while USA Today writes, "Critics who swooned over 2003's sad and haunting Let Go have been waiting to see whether Nada Surf can deliver a worthy sequel. The Weight, the 10-year-old New York indie-pop trio's third full studio album, is a gift indeed. Its tight, catchy pop tunes gleam with emotional verve, harmonies and smartly crafted melodies. Matthew Caws' lyrics have both mystery and a universal touch." [More: Rolling Stone]
It's Tuesday November the 15 around 10:22PM and
*Mezzoblue has the shots from X-Men 3. [Here are some earlier set photos too]
*Charlie Brown has the side of the Sears building has been totally Yoda-ized and some great ones from the set of 88 Minutes, and from the low budget looking Reunion. PS: How the hell is that stupid show managing to stay on tv while Fox axes Arrested Development. Go ask them at 10/210 555 Brooksbank Ave North Vancouver.
* Jason Mraz and Tristan Prettyman played the Commadore Monday night and Cathy Cracks has the Flickr to prove it and video too. And the two are dating too. What the hell is the fun of going on tour with your girlfriend you dork?
It's Tuesday November the 15 around 9:45PM and
The Vision Vancouver tv spot I saw running tonight was hilarious. Did our ears decieve us, or did it really feature a remixed verison of "i Can See Clearly Now" with new lyrics suggesting that voting visions will do this: "It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright) Vancouver day."
Let's just say, that along with poor website design, ripped off ad theme songs rank right up there for election "Don'ts" as the gang at Vice would say. There is just no reason to even attemp something this cheesy. Thank you Jim Green.
It's Tuesday November the 15 around 9:10PM and
A movie with some very Vancouver-y connections - even though it was filmed in Saskatchewan - had a little premiere party in L.A. yesterday. The film was the new Ryan Reynolds comedy
Just Friends featuring this crazy scene of him in a fat suit singing
"I Swear" Anyway, it was produced by Vancouver's own
Bill Vince- he of
Capote buzz and his Infinity Media Inc. We call that diversity of projects range people. Incredible range.
What was our point here? Oh Right, A Defamer operative reports: "my girlfriend and I were too pissed off about the food (consisting solely of White-Castle-esque hamburgers, pigs-in-a-blanket, greasy fish sticks, grapes, and guacamole–not kidding) to put our hearts into it. I mean, who throws an after-party at BrewCo?"
That menu is so un-Hollywood and awesome it defies words. Bravo! In short Katie Holmes ex, Chris Klein was with a creepy Suzanne Somers look-a-like, Bradley Cooper was in fact a real jerk, and Anna Faris (who's character Samantha has her own webpage featuring her amazing music) was blonde in real life.
It's Tuesday November the 15 around 8:51PM and
News today that both
Carmen Electra and Leslie Nielson have joined the cast of the currently filming in Vancouver sequel
Scary Movie 4. We caught this via
Cinematical who drops this bomb, "you might remember that Electra's character was killed off the last time around; the producers are saying she'll be resurrected in a scene spoofing The Village. Bringing bimbos back from the dead, eh? They've still got it!"
Ah Carmen Electra, now there's an actress - be on the look out.
It's Tuesday November the 15 around 7:50PM and
Darren Barefoot has what might be the best three sentences written about this week's election and he uses the word perplexing too. "Vision Vancouver seems to be making more promises than a sixteen-year-old boy on lover’s lane, and Sam Sullivan is clearly kind of nuts. And the other day I read about Tim Louis’s support of a non-profit brothel for Vancouver prostitutes, which doesn’t sound like a bad idea. What’s a barely-informed voter to do?"
Yep, this only really happens in Vancouver. And yet we found a growing debate over at Urban Vancouver about the election. According to the Tyee, UBC Journalism Professor Mark Scheider says, "Vancouver's blogosphere is just not being charged up by this election." Not charged? Could it be that electing the mayor of this city is about as important as Dog Catcher? Maybe it is the fact that the major candidates are all either communists, crackpots, or whores.
You figure out which is which so that Jim Green doesn't sue us....for this. Then again, we have heard repeatedly over the past few weeks that our beloved Uncle Jimmy Green, clearly a true man of the people, actually likes to sip the fine stuff at places like the Hotel Vancouver. He also secretly wants to be either a pimp or Vancouver-izzle's first gangster rapper. Besides the race would be so much more fun if Lorne Mayencourt was running in this race, because as we see it, the city could use a real loose cannon.
It's Tuesday November the 15 around 6:46PM and
We did it. We finally did it. We took a little trip down to the brand
new shiny Adidas store on Granville street. It is literally more nightclub than retail and while there were a few items worth buying, the majority of the
Adidas stuff was bordering on totally unwearable - well, you'd have to have some nerve wearing that stuff in public. What the hell? No
Spezials? Are you crazy. The experience was saved by two things. 1.
The Pixies "Where is my mind" was playing. 2. Watching the perky-hipster staff try to deal with a really cool junky looking for some rad shoes.
While we were at it, we went into American Apparel. Completely don't get it. Okay, I get the t-shirts, but I don't get their whole store concept. But I will say this, the cashiers are very aweseomely judgemental, ("You don't look like a rock star, should I be selling you these black t-shirts" is actually an expression they can give you. At least our own Art Director felt that wrath.) which is so awesome. In other news, my friend Anthony learned that if you spend over $50 bucks (that non-sweatshop L.A. manufacturing ain't cheap you know) you got a free headband. Now, that is excellent. And one question. Why can't the store be more like their advertising and photos?
It's Tuesday November the 15 around 12:07PM and
Report from our intrepid Vancouverite field reporter who attended the weekend's Cornucopia in Whistler wine and food festival. Dan's favorite wine from the event, The Holy Trinity. "Price point $47 succulent like a raspberry infused nipple." That is amazing.
Update: Thankfully Waiterblog is back online and blogging about the Cornucopia.
It's Tuesday November the 15 around 10:23AM and
*Today's Globe and Mail has an interesting article on the squeeze on the available amount of office space in downtown Vancouver. "The fear that residential is taking over the downtown is serious enough that the City of Vancouver has placed a moratorium on residential development in the office core. But some industry experts say it's already too late." More condos. We need more condos.
*Check your smug-o-meter folks. The Vancouver Sun has nearly 1,000 words on Holt Renfrew and high-end shopping bags.
*The Normandy - a restaurant/institution that has been at 11th and Granville for 70 years - suffered some damage in a morning fire. [CKNW]
*Brett Ratner, currently helming the X-Men 3 movie here in town, is going to add photographer to his resume when he shoots the new Jimmy Choo campaign. The Defamer: "The visionary Ratner plans to douse both Richie on Hatosy in gasoline, set them ablaze, and have them repeatedly crash into each other until one of them explodes. The images, of course, will be stunning, with the resulting pile of smoldering Choos creating a biting commentary on the emptiness of luxury consumerism. You will be moved."
It's Tuesday November the 15 around 9:18AM and
Being the Vancouver Canucks Blogger would be a good thing for Jennifer Good, but her new idea that she should be Prime Minister is pretty much the greatest idea, ever.
It's Monday November the 14 around 6:46AM and
*
The Berlin Wall of Vancouver? That's what Frances Bula calls the Woodwards building this morning. That is just a wee bit dramatic before our first coffee this morning.
*Lynne McNamara can't find any celebrities at Diva, so she writes about two local actresses who are running a boutique clothing line (Cherry Blossom). Bonus points for one of them being Stacy Grant who was the equivelant to Winnie Cooper or Wanda Plenn when we were growing up. We're just saying...
*Vancouver or no Vancouver. Snap. Drop everything. Is Lindsay Lohan enganged? Gawker has more, obviously.
*The Globe and Mail asks how you top "Da Vinci" for our mayor. Good Grief.
*Finally a dubious honor. The Lower Mainland is the crime capital of the country. "The climate, the legacy of the Wild West, the lure of easy pickings, the abundance of drugs and lax enforcement may all have contributed to the Lower Mainland's dubious distinction as Canada's capital of crime." [Vancouver Sun]
It's Monday November the 14 around 6:36AM and
Or should that be cheerleader? My goodness, shameless Jennifer Good will do pretty much anything to become the Official Vancouver Canucks blogger - including posting a photo of her dressed as The Canucks Cheerleader that should pretty much seal the deal if you ask us. Best. Canucks. Blogger. EVER.
Oh yeah. Bertuzzi. Hat trick. Canucks win 4-1. Everything back on track. Blah. Blah. Blah.
It's Monday November the 14 around 6:30AM and
Former Mayor Philip Owen doesn't think much of Jim Green. "
In this morning's Vancouver Sun Owen calls Green, "a political freeloader" who has "done nothing but line up at the public trough his whole life."
Then again, Larry Campbell doesn't think much of Sam Sullivan. "You know what Sam's problem is. He's being run. Sam has no policy. Sam is somebody who enjoys being in a room with deep thinkers. He can quote things, he can speak Cantonese, all the rest of it, but you know what, he doesn't know how the city works. That's the real problem."
It's Sunday November the 13 around 11:30AM and
While most of the new buildings in Vancouver all look the same and represent the same style, there is at least one alternative out there. That is if you have let's say $568,000 to $800,000 to burn you could buy one of the throw back Georgian inspired red brick townhomes at
Towne. This is phase two, and includes 15 rowhomes around Oakridge and developed by
Mosiac Homes. They seem to building these all over the place too- in North Vancouver and East Vancouver. It's a nice concept to see and they'll certainly be different than every other condo-y development in town.
But you do have to wonder about this: "The Towne rowhouses are wood-frame construction but they have a brick facade, and plenty of the architectural details which Mosaic believes will makes them stand out from much of today's new construction." [Vancouver Sun]
For $800,000 you'd think you could get it built all with bricks.
It's Sunday November the 13 around 9:41AM and
I don't get it. I saw it a pretty full showing yesterday of
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. And yet this movie has only
made $1.3 million since opening on October 21 in select cities. In fact it's only ever been in a maximum of 169 theatres so far. That is absolutely insane.
The Shane Black - I'm not dead & back from the 1990's abyss - directed first feature is an opus to film noir and satrical look at the movies he got rich off, namely 1987's Lethal Weapon. It would be a cliche to say that they don't make 'em like this today. Since, clearly they just did. The fact that Black crashed and burned churning out high priced screen plays for big budget action flicks and then went missing in action for years, probably worked to his advantage - exactly why this film works. [see Cinematical's review if you don't believe us.]
Five things to love about this damned film:
1. The title credits. No, we're not joking. Not since Catch Me If You Can, has there been a cooler set of titles. And the fact that the internet lets you watch them, is, well, why Al Gore invented we suppose. Directed and designed by Danny Yount these are worth the price of admission alone, and recall a time when Saul Bass ruled the film credits and design world. As a timely aside read about Bass's logo design for AT&T, which may be on life support. [via Screenhead
2. Art Direction. We usually fight with Art Directors, but at the end of the day, we love them. In this case the neon and modern Los Angeles is on display and potrayed in its best light for the first time in who knows how long. One nightclub setting is as one writer
declares, "All decked out in gothic decadence for the holidays." This film makes L.A. cool again.
3. Two words. Michelle Monaghan. And more words. She's like a sexier Ellen Pompeo (Grey's Anatomy) if that is even possible. And she's an Iowa farm girl. Double hot. It's also interesting to note that she was also in Mr. And Mrs. Smith - another good film from the genre.
4. The Narration. Now, We've never been a huge fan of narration. To quote
Robert McKee in Adaptation, "...and God help you if you use voice-over in your work, my friends. God help you. That's flaccid, sloppy writing. Any idiot can write a voice-over narration to explain the thoughts of a character. " But here it works. Really. It works because it is a very post-dvd world sort of treatment. We watch the commentary now, so why not cut to the chase a little bit and have some fun during the theatrical run.
5. Downey & Kilmer. There are few actors more fun to watch than these two. Try casting this movie with a younger group of actors - say Colin Farrell and Orlando Bloom - and this movie would simply implode under a weight of cheese. It's amazing that Downey is even alive still, and thankfully he's off the junk too. Kilmer has always been crazy. Together they are like a fine aged pinot.
It's Saturday November the 12 around 12:03PM and
Why couldn't we get someone like this to run for mayor of Vancouver? Probably a much better option for running the city than any of the useless twits running. [via Vodka Pundit]
It's Saturday November the 12 around 10:30AM and
Lynne McNamara's Backlot has the usual non-news spotted crap this morning. Apparently Indiana Jones was here, "Last weekend at Diva at the Met, [he] stopped into the lounge for a drink. His choice: Dalwhinnie 15-year-old scotch." Dalwhinnie eh...
Meanwhile Sideways star, "Virginia Madsen was seen at Diva. Over dinner, with a book, she enjoyed a lobster gnocchi appetizer and a main course of Butter Poached Atlantic Lobster with creamy orzo, globe artichokes, oven-roasted tomatoes and Parmesan basil froth." Hey Virginia your comeback ain't that spectacular yet, maybe ease off the mountains of butter poached lobsters.
What we don't get is why they are both back in town? They were filming "The Wrong Element" which was supposed to be during last spring. It's now called Firewall. Helmed by the same genuis who brought us Wimbledon, IMBD says it's in post.
It's Saturday November the 12 around 9:47AM and
I know you're still smarting from the Canucks loss two days ago. But thankfully
Jennifer Good is still plugging away on becoming the
Canucks blogger. What do we have to do to make this happen? Seriously. If only to hear more of this, "Tonight was an embarrassment. I used to get very defensive and quite mad when people called #55 Jovo “Special Ed”, but tonight I’ll let that slide."
Love it. This really shouldn't be much of a sell to get Jenny to do this Canucks blog thing. We here at The Vancouverite are certainly doing our part. And the worst part is how bad the Canucks blog is - I think it was renamed GLOG because Bill Ranford was doing it. So call them at 604-899-7400 or email them at info@canucks.com to tell them why Jennifer Good should be thier official blogger. For god sakes she'll do a better job than Elisha Cuthbert is on NHL.com. What a joke. Elisha Cuthbert? What the hell? We are confident that Jenny could give that puckslut a run for her money.
And Fin, you gross bastard, please leave Jenny alone. "Within the first 2 minutes of sitting down during the pre-game warm up Fin totally molested* me while Matt was in the bathroom. *By molested I mean he had his arm around me yelling at the AV’s, I just said “molested” for emphasis." Fin is a reason why Whaling should be allowed in Vancouver.
...Special Ed... HEH.
It's Saturday November the 12 around 8:22AM and
There is certainly no shortage of political opinion in this city. Especially when you can hit the trifecta of Wal-Mart, McDonalds, and Ahmed Chalabi while spreading hysteria over our own civic election. That is so sweet! Trifecta we say.
*Over at Beyond Robson, the gang is promoting - well that's probably too strong a word, pointing out really - a website (a very lame looking one at that) calling for a boycott of McDonald's to get Canada's money back from the U.S. for the softwood lumber dispute. "Cute. But boycotting Mick Dicks while the government of Canada continues to integrate with the US in the name of international security is a token gesture. Nevertheless I hope it gets the message out there that Canadians are sick and tired of being bullied."
Well that's just so cute. They also mention the Wal Mart is evil (Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price) movie premiere happening this Sunday, so it's only fair to tell you that I buy all my socks and underwear at Wal Mart. Shock. But seriously that film and it's counterpart "Why Walmart Works: And Why That Makes Some People Crazy" will both be available from Amazon November 15. PS: Council of Canadians babe Maude Barlow thinks Wal Mart is interfering in Vancouver's election too. Gosh, if only Maude. If only this election were that sexy. That would be so awesome. And it's not like COPE screening a politically charged movie before election day is it?
We tend to agree with Glenn Reynolds that the main problem with Wal-Mart is aesthetic not being Mr. Burns evil. He adds, "I think there's a class issue: Wal-Mart is unavoidable evidence that the American working classes don't think, or live, the way the American thinking classes want to imagine. For this sin, Wal-Mart can never be forgiven." Maude?
*And over at rocker Matthew Good's blog, he's writing quite a lot about American Foreign Policy and the War in Iraq. On Ahmed Chalabi he writes: "Were I an American, and in the DC area, I would be out front of the Ritz in Georgetown with a massive sign emblazoned with the slogan - 'hey jackass, we want our money back!'"
That's cool too. Chalabi does need a good smack. I'm curious what Mr. Good will think of those calling George Bush's speach yesterday "Bush's Gettysburg." Let the games begin.
It's Saturday November the 12 around 8:11AM and
Just a quick note about the fun of being live and still working on a website, for some reason or another, our comments feature wasn't working very well this week, we think it's back to normal, but if you notice it's busted, please give us an email. To Paolo over at Immutably Me who brought this to our attention, thanks again.
It's Friday November the 11 around 4:39PM and
The new issue of Interview has a charming cover of Scarlett Johansson, which is almost enough to look past the creepy fact that John Travolta is the interviewer.
There is an amazingly short interview with "The L Word" actress Katherine Moening - a cousin of Gwyneth Paltrow - who makes a pitch why Vancouver is cool. "Vancouver's cool because I can bike or skateboard to the set." She'll be next seen in "Art School Confidential" from the same director who brought us Bad Santa and Ghost World, coincidently starring Scarlett Johansson.
It's Friday November the 11 around 2:30PM and
Beny-sur Mer, the Canadian forces cemetery in the heart of Normandy, overlooks the beaches of Juno where the Canadian 3rd Division and the 2nd Armoured Brigade landed on June 6, 1944. This site holds the graves of 2048 mostly Canadian soldiers. "The Allied offensive in north-western Europe began with the Normandy landings of 6 June 1944. Many of those buried in Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery were men of the 3rd Canadian Division who died either on 6 June or during the early days of the advance towards Caen, when the Division engaged a German battle group formed from the 716th Division and the 21st Panzer Division. The cemetery contains 2,048 Second World War headstones, the majority Canadian, and 19 of them unidentified."
It's Friday November the 11 around 2:24PM and
Just a small jaunt away is Canadian Cemetery No. 2, Neuville-St. Vaast. It too is on the grounds of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial park, and holds the graves of 820 casualties from the fighting at Vimy Ridge. "The cemetery was established by the Canadian Corps after the successful storming of Vimy Ridge on 9th April, 1917 and some of those buried in the cemetery fell in that battle or died of wounds received there, though the majority of the graves were made later for the burial of the dead recovered from surrounding battlefields and from isolated graves which were transferred into the cemetery over a period of years after the Armistice."
It's Friday November the 11 around 2:02PM and
Very close to the Vimy Memorial exists a very small Canadian cemetary called
Givenchy Road. "The cemetery contains the graves of soldiers all of whom fell on the 9th April, 1917, or on one of the four following days. The cemetery covers an area of 849 square metres and is enclosed by a rubble wall." This
tiny cemetary built into a very peacefull and quiet nest of trees near Vimy features
109 graves from the Canadian Infantry.
It's Friday November the 11 around 9:14AM and
This year, major
restoration work has been taking place at the Canadian Vimy Memorial. Stone workers are restoring the massive monument, including the stones with some 11,000 fallen WWI Canadian soldiers. It pays tribute to the 3,000 dead and 7.600 wounded from the April 9, 1917 battle. The battle which became the quintessential battle announcing to the world that Canada was now not to be taken lightly. This year's day of remembrance finds only
5 living WWI veterans in Canada.
Chapter 1: “Ten Thousand Thunders”
It is probable that with the exception of the Krakatoa explosion of 1883, in all of history no human ears have ever been assaulted by the intensity of sound produced by the artillery barrage that launched the Battle of Vimy Ridge on April 9, 1917.
In the years that followed, the survivors would struggle to describe that shattering moment when 983 artillery pieces and 150 machine guns barked in unison to launch the first British victory in thirty-two months of frustrating warfare. All agreed that for anyone not present that dawn at Vimy it was not possible to comprehend the intensity of the experience. The shells and bullets hurtling above the trenches formed a canopy of red-hot steel just above the heads of the advancing troops – a canopy so dense that any Allied airplane flying too low exploded like a clay pigeon. At least four machines were destroyed that morning by their own guns.
The wall of sound, like ten thousand thunders, drowned out men’s voices and smothered the skirl of the pipes – the Highland regiments’ wistful homage to a more romantic era. It was as if a hundred express trains were roaring overhead….
Chapter 2: “A Ribbon of Deadly Stealth”
Even in 1985, old men in their nineties, veterans of Vimy, asked to describe the mud and the lice, the filth and the rats, could only shake their heads and say, “You had to be there. It’s not possible to describe it to somebody who wasn’t.”
You could, if you wished, recreate something approaching the trench life in Flanders during those years. You could dig in your backyard a ditch about eight feet deep, fill it during a rainstorm with two feet of thick clay mud, and then crouch in it, day and night, for a week, living on tinned bully beef, a few slices of mouldy bread or hardtack, and plum jam. Yet even if you filled the ditch with live rats and infested it with so many lice that your shirt crawled, it would still be pale counterfeit of the real thing. The ceaseless rumble of guns, the crack of bullets overhead, the crump of trench mortars, the stench of mangled bodies, and the command on certain nights to emerge from your filthy hole and crawl in terror across No Man’s Land – these cannot be simulated.
Nor can the uncertainty. Any healthy young man can survive a few days in a ditch, but four years? A week in a ditch, a week out, bored to death, committed to back-breaking toil, with only a little leave, no chance of seeing home and family and no idea when it would all end – this was the lot of those who survived. Small wonder that they did not attempt to describe the indescribable….
These are exerpts from Pierre Berton’s excellent book,
Vimy. My father and I have been reading, and rereading, this book for years. The book details the Canadian Corps victory at Vimy and answers the question of. "How could an army of civilians from a nation with no military tradition secure the first enduring victory in thirty-two months of warfare with only 10,000 casualties, when the French had lost 150,000 men in thier unsuccessful attempt?" See more on Vimy,
here. And CBC.ca has a good site
here.
Read Master Corporal Russell D. Storring's article today at CBC.ca. He's currently on duty in Afghanistan.
It's Thursday November the 10 around 10:19PM and
*We may have figured out why Vancouver politicians could never really lead the country. City councillor Tim Louis is making the pitch - just over a week before an election - that Vancouver should open a city-owned, non-profit brothel. Of course this gives us this thought all the way from Larry Bernard in Tampa (That's called perspective friends): "Sam Sullivan doesn't want to be a pimp." [CTV News]
*There goes the home unbeaten streak. As Colorado beat the Canucks 5-3 tonight. "A sellout crowd of 18,630 booed the Canucks off the ice after the Avs leaped into a 4-0, first-period lead and outshot Vancouver 18-5." {TSN]
*
The Seattle Times' Misha Berson totally loves Commercial Drive. "Wander a few blocks in one direction and you have to choose among 200 flavors (some of the more extreme: gorgonzola pear, lavender, chili) when you order up a dish of gelato from the neighborhood's well-stocked shrine to Italian ice cream, La Casa Gelato."
*Why must Fox play these games with us? Cutting Arrested Development back to 13 episodes from 22. The show again threatened with cancellation. Thanks for nothing Fox! [Variety]
*Meanwhile, while Ben Stiller narrowly escaped shooting his next film in Montreal, Jon Favreau speaks up on his horrifying time shooting Elf in Vancouver. Boo Hoo, the studio made me shoot the stuff in Vancouver and I missed my family. Suck it up. Oh, and good luck on Zathuria this weekend fat man. [Defamer]
It's Thursday November the 10 around 9:34AM and
Yes! Today, the
Georgia Straight has another media story on Crystal Meth. Yeah sure, it's a big deal, but honestly how can you even think about doing something called Crystal Meth. At least they use the opportunity to wisely give us some of the drugs backstory:
"First synthesized in 1919 by a Japanese researcher, meth is known by various names. On the street it’s called speed, jib, crank, ice, or crystal. Doctors prescribe the drug to kids with attention deficit disorder under the brand name Desoxyn. Over the decades, it has also been widely used to help soldiers fight or to help people control their weight. Like its chemical cousins cocaine, amphetamine, and Ritalin, chronic use of meth at high doses can lead to a schizophrenia-like psychosis."
It's Thursday November the 10 around 9:24AM and
Sweet. Beyond Robson has the best teaser street ads ever.
It's Thursday November the 10 around 9:05AM and
It's November 10th. I can't stress that date enough. November 10th. Luckily Starbucks (and other retailers to be sure) have unleashed Christmas in Vancouver just in time for the long weekend. What a joke. It's a full on siege actually, just check out The Red Cup. It looks like they moved out chairs and tables to make way for all the holiday crap, and it was hard to get into the one we visited this morning.
What shameless Bastards. SON of a NUTcracker!
It's Thursday November the 10 around 7:40AM and
It's official. This year's Grey Cup Parade Grand Marshall is
Pam Anderson. Well that's just special. Not as special as if the Grand Marshall had been those two very
naughty cheerleaders in so much trouble or better still, Pam's Baywatch overlord, "The Hoff." Yes,
David Hasselhoff would have been so amazing. But we digress. Anywhoo, this is like a salmon returning home to the stream to spawn as Ms. Anderson jump started her career here in
Vancouver at a CFL game. Wow. A storybook ending. Finally.
It's Thursday November the 10 around 7:26AM and
Telus's third quarter saw a 21% increase in earnings as the company made $190.1 million on revenue of $2.06 billion. That means lucky Telus shareholders will get a 37 1/2 per cent increase in the quarterly dividend. I guess this means another year of those tired ads. [CBC News]
It's Wednesday November the 9 around 8:50PM and
The Canadian Press reports tonight that
Lions Gate, "The Vancouver-based entertainment company said Wednesday it lost $14.1 million US or 14 cents a diluted share for the three months ended Sept. 30. That compared with a profit of $8.3 million US or eight cents per diluted share in the same period last year."
I guess that whole Lord of War push cost them a real pretty penny. Opps. Comic Book Movie has the conference call details (6:00 AM? Yeah Right) for the morning and some speculation on future films - Punisher 2 and Black Widow - that they'll be pushing.
More:
* Yummy 2nd Quarter loss stock price at $11.85 (LGF).
*Lions Gate Corporate Site.
It's Wednesday November the 9 around 8:32PM and
No need to wait any longer
JT fans. The film site for the new Vancouver shot film
Edison is up.
Gulp. I love a good two-minute trailer starring Justin Timberlake that doesn't ever show him actually delivering any lines.
Double Gulp. Although the trailer doesn't really hide the fact that Edison is really Vancouver - right down to the Harbor Center. He better hope Vancouver, Spacey and Freeman can carry his ass through this film.
Cinematical reports on the film's dirty secret: "I did notice something really odd in the trailer, though - there are lots of close-up scenes of conversations, and most of them are accompanied by dialogue. But the dialogue is NEVER what's being said in the scene (even when it's not delivered by JT). At first I thought the sync was just screwed up, but it's not. They're basically creating a story with voice-overed conversations that might not even be in the movie. Why in the world would they do that? It's a little scary if the acting is so bad that they can't even leave things alone in the trailer - anyone have a less alarming explanation?"
It's Wednesday November the 9 around 6:53PM and
So, Vancouver is heading to the polls in barely a week and a half and one party, Jim Green's Vision, is just now releasing it's
platform? I don't get the
strategery there. As an interesting aside, I've heard from a number of downtowners who are getting really creepy recorded calls from outgoing mayor Larry Campbell telling people to vote for Vision. One source said they have had the same call 4 times. That's 4x the Campbell, which is, let's face it, pretty nice.
Not to be outdone, Sam Sullivan and the NPA rolled out a really big plan today giving dog-owners more freedom. Really that's the plan to get out in front of the news today?
It's Wednesday November the 9 around 6:36PM and
Darren Barefoot does an excellent job of debunking Clay McLeod's Tyee editorial on why he doesn't wear a poppy.
"Mr. McLeod, wearing the poppy isn’t about nationalism, it’s about remembering and honouring sacrifice," writes Barefoot. "Your Ghandi example is foolhardy, because while the sacrifice of the Jewish people was mighty, the sacrifice of voluntary soldiers who died was greater still. They went willingingly to the fight and their death, to win freedom for those who couldn’t."
But, as they say, just read the whole thing. I can't even believe that this kind of debate even happens in 2005.
It's Wednesday November the 9 around 6:21PM and
In the next Giant Magazine - the upcoming December/January issue (advance copies are yummy) - has a sweet little article praying for the death of poker proclaiming it, "the world's most annoying trend." The mini-article goes on to say: "You haven't known agony until you've watched Michael Badalucco, Bobby Flay, Kathy Najimy and Mimi Rogers get their asses handed to them by Steve Harris. The trend needs to die, people. Shuffle up and deal with it."
Somebody had to say that. This is good news for a magazine we've never really found all that interesting - well, that is until that redesign and the new sweet retro logo came out. Although the Denise Richards cover seems a little much. What was the last thing she even did.
It's Wednesday November the 9 around 10:48AM and
Growing rumors and news that Aquaman is going to be a real live WB spinoff from Smallville. Will this show be filming here in Vancouver? We certainly have no shortage of water. [Defamer]
But the real question is simple. Will we see more Lois Lane in a bikini in this spinoff? Or will we see Mandy Moore in some Aqua Girl getup? Aquaman is the new black.
It's Wednesday November the 9 around 10:38AM and
Director Micheal Gondry's new White Stripes video for "The Denial Twist" based on the week Meg and Jack spent on Conan O'Brien's show in 2003 is very cool. Watch it here.
And of course the have a new EP coming out. Rolling Stone reports, "Walking With a Ghost EP, featuring a cover of TEGAN AND SARA's "Walking With a Ghost" and previously unreleased live versions of "Screwdriver," "The Denial Twist" and "As Ugly As I Seem," on December 6th."
It's Wednesday November the 9 around 7:02AM and
* Boing Boing points the way to the dark, scary underbelly of that creepy Hello Kitty. [via Boing Boing]
*There are so many amazing things in this PlayStation spot it's hard to know where to begin. The Golden Girls theme song plus robots. Who knew. [Boards]
*Thank the maker for Stephen Colbert. Here he is on torture: "Senator McCain, stop taking away are right to do it 'cause it doesn't exist. It's like licensing unicorns or ending Leprechaun Wednesdays" (From the "Colbert Report" via Hotline's Wakeup Call.)
It's Wednesday November the 9 around 6:32AM and
You really can't make up Canadian military mission code names. And to think that this was news on the details from a July 13 mission that saw the forces storm Hans Island and take two Danish flags off of it. take that Denmark! [National Post]
It's Tuesday November the 8 around 11:07PM and
I'm no hockey numbers expert but this week's
NHL Power Rankings write up for the
Vancouver Canucks seems unintentionally calm: "The Canucks drop a spot after losing two straight to the Calgary Flames. A good sign -- Todd Bertuzzi scored his first goal in 10 games for Vancouver. Big two-game home stand this week against Colorado and Detroit."
You mean another game against Colorado, like the two we lost to them in October? Yikes. I know, I know they are 10-4-2. I totally agree... Must. Not. Jump. Off. Bandwagon. Yet. Must. Resist.
At least one lovely Vancouver fan, Jennifer Good, isn't losing faith. In fact she wants to become the official Canucks blogger. "[H]ockey is the new black - always in style. Instead of talking actual stats I would create my own. Instead of knowing how many goals they got in a season people will know their astrological signs, birthdays, favorite pick up lines, you get the idea. I will talk about all the puck sluts. I’ll mock the other teams. It’ll be great." This is a total no brainer by the way.
It's Tuesday November the 8 around 10:05PM and
Craiglist is probably the greatest place for unintentional humor. Take for instance this rant & raves post on the vancouver election: "Vote COPE/Vision ...if you love labour unions, property crime (courtesy of the holier-than-thou crystal methheads), and gridlock."
More of this please.
It's Tuesday November the 8 around 8:47PM and
Mmmmm. That's good juicy headline (Don't sue us, I hate lawyers). With 11 days left in the campaign Vancouver's mayoral race is just heating up:
*Sam Sullivan and the NPA are vowing to kill the bike lanes on the Burrard St. bridge and keep the bridge wide open for delicious gas guzzling cars. (24 Hours)
*Jim Green countered that move with a "Ya, fine, we'll give away free transit in the downtown area so take that Sullivan!" Or something like that. (Vote Vision)
*Current mayor Larry Campbell says that Sam Sullivan's past help for certian addicts makes him unfit to be mayor. Wow, now it's an election people. And somehow we're supposed to believe that Vancouverites won't like this loose cannon approach? (The Tyee)
It's Tuesday November the 8 around 8:25PM and
We simply love the
Maclean's series of articles about the Canadian Tire Guy. But who knew the whole nation was obsessed with this. Who even shops at Canadian Tire? Either way it's awesome to smell a nation wide backlash. Take that Paris malcontent buddies.
"f you'd like to see Tim (The Tool Man) Taylor kick the Canadian Tire Guy's ass, you're not alone," writes John Intini. "Canadian Tire's long-running ad campaign -- starring the Ned Flanders of home improvement -- seems directly aimed at middle-aged, middle-class suburbanites who are desperate to keep their lawns neatly trimmed and their minivans perfectly polished (a.k.a. the crowd that already goes to Canadian Tire 1.8 times a week). Problem is, it seems nearly everybody else can't stand him."
We can only hope the company's new ad agency Taxi will kill this promotion. No pressure.
It's Tuesday November the 8 around 7:51PM and
It's 2005. Now, we here at The Vancouverite are people of deep, albeit somewhat Paris Hilton gossip tainted, substance. Where were we going with this...oh right, the North Vancouver City (of course the greedy kids in North Van need two mayors) civic elections. We won't bore you with the sordid details of North Van City politics - as if we even know - but let us tell you this. Can you really take candidates seriously with websites like this or this?
You have the incumbent, Mayor Barbara Sharp. Seems like a nice lady but looks to have a penchant for loud dresses and employs a colorblind web designer. We kid, because we love. But at least in her flyer she mentioned her website. Check.
Then we have her opponent, Rod Clark. Who printed his flyer in black and white (economical) which gives one no real reason or incentive to think that he is a real candidate at all. No color? Come on dude. PS: Your website is no better - in fact we think you might have kept it black and white too. Just a thought. Check.
Finally you have Darrell Mussatto. Who has the best website of the three major candidates. It's not great but it's simple and doesn't hurt my eyes. Check.
So, what's the point? I think we should all agree that candidates for public office who fail the basic website test are probably also not capable of running an entire city. Maybe that's too harsh. But we all think it.
It's Tuesday November the 8 around 8:15AM and
If its not one thing, it's another. The avian flu pandemic just wasn't cutting it for the VancouverSun , so this morning they are reporting on the coming of the Pine Beetle which will wipe out 80% of the pine trees. Just to make sure we know that sooner or later all hell is going to break loose here. Thanks buddies.
It's Tuesday November the 8 around 8:05AM and
If you want to swing by and give NDP Leader Jack Layton a cheerio before he tries to bring down the government, you're in luck. Jack is set to tour the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden today. 24 Hours calls this "Jacks Christmas Surprise". So why is he out here in Vancouver? [Vancouver Sun]
It's Monday November the 7 around 7:19PM and
Wine
If you haven't had the chance to have a glass full of See Ya Later Vineyards 2003 Ping you should stop reading this blog, head down to the liquor store and buy some. Right now. This ruby bordeauxish wine is a tasty bold treat is perfect for the crisp fall season. Well at least last year's 2002 vintage. This year the 66% merlot may depress Paul Giamatti while the French Oak is enough to make Scooter Libby cry merde. Get it while/if you can. PS: Please disregard the lame website. ($24.99)
The wine probably won't get the same attention as this new California wine under the label, gulp, "Jesus Juice" To which The Defamer let this one fly: "The Man in the Merlot" [The Smoking Gun]
Design
Since the Hawthorne Mountain (See Ya's Owner) website was so disappointing, I figured this next item would cleanse the palate for us. They may have only won a Merit at the Lotus Awards last week, but local design firm Subplot's Identity Program for Edmonton drinking house "The Publik" (Another Earl's concept) is very cool. It's kind of a shame, again, about the website however.
Sounds
There are so many things right with what's going on at this upcoming November 23rd show at the Railway Club. Let's just count the ways: 1. The King Khan & BBQ Show - Who sound very cool. (Like they recorded their cd in a toilet cool mind you, but cool anyway) 2. Pillowfight OMB 3. It says something about fistfights. Thanks to Lee for the tip.
Scott Baio
Yes I went there. But did you watch Mr. Scott Baio on Arrested Development tonight? Bonus points for him playing the new Bluth family lawyer. Excellent. Truthfully the Charlize Theron was the added bonus, but who is counting.
Las Vegas
Damn it. I hate that. I never watch this Las Vegas show and then tonight I do and my goodness its turn back the clock episode night. The retro opening was so rad. All the old hotels, suits, feeling of 1960's Vegas plus all the smoking all the time in the intro. And how amazing were the car scenes? Ya think they'll ever do a retro Vegas themed hotel & casino there? They Should.
It's Monday November the 7 around 12:49PM and
Vancouver will be post reality show makeover rockers INXS' first date on their tour and it appears to be selling out quickly around North America. I'm sure this will make tv watchers happy happy. [PR Newswire]
It's Monday November the 7 around 12:39PM and
*Coming this January, The Vancouver Sun is adding Japanese style comics to its pages. [Newsday]
"We want to bring more features that appeal to a younger readership, and many of the comics we carry have an older following," Vancouver Sun Managing Editor LaPointe said in an e-mail. "We also like the artistic nature of manga and feel it will contribute to the graphical beauty of the paper overall."
It's Monday November the 7 around 7:02AM and
*Telus and workers have reached another agreement that could finally end the lockout/strike/whatever after over three months of action. The Union just has to say yes. We're all holding our breath. Shareholders are enjoying a nearly 1% gain this morning (Telus: T). [Bloomberg]
*Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew - he of the one of the sweetest heads of hair in Canadian politics - hits the Fairmont Waterfront hotel at 12:45 today to address the Canadian Institute of International Affairs.
*Have you heard about the $50 million massive gondola planned for the 2010 games at Whistler/Blackcomb?
*Someday Electronic Arts is going to rule more than just the Hollywood of Video Games. Starting with their new announcement of deal with Nettwerk to bring EA's music to the world on the new "EA Recordings" label.
*Meanwhile Joe Fortes is going back to 1985 with 1985 prices from November 14 - 18th. That's always fun. [Urban Vancouver]
It's Monday November the 7 around 6:53AM and
* David Bowie is releasiing a new EP & DVD in February that will include the official film of his 1983 tour that ws filmed at the Pacific Coliseum.
*"Wal-Mart: the High Cost of Low Price" a documentary by Robert Greenwald will have its worldwise debut in Vancouver thanks to the politicos at COPE on November 13 at the new Vancouver International Film Center. [CKNW]
It's Monday November the 7 around 6:47AM and
Breaking (take that with a grain of salt) news this morning as The O.C.'s Ryan, Benjamin McKenzie is added to the cast of the Al Pacino film "88 Minutes." This whole movie thing better work out for Ryan, as The O.C. continues to sruggle in the ratings. [People]
It's Sunday November the 6 around 8:21PM and
*Sure, we're still some years off from the 2010 Olympics, but I'm sure the Olympic organizers will be very interested in a screening of Steven Spielberg's new film
"Munich". View the trailer now available online at
Movies Online. (Via the
Movie Blog)
*Having little to do with Vancouver, tonight's live debate on The West Wing did mention cheap prescription drugs from Canada. Over at NBC.com Santos is walking away as the debate winner with 70% support over Vinick. TV Squad disagrees. We report, you decide, but both fake campaign websites and candidates are more interesting than the Vancouver mayor candidates. The branded American Express spots were completely lame.
*Ultra cool dude and kick ass blogger Tony Pierce spent 24 crazy hours in Vancouver this weekend and lived to tell about it. I'm not exactly sure what the attraction of Mathrew Good was, but there are photos. (via Vanmega)
*The last time I was in London I wondered why they, literally, have the greatest cabs in the entire world and everyone else doesn't. Sometimes you get into a Vancouver taxi and there is no legroom whatsoever. So why aren't we doing something this?
*Is anyone else embarassed that our city's top 20 albums list is topped by Rod Stewart? It doesn't get much better after that either.
*A local movie with a local name. "Desolation Sound" - one of the greatest places in B.C. is now an exciting indie thriller starring Jennifer Beals and Ed Begley Jr. playing at theatres in Vancouver. It appeared at the VIFF, and is now playing in three cities in Canada. Although it was nominated for 12 Leos, the reviews aren't exactly very warm. (more from IMBD and The Georgia Straight)
It's Sunday November the 6 around 7:00PM and
It's been
11 days of rioting and unrest in Paris. Just think about that sentence again for a minute. While we have had some labor unrest in the this city recently, with teachers refusing to work and Telus workers being perpetually locked out, it would be hard to believe that we could imagine what Parisians are doing now.
Well, not entirely inconcievable. If we lose a hockey championship games or when Guns and Roses fail to show up for a concert Vancouverites can let emotions carry the day, just like anyone else. But there isn't much evidence that we could keep up the anger for a week or more. In fact, the unrest seems to be getting stronger and more dangerous as 200 were arrested today for throwing molotov cocktails at schools, churches, and 1300 cars and worse, a gasoline bomb factory was discovered just south of the city.
No offense to the BCTF, but unrest doesn't really jive with the laidback lifestyle of the west coast. You can't have a Starbucks on every other corner and expect people to rise up. Just as you really couldn't get away with suggesting that Parisians are predisposed to get a little crazy (see also 1789, 1968, etc) but when you are there, experiencing Paris you get it. It's not that Parisians are born rioters, it is probably just a combination of the smoking, the expresso, and the attitude. If you look around the streets of Paris, you can imagine workers ready to bolt at a momments notice ready to protest, riot, or bring down the government. Quite frankly, that is the whole point of Paris - it's why writers and poets go there to write. In this case, that sort of perpetual tolerance has created a dangerous situation where there are pockets of Paris, and greater France, that are actually part of a slow growing problem in Europe. So if the "youth riotors" are not the mainstream of Paris, who are they?
"You mean Pierre and Jacques and Marcel and Alphonse? Granted that most of the "youths" are technically citizens of the French Republic, it doesn't take much time in les banlieus of Paris to discover that the rioters do not think of their primary identity as 'French''', writes the provocative and amusing Mark Steyn. "They're young men from North Africa growing ever more estranged from the broader community with each passing year and wedded ever more intensely to an assertive Muslim identity more implacable than anything you're likely to find in the Middle East. After four somnolent years, it turns out finally that there really is an explosive 'Arab street,'' but it's in Clichy-sous-Bois."
Well, that is pretty harsh, but you can read a bunch more depressing analysis pieces like that everywhere - like Ezra Levant's latest post at The Western Standard Shotgun - but that won't make you sleep any better tonight. The fact of the matter is that the City of Lights is having a really bad fall.
For Further Reading:
*This could be the only time we'll be able to do this, but linking to Austin Bay on a blog about Vancouver is quite excellent.
*Roger Simon is providing some excellent coverage via emails from the ground a sound knowledge of the city.
*UK blogger Clive Davis does some good reading of tea leaves and some excellent linking.
*The above three links were all via Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit and he has plenty more as usual.
Photo via Associated Press
It's Sunday November the 6 around 1:25PM and
Vancouver will head to the polls on November 19th to vote on a new mayor. Who will win the $115,889.57 yearly salary and the scorn of Vancouver's tough love? Do Vancouverites even care about this elections? While the 2005 city elections feature the usual long list of hopefuls, the race is usually confined to two people. This year is no different.
The two major parties fighting it out this time, the NPA and Vision, and throwing their candidates at each other. In one corner you have Jim Green (Vision). Green came into Vancouver politics with outgoing mayor Larry Campbell in 2002 and is basically running to continue that legacy. The new Vision Party was created to do just that, specifically trying "to make Vancouver the most sustainable, inclusive, liveable city in the world." Amazingly the once too radical to be mayor, the grandfatherly Green looks an awful lot like famed New York Times writer R.W. Apple Jr. Not that there is anything wrong with that. But let's face it, this is Larry Campbell's party and he took a seat at the trough in Ottawa, which is why Green is running. And the Vision party is the un-COPE, less commie alternative to the NPA. Bonus: Two days before the election you can join Jim at the 125th anniversary of The Yale which is pretty amazing.
In the other corner is Vancouver's longest serving city counillor Sam Sullivan (NPA). As the champion of the "no" side of the wards referendum in 2004,
Sullivan has the support of former three time mayor Philip Owen and a bunch of conservative heavy weights like Grace McCarthy. As
Only Magazine notes, "What’s truly scary is that he will probably become the next mayor and that means three years of protect the rich and eat the poor." Not that there is anything wrong with that either. The NPA candidates in general seem to be having the most fun. At least according to
The Tyee's Sam Cooper who describes them as, "an X-rated comedian, a free-swinging radio host and a former actress with a history of debilitating shopping accidents together in a room?" Bonus: The Party campaign tagline: "A united team. A unified plan. A Better Vancouver" is about 6 words too long.
But if you are trying to keep score on this election, The Thunderbird offers a few Sam said-Jim said quips to think about. The polls from the last few weeks have Sullivan in the lead with 31% and Green at 26%. But the most intersting part of the numbers are that 4/10 voters are undecided and "SFU's [Kennedy] Stewart said the survey reinforces his view that most people aren't interested enough to vote. Vancouver, on average, has a voter turnout of about 35 per cent, meaning the high number of undecided are people who just don't vote." (via Vancouver Sun, October 26)
And there are a few alternatives to these two. There's Ben West, leader of the Work Less Party, a really slacking blogger Austin Spencer of Vancouver's Interest Party, and a guy who looks very, very, much like some sort of Che era radical. three time challenger Golok Zoltan Buday. Thing about mayors here is that they can go on to become Premiers or Senators, so it's almost disapointing that 2005's candidates are pretty much never going to achieve any greatness like that. Sure Mike Harcourt went on to boogie, and Gordon Campbell went on to win twice, but that's a tough act to follow.
It's Sunday November the 6 around 12:34PM and
This
month's issue of Fast Company has a very magaziney article on
"Fast Cities". These speedy cities are increasingly powerful hubs that draw talented, tech savvy, and tolerant workers. "For the first time, people aspire--even expect--to do work they love and to live in a community where they can be themselves," writes
Bill Breen. "At the same time, the world of work has become increasingly temporary and insecure. As a result, talent is shifting to regions that offer dense concentrations of other talented people, tolerance of differences, and a great quality of life."
While the main part of the article lists the top spots in the U.S., a smaller article lists a few of the Global ones, and of course Vancouver is right there with Montreal, Dublin, Helsinki, and Sydney.
*Global Fast Cities, Fast Company.
It's Sunday November the 6 around 12:13PM and
Filmgoers turned out in force to see Sam Mendes Gulf War I film,
"Jarhead" this weekend. Vancouverites seem to be following the trend at packed Tinsletown screenings too. The film is projected to make $28.7 million this weekend according to
Box Office Mojo.
Compared to the situation on the ground in Iraq since Operation Iraqi Freedom began, this movie, harkening back to the post Cold War hangover period couldn't be more jarring. Pardon the pun. As one review describes it, this film - and that war - was, "'Waiting for Godot' with oil field fires". Even the idea of 1990's Operation Dessert Storm seems so wildly different. The 500,000 troops on the ground, the comical almost non-war aspect. Certainly the humor of the film goes a long way, and Sam Mendes is truly a brilliant director, but there is something missing. Try reading Robert Kaplan's current book Imperial Grunts about the U.S. Special Forces and how they operate around the world and you get a completely different picture of the suck (Check out a bit of it from The Atlantic and you'll get my point).
But with all that, it's worth seeing. You can already imagine that the films based on the last 3 years of fighting around the globe and it will be nothing like Jarhead. In fact as Rob Rainer notes, "Despite all the heavy artistic artillery Mendes has brought to bear, his movie isn't all that far removed conceptually from "Top Gun" - which was also about military men itching for a chance to rock 'n' roll."
It's Saturday November the 5 around 10:32AM and
Right underneath Cossette's office on Homer Street this morning, there is some film people doing their thing. Ah yes, closing down streets and extras running around with firetrucks and police cars everywhere. Although I thought it might have been a post-Lotus awards hostile takeover from DDB Canada, it just happens to the new Al Pacino film, 88 Minutes. Can I hear a little whoo ahhhh.
It's Thursday November the 3 around 7:49PM and
It's Thursday, so we know that means it's Georgia Straight Time. All this gripping alternative news and more:
* Georgia Straight's Charlie Smith tells Vancouver readers to expect higher rents. Apparently Vancouver is a popular spot.
*And suprise surprise we are also building lots of houses as Canada's No. 1 housing marketing in the next year. [Canadian Press]
*Vancouver Housing Blog. Just because blogs are fun and it looks like fun.
*Everybody's doing it. Telus, teachers, and now transit riders? Beyond Robson reports on the crazy idea. Great, I hope they protest all winter so the Seabus is nice and empty for the rest of us. Heh.
*The Vancouver Canucks are playing some small money-puck games with players picking up the slack from the injury plagued team. Shhhh...I bet they are getting advice from Telus.
*Vancouver still dreaming big, working hard, and dishing out cliches galore at the Yaletown Brewery. [via Urban Vancouver]
It's Thursday November the 3 around 7:11PM and
A new $140 million film The Night at the Museum is switching locations from Montreal to Vancouver on news that star Ben Stiller wasn't "keen" on the city. But the real news has to be what the heck is Ben Stiller doing in a $140 million movie IMBD describes this way: "An ancient curse is let loose at the Museum of Natural History, one that causes the animals and insects on display to come to life and wreak havoc." Cinematical isn't thrilled by the power of the Stiller.
[CBC]
It's Thursday November the 3 around 1:09AM and
Somehow they let The Vancouverite into The Lotus Awards. We came for the very smug expensive ticket price and the terrible buffet we stayed for the ads. As has become the standard here in the city it was pretty much a two way race between Rethink and DDB Canada. Rethink walked away with 13 Lotus Awards and Best of Show for their Science World Ads, while DDB make out with 8 (plus an additional 2 for thier tribal unit). But at least making it a three way winners circle was TBWA, which may have had the best stuff and earned their 5 awards.
Acting as mc's the two nitwits from FUBAR really never equalled thier amazing film. They should stick to that sort of stuff. Well, truthfully they were pretty amazing, but seriously we could have really been able to: "Turn up the good, turn down the suck!"
Random observations: It's hard to believe that many people in this industry get away with striped shirts, or the creative uniform of sports jacket, shirt, jeans, and really funky shoes. For a bunch of creative people, their acceptance speaches were completely lame. Best line: "I'd like to thank...but he's not here, he moved to Taxi... So fuck him" And lastly, is there anything worse than the filthy world of a chocolate fountain and ad people sticking thier fingers in it? We're just saying.
It's Tuesday November the 1 around 8:48PM and
Today's Vancouver Sun featured a huge article about the whole private club scene here in the city by
Amy O'Brien. Apparently old people are all dying so they are charging young people thousands of dollars to keep the faith. And there is an incentive to jump on this before you turn 35 kids.
The Vancouver Club membership costs about $2,000 for the under 35 set (that's just 36 easy monthly payments of $56) plus $87/month in fees. That's smug.
And with younger club members, you see more good looking people. Private Clubs could be the new black. "Markedly different from the muted energy of years past when men in suits made business deals and recounted war stories over tumblers of scotch, today's club members are increasingly young and moderately hip (in a professional kind of way)." Like there is anything wrong with war stories and tumblers of scotch. In fact that sounds better than another poker night or any mention of strawberry daquiri's.
Image: Ian Lindsay, Vancouver Sun
It's Tuesday November the 1 around 8:11PM and
*Sure the big story is Al Pacino shooting in town the feature, 88 Minutes. If anybody manages to see his costar Alica Witt, tell her where to find us please. That's V-A-N-C-O-U-V-E-R-I-T-E dot com. Thanks. It's currently trading for $11.07 at the Hollywood Stock Exchange. Yawn. we hope somebody is working on the tagline: "Time is running out". Oh, and let's not forget Al's last box office bomb that will go unmentioned.
*Not to be outdone, Wolverine Hugh Jackman is of course shooting on the X-3 film. Brett Ratner is keeping the sequel's budget at a modest $200 million clip. Take that Brian Singer who's Superman is balooning to $250 million. [24 Hours]
*Meanwhile a new film we might begin hearing about in the future is this ridiculously cheap thriller Project Grey. It could be a neatly packaged moneymaker for some local filmakers.
*And could we throw some gasoline on the flames of some early Oscar buzz we're hearing that relates to Vancouver? You heard it here first kids: Local head of Infinity Media Bill Vince might be riding his way to an Oscar nomination for producing the critically aclaimed Capote. That's a nice rise to glory from 1997's Air Bud.
It's Tuesday November the 1 around 7:11PM and
*Really? Work Hard. Play Hard. You have got to be joking. At least that is how it boils down in this cliche driven Telegraph piece. [Telegraph]
*Remember when Pavel Bure was the talk of Vancouver hockey? He's all growns up now, retiring at age 34 and going to be the GM of the Russian Olympic hockey program. [MSNBC]
*The Vancouver Canucks, tiring of getting hurt by other teams started hurting themselves today when Matt Cooke had his jaw broken in practice. [UPI]
*Screw the civic elections. If we can vote on Whales and Dolphins that is much cooler. Whales vs. No Whales could make a ballot in 2008. [CBC]
*Scott Yee Mayoral candidate and future leader of the planet. Finally a candidate of egotastic proportions. His Central Party website is amazing. [Public Eye]
Darren Barefoot gives some huge props to Nic's Garage and the auto mechanic's kitchy marketing. [Darren Barefoot]
It's Tuesday November the 1 around 7:02PM and
So Telus stock is up another 25 cents today (Telus Shares: $46.65) You heartless fatcat shareholders! How can you profit after the Lion's Gate Bridge saw at least 50 Telus picketers pumping a new message: "Telus sends 2,700 Jobs Overseas". And CKNW is now reporting that there is now no end to this lockout action and Telus doesn't feel like talking anymore. Load up on the stock.
It's Tuesday November the 1 around 6:50PM and
The first casualty of the 2005 Vancouver Media Wars is The Terminal City, one of Vancouver's alternative weeklies. Coincidence it happens during the first week of our beta test? We doubt it. We suspect that Glen Clark is running around the 24 Hours offices saying "You're next Dose comrades. We have Al Pacino on our cover today!"
Special kudos for the half-hearted this "will “probably” be the paper’s final edition" letter/press release on the home page. That is both sad and cute. Which Vancouver media property will go next? Stay tuned.
