“We” back-lit on Sunset Beach
, originally uploaded by inklake.
Caught this with my iPhone. Phenomenal sunset last night behind “We” by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa. Part of the Vancouver Biennale on English Bay above the appropriately named Sunset Beach.
Flashmob at YVR powered by Arts Umbrella
My daughter’s dance company at Arts Umbrella (here in Vancouver) staged a flashmob at YVR last weekend. Here HuffPo has picked up the story. They were on Good Morning America on Monday …
the gates
Abandoned lift on Grouse Mountain looks more like a sci-fi gate into a new dimension. Covered in heavy frost from all the snow-making equipment.
Vertigo
Ski season is back and the north shore mountains here in Vancouver are beckoning.
Came across this photo online this afternoon. It was taken by Paul Bednar, a ski instructor from the Skischule I taught with in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. I still remember the rush of fear and adrenalin I got as I looked over this cliff myself years ago. Believe me, when I did it, I did not hang my ski tips over the cliff face.
Here’s the note he posted with the photo:
There was a t-bar at the top of the Zugspitze (elevation 2962m/9718 ft). Once you got off the lift, you could sidestep up another 50 metres or so to a small break in the rocks that formed the border between Germany and Austria. At that point, you could just stand there with your skis still on and look down the cliff face onto the town of Lermoos, Austria.
In other words, one slip and you’re in Austria, almost 3,000m below.
Note the very old-school Völkl’s.
25th anniversary of the Haida blockade
Excellent article in the Tyee today, looking back at the turn of forestry practices and the return of culture in this province.
We Gathered to Say Haw’aa
Celebrating, 25 years later, the Haida blockade that helped win a crucial fight to save forests.
By Caitlyn Vernon, Today, TheTyee.ca
Think back 25 years. Picture the way forestry used to happen along the coast of British Columbia. I remember driving past clear cuts that stretched from river bottom to mountain top, hillsides looking completely shaved of all life. Massive piles of log debris obstructing streams, preventing salmon from spawning. With increasing speed, the ancient trees that had taken thousands of years to grow were being mowed down for timber and toilet paper.
But not everyone was just standing by. On Meares Island off the west coast of Vancouver Island, the First Nations joined forces with environmentalists to stop logging. And on Haida Gwaii a campaign had been in the works since the early 1970s to protect the southern part of the archipelago. It was called the South Moresby wilderness proposal.
As a kid in the early ’80s I had the poster of Burnaby Narrows on my wall. It seemed this iconic image from South Moresby was everywhere at the time — the bright sea stars and abundance of rich intertidal life illustrating the beauty of the area and raising awareness of the need to protect it from logging.
Read the entire article here.
Freeriding
Take a look at this freeriding video produced for network television a few years ago. Just dug it out of the archives. I had the good fortune to work with Jay Hoots and several other experts and coaches to create this feature about injuries and how to avoid them. One of the most spectacular and dangerous sports around. Some really accomplished riders in this piece.
Congrats to World Champions Jennerich and Cameron!
Belated congratulations to Lindsay Jennerich and Tracy Cameron on a brilliant row at the World Championships in New Zealand. We finally got to see the race yesterday on CBC Television. Amazing determination to fight through brutally difficult course conditions. The final 100 metres of the race showed the kind of character and stamina this crew has. Extremely impressive victory.
Tracy Cameron of Shubenacadie, N.S., and Victoria’s Lindsay Jennerich won Canada’s second gold medal at the world rowing championships with a victory in the lightweight women’s double sculls event Friday in New Zealand.
Cameron and Jennerich finished the 2,000-metre course in a time of eight minutes 6.20 seconds. Daniela Reimer and Anja Noske of Germany won silver in 8:07.33 and Christina Giazitzidou and Alexandra Tsiavou of Greece took bronze in 8:09.14.
Canada also won gold Wednesday in the adaptive coxed four.
Also Friday, Jensen of Innerkip, Ont. and Rares Crisan of Mississauga Ont., won bronze in the men’s light pair.
Cameron and Jennerich overcame windy conditions to win Canada’s first world championship gold in the lightweight women’s double sculls since the 1990s.
“We did an excellent job of handling the head- and cross-wind conditions,” Jennerich said.
“We just kept to the race plan — to stay long and keep breathing. … What I thought was really positive was that at 750 (metres) to go we had a lead and we were at a low enough rate, with a good enough rhythm, that I knew if someone was going to challenge us that we would be able to answer.”
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/amateur/story/2010/11/05/sp-rowing.html#ixzz15HoaXdu8
Vancouver Opera gives Lillian Alling world premiere
If you’re thinking about heading out for a walk this weekend, you’re probably planning on a few hours, tops – and likely on pavement, or at very least a well-worn path.
But when Russian émigré Lillian Alling went for a walk in the 1920s, she strode clear across North America – through dense bush and over steep mountain passes – with nothing but the clothes on her back and an iron pipe for protection on her way from New York to British Columbia
, then north to the Yukon.
Complete article here.
Stunning commitment to original work from the Vancouver Opera. Here is another example of their innovation.
Song Dong’s mother lode: Beijing artist turns mom’s hoardings into art
What a sight: The second storey of the Vancouver Art Gallery, usually stark and pristine with priceless works of art, is filled with stuff. It would not be unfair to call the items, spread out on the floor across three large rooms, junk. But these things – pop bottles, cans of Raid, bits of outdoor carpeting, socks – were a treasure to one woman, and as such have travelled to art galleries around the world in a monumental installation called Waste Not.
This installation is the work of Song Dong, a noted Beijing-based conceptual artist. Consisting of more than 10,000 items, as well as the frame of the tiny house where he grew up, Waste Not serves as a memorial to his father, Song Shiping, and a tribute to his mother, Zhao Xiangyuan. There are strong echoes here of both the Cultural Revolution and of China’s
Full article here at the Globe and Mail.
‘Good Morning to the World’ wins 17th Dragons and Tigers Award at VIFF
Japan’s Good Morning to the World has won the Vancouver International Film Festival’s 17th annual Dragons and Tigers Award. The drama by 23-year-old filmmaker Hirohara Satoru edged out seven other films from Vietnam, South Korea, Thailand, China and Singapore to win the award, which is given to young filmmakers from Asia.
Special mentions were given to the features Don’t Be Afraid, Bi!, directed by Phan Dang Di from Vietnam, and Rumination, directed by Xu Ruotao from China.
Good Morning to the World will receive an additional screening on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Pacific Cinematheque. Satoru takes home a $10,000 cash prize along with the award.
John Wood
Usually I wouldn’t be inclined to declare who my childhood heroes were, but in this case I’ll make an exception. Found this photo on the web today and it brought back memories of striving to improve as a competitive paddler. John Wood (pictured above) raced to an exhilarating silver medal in the Men’s C1 (canoeing) at the Montreal Olympics. Not only was he racing in the days when racers from the Soviet bloc were heavily juiced, he also lost the 1976 Olympic 500m race by about 5cm. This was a Games where Canada notoriously won multiple silvers and bronzes, but failed to win a single gold. Wood’s race on a level playing field would have been a gold medal result. It remains one of the heartbreaks of the Canadian Olympic movement. The greatest canoeist of his generation.
David Byrne, Gregor Robertson to Talk Bicycles
This I want to see. Byrne has been a bicycle activist in NYC for some time. He’s also not a bad lead singer.
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From The Tyee -
On Oct. 24, David Byrne will host Cities, Bicycles, and the Future of Getting Around. It’s a new take on Talking Heads: a lecture series that brings the Grammy/Oscar/Golden Globe winner together with a civic leader, an urban theorist and a bike advocate to discuss how to make Vancouver more bike-friendly.
The Tyee is the media sponsor for when Byrne fastens his u-lock to a Vancouver rack for this event, part of Capilano University’s Pacific Arbour Speaker series. Our team will be there with our helmets firmly fastened, ready to take part in this one-of-a-kind discussion.
RBC GranFondo Whistler Bike Ride
grandfondo_2090, originally uploaded by Dustan Sept.
Some outstanding photos here of the RBC GranFondo Whistler bike race this past weekend by Dustan Sept.
Here’s some coverage:
They came, they cycled, and most of them got here in the inaugural RBC GranFondo Whistler bike ride.
The event, which featured 4,000 keen cyclists pedalling the 120 kilo-metres from downtown Vancouver to Whistler mostly on a dedicated lane on the Sea to Sky highway, went off with few hitches on Saturday.
“We’re very proud of what we accomplished, proud of all the 4,000 riders and the 600 crew and volunteers who made it happen,” said RBC GranFondo Whistler cofounder Kevin Thomson.
A serious crash occurred early in the ride on the Upper Levels highway in West Vancouver, however. A male rider was rushed to Lions Gate Hospital under emergency conditions. Thomson said he was still waiting for details on the accident, and added that all aspects of the event would be reviewed over the next few weeks.
In light of the enthusiastic response to the event, which is modelled after mass rides of the same name held in some parts of Europe for decades, the plan is to increase the race to 6,000 next year and 10,000 in 2012. A Gran Fondo is also planned for the Okanagan next summer. The results and complete times of finishers was to be available on the event’s website ( www.rbcgranfondowhistler.com)at midnight Saturday.
UBC E-BEETLE FIRST ELECTRIC CAR TO CROSS CANADA
History made in an E-Beetle.
This is an amazing accomplishment! 6,400 km in 16 days, showing the durability of electric-powered cars. If you want to follow their whole journey in retrospect, here’s the UBC Electric Car Club’s E-Beetle blog. And here’s their video:
From their site:
At 6:00 PM AST, the UBC Electric Car Club’s E-Beetle arrives at ALDERNY LANDING, DARTMOUTH NS and is the first-ever electric car to complete a coast to coast voyage across Canada. Starting on August 21st, 2010, the E- Beetle has covered 6400 kilometers in 16 days (2 days break in Quebec
waiting for Hurricane Earl to pass) without any support vehicles, using only existing infrastructure.
The E-Beetle’s voyage has been featured on Wired.com, CTV, CBC, and in print media across Canada. The public is able to track the E-Beetle’s arrival by GPS via the UBCECC website.
The E-Beetle is powered by a Lithium Iron Phosphate battery pack with a capacity of 50 Kilowatt Hours, giving it a range of 300km at 100km/h and 500km at 50km/h with a top speed of 140kmh. Charging time is approximately 4 hours.
Tear the Curtain!
From the Arts Club release:
Glamour! Intrigue! Suspense! A collaboration with the innovative Electric Company Theatre, the premiere of this stylish thriller is inspired by the “reel” history of the Stanley Theatre. Experience a multimedia spectacle featuring your favourite Hollywood film noir archetypes: the mob boss, the femme fatale, the hardboiled detective, and his girl Friday. Does the truth lie somewhere between the stage and the screen?
Photo: Brian Johnson
Trailer from long-awaited “Tear the Curtain”
This is a must see. World premiere of the Electric Company Theatre’s “Tear the Curtain” at the Stanley Theatre. It opens September 9.
Cain still passionate about paddling
Larry Cain, originally uploaded by inklake.At 47, Cain still races at a high level while surrounded by canoeists who are considerably younger.
“Now it’s fun for a different reason. It’s fun because I’m coaching. For me to play a part in helping them reach their goals is really gratifying — although that’s not to diminish the fact that it was really fun to race.”
From the outset of an interview, Larry Cain was fourthcoming about his past.
Cain — who won gold and silver medals in canoeing for Canada at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles — made light of his near-medal performance of four years later during a rare respite Friday at the Canadian sprint canoe-kayak championships in Regina.
“My friends took me out and gave me the top of a beer can with a string through it,” recalled Cain, who was fourth in the C-1 1,000 metres at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. “They called it an aluminum medal.”
The gold and silver medals — won in the C-1 1,500m and C-1 1,000m, respectively — are displayed on a shelf at Cain’s home in Oakville, Ont., where he coaches with the Burloak Canoe Club. He is happy to discuss his own accomplishments, but becomes especially animated and expansive when talking about medals won and sacrifices made by the canoeists he coaches.
Cain also found time to win a gold medal of his own on Friday. Along with Aaron Rublee, Cory Rublee and Evan Smith, Cain won a men’s C-4 1,000m race and the accompanying John W. Black Trophy (which was first presented in 1905). The Black Trophy is among the most-coveted awards at the nationals, which are in their 111th year.
“It was a lot of fun for me to win it with them,” Cain said of the efforts dedicated toward winning the Black Trophy. “I’m really here as a coach, but it’s great to be able to get out and race. That part of my career is not really my focus anymore.
Read entire article here.
Van Koeverden overcomes jet lag to advance in Nationals
REGINA — Adam Van Koeverden of Oakville, Ont., advanced to the K-1 500 and 200-metre finals at the Sprint Nationals canoe and kayak championships Thursday.
In his K-1 500 heat, Van Koeverden clocked one minute 43.448 seconds to finish ahead of world championship teammate Angus Mortimer of Ottawa (1:43.448).
Van Koeverden won bronze in the event at the world championship in Poland on Saturday.
In his K-1 200 heat, Van Koeverden took top spot ahead of Hughes Fournel of Lachine, Que. Ryan Cochrane of Windsor, N.S., and Andrew Willows of Carleton Place, Ont., were the victors in the other two heats. ”My goal this week is to race well and do my club proud,” said Van Koeverden, competing at his 14th Canadian championship for the Burloak Club. “I want to win the races I traditionally win.”
Van Koeverden didn’t use jet lag from his recent arrival from overseas as an excuse for performances this week.
“I try not to think about it too much,” he said. “There is no trick to getting over jet lag. I just try to manage my time and be as prepared as best as I can when I’m travelling. I’ve done this enough times in my career.”
In the C-1 500 heats, Olympic bronze medallist Thomas Hall of Pointe-Claire, Que., was first in the opening heat with Andrew Russell of Dartmouth, N.S., second while in the second race Richard Dalton of Halifax finished ahead of Mark Oldershaw of Oakville and Ben Russell of Dartmouth. Emilie Fournel of Lachine, Que., took a women’s K-1 1,000 heat ahead of Una Lounder of Dartmouth and Kathleen Fraser of Mississauga, Ont.
Read entire article here.
New Yorker: Banned Book Bummer
Censorship, to our way of thinking, is generally bad news. Is there ever a good reason to ban a book? Maybe not, but the cause for a recent Canadian ban on Annabel Lyon’s “The Golden Mean” strikes us as particularly silly. BC Ferries, a maritime transportation service in British Columbia, has removed Lyons’s novel from its bookshops—not because the author penned a controversial scene or racy bit of dialogue, but because the paperback’s cover art features a naked man’s rear-end!
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Over at the ABE Books blog, Richard Davies offers this humorous assessment of the offending cover: “It’s a very nice naked bottom and the horse’s naked arse isn’t bad either.” And as for protecting children? “As a father of four-year-old and eight-year-old girls, I can vouch that children wouldn’t give a flying fig about the arse on this book cover.”
Lyons’s own response to the ban seems equally apt. The book will not be available at BC Ferries stores, she writes in a blog entry, “since the trade paperback still features a bare bum on the cover. Oh, BC Ferries. You have one too, you know you do!”
Read more on the New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2010/08/banned-book-bummer.html#ixzz0xUmWdIE6
zombies in the hood
zombies in the hood, originally uploaded by inklake.
Annual Vancouver zombie parade. Lots of impressive make-up and SFX. A few interesting prosthetics and internal organs on display too.
