video
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.
Dancer Ziyian Kwan and others dance their frustration over B.C.’s arts cuts
For a complete series of photos take a look at Ziyian Kwan’s blog.
By Janet Smith
A veteran Vancouver dancer and her colleagues are taking their frustration over B.C. arts cuts to the streets.
Ziyian Kwan is dubbing her protests “what i am dancing sundays”. She’s organizing impromptu dance/rally/busking sessions in front of the Gene Cafe at Main and Kingsway.
Her next dance-protest is this Sunday (August 15) from 4 to 6 p.m., and she invites other artists angered by the provincial Liberals’ slashing of both gaming and core funding to the cultural sector to join her. So far dancer-choreographers Jennifer Clarke, Lee Su-Feh, Jay Hirabayashi, and others have joined her on the sidewalk.
Read the entire article here at the Georgia Straight.
Sings like the Grinch but he Must Be Santa
Or is that Shane McGowan of Pogues reknown he’s channeling?
Rollicking good Christmas offering from Bob Dylan.
BC flickr photographers help speak out against arts cuts
Recently I had the privilege of producing a PSA with Jenn Strom for the Alliance for Arts and Culture in response to the BC government’s funding cuts to the arts. About a month ago the Vancouver arts community put together a huge rally at the Vancouver Art Gallery. This PSA starts with that event.
Thanks to a big community of flickr photographers and several BC artists (listed below) who contributed their time, images and music to this video. Very special thanks to Jenn for contributing her talent and insight.
Please share it widely and spread the word.
Featured photography: Russ Beinder, Jeremy Crowle, Jurek Durczak, Derek von Essen, Dan Fairchild, Electric Company Theatre, Jonathon Evans, Gale Franey, John Goldsmith, Ivan Grabovac, hundrednorth, Ahmad & Graça Kavousian, Peter Kim, Mark Klotz, Kris Krug, Joao Marcelino, Jenn Perutka, Philip, Tony Puerzer, Philippe Sokazo, Susannah Steers, Peter Suk Sin Chan, Vancouver Opera.
Time Lapse sequence (moving): David Suggitt; Time Lapse sequence (still): Tim Matheson; Video clips of rally: Paul Bennett; Audio clips: Keith Higgins.
Producer: Kevin Teichroeb
Editor: Jenn Strom
Composer: Christian Prohom
If you would like to speak out, follow this link to a webform where you can write in support of BC arts.
Pain Contest
I’m especially interested in the article below because I did a feature last summer on the Canadian Men’s Eight and their Erg (ergometer/indoor rowing machine) training called “Pain Contest”.
Here’s the video about the Beijing gold-medal winning crew; below is an article about a sensational Danish rower who has broken the world record on the Erg twice this year …
Erg versus water, that is the question
26/08/2009The indoor rowing machine, or ergometer, love or loath it, the machine has become a vital training tool for rowers. Today at the 2009 World Rowing Championships in Poznan, Poland, world record holder on the erg, Henrik Stephansen raced on the water.
Coming from Denmark, Stephansen is part of a rowing programme that does not always have the luxury of rowing on the water. It is often too cold and sometimes too rough. So Danish Rowing has adapted by training indoors. Earlier this year lightweight athlete Stephansen went under six minutes over 2000m on the indoor rowing machine. His time of 5:58.5 set a World Record that was previously thought unachievable.
Read the entire article here.
Wariner vs. Merritt: re-match on Friday
Looks like we’re going to see a big re-match on Friday in the men’s 400m between Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt and world champ Jeremy Wariner. Both won their semis today: Merritt in 44.37 and Wariner in 44.69. This is turning into one of the best rivalries in track and field.
Here’s a feature I did on Wariner last summer, before Jeremy lost his Olympic title to Merritt.
“The fierce Tyson Gay is out on the track” (reprise)
A feature I produced last year before the Beijing Games. It’s good to see Tyson come through with a personal best of 9.71 today in Berlin at the World Championships. Hard to imagine a sprinter running 9.71 and losing by over 1/10 of a second.
Stevie Smith
A cameraman friend sent me this.
Stevie Smith on an insanely dangerous downhill mountain bike course near Golden, BC. Spectacular riding and camera work.
Don’t watch if you suffer from vertigo …
“Where some of the fastest racers in the world [say] going as slow as they possibly can is still too fast”.
The initials “JO”
The World Athletics championships are coming up fast and I spotted this interesting detail just now …
American athletes will wear the initials “JO” on their uniforms in honor of iconic hero Jesse Owens, who defied onlooking Adolf Hitler in the same stadium by winning four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
“These World Championships are special,” said USA Track chief executive Doug Logan. “It’s Team USA’s chance to come back strong in the post-Olympic year and it’s an opportunity to honor the incredible legacy of Jesse Owens.
Read full article here.
The Worlds will run from August 15-23 in Berlin.
Watch out for Gary Reed, hot off a Grand Prix of London victory in the 800m.
No Sunlight
Still thinking about the Death Cab for Cutie concert at GM Place a few weeks ago and it reminded me of this video.
Does it get better than an acoustic concert in the back of a London Cab?
Obviously the folks at Black Cab Sessions don’t think it does.
Take a look/listen …
These Black Cab Sessions are fantastic. Here’s a link to their website and a blurb from their facebook page:
Conceived and produced by just so films, artist selection by hidden fruit. The sessions are all about great music and the venue strips this to its essence. We aren’t picky about genre and will happily open the cab door to anyone who blows us away.
btw, here’s the song performed onstage by the band.
TED: Tim Brown on creativity
One of the TED series of talks.
From their website:
About this talk
At the 2008 Serious Play conference, designer Tim Brown talks about the powerful relationship between creative thinking and play — with many examples you can try at home (and one that maybe you shouldn’t).
About Tim Brown
Tim Brown is the CEO of the “innovation and design” firm IDEO — taking an approach to design that digs deeper than the surface.
Not Your Daddy’s Longboard
Thinking of Tofino the other day and found this article. Be sure to find the video at the bottom of the post …
Not Your Daddy’s Longboard
BY CLIFF KUANG | Tue Jul 14, 2009 at 2:50 PMA maverick surfboard maker–and former Apple designer–creates “the most radical leap in board design in 50 years.”
After quitting his job as a designer at Apple in 1998, Thomas Meyerhoffer dedicated himself to surfing every day. But he hated his boards, and set about inventing a new one. Though initially laughed at, the design is now something of a blockbuster–the initial run of 1,000 copies sold out, and the backorders stretch through February.
As The New York Times reports, Meyerhoffer–who has also designed for Porsche and Cappelini, and created everything from paper towel dispensers and ski goggles–approached the task with zero preconceptions. He let trial and error guide him; as he says, “I never designed the board to look this way. It became this way.” Not without a lot of intensive work, though: Meyerhoffer originally started producing prototypes using CNC milling, but that wasn’t precise enough so he had to re-learn the lost art of manual board shaping.
What The Times article manages to skip entirely is why the board actually works …
Read the rest of the article here
Meyerhoffer Longboard by Modern (watch video):
36 years as a CBC cameraman
A master behind the lens, Mike is a veteran of 36 years, almost every Olympics since Montreal in 1976, the Read Report in the 80’s (with Crazy Canuck Ken Read), and an endless series of accomplished work ever since.
I’ve had the pleasure of working with him often over the past 10 years, especially enjoying our many shoots for the Beijing Games last summer, and our recent shoot at Elk Lake this year.
Congratulations Mike on a career that few can equal, thank you for your insights and humour, and best of luck in your retirement.
I expect to see you looking through a viewfinder somewhere very soon.
Sydor again among the favourites
Alison is legendary among North Shore riders as the finest BC has ever produced.
Little has changed. I created this feature for the Athens Summer Olympics and she is still among the favourites in international competition. She races today in the CRAFT BIKE TRANS GERMANY classic, listed among Pia Sundstedt (FIN) and Daniele Troesch (FRA) as pre-race contenders.
Craft Bike Trans Germany powered by Nissan – June 21st to 27th, 2009
In the third year of the Craft Bike Trans Germany powered by Nissan, a total of 800 mountain bikers including some of the world’s top athletes will once again cross Germany in seven stages from West to East. The updated route leads across the most beautiful Central German climbs. All participants have to conquer 410 miles (660 kilometers) and about 50,196 feet (15,300 meters) of elevation gain in order to take home the event finisher shirts.
The 2009 event will also offer something brand new. For the first time, the stage race from Erbach im Odenwald to Seiffen in the Erz Mountains will be organized in a single starter format and not in teams of two. Also added, a class for teams of four bikers will bring additional tension and excitement to the race.
More information go to http://www.bike-transgermany.de.
American Standard
Over a study break at SFU a few years ago Reece took over a men’s washroom and created a tour de force installation which I profiled for CBC Television and cbc.ca.
“American Standard is an installation that featured fifteen functional urinals arranged in a pyramid formation on the wall of the men’s washroom in the Alexander Centre studio at Simon Fraser University.”
“American Standard” made such an impact it was selected for a special national arts-scene episode of ZeD. The full CBC interview is linked here on Reece’s website.
Congratulations to Reece on “Ought Apartment”! A must see at the VAG.
Gary Reed: “you’ve got to fight like hell …”
This feature was made just prior to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
After winning Silver in the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Reed found himself just out of the medals last summer in Beijing. Despite missing the podium he considers his results to be a major success. So he should. A second and a fourth in successive years among the world’s 800m elite? That’s better than any other middle distance runner in Canadian track history.
Reed: “Finishing fourth at the Olympics is better than finishing 10th, and 10th is better than finishing 20th and so on. Obviously, you want to win a medal. But do I feel better coming fourth at the Olympics as opposed to ’04, when I came 17th? Yeah, I do. It’s a great accomplishment.”
inklake 