Archive for June, 2011

The Banff Media Festival is an independent producer’s dream, or nightmare. The chance to make a great impression on broadcasters and decision makers can thrill or terrify, depending on your outlook. Lucky for Vancouver’s Siobhan McCarthy, she’s more likely to embrace the thrill, than cower in a corner.

This year I’m pitching “Clown” which is a docu-soap, based on comedy from a female perspective.

Comedy from a female perspective is an understatement. Her show “Clown” is based on her own experience as an adult-clown.

My clown’s name is Blyss. I had a very lucrative career as a clown for adults, not for kids, where I toured, headlined the Toronto Festival of Clowns and was scouted for Cirque de Soliel. The thing about being a clown is that it’s all fun and games when you’re actually doing your show, but I always felt the show was more of a docu-soap. On my way to work I don’t look like most people; I’m actually in a clown costume. It’s very much like behind the music, but with clowns.

When you’re pitching, it’s best to have a couple of ideas ready to go. After all, you never know when a Hollywood bigwig has Coulrophobia. If that’s the case, Siobhan has another series in her back pocket: “Dads”

It’s a really edgy comedy written in the vain of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” It’s about that dichotomy of trying to be a good care giver without really any authority on how to do that. We spent a long time this year getting the script really solid, we’ve got Peter Deluise very interested, pending network approval as our director.

Even with all the organizing done though, Banff is about the hustle.

The climate of Banff is go go go, and yet there’s a nice relaxing component to it and you’re able to kick back and have nice conversation with people and have lasting relationships. But, I have meetings every 10-15 minutes while I’m there. I go on a fact finding mission. I’d go with a soft sell and sell yourself more as an individual and get to know people so you can establish relationships. It’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it.

You can see more of Siobhan at www.blyssfulproductions.com

Every day we share a single photo from our Flickr Pool shot by one of our faithful and talented readers (that’s you!)

I was temped to keep the urban critter theme going for a third straight day, but alas, I don’t want to become too predictable in this space (but if you were looking for critter photographs, you may find what you are looking for in the always-popular Crowdsourced Sunday Volume Eight, hint hint). No, let’s change it up a little today and go to the home of many beasts large and small, specifically Lynn Valley.

Chris Gehlen visited Lynn Valley just the other day, and brought back a nice shot of a boardwalk section of the trail. I really appreciate the recent rain that is evidenced through the wet wood, and the lushness it provides the dense foliage. So green! I’m putting this on my list of things to do this summer for sure – here is walking on wood through the woods.

Gary

Welcome to Crowdsourced Sunday, a curated batch of photos from our Twitter followers.

On Saturdays we send out some tweets from our @VIAwesome account, asking our followers to tweet us photos of what they got into during the day and we always get a ton of great photos out of it. Though Saturday was particularly drizzly for a summer day, it didn’t stop people from sending in great pics from around town. Check them out below and thanks everyone!

		@zanzibar_girl: Had brunch today at the great new Save on Meats.

		@sandersrachel: Here’s a shot of the chicken coop at UBC Farm Market this morning!

		@evanparsons: Great Northern Way:

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Every day we share a single photo from our Flickr Pool shot by one of our faithful and talented readers (that’s you!)

Today I share with you a photo that initially caught my eye earlier in the week. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – if you submit a photo into the pool that captures a bird mid-flight and up-close, I am almost obligated to consider it for the Daily Flickr Pickr. Sure enough, that is exactly what Lesley Edwards accomplished over in the North Van/Deep Cove area. This is an action shot in the purest sense; this bird is on a mission – but unlike the french-fry gulls that congregate and beg at the Burger King on Main Street, I think this bird might be eyeing an actual fish.

From Lesley Edwards, here is the twitter-esquely titled Gotcha! Thx #QuickPix #gull #seagull #bird.

Gary

It’s a new dog twice a week! Click here to find out how to get your dog posted if you haven’t sent in your photos yet!

Today’s dog featured in Dogtown Vancouver is Yoshi, Jef Choy’s pup. Here’s what he had to say about him…

NAME: Yoshi. BREED: 110% Border Terrier. HOOD: Hastings-Sunrise. FAVOURITE SNACK: Other dog’s treats. OTHER INFO: Yoshi is six years old and although he pops up in my posts from time to time, somehow, I’ve been too lazy to send Keith photos so he could be featured in Dogtown. Yoshi loves to go swimming, sunbathing, and pondering by himself. He also likes big girls. Rarely a day goes by without someone talking to me about how cute or funny he is. His best trick is he can sneeze on command, and he likes to please, so don’t be surprised if you see him sneezing at your feet! If you’re interested in adopting a pet, check out our Happy Tails feature. If you adopted your pet from the SPCA and would like to share your awesome story on Happy Tails, send an email to Rory.Blanchard@novusnow.ca.

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I went to the preview of The Cheaper Show 10 last night and am happy to report that there are no less than 200 fantastic pieces of art hanging on the walls of Rize Mount Pleasant! It actually feels like there are 2000 pieces; they took down a wall to expose a whole other giant space to accommodate it all and you should absolutely positively make your way to Broadway and Kingsway at 6pm to peruse the works and pick up one to hang in your home. This show happens once a year and they have once again outdone themselves with the quality of work. Each piece is still only $200, and this year 100% of that goes back to the artist.

I shot a bunch of photos of different pieces but I don’t want to spoil it for you so I’ll just share one. It’s of my favourite piece in the entire show, a sculpture by Chris von Szombathy. There’s a range of mediums available from paintings to collage to photographs as well as pieces of sculpture like this one.

Ok, this isn’t a photograph of an outdoor activity so I suppose I’m kind of breaking the rules here but I really feel that the message behind this stunner by Chris Gehlen fully encompasses Unplugged’s ethos… and how I am currently feeling about my own electronic existence. Also, I’m aware that this image has already been chosen as the ‘Vancouver is Awesome’ photo of the day but it hadn’t been chosen by me before so here it is again… Chris talks about our constant connection to each other and our machines and how it takes Only a Moment to unplug, look up and take in the real world that surrounds us in awseome, all the time and often without us even realizing it. Obviously, this is a technically beautiful photograph (I recommend looking at it ‘large’) but it’s the combination of Chris recongnizing an opportunity, visualising an image, allowing himself to follow that train of thought and taking the time to execute his vision that elevates this from being a really cool shot to a meaningful artwork. Thanks for this Chris. There was a lot of amazing photography in the pool this week folks, please keep posting and spreading the word about the Unplugged Flickr Pick. I promise to follow the rules next week and pick a photograph that relates more directly to the outdoors!

If you’d like to see your outdoor photos featured at VIA, submit them to our V.I.A. UNPLUGGED Flickr pool.

UNPLUGGED is a state of mind.

It’s that point in your consciousness where you can feel at one with nature, escaping the trappings of the day-to-day to an almost dream-like place where nothing else seems to exist besides you and your natural surroundings. It is our opinion here at VIA that Vancouver holds a unique place in the civilized world in that reaching this state often requires no more effort than simply pulling off to the side of the road, pocketing your keys and taking a few steps into the forest

For the 10 days leading up to The Cheaper Show‘s 10th annual one night art show, we’ve been introducing you to 10 artists out of the 200 who will be showing their work, available to purchase for $200 a piece. Head curator, Jessica Delorme, has hand picked a range of artists she. Please note that these works we’re showing you are not the pieces for sale, they are simply samples of the artists’ work.

Tenth up is Bradley Harms from Calgary.

Born in 1970, Winnipeg, Bradley Harms received his BFA from the University of Calgary in 1996 and his Masters of Fine Arts from School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2004. Harms has exhibited extensively in galleries throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and Japan. For the past number of years, Harms has taken a leading role in a new and forward-looking wave of Canadian abstraction, building upon traditions within the medium, while creating work that both reflects and critiques contemporary social and technological developments. Harms’ work addresses the manner in which we perceive painting. Manipulating the ideas of surface, form, and our notion of perfection.

Learn more about Benjamin and the other 199 artists in The Cheaper Show 10 on their at TheCheaperShow.com and be sure to come out to the show TONIGHT!!!