Archive for September, 2011

When I first caught wind of This Space at 243 Union Street I must admit I was skeptical. Their messaging on Twitter (where I first saw mention of them) said they were “calling on Strathcona and Chinatown to build a sustainable business they can call their own”. Clicking a link took me to an impossibly slick web site splashed with the same message, expanding the details of how they’re asking the residents of the area what kind of business they should open, and that the first step was to vote on the general type of business they should open. A community-minded project surely couldn’t be so genuine as well as visually appealing, so I immediately tried to get to the root of it and see which local ad agency was trying to sell us something. I set up a time to visit the people in charge of This Space, located mere blocks from the V.I.A. office on the border of Chinatown and Strathcona, right along that bike route on Union. I was going to unravel this marketing mystery and expose the culprits!

What I actually uncovered is …READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

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

SIX HUNDRED! Wow, I feel absolutely honoured to be at the wheel of this feature as the odometer clicks  over the century mark once again. If I had a sweet animated gif I’d throw it up here in celebration. If I recall correctly, 100 posts ago I went on an internet mission regarding the numeral system of ancient Rome. Well, today’s post had me testing my memory of long-past 20th century art history classes, which in turn led to an interesting and unexpected internet discovery.

It all started when I caught a glimpse of Pavel Boiko’s photograph today. There was a couple of things that interested me about it – for starters, I have no idea where this is (although the BC Ferries vessel in the background is a serious clue). But ultimately I do want to know, because I want to go there. It looks like a beautiful place to be.

But I was also getting a familiar feeling about the composition, and so on a hunch I googled Edward Hopper and there it was – ‘Rooms by the Sea’ (1951). I have no idea if the compositional similarity is coincidence or homage or exclusively inside my head, but what excited me was the revelation that there is a website called WikiPaintings. Because I think that is awesome – they are even on twitter. Why did it take so long and how did we ever get by without it? Here is DSC_1393.

Daily Flickr Pickr 601 is just on the other side of that door…

Gary

So today is a pretty cool day for one of Vancouver’s Most Awesome: Dan Mangan released his record “Oh Fortune”!
(It’s spectacular!)
But that’s not all… we’ve been scheming and plotting the last few months and finally get to share with you some cool news.

On November 15th VIA is hosting a Polaris Prize Record Salon at the Waldorf hotel; an idea developed in Toronto which we are bringing to YOU Vancouver!

Basically it is a listening party where we can hear the album (which was selected by a Polaris Prize juror… in this case, the wonderful Francois Marchand of the Vancouver Sun) in its entirety, there will be a short interview, prize giveaways, and general fun times.

The event is FREE and open to all, but space is limited so you have to RSVP here…as it’ll probably fill up before I even publish this post!

Hope to see you there, I’ll be hosting the event, so I’m pretty excited.

Bonus Awesome: Dan’s new video for his song Rows Of Houses is featured on Rolling Stone .com right now!:

DiYVR is a weekly spotlight on all things handmade, done-by-oneself, crafted and hacked around Vancouver, featuring profiles of makers, event announcements, exhibits and general DIY fun. Know someone or something we should cover? Email me!

We’ve started a series of do-it-yourself challenges! Did you miss the first one? That’s okay. I’m determined to make sure there’s always a DIY thing going on, and you’re welcome to join in at any time. The idea is that a city that does stuff together is a happy city. Join the Flickr group to ask questions, seek advice, or share your tips and tricks. Take photos before and after and share those with the group, too! I’ll round up each challenge here on VIA.

The second challenge is of a sartorial nature.

Mend, Alter or Embellish!

Darn that sock, patch those jeans, sew those buttons back on. If your wardrobe needs no repair, hem those pants, take in that shirt, or make that old jacket into a vest. Or, if alterations are a bit too daunting, embellish an article of clothing – anything more involved than sticking a pin-back button on it will do. You can embroider, bedazzle, puffy paint, whatever!

If you need a hand getting started, I highly recommend asking for help in the comments or on Flickr. I’ve learned a ton of stuff watching YouTube videos, too. Like, did you know it’s not actually all that complicated or time-consuming to hem jeans? For real.

To sum up: We’re spiffing up our wardrobe, here. All by ourselves. Together.

The deadline is Monday, 24th October. When you finish, remember to upload your photos and share your notes in the Flickr group so I can be sure to include your brilliant work in the round-up I’ll post on the 25th!

Design Lives is a new project launched by Inform Interiors and IDSwest, supported by Vancouver Is Awesome. It’s an ongoing interview project that will catalogue the personal and professional stories of Vancouver’s design community, conducted in the window of Inform Interiors at 50 Water Street in Gastown.

Enjoy this second instalment featuring Tanja Hinder and Michael Thomas Host of mth woodworks and keep checking back for more in the coming days, weeks and months.

http://vimeo.com/29586356

SCENE AND HEARD showcases the independent music scene here in Vancouver. We interview some of our favourite local artists, post weekly guest playlists comprised of Vancouver artists and ‘Last Week in Music’ highlights some of the concerts happening around the city…

Do you SEE the title of this post? It should just say ft. ALL THE BANDS. I saw so much music this week and missed so much trying to keep up and do it all! But The Belle Game, Aidan Knight, Karkwa, Young Rival, Hollerado, The Oh Wells, Ashleigh Eymann, Sex With Strangers, The Boom Booms, Dan Mangan, Rain City Chronicles and Rococode is nothing to scoff at! That said, we’ve got a pretty nice week coming up as well!…

THIS WEEK IN MUSIC: sees The Belle Game and Redgy Blackout tonight at Section 3 playing a Fundraiser for the Sarah McLachlan School of Music. Wednesday is another edition of Girls! Girls! Girls! at the Cobalt ft. VIA’s own Sarah Szloboda, and over at the Biltmore, you can catch Diamond Rings, and Twin Shadow. Thursday head back to the Red Room for an AWESOME Peak Performance Project showcase ft. The Matinee, Behind Sapphire, Redgy Blackout, and Treelines. Friday includes a plethora of shows: The Matinee at the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel, Dan Moxon, and Christopher Arruda at The Cellar, Data Romance at the Electric Owl, OH and CBC Vancouver is having “Culture Days” during the day!  Sunday be at the Astoria for Bent By Elephants, Ma Petite, and 41st and Home. Finally, Monday, check out the Nimbus Showcase at the Media Club! Got that?

…READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

Thrice weekly I bring you personified pieces of our city. Reaching into all of the different neighbourhoods I collect images of all types of inanimate objects, then bring them to life!

OBJECT: Giant bocce ball (by Liz Magor)
NEIGHBOURHOOD: Downtown / Crosstown

CLICK TO VIEW THE ARCHIVE OF OUR “EYES ON VANCOUVER” SERIES:

So far the majority of these Super, Neighbours travel features have been about resorts and hotels that are mostly concerned with delivering their visitors a relaxing, restorative and memorable stay at their destinations. You may have noticed that in the past few months, since around Easter of this year, we’ve ramped up the frequency of these features. It is absolutely no coincidence that around that time I was diagnosed with a rare eye disease called Central Serous Retinopathy. It’s stress-induced and I’m not going to cry to you about it but in a nutshell it has caused a blister to form behind the retina in my right eye making it so there’s a dark and blurry spot right in the middle of my field of vision. As it’s a “rare” disease there’s no prescribed cure aside from reducing stress, and the best way I’ve found to reduce the stress of running the content side of V.I.A. as well as the business side of it is to completely unplug and get away from my desk. I’ve been super fortunate to be able to lump together “getting away from my desk” with “still working” while also “relaxing” by taking on these travel features.

Since my diagnosis I’ve been exposed to the healing powers of Pacific Sands in Tofino, Sonora Resort in Desolation Sound, The Fairmont Empress in Victoria, Nita Lake Lodge in Whistler and the Fairmont Waterfront right here in Vancouver. We’ve received some really positive feedback on these features and it gives me great joy to know that people are into checking out these potential vacation spots while my eyeball heals a little more with each trip. I had a slight setback recently but I am on the road to recovery and have to thank each and every one of these destinations for allowing me to visit them on media trips, sometimes even with my small family in tow.

So now that we’ve got that out of the way, a slight departure for this latest Super, Neighbours series of 3 posts about Hollyhock on Cortes Island. It was a bit of a vacation of sorts but while I was heading to those previously listed destinations in order to simply relax, the agenda for this latest trip was first to learn, to meet other mission-based entrepreneurs and to be mentored at the Social Venture Institute taking place there… and then to relax in the knowledge that with help from the incredible community that Renewal Partners and The Social Venture Network brought together, I’ll be able to keep this social venture of ours going in the right direction. I paid to attend this conference and can’t think of money I’ve ever spent more wisely insuring the future of Vancouver Is Awesome. I made so many connections and the programming and the overall experience was so beyond invaluable that I can’t really put it into words.

I’ll get into more of what the Social Venture Institute actually is in the next post, but first I need to share with you the journey of getting there. Not metaphorically, but physically getting there by way of more than a couple ferries.

I’m going to assume that you’ve been to Vancouver Island and you’ve either driven or walked onto one of those gigantic ferries, but have you ever been on one of these smaller ones that go to the lesser-trafficked Gulf Islands? Cortes Island is a 6 hour trip from Vancouver if you travel by car and ferry, first leaving from Horseshoe Bay on one of those big guys, then once you reach Nanaimo driving a couple of hours up to Campbell River where you board the one pictured above. That one takes you to Quadra Island, which you then drive across and board another one bound for Cortes.

Here’s a view from the Quadra to Cortes ferry, in a bay that is reminiscent of what False Creek used to look like when small boats were allowed to somewhat randomly moor there.

Many jellyfish await you as you stare over the edge of …READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>