Archive for October, 2011

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

Today’s photograph is what I like to refer to as a double-threat: it’s a really cool photo of a subject that I think is really cool. I might well be outside of the target demographic, but I did visit Fright Nights at the PNE a few years ago and had a good time. I didn’t find it terribly scary – but my significant other sure did. I could barely walk, what with her clutching the back of my jacket, pulling it tightly in her clenched fists, to the point where my arms were drawn back and my circulation almost cut off. Just don’t tell her I said that!

But Keath Ling really took the subject matter and hit it out of the park – a little atmosphere, some spooky lighting and smoke, and a nice slow shutter to capture the movement of the rides which, to be honest, appear terrifying enough in the summer, let alone during Fright Nights.

Brace yourself: here is O24.

Gary

Welcome to the latest series of Super, Neighbours blog posts where we highlight incredible travel destinations in British Columbia! In THIS first post I brought you on the ferry headed to Rockwater Secret Cove Resort near Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast. My wife and I were invited to spend a romantic weekend at the resort in one of their luxury tenthouse suites and I promised last post that they would totally blow your mind. The resort has a number of ocean view rooms in the lodge available, as well as 16 oceanfront cabins, but the main attraction is most definitely the tenthouses. 13 of them were constructed a couple of years back and while the walls are made of canvas what awaits you inside is undeniable luxury. Laying there on the bed looking out the doorway to a view of the Pacific I kept thinking that this is what it would’ve been like to go on a safari with Hemingway… if it were West Coast style, with heated floors!

So I’ll walk you to our spot, starting with the entranceway just past the lodge.

There are 1,500 feet of boardwalk that lead from the lodge to the tenthouses. Forget my Hemingway reference for a minute and think …READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

I recently read a theory that going for 50 coffees with people you’ve never met is the entrepreneurs equivalent to the theory that doing anything for 10,000 hours will make you an expert on it. While I get the idea, 50 coffees is far easier than practicing something for ten years, and while I’m far from lazy I’ve decided to set out on a fairly simple mission: over the next 50 weeks I’m going to invite 50 interesting Vancouverites, most of whom I have never met before, to go for coffee. I’m going to use this as an exercise in networking for myself and for V.I.A. while also using it as a platform to introduce you to some people who are doing really cool stuff in the city you live in. COFFEE #4 Name: Kim Ridgewell Occupation: Designer at Rethink Beverage: Soy latte

Meet Kim Ridgewell. Designer by day, designer by night, Kim is one of the dedicated, passionate and talented team members over at Rethink. If you haven’t heard of them they’re a groundbreaking advertising, design and digital agency which was born and raised in Vancouver and now has a second office in Toronto. I was excited to get a tour of their office on Granville which turned out to be exactly the kind of casual environment I imagined it would be: tons of open space, friendly faces, stocked library, a drum kit, ping pong table in the board room… and a Lego room. Yes, a room that has a massive box full of Lego pieces that you can apply to the walls, as seen in the photo below. That pretty much sums it up but HERE is a full history of the agency and HERE is a link to some of the more recent work that Kim and the other Rethinkers have produced. Stay tuned for more from Kim as I’ve also wrangled her into working on a Proof feature for us!

In case you haven’t been following, our friend, Vancouver Book Club alumni Grant Lawrence, made it all the way to the shortlist of this year’s Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction. What an honour it must have been for Grant to have his book selected as one of the top 6 in Canada for 2011! Winning a BC Book Award recently was an incredible achievement and he’s been on a roll but the stars didn’t align for the Hilary Weston and his book Adventures In Solitude, which he WROTE about here in an experiential blog post about the gala.

Grant took home $5000 for making it to the shortlist but is $55,000 less richer than Charles Foran whose book Mordecai won him the prize of $60,000. So we figured in order to make up some of that money for him we’d bootleg the original chapter illustrations from Adventures In Solitude, put them onto a t-shirt and sell them, donating 100% of the proceeds back to Grant. Christy Nyiri was the genius illustrator behind these, and she was kind enough to lay out this wonderfully unauthorized design for us.

T-Shirt Sizes

Mens Small $25.00 Mens Medium $25.00 Mens Large $25.00 Womens Small $25.00 Womens Medium $25.00 Womens Large $25.00

As mentioned, 100% of the proceeds of these unauthorized t-shirts will go straight into Grant’s pocket. By ordering above you are pre-ordering a tee which will be made available for PICKUP in 10 DAYS from our office at 115 East Pender. These shirts will only be made available for sale for the next 7 days, after which point we’ll print up the amount that were ordered and never do another run. The edition is limited to however many people place an order. This is your only chance to ever own one of these t-shirts.

If you haven’t yet read Grant’s book you can find out where to purchase HERE.

Read All Over celebrates the bookworm in all of us, showcasing readers in Vancouver and the books they love most. I’m an author from Vancouver (born & raised). Last year my first novel The Three Fates of Henrik Nordmark was released. It’s quirky and funny and is loosely set in Vancouver. My next novel (which hits stores this Spring) is entitled The Last Hiccup and it’s set in 1930’s Russia. I still have a day job, but I’d like to make a go of this writing thing, maybe someday escape my cubicle and live by the beach. –Christopher Meades

Where is your favorite place to crack open a good book in Vancouver?

I like to sit in the JJ Bean on Commercial Drive, read and eat a chocolate chip zucchini muffin. Often I’ll look up and notice that of the 30 people in the coffee shop, I’m the only one without any visible tattoos. But it’s still a cool, relatively quiet, place to enjoy a book.

…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!)

If your only access to the outside world lately was the Daily Flickr Pickr, you might be led to believe that Vancouver is always shrouded in fog in October. And while we do get our fair share, it is not, in fact, omnipresent. So today I find myself emerging from a fog and getting back to my roots.

And by saying back to my roots, I meant that figuratively – less of me, more of you and your photos that illustrate the gist of this whole website: Vancouver Is Awesome. If you were hoping for a literal meaning, then you can find it in the photograph below, which comes to us courtesy of Andy Grellmann. And while I don’t know exactly where this is, I am sold by the photo. Want to go there. Want to go there and take a stroll down that Path.

Gary

There’s been lots of love being shown for those in uniform who serve our city lately! I went to the home opener of the Canucks a couple of weeks back and was touched by the ceremony in which they honoured regular citizens who became heroes during and after the hockey riot and also those who are paid to protect and serve this city of ours and who did an incredible job during that crisis.

Puck drop at the Canucks home opener

Then a week later I walked in to buy some steaks from Save On Meats and realized that every single Wednesday (THAT’S TODAY!) they offer firemen, police and paramedics a 15% discount. Every. Single. Wednesday.

Brett the butcher

And finally today I caught wind that the Rain City Chronicles storytelling night that we sponsor, they’re offering $5 admission to their next show for any and all of Vancouver’s veteran and currently serving police officers, firemen, paramedics, and soldiers. More on that HERE.

While everyone else is getting on it I’d like to extend a huge THANK YOU to the men and women who serve Vancouver and help keep it awesome!!!