Archive for December, 2011

After I interviewed Henry Rollins in 1998 I had hoped to talk to him again. Well, it took 13 years of trying, but I finally got another chance a couple weeks ago when he appeared at the Commodore Ballroom as the special “interviewer” (you read that right!) of Dinosaur Jr! Here’s what happened. Doot doola doot doo … doot doo!

Nardwuar vs. Henry Rollins (2011)

Stay tuned for another interview next week and if you can’t wait then head over to NARDWUAR.COM, FACEBOOK.COM/NARDWUAR or TWITTER.COM/NARDWUAR!

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

Oooooh. Daily Flickr Pickr #666. Yikes. ;)

I loved going through today’s Flickr Pool submissions and finding the one I chose to feature. Number one, because I’ve been to the coffee bar featured in it and damn do they make a killer cup o joe. It’s Revolver Coffee on Cambie Street in the Gastown area and one of the great coffee bars that make Vancouver so awesome. Number two, because it’s just a fantastically composed photo. I especially like the depth of field achieved in it that really highlights the coffee siphon and glass against the window and subsequent street scene in the background.
An awesome photo of an awesome beverage taken in an awesome coffee bar in an awesome city. What more do you need?

Enjoy I’ll Have A Cup Please by ng.kelven

John

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 #16 Name: David St. Laurent Occupation: President Beverage: Hockey game coffee

Meet David St. Laurent. President of Western Media Group and a new online advertising network that V.I.A. is a part of. It’s called BC Info Net and it’s the most complete and locally based community news network available to advertisers in BC. The network serves 18 million page views per month from properties that are the go-to sources for community leaders and local residents across the province. Sites include V.I.A., The Tyee and Vancouver Observer here in Vancouver, Castanet in Kelowna, CHEK in Victoria and all of The Jim Pattison Broadcast Group’s radio station web sites across the province. Check out the media kit HERE to read all about the network.

I’m posting this during the holidays with the hopes that you’ll extend some of that seasonal cheer my way and not hate me for having now done two of these 50 Coffees at Canucks games where the person I was taking for coffee got me into the game. I’ve actually been sitting on this one for awhile because it was the home opener this season and I was worried I was going to alienate you by boasting about my good fortune when all I really want to do is introduce David and the work he’s doing.

This wasn’t the first time I’d met with David but it was the first time we’d ever done anything aside from hang out in his office and talk about advertising. Although we did talk a lot about advertising during the game and technically it was a business meeting it was still cool to have some great conversations beyond that subject. I really value the insight that David has as he’s been working with the media for decades, and as he’s a bit older than me there’s some general life wisdom to be gleaned there as well. When I ask somebody if they’ve got kids and they say their kids are almost as old as me, and I say I have a three year old, there’s an interesting bridge that we gap there. An awesome conversation always ensues, and I was thankful to hang out with David and enjoy coffee over a Canucks game.

Welcome to the latest series of Super, Neighbours blog posts where we highlight incredible travel destinations in British Columbia! BC Ferries has been kind enough to host us on a few adventures over the months. With their help we’ve brought you features on The Sunshine Coast, Pender Island, Cortes Island and Victoria. They got us onto Galiano Island to check out Bodega Ridge, a destination property which I’ll tell you all about in the next few posts. For now let’s talk about the trip there. The more I explore these little islands to the West of our city the more I get a grasp on where I’m actually heading when I get onto a ferry. Before going on this trip I was clueless as to where Galiano even was, let alone how long it would take us to get there. I always assume any trip on the ferry is going to take a couple of hours so I was so surprised at how quick this trip was. It’s not as close as Bowen but it’s roughly an hour to get there from Tsawassen. It’s so close that you have no reason not to go there for a visit. Heck, even a day trip!

While out on the Salish Sea I concluded that we should be leveraging this relationship that we’re building with BC Ferries in both of our favours and get some sort of a tour of the next ferry we get onto. Maybe we could even meet the captain! I decided to pursue something like that for our next story moments after coming across this key behind breakable glass and wondering what the heck was behind that locked door…

Sure, I walked around and snapped this photo from outside the …READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

As we make our way towards the end of 2011 I’m finding myself thinking back about all of the anniversaries and birthdays that took place and which we shared with you here on our blog over the past 12 months. BC Parks turning 100 years old, our city turning 125, MacLures Cabs turning 100, the Canucks turning 40, EXPO 86 and the 25 year lookback party that we threw at Science World in celebration, Rick Hansen’s 25th Anniversary Relay and CBC celebrating their 75th year as Canada’s public broadcaster.

Wow. That’s a lot of candles on a lot of cakes.

Also celebrating an anniversary in 2011 are the Pan Pacific Vancouver and Canada Place which were constructed in 1986 and opened for EXPO 86. To mark the end of this year I’m sharing with you this incredibly 80′s-feeling-and-looking-and-sounding documentary concerning the building of them.

Video sourced from Rishad Daroowala’s Room With a View blog.

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

There’s something about ice skating outdoors, isn’t there? I picked today’s Daily Flickr Pickr photo by sp_clark mainly because skating is something I love to do with my family, and because it’s a very very cool photo. Lots of awesomeness going on in it for sure. The bokeh, the depth of field, the colors, and the essence of a tried and true winter activity in Canada.
What makes this photo representative of why Vancouver Is Awesome? Because this photo was taken at an outdoor ice rink in the heart of Downtown Vancouver at Robson Square. Very cool. Very awesome.

Enjoy We Can Fly by sp_clark

John

Over the past couple of years a variety of totally awesome “then and now” photo projects focusing on Vancouver have been launched online. From Miss 604′s Vancouver History: Then and Now to the North Vancouver Museum’s Then and Now Digital Photo Contest to Entheos Fog’s Vancouver Then and Now blog and accompanying Flickr set, each riffs on the theme of showing archival photos next to present day imagery. There’s even been a book that shares the same name authored by Francis Mansbridge which we shared an excerpt of in the first volume of our print magazine.

On Boxing Day a new blog called Changing Vancouver launched and judging by the speed of delivery of a whopping 27 blog posts in 2 days it appears as though they’re sitting on a treasure trove of imagery. The blog is being run by local historians Andy Coupland and John Atkin so when you add that knowledge and passion to the mix you should know not to hesitate to bookmark it, like now!

…READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>