Archive for: 2010
Culture Crawl 2010: Why Art?
Yes, it’s that time of year again. On Saturday I went a-crawling, deciding to roam around Strathcona again. There are still many studios I haven’t seen yet, way out past Clark and near the Waterfront, but I enjoyed Strathcona so much! the pretty heritage houses, the rich history, the feel of community similar to what I feel in the queer West End, though with a different flavour, of course.
Parade of Lost Souls 2010: Ghosts, Fears and Magic
I’ve got to admit, my attendance at the Parade of Lost Souls has been pretty spotty. I’ve only gone a handful of times since I moved to Vancouver, and I didn’t even know it had been canceled last year. I went this year, though. Because it’s a wonderful tradition that’s worth following, and because Public Dreams needs the support.
SkeptiCamp 2010 II
On October 23rd, 2010, several dozen skeptics descended on UBC for the second SkeptiCamp of 2010: a full day of science, education, questioning assumptions, and rap. Good times.
How to Identify Pseudoscience, Quackery, and Fraud with Dr. Harriet Hall
Okay, it’s been almost two weeks, and I’ve kept putting off blogging about this event. Partly because I’ve been extremely busy, with a new full-time job and working on my freelance career, and partly because, well, I didn’t learn anything earth-shattering. Dr. Hall’s talk at Langara College about the ins and outs of pseudoscience, what it is, how to identify it, and why people believe in it, covered a lot of ground already well-visited by people like Michael Shermer. Still, there were some good tidbits. In point-form, then:
A whole lotta sunsets
Well, just two for now. This week I started working full-time again— a short contract, which suits me right now. But it gave me the chance to take some lovely shots of the commute to and from North Van. Plus, just tonight, as I came home I saw False Creek swathed in a lovely fog, so I got right on Burrard Bridge to take a few shots. Turns out I wasn’t the only one, seems like every photographer in the area had the same idea!
Vancouver International Film Festival Review: The 4th Revolution: Energy Autonomy
The 4th Revolution is a showcase of the future: the technologies, the vision, and the visionaries that will take us away from a reliance on fossil fuels, and towards clean renewable energy for everyone.
Vancouver International Film Festival Review: Insomnia
More Canadian shorts, but these are more focused on art and the artist’s life.
Vancouver International Film Festival Review: Amnesia
Some fine, fine Canadiana on display in this collection of short films! Touching, funny, or just creepy, but most of all, very bilingual! I’m not exactly sure what amnesia has to do with Canada, and I didn’t see any particular theme amongst the films… But anyway, on to the reviews!
Vancouver International Film Festival Review: Palimpsest
Gustav Shpet: Russian philosopher, teacher, writer, polyglot and interpreter; born in Kiev in 1879; exiled to Tomsk, Siberia in 1935; executed in 1937.
This movie is mostly narrated by Shpet’s 92-year old daughter Marina in a series of informal interviews, intercut with contemporaneous film reels, photos and music, as well as Shpet’s letters to Marina during his exile.
Vancouver International Film Festival Review: The Eye 3D
This hour-long film takes us on a tour of the Very Large Telescope array in Cerro Paranal, Chile—the most powerful deep-space telescope in the world. We hear the scientists and technicians describe their work and discoveries, and through them get a tantalising glimpse of the cosmos.
High School Confidential
The Out on Screen Society does a lot more than put out quality queer cinema. They also run Out in Schools, a program to put queer films in schools all across the province, to facilitate discussion and fight homophobia and bullying. The news have been full of stories of gay teens committing suicide due to bullying—and don’t think it doesn’t happen in Canada. That’s why Out in Schools is such a vital program, because it may be the difference between life and death for some students.
Skeptivism: Van Praagh at the River Rock Casino
Last Saturday a handful of skeptics from CFI Vancouver went down to the River Rock Casino to protest their showcasing James Van Praagh, one of the big-name cold-reading vultures preying on people’s fears and grief, by pretending to hear from dead people.
Vancouver International Fringe Festival
I don’t think I’d ever gone to a Fringe show before, and this year I went to two! It should have been three, but I’d double-booked myself on Friday and missed Morgan Brayton’s Raccoonery. I thought about rescheduling (which would have meant buying another ticket, since Fringe policy clearly states there are no refunds or exchanges), but I’d just come down with a cold, so that plan was kaput. Still, I got to enjoy two really excellent shows:
Lighthouse Park
A few photos I took the other day in Lighthouse Park, West Vancouver.
Davie Day 2010
Ah, the Davie Day festival, the time when local businesses and community groups come out to shine. In the last five years my attendance has been pretty sporadic—last year, for instance, I just remember briefly going up and down Davie Street, saying hi to a few friends, and that was it. But this year, I thought I’d be a little more involved. That meant pictures!
PNE 2010: Rain, Candy, Pigs and Quacks
We got in right under the buzzer. Some friends and I made our annual pilgrimage to the PNE on September 6th, the very last day. It was cold and showery, but I didn’t let that bother me. There was fun to be had!
NetSquared Camp 2010
Okay, now that the film festival’s done, I’m finally free to blog about NetSquared Camp 2010, an unconference of activists, technologists, entrepreneurs, and assorted geeks who want to make the world a better place, in a full-day extravaganza of sharing and networking. It was my first NetSquared Camp ever, and I’m still digesting everything I’ve learned. Here’s a rundown of the talks I attended:
Zombies!
A few photos of the Zombie Walk last Saturday. Enjoy!
Vancouver Queer Film Festival: Final Thoughts
Wow, what a trip it’s been. Going to so many screenings and then blogging about them will really take it out of you, but it was so worth it! I’ve seen some truly excellent movies this year, along with some… not so excellent ones. Well, they can’t all be winners, right?
Vancouver Queer Film Festival Review: The Fish Child / El Niño Pez
This is the story of Lala, the teenaged daughter of a rich Buenos Aires judge, and her lover Ailin, a maid in her family’s house. The pair plans to to run away together to Ailin’s family home in Paraguay near Lago Ypoa, but when Lala’s father is murdered under mysterious circumstances, Ailin takes the blame to protect her lover. What will happen to them now? Can they escape the law and live out their dreams?
