| Northern Voice 2010 takeaways |
Notes from day 1 of the 2010 Northern Voice personal media conference...
Bryan Alexander reminds us inject a sense of mystery into our (digital) lives.
How do you Find Your Voice?
Monica Hamburg says "Write, write and keep on writing. Don't be afraid to suck."
Dave Olson says "Take Risks and Hone your Craft with practice. Your voice comes out of your personal experiences."
The Cunting Linguist said "Write for yourself. Create excellent content. Be yourself online and don't pull your punches."
Taylor Loren ended the day with a hilarious take on relationships in the digital age. She had artistic slideshow technique, and maybe works with my cousin.
PS: Lunch chatting with the creator of Get out of Canada!
PPS: A friend of mine recently started a new blog about food and environment issues in Vancouver. I have been quite enjoying it, so check out: None too strong. |
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| Vancouver Critical Mass Bike Ride |
Critical Mass is a fun bike ride that lets everyone cycle parts of the city that are normally overrun with cars. Costumes are encouraged in our monthly bike parade!
Vancouver details:
Meet at the North end of the Art Gallery.
On the last Friday of every month.
Announcements at 6 PM, we ride at 6:15.
Critical Mass uses ad hoc organization through the ride. Every cyclists looks out for each other. It's important for safety that all the bicyclists stay together in one large group. Safety in numbers.
Stop and "cork" open intersections to cars. This is a very rewarding experience and a good opportunity to see the beautiful parade go by. After corking you'll be at the back of the ride, and can play the peloton game of racing to the front.
People at the front need to choose the route in real-time and shouldn't get too far ahead. The group will stop after the top of bridges or big hills and let everyone catch up. If the mass is big it should stay on larger streets so we have more lanes and can ride together.
Critical Mass is many things to its many participants. Partly it is a non-violent protest for bicycle rights. A gathering for the thousands of cyclists in the city. We deserve more of the road and Critical Mass is our proof. These are our streets and we want to ride our bikes on them.
First and foremost it is a celebration of Vancouver and bicycling! Everyone is welcome to ride. Have fun and be nice to people along the parade route!
More...
Join the Velolove Announcement mailing list to get reminders about Critical Mass!
Join the Velolove Discussion list to talk with other local cyclists.
Check the CycleMass Vancouver Blog for more local cycling events. |
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| Northern Voice 2008 recap |
The 2008 Northern Voice social media conference was a blast!
I led a session during the unconference day titled TransitCamp and Open Source Government. It was my first time presenting such a thing, and definitely a learning experience:
- good idea to ask audience how much they know about the topic at the start
- plan for at least 10 minutes of questions (probably more at unconferences)
- work on being a calm and collected speaker
An outcome of my session was this Open Letter regarding Open Access to BC Government data.
Matt Mullenweg was an excellent keynote speaker. However, I must call bullshit on his suggestion that police can make any meaningful difference containing spam in open systems.
Fuck Stats, Make Art was a very entertaining session from DaveO.
CBC is experimenting with crowd-sourcing Citizen Journalism, at least in Vancouver. I am planning to send them some story pitches, and you can too. This could be an awesome opportunity to open up our media. Hopefully I'll write more about this in the future.
Building a Better Conference Badge is a good read for all organizers. The NV nametags definitely need a redesign. Space for user-tagging is a good idea, but you need to tell people to do it when you give them out.
Finally, some random link love: Bokashi - Hassle-free composting
Thinking Cap - Internet Marketing
Hop Studios - Internet Consulting - has done government access to information requests
Anita Webster - Vancouver PR
353 Haiku Movie Review
How to save the world .ca
Green politics .ca |
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| Vancouver Santas |
Santa came early this year in Vancouver. And he came in great numbers.
See more bizarre holiday fun in my Vancouver Santas photoset.
I'm not supposed to tell you that Santa has a Santacon website.
My advice to Santas for next year:
- If you show up at the first meeting point, do it 45 minutes later then advertised.
- Show up at the dinner-time meeting point if you're a night-time Santa.
- Pace yourself. In between giving out gifts, Santa mostly barcrawls.
- Plan to party with Santa all day and/or all night. It's a lot of fun.
- Bring some of your favorite Christmas spirits with you.
- Don't be Santa on an empty stomach.
- Bring your friends. The more the merrier. |
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| Luxtoberfest 2007 |
Luxtoberfest is a series of tournaments and awards for my Risk inspired computer game Lux.
There are lots of maps (RSS) and people in the running for the Lux Awards. You have 1 month to send in your votes... |
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| Vancouver |
It's been raining in Vancouver, and colder then it was in the East. I feel it's fitting to complete the blog trifecta with a post for Lotusland. There's lots going on.
Friday is the Critical Mass Bike Ride. Saturday hosts a Granville Island Feedback Open Forum and a Hello Al [Gore], Goodbye Gateway Rally (I think this might be big). Sunday has the Plenty Harvest Festival, The Word On The Street Book & Magazine Festival, and Portobello West Fashion & Art Market. The large Vancouver International Film Festival is ongoing.
Festivals and participaction rock, but changing seasons are in the air. I'm gearing back into work, preparing for the fast approaching Luxtoberfest. |
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| 2007 Vancouver fringe festival picks |
Here are ratings for the shows I've seen in the 2007 Vancouver fringe fest.
★★★★★ Flamenco Con Fusion - Fantastic flamenco guitar, rhythms and dancing.
★★★★★ The Absurdyssey - Magical outdoor circus and story (dress warm).
★★★★ Cody Rivers Show - Action-packed sketch comedy.
★★★★ Napolean's Secret Diary - One man comedy show with a French historic flair.
★★★★ Die Roten Punkte - German heavy metal musical farce.
★★★★ Scratch - Good improv combo. I love the soundtrack addition.
★★★★ Uber Alice - A scatterbrained comedy.
★★★★ It's Good to Know People @ The Fringe Club
★★★ Kenny's Fried Chicken - Embellished musical biopic of Kenny Rogers.
★★★ LOUNGE-ZILLA - Ridiculous gay cabaret.
★★★ The Fugue Code - Classical music thriller about secret societies.
★★★ Fluffy 10th Street - A dirty puppet short.
★★ Daniel Packard's Live Group Sex Therapy - His parents didn't love him.
There are a ton of good shows in 2007's crop. The festival goes till the 16th so you still have time to go see some great flamenco or comedy.
The fringe website sucks and they charge for the programs (double suck). Use this PDF schedule and Venue Map. |
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| photos from the fringe |
I've posted a bunch of my Vancouver fringe festival photos. |
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| Day 2 fringe festival report |
I highly recommend you see The Absurdyssey at the Vancouver fringe festival, being put on by Green Leaf Circus. An outdoor theater sets a magical atmosphere for this story. It's getting cold at night so dress warm or cuddle up.
The comments on my last post have really heated up. Hair-Beard-Combo posted his early picks and the Infringement people are taking issue.
Alex Eddington is blogging about traveling the Canadian fringe circuit for his show The Fugue Code.
A Culture Vulture in Lotus Land looks to be blogging the fringe also.
Suzan Marczak was an awesome volunteer and her artwork is fantastic. |
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| Fringe Festival and Infringement |
 The Vancouver Fringe Festival opens today! The fringe is dedicated to showcasing independent and experimental theater performances that you probably wouldn't have a chance to see otherwise. It's been voted Vancouver's Best Arts Festival five years in a row by Georgia Straight readers!
CBC covers some controversy some artists are raising, which isn't a new thing for fringe festivals. Canada has the dubious distinction of being the birthplace of the reactionary (and moronic) Infringement Festival.
I looked around to see if I could find some dedicated fringe bloggers, but couldn't find anybody unfortunately (I'll keep looking). Without Annette has been blogging the Montreal Fringe for the past few years, and it's definitely gained them increased notoriety on the circuit there.
Lucky timing, an inside connection, and a last-minute drop-out combined to make me a part-time venue captain at Performance Works! So I may be able to spread some insider buzz...
UPDATE: I posted my 2007 Vancouver fringe festival picks. |
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| Vancouver Zombies |
Almost 1000 zombies rose from their graves to walk around Vancouver in search of tasty braaaaaaiiiins on Saturday. The most attractive targets were sightseeing buses, city buses, people who were smiling/laughing, and people in cars without a sense of humor (tee hee).
We did a circuit from the art gallery, past the fancy shops on Robson, over on Denman, through the heart of gaytown along Davie, past the club strip on Granville, through Sears, and back to the art gallery. It was wild!
I've published my Vancouver zombie walk photos. Some of my favorites are motorcycle zombies, zombie in a car (with pet dog), lurching through Sears, and the group shot included above. As usual, there's lots more interesting ones on flickr. |
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| Shambhala 2007 |
I went to the Shambhala Music Festival last week and it blew my mind. The setting, the vibe, the people, the costumes, the art, the river, the DJs, the music, and the dancing. Oh, the sweet endless dancing. If you like to dance you need to come to Shambhala. I plan to go back next year and every year.
Props to Adam Freeland, Bassbin Twins, Mat The Alien, Vinyl Ritchie, Timothy Wisdom and multiple other unknown DJs that I grooved to for their outstanding beats. Cheers to everyone who I hung out with.
My Shambhala photos are only a small taste of what was in the air. There's lots more in this flickr search for 2007 photos. |
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| Fire at night |
Illuminares is another funky event that happens yearly in East Van. All kinds of different lights come out to decorate the night around Trout Lake. I put up a photo set and there are lots more amazing shots on flickr. |
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| Car Free Commercial Drive Festival Photos |
I volunteered at the Car Free Commercial Drive Festival on Sunday. I played a donations fool, wandering around acting crazy and asking people for money. Boris grabbed a nice shot of me in my freaked out costume, although it doesn't do the giant feather in my hat justice.
I posted a set of 118 photos from the day. Some of my favorites are these 3 weirdos, the BC Clettes, a hula kid, inside the donation bucket, a hockey kid, Velociraptor stilts, masks, an able-armed man, and the crowd shot that starts this post.
There's a second Commercial Drive Festival happening this year on July 22nd. I'll definitely be there again. |
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| Memory Lux - RISK Variant |
Tonight's Luxtoberfest contest was Memory Lux. This is a game variant where every player has the same color. You have to click around at the beginning to find out what you own, and you can only kill somebody if you know where all their countries are. It makes for a pretty hilarious game.
Here's a screenshot from Memory Lux in action:
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