Eco News

Greenpeace is still working tirelessly to bring some sense to Canada's tar sands - never thought I would see such devastation of Canada's environment and reputation as the tar sands.
Meanwhile, French protest groups are gearing up to try to stop a large installation of wind turbines near Mont-St-Michel - only in France would such a protest against clean energy be so vocal.

No Logo

Image by Gauravonomics via Flickr

Woah - been a while since my last post. I started school in September and am just now reaching some sort of equilibrium with sleep. Have even found some time to read my favourite shit-disturber du jour Naomi Klein. If you haven't checked her out, do so now. A few interesting points from No Logo (her first book, and not her best):

- after a 2+ year libel trial in the UK, a judge ruled that McDonald's is 'culpably responsible' for cruelty to animals, they are 'antipathetic' toward unionization efforts, and that their workers suffer in terms of low pay and bad conditions. Best of all, the judge ruled Ronald McDonald et al 'exploit children' with their ads, which are misleading. While nice to see that someone has the sense to call things like they are, it might've been nice had McDonald's been the ones on trial, rather than two citizen activists sued by the Golden Arches company for libel.

Naked Hitler In AIDS Awareness Ads

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/posted/archive/2009/09/04/aids-ads-featuring-hitler-sending-the-wrong-message.aspx

Bring Your Own Coconut

Yeah it's definitely beautiful out here in Vancouver - definitely worth a trip or two if you can swing it. Trains are nicer for that kind of thing (where the act of getting there is as important as the destination ... think kodak moment) although a bit more expensive.
I've been dying to go to the Science World that is maybe 25 min from my friend Wren's place, right at the edge of downtown (right by the Pacific too).
A few days ago we went to English Bay (a beach downtown - yes, downtown!) and chilled on the beach with one of her uber cute friends, while I drank wine from a salsa jar - I felt like a movie star.
right now i am nicely toasted - just got back from a BYOC (bring your own coconut) party. was actually kinda awesome, wasn't sure I would enjoy myself, but turned out awesome, topped off by the walk home to Wren's with 5 or 6 other people, all stumbling (thankfully downhill) 40 blocks while drinking rum and lime juice out of coconuts with smeared lip-gloss faces.
Culminated in a visit to the park where we were the victims of a drive-by by cops. They were pulling some crazy intimidation techniques in order to detect terrorists who could potentially pose a threat to the Olympics (I have quickly come to learn that this basically means all locals not involved with the service industry, Natives or Aboriginals of any nation, and youth in general). The cops pulled through the middle of the park, drove right beside where we were standing, playing with a neighbour's dog, then sloooooooowly cruised by, staring us down and daring us with their eyes to twitch the wrong way the whole time. Ridiculous.

[with modification, from a note to a friend]

Playing Dress Up

Before I forget, just wanted to mention the trend that I've noticed is sweeping the city - t-shirts printed with graphics to make them look like they are a suit and tie. Weirdness.

Lost in the City

Image via Wikipedia

So I went with the friend I am staying with in Vancouver downtown so she could run some errands. She dropped me off at the library so I could do a bit of nErdy stuff (update my blog, check my email, hopefully find a new book or two to devour while I am here). On the way in we passed by some awesome grafiti (pics to follow). Then she dropped me off and said "meet you here in an hour and a half" and vanished into the throngs. 20 seconds later I realized the library, part of Simon Fraser University, was closed for a summer break. So now here I was, completely lost in a strange city, with no where to go and nothing to do for an hour - surely I couldn't get into much trouble, could I?

After getting forcibly removed from the hallway outside the library (where I had planned to camp out with my laptop) by campus security ("But I'm from Ontario," I insisted. "Do you want me to get my taser out?" he responded.), I began hoofing it about, trying to look like I belonged. After nearly getting hit by a car (the driver's fault), and stumbling into a drugged-out crazy pregnant woman (definitely my fault), I decided the best thing to do would be to find somewhere to sit down where I wouldn't be in danger of a) getting shanked b) accidentally shanking someone.

[By the way, the pic on the right is purpotedly of McFog (!!!!!????), the mascot of SFU. Awesome.]

More to come.

Vancouver Hell Cats

Have been in beautiful BC (I'd call it La belle province if that wasn't already taken) for the past few days now with my oldest, bestest friend Wren (see: photo). Settling in nicely (minus the fact that last night we were rudely awakened at 4AM by full bottles of wine (one opened but full of water) crashing down around our heads like bombs. They were being thrown from above by her cute but evil kitties Mogs and Minx, who managed to look completely uninterested by the watery carnage they had inflicted upon us from above.
More to come.