TheVancouverManifesto is on VoterMedia.org: Media for voters, funded by voters. This is a pretty recent invention aimed at democratizing media in a few ways (put the emphasis on the right syllAbles and you'll get it). By viewing a wider range of media (i.e. instead of reading the same newspapers that are all owned by CanWest, or the shit from the "free daily" that depressed middle-aged women hand off to you at the skytrain and UBC) the voter can make a more informed decision thereby electing better leaders and better public policy.
Do you want to get in shape and meet new singles at the same time? At Singles Bootcamp you get a chance to do that and a whole lot more. You will have the opportunity to take part in a one month Bootcamp that includes fitness and health assessments, interactive exercises, daily health tips, and one hell of a butt kicking!
Over a one month period you will participate in two sessions a week. The Bootcamp begins with a fitness assessment so that everyone has a starting point and is able to measure their improvement at the end.
The pre and post assessment consist of:
• A weigh-in and body fat assessment
• A cardiovascular endurance test
• A muscular endurance test
• A core stability test
Throughout the sessions your group will participate in interactive exercises. The exercises will range in difficulty to accommodate all participants at any fitness level. Every session will start with a warm up, then a cardio portion, followed by strength and core exercises. All flexibility segments will then follow in which you will be given stretching exercises to complete as your body cools down. Each class will finish with a post-workout snack and socializing.
It's been one of those days where you begin with one link and before you know it you've followed a link-trail that brings you into a fascinating world that is completely different from where you started and entirely foreign to anything you began thinking about. You tube is amazing, by the way.
The video is kind of creepy and oddly.. attractive. You can't really stop looking.
So I went to his website and it has some pretty witty commentary
I THEN found out that, although it was a completely independent idea, there were a bunch of people doing this, namely JK Keller who has been doing this since he was 22 years old and, up to date, has taken a picture of himself everyday for about 10 years. You can watch his video on his website. Keller's video is different, and he lines up his eyes as a focal point. It's easier to watch than the Simpson's parody and Kalina's because you are always focussing on his eyes, but it's less poetic, perhaps due to the music.
For one of my day-job projects, I am rallying together a rag-tag team of social media makers to create a tasty batch of social media at the EPIC Sustainabile Living Expo next weekend. Bloggers, podcasters, photographers, and vid-makers are all invited to participate in making compelling content while hanging out with an eclectic variety of citizen journalists at a really entertaining event at Canada Place.
See below for the relevant details including how to get in touch.
In 2007 Guillermo Vargas (aka Habacuc) illegedly starved a dog to death in the name of art. He found a sickly dog on the streets of Managua, Nicaragua and tied it to a short leash in the corner of a gallery. Across the room was a kettle of food, left inaccessible. The dog slowly died of hunger and thirst. Vargas is going to represent Costa Rica in the Bienal Cenroamericana Honduras 2008. There is currently a petition.
You can watch the starving dog, anti-Vargas, video in Spanish (notice the title of the work is “eres lo que lees” which means “you are what you read” is spelled out in dog food). One picture in the video also shows a full gallery of people who pay no attention to the starving dog (I don’t know if that was a staged photo).
Vancouver has transformed itself dramatically ever since the 1991 Central Area Plan that aimed at revitalizing Vancouver’s downtown core. During the unexpected 80s recession, Vancouver planners decided that it was going to be people that reinvigorated Vancouver streets to revive business. In 2008 it is obvious the “Living First” strategy has worked. Starting with Concord Pacific development, luxury condominiums now spread like wildfire along Vancouver’s downtown streets. The sounds of construction are unavoidable as you walk down newly landscaped streets that are waiting for the designer billboards into reality.
But just because you build it does it mean they will come? In short, yes. Vancouver is too spectacularly beautiful to not have people vying for her land. The single most obvious indicator that these luxurious shells of condomoniums are also luxurious on the inside is the sudden proliferation of furniture stores like Yaletown Sofa. I’ve been seeing these types of stores spring up everywhere downtown. Half a dozen of these luxury furnishing stores sit in or surround the downtown.
Students for a Democratic Society, UBC Chapter, (SDS) is “open collective of students inspired by the movement from the U.S. of the 60s/70s, Students For a Democratic Society.”
Their campaigns include freeing public space, Aboriginal rights, housing affordability and the democratization of UBC governance. Most recently, they staged opposition in front of the Main Street Vancouver Police Department against holding the 20 people who were arrested at the Grassy Knoll protest (Trek Park; “KnollAid”). They also organize (although I didn’t realize it until looking at their site just now) an awesome series of political films called “Cinema Politica” (a free film series that goes on in a lot of cities at major universities). TheVancouverManifesto is a personal fan of the Cinema Politica series.
On April 4th a protest was held at the grassy knoll at UBC. The grassy knoll is undergoing redevelopment; the plan for Trek Park (affectionately called the grassy knoll) is a new transit loop that would effectively level and remove the grassy hill UBC students love to sit upon on the rare sunny day.
The protest started with live bands and good times. A bon fire was then lit in the centre concrete area and the brigade was called to hose it down. Protesters were quite fond of the festive fire and attempted to step on the hose to stop the extinguishing of potentially a symbol of the firey spirit that is Grassy Knoll protest.
One woman, who was stepping on the hose, who news is calling “Stef” was arrested:
"(the woman) was grabbed by an RCMP officer and thrown to the ground, pinned, and handcuffed. Her face was literally shoved in a puddle of mud while an RCMP officer sat on top of her," the release said, describing it as an "uncalled act of police aggression."
A small army of 25 students that grew to a whopping 35 created a human chain around the police car that detained the rabble-rouser “Stef”. 19 more students were arrested.
There is a pretty thorough play-by-play at the UBC Insider with links to videos and all that jazz.
