Women’s ski jump is not an Olympic sport? (Things I hated in 2008)

Originally published on Dec 29, 2008 @ 21:10. Reposted in light of the recent court decision.

Women’s ski jump isn’t an Olympic sport, so forget about cheering the gals on in 2010.

But wait! I (and every other Canadian taxpayer) helped pay for the damn ski jump venue at Whistler. Who says they can’t jump? The International Olympic Committee, that’s who. Apparently, ski jumping is the only sport at the winter Olympics that doesn’t allow females to compete.

The IOC keeps insisting there just aren’t enough qualified female ski jumpers around the world to justify adding the sport to the winter roster – contrary to the wishes of the Canadian Olympic committee and the International Ski Federation.

According to news stories back in February of ‘08, IOC president Jacques Rogge said it’s not discrimination. Rather, with just 80 women jumpers in the world, allowing them to participate in 2010 would “dilute” and “water down” the value of Olympic medals.

Hmmm. By that same token – only 80 world-class athletes in a particular sport – one wonders about the case for winter Olympics as a whole.

After all, how many countries participate in the winter Olympic games vs. the summer Olympics?

Let’s consult Google. Turns out this August, Beijing hosted more than 11,000 athletes representing 204 countries – from Brunei and Papua New Guinea to Tuvalu, Tonga and Trinidad and Tobago. Two hundred and four countries – that’s higher than the number of sovereign states with membership in the United Nations (193).

Beijing competitors took part in 28 sports, and 302 individual events. Kind of a big dealie-o.

How do the winter games compare? If size matters at all to you, hope you’re sitting down: in February 2006, Torino, Italy, hosted a mere 2,500 athletes from just 85 countries. They competed in seven sports for a total of 84 events. There’s more going on at a seniors’ games tourney!

Twilight fans stake out Surrey film set

I know where Bella Swan’s house is.

Bella Swan's house, the set

The Twilight movie set, built for the second and third installments of the popular teen vampire series, lies on an unassuming residential street somewhere in a rural Surrey neighbourhood.

Film crews, and possibly the film’s biggest, gorgeous stars, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, were there last week.

Not that any fans found out.

They were kept well away from filming by the production’s seasoned security crews, who closed off the street a safe distance from the action.

Even the kids at nearby East Kensington Elementary in Cloverdale were put out. Their route for the school’s annual Terry Fox Run had to be changed at the behest of the movie crew.

The wild horses of Oliver

Take a drive up the eastern bench above the Southern Okanagan wine Mecca of Oliver, B.C., and you’re sure to spot some wild horses among the sagebrush and arid, sloping hillsides.

You’re not seeing things. Turns out there have been free roaming horses in the Oliver area for a long, long time. On a recent drive through the area on a scorching hot summer’s afternoon in late August, we spotted a small band of horses by the side of the Mount Baldy access road.

It was a thin but healthy mare, two yearlings and a muscular, wary stallion, who each continued to graze by the side of the road when we slowed down to take some photos.

Entranced by their wild beauty, we slowly got out of the car, and walked as close as we dared.

What happened to WTVS-Detroit?

Something terrible happened to channel 43 this summer.

Sometime, when I wasn’t paying attention, my tied-for-favourite PBS channel, WTVS-Detroit, vanished from my Shaw Cable lineup. And in its place was some cruddy kiddy TV station showing idiotic baby-oriented cartoons with primary colours, shrieking voices, and loud, clunky soundtracks.

It took me a few weeks to realize what had happened. I’d been tuning in during the day, and somehow mistook Treehouse, a toddler-centric station geared to the very, very young, for the regular morning children’s programming on PBS.

Normally, I figure stuff like this out right away. I was pretty distracted. July heatwave, anyone? But a few nights ago, as I was flipping around the dial, I landed on channel 43 – proud home, I thought, to PBS.

Something was amiss. There was no Frontline or Nova, Masterpiece or Mystery. A clue lay stamped on the screen in the lower right hand corner: the distinctive logo of the Treehouse channel. What the hey?

R.I.P. John Hughes, sincerely, The Breakfast Club

I blinked – hard – when I read the subject line in my email: John Hughes is dead.

“Stay tuned for multiple repeats of The Breakfast Club,” my main squeeze wrote. When someone you love dies, someone who loves you should be the one to break the news.

And I loved John Hughes.

Reporters in peril: A tale of two kidnappings

It’s a story-book ending for former detainees Laura Ling and Euna Lee, two American journalists who’ve spent more than four months imprisoned in North Korea, after they were arrested under suspicious circumstances.

Yesterday, after an unannounced meeting in Pyongyang between former U.S. president Bill Clinton and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, the two women were pardoned and freed. They had been sentenced to 12 years hard labour for illegally entering the country.

For family, friends and supporters of a Canadian woman held captive in Somalia for the past year, today’s news headlines and footage of the two jubilant women returning to the States must have provided a painful contrast indeed.

On Aug. 23, 2008 freelance journalist Amanda Lindhout – along with Australian photographer Nigel Brennan and others – was grabbed near Mogadishu and held for ransom.

Her captors, rebels caught up in the northeast African country’s long-standing civil war, initially demanded a ransom of $2.5 million for her safe release, although the sum is reportedly much lower now.

Held in isolation at undisclosed locations over the past year, her mental and physical health is deteriorating, and she fears for her life.

“I don’t want to die here and I’m afraid I’ll die in captivity if I don’t get help soon,”

Hollywood North…West?

A scene from Never Cry Wolf

From Eight Below, the true-life tale of an abandoned pack of Huskies who survive an Antarctic winter alone to horror/Sci Fi classic, The Thing, the wilds of northwest British Columbia have formed the backdrop to a surprising number of “Hollywood” movies.

If you’re old enough, maybe you remember 1982’s The Thing, an icy little nightmare directed by horror master John Carpenter and starring Kurt Russell, a shaggy-haired, blue-eyed ’70s everyman who battles a terrifying threat from beyond. Set in a remote, Antarctic outpost, it’s considered by purists to be Carpenter’s best film. It’s certainly one of the most successful modern-day remakes, in my book.

It mines a fear of emptiness and the dread of the unknown – all while riffing on the predictable plot lines of an “and-then-there-were-none” type thriller.

It may have been set in the Antarctic, but look closely at the snowflake-laden, windswept wasteland, and you might recognize the wintry environs surrounding a little-known corner of British Columbia – the town of Stewart, B.C., a historic mining outpost

Stuff to do: Sea-to-Sky/Whistler

Also see Part I of Stuff To Do: Vancouver’s North Shore

HIGHWAY 99
Porteau Cove Provincial Park, Hwy 99, south of Britannia Beach. Picturesque spot on Howe Sound. Features a popular camping and Scuba dive site.

BRITANNIA BEACH
Worth a tour is the B.C. Museum of Mining at Britannia Beach. Go underground in a real mine tunnel and later try your hand at gold panning. Open seven days a week March 14 to Nov. 1, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and from Monday to Friday (9-4:30) during the winter. Rates are $18.50 for adults, $13.95 for seniors and students, $11.95 for youth. Five and under is free. Family rate is $55.

NEAR SQUAMISH
Another picnic spot is Shannon Falls Provincial Park, Highway 99, just south of Squamish. Falls are 335 metres high. Stretch your legs on one of the pathways leading past the falls.

The easy, low-elevation hike through the forest to Cheakamus Lake is another stop en route to Whistler. Turn right onto the access road at Function Junction (just before Whistler), then take a gravel road to the left, and continue for seven kms to the parking lot and trailhead. It’s a three-km hike to the first campsite. Along the way, there’s a footbridge across the creek for those headed to Black Tusk. The Cheakamus Lake trail continues on from the first campsite for several more kms to another campsite at Singing Creek. The lake is a deep turquoise colour, thanks to glacial run-off.

WHISTLER
Interested in the First Nations that have traditionally maintained a presence in the Whistler area for thousands of years? Visit the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre, at 4584 Blackcomb Way.  This gorgeous new facility – it’s a jewel in Whistler’s pre-2010 crown – is an absolute hub

Stuff to do: Vancouver’s North Shore

When you live in the “Best Place on Earth” (cough, cough), you’re surrounded by so many choices, in so many directions, it can be hard to think of something good to do.

It seems you can never think of anything much beyond the totally obvious choices – walk the Stanley Park Seawall? Go to Chinatown? Hit the beach? Go for a hike? Grab a coffee? See a movie? Yawn.

Add in the prospect of a headache-inducing drive or transit-ride through near-24-7 traffic congestion, and stiff parking fees and other hassles once you get there, and it’s no wonder most of us end up sticking close to home.

A list of ideas can help.

Here’s the start of one I cobbled together last month, on the eve of an impending visit from an out-of-town guest. Activities are arranged by region/geographic area, so you could conceivably hit several in one spot on the same day – theoretically, at least. More ideas and places to follow!

WEST VAN
Explore Lighthouse Park, at Point Atkinson. The park is home to old growth trees and a network of steep, wooded trails that lead through the forest and to the rocky, cliff-laden coastline. The point was named by Captain George Vancouver in 1792. Located off Marine Drive via Beacon Lane just before Eagle Harbour.

Swim or picnic at Sandy Cove. Located at 3906 Marine Drive. Park along Marine Drive. Access is via a steep trail to the water’s edge. This is one of West Van’s best kept local secrets.

Hike at Cypress Mountain. There are plenty of different hikes of various trails here. A favourite is the Four Lakes Loop to First Lake, West Lake, Blue Gentian and Lost Lake. 7.2 km. Start at the nordic ski area parking lot, which is at a slightly lower elevation than the downhill ski area parking lot. It’s fun to explore the cabins, too, and they’re just a short walk from the car.

West Vancouver’s Seawall is the prettiest walk in Metro Vancouver. A wide, paved pathway connects Ambleside with Dundarave. A pedestrian pathway at the edge of the water. It’s the place to see and be seen. Look closely at that woman in sunglasses who’s pushing a stroller. She might be one of West Van’s many famous faces hiding in plain sight.

Bargain City: the Michael Jackson edition

Someone has already bid $100 for the vinyl record of Michael Jackon's Thriller at the Whistler Re-Use It Centre.

The vinyl record is dead, you say?

Not exactly.

Consider the price currently offered at Whistler’s amazing second-hand store for the recently deceased Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

Someone has already bid $100 for a copy of the late King of Pop’s multi Platinum-selling (28x) 1982 album at the Re-Use It Centre.

That bid bested the original – and only other – offer of $20 in the ongoing silent auction for the pop icon’s record, suggesting the price could go way up from there.

In case you were wondering, the current going rate for old vinyl records at most local thrift shops is anywhere from four for $1 to $1 a disk, depending on where you go. If you hit a proper music store, those funky, second-hand disks are going to run you a heck of a lot more: anywhere from $5 to $15 or $20, depending on the title and the condition of the record.

If you’re looking for bargain records, thrift stores are the way to go.

Movie magic to light up White Rock this summer

Set your DeLorean to Nov. 5, 1955, and power up your flux capacitor with 1.21 gigawatts because White Rock is heading Back to the Future!

The 1985 comic blockbuster, starring Burnaby’s own Michael J. Fox as time traveling, electric guitar-wielding skateboard enthusiast Marty McFly, is one of four family-friendly films lighting up a giant movie screen in White Rock this summer as part of the Prospera Great Outdoors Film Festival.

Up soars!

After a lengthy lead-up, the 2009 line-up has – finally – been announced, allowing local movie lovers to plan their summer accordingly.

The free summer series is presented on a gigantic, three storey-high movie screen set up at various outdoor locations around town.

Along with the ’80s time-travel comedy classic, Back to the Future, the festival will bring two of the year’s biggest animated films to White Rock, Pixar’s imaginative, heart-rending Up, and Monsters vs Aliens, DreamWorks’ somewhat gimmicky but action-packed sci-fi spoof about a monster-woman caught up in a desperate bid to save planet Earth from invading space robots.

‘People go crazy’ for local strawberries

Luscious local strawberries are here.

B.C.’s annual home-grown strawberry harvest is the best, brightest sign that summer in the Lower Mainland has finally arrived.

Deep, ruby red and bursting with an intense flavour, B.C.’s melt-in-your-mouth strawberry varieties are allowed to ripen on the vine so they ripen from the inside out – unlike the pulpy, tasteless Californian imports lining supermarket shelves all year.

The extra growing time gives them the superb fruit flavour and consistency they’re famous for (but makes it impossible to ship them very far). B.C. strawberry varieties are not everbearing, meaning there’s just one crop a year.

The short season – typically just three to four weeks from mid June to mid-July – means you’ve got to act fast.

The berries are hand-picked in the fields daily and immediately sold in flats that fly off the shelves of local fruit stands.

Early one recent weekday morning, Surrey Farm’s fruit stand on 152nd and Colebrook Rd. was already bustling with customers eagerly carrying sticky, fruit-laden flats of fresh strawberries to the till.

Surrey Farms sells as many as 10,000 pounds of fresh strawberries a day during the brief, frantic season, making them the family-owned operation’s number-one berry crop in terms of sales.

Save the trees, crack a cold beer

Raise a toast to the Mountain Pine Beetle – scourge of B.C.’s forests – by settling into the cheapest six-pack in the province. Turns out the nasty little critters are good for something.

Cariboo Genuine Draft

A brewing company in northern B.C. has taken a cue from that old beverage adage, If Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade. But instead of lemons, the Pacific Western Brewing Company has taken inspiration from the devastation of the Mountain Pine Beetle in the launch of its latest beer.

The voracious pest has chomped and chewed its way through millions of hectares of B.C.’s forests, leaving wave upon wave of rust-coloured evergreens in its wake, an economic and environmental emergency that has created huge impacts on the beleaguered forest industry, once the cornerstone of the natural resource-dependent provincial economy.

Enter Cariboo Genuine Draft, a low-cost, surprisingly good-tasting 5.5 percent bargain beer introduced in March. (Pick it up at the government liquor store at just under $8 for a six-pack – that’s as low as she goes, people.)

For every case sold, the Prince George-based company will plant a tree.

What you’re worth at 14

Fifty bucks and an apology letter is all it takes to get away with taking sexual advantage of an underage girl in British Columbia.

A White Rock man who pleaded guilty to assaulting a 14-year-old girl last August has been ordered to apologize to her in writing, take respectful relationship training and stay away from drugs and alcohol as part of a 12-month conditional discharge handed down at his recent sentencing.

The man, aged 20 at the time of his arrest, also been ordered to pay a $50 fine – what the B.C. Attorney-General’s ministry calls a Victim Surcharge.

White Rock hauntings, redux

Related: Ghost stories I have known, and White Rock’s ghosts: homeless after the wrecking ball?

All that was left of White Rock's former landmark Art Deco Marine Drive home.

The notion of what happens to ghosts when their houses are demolished came rushing back to my thoughts a few months ago, when I learned that a well-known haunted house and architectural landmark in White Rock had been flattened by the wrecking ball.

The house at 14635 Marine Drive was one of my absolute favourite beach homes. An Art Deco-styled treasure dating from the early 1940s, the curving, two-storey home was like nothing else in town. It was covered in bright white plaster and trimmed with glowing sunset orange and lime green windows that appeared even brighter when its orange curtains were drawn.

Sometimes a mannequin or two populated the upper deck. A green arbour of wild-looking ivy arched over the entranceway (happily still there, along with a smidge of an old lilac bush) and a white lattice fence enclosed the pretty little yard. Walking along the promenade at the far end of West Beach, I couldn’t take my eyes off it.

My heart sank like a stone when I drove past one wintry Sunday morning, hoping to impress an out-of-town guest by pointing out the distinctive house, and I realized it was gone.

White Rock’s ghosts: homeless after the wrecking ball?

Related: Ghost stories I have known, White Rock hauntings, redux

Here’s a question for all you ghost-hunters out there.

If a building is haunted, what happens to the ghosts when it gets torn down – or undergoes a really extreme makeover?

That’s something I’ve been wondering ever since the White Rock Playhouse got a complete overhaul a few years ago. Turns out I’m not alone. A recent item in the latest issue of the tourist-oriented freebie guide, Discover the Peninsula (a publication of the Peace Arch News), has an article wondering the same thing.

In 2006, the landmark 1532 Johnston Rd. theatre underwent an extensive renovation and expansion project, utterly transforming the original structure, a former Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall that was converted into a theatre and fitted with a stage in 1960. When the latest overhaul was complete, it was renamed the Coast Capital Playhouse to reflect the name of one of the major sponsors of the $1.6 million reno.

Then, as now, the building is home to the award-winning White Rock Players, one of the longest-running community theatre groups in B.C. They formed back in 1944, giving the group plenty of time to build its well-deserved reputation – and collect its share of ghosts; as many as 18 different spirits, according to one psychic.

Sasquatch sightings are still a hot trend, new footprints suggest

Related: Things I liked in 2008 – Sasquatch sightings along Hwy 16

They’re baaack.

After enjoying a banner year in northern B.C. last year, sasquatches – well, their footprints, anyway – are once again being reported along Highway 16.

Residents along this fairly remote stretch of highway, a ribbon of asphalt that links Prince George in Canada’s westernmost province’s interior and the small seaport of Prince Rupert on the north coast, came forward with a number of sasquatch sightings in 2008, suggesting something of a rebound for the notoriously shy, quasi-mythical creatures.

Things were relatively quiet through the new year, but reports are starting to come in again.

According to the Canada UFO blog, on March 8, someone in the First Nations village of Moricetown reported hearing loud, unexplained sounds coming from the back of their property, in the middle of the night.

The next morning, this person told a family member about it who, in turn, went out to see if they could determine the cause of the noises. They claimed to see large, human-like footprints in the snow beside the fence on the property line, as well as some moose prints. Researcher Brian Vike of Houston, B.C., says he drove out there the next day to take a closer look.

“There was certainly no question in my mind that what I was looking at were tracks of something that walked on two legs, large footprints that were not just in a small area, but rather this thing traveled a great distance,” he wrote in a report filed to his blog March 10. The footprints were deep – about a foot and a half – and appeared to have a long stride. He took measurements and a “whole whack of photos”.

The next voter in line wins a car!

Raffling off cool prizes might boost voter turnout.

There’s something really troubling about the provincial election. It’s yesterday’s shamefully low voter turnout.

Barely over 50 per cent.

“These are the worst results in turnout in the history of the province,” a commenter from pollster Angus Reid told CTV news last night.

No wonder the folks manning my local polling station looked so happy