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 [...]

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Twilight fans stake out Surrey film set

I know where Bella Swan’s house is.
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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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Hollywood North…West?

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 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 at the South Pole, but look closer: that’s really the wintry wilds of northwest B.C.!

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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 traffic congestion and high parking price, it’s no wonder we end up sticking close to home. A list of ideas can help.

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Bargain City: the Michael Jackson edition

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 [...]

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‘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 [...]

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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.
A brewing company in northern B.C. has taken a cue from that old beverage adage, If Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade. But [...]

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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 [...]

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White Rock hauntings, redux

Now that a striking character home in White Rock has been demolished, I can’t help but wonder what’s happened to the two ghosts that were reputed to have haunted the former Marine Drive architectural landmark?

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

What happens to ghosts when the building they haunt gets torn down – or undergoes an extreme makeover?

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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 [...]

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The next voter in line wins a car!

It would be simple. Raffle off five new cars, say, (or the equivalent cash prize) on election night. Anyone who votes would be eligible. Do something like that, and I bet you’d get people pouring into the polls come election day. And somebody better do something pretty quick. In just eight years, B.C.’s voter turnout for provincial elections has plummeted from 71 percent in 2001 to slightly higher than 50 per cent in May 2009.

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Our Liberal overlords have been returned to power

7:22 p.m. A giant flock of seagulls floats past the skies above our ocean view deck. “It’s like The Birds!” I shout. “Isn’t it freaky?” the gulls float in the balmy wind currents over White Rock, where incumbent Liberal MLA Gordon Hogg is so assured of victory, I’m not even planning to check tonight’s results. But I fear the birds are a sign. A portent of things to come. The Liberals will win a majority. Like the grease-fattened gulls who beg for fish and chips from unsuspecting tourists and visitors along White Rock’s promenade, they don’t deserve it, I think darkly.

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Election day reflections of an unhappy camper

Is it just me, or have the past eight years under the B.C. Liberals seemed to drag on a bit?
At times arrogant, elitist and increasingly out of touch, our political overlords have really done all they can to stretch out their two consecutive terms. From massive cutbacks to selling off or privatizing B.C.’s assets, they’ve [...]

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Dear ex-Kitimat council, I secretly hated you, sincerely Gordon Campbell

I wasn’t impressed with something the premier said last week on the hustings in the northwest.
He told reporters he was frustrated by the previous district council’s stance over Alcan power sales and blamed their stubborn pursuit of the issue for hurting the town. In short, Campbell said it’s no wonder Rio Tinto Alcan didn’t get [...]

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The haters are calling it the Owe-Lympics. Here’s why:

Related: Things I hated in 2008 – Women’s ski jump not an Olympic sport
We still haven’t been told how much the 2010 Winter Olympics are going to cost.
Even though there’s been an election campaign underway, the provincial government hasn’t filled us in, yet. We’re waiting for a detailed auditor-general’s report on the subject. Last I [...]

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