Up in Ontario

Local protest: Squamish Nation Billboards on the Burrard Street Bridge

Kitsilano.ca reports that the Squamish Nation intend to build 3 - 10.97-metre by 3.05-metre billboard in early 2007 on the south-east side of the Burrard Street Bridge.

While I'm very conscious of not coming off as a NIMBY flake, I can't stand the idea of the billboards. I've lived in the neighbourhood for 8 years now and I think that huge advertisements shadowing the bridge and blocking the view of Granville Island will greatly devalue the place.

Don't get me wrong. I'm perfectly happy to have a business in harmony with the built and natural environment of the community operated on the Squamish Nation land. But I have no desire to see huge, garish commercial messages completely blocking the view and destroying the aesthetic mix of city, water and nature.

And don't discount the impact of aesthetics. Vancouver's international reputation is greatly cemented by its aesthetics, the congruity of the mountains, sea and city. Wrecking the aesthetics will take away from something we can all enjoy. It will make Vancouver just like so many forgettable cultural wastelands across North America, with the same triumph of commercialism and the same commercial messages.

Crossing the Burrard Street Bridge today, either on foot in wheels, is a pleasure. I remember just a few weeks ago heading to an early morning meeting across the bridge and thinking aloud that it was such a great treat to live in Vancouver. Placing huge billboards beside the bridge will destroy that peace. It will be like a tiny pocket of that abhorrable stretch of highway from the Swartz Bay ferry terminal to Victoria - a crowd of shouting visual messages cluttering the world.

I know no one who supports the billboards. Everyone I mention it to shakes their head. I've already emailed BCCEARAdmin@inac-ainc.gc.ca because I can't make the hearings, which are on the north shore at the Squamish Nation Recreation Centre, 100 Capilano Road in North Vancouver, 4 pm to 8 pm. If you care, spend 10 minutes and send an email. Or we'll all be doomed to nothing but the view of what an advertiser wants us to see.

Note to self on characters

Things to include when defining characteristics of characters in writing:

• the music that plays in the background when they're walking, thinking, letting their mind drift > might it be of some significance - religious, memory, lyrics
• the stories they tell themselves when they're walking, thinking, letting their mind drift
• the conflict / arguments they're imagining when they're walking, thinking, letting their mind drift

Mapping a speeding Ferrari through Paris

Remember that video of the Ferrari racing through the streets of Paris at dawn?

Well Burton Hendrix has gone and created a companion map to show you the exact path of the Ferrari on a Google map of Paris. Watch the video on the top of the screen, watch the path of the car on the bottom. Mmm, woohoo, yes-yes more data all the time.

Remind me again - how did we entertain ourselves before the intermanet? Glory be, this is pretty darned cool.

Surrey's mayor dehumanizes the homeless live on CBC

The mayor of Surrey, Dianne Watts, was interviewed by Rick Cluff this morning on our local CBC Radio morning program. The interview was about how Surrey moved a camp of homeless people from a baseball diamond in order to host the Little League World Series.

At the beginning of the interview Dianne Watts framed her approach to the homeless thusly: 'As we all know, these people have a lot of mental health issues.' Rick Cluff said nothing, which prompts this rhetoric.

• Q: Is Rick Cluff the worst interviewer to be heard on radio? He was more engaged with his job 5 minutes later discussing a stall on the Oak Street Bridge.
• Q2: How widely accepted is the stigma around 'mental issues'? We wash our hands of any responsibility for homeless people by calling into question their mental fitness, to make sure it's well understood that they're just crazy and we'd try but there's nothing we can do about it.
• Q3: How marginalized are 'homeless people'? (who, as Carlin points out are not homeless, they're houseless) Replace 'homeless people' with another group: 'As we all know, retired lawyers have a lot of mental health issues.' or 'As we all know, junior hockey players have a lot of mental health issues.'

It's more than a little frustrating to have blatant misconceptions spread, unchallenged by an intellectually lazy mayor and radio host. Do many homeless people have mental health issues? Do those in Surrey? Can we call anyone 'these people'?

Lucky the Surrey RCMP were feeding 'these people' Slurpees to prepare them for the roundup and relocation.

Update: CBC says the real story is that a packaging business has to move its offices.

Trip Photos: Winnipeg, 60th anniversay, Kenora, triathlon

If you're interested, I've been uploading photos to my Flickr account like a madman, bingeing through a summer-long backlog. But don't wait, there's more to come.

Yes, this is what I've been doing with some of my time.

Big Night IV report and website

While we were on holidays recently we missed Big Night IV.

Loyal readers of Up in Ontario, the blog, will recognize the name Big Night from previous gushes such as Big Night, la secondo, Big Night, la terzo and the fittingly titled Report on Big Night, la terzo. So they'll understand what kind of lack we suffered knowing we were missing perhaps the best social-gourmand event of the year.

If you aren't familiar with past Big Nights, try the movie, Big Night, on which the evening is modelled. Or, better yet, now that we have the Intermanet in all its glory, I present Big Night IV, the website, an incredible electrical homage to the event by the hypertalented Patrick Brealey.

After examining the menu, the Big Night slideshow (big file, let it load then let it rip) must be your first stop. I'll let it speak for itself.

The only consolation drawn from our absence was that the coup de gras of Big Night, the timpano, didn't get cooked on Big Night IV. It was too much. Is too much!

So 2 nights later we received an invitation to participate in the cooking and the eating of the timpano. And glory be, that was incredible.

On Absence from Blogging

Yes, we know we haven't written anything here in a while. Yes, we were away. But now we're back and working hard on projects with our company and our sideline start-up project.

Of course we recognize you have needs too. So here, how about some photos of Winnipeg, Winnipeg Beach and Lake of the Woods that the superstar Duck posted from our recent trip. Is that better?

I know. We'll do better next time.