Y2Play and the journey to Foursquare Mayorship of Grouse Mountain
Burnaby from the Cut
I spend the majority of my time in front a screen, at least on average for over ten hours a day.
Trying to take a break away while attempting to slide in some physical activity disguised as “fun”, taking up boarding this season seem like a fun challenge. Yay for Y2Play!
Well, and I also heard about the sweet “4sq checkin… Every three checkins…
4SQ deal with Grouse Grind
Foursquare – Every third checkin at Grouse Grind Coffee means a free frapp!
I’m not sure if this will be my motivation to conquer the Grind during the warmer months…
Maybe I’ll take the slower trail up as an alternative to this “Mother Nature’s Stairmaster”.
Back to the beauty of Vancouver, it’s so beautiful up top.
If it’s not clear skies over Vancouver with limited visibility, there’s always getting back to focus on some carves down the hill.
The Twins
Be warned, always visit grousemountain.com before heading up for any activity.
Last Friday the red gondola lines were having their annual maintenance. (Something to do with repairing of the ropes…).
I really didn’t think it would be a big deal… but it was a Friday… and they closed the trails early…
Red Gondola on a break
So I waited about over an hour to get on the Junior blue gondola…
Oh well… the view and the stores staying open made up for the wait.
Vancouver past the Gondola ropes
I wonder how early will Grouse be open for winter activities this fall…
Hamburger Disco Pop Up Store April 2011
There’s that brief moment of either awkwardness or surreal-ness”" when you finally meet the people in person after all those communications strictly through email, phone, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
It was definitely a step-up in that feeling of surreal-ness when an online website becomes a physical store and location.
Vancouver Artist Series - Hamburger Disco - April 2011
Initially, Media Stylists partook in the design and development of HamburgerDisco.com.
For the month of April, Hamburger Disco has their pop-up store open in Mount Pleasant in East Van featuring their weekly designs with select local collaborative artists.
Burger Case
Congrats Hamburger Disco!
May your future be further flowing with cheddar.
Will Cheeseburger Club or Veggie Burger Lounge be conquering the horizons of East Van?
International Pillow Fight Day 2011 – Vancouver
International Pillow Fight Day 2011 – Vancouver, a set on Flickr.
Yes, it was my first year, so it was required that I had to participate with a pillow.
However, due to falling and somewhat hurting my neck the day before, I stood on the sides instead.
Next year I’ll join for sure.
For now, here are some snaps of the joyous pillow mashings.
And a short highlight video on what you missed.
Will I see you next year?
Halloween of Pumpkins 2010
Unlike other halloween years, this time I didn’t get a chance to put together a costume and do extreme pumpkin carving.
As distracted with working with Metrotown Media on preparation for a 4 Day celebration for a Hindi (Indian) Wedding, we managed to swing by to snap some orange-related photos.
Mini Pumpkins on Straw
On Westminster Highway in Richmond, we passed by WA Farms.
They specialize in growing pumpkins and other produce locally.
It's Raining Pumpkins
More photos can be viewed in my Halloween 2010 Flickr Album >
Warty Pumpkins closeup
Sand Demons apparently doesn’t only specialize in artwork with sand at the PNE…
Pumpkin Carving by Sand Demons
For about the whole month of October, the team carved at least one Jack-o-lantern per day in the Grand Court at Metropolis at Metrotown.
Biohazard jack-o-lanterns
Happy Halloween!
May next Halloween be full of more candy and treats!
Mascot Race 2010 at Hastings Racecourse
More Mascot racing photos on Flickr >
Mascots In the Winner's Circle
It was the second inaugural Mascot Race at Hastings Racecourse, raising money for Variety, the Children’s Charity.
This year I got a bird’s eye view from the roof, multi-tasking in the control room.
Rennie the Fox greets Philbert, while Peter the Pin battles Winger
There was a cute training video from Purdys’ Philbert the Hedgehog on Youtube >
(Mind the push-ups…)
Various participating mascots
There were a few stumbles by some mascots on the dirt track during the first three heats.
And again this year, Bread Head from Cobbs took first place.
The Final Race
Tip for next year’s mascot race: To figure out the winner to place your ballot for, be sure to observe how heavy their mascot outfit is and how much flexible leg room there is while they are walking in the paddock.
: )
Jamie Cullum + Imelda May at Commodore Ballroom
Imelda May and Dave Priseman
So Anna and I were somewhat late in arrival to the Commodore on Saturday night.
Oh the time she sacrifices for the Canucks!
We caught the end of Imelda May’s rockabilly act.
They were really great, I wished at the time that I dressed in my polka dot dress instead.
Jamie Cullum
We slid through the crowd to get closer to the front.
It was hard for us to see, so we got close to the stage as we could.
Tom Richards
Actually, thanks to Monica and Leslie, they let me stand in front of them to take pictures for the rest of the night at the edge of the stage. Jamie early in the act played a lot on his piano, so I was lucky to see the top of his head when he was over on stage right.
Jamie Cullum
We had a lot of fun and laughs, and I got a lot of snaps of him and his band-mates when they performed in the middle of the stage. And I couldn’t help sing along to almost all his songs…
Rory Simmons with Chris Hill
And of course, Jamie rockin’ ends the night jumping off his piano.
This time Anna and I did not stay after the show to get our pictures with him – we froze our sorry butts last time.
Jamie Cullum jumps
I hope Matt Dusk comes to Vancouver and plays at the Commodore this year…
So far I only see dates in Ontario…
And I’m contemplating whether to go see BNL again in April at UBC, even if I already saw them at this Winter Games Victory ceremony…
More photos are posted of Jamie Cullum’s concert on my Flickr set >
My time at Vancouver’s Winter Games
The Winter Games has rolled into dear Vancouver, BC Canada.
There is a LOT of stuff and events to see.
I have decided to attempt to visit one event, pavilion, or place a day and try to go to as many LiveCities as much as possible.
Lines are getting longer and longer.
Expect to wait at least 1.5 – 2 hours to enter any free pavilion.
I’m excited to visit all the different Canadian pavilions all over Metro Vancouver.
So far I’ve been from Richmond to Surrey, and dashed someplace in Downtown Vancouver after work since the Opening Ceremonies on Friday the 12th.
This is once in a lifetime for most of the world to come visit your city instead of yourself visiting every country.
I’m going to try to snap photos and stick them up on my Flickr album.
I’ll see if I’ll make it to any live sports events, or else I’ll stick to watching finals on TV or at LiveCity venue.
I’m going to cross my fingers for Canada, and for more snow at Cypress.
Go athletes and GO CANADA!
FBI Visits ISI? A little bit of Boston in Vancouver
Gastown’s a pretty popular area to find lights and sets of tv shows and movies shooting in Vancouver.
This morning I noticed more cars than usual parked outside the ISI building.
I snapped some photos with Jennifer in the afternoon of some props and vehicles for I assume a shoot for the tv show Fringe.
Long drive, eh?
Nothing says undercover like a large dark van with the FBI logo on it...
Jennifer inspecting FBI vehicle
Whose Live Anyway at Red Robinson Show Theatre November 2009
Whose Live Anyways - November 22nd, 2009
This was our first time to the Red Robinson Show Theatre, which actually felt and looked the same as the River Rock Theatre at the River Rock Casino in Richmond.
If you ever want to sit front row centre at either theatre, looks like seats 39 and 40 in row A, “Golden Circle” will do. Holy moly, we were really close.
Shockingly, yes I did not take pictures during the show. I always try to get a snapshot, but again we were really close.
Greg Proops, Ryan Stiles, Jeff Davis and Chip Esten, as known as appearing on Whose Line is it Anyways were absolutely amazing. (As Greg Proops opened with poking fun at our winter Olympics: “Yes, we’re missing the fat, bald and black guys).
My eyes watered so much, I put on the wrong eyeliner.
I realized when I got home, my non-waterproof eyeliner transferred itself from the top of my lips to the bottom. Extreme raccoon eyes…
I have no idea how they spit out hilarity so fast on the spot.
They did so many improv games.
During the Jeopardy game, I was so surprised the cast came through when Ryan Stiles asked the audience for a “name of a Canadian Football athlete”.
We were at the Lion’s Den earlier in the casino next door, and I remember looking at Lui Passaglia’s jersey while explaining to Travis that one of my principals was related to the BC Lion’s punter. I yelled out “Passaglia”, and it was so funny to see bewilderment on the other improvisers’ faces.
After a few seconds of silence, Chip playing a water bottle contestant buzzed in.
“Passaglia.
What do you do when you drink too much aglia?
You pass-aglia.”
The night was so punny.
And I couldn’t believe that there were so many Hastings horseracing references and suggestions.
“Bred for excitement” during the “Brazilian Funk” skit and singing “Songs of the Jockey”.
And I’m glad I wasn’t dragged on stage.
I couldn’t even come up with a decent suggestion when asked directly… oh the pressure!
I accidentally said “cleaning the garbage” instead of “picking up garbage” like waste collectors with garbage trucks.
Oops.
It ended up being a really funny “moving bodies” skit with Chip and Jeff.
I guess I’m stronger putting things together visually in my mind instead of describing them out loud properly.
: )
Powell Street Festival 2009 in Woodland Park
This year the location was changed from the usual Oppenheimer Park in Chinatown to Woodland Park just a block or two off Hastings and Commercial Drive.
There are two main things I love about going to the Powell Street Festival every summer.
1) Food
2) Shopping from local artists and vendors
Takoyaki assembly
As usual, the line for takoyaki was super long.
This line was so long… I think for next year they need to have their booth on the edge or corner of all of the concession stands instead of right in the middle of everyone. So worth it though- so fresh and hot! I even got an extra one just because it was small.
: )
Sushi jewelery by tatsuko
I found tatsuko again at the festival.
Last year I had to order the maki earrings I wanted online after the festival, because she had sold them out last year.
Her chiyogami earrings are beautiful too, but sushi accessories are definitely something handcrafted and unusual.
I was so excited to see an “onigiri” ornament.
I asked if earrings were available, but she said that the ones at the festival were just created before she came to Vancouver from Quebec to attend this festival.
I can’t wait until she gets back to her studio to make my customized onigiri earrings.
Glass fruit by Minori Takagaki
I am also a big fan of Minori Takagaki’s glass beadwork.
I picked up something different this year: an apple pin.
I was surprised to see a mailing list asking if anyone was interested in attending a glass bead making workshop or class.
I asked where was the studio, and Minori said at the moment the details aren’t solidified yet.
She’s seeing if there’s enough interest, and then she would figure out if she can fit students at her current studio on Granville Island or her colleague’s studio near Main and 3rd.
Sushi Plushi by Andrea Shizumi
I found a couple of other Etsy artists at the festival this year.
I said the longest “awwww” when I saw the cute little sushi plushis at Andrea Shizumi’s booth.
Andrea sews all her plushis by hand, and hopefully she will design her second edition of sushi designs soon.
HUG NERD JOY wooden blocks
I really admire Akane Designs’ concept of “refurbishing materials” and transforming them into new adorable handcrafted accessories.
Christina Oguchi had sweater laptop sleeves, coffee cup sleeves, passport sleeves, pillows and so many other cute things.
Rings by Akane Designs
I jokingly commented that she had a lot of soft sweaters.
Christina Oguchi said that she personally goes out and shops for vintage and consignment sweaters so she could make these accessories.
Currently her Etsy shop is empty, and let’s hope it will be up and running again soon.
She can be followed on twitter @akanedesigns
As much as I try to keep my shopaholic frenzy to a minimum,
at least I’m keeping it local or within Canada these days.
Shop local and Happy BC Day long weekend!
Worldwide Photowalk 2009 in Vancouver
I was so excited this year when I got on the list of 50 people to participate in this year’s Worldwide Photowalk.
I wanted to join last year’s for Vancouver, but by the time I found out about the event the signups were closed.
This year, which is the second annual Photowalk, the group of 50 photowalkers of Vancouver walked around Stanley Park from the Sylvia Hotel (near English Bay) to Third Beach.
Man, was it hot from 6PM-8PM. I was boiling under the hot sun.
Thanks again to David duChemin, his models and his crew for leading such a fun walk!
Now it’s time for me to decide which photos to enter…
I’ve uploaded my favorites to my Flickr set >
I’m liking these three photos… which two do you like best?
Help me pick.
: )
Now Wall
Stoney Vancouver
Silver branch
Biting into the Chocolate competition- EAT!Vancouver 2009
From 2008 EAT! Vancouver
Last year I was so excited to come across the results of the two competitions at EAT! Vancouver.
B.C. Chefs’ Association chocolate competition and B.C. Chefs’ Association culinary salon cooking competition.
I was so amazed by the colours and detailing of the details of the chocolate, butter, and food preparation.
My photo set from 2008 Eat! Vancouver can be viewed here >
Broken flames of chocolates
I guess I should have waited until the last day.
I went on Saturday May 23rd, to check out new products, do some sampling and enjoy the sites.
I forgot I went on a Sunday, where I got to see the results of the two different competitions.
We arrived later in the evening, and I couldn’t find the right area of the chocolate works.
It turned out that people were starting to eat off the results of the chocolate competition, so by the time I got to the area to take some photos, the majority of the entries were broken apart.
Inukshuk tray of chocolates
Oh well, there’s always next year.
I’m definitely going earlier on the last day.
Here are more of my photos taken at the EAT! Vancouver festival this year >
Super-close encounter with Diana Krall
Diana Krall back of Quiet Nights program
To the song of “The Boy from Ipanema”
“…Tall and (not so) tan and young and handsome
The girl from Na-nai-mo goes walking
And when she passes
Each fan she passes goes – ah
When she walks
She’s like samba
That swings so cool and sways so gentle
That when she passes each fan
She passes goes – ah
Ooh, but I watch her so sadly …”
Why sadly?
Well… I thought it would be nice for Ryon to quickly say hi to his cousin and have a quick pic before she ran off to her other engagements.
Cousin of Diana Krall?
I didn’t buy that either when I first met Ryon awhile back working in Downtown.
And no, she doesn’t know they’re related.
Don’t ask me, ask Ryon on how he’s related to her.
Apparently third cousin, something to do with his mom’s side.
I was so happy to see her live performance in person finally in Vancouver!
Diana is hilarious! I couldn’t believe that she’s a big Canuck’s fan, too.
“…I was ready to paint my toenails with the Canucks logo…”
I was blown away by the VSO orchestra, Anthony Wilson on guitar, Jeff Hamilton on drums, Robert Hurst on bass.
“Are you in a rush?” Ryon asked as we sat in our seats while the rest of the audience was filing out the door.
“No why? Hey, I wanna go buy a program and get her autograph.
OMG, let’s get a picture of you two together to send to your grandma!”
One of the ushers asked us to finally leave, and I asked if she was going to sign CDs after.
We learned that she was going off to a couple of galas right after the performance, so it was going to be unlikely that she’ll sign stuff.
At the merchandise stand, I was a little disappointed that her signed programs were sold out.
Darn…
I thought why not stand outside the stage doors?
There were about 20 people already waiting outside by the stage doors, and we were informed by crew to stay out of the way while they were packing equipment.
Minutes passed, and a crew member told us that she would likely be out in 40 minute- 1 hour.
10 people left.
I asked Ryon, “Are you sure you want to wait?”
20 minutes pass, 5 more people left.
We stood in between the stage entrance and the entrance by Seymour.
I saw a black car rental waiting by the Seymour entrance and I thought, hm I wonder which side she will exit.
This young lady with us was so excited that earlier when Anthony Wilson and Jeff Hamilton signed her CD.
We chatted, and suddenly she said,
“THERE SHE IS!”
I think I need to take lessons in running in heels…
She tore down that half-block to the entrance Diana Krall and Elvis Costello like a maniac.
Ryon and I hustled over, and we waited patiently right beside the young lady.
Aw, Diana was so nice- she signed her CD and took a picture with her.
I stepped up to the plate, then
WHOOSH!
Into the car she went.
!!!
One autograph and one picture…
We were next, and she was gone.
My heart hasn’t sunk since the security guard deleted the majority of my photos during the Michael Buble concert in 2008. (See recovered photos here >)
Sigh…
So close.
gah!
First trip to Vancouver Aquarium
A couple weeks ago, I suggested to Travis that we should go visit the Aquarium because I never went before.
Plus, my Entertainment Book for 2009 was still fresh and I wanted to use my 2-for-1 coupon might as well.
We were going to drive and park in Stanley Park, but I asked about the issue about paying for parking.
I had always heard it was pretty expensive, but Vicky brought up the point that by the time we get to the entrance, it would be the peak of rush-hour.
Bussing up to Stanley Park was peaceful on the #19 from Downtown.
Less than a couple minutes, we ended up at the entrance of the Aquarium.
We literally ran out of the house, so we grabbed a couple of hotdogs for breakfast from the cashier playing on his Nintendo DS to pass his time.
The Aquarium was closing at 5PM on the day we went, and we learned that if you come during the last hour you get to pay half price. Realizing how large the aquarium is, I guess in an hour you really would enjoy half of the sites and sounds of the aquarium.
He's huuuuuuge!
Started off with the “tropical” rainforest area with giant catfish, birds, little monkeys, spiders and so many other creepy critters. Travis thought that it would be funny to tap on the glass to tick off the tarantulas… It’s pretty dark in this part of the aquarium, so I warn about blurry pictures if you don’t use flash.
Sandy and real close...
Fish fish fish and more fish!
Travis got mad that I wasn’t in front of the same tank as he was when he was looking at the Lion Fish.
Once I came by, the Lion Fish decided to hide toward the hidden top part of the tank.
Oh well.
So orange!
There are about three separate areas for different ocean life- Tropical, BC Coast, and more of the strange Jellyfish matter.
Flowing Jellyfish
Fifteen minutes were left, and that’s when I started to panic a little.
We didn’t see the sea lions, belugas and the new frog exhibit yet.
I snapped as many photos as possible, and rushed over to check out the belugas and sea lions.
I completely forgot about the fact that there were no orcas at the aquarium anymore. It’s been a long time since Travis has visited the aquarium….
The frogs were hard to find in the frog exhibit.
It looked like in the majority of the tanks that they took out the frogs and forgot to place a sign for visitors to let them know that there are no frogs….
Mexico's chicken of the sea?
The most interesting creature in the Frog exhibit was Mexico’s version of their “chicken in the sea”…
Eek.
My mac is back!
Close to the entrance of the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park
Yay!
I survived the week without my Macbook Pro!!!
I took so many pictures of this week and weekend with being at the Spring Vancouver Wedding Show at the Convention Centre, Canstruction, and Stanley Park.
I just started on organizing my photos, so I’ll be posting more as soon as I get around to them.
I’m so glad the weather has been so sunny in the usual-Vancouver.
Secretly I hope it will rain this weekend, because I know that I will be inside most of the day editing video.
: )
Happy Vaisakhi Day 2009 on Main Street Vancouver
I had none of Naan (I wanted to use that joke somewhere...)
Tents were set up amongst on SE Marine Drive, and along the southern streets of Main and Fraser.
Nila and I felt like we were in another country.
It was crowded on Main Street around 49th Avenue.
We took Bus #003 south, heading toward Main and 41st.
I thought perhaps we would grab another bus.
Turned out all transit buses were stopping for the large festivities.
Chai me!
There was such a variety of East Indian eats and treats to have.
I became full after the fourth tent.
Today was really a day for chai.
Chai here and there. Mmm.
We passed through the parade coming along Main to check out the rest of the tents.
I’ll be back for more next year.
: )
Mi Jung Lee and Pamela Martin TV parade float
Happy Vaisakhi day!
Thank you everyone who was involved and gave away such delicious food and drinks!
More photos are part of my Vaisakhi day photo set on Flickr >
Favorite snaps during VanFashionWeek March 2009
Medi-awe (KILLA runway show)
Whooey, first time volunteering with Vancouver Fashion Week 2009.
And like the other first-timers, might be my last.
Preparing in chaos (Behind the scenes makeup)
So much drama, chaos and disorganization… I wouldn’t blame them for not wanting to come back.
We’ll see about the next one…
Anyways, the following are my top five favorite photographs taken during VanFashionWeek during the last week of March 2009.
You can see the rest of the photos on bothVanFashionWeek’s and my Flickr set.
View VanFashionWeek Flickr feed >
View my VanFashionWeek personal set >
Design and Conquer designer and model (Opening Gala at Leones)
Organized rack of Joseph Domingo designs (Behind the scenes)
Justine Brooks necklace (Opening Gala at Leones)
Orange Day
Just taking a quick break from Vancouver Fashion Week to do my best to finish up product videos for a client due at the end of the month…
I love tweeting.
I’m not obssessive about it. Really, do you expect me to read every single tweet?
Whenever I can, I login and check out the latest.
Twitter doesn’t exactly have a filter or an ability to categorize what’s
“news”, “localnews”, “rant”, “comment”…
Plus I don’t want Tweetdeck to be taking up some of my memory when I have to work on stuff with Photoshop and After Effects… I gotta keep “conservative” with my resources. My Superdrive just died, so I have to wait when things quiet down to take it in to the Apple Store to get it fixed (go AppleCare!).
Hopefully Twitter will give us the ability to categorize our tweets besides using hashtags. Sometimes I need something a little more general, because honestly I scan the whole page first anyways…
How much can you squeeze?
Orange Day, originally uploaded by Union Gospel Mission
Anyways, the latest Tweet from Miss604 caught my eye about Orange Day.
There are three steps to Orange Day:
1) Get outside! Go “squeeze as much as possible” out of our free parks and attractions of Vancouver between March 27 – April 10, 2009, and try not to spend any money.
(I hope the weather cooperates so I can participate in No.1)
2) Help the Homeless. Donate online to feed as little as one person or as many as you want.
(Wow, one nice night out for me means I could feed ten other people instead.)
3) Share your experiences about Orange Day. Tag your photos taken, tweets, blog entries, etc online so they show up on www.ugm.ca/orangeday
(Tweet! I don’t see guidelines on what I can add on the Orange Day group on Flickr. So far it looks like only “orange” pictures… )
See you outside!
Opening Gala VanFashionWeek Spring2009
Branching out? Earrings by Justine Brooks
Why did I have the song from the Producer’s stuck in my head?
mmmm...
Wowee, it was super crowded with beautiful jewelery, models and people at the Opening Gala at Leone’s for the showcasing the jewelery designers of Vancouver Fashion Week.
I’m tired, but I had a great time with fine wine and chocolates.
Cathy, Joyce and I teamed up to snap up some photos during the event.
Too bad wireless is not open everywhere in Downtown Vancouver, but never the less, we tweeted and tweetpic’d throughout the gala while walking around admiring the beautiful designers and designs with my iPhone. (I LOVE the Tweetie app!)
More photos are posted online at VanFashionWeek on Flickr >
I can’t wait to see the runways and shows at Storyeum!
March is nearly here
Hulk SMASH!
It’s already the last week of February.
I wonder why February always has to have only 28-29 days, depending if it’s a leap year or not….
Going through HDR processing for the Hulk Statue photo, the bright green reminded me of St Patty’s day coming up soon.
CelticFest has made a couple of big changes for the annual Patty’s day parade.
It’s always held on the Sunday closest to March 17th, when St Patrick’s day usually is.
This year it’s on Sunday March 15th, 2009 and it starts at 11:30AM.
The other big change is that the parade route is along West Georgia Street in Downtown between Broughton and Howe, which is about six blocks.
More info is posted on the CelticFest Vancouver site , with the picture of the parade route.
Wouldn’t it be funny that we would find someone dressed in a Hulk costume walking in the parade.
Talk about being green…
Northern Voice 2009 Kick-off dinner
Viva Las Vegas!
Viva Las Vegas indeed.
or Vivaaaaaa Northern Voice… viva northern voice…
The clip is my first Flickr video upload with my Canon G10.
Pretty sweet, eh? I just only wish that iPhone could read Flash embeds or content. Oi.
Thanks again to Eagranie Yuh for passing along her kick-off dinner ticket to the Northern Voice 2009 Kick-off Dinner at Federico’s Supper Club on Commercial Drive in Vancouver. Get well soon!!!
I wish everyone an awesome weekend, especially to all the attendees to Northern Voice 2009 this year on UBC Campus. By the time I found out when this was going to happen, all the tickets were sold out.
I’ll keep an eye out for next year’s gathering, and on content tagged with “northernvoice09″ on Flickr and blogs for this Friday and Saturday.
Cheers!
Convergence at MoMoVan 02-09-2009
- My Convergence (of) notes, MoMoVan 02-09-2009
Tonight was a gathering of various individuals and professionals of the local web 2.0 and mobile community.
Cathy and I thanked Kurt Shuster, of Noomii.com, for letting us come along with him to MomoVan Mobile Monday Vancouver tonight at Workspace in Gastown.
Being aware of Vancouver’s many content and technology industries, Kurt was very surprised to learn that I am interested local web development community because he first met me as tester for Noomii.com
Yes, the majority of my work is digital video editing and image retouching.
However, I am familiar with various industries and their operations.
For many years as I was independently editing videos, I was always for other creative professional opportunities. I talked to many professionals that worked amongst the gaming, animation, and television industries over that period of time, and currently still do today.
I took part-time television production courses, because I wanted to go through the full-time television production program at BCIT a few years ago. At the time, I was finding that there were (and probably still are) more graduates than jobs available in television production. I became more attracted to the independent, creative and collaborative vibe of the web development community, thus I switched over to study full-time with New Media Design and Development program.
A panel discussion touched upon how different our major content and technology industries are in Vancouver. There are web design and development, film and television, animation, gaming and mobile industries that make up the the content and technology sectors of business in the Vancouver area.
There was a comment made about why it’s so difficult to have all these communities come together by using the latest social web and mobile technology to connect.
Why is it so hard?
I agreed with Rochelle Grayson, of Work at Play, who said that it’s because the people involved in the other industries can be “intimidated” by new social and web technology. The idea of giving away content (IP, or as known as Intellectual property) away for free does not settle well with many. Businesses in TV, film, and animation industries do not like the fact that there has not been a new monetizing business model for the web that generates a lot of revenue that “really works” at this moment in time.
Plus, being involved within a particular industry means one is comfortable with its language or as I call it, industry jargon.
At times, some clients approach her with a great idea for an application, game, or campaign for the mobile phone. When she asks, “Which mobile device do you want us to develop it for?”
Most of the clients reply, “What do you mean?”
We all laughed, because in truth there are thousands of different phones on the market and of course, are not built the same way. Which means to develop a product for the Blackberry, it won’t work on an iPhone, or any other device because it will have to be developed for that particular phone.
When I was younger, I always got the look and comments of disbelief from elder Asian strangers when I did not respond to their comments in Chinese. At times, I did feel shameful that I did not speak Mandarin or Cantonese fluently as my family did. I tried to learn “proper” Mandarin during after-school classes in elementary school. How can anyone really expect someone to pick up a language if there is no immediate need, yearning or positive reinforcement to learn the language?
The majority of the business world communicates in English.
Today, I have mastered (or at least understand) the non-traditional “languages” amongst the web development, television, film production, digital video, and animation industries.
- Success, Live and Carpe Diem on my keychain
Back to our goodbye to Kurt Shuster-
Kurt wished that “back when he was our age” that he knew about these different opportunities and be able to go out to different networking events such as tonight’s MoMoVan. I said it’s probably the fact that information these days is very accessible so anyone could find almost information on anything they wanted compared to a few years ago.
After we said goodbye, I thought about an acquaintance, who was in her early 30s, who I chatted with at our friend’s birthday party last year. She asked me what did I do for a living, and I said “mostly video editing but I also do image retouching and some web design.”
“Wow, you do so much and you’re so young! I wish I was like that when I was younger…
It’s funny how my mother was doing office work for 25 years, and right now she’s basically doing similar things like you. She’s 54 now, and she has been coding websites for the past couple years. She picked up on that real fast.”
I believe why let age be an excuse?
If you set your mind to it, there’s no stopping you from accomplishing anything you want.
Learning the basics of Adwords
A page of the intro to one page adwords workshop
Eeps, I was running late with my lunch meeting so I slipped into my SEO workshop on Smithe a little late.
Luckily I was not the only late one, another person came in a few minutes after me.
Phew.
Darn computer died a few minutes, so the writing I was doing earlier disappeared because I didn’t save while typing in MS Word. The whole MS doc disappeared. Argh! My laptop only lasts 10 minutes if I’m not plugged into a power source… why why why why?!
So far in the class, our instructor is going over how to use AdWords and how to optimize your keywords to stretch your daily budget.
In the back of my head, the lyrics “Moooney makes the world go around, the word go around…”
Gotta get back to learning about traffic.
I’ll be twittering “interesting” things during this class anyways.
Fog + Holey= Fogey?
Caved-in roof at Opsal Steel Limited building
Fog fog fog.
What the heck is going on with the weather?
I’m actually beginning to miss the typical rain of Vancouver.
Why are all of our heads in the clouds?
So much mist… so hard to see…
Wrong coast.
I’m just tying up a couple of projects at the moment while I’m at Travis’ office.
I look outside and it’s a reminder of how much the weather can affect anything.
Across I see the eye-sore of a heritage building- Opsal Steel Limited.
I heard there’s no one currently occupying that space right now, but could you imagine that roof falling in on you.
Gee- I get chills thinking about that.
