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Lululemon on Robson Street on Tuesday Night

Lululemon vandals? 1I’m not sure if this is a unique form of new displays for the store or if the place was actually vandalized. I would doubt that a store like this would call themselves “robots” and “sell-outs”, but kudos to Lululemon if they took the guts to actually do this on purpose. Maybe some one else knows what’s going on?

Lululemon vandals? 2The other interesting thing is to look inside the display. The mannequins have boxes on their heads and dollar signs for eyes. If this is indeed the work of vandals, then someone was able to get inside. That’s why I’m kinda wondering if it’s on purpose, but this is too strange to be so.

Apologies on the quality of this pics. Took this with my cellphone.


Edit: Now that I stare at these photos, the more and more it seems that this is a legit display. All of the spray paint makes me miss the “believe” in the middle, with the word “lie” in red. Bravely taking on a stereotype perhaps?

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The Crazy Canucks #3 – Seven Games Down: The Jekyll and Hyde Canucks

Recorded and released tonight, episode #3 of The Crazy Canucks is up at ready.

Everybody’s here for this episode as we are now five games into the 2006 season. We go through our first impressions of how the lines have been put together, who’s standing out, and who needs to step up. We can’t fail to mention something about the goal and the guy who stands in front of it to block pucks… or something like that.

There’s a lot talk about now that we’re seeing how this team is performing on the ice. A lot is happening on the bench, and based on some listener feedback, we dig a little deeper into the man calling the shots behind the bench.

Record as of this podcast:
3-3-1 (3rd in the Northwest)

Looking ahead to the next few games to round out the week, we give some of our insights as to what we can expect from St. Louis and Nashville match ups.

Got something to say? Leave a comment or email us, feedback [at] thecrazycanucks.com

32:47 minutes
The Crazy Canucks

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Team 1040 Podcasts: Vancouver Canucks Hockey Games

Rebecca and I missed the game last night between the Canucks and Oilers, and for good reason. Thanks to J.J from the Canucks Hockey Blog, I was able to get him to txt me the final score. 2-1 Edmonton for the final. Not the prettiest of games, and I’m sure we’ll discuss this on the episode of The Crazy Canucks that we plan to record tonight.

I did subscribe to the Team 1040 AM Vancouver Canucks Podcast that I stumbled upon a few weeks ago. At first, I thought it was just the talk shows that they do about the Canucks, which was completely true. They took “Canucks This Week” and sent it out via podcast, commercials and all. Not a horrible listen as you get a little caught up with highlights from Tom and Shorty.

To my surprise, after the first game of the regular season, all three periods of the game against Detroit showed up in my iTunes. These are exactly what you hear on the radio, but this isn’t AM radio quality. The sound is excellent. Dare I say it, but the commercials even sound better when it’s not coming across at 1040 kHz. Could have swore that I just heard some plastic crinkling in the background. Maybe it’s the sound of Larschied’s beer cups?

The downside is the size of the mp3’s. I’m listening to last night’s, final two periods right now. The 2nd came down at 128kbps, almost 58 minutes long, and 52.5MB in size. The end of the period just saw the audio go dead, so there was about 18 minutes of “dead air” as they transitioned into intermission. The 3rd period was even bigger, downloading a 256kbps mp3 at just over an hour in length and 113 MB in size. (Like the 2nd, the end of the 3rd period podcast had almost 26 minutes of “dead air” tacked on at the end.)

That’s a lot of space being eaten up on the hard drive of my laptop or my iPod, not to mention the time it takes to download. Perhaps this is something that can be changed in the future. I’m thinking that a standard of 96kbps would be an excellent sample rate. That would bring the size down considerable. (Hmm, maybe I should send Team 1040 an email with a link back to this post.)

Team 1040 AMListening to this as I write this post, there’s a commercial running for their podcasts. I should also mention that they do the same for the BC Lions, but I haven’t checked that out.

This would be ideal for someone who is a transplanted Canucks fan who wants some sort of play-by-play action to feed their need. Sure, it’s time shifted and you’ll have to do everything you can to avoid hearing the outcome of the game before you get around to listening to this, but there are some great advantages. Fast forward through commercials (standard TV break is two minutes) and skip the intermissions. There are kinks, but I’m sure they’ll get those worked through.

If you’re like me, you just want some recap on the action while going about your day. Sure, we got the score at the end of the game last night, but I would have never known how close the Canucks came to tying it up at the end of the 3rd with a pulled goalie. TV highlights can’t fill the void that Shorty gives you when the game is on the line in those last minutes before the final horn. Not too bad.

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Never let the spirit of CBGB’s die

It’s been off and on for a while now, but it is official. CBGB[wiki] is closed and gone for good.

NEW YORK (AP) – CBGB hosted its final concert Sunday night after a 33-year residence in downtown New York as the iconic, grungy bastion of punk.

The concert, headlined by rock poet Patti Smith, was to be the final note sounded in a drawn-out battle to preserve the legendary club. A homeless advocacy group that owns the property, the Bowery Residents Committee, is not renewing CBGB’s lease, which expired in August 2005. The club will close Oct. 31. [myway]

It’s a mecca for rock and roll. There’s not much more to say about it than that. I consider myself thankful for taking in at least one night there. I missed a solo performance by Britt Daniel[wiki] by a few minutes, but I did catch Dressy Bessy[wiki] and I Am The World Trade Center[wiki] in a back to back perfmance. Absolutely amazing and totally my type of venue.

On a bit of a side note, it was completely stupid that I Am The World Trade Center was performing under the name “I Am The World…” when I saw then. The 9/11 paranoia was in full force at that time, claiming that they were trying to capitalize on the tragedy. Truth was that I was spinning them at KRUI long before anything happened. Thankfully, they went back to their roots shortly after I saw them.

Back to CBGB, it’s small, dark, and kinda dirty. At least it was. The layout, as I try to recall, wasn’t at all what I expected. The stage was more accessible to the audience than I thought it would have been. The sound was really good, and the atmosphere was something I just wanted to drink in, figuratively and literally. The group of people I was with didn’t quite grasp the awesomeness of this place, but I didn’t want to leave when they did. Maybe they’ll get it now

The spirit will go on, but it’ll never be the same as it once was. Incredible venues like this seem to be a dying breed in this wham-bam-make-a-superstar-today-gone-tomorrow formula of the music business. The big boys of the industry are constantly trying to harvest the indie scene, where the art is truly free to mold itself into something unique, and scoop it up so they can lay claim to the next, big thing.

If it weren’t for CBGB, a lot of the rock and roll I have come to love would never had the chance to become what it is today. For that, I thank them, and so does The Reverend.

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The day I went back to America for the first time

It’s such a touristy thing to do, but Rebecca took me down to the Peace Arch[wiki] with her dad a little over a week ago. We were actually hiking in Redwood Park and ventured over there since we were so close.

Redwood ParkOur little walk through that park turned into quite the down and back up affair, totally not wearing the right shoes for the occasion. From what I’ve been told, this is what to expect from my father-in-law. I’m always down for wandering through the bush and getting a little dirty, but my shoes were less than perfect for the soft ground. I’m more impressed that Rebecca did it all in two inch heels.

You can see a bunch of pictures that I took of Redwood Park on Flickr.

America is right over that ditchI always have a hard time grasping that fact that there isn’t a fence that separates Canada from the states. Driving along 0 Avenue, you could spit out the window from Canada and have it land in the U.S. A ditch, a little more than a foot deep, is all that stops a car from crossing the 49th. A three step start and you could easily jump over it.

This was the closest I had been to the U.S. in just over a year. And technically, I did cross the border for a few minutes. Even better, I used the washroom by the road heading north. I was very straight forward that when the urge to relieve myself hit me, I was going to do it in my native country. And in true fashion, that little rest stop was creepy. No power and no hand soap. Smelled alright, though.

I'm standing in AmericaIt’s a nice park and completely worth checking out. While we were running around, people would hop out of their cars to snap a picture of themselves in this symbol of friendliness. We’re two countries that, deep down, like each other. Our political ideologies get in the way of the feelings Americans have about Canadians and vice versa. It’s nice to forget that and just be a tourist some times.

Of course, I have all my pics of our adventures at the Peace Arch on Flickr.

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RadioZoom Episode #115 – Six Song Donut Spectacular: October 2006; Miss 604 Take Over

People have requested it, and she stepped up to the plate. Rebecca takes over RadioZoom for episode #115 and the October edition of the six song.

I am no longer a podcast virgin. I took over all aspects of RadioZoom for Episode #115 as John sat in the wings, being a very gracious co-host, podcast mentor and trainer.

The focus was on the Boston-based band Aberdeen City since I’ve been invited to interview them [miss604] before their show here in Vancouver on Tuesday October 17th. I then selected pod safe artists (from music.podshow.com) who all hail from Boston, MA to keep with a bit of a theme and tribute to my old stomping grounds.

I hope you enjoy and PLEASE leave us some feedback; comments, concerns, rants, raves.

35:16 minutes
radiozoom.net

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I’ve never seen so many

I often tell Rebecca that I have never seen so many luxury vehicles in my life until I came to Vancouver. I’m not saying that I haven’t crossed paths with a ferrari or lamborghini before, but around here, you can have three of each pass you by as you walk down the street. Their appearance will dwindle in the next few days as fall drags us into winter. This summer was an eye opener though.

Big money on Robson StreetIt’s not so much that I’m an awe. In all actuality, I find it kinda sad. I would even go as far as to call it juvenile. It’s really not that different from my days in high school when driving around “the loop” for hours on end was the cool thing to do. Robson Street, from what I have experienced, is just that. This time, it’s people with more money than they know what to do with, cruising up and down the strip so people can see their car that costs more than a college education.

I’ve also seen more hummers than anywhere else. Forget about these things helping out with the mountainous terrain. No, these gas sucking machines are parked all over downtown. Some are commuters, others just use these things to get around the city. It shatters that thought of Vancouverites being overly enivronmentally conscious folks. For the most part, this is true, but the reality depends on how much money you have and the way you need to soothe that burning hole in your wallet.

On the other side of this, Minibuses[wiki] are more numerous in a comforting way. It’s like seeing a Smart[wiki] car buzz its way down the street. They tell me that all hope isn’t lost. The idea of thinking beyond bigger and better is still alive.

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The vowels of the internet

I’ve been going to the last few Metroblogging Vancouver meetups, and there are usually a lot of interesting conversations. Some of them, as you can probably imagine, stem into the realms of being slightly geeky.

For instance, the point was brought up that there has been a natural progression of using vowels as a prefix to a website domain, company, or product name. For the life of me, I’m not sure where the letter “A” fits into all of this, but “E” and “I” have been front and center for nearly two decades now. Email, iTunes, iPod, and so on. Keep going down the line and one starts to wonder about “O”, “U”, and (some times) “Y”. What’s the next, new, hot thing going to be? What way will these letters be used and abused?

Of course, how can you not talk about YouTube? Everyone is now that Google just picked it up for a pretty penny. Someone brought up the idea that it should have been “uTube” and not “YouTube”. This would have fit into that natural progression in the world of Web 2.0. I’m not sold on it, but the thought made for some good laughs.

However, utube.com does exist. Thing is, they don’t do anything with video.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Utube.com, a Web site owned by a supplier of used tubes and pipes, has been swamped with visitors confusing it with online video service YouTube Inc. and has been barely operational since Google Inc. said on Monday it would buy YouTube for $1.65 billion.

“I’m at a point now, all I want to do is to make the site work,” Ralph Girkins, owner of the site belonging to Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment Corp., told Reuters on Thursday.

“Today, it’s been up the longest it’s been up for a week — an hour and a half,” said Ohio-based Girkins.

utube.com is the sixth most popular U.S. manufacturing Web site, ahead of Whirlpool Corp., according to data provided by HitWise.

On Monday, Girkins told Reuters an intermediary who said he was acting on behalf of YouTube had offered $1 million to buy the Internet address, but he turned down the offer and was holding out for $2.5 million to $3 million.

A YouTube spokesman said it had not made an offer and had no plans to do so.

On Thursday, Girkins said he had received about 20 phone calls from people who offered to sell his site for him. He has not been in contact with Google or YouTube, he said. [reuters]

Now it could be that this guy was thinking way ahead when he registered this domain, but he's certainly sitting on a gold mine. I find it fascinating that there is nothing Web 2.0 to the site itself. It makes complete sense that people would think that when they hear people talking about YouTube, they would think "utube" when they sat down at a browser.

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All is well when you have a miracle maid

I know that I certainly think to look up whenever I hear a plane engine getting louder or really close. In fact, I was in NYC during Memorial Day weekend in 2005 where there was a fly over by some military jets. Buzzed right over downtown during Fleet Week celebrations, and I swear that you heard the entire city pause for a moment.

I’m not so sure that I would have had this quick of wit though. I guess you never really know until you’re put into that situation. Did 9/11 prime this woman to be more attentive for these types of situations?

NEW YORK (AP) — A woman in a high-rise apartment hit by New York Yankee Cory Lidle’s plane survived after her housekeeper saw the aircraft coming and rushed in from another room to get her out, a relative of the resident said Thursday.

Flames from the deadly crash scorched Ilana Benhuri’s back and legs but she “has very good spirits,” said her husband, Dr. Parviz Benhuri.

“She was in the same room that the nose of the plane hit,” said her brother-in-law Dr. Marc Benhuri. “I’m telling you it’s an absolute miracle that she’s alive. I honestly believe that God was sitting on her shoulder.”

Ilana Benhuri, 50, was doing paperwork at her desk when she heard the small plane outside her 30th-floor apartment, Marc Benhuri said. The housekeeper, Eveline Reategue, saw the plane coming and rushed into the room to get her, he said.

The plane crashed into the apartment as they were trying to get out, Marc Benhuri said. Lidle and his flight instructor, Tyler Stanger, were killed.

“I took my boss [by the arm], and we ran out,” Reategue, told the New York Post. “The floor was on fire, and it looked like it was going to cave in.

“The women closed the door of the room where the plane hit, then closed the front door and ran down a fire escape to safety, Marc Benhuri said. Closing the front door of the fiery apartment probably saved their lives, he said. [cnn]

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The old look is the way to go

I wouldn’t bank on it, but it’s almost like Alain Vigneault has been reading my blog or something.

New ‘Nucks dig old looks

Coach, players excited about retro jerseys for home opener
Elliott Pap
Vancouver Sun
Thursday, October 12, 2006

OLD SCHOOL: The Canucks will wear their vintage uniforms for Friday’s home opener but if head coach Alain Vigneault had his way, he’d order them up more often.

The Canucks are scheduled to skate in the old duds 15 times this season. Vigneault loves everything about them right down to the stick-in-empty-rink logo.

“It’s a beautiful colour and a beautiful sweater and I prefer this one,” Vigneault said Wednesday. “I gave my opinion to Dave Nonis [Canucks GM] and I’m sharing it with you. I don’t know if I should, but I am anyway. For me, the Canucks’ old sweater is what it’s all about.”

Goalie Roberto Luongo has come well prepared for vintage night, too, and was practising Wednesday in vintage coloured pads, gloves and mask

“I love them, I think they’re great,” said the Italian stallion. “I like vintage jerseys in any sport so it’s fun to wear them. The old logo is simple but, at the same time, it’s got a lot of history behind it.”

Former Canuck Anson Carter had the best description for the vintage uniforms, saying they were like “a boutique hotel, simple with not a lot on the walls.” [vancouversun]

I forwarded this over to Alanah over at VCOE and have to agree with her. “Italian stallion”? She said she nearly spit up her coffee when she read that, and I can’t say that I was too far off the mark. Regardless, bring back the old school Canucks jerseys full time!

Additionally, Salo is out for the game this Friday according to the rest of this article. Groin injuries are never good and take a long time to fully heal. I would expect to see Salo bouncing back and forth from this injury all season, especially if it’s bad enough to take him completely out of a game in the second period. Hopefully he’ll make me eat my words.