Seattle

• The Underground City of Mystery
• Cheri Priest’s entry about the thing is a good place to start to decide if you care about them at all
• the tours
• Wikipedia’s entry
• The Experience Music Project
• originally started as ex-Microsoft head Paul Allen’s honouring of Jimi Hendrix and all things musical and roughly Seattle, it’s expanded to be a very broad tent indeed.
• It also now has a Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame
• the official site
• Wikipedia entry
• some reviews on TripAdvisor to see if you like the sound of it (see what I did there? …genius!)
• Pike Place Market
• site of the very first Starbucks, which hasn’t been re-styled ever as far as I know
• people throw gigantic fish around
• shopping and fooding galore, a bit like that market near the Golden Hinde in London, betwixt the railway and London Bridge, only bigger (because this is America and they’re like that)
• Seattle Science Centre and the Space Needle
• well-designed and spacious museum explaining science of oodles of stuff, been there for years, you get to expeience science more than study it.
• right next to the big pointy thing, you can’t miss it

 
Vancouver Comic Shops (stop pouting, Laura)

• The Comic Shop (fairly uncreative a name, sadly)
• Over on Vancouver’s ‘west side’, in the Kitsilano neighbourhood (sometimes simply called “Kits”)
• Been there for years, good selection, there should be a sweet shop either next door or very close
• At the corner where there’s a traffic light is “Sophie’s Cosmic Café”, which provides good food and North American Diner décor with a soupcon of ‘eclectic’, all of which is popular with the locals
• Gotham Collectables
• Just down the hill from the shop above, a nice walk away with window shopping in between
• Rx Comics (slogan “We’ve got the prescription for your comic book addiction”)
• Main Street area–recently taking to calling itself “SoMa”, as in ‘South Main’, aren’t we all la di dah–with a goodly number of little boutiques and restaurants and cafes for those less graphic novel oriented
• Golden Age Collectables
• very much downtown, in the heart of the cinema and nightclub district
• posters and photos galore, in addition to graphic novels and “dear God, how much?” copies of rare comic books and ephemera
• ABC Book & Comic Emporium
• They used to be at the other end of downtown as Golden Age Collectables, now they’re 1/2-way between Kitsilano and SoMa, but do not walk there from either location unless feeling very fit or adventurous.
• How they ever moved is beyond my ken, they have more stock of all sizes and shapes than thought possible
• Books galore, graphic novels and single-issues of comics, classic literature and modern, non-fiction… more than enough to make your luggage over-weight in no time
• picture a proper big bookshop like Hay-on-Wye under one roof
• they have a cat who possibly weighs 87 pounds

 
Salt Spring Island

• Relaxing
• recommended
• Sex
• ibid
• Eating
• op cit.
• for other ideas, ask the locals

About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow

–“A Shropshire Lad” [1896]; Nº2, st. iii

I wonder what the people in the Canadian Maritimes are doing right now…? Probably giggling at us, I suspect.

Daffodils
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty.

–“The Winter’s Tale” [1610–1611]; Act IV, sc iii, 118

I wonder what the people in the Canadian Maritimes are doing right now…?

Yes, we have fiddlers with wild tatto’oing and kids who can fly over fields of grain… but we have no snow, at least not here in Vancouver, which is why the Men’s Alpine Ski Competition has been postponed (they’re shipping snow from 150 miles away to several venues using dump trucks… no, honestly, they literally are doing that very thing).

Anyway, I may feel that building a transit corridor, re-building a highway, and constructing a convention centre collectively costing well over three billion dollars (for those of you in the UK, that’s $3,000 million, not $3 million million; the Canadian dollar hasn’t fallen that badly), yet the government responsible refusing to count the work required for the bid to be accepted as an Olympic Expense–all the while slashing arts, health, education, and community works funding, claiming “there’s no money” when asked for justification–is not only absurd but inhumane. I may resent the current PM, BC Premier, and a host of other politicians using the Olympic Games as photo opportunities for their ‘non-campaign’ for re-election (the party at both levels of power was different when the games were sought and awarded), and the fact that the PM has dissolved parliament at a time when it was politically wise to not be questioned in a public parliamentary forum about his every decision (and he refuses to engage in Q&A through press ‘scrums’). I resent a great deal of this nation’s attention, efforts, and volunteer labour being focused on a bunch of under-paid athletes doing something truly amazing that is held under the auspices of what amounts to a Multi-National Entertainment Corporation which claims to be altruistic about ‘the celebration of the pure sporting achievements’. Given the insane amount of cash that gets shovelled through the IOC from people like IBM, M^CDonalds, VISA, Omega, RBC-Dominion, NBC, Coca-Cola, and the rest, I’ve no idea how the IOC recently acquired an Observers Chair at the United Nations; especially given the UN’s stated policy that they do not engage with, represent the interests of, or liaise between corporations.

Anyway… beyond all that…

The Opening Ceremonies here in  town brought tears to my eyes more than once, and it was stunning (pity about only three of the legs for the cauldron working, though).

Meanwhile, outside…

Well, frankly, SmuttySteff covers the whole local protest issue far better than could be even imagined within my capabilities, frankly. For as start, I’d probably be more sweary. Read her take on the matter right here. Honesty do it: you’ll be glad you did.

This afternoon I went to an office on Granville Island where a book awaits being picked up by me. It’s about new business marketing models taking into account the New Economy, yet is based on good, old-fashioned common sense. Sadly, they’re closed until January 5. Damn. Entirely my fault that I drove all the way across town without calling them first to make sure they were open, as was the lack of parking in the area (odd, considering this ought to be the ‘slack time’ for shopping there…), so there we are. I didn’t get a parking ticket for the expired parking meter, so that’s something.

On the way home, I stop in to check my lottery ticket, with unsuccessful results. Typical; the odds are against me, after all.

BANG! Right into the Mother Corp’s brand-new building!

Arrive home to discover that a parcel was delivered! But, it was while I’m out, so it’s not there and I’ll have to get it at the local post office depot tomorrow, after 13:00. Damn.

I try to match the bathroom tile–as part of the on-going project–at _____ Plumbing & Drainage, which seems a reasonable conclusion, given its name. The response therein was surprisingly blunt: “We’re a plumbing outfit!” Yes, well, this is bathroom tile, so… “First I’ve heard of that. We sell toilets!” The tiles are from a bathroom wall, which is the same room, so… “Bah!” Sorry to have wasted my your time.

Off to ____ Tile at the other end of my little town of Burnaby. The reaction from the girl behind the counter (and, trust me, this was a 20-year-old girl): “Wow this seems really old… did you buy that more than two years ago?” Attempting to control my hysterical laughter at the idea tile more than two-years-old could be considered “really old”, I merely reply “yes,” and don’t further explain to her that the socks and shorts I’m wearing are more than two years old. The chances are good that this tile is actually so old that her parents were not yet in puberty at the time it was purchased. Turns out that there will be a replacement available in plain, un-patterned, glossy, tile roughly matching the colour of the tiles we have now. Good, although not ideal. Fine, really, and certainly far easier than cleaning all the grout and mortar off the existing tiles without breaking them.

Driving around accomplishing all these tasks, however, was a bit of a task itself: the roads all a mess of directionless confusion. Why; especially as it’s the Tuesday between Christmas & New Year’s? Not a bloody clue! Getting to the second place about tile was a bit of a pain if you missed it initially, as you can only get into their parking lot from the one direction; once you’ve passed it, you enter the land of ‘you can’t get there from here’ road design. Mostly the roads were empty, except when attempting to go north through Willingdon and Canada Way, which was just as backed up past BCIT as it usually is. “Why am I doing this?” was a frequent refrain in the vehicle through most of this.

The radio is on, providing some tidbits of insanity:

• yesterday’s mystery metal box, found in a residential refrigerator by the home-owner was blown-up by the  Vancouver Police yesterday and they haven’t yet announced what was inside it;
  • ADDED LATER: apparently it was a box containing explosive material because it’s traditional to leave stuff that blows up in your mother’s fridge at Holiday Time, and police are seeking the house owner’s son;
• this morning a street guy stole a BMW following a verbal altercation with the driver, two people are dragged hanging on to the vehicle’s doors, as he reverses up one of Vancouver’s busiest streets and smashes it into the side of the CBC building which is so new it hasn’t even had that corner studio used yet (more details here, and also some photos here);
• the traffic report includes word of a police incident in Port Coquitlam where a plane had to make an emergency landing in the middle of Reeves Street near Gate’s Park
  • ADDED LATER: the emergency landing was in a soccer field, it was caused by fuel line problems; no-one was hurt but someone did have to move out of his way; and
• anyone deciding to travel to the USA aren’t allowed to bring anything with them into the aircraft cabin other than the clothes they’re standing-up in, because we’re all presumed to be guilty of consorting with terrorists (and yesterday the entire computer system at the airport was down for most of the day)

So… “2009: the year of WTF?!?!” in microcosm. What shall 2010 bring?

I’m terrified at the prospect, frankly.

Have a look.

As far as I understand it, The Delta Earthwise Demonstration Garden (which also sells fresh vegetables) was a dairy farm in its previous life, with some fruit and vegetables being also grown, and was recently generously leased to the area’s people through a non-funded non-profit society (essentially, they go scrounging for funds as much as they can). All of the flowers you see in the images have been planted in beds established last year from scratch (although there were some tended plants there before), and half of the ground used was un-touched entirely.

The yellow home you see in the images is the original farm house and is on the Heritage Building list. It was a museum of a sort for awhile, but is now used as a dorm for a local language school for visiting Japanese girls. This permits the house to have funding for on-going maintenance, and also makes the house be alive for the purpose it was built: to be a home.

There’s a fair number of pictures, but the ‘auto-play’ slide show moves quick-ish. Give it five minutes, probably, about the length of time the hourly radio news runs. Looking at flowers and nature for five minutes is probably a better thing to do than listening to the news anyway.

Here’s the images: Here are the images:

For those of you in the Metro Vancouver area interested in visiting, they’re located at the corner of Boundary Bay Road and 3rd Avenue in South Delta. It’s open seven days a week for self-guided tours, plus a number of events, tours, and workshops. You can even get an allotment plot if you’re lucky. Head to their site below for details about programmes, times, and so on.

To learn more about the Delta Earthwise Society, head here: earthwisesociety.bc.ca
To learn more about the garden itself, head here: earthwisesociety.bc.ca/garden.htm
To learn more about the farm itself, head here: earthwisesociety.bc.ca/earthwisefarm.htm
Transit service involves joining with a 601 “SOUTH DELTA” to the “SOUTH DELTA EXCHANGE BAY 2″, then taking the cute little C89 “BOUNDARY BAY” bus to the stop nearest the entrance. Best to consult TransLink for details.

• What: Launching an Independent Publishing House: Fab or Folly?
• Who: The Shebeen Club and Atomic Fez Publishing
• When: Monday, June 15^TH, 6:00–9:00 pm
• Where: The Shebeen, behind the Irish Heather, 212 Carrall Street in Gastown
• Details: $15 cash only, includes dinner and one drink (pint). No minors, please.
• Facebook Event Page: it’s got pictures and things, also a map; RIGHT HERE
• Blather: follows

MEET THE NAÏVE PROPRIETOR

The proprietor of Atomic Fez Publishing will engage the public in an all singing, all dancing event at The Shebeen Whisky House behind the Irish Heather Gastro-Pub in Vancouver’s Gastown district.

Ian Alexander Martin is expected to discuss his reasoning behind beginning a Small Press Publishing house in these days of financial turmoil which have seen several international houses drastically scale back their structures, frequently closing sub-imprints and selling off their intellectual assets like so much scrap iron. Likewise, when even local publisher Raincoast Books scales downsize their operation following the completion of the ‘Harry Potter…’ series, is there any point in trying to enter the market?

Additional topics will include:

• why be a small-press publisher if you’re not also a writer?
• what sort of books does Atomic Fez select?
• the answer to the question “dead tree books or electronic books” is “YES!”
• whither the future of independent bookshop?
• why can’t people buy any small-press books at Chapters or Smith’s
• why shouldn’t authors just self-publish and go straight to the readers and their money?
• just how insane are you?

Come and hear a 20-minute talk about what Mr. Martin’s approaches are, and what he thinks the state of publishing is today. A question and answer session with follow the presentation after a short break.

ABOUT THE NAÏVE PROPRIETOR

For three years Ian Alexander Martin was a Director in Humdrumming, Limited—a very tiny publishing company registered in England & Wales—during the last ten months of which was acting as President and C.E.O., Managing and Editorial Director, plus also being responsible for the contracting, editing, typesetting, publishing, and marketing of twenty different titles. Meanwhile, Humdrumming continually earned the respect and admiration of writers and readers alike, as well as seven ‘short-list’ nominations from the prestigious British Fantasy Society’s annual awards (and more to come in a few months).

In addition to the above, Mr. Martin has previously been an arts journalist; editor; professional photographer; photo-finishing store owner; web-site designer and consultant; theatre actor and director, as well as being the Founding Editor and Publisher of the theatre web-zine The Boards. If you had told him at the turn of the millennium that he would have accomplished these things, he would have laughed so hard he would have been physically ill at your feet.

He lives in Burnaby with his wife and two cats, all three of whom frequently succeed in dragging him kicking and screaming from the computer keyboard.