Ingmar Lee - Tip of the Fedora · Tuesday March 25, 2008 by colin newell
To call Ingmar Lee a professional protester is like calling your dentist a practitioner of pain for payment.
Ingmar, a Victoria area resident and (I am pretty sure) taxpayer, is the darling of University (and College) students, the unwaged, the working poor, and those, it seems, too unworthy of living on Bear Mountain… or in the Uplands… or in any privileged enclave too sacred to house the many (and seemingly teeming) population of unwashed on the lower Island.
Because hey, you are either pro-development or your not…
As if it was that easy to pick one side or the other.
But to dismiss Lee as a professional protester and his associates as Welfare bums and Hippies illustrates the utter contempt that most pro-development types feel for Activists of conscience like Ingmar Lee (and, by the way, anyone that doesn’t drive a Hummer or live on Bear Mountain).
Call me crazy but when was it such a big deal to throw up your hands and say: Hey, hang on a second here! How about some open discussion about what is going on around us?
Protest , the last time I checked, was not a crime.
Anyway – The CBC surprised me with an article on Ingmar this morning. It seems that he has taken out a permit on mineral rights for the Bear Mountain region.
Which for a Bum (not my words) like Ingmar — is utterly brilliant.
And we need to take a moment, regardless of our orientation on the subject of development… and credit Ingmar on his stroke of pure genius.
To put aside our differences… just long enough to think a little more clearly.
And think about… where we live. And remember that big development does not have to be painful, is not always necessary and like the dentist should be something we all attend to… when we need to.
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Avril Lavigne launches World Tour from Victoria · Thursday March 6, 2008 by colin newell
Overheard moments after the concert ended…
“How does a Vancouver Canucks game differ from an Avril Lavigne concert?”
Well. It seems that after paying over $60 for her, slightly over one hour, show…
Well… “You are the loser.”
I am aware that she has, what, 2 songs that have garnered radio play in the last 2 years or so…
Lemme see… Sk8r Boi… and… Thinking… Thinking…
At a little over $1/minute for Avril (hey, Video games cost more than that!), the average fan might not notice the time passing – but as a music reviewer, it is like being in a room of heroin addicts after a quad-shot of my favorite espresso.
And as a devoted fan of American and Canadian Idol (more pre-fab music in the works), I have noticed that there is a finite pool of musical talent on this continent… and with each trip to the trough, that supply gets more and more scant. And no, I am not saying that Avril is not talented… because she has broad appeal to her legion of teen and pre-teen girlfriends…
It’s just… I hope this is not the future of live music: Where (largely prefabricated) bands trot out their hits in staccato fashion in under an hour… and graceless at that.
The good old Hockey Game Chapter 1 · Saturday March 1, 2008 by colin newell
In the last week I have been to three hockey games; 2 Victoria Salmon Kings games and one Vancouver Canucks games.
Yes. This is a fairly recent phenomenon for me.
And prior to seeing the Canucks play last November of 2007, I have not seen a regular season game since the era of Bobby Hull and Bobby Orr.
No, I am not kidding and yes, I feel like I have been asleep for 100 years.
Here is the thing. I have seen 3 Salmon Kings games in the last month and I am sold. I love these guys and I’ll tell you why:
The Salmon Kings play at the Save On Foods center which is an intimate space at about 5000 seats. The Canucks play at GM Place, which I think seats about 17,000.
Salmon Kings hockey is totally family friendly right down to the folksy intermissions with short pee-wee hockey games, multi-generational families clustered in rows of affordable seats, familiar faces and collections of arena geezers who could be anyones and everyones grand-pa. The waft of popcorn and hot-dogs drowns out the fragrance of hops and malt at the Salmon Kings games.
On appearances, Canucks hockey is a great big corporate experience with tickets so generally un-affordable as to be out of reach for the average guy. If it wasn’t for periodic work-related visits to Vancouver with hotels provided, the NHL hockey game would be out of my reach.
Molson Canadian Beer! Canucks hockey is less a sports experience and more a giant beer garden…
with lots of really big men… I mean, where do these Bear-sized males, who look like they eat steak three times a day, come from? Surprisingly, despite the zillion gallons of Molson beer that are served at the average Canucks game, the audience remains pretty sedate. Everyone is, after all, reminded frequently to behave themselves – there is even a 1-800 squeal line you can call if your adjacent revelers get a little out of control.
Back to the Salmon Kings. These Victoria boys give good hockey for the $20-something ticket prices and they really work at it – I mean, they have nothing to lose and everything to gain if their talent shines through.
The Canucks, on the other hand, are all millionaires… and it shows. The crowd is more blinged out, more angry by the sounds of all the expletives that drift through the crowd… and yea, generally less family friendly.
So. Give me the smaller arena and the small town home team with the 20 dollar tickets… and I will save the Canucks for that, ahem, special occasion
All gestures great and small · Sunday February 17, 2008 by colin newell
I witnessed two simple yet complex and complementary events today that I thought I would share.
While walking towards Clover Point on Victoria B.C.‘s scenic Dallas road, my wife and I heard the cacophony of dozens and dozens of cars.
A wedding I thought. Wrong.
As we were approaching the spectacular vista, we were quickly surrounded by a joyous throng of Kosovar-Canadians celebrating their independence… as of today.
Young and old waved the flag of their homeland, their joy infectious and emotional. Although it took a few minutes for me to lock in on the sheer magnitude of what I was witnessing – I eventually did and felt my eyes well up with tears. I can only grasp at what these new Canadians were feeling – but on a basal level I got it.
Ironically, I had last seen the Kosovar flag some eight years ago while witnessing a significantly more sombre march down Shelbourne Street – by an impromptu collection of fighting age men brought together by tragedy and genocide some 7000 miles away.
As we walked back to our car we reflected on how the World has just changed… perhaps for the better.
Lunch today was an order of foot-long hot-dogs at the Willow Galley in Oak Bay’s Estevan village – an old favorite. While walking up to the entrance, I noticed a familiar face – Stanley Cup champion Geoff Courtnall, formerly of the Edmonton Oilers. And like any other 40-something semi-middle aged dude, I act like a teenager meeting up with one of his idols… just like three or four other guys my age did as they approached this well established fish and chip shop.
Except there is a twist to this story.
While we were all there waiting for our orders to come up, a 4-door sedan pulled up to the intersection and Geoff was the first to spot the fact that the elderly couple in the car had a flat tire. So – who is the first to volunteer to change the tire? That is right – Geoff Courtnall. While a handful of giddy dudes stood by waiting to talk story with a hockey idol from a bygone era, our Stanley Cup idol make quick work of a tire-change… seemingly in minutes.
These two events, although completely unrelated, give us moments of hope in a deeply troubled World – where we can share tears of joy with complete strangers as they wave their new flag…
and tears of laughter when 2 elderly folks are quickly sent on their way by the spontaneous gesture of a sports hero.
Soap. We all use it. · Monday February 11, 2008 by colin newell
Soap. It is all around us. I dare to say that there are probably few people that get through the day without a bar of soap. Those that do should probably reconsider their stance.
Me. I am an Irish Spring kind of guy.
And it makes my friend Sheila cringe.
She makes soap. Really good soap.
I photograph it. And the impromptu photo above does not do it justice.
I designed her webpage Wisdomee.com and it has had modest success.
We have come up with some interesting ideas.
Like Coffee Body Scrub.
And if you know me at all, you will know that a fusion of coffee and soap is darn near a perfect combo. Imagine getting clean and buzzed at the same time. And it works.
At some point I will be pushing this product a little more.
Shameless? Maybe.
Tingly and perky and squeaky clean? You bet!
