Remember that 2006 movie, Paris, je t’aime? All the short films about Paris? I sometimes wake up thinking about those films or wonder what their characters would be doing now. Recently I felt like I was actually in one of the movies- the last one on the tape called 14e arrondissement by Alexander Payne. It’s about a middle aged woman who goes and visits Paris by herself. She wears a hipsack, uses French, sightsees, and takes it all in. In the closing scene she sits on a park bench and at once is filled with great joy and great sadness.

Well, LiveCity Yaletown, je’taime. I didn’t have a hipsack but an oversized purse, rain jacket, a map of Olympic venues and the honest intent to really take in the hugeness of the Games, the crowds, the line-ups, pavilions, energy, excitement. Like how some people go to Paris to feel love, I went to LiveCity Yaletown to feel magic.

The thing with magic and love is you’ve got to feel connected to something and usually that something is a someone or a lot of someones.  And like the character in the film, I didn’t. Sure, I talked to a few strangers, shared some cheers, tried to get a few interviews at some pavilions (not allowed), smiled and bobbed from foot to foot in the chilly rain with some super friendly blue-jacket volunteers, but the experience was at once, sad and joyful.  Sad to  not find that “it” I was looking for, joyful to watch the Canadian Men’s Hockey Team come back from the US loss with such a vigour and confidence, such a focus and clarity and speed, it was like James Hetfield sang Ohhyeahh at every flick of a skate’s blade and the team could score on Russia as though their sticks had wings.

What an incredible game. I’m sure we were all there because we wanted that incredible game to be bigger than our little screens at home or just streaming it from our computers at work. We wanted to be a part of it. Why go stand in the pouring rain in the late afternoon, cold and wet, watching a self-conscious good-hearted band from Manitoba play until pre-game if you don’t want something more?

But you can’t make it happen. Woody Allen said 80% is showing up. Yup. But what’s that other 20%? That’s the magic, that’s the feeling of love, that’s transcending whatever your current reality is and watching it turn into something else. That’s the shift, that’s what has made Malcolm Gladwell rich and probably not at all insecure to hang out in any New York City restaurant he pleases.

I forgot myself and where I was everytime Canada scored. A huge cheer went up from the crowd and my hands hit the air like jay z told me to.

But something was missing. Right in the centre of me.

I wanted to go around hugging people, especially the ones with canadian flags as capes, but I didn’t. I walked home with a heavy/ light heart, woohoo’ing pockets of people shouting Go-Canada-Go; high-fiving strangers, taking pictures, cheering at honking cars but not really feeling a part of it. I had tried to get into LiveCity Yaletown a few times and didn’t make it in. So,  I think I stored up my waiting-for-the-Olympics-magic to hit me and unfold within those large blue gates. But instead I got some rain, some friendly nods, some not so friendly nods, some small talk, some smiles and the chance to watch an incredible hockey game on a screen so big I couldn’t fit it all in my camera.  What I got was a sense of life, with its mixed bag of goods and bads.

And I also got this: a sound appreciation for those kids who dressed up and danced.

Is it too early to talk favourite Olympic moments? Is it alright that I feel whimsical about something that happened 5 seconds ago?

Sure it is!  To both questions!

I want to give type to a few things/events I admired so much during the Olympics that my jaw made a dent in my chest.

#1 Vectorial Elevation. Those lights felt like a city-wide hug of art. They were comforting, dazzling and incredibly interactive. And the icing on the sky? Artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer spoke out about BC’s pending arts funding cuts.

#2 Circus West. As a part of  Granville Island’s Winterruption festival, performers and students of the circus wow’d growing audiences under the bridge on chilly, rainy and cloudy evenings.  My fav performer was the artist on the unicycle… it takes more than guts to try out new stuff in front of a live, expectant audience under a concrete bridge in Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Olympics, and anytime he fell, he just popped himself back up, made a motion to the audience to cheer him on, did a few dance moves with his arms and then tried the back flip again. Unbelievable and awesome.

#3 Also on Granville Island….Are you ready to rumbllllle…..Radio Radio rocked Performance Works/Place de la Francophonie like bees on speed. I only understood every third word they said but could feel it all, babee. Did I mention it was also my birthday? I lost the gemstone in my engagement ring, missed a date, ruined video for a fundraiser, got two pitches rejected AND still danced on fire to these guys, they were so good. For days after, my fiancee and I were much better phone conversationalists saying everything goes into ‘mon jacuzzi’ (so your carrot bean burrito in ma jacuzzi, paying my cell bill dans ma jacuzzi, I’m walking to meet you dans mon jacuzzi) Gosh, I forgot what it’s like to have fun. Radio Radio reminded me.

#4 Sidney Crosby scoring the winning goal. If that didn’t kickstart our Canadian hearts, no Alice Cooper song can. What a rush! What a unified WHHAAHOOO which I’m sure could be heard from the moon. I jumped up from my friend’s couch and didn’t stop jumping until they went to commercial and even then I was still screaming. I kept saying “we did it, we did it, we did it!” and rationally I know I didn’t do anything to help get that goal, but emotionally I felt like every single past, current and future Canadian got that goal.  I think maybe I could get just as much excitement if I jumped from a plane, but this was way better.  Check out this video post on Geist.

#5 Walking/bumbling/fumbling/high-fiving and praying not to be crushed on Granville Street after Sid’s goal. At one point I came to an intersection, I was separated from my friends and a very thoughtful young woman going the opposite way told me “don’t go that way, you’ll get crushed” while giving me a high five and sharing some Canada-woohoo’s. I tried to turn around but that was a no-go. I had no choice but to keep going the same way and for a split second I promised myself never to crowd around dogs who can’t see beyond ankle or hip level (I’m so short) and then I thought if I go down, it’s over and then I thought, don’t think like that, then I saw these three incredibly stout men standing in the centre of the intersection like boulders in a waterfall. I gave them each a high five and a yah Canada! on my push past and one guy looked at the other two, laughed and then lifted me up in the air from my kneecaps saying “yah Canada!”  I was mortified, gleeful and relieved to see that if I kept following the crowd in a few meters I could get out of the main rush and get to the side of the street to cheer and wait for my friends. I waved my little Canadian flag, said thank you to the man when he put me down and felt a renewed confidence in humanity. Today, there was no way I’d let anyone fall either.

#6 Olympic Tent Village. What an incredibly organized, visual and heart-wrenching protest. And to my surprise the most welcoming for an interview request. The thousands of dollars if not hundreds of thousands of dollars that went into organizing and setting up provincial pavilions is in such contrast to the zero-budget, no PR, open-community centre that was the Olympic Tent Village. From garnering International news coverage to receiving blankets, tents and food donations, Streams of Justice really presented an Olympic message that I hope can have even a quarter of the impact of Sid’s goal. According to an article at mediacoop.ca, 40 temporary residents of the Olympic Tent Village have now found housing. Go, Canada, Go, er, let’s go National Housing Strategy, let’s go.

#7 The Tim-Horton’s-commercial-esque gushy stories that are orchestrated to make you cry before you hear the end of the first sentence… Vancouverites footing the bill for athlete’s families to watch the games, messages to medalist Joannie Rochette, Clara Hughes donating $10 000 to Take a Hike…Those get-yr-handkerchief, get-yr-blanky-and-have-a-good-cry stories.

#8 The turn out for the Memorial March for Murdered and Missing Women. Which I’m going to post about separately because it was so powerful to be there.

#9 Canada’s Northern house - unpretentious, wide-open and full of art. And still open till the end of March.

#10 That I missed so many olympic moments! Dance marathon, the ice thing in Richmond, a taping of the Stephen Colbert report, getting a high five from the wandering Aussie’s boxing kangaroo mascot… so many incredible people, experiences and that thing we’re all looking for just beyond the sidewalk pavement: magic.

On last week’s M2M we got to hear Sarah Hyde as we have never heard her before… talking in public…haha, kidding. We got to hear her starring in a production of Herb Gardner’s A Thousand Clowns.

I talked to Sarah about what it was like being in the play, the inner workings of community theatre and she talked to her fellow castmates. We even threw in some clips of the actual play,  including a scene which the audience is led to believe Sarah has no clothes on,  freaks out, loses her job, her boyfriend, has sex with her actual real-life co-worker -who also stars in the play- all in the span of 10-15 minutes.

Pretty steamy.

And funny.

The best part, though, is all the heart that went into it. Yup, that’s the best part, even better than the pretend play sex.

Kudos to all in Merritt’s Live Theatre Society for a stellar, sold out performance.

 

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What a day for hang gliding emotions: swooping up, down, over there and back again.

There are a lot of currents in the air in this city right now, some congruent and some fighting for a piece of the wing.

The death of Georgian athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili is so tragic and senseless that it leaves one’s head spinning.  Although a few bloggers thought dedicating the opening ceremonies to him wasn’t enough, I thought VANOC did well. It was a powerful minute of silence after opera singer Measha Brueggergosman shook the 60 000 + people in BC Place. I have no doubt that that minute of silence was respected in households around the world.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Nodar Kumaritashvili’s family, friends and team mates who have decided to compete in his memory. If that doesn’t make your bottom lip quiver, reading the kind condolences people are posting will.

I also felt a turbulence of positive emotions yesterday when I saw the Olympic Torch carried past me . I stood within a large swell of people who cheered unabashedly. It was such a feeling of ‘coming togetherness’ or perhaps Olympic spirit, that for maybe the second time in my life I wanted to cheer for Canada. Not for the athletes and performers (I’ve been cheering for them for a long time) but for our country itself.  Inside my ribs I was saying something like, ‘you know, we’re not half bad, Canada, even with our large open wounds…racism, indigenous rights and land, poverty…we’re not half-bad, we may even, shoot,  be good. What a shift that was for me…to stand with hundreds of people celebrating… Canada.

 

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*Video note: I love  the guy wearing the best “Olympic” hat I may see in these next two weeks. You really get to see his hat the moment the flame goes past me as it blocks out my view, haha, then again at the very end of the video.

So, olympic spirit comes in lots of forms. A funny hat perhaps or a violent protest?

I sympathize with Olympic protesters because it’s true – hosting The Olympics has forced already marginalized people to shoulder the city’s problems in a way that is invisible and inexcusable.  How can we spend a billion dollars on security when people are sleeping in the streets? I think giving the Athlete’s Village to not-for-profits and social housing would be a great way to start undoing some of these injustices.

But no matter what, I don’t condone violence. Breaking stuff just turns people off, especially during such an emotional and symbolic time.  Depending on which story you read, the protests this morning were infiltrated by a “few bad apples” but were otherwise quite peaceful. I do know that the online forums have some thoughtful responses which probably took longer to write than it took a few masked people to break windows downtown.

And speaking of what is the what with media coverage, the W2, the official unaccredited international media zone, open 24/7 for bloggers, journalists and every combo of the two, are covering stories in a way we might not get to hear otherwise. You can get their coverage here. And rabble.ca is rocking Olympic coverage here. 

I want to share some ideas from the opening ceremonies in a future post. But for right now, I’m off to see Anvil, and you know what? Anvil are definitely the Olympians of Canadian Metal! Can you think of a lead singer more enthusiastic, heart-breakingly hopeful and ready to rock than Lips?

Nah, I didn’t think so.

I woohoo’d way way through seeing the Olympic Torch pass by me on Granville Island.

and I got this blurry picture to prove it:

Note to self: don’t ‘woohoo’ while shooting.

But this is exactly what surprised me: this incredible swelling of emotion came up inside of me. I wanted to scream, chant, group hug the people around me, cry and call my mom on my cellphone all at once.

(Last month’s bill and a sense of common decency stopped me).

It’s like how a well sung National Anthem can make even the curmudgeonist of person teary eyed – the chance to get to see the Torch make part of its final leg of its 100+ day  journey across Canada and back in the Olympic City of Vancouver on February 12, 2010 came over me like… like …. well… it was powerful.

So powerful, in fact, that I joined forces with a man standing next to me and as soon as the flame was well passed us we took off like two teenagers skipping school to find a place to stand along the dock to see the torch cross False Creek.

He even stood on a very tall post and got some shots with my camera. (not blurry at all).

It was so nice to share the excitement of the moment with someone.  And I couldn’t see past the crowds for the life of me, either.

I loved the nervous, excited and self-conscious buzz in the air at the docks. It was a much different feel from the earlier crowd where I got the blurry picture. There, people lined either side of the route and screamed their hearts out (a video of it will be coming shortly). But the crowd at the docks was more self-conscious and reflective.  I really really really wanted to start chanting “Go, Canada, Go” and rabble-rouse the crowd into cheering. I felt like all we needed was a tiny spark of ignition. It was like we were all standing at the side of an empty dance floor when our favourite song came on. I think if just one of us would have John Travolta’d to the centre, we would have sashayed right behind him or her.

I had no idea I had this patriotism in me.

But I hope as the Games go on, I’ll have the guts to let it out.

Now I just wonder how the protests are going at the Vancouver Art Gallery. I hope everyone is respectfully heard.

My colleague, co-host and radio bestie was one of the stars of Herb Gardner’s play A Thousand Clowns, put on by the Live Theatre Society in Merritt.

That's me taking a picture of Sarah putting the finishing touches on her make up just a half hour before she show starts. The venue was packed and they were looking for more chairs. I thought I was early, but it was hopping. When I first saw her I could have sworn she was Ellen Page.

I hopped on the Greyhound and made the trip up the mountain to see Sarah Hyde shine.

Literally.

Her and her fellow thespians were rocking the stage so hard I thought the furniture might fall through. I was blown away by the audience turn out, too. Although Sarah joked in an interview about rivaling Avatar, (both the movie and the play had sold out shows) the evening I was there, it wasn’t too far from the truth.

What a triumph for theatre!  And they didn’t even need Sigourney Weaver!

Imagine a large crowd of mitton-wearing movie-goers throwing off their 3D glasses for a bag of chips and a wooden seat at the Legion. That was the spirit in the air. Like we were all doing something new together right after rushing out of the house and half-eating supper in the car ride over.

And just as impressive as the acting (which I’ll get to in a second) were the high school students. They did make up, stage direction, raffles, you name it.  I had a sense that a lot of people in the audience had a part in the show even if they weren’t anywhere near the stage. From a perfect prop donation, to food for the crew, to making sure their significant others got to rehearsals, this was a community at its best.

And all for a show.

A good show.

Here’s a little confession. I was worried the play would be boring at best, bad at worst and then I would have to tell Sarah Hyde what I truly thought. There’s a little nagging stereotype that circles my brain about every year or so that gets proven wrong again and again (Hello Fringe Festival!).

Here it is: I figure all community theatre is like Waiting for Guffman… but without the laughs.

And I am wrong.

The actors in Merritt’s Live Theatre Society’s performance of Herb Gardner’s A Thousand Clowns were superb.

Yup, superb.

And you can turn into M2M on CJSF 90.1fm, Thursday from 3-4pm to find out why.

Radha’s Vegan Bake Sale for Haiti was delicious and spiritually nutritious. A combo the yoga & eatery seems to serve up on a regular basis.

I ordered the soup. That's oregano oil on top, mmmm.

It was my first time in the space and it was packed. I’m not sure if it was because it was a special occasion but the feel in the room was exactly what I first came to Vancouver for: possibility and warmth mixed with a devilish sense of fun and irreverence.

A piano player sat down next to our table and made what looked like a very charming (aka old) piano sing like it was Etta James.

Now, I have to be honest, I didn’t want to get  my hopes up for the baked goods. I mean the night felt incredible enough as is but I was to become shocked by my own shortcomings when I tasted what must be love in a paper baking cup.

the cupcake that can change the world

This cupcake was so moist and sweet and like a first kiss with a new boyfriend that I had to loosen my scarf.  You see, I love baking and a few years back dabbled in veganism (I’m vegetarian now) and I can remember my partner liking everything I made except baking:  brownies: dry and crumbly; cookies: tasted like bran flakes with honey, carob soy chocolate banana pie: tasted like fake chocolate pudding with fruit. The only thing I could get some praise for was apple crisp and yah, that’s delicious, but c’mon, it’s apple crisp. It’s almost so good for you it could be breakfast and where’s the treat in that?

Our table had a cupcake, square, and three cookies to choose from.

Out of a yummy assortment of baked goods, our table voted the vanilla cupcake with the coconut icing the best treat we have tasted in a long time. Not just out of the goodies present, but out of all goodies ever made by people. (Who knows what cats can come up with).

Although hard, I will stop talking about the vanilla cupcake that I’m sure Zeus would have included in his clay colliseum in Clash of the Titans and get to the money part. Bongo roll… a preliminary estimate of the vegan bakesale profits was a cool $3000 and with government matching could jump to six grand. That total is from vegan rice krispie squares, vegan cookies and vegan cake alone. Wow! And no apple crisp in sight.

But by far the sweetest treat of the night came from one woman and her guitar.

So many cute vegan-friendly people were sitting on the floor holding hands while Frazey Ford sang to us in a voice that could chill a ghost and warm a soul.

I couldn’t believe I was eating soup and cookies while she sang just a few feet in front of me!

Yup, lately I almost forgot the original reasons I wanted to come to Vancouver -but when Frazey Ford sang and joked about being a product of dysfunctional hippy parents, they all came flowing back, one sweet reason at a time.

1. Great hair will get you far.

2. Being able to laugh at yourself will get you farther.

Conan O’Brien’s final Tonight Show felt so real, I thought I was up there  with Dawn swaying to all the guitars while hugging my belly. (Except my belly is full of popcorn rather than baby, but same visual effect, really).

If Conan O’Brien shoots  from a 7-11 parking lot, I’d watch. If he shoots a show on YouTube, I’d watch. I think most of us would. Because not only can he make us laugh, he’s just gotten so close to our hearts that we didn’t notice our left ventrical is really a tall, lanky, Irish guy making sure the blood gets through.  He calls himself a comedian and we call him awesome.

During the last segment of his last show Conan’s addressed the audience, “especially to the young people watching” and said a few things I really want to post here:

“Please don’t be cynical. I hate cyncism. It is my least favourite quality. It doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get but if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen. I’m telling you, amazing things will happen. It’s just true.”

Thank you, Conan and I’m sure we will see you revolutionizing TV soon no matter where you air from.

Before you do anything today -brush your teeth, say hello to a loved one or pet, put on pants- go to this website:

http://www.petittrianon.ca

It showcases the work of local artist Allison Chambers.

And in case you’ve already got your pants on and said hello to people then worry not, I’ll wow your eyes with a few pictures from her website.

Yah, these amazing images are cakes. Cakes! And on this week’s M2M on CJSF 90.1fm Sarah Hyde and I will be talking to Allison about cookies, specifically political ones.  Tune in Thursday from 3-4.

Wesley Salter (left) and Kevan Funk (right)

A few months ago I got had the fine chance to meet  up with independent filmmaker Kevan Funk.  What an incredible force he is.  Mixing humility and talent with an unswerving arty vision that’ll get ya in the heart plus the gut.

And he can do that all on 47 bucks.

I was expecting to interview Kevan Funk for 20 minutes or so and ended up asking questions for over an hour. We aired an excerpted version of that interview on Christmas Eve on Mouth2Mouth on CJSF 90.1fm.  But I wanted to get  more of the interview out there because, well, I left it feeling changed.

And that’s exactly how I hope to leave every movie I go see. (Changed for the better that is…I’m still angry about seeing The Village in 2004).

But back to Kevan Funk.  Two things struck me right away about him: he is talented and real.

His grasp of reality and art left my fantasies of winning a karoke Dolly Parton competition while sharing a keyboard with Stevie Wonder wriggling on the floor. He made real life sound beautiful, intriguing, heart breaking and worthwhile.

I guess it is. (Pause the Dolly solo…)

So in the interview, Kevan talks about making films in Vancouver and how various limitations can actually help fuel some creative leaps and bounds.  We talk about his short  film Weight which was an official selection of the 2009 Vancouver International Film Festival and is currently an official selection of San Francisco’s Indie Film Festival.

Still image from Kevan Funk's film, Weight

We talk about what inspires him and what gets him out of his head.

If you believe in film, humility, art, possibility and making a budget  stretch far enough to make a fantastic film than you’re going to want to listen to this.

And of course I had to take a cheap shot and ask about his favourite film.

 

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