Holy stickers Batman. These things have hit Toronto, New York, Halifax… everywhere. Now they’ve reportedly crossed the pond. They’re going up in the UK now. Move over Banksy. Or whatever. I have no idea what this means.
Tag: Culture
Negative Empathy
Should writers of fiction review the work of colleagues? I avoid it personally, and my rational for doing is the basis for my side of a debate that was part of the CBC Literary Smackdown series recently. The other side of the issue was taken by esteemed Victoria-based novelist and nonfiction writer Robert Weirsma, who also writes a lot of fine reviews. […]
Maynards and the Future of the Auction Trade
First published in BC Business Magazine There was a telling scene at an auction I attended recently. It was the Modern Woman show at Maynards, where the 108-year-old auction house had assembled a group of 35 contemporary fine art works from 24 emerging artists. Unlike the typical Maynards auction of items sourced from estates and […]
Time Warp
Originally published in Saturday Night Magazine You might think it’s the year 2000, but a group of prominent Russian mathematicians is arguing that history is all wrong, and it’s actually 936AD. They’ve set off a battle that’s now come to Canada, and it’s getting nasty. **** The man in the tweed jacket sitting ahead of me […]
The Envy Economy
From the Globe and Mail Report on Business Magazine When Oliver Stone’s upcoming sequel to Wall Street (Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps) is released this fall, there will be renewed debate on whether “greed is good.” People may disagree with Gordon Gekko, just as his protégé Bud Fox ultimately did in the original film, but […]
Olympics at street level, Diyah Pera photographs
I went out with Diyah Pera, a photographer friend of mine, on Friday to watch the protests. She took some great pictures. I like the one above in particular. There’s hope and determination in the face. There’s another quality I’ll inadequately describe as “realness”. Experience, life lived. I don’t know about you, but I want to hear what this person […]
The Feel Good Economy
From the January 2010 Globe and Mail Report on Business Magazine If you want to make people feel good about your company, it doesn’t hurt to make them feel good about themselves “Paying it forward” is an old idea with new life lately. Brands as different from one another as Dove, Starbucks, TalkTalk wireless in […]
Wacky Pack Stories: Hostile Thinkies
My best friend’s name was Sten, as in Stendhal. As in Stendhal Beauregard-Vincent, his father having been important at one point in France. Then he (Sten’s father) had decided to grow a beard, become a boat designer and move to West Van. He designed sailboats for quite a few famous people, including the catamaran that song writer was later found dead in, floating off […]
Learning to live with the Suicide Machine
It’s hard not to twin the phenomenon of the Web 2.0 Suicide Machine, as reported in Time this week, and the release of Jaron Lanier’s new manifesto against Internet hive think You Are Not a Gadget. On the one hand, you have long time technology analyst describing the ensnaring culture of the Internet hive-mind. On the other hand, […]
Tokyo – Part Three: Eastern Promises
In travel, while you don’t want to rush, moments of real speed can be exhilarating. I mean those times during a trip when you can feel the globe rotating under your feet, the landscape transforming before your eyes. Liftoff out of Vancouver, on a trans-Pacific flight, is particularly evocative of this sensation for me. The […]