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Monthly Archives: August 2006

was ein flugtag ist?


You know, my little handheld Canon ELPH might not be the best equipment on which to shoot zoomed-in videos of things falling into False Creek.

That’s pretty much the Flugtag experience. Watching things fall into False Creek from a couple hundred meters away. It was entertaining enough, but I’ll admit, walking through downtown after and running across groups of cute hipster zombie chicks returning from the Zombiewalk made me wish I’d done that instead.

Oh well, with any luck there will be a Zombiewalk 2007, and they might take a cue from the San Francisco Zombiewalk. There, they encouraged people to take the role of victims along the walk route — you wore a piece of duct tape on your shirt and zombies would attack you, slather you with blood and makeup, and you could join the ranks of the dead. Sounds a blast, it does. Plus, they invaded the Apple Store.

zombies vs flying things


Zombiebus-SnipThis Saturday offers an embarrassment of cool, and I have a decision to make. On the one hand, there’s the Zombiewalk. Last year’s zombiewalk was stupendously cool. Marching down Main Street dressed as the walking undead, freaking people out… it was truly an unlife-affirming experience. I enjoyed every minute of it.

And now, Zombie Beach Party From Hell.

http://theygotodie.com//plus/download.php?open=1 Zombiewalk 2006: Zombie Beach Party from Hell! will happen on Saturday, August 19, 2006 . . . still lots of time left to decompose properly.

Starting at 3pm at the Vancouver Art Gallery (Howe and Robson).

To combat zombie exhaustion the route will be shorter!
To combat zombie boredom the route will be different!

However, on the same day, at the same time (roughly) is the Red Bull Flugtag!

The first Flugtag took place in Austria in 1991. Since then, the dream of flying hand-made machines into unsuspecting bodies of water has spread like wildfire. From Ireland to San Francisco, inspired pilots have come out of the woodwork to construct their own outrageous craft. And while the flights have never been record-breaking, the pre-launch showmanship has always been unparalleled!

Normally I would gravitate toward the Zombiewalk, which not only involves zombies, which are near and dear to my heart, but in which you get to do an actual cool fun thing. The Flugtag, on the other hand, involves standing in what is sure to be a huge crowd, watching other people do a cool fun thing. However, I’ve done a zombiewalk, but I’ve never done a flugtag. And while the zombiewalk does seem to be going ahead, it seems to be a lot less publicized than last year’s, so I wonder if it will be quite as awesome.

I’m truly rent asunder.

Maisaieed Golf Challenge



Maisaieed Golf Challenge 019 originally uploaded by Lee Boy.

My brother Lee got bored in Qatar and decided to play golf on hottest course in the world on the hottest day at the hottest time. Nine holes in 53-degree heat. In true Qatar fashion, the course also happens to be a barren grassless wasteland next to a petrochmical plant. The description on his blog is pretty amusing.

one of our Kommunists is missing


In other international travel news, we were expecting Tamy back at die Kommune on Friday, though on further thought, none of us are really sure about the date he’s supposed to be back. However, if you see this man wandering the Eastern seaboard and talking about efficient rendering and parallel systems with a French accent, please contact the Kommune and/or la consulate général de France, as the case may be.

I knew taking all these mug shots would pay off. Another week, and I’m sending him an email.

UPDATE: He’s back. Call off the search.

on staying focused and serving multiple masters


The main reason I’m working so hard this month is that I want to earn me some extra money to go travelling in Southeast Asia this winter. I don’t have a specific plan yet, but I’m thinking Thailand for sure, and possibly one or more of Vietnam, Cambodia or Japan.

I think the idea of going to Thailand entered my head after seeing the offbeat, but quite lovely Christopher Doyle-shot film Last Life in the Universe, by Pen-ek Ratanaruang.

Not that the film really comes across like an advertisement for the country, but it has such a dreamy, slow-paced beauty and strangeness, and hearing Christopher Doyle’s brilliant commentary track made me appreciate how much locations can influence films. I like that.

In that way, it reminds me a lot of Lost in Translation, which makes me want to go to Japan. But Thailand is a whole lot cheaper.

Plus, if all goes well, I would like to take an extended period of several months to travel after I finish my PhD in a couple of years. This will allow me to dip my toe into the water of more exotic travel and find out how I deal with being in a country where I don’t speak the language.