Early this summer, I finally gave in to my curiosity and headed up the steps of the BC Lung Association building at 2675 Oak Street, which I’d passed by many times since moving to the neighbourhood. I was glad I did. I expressed my interest in the building’s history, met with some of the staff, and eventually, on a return visit, I was given a “grand tour” of the interior – as well as the opportunity to take some great photos. I’m happy to share them with you here!
The building was constructed in 1928 as Vancouver’s first Jewish Community Centre, and filled that role until the new centre was built in 1962. However, although the inside, all dark wood and antique detail, appears to be original, it turns out that the interior had to be virtually gutted when the restoration was done in the mid-1980′s. The building at that time was in such a sorry state that only the exterior could be truly restored.
At any rate, the restoration – or “rehabilitation” as it is probably more accurately called – was so well done that the building received an award from the City of Vancouver’s Heritage Advisory Committee, which is prominently displayed in the lobby.
My friend Diane Koerner has launched a blog that’s all about one of my favourite subjects: food! Specifically, it’s an ever-growing selection of tantalizing, tasty recipes from both Diane’s own kitchen and some of the great eateries in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island, and beyond, as well as some fine recipes contributed by readers. There’s even an occasional story of Diane’s blended in to add a unique flavour!
All of this is illustrated with mouthwatering photos taken by Diane herself. (Shown here is Pulled Turkey on Kaiser Buns.)
A small but very nice improvement in my Mac experience, thanks to iOS 5 and iCloud, has just made itself apparent. The time is now precisely synced on all my devices!
It was my calendar alerts that made this evident. Previously, although alarms were synced between my iPod Touch and my iMac, they used to go off at slightly different times on each device. I knew my iMac was “live synced” to a time server that kept it accurate. And early on, I’d wondered if I needed to find some setting that would ensure the same on my iPod Touch. I imagined it would update the time when I plugged it in and synced – until I realized that this was not the case. You set the time on your iTouch and it immediately starts an inexorable drift out of sync with both the correct time and any other devices.
Enter iCloud. I noticed my alarms firing off on my iMac and my Touch within a second – something that’s never happened before. And sure enough, the time on my Touch is lined up with my Mac (at least, it’s only a one-second difference). Diving into my iTouch’s Date and Time preferences, I see that “Set Automatically” is now an option and is turned on.
So, it would appear that the cloud-syncing aspect of iOS 5 has made true time synchronization possible.
Of course, this is only relevant to the iPod Touch – the iPhone has always been able to set the time automatically. But now all iOS devices can be in sync – nice to have that at last.
Like all local movie buffs, I was shocked and saddened to learn of the imminent closing of Videomatica. But there is one positive thing coming out of it – a chance to sponsor your favourite film and help the complete collection to be maintained at a university or other learning institution.
From the Videomatica site: “Of course, universities don’t always have enough funds on their own, and that’s where we hope that the many who expressed concern over our collection’s future will step up to help make this happen. Rest assured, your donation will help to keep the collection together in an institutional setting, rather than seeing it being sold off individually and broken up.”
Last fall, I was part of a strange and intriguing short film called WAIT FOR RAIN, created by Josh Epstein and Kyle Rideout, and including Peter Deluise and BC Hall of Famer Blu Mankuma among its cast. Although not in a speaking role, I think I’m somewhat prominent among the denizens of an office in a future where water is Earth’s most precious commodity. And now, at last, the finished film is going to be shown – at the Vancouver International Film Festival!
It’s part of a short film double-feature on Sunday, October 9th at 9:30pm at the Empire Granville, and Monday, October 10th at 4pm at teh Cinematheque. You can order tickets here.
I took some pictures of the production, which included filming in an old warehouse on the Eastside as well as the legendary Penthouse Nightclub. Here’s warehouse pics and Penthouse photos.
I only saw bits and pieces of the story so I’m looking forward to seeing it in all its finished glory!
Christine and I are attending the Monday afternoon showing. Hope you can make it out too.
For the better part of the last year, I’ve been working with my friend Erna Maurer (of Wise Owl Multimedia) on some old 16mm films her husband Ken shot from the 50′s through the mid 70′s. I arranged to have them digitized, and since then I’ve been working my way through each 3-minute reel in iMovie, whittling them down to a snappy pace and more watchable length while preserving its essence – and, most critically, adding music to the completely silent footage. It’s been a series of fun challenges, and I’ve often ended up with something quite entertaining. But the one I’ve just completed is something really special. It documents a project at the Rosemont Avenue School in Los Angeles that Ken – a teacher in LA for many years – was involved in. There’s no date given but it seems to be from the very early fifties. The project was a study of the people and culture of Mexico. And it’s delightful.
The footage is vividly colourful, beautifully shot and makes a charming time capsule not only of the project, but of teaching methods of the era, and mostly of the wonderful (and quite impressive) efforts of the kids involved. Their hands-on studies included painting, pottery-making, music, and dance (a young flamenco dancer is a standout).
The finale contains a delightful surprise. Titled “The Culmination”, it’s an outdoor Mexican street bazaar and festive dance. And then one of the kids is seen daydreaming that he’s a great bulllfighter, complete with a soft-focus “dream sequence” transition to his imagined face-off with the mighty bull before a crowd of cheering fans!
When I first watched this footage, I knew I had something special on my hands – and that with careful attention I could make it into something truly wonderful. It cried out for just the right soundtrack – rich, melodic music to bring each scene to life – and some judiciously applied sound effects.
In the end, although the piece as I found it was the most polished in terms of its construction and careful sequence of shots, it took me the longest of all the 16mm reels to complete. Mostly this was due to my search for just the right music. I ended up using selections from the soundtrack to “The Milagro Beanfield War” and tracks from a 50′s album of Mexican songs by the 101 Strings (I found the latter in my thrift-store vinyl collection, but was pleased to discover scratch-free versions in iTunes!). Alas, because I used commercial music, YouTube adds a pop-up ad on top of the video. Just click the ‘X’ to get it out of the way.
There was a lot of trial and error, matching different songs or parts of songs to different parts of the film, carefully editing the music itself in many cases to make it fit. The visuals, well-executed as they were, needed fine-tuning as well, with many shots able to be trimmed quite short. And the final dance at the “fiesta” cried out for some lively cross-cutting.
The final result is something I’m extremely proud of. To have “completed” a film that lay dormant for six decades, and brought it fully to life with the music and sounds it should have had, is incredibly satisfying. And who could have imagined when the film was made that it could be shared so easily with the entire world? Being able to do that is most rewarding of all – especially if, as is my hope, some of the kids in the film are able to see their youthful selves again after all these years.
A small but very nice improvement in my Mac experience, thanks to iOS 5 and iCloud, has just made itself apparent. The time is now precisely synced on all my devices!
Like all local movie buffs, I was shocked and saddened to learn of the imminent closing of Videomatica. But there is one positive thing coming out of it – a 
