Passengers

As I cycled early this morning along Spanish Banks, I came upon the crashed airplane movie set that I'd only heard about in recent days. The crew were actually busy dismantling it, and as I had a camera with me, I took the opportunity to get up close and personal with a plane crash.

What's being filmed? An upcoming drama called "Passengers" starring Anne Hathaway of "The Devil Wears Prada", and "Princess Diaries", amongst others. She's also starting to film Get Smart and will star as Agent 99!

So here, my faraway readers (at least those residing outside Vancouver) are a few snaps of the scene. It'll be interesting to see them shoot the film's upcoming train crash scenes (rumoured to start filming soon in one of the North Van CN yards). According to a production staff woman I spoke with there, filming at CN railyards is a logistical nightmare.

Amazingly enough, the rain still hasn't arrived. It's made for an early start out today and at 3 in the afternoon, it's already starting to feel like closer to dinner time. Tonight's the big (Anaheim) Ducks vs. (Vancouver) Canucks game. Can't wait.

Ah, Back in the Sea

With mild temperatures and dry weather (for now), I headed to Granville Island this morning to get back into the Telkwa Sport model kayak I so much missed these past couple of months. Many cormorants back from their migration and an eagle hovering above me made the couple of hours all the more enjoyable. As heavy rain is on forecast for tomorrow, I'm thinking of heading indoors to the Outdoor Adventure Show at BC Place.

What's so nice about this city is that one moment you can be out on the bike headed to a paddle, the next moment on a bus headed downtown. I'll never tire of all the things going on here in any one particular day! After The Police spent a week up in North Van rehearsing for the recent Grammy Awards Show in LA, they've now decided to tour after all these decades! The tour is set to start in Vancouver, end of May. TIckets are already on sale 'by bid' and Ticketmaster officially opens to the public tomorrow morning. I'm thinking the show will sell out within an hour and they'll end up adding a date. A visit to Ticketmaster's website confirms what I thought I might find: ticket prices anywhere from 60 upwards to over 250 bucks CDN. Craig's is already starting to pop up with adverts - people selling tickets for 350 a piece! When I think of a one year kayaking pass costing that much, it's hard to consider going to the show. There was as great article about the group in last week's Georgia Straight if anyone caught it : )

Happy weekending, and Happy Chinese New Year - Gung Hei Fat Choy! That would be this Sunday…

Ariane C.

Rained Out

With the rainy weather we've had lately, we didn't expect to be RAINED out up at Cypress Mountain last Sunday! Heading out in the early hours, we headed up that road again in anticipation of new SNOW. We kept climbing but the tree line remained green the entire way up. This didn't look like our last trip up! Once we made that turn into the cross country parking area, we realized that the rain was well, staying RAIN. And really coming down! Many devotees of the sport were unpacking their gear out of their cars and heading up to the ticket office despite this nasty weather.

We decided to head over to the downhill skiing area just slightly further up the road, but alas, the situation was carbon copy of ours. Many skiiers and boarders were also packing out of their cars, though we HAD seen several cars heading back down while we were headed up. We'd hoped to ski on Valentine's Day, a nice quiet weekday but the rain is due to stay in the area through the coming week. Anytime the temperatures are about 5 and higher and there's rain down HERE, it's a good bet then that the snow won't be coming down in the local mountains either. We'd forgotten just how cold it had been last month, in order to produce all that snow! (Yes, Easterners, we're complaining of the -8 at night cold, which doesn't do justice to the word, I know).

Now that I've gotten into a running groove 3x a week, wouldn't you know it, my left heel has acted up again after so many years sitting dormant in its safe (heel spur) state. I went to the podiatrist this week and was prescribed anti-inflammatory meds and a 'take it easy' warning - I did head out today for a fast walk just to keep the rhythm up, but my left foot is not happy.

And to top it off, I received a friendly letter in the mail today from my physiotherapy office, talking about getting back in shape by running; their injury topic of the month? Plantar fasciitis! How ironic is that!

Am headed out tonight to witness a performance of Audio Cubes over at Video In. Looks unique, this interactive set up of modular plastic cubes being set to music.

Just heard on the 6 o'clock evening news: Vancouver ranks last in cities in America AND Canada as far as police response time. Lucky us eh! Not enough police officers is the reason being given. Average wait time = 34 minutes. Pizza can be delivered faster.

just a lovely week

Busy as I was this week with various theatre volunteering, comped shows and comings and goings, I managed to enjoy the sunshine that seems to prevail to this very moment, in our fair city. The Bald Eagle seems to enjoy sitting atop the large totem pole by the Maritime Museum lately. I've caught a glimpse of him twice during my recent runs along the Seawall. It's quite the BC picture, viewing a tall hand-carved landmark totem pole with the eagle on top. Perhaps a nest is not too far off in the future for this lovely winged creature. Several friends in the area have noticed the nest close to the Coast Guard Station is back this year.

Bio Boxes at Video In seems to be a raging hit right now as part of PuSh Fest. The entire run of show is sold out. I am hoping for a few 'box' performances tomorrow afternoon, if there's a cancellation anywhere in there. I also got into a matinee of Up Island at the Stanley, a humourous look at Van Island small town life. Finally got myself in there after all these months of living in Vancouver!

As part of Dine Out Vancouver, Ad and I hit a few restaurants lately for their tasting menus, priced at 25 and 35 dollars, depending on what the restaurant wants to hit you with on your bill. Trafalgar's Bistro was lovely, our fish superb, but for 14 dollars a glass of wine, I've finally hit the shock and awe stage of wine by the glass prices here in Canada. This, for a half glass of Burrowing Owl Pinot Noir. Now, I haven't hit BC Liquor lately to check on the bottle price, but as tasty as it was, surely 14 bucks is something out of this world to pay.

Other than that, more theatre on the menu this weekend, as Aalst is on tonight at the Scotiabank Dance Centre. Let's hope for a gorgeous continuation of this weather. Although most will be indoors on Sunday for the Super Bowl, we'll be testing our endurance on the (somewhat flat) cross-country slopes of Cypress. I was in Sigge's today for a short while to look at gear. I overheard a woman trying on ski boots talking about being torn apart by the agonizing "shall I paddle" or "shall I ski" today question. Oh if only to enjoy life in this manner of style! But alas, yours truly is busy working on several projects' fruition at the moment, and if a few of those materialize, it should make for a busy but productive move into Spring.