New Media

This was a fun one. My recent profile on the top executive of YVR, published in BC Business magazine: Larry Berg, CEO, Vancouver Airport Authority:

The CEO has a touch of lingering laryngitis and an annual general meeting tomorrow to prepare for, but he talks in a charming, reassuring voice, assisted by lemon tea. With his white button-down shirt, blue paisley tie and glasses set on a face that might belong to your friendly neighbourhood hockey coach (indeed, Berg is a “huge hockey fan”), he has the look of a professional everyman.

Berg first joined the airport authority in 1992 as senior vice-president of operations, but his connection goes back a lot farther. He first arrived at Sea Island in 1960, when he was 13 years old. “I was here as an air cadet with 442 Squadron from Cold Lake, Alberta. I came here for two weeks of summer camp,” he says, recalling a time when the area still had a barracks and a mess hall. “Certainly, I never thought then that I’d be here heading up the airport authority one day.”

Blogger sues other blogger for defamation.

Judge orders plaintiff to pay defendant’s costs.

Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves

In an effort to engage their audience, the CBC asks them to “Tell us what the CBC means to you.”

And proceeds to get shellacked in the comments. It’s a self-inflicted social media smack-down. A typical example of the 57 overwhelmingly critical responses thus far:

My CBC is my Pravda as the CBC is clearly a propaganda vehicle designed to filter information in line with the Bilderberg group mandate using Peter Mansbridge who is a member. Unbiased criticism of government federal or provincial will not be found coming from “my” CBC. Neither will any criticism of the policies of the Bank of Canada be found here either.

I have come to the conclusion that keeping Canadians informed has never been the purpose of the CBC with it’s so called journalists, but rather to keep Canadians disinformed. Therefore, I feel the CBC has been very successful in that regard.

Oh my dear lord, this is funny. Most CBC employees fans will try to portray this as a petty and mischievous campaign by the competition and those with an ideological grudge. Fair enough. No doubt, there is some of that going on. And when most of the commenters suggest de-funding the CBC, it’s not like the people running the network are going to be able to work with that feedback (ie. “Our viewers think we shouldn’t get any more public money. I guess all we can do is close up shop. Private sector, you win.”). But they might at least investigate whether the perception of overly PC and left-wing bias among their commentators has some merit and needs to get corrected (an assessment I heartily agree with, BTW).

Those defenders should also at least ask the question: why aren’t more people coming out to say nice things about their favorite media network?

Friends and colleagues in Vancouver already know I like to geek out. But not everyone knows that at one time, I was big into Dungeons & Dragons.

(WARNING: For those who only like to read my political, technology, Vancouver-ific or social media blog posts, you may want to skip this one).

I started gaming again with some buddies on the weekend (technically not D&D, but a simpler RPG called Savage Worlds in which I’m running a D&D-like fantasy campaign). The first time back was a blast, with the players facing off with brave dedication against terrifying squid-headed wizards and bloody-clawed Undead, trying all the while to avoid becoming pawns in a larger conflict by millenia-old vampiric kings. The fast-paced play was complemented by a robust portion of Singaporean noodles washed down with Granville Island beer.

I used to play back in high school and university. Good times. I was always happier as a DM running the game than as roleplaying a character. Sort of like the difference between being a director and an actor in a drama, I guess. It’s not that I need to be in control — I just always thought it was more fun to create a whole world than explore a tiny section of it.

Looking forward to continuing more adventures with friends. Until next time, here’s a great video one of my roleplaying buddies forwarded along that helps give both longtime D&D fans and people who have never played an idea of just what all the fuss is about.

Recently interviewed Blazing Cat Fur about religious encroachment on secular schools, political correctness and the dreaded HRCs. Have a listen.