New Media

A neat video tour of the East Vancouver neighborhood of Hastings Sunrise by my uber-talented and compelling-as-heck friend, Kevin Spenst. Watch it. You won’t regret it, Vancouverites and wannabe-Vancouverites.

It is the day after the riot in downtown Vancouver following the Canucks loss to the Bruins in the Stanley Cup final. The city has come together, cleaned up most of the mess and shown true civic spirit in the aftermath of a very bad night. Some images I took with my iPhone from Granville Street in the heart of Vancouver.

You can’t beat the view. Here’s my video from the top of Harbour Centre in the heart of downtown Vancouver. YouTube doesn’t quite do it justice — you really do have to be there. But it’s a rite of passage for longtime Vancouver residents and tourists alike.

Funny, I didn’t even know I was in the running. Looks like I’ve been recognized with an Honorable Mention by the National Magazine Awards for my articles in Granville Magazine’s EcoDensity Special. Congratulations to my fellow honorees!

If you’re curious about what I wrote that deserved this honor, here are the articles that were recognized for extraordinary awesomeness:

• Vancouver: The Greenest City in the West
• Happy city, happy planet
• Vancouver in 2050

Where will we get our food a few decades from now? Is our current model sustainable? Will we be able to feed the world’s teeming billions? Is “breakfast in a can” the thin edge of the wedge for where we’re headed? Learn more in my feature article in Sharp Magazine, The Future of Food — or even better, actually buy a copy of the magazine at Chapters or some other newsstand

(NOTE: If this topic doesn’t really grab you, check out the magazine anyway. Aliya-Jasmine Sovani’s boobs are practically falling out of her shirt on the next page after my story ends, on page 64. In her feature by Leo Petaccia, “Sharp sits down with MTV Canada’s most infamous host to talk about the merits of social consciousness, the importance of breasts and why we all need to lighten up once in a while”. Worth a look.)

An excerpt from my story:

“Make a better breakfast faster, Batter Blaster!” The tongue-in-cheek jingle is not the only addictive thing about entrepreneur Sean O’Connor’s invention. His waffle mix in a spray can is now in 13,000 stores across North America, including Costco and Walmart, with plenty of accolades and YouTube testimonials by dedicated fans of the product. “Just shake, point, blast and cook,” the slogan goes.

“We believe we’re consistent with the innovative path that led to microwave popcorn, or lettuce in a bag,” O’Connor notes. It’s organic, easy to use and, increasingly, represents the future of how we prepare our food.

There are certainly enough other examples of packaged foods, unrecognizable a few generations ago, that have become commonplace. But as the demand for high-tech foods increases, so does the demand for organics and local food. Once again, we face a paradox.

Is this the future of food?