The BK Gazette 2.0

The Struggle Between 6 Wheels and One Traffic Lane

2009-08-24T23:31:00.003-04:00

Vancouver journalists must love writing about the ongoing feuds and mutual resentments between the city's cyclists and motorists, because once again the issue has been in the limelight of the media all summer. So far we've survived 3 critical masses, allocated a cycling lane over the Burrard St. Bridge and endlessly debated the merit of a shared roadway. The pedal heads have once again gained momentum for their cause, but as always the drivers are 3 lights ahead, counter attacking the issue and standing up for their right as the dominant and therefore most important method of transportation on our city roads.

And why shouldn't they? Over 3 quarters of Metro Vancouverites rely upon a vehicle to get around, they have an incredible influence on the economy (for better or for worse), and is usually the fastest and most convenient way to get around. And lets not forget what most commuter cyclists and most environmentalist usually do not grasp: Some people NEED to drive. We'd all love to live closer to work or the store so that we could bike or walk, but since a growing proportion of affordable homes are being built at the other end of the highway, I'd argue that these people have no other choice but to drive. From real estate agents to soccer moms, some of us were born to be behind the wheel.

But as for the cyclist's themselves, they have been busy reaping in the many luxuries the city has given them this summer:

-In May BCAA introduced North America's first Bike Assist Program, offering complete roadside assistance for commuter cyclists.

-In July the city begun its bike lane reallocation trial on the Burrard Street Bridge, closing the east side sidewalk and southbound curb traffic lane, opening it exclusively for bicycles.

- In August, the North Arm Bridge built for the Canada Line Skytrain features a bike and pedestrian path below the tracks, offering a safe journey into Richmond and Vancouver without any interference from traffic. Even cyclists want to hop aboard the Canada Line, each train is equipped with 2 spots for bikes.

Despite this progress, Vancouver's cyclists insist to demand more attention from the public with by staging the Critical Mass on the last friday of every month. With a "more sustainable than thou" mentality, thousands of cyclists parade through busy downtown streets disrupting traffic all in an effort to promote environmental conscience commuting and cyclist's rights. While this may fun for cyclists who get to take over the streets for an afternoon and revel in the media's attention, its hell for everyone else. It is selfish, unwelcome, and entirely unneeded in this city especially since the city has recently made enormous strides to accommodate cyclists in every aspect of their commute.

But perhaps we all need to know our place. To the drivers: Just realize that the times are once again changing as societies, governments and urban planners are learning to free up some space on the road to cyclists. But to the cyclists (especially the ones in Vancouver): You've been given SO much in the past year - don't take it for granted, and remember that this a process, not a goal.

My first exposures to big city action

2009-02-18T13:16:00.002-05:00

So I've been living in Toronto for 6 months now (well, much longer if you count living in residence at York U, so it doesn't quite count), and have really relished experiencing life in a big city... on a Canadian scale at least. The truth is that the city is extremely small peanuts to other metropolitans in the western hemisphere, but their infamous and yet oblivious egos and self-righteousness certainly help fill that population void. But I digress...

Back to big city life. This year I've come across some good events and stories, including witnessing my first street fight in downtown. My sheltered upbringing in a Vancouver suburb paralyzed me from doing nothing other than stand from a distance with a naive stare on my face, but I witnessed it nonetheless!

Toronto has no shortage of crazy shit going down. Earlier this month, a massive crowd of Tamilian-Canadians clogged downtown and Dundas square for 12 hours protesting against some genocide the Sri-Lakan government is guilty of. I had a quick chat with one of the protesters, but I had a tough time following what he was saying due to the fact that he had a picture of a severed head on his sandwich board...

I came across one of the craziest stories in the press last weekend. As the story goes, three teenaged boys were standing around on the subway platform waiting for the train when they were randomly pushed by some guy off his meds onto the track just as the train was arriving to the station. One of the boys kept his balance, but the other two weren't so lucky. With the incoming train screeching on his brakes, one of the kids stuck on the track reacted to his spidey sense by pulling himself and his friend (who was stuck on the track) safely under the platform just before the subway breezed by them. The guy who pushed the kids was chased by foot and eventually tackled by a TTC fare collector through the streets. Just image being in that station when all of that shit went down.... wow!

And finally, today allegations of a residential cockfighting ring in a Toronto suburb has recently surfaced. You couldn't write this kind of stuff if you wanted to....

From A-Roids to AIDs, baseball has had a rough week.

2009-02-14T01:49:00.008-05:00

The reputation and credibility of the MLB and all its players has taken yet another blow to the baby maker as their poster child, Alex "$27.5 million a year" Rodriguez, admitted earlier this week to using steroids back in 2001-2003. When I came across the story for the first time, I reacted a similar way when it surfaced that Lance Bass of N'Sync admitted being gay: "This is news to everyone?"

What makes his situation even worse is that in an 2007 interview he flat out lies, saying that he never took steroids, nor felt the pressure to do so. In the recent Sports Illustrated interview where he comes clean, he turns his story around completely saying that in fact he did take steroids to alleviate the tremendous pressure of performing. Sorry kids! Thats what you get for playing ball in "loosey-goosey era"!

What a dick.

The way American athletes are smeared these days is all backwards. Phelps gets caught taking a bong hit (while apparently looking like a pro doing it) OFF SEASON at some frat boy's dorm room, and he's considered worse than Hitler. He's lost sponsorships, upcoming tournament eligibility, and may even be charged by the police. The worst A-Roid is going to get is a small suspension (if that) and boos the rest of his career, where he should be getting the boot from the league and all record books post 2001. If only Katie Couric was apart of Congress, then we'd have some real dirt on him....

But alas, the heat was taken off of A-Roid if not for a day, as former All Star Blue Jay Roberto Alomar was slammed with a 15 mil lawsuit on wednesday from an ex-girl friend claiming that he gave her AIDs. Yikes. This whole steroid scandal has just become a lot more easier to deal with in comparison, has it not?

I know Robbie, it's been a tough week for all of us.

Mulling over the carbon footprint of the American Dream...

2009-02-10T17:18:00.013-05:00

On Jan. 20th, America gave themuch anticipated boot to George W. from the White House and welcomed their 44th president - Barack Obama! (insert ecstatic 'wooing' here). Before settling in his new digs (and airing the place out of old people smell, no doubt), Barack delivered yet another speech that made the world stand still.

Talk to any environmentalist/green professional and they will tell you in a feverish tone that Obama is expected to be the long awaited leader who will usher in a green revolution to the United States, the type of leader that the country has been despicably lacking for the last 8 years. He's made promises for more renewable energy, more public transit, less dependance on foreign oil - all that good stuff. As a budding green professional myself, I'm pretty stoked over the fact that this will be happening over the next 4 years, and that I will finally start to hear about positive environmental progress from an American president, instead of one who's done nothing else than make his country the laughingstock of the global environmental community.

However, there is one part of Obama's speech that rattled me a lot. About half way through his speech he boldly states that "we will not apologize for our way of life" - echoing Dick Cheney's arrogance when he said "The American way of life is non-negotiable".

Now the United States has much to be proud of - they have built their country on freedom, prosperity and genuine hard work. No question. But having an unapologetic population of 300 million+ (a mere 5% of the world's population) who consumes 25% of the world's resources and who leads the world in per capita carbon emissions could be tad bit worrisome. Maybe it's time for the Obama administration to rethink things through and consider for once the massive carbon footprint that the American Dream has - but I doubt it.

I'm sure an intelligent individual such as Obama realizes it, but knows he wouldn't dare touch the subject or else he'd be maligned worse than Al Gore.

And besides, isn't it an American's God-given right to drive his Yukon 2 blocks to Wall Mart to fill up on flimsy imported electronics, bottled water tapped from municipal water facilities, and hamburgers that required more water to produce than what's in the Mississippi River?? This jackass from Arkansas sure thinks so.

Nature: 1, Feeble, Man-Made Aircraft: 0.

2009-01-18T16:29:00.003-05:00

Never doubt the power of nature my friends.

Earlier this week we heard about the incredible story of US Airways flight 1549 crash landing on the Hudson River. Pilot Chesley Sullenberg, aka Man of the fucking Hour, saved his ass and the rest of his 155 passengers by playing it cool and crash landing after two migratory birds got sucked into the engine. Geez, someone earned his retirement.

Since their were no human fatalities, I think it is in good taste to point out this simple observation: Two birds managed to disable two powerful jet engines. Mighty impressive for a measly bag of bones and feathers, non?

Lousy Sports Press

2008-12-21T18:20:00.007-05:00

As usual they used their lousy, overhyped reporting skills to repeatedly say an 'undecided' Mats Sundin would either sign with either the Canucks or the Rangers. In the few days before he made his decision, TSN, Sportsnet and the rest of those hacks all hinted that he would most likely choose the Rangers. Sure enough, 'Skeletor' chose Vancouver, causing even a larger media circus that came before it.

As a Canucks fan, alls I gotta say is that although it is way too early to make any assumptions of whether or not he'll be a good addition to the team, I'll be happy as long as this:

Doesn't turn into this:

The Pomegranate Popularity Perplexity

2008-12-17T23:06:00.003-05:00

Select any juice, yogurt, tea, bubble gum and hell, even estrogen tablet products and you'll find pomegranate flavoring in it. How has this fruit become so popular all of a sudden? I don't remember ever hearing of the fruit up until a few months ago, so Im always confused every time I see it. I mean really, it looks as weird as it sounds:

Yikes. It looks like salmon eggs fashioned on a star fish.

However, the last thing I want to do is alienate and publicly malign this innocent fruit, so I thought I would take the time now to offer 5 interesting facts on pomegranate. Huzzah! (sponsored by Wikipedia)

1. Each pomegranate contains 840 seeds (or arils), accompanied with a tangy, sweet juice.

2. A good source of antioxidants

3. Featured in Botticelli's 'Madonna of the Pomegranate', where the Virgin Mary herself is clutching both the fruit and her lil' baby Jesus.

4. It holds strong symbolic meanings to Greeks. It is often given as house warming present, placed under the home alter to provide luck, fertility and abundance.

5. Is the official logo of many Turkish cities.

So there you have it. A fruit good enough for the Virgin Mary herself!. While I can't speak for the fruit as I have never tried it, the pomegranate berry Extra brand gum is fantastic. Simply delicious.

The Price is EXACTLY RIGHT

2008-12-17T05:19:00.002-05:00

Either this guy is the inventor of world's first time machine, or he's in cahoots with CBS.

Let the debate commence!

Good to be home

2008-12-08T16:59:00.006-05:00

Due to a strike at my University out east, I have had the pleasure to come home to Vancouver 2 weeks early for the holidays. While being re-aquatinted with my "bro-skies" and the city that I love, I just so happened to pass the corner of Davie and Burrard St. where the former Shell gas station has been transformed into a community garden.

Now of course, all biases aside, I think its a fantastic move by the developers and the community to do what they have done. No where else in this country would you see a plot of land at a busy downtown intersection, which in reality probably made condo developers drool, turned into a garden for city slickers to plant their pre grown flowers from Home Depot. But for God's sake, don't plant any food. All environmental cliches aside, its a unique thing. Its something that will hopefully keep Vancouver on top of their game.

side note: I can't help to think that it was done make up for the 70 trees that the city hacked to preserve the view from QE park over the summer that pissed off all the local tree huggers (myself included). That being said, I accept the community garden as a token of your apology, but I'm still pissed about the Gateway project (That rant will be saved for another day).

Just 'cause I love them, another PSA

2008-12-08T16:44:00.007-05:00

Thanks to the brilliant and stoned Hanna-Barbara animators, we have this gem of a PSA ad.

If a walking blunt and pills with arms and legs lead you to a party in some wardrobe,

you know its gotta be good.

And now a word from the Japanese MAFF...

2008-12-03T17:23:00.007-05:00

Moving on to international news, who ever said the Japanese doesn't care about food security or global warming? The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries certainly do!

Whether you care about these issues or not, this 4 min PSA beats the hell out of any of Al Gore's power point presentation on climate change. I'm super-duper cereal, guys.

Plus its Japanese - how could you not enjoy it?

note: keep on the lookout for the cows who are dancing ever so subtlety.

Shop till you drop (dead) over the Holidays!

2008-11-29T18:36:00.000-05:00

Back on November 1st, I came across something that absolutely ruined my week, and possibly even the holiday season. I was watching SNL that night when it cut to its first round of commercials. One of them was a Christmas themed ad for Lowe's, complete with 'cutesy' kids decorating the tree, Christmas music, and scenes of people dopeishly pushing their shopping carts full of useless, excessive shit. The ad immediately made me sour. How dare they start shoving this shit down our throats no less than 24 hours since Halloween, I thought. Have they no shame? Honestly!

I wanted to do something about it besides drone on into friend's ears about how pissed off I was about this, etc, so I'd thought to follow the advice of my roommate and write a column for York's campus rag, or even start a blog about it, thus giving me a mass audience to bitch to. However, I quickly came to the conclusion that my thoughts and opinions could possibly make me sound like a complete kook, writing phrases that could be easily translated into: "These ads are warping our BRAINS, people!", so I was a little hesitant to write it. Not to mention I fell into some lazy days around the time of the ad since the T.A.'s at York went on strike a few days later, thus wiping out any real motivation to write it.

As the days went on, I still remained stand off-ish about it, and continued to cringe and scoff at every time I saw yet another billboard on the Toronto subway or TV ad bite the dust and make an early pitch to eager holiday consumers, but at the same time, I still felt the need to load my argument with better ammo. Luckily, I've been inspired recently to search for weird news articles to exchange with my friends back home, so I just so happened to come across this article on America's most trusted news source:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/28/black.friday.violence/index.html

You heard it right people, a Wal-Mart worker trampled to death for opening the door to a wild pack of shoppers, and two people shot dead over a dispute over toys at a toys store. Is the reality of crazed, irrational North American consumerism? That people who want to buy toasters with a shelf life of 10 months and other throw away Wal-Mart merchandise at half price so badly that they are willing to completely disregard the fellow human being trampled to death? That people will come to gun violence over discount toys? This just seems so crazy to me...

What's even worse is the response of the retailers and CNN, blatantly and disgracefully denying that their sales and their media campaigns had anything to do with the deaths. Give me a break! And besides, aren't you people supposed to be in a recession?

To quote the movie that Kevin watches on Home Alone

- "Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal!"

... at least I have my Christmas party in December to look forward to...