Canada #7: in the middle of the city

Posted on September 2, 2010

Community gardens are not a new concept, but seeing one right in the middle of downtown Vancouver came as a surprise.

Obviously community gardens can only work if people contribute rather than just take. This garden was thriving.

Sadly I’m no expert when it comes to plants. I think this is beetroot. Or maybe rhubarb. What I do know is that it’s red with green leaves.

Zucchini flowers (I think).

Blackberry Torch review

Posted on September 1, 2010

Being a Blackberry user, I picked up the new Torch while I was in Los Angeles (along with one for Zi from JDM Yard). For those who are interested in importing one, I can confirm that once unlocked from AT&T it works fine in Australia (to unlock it you will need a code, which you can get from numerous sites once you provide the phone’s IMEI number).

Here’s a comparison of the Torch with the Bold 9700 (Onyx). The most notable feature of the Torch is that it offers a touchscreen while retaining the track pad and physical keyboard; the first time Blackberry has done so. And so far, I’ve found it works like a charm (the extra row of buttons on the touchscreen is fantastic). The keyboard is thinner than the 9700 but it’s nice to use. The only downside is the lip around the slider, which makes it quite difficult to press ALT + Z.

When it comes to Blackberrys, its last remaining advantage is speed. You see, us Blackberry addicts aren’t naive; we know that iPhones and Androids are more advanced and offer apps that make BBs look prehistoric. But we put up with Blackberry’s flaws because there isn’t anything else out there that is quicker to punch out an email, SMS or BBM.

Unfortunately, this is what lets the Torch down. It has a surprising number of software glitches, and Zi and I have found it to be quite laggy compared to the 9700. It’s incredibly frustrating when you’ve become accustomed to punching out an email and replying to an SMS in quick succession, only to find the Torch struggling to keep up. We’re hoping that the pending software updates rectify this, else I may be jumping over to Android sooner than I thought.

Canada #3: Stanley Park & Granville Island

Posted on August 16, 2010

Hopefully no one is still using a 56k internet connection as this front page is getting a bit image heavy. If you are, then apologies! The weekend involved a hell of a lot of walking (which sadly doesn’t seem to be making any difference to my belly, which is getting quite round from all the eating I’ve been doing). First up was Stanley Park, the massive park located downtown.

Leaving the condos and skyscrapers behind.

Stanley Park is stunning. You quickly forget how close it is to the city as you get lost in the park or take in the waterfront views.

Totem poles.

Check out how tall the trees are!

Here’s the view from the bridge as I headed out to Granville Island for a late Sunday lunch. If you ever go to the markets at Granville Island, keep in mind that it’s located beneath the bridge. I spent a good 15 minutes walking around lost.

There’s nothing like the stench of urine in alleyways to tell you that you’re no longer on the well-trodden tourist path. Eventually I found the right place!

View from Granville Island.

Sydney’s equivalent would be a cross between the Fish Markets and Darling Harbour. While Granville Island was packed with people, there was none of the pushing and shoving you get back home on a Sunday afternoon. And it was quite easy to find a spot to sit down too.

Granville Island’s main attraction is the Public Market.

British Columbia has vibrant coloured fruits. I picked up a bag full of these cherries and they tasted as great as they looked.

Countless rows of bagels. By this stage I was getting pretty hungry!

Bought some wild boar prosciutto and Belgian truffle pate for 8 bucks, which will make for a nice midnight snack instead of the expensive - and crap - hotel room service.

Obviously the focus of the Public Market is on organically grown fruit and vegetables.

Stuart’s bakery make their bread on site.

Bought some bread to accompany the pate too.

Never seen donut peaches before.

There was a big line of customers at the Kaisereck Deli, so I thought it would be a good choice for lunch.

Quick service thanks to half a dozen staff behind the counter.

Here’s the jalepeno hot dog topped with onions and sauerkraut. It was nowhere near as good as the Japadog I had the day before (more on that in a later post).

Turkey and bacon bagel was a much better choice.

Canada #2: Robson Street

Posted on August 15, 2010

Although it’s summer in Vancouver, it’s nowhere near as brutal as it gets in Sydney. Today was apparently one of the hotter days at 32 degrees C, but there’s a nice breeze and low humidity which makes it like Sydney’s spring.

Here’s the bottom of Robson Street, near Stanley Park.

Something I wasn’t expecting was the number of heroin junkies there are downtown. But compared to LA they aren’t aggressive and tend to leave everyone in peace.

Here’s an interesting shopfront for a shoe store.

Have to try one of these chocolate-covered toffee apples before I leave.

Many thanks to Rasna for putting me up in the Sutton Place hotel for a couple of nights. This has to be the tallest bed I’ve ever seen; it was waist-high!

A different time zone

Posted on August 14, 2010

Hello from Vancouver! Finally found some time to show you guys some pics of my short trip to North America. I’m in Canada for the next couple of days before hopping down to LA.

Leaving Sydney airport. There weren’t many airlines that could do the itinerary that I needed, so I flew with United. This was my first time with United, and to be honest I wasn’t looking forward to it because of all the horror stories I’ve heard from Willy and Kula.

They were right. Although the 747-400 I flew on had a new fit-out, there were no personal screens. Welcome to the 80s! Not exactly great for a 13 hour flight…

Service on United made me realise how much I’ve taken Singapore Airlines - who I usually fly with - for granted. Some of the crew were friendly while others were just plain nasty. One hostess snapped at a passenger, threatening ‘to go postal’ unless he shut up. Wow. And the food? This chicken was edible, but I think the rice was made from PVC.

Breakfast was much, much worse. I nicknamed this Omelette Bread. If you threw it at the window you’d depressurize the cabin.

There were big smiles all ’round when the plane finally touched down in San Francisco. San Fran’s airport had some unusual mood lighting.

Before I could board my connecting flight I had to go through U.S. immigration and customs, collect my bags, check them in again and then head over to the domestic terminal. I took the chance to catch some fresh air and see SF for the first time (albeit very briefly).

When I googled Alaska Airlines, one of the first pictures I saw was of a crashed plane. Thankfully it was a perfect flight!

Decent leg room, leather seats and a nice landing. No complaints from me.

This fella greated us in Vancouver’s airport.

Currently I’m pretty dazed from jet lag having made the mistake of taking an afternoon nap when I reached the hotel. I’ll have more time in the coming days so I’ll be posting more often, but so far I’m digging Vancouver. The pace is slower than in Sydney - people aren’t zipping around downtown - and it seems to be a really relaxed and chilled out city.

Yet again

Posted on August 9, 2010

Having two weeks between Auto Salon events sucked. The only time off we had was the afternoon we returned from Perth, so some things have suffered - such as the cleanliness of my office. With Garth going on leave (he’s no doubt knee-deep in NZ’s finest snow as I type this) we’ve had to smash out three events worth of marketing into the space of one, which means my desk was buried beneath a pile of booking agreements and schedules. Although I had to come in on the weekend to do it, cleaning it up - and finally seeing the desk again - was well worth it! Unfortunately I’m sure it’ll be messy again by the end of the month, as an impromptu trip to Nth America means I only have a week before Auto Salon heads to Melbourne!

Popular Mechanics

Posted on August 5, 2010

While I find myself going to the newsstands less often, I don’t think the print industry is anywhere near its death - at least not yet anyway. The reason why I’ve cut down my monthly magazine intake is because I’ve been doing most of my buying in the iTunes store, although it’s more out of curiosity than anything else.

Popular Mechanics has recently released an interactive version of their print magazine.

Having the ability to break away from static images and huge chunks of body copy is one of the biggest selling points of digital magazines, but publishers are still experimenting with what works and what doesn’t. Here’s a cool video in Popular Mechanics explaining the Red Bull Air Race course.

Perhaps double-page spreads will cease to exist?

Unfortunately one thing I’m not liking about digital magazines (thus far) is that there’s very little substance behind the high visual impact spreads. I’m only speaking for myself here, but Conde Nast’s GQ has still done the best job thus far - mainly because you can kick back and dig into an entertaining read. Which is what a magazine is all about.

New sticks

Posted on August 3, 2010

After quite a few months of shopping around for a tripod - there are so many different models it can get quite confusing - I’ve finally invested in one. I ended up getting Manfrotto’s 190CXPRO4 as it’s small (four-section legs) and relatively light (considering how much it can hold, which is great if I ever get a DSLR). Also bought two basic heads: the 804RC2 for stills and the 701HDV for video. I’m pretty happy with everything except for the 701HDV - which is turd.

App review: HelvetiNote

Posted on July 28, 2010

Those who love Type will dig HelvetiNote. It’s another addition to the growing number of note-taking apps for the iPad and, as the name suggests, it celebrates everything Helvetica. It’s not as good as Things (which is the ultimate app for taking and keeping track of notes), but I’m sure this is a must have for many designers out there.

A sore loser?

Posted on July 27, 2010

While waiting outside Sydney’s domestic terminal for our flight to Perth, the wind blew this piece of paper to my feet. Someone had scribbled this rather disturbing message on the back of a lottery ticket (which they obviously didn’t win). I’m glad this dude wasn’t sitting next to me on the plane!

High-tech heat pad

Posted on July 20, 2010

Funnily enough, one of the things I picked up from the Good Food & Wine Show had nothing to do with food; it was this this heat pad. It’s a nifty little thing as it’s cool to touch and filled with gel. But when you snap the metal disc inside, it starts to heat up.

Inside it, the gel starts to turn white and in a matter of seconds it gets pretty damn hot. It’s a super cool invention that I’ve seen in Japanese cans of sake (maybe Alexi can take a pic of one?), but there’s some pretty hefty downsides. It’s expensive, goes cold within an hour, and you need to boil it for 10 minutes for it to return to its original state. These are much better and only cost a couple of bucks.

Next Page »

© Copyright Empty Wrapper