I discovered the podcast for the CBC arts and culture radio program ‘Q’ while we lived in Malta, and listened to it quite regularly. When we returned to Canada and I had less free time, I grew a little weary of the format and host Jian Ghomeshi’s interview style, and unsubscribed.
Having just returned from watching the movie One Week (more on that later), I did a search for Liane Balaban, and discovered that there are a couple hundred video clips from Q on YouTube. As it turns out, the video version of Q also airs on the channel CBC bold (which apparently replaced the very poorly named CBC Country Canada). Never fear, it’s better than that insufferable radio-on-TV talk show on Sportsnet.
On Wednesday, I heard a short CBC piece about an architectural exhibit in London, England on the topic of Vancouverism. It was the first time I’d head the term, so I listened with some interest. The host Jian Ghomeshi interviewed Bing Thom about the exhibit and the concept of Vancouverism. Here’s an excerpt:
It’s a spirit about public space. I think Vancouverires are very, very proud that we built a city that really has a tremendous amount of space on the waterfront for people to recreate and to enjoy.
At the same time, False Creek and Coal Harbour were previously industrial lands that were very polluted and desecrated. We’ve refreshed all of this with new development, and people have access to the water and the views. So, to me, it’s this idea of having a lot people living very close together, mixing the uses. So, we have apartments on top of stores. In Surrey we have a university on top of a shopping centre. This mixing of uses reflects Vancouver in terms of our culture and how we live together.
I did a search in Google, and couldn’t find a Wikipedia article on Vancouverism. I resolved to create one when I found the time. Happily, on Tuesday, somebody already started one. I’ll add this quote.
Mimi emailed to let me know that my peculiar fandom project DearRockers.org was featured on the CBC’s culture show Q yesterday. I had pitched the Q’s webby correspondent Mio Adilman on the story, as it seemed like the right thing for his Download Down-Lo segment. And apparently it was.
If you’re interested in listening, here’s the four-minute piece (in which Mio needlessly mocks Vancouverites):
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One aspect of DearRockers.org that I was interested in was what the ratio of visitors to letters would be. I thought it would be low, but it’s shockingly minute. Since it launched in early November, the site’s had about 55,000 visitors, and has about 20 letters that I didn’t directly solicit.
That’s one letter for nearly 3000 visitors. Of course, the ‘friction’ to create a letter is quite high–it’s not like leaving a comment on a blog or something. Still, an interesting result. I wonder what the visitor-to-creator ratio is on YouTube or Flickr?
I quite like Q host Jian Ghomeshi, but he was definitely fighting above his weight. Greenaway lectured him on a number of topics, including the ‘death of cinema’. I agreed with much of what Greenaway said, so I transcribed a few bits (only transcribe opinions you concur with, I always say):
Cinema now, with the laptop generation, Generation X, is really to do with an interactive, multimedia world and cinema can’t be that. Cinema cannot be democratic–it cannot create multiple endings. You can’t interface with it in any satisfactory way.
So, I think if we’re going to excite imaginations with the potentiality of this grand audio-visual experience, we’re going to find new ways of doing it. I would argue that the ‘Casablanca’ syndrome–that cut-and-dry bedtime story for adults–is really finished. It doesn’t really have a place anymore.
That’s not to say the screen is going to disappear. I have a mobile phone in my pocket, and I suspect you have too. And it has a screen.
And here’s another good bit:
We’re now all lateral thinkers, and certainly we are encyclopedists. We are browsers, we are laptop users. So we have to refashion this media to be relevant to contemporary imaginations.
I’m fond of saying that, before too long, going to the cinema will join the ballet and the opera as dated, niche entertainments that appeal to a few. Mr. Greenaway just said it better.
I did a lot of housework this weekend, and thus caught up on a bunch of podcasts. I’m quite enjoying the CBC’s cultural magazine show, Q. They have this weekly web correspondent who reports on fun stuff from the Web. I’d heard of everything else he talked about with the exception of What Jeff Killed was new to me.
Welcome to What Jeff Killed, your authoritative source for news and information about Jeff The Giant Orange Cat and his favorite pastime: killing things.
DISCLAIMER: This Web site contains disgusting/disturbing images, has no value whatsoever, and due to its content should not be viewed by anyone. Read the full disclaimer.
Yeah, Jeff kills some big things. Some of those photos are particularly visceral.
I don’t think that web guy has his schtick quite sorted out. He sang the praises of Battle at Kruger, and even mentioned the 6.7 million people who’d seen it. He also mentioned ye olde Dramatic Chipmunk. Isn’t his job to find stuff on the web that people haven’t seen?
