Pixar Opens its Vancouver Studio

Comments 3 by Rebecca Bollwitt

Yesterday a crowd gathered in what used to be Workspace to welcome Disney’s Pixar animation studio to Gastown.

The Georgia Straight took some video at the event which you can view on YouTube. Thanks to the Province of BC for also sharing their video of the event on YouTube and including the cute introduction that has animations running through the streets of Vancouver.

Pixar Canada is now looking for animation talent to create short films at the new studio featuring some of its popular characters, such as Buzz Lightyear of Toy Story. The short films will experiment with Pixar’s well-known characters and introduce new ones. Some short films will also be produced for specialty TV…

…Pixar now has 1,000 employees in California. It is owned by Disney, which plans to expand the Vancouver branch rapidly.

…”The most important single thing we have to do in setting up our new studio here is hiring the right people,” Pixar Canada’s Darwin Peachy said. “And we have to hire quite a few of them because our goal is to have a team of 75 people by 2012.” [source: CBC]

Although Wall-E has found a new home on Water Street and it will be interesting to see the impact this has, within the local economy or film industry circles.

Hat tip to Kashif for the heads up on this.

Delta Good Neighbours Challenge Giveaway

Comments 113 by Rebecca Bollwitt

Delta Hotels launched the Good Neighbours Challenge today. It’s an initiative with two goals, the first is to raise $1 million to support charitable partners from coast to coast and the other is to donate 10,000 volunteer hours to support the communities in which Delta Hotels exist across Canada.

You can find a full list of supported charities on the Good Neighbours website including BC Childrens Hospital, Canadian Cancer Society, Whistler Adaptive, Richmond Sharing Farm and many more.

Delta will also host over 450 community events across Canada throughout the challenge starting today.

Delta employees clean-up at Minoru Park
Tuesday April 20, 2010, 3:00pm – 5:00pm
Employees from the Delta Vancouver Airport Hotel will do a clean up at Minoru Park

Canada Line breakfast for Habitat for Humanity
Wednesday April 21, 2010, 7:00am – 9:00am
Employees from the Delta Vancouver Airport Hotel will hand out Salt Spring coffee and muffins to commuters in exchange for donation to Habitat for Humanity. They’ll be at the Richmond Brighouse Canada Line station.

Delta employees plant food crop for Richmond Food Bank
Thursday April 22, 2010, 2:00pm – 4:00pm
Employees from the Delta Vancouver Airport Hotel will work with the Richmond Sharing Project

Family Movie Night
Friday April 30, 2010, 6:00pm – 8:00pm
With a donation of a non-perishable food item for the local food bank your family can enjoy a kid-friendly movie, popcorn, treats and beverages at the Delta in Burnaby

Many more Good Neighbours events will be hosted from Victoria to St John’s Newfoundland until the end of the year. You can follow them on Twitter @DeltaHotelsLtd for updates over the next few months.

According to a survey conducted by Delta in March of 2010, 94% of Canadians consider themselves to be a good neighbour

In partnership with the Good Neighbours program, Delta Hotels is offering a special prize for Miss604.com readers where you can enter to win a two-night stay at any Delta Hotel or Resort in Canada*.

To enter, please leave a comment on this post about any community in which you can find a Delta.

There are close to 50 locations, from the Delta Victoria Ocean Pointe to the Delta Prince Edward in Charlottetown so there’s plenty to choose from. You can write about the city, the neighbourhood, a restaurant that you like in the area or about friends and family in that town – anything goes.

I’ll draw two winners at random from the comments on April 30th at 12:00pm.

I know my readers are very active in your community and that they have personally helped me throughout the year with fundraising, either through Twestival or my annual Blogathon. Hopefully through all of these contests I can express my thanks for your readership.

Update The two winners of the Delta stays (2 nights a piece) are Alexandra H and Norman. Thanks to everyone who took part!

Fine print: Two winners will be drawn and they will each have the same prize, a two-night stay at any Delta Hotel or Resort in Canada. Their reservation will be subject to availability* and the offer will be valid until December 31, 2010. The prize does not include transportation to the hotel destination/city.

New Smoking Ban Approved for Vancouver Parks & Beaches

Comments 12 by Rebecca Bollwitt

This evening the Vancouver Parks Board voted unanimously to ban smoking in parks and on local beaches.


Photo credit: anasantoson Flickr

Vancouver Fire Captain Gabe Roder says if we have another hot and dry summer–like we did last year– then it’s only common sense to have cigarette smoking ban in place. He says it’s a health hazard, a matter of safety and it will be a great way to protect our parks. “We’re in favour of a ban of any type of incendiary type products, fires, barbecues in parks. Those sorts of things don’t go well with the heat and the dryness.” [source: News1130]

The update on the vote came from @News1130Radio on Twitter.

The park board gathered public feedback when it conducted an online survey on the matter last fall. Of 608 participants who chose to do the survey, presented as a pop-up on the park board’s website, 75 per cent favoured making beaches no-smoking areas.

Forty-nine per cent indicated they would use the city’s parks more often if a smoking restriction existed and 81 per cent favoured establishing playing fields as no-smoking areas. Smoking bans are in place in a number of other municipalities, including North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Whistler, White Rock and Kelowna. [source: Vancouver Sun]

Since March 2008 there have been strict no-smoking policies in public spaces, restaurants, patios, and even within 3 metres of a building’s entrance or air vent. The new ban will take effect this September.

[poll id=”51″]

Update January, 2012 – A new smoking ban is in effect for Metro Vancouver Parks as well: “Smokers who light up in any of Metro Vancouver’s regional parks and greenways could soon be hit with a $75 fine. A smoking ban came into effect on New Year’s Day (January 1), and enforcement will begin in February. The no-smoking bylaw, approved by regional directors on September 23, 2011, allows puffing on cigarettes only in signed, designated smoking areas.” – Georgia Straight.

Army & Navy Shoe Sale 2010

Comments 5 by Rebecca Bollwitt

The annual Army & Navy Shoe Sale happens this Wednesday April 21st at 8:00am sharp.

Rejected Shoes *sigh*This event which usually sees a line up forming outside before the crack of dawn features designer shoes at rock-bottom prices.

The sale’s been around for over 50 years and in 2008 they sold close to 80,000 pairs of shoes. For 2010, Army & Navy is stocked up with over 100,000 pairs including labels such as Steve Madden, Christian Audigier, Diesel, and Marc Fisher.

Last year I interviewed the Junior Buyer for the Shoe Department at Army & Navy who offered the following pieces of advice:

  • Wear flip flops for ease of trying on pair after pair
  • Grab a basket or the complimentary A&N shopping bag, fill it with all the shoes you like, and grab yourself an empty corner to try your shoes on
  • For those shoppers who aren’t able to make it right at 8:00 am, don’t worry we stock up the shelves all day, and especially for the lunch and after work rush
  • I’ll be live-tweeting from the downtown location (36 West Cordova Street) Wednesday morning, from around 7:00am.

    Tech it Away Vancouver 2010

    Add a Comment by Rebecca Bollwitt

    Tech it Away returns to Vancouver on Earth Day April 22nd as Best Buy partners with local schools to collect and recycle old electronics.

    Tech it Away - Earth Day

    This is my my second year supporting the campaign and this time around there are three different Vancouver schools involved:

  • Eric Hamber Secondary School – 5025 Willow Street, Vancouver map
  • Sir Charles Tupper Secondary School – 419 East 24th Avenue, Vancouver map
  • Killarney Secondary School – 6454 Killarney Street, Vancouver map
  • Stop by any of these schools on April 22nd from 8:30am until 5:30pm to donate and recycle the following: Computers and laptops, monitors, cables and accessories, printers and fax machines, TVs, cell phones and batteries, VCRs and DVD Players.

    Participating schools each get $10,000 from Best Buy to purchase new electronic gear from their stores. As a bonus, an extra $2,000 will be awarded to the school that collects the most recyclable electronics on Thursday. This is the perfect chance to remove the clutter from your house, recycle, and support your local high school.

    You can follow the campaign on Twitter by searching for the tag #TechItAway or searching Facebook for the event in your area.