This evening the Tech Valley Social Club held it’s first tweetup at the Dublin Crossing Pub in Surrey. The Meet n Tweet saw about 60 people gather to talk about social media, technology, Twitter, and business practices. It was fantastic to be a part of it all and to have a chance to speak for the group.
Rachael was taking video all evening and will have something up in the near future on her blog.
I also picked up Raul and brought him out to the meetup with me – it was nice to have him to chat with in the car while it took us two hours to get through rush hour traffic.
Big thanks to Domain 7 for organizing this event and I look forward to more “East of the Fraser” meetups in the future — stay tuned to MeetnTweet.ca for more information and updates. If you were at tonight’s meetup please feel free drop a comment with your Twitter username as I didn’t get the chance to chat with everyone and would love to connect.
Yesterday morning I headed over to the John Fluevog shop on Water Street in Gastown for an announcement from SFU Woodwards about their new space downtown and their inaugural contemporary arts program for 2010. I ended up learning far more about the entire Woodwards project than I previously realized.
The Woodwards building is a Vancouver landmark and when its big red “W” was lowered to the street those years ago many wondered just what would become of the area. Since 2006 we’ve watched the structure rise between Hastings and Cordova streets and little by little everyone in the community is getting excited about what they will ultimately hold.
Part of the Woodwards District development is W2, which will take up 14,395 square feet as a community-based media and arts centre including such entities as Fearless City and Gallery Gachet. Its wide variety of programming and resources will be offered to Downtown Eastside and Vancouver residents and “is intended to provide a vibrant and complementary focal point in the redevelopment of Woodward’s and act as a catalyst in the revitalization of the Vancouver Downtown Eastside by emphasizing the development capacity by and for the DTES residents.”
W2’s neighbour, the Simon Fraser University School of Contemporary Arts program will occupy 125,000 square feet and will include:
An experimental performance theatre
Two studio theatres
The World Art Performance Studio
A 350-seat cinema/lecture hall
A teaching gallery
A film soundstage
Three additional dance studios
Two additional theatre studios
A principal music teaching studio to complement the World Art Studio
Two visual art and interdisciplinary studios
A two-level multidisciplinary complex incorporating two computer teaching labs and numerous smaller computer-based editing and composing suites for film, video, graphics and design, electro-acoustic music as well as several traditional film editing suites
The fully accessible Fei & Milton Wong Experimental Theatre looked particularly impressive on the fly-through video that was shown to the audience at yesterday’s event (which you can view here). The inaugural program will be Robert Lepage’s Blue Dragon/Le Dragon Bleu, opening in 2010 in conjunction with the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad. Early bird tickets are already on sale until August 2009. The rest of the 2010 lineup includes Spine (March 12-21, 2010) and Machinal (April 7-17, 2010).
Probably one of my favourite elements to the new property is not the state-of-the-art theatre, art displays, or architecture but the fact that they chose “149 West Hastings” as the address — a throwback (and tribute) to $1.49 Days (and the nostalgic whistling tune has been stuck in my head for over a day now).
The entire Woodwards community will be comprised of W2, SFU School for the Contemporary Arts, 536 condos, 200 social housing units, amenity space, and retail units with big anchor stores like London Drugs.
It’s nice to see so much happening in a space that had such a slow and somber demise as it faded from a swinging shopping destination with glittery holiday window displays to a decrepit cry for help and action from the community. This property will be open and full of public spaces for those who are already in the Downtown Eastside, and will welcome others to bask in the glow of its inspiration that will stem from all levels. The SFU Contemporary Arts facility and W2 are simply a pieces of the larger collaborative unit within Woodwards but it all has the potential to be a true cornerstone of arts and culture — glossy and gritty, local and global — for our city.
I highly recommend watching the following video, produced by W2 Community Media Arts for a closer look…
You may recognize the name Anthony Nicalo if you’re familiar with Farmstead Wines, but he is also the co-founder of the non-profit, FarmFed which encourages people to consider just where their food really comes from.
Over the next few months, they will be hosting a series of six classes designed to inform, educate, and inspire your food habits.
“To truly understand who we are and what we eat, the path of food needs to be followed all the way to the farm, ocean and field. This culture series is an opportunity to get all of the details in good company with great food and wine”, says Natalie Jensen, also of FarmFed.
Tuesday, April 21
Join Anthony Nicalo for the official book launch of Provenance: a blueprint for the modern eater. Guests will learn to assess the sources for food they eat and will learn practical tips for buying clean, healthy food.
Monday, April 27
Special guests include Mike McDermid, Program Manager of Ocean Wise, and Chef Robert Clark of [C] Restaurant discussing the importance of understanding seafood’s impacts on our oceans. Guests will enjoy sustainable seafood hors d’oeuvres prepared by Chef Robert Clark and fish-friendly wines.
Tuesday May 5
Jason Pleym, founder of Two Rivers Specialty Meats will shed light on what is really going on in grocers and butcher shops, while guests taste naturally raised meats.
Wednesday May 20
Mark Bomford, the Program Coordinator for the Centre of Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm will share tips for buying and growing sustainable produce.
Tuesday May 26
Farmstead Wines founder Anthony Nicalo lifts the veil on wine marketing and connects guests to authentic wine and artisan farmers.
Saturday June 6 at UBC Farm
This special fundraiser features international food expert and author of In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan. Pollan will share his manifesto for eating. Guests who participate in the full series will receive a gourmet picnic lunch at UBC Farm.
Sessions 1-5 will take place at Books to Cooks (1740 West 2nd Ave) and the final session will be at the UBC Farm. Tickets are $65 for individual tickets or $360 if you would like to do all of the sessions. The series will also be broadcast online with UStream.
When the Director of Corporate Communications for the NHL starts sending updates about an NHL Tweetup you know it’s legit. But regardless of its official status, a tweetup is basically a get together for those who use Twitter. In many cases it’s because they share a passion for a similar topic and tonight, it was all about hockey. It just so happens the first-ever Vancouver NHL Tweetup event at the Shark Club coincided with the first Canucks playoff game of 2009 so many gathered to watch the game with friends, contacts, and new Twitter faces.
This afternoon I posted an update to Twitter about the Canucks and moments later I was contacted by ShowTime Tickets (an independent ticket broker). I was offered tickets for tonight’s game (straight up, in exchange for nothing). I gladly accepted even though I was accused on Twitter of supporting “scalpers” — by a season ticket holder who routinely sells their tickets off to the highest bidder online — but I digress. As a result, I pulled Duane out of Chilliwack (since John was working) and headed to the first game of the series versus the St Louis Blues.
The crowd was charged in GM Place and towel power was out in full force. The Go Canucks Go chants seemed never-ending and despite several poor calls (and even though a wave couldn’t get started inside GM Place), our team came out on top, beating the Blues 2-1.
There are several people who made tonight very special including Molson who I hear sponsored a round at the NHL Tweetup, and ShowTime Tickets for getting me in to the game. I would also like to send a shoutout to all those who attended the tweetup such as Richard, Keith, Brian, Dave, Sam, and even Hez who made a fabulous appearance. I hear at least 20-30 people joined the group throughout the night.
On my way home tonight cars were still honking their horns and fans in blue jerseys were still on the streets chanting and cheering in victory. You would think we had just won game seven of a hard-fought series but I think this town is just proving once again that its heart is full of hockey.
The second game of the series is this Friday night at GM Place, the puck drops at 7:00pm.
Update: Sam Chan has his NHL Tweetup post up now and it includes this super fun video that he made throughout the night.
Update: Two of my photos are on the cover of the 24 Hours newspaper today:
It’s fun to be a part of the Canucks Fan Zone live blog when we’re at GM Place but it doesn’t matter where we’re located, really as the fan community is always thriving online, from across the globe. You can always tell when there’s a game as the term “Canucks” becomes a top ten trending topic on Twitter — a service used by millions worldwide yet the Canucks nation can still make an impact.
Mason Horvath is, “a company that was created around people that want extra care and attention in their travel,” said Dean Horvath, COO when we met at the Shangri-La downtown. “More of our focus is on unique once-in-a-lifetime luxury travel experiences that you can’t just find walking into your average travel agency.”
They’re on the lookout for a new Elite Travel Correspondent and they’re hosting an online search for someone who will travel to the most exotic, exclusive and opulent travel destination around the globe.
Possible getaways include enjoying a private candlelight dinner on the Great Wall of China, racing Ferraris through the twisting back roads of Tuscany, and spending the afternoon picnicking in the middle of the Moroccan dessert — hence the Next Best Job in the World title.
Horvath noted that most people are usually very excited to hear about what they can do for their clients and they just wanted to find a better way to share what they do with the rest of the world.
The Elite Travel Correspondent will have a salary of $50,000 US and throughout their six-month adventure (August 1, 2009 to January 31, 2010) and will be required to provide online content such as blog posts, Twitter updates, and videos about their experiences. They will be able to record and report the fascinating things about the striking destinations.
However perhaps that largest part of the adventure is scoring the job itself. “Based on the submissions we’re going to narrow it down to five people and then we’re going to take those five people to a five-star resort and do a sort of playoff, ‘Survivor meets Apprentice style’ on the luxury experience at that resort,” said Horvath.
The final contestants will battle it out during a series of online episodes where each day someone will be eliminated until Mason Horvath has their winner.
“Basically we want somebody that is entertaining and engaging,” said Horvath. “The experiences themselves will be interesting, but we need to have somebody that’s watchable that’s likeable that’s funny, charismatic, that’s going to carry the tempo of it as well.” They will also definitely need someone who will be able to travel for six months straight.
The ultimate itinerary will be determined based on its compatibility with the winner and then the online reporting begins. The deadline for submissions to be considered for the job is May 27, 2009 and the “final five” will be whisked away to their playoff destination in June.
Big thanks to Domain 7 for organizing this event and I look forward to more “East of the Fraser” meetups in the future — stay tuned to MeetnTweet.ca for more information and updates. If you were at tonight’s meetup please feel free drop a comment with your Twitter username as I didn’t get the chance to chat with everyone and would love to connect.
