Amazing BC Wildlife!

Dan and I are constantly amazed at the remarkable wildlife you can see here in BC. Last week, me, Dan, mum and I went for a drive about an hour away from Vancouver to this renowned wildlife spotting area and I took my crappy camera in case we spotted a slug or something. But we were totally amazed. Seriously, it was incredible...the fact that you can find these sorts of animals just roaming, every day of the year, here. Wow.

Couldn't believe we actually saw a buck with horns!

We'd heard there were also foxes, from one of the locals. A sign nearby said to watch for them, so we poked into some of the more off-the-beaten path areas and totally chanced upon this fella: But the best, most awe-inspiring? My dream of finally seeing a grizzly (from a safe distance of course) was realized. We'd heard from another pair of hikers that there was this bear-watching platform and bears were down by the creek, coming out early and looking for salmon. The couple had seen one there and so we hotfooted it over there. Cannot believe we saw her:

It was completely breathtaking to see these BC icons....

....I've now seen elk, eagles, seals, otters....it's really remarkable here....

....Oh alright then.....

.....I confess.....

....Last week, we were really at.....

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.....wait for it....
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....the Greater Vancouver Zoo! It's a funny, rundown, pikey zoo outside of town I'd been meaning to check out, that was actually quite fun its own overpriced, under-maintained sort of way. It's got this mad collection of animals, and is really odd. But the best bit? Hardly anyone there off-season means you can get rather up close to the animals!

And perhaps, even, make a few friends:

Hee hee.

My Friend Dean Wareham...

...singer with seminal indie rock bands Galaxie 500 and Luna (and now the mellow-lounge stylings of Dean & Britta) was in town this weekend for the PuSH International Performing Arts Festival. I've known Dean for 16 years. He used to call me the Donut Girl because we had this running joke in Toronto when I used to bring the band beignets, back in the 90s.

Anyway, the Andy Warhol Museum commissioned Dean to write some music for some silent, B&W screentests Warhol did in the late 60s and so, he and Britta (his wife/bandmate) put together The 13 Most Beautiful: Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests. Dean put me on the guest list for the Van perf, and so me and the lovely Anita tarted ourselves up in our finest boho-chic (hanging out with the arts crowd, don't you know) and went off to the Vogue Theatre.

It was a welcome distraction from recent shit. And an utterly commanding performance, actually. Considering Dean & Britta's gig at Richard's last year nearly put Dan, Joy and Julie to sleep, I was pleased Anita got into it. I urge you to check the 13 out if they tour your town. V. cool. And remember, Britta used to be the singing voice for the cartoon Jem (as in her of The Holograms).

Was also chuffed because Dean had sent me an email earlier in the day. Complained he was ill but that they were likely going to be playing a secret, midnight show on Granville Island after their Warhol thing, so of course, we went along. I was psychically exhausted but as Dean & Britta's stuff is far from taxing, it became a perfect soundtrack to my trampled mood.

The next day, I got even more Dean action. He did a book reading and short acoustic gig at the fabulous indie record store, Zulu. Afterward, we chatted earlier, then I stood in line, waiting to get him to sign my uncorrected galley review copy of the book, Black Postcards.

I said: "I know it's weird cos I've known you this long to get you to sign this, but you know me, always a collector and fan..."
Dreamy Dean smiled, and said (signing my book without asking me to spell my name): "I'd put 'to the Donut Lady', but I think we're far beyond that now." :-)

Comme j'ai dit, a welcome distraction. Read my Dean Wareham interviews, if you fancy.

(And sorry for the delay in blogging. Life's been, uh interesting, for us. More news as it happens.)

Today's Message Brought to You By...

We're an TV-advertising-free household. So today we decided to go to the local cinema to watch the World's Best Commericals. I kept thinking: "when is the movie going to start?" ;-)

Some were really excellent and reminded us that good advertising is indeed an artform and should be appreciated other media. I'd forgotten about good ads. There are seemingly so few of them. And it was a weird realization in a world far too inundated with marketing messages.

It was strange that we paid money to see advertisers' attemps to take more of our money, but hey ho. It was a worthy excercise and a film excursion devoid of superheros, aliens, lesbians, ninjas, car-chases or robots. You know, our usual preferred fare.

Anyway, we had a few faves, I thought we'd share. And even though I HATE HATE HATE CG'd talking babies (in any media), the acting and script save this entirely. And makes it genius.

And we really want to shop here....(note our actual bed is in this clip too):


What about you guys? Any faves recently?