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On Firework Fights And Why Christy Clark Will Win The Next Election

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by Sean Orr | Revealing read from The Tyee: It’s Official: Clark’s LNG ‘Plan’ Was a Fantasy. And yet she will still win. Because we aren’t worried.

She’ll win because the clusterfuck of scandals the BC Liberals are embroiled in only serve to numb our senses. In quoting Barthes to explain Donald Trump, Judd Legum writes:

Wrestling is a sum of spectacles, of which no single one is a function: each moment imposes the total knowledge of a passion which rises erect and alone, without ever extending to the crowning moment of a result.

She’ll win because Michael Moore said so. Actually, he said we are “living in a bubble that comes with an adjoining echo chamber”. Call it the “if this man kicked a dog” phenomenon. Or call it the Red Feed/Blue Feed phenomenon.

She’ll win because we won’t be able to pin the housing crisis on her. Even though her entire economy is built on it.

She’ll win because – although way too late – she finally took “bold action” and introduced a 15 per cent property transfer tax on foreign nationals buying real estate in Metro Vancouver, even though it still excludes those using the millionaire immigrant investor program.

She’ll win because “when you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.” Because “not all inequality is equal” (as per Fraser Institute: capitalism may create less equality than tin-pot dictatorships).

She’ll win because she loves the Green Party.

She’ll win because we are douchebags.

We still can’t even clean up after ourselves despite last year’s social media uproar: Campers shamed for disgusting mess left after Pemberton festival.

We still think it can’t happen here. Ottawa man critically injured during arrest has died.

We still look better on paper. A beautifully written account about something I will never understand:

When I arrived in Vancouver in September 2014 — literally from my first day here in Canada — I sensed a social dynamic that I did not fully understand at first. It felt like a deafening buzz in a broken stereo. I could hear it over the music of my life. I examined that imaginary stereo, shook it, made sure all the plugs were in the right places, yet that buzz wouldn’t disappear.

We still yell out “fuck her right in the pussy” at reporters: Unholy Douchebag Interrupts CTV Vancouver Report With ‘FHRITP’ Prank. Ok, so he said “pokeballs” but still.

We still fetishize lesbians as “hot”. To sell oil. ‘Hot Lesbian’ Pro-Oil Sands Ad Was ‘Ethical Oil’ Campaign at Its Extreme Endpoint

We publish dumpster fires claiming that the feminization of society is leading to an epidemic of male suicides: Canadian suicides prompt look at men’s roles in a changing world.

Best comment from Iglika Ivanova on Facebook:

At one point, the article suggests that the transformation of traditional gender roles has gone too far and men can’t cope. I think he’s got it exactly backwards — the transformation of traditional gender roles hasn’t gone far enough. Because traditional gender roles are what tells men they shouldn’t complain or seek help, that they must be the biggest monkey and have all the answers. Patriarchy hurts everyone.

Yup. Welcome to the Scream Room. Exhibit A: One group is responsible for America’s culture of violence, and it isn’t cops, black Americans, Muslims or rednecks. It’s men.

Exhibit B: I’m With The Banned

But as always there are beacons of hope, from Cherie DiNovo denouncing centrist politics to 86 year-old Ursula K. LeGuin on the future of the left (“we have, essentially, chosen cancer as the model of our social system”) and Justice Marvin Zuker, who changed the landscape of sexual assault and the criminal justice system on Thursday:

“The myths of rape should be dispelled once and for all,” he announced near the long-awaited end of his verdict. “It doesn’t matter if the victim was drinking, out at night alone, sexually exploited, on a date with the perpetrator, or how the victim was dressed. No one asks to be raped.”

More good news: B.C. to stop charging welfare recipients for methadone treatment. It’s ridiculous that it took a class action lawsuit though.

How about a class action lawsuit to end the war on drugs completely? Thirty-Six People Overdosed Within 48 Hours in Surrey, BC. Jesus, now fentanyl is in crack? Is nothing sacred?

Vancouver is Awesome loses out to Dailyvancity Hivebuzz as Celebration of Fights sponsor: Here’s why we got dumped as a fireworks sponsor.

Vancouver Was Awesome: Marpole shipyard building quietly demolished.

Abandoned car frustrates Strathcona residents. They should make it the unofficial mascot of the community. Embrace it. Make it a park. Call it Car Chilling Park.

Craiglsist of the day: Craigsbest.

Bonus: Joyce to the world: Skateboard community celebrates ‘Grandmother of Hastings’.

On Ken Sim’s So-Called “Swagger” and ABC’S Class War

Sean Orr is back from his hiatus with a rundown of the local headlines that have been running on a ticker tape through his mind over the past six months...

On Post-Election Recuperation, Platform Paradoxes and Refund Communities

In his latest read of the local news headlines, Sean Orr finds irony in "safety, affordability, and sustainability", and shouts out a bunch of amazing local organizations working on the frontlines.

On Running for City Council, Playing Whack-a-Mole with Homelessness, and the Public Washroom Deficit

In his latest read of the local news headlines, Sean Orr finds a park ranger with a grudge, a gross misuse of air quotes and Tripadvisor slander.

On Living in a City Preoccupied with Street Cleaning, Chandeliers, and Campaigns Against the Homeless

In his latest read of the local news headlines, Sean Orr hones in on the recent Langley shootings, and the ongoing criminalizing and dehumanizing of the homeless population.