Archive for ‘November, 2008‘

It’s been over a year in the pipe, but the BCIT Marketing reunion’s finally landed at Posh on West Broadway and Burrard.

Posh specializes in sukiyaki, the Japanese form of hotpot. Slices of meat, vegetables, noodles, and tofu are slowly cooked in an iron pot of simmering soy sauce, sugar, and mirin. Once everything is cooked, the ingredients are usually dipped in a small bowl of raw, beaten eggs.

Me being the class act that I am, I indiscriminately dumped our table’s contents into the pot.  Thankfully, hotpot is a forgiving art, and we still managed a very pleasant (and large) meal.  Posh’s atmosphere was quiet and surprisingly well-lit. The servers were attentive and all very accommodating. The 15% automatic-gratuity charge was well deserved.

For more photos of the night, make sure to check out the Flickr set for all sorts of BCIT Marketing reunion goodness.

P.S.  Thanks Annie, Dave and Mattias for putting this together!

On Thursday, I revisited some old friends from the Jiu Jitsu club at BCIT for a photo shoot. Straight from Wikipedia:

“Jujutsu evolved among the samurai of feudal Japan as a method for defeating an armed and armored opponent without weapons. Due to the ineffectiveness of striking against an armored opponent, the most efficient methods for neutralizing an enemy took the form of pins, joint locks, and throws. These techniques were developed around the principle of using an attacker’s energy against him, rather than directly opposing it.”

The club is open for all, so if you’re interested in taking a martial art, Jiu Jitsu comes highly recommended – especially with this group. Sensei Kevin is all sorts of awesome, so email him at kevineugene@gmail.com if you’d like to give it a whirl.

Intensity was up in preparation for their grading, so make sure to visit the Flickr set for all of the high-flying Jiu Jitsu goodness.

Nintendo kicks off its promotional campaign for Wario Land: Shake It with an ad executed so well, it deserves its own blog post. I won’t spoil it for you, so make sure to check out the video for Wario’s latest shenanigans.

Does anyone know which agency is responsible for this? Kudos to them for pulling this together!

P.S. Thanks, Aileen Tien for the heads up!

Fedde Le Grand and his warm-up, DJ Skilla, put on a great show tonight at Caprice. It’s amazing what chart-topping singles do to your show attendance; the room was absolutely packed and sweltering hot.

Fedde opened with Let Me Think About it, which seemed a little odd, but helped carried the energy over from Skilla’s set. As the night went on, things started to lean more on the progressive side. There were a handful of builds that led straight to long periods of silence that seemed better fit for trance, but the crowd ate it up regardless. Besides that, Fedde played a solid mix and comes recommended if you have the chance to see him in a bigger venue.

Make sure to check the Flickr set for Fedde Le Grand in Vancouver at Caprice photos. (It’s amazing what you can do with an iPhone with the help of someone else’s flash. Just tricky to time.)

After Yoji’s performance at Dooms Night, I’ve been binging on hardstyle. Simple 11, featuring a UK-heavy lineup including the Organ Donors, Technikal, Rodi Style and DJ Kutsi (who I missed), was a satisfying experience though it leaned a bit heavily on the hardcore side for my tastes.

Rodi Style was first up from the main lineup. His his signature turntablist style was a nice compliment to his set, though a bordered excessive at times.

Following was Technikal, whose equipment died mid-set, but recovered gracefully with an apologetic bow and a string of high-energy tracks. Satellite made Technikal’s set my favorite of the night.

Last up were the brothers Matt and Scott Harris, better known as the Organ Donors. More twisted than Yoji, the duo tore their set apart and reconstructed it live using “four decks and CDJs, samplers, MIDI time code sequencers, FX units galore, and devastating scratch and turntablism techniques“. Great at the start, but as the set went on, the volume went up, and I left for the sake of my hearing.

How was your night? Be sure to check my Flickr set for photos from Simple 11 in Vancouver. If you have more photos from the night or thoughts on Simple 11, please leave them in the comments!

A tip courtesy of Albert Law, the secret of super-sharp street photos: shoot at f/8 and use AI SERVO for focusing moving objects. f/8 widens the depth of field so you keep more in focus, while AI SERVO keeps focus locked to a chosen object’s movement. For stationary subjects, ONE SHOT offers a more accurate level of focus.

Got more? Leave them in the comments!