CanCult.ca

Over at the Raincoast blog, Dan Wagstaff is running the 5 Things Vancouver travel series — a sort of miniguide to Vancouver for Olympic tourists and visiting terrorists. It kicks off with an entry from me, in which I politely don’t express my feelings about the Olympics. (Image from cfarivar’s Flickr stream.) [...]

A recent online thread about the existential angst of grad school reminded me of a conversation I once had during my PhD years about how grad school is like a monastery. That is, when it’s not like a Kafka text. Consider the similarities. You spend a good portion of your life resisting the earthly delights [...]

The lineup has been announced for the night I’m reading at the W2 Real Vancouver Writers and Culture Series. I’ll be appearing in the bright lights of the big city with Kevin Chong, Jen Sookfong Lee, Catherine Owen, Chris Walter, Jenn Farrell, Jane Sayers, Shay Wilson and Larissa Lai. Also, the plan is to stream [...]

I’ve bundled together three of my short stories for sale on the Kindle. The stories are: Has the World Ended Yet? Beat the Geeks Deja Yu Makes the Pain Go Away If you prefer to read them individually, or as regular old PDFs, you can still buy them from my online store. I think The Warhol Gang is going to [...]

I’m reading at the Real Vancouver Writers and Culture Series in downtown Vancouver Feb. 10 (a Wednesday night). I haven’t read in years, so this should be fun. I plan on reading a bit from the new book, The Warhol Gang. I’ll post more details as I have them. (Apologies for cross posting, but this [...]

So the Internet has been alive with news of A Tool to Deceive and Slaughter, an art “object” by Caleb Larsen that “perpetually attempts to sell itself on eBay.” Collectors may only purchase A Tool to Deceive and Slaughter by agreeing to a contract that says the work will immediately attempt to sell itself again. [...]

I tried to set my most recent book, The Warhol Gang, slightly in the world of tomorrow. There are surveillance cameras everywhere, hologram theme parks, terror drills, virtual shooting ranges, CGI news stories — in short, consensual mass hallucinations. I struggled to find the right balance to these things, so that the book was slightly speculative without [ […]

Some random graffiti I saw on the way home:

previous |  index |  next I think I’m going in circles. (The photo is from one of my late-night rides through the Downtown Eastside’s back alleys. What am I doing riding through the DTES alleys at night? Well, now you sound just like that cop.)

previous |  index |  next When you’re dead, you’re defined by everything others wanted you to be.

There’s a great interview with Larissa Lai about her new poetry book Automaton Biographies in Vancouver’s weekly The West Ender. The discussion with interviewer Jackie Wong is as thoughtful and engaging as you might expect an interview with Larissa to be. You can read the article here. By the way, if you live in Calgary, Larissa will be visiting her old home […]

Leonard Cohen’s song “Hallelujah” was at first a little-known cut on his 1988 album Various Positions. Since then, it has spread like a musical virus, now having been covered by over 200 artists, and recently gained the coveted Christmas Number One spot in the UK through the X-Factor's Alexandra Burke version. It's become for singers what Everest i […]

Jury lauds writer for his sensitive exploration of ‘a netherworld where medicine and morality meet’ and for telling the story of his disabled son ‘with artless candour, quirky humour and unsparing detail.’

....blade down.

In keeping with the policies of this newspaper, we are obliged to reveal that the following column was Auto-Tuned and pitch-corrected. We used the literary equivalent of the HitMaker 2000, the device popularized on recent awards telecasts by musicians who leave nothing to chance

Coming soon from Mansfield Press. Featuring 72 poems in protest of Stephen Harper, by writers from across Canada.Over and out.

Sonnet L’Abbé is an award-winning author of two collections of poetry, A Strange Relief and Killarnoe, both published by McClelland and Stewart. She is a regular reviewer for the Globe and Mail and has taught writing at the University of Toronto. She is currently writing a dissertation in English Literature at the University of British Columbia. 1 - How did […]

We’ve just added 2 short films to NFB.ca about the making of Guy Maddin’s short film, Night Mayor (see below). The film, about a man who is thwarted in his attempt to harness the power of the Aurora Borealis as a means of projecting images of Canada to all Canadians, was commissioned by the NFB on the occasion of its 70th anniversary. On what inspired the st […]

Dear Steve,This town you call "Single Guy Falls?" Is there a subdivision for smart guys who actually want to date smart girls? Because there seems to be a dearth of those these days, and even when guys are smart, I find that they don't want a smart partner. I've been told that they have me or other friends for intelligent conversations. T […]

I’ve accessed my bank account on my iPhone but I can’t say it was easy. CIBC has become the first bank to change that, launching a mobile banking app for the iPhone that lets customers check balances, transfer funds, pay bills and Interac email money transfer. It also uses the GPS on the iPhone to point out the nearest ABM. The app also works with the iPod t […]

A terrific reading last night at the Halifax Public Library. Thanks to those who came and for those who couldn't make it, herewith the audio of Rachel Lebowitz, Alice Burdick and meself. Enjoy.

Tony Dekker and a few friends perform Still in San Francisco for Spin Earth - there is also a short interview with the band at spinearth.tv.

Thanks to Amanda Earl for taking time out of (I imagine, thanks to the below!) an extraordinarily busy day to tell us all about Bywords. What does a day at the Bywords look like? Bywords.ca is a volunteer non profit organization with the volunteers working primarily on line from Australia, Toronto and Ottawa. There are a lot of different activities, so no da […]

I, Timmy posted a photo: view in space

We’re starting a new set of posts in the run-up to the Games called From The Outside Looking In. In this series we will be posting excerpts of and links to articles from those major news media outlets that take the time to look beyond the steel, glass, mountains and water of our great Potemkin village to report on the horrors of the Downtown East Side (albei […]

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View from Princess and Alexander.

ecstaticist posted a photo: Good large | BEST in original | My top 100 Greeting the day from 3000 feet in the helicopter. The cloud textures this day were quite fascinating. The strait of Georgia is largely covered in a low cloud cover.

I, Timmy posted a photo: view in space

In a sky the color of the sea, a young robot undergoes his rite of passage. He must leap from a tiny flying vehicle onto the back of the massive mechanical squid who rules this volume of atmosphere. These amazing skyscapes and robots are the work of Canadian concept artist Robert Kim, whose fluid lines and bulging bots are a nice mashup of anime style and cl […]