katiestuart

Hello all!!

I know it's been an unforgivably long time since I last posted. I won't bother to excuse myself. Instead I shall try and answer some of the questions posed to me recently and I will attempt to catch you all up on where I've been and what I've been doing. - pause to eat a bowl of froot loops and review posted comments -

Okay, a little overwhelmed by questions, so I'll start with where I've been/what I've been up to. I have recently (Since August) been living in Whistler. From August to December I was attending Capilano College at the Squamish campus. In December I completed the Wilderness Leadership Program and am now enjoying the cheap student season pass to Whistler/Blackcomb. I ski and snowboard and have a few part time jobs which pay for the beer. All in all, I'm living the good life.

As far as my acting career is concerned, I'm still technically in the game, though I had to put everything on hold while I was going to school and so I've only been to one audition in the last six months or so. I'll keep you posted though.

Now, beer. I like most beers. I have a few favourite local beers, and mostly I like European beer. Kilkenny and Guinness are a few of my Euro-favourites. German beer is exceptionally good and, from what I hear, extremely well priced over there.

Anyone looking to get into acting professionally should know that it is a serious commitment and requires extreme flexibility in scheduling and you must be willing to take on other work when the industry is slow or not looking your way. And trust me, it's not unusual for either to happen, nor is it unusual for both to happen at once. Just hang in there, believe in yourself and your abilities, and be active in seeking out roles that you think will suit you or provide you with an appropriate challenge.

That's all for now folks,

Peace n' Fuv
Katie

...everyone loves a good movie, so I therefore theorize that everyone loves a good movie recommendation:

I was recently sitting in my living room noticing how most of the DVD's in our house are scattered about it, rather than on their various shelves. Most of these movies I haven't seen in ages as I haven't been watching much in the way of movies lately (with the exception of "Planet Earth" - a BBC series about ... you guessed it... Earth - which comes more than highly recommended by yours truly). Despite my recent lack of cinematic enthusiasm, I clearly thought it worthwhile enough to write down the name and location of every DVD in the room. So here goes (I'll spare you the tedium of copying the location as well..but just so you know... I made a map .. cough, cough*dork*cough):

In order of appearance (moving counter-clockwise around each surface, counter-clockwise around the room from surface to surface and - when stacked - beginning with the movie(s) on the top and working down to the bottom of said stack(s)). Without further ado:

The table next to the jungle:
- The Georgia Straight: Vol. 41 (May 24-31 2007) .. okay, not a movie, but a great local paper (this issue has no particular significance...it just happened to be there).
- Bell TV magazine featuring an interesting article on "Pan's Labyrinth" .. again, not a movie, but Pan's Labyrinth isn't out on DVD yet so the mag will have to do as credentials for my recommendation.
- Some of our neighbours mail...oops.

- "A broke down melody" ...FINALLY!! A movie! (and one of my favourites)
- "Le Divorce" ... not the best movie in the world, but I love Naomi Watts and Kate Hudson and they're both excellent in it, also it's a bilingual film which is always fun (French/English in case anyone wondered).
- "Bio-Dome" .. YES!!
- "Fern Gully" .. fight the man, protect our forests!
- "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" ... the original (it came free with Pizza one day but is one of my favourites of all time....man ...they just don't make movies like TMNT any more) *Deep longing for nimble asians in foam latex*
- "Encino Man" ... I heart Polly Shore!! That's right. And I'm man enough to admit it.
- "Big Fish" .. epic
- "Charlie & the Chocolate factory"
- "I ♥ Huckabees" ... seriously one of my favourite movies of all time
- "South Park" - season one ... I love that the social/political activist movement of my generation is lead by small town, American 4th graders.
- "Step into Liquid" ...if you've ever surfed, if you've ever thought about surfing, if you've ever watched, wanted to watch, or if you just love the ocean with an amphibious abandon, as I do, then you'll love this movie too.

- "Robin Williams: Live on Broadway" ...s'okay
- "Dogtown & Z-Boys" ... the birth of extreme and the development of hard core.

- A useless ankle weight which came in a box of cereal. ... Remember when they used to give you fun stuff in cereal? Like a compass that didn't work? or a ring that didn't really fit? ... none of this yoga ball, ankle weight crap. ... sorry. I know, I know ... save the ranting for another post.
..underneath the useless ankle weight, which comes with no actual weight in it, is a stack of old-school Nintendo games (YEAH for the original system!!):
- "Ghosts n' Goblins" .. I could never play this game unless there was someone in the room with me because it scared me that much... and sh*t wasn't even 3D then!! ...coughcough*UBERDORK*cough cough cough..
- "Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt/World class track meet" ... ooh a 3 in 1. Yes we still have the duck hunt gun, I have no idea what happened to the track meet mat, but I remember running hurtles and cheating like every time. I may have small legs, but I'm still smarter than you 1980's technology, mUAH ha ha ha! Seriously though, who else still bears a grudge for that damn snickering dog?
- "PAC-MAN" Booya!! Classic
- "Rampage" .. nothing like a little senseless destruction to sooth the inner beast (we had to make do when I was a kid, none of this GTA business).
- "TMNT III: Manhattan Project" .. my favourite nintendo game ever

- Packing tape ... not a movie... real packing tape
- "Tank Girl" ... I'm in love with Lori Petty... one day she will be mine
- "Down with Love" ... so great
- "Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer" ... the original claymation (HELL YES! .. anyone else getting nostalgic?)
- "Open Water Diver Video" ... instructional vid from when my bro and I got SCUBA certified.
- "Canada Russia '72" ... I have yet to watch it all the way through (not that it wasn't good), but I think I know how it ends anyway.
- "Aninconvinienttruth"
- "Robin Hood" .. the disney animated, but I feel obligated to mention my love of all Robin Hood films, "Robin Hood: Men in tights" specifically, but they're all good... even Costner's ... so much blew up.

...then there's some sticky shot-glasses from a time so long ago I can't remember the occasion ... yeesh we need to clean up.

- "Newsies" ... one of my favourite anti-Randolph Hearst films, this one in the form of a disney, live-action, musical with some spectacular songs and some of the greatest Jazz dancing I've ever seen in a movie. It's a great family movie.
- "Bruce Almighty" ... you rock, James Carrey, you rock. ... I worry for the sequel, but have great trust in Steve Carell, so we shall see. Don't let me down buddy.
- "Billabong Odyssey" ... the impetus for my own surfing addiction and definitely on par with "step into liquid"


Stacked on the old broken PC tower in the corner next to the TV:
- "Arrested Development" - season one ... the greatest TV series ever contrived? .. why yes. yes it is.
- "Wonderfalls" - season one ... alas there was only one season, but the show was/is hysterical. Gone before it's time.
- "Rushmore" ..anyone who's seen it knows, and anyone who hasn't... do.
- "Buffy: the vampire slayer" - season two ... oh we have them all... season two is the only one attending the living room DVD bonanza though.

- "Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas" ... also one of my favourite books. I was devastated when Hunter S. Thompson exploded himself out of our world for the next. May the force be always with him, and my his force be always with us.
- "Buffy: the vampire slayer" - season one ... okay, two AND one representin'
- "View from the top" ...haha oh good times
- "Forces of Nature" ... still have never seen it all the way through, but I love Sandra Bullock, wouldn't she be awesome to have at a party? you can just see it in her face.
- "Rent" .. nothing compares to seeing it live, but for those of us who don't live in NY and have a million dollars.. in all seriousness; I think it's wonderful that (almost) all the original cast had the opportunity to immortalize this most immutable Rock-popera on film. The live show is mesmerizing.
- "Happytree Friends: Third Strike" ... a SERIOUSLY twisted online cartoon which can also be purchased in DVD format ... not for the faint of heart, squeamish, or die-hard Carebear fans.*
- "Family Guy" - Volume 4 (season 5?), disk 3 ... I couldn't tell you what episodes are on the disk 'cause I can't find the box. .. we're bad

On top of the TV:
- Our DVD player ... essential
- A phone which does not work because we have no house phone line
- A penny

- "Reefer Madness the movie musical" ... if you like musicals (or even if you hate them) this is an absolute must see.. another of my favourite anti-Hearst films. - some extremely mature themes/scenes. It's pretty much the greatest thing I've ever seen. It stems from the original "Reefer Madness" (another recommended watch), a 1936 anti-marijuana propaganda film, originally titled "Tell Your Children". In the late '90s two outstounding (=outstanding + astounding) artists, Dan Studney (composer) and Kevin Murphy (Lyricist), got together and transformed the (by this time) ironic propaganda film into an outright Musical parody extravaganza. With the help of my dear friend Andy Fickman (director) Reefer Madness, the offbroadway play, was an instant hit with L.A. audiences and critics alike. After several years of success on stage (across the country) the time had come to capture the marvel on film. And here it is, perched happily upon my TV. I almost pissed my pants on more than one occasion the first time I saw this movie. It's one of those movies that just can't be unfunny, no matter how many times I watch it. It's the culmination of hundreds of people all sharing the same vision. Enough props cannot be given.
- "Thank you for smoking" .. one of the best movies to happen since I ♥ Huckabees
- "The core" ... I LOVE YOU STANLEY TUCCI!!! ..if you love Stanley Tucci as much as I'm sure you all do, you'll watch this movie just for his part in it.
- "Reefer Madness the movie musical" ... oh yes. It's that good. We have two copies (one's my bro's) and they're both stationed rather permanently on top of the TV.
- "Once upon a time in Antarctica" ... a wonderful doc. about antarctica in the spring as well as a fabulous doc. (it's a 2 fer 1) on the adorable, roisterous Adelaide penguins. Both great for anyone as smitten with penguins as I am. (this film has been due back at Blockbuster for months now. MONTHS!)
- "Maria full of grace" ... never watched it, also due back at Blockbuster months ago.

- "PLANET EARTH" - The complete BBC series... the one I've been watching with my brother religiously lately ... one of the greatest doc series I've ever seen. Very broad coverage of vast areas (geog/geol/meteoro/ecolo) and very in depth coverage of very specific areas (microbio). All and all, a fabulous series for anyone and everyone, even if you just watch it for the mind-bogglingly beautiful, panning, wide-angled, landscape shots from the 'copter-cam. It's truly a humbling experience.
- "Clone High" - season one ... I know ... we all died a little inside when Clone High didn't get picked up for a second season. WHY SKUNKY!!?!?! WHY!?!?!!??!??!??!!!?!?!!???!!
- "Running with scissors" ... I love this movie .... if you loved "The Royal Tenenbaums" as much as I did, you'll love this film too. It's a little darker (if you can imagine) but it's so wonderful and has a surprisingly satisfying end. (Also part of my Blockbuster collection)
- "Stranger than fiction" ... hysterical. Will Ferrell really inhabits this movie. Well done, Will. Well done. (Sorry Blockbuster...one day I will bring your movies back....one day)


And now we've come full circle, so to speak. I hope there's at least one movie in my list that you haven't seen or perhaps haven't heard of. I love hearing about good movies, so if anyone's got any that they want to suggest, please do.

Peace, Fuv n' couch spuds
KT

* Just so's you know, I love the Carebears.

PS. Who else loves it when you one-up your spell check? I know I do. Oh spell-check, silly spell-check, of course roisterous is a word. Tsk tsk. One day computers will have feelings and my belittling victories over spell-checks will not just be pathetic but cruel. Don't worry, I'll stop long before then.

..but for now..

HAH!!

A night on the town:

Downtown was a variable gongshow last night. At 11ish we caught a bus downtown from the mall. The bus was late leaving because the local fuzz had pulled some poor clown off to rob him of his beverage. As our freshly deprived hero returned to the bus a wave emotion spread down its length and back like the "wave maker" at science world*. From the back of the bus there came cheering, followed by the drunken cheering of people catching up. It was hard to tell if our hero actually belonged to the massive, unanimous cluster of drunken, teenaged hooligans or if they were merely happy to be united in a common bond of antipolice, damn-the-man, expedient, anarchic attitude. Regardless he was greeted with true celebration which, as the bus pulled away, heightened and dissolved (all at the same time) into an irate blur of blind, unfocused noise mixed with rage - rage at the pigs, the po, at the man.- "*@&% YOU PIGS!!" and the like could be heard above the thunderous atmosphere on the bus. A chorus of understanding and camaraderie against an ancient, concocted foe. The emowave bounces off the back of the bus and rushes back to the front, changing and contorting as it passed over the contours of the crowd and laps back up against the front of the bus, dousing the old man in the far corner. He seems to sympathize with the young narc, sighing heavily and looking sternly around at all the miscreant youths. Silently defending the uniform and likely stranger within. Dwelling on the fact that children just haven't the same respect for authority in these crazy times. Or perhaps he's just exasperated at being held up so long. And there we sit, right in the middle, at the breaking point, able to appreciate both side's influence. Able to chuckle and enjoy the event for what it is. I love the bus!


* For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about: It's a giant plexiglas aquarium which holds a considerable amount of water as well as a typical, sloping, sandy sediment and sits on a large motorized fulcrum which rocks it back and forth slowly, simulating wave patterns. ...I think. (If memory serves)

Peace
katie

Thank you to everyone who posted birthday greetings. I had a funtabulous birthday. Shrouded in panda mystery. I'm 22 now and I do have to admit I feel a little dissociated, slightly disillusioned (you called it Dev). I find myself thinking a lot about the environment, politics money and time. Yup. I'm definitely an adult now.. sux. Nobody wants to have to think of these things half so often as I'm sure we all inevitably do but thar be the curse of having developed a curiosity which stretched far beyond our place in the evolutionary chain (if you believe in such a thing) and has now grown (while I partially blame our careless rates of reproduction) to stretch beyond the limits of that which the sun (or any deity you like - no matter a persons religious or theological views, no one can doubt that as a species, we have taken what was here long before any of us arrived for granted-) has thus far provided us.

This year the seasons held no deliberations. There was no display of twitterpation, to abuse a disneyism. No springtime peacepipe passed. In fact, I'm quite certain, there really was no spring this year. Winter came back to slam us for a solid week of real Vancouver winter....rain, rain, rain, rain and then some snow which melted in the puddles of rain just before getting rained away. Then today, at absolutely no provocation by Spring, Summer barreled forth, wielding hay-fever, the gentle tinkle of ice cream trucks on the breeze, promises of long days, warm nights, sticky popsicle puddles, bees and camping on the beach. Summer has taken the 5th of April by storm (or rather lack there of) and the battle ground is Vancouver. Today was beautiful, sweaty and sparkly. The kind of day you don't really mind being in traffic even. Just cause it means you're outside a little longer (sort of). Oh to be a free range people and just stake my claim in the woods somewhere. Dig out a burrow and live off the land. There's probably some sort of berry tax I haven't read about yet. Oh well. I wouldn't survive more than a week without internet and libraries typically require an address. Like a real one, not just 'burrow in the woods just North Northeast of town about 2 hours by foot'.

Libraries frown on those kinds of Shenanigans.

Before I forget I want to thank you, liquid toast, for bringing dotherightthing.com to my attention. What an excellent idea turned excellent concept turned excellent contribution to entrepreneurship and public awareness in equal proportion. The whole story is really something worth reading, not a long story, but inspiring.

http://innovatebig.com

Highly recommended reading all through.

The basic gist of dotherightthing.com is to allow individuals to post stories, experiences and other information about what companies, big or small, are doing to help create less waste, use less energy, provide more jobs and better working conditions, Support their communities or just plain provide better or exceptional service. One of the sites main foci is environmental issues, but it is certainly not limited to that. It's everyday people who care about the environment and who care about peoples rights and peoples right to knowledge. People write in about companies that effect us all on a day to day basis. They write in about small businesses in specific areas which deserve a little publicity, good or bad. On top of individual entries and stories, there is also a rating system for some of the larger and more monopolizing entities in this consumer-driven world of ours. And I have no disillusions nor confusions about my own consumering, waste-producing ways. I in no way except myself from the mass in any way on this issue. But this site is a great step for any beginner environmentalist. The three R's, after all, start with Reduce.

I have a personal plan though.
My 5 year plan (I feel it absolutely necessary to point out that I've never once managed to fulfill a 5 year plan for one year, let alone the entire 5 which would be required to really even use the word fulfill at all - but I have a good feeling about his one):

Years 1 - 4: Make an insane amount of money
year 5: Pay someone handsomely to turn my car into a hybrid, build a house which is completely self-sufficient and powered by the sun (also discover a way to generate the sun in Vancouver for the 300 days a year that it's raining too hard to remember how far away the sky really is). Plant tomatoes.

Piece o cake.

Too bad being environmentally friendly is hardly economically friendly to the average anybody. One day. I have great hopes for the future. Time will tell and sites like dotherightthing.com can buy us some of that time back.

Remember not to forget - even little things like buying second hand or locally made anythings not only supports economic growth in your own neighbourhood but cuts down on packing materials and emissions created by transporting things back and forth.

Peace n' Love ya jive cats.
KT

I finally saw "An Inconvenient Truth" Last night. Then again earlier today.

There's nothing like a great graph to prove a point. And Al had several great graphs.

I'll admit: Al Gore has a tendency to ramble on at great length about very personal and seemingly extraneous matters before eventually tying back into his point with, frequently far-fetched, analogies in his movie. I can't help think that it would have been far more impressive just to see him give his presentation without the constant interruptions of personal tragedy, triumph and past political bitterness. (Though I do believe he has a right to be bitter). Al frequently comes across as arrogant, sometimes even smug, but if you had been sitting on the information he had for as long as he had; if you had given the same presentation; if you had argued the same points; shared the same facts; and battled the same battle, again and again, for as long as he has...

well you just might be a little uppity too.

All in all the movie carries an important message and lays out the facts in the near idiot-proof style (line graphs/pie charts) to which our general population has become so accustomed. Also all the packaging materials used on the DVD (Including stickers) are 100% recycled AND biodegradable. BAM! Double whammy of ecological responsibility!

Now, as promised, I will add more ways to help:

On the inside of the DVD jacket there is a list:

tenthingstodo

CHANGE A LIGHT: Replacing one regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent light will save 150 pounds of carbon dioxide per year.
DRIVE LESS: Walk, bike, carpool or take metro transit more often. You'll save one pound of carbon dioxide for every mile you don't drive!
RECYCLE MORE: (I already mentioned this one...but it's important) You can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide per year by recycling just half of your household waste.
CHECK YOUR TIRES: (If you do have to drive..) Keeping your tires inflated properly can improve gas mileage by more than 3%. Every gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere (also good for gas budget$.. not to mention the safety factors).
USE LESS HOT WATER: It takes a lot of energy to heat water. Use less hot water by installing a low-flow showerhead (350 pounds of Carbon Dioxide saved per year) and washing your clothes in cold or warm water (500 pounds saved per year).
AVOID PRODUCTS WITH A LOT OF PACKAGING: You can save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide if you cut down your garbage by 10%.
ADJUST YOUR THERMOSTAT: Moving your thermostat down just 2 degrees in winter and 2 degrees up in summer could save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per year.
PLANT A TREE: A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime.
TURN OFF ELECTRONIC DEVICES: Simply turning off your television, DVD player, stereo, and computer when you're not using them will save thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide per year.
BE A PART OF THE SOLUTION: Learn more and get active at ClimateCrisis.net
PLANT A TREE: A single tree will absorb one TON of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. *I know I already listed this one but It's astounding; the amount of damage a single tree can undo; and I don't think it would kill anyone to plant 2 trees. Everyone likes trees.

I already abide by many of these important rules. The rest I am trying hard to abide by.

I have yet to plant a tree (In this decade anyway).

My envirogoal for this week: Get our compost up and running.

Peace, Love and Green Globes
Katie

Happy Holidays, greetings and salutations my friends. I hadn't actually planned on posting until the new year, but I heard a great rumour (though I couldn't find it anywhere in any of the journal responses - I really just scanned through). I heard that I was congratulated on "the new baby". I'm not exactly sure where that one came from, but sadly I am not expecting (nor did I recently acquire) a new baby of any relation.

*I promise to let you guys know if anything THAT exciting happens*

As for excitement, other than a few days on a local-ish series called 'Exes & Oh's' and a couple days shooting with second unit on 'Fantastic Four 2' recently, there hasn't been any excitement on the work front.

I've mostly been playing hockey and hanging out with friends who are back in town for the holidays.

I'm looking forward to the start of a new year, this year, more than ever. I'm planning on planning. There's plenty that needs to be done, and none of it will happen if we don't each take it upon ourselves to do it. The world is changing, fast; faster than we care to acknowledge; but we can change faster and we must.

*Our sober discussion about the state of the world was interrupted by my raucous laughter. My best friend had put it so simply, so perfectly, a summary of all the blaming, whining, lethargic energy of our generation:

"..The world is dying and it's not our fault." - J

Truer words were never spoken. However, if our children are born and raised into the same predicament as we were, who's fault will it be then? We will have run out of people to blame and be left with no time and fewer resources to fix the problems we're all so eager to complain about, yet so overwhelmed by we do nothing else.

We are the children of the technological revolution. We are born with headphones. We are born with cell phones. We are bombarded from the moment we take our first breath with images, sounds and information. In an age when all the information you could ever handle is at your finger tips. Literally. We are fast running out of excuses for our ever delaying reaction to our various environmental blunders.

...shared the neck of my beer with my computer about a week or two ago.

Have yet (knock on wood) to experience any ill side effects.

Becoming ever more impressed with Apple's durability as well as their
marketing (anyone seen the new "Why you'll love a mac." campaign? ... - go to apple.com).

Mac truly is a superior beast.

No offense PCers

Peace, love and Disco ghosts

I had a pretty good birthday. It seemed a little hectic, though I really didn't do much.

Another year older. And what have I got to show for it? I don't know. Maybe I'm a little wiser, a little humbler, a little better versed in the ways of the world. I'd like to think so (so I guess humbler's out then).


I went down to Ashland Oregon with my brother to check out their annual film fest/support the BC spirit bear. It was a really fun trip. After returning home, I began work on an episode of a new series filming here called "Three moons over Milford".

I had an adventure surfing with ex-roomie, Pizza boy. A rather treacherous and lengthy adventure, the details of which are neither treacherous, nor exciting (though lengthy) to anyone who wasn't there, so I shant bore you. The water was nice, the weather could have been worse, and all in all, I had a great time. Hoping to get out surfing a bit more before it gets super crowded for the summer.

Have decided that the best way to describe the state of my room is "Mr. Dressup explosion!" Yup. That about sums it up. For a time my computer broke down* and my life became a series of purple post-it notes stuck, at random, to any free surface I could find in my Mr. Dressup explosion of a room.

*Actually, my computer's fine, just the power cable went on me. But computers don't work very well without power (at least not for long).

I've sat down to write a post several times in the last few weeks, but every time I did I was so unmotivated and bored by what I was writing that I scrapped it.

...not that I think this post will be much different (sorry), but I need to get over this block and just write...so you shall all suffer (again, sorry).

...
...hmm..


iPods have made public transit, not only bearable but, down right fun again.

In high school, my theater class had an assignment which involved studying someone. A stranger preferably. Just watch them, watch their mannerisms, and then try and copy them for the class. That lesson has always stuck with me. People all have their quirks. I like watching for quirks when I'm on the bus. I like to listen to my iPod and watch people being people.

I like it when things randomly sync up with music that I'm listening to. I wish more people broke out in song and dance on a daily basis. I suppose I don't though, so I can hardly expect other people to for my own amusement.

I'll start singing and dancing more.

I'm running out of things to babble about, and seeing as I have two hockey games tomorrow, I really aught to hit the sack.

I'll write again later when I have exciting things to say.

Katie

..sorry everyone.

The article is an old one which was published in a collection of his writings called "Polaroids from the dead". The bridge isn't actually in any immediate danger.

'Spose that serves me right for not properly citing my entries. Sorry folks.
I shall try to update again for real in the next couple days.

KT

DOUGLAS COUPLAND WRITES OF VANCOUVER'S LIONS GATE BRIDGE:

Perhaps in your city there is a structure so potent and glorious that its existence in your mind becomes the actual architecture of your mind - a structure through which all of your dreams and ideas and hopes are funneled. In my city, Vancouver, there is one such structure, a fairy-tale bridge called Lions Gate Bridge. Its three delicate spans link the city of Vancouver with the suburbs of the North Shore, where I grew up, and with the mountains and wilderness of British Columbia beyond those suburbs. The only other road access to the North Shore is five miles down the harbor to the utilitarian and unfortunately rather charmless Second Narrows Bridge: a six-lane people-mover about which little more can be said without taxing the limits of charity.
Lions Gate Bridge is by no means a practical bridge -- it looks to be spun from liqid sugar, and, unfortunately, it now seems to be disolving like sugar. By urban planning and engineering standards it borders on being a disaster, but then isn't it true of life in general that nothing is more seductive than the dying starlet? The lost cowboy? The self-destructive Jazz musician?

The bridge has three harrowingly narrow lanes. Depending on the time of day, commuters on the Lions Gate may have either one or two of these lanes apportioned to them. The rule of thumb is, tormentingly, the more traffic moving in your direction, the higher the probability of having only one lane.

But enough about the bridge's technicalities. We tolerate goodness knows how much from the people we love; the same goes for objects we love, too. I figure I have driven across the bridge maybe five or six thousand times in my life -- that's all the way from Vancouver to Halifax and back -- and never in all these miles have I once tired of the view, endlessly renewing, endlessly glorious. Maybe I am headed to my parents' house or maybe I am off to the airport -- the bridge's very existence is a metaphor for journey.

Recently there has been talk of tearing down Lions Gate Bridge, and such talk truly horrifies me. People speak of Lions Gate Bridge as being merely a tool, a piece of infrastructure that can be casually deleted, plundered from our memories with not a second thought to the consequences its vanishing might have on our interior lives.

I think that when people begin to talk like this, they are running scared -- they are doing something that I know I do myself: I try to disguise what I am really feeling by saying and doing the opposite thing.

I can't do this with Lions Gate Bridge anymore. Why was it so hard until recently for me to simply say that the bridge is a thing of delicate beauty -- an intricate part of my life and memories? Why is it so hard for all of us to say loudly and clearly to each other that the bridge is an embodiment of grace and charm and we must not let it die? Why would we destroy something we love rather than let a stupid pride prevent us from saying, "It means something to me"?

I want you to imagine you are driving north, across the Lions Gate Bridge, and the sky is steely gray and the sugar-dusted mountains loom blackly in the distance. Imagine what lies behind those mountains-realize that there are only more mountains-mountains until the North Pole, mountains until the end of the world, mountains taller than a thousand me's, mountains taller than a thousand you's.

Here is what Lions Gate Bridge is: one last grand gesture of beauty, of charm, and of grace, where civilisation ends... and eternity begins.


No one says it like COUPLAND.

KT