NorthGeek

Pro (outdoor) baseball lives in Canada!

UPDATE: I meant to say that pro OUTDOOR baseball lives in Canada -- please forgive me, Jays fans. I’m not forgetting about Toronto’s MLB team, it’s just that this experience really gave me that “now, this is what sports should be like” feeling.

If you haven’t yet, go check out Nat Bailey Stadium for a Vancouver Canadians baseball game. This minor league club, currently at 11-11 and 4 games back of the first place Everett AquaSox, know how to put on a show for their fans. Nat Bailey Stadium, at Main and 30th in Vancouver, is a beautiful and well-maintained outdoor ballpark seating just over 5,500 loyal fans (I think -- although Wikipedia disagrees). Tonight’s game, the third of five home games in a row against the Yakima Bears, was a special “fireworks” evening at the stadium -- with ongoing entertainment following Vancouver’s 10-1 crushing of the Bears. The club didn’t disappoint -- winning big for the first nine innings, and putting on a spectacular pyro show after the game.

Aside from being in a fun and energetic setting among the thousands of fans, in an open-air (packed) stadium, with the sun heating up the perfectly manicured natural grass field, there are plenty of things to keep the whole family entertained. Mascot races, animated beer and hotdog guys roaming the stands, and more -- including a choreographed dance by the club’s grounds crew after the 5th inning at every home game:

I took this next video with my phone to send to my friends back home in Montreal, to show them how magical local baseball is:

Tickets to see the Canadians play are just $12.50 and less -- depending on your student status, age, and whether you buy packaged deals. They also do a great job hosting groups in picnic or BBQ areas, and they even offer corporate boxes. The kids have a blast, too -- even if they’re not into the baseball, there are plenty of activities and areas to keep them entertained.

While at Nat Bailey Stadium, be sure to check out the Canadians Baseball Hall of Fame -- see who has worn the C’s uniform. It’s pretty impressive! Who knew Sammy Sosa once lived in Vancouver to play for the Canadians?? Also, keep your eyes open for General Manager Jason Takefman -- he’s got a pretty amazing story!

Here’s a short clip from the fireworks show after the game:

GO CANADIANS GO!

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 gets software update (confirmed in Canada, too)

July 7, 2010, TORONTO: Sony Ericsson has announced a global software update for Xperia™ X10 which is available to Canadian customers. By visiting www.sonyericsson.com/updateservice, customers can update the product software for optimal performance and get the latest enhancements. This update focuses on improving the general performance, power consumption, speed and responsiveness of the Xperia™ X10.

Once upgraded, the Xperia™ X10 will include:

• Free backup and restore application for your contacts, messages, bookmarks, settings etc.
• Improved usability of camera and media player.
• Improved overall phone performance, such as power consumption, touch sensitivity, and overall audio quality.

To upgrade the Xperia™ X10, please follow these steps:

1. Before you start, back up your contacts, messages, media files, bookmarks, calendar, tasks, notes, etc.
2. Go to www.sonyericsson.com/updateservice
3. Select your phone – Xperia™ X10
4. Install and run the update by clicking on the link “Download here”
5. Follow the instructions on your computer to connect your Xperia™ X10 and update the software.

Favourite artists from The Cheaper Show

This past Saturday was Vancouver’s The Cheaper Show, where the public was asked to come out to support ‘local’ artists, buy any of the 200 artists’ pieces onsite for precisely $200 each, and, well, be seen. While I have issues with arbitrarily pricing every piece at some mitigating level and the spectacle of selling art instead of being able to enjoy it, it was a very slickly run event, ultimately benefiting new, rising artists and new, curious art buyers.

Unfortunately, if you showed up after the doors were blown down by the first attendees, much of the highly sought work was already sold. Those red dots meant you were too late. And they really just indicated that the more established artists’ discounted work was the secret to such an event. Hell, if that were my work, I might have placed the red dots on my work before the event started. Most people notice the red dots moreso than their own perceived value of the art, and I was not the only person punching the names of memorable artists into my iPhone.

Still, it would appear that the brand of The Cheaper Show is beyond needing high profile artists anymore. So what’s next, more local events across the land for their respective cities’ new artists?

On that note, ironically, here were my favorite artists, all of them local to Vancouver — The Cheaper Show used to be only Vancouver artists, so I thought I’d stick to that. Check out all their linked sites. And support local art, because, well, Stephen Harper won’t.

In reverse alphabetical order:

Sara Araujo-Salas:

Robert Mearns:

Nathalee Paolinelli:

Jeff Ladouceur:

Dan Siney:

Adam Blasberg:

Choose Canadian Food

Hellmann’s is launching a campaign that is bang on. Our food imports in Canada are growing way too quickly, and that’s not just exotic fruits. We need to do something about this. Ask — where does our food come from? Look… ask… buy Canadian food whenever and wherever possible.

WIND Mobile Launches in Vancouver

Today, WIND Mobile has finally launched in Vancouver. They held an opening day launch event at their Yaletown store this morning. We at NorthGeek really appreciate having a new player in Canada to offer mobile services to the masses and finally to bring some competition to the stale Rogers, Telus, and Bell. However, it seems there’s still much confusion over what exactly WIND is.

WIND Mobile Yaletown Vancouver store

So here’s our rundown for you, thanks to Melissa Clark, WIND Mobile’s VP Sales and Distribution, and some of their technical team.

WIND Mobile is NOT:
An MVNO, or Mobile Virtual Network Operator, like Virgin, the major success around the world, and unfortunately a flop (shuffled under the Bell rug) here in Canada. An MVNO piggy-backs on a carrier’s network, is the front facing entity to the customer, but doesn’t own the network themselves. “MVNO” has become a taboo term, especially in Canada, with their spectacular flops (Amp’d in the US).

IS full carrier. WIND Mobile paid $442M for wireless spectrum (as auctioned in 2008) in pockets across Canada, but none in Quebec. They are spending more than that (to date) on network infrastructure (switches, base stations, etc). Oh and they’ll need much more. Building a mobile network in a country as spread apart as Canada is no small task. However, they have the backing of Orascom (global group of telecom companies) WIND affiliates, and other foreign investors (hand-cuffed by Canada’s stifling foreign ownership policy. They paid big money for network gear from Huawei and Alcatel Lucent — unfortunately nothing from Canadian vendors. Boo.

NOT just offering regional, urban coverage. When Fido originally launched as Microcell in 1997, they only had coverage in urban areas. Well, 2010 is very different. Consumers expect coverage everywhere: talk, text, data.

IS full coverage across Canada, however you’re going to pay an additional cost outside of the (current) five zones. They’ll be adding more zones in the coming months/years, and have plans including this “roaming” — you just wouldn’t be advised to get WIND yet if you live outside of those five current zones.

And it was no small feat to get coverage across Canada. Rogers, Telus, and Bell were evidently extremely uncooperative allowing WIND Mobile to share their cell towers (common practice across the industry). In fact, appealing The Big Three on this is a one-by-one incident affair. What a waste of resources. Outside of WIND Mobile zones, customers will roam on Rogers. I believe this is only talk and text, unless your phone supports both WIND’s 3G frequency (1700MHz) and Rogers’ 850MHz.

International roaming is looking good. In the US it’s currently just 25 cents a minute — what a bargain versus Rogers’ robbery of $1.50/minute! Around the globe, it looks pretty similar to anyone else.

NOT an iPhone carrier. Currently the iPhone 3G doesn’t work on WIND’s 3G frequency. You can still use your iPhone on WIND if you’re willing to unlock the phone AND accept EDGE data speeds. iPhone is just not available in 1700MHz (a bane for US’s T-Mobile as well), and don’t hold your breath for that to change.

Will your phone work with WIND? Most phones support multiple bands. For one, it has to be a GSM phone (has a SIM card in it). If it supports 1700 (check the specs), you’ll have 3G (fast data) access, otherwise just talk and text. Get in touch with customer support to find out. They want to hear what phones you want to use.

Android devices will be coming to WIND soon, likely the first from Huawei. Maybe even the HTC EVO? There are two Blackberries in the current lineup.

NOT just another Canadian mobile carrier, we hope. WIND is trying to promote value and transparency. That is their shtick. It’s no gimmick, but is certainly missing in Canada.

IS going to fight hard to make inroads into the market. Some might say they’re even desperate. They’re offering a $150 porting bonus (check for details, this deal is on the down-low), 6 month half price on your plan, no contracts yet discounted phones, and plan prices to compete. There are no contracts, so these are big gambles. The cost per new subscriber is quite high in the wireless business. WIND’s could be even higher.

Is it sustainable? For one, today they were offering $1 hot dogs on the street. Did you get one or ten?

WIND Mobile selling $1 hot dogs at their Vancouver launch

IS… Even if WIND fails, it will have a significant effect on the current Canadian market. Rogers copied them with their Redboard — an online forum for Rogers customers to communicate with the marketing folks and vice versa (well, they listen and reply, but don’t really do anything).

CONCLUSION
Canada needs this. Canadian mobile consumers desperately need something fresh. Rogers, Bell, and Telus have dragged their asses for too long. I want to support WIND (and Moblicity and Videotron and any other upstart) for that simple reason. And it’s going to cost WIND a whole lotta dough to get mindshare and understanding in Canada. Bring on the marketing team!

Are you out of a contract? Consider joining them. I would, but alas I’m one of the suckers who signed with Fido for 3 years just to get the iPhone, that being my first mobile phone contract ever. I’m certain I will never do that again. Bring on open Android devices and upstart carriers like WIND.

UPDATE
Here are some other things I really like about WIND and you should like too:

• Simple plan choice. Have you ever tried to wade through the Rogers website to figure out your plan?
• Fair usage: “If you exceed 5GB of data usage within any given month, we won’t cap your usage but we may slow your speed so that all customers can better share the network.” That’s on the $35/month Infinite data add-on.
• Treating pre-paid customers the same as post-paid. Both have access to the same plans. Pre-paid customers are no longer second class citizens.

Update: WIND Mobile has tweeted a correction to our published promotion. Don’t quote us on the deal above, but keep in mind that they are offering some great promotions this early:

Cliff Your Ride contest winner VIDEO

AutoTrader.ca’s Cliff Your Ride contest was won by a Montrealer with a 1992 Volvo 240 Wagon. I’m not sure why he says Sherbrooke is 2,000km from Montreal, but hey -- if I’m going to see a car fly off a cliff, then I’ll watch! Enjoy:

Winners of the BC Beer Awards 2010

To cap off the enjoyable Vancouver Craft Beer Week, the first ever BC Beer Awards were handed out on Friday at Vancouver’s Heritage Hall. Each category was awarded with Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners in a blind-judged beer competition for local commercial brewers. NorthGeek was at Hoppapalooza to savour some of these very beers ourselves, including (Yaletown Brew Pub) Iain Hill’s Brick and Beam IPA, the big winner: “Iain Hill has this beer dialed in right now. HUGE tropical fruit nose from the addition of Amarillo & Simcoe hops in the dry hop. Delicate. Incredible” (in the words of the Alibi Room).

Session Ale
1st Saltspring Golden Ale
2nd Howe Sound Garibaldi Pale Ale
3rd Whistler Honey Lager

Wheat Beer
1st Yaletown Hill’s Special
2nd Driftwood White Bark Wheat
3rd Steamworks ipanema Wheat

Lager
1st Vancouver Island Herman’s Dark Lager
2nd Okanagan Springs 1516 Lager
3rd Longwood Pilsner

Amber/Brown
1st Granville Island Nut Brown Ale
2nd Canoe Beaver Brown Ale
3rd Tree Brewing Hophead 45 Red Ale

Pale Ale
1st Central City Red Racer ESB
2nd Driftwood Ale
3rd Central City Red Racer Pale Ale

Other Dark
1st Phillips Skookum Cascadian Dark Ale
2nd Okanagan Spring Black Lager
3rd Fat Cat Bunny’s Black and Tan

Fruit Flavored
1st Storm Black Currant Lambic
2nd Phillips Longboat Chocolate Porter
3rd Swans Coconut Porter

IPA
1st Yaletown Brick and Beam IPA
2nd High Mountain Wodward’s IPA
3rd Central City Red Racer IPA

Stouts / Porters
1st Phillips The Hammer Imperial Stout
2nd Lighthouse Keeper’s Stout
3rd Howe Sound Diamond Head Stout

Spiced / Seasonal
1st Yaletown Oud Bruin
2nd Tree Brewing Spiced Reserve
3rd Driftwood Farmhand Ale

Strong Beer
1st Driftwood Old Cellar Dweller Barley Wine
2nd Central City Thor’s Hammer Barley Wine
3rd Swans Scotch Ale

BEST OF SHOW
Ian Hill’s Yaletown Brick and Beam IPA

Iain Hill, Head Brewer Yaletown Brewing Company, via yaletown.ca

NFB Online Short Film Contest – Love and Theft

Love and Theft is Andreas Hykade’s entry into The National Film Board of Canada’s Online Short Film Contest. Wow, truly mesmerizing:

Check out the other 10 short-listed entries here. Public voting for this contest ends May 17, but don’t forget how much amazing content is available for free always on the NFB.ca site!

This entry appears to be the only Canadian one — The Technician by Simon Olivier Fecteau:

NorthGeek tour of R&B Brewing Co. in Vancouver

This week, NorthGeek went to the R&B Brewing Co. headquarters and master brewery for a free tour of the facility. As part of Vancouver Craft Beer Week, Rick (the “R” from R&B) gave us a great (and FREE) tour. Afterwards, we caught up with Aly, Rick, and Barry from R&B and discussed what’s next for the small Vancouver brewery, what VCBW means to them, and what advice they have for beer enthusiasts looking to start brewing their own masterpieces. Here’s the video:

R & B Brewing – Hoppelganger IPA (NorthGeek Beer Review Series)

We drank Hoppelganger earlier this week, from the bottle, then got to enjoy a tour of the brewery as part of the Vancouver Craft Beer Week. And then, yes, we had more Hoppelganger.

Name: Hoppelganger IPA
Style: Northwest style India Pale Ale
Brewery: R & B Brewing Co
Brewery Location: Vancouver, BC

Color: Amber, slight red
Apparent Flavours (according to DW & NB): Slight hoppy, orange, floral, some bitterness (fits with the slight hoppy)

NB Summary: Formerly called Hop Goblin, the Hoppelganger is a very drinkable IPA. It’s a nice combination of five hop varieties and premium english malt. For someone new to bitter IPAs, this is a great start and easily likable, as it’s well balanced and not overly bitter or hoppy. The first impression is that it’s sweet and pleasantly malty and would easily accompany lots of meals. It’s not as distinct or strong willed as some other Northwest style IPAs, but I will definitely drink this one again, especially considering the brewery is just a hop from where I live (support local).

DW Summary: As a fan of true (American-style) IPAs, I was quite pleased with R&B’s Hoppelganger. It’s a really easy-drinking bitter beer – not overly bitter, and the hops are not overwhelming – just right, in my opinion. Very refreshing. After seeing the brewing process at the R&B brewery (great tour led by Rick – the “R” in R&B), my appreciation for this beer in particular is stronger than ever. Looking forward to opening up another jumbo bottle soon.

~~

NB’s NorthGeek Beer Taster Ratings:

This beer is a: Casual drinking beer / Meal companion beer / Dessert beer

Taste 15/20
Smell 9/10
Goes down easy 8/10
Head consistency 8/10
Aftertaste 11/15
Bottle/Packaging 4/5
I would recommend this beer 9/10

TOTAL: 64/80

DW’s NorthGeek Beer Taster Ratings:

This beer is a: Casual drinking beer / Meal companion beer / Dessert beer

Taste 18/20
Smell 8/10
Goes down easy 8/10
Head consistency 6/10
Aftertaste 13/15
Bottle/Packaging 3/5
I would recommend this beer 10/10

TOTAL: 66/80

NORTHGEEK TOTAL: 65/80

What are your thoughts on this beer?