MELISSA DEX GUZMAN

“God, what a mess, on the ladder of success where you take one step and miss the whole first rung. Dreams unfulfilled, graduate unskilled - it beats pickin’ cotton and waitin’ to be forgotten…. We are the sons of no one, bastards of young….” (The Replacements)

… Well I figured out one of the tracks going on my next mix CD. Totally revisited The Replacements’ “Tim” and listened to it driving out of Vancouver and onto US soil while I had a bonding time drive with my dad.

On another note, I took this photo with the Canon FTb and JUST noticed the closing sign on David Gordon shoes… WHAT THE FUCK! WHY IS IT CLOSING?!?! This store was totally my youth along with the Underground and Cheap Thrills. Where else will I get my engineer boots!? FFFFFFUUUUU-

“He ate my heart…. (Instead he’s a monster in my bed)… He ate my heart then he ate my brain.” (Lady GaGa)

Don’t look too closely now…

Edit: It’s not a penis. Thanks Alex.

This is the piano that sits in the lobby of the Ricepaper office.

… Which reminds me… It’s time to start on that now.

Noki is all about serious business. Clearly. I’m cat sitting. (Noki says she misses you, Shelley.)

I saw Alice in Wonderland last night. It was not very impressive, so don’t waltz in there with high expectations if you choose to see it.

Edit: This is post #500. MILESTONE.

Here’s the tunnel of cherry blossoms at Burrard Station. And yeah, I know, this shot would have totally been cooler if there weren’t any people here. A longer exposure wasn’t possible because people were just standing there so no ghost effects were possible. C’est la vie.

On another note, it’s almost spring which means everyone’s hormones are raging… Everyone which may or may not be including me:

Dear guy with glasses who was looking at the Nikon SB-600s in my camera store. I wanted to ask you more about your travels in Thailand. You were attractive and told me that I should go with the pocket wizards. We shoot with the same gear and we should be camera friends…. I saw you again sitting in the waiting room at the clinic - I didn’t think that was a good place to make passes or say hello…

Dear guy with glasses who I am enslaved to. I think you are very talented. I don’t really know if it’s your talent that amuses me or our forced awkward conversations, and your obligated email replies. When you went off somewhere, it seemed like you still wanted to hang out. I might be very wrong….

Dear guy with glasses who I am developing a crush on but should not be developing a crush on… I want to give you a big hug but you’re all sick and gross…

I may or may not have a type. I hope this feeling shakes off soon - looks like I’ll be hermitting out in my house playing Final Fantasy XIII. That doesn’t sound all that bad at all, actually.

On Sunday, these fierce and terrific women of the Faster Pussycats of the Terminal City Roller Derby league girls drew a crowd out at the Marine Garage in Steveston while I was photographing them. It was a lot of fun. Luckily one of the chicks in the team also shot Nikon and I was able to use her Nikkor 12-24mm f/4 lens for this shot. (I was tempted to use my Sigma 10-20mm on my Canon Rebel XT.) The sky was a little grey so I tried to use a graduated filter with a blue tint in Lightroom. Does it look okay?

Anyway, here’s a draft… There’s some small things to touch up…

This is some Diet Coke. Again, taken with that Canon FTb on that ancient film. I gave this particular print to Sam MacDonald. :)

Tonight, I had fun with the hookah and tried this new loose leaf black tea - “cream of Earl Grey” - the activities/flavours went hand in hand and it was quite lovely. A light end to such a gross day outside.

“Turn me back into the pet that I was when we met - I was happier then with no mind-set… I’m looking in on the good life I might be doomed never to find, without a trust or flaming fields am I too dumb to refine?” (The Shins)

Feeling kind of crappy these days. Something about a cold going around, something about allergies. You know. I should have really just sat at home and finished off a batch of images but instead I went to Burrard SkyTrain station and stood there for an hour.

Here’s some friendly blossoms. Temporary pretty things.

A closer look at the Vancouver Biennale’s “Artificial Rock #143”. (Remember when people were hitting it?) Again, taken with that Canon FTb and that 20 year old film.

Today I drove down the I-5. It wasn’t very far, and it wasn’t for very long. The sun is shining on the west coast, I rolled down the windows, the wind went through my hair… I brought along Weezer’s self titled blue album (yeah, I was in one of THOSE moods today).

It was really nice.

Here’s a photo of the Sushi Garden by Brentwood taken with the Canon FTb and 20 year old generic Kodak ISO100 film. I currently have ISO800 film loaded in. Meh.

Today I got sick and made a pot of rooibos victoria mint tea with Ellen playing on the TV in the background. (Just like this. Exactly like this.)

Then I went to sleep at 9pm thus delaying this post.

So I guess this thing will be lit again soon…

On another note, the asymmetry of this is killing me. I’ll have to retake this one. Ugh.

“Packed up and shipped to London… Discard, discard the rotted parts as if they’re hardened lungs. Belly of a whale, belly of a whale, belly of a whale…” (Wintersleep)

Morbid lyrics but I’ll always remember falling in love with vivid composite colours whenever I hear this song. Happiness - or something like it. I never got to figure out if it was the work, or the person behind the work that intrigued me so much….

Now that the Olympics are over, I now have about 2 weeks worth of photo editing to do. Here is Dave 1 of Chromeo from last week… I’m still not over how great that show was. It was amazing to see them in such an intimate venue. Smallest venue I’ve seen them in since Celebrities. (I think Celebrities is smaller than the olde Sonar anyway.)

For anyone who is curious… I probably took about 40GBs of photos for the entire month of February. Luckily I have a fairly decent empire of hard drive estate….

^_________________^

This photo and more at my 2010 Cultural Olympiad set on teh Flickrz.

What Granville and Robson Square look like right now… And probably will look like for the next few hours.

A few remarks:

God, that was the worst closing ceremony I have ever seen. The only thing that was done right was Neil Young performing before the fire went out. (He played the same song on Conan O’Brien’s last episode of the Tonight Show.) I am not proud when I say this and you must realize how bad this is but…. Nickelback was the best performing band on that musical lineup. Christ.

The Men’s Ice Hockey gold win was beautiful. What an intense game. Really great television right there.

And now, the economic hangover begins.

Okay fine. I have finally partaken in Vancouver Winter Olympics Consumerism 2010. I found these cute vinyl editions of the mascots for $30. They are certainly photogenic as my friend Kenny discovered quickly.

Tomorrow at noon is the game for gold in Men’s Ice Hockey. (It’s a rematch of Canada vs. USA for those of you who haven’t been following along.) Will Vancouver riot? Who’s going to win? Your thoughts?

Melissa, relax that right hand….

I recently received this Canon FTb from Sam MacDonald along with a 20 year old roll of film. I am surprised these turned out at all… Maybe I will be more confident in my next roll of film now that I know how it works.

I was having a blast just shooting this roll, not knowing what it looked like right away…. but when I took them to London Drugs to get them developed, my anxiety was through the roof, wondering if my shots all sucked.

Guilty pleasure… White rabbit candy.

I scanned this one when I was doing a batch of my Instax pictures… What do you do with your Polaroid and instant film pictures? Mine are in a box. I will hopefully find an album that will fit them one day.

One of the few shots that my brother and I did for jj’s individual GPOYW assignment. (Sorry jj, I didn’t do the pro-Olympics/anti-Olympics assignment!) I cut out those ghosts this morning and threaded them up from the ceiling of the crawlspace during the Canada vs. Russia game.

Speaking of, now that we won, the Olympics aren’t over…. yet. I’m pretty sure if we lost, the party would stop now. Win for the economy! (Or something.) Not a fan of this idea.

Completed the Sam Roberts Band set and overall night with the Arkells. It only took 5 hours. Sam Roberts was probably one of my harder shows to photograph.

And now for scanning my Fujifilm Instax shots of the Team Canada DJs, Chromeo and Love and Electrik…. in addition to editing two videos, and small photo sets.

And my arms still hurt from pumping iron…. and by iron, I mean carrying around a heavy Manfrotto tripod and my workhorse lens for hours. Whine whine.

It might be almost 15 years too late, but I don’t care - I am glad I got to see one of my favourite Vancouver-based bands… The Odds. Here’s Craig Northey, showing off his guitar that he had signed by Trevor Linden. He was pretty happy and excited about it.

Some Odds trivia for you: They’ve had a relationship with the Kids in the Hall that stretches back into the KITH hay days by having them appear in the music video for “Heterosexual Man”, then acting as backing band for Death Lurks (headed by Bruce McCulloch as Grivo). Most recently, they performed the score for the Kids in the Hall’s latest mini-series project, Death Comes to Town. The more you know.

Post note: I sent Dan Mangan a black and white sample from my shots from Surrey 2010 and he has posted it on his website, linking to my colour versions on Flickr. Aw.

I had the opportunity of a lifetime to interview one of my favourite bands ever, Chromeo. Actually, in fact, I just wrote out my interview questions on a cue card and had jj recite them while I did the camera work… But still.

After the interview, I confessed to them that I was a huge fan and that I recalled their time in Vancouver at the Brickyard Vice Party where the audience requested they play Needy Girl twice. Dave 1 and P-Thugg looked at each other and laughed and said, “oh yeahhhh! We totally did!”After they played Needy Girl during their set, Dave 1 smiled and waved to me and at that moment, I was pretty satisfied with life… and coincidentally, satisfied with my shots, so I moved to the back.

If you haven’t heard Chromeo’s music, I suggest you change that right this instance and check them out. If you want a good time, you will get one.

Here’s the Surrey 2010 Celebration Site at Holland Park. This is the site that I am doing some photo work here and there of the production. Approximately 30,000 people made it out for the Sam Roberts Band who is pictured above.

Y’all should come out on the last Saturday of the Olympics as we’ll be using this outdoor stage for an amazing lineup. :)

Another great night last night at Surrey 2010 Celebration Site, working on behalf of the production crew. I originally had plans to See Deadmau5 at LiveCity Yaletown but I am so glad I ditched out and went to work instead. I would have been kicked in the face downtown but for Surrey 2010, I got to climb 4 ladders and take the most spectacular wide angle shots I have ever done for a live event. More photos of Dan and the Sam Roberts Band coming down the pipe.

This here is Dan Mangan… He’s pretty charismatic and beautiful live in person. I still can’t believe someone crowd surfed during his set. IT’S ACOUSTIC.

You can tell you love your subjects when…

I spotted this old lady when I was shooting Hot Hot Heat at Surrey 2010 last night. She was right up at the front of the barricade! She sure knows how to party, but I hope she was okay since the silly kids were crowding surfing to “Bandages” (what the Hell, I know).

Tonight I got to work with some of my favourite people of all time. I know some really talented people.

Here is Hot Hot Heat. Here’s a little story about how I know about Hot Hot Heat. Once upon a time, I was a teenager and I did those crrrrazyyyy little things crrrazyyy teenagers do… Back when I was using my mum’s old point and shoot Nikon, I was visiting my friend’s cabin and we had to take a ferry to go there. On that ferry, I saw some “hot dudes” (as I used to call them), and I asked if I could take their picture. They said, “What is this for?” and I replied with a lie about making a summer scrapbook. (See that photo here.)

What a fangirl. Turns out it was Hot Hot Heat and after hearing “Tokyo Vogue” and “Fashion Fight Pause”, they became my favourite band…. Obviously they’re not my favourite anymore but it’s sort of neat that after almost a decade, we’ve reconnected in this small world.

Mad props to my friend for the lights. It’s one of three crucial things that need to kick ass for a photo to be good: 1) You need that band to perform their face off; 2) You need amazing and brilliant lighting; and 3) You need me to bring it.

“This is why we can’t have nice things.”

Well, Vancouver does it again by having its violent crowd destroy LiveCity Yaletown’s barricade during [pop] hardcore outfit Alexisonfire’s set… after a mere 20 seconds. The band began playing opening riff to ‘Drunks, Lovers, Sinners and Saints’ (I think) and the crowd knocked down the barricade where dozens of people were injured; some hurt more with broken limbs and clean slices.

Alexisonfire immediately stopped playing and told everyone to back up. After 20 minutes of cleaning up, the barricade was deemed unusable and unsafe. The band did the right thing and cancelled the show.

See videos: Alexisonfire Tells Vancouver Crowd to Back the Fuck Up After Barricade is Destroyed and Alexisonfire Apologizes and Does The Right Thing By Cancelling Show

I haven’t seen Alexisonfire since I was a teenager and was looking forward to the show. Too bad Vancouver always behaves like this whenever something exciting comes to town. I wonder what will happen if Canada’s Men’s Ice Hockey team wins gold?

Before writing the word “love”, I actually spelled the word “fuck”. This was my test shot.

I made sure to hold the final leg of the ‘k’ because I wanted a really elegant ball at the end that makes the word appear to be written with a liquid pen. I think I did okay. Maybe next time I’ll try using a glowstick. These sparklers are unpredictable.

“Your eyes are burning holes through me, I’m gasoline and I’m burnin’ clean… Your eyes are burning holes through me, I’m not scared… I’m outta here.” (R.E.M.)

I linger around these memories.

Had an amazing round of Greek food with the 3 best girls in the entire world. Today Canada won its first gold medal and I cried like a wimp when they showed the story of Alexandre Bilodeau’s relationship with his brother. I am stoked he won… and I am surprised I was stoked.

LOL. Point and shoot concert photos. Gross. Haha.

Anyway, here are some photos from the rainy *free* Wilco outdoor show presented by LiveCity Vancouver, as a part of the Cultural Olympiad. For a free show, they played a generously long set. Awesome.

And in case you wanted to know what downtown Vancouver looks like at 1AM on Day 2 of the Olympics, here is a crappy iPhone video of my view walking down Granville Street. I’ve lived in this city my entire life and I don’t even know what city I’m in anymore.

Day 2 out of 2 of torch stalking. Above is Michael Buble and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Some remarks about the experiences (and maybe some comparisons): Michael Buble, even though we shared a very awkward moment in the summer at Granville Island where I told him I didn’t know who he was - was extremely likable and great in person. He just knew exactly how to act with the public. He kept shouting back at people and showed he was really proud to be Canadian. He let people touch the torch and tried to answer as many media video cameras as he could. His stretch had no barricade except for a wall of bicycles with police.

Arnold Schwarzenegger had fans lined up at 3am (WTH), had a barricade and more media than there were people… and let me tell you, there was a LOT of people. I forgot my golden rule of camera-ism and that was: “Some rules are meant to broken”. Things like barricades. To be honest, the guy is so short in person and all the security was so tall that no one could see him. I really should have hopped the fence and pushed my way through. Oh well.

I did watch the opening ceremony on television. Highlights: Obviously rehearsed in public speaking bare chested aboriginal with a wolf head on his head, Ashley MacIsaac and the fiddlers (“fuck yeah” moment), Donald Sutherland’s narration, Furlong’s god awful French, painfully predictable final torch bearers, painful dysfunction of the internal torch at BC Place.

RIP Nodar Kumaritashvili

Day 1 of 2 for torch stalking. I’ll be torch stalking tonight so if anyone wants to hang out downtown and pretend to be homeless and pull an all-nighter (similar to what I did for the iPhone - I tell myself that it was worth it), then you know who to call.

No chaos, no fun. (As I used to say…. Used to.)

PS - It looks like I live in a forest.

Another 4x5, walking in a rainy day in Vancouver. I wonder how long the rain will be here for. Rain and transit always looks like this for me… anonymous faces, no colour. (It smells much worse, though.)

I’m prepared for Friday though… My Canon Rebel XT has been conditioned in the rain for 4 hours when I saw Radiohead at Thunderbird. This will be my weapon of choice when I do some torch stalking on Friday. In case you haven’t heard, Arnold Schwarzenegger will be donning one of those hilarious white tracksuits (and hopefully the red mittens) as one of the final torch bearers.

A lot of people have something against the Governator running with it, but I hear a few arguments: 1) Yes the games are on Canadian soil, but they are an international matter; and 2) Hey if it can generate attention from the public and media, so be it. We’ll need to cash out on these Winter Games as much as we can. As for me, I’m not thrilled on the 2010 games economically speaking (who isn’t?), but fine, I am sold. I’m there.

If you have any information on where (Stanley Park is a big place, come on) and when Schwarzenegger is running, tell me.

This is the Hasty Market on Main Street, formerly called the Nasty Market. (You can see that they did a *good* job at hiding it.)

I think images that are 4x5 are awesome. My new favourite crop that is useless in the world. (Unless you want an 8x10 print, I think that’s close.)

And because I did it on Facebook and Twitter, I have to do it here to be consistent: I have an extra Philip Glass ticket. No one likes Philip Glass. Do you?

I know you noticed it so I’ll point it out: Yes, that is the same image twice. Once in black and white and once in colour. I am posting this for a reason. One thing I used to do when I started taking photos was I used the “black and white” image as a cop out instead of having proper colour balance. I really thought I got away with it, but honestly, it takes a good colour photo to have a good black and white photo. The way your greys look is directly related to your reds, your yellows, your blues, your whathaveyou. If you can’t properly light your photos, it will show. Black and white images should not be a cop out.

In other news, Hansi, Evan and I hung out at the new Sushi Garden. It took Evan a little while to warm up to me but my old tricks working as a family photographer in Sears did magic…. although I think Hansi was more amused.

PS - I see that Tumblr has a new checkbox called “Let people photo reply”. I am checking it off because I don’t know what it does. Maybe you guys can show me some black and white photos you’ve taken? I’d love that, I promise.

“Hey kids, shake it loose together - the spotlight’s hitting something that’s been known to change the weather. We’ll kill the fatted calf tonight, so stick around: you’re gonna hear electric music, solid walls of sound.” (Elton John)

Nothing’s changed. Nothing has been better or worse. It’s still the same… but I would rather be nursing this than fight all the other evil spirits of the West. It’s you that I want on my mind. It’s fine.

Above is where a homeless Doctor Parnassus once was. Do you recognize it? One of the project managers walked by in that scene as well. Vancouver, I give you credit. We have one Hell of a beautiful library.

Interviewed these guys tonight and played the camera operator. Video up soon and this time, I’m not the one editing it. I am semi-relieved.

Also: I need to start lifting heavy cans of beans or something while being idle… Carrying these giant video cameras and 24-70mm f/2.8 lenses is starting to make my arms sore. It’s true… I’m weak.

PS: From what I’ve read, CODE stands for “Cultural Olympiad’s digital edition”.

A simple prop to occupy my time
This one goes out to the one I love
This one goes out to the one I’ve left behind

You have to know what I mean when I say “my damage is in my gear”. Six fucking months later.

Short breaths and cigarettes, a 24mm f/2.8 prime that doesn’t communicate with the body, being run over at a Greek restaurant, Conan O’Brien, rushing, Zach Galifianakis videos on YouTube, depression, wedding photos, comeradeship, never thinking I’d have to hear my “Too Many Dicks on the Dancefloor” ringtone, Jordan Burnell’s “My Home Town”, Joey Lawrence’s blog, the gallon of milk in an hour bet, property talk, responsibilities, the reason why I wore my harmonica rosary, Lightroom shortcuts, weird dog on Beck’s “Odelay”, shocked & hating then claiming it properly and again later.

You and me. </3

This is the Vectorial Elevation. A buddy of a buddy of mine was working on adjusting and focusing these lights all hours of night earlier this week and I was going to give you guys a sneak peek but by the time I got downtown, he called it a night… SO! Here is the Vectorial Elevation in Vancouver on launch date: today.

Great view from the Burrard Bridge. Also, it’s you guys who decide what these lights do so make something creative eh? Want to fuck with my city’s lights? Here ya go: www.vectorialvancouver.net - but make it interesting plz.

“Previously, the installation was staged in Mexico, Spain, Ireland, and France where it received accolades such as Lyon’s prestigious Trophée des Lumières.” (Old news source)

I’ve been wearing my claddagh ring for 10 years. My mother gave this to me when her Irish manager told her about the culture surrounding them.

Excerpt taken from Wikipedia because I’m lazy:

The way that a Claddagh ring is worn on the hand is usually intended to convey the wearer’s romantic availability, or lack thereof. The ring is worn on the right hand with the heart facing outward to show that the wearer is not romantically linked but is looking for love. When turned inwards, it is shown that the wearer is in a relationship, or their heart has been “captured”. Noting that the heart is pointing down the hand and into the veins which lead to the wearer’s heart. The ring worn on the left hand with the heart facing outward shows the wearer is engaged; turned inward indicates the wearer is married.

“Get into the car. We’ll be the passenger. We’ll ride through the city tonight. We’ll see the city’s ripped backsides. We’ll see the bright and hollow sky. We’ll see the stars that shine so bright…. Stars made for us tonight.” (Iggy Pop)

I remember that time we walked this city all night. We linked arms and passed the John Fluvog gallery. We drank Starbucks, sat and people watched at Robson Square. We walked to Science World with a harvest moon hanging in the sky. You held me tight and you told me, “you drive me crazy”.

The truth is… you still drive me crazy.

Hey Melissa! Come out! Come with us to the ‘no pants party’!

And so I see some old schoolmates of mine wearing TEARAWAY PANTS (no less!) but I declined after a long day and my loyalty to Chuck. (What is wrong with my priorities?) I guess I could have gone since I don’t own a pair of pants and was already in appropriate attire. Or something.

Hope they had fun. :)

The dashboard of a Mini Cooper.

Do like/want.

More “as is” shots.

Hey Shelley, I found Quatchi. I didn’t know he was suffering from depression and existential anxiety. It appears that we share a few things in common.

Also: That torch that looks like a joint is passing by my hood. I’ll live blog that shit for sure.

If you don’t get it, the reference is here. (Without the other part and I apologize in advance for those who actually click on the link.)

Clockwise from top left to bottom left: Assassin’s Creed, Skate 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and this crazy looking XBOX controller.

Basically, no one fronts with us.

I’ve been listening to a lot of The Odds lately and I am stoked that I’m hearing 20 seconds of their new stuff as the new Kids in the Hall: Death Comes To Town mini-series’ theme song. Speaking of which, if you were never a fan, I don’t suggest it - you just won’t *get* it. In either case, all I want to do lately is drive into the sunset to the Odds. Soon….

I always like the offensive art in Vancouver. First it was Oppenheim’s “Device to Root Out Evil” but now I would say this is my favourite. This is the Gao Brothers’ “Miss Mao Trying to Poise Herself at the Top of Lenin’s Head” which is made from polished stainless steel.

Shelley and I visited this thing all the way out in the middle of Richmond. Strangely (yet strategically?) placed if you ask me. A lot of people have already thrown mud and eggs at it.

Surprise surprise.

“You’re in my mind, you’re in my heart - I wish I knew right from the start. All my friends said you’d break my heart… A heartbreaker right from the start.”

Here’s me going off topic around Chinatown when shooting some stock. I just thought it looked close to the aesthetic of MSTRKRFT’s “Heartbreaker” music video so there was a lot of appeal to me personally. (Note: If you haven’t seen the video, please do. It’s extremely beautiful to look at.)

Miga getting ambushed by media and children.

You know it’s true.

“Sitting on the bed or lying wide awake, there’s demons in my head and it’s more than I can take. I think I’m gonna roll but I think it’s kinda weak saying all I know is I gotta get away from me.” (The Offspring)

I never thought that when I was listening to this song in the 90s that I would be listening to it 15 years later, looking at lifestyle porn and contemplating my timeline of owning a loft in Vancouver. Huh.

Starbucks on Granville and Georgia. (One of them, anyway.)

I had my birthday shindig at Guu in Gastown where 12 of my good friends and I gathered. I was saying that one of the best parts of it being my birthday was there were no questions asked when I wanted to take a picture. Awesome.

Thanks to all of you who came out and even waited the 3 hour wait. I hope it was worth the wait, and it meant a lot to me that you came out. Lots of good food, always good conversation, and of course - so many photobombs. (So. Many. Photobombs… EVERY TIME.) My friends are awesome - they really are.

Here are 20 Hello Kitty themed Fujifilm Instax Mini scans from tonight.

Bellingham International Airport.

Final Fantasy XIII party. BRB snacks from T&T Supermarket.

Love how everyone is playing Final Fantasy XIII and Twitter-ing.

FINALFANTASYXIIINERD-ING

So I took a photo of the first dude in line. He is wearing black angel wings, a top hat with cards and he is carrying a skull tipped cane and a leather-bound edition of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman.

I took this photo without asking. He seemed angry. Let’s hope we don’t cross paths again.

Check out these Final Fantasy XIII nerds lining up for the midnight release at EB Games. Ha.

Check out these Final Fantasy XIII nerds lining up for the midnight release at EB Games. Ha.

T&T Supermarket appears to be out of stock of what I desire.

I’m here with 4 different cameras. Not sure why. Vancouver is more appealing when it’s not raining.

It’s sunny outside. All of a sudden, the stuff on these monitors looks super unappealing. Argh.

I likes chat roulette.

(But no seriously, this video is cute/good.)

Truth: I’m still a chat roulette virgin.

Pseudo whimsical bullshit.

You’re welcome.

(Spring in Vancouver. Can you spot the blossums? Pretty.)

Like two peas in a pod. <3

We cracked open the sushi and then Canada totally scored. Lucky sushi?

Well Surrey, it’s been fun. Loved watching all the great acts from on top of the foh. Never had the opportunity to do that before.

Thank you.

Welcome to the game of “don’t touch anything, Melissa”.

Last day of shooting Surrey 2010… Wish it wasn’t raining. :(

So I seriously opened the shrink wrap on some Lindt Valentines Day chocolates my mum gave me and THIS HAPPENED. WHAT THE FUCK GUY!!

I saw this guy dressed up as Winnie the Pooh at Robson Square. Thanks Jay Onrait for always noticing the ‘eclectic’ people in the crowds.

Going to learn to shoot this Canon FTb. Not really sure if 20 year old film is gonna like being used though.

HIYO. I haven’t gone to as many LiveCity events as you - sheesh. I went to Wilco, and attempted to go to Alexisonfire (which as you know was cancelled). Other than that, I’ve been covering Surrey 2010 for various nights on behalf of production. The Surrey 2010 site is probably the nicest celebration site and I am not just saying that. It held up to 30K people, compared to the 8K capacity at LiveCity Yaletown. Just saying. :)

He’s cheering for Russia. Interesting.

Filed under: You know you live in Canada when….

Let’s find out…

Edit: Yes. Yes the message disappears once you answer the question.

Chilling with the Team Canada DJs. Just finished my interviews with them and Chromeo. It was such an honour to meet and talk to one of my favourite bands. More material coming down the pipe!!

Happy I’m watching the explosions from here. Oh, that bright light is Sam Roberts. The guy I’m standing with is freaking awesome with lights. Holyyyyy.

Doppleganger of someone I love. So happy I’m here rather than getting kicked in the face at deadmau5.

I had to climb a ladder to get here. In all honesty, I’m pissed afraid of heights.

Jeffery and I noted that those two horizontal red lines look fairly well done.

BUKKAKE UDON?!?!? AAAAAHHHHHH.

I’m ordering it. (Maybe.)

Bro hates his job.

Balancing juggling street act. Some bros were commenting on how “jacked” he was.

On another note, it’s so rare I get the opportunity to use the word “jacked”.

Me and my Russian homie.

People are hitting the Vancouver Biennale’s “Artificial Rock #143”. How Vancouver?

Oh Vancouver. I love you.

It’s gonna be a long wait for Wilco but alas, I have a sweet spot.

Note: Holy sweet women’s ice hockey slaughter Batman.

Alex and I got some mascot pins from the Coke guys as reported by the morning crew on CTV.

Robson Square way early in the morning.

Dear Media, Sumi and I knew the final torchbearer was going to be Wayne Gretzky but good efforts in trying to make everyone think otherwise. Typical. Okay, bedtime. Wilco is going to be scary busy tomorrow.

In case you ever wanted to know what the fastest drive across the Lions Gate Bridge is like in morning rush hour.

And sorry but I missed the lions wearing mittens.

They put those goddamn red mittens on the running man statue.

This guy can totally look up my skirt but he’s not. I’m at a Blenz, rudely putting up my feet, tethering on 3G, and of course, looking at your Tumblrz.

I will never torch stalk like this ever again. This reminds me of late nights studying. (Speaking of, I totally have Linux PDFs with me. STOKED!!!)

I’ve always wanted a bike with a sidecar. Honestly.

Torchbearers had to purchase their torch for $500. A wire is cut once the flame is passed so it can’t be reused.

The more you know.

Only because I said I’d do it and I didn’t think I was going to. For the lulz. Of course, what else.

The Olympic torch in my hood. BURNABY CARES.

Edit: WHY IS IT UPSIDE DOWN?! Oh well, you get the point.

In my hood. Video of torch when it comes by.

I figure that I’ve had my Nikon D90 for over a year now… It’s time I read the manual. (Haha.)

For Felicity, who could not be here for this trip to Toshi’s.

At the time, it felt like I worked here forever… Now I completely forgot I used to work with bras and underwear all freaking day.

My current life in 15 seconds. My iPhone mic exploded. Thanks Junior Boy.