Theory of Knowledge: Sedin “Sisters”

A while ago, I wrote about the sexist language in regards to rape. Today’s topic is not as serious. It’s clear that in sports, masculinity is valued. However, is the sexist language that is often use to describe players outdated?

The case I’m going to focus on is the Sedin Twins who’ve held the nickname Sedin Sisters as they are perceived as “soft” players. In recent year, this nickname hasn’t been used as much as they rose to become superstars.

However, during the playoffs run this year, particularly in the Boston series, the nickname, though it never disappeared, reappeared in media, with Mike Milbury referred to the Sedins as Thelma and Louis.

It’s a casually used, but why is it still do prevalent that weakness is still associated with feminity. I wonder if a certain amount of ethnocentrism is involved as traditionally European players are considered softer players compared to the North Americans – they don’t fight as much, or they don’t throw as many hits, for whatever reason, true or not. Despite the Sedins Twins being two of the best players in the NHL, they are still regarded as too soft to win a Stanley cup.

And even more so the Internet meme that surfaced following the loss of the Stanley cup, “Two girls no cups”.

As usual when I write about anything, I have to ask: is this really a big deal? I believe it’s a reflection of the view of women, particularly in a world so focused on masculinity.

CAS: Learning PhotoShop

For the past couple of days, I’ve been playing around with Photoshop and following a few tutorials to learn how to use it.

This is just a summary of some of the things I tried out.

I started off with photo effects:

This effect is a combination of adding a soft glow and half sepia. This photo I took in a photoshoot with Anna last year.

This effect is called the “Hipster Effect”. I really like how the effect turned out on these glasses pictures that surfaced two or three days ago. First I added a soft glow then put a filter on top.

That’s another one with the same effect.

This is a Lomography effect.

This is the “Hipster Effects” again, this time with light leaks. This photo I took during Transit Travels, you might recognize it from the Granville Island post.

This is a combination of a bunch of effects.

Then I made some fun things:

This one roughly means, “Don’t let the bastards get you down.”

This one is an important life lesson: Always where under where.

Read that outloud.

I also made two Canucks themed wallpapers:

 

 

Transit Travels: An Artistic Day 8

Day 8
August 13 – Robson Square (and other areas of Downtown Vancouver)

I had companion for this trip. What.

My friend… Panda came along with me.

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We got to Burrard Station around 11:30. The Artisans’ Fair did not start until noon. We passed by Christ Church Cathedral and we were going to go in there to look before the fair in Robson Square started, but it wasn’t open to the public because of MusicFest. Well, next time.

We wondered around for a while and found Picnurbia.

Right beside it, as we arrived, so did a group of (mostly) university students and a few families set up for a rally/protest.

Panda said they were chanting “Free the Children!”

Well, we were standing there and a guy approached us asking if we were interested in what they were there for.

He explained that in Chile right now, students have taken to the streets to protest their education system where the only way to get a proper education was to have money. He said they were there to show support for the students in Chile. He something along the line of, “If you couldn’t pay for education, you’re pretty much screwed.”

I did a bit of digging myself for background, but not really enough to grasp the situation. I understand that one of the things the Chilean students want criminalized is profiting from education also that most of the institution offering higher education was private and that 45% of high school students study in public schools.

According to a BBC article (link), the education system is unfair and allows the rich access to the best education while the poor are put in underfunded and shabby state schools.

According to this article (link), 70% of university students in Chile attend private institutions.

The guy from Robson Square said that they couldn’t be a proper democracy unless they had a fair education system.

He asked us to take a picture with a paper that says, “I support Chilean students” I was slightly reluctant to do it because I’m not very familiar with the situation other than what he told me. Panda wanted to remain anonymous. She came up with a solution.

We would take a picture of him with the poster and I would write about it here.

I don’t know nearly enough about the situation to put my face on it and myself behind it. It does sound like something worth fighting for however.

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Panda and I wondered all the way around Robson Square waiting for the Market to set up. We came upon these hula hoops on Granville St. which was closed off as part of Viva Vancouver.

We made our way back around to the Vancouver Art Gallery.

And of course, the fountain in front of the VAG. (Yes, I know what I just said.)

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I hadn’t eaten anything that day and well… all those food carts around. Panda and I went on a food tour of two carts. The first was one that we passed by: Re-up (Addicting) BBQ.

Pulled Pork Sandwich – $7

The man was nice enough to cut it in half for me and Panda.

You know my recent obsession with good costumer service right? We got it here. For that reason alone, I want to revisit. The actual cart was really cute as well.

We went over to Picnurbia to enjoy our sandwiches.

It was delicious.

My biggest problem with it is the size. For $7, it was tiny. It was sized like a sandwich you could get at a fast food restaurant for $3. I understand that it isn’t a fast food restaurant and clearly it is of much higher quality, but I wouldn’t pay regularly for a sandwich that’s $7. I couldn’t afford to pay regularly for one.

It is definitely worth a try, even if it’s too expensive for me to become a regular.

One food cart I have been hearing a lot about is Japadogs. Which is where we decided to head next because we couldn’t find the Japadog that was closer to Robson, so we headed to Waterfront Station, where I knew there was a cart because I had passed by it on my way to Canada Place.

In front of Burrard Station, where we headed to take the skytrain to Waterfront Station, there was a stand selling Fuze drink for a minimum donation of 5 cents. Which is beyond cheaper than what you would pay in stores and the money was going to a good cause. I can’t remember for the life of me what cause it was.

Panda and I had walked past it our first time our of Burrard Station actually and she was pretty excited to go back and get one.

We both paid 25 cents.

We went to Waterfront Station for our Japadogs.

We ordered a Spicy Cheese Terimayo – $6.75. It was the most popular hotdog in 2010, according to the sign.

In terms of customer service, it was great here too. The two of them were adorable and very friendly. A small thing that I thought made a difference was the fact that she looked me in the eye, smiled and told me, “Have a nice day.” They had plenty of customers, but she still made it seem like I was important. She made eye contact, it was more personal. Simple things like that often make experiences better for customers, the difference between normal service and good service.

We sat on the window of the Fresh Slice right by the hot dog stand and ate. I was not entirely sure if it counted as loitering, or if you could be arrested for loitering in Vancouver.

Pricing – same as the Re-Up sandwich. It’s worth the try, but for what it is, not worth buying on the regular.

This one is a bit more worth your money simply because of the fact that it is hot dogs with Japanese toppings. Even though it is a bit expensive, I am tempted to try all of them because they are so interesting.

Considering the pricing on regular hot dog stands around Vancouver is only slightly less ($5 at one cart), I would go for Japadogs because it’s unique.

It was pretty good too. The sauce and seaweed made up the hot dog. I took a bite of one part the sauce didn’t quite get on and it tasted extremely ordinary. Otherwise, it was delicious. In fact, I actually wanted a bit more after I finished my half. So I will definitely come back if I have the chance. If I have the money, I would probably try one of each.

We took the Canada Line back to Robson Square because I have a newfound fondness for the train after I saw a really hot – rich looking – guy on there on my way back from Steveston. Yes, I’m shallow. Have I ever mentioned my goal in life was to be rich?

Like I told Panda, I spend like a rich person, but I don’t have the money to back it up. I need to become rich or else I’ll end up extremely broke.

Right in front of the Vancouver City Centre skytrain station was the other food cart I really wanted to try, but we didn’t see earlier – La Brasserie Street. We were really full at this point though, so I had to file it away for another trip. Their rottiserie chicken sandwich looks delicious.

The first thing we saw when we walked back to Robson Square was this lady singing.

She has a very sweet sounding and pleasant voice. I didn’t get her name but from a brief Google search, I believe she is Katie Rox. Don’t quote me on it though. It sounded like her from the few clips on her website, however. (I just tweeted Katie Rox to ask, I’ll edit this later if she responds.)

We walked around to the few stalls (I’m just going to call them stalls, they were more like tents) displaying work and jewellry for sale.

Panda started chatting with the woman about the crystals.

I was very impressed by the woman. She was extremely knowledgeable and seemed truly passionate for what she did, not to mention her jewellry were beautifully designed and made.

All of the memorable experiences have been the ones with friendly vendors that greeted you and chatted with you about their work.

The next one like this was a man called Kyle (website), who is a photographer. He had a great photo of a horse right up close, it was the first thing that caught my eye on his table. Panda and I chatted with him a while about his work, and the horse photo. He asked me what kind of photography I did, noticing the camera around my neck. I told him mostly travel in recent days.He mentioned how beautiful Vancouver was and how easily overlooked it was until you started photographing it.

I agreed, of course. This project – Transit Travels – especially has made me really appreciate the beautiful place I live.

We walked around the Market again and found a lady that made names/words out of wires. It looked really cool and in recent days, I have really accepted my name and now I think I have the greatest name of anyone out there. Offense intended. You can’t use your name to made “Heiding Away”, can you? Just kidding. But I seriously do love my name.

Panda was also really curious to see how she made the names.

Of course, there has to be a picture of me in here somewhere, yeah?

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We went into Chapters after and looked at books.

It was after we left Chapters that I had a crisis. I lost the “Heidi” that I just paid $5 for. We walked back to the lovely lady that made it for me and to the stall next to her’s where we stopped after I got the “Heidi”. We went back to Chapters.

Panda had a brainwave. We were at the computers, looking up a book – I must have put it down while I was typing.

Sure enough, I found it beside one of the computers.

Crisis averted then.

Wasn’t much of a crisis, was it? It was more like further proof of my scatter-brain.

Well, now my newly made picture holder is safely and proudly holding the photo of me and Murr that was taken during the 2011 Playoff when we went to Roger’s Arena before game 5 against the Nashville Predators in the second round.

Panda and I went to Metropolis at Metrotown after our day at Robson Square. We bought candy. That’s always exciting. I also used the self checkout at Superstore for the first time.

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Day 9 of Transit Travels involved danger. Not really. I’m going to Capilano Suspension Bridge with my mum and my brother tomorrow. Watch for the Day 9 wrap up. 🙂

Transit Travels: Or Lack Thereof. Day 5.

It’s me again. Wave.

I didn’t go anywhere special, or do anything special. So this post doesn’t deserve a Transit Travels banner (is it called a banner?), instead it’ll just be a …

Day 5 – Coquitlam Centre Mall

My mum had to work today, so she asked me not to go to far. It’s all good, I was pretty tired from the week anyways. I still have a complete aversion to staying home and doing nothing though. I prefer to go somewhere, then do nothing. Jokes. Maybe.

I ended up going to Coquitlam Centre, which is a pretty big mall. It’s got nothing on Metrotown, of course, but you can spend a decent amount of your time just looking through the shops and still want to return.

It’s not a tourist destination, that’s for sure, but it does have three sports stores – two of which specializes in jerseys and team related merchandise (for the people who just watch the sports but can’t play for shit), which I love. I frequent the two: Blue Line and Jersey City. I bought my Canucks jersey from Blueline. In case you’re not familiar:

I have a certain fondness of Blue Line because of this. Hubby, however, forsworn Blue Line ever since she tried to buy a Habs jersey from there and they told her, “This is Vancouver.” Not sure if she still feels this way, but she’s in the middle of nowhere right now, I can say whatever I want. 🙂

I wondered around the mall for a while, I met Staff there with who looked to be her sister. We chatted a bit about me getting the job at the PNE, and me doing stupid shit like going somewhere different everyday. Then we parted. (By the way, how creative was the name change for someone who is in fact a staff where I volunteer.)

I then went to Zellers – soon to be Target. Yes, everyone, one less Canadian thing in our Canadian lives. The British Americans are coming, the British Americans are coming!

I wondered aimlessly into my favourite section – the stationary – to look at my favourite things – notebooks. My notebook obsession is … I can’t explain it, I just love notebooks. Call it selectively hoarding: I hoard paper and notebooks. Anyway, I saw my favourite kind of notebook – Hilroy’s spiral bound 200 page 1 subject notebook.

I’m really weird, okay?

I didn’t want to spend the last of my money on a bunch of notebooks when I just bought a ton from Costco. Then I found a book called Painless French.

It’s a long story, but: I’m going to fail French next year. Either way I can use all the help I can get. So I bought it.

I don’t know about the title though. French, painless?

Oh jesus. I had my headphones on and I was focused on writing. Then all the suddenly I see this disembodied hand coming at me from the corner of my eye. I screamed and my dad screamed.

Apparently he been sitting in the corner of the next room just out of view. He stuck his iPhone at me because he wanted me to help him on a word game.

It’s the second time he’s scared me today. When I got home he was hiding behind a door and suddenly yelled as I walked by.

I’m freaking going to have nightmares tonight. Thanks, dad.

I don’t even remember what I was writing after that.

Anyways. Me buying a French study book is pretty much the most exciting thing about my trip. After I bought it, I went to the Food Court got a Mango Julius from Orange Julius. Then I sat down and watched the Whitecaps game while I studied French.

The Whitecaps won for the 3rd time this season with a score of 4-2. And it’s their 3rd ever win as an expansion team added to the MLS this season. Briefly during the game, they also had their first ever 3 goal lead before the Chicago Fire scored.

It was a really good game. I have pretty good luck catching such a good game considering how rare a win is for them. The Vancouver Whitecaps currently the Edmonton Oilers of the MLS. Soccer is pretty boring to me, but this game, this wasn’t boring.

They haven’t made a fan out of me quite yet, but a couple more good games, I just might be hooked.

It’s still no Canucks hockey though.

That reminds me. I talked my dad into getting us sports channels. That means for the 2011-2012 season I can actually watch game on TV. (instead of illegally streaming it, cough, cough) My dad has been wanting the sport channels too, so I guess he was happy that with me wanting them too, he finally had the support he needed to get them. He said he was going to call Telus tomorrow.

This is the greatest thing ever, the Sport channel “Theme Pack” includes: Sportsnet Vancouver, Sportsnet One, Sportsnet Pacific, NHL Network, TSN, TSN2, and two other channels I can’t remember. It’s gonna be an extra $7 a month for them. I’m so excited though. This not only means I can catch every single Canucks game, I can actually watch other teams too. I’m not restricted to watching only what’s on Hockey Night in Canada on CBC!

Well, I should sign off now.

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The plan for Day 6 of Transit Travels is Canada Place and/or Gastown. Maybe even Lonsdale Quay again (I only went to one part of it  – the Public Market – last time). See you at the Day 6 Wrap Up.