Friday, January 31, 2014

Day #22,686-687

Walk km 15,732-15,743: Grandview-Woodland
Walk km 15,743-15,755: Guildford

kid's play area
approx km 15,747 Hawthorne Park

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Day #22,684-685

Walk km 15,713-15,717: running errands
Walk km 15,717-15,719: to Safeway
Walk km 15,718-15,732: Oakridge Station to Marine Dr Station via Angus @ Marine Dr

sculpted tree
approx km 15,723 60th @ Laburnum

Book #484: The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz (1900, L Frank Baum)

Pretty boring but it is a children's book so that is to be expected.
The odd thing about the plot is everyone's lust for power (except Dorothy). Everybody becomes a ruler of some part of Oz.

Monday, January 27, 2014

Day #22,680-683

Walk km 16,705-16,708: running errands
Walk km 16,708-16,712: Deerwood Bay (Sarto)
snow (with trees)
approx km 16,711 Deerwood Bay (Manitoba)

Movie #2432: Desk Set (1957, Walter Lang)
Movie #2433: Bullet Ballet (1998, Shin'ya Tsukamoto)
Movie #2434: League Of Gentlemen (1960, Basil Dearden)
Movie #2435: Stand Up Guys (2012, Fisher Stevens)

Book #483: The Last Book (2008, Zoran Zivkovic)

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Day #22,679

Walk km 15,695-16,705: Glenbrook (Burnaby & New Westminster)
stumps
approx km 15,699 Robert Burnaby Park

Movie #2431: Absolute Quiet (1936, George B Seitz)

Whole bunch of nutty characters meet at ranch due to weather conditions. Silliness breaks out. Fairly entertaining. 

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Day #22,678

Walk km 15,681-15,695: Glenayre (Port Moody)
pole with carved bird and bear
approx km 15,692 somewhere in Glenayre (near Port Moody/Coquitlam border)


Movie #2430: H-8 (1958, Nikola Tanhofer)

I think this is the first Croation movie I've seen. And not a bad one either. It's the old "Grand Hotel" plot with a twist. There will be a crash on the highway between a bus and a truck. We know which seats the dead people will be sitting in. But people keep moving around on the bus. Who will die in the crash?  

Monday, January 20, 2014

Day #22,676-677

Walk km 15,655-15,667 (7009 to go): Gastown and False Creek
Walk km 15,667-15,669: library & T&T
Walk km 15,669-15,681 (6996 to go): Gastown & False Creek (evening version)
Canada Place across the water
approx km 15,659 from Portside Park

Book #482: A Phoenix Rising (1996, Zoe Schramm-Evans)

None too exciting account of a trip to Vietnam. Of course, if it was too exciting I'd assume that it was fabricated. Pleasant. However, being 20 years old, I'm sure it doesn't really resemble the Vietnam of today.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Day #22,674-675

Walk km 15,630-15,641: Garden Valley
Walk km 15,641-15,655: home from 29th Ave Station

art
approx km 15,648 between William & Parker

TV Episode #96: Highway Patrol (1956,  Leon Benson)

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Day #22,672-673

Walk km 15,606-15,619: Brighouse to Steveston
Walk km 15,619-15,630: Lougheed Station to Hard  Rock Casino

fake statue of liberty
approx km 15,621 Delestre Avenue Coquitlam

TV Episode #94: Wallander - Faceless Killers (2010, Hettie MacDonald)
TV Episode #95: highway Patrol - Prospector (1956, Lew Landers)

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Day #22,671

Walk km 15,597-15,599: to T&T
Walk km 15,599-15,606: English Bay, Coal Harbour, Portside Park

Movie #2429: Last Vegas (2013, Jon Turteltaub)

Man, that was one long commercial. Plot is soap opera level inane used exclusively to entice people to go to Vegas. Everything is wonderful there. You always win money when you gamble. All the young chicks wanna have sex with you. All those guys who look like assholes are really just a bunch of nice folk. But the best thing of all: if you're old it'll make you feel like a kid again. Crap.

Monday, January 13, 2014

Day #22,670

Walk km 15,586-15,597: 17 parks of North Vancouver

Meetup walkers
approx km 15,589 Greenwood Park

TV Episode #93: I Spy - So Long Patrick Henry (1965, Leo Penn)
Didn't get to see this one because it was on the other channel (we could only see the CBC in 1965). In this one Robert Culp plays a wanna-be James Bond taking on the communist thugs of Charirman Mao in Hong Kong. All very silly. Written by Culp himself. Directed by Sean Penn's dad.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Day #22,668-669

Walk 15,569-15,586: back to "every block" walking

looking towards Richmond from Vancouver
approx km 15,586 from Marine Street Station

TV Episode #91: Family Guy - Friends Without Benefits
TV Episode #92: Highway Patrol - Hitchhiker Dies (Herbert L Strock)


Saturday, January 11, 2014

Day #22,665-667

Walk km 15,536-15,569: no Meetup walks

Book #481: The Trial (1925, Franz Kafka)

Everyone knows this one. A man is arrested but they never tell him what he was arrested for. The kicker is that the man never even asks what he was arrested for.
I kinda thought that the whole trial thing was just an allegory for life. This guy is forever trying to figure out the legal system and will go anywhere to see anyone who has some info. He figures that this info will help his case. However, all the info he gets helps him not at all.
So I figured that the arrest is the instant where he starts questioning "the meaning of life". In the story, when the guy is arrested, nothing happens - he's allowed to go about his daily routine as if nothing has happened. There is no jail. All the info he trys to get is like going to a priest, a psychiatrist, a self-help guru etc that people do to try and find answers.
It seemed that was true in the 2nd to last chapter where a priest tells the story of a guy who waits at the door to justice all his life - only to die of old age at which time the door is closed. However, in the last chapter, the "arrested" character is taken out and executed. So much for that theory!

TV Episode #87: Family Guy - Yug Ylimaf
TV Episode #88: Family Guy - Joe's Revenge
TV Episode #89: Family Guy - Lois Comes Out Of Her Shell
TV Episode #90: Donna Reed Show - Cool Cats

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Day #22,663-664

Walk km 15,511-15,524: Fraser & Fraserview
Walk km 15,524-15,536 (7128): Fraser Heights to Surrey Central

Dogwood sign
approx km 15,527 110 Ave Surrey

TV episode #86: Highway Patrol - Christmas Story (1956, Herbert L Strock)

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Day #22,662

Walk km 15,503-15,511: Richmond

travel agent's window
approx km 15,507 McKim Street, Richmond

TV Episode #85: Highway Patrol - Taxi (1956, Paul Gilfoyle)


Saturday, January 4, 2014

Day #22,659-661

Walk km 15,476-15,479: running errands
Walk km 15,482-15,482: to Safeway
Walk km 15,482-15,493: Forest Hills
Walk km 15,493-15,503: Fort Langley

Meetup walkers
approx km 15,499 Tavistock Point

Book #479: The Dog (1986, Kirstin Ekman)

A dog story from the dog's POV. I tried reading The Call Of The Wild but just couldn't accept that dog's POV thing. I think this one is better but a dog's life is just not all that interesting. 

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Day #22,658

Walk km 15,464-15,476: Fleetwood area of Surrey

twisted metal
approx km 15,470 end of 160 Street at Serpentine River

Book #478: The Coke Machine (2010, Michael Blanding)

A book about the Coca-Cola company. Front page blurb says it will reveal the "dirty truth" about the company. However, the author seems to be  reasonablely fair in the portrait he paints making Coke seem no worse than a lot of other corporations one could name.
Naturally, Coke is unethical in its practices but it's supposed to be because it is a financial being not a human being. There are two ways to try and saddle a corporation with ethics: through government or through consumer boycotts. Both avenues were attempted against Coke but only with limited success.
An interesting read.
FYI: is there cocaine in Coke? no. Was there ever cocaine in Coke? yes, for about the 1st 25 years.
What is the name of the script that Coke uses? Spencer script.