Morning Brew: May 13, 2008

Sorry about the lack of a Monday Morning Brew -- with Sean's return from Toronto, the wires got a little crossed. He told me he'd write it, but that was over beers (jet lagged beers, no less)... and the man had a weekend of birthdays and mothers to celebrate. For the time being, we'll be switching it up; I'll be giving you the Tuesday/Thursday lowdown while Sean will keep the sarcasm flowing on all those weekdays surrounding mine.

So the VPD are catching criminals via CrookTube, promoting via Facebook and have tried to round up recruits via Second Life. What's next... viral videos? "The Vancouver Police Department is fucking Matt Damon?" I totally see a Robert Downey Jr. cameo... And what ever came of that Second Life-VPD thing? I find it hard to believe they're still paying some of their men in blue to lurk around a virtual world avoiding item-spam from 12 year olds and unemployed graphic designers. Or do the recruits they picked up in Second Life last year merely explain the force's new love of Facebook? I have too many jokes.

On a more serious note, the RCMP have heavily censored their report on the Dziekanski incident. Meanwhile, on Friday a cardiologist testified that tasers were potentially fatal, while on Monday the chair of Taser International... the guy who probably makes the most money off the damn things... defended them. Maybe the cops just needs to develop a Facebook app to check their agression: "You've just been tased by the Vancouver Police Department! Would you like to install the Vancity-Taser application so you can join in the fun and tase your friends too?"

I'm not gonna link to it, but why is half our media devoted to a dead monkey? I hope these monkey-killers weren't looking for lots of attention/media-celebrity status, cause boy did they get it...

On the cyclone's heel, an earthquake in China has claimed something like 12,000 (heres a clip on YouTube), while Tornadoes kill 21 in the southeastern States and flickr fans worldwide scream GREATEST PICTURES EVER as Chile's Chaiten volcano erupts for the first time in 9000 years. Time to break out your end-of-the-world jokes as we approach the peak of crazy ass weather season. I know it's my role as a media source to scare the crap out of you, but I'll be honest; with 20-30 degree weather lined up for the end of the week, the only cyclone I can think about is this one.

However, I am fucking terrified of giant trucks; constantly left shaken by those über-confident truck drivers who wheel around this construction-mad city like they're all stuntdrivers in a bad Grindhouse film... I try my best not to factor in the drug use associated with the industry. Reading that a gravel truck killed a Burnaby man on Friday, I'm grateful we don't hear about more of these types of accidents.

Eby shares a small interview with mayoral hopeful Al DeGenova.

Get ready for Brit-style closed-circuit security cameras, to be installed for the 2010 Olympics. I hate to harp, but at least we'll be catching any potential misconduct by the popo.

Will the "totem tour" be met with any protests?

Tonight I'll be seeing Tapes 'N Tapes at Richards on Richards. While I'm kind of indifferent towards the headliners, the Austin, TX openers White Denim have been an absolute favourite over the last few months. The soon to be re-released 'Workout Holiday' and the web-circulated '11 songs' are both stellar; their rough and energetic garage-rock sound has been blogged about a lot, but I'd sooner praise their work as experimental pop-rock gold than lump them in with the garage revival... You can read more about the band and listen to songs over here and at The Hype Machine.

Oh, in case you were curious: How to make a bong out of a human skull.

photo courtesy of iwona_kellie of the BR flickr pool