Morning Brew: July 2, 2008

Everyone have a good Canada Day? Beautiful weather, the possibility of public inebriation at noon under the guise of patriotism, spandexed biking and fireworks! Maybe a hot dog? You couldn't ask for a better setting to shrug off the new carbon tax. It was fun watching fuel costs progressively drop as we drove to Calgary last week, and the difference will just become that much more pronounced, as the price of gas has apparently shot up to $1.52 a liter in Metro Vancouver.

Tuesday wasn't just Canada day, it also marked the 150th anniversary of Darwin's theory of natural selection. And while I'm on the topic, this should always be in the back of everyone's mind: what will things look like around here if & when the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets melt? Facts always seem a little more convincing when done up in map form... thanks Richard. And relatedly, I'd highly recommend reading Alan Weisman's The World Without Us.

The Canucks offer Sundin a two-year $20 million dollar contract. 'ed best' on the comment roll pretty much sums it up:

Supposing he were to average 24 minutes every game for the entire season, that would be a tad under $5000 a minute. In other words, every 5 minutes Sundin plays, he will make more than Rocket Richard ever made for an entire season. How high can you raise the price of tiny seats (that make airlines seem generous), diluted beer and cheap hotdogs before the bubble bursts?

I dunno -- no matter what, this is still the third largest Canadian city (i.e. hockey will persist no matter what), but coming from Calgary, Vancouver's fanbase has always had a bit of a twisted relationship to their NHL team.

Just to bring you down a bit further from the Canada Day high, there's a couple of not-so-natural animal deaths to report. Tag, the Vancouver aquarium Sea Lion has died from what sounds like botched oral surgery. Meanwhile, on Sunday a lioness killed a golden eagle at the Vancouver zoo. At least check the article for the awesome photo.

I missed out on Monday night's Jessie awards, cause of my obligations to Mogwai and all... but apparently 'Seussical' horded most of the awards. 'The Black Rider', which I reviewed and loved, was named outstanding production in a large theater while Jay Brazeau, apparently a BR reader, was named best actor. Congrats to all the winners!

The Short, Happy Life of Street Posters. I for one am sick of those giant gridded walls of identical posters for Pemberton or the like. There's a lot of great poster art being produced, but it's getting harder and harder to spot it amongst all the corporate junk. I wanna hear more about this alleged "poster monopoly."

I linked to a re:place article on the problem awhile ago, and now The Tyee tackles the ugly phenomenon of Mohawk housing. I'm still a little intrigued by the choice to term these things 'Mohawks'... those guys must feel just a little gypped now that we're pretty much done with the whole political-correctification of modern speech, eh?

Okay, I wasn't going to include it, but this article about Canada Day in the Vancouver Sun really made me cringe. What's up with the blatant Molson shilling? And I know I'm making a big deal, but I think we really need to stop tying our national identity so strongly to a beer brand. Are we really such suckers for advertising? Or is it merely the power of language? Oh, and don't even get me started on that "getting married to Canada" comment, stuff doesn't even need my sarcasm. Something about a prenup. Just laugh.

photo by mordechai dangerfield of the Beyond Robson flickr group. Make sure to click the link and check out the accompanying story about the dude who apparently reads the newspaper via osmosis.