Tribute to China

Let’s see what’s happening in the wonderfully wide world of blogs.

You might remember Lesley Chang from the Filmed in Vancouver series that she had here on Beyond the Rhetoric. Well, she has now started a new site with Phoenix Lam and it is appropriately named “Two Girls. One Blog.” One of Lesley’s first posts on this new site explores her experience with finding a personal trainer. She’s participated in bootcamps and challenges before, but has had a hard time sticking with a routine afterward. She hopes a personal trainer will help you stay on track for her long term fitness goals.

I like to buy my meat from the local deli and I enjoy eating at mom-and-pop type coffee shops, but Stacey Robinsmith questions whether we should support local business unconditionally. He brings up his recent exchange with a local pet supply store where he was trying to tell the owner that the kitty litter he stocked wasn’t being effective, but the owner would hear nothing of it. Support local, yes, but don’t support stubborn and rude.

Most of you will probably know that I’m pretty active when it comes to social media. I tweet, I pin and I tube (is that a verb yet?). That being said, I can’t help but to agree with Meredith Fineman in that Instagram can ruin your life. We can feel more compelled to live through a smartphone camera than through our eyes and we constantly thirst for the approval of others. The thing is that “you are comparing yourself to the perception of someone else’s glossy, Instagrammed existence” and not how their real life may be.

Speaking of living through a camera lens, Tyler Ingram has some really useful tips for taking pictures of fireworks. I see so many people using flash when trying to photograph a fireworks display and I can’t help but to shake my head. And yes, why wouldn’t you try to get a more unobstructed view if you can? No one wants to see a fireworks photo where all you see is the back of people’s heads.

It may be the off-season for the NHL, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have hockey-related content in the summer! You may recognize Clayton Imoo from the Canucks Hockey Blog. You may have also heard that the Vancouver Canucks have a new coach in John Tortorella. Well, Clayton put together a parody video (with the help of Marie Hui) to the tune of Rihanna’s “Umbrella” and it went viral on YouTube. If you want to know how they got to over 30,000 views (and counting), check out his post.