This image explains itself. Found by my brother at Toys2.

Fantastic northern lights taken on May 03, 2010 at about 2am in the morning. We were in a farmer’s field just outside of Vegreville, Alberta. I took this with my Nkkor 10.5mm fisheye lens. Today I bought Photoshop CS5, and played with the lens correction filter. Here is what it looked like without lens correction:

Barbie Foosball

French-designed “objet d’ art” that lets you indulge your competitive spirit. Numbered for exclusivity, only 10 made worldwide. 6 available.

37.5”H x 39.5”W X 118”L.

Made to order. Allow 30 weeks for delivery. U.S. shipping only. Price includes S&H.

I’m sure I can build one for less but if you want to buy one, you can find it on the Barbie Collector Website.

February 2009. Sorry, no story behind this picture. It’s a bit “touristy” for my taste. But I mostly enjoy the clouds and reflections in this picture.

Straight off my Business Wire feed:

GUND Unveils One-of-a-Kind Signature Snuffles Valued at $10,000 to Celebrate 30th Birthday at Toy Fair 2010

GUND, the leading soft toy manufacturer in the United States, will be celebrating the iconic 30th birthday of their most loveable, huggable teddy bear, Snuffles, at Toy Fair. 30th birthday plans for Snuffles, the most successful and well-known bear in GUND’s rich 111-year history, include a high-end one-of-a-kind Snuffles (valued at $10,000), one of the largest Snuffles ever created, commemorative 30th Birthday Snuffles and a special limited edition Snuffles. GUND will also be highlighting their diverse line-up of plush animals and accessories for newborns, babies, toddlers, preschoolers and fans of all ages.

VISUALS:
One-of-a-Kind high-end Snuffles valued at $10,000
One of the largest Snuffles ever created
30th Birthday Snuffles
Special Limited Edition Snuffles

I was on Triad Toys’ website the other day because Stanley told me that he saw they had the House, M.D. toy license. He then passed the above flickr link on to me showing Gregory House and Eric Foreman. Ha! Houae even has Vicodin in his pocket! Now I need to find a Doctor Barbie’s Clinic playset.

Someone get me a Hugh Laurie. My birthday is June 27th. Thanks!

I found an article on L.A. Times:

A one-of-a-kind plush bear was creating a buzz at the Gund booth at the American International Toy Fair in New York on Sunday. The Snuffles bear is made with white alpaca fur, features black Tahitian pearls for eyes and wears a 10-carat diamond necklace with a white gold chain.

The toy’s value is a whopping $10,000 — evidenced by the burly security guard standing watch over the glass-encased bear, which was also protected by a red-velvet rope barricade — though it could go for more when it’s put up for charity auction later this year.

Ugh, I guess I won’t be getting that one. Sad.

It wasn’t a big deal when I lived in Edmonton. I’m not sure if the reason why is because of the general multicultural company I kept, or that I just hung out with a bunch of punks, hipsters, and nerds, but it was never an issue. Either way, for the most part, the majority of people I ate out with at oriental restaurants knew how to use chopsticks, no matter their cultural background.

Life in Vegreville is different.

Everyone is always telling me how amazing it is that I can use them, and it’s probably because I grew up with them. I’m not really insulted, I”m just having a hard time fathoming why it’s such a big deal. It’s like, I am the master of some sort of mythical force that enables me to put two sticks together in one hand, and it transforms into a power device that can deliver your consumables to the mouth for my eating pleasures.

Vegreville has three Chinese eateries so you’d think they’d know how to use them… oh.. oh wait. I usually have to ask for them specifically. Except at Chin’s, where the lady knows we want chopsticks.

The other crazy thing I have is reusable chopsticks. Yes, you know, they don’t come in a paper wrapper that you can fold into a chopstick holder. And when you are finished, you can wash them, dry them, put them away and reuse them. A cleaning lady at work just about threw mine out because she thought they were disposable. Another co-worker was amazed that there are reusable ones. I find these kinds of things amusing.

Is chopstick use really that astonishing? Maybe to some, but to me, it’s just a part of everyday life.

I made sure to follow it perfectly.

I can follow directions!

Before I left, Dean and I met up with George and enjoyed a fine dinner at That’s Aroma, Edmonton’s garlic restaurant. The garlic soup is one of my favourite soups of all time. I also ordered a pasta with triple garlic. I was obviously getting ready for my plane ride.

When I got to the airport, I was pretty pissed off that the wifi was expensive and that there was no charging/data stations around. We found plug-ins on pillars but there was no juice going to them.

We flew WestJet to get to Toronto. I absolutely hated it. The plane was really cramped; right full. The entertainment was late night television (ie: mostly infomercials), and generally bad television programming. It didn’t help that the guy next to me was really annoying. At first, he was trying to read a newspaper, then he kept fidgeting around. He wouldn’t put his legs down on the floor. I later realized that he had his stupid dufflebag on the floor so there was no way he was going to be comfortable. Boo.

The shuttlebus we caught to go the the hotel had free wifi AND working power outlets. Edmonton International Airport had neither of these. Yeah, that’s right, the friggin BUS was more advanced than our crappy airport with overpriced internet.

We came across a couple of planters filled with cabbages. Look Marc! 1.8!

Royal Ontario Museum. What a great building.

Photo of me and the boys.

Sam and I. Little self-portrait.

Entrance to the museum gift store. The gift store is really huge. Very nice!

At a distance, we thought these looked like pieces of the Mundare sausage. But they’re just boxing gloves.

We had a great GREAT dinner at the Salad King It was really cheap and absolutely delicious. It’s a Thai food place. They have a total of two, that’s right, TWO salad items on their menu of over 100 things. Best restaurant naming ever.

Sony should work on their corporate branding.

Speaking of rebranding, looks like the Church of Scientology is trying another strategy.

We ended the day with desserts from the basement of the Bay. It was almost a throwback to Japan for me. The department stores over there had food kiosks in the basement, serving fancy desserts, hot foods and fresh deli items.

More to come!

We are currently planning a celebration of Gilbert’s life.

Date: June 27, 2009
Time: 14:00 (2pm)
Venue: Unitarian Church of Edmonton, 10804 119 Street NW
Facebook page: Celebrating Gilbert Bouchard

Details of this event will be posted as available.

I would like to extend a heart-filled thanks to all of you. Everyone from those that actively tried to comb Edmonton for Gilbert to those that posted a wonderful memory of how Gilbert. Special thanks to everyone that doesn’t know or has met Gilbert, yet still showed their support in various forms to those of us that has.

My sister Suzette has written a biography for Gilbert. I’ve included it after the jump.

Peace.
Steph.

Gilbert Bouchard Biography – Full Version
For Public Use
17 May 2009

Gilbert Alfred Bouchard was born in McLennan, Alberta on July 26, 1961. He was raised in the Franco-Albertan community of Falher, Alberta. In 1979, he moved to Edmonton to study at the University of Alberta’s Faculte St-Jean.

A creative writing and classics student, Gilbert volunteered at The Gateway student newspaper, serving as editor for the 1984-85 term.

In the summer of 1986, he served as an intern reporter at the Edmonton Journal.

In 1987, he moved to Toronto, where he worked as a production manager for Campus Plus, an ad placement agency formed by Canadian University Press.

Gilbert returned to Edmonton in 1990. He joined the Downtown Business Association as a production coordinator and communications consultant before moving on to work as a publicist for the Citadel Theatre from 1993 to 1996.

For the past 10 years, Gilbert has worked as a freelance writer. He wrote about the visual arts for the Edmonton Journal since 2001, and was a regular contributor to Ed Magazine for its three-year duration.

From 1998 to 2005, Gilbert co-hosted and co-produced Acultural Cocktail, a weekly arts program on CJSR, the University of Alberta’s campus radio station.

For the past nine years, Gilbert was the arts correspondent on the CBC Edmonton radio program Radioactive, covering a wide range of events from theatre to movies to opera. More recently, Gilbert appeared regularly on Primetime Alberta’s weekly culture panel for ACCESS TV. In 1995, Gilbert wrote and voiced a CBC Ideas documentary on coffeehouse culture.

Gilbert has written hundreds of reviews, interviews, profiles and commentary pieces for myriad publications, including Where, Galleries West, Western Living, The Globe and Mail, The Ottawa Citizen, Canadian Art and Legacy. At SEE Magazine, he logged a decade of theatre writing and four years as its restaurant and food writer.

Gilbert was also a published poet whose work appeared in numerous magazines including Other Voices, Queen’s Quarterly, NeWest Review, Dalhousie Review, Whetstone, Green’s Magazine, The Prairie Journal and Edmonton Transit’s “Take the Poetry Route” program. In 1992, he served as one of the founding members of The Books Collective and edited one of its first publications, Leaving Marks, by Candas Jane Dorsey.

Gilbert has also hosted dozens of poetry readings, coffeehouses and other literary events, conducted professional writing workshops for students and adults, and was a featured speaker at local science fiction and comics conventions. He curated an exhibit of Edmonton artists for last year’s Mayor’s Evening for the Arts.

Gilbert was a Board Member and youth leader with the Unitarian Church of Edmonton. Recently, he helped to organize a Unitarian Universalist presence at the University of Alberta developing intellectually cutting-edge presentations with a particular popular culture focus). He also served on the board of Metro Cinema in 1992 and 1993.

When Gilbert joined the board of Latitude 53 Gallery in 1997 (he served as president in 2000-01), he submitted a statement that remained true to his most recent work. “My writing explores the inherent always already contradictions of late capitalism,” he wrote. “Journalism/fiction, poetry/prose, rural/urban, French/English, commercial/artistic — I embrace these contradictions of my life and celebrate those tensions and the complex ironies of our post-modern condition and enjoy putting those realities to paper.”

- end-