Category Archives: Vancouver

Blogathon ’09: Just another day at the office

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Duane Storey Sunrise Blogathon

Normally this is the kind of thing I see just as I’m packing up to go home from the office at about 6am. And yes, that IS the view from our windows. Today, as you’ll know if you’ve been following along, this is the thing I saw as I started work, after a scant four hour nap (entirely inadequate, but the best I could coax my disoriented body into cooperating with me on). The goal today is 48 blog posts in 24 hours, from 6am Saturday to 6am Sunday.

At some point on Sunday I’m supposed to show up and be coherent for a baby shower. I may be fetal myself, by then. The energy drink hangover is going to be brutal.

Oh, by the way that photo is by my friend Duane Storey. A great benefit of being a blogger in Vancouver is that you get to sponge off your more talented friends. I’m stealing Duane‘s pictures, eating food that Rebecca, Jen, and Karen have organized. For a full report of the gourmet experience of Blogathon, stay tuned. I think i still owe about thirty posts!

This is a Blogathon post. Don’t just sit there, SPONSOR ME!

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Gratuitous Question of the Day

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Miley Cyrus would be thrown back by any self-respecting volcano

This one comes to us from Michael Usinger of the Georgia Straight:

Who would bring a toddler to Virgin Fest?

Just a question–who drags a toddler to these things?

The answer is obvious: ask any Aztec. You can’t have a virgin festival without a single virgin! It’s probably a City of Vancouver licensing requirement.

This is a Blogathon post. Don’t just sit there, SPONSOR ME!

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Blogathon for Federation of BC Writers

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Charles Dickens breaks through writer's block

Did I mention that on Twitter I’ve talked two rival gin houses into shipping me “care packages?” Now if only it worked as well with men! All the ones that volunteer to give me their packages are ones I wouldn’t care to have, so it seems. But that’s neither here nor there; it is, in fact, nowheresville.

Anyhoodle…

This Saturday (because I am insane) from 6am I’ll be participating in Blogathon 2009, a 24-hour, 48 blog post postathon, to raise money for the Federation of BC Writers, BC’s home grown support system for Left Coast literati, of which I used to be the Lower Mainland representative, back when I had (what do you call that…that thing…where you can do stuff…) TIME! Oh yeah, and if I sleep in (likely) I’m gonna hafta do a post every ten minutes or so until, like, noon. That could get a little crazy.

What are you waiting for, now that this fabulous news has broken? Reach deep into your heart and your wallet (or your neighbor’s; God knows, I’m not fussy). Sign up to sponsor me by selecting “raincoaster.com” from the list of available blogs. Clicky, clicky! You can sponsor me X amount per post or a lump sum for the entire 24 hour slogathon. For a $50 donation, I’ll make an ego-gratifying post entirely about you, You, YOU, and will even include a link to your Facebook Fan Page (if you insist).

If you want to watch this madness live, you can come on down to Workspace at 21 Water Street in Gastown, where the blogerati of Vangroover will be holed up, typing (or napping) away. Vancouver’s own Mojave band will serenade us with a private concert, and April Smith of AHA Media will be taking video (gee, is 6am too early to get my makeup done?), so you need not feel left out.

A word of warning: I will get my 48 posts up, but I will NOT get them up promptly every goddam half-hour. I AM NOT A BLOODY MACHINE and I am also not cheating by pre-posting and scheduling things, tempting though it may be. I may or may not attend Illuminares and liveblog it; depends if I can catch a ride to and fro; forty minutes on the bus each way is a killer. On the other hand, Miss 604 is judging a bartending contest in the middle of everything, so if she can do that, perhaps I can do this (who wants to be my DD?).

After Blogathon wraps, the procedure is simple: you just tote up your donation and send the cheque straight to the Fed, which will put it to good use on behalf of British Columbia’s home-grown literary talent. And, hopefully, buy me a drink. I’m gonna need one if that gin doesn’t get here on time.

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3 Day Novel Contest Writer’s Retreat

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I know I’m posting this up everywhere I possibly can (except perhaps at Lolebrity.net) but it deserves repeating. Quite an exclusive gathering this will be.

3 Day Novel Contest Writer's Retreat on Beautiful Bowen Island

From a bright-eyed Friday, September 4th through to a groggy, shaken Tuesday the 8th morning, we’ll be closeting ourselves away in a secluded BC resort doing nothing but writing. The goal: to create a novel from start to finish in three straight days.

Every year the 3 Day Novel Contest comes around, and every year, something gets in the way. The purpose of this retreat is to ensure that over those three caffeine and stress-packed days, you have nothing else to do but write. And maybe slam some energy drinks.

You can also join this event on Facebook and you can join the Shebeen Club itself there as well.

Host:
Start Time:
Friday, 04 September 2009 at 17:00
End Time:
Tuesday, 08 September 2009 at 11:00
Location:
a resort within an easy ferry ride/drive of Vancouver
Town/City:
Beautiful BC
Phone: 778-235-0592 but email instead, PLEASE
Email:
lorraine.murphy at gmail.com

Reflections on Bowen Island, by Kris Krug

Meals, shelter, companionship and isolation as you choose: all are included in the price. We’re still in negotiations, but at this point it looks like the four days (checkout 11am Tuesday) will run us about $500, including your 3 Day Novel Contest registration fee of $50.

There is an absolute maximum of 20 attendees, so express your interest sooner rather than later.

Obviously, we’ve yet to lock all the deets down, so consider this a preliminary announcement and we’ll consider your ATTENDING/MAYBE/NOPE RSVP to be equally tentative until everything is ready for launch. We’ll contact everyone then with the official registration link, where you’ll be able to make your reservation via debit, paypal, or credit card. For now, just drop a comment or email to let us know you’re interested and we’ll keep you informed.

Oh, and by the way, we’re not officially affiliated with the 3 Day Novel Contest, we’re just big fans who’ve been thinking about doing this for years.

Bowen Bay by KK

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Operation Global Media Domination: the 5 Questions Situation

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OGMD: Donate Today

Well, it’s been far too long since we’ve taken a stroll down Self-Referential Road on the ol’ raincoaster blog, but that situation is about to be rectified. For lo, in addition to having broken into Vangroover’s Social Media Elite for Sale Or Rent (aka Will Tweet for Access) and been asked to some pretty damn-fine swankaliciously exciting events, including some I can’t tell you about yet (for lo, it would endanger my access to the open bar, and since I’m on a liquid fast that could be catastrophic and I know you wouldn’t want that to happen, right? right) and the recently blogged Capones and Bombay Sapphire events.

And as I’ve gotten on the radar for invitations, so I’ve also scrambled and clawed my way onto the radar for interviews, which come with much greater exposure, if far less gin. I’m gonna hafta do something about that: social mediaistas, are you with me? I say we get together and talk about going on strike over a few drinks and then forget all about the movement, as usual.

Anyhoohow/whatever, Kontent Creative just up and emailed me and interviewed me that way. This will sound familiar to some people. Unlike on previous occasions, I actually got back to them relatively promptly and, thus, they put it up promptly as well. Kontent Creative has a snazzy angle: each interview is just five questions, obviously designed to appeal to limited attention spans of the Twitterati. So there goes your barrier to entry.

Click and learn five things about raincoaster which oft were thought, but ne’er so well expressed. If I do say so myself.

a snippet of Kontact Creative’s 5 Questions with the Tentacled One:

2) What is your favourite online resource?
It’s a tie between Fark and The Guardian. The day is not complete until I’ve checked both of them, and on certain days it’s quite difficult to tell them apart, really. Except Fark would never let Polly Toynbee near a keyboard.

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