Paris - The Story Behind Pagoda Paris

Pagoda Paris is now a private gallery

Many of the apartment blocks in Paris were designed by Baron Georges Eugene Haussmann, who had a hand in gentrifying the city, building public works like water and sewers, train stations, and boulevards. The limestone apartment buildings are uniform in size and had standard layouts.

That makes this curious Chinese-style building near Parc Monceau stick out even more. 

The wooden gate and green tiled roof

Not only is it red in colour, but has a jade green tiled roof with mythical animals perched on top, and carved wooden window frames.

It's called Pagoda Paris and was the home and gallery of Chinese antiques dealer Ching Tsai Loo (1880-1957). The building was originally a townhouse and then Loo bought it in 1925 and had it refurbished.

It's now a private museum, and I contacted Pagoda Paris to see if we could arrange a time to visit, but were told it was closed for renovations.

While Loo is known for introducing western collectors to Chinese and Asian art, his reputation was later mired in controversy because of how he illegally obtained these items, some of which were considered state treasures.

Here's the quick bio: Loo is originally from Huzhou, 300km west of Shanghai. He was orphaned at the age of 10 and as a teenager went to Nanxun, where he worked for a successful merchant named Zhang Baoshan. Zhang's son, Zhang Renjie was appointed to the Chinese embassy in France and Loo followed him to Paris in 1902. Few Chinese were living there at the time.

Zhang's family had a Chinese goods import company, and he would obtain Chinese antiques to sell; he would later return to China and financially support Chiang Kai-shek.

Loo was a controversial collector and dealer

When Loo first arrived, he wore traditional Chinese robes and a queue, but soon transformed, wearing western clothes and short hair. He called himself Cheng Tsai Loo and opened his own antiques shop, and cultivated relationships with Caucasian sinologists.

The fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911 led to weak supervision of antiquities which made it relatively easy for Loo to procure items. He developed a chain of middlemen who would help him find things he might buy, sourced from impoverished families, imperial tombs and monasteries. Loo soon developed a reputation for selling out China to Europeans and Americans for his own profit.

World War I stopped the flow of Chinese goods to Europe, but not to the United States, where collectors and museums were keen on Chinese art and antiques. Loo discovered Americans were interested in Chinese antiques when he went to New York and opened a gallery there in 1915. 

However, the boom ended with the stock market crash in 1929, but things began to ramp up again in 1941 as there were more experts in Chinese art and history. His clients included the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Freer Gallery, Fogg Museum, the Rockefellers, and Eli Lilly, the pharmaceutical executive. 

He bought this building in 1925

But once the Communists took over China in 1949, Loo was cut off from his sources, and some of his associates were arrested, and his nephew, who was his agent in China, fled to Hong Kong. Eventually Loo had to liquidate his stock. He tried to salvage his integrity, by stating that if those objects were not removed from the country, they would have been destroyed. 

After Loo died at the age of 77 in 1957, Pagoda Paris fell into disrepair, and it wasn't until 2010 when a private French investor bought it and turned it into a gallery and events space. Loo was survived by his French wife and four daughters. 

Premier Ford Trades Barbs with Trump

Ford hit back at Trump, telling him to "kiss my ass"

About 24 hours after news of Canada walking away from the trade talks with the United States, President Donald Trump weighed in on social media (of course).

"Canada wants the benefits of being a State, without being one!!!" he wrote on Truth Social.

"They have also charged our great farmers, for many years, massive amounts of tariffs." No more!!!"

It wasn't the fiery rhetoric that he blasts off -- quite muted in fact, given such a long time lag from when the trade talks collapsed. It's not like there was a time difference either!

But today he began trading barbs with Ontario Premier Doug Ford, after he said the president could "kiss his ass."

While he was in Hamilton, Ontario to announce tariff relief packages, Trump posted a message on his social media account, comparing Ford to his brother, the late Rob Ford.

Trump wrote that Doug Ford was "better known as the less charismatic, intelligent, and overall unimpressive brother of the late great Rob Ford."

The president went on to say that "America has been carrying Canada for decades, but no longer! The U.S.A. will always be far bigger, richer, and stronger than Canada."

It's such a strange comparison, as Rob Ford was an alcoholic and drug addict, and his time as Mayor was erratic to say the least.

Nevertheless, Doug Ford commented on Trump's accusation, saying, "I don't respond to a dictator like President Trump, a bully like President Trump."

Ford continued, "I'm not going to take any advice from the king of bankruptcies, and he's actually tariffing his own people, taxing his own people."

The premier seems to revel in his verbal jousts with the president that gain media attention. 

But trading insults isn't a productive way to get both sides back to the negotiating table... 

PM Carney Sheds Light on Unfair Trade Deal

Carney explains why Canada walked away from the trade deal

Tonight in Vancouver there are flashes of light and then the ominous loud crack of thunder can be heard outside as the rain is pouring down tonight. 

It's been a long day that started this morning with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney addressing the nation about why the country walked away from negotiating a trade deal with the United States, and that it's time to buckle up for a trade war.

"We cannot accept what they've offered, and we will not give what they've asked," he said, adding the US 'asked too much and offered too little.'

Carney also revealed the US had issues with Canada's subsidies for French culture, the prevalence of French-language media online and even the federal requirement to have bilingual labels on products sold in Canada.

"It was unacceptable right from the start, but the Americans kept trying and trying and we said no," the prime minister said. "Ultimately it's simple. That was never on the table for Canada and it would not have been acceptable to Canadians."

For the auto industry, the Americans demanded to treat Canadian-made parts unfairly and to exempt some cars and pick-up trucks from US tariffs, but not others without any explanation.

The US also expected to determine Canada's trade deals with other nations.

"The US introduced, in the last hours, efforts to restrict our ability to have other trade deals," Carney said. "Because we believe in free trade, we're the partner of choice, in many respects, for countries around the world, and Americans wanted to restrict that, they had language to restrict that. Unacceptable."

Perhaps he was referring to Canada striking a trade deal with China worth $3 billion, where 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles will be allowed into the country, along with lower tariffs for canola oil, and seafood like lobsters and crabs into the Middle Kingdom.

But anyway -- why would Canada allow the US -- or rather Donald Trump -- decide who it trades with?

As Toronto Star columnist Justin Ling told CBC Radio today, what the US was doing was basically extortion.

Carney also noted that the US sometimes signs trade deals "in pencil," a hint that it is negotiating in bad faith.

Despite the financial hardships that will come -- layoffs and more money flowing out of wallets -- Canadians seem to be more patriotic than ever. The slogan "Elbows Up" continues to resonate across the country, with all politicians, federally and provincially on board.

As British Columbia Premier David Eby said today, "There is no question that there will be economic pain associated with this, there already is," he said. "But it is necessary to stand up to a bully, and if you don't, they'll just keep coming back for more."

Interestingly, Trump hasn't responded at all to the trade deal collapse. Did he think he had it in the bag?

Canada Walks Away from US Trade Deal

Trade talks between the US and Canada have collapsed

At the last minute, Canada walked away from negotiations with the United States tonight which means 50 percent tariffs will be imposed on specific Canadian goods, from honey to hockey sticks, though Prime Minister Mark Carney warned Canada would retaliate "dollar for dollar".

"I have decided to suspend trade negotiations with the US and have directed Canada's negotiators to return to Ottawa," Carney said in a statement.

"They have worked hard, in good faith, to defend the interests of Canadians throughout these negotiations up until the very last minute. However, last-minute changes in the US proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal."

Meanwhile US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said it was Canada who walked away from the table just minutes before the deadline.

"Tonight, Canada declined to finalise the trade deal under the terms agreed earlier this week, despite the US offer to Canada to receive the best treatment of any major exporter to our market," Greer told the media in a virtual briefing.

"New demands and walk backs of other commitments by Canada have upended the careful balance reached in the past days," he added.

Quite the surprise to see how the negotiations ended this way, considering Canadian Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc has been going back and forth to Washington DC to hammer out a deal with Greer, which got a reprieve earlier this week.

There was talk that Canada would put American wines and spirits back on the shelves of liquor stores as part of the trade deal, and some provincial leaders had bristled at the directive.

But now it looks like they won't have to do that anytime soon.

When the news broke of the failed trade talks, the chatter on social media among Canadians was that of giving Carney thumbs up.

Many were pleased Canada walked away, saying "no deal is better than a bad deal", and that American President Donald Trump was not trustworthy. 

"It may be painful, but better to bite the bullet now," writes @67 Sound on Bluesky. "There is no deal with the USA that can be trusted. All that a 'deal' does is mark yourself as a sucker that can be extorted for more tomorrow."

Stay tuned.

Seeing Niagara Falls from All Angles

A boat taking tourists around the Canadian side of the Falls

The last time I visited Niagara Falls was over 25 years ago so it was very interesting to see how this famous tourist landmark has developed in the intervening years.

This time traveling with my relatives from Australia, they wanted to do the full Niagara experience so we did practically everything there is to do there.

Watching water fall over the edge

We joined a tour at 10am which started at Skylon Tower, an observation tower that is 160 metres tall. On the ground floor we took the usual touristy pictures against a green screen (look scared going over the Falls in a barrel!) and then went up the tower to see Niagara Falls from a bird's eye view.

It's quite the sight seeing the scale of the Falls from above, though the Canadian side which is horse-shoe-shaped is much more dramatic than the American side. The Canadian side is 57m high, the American is 21-30m high, while the Canadian side is obviously much wider at 790m, the American side is 320m wide.

Our tour guide later told us interesting tales about daredevils who have gone over the Falls -- some 5,000 -- but only a few have survived. 

The first person to go over was a woman, Annie Edson Taylor in 1901. She was widowed and poor, and thought that if she went over the Falls, she could become famous. Taylor first tested her wooden barrel by putting her cat in it and it went down and survived, so she figured she would too.

She did survive with just a scratch on her forehead! However, fortune did not follow Taylor's fame and she died poor.

The American side of the falls

Other people thought they would do it for attention, and chose the Canadian side because it was much more dramatic.

However in 1951, after the death of one daredevil, going down the Falls became illegal and now anyone caught doing it will be fined US$25,000 and your children will have to foot the bill if you don't survive.

We then walked towards the casino, where below it we took a funicular a very short distance to get behind the Canadian side of the Falls. We were issued yellow plastic ponchos so that we wouldn't get too wet and went down a tunnel, where we could peek at the Falls from the point where the water goes over the edge.

It's quite a dramatic sight to see, the clear, blue-coloured water, thanks to the glacial water mixed with limestone, dolomite and shale. The Falls are also causing erosion, as tens of thousands of years ago it was further up, but it has since moved over 10 kilometres south. Both governments have mitigated fast erosion by diverting the water at night and in the winter months so it doesn't erode the stone and rock too much.

Getting drenched up close to Niagara Falls

Then we took the poncho off and walked back towards Skylon Tower and past it, and we were issued red plastic ponchos before getting on the boat. Our guide advised us to stand on the bottom right side of the boat as it will turn counter-clockwise to head back and we can have a panoramic view.

However, as we got closer to the Canadian falls, we were starting to get wet very fast! My face and sunglasses were so wet, and my windbreaker was absolutely drenched. I had to periodically check to see if my phone was still working (it was). Meanwhile the roar of the Falls also demonstrated how strong the water falling was -- more than 168,000 m3 of water goes over the cliff every minute!

A fun fact is that around 4.9 million kilowatts of hydroelectricity is generated by Niagara Falls, which powers some 3.8 million households.

There's dramatic lighting at night

On the boat we saw the American side of the Falls, which is also called Bridal Veil Falls. Separating the American and Canadian sides is Goat Island, which at one time was owned by a farmer who kept goats there. Now it is a park.

It was quite the experience being on the boat ride! Luckily the weather was relatively warm so while we were drenched, our clothes and shoes dried off (except for slightly wet socks) quite quickly. 

Our tour was over, so we walked up Clifton Hill, an eclectic mix of dinosaur-themed pitch and putt, go-karts, shops selling ice cream with rainbow sprinkles, fast-food restaurants and the Niagara Skywheel where passengers sit in gondola cabins.

We split a sub sandwich as a snack before heading out for outlet shopping, dinner at Peller Estates before returning to Niagara Falls to watch the fireworks!

Fireworks on the American side

After 9pm multicoloured lights are shone on both the Canadian and American Falls, and then an hour later is a five-minute fireworks show near the American Falls. Lots of people are drawn to the nightly event and it was great to watch, even if it was only a few minutes long. We joked it was the best $5 we spent on entertainment (though it was actually for parking).

So we saw Niagara Falls during the day and night, from above and below, and right on the water. 

It may be a while before I go back there again!

Labubu Insanity Continues

Interested in a Labubu mini fridge? A bit too late now...

I thought Labubu was a flash in the pan, but apparently the fuzzy creature with a mischievous look is still a super hot commodity.

Pop Mart, the Chinese company that sells Labubu, recently released two different mini refrigerators with the character plastered all over the appliance for 5,999 yuan (US$878) each, making only 999 of each design.

There are two designs, only 999 of each made

And... they all sold out instantly, with over 47,000 people pre-registered for the chance to buy one. Over 45,000 people missed out.

Naturally many of these fridges were put on sale on second-hand sale platforms, and the prices shot up to as high as 92,300 yuan, or 15 times the price.

Last year Pop Mart made 14.16 billion yuan from The Monsters (Labubu products), accounting for 38 percent of the company's revenue.

Perhaps there will be more Labubu-themed appliances in the future?

In the meantime the creature's next appearance will be at the World Cup in Canada, the United States and Mexico. Keep your eyes peeled!

Review: Tough Old Broads

The documentary features three trailblazing women

The other day I watched a documentary paying tribute to wise women, called Tough Old Broads. It was screened at VIFF and was it surprising that the entire audience make up was women, most of them seniors?

It's directed by Stacey Tenenbaum, and profiles three trailblazing women, Katherine Switzer, who was the first woman to officially run in the Boston Marathon in 1967, Siila "Sheila" Watt-Cloutier, an Inuk climate change activist, and Sharon Farmer, who was the first woman to run the White House Photography Office.

Switzer has promoted running since 1967

Switzer's story is very compelling and easy to relate to. She recalls when she ran the Boston Marathon, a few miles in, the race director was in a car with the media and caught up with her. He tried to pull off her bib number -- 261 -- and luckily Switzer's boyfriend who was running with her, pushed the race director off to the sidelines and told her to run like hell.

As a result of the media coverage, Switzer inspired other women to take up running, and she got companies like Avon to sponsor women-only marathon races. They were less intimidated and felt they were just running with the girls. 

These days Switzer, 79, gives inspiration speeches to young women and travels the world. In one scene she is in Germany with muslim women and goes running with them. Switzer is gracious in encouraging them, that they can do anything they want if they put their minds to it.

Watt-Cloutier's profile is the most complicated because a lot of her work involves making presentations and talks with diplomats, a lot of technical knowledge to explain how toxins were found in water up in the Canadian north, and how this affected mothers and children. She links this environmental issue with human rights.

Watt-Cloutier is worried about climate change

She says as a child her family was very close and lived on the land, but when she was 10 years old, she was sent to the south, to Nova Scotia and Manitoba to go to residential schools. Watt-Cloutier remembers she was given no warning this would happen to her, and as a result of this western schooling, she didn't learn much about her language and culture.

Today she continues to advocate for the Inuit and how global warming is affecting ice and snow in the Arctic. She was awarded an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2006, and nominated along with Al Gore for the Nobel Peace Prize and 180 other people.

Finally, tough old broad, definitely defines Farmer, and she has funny one-liners, like how gray hair is a badge of honour of what she has survived. At one point Farmer says a photo editor can tell the picture was taken by her without checking the caption which is very cool.

Originally she was into music and wanted to join the marching band, but was told it was for men only because it was tradition. Instead she turned to photography at a young age, and was very focused on capturing the lives of black people in America. One photograph she took was a black and white image of an older black woman swinging her hips with a hula hoop around her waist.

Farmer once worked in the White House

In the 1970s Farmer shot album covers, and in 1993 she was hired to cover US President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton; Farmer later was promoted to become director of White House Photography, the first woman and person of colour to do this job.

The documentary follows her in November 2024 when Donald Trump won his second term; Farmer goes out into the streets hoping to capture reaction from the election, but instead finds nothing, perhaps people were too shocked or depressed to even come out.

For Switzer and Watt-Cloutier, there was some archival footage in their stories, in the case of Farmer, there wasn't much to illustrate her story per se; going to her storage unit to dig out some old photos was the best director Tenenbaum could do.

Nevertheless these are three women we should be cheering about, and hopefully this could be an ongoing series of other accomplished women and what we can learn from them!

Tough Old Broads

Directed by Stacey Tenenbaum

89 minutes

Reliving the 90s Thanks to Love Story

The series has increased interest in the real life couple

There's a lot of discussion about Love Story, the dramatised series on FX on the romance and then tragic end of John F Kennedy Jr and his wife Carolyn Bessette.

It has drawn a lot of criticism from the Kennedy family, in particular Jack Schlossberg, who said the family was not consulted, while Daryl Hannah, who was John F Kennedy's on-and-off girlfriend before Bessette, claimed the show was not even remotely close to her real life or relationship with him.

Kelly and Pidgeon star as Kennedy and Bessette

Nevertheless for Millennials and Gen Z, the story of Kennedy and Bessette's relationship is new to them, and along with it a fascination for the 1990s, from the fashion to the music, New York at the time, and celebrity culture.

For those of us who watched the couple from afar and then mourned their deaths in a plane crash on July 16, 1999, it's a weird feeling dredging up the ill-fated event, as well as the intense scrutiny of their relationship, and paparazzi constantly following them everywhere, that has echoes of Princess Diana.

On social media, influencers point out how Bessette had a small but classic wardrobe of designer clothes that she wore repeatedly, mostly black, but the key word was "effortless". As someone who worked for Calvin Klein, she herself emulated the style of minimalism, monotone colours and understated coolness.

The couple was highly scrutinised in the 1990s

And yes, John F Kennedy Jr really was that good looking at the time! He seemed to roll with the reality that photographers were going to stalk him everywhere and seemed good natured about it for the most part; however, it was something Bessette had to get used to very quickly.

Now with Love Story, there are a lot of comparisons between reality and the fictional couple played by Sarah Pidgeon and Paul Anthony Kelly. Apparently in the beginning there was a lot of uproar of the clothes Pidgeon wore in the test shots because they did not look like items Bessette, or CBK would wear.

So there was more effort put into finding the same clothes or something close enough, and the sartorial fans approved. 

And then tangentially there has been interest in Calvin Klein, his then wife Kelly Klein, how all the staff looked like models and the office had to look perfect everyday.

There is criticism of fact and fiction in the show

I also remember Kennedy launching George magazine and wow it was a blast of fresh air. Having Cindy Crawford dressed as George Washington on the cover, Kennedy made politics cool and more importantly accessible to young people.

It was hilarious seeing him make a cameo on Murphy Brown, my favourite show at the time. He sits at her secretary's desk and she's shocked to see him. He gives her a gift, but it turns out to be a mock-up of Murphy on the cover of George magazine. She is not amused.

Kennedy and Bessette were America's royal couple, and Love Story has rekindled interest in the 1990s. Thanks for the memories, but maybe it's a love story we shouldn't have brought up decades later.

British Columbia Takes a Stand on Daylight Time

Kids jumping for joy at Eby's "Pacific time" announcement

Big news today for British Columbia -- this coming weekend we will change our clocks forward one hour permanently.

Premier David Eby announced the change, saying, "We are done waiting. British Columbia is going to change our clocks just one more time -- and then never again."

He is referring to the authorities on the west coast of the United States in Washington State, Oregon and California. Originally he had said he would wait for them to decide if they were going to stick with one or the other so that businesses would not be confused with times, but perhaps Eby was done waiting, or didn't hear back from them and decided BC was going its own way.

The new time zone will be called "Pacific time".

The entire province will be following Pacific time except for East Kootenay, which observes mountain time with Alberta.

Eby noted Yukon has already permanently changed to daylight time, and hopes the US will follow. Back in 2019 BC already passed legislation to make this possible, but just didn't have a specific timeline.

Interestingly American President Donald Trump had expressed interest in changing to daylight time after the 2024 election, Congress has not passed legislation for it.

So it will be interesting to see what happens in the next few months... there will surely be a lot of confusion on the west coast in terms of what time it is come November, but in the meantime many people are pleased that we'll have longer daylight hours and no more "jetlag" from springing ahead an hour after this weekend.

However, Eby's critics are crying foul because the announcement was suddenly made without much recent consultation; they believe it's a distraction from the horrible budget he delivered last week...

 

Review: Nomadland

McDormand stars as Fern, learning how to be a nomad

In 2017 journalist Jessica Bruder published Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century, a non-fiction book that followed retirees who lived in vans and traveled around the country to find work after the global financial crisis. 

Actor Frances McDormand read it, bought the rights to option the book for a movie, and persuaded Chloe Zhao to write and direct it. They took the book and included some of the actual nomads in there, such as Linda May and Bob Wells, who runs workshops on how to live independently in their vans.

Originally McDormand was thinking of teaching these nomads how to act, but instead she and fellow actor David Strathairn embedded themselves with them, which makes Nomadland a kind of docu-drama. And it won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress in the 93rd Academy Awards in 2021.

Many scenes show the vastness of the country

McDormand throws herself completely in the role of Fern (not based on someone in Bruder's book), a widow who used to live in Empire, Nevada, where she and her husband worked in a mining company. But it went bankrupt and Empire lost its postal code; people had to leave and go elsewhere.

She packs up some stuff and lives in her her van, and meets people like Linda who give her pointers how to be a nomad, with tips on on working at Amazon, how to manage an RV park, and later processing food or making fast food. It gives viewers an insight into what it's like to work in these low-paying jobs, some of them seasonal, and how tight money is.

The audience also gets tips on how to live in a van, including having a bucket to go to the bathroom...

When fellow transient people meet, they are all friendly and happy to share, there is hardly any competition; one gets the sense there is good energy there.

Fern drifts from job to job, and one wonders how this will end, but that's the point -- these people need to survive financially and these gigs are the only things they can get, and drive to the next one, wherever it may be.

The nomad community is kind and helpful

However, another interesting characteristic about Fern is that she is fiercely independent. She is given several opportunities to live in a house and have some security, even from her own sister, and a fellow transient guy who likes her, but Fern refuses; she would rather wander on her own and not feel obliged to others.

The cinematography of Nomadland shows the winding long roads, the vastness of the outdoor space, and how humans are so small in the country. 

Zhao is sympathetic to these nomads and it's fascinating seeing her tell their story by letting them be their authentic selves. After watching Nomadland, one wonders if they could live like these nomads, but perhaps it's not something you think about until circumstances forces you into that situation. 

It also reminds you to be kind to others, as they might literally be surviving day by day and just need a break. While it's the life they have chosen, they are just trying to live life on their own terms, which makes them happy.

Nomadland (2020)

Written and directed by Chloe Zhao

108 minutes

Hong Kong Skates to Best Finish in Olympics

Lam had Hong Kong's best finish in the 2026 Winter Olympics

The 2026 Winter Olympics at Milano Cortina has been dominated by the Norway, the United States and Italy as the first, second and third on the medal standings respectively, while Canada has been struggling to get on the podium.

The Canadian women's hockey team could not bring back the gold medal and had to settle for silver, while their male counterparts just squeaked past Finland, winning 3-2, to get into the finals against the US this Sunday.

But can we talk about the small team from Hong Kong?

Today 19-year-old Joey Lam Ching-yan made her Olympic debut finishing seventh in the women's 1,500m short-track speed skating event! Lam was at the back of the pack, but four skaters had spills in her heat which helped her get into the finals.

The seventh place finish is the best result for Hong Kong in the Winter Olympics and Lam is on cloud nine.

"It is absolutely unbelievable. I still feel like I am dreaming. I never thought I could make it to the Final A before. Thank you to everyone who supported me along the way and encouraged me to never give up," Lam said.

It's quite impressive considering she raced three times in just under three hours.

Her fellow speed skater Darren Kwok Tsz-fung came in 29th in the men's 1,000m and 31st in the men's 1,500m.

Meanwhile Hong Kong also sent alpine skiers Adrian Yung Hau-tsuen and Eloise King Yung-shih, both 21, to the slopes and Yung finished 68th in the men's giant slalom, and did not finish the men's slalom; Yung crashed out in the women's slalom.

Nevertheless they all seem to have enjoyed their time at the Olympics, which is the main thing, to meet athletes from other countries, and see how well they compete against others after years of training.

Suffice to say Lam will probably be the Hong Kong flag bearer for the Closing Ceremonies? 

Let the Winter Games Begin

The cauldron at Milano was lit creating a giant fireball

The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics has officially begun and the opening ceremonies went off without a hitch -- including the woman showing Italian hand gestures as her microphones didn't work (on purpose). 

Nice blend of classical with Andrea Bocelli singing Nessun Dorma, and Lang Lang on the piano in a white suit and black shoes, and a voluptuous Mariah Carey in her regal robes belting out Volare.

How the Italians dealt with the lighting of the cauldron in two locations was spectacularly done, with the sun-like structure inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's intricate knot designs. It turned from blue to red and set off the fireworks which was an exhilarating display.

Can we talk about some of the uniforms?

Canadians wear maple leafs on their bodies

Some loved the Canadian uniform designed by Lululemon with the giant red maple leaf on the maroon-coloured vest that is draped over the shoulders, on top of a long brown coat. Apparently the vest can be worn as a scarf -- wonder if an athlete can model this for us -- and it can also double as a pillow. Useful?

Others preferred the Roots designs from before featuring red and white varsity jackets with the red berets worn backwards. 

Probably the most consistently preppy are the American uniforms designed by Ralph Lauren, unabashedly featuring the American flag all over the sweaters and jackets. 

Mongolia got a shout-out for its traditional garb, inspired by the 13th and 15th Mongol Empire. The long robes were made with Mongolian cashmere and designed to keep the athletes warm, as they would have done centuries ago.

Shades of blue from the Chinese team

But what about China? Was someone in the Chinese committee tired of the red and yellow colour scheme? In previous years Chinese netizens have made fun of the colour combination, saying the look was reminiscent of scrambled eggs and tomato, a homestyle dish.

This year the Chinese team was dressed by Li-Ning and the athletes came out in shades of blue -- dark for men, pastel for women. How yawningly predictable. 

Nevertheless, Chinese state media have praised the uniforms, adding netizens have commented, "China looks awesome" and "This looks so cool."

Can we also talk about no sign of Eileen Gu, the Chinese-American freestyle skier who makes US$23 million a year from non-sports activities from modelling to endorsements? She was not the flag bearer again this year.

This will be her second Olympics after she won two golds and a silver at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games and conveniently seems to be able to represent China despite holding two passports (which China does not allow dual citizenship). 

Will Gu repeat her medal performance this year?

In several interviews over the years, Gu has said: "When I'm in the US, I'm American, but when I'm in China, I'm Chinese."

That statement seems to fit neatly into one comment online: "Being Chinese like Eileen Gu once every four years is just about right; being Chinese everyday is a bit too challenging."

The scrutiny of this 22-year-old continues! And it will keep going if she competes again in 2030...

Review: Grit by Angela Duckworth

Want some inspiration? Read for some grit tips

What makes someone succeed? University of Pennsylvania Psychology professor Angela Duckworth believes it's a combination of discipline, passion and grit.

In 2016 she wrote the book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance with lots of interesting stories backed up with research, her own and many other psychologists past and present. You could say Duckworth is passionate about the subject and determined to know everything there is to know about grit.

Some of the stories on people like Jeff Bezos when he was a child, or Warren Buffet's tips on career goals, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll in 2013, and actor Will Smith insisting he will be No. 1, one way or another, who said this in 2003:

Duckworth has numerous examples of grit

"The only thing that I see that is distinctly different about me is: I'm not afraid to die on a treadmill. I will not be outworked, period. You might have more talent than me. You might be smarter than me, you might be sexier than me. You might be all of those things. You got it on me in nine categories. But if we get on the treadmill together, there's two simple things: You're getting off first, or I'm going to die. It's really that simple."

He said this long before he smacked Chris Rock on stage during the Academy Awards in 2022. This kind of dates Duckworth's book (and same with how Bezos has turned out), but their stories still show how they became successful.

In Grit, Duckworth says just because someone has talent or genius doesn't mean they have grit , compared to someone who is determined and practices relentlessly. When you have talent and add effort, you get skill. And with skill added with more effort leads to achievement.

But what about flow, the state in which athletes and artists do their sport or art effortlessly? A competitive figure skater described it like this:

"It was just one of those programs that clicked. I mean everything went right, everything felt good... it's just such a rush, like you could feel it could go on and on and on, like you don't want it to stop because it's going so well. It's almost as though you don't have to think, everything goes automatically without thinking..."

It is a state that does not have anything to do with improvement, Duckworth says. "In other words, deliberate practice is for preparation, and flow is for performance."

What is deliberate practice? She says it is a clearly defined stretch goal; full concentration and effort; immediate and informative feedback; and repetition with reflection and refinement.

In order to do that it doesn't necessarily mean endless hours of doing something over and over again, but intentional, deliberate practice with the goal of improving, which entails making it a habit, a ritual that is done daily.

With these kinds of ideas and research, readers wonder what they can do to get grit, and Duckworth addresses this in the last few chapters of the book, particularly how parents can instil grit in their children through discipline, but not the Asian Tiger Mom way, but teaching them to finish what they started and to do it well.

It also has to do with passion, because without it, why bother? Duckworth says if a child wants to quit a sport or a musical instrument or dance, they can't stop on a whim, or when they have a bad day; they should only do that when there is a natural end, like the season or school year is over. 

She also stresses that it's important to be a role model for your children, so they see that you struggle and that you are determined to finish a challenge like a marathon, or complete writing a book.

As writer Alex Martinez says: "To finish things, you have to put the work in. When I was younger, I'd meet many people who were writing stuff. They'd say to me, 'Oh yeah, I am a writer as well, but I've never finished anything.' Well, in that case, you are not a writer. You are just somebody who sits down and writes things on a bit of paper. If you've got something to say, go ahead and say it and finish it."

But one doesn't have to be a parent to try to instil grit in children -- they can be extended family, friends and teachers who encourage kids by giving them opportunities and knowing how to push them, by saying things like, "I'm giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know that you can reach them", instead of "I'm giving you these comments so that you'll have feedback on your paper."

The child or student realises that someone believes in them and wants to see them do well which can inspire them to do better next time. That's what Duckworth's research shows.

When it comes to work, company culture that promotes grit will also develop employees who want to work hard. Not the Chinese "996" way, where one works from 9am to 9pm, six days a week, but what Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase says in the company manual, How We do Business: 

"Have a fierce resolve in everything you do." "Demonstrate determination, resiliency, and tenacity." "Do not let temporary setbacks become permanent excuses." and "Use mistakes and problems as opportunities to get better -- not reasons to quit."

And finally, don't just finish something, but finish strong, putting in as much effort as you did in the beginning and at the end. 

Duckworth says one can grow their grit and the time to start is now.

Anne Frank's Story Still Resonates Today

Thinking of Anne Frank on Holocaust Remembrance Day

When I was in elementary school, my mother gave me a copy of The Dairy of a Young Girl and got to know Anne Frank this way, and was impressed by her deep, sophisticated, thoughtful observations and feelings at a young age. This was also how I got to learn about the horrors of the holocaust.

January 27 is International Holocaust Remembrance Day and I just saw a traveling exhibition in a school in Vancouver called "Anne Frank: A History for Today."

Presented by Anne Frank House, there are several large panels that document what was happening in Europe in the 1930s with the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany and how these big historical events coincided with those of the Frank family.

Anne was born on June 12, 1929 and had an older sister, Margot, her mother Edith, and father Otto. Anne writes that her father was 36 years old when he married her mother who was 25 in 1925.

The stock market crash in 1929 which led to the Great Depression resulted in growing unemployment, and Hitler of the Nazi party promised jobs, promoted antisemitism, and criticised communism. When his party was voted into power, Hitler began doing as he promised, and began making life difficult for Jews, attacking Jewish people and businesses in Kristallnacht, or Night of the Broken Glass.

Germans were told not to patronise Jewish businesses, or associate with them, and later Jews were forced to give up their businesses to the government. Nazis didn't like gypsies, Blacks or the disabled either.

The Franks were uneasy with the situation and in 1933 they moved to Amsterdam where Otto set up a company that sold spices and pectin to make jam. 

But the Nazis weren't satisfied with just controlling Germany. In 1939 the Nazis invaded Poland and the following year entered the Netherlands, which surrendered in a week. 

In the meantime Otto tried to apply for visas for the United States, Cuba and Britain, but they were either granted and he didn't receive it on time, or their applications were not approved. In July 1942 the family began living in the secret annex behind his office, which is where Anne recorded her innermost thoughts for two years, until they were suddenly arrested in August 1944.

Anne and her sister Margot died days of each other of typhus in a concentration camp, mother Edith died on the way to the camp, and Otto was the only survivor of the family, when he and others were liberated by the Soviets in January 1945.

Watching a documentary about the Franks and Nazism immediately drew parallels with the ICE raids in the United States, in particular what has happened in Minneapolis these last few weeks. Immigration Customs Enforcement agents are violently taking down and arresting who they think are illegal immigrants, detaining them and sending them out of the country.

They are doing President Donald Trump's bidding, as he claimed these undocumented people are violent drug dealers, rapists, pedophiles, murderers, gang members, and terrorists who need to be removed from the country.

The US Department of Homeland Security reports to have removed over 670,000 people, and over 2 million self-deportations.

Now two American citizens are dead after trying to protect these alleged criminals.

It is eerie and shocking to see how this is happening today just south of the border from us. 

How is it that history is repeating itself in 2026!

Picture of the Day: Clouds Not Northern Lights

Can you see the Northern Lights in the clouds?

A severe solar storm over parts of Canada and the United States was supposed to result in people being able to see the Northern Lights tonight. 

It was advised to go outside around 11pm to midnight to an area with few lights to see the Aurora Borealis through smartphones, so we bundled up and headed to the nearby park.

But when we got there and tried to take some pictures, all we saw were clouds! Earlier in the day there were clear skies, but the clouds have gathered as Vancouver is forecasted to get rain tomorrow morning...

Review: The Space Architect

Adams designed living spaces for astronauts

After watching the documentary Changing Lanes, I had a quick break eating a Japanese sausage roll (a sausage wrapped in a croissant-like fluffy, flaky pastry), I returned to VIFF to watch The Space Architect, directed by Rebecca Carpenter.

Who's the space architect? It's Constance Adams, a woman who took her skills as an architect and applied them to space, imagining how astronauts live outside of the Earth, what their lives will be like, what they would need, and how they would survive.

She got to experience zero gravity

But she was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and contacted Carpenter, her college classmate who is a filmmaker, asking her to come film her last words.

Carpenter rushed over to Houston and filmed Adams, who by this point was quite ill, needing oxygen to help her breathe. Dressed in a green shirt and black vest, Adams looked very animated, and her nails were painted bright red.

She got a bachelors degree in social studies at Harvard, then a masters in architecture at Yale. She interned with Cesar Pelli, then went to Tokyo to work for the architectural firm Kenzo Tange, then Berlin to work for Josef Paul Kleihues.

However, the economy in Germany wasn't doing well following the fall of the Berlin Wall, and Adams returned to the US to interview for a firm in Houston. While she was there she toured NASA and thought it was so interesting she left them her resume.

Her inflatable TransHub project

They later contacted her and asked if she was still interested. She was. Lockheed Martin hired her as a consultant and she worked on various projects, though she was best known for TransHab, or Transit Habitat, an inflatable module where astronauts could live and work.

Her way of solving problems was to gather all different kinds of experts together, from engineers to psychologists to talk about various scenarios and imagine what it would be like to live in space and how that would affect design and architecture in space.

Adams says all her work with NASA isn't really about humans going into space and finding the final frontier, it's about finding ways for humans to survive on Earth with climate change happening. To find solutions, she created the Mothership project.

Towards the end of the film, it says that four days after Carpenter finished filming, Adams died at the age of 53.

We were lucky that Carpenter came to Vancouver to talk to audiences after the screening. She started by saying Adams wanted her to tell everyone to get a colonoscopy after the age of 50... if she had done so she would have detected the cancer earlier.

Then she talked about filming Adams, that she was sicker than she thought she was, and they did the best they could.

Adams when she was filmed in 2018

After filming wrapped, Carpenter didn't know what she had and let her daughter watch some raw footage; she said this woman is iconic, and that her story had to be told. Her daughter's friend said the same, and so did a film editor friend.

Then the pandemic hit and Carpenter couldn't deal with this project while isolating, finding it a depressing subject. But it seems like it was a group of women in the film industry who encouraged Carpenter to keep going, and they helped her out to eventually finish the film this year.

Adams' daughters have seen the film and say it captures their mother well, and Carpenter confirms they are doing well under the guardianship of Adams' friend.

One audience member asked Carpenter what she learned from making this film and she replied that she is so grateful for every moment, sharing the moment of being with us, being thankful for everything... it seemed like she basically meant that she was grateful to be alive.

Adams accomplished so much in her short time on Earth, and we need to remember trailblazers like her, and be inspired by her great ambitions for all of us.

The Space Architect

Directed by Rebecca Carpenter

40 minutes

Pickling Chayotes

The chayote slices soaking in the brine

In the last few weeks we have received a lot of chayotes that people have harvested from their gardens. Luckily these vegetables keep for a while, but you have to eat them eventually.

These gourds are native to South American countries, but are also found in many other parts of the world like the Caribbean, the United States, Philippines, Jamaica, India, Australia, Indonesia, and southern China.

Using a cloth makes it easier to peel the chayote

We have stir-fried them many times, and they can be cooked in soups.

The other day I decided to pickle them in the same kind of brine for daikon, which involves vinegar, salt, sugar and water.

After peeling off the tough and prickly skin of two chayotes, I sliced them in half and then into quarters and slices about 1cm wide.

Then I took the chunks and put them in a bowl and took a liberal tablespoon of salt and mixed it with the vegetable to get the moisture out of the slices for about 20 minutes to half an hour. That way they will be more crunchy later.

In the meantime I made the brine:

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup boiling water

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (can use white vinegar)

1/4 rice vinegar

Slices of chayote ready to be salted and pickled

After about half an hour, I rinsed the chayote pieces with water to wash off the salt and the arranged them in a clean jar before pouring in the brine.

I let it sit in the refrigerator overnight and about 24 hours later I tried the pickled chayote. It tasted great! Tangy sour flavour with a crunch. 

Previously I have pickled them with soy sauce and balsamic vinegar, but this clear brine works better. 'll be making another batch soon to use up these chayotes before they turn bad!

What is Enshittification and What to Do About It

Doctorow (right) at the Vancouver Writers Festival tonight

The Vancouver Writers Festival started earlier this week that features over 85 events talking books with authors, workshops for aspiring writers, and encouraging kids to read and write more.

I just came back from a book talk with Cory Doctorow, Canadian journalist, author of fiction and non-fiction and activist in the tech realm about his latest work called Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What To Do About It.

He is quite the prolific person, who says his anxiety keeps him up and so he channels that nervous energy into producing a lot of work. In 2020 alone he published four books. What was I doing in that same period?!

The crowd at the Arts Club Theatre in Granville Island was all excited to hear what he had to say and you really had to focus because he said so much because he added context and explanation to be able to answer questions or expand on an idea.

While he and the moderator sat on stage, above was a giant screen and on it were projected hilarious Photoshopped collages poking fun at the tech world, with lots of sh*t emojis, and how the world is going to sh*t.

Back in 2022 he coined the word enshittification, which was declared Macquarie Dictionary's word of the year in 2024. According to the dictionary, the definition is: "The gradual deterioration of a service or product brought about by a reduction in the quality of service provided, especially of an online platform, and as a consequence of profit-seeking."

Sound familiar? 

Twitter, or rather X is a good example, so is Facebook, Google, and Amazon.

On Facebook we used to see pictures our friends posted or their dogs or their trips and birthday parties, but now we see more ads from companies promoting products and services we don't want. Or how you look for something on Amazon and the first things it lists are items that aren't what you want but you have to keep scrolling down forever just to find something resembling what you want; meanwhile for the company selling on Amazon, they are constantly undercut by the behemoth making it less feasible to do business online.

This is enshittification.

Doctorow says part of it is due to monopolies these tech companies have on us; they suck us into buying their products and services and we're so invested it's hard to get out, or we can't gain more control over our gadgets like iPhones.

He says on the App Store there used to be an app where people could post information they had about ICE agents to warn others to avoid being "kidnapped and sent to a gulag", Doctorow says. But now Apple has removed this app, presumably to comply with Donald Trump...

Meanwhile Doctorow also talks about companies like John Deere that have agricultural machinery that practically all farmers use and fix themselves. But now these machines are so hi-tech that they can't be turned on or work again unless a John Deere technician goes to the farm to type in a special code to unlock it, and each visit costs thousands of dollars.

At one point Uber was toying with the idea of charging people more if their phone batteries were low on power. That's because Uber found that those customers were more willing to pay for surge pricing. It denied this and then later quietly dropped this extra charge all together.

The other problem is that Canada does not have enough competition nor regulation to rein in these companies. Doctorow personally blames former Conservative heritage minister James Moore for not doing enough to help consumers have more control over technology they use.

While Doctorow thinks we should have fixed things a decade ago, he says now is the time to act. The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) is up for renewal and Canada should demand more instead of just rolling over to get any deal from the US. 

He says the average person can get off Twitter (or X), but are others going to join you on another platform? It's hard. But Doctorow says it's time to become an activist and join a movement to oppose enshittification of companies and demand that governments give us back control of the technology we use. Write to your Members of Parliament about this issue, and support the Canadian anti-monopoly project, Civic Open Media, and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, he says.

"The way you get rid of them [people like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk] is by fixing the politics, not by reforming or replacing Elon Musk. The problem with Mark Zuckerberg isn't that the wrong person is the unelected social media czar for life of 4 billion people. The problem is that that job exists. We don't need to fix Zuck. We need to abolish Zuck," Doctorow said, to applause and cheers in the audience.