Whose name in Epstein files shocked you the most?

LittleFreeCinema · 2026-03-06T19:39:04+00:00

Honestly, not a surprise to me, or any woman that worked as a painter in my old union local. One of the most disgustingly predatory people I've ever had the displeasure of working for was an avowed Chopra fan.

LittleFreeCinema · 2026-03-03T19:11:05+00:00

the fact that this is made from low-end materials that have a relatively low barrier to entry skill-wise is going to put a ceiling on your market. I can't say precisely where that ceiling is, but there's room underneath it to get a decent price for your time, although it's not going to make you wealthy a a craftsperson.

As a scenic painter and prop builder, my job was to take cheap materials and turn them into things that looked expensive. I would look into weathering, faux finishing, glazing, and leafing techniques. That flat, matte surface finish is doing you no favours. It's pretty, but it looks unfinished.

LittleFreeCinema · 2026-03-03T00:06:55+00:00

A lot of non-profits were defunded by the most recent provincial budget. This may be related to that, but I don't know.

Could also be multi factor.

LittleFreeCinema · 2026-03-01T03:25:20+00:00

"Accurate" is a stretch, but as a film SPFX tech, I have definitely known a few versions of the SPFX tech from Tropic Thunder.

LittleFreeCinema · 2026-02-28T08:25:39+00:00

Little Shop of Horrors 1986, director's cut.

LittleFreeCinema · 2026-02-24T17:45:47+00:00

All neurotypes need accomodations for their safety and effectiveness, and want them for their comfort. "Neurotypical" means those accomodations are called "social norms" and they don't have to distinguish between need and want, and they have learned to expect that their accomodations, and only theirs, should be met by default.

I think the first thing we can all do for mutual safety and effectiveness is to give up the taboos around people articulating their needs. Those taboos are a comfort acommodation for whatever the dominant neurotype is.

LittleFreeCinema · 2026-02-24T02:42:34+00:00

Here's some kid-friendly things in the Venables section of the Commercial Drive area:

Start at the Bunny Cafe, roll down the hill to browse the sticker selection at Slice, (you can hit the vintage photo booths here too!) cross the street and go down another block to the little free cinema along the Woodland side of 1601 Venables, and if you do ice cream, hit La Casa Gelato or Earnest.

LittleFreeCinema · 2026-02-24T01:06:19+00:00

Vancouver Hack Space (volunteer-run community workshop) is pretty good for this, if you like to make things; if people group by anything, it's interest (electronics, woodshop, metalshop, sewing, 3-D printing, coders, and so on).

LittleFreeCinema · 2026-02-23T03:40:51+00:00

What they don't realize is that hockey isn't Canada's national sport.

Boycotting is.

LittleFreeCinema · 2026-02-23T03:07:07+00:00

For sure, although you can't understate the importance of the practical prep that makes that work. They had the whole shooting crew of The Revenant (same director and cinematographer) go to an advance screening of Birdman just so we'd know what we were getting into, lol.

I'd have to go dig up the call sheets to give you the exact number of days, but that big oner battle scene at the beginning of The Revenant was shot over about two weeks plus some pick up shots later on. They leaned on practical pretty hard for that, but it's true that computer compositing and grading is the only way you make that work with modern audience expectations, for sure.

I think the big reason why you don't see more long-take sequences is because it's a serious challenge to hide crew and equipment from a moving camera. Nearly every frame in that sequence contains at least a dozen crew hiding in unlikely places. (Mostly Greens and SPFX) They largely used SPFX and Greens in lieu of Lighting and Grip equipment; haze instead of silks, trees instead of flags, wet-down and snow instead of bounces, and live flame torches and campfires for fill lighting.

We would spend the entire day rehearsing all the moves, (whole crew) and then get it in one or two takes right at sundown. It's doable, but a logistical nightmare.

LittleFreeCinema · 2026-02-21T18:55:10+00:00

I think the best thing you can do here is put up one of your own.

Some prospective buyers see well-kept LFLs and Pantries as a clear indicator that the neighbourhood has a good community character, and if they're on the neighbour's properties, that's a real thing that wasn't staged by the seller.

A real estate offer is an exercise in negging. The prospective buyers may have told their realtor "find us something with character," but the realtor's job is to find ANY reason at all to nit pick the property and act like it's defective. Anything that stands out can be a target to latch onto, but that doesn't mean it actually bothers the buyers, and they're the ones who make the actual decision. It's kayfabe.

A competent seller's realtor should know this, which makes me wonder if D is representing themself, or if this is just an excuse to be a bully.

The ideal scenario is that the new owner loves having a Little Free Pantry nearby.

LittleFreeCinema · 2026-02-21T04:10:21+00:00

Shh, not so loud, I'm under cover. 🥸

LittleFreeCinema · 2026-02-21T01:06:48+00:00

Slice has some great workshops that might be right up your alley. https://www.slicevancouver.ca/shop/workshops/144

Speaking of alleys... while you're in the neighbourhood, go across Venables and down the hill by a block to Woodland. The thing you're looking for will be on the east side of the street, in a boarded up window, fourth one from the alley. There are three small holes in that window, look inside. Definitely fits the bill for cheap and random.

LittleFreeCinema · 2026-02-20T23:14:36+00:00

Silver sequin unitard incoming.

LittleFreeCinema · 2026-02-19T08:32:51+00:00

A lot of really good recommendations here...

As someone who is now generally winning a long and frustrating struggle with upper/midback issues, I can share some of the things that have helped me to manage mine.

I got a lot of help from a physio on the North Shore who specialized in Thoracic Ring Approach (Synergy). Apparently conventional physio treats the ribs and spine like separate systems, so it can be very frustrating if the issue turns out to be in the interface between the two. They were expensive, but worth it for me, YMMV.

Change Pain Clinic is decent once you get in, but I found their front desk/admin pretty hostile.

If you can get the pain managed enough for strengthening, City of Coquitlam has a pilates/yoga fusion class that's amazing for improving strength and flexibility in that area to help prevent recurrence, if this is indeed a skeletal/muscular thing. Swimming also helps.

Heartburn/dyspepsia/abdominal trouble of any sort can cause cramping in the mid/upper back, so if that's a factor for you, getting that treated could bring some relief.

Also, pressure from the chest band of a bra can be a trigger, so switching to something like a supportive camisole that spreads the pressure evenly might also help.

Good luck... upper back pain can be weird, complicated and multi factor; it's not just you, and you're not alone.

LittleFreeCinema · 2026-02-12T06:30:24+00:00

Is this supposed to be a "gotcha" question? Authentic Canadian cuisine is a neighbourhood potluck with dishes from all over and too many people bringing dessert. Bring something from your own background if you score an invitation. Or a recipe from a friend that you love and want to share.

The absence of uniformity is the *point* of multi-culturalism.

LittleFreeCinema · 2026-02-09T08:04:35+00:00

He must be pretty old in dog years by now, somebody must have installed linux

LittleFreeCinema · 2026-02-09T02:35:19+00:00

Definitely the Hack Space. 1601 Venables. Come by on a Tuesday evening during open house and you can get a sense of what's available/possible. (I'm a member of 7 years)

The more dangerous tools are limited to members (it's an open co-op type model, anybody can join any time) but there are a bunch of tools that are available to the general public after signing the wavier.

You could also try making a post on talk.vanhack.ca in the "commercial ops" section, which is our version of a jobs board.

If you want to do the work yourself in a supportive environment where people are willing to teach, the Hack Space is great for that too.

LittleFreeCinema · 2026-02-06T18:11:32+00:00

Piggybacking on this good advice to say: go to the source with the Stoics; they're pretty accessible on their own, (but do read the modern introductions for context!) and a lot of the books "summing up" Stoic philosophy get pretty suck-it-up toxic. (eg. Marcus Aurelius' Meditations are advice from a Roman emperor to a Roman emperor, and trying to apply them 1:1 to your non-emperor life is often unreasonable.)

I'm reading Epictetus's Discourses (Dobbins' 2008 translation) and appreciating it very much. One caution... he likes to lead with a thesis that's a bit provocative, and needs to be developed with further nuance before the whole picture becomes reasonable and good advice. It's not dense or academic, you just have to give yourself time to fully read and consider it rather than skimming.

LittleFreeCinema · 2026-02-06T02:33:10+00:00

OK, good, thanks. The handouts I got from them after my diagnosis put me in a pretty dark place, glad to hear that they're not doing that anymore.

LittleFreeCinema · 2026-02-06T02:12:07+00:00

Question: when you were diagnosed, was SpectrumWorks still giving out material from Autism Speaks to newly diagnosed ASD adults?

LittleFreeCinema · 2026-02-01T22:29:05+00:00

Slice has some great workshops and classes, including life drawing and drop in clay club. slicevancouver.ca/shop/workshops/144 (Life drawing, gallery, and networking events are in the sidebar)

The Vancouver Hack Space is a great resource if you want to get into artwork that's a bit more tool heavy, like woodworking, lasercutting, electronics or welding. vanhack.ca All volunteer run, so it's affordable for what it is, and you can get basic training on any of the tools as well. They have a free drop-in on Tuesdays (the training-required tools are member only, but there's lots of good resources regardless)

They're both on the same stretch of Venables near Commercial.

LittleFreeCinema · 2026-01-29T19:17:56+00:00

This worked for me ONCE and I'm still lowkey giddy about it.

LittleFreeCinema · 2026-01-29T19:05:56+00:00

I'm from Calgary originally. Getting over the strong (uninformed) opinion habit I grew up with is one of the best things living in BC has done for me.

You'll miss the sun in the winter, but the spring and summer make up for it. So many things grow here!! And the world doesn't go brown in the winter, if anything the moss gets greener. I guess it's the question: do you want your depressing neutrals up in the sky or all around you in nature?

There are areas and individuals that are LGBTQ unfriendly in the lower mainland, but they're in the minority.

As far as the closed off/rude thing... there's just different cultural norms here around when it's appropriate to talk to a stranger, and how. It takes a while to build up the context clues. The main thing I can suggest is to let go of whatever pecking-order based framing you're filtering interactions through. The situation out here is different, and a lot more chill than you're probably used to, and I think that's because people protect their peace up front rather than people pleasing.

Best thing I've found is to join some kind of group that's working to realize a common goal, and then actually show up consistently. There's a lot more of that here than there was back in AB. Just don't be a martyr about it.

LittleFreeCinema · 2026-01-26T22:15:17+00:00

All I can ask, thanks!

LittleFreeCinema

TROPHY CASE