August 28, 2009, 1:20 PM
By ERIK OLSEN AND KASSIE BRACKEN
“Vancouver’s Six-Acre Living Roof” (04:31)
It’s rare that landscape architecture and horticulture are brought together into a work of cinematic art, but Dave Budge has accomplished the feat with this fine short film about the new green roof crowning the Vancouver Convention Center. It may sound boring but the shots are brilliantly composed, with straight lines of rigid steel and aluminum juxtaposed against swirling waves of native grasses and flowers. The shimmering expanse of Burrard Inlet serves as the backdrop, and everything grooves to the moody strains of the Icelandic rock band Sigur Rós.
This living roof is the brainchild of Bruce Hemstock, a landscape architect who rhapsodizes about urban parks. Green architecture is all the rage in cities. New York recently cut the ribbon on the gorgeous High Line Park, built along rusted old rail lines on which goods were once carried down the West Side of Manhattan. The video about Vancouver is the first of a series called “Growing Cities” that will showcase grand new projects in environmental architecture. (E.O.)
“Capitalizing on Foreclosures” (04:44)
He drives around in a partially restored 1957 Chevy; it’s a fitting mode of transport for Amos Collins. For the past four years, Mr. Collins, a New Zealand transplant, has found opportunity in California’s falling housing market, selling foreclosed properties in Riverside County. My colleague Erik Olsen spent two days with Mr. Collins, and the resulting video provides a close-up glimpse of a region at the core of California’s real-estate woes. We first meet Mr. Amos’s clients — potential buyers seeking to take advantage of the downturn. Then the focus shifts to what is left behind in these homes: a bike, a cooking pot and, in some cases, evidence of bitter resentment at forced eviction. As Mr. Collins inspects a graffiti-marred living room, or shines a flashlight across ripped out plumbing, unspoken despair resonates, and the video ends uneasily. (K.B.)
“Witham Journal: All Alone in Homebridge Village” (03:16)
Across the Atlantic, we meet another gentleman making the best of a bad situation, though Les Harrington’s story is a bit more unusual. Every day, the 86-year-old Mr. Harrington sits outside his retirement complex and smokes his pipe, without a neighbor in view. “It would be nice if you could say, ‘Morning, Jack’, ‘Hello, Tom, how are you?’ and things like that,” he says. When Mr. Harrington moved into Homebridge Village in Witham, England, two years ago, he looked forward to living in a community of seniors. But after the credit crunch, the owner went bankrupt, and potential tenants have been unable to sell their houses to buy into the village. For now, Mr. Harrington is the only tenant. The varied focal lengths of the camerawork and the unexpected mandolin provide nice texture to this video. “I’m a very comfortable, happy man,” Mr. Harrington says. Yet he also admits, “I’d like to see some more comfortable, happy people around me.” (K.B.)
“The Megawoosh Waterslide Viral ” (00:45) (HOAX)
This video has been making the rounds, spawning a vigorous discussion over whether it is true or a hoax. The answer: hoax — a rather elaborate one orchestrated by MS Germany. We debated whether we should knowingly take the bait ourselves and repost the video. But the fact is it’s very well done and remarkably convincing. It’s also a heck of a lot of fun. I won’t spoil it for you. Suffice it to say it’s worth 45 seconds of your time. If you’re interested, you can find out “How It Was Really Done“. (E.O.)
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