Film and media production
Robert Alstead 
Back in January, I wrote a blog post about how I, and many other CIBC customers, were getting dinged by the bank for using a Visa credit card to buy gift cards. In my case, I was charged $5 plus interest for $10 worth of minutes with EVO car share. You can read about it … Read more
It’s just after 10pm, 2nd January. Post bed-time. There is peace in the house. I just wanted to take a few minutes to write some notes on the start of another January of no sugar, alcohol or caffeine. Can’t remember how many times we’ve done this now – possibly the fourth dry January for me, … Read more
Over Christmas I bought my wife some Evo miles. CIBC charged me a 45% bank charge and 20+% interest fee for the privilege of paying by Visa.
Consider this: a privately owned car can cost at least $10,000 a year, yet, for 95% of the time, it sits idle doing nothing, just slowly losing its value each and every day. Car sharing means you have use of a fleet of cars, without the responsibilities that go along with owning a car – … Read more
As someone who has advocated for better – as in safer – cycling conditions in our cities (e.g. see my film You Never Bike Alone) it might seem counter intuitive to do a series on cars. But car sharing is really more about using the car less. At least, in my case. We sold our … Read more
One of the beauties of living in Vancouver is that we have three ski resorts on our doorstep – Seymour Mountain, Grouse Mountain, and Cypress Mountain. Cypress Mountain, though the furthest away (28km), has been my go-to for years, being the largest of the three mountain resorts. The Cypress season just closed this past weekend, … Read more
In recent months I have been beefing up my YouTube channel with more videos. It’s been a slow process, trying out different video styles and subject matter to see what works. I have amassed a meagre 17 subscribers, so YouTube fame is a long way off, but I’ve broken the 1,000 views mark for one … Read more
I gave up the trifecta of caffeine, alcohol, and sugar, and the rest of the family gave up sugar.
An essential part of any news web site is the RSS feed. RSS allows you to push your content out into the world as soon as you hit the “publish” (or “save” in Drupal) button. With a standard installation of Drupal you can customise an RSS feed for your site in a few minutes and … Read more
This is a project for which I have footage going back several years. This East Vancouver neighbourhood has seen big changes in recent years as older houses are torn down and replaced with McMansions and laneway houses. The story provides a window into the stresses being felt by ordinary families by the affordable housing crisis. … Read more