Brain Insight Hits all the Right Notes
A monstrous amount of scientific evidence is showing that the human brain is most active when listening to or playing music. So it seems fitting that this column appears in the music issue of Okanagan Life because from my musical perspective, Fiery Cushman has written one of the best articles I have ever read. Titled Confabulation, it appears in the book This Will Make You Smarter, produced by Edge.org. I relate to Edge because I find its motto as exciting as it is compelling. Edge... Read More
Publisher’s Alter-ego
When Okanagan Life publisher John Paul Byrne expanded his passion from the printed word to music scores, it’s no surprise that magazines were his focal point. In 1991, he took a walk just a few blocks from the magazine conference he was attending in New York to see his first Broadway musical (Les Misérables). He then set to work, composing one of his early songs, Power of the Printed Word, which has a mesmerizing rock beat powerful enough for centre stage. Paul was determined... Read More
25 Years of Memories
Do you remember who was on the cover of the first issue of Okanagan Life? If you don’t have that memory, you might be surprised to know that your brain most likely does. In this instance, we can find out who was on the cover. In fact, 25 years of Okanagan Life memories can be tested, coached and adjudicated because we have kept copies of each issue. You could read about the Capozzi families, the Bennett’s rise to power, David Foster’s Okanagan connections, Duncan Keith’s... Read More
Social Media Showdown
I just read yet another blog predicting the demise of magazines. I’m a little confused because, in reality, the T-shirt I’m wearing has more views than his website. I leave the blogger-dude, wondering how I ever found him, to summon up the Obi-Wan Kenobi of the Internet—Google herself. I gasp out loud at the news that there are 627 million results for “the death of magazines” search. Sigh. I tear up, move my Mac out of the splash zone and begin reading the awful results.... Read More
Hockey Valley
No question we’re obsessed with the national sport. Check out our Okanagan hockey highlights … Download PFD… On the Scouts’ List The top prospects for the 2012 NHL draft will take to the ice at Prospera Place in Kelowna at the end of January. It will be familiar territory for two talented Kelowna Rockets. The Rockets’ right-handed captain Colton Sissons (#15) finished December with 20 goals and 27 points. Dubbed a defensive forward, Sissons’ proficiency... Read More
Does Okanagan Living Make Us Happier
In this corner, San Luis Obispo, the happiest place in America as named by National Geographic writer Dan Buettner; and in this corner, the Okanagan, thought of as one of the happiest places in Canada by its citizens, media and country. Looks like we’ve got us another gold medal game—a happy-off! What is happiness? Some say, the ability to live in the moment. Many imagine it as a “conscious or unconscious” attempt to measure if we are “better off” than someone else.... Read More
Duncan Keith: Slam Dunc
NHL and Team Canada star Duncan Keith Was he dreaming of a day like this when four-year-old Duncan Keith laced ’em up for the first time in Fort Francis, Ontario. Most Canadian kids dream of playing in the NHL but maybe Dunc (as his father David calls him) dreamed bigger. The magnitude of what the Okanagan’s own Duncan Keith accomplished last year is the epic stuff of fairy tales. He struck gold as a member of Team Canada’s ice hockey team in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics... Read More
