The 2010 Winter Olympics has escalated the homelessness crisis in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and the Greater Vancouver area. Since the Olympic bid, homelessness has nearly tripled in the GVRD, while real estate and condominium development in the Downtown Eastside is outpacing social housing by a rate of 3:1. Meanwhile, a heightened police presence has further criminalized those living in extreme material poverty in the poorest postal code in Canada.

Less than a week away from the gongshow that will be the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games. Chris ‘Okibi’ will be in the midst of the protests, hopefully bringing back some valuable footage and insights. For more information on Olympic resistance checkout the No 2010 website.

Sorry about the hiatus, Coast Media Collective has been busy behind the scenes on a number of projects. Expect a lot more fresh and exciting content to be up soon. In the mean time, be sure to check out the first episode of the Collective Voice Podcast, a collaborative new project with Union Sound System. Chris ‘Okibi’ was fortunate enough to be able to sit down for an intimate chat with Toronto house legend, DJ JELO, when he came through Victoria near the end of last year. We may transcribe …

Happy Holidays from Coast Media Collective! Here’s one from High Contrast to keep you going through the Boxing Day rush.

A varied selection of dubstep sounds from Okibi of Union Sound System. The perfect mixset to rinse out while traveling this holiday season. Features tunes from Breakage, 6Blocc, Tek Step, Benga, Stagga, and more.

As I type this, leaders from the biggest industrialized nations are meeting in Copenhagen to discuss a possible treaty to diminish worldwide carbon emissions. As reported last month, it is already known that no deal will be reached during these talks. Many scientists say time is running out and others say it’s too late. Meanwhile in Canada, the forces of capitalism and industry are moving full force to extract the last bits of oil from the Alberta tar sands. The insanity of this project perfectly exemplifies Premise 10 from Derrick …

The EyeWriter project is an ongoing collaborative research effort to empower people who are suffering from ALS with creative technologies. It is a low-cost eye-tracking apparatus & custom software that allows graffiti writers and artists with paralysis resulting from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis to draw using only their eyes.

Stimulator aka Franklin Lopez serves up his own take on Black Friday, while critiquing Adbuster Magazine’s Buy Nothing Day, and presenting his own alternative, Steal Something Day. With poetic, anarchic words from Crimethinc, and Lopez’s cut-and-paste editing, Why I Love Shoplifting from Big Corporations makes for a nice short.