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It's Friday June the 30 around 2:41PM and
So this Monday I can buy an extra 1% worth of stuff because I am paying 1% less in GST. That's pretty sweet. 4 liters of milk will cost me $4.22 instead of the outrageous $4.26 I am paying now. I will sleep better at night knowing that junior will see the inside of a University not as a janitor but as a student. Now if you can only leverage a way for me to not pay over $17,500 a year in Income and property taxes...
Things are looking up for us Vancouverites huh huh huh aren't they, huh huh?
It's Thursday June the 29 around 9:30PM and
It's that time of the month again, well actually, I'm coming at you a day early with the newest edition of the Vancouverites Playlist. I thought this might be the perfect ending to one of the nicest weeks of the year. I've got this months playlist set up to play out like a summer day. Opening up with Lilly Allen's unforgettable single "Smile" and ending with the absolutely sublime "A Star Is Born" by Amusement Parks On Fire. Enjoy!
The Vancouverite Playlist #7 - Best Of June
01) Smile - Lily Allen
02) Bright Idea - Orson
03) I Blame The Sun - The Horror The Horror
04) O Yeah - End Of Fashion
05) Wrong Choice The Lovely Feathers
06) You Needed More - The Sleepy Jackson
07) Walk Away - Bears
08) Isabel And Leonard - Envelopes
09) Running With Your Eyes Closed - Mojave 3
10) Bandits - Midlake
11) You And I Are A Gang Of Losers - The Dears
12) A Star Is Born - Amusement Parks On Fire
Listen to the playlist here. And don't forget to catch all of the music awesomeness over at my blog: The Vancouverite Playlist.
It's Thursday June the 29 around 2:20PM and
If you've been living under a rock for the last couple of weeks, it's possible that you haven't seen the Ford ad featuring American Idol winner Taylor Hicks. While I am choosing to reserve judgment on the song Possibilities until I hear it in its entirety, it's got that perfect jingly feel to it, which makes me doubt whether or not my interest level can be sustained over a three or four minute period.
Even though American Idol and Ford have been bedmates for years, it was surprising how quick they managed to get Hicks on the payroll - they waited like thirty seconds before making him dance for their money.
The most remarkable thing about this ad, though, is that they have somehow managed to make it look like a ghetto version of the American Idol set. So, they go to all this trouble to get a down home country boy in their commercial, and then they stick him on a cheesy soundstage? Granted, we've been seeing him that way forever, but it would have been nice if they could have at least had him driving a car with the wind blowing through his trademarked grey locks.
It's Wednesday June the 28 around 10:53AM and
For anyone who believes that pot is a gateway drug, the UN's recent report that marijuana is as dangerous as cocaine or heroin is a very good thing. That said, it looks like the gateway drug argument doesn't hold much sway in BC though, since most of the report's opponents are located a mere stone's throw from the Vancouver Art Gallery steps.
This is one of those instances where you kind of have to agree with the people who are against the UN on this. Pot makes people slow and hungry, not really very dangerous states unless you happen to be a cannibal. Although, put a little weed in the hands of Axl Rose, and he might eat a man's entire leg instead of just biting it. That's certainly worth a little law enforcement, even if pot smoking isn't.
It's Friday June the 23 around 11:37PM and
Pretty sure you're probably asleep dreaming of getting out on a patio - quite frankly I am too, except I think you get TB from sitting on patios in Beijing. Al Gore should get the hell over here and do something about the pollution, my god (but more on that later, maybe tomorrow even). But until he shows up and invents a solution, let's groove on some links. And...go:
*There is surely a guy I know who would appreciate this (actually there are at least three people I know who can understand this) site. Whatevs, I give you Hitler Cats.
*Now that we are wearing black arm bands mourning the death of the great television producer Aaron Spelling who gave us both Tori Spelling and TJ Hooker - and like thousands of other TV shows, can we do something about this? JJ Abrams it seems wants Matt Damon to play Captain James T. Kirk in the new Star Trek. Think about that for a bit. I'll be here. It's sick. And don't give him any ideas about getting Affleck to play Spock. Dear lord.
*Part of me truly looks at awe at Taco Bell for trying to create the impossible, the holy grail of dinning, the mysterious 4th Meal. Part of me thinks they have tacos on the brain. Mmmmmm....tacos. (Via Ad Freak)
*There is something about a story about a mobster in the witness protection program living in Normandy France that sounds unreal. Cinematical has the deets on this impressive book soon to be movie.
*Finally. Brew Blog.
*This is nuts. TV jumping the shark reason #231: "The Coreys". Dear lord in heaven, please stop this before it gets out of control. Corey Haim and Corey Feldmen together again in TV form. And here's the kicker: "The Coreys would find the Coreys playing fictionalized versions of themselves, presumably because it would be funnier and less sad that way. Feldman would play Corey Feldman, married father of one son; Haim would play Corey Haim, single man. While both play those roles in real life, too, the TV show would ratchet up the comedy in the situation by having Haim, as Variety put it, "[shake] life up for the Feldmans."" Gulp.
*The Pixies not making a new album, again. Bastards.
*Nice to see Memphis Blues getting some props from Gridskipper. That platter of meats will kill you.
*This is spectacularly awesome stuff. Gridskipper reports: "The Times of London is running a contest looking for the smuggest vacation photos–smugshots–you can engineer."
*Lastly, I expected so much more out of girlfriends weekend with Gawker's Jessica Coen. And yet, I still would find a weekend with her pretty awesome, and drunken. I think a weekend with her and her margarita and lobster quesadilla older sister, Ana Marie Cox would be like heaven.
It's Friday June the 23 around 12:01PM and
If you blog and you live in Vancouver or Toronto, Nokia wants to give you a free phone. It's a viral campaign to promote their new fancy pants technology, but whatever, free stuff is always cool.
It's Friday June the 23 around 11:44AM and
Summer arrived at a ridiculously early hour on Wednesday morning, and brought the nice weather with it. This means that patio season can officially begin. There is one small problem though, and that is the dearth of decent, sunny patios for a post-work beer. Unless you're prepared to skip out early, getting a table is like finding gold dust.
The Kingston on Richards is a nice little patio oasis if you can get a table... There's lots of plants and umbrellas and even a fireplace. Unfortunately its location means that it slips into the shade rather early, but by that point the beer has usually done it's work and it's not a big deal.
Venturing out from the downtown a little is Havana's on Commercial Drive, but since half the city also appears to love it, you're pretty much guaranteed a long wait for a table unless the gods of fate are smiling upon you.
The criteria for a good patio is not complicated - location, good food and good drink. Anyone who has any ideas should throw them out there, because if I go to Steamworks one more time, they're going to know me by name, and I refuse to be Gastown's version of Norm.
It's Tuesday June the 20 around 10:15AM and
Normally I avoid White Spot like the plague, but last night I was forced into its generic confines in order to watch the Stanley Cup final between Edmonton and Carolina. My lack of enthusiasm for this match-up meant that my friend and I left work late and couldn't get a seat in a real pub to save our lives. So there we were, stranded on the corner of Georgia and Seymour, when that damned chicken shone like a lighthouse in a storm.
In the end, it turned out to be a rather entertaining experience... We somehow managed to find a table right in front of the big screen TV, but the best part was the rather rowdy group of men at the table next to us. They were refugees from some kind of environmental conference, and during the commercial breaks we were delighted by their conversation, which ranged from mini-Blackberries to alternative energy. We also discovered that they had spent $120 on their breakfast, which meant they were particularly enamoured of the cheap beer and rib appetizer.
The faux-hippies (they were all wearing suits) went a long way to overcoming my strongest objection to White Spot - clearly it's not just a refuge for the old and family-laden. The place may need a key sporting event to enliven it a little, but as long as we can count on unruly conference attendees to show up, it's not a terrible place to watch a game. And did I mention that the beer was $9.99 a pitcher?
It's Saturday June the 17 around 7:24PM and
I don't read much. Usually I read about 10 minutes a day and it is Hollywood hijinks's found in my wife's magazines littering the bathroom. But I found a book that has captivated me and has me reading whenever I can. Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. A fantastic expedition. It is the Universe and our beginnings, not religious beginnings, and how life and the heavens, not religious heavens, came to be. Written in much the same style as The Wealthy Barber, it isn't just mindless facts and boring statistics. It is colorful and humorous and intriguing. So little we know about everything is summed up nicely and you will sound way SMRT when you tell your friends how Newton damn near guessed the weight of the earth 300 years ago and was within a few hundred pounds of what modern scientist have now speculated.
Buy it, borrow it, trade for it or steal it. Just do it and nerdy chicks will want you.
It's Wednesday June the 14 around 10:49PM and
As hump day transitions into regular old, Thursday, let's see what's cooking:
*Gordon Gekko returns? I have to say we start off with the disturbing or wonderful news of a possible Wall Street Sequel. Golden Fiddle has the news and links to images of awesome giant cellphones and yacht computers. I guess if 61 year old Micheal Douglas is in, greed is good, and it will work.
*If that wasn't smug enough for you dear readers, there was a completely ass kissing love-in profile of Vancouver writer Alice Munro in the fabled New York Times this week. You may need a airline vomit bag to deal with this. From the get go, it's pretty darn hilarious:
IN Alice Munro's Vancouver nobody eats sushi. Nobody jogs along the seawall or browses Granville Street galleries or shops for organic herbs at the Granville Island market. Ms. Munro, the 74-year-old Canadian whom the novelist Jonathan Franzen dubbed "the best fiction writer now working in North America," set a handful of her marvelous short stories in the damp British Columbian metropolis, and the urban geography is so exact you can practically map the city off her fictions
*But seriously, Kate Beckinsale is single? Thank the maker. This almost makes up for the tragic and confusing news that James Blunt is dating Petra Nemcova. Damn you! Well at least Mandy Moore ditched Zach Braaff finally.
*I'm still smiling about director Uwe Boll challenging his biggest haters to come to his Vancouver set and getting into a boxing ring with him. This is a great stunt. As Defamer called it, "Uwe Boll Challenges Critics to Beat his Lack of Talent Out of Him." Kind of a shame he makes such worthless films.
*This is awesome - the resignation from American Apparel's most senior Canadian employee:
The stores have lost concept and look like flea markets, your products have lost quality, and your business ethics are being erased and replaced with the usual corporate shtick- in short, you are well on your way to becoming another institution, and your outrageous company has become horribly predictable. In addition to this, the exploitations of the cultures, sexual orientations, and individuality of the people featured in your advertisements only serves to show that you really don’t understand what is relevant and edgy today within youth culture; your target market. You’ve effectively moved the exploitation of workers in your “non-sweatshops” to your own retail workers and models featured on the pages of newspapers and magazines, cashing in on what you assume a generic public will perceive as subversive and political.
It's Monday June the 12 around 3:42PM and
How amazing is it that the World Cup is finally here? Not so amazing unless you really like soccer... Fortunately, they appear to have quarantined a special part of the city just for those wacky football fans. Not surprisingly, this bastion of the world's most popular sport is to be found down at Commercial Drive, where just about every cafe, restaurant and corner store will be showing all the games live.
They've even got this fancy thing set up called the Soccerio, where you can watch some of the games in an old movie theatre. Kind of cool, but in my opinion the best part of the World Cup is being able to drink beer at inappropriate hours of the morning, and the movie theatre isn't licensed. Perhaps this is some kind of attempt to keep down any potential hooliganism, but unless a lot of English fans arrive to take on the Italians, Brazlians and Portuguese who basically own the space right now, it's not likely to be a huge problem. Damn.
It's Monday June the 12 around 9:10AM and
Say that ten times fast, and then sing "We work all day, we work all night, we never learned to read or write" or "...grab that rope you hairy ape."
Now I am not a scholar or anything but I see some symbolism in this movie that I never picked up on when I saw it last some 20 years ago. The singing crows in the movie seem to be type casted a wee bit. I wonder if they were paid cash or instead of pay a promise that they weren't going to be threatened with false allegations of rape or theft.
I think this movie should have been body slammed with a pg-13 rating at the very least. For kids my ass. Junior wants a slave now Mr Disney, you hateful bastard.
A more sensible article on the subject can be found here at suite101
It's Sunday June the 11 around 2:26PM and
Our medical system has a lot of critics and that's fair(I have some pretty horrible comments I will keep to myself on the subject). You can sit in a waiting room for four hours with a broken leg but thankfully if your a 3 year old, you don't even get a chance to sit down as you are ushered off to see a doctor ASAP.
Yesterday afternoon Junior cried "head owie". Something he has never done before so we panicked. Wifey got him packed up while I finished savouring my waffles, OH they were so good with butter, maple syrup. They were chocolate chip coffee waffles made from a mix I got in Maui. Anyways, we sped off to Burnaby General. We had to wait about 5 minutes for triage but then within 5 minutes we were in a private room with a Nurse. A Doctor came in minutes after. They located the problem as an infected ear drum. Considered to be one of the most painful things that can happen to a young child. After the diagnoses I had to apologize for calling him a big sissy mommy's boy pansy and for threatening to call the WWHHHAAAAMMMBULANCE!
Big Shout out to Burnaby General and the staff there. If we were there for a broken leg, we would still be there, but that makes sense right? Why usher in the 20-something punk that wiped out in softball. He should be thrown a bag of ice and then shown the door.
It's Thursday June the 8 around 9:55AM and
It's Thursday, or Friday, depending on where you are right now. So let's ease into the weekend or Friday with some completely inane links and such to celebrate the birth of Messiah Shiloh Pitt, the death of Zarqawi, the fact that China is banning the Da Vinci Code on the eve of my arrival, and the fact that hunky Ryan Reynolds has finally split with that hippy pretending to be Alanis Morrisette. On with the links:
*Kind of love this interview by Book Slut of Anthony Bourdain about food, violating Somoans, and hanging out with Chuck Palahniuk.
*Phoebe Cates is clearly a vampire, she hasn't aged since 1989.
*Criterion Dazed and Confused. Dude. That's sweet. Or as Wooderson would say, "The older you get, the more rules they are going to try and get you to follow. You just gotta keep on livin', man. L-I-V-I-N."
*The DVD for Mr. & Mrs. Smith kind of pulls far off the original campaign's cool design and typography to capilize on the sexual chemistry of Mr. & Mrs. Shiloh.
*Stephen Colbert does college comencement speech with hilarious results. "Now I know you're all going to say, "Stephen, Stephen, immigrants built America." Yes, but here's the thing--it's built now. I think it was finished in the mid-70s sometime. At this point it's a touch-up and repair job. But thankfully Congress is acting and soon English will be the official language of America. Because if we surrender the national anthem to Spansih, the next thing you know, they'll be translating the Bible. God wrote it in English for a reason! So it could be taught in our public schools."
*Good lord. Another Trump show using the Monopoly brand this time. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, please?
*I kind of just love these outrageously fun and bluntly honest ads - fake or real, I don't know - for a jungle lodge and safari.
*In some ads for the new season of Entourage, they go with the tagline, "Lifestyle is a terrible thing to waste. Meanwhile Gawker notes that in other ads they focus on confusing Ari Gold adds that make no sense at all. Discuss.
*Just because. Kurosawa directed Suntory whiskey ads with Francis Ford Coppola.
It's Wednesday June the 7 around 1:47AM and
Hey, it's almost midweek, time for some fairly useless bits of information. But first, you can catch a longhaired rock n' roll show tonight at the Lamplighter.
Lions in the Street is playing a cheap and early show tonight. Cheap door, and even cheaper beer ($2.75/can). They're on at 10:00 sharp. So don't be late...get your rock on. PS: you can
download their EP here. Now on with less important tidbits (and some you've probably seen before, I'm behind).
*Good news, years of wearing a headband does not affect your glorious locks of hair. Just look at how amazing Bjorn Borg's hair looks today, at 50. The man is on fire. I think his look, championed by Luke Wilson in The Royal Tennenbaums most recently, is poised for a major comeback.
*My dreams of wearing flip flops and tank tops while working at Atlantic Monthy have been dashed. On second thought, a no-flip flop policy sounds good. Here in Vietnam it is clearly all flip-flop all the time. [Wonkette]
*This is clearly somesort of PR stunt. How is it that Jake Gyllenhaal is dating Natalie Portman? Sweet jesus. And isn't Jake gay too? Please. [The Superficial]
*A Christopher Walken video-athon over at Egotastic.
*Little Pacey Whitter, er Joshua Jackson, apparently uses his c-list status for wild pick ups while at home in Vancouver. What would Dawson say Pacey? Honestly.
*Defamer is quietly discovering the real four horseman of the apocolypse. Kind of like a Da Vinci Code it would appear the new foursome is director Brett Ratner, Bob Saget, Joe Simpson, and Ryan Seacrest. Yep, the world would probably collapse on itself if they ever get into a room together.
*Not sure what is more crazy. The fact that you can catch the McPheever live at the Tacoma Dome with the American Idol tour. Or the fact that you could see Chris Daughtrey sing at a concert sponsored by Pop Tarts. Or that Kat McPhee has a 41 year old creepy boyfriend.
*This just in, Jessica Simpson is not very smart.
*BMW taps old men to sell cars. Discuss.
*Trailer Park: Good: Scoop Trailer (Scarlett, Woody do England, again). Acceptable: The Holiday (Please - Jack Black and lovely Kate Winslet.) Worse: : Garfield 2: A Tail of Two Kitties Trailer (Why...).
It's Monday June the 5 around 7:31AM and
112 Degrees and Rising in Saigon
I could see my plane’s shadow dance over the perfectly kept farms and rice patties, the emerald greens contrasting sharply with the darkness of the grey blue water. We started coming over the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City. The suburbs of this city of 6-million plus are a maze of buildings thrust against one another with little regard for city planning or logic. This from a country that still seems to be holding onto some of the strongest parts of its communist past.
And with that, you are introduced to Vietnam, via a line up to immigration. The airport seems very ‘60’s socialist kitsch and the long stalls of immigration officers dressed in the green uniforms with red and yellow trim that seem like they must have been ordered from a central Communist uniform factory and the soldiers from central casting. They almost didn’t look real, more costume, than any reality. Once you get through that eye opening process and on your way to Ho Chi Minh City proper, it is an overwhelming, loud, and busy explosion. Thoughts of any romantic or quant experience in the orient are very quickly shattered. Even the draw of enjoying the colonial French influence in Vietnam seems to fade, quicker than the three million plus scooters unleashed on the city as you realize that Ho Chi Minh City is in tremendous flux. The Americans may have pulled out of South Vietnam, but it seems the Vietnamese embraced the west after they left, anyway.
Continue reading "Vancouverite Road Trip: Saigon, Vietnam" »
It's Friday June the 2 around 12:27PM and
Salsa is one of those fantastic, versatile foods that tastes good on or with nearly everything. Trendy food-ites have adapted it in all kinds of fun ways: mango salsa, citrus salsa, and my personal favourite - salsa with goat cheese. Bin 941 on Davie Street does this tomato/goat cheese combination so well that when plans were made to stop by for a few drinks, I found myself dreaming about their salsa for a significant part of the work day.
After all the hype and glory, the Bin did not disappoint me. Served with their navajo fry bread (which is really some kind of deep-fried, frittery goodness), the salsa was tangy and cheesy and everything fun. I almost didn't even notice that their sangria (cheekily called "Bingria" on the menu) was a little bit potent and all the fruit was cut into symmetrical squares. I used to have a roommate who, when making her own pizzas, would insist on placing all the toppings in a symmetrical manner on top of the crust. This fruit put her to shame.
I'm pretty sure there was some kind of crazy pommes frites type dish with a balsamic reduction and cracked black pepper involved as well, but at the end of the day the salsa was my raison-d'être. There are some things you can't go wrong with, but they can still be done very, very right. Yum.
It's Thursday June the 1 around 8:47AM and
The illustrious albeit occasionally naughty
Corinna, of
Gus Greeper blogdom, threatened to sick the Spirit Bears on me if I ignored her amazing posts about Mariah Carey from the past few days. She sent along this photo of her being attacked by the Darth Vader Spirit Bear, which is just a little bit too much of the dark side of the force, so I am posting, with her permission the photo of her and Lord Vader the Spirit Bear.
Clearly the bears are out of control and are trying to take over the city. I'm sure Corinna's exchange with the sith went a little something like this:
Corinna: The Imperial Senate will not sit still for this. When they hear you've attacked a diplomatic...
Darth Vader Bear: Don't act so surprised, your highness. You weren't on any mercy mission this time. Several transmissions were beamed to this ship by rebel spies. I want to know what happened to the plans they sent you.
Corinna: I don't know what you're talking about. I am a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan...
Darth Vader Bear: You are part of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor! Take her away!
Oh No...
