One food vendor (the funnel cake people) was selling deep-fried Oreos this year. I could not resist.

Alas, it’s two great tastes that are wasted together. The dough was quite puffy; I think a crisper, thinner dough would have suited the Oreos better. Not recommended.

This thing is a beehive. It was even better than the mushroom exhibit, which I believe is one of the highlights of the PNE each year.

And it’s hardly new, nor a discovery, but the bizarrely overproduced Superdogs show is always a charmer, if only because beneath the deeply layered hype, noise, and lighting, you’ve got a bunch of dugs, and they’re both impressive and random. My favorite moment of the show was the Jack Russell Terrier that ran straight at a three-foot-tall turnaround barrel, violently knocked the barrel over with its face, and then ran back to the start as if this was how it did all its obstacle runs.

Feisty dogs, those terriers.

So, anyone here win the prize home? A few nice details aside, it seemed a fairly shabby effort, with lots of little corner-cutting misfeatures and fair bit of tasteless decorating. The kitchen in particular was an ergonomic disaster: what kind of idiot architect puts the fridge nearly 15 feet away from the sink and main prep counter? It was as if the designer had anti-learned every lesson of the Frankfurt Kitchen.

So, who all here in town is headed down to Seattle for the Penny Arcade Exp…

…sorry, what? Oh, right. Vancouver angle. There’s a good one - this year, local Lovecrafty rockers, The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets are playing at the Penny Arcade Expo! It’s been a long trip since they played in an arcade parking lot in Burnaby for a proto-PAX Necrowombicon, but they’ve…

…what? Yes, I realize it largely gibberish. Hang on, I’ll see if I can help a bit.

So, there’s a web comic called Penny Arcade, which some, as I do, find hilarious. It’s creators have grown it into a yearly convention, attended by 40K+ people, called, The Penny Arcade Expo. There’s lots of video games, board games, games games, panels about gaming, panels about web comics, and a concert, with performances by people like Jonathan Coulton, Freezepop, and The Thickets.

Little known fact is that PAX (the expo, short form) started as a fan gathering called Necrowombicon (for reasons I do not remember, nor will you care) here in Vancouver. Or, more accurately, Burnaby, thanks to things like hotels hooked up to malls with big arcades. The Thickets, as mentioned, played one of those gatherings. In a parking lot. It rocked.

More Vancouver ties, Vancouver companies, such as Hothead Games (who worked with Penny Arcade to produce their recently released video game) will be there, or are at least sponsors.

Which brings me full circle - I’m going. I would like to see The Thickets rock thousands of people. I want to meet Wil Wheaton. I want to meet Felica Day. I want to meet the Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters (whom/which I will marry and run away with - if I’m turned down, Felicia Day is my second choice. I don’t know if Wheaton is my alternate third - we’ll see how it goes day-of.)

So, surely others from Vancouver are going? Anyone? I’m not there Friday, but I’ll be there Saturday and Sunday, most likely helping man the Thickets merch table… because I promised.

Or is everyone going to Bumbershoot instead?

[UPDATE] Triangle Productions (as you may have spotted in the comments - you do read the comments don’t you?) will be at PAX and posting some video here. So if you can’t be there, keep an eye out there for vids. Then start saving for next year.

Looking for something to see and do at night? Wondering who ever goes to Fantasy Garden anymore?

Well, there’s been an ongoing International Lantern Festival that’s been happening since July 1st and will be running until September 21st.

This lantern festival has been making it’s way year after year to various cities around the world. Having been exhibited in Seoul, Tokyo, Austrlia, and landing in Toronto for the past two years. It’s finally here in Greater Vancouver! During this festival it runs at night from 7:30 - 11:30pm with the lighting of the lanterns happening at 8:30pm. If you want to see the lanterns during the day, they have day showings on the weekends from 11am-2pm.

Location:
Fantasy Garden
10800 No 5 Road
Richmond

A funny sign, originally uploaded by jelee_unleashed.

I have to admit I don’t pay as much attention to the annual Pride Parade and other festivities as I should, but it’s hard to avoid the build up if you live downtown. Walking to work today past a number of the floats as they prepared, I noticed that everyone seems to have funding. By funding I mean advertising.

I realize that it’s not my place to tell the homosexual community how to run their events, but the amount of advertising versus actual content seems surprisingly uneven. I suppose every business in Vancouver wants to be seen as supporting gay rights, and that’s great, but at what point does the parade go from being a parade to being an advert on wheels?

If you aren’t doing anything tonight, there’s a “Celebration” of the Cuban Revolution at Trout Lake, meeting up at the beach concession stand.

So it’s Canada Day.  Hopefully you all have a great day.  If I were back in Kelowna I might make a note about boat safety, since basically all anyone does is drink and then go ride around the lake until the city shoots its fireworks off by the Okanagan bridge.

Of course once again Vancouver is going to have its own fireworks display [cdfw] with fireworks platforms on the water in both West Vancouver and Coal Harbour.  The fireworks start at 10:30 pm and while there’s a ticketed controlled area at Canada Place for watching them you can see them for free at a number of local spots, which I’ve listed below.

Barge 1: West Vancouver Barge

• West Vancouver Seawall from Ambleside to Dundarave
• The Stanley Park Seawall, West Side
• Kitsilano
• Jericho

Barge 2: Coal Harbour Barge

• Canada Place – a controlled access point - Tickets are sold through Ticketmaster. Net proceeds go to support the Strathcona Community Centre Food Security for Children Program.
• Harbour Green Park
• Stanley Park Seawall, East Side
• Harbour View Park, North Vancouver
• Lonsdale Quay

They’ve recorded here, and claim to be planning on doing so again. They’ve launched tours here, and played secret club shows here. If it feels like Athens Georgia’s R.E.M. is in Vancouver as much most local bands, well that certainly did not dampen the expectations on the group as they kicked off their latest world wide tour in Burnaby’s Deer Lake Park. Headlining a three act show that included Modest Mouse and The National, the show is an early front runner for highlight of the local concert season, and was well worth even the steep ticket cost.

After the jump a closer look at each of the three groups’ performances as well as pictures from the Deer Lake Park show on Friday.

(more…)

Oops, that should be EAT! Vancouver, my bad.

May 23-25 at BC Place Stadium. It’s a festival of food, and I really, really like food.

So I hope you took advantage of the ridiculously good weather on Saturday, followed by the merely pleasant Sunday.

And I’ll have no more complaints about the weather until it rains again, okay?

[ Nelson Street -March 2006 - photo by Barbara Doduk ]

Welcome to Spring 2008.

Every year in Spring there is the annual Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (March 25 to April 20). This time of the year our city gets covered in PINK. As a child I remember collecting endless bunches of cherry blooms and being covered in pink pedals. I find it so beautiful.

Tree Talk Walk will be held March 29, 2008 1:00pm to 2:30pm @ Queen Elizabeth Park or March 30, 2008 1:00pm to 2:30pm @ Stanley Park or April 12th, 10:00am to 11:30am @ UBC.

There is a Pink Tie Affair, for $75 a ticket held on April 2, 2008 featuring The Cherry Blossom Martini.

There are also Trolley Tours every Sunday from 10:00 am - 12 pm for $25 or $20 for seniors.

This year the event partnered with Slow Food Vancouver to create the Slow cycle tour event, Bike the Blossoms during the 4 week long festival. SATURDAY APRIL 19, 2008 9 am – 4 pm (this is not a race – start & finish when you like) (prior online registration recommended) START PLACE: VANDUSEN BOTANICAL GARDEN, 5251 Oak St. west parking lot (parking on Oak & 37th streets only) FREE TO ALL.

[ Image from the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival web site. ]

Further information and lovely pictures can be seen on their web site. Enjoy Spril 2008 and the pink.