I stumbled across Tegan and Sara’s latest video for their song On Directing today. While it’s good and I encourage you to check it out I was even more impressed when I tracked down the director of On Directing and clicked through a bunch of the work she’s done.

Anglea Kendall lives and works in Vancouver and has worked with the likes of the aforementioned Tegan and Sara as well as Death Cab, Hannah Georgas, Jets Overhead, An Horse and more. Visit her site HERE and be sure to check the demo reel.

Livestock added a wrapup post to their site about the Livecup soccer tournament that we played a couple weekends back. Find out who won and take a look at a bunch of great images shot by Chris Bone HERE!

Every few weeks the nice folks at Ethical Bean drop off some fresh coffee beans to keep us caffeinated. This morning as I was brewing up a cup of their Bold dark roast I thought about taking a photo of it and sharing with you (like I did with the Lush Sumatran HERE and the Rocket Fuel HERE) but then I caught word of this inside look at their company and figured I’d post it instead. Not only does it talk about their company but it also offers some insight as to what “fair trade” coffee means and there’s also a little “how it’s made” section that’s pretty cool…

Ethical Bean is an epicly awesome local company that not only makes fantastic, organic, fair trade coffee but also sponsors a lot of events around town. They’ll be at Theatre Under The Stars in Stanley Park tonight so pop in for a cup!

Have you ever been to the Vancouver Police Museum at 240 E. Cordova Street? Kim Werker did a BLOG POST about them and one of their forensic workshops not long ago and since V.I.A. moved into the neighbourhood a few blocks away from them I’ve been meaning to go and pay them a visit.

I was chatting with Chris Mathieson, the director of the Police Museum, and he told me to hold off, that he wanted to come and see us first. He asked me for our exact address and promised to dig up some of the police history of the Blim building at 115 East Pender. And dig up he did! Over the next three days I’ll be sharing the 3 newspaper clippings that he brought over to us from the archives, this first one involves gambling paraphernalia, secret doors and underground exits. I apologize in advance for the entirely unpolitically correct grammar used in this newspaper piece from April of 1920 but unfortunately there is no changing the language of the past…

It’s a new dog every day, click here to find out how to get your dog featured here if you haven’t sent in your photos yet!

Today’s dog featured in Dogtown Vancouver is Ellie, Monica M‘s pup. Here’s what she had to say about her…

NAME: Ellie. BREED: cocka-poo or cocka-doodle. HOOD: The Drive. FAVORITE SNACK: Pretty much everything on the ground or on the table. OTHER INFO: Ellie is a big dog trapped in a small dogs body. loves BIG sticks, swimming in the ocean but hates being wet and also known to the peeps at havana as their little asshole who manipulates them into not working.

…READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

Welcome to The Playground, a place for Vancouver parents and their awesome kids. Every Wednesday I post a roundup of upcoming family-friendly events and activities. I’m always on the lookout for fun stuff to do, so if there’s something happening that you think I should know about, contact me at theplayground@vancouverisawesome.com. Because Vancouver is awesome for kids too!

In the Playground Week 12: The Powell Street Festival, parades for pirates and Pride, Taiwanese puppetry and more. Read on for details!

Did you make it out to Pacific Spirit Regional Park for Forest Symphony last week? These were two of the many classical performers that filled the park with music Friday evening. We took our three year-old and saw lots of other families out enjoying themselves. Cassandra thought there should be more dancing but she did collect several nice sticks and was quite pleased by the excellent turnout of friendly dogs. A beautiful event, thank you Metro Vancouver!

Here are some fun things to do with the kids this week: …READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

It’s being widely reported that the USA, Spain, Mexico and China are all competing in this year’s Celebration of Light fireworks competition. That’s untrue! The reality is that only the USA, Spain and Mexico are competing. Tonight’s presentation from the Mexican team marks the end of the competition but NOT the end of the fireworks themselves – on Saturday night an epic show by a Canadian fireworks team doing a tribute to China will fill the skies over English Bay, but it is not an actual part of the competition.

Here’s what the Celebration of Light lineup looks like if you’re more of a visual person:

So tonight’s the end as far as judging is concerned. Tonight we 7 judges (check my post about judging HERE in case you missed it) will deliberate and choose the winner and that country’s name will then be sealed in an envelope which head judge Jill Krop will be keeping in her purse for 3 days until the winner is finally announced during Saturday night’s presentation. I’ve been told there’s a trophy for the winner and I’ll do my best to get a photo of it for you.

Viva Mexico and good luck to all 3!

Two Tickets to see Grum (and two complimentary bevvies!) at Shine Nightclub in Gastown on Saturday Night!

According to his MySpace, Grum is “Electro/Disco House/French Pop.” So, definitely, this would have been in the “electronica” section of the record store I worked at.

It is very high-energy, get-yer-ya-yas out dance music, and if you feel like you and a guest need to remove the burden of your ya-yas at some point over this long week end, you may want to enter the giveaway. (Also, the winner gets a couple free bevvies so you can feel like a bit of a rock star with your friend.)

To enter the contest, tell me and many other Vancouver is Awesome readers what your ya yas are (if you have any) and how you plan to get rid of them this weekend (weather permitting.) …READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

Nori Kariya….Kamikaze Layback….

Who doesn’t love a day at the beach?

The horse on the left is clearly smiling for the camera.

Vancouver’s finest (and a couple of horses) were patrolling the seawall at Third Beach this afternoon. I was totally surprised when one of the officers actually cleaned up after his mount with what I can only assume to be an official, VPD-approved scooper contraption (or just a shovel).

SCENE AND HEARD showcases the independent music scene here in Vancouver. We interview some of our favourite local artists, and ‘Last Week in Music’ highlights some of the concerts happening around the city.

Slow week in concerts didn’t mean it was a slow week! Lots of fireworks went off and VIAindie had a visit from an East coast friend…

The Mountains and The Trees aka Jon Janes (who did our guest playlist last week) rolled into Vancouver last Wednesday to play at show at Little Mountain Gallery with The Wilderness of Manitoba…

…READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>