Archive for April, 2010

Before actor Dustin Milligan‘s stint as Ethan Ward on 90210 or his turn in this week-end’s new release Gunless, he was just another struggling actor slinging pie and skimboarding in ye olde Vancouver.

Dustin trying to high five Paul Gross

Let’s talk about your time in Vancity. What sticks out for you?

I always lived in Kits, right around the corner from Broadway and Alma…

Oh, right near True Confections.

Check this out – I used to work at True Confections. Not that one, the one that’s on Denman. Corey Monteith, who is on Glee right now, he and I used to be roommates and we both worked at True Confections because they are open late which meant we could audition during the day.

What was your favourite thing on the menu?

Banana Cream Pie … though I did start getting pretty tired of desserts real fast. I don’t even order it anymore! I like pies more than cakes.

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Every day we share a single photo from our Flickr Pool with you, shot by one of our faithful and talented readers (that’s you!).

Today’s photo was shot by Chris Walker and it’s entitled Walking The Jetty. Forecast shmorecast, get out there this weekend!

Control Alt Delete director Cam Labine talks about his new movie and the city where he lives.

One thing that is awesome about your movie was that it was shot in Vancouver.

Yes, definitely.

Was it an important part of your film or was it just convenient?

Well, I live here and so the film was made here. I think that because it was made about 1999 and Y2K, and it takes place at a computer firm, it fits that it takes place here because there’s a lot of tech companies that were here around that time.

What was the experience like of shooting in Vancouver?

I don’t really know any different. I think that Vancouver has a community that is rare, of both people that work in the service industry that want to support little movies made in Vancouver plus people who make those little movies who just love each other and want to give each other a leg up. You can’t really find that community in many places.

Any favourite spots here in Vancouver – eat, see, or do?

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I got an e-mail from V.I.A. reader, Jacquie B, a couple days back. She wanted to let you all know about this amazing installation that her friends Erica and Alex did on one of the Lions (remember THIS post that Randy shared during the games?). It was short lived and the cup and jersey are now gone but the fact that everyone has a digital camera these days will insure that this lives on! Did you see this while it was up?

Oh yeah: Go Canucks! The first game in our second round of the playoffs is tomorrow!!!

Christine Mcavoy has been with V.I.A. for about six months now, delivering over 60 blog posts on music shows, chocolate, hobbits, showcases, random events and other awesomeness. She’s probably been to more live shows in the past two weeks than I’ve been to in the past two years, she ice skates with Hannah Georgas (see below!) and she’s a Canadian indie rock connoisseur. I’m incredibly happy to announce that Christine is now officially our Independent Music editor!

Our very good friends at Blim are opening the doors of their new store tomorrow night in Chinatown! Also, I might have previously mentioned that they have a second floor of their building with artist studios and that the Vancouver Is Awesome office is now located in one of said studios? Did I mention that the studios are having an open house that night as well? Yes, it’s true! We won’t be around for the entire night but if we miss you we’ll be sure to leave a free bumper sticker on a table outside of our space, and you’ll be able to check out the works that all of the talented artisans who surround us. There are a lot of great people in this space and it’s all thanks to Yuriko and Noel of Blim who made this thing happen.

All The details on the opening are HERE.

OFFICIAL WORD:
BLIM Grand Re-Opening & New Art Studios Open House
Celebrate the re-opening of Blim at new location 115 E. Pender!!
We are thrilled to open our new mezzanine gallery with art works by Judit Navratil
There will be live musical guests, performances, and DJs!

Win Double Passes to tonight’s midnight screening of Scarface (in 35 mm!) at The Rio and a prize pack from Ripe.

Having never seen Scarface there is no way I am passing up the opportunity to not only see it on the big screen, but presented in 35 mm. Midnight shows at The Rio are many shades of awesome and if you’ve never been you really need to amend that. It’s a total party, yo.

Two lucky Vancouver is Awesome winners are going to receive two double passes and a delightful prize pack from Ripe that includes some lovely bath salts (because after a long day of laundering … things … you need a good soak to chill out) and lavender laundry soap (not only is this natural soap great for the planet, it’s also great for getting rid of any incriminating stains).

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Thursday was the final full day of Design Week Vancouver at Canada Place. The topics of discussion ranged from The Cultural Value of Art in Design to Global Design Procurement… so a bit of everything. Eyjafjallajokull (the volcano in Iceland) caused David Lancashire to send his presentation over the internet. The conference officially closed last night but there are still special events going on around the city. Today’s main one is an Education Roundtable (1 to 5) and Grad show preview (6 to 9) at Emily Carr.

Once again the rain stayed away and the sun poked its head out to give slices of sunlight for the conference participants.

Many more sketches and photos to see!

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