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Other than the reliably fabulous scenery in North Vancouver, one of the (many) other things I love seeing when I am over there is the signage outside of the Contact Printing shop on Forbes and West Second Street. Every time I turn that corner and head north there’s a chuckle to be had. This one is pretty funny, albeit not nearly as distracting as the sign that was written upside down.

Every week V.I.A. Giveaways will give you a chance to win … something. Watch this space and if you’re a real keener, follow @VIAGiveaways on the Twitter for even more good times and random free stuff! Another mixed bag… A chance to win passes to The Vancouver Police Museum’s 25th Anniversary fundraiser, The Bootlegger’s Ball, at the Biltmore Cabaret this Friday, April 8; Two tickets to see The Rural Alberta Advantage this Thursday, April 7 at the Venue; and a beautiful handmade Isabelle Dunlop shawl valued at $200.

The Vancouver Police Museum is celebrating 25 years preserving and protecting Vancity’s history of law enforcement with a prohibition-themed fundraiser, The Bootlegger’s Ball, this Friday at the Biltmore Cabaret. For more information about the event go HERE. To win one of two sets of passes to the event, follow @VIAGiveaways on the Twitter and tweet “Dear @VIAGiveaways and @PoliceMuseum: Sentence me to the #BootleggersBall this Friday @BiltmoreCabaret!” as many times as you’d like. Winners will be picked at random. Contest closes at 11:00 am this Thursday, April 8.

If there is an advantage to be found in rural Alberta, you betcha this trio knows what it is. Vanessa Heins photo.

Being the loyal V.I.A. reader that you are, you no doubt recall The Rural Alberta Advantage being featured on the Weekly Playlist last week. You were no doubt intrigued and possibly even excited about their upcoming show at Venue this Thursday, April 7th. You may have even already shelled out $17.50 for a ticket, who knows. Perhaps you were crossing your fingers in anticipation for a chance to win a pair of tickets for yourself… in which case you will be inclined to follow @VIAGiveaways on the Twitter and tweet “Dear @VIAGiveaways: I want to win a pair of tickets to see #TheRuralAlbertaAdvantage this Thursday at @Venuelive!” as many times as you’d like. Winner will be picked at random. Contest closes at 11:00 am on Thursday, April 7.

This beautifully handcrafted wool shawl by local artisan Isabelle Dunlop retails for over $200.

Vancouver artist and designer Isabelle Dunlop is one of the first two (the other being Hamburger Disco, who we did an @VIAGiveaway with a few weeks ago) local businesses chosen to use Rize’s Mount Pleasant pop-up retail space for free, for one month, to market and sell her products. Isabelle’s pop-up shop is open until April 30, and you can check it out for yourself from Tuesday-Sunday, 12:00 – 5:00 pm, at 196 Kingsway in Vancouver.

To enter to win this gorgeous, handmade wool shawl, tell Vancouver about who your favourite local designer is or the last item you bought from a local designer. Leave your comment below. Winner will be picked at random. Contest closes on Tuesday, April 12, at 5:00 pm.

After spending some time moonlighting as an undercover NARC on the streets of Vancouver (21 Jump Street, to be exact – I think it’s somewhere in East Van) Johnny Depp made waves as Cry Baby Walker in John Waters’ 1990 musical ode to the weirdness of Baltimore’s 1950s teenage class structure, Cry Baby.

Oh, Hatchetface.

Thanks to popular demand Vancouver is Awesome‘s favourite (full disclosure – we’re co-sponsoring!) East Van indie-movie house is going to be presenting a midnight screening of Cry Baby this Friday, April 1! Admission is $8 – unless you come decked out as a pin-up, a jailbird, a drape, or an unwed teenage mom who uses her “bazooms as weapons” – in which case admission is only $7. For more information, go HERE or HERE.

Extra points if you know all the words and can sing along.

If you have not seen this movie then you lose serious points (with me, anyway) in terms of pop-culture savvy. This was the first John Waters feature I ever saw (at the impressionable age of 10) and I’ve been a huge fan ever since. Specifically, Cry Baby‘s group kissing scene warped my brain, scarred me emotionally, and left me with a lifetime of intimacy issues… hopefully seeing it on the big screen (finally!) will clear that up. Just what the doctor ordered.

(For realsies.)

… and for a chance to win some passes to tomorrow’s midnight screening, put on your John Waters trivia hat and follow @VIAGiveaways on ye olde Twitter… just sayin.’

I consider myself lucky to live in a neighbourhood that grants quick and easy access to two wonderful weekly Farmers Markets in the downtown… when it’s not winter out. Which isn’t to say that there is no Vancouver Farmers Market to be enjoyed during the winter; rather, I am lazy and the weekly winter market at Nat Bailey Stadium (30th @ Ontario 10:00 am – 2:00 pm rain or shine) seems fairly daunting on grey Saturdays.

But not last week! Huzzah!

This was my first visit to the winter market; the atmosphere was surprisingly festive and it seemed bigger than the Trout Lake market. Definitely not as much seasonal produce (that’s what you get for living in a temperate rain forest in winter, methinks) but there was still lots to see. And eat!

Check it out. Chili… in a tank. For realsies. For $5!

Chili Tank. Explosive!

I have never been able to fully endorse the concept of “dessert pizza” (quotations intentional) for the same reason I can’t get behind chocolate ravioli. But when this apple, maple syrup, brown sugar carbo-creation emerged from a wood-burning stove I totally caved. It was sweet, simple, slightly salty and surprisingly light.

$3.75/slice. Split with a friend.

Those guys are adorable. $2.50/slice. All for me.

This pizza was from the Whistler Wood-Fired Pizza Company. The price was right and I was hungry. If I had more money and no shame I’d have bought a whole one for myself.

For more information on the Vancouver Farmers Market and to see the vendor schedule for tomorrow, go HERE.

This fantastic photo of The Rio Theatre (which also hangs in their lobby) recently found its way into my inbox so thought I would share….

“And when she shines she really shows you all she can…”

The Rio Theatre has been in operation since 1936 – and at one time even had a bowling alley on the second floor! Next time you’re there, look up at the walls inside the theatre and you can just barely see where that former level was.

Of course, the theatre still screens movies, has all kinds of live shows and makes some seriously delicious popcorn. Take a look at their schedule HERE.

Every week V.I.A. Giveaways will give you a chance to win … something. Watch this space and if you’re a real keener, follow @VIAGiveaways on the Twitter for even more good times and random free stuff! This week we have but one awesome giveaway and it’s for a limited time only, so put your $0.02 in and be a winner (maybe).

Surely you know all about Vancouver’s goal to become the Greenest City on Earth by 2020 by now, right? If you’ve been too busy spearheading a compost initiative in your apartment building and missed it, you can read about some of the informative events that have been happening around the city of late, HERE and HERE. If you are new to the whole concept then you should definitely check out Bob’s very cool Talk Green to Us series, too.

The upcoming unconference is taking place this Saturday, March 5 from 8:30 – 4:30 at the SFU Wosk Centre for Dialogue. The event is billed as “a chance to connect with Vancouver residents and organizations that are passionate about making this a green city and find out how we can move forward together. It’s about finding people, and the resources, to do what you always wanted to do.” To find out more information go HERE and to purchase your ticket (which includes lunch!) go HERE.

Or, you could leave a comment below for a chance to win two tickets to the Greenest City Camp for yourself.

Yesterday evening I spent a serious amount of time separating my recycling – when I see evidence that residents in my apartment building have emptied their recyclable containers into the big blue bin in plastic bags(!) it makes my blood boil green.

Are you planet-obsessed?
…READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

Nancy and Brent: Married people who still make time to high five.

Vancity Theatre‘s regular Cinema Salon Series – in which a local Vancouverite like Mayor Gregor or Bif Naked pick a flick they love and share it on the big screen – was hosted by the lovely and talented Nancy Robertson (Hiccups, Corner Gas). Though best known as a comedienne, Nancy chose the Gregory Peck classic from 1962, To Kill a Mockingbird.

Following the screening was a really nice discussion (and complimentary nibbles in the gorgeous lounge!) in which Nancy and audience members talked about the film – many of us hasn’t seen it in years and practically no one had had the pleasure of experiencing the film in its original 35 mm format on the big screen. We were all struck by so many of the subtle details of the film which came alive in new, wonderful ways – a classic story that remains just as fresh and relevant 50 years on. Great choice, Nancy!

This weekend marks the end of African Heritage month, and if you haven’t yet had a chance to take in any of the events that have been happening around Vancouver, you’re in luck. As part of the festivities, Urban Ink Theate Company is presenting SLaMFête, a youth-oriented (go HERE for more information about that) artistic celebration billed as “a weekend full of entertainment, including a play reading by a very talented up-and-comer, Omari Newton; innovative “Bold Skool” workshops; and a hip hop revolution like never before experienced.”

I had a chance to catch up with actor and playwright Omari Newton and get some details about the third year of SLaMFête, as well as tips on sushi in the city and where ex-Montréalers in Vancouver can get their Habs fix in a Canuck-free environment.

Omari Newton, rocking a red polo at W2.

What can we expect from SLaMFête?
A vast range of cultures intersecting to create art. It’s very prevalent in Montréal, but something I haven’t really seen a lot in Vancouver. For example, at our SLaMFête we have an emcee who is Sikh, an Israeli rapper, myself from Montréal, one DJ from Latin America and another who is Vietnamese. The mandate of the Urban Ink Theatre Company is to promote the work of minority artists so we’re really looking to have as much diversity as we can at each of our events. People can look forward to a sampling of a bunch of different cultures that are really just representative of Canada. It’s cool to see them all on one stage.

Where did the idea from this weekend come from?
We started off three years ago as a poetry slam at Luggz Café on Main, which burned down. It’s grown from there – the next year we did it at the new W2 space and then this year we’ve expanded even further. All of our events are going down at the new Ironworks Studio in Gastown.

I’m really excited about it for many different reasons, but certainly the play that I wrote and am acting in, Sal Capone: The Lamentable Tragedy of. The play is based on a real life event, about a kid who was shot by police in Montréal. His friends ended up protesting and it quickly devolved into a riot. So, the story is not one of those “cops bad, kids good” kind of stories necessarily, it’s more about, “what are the circumstances that come into play?” After the play we’re going to have a town hall talk back with police, RCMP, social workers … a huge intersection of different walks of live having a conversation about a pretty controversial topic. I’m really stoked for that.

Proactive art. Everybody gets involved by participating.
Absolutely! A lot of the groups that I just mentioned are represented in the play, too, which makes it really interesting.

What prompted your move to Vancity from Montréal?
I came in 2006 for more work in film and TV, but I still do theatre. I did Bard on the Beach in 2008.

What neighbourhood do you call home?
Currently Yaletown – don’t judge! (Laughs.) I’ve lived in Burnaby and on Commercial Drive, Coal Harbour … I’ve hauled around. They all have their benefits but I really loved the Drive. It was really sweet, culturally. Really cool. I live in a condo in Yaletown and it’s nice to have a hot tub in your building, but you sacrifice culture.

Any favourite spots in the city?
I do! Real cliché, but I love English Bay. When I first moved here I couldn’t believe you could be at Starbucks and then five minutes later be on the beach. So I spent a lot of time with my iPod and my books sitting in a bench – you know that crazy apartment with the tree? There’s a bench in front of that one that I’d chill out at a lot.

There’s a really cool spot on Granville Street, Forum, which has been taken over by a bunch of Montréalers like myself. If you want a cool spot to watch a Habs game …

You can be among your people.
It’s like a little piece of Montréal. Lots of French-Canadian accents, which remind me of home.

Tons of sushi spots – my favourite is on Hornby and Nelson. They’re fast, they’re cheap, and they’re super nice.

What do you get when you go there?
I get the chicken teriyaki bowl and an apple juice. Every single time.