Vancouver Odd-iences

Thanks to Vancouver's filing-cabinet-grey skies and the wretched current season of Madtv, I've laughed a lot less this weekend than last. That might also have something to do with the fact that last weekend I was part of the two local audiences that welcomed two lmao comics -- Sarah Silverman and Margaret Cho -- for their first respective visits in years.

Friday night at Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Margaret Cho brought her latest comedy tour "Beautiful" to Vancouver . It took me awhile (ie. years) to appreciate her enough to want to see her perform live. But I did and she was hilarious and the crowd loved her.

I wanted to put up a photo here from that show, but trying to use my cameraphone in the darkness of the Q-E was like trying to get a seat by the fireplace at JJ Bean on Main street. So, thanks to Zooglia's public photos on flickr, you can view a shot of Cho performing in Vancouver.

Cho's opening act was a well-chosen complement to her own shtick, and clearly appealed to the demographics in the packed house. The act was Liam Sullivan, better known as "Kelly" to millions of YouTube users. You might recall Kelly's video "Shoes" won the 2007 People's Choice Award for favourite user-generated video.

The show ended, but the weekend's hilarity sure didn't. The next night, me and the gang hit the 'burbs to see Sarah Silverman at River Rock Casino in Richmond. Unlike Margaret Cho, I fell fast and hard for Sarah Silverman from the first moment I saw her. She's funny like the Canucks are done for the season - there just ain't no way around it.

As much as I dig the Silverman, it was the audience at her show that really threw me. Mostly, she got huge laughs as her crude and blunt monologue slapped everyone in the face. But the problem with seeing shows at River Rock is that a noticeable number of people in this town can't manage a beer (or two or three) while out in public.

Sure, all comedians have hecklers. But hopefully the hecklers are smart enough to challenge the comedian enough for her/him to stay at the top of her/his game and wring some comedy out of the heckle. Or, the heckler isn't smart enough to do that and is effortlessly trounced by the comedians' comeback. But in the case of the audience at River Rock, the hecklers were too drunk to even catch her drifts or realize their own comments were complete nonsense and gave her nothing to work with. It was just embarrassing, really.

It got to the point where Silverman actually imitated one of her hecklers, presumably to illustrate just exactly what she was up against for anyone in the audience who perhaps couldn't clearly hear the heckler. And her imitation was simply that of a sober person mimicking a drunk person trying to speak. Yeah… it went like that. Nice.

Sarah Silverman also commented on how weird it would be if the whole situation "turned ugly". It seems to me that when a performer reaches the point of saying something like that to the audience, things are nearly out of control.

Fortunately, she handled it well and got some extra laughs out of it. But until some folks in this town learn how handle their liquor, River Rock would be remiss not to re-think allowing those dumb-arses into the show. This is the third comedy show in a year where I've witnessed this kind of thing at that venue. It appears, unfortunately, to be not an isolated occurrence.

Getting back to the laughs though, go to YouTube and search "sarah silverman vancouver" for a good chuckle. But before you do that check out this video of Margaret Cho's opening act, "Kelly", arriving in Vancouver for their show:

All Hail Vancouver

Today Vancouver gets a gigantic WTF from me.

The other morning on the bus, through my under-caffeinated haze, I overheard a girl telling another girl that she's looking forward to attending her cousin's wedding this summer. Sounds like Vancouverites are making plans for the warmer weather. Clearly I'm not the only one around here ready for the winter thing to be over.

And that's why this town gets a big WTF today. Here we are, almost a week into spring and we're freezing. Even the guy who grilled my lunch yesterday at Great Wall Mongolian BBQ made "cold weather" small-talk with me as the raw ingredients seared on the hot grill.

Out of the clear grey sky this afternoon, a hail storm hit the city with a sudden fury that had me wondering if I'd somehow been instantly transported back to the prairies.

The overcast sky cracked with thunder and was splintered by lightning, looking for a split second like your windshield behind an 18 wheeler.

The annual Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival may have started yesterday, but it feels like could be a while before things really get bloomin'.

Vancouver is Smallville is Vancouver

I think the name Vancouver, for a city, is strong enough to speak for itself.

However a number of others insist on also referring to this city as "Hollywood North" and to me, that nickname reeks of an embarrassing lack of self-identity.

It's a reference to the multitude of American film and television productions made in Vancouver (the main reason they're here is for tax credits). So why not annex ourselves in name to a city in another country?

Locals and visitors to Vancouver often find on-location film and tv crews around every other corner. Sometimes you might even catch a glimpse of one of your favourite stars. Or trip over them, as could be the case with Verne Troy (aka Mini-Me) who's here in Vancouver, but largely unnoticed since he's about as tall as your knees.

Lots of films have been made here including Juno, Fantastic Four, The Accused, and X-Men. And many tv series have been or still are produced here as well: The X-Files, The L-word, Battlestar Galactica and, back in the day, 21 Jump Street which starred Johnny Depp.

Depp is once again linked to this town as part of the Vancouver-shot "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus", the same film Heath Ledger was working on at the time of his death a couple months ago.

But there's one made-in-Vancouver tv series so popular that just days ago it was renewed for an 8th season … and that series is Smallville.

The other day I came across the Smallville set:

Since I started this post ranting about names, it seems appropriate to share this next pic ... I got a kick out of the name of the portable toilet company supplying on-site facilities to Smallville and Metropolis - behold "Full Moon" washroom rentals:

Thanks to Wikipedia, here's how Vancouver locations factor into Smallville:
The show is produced at BB Studios in Burnaby (a suburb of Vanouver). Initially, production was going to be in Australia, but Vancouver had more of a "Middle America landscape". The city provided a site for the Kent farm, as well as doubling for Metropolis. It also provided a cheaper shooting location, and was in the same time zone as Los Angeles.

Apparently if you watch the pilot episode on the season one dvd, you'll hear commentary regarding interior shots of Lex Luthor's castle filmed at Shannon Mews-- a massive, old, brick mansion surrounded by low-rise condos located at West 57th avenue and Granville street. It was originally owned by the Rogers family (of Rogers Sugar products).

For a time back in the 90's, I lived at Shannon Mews. During my time there, several things happened to me including 2 memorable things in particular. #1, I had my wisdom teeth removed and #2, I met George Michael. Those two things had nothing to do with one another despite their inclusion in the same sentence.

Back to Lex Luthor, on Smallville he is the founder of LuthorCorp. Here's an overview of his company, from the Warner Bros. LuthorCorp "website":

"Imagine a brilliant invention, a timesaving innovation or an inspiring scientific endeavor, and chances are LuthorCorp is behind it."

LuthorCorp comes to life at the corner of Pender and Burrard in Vancouver:

Thanks for the Ad

Anyone who has been to Picadilly Circus or Times Square knows it's nothing new to look up at the side of a building and see the flashing lights and motion picture imagery of advertising on the side of a tall building.

Here in Vancouver though, the concept is rare and has only recently been introduced.

The other night, as I moved from point A (my house) to point B (the pub) along the sidewalks of downtown Vancouver, I noticed this form of selling wares has now appeared, oddly, on the side of a building which houses the Burrard Medical Clinic.

This form of advertising appears to have allowed the BMW 1 Series to really, um, take flight over Vancouver.

I took those pictures looking up at the building (which is about 10 stories high). As you can tell, these images appeared on a "canvas" that obviously has no precedent for acting as a platform to sell cars.

These pictures are actually stills from what was actually a motion picture advertisement - it was just like a TV commercial, except no audio and a bit less than 30 seconds.

As the eyes of Vancouverites rose to meet the unexpected visual of a red Beemer on the side of a doctor's office, my eyes lowered to discover what was responsible for causing the image to unexpectedly appear like Britney Spears on an upcoming episode of How I Met Your Mother.

Here's what I saw... a fairly innocuous white van parked in the lot beneath the "floating" red car, with its rear doors open.

And what did I find inside that van?

That's Scott. A nice guy, eager to chat about what he was up to which was working for a local company in the business of making other people's business your business.

And if you make it your business to spend some time enjoying Vancouver, then by all means look up, look down, look all around… because this city, especially in the spring, will feel like the wind in your hair (unless you're bald) on a long ride in a new car down an open road (unless it's closed for Canada Line construction).

Vancouver TNA

The way I understand things here in Vancouver, one of the finest food experiences one can have in this city is at West.

I've not dined there yet, but I'll make it in one day as I do like to try out as many Vancouver restaurants as possible. And, they say that West is the best. I don't really know who "they" are, but apparently "they" are the experts.

West is in the South Granville neighbourhood where I just went for a stroll. Next door to the restaurant is a women's clothing shop known as TNA. Hmmm... TNA. Ok, I'll just go ahead and state the obvious - it's a rather unlikely name for a place to buy ladies clothes, n'est-ce pas?

It's not a store I shop in, but according to a comment recently posted on StyleForum.net there might be another dude in Vancouver who is considering shopping either there or at another Vancouver original, Lululemon.

Here's his posting under the topic "Guys who wear Women's pants: Have you ever tried TNA or Lululemons?"
Every girl I ask says that Lululemon and TNA make the most comfortable pants (They're like tight yoga pants). Now, I don't personally wear women's clothing, but I'm really curious (without going through all the trouble of doing it myself), if any guy has tried those pants on, and if they're comfortable at all for the male figure? If they are comfortable, does anyone see any problem wearing them for the comfort factor (Privately of course. I wouldn't personally like seeing another man in them)? P.S. I'm straight for anyone who's wondering. Simple curious question.

Wow. Have you ever known someone's identity to be so threatened by his own desire to expand his own personal knowledge about comfortable clothes? I digress…

Back to South Granville where the windows at TNA really caught my attention. Check out these pics of the window display at the store. It's kind of like Sesame Street meets street-level retail.

Whatever you want to call it, this window display in South Granville is a great example of the creative minds hard at work here in Vancouver.

Btw - if you want to know more about West, click here. And if you want to know more about other restaurants in Vancouver, click here.

Whoa, Nellie!

Yup, that Nellie Oleson - the nasty, blond girl from Little House On The Prairie who terrorized Laura Ingalls and the rest of the kids in Walnut Grove for eight glorious television seasons.

Alison Arngrim is the actress who portrayed Nellie Oleson, ringlets and all. Arngrim was just here in Vancouver to appear at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. Way up, at the very TOP of the hotel.

The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver is well-known for great service, a fabulous lobby and one of Vancouver's top restaurants and lounges. There's even talk of a ghost in there, too. However, what many people don't know is that it also has a rarely-used Rooftop restaurant, reserved only for special events.

I didn't know their Rooftop restaurant even existed until I saw it for myself. And here's some proof ... the actual menu from the good 'ol days. Check out the prices - only 1 dollar for caviar or a salmon steak!

(That's a scan of an actual menu from the restaurant - many thanks to local historian Danny for sending it to me)

The Rooftop restaurant was the site of a swishy-do the other night - the Vancouver Men's Chorus 3rd annual Legacy Gala & Auction fundraiser. And the headline entertainer at this fun, charity event was Nellie Oleson herself... a.k.a Alison Arngrim. These days she's a stand-up comedian and I gotta say, she's pretty darn funny.

Alison Arngrim's show is called Confessions of a Prairie B!#*h. Let's break it down: her act is actually very, very funny and really, really crude. This here blog is a family show so I'm going to refrain from relaying her jokes to you, but if you're really curious, check out YouTube and just search for a video clip of this show by entering "Confessions...(rest of name)". But here's a pic of her in action the other night - you can clearly see how easy it is to re-work an old gimmick.

She riffed for a good hour on things like growing up in Hollywood with a father who managed Liberace for a living, a mother who voiced the animated Casper the Friendly Ghost, and being called very bad names by every girl at her school after they saw her play the nasty Nellie Oleson on primetime TV.

She had some good dish on other Little House cast members. She said that while the late Michael Landon (Pa Ingalls) was a great man, he was also a great drinker. And, while "Nellie" was definitely the nasty one on the show, the nasty one in REAL life was the actress who played poor, blind Mary!

The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver was a fantastic venue for this event and I have no doubt will help it continue to become one of Vancouver's must-attend

annual fundraisers.

Here are some pics from the Rooftop restaurant. The first one here shows Vancouver's famous Robson Street, stretching left to right in the photo...

And the next pic shows the shadow of one of the gargoyles adorning the exterior of the hotel, with Sears department store all lit up in the background. A very interesting perspective that was completely new to me despite the zillions of times I have seen both the gargoyle and the store sign.

For dessert, we were treated to an exclusive item on the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver menu, the Chocolate Saxophone with Passion Fruit Mousse, Fruit Coulis and Fresh Berries. Y-U-M. Here's how it is presented:

Last but not least, my friend Andrew and I were lucky enough to have our pic taken with the legendary Nellie Oleson:

---

To Qila, With Love

I've been in a pretty good mood these days and I think it's partly because Vancouver has been nice and sunny lately. So the other day I thought I'd take advantage of the good weather and head down to one of my favourite places in the city - the Vancouver Aquarium. I've always loved it there because I'm utterly amazed by marine life and their whole underwater world. It's SO the opposite of our life here on dry land, and I find it all quite fascinating.

My fascination with what's going on beneath the surface was solidified a few years ago when I became a PADI-certified open water scuba diver down in the Caribbean. I'll never forget my first dive. It's an absolutely *insane* feeling to know that you are Breathing. Under. Water. And, everything is so colorful down there that you find yourself believing that every colour ever invented must have found its origins along a reef somewhere. Especially if you dive in tropical waters. I know that sometimes when you look at photos taken underwater it just kinda looks like it's all one colour, usually blue-ish green. But trust me - when you're actually under the water it's more colorful than you can possibly imagine.

The Vancouver Aquarium houses not only marine life, but lots of others as well - reptiles, exotic birds and, I believe, a sloth. Here's some pics of what I saw:

The Vancouver Aquarium also keeps several beautiful Beluga whales (the white ones). And it's just been announced one of the Belugas is pregnant! The lucky girl is Qila (pronounced Kee-lah). Apparently she had herself a whale of a time recently with one of the males and soon she's gonna have a baby beluga.

No word yet on the baby shower although I'm just so relieved that there won't be a decision to make on if I should buy her something pink or blue. I have a feeling it won't matter too much in the all-white world of the beluga. But one thing troubles me ... considering the current pastime of monitoring the physical progress of pregnant famous females (Angelina or J. Lo anyone?) I have a question - how on earth does one play "spot the baby bump" with a beluga? I'd be happy to hear any thoughts you have on that...

One final thing - last year a couple of sea otters at the Vancouver Aquarium gained worldwide fame after a video of their escapades was posted on YouTube by a visitor to the aquarium. There's no question that it's pretty darn cute, and alot of other people must agree since the video has been viewed nearly 10 million times already! Here it is:

There's Salmon Going On Around Here

Unless you live in Vancouver or visit frequently, you could easily mistake that ubiquitous rumbling noise you hear in the city for an earthquake. After all, Vancouver's latitude and longitude place this city squarely in tremor territory. But really, that rumbling you hear is the collective pangs of a hungry citizenry.

Indeed, Vancouverites are always hungry to explore the fabu-licious food scene here and we feel zero guilt when we choose to relinquish the pots and abandon the pans to let someone else to do the cooking.

The other night me and the gang decided to try Salmon House On The Hill, a restaurant I'd never yet been to but always wanted to check out. The Salmon House is actually located in West Vancouver, just above the Upper Levels Highway.

Perched on a slope near the British Properties subdivision, this restaurant has one of the *best* views of the city you'll find anywhere - twinkling lights as far as the eye can see with the still, black waters of Burrard Inlet and English Bay to reflect it all.

Inside the Salmon House, we found quite a comfortable wood décor featuring enormous, traditional, First Nation carvings on the walls. Here's what it looks like from the perspective of the fork on our table:

The Salmon House lounge also has an amazing glass carving set into the wall, along with a few other interesting pieces of wall art:

Even though the dinner menu offered chicken and lamb, of course I had to try their classic alder grilled salmon. Here's what it looked like moments before it disappeared...

Back to the Salmon House decor for a moment, there was also a traditional wooden canoe suspended from the vaulted ceiling, presumably hanging there as a reminder of how the First Nations people were enabled to catch pacific salmon. It's either that, or it's a clear sign of what not to sit under in case that rumbling you hear is *not* from a hungry person after all.

If you'd like to know a bit more about Salmon House on the Hill, click here.

My Top 10 for Vancouver 2007 (Part Two)

(in no particular order)

Who Let the Air Out?

Whether you live in Vancouver or not, there's a good chance you'll recall that 2007 was kicked off, not with a bang, but with a rip. A great, big, giant RIP in the inflated ceiling of BC Place Stadium in downtown Vancouver.
BC Place is where the BC Lions regularly kick butt in the Canadian Football League and it's also where the opening and closing ceremonies will be held during the 2010 Winter Olympics.
But last January, all of that was followed by a question mark after a nasty wind storm tore a gigantic hole in the roof of BC Place. And if course it was all captured on video. Behold…

It was a big change to Vancouver's skyline when BC Place deflated because day after day, year after year it was just always there… looking like a big white marshmallow. But I'll always remember how strange it was to ride the Skytrain past BC Place and look out the window at a stadium without a roof! Only its circular foundation and main structure remained… sans roof. It deflated in a way that Barry Bonds' ego should.

My Arresting Encounter with The Police

A little later into 07, Vancouver started to buzz about a reunion tour by one of the most popular bands of all time, The Police.
Sting and the boys would be kicking off their first tour in almost 25 years right here in Vancouver. Not only that, but the band planned to rehearse right here in our city. The Police were soon spotted around town and eventually I saw them too. I was out for dinner with some friends one fine evening at Cin Cin. I looked up from my menu and there he was… Sting and the rest of The Police and their large entourage, all eating dinner and drinking red wine. To find out what happened between me and a member of The Police, click on THIS!
When all was sang and done, The Police reunion tour was recognized as the highest grossing concert tour of 2007.


Snap, Crackle, Pop

Summer in Vancouver is nothing without the Celebration of Light - the largest and definitely most-spectacular fireworks festival and competition on planet Earth. Over the course of 4 nights in July and August, at least a quarter of a million Vancouverites make the annual pilgrimage to English Bay, site of this yearly festival.

I make a point of watching each night of competition, every year, year after year. The Celebration of Light is one of the best things you'll ever find to do in this town. It's free, it takes place in a fantastic outdoors location, there's great music and, of course, there's about 2 hours of stunning fireworks that will leave your jaw on the ground and your imagination feeling as plugged in as when you were 5 years old.
2007 was a fantastic year for the Celebration of Light because Canada won the competition! For my nightly accounts of the Celebration of Light, click on THIS! and read "Let There Be Light". Then, click on THIS! and scroll down near the bottom to read "You Light Up My Life" and "Light My Fire".

Say I'm Your Number One

Also, in the summer of 2007, Vancouver was once again honored by The Economist Intelligence Unit as the #1 Most Liveable City in the world. Shortly after my town received this tremendous accolade, I had an experience which only confirmed in my mind that The Economist hit the bullseye with their assessment. It was one of the best experiences I've ever had and definitely makes 2007 memorable for me. This is a must-tell story so click on THIS! and read my post "Most Liveable City" at the top of that page.

Meet the Mascots

In November, VANOC (VANcouver Olympic Committee) revealed to the public, at long last, our mascots for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Vancouverites greeted these 'chosen ones' with a mixture of incredulousness and disapproval (felt by many grown-ups) and adoration (the feeling of most kids). But really, the mascots are all about merchandising so as long as the kids love 'em, the parents will buy 'em. Case closed. Personally, the more I see 'em, the more I like 'em - maybe I'm just a big kid.

So that's pretty much 2007 as I recall it. Before the year was out though, another change would move my life in another direction.
As much as I loved living in South Main, fate dealt a new hand and so I returned to South Granville, a neighbourhood where I have previously lived at 3 different periods of my life. Unlike South Main, my next neighbourhood comes with more than one Starbucks (quel surprise), a DKNY shop and lawn sprinklers programmed to spritz the grass in the middle of the night so as not to wet the fine footwear of neighbourhood dwellers on their way to and from Meinhardt's or Williams-Sonoma.
South Granville also offers Gallery Row which is a several-blocks-long stretch of fantastic art galleries and antique shops sure to inspire any New Year resolutions to spruce up your home. Click on THIS! and scroll down a bit to read "She's a Brick House" for the brief history of a very cool heritage building on South Granville .

P.S. I know this is a Top 10 of 2007, but a few other events made the year memorable for me:
A trip with my Mom to the Okanagan for a family wedding was a good time for both of us. I gained a whole new respect for her ability to out-drive an 18-wheeler and its driver who decided to play chicken with us on a pitch-black mountain pass at high speed. Phew! Am I ever glad we made it out of that one!
Also, a trip to Mayne Island with a bunch of good friends made for a fab min-vacation together.
One more... I attended the Tori Amos concert in December with my sister and some friends and while it rocked us to heaven and back, it was made even better by the fact that we got to check out Tori's sound check before the show to hear a private performance of two great songs. Oh, that was good times.
Last but not least, the other event that stood out for me in 2007 was meeting Emmy-award winning actors Christian LeBlanc and Tracey Bregman from The Young and The Restless at a charity event last summer. More good times indeed.

So, that's it - I hope you enjoyed 2007 as much as I did and let's all hope for an even better 2008!

My Vancouver Top 10 for 2007 (part one)

(in no particular order)

Boy N The (New) Hood

2007 began for me in the rock-on neighbourhood of South Main. Or Mount Pleasant. Or whatever you want to call it, but please, I beg of you, do not call it SoMa… utter absurdity, that is.
I took up residence at 14th and Grandma. I called it that because my new home was at the corner of 14th avenue and Sophia street, and that is also my Polish grandmother's first name (Sophia, not fourteenth). I had moved there December 14, 2006 and welcomed 2007 in this great 'hood.
I was so down with this place. Within blocks of my apartment was: a very cool coffee shop with a double-sided fireplace, Vancouver's awesomest record store "Neptoon Records", one of Vancouver's most random nightspots "The Anza Club", Vancouver's coolest-named restaurant "Slickety Jim's Chat 'n Chew", and Planet Bingo where the city's hardest-core gamblers whiled away the hours, dabber in hand. Here's a moment in time at the corner of 14th and Grandma:

Stanley Park Seawall Re-opens

The night I moved into 14th and Grandma, I was startled awake at 3am by what sounded like an 18-wheeler coming through my brand new bedroom window. But it was the wind. FEROCIOUS wind. More ferocious than the Ice Bear death match now playing in The Golden Compass. This was a wind that clear cut its way through Stanley Park and left Prospect Point looking like Mother Nature had gotten bored and decided to conduct a logging experiment.

11 months later, on November 16, 2007 the grand, beautiful and very-missed seawall around Vancouver's Stanley Park re-opened to walkers, joggers, cyclists and general looky-loo's. Here's our terrific seawall, back in top form:

Extreme Makeover films new episode on Cambie street

As I grew to love all that makes South Main a little bit 'o fab, it was inevitable I would also occasionally find myself in nearby neighbourhoods, like Cambie Village. This is where Vancouver temporarily looks like a postcard from Baghdad. The city's underworld has literally been exposed thanks to one of the most massive infrastructure projects this city has ever seen - the Canada Line, a light rail transit system from Vancouver International Airport to downtown Vancouver. Check it out… the construction goes 4 or 5 stories below ground:

A Mid-Summer Night's Stench

Smack dab in the middle of summer 2007 in Vancouver, the city's unionized civic workers, including garbage collectors, went on strike. Vancouverites endured this job action for about 12 weeks. So did our tourists and visitors! All because it went down right in the middle of our high-season for tourism.
I sure hope if you came here during that time that you still enjoyed our beautiful city despite some parts looking like the anti-thesis of Good Housekeepping. I also hope when I write a Top 10 for 2008 it doesn't include living in harmony with a rat population explosion.
Thankfully, Vancouver has now regained its stunning and pristine gorgeousness (much like me after an early night and a close shave - neither of which seems to happen anymore).

Becks-couver

Vancouver said hello to The Beckhams - twice - in 2007. First, in October, soccer hero and Armani underwear model David Beckham came to town with the L.A. Galaxy for an exhibition game with the Vancouver Whitecaps. Rarely does our BC Place Stadium see most of its 60,000 seats filled. If David Beckham is a soccer bandwagon, Vancouver jumped it faster than this city shuts down when it snows.
But it didn't end there. On December 2nd, Beckham's Stepford wife, Posh, spiced up VanCity on the opening night of the Spice Girls reunion tour. Poor Posh, though. She translated Canada's lack of paparazzi culture into Canada's lack of knowing who she is - so, she arranged for photogs to get shots of her shopping on Robson street. Word! That's the proof, peeps - at times, certain celebs don't want privacy.

That's the first half of my Vancouver Top 10 for 2007. More to come...