re:place continues their look into bus stop design, but more importantly has a wonderful essay on what needs to change with this city's venues if we hope to propel Vancouver's creative community to the next level. I think this is a good place to start:

9. Fostering a Culture of Support

Why are we so negative all the time? It is about time Vancouverites start extolling the virtues of the spaces, people, and activities that make this city great. Write letters, show support, and highlight the positive.

If you think Vancouver's music scene has problems... take a look at Calgary. They just announced the amazing sled island festival for the end of June. With a lineup five times as exciting as Pemberton's, including a load of local bands, all at almost half the cost; I know where I'll be damaging my eardrums this summer. But the funny part is the list of venues; Calgary's choices pale next to Van's, and bands like Broken Social Scene, Yo La Tengo, and Mogwai might end up playing places like the Calgary Science Center and the Glenbow Museum? I can't wait.

Wednesday at Langara there's a debate over who should be responsible for social housing. I think the guy behind the world's first billion-dollar home could lend a hand. Sigh.

A plan to ship our garbage off to the States has been strongly opposed. Hasn't 'Hollywood North' been doing that for years?

If you think Canada's Beijing Olympic clothing is a horrendous waste of fabric, which it most certainly is,
at least we won't look like the French.

As the Tyee reports, welfare rate raises have been deemed 'unreasonable,' and according to the government would turn BC into a welfare 'magnet.' Growing up in Cowtown, I'm reminded of Ralph Klein's 90s scheme to solve Alberta's unemployment: one-way bus tickets to BC.

Concerning those Beijing uniforms... just ignore the fact they were outsourced to China - they're made of bamboo and coconut! The plant has become a real darling of eco-marketing, but apparently bamboo ain't so 'green'. You might wanna re-evaluate the impact of those lululemon pants, as I know you don't need any more convincing on Beijing.

Sniper in Surrey goes on a shooting rampage... with a potato gun. Celebrating Year of the Potato Surrey-style?

Photo: gearing up to be the unofficial uniform of the 2010 Olympics?

Since 1992, Vancouver-based neworldtheatre has produced 17 original plays, winning 17 Jessie awards and always getting a lot of local press. Their recent works include an ambitious adaptation of Crime and Punishment; the FUSE installation placebook, an analog version of facebook; and The Adventures of Ali and Ali and the Axes of Evil, a ballsy satire which garnered some great reviews and won the company quite a bit of attention in 2007.

The group has become one of Vancouver's most consistently exciting theatre companies; priding themselves on a mandate of diversity and a celebration of the places where Vancouver's distinct cultures and aesthetics intersect. newworld's consistently edgy productions are a testament to their dedication to Vancouver's broad artistic community, something that will be on display again as they rev up for the seventh edition of the Bite of the Underground cabaret-style variety show, an event which functions as a fundraiser for the company.

It happens tonight at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, with doors at 8:30. The evening will feature the work of a number of hot local performers, including stand-up, poetry, spoken word, and a variety of music. Some notes on the featured acts after the break...

A picture is worth a thousand words.

National income inequality is on the rise, with BC sufferinig the most significant losses in median earnings... down more than 11% over the last 25 years. Also worth checking out is the Tyee report on the welfare 'savings' boomerang -- how welfare cuts have cost us all.

I don't even want to consider how much the BC Place roof replacement will cost us at the end of the day... but we probably won't have to think about that until after the Olympics.

Vancouver Police auction this weekend! Might have to wait till next year's for the tasers though, as more studies prove their potential danger.

So they're setting up a "French Quarter" on Granville Island for 2010 in a bid to celebrate BC's Francophone community... which will probably just turn what was already set to be the most ridiculously expensive place to get drunk come Olympics into the most ridiculously expensive place to get ridiculously drunk come Olympics.

Anyone remember the Garbage Gobbler?

Doctors will start making Downtown Eastside house-calls in an attempt to clear up beds. I don't think I really need to recount my memory of having crack smoked in the bed next to me at St. Pauls a few years ago... but I just did.

Surrey finally finds a way to feel superior to the rest of the Lower Mainland: if you're having a smoke, you'll have to stand an extra 1.5 meters away from those doorways! Huh?

And on that note, the first of two great articles from recent New Yorkers I'd like to draw your attention to is Letting Go, where David Sedaris recounts his attempt to quit smoking... and his initial assumption of the habit right here in Vancouver:

I'd always heard how clean Canada was, how peaceful, but perhaps people had been talking about a different part, the middle, maybe, or those rocky islands off the eastern coast. Here it was just one creepy drunk after another. The ones who were passed out I didn't mind so much, but those on their way to passing out--those who could still totter and flail their arms--made me fear for my life.

Any local smoker can definitely relate to his rant about being incessantly asked for butts... it's "like standing on a street corner and jiggling a palmful of quarters. "Spare change?" someone might ask. And what could you say?"

If you haven't yet heard the absurdity: the Burrard Bridge bike lane renovation will cost $63 Million...

How to Eat Seafood Ethically... stay away from the salmon and shrimp, apparently. An interesting interview with Montreal author Taras Grescoe about his new book Bottomfeeder, which apparently has quite a bit to say about BC.

But better than the interview itself was finding Seachoice, a Vancouver-based service that'll school you on 'sustainable seafood'. You can also do a quick search for any type of fish and find out its sustainability rating, with all the details. Learnt today: catching Chilean seabass often involves endangered-albatross murder. I'd be liable to double-check most of their info, but it'sa great resource for Vancouver's thriving niche of pescetarian sustainability heads.

iPhones coming to Canada by year's end. Well, there goes our chance at less stabbings in 2009.

Apparently, the City's 'collaborative program' on mental health, addiction, and homelessness that started on Monday ain't so collaborative, as Pivot has been shut out of the discussions. Meanwhile, housing vigils grow across the province.

As an antidote to the cringe-worthy 2010 Mascots animated short, here's VFS grad Ben Meinhardt's wonderful Dancing Animals in Love, which just became part of the the web ether. Only two minutes long and twice as relevant as it was four years ago.