Looking for a book that is out of print? Or that much talked-about title abuzzed in the media? BUT not willing to submit yourself to the outrageous CAD prices despite the parity between the US and us? Some global chain book stores are trying to use some arcane excuse, but I would rather just support our local book businesses instead. Well, the Cheap Bastard has this to say-- go check out your local purveyor of pre-loved tomes/texts: ABC Book and Comic Emporium at their new location:

1539 West Broadway (W. Broadway and Granville)
ALL books are 20% off!!!!

It is difficult to categorize true artists as they defy conventions. One such artist, Johnette Napolitano proves to us the veracity of this claim again, on the night of November the 13th, at the venue of Richards on Richards, in her album tour, Scarred.

This past spring, Johnette's first proper solo album, Scarred was released; it is a collection of heartfelt rockers and soulful ballads, included is an acoustic cover of Coldplay's "The Scientist", the disc showcases Johnette's latest transformation and incorporation of her inspirations. In today's world of mass-marketed synth-pop, digitally modulated vocals, of Female singers that gyrate scantily across MTV with the impunity of strippers, all the while hiding behind the cliche excuse of 'female empowerment', Ms. Napolitano showed these manufactured Divas what it means to really really be a vocalist, nay, a Musician.

So Ang Lee did it again. This man has an obsession with impossible relationships, really. Even in a cartoon plot, The Incredible Hulk, Lee purposely close to examine the impossible love between a mutating scientist with the "sooper-hawt" daughter (the beauteous Jennifer Connelly) of his nemesis. And of course who could forget the one that got him his Oscar, Brokeback Mountain... again, with the impossible relationships.

So, how could we expect anything more (or less) with his recent Lust, Caution? Nonetheless, interesting tour-de-force of an era and a sentiment that continues to play out in a significant part of history and the human condition. Lee tackles the murky depths of how human motivation, sexual passion, desire and lust nebulously affect the trajectories of human action. The newest variant in Caution, Lust, as opposed to Brokeback Mountain and the Ice Storm, is the merging of patriotic zeal with that of sexual fervor. Cinematographically, it uses the backdrop of euro-cosmopolitan and romantic veneer of World War II's Japanese-occupied 'Old Shanghai' against the brutality and fervor of a Sino-Nationalist Movement that spreads, from China to Hong Kong.

As we approach the next Sin City Fetish Night this coming Saturday Nov. 24th at Club 23 West Cordova, it is a good time to reminisce about prior events -- and catching up on stale posts. Days before our recent Halloween, this intrepid reporter did the rounds at all of the fetish boutiques in Vancouver to find many happy neophytes racking up their credit cards for the biggest naughtiest bash this city have seen: the Halloween Sin City Apocalypse Fetish Party on the 27th of October at Richards on Richards. The regular fetish crowd was surprisingly friendly and opened their play-space to the public-- those who wanted to flirt with the wild and naughty side for a night.

And FLIRT those neophytes did, with a succession of revelers in more and more outrageous costumes plus elaborate props than the regular rubber, whips chains and spikes. A strictly enforced dress-code has a few unsuspecting participants strip off their offending garments and do without. Everything was skin-tight, or just, well, SKIN, or as a wizened regular commented, with a naughty twist: IF IN DOUBT, LESS IS MORE.

The decor was aimed more for easy accessibility than maximizing cinematic ambiance. After all, why do you need props when the attendees themselves serve the function to titillate and visually captivate everyone else? Gyrating nude -- well, almost; there were wolf-boys, beauteous raven-haired succubae and vampiresses to take your breath away, and fetish doctors and nurses to resuscitate you. The ever-popular DJ Pandemonium supplied the raw pulsating music that flogs the air into a hedonistic bodice-ripping pitch, the dance floor would be proud to witness any rites of the bacchanal; well, for this newbie eye-witness at least. But I must say, as a Sin City virgin, I made out -- no pun intended-- like a naughty bandit: two gropes, three flirts, and all the while my being dressed as a chinoiserie Anne Ricesque Vampire, right down to the tail-coat-brocade-vest and frilly lace shirt.

China's Jia Zhang-Ke unfurls his new documentary, "Useless" (Wu Yong). Named after a fashion label Chinese Designer Ma Ke, this documentary sets Ma Ke's preparation of her 'Useless' label at the Paris Fashion show. However, Jia's film does more than just showcases Ma Ke. Through her vision -- Fashion as conceptual Art -- Jia juxtaposes the Labor-Production aspect of Fashion with that of the High-End Designer Label consumerism aspect of Fashion.

Jia's style allows a meditative look at the China that is the largest exporter of garments in the world, and the cottage industry that is fulfilling domestic demands. Contrasting the large-scale production in Guangdong (that is aimed at export), the Globally-recognized designer label store, and the neighborhood seamstress shop in a coal-mining town, Jia creates triptych in tension, visually and economically, by forcing us to consider Fashion as a utilitarian necessity, as a status symbol and as conceptual art. Mildly propagandic, Jia's first 15 minutes exposes worker conditions and medical welfare of a regulated garment factory, showing what would be equitable conditions, and those of small neighbourhood tailors and seamstresses barely eking out a living.

VIFF's Iranian entry by Director Naghi Nemati's "Those Three" essentially encapsulates the story of three military recruits who, on a whim (seemingly spurred by the confiscation of their precious cigarettes -- their last private pleasure revoked) desert their contingent amidst wastelands and a brewing snow-storm. They encounter a helpless pregnant woman cheated and abandoned by her guide, whom they add her to their retinue and a tedious journey ensues.

Evocative? Yes. Believable? No.