The main objective of this website is to scout out and promote the things that make Vancouver such a sweet place to be. We do this with an emphasis on the city’s independent spirit to foster a sense of connectedness within and between our communities, and to introduce our readers to the people who grow and cook our food, play the raddest tunes in our better venues, create our most interesting art, and design everything from what we wear to the spaces we inhabit.

The Scout List is our carefully considered first rate list of super awesome things that we’re either doing, wishing that we could do, or conspiring to do this week. From our calendar to yours…

FASHION

Obakki

You’ve dreamed of it. Prayed for it. Drooled on your desk while imagining it – and now finally, the day has come:  there’s an Obakki warehouse this weekend. That means you can load up on some of the most beautiful clothes designed and manufactured in Vancouver. Have a look at the Obakki website for wearable convincers…
Oct 23 – 25 | Fri 10-7 / Sat 10-5 /  Sun 12-5  | 201 – 135 West 7th

ART & FILM

Get Animated!

Lucky for you, Pacific Cinémathèque presents Get Animated!, “a Canada-wide series of free screenings and activities to mark World Animation Day (October 28) and celebrate the National Film Board of Canada’s 70th anniversary. As part of the festivities, the NFB and Pacific Cinémathèque will present three evenings of screenings and special presentations.” Check out the Pacific Cinémathèque website for details.
Oct 26 – 28 |  Pacific Cinémathèque | FREE

FUSE at the VAG

FUSE goes Good and Evil. Which one are you? The Vancouver Art Gallery’s late Friday art affair goes down with a “non-stop line-up of music, performance, and artistic encounters throughout the Gallery.” Highlights will include the 4East Magic Bar, “mood” makeup, zombies and dance + multimedia performances.
Oct 23 | 6pm to midnight | $19.50 Howl

Vancouver Short Film Festival

BC’s best shorts including post-secondary student showcase, BC professional showcase, World’s Best Shorts matinee, and industry panel: ” Making short films in Vancouver: Benefits, Drawbacks, and the Potential” Free entrance into after party in the Vancity Theatre atrium with proof of purchase.  Check out the line-up here.
Oct 23 & 24 | Vancity Theatre | $10

FOOD

Cooking with Chocolate

As part of the West Coast Chocolate Festival -“This one evening course will allow you to sit back and savour chocolate as the finer details are explained. Enjoy an enlightening, and informative class incorporating the history of chocolate, how chocolate is made, and how to taste chocolate. Watch our pastry chefs prepare up to 8 chocolates and learn what makes them so different.”
Oct 23 | 6:30 – 9:30pm  |  Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts | $85 per person

Le Vieux Pin & La Stella at Salt

At Salt Cellar this Monday night you can slurp down a selection of wines from Le Vieux Pin & La Stella  in between mouthfuls of charcuterie from J, N & Z Deli, Oyama Sausage Company, and Moccia’s Italian Meat Market as well as artisan cheeses from the UK, Spain, Italy, France & BC. Only 40 beans!
Oct 26 | Salt Cellar | $40 | call 604-633-1912.

Eat Local!

This is the very last week for community farmer’s markets. Pick up delicious breads, jams and canned veggies, as well as harvest fresh produce like onions, green onions, radishes, shallots, spinach, sprouts, Swiss chard, garlic scapes, beets, carrots, squash, pumpkins, and corn. It’s a pretty awesome time of year. Enjoy it while it lasts.
West End: Saturdays until Oct 24 | 9am – 2pm | 1100 Block of Comox | FREE
Kits: Sundays until Oct  25 | 10am – 2pm | Kits Community Centre | FREE
West Van: Sundays until October 25 | 9am – 2pm | Ambleside | FREE

Shrooms

The Vancouver Mycological Society’s 30th Annual Mushroom Show takes over the Floral Hall at Vandusen Botanical Garden this weekend and will feature displays of identified mushrooms and other fungi, speakers well-versed in all things mushroom and excited to share, slide shows, books and loads of cleaver tips from experts on everything from cultivation, preservation, cooking, medicinal use, hunting, ecology, and cultural use of mushrooms. Check it.
Oct  25 | 11 am–4 pm |Vandusen | $3

COMMUNITY

Spooky

Howl – as described by the Leaky Heaven Circus : “During a tour of the Haunted Russian Hall (600 Campbell Avenue) subjects will be subjected to a variety of frightening ordeals to awaken their deepest phobias. Studies will be conducted and phobias will be calculated on a demographic map of the city. A panel of Child Psychologists (aged 8 through 14) will counsel you through a debriefing session (don’t worry, refreshments will be served and dancing encouraged to shake off the trauma).”
Oct 23 | 5 pm – 11:45 pm | Russian Hall (600 Campbell Avenue) | $3+ sliding scale

Autumn Fair

Can’t have too many Autumn Fairs. Nope. Get your fix this weekend with Kitsilano’s very own. Events for all ages include local artists and musicians; wellness fair; pumpkin path and scarecrow contest; midway and carnival games; pancake breakfast; arts & crafts and more.
Oct 24 | 10 am – 3 pm | Kits Nieghbourhood House (7th and Vine) | FREE

MUSIC

Dodos

The Dodos play the Biltmore Monday night and it will be a good show – so good, chances are you will have to do a bit of scrounging if you want tickets. Still – hold on to the dream. From the Sealed with a Kiss website: “The Dodos are an American indie rock band consisting of Meric Long and Logan Kroeber. Since 2009, Keaton Snyder had joined the band as their vibraphone player. They create psychedelic folk songs.” Enough to go on? Further reading? Get the Wiki on the vibraphone here.
Oct 26 | door 8 – show way later | Biltmore Cabaret | $14.50

Airborne Toxic Event

First, have a listen, if you haven’t already, of Airborne Toxic Event on their Myspace page. Then, head over to the NME site to read the balance of the article that the following slip was ecerpted from: ‘You know what I’m going to do? I’m going to write songs, drink whisky with my friends, play some shows, sing these songs and I’m going to talk to people and engage them, and I want us all to be there, and I don’t want anyone to die…’ And then, scoop some tickets – try Zulu.
Oct 28 | Commodore Ballroom | $25 – 30 bucks?

LIT LOVE

Writers Fest

Writers Fest continues this week and although readings with John Irving and Audrey Niffenegger may be sold out – there are still numerous mind-expanding and enriching events with tickets still available. Or get really brave and read your work at one of the open mic nights : 7 minute readings in poetry, fiction and nonfiction. Check out the full list at the Writers Fest website.
Until Oct 25 | Granville Island | various prices – about $20

Alcuin Wayzgoose

I know, it’s a bit of a mouthful – here is the translation: “A celebration of fine press printing in British Columbia. The Alcuin Wayzgoose exhibitors will display their books, broadsheets and ephemera and will demonstrate some of the techniques used in fine press publishing.” Worth poking your head in – there will be some nice books to see.
Oct 24 | 10am – 4pm | VPL – Alice MacKay Room | FREE

The Journey Prize Stories 21

Hop over to Robson Square for with readings by Daniel Griffin, Paul Headrick, Yasuko Thanh, and editor Lee Henderson. “As part of UBC’s Celebrate Learning Week, please join us for a special reading and discussion from The Journey Prize Stories 21 with contributing authors Daniel Griffin, Paul Headrick, Sarah L. Taggart, Yasuko Thanh, and editor Lee Henderson…. For more than two decades, The Journey Prize Stories has been Canada’s most celebrated annual fiction anthology, presenting the best stories published each year by some of the most exciting emerging writers. This year the stories were selected by renowned authors Camilla Gibb, Lee Henderson, and Rebecca Rosenblum.
Oct 29 | 7pm |  UBC Library/Bookstore Robson Square | FREE

INTEL

Vancouver Institute presents…

Professor Sander Gilman will be addressing the Vancouver Institute with a lecture entitled Why Don’t We Trust Our Food? Obesity and Infection Today.
Oct 24 | 8:15 pm | Lecture Hall No. 2 Woodward / UBC

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Too much light fluffy fun? need a sobering wake-up call?  How about a lecture about the The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict? From VPL: “Politics or religion? Economics or geography? Could it even be sibling rivalry? ” Debra Vanden Dungen will present a concise history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and will respond to questions after her talk.”
Oct 27 | 7pm | Vancouver Public Library| FREE

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Michelle Sproule grew up in Kitsilano and attended Bond University in Australia and the University of Victoria before receiving her graduate degree in Library Sciences from The University of Toronto. She lives by the beach in Vancouver and enjoys wandering aimlessly through the city’s shops and streets with her best friend – a beat up, sticky, grimy, and uncooperative camera.

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