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 agenda 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…

ART

Nato Thompson is in town and giving a couple of talks, beginning with Seeing Power: Socially Engaged Art in the Age of Cultural Production at Emily Carr. If you miss that one, head over to Langara for his other talk, Creative Time: Challenging Conceptions of Art in Public. Wondering who Nato Thompson is? He’s the Chief Curator at this gig called Creative Time in NYC. “Creative Time strives to commission, produce and present the most important, ground-breaking, challenging and exceptional art of our times; art that infiltrates the public realm and engages millions of people in New York City and across the globe.” So he’s likely got a thing or two to say.
Thursday, January 27 | 7pm | Emily Carr Lecture Theatre (SB 301) | Free
Friday January 28 | 12:30pm | Langara College | Lecture Hall A136a | Free

My Big Family opens at the 221A Artist Run Centre in Chinatown. It’s a long-term and ongoing project by Vancouver-based artist Hua Jin. She traveled to China (with one hundred rolls of film) to documented the lives of her large immediate and secondary family. “More than just a family portrait, this project attempts to illustrate the changing family structure in China and the gradual disappearance of traditionally large families since the inception of the One-Child Policy.” Find out more…
Opening Reception Friday, January 28 | 8pm | Free

‘The World Around You” photo exhibit opens at PhotoHaus Gallery. Canadian photographer Freeman Patterson will be in attendance.
January 28 | 7 pm | PhotoHaus Gallery (14 W 7) | Free to admire

The Bau-Xi Gallery is having a show of Eszter Burghardt’s recent works. “In Wooly Sagas, she photographed Icelandic landscapes that she recreated from memory in constructed dioramas made out of wool that she processed, dyed, then knit and felted. In her most recent series, “Edible Vistas,” Burghardt scaled down the vast and epic landscape using wool, food and random, found objects. The resulting photographs, featuring cake-like volcanic landforms, milky blue lagoons and moss-covered lava hills, give the illusion that they were actually taken on site.” Have a boo at the Bau-Xi Gallery website to see Eszter’s work.
Opening reception Thursday, Feb 3, 6-8pm at the Gallery (3045 Granville)

Alex Morrison (that’s Andrew’s big brother) is showing at Catriona Jeffries. Opening Reception Thursday February 3, 7-9pm (274 East 1st).

BOOKISH

Local photographer Gabor Gasztonyi launches his new book “A Room in the City” this week. It’s a product of Gasztonyi spending five years photographing the residents of the Cobalt, Balmoral, Regent and Sunrise Hotels in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. “The residents are represented in private moments, with respect and dignity – in their rooms and on the streets – as they wish to be seen. Gasztonyi’s images urge us to look longer and harder at a city deemed one of the world’s best places to live.” Bring $40 to buy a book!
Monday, January 31 | 7pm | VPL Main Branch | Free – but seating is limited

Also at the Vancouver Public Library this coming week, Canadian author Steven Heighton reads from his novel Every Lost Country: “A doctor with a history of embroiling himself in conflicts and his daughter travel to Nepal to join a climbing expedition. Inspired by an actual event, it is a gripping novel about heroism, human failings and what love required.”
Wednesday, February 2 | 7pm | VPL Main Branch | Free

If you’re a big Margaret Atwood fan with money to burn, you might be interested to know that the Writers’ Trust of Canada is holding a swanky cocktail reception and theatrical performance at the Fairmont next week and Atwood is the guest of honour. Not only will the author be in the crowd but the evening features a theatrical performance based on her book The Year of the Flood. Info here.
Thursday, February 3 | 8pm – 10pm | Hotel Vancouver (900 W. Georgia St.) | $175

COOL MISCELLANY

The Vancouver Institute presents Professor Julian Davies from the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at UBC. He’s giving a speech entitled “Are We Going Back to the Pre-antibiotic Era?” Totally freaky and educational all in one go. Total hot date! More details here.
Saturday, January 29 | 8:15pm |  Lecture Hall 2 Woodward Instructional Resources Centre (UBC) | Free

If you need a bit of a pick-me-up after Dr. Davies talk, don’t worry! The Biltmore has you covered with Glory Days Dance Party. My! Gay! Husband!, Sincerely Hana and Rico Uno take the stage for the late show. Free Skateboard Check at Coat Check courtesy of Color Magazine & Antisocial.
Saturday January 29 | 11 pm | Biltmore Cabaret | $10

There is this thing called Trampoline Hall. It’s big in Toronto. “Three people talk on subjects outside their professional field of expertise. The lectures are sometimes ridiculous, sometimes moving, and always wildly unpredictable. Each talk is followed by a Q&A.” And here’s the good news. Trampoline Hall is now coming to Vancouver (as part of PuSh). All lecturers for the Vancouver show selected are selected by Veda Hille. Here is the lineup she has chosen: Yuriko Iga (Blim) will talk about Liking Things; musician Nick Krgovich will discuss Extreme Sports; and artist Althea Thauberger will give a lecture about Bruce Willis. Oh – and dig this: set design by Mark DeLong and Dan Siney. Woot! Thanks for the heads up Katie! More here.
Sunday, January 30 | 7pm – 10:30pm | Performance Works, Granville Island | $25

Southeast Asian Cultural Heritage Society is putting on the Vietnamese Tet Lunar Parade along Clark this weekend. It’s a Lunar New Year festival featuring a community parade, dragon dancing, martial art demonstrations, live music and yes, lots and lots of pho.
Sunday, January 30 | Noon – 2pm | Clark Drive – Glen Drive & Kingsway | Free

UBC’s Green College is offering a free public lecture entitled Pioneer Pacific Chinatowns with Chinese-Canadian historian Judy Lam Maxwell. “The lecture will compare the Chinese histories of BC, Hawaii, Mexico, Peru and Australia, then contextualize in the Big Picture of Chinese transnational immigration.” Find out more here.
Monday, January 31 | 8-9 pm | Green College, 6201 Cecil Green Park Road, UBC | Free

There was  a brief spell in my life when I’d go have a few drinks at the Happy Landing Lounge and just watch the streams of people pouring in through the arrivals door. Good times! I mean, you’re sitting there at the airport with time to kill and there’s live entertainment all around you. Why not take advantage? If you don’t think that’s totally insane, you might be interested in the latest Rain City Chronicles, the series of storytelling nights. This month the theme is Arrivals & Departures. “From stories told of family trees to the moment we decide to drop everything in pursuit of an adventure, life is full of comings and goings. New cities, old loves, new strangers and old fears that pepper the ebb and flow of our lives.” Line-up of speakers here. Sounds like a real journey…
February 1 | 7pm | St. James Hall – (3214 W10 Ave) | $8

Valentines Day is fast approaching, so consider sitting down to craft a hand-written letter to that someone special in your life. The Regional Assembly of Text can set you up with a brilliant collection of paper, cards and stamps to help you get the job done, and on the first Thursday of every month they host a Letter Writing Club. It’s free, open to everyone, and supplies are provided.
Feb 3 | 7:30 pm | Regional Assembly of Text | FREE

MOVIES

Ever heard of Le Blogotheque? Of course you have, because it totally effing rules! Well, its creator, Vincent Moon, hooked up with Efterklang on an island off Denmark with the intention of making a movie – “a film with the same length as an album, and a film full of performances, experiments and collaborations. Over an intense period of 4 days Efterklang collaborated with more than 200 local musicians, kids and parents, creating new performances and interpretations of songs from their album Magic Chairs (4AD, Rumraket 2010). It was all filmed by Vincent Moon…” That film is called Island and it’s being screened next Thursday at W2.  Stoked for this! Thanks for the heads-up, Grant. Want to know even more? Click here.
February 3 | 8pm | W2 Storyeum (151 W Cordova)

Rocky Horror Picture show is the midnight movie at the Rio this Friday night. Dress up and take a loonie of the price of admission.
Friday February 28 | 11:55pm | Rio Theatre | $8 ($7 with costume)

Howl is screening out at UBC. “As Alan Ginsberg talks about his life and art, his most famous poem is illustrated in animation while the obscenity trial of the work is dramatized.” Details.
Wednesday, February 2 – Sunday 6 | 9:30pm | Norm Theatre SUB, UBC | $4

The Waldorf is showing No Impact Man “Colin Beavan decides to completely eliminate his personal impact on the environment for the next year. It means eating vegetarian, buying only local food, and turning off the refrigerator.It also means no elevators, no television, no cars, busses, or airplanes, no toxic cleaning products, no electricity, no material consumption, and no garbage.”
Sunday January 30 | Waldorf Hotel | 3pm

Kuroneko is playing at Pacific Cinémathèque. Black Cat (Kuroneko) is a ghost story from Japanese writer-director Kaneto Shindo (Onibaba). It’s “artful, atmospheric, and highly arresting”. The plot goes something like this: “In war-torn medieval Japan, a demon haunts the Rajomon Gate, ripping out the throats of samurai in the grove beyond. The governor sends a war hero to confront the spirit, but what the man finds are two beautiful women who look just like his lost mother and wife. Both a chilling ghost story and a meditation on the nature of war and social hypocrisy, Kuroneko mixes stunning visuals, an evocative score, and influences from traditional Japanese theater to create a haunting and emotionally devastating masterpiece.” I’m a fan of the Japanese ghost story and this sounds like it won’t disappoint. More.
February 3-6 | Various times | Pacific Cinémathèque (1131 Howe) | $10.50

PS. Feb 2nd is Groundhog Day! From Wikipedia: “in weather lore, if a groundhog, also known as a woodchuck, or marmot emerges from its burrow on this day and fails to see its shadow because the weather is cloudy, winter will soon end. If, on the other hand, it is sunny and the groundhog sees its shadow, the groundhog will supposedly retreat into its burrow, and winter will continue for 6 more weeks.” I didn’t look in to it, but I’m sure someone will be showing Groundhog Day. Because when is Bill Murray a bad idea?

EATING

Chinese New Year collides with Robbie Burns Day down at Floata this weekend. There will be live music, entertainment and all the deep-fried haggis wontons you can eat (shudder). Not kidding. Other highlights: piping parades through the audience, traditional haggis served with Chinese vegetarian lettuce wrap and lots of poetry. CNN will be there, maybe you should be, too! Full scoop here.
January 30 | doors 5pm, dinner 6pm | Floata Chinese Restaurant, (180 Keefer) | $65

Alvin Pillay is now cooking over at the Heather and he’s serving up lasagna with ground fennel sausage, preserved tomato sauce and parmesan along with a 20 oz pint of Newcastle Brown Ale on the 40 foot communal table this Monday evening. Hell yes. More info.
Monday, January 31 | 7pm | Salty Tongue/Irish Heather | $15

The Winter Farmers Market fills the Nat Bailey Stadium parking lot on Saturday. Hook yourself up with hearty root vegetables,  fresh bread, dried fruit and scores of other locally-grown goodies. Get the full list of who’ll be there here.
Saturday, January 29 | 10am – 2pm | East Parking Lot of Nat Bailey Stadium

The Baker’s Market is on. Hightail it over to Olympic Village to stock up on baked goods.
Saturday, January 29 | 11 am – 3pm | Creekside Community Centre

FRESH AIR

Hit the Endowment Lands for a hike. You’ll want to be wearing footwear that can handle mud, but a little fresh air and the softer sounds of the forest in winter will do you good.

Want to get to know your local birds? Join naturalist and expert bird watcher Cathy Aitchison for a two-hour walk exploring Stanley Park’s varied and beautiful bird life. The walk leaves from the Stanley Park Nature House on the last Sunday of every month.
January 30 | 9 am | Lost Lagoon Nature House | $by donation

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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 in beautiful Strathcona 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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