by Michelle Sproule | 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. You can also check it out in the Globe & Mail, from our calendar to theirs…and yours!

LECTURE | Head to the Museum of Vancouver this Thursday for a Built City lecture with landscape architect Cornelia Hahn Oberlander. Her style of low tech, sustainable landscaping that integrates with the architecture and reflects the natural surroundings can be seen locally in projects such as the Museum of Anthropology and Robson Square where she collaborated with architect Arthur Erickson. Oberlander will be joined by a panel of experts and peers for an illustrated discussion of her work and the future of design.
Thu, Oct 23 | 7-9 pm | Museum of Vancouver (1100 Chestnut) | $14 | DETAILS

HOT TALK | Vancouver-based author and designer Leanne Prain will be at Hot Art Wet City Gallery on Thursday night. She will give a quick 30 minute talk that investigates ways that textiles tell us about ourselves and the lives of those around us. Having recently published her third book on textile art and culture (Strange Material: Storytelling Through Textiles), Prain is amply qualified to speak on the topic so we’re sure she’ll have some interesting things to say in the Q&A period immediately following. PS – Brassneck Brewery is only steps away for that pre or post event beer! 
Thu, Oct 23 | 7-8 pm | Hot Art Wet City Gallery (2206 Main St) | Free | DETAILS

TASTE | Imagine how awesome it would be if you were drinking chocolate milk at the very moment that Augustus Gloop fell in the chocolate river in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or had home-cooked spaghetti sauce on your tongue while watching The Godfather. Enhancing a movie experience with scene-specific tastes is what Sensory Cinema is all about. This Friday night, the gang at the Juice Truck team up with Here There Studio for an evening of just that. Film title and details of food pairings are being kept under wraps for now, but we’re told that an usher will cue each selection from your very own tray of house made canapés. How cool is that?
Fri, Oct. 24 | 7pm | The Juice Truck (28 W 5th Ave) | $18 | DETAILS

THROWBACK | Get your fix of fast cars and slick 70’s style with the Two-Lane Blacktops: The 1970s American Road Movie series at The Cinematheque this week. Highlights include Clint Eastwood in The Gauntlet, Jack Nicholson in The Passenger, and David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone in the forever creepy Death Race 2000.
Oct 23-26 | Various times | Cinematheque (1131 Howe St) | $11 | DETAILS

CRAFT NIGHT | Part store, part workshop, Collage Collage encourages imagination and creativity while arming their customers with tools and inspiration to turn both in to art. You’ll most often find the bright, book-filled room full of curious children. This week, however, you’ll find author, art enthusiast and creativity guru Danielle Krysa (The Jealous Curator) guest hosting a special adult evening that will involve glue sticks and collage making.
Fri, Oct 24 | 7-9pm | Collage Collage (621 Kingsway @ 15th + Fraser) | $30 | DETAILS

WRITERS FEST | The excellent Vancouver Writers Festival fills its stages with local and international writers of every genre each autumn. This year, the theme is Discovery. Discover new authors, new books by known authors, new genres and new interests, and expect everything from literary fiction and poetry readings to kid’s authors and non-fiction panels. Literature enthusiasts are a wily bunch and tickets have a way of selling out, but if you move fast you can still score a seat!
Oct. 21-26 | various times | Various locations – mostly Granville Island |  DETAILS

ARCHITECTURE | With a view to demonstrating laneway housing as a clever solution to “Densification without Demolition”, the Vancouver Heritage Foundation has arranged for a series of homes to be opened to the public for their annual Laneway Home Tour. Take a peek inside 8 unique houses and be inspired by designs and innovations that show how increased density can be smart, stylish and comfortable while making good use of underused land on existing lots.
Sat, Oct. 25 | 1pm | Various Locations | $30 | DETAILS

GATHER | Make room on your schedule and head to Mountain View Cemetery on Saturday to celebrate All Souls Night. This unique community event brings together a series of thoughtful and culturally diverse activities designed to give participants the opportunity to remember the dead in – as Mountain View calls it – a “gentle atmosphere of contemplative beauty”. Candles and lanterns will light the cemetery and there will be music and hot tea for sipping. Take time to create a personal memorial or take a historian or genealogist-guided walking tour to learn about some of the plot inhabitants. While there will be corners for serious conversations about death and dying, there will also be light-hearted and fun activities. I’m personally stoked for the screening of Harold & Maude and the decorating of Mexican sugar skulls!
Sat, Oct. 25 | 6 – 10pm | Mountain View Cemetery (5455 Fraser St) | DETAILS

HARVEST | This weekend is the last market of the 2014 farming season out at the UBC Farm, so be sure to stock up on veggies, crispy apples, free-range eggs and beautiful flowers. Most importantly, grab yourself one of those stunning Cinderella pumpkins to carve up in time for Halloween. Dusty orange, light green, even white – the best pumpkins!
Sat, October 25 | 9am – 1pm | UBC Farm (3461 Ross Dr) | DETAILS

SHROOMS | Are you fascinated by mushrooms and fungi? Have you seen wonky specimens popping out from local lawns and sprouting up in forests and trails around town and wondered what they were? The Vancouver Mushroom Show goes down this Sunday and with it comes the rare opportunity to hook up with experts from the The Vancouver Mycological Society. Ask ’em all manner of mushroom-related questions and basically nerd out about fungi. There will be oodles of shrooms on display – edible, poisonous, dubious and deadly. How could you not come out ahead of the game by learning a little more about these tasty, tricky, trippy little things?
Sun, Oct. 26 | 11am-4pm | Van Dusen Botanical Garden (37th & Oak) | $3 | DETAILS

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Michelle Sproule grew up in Kitsilano and attended 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 streets with her best friend – a beat up, sticky, grimy (but faithful) camera.