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. From our calendar to yours…

BUY LOCAL | Tuesday is a good day to head to Granville Island to catch the opening of the Emily Carr Ceramic Department Multiple Show (and Sale). Pick up ceramic works created by ECUAD students and help to raise funds for future educational experiences in the Ceramics Department. Something for you, something for them. It all works out nicely.
March 6 – 8 | 10am – 4pm daily  | Emily Carr  University | Details 

STIR CRAZY | Got kids out of school this week? Looking out the window at that soggy grass and falling drizzle? Already at the end of your rope? Hit the Rio Theatre for one of their family friendly save-your-ass-during-a-teachers-strike films. On Monday you can settle in to watch The Smurfs (11am) and Rango (1pm). On Tuesday it’s Diary of A Wimpy Kid (11am) and Hugo (1pm), and on Wednesday they are screening – wait for it – The Muppet Movie (1979) at 11am, and, yes, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (1pm)
March 5-7 | Rio Theatre (1660 E. Broadway) | $8 (2 movies, small drink + popcorn.) | Details 

PUMP IT UP | I don’t know where he finds the time, but David Eby (lawyer, Executive Director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, adjunct professor of law at UBC, President of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and Research Associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives) is presenting Cinema Salon this week. His film of choice is Pump Up The Volume (Christian Slater, 1990). After the screening, audience and guests will have the opportunity to discuss the film over drinks. Very civilized. Film synopsis lifted from the VIFF website: Mark (Christian Slater) moves from New York to small town Arizona for his last year of high school. He can’t make new friends and reads alone during lunch hour. Dad buys him a short wave radio set to communicate with his pals back home, which Mark uses as a private radio station in his Arizona basement. Engulfed by loneliness in real life, on the radio he is The Megahertz King – howling from the heart, electrifying the kids at school who have no idea who he is, letting it rip with his music. He rants against parents, the world, and the horrid school principal. Kids call in and participate. When one of his call-ins ends with a suicide, life takes a turn. Yeah, dude.
Tuesday, March 6 | 7:30pm | Vancity Theatre | $13 | Details  

LEARN | National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and CBC Massey Lecture super-star Wade Davis is in town. He’ll be speaking about the Sacred Headwaters region of BC: “In a rugged knot of mountains in northern British Columbia lies a spectacular valley known to the First Nations as the Sacred Headwaters. There, three of Canada’s most important Salmon rivers – the Stikine, Skeena, and Nass – are born in remarkably close proximity. In the middle of this fragile ecosystem, Shell plans to drill thousands of wells and use controversial hydraulic fracturing (fracking) techniques to extract coalbed methane gas.” Expect a talk on the region’s beauty as well as the threats to it. The guy is a gifted speaker, and as far as I’m concerned, listening to him talk about the benefits of vitamins would be amazing. But Sacred Headwaters, salmon and the threat of environmental devastation?  This is going to be a good use of time.
Tuesday, March 6 | 7-9pm | SFU Woodward Centre for the Arts | $12 | Details 

SEW GOOD | Spring sewing classes are starting up at The Window on Hastings Street. Learn how to sew your own tote bag, bistro apron, zippered lined pouch or get sorted with a sewing basics class. There’s even a Sewing Basics class designed especially for…MEN! Yep, the class will arm gentlemen with instruction to become self sufficient in small tasks like hemming and sewing on buttons. Imagine that! And that’s not all! You’ll also be schooled in pressing and ironing and learn the fabric basics. Boys, if mama didn’t teach you, it’s up to you. We don’t believe in cliches around here. We know most, if not all, men are totally capable of handling a needle and thread, but should you feel the need to, you know, brush up on your stitching, The Window can help you out – in style.
Wednesday Evenings in March | 6-8:30 | The Window (9 West Hastings) | $25 | Details 

YOGA | Vancouver has it’s fair share of yoga studios. You can hardly throw a rock with out hitting one. But how many of those gigs combine yoga with live music? Not many, until now. Now we have Spaces and Places at the Beaumont Artist Studios shaking things up a little. Instructor Naomi Horii (awesome, awesome, awesome lady) and her partner Jeremy Price Jones (awesome by association) combine their talents to challenge the normative yoga experience by mixing in a live instrumental soundtrack that flows with the mood of the class. I haven’t been, but the descriptor of live music something akin to blending Ataxia, Neu!, and Dr. Dre’s instrumentals has my curiosity piqued. See you there?
Thursday, March 8 | 6-7:15pm | Beaumont Artist Studios (5th @ Alberta) | $10 Suggested | Details 

DRINK | Vodka has been given a hard rap lately. If you love it, don’t feel ashamed. Educate yourself so that you can defend your spirit of choice. Head to the blind tasting seminar at Legacy Liquor store to sample 10 different types and learn about the differences between rye, wheat, and potato-based vodkas.
Thursday, March 8 | 7-8:30 pm | Legacy Liquor Store (1633 Manitoba) | $25 | Details 

MELLOW OUT | Memoryhouse is playing at the Waldorf on Saturday night. I hadn’t heard of them so I skipped over to their website for a listen. Totally low-key, sugary, floaty stuff. This Guelph-based band is on tour to promote their new album, The Slideshow Effect. So what if NME calls them “insipid marshmallow post-rock with no bite”? Sometimes insipid marshmallow is all you need as a backdrop to your Saturday night. Check it out.
Saturday, March 10 | Doors 10pm | Waldorf Hotel (1489 E. Hastings) | $10 | Details 

FIX IT | Hey ladies, do you have broken, boring, or out-of-style jewellery headed for the bin? Wait! Don’t chuck it. Fix it! Vancouver fashion blogger Olivia Lovenmark from StyleStruck.ca and designer Lucy Wilson-Storey are planning an afternoon workshop to help you turn your crap around. They’ll provide all the necessary bits and tools (including old chains, ribbons and clasps). You just bring your old jewelry. Also on hand: new jewels, refreshments and a truck load of fashion expertise.
Saturday, March 10 | 1 – 4pm | location details available with registration | $25 | Details 

SIGNS OF SPRING | The transition from Winter to Spring is finally upon us. “From buds to bugs, life is re-emerging in the forest. Longer days are warming the air and soil, coaxing out flora and fauna alike.” Head out to the UBC Endowment Lands to take part in a guided walk through the forest trails that is aimed at teaching you all about new buds preparing to open, fungi fruiting, and micro-organisms and small invertebrates at work in the soil.
Sunday, March 11 | 11am | Park Outpost (16th Ave, 400 m west of Blanca) | Details 

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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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