Category Archives: Vancouver

Help Us Help You Help Us All: The Shebeen Club May Meeting!

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Mr. Grumpy Pants

Shamelessly stolen from the Shebeen Club, which is officially as of right now no longer my baby! Yes, I wrapped it in swaddling clothes and put it in a wicker basket and took it down to the river and…found out wicker baskets don’t float, so I complained online until somebody solved my problem, as per usual.

Why so serious, pookie?

Has your writing career got you down? Things not falling into your lap like those unicorn rainbows and lollipop dreams would have it? Wondering what to do and how to do that (short of offering to sleep with Jack McClelland)?

THEN YOU NEED TO COME TO THE MAY MEETING OF THE SHEBEEN CLUB!

What with raincoaster heading off to places to our north so as to discover new alcohol-based uses for ice, The Shebeen Club is being forced on a new sucker transferred to a new, bright, shining set of hands! Ian Alexander Martin (a guy comfortable with writing about himself in the 3rd person) wants to know what you — yes, you — want to see in the meetings!

Come on down to the Rebel Room, put him in a sleeper hold, and then calmly explain what you need to learn about and who should explain it to you as a presenter.

The best way to get what you want is to say what that is. No one is willing to admit they can read minds, so join us on Tuesday, May 24th at 7pm for a timely, lively discussion by you and other intelligent people who are writers, publishers, literary agents, PR and Media people, or just plain people involved in that Publishing Biz. Bring your questions, suggestions, and your brain!

As always, tickets are $20 in advance [Eventbrite Link; let us know you’re coming and we’ll give you the early bird price] (available till May 23rd) or $25 at the door, and that includes dinner and a drink. The venue is the upstairs lounge at Revel Room, 238 Abbott Street just south of Gastown.

  • Revel Room: 238 Abbott Street just south of Gastown [need a map? CLICK HERE]
  • JUST $20!! GET YOUR TICKETS HERE! [Eventbrite Link!] includes dinner!
  • …or, bring $25 cash on the evening
  • Tuesday, May 24th
    • 7:00 – 7:30 meet & mingle
    • 7:30 – 8:00-ish listen & learn

Selah.

the most epic party in the history of party-fication!

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Icecoaster, icecoaster, baby!

Icecoaster, icecoaster, baby!

Here are the deets from Facebook. If you’re not sure you’re invited, ping me on Twitter, email, Facebook or in the comments here and I’ll let you know. Frankly, there’s only one person in the whole world who’s NOT invited, but if you’re not him, it’s all good!

Time
18 June · 15:30 – 23:30
Location

Colleen Coplick’s Backyard

421 E 20th Ave
Vancouver, BC
Created by:
More info

Raincoaster is moving to Yellowknife and transforming into icecoaster! Come give her a great sendoff at this potluck party for friends. BYOB & F but as you’re all better cooks than she is, that’s good news, right?

We’ll be BBQ’ing burgers and dogs, but feel free to bring anything you want to throw on the grill & sides or desserts.

There are some people who didn’t get an invitation because we’re not connected on Facebook, so if you have someone you want to bring, just ping me and I’m sure it’ll be fine.

Also – Due to serious space constraints, Lorraine said “no going away gifts!!”. This moving a billion miles away thing apparently takes up a lot of room.
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Hump Day Unicorn Chaser: Heavy Metal Mashup Edition

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No, I’m serious. Heavy Metal Mashups make an excellent Unicorn Chaser, particularly when mashed with Bollywood music. Click Play and trust me.

Iron Maiden vs Dhoom2

There, have your feet stopped moving? Aren’t you happy now? Grateful to me? You damn well should be, you ingrates. Here I am chained to a laptop in the accursed, barren land of Vangroover…

Vangroover, people. Yeah, this is the view

Vangroover, people. Yeah, this is the view

yeah, forget I said that. Anyway…I’ve got a lovely roundup of Unicorn Chasers for you today, including not just one but TWO, count ’em, TWO musical interludes. Here we present a Mexican Mariachi band (there is another kind of mariachi band?) performing that old Pink Floyd classic, The Wall.

Awww. And as if that weren’t enough, here’s the now-famous Boob Flash at tonight’s Canucks game. I seriously think the Green Men may be out of a job.

Contrary to the title, the boobs are not actually flashbulbs

Contrary to the title, the boobs are not actually flashbulbs

And to make your Wednesday complete, we have yes, another roundup of celebrity gossip links! Oh! My! God! Can you freaking STAND it?!?!

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Can YOU take it?

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Can you take it? I sure as hell can't.

Can you take it? I sure as hell can't.

And they won’t even tell you what “IT” is.

My problem is, IT is at home, IT being the task of packing up essentially a three bedroom house’s furniture and stuff and either bunging it into storage or moving it up to Yellowknife in the narrow window when there’s a (long) road up there which isn’t an ice road and besides I don’t even have a driver’s license anymore so How In God’s Name I Am Going To Do This I do not know, but anyway…

How was your week?

In case you’ve heard rumours, well, they’re all true unless you heard them from legendary fabulist Steven Schwartz, in which case they’re probably amazing fabrication and I’d appreciate your noting them in the comments, as one day I may write an encyclopedia of internet drama and cancer-faking mythologists are definitely going to feature prominently therein.

But the rumours about me moving to the land of permafrost and the lynx nuisance at the city dump? Those rumours are true.

Yes, some poor company has offered me gainful employment, almost like a normal person, starting July 1st, which means several things:

  1. this will be a major score for my female friends who want to pick up some clothes free, cuz god knows I ain’t taking anything I can’t fit into or didn’t graduate in
  2. I have a shitload of furniture for sale, at all levels of quality from Oh My God Amazing down to You’ve Got To Be Fucking Kidding Me
  3. I forget what this one is.

Anyhoodle, there will be a party at some point, probably of the bring-a-bottle variety or, knowing my friends, the bring-a-bottle-and-a-sleeping-bag variety. I’ve already handed the reins of the Shebeen Club to Ian Alexander Martin of Atomic Fez publishing reducing my press-release-writing workload considerably.

Before I leave I’ll be speaking at Northern Voice blogging conference and Social Media Camp Victoria, and my newest round of online workshops starts next week. Then, poof! I’ll be out of the Downtown Eastside and up in the land of the polar bear. Where a dinner of (excellent) fish and chips will run you $60.

GAH!

So, before I head off to the wilderness, I’m throwing yet another celebrity link roundup your way. In Vancouver, I could be relatively sure of bumping into one or more of these people every few months. In Yellowknife? Maybe not so much. So, that’s an improvement!

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Van Gogh Unicorn Chaser

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It’s hump day again. And you know what THAT means: unicorn chaser time! Today we have a roundup of happy swirling stars and happy swimming orcas.

Your swirling, starry night Van Gogh unicorn chaser:

Starry, starry, queaze-inducing night

Starry, starry, queaze-inducing night

and if that doesn’t make you feel all numinous and tingly, here are some shots of some killer whales (if the name isn’t cosy enough, try “orcas”) visiting Vancouver like a pod of bosses. Congrats to Dave Price, who got these shots which were featured in the Province newspaper. Burrard Inlet is generally too noisy and sometimes too polluted to attract whales, and no pods make it part of their regular territories. That seawall, by the way, is my regular rollerblading route. There are compensations for the rain, it must be admitted.

Orca under Lions Gate Bridge, Stanley Park Seawall and Siwash Rock in the background

Orca under Lions Gate Bridge, Stanley Park Seawall and Siwash Rock in the background

Orcas in the West Endq

Orcas in the West End

Orcas with North Van in background

Orcas with North Van in background

Orca whale tail flip in English Bay

Orca whale tail flip in English Bay