Six events happening this December

Posted on November 27, 2020 by Filip Bojic

It is no secret that 2020 has been a stressful and difficult year for everyone. COVID-19 really put on a dark light and prevented so many events and meetings, as well as sticking everyone in quarantine for a majority of the year, and some places even now. Now, however, November is approaching its end, and December is only a few days away. So, as we shift into the holiday spirit and approach the end of the year, here are six events that you can look forward to this holiday season.

Christmas at Hycroft.

Image from Vancouver’s Best Places

Christmas at Hycroft is a special Christmas market specializing in artisan products. The market is a fundraising craft fair that includes, gourmet treats, baked goods, jewelry, handmade clothing, art, and other items for sale. The event is currently open and will be running until December 13^th. The market this year is a little different though. While in previous years, guests could go to the location, pay for a ticket, and do all their Christmas shopping with delight, this year the shopping will be online. Hycroft canceled all in-person shopping due to the pandemic. Instead, pick-up will be available, and they accept up to 15 patrons per half hour. The delivery will be contactless to ensure safety.

New West Holiday Food & Craft Market

Image from Miss604

New West Holiday Food & Craft Market has the New West Farmer Market and New West Craft coming together to host the event. The event itself will take place over the weekend of Saturday, December 12^th, and Sunday, December 13^th. It will be in the New Westminster City Hall from 10 am to 4 pm, and admission will be by donation, but capacity will be limited. The event will have more than 40 food vendors and 40 crafty artisans each. Food and crafts will be on sale for the fundraising event, with free parking to boot.

Pacific Arts Market: Santa’s Workshop

Image from To Do Canada

The Pacific Arts Market: Santa’s Workshop will be a free event happening on December 20^th from 1 pm to 5 pm at the Pacific Arts Market in Vancouver. Santa Claus will be there, along with live music, games, art demos, crafts, and prizes. COVID-19 precautions will be in place, but the handmade art and gifts available will be worth putting on a mask to go see and buy. There should be plenty of talented artists who put their craft forward in the form of pottery, jewelry, weaves, leatherworks, woodworks, and more. The art demos will be live and featured by the artists themselves at the event.

Winter Solstice Lantern Festival

Image from CityMash.com

The Winter Solstice Lantern Festival this year will be the 27^th anniversary of the event. It will be free, with a $5 domination recommendation, and take place on Granville Island on Saturday, December 21^st. Two days prior, on the 19^th, there will be a pre-festival workshop from 11 am to 6 pm, also on Granville. The workshop will be free and will have participants create lanterns for the coming festival that they can take home. The festival itself will begin in the Granville Island Triangle square, after an hour of lantern sales and the Vancouver Morris Men, there will be a Carnival Band which will lead the procession to the festival activities. There will be a Labyrinth of Light, which has long been used for meditation, prayer, and sites of ritual. Over 600 pure beeswax candles will be present at the labyrinth for the Winter Solstice. The labyrinth will take place from 6 pm to 10 pm and will be paid for, the tickets will be $9 for anyone over 13, and anyone under 13 will enter for free. The tickets will be timed and are strongly recommended to be purchased online. There will be stories told about the festival told by the Ritual Shaughna Born. If you are interested, look for the lady in the top hat to learn about the ancient people and their epic and sometimes bloody stories to explain the loss of light. There will also be a circus-jazz orchestra present, community astronomer Bill Burnyeat to teach you about the sky in an inflatable planetarium, and award-winning violinist Michael Burnyeat.

Christmas in Kerrisdale

Image from Kid 101

Christmas in Kerrisdale this year will take place on December 5^th, 12^th, 19^th, and 23^rd, from noon to 5 pm. The Kerrisdale neighborhood in Vancouver’s west side will be festively decorated in the beautiful spirit of Christmas. There will be caroling, stores, horse-driven carriages, and Santa Claus walking around wishing everyone he sees a Merry Christmas. The neighborhood will be bristling with Holiday decorations, not to mention that there will also be free ice skating.

Weirdos Holiday Pop-up Shop

Image from To Do Canada

The Weirdos Holiday Pop-up Shop is a very weird shop indeed. It is not actually a shop though, it is a market, but due to the ongoing pandemic, it will just be a pop-up shop this year. In previous years, the market took place over a single weekend in December for guests to do all their strange holiday shopping. This year, it is a month-long event that has been open since November 19^th and will go until December 24^th. The shop is located on Broadway near the corner of Broadway and Vine and has room for about three customers at a time with social distancing in place. The pop-up is organized by Rachel Zottenburg, who when asked by Vancouver is Awesome in an interview what she would define as “weird” responds “To me, it’s always the stuff that not everybody is going to like. It’s the stuff that’s a little left of center, and often it has something that’s a little grotesque or abnormal or a little antique or a little strange or a little snarky or a little over-the-top silly”. The perfect place if you are feeling a little odd this holiday season.

There you go. Six Holiday events that are happening this year right here in Vancouver. There are quite a few shops, but some are to be admired as much as to be bought. If you do not fancy lots of holiday shopping or going out during the pandemic, then you can bundle up at home with some hot chocolate and some nice movies.

The Amazing Brentwood – Then, now, and later

Posted on November 26, 2020 by Filip Bojic

Brentwood Town Centre has been under construction for seven years now. The project that means to make The Amazing Brentwood much more state of the art and rival the size of other city centers in Vancouver and Burnaby. The four-phase plan hatched and is underway with no set completion date yet. But before you learn all about what is happening to Brentwood right now, it is time to take a step back and see what else the mall has been through. This is not the first expansion, and probably will not be the last. So let’s go back to the beginning.

Image from Miss604

A long time ago (close to sixty years now) Brentwood shopping center was completed and opened to the public in August 1961. The project took two years to complete, beginning with the rezoning of properties in 1959, and was expected to become the largest proposed shopping center in British Columbia at the time of its opening.

The mall was the first in Burnaby and had main attractions such as; Eaton’s, Canada’s largest department store chain founded in Toronto in 1869, but ending in bankruptcy in 1999. Loblaw’s Supermarket, which was the first in British Columbia and the largest in its chain. Loblaw Companies would later go to create the Real Canadian Superstore in 1979. And Zellers, a Canadian discount department retail store founded in 1931, after it was acquired by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1978, and then in the 2010s after many deals and lease acquisitions with American’s retail chain Target, Zellers closed down in March 2013 due to lack of profitability. Among those three giants at the time, there were upwards of sixty other stores at Brentwood when it opened.

Image from Wikipedia

Almost seven years after the mall opened, in June 1968, Canada’s Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau visited Brentwood Town Center with a crown of 2500 people who were all greeted with bands including Canadian rock group Tomorrow’s Eyes.

In the early 1970s, Brentwood Mall was renovated and expanded from the open-air strip mall which it previously was to an enclosed-style mall. The next major expansion took place in the years 1988 and 1989 and took ten months to complete. The mall received a two-story building with a food court and more stores including the return of the Zellers that previously closed down in the early 1980s and now had two whole storeys. This renovation gave the mall its white domes that you would see when you look at it from above or when you look up from the food court.

Image from MyCuriousCity people – cities – government

On August 31^st, 2002, Brentwood got access to the Millennium Line. The SkyTrain first began construction on March 1^st, 1982, and opened to the public on December 11^th, 1985. The SkyTrain made big expansions in 1989, 1990, and 1994 before coming to Brentwood in 2002, then continued expanding afterward as well with the latest expansion in 2016. The SkyTrain was not the only mode of transport to hit Brentwood Mall though. A bus loop was established as well and the mall became a center for transportation in Burnaby.

Five years later in 2007, another renovation came and an expansion on the washrooms arrived as well. This washroom expansion was no small feat either, because the next year in 2008, the mall’s washrooms were awarded the “Powder Room Seal of Approval” for being one of the best washrooms in all of Canada.

After that, the mall kept on expanding. By 2010 it had 125 stores and services available. On November 12^th, 2013, the mall began plans for another expansion, one that is still carrying on to this day. This plan included a movie theatre in the mall, as well as two 60-storey towers which would be some of the tallest in Burnaby and rival the heights of skyscrapers in Vancouver. The first seven storeys will be for commercial use and the remaining 53 for residents. This was all part of phase one of the four-phase twenty-year plan. The first phase also includes eight acres of new parking and a one-acre plaza facing the SkyTrain, which will be joined with the entrance for seamless transitions to transport for pedestrians.

Image from Burnaby Now

Phase one was set for a completion date in late 2017, which sadly did not happen. There were delays that lead to the opening to be more of a late 2019 opening, with part of the site still under construction. Right now, in late 2020, the plaza is open and running with still a few things being built and refurbished here and there.

Phase two of the project includes the new community center at the mall. Phase three is a 51-storey apartment tower with 526 apartments. It will be placed on the corner of Alpha Avenue and Lougheed highway and is meant to complement the first two towers. The building is currently under construction, growing taller by the day to try and reach its two already complete brothers. Along with this new tower, phase three aims to make living at Brentwood Town Centre grand. SOLO District wants a bold hotel-inspired arrival area, and garden plots and greenery to keep residents in touch with nature. “Every time you return to the building, you’re greeted with a grand sense of place. Whether you’re coming or going, you’ll know you’re home.”

Image from Vancouver Sun

Phase four has little to no information about what is planned yet. Another tower is supposed to be installed, and the Appia Development and Chris Dikeakos Architects Inc. are asking the City of Burnaby to increase the height of the building from 48 storeys to 52. This is in order to increase the office podium from four storeys to 13 storeys.

The four phases, if going by the original plan, would be completed by 2033. However, phase one already fell behind schedule even before COVID-19. The road is long, but the results are now showing with the mall open and operating. If COVID-19 does not slow the project too much and no other delays happen, all four phases should be complete sometime in the mid-2030s. There is no way to know for certain, but the future is looking promising.

Prepare to shred some powder!

Posted on November 25, 2020 by Filip Bojic

Winter is on its way, and this winter seems like it’s going to be a much colder one. It looks like B.C. will be getting a stormy and snowy winter this year as stormy weather shifts southward. The bad news is, much like the rest of this year, the added snow could prove challenging for many B.C. residents. There have been warnings from BC Hydro to prepare survival kits in case of power outages and be ready to be snowed in. The good news, however, is that all this extra snow is going to provide a fantastic ski season.

Snow has already been seen on the local mountains even before November hit. And while it came and faded in October, it seems that now it is here to stay until the season is over. Fingers crossed that it does. Skiing and riding has already opened on some of the local mountains. Grouse Mountain started allowing people onto the mountain on November 20^th. The Director of Mountain Operations, Grant Wahl says “We are happy to safely welcome skiers and riders back to the slopes for the start of the winter season at the Peak of Vancouver”. Cypress Mountain opened even earlier on November 13^th due to the snowfalls and a little help from their snowmaking machines. The Cypress President states “Our Snowmaking and Snow Grooming team have done a superb job with the recent cold weather and natural snowfall, which demonstrates our continued commitment to our guests to provide the best possible snow conditions whenever possible with the most terrain on the North Shore”. The third local mountain, Mount Seymour, is looking to open up to skiing and riding on December 1^st this year.

The good snow will not be as accessible as in previous years however. Like most things this year, COVID-19 has dampened the mood of skiing and riding as well. The three mountains have their rules and conditions set out for anyone who wants to venture on and start shredding that sweet fresh powder.

Image from Notrth Shore News

Grouse Mountain is already open and operational, but in order to actually be allowed up, skiers and riders will have to book in advance in order to access the Skyride. The capacity for the Skyride is also reduced. Ticket purchases are recommended to be bought in advance online in order to reduce lineups on the mountain. While actually on the mountain, face coverings are required inside all Resort Facilities and anywhere where social distancing cannot be maintained. Anywhere inside the Resort, there will be hand sanitizing stations available and scheduled cleanings will be increased. The chairlifts themselves will have individual chairs limited for families or household groups riding together. “The health and safety of our guests is our top priority,” says Grant Wahl.

Image from Vancouver is Awesome

The other local mountain currently open, Cypress, follows a similar mandate. The mountain staff urges anyone not feeling 100% or who has been in contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 within 14 days. If guests feel they pass this test and can’t wait to get up on the mountain, they will have to book their tickets online in advance much like on Grouse Mountain. The mountain staff is restricting the availability of tickets in order to better manage how the number of people on the mountain at peak operating hours and allow for social distancing. They will also be actively managing the amount of guests entering the indoor facilities at a time. Routes have been altered to help support the flow of people. Face coverings are also mandatory everywhere on the resort and at all times, the only exceptions being while traveling on ski trails and while eating or drinking with an acceptable distance of two meters or an alternate barrier. There have been five new and conveniently located handwash stations throughout the Cypress Creek Lodge for guests and employees alike. As for the team themselves, all Cypress Team Members will be screened before every shift, trained in to use proper PPE, wash hands regularly and have training sessions to ensure they understand the role they play in keeping the resort safe and open. Cleaning procedures will be more rigorous and conducted throughout the day, as well as one final deep clean after closing to prepare for the following day. Cypress is also introducing contactless/cashless payments as much as they can.

Image from Mt Seymour

The last local mountain, Seymour, has its set of new guidelines in place as well for when it opens at the beginning of December. Face covering will be mandatory everywhere: lifts, chairs, lineups, the magic carpet, and in buildings, no exceptions. Anyone not wearing a face covering will be asked to leave the mountain. Sanitization stations are available throughout the resort, and regular sanitizing of surfaces will occur throughout the day. As for tickets, they will be pre-purchased online for all activities, this includes skiing and riding, snowshoeing, tobogganing, tubbing, and the shuttle bus. There will be three automated ticket machines for guests without a renewable pass. The lift lines will be socially distanced, with the exception of traveling with your own bubble. When riding as a single, there will be two allowed on the Mystery lift, and one on the Lodge Chair and Brockton Chair. All rentals for the mountain will require to be pre-purchased online. The ski and snowboard rental shops are reconfigured to promote social distancing. The new rental system will be digital and contactless. And a quarantine and sanitization program will be implemented for all rental equipment.

So if you are looking for the short version of all the new protocols on the three local mountains, all three require ticket purchases in advance to be allowed up on the mountain, and face coverings are mandatory.

COVID-19 certainly put a dark light on what is looking like it should be a phenomenal winter season. Let’s hope the additional protocols implemented keep everyone safe, and maybe next season there will be more people allowed up on the mountains. And who knows? Perhaps this new super snowy weather is here to stay in the years to come.

The filming has commenced!

Posted on November 24, 2020 by Filip Bojic

COVID-19 has changed a lot of things over the past year. Besides quarantine and everyone getting sick, the pandemic had put a halt to many jobs. One thing that had moviegoers a little upset was the halt in the productions of many movies and TV shows. The good news, while the pandemic is still going on, is that some productions have continued.

Let’s take a look at three productions being filmed in Vancouver right now that you should be looking forward to seeing sometime hopefully next year.

Lost in Space season 3.

Image from The TeCake

The lost in space series is currently on Netflix, and it follows the Robinson family as they, like the title suggests, get lost in space. The first season had them battling through the harsh conditions of an alien planet along with fellow survivors. But when the planet resorts to extreme global warming, everyone needs to find a way to get off and reunite with the mothership, the Resolute. That of course, does not go as planned and the Robinsons are sucked into a space rift into a different galaxy. Also, important note; there is a cool alien robot with them, along with some other interesting characters.

The second season takes place seven months after the first season settled on a new planet. Upon managing to fly off, they somehow manage to again reunite with the Resolute. This however leads to more catastrophe, a new alien planet with the current survivors of the resolute, because the ship has… something wrong with it. When the Robinsons manage to help start getting survivors settled back on the ship, things go sideways yet again. There’s mutiny, an all-out robot attack, and some mischievous scheming along the way. The season ends with the Robinsons being split up and jumping to find their safe haven planet, Alpha Centauri. Only to find the legendary lost ship Fortuna instead, abandoned.

Season three will be the final season and pick up where the second season ended. The parents and kids will be separated and who knows what will be in store for either side. Unlike the first two seasons, the writers and directors have made it clear that they want season 3 to have a firm and satisfying ending. The season has resumed filming in Vancouver in September and is looking for a release date of 2021. No details on when next year, possibly somewhere in the middle, but hopefully not too long after. In the meantime, get caught up on the series’ first two seasons, both are on Netflix and only ten episodes so it’s a wild ride from start to finish.

The Adams Project.

Image from LetsOTT.com

The next item on the list is Ryan Reynolds’ new Netflix movie, The Adam Project. The Canadian actor is back in Vancouver to start working on this new project, with Mark Ruffalo and Catherine Keener to join him. The project will be directed by Shaw Levy.

The film is set to be about time travel (if only we could travel to before the virus) and will follow Ryan Reynolds’ character as “a man who travels back in time to get help from his 13-year-old self. Together, they have to find their late father, who is now the same age as Reynolds, and set things right in order to save the future.” That father of Reynolds’ character will be played by Mark Ruffalo, who will be putting the science back into acting as he plays a brilliant physicist.

As for other stars that we know about, Catherine Keener will be playing the villain in the sci-fi adventure. Alex Mallari Jr. will be playing the villain’s right-hand man. Jennifer Garner will be playing the mother of Reynolds’ 13-year-old self, who will be played by Walker Scobell. Scobell is new to the scene; he has been discovered in an acting class with no acting credits as of yet. And Zoe Saldana will be playing Reynolds’ wife.

Filming started this November, and a release date for the movie has not yet been announced or even speculated. This should be another interesting Netflix movie, Ryan Reynolds’ fourth Netflix original. Reynolds and Ruffalo together on screen for the first time in a sci-fi time-traveling adventure. Let’s hope the movie is not slowed too much by COVID-19.

The Mighty Ducks.

Image from Pinterest

And last but certainly not least on the list, The Mighty Ducks. The series, based on the 1992 film under the same name, is going to be an upcoming sports streaming television series coming to Disney+.

The series will follow a 12-year-old boy named Evan who got kicked off the Mighty Ducks’ junior division team. He then goes to try and create his own hockey team. Brandy Noon will play the role of Evan, joined by Lauren Graham as his mother, and Emilio Estevez will reprise his role as coach Gordan Bombay.

The casting was set in February 2020, with filming planned to start on February 18^th. However, due to the pandemic, it was delayed until more than half a year later. Filming started in September and is set to wrap up on December 17^th this year. Filming will take place in Vancouver, and the series will be directed by James Griffiths. Disney TV studios made an agreement with British Columbia unions for testing the cast and crew members and now the series is well underway for filming.

The series will release on Disney+, and it will be 10 episodes. The date has not yet been announced.

And there you have it, three productions being filmed in Vancouver right now. None have been confirmed for releases yet, but all three seem to be worthwhile checking out. Hopefully, there won’t be too many more delays on any of them due to the pandemic, but no one can say for certain. In the meantime, though while you wait, be sure to catch up on the first two seasons of Lost in Space on Netflix. You will not want to miss out on what is going to happen in the third.

The top six have been announced!

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The Kid Carson Intern Army is approaching its final stages. The competition took all the contestants who entered and chiseled out twenty-four competitors. Last Friday, the top five contestants were to be announced on air at Z953 by Kid and Jordan nearing the end of their show. That however did not happen. Instead, the pair took the weekend to decide who the top five were. This Monday morning, November 23^rd, Kid and Jordan announced not five, but six finalists to embark on their final challenges on Z953.

Among those top six finalists, in no particular order, we have Amber Sandhu, Bakhtiar Yaqub, Cario Howard, Jocelyn Cheung, Nazar Nazer, and Thomas Stewart.

Let’s get on with the introductions then.

First up, Amber Sandhu. If we take a look at her form the Z953 site, her profile reads:

From Z953

“Amber serenaded her way into the Intern Army with a beautiful song she wrote for Kid. She currently studies remotely from her home in Delta, as she continues to work towards her English degree at York University. Staying at home during the pandemic has allowed her to find volunteer work at Connect FM 91.5 and has given her the chance to join the Intern Army.”

What a champ, writing songs, and on her path to an English degree as well. No doubt she will rock the radio in the following week while on Z953.

Up next, Bakhtiar Yaqub. His profile on Z953 reads:

From Z953

“Bakhtiar shines with confidence and is ready to take every one of the Intern Army challenges head on! He currently studies at SFU, majoring in Communications and volunteering at the school radio station CJSF 90.1FM. Bakhtiar likes to think he’s the protagonist of a coming of age movie and we’re all just the extras”

Already working his bit in radio at SFU, he’s got the knowledge and the confidence. And from his first time on Z953 with everyone’s meeting with Kid and Jordan, he is an absolute character in the best way possible.

Coming in right after, Ciaro Howard. This is what her profile reads:

From Z953

“Cairo wants to make an impact in someone’s life no matter big or small. She believes that her chance to do so comes as Kid Carson’s Intern. As of right now she works as a Real Estate Project Marketer, but that could all change in the next few weeks!”

Working in real estate, Cario wants to move in and take the spot of the next intern on Z953.

Making our way through, next up is Jocelyn Cheung. Her profile on Z953 reads as so:

From Z953

“Jocelyn is a student in BCIT’s Radio Arts program and an avid user of social media. In fact, Jocelyn’s social media skills are top notch and have helped her secure jobs related to the field. In her free time, she likes to create her own content which includes streaming on Twitch!”

Our very own BCIT student in the mix. Big congrats to Jocelyn on making the top six. Best of luck to her in the coming days. And if you want to see more from her, catch her streaming on twitch under bbjubby.

Next up, the man with two names, Nazar Nazar. Let’s take a look at what his profile reads:

From Z953

“Nazer is a grad of VanArt’s Broadcasting School where he worked on improving his voice over work. He’s a swiss army knife of entertainment with experience in acting, voice work, improv and writing. On his resume he lists what voices he can do rather then what languages he can speak.”

A voice actor, improvisor, actor, and writer. Nazar truly is a swiss army knife. And he speaks multiple languages! It seems Z953 have found themselves a chameleon.

And last but certainly not least, Thomas Stewart. This is what Z953 says about him:

From Z953

“Thomas is a first generation Italian-Canadian. His love for his culture and passion for public speaking helped him secure hosting duties for Italian Day on Commercial Drive in 2018. Since then he continues to emcee events around Vancouver.”

An emcee with a love for culture. Looks like he has also got what it takes to make the cut as the next intern on Z953.

All six of these finalists have been through the four challenges set out by the Kid Carson show.

The first challenge was to hit the streets and find people who listen to and enjoy the show and interview them. Edit it all down and send it off to be payed on air.

The second challenge amped things up a bit. Contestants were to find an influencer to interview or have the influencer endorse them on becoming the next intern.

The third challenge was for the gram. The Kid Carson show took the one picture a day for a month challenge and cranked it to eleven, limiting the time to a weekend and having a specific list of photos that needed taking. That list included photos ranging from being in a car to becoming an underwater reporter, to giant moths and pickle jars. Contestants could get as creative as they wanted, so photoshop and crazy ideas were all on the table.

And for the fourth and final challenge, contestants had to catch moviegoers outside theatres to get a quick review of the movie they just watched. With COVID-19 still going on and quarantine happening, most theatres were fairly empty, and contestants had to plan where and when to go carefully.

After all those challenges were done with by all twenty-four contestants, it was up to Kid and Jordan to narrow down the list. And in case you have already forgotten the results, just scroll right back up and read them again.

As for those top six, they will all be spending a day on air with Kid and Jordan for their final challenges. No one knows what to expect, tensions are high, and everyone wants to win the grand prize of $10,000 and a three-month internship at Z953.