Checking out BlogCatalog… anyone out there heard of this yet?
They say:
Blog Catalog is the premiere social blog directory on the internet. Whether you’re looking to promote your own blog, find blogs on various topics, or connect with other bloggers this site is for you.
I say:
Aren’t there hundreds of sites like this now? What makes you so special? We’ll see, I spose.
What’s cool, hip and fresh in Vancouver? In the world of print media, there’s only one place to look – it’s INFAMOUS Magazine.
With the deets on new restaurants like Revel which is at 238 Abbott Street, a teaser for POP Opera, DHM’s newest addition, some words on Trattoria Italian Kitchen, Ping’s, and the $35 tasting menu at Restaurant Connor Butler, you can’t go wrong. They even covered Obakki’s Spring Show and Calvin Yu put together a wild ‘Urban Isolation’ fashion shoot.
As the regular page 5 ‘Social Shot’ guy (it’s aptly named after the amount of shots I might have to consume in a night), my content gets put up in lights first. It’s my job to reel ‘em in… after that, the newspaper is read page by page, right to the end.
In May, I visited a bunch of places including the new Tunnel Nightclub, the LEO Awards and a Wake for the very much alive Chip Wilson who recently ran his first annual (living) memorial mile. To sum it all up, Vancouver keeps getting better and better. If you’re on the streets and see INFAMOUS, get it, before they’re all gone.
Sometimes things get busy – you’re commuting, jet setting or simply inundated. It would be nice to catch up with the local paper but then again, who has time these days to get out of the office and grab a copy?
On a regular basis, I like to grab the free dailies and see what’s up. In Vancouver, The Metro and 24 Hours News keep me up to date. When I travel to another city, usually I’ll check and see what’s up online. Now, you can have the best of both worlds.
I’ve written a script that uses the freely distributable wget program that will download the newspapers in PDF format for you with the touch of a button. You simply need to know where the PDF files are.
You can get the code or download a ZIP file that does it all for you after the jump.
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INFAMOUS – LIFESTYLE, ENTERTAINMENT, NIGHTLIFE, FASHION. With an exclusive preview of the $5 million ULounge which will open this fall in South Surrey, the fifth iteration of Komakino which opened under the Back Gallery Project on Cordova near Abbott and the best nights out in town, it’s no wonder why this issue didn’t last on the stands.
My column in the May issue brought the best of what happened in April – a new cocktail list at OPUS Bar, the Vancouver Fashion Week Gala, Tanya Slingsby’s Atelier opening, the Lamplighter’s grand opening under the management of DHM and more.
As for a favourite? I’d say the all media preview at OPUS – upon setting foot in OPUS Bar, guests were greeted with a Pecorino cheese and fig paste lolipop – something concocted by the brave and daring minds at OPUS Catering. It was exquisite and set the tone for the evening. I got to rub shoulders with Rockin’ Ronnie Shewchuk, the barbeque king, and Brad Stanton, arguably one of the best bartenders in the city.
Tequila Kitchen opened their doors to the public in December of 2007. The restaurant occupies the former space of Melriches Coffee House next to Section (3) on the North side of Mainland just steps away from Nelson Street.
We got a chance to the venue over the course of a couple visits – the food is good, authentic, made with care and reasonably priced. Some of the dishes are even had tequila infused. Everything is delicious.
Service is decent and the staff are full of good suggestions on what the uninitiated should try.
Definitely worth checking out:
Address: 1043 Mainland Street, Vancouver, V6B 5P9 (MAP)
Telephone: 604-681-2120
Website: www.tequilakitchen.ca
Hours of operation:
Lunch – Tuesday to Sunday 11am to 2:30pm
Dinner – Tuesday to Sunday 5pm to 11pm
In 1999 – 2000, Jay Mohr played the role of Peter Dragon in Action!, a TV series that hit the FOX and then FX.
In Hollywood you’re only as good as your last flick, and Dragonfire Films exec Peter Dragon has hit bottom with his $150 million bomb “Slow Torture.” His only hope to get back to the way things were is the shoot-’em-up film “Beverly Hills Gun Club,” and the only person that will help him is ex-child star turned hooker Wendy Ward – written by Jeff Cross.
Here’s a clip of Peter Dragon letting the employee of the month know that he’s the employee of the century. The delivery is fantastic.
The show was canceled after the first season – they didn’t get their budget from HBO, probably because the genre of dialog (witty) and the subject matter was still too highbrow for mass consumption (the American TV viewer). Check out more clips from the show after the jump.
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It looks like Facebook uses geo targeting based on IP address to find out what country you’re in. They base their ads and various other ‘features’ on this and sometimes you get odd quirks.
During my last trip to Mexico, I dragged along my laptop and connected it to the hotel’s Wifi. Upon logging into Facebook, I got the following message:
¡Bienvenidos a Facebook en Español!
Ahora hispanohablantes en todo el mundo pueden unirse a Facebook. Conéctate co todos tus amigos, en cualquier idioma.
Puedes cambiar tu preferencia de idioma ahora: English
Usa el buscador de amigos para ver si mas de tus amigos se han unido e invita a todos tus amigos hispanohablantes a que se registren.
According to the Facebook Blog, the Spanish language feature was released in January. No word on when geo targeting made its way to Facebook but likely this happened before the whole language thing.
On another trip, I took my laptop to Calgary and again logged into Facebook. From that point on, I started to see Calgary centric ads on Facebook. Now, even though I’m back in Vancouver, it seems that Facebook still thinks I’m somewhere in Alberta. It might be that the IP address I’m currently using isn’t listed in their geo ip database so the last definite location they have me set at is Calgary.
In February, 2008, I received a disturbing message from Facebook:
Warning! your account could be disabled.
You are using this feature to spam other users. Continued misuse of Facebook’s features will result in your account being disabled. If you have any questions or concerns, you can visit our FAQ page here.
Well, this was after being kicked off from Facebook in January, so I was a bit on guard. The error must have been inadvertent – how the heck could i be spamming by writing on a wall of an event that I was unable to attend? I asked the people at Facebook and received a response. More on this after the jump.
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It’s been going through my head lately. A scene where Bruce Willis takes off on his newly acquired chopper in Pulp Fiction…
In this case I’m not thinking about Zed, I’m thinking about Yaletown. Is it me, or do they think the art of customer service is dead over there? Is Yaletown on a decline? I’m not going to make mention of the big box invasion coming from places like Earls since it’s not open yet and I haven’t been there and okay, OPUS, Pinkys, Cioppinos, Provence, and all the other fine establishments – they get it, life there is good but really, check out the shockers after the jump.
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The April issue of INFAMOUS takes some of what was phenomenal in March, 2008 and put it together with exclusive editorial, a BC fashion feature, the Whistler Ski Fest, the introduction of Tequila Kitchen in Yaletown and more.
My column, Social Shot, always seen as the first thing you read in INFAMOUS (yea, pretty sweet gig,) covered a number of openings – new Gastown landmarks, Isabella Egan’s Gallery, John Fluevog’s Flagship Store in the old location of Richard Kidd, and a big day for Chef David Hawksworth who, after leaving his post at West, announced the opening of his new restaurant which will occur in 2009 at the Hotel Georgia.
Saving the best for last, one of the most amazing experiences of the month had to be in meeting megachef Daniel Boulud. A super nice guy, Boulud, who’s partnered up with David and Manjy Sidoo from Lumiere, made an appearance on March 13th to announce the opening of DB Bistro Moderne. Vancouver’s top chefs, Pino Posteraro, Vij, Tojo and others came out to show their support – it was truly amazing. In the words of the folks at UrbanDiner, with respect to Rob Feenie, ‘Lumiere and Feenies owners David and Manjy Sidoo have traded in their Mercedes for a Rolls [Royce].’
At the event, we also got a sneak peak at the floorplan for the remodel of Feenie’s and Lumiere which will take place somewhere after June 2008. Until then, they’ve got the $40 tasting bites on in the bar/lounge as well as regular menu service in the dining room. You can find out more about that in my other blog post, HERE.
Back to INFAMOUS, if you see it, pick it up. They can’t keep ‘em on the shelves no matter how many they print – heck, even I can’t get a copy without staking myself out at the delivery locations during distribution night.
