Even though downtown streets are emptied out and boarded up, four furry mythic Vancouver icons have triumphantly returned to the city. The 2010 Winter Olympic mascots – Miga, Quatchi, Sumi, and Mukmuk – are back and currently on display on a boarded up storefront downtown. And they’ve noticeably changed with the times, leaning into […]
There can be a lot to be angry about riding the Expo Line SkyTrain, from constant shutdowns and the weird smells that haunt the train. But take solace that you’re not the angriest to ever ride the transit line: that would be the Incredible Hulk in 1989’s The Trial of the Incredible Hulk. The made-for-TV […]
Spider-Man’s almost-60-year history is filled with colourful villains, quips and plenty of web-slinging. And aside from a murdered uncle and the odd girlfriend being thrown off a bridge, the Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man isn’t really known for dabbling in darkness. Yet there is an exception: the historically super-grim chapter for the character that also coincided with […]
It’s been over 50 years since Doctor Who first emerged from his time-travelling phone booth and it still remains one of the Most British Things Ever. Yet despite the strong Brit pedigree of the 13(ish) actors that have played the Time Lord, there’s a lone iteration of Doctor Who that doesn’t quite belong: the Doctor […]
Here are three things you might enjoy about the film Watchmen (2009), directed by Zack Snyder that was shot in Vancouver: A overly-visually faithful representation of a brilliant 1986 comic book miniseries (that never needed to be a movie) So many uses of the Most Obvious Song possible for many scenes, excluding: One of the […]
For six months in 1986, Vancouver hosted their first world’s fair, Expo 86, and it was a pretty big deal. It forever changed the landscape of the city, transforming it from “a sleepy provincial backwater to a city with global clout,” according to a Wikipedia entry that needs a citation. Over 22 million people visited […]
Shot in 2010, the cult sci-fi horror flick Beyond The Black Rainbow takes place in 1983 and is set in a trippy asylum/institute, where an Evil Doctor is experimenting on a girl with potentially strange and dangerous powers. The film is short on plot, but creates an effective horror-scape as it unfolds at a surreal […]
It’s kind of unreal that the Ovaltine Café still exists. The timeless diner doesn’t look like it’s changed much since it opened in 1942, even though the area around the Vancouver DTES institution definitely has. Even the cafe’s legendary for its old timey menu prices. That the Ovaltine and its iconic neon seems frozen in […]
