The girl stood crouched over the table, determinedly attempting to tap out a tune with her chopsticks yet, much to her apparent frustration, not having much luck. It was easy to see why. She lacked rhythm. Oh, and she was attempting to play a table ornament. Eventually, the waitress came over and informed her that…

My record is 36-16-2. Not bad. Not bad at all. When I first decided to join a scifi book of the month club, I thought it would motivate me to read at least one novel a month. And it certainly has. It has also motivated me to pick up every past book the club has…

If one were to list Vancouver’s top dining destinations, Vij’s would no doubt make the top 5. It’s inventive Indian cuisine at its finest, a must-go destination for any visitor to the city. My only advice: if you’re planning to check it out, get there early. Vij’s has a strict “no reservations” policy that it…

As a pet-owner, I’m growing increasingly pissed off with the news coming out of this whole Menu Foods’ contaminated pet food debacle. Preliminary reports pointed to rat poison as the likely source of the problem, suggesting nefarious intent, but the latest laboratory analyses have found traces of melamine, a chemical used to make plastics, in…

“I’ll do the takoyaki,”I told the guy behind the counter. “That’ll take thirty minutes to prepare,”he informed me. A thirty minute wait! For octopus balls?!! Forget it! I wandered over to the Cantonese Food counter and ordered the pork slices with garlic sauce and eight pork-chive dumplings…and a blueberry yogurt shake…oh, and an order of…

So I was working on the my blog the other night and the t.v. was on in the background. I believe the station was CITYTV and they were running that Pussycat Dolls reality show - you know, the one my friend refers to as Pussycat Dolls Presents: The Search for the Next Whore. Anyhoo, the…

The great thing about being the show runner is that the position commands respect. Gone are the days when I would make a request for something - say a new book shelf or another insert shot of the floppy hat - receive a “I’ll see what we can do” response, and ultimately end up shelfless…

The explosion was so loud it reverberated throughout the building and set the windows thrumming. I looked outside and watched as stunned lot personnel stepped out of buildings and cars to investigate. “Damnit!”cursed Paul who suddenly stepped into my office. “I missed it.” The “it” in question was one of the stunts for the Atlantis…

For some strange reason, people have an incredibly easy time opening up to Fondy. There’s something inviting about her, something comforting, something that will compel, say, our neighbor from apartment 305 to unload a tearful, soul-wringing account of her heartbreaking divorce on the very first night we go out to dinner with her. Fairytale romance.…

You’d think I had one of the cleanest dogs in the world. Bubba not just loves bath time, he craves it. Lately, there hasn’t been a day that’s gone by when I haven’t walked into the bathroom and found him sitting on the edge of the tub, patiently awaiting my attention. If he doesn’t get…

“When I was young,”admitted Fondy, “I never really appreciated the gifts people got me.” My response was: “Are you kidding?” Offhand, I couldn’t think of a gift I hadn’t enjoyed receiving. Then, giving it some thought, I realized that what I’d enjoyed was not so much the gift itself but the getting. There was the…

We had intended to go to Zakkushi on 4th for dinner but a lack of parking sent us to O’Thai, Vancouver’s latest Thai eatery. Plenty of parking out front and plenty of tables available, so we grabbed our seats and, after a preliminary menu perusal, simply asked our water to recommend the restaurant’s top three…

I’m admittedly the first person to complain about pretty much anything. Well, anything except the weather because, really, at the end of the day, who can you really complain to? Still, given the almost three straight weeks of rain we’ve had to suffer through, I think I deserve the right to at least voice my…

Prep week invariably begins with the concept meeting, the preliminary pre-production assembly attending by all of the department heads. We all sit around the long conference room table as the First A.D. goes through the script, scene by scene. “Scene one,”he’ll say, “A puddle jumper flies through space. This is a visual effects shot.” -…

6:00 a.m.: I get up, take the dogs out, down a cup of matcha, then head downstairs for my 30 minute cardio work-out with the aim to conditioning myself for the big day ahead.7:05 a.m.: Shower, shave, then spend a good twenty minutes selecting my outfit. I decide to go basic black, subtle pin striping…