Based on some facts I learned today, further clarification is needed on Vancouver Fashion. First of all, my notion that there are 4 different seasons, and that you need different clothes for them is incorrect. Here, there are really 2 seasons. 2 1/2 if you want to be charitable; cold and rainy, and warm and dry. You can get away with one rain jacket year-round if you layer other items of clothing (sweaters, fleece, other jackets(!)) under it. That explains the ‘no leather jackets invited’ element of fashion here. As for the rest, I chock it up to West Coast vs. East Coast. Nevertheless, Matt and I both suspect that there will be a backlash against the ‘every day is casual day’ attitude in the local work force. That said, he thinks it will just be for Telus employees where he works; I think it could be a move province-wide, but don’t quote me on it.
Great Food on The Drive
Speaking of Matt, last night he and Oana introduced us to one of the best little restaurants I’ve been in since we got here, the Nepali Restaurant, Café Kathmandu. How to describe Nepali cuisine for the uninitiated? It’s kind of like Indian, but lighter and with many subtle and fresh ingredients, like mustard greens, or fenugreek. There was a meltingly tasty curried goat, some fiery hot sauces (as condiments) as well as toothsome little vegetable dumplings, which you could dip in either a coriander sauce, or a tomato-based sauce. It was a real treat, and another reason to return to the multi-cultural culinary strip of Commercial Drive (or ‘The Drive’, as it’s sometimes called here). We’d been to a pretty good Vietnamese restaurant when we visited a year ago, and I’d had a nice meal at the bohemian ‘Wasubeez’ Café, but Kathmandu is definitely a reason to return to The Drive again and again. I can’t wait to see what we’ll discover there next time.
The Oscars, West Coast Style
This was my first Academy Awards Telecast that I’d ever seen from this side of North America. Since it is broadcast live, the show starts here at 5 on Sunday, and ends around 9:30. Apart from Jon Stewart doing a fine job (although I’ve noticed that critics seem to already be piling on their cries of disappointment — gee, that didn’t take long), the biggest impression this time shift made on the whole affair was that it felt far more like another big telecast that takes place on a Winter Sunday, roughly from 5 to 9, has a lot of guessing about who the winners would be and has expensive commercials: The Super Bowl! Next year, I think I want to do an Oscar party. Especially if I’ve seen any of the films that were nominated or won (which I hadn’t, this year), and especially if one of the nominees was shot in Vancouver. Statistically, there’s a good chance of that, since so many movies are shot here.
This leads me to my last thought: Is there a Vancouver Movie Drinking Game? (i.e. If you recognize and get agreement that the current shot is from North Vancouver looking at the skyline, take one shot, etc.) Help me folks, because I’d hate to be the one who came up with that one. Thank goodness that office centre (the converted cathedral) in Toronto that shows up in every mid to low budget Science Fiction (Tekwar, Land of the Dead, Mutant X) movie and series since 1985 is not not here or we’d all end up with alcohol poisoning.