WEEKENDER | PNE Fair x Pacific National Exhibition x Hastings Park

Hastings–Sunrise—(August 15, 2019) Those dog days of summer means it's almost time for the PNE Fair (formerly "The Fair at the PNE") opening this weekend at the Pacific National Exhibition's festival fairgrounds on Hastings Park.

CINEMA | 'Blinded by the Light' Belongs to Springsteen

"Is a dream a lie that don't come true or is it something worse?"

I ugly cried hard during the end of Blinded by the Light. Bend It Like Beckham filmmaker Gurinder Chadha brings the joy of discovering Bruce Springsteen's classic rock anthems based on British-Pakistani journalist Sarfraz Manzoor's real-life story and memoir Greetings from Bury Park. Mixed with those working-class New Jersey songs by the Boss is a universal immigrant story of clashing with strict family ideals during economic turmoil.

GRUB | Katsu Curry x Saku Tonkatsu x Fairview Slopes

Fairview Slopes—(July 28, 2019) Saku, the very popular Japanese tonkatsu house known for its trademark deep fried breaded pork cutlets (loin or fillet) and set meals, officially opened its second, already bustling new location on West Broadway near Cambie Village recently after a long soft opening period.

CINEMA | 'Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw' Overloads

"He really is Black Superman."

By far the unequivocal highlight of the otherwise overstuffed and overloaded Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is not its titular stars Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham or even the megalomaniacal cyborg villain played by the sexy Idris Elba but Vanessa Kirby's undeniable charisma on screen.

SCREEN | Naomi Watts and Tim Roth Adopt 'Luce'

"America put you in a box."

Nigerian-American filmmaker Julius Onah's adaptation of J.C. Lee's provocative 2013 Off-Broadway stageplay is a thrillingly dramatic and complex exploration of social prejudice interested in idealized societal expectations of young people of colour in America. Luce uses flawed but layered characters to interrogate its speculative racial themes in intriguing fashion.

FEAST | Greek to Me x Hydra Estiatorio Mediterranean x EXchange Hotel

Financial District—(July 18, 2019) Vancouver's newest Greek-inspired restaurant Hydra Estiatorio Mediterranean & Bar (pronounced: HEE-dra), located inside the EXchange Hotel Vancouver and named after the culinary island in the Aegean Sea, opened recently to much fanfare in the heart of the downtown core.

CINEMA | Tarantino's Golden Age – 'Once Upon A Time in… Hollywood'

"I'm as real as a doughnut, motherf*cker!"

Artful sometimes controversial cinematic auteur Quentin Tarantino's much-ballyhooed ninth, possibly penultimate film is a bittersweet love letter to old Hollywood's apparent innocence and purity. Once Upon A Time in… Hollywood continues the idiosyncratic filmmaker's latest string of revisionist historical fiction as a nostalgic coda to the 1960s long bygone era of counterculture in the vein of a melancholic hangout flick.

SCREEN | Marc Maron Wields the 'Sword of Trust'

Talented Seattle-based indie filmmaker Lynn Shelton returns to her always endearing, signature method of loose, semi-improvisational storytelling for her latest slice of life comedy, Sword of Trust. Starring her frequent collaborator and muse, surly comedian turned podcaster/interviewer Marc Maron, the film invests fully in its cast for a charming, shaggy-dog misadventure.

FEAST | Lobster Pasta x Pepino's Spaghetti House x East Van

Grandview–Woodland—(June 24, 2019) After a delightful original visit and much praise during its busy, much-hyped opening last year, we returned to Pepino's Spaghetti House, the classical feeling yet elevated Italian-American "red sauce" ristorante on Commercial Drive, just ahead of its first anniversary after taking over the space originally occupied by Nick's.