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Vancouver NewsMadonna is coming to Vancouver!
photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/su-may/206412770/ The Material Girl is finally coming to Vancouver for the first time! The ‘Sticky and Sweet’ tour comes to BC Place October 30th. Her latest album ‘Hard Candy’, debuted at number one in Canada and the US. Tickets go on sale May 24th. You should start saving your money now because prices range from $55 to $350. Break-in at Vancouver zoo leaves one monkey dead, one missing…
She says the male monkey, known as Jocko, was killed and the female monkey, Mia, is missing. Henderson is not sure if Mia has been stolen or if she escaped during the incident. Henderson says zoo officials have no idea who is behind the break-in and they are appealing for help in finding the missing monkey which is brown, about 45 centimetres high, with a long tail and steel-blue eyes. If Mia is spotted, Henderson says she should not be picked up because she’s likely very agitated and has sharp teeth. The mystery of the missing monkey is no closer to being solved. At the Greater Vancouver Zoo, visitors have been leaving cards and flowers. There is one monkey missing and another dead, after someone cut into their enclosure, and mounties say this defies logic. Yesterday some saddened young visitors at the zoo were leaving tokens, like a card or flowers, on the fence. It’s the start of a memorial for zoo favourites Jocko and Mia, the spider monkeys. Staff are devastated, and the animal care manager at the zoo is quoted in this morning’s 24 Hours newspaper as saying Jocko the male probably died trying to protect his territory and mate of 15 years, from misguided thieves. Trauma is the most likely cause of death and a necropsy will be done to figure that out. Mia would likely have returned quickly if she had left the cage on her own. THe RCMP says there are any number of possibilities. Mia may be going to the black market or she may end up as an exotic pet . Greater Vancouver real estate news
Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/vancouvergo/2453764458/ Sales edged down and new listings took another big jump during April in Greater Vancouver’s real estate markets, although so-called benchmark prices remain higher than they did a year ago, according to real estate board figures. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reported 3,218 sales through the Multiple Listings Service, a five-per-cent decline from the same month a year ago. New listings added to inventory were up almost 26 per cent to 7,010, although board president Dave Watt, in a news release, said homes, on average, took six fewer days to sell than in April of last year. “Residential sales continue to be strong, but there is a lot more choice on the market today,” Watt added. The benchmark price of what is considered to be a typical detached home on the board’s housing price index was $771,321, up 11 per cent from April a year ago. For townhouses, the $477,900 benchmark price was up 1.05 per cent from a year ago. For condominiums, the benchmark was $389,070, up 9.6 per cent a year ago but down slightly from the previous month. Average prices for detached homes and apartments, however, were both down from the previous month. In April, the average detached home across the region was $880,844 in April compared with $919,593 in March. The April average for townhouse prices was $509,809, down slightly from $510,428 in March. Vancouver aiming to be City of Literature
Photo from http://flickr.com/photos/mag3737/723480235/ Vancouver is gunning to be named the second UNESCO City of Literature, after Edinburgh was named as the first in 2005. It’ll have to beat out competition from Amsterdam, Alexandria, and Krakow. Alma Lee, founder of the Vancouver International Writers Festival, is spearheading the campaign, with the help of representatives from the Association of Book Publishers of B.C., the University of B.C., Simon Fraser University, Tourism B.C., and, naturally, Douglas Coupland. Thousands smoke pot in Vancouver for ‘420′
Photo from http://flickr.com/photos/mohansandhu/492614596/ The smell of pot was in the air as thousands assembled on the lawn of the Vancouver Art Gallery for a collective toke. It was a grass-roots celebration of the freedom to smoke marijuana on April 20 — known as ‘420′ among pot users as the time to get high. Amid the tents, the music and, barely seen through the smoke — were messages on signposts by organizers about legalization of marijuana. “2008 was the biggest 420 event in Vancouver with nearly 10,000 people taking part over the course of the day,” said organizer Jodie Joanna Emery, the wife of “Prince of Pot” Marc Emery. There are many myths behind the origins of the phrase ‘420′ as slang for a time to smoke up. The event shares a date with the birthday of Adolf Hitler, and the high school shootings in Columbine, Colorado. But according to High Times Magazine, 420 originated in a San Francisco high school in the early 1970s as the time detention ended. One group of kids — known as the “Waldos” — coined the term because they could use it to talk about smoking weed after school without the teachers knowing what it meant. The term caught on when it circulated among Grateful Dead fans in the 1980s, and by 1997, about 50 marijuana activists set up on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery to show the world they could smoke pot. Since then the event has grown to hundreds of pot smokers milling about on the Vancouver Art Gallery lawn each year. From http://www.ctvbc.ca What’s happening at Earth Day Vancouver 2008?Native Plant Sale Visitors have the opportunity to learn about and purchase native plants that they can take home, taking up in a small way some local stewardship and helping to re-establish these plants in their native habitat. Nature Tours Community Mandala and Theatre Performances Led by the Secret Lantern Society, participants may build a Community Mandala or take part in participatory theatre performances throughout the park. Special activities for children, such as face-painting and interactive theatre, take place on-site. Pedal-Powered Puppet Stage An all-day entertainment extravaganza of participatory puppetry… sign up to present your own 10-minute puppet play, or ride the bikes to power the p.a. Children’s Program Kids have the chance to learn about indigenous ecosystems and develop ecological awareness, plant their own miniature vegetable gardens to take home, as well as participate in interactive games that have urban sustainability themes lead by environmental educators. Eco-Fair Non-profit environmental organizations and local innovators will exhibit and showcase their work, providing information on reducing our ecological footprint. Starbucks Green Coffee Service Bring your own mug, and Starbucks will fill it up… for a donation to Evergreen. Bicycle Valet Parking Bike to Jericho and enjoy supervised bike parking (donations encouraged), courtesy of Better Environmentally Sound Transportation. Earth Day Stage An eclectic high-energy lineup produced by the Vancouver Folk Music Festival and emceed by DJ Timothy Wisdom, the “Best Party Rockin’ DJ in Vancouver” 1:30pm Wild Moccasin Dancers: First Nations dance, song and drum troupe 2:15pm Dyad: Vancouver trio dig deep into the folk song and instrumental traditions of Appalachia, re-invented for the 21st century listener 3:00pm Kunaka: Eleven talented artists ages 11 to 14, perform joyful marimba music inspired by the Shona traditions of Zimbabwe and fused with contemporary rhythms. 4:00pm Tambura Rasa A multicultural mix of Gypsy violin, Flamenco guitar, African percussion and Middle Eastern rhythms, with a dash of flamenco dancing just for fun. |
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RCMP are searching for a suspect after someone broke into an enclosure at the Greater Vancouver Zoo and killed one of the resident monkeys. Zoo spokeswoman Jodi Henderson says someone broke into the spider monkey enclosure early this morning.
