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On Sunday March 7, 2010, from 5pm to 10pm, OPUS Bar (350 Davie Street) and Elixir Bistro in Yaletown are celebrating the Oscars in style.

Feel like a celebrity as you walk the Red Carpet, wave to adoring paparazzi and step into the ultimate viewing party! Dress to impress and experience all the glitz and glamour of Hollywood while sipping Oscartini’s, nibbling feature Oscar O-bite platters for $25 and mingling with Vancouver’s glamorous while watching the 82nd Annual Academy Awards.

3 course Oscar Dinner available in Elixir Bistro for $30 with optional wine pairings for $20. Also, don’t miss your chance to win a Bed & Breakfast package for two at OPUS Hotel Vancouver, for the person with the most correct Oscar ballot predictions. RSVP to Jessica Dunn JDunn@opushotel.com.

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On Sunday March 7, 2010, grab some friends and head downtown to O Lounge (1054 Alberni Street) at COAST Restaurant and watch the Oscars’ festivities in Hollywood Style. Starting at 5pm, their new HD Projector and 2 large plasma screens will broadcast all of the glitz from the Kodak Theatre, live from Hollywood.

Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin host, while Chef Josh Wolfe prepares the finest and freshest oysters in town to go with your bubbly!! For the first time ever there are 10 movies in the running for best picture instead of the standard 5. Think you are a movie buff? Glowbal Group prizes and Gift Certificates given to the table with the closest predictions! Break out the Tuxes and Cocktail attire…we will be giving awards and prizes to the evening’s Best Dressed.

For your table reservations call 604.685.5010

Ladies, if your significant other has lately been glued to the TV screen for an hour each week, perhaps it could be that the 8th season of “24″ has begun! Now in its final season, some of you may be wondering what will be the next move for actor Kiefer Sutherland, who plays main character Jack Bauer.

In the new biography, “KIEFER SUTHERLAND: Living Dangerously”, author Christopher Heard shows that, before 24, Sutherland’s career was suffering because of his binge drinking and erratic behavior, and that he was far from the first choice for the role. Yet because of his unique life story, it was Sutherland alone who possessed the qualities to make the character of Bauer truly convincing.

For the first time readers learn the true story of how Sutherland took a break from Hollywood to rope steers on the rodeo circuit and how this actor, who has played so many celluloid cowboys, finally met the real thing-and how he stacked up. Although 24 has made Sutherland a very rich man, he has continued to behave erratically off-set, engaging in ever more serious exploits which culminated in his having to serve 6 weeks in jail in 2007.

Released in January 2010 by Transit Publishing, pick up your copy of “KIEFER SUTHERLAND: Living Dangerously” for $25.00 at your local bookstore!

Featuring over 50 local vendors, Got Craft? has something handmade for everybody on your list from clothing to jewelry to art to ceramics and home décor. This year, Got Craft? will be happening on Sunday December 6, from 11am to 5pm at the Royal Grandview Legion (2205 Commercial Drive at E. 6th Avenue). The first 30 people through the door will receive a free, re-useable swag bag packed full of goodies from all of our vendors. Admission is $2, kids are free.

Make It Vancouver is back again from November 20 to 22nd, this time at The Croatian Cultural Centre.

Our Vancouver show will feature almost 100 of the hottest, hippest and coolest designers in Western Canada! Because Make It is like a mullet; craft show in the front, party in the back we will have a bar and DJ Leanne spinning all weekend. This is the perfect place to shop, socialize and enjoy how darn talented emerging designers really are.

Click on the below graphic to print out the coupon for 2-for-1 admission to the event.

Here is the $2.00 OFF admission coupon for this year’s Circle Craft Christmas Market held November 11 – 15, 2009 under the sails at the Vancouver Convention Centre. Please print out this coupon and bring with you to the door for your ticket purchase. This offer is valid for one $2.00 discount per ticket.

Spend on Trend is back. Shop local at this Canadian designer event at the Scotiabank Dance Center (677 Davie Street at Granville) from Friday August 21st until Sunday August 23rd. Brands including Catalyst Reaction, Davie and Chiyo, Nate Organics, Togs Design, Filou Designs, Megan Kathryn, Two of Hearts and many more will be featured at this event. The first 25 people through the door each day will receive a gift bag which includes a copy of FASHION Magazine. Tickets at $5 and are available at the door. To read MMV’s recap of the event last year, click here.
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Also, congratulations to Jennifer Peters on winning tickets to Spend on Trend through Modern Mix Vancouver. Jennifer emailed in with her main reason for shopping local – “to find something unique and to support local arts and crafts”. Keep checking your email, Jennifer, and we will put you in touch with your pair of tickets!
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Spend on Trend was one of the first events I ever wrote about on Modern Mix Vancouver, and it was the friendly guidance and support from Nicole Stewart (the PR representative behind this event) which taught me a lot more about the local fashion and media industry.
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Now, Spend on Trend is back again and Modern Mix Vancouver readers can get first dibs on this trendy exhibition event, featuring Canadian designers and their arts, crafts, clothing, jewelry, accessories and more! From August 21-23, shoppers can head down to the Scotia Bank Dance Centre (677 Davie Street) to, quite literally, “spend on trend”. Tickets to this event are regularly $5 at the door, but one lucky MMV reader will have a chance to get postal-mailed a pair of tickets, directly to their door.
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All you have to do is email info@modernmixvancouver.com and tell me what your favorite reason for shopping local is! Submissions will be drawn at random and the winner will be notified in the first week of August!!
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For MMV’s media coverage of Spend on Trend 2008, click here.

…wide range of acts and an abundance of free shows, this year’s jazz festival failed to disappoint, living up to its reputation for being a perennially stellar event.

I had the opportunity to meet up with Jennifer Petersen, the Arts Umbrella special events director, who told me all about and got me excited for the upcoming Arts Umbrella (AU) Precious Element fundraiser event at Opus Hotel on Thursday June 25, 2009.

With the theme honoring the “Gold and Glamorous”, the event promises to be a decadent affair attended by Vancouver’s glitterati, see and be scensters and fashionable stylistas. Delectable canapés courtesy of Elixir bistro’s Executive Chef, Don Letendre will be enjoyed along with mouth-watering cocktails. Gold-painted goddesses dance to the beats of talented DJ’s Blondtron & Krown, and guests will go home with a bag full of sponsored goodies.

Other reasons you should go: a balloon fundraiser with guarenteed prizes, drink tickets with your ticket purchase, a charitable tax receipt issued for a portion of the $130 ticket price, and, of course, another reason to glam up! Word on the street, there will be spa professionals from a certain company (shhh) doing gold themed mini-manicures on the spot (details unconfirmed, but keep it on the downlow!). With mingling and entertainment on two floors of the hotel, DJs in two rooms, and gift bags well worth the ticket price, buy your ticket ASAP by clicking here.
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Arts Umbrella is located on Granville Island and provides the visual and performing arts education to the children of Vancouver, between the ages of 2 and 19. The mix of topics in visual, performing and applied arts education is also exceptionally diverse and includes, architecture, cartooning, computer and classical animation, dance, film making, media arts, painting and drawing, printmaking, photography, sculpture, theatre and video game design. The Granville Island facility alone hosts more than 650 classes each week. In addition, Arts Umbrella’s extensive, free-of-charge outreach programs offer arts experiences through schools and community centres in the surrounding community.
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