Vancouver TheatreSports League hosts the 24th annual St. Valentine’s Day Massacre – an international improv tournament of epic proportions. Hosting teams from as far away as Paris, this promises to be the best St. Val Massacre yet. Hold onto your seat as teams compete head-to-head! Come and experience styles of improv from across the globe.

Vancouver TheatreSports League is improv comedy – everything you see onstage is made up on the spot. It’s an interactive entertainment experience as the players ask for audience suggestions to create their scenes.  They’ll usually invite an audience member up onstage.

Tips for first-timers?

• Relax – Nobody gets picked on, or called up onstage, who doesn’t want to – there are plenty of audience members who gladly offer up suggestions, or get onstage.
• Enjoy – Vancouver TheatreSports has some of the best talent in the industry – many of their performers have been involved in improv since its rise to popularity in the 80s.  For example, Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie of Whose Line Is It Anyway are both alumni of TheatreSports.

St. Valentine’s Day Massacre pits world-class improv teams from across the continent and around the world against each other – resulting in some of the craziest, most hilarious improvised comedy ever seen!  Follow your favourite team as they duel their way to the final match. Joining the winners of the Vancouver competition are visiting teams from Austin,Bellingham,Chicago, Seattle, and Paris, France. Then, come and see them compete to be the last team standing in the Final Massacre!

Tickets are as affordable as $8.75 for students and $11.75 for adults.  For show times, information and ticket sales see www.vtsl.com

MMV Giveaway:  Modern Mix Vancouver is giving away two pairs of tickets to the performance of St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.  Leave a comment below telling us who you’d bring with you to the improv show and a random winner will be chosen from the comments below.  Be sure to leave your email address so we can contact you if you’re a winner.  Contests ends Saturday January 28th (11:59pm PST).  Open to BC address only (how are you going to make it to the show if you’re from out of town?).

For additional entries, you can do the following things;

• For a second entry: Follow @ModernMixVan on Twitter and tweet “I want to win a pair of @VanTheatreSport tix to St. Valentine’s Day Massacre from @ModernMixVan http://bit.ly/yvw5Qq RT to enter!”
• For a third entry: “Like” the Modern Mix Vancouver Page on Facebook and post on the wall “I want to win a pair of Vancouver TheatreSport tickets to St. Valentine’s Day Massacre from Modern Mix Vancouver”
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Every January for 18 years, Liberty Wine Merchants hosts a fundraising event to start the bar high for the new year. Liberty is once again recruiting British Columbia’s finest food and beverage purveyors for Taste BC: a fundraiser for the BC Children’s Hospital’s Oak Tree Clinic.

BC Children’s Hospital’s Oak Tree Clinic provides specialized HIV care for infected women, pregnant women, partners, children and youth, and support services for affected families.  This event has raised a collective total of $186,336.00 since 1995 to benefit the Oak Tree Clinic.

Modern Mix Vancouver was there in 2009 and had enjoyed going from booth to booth, learning about new wines, sampling food pairings and bidding on silent auction items.    This year’s 18th annual celebration of local food and drink takes place January 24, 2012 (4:30-7:30 p.m.) at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Vancouver. Guests will taste, sip and experience BC’s finest wine, beer and spirits accompanied by tasty fare from local restaurants. Along with excellent food and drink, attractions include live music, door prizes, and a silent auction that rivals any other. Silent auction items include luxury items, local experience packages, destination packages and delicious products made by British Columbia’s own.

Tickets are $49.99 and available at Liberty Wine Merchant stores.

MMV Giveaway:  Modern Mix Vancouver is giving away a pair of will-call tickets to Taste BC.  Leave a comment below telling us your favourite wine and a random winner will be chosen from the comments below.  Be sure to leave your email address so we can contact you if you’re a winner.  Contests ends Sunday January 22nd.  

For additional entries, you can do the following things;

• For a second entry: Follow @ModernMixVan on Twitter and tweet “I want to win a pair of tickets to @taste_BC from @ModernMixVan http://bit.ly/ylLWkc RT to enter!”
• For a third entry: “Like” the Modern Mix Vancouver Page on Facebook and post on the wall “I want to win a pair of tickets to Taste BC from Modern Mix Vancouver! http://bit.ly/ylLWkc” 

Want to be a design star? $1,000 is up for grabs! Be Remarkable (a BC-based Facebook Page by the Credit Unions of BC) want you to show off your BC community pride for a chance to win $1,000 and have your design worn by people all across BC. Contest ends January 5, 2012 and is open to residents of BC who are 19+.  For more information and design specs, click here.

Just in time for the holiday season, Scent Society will be giving away 12 full-sized bottles of fragrances as part of their GIft & Win contest. From December 9 to 20, you may enter daily to win on the Scent Society Facebook Page.  Fragrances you can win from Scent Society include many products (or related products) that have previously been featured on Modern Mix Vancouver, including Marc Jacobs Oh, Lola!, Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau So Fresh, Calvin Klein Euphoria and Chloe Love. Good luck!

• Espresso: Freshly ground 100% Arabica beans in their purest, sweetest, most intense form.
• Americano: A coffee made with espresso and hot water. For the coffee lover with a stronger taste palette.
• Latte: Freshly ground espresso, frothed up steamed milk, with a thick layer of foam on top.
• Cappuccino: Made with freshly ground espresso, cappuccinos are equal parts steamed milk and thick foam providing a stronger espresso flavor than a latte.
• Mocha : Steamed 2% or skim milk mixed with rich espresso, chocolate syrup, real whipped cream and chocolate powder on top.
• Deluxe Hot Chocolate: Freshly steamed milk and velvety chocolate syrup topped off with real whipped cream and chocolate powder.

By Kenneth Law, Modern Mix Vancouver writer

Modern Mix Vancouver was generously offered to partake and review the River Rock Casino and its buffet through the lens of a blogger who really isn’t into gambling.  The BC Lottery Corporation wants to convey the message that casinos are not just venues for gambling, but also offer a variety of entertainment options to attract wider audiences.  Recent brochures for the River Rock have been increasingly focused more towards its newly opened hotel, lounge and theater showings, various dining facilities and conference centers, broadening the scope with which their patrons can spend their time. I recently gave the River Rock’s casino and buffet a shot and left away very satisfied with the buffet, but had no desire to gamble any further.

The River Rock is the largest casino in BC and is well served by public transportation and ample parking space. Relatively newly built and opened since 2004, its interior décor, design and ambiance are comfortable and welcoming with nice touches of wood trim, and there are a plethora of slot machines and table games to fill the large space.

As a non-gambler by nature, being given a slot play credit meant I would quickly spin a few rounds to satiate my curiosity before cashing out. I was able to squeeze 20 minutes out of there and managed to only lose $10 and was still kept reasonably entertained with good company, but overall I would say the slots aren’t an “acquired taste” – you either find them fun or you don’t, and I am clearly in the latter half of that. Without the confidence to partake in table games either, the gambling aspect of my tour was short and did not particularly inspire me to go back again to gamble.

The buffet was a different story. Entrance to the restaurant is by way of a large curving staircase, and once you are inside you are meticulously (for buffet standards) taken care of by staff. Food quality was very acceptable with a variety of eastern and western cuisines; highlights included the Dungeness crab, seafood cioppino and the best chow mein I have ever had anywhere. With pacing I lasted 2 hours in there and went away very satisfied.

For the River Rock and the BCLC to better enhance the experience of those who do not necessarily or particularly enjoy gambling, offering entertaining packages that include the buffet, some theatre showings and perhaps some of the hotel’s spa offerings would have people excited to come to the casino, giving them reasons to tag along if their friends or partners were busily indulging themselves at a poker tournament or on a blackjack table. For the time being, one lucky reader will get to try out (or revisit) the buffet at the casino.  See below for contest details.

MMV Contest:  Modern Mix Vancouver is giving away a dining voucher for two at The Buffet at River Rock Casino.  Leave a comment below telling us who you’d bring with you to the buffet and why, if you won the prize.  A random winner will be chosen from a comments below. Please be sure to leave your email address so we can contact you if you’re a winner.  BC entries only please (how are you going to go to the buffet if you are far away?!). Contest ends on Sunday November 27th (noon PST).

To up your odds (casino pun, ha ha) with additional entries, you can do the following things;

• For a second entry: Follow @ModernMixVan on Twitter and tweet “I want to win a buffet meal for two @riverrockcasino from @ModernMixVan. http://bit.ly/tNDov1 RT to enter!“
• For a third entry: “Like” the Modern Mix Vancouver Page on Facebook and post on the wall “I want to win a buffet meal for two at River Rock Casino from Modern Mix Vancouver!“

This year is Make It! The Handmade Revolution will be at the Croatian Cultural Centre (3250 Commercial Drive)and will be their biggest show EVER.  Come by November 24th to 27th for awesome handmade goodness ranging from clothing, accessories, art, jewellery, gourmet treats, and tons of other great stuff. There are over a 120 designers from all over Canada.  These same designers have also donated items for a Make It! silent auction in support of Union Gospel Mission.  In addition to handmade goods, there will be local bands performing live all weekend long as well as a licensed bar.  Think of it as a craft show party.   Make It is the largest indie fashion and art event of its kind on Canada with biannual shows in Edmonton and Vancouver.  Admission is $5 – pay once, and shop for four days.  Hope you can “make it”!

MMV Contest:  In support of Make It!, Modern Mix Vancouver will be giving away five pairs of free admission tickets for this event.  All you have to do is comment below and let us know why you think handmade goods are awesome.  Be sure to include your email address so we can contact you if you’re a winner.  Five random winners will be drawn on November 18th – your tickets will be at will-call under your name. 

For more information about Make It!, check this video out:

Earlier this year, international jewelry retailer Thomas Sabo launched its first shop in Vancouver (its 4th in Canada) at Oakridge Centre.  Best known for its sterling silvery jewelry pieces, one of the more youthful collections is the Thomas Sabo Charm Club.  I’ve always beem a fan of the versitility of charms as a jewelry accessory.  I like how you are able to pick and choose and customize your jewelry with your own choice of charms, and choose charms based on their meaning and significance to you.  Within the Thomas Sabo Charm Club collection, there’s also a diverse range of bracelets, necklaces and watches for you to wear your charms on.  I like the plain simpleness of the sterling silver chain bracelet (see images below), but you can also purchase bracelets made of pearls or silk or beads.

Here are some highlights from their Fall/Winter 2011 collection:

Pearls for Girls: Love the simple black enamel, sterling silver and pearl combination on these charms.  All the charms in this collection are dainty and lady-like, with charms including black-tipped ballet flats, the Eiffle Tower with a pearl adornment, a handbags, bow and ring.

Falling in Love in Fall: This collection is more festive with shades of autumn – red and orange enamel highlighting symbollic charms like a smiling jack-o-lantern and different variety of leaves; some adorned with jewels and others left in plain sterling silver.

Nature Loves Elegance Too: Pick one of these animal-themed charms for yourself or one of your pet-loving friends.  The charms in the collection range from sterling silver felines to more exotic animals like pandas and penguins.

MMV Contest:  Modern Mix Vancouver is giving away THREE sets of a trio of Thomas Sabo Charm Club charms from their Fall/Winter 2011 collection.  Leave a comment below telling me why you want to win a trio of charms from the Thomas Sabo Charm Club fall/winter 2011 collection.  THREE random winners will be chosen from the comments below.  Please be sure to leave your email address so we can contact you if you’re a winner.  This contest is open to Canadian postal mailing addresses only.   Contest ends on Friday November 25th (noon PST).

To up your odds with additional entries, you can do the following things;

• For a second entry: Follow @ModernMixVan on Twitter and tweet “I want to win a set of @ThomasSaboCDN F/W 2011 charms from @ModernMixVan. http://bit.ly/rNO5Lm RT to enter!“
• For a third entry: “Like” the Modern Mix Vancouver Page on Facebook and post on the wall “I want to win a set of charms from the Thomas Sabo Fall/Winter 2011 collection from Modern Mix Vancouver!“

Charm sets in the giveaway will include at least one of the following charms:

For more information about Thomas Sabo Canada:

• Website: ThomasSabo.com
• Twitter: @ThomasSaboCDN
• Facebook: Thomas Sabo Canada

Admission (save $2 online!) – your initial ticket purchase entitles you to unlimited re-entry on any day of the 2011 show. Please pick up and validate your re-entry pass as you exit. Offer is non-transferable, and applies to ticket purchaser only.

• Adults $12 @ door or $10 online
• Students $10 @ door or $8 online
• Seniors $10 @ door or $8 online
• 2 for 1 adults after 5pm on Wed & Thurs ONLY – $12

Spend on Trend was one of the more memorable articles I wrote in my first year of running Modern Mix Vancouver.  It was one of my first times actually working with a PR company (Nicole Stewart PR) to get relevant, local information about an event to my readers.  Because of this, I always try to make an effort to write a few lines promoting this great local arts/fashion/design market and support the Vancouver artists who will be participating in this fair.

This September, Spend on Trend is back for its 8th edition show at Main Street’s Heritage Hall (3102 Main Street).  “Our designers really wanted the show to return to Heritage Hall,” says Fiona Louie,  one half of Spend on Trend’s two-person production team and also the owner of Filou Designs. “Main Street is the stomping ground for many designers and we love the Main Street crowd. We are very happy to be back!”

This fall event is a great way to preview the collections of over 25 local artists, before upcoming collections hit the retail stores.  This shopping event will include fan favourites like Elroy, Filou, Toodlebunny, and Clutch Jewels, along with noteworthy newcomers like Bueno Style, Brooklyn Designs, L’arbre Love, and Piknic Designs. For a full list of designers at Spend on Trend this September, click here.

So get ready to shop the latest collections at Spend on Trend on September 16 (5-9pm), September 17 (11am-6pm), and September 18 (11am-5pm). Admission is $5 and tickets can be pre-purchased at spendontrend.com or at the door. Be sure to get there early! The first 25 people in line each day will receive a stylish swag bag. A portion of proceeds benefit the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.