Six months of planning, almost 1,000 volunteers and four takes amounted to one viral video that has attracted more than 400,000 views since being posted on YouTube Friday.
University of B.C. students Andrew Cohen and Bijan Ahmadian masterminded the lip-dub video where a roving camera follows the lead of singing and dancing students through a massive air-band performance to songs by Marianas Trench and Pink around the Vancouver campus.
The performance follows the University of Victoria’s video set to Michael Buble’s Haven’t Met You Yet that has drawn more than 219,000 views since its September release.
“Just saying UVic had 900 people come out definitely helped us with our numbers,” Cohen explained Monday. “It’s definitely a friendly rivalry … well, not a rivalry necessarily, but definitely, a little brotherly competition never hurt anybody.”
Vancouver Coun. Suzanne Anton will take Gregor Robertson to task when city council next convenes over a growing perception city staff is bending to whims of the mayor’s financial backers.
Donor Joel Solomon urged non-partisan city staffer Sadhu Johnston to lure to Vancouver, Salt Spring Coffee – financed by his firm Renewal Partners, according to emails obtained by QMI.
When informed of the correspondence, Anton chastised Robertson for installing a new system at city hall “where there’s less distinction between the political and the staff.”
“I think it is completely inappropriate for the mayor’s largest backer to have what seems to be an intimate access to staff,” she said. “There is a very close relationship here between the funders and their man in City Hall, Mayor Robertson.”
They arrived anxious and hungry.
“We had prepped for hour and hours and when Saturday rolled around at 10 a.m. eight people showed up and we fed them,” Malloreigh Hamilton recalled of that January morning. “Then at 11 a.m. another eight people showed up and we fed them.”
But the opening wasn’t for a restaurant. Rather, the 25-year-old converted her modest 400-square-foot East Vancouver apartment into the city’s latest underground eatery, collecting a $10 donation per plate.
It’s a growing enterprise that has caught the eye of health officials and raised a debate about whether inspectors belong in the personal dining rooms of the people like Hamilton.
The "F--k Yoga" button had to go before Transit Police would allow Jean Wharf to board a SkyTrain home.
The 21-year-old barista was stopped at Nanaimo Station for fare evasion on a January night. When Wharf returned to the westbound platform after purchasing a ticket, the same officer asked her to remove the anti-yoga pin. She said no, and was yanked by the arm off the train.
"This wasn't about the fare," Wharf told QMI. "This wasn't about the pin. This was about an exercise of power and I'm not going to be anybody's rag doll to throw around."
Wharf found no satisfaction when the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner rejected her grievance against the officer, as the body found he acted within TransLink policy, which prevents the use of obnoxious behaviour or language on public transit.
A man stood at the dairy display of a west-side grocery store and casually placed a brick of cheese into his basket - and then another, and another, and another.
In the blink of the eye, the basket was brimming with the orangey gold. Taking his pungent plunder to the vacant household goods isle, he quickly stuffed it into a rolling briefcase. With his stash secure, the man headed back for more. This time, however, a security guard stepped in to stop the bold caper.
Though it was unclear where the loot was bound, artisan cheese shop owner Allison Spurrell of Les Amis du Fromage had her suspicions. Apparently, cheese thievery is part of Vancouver's culture.
"I live in the Downtown Eastside and it's pretty common to see people hocking cheese all over the place," she said. "You used to be able to buy cheese at the American Hotel three or four years ago.
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A local model at the centre of a storm over sexy pics to promote Vancouver's soon-to-debut soccer team is baffled by the controversy.
Images of a body-painted Andrea Stefancikova began popping up in newspaper advertisements and on billboards to promote the Vancouver Whitecaps FC home opener Saturday, the team's MLS debut. An accompanying YouTube video detailing the photo shoot was released shortly after.
QMI received a letter from community advocate Sandy Garossino who said the campaign was an insult to women and sport.
"I understand people can agree or disagree, but every photo [or] advertisement or painting [or] artistic creation has to evoke some emotions," Stefancikova said. "That is the whole purpose.
"And I think it looks great - the fact that it is a bit racy is good because it's different and definitely very eye-catching."
Premier-designate Christy Clark juggled the responsibilities of a working mother her first day on the job.
"Work started today," British Columbia's premier mom said Sunday outside Trout Lake Rink where her son, Hamish, was the starting goalie for the Vancouver Thunderbirds in an Atom A4 playoff game. "I was up at 6 o'clock this morning."
Clark narrowly rose to power over rival Kevin Falcon one night earlier on the third ballot of the B.C. Liberal leadership vote, in which 60,000-plus members participated.
Between attending meetings and worship at church, the ex-deputy premier said she had already begun leafing through transition binders to prepare her for the position of premier.
Falun Gong practitioners went to Vancouver City Hall Wednesday to file an application to have their protest hut restored outside the Chinese Embassy on Granville Street near West 16th Avenue.
An October B.C. Court of Appeal ruling found a city order to remove the makeshift enclosure and surrounding signs unconstitutional as it violated privileges of political protest and free speech guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
"This is the first application for the use of structures to implement political expression," said Clive Ansley, attorney for the spiritual group.
The old structure prominently featured graphic images of alleged victims in the People's Republic of China who were tortured, then had their organs harvested. Falun Gong spokeswoman Sue Zhang said it was possible similar images would again be on display.
The victim in a case of so-called mistaken identity plead for justice Wednesday at the conclusion of a nine-month Delta police investigation that exonerated two Vancouver police officers accused of using excessive force.
East Vancouver man Yao Wei Wu questioned the findings of Delta Chief Const. Jim Cessford who determined Consts. Nicholas Florkow and Bryan London acted within the rule of law when subduing Wu during a domestic violence call that came from a rental suite at the back of the victim's home on Jan. 21.
In the physical confrontation, Wu suffered a broken orbital bone when officers pulled him to the ground.
"Please tell me, from now on, if the police knocks at the door at midnight, should we open the door or not?" Wu asked through a translator. "For justice, and for vindication of myself, I will pursue this in court."
A senior was kidnapped at gunpoint, clubbed and then mugged all in Vancouver's West Side during a brazen robbery in broad daylight, police said.
The male victim, 69, was walking eastbound on the north side of the 2900 block of West Broadway on Aug. 17 around noon when two men approached him with a gun and shoved him into the cab of a newer-model black pickup truck driven by a woman.
The man was taken to the south lane in the 2700 block of West 13th Avenue where his captors used pepper-spray and struck him over the head with a metal pipe. The assailants then pushed the man out the truck and made off with his wallet.
Robbery investigators spent the past week trying to determine the motive behind the apparently random attack before making a public plea for information Monday.
Council cameras were off, but microphones were not when Mayor Gregor Robertson lashed out against speakers concerned over the composition of the West End community planning committee.
"Who are all these f--king ... who are these hacks man? Are they ... they NPA (Non-Partisan Association) hacks?" Robertson said to Coun. Tim Stevenson and Coun. Heather Deal as chambers were cleared during a break between late-night sessions Thursday.
Robertson, Stevenson and Deal went on to mock and laugh at the list of speakers who called for greater transparency in the selection of a 12-person committee that will advise council on rezoning the West End.
"God, we're just tryin' to have a little advisory committee, for f--k sakes," Robertson concluded.
For some Star Trek fans, the iconic science fiction series will always be worth watching for those clingy red velour miniskirts.
"Miniskirts were really short back in the 1960s and whenever the starship Enterprise got hit by a Klingon disruptor blast you'd always see miniskirts flying around," said Trekker Charles Bae.
But when pressed about why the Star Trek canon has endured for more than four decades, Bae, like thousands of others who will transport themselves to the Sheraton Wall Centre this weekend for a star-studded convention, believes the morality tale set in the future has stood the test of time.
"It paints a bright vision of the future," said the 3-D modeling student. "It inspires me to always dream big, to think of better ways to do things, and to play a role in the future that humanity has."
Summer’s hottest ticket lost its sizzle Sunday when tailgaters were forced to pack up their beers and barbecues before the BC Lions game.
Among a group of 30 to 40 die-hard tailgaters, life-long Lions fanatic Brian Wawryshyn was approached by PNE grounds staff and told he couldn’t fire up his grill because of safety concerns.
Minutes later, according to Wawryshyn, he received an e-mail sent from B.C. Lions stating tailgating would not be permitted at the parking lots that surround Empire Field this season.
“They have a chance to do something that happens all over North America that they don’t have a chance to do when the Lions are at B.C. Place,” said the unhappy blogger behind www.bclionsden.ca. “I can walk 100 yards and have a beer as long as I put money in the Lions pockets.”
The Vancouver School Board could close up to 10 schools in effort to balance its books, chairwoman Patti Bacchus said Thursday.
Bacchus couldn't say which schools would go as the board's management team must now assess present and potential enrollment numbers, potential revenue generated at each site and programs offered at the schools.
"It's not a simple decision and we have to consider where enrollment comes from. At this point I can't speculate forward," she said, adding staff would present a list of potential closures June 23.
All high schools citywide would likely remain open, she said.
Not a day old and the Dunsmuir bike lane had already proved bad for business, according to a downtown shopkeeper.
Minutes before Mayor Gregor Robertson officially opened the two-way protected lane for cyclists Tuesday morning, Igor Kivritsky, owner of HiFi Centre, told 24 hours he stands to lose more than $1 million in sales this year because westbound drivers are no longer permitted to make right turns on Seymour Street.
He added, deliverymen piloting five-tonne trucks must double as stunt drivers to navigate a "teeny tiny" divide in the barrier that allows access to an alley which his Seymour Street shop backs out on.
"Our genius mayor made it difficult for our clients to get here," charged the high-end electronics retailer. "He just sits there with his big smile and says, 'Tough. This is what I want to do to advance my political career.'"
Inner-city school principals supported by a former Dean of Education claimed Wednesday the provincial government has failed to adequately fund schools.
The charge was made two days before the deadline for the Vancouver School Board to solve a $17 million budget shortfall and submit a balanced budget to the Education Minister based on hotly- debated recommendations made in a comptroller general's report.
"What [we are] left with is a top-down implementation of education in the province with a centralized form of governance that leaves other stakeholder groups with little voice," said SFU professor emeritus Paul Shaker.
Noel Herron, former principal of Strathcona Elementary School, expressed deep concern over the comptroller's suggestions to cut non-core programs such as junior kindergarten.
Foul play didn't cause the death of young woman found Saturday in Pacific Spirit Park, according to police.
"Based on the investigation at the scene, the physical condition of the deceased person along with preliminary findings of the autopsy we can confirm that we are not dealing with a homicide," Sgt. Peter Thiessen told reporters Monday. "The official cause of death is still pending toxicology reports."
The RCMP spokesman added investigators are close to positively identifying the woman as Sukching "Selina" Hui who was last seen at her home in the 7800 block of Knight Street in the afternoon of May 28.
Vancouver police said at the time, Hui was a "shy and reserved person" and her disappearance was "out of character".
Dunbar residents are reeling from a sense of deadly deja vu after a woman's body was discovered at Pacific Spirit Park.
Police swarmed the scene around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday and cordoned off a portion of forest and trail near Camosun Street and 33rd Avenue after the discovery, and removed the body Sunday afternoon.
Sgt. Peter Thiessen urged residents of the area not to draw parallels between the grisly discovery and the murder of Wendy Ladner-Beaudry, who was found dead April 3, 2009 inside the same park just eight blocks south of the current scene.
"The neighbourhood and the community may unduly and prematurely alarm themselves and create concern that may not be valid," the RCMP spokesman said. "We're not making any assumptions at this point and we're ruling nothing out."
Vancouver's own Martha Stewart of marijuana is making a compelling case for consuming cannabis.
Watermelon, best known for beating trafficking charges for selling sticky-icky ginger snap cookies at Wreck beach, is sharing her recipes with medicinal marijuana users through her Baking a Fool of Myself cooking show, which at first glance has more in common with Julia Child than Cheech and Chong.
The Commercial Drive resident explained her production makes marijuana accessible as a treatment for people living with illness, but are skittish about smoking their medicine.
"Food removes the stigma that we've all been inundated with for years," she said. "You have this old propaganda that lurks in the back of our minds that smoke has this bad connotation like, where there's smoke there's fire. It's just never good."