Archive for ‘October, 2008‘

I did it. I took the plunge, and now you can find me YouTube Music. Come see …

… the composer …

… the budding DJ …

… and the romantic. (Har har.)

Towards the end of summer, I was walking around the Commercial Drive area when I found this truck parked outside a house:

I’ll leave you folks to interpret it, but I wouldn’t want to be around while they’re on duty.

Yesterday, I threw out a question on Facebook via status update: “Hey Vancouverites, where’s the best #sushi in town?”

18 replies between 15 people; I think I set some sort of new record. Suffice to say, I’m very happy with my new list of places to eat. Looks like Yum! Vancouver is going to be Japanese-heavy when it launches. (On that note, if you’re down for food blogging, I’m looking for people to join me for dinner on Yum! Vancouver outings. Leave a comment at the bottom of this post if you’re interested!)

Thank you sushi for bringing us all together, and thank you to everyone for all your suggestions!

P.S. Kenta, Frances and I are going to pwn your fridge.

Edit (2008/10/24): Updated the list with addresses, Twitter suggestions, and personal favorites. Thanks for the prod to put the list together, Michelle! Got more? Leave them in the comments with their website and address and I’ll add them to the list!

• Sushi Garden – 4635 Kingsway in Burnaby. (Thanks, Christian! P.S. Sushi Town at 5935 Hastings Street is their sister restaurant.)
• Kenta’s House – Somewhere in North Vancouver (Sorry, Kenta’s mom.)
• Sushi Yama – 371 East Broadway in Vancouver (Thanks, Peter!)
• Tanpopo – 1122 Denman in Downtown Vancouver. (Thanks, Gabe! All-you-can-eat sashimi’s not bad in my experience, but haven’t been back in a while.)
• Samurai Japanese Restaurant – 6428 Fraser in Vancouver or at 1108 Davie in Downtown. (Thanks, Steve! I <3 Robot Unicorn.)
• Honjin Sushi – 140 Lonsdale in North Vancouver and 138 Davie Street in Yaletown (Thanks, Veronica! Your family restaurant, no?)
• Tojo’s Restaurant – 1133 West Broadway in Vancouver (Thanks, Richard and Raul!)
• Tora Renbo – On 8191 Park Road in Richmond (Thanks again, Richard!)
• Ajisai – 2081 West 42nd Ave in Vancouver (Thanks, Janet!)
• Kaide – 1375 Richards Street in Vancouver (Thanks, Andrei!)
• Ebei – 5901 Granville Street in Vancouver (Thanks, Frances! Though … I didn’t really enjoy this spot that much. Typical all-you-can-eat fare with sub-par service.)
• The Eatery – 3431 West Broadway in Vancouver (Thanks, Marc! This place looks crazy. Can’t wait to try it!)
• Kishu Mountain – 805 West Broadway in Vancouver (Thanks again, Raul!)
• Sushi Maro – 220 Davie Street in Downtown Vancouver (Thanks a third time, Raul!)
• Sushi Mori – 4740 Capilano Road in North Vancouver (A personal favourite introduced by Ms. Jay Lee. Authentic Japanese found on your way up to Grouse Mountain. Post-snowboarding sushi, anyone?)

No, that’s no typo; I’ve got to compete with a Korean R&B singer. Worse for me is that J Lim (Lim Jeong Hee) will be making her imminent debut North American on shores under JYP Entertainment, just like BoA’s entry under SM Entertainment USA.

J Lim has been dubbed the Korean Alicia Keys because of her vocal prowess. Hearing her first hand, I’m hard pressed to disagree. From a talent and stylistic perspective, she is extremely similar. JYP made the right choice in sending J Lim as the forerunner; she’s fluent, and she sounds just like the talent we already have.

What do you guys think? Who will win out: BoA, J Lim, or both?

Just came back from October’s Third Tuesday Vancouver. Mhairi Petrovic led a great conversation on introducing social media to traditional marketers, and Miss 604 put together a successful food drive for Food Bank. But my highlight of the night? The best t-shirt EVER.

Two Wordpress t-shirts were given out tonight. I didn’t get one, but the good David Drucker did and kindly donated his to me. I don’t need to tell you guys I love it. Thanks, David!

Asian artists have been trying to break into the North American market for a while now, the two most notable being Hikaru Utada of Japan and Coco Lee of China. Hikaru made the jump with Exodus (2005), only to reach the modest #160 spot in the US Billboard 200 chart. Lee however saw brighter lights with her albums Just No Other Way (1999) and Exposed (2005, #1 HMV Music Charts), which may be attributed to a number of movie placements. However, neither saw the longevity or the mass popularity seen by local artists. On September 2nd, 2008, SM Entertainment decided to change that.

Under their new American branch, SM Entertainment USA, SM Entertainment is taking a stab at mainstream music with their long-time ubertalent, BoA. Will she succeed? I really, REALLY hope so. Hit the video for the Asia version of her debut song, Eat You Up:

Production wise, it’s similar to our homegrown material. Four on the floor beat with stutters thrown in for good measure. Massive, fat “womp-womp” saws alternating between kicks. Catchy hook. Nonsensical, vocoded lyrics. A little poppy, but it sounds about right, no?

I love it, but I’m biased; I have a ton of BoA albums reaching way back to the start of her career, so I have a lot invested in her success. As people who may not have been exposed to her earlier work, what do you guys think?

P.S. Thanks Lindsey Le for making the introduction. Always Loyal, Always Lindsey Le – the new fragrance from Jeremy Lim.