All of that snow made me homesick. For road salt. I'm currently in the middle of the rocky mountains, en route to Cowtown and feelin' a little disconnected. Either way, here's some notable news...

A $27,000 question. Wow... seems like a rhetorical question to me. But no, Mrs. Orr can't deny her children the 'once in a lifetime experience.' I remember being dragged by my family to the bobsleds when I was a youngster back in '88. I felt nothing but cold and confused.

More homeless have fallen victim to the weather; not really newsworthy without flames.

Gregor Robertson issues a statment on how you can help the homeless this winter. You can even start online.

Is Chilliwack's post-secondary pipe dream a zombie? I dunno, but it sure does sound like some serious fraud. "Nobody had any evil intent, but they just didn't do their homework." Yes, a PhD usually requires some homework. UN sponsorship a little more. Cmon' guys, not the kind of slow town we're looking for.

Beaches with edge: Vancouver makes Time Magazine's Top 10 of the Year

When a musical hinges on the conceit of a fourth-wall shattering lead character who lambasts the performances on stage for being corny, I feel like I've lost my hook for a review. But then I remember I'm writing on the internet, where each extraneous word is merely one lost reader. So I'll try and be as succinct as possible while I sing the praises of this year's holiday offering from the Playhouse, and leave the sarcasm to the writers of The Drowsy Chaperone.

Filled with the elaborate dancing and blaring brass that came to define Broadway in the '20s (and beyond), this Canadian-penned production-- billed as a "musical within a comedy" --laces all that extravagant cliché with some serious self-awareness, and is bound to appeal to diehard fans and mockers of musical theatre alike. If you're a Broadway cynic but still have a softspot for tap dancing and sequins, you couldn't wish for more than this affectionate parody...

City manager Judy Rogers has been ousted, and everyone has something to say about said ousting. I'll chime in once the word 'oust' has regained some semantic value for me. Gregor's thoughts on the whole ordeal: "can't wait to bike in the snow." Man is tough.

The B.C. crown rules that Dziekanski's death was not caused by tasers. Nope, he was just suffering from "an inability to breathe while being restrained"... so clearly not our fault. Oh and he drinks. Embarrassing... to say the least.

Blueprint for getting Obama's ear: Keep our troops in Afghanistan. That or legalize marijuana.

New poll tracks Canadians' mounting fear, misery. See above.

I shouldn't joke when driving high is such a growing concern in B.C and motorists are plowing into churches. Wow, the photos from that story have the makings of a killer 'don't drive on coke' ad.

Yo Yaletown, tsunami-proof your dogs!

Get ready for Stephen Harper's attacks on the next liberal leader, as Charlie Smith provides a nice cheat sheet for an Ignatieff takedown.

From the NYTimes: Vancouver is an appealing second home for wealthy Americans... because, um, we have less highways than LA and calmer people than NY? Come see how we condense our homelessness, while stoned! Oh and mountains.

Local man flakes out on accused killer who says he's just frustrated and "looking for the right man or men who'd be willing to have me on their dinner table." He's got the giant pressure cooker if you've got the stomach.

In case you missed the wonderful Rick Mercer piece: It's not the economy, stupid.

How many Canadians will die for nothing in Afghanistan?

From the 1970 Moscow Circus, bears playing hockey. I smell an awesome cost-cutting solution for the 2010 opening ceremonies. So much better than fireworks or extravagant chinese lions. I mean, wtf? Can we train them to do riot control?

While our friends down south are still busied and bloated from their second favourite excuse for excessive/passive consumption, up here it's already been Christmas season since mid-November, at least according to my holy trinity of Starbucks, Safeway, and Shoppers. I want to say they've pushed it up this year in an attempt to stimulate the economy, but...

Like any reasonable young cynic I now firmly associate the sound of paired bells with eggnog lattes, overpriced chocolate, and the inexpressible frustration of attempting to navigate a mall in the Lower Mainland during December. So it was with some trepidation that I made my way down to the Granville Island Stage last week to check out this year's restaging of It's A Wonderful Life. Would the play confirm that even our local arts community has succumb to the crass allure of the Christmas time shill? Or would the sentiment-soaked classic translate to stage and overwhelm us with 'real priorities,' 'core values,' and 'warm fuzzies' during the disquiet of this year's shopping season?

The real cost of 2010, we have no idea what we're in for. $175 million? After the F18s, cruise ships and krispy kremes... we're talkin' $2 billion. And more from Shaw at The Observer: 2010 Security Threat Assessment and Reality. Olympic internment camps, really?

London wishes they could toss theirs to the French, and now even Sun writers begin to get critical about the games... are getting cold feet and backpedalling also Olympic events? I dunno I don't watch the Olympics.

Charlie Smith deflates some Canwest bias and lists all the reasons why an NDP-Liberal coalition is a good thing. Rafe Mair, on the other hand, sees things a little too clearly and calls for a pox on all their houses, saying Parliament is an "enclave of childish adults" wasting our time with frivolous power games. Must be the man's first time writing about politics.

B.C. couple trapped in Thailand calling for government support. Sorry, call back later when we're done playing clubhouse. Did you guys not hear about the whole leaked NDP conference call scandal?

Homophobic extremists absent from planned protest. Half the bands I plan on seeing don't make it across the border, you're goddamn right that pack of psychopaths got denied...