I'm a cheater.

I did the deed over a year ago, and I'm pretty sure that I was the one who called it off because my ex hasn't talked to me since. I'm so sorry baby, but I committed the cardinal sin- I cheated on my stylist, and I'll never look back. It's because The Chopping Block is that good.

I read the magazines. I check the websites. I feel that I've got my finger on the pulse of the world's environmental collapse. What I had previously thought of as disastrous was in fact blown from the water yesterday as Jennifer Baichwal's documentary on Edward Burtynsky unraveled before my eyes. Burtynsky has gained notoriety for large photographs that capture nature as it's been transformed by industry.

What better place to witness this than China, with it's love of coal, 1.3 billion people hustling and bustling like wildmen, and endless rows of factories that build stuff we can later waste.http://www.viff.org/index.html

This is the view from my 16th floor office (please excuse the quality of the photo, I had to snap it on the fly). It seems there is a very large, very fake building being erected on the rooftop of a parkade on Thurlow Street. I can only guess that a set is being built for a movie but I can't find any dirt on the net. Judging by the size and scope of this project, the budget for whatever will be filmed here is huge. They're not shooting the next episode of Da Vinci's City Hall or Smallville, that's for sure.

If you find yourself in Kitsilano this week, make sure that you take the time to check out the final showing of James Nizam's latest exhibition: Dwellings. Using the same guerrilla-styled photography tactics that he employed with last year's "Looking Out, Looking In" installment, Nizam captures the visual essence of abandonment and decay through a series of hidden, forsaken rooms discovered around Vancouver.

It's time to get your dose of DIY at the I Heart Crafts Bazaar, held this Saturday at the Legion on 2205 Commercial Drive. That's easy enough to remember, right? For those who adore soft-and-fuzzy things, buttons, and/or home-makery delectables, the bazaar has now become your opportunity to buy the types of fun things that you're probably already buying at www.etsy.com, but without the shipping charges. All this for a twoonie entrance fee? Woohoo!

I won't pretend to be a music reviewer, but I do know what I like and I can feel it when a band invades the collective mind of a crowd and forces everyone to rock out like it's necessary to their health. The Smokes sound as if they are the progeny of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the Violent Femmes, and a little Floyd circa 1975. Even a guitar mishap couldn't stop this bad*ss, soul string-picking, sweaty mess of righteous talent. The beer-soaked, ironic t-shirted crowd was duly satiated.