We Vancouverites are so spoiled with our summers. We're guaranteed at least 12 weeks of solid, uninterrupted, fabulous weather and we enjoy every minute of it. This year, I refuse to get sad that summer's on its way out. The air is a lovely mix of warm and "winter's coming" breezy and we can still expect a few more smokin' hot days here and there, along with the beautiful colours....it's a great time of year to be in our city.

I love Vancouver in the fall. I love it so much so that I've prepared a top ten list of things I plan on doing in Vancouver this season. While many Vancouverites will be stashing away their hackysacks, Ray Bans and jean shorts (aren't they trendy!) and crying in the corner until next June, I might be...

Continuing education (or adult learning) might not be top of mind in the middle of a Vancouver summer, but as the last few days of sunny, hot weather are drawing near we have to say goodbye to the long, leisurely days at the beach. It's time to put away our tents, skimpy bikinis and tank tops and lament as the weather slowly turns chilly and the leaves change color.

Sunset Beach in Vancouver is where happiness goes to die. Situated downtown along my beloved Beach Ave, Sunset looks beautiful and picturesque. From orbit.

The grain of sand to cigarette butt ratio is approximately 4 to 1. Although slightly detrimental to the construction of sand castles, it does have the added boon of drawing homeless people in droves to collect their beloved butts, that shit's like currency to them. Why one may wonder do I consider such a mass homeless exodus a positive?

Well as any connoisseur of the zombie genre can attest, when the generic, likely token ethnic character succumbs to the violent hordes; the attractive protagonists are free to escape. Sunset Beach is my token ethnic, drawing the undead-esque homeless away from the finer beaches more suited to the living. PS, I'm not actually a horrible person, I just play one on TV.

My Cypress Mountain forecast looks a little bleak. As September approaches, I'm once again considering purchasing the annual "early bird" season pass from my favourite local mountain. Typically the sweetest deals are over by the end of September, so if I can scrounge up enough money in the next few weeks, I'll save at least 400 bucks on an unlimited skiing/snowboarding pass. Or should I? Last year I bought an ultra cheap pass only to be ultra disappointed.

The Vancouver Zombie Walk didn't bring the widespread havoc I expected. Rivers of blood, piles of gore. I was ready for a unified stand off against all-pervading violence, but what I encountered at this year's Zombie Walk were ordinary Vancouverites eating ice cream and taking romantic shambles along the beach.

At first I was at a loss of words. Having researched Haitian voodoo beliefs in my university classes in Cultural Anthropology, I had learned that the original zombi was actually merely a kind of slave brought back from the dead by a black magic priest in Haitian folk belief. Many of these zombies didn't look like they had spent much time slaving on sugar cane fields, however. These zombies spent most of their time in an exhibitionist display of nude and rotting flesh for passing cameras.

For most of us, festival films are daunting in the extreme -- art house cinema showpieces traveling a global exhibition circuit with stop-offs in Cannes, Paris, Berlin, Toronto, and Telluride for Sundance, wowing critical audiences, winning golden statues. Eventually, they end up in that little section at the video store that we look at thoughtfully for a minute or two as we pretend to read Slovenian to impress passing customers, then it's off to the new releases section.