Vancity Buzz in Vancouver BC

The consortium of creative thinkers that conspire to craft Vancity Buzz are as diverse as the blog.

Vancity Buzz formed on the 21st July, 2008.  That’s when three contributors first put their heads together to create the best local blog in Vancouver.  And they succeeded in crafting a fine portal, and one that guarantees readers a fine batch of local content, served fresh daily. The photo rich text shares ideas and comedy related to the City of Vancouver, and most recently the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics; this blog is a digestion of Vancouver sports, politics and populism.

Vancity Buzz is perhaps the first and best place to find obscure Vancouver restaurant reviews, music festival highlights, media meltdowns, and hip videos spiced with local politics, underground art and stories from and about their great city. Readers enjoy sports highlights from BC Lions and Vancouver Canucks, and local sports and recreation stories especially bicycling in Vancouver.

Originally billed as, “the best damn blog in Vancouver. Here you can expect to read on topics from our expert authors ranging from Sports, Culture, Entertainment, Development and any random spiel we feel like. One thing’s for certain, this page is going to be straight no chase!” there’s a heavy slant towards local and provincial politics. Think of this place as a premium online men’s magazine for Vancouver.

This is a men’s mag because of the images and style and general tone of voice; it’s definitely more guy-focused than girl-focused and a video of Megan Fox in the sidebar leaves no doubt. Discussions about Vancouver Canucks, homeless people, and hot models are always going to be more popular with guys.

Vancouverism
Here’s what makes the blog special – writers like Urban Dweller define something called ‘Vancouverism’. In the subtext it’s actually possible to read and enjoy their pride for Yaletown, Coal Harbour, North East False Creek and soon South East False Creek. The authors believe these are truly the communities of the future, and they are the byproducts of excellent city planning, mainly by a man they identify as Mr. Beasley, a visionary most famous for reshaping their beautiful city – they love him as they create a blog that celebrates Vancouverism.

Yet they are afraid of, and loath Surrey
The writers’ affection for metropolitan Vancouver contrasts their opinion of Surrey: “Upon entering it was obvious that Surrey doesn’t know what it wants to be, the city is so poorly planned, no doubt due to the rapid cul-de-sac infested development that took place over the years. I think I saw one cyclist, a few pan handlers on Scott Road, more suburban style strip mall in development and SUV’s galore. It felt like Prince George but with more people, not a good thing. As I approached Newton it was evident Mayor Watts has her work cut out. The urban decay in a suburban setting is truly horrendous. I pray I don’t ever have to go back. Oh and where are all the buses in Surrey? 400,000 people and I didn’t see a single fucking bus my whole time there. Egregious. If the future lives there we are in serious trouble…”

The blog boasts that approximately 80% of their readers live in BC’s lower mainland. They don’t shy away from politics. They are obvious social liberals, fiscal conservatives that despise all manner of taxation and any form of government control.

The Accolades

Freebase.com gave VCB five award nominations last year,
–         Dec 2008 Best Humour Site
–         Dec 2008 Best Site for Events
–         Dec 2008 Best Group Blog or Multi-Author Site
–         2008 Best Sports Site or Blog
–         2008 Best New Blog
But unless I’m mistaken, and perhaps we can read about it in the comments of this post (anyone?), I don’t think VCB won any prizes in any of the categories. It’s a fact that Urbanspoon Vancouver [a restaurant and review site; rates reviews from critics, food bloggers and friends] ranked VanCity Buzz at 41 out 100. But perhaps this is a start mark, the beginning of their journey.

Vancity Buzz – Tuesday July 27 2008
…Now I’m off to go throw pennies at the French hobos hanging outside the liquor store on Alberni. Hopefully they’ll get the message and hitch a ride back to “La belle Province”.

Most Contentious Posts:
Not surprisingly, VanCity Buzz has ruffled some feathers and the most contentious posts appear to be political and societal, based on the number of comments.  Its a fact Vancity Buzz defends pitbulls, and openly criticizes Vancouver’s approach to the homelessness problem, and makes public their disapproval of Surrey. These hot button issues have raised some eyebrows.

The Authors of the VanCity Buzz Spot
Now here’s where it gets a bit confusing. VanCity Buzz is himself an author, probably the principle brainchild of the blogspot. He has a good blog style and writes the meat and potatoes of the blog – usually the posts that most directly relate to the city.

Money J Skeets introduced himself in August 2008 in The Case of Matts Sundin and has held true to his promise of delivering sports gossip and musical goodies.  He also chronicles local street scenes and serves up late nite music in a weekly ritual – this writer is certainly very original with maximum style, and yet there are no pictures of him on the site. Money J Skeets is the 2nd most prolific contributor, but there doesn’t appear to be any pictures of this author, unless you count the shot of Nelly flashing his gold teeth?

Urban Dweller is outside the box and 100% original. He writes about the dark underbelly of the city and thinks in unusual patterns; he once detailed the physical element in poker.

Suburban Don lives in Richmond BC and writes about goings on in suburbia. He started strong and profiled Olympic athletes and some local businesses before gradually fading away.

Vancity Maverick – according to him, his writing is “focused on political matters from an analytical perspective, sometimes in a politically incorrect manner.”, but his pen has been silent for a spell.

VanGirl her real name Clo Harvey and she’s a very pretty freelance photographer from Australia that currently resides in Vancouver; she likes to shoot landscapes, cityscapes, people, pets, nightlife; self-taught photog, shoots digital and film, edits own work Clo’s online photo albums: http://cloimages.shutterfly.com/

InterVan-Buzz works in communications as a promoter / marketer / producer; “I am a young entrepreneur who has fallin in love with marketing. I believe it is a great tool… such a variety of ways to utilize it. Music & Fashion have become a big part of my life.”