The Mogo Blog

Kickin' it on Kickstarter

Kickstarter [http://www.kickstarter.com/] is the unlikely hero of the cyberworld, and a very very good idea. It’s a hard sell if you think about it; people who have great ideas, but no way to produce them ask you to buy items that have not yet been produced (and may possibly never be) to be delivered at a much later date. It’s not a formula that seems like it would work in these difficult economic times and with consumers who are accustomed to instant gratification, and yet Kickstarter has seen

The Perfect Campfire Series

Building a great fire is an artform (I’ll write about it another day), but when I was craving some home cooking the other day I thought about something my family used to do on camping trips when I was a kid: Campfire Cake. You will need to bring: * A box of cake mix (one makes about 4-5 cakes, so take that into account. I prefer chocolate.)* * The appropriate amount of cooking oil (check the recipe) * The appropriate amount of water (check the recipe) * A large navel orange for each per

Vancouver Got Left off the Economist’s Best Cities List!

Vancouver is, as we well know, expensive and rainy, but it is eminently livable as a city (and, after awhile, the rainy-ness is tolerable, especially opposed to the cold!). It’s temperate, beautiful, and full of culture. These are all facts that place it on most, if not all, livability lists out there on the interwebs and beyond. That’s why the blogo- and Twitterspheres are alight today with the news that the Economist excluded Vancouver from its most livable cities list this year. And, while t

Guerilla Gardening: How to green-up your city

There’s a new breed of gardener in town. Lack of space and too much asphalt and concrete has led urban gardeners on a far more radical path. Now guerilla gardeners [http://www.guerrillagardening.org/] aim to beautify the city and utilize every inch of space for flowers, herbs and veggies. If you see flowers springing up in cracks in the pavement, on islands between highways, in the dirt around city trees or even in the trunk of an abandoned car, chances are you’ve had a visitation from the guer

Three New Vancouver Restaurants to Try

Summertime—if we ever get it, galdangit—is an awesome time to be a Vancouverite. The beach, the patios, the long afternoons with a cold beer in hand…nothing beats it. But one thing that also tends to happen in summer here is the opening of new restaurants. No one wants to do construction in the dark of winter, after all, and summer is the best time to grab crowds of relaxed Vancouverites and tourists wanting to try something new. I am excited by a lot of new restaurants I’ve seen popping up lat