What’s an angsty Chinese guy to do when his wry Jewish non-girlfriend leaves him lonely during the holidays? Here's our annual tale for the season.

Authors here somehow have the worst of both worlds; the city is not a publishing centre like New York City or Toronto, nor is it like London or Paris where neighbourhoods can be namedropped to a cosmopolitan audience.

Authors here somehow have the worst of both worlds; the city is not a publishing centre like New York City or Toronto, nor is it like London or Paris where neighbourhoods can be namedropped to a cosmopolitan audience.

Authors here somehow have the worst of both worlds; the city is not a publishing centre like New York City or Toronto, nor is it like London or Paris where neighbourhoods can be namedropped to a cosmopolitan audience.

At Stanley Park, the Hollow Tree is braced by two beams and could be mistaken for a giant, primordial tripod. In Lee Henderson’s mind, the long-standing but ailing park attraction appears too small.

At Stanley Park, the Hollow Tree is braced by two beams and could be mistaken for a giant, primordial tripod. In Lee Henderson’s mind, the long-standing but ailing park attraction appears too small.

At Stanley Park, the Hollow Tree is braced by two beams and could be mistaken for a giant, primordial tripod. In Lee Henderson’s mind, the long-standing but ailing park attraction appears too small.

Electronic gadgets are becoming sexy baubles: get the latest, trendiest smartphone and even your friends who can't send a text message are envious. Most people, however, don’t realize where their old gadgets end up.

At first sight, Vancouver-born writer Steven Galloway seems the least likely person to write this book: he’s not Serbian and, until recently, he had never set foot in Eastern Europe.

Vancouver–On a patio at UBC's Cecil Green House, Jessica Alba and Dane Cook have spent an entire afternoon eating cake while shooting Good Luck Chuck. For each take of the scene, in which the actors meet at a wedding dinner, Cook improvises new terms of dissatisfaction for the pastry. "This cake tastes like prison rape," he remarks at one point. According to Alba, Cook isn't too far off the mark.

George Fetherling introduced himself to me in December with an e-mail invitation for a drink at the Sylvia Hotel. There was no big agenda, he explained at the time. He did mention that he wanted to suggest an article and give me some books.

This might sound familiar to you. Some bespectacled chubbo walks into a record store. Or some scrawny spaz breaks into his older brother's room. Or some slob sneaks into a party. (Any one of these scenarios can work.)