Has it been 10 years already? An entire decade of the Georgia Straight's annual Best of Vancouver issue? Let's see: it's the beginning of autumn, the city's in that brief lull between summer and winter tourists, and-oh yeah-there's a big dent in your lap from the most enormously immense, fact- and opinion-jammed, unbelievably huge and massively informative issue of the Straight ever. Once again, the Best of Vancouver has arrived, complete with more”¦well”¦everything.

What wonders await within these pages? About 200 city-themed items submitted by our contributors listed below, not to mention a bunch of special critics' reports on music, food, style, architecture, art galleries, comedy nights, sports, and politics-even 10 songs about Vancouver as selected by CBC late-night host David Wisdom. And, amazingly, we even found room for 50 capsule reviews of upcoming movies being shown at the Vancouver International Film Festival. The sheer amount of data is staggering, but the type remains legible, thanks to our investments in sophisticated font technology, advanced photolithography systems, and a whole lot of extra newsprint.

But, as always, the centrepiece of the Best of Vancouver is our readers' polls. Each summer we publish a ridiculously long ballot that asks a bunch of nosy questions, and each year the dedication you apply to filling it out amazes us. Even though we slipped in an extra three-dozen questions this time (thanks to our font czar) a record number of responses came in. Good thing we picked up a secondhand UNIVAC computer back in January or we'd still be counting”¦

So, we'd like to thank everyone who tackled filling out our ballot. We know it took you a lot of time and we appreciate all your opinions, comments, and insights. It's because of your efforts that this year's Best of Vancouver is not only Vancouver's best, but its biggest urban survey. The Georgia Straight's 10th annual Best of Vancouver for 2005-often imitated, never equalled. Enjoy.

Illustrations by:
Rod Filbrandt (above), Mark "Atomos" Pilon

Contributors:
Carolyn Ali, Jon Azpiri, John Burns, Charles Campbell, Jack Christie, Ron Coldham, Martin Dunphy, Jurgen Gothe, Mark Harris, Judith Lane, Robin Laurence, Tony Montague, Heather Neale, Luisa Rino, Nick Rockel, Janet Smith, Craig Takeuchi, Mike Usinger, Dave Watson, Ron Yamauchi

City Life
» Best of City Life - Critics' Choices
» Best of City Life - Reader's Choices

Politics
» Best of Politics - Critics' Choices
» Best of Politics - Readers' Choices

Media, Arts & Culture
» Best of Media, Arts & Culture - Critics' Choices
» Best of Media, Arts & Culture - Reader's Choices

Travel
» Best of Travel - Readers' Choices

Health & Fitness
» Best of Health and Fitness - Readers' Choices

Sports & Recreation
» Best of Sports and Recreation - Critics' Choices
» Best of Sports and Recreation - Readers' Choices

Shops & Services
» Best of Shops and Services - Readers' Choices
» Best of Shops and Services - Critics' Choices

Food & Drink
» Best of Vancouver - Readers' Choices
» Best of Vancouver - Critics' Choices

Bars & Clubs
» Best of Bars & Clubs - Critics' Choices
» Best of Bars and clubs - Readers' Choices

Sex & Romance
» Best of Sex and Romance - Readers' Choices