With the rainy season again upon us, it's time, once again, to take shelter inside the Vanouver International Film Festival. Now in it's 36th year, the VIFF returns with another phenomenal selection of features from home and abroad, along  with festival hits from Cannes, TIFF, Sundance and Venice, all of it beginning on September 28th with a gala screening on Mina Shum's Chinatown-set Meditatioon Park.

There is no question that VIFF is a heavy hitter, with more than 140,000 film fans enjoying 380 movies screened during the 16 day festival. 

Where most film festivals seem to about more about celebrities walking red carpets, VIFF is staged for those that love and make films. Enjoy!

It's shouldn't be a surprise that people who live in a slightly warmer climate live happier and more engaging lives.

Well this has now been scientifically confirmed. A recent study of about 1.7 million people found that 22 degrees celsius was the perfect temperature to harbour residents that were more agreeable, emotionally stable and extroverted.  The logic is somewhat straightforward: nicer weather leads people to go outside more often and interact with other members of their community.

This information also revealed why people from cold and warm climates have different personalities, and as global warming heats the earth, human  personalites will probably change as well.

22 degrees celsius has been discovered as the least taxing temperature for the human body to regulate.

If you are keen to live in areas with the most ideal temperature, then Athens is most suited with an average temperature of 22 degrees on the dot. Barcelona, Monaco, Naples and Malta are also ideal, all hovering between 20 and 22 degrees.

Australia has several locations, including Adelaide, Sydney and the Gold Coast. Canada  doesn't have any cities with anywhere near an average of 22 degrees celsius.

Vancouver would be one of Canada's warmest cities with an average annual temperature of 11 degrees celsius, similar to other coastal or near coastal cities such as Seattle, Portland, Amsterdam and London, England. The only time the average temperature in Vancouver hovers around 22 degrees is in July and August.

The number of new homes being built in Richmond is on the rise, while the number of existing homes being sold is declining.

Construction started on 1,413 new houses, townhouses and condo units in the first 6 months of 2018, according to a quarterly report from Business in Richmond. That's 60% more starts than this time last year.

Richmond has the biggest growth of new homes in the region. Other areas in the Lower Mainland a showing a slow down.

The areas of Richmond seeing the most new development are Capstone, City Centre and the area around the Richmond Oval.

At the same time as this development boom, fewer exisitng homes are being put on the market. Only 1,810 homes were sold in Richmond from January to July this year. That's 27% less compared to last year.

Measures like the foreign buyer tax and tightened mortgage rules may be factors contributing to the slowdown.

Although the number of homes sold has decreased, prices they have sold for haven't changed dramatically. The average price of a detached home in Richmond sits at $1.98 million and the average selling price for a condo is $576,000.