Call It Spring, Call It A Party – S09E30
It was a nice Friday afternoon and it was an opportunity to go out to St. Laurent Centre for Call It Spring‘s newly renovated store at the mall. The reason for dropping by was because Grace of 613 Style was the host of the party. Call It Spring is a Canadian retailer of men and women’s shoes. The party started at 5pm and it consisted of a live DJ, a slushie machine, a selfie station, candy and nail bars. I did take some candies before they were snatched up.
I was somewhat tempted to get shoes as they a selection for 20% off. I already have enough shoes and sneakers. I was there to say hi to Grace and also take some instant analog photographs by The Impossible Project. I finally got to shoot using Impossible’s 600 Film in B&W. I was reluctant to try B&W films but didn’t realize how artistic and unique it can be.
To my own surprise, there was a photographer I met once at Ottawa Fashion Week and it was nice to hang out and chat about photography. Don’t forget to view some of the photos below. Lastly, check 613 Style as they have more photos from the event. I’m in a few photos over at the site.
Have a great weekend!
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Elaine “Lainey” Lui at Chapters Rideau – S09E29
I was convinced by a good friend that I should check out Lainey Lui of Lainey Gossip and co-host of The Social on CTV at Chapters in downtown Ottawa. She was at there to promote her book, Listen To The Squawking Chicken: When Mother Knows Best, What’s A Daughter To Do? A Memoir (Sort of). Such a long title as it’s a memoir about her life and family (mainly her mom) with humour added.
What struck me about her is that she’s raised in a typical Chinese family living in Canada. It reminds me of how my mom is like but really depend with one another. Chinese families can have wacky dynamics ranging from the annoyance to being supportive in times of need. I felt like I can relate to her because it’s how Chinese families are raised through a unique cultural setting in Canada.
As I’m blogging, my brother was reading out some parts of the book and laughing like crazy. Quite distracting as I concentrated typing this entry.
I can say it’s definitely a good read for anyone who likes memoirs and humour but it’s not for all ages as they’re some profanity.
Even though I’m not familiar with her works on TV and blogging, I should pay attention to her stuff from time to time.
Overall, I had a good time checking her out in person and usually a surprise to see another friend also go to the book signing event. It’s always nice to be cheered up and go out to certain events like that.
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PROMdemonium 6 – S09E28
Prom was all the rage this weekend and it’s not the high school type. My former colleague had her prom, Journalism style and she’s finishing up her studies. Elsewhere, I had the opportunity to check out PROMdemonium, held at the Glebe Community Centre. It’s their sixth year holding it and was sold out.
What is the event? PROMdemonium is a fun-filled event and is a fundraiser for local communities. As their website states, it’s a radical, community-oriented, gender-bending, bike-loving, enviro-humping, queer-diggin, slow dancing, big dress wearing prom that you never had. People reliving their high school prom but they can dress extravagantly and elegantly as possible.
Funds to PROMdemonium goes out to causes and organizations which bring out initiatives in social, economic and environmental justice.
It was my first time attending the event and I was there taking photos and carrying two cameras. One was a DSLR camera and the other being a Polaroid. It’s nice to see people be surprised in getting an instant photo. I posted a photo over at my Facebook Page. I didn’t expect to bump into people I know and be mistaken to another person. There was some great music played and it ranged from the classics of the 80s to the present. There was Drake played at the prom and some could groan about it. Photos from the event are posted below.
For those who know me, I rarely dress nice as it was prom, I attempted to do selfies and slightly failed at it. You will see it below the photo section. I have been enamoured with products from Hudson’s Bay very recently. I’ve been liking their famous multi stripe. Before heading to the Glebe for PROMdemonium, I went to Hudson’s Bay and picked up an iPhone case by Gelaskins and a Chambray multi stripe bow tie. As least, I was being fashionable.
Overall, I had a great time and I’m slowly getting back into the Ottawa events scene. To whoever got the Impossible photos, hope you liked them! Read the rest of this entry »
TEDxElginSt – S09E27
It’s been awhile I have wrote a blog entry. Some of you know I had been going through a rough patch and a lack of music coverage coming from it. Aside from that, let’s get on with this.
On the weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the inaugural TEDxElginSt at The Canadian Museum of Nature. The conference was to bring about ideas to spread around through the speakers and videos presented. TEDx is more on the local and independent event on a smaller level. The theme to TEDxElginSt was Rethink, Rebuild. The event showed how much there is to Ottawa to being an exciting city. It showcased some of the speakers about the importance of thinking and building things from start and succeeding from it. Ironic that the event being held at the museum showed that it went through changes over the years and bringing the old meeting the new mentality.
The speakers (linked to their Twitter) who spoke at event were Dave Conabree, Jess Tomlin, Tabatha Soltay, John A. Gorman, Michael Grigoriev, Sean Blanda, Sarah Gelbard, James Boettcher, Stephanie Vicente, Tim Barber, Nicole Belanger and Katie Zeppieri. The MC was Ian Capstick.
It was definitely a great line up of speakers and some were from Brooklyn, New York, Calgary, Alberta and Toronto, Ontario.
The topics ranged from the public service to gaming to architecture to solar power to mental health to the power of the bystander. All of them were excellent and it brought along some thought provoking ideas to the inspirational and to the witty speeches.
Overall, my experience attending TEDxElginSt was positive and fun. I have been hearing a lot of buzz and popularity with TED events being held throughout the world. Kudos to the organizers and the team for holding an amazing event and a privilege to come in as a photographer along with my brother. My brother should take more credit as he’s the better photographer as I am.
I had planned to post some edited photos on here. Instead, you can check the photos over at Flickr by clicking here. Lastly, I was also in a photo over at loveOttawa, you can check it out by clicking here.
See you around!
Happy Birthday and New Shoes – S09E26
It’s this day that I share a birthday with Rihanna and the late Kurt Cobain plus a few social media friends. February 20th is my birthday and it’s just a normal day and nothing major to celebrate. I know as we get older in age, parents would try to buy presents but they would give money instead. I decided to treat myself in getting new shoes and I have been eyeing them for quite awhile. I know it’s six months late in getting them but I had the chance to get the stylish Hudson’s Bay and Converse Jack Purcell shoes. The shoe came a day before my birthday and it was my early birthday present.
What I love about this shoe is that it’s based on the Hudson’s Bay iconic colours and it’s very wooly. Add to the leather on top of the shoe as it’s shaped like a duck. I know some friends are jealous with the shoe I got and would be willing to steal it off from my feet. I know I will be noticed when I wear them in the Spring.
I posted photos from below. Hope you will enjoy it.
Another splurge was ordering an Impossible film called Cyanograph SX-70. I’m curious when I shoot this film as it will be monochrome blue and it will be quite a challenge. That will be my late birthday present.
Lastly, I’m totally enjoying CBC‘s coverage of the Winter Olympics in Sochi. If you noticed that I’ve been tweeting a lot during the Primetime edition of the Sochi Olympics on CBC. Their iOS app is used as a second screen. Actually, there’s two people I know who’s working on the digital side for CBC’s coverage. To my own amusement, my tweet was posted on Storify. It’s all in good fun and just happy that the Olympic coverage is back on CBC.
Wish me a happy birthday!
The 2014 Lunar New Year Parade in Ottawa Chinatown – S09E25
It’s become a yearly thing as we parade through Ottawa Chinatown for Chinese New Year. It’s the Winterlude Lunar New Year Parade to celebrate the Year of the Horse. Luck was on our side as the weather was not too cold, no major snowfall and it was a nice sunny day.
At the start of the parade, it was feeling cold but as the parade progressed further into Chinatown, it didn’t get very cold. My fellow lion dance buddies were getting sweaty as they were using the lion.
Chinatown Remixed joined the parade this year as the group has become prominent in the Ottawa arts and culture scene. Some of the members were holding horse signs as it’s the year of the horse. There were the zodiac animals and another dance troupe joining for the parade festivities.
As usual, they were firecrackers, red envelopes and lettuce as it ward off evil spirits and to bring good luck and prosperity.
You can check out a few photos from below. I was able to shoot some of it during the parade. I tried shooting with the Polaroid camera but the image quality didn’t turn out right.
This concludes the major activities and performances for the lion dance troupe as Chinese New Year winds down for another year. Kudos goes out to the Ottawa Chinatown businesses for bringing the fun and endearing the cold for the parade.
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Continuing With Chinese New Year, The Year of the Horse – S09E24
It’s been an exciting weekend with the lion dance performances and continuing to celebrate Chinese New Year. Monday was an off-day for the lion dance troupe but I had the radio show with the annual Chinese New Year show. Lauren returned to do the Chinese New Year show as I had Candice join me on last year’s edition.
Being year of the horse, it’s Lauren’s favourite animal as she kind of owns a horse. I got to explain the strengths and weaknesses of anyone who’s born year of the horse.
We also got to talk about food and there’s one I’m not fond of and it’s red bean. I know I will get some backlash as it’s their favourite food and dessert. To keep some happy, I played the song by the late Teresa Teng as part of the CNY show.
As usual, there were the familiar Cantopop tracks played and there were several band and song names with the word, ‘horse‘ in it. I was able to find some Canadian indie tracks with the particular animal name.
The best “horse” song would have to be Horses Fell by The Darcys. It’s still new but the band has become a favourite of mine.
I took a couple of instant photos by Impossible and finally got to use the gold frame. There are a few from Sunday, February 3rd. You can see the photos from below.
You can check the playlist over at this link and the audio is posted below.
Lastly, don’t forget about the Winterlude Lunar New Year Parade on Ottawa Chinatown. Happening on Saturday, February 8, 2014 and starts at 1pm. Hope to see you there.
Again, Kung Hey Fat Choy!
