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!
First Day of Chinese New Year, The Year of the Horse – S09E23
It’s that time of year where I get to celebrate Chinese New Year and have fun, eat a lot of food and perform. It’s the year of the horse this year and its symbol this year is the wood and it brings some energy and clashes, according to The Independent.
As usual, for myself, it’s a busy time where my lion dance troupe have a lot of performances on Chinese New Year. The first day was hectic as a few of the members went to CTV Two for the morning show (CTV Morning Live Ottawa) and you can watch the clip over at the link. I appear in it and mostly smiling at times in the background.
Other performances done on the first day of Chinese New Year were at a retirement home, Algonquin College, RBC Royal Bank and ending it off at a private school in the Rockcliffe area.
You can check out the photos from below. The main photo was taken at Algonquin College and used The Impossible Project Color Frames Edition. I’m continuing to shoot on instant photos.
There will be a some posts on upcoming performances. Stay tuned to it.
All I have to say is Kung Hey Fat Choy! Happy Chinese New Year to everyone.
It’s A Retrospective Look Back – S09E22
January is coming to an end and it’s been a slow month in terms of new music releases. This is a short entry for this week.
This week’s radio show was a retrospective show as I relived some moments from past seasons (there’s a hint to this as I told some good friends). Relived some moments as I played You Say Party, Dan Mangan, and Malajube.
Joining me as usual was Lauren and we got to mention how we got to interview Mangan when he released his album, Oh Fortune and it was her first music interview. As for Malajube, it was quite fitting to play Montreal -40C as we’re still continuing with cold temperatures. Aside from that, the reason for playing them was that I’m still fond of seeing them live in Montreal at a rooftop.
Also on the show were new music from Phantogram, Jeremy Fisher and Robyn Dell’Unto. The audio for this week’s radio show can be listened below. You can check the playlist over at this link.
Chinese New Year is happening this Friday. It will be a great time to celebrate the year of the horse.
Have a great week!
New Music To Warm You Up – S09E21
As the so-called polar vortex returns to freeze up Ottawa and the surrounding regions of Ontario, this week’s radio show was more of a full music show. The theme was warming up and listen to new songs as we deal with minus double digits again.
There was new music from the likes of The Balconies, Teenage Kicks, Tokyo Police and Warpaint. Also played this week were Hurt Me Now by Austra and If I Were A Ship by Hey Ocean! Both tracks were recently released as music videos. Towards the end, a slight blast from the past as I decided to play Lykke Li. She will be releasing a new album sometime this year. It’s been three years since her last album was released. Played was one of my favourite songs by her. It was I Follow Rivers and it was The Magician remix.
Lauren joined me on the show as usual but she’s under the weather and at least made an effort to be on the airwaves.
The playlist for this week’s show is over at this link. You can listen to the audio below.
It’s a light entry this week. Stay warm and enjoy good music.
The Slightly First Live Show of 2014 & More Instant Photos – S09E20
After two week of the best of 2013, it’s back to the usual music show and being live on CKCU. OK, there was another hour but it was pre-taped and the playlist will be coming for it. January is usually thought to be a slow month in terms of new music. Apparently, I’m wrong as this week’s radio show had some new music being played. Certain bands haven’t released for four years and there is some buzz as we expect new material.
Returning to the radio show for the second half of the live show was Lauren. Back from her Christmas holidays. It was great that she was there because there were new songs from Coeur de Pirate and announced on social media & music sites, a new song from Tokyo Police Club. The band will be releasing the album, Forcefield on March 25th. The verdict on the new song is quite different than previous song on their albums. It sounds more poppy and not as rockin’ from the previous works.
As for Coeur de Pirate, she’s releasing a new album which is mainly cover songs and based on a CBC French TV show, Trauma. For the first time, Beatrice Martin (known as Coeur de Pirate) releases an English album through cover songs.
Also played were Crissi Cochrane as she released a live track which was posted on YouTube (Little Sway on January 28th), Robyn Dell’Unto (Little Lines on January 28th) and Warpaint (second self-titled album on January 21st).
The playlist for the second hour is at this link. You can listen to the audio from below.
