The WildWorks Station

My total apologies for not keeping up the week in review. If you read my previous blog entry, you will know why.

Music – Well, it happened and the new album of Britney Spears was released. Even though, I downloaded on iTunes, I have not listened to the album yet.

Another surprise shocker was the music video premiere of the new song by The Spice Girls. Headlines (Friendship Never Ends) premiered on November 2. My opinion, it is a good song because it will be in my head probably until the Christmas holiday, but the video is left to be desired.

Entertainment – We all know what happened in the world of music. Britney flopped in her performance at the 2007 MTV VMAs. She was lip syncing, out of shape and out of touch. Her new song is catchy but whether I will get it is out of the question.
The other news being Kanye West versus 50 Cent. Graduation vs. Curis in the battle of Hip-Hop album. We all know that Kanye West would beat 50 Cent in album sales. Whether 50 Cent will own up to his word that he would “retire” if he loses to Kanye.

Around Ottawa – Coming up in Ottawa is the Ottawa International Animation Festival.
Another event I will be going is the Benefit Screening – The Burundi Film Centre. That will be on Wednesday at Library and Archives Canada.

People are back to work and kids going back to school. It is the end of summer holidays.
A brief Summer in review. The best was going to the Kanye West concert at Ottawa Bluesfest and the Feist concert.

Entertainment – The Toronto International Film Festival is happening and there seems to be lots of buzz for Ang Lee’s “Lust, Caution.”
The 2007 MTV Video Music Awards is happening on September 9. There’s so much talk about Britney Spears making her comeback performance.

Music – The world of music lost an important figure in opera, that is Luciano Pavarotti.
On the day he passed away, the first song I listen on my iPod when catching the bus was “Miss Sarajevo” with U2 from the Original Soundtracks 1.
Lyrics for the song has now resonated. Here’s the part from Luciano Pavarotti in the song;

Dici che il fiume
Trova la via al mare
E come il fiume
Giungerai a me
Oltre i confini
E le terre assetate
Dici che come fiume
Come fiume…
L’amore giunger
L’amore…
E non so più pregare
E nell’amore non so più sperare
E quell’amore non so più aspettare

Around Ottawa

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Originally uploaded by Lenny W.
FestivAsia in Ottawa Chinatown. A new mural unveiled in Ottawa Chinatown.

“The News” – Lots of scandals hitting the news. An NBA referee being corrupt, drug and doping in the Tour de France and Barry Bonds tying Hank Aaron’s home run record.
The big one has to be Lindsay Lohan being arrested for DUI and possession of cocaine.
Drew Carey is the new host of “The Price is Right.”

Music – Finally, a new #1 in the UK Chart. It is “The Way I Are” by Timbaland featuring Keri Hilson & D.O.E. Umbrella by Rihanna featuring Jay-Z has been dethroned to #3.

Movies – The Simpsons Movie was released on Friday. Overall, there are mixed reviews to the movie, but it did not deter fans from going out. The movie grossed approximately $73 million for the opening weekend. The Simpsons Movie was enjoyable and funny. It kind of felt like an extended episode.

Comic Talk – What a way to end July with some horrendous comics. I won’t go into detail. The known culprits are All-Star Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder #6 and Wolverine #55.
Other comics coming were Batman #666, The Mighty Avengers #4 and Amazing Spider-Man #542.

Music – There seems to be a lot of happiness because “Umbrella” by Rihanna got knocked off the #1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 Singles Chart. It has been #1 for 7 weeks. The new #1 is “Hey There Delilah” Plain White T’s. Although, Umbrella is still #1 in the UK for 10 weeks. Now, it is the longest in the year 2000. There has been grumblings among casual listeners and even a few radio DJs. Let’s just say that Umbrella has become annoying. “Ella, ella, eh, eh eh.”

The Final Harry Potter Book – Yes! On late Friday night, the final installment of Harry Potter was released worldwide. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the 7th book. Which characters die? Just find out.
I still haven’t read the Harry Potter books. I went to check out Chapters bookstore for the excitement of Potter-mania.

Around Ottawa – Ottawa Bluesfest is gone, another festival is happening, that is the Ottawa International Chamber Festival. This is for classical music fans. It’s good to have festivals running in the Summer time.

Comic Talk – A new feature somewhat to keep the “week-in-review” interesting. It’s still in the preliminary stages. Picks this past week were World War Hulk #2 (of 5), Justice League of America #11 and Captain America #28. All 3 titles were good. World War Hulk #2 was great because it was just heart pounding action. Justice League of America #11 was a breath of fresh air because the guest artist put in a different technique to the the art.

Note: Again, WildWorks Extra is mainly a “week-in-review” entry of things happening in the world and locally. Mostly pop culture talk within the web and television. My own blog entries will return in the Fall and it acts like a sort of episodes like on television.

Around Ottawa – The 2007 edition Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest has been exciting the crowd with performances from Bob Dylan, The White Stripes, Cat Power, Metric, Kanye West and etc.
Here are the photos from the Kanye West concert on July 15, 2007. It was rainy Saturday but it did not hamper the crowd.

Metric from July 13, 2007.

It has been a slow week except that Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest has started on July 4, 2007 with Van Morrison kicking it off.

July 7, 2007 was the big one with Live Earth. The cause is about the ever changing climate change.
Here’s a badge from LiveEarth.org. It’s not too late to watch the concerts.

Best performances in my opinion were Duran Duran, Madonna, Crowded House and Linkin Park. Linkin Park performing in Japan and Crowded House in Australia while the other 2 in London, UK.

Music – The day after Live Earth, “Umbrella” by Rihanna is still #1 in the UK. It has been #1 for 8 weeks. The longest in UK chart for 2007.

Movies – Transformers blew away in the box office with $152.5 million US for the week. It beat out Spider-Man which had $151 million US in its opening week back in 2002. The reviews for Transformers have been mixed with favorable reviews.

July 1st, Happy Canada Day (Canada is 140 years old) and it is also the 10th anniversary of the Hong Kong Handover from Britain to China. A lot of happenings within the news for the past week.

Entertainment – Paris Hilton was released from jail on June 25. The media frenzy was abuzz. What’s next for Paris? A clean image, possibly
June 28th was when The Spice Girls have finally reunited and will have a world tour.

Wrestling – The biggest shock has been the death of Chris Benoit and his family. The aftermath is whether the WWE can withstand the criticism from the media.

Movies – Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille released on Friday. Great movie. Good for the kids and it was funny all over.

Around Ottawa – Soccer has come to Canada. The FIFA U-20 World Cup is all over Canada. Ottawa had Czech Republic against Argentina.

TV – Chalk one up for another great season of Doctor Who. It ended Series 3 in the UK and was able to get the episode. In the words of the Doctor, it’s “fantasic!”

Here’s photos from another liondance performance. Taken on June 30.

Not much happened in the pop culture media. Another part to WildWorks Extra I forgot mention is a what’s in Ottawa section. This past week, I checked out a hip-hop dance at noon time. It’s b-boy and b-girl dancing.
On Saturday, The Ottawa Dragon Boat Race Festival happened and I took part in the opening ceremony part. Here are photos from the liondance performance.
Lots of events happening throughout Ottawa. There was the International Chicken and Rib Cookoff on Sparks Street Mall.
Canada Day is coming up on July 1.
Apology for the delay on this entry. There was a lot of things happening.

Photos from the Outdoor Bboy/Bgirl Cyphers. Although, it was indoors at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Taken on Thursday, June 21, 2007.

Photos from the Ottawa Dragon Boat Race Festival on June 23, 2007. The opening ceremony part.