2017

Kontinuum and Get Up – S12E19

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On Thursday, there were a couple of events that I was able to check out. The first was Kontinuum, it is an underground experience located at the Lyon LRT station.

This multimedia production is immersed in light and sound. It is produced by Moment Factory and the original concept by Ottawa 2017.

The experience is very unique as I got a glimpse of the future LRT station and it’s nice to get a portrait of myself. You can check the photos from below.

The event is free until September 14th. Even though it’s free, you need to order the free tickets.

Get Up Art Show
The second event was an art show, it was called Asma Inam Presents: GET UP.
I was told from a friend about it and was convinced to go check it out. It was held at the Makita Kitchen Bar in the Glebe. There was some Hip-Hop tunes spun by DJ Hyf.

I had the opportunity to try out the steamed buns. They were the pork belly with hoisin bbq sauce and the other being with falafel with pickled turnip.

It was her first art show exhibition and dedicated to everyone. It was a nice surprise to see a few people I know at the event.

Luckily, there was a “panda” that dropped by for a bit.

As well, I got to shoot some Impossible/Polaroid photos. It will also be posted on my Instagram.

You can check the photos below and see the artwork.

La Machine
Another event as part of Ottawa 2017 is La Machine, it is a traveling urban theatre happening in downtown Ottawa from July 27-30.
Unfortunately, I didn’t fully see the giant spider get out of the church, I got until Sunday to see the dragon and spider duke it out. I took photos of the giant spider before the move. The dragon was at Ottawa City Hall and wasn’t able to go there.

One last word, just letting you know that I’m continuing season 12 on the blog. It will extending a bit later.

Photos
Kontinuum

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Asma Inam Presents: Get Up

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Makita’s Steam Buns

A bit of La Machine’s Giant Spider

Impossible Photos at Get Up

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How Cantopop Influenced Me From The Hong Kong Handover 20 Years On.

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It’s very rare I usually do an essay/commentary on my blog. For those who know me, I’m a total Cantopop fan/lover when I combined that genre with Canadian indie music when I had a weekly radio show.

Being as a Chinese, my mom used to rent videotapes from Hong Kong’s TVB. Ranging from dramas to music shows, it’s been ingrained since I was young.

How did I become hooked on Cantopop? I would say that the Hong Kong Handover in 1997 affected me because I had relatives living there and my parents were from there. I didn’t want to lose that part of my cultural heritage. It wasn’t until towards the end of high school where I was listening to Hong Kong radio on the Internet and my love of radio came back in a different approach. 

In my University phase, I still kept listening to the classic Cantopop songs and some newer music. 2003 struck when Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui died and the Cantopop industry was never the same since. In the mid-2000s, I was not able to listen to one of the popular Hong Kong radio stations because of the audio streaming and switching to the Mac computers. 

Getting into Beyond
Aside from the tragedies, one impact that still hits the mark among Cantopop fans has been the death of Beyond’s frontman, Wong Ka Kui. I’ve been entrenched with their music because their range can soft, slow, fast and heavy. They were mainly a rock band unlike the conventional singers in Cantopop.

Their popular tracks were often love songs towards the end of 1980s and into 1990s, it was getting into the political message.  Continue reading →

Venturing Around Downtown Ottawa on Canada Day 2017 – S12E18

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It was a rainy and muggy way to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary. With the big celebration, lots of people flocked down to downtown Ottawa and Parliament Hill for all the festivities. I did not go down to Parliament Hill with the strict security checks and the big crowds.

I started off my trek around downtown Ottawa to Major’s Hill Park to briefly see the people I worked with at CBC/Radio-Canada. They were surprised and happy to see me drop by. I later went back to Jacques Cartier Park for MosaïCanada 150 again because of the rain on Friday following the lion dance performance. I didn’t get a chance to check out the other sculptures. On Canada Day, it was considered round two. You will check out the photos below.

Following that excursion, I unexpectedly bumped into a high school friend who’s now in Toronto and hung out until I went to the Casper Nap Tour. These online mattress companies have become popular with the pricing and quality comfort. I had an eight minute nap and the mattress was pretty relaxing and soft. It was like floating in the air. I had no back strain or dizziness. It’s a fun tryout since there’s so much buzz with it.

Following that, I went back to find my friend and finally tried out Nando’s. I ended the afternoon with wandering to the Inspiration Village in the ByWard Market. It was fun to see my high school friend back in Ottawa for Canada Day. The worst part was missing out on the Snowbirds, it was later than usual.

That was my Canada Day 2017 in a nutshell. Check out the loads of photos below.

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MosaïCanada 150 – S12E17

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On a rainy Friday before Canada Day, there was a new attraction at Jacques Cartier Park in Gatineau, QC as part of Canada’s 150th celebrations. The attraction is called MosaïCanada 150. It showcases the art of horticulture and the works of all of 10 provinces and 3 territories of Canada as well as the First Nations. 

Before the official 3pm opening, there was special for VIPs and media to check the event out.

Our lion dance troupe were on hand for opening ceremony and to show two of the mosaiculture sculptures from Shanghai, China. There were the dragons and lions on display from China. You can check the photo gallery below.

MosaïCanada 150 runs from June 30th until October 15th. It’s free to check out.

Happy Canada Day!

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A Weekend Roundup From The Photos Taken on The iPhone – S12E16

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I didn’t realize I had a bunch of photo I took on the iPhone 7 Plus. There’s several photos leftover from Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival. It ranged from the concerts to the boat ride watching the race.

On Sunday, I went to the Canadian Museum of History for the live broadcast of CBC Radio’s Cross Country Checkup. The live call in radio program was about Canada’s 150 and what it should inspire us in the future. It was held in the soon to be open Canadian History Hall.

I had the chance to glance through the new permanent exhibit. It looks fantastic as it covers more than a 150 years of Canada’s history ranging from the French and British’s settling, to the Indigenous culture and modern day Canada. I had one hour before the live broadcast to check out the history of Canada. I hope to try going through the exhibit at a slower pace in the future.

You can check the photo gallery below.

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Saturday at The 2017 Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival – S12E15

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After recovering from equilibrium or balances issues on the boat ride at Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival, Saturday’s event was filled with races, activities and live music.

The weather turned out very good but throughout the afternoon, winds were picking up during the races and caused some delays. It was fun to shoot photos of the dragon boat races while in the boat on the waters of the Rideau River. It’s the second year to experience seeing the action on the waters.

To the concert series, missing Friday’s lineup due to not having a camera without it. Saturday ended off with Twin Flames (from Ottawa), Kasador (from Kingston), The Darcys and Half Moon Run (from Montreal). It’s always a thrill to see The Darcys and the first time to see the three bands. I’ve been familiar with Half Moon Run but never seen them live.
You check the photos galleries below.

It’s always a pleasure to attend Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival every Summer. Great seeing the sights and sounds of the races as well with the live music to keep fans and racers entertained. Kudos to the organizers for making the festival fantastic.
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Thursday at The 2017 Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival – S12E14

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Live music, bagpipers and lion dancing kicked off the 2017 edition of The Tim Hortons Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival on Thursday night.

Their concert series kicked off with The Elwins, Said The Whale and The Sheepdogs. All three were great and the best thing about the concert series at Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival, it is free! Best of all, the music lineup are all Canadian.

Friday’s lineup will have Kalle Mattson, The Zolas and Dear Rouge. There is a lot of things to do in Ottawa with Summer in full swing.

Check out the photos below.

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The Final Weekend of May 2017 – S12E13

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The last weekend of May in Ottawa had a lot of events happening. To start off Friday night, I went to Kinki Lounge Kitchen for Kool Krys‘s album release party. Her fourth album, Feminum was released on Friday and it’s a tribute female empowerment and her favourite super-hero, Wonder Woman.

The Feminum album release party had Ghettosocks open up the event. It was a great event and the funny moment was having to sing along to Perfect Day when Ghettosocks began his set.

You can listen to Feminum over at Bandcamp which is free to download.

On Saturday
For Saturday, there were various events happening, the first place was checking out the annual Great Glebe Garage Sale. Just walked to see the crowds look and rummaging for deals and unique objects around the area. I have been using the iPhone 7 Plus and tried to experiment shooting on portrait mode. You will see one of the photos shot using the depth effect.

After the garage sale, I took a long walk over to the Festival Plaza at Ottawa City Hall for Ottawa Race Weekend’s Celebration Stage. I went to see Scary Bear Soundtrack as I haven’t seen the lead member for awhile. It was a joy to see the members on a warm sunny afternoon.

The band released a new track (actually, a reworked version) to commemorate Asian Heritage Month 2017. It’s called Asian Fetishist, you can listen to the track on Bandcamp.

You check the photos from below from the events I checked out.

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My Time at CBC/Radio-Canada in February – S12E12

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Just to coincide with their blog makeover as my Twitter slightly lit up with notifications from it.

Back in February, I had the opportunity to work at CBC/Radio-Canada (the corporate side) and help with migrating their blog to a new one. To keep it short, you can read my experience over on their blog by clicking HERE. 

All I can say that it was an opportunity to meet the great people at Enterprise Communications and surprising the ones from CBC Ottawa.

In the meantime, you can check out more photos that I didn’t provide to the CBC/Radio-Canada blog. It’s a mix of the Polaroids and iPhone photos posted here.

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Red Bull Crashed Ice in Ottawa – S12E11

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On the weekend, Ottawa played host to the 2017 Red Bull Crashed Ice. Crashed Ice is a fast sport consisting of skates and frozen ice sloping down in curves and bumps.

Riders from females and males compete for the fastest speed going down the ice. There were lots of bumps, trips, stumbles and slip during the whole competition.

The event was part of the continuing celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday and in the Nation’s Capital. It was located on the Rideau Canal between Fairmont Chateau Laurier and Parliament Hill.

The weather on Saturday was hovering around -20 degrees Celsius, quite the bone chilling temperatures. At least people braved the cold temperatures at the event.

I stood with other photographers from around 4pm to 10pm. It was about a 6+ hours standing in the frigid cold. Overall, it was a fun event to watch ice cross downhill.

You can check the photos below.

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