Posts Tagged ‘Events in Ottawa’
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!
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.
Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014 – S09E18
It was one of the coldest nights in the Nation’s Capital to end 2013 and ringing in 2014. It was adventure to remember as I had the opportunity to go to the National Capital Gala‘s Gatsby New Year’s Ball at the Conference Centre in downtown Ottawa. It was a lavish event with party-goers dressing in elegant dresses. There were live music and burlesque dancers. You can check out the photos below.
Towards the end of 2013, I was checking on Instagram to found out a good friend (and former co-host) was over at Zaphod Beeblebrox for the New Year’s Eve dance party and I decided to bolt over there and say hello. I didn’t realize there was a $15 cover charge and I had to run to the bank to withdraw money and back to Zaphods. I was a hot sweaty mess from the running. I did get to see my good friend. It was nice ringing in the new year and to hear the DJ play Reflektor by Arcade Fire several minutes after the new year.
I totally forgot that I dressed “nicely” on New Year’s Eve. It’s one of the rare time that I would dress formally. I just enjoy wearing this jacket with elbow patches. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in any photos.
Overall, what a way to finish 2013 with a bang and hope 2014 will be wonderful. I know 2013 was tough as greats from the likes of Nelson Mandela, ‘Stompin’ Tom Connors and many others have passed away. Hello to 2014
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2013 in Review – S09E17 (Part 3)
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,700 times in 2013. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.
Ottawa Pop Expo (Sunday Edition) – S09E13
Day 2 of Ottawa Pop Expo was a relaxed affair as I decided to check out the celebrity Q&A. I forgot to take a photo of their logo but able to take a photo from their video screen along with a countdown.
Let’s say that it was more on Doctor Who as Neve McIntosh and Seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy were guests of the pop culture convention. It’s their first time to be Ottawa, Canada.
Aside from that, the first panel I checked out which was the Q&A on Doctor Who’s 50th Celebration. After the brief session, I had to bolt over to the celebrity Q&A for Neve McIntosh, who plays Silurian, Madame Vastra in the current series of Doctor Who. She’s quite a lovely actress without the heavy makeup as the fan-favourite Silurian. Her Q&A was pretty good as she told the crowd as being a lifelong Doctor Who fan and having Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor) as her first and favourite Doctor growing up. McIntosh also said that she will be back for Series 8 when Peter Capaldi takes over for Matt Smith in the new year. Towards the end of the Q&A, a couple of Daleks and Seventh Doctor, McCoy appeared to join McIntosh on the Q&A. It was quite the fun and hilarious moment as it felt like the Seventh Doctor crashed the party.
After her Q&A was then McCoy’s turn to get questions asked. Quite an entertaining and funny Q&A session as McCoy decided to walk off the stage and get interactive with the fans. Things he brought up was that he never watched the previous Doctors and decided to be his own character. He mentioned the 1996 TV movie and not knowing about the perks as he mentioned Eric Roberts wanted to change the carpet. McCoy also cracked a joke on Toronto mayor, Rob Ford. He liked how Canadians are polite towards him.
Overall, it was great to see one of the living Doctors to be Ottawa. It’s definitely a treat for Doctor Who fans in the Nation’s Capital. You will see some of the photos from below.
The last Q&A to check out was a popular actor who was in the hit show, The Game of Thrones. I decided to check out Jason Momoa because of the blogger I met at the convention to check this guy out. Mind you, I’m not into Game of Thrones as I listen to a radio show on Sunday nights. I know people tweet like crazy, hence the spoilers. OK, onto Momoa. He played Khal Drogo from the hit series. On stage, he got a nice comfortable chair and drinking Guinness beer. He talked about his time on Game of Thrones, Conan and going against Sylvester Stallone. He also mentioned about a movie he directed called Road to Paloma. The tone of the Q&A was more on the no-so family friendly side as Momoa swore a bit and there were a few guys asking negative questions towards him. It kind ruined the fun atmosphere because I could say that men are jealous of him, but it’s just my opinion.
All in all, what a way to wrap things up for the first year of Ottawa Pop Expo as the main convention, Ottawa Comiccon will be in full swing for May 2014.
Check out the photos!
I’ll be back again for the radio show recap as I have the interview with Kat Burns of Kashka.
Ottawa Pop Expo (Saturday Edition) – S09E12
I had the opportunity to attend Ottawa Pop Expo, a pop culture fan convention which features genres from comics, sci-fi, horror, anime and a bunch of others. It’s in the realm of geek culture nonetheless. The convention is presented and run by the organizers of Ottawa Comiccon. It’s the first time the pop culture convention is being held in December as Ottawa Comiccon has been running for two years and held in May.
For this convention, I decided to take photos of the cosplayers for the fun of it. You will see a bunch of photos below. I totally forgot to create a main photo for the blog entry. Luckily, I took a photo of their podium as shown above.
I decided to check out the celebrity Q&A with Tom Felton. The actor who played Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter film series. I got to deal with the screaming fans who are big into the actor.
Lastly, how could I say that I finally met one of Canada’s known wrestling analyst/commentator and TV personality, who’s currently with The Weather Network. It’s none other than Arda Ocal. I’ve been tweeting him back and fourth about wrestling and his time at The Score (now Sportsnet 360) on the programme, Aftermath. It’s a privilege to finally meet him and just good timing to see Ottawa become a fun city.
I will be back for another entry on Ottawa Pop Expo for Sunday and it’s most likely on Doctor Who.
From Nuit Blanche to Polaris Music Prize – S09E03
It’s been an eventful last week in Ottawa. I was away in Toronto when the tragic news of the OC Transpo being hit by a VIA Rail train. It’s sad to hear the lives lost. Condolence goes out the lost ones affected by it.
Aside from that, what a weekend when I checked out Nuit Blanche Ottawa-Gatineau. It’s the second year that the artistic and wonderful event has been held. It started at 6:20pm to 4:20am. It’s a basically a long night to experience the unique fun.
I missed out on the first edition as I was in Montreal for Pop Montreal. Even though it was raining throughout Saturday, it didn’t help deter people checking out unique arts and crafts located at various places in Ottawa. I was able to check out the downtown and Gatineau for Nuit Blanche.
One unique thing I got was a firefly. As the website explained that it’s hackable (open software) and when interacting with other fireflies, it create a unique light pattern. You’ll see a photo below as I tweeted to someone that I got the lumipendant.
Overall, it was a fun event and hope the 2014 edition doesn’t have rain in the forecast. I posted some photos below. Check it out.
Monday’s Radio Show
On this week’s radio show, it’s the Polaris Music Prize edition as it’s day of the gala. Ten nominees are vying for the $30,000 prize to claim the best album of the year. As mentioned everytime, the Polaris Music Prize is based on artistic merit and judged by over 200 jury members from radio, tv, print and Internet.
I had the opportunity to chat with Ryan of CKCU’s Whatever’s Cool With Me as he’s jury member and in Toronto for the gala. He also explained on the show that this year’s shortlist is the strongest for artistic merit and had a difficult time choosing the albums. It was a fun chat as I don’t usually interact with a lot of CKCU hosts.
Who will win the prize? We’ll find out in due time
You can check the playlist over at this link. You can listen to the audio below.
Have a great week and I will be going to Montreal this weekend.
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