Month: July 2017

The Final Day of La Machine – S12E20

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For the past 4 days, a giant spider and dragon invaded the streets of downtown Ottawa and the countless of crowds couldn’t get enough of seeing the two gigantic creatures.

Sunday was the culmination of La Machine. It started at the Supreme Court of Canada where Kumo the giant spider and Long Ma the dragon were awakened. Then both were wandering around downtown.

The final spot of their battle dubbed Static Scene ended at Lebreton Flats with a grand spectacular showing. There was a pagoda and an orchestra set up making it as an outdoor theatre.

The event was a big hit with over half a million (about 750,000) attended and wandered throughout Ottawa to follow the spider and dragon. Best of all, the weather was great from Thursday to Sunday.

These fun and free events is continuing the Canada 150th celebrations in Ottawa. Onto the La Machine withdrawal.

You can check the photos below.

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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 Kumo, 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. Long-ma, the horse-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.
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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-Canadian, 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. 

An article published on July 22, 2017 from SCMP explained the decline of Cantopop and who can be the next star to regain the footing. The link can be read here.

In 2019, a New York article writes about Denise Ho being face of Cantopop’s fight against mainland China. The link can be read here. CBC Q also has the interview with the New Yorker’s Jiayang Fan on Denise Ho, you can go here.

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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