Ottawa Comiccon 2013 – S08E39

It’s been several years since I went to a comic book convention. Ottawa Comiccon was the event for comics, Sci-Fi and Anime fans alike to bring out their inner geek and to hobnob with the celebrities. The event is in its second year over at Ernst & Young Centre. It’s my first time to attend the convention as I had previously went to comic book conventions in Toronto. It’s also convenient to attend in my area, except for the one hour bus ride.

I had the opportunity to check out the marvellous vendors and the varieties of people dressing up in wonderful costumes. It ranged from comic characters to Sci-Fi characters such as Doctor Who and various Anime characters.
Being a comic book fan, I did not bring a lot of comics and trade paperbacks but was able to get my X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga trade paperback signed by Chris Claremont. It was definitely a plus as he’s a legendary storyteller.

On Saturday, I got to check out a few panels. One panel had quite a humourous trainwreck which was Name That Anime Tune. The participants did not know certain themes to Anime shows and I didn’t know any as I haven’t followed a lot of Anime shows for so long. One panel I truly had to attend was The Doctor Who panel as it had two authors from the book, Who Is The Doctor. They talked about 50 years of DW and how’s still a hit for 50 years. Plus, the Dalek appeared and humourously crashed the Q&A panel.

It was funny bumping into people I know and some have said that it’s their first time attending Ottawa Comiccon. It’s pretty surprising that Ottawa is known for being a boring city but the magnitude of Comiccon showed that there’s a big following for comics, Sci-Fi and Anime. The organizers and sponsor bringing in big name celebrities know how to attract fans and people in general. It’s quite wonderful to experience seeing lots of people to be at a convention.
The only setback I had was the lack of cell phone signal at Ernst & Young Centre. I was hoping to tweet and photos but the reception was not great to do so. At least I was able to shoot photos on the DSLR camera. You will be able to view the photos of people in their creative costumes from below.
There’s a photo of lovely ladies in Sailor Moon costumes and I know one of them as you can check her blog. They were made quite nice and also got some attention from the people. ’nuff said on that one.
Links to my Instagram from Friday – my media pass, green Dalek, Dalek Emperor (I think), classic Dalek, and R2D2.
Overall, I had a good time at Ottawa Comiccon and the organizers sure made it top notch. Lastly, happy Mother’s Day to everyone!

Coming up on Wednesday’s radio show, I will be airing the interview from a member of The Doctor Who Society of Canada.

Ottawa = Winterfell – S08E28

We know, we know – there are enough jokes out there about Snowmageddon and Snowpocalypse and …Winterfell.

But seriously, this snow though…It would give even the Night’s Watch a run for its money.

Still, we did our darnedest to pull together a good show yesterday. This post is a little delayed, since Lenny and I were stuck shovelling our driveways all afternoon, but here it is – our recap of this week’s edition of WildWorks.

Some pretty exciting news to start things off – The RBC Royal Bank Bluesfest lineup was announced yesterday, and we were reaaaal keen when we saw some of our favourites on the list. Big acts include Björk, BB King, the Dixie Chicks, Rush and Wu-Tang Clan. Personally I’m excited to see Passion Pit, Mother Mother, Zeds Dead, Camera Obscura and Bahamas.

The Birthday Edition: Interviews with Young Rival and The Elwins – S08E27.5

Hey friends, this is Candice writing a quick recap of today’s edition of WildWorks.

So busy, busy show today – not only did we have a double dose of interviews with bands Young Rival and The Elwins, but today was also Lenny’s birthday! Happy birthday, friend! Here’s to another amazing year ahead and all the DAVIDsTEA your heart desires. : )
The photo shown is Lenny with The Elwins, after the interview.

On today’s show, we played a few tracks from artists and bands that are competing in CBC Music’s Searchlight contest. CBC is looking for Canada’s next big thing, and the winning artist/band will get a sweet $20,000 in music-related equipment from Yamaha. The list of the top 20 acts is slated to be released Feb. 25.

Chinese New Year 2013: The Parade in Ottawa Chinatown – S08E26

It was a chilly but wonderful Saturday as the lions and dragon roamed through Ottawa Chinatown for the annual Chinese New Year parade. Also on hand were other drummers and twelve animals from the Chinese zodiac.
This year was unique as it was in conjunction with Winterlude/NCC.
For myself, I was on the cymbals and the tail of the lion. The photo shown had Ottawa mayor, Jim Watson giving the red pocket to the lions under the Chinatown Gateway. It was definitely the popular spot as crowds waited for the lions and dragon to come through the part of Chinatown.

Don’t forget to check some of the photos I took during the parade.
Here’s a short clip via Vine at this link.

Overall, the weather was great and fun watching families and their kids be happy for the occasion. I forgot to mention that the seventh day of Chinese New Year is everyone’s birthday.

Chinese New Year 2013: Lion Dance at T&T – S08E24

Kung Hei Fat Choy!
What a way to start Chinese New Year for 2013 with a lion dance performance at T&T Supermarket, Ottawa location. Although, my lion dance troupe had done a few performances since Thursday leading up to Chinese New Year, it’s been exciting to see people be happy to watch the colourful lions.
It’s been wonderful having two small lions and three big lions for the big occasion.

The performance at T&T was pretty crazy as crowds were getting packed and we performed for about 30 mins around the supermarket. It was quite a frenzy for the guy dressed up as Cai Shen. He was giving out the red enveloped and lots of people were grabbing the red envelopes like hotcakes. That was quite a moment.

There’s one more big performance and it will be on Saturday (Feb. 16) for the New Year Lion Dance Parade.

Don’t forget to check the photos.
Last thing, I have been using Vine and here are a few lion dance related clips to check out.
http://vine.co/v/bvi7aUxUhlD
http://vine.co/v/bve0TJb1Z2X

Happy year of the snake!

Gloria of Scary Bear Soundtrack Taking Over The Show – S08E19

OK, I couldn’t think of a good title. On this week’s edition of the show, I had the opportunity to have Gloria from Scary Bear Soundtrack join me on the show because she has been promoting a live show at Babylon Nightclub for Wednesday night (today). It’s also her final live show as she will be moving to Nunavut at the end of January. Even though, it’s her swan song, the band is doing a music video party release before leaving to the Northern confines of the Arctic.
On the radio show, Gloria picked some of her music picks from the likes of Melissa Laveaux and gatesgatesgates while there were brand new music on my end from You Say Party, Leif Vollebekk and The Matinee. January is a bit slow in terms of new music being released. It was another blessing in disguise to have a guest on the show. It was an unexpected surprise to play You Say Party’s new song right away as it was announced on social media and music sites. It’s great to hear about the band reuniting after their tough time back in 2010.
Also mentioned during the live show was talking PSY’s Gangnam Style. Overall, a good mix of new wave, rock and folk music all in one for this week’s show.
The first half of the show for this blog is the Wild 10 Countdown. For the second week on the top spot, Pick Me Up by Hollerado is still number one.
The top 10 countdown for January 16th is over at this link.
After the countdown, I discussed about Arts & Crafts celebrating their 10th anniversary and Broken Social Scene reuniting for one night only. What I forgot to do was mention Broken Social Scene in the playlist set. It’s after Caught a Long Wind by Feist. I blame my co-host for no-showing.
The playlist for the radio show is over at this link.
Finally got New Myspace and my profile is over at this link. Hopefully the new version has a good following and not fizzle out.
All I can say to Gloria, enjoy your time in Nunavut, your presence in Ottawa will be missed but two years can go by quickly.

Checked Out Pop-Up Gallery’s Opening Night Reception – S08E14

The concept of pop-up have become popular recently and on Thursday night, I had the opportunity to check Pop-Up Gallery in Ottawa. They had a grand opening and opening night reception as the gallery is located in the Hintonburg area of Ottawa. Who’s running Pop-Up Gallery? It consists of Ottawa’s three artists, Andrew King, Alison Fowler and Katherine Jeans.
The opening night was quite packed with guests as the blue house was not as big of a space to walk around. Also on hand were Liberal MPP, Yasir Naqvi and City of Ottawa Councillor, Katherine Hobbs.
I was able to look at some of the art and they were pretty interesting and unique to look at. What caught me by surprise was King’s Ottawapparel t-shirts as they have been getting a lot interest recently. What can you not like about Ottawa’s past signs and icons from former establishments. One missing was the Cathay Restaurant shirt as King said that the former owner bought the whole thing. The restaurant is no longer around as it’s replaced but an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant.
How could I not forget about food and refreshments. Food were provided by chef, Michael Blackie and it was deliciously awesome to try them out to go along with the art. There were mini Yorkshire Pudding, Oysters, chips and popcorn. The drinks were also provided by Pop Shoppe soda. Picture shown from above, I chose cream soda on the left. The photos of the event are be posted below.
It was a nice but cold Thursday night to experience Ottawa’s first pop-up art gallery. The Pop-Up Gallery runs from November 29 to December 23rd. They are located on 77 Holland Ave. Opening hours are Tuesday to Sunday but check the website for further info.

Wednesday’s Radio Show
Sorry for the delay in posting up the radio show as I didn’t have an idea to write this week. This week’s live show was mainly on cold & snowy songs and for the Chinese music, it was songs using the Saxophone.
This week’s Wild 10 Countdown has Crystal Castles staying on the top spot for the third week.
The playlist for this week’s show is over at this link.

What a Black Friday to Not Remember & Arts Nest – S08E13

Black Friday is usually a big deal in the United States but it has been catching on in Canada. Let’s say that it was a eventful day as I tried to get a new laptop at the Apple Store but they did not have the right model. In a way, Black Friday in Canada was a dud as I did not get anything that was worthy of a great sale.

To forget about the unfortunate event, I had the opportunity to go to Magpie Jewellery in Westboro for Arts Nest at night. It was organized by Creative Mornings and part of Support Local by Apartment 613. There were local designers, local musicians, and an artist.
There were free food in the form of tacos by Taco Lot and cupcakes! Plus, there was a free swag bag included at the event. All in all, being at Arts Nest certainly erased the frustration from shopping early this morning for Black Friday deals.
I did not to stay very long but got to take photos and a few are posted on my Instagram.
Hope you have a great weekend.

From Animals to an Art Carnival on Sunday – S08E11

It’s been awhile that I have wrote an entry that’s not radio show related as the blog has been updated on a weekly basis. On Sunday, I had an opportunity to attend two events. The first was the Exposure Photo & Imaging Expo at the CE Centre (soon to be called (Ernst & Young Centre). It’s the first time to go to the building after taking a painful hour long bus ride. It was a good expo for Photo enthusiasts and junkies. The major players, Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm and etc were there showing the current models of cameras and lenses. There were a few animals to shoot photos with and it will be posted on this entry. There were some good deals on photo accessories and being impulse buyer, I was tempted to get a tripod but resisted the urge. Overall, it was a fine event to check out for anyone enjoys taking photography.
The other event to attend was at Art Carnival 2012 at Fall Down Gallery. It was an event done by Dream.Love.Grow (D.L.G) along with Da Industry and Kamp Operations. The event was raise cancer awareness and also the importance to keep creativity strong in the arts community.
It was styled in the form of a carnival with games, photos and live DJing. There were also art, painting and clothing on display at the event. It was great to see CKCU-FM colleagues, DJ 2 Creamz and Jewne (co-host of Fundamentally Sound) at the event. I was able to take some unique photos at the event. There are some photos from the event being posted below.
It was definitely a great Sunday to enjoy going to the events.

It’s Support Local Month in Ottawa – S08E09

November is Support Local Month. For anyone who doesn’t know, it’s presented by the excellent Ottawa arts and culture blog, Apt613. Aside the fact that I didn’t have an interesting entry to write this week, I might as well write about this because I had the opportunity to go to the launch party at the Raw Sugar Cafe on November 1st. Another reason is that it’s mentioned in the video (below) for the trending topics. It’s good to give a local event some support.

The November 7th Radio Show
There was no interviews on this edition but good Canadian music being played. There’s a couple of bands and musicians who will be performing in Ottawa this week. The Darcys, The Luyas and Orit Shimoni  (Little Birdie) were played because they got shows for Friday night. There’s a lot of great acts coming to Ottawa in the next couple of weeks. Lauren came on the show for the live portion as she and other people are having trouble waking up due to the time chang.
On the Wild 10 Countdown, Diamond Rings is still number one for the second week. Apologies on not getting the entries posted up sooner.
The playlist for the show is over at this link.

WildWorks TV is back after a week’s absence. The filming was done after the radio show as it’s filmed at a different location and using a different camera. Trending topics for this week’s edition are Obama being re-elected for another 4 years, the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, Movember and Support Local Month.
Hope you enjoy the audio and the video.

Audio/Radio Show
The November 7, 2012 Radio Show – Press play to listen.