Browsing Tag

Canadian entertainment

Concert Review: Tegan and Sara

hot-on-the-street-tegan-and-sara-massey-hall-toronto-love-you-to-death-img_9555

In high school, I did a presentation for my media class (i.e. my favourite class) about alternative music and I spent lots of time trying to find an image of One Tree Hill’s Peyton Sawyer wearing a Tegan and Sara t-shirt. I don’t remember if that’s the show that introduced me to them, but regardless of how I discovered the Canadian twins, I’m glad I did.

I was relieved when I was finally able to buy a ticket to see them live in Toronto. Massey Hall turned out to be an incredible venue and I felt like I had the best seat in the house (on the aisle, in the third row of the first balcony). I swear I had a better view than when I’ve had floor seats at the Air Canada Centre.

Continue Reading

October 29, 2016 by

Behind The Brand: Canadian Football League (CFL)

Brodie Lawson

Name: Brodie Lawson

Position: Video Content Coordinator and Host

Education: Media, Information and Technoculture (MIT), Western University

Professional role models:

I have so many—too many to list! I love Katie Nolan who is hugely inspiring and represents where this industry is going—she is amazing. If you haven’t checked her out on Garbage Time on YouTube (on FOX in the USA), you should! Her stuff should be required viewing for women looking to get into sports broadcasting. For more traditional broadcasting, I look up to Sam Ponder who works on College Gameday. Her job (from an outsider) consists of working live on set with tons of fan engagement, doing in-depth interviews and sideline reporting. It’s a cool job and she kills it! She also speaks and writes candidly about working in sports, which I deeply appreciate.

Continue Reading

June 16, 2016 by

Play Review: Forever Plaid

Forever Plaid

Photo Source: Racheal McCaig

What would you do if you could realize your dreams a few decades after you die? For the Plaids, this is not a ridiculous notion—it’s reality. Most fans of the fictitious 1950s male quartet think they died in an emergency room, but patrons in Toronto can experience their music live at the Panasonic Theatre until June 12!

At the beginning of the show, the group explains that they want to seize the opportunity to perform the show they never could when they were alive. This enables the show’s escapist quality, as the oldies music and out-dated costumes make the audience feel like they’re travelling through time with the performers.

Continue Reading

May 30, 2016 by

Movie Review: Obit

Hot Docs - Obit - Bruce Weber and Vanessa Gould

Director & Producer Vanessa Gould and Reporter Bruce Weber

What do you consider a newsworthy death?

Well, the New York Times’ obituaries section is not limited to celebrities and politicians, as there are many ordinary people doing extraordinary things and their stories deserve to be told in print and online. By flipping to the obits section, you can access history from the perspective of a skilful reporter who wrote a retrospective about a person who led a meaningful life. That’s something worth reading.

After job shadowing a movie critic at The Globe and Mail during high school, I was intrigued by the movie Obit, as it promises to offer a behind the scenes look at The New York Times. Thankfully, Vanessa Gould’s movie is insightful and engaging and you don’t need to be a journalist to enjoy this documentary at Hot Docs. After all, the obits are written for everyone. One of the reporters communicated this effectively when he said that their challenge is to craft an entertaining piece about history for people who don’t know history.

Continue Reading

May 5, 2016 by

Q&A With Dustin Brown, Co-Creator Of The Brief

Dustin Brown

Toronto-based advertising and communications agency Elemental recently launched a four-part web series called The Brief. Dustin Brown is a partner at the agency who co-created the series.

Why did you decide to make a web series about agency life?

We have always tried to do promotional pieces about the agency to either attract new clients or new employees, bring on new talent and [create] stuff to show our clients what we’re capable of doing. We have run some campaigns in the past and then when one of our new copywriters came on board, he was a director and had the background. I had toyed around with making a full-length series once upon a time and he had some ideas about how to do a web series, which I had never really explored. We brought these two things together and created these shorts and we just had fun with it. From there, it grew into this four-part series, which is great.

Continue Reading

March 15, 2016 by