Browsing Tag

Toronto

Bryan Adams Made A Night to Remember

On Thursday May 3, Canadian icon Bryan Adams performed for 2 1/2 hours, likely making it one of the longest performances I’ve ever attended – not that I nor any of his other twenty thousand or so fans minded. His stop at the Air Canada Centre last night was ultimately a fantastic way to kick-off my summer break.

Bryan Adams is one of those musicians whose work makes a great addition to a driving playlist, so as I watched and listened in awe, I thought back to trips to such places as London, Montreal, Sudbury and Buffalo. Download and then play “Open Road” on your next road trip and you’ll understand.

Since attending his acoustic performance at Massey Hall in August 2009, the middle aged demographic in the audience didn’t surprise me, but the Twitter stream projected onto a screen leading up to his set sure did. I don’t know whether it was the copious amounts of beer I spotted many ticketholders consuming, or if it’s just his fans’ regular diction, but the live Twitter stream illuminated how publicly featuring live tweets can be problematic because some fans’ tweets shown onscreen included profanity. In any case, given the size of touring musicians’ entourages, it couldn’t hurt to have a moderator if tour producers wish to incorporate social media like that.

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The Lucky One

What’s a Toronto visit without an Indigo event? This time, I went to Indigo Yorkdale (thankfully much closer than alternative locations) to see author Nicholas Sparks promote The Lucky One. The film adaptation of The Lucky One will be in theatres April 20, starring heartthrob Zac Efron.

Arriving early to wait in line ensures you’re close to the pre-event excitement and hype, which included a dance off between three fans to Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” right outside Starbucks. Once the line moved closer to the stage, a group of young girls enthusiastically took to the stage to jump up and down singing One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful,” which possibly delighted them more than meeting Sparks himself.

I also snagged a periwinkle blue tee with the film’s name and release date printed on a sleeve, which I’m wearing now as I write this. A girl behind me who also received a t-shirt commented she could see herself wearing it under a blazer, discreetly celebrating her pop culture interests at work! Another giveaway was branded lip gloss, which I think was very fitting for a romance novelist’s signing.

Sparks briefly said a few words to fans thanking everyone for coming before signing 500+ copies of The Lucky One, including none other than former Maple Leafs player Curtis Joseph! He was as charming in person as expected.

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I Creeped Rashida on MTV, But I Ain’t Following Her

It’s one thing to upload only the photos that showcase your most attractive features or selectively tweet links related to your industry, but it’s quite another to publicly over-share the minutiae of your daily life. Too few social media users consciously filter the information they post online – a pattern which MTV Canada’s producers are capitalizing on to capture viewers’ attention in the network’s latest show, Creeps.

MTV used their ever so popular Jersey Shore as the lead-in for Creeps’ series premiere on January 5. Creeps proves that Canadian broadcasters indeed have a knack for creating engaging, interesting and timely original content, as it revolves around the over-sharing trend that we are all too familiar with in 2012.

Each episode examines young Canadians’ social media profiles and introduces viewers to Facebook-aholics and Twitter junkies. For example, in the first episode, we met Rashida James (@thatsSOrara) who has 300+ Twitter followers. In a recent tweet, she admitted she “doesn’t know 90% of the people” appearing in her news feed.

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Nuit Blanche

When I’m at school in London, I long for exploring Toronto’s sprawling downtown core, whether it is for shopping, dining or entertainment. Hence, when I went home I was elated to finally experience Nuit Blanche.

After returning home from a shopping excursion over the border, I refuelled with my second Starbucks pumpkin spice latte of the day, this time with an extra shot of espresso. I refused to let a lack of sleep put a damper on participating in one of Toronto’s largest cultural events.

Once my friend and I exited Dundas subway station, we were confronted with food trucks selling cotton candy and corn on the cob, which immediately brought back memories of The Ex. Though I was familiar with my surroundings, Toronto’s downtown atmosphere had been completely transformed into an artsy extravaganza. There were at least three couples square dancing in the street, friends posing for photos all over the place, and street performers galore.

Tweets from friends and overall hype about Nuit Blanche assured me that there were exciting surprises and attractions to come. More importantly, I’m thankful that I skimmed the Twitter stream on the official event website because I’m grateful to whoever recommended wearing gloves! Boy, did they come in handy. Pun intended. I wish I’d twitpic’d and captured it on camera when I walked by a convenience store with a storefront sign that read, “Ice Sold Here” because that was the last thing anyone wanted when they’d pulled out winter jackets (or hoped that they did) for the first time since March or April.

My three favourite exhibits were Honey, I’m Home, inspired by 90’s sitcoms; Observer FX, a multimedia installation that offered commentary about surveillance; and McLuhan’s Massage Parlour, inspired by Marshall McLuhan’s work.

If you’re looking for Nuit Blanche GIFs to share on your Tumblr page or forward to co-workers, The Grid has you covered. I’ll admit that as I reviewed the GIFs, a couple of the male artists closely resembled male artists I’d seen at other exhibits – it must be because they fit the Queen West [West] stereotypical hipster mould.

This techie would be an exception however; he seemed like a cool guy:

Special thanks to She Does the City and Notable for their lists of recommended exhibits! Including the location of each was much appreciated while planning my night out. Unfortunately the Nuit Blanche BlackBerry app is incompatible with my temporary loaner phone, but I managed to navigate the downtown core without difficulties. The truth is that when it’s so cold outside, you don’t want to be taking your gloves off to use your phone, so I did minimal live tweeting.

Second Helpings, Please!

After two days of enjoying some of the best recipes in Second Helpings, Please!, a staple in any Jewish home, with my family, I tasted new concoctions by Chef Jason Bartenger at the Oliver and Bonacini Canteen in the TIFF Bell Lightbox. There, I reunited with ladies whom I’ve affectionately categorized online as the “Indigo Tweets Crew”. For this reunion dinner however, there were not even any Indigo employees present! They were greatly missed though, especially by those of us who hadn’t seen Captain Awesome (aka Cammy, the author of @indigogreenroom tweets, who arranges for fans to meet celebrities across Canada) at the Word on the Street Festival last weekend.

Jennifer, a librarian technician at Humber College who made tonight’s reservations, showed off her new “practical, yet sexy” pumps from Naturalizer, which received the group’s stamp of approval for being stylish too. If only I had been on the other side of the table to capture it on camera when she pulled one off to show us… That was a funny moment, right there in the restaurant on a Friday night. Oh well. It just goes to show you how after meeting each other only once or twice at Indigo events, we already share a great camaraderie.

The reunion dinner couldn’t have been scheduled much later in the fall because after exploring all that Toronto has to offer, including a gig working at CTV, Elizabeth is returning home to Newfoundland this week! Hopefully she’ll be able to squeeze in a trip to the theatre to see Kim Cattrall on stage, which is on my to-do list as well, time permitting. It has already been agreed that a tweet up will be built around her next visit to Toronto. Plus, I just documented it, so now it’ll for sure have to happen!

 

 


 

 

Oh yes, and then there’s the food, i.e. the scrumptious platters that Chef Bartenger delivered to us himself, accompanied by detailed explanations of the ingredients and preparation. There’s a reason we returned to eat at the Lightbox and it wasn’t just because of the chef’s good looks.

Tonight marked the first time I’ve ever had a beet salad and liked it and I wasn’t alone in loving each piece topped with Greek yogurt and granola.

 

 


 

 

Servings of flatbread, chicken pate, steak tartare and frites with grated cheese were also slid down the table in between us and enjoyed by all. At this point, the menus doubling as placemats beneath our plates had been nearly forgotten about, but we continued to indulge by ordering beef brisket sandwiches, scallops and desserts, including a root beer float. The float was also served to an eleven year old birthday girl upstairs who apparently has impeccable manners and an excellent vocabulary, or at least that’s the word on the street.

 

 


 

 

There was some conversation about book signings, recent purchases and the new augmented reality interactive experiences offered by Indigo, but there was surprisingly little talk about social media at all this time. We were simply 8 friends gathered in downtown Toronto, unwinding at the end of the week and enjoying each other’s company before returning to our regular routines as students, young professionals, teachers and mothers.

At the the end of the evening, as we reached for our coats and decided to institute our tweet up as a quarterly event, Jennifer generously offered tickets to a blogger event. Things like that just don’t happen in London, Ontario, nor does the event Word on the Street I’m afraid.

 

 


 

Marketing professionals are continually seeking ways to make their initiatives appear organic. There’s something quite authentic about women feeling inspired by a corporate-sponsored event to coordinate their own that’s equally as intimate as the first by using the tool that brought us all together in the first place: Twitter.