Nachos!
You love nachos.
We all do.
It’s OK for you to admit it. This is a safe place.
Everyone likes nachos, because you can load them up with meat, veggies, cheese, soy-cheese, whatever. It’s a food that can bring together foodies of all walks. And don’t even get me started on the possibilities of sides and dips.
Thank goodness, Edmonton now has its own official nacho blog. Tell Katie what you think of nachos, how to make super-kick-ass nachos, where to go for nachos, what you think of what she thinks of nachos from around Edmonton, and other nacho-related information.
Katie, we are going to make you our Nacho Bureau Chief, once our Bureau Chief money comes in.
Buy! Sell! People!
What’s a tweet worth?
Well, sometimes it’s not much. But other times it could involve some valuable information.
Here's a shot of the screen used to demonstrate Empire Avenue.
And sometimes you’ve got a great Facebook profile or page, perhaps a sweet Flickr account, neat podcast, an amazing blog, and so on and so on in the social media world.
Now, Empire Avenue is trying to monetize your online value.
Hey, why not?
If the traditional media is suffering at all due to people turning to bloggers or other online sources of information, especially locally, then there has to be some value in what these online “influencers” are saying.
Certainly there are photographers who’ve landed jobs from Flickr postings, bloggers who have written for newspapers and magazines, as that online presence carries into traditional media realms. And if you notice a cute little dog to the upper right of these very words you can see there’s an advertising value in online media.
Empire Avenue wants to help you, yes you, squeeze some value out of your tweets, your Facebook, Flickr and YouTube accounts, your blog, by having other people investing in you, as if you were a stock on the open market.
Right now the people’s market is in beta, being tested by lucky nerds like me. Soon they’ll open things up to a larger audience. Then, they’ll open things up to the money.
Basically here’s what it could do, using this website as an example. (more…)
Lotsa Edmonton
We got a note a few weeks back about a new video made for local rapper The Joe’s “You’re Cool.”
Check it out and dig all that Edmonton in there.
Also, have a great weekend why don’t you.
The Joe's new album is Ut Oh.
Cowboy Poker
Edmonton, it’s been a wonky day.
So, enjoy some Cowboy Poker from the recent Canadian Finals Rodeo, and have a great weekend.
Eating entire turkeys in one sitting since 2009
This short was shown at the Edmonton International Film Festival’s 24/One last week, since it was the first winner of the contest.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving weekend, Edmonton!
Edmonton ex-pat is greatest mind of our time
I don’t want to blow this out of proportion, but Benjamin Tippett could be working on the most important science of our time.
Namely, how Superman’s powers work and how you can maximize zombie-killing. (Among other genius explorations.)
And if you think this is just some friend of a friend I’m trying to get attention for, you’re only half correct. Wired talked about Ben. There. Now you know he’s a big deal.
This guy is awesome. We salute you, sir.
The Great Unknown
I don’t want to make this seem like the greatest thing since sliced bread, but I think there’s an Edmonton podcast you should check out.
It’s called The Unknown Studio and it’s good.
Hosted by Edmontonians Adam Rozenhart and Scott C. Bourgeois, it’s an informative and entertaining hour. (The boys are also on Facebook.)
The podcast comes out every two weeks and has already amassed an array of topics.
On the Edmonton side, they’ve talked about bugs and insects in the city (this podcast is definitely worth listening to), the Fringe, the Oilers, the growing city and planning issues, and the latest installment hits up the Pure Speculation Science Fiction Festival, happening this weekend.
They’ve also touched upon topics that have little to do with Edmonton, aside from the hosts and guests residing in our fair city. But that still makes it a good percentage local.
Plus, it’s funny. Have I mentioned that? It is.
The Unknown Studio is a great example of how topics that might not seem interesting (say, bugs) can end up being a compelling hour of listening because the hosts ask questions you would ask, the guests are real people and you can actually learn stuff while being entertained. It’s actual infotainment. Without water-skiing squirrels.
And you can be lazy like me and just subscribe to the podcast in iTunes so you get it automatically. Hilarious and informative podcast every two weeks? Yes, please!
(Bias note: We have been invited on the show. But I was listening to the podcast before they asked to go steady.)
Lucy and Bob Barker: All you need to know
Yes, Bob Barker is here to see Lucy the Elephant. Yes, we could spend copious amounts of time covering the meeting. Or Mr. Barker’s visit to City Hall.
But really, we know this is all you’re actually after.
CJSR videos make me laugh more than TBS*
Hey, gang!
The CJSR Fun Drive kicks-off next week (we may be doing more on this once it gets going) and they’ve got some funny, funny, funny videos to promote their 25th anniversary. (That second link has a nice skewing of rock radio.)
(Wow, I’m older than Edmonton’s community radio station. Normally I’m way younger than radio stations.)
If you’re not familiar with this station because you listen to nothing but your iPod or commercial radio (or, gasp, CBC) let me give you the Coles Notes. CJSR is housed at the University of Alberta, it’s volunteer-driven (which means lots and lots of short shows) and it plays every kind of music. They also do some news and current affairs, and alternative news.
Being at the U of A they also broadcast Golden Bears and Pandas games.
Did you see that I mentioned them being volunteer-driven? Maybe you want to host a show…
Note: Edmonton has another radio station that needs listener money now and then. CKUA is Alberta’s indie radio station and has campaigns during the year as well. On the plus side, you give money you hear few commercials.
*Why do we have to have Peachtree TV? I want TBS branding back.
OH MY GOD, WE’RE BACK AGAIN.
Good morning, Edmonton!
We’re back. So enjoy this melodic interlude while we get back up to full speed, writing all about this little place we all like to call home.
- Jeff and Sally
Missin y’all since 2009
Well, it’s that time, isn’t it, #yeg. Time for us to say goodbye. Yes, I can tell by the clock on the wall; it’s :( time.
Not forever though, just for a week. And during that week, you can check back, because while Samsonow & I won’t be writing, we will continue to post anything you guys happen to submit; just not on a regrrrlrrrly scheduled basis.
So you kids be good. And no parties. This is a small internet, and if you get up to anything, I’m going to hear about it.
Lots of love Edmonton! See you August 31!
Making every red light a party since 2009.
We’re sending this one out to @dmah, who made both mine and Jeff’s day by daring to ask on twitter:
This has been a running gag for Jeff and I since first we saw the So You Think You Can Dance van earlier this week. It has spawned several impromptu dance routines and a hastily created theme song that Samsonow refuses to stop singing. For those of you who haven’t seen it, it’s a cube van. Driven by teamsters. With glittery, rotating “So You Think You Can Dance” graphics, and three silver disco balls inside.
I have combed these here INTERNETS in search of a picture or a reference to it, but I have had no luck. So, I offer you instead, the next best dancing/traffic related thing, our main man, Dancing Dan. Because in @dmah’s words:
Truer words, Sir. Truer words.
Who loves you, #yeg? We love you. Oh yes we do. And don’t you forget it.
Have a great weekend, gang!
Educating Edmonton since 2009
How did I miss this series of ads?
Have a good weekend, Edmonton.
p.s. the Educate Edmonton website doesn’t seem to be around anymore.
Oliver Pool
Forget Folk Fest or the Fringe – according to my friend Robert at Blogged Arteries, the hottest seat in town at the moment is over at Oliver Pool (well, maybe not today, what with the rain and all, but you know what I’m sayin’).
I’m not gonna lie to you guys. I have no idea where Oliver Pool is and I didn’t know it even existed – but Bobby has the down-lo on the summertime hotspot and now I kind of want to go. Maybe I can rope Jeff into it too, if I get him past that whole never-nude thing.
Loving Elevators since 2009.
HappyChest is back with a vengeance, you guys! She’s uploaded four new videos in the last week! Man, I can barely manage one a week! Anyway, my favorite is this one from the Mayfield Inn.
If we had two cents to rub together, I would hire HappyChest to be our elevator bureau chief.
Have a great weekend, #yeg!
Vote for Andrea: For Fashion, for Change.
So our friend Andrea, who has the really great blog miel & cannelle, is vying for a pretty wicked prize through Fashion Magazine. If she gets voted the most stylish of the ladies selected, she gets $500 bones to drop at Holt Renfrew.
But we weren’t just going to blindly endorse her. It’s a great outfit and everything, but I’m a bit of a hardass with stuff like this. I asked Andrea to prove her mettle by writing an essay for you guys on why she deserves to win. So here it is:
My Dearest Edmontonians.
I come to you today with arms and pocketbook wide open, looking for your votes.
I am on a quest, a quest of epic size two proportions to make this city, this province, and this world, a sartorially better pin-tucked and peg-rolled place. By voting for me, you strike a blow against those neutral naysayers, those drab designer dupes, those disingenuous ingenues that plague our fair city and our fair town and indeed our country with their faux-pas and their faux-fur. A vote for me counts as a vote, might I even say, against those paltry and pale executives and their pastel pastiches of wives who run the oil sands.
Yes, my turned up cuffs and turned out looks will battle the urban encroachment of Ed Hardy hats and Croc’d feet yes, I will even say, the oil sands themselves. With bankers collars and Blahniks I will stem the tide of sulphurous fumes and another CK1 derivative release. I will bring vegan cafes and steakhouses into harmonious brotherhood under the shared banner of good style. Edmontonians, now is the time.
Fashionistas of Edmonton, of the world, unite, and vote for me. In the stripes.
Andrea
*sniff*
…you had me at Ed Hardy. Vote for Andrea, guys, and do it in a hurry – voting closes tomorrow.
Tell the world, Johnny
Edmonton's river valley looking all green and stuff. (Photo: City of Edmonton)
This is going to lose its timeliness if I wait too long, due to its play on words of our favourite Churchill Square food festival. So I’m serving it up hot and delicious. (Just about the end of food puns. I think.)
A world-traveling acquaintance of mine, known as Eva (she’s also on Twitter), is writing for a U.S. “local” website. As far as I can understand it, Examiner.com is all about people across the U.S. talking about stuff to do and where to do it. And not just in their country.
So our Edmonton-loving friend, Eva, is telling her “fellow” Americans to visit our fair city; for some fresh air, the river valley, Old Strathcona and a mall I won’t mention by name because I know it’s the bane of some native Edmontonians’ existence.
Eva, telling Americans about Edmonton since 2009.
p.s. I think she really does like it here.
p.p.s. She does have a legitimate reason to be writing “from” Pittsburgh, before you ask.
Don’t send a Brit to do an Edmontonian’s job
You can't fly too close to the sun on wings of Internet love.
The headline of this story may be a tad harsh, but it popped into my head and seemed to stick. Sorry, Ben Southall.
I don’t know if you caught this story coming out of the weekend, but it seems the British lad who won the “Best Job in the World” is taking his lumps for not blogging enough. And for not blogging about any “normal” stuff we “regular” folk would get to do if we visited the same Australian spots.
Hey, dude’s got stuff he’s told to do.
I’m not saying Edmonton’s own hopeful for this kick-ass job, Linda Hoang, would be blogging up a storm down under. But if you click on the link on her name, you’ll see she runs multiple blogs…
Also, it seems any of those problems involving a “busy schedule” and “wireless connections” have cleared up since the Internet began to turn against young Ben. He’s written a huge blog piece since Sunday.
I sort of feel bad for Ben. He was propelled to the top with love from the Internet, and after three weeks he is feeling its wrath.
This seems like a good reminder to tell you that I love you, Edmonton Internet. Don’t turn on me. Don’t you put that evil on me.
Never Forgetting since 2009.
In case any of you forgot, Michael Jackson passed away a month ago.
In honour of the one-month-iversary of his passing, we give you the students of Mayfield Elementary, performing the Thriller dance.
(Watch the kid on the far right; at about 1:21 he sort of starts to lose interest in the group and go solo. I christen him the Robbie Williams of Mayfield School.)
this is part of a scrapbooking display at michael's in clareview.
Goodnight, sweet prince. And have a great weekend, #yeg.
Social Networking for the Rest of Us
(I always struggle with whether or not to post something like this, because I don’t want to mock anybody. I actually think it’s very sweet that guys would place an ad to meet a new friend. And much like our other internetter-buddy who was seeking out the Robert Urich movie, I’m sort of captivated by the backstory that these ads imply. But if I’m being a jerkstore, you guys need to tell me.)
Are you one of those people who just doesn’t “get” twitter? Are you convinced that facebook is going to sell your important personal knowledge to the F.B.I. (for their file on people who take the quiz that reveals which Golden Girl you are, obviously)? Fear not! There’s another option, and it comes via craigslist: the strictly platonic section. I think this is kind of quaint (and yes, I photoshopped it to get it to fit in our page, but I didn’t make it up)
But remember kids, never meet anyone from the internet alone. Safety first. Then teamwork.
Look up – Way up
You'll have to know this one already, or check the website to find out where this is.
I just recently returned from a trip to Ontario, which included a few days in the garbage-strewn streets of Toronto. (Oh fine, the garbage strike didn’t actually fill the street with garbage.)
I lived in Toronto once, and can remember forcing myself to look up whenever I was downtown. That city’s downtown being a little larger than Edmonton’s, I was downtown a lot.
I felt that there was all of this great architecture reaching for the sky, yet people rarely looked up to take it all in- to see reflections of bright blue sky and clouds in all of that glass. People were really focused on what was right in front of them, on their immediate path to the next whatever.
Which is why it’s really cool to see one of Edmonton’s bright young journo-blogging minds reminding us to look up.
Linda Hoang is pointing out that there’s some neat, some cool and some familiar stuff right above your head. But when do you really look up, except maybe when bored? You should take a peek sometime.
Her website has a growing gallery of ceiling photos, including restaurants, malls, and even apartments.
You can even submit your photos of ceilings.
If it sounds mundane, then I think you should poke around the website a little, because there are some really interesting things going on up above us, and some ceilings are damn impressive.
We’re huge in Guinea.
…Or at least, that’s how I’m choosing to interpret our first piece of spam e-mail.
I’m thinking of replying for more details, and posting whatever they send me.
Thoughts?
@whiverwill, you be famous!
A shout out to our friend Trevor (@whiverwill), whose Capital Ex youtube storm video has racked up more than 28,000 hits! We’re so proud to say we got on board the Trevor train during simpler times – and by simpler times, I mean like a week and a half ago when he sent us some photos of the Street Performers’ Festival. It’s like digging a band before they get really big, and being able to act all superior when other people discover them later on. We knew Trevor’s work before the Journal got on board – that gives us mad street cred.
Seriously though, Trevor, the video is really, really good. Nice work, sir!
Shrugging off the shackles of my own self-consciousness since 2009.
…I wish I liked anything as much as this gentleman likes Oasis. He’s so happy!
Have a great weekend, #yeg!
