It’s storm time, buddy
The headline alludes to an inside joke. A laundromat inside joke.
But the storm rolling into Edmonton this afternoon is not a joke. It’s going to rain, again. Does it seem like we’re having more of these daily storms to anyone else?
So what you're telling me, is that this is the last blue sky I'll see today.
Searching for sunshine
365 Days of Sunshine, by Angela Ostafichuk
Hello Edmontonians, and welcome to summer.
In between teaching, hosting, hula-hooping and watching football it seems like the summer is melting quicker then the popsicle I forgot in the sun. As we all know, summer is truly the best time to be in Edmonton. The weather is good, the days are long and we have a million things to do in July and August.
Here is what’s cheap (or free) in this city this week.
Until July 18, the Edmonton International Street Performers Festival is running in Churchill square. Come on down and see some wonderful entertainment from around the world. Although the cost is free, donations are more then accepted as nobody *really* wants to be a starving artist.
Tuesday night check out “Much Ado About Nothing” in Hawrelak park, part of the Freewill Shakespeare Festival. As it is pay-what-you-will night, it makes for an entertaining, low cost evening. The festival runs until the end of the month and tickets usually are priced from $15 to $22.50.
For those women who are interested in spicing it up a bit (and I always say, an educated woman is not only smart, she’s happy) there is the “Orgasams 101″ workshop running out of the Traveling Tickle Trunk. Although people may complain that $25 is a bit much for a few hours, I say it is not. This workshop is priceless. It’s for women only, and you can check out their website for more education opportunities. (July 25 offers a Penis Pleasing workshop….These classes fill up fast though so make sure you register ahead of time.)
Thursday, July 15 gives a few opportunities to work on your inner artist. The AGA is back with their summer adult art classes. This week focuses on the Group of Seven and how to do acrylic landscape painting. At $12 a class these aren’t free, however, they are a wonderful way to try something new. A few blocks away, at Latitude 53, the rooftop patio series is still running, with the 15th featuring JCI.
Friday, the Fava summer party is at the Ortona armory and, being a potluck, means plenty of food and fun. Kick it back here, or enjoy one of Edmonton’s many patios with a walk, after, through the valley, while the sun sets.
And as for Saturday and Sunday… I’ll leave that up to you. For me it means farmers market, hooping at the Leg grounds and coffee at Credo! But who am I to tell you what to do?
Any ideas for what other Edmontonians do? Please leave a comment, or Twitter me at artstylelove.
Speaking of bikes…
You know, since we’ve been talking about bikes today, how about one more note.
Tonight is another one of those “bike-to-the-movies” movies over at the Citadel. (In the Rice Theatre actually.)
So bike on over for Man with One Red Shoe, at 7pm.
Oh…did I mention it was free? It’s free.
Go, bike month, go!
A step above “everyday foods”
As much as we love burgers and pizza (and we do) we know that a good diet is rounded out. Even when dining out.
For that reason, and for the simple fact we had yet to eat at Sabzy, Sally and I jumped into a tasty lunch recently.
As I mentioned, we’ve been there before, but for coffee and tea. Not for a meal.
Sabzy is a Persian-themed restaurant on Whyte Avenue. It’s also a hookah joint and that patio will be smokin’ soon.
Their menu is fresh, healthy items with middle eastern flair.
And, you’re going to want to have coffee since they do a fine job with that sweet elixir.
Sally went for the grilled chicken sandwich, which comes with corn chips. Actually, a couple of their dishes come with the crispy chips.
With the house hummus and bell peppers the sandwich is a great option to having another burger in another casual dining place.
(I see that Flavours is going to re-open as the Pour House and I fear the same old.)
I chose the Kabob Platter, which gave me one chicken kabob and one beef and lamb. I opted to pay the extra $2 and have saffron rice. That was right move. The rice was totally moist and great and was as good or better than the kabobs.
Oh, and saffron is a spice you’ll see a lot of in Sabzy.
The kabobs didn’t come stuck on a stick. Which could be good or bad, depending on how much you like eating things off sticks.
The meat was cooked really well, and it was spiced to make me want more, more, more.
We finished with americanos and super-sweet desserts. I mean the squares were sweet as in delicious but also really sweet in flavour.
They’re also vegan-friendly if you like that kind of thing, Gregg Beever.
Sabzy gets 8.73 Saffrons out of 10. Check them out.
Bring on May!
This is going to be one hell of a weekend, Edmonton.
Just you wait until you see all the goodness I have found. There’s so much stuff happening this weekend, and so much fun stuff, that if you go back to work on Monday and don’t have an awesome story to tell, well… I don’t know… it would mean you didn’t partake in any of the following amazingness.
Should be a good fantastic show over at the Starlite Room tonight, with Said the Whale opening for Plants and Animals. If you haven’t got tickets you’re out of luck, since it’s sold out.
Since it’s the end of the month that means Sonic 102.9 will be rolling out their Band of the Month (BOTM) at the Pawn Shop. April’s BOTM is the Michael James Band. Sticking with the Pawn Shop, tomorrow night is The Besnard Lakes.
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast starts its run at the Citadel, Saturday. I wish Linda Hamilton was playing Belle.
Saturday is Free Comic Book Day. So hit up any of the number of comic shops in Edmonton for fun and shenanigans. And free stuff, obviously.
And now, as always, we see what ShareEdmonton has to say about this thing we’ve been calling a weekend. Or, “weekend,” I don’t know, the j may be silent.
You have all kinds of chances to get your arts and crafts on. The Butterdome Spring Craft Sale is happening at, well, the Butterdome. And this weekend is also the Royal Bison Craft & Art Fair. You know they’re for different audiences because one of them highlights arts in their name.
The Royal Bison after-party is going to be kickin’, brought to you by our friends at Weird Canada, and Sled Island and Mammoth Cave, over at The ARTery. The first 99 people with advanced tickets are also landing themselves a sweet 7″. That means vinyl. Then, the Wyrd crew heads out on the road.
Chefs in the City sounds like a cross between Iron Chef and those competition shows on the Food Network where chefs have just a few hours to create something crazy and amazing. Yum.
Edmonton Youth Week starts Saturday. One event that caught my eye was the Grafitti Wall.
You can also give back to your community this weekend (Don’t groan, it’snice to do such things.) because Capital City Clean Up is back and the River Valley is the first big target. I’m actually considering getting out of bed early on Sunday for this.
Thanks, ShareEdmonton. Now back to me…
Could these two be those kids that are always playing on Whyte in the summer, over by Fat Franks and at the Farmerss Market?!?!?!?!
p.s. Don’t forget to see how the Rush do against the Roughnecks. It’s NLL playoffs!
Alberta Hospital Town Hall
I haven’t noticed a lot of action on the blogosphere about last night’s Alberta Hospital Town Hall, but did see one video. (above) If you see any blogs talking about it, point them our way in the comments.
That’s from Brent Welch, and gives you some flavour of how many people came out (500 estimated) and some of the speakers.
If you’re not familiar with the story, basically the provincial government was going to put some money into redevelopment, but with a ballooning deficit the decision has been made not to do that. Without that money, the plan is to move 100+ patients to community care (though, what that means is still being debated) so the hospital doesn’t require all that money. Critics of the plan say the patients will end up in shelters, jail or the streets.
The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) sponsored last night’s town hall, and also has a Twitter account about this issue. The Alberta NDP is also asking for people to sign a petition to keep the beds open.
You can also keep track of future events (AUPE-sponsored and otherwise) at this Facebook group.
seinfeil – Meanwhile, Back at Casino…
Lightbulbs are expensive. Don't you know there's a recession on?
SEINFEIL SERMON
Umm, what?
I think, near the bottom of the list of things needed is a holy war with Leduc.
Seinfeil: “Do you think anyone will notice…”
..that you accidentally bought the wrong sign? No, I think you're cool.
Good Morning, Starshine(s)!
G’morning, team. We just received this from our good friend @Derjis:
Hey guys, don’t know if you were up at 6am this morning, but if you weren’t, you missed a crazy sunrise; the whole eastern half of the sky was lit up in brilliant orange and pink.
That is crazy, Sir! It is obviously incredibly beautiful, but if I can just go ahead and ruin a really nice moment – it also kind of looks like the first phase of nuclear armeggedon. That’s the mushroom cloud, exploding on the horizon. Save yourself, Derjis!!!
Looks like somebody has AUG 5 envy
With all the excitement and hullabaloo over the big Southgate expansion on AUG 5, I can’t blame Kingsway for trying to add a little flair to their shopping experience.
If there will be ladies with tiny hats at your re-opening I will be there.
Threatdown: Bears in Cars
It might not look that weird in and of itself, but when you consider that this picture was taken at 6:30 a.m., it’s a little odd.
I was walking to work, and I scared myself by glancing in the window of this truck. And if I’m really honest, what startled me was not that I mistook this bear for a human. What startled me was that I mistook it for a real bear.
Sitting quietly.
In a truck.
At 6 a.m.
Wearing a bowtie.
Because maybe a cloud descended that allowed bears to evolve, and fill a void left by humans?
Whatever! Bear in a car. It made me laugh
seinfeil – a trusty mechanic
You know what, if I had a car I would totally take it to TOONTOWN AUTO.
I'm told it's Downtown Auto. My way is funnier.
On a total sidebar, there are a lot of Roger Rabbit fan sites. By “a lot” I mean more than the one or two I was expecting to find by Googling Toontown.
The Princess seinfeil
Not only do I get to allude to one of the great 80s movies with the headline, I also have to point out a seinfeil that pains me a little.
I like the Princess Theatre. It’s too bad they ran out of letters/room to tell us about their third movie. (Thankfully, this is a temporary sign, since Moon is no longer showing there.)
Look right there under the Princess II sign. It's there.
Someone buy me this, stat.
I saw this on last night at Bang On on Whyte Ave. I didn’t go to Catholic School, or I would’ve bought it for myself.
…man, I got nothin’ today.
Penney Carnvail, now with more canday.
Okay, the obvious joke is that sign has spelling mistakes, har har har. But hey, we all make spelling mistakes. And let he who hasn’t made a sign with watermarked clip art stolen from google image search cast the first stone.
The reason I bring this sign up is that I’m not entirely convinced that this isn’t part of some brilliant viral marketing scheme to get me to attend this carnvail. Like if I go, I will suddenly find that this was REALLY the uber-secret launch to the revamp at Southgate Mall, and all those glittery, Sex and the City-style, August 5 signs were just a cover. And there will be models in couture gowns tromping around McIntyre Park, running all kind of penny carnival booths. Dunk the model, win a prize. Possibly some canday.
seinfeil gets sporty
I’m sorry, which sport are we playing?
What kind of equipment do we need? Rackets? A helmet? Does that require a BALL?
I hear the ones with the extra L cost more.
“Y’know, I’d rather be fighting Rebels out on the front lines than guarding…”
Uhhh…the Red Star?
Today just got a little more surreal, courtesy our friend Jay Runham (@MondoJay; J-Run.ca)
Stormtrooper: Let me see your identification.
Obi-Wan: [ with a small wave of his hand] You don’t need to see his identification.
Stormtrooper: We don’t need to see his identification.
Obi-Wan: These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.
Stormtrooper: These aren’t the droids we’re looking for.
Obi-Wan: He can go about his business.
Stormtrooper: You can go about your business.
Obi-Wan: Move along.
Stormtrooper: Move along… move along.
Edmonton plants are biding their time
Where did you come from?
I was somewhat uplifted upon my return home last night, because some monster flowers have grown out of the weeds at the edge of my building.
It was neat to see.
It was then frightening to think about the fact that last summer I took care of the weeds and everything seemed normal.
I had no ideas this giant plant could emerge. Emerge to try and devour a van. Then my building. Then the city.
Hey flowers, I’ve seen Jumanji, I watch the news, I know about the space plants that lust for human blood. I’m on guard!
Be wary, Edmonton.
Wait, are those flowers trying to eat that van?
If anyone needs a blanket…
…there’s one jammed into a Media Classified stand at 82 ave. and about 106 st.
Seriously, #yeg, why? Somebody explain this. Paint me a word picture.
A Fine Sign?
(via @JoeMelin)
I like the new, cutesy branding from EPS. But I think we all know it’s only a matter of time before it becomes this:
(via @EdwardMonton)
Okay, so WTF was up with Saturday Night?
The Saturday night view from the balcony of my Whyte Ave. apartment.
Good morning gang, and congratulations on surviving the wind-pocalypse that occurred over the weekend. I personally spent the majority of the night hiding under my bed, Scooby Doo style, trying to remember whether in case of tornado you should or shouldn’t go outside, or into the basement, or stand in a doorway. So I may or may not have spent part of the evening standing, in the dark, in the doorway of my bathroom. But that’s neither here nor there – what IS both here and there (and everywhere) is tree debris. Man, it was like a tree genocide out there.
Branches flying near Whyte Ave,
..and then the hail started.
one of a million busted trees throughout the area.
city workers cleaning up the mess near 82 St. and 126 Ave.
Whyte Ave. tree carnage continues.
More broken trees in the North end
Yikes.
FOR THE LAST TIME!
Chapters in WEM has finally enforced their controversial new policy.
(via @joshishollywood‘s tumblr)
Thanks Josh!
seinfeil – spelling
I think we’ll end up finding that a lot of the best seinfeil’s include spelling mistakes that cause a double-take. Or just a plain head shake.
In this case, the sign company likely offered “convenience” but no “quality control.” I mean, it’s on both sides of the building…
As an aside, I also think ATM Machine (with "M" already meaning "machine") takes this up to new levels of fail.
