Here's how the swap meet portion of #Yeg Swap will go down. The music and fun will just happen naturally.

If you didn’t know what I was going to open this week’s events listing with, you just haven’t been paying attention.

March 20 means #YegSwap over at The ARTery. 7pm. Until the fun ends.

We’ve got you bringing some cool stuff, that for some reason you just don’t want anymore (don’t tell me who did what on top of it). You’ll be trading that with other people in our super-efficient swap dome* and all the while you will be entertained by amazing Edmonton musicians Lyra Brown, The Mystery Ponies and The Joe.

And all for $2.

We’re basically paying you to come and have a great Saturday night.

One other thing worth mentioning, those musical acts are from three different genres. You don’t see a lot of that, outside of your iPod, so that could be worth the price of admission right there.

Alright, self-promotion aside, I’ll head over to ShareEdmonton and see if there’s anything else going on. But it probably won’t be as good as #Yeg Swap.

A neat event happening Saturday night (See, I’m not so biased I won’t mention other Saturday events.) is also a fundraiser. Out of Sight: A Sensory Experience is a “dining in the dark” meal, where a mask or sunglasses will limit your vision during the meal.

The Bounce is having a birthday party, their 5th.

Tonight (Friday) there’s an “Eeeeeeee…” inducing event at Best Buy Edmonton South, it’s a Twilight New Moon Launch Party.

It’s Randy Couture night at the Edmonton Rush game.

Here’s an interesting one from the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues; Green Projects to Empower your Community. It comes with wine and cheese.

The Edmonton Boat & Sportsmen’s Show is a sign of spring, right?

There’s a rally for public services at the Alberta Legislature Saturday. After that, you should come to #YegSwap.

Naked on Jasper (it’s a cybercafe you pervs) is hosting the Busker’s Ball tonight. It’s got a great lineup of people you’ve probably seen at other venues and actually busking.

There’s some Postdata happening at Brixx Friday night.

The Pawn Shop has a great show Sunday, with Jay Malinowski of Bedouin Soundclash, Kinnie Starr and Michael Rault.

I mentioned the coming latin passion in my review of an Edmonton Symphony Orchestra show back here, but this weekend is “Musica Latina.” Which is sure to set your hips a-swaying.

Oh, and The Fashion Event is back, for your spring shopping needs, over at the Mayfield Inn & Suites.

And tickets are now on sale for St. Albert’s International Children’s Festival.

Whew!

p.s. #Yeg Swap is being put on by The League of Extraordinary Media, which is our new group of Edmonton super-hero bloggers and podcasters. In the battle between good and evil, choose local.

*There’s no swap dome. I only said that to increase your interest.

Friday!

Yes, Edmonton, we’ve made it through another week. Can you believe it’s already heading into late March, it’s going to officially be Spring tomorrow? Time is sure flying.

Speaking of tomorrow, we’ve got this thing over at The ARTery, and it would be really swell if you would swing on by for our swap meet/concert/party. You’ll have a lot of fun and meet new friends.

Anyway…the Newspaper Audience Databank has released some 2009 numbers on newspaper readership. So you know the Sun and the Journal both have stories on themselves.

Much like TV and radio ratings, when we see multiple stations saying they’re #1, both papers are claiming to be big winners. And much like any kind of ratings, they could both be right. It’s all about demographics and overall numbers and a mishmash of everything.

Everybody wins!

We here at the edmontonian also win. We win because we have the equivalent audience of 4-6% of either paper’s online readership. With an equivalent of 0% of their budget. Put that in your ratings debrief, newspaper publishers. (I’m not sure what their budgets are, or what their online budgets would be, but I bet 4% of their budget would set me up pretty nicely.)

More interesting stuff on online readership from Mack, who looked at Twitter links to two of the city’s more prevalent newsrooms on the micro-blogger.

from the Edmonton Journal:

Hundreds protest tuition hikes

Edmonton Remand Centre rules out late-night arrivals (If the guards and police are against this it looks like it’s just a cost cutting measure from the Alberta government.)

Alberta’s retail sales make gains but lag behind other provinces

Officer faced pain we can’t imagine

Edmonton nightspot owner sues city for $2.4M

Edmonton paralympic athlete wins gold (Gold!)

from the Edmonton Sun:

Police offer big cash for tips (Tips in a number of Edmonton-Somali homicides.)

from 630CHED/iNews880:

Provincial grant helps Mustard Seed build apartments for the homeless

from CBC Edmonton:

Chemicals, weapons seized from Ludwig farm

Slovenian hall falls victim to city growth

Charges laid in pawnshop hatchet attack

from CTV Edmonton:

Father Michael Troy passes away

Pool at MacEwan city centre campus to stay open (So, was this a bad decision made without consultation or is the squeaky wheel just getting oil?)

Mayor rates well in recent poll (Wow, it’s poll week over at CTV.)

Are you sick of me talking about #Yeg Swap yet?

I feel like if I don’t force myself to spend some time in the most obvious of Edmonton spaces I’ll end up running between big box centres and forgetting that there’s some pretty neat stuff here.

First thing I did was take a visual spin around the square.

Looking to the north end of the square you've got the glass pyramid of City Hall.

To the east you've got a great example of Edmonton's beige blandness.

South: the Sun is trying to blind me! Also, there's never anybody in the square. We need to kick things up a notch.

Then there's City Centre Mall on the west side.

Like you haven't seen enough of the newest addition to Churchill Square, the AGA's steely glass building.

There's plenty to like about the unique buildings at the southeast end of Churchill Square...colour, glass, different shapes...

Even an older building has some great architectural qualities.

After looking at City Hall and the Art Gallery of Alberta and the Citadel Theatre (and the Winspear) and Canada Place, the library just looks boring.

I mentioned this the other day but I really do like the art the City is putting on their sand boxes.

Clearly there is some kind of secret bunker under Churchill Square.

I'd never noticed this "fake" coffee shop that's outside. You can see the Winspear Centre just behind it.

So hungover…I could barely get out of bed this morning…

Just another friendly reminder to come to the swap meet/concert/party this Saturday at The ARTery.

But I have to take NyQuil to try and beat this cold.

I bet the hangover is more alcohol-induced for others though. I saw lines of people outside of bars when I left work yesterday. There was lots of green too. I suppose if we’d have known for sure we’d be waking up to snow, more of us would have tried to get our cheer on last night.

You know, I had something else I was going to talk about…I thought of it on the way to work this morning. But it’s gone now. I blame the cold medicine.

from the Edmonton Journal:

Mandel slams stinginess of past Edmonton city councils

Good moves on homelessness

School-capacity formula under review (Since big, older schools tend to be slighted in the current formula.

Edmonton’s property assessment appeals down sharply

Wildlife officer advised Syncrude on bird deterrent program (I’m sure they were paying attention the whole time too.)

Royalty review not done yet: Liepert

Restitution Act does a nifty end-run around civil liberties

Medical chaperones a friend to frightened patients

from the Edmonton Sun:

Quesnell art installation defies logic

Result analysis of city surveys blasted (Maybe the surveys weren’t the best way to ask people to the dance this weekend.)

Council members reject protocol office

Ed says Alberta’s lost some advantage (And not just in our slogan.)

from the Edmonton Examiner:

Edmonton marks World Water Day

St. FX Sports Centre to open in June

from The Canadian Press:

Alberta government says it will combat ‘propaganda campaigns’ against oilsands (You know how you do that, don’t you? No, it’s not cleaning things up. It’s your own propaganda campaigns, silly.)

from 630CHED/iNews880:

Student rally planned for Thursday (That’s today!)

Spike predicted in oilpatch profits

from CBC Edmonton:

Temporary foreign workers treated badly, NDP charges (Alright, Thomas Lukaszuk, I question if there’s anything under all that hair if you think workers not getting paid, not getting vacation or holidays, and not being treated properly is a good thing. These stats could mean we’re treating more than 50,000 people like garbage.)

New ridings to protect rural areas: Stelmach (Well, at least now we know.)

from CTV Edmonton:

Poll shows world’s fair a tough sell for Edmontonians

Public outcry builds over high-voltage transmission lines

Bauer recalls 13 hockey stick brands over lead paint (It’s really getting to the point where I have to ask if anything can be mass produced without killing me.)

from Vue Weekly:

Public Sector Cuts: Joining together brings success

from SEE Magazine:

The Fall and Rise of 118th Avenue

from The Gateway (U of A):

New CASA report correlates accessibility, employment (You mean, you need money to go to school? Oh…lots of money.)

Subjects “at risk” of being labelled a threat to campus (Opinion on the U of A’s plans to target individuals who could be mentally ill.)

TED talks epitomize our golden age (Could the Internet have brought us a new age of enlightenment.)

Let me know what you think.

Or maybe I'm just immature and giggle at the term "rack."