Last Minute Christmas Gifts
It’s that time of year, again, isn’t it? The time of year when you panic shop to make up for all the time you spent watching Holiday Specials and swilling eggnog with your friends. Your no good, riff-raff friends. GOOD GOD, IS THIS WHAT CHRISTMAS MEANS TO YOU?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR LIFE?! GROW UP!
Anyway, in an effort to take the edge off, Monsieur Samsonow and I have made lists of a few ideas we might like to receive (p.s., send us christmas presents).
5 Gifts Sally Would Want
1) A fitness class from Defining Eve (10920 88th Avenue)
Defining Eve is a somewhat lady-centric (but dudes go there too!) fitness and training studio in the Garneau area that offers group classes, personal training and nutritional counseling. I am currently a very happy customer of theirs, and would wholeheartedly recommend this to the fitness enthusiast on your list. Or, alternately, if you have somebody who talks a lot about exercises but is actually terrified of the gym (someone like, say, ME) this place is basically their dream come true. Helpful staff, a friendly clientele and a warm atmosphere make it nothing like the junior high Phys. Ed classes etched in your memory. (more…)
Uncle Pauly’s got more prizes
The Christmas fun, and your charitable spirit, Edmonton, just keeps going.
Before we get to the new prizes Paul has dug up, let’s meet our current entrants to Uncle Pauly’s Christmas Challenge. And thank them for all their good work, donating to charity.
Deja’s been a busy fella. He donated a karaoke toy to Santa’s Anonymous (as he says; perfect for annoying your parents!)
Hope Mission received $20 in honour of The Hilarious Comedian Carrot Top
SPCA got $50 in memoriam of The Hilarious Comedian Carrot Top (a pet)
Thanks to Deja for his three entries. That’s right, each photo of a donation is an entry. He also says his “…beard is a donation to all the ladies of the world. *wink*”
We aren’t counting that as an entry.
Greg dropped a toy into the Santas Anonymous box before their big toy delivery. Nicely done!
And the Edmonton Food Bank got a nice little late season surge thanks to a Friday tweetup at Original Joe’s Varisty Row. Thanks to Kat for snapping photos of everyone.
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(Holy loss of formatting Batman!)
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Now, here’s what we’re adding to round out the contest. (more…)
It is Christmastime
Before I even tell you what I think is happening this weekend, I’ll just let you know that we are indeed in the holiday mode. There are singing trees, festive events, and carols. Oh the carols!
So, let’s begin with a bunch of Christmas stuff.
When I was talking about the Christmas concert I attended this week I noted the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra was kicking off its seasonal shows. They’ve got Handel’s Messiah, with the Richard Eaton Singers, this weekend.
Over at the Blue Chair Cafe it’s the Rault Family Annual Christmas show…the Christmas Carol Project is at NAIT’s Nest…The Cosmopolitan Music Society is doing their Christmas thing…the Shaw Conference Centre has the Festival of Trees…
The City Market is back for some holiday food action. You can catch vendors at Churchill Square and City Hall. The Handmade Mafia is rocking Orange Hall, for your shopping convenience.
Souljah Fyah is releasing a new CD at On The Rocks. CKUA is presenting a great show with Colleen Brown, Trevor Tchir, and Jeff Stuart and the Hearts.
December is a new month, and new months mean new movies. And Gregg knows all about that.
Hard Core Logo: Live wraps up its run at the Roxy this weekend. Much Ado About Nothing is in the middle of its short run at the Walterdale.
If you are into coffee you are going to want to be at Transcend-Garneau, Saturday evening. They’re hosting a Barista Jam, with coffee folks from around the city.
The Oilers and Oil Kings are in Edmonton this weekend.
On Sunday there’s an interesting event at Enterprise Square. It’s all about reclaiming lost, empty, unused spaces in our urban environment. Such a good idea!
An early Merry Christmas to Share Edmonton and YEGLive.ca for keeping me in the loop on Edmonton events.
Now what?
Does it feel like Edmonton is just a little tired today, a little hungover from the Grey Cup party? Everything seems like it’s just a step or two slower. Maybe it’s just me. (And I didn’t even go to the game.)
If you’re still jonesing for some football, you can check out the NFL variety this evening. You’ll likely find beer and snack specials at bars for Monday Night Football. Ceili’s, for example, has bottomless wings.
If you don’t need football or, in the case of a lot of Roughriders fans, don’t want to talk about football for a little while, you can partake in some Movember action. Tonight is the MoCupcakes YEG Challenge, over at Transcend-Garneau. There will be judging of the manliest cupcakes. Don’t worry, the cupcakes may have moustaches on them but won’t be made of moustaches. (I hope.)
And if you are in the mood for neither football nor cupcakes you can check out the West LRT information session at the Fantasyland Hotel. There will be presentations at 4:30 and 7pm (with the open house running 4-9pm). You’ll be able to learn about the proposed LRT line that will travel Stony Plain Road, past the West Edmonton Mall, and out to Lewis Estates. Then you can go shopping.
Hold onto your potatoes
We’re right into the heart of Edmonton summer now, jam-packed with festivals. This is our time to shine, our time to live it up.
This weekend’s choices are plentiful. (And I realized, after I started linking, that events from ShareEdmonton and YegLive.ca are integrated today. Just mixing it up.)
Tonight, tomorrow, and Sunday there’s the SOS Fest, all over Old Strathcona.
We think it’s going to be so much fun, so many bands and musicians in lots of venues, that we’ve set up a separate blog just for the SOS. We’ll post through the weekend (which is not something we ever do) over there and wrap it all up here, Monday. Let us know who we should check out, which venues we should experience, and show us where the most fun is happening. We’ll see you on the street.
Oh, and Sunday also sees Whyte Avenue shut down for its annual street sale, plus two stages of live music for the SOS Fest. (I told you it was the place to be this weekend.)
Still in the neighbourhood, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is playing at the Walterdale.
In sports, there’s the World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands, Sunday. Bars will be busy, I’m sure. The Capitals and Prospects are on the ball diamonds, and the Eskimos are home to the Montreal Alouettes.
The Edmonton International Street Performers Festival is back at Churchill Square.
Doors Open Edmonton and the Edmonton & Northern Alberta Historic Festival are going to take you into buildings you don’t normally get to explore, places sometimes unseen, and historic spots worth visiting. Including CKUA and Alley Kat brewery in Edmonton. Plus, there’s a walking tour of the Highlands neighbourhood.
That’s not to be confused with the Highland Gathering, at Fort Edmonton Park.
If you’re swinging by the Downtown Farmers’ Market you’re probably going to see the All Ford Classic Show.
Down in Hawrelak Park, the Freewill Shakespeare Festival continues with their runs of MacBeth and Much ado about nothing.
In music not related to the SOS Fest, OK GO is at the Starlite tonight. Raygun Cowboys play New City. And Streetheart, yes Streetheart, will be rocking the Century Casino.
The Art Gallery of Alberta is going late-night with another Refinery party. The Valley Zoo is also going for something with an after-hours feel, hosting ZooFest. The Bissell Centre is holding a Block Party of the Century too.
Transcend Coffee is putting their baristas to the test, Sunday, to see who deserves to compete in the Prairie Regional Baristas Championship. The latte foam will be flying.
If you’re heading toward Victoria Hill, just off 116 Street, Sunday, I hope you’re driving a soapbox racer.
And you can always see a movie.
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…)
