I’m not sure I’ve ever thrown our Twitter/International Airport identifier into the Headlines subject before. I feel like I should have, since I freakin’ love Twitter so much.

So I guess that times are still tough, especially when it comes to the rising cost of items.

For example, the seemingly homeless guy asking for “Two bucks to get a slice of pizza,” around Whyte Avenue is now asking for “Three bucks.” Inflation stinks.

He also had a hand, completely, full of change when he asked me for $3. I’m pretty sure he had more than that already. It’s sad really. I saw him offered food, from an event I was at, when he was asking for money – for food – last summer. He could not have been more disgusted with the offer of food.

I’m glad the city is continuing to look at ways to help Edmonton’s less-fortunate and street people, without just handing over money.

from the Edmonton Journal:

Tree service $1M cheaper if city did it

Ward 6 Coun.Thiele’s record left for others to assess (My favourite thing is that Dave Thiele says term limits should be implemented for councillors.)

NAIT faculty drops grievance against president

A treacherous field (Farmers had a tough 2009.)

Second man sought in cold-case murder

Former Edmonton Sun columnist sues employer (Surprisingly, or not, this isn’t in the Sun today. I did a quick couple of searches to make sure they just didn’t have it earlier too.)

Second Apple store and iPad arrive together (So here’s what you do, you go down to Southgate Friday and wait in line and buy me an iPad.)

Edmonton’s BioWare expands to Ireland

Metric, Stereos, Canyon to his Telus Stage at Capital Ex (Don’t call it Ed Fest.)

from the Edmonton Sun:

Province performs unauthorized credit checks

Beaten bus driver blinded: dangerous offender hearing (The crown is trying to have the man who beat bus driver Tom Bregg declared a dangerous offender, meaning he would go to prison with no clear release date.)

Duckett taken to hospital (There’s also info in this story about some bed closures and new beds opening to replace them.)

from Metro Edmonton:

2010 hockey teams to help raise funds for outdoor rink (The gold medal winning teams from Vancouver.)

CFB honours native youth

from 630CHED/iNews880:

City looks to LRT cams to catch criminals

Edmonton job prospects improving

Stats Can reveals its population projections (Come on, one to two million people.)

from CBC Edmonton:

Flaherty to unveil single securities regulator (Alberta, Quebec and, sort of, Manitoba are against this idea. They like our current system of provincial regulators.)

Man, 19, arrested in LRT slaying (So, I was all ready to link this story to CHED/iNews this morning, since they looked to break the news yesterday, but they never followed up. I want to showcase your good work, newsrooms! Oh, and don’t blame LRT.)

Youth charged in Edmonton slaying ward of province (As Paula Simons detailed, the victim also spent time in provincial care.)

from CTV Edmonton:

Job cuts hinted for Alberta teachers (The provincial budget, and its deficit, is starting to loom large for teachers and schools.)

City’s safety compliance team looks to target problem bar patrons (I’ve said it recently, I’ll say it again, I like the new gusto of this team. Meanwhile…at the Blush Lounge…owners think about how to re-open…And at least one city councillor is musing about bar and entertainment districts leading to problems.)

Salads recalled over salmonella contamination concern (Is packaged and processed food getting worse, or are reporting and recall methods getting better?)

Weeeeeee….

An update: The Edmonton Folk Music Festival’s full lineup has been announced.

You'll be screaming with excitement over The Room.

That’s because Tommy Wiseau’s masterpiece, “The Room”, is finally hitting the big screen in Edmonton.

So who is the genius responsible for this? Who are these kings among men who finally made it happen?

Let’s all thank the Turkey Shoot guys. If you’re not familiar, Turkey Shoot has been around since 2008, and is a bit of an Edmonton tradition at this point. Each month, Dave Clarke, Jeff Page and friends watch and heckle the very best of the very worst movies, sort of in the tradition of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Anyway, this Wednesday, they’re taking on The Room, and Dave has even signed up on Twitter strictly for the occasion, just so he can live tweet the whole cinematic debacle. And in that spirit of livetweeting, I asked that Dave (who describes himself as a complete twitter “noob”) answer my questions in 140 characters or less.

SALLY: Tell me what Turkey Shoot is and/or how it started.

DAVE: Turkey Shoot, which for brevity I’ll call TS, started in 2008 at the Metro Cinema. It’s a live version of MST3K. Wait, only 14 left fuck wh

DAVE: K. TS is monthly event we make fun of movies,eg,top gun,ice castles. I’m Dave – actor & musician – the other guy is Jeff. Next THE ROOM!¥€•

SALLY: Why MUST folks come to the screening?

DAVE: Reasons to come. Only $10. 35mm print, Wiseau as MEANT to be seen. Share joy with other fans. Plus you r ENCOURAGED to txt during movie.

SALLY: What is “The Room?”

DAVE: The Room is a 2003 movie with a fast growing cult following. Coz it’s so good. Facebook Turkey Shoot has links. Sal you are mega fan I’m out

I don’t know about you jackals, but I’m sold.

Obviously Jeff and I are going to be there tomorrow night, so if you plan on coming, make sure to drop us an email and say hello. And if you can’t make it, watch for the live-tweeting frenzy that will unfold under hashtag #theroomyeg.  The Turkey Shoot guys are even going to give Twitterville a heads up right before the movie rolls, just in case you, say, own an autographed DVD copy of The Room and would rather watch that while reading the live comments on twitter.

If you could read my mind...you'd know that I wasn't dead. Oopsie by Canwest. (Great screen grab by ChrisD.ca)

What a day on the Interweb tubes!

First, there was the big Laura Secord story this morning. It’s back in Canadian hands, but we (people on Twitter) discovered that this chocolate has left town.

Thank goodness we have the awesome chocolate of Kerstin and Sweet Lollapalooza to fill our bellies. If it gets cold again I think some drinking chocolate from Kerstin’s is in order… (We’ve also been chatting up Edmonton chocolate spots at our Facebook page.)

Then, this afternoon, Gordon Lightfoot died. For about 25 minutes. Online only.

I love how people are blaming Twitter, an inanimate social media platform, for the rumours. Unless the machines are about to take over I don’t think “Twitter” was spreading rumours. I think people were. And they were using Twitter as they would their voice, e-mail or a pen and paper. Oh, and once you mix in some major news outlets, you get why this can spread. (Check the screen capture, from Winnipeg blog Chris D.ca, above.)

Where’s TMZ when you need them? Can Shaw buy that too?

But…onto what I actually wanted to ask you: How’d you get here?

I’ve recently aquired a sweet new BlackBerry, and my venture into the realm of smartphones has been great. I just got an RSS feed reader and I’ve never been more on top of my blog reading!

I also noticed, in our own visit stats (now Edmonton’s 93rd favourite blog), that more people are coming to our website and our stories via our RSS feed rather than just plunking theedmontonian.com into a browser. That blew me away! Until I got my feed reader.

So, I’m just curious, are you coming to the website directly, following links off Twitter, catching up with us on Facebook or waiting for your RSS reader to alert you?

There are no wrong answers. Heck, you could even be doing some combination of all of that.

But I want answers, Edmonton!

It seems like only yesterday I was sending out those first tweets about getting on Twitter, and not knowing what Twitter was, and saying “Hi” to the few people I knew on Twitter.

Now I smile when I see a new account and that person has their first “Finally on this thing…” tweet.

This blog has a lot to thank Twitter for. While I was on Twitter (Man, this could be a drinking game…drink whenever I say Twitter.) as myself months before the edmontonian existed, the micro-blogging service has been the biggest source of getting our word out.

Facebook has been good too. And every once and a while we kick up our YouTube channel. Heck, we’re even on Flickr (in name only right now). But Twitter has ruled them all.

It’s been great to send out links to our stories. And there’s always interaction on Twitter about our stories, it doesn’t all have to happen back here.

It”s been even greater to chat with everyone in Edmonton. Yeah, that’s the best part.

People are always linking to the most hilarious memes.

Twitter didn’t seem to have any appeal to me, at first. Then a friend of mine jumped on, and I followed when I wanted to start blogging.

It’s been a great way to engage with all kinds of smart people I’d never have the chance of meeting in the day-to-day world. Not only did our paths cross online, I’ve since met many tweeps out in reality.

I think the conversations (yes, even in 140 character bursts) have been the best part of Twitter for me. I hope to continue the conversation with those I’ve talked with, start new talks, chat with new people, and keep pushing the great ideas that start at 140 characters into the real world.

Not on Twitter? Here’s where you go.

I endorse this message. I endorse fun.

Twitter people (tweeple, or, tweeps) like to party.

Heck, we do it all the time.

We’re doing it tonight. Come on out.

Tweetups (see what I did there?) are one of the perks of being on Twitter. It’s like having a whole new group of friends. And, unlike Facebook events that nobody shows up to, the tweetups usually have a fair-sized group.

I’ve been a few tweetups now, and I always meet new people. Don’t you want to meet new and exciting people (without having to call late-night chat lines)?

And, while people are certainly tweeting about the latest celebritiy gossip, there’s actually quite a bit of intelligent debate and political discourse happening. Get your (smart) party on.

p.s. tonight’s tweetup is at Ceili’s Irish pub, at 6:30.