Tagged: uncategorized
Last night was brought to you by: Alexander Keith's
- by admin
Some local #Winnipeg tweeps @cenquist, @kenquist, Ty and I headed down to Smoke's Poutinerie to see what all the fuss was about.
We may not be Montreal, but Winnipeg loves it's poutine! The line-up was unreal even at 7pm when we got there, I tweeted a picture of it here -we must have waited at least half an hour!
SO worth it, though! I nomfaced that ish so hard I didn't even think to take a picture. I had the Nacho Grande, make sure you try it!
Afterwards we headed to one of our regular watering holes for #HalfPintsThursdays with @adriantrimble, @rhondalmartens and a surprise visit from @alexridley!
Once we'd engaged in some seriously NSFW-themed conversation (really, Kevin?!) and knocked back a couple of pints we were getting ready to head out when these girls in plaid skirts came up to us and asked if we would like to "come upstairs and play some games and have free drinks with them"
Cynical folk that we are, for whatever reason these sweet girls had to spend a few minutes convincing us this would be a good idea! In hindsight I really have no idea what we were worried about, the fine lasses were reps from Alexander Keith's!
So we went upstairs and lo and behind there were drinking games, Connect Four, and various kinds of Alexander Keith's for us to drink -for free!
We played this game where you roll the die and turn down the numbered blocks depending on what your score is, and the person with the highest score won a prize: some sweet Alexander Keith's pint glasses and an index card full of recipes using the beer!
I didn't win one because I rarely win at any sort of game, but it was still fun to try! @kenquist won two sets -one for the drinking game, and another for knowing the story behind Alexander Keith's India Pale Al -I even learned something new!
I was definitely pleased with the situation!
It also turns out I haven't gotten any better at Connect Four since I was a kid -I apparently beat @cenquist and didn't even realize! (probably due to beer)I just want to say a THANK YOU! to Alexander Keith's for providing us with such a great time, the reps were fantastic, chatty and interesting people who seemed to love their jobs (who wouldn't?) and it was a neat and super positive way to connect to the brand like that. It totally made my evening and I'm going to be sure to tell people about what a great experience it was.
Now if you'll excuse me, it's the first sunny day in Winnipeg and I'm going to go outside and enjoy it! Have a great weekend!
The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
- by admin
Marketing is a funny thing: we notice it, but we don't.
When we go to the movies I'm the annoying friend who notices all the brands everywhere. I remember seeing the first Spiderman movie when Toby McGuire shot a web and pulled a can of Dr. Pepper towards him, and noticing that it was a Dr. Pepper and wondering how much they'd paid to have that few seconds of can prominently featured in a huge blockbuster release. I don't know why, it's just something I've always picked up on.
It's weird to think about all the thought and effort that goes -literally- into controlling how we think and what we buy, and it was interesting to see which brands were interested in financing and being involved in the film, and which weren't.
Tonight Ty and I hit up the Globe Theatre and checked out Morgan Spurlock's documentary about product placement and marketing called "POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold", and I can't say enough good things about it. It was an honest (or, about as honest as you can get) look into what goes into finding financing for a film and how filmmakers and studios work with (or for) companies to push a particular brand or product through product placement and co-sponsorships.
For example, the official title of the film is "POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" and even though I've never tried a POM drink I'm suddenly interested in their brand because of the way they approached the project, and the fact that they were confident enough in their brand to invest in a 'risky' project like the film. Obviously this totally buys into what the movie is trying to do, but somehow I feel less like a sucker if I'm being directly marketed to?
Morgan explains it all a bit better in his TED Talk "The Greatest TED Talk Ever Sold", which is a great precursor for the film, and an experiment in marketing in and of itself:
I think the thing I love most about Morgan Spurlock's documentaries is Morgan Spurlock himself; I love his narration and how he never seems to take himself seriously at all, and this is definitely the funniest piece of work he's done so far. I actually had to hit Ty to stop him from guffawing loudly in the theatre -you can't take that guy anywhere!
But don't take my word for it, check out the trailer and go see the film, and learn a thing or two about the world you live in, for chrissake!
Know what I don't care about?
- by admin
That Winnipeg will be getting a new NHL team.I've been bombarded with new reports, FaceBook updates and tweets from various #Winnipeg peeps about the economic benefits, the social benefits, the local pride, etc.
And you know what? I still don't give a shit.
I've been called a "bad Winnipegger" and "not a real Canadian" by some people in the Twitterverse after voicing my displeasure over having to constantly read and re-read about how zomg there's going to be a 'riot' at Portage and Main when the announcement is made. Or wait, isn't it supposed to be The Forks? Typical Winnipeg, nobody can coordinate properly (I kid).
(photo swiped from @dasme's Twitter feed)I'm actually sitting here and listening to coworkers talk about getting "cheap season tickets at 400$ a pop", which might not seem like a lot (yes it does) but apparently you have to sign a commitment to agree to buy season tickets for three years? Is that true? Ouch!
I guess they aren't as hardcore as these peeps, though:
(I'm not sure what the original source of this photo is, it's being retweeted all over the place -I got mine from @kentonlarsen)
And also, guys, we aren't "getting the Jets back". It's a totally different team -The Jets were sold to Arizona and became the Phoenix Coyotes, and the team we're apparently getting is the Atlanta Thrashers. And I don't know if I fully buy that "getting the Jets back" is acquiring another team and then switching the name back.
I think one commenter in the Winnipeg Free Press put it pretty well:
MAY 31, 2011 AT 10:05 AM
" subject to NHL board of governors' approval "
I will gladly eat some humble pie, when its approved by everyone that needs to approve it. Until then, SHUTUUPPPPPP!! YOU JET FANS ARE SOO ANNOYING!! I really hope they don't call them the jets again, give it up! at least get a new name! Do all of you who have pets, keep re naming your new dog your dead dogs name.....
Hey, they said it, not me.
But if we Winnipeggers are going to insist on keeping the same name, can we at least get a better theme song?
It's 2011, surely we can do better than that.
But hey, don't let my being a Negative Nancy rain on your parade. Just because I'm not changing my Twitter icon to a Jets logo or donning my dad's old Jets jersey and wearing it around the office with pride (he didn't have one, he's just as apathetic about this as I am -nor would I do that) doesn't mean I won't go to the occasional game and get stupid drunk and yell obscenities at the other team.
You'll just have to buy my ticket for me.
I love video games
- by admin
we all know this.Since I got it as a Christmas gift I've been allowing Fallout: New Vegas to eat up a good chunk of my free time -I've beaten it once and am replaying it again and taking a totally new approach and storyline (one of the joys of modern gaming IMO).
Since Ty and I live together he's been exposed to a lot of the game over the past while, in addition to many omgomgomgomg moments as I played through the game the first time and it only makes sense that after dealing with my obsession for so long he had to find out what all my giddy, fangirlish excitement was about.
As a result we now have to set schedules for who gets to use the Xbox 360, but that's another story entirely.
Another side effect is that not only do we have actual in-depth conversations about the plot of the game, but that we (Ty) has developed a slight obsession with post-apocalyptia and dystopian futures.
Which is how we wound up watching this last night:
I have to say that The Road is one of the most intense and wholly depressing film experiences I've ever had. The story follows an unnamed father and son as they travel south to the ocean in a world destroyed by some natural
disaster (my bet is on asteroids, but who knows) and essentially their struggle survive in a world that is, literally, dying.Ty was pumped because Viggo is in it but despite several n00d shots from the back he reminded me too much of Christian Bale in The Machinist to be eye-candy
(honestly just looking at the photo to the right freaks me out -eugh!)
though his acting prowess definitely deserves some cred here. I always forget that he's not just a handsome gentleman, but also a first-rate actor.
Anyway, creepy Christian Bale aside the film 'The Road' is based on a book (of course) which I am ordering off Amazon as we speak because something so sublimely off-putting on film must be even better in book form, and what better light summer reading that a book about the end of the world and humanity as we know it?
But apparently not all dystopian films are depressing and make me want to jump off a cliff à la 28 Days Later and/or star Charlton Heston doing this:
Uh... what. Anyway case in point is Six String Samurai, an apparently ridiculous dystopian comedy which we will be watching tonight:
Do you guys have any movie recommendations for dystopian films?
N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton
- by admin
It's a chilly and cloudy Hip Hop Sunday.
Go grab a coffee (or bust a cap) and try to make the best of it!
Okay, I admit
- by admin
I'm a total Apple fangirl.
(except mine has a touch pad, so it's better)
But I wasn't always this way.
Once upon a time I was afraid of new things. I clung to my Microsoft Windows OS because it's what ran on our first family computer: a Gateway all-in-one desktop PC that I do not recall with 
fond memories -the machine would have run a lot better if my two younger brothers hadn't constantly flooded it with viruses received from the numerous pr0n sites and stupid downloadable games they got.
(as a side note I'm sad to say they have never really moved beyond this phase and have effectively destroyed both of the computers in my parents' home, where they both still live. Shame on them)
Moving on, needless to say despite how annoying it was to have a computer that chugged like a tugboat, sounded like a table saw and crashed every other day, Microsoft was what I was used to and it stayed that way for a long time, I'm ashamed to say.
Even buying a cute iPod Nano when I was seventeen or so (I think) didn't alter my PC-using ways. It just ensured that I would never use a non-Apple product to store and play my music on-the-go I blew through three different models of that baby until I finally wised up and got myself an iPhone 4.
Aah yes, my iPhone 4.
Some of you might recall the glorious day when I waited in line for about four hours to ditch my lame old flip phone (and consequently drunkenly smashed it on the road that night -such a release!) and got my Baby.
Honestly the best part about buying my iPhone 4 -besides it being an iPhone 4- was waiting in line outside of Winnipeg's very own Apple store. Ours only opened this year (whomp whomp) but it felt so good to go into that shiny, pristine store and mingle with all the other people who were just as pumped to be there as I was. It's crazy to think that the Apple store has been around for ten years already.
Check this:
Steve Jobs ILU
Moving on, this purchase was swiftly followed by Gretchel, my iPad (named after an unfortunate incident with a snarky clown and me on stage at the Fringe Festival) the night before I bought it, and to be honest between my day-to-day iPhone 4 useage and my iPad on campus at the university Microsoft felt, well... dated.
So a few months back I went out and bought myself a shiny, gorgeous iMac 21.5" 3.06 GHz Intel Core i3 and finally initiated myself into the Cult of Mac. Having it made the three solid weeks I spent researching and writing all my final papers in every spare minute of the day that much more bearable, and I could never, ever go back to using a PC.
Call me an elitist, a snob, whatever. I don't care.
And now I have obtained the Golden Power of Apple
(also: Zelda. Whassup?!)
What's in a name?
- by admin
Zach Bussey did a post a few days ago about discovering a dude in the Twitterverse who has the exact same name as him (weird!) and with that in mind it feels like a good time to share one of my darkest, most embarrassing secrets with you guys.Because isn't that what The Internet is for, really?
(besides pr0n and 4chan, of course)
Let me preface:
one day while tuned in to our local 'rock' (read: mostly Metallica) station Power '97 when the DJ said something that made me spend the next minute or so trying to figure out who the heck had said my name.
Turns out the DJ hadn't said my name, but instead was talking about these guys:
Yeeeeeeeeeah.To demonstrate.
Say the following things out loud, one after the other:
ALYSON SHANE
ALICE IN CHAINS
Okay, stop laughing. I know they sound exactly the same.
So while Mr. Bussey over there might have a doppelganger out there in the big, wide Twitterverse, every time someone says my full name this is what I think of:
And while I was pretty indifferent towards The Band That Shall Not Be Named before this, now I have to hate them on principle. Because not only do we have the exact same-sounding name, but a Wikipedia search has informed me that they were formed the same year that I was born.
Really guys? C'mon!
But maybe I'm approaching this the wrong way?
Maybe I should embrace my grunge-metal fate and start wearing leather jackets and shades everywhere.
Maybe I should grow my hair out all frizzy-gross and learn to play the electric guitar?
Maybe I should join the band that sort of shares my name?!
I mean, come on, how badass would this be?
Still on the mend...
- by admin
but getting better every day, and thank goodness because we've been so busy the past few days I don't even know where the time has gone!This past weekend between a housewarming party and delicious Chinese food from Vi-Ann (it's in The Village, go if you have the chance!) Ty and I headed to Lo Pub to check out the very last Data Dance, hosted by our friend mrghosty. It was fantastic! Retro video game consoles lining the sides of the pub with lots of games to choose from
(I got my ass handed to me at Street Fighter, but came in 2nd on GameCube Mario Kart!)
and sweet chiptune music.
Dr. Whomp 8bit Rickrolled the bar! I don't know if everyone caught on to the meme, but Ty and I died laughing. So awesome!
Additionally we've been working on our costumes for the Robot March which is this Saturday! (May 28th)
I talked Ty into indulging in some seasonal Phil's Pils beer from our favourite local brewery Half Pints Brewing Co. (since we can't get our hands on the Queer Beer they've been making for Gay Pride -everywhere's sold out!)
No worries though, I consoled myself with some vanilla ice cream drizzled with this great dessert wine we got at the Wine Festival a few weeks ago -Sweet Sunset - Red Chocolate. It's got a really strong flavour and definitely needs to be served chilled, or over ice cream like we had it. Have you tried it?
Oh, and I almost forgot!
We are now the proud owners of some vintage 1970's his & hers roadster bikes! Okay, they aren't fixies like I would have preferred (I buy into that stereotype for the lulz) but they've got sweet 5-speed shifters, which I've never actually seen before! Obviously they need a little fixing up, but we scored both of them for 60$ (thanks kijiji!) and after putting air in the tires and some grease on the chains we were able to ride them home (which is good because the guy we bought them from lived basically on the outskirts of the South end of the city -whew!)
Essentially I'm having fantasies about cute dresses, wicker baskets and biking to the park (or anywhere!) on a sunny day. This video is basically like bike pr0n to me right now:
I hope this is you today!(the smiling part, not the pancake part)
Beardyman: Beat Box Recipe
- by admin
Beardyman is awesome.
Happy Hip-Hop Sunday
(way to not get Raptured!)
