The Unknown Studio

I spent the past weekend in Calgary with my little brother and sister-in-law. We decided to spend a few days down visiting my aunt and uncle — themselves visiting from Montreal and staying with my parents, a very rare thing. My aunt and uncle tend to keep to Lower Canada, seeing Alberta (sometimes rightly) as a little too redneck for their tastes (my interpretation, not their own admission). To put it into context, the last time my uncle visited Alberta — at his other sister’s 50th wedding anniversary — his nephews got into a fist-fight. With each other. High-larious, but doesn’t really make you want to come back for more. I so often look on my extended family with incredulity and bemusement, though I do love them all dearly — foibles, faults and all (because, hey, I’m certainly not bereft of those things my own self). Read the rest of this entry »

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I just read Todd Babiak’s recent column on the turning tide of the Edmonton City Centre Airport debate and how a group of largely young (younger, anyhow) upstarts became engaged, involved, and subsequently lobbied to ensure that their desired outcome was achieved, namely the eventual closer of YXD.

In his piece, Babiak makes these rather bold statements:

“What happened this week was a masters class in the present and future of political organization. [...] [I]t must have been devastating for the city’s most powerful men and women to watch a group of virtually connected — but politically unconnected — young people creating and controlling public debate with speed, elegance and respect.”

I’m somewhat skeptical of the statement, in spite of having been engaged and involved in the debate, going so far as to e-mail my city council reps Jane Batty and Ben Henderson about the issue. However, the more I started thinking about it, the more it occurred to me I’m too entrenched in the issue, too much a part of the whole story, to really take a long view of whether or not this is truly a significant shift in the way discourse is performed, and the way changed is achieved. I will endeavour to take the long view anyhow. Read the rest of this entry »

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I had the opportunity a few months ago to reconnect with former colleague Scott C. Bourgeois at a tweetup in Edmonton. We chatted, we drank, we discussed the various experiences we’ve had driving past — and indeed creating — roadkill. And certainly that was most of the discussion of the evening. That, and survival horror videogames.

Our paths didn’t cross so much between then and now, but Scott and I managed to meet up a few times to discuss launching a podcast. We didn’t know what we were going to call it, we didn’t know what it was going to be about, but we knew we were going to do it. If it killed us or drained us financially (I doubt it will do either, but what’s a good yarn without poverty and death?). Read the rest of this entry »

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I had a few wonderful conversations this evening, involving some wonderful people who are so replete with wonderful ideas that it’s hard to believe the planet isn’t a better place JUST BECAUSE OF THEIR EXISTENCE. Yeah, they both smell great.

I spoke with my dear friend @andrealown over Skype tonight about the re-purposing of a blog we created last fall in Toronto, this time with a sharpened focus and eventually visual identity and branding. But that’s not what I want to talk about in this post, because I also met with @scottybomb at Next Act for a beer and a discussion about the creation of a loosely-Edmonton-focused podcast which would feature local guests, and topics that we enjoy and think others will too. Read the rest of this entry »

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John K Samson on March 20th in Halifax | Photo by Ryan Heise

There are worse ways to spend a Thursday night. My typical Thursday evening involves wine and 30 Rock. But I received a reminder earlier last week that I was meant to attend the Weakerthans concert in Edmonton at the Winspear Centre (on April 23). Two of my dear friends from elemenatary school, some beer, and some music. I didn’t feel bad for missing Liz Lemon and Tracy Jordan’s antics. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Power Trio with Gord Steinke

Over a year ago, my business partner and I went to an Oilers game, as we sometimes do. It was there, after several crack-powered Rexall beers, that we happened upon Lynda Steele from Edmonton’s Global News. Lynda was selling copies of her book the Laptop Diaries. Having just launched OilersNation.com, we were looking for prizes to give away, and since the proceeds from Lynda’s book went to charity, we thought we’d buy a few and have her autograph them. A few means, like, seven, by the way. I had three left over, and being the random idiot that I am, I decided to give them away today by asking my Twitter followers trivia questions. Read the rest of this entry »

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