The Unknown Studio

Tonight, our friends at the Edmontonian are trying something bold, something unusual… something will might either be really funny for everyone, or only to Sally, Jeff and a few of their close friends: it’s a live webcast of what we hope will become a weekly — or at least frequent — talk show.

And they’re calling it: Saturday Night with Samsonow. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 27% [?]

Occasionally, I’ll come across a piece of content that requires very little explanation or background, but since I’m a words guy, I’ll explain it anyway.

This afternoon, my roommate shared a YouTube video with me. In the mountain town of Jasper, the Jasper Sustainability Club for Youth recently organized a flash-mob dance-party that rocked down Patricia Street. It’s a powerful and fun demonstration of community, communication and togetherness. I’ve watched it twice now and it makes me smile, so I thought I’d share it with you:

Popularity: 11% [?]

Last week, I heard from Twitter that Ed Hardy — the fashion choice of mouthbreathing bargoers and Jersey Shore watchers (and characters) — had a line of wines. The problem was they were only available in Calgary (at least as far as I could tell). Thankfully, the fantastic Lisa McRitchie — an Unknown Studio agent in the Shelbyville to Edmonton’s Springfield — was available to sample the latest and dare I say greatest from Ed Hardy. This is her story.

When I first heard that Christian Audigier — designer of Ed Hardy — was putting out a wine line of wines and actually calling it Ed Hardy, my first instinct was to Google Ed Hardy to see exactly what that was. I had a pretty good idea, but it’s not in my regular vocabulary or everyday life. As soon as I figured out what it was I ran to my nearest drugstore, loaded up on hair gel, covered myself in eagle and skull tattoos (temporary of course), grabbed my shiniest, tightest little shirt I could find and my good friend Lynda and headed out to the Inglewood Wine Shop in Calgary to pick up a bottle or two. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 32% [?]

Yes, dear reader, I still live. And, equally astonishing for many of you, I still write. On occasion. Really, I hope to post more in the coming days. In the meantime, Adam sent me an e-mail today that required some following up on, and I have decided to write a little bit about it.

The e-mail: Such Tweet Sorrow – a Shakespearean play performed over social media. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 32% [?]

By now some of you have no doubt heard of the League of Extraordinary Media, either through some whimsical Twitter post or by randomly scanning the Life section of the Edmonton Journal. The League was formed on a dark winter’s eve the way all good ideas are formed: through a spirited discussion whilst consuming wild duck spring rolls in a local restaurant. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 46% [?]

You probably don’t know this about me, but I love baking. I used to do it a lot when I was living at my parents’ place. Took an interest in it in junior high school, actually. And back then, I felt like such a knob asking my mum if she could show me how to bake.

“You just follow the recipe,” she said, likely looking at me like I’d just asked the dumbest question on earth.

“But what the hell is Demerara sugar?” I probably asked.

“It’s just sugar!”

In spite of my stupidity, my desire to eat cookies and other sweet confections would force my mother into the kitchen to watch over me and ensure I knew what I was doing. Eventually, we established a pattern, once I was able to bake on my own without completely screwing up: I would bake, and she would follow me around the kitchen cleaning up after me. I was in her domain, and she needed things to be just so. My mum’s still like this. She kicks up a fuss at Christmas about having to do all this cooking, but when you offer to help her, she basically tells you to fuck off and stay out of her kitchen. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 20% [?]