I took part in my second Dragon Boat festival this past weekend at Mooney’s Bay. Last year I was a paddler – one amongst twenty. This year however, I was the drummer. Rather, I was in the position of the drummer but after realizing in the first race that I am incapable of drumming and yelling at the same time, I became “the yeller” in the second race and used the drum for celebratory purposes only.
A few people have asked what the drummer/yeller does, (more…)
Ottawatians (?!) that work in the downtown core like to get all aflutter when a new restaurant opens to satiate their lunch time cravings. One of the newest ones is Go For Sushi, at 234 Queen St.
Love. It.
Firstly, you should know that there is basically no seating so beware when you’re making lunch plans. It’s more of a sushi bar with lots of take-out combos ready for you to grab. If one of those doesn’t suit your fancy, they have a menu with almost 40 options to choose from – all priced reasonably. The ginger and wasabi is fresh and the whole sushi-on-the-go experience is bound to satisfy.
While I don’t think I need to recommend the Fringe again, I will remind everyone that the Dragon Boat Festival is on this weekend at Mooney’s Bay. It’s a great event, even if your first race is at the atrocious hour of 8:30 a.m. We’re Boatylicious, in case you want to come cheer. And if “quality” rowers is what you’re looking for, apparently there’s a whole whack of world-class paddlers descending on the city and according to our Coach last night… lots of ‘em are of legal age (unlike the war canoe full of boys we accidentally oggled last night).
Hope to see you out there… but either way, have a great weekend!
And this time it’s not a local politician or Ottawa newscaster!
On my way to the Fringe the other night, I was walking down Cooper and much was to do in the block between O’Connor and Metcalfe. Me being me, I headed right into the eye of the storm to see what was going on. It was clearly a movie set, so obviously I started scanning for Tori Spelling and her wanker husband. Then I noticed the NYC cabs and changed street signs and knew that NYC would never allow its name to be sullied by allowing her involvement in anything associated with the city (unlike Ottawa, “who” is desperate). Speaking of desperate (10 points for the seguay! Minus 10 points for not knowing how to spell “seguay”…), standing in the spotlight was none other than James Denton/Mike Delfino, apparently filming this little Cannes-contender, which apparently requires that he wear a lot of make-up.
I didn’t let up my pace, although did contemplate busting out the camera to take a picture. Then I remembered that I had exhausted all of my annual pride allotment on stalking Nathan from Coronation Street in London and decided the following: It is fine to stalk stars when you’re somewhere else and are just a tourist and can lie about where you’re from. But in your own town, you have a duty to play it cool. Besides, I had to rush to make it to the indie-theatre on time… and that’s GOT to mean that Ottawa’s cool, non?
Despite not having successfully recruited a *reliable* husband-sanctioned extra-marital companion for last night’s outing to the Fringe, I decided there were far worse places a person could go solo than the theatre. By the end of my night, I was quite certain I never wanted to go with anyone ever again. My old friend, Kevin, understood exactly what I meant – a) you don’t have to compromise on what you want to see amidst a plethora of choices; and b) you get to decide whether you liked the show or not without any interference, which can lead to guilt or confusion (I liked it and you didn’t… sorry!/why?).
I decided on the show by the important criteria of location, perfect time, and lead characters that have my name. The winner of my $12 was Bookworm. The reviews posted on the site were fairly good, giving me confidence that it wouldn’t be a complete waste of money. How thrilled was I when I ended up enjoying the show immensely and laughing out loud throughout?! The two characters, and actors, had great chemistry, a fun script to work with and she, in particular, nailed the comedic timing at almost every turn (despite apparently being nauseous the entire show). There’s not much of a story per se, but the characters and interactions – with each other and the audience – were well, well worth it.
After this show, I was intending to hang out at karaoke but was on such a high from the first one that I couldn’t ignore the additional shows being performed around me for the next few hours. One more, I thought, then karaoke…
The obvious choice was Medea, which has been reviewed approximately 6 million times on CBC Morning over the last year and has been running in the city in what seems like perpetuity. Apparently I have a knack for exagerration. I wish I had knowledge of theatre lingo to explain what I liked about it, but I don’t, so here goes my version: The musical element was beautiful – truly; the chorus lines (that’s got to be wrong….) were very powerful; the actors (all women, ’cause the play’s all about womyn’s power and not to f with them) were all quite good – especially the one playing Jason. I couldn’t decide whether I was irritated by Medea’s melo-drama or frightened by her seething anger… but I do know this: you should check it out, if for nothing else than to be reminded of the story. There’s a reason it’s been floating around for a year.
Now I need to figure out how to see about four more shows by Sunday’s closing!
Oh and the karaoke… I got ditched by my potential husband-sanctioned extra-marital companion. Apparently waiting one hour in the rain for a married woman he may or may not have met once 10 years ago was too much to ask.
I’m going to hit the Fringe Fest tonight… now all I have to do is pick a show (or two). This is obviously a task easier said than done, especially after Alvina Ruprecht (a.k.a. Alvina “trample-any-sense-of-self-worth-an-actor-or-director-may-have” Ruprecht) gave such uncharacteristically rave reviews.
