Tagged: Winnipeg
Starter Stories - My Roslyn Apartment
- by Alyson Shane
Roslyn Manor. The Roslyn.
Built in 1909 and rumoured to be haunted, it is an incredible old red brick building with weird turrets, huge sunrooms, winding staircases and heaps of history; I've been obsessed with it since I first rode the bus into Osborne Village when I was 14.
When I moved back from Ontario I stayed a short stint with my parents out in the suburbs but after an infuriating winter of waiting for busses, frozen feet, and a severe lack of anything to do that didn't require a 20-minute drive, I moved the heck out of there the moment spring started to arrive.
This is where my Starter Story apartment began. A big thanks to Urban Compass for inspiring me to share my memories in Roslyn as part of their "Starter Stories" series.".
I applied to live in a 1-bedroom which was one of two one-bedrooms in the whole, sprawling building. Most suites in The Roslyn are massive apartment-style townhouses with sunrooms, walk-in pantries, dining rooms and bedrooms upon bedrooms.
Not mine.
(The amazing old hallways with beautiful woodwork)
My tiny corner apartment on the 5th floor was less than 350sqft.
It had 12ft ceilings; an incredible claw-foot tub; huge windows that let in a breeze no matter which way the wind was blowing, dazzling sunlight and (unfortunately) every sound the neighbours made.
My little apartment overlooked a narrow courtyard which separated the two "sides" of Roslyn Manor and my bedroom and kitchen were right across the courtyard from walkways which attached to back kitchens in larger suites, likely for hired help
That's what my suite used to be: a butler suite, or for a fancy level of hired help.
But for a single girl like me, it was perfect.
(Me, terribly sick, in the living room)
I repainted the living room wall a deep chocolate and got matching pillows for the couch.
I tucked a tiny red chair (which I still have) in the little window alcove in the living room.
I strung Christmas lights up around my bedroom, which was so tiny that I had to turn to the side to walk around my bed and get to the dresser.
I loved bringing people over for the first time and hearing their gasps of delight as we crowded into the old elevator -the first residential one in the province- and closed the heavy copper cage door. That elevator still ran smooth as butter. We took it to the 5th floor, rounded a sharp corner and walked across a tiny, narrow concrete footbridge across the courtyard.
This was when people lost it.
"This is how you get into your place?!" they would gasp and I would laugh and smile and guide them further, into another hallway, around another corner, and into my little L-shaped slice of heaven for a glass of wine.
I loved that apartment endlessly; it was the first place that I truly felt was my own.
(So many parties and memories made around this table)
I danced to Fleetwood Mac while mopping the floors; I spent hours curled up on the couch watching old movies; I opened all the windows during the summer and let the sounds of Osborne Village echo off the coved ceiling.
I lived there for a magical year before I moved to a cheaper, larger, shared apartment so that I could begin my studies at the University of Winnipeg.
Moving was bittersweet. It hurt to leave a place where I had learned so much about myself, where I had fallen in love and shared so many smiles, tears and memories with people that I held dear, but at the same time it was exciting to be starting a new chapter of my life.
Now, years later, I still walk by The Roslyn almost every day.
Sometimes, as I'm passing, I see a girl turning her key in the lock of the front door and stepping inside those walls that hold so much history and so many memories.
I imagine that she is me, in my younger days, taking that winding corridor, that silent elevator, to the little apartment that would come to shape so much of her soul.
New Media Manitoba's #NMMparty14 event
- by Alyson Shane
Tuesday night I spent in the evening in the company of some of Winnipeg's finest entrepreneurs and tech-savvy folks at the New Media Manitoba holiday party. It was held at The Met, which is one of my favourite (absolutely gorgeous) venues.
One of the highlights of the evening was a series of little videos showcasing some great local tech companies, including Visual Lizard, Bold Commerce, Dash Agency and my dear friends at The Campfire Union.
(Les totally killed it, by the way. Well done!)
The video was put together by Handcraft Creative, who totally outdid themselves - it was a seriously professional and impressive piece.
The Campfire VR demo setup of Yana Virtual Relaxation was also a huge hit. I've hung out on Dagat Beach a few times and it's so immersive! Here's local Twitter megastar Ben Rogers giving it a whirl: 
Thanks again to New Media Manitoba for hosting such a spectacular event, and for providing me with an opportunity to gorge on tiny snacks, free popcorn and white wine. Yummmm!
Week(end) wrap-up
- by admin
I'm writing this on a Sunday night in my fleece-lined leggings and one of John's sweaters. I've been largely absent since last week (except Hip Hop Sunday, of course) because I wanted to spend a weekend getting back in touch with the other parts of my life that I let lapse sometimes.
I went to the gym Fri/Sat/Sun which felt amazing; I've been going a lot more regularly and in addition to feeling a million times better I'm seeing results both in how my body looks and in terms of my strength. This week I learned that 5lbs more weight can make a huge difference in how I feel after lifting weights!
Last night I stayed in and worked on an old painting I started months ago. I'm awful for starting an art project and letting everything else in my life get in front of finishing it, so it felt great to sit down and actually work on it again. Btw, all my painting are for sale so if you're ever interested in buying or commissioning a piece, give me a shout!
Today was simple: sleep in, gym, client work, some Wii, and a nice chat with my dad. After a few busy weekends, and feeling under the weather last week, it felt great to "reset" -bring on the workweek!
Here's what happened last week, too:
Last Thursday I tagged along with The Campfire Union crew to check out Complex Games' open house in their gorgeous office space in The Exchange District.
It was packed as eff in there -it got even busier after I took this photo!
I've been playing hermit a lot recently so it was great to get out and catch up with some familiar faces, like Kieran and his lovely girlfriend Alex!
Afterward we went home, ordered some Ethiopian through SkiptheDishes and caught up on American Horror Story. I'm obsessed with the new season!
Also if you're into podcasts and beer, and like podcasts about beer, John and I were recently on an episode of PubChat! Give it a listen here.
What Happened to.... The Lo Pub?
- by admin
is what owner Jack Jonasson had to say about it in this very sweet and moving little video from The Uniter about my favourite, now-defunct, watering hole The Lo Pub.
Lo was located in a HI Hostel a few blocks away from the UW campus and it's where I spent the majority of my spare time as a first-and-second year student.
I made a lot of memories in that tiny, often over-crowded, noisy little bar.
It's where I attended my first Secret Handshake.
It's where I met Colin and got to know him, Kevin and Adrian who I count as very dear friends to this day.
It's where I saw too many bands -both good and abysmal- to count at this point.
It's where my friend Skot Deeming threw his gr8bit and Data Dance shows.
It's where the Winnitron Indie Arcade Machine lived for a good long while.
It's where I met Abstract Artform for the first time, before he whisked us away into an evening of beers and way too good karaoke.
Most importantly, it's where I spent a lot of time hanging out with people that I loved, and a special place that will always hold so many memories.
Here's a post that I wrote when the Lo Pub closed; it's still hard for me to read.
Places like the Lo Pub live on in our memory and our collective consciousness. They remind us of times, thoughts, and feelings that we let slip away in our day-to-day lives.
Every time I go by the space where my the Lo Pub used to be, my heart swells with pride and also breaks a little bit, and I mourn for the days spent over beers and vegetarian poutine at my favourite shithole.
Here is a list of things overheard at The King's Head last night
- by admin
which is where John, Will and I found ourselves during the #wpg14 #yourmayor debate.
Me, calling Gord Steeves a tool.
Will, talking about his super interesting video project which I won't talk about in detail here.
John, being clever and cute as usual.
Our waitress apologizing for serving me a 'Lil Scrapper instead of a Bulldog (it's all good, girl!)
The dude from Shaw TV asking everyone if they had questions for the candidates. Over and over.
The girls at the next table commenting on how unimpressed Bartley Kives looked throughout the entire debate.
Dudes a few tables over talking about hockey.
People reading their Twitter streams aloud.
And basically everything except the actual debate, which was why we were there in the first place.
Damn.
Goodbye Greysolon
- by admin
it's been a slice.
I lived in that little two-bedroom apartment in that little three-storey walk-up on Spence Street in West Broadway for almost four years.
It's seen me through a lot of things
relationships
jobs
friendships
university
so many beginnings and so many ends that I've lost count.
I made it my own. I painted, I hung up my art, I whispered my secrets and mourned my tragedies within those plaster walls.
That apartment wasn't just a place that I lived. It was somewhere where I shared my life with someone else, and it marks the final "moving on" step in my life. It felt good -cathartic, even- but there was still a piece of my heart that felt like there was a lead weight pulling it down to my toes.
I walked through the rooms, soaking in their emptiness.
The living room, totally barren, with paint flecks on the floor from when my ex and I put together and painted our own furniture because we didn't have the money to buy anything new. The window where Ford and Toulouse used to sit when they lived together. All the good times shared with friends in that room.
The old bedroom that we once shared, now the new tenant's room, where I used to wake up and look at the sun through the vines that crept across the window. Where I woke up with a smile on my face so many times and where, towards the end, I woke up with dread in my heart. I cried myself to sleep in that room too many times to count.
The old office. So trendy and cool and well-organized. The hours I spent blogging, writing papers in university, or just nerding out over YouTube videos or some weird post on Reddit.
I've sold the desk where I used to sit.
The kitchen, with it's awful storage and cobbled-together shelving. The large, gaping space on the wall where my ex pulled the floating bar we'd installed off the wall in a fit of rage after I moved out. I didn't like being there in that kitchen, looking at the evidence of that side of him. I didn't stay in there long.
I cried a bit, and John held me. It helped.
When I stepped out and locked the door for the last time I felt light headed. Like when you're in an airplane and it's taking off and your heart is floating in your chest and your whole body feels like weightless. I floated down the hallway and left trails of tears behind me.
I'll still visit the Greysolon from time to time, as I know people who live there, but that was the last time that I'll walk up to suite 17 and turn my key in that lock. The last time that I'll be bombarded with feelings and emotions and that strange feeling of not-quite-right that it took on once I lost a lover and acquired a roommate.
It's good, but also different, and strange. Life is like that, I suppose.
So goodbye, Greysolon, and my dumpy old apartment that, for a while, was something truly beautiful.
xox
yr girl Shaner
The Poutine Cup rocked my world
- by admin
In case you missed it The Poutine Cup was a badass event held at Fort Gibraltar where a bunch of the best restos in town made fancy poutine and competed for the title of Best Poutine.
This gentleman took me and we had a blast drinking beer and eating poutine and otherwise making the French proud.
We had the good fortune to spend the evening with the charming and hilarious Adrian and LJT which honestly made the evening so much better.
Everything's better when you share it with friends.
Especially when "everything" means poutine with the fanciest toppings and seasonal craft beer from yr favourite local brewery.
The place was packed to the tits
(sold out, I believe?)
and there was so much all you can eat fancy poutine that yr girl had to drag herself up the stairs to the top of the fort wall to take this photo.
By the end of the evening we were all standing around and loudly exclaiming how full we were
while still sipping full glasses of PunkNFest, of course.
Later in the eve there was live music to serenade us while we munched away and then later while we bemoaned how much we ate
which was completely worth it, but you know.
At the end of the night they announced the winners:
Marion Street Eatery for their amazing creation with apple chutney and other goodies, and then the Judges Choice which was MAW's Eatery and Bar.
Yr girl voted for Marion, as did the boys, because we know our shit.
Looking back it was an incredible night:
I got to hang out in an old fort, eat all the poutine I could eat, drink amazing beer from my favourite brewery, and do it all in the company of some of my favourite people.
What else could a girl ask for?
Home from Rainbow Trout
- by admin
which is easily the best festival that Manitoba has to offer
both in terms of the amazing (seriously, amazing) music and the overall vibe that lasted the whole weekend.
John and I rolled in around 6pm Friday and had enough light to set up our tent while dripping sweat, crack a few beers and hop in the river next to the campsite
where we goofed off and floated around and pulled ourselves together at dusk to head down to the stage
where we danced and kissed like fools to amazing music played by super talented people
a handful of which were dressed like the Village People
and met up with Alex and Adam
and had the time of our lives.
Saturday was filled with more river-sitting, beer-drinking, singing along, open mics
and even more amazing music which included a late-night performance by one of my favourite weirdo musicians, smoky tiger
(who played this masterpiece and it was glorious)
I couldn't have asked for a better weekend or a better way to wrap up the summer.
Thanks to Ben Jones, the volunteers, and all the musicians who made the weekend such an incredible experience.
Bravo.
It's the Friday before the long weekend
- by admin
and yr girl has a haircut in 10 minutes which means obviously I have to blog right the fuck now.
Spent the afternoon curled up sleeping in bed with Toulouse because I had a headache and was tired as f and this weekend just sucked the life right out of me.
The best part about this week was that I discovered the new Royal Canoe video
(which was actually released last week but whatever)
which I love, of course.
I've had a few conversations about the video and the way it makes my city
(which is vibrant and amazing and I love with all my heart)
look
so here's a quote from the director which gives it a bit more context
(which I don't have time to go into right now):
“I don’t know if this is true of other cities, but for some weird reason Winnipeggers have been bombarded for the past four decades by business-driven propaganda campaigns which aim to boost our hometown pride, promote tourism and economic growth. Each successive campaign is even more desperate and embarrassing than the last and they all fail, because they insist upon such a fake and whitewashed image of Winnipeg. For the ‘Exodus’ video, we wanted to warp the cinematic vocabulary of these obsolete Winnipeg tourism filmstrips and create a kind of subversive travelogue about the Winnipeg that is truly meaningful to us.
The thing I love about ‘Exodus of the Year’ is that, both musically and lyrically, it really sounds like the Winnipeg we carry around in our hearts. It’s both sad and beautiful, frustrated and triumphant. For the video, we wanted to walk this fine line between the ironic and the earnest, as all us Winnipeggers must do every day.”
- Matt Rankin
Enjoy your long weekend lovelies!
xox yr girl Shaner
Missed Hip Hop Sunday because it was hot
- by admin
and I was drinking sacawine and mojitos left over from Folk Fest and BBQing like a mofo and seeing a Fringe play and otherwise out and about enjoying the fact that it was +40 and not -40
which it was for a lot of 2014, which sucked.
To make up for it here's a super cool vid/song from The Zolas who I may have blogged about before but whatever
sometimes you gotta reshare what's good, y'know?
Yeah, you know.
Friday we rocked out with Rokk Stark aka Adam for his bday at Yellow Dog where I had a really lame pizza
(but it only cost $12 plus a pint I can't really complain, I guess)
and then at the King's Head where pints and laughs and good times were had
and yr girl passed out around 1am because we had to run Colour Me Rad the next day
(which I still woke up late to do, but whatever)
which was Rad As Hell mostly because John, Amber and I spent the entire time cackling and goofing off and being ridiculous
as per usual
afterwards we inhaled huge burritos from Burrito Del Rio which aren't pictured because I was too busy stuffing it into my starving face.
Later that night we hit up the Fringe hard and checked out Chase and Stacey's Joyride which I can't recommend enough
and also No Tweed Too Tight: Another Grant Canyon Mystery which we saw last night
which was on the 2nd floor of The King's Head which was perfect because you could order food n pints before the show
(which we did, of course)
and was absolutely hilarious. Usually yr girl is wary of one-man shows but it was just too perfect.
Even when he had to kick that super drunk lady out of the venue because she wouldn't stfu
oh and then that other person's phone kept ringing??
because apparently peeps don't know how to watch a show these days.
except me who sat and drank my beer and laughed like a mofo and held hands and smiled
because life is divine.
Deal with it.
