Tagged: Winnipeg
There's this great Ethiopian place downtown
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where I went for dinner last night called Kokeb which is currently located next to the Hydro Building but used to be across from the LC on Ellice when I first went there when I was 18.
I hated it then but I love it now which just goes to show what a close-minded young person I was.
It was wonderful except for the fact that the tvs on the wall were on super loud and there was this obnoxious short woman talking to some NBA player about what people were wearing to some sort of award ceremony and What Celebrities Are Wearing is right up there on my List Of Things I Don't Care About which looks roughly like this:
1. What Kind of Smartphone You Have
2. Michael Bay Movies
3. What Celebrities Are Wearing
4. Drake
5. What Your Baby Did Today
6. What's Inside A Hot Dog
8. Anything Ann Coulter Says
9. Bronies
10. Small Dogs
besides that though it was great and I stuffed myself full of meat and veg and pickled beets and drank a beer, also.
Instead of going home which would have been lame we walked through several parks and drank iced coffees and played in fountains until it got dark.
Which is a pretty stellar way to end a Wednesday evening in the summertime.
Hip Hop Sunday: Relic - Work of Heart
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Last Thursday night J, Colin and his lovely lady stayed up late on a school night to catch the Ghettosocks show at Le Garage
(put together by everyone's favourite, Abstract Artform)
which was amazing, of course.
I'd originally intended to post another Ghettosocks track, but was so impressed by Relic's performance
(also that he gave me a free cd, thanks!)
that I figured I'd give props to such a super-talented dude.
Definitely check out his stuff!
Now if you'll excuse me I have white wine to drink and a festival to prepare for.
Enjoy your hip hop Sunday, kids!
xox yr girl Shaner
Of Truth and Magic
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is a movie that J and I decided to check out based on a review from The Uniter that went something like this:
which was a pretty bold statement to make, so not knowing anything else about the movie at all we headed down to the Cinémetheque last Thursday to see what all the in-print fuss was about.
We weren't disappointed.
In addition to screening the film itself the evening also included an adorable speech by local filmmaker Curtis L. Wiebe, who wrote and directed and starred in the film.
And also several of his other short films, which were all charming and cute as f.
And also a bunch of live music, including a song which featured a string quartet.
And all that before the movie, which is what we originally showed up to see
originally not having any idea what we were in for
which turned out to be so much better than we could have imagined.
(The film, by the way, is just as good as The Uniter promised it would be.)
You can check out all of Curtis L. Wiebe's work here, which I highly recommend that you do
Sunday Zoo Date
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Sometimes, on one of the few nice days that yr city has had in a while, you have to go out on a date to Assiniboine Park and hit up the zoo.
Mostly because it's a charming & cute thing to do, but mostly because prices are going up by almost $10 next week and I like to save a dime where I can.
I hadn't been to the zoo in a few years and didn't remember there being anything this neat, so we hung around and oggled the emus and kangaroos while secretly sipping white wine.
We also have a toucan house which has an ocelot in it and if you whisper sweet nothings to it through the glass while it's cleaning itself it'll get a boner which will make families freak out because kids can't know that animals have penises, or something
and you high-five the ocelot later because that was rad.
We also have a bunch of teeny monkeys and also birds with rad hairdos, pictured below:
I also spent a good part of the afternoon kinda stalking this couple who was wandering around.
They were too cute and he kept putting her on his shoulders so she could see, or pointing out stuff that she was missing because she kept tryna hold his hand or kiss him instead and he was all
look at these animals, you lovestruck fool
(or at least I think that's what he was saying)
So it was a big surprise when the super-cute couple came up and asked to take our photo because they thought we were super cute.
Which basically means that we won at the zoo that day.
Our last stop was the Discovery Centre which did this promotion when it was being built where you could come and have yr hand/foot on a tile on the wall.
My mum says that my baby self was being really difficult that day so instead of my hands they put my feet on the tile
but I like to think that I was just trying to stand out.
After we finished oogling my cute baby footprint and also staring at spiders and toads we went for ice cream at Sargeant Sundae which is kind of a prerequisite to visiting Ass Park during the summertime.
I had a hot fudge sundae and John has an old man-style dipped cone.
Afterward we lay around on the grass and read to each other and generally grossed out everyone around us with our antics and dumb giggling
which is pretty par for the course.
These encouraging streets
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I spotted these a few weeks ago while walking to work -they were written on the sidewalk by the Granite Curling Club between Balmoral and the Osborne Bridge and I'm totally in love with them. There's something so lovely about these impermanent encouraging messages.
TEDxManitoba
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Yesterday I had the good fortune to attend TEDxManitoba, which was held at the Tom Hendry Theater.
(also featured: my amazing Americano from Parlour Coffee, 'natch)
Of course I had to strong-arm John into being my wingman for the day.
The lineup was really stellar, but there were a few that really stood out for me:
David Gingera of CitiGrow's talk about sustainable, urban agriculture. Buying locally-grown food has become hugely important to me over the last little while, even more so since I've begun gardening through the West Broadway Community Center. It was really inspiring to hear someone be so passionate about such an important issue.
I also really loved Brian Bowman's talk about being caught in the crossfire of a gunfight in Mexico (what?!) and how it changed his outlook on life. I can't imagine how terrifying that must have been, but it was wonderful to hear how the experience shaped him, and how he used the experience to motivate himself moving forward.
Ted Geddert's performance with his son, in which he told the story of losing one of his sons at the age of 13, and how the family has coped with the loss and found hope in the aftermath. They incorporated singing as well, and it was hands-down my favourite talk of the day (I cried a little bit).
In-between talks I ate way too much (Sun Burger from The Underground Café for brunch, salad/sandwiches for lunch, pie in a mason jar and GORP bars omg) and hung around with the likes of Natalie Bell aka @pegcitylovely and we proceeded to weird everyone out in the backstage hallway.
Thank you so much to TEDxManitoba for having me out! I've loved being involved with these events so much that I'm thinking about volunteering next year (or speaking, maybe? Who knows!)
I like to think that I have a way with words
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because I write a lot here and elsewhere and have a secret poetry blog and leave notes lying around wherever I go.
It fascinates me how we can use words to communicate so much, sometimes with so little.
Which is why a weekend date to the Winnipeg Spoken Word Festival seemed like the perfect thing for yr girl.
We caught the final evening of the festival on the Saturday and got to see Isaac Bond, Shayna Stock, Greg “Ritallin” Frankson, Mary Pinkoski, Nereo II and Buddy Wakefield (though the dude who really stole the show was the dude who MC)
and I wasn't sure what to expect at first because honestly I'd never really seen any spoken word performed besides that poem from "So I Married an Ax Murderer".
and what it turned out to be was funny and powerful and moving in ways that I hadn't expected.
I laughed and got teary and smiled and felt uncomfortable once or twice and sometimes I felt like my heart was going to explode.
which is what good words should do
move yr soul.
Pride 2014 was ridiculous
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as per usual, but even more so because of the presence of these fine people as well as the following:
- Whistles
- Road rockets
- Giant, walk-through colons
- Underwear Robyn dance parties
- Nip slips
- Hula hooping
- Leopard-print jean-looking tights & dress shoes
- Being spices (Oregano & Chili Flakes forever!)
- #hashtags
- Too many trips to the wine store
- Sunshine & sunburns
and so, so much more.
yr girl is a lucky lady.
She is like a lioness and wolf all alike and she bears mighty teeth
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The title of this post is a line from the song 'Eurydice' by The Mariachi Ghost, who played an amazing (free!) show at Shannon's last Friday night.
Yes, their faces are all decorated à la Día de Muertos-style.
Yes, that's an amazingly talented dancer in the front.
Yes, you should definitely go see them.
(Obligatory food pr0n post from my brunch date with some lovely ladies on Saturday. Omg The Don's menu is amazing)
Saturday I went on the loveliest little date to Across the Board, the hippest new board game café in Winnipeg.
Not only is the decor super sharp (I love clean, white walls) but their board game selection is insane (and well-organized to boot)!
We managed to score a table right at the front by the big picture window, and as we were laying out our tiles for Forbidden Island Olaf (one of the owners) came up and introduced himself to us and took a few moments to chat about the game.
Naturally I had to throw down that I'd watched Wil Wheaton play it on Tabletop, so I think I earned myself some nerdy cred.
In the eve we caught The Xanadoods at Le Garage Café and watched the best cover of The Beastie Boy's "Intergalactic" ever. You should have been there.
Sunday was tons of rain, The Sopranos, and checking out The Grand Budapest Hotel at Grant Park Theatre.
Perfect. Weekend.
Winnipeg vs Wildlife?
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It's no secret that I love this city. I go on at length about our potential, our charm, and the quality of the people who call Winnipeg "home." I truly believe that we are becoming a forward-thinking city filled with thoughtful, considerate, wonderful people.However, there are instances which make me seriously doubt my optimistic view of my hometown.
I'm referring to an organization called the "Urban Goose Working Group" (mentioned on CJOB yesterday) who have been seeking out and destroying the eggs of Canada Geese in the Kenaston area for at least the past couple of years. Their actions are apparently spurred by the "safety issue" caused by the geese and their goslings in the area.
I'd like to take a moment to lay out what is actually happening here, in case you missed it:
People are actively going out of their way to find and destroy Canada Goose eggs.
What's even worse is that this is an effort coordinated and supported by not only the City of Winnipeg, but the Province of Manitoba as well as the Government of Canada. So all levels of government not only condone, but actually encourage this utterly barbaric practice.
It is shameful and disgusting, and I am appalled that my local government feels that this is an appropriate step to take.
There are multiple options which could serve as much more humane alternatives: we could install caution signs to notify motorists that this is a high traffic area for geese, put up snow fencing to deter the geese, we could slow the fuck down as we barrel along in our SUVs to go to the outlet mall, we could do as many countries in Europe have done and build wildlife bridges over highways to facilitate exactly the sort of issues that we're running into, or we could stop the insanity that is urban sprawl and stop building on the nesting grounds that these birds have been using for countless generations.
Because that's the thing: citizens are complaining about the inconvenience that the geese are causing them, though they chose to move to a newly-developed (and in many cases, totally unnecessary) suburban wasteland and now they have to interact and deal with (gasp! Horror!) wildlife that has been there long before our shovels broke the soil.
Here in Winnipeg we're trying to paint ourselves as a forward-thinking city, and while I know for a fact that there are many people in Winnipeg who truly are, we can't make a statement like that while continuing to completely disregard our wildlife simply for the sake of our own creature comforts.
It speaks volumes about the rampant levels of self-entitlement in our society, and it's time that the City of Winnipeg and our Provincial and Federal governments started acting a like the "responsible governments" that they claim to be.
With this in mind, I urge you to write to your City Councillor, your MLA, and your MP and ask them to stop supporting this awful practice.
