Craftshows and the Greenzone

In the spirit of things to do in a city with a weekend forecast for rain, I thought I would share some indoor alternatives to watching Law & Order reruns.
Lansdowne Park is hosting the Spring Craft Show this week end.
While traditionally this may appeal to an older demographic, there is certainly fun to be had for the $7 price tag.
Food vendors offer free samples of nearly every imaginable jam, spread, and fudge. Served with crackers, they are perfect to have around for parties or for feeding friends who stop by unexpectedly.
If you are in the market for a new piece of jewelery, this is the place to find unique and well crafted items.
Melody Cebula's line, Precious, features beautiful made recycled couture (pictured above). Well made and super cute, her shrugs and sweater are the perfect accent piece for anyone who loves jeans and t-shirts.
For the perfect fathers day gift, check out Arttech Glass Blowing Studio's hand blown steins, make from your favorite beer bottles.



Local playwright, Arthur Milner, opened his newest play, Fact, last night to a receptive audience.
Fact is a police drama set in the West Bank.
The play centers around the murder of an American archaeologist killed on Palestinian land. A Palestinian inspector and an Israeli detective are politically pressured to satisfy American authorities by solving the crime quickly.
The entire play takes place in a bare interrogation room, located on the Israeli side of the Green Line, with the two investigators and an Israeli suspect as the only characters on stage.
The 75 minute play uses shadows and light, humor and the sparring nature of the investigators relationship to stimulate the audiences interest. Fact is not a carefree night out at the theater, but rather a thought provoking look at a complicated conflict from a new, and entertaining angle.

In other news...

Over the last two weeks the government has released over 8,500 pages of documents regarding Canada's handling of detainees. This week they released another 6,200 censored pages, adding to last weeks 2600 pages released last week, in what the opposition is calling a major document dump. In an attempt to sift through all the emails, field reports, administrative reports the CBC posted the annotated versions (one, two and three) online to have have the masses rip through.

Spins and Needles, the brains behind mixing arts & crafts, DJ music and beers, are having their 5th anniversary tomorrow at the War Museum. Inspired by the Razzle Dazzle movement featured in the museums Camouflage: From Battlefield to Catwalk, the evening is sure to be filled will funky beats, cool craft projects and reasonably priced beverages.

Roy R. Behrens, Professor of Art and Distinguished Scholar at the University of Northern Iowa will hold a discussion before the event on how Dazzle camouflage was used during World War to distort the shape and size of warships.

Finally, Jonathan Roy, son of famed hockey goalie Patrick, who is best known for being charged with assault following a brawl with opponent Bobby Nadeau during a March 2008 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League game, is now a singer. No punch lines here, just the facts.

Jeggings.

Tonight I learned a new word. Jeggings. Blend jeans and leggings and that is what you get. Jeggings.
It turns out these grotesquely tight pants, whose main following is in the U.K, are on their way across the Atlantic.
Their appearance -as seen above- is as offensive as their name is ridiculous.
Knitted and pull on jeans were both names that got tossed around, but according to denimology.com jeggings is what stuck.
Google recognizes the word immediately, which is either a testament to the strength of the google search or jeggings are alarmingly popular.
My roommates boyfriend discovered the term at a mall in Toronto.
A friend of his that works in a clothing store was given a free pair of the stretchy pants by her employer in an attempt to boost their popularity.
He of coursed passed this information on, ending the time before jeggings were part of my world.

Public interest, I think.

Ottawa Police Services released their annual report to the public today.

A year's worth of police work was summed up in 4 pages, with total of 11 articles maxing out at 450 words a piece. To compare, my blog yesterday was nearly 200 words.

The report also shares a striking resemblance to the Vernissage newsletter I get from the National Gallery.

Graphic content (pie charts and information cyclones) and photo's (pictures of police with kids, with dogs, on bikes) make up as much of the review's content as what is written about policing in Ottawa over the last year.

The report does have a few nuggets of information.

Of the more than 900,000 calls made to the police in 2009, less than 40,000 of them lead to charges of offenses. According to the information cyclone, this adds up to a police solvency of 35 per cent.

Without documented explanations, these statistics come off looking a lot like Madoff Math.

Crime is down for the fourth year in a row in Ottawa - dropped 2.6 per cent from 2008. For that same period the number of police grew by 4 per cent, and the budget by 6 per cent.

My roommate, the criminology major, made me wonder what crime prevention expert, Irvin Waller, would say about this. For context, his main body of work is called Less Law, More Order.

The police said that this pamphlet version of a year end report was more accessible to the public than traditional reports, and that this was their main goal.

I forgot to ask "What about transparency?".

So those are our choices - either a glorified edition of Owl magazine and a 500 page bureaucratic bowel movement.

Fashion week closes with Free Bud Light Lime

Ottawa fashion week closed tonight in the Rideau Center's newest restaurant, EXchange Pub. I was there to snap picture of, well, anything I could find; newspapers love pictures. I always get to assignments early because I'm new to the reportage, and most of the time I have no idea what is going on.

The most interesting part of my evening was either meeting Ryan Gosling's first agent, or flirting with two young bankers from Montreal.

Apparently Gosling, who is from Cornwall, originally wanted to be a singer but t Angie's Model's and Talent gently nudged him to follow acting. When a Man Loves a Woman used to be his go to tune, co-founder Lou Seymor told me. He also informed me that Gosling started a band called Dead Man's Bones, that according to my quick youtube research, preforms exclusively with children.

Flirting with the Hardy Boys wasn't as salacious as learning the details of 12 year-old Ryan Gosling's life, but it beat circling the room looking for something to photograph.

Ironically, the photo of them is under-exposed -yet another reminder that I need to buy a flash.

Blogging. Here goes nothing.

Currently I am interning at the Metro Free Daily in Ottawa. It is a small office with a crack team of reporters. Team seems like an exaggeration, dynamic duo is more accurate. Between the two full time staff and me, Ottawa’s news gets covered each day – in 250 words or less.

My lack of paid employment means I should have the time it takes to commit to an endeavor like blogging. From what I have gathered, persistence online, or anywhere, is key – personal life including.

My hope with each post is to entertain while providing what substance I have to offer.