What’s going on tonight? A lot actually but my husband and I will be taking a night off and having some time to ourselves. The dishes have piled up, and there are projects that need some attention but we haven’t been able to have any actual down time together in a while. However, if it weren’t Bollwitt Night, there are some other things going on around town worth noting:
First, Happy Birthday to Alexa who is a Guitar Hero master personified and design guru over at Strutta. She’s celebrating with some of the usual suspects so I fully expect documentation of the fun times and debauchery to show up on Jaiku or Flickr tomorrow morning.
Second, tomorrow is Dingo’s birthday. She’s such a kind person with so much wisdom and spirit. I’m really glad to have been able to get to know her at unconferences and through the blogosphere in the last few years.
STRANGER: A photography exhibit of strangers and unfamiliar landscapes. The work is a diverse mix of the abstract, the dreamlike, and the street.
Photographers: John Goldsmith, Marc L’Esperance and Lung Liu
Dates: Opening Night: Friday April 11, 2008, 6:30-8:30pm Exhibit: April 10 – April 26, 2008 Restaurant Hours: Thursday – Saturday, 6-10pm
Location:Radha Gallery | 728 Main Street Vancouver
Opening night features a live acoustic jazz duet by Shannon Thue and Joel Kerr. Food & drinks are available for purchase. [Facebook event] [Website]
John’s works are pretty amazing and capture a candid side of Vancouver few others can pull off. You can preview the show here, swing by tonight, or anytime before April 26th.
One week ago I wrote about a RickRoll flash mob taking place on April 11th in Liverpool St Station at 6:00pm. Seeing as how that’s 8 hours ahead of us here on the Pacific coast of Canada I’d say things should be getting underway fairly soon.
Bring a camera, bring a detachable quiff, bring the lyrics so you don’t have to embarrass yourself or the dedicated Rickrollers by humming through the verses and only singing out loud when the song gets to the chorus… Get down there and share the love: it’s not rock and roll, it’s Rickroll. [Londonist]
If you’d like to check out the live action I’ve been linked off a site that lists someone’s QIK video stream, and they hope to catch some of the hilarity that is bound to ensue.
They only last a minute and a half but here’s a video of today’s Rickmob in London courtesy of Jamie Coomber’s Qik Stream.
Unfortunately Rebecca is unable to attend DemoCamp’s Gaming Edition this evening so Nancy Zimmerman has been kind enough to take on the liveblog – thanks Nancy!
Starting out with a panel about gaming in general.
How many people have a gaming console? About 15.
How many people think of themselves as gamers? [oops – missed this response – typing!]
Will discuss business aspects of gaming tonight.
Panelists:
Dustin Sucks – owns Sillisoft games. Develops strategy games. Will talk about indie gaming.
Jamie Change – has done retail, online, currently doing purely online pc, free to play. Will talk about economics of Xbox dev’t.
Parveen Kaler – [oops – missed – will try to fill in]
Q: Is indie gaming like indie films?
P: Halo is summer blockbuster; but all games are ‘games’ – doesn’t like the term ‘casual’ games.
D: Name ‘casual’ means it takes less up front to get into them. Not such a steep learning curve. More accessible.
Q from audience: Do any of you try to bridge online/console/etc?
J: hasn’t seen it work yet (eg. Majestic).
P: benefit of iPhone is it has it all. May be more options.
Last year I didn’t get out to every festival, parade, or community event however the ones I did attend like the West End’s Block Party were pretty darn fun. Over on Commercial Drive they’ve been closing off the road and celebrating the community on foot (for a single day without vehicles) for several years.
In 2005, the Commercial Drive Festival launched the first community- driven Car-Free Festival in Vancouver. The Festival was wholly volunteer-organized and presented, involving over 30 core organizers and 300 volunteers. It was an enormous success, bringing over 25,000 people out to celebrate the community and party in the street. Since then, the Festival happened in 2006 and twice in the summer of 2007, snowballing in popularity and attracting up to 40,000 people per day. [Car Free Day – About]
It’s been a while since we’ve done a regular episode but when I recently got the chance to speak with New Music West‘s own Jory Groberman about the upcoming festival, I thought what better way to capture it than on RadioZoom.
New Music West is… “The largest and most influential new music event in Western North America… The only annual public new music showcase in Western Canada… Operating since 1990… Showcases over 200 bands to the public and industry… Takes place in 30 venues across Vancouver… $30 “All You Can Hear†wristbands… Conference, networking events and educational workshops.” [New Music West]
First, Happy Birthday to Alexa who is a Guitar Hero master personified and design guru over at Strutta. She’s celebrating with some of the usual suspects so I fully expect documentation of the fun times and debauchery to show up on Jaiku or Flickr tomorrow morning.
It’s been a while since we’ve done a regular episode but when I recently got the chance to speak with 