Contributed by Colleen of Shot Heard Round the Web
Austin is fabulous. I officially love this city.
This is my first SxSW experience and it’s nothing at all like i expected. I stopped going to the panels after my first two (tho I did make an exception for Blame Canada…) and hung out in the hallways, on the tradeshow floor and best of all, in the AMD sponsored BlogHaus.
Difficult little room to find, but once you got in there, snacks, beer (or coffee in the morning) power strips, internet connections, Guitar Hero III and internet A Listers abounded. The Austin Conference Centre is laid out in the oddest way. When you first come in, you go from the first floor directly to the fourth. Bloghaus was on the 3rd floor. For the first day, I was actually fairly convinced that Texas just didn’t bother to use the numbers 2 and 3. It’s not that everything is bigger in Texas, it’s just that they can’t count.
I met a good portion of my Twitter friends on this trip, and hung out with the Vancouver tech contingent more in Austin than I do at home. John Biehler, Peter Andersen, Tod Maffin, Phillip Jeffrey, Roland Tanglao… there are a TON of Canadians here. Last year, Twitter was the rock star of SxSWi, and everyone was trying to predict what this year’s Twitter would be. Canada is this year’s Twitter. 2008, we’re the rock stars of SouthBy.
I could have told them that tho.
Contributed by Colleen of Shot Heard Round the Web
Contributed by Colleen of Haute Culture
I completely started a trend at SouthBy this year. I didn’t mean to, it just happened!
We were headed to the Red Eyed Fly for the Fray Cafe Sunday evening. Walked past this fabulous tattoo parlor and decided just to go check it out. Called True Blue Tattoo, it had a very cool vibe and best of all it was relatively empty. Mind you, 8 pm on a Sunday evening, and I suspose that’s to be expected.
I’ve wanted to get Latin for breathe on my wrist for a while now. Spur of the moment decision, on Sunday night, I got it done. Quite small, inside my wrist, and in a great script, i now sport new ink “inspire”. Totally love it. I was with Greg and he decided to get a tattoo as well, and began designing his while waiting for me. Justin, whom I met through Twitter and then face to face at the Sundance Film Festival this year called while I was waiting to get it done and came over to watch and be my official photographer. He went and got his done on Monday night. Greg went back to Jim at True Blue and got his done on Tuesday night.
Definitely not the souvenier I expected to bring home from SxSWi, but hey, it rocks!
Contributed by Colleen of Haute Culture
In my formative teenage years, I was involved in almost anything under the sun. I was one of the school’s yearbook editors, on the student council, sports council, played 5 sports and was a part of Encounters Canada Youth Ambassadors. Later on I had the chance to work with children and younger teens, which lead to some of the best summers of my life. Although I could have slowed down a little (geesh), I highly value every organization, team and event I was ever a part of.
In a few months, BC Youth Week will kick off with events and programs all over the province, and including awards of recognition for youth involved in their communities.
Celebrate youth in our community during BC Youth Week, May 1 – 7. Youth Week is an international celebration recognizing the value, diversity and positive contributions youth make in their communities. Be sure to catch one of the hundreds of events including everything from sporting events and art shows to award ceremonies and random acts of kindness. To find out what’s happening in your community today, check out www.bcyouthweek.com for more information.
There’s a Facebook page dedicated to BCYW, and you can find out more information on the official website.
Side note: I haven’t yet seen any events listed for Surrey, but this is around the time of the Surrey Youth Band Jam on May 3rd, which will showcase musicians and revive the good ‘ol days of Stardust with some indoor roller skating.
BC Youth Week events will include things like dances, concerts, a pool tournament, cooking competition, film festival, scavenger hunts and more in Langley, Maple Ridge, Mission, Vancouver, the North Shore and many other communities.
A few years go John had a blog post series called, “WILT” (What I’m Listening To). Inspired by Keira’s post about music yesterday, and Raul’s follow-up, here’s a sampling of what’s currently on my iPhone:
Albums
Nada Surf – The Weight is a Gift – They’re coming to town March 29th and playing the Commodore
The Format – Interventions and Lullabies – Currently on a haitus, but still great tunes
Against Me! – New Wave – In love with this album, one of the best of 2007
Matthew Good – Hospital Music – Official best of 2007
Shiny Toy Guns – We Are Pilots – Heard them on Seattle radio and have been hooked since
The Black Keys – Magic Potion – Also in town very soon, April 6th at Richards on Richards
Podcasts
The Crazy Canucks – Yeah, I listen to our own stuff, with 5 voices it helps to listen to the final production
Choogle On – One of DaveO’s many projects
Lipgloss and Laptops – by Kerry Anne and Airdrie
The Onion Radio News – Cause it’s pretty freakin’ hilarious
After the Credits – by Dale, Marina and Colleen whom I had the pleasure of meeting up with yesterday
Podcasting is not dead, it’s alive and well. Visit any of the fine sites above to subscribe and remember: “You don’t need an iPod to listen to a podcast,” – John Bollwitt.
This afternoon I stopped by the Union Gospel Mission on East Cordova as I was invited to an open house to celebrate the launch of their new website. Built by a local company and using a sleek-looking cms (content management system) the UGM has been pretty excited about the changes.
The most ambitious part of the new website was the development and implementation of The Street, a blog by UGM outreach workers. Aside from being on social networking sites like Facebook, the UGM has given their street-level workers a voice. This includes a chance to promote events and simply talk about they see and go through every day.
I also got to chat with a man that works in the kitchen and moonlights in the UGM Thrift Store. He said he’s been clean and sober for 15 years and working with the UGM ever since. There were interesting people from all walks of life, staff, bloggers, and even a mention of the Thrift Store’s lead mannequin that I thought would be great to have a photo of on their Flickr account.
This UGM provides drop in centres for women, families and youth, as well as programs and outreach for those in Canada’s poorest neighbouhood and around the Lower Mainland. They’ve also helped me with the issue of what to do with the five bags of clothing I was looking to donate, as their Thrift Store would gladly accept it.
While talking to Kevan, who works in communications for the UGM, it was great to see his enthusiasm for using new ways to reach donors, staff, and those who use the services. Sure, flyers in the mail get avoided or discarded and may cause annoyance, but the blog (to which you can subscribe) can provide everyone the information they want, when they want it.
