Toronto @ MindSay

The first photo contest on Lenzr.com asks public to upload their best shots of Toronto's skyline.

Midnight August 31st 2009 *CONTEST ENDS
That's when the photo with the most thumbs-up votes wins the prize.

The reward is a 12-megapixel Pentax Optio P70 is a super compact camera with a wide-angle 4x optical zoom lens (27.5-110mm equiv.). It has a 2.7-inch LCD display, Advanced Face Detection, Smile Capture, Blink Detection, and Pixel Track Shake Reduction “to assure sharp images with low noise even in poor lighting.” The Optio P70 can also capture 720p HD video at 15 frame-per-second.

Ahh...feels good to be home again!

 

Last Wed. I began my treck North-ward, specfically to Anime North in Toronto, Canada. I live closer to PA than Canada, so it took me a few clever arrangements to get up to Niagra Falls, and then Toronto. Where to start off? Perhaps with my company?

 

Lizzie- Our host for the weekend, 3 year veteran of Anime North. Is also now friends with Svetlana Chmakova on deviantart.

 

Becky- Lizzie's older sister, very sweet but mostly insane. Also an awesome baker.

 

Jaime- Cosplayed as Professor Oak. A very strange creature that I didn't appreciate hitting on me.

 

Gorbi- One of my very best friends from school. Another strange creature and rumored dendrophiliac.

 

Ginger- Has analyzed all of the 150 pokemon, and then some. Has a large ginger beard.

 

And then there were the friends that we made along the way:

 

Cody- Lizzie and Becky met him 2 years ago at Anime North and have kept in touch to see him again every year. On Saturday he was wearing a school girl outfit...not that he stood out or anything. Still, I think it's really cool that they made and kept a friend after only knowing him for about three days.

 

Link- Becky, Lizzie and I all dressed up as Navi and ran around harrassing all the Link cosplayers we could find. "Hey! Listen! Hey! Listen! Hey! Lava is hot! Press A to open the door! That wall looks rough, you can climb on it! Hold Z to target your enemies!" And, my favorite for the Dealer's Room: "Press A to select an item!" We kept running into the same Link and ended up chatting for a little bit.

 

Kiyu- A friend of Cody's, at his first con of the day. We met at dinner on Saturday night and he tried to convince me that Chinese wasn't as difficult as it sounded while I blathered on about Japanese particles.

 

Ryan- Stood in line behind us for the J-pop dance, (It took us almost 2 hours to get in, and then we danced for 2 hours, never realizing that our roommies were waiting for us) who appears to be living my life before I can. Psych major who went to Japan after graduating...this guy stole my plan! He also cosplayed Dark on Sunday, awesome costume complete with expandable wings!

 

Kristen- A very promising young artist that Lizzie and I both encouraged to keep up with her drawing hobby. She was doing really great stuff for someone her age, and I just hope that her talent keeps blooming as the years go by.

 

Dixie- A dog who, upon finding out we possessed donuts, ignored her master for most of the afternoon.

 

Sventlana Chmakova- I MET HER! I FREAKING MET HER AND GOT HER TO SIGN HER PRINT AND I FREAKING MET HER!!!!!!!!!! She is kind of my manga-ka hero, especially for North American manga. The only other manga-ka I would love to meet as much as her is Mineko Ohkami, because I still am a ridiculous Dragon Knights fan, but mostly because I really want to know what happens to Nohiro. Also,

I MET SVETLANA CHMAKOVA!

 

Taking pictures was fun, spending all my money in the dealer's room and artist's alley was fun, the panels were great ("Pokemon Biology" and "Sailor Moon Never Dies" were very fun, as was the Ouran one). Getting free hugs, free kisses (well, only one. And it was on the hand! It doesn't count as cheating.) Getting sunburnt, watching all the "normies" stare at us (which were actually hard to find until Sat. night), Zelda photoshoot, and dancing for two hours straight were all a lot of fun. But what I love most about cons is that you're surrounded by thousands of people who love the same thing that you do. You can go up to almost anyone and start a conversation. I believe I talked to someone about Sailor Moon for about 20 minutes straight, especially about how annoying Chibiusa is. It's one of those places where you can really geek out and not be afraid to show how much you love something. It's a place where waiting in lines is fun because you never know who your neighbors will be. It's a place where everyone gets your jokes, and for three days, a crazy different world full of short skirts, unnaturally colored hair and thousands of people around you, all coming together for the same reason: celebrating something that you love with everyone else who loves it too.

 

And I met Svetlana Chmakova.

 

By the by, my hypothesis did prove correct. Canadians really do give the best hugs.

Beauty pageants are not dead. They are back, stronger than ever. The controversy surrounding them has subsided, and the darkness has dissipated in the dawn of a new online reality. Talent shows breed web communities and beauty pageants can really amplify corporate social media initiatives.



The Search For Miss Teen Canada - World is the first to adopt social media into the very core of its existence and become in one sense, a digital beauty pageant. Right now fifty two teenage girls from across Canada are blogging about their preparations to come to Toronto and compete in person at the John Bassett Theatre in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Saturday July 25th 2009.

The contestant blog army is a very potent weapon that pageant organizers can use to
 1) advertise their website and related events
  2) promote spoonsors and charity as they communicate with the public in a whole new way.

This year, for the first time in history, all of the Miss Teen Canada finalists, selected from all over Canada, are blogging about their experience at the pageant on their own On Sugar blogs. Anyone can go and read these free blogs, and you will find links to them in the contestant profiles on the MTC-W website under the tab marked, MTC-W Finalists.




















Here are some of the contestant's blogs:
http://kylawills.onsugar.com/
http://wendyhuang.onsugar.com
http://karmenguillas.onsugar.com
http://oliviawolter.onsugar.com
http://cassandratracy.onsugar.com/
http://taylorstronski.onsugar.com/
http://genevievejones.onsugar.com
http://annissacheyne.onsugar.com/
http://chelsaedurocher.onsugar.com/
http://sarahstriga.onsugar.com/
http://azlynnyablonski.onsugar.com/
http://alexandrahanasz.onsugar.com/
http://jessicacatorc.onsugar.com/
http://genevievetucker.onsugar.com
http://taralynwolfe.onsugar.com

Yesterday, I was alerted by Dead Robot marathon dance blog post about a mysterious event that starts tonight and goes till Saturday Feb 7th. Being heavily involved in the Toronto dance community, I just had to investigate Ted's lead and follow the links he embedded in his blog.  And now that I'm 60% more aware of what's going on, I find lots of people are talking about this performance based show at The Toronto Harbourfront Centre. The live show is both a staged performance as well as a genuine endurance challenge where enthusiasts can mix with bluemouth inc. members under the direction of judges!

Will I see you at tonight's Toronto Dance Marathon.?

The Second City comedy club, located at 51 Mercer Street in downtown Toronto has six comedians and a hit show: This is the perfect way to start the night in Canada's largest and most diverse entertainment district.

 

 

Barack to the Future is actually not about the US elections. It pokes fun at pop culture, politics, relationships and culture snobs. This is a fine example of Toronto's best homegrown comedy, written and performed by geniuses that will someday be huge film and TV stars, Marty Adams, Kerry Griffin, Darryl Hinds, Reid Janisse, Karen Parker, and Leslie Seiler. And if you don't believe me, have a look at the review by Richard Ouzounian of TheStar.com who awarded the work 3.5 (out of 4).

 

 

Tickets are affordable, $23 Monday to Thursday and $28 on wknds and the whole place has full bar / table service. There are Wayne Gretzky's restaurant packages for dinner and a partnership with the nearby Marriott for anyone who needs a hotel room. Focus your next trip to Toronto on The Second City!