Archive

Life in Cowtown in Calgary

in Alberta, Personal Blog, food blog and gardening

Life in Cowtown banner

Tatina Kharitonova of Life in CowtownTatiana Kharitonova uses both sides of her brain. The 29 year old accountant crunches numbers in downtown Calgary from 9 to 5, but after work and on weekends she follows her heart and explores a ‘million mini passions’ which she writes about on her blog.

Life in Cowtown was originally created to document Tatiana’s first ‘cold climate garden’, and just in case anyone cared to duplicate her experiments she decided to keep an online journal that she could also reference later. An early post shows her backyard in the winter before the garden occurs and describes the conflict that occurs inside her own brain - Tatiana is torn between her desire to be outdoors, and her general fear and contempt for insects, esp spiders and stinging bees.

Stable, secure and contemplative, Tatiana has been locked up in a good relationship with “a great guy” for eight years. She loves to read books and digests about four per week.

pepper plantSkilled in writing unbiased reviews, it’s not unusual to find Tatiana combining food and travel in the same post. She reviews cafes, shopping malls and Calgary Hotels and her journal entries are sometime punctuated with pictures of half eaten sandwiches and empty soup bowls. Unpredictable, she’s best categorized as an abstract gardening and pets blogger.

“I’m a generalist” she exclaims, ‘I like to learn a reasonably shallow amount on a variety of topics, and here anything goes - from ‘quantum physics for dummies’ to ‘how to make penicillin at home’. For example, Tatiana is an amateur mycologist and goes foraging for mushrooms in Alberta every year. I hope she writes a post on that subject this summer, and perhaps someday she will offer up a homemade mushroom hunting map to her readers.

Miss Kharitonova shoots all her own photos, and counts photography among her many interests.  Some great posts include her review of Millarville, which is typical straightforward account of her journey to Southern Alberta’s largest outdoor farmers’ market. That destination relates to her cold climate gardening objectives. Here’s a fascinating look at her replanting peppers and taking her own advice, for once.

She loves her cats, especially Tweak, seen here.
Tweak the cat
Tatiana’s journal is not political. She doesn’t write to offend anybody, or propose radical change or protest society. But she did relate to me her frustration with the city of Calgary. What other city builds overpasses and sticks six sets of lights on them? Or purposely staggers their red lights so that you catch each one when driving?

In closing, Tatiana relates, “I do have a pretty dark side, but it doesn’t come out on the blog for several reasons. First, the nature of this blog doesn’t really encourage it - it’s hard to write about gardening and cats then switch to something nihilistic. I may have to get a second blog to express that side of me, but when I think about it, life is hard enough for many people, so having something to laugh at is more important than dragging oneself down.”

Bookmark and Share



Endless Banquet in Montreal

in Montreal, Tourism, food blog and niche blogs

medieval banquetAnthony J Kinik and Michelle Marek really do appreciate their life in Montreal, and they share their passion for their city’s culture and cuisine in an extraordinary ‘food lovers’ blog. Their weekly adventures in the old city are filled with details relating to hidden fruit and vegetable markets, butcher shops, seafood shops and of course restaurants and Montreal spa and posh hotels and resorts, even portable toilet rentals and off the wall ideas.

… an endless banquet is a blogspot you can actually taste, and the authors do a great job presenting their anecdotes and knowledge in very readable prose. Readers will appreciate the novel manner in which AJ inserts his appetite into his daily adventures, and I love how both he and Michelle smother their text with expert details. Food lovers will savour the ‘before and after’ pictures of the ingredients contrasting the finished dishes. The photos usually accompany detailed recipes along with tips and tricks regarding preparation and delivery.

So it should come as no surprise that Anthony J. Kinik has some training as a storyteller. endless banquetHe originated from California where he earned a PhD in film studies; states that he’s always been interested in food, and actually began taking cooking classes when he was just ten years old. I’ve read and discovered that he loves soup and ‘uses pepper in everything’. Kinik is no stranger to print media either. He’s written for Gourmet, and the Montreal Mirror.

Michelle Marek, the blog’s co-author (and Anthony’s girlfriend) originated from Vancouver where she was inspired to cook by her mother. She was a vegan for 12 years, but now “eats anything”. *Its interesting to note that she despises TVP (textured vegetable protein) and chose to avoid it as a vegan.

AJ and Michelle met in Montreal in 1999 and soon discovered they had lots of similar interests, which includes books and films, cats and of course food. Both artists consider Montreal to be “a great eating city, a city of gourmands”

In 2004, AJ and Michelle were cooking and entertaining together more often, usually after exploring the city’s markets, collecting cookbooks, and reading copious amounts of food literature. All of this cuisine art really impacted Michelle, and she quit her job as a subtitle editor for films and enrolled in pastry school; now she works as pastry chef.

Aj and Michell from Enbdless BanquetThe blog began in Nov. 2004 when, AJ relates, “we did the only sensible thing. One dreary day, we headed down to a Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown, and over a good bowl of pho, we came up with a name–” and the name is “…meant to convey a sense of the ideal life.” And he goes on to write that, “…the Internet opened things up quite a bit and provided many new voices. In terms of food writing, it provided a forum… for food cultures that had been marginalized.”

Salad on Endless BanquetBy the summer of 2007 the blog was getting 15,000 hits per month. Today the content includes recipes (many pulled from other publications) and reviews. Anthony and Michelle have written a book, APQO, a short work dedicated to the enjoyment of four fruit: the apple, the pear, the quince, and the orange.  The authors write good pieces about visits to local Montreal restaurants, and even pass judgment on the Montreal Food Guide which reviews and rates over 150 eateries in their city. Here’s AJ’s Flickr page.

Endless Banquet gives AJ and Michelle the ability “to broadcast our dream version of Montreal. Consider this a condensed, lushly illustrated, two-dimensional version of our beloved city.”

Bookmark and Share



Casie Stewart in Toronto

in Fashion Blogger, Personal Blog and Toronto

Casie Stewart Banner

Casie Stewart is a blog nerdCasie Diana Stewart is a restless 26 year old artist, poet and blogger. She documents urban charity events, shopping excursions, and fashion parties. She writes about herself mostly, and describes her adventures cycling in Toronto, surfing (online & on waves), her art and assorted photography projects, sewing & making clothes, funky local stores, and twitter. She’s a pretty girl with a good sense of humour, and a very popular blogspot.

Casie Stewart: this is my life has the byline, people . places . things . thoughts: in attempt to keep more memories, and that’s a good honest motivation for starting and maintaining a personal blog. This writer puts vanity aside and impresses readers with her candor, and her ability to relate details and get specific alongside her innermost thoughts.

Casie StewartIt all started in June 2006. Casie needed something to do while her boss was away. “I posted a bunch of stuff one day, and the rest is history.” Her first posts were CGI cartoons she drew herself and short rants about her life and the things she was doing.  “When I started blogging, I wanted to create a place where I could keep memories and record things as they happened. I’ve got so many thoughts and not the best memory. I created my blog in attempt to keep more memories. It’s worked really well. I often look back to remember what I did, wore, and said.”

Casie Stewart up wallCasie has dual citizenship; Canadian and New Zealand. She once lived in Sydney Australia (Bondi Beach), Indiana, and New York. Her parents emigrated to Canada to raise their children, and Casie grew up in Cambridge, Ont.  Casie says she’s always been artistic and entrepreneurial; when she was 14 she co-wrote an anthology of poetry and prose called Jeans. In 1996 she won the Miss Teen Pageant in Cambridge and the Young Entrepreneur of the Year in part because she was a founding member of the Cambridge Youth Council that opened a skate park, a drop-in center, and now celebrates the 11th year of the Rock the Mill festival.

Casie spent two years working in the head office of “a large private retail organization,” and “had a great career as a Queen West hipster and party girl which lead to knowing alot of really cool & interesting people.” After she got tired of the party life Casie got into the Toronto tech community and joined forces with other tech-minded people to organize events such as #gentTO, Twestival, and Pay it Back Toronto.

Casie Stewart Do GooderCasie Stewart’s most popular post was born last October when she explained her famous Toronto Sun September, 2001 Sunshine Girl appearance, and that’s understandable, check out the picture. This splash occurred about four months after her second most celebrated post, Blackberry Message Pending Problem which brought mass Google search traffic as thousands of other Canadians struggled with the same issue. And please check out Steamrolled By Drunkards because its easy to see why’s she’s loved as she relates a great story about visiting an event at the Steam Whistle Brewery to meet people she knows on Twitter.

I’ll get you my pretty. “I’ve had a few surprises with people recognizing me because they read my blog. That’s a huge compliment and change from being a party animal when people recognize you for other stuff.”

Casie Stewart for charityOops he did it again. “I was surprised when the owner of Well Hung, a postering company postered some stuff from my blog on Queen Street in bright neon. That was a pretty rad surprise! He’s done it a couple times now too!”

Casie’s Twitter

Casie’s Facebook When I asked Casie Stewart about the future of her blog, she replied, “The goal of keeping more memories is still the same. However, now I’m working more on creating a brand, and a following. No one besides me really read it for the first two years. Then, I went through some drama and said one day, ‘Hey, I’m a writer and I can do this. I’m gonna share this with everyone. I’m a blogger now’.

Bookmark and Share


Zucket in Toronto

in Blogging, Fashion Blogger, Personal Blog, Toronto, Tourism and niche blogs

Sass Zucket is a twenty three year old Asian girl from Hong Kong who grew up in Vancouver before coming east to go to school. She’s smart. The girl was enrolled in the University of Toronto at age 16 and graduated at 21 with a degree in human biology and genetics. So what’s she doing now? She’s a party girl, and a world famous blogger.

Zucket is a sneak peek inside Toronto’s hottest parties from a slightly jaded female perspective. The blog is fun to read like e-talk is fun to watch, but it’s meaner and grungier than anything on television, and kind of dirty. Each post images some form of consumption and chronicles rock stars, fashion models, booze, bands and bar fights.

Zucket is a great blog because of the author’s narrative insights into these candid photos. Her readers Laugh Out Loud in comments when she reminds them that a certain friend wore the same shirt two Saturdays in a row (with photo links to prove it) or who paid for who’s drinks all night. She has meaningful conversations with celebrities, and only very occasionally writes about shopping, clothes and cosmetics and Toronto party rentals no you’re more likely to find posts detailing the nutritional value of her favourite Chinese foods.

Sass fraternizes with professional photographers, including Kavin from Shark vs Bear, and Pete Nema, Dana Richardson, Raymi’s boyfriend Phil, and Carl W. Heindl of eroder.com . When these talented artists snap shots of Sass enjoying Toronto, she hunts them down and copies them from their Flickr pages, and Facebook galleries to repost on her own blog. That way her readers can enjoy seeing her mocking boys upstairs at the Drake Hotel, or rocking out on dance floor of the Wrong Bar, or even recovering in the sunlight of a Sunday at the Lakeview Lunch.

She’s part of a community. Momentary glimpses inside Toronto’s west end nightclubs is just one of the things that makes Zucket such a premier online attraction. LG Fashion Week Finale Party: Atop the Top of the Burroughes hooked this subscriber. That post is an exciting behind-the-scenes look at a fashion party meltdown. Zucket’s descriptions are brief and leave me hungry for more details, and her friends are beautiful and candid. Readers can’t find this stuff anywhere else, except perhaps on other blogs… like Raymi The Minx ?

Zucket spawned from Raymi; she’s a spin-off. When I asked Sass about the similarities she replied: Yes, I know Raymi, she is one of my closest friends. I started reading her blog and then figured out that she lived within a 2 block radius from me. Stalked her and the rest is history. Today the keyword Raymi the Minx is the fifth largest tag in Zucket’s sidebar; the first four being Alcohol, Party, Toronto, and Babes. It’s not hard to see why this blog is so popular.

Near the beginning of Sass Zucket’s weblog, I came across something very personal, a key to understanding the origins of her blog. And when I asked Sass why she started blogging she replied, …I started blogging because I hated my ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend with a raging passion. I had so many mean, awful things to say about them that I also thought were really funny. My friends were tired of hearing me whine but I wasn’t tired of whining and needed a venue to vent. I’m also kind of a megalomaniac so I decided a blog was a good way to delude myself into a sense of celebrity. My attention seeking tendencies haven’t changed, so I’m still blogging. It has become such a large part of my lifestyle and routine, that I’d rather blog before bed than wash the make-up off of my face.

Follow Sass on Twitter?

Bookmark and Share


Net Chick in Vancouver

in British Columbia, Personal Blog, Photography, Tourism and Vancouver

Net Chick banner

Tanya Marie Davis has been writing her thoughts online for over eleven years! That makes her the most experienced blogger, with the oldest domain yet profiled on this friendly index. The thirty something British Canadian lives alone in Vancouver, and plays a big part in the city’s social net. Her easy going manner, self deprecating sense of humour, detailed profile page, and straight forward contact info tells readers that she’s very comfortable with who she has become…

Net Chick pink hairNetChick, This Chick’s Life is the personal journal of a popular west coast socialite who uses her blog for the forces of good. There are no Google ads or tacky widgets anywhere in the sidebar, just a lipstick promotion over a blog roll bearing links to other Canadian pioneers, most of whom also live in Vancouver.

Tanya Davis blogs from and about that beautiful city, and often joins her friends, Miss 604, Raincoaster, Tris Hussy and others at live events that help make Vancouver the foremost social media crucible in Canada. Although much smaller than Toronto, this city’s bloggers connect in real life at parties, sporting events and most recently, at the opera.

This Chick’s Life is as unique as it is popular. A two sentence description in her sidebar reads, “…a thirty something girl living her dream in downtown Vancouver.’ But what is her dream exactly? Perhaps its the expression of her independence? To live alone after her divorce? In posts from autumn 2002 and the winter of 2003, which are the oldest posts available to readers, Tanya is slight on details and uses the word ‘boyfriend’ with defining the term. Later, readers will discover and come to cherish NetChick’s semi perpetual search for a mate. The theme runs through later posts too, and as Tanya grows older she gets more and more comfortable sharing details.

Similar to Carrie Bradshaw, (Sarah Jessica Parker’s character in Sex in the City)  this single girl details the shortcomings of so many would be suitors that attempt to solicit her affections. It’s a fascinating study of (for) men, especially those who craft corny first contact messages. The activity empowers female readers, and makes men a little anxious – lately Tanya has been reposting whole conversations, or rather, intact solicitations from strangers that have no idea who they’re talking to, or what league they’ve just stepped into…

Net Chick, Tanya DavisA social butterfly, NetChick has adopted, or rather, inherited an earlier link exchange ritual (from Michele, a landmark early blog) known as Weekend Meet and Greet. It’s a simple idea that works to convince a community of readers to leave a chorus of comments for everyone’s benefit. This type of online activity is the spit and polish that sophisticated blog pioneers put up to harness the passion of the next generation. NetChick’s meet and greet has just two rules:  participants must first say hello, and then visit the blog above their comment; in turn the next visitor greets you and visits your blog.  Irregardless of all extenuating factors, the exercise is good for at least one visit.

On March 1st 2009 Tanya used her blog to do some good for society when she wrote to Support the Canadian Freestyle Ski Team With Canada Post and encouraged her readers to CatchAir.ca

Tanya Davis seems like the quintessential early adopter, a hot girl geek that’s always been in style. She embraces new technology and uses it to elucidate random elements of her existence; NetChick Flickr photos show off her friends and family, you can find Tanya on Facebook, and or follow NetChick on Twitter.

Bookmark and Share


Midnight Poutine in Montreal

in Montreal, News Media, Photography, Quebec and Tourism

Midnight Poutine logoUnlike other domains profiled here, Midnight Poutine is not someone’s personal blog, but rather, a blog collective owned by an entrepreneur named Tim Shore. The writers get some of the revenue paid by advertisers.

Tim Shore also owns blogTO which serves Toronto, and Beyond Robson in Vancouver - all under the holding Freshdaily.ca, which as of Feb 28th 2009 is still under construction. But Tim and Fresh Daily are not the subject of this profile - this post is all about Midnight Poutine, because it’s such an absolute gem.

Montreal bike riderWhat is Poutine?
Poutine is a dish consisting of French fries topped with fresh cheese curds, covered with brown gravy. It’s comfort food, especially in Quebec and it’s a signature dish in many Montreal eateries.

What’s in Midnight Poutine?
Midnight Poutine.ca is a perfect blog name. It correctly suggests unique content about Montreal night life, arts and culture. Readers who spot the domain name in a blog roll are instantly motivated to investigate, just to see if the destination lives up to what they imagine it should be, and it does.

About Midnight Poutine
Tim ShoreMontrealers need Midnight Poutine. It’s a personal ongoing account of the city’s happenings. It’s a delicious high-fat source of rants, raves and musings. It provides the insight you never find in newspapers and the details and tangents that would never fit in a weekly. It possesses cheese-like flexibility. It’s sometimes snarky, often unusual and always informative. Your order has arrived. Dig in.

A blog with seven authors
There are at least seven contributors in the About Us index. Some write more than others, but each maintains a presence in their genre to offer readers a smattering of local content that cannot be found in newspapers or anywhere else online. My favourite author is Jeff daSilva, I like his style the best and identify most with his local news subject matter.

Jeff daSilva
Jeff daSilvaJeff is a fashion working rock/skate type guy who loves dodgy bars, pubs, and all sorts of music. A terrific example of Jeff’s work is something he wrote after visiting a liquor store, in the province of Quebec where he postulates that BYOB will soon have  a new meaning – bring your own bag. Liqour laws are different all over Canada.

SAQ in Montreal

The portal is popular and will, in the future, help Montreal become a better city - some of their link bait content includes a rant post about the bus fares and cost of public transit . This post is one of their most popular, even though it’s entirely in French!

Midnight Poutine has a very popular Flickr photo group, with thousands of images, and has just emerged on Twitter where they have 13 followers - these are early days.

Bookmark and Share



Urban Native Girl Stuff in Toronto

in Fashion Blogger, Ontario, Personal Blog and Toronto

Lisa CharleyboyLisa Charleyboy is a very talented twenty something First Nations girl of the Tsilhqot’in (Dene) Raven Clan. Born and raised in the mountain wilderness of Williams Lake British Columbia, Lisa now lives in Toronto Ontario where she’s working hard to complete her Bachelor of Honours Degree in Professional Writing at York University.

Urban Native Girl Stuff echoes the culture shock of her paradox.  Slightly more polished than an online diary, Lisa’s personal blog details her existence in downtown Toronto. She writes about clothes, new beauty products, and native cultural events like the Toronto Pow Wows.

Lisa writes about issues and topics that might appeal to girls of any race, but especially Canadian aboriginal teenagers and young adults.  Urban Native Girl Stuff is a pastiche of the usual ‘single female topics’ including fashion, beauty, and nightclubs, but this urban girl is different because of her unique origins. Her best posts explore relationship dynamics and dating; here’s where we most often glimpse the girl from Williams Lake BC.

Clever readers might deduce that Lisa Charleyboy attended Ryerson University in Toronto for Fashion Communication, as well as John Casablancas Institute of Applied Arts in Vancouver for Fashion Arts. She reports her new career strategy is to work as a journalist documenting Native Canadian fashion, arts and entertainment, while sculpting her gifts as an actress in film and television. It’s a good plan. She’s a great writer and will certainly be recognized as such in time, and her beauty and ’stage presence’ suggest we’ll be seeing more of her on TV in the future.

As a professional writer, Lisa Charleyboy is off to a great start. Before school she was a contributing fashion & beauty columnist at Williams Lake Tribune (she pitched the editor and was paid). In her first year at York University she was the Contributing Arts Editor at Spirit Magazine and has subsequently written & sold articles to Inside Stunts Magazine, Spirit Magazine, and Redskins Magazine. In second year she was the Fashion & Lifestyle Editor at Excalibur Newspaper. During her first and second years she assisted with creating IndigeNEWS Newsletter for the Aboriginal Services Office at York University.

As an actress Lisa Charleyboy co-starred in the short film ‘Rezolution’ in the 2008 ImagineNATIVE Film Festival. She also has a role in the soon to be released ‘You Are Here’, and she tells readers that she’s excited about filming an new indie feature ‘The Rainbow Farm’ in Toronto this winter.

Lisa Charleyboy in earth tonesNow here’s where this Canada Blog Friends profile gets really interesting. I wrote to Lisa and asked her which of her posts that she thinks is her best. This was her reply,

Decade Dating has probably been the post that has been discussed the most to date. It is a reflection on May-December relationships, of which I had recently just ended one such relationship. I think the topic is fairly controversial and also very interesting and intriguing to people as to why girls in their 20s enter these types of relationships. I even walked into a local eatery where the owner, an acquaintance of mine, was involved in a May-December relationship and said that his young wife had read this post. It was a little awkward, since my stance at the end of the blog was that these types of relationships are beneficial to only one party.

My favorite is Red Cred: Joseph (Dega) Lazare . Red Cred is a series of profiles that I will be doing to showcase Native artists. I want to highlight modern, talented, progressive Native/Indigenous artists who are paving the way to be role models for youth and who are otherwise just cool peeps that deserve a little spotlight on them. I really want the non-Native community to see other Native people who are successful, educated and superbly gifted in order to challenge stereotypes that still haunt Native people. I also want other Native people who are not necessarily tapped into the Native arts community to realize the significant contributions we’re making all across Canada and the U.S.

Well done Lisa, that’s the perfect synopsis. Welcome to Canada Blog Friends.

On many levels, Lisa Charleyboy is a beacon of hope and a great role model for indigenous women that too often must sacrifice something for education and personal empowerment.  Canada Blog Friends has no doubt that Urban Native Girl Stuff will someday help unite the entire Native community all across North America. Everyone can share in her blog’s journey as she continues the Native storytelling tradition learned on the distant shores of Williams Lake, British Columbia.

Bookmark and Share


Phronk in London Ontario

in Ontario, Scholar, Web Designer and movie reviews

Phronk banner

Phronk is an innovator and has been since June 2000.  He’s friends with Dead Robot, Mod Superstar and Raymi the Minx; these four bloggers are the Southern Ontario social club. They link to each other in their blogrolls, and comment on each other’s posts, and share unflattering pictures of Stephen Harper…

But Phronk has the most colourful and compelling voice. His blog is surprisingly original, and very readable, and most of the art on display is his own. It’s true Raymi and Dead Robot sometimes borrow his artwork to spice up their posts.

Mike PhronkPhronk writes this about himself,  “I’m a guy who lives in London, Ontario, doing various things, such as going to school (I’m a graduate student in psychology), going to work (I teach people and do science) and many other things. I really enjoy doing activities that are fun and eating things that taste good. I have a wonderful family, friends, and a dog. Bees make me nervous. That’s all there is to me.”

Actually there’s a whole lot more to Phronk than that. A quick scan of his domain shows that he has boundless passion in multiple genres. For example,  last fall he detailed the London Zombie Walk and his comment box was full after profiling the most listened to albums of 2008,

Google superconductorPhronk.com is good for funny cat photos, and ‘ugly cakes’ especially ‘toilet cakes’ which are edible cakes shaped like toilets (with yellow jello and candy bars in the center). And let’s not forget about the vanilla chocolate cake that looks like overflowing cat litter boxes (my personal favourite).

Phronk documents lobster flavoured potato chips and good Google daily logos, exceptional movies that went straight to video, or straight to awesome as he puts it,  and look at this early masterpiece Halifax Holiday photo post. Here he writes, ‘I snap a random vacation picture, post it on my blog, and one of the people in the picture manages to find it. It’s made even more incredible by the fact that everyone involved is as anonymous as can be.’

You get the feeling he’s just goofing around, but writers know its a lot of hard work. Pretty much everyday this author explores something new. Most frequent topics include “life, music, movies, TV, psychology, philosophy, science, parapsychology, skepticism, technology, video games, horror, books, writing, news, stupid internet stuff, and whatever else comes into my head. It’s all pretty self-indulgent, really.” 

There’s a lot of Phronk to read - visitors should journey back to the year 2000 just to see how it all began. Phronk artAfter a post listing his favourite movies, and another promising to make his new blog the repository for all his best stories, readers are treated to a very unusual sasquatch thriller wherein the monster appears on the highway and rear ends the car Phronk is test driving with a car salesman…

Some final wisdom from Phronk:

Contemporaneously should not be a real word.

Only semi-retarded emo kids post their crappy art to their blogs. Do you like the art? Check out Phronk’s scrapbook, phronk.tumblr.com

Bookmark and Share


Blog Directory for Ontario