Entertainment – Page 17

#GooglePlayMusic Launch Party

May 6, 2014Entertainment, Life, Technology1 Comment

Last night, I attended the Google Play Music Canada launch party! The service is Google’s entry into music streaming in Canada. For a limited the first month is free and $7.99/month (regular $9.99) after the trial. You can check out Google Play here.

The food was catered by La Carnita and there was plenty of it! I totally stuffed my face with free food and drinks. Everything was delicious, including a cookies and cream popsicle that was to die for.

The night’s entertainment was provided by Stars, Kevin Drew, A Tribe Called Red and Keys N’ Krates.

View this post on Instagram

.@youarestars beginning with "take me to the riot" #googleplaymusic

A post shared by Tiana Feng (@tianafeng) on May 5, 2014 at 5:30pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

.@kevinselection singing "Mexicam Aftershow Party" cuz there's tacos afterall #googleplaymusic

A post shared by Tiana Feng (@tianafeng) on May 5, 2014 at 5:49pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

.@atribecalledred turning this to a dance party #googleplaymusic

A post shared by Tiana Feng (@tianafeng) on May 5, 2014 at 6:53pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

Damn it wish I had my actual camera to capture this hoop game @atribecalledred #googleplaymusic

A post shared by Tiana Feng (@tianafeng) on May 5, 2014 at 6:57pm PDT

The room was familiar faces from my Twitter feed and I did muster up the courage to talk to a few of them.
There was also plenty of stations around with tablets and headphones to try out the new service. I will totally admit I avoided them for a little bit because all I saw was things like Mumford and Sons and Avril Lavigne on the screen but when I played around I realized there’s a huge catalogue of other music available and it will only keep growing. I also talked to a representative who talked about a hub that may be soon available to indie musicians.

As I left the party, they handed out a wrapped gift that happened to be a Google Chromecast. I haven’t actually heard of it before the fact but I’m excited to try it.

Look out for my Chromecast experiences in my Vlog!

I Won 2048

April 19, 2014Entertainment, iOS, Technology, Video GamesLeave a Comment

I was late to the 2048 train. I only got the game last week and I finally beat it yesterday. I feel strangely accomplished.

In playing it a couple hundred times, I realized there is sort of a strategy to it, even if I didn’t exactly figure out where the “2s” spawn. Towards the end, I came close to winning many times and then finally did so by keeping these things in mind:

Stack numbers. Start by pressing left or right until you can’t, then go the other direction.
Don’t go down. When you have enough stacked, go up. Don’t go down. Going down leads to death. Alternatively you can only go down and avoid going up.
Get rid of 2s in the top corner ASAP. Turn the 2’s into a higher number ASAP so you don’t get stuck.
Careful with 2s and 4s beside each other. Think carefully when this happens and get unstuck or this usually leads to death.
Remember to feed yourself when you get addicted to playing the game.

Being Part of An Audience

April 10, 2014Entertainment, Life, MusicLeave a Comment

For the past few years, every time I went to a show, I would be “working” in some sense. I’d either be photographing, writing a review, or both. It had been a while since I went to a show for the sake of going to a show.

Last Sunday, I went to Cloud Nothings as an attendee and as a huge fan of the band. I didn’t shoot it and I didn’t review it. I had a blast. I didn’t have to worry about my camera being destroyed by a rowdy crowd, think of the perfect sentences to write or frame the perfect photo. I didn’t have to stand in the front for 3 hours, hoping that nobody would try to steal my spot. Hell, I even joined in the mosh-pit full of bros for like 3/4 of the set. I came out smelling like man-sweat but it was worth it. For the first time in a while, I actually had fun at a show.

That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy the shows I’ve seen in the past while. London Grammar and How to Dress Well were breath-taking in their own regards. I loved shooting them, but at the end of the day it was still work. To be able to fully immerse myself in the experience last Sunday was refreshing. It’s so weird how sometimes when I’m by the front of the stage taking photos, how removed I can be from the actual show. I think this year, I’ll let myself occasionally step back and be a fan, an attendee again. It’s definitely worth the price of the ticket.

Ride the Tempo on CBC Music!

March 7, 2014Inspiration, Life, Music, Social MediaLeave a Comment

Today my music blog Ride the Tempo was featured in CBC’s list of “Canadian Music Blogs You Need to be Reading”. Normally I don’t care for lists but CBC was one of the early outlets that got me caring about Canadian music and influenced me to change the blog’s format to focus entirely on it. It was actually a difficult decision to make. Canadian music is not as popular or hit-generating as some of the bigger indie artists out there. Blogs that write about everything get a lot more hits, and return generate more ad-revenue.

I don’t blog because I think I’ll one day get rich off of it. I love exploring the Canadian music landscape. I care about it and will continue to do so.

Canadian International Autoshow

February 19, 2014Entertainment, LifeLeave a Comment

Thanks to Klout and Chevy Canada, I attended the Canadian International Autoshow.

I made Nash go with me, and our reaction was a unanimous “OMG SO MANY CARS”. We’re not really “car” people and it’ll be a while until we both decide to purchase cars.

There were cars from every make and model including this convertible which Nash called the girliest car ever because of its tiny size.

This concept car of the future is motion controlled, which seems cool but in reality seems like it would be less efficient than a steering wheel.

I saw a 3D printer (a Makerbot) for the first time printing some mini car models!

View this post on Instagram

Random free stuff #chevyperks. Really needed one of those power banks

A post shared by Tiana Feng (@tianafeng) on Feb 15, 2014 at 9:51am PST

Since the Klout perk was sponsored by Chevy, I received some sweet swag which including a power bank for my iPhone and a Klout pin which allowed me to skip the line for the Camero challenge. You can watch me completely fail at the challenge in my vlog. I love the power bank, it’s the most useful thing a brand could give out because everybody has a phone that occasionally needs emergency charging!

I’m glad we went to experience the autoshow. I think it’s a great place if you’re looking to buy a car and want to try all the brands out. We saw many people getting in cars and testing the feel out. Entire families went in the mini-vans. When I happened to pass by Union Station on Family Day, I saw dad’s headed to the show with their little sons. That’s such an adorable idea for young car lovers!

Anyways here’s some more random photos of cars:

Quoteskine Volume 1 by Lee Crutchley

February 12, 2014Art, Books, DesignLeave a Comment

I forgot how exactly I stumbled across Lee Crutchley’s Quoteskine project but I loved the idea and bought the book.

Crutchley started the Quoteskine project on Tumblr as a creative way to visualize thoughts and quotes. Some were completely random and others were from songs, TV shows and movies.

The book is collection of his best works (at the time of publishing). The Tumblr is still going so maybe there will be a Volume 2.

The drawings in the book retain their original hand-drawn quality. You can see marker and pencil crayon lines and I adore that he left them unpolished like that. It has convinced me to start my own quote drawing. I have already written down a few ideas. Maybe I’ll share them with you in a later post!

Morning at the Symphony

February 4, 2014Art, Entertainment, Music, PhotographyLeave a Comment

Yesterday morning, I photographed the Toronto Symphony Orchestra during their rehearsal for a Chinese New Year celebration concert. I wasn’t sure where I was going to post these as they do not really fit Ride the Tempo’s content so I decided to post a few of my favourites here. The full set is available on Flickr.

You can check out some rehearsal clips in my vlog.

Chinese New Year

February 3, 2014Art, Entertainment, PhotographyLeave a Comment

Happy Year of the Horse! Here are some random photos I took over the weekend of celebrations:

12 Days of Bullshit by Cards Against Humanity Roundup

January 9, 2014Board Games, Entertainment2 Comments

Last month I participated in Cards Against Humanity’s 12 Days of Holiday Bullshit. For $22 (I had to pay more as a Canadian), the idea was that I would receive 12 individual gifts in the mail. Since the mail around the holidays was a bit crazy, I ended up getting my packages in chunks. Each came in envelopes with creative doodles.

In the end I received 10 envelopes. I was missing one the contained a lump of coal and on the 10th day our dollar was donated to DonorsChoose.org. I thought that was an awesome way to give back during the holidays.

About half of the packs were themed cards that could be added to existing Cards Against Humanity kits. They were as offensive as I’d expected. I personally don’t have a deck, but now I feel like I need one.

My favourite card was of course this one with my name on it. This could lead to some sticky situations.

Day 6 included these really random posters from The Post Family. You can download your own versions of these posters here.

Day 8 was a commissioned funny pages which included works from Allie Brosh, Ryan North, John Campbell, Nick Gurewitch and more. All the comics can be read here.

What made this experience worth it was being the first to have access to Clusterfuck!, a new card game. It’s a simple game where the goal is to have a threesome.

“Clusterfuck is played in two phases. First, players go around the table and pass each other sexy notes. Once each player has passed notes, everyone closes their eyes and points to the people they want to hook up with with one or both hands.

Then, everyone opens their eyes. If two players are exclusively pointing to each other, they score, and each gets one point. If three players are all pointing to one another and forming a threesome they each get three points for their feat of sexual teamwork. The first player (or players) to get three or more points wins the game. A successful threesome immediately ends the game, just like Quidditch.”

I haven’t had a chance to try this game yet, as it requires a group of people (and not suited for family play) but it sounds hilarious. Just like Cards Against Humanity, you can download your own pdf version of the game on their website.

I didn’t expect any extravagant gifts from this experience, so I thought it was a lot of fun. I don’t own Cards Against Humanity because I mostly play it at Snakes and Lattes but now I feel like I should. I love mystery mail so I hope there will be more stuff like this in the future.

Gimme All Your Friend Codes

December 18, 2013Entertainment, Technology, Video Games7 Comments

Nash gave me my Christmas present early. I was surprised with a new Nintendo 2DS and a copy of Pokemon X! I’ve been wanting to play the game since I heard about its existence but buying a system for it wasn’t in my budget for now.

The 2DS is the budget version of the 3DS but I’ve played Nash’s and always ended up turning down the 3D after a few minutes. I found the stereoscopic 3D to be a little headache inducing so the 2DS was actually perfect for my needs. It’s a little bit weird how it doesn’t flip, but holding it is actually comfy. The system itself is light and the L & R buttons are easier to press than the 3DS. The size is around 2 iPhone 4S placed beside each other.

Though it can’t display the stereophonic 3D, there are still two cameras on the back for taking 3D images that can be viewed elsewhere. It hasn’t affected my gameplay of Pokemon at all, I’m loving it!

If you have a 2DS/3DS let me know your code and I’ll add you. Mine is: 3926-5891-9582. Now back to becoming a Pokemon master.