As you know, I run music blog Ride the Tempo, which promotes independent Canadian music. I decided today to launch at Tumblr called Tracks Only, to have a platform for quickly sharing some of the great non-Canadian music that I find. It’ll be tracks only, letting the music speak for itself.
It’s time for another Loot Crate unboxing! This week’s theme was CAKE in celebration of Loot Crate’s 1 year anniversary.
I don’t watch Walking Dead but my character in these Funko blind boxes is super adorable. I’m sure you fans out there can recognize who she is.
It’s not a Loot Crate without some Loot Crate stickers.
I am now a scientist in Portal’s Aperture Laboratories with this lanyard, tattoo and bracelet.
My favourite item from this month is this caffeine molecule T-shirt! They accidentally sent me a medium, but that’s okay. It would actually make a great gift for Nash who’s been sleepless with work. Also in the box was a $5 coupon for more shirts at Shirt Woot, so I can go order some more cool novelty tees. I’ve been browsing through their catalogue and I kind of want EVERYTHING.
A birthday party has to have some candy of course. I wish they included like 10 more packages because I ate it in two seconds.
Sign up in this link and the code SEPT at checkout for a 10% discount: http://mbsy.co/lootcrate/176357.
I’ve never really considered myself to be a writer. I sort of just fell in to it through blogging. I’m continually growing, finding my style and turning to others for inspiration. I read obsessively about anything and everything.
I picked up The Art of War for Writers
The little reference book by James Scott Bell focuses mostly on novel writing but a lot of it can be applied to other circumstances. Like the title of the book hints, it compares writing a novel and getting it published to fighting in a war.
There are three sections in the book. Reconnaissance deals with the mental game of writing. This was probably my least favourite section as I found it obvious and fluffy. It might be a proper push for those who are afraid to write in fear of judgment. As a blogger, I feel like this fear is close to non-existent or I wouldn’t be a very good blogger.
The Tactics, the most resourceful section, is loaded with tips to improve as a novel writer, many of which can be translated into writing in general. One of my favourites tips is when you have writers block, call on a word and its cousins (synonyms or related words). They can strangely open you up to new pathways.
The final section is Strategy, where Bell gives tips on entering the publishing world including finding the right agents.
The book reads a lot like a series of 78 short blog posts. They get the point across and there are plenty of examples from existing fiction. I recommend this book to any writers (not just fiction) looking for quick tidbits of inspiration. Bonus, the book has a lovely design.
Lays sponsored a contest where people around Canada created new chip flavours. The winner gets $50,000 and 1% royalty from future sales.
Right now they’re down to four finalists, each of which have received $5000. I missed out on the Perogy Platter (because they were not available at the time) but I purchased the Caesar Salad, Maple Moose and Grilled Cheese and Ketchup flavoured chips.
The Grilled Cheese and Ketchup greatly resembled BBQ chips, but a little blander. The “cheese” could be tasted when I licked the chips. The Creamy Ceasar Salad chips tasted a lot like a tamer version of sour cream and onion chips with a hint of cheese and a bit of garlic. By far the most original flavour was the Maple Moose flavour. They reminded me of firewood and camping. It was kind of atrocious on the first bite, but they got strangely addictive after a while.
My bet on the winner is probably Maple Moose as it is the most unique. The US contest had a Sriracha flavour which I wish I could get my hands on!
The latest instalment of my vlogs features Maylee Todd’s performance during Summerworks festival.
Pour Boy was listed in The Grid’s Guide to Being Broke and Living Large. Doing cool things on a budget is certainly in our interests at the moment. It’s close to Nash’s but we never thought to look around the corner of Bloor and Manning. The decor is unique and isn’t really asian nor white, but the menu is a mix of both.
I ordered the Gnocchi with shrimp ($7). The waiter recommended the white sauce so I obliged. I wasn’t expecting much out of pub food, but this was actually flavourful and there was a generous amount of shrimp. To drink I had a Long Island Iced Tea ($6.50).
Nash ordered the Pour Boy burger which was pretty much a regular banquet burger. It was a bit on the oily side but he enjoyed it. They came with a choice of regular or sweet potato fries or a salad.
I don’t know why I never visited this place when I was in university. It’s such a cheap watering hole. A pitcher of Sangria is $17, so we couldn’t resist. Plus, cheers to the rest of summer right?
I saw the ad for Six Dollar Shirts as a Google Ad on Ride the Tempo. I was lured in by their promise of cheap T-shirts. The shirts are $6, but if you want a fitted female one they are $6.50. This is still not bad compared to other sites like Threadless. The more you order, the cheaper it gets. I think 10 shirts are only $50. The shipping doesn’t cost an arm and a leg either. I was testing if they were a legit company so I went with a safe 3 shirts. I chose geeky tees like the one pictured above.
The selections aren’t the greatest but I took the time to dig through and found ones I liked. This Adventure Time design is definitely worth the price. For the most part the prints are monochromatic, but are available in multiple shirt colours.
I also purchased this simple and cute, konami code shirt. The girl shirts fit well and are not boxy, so they are worth the extra 50 cents. The shirts shipped in like 2 weeks. While I waited though, I actually thought they might be a scam. I didn’t receive any notice of the items being “shipped” even though the original order confirmation said there would be. I thought I’d mention that as a warning. However, I received my shirts so the company is totally legit!
On Saturday, I walked around Buskerfest. Here are some random photos of things I saw:
On Thursday, my family and I went to the zoo. At least 10 years had passed, since I’ve last been. It was a lot bigger than I remembered as a child. Here are some of my favourite photos from the day! My full zoo gallery can be seen on Flickr.
On Saturday I took part in Skype’s Passion Project campaign. I was sent a Nokia Lumia 920 and shared a musical day with Manchester’s Joe from A New Band A Day.
Since there was a 5 hour time difference, I had to focus on music-related things to do in the day time, while Joe had the evening. I hit up Harbourfront Centre, found some buskers by Yonge and Dundas Square, had some drinks at the Hard Rock Cafe, bought some records at Sonic Boom and went to Maylee Todd’s Summerworks show. Joe went to a tea shop with a DJ and had this rainbow cake that I am totally jealous of. You can see the end result of our day on the Skype Passion Project website.
Right now Skype is holding a contest to meet your guru in music, style or food. All you have to do is just send a photo (the more unique the better), of you doing what you love the most!
Tiana Feng 