When the NCAA comes to town…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bekahstargazing/436888403/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bekahstargazing/436888403/

Basketball fans, this is your lucky weekend. The Cincinnati Bearcats have traveled to the National Capital Region to play some games over the next few days at our Ottawa universities.

First, the Carleton Ravens will face the Bearcats at Scotiabank Place on Saturday, September 4th at 6pm in what’s being dubbed the Can-Am Shootout.

And finally, the Gee-Gees men’s basketball team will kick-off their exhibition action this week when they host the Bearcats on Sunday, September 5, at 2:00 pm at Montpetit Hall.

It will be interesting to see what a relatively successful NCAA team can do against a Canadian powerhouse like the Ravens. The last time Carleton played in the Can-Am Shootout in 2008, Carleton lost to NCAA champions Kansas by the score of 84-83.

Tickets for both games can be purchased here.

Get to know Kichesippi, Ottawa’s locally crafted beer!

Courtesy of Kichesippi Beer Co.

Courtesy of Kichesippi Beer Co.

What a way to start the weekend! Head to The Manx, grab a Natural Blonde and chat beer with Kichesippi Beer Co. owner Paul Meek. Throughout the hour or so Paul spent with us, we talked about his history with beer, the creation of a new local brewery and the river that bears its name.

A campus rep gig with Alexander Keith’s led Paul to work at the Keith’s factory (that’s what he really wanted to do) and helped him develop a love for beer that’s grown into the Kichesippi Beer Co. He and his wife seriously started thinking about starting their own brewery about a year ago and formally incorporated in December. By early May, Kichesippi’s Natural Blonde was starting to pop up in pubs and restaurants around the city.

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Getting seduced by comic art at Canteen Gallery

Rubadub.

Rubadub. Courtesy of Bob Flynn.

Canteen strikes again with another amusingly witty and entertaining show!

Guest curators Bob Flynn and David DeGrand lent their creative and artistic expertise to put together Seduction of the Idiots, an exhibition of the work of 9 comic artists from Canada and the United States. Encompassing a huge range of styles (and there is definitely something for everyone), one of the more interesting outcomes of the show, from a curatorial perspective, is the creative potential for artistic collaboration through various online communities.

“Because of various social media outlets such as personal blogs, Twitter, and Facebook, I’ve been able to reach out and connect with a vast community of animators, cartoonists, and illustrators, ” says Bob. “Over a few years of dropping comments and having conversations with folks online, I’ve built up relationships with artists who I’ve never met in person. It’s amazing, really.”

Read on for more of our interview.

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Hunting Wabbits in the Byward Market

titlecard

Photo courtesy of Jessy Borutski

Post By Andrea Grant

I always sleep through Saturday morning cartoons. In fact, I haven’t seen a good one since the Ottawa Animation Festival last year. Damn adulthood, damn late night parties, damn breakfast smoothies and wheat germ and all that replaced Fruit Loops… zzzzzzz…..

WAKE UP OTTAWA!!! This Saturday September 4, our favourite obscure contemporary art gallery in the Market will be hosting an authentic Saturday morning cartoon experience… at BEDTIME. Backwards but beautiful, La Petite Mort Gallery will host the premiere of Jessica Borutski’s second short animated film entitled “The Good Little Bunny with The Big Bad Teeth.”

I’m sure many of you may have heard about the controversy surrounding Borutski’s work for Warner Bros. An Ottawa animation celebrity of sorts, Borutski has re-invented our beloved Looney Tunes characters – dearest Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Tweety Bird, and the Road Runner to name a few – for “The New Looney Tunes Show,” set to premiere on the Cartoon Network this Fall. Changes include less violence overall (for today’s more PC audiences) and a purple Bugs Bunny.

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Weekend roundup: Events and things to do in Ottawa!

Photo courtesy InOttawa.ca on Flickr.

Photo courtesy InOttawa.ca on Flickr.

Alrighty, folks - for those of you lucky enough to stick around town for the long weekend, you’re in for a few treats.

Yes, the Bytowne Burlesque Revue is happening - and, if you’re in the market for your own burlesque name, check out the ingenious suggestions from fellow readers. If you’re hoping to fit in a last summer festival or two, be sure to schedule in the Serbian Festival happening down on Albion Road. For another festival, all you’ve got to do is look up - waaaaaay up - as the hot air balloons from the Festival de montgolfières de Gatineau float by overhead all weekend long.

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“You are invited to see the Earth turn” - Discovering Foucault’s Pendulum

Foucault's Pendulum at Carleton.

Foucault's Pendulum at Carleton.

Post by Mokum

The other night I strolled over to the Herzberg Laboratories at Carleton University to spend a few minutes with the Foucault Pendulum. I was looking for a metaphor. If you haven’t seen the Foucault Pendulum at Carleton, it really is that: a five-storey replica of the famous pendulum first conceived of by the 19th century French physicist Léon Foucault. In designing his pendulum, Foucault set out to demonstrate in an easy-to-see experiment that the Earth rotates; in this he succeeded.

How does it work? Like many groundbreaking discoveries, Foucault’s proof was quite simple. All he did was suspend a large pendulum from the ceiling to show that the plane of its motion, with respect to the Earth, rotated slowly clockwise. What does this clockwise motion mean? The simplest – and correct – answer is that it means that the Earth turns.

Click to continue reading ““You are invited to see the Earth turn” - Discovering Foucault’s Pendulum”

Win tickets to the Bytowne Burlesque Revue!

Photo courtesy of Justinvl on flickr

Photo courtesy of Justinvl on flickr

Post by Lauryn Kronick

One can’t help but notice that Ottawa has been getting slightly more sexy and risqué over the past few months. Much of this is thanks to the pleasing, teasing ensemble of Rockalily Burlesque.

On Saturday, September 4, the Bronson Centre (211 Bronson Ave) will be transformed into the largest sultry, deliciously raunchy cabaret venue that Ottawa has seen. Rockalily is bringing us the Bytowne Burlesque Revue, which will feature more than six burlesque troupes and dancers to get us all hot and bothered.

Along with other local favourites, the Sexual Overtones (including the Puff Sisters and Muffin Tops), and welcoming out-of-town beauties Boudoir Rouge from Hamilton, Toronto’s Starlight Burlesque and Fiona Flauntit and the divine Miss Sarah Diva from Halifax, this is by far Ottawa’s biggest burlesque extravaganza to date, Rockalily’s Miss Helvetica Bold says.

“This is going to be huge – nothing like this has ever been done in Ottawa before. It’s a collaborative brainchild that will hopefully be more attractive to the mainstream audience,” she adds.

Click to continue reading “Win tickets to the Bytowne Burlesque Revue!”

Planning a hoedown or hootenanny? Best rental halls in town

Photo Courtesy of tcp909 on flickr

Photo Courtesy of tcp909 on flickr

Post by Kaitlin Wainwright

If you are of a certain age, chances are your summer weekends were, at least in part, spent at weddings and wedding receptions. In the last three summers, I’ve attended no fewer than ten weddings in Ottawa, including my own.

But this isn’t entirely about weddings. It’s also about birthday celebrations, graduation parties, fundraisers, company retreats, family picnics, and any other excuse you can think of to round up the troops to have a good time in the last days of this summer or if you’re already planning for next. On any budget.

While Ottawa is pretty far from the epitome of good architecture, it has a number of galleries, museums, restaurants, heritage spaces, and parks. By no means are you restricted to your local Legion if you’re planning an event (although keep in mind that the legion often comes free for fundraisers).

Click to continue reading “Planning a hoedown or hootenanny? Best rental halls in town”

Better know a neighbourhood: Beechwood/New Edinburgh

All photos courtesy of fieldtripp on Flickr.

All photos courtesy of fieldtripp on Flickr.

Better know a Neighborhood is Apartment613’s knockoff homage to Stephen Colbert’s famed Better Know a  District. Our goal is simple: find and write about interesting parts of the city. For the first part of this not-so-innovative series, we headed to West Wellington Village (or Hintonburg, we’re never quite sure). For our encore we went to the oasis of hipness nestled on the border of deepest, darkest Vanier.

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The Ottawa River Summit: Local Leaders Dive In

Courtesy of Wagboy on flickr

Courtesy of Wagboy on flickr

Post by Andrea Grant

Despite this city’s conservative reputation, we at Apt613 know that many of you love the occasional skinny dip and seadoo ride. Heck, we’ve even seen the more riotous ones among you out on the water riding stand-up paddleboards or cruising on inflatable “Capri islands.” But amidst all this wild and wonderful wetness, few of us are aware of the serious risks facing the freshwater fun we hold so dear – specifically, the health of the Ottawa River watershed.

This past Friday, local leaders gathered in Gatineau to discuss just that: the risks facing the Ottawa River watershed and how we can work together to protect it. Government leaders, first nations representatives, and water experts shared information about the challenges they saw facing the watershed, from sewage overflow to wetland destruction to 62 pound Asian Carp invading and destroying local ecosystems. At risk is not only our leisurely loveliness, but also wildlife health, drinking water quality, and our local tourism industries.

Whoa, back up, you say. What’s a watershed? 62 pound carp?! And why wasn’t I invited to the Summit? Chill, dear readers. Apt613 attended the Ottawa River Summit and collected all the tools you need to learn about what’s going on, and how you can get involved, right in this post.

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