Tag Archives: British Columbia

Building up to Paper Street Theatre’s War: Improv is Hell at Victoria Fringe Festival 2017

27 Aug

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

Location:
Victoria Event Center
1415 Broad St.

Upcoming Dates:
Aug 28 8:30 pm
Aug 30 7:15 pm
Aug 31 7:15 pm
Sep 02 3:45 pm

Throughout the years, Paper Street Theatre have always shown that they have a lot of fun on stage. Whether that is during the Victoria Fringe Festival, at Gottacon (now defunct) or at Intrepid Theatre‘s own studio, I discovered them through An Improvised Quentin Tarantino back in 2013. They made a sequel in 2016. The latter could have been sooner if not for the nature for how Fringe Festival shows are selected, by lottery. Afterwards, I saw their Improv Dungeons and Dragons show twice. When looking at their upcoming season, I’m excited to see how they will be playing with the Zombie genre come Christmas and pay tribute to Ray Bradbury. Not to be forgotten, Agatha Christie is also going to be improvised.

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Weighing in at MINISO’s new Vancouver, BC Operation

21 Aug

aaeaaqaaaaaaaalzaaaajgu3ngzkmgnilwyzmtetndg4ni1hmju3lwm1nza2zty4yme1nqBy Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

On August 11th, The Vancouver Sun revealed that the Chinese-Japanese retailer MINISO is setting up shop on Granville Street, with more operations to follow. A week later, I was in town to attend a concert and happened to walk by it on my way to my hotel. My weekend visit to this metropolis was much-needed since home is a tiny town, with hardly any operation offering quality dollar store valued goods I am regularly after. As I entered the doors, the cheerful energy from the staff and vibrant colours in the variety of products found throughout impressed me.

At first, I thought I was walking into a business filled with products for ladies. Health and beauty products were the first items I saw. A bit of wandering around had me discovering items I can use for my travelling office and sojourns into the wilderness. The space is not all that huge (even though it measured 4900 square feet). I thought I was walking into a LEGO store given its style of decor. I bought myself a 11-piece Swiss Army Knife for a fantastic price of $4.95.

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[Editorial] Sounding off on the Nerdy Convention Scene in Victoria, BC

5 Jul

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

I have attended many pop culture style conventions in the past 25 or so years. Some took place in my home town of Victoria, British Columbia but more off island. I am sad not many local shows have a footprint of lasting more than five years. Attempts have been made to centralize all aspects of geekdom, but to pull it off needs a proper committee of dedicated folks. I’m aware most of the businesses along Nerd Row (on Johnson Street and Broad) are in communication with one another, but this community was not in place till the early part of this century.

In terms of history, a major comic book type event (which was a one-off) took place at the Empress Hotel in the late 80’s which had a who’s who of talent (from New York even), which Big Brothers and Big Sisters organized — my introduction to the scene — but since then, everything else which followed never compared. Van Isle Con is a step in the right direction, and although a short commute is required to get there, I’m wondering what’s next? Are there individuals willing to make something happen within the capital city?

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Wind up Geek’s Cool Merchandise: Handmade Harry Potter Mugs

25 Jun

By James Robert Shaw
(The Wind up Geek)

In all my travels and in all the conventions I visit (Van Isle Comic Con, Tsukino-Con, and Fan Expo Vancouver), I have been amazed at some of the cool merchandise that can be bought at the vendor tables. I don’t just speak about the mass-produced items with names like Funko, Bandai, and Hasbro, but of the finely crafted local items as well.

At the 2017 Tsukino-Con, I spent much of my money on said items and a roll full of prints from local and more internationally known artists. I even bought a My Neighbour Totoro phone charm (which I will highlight at another time). For now, I will bring to your attention merchandise I discover and to share them with you, our readers. Perhaps along the way I will help you find something new.

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