The Ottawa Fringe Festival hosted a wine and cheese party for local bloggers last night at Arts Court.
I wasn’t sure what to expect other than wine and cheese, but that’s usually enough to lure me out of my cave. I headed down there with Mudmama and Sprout, who were visiting for the weekend. Sprout had a nap en route so he could be the life of the party once we got there.
We arrived promptly at 7, along with Milan from A Sibilant Intake of Breath. The fashionably late bloggers came a little later: Skylark, David Scrimshaw, Andrea from the Fishbowl, Woodsy, Breadcrumbs in the Butter, and several others I didn’t know.
We were divided between two tables, and I didn’t really get to talk to anybody at the other table. At our table there was a comfortable mix of people who already knew each other and people who didn’t. There’s always a sense of skewed familiarity when you meet people whose blogs you read. You kind of already know them, but they’re still full of surprises.
The hipster PDAs came out early. Milan and David both have them, and I’m envious. I’ll have to make myself one. All I need is index cards, a tiny binder clip, a space pen and a pocket, and I’ve actually got all that stuff already so I don’t need anything. Milan and David use them to keep track of the myriad little details and bits of information and ideas that come out of everyday life. Milan’s cover card is his to-do list. Anything with a B beside it is a potential blog post. (Unfortunately I forget the rest of his system because I don’t have a hipster PDA to keep track of incoming ideas. Yet.)
Being with Milan is like dipping your toe into the fountain of knowledge. At one point I glanced over to see him and Woodsy deep in conversation about statistics, and Milan was drawing a diagram on an index card to illustrate regression analysis. (I think that’s what it was a picture of.) He’s quite charming in an earnest sort of way. It’s too bad Aggie wasn’t there to meet him; she would not have been disappointed.
Sprout was charming too, in a sproutly sort of way. He mashed strawberries into his hair, flirted with Woodsy, and helped Skylark shred a program.
Towards the end of the evening, the organizers came by to chat with us. They gave us passes to attend two free plays each, and said they hoped we would consider blogging some of the Fringe Festival.
Until this year I didn’t know anything about the Fringe Festival – I didn’t know if it was music or films or what. (It’s PLAYS! You probably already knew that.) I’ll probably go to a play or two, and I’ll most likely blog about them.
I have to say I think it was a clever idea on their part, and I think ALL the festivals should woo us bloggers with booze and snacks and social events. Loot bags would be a nice touch too. And media passes.
I’ve only gotten perks a couple of times for being a blogger (not counting the more valuable and intrinsic perks, like friendships, of course). I got ten free P-Mates and a P-Mate T-shirt for being the unofficial Porta-Potty Blogger at the Blues Festival last year. And now I’ve had a lovely evening out with some interesting fellow bloggers, some wine, some cheese, and some tickets to plays. Thanks Fringe Festival!
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Ooo! Ottawa Fringe! Can’t wait for the play blogging. Two of my friends have shows there – nisha ahuja is doing a play called “Yoga Cannibal” and Hume Baugh is doing “The Girl in the Picture Tries to Hang Up the Phone”. They’re both fantastic performers (and writers). Those are my biased and unsolicited Ottawa Fringe recommendations. Thank you, carry on.
Roro – they’re both on my list – I love the titles.
I wish I could have gone to the wine & cheese, but I only heard about it at 3 minutes to 7 and had company over.
My blogmate will be in Ottawa for Fringe, her fiance’s one-man play is the Labyrinth.
Nice of them to bring out the wine and cheese!
It was a pleasure to meet you. Perhaps we will cross paths again at one of the plays.
Thank you, zoom, for opening my eyes. I thought I was one of about six local bloggers, but one google later, I discovered a plethora of the beasties in my own backyard. The local populace is known to be fat, dumb, and happy, but apparently we can write in complete sentences as well.
I should have made more of a mental note to come and say hi before I left! I saw you speaking with someone and meant to harrass you afterward.
I think the Fringe Festival – next year – should do more outreach to the bloggers, because all kinds of bloggers either didn’t know about it or thought you needed to be invited in order to attend.
Chantal – yes, same here. Whenever I thought of going over and saying hi, you were talking to someone – and vice versa, I guess. So – belatedly – HI!
I wish I’d stayed home so I could have attended this. It sounds like jolly good fun.
You would have enjoyed it XUP. Next time!