Ottawans sure do love their yoga. Walk down Bank St. from Wellington to Gladstone and you’ll encounter more yoga studios than Bridgeheads. While the majority of practitioners do yoga for the physical health benefits, it’s well known toned muscles aren’t all you get from downward dog. Yogawoman is an award winning documentary that tells the inspiring stories of women whose lives have been changed by yoga. Why just women? Although you’d never guess going into a studio here in North America, traditionally yoga was developed for men. It was brought to the western world from India... | Continue reading article

Community hub, free book store, venue for lectures and debates, internet cafe: the public library serves a large number of roles, some of which perhaps seem less relavent in the new digital age. Perhaps my favourite description of why public libraries are still important comes from the ever witty interweb guru Cory Doctorow: “Damn right libraries shouldn’t be book-lined Internet cafes. They should be book-lined, computer-filled information-dojos where communities come together to teach each other black-belt information literacy, where initiates work alongside noviates to show them how to master the tools... | Continue reading article

What is your musical fantasy? Does it involve copious amounts of liquid chocolate and a select Barenaked Ladies album? Or do you simply long to walk in the footsteps of a certain Liverpool quartet at the crossing at Abbey Road? (I could watch that webcam all day!) Or maybe you’re more the adventurous sort. Maybe you want to see what happens when numerous Ottawa bands swap members, create team of local supergroups, and put on a show. Well, that last fantasy will become a reality this weekend when the Ottawa... | Continue reading article

Think you are up to date about local happenings? Test your knowledge with our local news quiz, five questions designed to test whether you’ve been paying attention. How to score: 5 out of 5: News stud! I hear The Citizen is hiring… 4 out of 5: Cheater! You work at City Hall. 3 out of 5: Not bad, but you may want to check your #ottcity Twitter feed a little more often. 2 out of 5: Newspapers are dying, but you should still try to pick one up once in... | Continue reading article

Did you heave a sigh of relief when December 21st, 2012 came and went with nary an apocalypse to be found? One designer isn’t so sure we’re out of the woods just yet. Jordana Globerman, owner of NIGH apparel, creates clothing that draws on apocalyptic imagery from the world over, with the tagline “Everyday Wear for the End of Days”. Her designs reference that old standby, the Book of Revelation, but also the Norse Ragnarök myth and the mystical Jewish tradition of Kabbalah, favoured by Madonna. While now based in... | Continue reading article

A short but sweet video by Michael Cumming that captures the vibe of the Roller Disco, an event held a few times a year by the Ottawa Roller Derby. The last one took place last week. Check back on their events page to see when the next mass 70s flashback will occur.

Recently we profiled two local photographers who chronicle Ottawa’s music scene.  In this week’s column, we expand our focus to include the numerous other music bloggers from the National Capital Region. Music Writers Most local bloggers probably don’t consider themselves to be journalists or writers in the strict sense of the word.  However, given that many music-related blogs contain interviews, previews of upcoming shows, reviews of new releases, insightful analysis and interesting bits of information, it is fair to say that many area bloggers are producing work that is comparable to... | Continue reading article

It could be that Bon Appetit has endured as one of Ottawa’s premier foodie events because it’s not too fussy or pretentious. There’s no competition, just a celebration of food and community. This was the event’s second time at the Ernst & Young Centre (formerly known as the Capital Exhibition Centre), which provided enough space to really spread out. All that elbow room and ceiling height creates an easy, casual experience where visitors can focus on the tastes instead of traffic jams. Everyone seemed to be in high spirits, which... | Continue reading article

In today’s so-called Twitter age, when attention spans are supposedly non-existent and books are seen as quaint anachronisms, it is cool to claim that epic novels are dead. For in a world where 140-characters are all the rage, who has time to read hundreds of pages, let alone invest the mental effort to process a story full of complexity, nuance and wonder? Fortunately for book lovers (and there are still many), English-born writer Edward Rutherfurd puts the lie to the view that epic literary sagas are passé. “People are reading more... | Continue reading article