Back in early October, the good people at Lonely Planet TV in Melbourne, Australia commissioned me to once again take my mini production crew, take to the streets and film what has become one of the most popular festivals in Toronto, Nuit Blanche!
This event features many exhibits from around the world and once a year Toronto gets a taste of the best the world of art has to offer. More than one million people converge downtown to take in the sights, sounds and even smells of this festival which debuted in Toronto in 2006.
This year's Nuit Blanche added an exhibit I couldn't miss:
Caged, Blindfolded, Glam Wrestling!
The central bus terminal was turned into the Main Event. Hilarious and very entertaining.
Click on the link and take a look at my take on this emerging festival!
Friday, December 11, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Scotch Tasting
I was invited to attend a Scotch Tasting event entitled The Macallan Discovery in downtown Toronto on October 28.
My birthday.
I had a chance to invite a few people and tried to get as many tickets as possible thinking it would be a great way to get everyone together, have some scotch and celebrate. I also thought it was going to be a lot like wine tasting where you walk into a room, head straight for the bar and ask for the specialty wines on a list.
This event was not like that at all. As soon as I arrived I realized why I was only allowed a certain amount of tickets. I also realized that because of the type of event, cancellations are rare and tickets are not easily available. For good reason.
The Macallan Discovery was a very well presented event with a Macallan representative explaining the various types of this blend of scotch, taking us through the process of understanding the different types in a casual and charismatic manner, without being pretentious about it.
Of course when we talk about such an event. The pretentiousness usually comes from the crowd. There's always one guy. In this case there were a few.
You see, there are people that take themselves way to seriously and pretend to be connoisseurs, in this case, scotch connoisseurs. They carefully and casually sip and describe to the person next to them what delightful aromas and incredible texture a particular scotch has. Meanwhile they are completely oblivious to the fact the people sitting around them know full well that they're full of it.
It's painful to watch how ridiculous they sound.
Then you have me.
The truth is I don't know much about scotch.
I drink it on occasion and I know what I like.
But if you were to ask me details about how its produced, I couldn't tell you much. I assume that most of the 60 or so people in that room couldn't either. But it's all good. We were there to have a good time and urged to have fun sampling the 10, 12, 18and 21 year old scotch offered.
Having someone stand in front of everyone explaining step-by-step the process of scotch production and also explaining what exactly we were sampling made a big difference. I enjoyed the experience more because of it. I didn't have to make room at a bar and look through a list of wines I thought I would enjoy. Instead the work was done for me. I enjoyed listening and learning. It made the experience that much better.
The only downside to the evening was my inability to lie.
At the end of the evening I was asked to draw a name from a ballot box.
The winner was to win a bottle of authentic Macallan 10.
My friends just thought I would pull out any ballot to make it look legitimate and I would call out one of their names instead.
I wasn't thinking straight at all and just dug in and pulled out a name.
A stranger won the bottle.
Yes, I know. I'm still shaking my head.
My girlfriend is still taking shots at me.
She will continue to do so for a while.
My birthday.
I had a chance to invite a few people and tried to get as many tickets as possible thinking it would be a great way to get everyone together, have some scotch and celebrate. I also thought it was going to be a lot like wine tasting where you walk into a room, head straight for the bar and ask for the specialty wines on a list.
This event was not like that at all. As soon as I arrived I realized why I was only allowed a certain amount of tickets. I also realized that because of the type of event, cancellations are rare and tickets are not easily available. For good reason.
The Macallan Discovery was a very well presented event with a Macallan representative explaining the various types of this blend of scotch, taking us through the process of understanding the different types in a casual and charismatic manner, without being pretentious about it.
Of course when we talk about such an event. The pretentiousness usually comes from the crowd. There's always one guy. In this case there were a few.
You see, there are people that take themselves way to seriously and pretend to be connoisseurs, in this case, scotch connoisseurs. They carefully and casually sip and describe to the person next to them what delightful aromas and incredible texture a particular scotch has. Meanwhile they are completely oblivious to the fact the people sitting around them know full well that they're full of it.
It's painful to watch how ridiculous they sound.
Then you have me.
The truth is I don't know much about scotch.
I drink it on occasion and I know what I like.
But if you were to ask me details about how its produced, I couldn't tell you much. I assume that most of the 60 or so people in that room couldn't either. But it's all good. We were there to have a good time and urged to have fun sampling the 10, 12, 18and 21 year old scotch offered.
Having someone stand in front of everyone explaining step-by-step the process of scotch production and also explaining what exactly we were sampling made a big difference. I enjoyed the experience more because of it. I didn't have to make room at a bar and look through a list of wines I thought I would enjoy. Instead the work was done for me. I enjoyed listening and learning. It made the experience that much better.
The only downside to the evening was my inability to lie.
At the end of the evening I was asked to draw a name from a ballot box.
The winner was to win a bottle of authentic Macallan 10.
My friends just thought I would pull out any ballot to make it look legitimate and I would call out one of their names instead.
I wasn't thinking straight at all and just dug in and pulled out a name.
A stranger won the bottle.
Yes, I know. I'm still shaking my head.
My girlfriend is still taking shots at me.
She will continue to do so for a while.
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