Seeing the sensational new pop-opera trio Il Volo (which translates as “The Flight”) was one of those miracles that happen when the moon hits your eye like a big-a pizza pie, and amore fills a concert hall holding 1,000 people waiting to fall in love instantly once they hear the [...]

It’s a fact – to make it as a musician, you have to tour. As a result, because a musician’s vocals and vibes need to be heard beyond home turf, many local bands are going beyond the greenbelt. This month a slew of Ottawa bands are traveling to Montreal to perform in pop Montreal, one of the coolest festivals to take place in North America.

Dynamic and daring, filmmaker/entrepreneur, Nina Bains has put Ottawa on the international film map. Her ingenuity, drive and determination to give local filmmakers their silver screen glory has made everyone feel ”f’ilmfabulous”. The buzz during the five-day event was unmistakable, and those nighttime parties OIFF held at Arc Hotel, Fat Boys Smokehouse and Babylon Night Club added to the celebratory spirit.

Without illustrators, writers would never see their works come to life in poetry, short stories, graphic novels or children’s books. Illustrators who collaborate with writers effectively bring life to specific scenes and characters that live in a writer’s head. Through their genius, these agents of visual art are able to translate and transform letters, sentences and paragraphs into instant images that inform and enhance the story.

A good writer creates a short story or novel based on what he knows – what he has experienced. Something in his past or present state of affairs affects him deeply. The story he writes may be about a person that has made some kind of impact on him – not just a family member or friend but a stranger, as well.

The cornucopia of offerings in Ottawa’s theatre scene is brimming with exciting plays-from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s dream and Henry the Fifth to The Great Canadian Theatre Company’s production of the father and son drama, The Secret Mask, and Theatre-Nouvelle Scene’s Quelques Humains-these plays present poignant plots steeped in a common theme: the human dilemma.

The truth is, acting demands the suspension of disbelief by everyone except you. Those characters held up a mirror to me. I see and accept who I am now – not who I would like to pretend to be.