The Brown Knowser

Attention, comedians who come from outside the United States but who are planning to tour there: watch what you say, be careful what you tweet. Homeland Security is watching you. For example, if you just performed in the U.K. and received rave reviews, before you head to New York, do not tweet "I just killed in London and I'm hoping to do it again in the Big Apple." Chances are, the idiots at airport security will whisk you away to some back room and ask you asinine questions, search your luggage for a murder weapon, and then lock you in a cell. Something similar happened when a couple from Britain were detained and then deported from the States for tweeting in slang, using "destroy" to mean "party" and taking a quote from an American cartoon. The full story is here. What gets me is that the American Homeland Security sprung to action based on words, without any investigation, without finding out who these tourists were, what the...

Remember last week, when I was so excited about the opening of Mill St. Brew Pub , how I was thrilled to learn, by Twitter, that the much-anticipated pub had opened its doors early? Remember how I said I would return for the grand opening, when I would sample a couple of the Ottawa-only brews on tap and then provide a review today? Well, that didn't happen. Why? Because, as great as Mill St. was at tweeting about its soft opening, it was absolutely mum over the fact that Friday's opening was an invitation-only affair. There wasn't a single tweet about it. And I wasn't on the list of the elite invitees. So imagine my surprise and disappointment in arriving, during a snow storm, with five people in tow, only to be turned away. So there is no Mill St. review this week. Only scorn (don't worry, it'll be short-lived. I still consider Mill St. my favourite Ontario brewery). Instead, I decided to do a little comparison taste with a beer I rev...

I shot this photo in late winter, 1988. I was planning to take another photo of the statue, to give you a then-and-now comparison. I seem to have lost the statue. This photo was shot at Confederation Park, but when I returned to the spot, another statue occupied the area where I shot this soldier, standing at ease, seemingly comfortable in his uniform. Do you know where this statue has gone? Leave a comment and I'll go out to take a shot of this soldier in his new spot. For now, he's M.I.A. Happy Friday!

At long last, after months of anticipation, the Mill St. Brew Pub is finally open for business in Ottawa. And thanks to the Twittersphere, I had an early look at the new digs. And because Mill St. is already my favourite Canadian brewery, I thought I'd squeeze in another review this week. The official grand opening of the brew pub is this Friday, January 27, but the owners decided to open the doors early, in what they call a "soft open," in which the staff get a chance to serve a limited crowd and perform a test run of the training that they received. Word reached Mill St. fans through social media, such as Twitter and Facebook. As a follower of @MillStreetBrew on Twitter, I noticed the announcement about an hour before they opened their doors. I went straight from work. The Mill St. Brew Pub is located at 555 Wellington Street, where the Ottawa River Parkway meets Wellington meets the Portage Bridge, where the old Mill Restaurant was located, which w...

More and more, I find that my blog is becoming less about my writing and more about my photography. I'm not really complaining. Are you? As much as I love to write, my photography is my other not-so-secret passion. I love capturing images. Even when I don't have a camera on me or am moving in our van or on the bus, I look around at the passing landscapes and compose shots in my head or I make a mental image of where I saw a great shot, hoping someday to return and capture it on my camera. Over the last few months, I've discovered a great photo Web site where you can upload photos and view the images of other photographers from around the world. It's very much like Flickr or Picasa, but with a big difference: the photos uploaded to this site are professional-grade. No vacation snaps, no shots of your kids or dogs. Unless, of course, they are of a quality fit for a magazine or art gallery. The site is called 500px . Perhaps you've heard of it. The photos are fan...

If you've read my previous beer reviews, you may have noticed a trend: I tend to lean towards darker beers. And it's true, I love stouts, porters, and other darker ales. I know what I like. And unashamedly, I'm a beer snob. I turn my nose up at certain beers and make no apologies. Life is too short to drink mediocre beer, I think. I think that larger, massed-produced breweries are very good at producing such mediocre beers. And so you'll never see me review them. And if I see a beer that looks like one of those beers styled in the footsteps of those breweries, I'm likely to take a pass. I need to change that attitude. I need to learn to not be so prejudiced. Case in point: this week's beer review. Lug Tread Lagered Ale Beau's All Natural Brewing Company Vankleek Hill, ON LCBO : $15.85, 4 x 600 mL; 5.2% alc/vol I picked this beer up because I enjoyed Beau's Bog Water so much and wanted to try more of their offerings. ...

Back in the late 80s, I experimented with double-exposure photography. With my trusty Minolta X-700, I would shoot one photo and slowly crank the advance lever while holding the rewind release button. And I would cross my fingers that the film didn't move or tear. It was an exercise in trial and error. Sometimes, the exposure wouldn't be right; other times, the composition would be off. And sometimes, the film would slip as I cranked the lever and would end up with overlapped images. Here is one of my first successful double exposures. You can tell this photo was composed in the late 80s because the Daly Building is still standing next to the Chateau Laurier. That night, the moon was actually rising about 90° or more to the right of this shot. Also, I had zoomed up on the moon to make it appear bigger than it actually was. (But not too much, because I didn't want overlap.) I haven't experimented with double-exposure photography in a while. I wonder how my D-SLR w...

So here we are, approaching the height of winter, awaiting our next storm. I thought I'd dig up an old photo from my scanned slide collection, something that might encapsulate winter in the Ottawa area. This is all I had: I've got my camera on me. If the storm holds true, I hope to have some worthwhile photos of the storm for Wordless Wednesday. Stay warm, my friends. Stay safe.

I was introduced to a wonderful stout last week. I wanted to share it with you, but then I decided not to. I had a title for that beer review: Velvet Hammer . It was a term that came to mind while I was drinking it. It was an imperial stout with a high alcohol content—some 10.5 percent—but was creamy smooth, and so Velvet Hammer seemed appropriate. It was delicious. It was wonderful. And I thank Jon from Thursday Pints West for sharing it with me. Like I said, I wanted to write a review on this beer, but decided against doing it. The reason: it's not available in Ontario. Sure, folks who live in the United States or other countries may have access to it. Not Ontarians. Pity. The beer was Ten Fidy by Colorado brewery Oskar Blues . If you can get it, do so. It's great stuff. But I was in the mood to write a beer review, to try a new brew. Because I found Ten Fidy such a lovely imperial stout, I was inspired to have more, and so I went to the LCBO with...

I love rediscovering old photos, ones that I shot decades ago and haven't even seen in almost as long. Thanks to my new scanner, I've begun digitizing some old slides . It's great to see what kind of photographer I was when I was using my old 35mm SLR, back when you took your time to get your shot because you couldn't immediately see what you got—you couldn't just delete the shot and take it again. Back in those days, I would take three similar shots, hoping that one of them would be good. When I was feeling confident, I'd only take one shot. I wasn't confident that often. But I had hopes. Here's a photo that I captured in three shots. Taken in the spring of 1989, the first shot was without a filter and had a landscape orientation. It showed a tree in early bloom, standing on the edge of the Ottawa River near the Connaught Range (Shirley's Bay). The tree took the far-left side of the frame; the rest of the frame showed the river. ...

When I joined the Twitterverse, I didn't know what to expect. I thought I would follow Lori, a few friends and family members, and that was it. In the first few weeks, I followed a couple of more twits that I was interested in, such as CBC News, our local weatherman, and a few Ottawa services. But what I learned is that Twitter can be addictive for someone who likes to chat, likes to blog. I soon found myself following lots of Ottawa tweeps. And, to my surprise, some started following me back. And over the months, many of us had both interesting and entertaining conversations. Through Twitter, I became involved in the Ottawa social media scene. I was the MC at last year's Blog Out Loud , where area bloggers met and heard the words of some very talented writers. I also attended Social Capital Ottawa, where I met more local social-media folks and learned more about how to get the most out of my blog and Twitter. One of these days, I'll implement what I learned. I also j...

It figures: I drop off the grid for a few hours to enjoy some time with some good friends, and someone solves the Where In Ottawa contest. Actually, two people sent responses while I was offline, though I'm not sure the second person pinpointed the location because the comment was ambiguous and provided neither the name of the location nor the street. Our winner, of course, not only provided the intersection but also a Google Maps aerial view. While he didn't know the name of the building, he certainly knew where it was. And so, congratulations, David Hicks! The name of the building is Odell House, on 180 Waller Street, at Nicholas. Built in 1883 by brickyard owner Horace Odell, it is currently owned by the University of Ottawa and houses the Centre on Public Management and Policy. Here's a breakdown of the clues: It's more homely around the front—while homely is more-commonly used to mean plain or ugly , I meant the other term: having a feeling of home . It was ...

One of the great things about having time off over the holidays is that I had the opportunity to relax, put my feet up, and do as little as possible. Oh yeah: and drink some fabulous ales! After my review of Muskoka Brewery's Winter Beard Double-Chocolate Cranberry Stout , I couldn't wait to try more beer from this Ontario cottage-country brewer. And I didn't wait long. This time, I sampled the Mad Tom IPA. Here's the skinny: Mad Tom IPA Muskoka Brewery Inc. Bracebridge, ON LCBO : $13.45, 6x355 ml; 6.4% alc/vol This is one intense IPA. From its nose to its finish, this brew smacks of flavour. Though I have to admit that when I first poured it into my glass, I wasn't so sure of what to expect. When I think of a true India Pale Ale, I visualize a beer that is pale in comparison to a porter or stout, which is what originally defined the IPAs. Alexander Keith got it wrong when he made his IPA: these brews were made in the U.K. and ...

Happy New Year! I hope that you enjoyed yourselves over the holidays and that you found time to rest, relax, and spend time with friends and loved ones. It's a new year, and I wish you all peace and prosperity in 2012. And let's hope that the Mayans got it wrong! It's also the beginning of a new month, which means another round of Where In Ottawa? I had so much fun stumping you in December that I hope I can do it again. Are you ready? Here is this month's photo: Think you know Ottawa? Prove it! The first person who correctly identifies this location will win a PDF copy of my novel, Songsaengnim: A Korea Diary . Already have a copy of my novel? You can still play: if you won this contest before November 2011, I will send you a new copy of the final version of the book, which will hit bookstores in the next couple of months. Still in PDF format, this version has a couple of early flashbacks, a different ending, and is one minor character shy from the original. ...