Victoria Beer Week review: Beer Cocktails Competition blends with mixed results but emerges a winner

Pushing the boundaries of cocktail creativity, Wednesday evening’s Beer Cocktails Competition—part of Victoria Beer Week—put the attendees in the judges’ shoes. Six mixologists—each from one of Victoria’s best restaurants—were on hand at this event, pairing Vancouver Island-made spirits with BC craft beer. The results were sometimes strange, but a few creations had me asking for […]

Continue Reading

Victoria Beer Week lifts off with Lift Off!

The sixth annual Victoria Beer Week has officially begun. Friday night’s Lift Off! event at the Victoria Public Market was packed with beer aficionados eager to dive into the premiere of 15 delicious British Columbian craft beers. To help the brew go down, seven Public Market vendors were on hand to keep us going strong […]

Continue Reading

Trojan Women transports audience away from modern day in powerful show

Pitting endless tragedy against everlasting hope, measuring the importance of loyalty for the living and for the dead, and demonstrating how even the powerless have strength: UVic’s Phoenix Theatre’s cast and creative team have reincarnated Trojan Women to its proper contemporary form. The play proves not only the severity of women’s struggles after war, but also […]

Continue Reading

La Traviata delivers conflicting yet stunning portrayal of timeless themes

My evening at the opera—La Traviata—began last night with a compelling pre-performance lecture from Pacific Opera Victoria’s Robert Holliston. The stories he told of the the inspiration for La Traviata were intriguing, and immediately made clear the opera’s influence on familiar stories such as Moulin Rouge! and Pretty Woman. The opera was first performed in 1853, but the story […]

Continue Reading

The Last Days of Judas Iscariot is port in a storm

The last few days have been a bit of a blur. I have spent 48 hours inside, either staring dreamily out the window at the mountains of snow, or staring somewhat less dreamily at Netflix. Irritability was rising; both my partner and my cat were snapping at me. Hence, I welcomed the chance to break […]

Continue Reading

Victoria Film Fest review: Rafiki

Love finds itself briefly in the dusty streets of Nairobi as two young Kenyan women attempt to tackle the complex emotions within while facing the hostile world outside in <em>Rafiki</em> (which translates to “friend”). Director Wanuri Kahiu’s movie follows Kena, the daughter of a divorced politician and a disgruntled schoolteacher, as she coasts across town, […]

Continue Reading

Camosun College students upset after college opens despite snow

Updated: Camosun College campuses are closed today, Wednesday, February 13. Updated: Camosun College campuses are closed today, Tuesday, February 12. On Monday, February 11, just after 6:30 am, Camosun College announced that both campuses would be open despite snowfall overnight continuing into today and Saanich Police urging people to not drive if at all possible. […]

Continue Reading