Maple Leaf Digital Lounge down in Austin Texas!

We’re only a few days away from the launch of the Maple Leaf Digital Lounge at SXSWi! We have approximately 1000 RSVP’s for our Saturday night party with DigitalLA and CFC Media Lab. We can’t wait to support all the Canadian companies out here! We’re also looking forward to working as a team to promote our presenting companies, partners and sponsors.

Follow us on Twitter for more up to the minute updates! @mldlca

Here are some photos of the event: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cityeventstoronto/sets/72157626132708451/

St. Andrew’s College Open House May 4th

St. Andrew’s College Open House is on May 4^th from 9:30 am-12:30 pm. Incase you don’t know St. Andrew’s College is an all boys boarding school in Aurora. When it comes to education, their students continue to exceed the expectations. The campus is a leader in the arts, education and athletics spectrums.

Education:

SAC is available from grades 6-12. They offer a progressive method of teaching. Their faculty is well versed in technology and ensures that all students are performing to their best abilities. The wireless campus is not shy about using technology in their everyday education. Students are introduced from grade 6 to the wonderful  world web and thought to use it safely and become comfortable with it.

The Arts:

SAC offers numerous activities to keep their students engaged  and to spark their creativity. SAC has a variety of option for young students to pick from. The school recently had their Cadets in Concert, which was broadcast live. The concert included “Contents Under Pressure” an orchestrated drum piece inspired by The Blue Man Group.

Athletics:

St. Andrew’s College has one of the largest successful athletics program in the country. The school is fully engaged in all seasonal sports. The program promises to provide students with important life skills. It teaches them about healthy competition and teamwork. Sports also teach students the importance of improving and preserving their physical health.

Make sure to go to the open house and check out all that St. Andrew’s College has to offer

Nine Photo Contests on Lenzr in February

Lenzr introduces nine different contests for fun and edgy way to win some great products. Its for everyone, photography buffs and beginners. The new contests challenge and push contestants to engage with their surroundings. We might not think twice of a wall or bubbles but these new contests will make you see them in a new light.

On Stage at Home:

On Stage at Home is an exciting and interactive way to capture some fun. A number of memories are made at home, relaxing with your friends, having a couple of drinks, and talking about your day. Capture these moments and share them with Lenzr. Invite your closest friends to enjoy a night in with you. Play some charades, or rock band, and top of the evening with a great bottle of wine. This home stager contest focuses on group fun. Take pictures of your night and send them in to Lenzr for a chance to win an animal skin rug courtesy of a home staging company downtown Toronto.

Best patio in Canada:

We often hear arguments over The Best Patio in Canada. This contest is great because it gets you to share and help finally put an end to the debate. With all of us wishing for the summer to come faster, this contest soothes the pain of the cold outside. The idea is to send in pictures of your favorite patio in Canada. It can be from the time you were in Vancouver on a business trip, or the time you decide to relax in the hot heat on king St. after a day at the office. What is so special about this patio? Is it the scenery? The street? Or the special drinks? Send in a picture of your favorite patio and you can win a set of patio furniture courtesy of Velago Patio Furniture

Beautiful Factories:

Finding the beauty in a factory is not as hard as you imagine. Beautiful Factories can be found in different ways, it can be teamwork, efficiency or even machines working with manufacturing software. It is about finding a special unique side to your favorite factory. The prize for this contest is an Apple iPad courtesy of Solarsoft in Richmond Hill.

Unlikely Marriage:

This one is my favorite, Unlikely Marriage,it is a fun way to get your creative juices going and think outside the box. It is all about finding a unique marriage between opposite things. It can be a cat and dog, an elephant and mouse (if you can find two to stand next to each other) or serving only chicken at a vegetarian outing (an event planner’s nightmare). This contest also gets you a nice win, an Apple iPad courtesy of a marriage counselor office downtown Toronto.

People Dancing:

We all do this on the weekends, dancing is a way to relieve stress and relax. People Dancing can consist of what ever dance move you like. Anything will work for this contest. You don’t need to be a pro or take dancing classes. Anything goes, it can be the samba, tango or just a good ol’ night out. Take a picture of you dancing with your partner or with some friends. Send it in to Lenzr to get the chance to win 2 pairs of dancing shoes from a dance studio downtown Toronto. Soap Foam and Bubbles: You also need to think out side the box in order to win the Soap Foam and Bubbles contest. Next time you do the dishes don’t reach out to pop the bubbles, instead take pictures of them. It sounds simple, but it is actually insanely hard to catch a shot of a bubble, they have a very short life span. You need to play this one close to the beat. Prepping is key to win this. The idea is to capture your best image of a soap bubble. It can be you spending some time outside blowing bubbles for fun or cleaning the house and capturing the bubbling action in the process. The win is a Sony laptop courtesy of a rigid foam insulation company.

Up Against the Wall:

Up against the Wall is my second favorite contest out of the nine. I think it’s a lot of fun because I find beauty in vintage and old images. It is wonderful to think about the history behind a building or home. This contest asks contestants to take pictures of things up against walls with character. It can be the cracks, bricks or color that sets your picture apart from others. The wall acts as an accessory to your image. You can use it as a contrast or to blend in the image you use against it. You get the chance to win a Sony laptop courtesy of a company that specializes in wall systems in Toronto.

Reflections in Pools:

This is again one of those contests that will ease the winter blues. The contest Reflections in pools, help calm the mood and relax the muscles. You need to take a picture of a reflection in a pool of water, it can be of whatever you’d like. Swimming pools need to make up the body of water. It can be a ripple or people enjoying a swim. You can win an Olympus 8800 underwater camera courtesy of a landscaping company in Toronto.

Making Green Power:

Last but not least is Making Green Power Photo Contest. This contest is all about how far we as humans have come to making green power. With programs such as the Ontario MicroFIT, we are making strides towards making our energy more environmentally friendly. Take pictures of how far we have come. It can be of windmills, waterwheels or solar panels. Be creative and show Lenzr and their judges your image. it can be improvements you have made towards your carbon footprint. The prize for your participation is a portable solar kit. After using it for a couple of weeks, it will be hard to live without. Even though the contests have already started, voting doesn’t begin until march 15th. You still have time to submit and think up ideas for your win. Open to all Canadians (excluding residents of Quebec) 13 years of age or older.

Fastlane for Wellness & Beauty at The Adelaide Club

The verdict is in, Feb 9th 2011 FastLane, connecting fast minds was a huge success. Our wellness and beauty theme was the perfect pick-me-up for the dreary and cold month of February. People mingled with each other and vendors. We even got to learn things we never knew. Did you know that you could have your necessary vegetable intake in a simple supplement? I sure didn’t, but Peter from Juice Plus and MyNextRace.com talked to me about the importance of my health and how I need to take care of “me” now so that I can avoid health complications in the future. The lovely ladies at Clarins: Beauty Products taught me that it’s important to cleanse and moisturize daily; the wonderful samples they gave me have already transformed my skin for today.

What is FastLane about:

FastLane is a great place to meet people in different industries across Toronto. The energetic and lively mood of the event is great if you are looking to make a connection with someone in the same industry or exploring others out there. The event had it all: great food, great music, friendly bartenders, speed networking and knowledgeable vendors. At first there was some hesitation about the location being in a gym, but it was actually inspirational. I have fallen out of my 4 times a week gym routine, and being in the atmosphere reminded me of how much healthier I feel when I work out. It is so important to take care of yourself from the inside out.

So, what did I learn last night?

The incredible feeling of putting on a successful event—when working with a team of such enthusiastic, fun-loving event planners it’s not as difficult as it sounds! I also learned simple steps to improve my health and beauty. And lastly, I got to meet some wonderful people and make a ton of connections. Make sure to stay tuned for our next FastLane. We’d love to see you and some new faces.

Here are some photos of the event: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cityeventstoronto/sets/72157625889892819/

Three Exciting New Photo Contests From Lenzr!

Canadian Beaches

Canadian beaches can be fun in the winter too. And of course they are  great in the summer. Although Canada isn’t known for its warm climate, our landscape is just as diverse as our culture. The many different beaches all across this country provide unique settings for photographers to shoot subjects and nature itself – think the scenic mountains and rolling waves at Radar Beach, or the sunset reflecting off the vista at Sauble Beach, and the faces and bodies of enthusiastic surfers frolicking among the monster waves of Tofino.

Whether you’re a beginner or a professional, Lenzr’s Canadian Beaches Photography Contest gives you the perfect opportunity to showcase your best work. The contest focuses on capturing the extraordinary beauty of our country’s waterscapes. Submit your best photo of a Canadian beach and you can win three pieces of designer swimwear from an exclusive line.

Broken Factories

Perfection is overrated. There’s definitely something more intriguing about imperfections. That’s the basis behind Lenzr’s Broken Factories Photo Contest which has been sponsored by North American based erp software company. Canada has undergone many different phases of urbanization and development in the past, and many buildings were left behind; abandoned and forgotten. Lenzr is interested in bringing those buildings back to life in art and so holds a public exhibition of urban decay. Though these abandoned warehouses may appear ‘broken’, a greater sense of natural re-organization is taking place; a process from disorder to order called entropy (as per Rudulf Arnheim 1971 Entropy and Art).

Participanting photographers are encouraged to find and highlight the beauty of imperfection. Submit your favourite photos of abandoned warehouses and crumbling buildings to the Broken Factories Contest for your chance to win a Toshiba netbook when the contest ends Jan 1st 2011.

Making It Beautiful

…And from disorder to order, the last contest focuses on the process to perfection. What does it mean to make something really beautiful? How is beauty created, enhanced, and reflected? Lenzr’s Making It Beautiful Contest focuses on these questions, and wants you to capture snapshots of people in the process of perfecting their creations.

Whether it be a sculptor fine-tuning the details on his statue, or a painter’s hand getting the shading just right – make sure that your photograph captures a human being in the process of making something beautiful. Then submit it to Lenzr for a chance to win $500 worth of advanced beauty products from a well-known beauty school.

All contests have already started but good news – you still have time. Voting starts December 20th and will continue until the contest ends at 12:01am on January 1st, 2011. Open to all Canadians (excluding residents of Quebec) 13 years of age or older. A note from the organizers: Just remember to write down the beach name and location in order to be eligible.

Get your cameras out and start shooting! Good luck.

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