Tag Archives: play

Pokémon Anyone?

I visited Akihabara twice while in Japan. Once was for a meeting with a client company that was based there and the other was when I was exploring. This area is known for a lot of entertainment associated with animation and it has a lot of visitors that are into comics and animation. It also seemed to have a large number of people playing Pokémon Go judging by the way they were all standing around playing with their phones. I did see one guy with a phone and a tablet in both hands so he could play two games at once I guess. I’ve never played the game so I can’t speak to whether it is good or not but it still seems to be really popular.

Django Fest Random Groups

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We didn’t realize it when we planned our trip to Langley but it was in the middle of a music festival. Called Django Fest, this brought a range of musicians into the town to perform a series of concerts. However, the concerts were not all that they were doing. Throughput the town, little impromptu gatherings of musicians took place and they jammed together. At various times, one musician might pack up and head off ad another might later show up (With a different instrument) and replace them. The musicians would adapt each tune to the new additions, some of which fitted easily and some of which required a little more accommodation.

The first group we came across made us think this was just some locals sitting outside playing. However, when we came across a couple more of the groups, we began to get what was going on. When a shop assistant asked if we had come for the festival, it all became clear.

The quality of the play and the smoothness of the integration varied from group to group but they were all clearly skillful musicians. Watching them join a new group and just play was impressive and also made me rather envious of their talent.

Trumpeting Over the Sound of the Surf

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Do you ever see an advertising image of someone doing something artistic outdoors and you think to yourself, “No-one ever does anything like that. It’s so contrived.” How about a guy standing on a rocky outcrop above the pounding surf playing the trumpet? That is exactly what we came across on the shore in Santa Cruz. This guy was just standing out there playing his trumpet. What a strange thing to see. It did sound pretty good though. He was a pretty decent player!

Bear Play

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I did something that must have caught Nancy by surprise recently. We were going to take a trip to the zoo to see what was happening since this is a good time of year for the animals to be a bit more active before it gets too cold and they are likely to be kept indoors. The oddity was that I left the cameras at home. We discussed whether this would result in a lot of wildlife in very photogenic situations.

On the whole, I got away with it. There were some shots to be had but it was fun (and a lot easier on the back) to walk around sans gear. However, one resident did perform. One of the polar bears was playing with a ball in the pool which has a glass side to it. A large crowd was having a great time watching this. We were no exception. This was time to grab the phone and get a bit of video. Enjoy a bear enjoying himself!