🍫 It’s Giveaway time. We’ve got three gorgeous advent calendars from Purdys to give away. Remember, you must live in Ottawa, the Ottawa Valley, or Gatineau to enter, because we’ll be hand delivering the calendars in person to the winners. 

Martha‘s mom will draw one name each from her choosin’ hat for the following Purdy’s chocolate advent calendars next Friday morning, November 15.

Braille Advent Calendar 

📧 brailledraw@theottawan.com with the subject line "Pick me please (Braille)" for your chance to win the Braille Advent Calendar 

Vegan Advent Calendar 

📧 vegandraw@theottawan.com with the subject line "Pick me please (Vegan)" for your chance to win the Vegan Advent Calendar

And, for OTTAWAN Members only, an extra prize Holiday Reindeer Advent Calendar 

📧 chocodraw@theottawan.com with the subject line "Pick me please (Member)" for your chance to win the Holiday Reindeer Advent Calendar (Note that only Member supporters of the Ottawan may enter this one; if you’re not already a member you can sign up here before you enter the giveaway 

– The number of procedures done by the ‘Wayne Gretzky of vasectomies’, Dr Ronald Weiss, who died last month. After been shown an article about a Chinese technique with no scalpel and fewer complications in the 70s, he adopted the method and eventually created a daily routine: workout, breakfast, 14 vasectomies by lunch, then a nap before turning to music.

- O’Reilly has been elected as president of one of Canada’s largest union of Federal public employees, Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada. His candidacy pages says he is ‘bilingual, family oriented, empathetic, open-minded and a skilled facilitator with integrity’. The Institute represents 70,000 employees.

– What Randi Saunders was told when she made her regular evening call to Ottawa General Hospital to check on her infant son James. 

The emergency was a fire on Oct 27, 2023 that resulted in Ottawa firefighters and accompanying nurses transporting 17 neonatal intensive care unit babies , four women in labour, and all the attached machines downstairs and across to another building.

The event inspired this year’s Ottawa FireFighter Calendar fundraiser. If pictures of babies a year later being held by the firefighters who rescued them interest you, you can purchase the calendar here.

▪️Osgoode ward councillor George Darouze wants to run for Member of Provincial Parliament for the Carleton riding. The current holder is Goldie Ghamari, who was excommunicated from the Progressive Conservatives for meeting British far right activist Tommy Robinson. The riding association will make their decision next month.

▪️The principal of Sir Robert Borden High School has apologized for playing an Arabic-language Palestinian protest song associated with fighting in Gaza at the school’s Remembrance Day ceremony.Initially, the principal said the song was ‘chosen to bring diversity and inclusion to Remembrance Day that is usually only about “a white guy who has done something related to the military”’ but later apologized and said ‘“We acknowledge that Remembrance Day is a solemn occasion, where the focus should remain on honouring those who have sacrificed their lives for the freedoms we hold dear. The inclusion of a song that could be seen as politically charged was not in line with the values of respect and unity that we strive to uphold at this school”’. The song, ‘Haza Salam’ by Mahim Ahmed, usually translated as ‘This is peace’ was the only music played yesterday.

▪️Ottawa Police say that burglars seeking cash and jewellery are entering through the second floor to avoid cameras. The service says in an organized trend, burglars are parking a kilometre away and walking the rest, choose residences that back onto green spaces, and check for occupancy by throwing pebbles at the window.

▪️ Release your inner Hobbit: join the Lord of the Rings Movies Trivia Night at the Prescott. $10 tickets must be booked in advance.

▪️ Help Ottawa Celtic Supporters (of the Scottish Premier League football team) raise money for the Ottawa Mission’s Christmas Dinner initiative. Entry for the Charity Quiz Night* for Ottawa Mission is $10 per person (* “Quiz night” means trivia night in UK-speak). 

▪️ ByTowne Cinema: Anora, Blitz 

▪️ Mayfair Theatre: The Outrun, Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150AD, The Substance

Gigs

Trivia night. Royal Oak Pub at 188 Bank St., Beechwood  

▪️ Doors Open For Music at Southminster (DOMS) presents the Ottawa Guitar Trio performing classic film scores. In person at 15 Aylmer Avenue (Southminster United Church) or online. 

🆓 Ottawa area artists will be wise to attend the Legal Information for Professional Artists workshop, which will outline topics like copyright and protecting your work, licensing agreements, and safeguarding your rights. Presented by Ottawa Arts Council.  

▪️ Sandy Hill Life Drawing features a live model. $10 or pay what you can. 

▪️ Play for the cash prize at the Café Dekcuf Trivia Night. Host Nick Harrison will quiz you and your team about pop culture, academia, and, well, trivia. 

▪️ DJ Geoff Paquet leads the Trivia Night at Bicycle Craft Brewery 

▪️ Road Trip: Do some festive shopping and enjoy live music in downtown Gananoque. Participating businesses will have special deals and treats. 

▪️ ByTowne Cinema: Anora, Blitz 

▪️ Mayfair Theatre: The Godfather  

Gigs

▪️ Voodoo Sometimes’ “Not All Who Wander” single single tour. Rainbow Bistro

▪️ Mellow Casualty. House of TARG

▪️ Same Counsineau Trio. Queen St. Fare

▪️ Girls to the Front Songwriters Circle featuring Mali Leona, Shaemara, Ok Naledi. Irene’s Pub

▪️ Bearings, Broadside, Unwell, Stateside. The Brass Monkey

▪️ Trivia night. Royal Oak Pubs (318 Bank St., Centrepointe, and others)

▪️ Motown Soul offers up a full menu of great music by Diana Ross & The Supremes, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, and many more. Tonight and tomorrow at Shenkman Arts Centre.

▪️ A new show has been installed at Art House Café, Not The Death I Was Expecting by Toni van Eeden {PARTYGIRL}. Vernissage tonight from 7:00 pm. 

▪️ Get a head start on your festive decorating and make a pair of folksy gnomes. 

▪️ ByTowne Cinema:  Anora, Blitz  

▪️ Mayfair Theatre. The Outrun, The Substance 

Gigs

▪️ Tyler Shaw. Algonquin Commons Theatre

▪️ The Consequents, Altar of the Fuzz, Afraid of Grace. Rainbow Bistro

▪️ KJ Thomas. Irene’s Pub

▪️ Dennis Ellsworth. National Arts Centre

▪️ Loversteeth. House of TARG

🆓 Library and Archives Canada will be celebrating women in cinema with a screening and panel discussion on Friday November 22. “Know Her Name delves into the legacy of filmmakers and uncovers the mysteries behind why women, especially women from underrepresented communities, have been forgotten in discussions of film and erased through historical amnesia – and how to make sure this doesn’t continue to happen to contemporary filmmakers from diverse backgrounds, now and in the future.” Registration is required.  

▪️ The annual Canadian Pacific Kansas City Christmas train will be parading through nearby towns on November 28. The bedazzled carriages will stop for 30 minutes in Finch at 2:45 pm, Merrickville at 5:00 pm, Smiths Falls at 6:30 pm, and Perth at 8:00 pm.