Around the world, the fourth of May is increasingly being recognized as Star Wars Day.  Realizing that there was no centralized, official (or even ‘semi-official’) Star Wars Day event in Toronto, an enterprising group of Torontoian Star Wars fans took it upon themselves to establish what they hope will be an annual tradition.

Toronto’s Star Wars Day celebrations are happening at the Toronto Underground Cinema on Wednesday, May 4th and…

I am excited to announce that I am joining the party as Master of Ceremonies and host of the Original Trilogy Trivia Game Show!

Here is the laser blast of awesome you can look forward to at Star Wars Day Toronto:

★ the world’s best remixes, mash-ups, parodies, and tributes ON THE BIG SCREEN! – The organizers have scoured all available sources and curated a feature-length program of the very best, from straight-up tributes to parodies & mash-ups, it’s going to be a great collection of stuff – most you’ve probably never seen unless you’re a really hardcore head.

★ original, vintage 35mm prints of all three Original Trilogy trailers – The Toronto Underground Cinema has had these reels in their possession, and they’ve been itching for an excuse to screen them.

★ photos with the Stormtroopers of the 501st Legion – These are the guys who make any fan event legendary.  Make sure your camera is charged because you’re going to be very popular on Facebook after this night.

★ Costume Contest – Show off that you’re the biggest fan and come with the best costume.  The prizes are amazing (see below)

★ Original Trilogy Trivia Game Show - contestants are coming from the audience and everyone can sign up.  Study hard because you want these prizes!

The event is supported by Sticker You, Guerilla Printing, West 49, Silver Snail, Teletoon and Category 5 Printing who are all supplying amazing prizes for the Trivia Game Show and Costume Contest.

This Just In: Listen to Edge 102.1 FM in Toronto next Friday  night as the organizers will be doing a live interview about the event on the air!

See you May 4!  Visit StarWarsDayTO.com for more info, and follow @StarWarsDayTO on Twitter for up to the minute news!

May the 4th Be With You…

Right now I am in Austin, Texas for South by Southwest with the gentlemen you see in the picture above.  This is Team AutoFollow, one of eleven teams in Chevy’s Road Trip Challenge contest.

The team (l-r):
@JustinBSmith @JeremyWright @DmitryZelikman @GuyGal and yours truly!

We set out on Monday night, driving all the way from Toronto to Austin, stopping to perform a series of challenges assigned along the way.

WE INTERUPT THIS BLOG POST TO BRING YOU A SPECIAL BULLETIN:

As I was typing this entry, news came down that we are the WINNERS of the Chevy SXSW Road Trip Challenge!

Our grand prize is Platinum Badges for SXSW 2012 and an addtional $400 donated to the class of our choice in the Adopt-A-Classroom Program, which we will send to Ms. Miller’s first grade class who we worked with on our Challenge Six video.  SXSW ’12 is going to be the party of the century next year so start making your plans now to be down there with us!

If you follow any of us on Twitter, you know that this has been an incredible and epic experience.  Enjoy a sampling of the videos we entered for some of our challenges below…

Meet the team

Our Art Project

This is how we experienced much of the trip between challenges

Giving the vehicle a ten-point inspection

Our Top-Five List

Our Music Video

Watch us do the whole drive from Toronto to Austin in a minute and a half (time lapse video)

Thanks to everyone who cheered us on to victory! To see the whole journey, check out chevyYYZ.tumblr.com

Want to come see the WORLD PREMIERE of The Striking Truth with me? I’ve got five tickets, and I want take you with me!

Giving away one ticket per day, Feb. 14 through 17

WINNERS:

FEB. 14 – Shaun Hawaii

FEB. 15 – Aaron Broverman

FEB. 16 – Aleksandra Stalmach

FEB. 17 – Matt Read

Comment this post to be entered in the draw.  We’ll draw the winner tonight on Nat & Marie!! Thanks to everyone who entered!

The Striking Truth is a new documentary feature film following four years in the life of UFC champion Georges St-Pierre and dynamic MMA fighter David “The Crow” Loiseau.

Watch the official trailer:

I’ll be giving away 4 tickets to join me for the  World Premiere of The Striking Truth, one every day between Monday February 14th through Thursday the 17th.

Follow me on Twitter and join my Facebook Page for your chance to win!

For more info on The Striking Truth world premiere:

Friday February 25th
Sony Centre for the Performing Arts (Front & Yonge in Toronto)
9PM

Official Website

Official Facebook Page

Official Twitter
(hashtag: #TSTTO)

Click here to buy tickets to the World Premiere of The Striking Truth – February 25th at The Sony Centre in Toronto!

Saturday night was the world premiere party for the SidePonyNation SUGA WET video, with yours truly as your humble DJ.

I will confess: I had a hidden agenda when I agreed to be the DJ for this event.  I have hung out with Tanya from SidePonyNation (on the left in the picture above) a few times and I had a hunch about the rap duo she’s a part of, and I wanted to see what SidePonyNation was all about.  And DAAAAAAMMMMN!  Hot ladies, hot show, they’ve got it.

SidePonyNation is the shit.  They’ve got the look, they’ve got the flow (kind of like a vintage Salt N Pepa thing), they’ve even got their own Suga Wet dance to go with the song!  I cannot wait to do another show with them.

See the couple sneaking a kiss in the dead center of the photo above?  That’s album cover material, for real.  You’re welcome, SidePonyNation.

At the end of the night, SidePonyNation raffled off a bunch of prizes including autographed pictures (above) and the pink t-shirt sported below.

Remember these cupcakes?  They were out of this world.

The cupcakes were made by Sarah, posing with her creations below.  She is cool, and her shop – The Wedding Cake Shoppe at Ossington & College – smells like what you would imagine Willy Wonka’s factory would smell like.

The party took place at Lit Espresso Bar.  They want you to follow them on Twitter!

The coffee is good, and the little card that comes on the front of the package is a nice touch.

I do not DJ very often, so I spent most of the evening cueing up songs and frantically trying to get the beats to match.  I only got photos while the ladies were on the microphone, but one of their homeys was shooting pictures like crazy so I’ll add some of those to this post when I see them appear on Facebook or whatever.

Next time SidePonyNation and Sean Ward do a show together, do not miss it whatever you do.

THIS SATURDAY!

Check out the World Premiere of the new SidePonyNation video for Suga Wet!  Come party with us at the world premiere screening featuring a live performance by the ladies themselves, a BYOB drink situation with a special Suga Wet Cocktail created by SidePonyNation, and an extremely rare DJ set by yours truly!

Come party with us!  Here’s the deets:

• Party takes place at LIT Espresso Bar (810 College street, just east of ossington)
• Drink: BYOB plus the girls have concocted a special “SugaWet Cocktail”
• Eats: SugaWet Cupcakes made by The Wedding Cake Shoppe
• SidePonyNation buttons for everyone

And when midnight strikes and the video screening party has to close, follow us to the cluuuuhhhhb for the after party.

Check out SidePonyNation at sideponynation.com, and get to know them in their Mushy Pony interview!

Follow us on Twitter for the info! @seanward @SidePonyNation @TaCaGo @LyMoffatt

February 7 to 11 is SOCIAL MEDIA WEEK around the world.  Toronto is ’bout it on the Social Media side of things, and there are many events taking place around the city next week.

For Social Media Week I am presenting my keynote presentation How to be a Blog Star: The Artistry of Your Personal Brand at The Detour Bar (the new spot in Kensington Market).  This is the Social Media Week session for the dreamers, the rock & rollers, the Artists, freelancers, and anyone who wants to build mystique and drama around their name.

No dry theory here; we’re talking about cool and fun things you can do right away to translate your unique persona into an online presence that commands attention, rings of authority, and unlocks a lifestyle beyond what money can buy – even if you’re just starting out.

This event is taking place on Wednesday, February 9, 8pm, at The Detour Bar – 193½ Baldwin Street in Kensington Market, Toronto.

I cannot be more excited to report that before I even had a chance to announce or start promoting this event, it was already ‘sold out’ on the official Social Media Week website.

But I was on the ball enough to keep a few spots in reserve so don’t even worry about it – just come on down to Detour next Wednesday.

See you there!

On Monday, December 20, The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto was the site of ELECTRIC CHRISTMAS 2.  This was a Christmas pageant on another level featuring: a Twitter Talent Show, Corey the Cellular Guru’s birthday, and a historic performance by one-night-only show band GIFT RECEIPT.

Watch the video:

When you come in, say hello to Regina and Christine at the door.  Put your Secret Santa gift on the table behind them!

Send your tweets to our Twitter Fountain – use the hashtag #ElectricXmas2!

Be sure to get your photo with Santa (whose beard was mightily filled by Lauren O’Nizzle)

OUR PERFORMERS:

★

Regina Sy

★

Rayanne Langdon

★

Marie Nicola

★

Kat Langdon & James

In the middle of Kat and James’ set, we found out that #ElectricXmas2 was a trending topic on Twitter!

★

Secret Santa Gift Exchange

sponsored by The Cellular Guru

Everyone who brought a gift for the Secret Santa Gift Exchange was enterted to win a phone.  Corey the Cellular Guru lined up a laundry list of mobile sponsors who all donated big prizes from phones to 1 year of mobile service.  Big thanks to Corey for sponsoring the Secret Santa Gift Exhange!

★

Christine Estima

teaming up with me for a dramatic reading of The Night Before Christmas – Twitter Edition!

★

And the evening’s finale…

GIFT RECEIPT

The night closed with a truly epic triple-ending.  Check out this uncut video:

We got everyone up on stage for rousing round of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”, to the accompaniment of an extremely drunken Corey taking turns with an extremely drunken Jesse shouting “Hannukah!!!” into a microphone.  That was followed by Raymi jumping on the drums and rockin’ her solo skills, and finally Joey “AccordionGuy” DeVilla brought his accordion on stage to deliver a rousing round of a certain Cee-Lo Green song with a swear word in the title.

Seriously, watch the video above. It’s chaos!

Thanks to everyone for coming! We raised a little over $300 just from donations at the door for War Child Canada.  I’ll put up a video of going to see them after everyone’s back from the Christmas & New Year’s break.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this event something special.  Thanks to Regina, Chris, Rayanne, Kat, James, Marie, and Christine for performing.  Thanks to Dwayne, Alex, and Mike for taking part in my foolishness.  Thanks to Lauren for being a good sport and bringing the party with the Santa thing.  And thanks Affan for making the Twitter wall happen.  And Regina gets a double dose of thanks for her help on the administrative side, stepping in quite late in the game and making the event come together in ways it otherwise would not have.

And thanks for the photos: Joey DeVilla, Ava Zack, Chris Brooker, Lauren O’Nizzle, Christine Estima, Dan Levy, Jason Howlett, Marie Nicola.

The Christmas fun doesn’t stop! Click here to check out the 4th Annual Sean Ward Christmas Record (but only until the holidays are over)!

Me and a bunch of my nearest and dearest Twitter peeps have put together a night of entertainment the likes of which you haven’t seen since they blocked Pandora and Hulu from Canada.  Well guess what, Pandora and Hulu – Side Reel represent, and we’ve still got Ketchup Chips.

★ Electric Christmas 2 is on Monday, December 20 at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Full details are on the Facebook Event Invite: facebook.com/event.php?eid=137647319623704

This is a Christmas pageant on another level featuring music & fun with Nat & Marie, Katherine Langdon, Lauren O’Nizzle, Christine Estima, Rayanne Langdon, Regina Sy, Shannon Mitchell & Nicole Rashotte.  Live in Concert: Late July.  One Night Only: Gift Receipt (me, Michael Nus, Chelsea McDermott, Alex Pulec, Dwayne Christie).  Take home a phone from Nokia, Blackberry, or Motorola in the Secret Santa Gift Exchange sponsored by The Cellular Guru.  Get your picture taken with Santa O’Nizzle.

Seriously, check out the Facebook page for full details: facebook.com/event.php?eid=137647319623704

You’ll notice that the latter portion of the video is an interview with Mike Smith. This is extremely rare, as the performers only ever do interviews in-character. Entertainment Tonight can’t even get this kind of coverage!

Here’s the story: Thanks to a mutual friend between myself and Mike Smith (Bubbles), I got invited to go down to Buffalo to catch the Trailer Park Boys’ performance at Buffalo State College on the Drunk, High, and Unemployed Tour.  It was Lauren O’Nizzle‘s birthday weekend and since she is a big fan of the Boys and she’s one of my best friends & favorite Internet people, I hooked up tickets and backstage passes for her and her fella and it was on like Donkey Kong.

During the show they asked for volunteers from the audience who could sing, and both Lauren and I were up on stage before other people even had a chance to raise their hand.

During Intermission, I interviewed a real live American to find out what she thinks she has learned about Canadian culture from watching Trailer Park Boys:

And after the show, the backstage antics were the Lulz as we got to play an original Trailer Park Boys guitar that had just been autographed by Bubbles….

…and then we went around the way to a little bar called Cole’s where Lauren charmed the hell out of the Boys (which is the kind of thing Lauren is good at)

Good Night, Buffalo!!!

And Happy Birthday to Lauren O’Nizzle!  (Click for her blog post of the event)

LYRICS:
There’s a brand new thing, it’s shiny and true
It’s Social Media and that’s what’s new
(Talk to everyone around the world
And hope to hell someone’s listening)

Now I got friends and I got kin
But here I was by myself again
I thought I was alone, but then I found
This thing called Social Media going down
(Never be lonesome again
There’s always a few million people to talk to)

If you get enough people to follow you back
There’s fame & riches at the end of the track
So you follow me and I’ll follow you
And maybe we’ll get on TV a time or two!
(You get a million followers, you can pretty much write your own ticket after that
But you don’t get it if you care how many followers you’ve got)

I don’t know but I once thunk
There’s nothing in the world like more free junk
Might have to get a job to pay for a new spot
To put all the awesome free swag I got
(The free drinks are nice
They don’t take up any room in my suitcase!)

I don’t know but I’ve been told
The girls want a purse made out of gold
You get enough from a PR company for free
You’ll be like them folks on MTV!
(Internetting is like meditating
It’s more important than ever to be careful what you wish for)

Ev’ryone I meet’s got a brand new car
But I’m walkin’. Guess I ain’t goin’ too far!
People flyin’ here & there for free
While I’m gettin’ around by TTC
(I swear in my tweets. I dont’ represent anyone’s brand well
And now I’ve gotta pay for my flight like everyone else)

We talk ev’ry day but I don’t see you much
At least we’ve got the means to be in touch
My followers are up and my Klout score’s high
I wonder how many it takes to get by…
(I don’t do it for the money
But it’s hard not to think about the money when you’ve got five dollars in your pocket and you’re deciding between eating or riding the subway

* * *

The Making of
Talkin’ Social Media Blues

The first time anyone saw TALKIN’ SOCIAL MEDIA BLUES was when I screened it for a small group of Twitter peeps as an impromptu party to celebrate my 100th day in a row of Daily V-Loggin’:

But an bringing an idea like this from inception to materialization is no party. I got the idea for the song, wrote it straight away, and recorded it the next morning. Here is the Daily Video Blog entry from when I was working on the beat in which I explain how I came up with the idea:

Two days later, I shared footage of the recording of the song as well as brought you with me for the car ride the very first time anyone heard the song:

I got into some deep thinking about consumer culture the day that I went to make the signs for this video:

I shot the video on my own in an afternoon in five locations around town that I had scoped out. I was very clear with myself that I was trying to do something reminiscent of DONT LOOK BACK…

And then the day that I was editing the video, I got really heavy about being an artist:

This video was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun. If you are a Social Media enthusiast, I hope you think it’s funny.

Subscribe to my Youtube channels – seanward for my Daily V-Loggin’, and TheSeanWardShow for my comedy videos