Hey Is That Chris Bosh? Jump The Line!

Misleading title is meant to be a little misleading but I assure you this has to do with several athletes. It started off with the Calgary Flames jumping the line so them and their families could get the H1N1 vaccine early. Now they shouldn’t even be getting considering the H1N1 shot was for priority groups only, but the likes of Jarome Iginla, and Dion Phanuef have become priority. Those priorities to the H1N1 shot include pregnant women, children between the age of 6 months and 5 years, people under the age of 65 with chronic conditions and those living in remote communities. Now I thought that this would be the only time we heard of a sports team jumping the line so to speak.

But, today it was reported both the Toronto Raptors, and the Toronto Maple Leafs had athletes receive the shot now this is just plain outrageous considering the suspected death of a two month old baby by H1N1. The Maple Leafs should feel even more disgraced to the city of Toronto and the province of Ontario especially with their mediocre start to the NHL season. Seriously these athletes are making more then a million a year for most of them, and I think any one of the athletes who went early should be fined. Maybe $10,000 dollars or some amount that seems feasible because their are tons of people who get seriously ill and could die. They didn’t deserve their shots early its as simple as that.

Obama Boycotts Fox News

Sort of a late response to this excellent news but I thought I’d cover it anyway. I’m very happy to see that the president of the US of A has boycotted one of the many poisons that inflicts America everyday. I’m talking about Fox News. From pundits like Glenn Beck to Bill O’rielly, Fox News is a mess of uncharted propaganda meant to send everything to Hell.

I am absolutely appalled over the fact that it took the president to say something against Fox News about its credibility before the media and everyday citizens took upon that fact. It just goes to show how the media cannot function independently.

A specific angle of the media has come back to haunt Obama’s boycott, that is now criticizing his words. These mostly speak about how Fox News can do just about whatever it wants, and that Obama boycotting them is wrong; something that apparently goes “against free speech.” I find this quite ridiculous because, I swear free speech means that you can say just about anything about well, anything.

I agree with Obama’s choice, and I am happy to see that someone at the top is taking action against the despicable people behind Fox News. Perhaps now people will come to realize what sort of BS Fox News is spouting to them everyday, and hopefully people don’t swallow it all up as factual debate.

The sooner Fox News is realized as a decrepit comedy channel like Onion News, the sooner the world might come to peace.

For The Sake Of Deprivation

I have realized since the beginning of summer that it is hard to live a life of insane amounts of, well no sleep. You could say it was as an idiot mistake to make to assume that 30 minutes to an hour of sleep to last me 40 hours would be a bad idea. But I still went through with it, because the facts are I just didn’t sleep and half the time I couldn’t. It all started in September when my bed broke, I was sleeping on the couch and eventually just took my mattress and stuck it straight on the floor of my basement bedroom. Note to self, it was even colder only a 50cm difference between the bed and the floor it was terrible I found myself wrapped in blankets and sheets even though it was warm throughout the house. It didn’t take long before not sleeping effected the way I acted in school a lot of people assumed I was dead half the time.

It didn’t take long before I fell asleep in class, the feeling of waking up at the end of class not knowing what the homework had been and having people saying that only a couple of people noticed I had fallen asleep. Listening to music from the likes of Lou Reed to Breaking Benjamin to Mos Def I just had a hard time running my everyday life, I’d doze off out of nowhere. Felt like I woke up in a different place but in fact I was the same place I was when I fall asleep it was like the protagonist in Fight Club. I could say it a million times that I wasn’t tired but my body was simply shutting down half the time and I would try ignore the feeling that seemed to always kick in. At almost exactly eleven a.m. I would feel a feeling of tiredness to move my legs to move anything and even on school days this was very annoying.

Then it happened a moment of realization, last week on Thursday when my school had an early release day (meaning we get out 4 hours earlier) I had totally blanked out after having a shower, I woke up like five o’clock in the afternoon my eyes heavier then how my legs had felt. I looked at the clock and literally yelled the word “Fuck” Three times, I had missed not one but two tests and it was a moment that the insomnia had gotten me, it had made me stay up and it had made me fall asleep in the morning. My dad had thought I was dead nearly, alarm ringing all day my phone going off as well with about 20ish text messages missed. It was terrible and that was the day I decided I should change for the better of things, to put an end to the insomnia once and for all.

But the other fucked up thing was when I tried to go to sleep, by reading countless articles on WikiHow almost like self help articles I had conquered it averaging about 8 hours of sleep on the weekdays and 12 on the weekends (which is way too much) But I’m glad that I can finally carry out a conversation without nodding off, I still look dead in the morning. But Im secretly a zombie, so it’s all good.

Happy Thanksgiving!

If there’s one holiday I love (and one that has not been completely tainted by consumerism), it’s Thanksgiving. One day where families come together to have a nice turkey (or chicken if you find turkey too dry like myself) dinner and have a day of special bonding.

Although the Canadian Thanksgiving lands on a date completely different from that of the American Thanksgiving, we both share the same harmonious values on this day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tatum EB Hope

What is EB? EB stands for Epidermolysis Bullosa – a very rare genetic disease. The disease causes one’s skin to be extremely fragile and blisters easily to the slightest rub or touch. An estimated 50 in 1 million newborns are diagnosed with EB. Most children with this disease do not survive into adulthood. There is no cure for this disease.

A special little girl named Tatum Blackwell suffers from this extremely rare disease. She deals with blisters, tears, scars and various other injuries everyday. Unfortunately, it is not only through contact that her skin can blister; extremely hot conditions can also cause the skin to tear.

Not many people know about this disease. I know I had no clue until I met a new friend this summer. Although the disease is horrible, what’s worse is that the necessities that are required to deal with the scars and blisters are not covered by OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance Plan).

That is why her friends and family are attempting to create an EB Awareness Week in Canada through Tatum’s Walk for Hope! The U.S.A. already has an awareness week – yet Canada does not. This week occurs during October 25-31.The purpose of this week is to create awareness of EB, and let people know what it is and attempt to find a cure for it.

For more information on Epidermolysis Bullosa, check out the following website:

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1062939-overview

To help with EB Awareness and find out more about Tatum Blackwell, visit this site:

http://www.tatumebhope.org/

Let us all work together in letting everyone know about EB – and find a cure for it!

The Decaying Business Of Movie Trailers

There is something about movie trailers now a days that gets me , the ones that make you want to go but they are the exact same ones that give away the whole movie. This post was inspired by a trailer for a movie called “Brothers” I won’t go into detail on what happens in the trailer or the plot of the movie because it’s given directly away by the trailer. At the end of the trailer I can tell you the reason you will most likely go see this movie “To see if Tobey Maguire’s character lives or not” That’s the only viable reason to see the movie depsite the fact, that you need something to watch and it might be the only decent thing playing. To be honest the movie looks like a bunch of horse shit (pardon my Russian there) anyways I want things to change in the movie trailer business.

I want a movie that captivates you without giving away key parts of the movie, and without giving away most of the plotline. Now even though that is how most movies make their money, as well as the fact that they show key scenes from the movie like the funiest parts, scariest or ones with the most action in them. I want the movie trailers that captivate you to go see it because they appear mysterious, their different and they want you to find out what this movie is about. Sort of like Cloverfield before the first trailer, the poster was up and everyone wondered what it was it was a genius marketing campaign. I want the movies that don’t need some voice or narrator (unless its Morgan Freeman, beceause he is pwn in ANYTHING) to advertise the movie.

Something that has a music track, maybe some voice from the movie, and something that makes me wonder. Also that doesn’t give away the whole plot, the sad thing is this blog post won’t change things. (Inspired by going to the movies, and my obvious absence from the blog)

Commercials

This is a specific rant against commercials. And for this topic, I am going to use the upcoming box office movie ‘Zombieland” as an example. A movie where all of America is run down by zombies – and only a lone band of adventurers fight their way through and at the same time, have fun doing it.

I’ve seen the movie. Yes, ladies and gentlemen – I have seen this movie a week before it actually comes out. Did I watch it illegally? Did I get a leaked version? Am I so awesome that I can do anything in this world? Unfortunately, I am not that awesome.

I in fact did not get an illegal copy. But I got quite a legal one – in bits and pieces. I call it, ‘commercials’. I hate them, and yet I love them. But for the topic of this post, I absolutely detest them. I have seen so many commercials and scenes from the actual Zombieland film that I have pieced all of them together and I now claim that I have seen the whole movie.

Commercials have absolutely destroyed the movie for me! And they do it to all kinds of movies! The good parts are always broadcasted on television that the rest of the movie is only good to watch for the cast or the storyline. Unfortunately for Zombieland, it is a comedy film. Once the best jokes are out, there isn’t much left. And I am not going to watch this movie now.

Had the advertisements been different, I might still have watched the movie. Perhaps the ads are to be blamed for audiences not going out of their way to purchase a ticket for an upcoming movie. Piracy also causes damage, but there tons of other holes where the money is slipping.

Now I know that zombie enthusiasts will still go out and watch Zombieland, but I feel that there will be no enjoyment left in the movie. I agree that everyone knows this movie is coming out, but at the same time everyone knows what the movie is about to offer.

That sort of wraps up my rant. It wasn’t very good – but at least it was rant-ish. Again, sorry for being MIA. I will be for a bit longer – sorry for any inconvenience!

Warning: MIA

Just a heads up to everyone including my fellow blogging team. I am going to be MIA for… not sure how long. I really need to keep this blog running but with university carrying on in my life now,  it is going to be hard to run this place. I am going to give it my all to attempt a post per week rather than my two(+) posts per week.

Currently my time is going to be taken over by another blog which I am running for my Journalism major at university. My main assignment is to be running a blog with certain class assignments being posted periodically.  This hopefully will  not be  too time consuming and I will live a life, heh. I am currently loving university and enjoying my time here, but unfortunately am crashing at the same time right into the ocean of reality (I know how to swim!).

So once again, I hope everyone can excuse me at a time like this. I am just trying to get used to university and the course load and hopefully I can be successful. The blog will still be up and running, so please keep on coming by.

Thank you,

Ahmed S. Minhas

(www.j-projekt.blogspot.com)

Frosh Week

I realize that my good friend DanDan already created a post somewhat covering Frosh Week in university. But I am posting this to explain a little more about my experience with Frosh Week. To start off, I expected my experience to be half-decent and completely ambiguous. To be surrounded by nothing but children who are complete brats and antisocial outcasts. I had also expected Frosh Week to be one big get together of all the first-years to participate in a few activities and call it a day. My misconceptions were soon met with a world completely different from what I had never imagined.

Frosh Week was absolutely amazing. It is the best week I have ever lived in my life. There have been quite amazing experiences in my life (just like everyone else), but this tops the cake. I have met the most active and creative people in my life. Those who are here to study, those who are here to have fun, and those who are here because this is where life has led them. I have met all kinds of people and yet none of them are anything like what I had expected them to be. The students so far are very considerate and friendly. And this I can account to the reason that everyone is in the same boat and does not know the person next to them.

To have me realize how fun Frosh Week has been, I must hand it to my Icebreakers. Not sure if everyone knows who an Icebreaker is, but these are senior students who are volunteering their time for a week to help first-year students get used to the university campus and make new friends. I was part of one of the four teams at my campus in Brantford, the Green Zombies. The first few days were full of activities from  8 AM in the morning to 9 at night (sometimes until midnight). The Icebreakers introduced cheers and fun-filled teamwork to allow us first-years to get together and befriend each other. The vast network I made thanks to the hard work of the Icebreakers has been astounding. I made more friends in a week than I made alone throughout one year of highschool.

It is absolutely amazing to know what kind of backgrounds these students come from. Of course, I am just stating my experience at the moment. Knowing what kind of position all of us as students are, I’ve adopted an extremely outgoing attitude, one much higher than I had in high school to meet everyone and befriend such students. This attitude has really helped me in creating fruitful conversations that may at the same time have created friendships I will hold for a long time.

Frosh Week wasn’t all fun and games. Well, it was. But the fun and games included a program called “Shinerama” (http://ccff.ca/page.asp?id=33) in which us as first-years who participated in Frosh Week were raising money for Cystic Fibrosis. The complete campus at Brantford raised over $12, 000! For a small first year population, this was a truly epic achievement. The students at this campus realized how important these fund raising activities are and gave it their all. I know I did. Thanks to this excellent experience, I have so many amazing people. Of course, I am here and there with all of them and am unable to be with them at all times. But I am able to know they aren’t too far. Living on residence is an amazing experience itself.

This week has had situations where only teamwork was able to break through any obstacles and being hostile with each other was not an option. Being friendly and open was the one way to get to know other people – and an antisocial behaviour has been very rare to see, and that is a very good thing. Tomorrow, I am going to class and hope to make even more bonds with people – and strengthen the ones I have just recently made.

“Do one thing everyday that scares you.”

- Baz Luhrmann (Sunscreen”)

Toronto Sports Is Depressing, How Long Though?

Well the Leafs haven’t made the Playoffs or come close in years, and the Jays are nearing 20 years since they last made the Playoffs, the Toronto Raptors missed the Playoffs and Toronto FC has never made the Playoffs. To add onto that Toronto Argonauts suck as well, and looks like they will miss the Playoffs this year as well. But fear not Toronto sports fans for it looks better for two teams then it did last year and Toronto FC is still a young franchise. Evidence proofs that the Raptors have managed to turn it totally around as there roster has been bolstered by huge additions in Hedo Turkoglu and Jarret Jack. But I digress, the Jays look to be totally left to rot by Rogers and the owners of the team it really doesn’t look good for the Blue Jays it would be kind of awesome to have Maple Leaf Entertainment buy the team. Owning the Leafs, Raptors, Marlies, Toronto FC bolstering Toronto sports with the Blue Jays would be awesome in my opinion.

Now there is still a untapped market in Toronto and is that the huge MMA fanbase that is here in Ontario I remember walking by a bar while getting snacks for UFC 102 after I saw a sign that said “UFC 102 Here Tonight” There was tons of people inside it was almost packed to the brim, it’s a untapped market that Dana White (President Of The UFC) Would like to tap into after great success of UFC in Montreal especially with a hometown favorite in George St. Pierre. It would be awesome to help boost Toronto sports with sucess of UFC, but it looks like some of the loyal fans in Toronto are supporting the failures of the Maple Leafs and understand rebuilding. Not with the Blue Jays though, as general manager who hopefully will be gone after the season J.P. Riccardi has seemed to fail in his 8 year tenure with the Blue Jays. Every team with the exception of Toronto FC is in rebuilding mode but there is promise on the horizon.

But fear not because it will be better in the future rebuilding will do that and with several improvements to the Air Canada Centre (Raptors and Leafs games can be now held in the same day) It should look good in the future, but for now I’d give it 3-5 years until we have more then one winning team in Toronto or we have non depressing sporting in Toronto.