November 28, 2011

So I watched CBC's Marketplace for the first time in my life. This is actually a great show. It reminded me a lot of What's Your Beef? A show that was on when I was a kid that pretty much tested how things work and what the manufacturers claim to be a 'top notch product' is put to the test by everyday consumers to see if it really is as good as the manufacturers and companies claim. I think that show might have been on CBC as well. Anyway, there was a really insightful piece on Internet connections and how fast they really go. This struck a chord with me because I have always wondered what exactly it is I'm paying for when my Internet connection is hardly functioning and I'm shelling out an extra $30 a month for Ultra High Speed Internet with Rogers. There really are so many other things to factor in besides the fact that you're paying for this intense Internet speed. For instance, maybe there's more than one person sharing your connection, which can bring the speed down by half. Maybe your area of the city isn't update yet with the newest connections that fully utilize and optimize your Internet experience, and then there's the actual website that you may be streaming or downloading off. It too, maybe not be up to par with the gigantic speeds at which your Internet is capable of. I have downgraded my connection after seeing the episode. I have noticed a little bit of a slowdown in Internet service but not so much that I'm contemplating spending the extra $30 a month just to see a slight adjustment in speed. Nice try, Rogers! Thanks, Marketplace!

I re-watched Super Size Me this week. I really don't think it's as eye-opening or groundbreaking as everyone made it out to be when it was released. Ya, I get it...if you do absolutely NOTHING, don't walk anywhere and eat McDonalds to the point of throwing up three times a day...what do you think is going to happen? What do you think is going to happen if you have zero exercise and eat healthy food three times a day to the point of upheaval? Maybe the effects won't be as drastic as the fast food diet, but it's still a terrible idea. I think a stronger documentary would have been to eat only McDonalds as your main diet but exercise daily, go on a muscle building regime and see what the outcome is. Because although McDonalds food is total garbage and not something that I tend to eat on any regular basis, it still is loaded with calories and protein (in the meat) that is essential to building muscle and being healthy. Maybe he should reshoot the doc and try that out, and then blame McDonalds for making people fat. McDonalds doesn't make people fat...it's just that lazy people who don't care enough to make proper meals will flocks to the nearest fast food restaurant to get their meals, and those are the same people that are too lazy to make meals as are the people who are too lazy to exercise or try to do anything besides get off the couch.

Okay, so The History Channel has literally lost ALL credibility. Chris Terry, if you're reading this blog, you need to update your list and take The History Channel off of it. I sat through an episode of Swamp People followed by Big Shrimpin' followed by a show about Transport Trucks on deadly roads. I was sitting there waiting for something like Ancient Mesopotamia to come on or something chronicling World War II. It is not to be found anymore. The channel has become total nonsense. I remember in high school I would put the History Channel on when I wanted to learn something. It's insane that they're allowed to even string the sentence together: 'Coming up next on The History Channel: men shooting crocodiles with crossbows!' GIVE ME A BREAK. I'm not being cynical. I urge everyone out there reading this to flick on The History Channel right now. You'd get a better education watching Jersey Shore or porn.

November 7, 2011

Politics and what's going on in the world ...like no my insular, tiny world of living in Toronto and going to school ..but there REAL world, the big picture, is almost completely lost on me..and my generation. I sat down and watched 60 Minutes this week and it was complete gibberish. I feel like I'm so far behind on the happenings of the world it would take me months and months and probably after-school tutoring just to get a clue. 60 Minutes had a Republican lobbyist who spent the last four years in prison for being apart of some gigantic scandal in Washington. I could hardly tell you more. Everything they referenced on the show was completely over my head. I now know what it feels like for someone who can't speak English to come to Canada and try to have a conversation with one of us. Brutal.

What do you get when you have director Martin Scorsese directing a documentary on your bands concert as well as history. Give up? A masterpiece. The Last Waltz had The Band play a concert with many, many special guests including Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond and Van Morrison. The documentary is 90% concert footage and 10% history and archive. The cinematography is devastatingly gorgeous, the feeling and vibe of the concert rings throughout the entire piece and is enough to move even the most hardened hipster into a state of awe. Though the filmmaking techniques that employed are powerful and beautiful they are never intrusive and leave room for total immersion into the experience of the concert.

Tell me this isnt amazing:

And the end of my week left me with yet another trip into the silly with The History Channels: When Aliens Attack. Amazing. The show pretty much takes the movie Independence Day and turns it into a real event. Begging important questions like: say, if aliens really do attack, will our missles and rockets be strong enough to break through their force fields? This is of course backed by interviews with countless experts spewing their knowledge on just how powerful these force fields may be. It was extremely entertaining and probably one of the least enlightening experiences of my life.