I love America’s Best Dance Crew. When I watch it, I feel like I’m 12 again. I mean, any show with JC from ‘N Sync and AC Slater from Saved by the Bell has to be good, right?
Last night BreakSk8 was voted off, but there are 3 teams still left: Jabbawockeez, Kaba Modern, and Status Quo.
Ok, so I’m sure we’ve all heard about the governor of New York and his dirty tryst with a prostitute. That doesn’t bother me so much as the fact that this guy has 3 teenage daughters and a wife who he’s shamed beyond belief. He says that he’s taking family time, but does he really think that his family want anything to do with him right now? I hate these adulterous men who think they can do whatever they want, and instead of leaving them, their wives stand beside them during their press conferences! Spitzer vowed to rid the New York government of corruption, but I guess he forgot about himself. How far the mighty fall.
And what is up with his hooker mistress, Ashley Dupre? Has everybody seen this? Suddenly she has a music video and is getting offers to pose for Hustler and work for Vivid? I didn’t realize being a whore paid so well.
I read this headline, and felt my blood pressure go through the roof. YOU HAVE TO check out this link. A court in Rome decided that a woman who is wearing jeans cannot be raped without her consent. Can you believe this?
This just further emphasizes my point about International Women’s Day. As women we still have a long way to go before our equality is appreciated. I am completely outraged at this verdict. Although I am sure that there may be more to this case than we hear about in a short article, the fact that this man appealed and won based upon such a pathetic argument shows how sexist some courts still are against women. Please feel free to post your feelings on this topic.
There is a new TV show premiering on TLC next week called I Can Make You Thin. The host is Paul McKenna, a British writer, who uses hypnosis to aid in weight loss. McKenna helped Ellen DeGeneres quit smoking, and he has become famous for his methods of helping people kick their addictions. The show is interactive and supposedly the viewers watching at home can even lose weight. I think it sounds like a pretty interesting concept, and I’m thinking that I’ll be tuning in out of sheer curiousity.
Some people are saying that he is just a conman, but I’ve also heard a lot of great reviews. Any thoughts on if this could actually work…
In commemoration of International Women’s Day yesterday, I thought that I would post a link to a CBC article entitled “Afghan women mark International Women’s Day”. The average life expectancy of a women in Afghanistan is 44 years old, about half that of a Canadian woman. It is empowering to see other women in developing countries fight for their rights. I sometimes forget how lucky we are as women in Canada in comparison to other parts of the world, but we still have a long way to go.
Bill C-10 is in its’ third reading in the senate. If passed, it will mean changes to our federal tax credit system where TV and film productions deemed offensive will be denied tax credits.
Canada’s Heritage Minister, Josee Verner, has been on the defence regarding this act, which she feels will benefit taxpayers and prevent their dollars from going towards films that are extremely sexual, violent or hateful.
I agree that tax credits should not be granted to those people who are creating films that are overly violent or depict child pornography, but the problem with this bill is the fact that the people who are deciding whether or not film and TV productions will be granted tax credits are representatives from the Heritage and Justice department. Depending upon the ideas and values of these people, there could be many films denied tax credits simply because they are racier than other films.
Obviously many artists are going to feel threatened by this. There are many films in Canada that could not be made without the provisions from the tax credits. In some ways it will put an end to creativity in the television and film industries.
Allowing the Heritage Minister to decide which shows and movies can be provided tax credits doesn’t seem very Canadian to me.
Picture Source: Thomas Boulvin
Source: Canwest News Service. “No censorship threat in Bill C-10: Verner” by Martha Worboy. http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=bb3a9a5e-e1f9-4b03-a0f7-2fe42794982a&k=80275
Source: The Hollywood Reporter article “Canada tax credits: strings attached”. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/international/news/e3i0055cabe5256398a723f2462ae029b3c
One of the hardest things about being a student today is the cost of school. On top of tuition, books, and the cost of living, students often have so much going on with school that they barely have time to work. It is difficult trying to maintain good grades in university or college while working and dealing with many of the other everyday stresses.
I found “Confessions of a student who sold sex to live and learn”, about a girl in France, who in her first year of university started to prostitute herself out. Although extreme, this shows what kind of lifestyle some students feel forced into in order to live.
CBC News’s “Canada’s Climbing Tuition Fees” says that Ontario’s tuition costs rose 207% between 1990-1991 and 2006-2007, going from $1,680 to $5,160. And, in case you were wondering, this is more than just the cost of inflation. Bank of Canada’s “Inflation Calculator” says that $1,680 in 1990 would be equal to $2,396.25 in 2007; less than half of what tuition actually was in 2007. The worst part is that the cost of tuition is only going to keep rising. It seems unfair that we are expected to get a good education, since so many of us graduate with overwhelming debts. Yes, there are basic funding and loans in place, but these mount pretty quickly and interest starts to accumulate from the date of graduation onward for most government loans. It’s too bad that our salaries at graduation often don’t match the amount of money we have put into schooling. I have some friends who owe $40,000 in student loans, and are looking to only make maybe $30,000 annually when they are finished school. How exactly are these people supposed to pay back their loans?
It seems that only the rich will be able to afford a good education in the future.
Moment of Truth is a TV series where contestants willingly go on television hooked up to a lie detector while being asked questions that they must answer true or false to. In this episode, a marriage was pretty much ruined as this wife admits to an affair and to thinking she should be married to her lover rather than her husband.
This poor guy has to sit there in a studio audience with cameras pointed at him as he learns about his adulteress wife. Albeit uncomfortably, he even hugs his wife at the end after she admits to her shameful acts. The kicker? She doesn’t even win anything. Nothing. She loses her husband, and now the whole world knows her dirty secrets. Lauren doesn’t show any remorse for her actions, and she decides to continue even when given the chance to walk away and preserve some of her dignity.
Why would she even agree to be on the show if she had all these secrets and lies? She should have known that, given the opportunity, TV executives would bring out all of this for the world to see for the sake of great ratings. That is the whole purpose of this show and shows just like it.
The best part of this episode was the karma at the end. After revealing everything, she loses it all when the lie detector proves that she doesn’t feel like a good person after everything she’s done. There must be some justice in the world.
Now it’s your turn: True or False: Is this good television or just plain cruel?
September 2006 marked the ban of too-skinny models from strutting the catwalk. I remember when this happened, because I thought that this was going to mean change. Change for the fashion industry, and change for women out there who have been made to feel like they are not good enough for too long.
In the last few years, I have noticed that curves have been increasing in popularity. With songs like “Bootylicious” and the new Dove campaigns, people are beginning to appreciate women and their curves for what they are. Studies have found that women of average size are just as effective as skinny women at selling products. My question then is, why must we have these overly-thin models on the catwalk when women of average size could do the same job?
Women come in many different shapes and sizes. Celebrate who you are, and stop trying to conform to someone else’s idea of beautiful. Check out You Are Beautiful. I feel that this site and the work that they do provide a positive message for women who may feel overcome by the consumerism out there telling you what you should look like.
Source: CNN’s “Skinny models banned from catwalk.” September 13, 2006.
Source: CBC’s “No point using skinny models in ads, psychologist finds.” November 15, 2006.
We all know that there are certain ways that we learn best. I went onto VARK and took their quiz “How Do I Learn Best?”. This test basically just reinstated what I already knew about my learning strengths, but I discovered that figuring out my learning style meant that I could find ways to adapt to situations where I might not learn so easily. Most people agree that there are three ways to learn:
Although some researchers add more learning styles, these are the basic ones. The best thing that I found about VARK is that they provided a list of study strategies based on how you learn. I wish that I had seen a list like this when I was just starting school, because the advice on learning was useful and would work for everyone.
Source: VARK ©Copyright Version 7.0 (2006) held by Neil D. Fleming, Christchurch, New Zealand and Charles C. Bonwell, Green Mountain Falls, Colorado 80819 U.S.A.
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Reuters Oddly Enough
