Youth Are Awesome, commonly referred to as YAA, is a blog written by youth for youth.
YAA provides the youth of Calgary a place to amplify their voices and perspectives on what is happening around them.
Youth Are Awesome is a program of Youth Central.
Any views or opinions expressed on this blog belong solely to the author and do not represent those of people or organizations that the blog may be associated with, unless explicitly stated. All content is for informational purposes only.
Did you know that 215 million children’s intelligence is being wasted because they are forced into child labour instead of attending school? Or did you know that 1 in every 3 children in developing countries are starving and 1 BILLION children are deprived of daily necessities like: food, water, education, and health care! Then take a look at the lives of children in more fortunate countries like Canada, whose’s youth are worried about how they are going to manage to get the next big apple product. Superficial hey? I admit I am guilty. Did you know that….?
We Are Silent is Free The Children’s annual fundraising and awareness-raising campaign that challenges people from all over the world to spend April 18th completely silent for the children in those developing countries whose voices are being ignored by not having their rights upheld.
Tens of thousands of people take part in this powerful campaign supported by Second Cup every year. If you believe in human rights please take the Vow Of Silence and remain quiet without speaking for 24 hours on April 18th. It is for those children who don’t have a voice. Here is another heart shattering statistic I would like to share with you:
What is the makeup of a horror film? Why is it that certain movies only make us roll our eyes over the poor choices of the victims while others render us sleepless? As a huge fan of scary movies, I’ve always been interested in knowing the exact aspects of films that makes me jump. I’ve noticed that these aspects are the same in every film, and are so powerful that they affect me every time.
1) The music: When the pretty girl wanders away from the group into a particularly eerie part of the setting, we always hear music playing in the background, intensifying the scene. The music rises to a crescendo and continues to build up until the girl stops and sharply turns to look behind her, but of course, no one is there. And the silence continues as a puzzled look crosses her face, she turns back, and looks straight into the eyes of the killer (here you will here a loud clash of the cymbals). Music is so powerful, I believe I’ve mentioned that before. It can convince us that we are right there, in the middle of the dark alley, with the main protagonist. If you’ve ever watched a horror film on mute, you would know just how big an impact music can make. The moment we come face to face with the killer, the clash of instruments add to our shock and thus helps to increase the heart rate, resulting in simulated fear.
2) The eyes: This is true for me and a lot of my friends. We tend to find killers with enormous eyes to be scarier than those who merely suffer appearance deficits, excuse the euphemism. I will not be showing pictures as examples, because I believe that sleep is important. Think of The Grudge, if she didn’t stare at you with gaping eyes, would she still be scary? It’s been said often that the eyes are windows to the soul, and we can see the mentality of an individual by looking through their eyes. By looking into the crazed eyes of the psycho murderer, our brain deciphers danger and sends a signal to begin the cycle of fear.
3) The Twist Ending: My favorite horror film is Hide and Seek. I’m not going to spoil it for you, but the ending was a huge shocker. What I found remarkable about that movie was that every time I put my money on someone being the killer, the possibility is immediately eliminated. Once in a while they’ll let out a little indication that pushes me to make a completely ludicrous assumption. And then in the end, when the killer’s identity is revealed, I realize just how much I lack in lateral thinking skills. A twist ending, a good one at least, branches from a psychological component of the film and breaks the status quo.
4) Cliches and Archetypes: They appear in every story, and although in some ways they help us predict the events, they are also responsible for building suspense. Imagine you’re participating in the 100m finals, you are in starting position along with a line of other competitors. The starter calls out ‘ready, set…’ but his voice drags on the last syllable. He hadn’t told you to go yet, but you know it will happen. The suspend builds up inside you until it sparks anxiety. The same thing happens in those movies, you know the guy who wandered far from the group is going to be killed next, but you don’t know when. Anxiety can be a huge contributor to fear.
I really enjoy horror films, but what I find even more interesting is dissecting the parts of the movies for fear stimulators. Next time you decide to watch a scary film, try looking for components of horror, not only does it make the film less intimidating, but it’s a fun skill to have.
As you may (or may not) know, Youth Week in Calgary is approaching!!! April 20th to 27th is Calgary’s Youth Week for 2013!
Many of you have probably heard about it already. Others may be wondering what the heck I’m talking about. Youth Week is an initiative to get youth involved and engagement in the community, and it acknowledge, encourage, advocate for, and celebrate youth involvement, empowerment, achievement, leadership, and all that awesome stuff.
Throughout the week, different events are held, promoting and celebrating the awesomeness of youth and what they are and could be doing! From paintball to button-making, dessert competitions to video game tournaments, there are opportunities for everyone! (I feel like I’m sounding like a salesperson right now. I’m kind of super excited for Youth Week, so bear with me.) Youth all around the city are welcome to join the fun and celebrate what makes youth awesome!!!
A great thing for any artist to do is gesture drawing. This kind of fast-paced drawing captures the form of a subject and makes it identifiable, but not too detailed or clean. It helps build many essential skills such as understanding proportions and muscle structure, and with practice it can help artists capture scenes quickly and effortlessly. This is useful when drawing a quick moving subject, such as an athlete in motion, or an outdoor scene with many people (downtown, for example).
What I like to start with is a large piece of paper, so that I can have many gesture drawings on one page. It seems to add to the artsy effect. Get a reference photo, or even better, ask a live subject to pose for you. Then you can start your timer and go! Typically people draw anywhere between 30 seconds and 10 minutes. Personally I like two minute poses best, but you can try any time that works well for you.
Once you start drawing, it’s important to remember to keep moving. Gesture drawing is very fluid and fast, and not too clean. Don’t stop to erase any lines – just draw another one in the correct position and forget about the old ones.
For human subjects, I like to start with a centre line. This line should sort of go along the spine area and show how your subject is moving. Then I draw a line for where the head goes, a line for the shoulder tilt, and one for the hips. I fill in the masses (head, biceps, quads, torso, calves, forearms, etc.) and sometimes I draw the joints as well. Then if you have some time left, you can go back and fill in some detail.
2 minute gesture drawings
That’s just one technique – everyone draws differently. There are numerous tutorials on the internet which are really helpful. For the drawings above, I used this website. It gives you references and times you, with adjustable intervals and styles, along with lessons, tips, and critique forums. This WikiHow articleis also helpful, with a good step-by-step explanation of drawing.
Gesture drawing is fun and relaxing, and helps tremendously with improving drawing ability. I highly recommend you try it out!
There is more to Canadian bands and artists than Justin Bieber and Nickleback.
Here are some great Canadian bands to support:
1. Japandroids: The House that Heaven Built took over the alternative radio station but they have other equally talented songs on their 3 albums: Post-Nothing, No singles and Celebration Rock.
2. City and Colour: Another great band with great songs like The Grand Optimist,Save Your Scissors and Sleeping Sickness it’s hard to ignore their talents. Their most recent album Little Hell is definitely one of their strongest.
3. 100 Mile House: A great folk band from Edmonton. They just recently released their second album Wait With Me. Their extremely catchy song Better Still, is one of the top played on my phone. Because they aren’t very well known, they mostly tour around Alberta and often come to Calgary. Plus, you can often talk to them after the concerts.
4. Marianas Trench: Probably the most well known on the list. They put on a great show and have awesome music videos. Their newest album Ever After, has many radio hits like Fallout and Desperate Measures,but all their other songs and earlier albums shouldn’t be ignored.
Who doesn’t love Pac-Man? After 32 years of its initial release, the addicting game is now free-to-play on Android under the name PAC-MAN + Tournaments
In addition to the classic Pac-Man game, the Android version comes with achievements and a “Tournaments” mode with new mazes, color schemes, bonus items and rankings.
So if you love the yellow pill/fruit-eating hero and have an Android phone, make sure you download this free game!
Bonus: Google has a 30th Anniversary version that you can play straight from your browser!
Timothy Shantz. Photography by Photography by Phil Crozier.
The Spiritus Chamber Choir, headed by the invigorating and passionate Timothy Shantz, pushes the boundaries of music and provokes the audience to reveal in deep thought and feeling with this evening’s performance. The program included a newly created piece, a collaboration between the composer Terri Hron and the Spiritus Chamber Choir, which explored the vast moods of darkness and then light, mortality and the soul. This performance of Terri Hron’s BitterSweet of fusing electronic sounds, of chant-like whispers of biblical references and dark poetic thoughts with that of the hushed voices of the Spiritus Chamber Choir, was a brave and interesting choice. Terri Hron was present at the performance to witness her creation come to life and I feel she felt proud of the Spiritus Chamber Choir’s faithful rendition of her piece. Verses such as ” I speak of my body- I’m immortal and will live like today” or “and there isn’t any hope, that anyone will ever at all, make it up to you,” were of an eerie nature, reminding the audience of their mortality and possesses a contemplative nature.
The Choir, calm and collected, obviously possessing great group dynamics, were incredible in their rendition of James MacMillian’s “Seven Last Word from the Cross,” joined by the Spiritus Chamber Orchestra, with many prominent members from the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, passionately filling the Eckhardt- Grammatte Hall at the University of Calgary with the powerful sounds of Scottish, Celtic, Eastern European and Scandinavian fusion of the Catholic faith. The piece portrays the Christ’s final words at the Crucifixion, lending themselves to be the base of emotion of this score. The strings Orchestra and the choir paints a beautiful picture, with the strings playing the final sighs of the dying Christ that are memorizing and the sudden choral outbursts of such majesty and strength recall chorales of Bach’s Passion. Deeply moving, eerie and powerful, this piece was performed wonderfully by the Spiritus Chamber Choir and the Spiritus Chamber Orchestra.
I would like to thank Tokie Brideaux @CalMusicEvents to providing tickets to such an uplifting and wonderful experience!
The horror story of Wentao Li trying to fold origami flowers at a Youth Volunteer Corps Steering Committee meeting…
LUCKILY, YOU DON’T HAVE TO ENDURE THOUGH THAT! Watch this tutorial and make interesting blossoming lotuses. 🙂 The music is quite soft and soothing too.
Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt our program of youth dance music to bring you a special bulletin from YouthareAwesome. Molly Sloan, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, research assistant Timmy Menedez and librarian Ben Wilcott reports observing….Zygonians?!
The year is 1933. Reporter Molly Sloan, research assistant Timmy Menedez and librarian Ben Wilcott are hot on the chase on the lead of a fantastic story and through a harrowing blizzard, meet their contact. However, their contact gravely cautions the intrepid team that their story is at a dead end, as any informants are either missing or dead. There is a clue, a piece of paper with details of the “Central Hive.” Before the contact can elaborate on this strange clue, a mysterious figure appears at the doorway and wields a menacing knife, which sinks into the back of their contact. Another mysterious figure grabs the knife thrower….and Molly Sloan, Timmy Menedez, and Ben Wilcott realize they have just discovered the story of the century….
Courtesy of Jason Neulander.
Jason Neulander is the creator of this thrilling, sci-fi adventure and I was fortunate to catch up him over the phone, from his residence Austin, Texas. Neulander recalls the spark of this live-action graphic novel Intergalactic Nemesis in a 2400 seat theatre, too large a space to share the intimate of an experience of a radio play, the original medium of Intergalactic Nemesis. Project a graphic novel picture to fill the room and the fusion of the only live performance of graphic novel forms. Comic book artwork is projected panel-by-panel on a large white screen, sans word balloons, as three voice actors perform all of the characters, one artist creates the hundreds of sound effects and a keyboardist performs the entire score.
It’s a brilliant modern innovation of entertainment, as Neulander specifies, a computer must instantly react to and animate over 1250 slides, all visuals cued by audience laughter, a line or sound effects. However, it’s an organic experience, as sound effects are produced by household props, such as the wave of a plastic sheet creating the deafening crackle of thunder . It’s much cooler to keep it that way, Neulander laughs, rather than down the regular path of electronic sound effects.
Courtesy of Intergalactic Nemesis.
The reactions and responses from audiences have been incredible, as Neulander directs me to the Intergalactic Nemesis‘ Facebook Page, where there is a photo of a finger scrawling a warm message on the Neulander’s trailer. Intergalactic Nemesis had just booked their 100th tour date, pretty good for an idea that started at a coffee house (great ideas start at coffee houses- J.K Rowling initially wrote much of the first Harry Potter book in a coffee house.)
Sweet message. From Intergalactic Nemesis’ Facebook Page.
Jason Neulander’s main inspiration hails from old science-fiction movies of the 40s and 50s, Philadelphia Story and Casablanca. The most influential are the nostalgic epics of Star Wars, while watched in a movie theatre, first opened the imagination of a 7 year-old Neulander. Neulander hopes to see the show evolve with the addition of a mini orchestra ensemble performing the score for the live performance, but is happy with the current form of his show. Talking to him, I could feel the passion he has for this production.
So sit back and enjoy! It’s a theatrical performance of thrilling adventure, exploration and alien invasion that is coming to Calgary on April 20th at the EPCOR Centre of the Performing Arts. Dress up in your favourite costume! As a bonus, Jason Neulander and the cast will be there after the show to sign any merchandise you pick up. The main thing, Neulander emphasizes, is to have fun. The audience will be able to experience an extraordinary adventure where ordinary people step up to be heroes.
As I approach the middle of my last semester in High School, the reality of leaving high school has finally began to hit me. For many of us High School Seniors, the end of Grade 12 marks the end of our times living at home, the separation of friends whom you’ve known since as far back as elementary, the beginning of adulthood, and the beginning of an entirely new chapter in our lives. I have gathered a few points that I deem to be crucial for a high school senior. These thoughts that are strictly of my own opinion, and this post is no more than a rant on my feelings for how grade 12 should be.
New Chapter in our lives.
As cliche as it sounds, Grade 12 should really be the year where students strive to fully embrace and enjoy every detail of this year to its fullest. In fact, I would propose that for our final semester, grades should no longer be the priority. We have all been working so hard for the past 12 year (whether that means memorizing the different parts of the heart and their functions, or re-reading the same verse of Hamlet for the 15th time in order to truly understand Shakespeare’s subtle message) that we truly do deserve a rest. You have submitted your college applications and finished those scholarship essays; now is the time to relax and enjoy the rest of your final year. I am not saying that you should begin skipping every second day, and I’m certainly not suggesting that you should stay home and watch tv all day instead of coming to school. What I am saying is that perhaps a few grades of 80 here and there is fine (especially all you IB kids out there), and that now is the time to truly pursue what you love doing.
Take some of the time that you would normally use to perfect your power-point presentation to enjoy activities with your friends (especially those whom you won’t be with after high school), to do something that you’ve always wanted to do (like trying out for your school’s talent show), to try/learn something new, and to finally gather up the courage to look that grade 11 teacher who made your life painful in the eye, and tell him/her what you thought of his/her class (kidding about this one, don’t actually do it)!
High School is certainly one of the most memorable parts of a person’s life, and Grade 12 is the climax of it all. Don’t let yourself be pinned down by those TOK essays or Physics Labs anymore. Enjoy the rest of the semester and let your interests run free, because only a quarter of the education that one acquires from school actually comes from the academic courses themselves; the other 75% comes from social interactions and the various experiences that you immerse yourself in outside of the classroom. This is the conclusion to 12 years of your life, and as the saying goes, let it go off with a bang!
Most people today pay with currency issued by the government – whether it’s Canadian dollars, American dollars, or Chinese yuan. Bitcoins, a new type of currency, aren’t issued by the government, and don’t exist physically – they’re not issued by one single organization, and they are fully electronic. Bitcoins are created when people use their computers to help move bitcoins from one source to another- with this technique, anyone can create them, and make money off of them. Currently, one bitcoin is worth about 65 Canadian dollars, and can be used for everything from ordering pizza to buying video games.
If you’re interested in the benefits of bitcoins and the basis on which they were created, watch this video.
A while back, I had experienced the incredible food at Africana eatery. Having served Calgarians for over three years, this East Indian/East African Fusion satisfied even my picky tastes, despite the fact that I usually refrain from trying spicy Indian cuisines due to my overly sensitive palate. In fact, Africana puts a new twist on the East African dishes by integrating Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda inspired ingredients and dishes into its creations. Occasionally, they even feature platters from the Philippines. Although the restaurant does serve lunch with several soup, salad, burger, sandwiches and wrap options, their specialty is BBQ meats for an evening meal. It is important to note that also cater to the vegetarian folk! The average platter is between $10 and $30 dollars.
First off, the decor makes for a very cozy feel. I felt like and stepped into a restaurant that was indeed situated in Africa and not our frigid city.
Complete with a sign “please do not sit on lion” haha
As appetizers, we ordered Mogo (deep fried cassava, my personal favourite) and Masala Fries (slices of potatoes marinated in Indian Spices and tomato sauce). The Mogo was just right, crispy on the outside and tender inside. The fries, I saved for the main meal and they complimented the meat perfectly. There was even a range of chutneys (chili sauces) to dip them in (not for the faint of heart) and yogurt sauce for those that prefer a mild option (aka me).
Mogo (left) and Masala Fries
A selection of spicy and mild sauces for the appetizers.
I made sure to order a deliciously cool and rich Mango Lassi which is the Indian version of a mango smoothie as a knew my tastebuds would be getting quite the workout during the dinner!
And now for the main entrée, aptly named the Kilimanjaro platter – what a mountain of delicious meat it was. It included beef ribs, chicken, prawns and mishkaki (barbequed beef cooked in Indian spices). As a general warning, the chicken and shrimp was quite spicy but absolutely worth it. I could rave about the beef ribs forever. They were not entitled “Chuma’s World Famous Beef Ribs” in vain and simply melted in my mouth.
I would encourage you all visit the Africana eatery, whether you can tolerate spicy or not and whether you are of the vegetarian or “carnivore” variety. Check out their Facebook page and website for menu options and more information.
I think a fair share of the world has seen Draw With Me. If you haven’t, you’re missing out in life.
Draw With Me is about a boy and a girl, separated by an unbreakable pane of glass that stretches on forever, communicating by drawing. It’s a heartbreaking love story. Recently, creator Mike Inel, made a sequel for Draw With Me. It’s absolutely adorable. Here is, Draw With Me: I love You.
So, you’ve decided to dye your hair a “crazy,” unnatural colour. One that’s vibrant and bright, just like your inspiration. Whether that inspiration comes to you from anime, pop culture, your own creative genius self, or some other place, you want your colour to be a success. From dying one streak purple to your entire head you want the results to be good, no streaky, patchy, faded colour. Sounds hard doesn’t it?
I’m here to tell you its not; unnatural hair-colour is pretty simple, and not much more difficult to keep then say brown hair would be, if you know how to do properly take care of it. For over a year I have been dying my hair bright, vibrant unnatural hues and all kinds of people ask me, how do I do it? How does it look so good? And how do I get it to last so long? The answers are simple, and throughout this post “mini-series” (as I clearly have way too much to say on this subject) I will explain all of what I think you need to know and do to get hair like mine.
The first thing you need to do is pretty simple; pick a colour. Personally, my hair is currently my favourite colour. Don’t worry about your colour being hard to find, all colours of the rainbow are easy options.
Come to the unnatural range, we have cookies
Now, its pretty clear that no one is going to believe your colour is natural. However, you still want to pick a colour that compliments your skin tone and that looks good on you. For example, bright orange or yellow hair I would never do, because my skin is yellow-based, these colours make me look like a big piece of citrus fruit. Try painting your nails the colour your thinking of, or try on a shirt that colour at the mall (I actually put a turquoise shirt on my head to see how it’d look, I mean hey, no one can see you in the change room). If your happy with it, go for it! If not it might be back to the drawing board.
Think of your hair as a piece of paper. Your dye is a crayon. You can’t colour brown paper pink now can you? Time to get your hair stripped (if you have a previous colour; like when I changed my hair-colour from red to blue), bleached (if you have a naturally dark colour), or mildly processed (for if you have fair hair, this needs to be done to open the cuticle so the colour can go in, but we’ll talk about that later). I’d recommend getting this professionally done, to preserve the health of your hair. Trust me, its worth the price to avoid frying your hair like an ant under a magnifying glass (yuck!). You’ll find your colour fades much faster if you fry your hair. It’s like the three bears’ porridge; your hair can’t be too dark, and the cuticle must be opened just right!
Last week, I was lucky enough to be in China for a Model United Nations conference. What is Model United Nations? Model United Nations, or MUN, is a simulation where participants in a conference are given a country and debate world issues, very much like the modern United Nations today. There are numerous of them available in Calgary, including SWCHSMUN (Sir Winston Churchill High School’s Model UN) and UCMUN (University of Calgary’s Model UN), which attract students from all throughout Calgary and the surrounding region, all of whom come together and debate world issues. If you’d like to see more about the recent UCMUN, I highly recommend reading Alice’s blog about that conference.
The great part about these MUNs is that they cater to people interested in the United Nations, but also in certain issues, allowing everyone interested to move closer into their interests and meet people with similar focuses and likes in terms of topics for debate. In UCMUN, the committees focused on a broad range of topics, including human rights, militarization of countries, and my personal favourite, the future of economies and sustainable economic growth.
After doing both of these MUNs this year, I decided I wanted to continue my experience, and began looking for another conference to attend. Though there were none in Calgary, my MUN director suggested that we attend BEIMUN – an international conference of over 900 students based in Beijing. This conference was three days long, and had students from Norway to Qatar to Japan attending. If you’re interested in how that conference went, you can read the newspaper from the conference, BEIWATCH, on their website.
Though MUN isn’t an activity that has broad participation in North America, around the world there are a great many conferences – and nearly all of them are in English. Attending an international conference allows one to gain experience in MUNs while also meeting people with different viewpoints, brought up from their experiences living in different locales.
Even if you don’t want to travel, or can’t, attending MUNs in Calgary is one of the greatest choices you can make. The experience you gain from debating issues in a large group is useful in your future, no matter what field you go in, as you quickly learn compromise and agreement in order to help get things done. Your speaking skills also get a lot of practice, and you also have to learn about current events – all the main contributors to conferences I have attended know about what is going on in the world, and how the issues we are debating, whether they are nuclear non-proliferation, the situation in the Middle East, or solving debt crises, relate to and are affected by current events. Overall, attending MUN is a great experience, and even if you don’t have much time to prepare, just discussing these issues with other like-minded students can help you develop your own stances on issues and help you see how you can fix the issues plaguing the world today.
