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.
This is a psychological test. This will tell you about which career path is best for you, but this is not professional test so don’t take to seriously.
Imagine that you are a celebrity and you are invited to a game program called “Guess who I am.” In the program, you must hide behind the curtain and only show one part of yourself to the audience. Which part would you choose to show?
A. a part of your head like eyes, mouth, hair exc.
B. hand
C. calf
Let’s see the answers!
If you chose A:
Do you always imagine yourself become a star, singer or model? Your are confident about your own appearance and abilities, so it is best for you to choose careers that can show your charm. Merchandise industry is also very suitable for you.
If you chose B:
You appreciate your talents. Jobs that based entirely on technical skills are the best for you. The title technician is definitly for you.
If you chose C:
For a hard-working and patient person like you, stable jobs are the the most suitable choice. Large companies seem to work best.
"Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Hermy the Elf"
I’m pretty sure most people are familiar with the cutely animated “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfits,” or the special stop-motion animation of “A Year without Santa Claus,” and the catchy tune of “I’m Mr. White Christmas, I’m Mr. Snow…” sung by Snow Miser. Seasonal celebrations on a cold, wintry evening are most picturesquely imagined to be spent on drinking a warm cup of seasonal cheer, beside a cozy and warm fireplace, wrapped in a most comfortable blanket and watching those traditional holidays flicks with loved ones.
Christmas at the movies was a nostalgic and joyful rendition of seasonal favorites such as performing music from, among many others, “Miracle on 34 Street,” “Dr Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas,” “The Polar Express,” excerpts from “The Nutcracker Suite” and “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”
WeiJia (a fellow blogger) and I were extremely excited to learn that the tickets that the Calgary Civic Symphony wonderfully provided were general admission tickets for the seats in the Jack Singer Concert Hall, and arrived early to the performance in delighted anticipation. Our seats, the second row away from the grand stage, and in the very centre of the concert hall, proved be a very splendid experience. WeiJia and I sat right in front of the Concert Master, and watched in awe the artful execution of the orchestra up close, following their quick and powerful hand movements on their instruments. Sitting up close to the stage highlighted the cello section of the Calgary Civic Symphony, the low and harmonious sound of the cellos evoking the feelings of familiarity and peace. We had both also noticed that many of the talented musicians on stage were quite remarkably young, notably contrasting with some of the senior members of the Orchestra. The musicians forming the Calgary Civic Symphony come from all walks of life, all with different cultural tastes, but do not have to be professional artists themselves.
The Nutcracker Ballet, Courtesy of The New York City Ballet company
I recently had the chance to watch a movie called “Brick.” I haven’t seen a movie like this for quite a while, so I decided to share my thoughts on it.
Brick follows a high school student named Brendan. Brendan is amazingly intelligent. He constantly takes things into his own hands and appears rather stubborn. He knows all the angles but chooses to stay on the outside.
Brendan is dragged into the inside circle when his ex-girlfriend reaches out to him and then disappears. Brendan gets himself entangled with rich girl Laura, intimidating Tug, the mysterious Pin, and the inner circle in order to uncover the dark secrets behind his ex-girlfriend’s disappearance.
Bottom Line – this movie is dark, suspenseful, witty, and intelligent. The acting is realistic and the plot is great. But if I have one complaint it’s that a few scenes seem inconsistent with the rest of the movie, but other than that, Brick was great. I give it a 8/10
“The Shining” is a movie made in 1980 based on a classic Stephen King novel. This movie was really weird. I honestly did not see the point of it.
Anyway, let me tell you what it is about. This guy Jack–who is played by Jack Nicholson, is a writer and school teacher. Him and his wife and five year old son move into a giant hotel, which they have all to themselves for the winter. Everything was going great for the family; they were having fun, bonding, all that good stuff. Well, they were, up until the son made an imaginary friend named Tony. And “Tony” made the boy see a bunch of weird stuff that I do not want to mention.
Then Jack started to hallucinate. He saw a waiter, and the waiter said “When I had trouble with my wife, I handled it.” And I think you all know what I mean by that gave Jack an idea! So then the wife comes down saying there is someone in the bathtub of one of the rooms. And again, I’m not going to tell you what it was. All I’m going to say what that it was a lady and it was scary.
After that, Jack goes all psycho and tries to kill his family. And I’m going to tell you what happened in the end, because you should not watch this. Jack runs after the boy, into a maze and then Jack freezes to death. Not too cool. I was thinking about telling you about what “The Shining” means, but I’ll leave that for you to think about.
If I had to rate this movie out of 10, I would probably give it a 6/10. All I have to say is that I have seen better movies, but also much worse! If you really like weird and scary movies like this one, then check it out. But I almost had to turn it off! And last thing, if you are watching this one… do not watch it alone!
When I first heard about the movie Stranger Than Fiction, I thought it was going to be an outrageous comedy since the protagonist is played by Will Ferrell. It is rare for one to come across a better example of why we shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover.
The plot is quite simple. Our protagonist, an IRS auditor begins to hear a voice that narrates his life perfectly (his every thought, feeling, and action). His life takes a drastic turn when the narrator informs him of his inevitable death.
This is a movie that deals with living life, breaking routine and accepting one’s mortality. This is not the hilarious comedy that I expected it to be, in fact, it only has a few scenes that are meant to be funny.
Bottom Line – despite it’s rather simple plot, Stranger than Fiction is a very deep movie with great acting. Unfortunately the genius idea behind this movie was not fully explored. I give this movie a 7/10
The West Bank Settlements. Jack Guef/AFP/Getty Images
On behalf of everyone here at Youth Are Awesome I’d like to wish every reader a happy holiday and a wonderful new year. I’m sure after the total lunar eclipse on the Winter Solstice everyone will be having a stellar time to make up for time lost. Hopefully the end of the year will draw everything to conclusion around the world and everyone will be able to enjoy spending some time with their loved ones.
…But for some the tensions have never been higher. Yes, this is about the Middle East. Let’s get down to business.
Recently Israelis have been constructing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Both are lands of tension between the the Israelis and the Palestinians in the area which the U.N. recognize as Palestinian sovereign states. Therefore any building of Israeli settlements are deemed to be illegitimate. The Israelis are arguing that all of their constructions take place within the terms of agreement over these lands decades ago.
Over these conflicts, the USA has tried to conduct parallel negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians, but it seems as if the Palestinians are sick of the negotiations not leading to any worthwhile results. Now backed with the possibility of U.N. intervention, Palestinians have a strong case on their hands where as the Israelis may need to look towards the USA for a veto in the U.N. being their long-time ally. However that veto may never come as the Obama administration has also called for halting of construction. At this rate the most they can try to do is hope that the Israelis will stop by themselves after pressure from the USA.
The conflict in Israel has never been resolved, nor might it ever be. However it seems this time that the Israelis may be fighting an uphill battle here. Without a guaranteed veto from the USA the Israelis may have isolated themselves internationally. The construction will obviously obstruct any current attempts at developing diplomatic relationships from passing through to both sides and the illegitimacy of this construction may work against the Israelis as intervention by the U.N. may tip the delicate balance in favor of the Palestinians. In the unstable climate of the Middle East, careful maneuvers are needed on both sides to avoid open physical confrontation, as that would certainly ruin a lot of people’s holidays.
A few weeks ago my friends and I decided to take a skiing lesson at COP. Yesterday we all took a trip down to the park for the “Discovery Skiing lesson.” After being led to the discovery tent we put on all of our gear, got sized up for skis, and left for the hills. It took about 10-15 minutes for our instructors to get started so it allowed us some time to get used to the strange sensation of ski boots, and as I looked around I realized that there were people of all different age groups participating in the lesson. After being taught how to walk up the hill in our boots (a seemingly easy task) we put on our skis and slid around for a few minutes.
Once we learned the basics (how to stop, how to turn and how to keep our balance) we took a trip to the top of the hill on the magic carpet. For me the carpet was the strangest and most difficult part of the lesson. For one thing it’s a challenge to get on and then another challenge to stay on. To avoid slipping backwards you have to dig the insides of your feet into the platform. I myself had a few mishaps on the carpet, but there was usually an instructor to help you if you started slipping back too far. The real fun began once we got to the top of the hill. Each person took turns going down with the “pizza technique.” It may sound strange but it is a life saver to beginner skiers.
The pizza technique allows you to slow down when you feel that you are going too fast. The bigger the pizza, the slower you will be. This is also a great technique for turning and stopping. Our group spent the rest of the lesson going down the hill while learning a few tricks here and there for speed and control.
Our instructors we’re great (we had three of them)! Everyone in the group received attention and care. They were encouraging and always willing to answer your questions. If your interested in skiing, I definitely recommend the Discovery skiing lesson. The instructors make you feel very welcome and so do the rest of the COP staff. The lessons seem to be reasonably priced since the fee includes the gear, the lesson and your lift pass (you can also stay as long as you want after the lesson to ski). Hopefully you guys will go out to COP sometime this Winter break and make the most of the snow.
A little inspiration became an actual adventure. My friend Jennifer and I took money out of our own pockets to make holiday gift bags for the homeless. Each bag contained a toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, hand sanitizer, a bar of soap, lip chap, a pair of mittens, a bottle of water, and a candy cane. We thought that these were the things that the less fortunate would need most for the holidays, and in general. We asked our friends Benny and Andy to join us and take part in our little project.
Despite the cold weather we decided to hand out the gifts by foot, rather than driving. This made the experience much more rewarding and made it feel real. It took about three hours to hand out all the gift bags because there weren’t too many homeless people on the streets; which is a good thing because that means they had a shelter to keep warm. We walked all around downtown, even past the homeless shelter! The reactions that we received were phenomenal, and was a reward on its own. Sometimes when we donate through companies and organizations, where the other end that your contributions go to, is often unknown. I was fortunate enough to experience and see the true reactions of those who needed my help. I plan to do this during the summer and next winter on the exact same date (almost like a tradition)!
Happy holidays everyone! And please enjoy this video my friend Benny put together out of our footage:
In this video, we follow two boys throughout a course of only one day. The boy on the left probably lives in a country like the United States or Canada. He has the luxuries of sleeping in a clean bed, eating delicious food, watching television and going to school. The boy on the right is not as lucky. Clearly he lives in an area like Cambodia, China, Vietnam or Thailand. This young boy, as well as many others who are probably under 14 years of age, must work in a sweatshop everyday to survive. They make shoes for companies like Nike and Puma, and don’t even make very much. In fact, these kids probably only make six cents a day at most. Six cents, some food, and a little place on the floor he shares with six other kids. His alarm or his mother wakes the American boy up peacefully, while the other boy must be kicked and hit on the head constantly.
Know that when you put on your Nikes, Pumas, Addidas’, or basically anything made in China, it was made by someone like him. If you paid $250 for it, the sweatshop probably got around 85 cents. The sweatshop owner made around 60 cents, while approximately 20 cents went to all the food and supplies required. About the last five or so cents was given to the maker.
This is the harsh truth. It’s hard to hear about how brutal this world has become, simply to increase the cheapness and profit of the product. Donate and help support organizations that are trying to put an end to workshops like this.
So I was on Twitter and I found that a lot of the people I follow had hash-tagged #P4A at the end of every tweet. I went on YouTube, and found out it stands for Project 4 Awesome! There were many videos featured so I clicked one and it led me to the channel of the guy who started this project. I watched some of the videos and learned that on Dec. 17 at noon-ish a bunch of people made their own YouTube video with the title Project For Awesome about their favourite charity; what it’s about, who is involved, how you can donate. Then they have to go like, favourite and comment on every Project For Awesome video they can find. This guy named Hank (the one who started the whole P4A thing) said that he and another person named John are going to donate one penny to charity for every comment on every video. That may seem like not very much but it really adds up! Go to http://www.projectforawesome.com/ to learn more about this great event.
I heard San Sebastian on MuchMusic’s disBand and thought their music was some of the best I have heard in awhile. San Sebastian is a Canada based rock band in Hamilton, Ontario. The band’s stardom was greatly overshadowed by the season one winners of disBand, Stereos and the true greatness of San Sebastian’s music was not greatly embraced. Unlike much of the other music that MuchMusic has played, San Sebastian has a hint of indie and rock which makes them uniquely different than the rest of power pop bands.
Take a gander at some of their music videos and listen to their songs. I hope this band can come back and rock the charts the way they should have done if the timing was better. Although some of my love for this band stems from their great underdog story it does not blind me from their musical talent.
As the Christmas holidays grow closer, I find myself daydreaming about presents and plans and decorations, but sadly, the reality is I won’t be able to really get into the Christmas spirit until school is out. My school work to-do list is impossibly long, sending me into near hysterics every time I think about it.
Thus, as I do in any time of peril, I turn to the greats.
Without further ado, here is my list of top ten quotes to get you through exams:
1. “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” -Albert Einstein (Don’t give up when the content gets tough.)
2. “Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they’ve got a second.” -William James (Just keep going!)
3. “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” -Friedrich Nietzsche (Remember your post-secondary goals! Keep your focus on what you’re working for!)
4. “You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humour in anything, even poverty, you can survive it.” -Bill Crosby (My friend spent his Saturday night studying, but instead of complaining he took a picture of his books and posted it on facebook saying, “My Saturday Night. Yeah, you’re jealous.”)
5. “Character- the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life- is the source from which self respect springs.” -Joan Didion (Do this for yourself. That’s where motivation comes from.)
6. “That which does not kill me makes me stronger.” -Friedrich Nietzsche (Next time exams come along, you’ll be a pro.)
7. “Clear your mind of can’t.” -Solon (Because you CAN do this!)
8. “There is joy in work. There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something.” -Henry Ford (Know that you’re moving forward, you’re getting things done, and be glad in that.)
9. “Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.” -Anonymous (Just wait, it’ll soon be over, and you’ll be wiser and more appreciative once this stressful time is done.)
10. “When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt (Good luck!)
Supporters of Julian Assange wait for his results from the extradition hearing. Courtesy of the New York Times.
As many of you might’ve read, Wikileaks, a whistle-blowing organization, is currently fighting to continue posting over 200,000 diplomatic cables and United States government information. These cables were reportedly obtained from a low-level Army Intelligence analyst. The content of these cables aren’t exactly volatile (the released documents are rather low-secrecy), however, this revelation has created dire diplomatic consequences for the United States. The release of these secret documents essentially allowed foreign government analysis into the workings of the United States diplomatic corps. Many prominent newspapers have published articles regarding these cables, namely the New York Times, the Guardian and De Spiegel.
The founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, has been marked for deportation back to Sweden for questioning regarding accusations of sexual harassment by two unnamed women. Generally, extradition should not be requested for questioning, as it could be done through indirect contact. if extradited from Britain, Assange could be open to extradition hearings from other nations, including the United States. Assange has denied these charges, while remaining in requested protective custody. Eventually, under pressure from the public, Julian Assange has been released on bail and Sweden has contested this ruling. But extradition is the least of his worries…
Quoting from the Daily Telegraph:
“Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice-presidential candidate, has called for him to be hunted down like the al-Qaeda leadership while other members of her party have directly called for a capital sentence against Wikileaks personnel.”
Bob Beckel of Fox News also has called for the assasination of a foreign national. Under international law, the United States cannot prosecute a foreign national for the crimes of treason, which many prominent American bloggers have suggested.
So essentially, many “radical” American media personalities and public figures have openly stated the intention of assasinating a foreign citizen who is not residing in the United States without a fair and open trial.
Hypocritical? I believe so. After decades of promoting its own country as democratic and just, it shocks me to hear how easily some prominent Americans believe that they can interfere in the proper government of other nations. I’m not anti-American, however, I find it quite entertaining to watch the right-wing media tear into Wikileaks everyday. Instead of persecuting the person that allegedly “stole” these documents, they are running a full crusade against Wikileaks. In their Twitter feed, the Wikileaks team has called out MasterCard, Visa, Paypal and Amazon for refusing service to the organization. Also, the main Wikileaks site has been under pressure from a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS). However, thousands of “mirror” sites have sprung up throughout the last month.
Overall, this may be one of the more interesting stories of the year. At what lengths will America go to protect some low secrecy documents? Will the right-wingers in American society shift public opinion? Will Assange be deported?
