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.
Usually, I would only review books written by award-winning authors, but I had to make an exception this time. “Got Fight?” is written by Forrest Griffin, one of the most loved and well-known MMA fighters out there. Watching his interviews, one can easily tell that the guy is hilarious, so I was quite excited when I found out that he has written two books already.
“Got Fight?” is supposed to be book where Forrest tells the readers how to be a “real man,” but in reality, this is a book of his hilarious and quite cynical take on the word. We are let into the world of Forrest Griffin, understanding his philosophy, learning of his past and his struggle towards stardom.
Bottom Line – if you are looking for a deep novel, this is not for you. But if you are a fan of MMA and want to know Forrest Griffin better, or want a good laugh, look no further. This book isn’t perfect but it’s fairly well written and I enjoyed it, I give it a 4/5. But I must also mention that this book contains content intended to be read by a mature audience.
Spoiler alert: This review will give significant plot developments away.
As the film starts, you will be able to sense strong themes of blackness and death. But just as I was immersed in a fierce fight with all of Harry’s friends disguised as him (through Polyjuice potion), the movie suddenly changed to finding the horcruxes. Too many clues and complexity of the names made it really difficult for me to understand the movie. Also, there were many internal thoughts from the main characters. Every time the main characters said a long name, I have to think about what character appeared in which movie and what was his role. This made my brain concentrate every minute of the movie. This was definetely not as relaxing as the previous six installments.
Unlike the previous movies where most of the setting was at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows was constantly changing its filming location because Harry was running from Voldemort’s crew. From the muggle world to mountains and plains then to forest, it definitely brought visual enjoyment to the viewers. There is also a scene where Luna’s father tells the main characters the deathly hallows story. This was presented in a shadow play, which I found fascinating.
The director putted two kisses in the film. The first was Harry and Ginny, who had her dress unzipped at the back. Then it was Hermione and Harry (in a fantasy scene) where they were half-naked and kissing. The second scene really made me speechless and I think this was definitely inappropriate for younger viewers.
The most depressing scene is when Dobby the house-elf saved Harry Potter and then died. The person right beside me actually took out a tissue to wipe her tears. Despite all that, this movie is a lot funnier than the previous movies, thanks to Ron. I guess in intense situations that Harry finds himself in this time, they need someone to lighten up the mood.
Overall, I find this movie not very exciting compared to 1-6, but I believe Harry fans won’t mind that since this is only the part one. I am really looking forward to the next movie which opens in July 2011.
A turtle, a Jack-O-Lantern, a piano, a balloon, and a dragon? When did these things ever come together in the same category?!
At Empty Bowls, of course. Last Thursday, the Youth Volunteer Corps (YVC) Steering Committee courageously headed down in the bitter cold to create ceramic bowls at the Wildflower Arts Center.
Empty Bowls is a project that calls for adults, youth and children in the community of Calgary to become aware of youth homelessness in Calgary and allows them to get involved. Volunteers of all ages create fantastic and beautiful ceramic bowls at the Wildflower Arts Centre, and then auction these bowls off in a fundraising event, where fellow Calgarians will purchase tickets to a mock-soup kitchen, allowing these guests to experience and remind them of the youth that go hungry in Calgary. Every year, the YVC Steering Committee chooses the proceeds from Empty Bowls to go a different youth organization; 2009 being Yahoo Youth Housing.
In a previous post, I was a member of the Summer Youth Steering Committee, committed research potential celebrities, and discussed what the design of what “fill-a-bowl” aspects of Empty Bowls would be. Now I was making them out of clay.
Slamming down thick pieces of clay and molding them into malleable clay bowl forms, the clay bowl making was an extremely fantastic outlet for creative expression, and stress relief. The YVC Steering Committee was definitely an advanced artistic group, as beautiful patterns and shapes emerged (mine was an attempt at a coiling dragon around a bowl), resulting in approximately 20 bowls. After the “flooding” of the art tables, I couldn’t wait to come back and make some more bowls. Music to lighten and create a comfortable atmosphere, chatting with friends, and a great cause were definitely great aspects of bowl making.
Come out and sign up to create great bowls as well! You can get involved here.
Who knew such a thing would cause so much commotion??
I was on Twitter the other day, reading this awesome YouTuber, Meekakitty’s tweets, and one caught my eye: “WHY AREN’T THE BEATLES ON ITUNES?!”
So I decided to investigate this. Sure enough, I checked on iTunes and the Beatles were nowhere to be found! This annoyed me as they are one of my favourite bands, and the fact that iTunes did not have them angered me.
After a while I kind of let this go, but then this morning in my third period Humanities class, my teacher shared with us that the Beatles are NOW, in fact, on iTunes. Somebody (probably Meekakitty) complained about it and the Apple workers researched old records and found as many songs as they could.
So I’m proud to say that they’ve always been on my iPod, so this doesn’t change my playlist much, but it’s great to hear that people give them gratitude for their hard work as a band. 🙂
PS: Thanks to my friend Aidan for giving me this great idea!
CHRISTMAS SONGS! Who doesn’t love Christmas songs? Remember snuggling under some cozy blankets with some hot chocolate and listening to those nice Christmas jingles during December? I do! I’m going to share some of my most favorite Christmas songs that I like to listen to. Comment with some of your favorite Christmas jams!
5. Last Christmas (Cover) – The Maine or Last Christmas – Wham!
Last Christmas, I gave you my heart! But the very next day, You gave it away! This year, to save me from tears! I’ll give it to someone special…
I am sure that everyone has hear this song, it has probably been remade a billion times. I personally like The Maine cover of the song but if you are a sucker for the classics then you will love the original Wham! song.
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4. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (Cover) – Jack Johnson
Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer had a very shiny nose!
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The sweet soothing acoustics of Jack Johnson and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer! What’s not to love?
3. It’s Christmas (What’s The Difference) – The Films
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A little on the depressing side of things, but the song still reminds us of the best season of the year!
2. Santa Claus is Coming to Town – Jackson 5
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Jackson 5 created an amazing cover to this song and it truly evokes the holiday spirit!
1. Merry Christmas Baby – Brighten (ft. The Maine)
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Another one my favorite indie bands making an amazing Christmas song with another great band!
I know it’s a little early for Christmas carols, but there’s snow outside so lets get ready!
Inserted Photograph into the "Too Asian" Article in the Macleans Magazine. Photograph by Andrew Tolson and Simon Hayter. Photograph courtesy of Macleans Magazine
While browsing through the latest collection of posts from my fellow bloggers, I chanced upon one by Tonny. The blog referred to the article published by Macleans named “Too Asian.” Within a few minutes, years of collected respect for the magazine was lost and Macleans was reduced to the same level as money-grabbing tabloids. The same article can be found at http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/11/10/too-asian/.
The article makes several jabs at the current university system and concludes quite definitively that a racist divide exists in our schools. The article arbitrarily labels several university such as U of T, UBC, and Waterloo. The article quotes two girls who claims to have chosen a different university from U of T because it was too “Asian.” The authors went as far as to imply that Asians do not have as much fun as Caucasians and therefore lack many of the skills to “do anything in [extracurricular] clubs” because they are too “academically focused.”
The article sparked many heated questions from me. First, why Asians? I mean there is certainly a great deal of disparity in the world and I believe that is very much part of the Canadian way of life. We offer basic coverage of social welfare but hard work and free will gets you to where you are. Just as more Caucasians are in politics, more women are in the arts and more Jewish individuals are in the medical sciences, there are more Asians in some business and science majors. Why were Asians chosen instead of any of those groups? The second would be, is the research valid? Sure, there are definitely some Asians that are as described: those that sacrifice fun for academic excellence. However, is it right to generalize on an entire race? Third, what’s the goal of the article? These inherent differences in race are not news and certainly existent. Nevertheless, why was the article published with so many stereotypical remarks?
The answer to those questions formed a rather negative view of Macleans. From my viewpoint, the article was nothing more than racially prejudiced information designed to attract more readers and targeted at a vulnerable minority. Little of its actual information has real merit. Furthermore, the information pieced together are only from relatively unknown sources instead of actually reliable people. When figures of authorities, such as the presidents of the respective universities, refute the statements of the article, the authors simply conclude that they “are in denial.” The merits of the article are scarce and its real function was to bring controversy and publicity.
Don’t get me wrong. There are certainly racial differences in belief and values. Nevertheless, Canada is not a country where we will judge a person based on race. It is not a place where an Asian person is inherent a “joy-killer” or lacking in non-academic skills. Canada is not a country where a White student should be selected over an equally or even more qualified Asian student into university admissions. Canada is certainly not a place where such ignorant and stereotypical comments should be published in such a renowned magazine article. As much as we respect the freedom of the press, the press does have a responsibility to the public as well and in publishing this article, Macleans has clearly neglected that responsibility.
The Four Seasons, the most popular Baroque music in history, was composed by Antonio Vivaldi in 1723. He was an Italian Baroque composer who was born in 1678 in Venice. He is known mainly for composing instrumental concertos, especially for the violin. While I was researching The Four seasons, the beautiful melody and themes entranced me. He seemed to express the characteristics of four seasons.
Each season has specific theme as it goes as along with four sonnets, which makes his music classified as program music (music that intends to evoke something extra musical). There is a theory that Vivaldi wrote music with sonnets and given that each sonnet; spring, summer, fall or winter, is broken down into three sections. Each movement has slow movement between two faster ones which is pretty obcious if you listen carefuly.
Friday the 13th was not as scary as I thought it was going to be. It had a very good plot and the movie kept you guessing about what was going to happen next.
The movie involves a group of friends that go missing when they go on a camping trip. Then the brother of one of the girls goes out to search for her for three months, and has no luck. When he tries to get the authorities involved, they do not believe him. He searches all over where they went missing, but all he finds is the dead bodies of the friends, and many other things.
I don’t want to give too much away, because you should watch this great movie to find out the end. I would suggest watching this movie with a parent, so you don’t get too scared, because there is some horrific scenes. Friday the 13th has many different interesting scenes with lots of action. If you like horror/action movies this movie is the one for you!
Images courtesy of Maclean's by ANDREW TOLSON/ SIMON HAYTER
Like many graduating high-schoolers, I will be applying for post-secondary education this year. In fact, compared to some of my colleagues, I am already one of the late ones to apply. This rush to grab available spots in universities is perhaps why one of the newest articles in Maclean’s magazine has caught my eye. The title is exactly that: Too Asian?
Let us look at the academic world around us as objectively as possible for a moment, especially in high schools. Living in Canada, you probably know people in your school that are of Chinese, Korean or Japanese descent. And out of those people, you probably know quite a few who are deemed to be academically superior than most, receiving marks that are of the upper echelon in your school.
Such notions are not rare in most high schools in Canada, yet in the past 25 years we have seen more and more Asian students taking spots in premier universities and some people are starting to feel that this might not be the best thing.
Frankie Mao, a 22-year old student at the University of British Columbia remembers his graduation clearly. It was the day when he would shed his high-school like and enter a life that was never before familiar to him. It was also the day when a Caucasian mother of another student confronted him and told him that her son didn’t receive a spot in the university because of immigrants like him taking them up. “I knew it was wrong, being generalized in this category,” he says, “But f–k, I worked hard for it.”
Of course Frankie worked hard for entrance into the university. In fact, statistics show that in general, Asian students do work harder than most other people in academics. The assumption is that they lack in extracurricular activities and are all book nerds, but that is a myth that has long been demonstrated to be false.
Universities in North America are meritocratic, meaning if you’ve got what it takes, you will be considered equally to others for a chance. Unfortunately this means that Canadian universities are now seeing a large proportion of their student body composed of Asians, particularly at the University of British Columbia, Toronto, and Queens. Of course I don’t mean that this is a bad thing academically. We should give higher education to those who earn it. Yet there are certain social repercussions that could follow this phenomena, which has been a growing concern in Ivy League schools in America for quite some time and the issue has just recently attracted attention from Canadians.
Universities should be meritocratic, especially in a free country like Canada. Unlike some American schools, we haven’t raised admission requirements significantly for Asian students in comparison to other ethnic groups. But can you imagine a Canada, claiming to be multicultural, to have its educated population be comprised solely of people of Asian descent? It could have a huge impact on racial relationship, immigration policies, and affect what it means to be truly Canadian. But what’s clear from this issue is that we don’t have the perfect multi-racial society we would like to think we have. We are, like the title to sociologist Thomas Espenshade book, “No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal.” And it’s probably unlikely that we will ever reach that utopic vision of a world. So the ball is in our court; as the next generation, how will we deal with issues such as this one? And being of Chinese descent myself, how different would the future be for my children in this country?
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, circa 1780, by Johann Nepomuk della Croce
This well-known portrait of Mozart isn’t what Mozart actually looked like, due to the fact that his portrait was painted only after his death and using details given by his wife.
Prior to a Mozart celebration concert by the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO), Kenneth Delong, music critic, and the Calgary Philharmonic Chorus gave a brief introduction into the background of our celebrated composer.
Mozart was a prodigal composer in the Classical Era, composing over 600 works for piano, choral, chamber and symphonic music. Already composing at the age of 5, by the age of 17 he was the court musician of the Salzberg Court. Hardworking and dedicating long hours to his compositions, Mozart worked at a fantastic pace to complete pieces at their deadlines. He advanced the emotional and technical aspects of music and incorporated much of the features of Baroque into his own music.
Antonio Salieri was a Italian composer and an envious rival and lived in the shadows of Mozart’s genius. Kenneth DeLong had compared the nature of both composer’s works, along the lines of, “…both musicians can be described like ice cream… Mozart and Salieri were both ice cream sundaes, but Mozart’s creation was the one you wanted.”
Mozart and Salieri- A Requiem for Mozart was an excellent performance surrounding the mysterious death of the great Mozart. Salieri’s rivalry with Mozart had been interpreted and reconstructed into theatre, film and opera. The infamous rumour of Salieri’s contributing role in Mozart’s death is expressed in this concert.
Opera was sung in Russian, and was wonderfully accompanied by subtitles overhead. Of course, many times, I would knowingly dismiss the subtitles, as the actors body language and beautiful voices often translated the meaning of the story for me. English wasn’t needed to enjoy the powerful and emotionally riveting performances.
Usually, I would only review books written by award-winning authors, but I had to make an exception this time. “Got Fight?” is written by Forrest Griffin, one of the most loved and well-known MMA fighters out there. Watching his interviews, one can easily tell that the guy is hilarious, so I was quite excited when I found out that he has written two books already.
Spoiler alert: This review will give significant plot developments away.
