A flash mob is…

A group of people who organize on the Internet and then quickly assemble in a public place, do something bizarre, and disperse.

Generally, flash mobs are a means of artistic expression.  Over the last few years – as I’m sure you may have noticed – there have been a bunch of flash mob YouTube videos that have become super popular.  With all the singing and dancing involved in each, it’s easy to see that these flash mobs are artistic, but they often double as publicity stunts (the first flash mob I saw on YouTube was from T-Mobile, and the latest one I’ve seen is from Glee/Fox), and I even know a few people who have organized flash mobs of their own.  We’ve seen people declare it Hammer Time, and even Oprah got into the spirit this year…  No matter what they’re purpose is, they are ridiculously entertaining, so as the decade comes to a close I thought I would share a few of the most well-known flash mob vids from the past few years with you:

I dare you to resist the urge to get up and dance after seeing the above.  There are tons of fantastic flash mob videos out there, so feel free to share your faves in the comment section below!

We’ve talked about year-end countdowns, and there are tons when it comes to pop culture, whether it be music, television, film, etc.

I recently came across this video from DJ Earworm called, “United State of Pop 2009 (Blame It on the Pop),” which eliminates the need for me to pick a favourite song or video for the year of 2009, and simplifies things by mashing all of the most popular tunes (and their corresponding music videos) from the year into 4 mins. and 45 secs. of pop awesomeness.

Bonus points to the reader who can name all the artists and their songs that appear in this video (leave it in the comments!) 🙂

We are off to enjoy some eggnog, play in the snow and check out all the holiday lights around the city, all while listening to some awesomely festive (and not-so-festive) music, and we hope you and your family are doing the same.

We’ll be back to our regular schedule on Monday.

Happy Holidays everyone!

– The Youth Are Awesome Team

This is the second in a series of posts dedicated to athletes who were legends in their respective sports!

Today’s Sport: Soccer

There have been many fantastic players who have shaped the world of soccer today.  However, the greatest of all time would have to be Edison Arantes do Nascimento, or “Pele.”  He dominated the game for over two decades, and his passion on the field was unmatched.

Throughout his career, Pele has been given many awards, including Athlete of the Century, and was inducted as a member of the American National Soccer Hall of Fame.  He is the only player to have three World Cup medals, and scored 1280 goals in 1363 games.

Pele’s legacy will last forever; he revolutionized the game around the world, and truly made soccer the best sport in the world.

– Kaiz

There’s a new opportunity in Calgary for those of you (and your families) who are looking to start the new year off with a bang.  X-Weighted: Families is a reality show which will be shown on the Slice network that wants to inspire everyone to get healthy in 2010, and to get involved in all the awesome activities throughout the city that are both fun and active.

This sounds like a really wicked opportunity for families in Calgary, and could be a really good bonding and learning experience for everyone involved.  If you’re interested in participating, check out the poster below and chat with your parents about it – you could be a TV star before you know it 🙂

Now don’t get me wrong I love Christmas and I especially love winter.  I like going skating, drinking hot chocolate and having to deal with my hands becoming lobster claws when I put mittens on, but my favourite part might just be the music.  Dean Martin classics are great, but somedays I like to rock out to the sounds of “Anti-Christmas.”  Here are the ones currently on my list of 25 Most Played Songs:

Fall Out Boy – Yule Shoot Your Eye Out

Blink 182 – Won’t Be Home For Christmas

Something Corporate – Forget December

Death Cab for Cutie (Covers Mariah Carey) – Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

Sufjan Stevens – That Was The Worst Christmas Ever!

Now after all that, this song also tops my 25 Most Played Songs…

So make sure you soak up the snow while its here and make the most of this Christmas!

Earlier this year, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was released in theaters.  For all of you that may not have had the chance to see it then, it is now on DVD!  On December 8th, the sixth movie was released to the public.  This is definitely my pick for your Friday movie night if you haven’t had the chance to watch it yet.  Take a look below for a brief synopsis:

Harry Potter and his friends are now in their sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft, and in both wizard and muggle worlds, Lord Voldemort and his henchmen are becoming increasingly active.  With a staff vacancy to fill at Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledor persuades Horace Slughorn to come back from retirement to become the Potions teacher, while Professor Snape receives some long awaited news.  Throughout the novel, Harry, together with Dumbledore, must face treacherous tasks to defeat his evil nemesis.

For the few of you that might not be able to make it out to rent the movie, click here for a more detailed synopsis. It does include some major movie spoilers though!

‘Did that statue just blink and move?’

The answer  is yes,  it actually did, but that is no ordinary statue…. it is a ‘living statue‘!

What is a  ‘living statue’?  It is a person with realistic makeup, and costume who poses very still for a certain period of time, acting like a statue.

There are 8 living statues  scattered throughout Chinook Centre, each different and unique.  My personal favorite is the ‘Wizard’, who looks kind of like Ghandalf and was dressed in a navy blue robe and held a wooden staff.  I thought it was a life size Christmas decoration until he suddenly moved his staff !

Standing for hours barely moving,  that takes a lot of patience and skill.

If you have not seen these living statues at Chinook Centre yet, there is still some time as they will be on display until December 24th.  Their hours are 11AM- 3PM, and 4PM-8PM,  and on December 24th you will only be able to see them between 11AM- 3PM.  I highly recommend going in the morning or some time early in the day,  when it is less crowded so you can have time to look at the statues and not feel rushed.

Unfortunately, I did not take any picture of them…my apologies!  That just means you will have to take a trip to Chinook to see these incredible statues!

Windows’ Paint is soooooooooooo 5 minutes ago.  Thanks to the internet, you don’t even need your own computer, or a pad of paper and a pencil in order to let the artist inside of you roam free.

For the painter in you, there’s Artpad – you can paint and paint (digitally, of course) to your heart’s content and then let your painting “hang” in the site’s gallery, or check out other people’s work (you can even watch how they “painted” it, from start to finish).  Some of the art that people have done for the site is pretty incredible!

Let loose and enjoy 🙂

A few weeks ago I came across this website: What Does the Internet Think?

The premise is simple: it answers the question that the site’s title asks.

Wanna know how people are feeling about Tiger Woods?  How about what everyone thinks about puppies?  Well, What Does the Internet Think? takes a look at the big search engines to find out what the general online opinion is on practically any topic you can think of, and then graphs the results.

Now that you are out of school for the holidays, take a look and enjoy.  And btw, in case you were wondering, “The internet is mainly positive on the subject of puppies, according to results from Google.”

Storm Thief is a novel by author Chris Wooding.  The novel is set in the future on an island-city known as Orokos.  Orokos is constantly threatened by “probability storms” – random storms that warp reality and can make anything happen.  There is war on the island along with crime and cruelty.  The force of governance on the island is corrupted and ineffective at keeping order and the people are segregated.

The story follows Rail and Moa, two professional thieves.  Their lives change when they discovered a piece of technology that belonged to an extremely advanced and extinct race.  Soon they are on the run knowing that capture means death.  On the way they meet the character of Vago, and the three outcasts make a journey across the islands facing countless threats and making giant discoveries.

This novel explores themes like prejudice, corruption, war, and humanity’s need for order, all in an action packed adventure.  This book is fast paced and intense, but at the same time, it is deep and meaningful.

I would recommend this novel to anyone above the age of 13, but this novel will require a higher level of understanding to truly appreciate it.