I don’t really know why huge facets of the American media are so unreasonable (also sensationalist, racist, ignorant, inaccurate, and irresponsible). I also don’t know why Jon Stewart speaks brilliantly, so infrequently.
Stewart joined the ranks of the right in their den at Fox News — to Bill O’Reilly’s show to discuss the state of America, and his thoughts on Obama. Watch the video here (but be prepared to buffer!)
Jon Stewart is a very smart man, though you wouldn’t necessarily know it if you’ve only seen his show occasionally. While it clearly takes a good brain to make thought-provoking jokes, it’s often difficult to take Stewart seriously when he’s criticizing a president, or a news organization in a stupid voice.
But then there are those brilliant times, like this time with O’Reilly, that I really have to stop and catch my breath.
I’ve reached a point where reasonable, intelligent words coming out of American media hosts is completely unexpected. Sure, not all of them are nut-bar, Teabaggers, but it is extremely rare to see anyone making points, whether positive of negative, without a hidden agenda.
Maybe I have low-standards, but Jon like this makes me swoon.
Watch the latest news video at video.foxnews.com
You can do a step class while watching TV!
It is not the same as the regular step classes (which totally fuck me up when they want me to clap and step at the same time), but it makes me far less guilty than I have ever felt while watching tv. The Wii remote makes clicking sounds, and I step up and down for 10 minutes. Simple as that. So while Addison and Mark are getting it on, I’m burning off the pudding. Wicked.
Also, I did 954 steps in 10 mintues – it was my first classification as a calorie roaster.
I had “gained .02″ lbs at the start of the workout and “0.9″ by the end. I’m not sure I trust the effectivenes. Tomorrow I will test out an outside scale
The trouble with committing to this challenge is that now I have to do it. So when I got home at 10pm, exhausted from staying up too late last night to play with the Wii, and I had to workout.
I could easily have come home and sat down with a good game of mario… but I guess that is the trouble with mario.
Official results – down 1.5 pounds, but that could easily be account for with the change in my pants. From now on I will wear the same weigh in clothes – “Biggest Loser” style.
Today I forced myself to try the two sections I avoided yesterday – yoga and strenth training. Turns out I’m actually wicked at yoga, at least as far as keeping my balance in the right place goes. Strength training? Not so much.
I’m not sure you’ve ever seen a push-up go bad so quickly. No upper body strength. No core strength. After collapsing 1.5 seconds in, there is only one conclusion to draw: pathetic.
Also, Ryan and I are totally going to broken up after this experiment.
“Awesome. New High Score!”
“Oh yeah, watch this”
We’re petty children fighting for attention… whose I don’t know.
I unlocked a new version of the step class – it suggested I clap to the rhythm which threw me off entirely. I didn’t realize until the end that it actually wasn’t recording if I clapped or not, it was only recording where I put my feet.
After doing several cardio exercises, I could feel my body warming up and I was really thirsty. But I didn’t exactly break a sweat. Perhaps with more practice, or perhaps with longer spurts of cardio.
Other things I am awesome at? Hula Hooping because the Wii doesn’t realize I don’t have a waist, and ski jumping.
I went by Wii workout time (the actual time spent doing exercises) instead of clock time since I have to waste half my life choosing the right trainer to use and switching exercises. 32 minutes clocked today. New Wii Fit Age: 33
My hips hurt. Tomorrow my abs will surely ache. My arms are safe and sound because of their inability to support my body for any length of time.
The Wii called me obese!
After struggling to get the machine to actually start up, I began the balance, weight, and Wii Age tests. The news isn’t good.
I apparently have poor balance – Wii asked me if I fall down a lot (the answer is yes), I am “obese” (I beg to differ) and I have a Wii age of 39 – 15 years older than my actual age.
Sigh. So far, not so good.
After Wii broke the bad news to me, it fattened up my Mii (who was purposely ugly to begin with, but now her pants don’t fit).
The first task I did was the aerobic step class. Unfortunately, the balance board was off and claimed I missed 50% of the steps. Now, I know I’m not a particularly coordinated or rhythmic person, but I guarantee I didn’t miss half the steps. Boo on that. It was a 1 star calorie burn, but I did get credit for the 3 minutes of exercise time. After 6 minutes of very slow stepping, I hate to admit it, but I was tired!
Next, Ryan and I “raced” eachother in a running race. Surrounded by other Miis, and a lead Mii (like a pilot car on the highway) to follow, we jogged in place. I was exhausted by the end of it, but since you can run slower or fast depending on how fast you shake your arms, I’m not convinced my “calorie roaster” status is accurate.
Next I hula hooped. This is one of those times that you’re really glad that the only person in the room is a man who loves you. I looked ridiculous as the hoop virtually circled my hips and I leaned side to side trying to catch hula hoops over my head.. And it was hard. I could feel my stomach/core muscles aching by the end.
I tried a few of the balance games but all I learned is that I’m unbalanced. No surprise there.
Tomorrow I’ll give strength training and yoga a shot.
I hate exercise. I hate going to the gym. I’d rather stay home and play video games. So that’s exactly what I’m going to do — and lose weight doing it.
I’ve always struggled with weight and exercise. I’m definitely feeling the post-Christmas pressure on my jeans, but it is hardly a state exclusive to the holiday season.
I’ve tried to explain to my fitter friends that it is not that I’m lazy (ok, sometimes it is because I am lazy) — I just don’t enjoy exercise. I’m not good at it. It’s a struggle every step of the way, and I don’t get any sort of “athlete’s high” when I’m done.
I’ve pushed myself to run a 10 km race, and learned to ride a bike in this terrifying city. I’ve been to gyms but everywhere I looked people were fitter, stronger, and thinner than me. Plus, you have to go outside in the slush, sleet, and snow to get to a gym in the first place.
This time, I am going to have fun losing weight.
As a child of the mid-eighties I grew up playing video games, but only simple ones like Tetris and Super Mario Bros. I was never a serious “gamer”, and most systems beyond Super Nintendo became too complicated or violent for my tastes. That is why like the Wii so much.
It’s easy to use and fun to play. The selling point has never been about the most realistic graphics or the best war games. It’s a throwback to simpler times with modern features.
In a sort of low-tech virtual reality system, Wii Sports allows me to spar with my boyfriend in a boxing match, or hit baseballs out of the park. The controller registers my movements as I simulate a physical activity: In Wii Bowling I step forward, bend my knee, bring my arm back, then forward to release the virtual ball down the alley. It looks ridiculous to bystanders, but is incredibly engaging and works up a sweat in no time.
The Wii Fit game introduced the balance board. It is a rectangular platform, much like a bathroom scale, that measures balance, movement, and weight. The games include traditional “exercise” activities like aerobic step class and strength training yoga routines, along with games like ski jumping and hula hooping that require balance and timing. The new addition of Wii Fit Plus allows players to save routines for a regular workout.
The motion sensitive controls and simple graphics have made video games accessible to people who would never have considered playing them before. My partner’s grandmother plays Wii in her nursing home, and my semi-retired aunt played Wii at a resort in Myrtle Beach. Even my twenty-something best friend, who has never touched a video game in her life, enjoys Wii.
I see Wii as an opportunity to think outside the exercise box. For 8 weeks I will transform my living room into a gym (marvellously free of strangers’ sweat) and make friends with the Wii virtual trainers. A cartoon version of me (a Mii) will replicate my simulated actions as I stand in a Yoga tree pose or run laps in place. I have no idea if it will work, but that is the beauty of an experiment.
If it ends up just being a regular video game with some fancy features, then people should know that. But if it does work and it helps people get healthier, then they should know that too. At the very least, it is better than watching TV.
Now the only thing left to do is buy one. . . or borrow one. They’re sold out all over town.
An article in the New York Times this morning suggests that the abundance of 3-D movies being released is ruining the lives of massive movie studios. That is, unless you’re the studio raking in billions from Avatar, which is is clogging up the few available American 3-D screens and still selling out the Imax 3-D and many other theatres in Toronto after 6 weeks.
Disney is afraid that they won’t be able to get Alice in Wonderland into pricier Imax and 3-D theatres if Avatar continues to perform as well as it has.
Warner “has just decided to convert” Clash of the Titans to 3-D to cash in on the mania. So despite their lame logic, they have good reason to be scared.
Avatar aside, there are 60 movies that are set to be released in 3-D over the next three years.
But I have to wonder, is all this 3-D is necessary?
I have seen four 3-D movies in my life (not counting Amity Ville Horror 3D that I rented sans the glasses in high school): Harry Potter (for 20 minutes at the end) Coraline, Up, and Avatar. In all four cases it was neat, but certainly not necessary.
I barely noticed the 3-D in Coraline (and at times it was disorienting). The images floating off the screen were neat in Up, but the dialogue and plot are what made the movie great. The brief addition of 3-D for the final battle in Harry Potter scared the crap out of me (dragons and bad guys up in my face) and was definitely worth the extra cash, but wouldn’t have been nearly as effective had it been for the whole film. And then there is Avatar.
Avatar was a terrible screenplay covered up by a breathtaking film. The jungle of Pandora, with it’s glowing foliage and jellyfish-like trees, is the setting of one of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen. 3D made it cool, but the motion capturing technology that made a digital Sigourney Weaver so very realistic was the awesome part.
3-D technology used to be special. Now it’s everywhere. It costs more, in many cases it doesn’t make that much of a difference, and theatres can’t handle it. People like it – but I don’t think they’d notice if it weren’t available.
Audiences aren’t exactly known for their discerning tastes, and what sells is what drives decision making. But maybe some of this wasted money could be spent on something better — whether it be other new forms of technology to keep movies evolving, or good movies that could use some mainstream attention. Afterall, audiences will bite on anything if enough money is thrown behind it.
This morning I listened to an old recording of CBC radio commentary segments my mother did when I was a child. She was a trained teacher, and an avid lover of books.
As part of a piece about child literacy and the importance of reading aloud to children, she read my favourite story, The Tiger Who Came To Tea, to me on the air. As she read, my two and a half year old voice interrupted with the words I knew, and other sounds that don’t appear to have been words at all. The joy in both of our voices is palpable.
My love of children’s books hasn’t faded since then. So when I was browsing the Internet recently, I was excited to come across OneMoreStory.com. It’s a clever site that offers an impressive audio collection of lesser known children’s stories. Kids can view the original illustrations from the printed book, and follow along with the text as they hear the story spoken aloud. The site boasts that “through a simple point and click process, children . . . can have the book read to them whenever they want.”
I listened to a whimsical and funny story called “The Rattletrap Car” about a family going to the beach in a rickety car. Along the way, the car needs to be fixed with ridiculous objects like beach balls, fudge, and sailboats. The images on the screen were exact replicas of those in the print copy. The words turned red to indicate the word I was hearing, and the sounds of silence and the appearance of a green arrow signalled it was time to “turn the page.” There was even musical accompaniment.
But I was disappointed. While there was nothing wrong with the website itself, and the stories available were lovely, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it felt wrong. Something was missing.
The voice that spoke the words to me sounded like someone’s mother. She may even have been someone’s mother, but she wasn’t my mother. She wasn’t anyone I’d ever met. I sat staring at a computer screen, listening to the words, alone.
My fondest memory of my mother is sitting on her lap, reading a book. Listening to her radio segment again brought tears to my eyes. It was clear that reading stories with my mum was not only essential for fostering a love of words, imagination and story telling, but also bonding with my mother, who died eight months after it was recorded.
The publishing world has been up in arms in recent years about e-books. The release of the Amazon Kindle in Canada has increased tensions. Publishers and authors are terrified that the presence of e-books will ruin the reading experience, infringe on copyrights and bankrupt the original industry. But whether adults give up physical books in lieu of fancier, digital versions hardly seems like the biggest issue at hand. The publishing industry, in time, will adapt to the new technology. What I am really worried about is whether or not children continue to experience books in the traditional way – or at all.
I don’t doubt that this website will help children learn to read. If people want to use sites like this as a supplement to their regular reading schedule with their children, then I think that’s great. What I am not OK with is letting technology take the place of parents in an activity as crucial to young children’s development as reading.
Most of the children I know have a vast amount of computer knowledge relative to their young ages and could easily access the books on this site on their own. Since sitting at a computer is rarely a two-person activity, and getting children to simply read seems to be the main goal of most reading programs, it is easy to imagine children enjoying these online books alone. But by leaving kids to be taught by a computer instead of a parent or caregiver, they are potentially missing out on a broader experience.
To quote my mum: “at the very least, story time provides an excuse for a cozy cuddle with your kid, and it’s a great opportunity for some guaranteed fun together.”
I want my future children to grow up reading. I want them to remember not only the stories they loved, but also the experience of reading those books with someone that loved them.
Rocco Rossi scares me.
It is not his height, or his shiny bald head. He scares me because he might win.
His platform, revealed in a speech(pdf) to the Empire Club last Thursday, is simple: “three priorities…fixing the city’s books…getting Toronto moving again…and attracting new economic growth.”
But to do that, according to Rossi, means selling off assets, destroying unions, and putting a moratorium on transit construction despite a huge gap between infrastructure and need. Oh yeah, and he wants to run cyclists off the road.
These are the policies of a man who doesn’t want to make Toronto better, but instead wants to win an election by playing the opposites game: If you give me the power I promise I will do the exact opposite of the guy who came before me.
It is what Stephen Harper did. It is what Mike Harris did. Hell, it is even what Obama did.
“When career politicians tell you not to vote for me, what they’re really saying is politics should be left in the hands of career politicians.”
Rossi’s speech was packed full with things like this – it doesn’t tell you why Rossi would be a great mayor, it merely glosses over the fact that he is inexperienced while at the same time separates him from the group currently running Toronto. If you hate City Hall, then this “argument” will probably reach you. But is has no substance. It isn’t based on thought, issues, or good planning. It is the argument of a man who wants to skate by on people’s anger and uncertainty.
Historically speaking, selling off assets has not made sense in the long term (407, anyone?), and battling gridlock by encouraging cars and discouraging other modes of transportation does not work. But despite Rossi’s flawed logic and promises he likely can’t keep, I think he still has a chance.
I’ve said it before: I like David Miller. Or at the very least, I respect him. Sure, he messed some things up, but David Miller’s ideas represented a Toronto that I wanted to live in.
Toronto is flawed right now, but it has the potential to be better. I don’t want to sit around and watch it hit rock bottom through a series of opposite-men before anyone realizes that a city is more than the roads people drive on.
Sometimes policies that are for the greater good and not just the bottom line take some getting used to. Sometimes the people in charge don’t get it right the first time. But simply tossing away any progress that has been made because it didn’t work perfectly is not a solution. It is also a good way to waste a bunch of money.
Many Torontonians are angry about garbage strikes and the state of the TTC. Others are mad because they think they have the right to the entire road. Some just like to complain.
But the idea what people will vote based on a knee-jerk reaction to David Miller sickens me. It is a pathetic way to go through life – not making decisions based on actual facts or thoughts but instead based on an odd combination of cynicism and apathy. If you don’t care, don’t vote. But don’t show up and vote uninformed, because I know you’ll still complain when it is all done.
If the role of government isn’t to make a place better, then what’s the point?
I am clinging to the idea that despite voting patterns in surrounding areas, Toronto is a relatively left-leaning city. But if Toronto goes in the direction of our Federal government, I will seriously have to question if it is the kind of city I want to live in.
I am, in general, not fond of most Facebook groups. They’re silly, indulgent, and in many cases, offensive. There are a few I can appreciate, but on the whole, they don’t work.
When the invitation to this group arrived in my inbox, I was fresh off the heels of being irritated by the status updates revealing bra colour
(bras = breasts = curing cancer?) and therefore probably more prone to irritation. But really?
“I Bet we could get 1000 Yukoner Fans b4 any Province Gets a Million Fans!!!“
Of all the things that are ridiculous about this group – the idea that Yukoners are so hard done by despite their hugely inflated territorial budget, or that somehow any similarly stupid groups “representing” provinces are making northerners look bad – what I really take issue with is the math, or lack thereof.
According to Wikipedia (which is as accurate as is necessary for a blog about Facebook):
Population of the Yukon 33,000
Population of Ontario, Canada’s most populated province, 13, 000, 000
Population of Canada 33,000,000
So just in case it isn’t clear, The Yukon is a thousandth of the size of Canada, not any province individually.
The goal of this group is to get 1000 members before any province can get 1,000,000.
Of course you can get to one thousand before a province can get to one million, you morons. A million is a waaaaay bigger number. Do some math.
This is why I tell people I’m from Toronto.
Seriously. Aren’t we over the Gosselin’s yet?
People Magazine, home of very serious news, made the announcement on their cover last week. Kate Gosselin, the woman known for her spacious womb and bad haircut, has a “new look”. (People seems to have orchestrated the event, but that’s beside the point). The magazine also revealed the all too familiar sentiment that that Gosselin was “starting over.”
Perhaps the move was inspired by the sheer humiliation that wigs of her signature, seemingly mullet-inspired, haircut were top-sellers across North America. Or maybe it was because her sleaze of an ex-husband found yet another new girlfriend.
But more likely it was because things like new haircuts on reality stars sell magazines. Like most people who are famous for being famous, Gosselin knows that keeping her name in the news is the only thing that is going to get her a new TV show now that she can no longer exploit her children’s daily routines. She’s clearly not an idiot. Amoral, but not an idiot.
I like gossip as much as the next person – ok, maybe more than the next person – but are we so desperate to forget our lives in someone else’s that this is news?
On the up side, at least I don’t have to hear about Tiger Woods anymore… oh wait. Nevermind. There he is again.
