March 2013
5 posts
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Albertans need to stop drinking the PC Kool-Aid
(Originally published in the Weal.)
The 2013 Alberta budget is cutting from our future, to pay off the deficit from their uncontrollable spending habits.
The budget, which includes no new taxes or increased expenses, seems to consist solely of cuts to essential programs, many of which are education.
It’s a far cry from the promise that the Progressive Conservatives ran on – their 2012 election...
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Health Canada’s E-Cig restrictions deserve to go...
(Originally published at The Weal.)
Health Canada has currently banned a healthier alternative to smoking, while keeping cigarettes available in every corner store—it’s a move that makes no sense, and needs to be reversed.
E-cigarettes contain no smoke, no tobacco and have fewer toxins than their paper alternative. They cost less than cigarettes, as one e-cigarette cartridge is equal in size...
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CRTC’s measures are just the beginning
(Originally published in the Weal.) According to the big three wireless and cell providers in Canada (Bell, Rogers and Telus), protecting customers from incurring ridiculous costs by setting caps on their bills is bad for customers and bad for competition.
The statement was made by a Telus representative to a panel of CRTC employees at the Gatineau, Quebec hearing, and echoed by representatives...
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Crackdown on social media ‘thinspiration’ fails,...
(Originally published in the Weal, and on Maclean’s Magazine’s website.)
The Internet has been great for spawning subcultures—Star Trek geeks, fantasy football fans and progressive rock nerds have their own corners of the net to meet up in. Unfortunately, not all communities online are positive, and some are even harmful. For those who have been affected by an eating disorder, this...
February 2013
2 posts
“Not every opinion is valid”
(Originally published at The Weal).
Only a couple hours after Carleton University’s Students of Liberty group installed a “free speech” wall on Jan. 21, it was torn down by a freedom of speech crusader and human rights student. No, this isn’t an article from The Onion.
Students had installed the wall in the Unicenter Galleria, one of the most popular spots on campus, in an attempt to foster...
Manti Te’o – who cares?
(Originally published at the Weal.)
Manti Te’o’s fake girlfriend scandal was one of the biggest international news items since the hoax came out on Jan. 16.
For those that somehow managed to avoid it, here’s a summary – Manti Te’o is a linebacker for the University of Notre Dame. While he lived in Hawaii, he was one of the most praised high school football players in Hawaiian history. At Notre...
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Idle No More needs to stop idling
(Originally published in the print edition of The Weal.)
Idle No More hasn’t exactly been a successful movement so far. They’re struggling to get their message out – no, the movement isn’t just about keeping your car running while you’re parked – and many of those that understand the cause think it’s a desperate and undeserving bid for attention.
Unfortunately, it’s a pretty noble cause that’s...
January 2013
7 posts
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Ear Candy
(Originally published at Calgary is Awesome.)
Ear Candy is “a Calgary based audio boutique built on a foundation of passion and creativity… and some say, a modicum of madness,” according to their website, anyway. They’ve worked on television, movies, short films, and of course music and advertising. I was introduced to the studio, and sound guru Beau Shiminsky, through a group I had...
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Car shares needed
(Illustration by Brent Constantin. Article originally published in the Weal.)
The City of Calgary isn’t designed to be walkable, bikeable or easily traversed by transit. You’d think this would leave driving around the city as the smoothest way to travel, but as anyone who has ever tried to head south on Deerfoot at 4 p.m. on a snowy Friday in January can tell you, that’s definitely not the...
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Is legalizing marijuana the right move?
(Originally published in the Weal. Illustration by Steven Krentz.)
Leaders from Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, and other countries in Central and South America are pushing for the United States to switch from their current prohibitionist model of marijuana legislation. They’re hoping for decriminalization, or even legalization, following Washington and Colorado’s decisions on Nov. 6 to legalize...
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Canadian gun legislation riddled with bullet holes
(Originally published in the print edition of The Weal.)
On Dec. 13, 2012—one day before the tragic Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, Connecticut—Canada made it possible for arms manufacturers to export prohibited fully automatic weapons to Colombia. While Canada—unlike the United States—has a low number of firearm homicides, Colombia does not.
According to a 2010 report by the Organization of...
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THE CALGARY ZOO WANTS TO KNOW – COULD YOU SURVIVE...
(Originally published at Calgary is Awesome.)
Could you survive in a lifeboat with a tiger? It’s a strange question, but one that the Calgary Zoo would like to help you answer.
Life of Pi, a film based on Saskatchewan author Yann Martel’s novel of the same name – and filmed almost entirely in Montreal – has been nominated for 11 Oscars. The story follows the protagonist, Pi, as he travels...
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Why are we so afraid of nudity?
(Originally published in the Weal.)
The Classification and Rating Administration (CARA, a division of the Motion Picture Association of America) chooses what ratings to assign to films based on one main guideline – “to reflect what they believe would be the majority view of their fellow American parents in assigning a rating to a film,” according to their website.
That principle holds true...
December 2012
10 posts
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One Book, One Calgary has Calgarians reading...
(Originally posted at The Press.)
One Book, One Calgary, an initiative by the Calgary Public Library, just wrapped up its third annual ‘book club’ program with an astounding 2,000 Calgarians checking in as having read The Book of Awesome.
The One Book program chooses one book each year for Calgarians to read and discuss together.
The book club is accompanied by a variety of programs and events...
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Ho, ho, hold on to your credit cards
(Originally published in the Weal.)
The winter holidays—a time for joy, family, warmth, happiness, and crippling debt. Sounds like good ol’ fashioned Christmas cheer, right?
According to the Bank of Montreal’s annual Holiday Spending Outlook, Canadians are planning to spend an average of 15 per cent more this year ($1,610, up from 2011’s $1,397). One in five respondents didn’t plan on budgeting...
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$1000 Thursday at the Central Library
(Photos by Brett Rieger.)
There was a lot of awesome going around at the Calgary Public Library’s Central Library location on Nov. 22. Calgary’s chapter of the Awesome Foundation, in conjunction with One Book One Calgary, decided to hold their monthly Pitch Night in the south main atrium of the library.
The Awesome Foundation lives up to its name pretty well – the organization wants to...
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MANipulating stereotypes
(Originally published in the Weal.)
At first glance, masculine stereotypes seem like an enormously positive thing. Men, at least in Western culture, are expected to be strong, brave, hard-working, stoic, and assertive. They promote qualities that many people aspire to. Just below the surface, however, are some less-than-fun connotations to those expectations – ‘strong’ can mean confrontational;...
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Innovation, with Ben Reed
(Photo by Brent Calver.)
Innovation, creativity, industriousness, innovation – Ben Reed has a lot going on. The co-founder of Maker Faire and former director at Protospace will be speaking as a part of One Book, One Calgary, about some of the amazing initiatives and projects he’s discovered happening in Calgary at the Central Library’s John Dutton Theatre, November 27, 7:00 p.m.
According to...
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Why label it?
(This piece was originally published in the Weal, for a segment in which all editors were asked to define their thoughts on modern masculinity. You can read the other editors’ responses on theweal.com.)
Masculinity is no longer relevant. We’re past the age of idealizing Doc Savage, James Bond, Indiana Jones, for all of their perceived ‘manly’ qualities. The word creates a dualism –...
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50 reasons the Calgary Public Library is Awesome
(Photos courtesy the Community Heritage and Family History Digital Library-Calgary Public Library.)
The Fish Creek Library is the library I grew up with. I developed a pretty regular routine during the summers as a kid – cycling there, grabbing as many books as I could fit and rushing off for home, returning a few weeks later to shamefully pay my egregious late fees with my allowance and grab...
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How to be AWESOME with Dr. Patrick Finn
(Photos by Brett Rieger.) “Calgary is the centre of a new renaissance,” – and Dr. Patrick Finn certainly fits in to his idea of Calgary. One of Avenue Magazine’s 40 under 40, the professor, writer, designer, and self-described computer geek is somewhat of a renaissance man himself, not just the “strange bald man driving a smart car who works at the university” that he likes to describe himself...
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Moderation in… moderation
(Originally published in The Weal.)
A bit of hedonism goes a long way
Bad things are always more fun. No kid would ever choose broccoli over candy. The former is good for you, and the latter leads to not-so-fun consequences like obesity and rotten teeth – but nine times out of 10 when presented with the two options, a kid would have the candy unwrapped before you can say “diabetes.”
Of course,...
November 2012
2 posts
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Giveaway: Mon Ami Screening
Over at Calgary is Awesome, we’re giving away four tickets to the Calgary premiere of Canadian comedy-horror film Mon ami. Click here to win tickets!
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Calgary's awesome history with Harry Sanders
Pictures courtesy of the Community Heritage and Family History Digital Library-Calgary Public Library.
Sure, Calgary’s awesome now – but it used to be too. Just ask Calgary Heritage Authority’s Historian Laureate, Harry Sanders. Harry has devoted his life to exploring Calgary’s history. He’s written six books on the subject, a series of columns for the Calgary Sun, taught listeners with his...
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This month I’ll be publishing a series of articles as the beat writer for the Calgary Public Library’s One Book, One Calgary program. The first article is up at Calgary is Awesome - stay tuned to our site for awesome events happening all November.
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This education brought to you by Pepsi
If trustees approve a new plan introduced in September by the Calgary Board of Education, kids could soon be studying for a math test in the Pepsi Library.
It seems a lot like something out of a science fiction novel. In Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, student projects and schools are sponsored by corporations that snap up the brightest pupils as employees and keep many of the others as...
October 2012
12 posts
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CIFF 2012: Antiviral (Black Carpet Gala)
Photographer: Stacy Wong (http://www.sawphotography.ca/)
(Originally posted at Calgary is Awesome.)
At CIFF’s black carpet gala on Sept. 28, the line-ups wrapped around the block for the Globe theatre. It was no shock – Brandon Cronenberg (yes, the son of that Cronenberg) was on scene with his debut film Antiviral, a dark, satirical, thriller with plenty of twisted imagery that harkens back...
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The Great Space Debate at Telus Spark: Alien Life?
Are we really alone in the universe?
Or is there life out there beyond the stars.
Maybe, according to the experts who participated in a U of C Science Cafe event Oct. 4 at TELUS Spark.
The event, which was titled The Great Space Debate, was held as part of TELUS Spark’s Astronomy Night, which runs on the first Thursday of the month.
Science Cafés are held monthly between September and May each...
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MAKING SOLAR ENERGY ‘SIMPLER’
Sunlight is an amazing energy source – but one that can definitely be tricky to harness. One issue that often plagues solar panel installation is misalignment. Installations often use expensive solar tracking systems. These trackers are multi-axis platforms that direct a solar panel or reflector towards the sun – using electricity and often costing up to or over 25 per cent of a panel’s initial...
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The great debate?
(Illustration by Sarah Pynoo.)
Right now, Americans are gearing up for Nov. 6, when they will elect their next president and vice president. The forerunners, current POTUS, Barack Obama of the Democratic Party, who is running with his vice-president Joe Biden, is up against Mitt Romney of the Republican Party, with vice-presidential hopeful Paul Ryan.
The candidates have been duking it out...
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CIFF 2012: VANISHING POINT
(Crossposted to Calgary is Awesome.)
Two cultures in distant lands connected by a shaman in their mutual pasts. An always changing environment that needs to be adapted to. A dying language. A journey.
It sounds like the latest fantasy novel from George R.R. Martin or J.R.R. Tolkein – but really it’s a documentary by two Canmore filmmakers who happened to stumble upon an incredible story to...
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Student Housing Crisis
(Originally published in The Press.)
Many students are struggling to find a place to live, with available accommodations plummeting and rent on the rise.
According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the apartment vacancy rate fell from 5.3 per cent to 2.5 per cent from April of 2010 to 2012.
With the school year just under way, residences are full at SAIT, the U of C and...
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Today I’m a guest on my friend Corey Hales’ podcast. Tune in to “Geektionary” to listen to me awkwardly ramble about NASA for 45 minutes.
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Get your hands dirty at Calgary parks
(Originally published in the print and online editions of the Weal.)
Like it or not, we’re all going to have to get our hands a little dirty over the next few months. Calgary has a ton of public park space (according to the 2011 census, one park for every 17,316 Calgarians to be exact), and all of a sudden there’s a lot less maintenance staff to handle it.
Due to a council decision last year to...
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September 2012
12 posts
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TICKET GIVEAWAY: I'm Fine, Thanks
Over at Calgary is Awesome we have two tickets to give away for the screening of I’m Fine, Thanks, taking place at the Plaza Theatre on October 17th at 6PM. To throw your hat in the ring to win the tickets, you can:
a) “Like” our Facebook Page and post on our wall that you’d like to win tickets to the film.
b) Follow us at @ciawesome on Twitter and tweet “I want to win tickets to I’m Fine,...
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Vet-U-Can Open House
(Cross-posted to Calgary is Awesome.)
With all the open houses taking place this weekend as part of Doors Open YYC, I thought I would introduce you to one event that might be a little bit off the radar. The University of Calgary’s faculty of Veterinary Medicine is presenting Vet-U-Can, a family friendly open house run by students. The open house will showcase different hands-on approaches to...
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REVIEW: 13 MOST BEAUTIFUL, WAS, ACTUALLY, PRETTY...
Crossposted to Calgary is Awesome.
The Theatre Junction GRAND was almost too obvious a setting for 13 Most Beautiful… Songs for Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests. The Grand, the Factory, Dean and Britta, and 13 Most Beautiful are all reincarnations of earlier things, remixes if you will.
The Grand, as it was known in its first incarnation when it was built in 1912, was known as the best and most...
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Don't Get Scammed
One of Calgary’s most wanted, Kristopher Nicholas Cook, 28, was arrested in Victoria B.C. on Sept. 11 on two counts of fraud over $5,000. Cook held a fundraiser at Calgary nightclub Broken City in July, 2011 to raise money for his cancer treatments. It came to light shortly after that Cook had lied about having cancer. Through a variety of social media sites – a Tumblr blog, Reddit, Facebook,...
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Local Film Spotlight: Jason Wan Lim
“Filmmaking interests everyone. It is the recording of the human experience. As writers, we love the ability to shape the words before they go into your head, to carve out our sentiments unchangeably before we pass them on to you. It’s this control of expression that we love. Filmmaking is much more complicated and is much more complete an artistic expression than writing. In this...
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Are you car-dependant? This indie filmmaker wants...
(Cross-posted to Calgary is Awesome)
With one of the lowest walkability scores in North America, a climate and infrastructure that makes biking pretty tricky, a public transit system that is frequently criticized, and a vast network of highways and suburbs, it’s no surprise that 80 per cent of Calgarians drive to work.
However, some people are committed to living a low-car (or no-car)...
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Why We Should Be Angry About Akin
(Cross-posted to The Emery Weal web and print editions).
Over the past few months in the United States, women’s rights have been taking a few steps back. And by a few steps, I mean a few hundred years.
Politicians limiting access to birth control, fighting against women’s health clinics, and women making lower salaries than men – it’s scary stuff.
Perhaps the scariest is the latest comment...
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Putting a Spin on the Schoolboard
The Calgary Board of Education sparked controversy on Aug. 27 with the announcement that they were advertising to hire two media relations managers during a time of financial cutbacks.
Due to budget shortfalls, the CBE has implemented a new fee model that has parents paying separately for lunch hour supervision and busing. While the CBE’s recently passed $1.1 billion budget is slightly higher...
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Local Film Spotlight: Transcendence
Thomas Robert Lee is a local writer/filmmaker. Lee graduated from SAIT Polytechnic’s Film and Video Production Program in 2010, and is now working on Transcendence, his feature length debut. Transcendence is a poignant, introspective science-fiction drama. The film follows William Fischer, a man forced to re-evaluate himself after a debilitating accident on the night of his 30th birthday....
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Interview: Mayor Naheed Nenshi
I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to sit down with Mayor Naheed Nenshi last week. We chatted about the Avengers, good Indian food, and what’s awesome about Calgary - among other things. Click over to Calgary is Awesome to read the interview!
http://calgaryisawesome.com/2012/09/10/good-peeps-mayor-naheed-nenshi/
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Legend of a Warrior
Film is a great medium for communication. No one knows this better than Calgary director Corey Lee, who chose to reconnect with his estranged father, Frank Lee, through a documentary. The film, Legend of a Warrior, explores Corey’s relationship with his father, Frank Lee, a Canadian martial arts legend.
Corey, now well-known himself for his film work (most notably his debut feature...
