Top 5 Places to Study

1.) Twiggs- Let’s face it, this new social gathering hotspot is a great place to study. The front windows are usually lined with people diligently working on laptops. This Café is Wi-Fi friendly, and serves a decent cup of coffee. So if you’re looking for somewhere new to learn, go and explore Starbucks Twiggs Coffee Roasters for your next studying excursion.

2.) EC Library- This is a common spot to study for any Nipissing/ Canadore student. It has the option of two Wi-Fi connections (Nipissing is faster than Canadore’s connection). With all the books, resources and friendly staff that will help you cite APA or MLA you’ll surely be on your way writing that paper. The one downside is many students choose to hang out, procrastinate, and chat (I’m one of them). It’s a great place to study (until the new Learning Library is built) but, you might spend most of your time catching up with friends or making continuous cafeteria runs.

3.) Living room watching TV- It might not sound like the greatest place to study, and that’s because it isn’t. Many of us choose to study or read in front of a TV which usually ends up getting us sidetracked. At least if you don’t study you’ll know who won the Monday Night Football game. AND if your next Ancient Greece paper on HOMER mentions The Simpsons, take your studying elsewhere.

4.) In bed- This is probably one of the most comfy places to sit and read.  Make sure you have bright lights on and a warm cup of coffee so you don’t fall asleep. There’s nothing worse than waking up at 9:03AM for an 8:30AM exam. Here's a hint: Use two alarm clocks! 

5.) Alley behind Lucky 13- This location was bumped from 4th to 5th in just one year. Although it might seem like a friendly environment to share notes, and read a few chapters… it’s not. Please don’t study in the alley behind Lucky 13, its dangerous and you won’t retain anything.

It's not as friendly at night.

A Mission for Whiskey.

          This past Saturday night I decided to stay in. I thought I would take a seat on my roommate’s relatively busted lay-z-boy and watch “The Social Network.” I’ll have to thank Columbia Pictures for letting me borrow a DVD screener of this unreleased movie.

          My roommates and I were sitting around, eating food, and watching the movie together. I noticed my roommate Jack seemed very anxious. I could tell he was really looking forward to a night out on the town, filled with whiskey and partying. Unfortunately his bank account has been running a little low lately so he couldn’t afford to go out (it was the first time he would have to stay in since Y2K).

        
          “Man, do we have any booze in this house?” Jack asked very seriously.

          “I think there might be a bottle of wine lying around (over fermented by now) and some ALCOOL.” I answered.  “But now that I think about it, Lloyd (my other roommate) and I buried a bottle of whiskey in the yard... we were saving it for a rainy day.”

          “Really? Do you think I could dig it up and we’ll all share it?”

          “Yeah man, if you feel like digging it up it’s all yours. It’s in the backyard by the shed." I replied. [Just to make sure we were telling the truth Jack asked what kind of whiskey was it to both me and Lloyd. Luckily we both answered Canadian Club]

          Sure enough, Jack bundled up and off to the backyard he went. He brought a makeshift shovel with him, which was a knife taped to a golf club. Me and my three other roommates watched from the window as he trekked out into the snow, on a mission for whiskey. After 10-15minutes of what looked to be painstaking digging, I finally called him and let him know that he had been Punk’d.

          But, this time there was no Ashton Kutcher, and there was no bottle of whiskey. Just some laughs with the roommates on a Saturday night.

          Quote of the night: “I’d rather spend all night digging for whiskey that isn’t there, than drink ALCOOL.”- Jack

The Deathly Hallows review

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010) 
Directed by: David Yates


          Today I’m reviewing the latest Harry Potter movie, The Deathly Hallows. I went down to the Galaxy last Sunday night to catch the 10:00PM show. It was easily one of the iciest days I’ve ever seen, which resulted in the spinning tires and fishtailing, but we took our time and eventually arrived. The idea was to go to East Side Mario’s for their movie deal ($20 dinner and a movie), but they were closed.  So we settled for McDonalds, enjoyed a few free coffees… and then slid our way over to the Galaxy (at 6km/h).

          To start, I’ve read a few of the Harry Potter books back in public school and remember not being able to put them down. I’ve also seen a few of the movies and thought they were pretty well done, and as the story progresses the movies become more directed at a mature audience. I know this franchise has a large following from people of all ages, so it’ll be a blockbuster regardless of how good it actually is.

          Once I found a good seat near the middle, I demolished a pack of mini-eggs and was good to go. To my surprise there was only ONE preview… what a rip! As soon as that Harry Potter theme kicked in the theatre when silent and Harry had our full attention.

          From what I gathered, everyone wants Harry Potter dead. Throughout the movie Harry is being stalked, and a few of his friends get injured or killed trying to protect him. All of Harry’s friends disguise themselves as him which was pretty hilarious. And when Harry is trying to get into some high security locations they use other people’s bodies... again hilarious. The movie is filled with some amazing CG fight scenes and even emotion (yes, there was a few tears shed on Sunday night).

Harry Potter's Owl.

          *This movie was also leaked to the internet before the premier, but it is doing just fine in the box office.

          Overall, for any Harry Potter fan this is definitely a great movie. I’m not going to lie, I didn't understand some of it, or know characters names but it didn’t really matter. There was a pretty epic part in the movie that definitely had the theatre choked up SPOILER ALERT highlight text Dobby dies by getting a dagger through his body at the end.  Also, Harry's Bird dies..
          I did however find a lot of similarities between this Harry Potter movie and Lord of the Rings. Just a few to note are:

1. Dobby= Gollum

2. Ron and Harry fight, Ron leaves= Frodo and Sam fight, Frodo leaves

3. Ron wears necklace and turns into a jerk= Frodo wears the ring on his neck and also turns into jerk

4. Dumbledore=Gandalf

       Overall I’ll have to give Harry Potter 4.5 dead Dobby’s out of 5.

The Best Free Album Ever.

           Today I’ll be taking a look at the new Girl Talk album “All Day.” And one thing’s for sure, the mash-up king/ biomedical research engineer Gregg Gillis is back! This is Gregg’s fifth album, and definitely one of his finest.

           The album contains 12 songs (or just one long track), which samples almost 400 artists. Check out Wikipedia to see if he added any of your favourites into the mix. The tracks have everything from Van Halen and Flock of Seagulls to 50 cent and Michael Jackson.

           I’m not entirely into the mash-up/remix type music but this is definitely an exception. It’s the kind of album that will blow you away the first time you listen to it and leave you wanting more. You might even ask yourself “Did Prince and Busta Ryhmes just make love in my ear?”, and the answer is yes… yes they did.

           His music has been labeled by many as controversial, because of American laws surrounding copyright infringement. He feels that there is nothing wrong with mashing-up existing music to make it something completely dissimilar. Maybe that's why the label he's on is called ILLEGAL ART? Gregg has even been featured in Brett Gaylor’s “R!P- A remix manifesto” documentary (based on contemporary issues surrounding copyright infringement).

           If you didn’t get a chance to check out Girl Talk on campus this year I highly recommend you give his free album “All Day” a listen… you won’t be disappointed. It's a great album to listen to at the gym, in your house, and on the dancefloor. You can download the album as a full continuous song, or broken up into 12 tracks. You might also need WinRAR to open the file (and gain access to a folder full of the mp3’s and album art).

• Download Girl Talk’s “All Day” album click here.
• For WinRAR click here.
• To watch “R!P- A Remix Manifesto” click here.
• ***Listen to Girl Talk's "All Day" album click here. (this webiste will also let you know which artist is playing at each specific time)

The End of an Era

            Usually during the days leading up to Christmas people are happy, excited and filled with holiday cheer. But, this year is going to be a little different. For me and my friends this is going to be a time of sorrow, sadness, and the feeling of being alone. That’s right this December 23^rd The Showcase Original “Kenny VS Spenny” will be undergoing its series finale. The one hour special will air at 9:00PM on Showcase.

           After 6 long seasons (87 episodes), 87 challenges this duo will have their final shot at glory in one final challenge. It’s going to be a Christmas special and the challenge will be based around “Who can make a better Christmas-themed variety show.”

           It is definitely one of the most underrated shows out there. I’ve seen every single episode and can honestly say that there wasn’t a bad one. A few of the episodes were even written/produced by the creators of South Park (Matt Stone, Trey Parker). Some of my favourtie challenges include:

• Who can drink the most beer? Kenny wins by drinking non-alcoholic beer. Humiliation:  Spenny is forced to eat Kenny’s puke.
• Who can win a 10 mile race? Kenny tricks Spenny into thinking that Kennys mom dies (sends Spenny to a random funeral). Spenny realizes that Ms Hotz isn’t dead, and comes back to win the 10 mile race… because Kenny was walking. Humiliation: Kenny gets spanked by his mom
• Who can imitate the other guy better? This was an absolutely incredible episode. Both Kenny and Spenny perform very obnoxious imitations of each other. Kenny ends up winning because spenny breaks character. Humiliation: Spencer must say rude things to people on the street based on what Kenny tells him to via earpiece.

Early in their careers

            I’m really hoping that Kenny will beat Spenny one last time, and take his methods of cheating to a whole new level. Wikipedia will tell you that Kenny has won about 70% of the contests (obviously cheating for all of them). 

            Both Kenny Hotz and Spencer Rice are moving on with their lives, and each undertaking new projects that will air on Showcase next year. Spenny is starting a new show called "Single White Spenny", and Kenny has a new show called "Kenny Hotz's- Triumph of the Will" and both will air on Showcase.

           
           This is truly the end of an era, but I look forward to seeing it all wrap up. For more information on Kenny Hotz or Spencer Rice check out Showcase.

Nipissing University is getting an ASTROTURF soccer field…

      
          Well not really, but it should. And don’t stop reading because you think that I suckered you in to reading this article with my eye catching title. The idea of Nipissing getting a turf field has been thrown around for years, and has never been classified as a “need”, but more of a “want.” Well I’m here to let you know that it is in fact a dire “need” from the students, athletes, programs, and just about anyone affiliated with the University. I’m going to outline a couple of key reasons that I feel we need an artificial turf field:

Fall in North Bay= mud

• The Deep North- It’s where we live. Typically Northern Ontario sees about 6 months (at least) of dark, cold, snowy winter. This dramatically shortens our grass field’s lifespan because we can’t really play much in the spring or fall. A Turf field can be used all year round, rain or shine, and even during the toughest winters.
• Academics- There’s a very real need in our academic programs (specifically the Schulich School of Education) for a more sustainable field. What I mean by sustainable is a field that will be usable all year round, with low maintenance ...and classes won’t have be cancelled for the BPHE and Education students because it’s too muddy.
• Athletics- Lets be serious, we’re one of the last universities in Ontario without a turf field. Actually, now that I think about it there are more and more high schools every year (in this province) that have successfully fundraised for a synthetic field. We’ve had to cancel OUA games and even pay money to play on city fields. Our Athletics Department also has to re-seed, irrigate, and maintain the field every year... which can be very demanding job.
• Student Life- Universities that do have turf fields are usually booked solid from early in the morning until late at night. We’d finally have a place to play catch with friends, intermurals, or do just about anything.

You wouldn't see these divots on Turf.

• Recruitment/Retention of students- Students typically choose a university based on the "extras" it has to offer. Nipissing University has a lot of "extras," but I think along with our outstanding residences, new library, athletic centre expansion, new research wing, and one of the country’s best student bars I think a turf field would fit in nicely.
• Revenue- Nipissing could have the only Turf field in North Bay, and they next closest one would be a few hundred miles (yes miles) away. This brings opportunity for hosting soccer, ultimate frisbee, and other tournaments= money!
• Partnership- Nipissing shares a gym with Canadore College, but we also have our own, The Robert J. Surtees Athletic Centre.  SO maybe it’s time to partner up again, just like the libraries, and engage in a joint venture building this field.

The future of Nipissing?

           So there it is... I’ve laid out all kinds of reasons why I think we “need” this field. Obviously nothing will happen without the financial backing from investors/sponsors, and support from university community. With a price tag of just under a million dollars (that’s all!) we’d have to come up with some pretty creative ways to raise the capital... maybe selling turf for $171.00 per square yard could be a start?

*OUA soccer fields are 70x100 yards= 7000 square yards, there’s a million dollar price tag to build a turf field, which costs roughly $171.00 per square yard

Thanks for reading this post, and be sure to vote in the POLL to the right!>>>

Covert Salesman.

      
          Instead of blogging about another bad movie I watched, I thought I would let you in on a little secret. Netflix is amazing. As an avid movie watcher who is a regular at the Galaxy, and just about every torrent website, I can never seem to find enough movies. Currently I download movies direct and watch them through a Playstation 3, or stream them on my laptop. And so far it’s worked out pretty decent. But sometimes I don’t want the inconvenience of having to look for movies, and wait for them to download. Having a digital library of new and old movies would be much more efficient and enjoyable. So where can I find an online collection of movies, that won’t take long to download and that I can watch on more than my PS3?

           Well, after chatting with my friend Blake about movies, he mentioned a company called Netflix (aren’t they the guys who rent DVDs via snail-mail?). And at first I thought he was trying to ‘haggle’ me, like some sort of covert salesman. He made it seem too good to be true... so I was a little hesitant to try it out. “There’s a 30 day free trial” he said, “You won’t be disappointed.”

           ”Something tells me that this guy is definitely working for Netflix, but maybe I’ll give it a try” I thought to myself.

           Within 30 seconds of being on the Netflix website, I’m streaming movies instantly in HD for free (and no I'm not a Netflix salesman). I landed myself the 30 day free trial, and have every device in the house streaming movies and TV shows.  If I decided to keep it after the trial, it’s going to set me back a whopping $8.00 a month. My roommates have agreed to each pitch in2 bucks monthly (legal agreement pending), so it’s actually insanely affordable.

           At the end of the day Netflix has a bunch of pros, and a few cons. Pros: cheap, high quality, fast streaming movies, on up to 6 unique devices (iphone, laptop, ps3, etc). Cons: there’s not a huge library (but it changes monthly), accepts credit card/ pay-pal only, and my roommates likely won’t pay me... but I know where they live J

           Also, Blake isn’t (and wasn’t?) a Netflix salesman. 

Money can’t buy (the Leafs) happiness…

     
           Ever since October 7^th when the Toronto Maple Leafs took out the Montreal Canadians in a shocking 3-2 home opener victory, everyone has been saying that "The Leafs are going to win the Stanley Cup!" Surely this is just a passionate belief that the diehard Leaf fans have year after year. But how come every year we get more and more disappointed with the Buds? They haven’t made the playoffs since the 2003/2004 seaon... which is the same year that the black eyed peas released the song: where is the love.

The Leafs: currently holding down last place in the North East

               

           If Canada claims to be the largest hockey nation, its largest city is Toronto, and the richest team in the NHL is the Toronto Maple Leafs (I’m like 95% sure of those stats) why can’t we make the playoffs? It’s because we suck. Well… not we as in us, but we as in them.

           The first clear sign of failure is the goal tending. JS Giguere is currently ranked 27/30 goalies, and tied for last place in WINS column. Nice. I think the Leafs need to be proactive and pull Giguere (which means they’d play with an empty net. It’s worth a shot, pun intended). Or even if they dusted of some of their past ‘tenders they used to have like: Potvin, Belfour (although he might be drunk), or even Cujo they might have a chance.

           Even if they can keep the puck out of their net, they still can’t get points so it doesn’t matter. They don’t have a single player in the top 30 for points, assists, or goals (with the exception of Kessel, but his whopping 8 goals doesn’t counter his constant minus rating on the +/- scale).

I told you Ron wasn't sweet.

           And lastly, Ron Wilson isn’t sweet. In his two seasons coaching the Leafs he’s been responsible for records like 34-48 in 2009 and 30-52 in 2010 (those records his over time losses). So it’s now time to say “Hey Ronnie, things just aren’t quite working out, pack your stuff and GTFO.*” And if I can just go off on a bit more of a tangent here and say that when the Dallas Cowboys weren’t doing well this season, guess who got the boot?

           Most people who bash the Leafs are usually Senators fans, and most people who bash Senators are Leaf fans... but the reality is that I'm a Panther fan (Florida Panthers, not to be confused with Canadore*). AND they're doing just fine one spot ahead of the leafs in the eastern conference.

GTFO*- "Get the fun out"

Canadore*- "A College team, that is also has a better shot at playoffs than the Leafs.

Useless and obscure stats.

I literally just started blogging this week (aside from my Tumblr which is only for pictures), and now I’m going to add a bit of ranting because that's what blogs are for. Right now, I’m kicking back in my roommate’s relatively busted lazy-boy watching a little MNF (Monday Night Football). It’s now roughly 60-30 for the Philadelphia Eagles over the Washington Redskins. Wonderful. But, I got a little annoyed when the commentator mentioned yet another useless and obscure statistic.  “Michael Vick, now has the record for having: 300+ yards, 4 passing touchdowns, 2 rushing touchdowns, 50+ rushing yards, in a first game back.” Ok, whatever that means.  I don’t see this record being broken anytime soon, or anyone caring about it in the first place.

                So you’re telling me that in order to break this record I have to get injured  (take a game off), then come back, and do four other things on top of that? That means that there are six variables involved with this record setting equation.  This record has become so ambiguous that calculating the likelihood of it happening again would even give Einstein a headache.

From: NFL.COM, directly following the game.

           The statistics I want to read about are ones where an athlete reaches a point/goals/touchdown landmark. Like when Gretzky scored his one millionth goal, that was sweet... or when Kobe Bryant scored 81 points in a game, awesome.

The fact is that I really don’t care if Peyton manning has the most passing yards in a wildcard game, when the wind was blowing 7mp/h South West. So the next time that you’re watching football, or any form of sports on TV... listen very carefully and ask yourself “Was that just another useless obscure stat?” Because it probably was.

Janitor on the roof.

           September- The school bell rings, and for the next twenty minutes we’re all free. Whether it’s a game of red-rover or football, we own the school yard three times a day. Some of us choose to play out in the soccer field, others by the jungle-gym, and some of us jump rope on the pavement. But, for a very select few of us the brick wall is where our dreams come true. The name of the game is “Red-butt”, “Red-ass” is the street version, and “Peg-Kid” is the underground name… but these are just a few of the names we used to call it.

           Here’s the object of the game: Throw a ball of the brick wall, and then try to catch it. If you’re successful give it another chuck. If you fail to catch the ball then you better run full speed, touch the brick wall (and try to avoid taking a shot off of the spine).

          But on occasion, one of us will throw the ball a little too high, or maybe the wind picks up, and the ball lands on the school roof. Roofed! Usually we can conjure up another ball and the game will continue until the recess bell sounds again. But what happens to all those lost balls?

          For months and months we wonder if we’ll ever get our balls back. There must just be a pile of them on top of the school right? Slowly the wonder drifts away as the snow falls, and we begin building forts and playing with balls made of snow. But, with winter follows spring and we can go back to chucking our tennis balls off the side of the school again.

           June- Nearing the end of the school year, playing Red-Butt in the sweltering hot sun. And then all of the sudden a silhouette emerges on the school roof. “Its god!” yells one kid. But in fact it’s the school janitor (also known as caretaker, custodian, or concierge). Like shooting stars, thousands of balls land amongst a sea of hands. The students gather their long lost balls, and their dreams return home again.

Nipissing University Blog Contest!

I have never really been much of a blogger, but I thought now would be a good time to document my exploits. So I made a Blogger account and I’m going to use it to share stories with you! But currently the cyberspace we used to know is changing. What do all of these new social-networking mediums do and how do I choose one? I personally grew up on Myspace, it was a really cool way to communicate with friends and was/is great for listening to music. But now there’s thousands of ways to share information and communicate: Friendster, Bebo, Blogster, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, and Plenty of fish (lolz), just to name a few. And we’ve all heard the horror stories of people not getting hired for jobs because of the “OMG DRUNK IN FLORIDA” album they uploaded to Facebook. So how do we make the right decisions online?

                          
           Well, if you’re having trouble deciding what website to use for your social endeavours... you’ll have to do a little research! There are all kinds of sites out there that offer a variety of services that can suit your needs. Facebook being a clear choice for most people (500 million users and counting), and Twitter is a close second (because those who tweet, are sweet!). Maybe do a little research within your group of friends because there’s no point in ‘tumbling’ your latest blog if you don’t know anyone with a Tumblr to share with!

      So here’s a quick guide to making the right decisions:

1.       Only pick a couple of social networking mediums, it’s easier for you to manage and for your friends to follow

2.       Privacy! No matter what site you go with, read the privacy settings/agreement to make sure you’re not screwing yourself over.

3.       Be relevant. Remember the time you tweeted “eating an apple”? Or you checked in at McDonalds? Let’s try and stick to posting stuff that’s worth reading! ... I really hope this was worth reading ha ha ha!

4.       If you want to see where society is heading with social networking check out this video “Flutter: The new Twitter”