After a short hiatus, I'M BACK (=

Stay tuned for a blog post tomorrow!

In the meantime, I hope everyone is having an amazing summer.

- Samantha

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)

For those of us who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were a big part of our childhood. However, everything we have grown up to know could be turned upside down by a new live-action movie adaptation.

Michael Bay an American film producer has taken on the role to direct a new movie titled “Ninja Turtles”. But wait a minute… there is no mention of “mutant” in the title. That is because Bay revealed that the characters will be aliens in the new film.

At the Lincoln Centre in New York for Nickelodeon Upfront 2012 he stated, “these turtles are from an alien race and they are going to be tough, edgy, funny and completely lovable”. 

                                              Michael Bay at Nickelodeon Upfront 2012

There is an uproar because the characters are turtles, they have always been turtles and now there going to be aliens? I don’t understand Bay’s reasoning for this, but he is sure getting a lot of backlash for the decision. In my opinion you can’t change the origin of where characters came from, we all know they were baby turtles who got splashed with a mutagenic ooze, and that their NOT aliens.

The movie is set to release Christmas 2013, so don’t have your expectations to high if you’re a die hard fan.

Kony 2012

Kony 2012 Campaign Poster

A video released by the charity Invisible Children called Kony 2012 has received a lot of attention on social media and across the world. The 29-minute video revolves around Joseph Kony a Ugandan warlord; the video has gone viral attracting more than 100 million viewers. The video looks not to make Joseph Kony famous, but to create awareness around the crimes he has committed.

It is said that Kony has abducted over 60,000 children and made them become soldiers in his rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army. Although the Lord’s Resistance Army is not longer active in Uganda, they still advocate for brutal crimes against civilians. For 26 years, Joseph Kony has tortured, killed and mutilated people so Invisible Children is pushing for his arrest. They want him to be an example of international justice.

The group raised $5 million in less than 48 hours. However there is controversy as to where that money will go. Last year of the $8.6 million raised only 32% went directly to Uganda.

Although the issue runs deeper than can ever be expressed in words the Kony 2012 video aims to bring justice and awareness. Here is the video.

Snooki is Pregnant

Snooki + Jionni = ♥ 

This weekend the big trend on Twitter has revolved around 'Snooki". Snooki (Nicole Polozzi) the star of reality television show Jersey Shore is PREGNANT. Not only is Snooki three months pregnant, but also she got engaged this past weekend to long time boyfriend Jionni LaValle.

Snooki has been in the spotlight since her debuts on the reality show Jersey Shore in 2009. After appearing as a belligerent party girl who couldn’t control herself, Snooki became the target of public distain. However, with over 4.5 million followers on Twitter Snooki still has many loyal fans. 

Jimmy Kimmel is seen below commenting on the recent pregnancy news. He even pokes fun at her alcoholic tendencies and goes to show a picture of Snooki reading a book titled “What to Drink When You’re Expecting”. 

According to Snooki the, "the pregnancy rumor started because I was in Vegas, at one of the clubs ... and I didn't want to drink," Snooki told TVGuide.com. She only denied being pregnant in early February because she did not want to jinx anything by making an announcement before her third month of pregnancy.

If Snooki is ready to take on the responsibility of being a parent and ready to give up her partying ways, then I’m behind her 100%. Do you think Snooki is ready to be a parent? 

NHL Trade Deadline Day 2012

TSN TRADECENTRE

Yestreday it all started with “TradeCentre” trending on Twitter. For those who are don’t follow the NHL closely, “TradeCentre” refers to a TSN special event that keeps people updated about every move made on and before NHL Trade Deadline Day.

The NHL trade deadline past at 3 p.m. today. It was a big day for the 2011-12 NHL season as no trades can happen for the remainder of the season. As one of the most anticipated days in regard to the NHL, many teams try to make last minute trades with hopes of coming out on top in the near Stanley Cup playoffs. However, for many teams leaving trades to the last minute may be a risky move. According to fans it was a disappointing day as there were only 16 trades made today.

The Stanley Cup

Some of the top trades for the 2011-12 trade deadline:
• Detroit sends D Mike Commodore to Tampa for a conditional 7th-round pick in 2013 

• Toronto sends D Keith Aulie to Tampa Bay for W Carter Ashton 

• Edmonton trades D Tom Gilbert to Minnesota for D Nick Schultz

Stay tuned for the Stanley Cup playoffs starting April 13th, 2012.

Roll Up the Rim to Win

Tim Hortons has been trending all day and I could not figure out why until I noticed… its that time of year again – RRRoll Up the Rim! If you haven’t guessed, today is the first day of Tim Hortons’ Roll Up the Rim to Win campaign. 

Roll Up the Rim began in 1986 to reward loyal guests by giving them the opportunity to win prizes with the purchase of a hot beverage. The rules are simple: buy any hot beverage (excluding extra smalls) and then roll up the rim to see if you won a prize. You can claim your prize until May 21st, 2012. 

The 2012 prize list includes:
• 40 Toyota Camry Hybrids
• 100 Panasonic 3D TV packages
• 1,000 Coleman camping package
• 5,000 Panasonic digital camera
• 25,000 $100 Tim Hortons giftcards
• Over 41 million of food prizes 

Being a student I don’t have a lot of money to spend on coffee, but having a chance to win a free coffee, yet alone a car is enough incentive for me to keep buying Tim Hortons. For that reason alone I think this campaign is brilliant.

A fun fact: Paul Kind a Canadian inventor appeared on Dragon’s Den to debut his “Rimroller”. A Rimroller is a mechanical device used for rolling up the rim on coffee cups. 

I am an avid coffee drinker, so I only thought it was necessary to make a trip to Tim Hortons today.

I had high hopes of winning, seeing as the odds of winning are 1 in 6. However, I did not win anything this time.

Good luck and have fun rolling up those rims! 

RIP Whitney Houston

A picture from Whitney Houston's album "I Look To You"

On Saturday I came across something that I thought I would never see; 9/10 trends on Twitter were regarding the late Whitney Houston. There were over 2.5 million tweets within an hour of Houston’s death and by 24 hours there were 35 million tweets, making it the most-tweeted event in Twitter history.

The 48 year-old pop star was found dead in her hotel room on Saturday, only a few hours before she was supposed to go to the pre-Grammy gala. There has been no official determination of death, although any information regarding the autopsy is not being released to the public. However, there were no signs of foul play Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter stated, but he declined to say anything about the hotel room’s condition. 

I want this blog post to be a reminder of the great things that Whitney Houston has accomplished over her lifetime. Not only did she inspire a generation of people, but she made unforgettable music. She will always be remembered for her voice and career, but most importantly she will remain a legend within the music community and around the world.

This is my favourite Whitney Houston music video. I can remember bouncing around my living room in the early 90's dancing to this song. 

You should also check out the tribute to Whitney Houston performed at the 54th Grammy Awards by Jennifer Hudson. 

Trending Today - #TopChefCanada

Top Chef Canada Season 2 Premiere

On March 12, season 2 of Top Chef Canada

will be premiering. Top Chef Canada is a reality show that features contestants (who are all chefs) who compete against each other in culinary competitions. A panel of renowned chefs judges the contestants’ food creations, they eliminate contestants every week until there is one left standing. The winner gets $100,000 and is crowned Canada’s Top Chef.

The premiere is over a month away, but the show is trending because the names of the contestants were released this morning. There are contestants from all over Canada including Toronto, Calgary, and Ottawa. People are already tweeting and cheering for contestants from their hometown.

Although the show is a remake of the original American version, the Canadian version is doing well for ratings. The first season of “Top Chef Canada” was the top-rated show in Food Network Canada’s history.

Here is the Top Chef Canada Season 2 Teaser.

Overall I think it is important to have Canadian television shows to demonstrate Canadian culture. It is important to give talented Canadians, such as the chefs featured on the show an equal opportunity (as Americans) to make it in the culinary world.

Do you think it is important to have shows featuring Canadians? Or do you think Top Chef Canada is just a simple rip off of American culture? 

Trending Today - #FerrisBueller

Matthew’s Day Off: Super Bowl 2012 Commercial

Matthew Broderick in Ferris Bueller's Day Off

With the Super Bowl coming up this Sunday there is a lot of buzz around the commercials that will be played during the game. In particular there has been a lot of buzz around a commercial featuring Matthew Broderick who is the star of the 1986 flick “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”. The commercial features Broderick skipping out on a day of work and living it up with his Honda CR-V. There are over two-dozen references to the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” within the commercial.

My favourite part of the Super Bowl is the commercials; every year the commercials find a way to out do the ones from the previous year. The 2011 Super Bowl attracted more then 163 million viewers making it the most watched program of any kind in American television history. This one event allows for organizations to hit a mass audience with one advertisement, so the commercial must stand out in order to be remembered. I feel that this Honda commercial will stick out because the play off Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is funny and many people will remember the humour.

The only bad thing about watching the Super Bowl in Canada (which is where I will be watching) is that Canadians do not get to see these commercials. Canadians usually have to wait until the day after the Super Bowl to see these American commercials. I know that I will be on YouTube the day after watching the highlighted commercials.

What do you think about Super Bowl commercials? Do you think they deserve this much buzz?

Here is the extended version of the commercial. Enjoy :)

The Beginning of Twitter Trends

 Twitter is an online social networking service and microblogging service that was launched in 2006. It has since skyrocketed and attracts more then 300 million users. Just like many other users Twitter has become a second home to me. I am constantly online tweeting, retweeting and following trends. I would say that I spend about 99% of my online time using Twitter. I love Twitter so much that it was even my Halloween costume in 2011.

To me Twitter is so much more than a social media site, it is an outlet for breaking news, a chance to voice your opinion and connect with people who have interesting things to say. One of my favourite things to do on Twitter is to follow trends. To be more specific Wikipedia states that a trend is: "a word, phrase or topic that is tagged at a greater rate than other tags is said to be a trending topic. Trending topics become popular either through a concerted effort by users or because of an event that prompts people to talk about one specific topic".

The most frustrating thing about Twitter is seeing something trending, but having no idea what the subject matter pertains too. Not everything can be summarized in 140 characters, which is the maximum length of a tweet. So – this blog will not only clarify and show different trends on Twitter, but I will also give my own personal thoughts on the subject matter.

As a student, people do not always take me seriously or listen to what I have to say, but I have thoughts and ideas that I want to share with the world. I want to educate people on things happening around the world and give them an outlet to share their opinions and thoughts. So if you're ready, come along for the ride and follow trends on Twitter with me!