Browsing Tag

MIT

Back to School Inspiration

When a teacher encourages students to pursue their passion, their influence deserves to be recognized and shared. The Our Kids Private School Expo blog hop provides a great opportunity to express why my media studies teacher, Alice Trachimovsky’s classes are among my best high school memories.

Once I saw how Mrs. T handled a group of immature boys while substituting for one of my grade ten classes, I knew she was a woman from whom I wanted to learn. The following year in grade eleven, her exciting creative assignments ranged from a shopping mall analysis to a full-fledged public service announcement campaign, for which I learned how to create a teaser. Leading enjoyable discussions is one of her specialties, especially when it comes to Lady Gaga and Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty. Her observational humour always piqued my friends’ interest in how the media industry operates, making it unsurprising that many of my high school classmates study MIT at Western now.

Smaller classes make it easier to form meaningful bonds that promote keeping in touch post-graduation. Three years later, Mrs. T and I still meet for coffee every summer to catch up (most recently at Aroma).

Mrs. T always supported my ambitions to ensure Hot On The Street lived on after its print editions and I’ll never forget when she challenged us to summarize an article in 140 characters.

A magical formula doesn’t move private school students from school A to first choice university B, and then onto dream job C – teachers play a fundamental role in helping students get there.

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September 6, 2012 by

Next Top Role Model

Elizabeth Bromstein, who earns a living commenting on celebrities, work and love, yet refrains from gossiping over dinner at the Spoke Club. Elizabeth’s published work reflects her wit and intelligence that earned her a spot on this list, but my favourite memories with @missbromstein involved meeting in person to discuss Twitter, food and life.

Hilary Duff, Hollywood’s eternal good girl whose [extended] team coined the term ‘momager’ and eventually married a Canadian hockey player.

Kelly Cutrone, a PR pro known for succinctly spreading the message Normal Gets You Nowhere. Both her books gave me a lot to think about – enough material for a term paper about The Culture of Celebrity. I’ll never forget when she pegged me as a journalist, or her knack for bringing people together.

Kelly Cutrone (May 2011)

Lauren O’Neil, a professional internetter and online creep with FIMS training at Western as well. She’s made the rounds helping brands improve their social media, running around Toronto to share insights, and then wound up at CBC, true to her roots in journalism. On a side note, it’d incredible to get us, Julie Geller, Matthew Stradiotto and Jerry Seinfeld in the same room and determine Ms. O’Nizzle’s ultimate job title. Patrick Thoburn can moderate.

Shania Twain, whose motivational life story and lyrics taught me the word ‘prerogative’ once upon a time when I played ‘Man! I Feel Like a Woman’ over and over again on my desktop karaoke software. Many thanks to the Toronto Star for organizing a contest to meet her in 2005, which marked the beginning of my winning streak, and to my pals at Indigo for reuniting us in 2011. I still don’t have a photo with her, but 3rd time’s the charm.

Tomorrow I’ll be of legal drinking age in the U.S. & Canada, so message me when you’re free for a champagne-inspired tweet up.

Cheers!

September 4, 2012 by

Material Girl

Prior to the Queen of Pop’s Super Bowl halftime show, I noticed she received lots of criticism, yet couldn’t fathom why. I’ve been a Madonna fan for as long as I can remember. Some of my early childhood memories include watching documentaries about how her career escalated before I was born and lip syncing singing along to her duet song, “Me Against the Music” with Britney Spears over the phone with a close friend. A few years ago, I even painted a ceramic plate with an iPod in the center and the tagline, “Get into the Groove.”

At 53, not only does she hold records for her chart-topping tracks, but she also looks incredible and shows no signs of slowing down. After dazzling us at the Air Canada Centre on her Sticky and Sweet Tour, where I regrettably didn’t buy an “Express Yourself” concert tee, it was difficult to see the superstar in a negative light.

Since “Give Me All Your Luvin’”, the first single from her 12th album, MDNA, debuted, reasons to dislike Madonna started becoming more apparent, but I find it hard to turn my back on one of my favourite performers.

Today Madonna made news because Malawi’s government officials are fed up with her donations that they feel are motivated too much by corporate interests in her global brand image than concern for children. When I first read the Toronto Star’s article, I mistook “state of the art girls school” and thought she’d arranged to build an arts school for girls because that sure would be thoughtful of her!

To be “fed up” with Madonna for wanting to improve Malawi’s education system is like being fed up with Angelina Jolie’s mass adoption spree or even Oprah’s generosity overseas for that matter. All of the above women have significant personal brands to protect, but along with their high status careers comes gigantic salaries and I hardly think we should criticize Madonna’s generosity to this extent. I hardly recall criticism from urban planners when Madge opened her first fitness centers in North America, so why so much outrage when she tries to do good in the world?

The blatantly excessive product placement in the “Give Me All Your Luvin’” music video was far from impressive, but it’s sure a catchy tune. That said, I confidently predict that it will not rank high on media professors’ list of video clips to show in future celebrity classes, the way that “Material Girl” was shown and then discussed at length last Friday at Western. They might as well just show separate commercials for Smirnoff, Adidas and whatever other brands were featured because aside from the ladies resembling Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Girls, the brands were the standout visuals in the video, and I certainly don’t mean that in a good way.

Madonna’s professional contributions to music, not to mention my iTunes library, combined with her ongoing philanthropic projects make her an icon to watch. I’m curious about what critics will say once MDNA’s full length tracks are released, but until then, let’s remember the positive memories Madonna offers fans and focus on that.

March 13, 2012 by

RT @muchmusic has a new #trending TV show.

MuchMusic is continually increasing their social media presence, such as by making their New Music Live (NML) show a trending topic in itself this past week. With their latest show, #trending, now on the air, Shit My Dad Says is less distinguishable as a Twitter-inspired TV show.

The pink graphics on the show’s webpage explicate that it’s a show geared primarily towards female fashionistas who admire MIT grad Liz Trinnear’s style. During her first “shopping haul” segment, Liz shares some great fashion finds with viewers, such as tie-dye tights and jewellery.

Their new show also has an interactive component, wherein they invite viewers to submit their own 5 minute-long videos about what’s trending in fashion and beauty.

#trending reminds me of other local shows that tell viewers about new places to find the coolest knick-knack or accessory, so I’m curious to see how MuchMusic maintains interest on a national scale.

February 4, 2011 by

Word on the Street

The following is inspired by a Microsoft commercial (see post below) and recaps some lessons learned in MIT.

Hey there, you may know me as Prince. I loved this past New Years Eve because who doesn’t like partying like it’s 20Ten and playing with meaning? That’s what Derrida promoted back in his day and I can see why. It’s exactly why I released some songs through a newspaper this past summer, as I like to do things differently.

People in this world need to be courageous and creative. Being a follower won’t get you anywhere but being called a copycat and I don’t want a CC of anyone else’s ideas. I prefer to spread my own ideas and I love how Web 2.0 lets me do just that.

That’s why I turn to the blogosphere to rant about whatever I feel like. Democratic communication is a beautiful thing and I think more people should recognize how they can use it for progressive social change. So many opportunities, yet so little time, but we got to stop procrastinating already and put an end to all this marginalization. There are simply way too many stereotypes circulating the WWW and it’s time that somebody does something about it!

It’s great that Kylie has the tools to capture, edit and share her photos, but let’s not forget that her distant relatives aren’t all as lucky. There’s some major social injustice in this world; someone’s got to fix that digital divide. When there are journalists who think a university campus could be ‘too Asian’, it seems impossible for everyone to be like one happy family in a global village. Kylie seems optimistic though. Hopefully her online habits won’t make her become the sad caricature of the computer enthusiast (you’re the man, Vincent Mosco).

The keyboard is like a sword sometimes; Kylie should be careful what she does with those little fingers. As Alan Turing says, communication is war continued by other means. So whether it’s for employment purposes, personal branding, or just an attempt to get a date on Saturday night, people should be careful what they say.

By creating a whole campaign based on binaries, Apple makes it seem like every day is national suit up day in uptight Seattle. You know what Microsoft should really do? Develop an app or add a feature to MS Word that helps people develop their craft in spoken word. It’s such a cool art form, yet many people don’t recognize that. It must be because they’re spending too much time fooling around with their shiny iTouch screens.

I’m thinking about booking a trip to Mexico so I can strengthen my muscles in one of Madonna’s new gyms. What a material girl, trying to put her name on everything. She’s always touring the world to reinvent herself. Well, wish me luck on my upcoming globe-trotting adventures (and come see the show if you can).

That white kid Bieber thinks he can take my place? He can try, but he can’t replace me or the king of pop, may he RIP. Michael was a fabulous performer. Plus, he practically named his son after me. Everything’s so pre-digested these days. We need more originality. Come on, you indie musicians, let’s hear it. Put your cultural capital to good use. You’ve got your freedom and I don’t see anyone handing you death threats, so get to it! I’m curious to see what bricolage budding musicians will mash-up next.

Here’s to making great cultural texts,

Cheers!

January 4, 2011 by