My Official Gas Prices Rant

It's delayed but it's still an issue. I remembering seeing the price at 115/Litre just in April and nearly $#!tting myself but now it's 127.3-just a month later- and I don't even react to it.

However, now that I realize the effect it has on everything such as the cost of flights and the amount of holidays I can take, I'm getting pissed.

Now I realize that the price of crude oil has increased significantly (around $135 a barrel) and everything from the bread to milk has increased in recent years, I still can't help but to feel that something needs to be done about the gas price.

I don't think that reducing taxes on gas will help but damn it would be good to have an offered solution other than just suck it up. Maybe instead of reducing GST they should have kept it that same and apply a reduction to gas prices. I dunno.

So my official stand point is: I don't know who to blame but it sucks

Note:

• I don't know what days are best to by gas anymore because it's always high
• Putting the most expensive gas (now over $1.30) does mean fewer trips to fill up
• I'm racking up airmiles from shell because of the increased price
• I will not let the price put a damper on my summer!
• 680 News gives notice/warnings at when gas price is going to go up
• I tried to get a pic when the gas was at 127.3 but I missed it

Movie Reviews

Baby Mama

Not bad. Tina Fey can do no real wrong. Great scenes: everything with Amy Poehler and everything with the door man, actor Romany Malco.

Harold and Kumar Escape...

Too much nudity. Still funny. Obviously not as funny as the first one. Great scenes: black airport security guard...LMAO, Chinese translator..., bottomless party...and the list goes on! A must see for anyone who loves to laugh to the point where they clap!

88 Minutes

Would make for an awesome TV movie...instead, in theatres, it's a hot mess of a movie. Predictable, long and choppy. And dude from the OC was only in it for like 4 minutes. Sucks for him I guess

21

Not bad at all. Kind of predictable but had a great plot and flowed really well (aka. easy and exciting to watch). Lawrence Fishbourne is great in it.

Double Minority

Bless the government of Canada and their catchy adds. The last one I saw (and probably the first one I have noticed in a while) was about accessibility.

It was a cartoon of a man in a wheelchair with his resume in this hand at a door that says "Now Hiring" (or something like that) but there are stairs at the door, so the man can't apply.

The caption: Some Interviews are Over Before they Start.

Interesting. And I do advocate for rights for the disabled (I try not to use their toilets and I'm now okay with the parking spots they get) but there was something off about the add.

The man in the chair was Asian. I swear. I get often but I rarely see an Asian man in a wheelchair. Seen White (of course) and even Black but not Asian. So why would the government make the add with one?

Either way I felt sorry for the man. Not only was he in a wheelchair but he was a minority. That makes him a double minority...much like myself (Black, Female).

Mother's Day Brunch

You are invited to celebrate Mother's Day at an Xquisite Affair:

Mother's Day Brunch at the Old Mill Inn & Spa

Sunday May 11, 2008

Time: 1-4

Music, Poetry, Food and more

Contact Info
Email:
virtuousone7@yahoo.com
Office:
416-737-2178

Price: $45 per person, $25 for kids

Yes We Can, But Can He?

The t-shirts are everywhere, the support from celebs are not lacking and his name can now be said as easily as John Smith. But does that mean that Obama can achieve what was Jesse Jackson could not and become America first black president? It seems very possible.

Once considered the underdog in the democratic party’s presidential candidacy race, Obama is now set to be a winning. He may not have gotten the big ballets like NY or Texas, but by collected a majority of the small ones he has managed to pull himself above Hilary Clinton.

A lot of negative comments have been made regarding if he did win. Rapper 50 Cent has already said that America is not ready for a black* president. “I don't think America is ready to have a black president. I think they might kill him." For that reason 50 said he was going to vote for Hillary Clinton.

As ignorant as that comment might seem, it was probably a thought through the minds of many. After all this is the same country that assassinated politicians for trying to treat all people equal. Only 44 years since the murder of JFK, is American ready for a black president?
Many have started to think so. Even 50 has changed his views and has stated that he will vote for Obama after hearing his speech about race.

Public opinion aside, the numbers show the Obama is well on his way to at least being the democratic party’s candidate, winning votes with his Yes, We Can slogan but can he become the President of the United States. November will tell us.

*Obama is part Kenyan and white but considering the “one drop” rule, that still makes him a black.

A YccTO Legend

There are many things that a young GTA native like myself could talk about at this moment, like the Junos that just took place last night (which I didn't watch), or the fact that the Leafs are now golfing instead of playing the play-offs (I'm used to that though).

Instead of making reference to those (I just did!), I'm going to talk about the individual who I believe is responsible for my interest in media. Master T.

A true GTAer would know who I'm talking about and can even remember the name of Master T's show. For those who are lost though, T was a VJ on MuchMusic. He started in the 80's and went on to produce the station only urban based show, Xtendamix (later known as DaMix).

T left the station though in 2001 and began working in the music industry and a couple years later released a compilation CD (a reggae one that I have).

Since then though little has been heard from the dreadlocked former VJ. I googled and got nada, however I'm certain he still doing well. At least I hope so.

I had the pleasure of meeting Master T at McMaster University in 2002. He's a very well spoken character (as anyone who has seen him interview Mary J, Lauryn Hill or even Tupac would know). I was a bit over eager at the encounter too. What can I say, he was the link to a world of black and Caribbean media for a young girl in the suburbs. His show was a staple before we had BET. Do you remember Wednesdays and Saturday episodes? Of course you do. Or his yearly trip to Reggae Sunsplash? T was a great host and even better interviewer.

If anyone know where this GTA Icon is pleeeease let me know!

Now Imagine She's White

"Can you see her? Her raped, beaten, broken body soaked in their urine, soaked in their semen, soaked in her blood, left to die. Can you see her? I want you to picture that little girl. Now imagine she's white." -Jake Tyler Brigance (Matthew McConaughey) A Time to Kill

That was a line that brought tears to the eyes of many who watched A Time to Kill, however it is also a line that could be used to describe the real-life story of Virginian woman, Megan Williams.

Her story has been conveniently ignored by far from the media in the states. A woman, kidnapped, tortured, raped and held hostage for a week receives no cover. Although our media seems more interested in which celeb is pregnant, on crack or has DUIed, I have to think that Megan Williams is going ignored because she is black. Her story just isn't important enough in a white-ran America.

This leave us having make our own news. We have to host marches like we did for the Jena Six to even get someone to look at us. What happened to Megan was an outrage and although her violators have been convicted I can't help but think that things would be different if the races were turned and it was a white female being violated by six black individuals. Could you imaging that? I don't think that we would be able to leave our houses if that was the case.

Respect to all those media sources who gave coverage to the atrocity that occurred.

Got It? Got it. Got it, Good

Do you ever realize how easy it is to hate on someone like you who is doing their thing? Someone who grew up like how you grew up but is now on the come up and you're still just there.

I've known a few Bramptonites who have begun to do their thing. There was the lead chick from Sean Paul's Get Busy video, Russell Peters and now there's Erik Flowchild, Brampton's newest musical prodigy.

Hailing from Ghanaian descent and raised in the suburbs, Flowchild is a lyricist who speaks on what he knows. Rhyming on issues from whack gansta mentalities to love, this well spoken MC is trying his best to get in the biz. While he is currently in school at Ryerson, flowchild is working hard to put out his fifth (first official) album by the fall, with his lead single Got it, Good scheduled to be released on radio this week.

For more info on this rising star who just performed at a talent show in Shopper's World, Brampton, check him out at myspace.com/flowchild

Where Have You Been My Whole Life

Did everyone set their PVR to catch the series finale of The Wire? I know you didn't but a good percentage of us die hard fans did.

After five seasons and no emmy's, the best show on TV has come to an end. The gritty, real HBO drama showed the inside dealings of the streets of Baltimore all the way up to behind the scenes of governmental affairs.

Last Sundays conclusion didn't carry the corny and common sentiments that most series finales do. But instead it focused on continuing on the intriguing plot of this season's 10 episodes where the team of cops finally get Marlo but have to keep the secret of how they did it. Paid court informants were revealed, unexpected homicides occurred (as always) and lawyers got paid. Overall it was everything it needed to be and more. It was an excellent last episode. Personally the only thing I didn't like was the path that seems to be laid ahead for Duquan "Dukie" Weems. Can you say Bubbles Jr.?

For a newbie to the hit show (favourite of most rappers and even presidential candidate Barack Obama), I now have the task of finding season 1-4 and catching up on everything. Although I have read a large amount and know all of the characters from the past. What can I say? It was a good show. Well done David Simon. Can you top this? Sure, next time your show will be great and have the ratings to prove it.

Mentor Us Please

Mentoring Rocks. Or at least so I heard. I've been meaning to develop a mentoring plan for the past four months now, with March being the month I wanted to launch it. I have the ideas, in my head, but no business plan.

The absolutely worst thing for me, or anyone who wants to mentor, to do is to start and then quit or start and not have a vision or desired outcome.

My vision is to reduce teenage pregnancy rate amongst black females in the GTA along with increase the amount of us that receive post secondary education. I say receive because a lot of us, include some of my friends, will start a university program and will never never finish. It happens for many reasons but it whats alarming is that after taking a 'break', we usually don't go back. Why do we settle and never use our potential? I don't know but I do know that I want to help us reach our dreams.

So, with all that being said, who's with me! Let's mentor our youths. If anyone has a good program out there let me know because I wanna definitely check out programs already started.

(for male mentor groups out there check out Hill Harper's Letters to a Young Brother---amazing book)

Oprah's Big Nothing

How could a show with such a good basis be ridiculed with so many flaws? How could a show created by the Queen of Talk T.V. (and everything else) turn out to be nothing more than Harpo’s (Oprah's production company) attempt to cash in on reality T.V.

The show’s creators have taken the theme of a 2006 Oprah show where she gives $200 to audience members and asks them to find creative ways to bless someone else with the money. The resulted events of that challenge were taped and made for a good episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show. The premise of the show though some how became more like a season of Amazing Race than the movie Pay It Forward.

It’s a rat race for each pair of contestants to try to fund raise as much as they can for a needy person whom the show has selected for them (info on "needy" persons to follow).

Anyone who has ever fund raised knows how hard it is to get one dollar much less thousands of dollars no matter how good the cause is. So how is it that these participants managed to all accumulate ridiculous amounts in the matter of a few days? Could it be the name Oprah?

And the persons who they are supposed to be aided are questionable too. Yes, at first it's a tear jerker when you hear their story but then you start to realize some things. For example, the former med student from Watts who escaped da hood- to become a plastic surgeon? Come on. They couldn't find a pediatrician? What about the solider who had no place to live and had health bills? Doesn't the government take care of him? Oh and probably the most touching, the 34 year old mother of two with no job. They give her a house and car and even a financial advisor but what she needed was an education and some training (she said it herself).

Oprah missed the mark on this show. Many say that it wasn't worth them watching and those who watched were not entertained. How many more episodes to go? This bad t.v. is reminiscent of Tyler Perry's show, you can't wait until it's off the air.

"It comes down to a black man or a woman." -S. Wilson

After the 2000 U.S. presidential elections were presumably rigged, it seemed like all Americans couldn't wait for 2004 to boot Bush out. Excepted when 2004 came along Bush won again. How could it be, even after the oh too true docu-movie Fahrenheit 9-11 by Michael Moore.

The reason though was a number of things, primarily the fact that his opponent John Kerry wasn't necessarily capable of being a president and then there was the fact that Bush had to remain to finish the war that he started.

Now in 2008 we know that Bush is out, because he can only serve two terms. The question is who is in? Or more specifically will America have a black man or a woman president.
Barack Obama, the son of a late Nigerian immigrant, has gone from being an underdog to almost a shoe in for the democratic presidential candidate. People want change and his Yes We Can slogan is endearing with voters. Hilary Clinton though has not been able to get back the expected lead she had in the beginning and may be counted out after the next set of preliminaries in Texas and Ohio if she doesn't display a win.

Some are saying that it is a lose lose situation. While Clinton may not be the political stronger candidate, Obama is a black man whose safty might be an issue.

However if no one has taken Bush out for his initiating the Iraq war thus killing thousands of American Soilders then Obama should be safe. It's sad though because who ever wins is going to have the difficult task of cleaning up the trillion dollar mess that was made in the last eight years. The word recession is being thrown around, although the current president denies it, and this could make the first few years in office hell for either Clinton or Obama. Either way the change needs to occur this year. The war needs to stop and the democrats will be the ones to do it.

As for the Republican, lead runner McCain won't be an issue as the majority of Americans are sick of Republics and feels he's too old (currently 71 years old).

So what would you rather (if you were American? It comes down to a black man or a woman.

School Debate Update

So I stand corrected, maybe a black focus school is exactly what is needed for the youths in certain communities. It's at least worth a try. I found myself agreeing with Dalton McGuinty's point that we do not need a black focus school and that we should promote togetherness. Bless his heart, he is a great guy but that's just the problem. He is an upper middle class, middle aged white male. What does he know about what is needed for the poor black youths that this school hopes to help?

He knows even less than myself and my friends who are privileged in that we were products of two parent homes and educated in the peel district. We lived in houses not in government subsides apartments. We had guardians not just a single mother who had to care for us and 3-5 of our siblings. The disparities are never-ending.

How dare we think just because we are minorities and we survived that these Toronto youths don't need assistance. They are usually not exposed to positive black role models and a black focus school can provide them with that.

That is now my stand the debate. Now we still don't know what the curriculum will entail but I'm sure if them employ people that actually want to make a difference, this school will have a big effect.

Thanks to those older people that shed light on my ignorance regarding the topic and I look forward to seeing the positive change this school will promote.

Winterlicious

Well the sixth annual Winterlicious event, where GTA's posh restaurants offer meal for a flat rate of $25 or $35 has started.

Now there is no shortage of choice for restaurants offering a Winterlicious menu but there is some misleading involved.

Some research should be involved when choosing a restaurant. Some restaurants aren't that posh and the service is not the best. Check online recommendations before choosing one.

While you research feel no pressure to make your decision in the two weeks before the event is over, there is a summerlicious too!

Amazing Events for Cheap

The GTA has it if you are willing to look for it. Years of living in Brampton made me think that the GTA had nothing to offer. I was tired of going to the downtown core to go clubbing. I was tired of clubbing period. So then I discovered theatre. But at $60 or more per ticket for those production I had to give up that pastime too.

But then I started networking and I discovered some really fun and different events and activities for really good prices. Like Winterlicious, a two week event where luxurious restaurants offer 3 course dinner for only $25-35! Go to www.toronto.com/winterlicious for more info and participating venues.

Also there are some spectacular gospel concerts put on by the House of Levi. The had Fred Hammond (in above picture) last September and just had a Martin Luther King Jr. day celebration featuring Hezekiah Walker. Early bird tickets are usually $10 and are well worth it. Sign up for their newsletter at houseoflevi.com.

There are also great culture events like Poet Tea which takes place every month. Last week it was at Knowledge Bookstore on 177 Queen Street in Brampton. It only cost $3 which was basically to cover the all you can sip herbal teas. It was a deep session with freestyling, poem recitals and even an information session on the event's featured herb, ginseng. Visit http://booity.googlepages.com/home to find the next Poet Tea Session.

With all those and so much more the GTA finally has the type of cultured, conscious and fun events that I've been looking for. And at such at decent cost.