I've Moved!

Well this is long overdue. I've moved my blog to a new location. Same guy, same content, different name. Journo JT.

Yup.

I was published a total of 46 times in my first year of Creative Communications:

- 26 times by the Manitoba Bisons, writing sports journalism and game recaps. Each of these 26 stories taking up around 4-5 hours of my night. I'll do the math for you, it's 104-130 hours.
- 13 times by The Winnipeg Free Press, the city's most credible and highly regarded newspaper. Some opportunities I asked for, others were offered to me.
- 5 times in various industry magazines: Local Fare, The Manitoba Mining Review, The Ontario Mineral Exploration Review, The Saskatchewan Oil Report, and the Official Publication of the School Plant Officials Society of Alberta (SPOSA).
- 2 times in The Projector.

As an aspiring journalist, I knew that just as important as my school work, was doing everything that I could to get my name out there, and I think I successfully managed to do both. As those who have been through the program know, CreComm itself is hard enough on its own, when you're not working at three journalism-related jobs, have two learning disabilities, are trying to plan your wedding and pay bills for two on a single income.

Unfortunately, talking, even when you don't have anything to say, is apparently far more important in determining your success than anything else.

I was recently informed that I would not be able to select the major of my choice (Journalism, if you haven't been paying attention) because of a low Professionalism grade that has resulted in me landing a mere 4% short of the required grade. I was also informed that this is because I didn't speak enough in class, didn't freelance as much in second semester (I actually freelanced more but hey, what do I know), and just generally lost interest in journalism.

Interesting, especially since I started work this past Monday (the first week of our summer break, my choice) at a magazine publisher, as an intern editor, where I will be working for the entire summer, and will likely be published another 50 times. Meanwhile, I've really enjoyed reading vacation updates from other J majors who are enjoying a nice relaxing summer break. There's truly nothing wrong with that.

But I think there is something wrong with all of these undeniable facts proving my strong interest and hard work in journalism not being enough to add four marks to a section labeled "Professionalism", because, as far as I know, I have taken journalism a lot more seriously and professionally than most other students have. My latest story:

BREAKING NEWS: Some people are just quiet. Look a little deeper.

Sin Cara... Breathe.

If Sin Cara was standing in front of me right now, I would say one thing to the young man: "Breathe." ...err, "Respirar."

I just watched his match from this past Monday, and hot damn, he is a textbook case of someone who is completely overwhelmed in his first few weeks in the "Big Leagues".

He's botched his entrance twice already, and whether that's his fault or the guys who put the trampoline in place, HE is the one who comes out looking bad.

But his biggest problem right now is he is going 150 km/h in his matches. You can tell by his body language that from the moment he comes through the curtain until the time he leaves, he takes one, maybe two breaths. He's not hitting his signature moves cleanly since he's rushing into all of them, and that's a real good way to bury yourself. That moonsault at the end of his match last Monday was downright embarrassing. He was a solid three or four feet off his mark.

So, Sin Cara, Mistico, my dear Mexican friend, PLEASE... Breathe. You're a young guy, and have plenty of time to make your mark in the WWE. You're not helping anyone by trying to force yourself to be phenomenal. All you need to do is remember that it comes naturally, and you'll be just fine.

- WrestleWriter

The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz

The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz is a play written by former CreComm instructor, Armin Wiebe. I, along with my classmates, attended this play and had an alright time. I've not been to very many plays in my lifetime, so I don't really have anything else to compare this to, but I feel like if I did, perhaps I wouldn't have enjoyed this one as much as I did.

As far as the play itself, I could have taken or left it. I don't consider it a waste of an evening or a waste of $12, but I wouldn't be heartbroken to have missed out on the experience.

One thing I didn't like too much about the play was the use of German spattered throughout. I'm all for some good use of a foreign language, but I felt that Armin's use of German in this play was ill-placed and alienated his audience a little bit. I found that sometimes in the play, one of the characters would use a German word in a pretty important place. They would be explaining something for a little while, and then the last word of their entire speech would be a German word, leaving me feeling like I really didn't know the entire context or meaning of everything they had just said. It was rather frustrating sometimes.

Armin actually addressed this issue when he visited us during our Thursday seminar, and said it was a risk he was willing to take. Hey he's the playwright, but I felt that it was really effective at derailing the momentum of a scene at certain parts of the play.

Overall, I thought the play was alright, a little slow moving at times.

I found that during the talkback and also the seminar, Armin could definitely have been a little more enthusiastic about his work or at the very least pretended to be excited to talk to us. The snark and sarcasm in a few of his responses was a little bit unmerited, and a lot of his answers were extremely short where I'm sure he could have gone into much greater detail.

Plays aren't my bag, and after seeing this one and talking to the playwright behind it, I don't imagine that is going to change anytime soon.

Montage

Well, here it is. The almighty montage.

As far as the actual project is concerned, I believe my montage is quite a bit different from most everyone else's. The primary reason being that while most people CREATED a concept, planned it exactly how they wanted and then filmed it, I was completely at the whim of whatever these performers allowed me to capture on camera. I also only had opportunity to get a shot, with no option for a re-do, so it was definitely a frightening risk for me to take to try this, considering it was my very first outing with the ENG camera.

Overall I had a great time at the show, and it was awesome to get some of the shots that I ended up getting. Lots of talent in that company, and I am happy to announce that I will officially be working with Steeltown Pro Wrestling over the next year to create a video documentary on independent pro wrestling in Winnipeg (and area). Stay glued to the blog for any and all updates concerning this next project, and I'll also post more footage.

Hope everyone enjoys the montage.

Thank you, Edge.

13-year veteran.
11-time World Champion.
31 Championships in the WWE.
Mr. Money in the Bank.
Royal Rumble winner.
Tag-Team legend.

To WWE Superstar Edge (Adam Copeland), not a single one of these things means more to him than the fact that he can still walk. And that is the way it should be. In the midst of his eleventh reign as a World Champion in the WWE, Edge has decided to walk away from the business that made him a legend, but is now threatening to make him a cripple.

In 2003, Edge suffered a severe neck injury that put him on the shelf for close to year. There is no such thing as a permanent fix for a broken neck, and while I'm sure he knew that at the time, he is being painfully reminded today. After beginning to lose feeling in his arms, and living with daily chronic pain, Edge has decided to take the advice of his doctors and say goodbye to professional wrestling, and for that, I applaud him louder than ever.

Had Eddie Guerrero or Chris Benoit been able to make this brave decision years ago, they would still be here with us today. Had Edge not been able to, perhaps it would be him that we buried next.

So to my fellow Canadian, I say I have never had more respect for you. The memories that you are leaving us with will more than suffice, the sacrifices you've made can never be repaid to you, and the legacy you have forged will live forever in the hearts and minds of the millions of Edgeheads around the world. It's time for you to enjoy your life, and nobody is more deserving of that privelege than you. Thank you, Edge.

Montage Teaser!

Finally got a look at some of the footage I shot at the Steeltown Pro Wrestling show over the weekend, and am very pleased. One shot in particular stuck out in my mind, so I checked up on it to see if I captured it the way I wanted to; I did. Yeah this one's makin' the final cut, that's for sure. So here's a VERY brief teaser shot of the type of content you can expect to see in my final montage, which will be up in about a week. Big thanks once again to SPW and all the talent at that show. Enjoy!