If you were to have told me, about a year ago, that I would be using social media on a regular basis, I would have thought you were insane. To me, social media was nothing more than Facebook and MySpace, nothing more, nothing less. I thought that blogging was just for nerds and people with just too much time on their hands. However, after one of my PR courses (Strategies and Issues), I found myself slowly getting used to using, and understanding exactly what social media and blogging were. The course was very social media heavy; understanding the use of blogs and social media sites, how to effectively use social media today, and about half way through the course, each student had to create his and her own blog.

At first, I could not be bothered, and my friend Dara and I would just roll our eyes with sheer boredom. As she became less and less interested in the class, I became more fixated on blogging and the Internet. I was one of the very few students who updated their blogs more than once a week because I was genuinely interested in what I was writing about (Public Relations and Popular Culture).

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Popularity: 3% [?]

Established in 1930, Easterbrook’s is a family owned diner famous for their foot-long hotdogs and impressive variety of ice cream flavours. Located on Spring Gardens Road in Burlington, Ontario (across the street from Royal Botanical Gardens), Easterbrook’s has served the Hamilton, Halton and surrounding areas, as well as helped to create and keep memories alive within its walls.

As you walk up the steps to the diner, there is a patio with red picnic tables where you can sit and enjoy your meal. As you enter the doors, a pinball machine greets you to your right, and the staff is busy placing orders and calling food numbers. It does not matter what time of day you visit, there always seems to be a crowd.
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Popularity: 18% [?]

How would you describe a sound that you have never heard before? That was my dilemma when sitting down to write this review for Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker (USS for short). Their debut six-song EP, Welding the C:/, is flying off the shelves of HMV stores everywhere, and has been completely sold out on their official online store for some time.

USS is a two-piece group based out of Toronto, Ontario, with Ash Boo-Shultz on acoustic guitar, vocals and ehur, and Human Kebab, dubbed as the turntablist hype man extraordinaire.
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Popularity: 24% [?]

Music is a very important and evident aspect of film.

Musical cues in films help the audience to feel a certain way, whether it is happy or sad with sappy violins or pianos, alerts of upcoming danger with sharp and eerie notes, or signals the end of a film by playing upbeat Top 40 songs.

I just finished watching Jurassic Park, and the musical cues in this film are very evident. The main theme for the film plays throughout the film and becomes very familiar and very comforting. The composer for the film created wonderful scores; most that made me feel for the characters, but more importantly, the dinosaurs. The music within the film is definitely one of a kind and still to this day, is easily recognized, much among the ranks of the music from Jaws.
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Popularity: 30% [?]

In high school and university, my friends and I would plan camping trips every summer. It was a cheap way to gather everyone together for the weekend, have fun and create some memories. The camp site/conservation area was a short 45-minute drive from the city where we all lived. It wasn’t remote, but that’s what we liked about it.

The drive to the conservation area did not look any different from what we were used to seeing back home in the city. Pizzerias, brand name grocery stores, McDonalds, you name it, and we drove past it.

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Popularity: 21% [?]

The media can be informative, but the media can also be deceiving. Ever since I was a wee lass, I have always been told not to believe everything I read or see; be critical, and do not take everything so literally. Unfortunately, the Hollywood bug had bitten at a young age, and boy did it ever sink its teeth into me. Glamour to the right; lavish lifestyles to the left. Everywhere I looked, there was some kind of celebrity or rising starlet who caught my eye.  

After years of watching Sex and the City, idolizing the lives of the four women, one of the characters drastically stood out to me; Samantha Jones. She owns her own Public Relations company, rubs elbows with the best of the best in New York City, throws first class parties and attends her fair share of them. She knows all the best hot spots in the city and has a Rolodex overflowing with names and numbers of the biggest, best and most elite of New York. Continue Reading

Popularity: 10% [?]

We all love to hate it - the status and feed updates from Facebook are what get us through that boring workday. I thank Facebook for making me even nosier than I was before. “Those two are in a relationship now?”, “OMG! They broke up!”, “Wow, he got pretty wasted this weekend.” Facebook tells me everything I could ever want to know about people I barely talk to.

The constant flow of information from the feed on the Facebook main page is enough to overwhelm the busiest of minds. But is it necessary to update your relationship status on Facebook? Your friends should already know that you are currently dating someone, and I’m more than certain the people you just collecting as friends could really care less. Continue Reading

Popularity: 8% [?]

Guilty pleasures- we all have them, some more than others, and I think the biggest of them all comes in the form of music. We secretly buy or download albums from bands and artists we know our friends would frown upon, but really, they are doing it too.

I was shuffling though my music library on my computer and noticed that I have, what most people would call, embarrassing music. Spice Girls, Ashlee Simpson, Hilary Duff, A Flock of Seagulls, Ace of Base, and the list goes on from there. Although this is a small fraction of my musical taste, I know that I like, and listen to “better” and more “mature” music. Continue Reading

Popularity: 8% [?]

During a recent trip to Wal-Mart with my good friend, we stumbled into the toy section after roaming around the store collecting items. My friend wanted to find something small to bring with her to Europe to take pictures with, as many people do with gnomes or small stuffed animals. Our search came up empty, but something else caught our eye.

Placed in a display all to themselves were historical figures, but not just any historical figures, Canadian historical figures. John A. Macdonald, Sir Isaac Brock and Sir Wilfred Laurier packaged up and being sold as action figures under the Canadian Legends line.  Continue Reading

Popularity: 9% [?]

I have never thought of myself, by any means, as a fashionista. However, I do like to keep up with what the latest styles, trends and “it” whatevers are. I never identified with one style icon, but rather took aspects from different women in the fashion and entertainment world that stood out to me. As I have matured, so have my fashion and style sense. I know how to coordinate outfits, add accessories, match shoes and even offer my opinion to whoever will listen; but I am not a professional.

Rachel Zoe, the famous celebrity stylist is. I made a recent trip to my local library and stumbled across her book, Style A to Zoe: The Art of Fashion, Beauty & Everything Glamour, purely by accident. The colour of the cover did not jump out at me, but the words “Style A to Zoe” did. I inquisitively picked up the book, leafed though the pages, and saw that it was more than just your regular picture book of celebrities.

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Popularity: 14% [?]