Emma Brooks | Digital Media Enthusiast

I try hard not to get too personal on my blog here but I think it is fitting for me to look back at this year and review. 2009 was a very trying year for many people I know. It was a huge year of transition for me. Starting this blog was part of that transition to establish myself in Toronto once again after I returned from traveling.

So I’ve decided to do the Year in Review meme that’s going around. This is one of my most personal blog posts I’ve ever written here. Please be gentle.

Read more…

As many of my friends know, I dislike smoking. And so I think this spot from INPES (France’s National Institute of Prevention and Health Education) has done a great spot on highlighting how incredibly lucky we all are to be the ones to stand here today and live our lives. Why would we throw our luck out the window on an unnecessary habit?

Check it out.

Found via AdJoke.ca. Thanks Paul.

Just wanted to add an update to my previous post on DDB Canada’s great spot for the Canadian Cancer Society.

Mike, from the Canadian Cancer Society, left me a comment letting me know that these were indeed real people who were either patients, survivors or caregivers. That’s really, really great to hear. That makes this ad, in my eyes, that much more powerful when I know the emotion is real.

As well, Mike let me know that they are adding companion videos on their YouTube channel, found here. Four of the total eight videos have been posted, so I’m off to check out the others!

Thanks for the note Mike! Glad I could get an answer so quickly! :)

If you’re ready to join the fight on Cancer, or would like to donate to the cause, feel free to check out their website for this campaign at www.FightBack.ca.

A great ad done by DDB Canada for the Canadian Cancer Society.

Found via Tom at AdHunt.

I know I’m a bit of bleeding heart and this ad definitely played to that. But I love the raw emotion displayed here. The anger, the hurt, the hate. Powerful stuff.

I wonder if these were actors or true survivors. I’d like to know the answer to that.

This is a great ad for Casa do Menor, posted initially by The Marketing Blog. As per The Marketing Blog’s post, it was reportedly done by McCann Erickson Milan.

The reaction is not immediate. It’s only when the tagline comes up that you begin to realize what you have just seen. And then you play this ad back over in your head and it’s only then the heart-wrenching, sickness-in-your-stomach feeling hits you.

I am having trouble watching it a second time. It’s a great parallel, this idea of “burden”. Brutal but well done.

One of my strongest Remembrance Day references is the Canadian Heritage Spot showing Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae finding the inspiration and writing the poem on May 3, 1915. He wrote this poem after he witnessed the death of his friend, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, who was only 22 years old, the day before.

(Source.)

I’m not going to claim I know much about the horrors the generations previous to us witnessed in war. I wish I knew more. I wish my grandfathers had both been alive when I was born and to see me grown up. I would have loved to have asked them about their experiences in the war and to find out their stories.

Instead, I rely on other’s tales of loved ones and the pain and suffering they endured to fight for and protect our amazing country, Canada.

Thank you for your sacrifices. I wear my poppy today to show my respect for all the veterans gave up so that our families can enjoy the freedoms we do. We are proud of you.

Well. It’s Friday AM, which means the $0 Challenge is over.

So how did I fair, dear readers?

In total honesty, I broke down last night and spent about $10. But let it be known, it was not for me. My kitten needed food and litter. I didn’t expect her to run out of her dry cat food so fast, so it was an unforeseen expense I couldn’t prepare for. Plus, I couldn’t exactly expect her to forgo eating for some silly challenge.

Either way, she’s adorable and deserved to om nom nom some food. Fact.

Other than that, I was successful in achieving my goals of spending $0 (on myself).

I’d also like to thank those people that were generous and bought me either tea (thanks Scott!), lunch (thanks Todd!) or beer (thanks Brandon!). I feel like a bit of a mooch to be honest and I’ll be sure to repay their kindness some way or another in the future. But other than that, I lived off leftovers and food already at home.

I even managed to play soccer, go to an improv class and go to a comedy show this week without spending a single cent. I think that takes talent, friends! ;) (And perhaps some planning, haha.) I definitely didn’t sit at home at nights, which usually meant I was eating dinner standing up in the kitchen at work before running to catch the TTC. As someone that likes to make fancy meals and cook, or barring that, eat out, it was a little painful but I adjusted.

It was a short challenge but on Tuesday, as many people who follow me on Twitter knows, was a really bad day for me. I was exhausted, overwhelmed and stressed out about some personal issues, which resulted in some tears (how girly!). Knowing I couldn’t make myself feel better with a hot cup of tea or some chocolate almost made it worse. I didn’t realize how much I depended on those little things to soothe me when I’m having a bad day. Funny our relationship with food, no?

All in all, I have been thinking all week about ways I can adjust my spending habits and rework personal finances. I’m glad I did this – just so that I could see it’s possible to go a day or two without spending some moolah. :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Globalive (also known as WIND Mobile) just announced on their Twitter profile that the Campaign for Competitive Broadband has officially launched. (Note: Globalive is not the creator of this website, as far as I can tell, but a partner. There are many companies and people involved in making this campaign a reality.)

I have urged y’all in the past to write your local MP about the CRTC and the issue of net neutrality, as well have asked you to sign the petition to dissolve the CRTC but if you haven’t done either, this website makes everything way, way easier. And isn’t that’s the beauty of the internet? Giving us lazy folks who care the ability to make our voices heard?

I am not a protester. Trust me. I think protests, walks, marches, signs, chants that say things like “hey hey, ho ho, homophobia’s got to go” are pretty much the most useless thing ever. I don’t believe they work. I don’t get involved in those things because I’ve never seen it do anything. I have never written a letter to my local MP (ha ha, despite asking you to – yes, I am a hypocrite) and I rarely sign petitions. This is because I have yet to see any of these things result in a changing of government law, social discrimination, or stereotyping.

If I saw real results, I’d see that the my efforts would be worthwhile. I’m sure there are plenty of examples out there of it happening – but I have yet to see anything. I’m cynical. I’m lazy. And I demand to have my voice heard… but maybe from the couch, and behind my ice cream?

Either way, the Campaign for Competitive Broadband website is pretty sweet as. One click, and boom: You are presented with a pre-written protest letter:

Another click and bam! Who do you want to send this to?

I honestly don’t think it could be any easier than this. Like, really. I didn’t even have to move anything except my hand. A couple of fingers. But there you have it, a well crafted protest letter sent off to four government officials. Protesting just got a heck of a lot sweeter. And my throat doesn’t even hurt from hours of chanting!

This isn’t just an issue of who the bigger telco giant is, this is an issue of letting the competitive spirit run rampant among our Capitalist system (which you may have gathered, I am a fan of). All the partners listed on the above site should be allowed to be as competitive as they want, on their terms. They shouldn’t have to be as competitive as they can be, under the conditions Bell/Telus set forth.

Let’s help. Even if it’s from the couch.

To further the point I made in my blog post “CRTC Hates Fair Competition”, I have signed a petition requesting the dissolvement of the CRTC and a new commission formed.

The petition states the following:

Dear Minister of Industry,

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) was created for the purpose of ensuring broadcasting and telecommunications systems serve the Canadian public and ensure that Canadians have a wide variety of options to create and view works of media or communicate across the country and the entire world.

We, the undersigned, believe that the CRTC has become a burden on the Canadian public and are failing to perform their duties in the interest of the Canadian public and that of a fair and unbiased telecom policy.

In the last 3 years, we have seen the CRTC give undue preference in the interest of commercial entities and their preference for traditional business models over competing models that would create competition and help ensure that new business models can be created to entice and prosper original Canadian productions.

In the case of Bell Canada vs CAIP, involving the use of deep packet inspection (DPI) on Bell wholesale clients, the CRTC ruled in favor of Bell Canada to allow them to continue the use of deep packet inspection activities on wholesale customers without their permission or consent regardless of the implications for the end user customers. We believe this action greatly impacts the Canadian public’s choices, competition in the broadband market and may violate privacy laws based on the Privacy Commissioners findings.

In the case of Cybersurf requesting to match speeds of that for Bell retail customers, the CRTC ordered Bell Canada to produce a new tariff to match speeds for wholesale customers. Bell submitted a revised tariff to the CRTC, however the revised tariff did not fulfill the requirements as set out by the CRTC in Telecom Decision CRTC 2008-117. Bell proposed to offer lower speed tiers and introduce UBB (usage base billing) in lieu of matching speeds. The CRTC decided to accept the tariff on an interim basis with no logical explanation. This is not only anti-competitive but shows a clear bias towards Bell Canada.

These are only two of several instances in the past few years that show the CRTC is incapable of upholding the telecom act and the interest of the Canadian public. We demand that the commission is immediately dissolved and a new commission created and appointed based on the following criteria:

1) The commission members must not be appointed solely based on their career history
2) The commission members must not only be comprised of ex-telecom employees
3) The commission should be more transparent to the Canadian public about regulatory issues
4) The analysts should be more involved in the regulatory process to ensure that decisions are handed down in a fair and balanced manner

We hereby request that the CRTC be dissolved and a new commission formed immediately to ensure that the regulatory process and competitive environment remain in tune with the needs of the Canadian public.

Sincerely,
The undersigned

If you feel strongly about this like I do, please go here to sign the petition. You will have to confirm your signature via email within 3 days but that is it.

At the time of signing, there were 3,613 signatures. Please help in making this number as big as possible. Hopefully in doing so, they will hear us.

This is not part of my #WriteOff09 Submission. I simply wanted to spread the word about what is happening in Iran right now. Regular blog post will be up later today.

For more information:
PICTURES:
here and here
NEW INFORMATION:
Here – near constant updates
Here – ONTD_political live post
ON TWITTER:
@StopAhmadi, @ProtesterHelp

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