Day after Super Bowl, and no one is talking football

Posted by Laura Kunzelman comments (2)
I am not shocked, but it is interesting to see the news stories today were not about Eli Manning and the Giants beating the Patriots. Instead I woke up to news about Madonna, M.I.A. and Gisele. If you live under a rock, here's the scoop. The general consensus seemed to be that Madonna sucked, but did okay for being a senior citizen. This real piece of work M.I.A. gave everyone the finger, cause she be bad. And Gisele is whining about how her husband's team couldn't catch a ball to save their lives (my words, not hers). 

What is wrong with people? All is right in the world; the Patriots did not win the Super Bowl. So everyone just chill. The problem is, the media didn't cover the important stuff. Forget geriatric pop stars. Forget M.I.A. Really? You didn’t see this one coming? Well, actually, I would have expected Nicki Minaj to do something crazy. Ever see her Stupid Hoe video? She’s a real class act. Just forget about the controversy and focus of what's really important. Tom Brady crying himself to sleep. 



But this isn't the first time a celeb has given the finger. How about the Man in Black? 






Nothing is going to come of M.I.A. giving the finger. There has been no comment from her, but NBC has apologized for her. "We apologize for the inappropriate gesture that aired during halftime," NBC spokesman Christopher McCloskey said. "It was a spontaneous gesture that our delay system caught late."

But back in October, Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk was fined $10,000 for flashing his middle finger during a televised Fox game against the St. Louis Rams.

But I doubt M.I.A. will be charged. That’s what the music biz is like. The issue just is that it was done on a mainstream level and it was done so live. 

What crossed my mind when M.I.A. gave the middle finger:

1) Is it bad I don't know who M.I.A. is? 
2) I'll be honest, I didn't even see it happen. 
3) Who. The. Heck. Cares.
4) Maybe she was so busy being a badass, she didn't realize what she was doing.
5) Pfft, yeah right. She was looking right into the camera. Shit is gettin' real. 
6) She gave the middle for less than a second. I don't see the huge deal. 
7) Oh, the Paper Planes lady. 
8) At least we didn't have to see Madonna's nipple.





*Johnny Cash photo from silberstudios.tv

 

Have fun at The Forks. QUICK, before it's gone! Seriously . . .

Posted by Laura Kunzelman comments (0)






After some unseasonably warm weather in Winnipeg, the river trail at The Forks is finally open, and warming huts are being set up on the trail.
A 3.2 km trail is open from The Forks to Churchill Drive, on the Red River but the Assiniboine River remains snow covered. Paul Jordan, chief operating officer for The Forks, says that last year’s ice conditions were not ideal on the Assiniboine River either.
“There is no trail on the Assiniboine this year and no plans to groom unless it really freezes; it didn’t freeze last year. Right now, there is open water under the Donald bridge and under the Osborne bridge,” says Jordan.
Jordan is hoping for some cooler weather.
“When it gets warm, people skate on the ice and destroy it, and we can’t get on to fix it; it’s too warm to get the Zamboni out.”
For when the temperature drops, there are 11 warming huts being brought to the river this week. Some huts are already out.
Three of the huts were chosen from an international competition, one from a University of Manitoba competition, and one from an invited guest. The rest of the huts are from last year.
“This year our invited guest is internationally renowned architect Frank Gehry. All architects come up and build their huts, then we put them on the trail,” says Jordan.
“We put out a call and got around 60 responses from all over the world.  The prize is a $3,500 honorarium and $2,500 towards travel to Winnipeg,” Jordan adds.
Retired landscape architect Ron Dixon used to do design work on the river trail when it started. Dixon is impressed with the designs of the warming huts this year, but his favourite is Gehry’s, made from ice.
“The way he chiseled the ice and set it up with the timber is really impressive. He is known all over the world, so the design was bound to be amazing.”
Last year, the warming huts didn’t get on the river until February 12. On February 14, the ice was so bad the trail was closed and didn’t reopen until February 17.
If conditions on the ice are not ideal, there is always the 1.2 km of skating trails on land, or the Olympic-sized skating rink. Something new to the river trail is the Winter Garden, a forest set up on the skating trail.
Warming huts came off the river last year on March 10 and the trail was closed the next day. 

 

I am all that is agriculture

Posted by Laura Kunzelman comments (0)

Well, I just spent the last three weeks on work placement at Farm Business Communications (FBC) writn’ up a storm about various farm related topics.
On my first day I met with my editor John Morriss and he asked me what aspect of agriculture I am interested in. I told him that since I grew up on a cattle farm, I would be interested in writing some pieces on beef. So that’s what I did. Besides that, I got some pieces published about canola, insects, and the weather. All topics that Manitoban farmers would care about.
I traveled a bit for my work placement, to St. Jean for their Farm Days and to Brandon for Ag Days. It was nice to have so much trust put in me, that I would just be sent to these places, understand what the seminars were about, and be able to write an article good enough to be published.
During my time writing for the Co-Operator, I came to the realization, that I might like to work  as an agriculture reporter. It pays well, I am interested in the subject matter, and everyone is so darn nice.
The hardest thing about writing about agriculture was getting the farmers to talk to me. I learned that they are very bashful and do not like to give their names. That was the biggest challenge.
The most rewarding part of my work placement was having my articles published in a publication that I grew up around, and having my family read my articles and tell me that they are proud of me. I have had work published elsewhere, but I guess you don’t impress the farmers unless it is the Co-Operator.