Courtyard Memories

I always believe in being a tourist in my hometown; my philosophy is if you haven't been in every nook and cranny of where you live consider yourself a tourist. It's always exhilerating to see things you never usually see in your day-to-day routine.

As Glass Tiger sang in a duet with Rod Stewart over ten years ago, "Bring the wind to carry me over/lead me home to my town".

I remember a lot of fond memories leading back to my quiet childhood. I had an innocent time being a kid, though people who interact with me may dispute that and say that I haven't lived my childhood. But I won't go nuts over that fact.

One of the fondest times I remember, one that never spares me from tears, is playing with Sapna, my childhood friend. Yes folks, I have actually been a child in my lifetime and one of the best events in my memory was playing with her. We had done things like flying kites along with my sister Liz in the semi-vandalised park, or me being drenched from water sprayed from bottles to celebrate the Water Festival. It sure takes me back to my younger self to remember all this.

I hope all of you have had good memories of childhoods yourselves. These are memories you may never forget and life just doesn't seem to be complete without living a childhood of any sorts.

Must one be celebratory about such times? I say yes becuase life in that stage was very innocent and things like politics to money didn't matter much at all that early in life. This phase of life reminds us that humans still enjoy being themselves rather than be pretrified at everything.

If you excuse me, I need a tissue.

Off the Pirate Ship

Canada's Global Television Network affiliate in Toronto reported recently that pirated movies could still be found regardless of a York Regional Police sting that occured last November.

But really, when are pirated discs going to stop being sold?

I have seen the selling of pirated VCDs and DVDs, passing along the booths in a local Chinese mall on my way to chow down in one its finest food establishments. The thirst for cheaply sold Hollywood blockbusters will forever maintain a black market, and this is because everyone is at fault for this going on.

A Toronto Police officer commented on the legality of pirating, explaining to the Global News reporter that though the practice is illegal, that when they are prepared to press charges they would.

I must disagree with a lot of this news report, seeing that a lot of these pirated discs have pretty good quality. A spokeswoman from Cineplex Entertainment had said that these movies had a lot of coughing, and some of these pirated discs did not have an audio track at all. Of course, this is a representative of a cinema company that charges an arm and a leg just to maintain the overbuilt and over-expanded mega-theatres.

In my community alone there are two mega complexes within one hundred metres of each other and four more within easy driving distance, irregardless of the brand or competition with each other.

Then there is the unbelievable thirst for all of us to find the best price to watch a movie. Of course this is all the fault of producers for pricing DVDs at such a high price.

Maybe that's why I don't watch movies at all.

Free Speech or Blasphemy?

When is free speech a dangerous weapon?

Recently, the Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten published a set of caricatures, showing depictions of the Prophet Muhammed. These editorial cartoons range from an Islamic version of Don Quixote to one where a bomb is in his hat. This attracted some deadly controversy in the Islamic World, and have produced threats ranging from the boycott of Danish goods to death threats for the editor and cartoonists who authored all this.

I personally do not support nor condemn these acts, partially because I don't understand the point of all this, and that I am not educated very well about Middle Eastern culture in general. But when is free speech stepping the line? And when is the reaction to this issue crossing the line? This is yet another delicate tight rope and cultural misunderstanding.

A more Canadian example of stepping the line would probably be Conservative Member of Parliament Jason Kenney. Back in January, 2005, Kenney had visited the family home of then-recently deceased Zhao Ziyang, a former Premier of China.

The media had considerable attention on this issue, and for Kenney to visit a mourning family irregardless if they're in Canada or in China is terribly disrespectful. It looked like Kenney tried to make the media portray him as a saviour, but he didn't even know Zhao in that level.

Wouldn't it be disrespectful if you barged into someone's funeral if you don't even know the person?

Irregardless of the scenario, there is a line between celebrating a free society and showing disrespect. The line, however is an ambiguous one, and we need to be cautious.