Lord Chesterfield once said that “frequent and loud laughter is characteristic of folly and ill manners.” And that is why we only remember him as the namesake for a certain brand of sofa. It is also the reason that we are, perhaps, more familiar with other more important people like Charlie Chaplin and Mark Twain who are remembered for such adages as “a day without laughter is wasted” and “against the assault of laughter nothing can stand,” respectively. This being said, I thought I’d like to share with you some things that have made me laugh recently.

Though many people may find him dry, one of my favourite humorists is the bard himself. Who can go wrong with such hilarious one-liners as “misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.” This is a clip of his newest Tragedy, entitled William and Kate.

If that didn’t get you going, perhaps your sense of humor is even more overtly political, in which case I whole-heartedly recommend the King of Kanadian Komedy, Rick Mercer!

…outdated albeit educational.

Maybe you’re like me and can’t seem to get enough Potter fix. If so, A Very Potter Musical may be just the thing! I will warn you in advance, however, it is Act 1, Scene 1 of full length musical, and once you push play, you will very likely be unable to hit pause!

Finally, my all time favourite comedian. Not only are his remarks witty, his timing uncanny, his creativity genius, but he is English, and that makes all the difference. I give you John Cleese in…

The Scientist.

and

Fawlty Towers.

and

The Ministry of Silly Walks.

You all know what I mean when I say that, right? Its those movies that you secretly watch on Friday nights because they always seem to be on TV. Its those songs that are so horrible you claim they are for your little sister when someone sees them on your iPod. And its that disgusting, yet undeniably satisfying combination of Cheez Whiz and anything else. Those are what I like to call our best worsts. Maybe I just lack my quota of shame, but here are mine:

Summer Girls by LFO. When you’re five years old, you don’t necessarily realise how music is not made by throwing together random phrases that barely rhyme. Instead, you just completely agree: New Kids on the Block did have a bunch of hits and, you know what, Chinese food does make me sick. Made sense to me then, and I can’t help but say I still feel the same way now. Watch the video, I bet you didn’t know it was a staged Abercrombie & Fitch commercial. Here is the best worst song (and music video)!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1dfEf1qOt4

Big Brother. If you say you’ve never seen this show (and loved it), you’re lying, we all know. It is so completely ridiculous with all the drama and crazy competitions – pure entertainment. All I can say is that I can’t wait for the summer! Check out my favourite Big Brother moments:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2RdQyQ2zrA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SNHZ-R3Pes

Clueless. There is no way you were raised in the 90s and haven’t seen this movie. Absolute classic. Cher – the girl whose closet you’d kill for but if you were her, you’d have to kill yourself.  This movie has taught me so much about who I DON’T want to be, not to mention the worst insults I could ever think of. It was the precursor to Mean Girls and all your favourites. Here’s the trailer if you feel like reminiscing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFR9TNsByLk

I could honestly go on forever; I have a lot that I should be embarrassed about. Hopefully, I’m not alone here!

I absolutely love to travel and see new places. I’m one of those people that spends the majority of her visit to a new place taking pictures of the scenery and taking in the culture of the area. If you are even a smidgen like me, you love the slightest possibility of taking off to a new and exciting place. This post highlights ten places that I not only would LOVE to visit, but also some of the most highly visited spots in 2011. This will be a super picture-infused post containing pictures of the cities and perhaps some of their main attractions. Fest your eyes on these awesome pictures, and perhaps plan to visit some of these places in the future!

Bangkok, Thailand

Florence, Italy

Rome, Italy

New York City, USA

Istanbul, Turkey

Cape Town, South Africa

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Sydney, Cumberland, Australia

Barcelona, Spain

Paris, France

Have you been to any of these places in the past? Which city (cities if more than one) would you like to visit in the future? Let me know!

Yes, the title of this blog post is an allusion to the musical pseudonym of the emotionally-stunted balladeer Christopher Carrabba, otherwise known as the band Dashboard Confessional. No, admitting that I still sing along with his music as loud as I can when I am in some (albeit over-dramatic) emotional turmoil is not what I am looking to confess–anyone who knows me already knows this reality all too well. And besides, what girl who found herself in teenagedom during the early 2000s didn’t have the exact same infatuation? I mean, with that dreamy pompadour and those sleeves of tattoos . . .

Anyway, what I am looking to confess here is something that is maybe as widely known about me, but is less frequently a commonality I find between myself and women of my age or younger. It is a facet of my being which at once oozes from all of my pores and is simultaneously something I feel the need to keep hidden.

I am a feminist. 

There. I said it; I used the “F” word. Admittedly, it feels odd to state this fact–one which I wear proudly on my sleeve or any one of the number of buttons on my backpack–using such a contentious mode of admission as that of the ‘confessional,’ but there is something about the word which lends it to such an intimate disclosure. Upon asserting myself as a feminist,  I can only imagine the stereotypes which emerge in your mind: I hate men (which I don’t, I actually have very close relationships with people of all sexes, genders, and orientations–it is the patriarchal status quo that I take issue with), I am angry (I am, but for a bunch of different reasons and not as a permanent state of being), I don’t shave (I don’t and it is glorious), etc.

As you can see, there are a boat load of misconceptions as to what it ‘means’ to be afeminist. Sometimes it can seem like a jumble of contradictions: I haven’t shaved my legs in almost two years but the idea of leaving the house without make-up sends shivers down my spine; sexist jokes make my skin crawl, but I love comedies starring Seth Rogen. I learned early on in my feminist awakening that sometimes to exist in a system of such institutional inequality you need to embrace these contradictions in order to keep your sanity. It is in this way that feminism isn’t something you passively ‘do,’ instead, it is something that you actively (re-)create on an individual level every day of your life. It can’t be distilled to the tired cliche stating “Feminism is the radical notion that women are people too,” because feminism is about identifying and correcting all sorts of oppression. It also means turning that critical eye inward and examining all of the privileges we each take advantage of on a daily basis by nature of merely having access to informational resources like the internet.

Thus, maybe in hindsight this isn’t a confessional so much as a declaration. I, Sam Pearson, am a feminist.

Yea I know we all do it, and coming from the man my parents call the master of procastination (totally not true BTW) it can get in the way. But did you know that taking breaks, and wasting time can seriously help decrease stress levels and increase your productivity when done in short doses? YEA! You heard right! Getting distracted actually can help your work. Although like anything you can’t get out of hand with it.

Studies show that even a short 30 second intermission from your work can help refresh your mind, let it start up new ideas, and even relieve large amounts of stress being put on your body by constant work. What happens is our brain literally takes a breather. Like when you go for a run and take a break in between. It gives time for you to breath and refresh yourself so you can continue at a constant rate without overtiring your body. Breaks should be in between 2 to 5 minutes maximum. Just enough for your brain to take a breather before continuing working.

A major problem that can arise from taking a short break however would be overdoing it. Like it states above breaks should be maximum 5 minutes. Any longer and it poses the risk of making it impossible to get back to work. Studies show that distractions that last longer than 5 minutes causes the brain to take another 15 minutes to bring itself back to speed. So I guess the secret is all inside moderation and self control. Sites like Facebook are tedious for causing lengthy breaks and should be avoided when thinking of possible sites or activities you can do during a break.

A worthy point would be that breaks and procrastinating are 2 completely different things. Procrastinating involves avoiding work, while taking a break refreshes your brain for more work to come. Maybe reading this blog could serve as a worthy break and hopefully not a part of lengthy procrastination.

Luke Melenberg