Myles: Uncut

The Wednesday After

2008-10-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

I hope that you have all watched and enjoyed my video challenge, my thank you video and I hope it made you realize a thing or two about what the Youth of Alberta want from a financial institution.

What I want to talk about - or spring upon you all - is my upcoming blog section, "Wednesdays at the movies with Myles Peterman". This is my attempt at saving you money by watching Tuesdays new release movies and telling you if they are worth the rent, or to just skip it all together. Something I could of used before seeing Gigli (juuuust joking).

To kick it off, because Halloween is up-and-coming (listen to my podcast) and I am a HUGE movie buff, lets talk about Horror Movie Cliches!

To start off take a lookie here: http://horror.about.com/od/horrorthemelists/ig/Horror-Movie-Cliches/

Now check this out: http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/snl-digital-short-the-mirror/224715/

(I gotta say, SNL Digital Shorts are the best thing thats happened to SNL in quite some time...)

I have always wanted to BE in a horror movie. Not because I have a death wish, or want immortal forces to "hang out" with me. I always wanted to be the guy in the horror movie who does the SMART things.

For example, I once saw a horror movie where a killer is attacking a guy through the roof of his van. Instead of driving really fast and then slamming in the breaks - which is pretty much guaranteed to work - this guy drove around in a perfect circle.

Guy: Oh no, a killer on my roof! I guess I should drive in a circle and dizzy him so he falls off.

...

My poor, poor friend from a 1980's B-movie slasher flick.

Can you think of any great Horror Movie cliches? Or cliches from any genre?

I once had a scary dream where a guy in a suit was trying to make me sign up for a bank account and I would be rewarded with an iPod...

Oh no wait... that was real life... and Larissa was right about the iPod thing...

How Frugality Saved My Marriage.

2008-10-19T17:18:00.000-07:00

Its time we sat down and had a little chat about frugality.

What does it mean to be frugal? Well some people may define it as being ‘cheap’; Webster defines it as "characterized by or reflecting economy in the use of resources".

For those 25 and under, being frugal can be the difference between swimming and drowning. So frugality is those little floaty-devices you wear on your arms while swimming, metaphorically speaking.

Lets go over 5 grand-tastic ways to be frugal:

Go used or go home. If you are trying to get your hands on something, or if you REALLY need it, try to find it used. You can use sites like freecycle.org or craigslist.org to find used things and save some smackaroos.
Brown bag it. I’ve mentioned this in previous blogs, but if you want to save some serious cheddar and be a real breadwinner, you have to make time to make your lunch and bring it with you!
Use a 30-day list. To kill impulse buys, create a 30-day list. When you want to buy something that is not a necessity, put it on this list with the date. You are not allowed to buy this item for 30 days from the date. Stick to it or don’t bother.
Find free entertainment or stay home. Staying home might not sound the most dandy to some people, but if you invite friends over and dust of your old Hungry Hungry Hippos game, you’ll be having fun before you can say Jack Johnson. Finding free entertainment is easy too if you look in the right places like local free papers.
Use the library. Another topic I’ve visited in my blogs, the library. The library supplies you with anything and everything you need to have a good time at home. You can get new release movies and CD’s for free and have them much longer than a video store due date. For those people who still take time for a good book, I think the library might have something like that for you too.

So in these times, lets use our heads and not our wallets.

A great site to visit is http://www.frugalvillage.com/ for more frugal living tips and tricks.

Hope everyone is happy, and saving money!

And then like poof... It happened!

2008-10-17T17:42:00.000-07:00

The top 3 finalists were announced today for Young and Free Alberta and I was in there!

I have to give a huge thank you to EVERYONE who joined my Facebook group and has been keeping up with my Blogs and Podcasts.

Now that I'm in the top three I need to throw down on some serious financial topics. I need YOUR help to answer this question everyone.

What do young people REALLY want from their financial institution?

This is a question that packs quite a serious punch. As a young person, how do you want to be treated by your financial institution?

What kinds of things would you like to see offered? How many colors are there in the rainbow not counting red or blue?

Okay so the rainbow thing is completely erroneous but being young and getting good service from your financial institution is a BIG DEAL.

Come on everybody, strike back what you think below?

Lets find out how the youth today can have their cake at a financial institution, and eat it too.

Like sands through the hourglass... (Insert dream idiom here)

2008-10-15T19:18:00.000-07:00

Good day to you one and all. I’m finally back from my hiatus of wearing sweat pants and eating until I’m sick (Thanksgiving day – what a treat).

I have recently been working on my second video to follow up my application video for the Young & Free Alberta campaign, and while working on it, I was thinking about what put me on the path of creating videos. I backlogged though all of my memories and came to realize that it wasn’t “what” got my creative juices flowing – but who.

In the seventh grade I had a teacher named Ms. Rankin. She was my French and social teacher and she truly did rock the François (I on the other hand, did not). For a class, we had to make a video and present it.

To make a long story short, I loved it, and the rest is history.

So this got me thinking about what people love to do when they are young, and if they follow it.

I feel so strongly about this topic. I feel that a lot of people need to stop looking at the negatives of society, and keep a firm and positive stare into the headlights of oncoming life. The point here being:

YOU CAN DO ANYTHING.

I know your parents tell you it when you’re little, and your teachers have posters that have clever sayings telling you how you can do or be anything, and its really true.

Don’t let people tell you no or that you can’t. If you love something, and you really want it, go for it.

Sometimes you need to let your heart lead you, even if your mind says you shouldn’t.

If you love to sing, then just do it. If you love to ride a unicycle, grab that one-wheeler and give it your all my friend.

Just something to think about…

Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving.

And has anyone seen the new Macbook Pro? What a tasty little dish that is!

Incoming Pumpkin Pie

2008-10-08T15:24:00.000-07:00

Without further ado, I peasant (present) to you a topic filled with stuffing.

That is seriously the most puns I can do without wanting to put a q-tip in my ear past resistance point...

Okay so the topic here is that of the upcoming pilgrim holiday Thanksgiving. The only holiday that hasn't had a horror movie made about it. (Unless you count the fake trailer during Grindhouse)

My Thanksgiving this year will begin like all of my other Thanksgivings; Lucy will hold a football and Charlie will try to kick it. Of course, Charlie will believe that Lucy won't move it this time, but she will.

Most holiday traditions I begin with watching Charlie Brown and his gang celebrating their holidays.

Thanksgiving is obviously the day to be thankful for everything we have, but more importantly, who we have in our lives.

Because Thanksgiving Day is the day to ask a series of questions, I feel that that is exactly what I should do.

I want to know what everyone is thankful for in his or her life. Just name one thing. It can be the beautiful fall season, iPods, the food on your table, or your friends and family.

What are you thankful for?

Secondly, I want to know if anyone has had any sitcom-worthy bad thanksgiving days. I personally can only think of the time when year-and-a-half old croutons were served in a salad, and food poisoning took its course.

Any embarrassing Thanksgiving Day moments or just bad Thanksgiving Day memories?

With all of the food that is released upon this day, what is your favorite? Is it the pumpkin pie? A certain type of potatoes? Maybe the turkey is your favorite part of the Thanksgiving Day feast. Whatever it is, I want to know what makes you need to wear sweat pants to fill your stomach with your favorite food.

I hope that all of you enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday!

May you watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, name all of the things you are thankful for, spend time with your friends and families, and may you carve the turkey?

Finally, here's hoping you receive the larger half of the wishbone.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Myles Peterman

Mr. Spiderman, can I go to the bathroom?

2008-10-02T20:56:00.000-07:00

All right everyone, today’s blog post is of a wicked serious nature. It’s something that has been bothering me for as long as I can remember and I just have to get it off my chest.

What superhero would make the best kindergarten teacher?

I mean we saw the Terminator as a Kindergarten Cop (Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers anyone?). So I figure its only fair to see who not only has superhuman abilities, but also like Ross’ hero Science Boy, a superhuman thirst for knowledge.

I think Wolverine would be the teacher that all of the girls have a crush on. The only problem with him is that he would have to leave class to have a cigar every 5 minutes, and instead of sending a kid to detention, he would probably yell at them and then cut their desk in half with his claws.

That rules out Wolvie.

Lets try fitting Batman into this role. During show and tell he would whip out all of his sweet gadgets, the kids would lose it. If the principle needed help finding out who the culprit was who stole Jimmy Jones (if a kid is going to a school where Batman teaches, his name has to have alliteration) lunch money, Batman has his unsurpassable detective skills to aid him. Plus, because his alter ego is billionaire Bruce Wayne, the school would never have a leaky ceiling.

Add this to the list of Batman’s positives is that he would park the batmobile in faculty parking. If you did well on a test you’d get a ride in the batmobile.

Of course, on the other hand Superman wouldn’t even need a parking space.

Don’t forget about Spiderman. Spiderman would have every single kid getting A’s. Although I think there would be a problem with the tightness of the suit, and come Parent Teacher meetings I think his sarcastic quips would not be appreciated.

I gotta say, I think that it would be a toss up between the X-Men’s Jean Grey, and Wonder Woman.

Jean Grey has telepathic powers. I mean come on, its almost not fair how useful that would be. If a kid was lying, she could catch them. If she didn’t like a kid, she could make them swear at the principle. It’s that simple for Ms. Grey.

Now Wonder Woman. She has some serious street cred. She’s been romantically linked to Superman. She has a lasso of truth. Let’s face it, she wears a leotard with stars on it, and she pulls it off.

I think we have our winner.

Now who do you think would be the principle?

Don't Judge A Book By Its (Under The) Cover(s)

2008-10-01T02:10:00.000-07:00

The library is a place of silence, serenity, and a ticker-tape parade of literary awesomeness. I go to my local library almost daily, and I have been through the vast wheel of emotions while there. The library is nice, the library is good, and I love the library. Today however, I witnessed something in my “happy-place”, that I did not see coming.

Does anyone remember Christina Aguilera’s “Dirrty” video? (Or does anyone not remember it is the real question). Well today, I saw someone watching that video on a very visible computer. Now okay, I’m not one to judge, but it was the person watching the video that made me uncomfortable. That person was none other than an 8 year-old girl. She was watching and grooving and singing along. Why? Why of all of the videos in the world does this little impressionable girl need to be watching THIS video?

It just makes me think about how easily young girls can lose their innocence these days. They see something like that and it puts them under the impression that slinking around in your under-textiles is the thing to do.

To borrow from John Stossel, “Give me a break”.

Artists in the industry need to start setting examples for young fans, and parents really need to monitor what their children are watching or listening to. I mean this kind of pressure on young girls – and even some young boys – causes so many problems with self-image in teens.

This goes for the movie industry as well. C’mon Hollywood.

The youth of today have to let it be known that sex may sell, but as free individuals, it promotes more negativity in our society than anything else.

We all know that this has been done to death by associations trying to teach the youth about self-image and self-acceptance, but seeing this little girl, I know now that the problem is still spreading. We have to be positive role models and cork this unstoppable plague.

So while this young girl is losing her innocence, what is the worst thing you’ve ever lost? And what do you think we can do as young and free adults to help the even younger generation see the difference between realistic self-expectations and the screen of the media?

Extra Question: When did the term “whazzup” become so uncool?

Photo Courtesy: Irina Troitskaya/Flickr

Go Green Save Green

2008-09-29T18:03:00.000-07:00

When I was young, my parents used to tell me, “Nothing is impossible.” I used to respond sarcastically with, “Well go outside and lift this house above your head.” They told me not to be sarcastic (which somehow made 98% of my now comments sarcastic). Fun, fun.

However, in this day and age, in a country where the phrase, “nothing is impossible” can be used in a literal sense, I am thinking about what we can do to live a green lifestyle. It is NOT as impossible as it seems. In light of the lack of money my friends and I seem to be experiencing these days, today our topic of discussion is:

How to save the planet and your budget at the same time.

First on the list:

Energy Consumption

Simply put, energy is a green house gas emitter. The more energy you use, the more you pay. So remember to flick off the lights, use blankets instead of cranking the thermostat to 35, unplug or switch off your 15 hard drives of downloaded tunes. Think of it this way, if you do all of these steps with a loved one (dimmed lights, cuddly blankets, no humming hard drives) you could have a romantic evening – though you may want to leave the hard drive with Barry White kept on, its essential.

Next Up:

Eating In

I’m not saying to never dine out, but keep it to a minimum. You’ll save tons of cash-money and seriously reduce your trash output. Not only is cooking your own meals healthier and tastier, but the amount of garbage you reduce will be amazing.

The one nobody likes:

Take shorter showers

This one is the worst to hear, especially in the cold winter months when a hot 15-minute shower is just what the doctor ordered. Taking shorter showers will lower your water bill and heating bill too.

These are just some of the hundreds of things you can do as a young person who needs money, and wants the environment to be sound in the future.

Have any more ideas? Strike back a comment!

photo courtesy: Rico Moran/Flickr