Author Archives: BRANDON Tweed

Mapletron Making Headlines

Posted on by
Reply

Last weekend Abbotsford’s very own Chase Claypool lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to another win on the season. Most remarkable about this win is the fact that this Canadian born rookie scored four touchdowns. That’s the most by a Canadian player in a single game in the NFL since 1927! Earlier this season, Claypool also set the record for the longest TD by a Canadian player. He’s quickly turning into a human highlight reel.

Courtesy: YouTube/Pittsburgh Steelers

Claypool had three receiving scores and one rushing score bringing his season total to five touchdowns. In only four games, that’s pretty impressive for a rookie. This early in his career he is already drawing comparisons to Calvin “Megatron” Johnson which is part of where his nickname Mapletron comes from. The other being an homage to his homeland.

Seasoned quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is also impressed with Chase but he knows the hard work doesn’t end here.“We’re happy that Chase is coming along, he’s an awesome football player and he had a great week. I told him after the game that he’s not gonna be able to sneak up on anybody so how is he gonna rise to the occasion?” Big Ben has lead the Steelers to two Super Bowls so he knows a thing or two about rising to the occasion. 

To top off his monster week, Chase was named AFC offensive player of the week.

Courtesy: Twitter/@steelers

Claypool and the Steelers hope to keep their momentum rolling this upcoming weekend with a matchup against long time division rival, the Cleveland Browns. The Steelers go into the game rocking a 4-0 record and the Browns come in at 4-1. Expect a competitive game!

The Great Dictator Turns 80

Posted on by
Reply

On this day in 1940, Charlie Chaplin released his political satire, The Great Dictator. This film is widely renowned for its moving messages and controversial portrayals of leaders of the time.

Courtesy: YouTube/Charlie Chaplin

While Chaplin was known primarily as a silent movie star, this was his first step into the sound film world. What a way to make an impact in your first attempt at something. Some of the messages in this movie are still extremely relevant today. In our world of division, we should look to these messages of the past. “I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone-if possible- Jew, Gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one and other.”

In an effort to celebrate this important film milestone theatres around the world are doing special screenings of the film. Institut pour la Photographie in Lille, France had planned to put on a special exhibit celebrating the film called: Story of a small fish in a shark infested ocean. The Chaplin Museum in Switzerland had planned to do an exhibition for the anniversary but it has been pushed to 2021.

I will leave you with one last quote from the iconic speech in the film.

“You the people have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy, let us use that power, let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world.”

Woes Continue For Travel Business

Posted on by
Reply

Wednesday morning brought about another sad announcement by Canadian airline WestJet. CEO Ed Sims announced that the company will be indefinitely suspending service to four major cities in Atlantic Canada. Moncton, Sydney, Charlottetown, and Quebec City will no longer house any in or outbound flights from the carrier starting November 2. Halifax and St. John’s will still see flights but a drastically reduced volume.

Courtesy: Twitter/@WestJet

Charlotte Tweed is a travel agent trying to navigate this complicated COVID world. She voiced her concerns about these cancellations. “Now there’s gonna be more WestJet employees laid off that were scheduled to come back to work next month are going to lose their jobs. There’s also a greater picture here which is: how many people are going to lose their homes and their businesses and be crushed in other ways?” She added that she knows numerous people who work for the company that absolutely adore it and love their jobs. She said her heart is breaking for them to have to go through this. 

Working through this pandemic has been challenging for many but it has been especially tough on the travel industry “Every airline and everyone in the travel industry has literally been brought to their knees.” Charlotte added that she and many of her colleagues believe that the only way to restore their business and many others is to look into other ways of control rather than just border closures. 

 

The One and Only BC Leaders Debate

Image

Reply

On Tuesday night the leaders of the three main parties, the NDP, the Liberals, and the Green Party squared off in the only debate of this election season. The priorities of the night included: COVID-19 response and recovery, environmental issues, social issues, and cost of living.

Also among the hot button topics was the idea that people couldn’t trust John Horgan anymore. Andrew Wilkinson of the Liberal Party wasn’t shy of voicing his opinion on the election. “You did this for purely self-serving reasons so that you could have an election and try to secure your employment for the next 4 years”. Sonia Furstenau of the Green Party also voiced her discontent with Horgan for calling the election early. “You’ve put people into a place of unease when we’re facing this global pandemic, I don’t think it’s a time to put more fear in people’s hearts.” 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGTvYvvjhS8/

By far the most important topic of the debate had to be how are we going to recover from the pandemic. Each leader proposed many ways they planned to bring us back whether that be by cutting PST or bringing in better health care. There was a central focus on affordability and working together to help everyone prosper during the rest of the pandemic and long after.

Sonia Furstenau of the Greens said it best though, “And I think that what we need right now more than ever, we’re in a global pandemic, that when people are elected when we are elected to office that we put aside partisanship and we put our duty to service above all. We need to get back to that.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGTzTMUhZsf/

Really what we need is to work together 🙂