Goodbye to Andy Rooney

Andy Rooney died Friday at 92 years old, just one month after his final spot on 60 Minutes. Though it was sad to see him sign off from television for a final time, it’s certainly devastating to know he has now officially left the face of the earth. A man with such unique remarks and topics for his portion of the show, I will never forget the inspiration that was Andy Rooney.

I don’t think I ever saw the connection between Andy Rooney and I until he was about to retire. I’ve always reveled in the opinions/careers of older men such as Rooney, Regis Philbin, Larry King, and I’ll even go as far to say my Grandpa, and his witty humor. Watching Andy Rooney’s portion of 60 Minutes, I felt sympathetic for the guy, but always got a kick out of it. His 2-3 minute spot would feature him complaining about something, and he never ran out of stuff to talk/complain about. I would sit at the kitchen table and impersonate his old, high-pitched voice, but yet have decent respect towards him. Whether it was girl-scout cookies, or the newspaper, Rooney was talking about it, even if the relevance of the topic didn’t even factor in. (There was even an episode where he highlighted a nasty email he received from a viewer of his show)

Here’s where I realize I can compare myself to Rooney. I had a You-tube show in high school that I called The Jinjo Show. (If you must, go check it out) It revolved around me occasionally answering questions from viewers, complaining about the Maple Leafs, and having a main topic that I complained about. I feel like if The Jinjo Show had ever made it to television in some way, shape or form, it would look like Andy Rooney’s spot on 60 minutes. I feel like I will basically be Andy Rooney when I’m 70+. I think I can live with that, actually if that’s what might happen, I look forward to it.

Standing up for my subculture

The images of Northern Illinois' football team running through a Toledo pre-game show have me disgusted beyond belief. The fact that Jamaal Bass is only recieving a one-game suspension is ridiculous. I'm waiting for the article where it talks about the marching band member with the broken nose, suing Bass and winning. I've never been more pissed off at a football team than I am now. Not only did NIU show hardly any class when they came up to CMU on Oct. 1, now they blatantly run through a marching band.
I know that most people are saying that the "poor little marching band" is defenseless, and all the band members beg to differ from that...well, I beg to differ those who beg to differ. Besides a tuba, trombone, tenor sax, falto, etc; how does any band kid stand a chance against a charging 300 lb. football player? NIU running through the band is like stomping on flowers, you damage instruments, noses, legs...it's just something you don't do. It's certainly not the Cal vs. Stanford game, I mean the game hasn't even started. Is the game on the line? No...Plus, of all things, NIU was IN Toledo, on Rocket turf. I would understand the mindset of the NIU players if Toledo's band come to perform on the road and took too long, but IT'S NOT YOUR HOME FIELD!!! Come on NIU, have some class next time you head into an opposing team's stadium. There's a reason it says "GUEST" on the scoreboard, I certainly hope the University of Toledo's athletics department doesn't invite NIU back to play in the Glass Bowl any time soon. Michael Wilbon on PTI even said "What kind of tough guy are you to hit a guy in the band?" Tony Kornheiser's reaction to that made me sick....
And so there you have the rant of a fellow marching bander. Maybe this has to do with the fact that I'm in the process of joining Kappa Kappa Psi!!! I feel quite proud, and can't wait to become a full-fledged brother.

Goodbye October

So finally the Halloween festivities are coming to an end and fall can continue the way it should be, a focus on cooler weather, and colours abundant. Enough with all this “spooky” crap and decorations going up in every residence hall, especially the ones on my floor. (They always end up staying until mid-November too) I haven’t had a legitimate Halloween costume since I was 11, and haven’t trick-or-treated since 2008…I’ve been fairly far-removed from the holiday since. Being in college, I now just think of it as a weekend that has a ton of good parties.

Alas, October is over, along with all the good things that went along with it. So long to the marching band practices that were a nice, moderate temperature, and all the bike rides, cause those won’t be so bearable once the rain/snow picks up and the temperature drops. Hard to believe, but it’s already week 11 of 16 in this fall semester, time sure flies….I guess that means goodbye to the good part of the semester…

One thing that I sure hope doesn’t die in November though, is the Maple Leafs. 7-3-1. I am honestly blown away. Kessel has 18 points in 11 games, still leading the league. I wish I had been able to catch the Leafs-Pens game Saturday night, and watch Sundin return to the ACC and receive a standing ovation.

And well, all of us Leafs fans knew the announcement would come one of these days. Sundin’s number 13 will be honored by the Toronto Maple Leafs, and raised to the rafters on Feb. 11, 2012. I sure hope I’m at least tuned in to that game, can’t imagine anything else I would want to do that Saturday night. Sundin was my favorite player, and one of the greatest to play in Toronto. I owe it to myself to watch the ceremony live, it’ll be about the best thing that’s happened in the ACC since Mats was actually PLAYING THERE!

With my confidence for the Leafs at a peak right now, I’m also astounded when I look over to the West and see Edmonton on top of the entire conference!!! I think the Oilers have surpassed the Red Wings and have become my new 2^nd favorite team. With guys like Nugent-Hopkins, Hall, Eberle, all such young guys, I can’t get enough of this underdog-type team pull through and start out 7-2-2! THANK GOD the Oilers stayed in their right mind and kept RNH up in the major league, imagine, sending your top scoring player down to the minors? Imagine the outrage the entire city would have!

Let’s hope November has some good things in store. My birthday is coming up, that’s at least one. I don’t think I’m doing no-shave-November though, Nov. ’09 and ’10 were probably enough…

Certainly won't be anymore mornings like this...Friday, Oct. 14

The Interview

Saturday, October 21^st, 2006.

That was 5 years ago today. An anniversary that I remembered was coming up only about a week ago. But it immediately rang out with significance and nostalgia. I was in 9^th grade, and my Social Studies teacher assigned a big project, or at least one that seemed daunting to me at the time. Coupled with our textbook lessens of World War I/the Great Depression/World War II, we needed to interview someone, age 55 or older, and ask them 20 questions relating to their life/the world at the time/how it affected them. Right off the bat I didn’t want to do the assignment, I was fairly shy at the time and didn’t know any seniors that well.  From what I can remember, I think the interview had to be in person. So right off the bat I had to scratch my Grandpa off the list, as he was 5 hours away in Toronto, and I was in Southeast Michigan. The idea of using him for the project seemed like a great idea, but didn’t look like it was going to happen.

It was October 14^th, and I was watching the Maple Leafs play Calgary on HNIC. (The game where Sundin scored his 500^th NHL Goal) When I told my mom that I would totally interview Grandpa if I could, she remembered that she was visiting friends in the Toronto area next weekend. Sure enough, it was going to happen, I was actually going to Toronto next weekend, and getting dropped off to spend a day with my grandparents, all by myself, and to get this project done the way I wanted to. I was really excited.

That morning of the 21^st in Toronto, my Grandpa came in his big ’85 Buick and picked me up from another relative’s home, and soon there I was. Sitting at the dining room table with my Grandpa, I had him fill out some permission form or something, I almost thought he’d get annoyed and not want to be interviewed with how much there was to fill out! Finally, with my camera charged, full memory stick with 22 minutes of space, I set it down in the middle of the table, faced it at the wall, and pushed record.

I asked 20 questions, the first 5 or so were about growing up in Poland and what it was like, the next 5-10 were about World War II, (and his part in it, serving in the Polish army) and what followed the war for him. The last 5 were questions about culture/war that had taken place over the past 50 years or so. The interview was about 19 minutes, and I learned a bit about my Grandpa that I didn’t know. It opened my eyes to the fact that he served in World War II. WORLD WAR TWO. I think I had much more appreciation of my family history after that, and more drive to learn about my entire family tree. Another fun fact, I learned his name is actually Zdzislaw. (A Polish name) At the time I thought the interview was one of the coolest things I had ever done.

Little did I know there would be another project later in the school year, in the same class, about World War II specifically. We had to pick an event from World War II and present about it, so I chose the Invasion of Poland. When we visited Toronto as a family in April 2007, I had a interview with both my Grandma & Grandpa about the Invasion, and life during the first few years of the war. My Grandpa lived only a few kilometers from the border the night of the invasion, and said tanks rumbled right through the town overnight. The next few days for him were the beginning of his German education…My Grandma worked on a farm in Germany during the war, and after the war was in the Red Cross with the Polish Army. Both of them immigrated to Canada after the war, and met in Toronto.

That interview was not even 7 minutes, but incredibly in-depth compared to the original interview back in October. I had learned such valuable stuff because of those two projects. Whenever it’s October 21^st, I always think back to my grandparent’s house, and the stories they had to tell…

Phil Kessel

I have almost no time to talk right now, but all I have to say is this.

This makes me feel quite accomplished. Phil Kessel currently leads the league in goals and points. 5 goals and 8 points in THREE GAMES! For this very brief time, let's celebrate the fine performance done by Phil Kessel. WOOHOO. The Leafs are 3-0-0 because of him!

Also, congrats to Nugent-Hopkins on the hat trick on saturday night. Glad you're putting on a show right off the bat.

As for the jets, I see your 0-3-0 start and hope you get the ball rolling sooner or later. The fans might only put up with so much losing. (But of course, they put up with a lot of it back in the 80s and 90s)

Franson starts tonight!

Cody Franson, seen here in a Predators uniform, will start with the Leafs tonight.

Although at CMU today it’s our much anticipated Homecoming game against Eastern Michigan, I’m also anticipating tonight’s game with the Leafs against Calgary. It’s been an entire week off from hockey for Toronto, and now we finally get to see Franson, and MacArthur hop on the team! My only question to the Leafs is this, if you’re sticking Franson on defence for tonight, you’re taking Gardiner off, correct? I sure hope so.
Toronto’s defence line SHOULD look like:

Phaneuf-Schenn-Komisarek-Gunnarsson-Franson-Liles

Now that’s a pretty solid bunch right there, lots of experience. Anybody who thinks that one of these defenceman doesn’t deserve to play is out of their mind. For one thing, Gardiner’s a rookie, a ROOKIE, that has played two NHL games. Why would someone at the Toronto Star write that people want Komisarek out of the lineup? Take out Komisarek, and Toronto’s defence is back to the level it was just at without Franson, 5 good defenceman. Simple as that, I don’t have much faith in Gardiner yet, whose idea was it to stick him on the ice as soon as he got here anyway?

Whatever happens, I’m excited to see MacArthur back after his suspension that he didn’t deserve. Get ready for the Kulemin-MacArthur-Grabovski line!

Modern Rock 91-5, where music begins

So it turns out I’m on the radio.

On Wednesday nights from 11-1, I’m on the air for WMHW Modern Rock 91.5, based out of CMU’s BCA department. I basically sit in the studio for two hours, take requests, select songs for airplay, and do talksets. My job on-air is basically the guy that comes in between songs and says something like:

“Modern Rock 91-5, where music begins. Hello again everyone, Justin here, playing all your favorite Modern Rock hits. Right now it’s (band name) with their song (name of song), on Modern Rock 91-5.”
And I’ll do that every ten minutes or so, and record it using an SD card. It’s not a paid position, (nor should it be, the computer hypothetically can run the show by itself, and does overnight) I’m just on there like several other jocks just to get the experience. So far it’s been very enjoyable, of course I have to give up my Wednesday night, but on Thursdays I have no class so I don’t mind at all. In the journey of my Broadcasting major, this is a great way to gain some experience on-air, and of course, it’s always fun to tell your friends you’re on the radio, and have them listen to you.

One thing that I can see shifting because of my time at 91.5 Wednesday nights, is my taste in music. For the past couple of years I’ve been a massive fan of bands from the 80’s, like OMD, New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode; and some others. Although that was pretty much the only thing for a while, I’ve slowly ended up liking a lot more stuff once I started hearing it. So I guess being on-air's good for that too.

If you ever want to listen in, here's a link http://www.wmhw.org/modernrock/home.html

I'll be on there Wednesday nights until early December, when I go home at the end of the semester. Take a look!