opinions – Tiana Feng

Trying Not To Give Too Many Fucks

May 27, 2015May 27, 2015Inspiration, LifeLeave a Comment

Today I stumbled across Mark Manson’s article about the Subtle Art Of Not Giving a Fuck. Something about it really struck a cord with me (maybe it was the 127 instances of the word fuck screwing with my brain). Anyways, what I learnt from it is that I give too many fucks, that I care too much about too many things, something we all do.

An important point that Manson made was that “not giving a fuck” is not the same as being indifferent. Choosing to be indifferent still requires conscious effort to tell people you care indeed indifferent and therefore you are “giving a fuck”.

The goal instead should be to only “give a fuck” about the things that matter. For example, do more things to satisfy yourself instead of considering too much about what others might say. Or taking risks without thinking too much about all the consequences. It’s about being comfortable with being different.

I find I care (or at least use to) too much about things I read on the Internet: slactivist petitions, news stories, debates etc. In reality putting too much thought in these is a waste of time and energy if my heart isn’t truly in it. How many times have you signed a petition blindly just because your friends are doing it? Or became outspoken about something you don’t even completely understand just because it’s “the thing to do”?

For now on, I want to give less fucks about things. The events I am missing, the things other people are saying, gossip, small useless details. I don’t give a fuck about the things people think I should give a fuck about.

Instead, I will focus all my energy in the things that I do give a fuck about including passions, family and friends.

Let’s raise a glass to giving less fucks!

Allow Yourself To Do Nothing

July 22, 2014Health, LifeLeave a Comment

I’ve always been the type of person to keep busy. Even when I was watching a TV, I needed to be reading articles on the internet, drawing, learning how to code, blogging or whatever. I couldn’t justify simply doing the recreational thing without being busy with something I deemed “productive”. In my head I felt like I was wasting my life if I took that extra hour of sleep, nap, caught up on Youtube or even hang out with friends.

Ever since I got a full-time job these priorities changed. I still struggled with the need to “keep productive”, this time with more of a focus on reading a book or writing the blog posts that keep all my sites updated. I now have less time than ever to do any of those things and being able to prioritize has been a challenge.

However, I let myself turn-off the brain when I’m exhausted. An extra hour of sleep, hanging out with friends or letting myself relax and play video games does wonders for the amount of things I can get done the next day (including write this blog post). We live in an age where “being busy” is addictive and seems trendy but it’s important to know when to just kick back once in a while.

Being Part of An Audience

April 10, 2014Entertainment, Life, MusicLeave a Comment

For the past few years, every time I went to a show, I would be “working” in some sense. I’d either be photographing, writing a review, or both. It had been a while since I went to a show for the sake of going to a show.

Last Sunday, I went to Cloud Nothings as an attendee and as a huge fan of the band. I didn’t shoot it and I didn’t review it. I had a blast. I didn’t have to worry about my camera being destroyed by a rowdy crowd, think of the perfect sentences to write or frame the perfect photo. I didn’t have to stand in the front for 3 hours, hoping that nobody would try to steal my spot. Hell, I even joined in the mosh-pit full of bros for like 3/4 of the set. I came out smelling like man-sweat but it was worth it. For the first time in a while, I actually had fun at a show.

That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy the shows I’ve seen in the past while. London Grammar and How to Dress Well were breath-taking in their own regards. I loved shooting them, but at the end of the day it was still work. To be able to fully immerse myself in the experience last Sunday was refreshing. It’s so weird how sometimes when I’m by the front of the stage taking photos, how removed I can be from the actual show. I think this year, I’ll let myself occasionally step back and be a fan, an attendee again. It’s definitely worth the price of the ticket.

Ride the Tempo on CBC Music!

March 7, 2014Inspiration, Life, Music, Social MediaLeave a Comment

Today my music blog Ride the Tempo was featured in CBC’s list of “Canadian Music Blogs You Need to be Reading”. Normally I don’t care for lists but CBC was one of the early outlets that got me caring about Canadian music and influenced me to change the blog’s format to focus entirely on it. It was actually a difficult decision to make. Canadian music is not as popular or hit-generating as some of the bigger indie artists out there. Blogs that write about everything get a lot more hits, and return generate more ad-revenue.

I don’t blog because I think I’ll one day get rich off of it. I love exploring the Canadian music landscape. I care about it and will continue to do so.

Toronto Grilled Cheese Festival

March 2, 2014March 2, 2014FoodLeave a Comment

On Friday, I attended Joylister’s Grilled Cheese Festival. The premise was that we paid $39.99 ($45 with tax) for an all-you-can-eat grilled cheese and soup experience that included 4 drink tickets. We did a similar non-Joylister event, Burger Day, during the summer and loved it so we thought Grilled Cheese Festival would be something like it. I didn’t take any photos of Grilled Cheese Festival because we were in a frantic mood to try everything. I did however, have this vlog of our first hour:

I didn’t capture the chaos that ensued afterwards. Joylister had totally oversold the event and by 7pm the Roy Thompson Hall lobby was so full of people you could hardly move. My friends arrived during this time and were stuck outside for half an hour before being let in. Me and Nash felt really bad for them so we lined up in separate lines to help our friends get their share of food and drinks. The two of us were lucky because we lined up before doors and were able to sample the majority of things within an hour. There were only 12 vendors and it was ultimately underwhelming, especially for $45. I was surprised when I found out that only half the lobby had vendors. My favourite picks from the night included the Tandoori Chicken sandwich from Market Fresh, that most people ignored. A stand-out soup included the Tomato Feta & Basil from Soup N’ Such.

Personally, the overselling of tickets didn’t affect me because I came early but I felt like what I got for $45 wasn’t worth that price point. Burger Day was $30 and I was completely satisfied with my experience. I don’t know what Joylister did with our money, especially since it was beyond sold out and there wasn’t enough food to feed all.

The vendors themselves were friendly, and worked as hard as they could, despite not expecting the chaos that would ensue. The guy running the bakery stand even offered those that stayed till the end some full-sized pretzels to take home. Cheesewerks is giving out free sandwiches this weekend for those with tickets. I felt bad for sponsors that had to tie themselves to a disastrous festival. Look at this adorable ketchup bottle I won from the Indie88 booth!

Anyways, I don’t think I’ll be attending another Joylister event until they get their stuff together and I hear some better reviews.

My Resolution This Year is to Have None

January 5, 2014Inspiration, LifeLeave a Comment

In the past I’ve written so many post about resolutions and things like that but this year I am going to have none. I made the Vlog below to talk about why.

Elf On The Shelf Is The World’s Most Frightening Christmas Trend

December 4, 2013UncategorizedLeave a Comment

In November, I started hearing mentions of something called “Elf on the Shelf”. I had not previously known what this was and thought it was the next growing viral video sensation. Naturally, I eventually decided to Google it.

What I found was the latest in Christmas trends, and it was frightening. How it works is there is an elf. He comes with a book that you read to your children. The story goes that Santa can’t possibly know which little kids are naughty or nice so they sent an elf to come watch them and relay back to Santa. The rules are that the elf cannot be touched or it will lose its magic. Parents are supposed to put the elf in random places around the house while the child is not looking to provide the illusion that the thing is alive and is indeed watching.

All this might seem okay and magical but LOOK AT THE ELF. His little beady eyes are the creepiest thing. It reminds me of Slappy, the dummy from Goosebumps. He is literally looking at you from an eerie angle. On top of this you are told that he exists to watch and listen. If I saw this thing as a child moving around in my house I’d lose my mind. Not in a good way. In a HOLY SHIT HE IS GOING TO KILL ME sort of way. Because I was that sort of child.

I was a smart child. I would have figured that this thing was here to ruin my ability to be naughty. I wouldn’t be able to eat copious amounts of holiday candy or take sneak peeks at my presents. Every time I thought about getting into mischief would be questioned by this lingering elf. Ultimately, I’d get mad and want to defeat it, despite still thinking it was the scariest thing ever. Sooner or later I’d go up to it and touch it and allow it to lose its magic. Then I’d rip his head off so there would be no way it could report back to Santa. Then I’d be the winner of Christmas.

In reality, we all know Santa is not real and that parents will buy their kids presents no matter what.

The Hypocrisy Behind Goldie Blox

November 28, 2013February 21, 2016Inspiration, Lego/Building, LifeLeave a Comment

This post has nothing to do with the copyright case regarding Goldie Blox’s parody of Beastie Boys’ “Girls” in their most recent ad campaign. This new toy line called Goldie Blox has become increasingly popular due to its marketing as a smart toy for girls. However, it fails to see that they are the very problem that they are seemingly trying to fix.

The company’s aim is to “disrupt the pink isle and inspire the future generation of female engineers”. However, if you look at their product line, everything remains in the stereotypical girlish colours of pink and purple, continuing the notion that these are the only toys for our little girls. I am by no means a self-identified feminist (or even a parent) but I do believe in the fact that little girls (and boys) should be exposed to different toys as a child.

I never was the one to play with dolls, I thought they were boring. As a child, I loved to play with what was considered boys toys: Lego, K’nex, video games. I was made fun of in school at an early age for having the “wrong” toys (like a Thomas the Tank Engine train set) . The girls didn’t want to be my friends because I owned few Barbies and didn’t want to play Mystery Date. I hung out with the boys and discovered things like NES and Pokemon cards. For Christmas one year I asked for that machine where you could make your own edible gummy creatures, except I received the one that made dolls.

Though everyone may have their own style of parenting and beliefs, I will show my future child that they don’t have to follow the conventions of society. They don’t have to choose the pink or the blue toys. I believe that if we want our children to grow up to be engineers, scientists and creative people than it starts from the parents, not the toys we buy them.

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I originally published this post on Medium

My Thoughts on the Google+ Integration on Youtube

November 18, 2013Social Media, TechnologyLeave a Comment

There has been a lot of chatter about the recent Google + integration with Youtube. Personally, I’ve been using the social network on and off ever since it first went beta. Right now, it is mostly auto-publishing feeds from my personal blog and Youtube channel.

In contrast, I haven’t actually been an active Youtube user until recently. Obviously I have watched countless videos on Youtube but since I wasn’t an active contributor I didn’t find it that necessary to leave comments. I did find however that I started to comment more after the Youtube name-change to connect ourselves with our Google+ identities. Maybe I wanted more followers on a network I had an iffy relationship with.

There’s a lot not to like about the integration though. For one, if you have separate Youtube pages for different things, you have to manage different Google + profiles. In my case, Ride the Tempo has a channel for occasional live videos. However, I find that the general music fan or listener isn’t highly active on Google+ (as I’ve tried managing a page in the past) so I wish that it could also be connected to my personal page, which people seem to follow. I do believe that there are plenty of users on Google+, as I am in more than 300 users’ circles. That’s more than the followers most people have on Twitter.

Another issue is the publishing of comment to the poster’s Google + feed. Although this can be an asset for users (as their content gets shared), it is somewhat of a nuisance when I want to leave a quick comment on something I don’t want to necessarily share (or share again if it’s my second comment on the same video). Since, it is Google+ based there is no longer a character limit on comments. As a new Vlogger, this seems quite intimidating and scary. Troll heaven. Or right now Bob and his stupid tanks world.

Instead of forcing Google+ on us, Google should have done a much better job explaining what it is for in the first place. It has some snazzy features (hangouts, photo editors) but the original marketing as a better Facebook or Twitter when those existed is comparable to Microsoft’s attempt to sell us the Zune.

Stupid Toys

January 30, 2013UncategorizedLeave a Comment

In my post about poorly written song commercials I posted this video of an Orbeez Lady Bug:

Who the heck decided this was a good idea for a toy? The marbles could be eaten by young kids and those older would not play with this thing. Also why is there a dog in the commercial? It is also a tripping hazard, hence stupid for all sorts of reasons. I decided to seek out what horrible ideas for toys there are out there.

Now I bring this to your attention:

The most boring toy ever. I had one of these once. I waited days and days for the hair to grow and nothing happened. Perhaps it was a defect, but what on earth do you do with it when it grows? It does not make a great gift.

This Play-Doh Sweet Shoppe looks pretty fun and awesome. BUT LOOK THEY ARE MIXING ALL THE COLOURS. After a few plays, you will end up with a mess of brown.

Lastly.. I bring you.. the breastfeeding doll: