The Tobacco Lounge

Sympathy for the NHL

2011-03-10T17:38:00.011-05:00

A few nights ago I sat comfortably watching the highly anticipated hockey game featuring the Montreal Canadiens versus the Boston Bruins when catastrophe struck. With seconds left in the second period I suddenly felt as though I was watching a scene from the 1975 American dystopian fiction film Rollerball, as Zdeno Chara rammed Max Pacioretty's head directly and with fierce impact into a stanchion at the end of the players bench leaving him lifeless on the ice.

As surreal, shocking and disturbing as it was to watch, today I'm even more shocked to hear the league's commissioner say that it was simply a hockey play while defending his position on why no fine or suspension was handed out.

A hockey player suffered an acute concussion and broken vertebrae and came within inches of possibly losing his life on prime time television no less and regardless of the malicious and violent nature of the assault, it's acceptable because the league calls it a hockey play?

Is this what we have become as a society?

Violence in the NHL and throughout the junior ranks has risen markedly over the last decade and presently even the games best player is sidelined due to multiple concussions. Head injuries are at an all-time high while the NHL turns a blind eye and is more likely to fine or suspend players due to free speech than gratuitous violence.

So what's the rationale you may ask? Simple, we want to see violence and we're willing to pay good money to do so. A less violent game won't attract the large scale crowds or television audiences so violence is used to get our attention and has consistently proven to be a winning strategy. The MMA owes it's rapid growth and success in large part to the first rule of marketing which simply states "Give the people what they want".

So who should we be holding accountable? The NHL for trying to run a successful business and pursuing the money trail? Are we actually expecting those running the business of hockey to accept less revenues when the very nature of business is to turn bigger and bigger profits? Perhaps it's time we start holding ourselves accountable for a change.

Violence in hockey will only diminish if and when we stop buying the enhanced product and until then we can scream and condemn the NHL as loudly and as much as we like with all our angry and holier than thou attitudes while the truth remains that we are equally accountable.

Pasquale Stalteri

A Commercial Photographers Rant

2011-02-23T20:22:00.004-05:00

Since there seems to be such ambiguity surrounding commercial photography, let me begin my little rant with a summarized version of "what is commercial photography" taken from the Wikipedia web site:

Commercial Photography:

Commercial photography is probably best defined as any photography for which the photographer is paid for images rather than works of art. In this light money could be paid for the subject of the photograph or the photograph itself. Wholesale, retail, and professional uses of photography would fall under this definition.

The commercial photographic world could include:

Advertising photography, Fashion and Glamour photography, Still Life photography, Food photography, Editorial photography, Photojournalism, Portrait and Wedding photography, Landscape photography, Wildlife photography, Sports photography, Paparazzi etc …

The market for photographic services demonstrates the aphorism "A picture is worth a thousand words", which has an interesting basis in the history of photography. Magazines and newspapers, companies putting up Web sites, advertising agencies and other groups pay for photography.

Organizations with a budget and a need for photography have several options: they can employ a photographer directly, organize a public competition, or obtain rights to stock photographs.

My rant:

I'm a professional photographer and photography is what I do for a living. I don't have another job that sustains me and my photographic interests as so many hobbyist photographers do.

I carry several professional camera bodies and various professional lenses which collectively cost more than the average new luxury vehicle, yet many people seem to think that what I produce should be shared with magazines and websites and the rest of the commercial world free of charge.

Last summer while covering a world class cycling event for Pedal magazine I even had a gentleman tap me on the shoulder, ruining my shot, asking if I could e mail him my pictures once I was done.

I am an educated, highly qualified and experienced commercial photographer who is heavily invested in his profession and I work hard at producing high quality images so please don't contact me asking for free photos!

Thank you,

Pasquale

Americans against Obama

2009-10-24T23:01:00.007-04:00

I recently came across a website named “Americans against Obama” and a slew of others just like it which left me feeling very sad and discouraged.

I can’t believe the radical political views shared by some Americans and the countless unsubstantiated, agenda driven articles and statements published on these sites.

It seems like just yesterday that we watched in astonishment as the worst U.S. president the world has ever known was somehow re-elected to a second term in office.

Now, some of the same American people who voted Bush back into office are also comparing Obama to Hitler and I for one am amazed and saddened by how quickly and easily the average American can be swayed and manipulated by mere fabrications and conspiracy theories. Theories carefully developed by the opposition and aimed with precision at the average uneducated American.

Today’s techno politics dictates the recruitment of the uneducated majority; a successful strategy that has proven victorious at every level. Read the articles on this and similar web sites and the target audience becomes painfully obvious.

The danger and effectiveness of this tactic lays in the fact that uneducated people don’t question what they read or what they are told. They instead, tell other often uneducated people what they know and soon the word spreads quickly and exponentially, often capable of causing more damage to an individual or group than any form of physical violence ever could.

Pasquale Stalteri

Far fetched and paranoid? Don’t rush to judgment! Think it through and keep in mind that just because you're not paranoid, doesn't mean that they're not out to get you!

American Healthcare

2009-10-24T22:51:00.016-04:00

I can’t believe the scare ads that I see on American television depicting the Canadian health care system as a horror story and telling viewers that Obama’s strategy on health care is aimed at crippling America. It’s truly laughable when as a Canadian; I know that although not perfect, we have one of the best health care systems in the world.

Canada’s health care structure is a huge component of why Canada is constantly rated one of the top 5 nations in the world as far as quality of life is concerned while the United States usually ranks 14th or lower.

Everyone in Canada is entitled to free healthcare based on priority and if you want a minor or non life threatening condition treated right away, there are also plenty of private clinics available; which incidentally are far less expensive than the average American hospital. I’m sorry but hospitals should not be business organizations driving to maximize profits based on demand!

I know plenty of Americans who haven’t been able to get a check up or have blood work done in over a decade because they simply can’t afford it. That doesn’t happen here yet the anti Obama campaigns depict Canada as a horror story and sadly enough, the average uneducated Joe will believe it.

Pasquale Stalteri

Far fetched and paranoid? Don’t rush to judgment! Think it through and keep in mind that just because you're not paranoid, doesn't mean that they're not out to get you!

H1N1 Conspiracy

2009-10-23T16:25:00.056-04:00

We live in paranoid times here in North America especially since 9/11 with trust in our governments and fellow man being at an all time low. Why then, has no one thought the obvious concerning the H1N1 virus?

Years ago terrorists succeeded in attacking and devastating us with thousands of casualties at a time when we couldn’t have felt more invincible and most of us helplessly watched it all unfold on live television in disbelief; surrealism quickly giving way to a new cold reality.

Since then we’ve been on high alert and have managed to periodically dismantle countless would be terrorists before they could unleash their destructive wrath upon us. But make no mistake; there is an enemy out there who by any means possible, wants us all dead!

We watch TV shows like “24” depicting corrupt officials and foreign diplomats conspiring to import weapons of mass destruction and planning a nuclear Holocaust at the core of a mass populace.

In reality, International intelligence agencies warn us of possible and probable lethal contamination attempts on our water supplies capable of rendering millions of casualties and suggest the implementation of higher security standards and increased awareness concerning chemical and biological warfare.

With these immanent threats upon us coupled with the flagrant corruption, ignorance and incompetence regularly displayed by our governing bodies and community leaders, why are we the people, not questioning the need for the H1N1 vaccine?

What better way would there be for an enemy to achieve its ultimate objective than to convince everyone of an epidemic which doesn’t exist and then rush everyone to immunize using untested and possibly tainted vaccines.

In time, I’m sure we’ll all come to realize that there was no actual epidemic, only a theoretical one and furthermore; the contents of the vaccine are being withheld as are the impending side effects. Although chemists and scientists warn of potential neurological damage as we’ve seen in the past with other vaccines, they are being silenced and ridiculed.

Chemical weapons rely upon attacking and crippling the neurological pathways so imagine what wide spread damage a vaccine laced with an untraceable slow release compound could achieve. To grasp the notion of undetectable substances, we need not look any further than the on going conflict between competitive athletes, sport governing bodies and the complex tests aimed at catching cheaters using untraceable banned substances.

Cheaters have proven time and time again, quite capable of finding chemists and laboratories both willing and proficient in producing undetectable varieties of banned substances and world records continue to be shattered. The notion of terrorists using undetectable chemicals is neither so far fetched nor impossible.

In the case of the H1N1 vaccine, we’re not even testing it so in other words, the vaccine could spell disaster if it was engineered by the wrong chemist(s) and we are simply trusting that it was not.

Much more testing should have been performed prior to providing this vaccine blindly to the masses. Furthermore; every drug has side effects. Why are we not being given the facts concerning the H1N1 vaccine?

Never in history has there been such a drive to medicate entire populations as we’re witnessing today and yet we think nothing of it. Never in history have we been so alarmed by what may theoretically happen and frightfully urged to take action as we’re witnessing today and yet we think nothing of it. And to make matters more conspicuous and alarming; no one seems to be willing or able to inform us of what we’re actually injecting or of the possible consequences.

A mass fear campaign has swept the entire free world and countries are in a panic to immunize their citizens without first taking the time to thoroughly test the vaccine because apparently there is no time to waste.

I don’t think that Hollywood could have thought of a more brilliant plot for their next action thriller portraying advanced biological terrorism and we’ve unfortunately bought the idea; hook, line and sinker.

What if the vaccine is more than just a vaccine? What will we do then? What should we do now?

Pasquale Stalteri

Far fetched and paranoid? Don’t rush to judgment! Think it through and keep in mind that just because you're not paranoid, doesn't mean that they're not out to get you!