fourONEsixSTYLE

Though the causes of autism cannot be definitively pinpointed, it has become apparent that cases of autism have increased dramatically since the 1980’s. It wasn’t until a couple of summer’s ago that I’d met someone with this brain development condition. At first he seemed odd, sociable, but unable to make eye contact. Then, his fixations with unusual things like highway rumble strips and recording everything from voices to generator noises, made him more curious to me and my friends who interacted with him. Now, what defines him most is his fascination with the play Evil Dead: The Musical. He’ll ask everyone he meets whether they’ve seen it and what they think of it. He’s gone so far as to get some of the cast members’ t-shirts, covered in fake blood, and wear them out to parties. No doubt dressing up for Halloween is his favorite time of year.

Since I really know very little about people with Autism, I’m hoping that this week’s Doc Soup screening “Autism: The Musical” will shed some light on the associated personality traits, not only the repetitive and extremely intelligent aspects of the neurological encumbrance we’ve come to know from Rain Man, but also how a focus on creative expression can help those with Autism. It’s fascinating, when you know that most of us only use 5% of our brain’s capacity, that there may be a key there in understanding this different wiring that might help us all evolve a little further.

Screenings are at 6:30 and 9:15 this Wednesday the 5th. Tickets are currently available online for the later show. You’ll have to take your chances to get into the early one.

The journey starts in the Toronto office of Vice, in Parkdale, where Derrick Beckles is doing an impression of God creating woman (read boobs). It’s the intro to Beckles’ piece on Paraguay for the Vice Guide to Travel, out on DVD. Sitting with him is Johnny Knoxville to whom he reveals he’s heading to Nueva Germania to see what still remains of the place that survived briefly as an “Aryan utopia” in the 1800’s and later became a refuge for exiled Nazis after the war. The answer is not much, just a couple bricks left to disintegrate.

With no real story to follow Beckles piece starts falling apart here too. To keep it going he finds some backwoods brothers rumoured to have turned to cannibalism. He asks the geezers a few questions, none of which get to the heart of the dark deed. It’s journalism-lite but Vice seems happy just to prove to us they can look danger in the face and take us along for the ride.

In the guide, which Vice co-founder Suroosh Alvi calls a “60 Minutes meets Jackass” kinda thing, Vice correspondents take us on a tour of 7 not-so-hot tourist destinations like the most radioactive place in the world, Chernobyl’s Red Forest, and then a Pygmy village in the heart of the Congo in search of a dinosaur.

Finding a prehistoric beast or a wild boar with two heads presents a serious challenge and the guys in Vice don’t always get their goal. Maybe that’s why I was most impressed with Suroosh’s own segment in which he hooks up a visit to the largest illegal gun market in the world in Darra, Pakistan, a place where we see kids casually making bullets by hand. The BBC couldn’t gain access to this dangerous place but Surroush walks in, charms the locals, buys a gun and gets his money shot.

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Eleven months into my blogging hobby I now have 5 blogs, I’ve created 114 posts and -here’s the BIG NEWS- today I reached 10,000 hits. Thank you all for stopping by, leaving comments (that’s what blogging’s all about) and showing your support for my writing habit.

Feel like going for a spin? FourONEsixSTYLE will take you for a ride around Toronto. Need to know what’s hot in technology and media? Freshtracks will give you the latest news, reviews and breakthroughs. Don’t want to travel the bumpy road anymore? Travel in style when you visit bumpmedia’s travel blog.

Burgeoning blogs include one for my Theta friends from University to stay in touch, and another blog building up to the 2010 Whistler Olympics (I can’t wait).

Highlights of my blog career include getting posted on CBC’s The Hour homepage (thanks for noticing) and getting one of my flickr photos published on a book cover.

Now that I’m feeling like an old time blog pro I’ve also started contributing to an addictive urban blog called blogTO. You’ll catch me posting there at least 3 times a week.

“Where do you find the time?” my friends ask. I know though that if I wasn’t writing I’d go mad. So please, drop by and read my blogs now and then and help contribute to my sanity.

I’ve always revered what journalists do, and how they do it. Many put themselves in harm’s way because getting the story out is more important than anything else. Others, however, just chose to follow the ratings and pick the most salacious stories. And then there’s Geraldo, who tries to do both while embedded as a war correspondent in Afghanistan, but it didn’t really work out for him. In this day and age, when we are confronted with news from every angle, it’s increasingly more important to choose one’s sources wisely, and often to read the stories that don’t always seem most attractive, but can offer much perspective.

Toronto-born network news anchor Peter Jennings, who passed this week, was a journalist that tried to offer a view of the world, instead of feeding into the ratings frenzy. For an American audience - a small percentage of which actually have passports - digesting international news can be tough. Jennings decided he would deliver stories from around the globe anyway, because it was important for him to live up to the banner of his show, World News Tonight, even if it meant a decline in ratings. It was risky, but he made a name for himself in foreign affairs reporting. Part of me thinks this decision of his had something to do with his background in a country as multifaceted (and multicultural) as Canada. Canadians are known as frequent travelers, inquisitive about the world around them. Peter Jennings is an inspiring symbol of the worldwide curiosity we all share as Canadians.