I was looking through my pictures, and I found these. They were taken in I believe 2006 at the Sprockets film festival. it was a tribute to Degrassi. Some of the cast members went, as well as Linda Schuyler, and Brendan Yorke. I thought i’d post them since I haven’t seen a lot of pictures from this event out. Sorry the pictures are really bad quality, the lighting in the theatre was very dark. I hope you enjoy the pictures

You can view the rest of the photos here:

http://s968.photobucket.com/albums/ae166/whateverittakesblog/Sprockets%20Degrassi%20Tribute-%20April%202006/

Hi Everyone!

Sorry I haven’t been posting as much as I should be. I promise that I will be posting regularly from now on.

Isn’t it cool that Free the Children has given people the opportunity to travel with some of the Degrassi cast? I mean it would be a life-changing experience if you went on a trip like that with no one who you knew anyways. I think that it’s great that the cast supports such a great charity. It shows that they care for social issues, and want to help people. My school has had Free the Children visit us numerous times to come and talk to students, participate workshops, and we have participated in some of their fundraising “projects” in which I have participated in. The people who have visited have all been extremely nice, energetic people. For those who don’t know what  Free the Children is all about, Free the Children was founded by Craig and Mark Kielburger in 1995. Free the Children is basically a charity that has children helping children. They have expanded Free the Children a lot over the years, and have made their charity very well known in Canada (and i’m sure all around the world). They have trips to countries like Ecuador, and China where they can go and help build a school, & teach English to the children, and many more things. A recent “program” that Free the Children has launched recently is 10by10 is based on ten things that you can do to help make the world a better place. You can create(or use the list they have) a list of things that you want to do to make a difference. Some examples of the ten things are: participating in the Vow of Silence, and Halloween for Hunger.

I’m actually thinking about going on a trip like this for a long time, and it would be a great opportunity to go on the trip with some of the cast. There are many factors though to deciding on going on a trip like this (like how I’m going to pay for it!!). I feel like taking a trip to help children would help me understand what is going on in these countries, and would give me even more enthusiasm that I already have to help people. Have any of you gone on a trip like this before? Do any of you want to go on a trip like this?

If your interested in learning more about Free the Children, and the programs that they have, you can go to their website www.freethechildren.com

Or if you want to find out more about 10by10, click on the link:
http://www.freethechildren.com/getinvolved/10by10/

I know this isn’t really Degrassi related, but I thought since Free the Children has been mentioned on Degrassi and the cast supports the charity it would be good to promote the charity!

Sorry for the  extremely bad writing of this…I’m already getting piles upon piles of assignments already at school, and it’s only my first day back!

My friend and I took the GO Train down to Toronto, and then took the subway(I might add for the first time in 6 years, thank god the subway is easy to navigate!) to Yonge and Eglington.When we got to Toronto, it was only 2:30pm, so we walked along Yonge Street for a couple of hours, went to go and see where the show was just to make sure we didn’t have the wrong place, and got something to eat. Around five we went to go and see if anyone was there lining up but there wasn’t so we just went and walked around and went into stores to look around since it was FREEZING that night, and this went on for a while. Time was going so slow, and I just wanted to go and see the band play! I was so surprised that no one was lining up already, but I didn’t want to be waiting outside in the cold for a long time, so I waited until security came out and started letting people in.

The venue was smaller than I thought it would be, since it was at a club but it looked like they had covered off some of the club so that they could make it smaller. There was hardly any people there, and I was kinda surprised that there wasn’t, but it was still early. We got to be near the front though, since we got there early, so that was good. After six though, a lot of people came, and before I knew it I turned around and the venue was full. All of the Degrassi cast were up in the VIP lounge thing, so they weren’t down on the main floor with the rest of the fans. It was funny though, because I could see the drinks that they were drinking, and was surprised with some of the cast’s choices(god, I kinda sound like a creeper now, lol). Charlotte did come down once to talk to a guy, and was about two feet away from me, but I didn’t want to bother her for asking for a picture. I can’t remember exactly who went but I think that Lauren Collins, Adamo Ruggiero, Michael Seater, Paula Brancati, Charlotte Arnold, Sam Earle…I’m sure there was other cast who went, but I have a shitty memory so I’m not exactly sure.

The band started about half an hour late, which I mean was reasonable in a way but I was a little bit disappointed. Paula came out to introduce the band, and got everyone “riled” up with getting everyone to chant SoundSpeed or something like that. I can’t remember what song they opened up with, but I think it was Magnet Lips(don’t quote me on it, lol). They played Magnet Lips, Sent, I Want to Love You, a cover of M.I.A’s Paper Planes, and another one that I can’t remember the name of. Some people even threw underwear on the stage(male and female), which Shane decided to put on his head. Their set was done around 7:00pm, and then they did the autograph signing. Let me just say this: The autograph signing was not well planned out at all! They didn’t announce that they were doing it(I mean fair enough, but still), they had security guards there trying to do crowd control with the lineup, but I don’t think that it worked out too well, and there were people just shoving things to sign at the band when they weren’t in line. Anyways, I bought an EP, and my friend did too, and got the band to sign them, but for some reason Scott didn’t sign it(which I realized when I got home) the guys were moving around a lot, so I guess that’s why. Ray and Shane said they were so happy that we got the EP’s, and that it helps them keep what they’re doing or something along the lines of that. I don’t think that a lot of people bought the EP though, since there was a huge pile of them there, and people were just getting the guys to sign pieces of paper. They let people get pictures with the band, but they said that they weren’t doing pictures right before I was getting my stuff signed since they only had 15 minutes left.  It was very chaotic in a weird kind of way. The EP release was finished at 8pm, instead of 9(I’m assuming since the club was opening for the night and they had to clean up). Anyways, after we had got our EP’s we left, and headed home.

Overall, I had a great time at the show. I wasn’t expecting the band to sound like it did. Their EP , and the preview clips don’t compare to when they perform live. If you EVER have the opportunity to see them live, go and see them! They are amazing live, and all of them are great entertainers, and really nice, down to earth guys.

Here are some pictures from the show. I will be posting all of the pictures on my photobucket account, so I will update this post with a link when they are uploaded.

UPDATE: Here are the pictures…I’ve put about half of them up. I any of you want to see the other ones, then I will put them up

http://s968.photobucket.com/albums/ae166/whateverittakesblog/SoundSpeed%20Showcase-%20January%2029th%202010/

I just thought that i’d post some pictures from the Stacey and Michael signing I went to in Dec. Extreme apologies for the unfocussedness of my camera. For some reason my camera didnt want to focus at all…I’m blaming it on the mall lights,lol! I will be posting SoundSpeed Showcase stuff ASAP(later today), as well as some pictures(which are in better quality than these, I hope!)

Sorry I haven’t been updating my blog as much as I should….My exams are this week, so I’ve been trying to get through the rest of the semester, and get all of my crap done on time. I hate end of semester time, when there is so much pressure with exams and ISU’s(or CATs)…all of that spiel, especially in grade twelve. I swear my teachers just want to torture me by adding more and more assignments to do.. I’m lucky though, since I only have two exams this semester so it should be okay. Anyways, I will stop rambling on about my personal life….

I’ve officially become hooked to Stacey Farber’s new show 18 to Life. I was a bit skeptical about it at first, but since the third episode has aired, i’ve become obsessed! I love how they show Jessie and Tom’s parents relationships, and the struggles that they have.

I should be posting a decent blog hopefully tomorrow, that doesn’t have me complaining about school! Sorry for the epic failness of this post

-Ashley

On December 30^th, I went to the mall to go to an autograph signing/meet & greet with Michael Seater and Stacey Farber because they were promoting their new TV show, 18 to Life. I had gone with my friend, and we went to the mall early just in case there was a big lineup, but there wasn’t so we shopped for a few hours, and waited in line an hour or two before they were supposed to start the signing. There wasn’t a lot of people there in the beginning, and I think we were the fifth group to go up, but when we walked back to leave around an hour later, there was a full lineup. The whole meet and greet went well and I didn’t embarrass myself(too much), and wasn’t nervous at all. They were both extremely nice and down to earth nonetheless, and seemed like they wanted to be there. We talked for a bit, but I don’t even remember what we talked about. I had printed pictures of them to sign, so we got them to sign them, and Stacey commented that the picture that I got her to sign was the one where she said they made her stick out her boobs or something, so she signed on the boobs to “take away” from them (I think that’s what she said). I thought it was a bit weird with how they decided to do the pictures(with no one allowed to go behind the table,everyone had to be on one side, and we couldn’t get seperate pictures, but it’s understandable at least). It was funny though because when we were shopping after the signing, I guess Stacey and Michael were going to have a break or something, and I felt bad for Michael, since all these little girls were swarming him, and it looked like Stacey didn’t have any fans talking to her, but anyways a little girl asked Michael if she could add him on Facebook, and he exclaimed “I don’t have Facebook!!”.

I think I made a total fool of myself though when I decided as we were leaving to randomly say to Stacey “Thank you for being on Degrassi, you helped me a lot”….Well I have no clue what really came out of my mouth, since I think I was babbling and I didn’t even get it out properly. It was just so awkward. It was supposed to be something like “Thank you so much for portraying Ellie so well….You’ve helped me in so many ways, and made an impact on my life…etc”. I can’t even imagine what Michael or the people were thinking when I just decided to blurt that out (if they even heard it). I think if I ever meet her again, I’ll just write a letter or something, since I obviously can’t form cohesive sentences when I talk to people. I wasn’t even nervous at all! It’s just my luck though, and she said: “Really? Thank you”. I don’t even know if she knew what I said, or if she was really thankful, or if she was kind of sarcastic about it(I’m leaning towards this one, lol). I mean, I don’t expect her to be extremely thankful or anything because I’m sure she gets it all the time. I don’t know why I’m still thinking about this, but I still am. I think it’s just bugging me because I’ll never find out what she really meant. But anyways, I just have to get these things out of my head and forget about them, since it shouldn’t be a big deal….It’s done and over with.

Have any of you had any bad experiences meeting actors?

I have a little bit of a problem. I’m having a Degrassi withdrawal. I’ve leant my friend all of my DVDs and she hasn’t given them back to me(and I gave them to her in July). I have a feeling that my DVDs might not come back in the same condition that they were given, which would be horrible, but what can you do? I’ve been watching the later seasons on the CTV player, which is good, but it’s different than sitting down and watching the show on a tv.  I guess I should have learned to not give people stuff if I don’t trust them with it…

Okay… So I’m extremely nervous about writing a blog.When Erin posted that she was accepting applicants for blogs, I swear I thought about it forever. I procrastinated til the last day, and seriously didn’t think that I would get in. I’ve never written a blog before, so bare with me. I promise I’ll get better at this, (and come up with better blog names). I don’t know exactly what the “theme” for my blog will be, but I plan on writing reviews(on Degrassi, and Degrassi cast related shows), experiences from Degrassi events, and just random Degrassi-related stuff.  But first, I’d like to tell you all a little bit about myself before I “dive” into the blogging world!

My name is Ashley, and I am seventeen years old; I’m in Grade twelve and live in Canada! My favourite shows are Degrassi(of course), Skins, Glee & Misfits. When I grow up, I want to be a highschool Psychology & Religion teacher, a Journalist, or a television makeup artist(I haven’t decided yet!). My favourite movies are Driving Lessons, Harry Potter & Into the Wild. Music that I like is Paolo Nutini, James Morrison, MGMT & Alexz Johnson; I pretty much like everything except for Screamo. I play the guitar, have tried unsuccessfully to learn how to play piano, and sing . I ramble on about nothing, am always paranoid about things, I’m very indecisive, and I over think things way too much.

My favourite Degrassi character is Ellie. I’ve just recently come to the realization that she’s my favourite character after so long. Not to mention Stacey Farber has portrayed Ellie so well throughout her time on Degrassi. My favourite episodes are Take On Me, Queen of Hearts, Eyes Without a Face, and Whisper to a Scream . My favourite Degrassi couple of all time is Sean/Emma but I also really like Ellie/Craig, and Darcy/Peter too.

If anyone has any suggestions for themes, or certain things you want me to write about, tell me in the comments and I’ll be sure to write about it.

-Ashley