Manuel Canales

a tumblr about my thoughts.

Field Assignment Post..

This is my last blog post for COM 317! So my article was a profile article about an up and coming Spanish Rock artist that goes by the name of Raymundo Monge. It’s pretty interesting how I met the guy. I was at the piano bar, “Howl at the Moon” at Universal City Walk. He was up there singing with the band and I thought to myself, this guy can really sing (not like the other drunk people up there) and this would be a great profile article for my field assignment. After he was done I approached him and told him he did an awesome job singing. He said thank you we started talking. He is really down to earth and that’s when he told me to check out his facebook page. I went ahead and liked his music page and I noticed the location of where he’s from, South El Monte. That is very close to me so I message him telling him I wanted to write a small article on him, a profile article, for my field assignment. He agreed to it and we met at a local Starbucks and I interviewed him in person and email. I did my research on his current work and he was shocked how prepared I was for the interview. I even found him on Youtube and he had a show going on with episodes every month that he edits himself.  He was very east to interview and made things very simple for me. The only problem was getting a hold of his family for interviews since that would have been awkward asking him for his families info. I was trying to contact his fans via twitter to see if I can get any quotes but I had no chance. Even though I was limited with my interviews, I still decided to write the article because I had so much information about the artist. He’s a really good artist and if you’re into Spanish Rock, or Latin Pop, Google the name “Raymundo Monge!”

-Manuel Canales  

Fantasy Baseball!

This year, I decided to play fantasy baseball with my buddies. I’ve watched baseball for quite a while now so I figured I had enough knowledge about the sport. I am really excited because I’m doing well with my team. I was privileged enough to have the first pick of the fantasy draft and I picked last year’s true MVP, Matt Kemp. That was seven weeks ago, and I want to update where I stand. I am currently in second place of eight teams. Last week, I was in last place but I managed to beat the third place team. I jumped from last to second in one week. I know it’s a long season, so I need to make trades and drop players that are not performing. This week, I am facing the number one team in my league. It has been a close battle throughout the week. I’m paying extra attention this week because I’m facing my best friend and we have a personal bet going on this week too. I have been adding and dropping players left and right. What’s hurting me right now is that two of my top five players are hurt right now. My starting center fielder, Matt Kemp, is on the 15-day disable list with a hamstring injury. My starting third baseman, Evan Longoria, is also out injured. What makes fantasy baseball so addicting is finding players to replace them for the time being. Setting your lineups and looking at how each batter does against the opposing pitcher makes me feel like a general manager and I have all the control. Watching the wire to see which players have been dropped is also exciting. You want to pick up the dropped player(s) because you feel like they have so much potential and they will help your team win. I believe my biggest strength is finding unknown players at are having a breakout season. I have three more days to beat my buddy for bragging rights and some cash. Let’s see what happens! 

-Manuel Canales

Covering a Council Meeting for the City of Diamond Bar Tuesday night, the class and I attended the Diamond Bar city council meeting. It was what I expected, boring. We were all shoved into a small press box. The room was uncomfortable, hot and we did not have a table to write down our notes of the meeting. The TV inside the room was the only way to watch the meeting unfold. The TV was an old 1997 Sony TV, not a HDTV, I expect more from Diamond Bar, such a wealthy city; they need to upgrade the TV. Now, to the meeting, it was boring all throughout. All the council members sounded robotic and they were just reading from the agenda. The one thing I did not expect at all was the mayor. Mayor Chang was one of the most beautiful mayor’s I have ever seen! She looked so young as well. She talked about how active she is on the social networks. She said she’s on Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare. I like how the mayor is using the social networks to keep in touch with the city. After the meeting was over, my classmates and I went down to the “media pit” to ask the Mayor questions. Everyone had questions for her, but her responses were not news worthy. The mayor’s public information member answered half of the questions. No one wants to read a story about what the mayor’s public information member said. After we were done with the question and answer session with the mayor, we took a tour of the meeting room. They showed us how the cameras worker, how the audio board works. While the class was distracted with the tour, I thought this was the perfect time to get a picture of me sitting down one the mayor’s chair. My friend snapped a picture of me and once we got a photo, the video cameras turned on and I was shown sitting on the mayor’s chair. I was caught! It was an embarrassing moment but it was all fun and games.  -Manuel Canales

Covering a Council Meeting for the City of Diamond Bar


Tuesday night, the class and I attended the Diamond Bar city council meeting. It was what I expected, boring. We were all shoved into a small press box. The room was uncomfortable, hot and we did not have a table to write down our notes of the meeting. The TV inside the room was the only way to watch the meeting unfold. The TV was an old 1997 Sony TV, not a HDTV, I expect more from Diamond Bar, such a wealthy city; they need to upgrade the TV. Now, to the meeting, it was boring all throughout. All the council members sounded robotic and they were just reading from the agenda. The one thing I did not expect at all was the mayor. Mayor Chang was one of the most beautiful mayor’s I have ever seen! She looked so young as well. She talked about how active she is on the social networks. She said she’s on Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare. I like how the mayor is using the social networks to keep in touch with the city. After the meeting was over, my classmates and I went down to the “media pit” to ask the Mayor questions. Everyone had questions for her, but her responses were not news worthy. The mayor’s public information member answered half of the questions. No one wants to read a story about what the mayor’s public information member said. After we were done with the question and answer session with the mayor, we took a tour of the meeting room. They showed us how the cameras worker, how the audio board works. While the class was distracted with the tour, I thought this was the perfect time to get a picture of me sitting down one the mayor’s chair. My friend snapped a picture of me and once we got a photo, the video cameras turned on and I was shown sitting on the mayor’s chair. I was caught! It was an embarrassing moment but it was all fun and games. 

-Manuel Canales

One of the least talked about Mergers in sports.  One of the best mergers was when Zuffa Inc, the parent company of the UFC, purchased rival mixed martial arts promoter Strikeforce. They will continue to operate as separate companies. With MMA getting this much attention, the media is now covering MMA as a major sport not only here in the USA, but all over the world. The UFC’s brand is known all over the world as they have held events at 15 different countries. Before they merged, Strikeforce was the second largest MMA organization in the world. The UFC had about 60 percent of the market share according to ESPN MMA. On the other hand, Strikeforce had 15 percent of the market, and at the time, they were in second place. The goal of the UFC is to be the NFL, NBA, and NHL of MMA. For example, there are other organizations that play football but they do not have the power, money and market share that the NFL does. That’s the same concept that UFC wants to implement. There’s always going to be other smaller promotions, but the top dog will be the UFC. That is the organization where all the top fighters in the world want to be at. So with the UFC buying and merging with Stikeforce, the UFC’s market share grew to 75 percent. That is a dominant figure for the UFC to have. Once they merged with Stikeforce, the UFC was able to get a television contract with the channel, FOX. This was a major step into the UFC’s business plan as for the firs time, they had a main event on free television. The deal meant that the UFC now eliminated any form of serious competition in the sport, and are also now in the perfect position to acquire the best MMA talent from Strikeforce when they become available. -Manuel Canales 

One of the least talked about Mergers in sports. 

One of the best mergers was when Zuffa Inc, the parent company of the UFC, purchased rival mixed martial arts promoter Strikeforce. They will continue to operate as separate companies. With MMA getting this much attention, the media is now covering MMA as a major sport not only here in the USA, but all over the world. The UFC’s brand is known all over the world as they have held events at 15 different countries. Before they merged, Strikeforce was the second largest MMA organization in the world. The UFC had about 60 percent of the market share according to ESPN MMA. On the other hand, Strikeforce had 15 percent of the market, and at the time, they were in second place. The goal of the UFC is to be the NFL, NBA, and NHL of MMA. For example, there are other organizations that play football but they do not have the power, money and market share that the NFL does. That’s the same concept that UFC wants to implement. There’s always going to be other smaller promotions, but the top dog will be the UFC. That is the organization where all the top fighters in the world want to be at. So with the UFC buying and merging with Stikeforce, the UFC’s market share grew to 75 percent. That is a dominant figure for the UFC to have. Once they merged with Stikeforce, the UFC was able to get a television contract with the channel, FOX. This was a major step into the UFC’s business plan as for the firs time, they had a main event on free television. The deal meant that the UFC now eliminated any form of serious competition in the sport, and are also now in the perfect position to acquire the best MMA talent from Strikeforce when they become available.



-Manuel Canales 

Field Assignment Review: UFC and Local MMA Fighters

Writing this article was difficult and fun at the same time. There were many things I had to do, but at the end of the day, it was a great experience. My article had to do with the UFC (The Ultimate Fighting Championship) and local MMA fighters and trainers. I did my extensive research on the MMA promotion. I also read many articles about MMA (mixed martial arts). I learned about some of the most common disciplines of fighting. I read about boxing, Muay thai, brazilian jiu jitsu, wrestling, karate and many more fighting styles. One of the hardest things for me was to find a local MMA fighter that wanted to do an interview. Many declined or they were too busy inside the gym practicing. I had a chance to interview one guy; his name was Brian Nguyen. He was down to earth and he spoke on how MMA and the UFC changed his live. He really got emotional speaking about where he was a year ago, and where’s he at now. He showed me before and after pictures and he really did transform into a slim, healthy, young man.  I also got to interview Paul Chavez. Chavez is a trainer at a gym called LIFT. He has so much knowledge about the sport of MMA and the physical training to get the fighters in top shape. He studied Kinesiology-Exercise Science and Human Movement at San Francisco State University. It was fun picking his brain for information. He was also a wrestler so he teaches MMA fighters how to take an opponent down or guard against a double-leg take down. Like I said, it was fun talking to these guys and I admire how much physical training they do. I regret not getting more interviews to put into my story. But it was a fun article to write and I hope a get a good grade.:)

-Manuel Canales

Heart of Brittan[y] Ritzi: Stagecoach

It seems like most of our classmates are at Stagecoach! From reading all your guy’s blogs, it seems like lots of fun. Be safe out there! 

heartofbrittan:

I am currently sitting under a wifi tent at StageCoach country music festival writing this blog. Literally, boots on, jean shorts, a tank top that is covered in the American Flag frayed all along the bottom.

We got here yesterday and the party has not stopped. Nonstop people blasting music,…

Character Letter.

This whole week has been hectic to say the least. I had to do a presentation, a report and study for my midterm for one class, then study for my midterm for another class! To top it off, I had to get my last interviews for my first field assignment for this class. That’s expected around midterm time but what isn’t expected is for one of your best friends to call you to ask you for a character letter. I don’t want to get into to much detail with his situation. Without hesitation, I wrote a quick letter for him, since the deadline was near. Here is the letter I wrote for on behalf of my good friend. I will refer to my friend as “JMS.”

Dear Sir or Madam,

 

Hello. I am writing in reference to JMS, who is appearing before your court due to the actions he committed a few years ago.

 

JMS asked me to write a character reference letter, but the truth is that I was already planning on doing so before the request. I feel strongly about JMS and about his future, and I want to try to make you feel the same way.

 

JMS is a person of good moral character. I realize that might seem hard to believe, given the circumstances, but it’s true nonetheless. I have known JMS for 16 years and in that time I have seen him go through ups and downs, but all the while I have been convinced that he is a caring person at the core. He just needs more people to believe in him so that he can become the person I know he can be.

 

JMS has made mistakes, and he is incredibly remorseful, and is willing to do whatever it takes to make reparations, financially and emotionally, if possible. But to do that, he needs you to give him an opportunity to get a second chance. I recognize that JMS might have broken the law, and I do believe that he should get off without punishment. I just hope you will recognize the power you wield with regard to the future of this man, and make a fair decision.

 

 

Thank you,

 

Manuel A. Canales

 

Troy Beverly: Tupac Lives......Well Sort Of

Hologram Tupac was epic, no one knew that was going to happen. It was so realistic and what had me scratching my head was when Hologram Tupac said, “What the f___ is going on Coachella!” 0_o

troypb:

image

I’m sure there are many of you that heard about last weekend at Coachella’s festival featuring a surprise appearance of the late rapper Tupac Shakur. My first question is what was your reaction when you saw this for the first time? My reaction was a state of shock, but at the same time I…

  El Clásico   Rivalries in sports are something every fan looks forward to. Everyone that watches sports (or ESPN) knows about the heated rivalries between the Celtics vs. Lakers in basketball, the Red Soxs vs. Yankees in baseball, the Cowboys vs. all the teams in the NFC East, and in college basketball, Duke vs. North Carolina. If you talk to each fan base, they extremely dislike one another and some may even hate each other. The players of each team seem to play a little harder when they face their bitter rival. The games are instant classics that make the top lead on SportsCenter. What if I were to tell you about a rivalry that is actually more intense than all the other rivalries combined. Yes, you read correctly, something more intense than Lakers vs. Celtics in the 80’s or the Yankees vs. the Red Soxs. The fearsome rivalry between Spanish futbol (yes, I wrote futbol instead of soccer) giants Real Madrid C.F. vs. Barcelona F.C. tops them all. This rivalry comes as Madrid and Barcelona are the two largest cities in Spain, and the two clubs are two of the richest, most successful and influential football clubs in the world. Barcelona leads the count in official titles won with 75 while Real Madrid have won 74 trophies. Along with Athletic Bilbao, they are the only clubs in La Liga to have never been relegated or moved down to Spain’s second division. Both teams are identified with opposing political positions, with Real Madrid viewed as representing Spanish nationalism and Barcelona viewed as representing Catalan nationalism.The rivalry is regarded as one of the biggest in world football because its about sports and politics. The two heavyweights meet this Saturday, April 21st at Barcelona’s cathedral of a stadium, Nou Camp. The game is known as “El Clásico” or The Classic (game).  This is a matchup between the irresistible force vs. the immovable object. Real Madrid is holding on to a slim four-point lead on top of the table of Spain’s La Liga over their hated rivals Barcelona. Real Madrid has yet to beat last season’s champions as Barcelona last suffered defeat in May 2008. Even though Real Madrid has the edge in points, they must beat the champions in order to be the champions. This is shaping up to be an epic game as you can catch all the action on GolTV or ESPN at 11 a.m. PST. -Manuel Canales  

  El Clásico

 

Rivalries in sports are something every fan looks forward to. Everyone that watches sports (or ESPN) knows about the heated rivalries between the Celtics vs. Lakers in basketball, the Red Soxs vs. Yankees in baseball, the Cowboys vs. all the teams in the NFC East, and in college basketball, Duke vs. North Carolina. If you talk to each fan base, they extremely dislike one another and some may even hate each other. The players of each team seem to play a little harder when they face their bitter rival. The games are instant classics that make the top lead on SportsCenter. What if I were to tell you about a rivalry that is actually more intense than all the other rivalries combined. Yes, you read correctly, something more intense than Lakers vs. Celtics in the 80’s or the Yankees vs. the Red Soxs. The fearsome rivalry between Spanish futbol (yes, I wrote futbol instead of soccer) giants Real Madrid C.F. vs. Barcelona F.C. tops them all.

This rivalry comes as Madrid and Barcelona are the two largest cities in Spain, and the two clubs are two of the richest, most successful and influential football clubs in the world. Barcelona leads the count in official titles won with 75 while Real Madrid have won 74 trophies. Along with Athletic Bilbao, they are the only clubs in La Liga to have never been relegated or moved down to Spain’s second division. Both teams are identified with opposing political positions, with Real Madrid viewed as representing Spanish nationalism and Barcelona viewed as representing Catalan nationalism.The rivalry is regarded as one of the biggest in world football because its about sports and politics.

The two heavyweights meet this Saturday, April 21st at Barcelona’s cathedral of a stadium, Nou Camp. The game is known as “El Clásico” or The Classic (game).  This is a matchup between the irresistible force vs. the immovable object. Real Madrid is holding on to a slim four-point lead on top of the table of Spain’s La Liga over their hated rivals Barcelona. Real Madrid has yet to beat last season’s champions as Barcelona last suffered defeat in May 2008. Even though Real Madrid has the edge in points, they must beat the champions in order to be the champions. This is shaping up to be an epic game as you can catch all the action on GolTV or ESPN at 11 a.m. PST.


-Manuel Canales

 

This photo is awesome! It stood out to me because everyone now in days is saying “YOLO.” People write, “I unplugged my usb flash drive from my computer without pressing the eject button, YOLO.” Its funny but this photo has so much more of a meaning and I’m glad someone else sees it too!  christine-hall: I’m not sure where I found this, but I love it. It is so funny because of the recent popularity of YOLO, which is acronym for you only live once. Aside from being really funny I find this photo to be very powerful. It makes me think of really standing up for something I believe in, and how often I do it in my own life. I think about the struggles this man and many like him face for doing what they know is right. I don’t know if this man got in trouble for this picture, but if he did I am sure the punishment was worth it. To stand up for what you believe in is a great thing and I hope that when the situation presents itself for me that I will be able to do what is right.  I may be reading to much into this picture, but that is what I felt when I first saw this photo. I find it to be inspirational as well, and I hope to come across more like this.  #YOLO

This photo is awesome! It stood out to me because everyone now in days is saying “YOLO.” People write, “I unplugged my usb flash drive from my computer without pressing the eject button, YOLO.” Its funny but this photo has so much more of a meaning and I’m glad someone else sees it too! 

christine-hall:

I’m not sure where I found this, but I love it. It is so funny because of the recent popularity of YOLO, which is acronym for you only live once. Aside from being really funny I find this photo to be very powerful. It makes me think of really standing up for something I believe in, and how often I do it in my own life. I think about the struggles this man and many like him face for doing what they know is right. I don’t know if this man got in trouble for this picture, but if he did I am sure the punishment was worth it. To stand up for what you believe in is a great thing and I hope that when the situation presents itself for me that I will be able to do what is right. 

I may be reading to much into this picture, but that is what I felt when I first saw this photo. I find it to be inspirational as well, and I hope to come across more like this. 

#YOLO