It is safe to say that this unexpected first half of 2020 did not go anyone's way, especially for me. The COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing global protests against systemic racism is creating a period of unrest in the world. However, I continued to write and create some pieces that I would like to revisit for this compilation post, as well as to see what I can do to salvage the second half of the year.
Continuing on the trend of watching football documentaries, I want to offer my thoughts on watching 'Maradona in Mexico'. This documentary profiles Diego Maradona's tenure as the coach of Mexican second division side Dorados, in the city of Culiacan at the heart of the province of Sinaloa. Before I talk about the documentary itself, I want to talk about Maradona, the man, in my viewpoint.
Last Saturday was the one-year anniversary of the Toronto Raptors winning their first NBA title, beating the Golden State Warriors in six games. I happened to be in Jamaica during that time last year for a friend's wedding. The day/evening of my friend's wedding happened to be on the same evening as game six of the NBA Finals. Apparently I was tweeting about this strange coincidence last year, and a producer for the Toronto Raptors DMd me on Instagram about wanting to share my story about the experience I had in Jamaica about going to a wedding and watching the Raptors game. After doing my own vetting, I agreed to share my story and do an interview.
I have shared the documentary with you, so you can see my story, along with the amazing stories of other fans and figures within the Raptors landscape. Admittedly, I could have put on a better shirt, but I looked presentable enough.
I am happy with how the documentary came out and it is surreal to see myself on a documentary that is on the Raptors social media channels and on television (on TSN). There were so many texts and mentions from friends and family about how they saw me when they were watching the documentary. From someone that is normally shy with this kind of thing, I am glad that I took a step forward, showed myself for everyone to see, and to share my experience.
The car that attracted police attention, apparently.
The year 2020 continues to be a difficult year for the world. Along with the COVID-19 pandemic, the murder of a black man by the name of George Floyd by the knee of a power-hungry white police officer continues to fuel worldwide protests calling for an end to police brutality and institutionalized racism within police forces. I initially did not want to talk about the protests as I felt like there are better people that can talk about this. However, I have a platform where I can talk about my experiences living as a person of color, stemming from my black and Indian background. As I continue to see videos of the protests and the heavy-handed response from the US government, I realized that it is important for me to speak out about my experiences living as a person of color and to talk about how different life is for myself compared to a white person.
Final Fantasy VII Remake is the long-awaited and much-delayed release from Square Enix, which is a re-telling of the classic Final Fantasy VII released on the PS1 back in 1997. Before I get into my review of the remake, I will give some context on what made the original FF7 so special in the eyes of many gamers, including myself.
