vol. 2 issue 3
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Thanksgiving issueTRANSCRIPT
vol. 2 issue 03 | October 06, 2009
Thanksgiving Issue
KWANTLEN
CHALLENGE
WEEK P 04
INTERNATIONAL
OPS P 05FALL:
GET YOUR
FASH ON P 06
ALL HAIL THE
HARVEST P 10
News & Politics vol. 2 issue 03 | October 06 2009 | page two
Women less likely to receive workplace training than men: study
HAMILTON (CUP) – A recent study conducted by the Memorial University of Newfoundland and McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business has revealed that an employee’s fi nancial wealth and level of education affects the level of employer-sup-ported training that’s provided in their job. In addition, among the low-wage and less educated workers, women are signifi cantly less likely than men to receive training.
After a year of studying the proportional differences related to job training, Gordon Cooke of Memorial University, Isik Zeyti-noglu of the DeGroote School of Business, and McMaster PhD stu-dent James Chowhan published their fi ndings in the July 2009 issue of Perspectives on Labour and Income.
The paper, named “Barriers to training access,” is based on the Statistics Canada Workplace and Employee Survey, which started in 1999 and concluded in 2006. The survey uncovers signifi cant
proportional differences in access to training, especially among more vulnerable workers.
“When we . . . begin to look at these more vulnerable groups – low-wage, less-educated, non-union – [a] lower proportion of women are being trained than the proportion of men,” explains Chowhan.
The authors note that the ap-parent difference is not related to discrimination. Cooke points out that the study focused on the “unlucky half” of society – the low-wage, less-employed, non-unionized half.
“It so happens that, unfortu-nately, females are more preva-lent in the unlucky half. That’s why the gender gap materialized. It’s not to say that McDonalds gives less training to females than males. It’s that there is this segregation that is going on in so-ciety, where those who are lower educated and in low-wage jobs are, unfortunately, more likely to be female than male.”
Though the authors of this study were obliged to remain neutral for their research, they were willing to speak about pos-
MELANIE FERRIERTHE SILHOUETTE (MCMASTER)
sible policy solutions. According to Cooke, sensitivity training is not the answer. “If it was simply [a case of] me being a goat and giving training to you and not to [someone else], then I’m the problem. But the problem is big-ger than that.”
Due to the fact that the prob-lem is social rather than individu-al, the authors suggest incentives that would encourage employers to increase their training budgets, distribute their training more uniformly, and ensure that more vulnerable workers have access to that training.
Chowhan pointed out that McMaster students are obligated to “be aware that differences ex-ist.” He also encouraged future decision-makers to ensure that “they are spreading the opportu-nities equally.”
Chowhan noted that vulner-able workers were likely to accept training when it was offered. “[They] are also trying to do the best that they can do when given the opportunity; however, they are given less opportunity, less access.”
STUDY
CANADIAN UNIVERSITY PRESS - WHAT’S HAPPENING ACROSS CANADA
AROUND KWANTLEN
WHAT’S HAPPENING AT
THE KWANTLEN CAMPUSES
Ocheje said these policies are created to allow African countries loans by making it possible for them to reduce interest on exist-ing loans.
However, Ocheje suggested that it is the SAPs that have inten-sifi ed poverty in African counties.
He inferred that SAPs have been imposed on the impover-ished African society “because they need constant infusion of foreign capital,” and have not supplied suffi cient relief of poverty.
Ocheje explained that the con-ditions which precede SAPs are failing neoliberalistic strategies to solve food and economic crises, including free trade, rationaliza-tion of civil services, free market and privatization.
“When you allow the market to regulate everything, you allow the harshest effects of the market forces to fall on the most vulner-able in society,” he said.
He said that the privatization of assets such as health care and education have such necessities inaccessible to many Africans.
WINDSOR, Ont. (CUP) – In the year 2000, leaders of the United Nations adopted the Millennium Declaration, which is a targeted list of developmental goals to be reached by the year 2015.
These Millennium Develop-mental Goals (MDGs) include universal education, gender equality, child health, maternal health, combating AIDS and cre-ating environmental and agricul-tural sustainability.
In the Millennium Develop-mental Goals Report 2009, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has reported that progress toward these goals has slowed down due to the global economic and food crisis.
Paul Ocheje, an associate pro-fessor of law at the University of Windsor, believes the slowdown stems from the effects of Structur-al Adjustment Programs (SAPs) implemented by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
LEANNA ROYTHE LANCE (UNIVERSITY OF WINDSOR)
Law prof says free market preys on Africa’s weak societies“When people are sick, they
cannot go to hospitals because they have to pay to be admitted into the hospitals and you have to buy the drugs from your own pocket. Pregnant women die in the process of child birth because they cannot afford to access health care,” added Ocheje.
In a more positive light, Ocheje explores ways to equalize access to the market to more than only those who can afford these essential resources.
He suggested a change in strategy on the part of the African leaders, and recommends “a nuanced and more imaginative understanding of development challenges and situational pos-sibilities.”
Ocheje believes Malawi as an example of this phenomenon.
“In Malawi, the SAPs suggest that the government should not subsidize fertilizers, but under new leadership, subsidies were allowed over protests of the IMS and the World Bank and now Ma-lawi has become a net exporter of food.”
Fine Arts Faculty Exhibit
WHERE: Surrey Art Gallery
WHEN: 9:00 am - 4:00pm
WHAT: The Kwantlen Fine Arts Department hosts the Faculty Exhibition ARCADE at the Surrey Art Gallery. Visit www.arts.surrey.ca for more details. Bonus: admission is free.
SEPT
NOV
26
01
OCT
08 Convocation Ceremony
WHERE: Surrey Campus
WHEN: Various times.
WHAT: Put on the cape and gowned and get your graduation on!
OCT
12Thanksgiving
WHERE: Everywhere
WHEN: 12:01am - 11:59pm
WHAT: All Campuses closed - Eat as much as you can!
OCT
14Music @ Midweek
WHERE: Langley campus - Auditorium
WHEN: 12:15pm - 100pm
WHAT: Come out and listen to UBC Opera Ensemble.
OCT
08Campus Smoke Out ‘09
WHERE: Langley & Richmond Campus
WHEN: 10:00am - 3:00pm
WHAT: Get educated on the dangers of second-hand smoke.
OCT
03KSA Council Meetings
WHERE: Surrey Campus
WHEN: 2:00pm - 4:00pm
WHAT: Come out to the Surrey KSA Council meeting and have your thoughts and opinion heard.
Melissa Fraser/ The Runner.
throughout the year, but this year they are going to focus on one charity per semester. Their next fundraising event is likely to be in late November, according to Bali.
“We are learning what works,” she said, and different ideas are hit and miss. The bake sale is more successful than canned food drives for instance.
“It’s hard to get people to bring canned foods at a Univer-sity,” said Bali.
The Richmond KSA will continue to do fundraising events throughout the school year.
“Every little bit helps,” said Bali.
vol. 2 issue 03 | October 06 2009 | page three News & Politics
FUNDRAISER
POLITICS IN INDIA CHOICES, CHOICES
E.R.
The Richmond Kwantlen Student Association raised approximately $180 for breast cancer research through a fundraiser called Cup-cakes for Cancer, held last Tues-day at the Richmond campus.
This is $60 more than they have raised on average at previ-
India is not unused to left-wing revolutionaries.
It has had its long history steeped in leftist traditions and ideals.
One has to look no further than the rampant inequality, corruption, class cleavages and religious fervor that have forced the country into a backward pro-gression of following outdated customs and traditions to see that there are many things wrong structurally within India.
Taking all of that into consid-eration, the leader of the Naxalite movement (followers of Maoism) was by all accounts, an unlikely fi gure to lead a so called ‘revolu-tion’.
Kobad Ghandy was arrested on September 17, 2009 in New Delhi.
The arrest marks an increase in the Indian Government’s of-fensive against the ideologically opposed Maoist movement.
Nevertheless, the arrest of Kobad Ghandy is a signifi cant blow to the communist party of India: one of the many similarly named parties - as Ghandy was
NATSUMI OYE CURRENT EVENTS BUREAU CHIEF
BHUPINDER MANDAIRPOLITICS BUREAU CHIEF
ous fundraising events.Cupcakes for Cancer ran from
10am until 3pm. The KSA sold baked goods that they had made themselves, and origami roses, folded by Nicole Joe, the Rich-mond Campus Offi cer.
There were cupcakes and brownies available for purchase by minimum donations, but the brownies were already sold out
an infl uential leader and foreign educated.
The Communist Party of India (Maoist) has been banned by India and has proclaimed it a ter-rorist entity that has propagated violence.
The prime minis-ter of India has de-clared the Naxalite extremists the most urgent threat to na-tional security and has admitted that the Indian Govern-ment is on the incor-rect path to winning the war against the extremists.
Kobad Ghandy and the Communist Party of India has received support and has strongholds in rural populations due to their focus on combating the inequality that appears to be ingrained into the societal fabric.
In a 2008 interview with the BBC, Ghandy described the need for change.
“We think the society is in a semi-feudal, semi-colonial state and there is a need to democra-
Fundraiser: cupcakes raise money for cancer
Opinion: Unrest for India’s political scene
Kwantlen Student Association sells cupcakes to help breast cancer research
Arrest of Kobad Ghandy a significant blow to the Communist Party of India
Natsumi Oye/The RunnerAll of the money from sales went to help fund breast cancer research.
Natsumi Oye/The Runner
Students enjoy their cupcakes.
* “Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian women.”
* “One in nine (11%) of Canadian women is ex-pected to develop breast cancer during her lifetime (this means by the age of 90).”
* There has been a “sig-nificant improvement in survival rates for women with breast cancer since the mid-1980s.”
* “Among women alive on January 1, 2005 in Canada, 148,542 had been diagnosed with breast cancer in the previ-ous ten years.”
* Men make up less than 1 per cent of breast can-cer cases.
* Nowadays, around two-thirds of women diag-nosed with breast cancer will survive it.
* “In 2009, an estimated 5,400 women and 50 men will die from breast cancer in Canada.”
*All quotes and statis-tics were taken from the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundations website, and can be found at http://www.cbcf.org/breastcancer/bc_whatbc_bc.asp
halfway through the event. Ori-gami roses and pink breast cancer ribbons were also available to purchase by minimum donation.
This is the third year that the Richmond campus KSA has been doing fundraisers. They usually raise around $120 from sales. This amount is then matched either by the KSA or the school.
They are this time waiting for a meeting to be held on Tuesday to fi nd out whether or not the KSA will match the $180 they raised, according to Reena Bali, the Richmond Campus Director for the KSA. This would bring their total donation to $360.
Richmond is the only campus doing fundraisers such as this at this point in time, according to Bali, although the Surrey campus is thinking about doing some-thing in October, and the Langley campus has done fundraising events in the past.
The Richmond campus KSA has done several different fund-raisers over the years, donating to different charities such as UNI-CEF, according to Bali. This is the fi rst year that they have decided to put the donations they have made towards breast cancer.
Breast cancer research was chosen to be the recipients this time because the KSA wanted to do something that people could relate to, according to Bali.
“It hits pretty close to home to a lot of people,” she said.
Another reason for the choice was because October, is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
In the past the KSA has chosen several different charities
Breast Cancer Facts
tise it. The fi rst step is to distrib-ute land to the tiller. So our fi ght is against land grab and exploita-tion of the poor, especially focus-ing on rural India.”
The communist party of India has refused to enter mainstream
politics, as they view the main-stream political culture as contami-nated by capitalism.
As the In-dian government remains locked in fi erce battle with the communist party, it remains to be seen what the end result may be.
Whether or not the CPI(M) can gain public support or whether it will be eradicated all depends on its abil-
ity to adapt to the new political culture that has arisen.
Perhaps there is a need for revision in the Marxist doctrine, or time has simply past so called revolutionary movements by and they are withering away like leaves on a tree.
Harman Parhar/The Peak (Simon Fraser University)
April Lu/The Peak (Simon Fraser University)
“...our fi ght is against the
land grab and exploitation of the poor, especially
focusing on rural India.“
- Kobad Ghandy
News & Politics vol. 2 issue 03 | October 06 2009 | page four
WELCOME WEEK
WRITERS FESTIVAL
Students step up to take on Challenge Week
Arts cuts may affect International Writers Festival, 2009 could be last year
Hundreds of dollars raised for the Free the Children’s Education Campaign
With a minimum fi ve dollar donation, students and faculty were able to raise funds for Free the Children’s Education Campaign through the department for Student Life and Development and the student Global Villagers Team’s Challenge Week.
Approximately twenty employees (faculty, staff, and administration) and sixty-fi ve students were involved. Donations are still coming in, but as of now they have raised at least $700 for the campaign. Challenge week was from September 21-27, 2009 and activities such as: Scrabble Challenge, Yoga, “3 Peak Challenge”: Summit The Chief, The Lions, and The Grouse Grind all in one day, and 3-on-3 basketball were a success.
The most popular employee activity was a mind thinker. Linda Gomes held a competitive
scrabble game with many faculty and administrators during her lunch hours. She would have donated an extra $10 for every game she loses. Apparently, she won every game. The Director of Athletics and Student Life and Development Coordinator, Elise Le Brun, and Kurt Penner, took on the challenge of climbing
Summit The Chief, The Lions, and The Grouse Grind all on one day. Also, the most popular student activities were a watershed park walk, Queen Elizabeth, Bear Creek Park, and Crescent Beach walks led by one of the Global Villagers leaders, Hermanjit Kahlon, and a
bake sale. The students in the Public Safety Communications program from Cloverdale held a bake sale and raised $300 for the campaign. So why choose Free the Children as their campaign? Kurt Penner says that, “The Free the Children Education Fund
MAE VELASCO seemed particularly appropriate given our Educational context. Their holistic ‘Adopt a Village’ development model, “. . . aims to lift communities out of poverty - one school, one medical clinic, one clean water well at a time.” It is a Canadian charity and committed to fi nancial transparency or accountability. The Global Villagers Team works under the guidance of Student Life and Development, and our vision is for that student team to be one of the catalysts for Kwantlen students (and the whole Kwantlen community) to enact positive change in the world.”
The team would like to thank their Challenge Week partners this year which included the Kwantlen bookstores, Kwantlen Recreation, and the Student Health Improvement Program. They would also like to thank all those who participated, donated, or partnered with the get involved - Give back Challenge this year. Watch for next year’s Challenge Week in September and start thinking about how you or your group could be involved. We think there will be many “challenges” put out there for next year!
ADAM VINCENTCREATIVE WRITING BUREAU CHIEF
With recent funding cuts, and potentially more cuts in the near future, the festival’s ability to continue its high caliber festival could be in jeopardy.The Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival haass been bringing arts and culture through literature to Vancouver since 1988.
Since its inception, the annual event, held over six days in late October, has brought authors the caliber of Margaret Atwood, Timothy Findley, Frank McCourt, Michael Ondaatje and JK Rowl-ing to Vancouver to read and interact with attendees.
They also hold Spreading the Word, which offers K-12 students and teachers the opportunity to speak with well known writers at the festival and in the classroom. Moreover, the festival sup-
ports undiscovered writers and gives them a platform to share their work/network with others in the writing community.
The festival, who offers dis-counted tickets for students, is a registered non-profi t charitable organization, and, like many arts organizations, relies on donations, ad revenue and some government support to put on its annual event.
According to Hal Wake, Ar-tistic Director of the Vancouver International Writers Festival, to festival members, “the provincial government is planning to cut over 80% of what has consisted of only 1/20th of 1% of the pro-vincial budget.”
These cuts would prevent the festival, and other arts organiza-tions in BC from continuing to put on high quality entertain-ment/educational events and, in some cases, may cause some or-ganizations to close their doors.
This idea is re-affi rmed in the same email from Hal Wake who said, “We are looking at cuts of tens of thousands of dollars in the next couple of years, funds that we cannot replace easily, particularly in a tough economic environment.
This will have considerable im-pact on our ability to bring world-renowned writers to audiences and students in Vancouver.”
According to the Alliance for Arts and Culture, a Vancouver-based arts advocacy group, fund-ing has gone from $42.219 million in February of this year, to $23.075 million as of September.
The group says that the arts budget, unless changed by early November when it is set to be fi nalized, will be cut to $3.657 mil-lion (not including gaming funds) for the 2011/2012 fi scal year.
When asked about her feelings about the current funding cuts, and potentially more cuts in the
Courtesy of Kurt Penner
Courtesy of Kurt Penner
Courtesy of Kurt Penner
Director of Athletics Elise Le Brun and Student Life and Development Coordinator Kurt Penner took on the Chief Summit for Challenge Week.
The Public Safety and Communications program put on Challenge Week to raise money for the Free the Childrenʼs Education Campaign.
near future, Kwantlen Writers’ Guild President, Andrea Purvey, said that “generally, people don’t realize how much the arts effects their everyday lives.
Art goes far beyond paint-ings in museums; it is part of ad campaigns on our televisions and in our newspapers, it’s the books our children bring home from school, it’s the music we load into our ipods.”
When asked her opinion on the future of the arts if the cuts continue, Purvey said, “I think that budget cuts to arts programs at schools and in the communi-ties will have a detrimental affect, not only on the international writers’ community, but on the future of the writing community [as a whole].”
On the potential detrimental affects on the Vancouver Interna-tional Writers and Readers Fest, Purvey said, “one of the events that the [VIWF] puts on are work-
shops for grade school classes, and without proper, funding these events cannot take place…[this] takes art out of the lives of our children.”
Purvey worries about the fu-ture of the arts, and is concerned that people outside of the arts are ambivalent to the funding cuts.
She said, “it is important to remember that art is not solely…for people in the fi eld and college students; it inspires classrooms of children to get involved in literature, history, fi ne arts, media and more.”
The V.I.W.F and the Alliance for Arts and Culture are asking that those who do not wish to see the quality of arts events in BC to diminish to contact their local MLA (www.leg.bc.ca/mla/3-1-7.htm) and tell them of your concern with intended cuts to the arts.
vol. 2 issue 03 | October 06 2009 | page fi ve
STUDENT EXCHANGES
KWANTLEN ATHLETICS
News & Politics
Eagles Women Dominate, Men Get Dominated
Diwali, the Indian Festival of lights, is coming to Kwantlen’s Richmond and Surrey campuses in October.
The event is currently in its planning stages, but is set to go at noon on Oct. 13 in the main courtyard at the Surrey campus, and at noon on Oct. 15 in the area outside of the KSA lounge at the Richmond campus, according to Reena Bali, the Richmond Cam-pus Director for the KSA.
There will be tents set up for the Surrey event as it is being held outside.
So far the KSA is planning to have a variety of clubs participat-ing, and to have activities going such as cricket. They are also looking for someone to come in and do henna tattoos, according to Bali.
There will be free Indian food available during the event, although the specifi cs of what kind of Indian food are still to be determined.
Diwali is traditionally a fi ve-day event celebrated by Hindus, according to diwalifestival.org. The third day is the main festival, the festival of lights.
There are gifts given out tradi-tionally during the festival “to all near and dear ones,” according to the site.
Here we go again. The Kwantlen Student Association volunteers are circling campuses in search for signatures to put to vote whether or not the KSA should leave the Canadian Fed-eration of Students.
They are looking for approxi-mately 2,000 signatures, accord-ing to Derek Robertson, the Director of External Affairs for the KSA.
Two years ago when the KSA tried to get out of the CFS, they got 2,600 signatures, which is about 22 per cent of membership at the time, which allowed them to put to vote leaving the CFS, according to Robertson. They need 10 per cent of membership to go to a vote. The vote didn’t go through though, and they have had to wait two years to start the process over again because of CFS rules, according to Robert-son.
The deadline for the amount of signatures needed to get a vote going in the spring is a mystery, as Robertson was unable to dis-close that information.
Last week was the fi rst full week the KSA has had volun-teers going throughout all of the campuses seeking signatures and educating students on the current situation between the KSA and the CFS.
If you think that Kwantlen’s Surrey campus has all of the fun, hosting events such as Cram Jam, you are wrong.
Interested in writing news or sports for the Runner? Shoot an e-mails to [email protected]
Exchanges offer international opportunities
MICHELA FIORIDO SPORTS BUREAU CHIEF
The women got exactly what they hoped for to start off the second half of the season in a 4-1 pound-ing over the Douglas College Royals.
Play was unsteady and unimpressive at the start until midfi elder Marissa Dionne blasted a beautiful shot top left corner to give the Eagles the lead. After the goal, the women dominated as Thoralea Pilton fi nished a shot that had ricocheted off the crossbar.
First year forward, Taylor Sarchet had multiple chances to score while also playing well to create opportunities for others. The game’s standout, however was forward Kelsey Docherty. She out-skilled several Douglas defenders to hammer home the Eagles’ third goal. She also had several breakaway opportunities and was a physical presence all game with Douglas unable to contain her.
Kelsey later commented that “it was probably the best
game of the season so far” and that “everyone had moments of greatness such as Marissa’s beautiful goal.”
She also mentioned that the team did indeed start off rocky but once they got the momentum going there was nothing stopping them from beating their major arch nemesis – the Douglas Royals. Douglas did end up scoring once in the second half, however it was countered almost immediately by a goal scored by Shanay Sangha of the Eagles. This victory puts the women in a good position to contend to make the playoffs.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t all wonderful for the Eagles this weekend as the men were rocked 8-0 by Douglas. No, that is not a typo, they really did lose by that much. At this point the men should simply focus on rebuilding and forming good habits for next year.
Next Games: Sat - October 3 and Sun - Oct 4 @ Newton Athletic Park @12:00pm against the Quest Kermodes and VIU Mariners
When the travel-bug bites there is a way to get out of BC while continuing your studies, and without pushing your graduation date back.
Kwantlen’s international exchange program helps to facilitate exchanges between Kwantlen students and a variety of their partnering schools.
“It’s a fantastic experience,” said Andrea Reynolds, the International Mobility Coordinator for the program.
The program started in 2001, according to Reynolds, but over the past year or two they have been trying to get the word out and get the program growing.
The number of students in the program varies from semester to semester.
“In the past the program has been quite small, but we are trying to make it larger,” she said.
There are seven students away for the current fall semester, and 15 students set to go for next semester.
Reynolds has been working with the program since November and hasn’t had too many negative experiences happen.
One of the problems that the program has faced in the past involves administrative diffi culties, but they are trying to smooth everything out as the program grows, according to Reynolds.
“The actual time a student spends abroad is life-changing and extremely valuable.”
Students should make sure that they follow procedures and take the responsibility to make sure that they have a positive experience when on an exchange trip, said Reynolds.
“There are challenges when
you go on an exchange,” she said. Cultural and course challenges are the main ones students face.
Students can choose from places such as France, Finland, Japan, and Germany for their international exchange.
Eva Phung, a 4th year Psychology student at Kwantlen decided to go to New Zealand.
Phung, went to Unitec Institute of Technology in her 3rd year.
She was in New Zealand for four months during their semester two which goes from July to November.
“There were challenges being in a new country,” she said, “but you learn to overcome those obstacles and enjoy your time there.”
Phung’s advice for students considering going on an exchange is to plan ahead to make sure your graduation date wont be affected, and to go in second or third year.
NATSUMI OYE CURRENT EVENTS BUREAU CHIEF
In Brief:INDIAN FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS
NATSUMI OYE CURRENT EVENTS BUREAU CHIEF
“If you are thinking about doing it, go for it,” she said, “it’s an experience of a lifetime.”
Things such as visiting a new culture, meeting new people and traveling were some of the best parts of the experience for Phung.
Students who are interested in going on an exchange need to fi ll out application forms to be considered.
If the student meets all of the requirements, the program generally fi nds a spot for them if not at their fi rst choice school then at their second choice, according to Reynolds.
For more information students can email [email protected] or visit the programs website www.kwantlen.ca/exchange.
Courtesy of Eva Phung
Michela Fiorido
Eva Phung, took part in Kwantlenʼs exchange progrma and studied at Unitec Institute of Technology.
Game standout Kelsey Docherty looks on after tackling a Douglas defender -- and coming out the better end of it.
Courtesy of Eva Phung
Vaughn
Surrey CampusJacket: Le Chateau, Vest: Vintage Scarf: The Bay, Shoes: Vintage
FASHION
Fall Fashion
JESSICA PAMBID
Vol. 2 Issue 03 | October 06 2009 | page sixCulture
The temperatures are tumbling, the wind is whipping and the days are darkening.
While some may despair the change of seasons, others see it as a chance to
strut their stuff and sport the latest fall fashions.
Photographer Jessica Pambid went out and captured some of Kwantlen's
students sporting their fall gear.
Kaitlyn
Todd
Eric
Uzma
Langely CampusJacket: Costa Blanca, Dress: Vintage, Boots: Aldo
Surrey CampusJeans: Vintage Store, Vest: Zellers, Touque: Vintage Store, Shoes: Shoe Warehouse.
Surrey CampusJacket: Winners, Shoes: Under Ground, Scarf: Winners
Surrey CampusJacket: Bebe blue, Cardigan: Urban Behavior, Shoes: Shoe Warehouse
Rhea
Surrey CampusPurse: Winners, Jacket: Mango, Shoes: Vintage
Featurevol. 2 issue 03 | October 06 2009 | page seven
THANKSGIVING DINNER
Remind me again, why do I attend?
ADAM VINCENTCREATIVE WRITING BUREAU CHIEF
Thanksgiving is, perhaps, the most elaborate ploy to round up family and friends
for a stressful day of cooking, followed by a short, hearty meal. There is no jolly man in red, other than the occasional poorly dressed relative, and no bunny dealing chocolate to the chocoholics. It is a day to eat and give thanks. It is the latter part of that idea that the scheme is dependant upon.
The ploy is rather formulaic. Once the food is served, the seated guests go around the table, like role call, one by one, thanking the cook(s) and stating how great the food is. This is then followed by the cook(s) lying, saying that the bountiful feast was no major feat and that we should do this again next year. We all play along.
I get ripped off at Thanksgiving. I play my part. When I can, I help out with the preparation of the meal. I stir, I set the table, and I am pleasant with family and close family friends who all, without exception, have an opinion on my life. I smile and nod as they destroy my intended career path, my educational choices and my lack of consistent female companionship. I act as if I care about their comparison to decades prior, and agree that they are right. These acts should entitle me to all things Thanksgiving dinner related.
After the meal, I become trapped in the living room, watching boring TV, and being treated to the musical stylings of the snoring of the older men of the family, who drifted off in a tryptophan induced coma--one
of which must always be holding the only remote for the television. They sleep on the couches, in the comfortable chairs and even, in rare instances, at the dinner table.
Why do we attend family Thanksgiving dinner each year, if they are an obvious ploy to get everybody in one place for tradition’s sake? The food:
mashed potatoes, veggies, cheese sauce, cranberry sauce, gravy, stuffi ng and, the all important, turkey.
I, for one, lack the desire to pull a bag of “giblets” from the bird.
Some thing about a little
bag sitting in the cavity of the main course, which includes the turkey’s heart, gizzard, anus, liver and other guttural organs that is later used to create the stuffi ng that makes me feel a bit queasy.
Each year I try to forget about
the aforementioned aspect of the cooking process and delight in the spoils. It is in the robust fl avours, many of which come from the nauseating bag of insides, where
I fi nd solace in the pain that is socializing at a family function.
When post-dinner clean up is over, and the men begin to regain enough consciousness to drive home, I am treated to a fi nal round of ‘advice’ before the night is over. Perhaps I am as affected
by the turkey as the other men, as I continue
to take wave after wave
of
‘advice’ without
returning the favour. Why do I
attend? Oh yeah, the food.Consistently each year, by the
end of the night, I fi nd myself questioning my intentions in life, and thinking back to my latest relationship and where it went awry. I then look around the
room, see where the advice came from, and take their suggestions with a grain of salt.
As it is each year, the ‘encouraging’ words fade from my mind as I go to get my bag of left overs, not to be mistaken with the former giblet bag, that will become my nutritional staple for the next three days. This is why I attend. The thought of turkey sandwiches with mustard, hot turkey sandwiches with gravy, turkey and stuffi ng sandwiches, and pseudo turkey dinners with re-heated veggies and potatoes continues to cause my mouth
to salivate, despite my fully stuffed stomach.
When it is fi nally my turn to thank and hug
applicable family members, I graciously
accept my assigned left overs and open up my bag like a child getting a goody bag at the end of a birthday party.
In recent years, I have gotten ripped off when I opened my goody bag.
I endure the family, the advice and pushed away any thoughts of entrails, to open
up my bag to fi nd a small sandwich
bag of mostly dark meat and a smaller
sandwich bag of potatoes.
Last year, the tryptophan wore off in
time for me to ask why I was given so little and given the
greasier dark turkey meat. I was told that there was less left over and that I got a fair portion of the remains.
That year I had one, post-Thanksgiving, turkey-related meal. I thought of the hours of smiling and nodding, and the stirring of sauces would have earned more, yet it did not. I played my part in the ploy and yet, I got ripped off at Thanksgiving.
Illustration by: Tianna Kwong
Thanksgiving is suppose to be about turkey but somehow it alwasy ends up about me
WHEN: Every Friday at 2:00 pm
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OPINION
THANKSGIVING MESSAGE
WE F***ED UP
COFFEE BREAK
Opinion & Editorial vol. 2 issue 03 | October 06 2009 | page eight
Loath them or Love Them
DENNY HOLLICK CO-ORDINATING EDITOR
AVNEET MANN
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SERIOUSLY, We’ll publish it...
Time for a new menu Kwantlen
BY SHANE SCOTT-TRAVISNEXUS (CAMOSUN COLLEGE)
The coffee conundrum
For many years now, the typical diet of a student who eats regu-larly on campus has consisted of greasy burger patties, overcooked chicken strips, and subpar salads.
Chartwells, the main food provider on all of the campuses has been the primary contractor for food services at Kwantlen for
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EDITORIAL DIVISION:
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Bureau Chiefs:
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Current Events
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several years now, and although they’ve added some fl are to their kitchens lately, overall, things haven’t really changed. Students who are hungry and looking for a meal typically fi nd themselves in an institutional-ized environment eating products which cost nearly the same as a sit down full serve restaurant, and receive so little for it.
I recal last time I had some-thing from the Chartwells cafeteria on the Surrey campus (many months ago), I paid nearly $10 for my burger and drink. I had asked for an extra pickle, and the cafeteria lady snapped at me, telling me it would cost me extra. She threw it on my burger and MADE SURE, that I paid the ad-ditional amount by escorting me to the cashier and telling them my order. After that ordeal, I’d
suggest someone over at Chart-wells reads the book on customer service, “Give them the pickle,” by Bob Farrell.
About a year ago, maybe a bit more, I was engaged in a focus group for Chartwells regarding the overall look and feel of what they had to offer. I remember the group giving them several examples on what could be done better to improve food services at Kwantlen, but roll-out of any of those suggestions seemed slow or nonexistent.
Even more recently, Macleans magazine published a review written by Karen Pinchin, declar-ing that Chartwells may have some of the worst campus food in Canada. The writer says “The food - I use that term loosely - was horrendous.” She ended the article on a facetious note by
mentioning “The best part of the meal was the overpriced Jell-O cup for $2.50. It was fl avourful and familiar. Too bad Jell-O isn’t a food group.”
I really couldn’t have said it better. Students today expect value for their money, but unfor-tunately, Chartwells hasn’t been able to deliver. Without any other food options, students don’t have much of a choice. (Except the Grass Roots Cafe, which can be a bit pricey on its own.
Although I understand that times are tight for many compa-nies, Chartwells needs to fi nd ways to make their bottom line work in balance with their ser-vices, food quality, affordability and environment.
Hopefully we’ll see a Timmy’s on Campus sometime soon.
Ah, Thanksgiving. Smells of turkey wafting in the air, joy-ous family reunions and sweet-hearted blessings fi ll your mind. But are these commercialized, cookie-cutter customs actually the real deal? Who knows. For some its not even close to what they experience and it’s a com-pletely different picture. Perhaps the turkey is replaced with a fi ne bottle of Hennessey or whatever your poison may be. But the main purpose to this ritualistic celebra-tion is family.
Ah, yes, family. As this stuffi ng-fi lled holiday creeps ever so slowly we may refl ect upon all the diffi culties that family inevi-tably carries.
And as much as we hate to admit it, at least one point in our
VICTORIA (CUP) – As we bid a slow goodbye to summer and buckle down for the semester ahead, many students begin to rely on coffee to make it through the grueling pace that school can ask of us.
Make no mistake, coffee is a powerful stimulant and it takes a certain amount of internal fortitude just to order a venti soy latte, extra hot, no foam, with a straight face.
Coffee is our drug of choice – and what a drug it is. Since the Industrial Revolution it’s been at our beck and call, eager to offer an energy lift and, eerily enough, enable us to work at repetitious tasks, never breaking concentra-tion until the whistle blows and we can scurry home.
Coffee culture has taken a hold of our society by the gonads and given it a vicious twist in the last few decades. And, contrary to popular belief, it isn’t all roses.On a recent sojourn to Vancouver I was tickled to see a Starbucks for every Starbucks on Robson Street. Coffee is a great servant but a ter-rible master, the kind of master who threatens with the promise of a quivering sphincter.
Coffee, or “the black death,” if you will, is a designer drug. Used in moderation it can certainly give you a lift but if you overdo it, an anxiety attack is never far behind. Bean juice is tough on the blad-der, too, especially for women. Coffee is a diuretic so it makes
lives we’ve pondered over the old proverb that so wisely states that you cannot choose your family. You endure what fate has handed you with and make your best with it. Whether, you loathe them or love them, they’re your family and they’re all you have. But then again everything has to have a ying to a yang. And this yang is a whole other epic philosophy entirely. This argues that the family that you’re dealt dealt with is just the beginning. You grow up and get out so you can stumble upon another kind family that just… fi ts.
Whether you’re spending time with the kin you’re born into or have found your very own tribe, as long you have a place you can call home, count your blessings. Happy Thanksgiving all!
you sweat, and sweat stinks – it’s just a few urethra crystals shy of being urine, hence those yellow-ish stains on many an undershirt, right? Gross to the max!
Too much coffee can lead to halitosis, irritable bowel syn-drome, stomach cancer and any number of other awkward social taboos that will practically guar-antee that no undulating co-eds will be shimmying anywhere near you.
Quitting coffee cold turkey can be harmful; it causes illness and dependence. Curbing our coffee consumption, on the other hand, is a worthwhile pursuit.
We needn’t bid our barista bye-bye but we can consider a few al-ternatives to mix things up a bit. Why not enjoy some herbal tea? Chocolate is energizing, when used responsibly, as is yerba matte and tonics like ginseng and maca root. Or how about ginger tea with lemon? Spirulina and wheat grass can also provide your body with energy of the variety that doesn’t bring you down.
Granted, you might have to fraternize with hippies and pre-tend to like Phish, but you don’t have to worry about the riling lethargy of a coffee crash.
So, if you like the bubble, toil and trouble in the ol’ intestines or having an entire rugby team push full force in your head, well, may-be excessive coffee consumption is your cup of, um, tea. In which case, smell you later.
As for the rest of us, why talk to clouds on a sunny day?
We messed up.
In our last issue we ran an announcement saying that there would be a general meeting for polytechnic inc publishing society on October 21 @ 2:00 PMat the Runner offi ce. we lied.
there isnʼt.But there will be a Board of General purposes meet-ing! October 21, 2009 @ 2:00 PMThe Runner Offi ce - #205 12877 76 ave.surrey, b.c.
Culturevol. 2 issue 03 | October 06 2009 | page nine
CONCERT REVIEW
CD REVIEW
MUSIC AT MIDWEEK
This is the fi rst time that I can say that the opening band was just as good as the headliner. Ben Harp-er and the Relentless7 pounded the shit out of their groovy blues based rock from their latest album, White Lies for Dark Times. In typical Harper style, he played a few songs with his trademark Weissenborn acoustic, plugged in and distorted, creating his distinct earthy tone.
And Pearl Jam? They kicked ass. What more can be said? Aside from sitting in the no-alcohol section—I didn’t know there was such a section—my cheap (relatively) seats in the up-per bowl were fi ne. The view was a little shitty, but the sound was mostly clear, sometimes muddy. The set-list was a walk through
I’ll admit straight up that I’m a huge AFI fan. I consider them one of my favourite bands of all time, which is a huge bias when going into the review of their lat-est album. But look at it this way, who can be most critical if not a die-hard fan?
I fell in love with these guys back in 2001, with their then-recently released album The Art of Drowning, which still stands
JEFF GROAT ENTERTAINMENT BUREAU CHIEF
MELISSA FRASERCULTURE EDITOR
CHRISTOPHER POON MEDIA EDITOR
AFI’s Crash Love ditches the band’s roots
both new and old Pearl Jam gems, with highs, lows, jams and overall arena rocking goodness.
I hate the term “arena rock,” it had its heyday in the 80’s, and there it should stay, but Pearl Jam always has a knack for fi lling up the place—whether it’s GM Place or the Commodore Ballroom. Towards the end of the set, the band turned around and played their “Life Wasted” tune to the (un)lucky fans sitting behind the stage, Eddie Vedder saying, “I know this place, it’s the Commo-dore.”
This show had the most en-ergy I’ve experienced at a concert in a long time, especially since I was feeling it all the way in the upper-bowl at the far end of the stadium.
Highlights include “Given To Fly”, “MFC”, “Even Flow”, “El-derly Woman Behind the Counter
in a Small Town”, “Rearview-mirror”, their version of The Who’s “Love Reign O’er Me”, “Indifference” (with Ben Harper), “Betterman” —which ended up evolving into a jam of another song I don’t know, and “Yellow Ledbetter”—played long after the house lights came on, ending their second encore.
Adding to the energy was the band’s announcement that they were donating $20,000 from the Vancouver show to The Terry Fox Foundation, an announcement that brought the stadium to its feet, and nearly brought tears to some eyes (including my own). It was a very special night in Van-couver for everyone—including the band, as Vedder commented that “this feels like the real fi rst night of the tour.”
out as my favourite album to date (see a trend developing here?).
Since then the Californian band has released three albums, Sing the Sorrow, Decemberunder-ground and last week’s Crash Love.
Crash Love comes three years after the release of Decemberun-derground, their most commer-cially-successful album to date.
However, commercially-successful doesn’t always mean good. Decemberunderground was a far-cry from their previous mate-rial, and revealed a poppier, more mainstream AFI than what fans may have been used to. The al-bum did well in that it appealed to a much broader audience, but perhaps at the risk of alienating their already established one.
Crash Love continues the band’s venture into pop-rock with catchier choruses, repetitive riffs and drum beats. The album’s
single “Medicate” simply seems soft and watered down when compared with anything pre-Decemberunderground, but really, all of the tracks are mostly forget-table.
The surprise was the second disc contained with the special edition of Crash Love, which has four previously-unreleased tracks recorded during the production of the past three albums. These four songs alone are better than the entirety of the main album, and the song “Fainting Spells” is perhaps the band’s best song released in the last six years. It’s highly-reminisce of the energy and passion that was evident on Sing the Sorrow and The Art of Drowning, and is sure to please fans of the band’s earlier sounds. As for the band’s hardcore roots, there’s no evidence of such awe-someness on this album. Avoid.
M U S I C A T K W A N T L E N
The Grunge comeback
OCT
07
OCT
21
NOV
11
NOV
25
DEC
09
OCT
28
NOV
18
DEC
02
OCT
14Paula Wise, Musician/Clinical Counsellor
Joel Stobbe, CelloLinda Stobbe, Piano
Kwantlen Brass Ensemble
Kwantlen Woodwind Ensemble
Kwantlen Mad-Jazz Vocal Ensemble and Kwantlen Mad-Jazz Vocal Ensemble
Erin Marks, Oboe Nikolai Maloff, Piano
Kwantlen Jazz Combo
Kwantlen Piano Ensembles
UBC Opera Ensemble
Melissa Fraser/The RunnerFringe Percussion plays the Langley Auditorium Sept. 25.
I stopped by Music at Midweek last Wednesday to get a photo for this week’s issue of the Runner. I snuck in and grabbed a seat off to the side. As I fumbled with getting the camera out the bag I had a million other things on my mind. I had a lot to do that day, I was in a bad mood and I was crazy stressed.
Then the band started and I knew instantly that all the er-rands I had planned for the day had to be put aside for an hour so I could stay and listen. Every-thing I had been stressing about seemed to disappear for that hour and my bad mood disappeared for the rest of the day.
Last week’s Music at Midweek featured Van Django, a gypsy jazz group from Vancouver. They descibe themselves as “...an acoustic string ensemble whose music is well-rooted in the gypsy jazz of 1930’s Paris France.” To the untrained ear, it was four men plucking away real fast on their
string instruments and it was rad. After the concert, I heard some-one on him phone say something along the lines, “I just saw this sick concert. It was this group of classical guys playing some fuck-ing awesome shit.”
They played original music as well as some covers, including a rendition of the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life,” that blew my mind. Everything was fast, fun and awesome.
“Music at Midweek was de-signed to provide music students an opportunity to see profession-als in concert as well as perform themselves,” said Gail Suderman, the director of voice and choral studies at Kwantlen. However, all Kwantlen students are invited to the free weekly concerts.
While it may seem like only music students would enjoy the series, it turns out Music at Midweek is a cool way to spend a Wednesday afternoon if you’re in the Langley area. Even if you’re not in the Langley area, make a point of attending at least one Music at Midweek this semester.
long street festival celebrating Australians’ love of good food and wine.
The swanky Gala Ball kicks of the festivities on Friday night followed by two days of parades, wine tasting and grape crush-ing. I guess the mentality is that apples are good, but wine calls for a real party. The weekend ends with a show of fi reworks, and we Vancouverites all know what that’s like.
Brazilians know how to have a good time. Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is one of the biggest and most widely known festi-vals worldwide. But the harvest season is no less important to Brazilians than it is to everyone else, and they take their festivities very seriously. Brazilians don’t just hold one celebration to give thanks for their harvest, they hold a whole slew of festivals called Festas Juninas, or June Fes-tivals. These festivals are held in June (duh) because, like Austra-lia, Brazil lies within the southern hemisphere, and seasons come at different times of the year. Of course, Brazil being a mainly catholic nation, these holidays are celebrated fi rst and foremost to honour the saints. St. Anthony is honoured on June 13, St. John on June 24 and St. Peter on June 29.
The festival of St. John (São João) is considered the biggest festival and rivals the crowds of Carnival. Brazilians dress in tra-ditional garb and come together over regional food, dancing and music that blasts at a volume-level only Brazilians could enjoy without blowing an eardrum.
The Boi Bumba festival ends the Festas Juninos at the end of the month. Celebrated along the Amazon River in the small town of Parinitins. Boi Bumba literally means “beat the bull” and is cele-brated in honour of an old legend about an ox and a pregnant chick with a craving for ox tongue. You might have an idea how this story ends. Two teams compete in a pageant —somewhat like a crazy Brazilian dance-off—on the night of the festivities and the people of Parintins get so into the spirit that some even paint their houses blue or red, in honour of their favourite team.
that come to hover above the cesspools the rain creates). But those who survive it celebrate it with offerings of yams and other food fi rst to gods and then to family, friends and neighbours. It is a time not just for families, but entire villages to come together and feast on goodies like maize (corn), beans, cassava and, of course, yams.
While it is the harvest of yams that makes this time of year special, it gets topped off with a ritual slaughter. Chicken, fi sh or lamb is always served alongside veggies, ensuring Ghanaians and Nigerians go to bed with bellies as full as ours on their Thanks-giving holiday.
Living in the southern hemi-sphere means many things are the exact opposite from us here in the North. For example, the sky looks different, the toilets fl ush in the opposite direction and the seasons are all ass backwards. Aussies celebrate Christmas in the summer and Easter in the fall. What isn’t different is that Thanksgiving is actually cel-ebrated in the fall, but fall falls in March, because fall is spring and spring is fall. Get it?
Okay, aside from a trip to the southern hemisphere being like a trip through the looking glass, Aussies are probably more like Canadians than anyone else on Earth—save for the wacky vocab and vegemite obsession. They like to eat, drink and party under a sky of fi reworks, and that’s exactly what they do at the Apple and Grape Harvest Festival held in the Granite Belt wine region of Queensland, northeastern Australia. The combination of granite and altitude makes this region especially “fruitful.” The grapes grown and harvested here are turned into some of the world’s best wine and the Apple and Grape festival is a weekend-
Ever since the pilgrims sat down to dine with the Indi-ans, Thanksgiving has been
regarded as the classic American holiday. While us Canucks like to jump on board the gravy train too, nowhere is Thanksgiving a bigger deal than it is in the U.S. But, perhaps surprisingly, it is still celebrated around the world. In many countries, “Thanksgiv-ing” is known as the fall harvest.
For as long as humans have been farming, they have de-pended on the harvest for food and livelihood. A good harvest meant a family would have food to eat or trade and would help guarantee survival throughout the coming winter. A bad harvest could mean death by starvation. Plentiful harvests have long been celebrated, and thanks have been given to all sorts of deities to show appreciation and help ensure another healthy crop next year.
Nowadays the tradition con-tinues, even if some of us never give a thought to the farmers who grow our food. Thanksgiv-ing is still a big deal in North America, and there are endless prayers, parades and school plays to prove it. But the rest of the world is not to be ignored. Here’s how everybody else celebrates their harvest season.
Chuseok is the Korean version of Thanksgiving. It is a day of cel-ebration in both South and North Korea, but because of Kim Jong Il’s reign of terror and absolute authority in the North, Chuseok usually gets thrown on the back burner here. South Koreans how-ever, feast and party much the same way as North Americans, but they do it better.
Chuseok is a three-day festival in South Korea and each year at
harvest time (usually in Septem-ber) South Koreans get together to eat, dance, play games and give thanks to their ancestors. It is one of the biggest celebrations in South Korea.
But you probably won’t fi nd a turkey in the oven. Since rice is the staple food harvested here, traditional Chuseok eats include rice cakes, rice soup, and yes, rice wine.
Emphasis is also put on honouring ancestry. Families gather at their deceased relatives’ gravesites to pay homage, give thanks and make sure the graves are kept up, which often calls for a little weeding and possibly some spit shine.
North Koreans follow the practice of visiting relatives’ graves, but they are known to visit out of superstition rather than respect. (It is widely be-lieved that ancestral spirits affect fortune, and so it is customary to clean gravesites and even bury money to ensure good fortune in the coming year).
But in the land of no fun, Chuseok is just another day of no fun. Not surprisingly, the most important celebration in North Korea is Kim Jong Il’s birthday. So this holiday season, why not give thanks you don’t live there?
The Yam Festival is held in the West African countries of Ghana and Nigeria at the end of the rainy season when the crops are ready to be harvested and eaten. Yams are essentially the same thing as sweet potatoes and are one of the most common foods in many African countries. Most of the year, these countries are arid and dry, but once the rainy season hits, the soil is replenished and root vegetables fl ourish. Unfortunately, the rainy season also brings disease like cholera (from drinking unsafe water) and malaria (from all the mosquitoes
THANKSGIVING TRADITIONS HOLIDAY DRINKING
All hail the harvest
ThanksgivingThanksgiving
BENDERBENDER
You might be stuck in Vancouver for the Thanksgiving long week-end but that doens't mean you can't get really drunk and go to every trashy bar you can think of.
*The Mirage is having a Thanksgiving Day long weekend party on Sunday.
Best to show up later rather than earlier and the drunker you are before you get there the better.
* Get a head start on the Thanksgiving weekend and get friends together for a
weekend predrink on Thursday. Start early and drink as much Wild Turkey Bourbon as you pos-sibly can.
*If we're talking trash, you might as well sneak in Count Down to Liquor Day. The
Trailor Park Boys' latest movie is best enjoyed drunk at a matinee.
*Coyote Ugly's Sunday night party is called Fubar. This means cut off jeans and ball
caps are a must.
*There's a new club in Langley called Rock Sugar. It's long weekend party is called Yo!
Yo! It's in Langley. Need we say more?
* It wouldn't be a bender without a little time at Fever Night Club in New West.
DJ Supafl y from the Beat will br spinning all sorts of Thanksgiv-ing goodies.
* Feeling classy? Mix together amaretto, raspberry liqueur, sour mix, southern comfort,
and vodka together for an Au-tumn Eve Martini. the more you drink the classier you'll feel.
* Head over to Fort Langley and pick yourself up a few bottles of Cranberry Wine. If
you go dressed up like the olden times you may get away with walking around the fort drunk out of your mind.
vol. 2 issue 03 | October 06 2009 | page tenCulture
Thanksgiving might be all about turkey and pumpkin pie in North America, but in other countries fall festivals have their own traditions.
ANASTASIA KIRKTRAVEL BUREAU CHIEF
Brazil
Korea
Ghana/Nigeria
Australia
Galt Museum/Flickr
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Culturevol. 2 issue 03 | October 06 2009 | page eleven
MOVIE CULTURE CHECK THIS OUT
RENT IT
DEGREES OF KEVIN BACON:Malin Akerman to Kevin Bacon
Couples Retreat – In Theatres Oct. 9
What happened to Vince Vaughn’s career? The last big movie he did, or the last movie of his that anyone talked about was Fred Claus, and it looked horrible. He was on such a high after Wedding Crashers, and then The Break-Up appears to have ruined him. So what’s his next best move? Another rom-com, of course. But this time he’s reuniting with his Swingers co-star Jon Favreau, along with some relatively big names (Jason Bateman, Kristen Bell, Kristin David and Malin Akerman) in Couples Retreat. The trailers make it seem almost unbearable, but I have sneaking suspicion that it’s not going to be half bad. Here’s hoping.
WatchmenThe fi rst time I heard of Watchmen was in line for the mid-night showing of The Dark Knight, when some fanboys asked if the Watchmen trailer was premiering before Batman. It did, and I thought to myself, “What the hell kind of crap is this?” But I, somewhat begrudgingly, gave it a shot, and I actually quite enjoyed it. Everyone says: “Read the graphic novel to appreciate it more,” but I don’t want to. I get the gist of it already: Billy Crudup is a naked blue guy, Malin Akerman’s his hot wife, and Rorschach’s got a pretty sweet mask.
Big FishMy argument to anyone who tells me the book is better than the movie hasn’t read Big Fish. It was an okay book, but the movie blows me away every time I watch it. It has a great sense of be-ing a strong ensemble piece, without it being a hugely ensemble movie. Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney and Billy Crudup lead the movie, with greatly understated performances by Jessica Lange, Danny Devito, Steve Buscemi, Helena Bonham Carter and Alison Lohman. I don’t care what anybody says about The Nightmare Before Christmas (yeah, it’s good but you only like it because it’s become hugely cult), Big Fish is Tim Burton’s best movie since Edward Scissorhands.
Where the Truth Lies It’s hard to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon when he actually hasn’t made a lot of movies, or a lot of movies that he starred in, or a lot of movies that he starred in, and I saw. So that re-ally narrows his credentials down to six fi lms. And Where the Truth Lies is unquestionably the most forgettable. I saw this no more than a year ago, and I can’t remember what it’s about. I remember Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth play a comedy team, and Alison Lohman and Rachel Blanchard were in it. That’s the extent of it. I don’t even recall if I liked it or hated it, which makes me suspect that I was so neutral about it, I didn’t men-tion to anyone that I actually watched it. That said, I wouldn’t watch it. It probably wasn’t worth the two hours of my time, and won’t be worth yours either.
BY KYLE SLAVIN CONTRIBUTOR
JEFF GROAT CONTRIBUTOR
Lost In the Desert with Devendra
4 If you haven’t cut your hair in a few months, you rarely shave your beard, or you own an acous-tic guitar, you may be a hippie and you may well have heard of Devendra Banhart. And although I may call myself a hippie—meet-ing those three caveats—I hate to say I found out about Banhart by seeing an appearance of his on Britain’s Later with Jools Holland TV show on Youtube, . Labeled “freak-folk”, Banhart draws on sunny Spanish guitar sounds, stripped down acoustic songs, and psychedelic tracks with 60’s rock roots. Samba Vexillograph-ica—off of Thunder Canyon—rolls with sunny acoustic guitar, colourful Spanish vocals that explain how each of us in the world has a fl ag of our own, and perhaps takes some deeper mean-ing from that thought. You can’t get much more hippie than the fi rst line of ‘Seahorse’, in which Banhart says, “I’m high, I’m happy, and I’m free.” Seahorse is an eight minute long jam, start-ing out with bare guitar chords, moving into a psychedelic space with a building melody, over which Banhart repeats, “I want to be a little Seahorse,” and fi nally breaks down into a rocking fi nale with an overdriven guitar riff and really bangin’ drums. The video for ‘Carmensita’ was a playful take on a stereotypical Bollywood
movie, featuring Natalie Port-man. Carmensita the song, is also sung in Spanish—albeit Banhart’s roughly translated and often grammatically wrong Spanish—lending it a very funky quality. ‘Carmensita’s’ not-quite-fl amenco guitar is played with a slight de-lay on it, again taking us back to the good old days of songwriting in California. In fact, this album was recorded entirely in the art-ist haven of Topanga Canyon, California, reminiscent of vintage Neil Young recording methods. This is an album perfectly suited to playing while sitting in the ear-ly morning sunshine and drink-ing your fi rst cup of coffee—it will pick you up gently and leave you wandering somewhere in the desert, with maybe a little smoke in your eyes. Be sure to look for Banhart’s newest, What Will We Be, out very soon.
Away We GoThere are a lot of movies out there described as heart warm-ing. These movies are usually chick fl icks or family fi lms and they usually leave your heart just as cold as it was going into the thing. Away We Go is nothing like these movies. Not only does it leave your heart warm it also has you wondering why there aren’t more movies like this one.The movie is about a pregnant couple
who have a chance to start their life anywhere they want. The audience follows them around North America as they look for the perfect place to live and as they reconnect with family and friends. Although it stars Maya Rudolph from Saturday Night Live and John Krasinski from The Offi ce, Away We Go really fl ew under the radar this summer. We live in the Lower Mainland, which means it’s going to rain from now until May, which
means there will be plenty of movie-renting time,
which means Away We Go should be on your to-rent list.
Procrastinate vol. 2 issue 03 | October 06 2009 | page twelve
SKETCHY - MELANIE FRIESEN
HOROSCOPE
© Puzzles by Pappocom
SOLUTION, TIPS AND COMPUTER PROGRAMS www.sudoku.com
INTERESTING FACT
People that are allergic to cats will be able to pet them without sneezing and scratching. Genetically engineered cats will be pro-duced to help people with allergies enjoy their sneeze-free kitties. Allerca, Inc., a biotechnology firm in San Diego, California, says it has bred Hypoallergenic Cats and is now taking orders from customers in the United States.
Source: http://www.interestingfacts.org/category/animals-and-plants
Sudoku Easy #67 1 Special to Canadian University PressBy Jennifer Zhou, CUP Graphics Bureau Chief
Yoga at Kwantlen
Kwantlen’s got a new yoga studio for students on the Richmond campus. The Lotus Studio’s construction and operations are funded by student fees, but students are still charged to use the facility. If it’s already paid for by us, why can’t we use it for free?
Pack a toothbrush and a clean shirt in a backpack. You’re off to Saturn to find yourself.
You’ve been told you have to share your Lego with your peers. Hide every piece you can.
Screw inspiration. You want a banana. A nice firm yellow banana that has some green on the ends.
If you get a chance to make a deal with the devil this week, make sure you don’t get ripped off.
Your close relationships are less like corduroy trousers and more like mesh gym shorts.
You’re seeking answers to burning questions. Find the answers in a bowl of popcorn.
If someone or something tells you to do something crazy you’ll want to do something crazy.
Leave all thoughts of bologna and honey ham behind, this week is about real, delicious meat.
There is a gaggle of geese swarming toward you, put your musket down and run for it.
Why does that sign say stop when amber lights flashing. The lights are obviously yellow.
GEMINIMay 21 - June 20
CANCERJune 21 - July 22
TAURUSApr. 20 - May 20
SAGITTARIUSNov. 22 - Dec. 21
CAPRICORNDec. 22 - Jan.19
SCORPIOOct. 23 - Nov. 21
VIRGOAug. 23 - Sept. 22LIBRA
Sept. 23 - Oct. 22
LEOJuly 23 - Aug. 22
PISCESFeb. 19 - Mar. 20
ARIESMar. 21 - Apr.19
AQUARIUSSept. 23 - Oct. 22
First, think about how great your life would be with a pet lizard. Now, go buy a pet lizard.
Courtesy of gbsk/Flickr
There’s a package waiting for you. It’s probably two apples and a huge banana.