Interrobang issue for January 30th, 2012

NEWS 2Volume 44 Issue No. 19 January 30, 2012 www.fsu.ca/interrobang/

Amber-Lynne White is in her

first year of Radio Broadcasting.

She said of herself, “I’m short,

cute and cuddly. But don’t under

estimate me because I do bite. I

have a sarcastic personality and

I’m awesome. Enough said!”

1. Why are you here?

To be famous! Nah, to get an edu-cation and to make Momma andPapa proud. 2. What was your life-changing

moment?

When I graduated high school. Iwas the first in my family so it was

life changing!3. What music are you currently

listening to?

Rocking out to Rock Reborn inCFRL studio.4. What is the best piece of

advice you’ve ever received?

You know that song “Don’t YouPut It In Your Mouth,” best adviceever! 5. Who is your role model?

My mom. I love her to bits and shehas always looked out for me andhas been there for me.

6. Where in the world have you

travelled?

Not very far. New Brunswick andQuebec are the farthest so far.7. What was your first job?

Customer service representative ata Christmas store.8. What would your last meal

be?

There are so many choices. I lovefood. But I guess my top threewould be lobster, steak and chick-en fettuccini alfredo. 9. What makes you uneasy?

Spiders. Enough said! 10. What is your passion?

Haven’t narrowed it down yet butI’ll keep you updated.Do you want Fanshawe to know 10Things About You? Just head onover to fsu.ca/interrobang andclick on the 10 Things I KnowAbout You link at the top.

10 Things I Know About You...

White rocks out to CFRL

CREDIT: SUBMITTED

Amber-Lynne White, cute and cuddly but does bite.

CREDIT: FSU STREET TEAM

Students share a laugh during the Call of Duty tournament in Forwell Hall.

QUESTIONOF THE WEEK

Holly Pearson“I do painting. I use acrylic paints to paint older buildings like the Chateau Frontenac and the parliament buildings.”

Mike Grouchy“I’m not very artistic, so I guess I express myself through my personality and attitude. I think it’s pretty funny, sarcastic - I like to get people laughing.”

Tia Tucker“I guess I express myself through cooking. I like to cook anything!”

Edward Hughes“I doodle in class. I like graffiting stuff in my notebook.”

Andrea Ross“I don’t.”

HOW DO YOU EXPRESS YOURSELF ARTISTICALLY?

FEBRUARY EVENTS

TUESDAY 01-31FREE Comedy Nooner:CHUCK BRYN

WEDNESDAY 02-01

First Run Film: THE DESCENDANTSRainbow Cinemas (in Citi Plaza) 7:00PM $3.50 STUDENTS | $5 GUESTS

TRIVIA NIGHTOBS – 8:00PM $5 per team

THURSDAY 02-02

Campus Music Explosion: BATTLE OF THE BANDSOBS – 8:00PM $5 at the Door

FRIDAY 02-03Campus Music Explosion: BATTLE OF THE BANDSOBS – 8:00PM $5 at the Door

Fanshawe @ The Knights LONDON VS NIAGARA John Labatt Centre – 7:30PM $17 STUDENTS | $18 GUESTS

TICKETS AVAILABLE IN ADVANCE AT THE BIZ BOOTH

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TOOZ BIE BHT TE AATCNAVVADN AE ILBALIAVVAS AAVTEKCIT

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KIOSK QUIZWHERE IS THE STAINED GLASS CEILING ON

CAMPUS? Drop by the Welcome Kiosk with your answer. Five winners will be selected from correct entries and we’ll notify winners by email.

The Welcome Kiosk (between the Bookstore and the Library) is open all year between 8am and 4pm, Monday to Friday.

PRIZES SPONSORED BY CHARTWELLS

Fanshawe’s EnvironmentalProgram Coordinator wants to cre-ate a diversion with students – awaste diversion, that is.

“The government regulations foran institution of our size has anexpectation that we would achieveabout a 60 per cent diversion rate,”explained Sarah Van de Vooren,Environmental ProgramCoordinator at Fanshawe, whenshe chatted with first-year CulinaryManagement students in lateJanuary about the waste diversionprogram. A diversion rate is meas-ured by dividing the amount ofwaste that is recycled by the totalwaste generated by an institution.The resulting number is the per-centage rate of diversion.Fanshawe is currently at 47 percent – a number Van de Voorenwants to rally students to increase.

Currently the college has recy-cling and compost programs inplace, and Van de Vooren askedthe students to come up with somenew ideas about how Fanshawecan divert more garbage from land-fills and into recycling.

Students had a variety of sugges-tions, ranging from increasing thenumber of garbage and recyclingbins on campus to more visiblelabeling for existing bins. One stu-dent suggested creating a programon campus to recycle milk contain-

ers, which currently have to be putin the garbage. Another suggestionwas that the school uses the com-post collected from the compostbins throughout the campus in thegreenhouses.

In addition to hearing from stu-dents, Van de Vooren offered somemore eco-friendly suggestions ofher own, including doing more topromote the eco-tainers availableat the Oasis restaurant, whichmany of the Culinary Managementstudents said they had not beenaware of. “You take the card intoOasis, you give them the card, theyserve your food in a reusableclamshell, you take it whereveryou want, you eat the food, youdon’t even have to clean it – youjust bring it back to Oasis, and theygive you your card back, and youget to repeat the process over andover again,” she explained. “It’s afantastic idea.” The card has a one-time cost of $3, while the clamshellcontainers that are thrown out afteruse cost 25¢ apiece. She also sug-gested students bring a reusablecoffee cup to school rather than usethe ones from the coffee shops oncampus. “Fanshawe generates overa million (Tim Hortons cups) everyyear,” she added.

Another initiative Van de Voorenis undertaking is a survey of thegeneral campus body about wastediversion. “I’m looking for studentswho would want to help design,

implement, execute, analyze andreport (the survey) … that will beseen by the college and will be usedfor investing in the infrastructure ofthe college. If you’re interested inhaving a hands-on involvement inmaking change with our wastediversion program on campus,that’s a great opportunity.”

If you have any questions or youwant to volunteer to help with thesurvey or any other upcoming ini-

tiatives, contact Van de Vooren [email protected].


Creating a diversion on campus no easy taskERIKA FAUSTINTERROBANG

CREDIT: JOHN SING

Sarah Van de Vooren, Environmental Program Coordinator at Fanshawe,explains the different types of garbage and which bins they go in.

WHAT GOES WHERE?COMPOSTPizza Pizza cardboard slice holderSoiled wax paper (the kind your sandwich comes wrapped in)Clamshell container from B CafeteriaCoyote Jacks fry cupPaper products soiled with food wasteOlive Oyle’s coffee cups and soup bowlsPaper RecyclingMr. Sub bagsTim Hortons Recycling BinsTim Hortons cups (NO LIDS)Plastic Recycling1 and 2 plastics (you can recycle 1 through 7 at home)Water bottlesPop bottlesJuice bottlesGarbageClamshell containers from OasisDip cupsCups, lids and strawsPlastic spoons, forks and knivesTim Hortons lids


Fanshawe’s CommunityEmployment Services (CES)accepted a donation from TDCanada Trust on January 20.

Fanshawe approached TDCanada Trust last year regarding aTD branch that was closing not toofar from Fanshawe’s London cam-pus, in hopes of creating a newCES Fanshawe location. CatherineFinlayson, Executive Director forthe Fanshawe College Foundation,said, “It was brought to our atten-tion that the space was becomingavailable, so we did ask them tohelp us out. Our foundation calledand asked and they were happy tohelp us out.”

TD Canada Trust donated thespace to CES Fanshawe at 155Clarke Rd. in the Nelson ParkPlaza so they could open a newsite. The donation was for a two-year lease for the 2,600 square footbranch.

“It’s a great location, high pro-file for the community and veryaccessible for the communitymembers,” Finlayson said.

In addition to the building dona-tion, TD donated enough funds tohelp run the facility for two years,including maintenance costs. “Ithink it just shows that there aredifferent ways that organizationscan support a foundation, and thisis sort of a unique way,” saidFinlayson.

CES Fanshawe is an organiza-tion aimed at helping communitymembers of London and theMiddlesex region find employ-ment. They offer support in careeradvising, job placements andapprenticeship programs, amongother helpful services such asinterview skills workshops andInternet job search workshops. Inaddition, they offer support inupgrading education for peoplereturning to the workforce.

Employers also use the servicesof CES to find employees; this isparticularly helpful with new busi-nesses entering London for thefirst time. Employers can accessjob-posting services as well asreceive support for job fairs andpre-screening of clients.

CES Fanshawe thanksTD for new location

PAIGE PARKERINTERROBANG

For the second year in a row,Youth Opportunities Unlimited(YOU) has been selected byRaising the Roof to lead their cam-paign in London. They are askingLondoners to show their supportby purchasing a Raising the Rooftoque. The toque campaign startedin November and ends on February29.

A part of the profits from each$10 toque goes towards Raisingthe Roof, but the majority goesdirectly to YOU. Services and pro-grams at the Youth Action Centrehelp youth between ages 16 and24, and include basic needs, meals,food bank services, a safe space,housing supports, informal coun-seling, community referrals andpeer mentoring.

According to Anna Szczuka,Public Relations Officer at YOU,there’s more to youth homeless-ness than what is generally per-ceived. “Youth homelessnessexists all across our community.Whether you’re living in WhiteOaks, Kipps Lane or Masonville,youth homelessness does exist,”said Szczuka. “Just because wecan’t see it doesn’t mean it’s notthere. It is youth living in sheltersand on the streets, but it’s alsoyouth who are couch surfing andyouth who don’t have a place tocall home.”

The Youth Action Centre seesover 3,600 local youth per year,with over 33,000 visits. “So those3,600 youth come and come backbecause they’re getting more andmore support,” said Szczuka.

This year YOU is hoping to sell800 toques, and with the support

the community has shown so far,Szczuka is confident their goal willbe achieved. “It’s quite amazing,the amount of support that we’vereceived, and we are very thankfulfor the community and how muchthey’re reaching out to us,” shesaid.

Orchestra London purchased 50toques to wear during their RedHot Weekend “Dark Side of theMoon” performances. The GrandTheatre is also showing support bysetting aside 100 tickets with thepurchase of a toque for a matineeshowing of Ed’s Garage. Szczukasaid that TD Canada Trust branch-es in London are selling toques aswell.

For Szczuka, this campaign ismore than just selling hats, “It isabout selling toques, but it’s moreabout awareness … We need tohelp conquer youth homelessnessand fund any solutions that we canbecause we have to understand thatthese youth are our next genera-tion, so we have to help them out tosucceed.”

YOU will be selling toques atFanshawe on February 1 inForewell Hall from 10 a.m. to 2p.m. “A lot of our placements stu-dents go to Fanshawe College andthey’re just as excited as we areabout reaching out to Fanshawestudents. And (the hats are) red, soit’s a perfect colour,” said Szczuka.

For more information aboutYouth Opportunities Unlimited,visit you.on.ca. To find out moreabout where to get toques, contactMelissa Hawki, Retail SalesSupervisor at YOU, at 519-432-1112 ext. 289 or by e-mail [email protected].

KIRSTEN ROSENKRANTZINTERROBANG

Jack Richardson was an inspira-tion to many people. When heworked as a record producer, hemade a lasting impact on theCanadian recording industry.When he worked at Fanshawe as aprofessor, he touched the lives ofmany staff and students.Richardson’s legacy continueseven today, and Music IndustryArts students are paying tribute tohim on February 8.

Adam Barnes, a second-yearMIA student, came up with theidea in class to pay tribute to JackRichardson with a charity show.“We were in Music Business classand our professor was talkingabout charity shows and howthey’re a good way to showcaseand often you can get the word outfaster with those. He said, ‘Doesanybody have an idea for a charityshow?’ And I said, ‘Oh, well, JackRichardson. We should do it inhonour of Jack.’”

Barnes and his fellow MIA stu-dents have been hard at work to puttogether “Share The Man: TheMusic Of Jack Richardson.” Ittakes place on February 8 at TheAeolian Hall (795 Dundas St.) –doors open at 7 p.m. and the showstarts at 7:30. All proceeds will goto the Heart and StrokeFoundation. “Jack had heart issueslater in his life,” explained Barnes.

“I talked to Terry McManus (anMIA Professor who has beeninvolved in organizing the show)and he was close to Jack. He sug-gested that we do it for Heart andStroke.”

Though Barnes was never taughtby Richardson himself, he said thatin working on the show he has spo-ken with many staff and alumniwhose lives were touched by him.“Jack is the man,” he laughed.“Jack was a huge pioneer in theCanadian industry – not just therecording industry. Prior to Jack,bands had to go to the States to gettheir break or to make it in theindustry. He worked for Coca-Colain their marketing department, andhe started collaborating withbands, doing ads and stuff. I guesshe realized that there was a lot oftalent in Canada that wasn’t beingshown to the world, so he took itupon himself and started his owncompany, Nimbus 9, and took onThe Guess Who as his first(band).”

Professors McManus, SteveMalison and Mike Roth have beenworking with students to organizethis special night. Over 70 students– and a few Fanshawe alumni aswell – are involved in the show.The show will feature studentbands performing covers of someof the songs Richardson worked onas a producer, such as The GuessWho’s “No Time” and “These

Eyes” and Bob Seger’s “NightMoves.”

“Knowing Jack, I think he’d beproud that this came from the stu-dents,” said John Young,Operations Manager for theFanshawe Student Union. “Theyare honouring a Canadian musicicon who taught at Fanshawe. Theamazing part is, none of these stu-dents were taught by Jack, it’s justthe legacy that he left in that pro-gram still reverberates in the stu-dents today.”

“For all of his great accomplish-ments, Jack was a very modestman, but I am sure he would havebeen honoured that the students ofFanshawe College have chosen topay tribute to him in this uniqueway,” added McManus. “Musicwas not just close to his heart, itwas his life, and so this evening ofspecial songs that Jack producedwill capture his spirit in a way thatwill make it feel as if he were stillwith us. We could only wish.”

For more information about theshow, check out Share The Man onTwitter @sharetheman, on Tumblrat sharetheman.tumblr.com and theFacebook event att inyurl .com/ShareTheManfb.Tickets are $15 for Fanshawe stu-dents and $20 for guests and areavailable at the Biz Booth on cam-pus, at the Aeolian Hall duringbusiness hours and attinyurl.com/ShareTheManTix.

ERIKA FAUSTINTERROBANG

Youth OpportunitiesUnlimited puts a capon youth homelessness

MIA students payingtribute to a great Canadian

Why do we have class reps?“From a student union perspec-

tive, we would like to know issuesthat are facing students in everydivision of the school. It is ourhope/goal that class reps reporttheir experiences (both positiveand negative) to the division reps,who then pass along their findingsto the Student AdministrativeCouncil.”

What does it do for me?“Open channels of communica-

tion between the college, studentunion, faculty, staff, and studentswould make for a smoother-runacademic environment whereproblems or issues could beaddressed quickly and dealt with ina timely manner instead of tolerat-ing things you’d rather seechanged. Everyone wants a healthyand vibrant atmosphere, becausewhen that happens, optimum learn-ing can occur … which is whywe’re all here.”

“On a personal level, it looksgreat on a resume and also givesyou a chance to make contacts youmight not have otherwise madeand gives you an insight into

another world of communication.It can also give you a sense ofbeing involved and giving back toour college community.”

How important is this commu-nication?

“It isn’t vital or crucial to thesuccess of the average student’sacademics or for the college, butby communicating issues to thosewho can affect change, progresscan be made. This is, however, akey aspect in improving the stu-dent experience.”

How do I get involved?“Getting involved with the

Student Union is easy! While thereare plenty of class reps currentlyinvolved, there are always vacan-cies for students who would like toparticipate. It can be as simple asapproaching your professor orcoordinator and inquiring aboutthe class rep system or coming tothe Student Union office inSC2001 (above the Oasis), andasking.”

What’s involved? What wouldbe my responsibilities?

“Being a class rep is prettystraightforward. If you already goto class, then you’re halfway there.Beyond that, you’d be asked to

attend two meetings per term andrequired to give feedback on howthings are going in your class. Youmight also be asked to comment onthe overall ‘vibe’ of your program.Are you and your classmateshappy (academics aside)? How’sthe program going? Are there anynon-academic issues facing yourclass? Those are typical questionsasked of a class rep. The StudentUnion simply wants to know howit’s going so we can pass that on toour decision-making body, theStudent Administrative Council orSAC.”

Can you give an example ofrecent issues brought forward byclass reps?

“There have been issues aboutfood labeling/nutritional informa-tion in the Student Union’s areas ofhospitality, questions about securi-ty, appropriate advertising andmicrowave availability and clean-liness. We hear about plenty ofissues every week.”

*The FSU cannot change thelabels for the College’s foodproviders, however we can makesuggestions to our partners at theCollege.


www.fsu.ca

SPEAKUP

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FANSHAWE STUDENT UNION ELECTIONS

Nominations Now Open until Febraury 17th, 2012at 4:00pm for the following positions:

President VP Finance VP Athletics

VP Internal VP External VP Entertainment

Board of Governors

If you are interested and want to find our more information about these positions, stop by SC2001 and talk to this year’s executives or email Veronica Barahona, [email protected]

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Every February since 1976,North Americans have observedBlack History Month, a monthdedicated to honouring and educat-ing youth about key figures inblack history. This year, a group ofFanshawe students have put a dif-ferent spin on things, creating theirown campaign to promote blackhistory.

The N.E.G.R.O. (Naturally,Eternally, Gaining, Rising andObtaining) Project is an education-al campaign organized by blackyouth for the purpose of reachingout to other youth to promotesocial equality and diversity. “In anutshell, what we’re trying to dowith the N.E.G.R.O. Project, we’renot trying to reinvent the wheel,we’re just taking Black HistoryMonth and looking at it from a dif-ferent vantage point,” said AhmedHimmat, Director of Sales andResearch for the N.E.G.R.O.Project.

“Whenever you look at BlackHistory Month, they’re always cel-ebrating the same people …Martin Luther King Jr., RosaParks, Malcom X, but since theirtime, the world that we live inchanged drastically,” explainedHimmat. “You don’t find a lot of

black people struggling for simplethings like freedoms (and being)respected. You find a lot of peoplefighting to just genuinely be goodpeople. They do things, whetherit’s in science, art, literature,sports, just like normal people; justpeople trying to make the best forhumanity,” he continued.

For the entire month ofFebruary, the N.E.G.R.O. Projectwill dedicate each day to a differ-ent black hero or heroine on theirwebsite (thenegroproject.ca) inorder to expand on the current per-ception of black history. “It’sabout teaching our youth aboutourselves and also giving some-body who doesn’t know any bettera chance or an opportunity to lookinto something without beingoffended or feeling like they’reoverwhelmed by it,” said Himmat.

Ultimately, the N.E.G.R.OProject hopes to alleviate racismthrough the inception of positiveideals and awareness, instilling theidea of a better, more knowledge-able future through understandingblack history.

Himmat encouraged any stu-dents or groups who want to holdan event on behalf of theN.E.G.R.O. Project to contact himat [email protected].

A new spin onBlack History Month

KIRSTEN ROSENKRANTZINTERROBANG

Q & A with Andrew Payneon the Class Rep System

JASON KINGSPECIAL TO INTERROBANG


CREDIT: ESF-PROTRAINER.COM

Sarnia residents believe the pollution created by Chemical Valley is linked to their health problems.

“No off-site impact” is what thepetrochemical-producing compa-nies of Chemical Valley promisedthe residents of Sarnia, Ontario.Canada’s Chemical Valley is amassive group of industrial plantslocated just east of the St. ClairRiver in southern Sarnia that makeup 40 per cent of Canada’s petrochemical industry.

With a total of 62 large chemi-cal-producing companies locatedso close to a major water supplyand the city, people living inSarnia have been worried about theeffects of pollution. However,some of these people feel that com-pany owners, healthcare profes-sionals and government officials inthe area are not concerned.

Residents of Lambton County,especially members of theAamjiwnaang community, havebeen speaking out against the com-panies and the hazardous healtheffects of pollution. On theAamjiwnaang reserve – locatedclose to the group of industrialplants – the residents have beensuffering from various forms ofcancer, birth defects, learning dis-abilities and immune system defi-ciencies, which they believe can belinked to the pollution of ChemicalValley.

Fanshawe’s Social Justice Clubis trying to get students involved intheir community and the issues that

affect it. They held a viewing ofthe documentary The BelovedCommunity and invited a panel ofexperts for discussion in hopes ofspreading the message and concernabout Sarnia’s Chemical Valley.

The documentary focused on theresidents living on theAamjiwnaang reserve in Sarniaand the negative health effects thegroup of industrial plants has hadon them.

Event Organizer and Nursingstudent Jessica Conlon said thisissue hits home for her because shesees how the environment affectsour health every day. She added,“It’s not fair that people are mak-ing a profit off of things that aremaking people sick.”

Vanessa Gray founded a groupcalled Green Teens and is now amember of Fanshawe’s SocialJustice Club. Green Teens is ayouth group and communitymovement to help teens getinvolved with environmentalissues. The group was started onthe Aamjiwnaang reserve and hasbeen working to educate peopleabout Chemical Valley. Gray saidshe hopes the group will help itsmembers speak up about whatthey’re passionate about and that“their voice would be loud enoughfor important people to hear.”

While Green Teens is currentlyonly located in Sarnia, Gray saidshe hopes to see the group growbeyond the small community and

reach teens in other areas ofOntario. Green Teens holds com-munity events in Sarnia, but Graysaid anyone is welcome if theywould like to get involved.

The chemical pollution is amajor issue in Lambton County,but Fanshawe students and otherresidents of London are still affect-ed. Gray said, “The environmentisn’t just for us who live right nextto a chemical valley to worryabout. I think it affects us all.”

Toban Black is a LondonCommunity Organizer and univer-sity student who said he believesthat there is “a lot of potential forimprovement” regarding the pollu-tion in Sarina. He also said that theair and water pollution is not justisolated within the city. BecauseLondon is so closely located toSarnia, it isn’t difficult to see thatthe pollution and health effectsstream into our city.

Gary Brown, a Green PartyMember in London, said, “It’s timewe start standing up and talkingabout this as a community.” Headded that concerned London citi-zens can get involved by writing toour Minister of Health, DebMatthews, about the health effectsof pollution.

For more information onSarnia’s Chemical Valley andother environmental issues, visitecojustice.ca.

Londoners affected bySarnia’s Chemical Valley

BROOKE FOSTERINTERROBANG

The Fanshawe InternationalCentre and the FanshaweInternational Club are celebratingthe Chinese New Year! Fanshaweinvites ALL its students and staffto enjoy International Week oncampus. For the week of January30 to February 3, enjoy the GlobalCommunity by trying new foods,

shopping “fair trade” at TenThousand Villages (in “H”Gallery) and learning about differ-ent cultures and opportunities attheir table in F hallway.

There are still spots for teams forthe volleyball and basketball com-petitions, and they’d love forCanadian students to sign up too!Get a taste of the Islands at theCaribbean Social at the Out Back

Shack for $2 on January 31 from 8to 11 p.m. I-Week always endswith the Asian New YearCelebration. You can enjoyChinese food and amazing enter-tainment for only $15 in BCafeteria from 5 to 9 p.m.

Check out the InternationalDepartment’s posters around cam-pus or come to E2025 for details.

Happy New Year! 新年快乐!

Celebrate Chinese New Year with theInternational Department

REBECCA GRIEBINTERROBANG

A lot has changed since the lastRelay For Life article was pub-lished a few weeks ago – plans arebeing made and confirmed, eventsare being organized and the goalhas increased six fold.

Relay For Life is a fundraisingevent for the Canadian CancerSociety. According to theCanadian Cancer Society’s web-site, “Relay is fun, fulfilling andyour participation gives strength toour mission to eradicate cancer.”

The original goal forFanshawe’s first-ever Relay was$2,000, but after meeting withLaurie McKnight, Relay For LifeYouth Program Coordinator forWestern Ontario, the organizers ofthe event realized they should aima little higher.

“We are expecting $1,000 perteam. There’s a $10 registrationfee, and (each team member isexpected to) raise $100,” saidAdam Gourlay, the FanshaweStudent Union’s VP of Athleticsand Residence Life, who is organ-izing the Relay on campus. “Weare hoping to get somewherearound 15 teams, but we wantmore.” The committee hopes toraise $12,000 for Relay For Life.“I’m shooting high. I have thecomplete support of everyone onthe committee.”

Though the team of 21 commit-

tee members, including Gourlay, isstill working out some of the finerpoints of the event, they havefinalized some aspects. There willbe a few smaller fundraisers – like-ly including selling jelly braceletsto support the Canadian CancerSociety and a Cover Up Cancerwall – before the big relay, whichwill take place from March 24 at 7p.m. to March 25 at 7 a.m. Theorganizers know it will be some-where indoors on campus, but thatdetail still needs to be worked out.

Gourlay said he wants to haveluminaries on campus as part ofthe event. “It’s the most emotionalpart of the Relay,” he explained.“(It’s done) to represent someonewho’s fighting or had fought can-cer.” In many Relays, the track islit up with candles, beside whichparticipants put pictures of theirloved ones who have battled can-cer. “It’s a big tradition,” saidGourlay. In Fanshawe’s Relay, theteam is looking at using Christmaslights or another alternative, orpotentially holding a balloonrelease.

Gourlay and his hardworkingteam of organizers are still lookingfor volunteers to help out with var-ious events and with Relay ForLife itself. Contact Gourlay ifyou’re interested in helping out [email protected]. Tolearn more about Relay For Life,visit relay.cancer.ca.

Excitement forRelay heating up


There was a time when people went to seefilms. Nowadays, people go to see movies.They may sound similar, but there is, in fact, aworld of difference.

When moving pictures were first inventedjust before the turn of the 20th century, theywere a novelty; sitting in a crowded theatrewatching a few minutes of a train moving inreal time on the big screen was a fun familyouting. The art form evolved rapidly and bythe 1910s, films were being made.

The greats of the silent era like D.W.Griffith, Erich Von Stroheim, Buster Keatonand Charlie Chaplin truly began to cultivatetheir films into artistic expressions. Griffith’smasterpiece, The Birth of a Nation, whileadmittedly one of the most racist and contro-versial films ever produced, was an epic. Atmore than three hours long, people went tomultiple viewings of it, largely because,though harsh, the story was essentially true.Keaton and Chaplin, on the other hand, clev-erly disguised deep, socio-political messageswith their outrageous slapstick comedy.During the silent era, films had meaning and amessage.

With the invention of synchronized sound,or talkies as they were called in the late ’20s,the art form reached even greater heights. Thefirst wave came from Hollywood. Classicromances like Casablanca and A PhiladelphiaStory made women fall in love with not onlythe men they saw, but with the way thatwatching movies made them feel.

At the height of classic Hollywood, youcouldn’t just throw on an old pair of jeans anda hoodie and head out to see a movie. Instead,dress codes were observed in many theatres,and besides that, people wanted to dress upand have a classy night out watching the latestHumphrey Bogart film.

By the conclusion of World War II, whenpeople were loving films as an escape fromreality, the Italian directors gave the world alook at their dark, desperate realities thoughtheir neo-realism movement. The BicycleThieves is heralded as one of the greatest filmsof all time, though its story has not an ounce ofoptimism or cheer in it.

The French New Wave came next with itsso-called “art house films” like Pierrot le Fou

and Jules et Jim. All the while, great directorswere emerging all over the world like AkiraKurosawa in Japan, Ingmar Bergman inSweden and the unforgettable Orson Wells inAmerica. These three men gave the worldwhat are considered to be the most artisticfilms of cinematic history; Rashomon,Persona and the pinnacle of cinematic art,Citizen Kane.

Sadly, for those cinephiles still alive andwell out there, films have all but disappearedand movies have taken their place. We nowlive in a movie culture that revolves largelyaround torture porn horror flicks, endlessrounds of sequels and remakes and MichaelBay’s penchant for blowing up anything andeverything on screen.

I do believe that some artist films are stillbeing made – The Artist seems to be the bestexample – but they are becoming ever rarer. Itsaddens me to think that the art of cinema isgetting lost in all the new technologies that areavailable to modern-day directors. Saturatedwith CGI and 3D effects, movies are becom-ing more and more of an attack on the sensesthan anything else.

I don’t see any way of reverting movies tothe great art of films, so I’ll just keep sittingaround with my fellow cinephiles, watchingThe Lady Eve and longing for one great artistto come along and bring my beloved art formback.

The lost art of cinemaALISON MCGEEINTERROBANG

OPINION LETTERS TO THE EDITOR [email protected] 7

Volume 44 Issue No. 19 January 30, 2012 www.fsu.ca/interrobang/

The other day, a girlfriend of mine textedme in a panic. Though her initial messagemerely read, “Hey what’s up?”, I knewimmediately her interest in contacting mewent far beyond a casual check-in.

It didn’t take long after my prompt replyfor her to proceed in sending me an uncen-sored description of all of the wrongdoingsshe had committed recently, followed byprofuse apologies and a request for forgive-ness as though I were some divine entity.

I explained to her while I did not in anyway, shape or form condone her actions, Iwas in no position to judge another person aswe all make mistakes. Moreover, despite herunfortunate choices as of late, I relayed toher, as ironic as it may sound, that the horri-ble feelings she was currently battling withwere actually a good thing. After all, if shecould commit atrocious acts on a regularbasis without inspiring extreme feelings ofremorse shortly thereafter, she’d fit one ofthe psychological profile characteristics of aserial killer and accordingly, I’m not so cer-tain I’d feel safe enough to be her pal!

That, of course, is the irony of guilt: itmakes you feel absolutely wretched, but youknow what? That wretchedness is valuableas it acts as an instigator for growth, learningand yep, you guessed it, psychological matu-rity.

According to Martin Hoffman, Professorof Clinical Psychology at New YorkUniversity, “the guilt response” is composedof both an emotional and cognitive elementand is activated upon the acknowledgementthat one has participated in an action thatclashes with his/her self-concept in a detri-mental capacity. Important in this definitionis the understanding of how one’s emotionsinteract with one’s cognition.

As Cognitive Psychologist Jean Piagettheorized, the ability to think about one’s

actions abstractly and hypothetically is acapacity that does not typically develop untillate childhood. As a consequence, the inter-nalization of a sense of personal “morality”cannot begin to form until around the sametime period, at the very earliest.

The teaching of morality and responsibili-ty then relies upon the behaviourist’s “prim-itive” model of reward/punishment.Essentially, if we are rewarded for “good”deeds even if we do not have the psycholog-ical capacity to understand that they aremorally good, we will continue to committhem purely for the reward. On the other sideof the equation, if we are punished for nega-tive outbursts, equally it is presumed we willno longer be compelled to act in said fash-ion. Alas, if only it were that easy when webecome grown-ups!

As we age, it seems the grey area betweenthe black side of “wrong” and the white sideof “good” expands, often leaving us in situa-tions fraught with moral ambiguity. Throwthe media’s influence, legislative and reli-gious hypocrisy along with various culturalfactors into the mix, and you’re left withmore confusion than clarity. This, however,is NOT a piece about morality – that’s some-thing you’ll need to figure out on your ownas you encounter various decisions anddilemmas throughout your life. Oftentimes,situations, particularly of the heart, are pow-erful enough to act as the catalyst for anentirely new moral compass.

What I do hope you take away from thispiece however is as follows: MATURITY ISthe ability to admit you’ve made mistakes,the willingness to accept responsibility forany consequences that may result from youractions AND the desire to make amends,NOT hold juvenile grudges.

In life, sometimes there are lessons thatnecessitate multiple “courses” before wefully digest the message. Often times, peoplecontinue to “reoffend” despite being cog-nisant of the Pandora’s box they knowthey’re going to open. As is the case withmany, this apparent lack of foresight is typi-cally accounted to one of two things: a)“tunnel vision” OR as was the case with mygirlfriend b) a lack of a concrete and positiveself-concept; something we’ll delve intomore next week!

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Graphic Design Contributors:Megan Easveld, Bernie Quiring, Kayla WatsonPhotographers:Anthony ChangBaden RothColin ThomsonAriana PinderIllustrator:Adéle GrenierContributors:Aimee Brothman, Patricia Cifani, Susan Coyne, ShivaniDhamija, Victor De Jong Nauman Farooq, Bobby Foley,Brooke Foster, Madison Foster, Stuard Gooden, RebeccaGrieb, Tyler Gary, Allen Gaynor, Victor Kaisar, ChristinaKubiw Kalashnik, Wendy Lycett, Taylor Marshall, TabithaMcCarl, Alison McGee, Maggie McGee, Rick Melo,Chelsey Moore, Emily Nixon, Paige Parker, Rose Perry,Jaymin Proulx, Ryan Springett, Scott Stringle, CarolynSullivan, Marty Thompson, Justin Vanderzwan, MichaelVeenema, Jeremy Wall and Joshua Waller

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Editorial opinions or comments expressedin this newspaper reflect the views of thewriter and are not those of theInterrobang or the Fanshawe StudentUnion. All photographs are copyright 2011by Fanshawe Student Union. All rightsreserved. The Interrobang is published

weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 FanshaweCollege Blvd., Room SC1012, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 anddistributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to edit-ing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied bycontact information. Letters can also be submitted online atwww.fsu.ca/interrobang/ by following the Interrobang links.

In the first article for this column, youmight recall I did a piece on hockey, andhow it’s a national obsession in Canada. Iquote one line from that very article, “Thewhole country was united in hours of cele-bration as Canada’s beloved Sidney Crosbyscored the winning goal.” Which winninggoal am I talking about? You guessed right,the 2010 Olympic Gold Medal game.

Crosby is still a youngster – he’s just 24years old – but he’s already cemented hisplace in hockey history. Drafted first overallby the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2005, Sid theKid (as he’s often called) shot to stardom ata very young age. I remember a few friendsof mine telling me how London booedCrosby when the 2005 Memorial Cup wastaking place at the John Labatt Centre.Anyway, Crosby is often compared to anoth-er superstar from the NHL, RussianAlexander Ovechkin. I’m assuming the onlyreason this comparison exists is because ofthe whole Russia vs Canada hockey rivalry,which brings me back to my first article:“Hockey is a national obsession.”

At the other end of the glory of Crosbycomes some not-so-pleasant news: the 2011Winter Classic. That’s right; the game whereCrosby’s concussion-related problemsbegan. Dave Steckel (who hit Crosby in thehead during the Winter Classic) and VictorHedman (who hit him in the head the fol-lowing game) are both lucky they aren’tfrom Canada; they’d both be blacklisted inthe eyes of hockey fans. (That’s just an

assumption that I make here, I could bewrong.) Crosby’s absence from the game leftnot only Pittsburgh fans, but the entire nationof Canada, from Cape Spear in the east toBoundary Peak 187 in the west, in a state ofshock. Crosby made his return after 60-something games out and was an instant hit,bagging four points on the night, leaving ahockey-crazy nation in a state of euphoria,only to go out after playing eight gamesbecause he was going to “listen to his body.”

In my opinion, Crosby’s finest momentwill always be the 2010 Olympic GoldMedal game. That was when this ‘kid’ fromHalifax wrote himself into the annals ofOlympic hockey history. He’s won a StanleyCup (in 2009), the Hart Trophy (in 2007) andthe Maurice Richard trophy (in 2010), butthat Olympic Gold Medal could well be hisdefining contribution to the game of hockeyas well as to the proud nation of Canada. Theannual QMI Agency NHL player pollrevealed that, “The Kid, despite battling asore noggin as a result of concussions, is stillthe best of the best.” NHL players don’tappear to be concerned by medical reports,because they voted for Crosby as the playerthey would build around. Alex Ovechkin gotjust one vote, the London Free Press websitereported.

It remains to be seen when Crosby doesmake a return to the game this country loves.Needless to say, he needs to be careful out onthe ice, but when he does make a return,expect another loud roar of approval fromCanadians around the globe for the man theycall ‘Sid the Kid!’

VICTOR KAISARINTERROBANG

Dear Editor:

In the January 23 issue of the Interrobang,a letter to the Editor from Allan Sorensenwas published about GeorgeStroumboulopoulos’ appearance atFanshawe.

Sorensen asked how much Strombo waspaid to appear. Well, that’s a valid question,something I suppose a student should beinterested in knowing.

However, before he asked that, Sorenseninquired, “Who of you would be dumbenough to pay money to hear GeorgeStroumboulopoulos?”

Well, I would, for one. Obligations pre-vented me from doing so, but I certainlywould have paid the reasonable price of $12.

I’m not sure why Sorensen has suchstrong negative feelings towards Strombo. Ialways thought George was someone thatpeople either liked or were indifferenttowards. Maybe George has a controversialside I am not aware of, like maybe he onceburned down an orphanage or slapped apuppy. In fact, eyewitness reports indicatehe was quite cordial the entire evening,going above and beyond the call of duty,even staying for a lengthy time afterwards tospeak with students and alumni.

So that still leaves me perplexed. MaybeSorensen is a big fan of Alan Thicke or MikeBullard, and is bitter about George usurpingthem to claim the title as the top Canadiantalk show host. Or maybe Sorensen is justsomeone who can’t understand it whensomeone disagrees with him, and brandsanyone as dumb if their opinion doesn’t fallin line with his.

Jacques Raymond

Sorensen called onStrombo bitterness

PSYCH YOUR MINDRose Cora Perry www.rosecoraperry.com

Guilty as charged!

Crosby a nation’s pride

OPINION LETTERS TO THE EDITOR [email protected] 8

Volume 44 Issue No. 19 January 30, 2012 www.fsu.ca/interrobang/

The Canadian deficit is something thatcomes up frequently around budget seasonin politics. Dalton McGuinty had a pressconference last Tuesday, partially to lay outwhy it’s so important to eliminate the deficitby 2017. Throughout the budget cuts therehas been a common theme: the privatizationof formerly government-run services. Afteranalyzing the results of the Commission onthe Reform of Ontario’s Public Services leadby Economist Don Drummond, the Ontariogovernment said that other than that the onlyservices that would not be considered forcuts are healthcare and education. The state-ment also said that no alternative would beconsidered if it were to result in an increasein taxes. The inherent problem I’ve seen isthat once an industry becomes based onprofits and the interests of shareholders, thecustomers ultimately lose. Take garbage col-lection for example. If it were to be priva-tized, the city resources related to garbagecollection would be repurposed or sold. Inthe event that the quality of service offeredby the private company began to suffer overtime, there would be no alternative as thecity would have dismantled their own opera-tion.

If the government is running a deficit byproviding a service, it must either be madeprofitable by hiring people who know howto compete in the market, or the governmentmust accept that the service is provided at aloss and cannot be profitable. Selling offindustries that can only be made profitableby lowering the quality of delivery willresult in providers who sacrifice service forprofit margins.

If the government continues along thepath of privatization, a problem will arise inthe very near future. There will be a tippingpoint at which all services capable of makinga profit will be privatized and all serviceswhich operate at a loss will belong to the tax-payers. Our tax dollars have been invested inpublic services, like garbage collection,since 1914 in London, and the resourcesamassed by the city in that time have anenormous value. Speculation on rumoursthat Ottawa might be planning to put sharesof VIA Rail up for sale have run rampantafter government officials denied intendingto sell, despite documentation indicatingotherwise. It’s no secret that the rail compa-ny runs a deficit every single year, but theirinability to become profitable has led to rec-ommendations of privatization and publicsector partnerships in the Windsor-Quebecregion.

A private company won’t take on a busi-ness in which there’s no opportunity forprofit, so these recommendations seem toimplicitly state that there is money to bemade through VIA Rail. The hiring of con-sultants such as Drummond, who earns$1,500 per day, raises a question in mymind: Why can’t individuals with provenexpertise be hired to reorganize governmentsectors that are failing?

There are undoubtedly scenarios in whichprivatization has worked and the quality ofservice has improved at no extra cost, how-ever a mass movement towards privatizationwill weaken our entire country’s profitabili-ty and job market.

Buried in the red:

And you thought

you had bills!VICTOR DE JONG

INTERROBANG

People often say that religion and politicsdon’t mix. When they do, there is often acomment about the “separation of churchand state.” Or if the speaker has a knack forhistory, there might be a statement or twoabout the Wars of Religion that madeEurope a less-than-five-star tourist attractionfor some decades.

To be accurate, we should remember thatthe “separation of church and state” is anAmerican mantra that here, a few kilometresnorth of Washington, we seem to havepicked up by osmosis or from Americanmedia – one of the two, anyway. And thereligion people have in mind in the “separa-tion” as well as in the Wars of Religion isnot just any religion. It’s Christianity.

As I consider what Canada has become,though, it seems to me that it is not possibleto imagine the country without the traditionsspecific churches have brought. Considerthe tradition of Presbyterian orderliness, thesocial justice currents of the CatholicChurch (probably three-quarters of the pastmembers of the Liberal Party were Catholic)and the values of community and inclusionone sees expressed in the United Church ofCanada.

Nevertheless, as with our friends south ofWindsor and west of Port Huron, Canadiansdon’t go in for political parties being alignedwith churches. Ditto for mosques, syna-

gogues, temples and sweat lodges. And mostCanadians have no patience with warsfought in the name of any religion.

Having said that, Canadian politics, andeducation too, have a long history of person-alities who were inspired by their Christianreligious views to lead the way they did.Most of the universities in this fair land werestarted by Christian ministers. Look up, forexample, the roots of the University ofWestern Ontario. Or consider the personcredited with founding Canadian health careand the NDP. He is none other than a Baptistchurch Minister, Tommy Douglas.

Christianity has, in fact, generated quite anumber of people who, here in Canada, havebeen able to avoid mixing the institutions ofchurch and nation while at the same timefiguring out how to integrate their Christianfaith with their political life.

Roman Catholic Paul Martin, past PrimeMinister of Canada, became well known forhis attempts to define how his faith and pol-itics relate. He acknowledged that in someareas, homosexual rights for example, theCatholic Church’s views might not win theday. But that did not stop him from hopingto give good leadership to the whole coun-try. Elizabeth May, current Leader of theGreen Party, has made public her attempts tointegrate her faith and her politics. She is aclergy of the Anglican church.

Up until recently – well, until 2008, whichto some readers seems recent and to othersnot so much – one of Canada’s leadingMembers of Parliament worked to integratehis religious perspectives and his politicallife. And he did pretty well. William Blaikiewas an NDP member from 1979 to 2008,making him Canada’s longest-serving MP

yet. Then, up until 2011 he served as NDPmember of the Legislative Assembly ofManitoba. He is also an official minister ofthe United Church of Canada, the largestProtestant (non-Catholic) church in thecountry.

According to the online newsletter ofEmmanuel College, the United Church’stheological school, Blaikie has worked hardto find a language that makes Christianviews understood in public discussions. Atthe same time he has championed opportuni-ties for those who have different commit-ments to also make their contributions.

What difference, though, you might ask,could a religious voice make in public polit-ical discourse? Well, take our relationshipwith political power itself. We typicallyhave two alternatives. The first is to buy intothe political power structures without askingserious questions about the way politicsseems virtually wedded to economics, bywhich I mean large business. The second isto join protest movements, to write off poli-tics and business and condemn both houses.

Influenced by his Christian theology,Blaikie wrote that he wants to avoid bothaccommodation to the powers that be andwithdrawal into protest mode. Instead, hisapproach as a political leader has beentwofold: to encourage respect for all voicesin our institutions of power and to seek com-mon core values and the political goals thosevalues suggest.

Blaikie is a long-standing example of howmany Canadians have attempted to bringtheir faith to bear on public policy discus-sions. He joins a national tradition advancedby those who work to integrate Christianitywith public life. Go Bill.

Religion and Canadian politics

Dear Editor:

It would be much appreciated if the sup-port staff would regularly mop the floors andclean the desks in certain classrooms. I’vehad classes in T1003 since September andI’ve stared at the same coffee stains on thefloor, and the same piece of gum on theupper side of the desk. The support staffstrike has been over since 2011, but onecould barely tell.

Don Leveille

Staff still on strike?

NOTES FROM DAY SEVENMICHAEL VEENEMA

LIFESTYLES 9Volume 44 Issue No. 19 January 30, 2012 www.fsu.ca/interrobang/

You may have noticed that ourcover is a little darker and moremorbid than usual this week. SinceSeptember, we’ve been holding theCover Us contest, looking toFanshawe’s many talented studentsto design the cover of theInterrobang’s annual Art issue.

Contest winner Josh Douwes, athird-year Fine Arts student, tookthe inspiration for his cover designfrom class. “My class is trying to geta catalogue idea right now. One ofthe ideas we had was almost like a2012 apocalypse kind of thing – theend of the world, everyone’s kind oftalking about that.”

He took the idea and ran with it. “Itook different pieces of art, littledetails out of famous art pieces, andjust collaborated them. I did a cou-ple of sketches to get it all togetherto get a scene.”

As he described when he submit-ted his entry, he used “variouspieces of famous art to create a dra-matic, chaotic scene involvingMichelangelo’s Judgement Daydetail in the top left, a volcanic erup-tion from a mountain painted by theGroup of Seven, in the middle I haveEdvard Munch’s The Scream rightabove the 2012 made of earth.” Thebottom part of the image depicts aMayan with the Mayan calendar, aspeople from Picasso’s Guernicalook on in shock.

To create the image, Dowes said

he used pencils, pens andPhotoshop, adding that he inkedalmost all the images, save for theMayan calendar, himself.

The falcon skull in the bottomright corner of the cover is a big partof what he is creating in his otherartwork right now, he said. “I fig-ured that’s kind of what I do in art –I draw skulls and animal skulls. Ifigured that would tie in Fanshawe alittle bit, with the falcon.”

His current work focuses onskulls and plastic bags. “I Photoshopplastic bags and start doing draw-ings of them with the really roughlines and it gives me abstract shapes.I layer those with vellum paper (atranslucent paper often used in trac-ing) over the drawings that I do ofskulls – it ties it in to make it a nice,abstract visual. I like to take realsubjects and distort them to makethem abstract.”

In his spare time, Douwes said helikes to tattoo his friends and him-self, and he has done over 45 tattoosin the last year. Between his part-time job at the Oasis on campus andtattooing, he said he had a very busyJanuary.

Douwes is originally fromWyoming, Ontario, and said hechose Fanshawe because many ofhis friends are students here. “I’vehad a lot of recommendations (tocome here). I went to a bunch of theFine Art meetings, and that’s what Iwanted to do.”

“I love Fanshawe,” he said. “I’ve

met a lot of interesting people.Pretty much everything I do now …(was through people) I’ve met atFanshawe. It’s opened a lot of doorsfor me, for sure.”

After graduation, he said he isthinking he might pursue tattooing

as a full-time career. Anotheravenue he is looking into is creatinga pawn broker business with afriend. “He’s more of a pawn bro-ker, and I help out with fixing gui-tars and stuff like that.”

“There are lots of (career) paths,”

he laughed.To check out Douwe’s fine art,

tattooing and Flash artwork, Likehis Facebook page attinyurl.com/JDArtfb.


CREDIT: ERIKA FAUST

Interrobang Cover Contest winner Josh Douwes stands with one of his paintings, a giraffe skull (acrylic on can-vas), which he said is “actually very similar to a llama skull.”

2012 apocalypse the inspiration for winning cover design

Canada’s Moka Only and EvilEbenezer are back as ZZBRA, anexperimental hip-hop unit meldingtheir individual styles into a catchyconcept album called ZZBRA: TheOriginal Motion PictureSoundtrack released on CamobearRecords on January 31.

Produced by the Draft Dodgers— U-Tern and Stuey Kubrick —the album is reportedly all that’sleft of a failed production to pro-duce a film; the press for the recordstates that Moka and Evil were setto make their big-screen debuts ina film set treacherously deep in thejungle until skyrocketing costsforced the production to shutdown.

The backstory may be a bit thin,but the execution of the album andits concept are very well done —Moka and Evil gel enviably wellon the album, which suits theirindividual styles perfectly. Therecord treats the concept respect-fully and playfully, weaving musi-cal interludes and a spoken narra-tive into unexpectedly catchysongs.

Their lead single “Green” wasmade into a music video directedby Kubrick and is fairly represen-tative of the record, its bounce andimpeccable phrasing characteristicof the theme. It’s almost a shamethere isn’t a movie in the cansomewhere, because the songslend visuals to the music that are attimes curious, at times amusing.

Not since Kanye worked withJon Brion has there been a hip-hoprecord so varied yet accessible —take “Number,” which begins omi-nously and evolves into a soulful,moving piano–driven tune, or“Elephant” which struts as grandlyas though it were introducing anew act in the story.

ZZBRA makes for a comprehen-sive album, and will appeal to lis-teners outside of hip-hop audi-ences. Songs like “Raisins” and“Running Back” would sound athome on radio, and as Kubrick hascommitted to directing all futurevideos for the group, it’s safe to

say the album’s vision will remainintact.

ZZBRA: The Original MotionPicture Soundtrack is availableJanuary 31, so check with yourfavourite music store or orderdirectly from Camobear Records atcamobeardigital.com.

I write about random things alot. I write a lot about randomthings. Did you know that “LouieLouie” was originally written as asong about a Jamaican sailorreturning home to his love?

Originally written and recordedby Richard Berry in the 1950s, thesong has been produced hundredsof times and performed countlessmore. Sadly, Berry signed awaythe rights to the song in 1959 anddidn’t receive much in the way ofroyalties until the 1980s.

The music industry is unparal-leled when it comes to issues offinances. For decades, a lot of peo-ple have been involved in the pro-duction and performances of music— from recording engineers to stu-dio hands aiding in getting televi-sion shows underway — and it’s

cost a lot of money to do so.Sure, the preconception has

always been that to become a rockstar means to become rich and livea life of excess, but make no mis-take about it, you’re most likelymaking more money than many ofyour favourite artists or bands are.

Mike Kaminsky is an artist man-ager in the U.S. and wrote on hiswebsite on January 2 revealingmany of the costs of touring andperforming of which most peoplearen’t aware. Looking at averageclub capacity and attendance andcommon costs of touring, he brokedown the math and demonstratedhow many bands playing venuestypical to those in London make solittle money that without additionaljobs they wouldn’t break thepoverty barrier.

But that doesn’t simply apply togarage bands; his logic is aimed atbands that are already established.

“Artists signed to a record labelshould not expect to make albumroyalties,” Kaminsky wrote. “Salesare so low and expenses so highthat an artist should hope their

label invests as much as they can inmarketing because either waythey’re probably not receiving acheque.”

But don’t think that this is somenewfound effect of the download-ing age; formal recording contractsof decades past also includedclauses whereby artists would haveto recoup to their label all costsassociated with their careers, fromrecording advances all the way tocosts incurred filming musicvideos, which can easily cost mil-lions of dollars. This has led to thepublic bankruptcy of many groupsand artists in recent history.

So how do artists make money?Kaminsky offers some tips in hisarticle, like licensing music for usein TV or movies — though hepoints out that is only an option ifyou write your own music — buthe also stresses that if fans want tomake a difference for theirfavourite bands, they should visitthe merch table.

Being in a band and performingmusic has always had to be aboutthe love of the art itself — the actof performing and sharing —because it’s a difficult thing tomake money doing, even if you’reone of the few acts to be so fortu-nate as to get signed.

Unless your band is alreadyestablished, you’re going to haveto get used to the idea of givingyour music away for free. If no onehas heard your music, how can you

expect them to want to pay you forit? Being an independent act hasnever been more difficult in thatrespect, but luckily there areresources available.

One such resource is BrianThompson, a Social MediaStrategist, Marketing Consultantand Manager at Thorny BleederRecords. In addition to a variety ofcounseling and coaching services,Thompson publishes a daily emailnewsletter called The DIY Daily,in which he shares the best andmost interesting music and mediaarticles culled from the Internetevery day, articles that offer a lotof insight and perspective on issuesthat young and independent artistsface in the industry.

“If there’s no demand, there’s novalue,” he wrote on his site,thornybleeder.com. “Without

demand, your music is essentiallyworthless to the public, regardlessof what you paid to record and pro-duce it. Encourage an open envi-ronment of sharing around yourmusic. Sharing creates new fans.”

For more on Mike Kaminsky,visit his website at kmgmt.com orfollow him on Twitter @kmgmt.For more on Brian Thompson (orto sign up for free for The DIYDaily) visit thornybleeder.com orfollow on Twitter @thornybleeder.Both are good sources of insightinto the industry and will providean edge when it comes to market-ing your band and leaving yourmark on the scene.

And for the latest music news,views, album streams and more,follow this column on Twitter@fsu_bobbyisms or on Tumblr atbobbyisms.com. I’m out of words.

LIFESTYLES10Volume 44 Issue No. 19 January 30, 2012 www.fsu.ca/interrobang/

There is no money in music

CREDIT: BANKLAWYERSBLOG.COM

BOBBY FOLEYINTERROBANG

Most people are used to the tradi-tional makeup of a band containinga guitar or two, bass and drums.Calgary-based band Raleigh hastaken a different route and steeredaway from the norm by forming aband featuring a cello as their sig-nature instrument, thus creating anew indie, prog rock sound with amixture of male and female vocalunlike anything traditional.

I had a chance to talk to CleaAnais (vocals and cello), BrockGeiger (vocals, guitar, bass) andMatt Doherty (drums) and askthem about their sound and whatthey’ve been up to.

So Clea, you’ve been playingmusic since you were little. Wasthat something you always want-ed to with your life? Becauseyour parents are both musicians,correct?

Clea: “Well, my mother is actu-ally a painter and my father is aballroom dancer professional.Neither of them can play instru-ments too well, but they reallypushed my three older sisters and Ito play. It was kind of like torturewhen I was little and I neverthough about becoming a musical,but now it’s something I dobecause I love it and I choose to bethere. It just kind of happened. Inever studied music of anything.”

So you’ve always played thecello, which has become the maininstrument in the band. How doyou maintain a more indie rocksound with more of a classicalinstrument?

C: “I don’t think we write with aparticular sound in mind. We justhave fun with time signatures andchord changes and what happenskind of happens.”

Brock: “I think maybe the ideaof having that different sound kindof puts it into that indie rock cate-gory in some people’s mindsbecause it’s new and fresh. I can’tsay I know another guitar, cello,drum combo and it’s just a differ-ent frequency range. There’s weirdspaces where you want to hearmore or a lot of sound where youwant to hear less. It plays with youa bit which I think tricks peopleinto thinking it’s a new indie

‘thing.’”One thing I noticed when

researching you before the inter-view is that you have the samename as the bike company,Raleigh. Has that created anyconfusion for you in the past?

C: “Well, actually we find a lotof people get us confused with thecity in North Carolina. But thenthere’s the bike company andwe’re all spelled the same way. Wedidn’t name the band after any ofthose things, but because it’s reallyrich and has a lot of differentcolour and sound in your mind.Sometimes there’s confusion, butother times there’s great moments.Like one time this guy came up tous in Ottawa who said he came tosee us because we had the samename as his city. Oh and we allhave Raleigh bikes. They’re prettyold school but they’re fun to ride toshows and stuff.”

This past summer you put outan album (New Times in Blackand White). What kind of successhave you been seeing so far?

Matt: “I’d say it was awesomefor an independent release. We hada pretty successful first album touracross the country. It was reward-ing and well received. Online wefound good reviews and press aswell and we think it definitely paidoff locally, as we got to play two ofthe biggest festivals in Calgary.”

C: “But we always want to playmore. If we could play 24/7, wewould. There are still new heightsto be reached, but we’re veryhappy with where we’re at andwhat we’ve achieved.”

Speaking of new heights, doyou have plans for a new album?

C: “We definitely have four orfive songs almost finished or in theworks. Some we’ve already beenperforming that people reallywanna hear, so yes! That’s prettynew and exciting and we’ll proba-bly record more for the spring ornext fall. We want to try andrecord in a really go studio spaceand with an engineer who’s on thesame page as us and is willing toexperiment with new sounds. Itshould be a good journey.”

Raleigh’s debut album is nowavailable in record stores and onraleigh.bandcamp.com.

Getting to know RaleighMADISON FOSTER

INTERROBANG

BOBBYISMSBOBBY FOLEY

ZZBRA earns its stripes


Amy Winehouse was always alittle left of centre – some com-plained she was brazen and dishev-elled, but to others, she was a sheerjoy to observe when she was at herbest.

Lioness: Hidden Treasures wasreleased in December 2011 andshowcases the 27 year old whobroke boundaries and let loose afire of emotion, raw innocence anda flurry of self-destructive tenden-cies that gave way to a falliblecharacter: one that was surely notto go away quietly and disappearinto thin air. The album hit numberone on the U.K. charts and waswarmly welcomed.

Winehouse was 27 when herbody was discovered on July 23,2011 in her own bed. Coronersstated alcohol poisoning was thecause – a substance that she rou-tinely battled.

Winehouse’s CD is a roller-coaster of highs and lows.Regardless, it showcases her abili-ty to blend blues and jazz with atwist of R&B that doesn’t comeoften enough in the music industry.She was unique, simply stated. Noone can forget her beehive, her tat-toos or her liquid eyeliner.

Lioness: Hidden Treasures isvery honest and explores the issuesthat were dealt her way and herinability to manage her problemsand success. “Tears Dry” is arelentless cry for help, asking whyshe pushes men away and yetbreaks in their presence. “Will YouStill Love Me Tomorrow?,” theoriginal by Carol King, showsWinehouse’s vulnerability and hervocal reach.

“Like Smoke” is a friendly duetwith rapper Nas and exudes lyricalgenius from both artists.

Unfortunately, at the point of theseventh song, “The Girl FromIpanema,” Winehouse loses organ-ization and deliberation. The nextsong, “Half Time,” is equally poorand the underlying theme midwaythrough is that love and rejectioncome expectantly to Winehouse.

Nevertheless, “Body and Soul”with Tony Bennett gets her backon her toes and she delivers hersass with style.

Mark Ronson, an English DJ,guitarist, music producer, artistand co-founder of Allido Records,worked with Winehouse on Backto Black and helped her write thehook to “Rehab.” In the liner notes,he gravely questions whyWinehouse fell off her path to suc-cess.

“I hate the fact that I will neverget to make music with her (again).I feel like a part of my creative soulhas been removed, never again tobe recovered. But then I have toremind myself how lucky I am tohave even got to work on onealbum with her.”

“I think of her all the time andhow she never, ever compromisedherself in her music and her every-day life,” he wrote.

For more information, visit amy-winehouse.com.

JAYMIN PROULXINTERROBANG

They say good things come tothose who wait. Unfortunately, Iam not your typical patient person,so waiting for Atlanta rapperYoung Jeezy to release his newestalbum was a grueling experience.His last album, The Recession thatcame out back in 2008, was anabsolute homerun of a record andleft Jeezy fans like myself wantingmore. Unfortunately, we have beensubject to four years of a painstak-ing wait, sprinkled with numerousalbum delays and mixtape teases.That should be a crime.

Thug Motivation 103: HustlerzAmbition was surrounded by hypeand anticipation the moment thealbum was announced almost twoyears ago. Young Jeezy has neverreleased a bad album, and hisnewest work ensures that his repu-tation carries on.

Jeezy’s newest record features14 tracks, and the deluxe editionfeatures 18, including the single“Lose My Mind” with Plies. Asexpected, the album boasts manyproduction heavyweights includ-ing Drumma Boy, J.U.S.T.I.C.E.League, and newcomer Lil’ Lody,who produced a total of eightsongs, including the deluxe edi-tion.

The first single is “F.A.M.E.,”which features T.I. and the produc-

tion work of J.U.S.T.I.C.E.League. This isn’t the traditionalJeezy-type beat, as the song isn’tvery busy instrumentally and ishighly accentuated with 808drums, but nonetheless it adds awelcome ingredient of variety tothe album. T.I.’s verse is well donebut is too short, which makes thesong sound a bit uneven andincomplete. Regardless, it’s a goodsong.

The fourth single is “I Do” fea-turing Jay-Z and André 3000. Thesong is great. With a trio of talent-ed artists, the track is by far themost lyrically sophisticated andsatisfying on the album. All threeleave nothing to be desired andshowcase their writing and rappingtalent exceptionally, proving whythey’re all as good as they are. Thebeat is highlighted by percussioninstruments and background choirvocals, giving the listener theimpression of being at an extrava-gant celebration of talented musi-cians. How convenient.

“Leave You Alone” featuring

Ne-Yo is an absolute joy to the ear.I don’t think there is one song inwhich Ne-Yo is featured that Ihaven’t liked, but that doesn’t mat-ter. Ne-Yo delivers yet anothernicely sung chorus and hook, andis a perfect contrast to Jeezy’swheezy voice. The beat, producedby Warren G., is simplistic but fitslike a glove with the song’s vibe. Itwas my favourite song on thealbum.

Honourable mentions include“.38” featuring Freddie Gibbs and“This One’s for You” featuringTrick Daddy. Must listen: “OJ”with Fabolous and Jadakiss.

Overall, the album is very wellrounded. Everything about it fits,from the production cast to thelyrics to the featured artists includ-ed. Thug Motivation 103: HustlerzAmbition is the epitome of a goodmodern-day hip-hop record and isa highly recommended piece forthe rap fan’s collection. It mayhave taken too long, but in the end,the reward was very much worththe wait.

CREDIT: HIPHOPARSENAL.COM

New Young Jeezy album more than worth the wait.

Patience is a virtue

The Half a Dino crew havetaken over APK Live. Created byvenue promoter Matthew Trocchi,he has assembled a team of musiclovers around London to get theword out about shows using socialmedia and traditional methodsincluding postering.

In the past, Half a Dino has beenresponsible for bringing a numberof names to London, includingBorn Ruffians, Dinosaur Bones,Hands and Teeth, Bruce Peninsula,The Darcys, Doldrums and evenhelped to bring Ghostface Killa tothe London Music Hall. Lastmonth the HAD crew held a com-edy night at APK Live – some-thing they hope to do again in thefuture. So far February is shapingup nicely for the HAD crew, with afew shows on the docket for thebeginning of the month.

On February 3, Niagara boysElk will return to the APK Livestage to rock out with their garagerock sound guaranteed to makeyou dance. Also taking the stagewill be Skag Barons, who haveearned themselves quality radiotime and spots opening for actslike Danko Jones and WhiteCowbell Oklahoma due to theirnotable hard rock sound. Openingthe night will be Thunder Baynatives and recently signed PoorYoung Things (BumsteadRecords). Thanks to a recent moveto Toronto and tons of raw talent,

this is a band that is quickly mov-ing up in the rock and roll scene.

The next night, February 4, willbring Cursed Arrows from Halifaxto the Forest City. The duo, signedto Out of Sound Records, will offertheir mix of noisy rock and roll tothe APK crowd and prove that lessis more. Joining them on stage willbe local acts I Smell Blood, a drumand bass two-piece featuring someloud sounds, and The Mountains,The Forest, The Earth, with theirtribal drums, mellow guitar soundsand roaring bass. It’s an earlyshow, with doors at 7 p.m..

Half a Dino is bringing back onof their favourites for a night ofdancing with the return of theMontreal psych-pop artistDoldrums. On February 10, he’llbe taking the dance floor by stormwith Arts and Crafts’ TRUST, fea-turing dreamy synth-pop andmembers of the Polaris Prize-nom-inated Austra. Local hero NewZebra Kid will open the night withhis own brand of experimentalsynth-pop and Toronto DJs LOOTwill have everyone up and dancinguntil the APK Live staff kicksthem out.

All shows are $5 at the door ($7after 10 p.m. for Doldrums) andshould not be missed.

Keep your eyes peeled for moreshows from Half a Dino. Sourcestell me they have some big showsplanned. You can find out aboutmore shows and more about HADat halfadino.tumblr.com.

Half a Dino presents…MADISON FOSTER

INTERROBANG

Amy Winehouse

IT’S A WRAPSTUART GOODENtwitter: @StuGooden

What Amy did


Think of a man with BarneyStinson’s talent for getting girls inbed, Mick Jagger’s celebrity andBill Gates’ bank account. Now,suppose this guy wrote an autobi-ography thinly disguised as a fic-tional work, detailing most of hisown dirty secrets and alluding todozens more. Would you read it?

That guy is George Gordon,a.k.a. Lord Byron, and the scanda-licious story is his Don Juan.Written between 1818 and Byron’suntimely death in 1824, and span-ning 16 cantos (chapters in a longpoetic narrative), this enticing epicis sure to give you more bang foryour buck than the average skinmag or gossip rag.

To begin with, Byron wasunique in that he took his cue fromthe Augustinian satires of the late1700s, rather than writing typicalRomantic poetry, à la flowery rev-elations about nature. Distil the JayZ vs. Nas feud, when two of ourhottest rappers lyrically dissedeach other, into pretentious iambicpentameter, and you’ll get the spir-it of Don Juan’s intro.

The intro, a mock dedication toRobert Southey, then poet laureateof England and da bomb on the lit-erary scene, presents Byron’s chiefproblem with Southey to be that hewrites “such set trash of phrase”and has no balls. Byron slamsSouthey by calling him a flyingfish that tried to be a bird and fell“gasping on deck, because yousoar too high, Bob/And fall, forlack of moisture, quite adry, Bob!”Over-the-top for an insult? Totally.‘A dry bob’ was Cockney slang for

sex where the guy couldn’t ejacu-late.

I’ll give you a running transla-tion of Byron’s acts into modernterms. Byron trashes the premierpoets of England – Wordsworthand Coleridge – as a bunch of uglyprudes whose “bays may hide thebaldness of (their) brows” and“virtuous blushes.” Think of ayoung rocker punk busting ontothe concert stage and screamingout everyone from Elton to Turner.As a total libertine, he also cussedout the political views of others aswell, saying that John Milton, theElvis of poetry, would never“obey/the intellectual eunuchCastlereagh.” Umm, hello hottopic. Castlereagh was as popularfor supporting the exploitation ofthe Irish as Bush is for ordering thewar in Afghanistan. If Castlereaghis a eunuch, Byron supposes theTory poets must be total castratifor following the guy. Ooh, burn.Better remember that one for thenext election.

Curiously, his publisher JohnMurray censored the intro untilByron’s death for fear of legalreprisal. Hmm. I wonder why.

Oh well. The 16 published can-tos of Don Juan were enough ontheir lonesome to shock the Britishpublic, principally because theygive a blow-by-blow of the Byronfamily scandals. No paparazzi topost your latest conquest in theToronto Sun? No fear, welcome tothe do-it-yourself tabloid. Theedgy descriptors applied to DonJuan’s family in the first cantocould equally be applied toByron’s relations. The marital dis-cord between Don Juan’s parents,Donna Inez and Don José, corre-sponds directly to that betweenByron’s parents, Mad Jack andCatherine Gordon, and moreover,to his own uneasy marriage withAnnabella Milbanke. Byron and

Annabella suffered through theextremes of sexual attraction andpersonal incompatibility. WhereAnnabella was a gifted mathemati-cian with a rigid morality, Byronwas a gifted philanderer with arigid member.

As a side-note, I can’t say I sym-pathize with Byron. Dude, youwent to Oxford. And she studied inher dad’s library and has your headspinning in circles? If she’s atfault, it’s for being stupid enoughto marry you, you sloppy, misogy-nistic prick.

At any rate, Annabella (and herpoetic doppelganger, Donna Inez)finally found a way out of her mar-ital difficulties. “For Inez,” likeAnnabella, “call’d some druggistsand physicians/And tried to proveher loving lord was mad,/but as hehad some lucid intermissions/shenext decided he was only bad.”

From that point in Don Juan,Donna Inez becomes the counter-part of Byron’s mother, CatherineGordon, and Byron becomes rein-carnated in the young Don Juan.Byron despised his mother as hehated “a dumpy woman” andragged on her for being too fat andshort to catch him in any youthfulmisdemeanors. As a boy, she triedto censor his classical education,which, if you’ve read any Greeklit, is a bit like trying to cut all thesex scenes from True Blood.Pornography for learned men backthen often consisted of classicswritten in languages that theirwives conveniently couldn’t read –unless they were prodigies likeAnnabella.

With such an admirable educa-tion in lovemaking, Byron and DonJuan spend the next 15 cantosdeflowering half of Europe (thefemale half, in Juan’s case).Presumably they would have spentseveral more doing so, had Byronnot died while in self-imposed

exile from his notoriety inEngland, while leading the Greeksin a war for independence.

It’s difficult to give a quick andconcise Playboy interview ofByron in regard to his life andcharacter, but to sum it up, he wasa dick. His neglect led to the deathof at least one of his illegitimatechildren, Allegra, and there is norecord of him providing any childsupport for his other by-blows.Women obsessed over his infideli-ties; at least one, Margarita Cogni,committed suicide after an argu-ment. Where most of the men hisage took a tour of Europe to learntheir history, he turned the Grand

Tour into a sex tour. That being said, he was brave

and loyal in battle, a major Britishpoet, and good enough in bed thatmost women were willing to over-look his other faults. His less sala-cious stories were guilty pleasurereading like Twilight for youngladies such as Marianne ofAusten’s Sense and Sensibility. Infact, the precursor to modern vam-pire fiction was a novel written byhis manservant John Polidori andbased on Byron‘s character.

So next time you check outRobert Pattinson, try checking DonJuan out of the library. Enjoy!

Newmarket sweethearts (andtrust me, I actually mean they’re abunch of sweethearts) The Elwinshave been generating a lot of buzzin the last while for their newrecord, And I Thank You, despitethe fact the record has yet to bereleased due to the ongoing huntfor support from record labels.

Originally created as a duo byMatthew Sweeney and TravisStokl, The Elwins has been a ongo-ing project of friendship. “It’s allabout working together and speak-ing your mind. Overall it’s abouttaking care of each other,” saidSweeney. “Since we all have agreat relationship, everything elsejust kind of works out. We stillwrite and jam together after allthese years.” All the hard work bythe two, as well as by joining band-mates Chris Shannon and Feurd,has been put to good use in therecording process of a new LP,including the recently released sin-gle “Stuck in the Middle.”

“We’ve talked to a few labelslooking for support with therelease.” said Sweeney. The bandplans to have the album out byFebruary 21, with or without beingsigned to a certain label. “We hopeto tour like crazy once the album is

out and just to have as much fun aswe can fit into our lives.”

In the meantime, the guys havebeen able to keep themselves busyin the past year with a Movembercampaign involving an originalsong and music video to help raisefunds for prostate cancer research– something that has affectedmembers of the group. “I think ourfinal total was between $300 and$500,” Sweeney stated. “It wasn’tan overwhelming success, but Ithink it was a good way to get theword out.” As well, the boys bus-ied themselves with some holidayfun, including a Christmas contest,allowing fans to write lyrics for anoriginal song that the band wouldperform and a six-song collabora-tive album with friends, both avail-able for download on The Elwins’Bandcamp page.

Another thing that kept TheElwins busy during the last yearwas the launch of creative andunique merchandise, includingsunglasses, pillows and mugs – orshould I say “Pellows” and“Muggz.” “We just asked our-selves, ‘What do people need,’”explained Shannon. “Sunglassesfor when you’re driving. Pellowsfor when you’re sleeping andMuggz for when you’re drinking.”The items are featured in hilarious

advertisements that Shannon wroteand directed and are available towatch on YouTube. “Since we hadsuch weird and unique merchan-dise, we wanted a weird way toshow it off. I mean, no band hasinfomercial-style videos for what

they’re selling. And well, youdon’t walk out the house and think,‘If I’m gonna go to a show, I’mgonna buy a mug.’” They believedthat the crazy items and advertise-ments would give fans an expecta-tion of what to expect at shows.

And I Thank You will hit recordstores February 21. Check themout at myspace.com/theelwins, andkeep your eyes peeled for theband’s Partridge Family-stylewebisodes.

MADISON FOSTERINTERROBANG

CREDIT: THE ELWINS

The Elwins are set to release new album on February 21.

CHECK IT OUTCarolyn Sullivan

The Elwins to release record, with or without support

Lord Byron a Playboy’s poet

AN ALUMNUS TO LOOK UP TOShe walked down the same halls as you. She

learned in the same classrooms as you. For

she worked the same job as you. Aspiring writers at Fanshawe have an amazing role model in Madeline Sonik, proud graduate of the class of 1979.

Sonik, whose published works include Fresh Blood: New Canadian Gothic Fiction, Belinda and the

Grownups and Children, Stone Sightings and Afflictions & Departures, knew at an early age that

the life of creativity and introspection he described.

For Sonik, writing was also a therapeutic experience. Her father passed away during that

way for many people to deal with grief and

The following year, Sonik moved to England and

time there she read extensively and tried to write a little something each day. Two years later, when

she heard about the General Arts and Science program here at Fanshawe, Sonik jumped at the opportunity to attend.

time at Fanshawe was, without a doubt, the best

highly of her former school and said she greatly

While attending Fanshawe, Sonik worked

his reporters and basically allowed us to write

on my first experience donating blood. This made me want to write more and also gave me

getting a B.A. in history and English and an

writing from the University of British Columbia and a Ph.D. in education. Now, living in B.C. and dividing her time

between writing and teaching at the University

Departures, is garnering national recognition. Besides being recently nominated for the Charles Taylor Prize for literary nonfiction, it was also nominated for the B.C. National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction.

When asked about her love of writing, Sonik

great deal of struggle, after giving up two or three times, and coming back to something two

to express a particular idea and this makes all of

alumnus receive this kind of acclaim for her work in the literary world. For all those Falcons who want to follow in her flightpath, Sonik offered

So get reading, get writing and you could be the next great writer to emerge from these halls.

For more information on the awards for which Sonik is nominated, visit thecharlestaylorprize.ca and bcachievement.com/nonfiction.

ALISON MCGEE | INTERROBANGAN A

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WHEN SCIENCE, RELIGION AND ART COLLIDEAn artist and poet who lives in the Old

South area of London is combining her love of science and her religious background to create some truly thought-

provoking work.

Marijo Swick creates images that are sometimes dreamy, sometimes colourful. Some include images of DNA sequences while others show some religious imagery, and many include both. Much of her artwork evokes questions about how one can reconcile religious faith with scientific fact.

Expressing her feelings and thoughts through her art seemed like a natural creative outlet for Swick, who said she grew up in a fairly artistic household.

We had a really creative house; my mom was always painting, drawing and letting us make stuff

She credited her strict religious upbringing as

high school, she enjoyed and was excited by her

away (from home) and started going to school and figuring stuff out on my own, it built on an interest

religious dogma, and science can answer a lot

She attended Fanshawe right after completing high school, and graduated from the Graphic Design program in 1987. Three years later, she headed to the University of Western Ontario for Fine Art. Her education there had to be cut short,

remembered, and gave her two distinct perspectives on how art works and what it means. Her experience at Fanshawe led her to a job in the Graphic Design department at the London Free Press newspaper, where she worked for over 20 years.

Now a full-time artist, Swick uses acrylic paints, coloured pencils, digital elements and sometimes

even more unexpected items to create her signature style. She said sometimes she will design a piece on her computer and print it out on rice paper to give it a different look and texture. Her insatiable curiosity has even led her to put leaves through her printer, just to see what happens.

across Canada and the United States, and she has been in many local exhibitions over the years.

Budding artists in London have a wealth of

no matter how art-friendly your city may be.

ERICA FAUST | INTERROBANGWHEN SAS

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FANSHAWECOLLEGE

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February 6 - 10, 2012

If you were to ask a group full of children what they wanted their future career to be, you would notice two things: first, that some of the jobs mentioned likely don’t exist; and

second, except in rare circumstances, you would get an answer from every child you asked.

It isn’t until later in life that uncertainty sets in — ask an equal number of college students what they want to do for a living and you’ll almost certainly get fewer answers. Are we less adventurous as we age? Less courageous or willing to follow our dreams?

“In the ’80s, every time I saw a movie that I loved, I wanted to be what the main character was,” smiled David McGrath, director and founder of McWrath Productions, based in Toronto. “After I saw Indiana Jones I wanted to be an explorer. After I saw Who Framed Roger Rabbit? I wanted to be a detective. After I saw Batman, I wanted to be Batman. Then when I turned 10, I realized they were all just actors and I decided that is what I wanted to do.”

His decision would be short-lived, thanks to the influence of Steven Spielberg and his 1993 film epic Jurassic Park. McGrath describes this as the turning point that would govern his entire adult life.It wasn’t the first time Spielberg’s work made an impression on McGrath, either; his oldest memory with movies pertains to his mother taking him to see E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial before he was two years old.

“The reason I have trouble believing she took me during the first run of this film is I have memory of sitting in that theatre going crazy with disbelief during the scene when the bikes take off and flies past the moon,” his explanation is as jovial as it is skeptical. “I’ve been told you can’t remember anything before three years of age, but I remember that moment very vividly and I’ve loved movies ever since.”

McGrath had direction, and so determined was he that he weathered all manner of adversity along his way. After being rejected from all the post-secondary film production programs he applied to, he opted to take film theory and screenwriting at York University in Toronto. Despite this, he said he’s learned much more from simply making films than in four years of studying them.

McGrath has financed each of his films himself, going the extra distance to bring his visions to life — in 2004, he worked like a madman to save $10,000 to shoot his first film, Disfingered. A modern horror film, it focuses on a main character who one day wakes up missing a finger, then begins to lose a finger every time he went to sleep.

McGrath screened the film on the side of Roy Thomson Hall during the Toronto International Film Festival in 2005, paying homage to Atom Egoyan, who screened a film similarly in 1982. Disfingered went on to be official selections at film festivals in Toronto, Montréal and New York, winning the award for Best Special Effects at the 2006 YoungCuts Film Festival.

The award was a welcome shot of recognition after the effort it took to produce the film, and not only by McGrath — every time the production hit a snag, it took quick thinking and

adaptability to keep the project on track. This past summer, Disfingered was featured as a part of the Little Terrors Short Film event at The Projection Booth in Toronto, and the screening caused McGrath to reflect back on the experience.

“I wanted it to be the best first film anyone had ever done and I wanted to shoot it on film and have a dolly with a track and a full crew ... the only reason the film got finished was because I had been lucky enough to convince some very talented and experienced people to work on it. I’m still very proud of that film we all made, but I was the weak link on that crew and the director always needs to be the strongest. So what did I learn? Don’t spend $10,000 on your first film. Make three films as cheaply as possible then make your $10,000 film.”

In the years since Disfingered was completed, McGrath has written and produced We All Bleed Red — a short film steeped in discrimination and violence — in 2009 and The Actor in 2010. The latter stars comedian Michael MacDonald as a struggling actor, making ends meet teaching acting while falling in love with the school’s one–eyed secretary.McGrath admitted that while he may have been naïve about the process while making his first movie, his expectations were much more realistic for the experience, not to mention being able to see now the value of the advice offered to him by mentors he approached before making his first film.

“Anyone who would offer advice told me to work on sets for a couple years as a production assistant first — at 22 I felt I was too old to wait that long,” he explained. Now his advice to film students is the same, albeit perhaps a little more forward.

“If you want to be on a crew in a role like Director of Photography or in post-production like an Editor, go to film school and work on as many projects as you can and try meet as many people as you can. But if you want to be a storyteller then don’t waste your money at a film school, use that money to make your films.”

LIGHTS, CAMERA, SATISFACTION.Filmmaker David McGrath on following your dreams...

There are a handful of situations in life in which the adage ‘you can’t please everyone’ applies, especially in the world of filmmaking. The act of taking a beloved comic series and transitioning it to the big screen is particularly fraught with difficulty and scorn.

This is a task that Conor McCreery and Anthony Del Col are tackling as they work on screenplays and storyboards for the film adaptation of their acclaimed 12-issue serial, Kill Shakespeare. Writing for comics is a feat on its own, but transforming a comic series into a film format is a Herculean undertaking. Realistically, is it possible to faithfully transition from a graphic novel to a studio film, or maintain the integrity of the message when it’s brushed in different strokes?

Countless movies have chronicled superhero triumphs over cackling evil masterminds, to remarkably varied reception. Filmmakers obviously hold their projects with high esteem, but the truth is that in most cases, someone is upset: it’s either the comic purists who feel as though the film doesn’t live up to the book’s standards, or the majority of the crowd is frustrated when the plot is only decipherable to super-fans.

Zack Snyder, director of 2004’s Dawn Of The Dead, has found a niche making comic franchise films, but not without feeling the sting of such a paradox himself. After the runaway smash, 300, Snyder directed the 2009 epic Watchmen, faithfully reconstructing comic legend Alan Moore’s mid-1980s cult serial to remarkable accuracy — however the film left a lot of audiences feeling cold and confused.

Film Director and Producer Sam Raimi, the blood-horror legend, lost control of his Spider-man series after the second film, costing the film its credibility with outraged comic enthusiasts. Before Christopher Nolan took the reins early in the 2000s, the Batman franchise had been knocked from its Tim Burton-led neo-gothic mantle to a running joke less respected than the campy 1960s television series. There are more bad comic adaptations out there than there is space to list them here, and that’s without dabbling into fan-made films.

So the problem is this: if you make a film to satisfy the stalwart readers and loyal followers, you’re very likely going to alienate regular moviegoers, the vast majority of the viewing audience you’re targeting; do the opposite and the small fraction of your target audience that can critically validate your effort scorns and berates you. In order to reconcile this paradox, numerous barriers must first be overcome.

One obstacle McCreery and Del Col have faced

from the beginning is the pre-existing connection people have with

the characters in their work. Readers develop a connection with what

they read; there is a level of interpretation that comes with using one’s

imagination, and very often the connection between

readers and comics in particular is similar to

that of a film director and his masterpiece — if it isn’t according to the script, it simply isn’t right.

McCreery explained that as work on their screenplays continued, they’ve maintained their focus by being aware of the stigma that often befalls similar projects, and identifying potential obstacles early.

“Comics were never biff-bam-pow – that was the Batman TV show. The only thing that’s ever been biff-bam-pow and really simplistic was that show, and it’s because TV was an inherently less sophisticated medium then,” he said. “So people have a notion of comics that’s based on Batman the TV show, which as a comics writer makes you want

to tear out your hair — you’re judging my medium based on another medium altogether.”

“Or a ‘bad comic book movie,’” he continued. “People say, ‘It’s a bad comic book movie.’ Well, you’re right, it’s a really bad movie that happened to be based on a comic book that I guarantee

you if you’d read (it) you’d have found (the movie) more intriguing.”

McCreery pointed out that most often, the details that make or break a film adaptation of comic work lie in distracting

from the strength of the story; the characters themselves. In trimming down an epic story, it can be possible to cut

out moments that reinforce the overall character of the film.

“I think that’s the problem these days — sometimes comic book movies think you’re more interested in Spider-man than Peter Parker … you’re more interested in Iron Man than Tony

Stark. But you know what? If the movie is going to be any good, I need to be more interested in Tony Stark. Iron Man is a cipher. Iron Man doesn’t really exist, it’s Tony Stark.”

“I was talking with Andy Belanger — the artist for Kill Shakespeare — and we were saying that. Spider-man movies are at their best when you’re totally down for Peter Parker because Peter Parker is you; he’s the awkward 15-year-old kid in school, then he’s the 24 year old trying to get a good job. That’s why you keep coming back to Spider-man: Peter Parker is endlessly compelling.”

Which is where Kill Shakespeare has the advantage: built upon a pre-

existing world with familiar characters,

their story has the

luxury beginning where it

is most effective, without the need for delving deeply

into character development. There is no need to tell Hamlet’s

back-story or paint him in a particular light — the audience (both comic and theatre) may love or hate him as they please, their connections only make the character that much more real.

The future of Kill Shakespeare — at least, in motion picture form — remains to be seen, although it certainly seems as though McCreery and Del Col are making decided and informed steps to make it happen. In the meantime, McCreery and Del Col are working on interesting new stories and vehicles for the world of Kill Shakespeare, so the outlook is optimistic. Currently, Kill Shakespeare is available in two volumes in trade paperback in local comic shops or online from KillShakespeare.com.

WHEN COMICS TAKE THE BIG SCREEN! BOBBY FOLEY | INTERROBANG

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If you’re a fan of fantasy, horror or sci-fi novels – or some combination of all three – you should definitely check out DEXTRUS, a series of literary novels with some amazing illustrations.

DEXTRUS tells the story of a teenager, the titular character, who has a mysterious past. Throughout the series, Dextrus sets out on a dark journey to learn more about his past and see what the future holds.

The series is written and published by former Fanshawe students Scott Williams-Oakes and Norm R. Weichel. Weichel also illustrates the images that are part of each volume.

I had the chance to have an email chat with Williams-Oakes himself and ask him a few questions about DEXTRUS.

How did you start it?

“Norm and I were in a band together for four years, during our college days at Fanshawe. After departing from the band, I kept in touch with him frequently. He remembered my interest in creative writing and approached me with an idea that would later become DEXTRUS.”

“The story has been worked on, re-written, and revised over the past couple of years. Norm approached me with an idea for an independent film, sort of a horror film for kids. We both became really excited in the project. We brainstormed a storyline, characters, scenes, and eventually I wrote a screenplay that we were both happy with. Unfortunately, a film, even on the independent level, was too expensive of an undertaking for us. We decided to shelf the idea for a while. It wasn’t until the spring/summer of 2011 that I approached Norm with the idea of re-working the screenplay into a novel. Interestingly enough, Norm had the idea of re-working it into a comic book series.”

“We realized though that doing it as a full comic book series would also unfortunately be a massive financial and logistical undertaking. So we came to a compromise and decided to release DEXTRUS as a novel series, with a volume each month. They are literary ‘novellas’ if you will, with vivid and exciting cover pages, and cool bonus reading material as well.”

“I work as an automotive industry delivery driver in London. I’m also a bassist in a regional metal band. Norm writes and records independent music

as well, designs really cool multimedia projects, and works at Minuteman Press printing company in Parry Sound.”

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“Norm would be interested in hearing how other people would describe his art style, but all he can really say is that he doesn’t like anything overly cartoony. Norm aims to be horrifying, somewhat realistic and dark. He usually paints with acrylics, but he has taken a different approach with DEXTRUS. Norm sketches everything, same as he’s done since he was a kid, only now he either scans or photographs his sketches and inputs them into his computer. Norm uses various digital painting techniques to colour and enhance his drawings.”

“Our inspirations come from a lot of places, mainly the fantasy genre. Games like Diablo, and books like Lord of the Rings. We both have mutual interests in sci-fi and horror as well, and we both have a great interest in comics/graphic novels.”

“We plan to release about six or seven volumes in total. We’re gradually designing promotional and bonus material with each volume release. We are contemplating attending some conventions as well; we’ll have to see how it goes for us. I will be appearing at Shock Stock from April 13 to 15 at Centennial Hall. I will have a table where people can purchase DEXTRUS volumes and chat.”

“We have had the discussion of where we’d like to take DEXTRUS. We’d love to explore publishing the entire story as a single release, all volumes in one book. It would be nice to work with a publisher to try to distribute DEXTRUS on a larger scale. It would be exciting to go back to the beginning and release the story as an actual fully illustrated comic book series, or even shoot it as a film, as originally desired. We just have to see how the dice rolls.”

“With a few strict deadlines and some planning, publishing a book a month is not too bad. Norm worked for the North Star (Parry Sound newspaper) and they ran on rigorous deadlines. Norm works well under pressure and he’s a little addicted to the rush of making sure a book is completed each month. Crazy amounts of work go into getting the book ready for physical form, but after all of that

is done, it’s time to actually make the book, which only takes a number of hours, usually overnight.”

“A lot of the story is already written, and has been for some time. When we decided to take this route, we went back and re-wrote/re-imagined the story. I broke down the story into chapters. When it came time to work on releasing them we decided how many chapters each volume will consist of. I get busy on writing/revising the story, Norm gets busy on designing the layout of each volume, drawing the cover and chapter illustrations and designing our website material and bonus stuff. We are in constant contact with each other, and we share the same interests and somewhat of the same personality, so it works out great. It is very much a team effort for sure.”

“We have had a discussion about working on other things together. I have an idea that we might expand on once this current incarnation of DEXTRUS is complete. We even have tossed around the idea of continuing the story of DEXTRUS beyond where it currently will end, possibly expanding on other characters in the series.”

“Love what you do. You have to be totally in love with your work; many hours will be spent, many times you will question yourself and you will be discouraged, but just keep at it. Make connections; don’t be afraid to talk to people in the industry, at the comic shops; ask for advice, tips. Know where you want to take it and just do it. Explore and find out the best methods to get your passion out there. Insane devotion to your love and your craft is needed.”

For more information, check out Weichel’s video about the making of the first volume at tinyurl.com/dextrusvol1video. You can also check out DEXTRUS on Facebook at tinyurl.com/dextrusfb. For more information about Slangdoll Publications, Weichel and Williams-Oakes’ publishing company, check out slangdoll.com. You can pick up a copy of DEXTRUS at Hot Dog Musique and Cinema, located at the northeast corner of Richmond and Horton Streets. Keep an eye out for Volume 6, which will be hitting the shelves soon.

AMBI-DEXTRUS

ERIKA FAUST | INTERROBANG

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This summer I was fortunate enough to get to spend an amazing afternoon at the Met Gallery, which was downtown London’s newest artisan market.

The location, just a few stores down from the city’s busiest intersection is on Dundas and Richmond Streets, was convenient to get to from anywhere in the city. Besides that, it was close to coffee shops, restaurants, the Covent Garden Market and the plethora of unique retails stores downtown has to offer.

The atmosphere was brilliant. Inside the moderately sized open-concept space were more than a dozen unique vendors, each offering something vastly different from the rest. There was a toy and gadget merchant whose products were aimed at those of the nerdier persuasion, a couple different handmade and antique jewelry creators, an absolutely one-of-a-kind clothing vendor and numerous artist vendors among many other unique stalls and booths.

The art was simply stunning. The friend that I went to The Met with bought a beautiful necklace (that I am not-so-secretly very jealous of), and I was enthralled by the geekery and handmade clothing and we both stared longingly at more than one painted canvas.

The truly sad thing for me as I sit and write this is that I am forced to use the past tense when talking about The Met. The London art community suffered a great loss on December

18 when the doors of The Met closed for the last time.

As a girl who was born and raised in London, I have a fierce pride in this city, and as a lover of the art community this feels like a double whammy to me. The Met was something incredible, something that London really hadn’t seen before and certainly something that the art community was craving.

Katie Wilhelm, who cofounded The Met, spoke with me in the summer when things were looking brighter for the gallery. She told me about the gallery’s opening in May 2011 and how, after three successful months of running the gallery every weekend, they had celebrated with a fashion show.

“The Met has given artists and artisans the opportunity to expose their product and their businesses to a saturated demographic in a comfortable setting with like-minded individuals,” explained Wilhelm back in August. She also told me how “this opportunity has not existed in London prior to this market opening, and we really feel like this is step one in making a large and positive change for London’s art community.”

The lack of foot traffic had been cited as the official cause of the gallery’s closure, but it seems to me that there is something more pragmatic behind it. London is an old city, a conservative city with residents who tend to err on the side of academics and politics. Although

the youth in London are becoming more and more liberal all the time, it seems that every step is a struggle.

London has a flourishing art community, and yet the perfect place for them to show that talent off has been closed. It is a truly sad thing that so much local talent has lost their place to shine, although the optimist in me believes that talent like that can’t stay hidden forever.

The passion that I have seen in the local artistic community gives me hope that these immensely talented young people will soon find another way to let their artistry be seen. I hope they find a way soon though, as I am sure that I am not the only one in town who sorely misses The Met.

:WILL BE ALISON MCGEE | INTERROBANG

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IMMENSE YOURSELF IN LOCAL HISTORY AND ART

There are many places in London where you can look at amazing art, learn about local and Canadian history or get creative and make some of your own art. There’s everything from art galleries displaying local paintings to some with international exhibitions, and even a few muse-ums that are rich in history.

ART GALLERIESMichael Gibson Gallery157 Carling St.gibsongallery.comThe Michael Gibson Gallery has been a staple in London since 1984. The gallery specializes in contemporary Canadian and international art and holds exhibitions and events throughout the year. The gallery also sells art and offers apprais-als, and is located in one of the best exhibition spaces in the city.

Forest City Gallery258 Richmond St.forestcitygallery.comThe Forest City Gallery was founded by local artists in 1973, and has continued to celebrate local, regional, national and international artists. The artist-run gallery features visual art, media art, performance, literature and music, providing a space for the emerging London art community. They also hold professional development work-shops and their Art Talk series.

The Innuit Gallery201 Queens Ave.innuitgallery.comThe Innuit Gallery is one of London’s most unique art galleries. Opened in 1983, the North

American First Nations and Inuit gallery features sculptures, prints, pottery, hand-crafted jewellery and more. The gallery also does sculpture and print restoration, as well as collection evalua-tions.

Thielsen Gallery1038 Adelaide St. N.thielsengallery.comThe Thielsen Gallery has been in London since 1950, representing some of Canadians finest paintings, sculptures and graphics, with special interest in the Painters Eleven group. The gal-lery must be notified prior to your visit, but their exhibits can be viewed completely online.

The ARTS Project203 Dundas St.artsproject.caThe ARTS Project is one of London’s newer art galleries, holding its first general meeting in 2000. The ARTS Project is a non-profit organiza-tion that features more than just an art gallery; it also has a theatre and a studio space for artists as well as educational arts programs. Their main goal is to bring art and culture to downtown Lon-don by providing a venue for artists

MUSEUMSMuseum London421 Ridout St. N.museumlondon.caMuseum London was established in 1940 and has been at its current location, at the forks of the Thames, since 1980. The museum’s col-lection has over 5,000 regional and Canadian works and 25,000 artifacts that reflect the history

of London. Museum London has various special events, exhibitions and educational programs. Admission to Museum London is by donation.

Eldon House481 Ridout St.eldonhouse.caEldon House is London’s oldest residence. It was built in 1834 for the Harris family and remained in the family until 1960 when it was donated to the City of London. The house remains practically unchanged and still contains family heirlooms and furniture as well as a beautiful 19th century style garden.

Royal Canadian Regiment Museum701 Oxford St. E.theroyalcanadianregiment.caThe Royal Canadian Regiment Museum is located in Wolseley Hall, built in the late 19th century. The museum displays medals awarded to soldiers and weapons and equipment that has been used by Canadian soldiers for over a century as far back as 1883.

Museum of Archaeology 1600 Attawandaron Rd.uwo.ca/museumThe Museum of Archaeology is located at the Lawson Prehistoric Village, the site of Canada’s only ongoing excavation and reconstruction of a prehistoric village. The museum displays the past 13,000 years of occupation in Southwestern Ontario, including replica longhouses, a sweat lodge and an entrance maze, along with perma-nent and travelling exhibitions.

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Toronto band Born Ruffianstook a break from their busyrecording schedule to bless APKLive with their presence in lateJanuary. The band, along withlocal acts Glass Thieves andLoonie in the Garden, treated thesold-out venue to older classicsand a few new tracks from theirupcoming full-length album.

This marked their first show ofthe year as well as their first showin London since a “violent” per-formance back in March of 2011,during which a fight broke out inthe audience at Call the Office thatresulted in broken glass and fanssent to the hospital. “That neverhappens! It was crazy. There wasblood!” said bass player MitchDerosier. Luckily this occurrencewasn’t enough to keep the boysaway from the Forest City, anddespite the chaos of their last visit,the Born Ruffians boys said theywill always enjoy playing inLondon. “We’ve been playingLondon for quite a while now,”said Derosier, adding that theirfirst show was LOLAFest back in2006. “London is somewherewe’ve had a lot of great shows.”

The show at APK Live was justa little break for Born Ruffians as itwas back to the studio the next dayto continue working on their newalbum. “We’re approaching it waydifferently. We’re doing it waymore relaxed,” lead singer and gui-tarist Luke Lalonde explainedabout the recording process.Although the band doesn’t expectto release the new tracks until thefall of this year, they aren’t rushing

anything. “We've only just started.We only have two songs nearlycompleted but this way we can goback over songs that are done,”said Derosier. The band said theywant to be able to take all the timeneeded in the studio to go back andperfect any recorded material.“This allows us to go in a few daysa week and do it more sporadicallyand spend more time on materialand not just book two weeks of stu-dio time and that’s all the time wehave.”

Lalonde wrote many of thesongs for the album while living inMontreal in 2010, including whathe explained to be pop songs he’dlove to hear. “I think I want thisrecord to be our most catchy poprecord.” He also credited the largeamount of David Bowie he was lis-tening to at the time to the songwritten for the album.

The crowded room at APK Livedanced and sang along during whatthe band thought would be one oftheir few shows before the recordis released. Born Ruffians man-aged to sneak in a few new songsbut mostly stuck with older materi-al. “It’s always nerve-wracking toplay new songs,” said Lalonde.“Everyone gets really quietbecause they don’t know the song.It kind of sucks being on stagebecause it’s a bunch of people inthe audience, not reacting.” Thatwasn’t the case, though, as theboys in Born Ruffians proved toLondon why they were a sold-outshow.

Look for new tracks from theband later this year. Check outbornruffians.com for more infor-mation on the band.

Born Ruffians beginwork on a new album

It happens every year; the holidayrush is over, the short, cold days ofwinter start to seem endless, and youcome down with a major case of thewinter blahs. You know the winterblahs, right? It’s cold outside andthere are no big events in the imme-diate future to look forward to, so youspend your free time glued to yourcouch in your most comfortable pairof sweatpants. Okay, maybe thisdoesn’t happen to all of you, but Iknow for me it’s an annual experi-ence.

Having a case of the winter blahscan be made all the worse by the factthat your significant other isn’taround to help pull you out of thisfunk. It can be challenging for sure,

but here are some tips that will helpyou get over the blahs, and enjoy allthat this season has to offer:

• Enjoy the weather. Let’s face it –it’s cold outside. Instead of hopingthat if you ignore the weather it willgo away, get outside and make thebest of it. During visits with your sig-nificant other, go skating, skiing,snowboarding or snowshoeing. Ifyou’re not with your partner, grab afriend and check out a winter festival.Doing things in the winter that youcan only do when it’s cold outsidewill help you be more accepting ofthe less-than-pleasant weather.

• Enjoy the indoors. Maybe you’renot the type to strap on the skis andgo. Instead, try making the most ofyour time spent indoors. Make a nicehot drink (white hot chocolate, any-one?), curl up under a fuzzy blanketand watch your favourite movie.Better yet, do this while you havetime with your partner. Enjoying thefact that this sort of weather necessi-tates warm blankets and hot choco-

late will make those cold, dark dayshave at least a small silver lining.

• Look forward to spring. Maybeyou’re planning a trip for MarchBreak, maybe your relationship willno longer be long distance once thewinter semester is finished or maybeyou just really love patio season.Whatever it is, most people havesomething exciting to look forwardto come spring, and focusing on thatwill serve to get you over the winterblahs and make the time go by fasteruntil the nice weather comes again.Plan out a trip itinerary, get all yourprep work done for moving orresearch the newest patios openingup in town when everything thaws.Having something specific to lookforward to will serve as a reminderthat there is an end point to thisslushy, messy season.

I hope that these tips will help youall to have a lovely, enjoyable winter,even if your significant other can’t bethere to keep you warm every day.

How to beat those winter blahs

CREDIT: COURTESY WARP RECORDS

Born Ruffians recently played a show in London before heading back intothe studio to work on a new album.

If you remember a few weeksback, I talked about trying newthings, including online dating. Ifinally took the plunge, and havebecome one of the thousands ofpeople on PlentyOfFish.com. Hereis my review.

The initial set up of the accountdidn’t take long. It asks basic ques-tions such as if you smoke, if youhave children, and what your jobtitle is. My favourite question was“What are you looking for?” withoptions for answers including“Hang out,” “Long-term dating,”“Friends” or “Intimate encounter.”So when you click on anyone’s pro-file, you immediately know whatthey are looking for. If it’s not whatyou want, all you have to do is click“Next!”

Once you answer basic ques-tions, it gives you the opportunity toexpand on your profile. There is adescription you can put on the topof your profile that shows up bold-ed when people search you. Somepeople decide to have somethingfunny, others more serious andsome are straightforwardly “seek-ing a relationship.” The one thingthat might take time is the descrip-tion of yourself, which can be aslong or short as you want. The moreyou put in it, the more it helps oth-ers decide if you are someone theywant to get to know. My profile wasshort and to the point, and I includ-ed a picture, because profiles with-out pictures don’t get as manyresponses.

Once that is done, PlentyOfFishhas designed tests online to helpyou find what you are looking foron the site. One is called thePlentyOfFish RelationshipChemistry Predictor. It’s designedto measure five broad dimensions

that are essential for building a rela-tionship: self-confidence, familyorientation, self-control, opennessand easygoing-ness. This test tellsyou about yourself and how you fitunder the five dimensions.

The test I really liked was theRelationship Needs Assessment. Ithelps you determine what you needfrom a relationship across nine keyfactors: interdependence, self effi-ciency, communication, sexuality,preferred expressions of affection,intimacy, relationship readiness,conflict resolution and attitudesabout love. We all have thosemoments when we have no ideawhat we want from a potentialmate, so some of you might findthis helpful because it tells youwhat you need from a relationshipin order for it to work. Also, onceyou take this test, it provides youwith questions that you can ask peo-ple to see if they fit your needs ornot.

Now onto the good stuff! In thefirst 24 hours of having my account,I had over 300 views of my profileand 100 messages. It blew my mindthat so many people wanted to getto know me that quickly, but don’tget me wrong, they weren’t all“keepers.”

The first night I had it, I wentthough every message and thenwent to their profile to decide if Iwanted to respond. I would be lyingif I said I didn’t enjoy it; I felt like Iwas shopping, but instead of look-ing for clothes, I was shopping forboys.

What I found got my attentionmore was the guys who made melaugh in their messages, rather thanjust saying, “hey, how’s it going.”With that many messages beingsent to me, unless you wereextremely good looking, that linedidn’t get you anywhere. It was theones who took the time to writesomething that made me smile thatI appreciated. One guy saw that Iliked country music and he wrote“Are you going to kiss me or not?”,which is a song by Thompson

Square. I was surprised at how for-ward some people are. One guy sentme a message asking if I wanted tomake $5,000 in cash. There areweirdos, beware, but you don’tneed to respond and you can blockanyone.

I found the site to be pretty good,but I can see how people would getfrustrated. I probably received over200 messages and maybe talked toeight or 10 people. So just thinkabout all the people who never get aresponse – it can be extremely frus-trating. Part of the problem I thinkpeople have is that they messagepeople who would never messagethem back. For example, I had atleast 25 messages from people overthe age of 35. Divorced men andmen with older children messagedme. They have to realize that a 23year old would most likely not beinterested in them. Just because Ihave an account doesn’t make medesperate, and I’m not willing tojust talk to anyone.

There is also an option on the sitewhere you can view if someoneread your message and didn’trespond or if they deleted it withoutreading it. My friend told me “itstung to see that,” but you move on.After talking to people who haveused the site, it seems like mostusers respond to less than 25 percent of the people who messagethem. It also seems that girls aremore hesitant to message guys first,because they aren’t just willing tomessage anyone, whereas if a guysees a hot girl, they instantly wantto message them without learninganything about them. That’s just arecipe for failure.

I have gone on a couple datessince then, and have had a surpris-ingly great time, but I think I’ve justbeen lucky. Only time will tell howmuch success I will have withPlentyOfFish, but I would say so farI’m not disappointed with myresults. I think it’s worth a shot,don’t you? Worst case scenario,you’re in the same place you were aweek ago.

MADISON FOSTERINTERROBANG


23Volume 44 Issue No. 19 January 30, 2012 www.fsu.ca/interrobang/

Love, Lust & LiesPatricia [email protected]

LONG DISTANCELOVEAlison [email protected]

Have you caught any fish lately?


Social media has a place in all ofour lives, whether we like it or not.Personally, I’m not as passionateabout Facebook and Twitter assome of my friends. For the mostpart, they enjoy following friendsand others who post and tweetabout nonsensical activities andevents that are happening in theirlives. While most of us havebecome smitten with the social sideof social media, it has also becomean important tool for job seekersdue in part to the new ways thatpeople are finding and landing jobs.

If you think about it, networkinghas always played a huge part inhow individuals find jobs, and ifyou want a successful career, youneed to have a strong network.Online networking is a relativelynew thing and is really just meetingand interacting with other profes-sionals via the Internet. If youaren’t already doing it, then youshould consider starting, but keepin mind there are many pitfalls ofonline networking. You need toavoid spamming, shouting, beggingand requesting to add someone toyour network without an explana-tion, not to mention just being

downright annoying online. Followthe general rules of networkingwhich include being respectful ofother people’s time, being positiveand proactive, making appropriateconnections with people that youhave something in common withand, above all, being prepared togive something back.

A good place to start online net-working is with LinkedIn. Withover 135 million users, LinkedInhas grown to become one of themost popular networking sites forprofessionals. Get started by creat-ing a LinkedIn profile, uploadingyour resume and joining groupsthat share your career goals. Use itto search for companies online andconnect with recruiters who arealso using LinkedIn. In essence, useit to build your online network.

Having an online presence isessential these days, but managingthat presence is also essential.Nowadays hiring managers are alsousing social media to do theirresearch on candidates. Accordingto Joshua Waldman, author of JobSearching with Social Media forDummies, “more than 80 per centof recruiters are using LinkedIn tosource candidates and more than 50per cent of hiring managers candetermine whether a candidate’spersonality is a good fit for theircompany just by seeing their socialmedia presence. Regardless of howyou feel about it, employers arelikely using social media to check

you out.” Information for just about every-

one can be found online today,especially by someone who knowshow to conduct the right search. Ifthe thought of this scares you at all,then you may need to do somethingto manage your online persona. Ifyou haven’t already searched foryourself online, start by usingGoogle, pipl.com and WebMii.comand go through the steps to removeany information that isn’tfavourable. I’m sure you’ve alreadybeen advised about how to set yourprivacy settings on Facebook so noteveryone can cyberstalk you, butyou may want to revisit that too.Your online image is important, soif you need to ask friends to removesome unfavourable pics, posts orcontent, then get to it. Let’s face it,recruiters will use whatever onlinemethods they can to investigateyour online presence and theyshould, as they wouldn’t be doingtheir jobs if they didn’t.

Need assistance? Drop by theCareer Services office in RoomD1063. The Career Services staffare available to assist you on anindividual basis. Visit the office toarrange an appointment or call519-452-4294. Check out www.fan-shawec.ca/careerservices for stu-dent and graduate job listings. Jointhe Career Services Facebookgroup at tinyurl.com/fanshaweca-reerservices.

The RRSP deadline for 2011 isFebruary 29, 2012. AlthoughRRSPs are certainly far from theminds of most students, consider-ing we really don’t have anyincome to speak of and thus littleroom to contribute, it is importantto know how much you can con-tribute and what the benefits of anRRSP are upon graduation. Theearlier you start saving for retire-ment, the wealthier you’re going tobe once you retire, so startingyoung gives you a tremendousadvantage compared to a lot ofCanadians.

RRSP stands for RegisteredRetirement Savings Plan. It allowsyou to defer taxes paid on anymoney you deposit in the account.It’s referred to as an account, butit’s not just a savings account. Youcould hold a wide variety of finan-cial instruments in an RRSP, suchas stocks, bonds, mutual funds,GICs and lots more. An RRSPisn’t so much a savings account asit is an umbrella for investmentsthat you want to shelter from taxes.

Anyone who earned income cancontribute to an RRSP, up to andincluding the age of 71. Themoney grows, tax-free, until it’swithdrawn. Upon withdrawal, theamount you take out will be addedto your income and you pay taxeson it then. The idea is that in retire-ment, your income is going to befar less than it is now, putting youin a lower tax bracket than youcurrently are. If the highest taxbracket you are currently in is31.15 per cent and you expect the

highest tax bracket you’ll be inupon retirement is 20.05 per cent,you’ll be saving money by with-drawing that RRSP amount whenyou are in the lower tax bracketbecause you’ll be paying lesstaxes.

You will eventually pay tax onthe savings you have inside yourRRSP, but hopefully at a lowerrate. This is why RRSPs are tax-sheltering devices, because you’redoing just that: sheltering yoursavings from being taxed for aperiod of time. There’s a cap ofhow much you can contribute,though. The maximum is 18 percent of your previous year’s earnedincome, to a maximum of $22,970for this year. So, no one can con-tribute more than $22,970 to theirRRSP for this current tax year (thiswould be the taxes you file in thespring), but your limit may be farless if 18 per cent of your incomeis less than $22,970. Yes, it’stricky, and it gets trickier becausethe maximum you can contributealso changes based on how muchyou contribute to a registered pen-sion plan or a deferred profit shar-ing plan through your employer,which is beyond the scope of thisarticle.

RRSPs are an excellent way tosave for retirement. There is no

point in giving the governmentmore taxes than you need to, and ifyou are saving outside of an RRSPwhen you have contribution room,you’re doing just that. The CanadaRevenue Agency will provide youwith information each year abouthow much you can contribute toyour RRSP if you ask, but the bestthing for someone to do if theywant thorough and qualifiedadvice is to talk to a certifiedfinancial planner. Preparing peoplefor retirement is a huge part of acertified financial planner’s joband if this stuff confuses you at all,you can’t go wrong by making anappointment. Make sure to lookfor a financial planner with the“CFP” designation after their name(“Certified Financial Planner”,although “Personal FinancialPlanner” and “RegisteredFinancial Planner” are also good).

More information on RRSPs,among other tax topics, can befound at taxtips.ca, which is anexcellent and up-to-date Canadianweb site for gleaning accurate taxinformation.

Jeremy Wall is studyingProfessional Financial Services atFanshawe College. He holds anHonour’s Bachelor of Arts fromthe University of Western Ontario.

The facts about RRSPs

What you eat before your work-out is just as important as what youeat after. Although exercise isimportant, many of us forget that aproper diet contributes about 85per cent to our overall health andwellness. Recently, Women’sHealth magazine released its ulti-mate foods for boosting yourworkouts and overall health. Hereare the top five foods to boost yourworkout today. Don’t forget – youare what you eat!

1. Bagels: Simple carbohydratesare found in foods such as fruit andmilk, while complex carbohy-drates are also known as starchesand are found in grains such asbagels. A whole-grain bagel is anideal pre-workout choice: you’lldigest it slowly because of thefibre, which will help your body tomaintain a steady flow of energyover time as you work out.

2. Bananas: Bananas containpotassium, which helps to supportyour muscles as you work out.Studies show that potassium isneeded to replace sweat loss andhelps with fluid absorption.Bananas are also an importantsource of energy: one medium-sizebanana has 400 milligrams ofpotassium and as many carbohy-drates (29 grams) as two slices of

whole-wheat bread.3. Berries: Researchers recently

placed fresh berries on their list ofthe 20 foods richest in antioxi-dants. Just a handful of blueber-ries, raspberries or blackberries arean excellent source of these potentnutrients, which protect musclesfrom any damage that may becaused by exercising. When shop-ping for berries, keep in mind thatthe more intense the color, thehealthier the fruit.

4. Carrots: Carrots are an ener-gy source that fuels your muscles,and they pack potassium to controlblood pressure and muscle con-tractions. Half a cup has just 35calories and will be an excellentsource of energy and nutrition bothbefore and after your workout.They are good for more than justyour eyes, after all!

5. Whole Grain Cereal: Thehealthiest brands of cereal containendurance-boosting complex car-bohydrates and muscle-buildingprotein. Women’s Health recom-mends fueling up with a 200-calo-rie snack 60 minutes before aworkout, such as three-quarters ofa cup of whole-grain cereal withfour ounces of fat-free milk. Eatingbefore exercising will not onlygive you the energy you need tohave a great workout, but you willbe less likely to overeat afterward.Popular favourites include Vectorand Müslix.

When it comes to your body,don’t forget that diet and exercisego hand-in-hand.

Fitness foods

CREDIT: STAYSUPERFIT.COM

Eating these delicious and nutritious foods before your workout will con-tribute to your overall health.

CREDIT: PLANMYTAXES.CA

TALKING CASHJEREMY WALL

HEALTH, BODYAND FITNESSREBECCA GRIEB

CAREER CORNER Susan CoyneCareer ServicesConsultant Fanshawe Career Services

Using social media in your job search


CREDIT: FSU STREET TEAM

Tony Lee entertains the brought his hypnotizing show to Forwell Hall lastweek.

If there is one thing that drivesme crazy during the winter, it isseeing women suffering in the coldto look beautiful. Dresses are greatwardrobe items that sometimes getoverlooked or just considered forthe summertime. Well, you, mydear readers, are oh so wrong. Iwould like to put an idea in yourhead that you may not have con-sidered before: things can be wornyear-round.

When we buy things, we imme-diately associate them with the sea-son we purchased them in. Stopfooling yourself; there’s a lot thatcan be worn during the winter!Although dresses are usually asso-ciated with warmer monthsbecause of their usually revealingnature, they are great items to tran-sition with into fall and winter.

The rules of winter dresses aresimple: if you show less, it lookslike it was done on purpose. If youwear a short dress and small shoes,you’ll look a little, well, stupid.

Legs are obviously importantthings to consider when you’rewearing a dress, they can beexposed and they can be coveredup. And while those two optionsseem extremely obvious, the ele-ment that most people forget ishow they cover their legs up. Socks: Knee-length socks are a

great way to cover up a little, andthey’re also perfect for when youwant to pair great boots with yourdress but you want to add a littlecolour. Don’t shy away from thethought of showing a little sock. Boots: When wearing a dress in

the wintertime, consider the shoesyou’re wearing and how they look

paired with your dress. Not allshoes go with all dresses, and mostimportantly, not all boots go withall leg coverings. It’s sometimestricky to find which ones work bestbut with a little imagination and afull-length mirror you’ll figure itout. The most important thing toremember is how the horizontallines of the shoes, tights and hemof the dress cut you up. Nobodywants to look shorter than they are. Tights: Tights are also another

great option for concealing yourlovely gams. Patterned tights aregood, but when something is busy,it draws attention to that area. Ifyou have a crazy pattern on yourlegs, people look there. Considerhow the lines you’re creating withyour garment affect the proportionof your body. I do not recommendtall boots with patterned leggings –the little that you see will lookwider and a solid colour wouldprobably look much better andhelp slim your silhouette.Maxi: Lengthen that hem! Who

would’ve thought a longer skirt ora longer dress might suit you bet-ter? I will admit to being a littlefrightened of a good maxi skirt thefirst time I tried one on. They’relong and my original associationwith them was the scary Goth sit-ting in the corner. I had alwaysassociated black long skirts withthis image and, well, it’s patheti-cally sad that it took so long to getover it; if you have a similar fear,you should try them now! They’recomfortable and they either giveyou a great silhouette or they flowaway from the body and are flatter-ing. Maxi skirts are great becauseyou can wear tights or nothingunder them, or you can wear leg-gings if it’s too cold for bare legs.They allow a great deal of varietyand are definitely a great wintercasual wear staple item.

So next time you’re about to putthat dress back on the hanger and

back in the closet, stop yourselfand think that putting that littleextra effort into what you’re wear-ing might send you from fashionfollower to fashionista. The easiestway to grow is to learn from ourmistakes. If you try to wear a win-ter dress once and fail, try again.Nobody ever got anywhere by giv-ing up, especially not in fashion.

CREDIT: COURTESY OF MULBERRY

With a boxy silhouette, a feminineprint and gathered drop waist, apair of slim boots are a pretty pairfor this ensemble.

When people think of makeup,they usually just think of smokeyeyes, “cake face” foundation andvoluminous mascara, but theynever really see that makeup is andcan be so much more. Artists usedifferent media to create theirwork (clay, acrylics, water paintsetc.), and makeup can be consid-ered another one of those media:the face is the canvas. From bodypaint to liquid latex, makeupartistry is a very exciting and cre-ative career that has many differ-ent avenues.

The most basic (which doesn’tmean the easiest) form is a makeupartist who specializes in beauty.These artists usually do one of twothings: work as a demo artist for aparticular cosmetic line or work asa freelance artist doing weddings,graduations and other specialevents. This avenue requires a lotof patience and finesse as you areusually dealing with everyday peo-ple who need that personal con-nection. This type of artist needs tonot only turn their makeup artistryinto a perfected art (by giving thatairbrushed complexion and flaw-less pout); they have to have stronginterpersonal communicationskills as well.

A different avenue to makeupartistry is someone who special-izes in fashion and editorials.These artists have to hone theirskills to work in a fast-paced, com-petitive and fierce environment,including fashion shows and photoshoots. Unlike the artist who spe-cializes in beauty, this type of

artist also needs to be adept whileworking in a quick manner. Themakeup done for these shows andphoto shoots is usually a lot moreavant-garde and requires the abili-ty to improvise. While this seems abit daunting, the fashion industryis a very exciting one to be in andit is very rewarding to see yourcreations strut the runway.

A more advanced form of make-up artistry is an artist who special-izes in special effects, body art andmovie makeup. This form ofartistry is completely differentfrom the others, as you are usuallycompletely transforming a per-son’s face and body. These artistsdon’t just use the basics such aseye shadow and foundation; theyoften use products such as liquidlatex, body paint and other formsof prosthetics to create monsters,to age someone or to completelychange someone’s body and face.A very successful special effectsartist, Todd Masters, stated, “I’mnot a makeup artist ... I’m an artistthat uses makeup.” This quote def-initely rings true in the specialeffects industry, because you arereally taking a medium like make-up and turning it into an art.

While a career in makeupartistry is usually overlooked, it issomething that a creative individ-ual should really look into!Although it may seem a bit intimi-dating at first, with some self-motivation, confidence and out-side-the-box creativity, it is a veryexciting and rewarding industry tobe in. Take something that you useon a daily basis, like makeup, andturn it into an art. It may opensome pretty glamorous doors thatcan lead to amazing opportunities.

For more information on thebeauty industry, visitfacebook.com/JRWbeauty.

CREDIT: ARIANA PINDER

Makeup is Josh Waller’s medium.

Finally the beauty and fashionworld is as obsessed with nail pol-ish as I am, and has taken this tinycanvas to incredible heights.

Nail polish is the new lipstick,claim many beauty experts, andnail art has exploded in popularityover the years. New formulasdeveloped and became main-stream. Everyone from posh salonsto mega-brands like OPI is step-ping up their game when it comesto options, and nothing seems tooextreme anymore.

Take, for example, OPI’s shatterformula, which made its debut afew seasons back and is now asubiquitous as any solid shade. It’smeant to be painted as a topcoat,and the shatter formula does justthat: create a ‘shatter’ effect. As itdries, the polish cracks to revealsome of the colour underneath.Debuting in black, the shatter crazehas led to the expansion of eightother colours, including gold, redand navy.

Pioneers in the nail art move-

ment, Minx Nails “extends fashionto your fingertips.” Introduced in2007, Minx skyrocketed to popu-larity with a huge celebrity follow-ing. Printing patterns, solids,metallics and anything else imagi-nable onto an adhesive strip, Minxis applied to the nail and shaped bya pro with zero drying time andweeks of wear. Sally Hansen andSephora have since created theirown do-it-yourself versions withpatterns from lace to leopard printnow literally available at your fin-gertips. Shellac, another nail polishbreakthrough, is applied like a reg-ular polish and set with a UV light.With a mirror finish and a 14-daychip-free promise, it’s a revolu-tionary way to get a mani.

Sephora, always a leader inproducts, recently created a mag-netic nail polish. After coatingnails with the polish, the cap,which is magnetic, can be used tocreate patterns or designs and isavailable in chrome, teal and pur-ple. Other fun Sehpora nail good-ies include scented nail polish, nailglitter, nail art stickers and theaforementioned Chic Print fornails.

Nail art has reached such greatheights. Cosmo TV has debuted aseries called Nail Files, which fol-lows Katie Cazorla, owner of The

Painted Nail, a popular salon inBeverly Hills frequented bycelebrities. Hosting gifting loungesat events such as The SundanceFilm Festival and the AcademyAwards (and even walking the redcarpet herself!), manicurists are thenew celebrities. Miss Ladyfinger(missladyfinger.com), an onlinephenomenon, is further proof ofthis. Taking runway trends andturning them into nail art, this blogfeatures a photo of a designer cre-ation and a very real replica of thepatterns and colours redone andbrought to life in a manicure.Chanel at your fingertips? Yesplease.

CREDIT: MISSLADYFINGER.COM

Miss Ladyfinger showed us step-by-step how to get this runwaylook on our fingertips!

CHRISTINA KUBIWKALASHNIKFASHION WRITER

BEAUTY BOYJOSHUA R. [email protected]

FASHION WRITERAIMEE BROTHMAN

A leg-ly lady

Nailing it just got easier

Makeup as an art


THE TONIGHT SHOWwith Jay Leno

More details are coming out aboutthe Italian cruise ship disaster. Itseems the chef on board the ship saysthe captain ordered dinner after thecrash. And here’s the worst part —he ordered it to go.

A hiker who was lost in a blizzardsaid he stayed alive by digging asnow tunnel and burning dollar billsfor warmth. Today he was offered ajob as President Obama’s economicadviser.

Rick Perry has dropped out of thepresidential race. Apparently,America did not want a conservative,gun happy, intellectually challengedgovernor of Texas for pres-ident. At least not again.

BEST IN LATE NIGHTCOMIC RELIEF

CONAN with Conan O’Brien

Mitt Romney released his taxrecords and they showed that heearned$42 million over the last twoyears. So now the other candidatesaren't running for president. They'rerunning to be Mitt Romney.

Google Plus has introduced a newpolicy that allows nicknames.Unfortunately, it's a nickname theygive you based on your search history.

The National Enquirer says that thefather of Khloe Kardashian is O.J.Simpson. When reached for comment,O.J. said, “Man, I just cannot catch abreak.”

During a search of a GuantanamoBay prison cell, guardsfound a copy of al-Qaida’smagazine. The lead articlewas “10 Ways to Find Out IfYour Man’s an Infidel.”

LATE NIGHT with Jimmy Fallon

In Florida, President Obamakissed a woman on the cheek aftershe told him he looks good. Whichexplains why last night, Michellemade him sleep on Air MattressOne.

There’s a new Facebook app thatwill post a final status update foryou after you die. That’s ridiculous.I don’t need someone to change mystatus when I die. I need them towater my Farmville crops.

A new study found that 68 percent of Americans are overweight orobese. While the rest are both.

Texas Governor RickPerry officially dropped outof the race for president.Yeah, he just couldn’t getover that one campaign hur-dle — you know, talking.

THE LATE SHOW with David LettermanPresident Obama was addressing

some dignitaries at Disney World.They even put the pants on DonaldDuck.

I find it fascinating that your aver-age automobile has a better navigationsystem than an Italian cruise ship.

That Italian captain is a regularSully Sullenberger, isn’t he? Insteadof landing a plane on water, he land-ed a ship on rocks.

President Obama wants to remindAmericans of the things he has takencare of — bin Laden, adios. Gadhafi,bye-bye. And Regis is gone.

A McDonald’s restauranthad a rat hopping around onthe hamburger buns. Theywere quick to apologize.They said the rat was sup-posed to be in the fries.

[email protected]

The Evolution of Dance - Gamer Edition

In the beginning, you had to step on an arrow in time with

the music

Then came the Wii, and you had to wave the controllers in

specific fashions

Full-body dancing is required with the kinect. Will gamers

adapt and become cooordinated?

Along came the eye toy, and with it, the need for more coordination. You had to put your hands out to the side while doing the arrows with your feet Bus Stop

I’m what you would

call an apathetic sociopath,

if I cared I would probably

kill you.

GEEK2

fsu.catwitter.com/ fanshawesu

facebook.com/ fanshawesu fsu.ca/social

youtube.com/ fsuweb

LIFESTYLESAcross1. Polite feminine term

5. Feminine name

9. Rant

13. __ matter

14. Prevaricated

15. Born Free feline

16. Short fibres of wool

17. Building additions

18. Conduce

19. Silkworm breeders

22. Engine part

23. Parrot

24. Door frame top

28. Baby bed

30. Canada’s southern neighbour

(abbr.)

33. Far Eastern nursemaid

34. MBA’s subject (abbr.)

36. Erstwhile Ford

38. Made a disfavourable impres-

sion (4 words)

41. “___ you going?”

42. Foundation

43. Narrow road

44. Nothing

45. Throw lightly

47. 100 cents

49. Marvellous (informal)

50. First book of the Bible (abbr.)

51. Deep sea divers’ clothing (2

words)

59. Glide through the sky

60. Feminine name

61. Masculine nickname

62. Cut of beef

63. Vomit

64. Feminine name

65. Terminates

66. Transgressions

67. Strike with the open hand

Down

1. Operates

2. Healing plant

3. Title of some Muslim rulers

4. Intention to injure another per-

son

5. Part of the small intestine

6. Small stream

7. Thaw

8. Annual leguminous plant

9. Blood vessel networks

10. Alcoholic drinks

11. “___ it romantic?”

12. Boys

20. One of the twelve Biblical

spies

21. Medieval violin-like musical

instrument

24. Ship wreck remains

25. Designating a high-quality

Japanese porcelain

26. Central point

27. At that time

28. Conclusions of musical pas-

sages

29. Genetic carriers (abbr.)

30. Customary

31. Cassia tree

32. Modify

35. Public transportation

37. Little girl’s toy

39. Fragrant oil

40. Surrenders one's rights

46. Fill the mind of

48. Burdens

49. Forest plants

50. Wears away by biting

51. ___ of Man: British Crown

country

52. Earth orbiter

53. Hotel room cleaner

54. Group of Zulu warriors

55. Portend

56. “___ do you no good”

57. Monetary unit of Western

Samoa

58. Metal fastener

Solution on page 30

1. Canada has more lakes thanthe rest of the world combined.

2. China is the source of 70 per

cent of the worlds pirated goods.3. The Universityof Alaska stretch-es over four time

zones.4. There are more

than 150 million sheep inAustralia, and only some 20

million people.5. In France, there’s a place

called Y.6. More than 30 African nations

have more cell phones than land

lines.7. Japanese schools do not have

proms.8. In Bangladesh, $5 will buy a

beer or a first-class train ticket fora cross-country trip.

9. Singapore means “Lion City.”10. Argentina’s capital Buenos

Aires means “Good Air.”11. In 2002, there were no bil-

lionaires in China. In 2007, thereare 106 billionaires.

12. Ninety per cent of NorthKorea’s outside phone lines havebeen shut down since April 2005.

13. Niger (Africa) has theworld’s highest fertility rate - 7.1children per mother.

14. Almost half the newspapersin the world are published in theUnited States and Canada.

15. $203 million is spent onbarbed wire each year in the U.S.

16. In 2005, the US governmentspent on average over $20,000 foreach household.

17. Saint Augustine, Florida, isthe oldest European settlement inNorth America.

18. Singapore has only one trainstation.

19. Organized crime is estimatedto account for 10 per cent of theUnited States’ national income.

20. The United States consumes25 per cent of all the world’s ener-gy.

21. Iceland has the most Internetusers per capita of any country inthe world with over 86 per cent ofpeople using the web, comparedwith only 69 per cent ofAmericans.

22. Windmills always turncounter-clockwise. Except for thewindmills in Ireland.

Aries (March 21 - April 19)The lunar cycle deals severely

with you, and there’s no way tostrike back. Forget about pride andindependence. Take whatever helpcomes your way, and be gratefulfor it.

Taurus (April 20 - May 20)Taurus is mining a deep vein.

The lunar cycle brings solid securi-ty to all the Earth Signs. Convincepeople with receptive ears aboutthe thing that seems so obvious toyou. Enlightenment is for every-body.

Gemini (May 21 - June 20)You were hoping for a differ-

ence, but not this kind. A surpris-ing phoenix rises from the ashes.All it takes is one unreliable personto skew the ideal strategy. At leastyou have the resources to keepthinking.

Cancer (June 21 - July 22)Get involved if you believe that

you can make a difference. A rela-tionship won’t go to the next levelunless you take it there. Be veryclear to those who may have animperfect view of what you’redoing.

Leo (July 23 - August 22)Adequate isn’t good enough for

some people. If you want to workfurther with a client, give him orher an attractive reason to comeback. Think beyond your nextinvoice and into the future of yourcommunity.

Virgo (August 23 - Sept. 22)You’re busy this week, but it’s

fun. Visible success only makesyou work harder. Virgo has calcu-lated all the angles, and from yourpoint of view each one can beturned into a winning strategy.

Libra (Sept. 23 - Oct. 22)Memory threatens to become a

prison. Be observant of every-thing, despite the associations thatit may trigger. Rational alle-giances are more useful than sen-timental ones.

Scorpio (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21)At last the big kids include you

in their exciting new games. Be onyour best behaviour so that thiswon’t be just a one-time event.Study the setup now to help makeimprovements later.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 21)Changes must be made, but

they have more to do with consol-idation than expansion. With grimtriumph, you confirm what you’velong suspected. Next time, becareful of anyone who applies forcredit.

Capricorn (Dec. 22 - Jan. 19)Appreciate what you have. With

your mind on the power and disci-pline that keep you doing, youmay be forgetting the impressivehistory of what you’ve alreadydone. Great things come to thedeserving.

Aquarius (Jan. 20 - Feb. 18)The big push continues.

Aquarius tries to prove somethingin a climate that is wary of novel-ty. Keep an eye on your health andenergy meters. The more tired youget, the harder it may be to remainpositive.

Pisces (Feb. 18 - March 20)Play an honest game. Without

hidden intentions, greater agree-ment is possible. Well-placedassociates might offer letters ofrecommendation, but until youhold them in your hand, it’s best toassume that you’re on your own.

hardDaily Sudoku: Sat 20-Jan-2007

2 3

1 4 2

9 8 5 1

7 8 2

6 3 1 9

4 1 6

2 8 7 3

3 8 6

5 6

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 grid con-tains the digits 1 through 9. That means no number is repeated in any col-umn, row or box. Solution can be found on page 30.

Sudoku Puzzle

puzzle rating: hard


Word Search

Unseen Secrets: Cities of the Underworld(Words in parentheses not in puzzle)

Ancient

Berlin

Buried

Cisterns

Crypts

Forgotten (cities)

Eric (Geller)

Lost (rivers)

Paris

Rome

Scotland

Secret (hospitals)

(Time) capsules

Vesuvius

Don (Wildman)

W

T

R

I

S

H

Z

P

E

T

V

G

H

T

A

O A Q R C P G H S F D P C O

F B U R I E D W J V T H A R

D E K Y S H R O C E K G P E

N T M N T L X B R S D V S L

A G F O E C N C P U S Q U N

L R E D R D E V K V W H L B

T J A Y N S T R M Y K N E M

O C P G S K T E N T J Z S D

C T B D W J O N W E H A G T

S O L A O P G B E R L I N R

C L I S X C R H B I V M F O

F U N C H Y O V X C C D J Y

D R Q J K H F C G L F N S W

V E S U V I U S T S I R A P

O F R D I S N Y R W E P I T

KIOSK QUIZ ANSWER

YOU CAN GET AN ISIC CARD AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO - UCC BUILDING.

PRIZES SPONSORED BY CHARTWELLS


A Dangerous Method(2011)

If David Cronenberg’s namewasn’t in the opening credits under“Director,” it would only takesomeone who has seen one of theCanadian director’s other filmsapproximately two minutes ofscreen time to credit him with thedirection of the film. Cronenberg,whose previous works includeVideodrome, The Fly and AHistory of Violence, takes a seriouslook at the relationship betweenFreud and Jung in his latest film, ADangerous Method.

The film tells the story of CarlJung, Sigmund Freud and SabinaSpielrein, the neurotic Europeantrio who gave rise to the concept ofpsychoanalysis. A DangerousMethod opens with Spielrein, ahysterical Russian woman, beingforcibly handed over to the care ofJung in the hopes that he can cureher psychological problems.Through the use of Freud’s “talk-ing cure,” Jung discovers the rootof Spielrein’s troubles and eventu-ally cures her. Soon after, Spielreinbegins training to become a doctorherself while Jung travels from hishome in Zurich, Switzerland toVienna, Austria to meet with hisidol, Sigmund Freud. When Freudand Jung begin to clash over theirviews on psychoanalysis and

Spielrein begins a torrid affair withJung, the relationships crumble,but a revolutionary method oftreatment is perfected.

The cast of A DangerousMethod was chosen perfectly fortheir portrayals of some of the 20thcentury’s most eccentric yet bril-liant minds. Michael Fassbendersteps into the role of Carl Jung, andplays out his complex relationshipwith his mentor Freud in anintriguing and engaging manner.Fassbender consistently displaysincredible charisma on screen andmakes every second spent watch-ing him enjoyable.

Viggo Mortensen, a Cronenbergalum who starred in A History ofViolence and Eastern Promises,fills the very large shoes of revolu-tionary mind Sigmund Freud.Mortensen is one of those rareactors who can bring to life somany different characters in suchdistinctive ways that you can onlyimagine him as the character he iscurrently playing and no other.

Rounding out the neurotic trio is

Keira Knightley as Ms. Spielrein.Although Knightley’s accent in thefilm is more than a little irritating,she does an outstanding job ofbringing to life such a complex anddeeply troubled yet strong woman.

There is something about ADangerous Method that has DavidCronenberg written all over it. Itcould be the unfaltering fixation onthe sexual aspects of Freud andJung’s story. It could also be theovert violence found in a few briefscenes. What truly speaks to thedirector and his distinction in film-making though is the very essenceof Cronenberg; his cinematic style,the way in which he tells a story onscreen, and the way in which view-ing his films makes the audiencefeel.

A Dangerous Method is a darklook into a group of brilliant mindsand is a thoroughly entertainingfilm to watch. A word of warning,though; if Cronenberg isn’t yourthing, you probably won’t findmuch to like about this film.

A Dangerous Method is classicCronenberg

Dream House (2011)

An impressive cast of some ofBritain’s finest – Daniel Craig(Casino Royale, The Girl With TheDragon Tattoo), Rachel Weisz(The Mummy, Fred Claus) andNaomi Watts (The Ring, KingKong) team up in the psychologi-cal thriller Dream House, a filmabout a family that gets more thanthey bargained for when theymove into a country home.

When we first meet WillAtenton (Craig), he is celebratinghis last day of work as an editor.He has chosen to spend more timewith his family, as well as com-pleting his own novel. He is shownto be a loving father of two younggirls, and a husband to Libby(Weisz).

Just as the Atentons are about toembark on an exciting new chapterin their lives, they come to learnsome disturbing facts about theirnew abode. The previous inhabi-tants met a grisly demise, as twochildren and their mother weremurdered, allegedly by theirfather/husband.

Not only are the Atentons quiteunderstandably rattled by this rev-

elation, but they become the victimof a stalker who they assume to bethe murderer himself. Will reachesout to Ann (Watts), the womanwho resides across the street andseems to have knowledge aboutwhat happened that night. But he isnot prepared for the shocking truththat comes to light.

Dream House is one of lastyear’s hidden gems, and features atwist that genuinely left me sur-prised. It moves at a brisk pace (91minutes including credits) and fea-tures terrific performances.

Craig shows he is more than anaction hero. While he’ll always beprimarily known as 007, he shineshere as an average family man putinto a far from average situation.While he is supported by twoimpressive Academy Award-nom-inated actresses in Weisz (a winnerin 2006) and Watts, this is clearlyCraig’s film. Not only does Craigdeliver an impressive performance,but he also experienced a life-changing event while filming. Lifeimitated art, as Craig’s onscreenwife Weisz would become his reallife wife. You could say that they(James) bonded on set… but Iwouldn’t say that, because it wouldbe lame.

Be sure to snag your copy ofDream House when it arrives onhome video January 31.

Dream cast shines inDream House

CREDIT: KTRAILER.BLOGSPOT.COM

Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz star in Dream House.

CREDIT: SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

Keira Knightley and Michael Fassbender in A Dangerous Method.

BUDDY SOMERSINTERROBANG

There’s a feeling you get insmall towns where everyoneknows you, neighbours are friendsand if you need a helping handthere is never a shortage. That’sexactly what you get when youstep into The Grand Theatre fortheir latest mainstage play, Ed’sGarage.

Ed’s Garage tells the story of afarmer, two mechanics and a thera-pist from the big city and theiradventures in small-town Ontario.Ed, a mechanic/social event plan-ner/on-the-side therapist is a busyman; he must deal with findingstolen property, fix a catalytic con-verter and conduct a therapy ses-sion, all before lunch. When Peter,a local farmer, mistakenly goes toEd for his court-mandated angermanagement session, Cassandra, atherapist who is new in town, isjustifiably upset. But after spend-ing just a few short hours with Ed,Peter and another mechanic namedNick, Cassandra and Ed decide tojointly treat Peter, all the while get-ting into hilarious small-townhijinks.

A stellar cast has been chosen tobring to life the charismatic, wittyand flat-out funny characters wholive in the world of Ed’s Garage.Veteran stage actor Rod Beattie,who can be credited with 15 sea-sons at the Stratford Theatre

Festival, brings to the stage theman himself, Ed. Beattie has justthe right balance of quick wit tokeep you laughing and thoughtfulquiet to make the emotionallycharged moments hit home.Though Beattie stumbled through acouple lines on the opening nightperformances, his quick recoverieswere funnier than the original linesthemselves.

Acting alongside Beattie as Ed’sassistant Nick is another StratfordTheatre veteran with 16 seasonsunder his belt, Douglas E. Hughes.If Beattie’s Ed is witty and wry,then Hughes’ Nick is flat-outfunny. Hughes gives a laughter-inducing performance that willhave you wishing for more Nick.

Tim Campbell, who is nostranger to the stage or the screen,plays good-hearted, small-townfarmer Peter. Campbell’s perform-ance perfectly augments those ofboth Beattie and Hughes, andwhen the three men interact onstage there is a smooth, flowingmomentum of comedic gold.

Rounding out the cast of thisfour-person show is AdrienneGould as Cassandra. Gould, whohas multiple stage credits to hername, plays the big-city girl turnedsmall-town therapist with ease, andholds her own alongside such dis-tinguished actors.

The stage direction by DouglasBeattie, who brought to life The

Wingfield Follies and its succes-sors, is outstanding and is compli-mented perfectly by the talent ofthe actors. The sets are simple andfitting to the story, as are the coun-try-style costumes.

If you’re looking to spend anevening in the comfort of friends,Ed’s Garage is just the thing!

Sponsored by The RoyalcliffeRetirement Residence, the playruns on the main stage of TheGrand from now until February 4.

Have a laugh at Ed’s GarageALSION MCGEEINTERROBANG

CREDIT: TEH GRAND THEATRE

The humourous side of the familyfarm as it exists in small-townOntario is currently on the stage atThe Grand Theatre.

REEL VIEWSAlison [email protected]

SPORTS&LEISURE 29Volume 44 Issue No. 19 January 30, 2012 www.fsu.ca/interrobang/

It’s undisputable that we needvitamins. They are essential forgrowth and development. Our bod-ies cannot manufacture most ofthem and they must come from ourdiet.

Some people think that if youtake vitamins by the handful, youdon’t have to watch what you eat.If only it were so easy. Many stud-ies have shown that vitamins fromsupplements do not act on the bodyin the same way as vitamins fromfoods.

Dietitians, nutritionists andother experts all agree that, apartfrom small groups of people inspecial medical circumstances,most of us don’t need to take vita-mins or food supplements. We canget what we need from a balanceddiet. One of the most importantpieces of advice they generallygive is to increase fruit and veg-etable consumption. These are the

foods that are nutrient-rich, vita-min-rich and mineral-rich. Thecurrent advice is to try to have fiveportions per day. This can be quitethe task and many people don’teven consume half the recom-mended quantity. Fruits and veg-gies contain many other plant sub-stances, known as phytochemicals,which can’t be put in a bottle ormade into a pill.

There are always exceptions tothe rule, and certain groups mayneed vitamin supplements.Pregnant women, sun-deprivedpeople, vegetarians, malnourishedpeople and intense sports enthusi-asts may fall into this category. Fornutrition and training purposes,you only need to take the mostbasic and inexpensive multivita-min as a precaution.

A further reason to avoid megadoses of vitamins is that they canhave toxic effects. We do needvitamins, but more isn’t alwaysbetter. It’s not that food or vitaminsupplements are bad, they’re justunnecessary for most of us. Andyou laughed when your mom toldyou an apple a day keeps the doc-tor away.

CREDIT: ACTIVISTPOST.COM

You may want to ask yourself, “Why am I pooping this vitamin pill and doI really need it?”

A few weeks ago I attended the2012 North AmericanInternational Auto Show. Thisweek, I’ll tell you about the carthat took me there, the MiniCooper S Coupe.

This latest version of the Coopermodel can be seen as a last hurrahfor the current platform, since anall-new model is in the works cur-rently.

So what does the Coupe havethat the regular Cooper doesn’t?

Actually, the better questionwould be what the Coupe doesn’thave, and the most notable thingwould be the lack of back seats.The back seats in a regular Cooperare pretty small, so for the funkyCoupe model, Mini decided to getrid of them. So now you won’t beable to cram in an extra passengeror two for a ride. On the plus side,the trunk is now much bigger. Do Isee the lack of passenger carrying anegative? No, not one bit.

Not only will you be lessharassed to transport people, youalso end up with a vehicle thatlooks extremely cool. My familytypically doesn’t bother comment-ing on any car I ever bring home,but this one got everyone talking,and they all loved it.

The love affair with this car’slooks continued at the border.Crossing into the U.S., I usuallyget a million questions regardingwhy I am driving a car that doesn’tbelong to me. This time around,the only questions I was askedwere about the car and how coolthe customs agent thought it was.This happened on both sides, goinginto the U.S. and coming back intoCanada. So if you want a car thatcreates a favourable buzz, this is it.

If, however, you want a com-fortable, quiet car, look elsewhere.On the highway, it’s fine – it rideswell and the only discomfort you’llfeel is from a high-revving engine(it cruises at 3000 rpm at 110km/h) and some road noise. But inthe city, where the Mini should beking, it is quite jarring. This is avery stiff car and you will cringeand curse every time you go overbroken pavement and train tracks.So it’s a small car that isn’t greatfor the city, and it’s not exactlyideal for the highway. What it’sbrilliant at is tackling twisty roads.

If you like small cars that canout-handle just about any kind ofcar on the road, this is your car. AllMinis handle well, and this Coupemodel seems to take that to awhole new level. This is where theextra stiffness comes in handy, andyou can feel the chassis workingwith you to tackle any twisting tar-mac you can think of. I love it.

I also loved its engine, which,like in other Cooper S models, is aturbo-charged, 1.6-litre, four-cylinder engine that produces 181hp and 177lb/ft of torque.

Couple that with its excellentsix-speed manual gearbox, whichsends power to only the frontwheels, and you get a car that willplant a smile on your face everytime you punch the accelerator.

You’ll smile even harder when youput it in sport mode, which tightensthe steering but sharpens the throt-tle. It will tempt you to go fast.

If you do find an area that isokay for going fast, don’t worryabout stability. The Coupe has anelectronically controlled rear spoil-er that rises up at 80 km/h and goesback down again when speeds dropbelow 60 km/h. I like this spoiler.

I also liked this performancecar’s fuel economy. Most cars thatare fun to drive will cost you a kid-ney to keep them running. TheMini Coupe, even despite my spir-ited driving, managed 8.0litres/100km during my week. Thatis extremely impressive.

Continuing on with its impres-siveness is its price. You’d think aspecial car like this would cost afortune, but a base Mini Coupewith the naturally aspirated engineis yours from $25,950. The CooperS version, like my tester, starts at$31,150. The top-of-the-line JCWversion with a bigger turbo thatdevelops 208-hp is yours from$38,400. For the style and per-formance these cars offer, they aregreat value.

So if you do mostly downtowndriving, look elsewhere. If, howev-er, you live near some great,twisty, back-roads, then this Coupeis the car for you.

CREDIT: MINI

The new model from the legendary British automaker, the Mini Cooper SCoupe turns plenty of heads.

Are you serious? What a week-end it was with the NFL’s confer-ence finals both having late gamedramatics. I don’t know about you,but I sure don’t envy BaltimoreRavens kicker Billy Cundiff(missed a 32-yard field goal to tie)or San Francisco 49ers punt return-er Kyle Williams (fumbled twopunts). These guys will have tothink about their last plays untilnext season begins, but that iscompletely beside the point.

The point to come out of all ofthis is... it’s time for the SUPERBOWL! As if the big game wasn’tdramatic enough, we get a rematchof Super Bowl XLII, with the NewYork Giants taking on the NewEngland Patriots. Not much haschanged with these two teams, butthe main difference this timearound is that the Giants appear tobe the hotter team coming in. They

have won five straight games, win-ning the last two on the roadagainst the NFC’s top two seeds(Green Bay Packers and 49ers).

Most of the talk for the nextweek will centre around whetherthe Patriots can seal the deal thistime around and get their revengeagainst the Giants for ending theirperfect season four years ago. TomBrady comes into this game afterstruggling a bit against Baltimore,and Eli Manning didn’t play hisbest against the 49ers, so they willboth have plenty to prove in thebig game.

Key Matchups1. Manning vs. Brady: The big

matchup in this game is obviouslybetween the two signal-callers.They both had unbelievable sea-sons, and as I said, they each didn’tplay their best last week. Manningsaid before the season that he wasan “elite quarterback,” and he hasfinally made a believer out of me.Now let’s see if he can go toe-to-toe with Brady once again on thebiggest stage of them all.

2. Victor Cruz vs. RobGronkowski: Not even from thesame position, but these two are

the big-play guys for their respec-tive teams. Cruz has been anabsolute sensation after nearlybeing cut in training camp, andGronk has shattered several tightend records and no one has beenable to stop him. Either of theseplayers could easily take home theSuper Bowl MVP award over theirrespective QBs.

3. Jason Pierre-Paul vs. MarkAnderson: Good luck to these gen-tlemen. They will have the unenvi-able task of trying to stop thesequarterbacks. The leading rusherson their respective teams, bothPierre-Paul and Anderson have theability to change the very fabric ofthe game with a single play.

The (Final) RundownWell, folks, I could not be more

excited for this game. The story-lines certainly write themselves. Ihave been riding the Giants all theway since they beat my DallasCowboys in week 17, but I don’tthink they can get it done this time.I am going to take the Patriots towin, 34-31. I expect this to be anincredible game, with it comingdown to the very end.

Super revenge game?

NFL CZARJUSTIN VANDERZWAN

MOTORING NAUMAN [email protected]

FUN AND FITNESSRICK [email protected]

Mini is maximum fun

Get your vitaminsfrom your vittles, notfrom a bottle

On January 23, AlexanderOvechkin was suspended for threegames for a hit to the head onZbynek Michalek in Washington’sgame the previous night againstPittsburgh. In a season that hasbeen overwhelmed with a plethoraof suspensions, a mere three-gamesuspension seems small. But thissuspension seems to be part of alarger story, which is the fadingaway of Ovechkin as a star per-former.

It’s amazing if you think aboutit. Ovechkin is below a point-per-game as of the suspension, with 20goals and 39 points in 47 games.This is the former Art Ross Trophywinner who has had four previous100-plus point seasons in the NHLand four 50-plus goal seasons,including career-high 65 goals in2007/08. He’s only on track for 34goals and 67 points this season ifhe keeps up his current pace.

What happened to Ovechkin?He turns 27 this year. Is he past hisprime? At that age, he should real-ly be entering the prime years ofhis hockey career. Perhaps some-thing is amiss in Washington. Theteam has failed to perform in thepost-season since being built into aregular season powerhouse uponOvechkin’s shoulders. This year,they don’t even have the regularseason muscle, as they are fightingfor a playoff spot rather than fight-ing for first in the EasternConference.

It’s a bit of a chicken-and-eggquestion, as one wonders if thedecline of the team’s fortunes is atleast partially caused by

Ovechkin’s declining perform-ance, or if it is Ovechkin’s per-formance that is being affected bya decline in the team’s fortunes.Ovechkin is not the only player onthe Caps who is underperforming.Mike Green, one of the best offen-sive defencemen has been out witha groin injury since November,and the streaky Alexander Seminis barely on track for a 20-goal, 50-point season after hovering arounda point-per-game the last fewyears.

Caps Coach Bruce Boudreauwas sacked in November, as theteam brought in London’s ownDale Hunter, himself a formerWashington captain. Boudreau gotmuch of the blame forWashington’s underperformancethis year, but was he really toblame? Often the coach is an easyscapegoat. Ovechkin isn’t theplayer he was in previous years.His decline reminds a bit of mid-career Teemu Selänne, a guy whowas incredible his first few seasonsin the league, and then declined tobecome only a moderate offensivethreat before mounting a late-career comeback.

With Ovechkin underwhelmingand Sidney Crosby virtuallyunable to play, comparisons ofOvechkin and Crosby to Lemieuxand Gretzky seem farfetched thesedays. When both of these guyscame in the league in 2005, theylooked like the cornerstones of thenew generation of NHL players.We’re only seven years later, andthey are looking like something farless than that due to inconsistencyand injury, respectively.

JEREMY WALLINTERROBANG

What happened toAlex Ovechkin?


www.fsu.caSAC & Executive Positions Available:Vice President of Internal Affairs

Rep for School for Business & Language and Liberal Arts

Pick up nomination form before February 1stby 4pm in SC2001.

Contact:Veronica Barahona, FSU President for more informationSC2001 or email [email protected]

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CREDIT: NHLSNIPERS.COM

Alexander Ovechkin hasn’t been that great this season.

The NBA season is just over amonth old, and I feel it’s abouttime we take a good look at theteams that are favourites to win thetitle at the end of the season.

Miami Heat: LeBron James,Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade – itdoesn’t get any bigger than this.The Heat came within inches ofwinning the title last season butcame undone against a resurgentDallas Mavericks team. James isshowing how effective he can bewithout Wade. The Heat arefavourites for another long playoffrun and with Mario Chalmers,rookie Norris Cole and UdonisHaslem, chances are high that theHeat will storm their way to anNBA title this time around.

Los Angeles Lakers: Off thecourt, the Lakers’ long-time HeadCoach Phil Jackson retired follow-ing the end of the last season andhe was replaced by formerCleveland Cavaliers Head CoachMike Brown. The Lakers boasttwo of the biggest men in theleague, Pau Gasol and AndrewBynum, on their roster and theyshow that they can punish teamsinside the paint. Metta WorldPeace and Matt Barnes haveproved that they can shut down anyfive-star offences. Oh, and a cer-tain Kobe Bryant averaged 43

points per game when the Lakerswere up against worthy playoffopposition. After being blanked 4-0 by Dallas last time around in theconference semi finals, this proudfranchise will be out for revenge(and a title) this time around.

Oklahoma City Thunder: Twowords: Kevin Durant. Durant hadbeen playing an enormous amountof basketball during the NBA lock-out, and it shows. He looks a lottougher than ever before and hasadded a lot of moves to his arsenal.In my opinion, he’s the best all-around player in the league afterJames. Also look out for RussellWestbrook, he’s lighting up theleague and he’s a player you’d loveto hate.

Chicago Bulls: The ChicagoBulls haven’t won an NBA cham-pionship since 1998. It seems likea long time ago that MichaelJordan was on the roster of thatchampionship winning team.Fourteen seasons later, the Bullsfinally look like they have a titlecontender. With Luol Deng, CarlosBoozer and Derrick Rose, theBulls are tough to beat at home;Rose can destroy any defence inthe league, and Deng can shutdown anyone from James toBryant on a given night.

Portland Trailblazers:LaMarcus Aldridge is on quite therun. It’s hard to catch him, and hemakes scoring look easy. Giventhe fact that the Blazers lost keyman Brandon Roy to prematureretirement, this team looked beatenbefore the start of the season.Gerald Wallace will run, jump,

punch and claw his way to produc-tive nights and usually does soevery time the Blazers play.Nicolas Batum and RaymondFelton are big-name spare parts,but in all, despite the loss ofBrandon Roy, the Blazers lookbuilt for a long playoff run.

Outside chances: The DallasMavericks, defending championsof the NBA, the Boston Celtics andthe Memphis Grizzlies will allmake the playoffs comfortably, butI don’t see them going on a verylong run. The Houston Rocketsand the San Antonio Spurs tooshould make the playoffs. TheSpurs lost key man Manu Ginobilito injury and his return is still notfinalized.

The games are coming in thickand fast, and I, for one, know it’sgoing to get exciting as the seasongoes on.

Gunning for glory

CREDIT: CAPRA PHOTOGRAPHY

Basketball’s biggest prize hasmany suitors but only one champi-on.

NBA WATCHVICTOR KAISARtwitter: @supermario_47

For those who aren’t aware, theLondon Knights picked up JoeyHishon after Owen Sound releasedhim about two weeks ago.

Another fact to note: Joey Hishonhas not played a game all seasondue to a concussion suffered in lastyear’s Memorial Cup against theKootenay Ice in round-robin game-play.

The London Knights and OwenSound Attack have developed astrong dislike for each other sincelast year’s first round of playoffs—if you don’t recall, an Owen Soundplayer speared London Knights’Captain Stephen Sanza.

Who was that Owen Sound play-er?

Joey Hishon. The Attack and Knights had a

good rivalry at the start of the 2011OHL playoffs, and it seems asthough the Hishon-Sanza incident isthe spark that set fire to the hatebetween the two teams that stillstands to this date.

All this drama on the ice couldonly lead to drama off the ice. It allstarted about two weeks ago withthe Attack releasing Hishon and theKnights putting him on their protec-tion list. That is significant enoughbut Hishon added fuel to the fire by

Tweeting “@AttackOHL I’m anattacker.. Not a knight.. Just wantedto make that clear ! Thanks foreverything you guys have done forme. #goattackgo”. No doubt that itis a bold statement to refuse toaccept that he is London property, itgoes just a little further to a littlething I like to call ‘foolish pride.’Someone asked him throughTwitter why he wouldn’t want toplay for arguably the best franchisein the CHL. Hishon replied directlyback: “If u ever played for an organ-ization like OS or were a part of thecommunity you would understand”.

We are back to Joey Hishon’sfoolish pride; don’t get me wrong,it’s great to have pride for the teamthat drafted you and developed youinto a skilled player, but OwenSound released the prideful Hishonto make way for a healthy player;basically the team gave up on himgetting healthy and back into theline-up, and instead of keeping himas a cheerleader on the team, theyreleased him for someone else.

The Owen Sound Attack hasrespectfully moved on from JoeyHishon, but Hishon has not movedon from the Owen Sound Attack.He has the potential to be on anoth-er championship team if he getshealthy, although even if the unlike-ly happens and Hishon does recov-er this season; I doubt the ColoradoAvalanche will let him play anothergame in the OHL due to the fact thatthe Avalanche drafted him as a first-round pick and have him listed as atop prospect.


fanshawe college athletics519-452-4430

www.fanshawec.ca/athletics j1034

basketball

open gym time available during the day.all you need is

a campus card. see daily schedule.

The basketball teams head to Sault Ste Marie on Saturday, February

4th for a game against the Sault College Cougars. Women play at

6pm and men at 8pm. They will then head to Algoma University to

play the Thunderbirds on Sunday, February 5th,

women play at 1pm and men play at 3pm.

volleyball

The volleyball teams play host to Sheridan College Bruins on

Wednesday, February 1st, women at 6pm and men at 8pm.

ice hockey

The Women’s Extramural Ice Hockey team will be travelling to

Conestoga College in Kitchener on Friday, February 10th to

participate in Conestoga’s annual extramural tournament.

badminton

The badminton team will be heading to the West Regionals at

Humber College on Friday, February 3rd.

Being an effective striker in a topleague can be a challenge. Manytalents have lost the plot, or theirplot was figured out, and they lostthe touch. However, here are twostrikers who have shown theirworth as top strikers in theBarclay’s Premier League, whilenot being on top teams.

Clint Dempsey has become oneof the best strikers in the premierleague. In Fulham’s match versus atricky Newcastle side, Dempseyalways seemed to be with theattack, and always seemed to havea hand in what Fulham were doing,which can’t be said for many of thesupposed top strikers in thePremiership, who sit and wait forthe play to develop. Dempsey willalways make a ‘favourite player’list because of the tenacity he playswith. His dribbling is good for howrough he plays the game. His firstgoal came when the ball trickledacross the face of the goal and hecalmly tapped it in with his chest.For his second he was found on theback line, piercing them then turn-ing on a ball to the far corner. Andon his third he called for the ball,out-ran the two Newcastle defend-ers and touched it out of their wayalmost all in one motion. Slottingthat one the same way he did withthe second goal, Dempsey scoredhis second hat trick in successivehome matches (his first cameagainst Carleton in the FA cup).

Dempsey is a Fulham hero. Hisstyle of play will go a long way inthe league, as he will most likelymove up the pecking order to a big-ger club sooner, rather than later.

Robbie Keane, on his return tothe top English flight after a briefabsence, delivered on a massivelevel for his new team Aston Villa.In their game againstWolverhapmton, they looked likethey were going to lose for much ofthe game. Down 2-1 after sloppyclearance from Wolves, Keane col-lected a pass just outside the box,turned, and sent an instinctive shottowards Wolves goalie WayneHennessey. Hennessey got a touchon that one, but wouldn’t on thenext. In the 84th minute, Keanecollected a ball just outside the boxand sent a scorcher bar-down.Keane has become a bit of a trans-

fer joke in recent years, but once ateam gave him the chance, you cansee how effective he is. For muchof the game, he sat in behind a nat-ural poacher, Darren Bent, creatingplenty of chances. Playing behind astriker is important, but having theability to fire at will, like Keanedoes, makes the combination oh sodeadly. Don’t look now, but Keanehas four goals out of the last sixappearances for the L.A. Galaxyand Aston Villa.

Late Subs: Arsenal boss ArseneWenger is under fire after hebrought on Andrei Arshavin fornewcomer Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain against ManchesterUnited. While I can understand thedecision, many Arsenal fans can’t(including career Arsenal supporterPiers Morgan in the match post-game).

CREDIT: THECELEBRITYWORKOUT.COM

Clint Dempsey is the all-time leading scorer for Fulham in the PremierLeague era.

Hishon’s foolish pride

CREDIT: SPORTSNET.CA

Joey Hishon hasn’t played a game in the OHL since May 21, 2011.

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Justifying the MLS draft

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Interrobang issue for January 30th, 2012