interrobang issue for monday, january 28th, 2013

Volume 45 Issue No. 18 January 28, 2013 www.fsu.ca/interrobang/

Visit fsu.ca/contest for your chance to win!

INTERNATIONALWEEK

NEWS 2Volume 45 Issue No. 18 January 28, 2013 www.fsu.ca/interrobang/

Dylan Belfer is in his second yearof Business – Accounting atFanshawe College. “I am quiet,but easygoing and easy to getalong with,” he said. In his sparetime, he said he enjoys relaxingwhile listening to music and alsowatching high-quality films. 1. Why are you here?To get an education. 2. What was your life-changingmoment?When I lost 100 pounds.3. What music are you currentlylistening to?

“We Butter the Bread with Butter”by Hänsel und Gretel. 4. What is the best piece ofadvice you’ve ever received?Keep trying.5. Who is your role model?Kevin O’Leary. 6. Where in the world have youtravelled?Cuba, Punta Cana, United States,Dominican Republic and variousprovinces across Canada.7. What was your first job?Newspaper delivery.

8. What would your last mealbe?Steak.9. What makes you uneasy?My lack of confidence. 10. What is your passion?Music and movies.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...

Have bags? Belfer will travel

CREDIT: SUBMITTED

Dylan Belfer, international man of mystery.

CREDIT: MELANIE ANDERSON

First-year Business student Derek Finnemore pets Howard, one of PAWS (Progressive Animal Welfare Services) pup-pies looking for a home. Howard, among other puppies and cats from PAWS, cheered students up as a part ofFanshawe’s Blue Monday mental health awareness day on January 21.

KIOSK QUIZ WHERE CAN YOU GET

AN ISIC CARD FOR TRAVEL DISCOUNTS?

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

sweet tweets of the week

@CitizenCorpsLDNDid you know: the #LTC drove past

almost 22,000 bus stops last year

because they were carrying a full

load? http://www.ltconline.ca/

agendas/120512ix6.pdf #ldnont

@LFPressFanshawe College students help

promote mental health awareness.

http://bit.ly/1411sTZ and http://bit.

ly/1411tHo

@alancrossFanshawe College to stage event

honouring Canadian producer Jack

Richardson. Details: http://www.

sharetheman.com/

@joelcadamsLoving the retro “Do What You Love”

campaign at @FanshaweCollege. (@

T Building) [pic]: http://4sq.com/

UT0MKz

Fanshawe College @Fanshawe-College@joelcadams Thanks for the feed-

back! Much appreciated. We’ve let

our design team know (all Fanshawe

graduates).

@DaveLangford52Ridiculous! @KateatLFPress: Public

school board officially cancels winter

sports. Hockey, boys basketball, girls

volleyball etc. #ldnont“

@annamstoneMany a happy moment today

(despite the london air being made

of liquid nitrogen) #ldnont

@tourism_londonVolunteers needed for @ISUWorlds

Concierge Program! See link 4 details

& help welcome the world to #ldnont

! http://ow.ly/h1N26 #ldnevnt

@Natasha_Bdyou know you’re #Canadian when

you don’t think the -28 wind chill

is really that bad...it’s called dress

properly people! #ldnont

@supermario_47I’d be happy to spend the rest of my

time at #Fanshawe documenting the

life (and antics) of @LondonLight-

ning coach Micheal Ray Richardson

@cblackmore05If mr noodles were a food group I’d

be set #icantcook #studentproblems

@FanshaweCA#ldnont a reminder that just because

it is very cold out does not make the

ice on the reservoir safe to be on. Do

not go on the ice!

Fine-tune your business ideasand polish up your pitches –London’s first-ever StartupWeekend is taking place atFanshawe from February 8 to 10.

Startup Weekend is a frenzied54-hour event in which people teamup to brainstorm, write a businessplan and create a basic prototype oftheir idea. Enterpreneurs, bankersand mentors work togetherthroughout the weekend to makethe startup ideas a reality. The maingoal of the weekend is to make bigideas into real, viable businesses.

“We’re looking at ways to con-nect entrepreneurs, educationalinstitutes and local businesses toeither create startups or to helpstartups or to help technologyentrepreneurs,” said Dr. JohnMakaran, industrial research chairfor Fanshawe’s Applied Researchand Innovation, who is helping toorganize the event.

“I think it would be very good for

the local economy, because 36 percent of the startups that are startedduring a Startup Weekend actuallyare sustainable,” he continued.

The weekend begins on Friday,February 8, when participants willpitch their ideas and form teams towork on their plans. Any pitch fromany sector is welcome, from IT toclean technology to the fashion sec-tor and beyond. The teams willwork throughout Saturday andSunday with help from mentorsfrom the local community to refine

their ideas.It’s all leading up to the big event

on Sunday night, when each ideaand prototype is presented. The pre-sentations will be judged by a panelthat includes representatives fromthe London EconomicDevelopment Council, TechAlliance and more – a “cross-sec-tion of individuals” who can pro-vide different insights into the ideasbeing pitched, said Makaran. Theywill be judging each idea on novel-ty, sustainability and other business

aspects, such as considering anycapital investments that may berequired to make the business areality. Prizes will be awarded tothe top ideas.

“If you ever wanted to own asmall business, this event will pointyou in the right direction, or giveyou an idea of what’s involved inhaving a small business,” saidMakaran. “There are a lot of goodideas, there is a lot of good talent inthe London area, and we’re tryingto leverage that, trying to give (peo-

ple) a forum where they can realizetheir hopes.”

London’s first-ever StartupWeekend runs from February 8 to10 in Fanshawe’s James A. Colvinatrium. Tickets are $75 for stu-dents, $99 for non-students. Theevent is sponsored by StartupWeekend, Fanshawe College(Applied Research and Innovation)and the Mayor’s SustainabilityEnergy Council. For more informa-tion or to sign up, head to ldn.star-tupweekend.org.

ERIKA FAUSTINTERROBANG


Five-hundred Fanshawe studentswill soon be able to wake up andwalk just a few steps to their classes.A new 15-storey, 126-unit apart-ment building has been approvedand will be built on the south side ofOxford Street directly across fromFanshawe’s entrance.

Fanshawe Student UnionPresident Zack Dodge said the newbuilding will help lessen the pres-sure on the on-campus living spacesthat are currently available. “We’rebursting at the seams, we’re general-ly full. For instance, our winterintake students have a pretty slimchance of getting a spot with any-thing on campus, so this is a goodthing. Whether it’s another town-house complex or a high-rise likethis, the need for residence in thisregion is there. We need to expand.”

The new building will ultimatelyprovide a new option for students inany year of study. Fanshawe’s off-campus housing mediator, GlennMatthews, has high hopes for thenew project. “There are very fewhigh rises in the area, and we’rehopeful that it will help studentchoices in the area … Certainly any-time you give more choices to stu-dents, it’s a benefit for everybody.”

He did suggest that one of thethought processes along the waywas drawing students out of theFleming Drive area.

After talking to several parentsover the summer, Dodge said that anunderlying concern was havingrespectable, safe, and responsibleplaces to live around campus.“When you’re driving across thestreet into the Gatewalk, Fleming,Mews communities, I don’t thinkit’s got that curb appeal than, forinstance, a new state-of-the-art,multi-storey vertical residencewould have.” Parents will also gaina peace of mind knowing that 24-hour security will be provided in thenew building.

There is always a concern whenyou have up to 500 students in onebuilding, but Matthews said thatnoise and partying levels aren’t asmuch of a concern in apartmentbuildings. “I’ve been doing my cur-

rent job for 24 years and we rarelyhave issues of a noise variety inapartment buildings. It’s usuallyhouses that are the problem. Eventhough (apartments) are going tohave a lot of people, they don’t havea place to congregate.”

Although many believe it’s aresponse to last year’s riot onFleming Drive, Matthews said theproject has been in progress for 10years. “A developer in Kitcheneroriginally bought the 10 homes onthe property and let them sit for awhile. The partnership dissolved,and the space sat in legal limbo. Inthe meantime, the original ownerswent to the Ontario MunicipalBoard and actually did getapproval,” he explained. TheEnvironmental Committee ofLondon’s city council recentlyapproved the project and in particu-lar the aesthetics that were raisingconcern in the community. Manywere worried the 15-storey unitwould overshadow Fanshawe’stwo- and three-storey buildings.

In 2008, the city introduced theNear Neighbourhood CampusReport Strategy developed to helpdiscover land that makes sense forhigh-density infill, and Matthewssaid this new space fits the bill. “Ifyou look at any planning principles,high density (infill) along arterialroads like Oxford makes totalsense.”

Just down the road from the newbuilding, at the corner of OxfordStreet and Highbury Avenue is alarge space occupied by soccerfields. This area has now become atopic of discussion when it comes tospace that could be better used toserve Fanshawe students.

Earlier this year, many studentswere using the space to park (ille-gally), and walk across the street toclass. “Students are crying out andlooking for that expansion; campusitself is running out of space,”exclaimed Dodge. “Sure, thosefields are active in the spring andsummer when the soccer season isrolling through, but never all of thetime, and never at full capacity,” headded.

Matthews anticipated that thebuilding pattern will continue. “I

suspect down the road you will actu-ally see more buildings, maybe notexactly like this, but at the corner ofHighbury and Oxford, because thegovernment is selling that land offand there had been plans developedfor that area to put high rises alongOxford.”

Both Dodge and Matthews agreedthat there are few suitable high-risesfor students in the Fanshawe area,and there is much room for develop-ment. Dodge said he believes it’ssending a good message to the com-munity, “We’ve recognized that wehave some room to grow, we need togrow with the campus and it’s niceto see that builders feel the sameway.”

Matthews estimated that thebuilding, referred to as FanshaweGate or Fanshawe CollegiateManor, will be ready for new stu-dents by September 2014.

MELANIE ANDERSONINTERROBANG

CREDIT: ADAMASGROUP.CA

The view of a proposed new student high rise at the corner of Oxford St. and First St. across from FanshaweCollege. The building, in the planning stages for the past 10 years will reportedly house 500 students and have24-hour security. It is projected to open for September 2014.

London Startup Weekend seeks big ideas

Rising to meet student demand

Waiting six to nine months foranything is challenging and full ofanticipation, but what if that timewas spent suffering day in and dayout?

For people seeking mentalhealth counselling, six to ninemonths of waiting is hard to swal-low. It’s a problem that kept clini-cal psychologist Felicia Otchet upat night, and so she founded theWait List Clinic in January 2012.

Otchet said it’s a project that hasbeen in the works for years. It tooka lot of planning, research anddevelopment but she’s come upwith the perfect solution.

“It was an act of creativity …there were a lot of undergraduatestudents who couldn’t get anyaccess to direct service training

positions, and then a group of peo-ple who can’t get immediate accessto mental health services; to beable to meld those two thingstogether seemed to be just an ideathat really took off.”

There is no one single ‘point’ tothis program. It was designed to bean aid of many things: helpdecrease wait times, give studentsa learning opportunity at the onlyclinic of its kind in Canada, andreduce stigma surrounding mentalillness.

This grabbed the interest of psy-chologist Dr. Bill Newby coordina-tor at the Wait List Clinic.

“It’s extremely unconventionaland that’s part of the exciting partabout it.”

It hasn’t been easy getting it offthe ground. Otchet wrote manygrant proposals and was finally

successful. Each year the programhas to find a new grant. This yearCanada Post is supporting them.

“Ideally it would be great if wecould have somebody who couldoffer ongoing support,” saysOtchet. “I nail-bite all summerwondering if we’ll have fundingfor the fall.”

This year the Wait List Clinic isthe recipient of the Charity Ballproceeds at Western University.While the clinic is already fundedfor this calendar year, Otchet saidshe hopes to use the funds fromCharity Ball to support themthrough the 2013/14 school year.

At this point the clinic acceptsclients from the Canadian MentalHealth Association LondonMiddlesex. They are broadeningtheir client base by preparing toreceive clients from CMHA’s part-ners, Watch and Search. Otchet isalso looking into external agencies.

Student volunteers execute ses-sions at the clinic. They are in aroom with a video camera. Forconfidentiality purposes, the cam-eras are never recording but areused only for oversight from thesupervising psychologist. Halfwaythrough the one-hour session stu-

dents excuse themselves to debriefwith the supervisor; this also givesthe client a break.

Lenka Kriz, student volunteerfrom King’s Univeristy, has gonethrough training and is awaitingher first session with a client.

“We’re definitely going to behearing some traumatic and upset-ting stories, but the clinical psy-chologist is really helping us tokind of step back and really just lis-ten to the clients. We’re not thereto be providing problem solving.And as much as it might be diffi-cult for us to hear, I think it’s a lotmore difficult for them to experi-ence.”

“A lot of the questions are, ‘Mygosh! What should I say?’” saidNewby. “And part of the job is toreassure them that their job ismainly to listen and to provide sup-port. When we hear somebodywho’s struggling with something,we tend to want to jump in andsolve the problem but of course theclients with whom they’re workinghave been living with the problemfor a long time. If it were easilysolved, they would have solved italready.”

Newby said for the most part,students are dealing with peoplewho are just like them.

“Part of the purpose of the WaitList Clinic I think is to help uslearn that the label does not makesomebody not functional, it doesn’tmake them crazy.”

In fact, a major component ofthe Wait List Clinic is the learningexperience for both parties. “Ithink that often in health and men-tal health, students might have theopportunity to watch activities.

Although, students describe whenthey volunteer they wind up doingmore administrativeactivities…We train our studentsfor the frontline,” said Otchet.

Newby has already seen the ben-efits of the Wait List Clinic in justthe short amount of time it hasbeen open.

“We see clients who flourishgiven someone to talk to. Clientswho begin to come out of them-selves. Clients who feel more likethey belong and I think that’s partof the good. The other good thatcomes out of it I think comes to thestudent volunteers who get toknow a population that I think weall ought to know more about andthe disadvantaged among us to sortof de-stigmatize.”

The Wait List Clinic runs onMonday and Tuesday evenings andcan support up to 16 clients a night.Ideally, Otchet says they can fol-low a client from the time they areplaced on the waiting list to thetime they are placed into a pro-gram.

“The goal is to bridge that gap,”said Otchet.

She said she has two hopes:“One of those hopes is that theneed for wait list services decreas-es with time. I mean, I really dohope that mental health becomesmore adequately funded and it ismy sincere hope that we continueto get funding to enable this pro-gram to be ongoing.”

Fanshawe and Western studentscan be involved in a number ofways aside from dealing directlywith clients. There are research andfundraising opportunities with theprogram.

PAIGE PARKERINTERROBANG

No more waiting for support


Ochuko Efemuai, an interna-tional student from Delta State,Nigeria, came to Canada in hopesof pursuing a successful career inbusiness. With the inception ofFanshawe’s new ProjectManagement program in January2013, Efemuai is well on his wayto achieving his dreams.

After completing Fanshawe’sInternational BusinessManagement program, Efemuaibegan the one-year OntarioCollege Certificate program inProject Management, completedin two four-month semesters.

The program gives students thein-depth knowledge, competen-cies, skills, tools and techniquesrequired to plan and execute proj-ects that achieve organizationalgoals on time and on budget. Theprogram also addresses emergingtrends in project managementthrough courses in agile projectmanagement, project recoveryand project leadership.

“The Project Management pro-gram allows you to effectivelyand practically apply knowledge,skills, techniques and tools toproject activities in order to meetproject requirements,” saidEfemuai. “It is a way of life thatdepends greatly on planning,because if you fail to plan, youultimately plan to fail.”

While his dream is to work withprofessionals to effectively deliv-er projects, Efemuai also envi-sions himself providing motiva-tional talks to help others over-come barriers and achieve theirgreatest potentials. The programis giving him the opportunity toimprove his communication,team-building and people skillsby maintaining close contactswith instructors and classmates.

Not only did Efemuai find theProject Management program to

be the right fit for him, the deci-sion to attend Fanshawe Collegewas an easy one to make.

“Fanshawe College has a long-standing reputation for excellenceand a good learning environ-ment,” said Efemuai. “I couldn’tresist the chance to be taught byexperienced professors whoimpart practical knowledge andmake learning enjoyable.”

Dr. David McKenna, coordina-tor for the Project Managementprogram, is eager to oversee theprogram with its first intake ofstudents, an eclectic mix of inter-national and local students.

“The Project Management pro-gram is focused on preparing stu-dents to leave Fanshawe with theskills, tools and techniques tomanage a project and actuallydeliver a new product, service orimplement a change into anorganization,” said McKenna.

The course work covers boththe Waterfall and Agile method-ologies with courses that includeproject budgeting, schedule con-trol, requirements/scope manage-ment and project recovery usingproven academic theories, casestudies, role playing and simula-tion software. The students willbe prepared to write a number ofProject Management Institute cer-tifications as they set out into themarketplace.

Graduates from the program areprepared for various project man-agement roles in large and smallorganizations, in the public andprivate sectors, and in a variety offields such as information tech-nology, construction, transporta-tion, education, manufacturingand healthcare.

In a constantly changing econo-my, Efemuai is confident he is onthe right track to success andencouraged students who are task-oriented and looking for a dynam-ic challenge to apply to the

Project Management program. For more information about the

program, visit tinyurl.com/fan-projman2013.

AGNES CHICK INTERROBANG

Project Management program pavesthe way to business student’s success

for the following positions:

Pres

www.fsu.ca

FSUNEEDS LEADERS

Nominations Now Open

Contact Zack Dodge - [email protected] FSU.CA

wing polloor the ffoffo

reP s

positions:

e odgack Dt ZontacC ca ec.es@fanshaw- fsupr FSUU.CA


From January 28 to February1, Fanshawe is hosting its annualInternational Week, giving stu-dents the opportunity to go on aninternational tour and experiencelifestyles, cultures and food fromaround the world.

Krista Vogt, Fanshawe’s inter-national projects and exchangeCoordinator, said, “This (week)is all about thinking more inter-national and making studentsfeel at home.”

Check out the booths set up inF Hallway throughout the weekfor the InternationalBazaar/Cultural Showcase. Eachday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., stu-dents and organizations will beoffering information about howto get involved locally and inter-nationally.

On January 28, a speaker fromthe Student Work AbroadProgram (SWAP) will discusshow students can find jobsabroad from 3 to 4 p.m. inB2010.

Movie nights can be a wonder-ful way to get to know the cul-ture, lifestyle and language ofdifferent countries. Movies willbe shown in T1003 at 7 p.m.: onJanuary 29, check out

Bollywood film Zindagi NaMilegi Dobara (You Don’t GetLife A Second Time); on January30, watch Ip Man, a Chinesefilm; and on January 31 see LatinAmerican film Pan’s Labyrinth.

Sports fans will be happy toknow there are three differentevents running during the weekto connect students over the loveof getting active. Showcasesinclude cricket on January 29 inGym 3, table tennis on January30 in the J Mezzanine, and soc-cer on January 31 in Gym 3.

Throughout the week you canalso dine on all sorts of interna-tional foods at the restaurants oncampus: Saffron’s and OliveOyle’s are both creating specialinternational menus, while theOasis and Out Back Shack areoffering a delicious mix ofworldly flavours during theirInternational Wing Week.

The fun continues afterInternational Week ends!Fanshawe’s Asian New YearCelebration is on February 8from 6 to 9 pm in B Cafeteria.Tickets are just $15.

There are many other activitiesrunning throughout the week, socheck out the InternationalDepartment in E2025 for moreinformation.

CHRYSOLIN GRACYINTERROBANG

Fanshawe welcomes theworld for International Week

The annual Share the Man con-cert is being held once again thisyear in honour of Juno Award-win-ning producer Jack Richardson(July 23, 1929 - May 13, 2011), aformer Fanshawe professor in theMusic Industry Arts department.The concert will feature 15 bandscovering the top hits Richardsonproduced throughout his acclaimedcareer. Share the Man will takeplace February 6 at Aeolian Hall(795 Dundas St.); doors open at6:30 p.m. and seating is first-come,first-served.

“It’s a great way to get involvedwith the community, especiallysince Richardson was one of thekey players in helping to get theMusic Industry Arts program offthe ground,” said FanshaweStudent Union Vice President ofEntertainment Kendra Sauder.Sauder is currently in her secondyear of the Music Industry Artsprogram.

Richardson is known by some as“Jack the Bear,” the producingpowerhouse behind bands such asThe Guess Who, Alice Cooper andBob Seger, to name a few. He wasconsidered one of the heavy-weights in the Canadian musicscene. Taking a chance,Richardson mortgaged his house in

order to take the band The GuessWho to New York to record theiralbum Wheatfield Soul, whichwould go on to feature their break-out hit “These Eyes.” Since 2003,the Juno Awards has given out theJack Richardson Producer of theYear award, in Richardson’s hon-our. Richardson himself won sev-eral Junos throughout his life,including Best Producer andProducer of the Year.

Sauder said it’s great thatFanshawe had such an acclaimedand respected musician that brings

notoriety to the program. Tickets are available at the Biz

Booth on campus or at AeolianHall, or by speaking with a studentfrom the Music Industry Arts pro-gram. Tickets are $15 for the pub-lic and $10 for Fanshawe students.The event will feature a night ofgreat music and a cash bar.Proceeds from the event will go tothe Heart and Stroke Foundation.

For more information, check outsharetheman.com.

MEGAN MCPHADENINTERROBANG

CREDIT: FANSHAWE COLLEGE

Jack Richardson in studio at Fanshawe College.

MIA students honour award-winningproducer Jack Richardson

It’s more than an issue; Idle NoMore is a movement. It’s a move-ment that London MP IreneMathyssen of the New DemocraticParty is calling long overdue asFirst Nations people in Canadahave been mistreated for hundredsof years.

The Indian Act of 1927 was seenby many individuals as a way tosuppress Aboriginal rights. Sincethen, they have been fighting end-lessly to gain power within thepolitical decision-making process.

Currently the Idle No Moremovement revolves around Bill C-45, better known as the secondOmnibus Bill.

First Nations people are inupheaval as they were neglected tobe included in the discussion overchanges to Bill C-45. Much of theproblem is environmental. Thegovernment wants to change theNavigation Protection Act allow-ing those involved in the EnbridgePipeline Project to use 99.9 percent of lakes and rivers in Canadawithout ensuring that no damagewill be done.

This is what stirred ‘the move-ment.’

When Mathyssen was an MPP inLondon-Middlesex, her interac-tions with the First Nations peoplein the area made it clear that“they’re not going to accept whatprevious generations accepted.They’re not going to accept beingmarginalized, they’re not going toaccept the racism, they’re notgoing to accept the poverty –they’re angry, and that anger isbrewing towards something, andwe’re desperately hoping that thatsomething is positive.”

This isn’t the first torment FirstNations have faced. In 1979 adiesel leak beneath an elementaryschool in Attawapiskat released30,000 gallons of diesel, leavingmany ill. In 2000, this leak wasfinally discovered. TheAttawapiskat teachers and childrenwere forced to breathe in noxiousair and work in subpar mold-infest-ed portables. Only in 2011 wereplans for a new school announced.Just as a new school was over-looked for over 30 years, there wasalso neglect over the discussion ofthe Pipeline.

“The main overarching themebehind the movement,” according

to Joel Abram, Chief of the OneidaSettlement, “is environmentalismand making sure we have a cleanenvironment not only for FirstNations people but for all our chil-dren in future generations.”

Dan Smoke, Indigenous Studiesprofessor at Western University,explained that it is women whoensure the future of First Nations.

“We believe that women havethe sacred fire of our peoplebecause they carried our future.Everything we do today has to ben-efit the next seven generations andit’s the women who take care ofthose sacred ones.”

But, for a long time, women losttheir equality within First Nations.

“We come from matrilineal soci-eties,” said Smoke. “Women werethe ones who had the role of select-ing chiefs, they raised the children… but all of that was taken awaywhen Western civilization arrivedhere because at the time womenwere considered chattel.”

Smoke said this is why Idle NoMore speaks volumes. “We seethese women who are reclaimingtheir roles and responsibilities inour communities, and it’s beauti-ful.”

Women started this movement;Theresa Spence’s endless hungerstrike is an outstanding example oftheir fortitude.

Spence claims her hunger strikewill be ongoing until she meetswith both Prime Minister StephenHarper and the Governor GeneralDavid Johnston at the same time.

This movement has been no easyfeat for the First Nations people,who are a peaceful people, accord-ing to Smoke.

“Warriors are people who arethe bearers of the brunt of peace;that’s what ‘warrior’ in our lan-guage means, meaning that we tryto deescalate any conflict and con-frontation and use our good mindsto find peaceful resolutions in life.”

Abram is certain there is a wayto come to a peaceful outcome“It’s not that … we want more,more, more; it’s more or less,‘Let’s do this in a sustainable wayfor everyone, make us their equalpartners.’”

That would be an ideal outcome,but for Smoke, he essentially wantsto see the First Nations makeCanada a better country.

“What the government does tous and what they can get away with

us, they’re going to do to their ownpeople. So we are like the test casefor a lot of this government intimi-dation. So it’s important that wehave to maintain this sovereignrelationship between our nations sothat we can communicate and lis-ten to each other.”

His plan? Well, it all lies in edu-cation and communication.

“Teach ins are so important, I

think we should be having themhere at Fanshawe, I think weshould be having them at highschools, and we should be havingthem on a regular basis so that peo-ple can sit down and have a com-munity discourse and talk to eachother. We have to learn to listen;we have to listen to learn,” Smokesaid.

And if that can happen, this can

happen: “People would know ourhistory, people would know aboutresidential schools, they wouldknow about the trauma, the histori-cal trauma that we’ve suffered andthat we’re still here despite every-thing that’s happened to us andthere’s been a lot. But we’re stillhere and we’re still willing tonegotiate a better future, not for usbut for our future generations.”

PAIGE PARKERINTERROBANG


Are you looking for somethingto do during spring break? Want towork on your tan before summer?The FSU Publications departmentis giving away two trips for two toPanama City Beach, Florida, cour-tesy of TNT Tours.

How can you win? Get caughtreading the Interrobang! Submit aphoto of you reading theInterrobang and upload it tofsu.ca/contest. If you are not intoreading or photos but would stilllike a chance to win, visitfsu.ca/contest and vote on yourfavourite photo submission for

your chance to win. One photosubmitter and one voter will beselected as winners.

All photo submissions are dueby February 1 at 4 p.m. and votingtakes place February 4 at 10 a.m.until February 8 at 10 a.m. Thewinners will be chosen onFebruary 8 at 4 p.m.

You must be a full-timeFanshawe College student to winand claim the prize. Winners willbe notified by email. The FSUreserves the right to draw for newwinners if the prize is not claimed.For full contest details, visitfsu.ca/contest.

HANNAH LECTERINTERROBANG

Win a trip forSpring Break!

CREDIT: CANADIAN PRESS

People from Aamjiwnaang First Nation blockaded the CN St. Clair Spur line in Sarnia as part of the Idle No Moremovement

Learning from Idle No More

I was behind a balding, middle-aged,short, portly, pseudo-business, rayon-gold-and-brown-tie-wearing man at the grocerystore the other day. He was wearing one ofthose slick, over-the-ear Bluetooth cellphonethingies; he looked like he was modeling avintage hearing aid. His ability to maintain aconversation while running 16 items throughthe 10 items or less express lane was quiteimpressive. Now there were three things thatirritated me about him. If I wanted to listento inane banter, I’d go talk to the staff at RedLobster.

I often wonder at our capacity to imposeourselves onto others. We are inundated withcontinual snippets of one-sided personalconversations. I sure don’t need to listen tothe idiotic musing of every person riding theOxford East Bus. You know what? No onecares what you are wearing to the FROGtonight, or how wasted you’re going to get,and I sure don’t want to be subjected to yourshallow debate on the relative merits of thenew Carrie Diaries TV show. (For therecord, it’s a damn fine show!)

To be fair, many of us are not quite soextroverted and prefer to communicate withthe world by plugging in our earphones,sending a text, and ignoring everyone else.The infamous ‘awkward silence’ has effec-tively been replaced by our ability to focuson a small black box grafted onto our hands.We can thank cellphones for giving us anexcuse not to make eye contact and thereforeconverse with our neighbours, the mail carri-er and that guy on the corner asking forchange.

‘Real’ conversations have been usurpedby the text message. Receiving a text is likegetting a shot of morphine. Our textingaddiction is only getting worse: we text atdinner, in the movies, in class, in the bath-room, while driving, and in bed. A greatwave of dark and foreboding loss washesover us during those panicked moments thatwe think we lost our hit – I mean cellphone.

An entirely new and strange language isbeing created here – the language of texting– and it is slowly breaching the cellphoneand entering into our spoken colloquial.Please stop using the terms LOL and WTF inan oral conversation… or oral anything forthat matter.

A new study shows that cellphones areresponsible for the loss of almost half of theworld’s bee population. Apparently beesdetect the cellphone signal and it puts theminto a state of unrest. The frequency increas-es their anxiety to a point where they becomeconfused, muddled and aggressive, andeventually they leave the hive and die. I’mnot sure if this amounts to a parable befittingLao Tzu and an added chapter in the Tao TeChing, but it does say something about thepossible outcome of our addiction.

I suppose that we must all find our escape,our release in this tumultuous world of ours.Perhaps the social idiosyncrasies – the threatof cancer from the bombardment ofmicrowave radiation emitted by our phones,the labour crisis in third world factories thatproduce our cheap and disposable technolo-gy, the extraction and manufacturing effectson our environment, the locked-up monop-oly of cellphone providers – are all worth it?Perhaps the price for continual updates isworth the price of our culture, health, eco-nomics and environment. Perhaps cell-phones are nothing more than a forced three-year commitment with a quickly outdatedpiece of technology that has made all of our

thumbs more dexterous than a pole danceron coke.

As Einstein once said, “If the bee disap-pears from the surface of the earth, manwould have no more than four years to live.”

What a waste, we would still have twoyears to go on our contract.

How would the students of FanshaweCollege feel if the Interrobang was notallowed to use their office space to crank outthe awesome weekly newspaper that we alllove to read?

It would be an injustice done to the stu-dents, the faculty, visitors and others whoshow interest in the writing talents and opin-ions of the writers who are employed by theFanshawe Student Union. Well, this isexactly what the writers at The Gazette,Western University’s newspaper, were fac-ing over the past few weeks.

The University Students’ Council pro-posed to evict The Gazette staff from theircurrent office in favour of a multi-faith roomto be used for religious practices. TheGazette has currently been in their office onthe second floor of the UCC building forover 40 years.

The UWO Gazette has a rich history dat-ing back to 1906 and is the only post-sec-ondary institution sponsored newspaper thatpublishes issues four times each week. TheGazette is made possible by dozens of writ-ers, staff, volunteers and other hard-workingpeople who dedicate their time and efforts inorder to make sure critical news and infor-mation gets through to the students and fac-ulty of Western University.

This whole situation has come aboutbecause the University Students’ Councilfelt the space belonging to the multi-faithstudent groups needed to be changed.However, throughout further discussion,student representatives from the variousfaith groups made it clear that they do notwant to infringe on anyone’s space and are

satisfied with their current space. It isunclear as to the specific reasons why theUSC wanted to move the multi-faith groupsto the space occupied by The Gazette, asthey returned no comment when contactedby phone and email.

When asked what the primary reasonbehind the breakdown in negotiationsbetween the USC and The Gazette, editor-in-chief Gloria Dickie said, “I don’t thinknegotiations broke down, I think the StudentCouncil was never willing to negotiate withus. When they broke the news that we wouldbe replaced with a multi-faith space, theysaw it simply as informing us. Our sugges-tions for alternatives, for the most part, fellon deaf ears and weren’t thoroughlyreviewed, in our opinion. Multi-faith wassimply deemed a higher priority than TheGazette, so the USC saw no reason to nego-tiate.”

On January 17, there was a meeting thattook place between the student representa-tives of the multi-faith groups, the USC andThe Gazette. The feelings after the three-hour meeting were positive on all sides. Theissue itself still has not been rectified to thefullest extent, but no shifts in office spaceare expected to occur.

The incident will make The Gazette staff

more cautious moving forward; “I think TheGazette will definitely be looking tostrengthen itself in case of other issues in thefuture. Whether that means reviewing thepossibility of going independent, or simplyrelying on our strategic review committee toadvise us for the best, we’ll have to see,”said Dickie. It is evident this debate has alsohurt the editors and the many contributors toThe Gazette. Most of them have called theircurrent office home for over three years andtake great pride in their work.

The Gazette was not alone in their outrageabout the handling of the situation. Theyhave received national news coveragethrough Maclean’s, The National Post, andthe Toronto Star. They even managed to gar-ner enough press on Twitter to have#UWOgazette trending across the country.

There has been a lot of debate as to whatthe ultimate fate of The Gazette will be intheir current office. The only thing that mat-ters at this point is ensuring that both sidesare treated equally. The Gazette has held thisoffice as their home for over four decades. Itwould be an emotional blow, not only forthe editors, contributors and volunteers, butalso to the hundreds of alumni over the yearswho have dedicated their time to make TheGazette what it is today.

Gazette conflict about muchmore than just office space

OPINION LETTERS TO THE EDITOR [email protected] 7


FSU Publications OfficeSC1012www.fsu.ca/interrobang/

Publications Manager John [email protected] • 519.453.3720 ext. 224

Editor Erika Faust [email protected] • 519.453.3720 ext. 247

Staff Reporter Melanie Anderson [email protected] • 519.453.3720 ext. 291

Creative Director Darby [email protected] • 519.453.3720 ext. 229

Advertising Sara [email protected] • 519.453.3720 ext. 230

Web Facilitator Allen [email protected] • 519.453.3720 ext. 250

Letters to the [email protected]

Graphic Design Contributors:Hannah Marshall, Bernie Quiring, Kayla WatsonPhotographers:Illustrator:Alyse GillingsContributors:Jessica Bice, Agnes Chick, Susan Coyne, Victor De Jong,Nauman Farooq, Bobby Foley, Allen Gaynor, Moira-Christelle Ghazal, Stuart Gooden, Eshaan Gupta, VictorKaisar, Amy Legge, Wendy Lycett, Suzie Mah, TaylorMarshall, Alison McGee, Rick Melo, Hai Ha NguyenPaige Parker, Roland Priske, Jeffrey Reed, Ryan Springett,Marty Thompson, Michael Veenema, Joshua WallerComics:Dustin Adrian, Laura Billson, Robert Catherwood,Charles Colling, Chris Miszczak, and Andres Silva

Cover Credit:DARBY MOUSSEAU

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 rights

reserved. The Interrobang is published weekly by the FanshaweStudent Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., Room SC1012,London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through theFanshawe 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.

DAKOTA THOMPSONINTERROBANG

CREDIT: HEALTHFREEDOMS.ORG

A Swiss study suggests that cellphones may be the cause of a dwindling bee population.

TENSIONFRANK YEW (I.H.N.F’S.)

Cellphones and that disappearing buzzing sound

OPINION LETTERS TO THE EDITOR [email protected] 8


The grass-roots of the Idle No Moremovement were a response to Omnibus BillC-45, an enormous piece of legislation thatthe prime minister introduced to the Houseof Commons. Since then, the story has beenhijacked by the hunger-striking Chief ofAttawapiskat, Theresa Spence. The parts ofC-45 that relate to Native and Aboriginalrights are of particular concern as they affecta band’s ability to control their land. The billgives the federal government authority toparcel, sell or even dismantle a reserveshould they see fit. This created outrageamong First Nations and non-Aboriginalsalike.

The movement has grown to encapsulatethe views of an increasing percentage of thepopulation who see portions of Bill C-45that will affect them directly. As a move-ment grows in size, there’s an inherent ero-sion of the core values due to the diversity ofindividuals, but in one case there’s an indi-vidual who is, deliberately or not, changingthe message completely.

As the Idle No More movement refuses tofade, the most controversial stories are com-ing from the actions of Chief TheresaSpence. In her efforts to raise awarenessabout conditions on her reserve, Spence hasundermined a lot of the progress that Idle NoMore has been able to accomplish. In aninterview with CBC, Idle No More co-founder Sylvia McAdam expressed concernthat one individual was drawing so muchattention.

Spence began her hunger strike inDecember and subsisted on fish broth for 44days. The original intent of her hunger strikewas to generate a meeting with PrimeMinister Stephen Harper. It was announcedthen that Chief Spence would be permittedto attend the meeting between the officialbody of First Nations, The Assembly of FirstNations, and the Prime Minister. Shortlyafter the announcement, Spence respondedthat she would not be in attendance withoutthe presence of Governor General DavidJohnston and that the hunger strike wouldcontinue. She ended the hunger strike onJanuary 24. The interim leader of the AFN,Roger Augustine, expressed concern thatSpence continues to try bargaining directlywith the government when he was inter-viewed by The Globe and Mail.

The Idle No More movement has expand-ed to encapsulate Canadians of every ethnic-ity and region. In an interview with theNational Farmers Union, an organizationthat has thrown their support behind Idle NoMore, board member Glenn Tait expressedconcern over some of the trade policies thatwould be enacted under the new bill.Farmers already pay a patent fee for theirseed and the formula is tightly controlled bythe seed manufacturers. Under the new leg-islation, a farmer that is suspected of notpaying the patent rate could have his assetsfrozen by the seed company until they’veinvestigated. Tait went on to say that Idle NoMore is challenging the way theConservative government conducts theiraffairs. It’s an attitude that’s been growingamongst Canadians as Harper’s second termcontinues and Chief Spence continues toundermine that cause. Her flip-flop demandscoupled with a damning audit of herreserve’s finances render her as a detrimentto the Idle No More cause which she selfish-ly continues to tout.

Chief diva:Theresa Spence

In case you missed it, as I nearly did,World Religion Day has come and gone.People observe it on the third Sunday ofevery January. Not to worry, though. Theorganization has a website with loads ofinformation.

World Religion Day tries to help peopleunderstand more about the major faiths suchas Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism andIslam, and about the smaller players such asScientology and Animism. And more under-standing can’t be a bad thing. In fact, agnos-ticism and atheism should be included in therange of religions. They are not as easy todefend as fundamentalist atheists such asRichard Dawkins say they are (actually, if Iremember correctly, he disdains agnosti-cism). They require faith. Come to think ofit, so do ideologies like Capitalism,Socialism, and just about every ism – includ-ing patriotism and NHLism – that you canthink of. More on that maybe at some laterdate.

At the same time, the WRD websitereveals some assumptions that can be mis-leading. The first is that a religious approachto life is a shade inferior to the non-religious.The non-religious is the “normal” approachthat remains once you cut away superstition,religious biases, fear of judgement in theafterlife, the authority of fanatics whofounded religions and uphold them, andchildish dependency on a god. It’s taken along time for large segments of humanity toget to this point, but, thank goodness thattime is here. We can now move on, leavingbehind a world of religious intolerance, ter-ror, misled (though lovable for other rea-sons) ancestors and relatives, and warfare.

According to this view, religion is a per-

sonal choice. It’s not a highly intelligent one,or one that can be easily defended in public,but it’s one that you or I can respect if we seeanother person making that choice – even ifit is a little abnormal.

A second assumption is that the world’s“religions” are somehow fundamentally thesame. If the commonalities of the religionscan be exposed, and if we can get them towork together, then religion will have earnedan honourable role in our world where, afterall, the main thing is that we should all getalong and cease viewing anyone as the“other”, as the enemy. An inclusivity thatwill embrace all healthy diversities is whatthe world desperately needs, and religionsmust serve this goal or perish.

About the first assumption: I will not pre-tend to speak for any other faith except theone I know well, and that is Christianity.Christians have maintained that theChristian understanding of life and the worldis normal – and also intelligent and worthyof public endorsement. It is not meant mere-ly for the inside of church facilities but ismeant for the whole world.

It offers a view of the world that pays ade-quate attention to the persistence of evil ininternational politics, family life, and thehuman heart, including mine.

At the same time, it is a signpost directingpeople to see God as the creator who madethe universe (whatever its age and physicalproperties) to be an arena of profuse life andheart-stopping gladness. It is not based onfear (although some Christians are fearful),nor is it based on ignorance (though someChristians are not well educated). DesmondTutu, Bono, Pope Benedict, Martin LutherKing Jr., Mother Teresa, Henri Nouwen,Bach, St. Augustine, C. S. Lewis, professorsat King’s College are, if anything, not igno-rant, to say nothing of the 300-plus pastors,chaplains, priests, ministers and Christiancommunity workers swarming London andregion.

Christianity is for all people. It is beyond

normal. It is a portal to meaning, hope, greatjoy (as the Christmas hymns say), and a lotof fun too – for all people. Jesus Christ is forall people.

About the second assumption that all reli-gions can be brought together: This seems towork very well for people who don’t adhereto any particular religion. But I doubt thatmembers of the Buddhist community inHalifax, Nova Scotia, near where I live at themoment, would want to be merged with theChristian church at the next intersection.Muhammad, the founder of Islam, providedhis followers with a Quran that in a numberof places condemns people for believing thatGod is three persons, which is foundationalto Christian faith. (Actually, it appears hehad a bizarre understanding of which threepersons make up God, an understanding thatwould be tossed out by any Christian. So, ina strange way, Muhammad and Christiansagree that the tri-unity of God – asMuhammad understood it – isn’t worth thetime of day. The only thing is, he appears tohave misunderstood it.) And there are foun-dational differences between Hinduism andIslam, between aboriginal traditions andCatholicism. And so on.

Nevertheless, is there value in WRD pro-moting greater awareness of religious differ-ence? I think so, and I think this from what Isee as a Christian take on the question.

All persons should strive to bring a greaterdegree of justice, healing, and peace to ourworld. God created all of us for a just andpeaceful planet. And creating awareness ofdifferences is key to this work.

Differences between religious faiths willpersist (apparently). But that’s okay. Godhas given us some ability at least to dialogueand sort out religious truth claims, evenallowing that many disagreements will per-sist. We may, with justification, worry thatthe different truth claims will lead to vio-lence. But they don’t have to. Often they donot, and that should give us some courage intrying to deal with them.

VICTOR DE JONGINTERROBANG

NOTES FROM DAY SEVENMICHAEL [email protected]

World Religion Day:

A waste of digital capacity?

CREDIT: CANADIAN PRESS

Theresa Spence continues her hunger strike.

LIFESTYLES 9Volume 45 Issue No. 18 January 28, 2013 www.fsu.ca/interrobang/

I write about random things alot. I write a lot about randomthings. An album release cyclefrom start to finish is an incredi-bly long process. It can take awhile for a band to record andengineer their music to theirtastes, certainly, but in truth com-pleting the album is one in a longlist of tasks involved in releasinga new album to the public.

In fact, since the process ofreleasing records from start tofinish costs a lot of time andmoney, releasing new musicoften can become a challenge formany independent musicians –especially considering how muchtime and money it takes to be anactive touring artist to beginwith.

It’s been a long wait for DataRomance’s new full-lengthalbum Other, due at last forrelease February 19 on DineAlone Records. It’s way too farin advance for the album to havereceived any published reviews,of course, however I’m personal-

ly very excited for its release andhad to tell you about it.

Data Romance released theirself-titled EP early in 2011, itsfour songs as diverse in tone andatmosphere as they are strong andemotive. The duo –Victoria–born AjayBhattacharyya and AmyKirkpatrick – made a strongimpression on audiences after therelease, touring to generate inter-est in a full-length debut.They’ve spent the time inbetween then and now workingon their music, growing theirsound and sharing progress alongthe way through social media.

While it delves into darkplaces, their music exhibits awealth of tonal shades that con-trasts ironically with their clean,minimal image. Bhattacharyya’scompositions are three-dimen-sional, as demonstrated in onesong “Others” – the musicbreathes and rolls underKirkpatrick’s gentle vocals, itsability to captivate is highlyindicative of the remaining albumahead.

Data Romance surely benefitsas the sum of its parts –Bhattacharyya and Kirkpatrickeach bring immense talent to thetable. Kirkpatrick has the deliv-

ery and vocal purity of a bred popstar, tenderly painting lyrics overthe shifting canvas that she andBhattacharyya have engineered.One moment she is Amy Millan,stoic and unapologetically loveworn, and the next she is AnnieLennox, lamenting and yearning.

On stage the connectionbecomes clear; Bhattacharyyaintently focused on his station,sculpting out sound to accompa-ny Kirkpatrick, singing with thekind of raw talent and earnestthat pop stars haven’t employedsince the diva era ended.

The coming album Other fea-tures recent singles “She’s BeenHigh” and “Caves” among itsnew offerings. Information isscarce online at the moment butvisit dataromance.com or follow@dataromance on Twitter fornews as the release approaches –my fingers are crossed for a toursoon.

And for more of the latest inmusic news, views and even per-sonal recommendations, considerfollowing this column on Twitter@fsu_bobbyisms. Listen tosomething new sometime, I’mout of words.

BOBBYISMSBOBBY FOLEY

CREDIT: DAVE HAMILTON

Ajay Bhattacharyya and Amy Kirkpatrick are the duo known as DataRomance. They will be releasing their new album Other on February 19.

Why you should love Data Romance

LIFESTYLES10Volume 45 Issue No. 18 January 28, 2013 www.fsu.ca/interrobang/

We’ve all been there: Themoment you press Send, yourheart begins to race with anticipa-tion of a reply back from whomev-er you’re texting at the time.

An hour goes by with noresponse; you start to analyze whatyou sent, reading it over and overagain 25 times to make sure youriPhone didn’t autocorrect one ofyour words into something unfor-giveable.

Once the two-hour mark hits,you’ve hit absolute panic mode. Inyour mind, there are only twothings that could have possiblyhappened: that person has mental-ly thrown you in the crazy bin andhas run for the hills OR a car hasjust hit them and they can’t textright away. Of course, there’s agood chance that neither of thesethings actually happened, but welike to work ourselves up in a waythat makes us think so.

The next morning (technicallyevening, since you haven’t slept at

all) you will likely receive a textsimply explaining a situation of adead phone battery. All of thosescenarios you created in your headsuddenly make you feel likemaybe you really should be put inthe loony bin.

Now, in my experience, thewaiting game can be a leadingcause of nervous breakdowns. Iwish I had found a cure for it bynow, but my eyelids still twitchjust as much now as they did in theseventh grade. For the ladies goingthrough a similar situation, it’simportant to remember that some-times members of the opposite sexjust get caught up with waxingtheir chests and forget about theirphones for a while – this doesn’tnecessarily mean they’ve lost allinterest in you and are filing for arestraining order (that only hap-pens on a rare occasion). As for theguys, girls can be the exact sameway and sometimes they enjoymaking you wait a while.

However if you’re the one notdelivering a response, know thatevery minute you wait to pressSend, the other person spendscounting their arm hairs in agony.That’s what I’ve heard, anyway.

Let the waiting games begin!

MY SERIES OFUNFORTUNATEEVENTSJENNA WANT [email protected]

The waiting game

www.fsu.ca

SAC Positions Available:School of Transportation and Motive Power

School of Art and Design

Contact:FSU President – Zack Dodge for more [email protected]

CREDIT: STOCK PHOTO

Waiting for a text back can be agonizing.

It’s no secret that FanshaweCollege produces some amazingand unique talent. India nativeDilshad Burman graduated fromFanshawe’s TelevisionBroadcasting program in 2007, andhas since broke into the industry ina big way.

Dilshad is not only an editor atCityTV, she also hosts a multicul-tural music TV show V-Mix, whichairs across the country everySunday on OMNI2 TV. The showstrives to give special focus to musi-cal artists of ethnic heritage fromCanada. “The kind of show it is, andthe kind of response that we’ve got-ten, everyone has told us that it wasone of those things that was need-ed,” Burman described. “It filled avoid in the marketplace.” The showhas featured interviews with artistssuch as Snoop Dogg and AfrikaBambaataa, who actually coined theterm ‘hip-hop.’ V-Mix also show-cases artists who don’t typicallyhave mainstream access, and itopens the audience’s minds tomulti-culturalism.

After leaving her home inBombay, India, to come to school atFanshawe, Burman learned everyaspect of the television industry.Her education from Fanshawe is ahuge reason why Burman is whereshe is today; it was where she

learned exactly what she wanted todo. Being an on-air talent was anambition she never knew she haduntil her first experiences in front ofthe camera. She noted that the facil-ities that Fanshawe offers arealmost identical to industry studios.“It was as close to real-life produc-tion as you could get in school,” shesaid.

Burman’s opportunity cameabout mostly by being in the rightplace at the right time, and the showhas given her the chance to meetmany incredibly talented and cre-ative people. V-Mix’s second season began in

October, and everyone involved isextremely proud of what they’vebeen able to accomplish to date.“My hope going forward is that wereach more people, get more peopleinterested in different and newmusic,” said Burman.

As far as the future is concerned,Burman has put aside the five-yearplan to concentrate on what she’sdoing now; she said there’s nothingmore important than being in themoment.

To all students, Burman offeredsome serious advice: “Do notexpect struggle, because that’s whatwill come to you. Expect that thingswill be great, and they will be.”

You can catch V-Mix on OMNI2TV every Sunday at 7:30 p.m.

CREDIT: ROB RAMLACKHAN

Dilshad Burman is a Fanshawe grad who now hosts a show on OMNI TV.

JENNA WANTINTERROBANG

Burman brings Bombay beats to Canada


Today, street fashion is heavilyinfluenced by vintage and thrift-shopping savvy fashionistas whotake advantage of the unique piecesthey are able to integrate into theirwardrobe at a low price. VanessaNatalia, the founder of RageMarket, an independently ownedonline vintage/thrift blog and store,is an example of someone who hasmastered the art of mixing vintageand thrift pieces in with the sea-son’s current trends. Through herunique style, she is able to show-case how great pieces aren’t onlyfound in mass retail stores and thatpairing unusual prints and themestogether can create a refreshinglook.

Her style is heavily influenced bystyle icon Rita Ora, ’80s hip-hop,rock and vintage clothing. In thisweek’s outfit, Natalia dresses up aplain black high-neck dress with acolourful ’80s vintage blouse, stud-ded pleather vest, combat boots andan armful of accessories. What’sgreat about this outfit is that thepieces range from $1 to $50 – rea-sonable for a student’s budget!

1. High-Neck Dress: Typicallythis high-neck dress is a classic andwould look beautiful with a simplepair of earrings and pumps.However, Natalia decided to use itas a base for a funkier day outfitthat makes a statement. The sim-plicity of the dress allows the print-ed blouse to stand out and layer avest on top. (H&M, $12)

2. Vintage Printed Blouse: Thisuniquely printed blouse adds anunexpected twist to the outfit. The’80s randomized print of yellow,green, blue and red will be sure tocapture some attention! It’s a greatprint to have for a summer, springor fall wardrobe. (ragemarket.big-

cartel.com, $25)3. Studded Pleather Vest: This

is a perfect way to add a touch ofrock into your wardrobe! Nataliachose to layer this vest on top of theprinted blouse to break up the printand through this, she is able to high-light the accessories that she iswearing. (H&M, $50)

4. Accessories: Natalia incorpo-rated her hip-hop, vintage and rockinspirations through her chunkygold accessories and combat bootsto complete the outfit. She rocks agold symbol necklace along withmesh gold and studded braceletsand a floral printed watch. To makethe outfit daywear-friendly andcomfortable, she wore black com-bat boots. (Necklace: TopShop,$12; Bracelets: H&M and AldoAccessories $5 to $15; Watch:Salvation Army, $1; Boots: ValueVillage, $30)

Vintage and thrift shopping areexcellent ways to find interesting

pieces to incorporate into yourwardrobe. You’ll wear it confident-ly knowing you’re the only personwho has that piece and managed tosnag it for cheap! Even if you arewearing trendy pieces from massretailers, that vintage item is whatwill differentiate your style fromother people.

Try wearing unexpected prints,accessories and mixing themes likeNatalia, but find your balance andwhat you feel comfortable wearing.For more interesting and excitingvintage finds $5 to $30, visitNatalia’s website atragemarket.bigcartel.com.

Hai Ha Nguyen is a FashionDesign student who loves to discov-er the new trends in street fashion.Follow her on Instagram at insta-gram.com/haihanguyen7 for thetrendiest pieces this season! If youhave a suggestion or feedback forher column, send her an email [email protected].

CREDIT: HAI HA NGUYEN

Christmas is over. The thrill ofthe first snowfall has come andgone. Your enthusiasm for wearinga puffy parka and snow boots isdwindling by the minute. Thewarmth of summer is so far awaythat you start to use SeasonalAffective Disorder as an excuse tosloth around in sweats and eat yourweight in chocolate.

Chin up, buttercup; there issome light at the end of the tunnel.While it is still too cold to workflip-flops and halter tops into yourwardrobe, there are fun ways toinject a little springtime into yourwinter ensembles without losingany appendages to frostbite.

In a lot of ways, summer is astate of mind. You can slip a fewtricks into your beauty routine toaid in your delusions on a dailybasis. Mix in a little self-tannerwith your regular moisturizer (for

both your face and your body);you’ll achieve a noticeable glowthat gives a natural look and avoidsthe ‘Dorito effect’ caused by faken’ bakes. Amp up your bronzerusage and use warm, goldenshades of makeup to fit in withyour sun-kissed aesthetic.Experimenting with pops of boldcolour, such as choosing royal blueliquid eyeliner instead of basicblack, can also lighten up yourlook and get you thinking spring.

In terms of clothes and acces-sories, it has never been easier ormore on-trend to mix spring piecesinto your winter wardrobe so youcan fashionably transition fromone season to the next. One easyway to add some colour is withneon accents on neutral pieces.Belts, bags, shoes and tops in basicbeige, black, white and cream areelevated with thin piping in neonpink, green, yellow or orange.

Purses and clutches are beingseen in all kinds of bold colours –especially tangerine, red and dar-ing blue. Even if the weatherrestricts you to wearing your mostdrab duds, choosing bright acces-

sories can liven up any outfit (andmood!)

Patterns are also a spring andsummer trend that you can workinto cold-weather clothes. Nauticalnavy and white stripes alwayswork in summer months, but a sim-ple striped top under a cardigan orblazer is just as appropriate mid-winter. Florals, graphic prints inpretty colours, and pastel colourblocking are also light and airyoptions that can work for winter.

One last bit of food for thoughtis to consider mixing heavy andlightweight fabrics. Sheer, slinkyand silky fabrics, while not alto-gether warm, can be appropriate inthe winter, if you do it right. Thekey is layering. It’s also best tokeep lightweight fabrics on yourupper half. I’ve never seen awoman wear a chiffon skirt in thewinter and thought, how appropri-ate; she must be warm and fash-ion-savvy. However, I do admire agirl who can work a mint greenbow-front silk blouse in the winterwhile staying warm, chic and sea-sonally appropriate.

Curing the midwinter bluesMAKE THE LOOKYOUR OWNAMY LEGGE

THE SHOPPING BAGHAI HA [email protected]

MONTREAL (CUP) — Forcomedian Andrew Searles it allstarted with a challenge. One night afriend dared him to open for comicsJoey Elias and Ryan Wilner at aJohn Abbott College comedy show.At the time, he thought it would be afun experience, nothing more.

Now it’s 10 years later and he’sone of Montreal’s most dynamiccomedians, entertaining crowdsfrom coast to coast.

For Searles, comedy allows himto be himself, only more so.

“I’m on stage, cracking jokes, hit-ting on girls in the front row, shoot-ing down the jock who’s being adouchebag.”

And at the end of it all?“After you do an amazing show,

and you get off-stage, they say it’sbetter than any drug you could evertake in life. The rush you get …nothing beats it.”

Searles has worked hard toachieve the success he experiencestoday. For years he would analyzevideotapes of his shows, studyingeverything he could, even the wayhis audience reacted to his body lan-guage. All his hard work has madecomedy a seamless extension of hispersonality.

“People say we make it easy.People say comedy’s a quick thing,but it takes years to become sea-soned.”

So what makes a professionalcomedian? Many things, accordingto Searles. Improvisation, knowl-edge of crowd psychology andbrazen confidence are all key to theprocess.

“You have to be 110 per cent con-fident you’re ready for what they’regoing to say next. I have to showthat I’m ready to handle anythingthat’s being thrown at me.”

Despite steadily touring acrossthe country, he still maintains strongties to Montreal’s comedy scene.

“I still go back to open mics towork on new material. Montrealdefinitely has camaraderie. We allhelp each other.”

Recently back from his latest tour,Searles isn’t as narrowly defined byhis comedy as one would think.He’s also making steady forays intothe acting world. In the year and ahalf since graduating from the JohnMolson School of Business with adegree in marketing, he has quit hispart-time job and is now pursuingacting alongside his comedy.

“Acting has always been my maingoal, the end result. Comedy wassomething I fell into. Between jug-gling school, comedy and acting, Icould only do two out of three.”

As his marketing degree wasmore of a fallback plan, comedy wasthe option that made the cut.

“Now I’m at the point where I canfocus on my comedy and my acting.Now I’m ready to push both of themto the next level.”

His upcoming projects are asnumerous as they are different. InFebruary, as part of Black HistoryMonth, he will participating in thesecond annual run of TheUnderground Comedy Railroad, ashowcase of black Canadiancomedic talent.

“A lot of black comedy we see isfrom the U.S. We’re often overshad-owed by the American black come-dy scene so I think this show is away of showing off black Canadiancomics,” he said.

Screen wise, he’ll be featured in asoon-to-be-released web series aswell as having some face time in anew Roland Emmerich(Independence Day) film alongsidesome big Hollywood names.

With such ambitions, where doeshe see himself in the future?

“I’d like to live in Los Angeles,juggling the comedy and actingcareers. And Jessica Alba. Maybelive in a jet at some point and flyaround.”

Once upon a dareMILOS KOVACEVICTHE CONCORDIAN

Let’s talk vintage rock withVanessa Natalia


Feeling tired and uninspired withyour dull residence bedroom? Well,I have some quick and easy solu-tions to help brighten and spice upyour room!

I lived in Fanshawe’s residencefor two years. In my first year Iquickly grew tired of the boringwhite walls and basic furniture thatwas supplied. I knew I had to trans-form this dull room into a space thathad excitement and colour, butFanshawe residents must follow alist of rules that limit what they canand cannot do to their bedroom.With a passion for design and highdetermination, I came up with sev-eral solutions to create a residencebedroom that will have characterand beauty.

Picking out the colours that youwant to have in your room is thefirst decision you need to makewhen you are redecorating yourbedroom. The next is to pick outyour bedding! When you’re limitedto keeping your walls white, I sug-gest having a bedspread that is fullof colour, patterns and even texture.The bed is commonly decorated tobe the focal point of the room, soadding throw pillows and a blanketis a must. Pick out a colour or twofrom your bedding include them inthe pillows and blanket to create aunified look.

Once you have your bed com-

plete, the next thing to do is pick outa small area rug. Again, I suggestchoosing a colour from your bed-ding for your area rug to maintain aunified look. Place the area rug atthe side of your bed where you havethe most floor space available. Therest of your room will be used it toaccent your focal point, the bed.

Covering up clutter and addingextra furniture and art pieces areother great ways to spice up yourroom. One simple way to cover upyour closet clutter is to use a tensionrod and curtains. A tension rod isessential because you do not haveto drill any holes in the wall to putit up. To keep the unified look, pickout a curtain colour that is includedin the bedding cover. You can addextra furniture by bringing a TV ornight stand into your bedroom.These types of items will personal-ize your room and create extra stor-age.

I recommend having art piecessuch as photos and pottery that willaccent your bedding to continue theunified look. Adding pictures toyour room is simple thanks to 3M’sCommand Hooks. These easilyremovable hooks allow you to putup artwork up without drilling anyholes in the wall.

You do not have to feel tired anduninspired with your dull residenceroom anymore. By following thesesimple steps, there is no doubt thatyou will be able to create a bedroomthat you desire. These steps make iteasy and possible to transform yourroom, even with all of the rules.Enjoy the rest of the year with yourspiced-up room!

TURN BORINGSPACES BEAUTIFUL BRITTANY ROACH

CREDIT: BESTHOUSEDESIGN.COM

Don’t let your residence room’s plain white walls get you down – inject some colour and make your space pop!

If you look outside your windowright about now, you’ll probablysee snow. In fact, I really don’tthink it’s all that bad, consideringthat I grew up with mild (though Ithought them cold when I wasexperiencing them) winters inIndia. Given that this is just mysecond winter with snow outsidemy door, I expect it’ll take a fewmore years and a ton of snowbefore I publicly moan about myhatred towards large amounts ofsnow.

In fact, I distinctly recall a tweetI sent out during the Christmasbreak on the morning of December27, 2012. With winter boots on myfeet and quite possibly all theclothes I took with me to Torontoon me, I began my first adventuresof shovelling snow and scrapingcars.

‘Oh, what it’s like to pretend I’m10 again.’

As the pile of snow beside thedriveway grew bigger, big enoughto perhaps make a snowman, mymind raced, perhaps to the point ofimagining how most of you read-ing this grew up. Shovelling drive-ways to make that extra buckbefore heading on home to warmup and grab some sticks for a gameof hockey. How I wish I had thatwhile growing up.

Needless to say, I had to stopmyself from going down the block

asking people if I could shoveltheir driveway for a small fee.While I may feel like a 10-year-oldinside, I didn’t imagine peoplewould believe that a 10-year-oldcould be six feet tall. Reality sucksat times, I tell you. But frankly,that wasn’t the worst thing thathappened. Living in a house withmy cousins – all girls – whoshowed next to no interest in hock-ey made me want to cry. All I’dwanted was to play a game of pondhockey. Is that too much to askfor?

Anyway, while I wait to play myfirst pond hockey game, I move on.A white ending to 2012 – perhapsthat’s all I could ask for whilstwrapping up an entire calendaryear in Canada. In fact, my dadlooks at me with disdain when Irefer to ‘nine-degree weather’ asmild. It’s funny when I think aboutit, though; just over a year back,nine degrees was all I could man-age, and now it’s next to nothingwhen outside it’s a nice, chilly -28on the Celsius scale.

Old Man Winter’s been a funone this time, especially since I cannow poke fun at some people Iknow who moved to NorthAmerica for school last fall. Withone year of winter experienceunder my belt, and being able tounderstand why some Canadianshate the amount of snow they get, Ifeel just a little more welcome toCanada.

VICTOR KAISARINTERROBANG

‘Snow’ nice tomeet you

Spicing up your rez room


Londonlicious “The BlizzardEdition” has fallen in London andis melting mouths across the ForestCity. This year there is a wide vari-ety of restaurants with flavours anddishes from across the world justwaiting to cater to any adventurouseater.

You can try a taste of Hungarianand European food at BudapestRestaurant, try Curry’s authenticIndian cuisine, or cozy in to FelliniKoolini’s for some delectableItalian pasta. I chose to attend oneof my all-time favourites: AromaMediterranean Restaurant.

It’s a fairly pricy place, so thisculinary festival gives me theopportunity to enjoy a three-coursemeal without breaking the bank.The 35 participating restaurantsare offering three-course fixedprice menus that range from $15 to$35. Aroma is offering a $25 three-course menu for the chicken,tilapia or vegetarian option or $30if you’re craving the New Yorksteak.

On this particular evening, I wascraving seafood. Aroma has someof best seafood in town, importedfresh from the Iberian coast inSouthwestern Europe. For an appe-tizer, I had the choice of Cream ofSeafood Soup, Petit Village GreekSalad, and Aroma Soup du Jour. Ichose the seafood soup becauseit’s to die for. The rich and creamysoup is filled with large chunks oflobster among other sea creaturesand is made with grilled fennel anda dash of port wine. Absolutelydelicious.

For my main course I chosebetween Stuffed ChickenSupreme, Grilled Salmon, andNew York Steak. I surrendered tomy seafood craving once again andchose the Grilled Tilapia. It was alarge portion-size and beautifullyarranged. The thick pieces oftilapia were topped with threemedium-sized prawns in a mangoshrimp butter sauce. After squeez-ing some fresh lemon on top, thesauce was light and refreshing,mixing sweet mango taste with abit of zest.

The mound of scented rice wasgarnished with a mix of julienne-cut peppers, onions and zucchini.The seasonal vegetable medleyincluded fresh carrots, greenbeans, zucchini and red and greenpeppers.

My third and final course lookedso gorgeous I almost didn’t want totouch it… almost. The ChocolateBailey Truffle Ganache Cake wasbeautifully displayed as it sat in aplate-sized pool of homemadestrawberry sauce. The actual cakewas a little bit too dry for my lik-ing, but the ganache was rich andcreamy.

For $25, I would say my mealwas more than well worth it.Aroma doesn’t have one of thebiggest menus, but as a seasonedLondonlicious participant, I cantell you that it definitely has someof the freshest food and largestportion sizes out there. Aside fromthe amazing food, the ambiance,atmosphere and live music on theweekends make for an outstandingdinner out. Remember, Aroma isjust one of the 35 participatingrestaurants across the city. Youhave until February 3 to get outthere and taste what London has tooffer.

Don’t flake out on this winter

festival – it doesn’t require yoursnow pants, just an open mind andeagerness to try some of London’sgreatest original meals.

For more information and a listof participating restaurants, visitlondonlicious.ca.

If you have a restaurant orrecipe suggestion for Mel’sMunchies, email her at [email protected]

CREDIT: MELANIE ANDERSON

Grilled tilapia in a savoury mango shrimp butter was my main course at Aroma Mediterranean Restaurant whenI dined there during this year’s Londonlicious.

MEL’S MUNCHIESMEL [email protected]

MONTREAL (CUP) —Complete with “Hitchcockblondes” and the famous Psychoshower scene, the biopic Hitchcockshows moviegoers a glimpse at thelife of the mastermind behind the1960 cult classic.

Directed by Sacha Gervasi,Hitchcock begins with an unrecog-nizable Anthony Hopkins as themaster of suspense, and HelenMirren as his wife and right hand,Alma Reville. The film takes theaudience behind the scenes of thefilm Psycho, but also shows theinfluence Alma had on Hitchcockduring that turbulent time.

Based on the book by StephenRebello, Alfred Hitchcock and theMaking of Psycho, the moviebegins after Hitchcock receivessome bad reviews about his filmNorth by Northwest. Frustrated,Hitchcock feels that drastic changeis required to convince the criticsthat he hasn’t lost his touch.

When a newspaper publishes thestory of murderer and body snatch-er Ed Gein, Hitchcock is inspired.Hitch, as he liked to be called,develops a small obsession withthe bloody story and decides toturn it into a movie. However,Paramount decided they wouldn’tfinance the movie so Hitchcock, asa headstrong artist, decided that hewould make the movie regardless.He mortgaged his house and start-ed production on Psycho.

While the making of his greatestmovie is one of the main points ofthe picture, his relationship withhis wife is also in focus. It is por-trayed in a way that is not distract-

ing, but complements the film as awhole, unifying the biography ofHitchcock.

Alma was Hitchcock’s friendand counsellor and much morethan just a wife. However, they hada sexless marriage and thusHitchcock became obsessed withhis consistently blonde leadingladies—since referred to as“Hitchcock blondes”. In the mean-time, Alma spent her time withwriter Whitfield Cook, whichcaused Hitchcock a great deal ofjealousy. Despite their far-from-perfect marriage, their relationshipis admirable because of the amountof support and companionship theycontinued to show each other inspite of infidelity.

The remake of the classic show-er scene with Janet Leigh wasbeautifully played by ScarlettJohansson. Considering that it isone of the most famous scenes inmovie history, the expectationswere high. Johansson’s actingthroughout the film was not spec-tacular – never being quite believ-able, but that scene in particularwas a piece of art.

Hitchcock is easy on the eyes;Jeff Cronenweth’s cinematographyis just right, using the perfectamount of suspense in each take,the right amount of light and cam-era velocity when approaching thesubject. The photography wasnever boring or dull. The editing isalso at its best; each scene flowsnaturally to the other.

The movie gives the audience ashallow yet elegant depiction ofHitchcock’s life as the famousdirector of Psycho and as a hus-band who argues with his wife, hasinsecurities and snores at night.

ISABELA SASAKITHE CONCORDIAN

The other side of Hitchcock

Delicious Londonlicious


Universal Soldier: Dayof Reckoning (2012)

When one thinks of great pair-ings in cinematic history, certainnames come to mind. KatharineHepburn and Spencer Tracy. FredAstaire and Ginger Rogers. BobHope and Bing Crosby. However,for my money (which I keep in aburlap sack with a dollar sign onit), there is no greater duo thanJean-Claude Van Damme andDolph Lundgren.

Back in 1992, Van Damme,a.k.a. “the Muscles fromBrussels,” sprouted onto the bigscreen in Universal Soldier, along-side Sweden’s finest non-meatballor bikini team export DolphLundgren. Luc Deveraux (VanDamme) and Andrew Scott(Lundgren) portrayed twodeceased soldiers who are re-ani-mated and turned into the ultimatekilling machines.

There have been six films in theUniversal Soldier franchise.Entries two through four are notconsidered part of the cannon, andthus not really essential viewing. Ihave only seen the first film (twodecades ago), and now this latestinstallment, and didn’t find myselflost at all. So there is no need totrack down all six films and stage a10-hour Universal Soldiermarathon this weekend. Althoughthat does sound like a good time. Iwonder if Mrs. Connoisseur wouldgo for that.

Twenty years after the firstinstallment, Van Damme andLundgren (who also teamed uprecently in The Expendables 2) arereunited in Universal Soldier: Dayof Reckoning. With a cast that alsoincludes rising action star ScottAdkins (The Expendables 2, Zero

Dark Thirty) and former UFCHeavyweight champion Andrei“The Pitbull” Arlovski, you canrest assured that Universal Soldier:Day of Reckoning delivers plentyof bang for your buck.

Adkins portrays the hero of thefilm, John. The film starts in ashocking manner, as John’s wifeand daughter are murdered by thehero of the previous entries, LucDeveraux. John embarks on a mis-sion to avenge their death by track-ing down the man responsible.Along the way he is pursued by anew breed of UniSol (Arlovski)who is one of the most ferociousvillains I have ever seen.Reminiscent of the T-1000 inTerminator 2, it makes sense thatsomeone with the nickname “ThePitbull” and a storied history inmixed martial arts would be askedto take on the role. I mean, I’msure Dame Judy Dench was thefirst choice, but Arlovski isn’t abad second option.

Deveraux and the rest of thegenetically engineered soldershang out in the ultimate man cave,an underground lair whereimpromptu fights break out toeliminate the dead weight. Johneventually comes face to face withthe man who ruined his life. Butalong the way, he comes to somestartling realizations about himselfthat add an extra layer of intrigue

to the story.Although Van Damme and

Lundgren are the two most promi-nently promoted names attached tothis film, it really isn’t their film.The aforementioned Adkins andArlovski both receive far morescreen time. I know that it makesgood business sense to tout thenames of the two biggest starsattached to the project, and it alsomakes sense to feature theseyounger actors. Let’s face it, Jean-Claude Van Damme and DolphLundgren won’t be around forever.Oh sure, they will live forever inour hearts and minds, but until sci-entists get off their duffs and figureout a way to keep these two actionicons alive forever, the torch willneed to be passed to a new genera-tion of soldiers. But even though Iunderstand the reasoning behind it,I still was disappointed by the spar-ing use of Van Damme and Dolph.Luckily the special featuresinclude separate interviews withthe two, as well as discussions withAdkins and the film’s director,John Hyams.

Universal Soldier: Day ofReckoning will no doubt be univer-sally loved by fans of both the starsand of the previous installments.The film arrived on home video onJanuary 22, so march to your near-est retailer to grab your copytoday.

Cinema ConnoisseurALLEN GAYNORwww.cinemaconn.com

Van Damme and Lundgren soldier on

CREDIT: MAGNET RELEASING

Zero Dark Thirty(2012)

It was one of the biggestmoments in American history: theraid on a compound in Pakistan byNavy SEALS Team Six that ulti-mately killed Osama bin Laden.She is one of the greatest filmmak-ers of recent times, particularlywhen it comes to modern war-related films, who won an Oscarfor The Hurt Locker. When com-bined, these two should make forone of the most poignant films ofthe year. You might think that...but you’d be wrong.

Zero Dark Thirty tells the most-ly true (or is it maybe true?) storyof the CIA agent who worked tire-lessly for nearly 10 years to trackdown and assassinate Osama binLaden. The details on the accuracyof the film are still a bit hazy, butdirector Kathryn Bigelow main-tains that she spoke extensively tothe agents upon whom lead charac-ter Maya is based, while the cur-rent director of the CIA has madepublic statements saying the film isheavily fictionalized.

Whether accurate or not, thefilm follows CIA agent Maya, whois working at the AmericanConsulate in Pakistan, and her huntfor anyone who can lead her to binLaden. From interrogation scenesthat prove more than a littleunnerving to bombings at U.S. AirBases to an attempt on Maya’s life,the road is a long and difficult onefor the hard-working agent whorefuses to give up.

The cast of the film is perhapsits one and only strong point.Jessica Chastain, who has beenenjoying critical acclaim for manyof her roles in the past couple ofyears, takes on the role of Maya.Her character begins as a timid,unsure of herself agent who isforced to learn the harsh realitiesof interrogation techniques in ahurry. By the end of the film, sheevolves into a confident, assuredwoman who knows exactly what todo and how to do it. In a word,Chastain’s performance is power-ful.

Stepping in beside Chastain isKyle Chandler as Maya’s bossJoseph Bradley. Bradley serves hispurpose as the fall guy when theDetainee Program is shut down,thus bringing a swift end to prison-er interrogation that borders on tor-ture, but also proves to be a strongpresence on screen when it comesto supporting Maya.

Jennifer Ehle takes on the role ofJessica, Maya’s closest friend,another CIA agent working at theAmerican Consulate. Ehle is giddyonscreen, a positive presence in anotherwise dark story.

Rounding out the cast is JamesGandolfini as the director of theCIA. Though he plays the charac-ter with perhaps a slight lack ofintelligence, Gandolfini has thatcertain strength onscreen whenplaying powerful men.

The problems with Zero DarkThirty just seem to keep piling on.Lazy filming techniques make theaudience dizzy, the storyline isfractured in odd places and accel-erated through others, the men inTeam Six are given very little pres-ence and the entire CIA organiza-tion is made to look like bureau-cratic fools. The real trouble withthis film is simply that since TheHurt Locker, we all know Bigelowcan do so much better.

CREDIT: COLUMBIA PICTURES

Jessica Chastain takes on the lead role of Maya in Zero Dark Thirty.

REEL VIEWSALISON [email protected]

Zero Dark Thirtymisses the target

Ever since I saw The PerfectStorm in theatres and had to make areal effort to keep my lunch fromcoming back up, I have been solid-ly in the I-hate-shaky-cam camp.The more I studied film, thestronger my hatred grew.

This past weekend I got thechance to go out and see Zero DarkThirty. Now, I had a couple ofproblems with this film, particular-ly the title – coming from a militarycommunity, not using the properterminology for things is a petpeeve of mine – but the biggest onewas the extensive use of shakycam.

Everyone knows what shaky camis, right? It’s when the camera iscarried around by hand or balancedon a person’s shoulder instead ofbeing placed on a tripod – thinkCloverfield and Super 8. I do admit,

and give credit to the fact, thatshaky cam is a legitimate filmmak-ing technique. My problem with itcomes when it is overused andrelied upon too heavily.

When making movies likeCloverfield, it makes perfect sensethat a tripod wouldn’t be used. Theentire point of the viewing experi-ence is that you are watchingfootage that one of the characterswithin that film captured while run-ning away from a giant monster. Ofcourse they don’t have time to setup a tripod. In this instance, shakycam as a stylistic choice makes thefilm seem more accurate, more real.

But now let’s take Zero DarkThirty as an example of when shakycam is not the best choice, stylisti-cally speaking. In this case at leasttwo-thirds of the film is set withinoffice buildings of one kind oranother – CIA headquarters, theAmerican consulate, the SituationRoom – and the rest of the film isspent chasing down suspects andraiding a compound in Pakistan.Sure, use shaky cam for the raid,the city street scenes and possibly

even the interrogation scenes, but Ifind it not only totally unnecessarybut also very distracting when it isused in interior shots.

When a handheld shot is doneduring an office scene, for example,the cameraperson isn’t movingaround so the shot has the illusionof being almost steady. However,because even camerapeople need tobreathe, the shot moves slightly.

If we’re being honest here, I haveto say that extensive use of shakycam, of which Zero Dark Thirty isnot the only offender, is lazy film-making. If you can’t take the timeto set up a tripod to capture the shotproperly, you aren’t really puttingin the effort. You’re really just say-ing, “Hey, you. Grab that cameraand stand over here and film.”

Hopefully some directors willrealize that most audiences aren’t abig fan of the shaky cam style for atwo-and-a-half-hour flick. It’sdizzying, nauseating, infuriatingand a whole host of other adjec-tives. So let’s all try to shun theshaky cam, okay?

McGee’s MovieMomentsALISON [email protected]

Shun the shaky cam


The world of entrepreneurship isnot for the faint of heart. Since Iestablished my corporate office in1989, I’ve jumped through morehoops than the entire crew ofCirque du Soleil. The combinationof providing products and services,pleasing current clients and seek-ing new customers can be aBermuda Triangle of business.

If you are considering the worldof self-employment, here are mytop 10 points to ponder beforejumping in feet first and eyesclosed.

1. Do What You LoveIt’s Fanshawe College’s current

slogan, and it has been my mottofrom the first day I opened mydoor to self-employment in 1989.It’s not always easy obtaining a jobthat doesn’t see you counting downthe minutes on a Friday afternoon,but landing a dream job shouldalways be your ultimate profes-sional goal. The premise here issimple: if you love your job, it’snot work. As an entrepreneur, youhad better love your chosen career,or else you are setting yourself upfor failure.

2. Diversity Is A MustNo matter what your profession,

make sure that you offer a varietyof products and services. As a pro-fessional writer, I offer a myriad ofmedia relations and journalism sto-ries for both print and new media.But I also provide clients with pub-

lic speaking, photography, broad-casting and video services. Themore talents you bring to the table,the more valuable you are in theeyes of your current and prospec-tive clients.

3. Define YourselfOne of the largest obstacles fac-

ing an entrepreneur is helpingclients understand exactly what itis they offer. People like to pigeon-hole – they’re afraid of theunknown or misunderstood. Byexplaining in simple terms whatyou have to offer your customers,they’ll feel more comfortabledoing business with you.

4. It’s Not Personal, SonnyThat famous line from Al Pacino

(my favourite actor) in, TheGodfather – “It’s not personal,Sonny, it’s strictly business” –holds some truth in the legitimatebusiness world. But here’s how Iconduct my day-to-day operations.If I don’t respect an individual or acompany, and/or they don’t respectme, then why would I want to dobusiness with them? Trial and erroris necessary – I’ve dealt withcountless clients whom I’ll neverdo business with again, and for anumber of reasons, with non-pay-ment and unprofessionalism lead-ing the pack. But after a while, youdevelop a sixth sense for sniffingout the undesirables.

5. Do Your HomeworkEach time I pursue a new client

or prepare for a first meeting, Iinvest heavily in time spentresearching their company history,their own products and services,and their needs. When you walkthrough their door and shake theirhand, hit them with a strong

knowledge of their daily opera-tions. A strong first impressionlasts forever. Knowing what aclient is all about helps you preparefor success.

6. Work SmartTime management skills are just

as important as any skill necessaryto producing products and provid-ing services. As previously dis-cussed in this column, organizingyour commitments is a must: with-out discipline in this area of busi-ness, you may as well go work forsomeone else.

7. Balancing ActPerhaps the toughest element of

entrepreneurship is balancingexisting business with the task ofpursuing new clients. How muchwork is enough? Without constant-ly growing your business, you’retaking two steps forward and threesteps back. You never know whena relationship will end – and younever know where you’re nextclient is waiting.

8. Burning BridgesEarly in my career, I foolishly

burned a lot of bridges. Inevitably,some business relationships willturn sour, but always end a rela-tionship with a smile, a handshakeand well wishes. I’ve seen manyrelationships revived for the betterbecause of professionalism duringinitial departure. People canchange – and that includes you.

9. Network Like There’s NoTomorrow

Social media use is a must forany modern entrepreneur, but soare face-to-face relationships.Networking has long been a buzz-word for success. I belong to anumber of professional associa-

tions and continue to obtain clientsvia this route. Marketing – evenduring good times – is a must, too.To borrow a line from singer/song-writer Bruce Cockburn: “If a treefalls in the forest, does anybodyhear?”

10. All Work, No PlayFinally, remember: all work and

no play is not a good formula.Sure, there are times when you’llbe chained to your desk. But find-

ing the perfect balance betweenyour professional and personallives is the real secret to success.

Award-winning journalistJeffrey Reed is a FanshaweCollege professor with theCorporate Communication andPublic Relations post-graduateprogram and an instructor withFanshawe’s Continuing Educationdepartment. Email him [email protected].

Consider this before opening up shopTHE REAL WORLDJeffrey [email protected]

CREDIT: STOCK PHOTO

--FREDERICTON (CUP) — In1982, Jian Ghomeshi put on pointyboots, picked up purple eyelinerand went through countless bottlesof hair gel hoping to fit in with thecool kids.

Despite a fortunate change inGhomeshi’s fashion sense, the hostand co-creator of CBC’s culturalaffairs show, Q said he hasn’tentirely escaped his teenage inse-curities.

“If you take a position in favourof gay marriage, or against a war,or for funding to the arts, there aregoing to be people who don’t likethat,” said Ghomeshi over thephone from his Toronto office.“Sometimes that can send me rightback to the kid who wanted to fit it,but it doesn’t ever prevent me frommaking my case. So I think that’salways been in me.”

Ghomeshi’s “somewhat naive”14-year-old voice takes readersthrough one pivotal year of histeens in 1982, which hit bookstoresin September.

Of Iranian descent, Ghomeshiwas born in London, Englandbefore moving to Thornhill,Ontario, a white-bread suburb ofToronto, when he was seven. Hewanted nothing more than to belike his idol, David Bowie. Thiswas seemingly impossible becauseof his olive skin and “industrial-sized” nose.

He includes the word “nose” 18times in 278 pages. They aren’t allreferences to his nose, but noses in

general. An impossible-to-ignore,defining feature for a young immi-grant.

“It was very obvious I was dif-ferent from others, and there wasthis real desire for acceptance andwanting to fit it, but having saidthat, I’ve also, from a young age …I did have a critical mind.”

That inquisitive nature hashelped earn him a national audi-ence that’s spilled over theAmerican border. Q is aired onCBC Radio One, shown on CBCTelevision, and was picked up byPublic Radio International.

Q is the highest-rated show inthe late morning time slot in CBChistory and enjoys the largestnational audience of any culturalaffairs program. Ghomeshi’ssmooth voice first greeted listenersover the airwaves on Q in 2007.

Since then, he has conducted arange of high-profile interviewsfrom politicians like Al Gore, tomusical icons like Paul McCartneyand Leonard Cohen, not to mentionan infamous on-air interview withBilly Bob Thornton.

“On a visceral level, musicalways affected me. I can listen tosome of that now, whether it’s TheClash, or Bowie, or DépêcheMode, music of that period, it’ll setme back there right away. It’s sucha trigger for me, and it’s been suchan important part of my life andobviously continues to be.”

1982 is told in 12 tales, eachappropriately titled with a song andmusicians ranging from The Clash,Rush, Culture Club and of course,

Bowie.At the time, New Wave was

emerging, experimenting withelectronic sounds. Ghomeshi trieddesperately to be a New Waver,which meant looking like you did-n’t try. This proved difficult.

He hung around the theatre roomat his high school, and eventuallybecame part of its coveted theatretroupe. He also formed a few bandsand was in the vocal group.

Despite his desire to fit in, hewas constantly putting himself insituations to stand out.

Ghomeshi bought tickets to analternative music festival outsideToronto, The Police Picnic. This iswhere the book forms its spine.

“It’s a major coming-of-agemoment. It all kind of comes to ahead.”

Ghomeshi recounts discoveringhis new favourite band, TalkingHeads, inviting a girl who lookedlike David Bowie and letting go ofthe one thing that was holding himto childhood — his red and blueAdidas bag.

“Here I’m dealing with trying toimpress this blonde cool girl —I’m younger than everyone else atthis amazing music festival that’sall about the music that’s such atrigger for me … All of that’s hap-pening on one day and it was pret-ty epic.”

His parents are still not used totheir son on such a public platformand profile. In the book, his moth-er compares him to the whiteneighbour’s children; and hisfather never could understand the

passion he had for music and the-atre.

He dedicated the book to themand gave them a copy before publi-cation.

“It can be really annoying anddifficult for them, even though I

think they are ultimately proud ofme,” he said. “Given their druthers,they would prefer that there wouldbe a book called ‘How I BecameSuccessful in Medicine and AlsoEngineering, by Jian Ghomeshi.’”

MEGHAN O'NEIL THE AQUINIAN

CREDIT: CBC

Jian Ghomeshi is the host of CBC Radio One program Q and author ofthe book 1982.

Jian Ghomeshi conforms to stand out in 1982


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THE TONIGHT SHOWwith Jay Leno

It seems a doctor in Germany isbeing sued by the family of a patientwho died after 16 items were leftinside of him after the surgery. Thedoctor said he felt terrible. He triedto call the family but couldn’t findhis cellphone.

According to the Center forScience in the Public Interest, the toptwo most unhealthy restaurant disheswere from The Cheesecake Factory.The Cheesecake Factory? It’s alwaysthe last place you’d expect.

Kim Kardashian said today that ina perfect world she would love beingdivorced from Kris Humphriesbefore having Kayne’sbaby. On the other hand,in a perfect world no onewould know who she is.

BEST IN LATE NIGHTCOMIC RELIEF

CONAN with Conan O’Brien

Facebook’s new search engine isgetting a lot of attention. CEO MarkZuckerberg pointed out thatFacebook can now help people findnew friends. He doesn’t know thatFacebook is for stalking old ones.

An American worker was arrestedfor paying someone in China to dohis job for him. The man is beingcalled lazy, irresponsible, and threeyears ahead of his time.

Sources are saying that TigerWoods wants to marry his ex-wifeand might be willing to go for a no-cheating clause. This special clausewould be known as a wedding vow.

Video game-maker Atarihas filed for bankruptcy.Atari fans are organizing aletter-writing campaign toPresident Reagan.

LATE NIGHT with Jimmy Fallon

I’m sorry if I seem a little distract-ed; I just confessed to Oprah thatwhen I played T-ball in kindergarten,I was on Juicy-Juice.

In an attack ad, the NRA claimsthat President Obama cares about hisown children more than he caresabout other children. In response,President Obama was like, “Yeah,that’s how families work.”

Cirque du Soleil just announced thatit is cutting 400 jobs. So on the down-side, hundreds of clowns will lose theirjobs. But on the bright side, it’ll freeup, like, two spaces in the parking lot.

Joe Biden defended theWhite House’s gun-controlinitiative by saying he actual-ly has two guns himself. ThenBiden was like, “And I neverleave home without ‘em.”

THE LATE LATE SHOW with Craig Ferguson

Apps make everything easierthese days. To think just a few yearsago I had no idea what an app was.Of course a few years ago I had noidea what a Kardashian or a Bieberor a Honey Boo Boo was.

The Sundance Film Festivalbegins today. The jury is choosingamong 87 different films. I’d like beon that jury. I’d bang my gavel andsay, “I find your film guilty of beingself-indulgent and boring the crapout of me. I hereby sentence you towatch Weekend at Bernie’s, and any-thing by Pauly Shore.”

If you watch cooking showson cable, they have lots ofBritish people. Because whenyou think good cook-ing, you immediate-ly think Britain.

THE LATE SHOW with David LettermanOver the weekend, during a rou-

tine cleanup, park crews discovereda cannon from the RevolutionaryWar that was still loaded. Old,loaded, and ready to go — it’s likeme before the show.

Al-Jazeera has purchased AlGore’s old TV network, Current TV.So it’s now owned by Al-Jazeera.And listen to this: $500 million. Thisis a little something Al Gore hascome up with called “global fleec-ing.”

Al-Jazeera has some fabulous pro-gramming lined up. They’ve got anew show called StorageJihad. They have ProjectBurka. And a show calledReal Virgins of Fallujah.

JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE with Jimmy Kimmel

Flu season is here. There’s alwaysa group of people who are too para-noid to get a flu shot, even thoughabout half of them have between oneand 80 tattoos. What these people aresaying is: “I do not trust the doctorsto tell me the flu shot is safe andeffective, but I do trust the guy witha nose ring to inject me repeatedlywith ink.”

The president gave a brief butpowerful speech. He did not shyaway from the many challenges hefaces: a massive federal deficit, aconservative majority in the House,an aging population, runaway enti-tlements, humongousears.

CREDIT: FSU STREET TEAM

The Glow Party in the Out Back Shack attracted a large crowd.


Nerds

I admit that i used

to be a people person.

Then people ruined

it for me.

www.fsu.ca

TICKETS AVAILABLEAT THE BIZ BOOTH

Bus Stop

LIFESTYLESAcross1. Cogwheel’s mate

5. Garment worn by Indian

women

10. Fruit of the beech tree

14. Region

15. Aviation systems containing

telescopic struts

16. Catch sight of

17. Desserts

18. Capital of Belarus

19. Burn the surface of

20. The ABCs

22. Mentally disturbed

24. Marsh

25. Muslim ruler’s title

26. Tree

30. Intersecting

34. Cut with a scissors

35. Modern Persian language

36. Tongue-in-cheek rejoinder

37. Cut into small pieces

38. Compass direction

39. Monetary unit of Western

Samoa

40. Creative work

41. Unchanging

43. Large musical instrument

44. “___ Ho”: pioneer wagon train

master’s cry

46. The Far East

47. Be impudent

48. Arab garment

49. Member of the governing

body of a university

52. Place where metal is extracted

from ore

57. Many (2 words)

58. Ancient region on the W coast

of Asia Minor

60. Brand of sandwich cookie

61. Autos

62. Period of history

63. Consumer

64. Leg joint

65. Appraises

66. To a distance (comb. form)

Down

1. Largest of the Three Bears

2. Seed covering

3. Cry

4. Make a sudden whip-like move-

ment

5. Gloomy

6. Foreign

7. Tore apart violently

8. Mythological Greek dawn god-

dess

9. Igloo dwellers

10. Title given to French-speaking

men

11. On the ocean

12. Bridge

13. Lebanese port

21. At a distance

23. Takew effect only on certain

conditions (legal term)

25. Made a mistake

26. Expression of contempt

27. Chicago airport

28. Nuisances

29. Musicical syllable

30. Dogs, for instance

31. Representation of a person or

object in sculpture

32. Masculine namew

33. Gargantuan

35. Phobias

39. Three (comb. form)

41. Large web-footed bird

42. More pleasing in flavour

43. By word of mouth

45. Fly that feeds on human blood

46. Witchcrafts practiced in the

West Indies

48. Head covering worn by priests

49. Horse’s gait between a trot and

a canter

50. Energy received from enthusi-

asm

51. Pierce with a horn

52. Nasal mucous (slang)

53. Journey

54. Gaelic language

55. Spool

56. Formerly (preceded by of)

59. German grandfather

Solution on page 22

1. Chanel Tapper, fromCalifornia, has the world’s longesttongue, measuring 9.75 cm (3.8inches), from tip to top lip.

2. There is enoughenergy in onebolt of light-

ning to power ahome for two weeks.

3. If you mouth theword “colourful” to some-

one, it looks like you are say-ing “I love you.”

4. The Main Library at IndianaUniversity sinks over an inchevery year because when it wasbuilt, engineers failed to take intoaccount the weight of all the books

that would occupy the building.5. You can actually sharpen the

blades on a pencil sharpener bywrapping your pencils in alu-minum foil before inserting them.

6. Blue light fends off drowsi-ness in the middle of the night,which could be useful to peoplewho work at night.

7. Donkeys kill more peopleannually than plane crashes.

8. On average people fear spidersmore than they do death.

9. Your fingernails grow faster inwinter.

10. The original game ofMonopoly was circular.

11. A portion of the water youdrink has already been drunk bysomeone else, maybe several timesover.

12. A portion of the water youdrink has already been drunk bysomeone else, maybe several timesover.

13. The microwave was inventedafter a researcher walked by a radartube and a chocolate bar melted inhis pocket.

14. Men can read smaller printthan women can; women can hearbetter.

15. Sixty-two per cent of peoplepop their zits.

16. The sound you hear when youcrack your knuckles is actually thesound of nitrogen gas bubblesbursting.

17. The number of text messagessent and received in a given day isgreater than the world’s popula-tion.

18. You share your birthday withat least nine million other peoplein the world.

19. Dartboards are made out ofhorsehairs.

Aries (March 21 - April 19)Please the people who matter

most and forget the rest. Whenyou’re done for this week, there’sno need to get started on nextweek’s work load. Spend your sud-den gift of time on somethingrelaxing.

Taurus (April 20 - May 20)You get what you want when

you ask for it realistically. Distillall of those wild possibilities into afinite set of workable options. Ifyou’re approaching outsidesources, your friends are behindyou all the way.

Gemini (May 21 - June 20)Dreaming about change won’t

bring it any closer. Gemini needsto act before the weekend shutseverything down. Companionshiplightens a burden that’s becometoo heavy for you to bear on yourown.

Cancer (June 21 - July 22)You transform into an actor, a

fashion model or some other extro-verted creature. Speak about sub-jects on which you’re suddenly anexpert. Change is sudden and wel-come.

Leo (July 23 - August 22)Communication is hard, and

financial transactions are worse. Ifyou take a risk, you might also takea loss. Art and imagination are theperfect outlets for things that youcan’t do in real life.

Virgo (August 23 - Sept. 22)You’re at the mercy of someone

else’s schedule. To get the lastlaugh, make believe that you’rehaving fun. This situation holds acreative potential that might other-wise go unnoticed.

Libra (Sept. 23 - Oct. 22)The established sequence must

be observed. The system will notbe bucked. Beautify your owncorner of the world while waitingfor your day to become the centreof attention.

Scorpio (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21)Your deepest dreams will sud-

denly manifest as a very real real-ity. Take advantage of thisextraordinary occurrence, andshare the magnificence with theone who’s stood by you in timesfat and lean. Don’t let a minormisunderstanding go unresolved.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 21)Take another glance at the

design document. People trust youbecause they assume that youknow what you’re doing. With alittle forethought, you can end theweek looking like a hero.

Capricorn (Dec. 22 - Jan. 19)You love a good time, especial-

ly when it’s constructive. Yourplayful mood sets the tone for abudding relationship. A lunch datecould last for hours, or possibly anentire weekend.

Aquarius (Jan. 20 - Feb. 18)By putting yourself first, you

run someone else off the road. Atleast try to be charming whenhaste and force are necessary. Theconsequences, while not instantlyapparent, are very real.

Pisces (Feb. 18 - March 20)Spontaneity is Pisces’s unspo-

ken strategy. Your guesses andpredictions are as valid as anyoneelse’s published work. The worldis the instrument on which youplay your magical tune.

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 22.

Sudoku Puzzle

puzzle rating: hard


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W

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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

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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

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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


VICTORIA (CUP) — Queens,New York rapper HomeboySandman’s latest record, First of aLiving Breed, is another importantrecord in what’s quickly becominga career filled with importantreleases. Sandman’s skill at turninga phrase extends beyond his lyrics,however; he writes eloquentlyabout hip-hop as a genre.

“Where once the hip-hop land-scape was rich with the type ofdiversity believed to have nowherenear the demand that negativitydoes, today it is completely saturat-ed with the base immorality con-sumers are said to clamuor for,”wrote Sandman for the HuffingtonPost in late 2012. “If negativity iswhat sells, one would expect hip-hop sales to be at an all-time high.”

There’s a thread of positivityand forward thinking that runsthrough the entire album — some-thing that’s becoming increasinglyrare in hip-hop. It may soundclichéd, but the inspiration for therecord came from an oft-citedsource: children.

“My nephew just turned four theother day. My niece is five. And,like, they’re little human beings,and watching them definitelyinspired First of a Living Breedand gave me the idea there’s goingto be a new breed coming that’sgoing to fix things,” said Sandman.

Songs like the bouncy “For theKids” and the startling, dark rap“Illuminati” further establishSandman’s credentials as an intel-lectual force in the hip-hop game.

After abandoning a Paul White-produced track that couldn’t makethe record due to problems gettingthe sample cleared, Sandman choseto include “Illuminati” to fill whathe says was “a gap in the recordfrom the standpoint of social com-mentary.” He adds, “I was reallyhappy that I had (that track) to plugthat hole.”

First of a Living Breed is analbum sprawling with ideas bothmusical and lyrical — a perfectcontinuation of a career that hasbeen defined by defying expectednorms within not just the hip-hopcommunity, but also in the musiccommunity as a whole.

“It’s like a social experiment,”said Sandman. “With music thesedays, music isn’t really what itused to be, to be honest. I mean,there’s good music being made,but the music that is popularized isnot popularized for the same rea-sons it used to be.”

Uniformity is somethingSandman rails against in his music.

“When you look at real artistry,you’re going to see variation,” hesaid. “Because real artists believein the reflection of real life and realpeople. You see a lot of uniformityin hip-hop and music now, but Idon’t think that’s a real reflection.But people have gotten used tohearing the same thing from peopleall the time.”

Unfortunately, the sameness thatruns through modern hip-hopmusic is one laced with poison —misogyny, violence and disrespect.But that’s not the Sandman’sgame.

“I’m not disrespectful. I reallythink that’s corny, to be honest.There’s a lot of insecurity in hip-hop, a lot of me versus myself, meversus women, me versus woman,people that look this way versuspeople that look like me. I’ve neverreally gotten down with that. I tryto keep it people based. I try to dothis the best I can.”

Sandman is one of the strongestopponents of the misogyny thatruns rampant through the genre.Songs like “Couple Bars” and“Listen” (from First of a LivingBreed and The Good Sun, respec-tively) are honest, thoughtful songsabout the highs and lows of male-female relationships, never veeringinto the disrespectful language thatseems often to plague even themost conscious of MCs.

“Some guys are like, ‘Womenare terrible.’ Women aren’t terri-ble; terrible women are terrible.Terrible men are terrible. Terriblepeople are terrible. It’s shameful tosee the misogyny that goes on inhip-hop,” said Sandman. “Seemsto me like the amount of respectpeople show for others is a goodindicator of the respect they havefor themselves.”

Shining an informing lightthrough music and rapping with asocial commentary bent is a deli-cate balancing act that Sandman isall too aware of.

“I feel like what makes it effec-tive to me is being able to saythings that people might not thinkabout all the time. Stuff they reallywant to hear. The fact that they’regetting kind of bamboozled in a

sense makes people uncomfort-able. So (the music) needs to besuper fresh.” And super fresh isjust how Homeboy Sandman rocksit.

Always shifting sounds and cre-ating new ways to attack the musicand spread the light, Sandman is atthe precipice of a promising timenot only in hip-hop, but also in all

art and community. A beginningthat a whole new generation is apart of — one of wakefulness,thoughtfulness and togetherness.

“We’re all coming from thesame breed,” said Sandman. “Itain’t just music, but it’s journal-ism, activism ... that’s that breed.”

BLAKE MORNEAUTHE MARTLET

Homebody Sandman is battling hip-hop’s demons

PHOTO COURTESY HOMEBOY SANDMAN

New York rapper Homeboy Sandman.


CREDIT: FSU STREET TEAM

Pocket City on stage at the Out Back Shack during New Music Night on January 18.

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You may be wondering whatthose people in the gym are doingwhen they are exercising on a corestability ball or bosu ball. Or youmay actually be one of those peo-ple performing these balancingacts. These types of activities arecategorized as unstable surfacetraining. These activities are usedfor several different reasonsincluding injury rehabilitation andathletic performance.

Let’s face it, many sports, suchas hockey, football and gymnas-tics, require balance. It’s all aboutimproving one’s resistance to dis-ruptions of equilibrium, or in lay-man’s terms: stability. Factors thatcome into play of one’s stability atany given time are body mass, sizeof base of support, vertical andhorizontal positioning of centre ofgravity and friction between sur-faces (e.g. skates and ice, cleatsand grass, sneakers and hard floor,high heels and Jim Bobs).Therefore anyone devising a bal-ance program should take such fac-tors into account.

What many people are reallycurious about is whether or notunstable surface training improvesathletic performance. Studies andexpert opinions vary on balance

training, and many of them havejustifications.

As we know, strength and powerare largely related to neuromuscu-lar integration. Balance and stabili-ty are largely related to neuromus-cular activity, so you would think itmakes sense to train in such a fash-ion. One thing that is for certain isthat unstable surface trainingreduces force production. It is a no-brainer that we just can’t push asmuch weight when we’re standingon a wobbly surface. We have lim-ited neuromuscular resources,which mean we share thembetween balancing our bodies andpushing the resistance.

Take beach volleyball, for exam-ple. There is no way anyone isjumping high out of sand – at leastnot nearly as high as they can jumpoff normal ground. Unstableground doesn’t allow us to fullyrecruit the prime movers of muscleto our maximum potential. Is itpossible to train this way toimprove your beach volleyball ver-tical? It’s quite possible. Will thisunstable training improve yourregular ground vertical? No way.

The bottom line is you willnever improve maximum strengthfor athletic performance usingunstable surfaces. As we’velearned in previous articles, theonly way to maximize strengthgains is to induce a sufficient stim-ulus on our muscles to push themto their limit, all the while improv-ing. You simply cannot recruit a

muscle to use 100 per cent of itsstrength capacity on an unstablesurface. NO adequate overloadequals NO maximized strengthgains.

Does that mean we should throwout all of our stability balls? Ofcourse not, as they do have theirplace. Training certain movementson unstable surfaces has beenshown to fully activate the musclesinvolved just as much as regularsurfaces. As well, it allows fortraining various neuromuscular

patterns. These are important rea-sons why unstable surface trainingis so successful in injury rehabilita-tion situations. You can activatemuscles without overdoing it in aninjured state and you can improveproprioception, which may helpprevent future injury.

Unstable surfaces still allow for

strength gains, especially in begin-ners. They just don’t provide themechanics for peak strength devel-opment. In the end, balance train-ing is more effective for balancetraining. Maybe we should startimplementing it with the elderly tohelp them avoid catastrophic falls.

The balancing act in exerciseFUN AND FITNESSRICK [email protected]

Lancers working hard onand off the ice

The (29-5-3) Lambeth Lancersare making news as the most dom-inant hockey team in the SouthernOntario Junior Hockey League;they are currently sitting in firstplace in the league, setting a newfranchise record in points andheading into playoffs with homeice advantage.

What isn’t grabbing headlines istheir work in the Lambeth commu-nity.

When these players are not onthe ice, they are giving back to thecommunity that has supportedthem this season, something FredBauer, president of the Lancers,likes to see.

Fanshawe student and Lancersforward Mitch Thomas has regis-tered 21 points in 29 games for theteam. He stated that the playerscare about giving back to theircommunity. To show their appreci-ation for the team sponsorship byLambeth Foodland grocery store,the players helped out during theChristmas season by bagging gro-ceries for customers and helpingthem bring the bags to their cars.

Assistant captain ConnorChilvers also attends FanshaweCollege, in addition to volunteer-ing at Lambeth Public School.Spending time with the kids issomething Chilvers said is veryrewarding. “Freddy (Bauer) likesto keep us close to the community… it really doesn’t feel like work.”

Despite their work on and off theice, the Lancers haven’t seen muchpublicity, unlike other sports

organizations in London and area.Chilvers said he doesn’t believethe publicity matters in the grandscheme of things; “We’re justplaying for each other, our (home)games are on school nights, so itwould be tough to get young kidsout to the games.”

The Lancers now head into play-offs, with the opening seriesagainst the (2-33-2) NorthMiddlesex Stars. Thomas isn’tworried about the upcomingmatch-up, “It’s kind of hard to takethem seriously, but we have to.”

As a leader for Lambeth,Chilvers is telling the locker roomto stay focused. “We have to keepthe guys motivated, it’s tough toplay a team that you have had somuch success against all year.”

The Lancers acquired forwardMatt Schurr from the St. ThomasStars Jr. B team in early January tohelp contribute to the team’s suc-cess. Schurr isn’t very familiarwith North Middlesex, but knowsthe Lancers will have to play themtough despite the Stars only regis-tering six points throughout the

season, “You can’t take anyonelightly, and we just can’t lookahead of ourselves.”

Schurr’s role on his new team isto follow the coaches’ directions.“(I’m) just looking to help theteam: power-play, penalty-kill…basically anything I can do tohelp.” Schurr added, “The coachesmay look to me to play more of aleader role, just from my experi-ence in Jr. B, but just play soundhockey.”

This dominance in 2012/13 hasbeen a long time coming forChilvers, now in his fourth year onthe team with zero championshipsto show. In fact, in his first year onthe team the Lancers won onlyseven games by the end of theyear, “I have never played on ateam this dominant.” Chilverswould only add three more wordswhen asked if he was hungry for achampionship after continuousyears of failure in the playoffs:“Yeah. Oh, yeah.”

The Lancers’ best-of-sevenseries against the North MiddlesexStars began January 25.

RYAN SPRINGETTINTERROBANG

SPORTS&LEISURE 22Volume 45 Issue No. 18 January 28, 2013 www.fsu.ca/interrobang/

fanshawe collegeathletics

Fanshawe College Athletics www.fanshawec.ca/athletics | j1034 | 519-452-4202

open recEvery Tuesday, Thursday, and

Sunday night from

10pm till 12am.

basketballWednesday Jan 30th 2013

@6:00 and 8:30 pm

Women’s and Men’s Basketball

Fanshawe vs Humber

Getting a full-bodyworkout at home

Q. How do I get a full-bodyworkout without going to thegym?

A. Here is a list of exercises thatwill give you a great workout with-out having to go to the gym:

- Push-ups (chest)- Seated triceps dip (triceps)- Body weight squats (legs and

buttocks)- Lunges (hamstrings)- Chin-ups using a branch or

playground equipment (biceps,back)

- Sit-ups or plank (abs)- Bear crawl (shoulders)Submitted by Andrew Bureau,

Aarron Luyten, Henry Hernandez-Midence and Abhi Dhane.

HEALTH HABIT OFTHE WEEK Fitness and HealthPromotion students

CREDIT: BEFITBEFULL.COM

Working out with a bosu ball can help with balance training.

Fanshawe curlers sweepup the competition

When Fanshawe’s men’s andwomen’s curling teams headed toHumber College for a Bonspiel inmid-January, they totally rocked.

Both teams went undefeated forthe tournament, earning a top-place finish.

“The tournament went as well aswe could have predicted,” saidYvonne Lalonde, a student inFanshawe’s TV Broadcasting pro-gram. “Our teams are workinghard this year because of provin-cials coming up, so practicing andtraining are at the top of our list.

Fanshawe players Lalonde andGraeme Robson were named tour-nament all-stars. “(Being named)all-star was sweet,” she said. “Iplayed my best and performed soit’s well deserved.”

Though she’s very proud of herteam’s win, Lalonde said it’s theteam spirit that makes it so muchfun to play. “My favourite thingabout the entire Fanshawe curlingteam is that our team dynamic goesfurther than the five girls that playtogether and the five boys. The 10of us as well as coaches act as anyother varsity team does. We’re allthere for each other just like a fam-ily would be. I think if we continueto execute our shots and outplayour opponents, we’re in goodterms for a medal at provincials.”

The Falcons are hoping to con-tinue their winning streak into theOntario Colleges AthleticAssociation championships.Fanshawe is hosting the provincialtournament from February 13 to 17at the St. Thomas Curling Club inSt. Thomas, Ontario.

MELANIE ANDERSON AND ERIKA FAUSTINTERROBANG

SPORTS&LEISURE 23Volume 45 Issue No. 18 January 28, 2013 www.fsu.ca/interrobang/

Jonathan de Guzman is what’swrong with Canadian soccer.

A man born in Scarborough,Ontario has made it to soccer’sbiggest stage in the EnglishPremier League. This is a majoraccomplishment for a Canadiansoccer player and he hasn’t lookedout of place for Swansea, playingagainst elite competition.

In fact, de Guzman has beenplaying so well he has finallyreceived his long-awaited call toplay for the national team: TheNetherlands, not Canada.

Why would Canada need a play-er like de Guzman?

Well, he is a perfect complementto his brother Julian (formerToronto FC player and CanadianInternational). He’s an agile, for-ward-thinking midfielder with theright amount of pace and passingskill to make him really valuable.De Guzman will likely play alongside Arjen Robben and Rafael vander Vaart when the Dutch face offagainst Italy.

Canadian soccer journalists havewritten a lot about Canada’s selfishsoccer generation and de Guzmanis a prime example of it. In thesummer during the CanadianSoccer Association’s 100thanniversary, de Guzman was at thegame wearing a new blueCanadian coat designed by Umbrospecial for the game. Naturally,reporters, fans, and anyone associ-ated with the program were excitedat the sight of him.

He is a fantastic player. Hewould also help the Canadian pro-gram immensely if he ever com-mitted to Canada. And in thatmoment it looked like he wouldcommit. Then before Canada’sembarrassing loss to Hondurasmany months later, brother Juliannearly confirmed Jonathon’sinvolvement with the team ifCanada had won that game.

They lost 8-1.Oh bully Canada, that’s correct.

That’s what Canadians will sayagain, as they lost out on anothertreasure. But even if Canada won,there wouldn’t have been anopportunity for de Guzman to capfor Canada since they haven’tplayed since. Since we’re talkingabout the ‘selfish generation’ andall, de Guzman could have easilytaken the Dutch opportunity beforeCanada regardless.

Julian and Jon de Guzman leftCanada early in their lives forEurope to play and expand theirhorizons. Julian went to France,Jon went to Netherlands. Yeah,now you see where this is going.Jon spent enough time in theNetherlands to gain citizenship.Now one brother is Canadian andthe other is Dutch, with neitherhaving Dutch roots (their parentsare Filipino and Jamaican).

The de Guzman situation hashappened to Canada before.English International OwenHargraves and Bosian AsmirBegovic are two examples of play-ers committing to other countries.Before that game againstHonduras, former national coachStephen Hart should have called deGuzman and given him an ultima-tum; us or them, regardless ofresult.

However, with Queens ParkRangers attacking midfielder (andBrampton native) Junior Hoilettyet to decide on whether to play forCanada, Jamaica or England, itseems like the battle for anothergood Canadian player is justbeginning.

De Guzman’s choicedisappoints Canada

FANSHAWE FCMARTY [email protected]: @martythompson_

CREDIT: NAUMAN FAROOQ

The Volvo S60 is a car that should be on your shopping list.

Jonathon de Guzman

It’s that time of year again; thetime when auto journalists and carenthusiasts flock to the mostly run-down city of Detroit, Michigan toattend the North AmericanInternational Auto Show.

I have been making this trekevery year since 1998, and whilethe show has been through someups and downs, it still manages toconvince car companies to use thisshow to launch their new models.

You can read all about the latestunveilings from this show else-where; I want to talk to you aboutthe car that got me there: the VolvoS60 T5 AWD.

The current S60 has been aroundfor a few years already, but it ishardly a common sight. Problem is,many people don’t automaticallythink of Volvo when they are shop-ping for a new car. Drivers wholike cars or have owned a Volvo inthe past gravitate towards theirnewer models, but that’s not a largegroup.

To attract more buyers, for 2013,Volvo has launched a new all-wheel drive (AWD) version of theS60 sedan. While the AWD systemwas previously only available onthe S60 with the turbo-charged six-cylinder motor called the T6, nowyou can also have the AWD trac-tion with the smaller motor. Underthe hood of my press car was a 2.5-litre, five-cylinder turbo-chargedmotor (T5), which develops 250 hpand 266 lb/ft of torque.

That power is sent to the wheelsvia a six-speed automatic gearboxthat features a manual override fea-ture. The latest version of theHaldex AWD system sends powerto the wheel that can make best useof it. Trust me, this car won’t getgrounded no matter what theweather is like.

As you can imagine, a 4,628 mmlong car with 250 hp is not going tobe slow, nor blisteringly fast, but azero to 100 km/h time of just 6.1seconds is very respectable.

Figures are one thing, how thecar feels is quite another. This carsits very squarely on the road, very

stable and composed. The ridequality is excellent and irritants likeroad and wind noise are at a mini-mum, which makes this an ideal carfor long trips.

The seats are what make this carideal for trips. While they mightnot look special, the moment yousit in them, you realize that the seatis not only supportive, but the angleis just perfect. Also, the angle ofthe steering wheel in correlation tothe seat is perfect. It’s very easy tofind the perfect driving position inthis car and this just makes methink that Volvo uses actualhumans to fine tune the interior, notjust crash test dummies.

Speaking of crashes, you can restassured that this car is the safest inits class. It also has systems to helpyou avoid crashing in the firstplace. Volvo’s City Safety systemuses cameras and laser scanners tolook out for potential hazards suchas parked cars or pedestrians, andhas features in place to avoid low-speed crashes. This system is notperfect, and it’s best to pay atten-tion while driving, but it’s good toknow that the car is looking out foryou.

This is a capable car with a com-fortable interior, safety features andimpressive performance. Soundslike it’s perfect, right?

Wrong. As with any car, thereare some issues. My first complaintis with its centre dashboard. It hastoo many tiny buttons and they arenot the easiest to make sense ofwhen you are trying to use themwhile driving. This car also lacks areversing camera – something Iwould have expected to come stan-dard on a car in this price range.And then there is Volvo’s reluc-tance to feature a heated steeringwheel. Sweden, where Volvos aremade, is a very cold country (evencolder than Canada), so why theydid not include this feature isbeyond me! (Though, thankfully,this car does have heated seats.) Inthe scheme of things, these prob-lems are tiny, and should not putanyone off from buying this car.

One not-so-tiny complaint peo-ple used to have of Volvos, espe-cially of their AWD models, wasthat they have terrible fuel econo-my, but they have fixed that, too.My week’s average was just 10.4litres/100 km, which is fantastic.

Then there is the price. At$41,150, it is more affordable thanits German rivals. It’s a decent carthat can be improved upon, and Iwent to the auto show in Detroit tomeet this car’s alter-ego, the 501 hpS60 Polestar.

Polestar is in the business ofmaking race cars out of Volvos,and they have done quite a success-ful job of it by winning races.However, Polestar is not just inter-ested in going racing; they alsowant to be Volvo’s performancearm for their road cars. Their firsteffort was a 400 hp AWD versionof the C30 hatchback. While thismodel didn’t go into productionwith this spec, a Polestar body-kitversion did go on sale in the U.S.

For the last few months, Polestarhas been showing their version ofthe S60. This version takes the 3.0litre, T6 motor and tweaks it to pro-duce 501 hp and 424 lb/ft of torque.Power is fed to all wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox.

Together with the body kit andsuspension tweaks, this looks like atrue hot-rod Volvo that can goabout every day, scaring Audi S7sand BMW M3s.

Unfortunately, it’s not lookinglike this car will ever be a commonsight on our roads. While there is acustomer in Europe who has one,and Polestar has built a few othershow cars, there are no plans to putthis model into series or limitedproduction.

Andreas Naeslund, who is thesales manager of Polestar in NorthAmerica, took time out to talk tome at the show. He is a truly enthu-siastic car guy who loves perform-ance cars. He was quite pleasedthat Volvo has given Polestar suchgreat access and publicity by show-ing off their car at motor shows. Hesaid he hopes the positive reactionthat this car has been generatingwill convince Volvo to turn thisamazing concept into production. Ihope so, too.

The S60 in any trim is a nice carand should be on your shoppinglist. If they decide to put thePolestar version into productionwith the same spec motor, it will beon the shopping list of customerswho currently go elsewhere to findfast family cars.

MOTORING NAUMAN [email protected]

Vroom, vrooming in some Volvos

interrobang issue for monday, january 28th, 2013

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