Mark Meer is a pretty cool guy p. 12

Transcription

griff [grif] n.(19th c. slang) a tip; reliable news
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
www.thegriff.ca
Volume IV, Number 17
MacEwan reels in a big
one
A stage adaptation
of Big Fish comes to
MacEwan.
It’s time to believe the
survivors
Ana Holleman talks
scandals and believing
the victims of sexual
assault.
page 10
ILLUSTRATION BY ROBYN HUIZINGA/THE GRIFF
page 9
Mark Meer is a pretty cool guy
p. 12
www.thegriff.ca
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Edmonton, Alberta T5J 4S2
MANAGING EDITOR
Angela Johnston
780.497.5412
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All Editors: 780.497.4429
NEWS EDITOR
Danika McConnell
[email protected]
OPINIONS EDITOR
Marc W. Kitteringham
[email protected]
ARTS EDITOR
Stephan Boissonneault
[email protected]
SPORTS EDITOR
Kyle Muzyka
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PHOTO & GRAPHICS EDITOR
Madison Kerr
[email protected]
ONLINE EDITOR
Daren Zomerman
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COPY EDITOR
Emily Jansen
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CONTRIBUTORS
Anna McMillan, Avi Azarov, Jordan
Gill, Ana Holleman, Courtney Bettin,,
Jake Pesaruk, Parvin Sedighi, Michaela
Ream, Kate Lemke, Tim Rauf, Robyn
Huizinga, Emily McDonald, Robert Copithore, Michael Chau, L.A. Bonté, Sean
Brady (CUP), Samuel Rafuse (CUP)
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press across Canada. For
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Taking
time
with
SAMU
Students’ councillors, executives and students discuss MacEwan issues
Kyle Muzyka
Sports Editor
In the midst of Aramark-catered
food and obnoxious fire alarms,
Students’ Association of MacEwan University’s Executive Committee and the students’ council
had a roundtable discussion in the
cafeteria on Jan. 28.
A majority of the team members gathered to speak about various subjects such as sustainability,
fees, parking, and programs and services.
Various issues were brought
up, and the SAMU representatives
were eager to learn about students’
concerns.
Parking has been an obvious
issue at MacEwan this year, with
construction taking away a large
portion of spots from students.
That, coupled with all the students
moving to City Centre Campus
from the South Campus, has made
it rather difficult to park within 500
metres of the school.
Lauren Mickel, vice-president
student life, said that though students’ concerns are very much
heard, there isn’t much that can be
done.
“We’ve been trying to talk to
them [Parking Services] and saying ‘hey, we shouldn’t be issuing out
more parking passes than spaces,’”
Mickel said.
Though it’s understandable to
issue a few more passes than spots,
because not all students will be
parked at the same time, having a
parking pass to a lot that is full is a
concern that is frequently brought
up.
Another area of concern for
some students was the way voting
was handled in last year’s executive committee election. In an article published last year by the griff,
hot
Shots
All executive and councillor meeting minutes can be accessed online at samu.ca.
former candidate Josh Stock “referenced candidates who campaigned
during polling days with tablets in
hand,” which drew some controversy.
No disqualifications arose from
those campaigning with tablets in
hand, due to the vagueness of the
rules.
“It was a hole in one of our policies — what is defined as a polling
station?” Duane Perera said, who
ran for vice-president student life in
last year’s election.
Student councillor Jon Capus
also ran in last year’s election, and
didn’t feel like there was a loophole
to use.
“Policy dictates that you can’t
coerce voting ... I feel like it’s pretty apparent that you can’t do those
things, whether it’s explicitly stated
or not,” Capus said.
Fortunately, policy has
changed.
SAMU president Cam McCoy
quickly noted the five-metre rule,
which states that you cannot knowingly be within five metres of someone voting. The rule is much more
clear to interpret.
“Our polling clerks will be
roaming, not only to get students
to vote, but to also look around for
candidates that are doing that,” McCoy said.
Amongst other issues brought
up was the lack of attendance at
Griffins games, with questions specifically geared toward the White
Out.
“Talking to some students, a
lot of them didn’t even know what
White Out was, when it was,” Daniel Roberts of students’ council
said.
A student brought up to some
SAMU representatives the fact
that they sell alcohol at City Centre Campus during home games
MADISON KERR/THE GRIFF
should be marketed better, and
some agreed.
“A lot of people meet [new people] at Towers,” student councillor
Anu Chadha said, adding that it
could directly translate to Griffins
games.
She also suggested pep rallies would be a good idea, and fellow councillor Brittany Pitruniak
agreed.
“Let’s get our students to Towers with discounts on beer, wings,
appetizers [and have them go to a
game],” she said.
Amongst the executives and
councillors were some students,
some coerced by the free food, others wanting some answers. Though
the pulsating fire alarm went off in
the middle of the event, it was only a
bump in the road as the representatives from SAMU continue to try to
get the students of MacEwan more
involved and more informed.
Tell us your story with a photo! Every week we select one of your photos to appear in Hot Shots, the griff’s photo of the
week column. Think you have the next Hot Shot, then send in your photos to [email protected].
Travis Riedlhuber
[email protected]
(780) 421 1000 ext. 121
The griff is a weekly newspaper published
by the Students’ Association of MacEwan
University. The griff has complete
editorial autonomy. Opinions expressed
in the griff do not neccessarily reflect
those of the University or the SA. All
material herein copyrighted to the SA,
the griff and/or its contributors.
Advertising content in the griff does not
reflect the opinions of the staff or the
Students’ Association of
MacEwan University.
BARRETT BELLAND/THE GRIFF
2
For the students. • By the students.
NEWS EDITOR
Danika McConnell
[email protected]
news
How to give to the community
the griff took a tour through Canada’s first food bank — right here in Edmonton
Edmonton’s Food Bank main warehouse located in north-central Edmonton.
Danika McConnell
News Editor
Just shy over its 34th birthday, Edmonton’s Food Bank, Canada’s first
food bank, is continually growing to
improve the lives of people in Alberta’s capital city.
In its beginnings, it was apparent that a lot of edible food was
in the community, but was being
thrown out while people were going hungry — a problem that was in
need of a positive fix.
“80 per cent of all of our food
comes from the food industry, that’s
not marketable, but it’s a perfectly edible product,” said Tamisan
Bencz-Knight, manager of strategic
relationships and partnerships of
Edmonton’s Food Bank.
Recently, with the collapse of
Target store locations in Canada,
a semi-trailer of food was turned
away from the store due to no longer
stocking shelves and brought to the
food bank as an alternative.
Based on Hunger Count 2014, a
report of food bank use in Canada,
Bencz-Knight highlighted that Edmonton’s Food Bank was serving 51
per cent of all Alberta food bank clients.
“We’re supporting, right now,
15,000 people a month,” said BenczKnight. “About 40 per cent are children under 18.”
With one central location and
main warehouse, and 213 different
agencies, churches and food depots,
the food bank urges people to go to
the nearest depot for convenience of
the client. These separate agencies
include organizations such as Hope
Mission, Operation Friendship, Salvation Army and WIN House, all of
which access food products from Edmonton’s Food Bank.
Hope Mission caters their daily meal plans based upon the food
products received from Edmonton’s
Food Bank.
Aside from direct agencies, the
food bank is involved in approximately 1,100 different events a year
that support their work, with most
of them being third party affiliations.
The food bank also uses a database to track and monitor clients
and Bencz-Knight mentioned an initiative where agencies which work
in the community, such as social
workers, can reach out to Edmonton’s Food Bank and connect families or individuals they work with to
come directly to Edmonton’s Food
Bank’s main location.
Through this option, if community members are in contact with a
social worker, they can be referred
to Edmonton’s Food Bank or do a
“self-referral” directly.
With a full warehouse located
on 120 street and another two doors
down, the food bank is filled from
wall-to-wall, but this comes in waves.
“Definitely the bulk of all donations, about 60 to 70 per cent of
all monetary donations comes in at
Christmas,” said Bencz-Knight.
Although Christmas spirit is
prone to bring donations, a lot of
other seasonal organizations have
donation campaigns in place, which
is when the food bank needs to really work toward maintaining donation flow.
In recent years, the food bank
was qualifying for a grant of $17,000
from the City of Edmonton, however, with their operation budget being too great, they were no longer
qualified.
“We purchase about $600,000
worth of food every year, so we have
to get those funds in, so we do have a
lull time with food donations, which
is usually the spring and into the
summer,” said Bencz-Knight. “And
when all of our racks would be empty from that time, that’s when we’ll
have to do the purchases and everything.”
Aside from food contributions,
the food bank also looks toward one
day offering a wider range of food
education.
“There is a difference between
‘Best Before’ and ‘Expiration.’ ‘Best
Before’ doesn’t mean it has gone
bad. It’s perfectly fine,” said BenczKnight.
One initiative of Edmonton
Food Bank is to educate people
on this difference and the impor-
tance of this understanding when
it comes to food safety and avoiding
unintentional waste.
“We know that we’re doing great
at providing food hampers, free food
to people, but we’re not solving any
problems and we’re not solving any
issues,” said Bencz-Knight. “We
know that there’s a general lack of
food understanding [and] food literacy in the community.”
Looking into dietary obstacles,
the food bank also works closely
with Kinnikinnick Foods Inc., a
company which provides those will
celiac and others with specific dietary needs with risk-free food options.
Volunteers and employees do
their best to accommodate dietary
or allergy needs. However, the onus
is on the individual to check over everything that is in their hamper.
“All of our hampers are quite
generic, they’re almost the same
across the board,” said BenczKnight.
Although people can ask for certain specialty items, it all varies depending upon the flow of donations
and what is readily available.
“We work closely with our
health inspectors and different dieticians to make sure that we have
options for people,” said BenczKnight.
Other than speciality food options, the food bank does its best to
provide a variety of toiletries and
other miscellaneous household options.
Bencz-Knight noted the amount
of dog and cat food donated and how
their surplus is donated to animal
shelters in the community.
Elaborating on the importance
of pets, Bencz-Knight noted how in
tough situations many people feel
the need to give up their animals as
a result of their situation, and how
this can be a major emotional obstacle, as pets can make such a substantial impact in someone’s life.
Donations to Edmonton’s Food
Bank can be made online through
monetary donations, food donation
locations throughout the city and by
volunteering directly.
www.thegriff.ca • Facebook: Get_the_griff • Twitter: @get_the_griff
3
news
Talkin’ feminism and consent
Feminists of MacEwan host their first club meeting of the new year with more to come
Anna McMillan
Writer
After a semester-long hiatus,
Feminists at MacEwan, the university’s anti-kyriarchy (a term
referring to anti-oppression) club,
is back in action. The club held its
first meeting of the school year at
City Centre Campus on Jan. 27.
Sarah Murphy, the club’s only
returning executive, explained
that Feminists at MacEwan was
reformed when students started showing interest in creating a
new executive team.
Now that the club is active,
the executive team’s goals of promoting campus-wide equality and
bringing issues of oppression to
light have been revived.
The club plans on promoting the eradication of all forms
of oppression through monthly
meetings and a variety of events,
including talks from guest speakers.
At each meeting, two executive members discuss a topic relevant to feminism and afterward
open the floor for club members to
join in on the conversation.
The first meeting focused on
intersectional feminism and consent.
Opening with a half-hour long
presentation that focused on these
topics and more, club members explored a variety of concepts, including privilege, sexual assault
and tone policing.
When discussing sensitive or
controversial subject matter, the
club works to ensure that members have a safe and secure environment for their discussions.
“We just want to create a safe
space for everyone and I feel like
The club can be found on Facebook with the reminder to all users that the group believes in creating safe spaces.
everyone can benefit from that,”
Murphy said.
Murphy also emphasized the
space that the club creates as being a place of growth. “We’re all
learning together and we’re all
learning from each other and
building off each other,” she said.
At one point in the meeting,
however, a few club members felt
that the space became “very awkward,” as the atmosphere grew
tense when the topic of freedom of
speech and opinion was brought
to attention.
Many club members became
defensive when it seemed like a
member held the opinion that advocated the acceptance of making hurtful comments without
consequences. Of course, Feminists at MacEwan does not support speech that has the potential
to harm others, and the discussion became heated due to a lack
of proper communication.
“I think this is a positive learning experience,” Murphy said after the conversation on respecting
conflicting opinions settled. She
HUH?! HEADLINE
OF THE WEEK
“
Custody
battle
brewing
over
‘Zombie
Cat’
- CNN, Feb. 3
MR. DUCKE/FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS
4
explained that the club is freshly
reformed, and that the executive
team and club members will continue to grow and learn from each
other.
It is this growth that will help
the club to inform and engage the
MacEwan community in the discussion on issues related to feminism.
“I feel like feminism applies to
everyone, because if we’re all trying to fight for equality we can all
benefit,” Murphy explained. “We
just want equality for all of the
students at MacEwan because
there are so many different people
who have different identities.”
The club encourages a variety
of students to attend their meetings and events, as they do not
only explore issues that affect females, but instead, discuss issues
of colour, intersexuality, religion
and more.
The club’s next meeting will
take place at City Centre Campus
on Feb. 24, where they will explore
the topics of body and sex positivity.
ARTS EDITOR
[email protected]
arts
Experimentation with Billie Zizi
and
Where
When
What: Billie Zizi album
release show
Where: The Artery, 9535
Jasper Ave.
When: Feb. 6 at 8:00 p.m.
Price: $15 at the door, or
$12 at yeglive.ca
Courtney Bettin
Writer
Billie Zizi is the sweet girl with the
bright smile who will be lighting
up the stage at The Artery as she
releases her first album, Gun Metal Dress.
Her unique style leaves room
for experimenting while maintaining a sound that every audience can resonate with.
The MacEwan alumni began
her musical career at the young
age of seven, when she started
her own punk band, The Rotten
Socks, with her two best friends.
They wrote singles such as “Stinkin’ up the Highway” and “How
Dare you Bob,” which lit the fire
for what would become a lifelong
passion.
She fronts her band on guitar
and vocals with six other members
Billie Zizi will be turning some heads with her album release show at The Artery.
supporting her, including back-up
singers Alex, Aleisha and Andrea
Vissia, drummer Bramwell Park,
bassist Moses Gregg and violinist
Cam Neufeld.
“[Billie ZiZi] bridges a lot of
genres, but what I’ve come up with
and stuck to is jazz-influenced folk
with dirty guitar … I’m just trying
to make music that I like and that
I feel creative and inspired in and I
hope that that can make all kinds
of people like it,” said Zizi.
Along with her own band, Zizi
currently contributes to the Balkan dance party band The Gadjo Collective, which her father is
also a part of, as well as the folk/
blues band Nadine Kellman and
the Black Wonders.
Unlike a lot of other artists,
Zizi is willing to let the music
come out however it’s meant to.
She has a strong sense of humility and connection with the
writing process, which lends to
her ability to create a sound which
is difficult for others to emulate.
SUPPLIED
“Art so often is transmuted; it
has to be changed … The songs
just kind of come out and kind of
are how they are. I just have to accept it, like ‘Okay, I guess this is a
country song. Fine, sound gods.’”
Zizi has a laid-back attitude
that makes her up for anything as
far as her music is concerned, but
that doesn’t mean that she is any
less ambitious about it.
If anything, her passion makes
her more aware of the obstacles
that musicians face and how she is
handling them.
“To be in music, I think you
need a kind of ruggedness because it is an inherently tumultuous industry and you have to want
it really bad. You have to be able to
fail publicly and be okay with that
and then keep doing it,” said Zizi.
As a female musician, Zizi
spoke to this very idea and the fact
that it can be difficult for women
to break into the industry and
make a name for themselves. She
is hopeful that there is beginning
to be an increase in female musicians who are following different
outlets.
“I’m really excited to see the
increase of female instrumentalists – really well-versed female
instrumentalists. It used to be a
novelty to have a female instrumentalist, but it’s becoming more
widespread. Music is for everyone
and not just certain aspects.”
As far as Zizi is concerned, her
open personality and commitment
to her craft are sure to propel her
in the right direction. The album
release at The Artery is just one
stepping stone of many to come in
the future.
“[I want] to engage in the process of becoming a better musician and a better songwriter and
hopefully to travel and keep playing music. To keep doing what I’m
doing but on a broader scale.”
Progress needed in Bond franchise
FLICKR/DFID
Samuel Rafuse
The Sheaf
(University of Saskatchewan)
As the central character of a movie franchise that has been around
for 53 years, it’s only natural that
James Bond’s persona and appearance have evolved along with
society.
There’s a debate floating
around the Internet that addresses whether actor Idris Elba (The
Wire, Luther) should be the next
007 after Daniel Craig. In the mod-
ern era, there shouldn’t even be
mild speculation about whether a
black actor such as Elba should be
able to play James Bond.
Certainly, we are ready for this
racial change to the misogynistic
and mercilessly violent character
who originally appeared in Ian
Fleming’s novels.
Even after taking into account
the social norms of the time that
the original books were set in and
Fleming’s commentary on society,
Bond isn’t exactly a progressive
character.
Even so, this chain-smoking,
martini-swilling and womanizing
symbol of hyper-masculinity is a
key figure in pop culture.
However, his iconic persona
has been radically changing in recent years, which leads us to some
unexpected developments.
When Craig originally took
the role for Casino Royale, audiences were surprised to see a vulnerable side to Bond.
Skyfall pushed that even further and we actually saw a Bond
who had to deal with mortality
and the moral implications of his
job.
When Skyfall was released,
the public was outraged at the
treatment of Sévérine (Bérénice
Marlohe).
Even though the sex scene was
omitted this time around, Marlohe still had very little to do — both
as an actress and as a character
with any autonomy — other than
look seductive, for which the movie received its share of backlash.
The modern audiences won’t
stand for the kind of blatant misogyny that filled the older films.
Anybody who remembers the
scandal that arose when Halle
Berry was cast in Die Another Day
will recognize that this is a positive step forward.
Of course, we still have the
matter of race. Should Bond ever
be portrayed by an actor who isn’t
white?
Surely Fleming never intended for this to happen, but the films
have more than slightly strayed
from his original concept of the
Bond character.
The movies series is its own entity at this point.
We could certainly see many
different possibilities for Bond in
upcoming years.
After all, the Bond series is ultimately a very pornographic form
of entertainment.
Although the clothes (mostly)
stay on, Bond’s facade is shed and
we are invited to step into his persona for two hours of fantasy fulfillment in which we are heroic,
invincible and desirable. This is
and always has been the theme of
the Bond franchise.
Masculine, powerful, you
name it — whatever Bond is,
that’s who his viewers can become
by watching his films. It is the ultimate form of escapism, but it leads
nowhere.
Recall Pierce Brosnan’s Bond
who could operate in god-mode,
blowing away countless enemies
without ever facing any real danger himself.
We never see the blood —
only the fun. This changed a lot
with Craig’s Bond and perhaps we
aren’t quite as willing to step into
his skin anymore.
This time we watched and
commented on the moral deterioration of a man forced into a persona beyond his control, which is
a huge testament to how much the
Bond identity has evolved over
time.
So if we can make that change
from invincible Bond to socially-conscious and damaged Bond,
can’t we make the change to a
Bond from a different race?
5
arts
Wannabe’s performance certainly left Denizen Hall in a Spiceworld this past Friday.
STEPHAN BOISSONNEAULT/ THE GRIFF
If you Wannabe my lover, go to
Denizen Hall with my friends
Jake Pesaruk
Writer
The ‘90s— Yes, we remember
them fondly. It was a simpler time.
It was an era of dial-up, grunge,
and people wearing some ugly-ass
baggy sweaters. I guess the latter
is still applicable today.
If there is one major saving
grace of the ‘90s, it is the amount
of cultural and musical influence
that this current generation has
adopted and incorporated.
This musical influence was
alive and well at Denizen Hall’s
‘90s party, where there was musical talent and the air smelled like
teen spirit, as well as a few other
things.
The atmosphere of the venue
was that of something out of your
typical ‘90s movie. Think American Pie with a pinch of Clerks.
Everyone was dressed up in
their most appropriate attire.
From grunge to punk, all the way
to valley girl, most of the tropes of
the decade were covered.
The main differentiating factor, however, was that some of the
people there were not old enough
to remember the ‘90s
The main theme of the evening was nostalgia, yet there were
6
amount of people talking about
how they had to brush up on ‘90s
history to put together their costume.
Others in attendance simply
stated: “Costume? This is what I
wore in the ‘90s!”
The evening was in full swing
with the DJ blasting all of the appropriate tunes of the decade.
Seeing an entire venue of people jumping up and down in unison to House of Pain’s “Jump
Around” was indeed a sight to behold.
There was no exclusivity, regardless of how old the member of
the crowd was during the decade.
Everybody was there to simply
soak up the mood of the decade
and relive the …arguable glory of
the ‘90s?
Once the house band started
playing old favourites, the crowd
rushed to the stage.
They played songs from almost
every genre you could think of
that existed in the ‘90s.
It started with what you’d expect: the Smashing Pumpkins’
“Bullet With Butterfly Wings”
and then eventually ecscalted to
the likes of Aqua’s “Barbie Girl.”
It wasn’t until the main act
took the stage that the ‘90s nostal-
gia peaked.
The main attraction of the
evening was Toronto’s own Spice
Girls tribute band, Wannabe.
They played in front of a huge
crowd of eager fans desperately
wanting to pretend that they were
actually seeing the famous pop
songstresses.
“Nostalgia has worked in our
favour!” said Barbara Johnston,
the group’s Ginger Spice.
When Wannabe took the stage,
the amount of fans in the crowd
whose faces lit up and who belted
out every word to every song was
nothing short of staggering.
Not to mention Wannabe
sounded almost identical to the
original pop group.
“
We just want to bring
that vibe of ‘girl power’
because it is important,
especially now.
-Barbara Johnston
Wannabe’s Ginger Spice
“It’s fun singing our favourite
songs while everyone sings along
in a genuine sense of camaraderie
and friendship,” said Johnston.
When discussing the group’s
origin, Johnston explained that it
all started about three years ago
when the group did a small show
for fun in Toronto.
“Somehow some media got
wind of it and all of these people
showed up, which resulted in a
huge demand from other venues
for us to do shows.”
The band played a full set of
all of the typical Spice Girls songs
and even went as far as to incorporate the Spice Girls splitting up,
which resulted in Johnston’s Ginger Spice storming off the stage
mid-song.
This made it seem more like a
performance than a tribute show.
It was apparent that every
member of Wannabe had some
sort of musical training before
forming the tribute band.
“We all grew up in Toronto in
the arts scene and trained as various actors/singers and that’s what
attracted us to the Spice Girls. We
wanted to fill the shoes of those
characters,” said Johnston.
“We don’t intend to copy them
exactly. We just want to bring that
vibe of ‘girl power’ because it is
important, especially now.”
One of the most endearing
things about the group is how they
approached their LGBT fans.
“We like to think about all the
gay boys and girls who sang Spice
Girls songs in private and weren’t
able to come out, figuratively and
literally, and sing them back when
they were young,” said Johnston.
“So for us to have people in the
room who loved those songs growing up and can now sing them
openly has made this whole experience profoundly special.”
The ‘90s night was like stepping back in time. seeing people in
ecstatic joy singing along to their
favourite tunes in hammer pants
and oversized flannel shirts was
something else.
It had an interesting vibe considering the Spice Girls haven’t
been a complete band for over a
decade.
Now, I’m no fan of the Spice
Girls in any way, shape or form.
Yet having a tribute band like
Wannabe that is in it for the fans,
does a spot-on job and brings
something new to the table is
something seldom seen.
And dare I say it … they’re out
there making it a Spice World.
arts
Retro video games can still be fun
knifepoint, and a whole list of other
hardships on the road.
The commands are often frustrating and require super specific
inputs. There have been so many
times where I’ve typed “lights on”
and the game replied with, “I don’t
understand you, please use a verb.”
Still, I’ve been playing this for
hours.
Gridlee
Parvin Sedighi
ARCHIVE.ORG
This week the griff decided to feel all
nostalgic and revisit some retro video
games. Here are their reactions.
Crazy Kong
Emily Jansen
Crazy Kong is a lot like classic Donkey Kong, only it has a new name
and colour scheme.
The controls are a bit different
to operate on your internet browser
— you’re handling arrow keys rather than a joystick, and to insert a
coin you need only press five.
To make Mario jump, the command is the Ctrl key. Unfortunately, this does not improve the
control you have over Mario’s actions. While the game is fun to play
from a nostalgic standpoint, it can
be frustrating at times. The reaction
time is so delayed you almost feel as
if you haven’t really pressed the Ctrl
button.
Mario “runs” so slowly you wonder how he’s ever going to make it
up the ramps to defeat Donkey
Kong and rescue Princess Peach.
Holding down the right arrow key
harder doesn’t seem to hustle him
along, either. While this game is
free and fun to relive, it takes some
time to get used to the old school
controls and slow-motion feel of
the gameplay.
Zaxxon
Jordan Gill
I’ve played many difficult video
games that have caused me to throw
a nearby object across the room.
Zaxxon is probably the most
frustrating video game I’ve ever
tried to play. The concept seems
simple enough, which probably just
adds to the anger of the situation.
In Zaxxon you control an airplane
through obstacles before coming
into contact with an enemy plane
that you must shoot down.
This enemy appears approximately 10 seconds into the game,
and unless Zaxxon is the world’s
shortest game, I don’t see how the
game progresses past this initial
enemy. This is because the enemy
plane seems to have an enormous
amount of armour. Firing your
weapon seems almost pointless
as the enemy can be shot multiple
times and continues to come after
you.
If that’s not enough to frustrate you, there is more. The enemy plane acts like a suicide bomber
with seeker missile accuracy. There
is seemingly no way to get around
the enemy. You take multiple shots.
The enemy does not die. The enemy
rams into you. Game over.
Not since I first wandered aimlessly through the rock tunnel in
the original Pokémon game have I
felt so helpless. Unbelievably, there
is actually a Super Zaxxon, which
features even faster gameplay than
the original. My advice is don’t get
frustrated, and don’t play Zaxxon.
Tetris is a game that requires
skillful thinking. In order to succeed in this geometric-style game,
an individual must fit every falling cubic shape perfectly together
with others in a row until it builds
up. Even yet, it must never reach the
top or it’s game over!
The tricky part of the game is
to make sure that the shapes fit together perfectly with no spaces in
between the rows. Once the player’s
shapes reach the top of the screen,
the player loses the game.
Crosscountry Canada
Marc Kitteringham
Upon one of my many forays into the world of the internet,
I stumbled upon a screencap of
people playing a dark, text-based
game that involves frustrating commands. It requires having a working
knowledge of Canada in the 1990s
and remembering to start one’s big
rig.
Crosscountry Canada is a textbased adventure game where the
apparent goal is to navigate 1998
Canada in search of regionally specific commodities (i.e. oil in Fort
MacMurray, fish in Halifax etc.)
and to ship them back to the start
point.
Along the way, the player needs
to take into account hunger, sleep
levels, fuel levels, changing weather conditions, car accidents, hitchikers who commit robberies at
“Catch as many balls as you can,”
my computer encourages me, so I
press start. A green creature that
could be a cross between a Teletubby and a pickle appears on a tiled
ground.
The poor graphics and the pink
and blue gradient of the background remind me both of psychedelics and the economic recession
of the early ‘80s. Quickly, the aim of
the game becomes clear: use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move
around the green hybrid beast
named Gridlee — a name it shares
with the game — around so that it
may catch a bouncing red ball in the
trunk-like extension attached to its
head.
The catch is (and of course
there is a catch) you have to avoid
the evil, red rocket-like objects,
which turn previously harmless
tiles into pits of doom and darkness
upon contact.
Once Gridlee stands on an infected tile, it’s game over. I managed
to grab two balls before I died.
I repeated the process until I
reached an all-time high score of
five balls.
A future in Gridlee ball-grabbing championships is the inevitable next step for me.
The entertainment value of this
ancient arcade game isn’t what will
bring you in, but if you’re tired of
your Thursday morning Econ 101
class and want a different way to
waste your time doing something
repetitive and useless, Gridlee is the
game for you.
Both images from Archive.org
Tetris
Avi Azarov
These retro internet games are a
way to bring back nostalgia for ‘90s
babies. One in particular is Tetris.
The game kept kids occupied for
hours; this game was a huge hit as
many as 30 years ago, before Xbox
or PlayStation.
Tetris was originally used
through the Game Boy Tetris, the
Game Boy for hardcore Tetris fans.
This game paired portable and puzzler features together as the game
was perfectly fit for on-the-go and
could be played anywhere.
7
arts
Langunitas Sucks is actually good
Post
Prohibition
Daren Zomerman is the griff’s resident beer columnist, seeking out the
weird and wonderful beers from all
over the world in a variety of styles.
Every week he will talk about a different beer.
Lagunitas Sucks
Lagunitas Brewing Co.
Brown Sugga Substitute Ale
Lagunitas Sucks is actually the
second farthest thing from sucking — the first, of course, being Bill
Murray.
In fact, the only thing that actually sucks about it is the fact that it
only comes in a 1-quart-sized bottle.
It’s called Sucks because it was
first brewed during a time when
the brewers couldn’t afford to make
their beloved Brown Sugga.
It’s a weird mix of barley, rye,
wheat and oats, but you’d never
know it because it stays true to Lagunitas’s style of brewing: sweet
with an excessive malt body and
A DAY IN
THE LIFE
OF
Frank Underwood
A column dedicated to a day in the
life of some of TV’s favourite characters. This week, griff writer Michaela Ream writes from the perspective
of Frank Underwood from Netflix’s
House of Cards.
This Day
in
Music
Langunitas Sucks suprisngly doesn’t suck.
DAREN ZOMERMAN/ THE GRIFF
tons of hops.
This beer isn’t necessarily associated with any one particular style,
however it very closely resembles a
Lagunitas style IPA.
Lagunitas Sucks was an instant
hit from the moment it came out.
Every year it flew off the shelves almost as fast as it hit them. And now,
it’s on the shelves year round for
your drinking pleasure.
The beer pours a bright, crystal
clear amber colour with a decent
white head that dissipates quickly.
Have you ever watched one of those
animal documentaries? The one
with the cute little gazelle being
chased by a hungry lion.
Everyone always cheers for the
gazelle, hoping it will escape, but
no one does for the lion. And why
would they?
Something as big and powerful
as the lion does not tug at people’s
heartstrings quite like a pathetic,
bounding deer.
Politics is a lot like that; the
world I live in is eat or be eaten.
Some people will stare a gift horse
in the mouth till it’s drier than a
desert in there. I, for one, prefer to
saddle up and ride.
You see, the trick to success is
knowing when to attack and when
to play nice.
It’s all just a game, a trick of letting people think they are in control, when really the ball has never
been in their court.
In Gaffney, South Carolina, we
had our own brand of diplomacy.
“Shake with your right hand but
hold a rock in your left.”
Oh sure, it may all seem genuine, but when the time comes
around BAM! You strike without
hesitation.
At the same time, be aware of
the danger of overstepping your
bounds, as this can lead you into a
precarious position just the same.
From the lion’s den to a pack of
wolves, when you’re fresh meat, kill
and throw them something fresher.
Always be aware of your circumstances and be ready to seize
an opportunity.
For those of us climbing to the
top of the food chain, there can be
no mercy. There is but one rule:
hunt or be hunted.
Fifty six years ago, this week, three
brilliant musicians died.
On Feb. 3 1959, the local paper boys
of America delivered this crushing
news to the music community.
A plane that was transporting famous musicians Buddy Holly,
Ritchie Valens, J.P. Richardson,
a.k.a. the Big Bopper, and the pilot,
had crashed near Iowa.
The musical world had just lost the
men that had brought songs like
“That’ll be the Day,” “La Bamba,”
and “White Lightning,” for music
lovers ears to enjoy.
Yes, it was a sad and dark time.
Holly, Valens, and Richardson each
brought their own flare and creative
sound to the world.
A song by folk rock musican
Don Mclean entitled “American
Pie,” with the repeated lyrics “this
is the day that music died,” is said to
be an allusion to the deaths of Holly, Valens, and Richardson.
Music is an organic thing on so
many different spectrums. That
is why there is so much history
within the world of music. Every now and then it is nice to reflect on one of the many events
that are important to the music world. This week griff Arts
Editor Stephan Boissonneault
talks about what many papers
have called “The Day Music
Died.”
8
It smells of pine, orange and tangerine with a bit of bread. Upon tasting the beer, there is just a touch of
spiciness hidden behind a wall of
sweet malt and piney hops.
Coming in an almost litre-sized
bottle at 8 per cent abv, this beer will
knock you back and hinder the review process very quick.
Be sure to share it with at least
one other person. Otherwise you’re
the one who actually sucks.
-Daren Zomerman
- Frank Underwood
Frank Underwood is watching you.
A memorial site for the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper. KATE LEMKE/ THE GRIFF
AKAHAWKEYEFAN/ FLICKR
arts
MacEwan’s very own Big Fish
Angela Johnston
Managing Editor
MacEwan University has reeled
in a Big Fish.
From Feb. 5 to 14, second-year
Theatre Arts students will be hitting the John L. Haar Theatre stage
in a performance of the musical
based on the Daniel Wallace novel
and the Tim Burton film.
The stage performance will be
quite similar to the film, with adaptations for a transition from one
medium to the other, according to
Jim Guedo, chair of the Theatre
Arts program.
He noted that John August
wrote both the musical and the
screenplay, creating the same
foundation for both.
“It always follows the same
arc, which is this father-son relationship,” says Guedo. “The central core of the story is absolutely
the same except they burst into
song.”
The narrative focus is on creative storyteller Edward Bloom,
his estranged son, and the pair’s
endeavour to repair their bond before the elder man passes away.
The story is set in the Southern
United States but it’s not overtly
regional, according to Guedo.
“The music has a little bit of
an Alabama feel in certain songs,”
says Guedo. “[But] there’s a lot of
different styles and genres covered.”
“It’s a good musical where
there’s a lot of different styles that
they get to tap into,” he said.
This variation is due to
Bloom’s colourful stories, which
take place over many time periods
and locations.
Guedo is the show’s production director, while music direction and choreography are under
the care of MacEwan alumni
Cathy Derkach and Jason Hardwick, respectively.
The musical touches on several interesting themes, such as
the tradition of oral storytelling,
memory, and the difference between narrative history and facts.
“We’re selective about how we
remember our lives and our pasts
and the things we didn’t want to
leave behind,” says Guedo.
Parts of the story are more realistic, while others are stylized
and theatrical, Guedo noted.
“The music is slightly different in the more real moments
and then it gets more heightened
[in fantasy moments],” explains
Guedo. “The contrasts are quite
stark.”
Just as the style varies, so do
the emotions portrayed from one
vignette to the next — Guedo suggests that the audience will laugh
and cry in equal measure.
“It’s like life,” he says. “I think
people can connect with the story,
with the sentiment behind it.”
“I just think that it’s a beautiful story because even though the
focus is primarily between a father and a son, that’s the story and
the plot, but it’s something that’s
very universal.”
- All photos by Madison Kerr
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is not fatal: it is the courage
to continue that counts.”
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9
opinions
OPINIONS EDITOR
Marc Kitteringham
[email protected]
Isn’t it time to believe survivors?
In cases of sexual assault, the accused are believed far too often
Blindly believing the accused in sexual assault cases ignores the stories of survivors.
Ana Holleman
Writer
In the past year, numerous male
celebrities — including Canadian
radio personality Jian Ghomeshi,
comedian Bill Cosby, music producer Dr. Luke, YouTuber Sam
Pepper and NFL player Ray Rice
— have been publicly accused of
committing acts of physical, sexual and emotional violence against
women (and, in Ghomeshi’s case,
allegedly, at least one man).
With these accusations, many
people have voiced their support
for the men accused of these violent acts, doubting and questioning those who have come forward
with accounts of these men abusing them.
Why?
What is it that makes men —
especially famous men — reliable,
and what is it that makes those
women liars? Why are people so
quick to defend these men, even
when evidence is increasingly
stacked against them?
Of course, because no final
judicial conclusion has been
reached in any of these aforementioned cases, I am unable to formally charge the men accused as
guilty. However, I am also formally
unable to find these men innocent,
and I see no reason why the women
should not be believed.
Indeed, a lot of people seem
to share this sentiment. Following the Ghomeshi accusations, the
hashtags #IBelieveWomen and
#IBelieveLucy (in reference to
Lucy DeCoutere, a Canadian actress who publicly came out with
her accusations against Ghomeshi) popped up on Twitter and oth-
10
er social media sites.
Such signs of solidarity are
one of the ways the “court of public opinion” (a buzz term which
means “the public’s perception to
voice opinions on a matter and for
those opinions to have sway in the
treatment of that matter”) is helping to lend greater support to survivors of gender-based violence.
As it is, when people reveal their
experiences with gender-based
violence, they can face anything
from doubt to outright rejection
by their family, friends and communities. Because of this, survivors are often made to be silent,
leaving them to cope with the horrors committed against them by
themselves.
If a hashtag on social media
can help survivors of violence in
even the slightest way, then it’s
well worth it.
However, hashtags and the discussions they generate still aren’t
enough for some people to be merciful toward people who have come
forward with stories of abuse. For
every count of someone believing a survivor’s story, it seems as
though there are two counts of
questioning. For whatever reason,
some people are completely hellbent on defending men accused of
abuse.
Again, why?
Time after time, women are
told to take ludicrous precautions
when they go out so that they don’t
get raped. We’re told, essentially,
that the only surefire way to not
get raped is to exist as completely private beings, separate and
hidden from the rest of the male
world.
If people are so willing to be-
DEVON BUCHANAN / FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS
lieve that men will rape women
at any moment, then why don’t
more people believe women when
they say a man has raped them? It
doesn’t make sense.
One recurrent thread that
seems to pop up in defence of male
celebrities accused of violence
against women is that “we” as a
collective hold them up as a gold
standard of what people in their
respective fields should be. Take
Jian Ghomeshi, for example: the
man is seen as one of Canada’s
premier radio hosts, as someone
who revolutionized Canadian arts
reporting. Thus, when the accusations came out, some people in Ca-
nadian journalism circles seemed
to figuratively stick their fingers in
their ears, choosing to ignorantly
believe Ghomeshi without giving
credence to the people who accused him.
This support from the collective “we” is also what allows
abusers to grow their power and
diminish that of their victims. As
long as we keep giving capital —
either in its economic or social
meanings — to people suspected
of abuse, survivors’ voices will be
silenced.
To that end, we can’t act like we
don’t give capital to abusers. John
Lennon, for example, had publicly admitted to physically abusing
women during his lifetime, but he’s
remembered as a peace advocate.
Michael Jackson was accused repeatedly — even posthumously —
of child molestation, but people
ignore that when glorifying him as
the King of Pop.
It all depends on how we act.
Will we give Ghomeshi an audience (and our money) if he’s found
guilty? Will we vote to end Dr.
Luke’s extensive production career in light of the accusations
against him?
It’s in the court of public opinion. Do we value the numerous
women and men who have serious
and important narratives, or do we
value the handful of powerful and
charismatic men these narratives
threaten? Human lives are hanging in the balance.
It’s time to overthrow the
kings. Let’s bring in a real
democracy.
DEVON BUCHANAN / FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS
opinions
The CEO that made too much
CEO’s severance pay was more than that of all other employees combined
Target closing its doors leaves employees to the mercy of other big box stores.
Ana Holleman
Writer
By now, news has spread that Target stores will be leaving Canada
following a lukewarm reception
from consumers. With this news,
it has since come out that CEO
Gregg Steinhafel will be receiving $61 million USD in severance
and miscellaneous pay, which is
more than the combined sever-
ance packages of Target’s 17,600
employees in Canada.
When I first found out that Target was leaving Canada, I was actually quite happy. The way I saw
it, the beast of American capitalist imperialism was retracting
one of its slimy tentacles from
the country. Now, though, it feels
like the beast has flung some of its
slime on us as it’s leaving.
In total, Target has set aside
ROBYN HUIZINGA / THE GRIFF
$56 million USD for its Canadian
employees. That means that each
non-CEO employee will receive
roughly $3,182 USD in compensation for the chain’s closing. That’s
about 0.0052 per cent of what
Steinhafel will receive.
This is ridiculous. If Target
has the money to pay its CEO
roughly 109 per cent more than
the entirety of its other employees, then surely it can afford to dis-
tribute that wealth around a little
more equally.
Of course, this is how the system is set up: one person (or one
small group of people, depending
on the organization) receives the
bulk of the fruit of the workers’
labour, while the workers receive
a pittance. It doesn’t matter if the
higher-ups work as much as the
labourers or if the elite does virtually nothing. It’s economic aris-
tocracy, and it’s terrible.
Moreover, when Target finally closes down shop up north, any
number of already present U.S.
box stores could take its place.
Wal-Mart is seen as the most
likely prospect by many people,
including retail analyst Perry Caicco.
Wal-Mart would not be a preferable substitute for Target. If
anything, given Wal-Mart’s reputation of employee abuses and
general lack of ethics, it could be
worse for those seeking jobs. It’s
bad enough that people are losing jobs and income because one
American company shut down.
They shouldn’t have to turn to another, notably malignant American company to recuperate from
their losses.
In theory, the departure of a
large American company from
Canada could be a good thing,
as it would remove an imperialist stronghold from the country.
However, the reality of the matter
is that hardworking Canadians
are not being treated — even as a
collective — as equal to one man
at the top. Not only that, but these
same Canadians could have to go
to another, arguably worse American implant.
It’s both a major and a minor
change to the Canadian economic
landscape, and it’s one that illustrates how entrenched in the capitalist system we are.
Old stores: gone but not forgotten
We look back on the shopping centres that have left us over the years
The closure of Target made us think
of some of the other stores that have
closed or are closing. Here is our
fond look back at the Canadian retailers that have bitten the dust.
Aeropostale Canada
Avi Azarov
Aeropostale, known for colourful and fun teen apparel which focuses on a demographic of young
women aged 12-17, announced the
shutdown of 120 retail stores in the
U.S. and Canada on Dec. 3, 2014.
The company said 50-75 stores and
126 mall-based stores will be gone in
2015. According to Reuters, revenue
fell from $514.9 million to $452.9 million in 2014.
There is no doubt now that Aeropostale is struggling to keep pace
with the changing trends in the
fashion market and attracting its
teen customers. They are attempting to help the business by shutting
down the stores that are costing
them the most and those that are essentially unsuccessful. Their losses
doubled to $52 million in the third
quarter of the business year and
their biggest emerging competition
are fashion retailers like H&M and
Forever 21, which bring the trendy
clothes of the runway to their stores
within weeks. Their teen shoppers
are looking for the latest and greatest apparel in order to keep up with
the latest trends at school.
The hype on Aeropostale is truly gone now and they can be remembered for their attempt to bring
a family-friendly and fun style of
clothing to the retail market. Today’s teens want to wear crop tops
and high-waisted shorts that come
slightly short on their upper thigh.
Consequently, the struggle for them
was appealing to teen consumers
with provocative fashion trends;
they did not meet consumer expectations due to what was previously “acceptable” apparel in the teen
world.
Blockbuster
Jordan Gill
It’s been just over three years since
Blockbuster closed its doors in Canada, essentially ending the movie
rental business. The ability to rent
new releases directly through your
cable provider as well as the growing presence of streaming sites
like Netflix proved to be too big of
a threat, even to an established international corporation like Blockbuster.
According to the Globe and
Mail, Blockbuster Canada had
$117 million in assets, with $15 mil-
lion in cash, when it announced it
could not find a suitable buyer for
the franchise. The successes enjoyed by Blockbuster simply were
not enough to outweigh the inherent risks that were starting to rise.
With the steady growth of Netflix it does seem as though this rationale was certainly warranted.
However, I do miss going to video
stores and browsing the collection
of DVDs available to rent. I miss
getting advice from employees and
other customers. As technology advances, it seems as though we are
slowly being forced to give up the
methods in which we consume media.
Over the summer I purchased
a new Macbook for school and one
night I decided I wanted to watch an
old movie. I started to feel ridiculous
as I searched for the DVD drive and
finally took to the internet in the
hope that I was just missing something. Nope, there simply isn’t a
DVD drive in newer Macbooks. Are
digital downloads so prominent
these days that a DVD drive in a laptop is now obsolete?
This may be an unpopular opinion, but I prefer to have a physical
copy of the product I’m purchasing.
I don’t buy music from iTunes, instead opting to buy the CD from the
store. After my realization with my
laptop, I started to wonder how long
it would be until CDs are deemed
expendable by the general public? I
feel it’s only a matter of time until I
am lamenting the loss of stores like
HMV.
K-mart
“I wanna go to K-mart.” A phrase
I often repeated as a youngster after watching the 1988 film Rain
Man. Dustin Hoffman’s character
had this unique obsession with Kmart and I needed to find out why.
I remember walking into my first Kmart. Somewhat of a blur, but easily a delightful experience. K-mart
was not a super shopping centre by
any means, but it did have a little bit
of everything. I seem to remember
their model car selection destroyed
all that opposed it. For a measly $40
I purchased a model Zamboni that
outstretched the length of my sixyear-old hands.
I remember one birthday I got a
nameless Montreal Canadiens jersey from Santa. Apparently Santa
was a premium prime time shopper at Edmonton’s local K-mart, because the famous vibrant red K tag
was left hanging off the collar.
It’s a shame that the Canadian K-mart chain suddenly disap-
peared. Sure, it may not have had
a grocery store connected to it like
your local Superstore, but it was
quaint and satisfying. Those were
simpler times. Now we are being
taken over by a store that sports the
colours yellow and blue and is essentially on the brink of becoming
a monopoly — the evil and depressing Wal-Mart.
SAAN Stores
Marc Kitteringham
I have fond memories of SAAN
Stores. Some of my first shopping
experiences were in the small department store in the valley of Hinton, AB. The walls were lined in
bright white particle board, and
filled with cheap, plain clothes covered in classic 1990s patterns—and
this was well into the early 2000s.
Above the particle board walls
were vinyl decals of kids with bowl
cuts playing soccer, road hockey
and tee-ball. To me, SAAN store
was a mecca of everything that was
great in the 1990s.
Seeing how I was six when the
90s ended, there wasn’t much that
I was aware of, but that hardly mattered. To me it was all OshKosh
clothes in bright colours, bowl cuts
and white -walled cheap clothing
stores.
11
feature
O Shepard!
My Shepard!
Edmonton voice actor Mark
Meer is more than the voice
behind Mass Effect’s male
protagonist
ILLUSTRATION BY ROBYN HUIZINGA/THE GRIFF
12
feature
Tim Rauf
Writer
For many griff readers, the
phrase “I’m Commander Shepard, and this is my favourite ship
on the citadel!” will instantly bring to mind the face of the
main protagonist of the worldwide success that is the Mass
Effect trilogy. It’s no surprise
the character has become such
a video game icon, due to the
feeling of intensity and realness Commander Shepard’s
voice actor, Mark Meer, brings
to the role. Of course, it helps
that Mark has been performing almost every performing
art there is, from voice acting to
improv shows, for over 20 years.
Not only that, he is able to regularly find work while remaining
in the city where he got his start.
Meer had his first acting
gigs taking part in a play titled
Hero Bound and working with
the comedy group Three Dead
Trolls in a Baggy, whose members then encouraged him to try
his hand at improv acting. It was
while under mentorship of local veteran performers like Wes
Borg and Joe Bird that Meer
was able to cultivate his newfound passion for the craft.
What may come as a surprise to many fans is that Meer
has never actually been formally trained in any acting school.
When speaking about the origins of his love for the craft,
Meer said he’d never even taken
a class for acting in his youth. “I
didn’t even take drama in high
school. When I was going to university, it was in science.”
It was only after he had begun to immerse himself in theatre plays and became involved
in the improv scene that Meer
really caught the acting bug.
“I’d always liked sketch comedy
and stuff like that. SCTV, Monty Python, Kids in the Hall, but
actually doing it myself made
me realize how much I liked it.”
It’s clear to see just how fond
of the improv scene Meer is,
considering he has been a member of the long-running Rapid Fire Theatre improv troupe
since 1992. Meer also mentioned that he has been performing with the Die-Nasty improv
troupe for “about 23 years now.”
Due to the opportunities
he was given performing with
these two improv groups, Meer
said he was able to improve his
craft considerably. “Time onstage is invaluable,” Meer explained, “And that’s something
Rapid Fire Theatre and DieNasty really afforded me, was
the ability to be onstage performing in front of an audience,
because nothing will educate
you like that will.”
When offering advice on
how best to go about pursuing
a career in the performing arts,
Meer continued to endorse the
type of learning one can only
receive from hands-on experience, remarking that he would
“suggest getting as much workshopping in, learning from other people who’ve done it, and
getting as much stage time in as
possible.”
Meer described the necessity of actively performing in
shows, not to the skills that
could be picked up from veteran
actors, but also for meeting people. He explained that it’s “also
very important, because that’s
when you make connections,
and that’s when people ask you
to be in shows … because they
know who you are.”
Those unfamiliar with his
work outside of his Bioware
video game appearances or his
prolific presence in the Edmon-
Meer portraying the character October on the set of the show Tiny Plastic Men.
Meer with co-star Jewel Staite on the set of 40 Below and Falling.
ton improv community may not
know that in addition to said
roles, Meer is also involved
across the board in a variety of
other mediums. “I do all forms
of media: video games, radio,
television and film.”
Meer does not have a favourite medium to perform in, as
each of them has their own benefits, and it does not pay to be
picky when choosing roles. “I’d
TOM GUNIA/SUPPLIED
say just in general, there are
not many actors of my acquaintance who limit themselves to
‘I am strictly a theatrical actor.’ You know, if an offer comes
across the table or an audition
comes up, most people will tend
“I’m always in
awe, especially of
people who’ve gone
through the Grant
MacEwan program
… the singing and
dancing abilities
that they bring. I
know a lot of Grant
MacEwan grads,
and they’re always
a triple threat …
Big admirer.”
to go for it.”
This inclusive attitude seems
to be even truer in the case of an
actor just beginning career, according to Meer. “At the outset
of your career, it’s best not to
limit yourself. Best to keep yourself open to all options.”
In the wake of his international success on account of the
Mass Effect series, it may seem
odd to some that Meer would
choose to stay in Edmonton.
However, if Meer’s decades of
performing in Edmonton are
anything to go by, the city is
brimming with opportunity for
performing artists. “It’s a great
arts town.”
Speaking of the impact
Mass Effect has had on his career, Meer spoke of his role as
MATTHEW VILLENEUVE/SUPPLIED
Commander Shepard as a catalyst for developing a whole new
fan base on a more international level. “It’s opened me up to
being internationally known
as the character,” Meer explained. Not only that, but due
to his new level of worldwide
recognition, Meer has had the
opportunity to take part in the
conventions circuit, something
he enjoys immensely.
As for current and future
projects Meer is involved in,
he provides the voice of the
central character in the video
game The Long Dark, a game
he described as having a setup of “the player against Canada.” While the full version of
the game has not yet been released, an alpha of it has, to
critical acclaim.
Meer also has a starring
role on the television show
Tiny Plastic Men, for which
he has been nominated as best
comedic actor in a leading
role in the Canadian Screen
Awards. He is also a cast member of The Irrelevant Show on
CBC Radio One, and has been
since its first broadcast back
in 2003.
While speaking of his admiration of the people he has
worked with in the past, Meer
mentioned a familiar institution that may strike a chord.
“I’m always in awe, especially
of people who’ve gone through
the Grant MacEwan program
… the singing and dancing
abilities that they bring. I
know a lot of Grant MacEwan
grads, and they’re always a triple threat … Big admirer.”
As are we, Mark Meer. As
are we.
13
opinions
Page 3 feature almost went away
The controversial feature in UK’s Sun has had topless models since 1970
It’s not news, it’s nudes.
Ana Holleman
Writer
From Jan. 18 to 20, British tabloid
The Sun shocked its audience by
audaciously refraining from pub-
ROBERT COPITHORNE / THE GRIFF
lishing images of topless women on
the third page of the paper.
Indeed, for three whole issues
there were no bare-breasted women to be seen on the The Sun’s third
page. What ensued was a flurry of
inquiries from journalists asking
the publication if their “Page 3”
feature was gone for good. On Jan.
21, the tabloid confronted the questions head-on, publishing an image of a topless woman on the third
page.
Blithering sarcasm aside, The
Sun (bearing no relation to the
Canadian newspapers of the same
name) stirred some controversy in
mid-January for not printing the
traditional “Page 3” feature, which
features a woman topless. A staple
of the paper, there was quite an outcry when it appeared the tabloid
had gotten rid of the feature.
It is times like this where I am
rendered completely speechless
over how chauvinistic and misogynistic the world can be.
What happened was this: on
Jan. 18, The Sun published a photograph of underwear-clad model
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. On
Jan. 19, an image of two actresses in bikinis was replaced with a
four-page tribute to late Coronation Street actress Anne Kirkbride.
On Jan. 20, pages two and three
were taken up by an ad — but everthinking, The Sun included revealing images of Celebrity Big Brother
contestants Katie Price and Alicia
Douvall.
However, this lack of full-frontal female nudity apparently blew
people by the wayside. On Jan. 21
The Sun ran a special “Page 3”
feature of “clarifications and corrections,” complete with a barebreasted woman.
Let me make something clear:
women are not objects. Women’s
bodies do not exist to sell papers.
If you need to use pictures of halfnaked women to sell your product,
your product is pretty terrible.
Moreover, there is something
deeply, deeply wrong with a society
that loses its collective head over
not getting to see some precious,
precious tits. If a paper not posting bare breasts on a daily basis is
a problem for you, then you’ve got
bigger problems than that paper
taking a brief break from its objectifying practice.
A group called No More Page 3,
formed in 2012 against The Sun’s infamous feature, suggested via Twitter that “the fight might be back
on.” Even though it’s not a fight
that should have to be fought at all,
I hope the group gives it their all.
Whether the three-day break in
tradition was a publicity stunt or
just a genuine internal organization issue, it still showed how much
pleasure The Sun takes in presenting women as objects for the male
gaze, and it showed how much the
male gaze depends on the consistent availability of naked women.
Former “Page 3” model Jodie
Marsh congratulated The Sun on
Twitter for not dropping the feature before turning to condemn
No More Page 3 for not focusing on
things that matter, like female genital mutilation.
While I can’t decide if Marsh’s
reference to the horrific act of female genital mutilation was meant
as a sincere concern or as an exploitative and sarcastic potshot, I
do know that it’s a logical fallacy.
People can focus and work on several issues at a time. More to the
point, The Sun’s “Page 3” feature
does matter.
Even if one woman says it’s okay
to do these things, that doesn’t mean
society as a whole has changed. As
long as women are objectified and
degraded, the things that contribute to this oppression will always
matter.
Canada’s broadband should match U.S.
Sean Brady
The Omega (Thompson Rivers University)
In 2011, Canada’s communications
regulator, the CRTC, put forth its
recommended guidelines for the
minimum speed of broadband internet.
To accommodate “a single user
to stream higher-quality audio and
video” and “to participate in video
conferencing at reasonable quality” with online health consultation
in mind, the CRTC’s committee recommended 5 mbps download speed
and 1 mbps upload speed. That’s
fast enough to download an MP3
in about seven seconds and upload
one in 35 seconds. But MP3s aren’t
really the benchmark. These days.
Instead, we look at whole albums,
Netflix stream quality and how fast
YouTube loads (which, it turns out,
is slow for entirely different reasons).
On Monday, Feb. 2, the U.S.
regulator, the FCC, put forth a recommendation that all broadband
connections should provide at least
25 mbps download speed and 3 mbps
upload speed.
In terms of connection speed,
14
however, the U.S. and Canada are
nearly identical, at least according
to survey data by Akamai, a large
cloud services provider that boasts
one of the largest content delivery
networks in the world. In its quarterly state of the internet report, it
puts Canada just behind the United
States in average connection speed
at 9.7 mbps to the U.S. figure of 10.5
mbps. The figures are also similar in
percentage of connections above 10
mbps, at 32 per cent for Canada and
36 per cent for the States.
Although the populations differ
by an order of magnitude, it makes
sense to me to compare the two
countries. Both developed at roughly the same time, saw similar infrastructure booms long ago and have
groups of people scattered across
the entire North American continent.
So now, where we really differ is
our goal. The FCC’s new broadband
benchmark might seem lofty to
some, but a 25 mbps minimum speed
is really just a somewhat futureproof assertion. We already have
high-speed offerings in Canada that
quadruple the new U.S. minimum
(although they’re only available in
major centres), but that’s not what
Canada’s download speeds are far below those of our neighbour.
this is about. High-speed accessibility is room to breathe for software developers and new services. Unless
the doctor shortage goes away soon,
the trend towards “virtual house
calls” by Canadian doctors is likely
to only increase, but how long will
that last if broadband can’t keep up?
Another place where Canada
and the U.S. differ is the CRTC’s
adoption of what is known as net
neutrality – the idea that ISPs
should not provide faster lanes of
service to companies and content
providers who can pay for it. The
regulator’s position was softened
late last week when it declared that
Bell could offer unlimited streaming of its own broadcast networks
while charging for usage on others.
I usually hate it when Canadian
legislation or regulation follows the
MARC KITTERINGHAM / THE GRIFF
United States so closely, as if we’re
always taking cues from south of
the border, but in this instance, let’s
follow their lead or aim even higher.
With technological progress,
there’s always a bottleneck. There’s
always that one thing that can’t
quite keep up with the rest of the
system. We owe it to ourselves to
make sure that our internet infrastructure is not that one thing.
opinions
Parli reminds us that politics are weird
A search for “Pierre Elliott Trudeau” brings up at least sixteen hits on parli.ca; here he is with Nixon.
Parli.ca is a new political dictionary
with distinctly Canadian terms
What’s
Left
Marc W. Kitteringham is the
griff’s political columnist.
Each week he takes apart a
current political issue, and
gives his opinion from an
alternative point of view.
Do you know what a “Salmon Arm
Salute” is? What about a “Shawinigan Handshake?” Also, what the
heck is a “Kitten Eater?” All of these
terms actually come out of Canadian politics, and now there is a website that can help make sense of a lot
of the weirdness that comes out of
Ottawa.
Campbell Strategies, a public
affairs consulting group, recently
created a website to curate and explain the jargon and idiosyncrasies
that come out of Canadian politics.
Billed as a site that is “for political
junkies and those that wish to become one,” parli.ca helps Canadians
make sense of the sometimes nonsensical language of Canadian politics.
Launched in late January, parli.
ca reminds me of a kind of meeting
between Bob and Doug McKenzie and Pierre Elliott Trudeau. For
too long, the world of politics has
been entirely too serious. It is hard
to take a step back and realize that a
lot of what comes out of politicians’
mouths is quite ridiculous.
The site is divided into four categories: campaigns and electioneering; curses, scandals and monikers;
policies and best-laid plans; and the
serious stuff. My personal favorite is
the curses, scandals and monikers
section. It is here where the vulgarity of our political forefathers really
shines.
There are gems like “Just Watch
Me,” referring to Trudeau’s famous
interview regarding the Front de
Liberation du Quebec (FLQ) crisis in
October 1970, “No whore like an old
whore” from Brian Mulroney’s interview (that he thought was off the record) discussing Liberal patronage
in 1984, and “Fuddle Duddle” (yet
another from Trudeau) where he
may or may not have told the opposition “F**k off,” but later explained it
as “fuddle duddle.”
Politics is a weird game. Those
who play it operate on a different
level than other Canadians, and
sometimes we have to sit back and remember how weird it really is.
So, have you ever given anyone
a “Salmon Arm Salute?” Are you
prone to give out “Shawinigan Handshakes” (and I don’t mean the beer)?
Do your friends not invite you over if
they have cats? If so, you’re in good
company: many of our past leaders
have done the same.
Parli.ca reminds us to not get
caught up in the apparent seriousness of politics, and that it is more often comedy than drama.
SUPPLIED
WHAT’S ON AT UALBERTA?
The Threepenny Opera
By Bertolt Brecht
Music by Kurt Weill. Translation by Marc Blitzstein.
Director: Brian Deedrick
Feb 5 - 14
7:30 p.m.
Timms Centre for the Arts
Feb 6
8 p.m.
Beethoven Sonatas for
Violin and Piano, Part III
Jacques Després (piano) & Andrew Wan (violin).
Convocation Hall
University of Alberta High School
Honour Bands with
the University of Alberta
Symphonic Wind Ensemble
and Concert Band
Feb 8
3 p.m.
ualberta.ca/artshows
15
sports
SPORTS EDITOR
Kyle Muzyka
[email protected]
Men finally enter the record books
MacEwan men’s volleyball split weekend with Regina, win first game in CIS play
Kyle Muzyka
Sports Editor
It may have taken them 22 games,
but the MacEwan men’s volleyball
team finally have their first CIS win,
splitting the series with Regina this
past weekend.
“Seeing that bagel next to our
name all year was tough,” Head
Coach Brad Poplawski said, laughing. His team saw that bagel disappear, improving to 1-21 on the
season.
The Griffins went into the weekend as if it was any other weekend,
even though Regina being at 1-19 on
the season could have sparked a little more motivation.
Regina got the better of MacEwan in Friday’s match, taking the
game 3-1. Cougars outside hitter
Matthew Lueck knocked down a
game-high 16 kills, helping his team
to their second victory of the season.
Unlike many of the Griffins’ previous games, none of the sets were
particularly close, with the shortest
gap between the two teams at five.
This was unexpected, considering
both teams seemed quite similar in
both records and in statistics.
Currently, MacEwan is first in
the CIS in errors with 514, with Regina right behind them in second
with 503. Both teams are tied for
second in block errors with 44.
Needless to say, both teams
made their fair share of errors on
Friday night. MacEwan’s errors
came mainly in the first and fourth
sets, costing them the win.
“We had 29 hitting errors [in
Friday’s match],” Poplawski said.
“We handed over a set on pure
hitting errors.”
The Griffins’ inconsistency
on Friday night was a concern for
Poplawski, who noted he often saw
some plays in the game film that
stumped him.
Damon Holmen continued to be
a revelation for the Griffins, leading
his team on Friday night with 18.5
points. The always consistent Zach
Brown contributed 13 kills in a losing effort.
It was Saturday, however, that
was one for the record books at
MacEwan.
The Griffins earned their first
victory in their inaugural CIS season, taking the Cougars in a five-set
marathon.
MacEwan enjoyed a surge of
production from outside hitter
Matthew Abaya, who exploded for
23.5 points, including 18 kills on the
night.
Abaya, a fourth-year player for
MacEwan, had to make the transition from playing middle in the
ACAC to an outside hitter in the
CIS, due to his lack of size. As a result, he fell on the depth chart a bit,
having to make an adjustment and
competing with players with much
more experience in the position.
After Friday’s loss, Poplawski
pulled Abaya aside and told him
he’d be starting Saturday.
“For a guy that works that hard,
to see him play well was just awesome,” Poplawski said, adding that
he also made his teammates around
him better. He also added seven
block assists and five digs.
His play opened up the floor a
lot of the times for both Holmen
and Brown, who had 15 and 13 kills,
respectively.
The Griffins jumped out to a
two-set lead in the match, but a
combination of timely and effective
plays by Regina allowed them to
claw their way back into the match.
MacEwan also made some errors,
specifically in the fourth set, which
allowed Regina to make the game
close at two sets apiece.
However, once the Griffins took
the lead in the fifth set, they never
looked back. Outside hitter Brady
Atwood scored the final point for
MacEwan in the deciding set,
which marked the first win by the
men’s volleyball team in CIS play.
“It was more relief, and a lot of
smiles,” Poplawski recalled, noting
he was more happy for his team to
get the win, considering how hard
they worked all season.
He also mentioned the importance of the women’s team sticking
around to cheer on the men, which
could have helped the team to their
first victory.
“It really meant a lot to us,”
Poplawski said.
Though it’s hard to build momentum with games spread across a
week span, Poplawski and the Griffins feel pretty good heading into
the coming weekend, where they
face a tough team from the University of Manitoba.
The Bison will undoubtedly come into City Centre Campus
in the entire league in blocks per set.
“Dakota dominates,” Briggs said.
“She sets the tone, but what’s happening is she’s doing a better job because of her teammates.”
The rest of the team has been
great positionally, for the most part,
which has allowed Wilson to adjust
and better her blocking abilities.
It also forces errors, though
MacEwan has had their fair share.
Briggs attributes the amount of errors to the lack of size on his team,
as they lead the league in errors with
562.
“You’re giving away points on errors,” Briggs said. The Griffins kept
their errors at bay on Friday, but had
a bit of trouble on Saturday.
MacEwan lost a four-set match
on Saturday, including a 25-13 fourthset loss. 11 errors were committed in
that set alone.
The offence had trouble emerging on Saturday, with no Griffin recording more than eight kills. Briggs
noted the passing game was off, with
setter Rebecca Martin only recording 18 assists.
On the other side of the court,
the Cougars had four players with
over eight kills, representing a much
more balanced attack than on Friday. Briggs noted his middle Wilson
blocked Sweeting the first four times
she went for the kill, forcing the Cougars to adjust.
Unfortunately for the Griffins,
Regina did adjust, and MacEwan
could not.
However, despite the loss, Briggs
was happy with the split, and immediately started looking forward
to the upcoming weekend’s games
against the University of Manitoba, where two wins would propel the
Griffins into a playoff spot in a tough
conference.
“For us to even be talking playoffs is awesome,” Briggs said. His
team surprised everyone, as the preseason poll amongst coaches had
them ranked dead last in the conference.
The head coach likened his team
to the Calgary Flames (though he
struggled to admit it). He noted the
similarities between the teams, as
both were expected to be last in their
conferences, and have shown resilience through injuries via hard work
and dedication.
The Griffins face a tough test this
coming weekend against the University of Manitoba Bison, who are
ahead of them in the standings. The
Bison boast arguably the best player
in the league in Rachel Cockrell, who
Outside hitter Matthew Abaya was a huge factor
for the Griffins this weekend.
guns blazing, in the hunt for a playoff spot in the final weekend. The
Griffins will look to put up a solid effort against the team, with them finally knowing what winning in the
CIS feels like.
ROBERT ANTONIUK/
MACEWAN ATHLETICS
“We just need to match their intensity,” Poplawski said.
Both matches are scheduled for
2 p.m. at City Centre Campus on
Feb. 7 and 8.
Women still in the playoff hunt
Kyle Muzyka
Sports Editor
With playoff hopes very much alive,
the MacEwan women’s volleyball
team took one of two victories this
past weekend against the University
of Regina Cougars.
The Griffins needed to split the
games to put themselves in a realistic position for playoff potential, and
they did just that, setting the tone for
the upcoming weekend.
“All we needed was the split, and
we’re happy with it,” Head Coach
Ken Briggs said. He noted Regina’s
well-established program that, despite what the record shows, is a team
that shouldn’t be taken lightly, especially playing in their home gym.
Friday night saw a great effort
from the Griffins, including a balanced offence that saw four players
tally nine or more kills. This was
drastically different than the Cougars’ offensive output, where after
outside Michelle Sweeting’s 22 kills,
the offensive numbers dropped dramatically.
Briggs felt his team had been in
control the entire match, with middle
Dakota Wilson leading the way defensively. She had 11 block assists on
the night, and currently ranks fourth
16
Dakota Wilson, in tandem, making the block.
leads the entire league in both kills
and points.
The Bison are also on a threegame winning streak, but could run
into a bit of trouble if MacEwan’s
blocking game stays consistent.
Everything MacEwan has been
CHRIS PIGGOTT/MACEWAN ATHLETICS
working for comes down to the final
weekend, where two wins puts them
into the playoffs in their inaugural
CIS season. Both games are slated for
12 p.m. at City Centre Gym on Feb. 7
and 8.
sports
A return from a
season-ending
injury
Cristian Sides continues to get
used to the CIS pace, after tearing
his ACL and MCL
By Parvin Sedighi
“I’ve never done something like this,” he
says, with a nervous laugh. The room is
humming with the sound of quiet chatter,
and Cristian Sides shifts in his seat, preparing to answer an onslaught of questions about his volleyball career.
His demeanour is quiet and settled, emulating the cool confidence of
someone well-versed in the path they’ve
chosen. He is anything but calm and forgettable on the volleyball court.
A second-year bachelor of commerce student at MacEwan, Sides is
nearing the end of his first season with
the Griffins men’s volleyball team —
and he’s already established himself as
a go-to player, counted on to deliver in
tight spots by his coach and new teammates.
His athletic endeavours haven’t been
limited to volleyball either. Growing up,
Sides also played hockey, basketball and
soccer, but elected to make volleyball
his focus during his high school years.
Why volleyball?
“I enjoy the sport, the ups and downs
and the momentum shifts,” said Sides,
also naming the friends he has in volleyball as an influence on his choice.
Despite playing volleyball fulltime, he has reaped the benefits of playing other sports, the skills he acquired
through playing translating well into
volleyball.
“I think the team culture and the
hard work [are what intersect]. Hockey
and basketball are two very demanding
sports, and so that carries into volleyball as well,” he said.
Why the Griffins?
Sides found his way to MacEwan
through Head Coach Brad Poplawski,
referred to by Sides simply as “Pops,”
but was left off the court for his first
year due to a nasty knee injury.
Poplawski coached Sides during his
high school years, inviting him to join
the team after observing his play. Sides
committed to the MacEwan team in
high school, but has only started playing in Griffin colours this year.
“I was snowboarding in B.C. and I
wasn’t paying attention and I hit a tree,”
said Sides. “[The doctors] said I tore my
ACL and my MCL, and from there I had
to wait a while for surgery.”
What followed Sides’s surgery would
be a year-long wait as his knee healed;
the rehabilitation process took valuable
training and playing time away from
him, but he was left undeterred by the
less-than-ideal situation, working hard
to get his body back in order.
He thanks his family, friends and
doctors for providing him with the support system necessary to conquer the
difficulties brought on by his injury.
Playing some of the best volleyball
of his career yet, he bears no markings
of his injury today.
“It took a while [to get back into] the
flow of things,” said Sides, adding that
once his body had become used to playing volleyball again, he picked everything up rather quickly.
“It’s really nice being back, and the
guys have welcomed me.”
As most of us are acutely aware, creating a harmonious school schedule
that works with other obligations is
never easy, and Sides is no stranger to
the balancing act. He doesn’t see sports
as a chore, however, but more as an opportunity to relax and unwind after a
long day in and out of classrooms.
“You can refresh your mind and
get it off school ... you’re just focusing
on volleyball and the team, and you’re
[working towards] being a better player,” he said.
Despite a tough season this year,
Sides has remained optimistic about
where the team is headed as a collective.
“We’re building something,” he said,
admitting he’s had little trouble synchronizing with the team despite missing a season. “As time goes on you build
those relationships with your teammates on and off the court, and it really helps [the team dynamic], and we just
play better together.”
His team was finally rewarded on
Jan. 31 with their first victory at the
CIS level. However, with a 1-21 record,
things have obviously been difficult.
“We’re a young team, too,”
Sides added, explaining that many
of the teams they face have players
who have played on the same team
for three or four years, giving them
a leg up on MacEwan’s newer players, who are continuously working
towards developing an efficient dynamic.
Sides also expressed admiration for his team’s ability to regroup during challeng
ing times — he’s particularly impressed by the way many
have stepped up and filled in gaps
left by injuries.
What’s next for this young star
finding his footing in a new team and
new environment?
“I’m hoping to play four more
years, and after that I just want to take
it day by day and see what the fu-
ture brings,” Sides
said. Although he
h opes t o con t inu e pl ayi ng
volleyball for a long time, he’s not
going to think about that right
now.
Controlled, poised and
well-spoken, Sides carries the
qualities commonly coveted
by athletes in professional leagues, and despite the
central role he plays in his
team’s success, he remains
humble and grounded.
His attitude will help
him plenty, as the Griffins
continue to build momentum in a new
l e a g u e , wo r k i n g
towards becoming a
team built for success.
17
sports
Calder’s passion missing in NHL
Feb. 4, 1943: Frank Calder, the first president of the National Hockey League, passes away
Kyle Muzyka
Sports Editor
Calder. Ask any hockey fan and that
name rings a bell, whether it’s via
the Calder Trophy for the National
Hockey League’s top rookie or the
Calder Cup, the championship all
American Hockey League players
vie for.
The trophies were named after
Frank Calder,the first president of
the NHL. He died on Feb. 4, 1943,
and with it went one of the most
dedicated people the game had ever
seen.
According to the Legends of
Hockey website, he taught at a private school before trading in his
teaching credentials for a crack at
sports journalism.
His large knowledge base on
sports served him well, becoming
the last president of the National
Hockey Association and the first
president of the NHL.
Calder helped facilitate the
formation of the Chicago Black
Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, New
York Rangers and the Boston Bruins, which created the Original Six.
He even helped the league
through two World Wars and the
Great Depression, which is more adversity than current Commissioner
Gary Bettman will ever face. By initiating conscription, the American
government ripped some athletes
out of the hands of various sports
teams, which was a detriment to the
league and its entertainment value.
However, the league continued on without some of their most
skilled players,with Calder at the
forefront. The league and its respective teams cherrypicked the best
talent not playing in the National
Hockey League.
During the Second World War,
when the draft took players away
again, Calder struggled to keep the
league afloat. With the amount of
success the league has been having
recently, it’s apparent he did his job,
though he literally died doing it, according to the Legends of Hockey
website.
He collapsed in the middle of a
meeting, and died the next day.
Calder remains one of the most
beloved members of the NHL community, and was inducted into the
Hockey Hall of Fame in the builder
category in 1947.
However, one of the things that
often gets overlooked about Calder
was his stance on racial segregation
in his sport.
During the late 1920s, when the
infamous “colour line” in baseball
was very much apparent, Calder
took a stance on the matter, saying
“pro hockey has no ruling against
the colored man, nor is it likely to
ever draw the line,” according to the
Greatest Hockey Legends website.
Though the team he had heard
about, the Boston Black Panthers,
were not attempting to enter the
league, Calder’s stance on the colour line suggests they could have,
had they so desired.
Over the years under Calder, the
league was resilient, and attempted to expand, having as many as 10
teams in the league, though only
six remain in the league today from
Calder’s leadership.
Today, the transformation of
the league from just a professional
league to a premier money-making
venture is apparent in the leaders it
boasts.
From someone as passionate
as Calder to the current leader
Bettman, who has put his league
through three lockouts in order to
ensure the owners get what they
want.
Though it’s not certain how
Calder would lead a very different
NHL today, it couldn’t hurt for a little passion to be injected into the
league.
If there ever happens to be another case of conscription, it’d be interesting to see how Bettman would
handle the situation, though you
can be certain the owners would
most likely end up on top.
Frank Calder’s passion is virtually non-existent today,
with Gary Bettman largely money-first.
PAUL TOWNSEND/
FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS
Playoffs?!
Here’s where the currently active teams sit, with playoffs in the not-so-distant future
BASKETBALL
Women’s
VOLLEYBALL
Men’s
Women’s
Men’s
Position: 2nd
Position: 6th
Position: 8th
Position: 13th
Playoffs? Clinched
Playoffs? Eliminated
Playoffs? Hopeful
Playoffs? Eliminated
The women have clinched a playoff spot, but depending on their remaining four games, could place
either second or third in their division. The Griffins are sitting pretty
comfortable, having to win at least
one of the four and have the team
chasing them, the UFV Cascades,
lose one.
The men needed to win both games
against the UNBC Timberwolves
on Jan. 30 and 31, but ended up losing both and with it their playoff
hopes. The team will look to build
the program next year, with a lot of
returning players having a year of
CIS under their belt. Lee Danderfer
will not return, a huge loss for the
Griffins.
The women split a weekend with
Regina on Jan. 30 and 31, setting
the tone for the upcoming weekend against the University of Manitoba. MacEwan needs to win both
games against the Bison on Feb. 7
and 8 to leapfrog the team to sneak
into the playoffs. If they don’t win
both, the team will be eliminated
from playoff contention.
The men have struggled all season,
but finally got their first CIS win on
Jan. 31. Of course, the win does not
push the team into the playoffs, but
MacEwan will continue to build
the program, and the win will be a
huge step in that process. The always consistent Zach Brown will be
the biggest departure, but the team
will look to improve next season.
Women’s
HOCKEY
Men’s
Position: 4th
Position: 3rd
Playoffs? Hopeful
Playoffs? Clinched
The women have struggled to keep pace in the fourteam league this year, and are five points out of a
playoff spot with six games remaining. Playoffs are
a realistic possibility for the Griffins, but they are
going to need to string together a few wins in order
to make it to the post-season.
The men have been playing well, stringing together
12 straight victories before losing one to Briercrest
on Jan. 31. They have clinched a playoff spot but are
looking to move up in the standings to seed better.
They sit just two points behind NAIT and SAIT for
first place, and with eight games remaining, there is
plenty of time to catch up.
18
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NOMINATIONS
NOMINATIONS
HELP SHAPE YOUR FUTURE AT MACEWAN. NOMINATE THE NEW EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
NOMINATION FORMS AVAILABLE AT ALL SAMU OFFICES AND ONLINE AT SAMU.CA/EC-ELECTION
JOIN THE
CONVERSATION
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IN A PICKLE?
WE CAN HELP. SAMU.CA/FOODBANK
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diversions
Camera Slide by Michael Chau
Filbert Comics by L.A. Bonté
Horoscopes
Madison Kerr
Substitute Horoscopist
Capricorn (Dec. 22 to Jan 19)
You never know what someone might be going through
underneath the surface. You should try walking a mile in
their shoes before you judge them. They might have a really annoying rock stuck in their shoe.
Aquarius (Jan. 20 to Feb. 18)
This week is a perfect time to start a slap bet with a friend.
What do you mean you don’t know what a slap bet is? You
have a lot of How I Met Your Mother to catch up on.
was at the Super Bowl. It’s a great week for us all.
Taurus (April 20 to May 20)
Speaking of the Super Bowl, did you see that interception?
Talk about an amazing sports play. Sports? Wait, what am
I talking about? I don’t know anything about sports.
Gemini (May 21 to June 20)
Before you spend all of your money to see Fifty Shades of
Grey in theatres, remember that PornHub has hours of
free pornography that will have much more substance
than this movie.
Pisces (Feb. 19 to March 20)
Your anthem for this week is “BO$$” by Fifth Harmony.
Get those Oprah dollars!
Cancer (June 21 to July 22)
Make sure to give your parents a call this week. They may
have some big news for you that you weren’t expecting.
Don’t worry! They are only good things.
Aries (March 21 to April 19)
This is a great week for you, Aries. I mean, Missy Elliott
Leo (July 23 to Aug. 22)
You should try to avoid eating too much spicy food this
Cute photo time!
22
week. You don’t want to be one of the people that has a
“poopcident” during midterm prep.
Virgo (Aug. 23 to Sept. 22)
Someone is going to be very offended by something you
say this week. Don’t let it get yo you too much. Everyone is
an asshole sometimes.
Libra (Sept. 23 to Oct. 22)
You should try meditating this week! This isn’t even a
joke! It’s seriously the best! Exclamation point!
Scorpio (Oct. 23 to Nov. 21)
Nothing tastes as good as masturbating feels. Remember
this.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22 to Dec. 21)
A pair of slip-on shoes are going to catch your eye in the
near future. You need to buy these shoes. Who needs laces? TOO MUCH WORK!
Julie Falk/Flickr Creative Commons
diversions
“How does it feel to see your work up in a
gallery?”
“Seeing your work in a gallery for the first
time kind of feels the same as someone
throwing a surprise birthday party for you
and handing you a puppy at the same time.
It’s the best. ”
Inspired by Brandon Stanton’s blog Humans of New
York, every week we take intimate portraits and uncover
personal stories of the inhabitants within MacEwan’s halls.
23
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24

Mark Meer is a pretty cool guy p. 12

Transcription

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