Issue 07

NO. 7

OCTOBER 2012

WINTERS PRESS PLAY

PERSPECTIVES ON DOUGLAS COUPLAND

NEW COLUMN: STREET STYLE

FIRST YEAR’S THEATRICAL GLOSSARY

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WCC

From October 15th -26th the staff of the EWAG are putting on a unique exhibit that steps outside their usual backstage role. ‘Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain’ is an exhibit featuring art by the curators and monitors of the EWAG. The exhibit will include a variety of mediums including painting, drawing, sculpture, inkstellation, and photography. The idea behind the exhibit is to showcase the talent of the EWAG staff and acknowledge their contributions to the creative community at York. Additionally it will provide an opportunity for frequenters of the gallery to get to know the staff members in more depth, and to relate to the staff on an artistic level.

Gallery reception for this exhibit is on October 25th, 6-9pm Upcoming Shows Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain – October 15th-26th VASA (Visual Arts Students Association) November 5th-9th Amanda Boulos + Stas Guzar (President, Vice President VASA) November 12 th-16th

ARTICHOKE | ISSUE NO.07 | OCTOBER 2012

COVER WINTERS PRESS PLAY

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ENTERTAINMENT

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HEALTH

WINTERS EWAG EDITOR’S LETTER BLURBS

YORK

INTRAMURAL SPORTS WALKING TRAILS

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MAJOR SPEAK VISUAL ARTS THEATRE FILM COMMUNICATIONS

STREET STYLE DARE TO WEAR FIFTY SHADES OF SCANDAL SLOGANS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY CELEBRITY NERDS

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EDITOR IN CHIEF Lindsay Presswell ART DIRECTOR Brian Cass ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR Lucas Young DESIGNERS Brian Cass, Lucas Young, Jake Oliveira, Kyle Matthews, Kristine Planche, Scott Osborne, Jacob Colosi, Jennifer Zhang, Mauricio Galvez, Chelsie Grant, Heather McAlpine, Ramis Khawaja, Omar Salama WRITERS Lindsay Presswell, Joy Wong, Alex Millington, Lucy Powis, Curtis te Brinke, Stefan Jabonski, Rielle Ullberg, Carmen Chen, Emma Beckett, Veronica Appia, Elli Waese, Shannon Marek, Shimona Hirchberg, Laura Speare, Yousra Zaki, Nirusika Balamohan PHOTOGRAPHY Brian Cass, Lucas Young, Haley Walton SHOUT OUT TO Austin Cheung of CASA, Copycat, Sandy Pearlman & Bones, Mikey Disco, Black Absinthe, Shintaro, Chris MacFarlane & Danyka Nadeau, Highway Lights, Streets Ahead, No King For Countrymen

ARTICHOKE

I am not a fine arts student, and at no point in my 3 years of University have I ever been affiliated with a fine arts program. I bounced around between history and various social science courses for a couple of years before settling on English as a major. 1 I love my program. This is mostly because it gives me a great excuse to hole myself up in my room and read for days (my favourite pastime) and though the liberal arts have, for the most part treated me well, living in Winters Residence in first year was the best accidental decision I ever made because I gained automatic affiliation to the fine arts community without ever taking a fine arts course.

The atmosphere in a first, second, or even third year liberal arts or social science course is remarkably different than the atmosphere and attitude that comes along with participating in the fine arts.

There are hundreds of students in every lecture. Half of these are disinterested or on Facebook or playing Tetris because they picked a subject they were good at in high school and apathetically decided that if worst comes to worst, they’ll be a teacher. The classroom is coated with a general air of resignation: I’m just here

because it’s the thing to do and I’m going to get my degree because you should get a degree and then maybe I’ll travel. Or get an internship. Or work two minimum wage jobs for 6 years to pay off my loan and never use my knowledge of British literature again. I’m not saying all liberal arts students suffer this fate, or that they’re all passive and apathetic about their program, but the fact is that the faculty is just too populous for every single student to have focused direction.

Enter: fine arts students , stage left. I have this romanticized impression of fine arts students as the resilient, grizzled survivors of the post-secondary realm. You might say this is because I’ve never had an insider’s perspective, but I don’t think so. Most of these guys are completely aware of how competitive their field is before they even sign up for orientation. A lot of the students I meet have a stacked portfolio or two years experience volunteering at their local theatre or an established reputation as a freelance designer/photographer/film set junkie before they even set foot on campus, and if they don’t, they get started right away.

There’s no surviving in their program otherwise. It amazes me. If a quarter of the

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students in my classes had this motivation and passion, we’d be able to analyze and break down the Twilight Saga in an innovative enough way to present it as intelligent literature.

The feature this month was inspired by a fine artist’s main tool for survival and longevity: help and respect from fellow artists. Artists share a mutual understanding that you’ll never get anywhere if there isn’t an audience to appreciate your art, and the students in the Winters community are truly all about supporting one another throughout their degrees.

Whether it’s as simple as dancers commiserating and providing emotional support over 8:30am dance classes in the middle of winter, or theatre students attending a friend’s live jazz performance downtown, most art students make an effort to support everyone else’s art.

On that note, I welcome you to contact us if you need help advertising a project or reviewing and exhibit or even filling out an audience. I offer this in return for you supporting our art, by picking up this magazine.

Lindsay Presswell, Editor - in - Chief.

Sidenote- if you ever want to discuss the stressful, annoying, sometimes existential aspects of coming to University while not knowing what you want to do with your life, or even really what you want to learn here, this is one of my favourite conversations ever.

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WINTERS COLLEGE COUNCIL The Master’s office is a resource that every college has, and is vital for enriching student life. It has offices for the college Master, an academic advisor, and several events coordinators and student life planners specific to each college. They plan college events and ultimately help to shrink the overwhelming size of York’s campus for affiliated students. They offer an alternative to faculty offices, where academic advising has a reputation for being impersonal and unhelpful. Half of the time you’ll make an appointment so you can seek advice from a human being, in person, and these advisors will refer you back to the school’s website, which is what they are instructed to do.

The Master’s office is staffed by students and professors. In addition to teaching and being involved around campus, both the Master (Marie Rickard) and the Academic Advisor (John Mayberry) keep multiple office hours during the week and make themselves available to students by appointment at anytime to offer vital support that a faculty advising office might not.

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Almost all the college related events that your College Council doesn’t plan, the Master’s office does. Things like lectures, concerts, fundraisers, and at Winters specifically, Contra Dance and the twice-annual Flea Market, are all organized and put on by the staff of the Master’s office.

This resource is available to all students and I encourage you to take advantage of it!

Office of the Master is located at 121 Winters College.

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events & dates OCT 18 • 12:30pm - 1:30pm

Jazz at Noon: Lorne Lofsky Trio

OCT 19 7:30pm - 9:00pm

MSA: Music Showcase

OCT 20 • 1:00pm - 6:30pm

G.I.V.E. Gospel Inter-Varisty Explosion

OCT 22 • 12:30pm - 2:00pm

South Indian Raga and Tala Workshop

OCT 23 • 12:30pm - 1:30pm

Music at Midday: Singing our Songs

• 7:00pm - 10:00 pm

FSA screening of Blade Runner

OCT 24 • 7:00pm - 9:00pm

Lise Waxer Memorial Lecture: South Indian Music

OCT 25 • 6:00pm - 9:00pm

OCT 30 • CASA

Special Halloween Coffeehouse

• WCC

EWAG Gallery Reception

Halloween Haunted house JCR

Digital Media Coffeehouse

• 7:30pm - 9:30pm

OCT 26 • 1:30pm - 4:30pm

Vocal w/ Baritone James Westman

OCT 29 • 12:30pm - 1:30pm

Music at Midday: Classical Instrumental

NOV 9 • 12:30pm - 1:30pm

Music at Midday: YorkU Brass Emsemble • DSA Move24

• 12:30pm - 1:30pm

Music at Midday: Student Showcase

NOV 10 • DSA Move24

NOV 6 • 12:30pm - 1:30pm

NOV 13 • 12:30pm - 1:30pm

NOV 8 • 12:30pm - 1:30pm

NOV 15 • 12:30pm - 1:30pm

Music at Midday: Student Showcase

Faculty Spotlight: Jacques Israelievitch and Christina Petrowska Quilico

Music at Midday: Classical Instrumental

World at Noon: Flamenco En Vivo!

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FEATURE

COVER FEATURE

LINDSAY PRESSWELL

ARTICHOKE

Music is a huge part of the Winters College scene, and after many trips to the Absinthe Pub on acoustic night, and successful coffee houses and band nights during recent frosh and frost weeks, it has become apparent that the college has a huge supply of homegrown musical talent. Many artists are jumpstarting their musical careers while making their way through undergraduate studies, and this journey makes for very interesting evolution of sound, instrumental techniques, and musical vision for all musicians within the college.

This issue’s feature showcases two of these musical outfits whose members are fine arts students here at York. Each group is incredibly distinctive in their genre and style: one is a hip-hop duo constantly evolving to create a unique sound in an increasingly challenging genre, and the other is a 12-piece orchestral phenomenon engineering sound that was previously missing from the music industry.

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FEATURE

SANDY PEARLMAN & BONES FB.COM/PEARLSNBONES TWITTER: @PEARLS_BONES SANDYANDBONES@GMAIL.COM

n a few years I’ll be able to say I was the first journalist to ever interview Sandy Pearlman and Bones, and what’s more exciting is that this claim will mean something big in the world of pop culture… or so I’m assured by Harry Warshaw, one half of this novice hip-hop duo, as we scale the staircases of the TEL building in search of the group’s other half, Jake Oliveira.

It’s an unconventional interview scenario: three people huddled around a narrow table in one of the design labs on the fourth floor speaking into an iPhone, but for the two of them, ‘full-time student balancing part-time job balancing substantial career in hip-hop’ is an unconventional lifestyle.

Harry’s optimism in asserting that Sandy Pearlman and Bones will be a pop culture phenomenon in a few short years could come off as overly optimistic, until the progress they’ve made in less than a year is considered. The two artists began working together in early March, and while juggling long summer months in separate provinces, as well as the pressures of being undergrads, they managed to add a solid EP, 3 shows, and a music video to their repertoire (all while working on their next project).

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Pearls and Bones got their musical start separately, and with very different musical influences before both attending York University as fine arts students. The duo functions increasingly as a collaborative unit, but when Jake first contacted Harry in March of this year their first track was conceived as an impersonal assimilation of their respective parts: Harry made the instrumental and sent it to Jake, who wrote a verse and they called it ‘City Life.’

“A friend of ours told me Jake rapped, and I thought about doing something with him but then I got busy,” Harry says of how their group came together.

“I had e-mailed him to collaborate originally,” notes Jake, “I was persistent!

And then you [Harry] gave me stuff, I went over one day with a verse and we recorded ‘City Life.’ Then we kind of just sat on it all for a while.”

After that initial track the two worked together more frequently, until they had their debut EP put together and ready to share. Much of the summer months were spent networking. September and the return to school marked the beginning of a new project, and new methods of creating and developing their sound.

JAKE OLIVEIRA: vocals, design HARRY WARSHAW: production, vocals GENRE: Hip-Hop FAV PLACE TO PERFORM: Countertops at house parties WHERES THEIR MUSIC: Facebook or datpiff.com, search “pearls + bones

“Doing beats before, I’d just sit in my room and just write something, pass it off to Jake who would write his verse,” says Harry, “Maybe I’d tweak something later or add a sound effect. But now with the three tracks we’ve been working on, we’ve both been through the entire process together. I can put what is in his mind onto the computer.”

“We’re blending both of our ideas really well,” adds Jake, “Same goes for the writing. Say I wrote a verse for a song, and he wrote a better verse on a different topic than me, so I’ll go back to change my verse to go with his... this new project is a lot more of a collective effort for sure.”

Future plans see the two guys working on building their music inventory, so that they have more material to draw from for shows. They are working at booking venues and performing with other artists before the school year is out.

You can check out Sandy Pearlman and Bones’ music video debut on youTube by searching “Stag’d Out,” and stay tuned to Facebook and Twitter for their upcoming full length LP.

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“A lot of the arrangement has sort of come together and changed at rehearsals on the spot,” says Mike, “So the result is really a contribution from everyone.”

Copycat played a lot of shows in the summer, notably at the El Mocambo and Cinecycle. Unique difficulties arose for the band at shows, some having to do with the size of the group. They found it hard at first to move around and engage with an audience because there were so many band members, and there are always mistakes with each new experience.

“I learned that the assumption ‘you should play as many shows as you can’ is a bit overrated,” considers James.

Ben and Mike both nod in agreement, Ben adding, “You need to rehearse. You really need to recover and think about each show.”

Copycat will continue their sound evolution by focusing on honing their techniques and tightening their pieces.

Keep an eye on their Facebook page for show information.

COPYCAT FB.COM/WEARECOPYCAT YOUTUBE.COM/COPYCATBAND TWITTER: @COPYCATBAND

opycat was an idea in front man James Atlin-Godden’s mind years before the 12-piece band began to take shape and rehearse. The idea started out as intricate, multi-instrument pieces composed

by James. He started looking for artists to fill these instrumental roles when he had about 13 compositions, and the band was formed in October of 2011. Three of twelve members, James, Ben Sirois, and Mike Dossey, met up with Artichoke Magazine at the Ab to discuss their formation, sound development, and the trial and error process that comes along with being such a large group and performing such innovative music.

“These songs I was writing needed to be huge and orchestral, sort of like Arcade Fire… but more of a string and horn section and less sort of… rhythm chugging,” James says, “I wanted it to be huge and baroque and driven. As heavy as Owen Pallet and other orchestral driven artists sometimes are, I wanted them to get heavier and decided I needed to do that myself.”

With this goal in mind, he set out to find creative musicians to help out with his ambitious project. He talked to people he knew, singers he knew, and put up advertisements in order to fill out the ranks of the group.

“We started improvising with sound… a lot of fuck-ups changed things, really,” notes Ben, considering how rehearsing helped their sound evolve, “Something cool would happen that was a complete fuck-up, or a lot of experimentation. Or we would experiment with something new, like pedals.”

“Yeah that was cool,” adds James, “And something I did not anticipate.

I had envisioned more of an acoustic feel but these guys wanted to use the pedals and that made it a lot more electric and acidic…”

JAMES ATIN-GODDEN: piano/vocals, ANIQA QADIR: vocals NUNE ANANYAN: vocals BEN SIROIS: violin BRYAN YAREMKO: baritone sax BEA LABIKOVA: alto/baby soprano sax BASIL FLANAGAN: alto sax PETER CAVANAGH: tenor sax & clarinet CHRIS ADRIAANSE: trombone MIKE DOSSEY: guitar VENNIE TU: bass NEEL DANI: percussion BOBBY BEN: percussion GENRE: Orchestral Art Rock FAV PLACE TO PERFORM: El Macambo, Cinecyle

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FEATURE

OTHER WINTERS MUSICIANS DANYKA NADEAU

GENRE: Pop/Rock SOCIAL MEDIA: fb.com/danykanadeaumusic youtube.com/RedLightArrest CONTACT: danykanadeau@hotmail.com

HIGHWAY LIGHTS

GENRE: Anthemic Rock, Progressive SOCIAL MEDIA: twitter:@highway_lights fb.com/HighwayLights SHOWS: Nov 16 Duffy’s Tavern Nov 23 Georgian College CONTACT: highwaylightsband@gmail.com

STREETS AHEAD

GENRE: Soulful Punk Rock, Hip-Hop SOCIAL MEDIA: reverbnation.com/streetsbehind fb.com/pages/Streets-Ahead/20739576780 SHOWS: Every other Tuesday at the Absinthe Pub’s acoustic night. Other gigs coming soon.

CONTACT: ashtonvetter@gmail.com

MIKEY DISCO

GENRE: Live Performance, House party SOCIAL MEDIA: twitter: @mikeydiscomusic CONTACT: mikeydiscomusic@gmail.com

BLACK ABSINTHE

GENRE: Heavy Metal SOCIAL MEDIA: fb.com /pages/Black-Absinthe/209868025710214 youtube.com/blackabsinthetoronto grooveshark.com /#!/artist/~/2359254 twitter: @blackabsinthed SHOWS: Oct 30th - The Great Hall Oct 31st - Augusta Halloween Bash Nov 11th - The Comfort Zone CONTACT: blackasbinthetoronto@gmail.com

NO KING FOR COUNTRYMEN GENRE: Indie Rock/Pop Rock SOCIAL MEDIA: twitter:@NKFCofficial fb.com/Hnokingforcountrymen cdbaby.com/cd/nokingforcountrymen soundcloud.com/nokingforcountrymen SHOWS: Oct 17th - Rancho Relaxo CONTACT: nokingforcountrymen@gmail.com

SHINTARO

GENRE: Electro (French Touch) SOCIAL MEDIA: fb.com/ShintaroOfficial shintaro.bandcamp.com CONTACT: alec_brady@hotmail.com

ARTICHOKE 13

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visual arts

The

VISUAL ARTS Section

DOUGLAS by alex millington

We didn’t go to experience contemporary art among the masses. And we didn’t go to make friends with the nation.

We had set out to find Douglas Coupland.

We were six: one aspiring music journalist wearing a righteous Christmas sweater, one plain old journalist wearing simple plaid (that’s me), an art history major, a computer programmer, and two new fellows I had yet to meet.

I’m still not entirely sure why this meant so much to us. I mean, among the group, I’m fairly certain I was the only one who had actually read a book by this man (JPod, and a little bit of Generation A), and we had all only seen a few of his art pieces. Maybe it was simply his fame that was alluring, though I’d hate to admit I’m susceptible to it. He IS a Canadian icon: a literary critic of our generation, an artist we might depend upon for political and social commentary. There’s something mysterious and fantastic about well-known writers and artists. When you meet one, it’s like proving a bit of folklore to be real; the Great Bambino is an

American deity, you know. And so, this night we were going on a mythological journey.

His presence was announced to us early in the night. My girlfriend texted me at around 8 o’clock saying, “Coupland IS at Nuit Blanche!” It was at that point our goal became clear: we were to seek out that particular face in the crowd, and we would have to attend as many exhibits as it took to do so.

The trek began somewhere around Union and we worked our way up to Old City Hall figuring that we might as well start with some of the most prominent land marks. This exhibit was a soundscape of sorts. As we walked in and around the first floor our ears were serenaded by a vibrant and constant crescendo. I would say it was a relaxing way to begin our journey, but of course Douglas Coupland wasn’t in attendance so we had to walk on.

We cut through to Nathan Phillips Square to see the six giant psychedelic projections which were reminiscent of a Flaming Lips concert kept under control,

and the few smaller exhibits lying under them: one of which was a squadron of bicycles decorated with glow sticks, the other a large flat hypnotic steel vortex that, as I hear, was constantly being assembled and dismantled throughout the city.

It was here the electronic chatter of a rave drew us away, past two giant red orbs, to the entrance of the City Hall parking garage and an exhibit entitled “Museum for the End of the World”. Douglas Coupland was getting closer.

Whether it was simply a coincidence or a nudge by some profound cosmic force, we wound up standing in a line to an event we knew nothing about. All we could see were the bald-spots of the patrons in front of us, which we of course analyzed to be positive they weren’t the bald-spots of our man of the night. We stood shoulder to shoulder for likely an hour, but eventually we approached the barricade, made our way down into the depths of the red-lit garage and were confronted by a sign reading “Museum of the Rapture

artichoke

2012: Douglas Coupland, Vancouver, Canada”. He was within our reach.

Down in the garage were the remnants of the apocalypse. Family portraits and graduation photos had the faces erased.

A car had been smashed into the wall with no driver to be found. Shopping carts filled with groceries were left to rot in the parking lot. Mounds of flesh were oozing trails of fluid across the floor. Children’s toys had tumbled over onto piles of empty clothes. The atmosphere created here was one of dark foreshadowing: what our future might become after all our sparks have fizzled out.

Three performance scenes were aligned on one wall of the lot. The first was a dreadful school setting. A teacher who had clearly lost the will to live was going through her daily routine at a most unsettling pace while her two students were being hypnotized by both their electronics and a projection of the process through which meat is packaged. The following scene was one of Christmas day, which featured a mother and son forcefully exchanging gifts as a satanic Santa Claus with a spectacular Flock of Seagulls hairdo danced across the platform. The final piece was set in an office building where workers were strewn across the floor convulsing.

We were forced to assess these dioramas for quite some time because, as I’m

sure you can imagine from the ridiculous description above, they were incredibly intricate and surreal. I also describe these scenes with more detail than the others for another reason. As we stood gasping at the sight of 1980s Santa, I was tapped on the shoulder by my ironically Christmas-sweatered friend and told to turn around.

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Standing before us was tall man facing the opposite direction. His shirt was tucked in, there was a lanyard around his neck, he was holding a glass of what looked like white wine and a perfectly combed circle accentuated his bald-spot.

All of these signs pointed in one direction: this back we were staring at was the back of Douglas Coupland…

And just then someone shouted, “Hey, Doug!” and his back spun around and there was his face…

We had done it. We had found him and here he was. We congratulated him for a thought provoking show, had a quick conversation about the 1970s, telephones and photo baskets and the passion with which his performers were acting, we shook his hand and he was on his way: back to the world of literature and artist things.

Later on, I was told I was the one who yelled his name.

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MAJOR SPEAK

THEATRE

A Theatrical Glossary York University edition

Lucy Powis

Perhaps one of the most terrifying parts of my first year was when people would reference things, and I would have no idea what they were talking about. At York, and specifically in the theatre department, we have created a lot of terminology that might not have been fully explained come September, and it can definitely be confusing at times. After about a week of school, I started to feel as though it was too late for me to be asking questions, and I felt worse and worse when I was confused. Whether you’re a first year theatre student, a student in another fine arts discipline, or an upper year who wants to brush up on their theatre slang, I thought I’d give you a hand by providing a glossary of some of the terms you’ll hear thrown around.

ARTICHOKE

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ACE / ACW / CFA / CFT:

playGround:

TWIT:

Accolade East, Accolade West, Centre for Fine Arts, and Centre for Film and Theatre. These 4 buildings, which are all connected, are also the sites of almost every fine arts course.

York’s own theatre festival featuring new works that are written and directed by York students, with all York cast and crew members. Join the Playground 2013 group on Facebook to find out more!

Theatrical Worlds in Transition, the second year theatre history course.

Burton Auditorium:

Prime Time:

A theatre at York that was shut down due to numerous safety concerns.

Monthly meetings mandatory for all first year theatre students where the faculty organizes guest speakers and gives information about second year programs.

CASA: The Creative Arts Student Association, which is the umbrella organization that oversees TSA (see below) and all associations for other fine arts departments.

Devised Theatre: A series of courses that can be auditioned for at the end of first year, with a focus on creating theatre as an ensemble.

FFT: The Faire Fecan Theatre, located in the ACE. The Horse: A giant rocking horse that used to sit in the CFT lobby. It was moved when Starbucks opened. It was last seen in the old carpentry shop, so you might get a chance to see it during crew.

JGG: The Joe G. Green Studio Theatre, located in the CFT.

Surprise, Surprise: The program that makes free tickets shows around Toronto available to York theatre students.

Theatre@York: York’s main stage season, comprised of shows put on by the 4th year acting students and MFAs, with production work by York’s production students and first year theatre students.

The Thirsty Penguin: A bar located by the Rexall Centre that is the site of the company parties for Theatre@York’s shows.

TSA: The Theatre Student Association, that acts as a liaison between the theatre faculty and students and hosts theatre-related events. TSA meets on Mondays at 6:30 pm in CFT 338, and anyone is welcome to come.

VIS: A second year course taken by all production and devised theatre students, notorious for its weekly portfolio assignments.

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The THEATRE

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days later...

By Curtis Te Brinke

“I’m a theatre major.” “What?”

Yeah, a theatre major.” “Nice to meet you.”

Rinse, and repeat. Aside from being nine days of quad parties and the occasional flash mob, Winters College frosh week had a way of enforcing just how unexpected university can be. Anyone reading this that happened to be on our boat cruise has an idea of what I am talking about. The entire week’s general sense of wild abandon lasted right up to the last event; something aptly titled “Dirty Bingo.” I may never look at stuffed unicorns the same way again. But with the chantfilled insanity that was frosh week behind us, every first year on campus has an entirely new set of daily activities and quickly forming habits to get into the swing of.

The first month of university could function perfectly well as a montage.

In the movie that is your life, you have plunky indie tunes shedding musical insight on your every moment. Maybe not every moment, mind you. Three hour lectures and residence floor meetings aren’t exactly cinematic gold.

But the fact remains, we first years are very aware of the fact that we are currently living out one of those momentous stages of everyone’s life. For most of us it’s our first time living away from home and learning all about how we function outside our normal habitats. It’s like a science experiment, but with free condoms and way more names to remember.

Going to floor parties, taking the subway downtown or engaging in class discussions about classic Greek literature all continually remind you that yes, this is your university experience that everyone kept telling you about all summer.

While we live out the life depicted in the York U brochures we all picked up at our high school university open house, there are also some adjustments we have to make that were perhaps less advertised than others; one of the biggest being residence life. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I can’t remember the last time a university grad reminisced fondly about communal

bathrooms and stiff dorm beds. Lukewarm showers at seven in the morning don’t exactly elicit feelings of nostalgia.

Living with a roommate is something very new for the most of us in that situation.

Having someone on the other side of the place you use to sleep and do homework in (or other things, if you will refer to my free condoms comment earlier) is a bit of a game changer. Your morning routine of doing yoga with the sunrise while singing Pavarotti may not go over so well with your new roomie. But, we all have to make sacrifices, I suppose.

On top of it all there is that whole “making friends” thing. The rules seem to have changed from high school. Now instead of making friends with the people who happen to attend classes in the same building, you have people of similar interests as you in your program. Nobody in your high school was a fan of new wave French cinema? Well it just so happens that the girl sitting next to you in your Anatomy of a Feature Film course is way into Jean- Luc Goddard.

For those of you who haven’t dropped out a month in, kudos. Look at us go.

Come April, I’m sure this will all feel like a total breeze. Right now, I’m going to go back to my pile of homework and see if I can’t get it done before I host my weekly movie night tonight. Or if I get lucky, the movie that is my life will play The New Pornographers and kick into a study montage.

ARTICHOKE

BY STEFAN JABLONSKI TIFF was crazy. If you didn’t get a chance to see any screenings this year I’m going to be blunt and say you missed out.... big time. Maybe I’m still on a virgins high from popping my TIFF cherry, but the whole festival was wild and if I was ever filling out a survey, yes, I would recommend to a friend. I like to think everyone who reads this is my friend.

My TIFF experience began with lining up downtown and drooling over which screening tickets to buy. The vibe downtown during TIFF is a mix of film enthusiasts geeking out over who won what at Cannes, amateur paparazzi kids trying to hunt down and pet celebrities and lots of clever marketing grads giving out loads of free stuff.

I was lucky enough to snag tickets to Xavier Dolan’s “Laurence, anyways”. At the tender age of 23 Dolan has solidified his spot on the roster of great French Canadian filmmakers, alongside the likes of Denis Villeneuve and Philippe Falardeau.

“Laurence, anyways” follows the story of a man who decides to go through a sex change, and the consequences it has on his life and the lives of his loved ones. You don’t need to have your own gender reassignment surgery scheduled to relate to the troubles that arise in Laurence’s life. Laurence gets caught between committing to becoming a woman, one of the most honest things he’ll ever do, and committing to Fred, who will always be the love of his life. The film explores what being a man or being a woman really means, and makes the argument that gender roles, and even biology are irrelevant in a meaningful relationship.

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BACON:

The gender bending tiff. experience

Melvil Poupaud on the set of Xavier Dolan’s Laurence, Anyways by Richmond Lam via. richmondlam.com

Part music video, part perfume commercial, and part photo gallery, this film is a feast for the senses. The cinematography is vibrant and dynamic. The soundtrack is simply kick ass. And the excellent and award winning performances from Melvil Poupaud, as Laurence, Suzanne Clement as Fred and Nathalie Baye as Laurence’s mother almost make you forget that you just spent three hours watching this film.

The length is this film’s downside and where it will likely lose a lot of people. Although tolerable at a TIFF screening, in any other circumstance audiences won’t help but get impatient as the film drags on for the last half hour.

Too often in Canada we cut down our own homegrown talent. “Laurence, anyways” was shot and set here in Canada and directed by a Canadian filmmaker.

It’s a reminder that we have the ability to produce important works, but we often don’t take ourselves seriously enough to do it. “Laurence, anyways” is the perfect example of why we need to show our many talented filmmakers the love they deserve. Although an international festival, TIFF really spearheads the celebration of Canadian talent and it’s no surprise that “Laurence, anyways” gets to add TIFF’s ‘Best Canadian Feature Film’ to it’s growing list of accolades.

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YORK

The COMMUNICATIONS

Section

Communications...

what?!

BY RIELLE ULLBERG I HAD a lot of expectations going into this year - It’s my first year in the York University Communication Studies program - and I wonder if I’m not already disenchanted with it all.

“It all” is referring to university life, classes and specifically, the Communications community. It seems as if we’re a collective of students who are continually forgotten.

“Communications...”people wonder alound, “what is that, like talking to people and stuff ?” I sigh

internally and whip out my scripted reply: “No, it’s the social and theoretical approach to media. People in my program often go into things like journalism, advertising or public relations.” I witness a head nod, and maybe a smile. But that’s the extent of their interest in my studies.

As an aside, I wonder if this is true for all the disciplines. Surely other arts students get more vivacious response; something akin to what one might say when meeting the writer behind a favored television show, or person who directed that

Old Spice commercial. Both for those who are involved in women’s studies, creative writing or politics, the reaction may be as equally dry as reactions to my own program.

Most people, it would appear, have no clue who the communication studies students are. And what’s more, even students themselves are a little foggy on the properties of the program. This was made clear to me in the Communications 1000 class when, on the first day, my professor said, “I don’t want to dissapoint some of you, but

if you were hoping that this class was going to teach you how to produce films or advertisements, that’s not really what we will be learning.” I felt the energy in the room change, and I knew dreams like mine were being shaken. Advertising is all I have ever wanted to learn about.

So I picked up my books and my drooping spirits, and wandered off into the commons. Where could I go to rejuvenate my enthusiasm for this program?

For students in the sciences, or nursing, the answer might have been simple; my college. But Communication Studies used to be a social science, or even if stretched, a humanities course. After splitting into its own Faculty, we Comn Kids got grouped with Winters College.

Now I’m not complaining, because Winters spirit is certainly infectious. But I, and maybe other Comn students, have begun to realize that we don’t exactly fit in anywhere. We’re like the Hufflepuffs of York University.

“Oh, so you’re in Winters College?”

A girl I met in my Psych class asked. “So you’re an arts student, like film or visual arts or something.” I corrected her, “No, I’m in Communication Studies.” “Communications, what is that?” And the cycle continued.

People in Winters undoubtedly know who we are. Winters is a wonderfully inclusive society, after all. However, it doesn’t change how Communication Studies fits into the greater York culture, and the voice that I onve envision we had, is lost in the sea of York programs.

Maybe this is just a problef of inclusion. I’ve heard that on average, the York community lacks school spirit, resulting in things like poor attendance to sports games. Maybe being a commuter school is manifesting problems in other areas than just attendance to 8:30 AM tutorials.

And maybe if somehow, magically, we could fix the spirit problem, the York community would strengthen, and students would feel at home, no matter what college, prgram or group they are involved in.

I still see a silver lining to all this. Communication Studies has got its own Faculty, and all the amenities that come along with it, we now have someone to represent us in the Artichoke Magazine (yours truly), and we don’t have to bear all that pressure that comes along with studying music or dance. We Hufflepuffs can just chill and enjoy their shows. To make light of these early days, I remain optimistic and send off a parting message; I’ll be here, mudding through it all, and I invite you - Comm Kid or not - to join me.

22

lifestyle

Street Style

by Emma Beckett

Artichoke: Do you feel like your major inspires your fashion at all?

some pretty cute little stores that have really great pieces.

Danielle: In certain ways yes, especially because of my interest in Victorian Literature, I like a lot of lace and high necks.

A: You mentioned you were from Montreal, are there any stores down there that you really like and remember?

A: Your outfit has a lot of interesting textiles, would you say there is any fabric that is your favorite, or that you really like to wear?

D: There are tons of places in Montreal. This isn’t vintage shopping, but one of my favorite boutiques in Montreal is called Lustre. She is a local designer there and she makes everything in the store, so when you go and shop there she will tailor things, like if the shirt is just a little bit too big in the waist but it fits everywhere else they’ll specifically tailor it there on the spot for you. So that’s a really great store, and there are also lots of great vintage places. There is this store called Eva B on Saint-Laurent where they have literally a dollar pile. So you take off your shoes and you go in and you wade through all this stuff, and lot of it is crap but you can occasionally find really cool things for just a dollar.

D: Lace. Lace is great, I also really like chiffon, I’m not wearing any today, but its fun.

Photos: Haley Walton

A: Is there anything you are wearing right now that has an interesting story about where you got it, or where it came from?

Danielle Bird is a student from Montreal, who is at York completing her Masters degree in English Literature. Her outfit was so eye catching that a couple Artichoke staff stopped to find out more, and ask her for a bit of fashion advice.

D: Well, the dress that I’m wearing is actually inherited from a friend who I did a clothing swap with, so that’s how I get a lot of my clothes. I either vintage shop or I have a little community of friends who all do the same thing, and we all get together once in a while to swap.

A: Are there any particular stores downtown or another area in Toronto that you like to shop?

D: Well I’m not too familiar with Toronto yet because I’m new here, but I live in Parkdale so on Queen West there are

A: Is there anyone specific that inspires your fashion?

D: I guess Audrey Hepburn is probably my biggest fashion inspiration. I love her, and that kind of classic style that she holds.

DARE to Wear

Nature’s Art in Symmetry

“

High fashion. Patterns.

Shapes… most of all, an alluring sense of style. Do I have your attention yet?

Great!

”

ARTICHOKE

23

24

LIFESTYLE

Lucian Matis’ Fall/Winter 2012 campaign Featuring model Leigh Hoby Photography by Greg Swales Production Assistant: Ashley Gesner Hair and MUA: Anna Nenoiu-Csiki

By, Carmen Chen To be brutally honest, I am very picky with my wardrobe or taste in Canadian runway fashion. However, when I stumbled across a campaign on Facebook for

a designer’s fall/winter 2012 collection (which I later discovered made its runway debut at Toronto’s Fairmont Royal York Hotel back in March) I immediately fell in love with the pieces. Toronto fashion designer Lucian Matis’ “Nature’s Art in Symmetry” features a collection with lavish Gothic creations with intricate lace, crocheted and feathered details.

Lucian Matis: “This campaign was my first collaboration with photographer Greg Swales and the entire shoot came

together effortlessly. The location we selected is a couple of hours outside of Toronto and it belongs to a long time friend of mine. I always wanted to use this site and this felt like the perfect campaign for it -- dark and mysterious, not to mention haunted. This incredible cottage situated on it’s own island was built in the early 1900 and it has never been renovated since. Some parts of it are dilapidated and I just simply loved the way nature has integrated into mankind’s structures.”

ARTICHOKE

His website describes his autobiography and the many awards and recognitions he has had throughout the years: Romanian-born fashion designer Lucian Matis grew up in his mothers tailor shop and began designing at a very early age, with his first customers being his teachers. Prior to moving to Canada in 1999, Matis studied art and completed a specialization in painting and graphics at the Sibiu Art Institute in Transylvania. In 2000, Matis continued his

education in the Fashion Design program at Ryerson University where his talent was very quickly noticed. Along with being granted an early graduation in 2003, he also received multiple awards including: The Fur Council of Canada Award (2002), Le Chateaus Menswear Competition (2002), Peoples Choice Award for Best Sketch (2002), Semi-finalist for the International Young Designer Competition (2002) and Alfred Sung Award for great design talent (2003).

Lucian’s first professional collection was presented at Loreal Fashion Weeks Fall/Winter 2007 shows, and was received with great accolades and praise from the Canadian industry.

Matis has gone on to secure an unmatched presence in television, online and print media. He was requested for a special guest appearance on the season finale of the highly rated Canadas Next Top Model where his collection was featured in its entirety. Matis was also invited to participate on the first season of Slice networks hit reality TV show, Proj-

25

ect Runway Canada where he gained a vast fan base across the country, and took a contentious second place. In addition, Matis has been featured in several indepth profiles on Fashion Television, and has done regular on-air runway reports on his collections for Etalk, Entertainment Tonight Canada, Breakfast Television, CityLine, Marilyn Dennis, Global Television, CBC World News, and CP24.

Matis collections have graced the pages and covers of numerous national and international publications including Flare, Elle Canada, Lush, Applied Arts, Globe & Mail, The Toronto Star, The National Post, ION, Tribute (France), Womens Wear Daily (USA), and Launchpad (USA).

26

HEALTH

BY: VERONICA APPIA

I am guilty as charged. This trilogy took over my life for a few weeks, and I could not put these novels down until they were finished. When I first entered the book store to purchase these reads, I was told how lucky I was that they received shipment that day, because they were selling out like crazy. I knew that sales were not about to slow down any time soon...

It’s no secret that the Fifty Shades Trilogy, by E. L. James, has caused much controversy among literary critics everywhere. While they are not the most eloquently written novels, they are definitely captivating with emotionally profound story lines and I think this aspect is lost on many critics who cannot see past the S and M aspect.

Let’s be honest. Erotic romances are old news. We have erotica novels such as Anais Nin’s Delta of Venus and Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, written over fifty years ago, which are just as provocative. So, what makes Fifty Shades so scandalous? Well, it takes the pre-women’s movement mentality of the submissive female and applies it to present day (how dare she!). Can I be the first to say, so what? This novel does not condone

submission and violence against women, in fact it does quite the opposite.

This is a story about Christian Grey, who had an abused and troubled childhood and youth, leading him to turn to sadomasochistic behaviour for relief.

Though he initially wishes to coax her into his dark world, he finds something in Ana Steele that he has never found in anyone else before: the capacity to love. That is Christian’s ultimate objective. It is not a struggle for power and control, that is a ramification of his past. Christian requires love in order to live, so before Ana he had not truly lived the life he desired, and there is some sort of beauty in that notion. Through Ana, Christian is actually able to overcome many of his former tendencies, and the most important aspect is that he wants to.

ARTICHOKE

These are novels about choices. Ana is not forced into anything and is rather a strong character. She is consistently conscious of her decisions, irrespective of what her friends and family will think.

And when it comes to Christian, she is initially opposed to his invitation for an S and M relationship. Everything she does throughout all three novels she decides on her own and sometimes she can be quite surprising.

Something to remember is that, ultimately, Christian and Anastasia are from two completely different worlds, with completely different upbringings, morals and perspectives. They are capable of reconciling these differences and finding a middle ground. They have a give and take relationship and they both highly impact each other and learn a lot from their

differences. Just as Christian tries to persuade her to live his lifestyle, she begins to do the same. They both experiment with aspects of each other’s lives until a comfort point is achieved. If these novels promote submission, I suppose Christian is somewhat of a submissive as well.

I’ll be the first to admit that James’ quality of writing is not the most exquisite. And “oh my”, is it ever redundant. The sex began to lose its pizzazz after her “nipples elongated under his expert touch” about a hundred times.

However, other than her repetitive word choices, James’ novel is thrilling and her characters are well developed. I love Ana’s inner goddess, as she is both the angel and the devil on Ana’s shoulders. It is a treat to be able to see Ana’s thought processes, and this only contributes into

27

making her character more intricate and more human.

This novel proves to be psychologically complex and the characters are rich and three-dimensional. That is what makes this trilogy so appealing. Oh and the steamy sex scenes, of course. If you ask me, James is a creative genius, because whether you’d like to believe it or not, sex sells, and controversy sells even more. With over 40 million copies sold worldwide, who could argue that this isn’t more than just a guilty pleasure?

28

ENTERTAINMENT

DOUGLAS

COUPLANDS

SLOGANS FOR THE 21

ST

CENTURY I’m not the kind of person who frequents gallery openings. Although I can usually appreciate the beauty of or effort put into a piece of art, I cannot usually offer you more critique than a generic “Oh wow, this painting looks nice!” My interest and theoretical training as an undergrad lies in words. Poetry, literature, even movie scripts are my paint and charcoal. For this reason, I expected to be well out of my element when I attended the Toronto gallery opening of Canadian super artist Douglas Coupland’s ‘Slogans for the 21st Century” at the Daniel Faria Gallery. On the contrary, aside from slight confusion

BY LINDSAY

PRESSWELL at being offered free wine of exceptional quality and my supreme awkwardness around my fellow Coupland enthusiasts’ middle-aged pretention, I found myself connecting with the exhibit on an intensely personal level.

The reason why I could relate so much to the ideas that inspired and encompassed the exhibit is that I am product of and prisoner to exactly what intrigues Coupland about my generation, or ‘Generation A,’ as he calls children of the 90s and early 2000s. In the description on the Daniel Faria Gallery website, Coupland’s work is described as an “ongoing body of

ARTICHOKE

29

statements that try and isolate what is already different in the twenty-first century mind as opposed to the twentieth.”

He displays this thesis in the form of dozens of 2x3 foot wooden boards painted in bright pastels, declaring in capitol letters things like “The Internet allows you to dream while you are still awake,” “Our only hope is to invent something smarter than ourselves,” and “The downside of being connected is that you’re always connected.” And sure enough, as I type these words I’ve got Facebook, Twitter, two different e-mail accounts, and a link I perused after a quick Google search.

‘Coupland slogans 21st century’ yielded 781 000 results in 0.44 seconds, and just like that I have all of the information I need to write this article.

The ability to access an infinite plethora of information, and the implications this has on Generation A is something that DOUGLAS COUPLAND’S ‘SERIES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY’ EXHIBITED AT DANIEL FARIA Coupland seems especially fascinated GALLERY IN TORONTO, CANADA. with. “Once the Internet colonizes your edge to be had from clicking around in it means to be connected to one another brain it cannot be decolonized.” “Know- cyber space that it seems impossible all the time, to be permanently trackable ing everything turns out to be slightly for anyone to have a completlyoriginal on the grid that is social media. I very boring.” These and numerous other slo- thought, or to reflect upon everything much enjoyed my experience there and gans explore the idea that the amount of that is instead, passively absorbed. To would recommend it to anyone in my age information we have at our fingertips is so learn, you need to process and evaluate group, as well as any user of technology. I extensive that it is inherently meaning- the information and opinions your read, think its not unrealistic to assert the need less. I notice this fact especially amongst think about what it means to you person- to be less passive about our usage of the my peers. So much of what I hear in snip- ally. The Internet does not allow you time Internet and the way we process informapets of converto do this and I feel tion found when we are plugged in: think sation, debates, as though the major- of everything we see in the same way we “It’s probably for the best that and discussions ity of people do not would absorb a novel, a magazine article, about social is- everyone is online instead of outside make time for nec- or an art exhibit. Be critical and aware of sues is nothing what we are reading, seeing, and subscribessary reflection. wrecking things.” but fragmented Coupland’s exhib- ing to: think about what we want our genregurgitation of it, though criticizing erations’ slogans to be, and fulfill it. thoughts gathered on the Internet. You how technology and the Internet affect could argue that access to this much in- its users, does not damn it entirely. The formation should make my generation slogans simply provide a cautionary tale more intelligent than any before it, but of what have become the values of people the fact is that there is so much knowl- in the Information Age. It analyzed what

30

ENTERTAINMENT

ONE OF US

BY ELLI WAESE And now, presented for your pleasure: a list of famous people that are nerds and geeks just like us.

5. Vin Diesel

cally performed for a live audience, is a song that lists the name of every element in the periodic table.

3. Barack Obama

Starting off the list at number five is Vin Diesel, the bald, buff white guy that you know from such action films as The Chronicles of Riddick and The Fast and the Furious and not that one family comedy that shall go unnamed about a bald, buff guy that finds himself hi-lariously out of place as a babysitter. Yeah, that guy - he loves him some Dungeon and Dragons.

When I say he loves D&D, I mean he’s written his own campaign setting, has a tattoo of the name of his character, wrote the preface to a collection of D&D artwork and even begged Dame Judi Dench to take a part in The Chronicles of Riddick because he’s a big fan and not because he wanted her to be the Dungeon Master for one of his games, which she did agree to (she’s had past experience doing the same for her grandchildren). If you’re unfamiliar with D&D, think of it as having the voice of Britain itself read Harry Potter to you.

Don’t let all that basketball playing fool you. John Hodgman got it right when he said Obama is the “first nerd president of the modern era.” He’s a longtime collector of Spiderman and Conan the Barbarian comics. He doesn’t try to hide the fact that he’s a huge fan of Star Trek, making it abundantly obvious when he greeted Leonard Nimoy with the Vulcan hand salute. In relation to an argument he was making, Obama once made mention of a ‘red pill and a blue pill’ during a national news conference about health care. At another event, he joked “I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father Jor-El to save the Planet Earth.” And, hey, speaking of Harry Potter, Obama has read all of the Harry Potter books and even dressed up as a wizard when he took his daughters to a midnight release of one of the books. Not bad, Mr. President, not bad.

4. Daniel Radcliffe

If you’re a regular viewer of the Colbert Report, you already have some idea of just how massive a fan of the Lord of the Rings Colbert is. To begin with, he actually has Aragorn’s sword, given to him

by Viggo Mortensen on the show, which he promptly added to his LotR collection. This collection also includes a huge statue of Sauron, a replica of the ring of power and a limited edition LotR Pinball Machine. Colbert isn’t just a collector: he’s a veritable walking LotR encyclopedia. When CNN unknowingly used an image of the Balrog from a 1977 Lord of the Rings calendar when they meant to just grab an image of Satan for their news coverage back on June 6th, 2006

Speaking of Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe has admitted to being obsessed with various cartoons. In more than one interview he’s mentioned Spongebob Squarepants as being a classic. Radcliffe also lists Avatar: the Last Airbender among his favourites and has added: “not the film - which I haven’t seen - but the animated series is awesome,” proving himself to anyone who ever doubted him. He also considers Tom Lehrer, an American mathematician who performed satirical piano pieces in the 50’s and 60’s, his hero.

On one talk show, Radcliffe performed Lehrer’s song “The Elements”. Yes, one of his favourite songs, which he enthusiasti-

2. Stephen Colbert

(06/06/06), it did not go unnoticed by Colbert who, of course, had said calendar.

Colbert took it upon himself to explain on his show that, “Devils and Balrogs are totally different. Devils are angels who refused to serve God and instead followed Satan into hell. Balrogs are Maiar who refused to serve Eru and instead followed Morgoth into Thangorodrim. Get your facts straight, CNN!”

1. Robin Williams

Sure some people are remotely aware that Robin Williams is a nerd of terrifying proportions after it was revealed that his eldest daughter’s name is Zelda in a commercial they both appeared in for the remake of Ocarina of Time, but that really only hints at the sheer depth of his nerdiness. From Ghost in the Shell to AKIRA and Princess Mononoke, Robin Williams is a huge fan of anime. He even brought in his own toy from the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion (his favourite show of all time) to use in his dark, psychological thriller One Hour Photo, going as far as to make a completely irrelevant stealth joke about the show too. While promoting said film, he also admitted to being addicted to the Internet and being “fascinated” by online military games. In other words, if you’ve ever played Call of Duty or Battlefield 2 at 2am, you may have been sniped by Robin Williams. It gets better. In the event of a live-action film adaptation of Pokémon, he has said that he wants to play Professor Oak and Nintendo responded by telling him they would consider no one but him to play the part if that were to happen. For that alone, Robin Williams takes the number one spot.

Apologies for the lack of lady nerds in the list. Shout out to Whoopi Goldberg for being a serious sci-fi fan!

HEALTH

31

@ W Winters Intramurals

By Shannon Marek

It pretty much goes without saying, but most fine arts students aren’t athletes.

I’ve never really understood this. Maybe it’s because we tend to be so focused on perfecting our craft, whether it be visual or theatrical, that we just never find the time for sport. Or maybe it’s some fear of stepping out of a comfort zone that we’ve created for ourselves. Whatever it may be now is the time to break that norm and have some good old-fashioned athletic fun! And by this, I mean join your fellow Winters’ peeps on an intramural team, and show the other colleges what Winters is made of.

It might come as a surprise to you, but last year Winters actually kicked some ass in the intramural department. This year is shaping up to be even better. There is so much enthusiasm shared by the veterans and freshmen alike. Outdoor soccer started the end of September and more individual sports, such as tennis, have also started. If you have interest in another sport such as volleyball, dodgeball, or indoor soccer, don’t be afraid to find out how to get involved. There are male, female, and co-ed teams. It all depends on how much interest there is, whether or not a team is entered. There are more ladies showing an interest this year which is exciting, especially for the co-ed teams.

It should be noted that in order for a co-ed team to commence that must be at least 2 females on the field/court at all times. Unfortunately last year Winters teams had to forfeit games due to this technicality. So come on ladies, make Winters proud and sign up!!

Some of the big things that might deter people from coming out are the level of competition and skills required to play a given sport. Well my answer to both, is don’t worry about it because we all just want to have fun, and enjoy ourselves.

This is a chance for all of us to let loose and make new friends… and rep Winters College of course.

“There are male, female, and co-ed teams” I’m super excited about this year for Winters Athletics, and I hope to see some great numbers. If you are interested in a certain sport, or would like to join a team, please send an email to Taneisha McAdam at vpathletics@winterscouncil.com.

You can also join the Facebook group: Winters Athletics 2012/13. I look forward to seeing you on the field!

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

– Wayne Gretzky

32

HEALTH

WALKING TRAILS Goal #1: Taking Care of Yourself Through Exercise IN THE LAST ISSUE of Artichoke I talked about choosing goals, and now I’ll discuss a really worthwhile goal: taking care of yourself. In specifics, to exercise! Even if you’re not training for a sport or don’t want to look like those thin/buff celebrities we see half-naked in the media, something is better than nothing.

And wouldn’t it be nice to be able to run for the bus or class without huffing and puffing for five minutes afterwards? It takes more than wishful thinking for that to happen. We have to get up and get moving. This is not just to be buff, thin, muscular, fit, maintain weight or prevent weight gain, or whatever. Exercise benefits more than just your body, it also benefits your mind.

Advantages include increased energy, endurance, and confidence, making you more relaxed and happier, helping you fall asleep faster, and decreasing risks of cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, depression and arthritis. Convinced yet?

Once you know why you’re doing it, it helps to pick an exercise that you enjoy since that will make you more likely to stick with exercising as a routine. Exercises in a social setting such as

a Zumba class at Tait McKenzie Centre with Deborah, helps you connect with others who will inspire you to keep on going, or be your secret competition, and make new friends while you’re at it. If, for some reason, you can’t make it to a gym, you can follow along to exercise DVDs (I’m a fan of Women’s Health videos) wherever you have the space. Other things you can do during the day to stay healthy include taking the stairs instead of an elevator, walking the long route to class, and when I need to transport my laptop, I hold it up using alternative hands. There are also walking trails at York. Yes, you read that correctly, York has Campus Walking Trails, as I recently found in a map of Keele with helpful colourful dotted lines winding their way through buildings and roads to make up various routes and lengths.

With a variety of trails to choose from, from a 1.6km walk to the 5.3km length of the perimeter of the campus, you can pick one that’s right for you and within your time frame. Some more advantages to checking out these walking trails are exploring the campus, getting fresh air and cardio!

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33

WEST E CORE ND LOOP ( 2.4 km L ) and th (www.y OOP (2.4 k m e o slightly rku.ca/web/m ), seen on th e aps/W more c alkingT PDF buildin omplic rail gs ated as they lo sMAP.pdf ) can ba , leading me are sically op aro to con und ju c lu s the are t make d a. up you e that for th certain ose loo r own ro PERIM ps ute an E d explo you Entran TER LOOP re ce, walk (5.3km to Sho ) s o S u ta th pa rtin re then fr ham Drive, to st the Pond g at Keele’s M R om Ste eles Av Steeles via M oad and all th ain e, WesT e urr COMM back so ay Ross Park way ON LO Keele a uth on way, nd York OP (1.6km) Keele. from th on the Blvd to sidewa e V m ari a ain lk and not cu nd back up a entrance at EAST tting a ro CO cross th und (walkin and Atk RE LOOP g e Com (2 in mon). crossin son, around .1km) from Th g th tennis in front of V e back of th e Pond Road ari e co then M urts and Lum Hall and con Fine Arts Bu ilding, tinuing cLaugh bers Lo lin walking on t back o Road down towards Otta past the n Ian M to w acdona Winters Ro a Road, and ad and ld Roa d. then

**Make sure to stay hydrated and refill your water bottle, there are water refilling stations located in buildings all around campus.

For those who want a more intense outdoor workout, there’s always the option of bringing along your heavy textbooks or weights, stopping in buildings along the way to go up and down stairs, running and/or biking the trails. There is a bike path on The Pond Road to Sentinel Road, with bike lockers in the Bennett Center and William Small Center. Between classes you can always leave your locked bike on bike racks if you need.

Exercise can be as fun, boring, challenging, or easy as you want it to be; there’s something for everyone. Inspirational quotes, pump-up songs, or photos of your favourite celebrity can motivate you stay on track even on those days when you don’t feel like exercising. I don’t know of anyone who has ever regretted exercising (just make sure to always warm-up and cool-down so you don’t hurt yourself). Whatever your motivation is, it’ll help you make the time to exercise in-between classes, transporta-

tion/commuting, work, and leisure. It will be worth it, and not only for your physical health, so get up and get moving! You’ll thank me later.* *Staying healthy now and making it into a habit and a routine helps you stay healthy, which REALLY helps when you age and start having problems. Get into the habit of taking care of yourself now so you can live as healthily and as pain-free as possible later on.

Zumba at Tait (Studio 1) with Deborah Wednesdays 7:30-8:30pm Thursdays 6:30-7:30pm

https://www.facebook.com/groups/110495489101794/

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ISSUES

Now that you’re living on your own and the parents can’t (and wont) bail you out financially, its good to know how to make the most of this year for less. Sure, you might think that saving is a drag, but I’m not asking you to set money aside every month, I am telling you how to avoid spending unnecessarily on food, entertainment, transport and school, so you can (once in a while) enjoy the finer things in life with your hard “saved” cash. by: Yousra Zaki Do buy the “in-betweener “ jacket.

Don’t spend a lot on Rain boots

Do have a good variety of “carry-on”

Ahh, fall. It comes with its confusingly bipolar weather… warm on one day and cold another other day. This is the warm enough, yet not too warm jacket you want for the October/November months. You don’t want to be wearing layer over layer, so stick with just one piece. This one has to be a chic color that could work well on jeans, black pants even burgundy (very in season color right now). I suggest a light parka in a military green or a black leather jacket; a look that works for both men and women. Don’t spend over $60 on this piece and it will last for years (just make sure its timeless).

We often see the famous Hunter rain boots for 200$ a pop. Michael Kors and Coach have got them too (both over 180$!!). But if you really take a close look at them, they are all made of the same material. RUBBER. You should never spend over 50$ on rubber boots! Its not like we’re in Vancouver where rain is an everyday occurrence, but you still don’t want those socks getting uncomfortably wet, so just be simple.

For women, carrying a purse is something that has become impossible not to do.

Handbags are the things that we spend an insane amount of money on. They are literally just portable storage spaces. I allow you one to two expensive handbags, (one purse and one clutch) while other bags such as satchels, messenger bags and school bags have to be reasonably priced, ladies.

Men on the other hand tend to have an appreciation for good wallets, since that’s all they usually carry around. Many places have good quality “manly” leather wallets for under 25$ (you could find some designer too).

Best place to find good quality rubber boots:

Best place to find the fall jacket for less:

Best place for Women’s handbags: H&M, Urban Behavior, & Forever 21 Best place for Men’s Wallets: Winners, Sears. $25

$49 $54

$19

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Don’t spend a lot on the basics.

It is not just Canada, but many other countries get their clothes from one particular place: China. So when you’re buying basic white T-shirts, V-necks, wife-beaters, tank tops and leggings, stick with those trashy bright-colored stores that target pre-teens and teens.

First of all they are cheaper, because they are targeted at people who still live on an allowance and second of all they are massive stores! There is almost always some section in the store on sale and they have phenomenal basic clothes. The Neon Jumpers, that quite similar to the overpriced and just awful quality at PINK are a fraction of the price and can keep you just as warm. Things you could find there include 3 v-necks t-shirts for 15$ or 2 pairs of leggings for $12! Just ignore all the other over-the-top clothes.

Best place for cheap and good basics: Sirens, Urban Behavior, Fairweather, Stitches and Bluenotes.

Do think long and hard before buying boots for the cold.

Those babies have got to be good. They have to last, keep you warm and it doesn’t hurt if they look good too. To all you UGG wearers out there, I admit that they are the most comfortable footwear since fluffy bunny slippers, but the flimsy outer material that is covered in salt stains and allows water to seep through is not an everyday winter boot (plus they cost $300!!) So stop wearing them every day and get yourself something waterproof. When shopping for winter boots on a budget, forget about brand names.

Buy waterproof boots that have a warm and fuzzy inside. You can find the warmest snow boots for under $120 for sure!

Best place to buy winter boots: Payless & The Bay.

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Don’t spend too much on winter accessories:

Do invest on your Winter Jacket (but don’t go crazy)

1. All your head really needs in a comfy woolly cap. This winter your cap shouldn’t cost more than $13. Sure some people like to go designer with this particular accessory, but this is the item that you lose so often during winter, so I suggest not to splurge. Go for a nice looking black, beige or navy blue beanie. Brighter colors remind me of pro snowboarders.

This saleswoman at the Bay tried convincing me that I needed a $700 MaxMarra snow jacket to feel warm, when I simply just made an excuse, and went to the upper floor and did my winter jacket shopping without the scrutinizing eyes of any sales assistant. I tried on all the jackets I thought looked good, felt the warmth of all of them and finally made my decision.

They best places to go for winter jackets are department stores; because they have so many different brands under one large roof. This allows you to stay in one place and try as many different brands as you like. Plus they have a huge price range from the basic to the designer, usually not so expensive.

2. Scarves are your best game changers in winter. Because you’re committed to just one winter coat, the scarf gives you some refreshing change. This is where you can buy 3 to 5 different colors, styles and textures, depending on the mood you are in. It’s always good to have the simple black scarf, but scarves are what add a splash of color to your winter outfit. Also matching the scarf with your hat is kind of outdated, so be creative with different colors.

3. Gloves are also very important in the cold. Try not to spend too much on gloves if you’re not outdoors too often.

They can be leather if you don’t lose your stuff often, other than that... stick with woolly black or beige.

Best place for winter accessories: H&M, Aeropostal, Forever 21, Sears, the Bay and Winners.

Best stores for Winter Jacket shopping: The Bay, Sears, Winners and Marshalls.

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ISSUES

THE TRUTH ABOUT

Personality

By LAURA SPEARE

Why you’re only awesome sometimes Expectations! We all have them. Deny it though we may, we can’t staunch the flow of thoughts and assumptions we make about people we see. When we approach a person who looks sketchy, we expect them to be shifty and rough around the edges. Even if they’re not, or wouldn’t seem so out of context, anything they say strikes us as something not to be trusted. This is not to say that everyone judges others based on appearance. Though some may do this, I like to think (perhaps only for my own sanity) that judgment of people is most often based on a sort of feeling that we get from these people, an aura that they give off - their energy, I suppose. Far from airy-fairy hippyism, this really seems to me more of a question of common human instinct. It makes perfect sense

that we should be instilled at birth or through experiences with a sort of builtin device that helps us judge the risk involved with being around different people and entering different social situations.

But our instinctual abilities move beyond just assessing risk. We humans - or at least the ones in my circle - are very good at assessing social situations. When entering a group, some people are excellent at picking out who fits into which role. There may not be a definable set of personality types for every group (or maybe there is - I haven’t done a lot of research), but there are very distinct categories that each person may fit into.

There is the shy person - the one who’s quiet, reserved, and cautious; the outgoing person with all their loud guffaws and ideas; the short-tempered one who

rears up at anything that is said; and any number of other vaguely defined sorts of people within any sort of social group.

But what’s interesting is that the role to which a person adheres in a group setting changes depending on who else is involved. A person who’s loud and irrational in one instance might be cripplingly shy in another. What it depends on is who else is there: there’s a sort of unspoken hierarchy when any group of people is thrown together. Using myself as an example, on my own, I would say I am neither terribly shy nor particularly outgoing.

I am somewhere on one of the middle rungs of the social ladder - and yet, put me with people who give off an aura of shaking timidity and I will be a dominating force of extroverted energy. Conversely, if the people I’m with are fiercely outgoing, or even somewhere in the middle like myself, I will become quiet and thoughtful. It’s not a conscious decision on my part - nor is it, I presume, for most people. It’s just the way things are, the unwritten code of social interaction.Without thinking about it, people act the way they know they’re perceived in that particular gathering of people.

This is something to think about next time you approach another person.

Think about who you are with that person. Compare that version of yourself with the one you present in other social situations. Chances are good that there will be discrepancies; no one person is completely consistent in every aspect of their personality.So what’s all this hype about consistency, then? Does it even exist? If the very fabric of human life can’t stop molding and changing, how can we keep ourselves from spinning out of control? This is mind-altering stuff, and you heard it first from me.

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BY: NIRU SIK

A BAL AM

OHAN

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THE SOCIAL AND MORAL ISSUES in Canada are often debated, where everyone argues which social norms are right and which are wrong. Prostitution is a topic that gets a lot of public attention and a vast amount of different views. Prostitution has been legalized in Canada and many people reacted to this with anger, expressing the belief that the profession is wrong and degrading to women. Some say women have the right to their own bodies and being able to decide if they want to utilize their bodies to make a living.

In the midst of those who are against legalizing prostitution and those who are for, there are many who are personally divided on the matter, and even more who are unaware of the many different layers of the issue. This article explores the institution of prostitution in Canada and may serve to open the eyes of readers, to help them gain an insight about this particular profession and those who are involved in it.

Earlier this year on March 26th, National Post published an article titled, Ontario Court of Appeal Greenlights Brothels, Sweeps Aside Many of Canada’s Anti-Prostitution Laws, written by Adrian Humphreys. According to this article, those involved in prostitution are legally permitted to hire their own staff, such as bodyguards and drivers. They are also allowed to run functionalized brothels or in other words, “bawdy houses” however, it is illegal for prostitutes to approach people on the streets or for them to be exploited by “pimps.”

“I think it’s positive,” expresses Sherry Rowley, a humanities professor at York University. “Women in the sex industry now have more control over their own bodies, rather than them being controlled by others.”

Several have other opinions about prostitution, especially when it comes to some

feminist views “There are many perspectives,” says Rowley. “Some say women can’t be safe in this profession. They are coerced because of class issues and they may not have any other alternative, so they come to this decision.” When doing additional research, what Rowley had said is evidently found to be true.

Many feminists do in fact believe a woman selling her body is basically selling her womanhood. Therefore a prostitute, given what she does for a living, is considered to be degrading herself. The profession is also seen to be dangerous. Stories are heard about women being slaved to do sexual favours, or being physically abused and taken advantage of by men.

In the article published in the National Post, a former prostitute expressed her views on the laws being passed about prostitution. “I’ve worked the street for more than fifteen years and this won’t keep anyone safe,” says Katrina MacLeod.

“It’s more than troubling, it’s disgusting.”

Camille Paglia, a feminist philosopher once said, “The prostitute is not, as feminists claim, the victim of men but rather their conqueror, an outlaw who controls the sexual channel between nature and culture.” Some feminists argue that a woman has all the free rights and

choice of her own body. Whether she wants to sell it in a sexual manner for profit or decides it should not be of anyone else’s business.

During her interview for this column, Sherry Rowley was asked, How would prostitution be viewed if men were involved?

“There are men who work in the sex industry however, many don’t know of it. People aren’t aware of the men who work in this industry because the media reflects our culture. Our culture views prostitution to be ‘only something women do.’” Rowley then goes on to say, “If the public came to know men were involved in prostitution, it would be seen as any other profession that involves both men and women. Also, men would be more valued in the profession than women because we still live in a patriarchy.”

Everyone is entitled to voice their opinions, whether they support prostitution or not. However, women who work as prostitutes should not be viewed as “whores,” “sluts” and “gold-diggers.” They should not be shunned for being “just a prostitute.” They work as prostitutes in order to make money for themselves - and in many cases, their families - to survive and they do not harm anyone around them.

I hope this article served to open the discussion of prostitution and most importantly, form a social acceptance of the women who work in this profession.