the newspaper
18 September 2003 Vol. XXVI No. 4
U of T’s Independent Weekly
on the inside • Film Festival Coverage • SAC and Birth Control • New Comics the newspaper asks: Love advice for the rotund Romeo
Jack Black’s School of Talk by Edward Gebbie FAT MAN BUREAU
Who should you vote for in the election? PAGE 4
the newspaper asks:
Do you want to see School of Rock? DROP BY OUR OFFICE FOR FREE TICKETS. WE HAVE HUNDREDS.
Ah, the press game. I’ll admit it: I was excited to get the chance to interview Jack Black. He’s one of the few comedians around who has an individual viewpoint, and his manic jerkiness has always appealed to the newspaper. Boy, was I ever looking forward to sinking my teeth into old Jack. “the newspaper vs.” would take on a whole new meaning once we let one of the most combustible performers of our time loose on this poor scribe. Man, it was gonna be bloody. So while I wasn’t shocked to find myself surrounded by fellow journalissimos, what followed was a suprise. After the fawning applause which accompanied Black’s entrance, we were treated to our audience with the great man. Jack Black looks better in person, with warm eyes and a surprisingly gentle demeanor. He handled our questions deftly and with good humour, never raising his voice and swearing often. While he rarely diverted his gaze from the middle distance (except when this reporter called him “hefty” — more later), he charmed the room. Maybe that’s the problem. Immediately, my cohorts began lobbying the easy questions at him: did you like working with Richard Linklater?
(yes!) Is it fun working with kids? (yes!). I grit my teeth and began my pursuit. On the subject of Rock, Black is an avowed expert. He’s listening to Radiohead, The White Stripes, and Queens Of The Stone Age while waiting for the new Strokes record, if you’re interested. But when asked if his band Tenacious D is just a collection of signifiers, devoid of any real Rock, Black admits: “We’re sincere, kind of. I tried to Rock sincerely in high school, and it was a miserable failure. Kyle and I discovered the secret was not to take it too seriously. We can embrace the Rock, and still make fun of it.” As for the music in the film, “if I’m playing or singing it, I wanna make sure there’s lots of ball sweat” he proclaimed, quietly. To educate the spoiled private school kids in the film, Black’s character Dewey turns to the classics: Yes, Pink Floyd and the mighty Led Zeppelin. Convincing the aging CockRockers to release the rights to their songs was hard work. The filmmakers had to film a special section aimed at convincing The Zep, featuring thousands of extras and a direct appeal from Jack Black. “We had to grovel to Zeppelin, the Gods of Rock” he says, “just to let them let us pay them hundreds of thousands of dollars”. Co-star and screenwriter Mike White didn’t disappoint the star with his lyrics. Black has
“if I’m playing or singing it, I wanna make sure there’s lots of ball sweat”
Jack Black, less talk more rock. high praise for his friend and colleague: “I find him fascinating. He wrote [this film] for me. That’s like the Coen Brothers calling me up to be Barton Fink Two.” For his next project, Black says: “Hopefully Mike will do something for me - he’s got the rare thing where he writes characters you’ve never, ever seen before, and it still has a little subversive spice.” That said, Black “realizes I can’t do my Party Animal Dude much
PHOTO COURTESY OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES
longer,” though he doesn’t plan what he does next. And what else? Does Jack Black have any love advice for the heftier gentleman? For the first time during our roundtable, the star turns to look a reporter in the eye. “Not necessarily for the heftier gentlemen, but here it is: don’t go on dates. Dates are death, for me, anyway. As soon as you set a date with someone, from that time until the date itself, you ruin any pos-
sibility of a good date by practicing what your going to say, what you’re going to wear, what you going to fucking go eat, ruining everything.” His eyes narrowing, he continues, “I say you should call whoever you want to go out with and say ‘hey, it’s me, what are you doing right now? Laundry? Oh, can I come? I’ve got a load!’ then you can be yourself, because you don’t have time to stress.” Good advice.
the news in brief
The Varsity hosts debate The Varsity, SAC, the GSU
and Hart House held a debate for the candidates in Trinity Spadina Tuesday night. It was designed for the three main contenders, Conservative Helena Guergis, NDP Rosario Marchese, and Liberal Nellie Pedro. Before the debate started, independent candidate Nick Lin interrupted the proceedings asking that he be added to the panel so that he could express himself. After some confrontation with moderator Andrew Lefoley, he and Green Party candidate Greg Laxner were allowed to join the table. Attendence was close to 130--standing room only for the East Common Room, where the debate was held. For coverage of the best quotes and some basic platform information, see page 4. the newspaper would like to say thanks to The Varsity for organizing the event and allowing us to ask questions.
Law students protest high fees
Protest draws crowd of over a hundred by Jeremy Rusinek
POOR LAWYER BUREAU
“Tuition hikes are not a done deal,” U of T law students claimed at rally yesterday. Approximately 125 students, faculty, alumni, and supporters demonstrated in front of Flavelle House against rising tuition rates in the law faculty. Speakers represented the U of T community and political candidates for Trinity-Spadina in the provincial election. The Faculty of Law is currently in the middle of a fiveyear plan to raise tuition fees from 2002 rates of $14,000 to $22,000. The rationale is to compete on the same level with prestigious American law schools for top professors and students. Those opposed to the plan
filling the hours
claim rising fees will limit accessibility to lower and middle income students as well as limit job choice for graduates. Increases to student aid over the past seven years are 45% less than increases in tuition rates. Graduates from U of T’s law school are more likely to get job’s in the corporate as opposed to the lower paying public sector to cope with enormous student debt, said the demonstrators. Last year Provost Shirley Neuman released a report claiming students would be unaffected by tuition hikes. Her methodology was heavily criticized by students and others. Kathy Laird from the Association of Community Legal Clinics of Ontario and a U of T alumnus claims that, “The Provost’s study was manifestly dishonest.” Other speakers at the rally
included U of T law students Joshua Patterson and Robin Rix, political candidates Rosario Marchese and Nellie Pedro, plus faculty member Professor Hudson Janisch. Professor Janisch said the faculty mainly supports the tuition hike out of “high self-interest” and that Canadian legal education should not be rated on an American scale that defines excellence as high personal income of its graduates but instead on the basis of “distinctively Canadian communitarian ideals.” Mandate for Public Interest Law, a student organization, intends to put pressure on Governing Council members to not approve future fee increases and to lobby politicians to reregulate tuition fees in technical programs.
“TUITION HIKES ARE NOT A DONE DEAL” Trinity College Cake Fight
the newspaper’s guide to spending your time
Have A Nice Day Thursday, September 18th (Tonight), 99 Blue Jay Way. The
Toronto Online Film Festival runs until Friday, chock full of indie goodness. Go check out Alan Compton’s debut, Have A Nice Day, reviewed inside. With a budget under $3,000, it’s the cheapest film ever made. That should be enough to earn your support, but if not, rest assured: it’s good, too. Get out there and do something decent for the community, you parasites.
The Darkness with The Illuminati Saturday, September 20th at Lee’s Palace. While we here at the
newspaper are a little wary of this metal revival, you really can’t complain about The Darkness. They’re not fooling anyone, or even trying to. This is balls to the wall rock of the AC/DC, Def Leppard variety: silly as hell, and not going to take it anymore. Plus, they’re British, which means they can do that “dissolute metalhead boozer”
shtick better than any colonials. Can you imagine the cleaning bills on all those unitards? Oh, and the Illuminati rock, too. I don’t know if this is up everybody’s alley - or even mine - but it’s better than spending the evening swaying to sob-rock, isn’t it?
Michael Bliss Thurday, 25 September, Hart House Library. So maybe The
Darkness aren’t for everybody. How about some infectious disease and local academia? Resident genuis Michael Bliss kicks out the jams at the U of T Bookstore reading series as he reads from his recent book Plague: How Smallpox Devastated Montreal. Enjoy yourself, but please, no coughing.
GoldFrapp Tuesday, September 23th, The Opera House. For a few moments at the turn of the Century, GoldFrapp were big news. Now, not so much. Maybe it’s because they’ve altered their approach, meaning less dreamy electronica, more disco breakin’. This is authentic dance music for grown-ups.
PHOTO BY STEPHEN HAY
The Trinity College Cake fight is an initiation ritual unlike any other at U of T. First and second year students are pitted against each other as first years attempt entry into the Quadrangle to place a “cake” (Blessed by the Bishop of the Un-Anglican Affairs Committee, UAAC) on the sundial, while second years try to keep them out. Third years are above the action on scaffolding where they pour swill on top of everyone—this year’s was made of weeks old beer, flour, vinegar, and other undisclosed substances. This year’s fight was messy, but the first years won. After the Cake Fight, everyone goes to clean up in the water fountain at Queen’s Park.