issue 20 by Nexus Magazine

Issue 20 · 11 September 2006

Food

Are you really sure of what you’re eating?

ALSO: Pro-Nutrition · Anti-Nutrition · WESMO Go! · 9/11

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YOUR VOICE

Jamie – potato and gravy 1. Chicken masala 2. Occasionally 3. BK. 4. Nothing 5. Spit roasted. Charley – mashed potatoes 1. Pies from the pie maker 2. Occasionally 3. Chocolate – Whittakers kiwifruit. 4. No time, but cereal at 11. 5. In hot chocolate.

Dani – an apple 1. Toast 2. Rarely 3. Popcorn 4. Crispy apple Mizone 5. Between sesameal crackers

By Andrew Neil Desiree – apricot 1. Mississippi mud cake 2. Yes 3. French fries 4. Bread with Nutella 5. Melted on the ﬁre with bicuits.

Name/If you were a food, what would it be? 1. What’s your cooking specialty? 2. Do you read food labels when shopping? 3. Favourite junk food? 4. What did you have for breakfast? 5. Favourite method of eating marshmallows?

Terri 1. Cake 2. Sometimes 3. Chocolate 4. Toasted sandwhich 5. Smores

“Who do you want to be WSU president next year?”

www.nexusmag.co.nz/forum You don’t need to sign up to vote, either! But signing up will make you cooler...

0% / 0 Votes

Kahu Nikora

0% / 0 Votes

Sehai Orgad

59% / 13 Votes

Magic 8 Ball

18% / 4 Votes

The Cat Piano

22% / 5 Votes

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To vote on the current weekly poll, point your internet browser to:

Carl Bishop

Sehai seems to be the clear winner here with two ﬁcticious Nexus entities placing a distant second and third place. We’re sure the Cat Piano would settle for Vice-Presidency...

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PARTIES AND GOOD TIMES

Party Review By Skot and JR

Singled Out Party Something odd is happing here at the University of Waikato. Either everyone is busy doing assignments or no one is actually having parties any more!? It surely can’t be because no one wants to invite Skot and JR, can it? Anyway while drowning my “no party to go to” sorrows one night, a friend approached the two of us with tickets for the “Edge’s” Singled Out party. We both laughed it off at the time not wanting to seem like we had nothing better to do. However as each drink went down the idea seemed to get better and better. The Outback’s not that bad to hang out at, when you have your beer goggles on and it would be rude not to introduce ourselves to the desperate oops, I mean, ‘single’ part of our fine town. On arrival to the door we were both given name tags and told to go grope out our partner. I was labelled with Deryck (who apparently plays for Sum 41) and JR was kindly given the title of “Beast”. While JR set off on his mission to find some kind of beauty I was jumped upon by drunk screaming young girls looking for Mr Right. The night got even better as at one stage in my drunken state, my name tag accidentally got stuck to my crotch and I had drunk screaming girls on their knees, again looking for Mr Right. Eventually JR found that his “beauty” didn’t end out being that beautiful and we decided to leave. However my apologies go out to Avril Lavigne, I’m sorry I had to leave early and we never got to meet up, but I’m thinking it probably would have been better that way anyway. So come on Waikato, invite JR and or me to your next party so we don’t have to go and disappoint Avril and co again.

Three Most Ruthless Lines from the Night Can I smell your pussy? No? Sorry, it must be your feet then!

Your parents must be retarded because you are special. Can I buy you a drink or do you just want the money? Party Rating: 5/10

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Damn girl, what are you still doing in here! Don’t you know KFC closes in 10 minutes?

Txt me anytime (after 7am) 0274 279319 and JR and myself will review your party.

CREDITS EDITOR

Dawn ‘dark chocolate’ Tuffery

CONTENTS

nexus@waikato.ac.nz DESIGNER

Matt ‘avocado and marmite on toast’ Scheurich graphics@nexus.npl.co.nz ADVERTISING MANAGER

Tony ‘roast chicken’ Arkell admanager@nexus-npl.co.nz 021 1766 180 NEWS EDITOR IN ABSENTIA

FEATURES

16 18 20 22 23 40 41

WESMO GO! What’s A Nutritionist? Dawn gets some Graceful Healing Fun With Labels What’s really in your food? Food Pyramids are So Last Millennium Diet and Exercise Anti-Nutrition with Vitamin C 9/11 A remembrance

IN PROFILE

25 30

Blindspott Presidential Candidate Interviews: Carl Bishop, Kahu Nikora and Sehai Orgad

NEWS

MUSIC EDITOR

M. Emery htownslut@gmail.com BOOKS EDITOR

Michelle Coursey MAIN FEATURE WRITER

Brie Jesson, Nick Maarhuis, Jessica Ritchie, Dawn Tuffery, Christie Purcell CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE Peni D Seru, Andrew Neal, Nick W, Mazzy, Alana Fergusson, Nick Elliot, Boulanger, Skot, Matt, Brie Jessen, Burton C. Bogan, Martin, The Panther, Nick Chester, M. Emery, Gary Drummond, ASPA, WSU. Also thanks to Helen Donnison. THIS WEEK’S COVER ARTIST: Matt

REGULARS ISSUE 19 / 4 SEPTEMBER 2006

news@nexus-npl.co.nz

Oliver, Kazuma Namioka, Joe Citizen, Josh

8-13 Mixed Response to Mural Expensive WINZ Battle

Joshua ‘lasagne’ Drummond

03 I’ve got 5 on it

36 Killing Time

03 Weekly Poll

36 Magic 8 Ball

05 Party Review

37 Boganology 101

07 Editorial

37 Classic Rock Review

14 Lettuce

38 Puzzles

26 WSU columns

39 Comics

24 Gig Guide

42 Citric

34 Engine Talk

43 DVDs

34 Split Decision

44 Books

35 Word Freak

45 Film

35 Muscle Man Tips

46 The Player

35 Jerk Jokes

47 Busted

Nexus: Almost as good as food

Visit www.nexusmag.co.nz The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily the views of Nexus Publications 2003 Ltd, any of our advertisers, WSU or APN Media. Nexus is a member of the Aotearoa Student Press Association (ASPA).

Editorial By Dawn

Sweet and sour Roughly this time last Thursday, I sat and consumed 1 packet of Smart Beans, 1 packet of Natural Confectionary fruit jellies, 3 sticks of liquorice with chocolate inside and sundry other sweet items. It’s tough on the brain, all this deciding which naughty bits of the mag to censor and which ones to traumatise you with, so I need lots of sugar to survive. Or do I? In honour of our food and nutrition issue, and from morbid curiosity, I decided to do an experiment, just to prove I’m not, you know, addicted or anything. For the next week I would eat no sugar. No added sugar, that is. Excluding bread, because I haven’t time to buy new food and it’s a minimal amount anyway. Surprisingly, the main rub came with savoury foods. I expected to miss biscuits etc, but went home for lunch and then couldn’t eat ham, tomato sauce, marmite, nachos, baked beans or fresh pasta. Later challenges came when offered delicious cakes at a function, and when out to brunch with friends – although the eggs bene was great, I will be returning to La Commune and trying their splendid-looking white hot chocolate when back off the wagon. I thoroughly broke my experiment on Saturday by forgetting it and sculling 3 cups of Powerade immediately after a

Designer’s Word

Recently my car got smacked into by some

But on the whole, I stuck to my guns and it’s now been 7 days. While I have no great results to report with evangelical fervour, I can’t say it was all that difﬁcult and that probably does imply I should eat less sugar. No idea if I weigh less or not – scales are overrated. By the way, mixed nuts and no-added-sugar carob buttons rock.

11/9 again eh?

A few weeks later Catatonia broke up, and I’d never got to see them live. It was a tough month.

Breaking news: Nexus to be taken over and re-named Cokexus From my ofﬁce window, the mural on the side of the banks looks great. You can only see half of it, and it’s ﬂamboyant and pretty. About time they livened up the campus with some colour, really. But walk around to the next window and there’s a hulking great bottle in the middle. Did it have to be so big? Did it have to be Coke? They’re already spreading products and signage insidiously through the entire institution.

Having thoroughly inflated my ego by talking about myself eating food for 340 words, I’ll indulge it further and do the popular ‘where I was this time 5 years ago’ thing. Aged 18, first year, first flat. It was early morning and we were woken up by a phone call from a flatmate’s sister (a current Nexus contributor, in fact). ‘Just turn on the TV,’ she said. The only TV in the house was my 2 inch black and white affair, so we wired it up and crowded around it watching planes fly into buildings again and again. Biking to work I kept seeing the planes. We were scared

I understand the ﬁnancial constraints and motivations involved, to a degree, and I also commend the gathering of the impetus necessary to put something exciting on a blank wall. If it showed some brilliant original work by WINTEC or Uni art students, or local artists, or someone like our own talented Mr Scheurich even -- I’d be inspired and enthused the many times a day I see it. As it is, I bike past the mural with strong antipathy and remind myself why multinational corporations piss me off.

as hell and thought a world war was imminent.

What do you think? Check out our internet poll on www.nexusmag.co.nz/forum

By Matt over-zealous chump trying to get home fast late one night. Why my car? Why? The jizzmobile was just sitting there, on the side of the road in the freezing cold. Poor car. I’ll bet he was thinking “Oh boy, when Matt ﬁnally gets some money he’ll get my broken window repaired (stupid kids) and then he’ll get the other things repaired and then he’ll get me a new warrant of ﬁtness! Yeah! I can’t wait!” Boom. Fuck you! But it ended up being for the best. My car

doesn’t cost me a cent now (except the $150 I had to pay to get it towed to my Dad’s house -- I wasn’t the one that fucked it up!) and I bike everywhere. I get heaps of exercise and I feel like I have 1,000 times more energy than I’ve ever had. It’s possibly a combination of exercise and adapting my diet to suit my own personal needs. I used to be vegan, then strict vego, but now I allow for ﬁsh because that shit is good for you. And I really missed eating barbequed eel.

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Coke eh? What a bunch of cock-faces. They literally have cocks on their faces. I believe one Coke dude has a cock for a nose. I saw a Coke lady the other day and she had a cock for each eye. But I digress because further talking about them just adds to their already over-blown presence on the University Campus and we don’t really need any more of that.

10k race. Guess the brain has its own priorities. And while eating a kebab, I had my ﬁrst of several ‘ignorance is bliss, dammit’ moments upon tasting the sauce. Mmm, delicious satay ﬂavoured bliss..

The University of... ? By Josh Drummond Gigantic advertisements for Coca-cola have been blooming across the Waikato University campus over several weeks. The murals have been painted on the wall of the National Bank in the Banks area, and near L block. Other Coke-related paraphernalia has sprouted on campus recently, including the addition of Coke-branded umbrellas over picnic tables, and new drink fridges being installed The blitz appears to harmonise with Coke’s new advertising campaign, which has been launched across TV and other media in past weeks. Mark Ingle head of Campus Services Ltd, spotted one of the murals on the internet, and arranged with Facilities Management to have a couple painted at the University, on the condition that if they were ugly or people were opposed to them, they would be painted over.

The murals were completed at a cost of $7500. The artists were Charles and Peter of Railside Clothing and Design, who are, according to Ingle, celebrated graffiti artists. Student reaction to the murals has been mixed. One student, who wished to be identified only as Rachael, said that the murals were “bullshit.” “I think that that wall space should be for students to express themselves not for corporate bullshit. I don’t come to Uni to drink Coke. Even though they’re nice and colourful I’m sure that we could have used that space to support art students instead of corporate money making machines.” Waikato Student’s Union President Sehai Orgad had her doubts about the murals. “I think they’re pretty, but with the umbrellas and other advertising and all, it looks a bit like we’re the University of Coca-Cola,” she said. “I think it would be nice to see some non-commercial

IMAGE MADE SMALLER BECAUSE THEY DON’T PAY US TO ADVERTISE THEM. THIS ISN’T THE COCA COLA’S NEXUS!

murals around the place.” Former Women’s Rights Officer, Jessica Ritchie, also expressed dislike for the murals, saying that they should be vandalised. “Coke is like the Devil. On the other hand, it makes a great cleaning product.”* Ingle said that the murals might not be to everyone’s taste, but if there was heavy opposition, they would be taken away. “At the end of the day it’s something bright and vibrant and it opens up the area. Is it going to get people to buy more product? I think not. You’ve got to think if you took away the coke bottle, would it still be cool?” *Coke isn’t, strictly speaking, a cleaning product. Many cleaning products are poisonous and should not be drunk.

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Red Flappy Flag Things Appear On Campus

The Waikato University campus has played host to a bunch of red flag things over the last week. Appearing mostly near the Uni Lakes, the things have inspired speculation as to their intended function, with guesses ranging from “another Coke ad” to “bird warding-off devices.” Nexus can now reveal the true purpose of the mysterious red things. They are, apparently, art. A group calling itself “AKA” (Artists Kollective Actionistas) is responsible for the “art.” They sent out a statement stating that: This project was been produced by an informal artist’s collective group on campus known as the A.K.A. (Artists Kollective Actionistas). Composed of mainly FASS students, the group

NOW THIS DESERVES A BIG PICTURE!

has tired of student apathy and the lack of life on campus. Thus, through its projects A.K.A. seeks to invigorate campus arts and cultural life for all and to stimulate further debate regarding these issues. The things were developed by artists “Cristo and Jeanne-Claude.” Funding – presumably covering the overhead costs of buying “sticks” and “red sheets” – was provided by the University of Waikato Cultural Committee (Te Ohu Tauahurea)

The statement from AKA also included the following: “It was intended that the project will stimulate people visually through the movement of the instillation and as it reframes and reveals views of the surrounding environment as a result.” At the time of writing, Nexus was not sure if “the surrounding environment” refers to the putrid Uni Lakes, but it might.

WINZ Debt Shocks Ex-Student By Joshua Drummond

Former Waikato University student Paul Collings has been hit with a Work and Income debt of nearly $20,000 on leaving university, after failing to declare income earned while on the Student Allowance. Collings graduated BA (Hons, 1st class) in 2005, and followed up the next year with a Graduate Diploma of Teaching, intending to become a teacher in his hometown of Waihi. While studying he received the Student Allowance for himself and his family, and supplemented his income by working as a security guard at the Martha Mine in Waihi. He didn’t declare this extra income to Studylink, he says, because he believed the $135.13 maximum Studylink allowed him to earn each week was averaged out over the course of a year – the way the Unemploment Benefit is. “I needed the allowance, without question,” Collings says. “I needed [the job] to support my wife and three kids, as my wife at the time was not working. We needed to get by. I believe I wasn’t ripping anybody off by doing this.”

System could have affected other students Collings says his gripe isn’t with paying the money back, rather with the system that he says could have put “hundreds” of people in a similar situation. From 1st January 2006, the personal income threshold was raised from $135.13 per week to $180 per week, and the old “cliff face” system that indebted Collings has been changed so every dollar earned over the threshold reduces the gross allowance by the same amount. But the change does not act retrospectively, so Collings’ debt will remain. The change to the system, says Collings, is a “tacit admission” that the former rules were flawed. “I think the change does address some of the unfairness of the previous system. But I think the change is an indication that the previous system was unfair, and if that’s the case, then it’s wrong to demand money under the previous system… The Government is considering a retrospective law to wipe a lot of debt they incurred. [MPs have] got plenty of money. Why shouldn’t they do something similar for students, who are often poor?”

Collings adds that the stress caused by the “sudden” demand for him to repay money he says he didn’t know he owed until March of this year – the excess income apparently went unnoticed by WINZ for up to three years – has led to him dropping out of university, and contributed to the break-up of his marriage. Asked what he would do if he had the chance to start over, Collings said that he’d take more notice of the rules surrounding student loans and allowances. “I would still take the job, but I would make sure I declared the income every time.” Collings has put his teaching plans on hold while he sorts out his disarrayed finances. He’s now on the DPB – which does, ironically, allows him to average out money earned over the weekly limit over of a year.

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Now he’s been told he’ll have to pay back at least $17,864.34 to WINZ. Collings, unsurprisingly, does not want to. He has embarked on a concerted letter-writing campaign to WINZ, Dr Michael Cullen (the Minister for Tertiary Education) and Helen Clark, explaining his situation. Official sympathy has so far been limited. Dr Cullen has replied with a letter saying that there’s little that can be done about Colling’s situation, and that he’ll essentially have to pay the money back. A Ministry of Social Development spokesperson said of Paul’s case: “The income criteria for Student Allowances has always been clear. Up until 31 December 2005, a student could not earn more than $135.15 gross per week before tax. If a student earned

over that amount he or she was not entitled to a Student Allowance for any weeks that the limit was exceeded. This is clearly communicated in correspondence, application forms and brochures from StudyLink.”

Waikato University Kinda Suck at Uni Snow Games By Joshua Drummond

The Waikato University team fetched up ninth - dead last – at the University Snow Games, held at Cardrona Skifield from 29 August – 1 September. “We went in with a hiss and a roar, and all competitors made a really whole hearted effort,” said Sam Gibbs, the President of Waikato’s Snowtroopers club. He was at pains to point out that the event was not a complete failure, competition-wise. “Our skiers took out a couple of placings in events. Rebecca Gibbs [the Team Captain] took out a fifth placing in cross-country skiing, and a couple of our riders made placings in the boardercross before being knocked out.”

Otago University predictably took out the competition, with handy performances from their 115-strong team – over a third of the 300odd competitors. They were helped out in no small way by ex-Olympian Jesse Teat in the Ski racing events. The University of Canterbury and Auckland University of Technology University* placed second and third respectively. Otago also performed well in social events, annihilating competitors in the informal Boat Racing competition, held in a Wanaka pub. “It was a huge week, we saw some amazing competition, the weather was kind and Cardrona and Wanaka have put on an excellent event for us,” said USNZ’s National Events Manager and Games Director Jake Wilkins. Sam Gibbs concurred as to the general desirability of the weather. “It held out all week, except when it packed it in on the last day.”

He did not mention whether Waikato Uni’s abysmal performance was the result of stupendous hangovers, or whether they’d basically spent the whole time drinking. (But it was, and they did.) Look out for my Uni Games expose next week!

Final Placings

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th

The University of Otago The University of Canterbury AUT University The University of Auckland Massey University Wellington Lincoln University Massey University Albany Victoria University of Wellington The University of Waikato

*Not a typo. That’s their name – AUT University.

Sunshine, Lollipops and Pay Rises For Staff By Matt Jones Both universities and unions are happy with pay rises of between between 6% and 7.5%

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for general staff and 4% and 5.5% for general university staff in the newest pay agreements that will expire mid-2007. The pay increases are the result of a $26 million cash injection from the government after tripartite negotiations between vice-chancellors, the government and unions. Association of University Staff (AUS) Communications Officer Marty Braithwaite says the union is happy with the pay increase. Although he is ambivalent over their inability to gain a 10% increase for academic staff and 6% rise for general staff. “There’s an expectation that these things are negotiable.” Both unions and vice-chancellors agree that this

pay rise is a first step towards a higher pay deal. Canterbury University Vice-Chancellor Roy Sharp says that this is a “first step” but “it isn’t the end of the road.” Braithwaite says that the overall goal is a salary increase of 30% for academic staff. Both Sharp and Braithwaite are confident from Tertiary Education Minister Michael Cullen’s statements that there will be another boost in government funding next year. Braithwaite says that AUS’s goals for salary increases are very clear, and if the government is to renege, industrial action may have to be taken. Sharp will not say whether next year priority will be given to staff salary rises from a government cash injection. He says that there is a mismatch in university international competitiveness in other areas. Money also needs to be spent on libraries, equipment and buildings.

The unions failed to gain a Multi-Employer Collective Agreement (MECA) due to reluctance from vice-chancellors. Sharp remains opposed to the idea saying that “negotiations are better if they are with each individual employer.” Braithwaite says that AUS remain “philosophically wedded to the concept” and at some point there will have to be some “hard negotiations” over the issue and he would prefer them “sooner rather than later.” AUS and university vice-chancellors believe that academic staff are highly mobile, especially in the face of higher salaries in Australia. Before the salary increase average New Zealand academic salaries ranged from US$38,300 for lecturers and assistant professors to a minimum US$66,100 for professors. Comparing to US$51,900 and US$89,700 respectively in Australia.

Law students: argumentative. Erin Burke and Kirsten Griffen of the University of Waikato are shaping up as lawyers to have on your side, having just won this year’s Buddle Findlay Negotiation Competition for undergraduate law students. The regional rounds of the competition take place every year at law schools around the country during the first semester of study. This year’s final round took place at the annual NZLSA conference held over the past week at the University of Waikato. Erin and Kirsten competed in the semi-finals on Wednesday and Thursday last week, before emerging victorious from Saturday’s final. Buddle Findlay’s National Chairman, Sarah Roberts, said the idea of the annual competition is to equip law students with real-life commercial skills.

“Strong negotiating skills are an essential tool for lawyers and we are delighted to be able to assist in the development of young lawyers in this area,” she said. The competition involves a team of two law students, representing a notional client, negotiating either a transaction or the resolution of a dispute, with an opposing team of two students representing another client. Both teams receive a common set of facts, as well as confidential information known only to their own team. The objective of the competition is to negotiate an agreement with the other team. The weekend’s national finals were judged by Buddle Findlay partner Graeme Hall, Brendan Cullen of McCaw Lewis Chapman and Christine Grice, partner Harkness Henry and former President of the New Zealand Law Society.

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NEWS

Second NZUSA Elections Scheduled By Nicola Kean National Union of Students’ Associations (NZUSA) Co-President Joey Randall was successful in his bid for re-election last week, although the other two positions remain to be filled. Randall was elected in the first round of the voting, held at the NZUSA conference in Dunedin on 2 September. He received 75 votes, compared to 22 votes for the next closest candidate, Dan Connor from the Otago University Students’ Association. Randall says he is “really pleased” to be returned with a “solid mandate”, with the percentage of the vote he received increasing by 10% from his election in 2005. He believes that this was due to happiness with his past performance. The second round of voting to fill the other co-president position saw no result after ‘no-confidence’ received more votes than any candidate, which means further elections via teleconference will be held in October.

Elections will also be held for the position of National Women’s Rights Officer, after the only nominee for the position, VUWSA’s Caroline Prendergast, was beaten by ‘no-confidence’ in the first round of voting. Randall says that although the election system can be “harsh”, he was pleased with its “robustness”, as the voting was “about getting the best people for the job, not the least worst”. Neither Connor nor VUWSA exec member Heleyni Pratley intend to run in a second election. Connor says he “gave it a fair shot”, despite the number of votes he received being lower than expected. Pratley admits that she has not “had enough experience” for the position, but felt she had succeeded in pointing out that NZUSA was “losing a lot of relevance”. Prendergast says she intends to run again, and believes that she had not been fairly assessed on her merits and that her treatment by her own executive was unfair.

GIDDAY MATES, IT’S YOUR OLD PAL RODNEY HIDE! I’VE COME FOR A CUPPA TEA AND A YAK WID YAZ!

Meet Rodney Hide Dancing: not on agenda ACT leader, Rodney Hide, will be on Campus on Wednesday to talk with students about any relevant issues. Martin Gallagher’s Sale of Liquor (Youth Alcohol Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill, which will, if passed, raise the drinking age to 20, goes to the vote soon and other concerns like student debt are always significant. Few politicians make the trip to Waikato University, except during election campaigns, so this is rare opportunity to speak with a prominent MP. Rodney will be by the lake and banks from 12 until 1, before the Student Union candidates’ forum. For more information contact Ben at bjw19@waikato.ac.nz

LOL!

Protestors: Too many cunts in student media By Matt Russell

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The use of the word “cunt” in a story published in student magazine Debate has raised some very vocal indignation from both journalism students and staff at Auckland’s University of Technology. The story, entitled “Study: too many cunts at university”, related to a Victoria University study which found that over 30% of enrolments at New Zealand Universities were female in 2004. Originally written by Nicola Kean of Victoria University’s student mag Salient, the story was circulated among the Aotearoa Student Press Association (ASPA) newswire, meaning it was picked up by a number of student publications, including Nexus - who chose to adjust the headline. AUT journalism staff and students have condemned the headline, calling it “vulgar” and “unacceptable”. Senior lecturer in AUT’s School of Journalism, Alison Oosterman, says she was horrified by the

employment of the word; which she says “degrades women”, and “has no place in any media”. “It’s just such a vulgar and unacceptable phrase that has no place in print anywhere. It’s all well and good to make the argument that it’s student media, and was written for a younger audience, and we old fogies are out of touch… but one of my MA students actually wrote a their thesis on swearing in the New Zealand media, and found that the word used in the story, along with another one, are still the two most offensive words in our society… so I don’t think we’re that out of touch with mainstream sensibilities.” The other offensive word was later revealed to be ‘motherfucker’. Since the publication of the story, posters have gone up around the AUT campus demanding Debate editor Fiona Peat publish an apology for the headline, and urging students to boycott the issue.

Ms. Peat says she will be printing a formal apology in the next issue of Debate. “We never meant to offend anyone with the title, so we’ll be printing an apology on the grounds that we caused this unintentional offence,” she said. Salient editor James Robinson says that the headline was thought up as a way to add humour to what was otherwise a dry research story. “The purpose of the headline was to attract some attention to what was quite a boring story, and one that not many students would naturally read. It was an office joke, and we ran it as a joke. We have got one or two complaints from students at Vic, both nothing comparable to what Fiona is facing. I think that the protests against Fiona are rather pathetic.” “If you don’t want to be offended, don’t pick up student magazines”, he concluded.

NEWS

SIFE Go To Paris Piss: May contain piss? Nick Maarhuis Investigates... It seems that not all food labelling laws are created equal. Investigations by Nexus have revealed that according to the Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA) there are many food products that don’t need to label ingredients or nutritional values. Food falling into this category includes food sold at fundraising events, herbs, spices, vinegar, salt, tea, coffee, processing aids, fruits and veggies, meat and poultry, gelatine, mineral water, rolls and sandwiches, and alcohol, with the odd exception. Obviously there’s more to it than this, but the pattern seems to be that simple or little processed foods don’t need labels because the consuming public knows what’s in them. The oddity of the bunch though has got to be alcohol. The nutritional values of fruits and vegetables are given at most supermarkets, and even bottled water has nutritional information on it, yet alcohol makers need only say that it is a ‘beer’, or ‘vodka’, or whatever. It can be fairly assumed that when you buy water, the ingredient will be water, and when you buy a steak, the ingredient is steak, but there is no ingredient known as ‘beer’. According to ANZFA, ‘beer’ means ‘the product, characterised by the presence of hops or preparations of hops, prepared by the yeast formation of an aqueous extract of malted or unmalted cereals, or both. A reference to beer includes ale, larger, pilsener, porter, and stout’. Beer may have cereal products or other sources of carbohydrate, sugar, salt, herbs and spices added during production.

A team of Waikato University students is leaving for Paris on Friday to participate in an international business competition. Waikato University is representing New Zealand at the Students in Free Enterprise world finals on 11-13 September, having won the national event earlier this year. Forty-six teams from different countries will be there. The Waikato team has worked for more than a year on a series of successful business projects that support the community and teach the principles of free enterprise. They’ve been refining their presentation for the international audience and judging panel knowing that the competition will be intense. “Each year the standard gets better and better - the standard and scope of the projects and the level of performance,” says fourth year law and management student Dileepa Fonseka, who’s represented Waikato at three world finals. “Our projects have a Western focus,” says Dileepa. “Often SIFE students target Third World projects. We decided to move away from that and to take on projects that were specific to New Zealand.”

The nearest to something looking like an ingredient on a bottle of Tui is ‘contains approx 1.0 standard drinks’ (which isn’t even grammatically correct). Surely, even without ingredients or nutritional information, there should be warning labels on alcohol. Some prescription medicines have warnings like ‘do not operate heavy

The lack of information about what you’re actually drinking could be the reason.

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machinery’, maybe alcohol labels should have ‘do not drive, operate machinery, use frypans, attempt to dance, or perform karaoke’. Chewing gum has to say if it ‘may cause a laxative effect’. How about on beer; ‘excess consumption may cause slurring, stuttering, and serious verbal diarrhoea’? Cigarettes have warnings about cancer and risks to pregnant mothers who smoke, but you don’t see any warnings on alcohol about risks to your liver, or that a pregnant drinker’s baby will get foetal alcohol syndrome from her boozing. Have you ever wondered why some beers are great to drink, yet only a few drinks of another type will give you a killer hangover?

A good crop of letters this week. Join in by emailing nexus@waikato.ac.nz, or posting your thoughts in the Lettuce section of our new forum – www.nexusmag.co.nz/forum

Lettuce Policy

Nexus welcomes and encourages debate through the letters page – serious or otherwise. Letters should be no more than 250 words and received by 5pm on the Tuesday before publication. All letters will generally be printed so give it a bash, but the editor retains the right to abridge or refuse correspondence. Bad spelling and grammar will not be corrected. Pseudonyms are acceptable but all letters must include your real name and contact details even if you don’t want them printed (and they won’t be printed!). We discourage the use of pseudonyms for serious letters.

Letter of the Week R u guyz at uni or wot? Every week I read the letters section in Nexus, and every week I notice one huge,

Although the WSU website is nothing to write home about, at least what they can offer does actually support all students when we need them, and guess what…they DO put on the occasional keg as well when they do cool events like St Patrick’s Day, those political debates that we are always hearing about, and O-Week. Lovely, lovely O-Week.

On another topic, you should give the Rage in a Cage guy an entire page instead of just a column. It’s the only part of Nexus that I look forward to reading each week.

Manly men (and pro B.O.C)

Nick W scores the $5 Campus Kiosk Voucher.

Anti B.O.C To those chumps who dared each other over a beer to run for the WSU exec: BOC

ISSUE 19 / 4 SEPTEMBER 2006

Sorry honeys but at the end of my degree I plan on being YOUR boss, not the other way around.

glaring problem: Not a single person who writes in has the common decency to learn how to spell. I am constantly ashamed of the misused apostrophes, glaringly obvious typos, overuse of text speak, and horrible grammar which is present in almost every single letter. Surely the people who write these letters don’t submit essays of this quality?

-Nick W

B.O.C? Bellies on Crack? Pah-leez. You dorks are more lost than a bunch of Engineering students who’ve been drinking too many experimental octane cocktails. You obviously don’t know shit about anything that happens outside of your drunken wee circle (ohh it looks like a clown) to pay attention to what the average student body wants. True, alcohol can be entertaining, but in excess? leave that for your 14 year old little brothers. Beer on Campus….hmmm…talk about taking the piss…cos all students REALLY want to do is get pissed, get as fat as yo momma or your nonexistent trekkie girlfriends and stay at varsity for

longer than they should because they are too busy nursing a bitch of a hangover to make it to classes or complete assignments.

Reppin hard for all the Students who actually have a brain…

recent NZ vs. Australia test match. McCaw’s perserverence with his many injuries (he was bleeding everywhere) should be an inspiration to all the young men at this university to weed out their wimpy ways! You don’t have to be this sensitive new age guy in order to get the girl. There is no need to have more than ONE town shirt. There is no need to eat chicken or turkey breast! The art of being a man is to know that you dont have to poison yourselves with all the lotions that us women do. So stand up for your manliness, grow a mullet (Jason Eaton style), wear stubbies that fall halfway down your backside, grab yourself an ice cold beer - thats the male way! SMR p.s - Be even more manly and vote for B.O.C (Beer on Campus) at this years WSU elections!

Gone are the days when a young lady would wait patiently for her knight in shining swanndri to call her to his side with the very attractive wolf whistle. Gone are the days where the only time you would see a man cry was when he was peeling an onion (which was never, because women cooked). It seems that eligable young bachelorettes are now being swarmed with annoying metrosexual men who wear pants tighter than women, who use

God bless promiscuous women

moisturiser and now seem to spend more time in front of the mirror getting ready.

more polite. It gives a bad representation, and we all know stereotypes are wrong, although statistics are still good … in some cases. The police obtaining tasers are a decent idea as long as it’s kept under strict control. I’ve seen plenty of the movies floating around the internet around tasering and for a good lot of them the person who got tasered was being a jackass. The police are there for our protection and to enforce the law. They are not going to be able to do their jobs if you give them feathers to tickle violent criminals into submission. The taser is proven to be generally safe and very effective in apprehending criminals. As long as you listen to the police officer and respect their authority you’re not going to get tasered, it’s a last resort for them. Tasers are only just being trialled in Auckland and Wellington for 12 months anyway.

Sure we like a guy who respects the word hygiene (ie. washing armpits, taking shoes off when muddy) but have we come to a stage in evolution where men are going to turn into annoying whining women? Is it going to come to a stage where women and men are going to compete for the coveted ‘Miss PMS’ trophy? Now luckily for us women we still have areas of manliness to explore. This area my fellow ladies is RUGBY. Now it is obviously called a mans sport for one reason: the men are manly! (an exception being undie-clad Daniel Carter). A prime example of the tough NZ male rugby character would be Richie McCaw’s stunning performance in the

In response to Mr Tarinbourn’s ‘Selling your soul at the crossroads’, Christians don’t hate homosexuals. They hate what homosexuals do; like a father hates the disobedience of his son, although still loves his son. However, I do agree with you that religion should not be ‘sold’ or enforced and that these Christians should be

LETTUCE Yes, God bless the promiscuous women of our society so that may they find a more constructive

of a sleeper. And the new ones are just like any late-model car; you can’t have any fun with them

munter males) who can’t afford decent porn and are forced to use nexus to masterbate with. Is a

past time than leading good men into a life of enslavement for the frivolous pursuit of meaningless sex. Craig Shepherd

because they’re worth too much. I used an old RWD corolla as a donor car for my stockcar.

little variety too much to ask?

Phooey, we’ve so had nipples before

Isa A friend of mine said; “If what you’re doing isn’t important then you wouldn’t get criticism”. Have a good day.

Im so cold ....so very cold. After seeing last weeks back cover with dudes kissing and one guy with some sort of miniaturised penis. I have seen zero female nipples and zero muffins and yet I have to see this. Not cool man ...so not cool. You guys are going to loose so many readers over this, the only thing that keeps me reading is Muscle Man Tips of the week which are always hilarious. The Panther

Nick Elliott, writer of Engine Talk

Tim Talk

my Monday afternoon. It’s titillating confirmation of my smug superiority, and a lot cheaper than tequila.

I have to say, thank you Tim. You see, most Mondays I have to sit through my morning lectures and read the nexus to survive, and it’s always a good read. However, thanks to your contribution, it was even better than usual. You’re probably a nice enough guy and it’s good to see you’re sticking up for your choice of cars. However, don’t tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about. I’ve been working on road cars for the last three years and stockcars for the last four, which has given me enough of a background to back up what I say. You have to understand that although people like you and I do know the terms and technicalities associated with cars and the likes, most people don’t, which is why I don’t go into great detail with what I talk about; I try to keep it general.

And with the corollas; when I said old and new, I meant old like <94, and new like >96. The FX-GTs are just as good for what I was talking about as the oldschool corollas, if not better; drop a twin-turbed v6 in there and you’ve got one hell

Dear Nexus, Regarding last week’s letter from ‘non strainers anonymous’, please don’t stop filling Busted with pictures of girls kissing! Your weekly parade of girl-on-girl desperation is one of the highlights of

im for equality as much as the next heterosexual guy, but i really dont wanna fuckin see man love moments first thing monday morning. its unsettling. i saw a complaint about chick action in lettuce, which was fair enough, but c’mon, it aint like youre seeing 9/11 again, even children are growing de-sensitised to fake lesbians nowadays. surely guy-guy action is far more disturbing to straight males than lady love is to ya average straight female? that aint equality.

Can you make some clean-shaven boys pash it up for the next issue? I’m not a big fan of beards.

ah, i guess the man love dont bother me that much, but please, no more pop up penises in nexus. i dont remember ever seeing female naughty bits, so yeah, dicks to a minimum please.

kisses (but not in a desperate way) Aunty Petra.

gawddamn, dunno why ive never written into lettuce before... Nappy Face

Richard Kahui Richard Kahui is a legend If only we could all play for Waikato and get blowjobs in The Bank, then leave with a cheerleader. Tommy_Stukka

Lettuce Online! The letters below are from the Lettuce section of the Nexus forum (www.nexusmag.co.nz/forum) If you’d like to see more responses to these and add your two cents, go and join up.

More man love, please While it is all well and good to see attractive women groping and masticating all over each other in Busted, where is the representation? I want to see guys kissing too, even hetero’s, it seems unbalanced otherwise and appears to only service a minority of students (young hetero

Setting the record straight Dear Ed. To set the record straight: If you listen to emo music you are emo. If you listen you Kylie Minogue you are gay. If you listen to Marvin Gaye you are black, and were murdered by your homophobic father. If you listen to Matisyahu you are a Jew. If you listen to Stratovarius you are a Dragonslayer from the nightwoods upon the moonlit chasm of Elvenmere. From Vitamin C (See further discussion on all these topics online.)

ISSUE 19 / 4 SEPTEMBER 2006

With the rotaries, I never said the idle speed is the cause of the throb, however if the idle is too high then effect is lost because it’s too fast; people turn the idle down to get that slow throbbing sound. If you go too low then it will stall, yes. People do the same sort of thing with normal engines when they put lumpy cams (cams with higher lift) in them; they bring the idle down as far as they can without killing it to maximize the effect. As you know, because of the greater lift, they are also increase the power.

Pro-Girls Kissing

Less man love, please

CAD renders of the WESMO mobile

WESMO Go! By Nick Maarhuis

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A group of engineering students are building a ‘Formula-SAE’ race car in the large scale lab, as an extra curricular project to show off their engineering prowess, design creativity, and skill.The car will be raced in Melbourne in December against thirty other university teams, mainly from Australia, but also from Auckland, India, Japan, Germany, and America. Formula-SAE is an international event, run in several continents around the globe. The cars are open wheel race cars and look a lot like a smaller formula one car, running 600cc motorbike engines with intake restrictors

mum makes, but a special material that is made from two thin sheets of aluminium glued to an aluminium honeycomb structured core. This

to control the cars power outputs. This forces the students to come up with innovative ways to make their cars better and faster than the competition, within a reasonable budget, and consequently almost the entire car needs to be made from one-off custom designed components. The University of Waikato team is named WESMO, which is an abbreviation of Waikato Engineering Students Motorsport (they admit there’s an added ‘O’ on the end of ‘WESM’, but if its good enough for NISMO, its good enough for WESMO).

incredibly strong and light material has been cut, bent, riveted, and glued together by Mike Holmes, and the modelling and stress analysis of the chassis was done by Mustafa Alzaidi. Brodie Stopforth is working on the impact attenuator (to soften the blow in a crash), as well as the seat design.

The Car Chassis The WESMO chassis is constructed from aluminium honeycomb sandwich panels, which are not the sort of honeycomb sandwiches your

Suspension The suspension arms are of the double wishbone variety, made not by KFC but by our suspension crew Mark Fransen (suspension leader) Richard Upperton, Andrew Kay, Jing Zhao, and Sam Matthews. The material of choice for the suspension was high tensile steel. How high tensile, you ask? Higher than a busload of people on the way to a

reggae concert, that’s how high. The suspension is, um, suspended, by spring and shock units taken off a downhill racing mountain-bike. CNC machined billet aluminium alloy uprights hold the whole shebang together, including the brake disks, callipers, and custom hubs. The steering rack is out of a Midget (speedway car), and highly modified to be lighter and wider to suit the WESMO car. Flashy lights When the other teams are biting the dust of the WESMO car, they’ll get a nice view of the custom brake light, which has LED lights shining through the WESMO name, stylised bull head, and fern logo that were laser cut out of steel plate. The team bull-head logo was chosen to represent Ben Haughey’s (the team leader) strange love for bovine, or possibly it may have something to do with the Waikato being a large dairy farming community. Whatever the reason, when the other teams see it, they’ll be moooving out of the way fast. Engine and Drivetrain Some poor bugger crashed his 2004 Honda CBR600 race bike, so WESMO flogged his motor when he wasn’t looking. It’s now driving two

PROMO GIRL MANAGER KAEL INSPECTS THE JUNK IN THE TRUNK

THE WESMO TEAM

wheels, not one, through a chain driven torsen differential, imported from the United States of America, y’all. The diff is housed in a custom made carrier, and is the most technical part

The steering wheel is a tiny (218mm diameter) racing item imported especially for this car. Cameron Roots and Dan Rosborough have done the wiring on the whole car, including the engine,

pedal assembly was made by Nick M out of aluminium alloy, and is designed to be very light, but still be approximately twice as strong as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s right bicep. Although

of the car. From there the power goes through custom diff output flanges, Audi Quattro cv joints and custom drive axles, then to custom made super-lightweight three piece 13”x7” alloy wheels and Goodyear racing tyres. Kael Roberts leads the engine/drivetrain team and has worked with Michael Betschart, Ronny Dennis, and Tim Arklay, on numerous parts and the rear spaceframe that holds the engine, suspension, and differential.

and all the safety and functional wiring features. Morgan Knoll, our chief welder, has been fabricating many parts such as the intake plenum and the spaceframe.

the most hidden part of the car, Nick thought it important to give it the bling treatment anyway, so it is fully polished up to a chrome-like finish.

Expert boy-racer consultation resulted in the application of a ‘pod filter’ on the intake, which is followed by a custom made aluminium plenum and runners. These also hold four fuel injectors that are controlled by a top of the range Link Electro-systems engine management computer, and is monitored by the digital dash in front of the driver. The dash sits nicely behind the racing steering wheel, which had to be mounted to a removable hub to facilitate ‘broader shouldered’ members of the driving team *cough* Dan *cough* to fit in and get out quickly in an emergency. The dash can display anything from speed, gear, and revs, to any other parameter such as the intake air temperature or pressure.

Brakes Making sure the car stops as good as she goes is taken care of by disk brakes on all four wheels, utilising motorbike callipers, fed fluid by braided stainless brake lines, connected to a custom pedal assembly, which can be adjusted to alter the front to rear braking force distribution. The

Join the team! Girls are needed for ‘promotional purposes’, so please send your photos and contact details to our promo girl manager, to: kjr21@waikato.ac.nz. Successful applicants will get benefits of the job such as free entry to events including the V8 Supercars event, and others like Big Boys Toys, as well as international fame and fortune as a legendary WESMO promo girl. Possibilities exist to join us in Melbourne in December as well.

Glossary CNC: Computer Numerical Controlled (machining) CAD: Computer Aided Design SAE: Society of Automotive Engineers LED: Light Emitting Diode CV: Constant Velocity (joint)

Sponsorship Being poor engineering students (some of us can’t even afford razors), sponsors are what makes projects like this work. Dan Hanara, our admin leader, somehow convinced several companies to part with their goods, services, money, and daughters, so that we can use our engineering knowledge in this practical situation and make us better engineers. Without these sponsors the project would be impossible, or major compromises in the design would have to be made to decrease the cost. Another thing the WESMO can’t happen without, is the admin team, including Christina Kelly, sorting our flights and accommodation for Australia, and Caleb Donaldson doing our accounting/financial work for the business presentation part of the competition. The pretty face to the team is our PR manager, Midge Monroe.

ISSUE 19 / 4 SEPTEMBER 2006

YOU?

Body The shell of the car will be constructed from a hemp-fibre composite, which, apart from being light, strong, and cheap, is also a ‘renewable resource’. It is used to demonstrate how WESMO cares about the environment and to display the material’s potential (as the car burns fuel and rubber racing around the track). The mould for the shell was computer modelled by Matt Spark, and cnc milled, for exact symmetry and a high finish quality. The body will be super-slippery though the air, and more importantly, will look really cool.

CC: Cubic Centimetres (1000cc=1 litre)

What’s a

? t s i l a n o i t i r t Nu

Dawn Tuffery checks out nutrition, bioimpedance analysis and becomes 4 years younger. ‘If you want to be happy, healthier and enjoy life to the full, you’ve rung the right number,’ says the answer phone cheerfully. Graceful Healing’s Helen Donnison is a registered medical herbalist, naturopath and Journey therapist, and I’m off to ask her some questions on nutrition. I’m also going to find out about bioimpedance analysis. The bioimpedance test operates by putting electrodes on my body and issuing a mild current through me. From this information Helen can tell what my body fat content is, the muscle content and the fluid balance and how healthy my cells are, among other things. Apparently an excellent cell looks like a grape and a bad one looks like a raisin (dehydrated). “It’s looking at factors that affect your body tissue quality and quantity – how much muscle you’ve got and what the quality of it is. Then there’s lots of different ways to improve

Happily, my almost-24 year old bod is biologically about 20. Roll on 21st number two!

bit carb-loaded and could be proteined-up with small tins of fish or a bit of feta added. Typical dinner (chicken legs, mashed potato, 3

The ‘fat distribution index’ shows your risk for heart disease, cancer and diabetes. You’re at higher risk if there’s a lot of fat around your abdomen. Mine is normal. I could be feeling almost smug by this point, but the next graph, indicating cell quality isn’t as rosy. “This one shows what you’re actually eating,” says Helen. “You can see here you’re slightly below average, so there’s room for improvement. This can be improved by eating more protein and making sure that the fats in your diet are good quality. Also, by getting enough minerals. Magnesium is a big one, and calcium.” Stress and having too much sugar and carbohydrate can affect this as well - something I’m often guilty of.

or 4 veg) is ok, but I need to be careful there’s not too much potato or the blood sugar levels will peak and dive half an hour later. Helen adds that my reasonably high level of exercise means I can mostly get away with having more carbs, but will probably feel better more consistently and less prone to afternoon sugar cravings with added protein.

Next, my ‘body fluid balance’, the balance between the fluid inside your cells and outside good ratio. Mine is ‘perfect’. Hooray. I’m also given a breakdown of my energy requirements to refer to.

ISSUE 19 / 4 SEPTEMBER 2006

those variables.” Firstly, Helen covers the usual stats – age, height, weight. The electrodes are then put on and do their thing, which I don’t notice at all, and the whole thing is over in seconds. In a moment, all the information prints out as handy graphs. Impressive. The first thing to check out is body weight in comparison to my height and frame, which is all in order. I’m towards the lower end of the BMI scale. Body fat percentage is one I’ve been curious about. At 21% I’m just below the ‘fitness’ minimum for my stats. My muscle mass is below average too. According to Helen, “that’s probably because you’re a runner and don’t have a lot of bulk.” Next up is the glamour statistic – biological age.

So an interesting test overall. It was satisfying to have the printout to take away, and the advice seemed to make good sense.

How Dawn’s diet (well-meaning-butlazy-carnivore) stacks up Under Helen’s scrutiny my diet comes in for a fair bit of adjustment, mainly on the protein front. Porridge with carob and linseeds for breakfast is an ok choice apparently, but could use some more seeds to up the protein. My snacks of homemade scones or biscuits are too high in sugar and carbs and should be replaced by nuts, seeds or crackers and cheese. Carrots are ‘great’. Bananas can be too much for the blood sugar and should be eaten half at a time, or with nuts. My lunches of sandwiches or stirfry are again a

Graphic man Matt’s diet (vegetarian) “Really high in foods that aren’t really foods”. The sultana bran is too processed, and something like goats, rice or almond milk would be preferable to soymilk. Matt’s high fruit intake and his marmite habit get the thumbs up, as do the snacks of One Square Meals (although he should make sure he isn’t overloading his body on carbs at one time). Ditch the margarine and replace it with tahini, avocado or even butter. Matt’s typical lunch of sushi, vege spring rolls or hot chips (“half a cup of sugar, with oil poured on it”) are very high carb and need more protein. Dark chocolate is ok but lollies are a problem – even ‘Natural Confectionary’. Eggs – great, tinned tomatoes are fine. Matt could use more veges though. As for soy products, soy sauce, tamari and miso are preferable to tofu or soymilk because they’re fermented and easily absorbed. Bread buns should be brown bread not white, as the latter turns straight to sugar in the body. “It doesn’t seem like he eats much in the way of legumes – red kidney beans or chickpeas or lentils.” “[Vegetarianism] is not just a matter of taking out meat – you have to put things back in to provide the nutrients and proteins. You can be a healthy vegetarian, but you have to be vigilant.”

WHAT IS A NUTRITIONALIST?

Some general diet tips Any suggestions on how to eat well if you’re stretched for time and money? Most people tend to go for high carbohydrate foods because they’re cheap and easy to prepare. The trouble is that these turn into sugar in your body very quickly which can affect your blood sugar level and if that’s up and down all the time because of the way carbs are burning in your body you can end up really tired and craving more carbs. This can also affect your brain function so you feel really foggy brained. The best way of combating that is to make sure you have protein with your food. What I say to people who are out and about a lot is to have a

and tend to pig out on the wrong foods. But if you’re eating vegetables, which everyone should anyway, you’re eating nuts and seeds, legumes, lentils, nuts and seeds, wholegrains – but not too much – eggs, and fish, then you’ll be ok. Do you have a recommended hangover cure? If you have a healthy liver and good zinc levels, you shouldn’t really get hangovers. So keep your liver nice and healthy, and there’s lots of herbs that I use for that.

Should active people eat differently if they’re doing a lot? Yes, active people actually need more nutrition because your body requires more nutrients, particularly magnesium. And you’re breathing more oxygen in, which can actually cause harm in the body so it’s a matter of protecting yourself by having more antioxidants, mainly found in plant foods – the darker the colour, the higher in antioxidants. A lot of culinary herbs like sage, thyme and parsley are high also.

Best way to avoid colds? Have a good healthy immune system. Echinacea’s my favourite, and you can take it every day. Make sure you get a good quality one that’s made from the root, not the leaves and flower. Good levels of

People can get confused about good/bad fats. What are some simple rules? The more it’s in its whole form, the better it is for you. For example, vegetable oils that have been turned into margarine are toxic for your body. But

“[Vegetarianism] is not just a matter of taking out meat – you have to put things back in to provide the nutrients and proteins. You can be a healthy vegetarian, but you have to be vigilant.” lunch box with lots of bits in it – a jar of nuts and seeds, some cheese, some unsweetened yoghurt, boiled eggs, those little tins of fish. Protein stabilises your blood sugar and keeps your energy levels up and your head clear so you don’t fall asleep in afternoon lectures. You find you need to eat less when you’re eating more protein too.

I crave sugary things in the afternoon. Best way to combat this? If you’re going to eat chocolate, eat dark chocolate. That’s high in chromium and magnesium, so in a way you’re self medicating. I put people with high sugar cravings on to something with chromium in anyway. The other part of that is what I mentioned about having more protein earlier in the day, and for lunch making sure you’re cutting back on processed carbs. How bad for you is sugar? It’s poison to your body. It’s basically the main cause of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Cancer cells love sugar. It makes your blood sticky because the sugar is attaching to different proteins to try and get it out of your system. It just doesn’t function as well.

Graceful Healing

Helen Donnison

MSc(Hons), DipHerbMed(Hons), DipNatTherapies(de Mousgraffe), MNZAMH, MNZCHP

Registered Medical Herbalist Naturopath Journey Therapist

butter – it’s been around for thousands of years, it’s perfectly good for you. Supplements – yes or no? I do use nutritional supplements because sometimes even when people are eating well they’re not getting everything they need. Often people are low in zinc which is needed for so many different things in the body (immunity, good digestion, brain function). Often I put people on fish oils just because they’re so good as anti-inflammatories, they help keep cells healthy, balance blood sugar, metabolism, make blood flow smoother so it’s less likely to clot. A good quality multivitamin is good too.

Special Offer Interested in visiting Helen yourself? Students and university staff can take advantage of a special half-price Natural Health Consultation at just $50! Just tell Helen you saw it in Nexus.

www.gracefulhealing.co.nz The Hamilton Natural Health & Fitness Centre 96 Cambridge Rd Hamilton

Phone 07 856 6991 Home 07 854 7982 Mobile 027 611 7982

ISSUE 19 / 4 SEPTEMBER 2006

Best ways to make sure you’re getting everything you need in your diet if you’re vegan or vege? Sorry if you’re a vegan - vitamin B12, essential for nervous system function and cell division is difficult to get without animal products. The first deficiency symptom is tiredness, and then depression. I haven’t actually met a healthy vegan. Vegans also tend to lack iron and zinc – those are major. Energy levels plummet and chronic fatigue is rife. The more variety, the better. Vegetarian on the other hand you can do very successfully, especially if you’re eating eggs and fish. Some people are iffy about fish but there’s so many beneficial things about it. The trouble with vegetarians is that they can get quite hungry

zinc, which are from animal protein foods, vitamin A which is in eggs, vitamin C which is in fruit and veges. It boils down to eating good healthy food.

FUN WITH LABELS

What’s really in your food? By Brie Jessen When we look at a shelf in the supermarket, read the labels on a packet, and choose a product, we are making an informed choice, right? Well, unless you are an informed consumer you are likely to be making anything but an informed choice. If the consumer has a right to know what is actually in the food they are buying, then why is this information hidden, disguised or deliberately left off packaging?

Sneaky GM

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Currently under New Zealand law, food which contains “genetically modified DNA or protein” must be labelled. However food is often processed in such a way as to remove all the DNA or protein (the oils and sugars). If a particular food is processed in this way and it “does not have any altered characteristics” then it does not need to be labelled. The food may still contain some genetically modified material, however the law basically says that unless it is genetically modified DNA or protein, it is fine, and by implication, safe, for human consumption. The law defines the “altered characteristics” mentioned before as differences in comparison to its non-GM counterpart in “allergenicity [how allergic people are to it], toxicity, nutritional impact, or end use”. If any of these differences are present, then the product must be labelled as genetically modified. This requirement does not apply to food purchased in restaurants, cafés, bakeries and takeaway shops. The labelling of food which is deemed ‘genetically modified’ by law is mandatory in New Zealand, and has been

since December 2001. But because very few foods which are genetically modified actually contain GM protein or DNA, the law effectively allows GM food to slip through completely unlabelled.

How does NZ compare with the rest of the world? While we, as New Zealanders may consider ourselves a progressive sort of country, but when it comes to food labelling, we fall woefully behind Australia, the United States, the UK, and most of Europe. In New Zealand food labels aren’t required to tell us food contains genetically modified ingredients, or which country the food comes from. It may not seem like a particularly huge issue that origin of food is not disclosed, but when you consider that many varieties of overseas pork contain dangerous bacteria, it kind of becomes an issue. In NZ food labels also aren’t required to tell us whether eggs are from battery hens or free range. This shows us to be incredibly behind the rest of

‘Lite’, ‘Light’, and ‘99% Fat Free’ The terms ‘light’ or ‘lite’ and ‘99% Fat Free’ (or any other percentage fat free) are used frequently on packaging. All three are used to promote what seems to be the healthier alternative, less sugar, less fat or less carbs. That’s got to be good right? Well yes, if the food is actually what it says it is. The word ‘light’ has no real legal restrictions on it; companies can use it to advertise their products all they like, even if the ‘light’ version is only 5% lighter than the regular version. The word ‘light’ however cannot be branded, which is why most companies today use ‘lite’ instead, which is essentially a made up word, and has no restrictions on it. The use of ‘light’ or ‘lite’, as it is used on food labels, is often misleading. Most people, it is safe to assume, would take ‘lite’ to mean significantly lighter, probably at least 20-25% lighter. However the reality is that often when one compares the amount of

In NZ food labels also aren’t required to tell us whether eggs are from battery hens or free range.This shows us to be incredibly behind the rest of the world. the world. In Europe, USA, Canada and Australia most foods have to be labelled with where they come from. In the USA all imported foods have to be labelled with their country of origin. In Europe all foods containing genetically modified ingredients (no matter how small the amount) have to be labelled as such, and the labelling of battery hen eggs is mandatory.

fat, carbohydrates, and sugar in a light version, with the amount in a regular version of the exact same product, the differences can be very minimal. ‘99% Fat Free’ is also one to watch out for. The fat in food is what gives it much of its flavour, and contrary to popular belief a little fat is actually good for you! When the fat is removed from foods, they often become bland and lose a lot of their flavour.

FOOD LABELS legal, and scientifically correct. Nonetheless it is confusing and one to be aware of.

To counter this many “fat free” products have added sugar and/or salt, neither of which one should consume in large quantities. So be warned! What you think is actually better for you because it is “fat free” is often actually worse for you. In some cases “fat free” alternatives contain almost twice the amount of sugar as the regular version.

Sweeet.. Sweeteners hide under many different names. There are three main types of sweeteners which are used in food products: honey, sugar, and artificial sweeteners.

On food labels companies often disguise added sugar with fancy and confusing names like “fructose”, “sucrose”, and (commonly) “corn starch” to hide the amount of sugar that is in the food. This is a deceptive practice, but is perfectly

have been named among these. In the USA 75% of complaints to the Food and Drug Authority’s Adverse Reaction Monitoring System are about aspartame. Other common artificial sweeteners allowed in NZ include Saccharin (or “artificial sweetener 954), which is thought by the American Environmental Protection Agency to be a possible carcinogen (something which causes cancer); and Cyclamate which is banned in North America, and has been linked to liver damage, and birth mutations and defects. It has also been known to shrink the testes. The dangers of artificial sweeteners are almost always hidden underneath scientific and/or innocent sounding names on food labels. While “sugar free” may sound great on front of a food label the reality is usually much more frightening, so have a second look at your ‘diet’ soft drink sometime.

Aside from sweeteners, there are many other tricky additives which are used in food products. These include preservatives, designed to increase the shelf life of food; colours, which supposedly make our food more aesthetically pleasing; thickening agents, used to thicken foods without affecting taste, a harmless example is the way flour is used to thicken gravy; and flavour enhancers, which alter the taste of food. While many additives are naturally occurring, they are also plenty which are not; and like sweeteners some of these have dangerous side affects. Food labelling of additives can be misleading as most are labelled simply with a number, and appear as “colour (133)” or in some cases “additive (133)”, on the labels themselves. Not only is this misleading, but also makes it downright impossible to decode unless you know your additive numbers.

What’s the outlook for New Zealand? In the last few years food labelling has come up again and again in politics. Initially with the labelling of genetically modified produce, then with battery hen cages, and now earlier this year, it has become an issue again. After the “Consumer’s Right to Know” Bill was drawn out of the parliamentary ballot box in June this year, food labelling has again come to the forefront of the public’s mind. If the Bill is passed it will change the food labelling law, requiring that the country of origin of most food products be named, all GM products be marked as such, and that battery hen eggs and farmed fish be identified by labelling. Sue Kedgley, Green MP, and author of the Bill has been quoted in the past as saying that “if consumers are to make informed food purchasing choices they need as much information as possible about what is in the food they eat and where it comes from.” So the question is, are you making informed choices?

What legally has to be on a food label? By NZ law, a complete food label must include a number of things: • The name of the food, which must be accurate and not misleading. • Lot identification/batch number (in some cases this can be a date). This is in case there should be a food recall. • Name and address of the supplier. • Compulsory warning statements and declarations for certain ingredients and substances. Common foods which can cause severe reactions in people must be declared on food labels. This includes things such as peanuts, other nuts, diary products,

• • • • • •

soy bean, and gluten. Ingredients and food additives all must be listed by their common name. Date marking, either in the form of ‘use by’, ‘best before’ or ‘baked/packed on’ Direction for use and/or storage Nutrition information panel, which sets out the quantity of things such as fats, protein, energy, carbohydrates etc. Net content, the weight/amount of food in the package Percentage labelling, how much of certain ingredients the package contains.

ISSUE 19 / 4 SEPTEMBER 2006

Firstly sugar, when you hear the word ‘sugar’ you are probably picturing the fine white stuff aren’t you? Well, white sugar (also known as cane sugar) is a very common type, but it’s not the only one. There are often 15 different types of sugar, sugar products, and sugar alcohols (that’s alcohol in the chemical sense not the “let’s go get drunk” sense!). Ordinary sugar, or sucrose as it is technically known, fructose, the sweetest sugar, and glucose, the main component of starch, are the three most common types of sugar. They are also the types which are most often found in foods. Sucrose, glucose, and fructose are all naturally occurring types of sugar found in many fruits, berries and vegetables. In moderation, none of these three types are harmful to your body; in fact your body needs them in order to function properly. However too much can be very dangerous for health.

Artificial sweeteners are another common way to sweeten food and/or beverages. Almost all drinks which claim to be sugar free have artificial sweeteners in them; these usually have less energy content or ‘calories’ then standard sugar. Food products such as low sugar jams, biscuits, sweets, sauces, and sugar free energy and soft drinks usually all contain an artificial sweetener. There are 15 different artificial sweeteners which are permitted in NZ food; the most common of which is aspartame, which commonly masquerades under the names “Nutrasweet” and “Equal”, it is also sometime listed as “Artificial Sweetener 951”. This is a particularly dangerous sweetener which is claimed to cause a huge variety of very serious health problems, brain tumours and epileptic fits

Additives

Food Pyramids Are So Last Millennium By Jessica Ritchie If you still have your food pyramid from primary school on the wall, it’s about time you threw it out or donated it to a museum. More recent research into nutrition has shown us a whole new world of what is and isn’t healthy. So what makes a healthy diet? A healthy diet is different for each individual, it generally consists of balanced and appropriate quantities carbohydrates, protein and fat, as fat is denser than carbohydrates. Containing twice the calories per gram it is recommended that it constitute approximately 10% of total intake. Fresh fruit, vegetables and other foods containing vitamins and minerals like grains, legumes and seeds are all important. Considering blood sugar levels is also important. Eating regularly coupled with a high intake of protein which lasts longer in the system can help this, as can avoiding refined and sugar highly processed carbohydrates like white bread, pasta. A healthy diet should also include appropriate amounts of water but not too much before meals as it can dilute stomach acid.

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Isn’t fat bad? No, the doctors who tell you this have little or no nutritional training. Even saturated fat is an important part of the diet and should not be avoided for health reasons. In fact the most dangerous fats are those that are highly processed and usually vegetable oil based such as margarine – yes, the same spreads you are told to eat for health reasons. The body knows how to deal with saturated fats – even cholesterol is important – but it does not know how to deal with trans-fatty acids which are formed when oils are highly processed and can be detrimental to the body. Where fats are concerned, the less processed they are the better they are for you, used cold pressed oils where possible and avoid canola as it (rapeseed) was originally grown for use as a motor fuel and was considered toxic, the newly ‘modified’ canola is suspicious if you ask me. Another thing to take into consideration is that animals store toxins in their fat, so if you don’t want to accumulate these in your body try to avoid eating the drugged up commercially farmed animals. And no, eating more fat will not necessarily make you fatter, your body will make

adipose tissue from excess carbs as well, so it depends on your overall intake.

Cravings The foods we crave such as salt or sugar are most likely actually misinterpreted biological cravings for natural foods which also contain other minerals that we need, for example, chromium is found in most naturally sweet foods but not in refined sugars, your sugar cravings may be chromium cravings in disguise so try eating something unrefined and naturally sweet like fruits. Salt cravings may actually be more about other minerals such as zinc so try to eat naturally salty things instead of adding table salt. Unfortunately it seems people mistake these cravings and consume excess calories to compensate which just makes them fat and/or miserable because they’re not getting what they need.

Dietary Factors and Fads It seems like every month there is another fad diet that is a panacea for all congenital complains, helps you lose weight fast and keep it off’ with apparent lack of effort. There is no doubt that obesity is an ever-enlarging problem in the western world, largely due to lazy lifestyles and high intakes of processed carbohydrates and fats. Atkins and countless others have posed their strict and arduous dietary plans as solutions to obesity but, from what I can tell, people who diet usually make themselves miserable by focussing on what they can’t have, they tend to eventually feel so sad that they break their diets and binge on said restrictions which makes them feel worse, this is a socially condoned form of masochism if you ask me. Diet will not solve your body image problems; they’re all in your head so sort out your emotional/mental issues yourself, diet is about health, not beauty, anorexia has clearly illustrated this. No amount of weight loss alone will make you feel good about yourself.

When adjusting your diet consider the following: • • • • • • • •

Could you be sensitive to wheat, MSG, dairy or corn? (these are the most common sensitivities) What foods are in season? These foods might be more natural for your body to eat, and fresher What is the temperature like? People tend to naturally eat more meats and stodgy foods when it’s cold and lighter foods when it’s warm Are you getting enough protein? What are you craving? See above. Is your digestion weak? Bloating, gas and light coloured floating stools can indicate this, Bitter foods can help to improve your digestion so that you get the most out of your food Try to vary your diet and include plenty of naturally colourful foods as colour often indicates the presence of anti-oxidants If you are unsure if a food is good for your body, try eliminating it for a month and

• • •

then see how you react to it Focus on what you can eat rather than what you don’t think you should, really enjoy your food and chew it thoroughly as this stimulates you pancreas and aids digestion. Plan ahead, don’t leave your meals to the last minute - you are more likely to crave crap and most easy to acquire foods are full of it Always focus on the positive effects you want such as ‘good health’. Never focus on the negatives of what you don’t want such as ‘weight loss’ because that is more likely to make you unhappy, obsessive and guilty – why would you want all that extra drama in your life?

DIET AND EXERCISE Christie Purcell investigates Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers

Part 1: The Dieting Heavyweights Diets, the Americans love them! Give them an excuse not to eat potatoes and they’ll pile the greasy meat on their plates. Although, the Atkins diet is apparently ‘so twoyears-ago’ now. These days, New Zealand has its fair share of diet options, and we’re spoilt for choice. Weight Watchers is aimed to alter the way you “think, eat, and move” according to Karen Church, the PR Manager. It is a program focused on the long term, which makes my one week diet trial pale in comparison to a realistic dieter. Karen informed me that when you get support in dieting, you can lose “three times more than those that don’t” in the first four weeks of dieting. The prices are pretty reasonable, with a package deal of 6 weeks dieting for $99. Aeronwy Cording is a 21 year old Otago student that gave Weight Watchers a go, and lost 40.9 kilograms. Not a bad effort! She had leukemia as a teenager, which contributed to an increasing waist line. She decided to make a change, and lose some weight. Little did she know she would win ‘Weight Watchers Slimmer of the Year 2006.’

In the interests of genuine research, I put myself on Weight Watchers to walk a mile in a dieter’s shoes for a week. I learnt a few valuable lessons – number one, do not start a diet in the holidays, when you are too busy to cook. Number two; do not agree to share your results in a magazine until you know they are good. Never mind, at least I can give you all a good idea of what a realistic student, that hasn’t ever dieted properly before, would do. My diet of choice was Weight Watchers because my friend already had a book for me to follow, and I like the fact that you don’t have to stop eating nice things. I sure didn’t. My friends are addicted to cigarettes, alcohol, and other substances that are on the other side of the law. Not me though, I am addicted to sugar. I got 18 ‘points’ to spend wisely each day, and on the days that I exercised; I got a few more up my sleeve. The points guide showed me exactly what was good, and what was bad. I’ll tell you this much from my results; each day I averaged around 20 points, which is pretty close to 18 points if you ask me. I had a fair few takeaways over the week, but I made smart choices where I could, like having crumbed fish instead of battered. Saturday I ended up having a couple of drinks in town, bordering on a fair few drinks, truthfully. That excursion cost me an extra 12

points roughly, so I was well over my points that day. Funnily enough though, on Sunday I didn’t eat much because of the hangover so it should all average out I think. Not that I’m encouraging that kind of behavior, though. All in all, I think I could have exercised more than my one hilarious attempt at tennis, and a couple of walks. But, still, I didn’t do too badly, and now there is still plenty of room for improvement. Well, there you have it – I can now say from a tiny bit of experience that you need to really want to achieve weight loss. It is well worth it to have a go at dieting and exercise, and see how you measure up for AERONWY CORDING BEFORE AND AFTER yourself. I now have a greater appreciation for those that do not succeed in quitting smoking, drinking, and especially dieting, the first time. I can relate. Please excuse me while I go and get rid of the chocolate bars and chippies from the cupboards. Part 2 next week: Christie tries out different types of exercise.

ISSUE 19 / 4 SEPTEMBER 2006

I thought I had better check out the competition, so I gave Kirstie Alley’s favourite ‘Jenny’ a call. It costs a bit more to diet with Jenny, so there aren’t as many students taking it up. For those that can afford it though, benefits include “mental wellness, energy, confidence, and health” according to Megan, the manager. The Jenny Craig diet is “portion controlled”, with six meals a day. There is an adolescent program for teens between 14 -17, and “out of 350 clients per week, 30/40 are (aged) under 24.” Meetings

don’t take up as much time as I thought, they are only 20 minutes per week. For all you males, don’t think this is irrelevant, because there are more and more men signing up lately. There are free, no obligation, first-time consultations, which are one on one and confidential. With my sweet tooth, I was pleased to hear from Megan that “It’s not about cutting out anything, its just moderation.”

If you know of any gigs or events, send in the details to nexus@waikato.ac.nz. For any possible changes to this list, listen to Contact 88.1 FM or check on the Nexus Forum at http://www.nexusmag.co.nz/forum

Tuesday September 12th @ The Dresden Dolls Artsy band The Dresden Dolls will be gracing New Zealand with their unique presence. They will be playing at the Kings Arms Tavern in Auckland for the small price of $40. This show will be simply magical and I truly recommend checking them out! Chances are you’ll be treated to a whole lot of street theatre too. I’ll be there and I’m taking my mum! Ginge pride worldwide! Hamilton Film Society meets at 8pm every Tuesday at Victoria Cinema. Intending members can sign up on screening nights or call Andrea Haines on 839-5932. Student subscriptions are $85 full year or $45 half year. 3-screening Flexi tickets are also available for $25.

Wednesday September 13th Film Screening: The Overlander, about the demise of the Overlander passenger rail service between Wellington, Hamilton and Auckland, at KG07 at 1pm on Wednesday September 13. Gold coin koha. Jazz band Zebra play at The Cook, Cook Street, Hamilton East every Wednesday night from 8pm.

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ArtsPost – Artists Talk This weeks ‘Artists Talk’ will have Kate Hill giving a floor talk on ‘Print’ as part of a series of talks designed to develop knowledge and an appreciation of a variety of art forms. The floor talk is going to be held at ArtsPost Gallery, 120 Victoria St, Hamilton at 7pm. The event will cost $10 or $8 for Museum Friends, WSA Members, Students and Beneficiaries with ID The Hamilton Underground Film Festival combines 13 international and local contemporary, underground, film makers from Hamilton, USA, UK, and Japan to bring you one amazing show and DVD. The night will bring you over one hour of experimental and narrative based short films. The event is being held in the

Waikato Museum Lecture Theatre, Victoria St, Hamilton at 7pm. $5 Entry or $10 with the DVD.

Friday September 15th @ It’s the schools tour finale show. Auckland

Auckland events are marked with an @ symbol

Come along to the Arms Reach CD Release at the Remix Café, 3rd Floor, above Gateway Church, Victoria Street, Hamilton. The show is all ages and will feature the talent of Arms Reach, Trigger Theory and Radiator for the low low price of $5.

pop punk band Streetwise Scarlet wil be playing with Falter & My Life Story at The Studio, Krd, Auckland.

Want to be in a movie?

This Night Creeps – Final Show

All extras will be paid. Shooting for this will take place on the 16th of September.

This is probably one of the saddest things to happen in local music this year. This Night Creeps will play their final show in Hamilton alongside The Vacants, The Mint Chicks, Sunny Tokyo and White Birds and Lemons. If you do nothing this week, come along to this and support what is the best band to come out of Hamilton in many years as they end what has been a fantastic journey. The show will be held at the Castle, Ward Street, Hamilton.

Saturday September 16th A Low Hum Presents

There is a new movie being filmed in Auckland requiring tattooed people as extras.

If this sounds like a bit of you then call Julie at Touchdown on 027-499-6687. (Those fake tattoos you get from the $2 shop don’t count.)

Ongoing Events Tempo - Music & Making It @ The Meteor, September 14th-19th Costs $15 Season Ticket (Comes with copy of Area 07) or $3 entry on the door unless otherwise stated.

Blink is once again putting on two amazing shows in Hamilton. The first show of the night will be held at Upsett Records, Victoria Street. This show will be all ages and starts at 2pm. The second show of the night will be held at The Castle, Ward

Tempo is a conference in which industry experts such as Mike Chunn, Mark Kneebone, Blink, Chris Hocquard and Cath Anderson give their verdicts on what it takes to make it in the NZ music industry. The seminars on offer look pretty

Street, Hamilton. This show will be R18 and will apparently start from 9pm – but we all know it will start later than this. Both shows will feature the amazing talents of So So Modern (WLG), Collapsing Cities (AKL), Frase+Bri (CHCH), Alps (AUS) and Hamiltons own Lookie Loos. I’m so excited about this show! If you have never been to A Low Hum Tour you need to get to this one!

wicked, and include ‘To Sign or Not to Sign - labels relevant to you’, ‘The Dirty on Getting Around - Touring & Gigging in NZ’, ‘Selling yourself without selling your soul’, and ‘Things You Didn’t Want to Know but Have To’.

Area 07 CD release show (Tempo) A big night for local music with the release of this Htown compilation CD. $5 Entry or $15 with CD. Bands playing are The Shrugs, Gadget Goose, Venomous Mic Technicians, Dynamo Go and The Deadly Deaths and all feature on the CD and is one not to miss.

The event will also hold the exciting launch of Area 07 which is Hamilton’s latest compilation CD. Area 07 features This Night Creeps, 4 Corners, The Shrugs, Rumpus Room and more. You can get your season tickets now from DEFY Skateshop on Victoria St. See last week’s Nexus for more details on the Tempo lineup, or check out the programme on the Hamilton Arts Council’s swish new site at www.hcac.org.nz

AN INTERVIEW WITH

Some of the Hamilton filmmakers involved in the Hamilton Underground Film Festival MICHELLE SAVILL – Fresh back from the New York Film Festival (June 2006) with ‘Martin and Snakes go to the Zoo’. JOE CITIZEN – Making a film on dance and shamanism, as featured in local newspapers – recent computer scratch film

By Nick Elliott Last week I caught up with Marcus Powell, one of the guitarists from Blindspott. I got

MARTIN RUMSBY – International experimental filmmaker. Featured film ‘Live’ 9 min experimental documentary/news broadcast

the opportunity to ask him a few questions about Blindspott’s new album, End the Silence, and the nationwide release tour this October. Blindspott play right here at Altitude on Friday 13th October. The show is R18 and costs $30. Have you ever read the Nexus mag? What do you think of student mags? Nah I haven’t eh. I’ve read the Auckland University one though [Craccum]; it gets across to a lot of people, like there’s how many thousand people reading that? What do get around in between gigs? What do you drive? Dream car? There’s a name for it… it’s just a little van eh. Apparently it’s the most dangerous vehicle on the road. I just sold my car; it was a Mazda Capella station wagon. My dream car? Probably a Bentley. What was the best live gig you guys ever did? It’d probably be a festival in Indonesia where we played to 85,000 people. But then you’ve got stuff like the Wanganui Gardens where someone snuck backstage and left a little note saying “could you dedicate one of your songs to a couple of guys that died in a car crash” and the whole town knew of them. When we played that song, the lights guy turned the lights off and it was just lit up from lighters.

What’s favorite Blindspott song to play? And your favorite band? ‘For this love’. Favorite band, that’s a tough question, there’s so many. At the moment I’m thrashing Killswitch Engage. Could you give me a hint as to which song you’re going to release next? Yeah, the next song is gonna be ‘Lull’, the one featuring Anika Moa. We’ve done a competition with C4 where people can write in their ideas for video clips and stuff, we’ll choose from whoever and they get to come and hang out. Could you give me any information about the upcoming show in Hamilton? That’s one of our favorite bars [Altitude] to play at. We will be playing a lot of the new album. We’ve worked real hard for this tour because we haven’t toured for about three years; well, a nationwide tour anyway. We just want to make it real kickass to say thanks for everyone that’s supported us and waited. Does it ever feel like you’re in Shelton’s shadow since he’s so pro-active with the media and whatnot? A few people want to know if he’s single too. Ohhh, not really. Like, it’s all good press really. Brings press to the band. But I dunno; we’ve had our arguments about it. And nah, he’s not. True that. What do you see for Blindspott in the future? More albums? Yeah, we’ve already started writing our next one; it won’t be as long as a wait as End the Silence was. So I’d say in the next couple of years you’ll see a new album.

maker, travelled in Europe for 12 years, now resident of Hamilton. Stop frame puppet animation ‘Death of an Orchestra’. See www.snakebeings.co.nz for more info PIPSIX – Shows her film ‘Rabbit and Possum’, two common pests go fishing + drinking beer. PHIL SECRIST - USA/NZ –disturbing journey into death and time STEFAN NEVILLE / SUGAR JON/ PUMICE - Ex Hamiltonian and now international noise music innovator – Stefan and sugar Jon chop wood to the raw sounds of Pumaceraft CD. WITCYST – The internationally known noise magician from Whangerai has released over 700 tapes and 400 CDs – now working in visuals as well. Pop witcyst.blogspot.com into your internet browser for more info. OCTPOB FILMS –NZ miscellanea short films OKOK SOCIETY - UK Mysterious film and sound Kaosmagician and prolific writer- see www.luminouspress.chaosmagic.com STEVE RIFE – USA Pyrotechnics expert and filmmaker from St. Paul PATRICK MAUN - USA OTATO COLLECTIVO – INTERNATIONAL/ LOCAL collaborations and network group.

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How long did it take to produce End the Silence? Was it a lot of work? We’ve been working for years writing the songs and getting the guys together, but the producers came over for two weeks and worked with us on pre-production, then we recorded for about three months I think. It was actually a lot harder than the first album. These guys from Sweden [the producers], they’re veterans in the game; they sorted out us out hard. Made us go for runs and stuff, haha.

EMIT SNAKE-BEINGS – International experimental filmmaker and electrical shrine

WSU Prez

Vice President

Sehai Orgad

Carl Gordon

It’s been a busy as couple of weeks with campaigning, Adult Learners’ Week celebrations, the Great Race Ball and on top of that TRYING to get into doing some normal uni work.

Two systems of student representation – is it time to merge them?

I’m gonna keep this blurb short, mainly because of the interview that is also published in this issue for the Presidential candidates and also because I really want to emphasise 2 main events:

It is often overlooked that the WSU Executive is not the only elected body of students on campus. Class reps are the other body. There is extremely little contact between the two groups (pre-1998 WSU used to be responsible for the

1) VOTING!! This happens on the 18-20 of September. There will be ballot boxes placed mainly around the Village Green area/The Banks, the Library and somewhere around the Management School.

class reps, but the Uni admin is these days). Yet it would make sense for their roles and good ideas to be at least somewhat combined.

2) Special meeting with University Council Members This is the first time that Council will be coming to engage with members of the student body in order to discuss the up coming fee setting plans for next year. Andrew McKinnon, the Chief Financial Controller of the University is to present calculations and rational behind the recommended fee rise for next year. The Chancellor of the University, John Jackman, and other key players around the council meeting will also be present at this forum. This meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 27 September from 1-2 at the Village Green/The Banks area. Look out for more details about this event, or email me: president@wsu.org.nz

PART 2

I propose that the WSU constitution be changed to create a Student Representative Council (SRC) combining the existing Executive and class reps. SRCs work well in two Australian universities which I know (Melbourne and Sydney). There are many different possible SRC models. I’m suggesting that Boards of Studies (BoS) reps (say two or three per School/Faculty) be voting members of an SRC - and all other class reps have the right to attend and speak - as would all Executive members. Also, a number of BoS reps would be appointed to the Executive by the SRC. President and VicePresident would be elected by the student body, as would a Finance Officer, Maori Students’ Officer, International Students’ Officer, Disabled Students’ Officer, and possibly a few others.

Mature Students’ Officer ISSUE 19 / 4 SEPTEMBER 2006

Vince Malcolm-Buchanan

A BIG SHOUT OUT TO ALL OUR VOLUNTEERS! In the wake of the tremendous success of Adult Learners’ Week and International Literacy Day, it is wholly appropriate to send a big shout out to all our volunteers – without whom this magnificent week of celebrations would not have come to fruition! Similarly, it is appropriate to congratulate the successful recipients of the Vice-Chancellors and WSU Adult Learners Awards – it is students such as you who continue to inspire hope and perseverance for all adult learners and mature

students alike. • Sarah Body (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences) BSocSc • Ngahinaturae Te Uira (School of Māori and Pacific Development) MA

• Toni West (School of Science and Engineering) BSC (Tech) • Cindy Cadman-Satake (School of Science and Engineering) BSC

• Turei Thompson (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences) BA • Carmen Quinn (Waikato Management School) BMS

Impending WSU Elections Confession Time: Given my current portfolio status with WSU this is probably a ‘questionable’

Remaining Executive members would be elected (on a list system) without portfolio. The SRC would then appoint more Executive members, after which it would allocate portfolios (e.g. Women’s Rights, Environment, Tauranga, Mature Students’, Campaigns, Sport and Rec, and maybe others). The SRC would normally meet monthly. It could have certain Executive powers and some policymaking rights moved to it, and it would have the right to overturn certain Executive decisions. This would give a wider basis for representation on the Executive, and it would be a counterweight to the Executive. It would provide extra ‘checks and balances’ to make WSU more democratic. And it would merge the two separate systems of student representation on campus in a constructive way. If you have any thoughts on this, or other ways of improving WSU, please contact me: vp@wsu. org.nz Finally, to work for better student representation, make sure you check out the people standing for the 2007 WSU Executive, and VOTE.

statement to be publishing BUT I reckon honesty and a direct approach count for something! During my undergrad studies I admit to extreme apathy in regards to student politics – I was for all intent and purpose totally focused on my degree. Now, following a long but successful term in WSU I realize the significance and absolute relevance of excellent student representation! Without the latter, our student interests can often be superseded by inadequate, unprofessional and myopic personalities whose own agendas and self interests take priority over the interests of the wider student community. Thus I implore you: PLEASE GO OUT – VOTE – MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT AND GET YOUR VOICE HEARD BY VOTING THE BEST PERSON FOR THE POSITION

Maori Students’ Officer Renee Rewi

The year has gone by very quickly and once again we are about to go into WSU Elections for 2007. A number of candidates will soon canvas your vote as the best candidate standing for the positions selected by them. You should provide yourself with all the best information about each person so as to best decide who you think will look after your best interests, given that we all pay for a service. I urge you all to evaluate each of these candidates and if possible measure their

NZUSA. The conference was the second of its nature, the first being held here in July ‘06 at Waikato University. Heralded as a huge success, 5 motions of consequence from this caucus have meant changes in the way that Māori students are now addressed with the policy ranks of NZUSA. The changes have meant that new initiatives will mean Kaumatua support is now a new finance line item in the NZUSA budget. To those who did not know - we now have resources

The Adult Learners Scholarships are about to be awarded and my congratulations goes to all those who were selected. Special notice goes to one of own Mr Turei Thompson who has had recognition not only by this award but also as a Golden Key recipient.

performance with questions you see as necessary for the optimum performance in the future.

to fund Kaumatua support so that Tikanga and Kawa is better looked after due to having such a collaboration of knowledge and wisdom. My thanks goes to all those who saw the need for all these motions in bringing a new face to NZUSA as a whole.

REPUTATION IS A CONSEQUENCE WHICH YOU WILL BE REMEMBERED FOR – BE REMEMBERED FOR THE GOOD YOU DO AND NOT THE BAD.

On a better note, twenty representatives attended Māori Caucus Conference from Universities and Polytechs as part of the National Conference

As always I try to end each blurb with some words of wisdom or reflection:

Environmental Officers Envirowhets and Enviropene Tena koutou enviropeeps, Well, with much going on in the world around us it’s easy to lose sight of the little things like, for instance, our survival. Environmentalism as a buzz word is only as effective as those who can spell it! And that my friends is the point - why do we waste our time perpetuating that as a country we are clean and green when we actually aren’t? So think green and act it. Stunt for this week is: should you see either Enviropene or Envirowhets doing something environmentally unsound which is avoidable (excludes eating), then a fine of 500 metres running shall be incurred all fines shall be added up and done on Friday at 5pm on the uni field.

Item

Cost

Impact

Air fares

$472

Negative impact on environment :(

Accommodation

$102

Sleep :) better ideas the next day

Expenses

$0.00

I internalised my own expenses :)

Total

$574

National representation increased ideas and networks

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Envirowhets attended a meeting with a group of like minded uni staff last Friday of the break. The group is called Enviro-Net and is a collection of lecturers and uni staff genuinely committed to ensuring we don’t waste out our environment (all good people). One of the main points made was that uni management really listen to what students want in Enviro issues so lets make a noise. Finally we’ve made contact with someone who is going to notify us of the next Environmental Policy Committee; this committee is the most powerful committee for Enviro input on the uni, and advises Mr VC and deputy VC, and all that.

Transparency Last week Enviropene went on a trip to Dunedin. He mixed with other environofficers from other uni’s and participated in national elections of the National Student Body. Below is a outline of what your money paid for:

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Sports and Recreation Officers Paora Mato (co-officer) ‘Sup all Shot to the peeps reading this column. I’ll try to keep it short again, but just a bit of repetition about what’s going on around the campus over the next few weeks What: HĀKINAKINA INTER-SCHOOL SPORTS CHALLENGE When: Wednesday 20th September at 12pm-3pm Where: Rugby fields next to Don Llewellyn’s Why: Whakawhanaungatanga with peeps from other schools Who: ANYONE but…. How: You need to register a team of 10 by this Friday 15 September Only 10 teams will be accepted, so first in first serve!

CONTACT: Marion Reid on 858 5175 or reidmk@ waikato.ac.nz For further details check out the Te Puna Tautoko website www.waikato.ac.nz/tautoko Don’t forget BATTLE OF THE BOMBAYS! Refer to the advert for more details but if you are keen and don’t know who to get a hold of, just send an email to sports@wsu.org.nz Last thing… it might be too early to mention this, but the we have started organising stuff for the UNIGAMES 2007. So if you are keen to be a manager of a particular sport, are interested in playing or would like to help out with organising events for promotion or anything; can you please email me with details at team.waikato@gmail.com

All the candidate details for all other positions can be seen in the previous Nexus and will be reprinted next week.

Tauranga Representative Candidates: ISSUE 19 / 4 SEPTEMBER 2006

The Waikato Students’ Union is pleased to announce a special new benefit for all members. From the 25th of August 2006, all members of our Students’ Union will be covered by a $1000 Accidental Death Benefit. This benefit is free to members and provided at No Obligation in association with AIL of New Zealand (www.ailnz.co.nz ) Members can also take out an additional $5000 Accident Death Benefit for just $1 for the first year. This extra benefit is guaranteed renewable every year thereafter for just $2.50.

See youse next week.

WSU Elections for 2007 Candidate details

SPECIAL NEW BENEFIT FOR WSU MEMBERS

Anthony McKenna Current position: Tauranga Rep Officer I am currently in my second year of a Bch Teaching (Primary) and I have been the elected Tauranga Rep Officer for the last year and would consider it a privilege to continue in the role. During this year I have endeavoured to ensure that the Tauranga Students receive a level of support that their Student Union fees demand, at the same time I want to make sure that the Waikato Student Union is financially rigorous in all its activities and that monies expended can be explained to you the Union members.

To take advantage of this offer, please visit the AIL table at the Village green on Wednesdays or fill in a yellow reply card at the Student Union reception. An AIL representative will then contact you to make an appointment to deliver your Certificate and discuss other AIL benefits available. If you have any questions please visit the AIL stall at the Village Green on Wednesdays or contact AIL of New Zealand directly at PO Box 15-446, New Lynn, Auckland, or call freephone 0800 127 887.

WAIKATO UNI TEAM WITH THEIR TROPHIES AT DINNER

Waikato Victorious In Fiji Uni Games By Peni D Seru, Fiji Students Club President 2006 On the 2nd September 2006, Waikato Uni hosted the Fiji Uni Games here in the Uni Rec Center and on the field. The day started with ice breaking (introductions), welcoming and registration before the first game (indoor soccer) started. This was followed by basketball and volleyball heats.

3. Netball - Waikato Uni - 14, Auckland Uni -12 4. Volleyball - Waikato Uni -15, USP - 5 5. Basketball - Waikato Uni – 20, Auckland Uni – 04

4 Universities took part in the Games: Waikato Uni, Auckland Uni, UNITEC and USP Old Scholars (University of the South Pacific-FIJI campus).

We provided lunch and dinner for everyone at College Hall rec room. Thanks to the Fiji Hamilton Community. Later everyone enjoyed the dance/ awards night at the Hyperdome Bar, Alexandra Street.

Unfortunately, Victoria did not turn up for the games but later turned up in the evening for dinner and the awards night. Wintec came with 4 students but couldn’t take part due to their numbers. Here are the results and winners of all 5 sports: 1. Soccer- Waikato 1- USP 4 2. Rugby (touch) - Waikato Uni team B – 2, Waikato team A - 0

OVERALL WINNER- WAIKATO UNIVERSITY

Our big VINAKA VAKALEVU and thank you to the Waikato Students’ Union for the free T-Shirts and financial assistance. Also to the Fiji Hamilton Community for the nice feed - URO..! CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FIJI WAIKATO UNI TEAM 2006.

Battle of the Bombays turns 18! The Annual University of Waikato and Auckland University sporting clash on Saturday 23rd September turns 18 this year with nine sports contested for the Don Llewellyn Trophy. This year there is some anticipation that rowing will return on the Waikato River. Other sports include netball, basketball (men & women), volleyball (men and women), badminton (men), soccer (men and women), touch (mixed), bowls (mixed), and table tennis (men).

It is expected that Waikato will retain the Don Llewellyn shield but there is always that Auckland factor, so get out and support Waikato. Waikato Uni touch rugby and netball team with their trophy

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The Waikato Student Union support to have this event run at nil cost to the student means full student participation is possible. “This is really important to keep this event happening and on the day WSU support at the venues and of course the executives’ presence down at the Don Llewellyn for the prize giving / after party, also gives students a chance to meet them face to face”, said Phil Gilbert, Club Development Officer.

Fiji Games Social Nite 2006

WSU President 2007

The Candidates

Want to know more about the three candidates vying to be your president next year? It’s an important role, and the person elected will be representing you and all your fellow students. Nexus emailed the candidates a few questions to help you make that big choice next week.

Carl Bishop Why do you want to be WSU president and why are you the best choice? I want to be WSU president so I can be responsible for reigniting the student culture that Waikato is famous for. B.O.C.’s vision is to

doing a project to improve the communication between the WSU and students to improve its image. This image must be changed. Then we would introduce more fun stuff. How about giving students events they actually want to turn up to!

bring the fun back to being at uni and we are dedicated to this vision. I want to be president because I want to take responsibility for ensuring this happens and turning the WSU into something students take an interest in. Let’s be honest, we have been here for four years and apart from this great mag to read at lectures on Monday, not a lot of students could attribute anything more to the WSU. Just getting students to vote and take an interest in the elections would be a step in the right direction. I am the best choice because I have the dedication to bring the WSU back to the students. I am a student who wants to bring back O-week, kegs in the park and a killer Month of Mo. With B.O.C. at my side there is nothing we won’t do to make this uni a lot better.

More events during O-week? Kegs on Campus? Month of Mo? Flat Crawls? B.O.C. candidates will be active members on and off campus. As for the apathy, it only affects us if we let it!

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How good are you at working with other people to achieve a positive outcome? I love working with others. I would have to say that is my biggest strength. I am currently part of a team building a revolutionary electric commuter car concept as part of my honours project which will be used as a promotional tool by the uni next year. B.O.C. is seven friends committed to working together to make the WSU jumpstart the stagnant student culture so every student really will be having the best time of their lives. B.O.C. is all about working with others for the good of all students. We could be working with you too! Become a friend of B.O.C. at www.myspace. com/boc4waikato. How do you plan to make the WSU more relevant to students, and combat the festering apathy that plagues the campus? (specific examples please) First and foremost is listen to the students! I have been told some Communication students are

Main plans if elected? I’m not going to write some bulls*** like lower fees because let’s be honest here, it ain’t going to happen. B.O.C makes promises we can keep! If I got elected, B.O.C would run events around campus to make it so you want to turn up. Some may involve alcoholic drinks, some may not. But all of them would contain entertainment so you get the most for the fee you pay WSU every year.

Quickfire

A campus event I would like to make happen is… Kegs on Campus, like kegs in the park but on a MUCH bigger scale! I think Nexus is… the best damn read on Monday morning in my first class I think Contact is… Contact what? I think it’s got A LOT of potential Three words to describe my leadership style are: Student-driven, Honest, Fun Favourite website: www.myspace.com/ boc4waikato Favourite politician: Rodney Hide. Straight shooting and down to earth. If the Waikato Times rang me up right now asking for a comment on declining enrolments at Waikato, I would say: University is about more than getting an education. I have had a fantastic time during my four years at uni, but with B.O.C. elected to the WSU we can make it even better for everyone. Number one is bringing back the LEGENDARY O-weeks of old. The WSU needs to hold itself

responsible for contributing to the unique student culture. Make the culture so the students want to turn up and they will turn up.

Candidate-specific questions Explain the concept of the BOC B.O.C. is 7 like-minded students who got sick of never seeing anything productive coming out of the WSU, and wondering where that $100+ goes every year. Instead of sitting around complaining we decided to take the proactive path along with the likes of alpha delta gamma and Nick Maarhuis (who often provides funny articles for your wonderful Monday morning wakeup call). We are eager to turn the WSU around and put ourselves out there so students actually start taking an interest in what their union is doing for them. Are you confident you’d be capable of filling the Presidential role without having served any time on the executive beforehand learning the processes? Hell yes, I personally think this will make me stronger as I haven’t seen how others do it - I don’t want to do it like the others did. It is a unique challenge no matter what previous experience you have had. Bureaucratic process stops effective changes being made to benefit the students so this will be avoided where possible and if the rest of the WSU is as dedicated to the student cause as B.O.C. I don’t foresee any problems.

2007 WSU PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

Kahu Nikora Why do you want to be WSU president and why are you the best choice? WSU President is a job worth doing and doing well. To enable each candidate to do such a job they need to be focused on the job both internally to the students of Waikato University along with on a national front to ensure that their concerns are heard. The business and policy concerns of WSU have been slow in implementation, which see that once again there has been a heavy reliance on outside professional aid due to the lack of clear leadership and knowledge. Those things that make me the best choice are my experience in the student political arena where my take no prisoner attitude is based around having a passion for student concerns and welfare. I’m well known at Waikato for doing things procedurally correct, a product of my learning throughout my BMS degree, which means I will actively protect the money paid in fees by all students. A wise professor once said in lectures that bureaucracy is the key to good business decisions making – a fact I wholehearted agree with. How good are you at working with other people to achieve a positive outcome? It has been said that reputation and networks are key to relationships – with me it is about providing the best service to the owners of WSU, the students. Before all else the student must come first and if it is their wish for me to broker such relationships for the benefit of the body perfect (students) then so be it. I am but a tool they the students use for the betterment of their collective resolves.

• Reduction in the fees paid to WSU •

Advocacy program that not only actively supports students when things go wrong but also follows through to aid student futures during their studies

•

WSU actively linking into student representatives giving better support of their concerns about the delivery of educational programs and degree programs

• Promote the giving of full autonomy to Nexus

as its own business entity

• Actively seek the regaining of the student radio frequency Main plans if elected? The writing of a WSU business plan and strategic plan for consultation and immediate implementation to better steer the business of WSU. Actively ensure that the budget concerns are addressed to include policy development protecting all WSU staff members.

Quickfire A campus event I would like to make happen is… Active protests against all fee increases I think Nexus is… Doing its job but now needs its own autonomy to grow I think Contact is… At the moment facilitating a service for all Waikato students Three words to describe my leadership style are: Charismatic, Consultative, Caring Favourite website: Google, because of the wealth of knowledge within Favourite politician: None – due to lack of delivery to all student concerns If the Waikato Times rang me up right now asking for a comment on declining enrolments at Waikato, I would say: “Trust is a two way street where students needs are being addressed by increasing fees and in some departments the loss of high quality lecturers.”

Candidate-specific questions You’re running for both president and vice-

president this year. If elected as the former, are you confident of your ability to lead a diverse group of people without causing friction? Universities are born around controversy where the nature of student political life can be and usually it is an in your face approach gaining results for those who are the owners of WSU. In my opinion I am here to ensure that all who impact on those needs of the students are held to account or at least negotiate fairly by taking recognition of all the student concerns and not paying lipservice to those concerns. Paramount to all decision-making is that students must come first – others have presented in the past a me photo approach which in the long run benefited their own political futures. I am and always will be concerned for all students of Waikato University because they are the true owners of WSU as financial members. We live in a multi-cultural society that demands that sensitivity to all needs as persons is respected – having knowledge of the diverse and eclectic cultures on campus means that not only will legislation guide me but also my moral ethics of doing the right thing. If elected to the latter position, how would you go about supporting the eventual president? The role of Vice-President in the WSU is succinct in recognising that a collaborative, consultative relationship must at all times be professional and supportive. UPHOLDING STUDENT RIGHTS IS PARAMOUNT

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How do you plan to make the WSU more relevant to students, and combat the festering apathy that plagues the campus? (Specific examples please) Information is about allowing students a clear pathway to the decision making relevant to the business of WSU. My skills are to make WSU more transparent in the business negotiations, which ultimately impact each student allowing for more and better consultation rounds across the whole campus. Student involvement means they the stakeholder become an interested party with all concerns of WSU.

• Active protests against student fee rise

The candidate interviews continue on page 33.

Send your notices of 100 words or less to nexus@waikato.ac.nz, or drop into box at WSU reception. Deadline is 5pm Tues.

Vacancy wanted 2x Females looking to join a flat preferably close to town. Both are currently students. Please phone Rebecca 027 6324385

on the beach, S&M and eating out. Please apply at www.nexusmag.co.nz/forum Deloitte Seminar Wed 13 Sep 1 – 1.45 in MSB.1.05; Deloitte will share their Top 10 Recruitment Tips incl CV and covering letters, online applications, psychometric tests and more. Perfect for 2nd and 3rd year accounting, finance, law, economics and computer science students. To register or for more info email careers@waikato.ac.nz. Following this there will be coffee and cake at Momento Management (2 – 4pm) with Deloitte

Where: Wesley College, Paerata. A reminder to all past farm boys and farm girls that old students weekend is coming up and your presence is requested. The weekend will include many activities such as an opening powhiri; 21st birthday brunch for all old girls, tour and talk about WTC, lunch in the dining room; netball and rugby game against current students and more. Date has been changed to fit in with school activities including the school production of Jesus Christ Superstar (Saturday night-entry is gold coin donation). Hope to see you all there! ‘Once a Wesleyan, always a Wesleyan’. Desiree

and an HR professional.

Vickers, Old Students Committee Blender. Designer Sunglasses all $40 *Emporio Armani, Gucci, Dolce&Gabbana, Chanel, Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and more* Text 0276985806 to come check them out!!

Looking for a bassist and drummer To form an originals rock band 027 296 0858

Film Screening: The Overlander I will be introducing my new film The Overlander, about the demise of the Overlander passenger rail service between Wellington, Hamilton and Auckland. Since the announcement of the demise of this service I have been riding the train, talking to passengers, crew and station staff. The Overlander is a documentation of these journeys and conversations. The film will show at room KG07 at 1pm on Wednesday September 13. A gold coin donation would be appreciated to help cover film production costs. More information about me is available from www.rumsby.net/martin.

Members wanted Single White Forum would like more members to sign up and participate on it. Also likes long walks

WESLEY COLLEGE OLD STUDENTS WEEKEND When: 16-17 September 2006-Opening powhiri at 9.30am.

Flatmate Wanted 10 minute walk to uni, 3 bedroom house. To share with 2 3rd year students and 2 kittys. Rent is $80 per week. Text 0276966351 $75 per week + expenses heaps of parking, on Clyde street easy walking distance to uni or town. largest room in the house, gets plenty of sun. easy going flatmates, all students. male, female or couples welcome. Call or Txt Andy: 027 469 0716 Flatmates Wanted, 2 rooms, $80 and $100, includes power, phone and broadband. Close to Uni and Town. Off street parking. Large living area with fire place. Call Jacob on 027 477 6075.

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1 flatmate wanted. Peachgrove Rd. $115 p/w, inc extras. Contact Amy 0211125332

OPEN STUDENT MEETING

Campus Movies For up-to-date listings and information on Campus Movies, visit campus-movies.waikato.ac.nz.

When do you use double consonants before -ing or -ed? If you don’t know, we do, and we can help rid your assignments of all those grammar and spelling mistakes you’ve made. Visit us at www.editwrite.co.nz When you write wrong, we right the wrongs.

13 SEPTEMBER 2006 AT 1.00PM OUTSIDE THE BANKS. COME AND SEE THE 2007 WSU CANDIDATE SPEECHES AND ASK QUESTIONS. BBQ, DRINKS AND GIVEAWAYS SEE YOU THERE!

2007 WSU PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

The Candidates (continued)

WSU President 2007

Sehai Orgad Why do you want to be WSU president and why are you the best choice? Because after a year in the role, I’ve learnt the ins and outs of politicking in the university, within the Executive and how students feel about things on campus. When I campaigned last year, I wanted to start a revolution amongst the students. My first months in the role brought me down to earth! But the revolution is still alive – now we move into Part II! WSU is running a business and its stakeholders are the students. There are so many different aspects to the WSU than just having fun on campus. I want to continue for another year so that I can build on what has been achieved this year and make it bigger, better, brighter and brilliant for 2007. I am the best choice because I’ve been through the learning curve, I know what’s what, and I’ve built the important relationships with all our stakeholders. How good are you at working with other people to achieve a positive outcome? Well if anything, this year has taught me that you HAVE to work with people not against them. WSU is a collective effort. The power is with the executive so you have to work with others, their diverse talents and personalities to achieve the positive outcomes. How do you plan to make the WSU more relevant to students, and combat the festering apathy that plagues the campus? (specific examples please)

Main plans if elected?

Consolidating the gains of this year and bringing more activities, fun and participation to campus. We can do this now because the WSU has succeeded in clearing out the baggage of history that has plagued it as a functioning organisation for the past five years.

• Bringing international students into the NZ way of life on campus. • Developing the platform for WSU to face the future and be an active, unified voice for

students which the members are enthusiastic about.

Quickfire

be involved – that’s dissolving student apathy. Top two mistakes and top two achievements this year? Top 2 mistakes:

A campus event I would like to make happen is… Consistent end of term parties that involve music, activities and competitions I think Nexus is… the only thing I look forward to on Monday mornings I think Contact is… crazy…..but very cool to have around. Three words to describe my leadership style are: Focused, strategic and ambitious Favourite website: www.nexusmag.co.nz Favourite politician: Pita Sharples If the Waikato Times rang me up right now asking for a comment on declining enrolments at Waikato, I would say: Waikato University needs to think about how to make the Waikato experience relevant to today’s students. Tertiary education is no longer the top priority for young people because the realities of debt and the fact that employment is available.

Candidate-specific questions Last year you claimed you would dissolve student apathy regarding the WSU and make students more aware of what happens at the executive. Do you think you’ve achieved those aims during your time as president? Yes, I’ve made a good start. Apathy doesn’t disappear overnight, you have to work at it all the time. And what’s more, the proof is that more people are standing for this election and want to

I assumed that the WSU slate was clean, and that I was entering into a new and revolutionary environment. In fact, the WSU had baggage and as President, I not only had to carry it, but find ways to resolve it.

I assumed that the exec would automatically work in total harmony, and as one unified entity. I had no idea that it would require so much interpersonal dialogue, effort and work

Top 2 achievements: 1)

Started a new positive dialogue with the University Management (Vice Chancellor, Deputy Vice Chancellor and Head of Corporate Services) in order to actively and effectively strategise the ways in which the University as a whole can implement and further support the needs of all students on this campus.

Promoted a distinctive Waikato culture on this campus; students are getting actively involved in political debates and forums, and are proud to represent this campus at a national level; e.g. Huinga Tauira, National Sports representation, public forums, Rangatahi Business competition etc…

Nexus would like to thank Carl Bishop, Kahu Nikora and Sehai Orgad for their time and co-operation.

ISSUE 19 / 4 SEPTEMBER 2006

I don’t think there is festering apathy – I think students are interested and do want to be part of a collective on campus. We can do a lot better at involving and communicating effectively with our members and we are getting some help to do that by working with the 3rd year PR Campaigns course who have already taught us a great deal about how to improve our communication. Next year we will be implementing their recommendations.

•

COLUMNS

...does the Nexus columns. Word Freek ‘Plagiarism’ is a word that many ppl like to copy. You may have heard the word before if one of your fag lecturers thinks you copied from your mate’s work or assignment or whatever, you know. The Wiktionary defines plagiarism as the ‘act of plagiarising’ Mostly it has evil connotations, due its evolution in the English language and its popular use during the Salem witch-hunting of the late 1990s. The ancient Sumerians first used its root form, p|_4G!4|2!21|\/|, when flaming n00bs on the stone-tablet forums. This was usually followed by an IRC nuke, and the older texts studied feature a mysterious comment, which is best translated to “This essay is very similar to Mr. Thomson’s. I advise you not to copy homework, as p|_4G!4|2!21|\/| has severe consequences”. Another version of the word is found in the form ‘owfuckoffdoyourownworkow’, which seems to have been borrowed in the 4th century by Taiwanese pyramid builders during contract-work in a desert, and carried to the sacred land of Aotearoa on canoes. Throughout history, plagiarism and bad formatting have plagued (see what we did there?) academics, journalists, and Stormtroopers. This came to a head during the Stormtroopers vs Redshirts war, in which the quantum anomaly from Stormtroopers always missing and Redshirts always dying violated the APA formatting layout. Muscleman Tip Of The Week #1: Eat your greens and say your prayers. Boganology with Vitamin C Bogan Bring back Soundproof and 6 Feet Under with some Megadeth. “DESTROY! Juggajiggawugga… DEMONIZE! Juggajiggawugga… DESERVE! Juggajiggawugga… DELOUSE! Juggajiggawugga… DELI-STYLE!” Special Killing Time On Campus Here is some stuff that I like: Kitten Huffing, Tom DeLuise, The Safety Dance, some movie I just saw, Muse, leather.

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C & K’s Guide to Society Truckers are funny ‘cos they always wear hats.

Rage in a Special Vitamin Kage What’s with people always leaving the toilet seat up? I mean, COME ONNNNNNN! And Sudoku? What’s with that. I hate it. More like So-suck-do. Vitamin Talk Some people like Niacin, which for all you non-vitamin fans is Vitamin B. I can see both sides of the argument, and agree with them, but personally I like vitamin B. Mr Vitamin Squigglesworth Crime sucks. I hate crime. Stop criming. Police say crime is up. Editorial I’m cool. So cool that I’m going to publish this article despite possible harm to its authors. So cool that I’m going to give its authors a bottle of Opal Nera.

Driving is a great past-time for a lot of people, and although hearing the rumble of the engine never gets old, people often like to hear something else. Enter the radio. Most cars these days have got a player of some sort in them, be it just a simple cassette player or some fancy dvd/mp3 player. People like to take their music with them - an iPod for walking around, a home speaker system for chilling at home, so it would make sense that people want to put some music in their car too. And why wouldn’t you? It’s relatively cheap to get a decent system for your car. A whole heap of later model cars (i.e. late 90s) come out with cassette players, and since no one really uses cassettes anymore, the first thing people tend to do is take their car in to a car stereo specialist and get them to put something a bit better in. The minimum most people seem to settle for these days is a CD player, but it’s becoming more and more popular to get an mp3 or DVD player as the prices keep coming down. There’s a large range to choose from too, from $100 parallel imported mp3 players to the more expensive branded players such as Fusion and Pioneer players. It’s not hard to install them yourself either, in fact its one of the easiest things you can do yourself. Of course, the player is just the start of it. The next thing that’s needed is some speakers so that you can actually hear the music. Similarly to the head units, there is a large range of different speakers you can get for your car. Most cars already have their own speakers in them, but they’re usually not very good as they peak out early and the quality is relatively poor. You can get new speakers which will sound way better without really hurting the wallet, but it doesn’t stop here for many people. The next thing to do is improve the bass with subwoofers. The sub makes a huge difference to the overall sound of a system, which is the main reason why they’re so popular; they’re not just for pissing other people off with loud rap music. A sub is good for any genre since it gives the underlying tone of the song, adding that whole extra layer to it. A sub requires an amp though because the player doesn’t put out enough power. The amp increases the power so that the sub can put out some meaty bass. A nice sound system can improve the time you have in your car, there’s no two ways about that. It’s a good investment and increases the value of your car for when you want to sell it. Can’t argue with that.

Daisy, Daisy...

... Give me your answer do...

Dave, I wouldn’t touch that radio dial if I were you...

SECTION TITLE

By The Panther Tip# 67: One of the best ways to build muscle is fighting. But when you become as powerful and intimidating as I am, nobody wants to fight (and if I were to fight a normal man it would be over in a matter of seconds). So I have started fighting wild animals but even they are terrified. To attract them, I spread honey all over my chest and start making grizzly bear calls. I put peanuts in my pockets and taunt gorillas about King Kong. And for the most fearsome of all creatures, the panther, I put a ten inch sausage in my underwear (combined, that’s 26 inches of sausage - no animal or woman can resist that). Tip# 21: What is the one part of the body that is the hardest part to musculate? It’s the nipples of course. Well, as always, I’m here to help you, my thin nippled friend. The best way to get your nipples in shape is to massage them with sensual oils. If you are an attractive young lady and you need help with this, just send a picture of yourself to jrr9@waikato. ac.nz and I’ll be over in a second for personal instruction. You know what I’m sayin’ - baw chuck a pow wow.

Q: How do you find King Arthur in the dark? A: With a knight light Q: What did the lawyer call his newborn daughter? A: Sue Q: What does a cannibal call a man in a hammock? A: Breakfast in bed Contributed by Gary Oliver (Who wins 1.5l bottles of Coke and Sprite. You could drink

Q. When is it bed-time at Michael Jackson’s house? A. When the big hand touches the little hand Contributed by Hoolio

Send jokes to nexus@waikato.ac.nz and you could win some free prizes! Choice

“There is no love sincerer than the love of food.” George Bernard Shaw Food is vital part of our lives, and therefore it is something that we think about on fairly regular basis, at least three times a day to be exact! It has been said that not only is food “our common ground, a universal experience” (James Beard), but that “if more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world” (JRR Tolkien). Given that our existence as humans is dependant on food, and eating is something we partake in every day, it is not surprising that the topic is one which has been written about my many poets, novelists and other writers. It is almost impossible to read a book without finding some reference to food. Some books are even partially based around a type of food Joanne Harris’s Chocolat for example, or a particular meal - in To the Lighthouse Virginia Woolf spends a great many pages describing a certain dinner. ‘Food’ is of Germanic origin (like English itself), and the word has been present in English, in varying incarnations, since the language came into existence itself. This is hardly surprising though given how vital food is. The original Old English form of the word was fóda, which is thought to be a cognate with Swedish foda, and Danish fode. Links have also been made from fóda to present day ‘feed’ and present day ‘fodder’. It is thought that around the 14th century, 100 years after Old English shifted to what we now call Middle English, the form of our present day ‘food’ changed to fode. From there the word changed to foode, the exact date of this is uncertain, but it is thought to have been around the 16th century. By the 17th century (Shakespeare’s time), the word had to changed to what is still its present day form, food. Food is defined as by the Oxford English Dictionary as “What is taken into the system to maintain life and growth”. Although that is food’s only meaning; it is also used in euphemisms such as “to be food for fishes” (which means to be dead) where it retains its original meaning, but has other connotations, in this case of being drowned. ‘Food’ has also been used to mean what is “edible as opposed to ‘drink’”. So there you have it, now if anyone ever asks you what ‘food’ means (which I highly doubt they will!) you can provide them with an Oxford English Dictionary definition and a brief history. Won’t you be the life of the party?

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them while looking at those murals – how fun would that be?)

‘Food’

COLUMNS

Date:

Wednesday 13 September 2006

Time:

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Location: Lakeside What:

ACT leader Rodney Hide visits campus

I hate politics, and therefore politicians as well, but I have to admit, Rodney won me over with his appearances on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ recently. Humor and humility are not attributes I’m used to seeing in public officials; this is one politician I am interested in speaking to / hearing more of. But for now, more sports straight out of left field: The annual oyster festival held in Hillsborough is of course the stage for the world oyster eating championships. Of all eating competitions, why mention this one? Taking into account the shear number of slimy crustaceans being consumed, and their reputation as renowned aphrodisiacs; you’d image the post-festival parties would be more ‘festive’ than the festival itself. Sadly, the rank stench of fishiness (in most cases, regurgitated fishiness) prevents the release of all that pent up sexual energy. I love irony… Ian Thorpe might kick my ass in 100m freestyle, Danyon Loader might beat me in 400m butterfly; but throw on snorkels, and toss us all into a bog and it’s a different story. With the only stroke allowed being doggie paddle, it’s fair to say I’d be the more stylistically experienced out of the trio. Llanwrtyd Wells is famous for two things: being the smallest town in Britain, and hosting stupid sports; the world bog-snorkeling championships undeniably being one of them. Out of all the sports mentioned to date, cheese

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rolling has the highest level of New Zealand representation, notably Dionne Carter (pictured left) having won the woman’s event in ’04, ’05 and ’06. Dionne, you’re my hero. While participants usually suffer some form of injury, there is nothing funnier than seeing a spectator also rolling down the bank having been hit on the head by a wayward cheese moments earlier. The largest wheel of cheese ever used weighed in at 40lbs. The giant cheddar was proudly presented by the New Zealand Dairy Products Commission.

After the dismal performance that was last week’s column, Boganology goes back to the quest for ratings. What heightens ratings? Girls. In Metal terms, Boganettes. Nope, they’re not confectionary – they’re Metal chicks. Hearing that a chick listens to Metal is analogous to geeks hearing that a chick plays Xbox (or, when I was a geek, Commodore 64… that’s showing my age!) Maybe it’s because many consider Metal as a guy thing, which it isn’t. I think Metal gets this reputation because most Metal bands are fronted by guys. All the Metal bands I like are anyway. Not because I’m sexist, perish the thought, but for me one of the main attractions of Metal is the vocals, because they’re often about things that I can relate to. So it’s personally easier to relate to them if they’re like me, and I’m a guy (last time I checked anyway). So this is probably why Metal bands fronted by chicks don’t usually get

commercial support, or they get too much and end up being too polished (Nightwish, Lacuna Coil and dare I say it Effervescence…I mean Evanescence, whatever). This is arguable, but for me you’re a Boganette even if you only listen to a little Metal. You don’t have to have more Metal in your face than Pinhead or dress in all the symbols, just like guys don’t have to. As long as Metal is part of your listening pleasure, you’re a Boganette. Some people may wanna differentiate between Goth chicks and Boganettes, or Goth guys and Bogans

Sheri Moon Zombie – Rob Zombie’s wife. We all know my love of Rob Zombie, so everyone attached to him is vicariously cool. Kittie – Don’t like the music, but good to have some female representation in the world of Metal.

for that matter, but to me that’s arbitrary - we’re all Metal. Anyway, what are some examples of Boganettes? Let’s have a look, yes…let’s.

Kiwi Metal –I wouldn’t be Burton if I omitted NZ examples…so how bout Lil from Chuganaut or Jennie from Slipping Tongue?

Shirley Manson – Garbage lead singer. Not the front person of a Metal band, but I think this justifies the previous paragraph. Not necessarily Metal, but you get the feeling she’s partly Metal.

Damn word count, got carried away with talking about women!

solid backup, and Eddie rips it out on guitar.

Van Halen Van Halen Reviewed by C.J

Back in 1978 Eddie, Dave, Alex, and Michael were virtually unknown, more commonly seen playing at keg parties and in crappy clubs

and bars. They then released their self-titled debut album and were instantly catapulted into the rock stratosphere, with many proclaiming the album the greatest debut of all time. And you need go no further than the scorchingly hot Eruption to see why. This song is pure ecstasy and announced to the world the arrival of Mr Eddie Van Halen, one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time. Eruption is preceded by Runnin’ With The Devil, a slow burner that is pure Van Halen. Diamond Dave sounds downright dirty, the drums and bass provide

My next favourite, and a candidate for my favourite VH song ever is ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love’. The distortion on Eddie’s guitar lends something special to this song, and the change in tempo from fast rocker to slow thinker and back again create a wicked song. The trademark solo pops up too, and the lyrics are intriguing. “You may have all that you want baby, but I’ve got something you need…..ain’t talkin’ ‘bout love”. If its not love, maybe it’s drugs, or sex, I’m not sure. All the songs on this album are totally killer, but my final favourite is the slower ‘Little Dreamer’. It’s more of a ballad, an emotional yet contemplative song about a girl, and that’s pretty deep for a bunch of hard rockers. Nice.

8 Competition!

The quest to find the Top Ten classic rock songs of all time continues, and we’d like to know what you think are the best. You can email a different song each week and we’ll pick a prize winner at random. Last week’s winner is Justin Hyde. Congratulations. This week’s prize is Other People’s Lives, the latest album by Ray Davies, better known as the frontman of legendary band The Kinks. Email cjw37@waikato.co.nz by midday Tuesday to be in to win.

ISSUE 19 / 4 SEPTEMBER 2006

Crikey! Sorry about the lack of Classic Rock in last week’s Nexus. Holidays make me forget my responsibilities, and my computer was broken. Anyways, to make up for it I’m reviewing one of the absolute greatest classic rock bands of all time, Van Halen. These guys are constantly hailed as true rock gods, and if you listen to this week’s album you’ll see why.

Stay bogan.

OUT OF 10

Boganettes

GIRL DRUMMERS ARE HOT. PHOTO BY PJ ARTFORMS.

COLUMNS

ISSUE 19 / 4 SEPTEMBER 2006 ACTIVITIES

COMICS

ISSUE 19 / 4 SEPTEMBER 2006

By Vitamin C

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Have you ever seen an old person? You know - all squinty eyed, unable to move under their own propulsion, often propped up in some kind of dual-cycled locomotion device, mumbled incoherently about their childhood and Rosebud, and annoying all the other students in the lecture? Have you ever thought “Nuts to that action! I’m not getting old! I want to die in my prime, so people remember me as cool and sophisticated, not disoriented and incontinent!” Have you ever thought “Deep fried lard! Score!” Then this nutrition guide is for you. For centuries people have been living like kings, and kings have been living like the gods in an attempt to feel good about themselves. Other people have been telling them that they need

that banana. Peanut butter on that mayonnaise! Not only will you have a better tasting meal, but it will help increase the pressure in your arteries, which means your heart has to work harder, so it

to eat more fruit and less carbs and a little more dairy and then more carbs and the bones of Callista Flockhart in order to stay healthy, which somehow implies a happy life. But now the gods are going to tell you how they live, and boy is it sweet. In Vitamin C’s anti-nutrition guide, you’ll learn about all the great tasting meals that will eliminate those pesky retirement years.

gets stronger!

Category A: Spreadables You’ll probably know that all sorts of things can be spread on bread - butter, margarine, mayonnaise, ketchup, catsup, mustard, steak sauce, bean lard mulch, and animal fat, but what most people fail to catch on to is that these spreadables can be applied to anything, including other spreadables! Try putting some more butter on those potatos. Cream cheese on that steak. Pork drippings on

Category B: Toppings You also need to keep in mind what’s going on top of your meal. Pepperoni and salami are great meat-based toppings to spice up that boring cheesecake, but don’t forget that your meatcheesecake is now a great topping for your lasagne! Since your lasagne will already have lots of Category A foods on it, the meatcheesecake should stick to all the icecream, honey, and caramelised sugar. Deep fry in butter and you’ll away laughing, while those health freaks will be eating celery and shitting in their hospital beds. Other alternatives include using a blender to make a drink out of it. I find that the meatcheesecakelasagne, blended with lard (for consistency) is great way to wash down a

cheesebomb (a sandwhich that has processed cheese instead of bread, cottage cheese and sour cream as the spreads, and as many types of cheeses as you can think of inside it. Except for the cheese that girls make. That’s unhealthy in a different way.) Category C: Cooking Aids Eventually you want all your meals to be as tasty as possible. For the student on a budget, a deep fry in butter is usually a great path to hedonistic pleasure. Try deepfrying your icecream, moro bars, sandwichs, cheesebombs, or pasta meals for that extra fatty goodness. I find that the tears of children are also a great counterbalance for the mild acidity in deepfried raspberry jam. For family gatherings, try boiling everything in a cauldron of oil or lard, and add cheese and sugar periodically for that full flavouring. Classy meals can be achieved by stuffing a salmon, deer, or panda with glutens, cheeses, other salmon or deer, and then filled up with the cheese in a can. Garnish with meatcheesecake or similar, and then force it down your throat. You can never truly live until you conquer your gag reflex. I hope you’ve all learned a thing or two about staying young forever from the books of the gods, and remember: If it doesn’t leave greasy stains everywhere, you will probably get old and die.

In Memory of 9/11 Brie Jessen This is a prayer, a meditation, but most of all a remembrance. It is not Christian, not Muslim, not Buddhist, nor any other any other religion. It is not black, or white, nor any colour in between. It is not old or young, rich or poor. It is for all us.

Today we remember the weeks and months of heartache and suffering that followed. We remember how fear and anger shook a nation. And how a country banded together to heal themselves, in the wake of tragedy.

Five years ago today, on September 11th 2001, two planes crashed into the twin towers in New York USA. Another crashed into the Pentagon, the home of the US military.

Today we put aside cultural differences. A great many people lost their lives five years ago today, a great many had before that day, a great many did after that day, and a great many did as a result of that day. Today, we mourn not only Americans, but all those that have passed before us.

Five years ago today thousands of people lost their lives, and millions lost loved ones. In this world that we live in catastrophes happen almost daily; on the grand scale of things, some are big, some smaller. You may feel that the United States acted rashly in their response to this threat of terrorism, or you may agree with their actions. How they reacted, and the consequences of those actions are important, yes, but not today. Today we value human life. Today we remember those that died as the planes crashed, those that died as the buildings collapsed, those that died while waiting to be rescued. We remember the selfless people who risked, and in some cases, lost their lives in trying to save others.

Today we remember that 9/11 is an echo of the many tragedies which have preceded it. Today we value human life and we remember that whoever, and wherever we are, life is sacred. Today we recognise the strength of the human spirit, the acts of compassion a complete stranger is capable of, and the courage of men and women. Today we remember 9/11, lest we forget.

By M. Emery It’s a massive week for music in Hamilton with the annual Tempo events on throughout the week as well as numerous gigs. Check out the gig guide for a comprehensive listing of this week’s shows and events. This weekend marks the final shows for one of Hamilton’s finest, This Night Creeps, who are bowing out with a three date mini tour. After releasing an album and a couple EPs over the last 4 years, This Night Creeps have been one of Hamilton’s hardest working bands with national tours and also ventures over the Tasman. The last Hamilton stand for the fellas is at The Castle this Friday 15th September. Also featured on the line up are The Mint Chicks, White Birds and Lemons, The Vacants, and The New Caledonia. This show promises to be of epic proportion and is a definite must see this week. A Low Hum are breezing through town this weekend with a matinee show at Upsett Records, 2pm on Saturday, and an R18 show at The Castle at 9:30pm that night. A Low Hum’s Bearded Overlord, Blink, is bringing back Wellington’s synth beat combo, So So Modern with Alps, Collapsing Cities and Frase+Bri. Hamilton’s own Brit-Popsters The Lookie Loos will be supporting both shows. As with all previous Low Hum events $10 will get you past the bearded man giant at the door and $15 will grant you a copy of the latest A Low Hum mag with a compilation CD and an unreleased album from Welli band from the past, Ejector. This Saturday also will also see another mega event with the launch of the latest Hamilton compilation CD, Area 07. This CD features a wealth of Hamilton talent and a few other bands and will surely make a fine Christmas/ wedding gift. The release show at the Meteor Theatre will feature The Shrugs, Gadget Goose, Venomous Mic Technicians, The Deadly Deaths and Dynamo Go. This show is all ages and $5 entry or $15 with a copy of Area 07. Tempo events are happening all week. If you are a musician or interested in NZ music I urge you attend some of the shows and seminars that are being held. For further information check out info@hcac.org.nz or grab a copy of last week’s Nexus for the full schedule. Indie-poppers Infinite Flying Kick which sounds like an awesome Kung Fu move, are coming to Hamiltown on the 29th Sept. This Auckland group have been busy playing everywhere they can in the last few months and will be playing their first Hamilton show with Dynamo Go and The Shrugs at Sohl. I will have a feature on them next issue. The undisputed kings of hardcore, Madball are playing two shows in Hamilton with Welli’s finest Damaged, an R18 at Ward Lane on Saturday and an all ages at Upsett Records on Sunday. Entry to each show is $25. Before the month is out Upsett Records will also be playing host to an EP release show from Cobra Khan, and Guest Stabs Host and Dial, currently on a national tour. For all you fans of wig-out, proggy, salsa tinged, excessive, histrionic, complex art rockery, The Mars Volta will be playing an Auckland show, 8th December at The St James.

Jordan Knight Love Songs Jordan Knight was always my favourite NKOTB. He was the best looking one. I always thought he looked like a young Donny Osmond. In fact Donny Osmond looks like a young Jordan Knight these days. Jordan’s solo career has had its ups and downs and like most performers who leave a popular manufactured group, they never seem to recapture their former glory. Love Songs is comprised of covers of Jordan’s favourite artists and is a fantastic showcase for his expressive voice. Covering well known tunes like George Michael’s ‘Careless Whisper’ and Phil Collins’ ‘One More Night’. Jordan graces these songs with a maturity that wasn’t quite prevalent in his work with NKOTB. ‘Hanging Tough’, anyone? Nothing on Love Songs is quite as impressive as Jordan’s ﬁrst solo single ‘Give It To You’, which was an amazing piece of work, but Love Songs wasn’t intended as dance. It’s a more adult work reﬂecting Jordan’s advancing years. Jordan refers to the album as a ‘coffee table’ album and I think he’s hit the ball out of the park in that respect.

Stylus Gain Control Remember Supergroove? They had a counterpart band Jungle Fungus that was made up of family members and friends who never quite broke through like Supergroove did. They had fans and all but on their nationwide tours they sometimes found themselves playing to 5 people in the provincial centres. I’ve always equated Stylus as the Jungle Fungus of Blindspott. While not exactly sharing blood, they have some connections through recording and emerged in the same scene a few years back. Proving themselves to actually be a few marks ahead of Jungle Fungus, Stylus have recently released their second album, Gain Control, which marks a departure from their first album, Painkillers, with an emphasis on more melody and less rapping. New recruit Aja Timu on guitar continues much in the vein of previous gat man Ken Holt but also adds some sparkling work with ambient lines amongst the hard riffage. Several songs stand out with uber melodies such as the first single ‘I was alone until tonight’ and the immensely catchy ‘Eye can see you’. This is a fantastic step up for Stylus and I think they’ll find themselves playing to more than 5 folks next time they tour Woodville. To win a copy of Stylus’s new album email Nexus with a funny incident involving yourself and blood loss.

SECTION TITLE

By Kazuma Namioka

The Office An American Workplace

The British version set the bar pretty high, and I was writing the first line of the review before I even saw it: it isn’t as good as the original. No, the opening line for this review is not any better. One of the problems with British shows being remade is that if you’ve seen the first one, the jokes are already old. This is fine for American audiences, who only see the rest of the world through the news or on the end of Chuck Norris’s boot, but NZ gets the British version then the US version with Rob Schneider in it (the guy’s named after a tank and he goes into comedy). But I was wrong. It blew me away. It was like watching it afresh, familiar yet unpredictable, like a friend back from overseas with a different accent. The character of Michael Scott (played with Golden Globe-winning brilliance by the guy from The 40 Year Old Virgin) is a boss every bit as unbelievably (yet convincingly) inept and unfunny as David Brent,

This DVD in CD’s clothing is the “visual accompaniment” to the DCFC album of the same name, and though you should probably own the album first if anything, since your textbooks are going unused and you’re still young, you might want to sell the books to buy the DVD as well, and then pose naked for the back page of Nexus. The idea is each song on Directions has been leased out for different directors (there might be a pun there but I don’t see it) to make a video for it on low budgets. The result is lovely pop music accompanying, in many cases, some impressively emotive images. The videos hold back and understate rather than gun you down with flamboyance, though having said that there is an awesome puppetanimated clip containing a pirate, a robot and a dragon. But they are unerringly cool: a heart is pierced by an arrow, catches on fire, mashed to bits with a hammer and the bits are gnawed by rats, only to have it collect back together and form anew; a French guy smokes on a bed while a girl paints messages I can’t read on the walls and carves them into her living flesh; a high school orchestra plays one of the best songs on the album with a weird-looking kid singing up the front. For each video there is an explanation by the director on what they were aiming to achieve and other guff, if you’re into that sort of thing. Experience art both musically and visually, simultaneously. For the record, a colourful, obscenely large, spray-painted advertisement is not art.

ISSUE 19 / 4 SEPTEMBER 2006

though he lacks Ricky Gervais’s inherent creepiness. Tim and Dawn’s romantic arc is intact, though now played out by Jim and Pam, with the added twist that the fiancé, Roy, works in the warehouse at the same company. In one episode this proximity of the cat to the mice lead to direct competition (via basketball) between Jim and Roy that is exciting in ways sports films can’t achieve. Pound for pound, I still believe The Office to be the best comedy on TV ever, and a new version that has been changed enough to be effectively another season… this must be what coming off the wagon feels like.

Death Cab For Cutie Directions

REVIEWS

Books Sexploration: Welcome to the Pleasure Zone Lorna Hankin OCTOPUS PUBLISHING

Reviewed by Michelle Coursey Well. A fully-illustrated, “up-to-the-minute guide to a whole new world of exciting sex” – 144 pages, colour pictures, and an index at the end (to look up concepts like ‘snogging’ or to ﬁnd the ‘G-spot’ – ha ha). This book is kind of a cross between Cosmo and the Kama Sutra (although perhaps those two aren’t as different as I ﬁrst thought). There are a lot of pictures, many of which look like they have been lifted from a Google image search on

The Diamond Dakota Mystery Juliet Mills ALLEN & UNWIN

Reviewed by Alana Fergusson The Diamond Dakota Mystery is an extraordinary tale that has all the bells and whistles. Heroes, bad guys, love interests and a long lost treasure, this story is one heart-stopping tale. An extraordinary but true wartime tale of daring, mystery, luck and in excess of twenty million dollars worth of diamonds, and how they were

Classic Book You Should Read

ISSUE 19 / 4 SEPTEMBER 2006

lost, found - and lost again. It’s March 1942, and one of the last planes out of Java is about to wing terriﬁed Dutch refugees away from the advancing Japanese army. At the last minute, a mysterious brown paper package

moderate with the keyword ‘kinky’. Not that I’d know what that search would turn up… Anyway. If you have ever flicked through a copy of any women’s magazine, had sex, or even talked to anyone that has had sex, then chances are this book won’t really add to your knowledge base that much. There is the odd tip that sounds handy, but it mainly just goes over the old favourites. Read: role play suggestions, ice cubes as an exciting sexual aid, and positions which require double-jointed gymnastics for satisfaction. However, it looks pretty, and the pull quotes on most pages make for a great coffee-table book which is sure to keep your friends amused. While it is largely inoffensive (ie none of the X-rated bits are shown – just the boobies), it’s probably not one to give to Mum for Christmas. There is also a is thrown to its pilot, Russian air ace Captain Ivan ‘Turc’ Smirnoff. Heading for the supposed safety of Australia, the ill-fated DC-3 flew straight into the path of three Japanese Zeroes returning from the air raid. Under heavy fire, Smirnoff miraculously landed the badly damaged plane on an isolated beach on the far northwest coast. The survivors were eventually found, but not before several had died from their injuries or thirst. In the confusion, the package was forgotten. Smirnoff had been entrusted by a Java-based Dutch jeweller with a valuable package which he had to deliver to an Australian bank. Captain Smirnoff survived the attack and subsequent crash of his DC3 on an isolated beach near Beagle Bay. As for the valuable package, it was lost in the wreckage and it contained about six thousand diamonds, worth more than $20 million

disturbing element where there is a white couple demonstrating half the positions, and a black couple demonstrating the others…hello 1950. READ IT IF… Your last date asked you if you had ever kissed someone before them. NB: We were going to give this book away to you guys but Tony stole it.

in today’s money. Enter a beachcomber, Jack Palmer. Jack found the wallet of diamonds and shared them out with friends - but not all that were reputed to be in the jeweller’s package. This is an intriguing tale written by Perth-based author Juliet Wills. A tale of courage that will draw any reader’s attention. The story is centred around the men who braved hell and high water top protect themselves and in the end came across a secret fortune they had believed to be gone! A great read: If you are into old school war tales with an edge!

The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure (The ‘Good Parts’ Version) By William Goldman Even if you’ve already seen and loved the ﬁlm

Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest

(and who hasn’t?), this book is a must-read.

men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion.

‘Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love.

Miracles’. Whether or not the book beats the

Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good

classic fantasy-adventure ﬁlm is up to the

men. Beautifulest ladies. Snakes. Spiders.

individual, but it stands alone well and is full of

Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain.

dry wit and sarcasm. Highly recommended.

REVIEWS

Films Love and other catastrophes RIALTO CINEMA

Review by Joe Citizen Another pitiful turnout made me wonder why anyone makes films in New Zealand when the audience is so under appreciative. Maybe it’s just Hamilton’s natural conservative leprosy rearing its ugly head again. Every time I think it might’ve progressed past an agriculturally defined geography book example of insecurity and blind dyed in the wool fodder swallowing imbecilic meat headedness, I’m proved wrong despite my optimistic stubbornness. Damn these films were good and damn you should’ve seen them. Consider the standard radically redefined above and beyond what we’ve been offered over the last three years. You losers, you missed out.

My favourite had to be Christine Roger’s Anne and Richard, which is a reworking of that dodgy scene from Shakespeare’s Richard III. A grieving woman whose husband who has just been brutally murdered, is being romantically pursued by his killer. She knows he did it but ends up sleeping with him anyway. Either Shakespeare had a low opinion of women or seeing as it was one of his earlier works, he just didn’t know how to pull together all the separate bits of his plot without resorting to this odd little scene. This cinematic version is by far the most believable, with its contemporary gangster characters

He plays his role with a perfectly assumed humility that drips off his tongue like honeyed cyanide. Brilliant lighting with pools of light in inky blackness complements a stunningly apt soundtrack. If you ever have a chance to see it, make it a priority – it’s a stunner.

and beautiful almost lyrical film noir approach. Anne is no show pony, she’s knows she’s not a babe and that this powerfully charismatic man is a complete bastard. She knows she’s just a stepping-stone to further his ambitions, and yet she goes. For his part, Richard has the thickset arrogance of a self made man without scruples.

of a minimalist life this film has got believable characters and is bleakly but stunningly shot.

Marc Laureano’s Embers was another beautiful film. It’s the story of a young woman waiting for her husband to come home from the war. When he does come back he’s been terribly changed by his experiences and she realizes she’s changed as well. Starkly lush in its portrayal

Don’t forget the Hamilton Underground Film Festival at the museum on Wednesday 13th September at 7 o’clock. See you there.

A Scanner Darkly RIALTO CINEMA

Reviewed by Matt Richard Linklater presents an interesting take on Philip K. Dick’s novel that seems to remain true to the original story. Coupled with some big name actors that all give a reasonably good performance and a unique aesthetic -- previously done by Linklater in his film “Waking Life” -- gives the viewer an interesting, and in my case entertaining, movie experience. At times the dialogue in certain events can seem to drag on a bit but it seems intentional as it shows the effects of the drug “Substance D”. In its core, A Scanner Darkly tackles subjects such as paranoia, conspiracy theories, surveillance, substance abuse, and to another extent, authority figures utilising humans as tools. In all, a very relevant story that still seems to reflect the sentiments of what is happening now-a-days presented in a unique and engaging form.

REVIEWS BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

Loco Roco

The main problem with Loco Roco is that it’s so insubstantial. It’s okay as a diversion. It’s the sort of thing I’d expect to play as a free ﬂash game on the internet for ﬁve minutes before getting bored and moving on to something else. It’s probably not worth spending $50+ on. Hire before you buy.

PLAYSTATION PORTABLE

Reviewed by Josh This game has been proclaimed by some game pundits as being a bit like the Second Coming of originality. So why did I not like it that much? It’s an interesting idea. You play as a fat blob-thing (which is, presumably, a Loco Roco) that eats stuff to get fatter, and you tilt the world to move the blobthing about. You can tap the Circle button to split the blob-thing up into lots of blob-things to get through small spaces and suchlike. Oh yeah, and they sing in chorus sometimes. Objective: Eat enough to produce a particular number of blob-things by level’s end. And save some waving golliwog stickﬁgure guys by getting into secret passages.

WIN! WIN! WIN! Woop-de-doo. Thing is, I just didn’t care that much. The art style’s cool and all, but that doesn’t seem like enough reason to get the game. The music is a good reason not to get it. It’s the aural equivalent of strobe lights to an epileptic. Yeah, that bad. If you play it in a public place, wear headphones to avoid being assaulted by infuriated passers-by.

Now that I’ve hated on the game, here’s a chance to win it! Just send in a rhyming poem of 50 words or less – I’ve given up on haikus and limericks, because no-one knows what the hell they are – to nexus@waikato.ac.nz, or post to the forums at www.nexusmag.co.nz/forum about what would happen if you could tilt the world like in Loco Roco. We’ll offer a copy of Loco Roco to our favourite. Entries close 12 pm Wednesday 13th September.

GAMES PLUS - THE NEXT LEVEL: Providing you with all your necessary gaming needs S H O P 1 0 5 , C E N T R E P L A C E M A L L , V I C T O R I A S T, H A M I LT O N · P H O N E 8 3 8 0 8 0 1 XBOX · PLAYSTATION · GAMECUBE · PC · GAMEBOY · DS · PSP · MOVIES · ANIME

ISSUE 19 / 4 SEPTEMBER 2006

Opal Nera Recipe Winners

From Areta Arcus:

From Billy Emeny:

Summer Nectar

Black Opal Cocktail

Ingredients 1 part Apple Sours 1 part Opal Nera 1 part Lemon (or plain) Vodka 2 1/2 parts Lime Juice Lime to garnish

Ingredients 15 ml Opal Nera 15 ml Bombay Sapphire Gin 15 ml Vanilla vodka 15ml Rasberry Lemonade

Method Shake ingredients with ice and pour into a tall glass. Garnish with lime wheel or add lime quarters to shaker for added zest. Enjoy in the upcoming summer sun!

Method Mix. Drink.

Cheers to the entrants for this week. Remember kids, it’s not hard to enter. Just follow the instructions on the right and if you win, come on up to the cool Nexus ofﬁce in the SUB building to pick up your prize and/or join in some free Puzzle Bobble arcade game fun!