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FIRST PEEK
June 8, 2015
poverty, or unemployment — those things will have to be fixed by government regulations or new legislation that directly affects us as citizens. We need to actively participate in the democratic process to ensure that the policies and laws we end up with represent our opinions as much as possible. There are a few taboo subjects that you’re not supposed to bring up unless you’re among very close friends; for some reason, politics is one of them. I’ve always thought that healthy political debates and discussions are some of the best, most stimulating conversations one can have — and that we’d be better off having a lot more of them. I was recently inspired by Joel Bakan, author of The Corporation, and his speech during a SFU alumni appreciation event. He gave some advice for young people. He said, “get involved in large ‘P’ politics.” He also described his experience speaking at one of the Occupy Movement camps, where hesaid, “You shouldn’t just be occupying the streets; you should be occupying government [. . .]. We the people are supposed to occupy government.” I strongly agree with his sentiment, and I think we need to realize that markets are not going to solve climate change,
But how will we ever hope to fix declining voter turnout and increase citizen engagement if we’re conditioned not to talk about the subject? It seems that we have a crisis on our hands when it comes to political involvement in our country, and I find it concerning that, as Mel Hurtig writes in The Arrogant Autocrat , 80 per cent of Canadian adults have never belonged to a political party, and less than 1 per cent of eligible donors made a donation to a political party in the 2011 federal election. I’m sure more than one per cent of Canadians have political opinions and had something to say about the results of that election, so I think it’s time we
start putting our money where our mouth is. Only 61.1 per cent of eligible voters made their opinions count in our last federal election — there are more people who voted for no one than voted for the reigning party. With this many people not participating in our democratic process, we have no way of knowing if those elected actually represent the majority of Canadians. Of course, people remain cynical towards politicians, and this is worsened by the fact that our electoral system is in great need of reform to proportional representation. It doesn’t seem fair that a party with 39.6 per cent of the votes can win a majority government, and a party with six per cent of the vote can elect nobody. It’s no wonder Canada was ranked 131st in the world for voter turnout in 2011. Until our electoral system undergoes much-needed reform, what are we to do? For starters, vote. If you’re keen to get more involved than that, I highly recommend you join a political party or interest group, volunteer for a cause you feel strongly about, and most importantly, share your opinions with others. It’s high time we start involving ourselves in politics.
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NEWS
Last weekend, Confederation Park in North Burnaby saw the kickoff celebration for the BC Recycles Summer Ambassador Program. This year, the program will send four SFU co-op students on a whirlwind tour of British Columbia to promote recycling. The program has been in existence for nine years prior under the banner of the BC Used Oil Management Association, but this year it has been rebranded as “BC Recycles” to represent the new union of product stewardships it represents.
The students, Courtenay Miller, Ali Russell, Sarah Pratt, and Kathleen Belton will be visiting
SFU’s VP finance and administration, Pat Hibbitts, passed away suddenly last Tuesday after serving as a senior executive member for over a decade. Hibbitts began her academic career in Ontario, earning her BA at the University of Toronto and her MBA from York University. In 2009, she received her EdD from SFU’s faculty of education.
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various communities, including Kamloops, Prince George, and Prince Rupert. They hail from a range of faculties and academic backgrounds, but came together through the co-op program. Russell, a fourth year communications student, explained her motivation behind applying for the position: “The one thing that sparked my interest is
She was joined in her SFU convocation by her daughter Kelly — graduating with a BA in history — who played a key role in her doctoral thesis. Hibbitts’ thesis documented her personal experience with the K–12 system as a mother who saw labels and disability assigned to her children as their family moved between a number of mine sites across Canada. President Andrew Petter’s statement on her passing highlighted that Hibbitts also “wrote extensively on the power of narrative and the human experience in the education system and was active in issues of Aboriginal and health policy.”
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that my family has always been very eco-friendly. [. . .] So when I heard about BC recycles, I thought, ‘Oh that’s awesome!’ I’m actually really curious about how BC does it.” Belton, a student in the faculty of environment, said, “I really want to work in public education and awareness with the environment, so I found that it was a really good opportunity to get out there and get some practice.” Miller, an English major, explained that the ambassadors intend to engage with local communities and ask them questions about
She also served as an Affiliated Scholar in the Centre for Studies in Educational Leadership and Policy. In Spring 2010, Hibbitts was the visiting scholar for the University of Bath’s International Centre for Higher Education Management. Before arriving at SFU, Hibbitts was VP business and finance at the University of Northern British Columbia and director of finance and administration of Sir Wilfred Grenfell College at Memorial University. On behalf of SFU, Petter conveyed, “Our thoughts are with Pat’s family and friends at this difficult time.”
Melissa Roach associate news editor news@the-peak.ca
their experience with recycling. She said, “It becomes a conversation, as opposed to me just saying ‘Hi. Here’s a website. Please use it.’” The BC Recycles program represents 15 product stewardships, including Tire Stewardship BC, Electro Recycle, Canadian Battery Association, and the Health Products Stewardship Association. These stewardships facilitate diverting used products away from landfills and towards being recycled responsibly. They are supported by the provincial government and each focuses on a
Samaah Jaffer
unique set of products, such as tires, small electronics, medicine, batteries, and antifreeze. The ambassadors also liaise with businesses under these stewardships to compile feedback about how the recycling program is working for them. Pratt gave an example: “One big problem is that people drop off oil outside of business hours, and that can spill and create a mess [. . .] we’re trying to help business out with that.” She continued, “[We’re] flagging which stores are having the biggest issue with that and seeing what we can do to address their concerns.” This summer, the Ambassadors will be promoting the BC Recycles app, which uses GPS to find the location of the user’s nearest recycling centre for whichever recyclables they have. Miller elaborated, “It’s so much more than just bottles and plastics now. Everything that’s outside of that blue bin that you feel guilty throwing away, almost, there is [a] place for it to have another life, and that’s what were really trying to promote.” “All the stewardships are making sure that they’re expanding the locations that will actually accept these products. So I think that that is actually really key,” said Belton. “The more places that can accept the products, the easier it is for people, and the more people are going to do it.”
NEWS
June 8, 2015
Every Thursday evening till July 23, free, drop-in “Woodward’s Community Singers Workshops” are held in the Sky Room on the 10th floor — no audition required. The community choir is open to all voices, and covers a wide range of genres, from gospel and folk to pop and contemporary. The event promises “a dose of collective joy,” and vocally-challenged or shy participants “are also welcome to come, drink a cup of tea and just listen.”
Starting June 10, the Surrey Urban Farmers Market (SUFM) returns to the Surrey City Hall Plaza, just steps away from campus. The market will run until October 7 every Wednesday from 1:00 to 6:00 p.m. Aside from providing community members with fresh local produce and artisan goods, the SUFM “works with community groups to make fresh vegetables, fruit, nuts, meat and dairy available for folks who may not otherwise be able to afford it.”
On June 12, a Philosopher’s Cafe on “Love/Fear” will be held at the Vancouver campus. The conversation will revolve around the questions, “Can love and fear co-exist? Or does perfect love cast out all fear? Is there more in the world to be loved or to be feared?” and, “Is love scary?” Philosopher’s Cafes are an ongoing initiative of SFU Continuing Studies, covering a wide range of topics at locations all across Metro Vancouver.
Residents of the soon-to-be closed Louis Riel House (LRH) residence building took to SFU administration’s office to express their discontent with the university’s response to their transition. Representatives from the Louis Riel House Community Association met with associate VP of students Tim Rahilly twice last week. They articulated that they feel SFU has been unfair in its treatment of LRH residents, giving less support to
non-heteronormative families and individuals. SFU has committed to provide support for all residents who must move out of LRH by the end of the summer. The university has promised to provide priority for residents to be placed in alternative housing in SFU residence, reference letters for landlords upon request, financial assistance to mitigate the increased cost of off-campus housing, as well as moving supplies. A report made by VP academic and provost Jon Driver to the SFU board of governors stated: “Students with children who currently use childcare or the elementary school on Burnaby Mountain will be provided with financial assistance that represents the difference between LRH rents and average rents in UniverCity housing.”
After three and a half years at the helm, SFU’s athletic director Milton Richards has announced his resignation. Arriving in November of 2011, Richards came to SFU after 12 years as the athletic director at the California State University (CSU) Stanislaus in Turlock, CA, and served as the athletic director at the State University of Albany, where he guided the athletic program from NCAA Division III to Division I. “I think Milt came to us at a really critical time when [SFU] was seeking full membership in the
NCAA, and [he] took on that challenge with a lot of enthusiasm,” said Tim Rahilly, SFU’s associate vice president of students. “[He] really helped SFU make the best case to the NCAA, and also used his very broad network of connections in the US to help us.” Shortly after taking the job at SFU, Richards made all SFU home games free for students, a policy he previously implemented at CSU Stanislaus. Further, it was under his eye that SFU became a full fledged member of the NCAA. Highlights of his time at SFU, he said, included, “being able to go to Division II, [. . .] establishing the academic first program, [and] the fact that we’re going to finish in the top-25 in the director’s cup.” “I’m just really thrilled that it’s the best experience I’ve ever had in collegiate athletics.” Richards will return home to Turlock, CA, but he will continue
The Community Association feels that individuals and families that do not fit that description are being “left out in the cold,” as they have stated in a recent release. The release also says that there has been a breakdown in communication between SFU and LRH tenants, leading to their visitation of the administrators’ offices on Monday, June 1. The statement released claims that “SFU has arbitrarily declared some students ineligible or less eligible for support,” and has made the following request: equal support for the specific needs of all residents on a case by case basis. They ask for the accommodation of those who have articulated a need for on-campus housing “for reasons of safety, avoiding housing discrimination, comfort related to mental or physical health, ability or mobility,” with particular reference to single residents, families without children, and queer couples. They would also like SFU to support student residents who may not be leaseholders, but are roommates of leaseholders in LRH’s two bedroom units, and to charge them the same rent they paid in LRH for other residence dorm accommodation. A statement by SFU assured, “It is SFU’s goal to help each resident make a successful transition from Louis Riel House to alternate accommodation.” The residents will meet again with Rahilly next week to further resolve these issues.
to serve as head of the department until July 2. “When I took this job, I made a commitment to get us through the [NCAA] Division II process, and I was confident that my wife was going to move with me,” Richards said. “[But] then she had commitments in Turlock and was unable to move, and we’ve been doing this for three and a half years [. . .] she just retired, and she’d prefer to stay in Turlock, so it was just the right time to move on. “I will absolutely miss SFU, I will miss my coaches, I will miss everything that’s here, very much so.” Rahilly, who will serve as the interim head of athletics, said that the search for a new director of athletics and recreation will commence after Richards leaves. “Milt’s here for another month, and then we will start the process of getting ready for the
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Associate project director of SFU’s 50th anniversary project, Adam Brayford, shared promotional plans for the anniversary with the SFSS board of directors. From July to October, 50th anniversary street banners will be going up on the Granville Street bridge, Burrard Street bridge, a large section of Hastings street in Vancouver and Burnaby, and a stretch of King George Boulevard near the Surrey campus. Luckily, SFU was able to reserve the spaces on the two bridges before UBC had the chance. UBC is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. The idea was floated to share the banners spaces, but SFU president Andrew Petter was in no mood to share. Brayford explained that for the Burrard and Granville street bridges, “[SFU] had an opportunity [. . .] to share them with UBC, and the president said ‘No, no way. They’re ours.’”
search,” he explained. “One of the things we’ll do is we’ll meet people and ask what are the characteristics and skills and abilities that we need in our next senior director of athletics and recreation. I imagine we’ll be aiming to interview in the early fall.” Rahilly also noted that preference would be given to Canadian candidates, but the search would, however, include international candidates. Richards himself was the first American director of athletics at SFU. “We want someone who has a background in both recreation and athletics, someone who is familiar with the NCAA, and I think we want someone who has a broad sense of the issues around campus recreation, in particular, wellness and campus engagement [and] someone who is able to work with community partners, alumni, [and] donors,” Rahilly added.
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Associate project director of SFU’s 50th anniversary project, Adam Brayford, approached the board to discuss collaborating to increase student involvement in the university’s celebrations. SFU is looking to form a group of 15 students to assist in engaging the student body in 50th anniversary activities. The team of 10 undergraduate and five graduate students will work to promote celebratory events and will have the opportunity to bring their own ideas to the table for encouraging student involvement across multiple disciplines and all of SFU’s campuses. Each of these students will be awarded a $750 honorarium for their participation. Brayford encouraged people looking to get involved to find more details on SFU’s “My Involvement” page.
June 8, 2015
Students, political leaders, and community members congregated at SFU’s Vancouver campus on May 23 to honour the 101st anniversary of the arrival of the Komagata Maru. A memorial of the Komagata Maru incident was erected in 2012. It remains in Coal Harbour to the honour immigrants who were turned away from starting a new life in Canada. That same day in 1914, the overcrowded ship from Hong Kong carrying 376 passengers was denied docking at a Vancouver port. Of the 376 Sikh, Muslim, and Hindu passengers on the vessel, only 20 were allowed to remain in Canada due to the Continuous Passage regulation, which had been enacted in 1908.
The regulation came at a time when the Canadian government was discouraging the immigration of people of Asian descent, and disallowed the immigration of people not travelling directly from the country of their birth. The Komagata Maru was led out of the harbour by the Canadian military on July 23, 1914, and the crew was forced to sail back to Budge Budge, India. However, upon arrival in Budge Budge, nineteen passengers were shot and multiple others imprisoned. SFU has been commemorating the Komagata Maru since 2010. Brian Owen, Associate University Librarian at the SFU Library, spoke to the The Peak about the university’s participation. “The SFU Library undertook a very large digitization project commencing in 2010 to collect, digitize, and provide a wide array of historical content and resources on the Komagata Maru. “We worked with a wide range of community participants from the South Asian
U of C professor’s book found on bin Laden’s shelf The board approved the concept of an “SFSS Meet and Greet” event to bring together SFU clubs. The social event would be an opportunity for members of SFU’s myriad of student clubs to share ideas and get to know each other and the society. SFSS president Enoch Weng emphasized the importance of connecting with these groups and making the society more accessible to them. Directors will now begin the planning process and start reaching out to different groups. Specific details for the event are to be announced.
[CALGARY] — University of Calgary professor Barry Cooper found himself under the spotlight for his book on political philosophy; but not for the usual reasons. His book, New Political Religions, or an Analysis of Modern Terrorism, was one of 38 English books found in Osama bin Laden’s Pakistan residence, the same residence successfully stormed by US Navy SEALs in 2011. The book examined the spiritual aspects of motivating terrorists, and it examined bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda closely. Cooper was “bewildered” that his book, which discusses an unorthodox view on terrorism, was possessed by bin Laden. “It’d be interesting to see if he made any notes,” said Cooper. “I suspect I’d find a lot of disagreement.”
community, including interviews with community pioneers and others familiar with the event,” explained Owen. The SFU Library, along with Citizen and Immigration Canada, launched an educational website about the Komagata Maru in 2010.
The website shares historical documentation about the event and the passengers on board the ship. Recently, 50 new photos and a lost diary of J Edward Bird, a lawyer for the Komagata Maru passengers, were posted to the site. Owen shared, “The intention of the site is to provide a comprehensive and balanced resource for anyone wanting to find out more about the Komagata Maru and the issues associated with it.”
Student app rates Carleton courses [OTTAWA] — Two Carleton University students have created a new Google Chrome extension that allows students to simultaneously view RateMyProfessor.com’s ratings while building their schedules. Chris Baker and Paul Yammine, thirdyear computing science students, originally built the application “for fun,” but it has since been met with positive feedback from its 400 current users. To combat what they see as an often biased view from RateMyProfessor.com, Yammine and Baker’s app also examines the number of ratings to allow for users to determine if low ratings are brought about by an angry minority. While students praise the app, the school is warning users to be cautious of the ratings, citing the lack of representation for professor availability.
With files from The Gauntlet With files from The Charleton
The library will continue to update the site with new additions from specific populations involved in the event, and has educational resources for children from kindergarten to grade 12. “The latest additions include several diaries from the local South Asian community. There are also lesson plans that were developed for use by K–12 teachers,” Owen continued. “All of the content is open to the general public; in the last 12 months the site had almost 29,000 visitors from 117 different countries.” Owen further stated objectives of the Komagata Maru memorial and website are to expose the significance of the event in Canadian history, to capture the struggles of IndoCanadian community, and to support the spread of knowledge through the public education system and the community at large.
Students participate in social housing protests [MONTREAL] — Protests in Montreal calling for affordable housing and increased social spending were met with police resistance, forcibly ending the demonstrations. The Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU) is an affordable housing group that attempted to create a tent camp to protest a lack of government investment in social housing. The tent camps were set up near to numerous government buildings, including the police and the health authorities, and all were swiftly met with police. Many McGill student groups and students joined the protests. With files from The McGill Daily
NEWS
SFU’s Career Services has won the ‘Special Award for Innovation by a Career Centre’ from TalentEgg, one of Canada’s biggest online career resources. The award was a part of the Campus Recruitment Awards, a national competition that surveys student services from campuses across the country, and has student judges pick their favourites. Tony Botelho, director at SFU Career Services and Volunteer Services, stressed that in the pursuit of a career it is important for students to leverage their degree, knowledge, and skills and to utilize previous experiences and human networks. He added that the Career Services centre is open
June 8, 2015
to help any student at SFU with concerns about their future. Botelho said, “We want people to start thinking about life after university when they start. It’s not that students [need] a whole plan.” One of the basic models that the Career Services focuses on is the acknowledgement that change is going to happen in the
future. “By the time you graduate, the world is going to be different and you are going to be different,” explained Botelho. Career Services helps students start thinking about the various possibilities that may interest them, and encourages them to take an “intentional approach,” using their time purposefully during university.
By pursuing co-op or volunteer positions, students become aware of possibilities they would otherwise not know about, Botelho explained. He believes those stepping stones open students to options that might motivate them to take on a different journey in the future. “What we do is giving [students] a little structure in terms of how to frame these activities, and then also giving them the permission [. . .] to change their minds,” he added. According to Botelho, SFU Career Services is one of the first career centres that fully embraces these unique approaches. In addition to the centre’s focus on first-years or students early in their career, its promotional activities played a big role in securing the award. Performance installation ads are one of the unique promotional activities that the Career Services has undertaken in the past. Recently, in 2011, Career Services booked a space in the AQ and set up a typical student’s living arrangement. On the set a person representing a student wore a green
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mask and displayed a sign with the message, “You can’t live here forever.” They filmed the performance, which to date has had nearly 20,000 views on YouTube. Earlier this year, the group held an interactive “Build Your Career” lego contest in which students were told to build a lego structure that represented their career possibilities. Submissions were posted to Instagram or Twitter along with the hashtag “#sfucareer.” “There are resources available here, so please take an advantage of [them],” Botelho encourages students. As a final message, he added that no one is alone in feeling anxious about what’s to come. “[You] are not the only one who’s worried about your future: it happens to everyone at some point. “Not knowing what you want to do is okay, however, just not doing anything is not a great strategy. There are things you can do that will positively influence your circumstances.”
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OPINIONS
June 8, 2015
opinions editor email
Adam Van der Zwan opinions@the-peak.ca
a homogenized class of business professionals making on average $10,000 more per household than the average Canadian one. This fact results from a highly controversial process: gentrification. As the rich move in to Vancouver, the less wealthy are forced to look elsewhere.
A recent article published in The Economist describes Vancouver as “mind-numbingly boring.” The author, under the
When you post a picture on Instagram, your main concerns are most likely how sweet it looks with the brand new filters, and whether or not it’ll be ‘liked’ a coveted 11 times or more. You aren’t typically concerned with the fact that people could take these Instagram photos — which don’t actually belong to you — and do whatever they’d like with them. Most people do not recognize Instagram as an extension of the public sphere; it is, and it needs to be treated as such. Is an artist who takes a photo of you from Instagram really that different
alias “Gulliver,” later states that the more “cities strive to become nicer places in which to live [. . . the] less interesting they become.” Vancouver continues to score high on the Livability Index, creating a global image of Vancouver as a fantastic place to live. But has this livability come at the price of fun? The answer is that it depends on where in the city you travel
from a candid photo taken on the train? I would argue no. The image cultivated by a person on social media should not be any different than the image you create through one’s daily life. If you wouldn’t be willing to walk down a street during rush hour in the same provocative position,
— it could be argued that East Vancouver is a much more interesting area due to its economic and cultural diversity. Firstly, Gulliver attempts to relate the diversity of individuals with an excitable urban environment. Though debatable, the connection is not to be ignored. It is true that in the Vancouver’s downtown core, the residents of the area are among some of the wealthiest in the city,
Gentrification is a global phenomenon. Those who can afford it — many of whom live a wealthy business culture frequently associated with a Western caucasian lifestyle — move into highly livable locations, and in the process create a living space where economic and cultural diversity wanes. Due to this homogenization, these areas suffer from a lack of diversity and can be viewed as somewhat monotonous or boring. Look downtown on a Tuesday, for instance: one is bombarded with the same professional individuals on their way to or from the office, or on their way to one of the region’s high-end restaurants.
This pattern is true of many areas in Vancouver’s downtown core, and several other neighbourhoods throughout the West Side. However, as one travels elsewhere in Metro Vancouver, the vibrancy of the city’s diversity shows. In East Vancouver, the range of cultures is astounding, and allows for many opportunities for residents. From enjoying a meal at a Jamaican restaurant, to celebrating an event at the Italian Cultural Centre, to enjoying a show at the Rickshaw Theatre, the experience created by the area’s diversity has resulted in a unique and entertaining area of the city. Fortunately, Vancouver is touted as one of the most multicultural regions in Canada. Though due to increased gentrification, this diversity has been somewhat subdued in certain regions and exaggerated in others. Vancouver is not “mindnumbingly boring.” The regional distinctiveness of its inhabitants makes it vibrant.
maybe you shouldn’t be posting an image of it on Instagram. Recently, artist Richard Prince caused a stir when he took Instagram screenshots, many of them sexually charged, and made slight changes to them, and sold them in a public gallery for around $90,000 each, all unbeknownst to the
original owners of the images. Instagram’s Terms of Use states that “once you have shared user content or made it public, [it] may be re-shared by others” — a line that permits anyone to do things like this with your photos, no matter if you like or benefit from them. I find the idea of artists appropriating our Instagram images to be less concerning than the lack of awareness on part of the people who originally posted the photos. The number of listicles that sites like BuzzFeed post containing public Instagram photos should be a dead giveaway that what goes on the Internet can be easily found, classified, and appropriated for a purpose other than what the original poster may have intended. Hence, it may be best to keep well-mannered photos of yourself online, and ditch those that make it look like you’re about to ‘fool around.’ The adage that you
shouldn’t post something you wouldn’t want your current or future employer to see doesn’t seem to resonate with people enough to deter them from posting these images. I suggest a new adage: don’t post something that you wouldn’t be willing to send in the Christmas card to grandma. Having met numerous grandmothers in my life, I can attest to the fact that they are much more intimidating and capable of instilling guilt than any employer. So when posting images to social media, remember two key points. First, if grandma saw this, would she write me out of her will, or lecture me for hours on how I am a better person than this image would suggest? Second, would I get arrested for a criminal offence if I did this while walking down the street? If you answer ‘yes’ to either of these questions, turn off your phone, and don’t post.
OPINIONS
June 8, 2015
A report from the Fraser Institute states that Canadians are carrying a large amount of debt, and that this may not be that bad. Philip Cross, a former chief economic analyst at Statistics Canada, states that our debt is generally being used as an investment for financing an education, obtaining a mortgage, or starting a business.
sleep with the Bachelorette in the fantasy suite, no cameras allowed, when there are only three left vying for her heart. The promo highlights and overemphasizes the guilt that the bachelorette is expected to feel from sleeping with one of the men before she had permission.
This season’s Bachelorette is Vancouver-girl Kaitlyn Bristowe. She charmed viewers with her quick comebacks and laid-back West Coast style on last season’s The Bachelor , and now she’s vying for the attention of 25 men in the California mansion. The only problem is, unlike all the past singles looking for love, her promo video for the season doesn’t focus on the drama between the contestants, or the beautiful sightson their travel across the globe on extravagantly unrealistic dates. Instead, it focuses on the fact that she chose to sleep with one of the men she was dating, before the allotted ‘time’ she is allowed to do so. On the popular reality show, contestants are ‘allowed’ to
The way the production studio purposefully edited the cuts for the promo highlighted the sexist attitudes within our entertainment industry. In one shot, Kaitlyn claims she should not feel bad for what she did, however, seconds later, she is seen crying and apologizing to the other men for her poor judgment and behavior. The men are then seen storming out, and questioning their own relationships with the upset bachelorette. They each act personally betrayed and disgusted that she acted in such a ‘promiscuous’ way.
The sad truth is, on other seasons with men in the lead role, the same thing has happened, and been either simply ignored or hinted at like it is not a big deal. This is because it really isn’t. Yet, when a woman consciously made the same choice as men before her have — to have consensual sex with someone she was in a relationship with, the summerlong television program had to focus on that one decision. Since when is shaming a woman for sleeping with someone she is dating or even hoping to eventually marry considered entertainment? In 2015, do we really not understand that people have sex? Because sex is a mere casual highlight during many other shows on the same network, I feel like ABC understands the birds and the bees. That being said, they should not have decided to slutshame Kaitlyn for doing what so many others before and after her, will do.
He believes that taking out loans for such ventures will pay off, and that our debt is under control — especially given that Canadians are “locking into low rates,” thus decreasing the risks of their overall debt. I agree with Mr. Cross that loans taken out for education, a mortgage, or starting a business can be beneficial, but it really depends on whether your education, mortgage, or business will become a true asset — generating income — or remain a liability. To take out loans in order to learn a trade or an applied science is generally going to guarantee financial independence. However, it’s financially risky to take out tens of thousands of dollars to pursue whatever other academic studies that might not guarantee you a job. If you happen to major in one of these fields, it may leave you unemployed or working three low-paid part-time jobs just to live. Meanwhile, compounding interest begins to accumulate on those loans. A Bachelor’s degree can be an
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asset, but majoring in a field that is low in demand and taking out massive loans to pay for it can also be a liability. Even if you manage to put your college or university education to good use, another form of debt awaits: your mortgage. The Canadian Real Estate Association states that Canadians have taken on nearly $8.3 trillion in mortgage debt. And while the average individual income according to Workopolis is $49,000, the average cost of a house is roughly $450,000. Even if one has a spouse to help pay for the mortgage, it could take more than a decade to pay off. And this excludes a lot of other sizeable expenses such as utilities, educational loans, vehicles, children, and unexpected events such as unemployment, spousal separation, or career change. While some people believe that their house is an asset, it is actually a liability, unless you’re renting it out. If you’re interested in starting a business, I think this is a fantastic idea. But know it is associated with a lot of risks. It usually takes at least a few thousand dollars, yet, according to statistics published by the Small Business Administration, roughly half of all business establishments endure for only five years, and only a third make it past 10. So, if a business is part of your plan, it might be a better idea to save enough money to start your own, being that it only takes a few thousand, than to take out loans. This way you won’t be indebted to the bank if your business isn’t successful. Philips Cross seems a bit optimistic about our supposedly overblown debt crisis. So I’ll be the voice of reason: using loans for the aforementioned reasons can definitely be beneficial, but doing so really requires knowledge, reason, and foresight.
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ocated in the basement of the Maggie Benston Centre, down a long, seemingly neverending hallway, SFU’s Archives and Records Management office is an area that most SFU students never take the time to visit. Despite containing some of our school’s oldest and most fascinating documents, the Archives — due in large part to a lack of awareness of their existence — have remained inaccessible to the majority of people who frequent the hill. However, as part of SFU’s 50th anniversary celebrations, the Archives are rolling out a Digital Repository — a project which has been years in the making — which should not only help our archivists continue to manage and permanently store all future important SFU records, but open up access to our past in a way never before possible.
As long as SFU has existed, so have our archives. Although they were founded by the university’s first librarian Donald Baird at the school’s inception, he quickly worked to separate them from the library and into the official repository of the university. SFU Archives’ collection includes a multitude of historical records in many formats, ranging from academic calendars to the correspondence of SFU’s inaugural president to original photographs of the initial construction of the Burnaby campus. Archive staff work to assist students, faculty, and community members navigate their way through the holdings to assist with them with whatever research they are doing. Whether someone is looking to find out the name of a biology course they took in 1987 for their resume, to investigate SFU’s radical past for a course paper, or even just to write an article for their student paper, the Archives are an important resource at SFU. Due to exceptions to the right of access resulting from freedom of information and privacy laws, as well as other issues including copyright, some of the Archives holdings are kept private. However, while records with open access are easily searchable on an online finding aid, they still require a visit to the physical space of the Archives’ office to actually view them. But, as a new era begins at the Archives this year, they are expected to become a whole lot more conveniently accessible for future generations.
Although SFU Archives’ main concern is the past, the future is rapidly becoming just as important to them. With so much of what we create turning to the digital realm in the 21st century, records are no longer an inherently physical product which complicates the old surefire, ‘papers in a box in a climate controlled room,’ method of archiving. While it might be easy to save something on a disc today, guaranteeing its long-term preservation is another story. Since the 1980s, when it became apparent that machine readable records were on their way, archivists have known that the future would bring drastic changes to their operations. However, it’s only been very recently that they’ve actually been able to do anything about it. Richard Dancy, the project lead for SFU’s Digital Records Repository Project, has been working in various positions at the Archives since 1998 and believes it’s only been in the last 10 to 15 years that archivists have really been able to grasp what’s going on. “I think archivists knew the general issues but it seemed overwhelming to actually get started because, with the tools, it seemed like you needed to be an IT programmer,” he explained. “But what’s very cool [is that] all these [new] tools are making it possible for archivists to start grappling with these issues [on their own].” Dancy, along with fellow archivist Paul Hebert, first experimented with an early version of Archivematica, the open-source tool which has allowed them to since build the Digital Repository, back in 2011. “We [got] pretty good at [the] workflows and procedures and tools for paper records that we’ve developed over the years,” Dancy explained on the motivation for the project. “We wanted to be able to do the same thing with digital because everything is created digitally now. A lot of it never was on paper. So, if we don’t start capturing that in our systems, we are going to be losing all that history.” After some experimentation in 2013, the Archives received a threeyear UPF (University Priority Funds) grant which has allowed them to get the Repository’s infrastructure in place. The pilot project is now slowly beginning to roll out this year. “What we’ve been doing up to now is taking things in, testing them, [and] testing the software,” Dancy explained. “We’ve just [gotten] our infrastructure ready, so that means we can now take things in and commit to preserving them.” Although the exact nature of the Digital Repository is quite complex and technical, it is essentially a system that will allow the Archives to preserve digitized records. Everything from an email to an entire website can now be archived for future reference. According to Archives staff, SFU is one of the first universities in Canada to have an integrated access and preservation system for their archives, a development which is aiding in their 50th anniversary celebrations.
While a lot of the motivation behind the creation of the Digital Repository was to allow for new formats of digital documents to survive in order to aid the researchers of tomorrow, an additional benefit is that the Archives are also digitizing many of SFU’s oldest and most precious documents. In honour of SFU turning 50 years old, the Archives are launching a blog entitled This Day in SFU History, which will serve as the public’s official introduction to the Digital Repository. Heading up the project, special projects archivist Michelle Curran has organized the digitation of 12 major groupings of records, which will be released one by one online each month beginning in June and continuing through May 2016. “It will be just kind of telling a story and at the bottom [giving] a link to the digitized items,” Curran explained. “In terms of research and people interested in the subject matter, I will recommend other collections at our institution and at other locations as well.” The first record set for release on the blog on June 9, is a digitized copy of an original acetate-based, 16mm colour film with a magnetic sound track entitled “This is Simon Fraser University,” which was produced by the SFU Resources Office in 1971. “The film sketches various aspects of life on campus in the the early ‘70s. It’s one of approximately 1,200 films that we have stored in our film archives,” Curran explained. “Now, you’ll be able to stream it in SFU AtoM [Access to Memory] from any location on campus or wherever you’re digitally connected.” Also slated for release online are popularly requested items such as academic calendars, convocation books, and the opening ceremony program from 1965, and also some records, previously unavailable to the public in any form and which date back to centuries before SFU opened. “[We will be releasing] the originally penned Simon Fraser letters, [and] some of them date back to the mid 1800s,” Curran explained. “These ones were very fragile, so they would never be circulating. Now that we’ve digitized them, people can get a sense and say, ‘oh wow, that’s what they look like. That was his penmanship back in the day.’” The Fraser letters were first acquired by SFU as part of research leading up to their grand opening, and in order to digitize them, Curran said that a preservation specialist had been consulted to clean and repair the letters. The conservator said that they were in excellent condition despite nearly being lost for good. “People thought they were missing for a few decades until the ‘80s when somebody found them. They were in a locked drawer when someone discovered them.” While Curran’s This Day in SFU History project is only intended to be produced for a year, the documents being released are staying online for good. According to Dancy, the Digital Repository will continue to make a lot more documents available online for people at home. “Yes, [we] definitely [want] to expand access. People want that. They see our descriptions online and they think, ‘Where are the records?’” Dancy explained. A goal of theirs, he says, is “definitely is to broaden access. It’s a big goal.”
Although the Digital Repository is an enormous step forward for the Archives in terms of the future of preservation and opening up their accessibility, there is still a lot of work to be done. “I think as archivists, you want to be careful not to say that we’re offering the ‘Holy Grail’ system of preservation, [but ] it’s definitely a step towards that,” Curran said, explaining that a personal visit to the Archives can still hold value. “There’s still a lot of contextual information that you might not necessarily get when reading something online. It’s the same thing with a book: a lot of it takes interpretation and talking to people,” she explained. “In the case of archives, we talk to people who actually work firsthand with the materials as they come in. “So it’s still good to come in, see the records for yourself and maybe even, if you get a chance, still physically hold something tangible. I think it gives you a better experience.” For Dancy, a big concern going forward is how to keep the project going into the future as they are currently entering the last year of their UPF grant. “We know how much it costs now to do this year after year, and [we’re now going to] try to roll that into a permanently funded program” he explained. “Even though the grant ends after three years, the need for preservation is ongoing. That’s our goal, [for the Digital Repository to] just be integrated into the archives program.” Despite the few questions going forward, Dancy, along with the rest of the Archive staff, are optimistic about the future of the Digital Repository. “It’s an exciting project because [. . .] in the last 10 to 15 years, there’s all sorts of stuff going on and it’s multidisciplinary. You’ve got archivists, but also librarians and museum people,” he explained. The open Archival Information System model that they are following, he continued, “was developed by NASA. Their own digital data has become standard. So it’s a whole kind of community building up around that. [. . .] It’s kind of exciting to be in it.” SFU Archives Digital Repository might very well be bringing the past to the future, but for all those involved, there’s no time like the present.
June 8, 2015
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COMMUNITY PHOTOS
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photo editor email
Phoebe Lim photos@the-peak.ca
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OPINIONS
Buses are awesome! They take you everywhere you need to go. They could give you the chance to reconnect with a long lost friend, or your closest pals. The shared purpose to reach one’s destination is so infectious that bus riding builds a community out of total strangers. Conversations become connections; strangers turn into future house party buddies. There is a certain untraceable love for public transportation that transcends all its commuters.
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And take the fabulous drivers! They love their jobs. Some are even keen on making the bus ride a great experience for everyone. They might make goofy gimmicks like belting out a Gloria Gaynor hit on the PA system, or take pleasure in being a pilot by announcing road updates, making the passengers feel like they’re on a WestJet flight to Production Station. I say buses are the greatest social-glue invention since shared sliced bread.
Nothing gives you a slower emotional death than knowing that you did your best to arrive on schedule for the bus only to see seconds turn into minutes, and minutes into an eternity as you wait for the stupid bus to show up. You have exhausted all your patience and still can’t see any sign of those yellow neon lights. You show up seven minutes before the bus’ scheduled time on your TransLink app. Unfortunately, it takes an extra five minutes to roll up to the bus stop and
when it does, it causes a further three-minute delay: some thickskulled duck doesn’t have his UPass for the new month, but insists on riding. While the unforgiving bus driver angrily tells the student to walk, you scream in your head, calculating the prolonged commute that lays ahead of you. Imagine the impatient person who’s been waiting an extra 10 minutes at the bus stop ahead. Keep waiting, loser!
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ARTS
arts editor email
June 8, 2015
Tessa Perkins arts@the-peak.ca
COMIC CONNOISSEUR
Justin Stevens Columnist
On a massive canvas, tar, enamel, varathane, oil, and corduroy create images of bodies which frame a circular opening. Adorned with flowers, the opening looks like a ceremonial basin with ribbed bodies of fish descending into the opening, along with fleshy intestinal viscera that hang like sausages over a stove pot. Attila Richard Lukacs’ painting, Trial & Error, also includes a young, nude male sitting upside-down on an inverted staircase. He holds a flute and is draped by an intestinal feather boa while another male body, also upside-down, is elongated on the opposite side of the surface. The painting sits within the SFU Art Collection vault. It is dated 1986, which means it was completed within the year following the Young Romantics exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery. This landmark exhibition of Vancouver painting was
curated by Scott Watson and included Lukacs, along with Graham Gillmore, Angela Grossman, Vicky Marshall, Philippe Raphanel, Charles Rea, Derek Root, and Mina Totino. Almost all of the artists represented in Young Romantics were recent graduates of Emily Carr College of Art & Design between 1979–85, and had already participated multiple shows together in the years leading up to large exhibition at the VAG. In much the same way as the term ‘Vancouver School’ collects artists such as Jeff Wall, Ian Wallace, Ken Lum, Vikky Alexander, and Rodney Graham as photoconceptualists, the designation of ‘Young Romantics’ functions to group these eight artists within a particular style of painting. While the former term has come to be thought of as representative of a regional aesthetic (aided in part by the term’s site-specific and pedagogic associations), the latter’s influence is less obvious to the non-Vancouverite. As outlined by Scott Watson “Toronto’s new painters are concerned with subject-matter and construct a didactic stance[. . .]. Vancouver’s young painters practise a métier and are concerned with the manipulation of their materials to an extent that sets them apart.”
This concern with materials is evident in Trial & Error, as well as in other works by these artists included in the SFU Art Collection. One work by Angela Grossman, titled The Wedding, is a large, multi-panel painting executed on old theatre flats using enamel, oil, and tar. These materials create an uneven surface upon which anthropomorphic forms haunt the intransigent lines of architectural decay. In Sound and Vision, Charles Rea represents the interior of the Pantheon in Rome by painting oil onto a surface of books. With the exception of a few paintings scattered around the SFU Burnaby campus by Graham Gillmore, Vicky Alexander, and Derek Root, the majority of the works by these artists reside within the collection’s vault. While there are some massive works that would be difficult to install based purely on scale — such as Grossman’s The Wedding which, when assembled, measures approximately two by three metres — even the works on paper could be logistically difficult to display on the walls of SFU, since they need to be framed. Scott Watson wrote that “today’s painters[. . .]react to the slick, polished look of the world of manufactured images they live in.” Thirty years on from when this was written, Watson’s words still ring true.
At first glance, Birthright seems like a hodgepodge of ideas audiences have seen a hundred times over. It has the usual smattering of concepts readers have come to expect from the fantasy genre. The story is as follows: a young boy named Mikey Rhodes is misplaced from his family and is thrust into an unimaginable new world filled with danger and intrigue. He is tasked with overthrowing an evil despot of insurmountable power. His supporting cast is a vibrant mix of mythical creatures, ranging from a pack of gibbons to a ferocious warrior ogre. The main character’s chief love interest is a strong female character who chastises him frequently. And, last but not least, there is a prophecy to which the main character is connected, one he is tasked with completing. On the surface, the story seems impeccably paint-bynumbers. Birthright, though, has more to it than you would expect. While readers are given intermittent bits and pieces of Mikey’s wild adventures, they are never the true focus of Birthright. The real focal point of the story is Mikey’s family and how they have dealt with his disappearance. Williamson and Bressan bring to life a heartbreaking look at how a child’s disappearance can shatter a once well-knit family. Brought to us from the perspective of Mikey’s older brother, we feel the anguish of losing a sibling.
We see a marriage dissolve under the accusation that his father murdered his young brother. In only a few pages, readers can feel the heavy burden of the characters and emphasize immediately. However, everything changes for the shattered Rhodes family when they are brought together by the FBI. At long last Mikey Rhodes has returned, but he is not the same little boy they remember. Only a year has passed, but Mikey is now a full grown man and a fearsomely strong warrior. While his return is a means for celebration for the Rhodes family, the real reason behind Mikey’s homecoming is far more foreboding. Joshua Williamson produces a story accessible for an audience young and old that expertly juggles pulse-pounding action with strong character development. He weaves the dual storylines of a young and old Mickey Rhodes seamlessly; readers will never prefer one story over the other. Each tale brings its own amount of intrigue to other evoking wonder about what the character has gone through and what his deceptive agenda holds. Andrei Bressan brings both worlds of the story to life in stunning fashion. Every page is diabetic, shock-inducing eye candy. Bressan’s action sequences and emotionally charged panels leave readers turning the pages to see what beautiful image he will bring to life next. Birthright is a welcome breath of fresh air for readers, an overdue and welcome change from recent fantasy stories that gives hope for the future of the genre. It is a fantastic reminder you should not judge a book by its cover — a sentiment we all tend to forget from time to time.
ARTS
Oh my God, that was the most awesome movie I’ve ever seen. Yes, yes, I know, no written work, let alone a film review, should start with those words, but it’s truly the only way you can talk about San Andreas aside from making the loud grunting noises of an excited ape. From a film critic or snob’s point of view, it’s a terrible movie. The plot depends on every cliché in the book — if there was a book on writing disaster movies, this movie would probably be sued for plagiarism. Let’s do a checklist of clichés in this movie. Likable single dad? Check. Said dad has emotional issues that led to his wife leaving him, but his ex-wife is still on good terms, and the dad, despite having an “emotional distance,” is sociable and everybody likes him? Check.
Korean hip-hop group Epik High took the stage by storm during the Vancouver stop on their North American tour, living up to their reputation as one of Korea’s most talented hip-hop acts. Playing a sold-out show at the Vogue Theatre, the group proved yet again that music can break cultural barriers. Composed of rapper Mithra Jin, DJ Tukutz, and leader Tablo, the trio have been creating music that fuses hip-hop with alternative sounds for over twelve years, collaborating with dozens of famous Korean artists such as Beenzino, Dynamic
June 8, 2015
Dickhead stepfather? Check. Disaster brings the family together? Obviously. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson plays Chief Raymond “Ray” Gaines, a search and rescue helicopter pilot for the LA fire department. He has a team, and they apparently came from the military together, but that’s not really important; his team just disappears after the first ten minutes. They don’t die, but The Rock is just a one-man team, I guess. His family life has suffered since the tragic death of one of his daughters, however his other daughter (Alexandra Daddario) is going to college, while his wife (Carla Gugino) surprises him with divorce papers (she’s dating a millionaire real estate developer (Ioan Gruffudd)). Meanwhile, the clichéd scientist character (Paul Giamatti) has some new theory to predict earthquakes. He and his scientist partner (who might as well be named Redshirt McDead), go to Las Vegas where there’s seismic activity, but no supposed fault lines. McDead suffers a heroic death, as there’s a big earthquake that destroys the Hoover Dam. Giamatti doesn’t have any time
Duo, Verbal Jint, and BIGBANG’s G-Dragon and Taeyang. The concert itself can only be described as electrifying. Two parts energy and three parts charisma, the group kept the crowd jumping and completely engaged throughout the
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to grieve as he finds out a big one’s headed for San Francisco. The Rock’s daughter has gone with her stepfather to San Fran on her way to college, while her mother is meeting with Kylie Minogue for some reason. The daughter meets some British kids, which is lucky because Mr. Fantastic turns out to be a complete coward when the earthquake hits, before eventually going full
heel and pushing people out of his way. The British boys save The Rock’s daughter, and hang out with her for the rest of the movie, while The Rock tries to save his family. You’ll never guess how it ends. It’s always awesome to see a big city get destroyed (in the movies). The Rock is actually a pretty good actor — I nearly cried at his dramatic monologue — and the rest of the cast
performed pretty well too. My only qualm is that the movie drags on a bit too long; with a running time of 114 minutes, it could have afforded to be a bit closer to an hour and a half. I may have exaggerated a tad, calling it the most awesome movie ever — that title belongs to either Flash Gordon or Highlander — but seriously, it’s the best. Everything’s so cheesy and formulaic that it just. . .works.
entirety of the show. The trio was able to combine older and classic songs such as “Love Love Love,” “Fan,” and “One” with their newer titles, such as “Burj Khalifa,” “Rich,” and “Happen Ending,” all from their 2014 album Shoebox . It created
the perfect mix of familiar and fresh sounds, building up the anticipation of what was to come next. The group’s stage presence was a force to be reckoned with. I was overwhelmed with how they were able to bring the stage to life, conducting the crowd from virtually all angles. That, coupled with the music and lights, kept the crowd cheering and waving their hands along with the various beats. During the Q&A session half way through the show, the three artists responded to questions regarding their personal impressions of Vancouver and musical inspirations. While Tablo generally kept his answers sincere, claiming at one point to be inspired both by his daughter, Haru, and by Epik High’s fans, DJ Tukutz made the crowd laugh with his humorous responses. It was refreshing, and a shining example of how Epik High’s personalities make the group admirable and down-to-earth.
One thing that really stood out to me was the passion Epik High has for their fans and their ability to interact with the audience on a personal level. Throughout the entirety of the concert, the group was consistently asking the audience questions, dedicating songs to the crowd, and even taking numerous group photos. It felt like they were there for the fans, not vice versa, which is something I have never experienced at a concert before. At the end of the night, Tablo voiced his desire for the crowd to feel inspired by Epik High’s performance and to feel motivated to pursue our dreams. It was refreshing to hear this from the former Vancouverite, and he repeatedly reminded the crowd that Epik High are living proof that things do get better. With the performance they presented, I can honestly say that I believe it. The night was inspirational and captivating for me in a way that no other concert experience has ever been.
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Here are some things you can look forward to in Aloft: a pig giving birth in the opening shot, numerous sex scenes where the characters seem to be enjoying themselves as much as the aforementioned pig, and a pigish mother who is glorified for abandoning her children to become a faith healer. Sound like your cup of porky miserabilism? This is the feel-bad movie of the year that makes you feel even worse once you realize it’s all for nothing. The story jumps between two time periods. The earlier one follows a mother’s struggle to raise her two sons — one of whom is fatally ill — after the death of her husband. The second timeline takes place about 25 years later as a journalist and the older son journey to a reclusive place in the northernmost part of Canada.
June 8, 2015
Beautiful, ponderous shots of ice and forests imply that you should take this movie very, very seriously. It deals with essential themes of memory, loss, grief, and faith; it’s about searching for meaning and healing in a cold wasteland and finding warmth through the search. And then there’s some indistinguishable meaning behind some falcons and nature and art. Admittedly, the reason everyone is so sad is eventually unveiled after over an hour of unnecessary confusion. Like Atom Egoyan’s Exotica, all the characters are aware of a tragedy that has occurred, but it’s not revealed to the audience until much later in the film. This device works very well in Egoyan’s work because it allows us to focus on the universality of the characters’ suffering rather than the particulars of their situation. Though, where Exotica ’s great reveal actually revealed something of human nature, Aloft simply uses it as a contrived plot device to try to hold the viewer’s interest in what is otherwise a dull melodrama. The most crucial character change is the mother’s acceptance of her role as a faith
healer. It creates the strain in her relationship with her son, but more importantly, it links the two timelines together. You would think we would be given a reason for her drastic and abrupt shift from skepticism to devotion, but it’s simply not in the film. Aloft doesn’t think coherence matters. Rather than tell a conventional story, it wants to be a tone poem or a parable that doesn’t need to make logical sense. Despite the dreamy mood created by a cold visual palette and the often discontinuous editing, the issue with this film’s deeper layer is that the development is muddled the same way as the plotting. “But nature does not judge the darkness or the light and so it is unpredictable,” the mother says at the end of the film, as an image of the falcon projects onto the screen. This final speech is meant to define the metaphor, but it tightens things up as much as a belt that sags on the loosest belt hole. Not only is her statement nonsensical lip-flap, but it makes even less sense with the context of what the falcon does in the film. Do you get it? If so, maybe you’re the falcon — as high as the sky. How’s that for a metaphor?
Aloha is about, um, it’s about. . . Okay, let’s start with the basics: Brian Gilcrest (Bradley Cooper) is a contract worker for the military who has come for a brief stop in Hawaii to convince a group of native residents to trade their land. He is escorted around the island by a cute captain named Allison Ng (Emma Stone), who, despite being overbearing and rough around the edges, grows on him. Things get a little more complicated when Allison discovers Brian’s connection to a dubiouslyintentioned businessman and an ex-girlfriend who is now unhappily married with children. This new rom-com from Cameron Crowe, one of the most inoffensive filmmakers working today, stirred controversy among a group of native Hawaiians for not properly representing their culture. Although casting the pale, blonde Emma Stone as a character who is a quarter Hawaiian is a bit of a stretch, it is the very least of this film’s worries. In his early work, like Jerry Maguire, Say Anything, and Almost Famous, Crowe was a master at creating one kind of “movie moment”: when the mundane is exaggerated to express heightened human emotions. Although these kinds of films aren’t grounded in circumstances we can identify with, they capture an essence of our everyday experiences by inflating them. These movies provide this kind of unabashedly nice wishfulfilment. In general, his films often feature great soundtracks with an eclectic taste of pop tunes that give us the warm and fuzzy feeling that something down-to-earth and ambiguous might miss.
Our lives don’t have a soundtrack by Peter Gabriel, but we can see ourselves wanting to be John Cusack holding that boombox over our head. It’s a little ridiculous and more than a little cheesy, but it gets at an aura, an emotion, a dream only the movies can give us. Aloha has glimpses of these moments, but too often the film settles for another kind of “movie moment”: those absurd and contrived instances where we’re supposed to just go along with ridiculous coincidences, gaps in logic, and muddled motivation, because the characters do. Aloha seems totally oblivious to the fact that it too often indulges in this. Much of this story is incomprehensible: why does the military need that specific piece of land where the group of Hawaiian natives are living? What is the military’s motive in privatizing satellites? Why did Brian Gilcrest get shot in Afghanistan? How does Brian take down the satellite at the end of the film? Even the understandable parts of the plot is flimsy with leaps of faith that are about as plausible as the Hawaiian myths in the film. For example, the film’s most crucial plot development — when Allison discovers that the satellite is secretly being weaponized — is contingent on at least seven assumptions: (1) that a pre-teen boy would bring a camcorder everywhere; (2) that he would sneak out to film random things at night; (3) that he would be able to stumble upon the location of the satellite; (4) that the workers arming the satellite would leave the doors to the factory open; (5) that he would be able to get past a fence and security (unless we are to believe there is no fence or security); (6) that he would be reviewing his footage on a television perfectly visible by Allison as she walks into the house unannounced; (7) that the boy wouldn’t tell his mother or Brian about the video. Aloha has good intentions, but it feels like it’s from another planet.
HUMOUR
June 8, 2015
humour editor email
Jacey Gibb humour@the-peak.ca
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18 DIVERSIONS / ETC
June 8, 2015
LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION
19: FRIDAY
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June 8, 2015
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editor-in-chief email
Max Hill eic@the-peak.ca
June 8, 2015