June 15, 2015 · Volume 150, Issue 6
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Even though she was on the pill and sometimes missed a month here or there, she still wanted to take a pregnancy test to be sure. Our lazy morning itinerary of pancakes and hanging out suddenly included a layover stop at Shoppers Drug Mart.
So there we were, sitting beside each other in a bustling Tim Hortons, reading-but-notactually-reading a nondescript issue of the New Westminster NewsLeader, waiting to find out if there was indeed a humanto-be growing inside of my girlfriend’s uterus. I’m hesitant to say that pregnancy-scares are just another part of growing up. Obviously there’s the factor of some people practicing abstinence, either intentionally or otherwise, and therefore entirely avoiding such distresses in the first place. But aside from that exception, I’m going to take a leap and say that almost everyone who’s been in a heterosexual relationship will have to go through a pregnancy scare at least once in their life. Our day had started off like most should: lazily and with a stack of pancakes. Over the mess of syrup and battered remains left on our plates, my girlfriend at the time mentioned that she’d missed her last few periods.
For the uninitiated reader curious to know, you can generally find pregnancy tests in the drugstore aisle under “family planning,” which reads like a twisted joke when you’re young and stupid and scared of what an unexpected pregnancy might possibly do to your life’s trajectory. After declining help from a friendly employee who asked if we needed “help looking for anything in particular,” we settled on a pregnancy test that hovered around the midprice range (because you don’t want to get the cheapest one, but you also don’t need to pay top-dollar for something you’re going to pee on once and then throw away). But as we waited at the checkout and the line grew
shorter, I unexpectedly became more and more uncomfortable with the thought of our cashier — a young-looking girl, who in all likelihood was probably around our own age — knowing the real reason why we were visiting a Shoppers so early in the morning. Eager to deceive her, I reached out and grabbed the closest thing: an oversized Toblerone chocolate bar, one of many that were stacked in a bin and boasting a discount. “There,” I remember sighing with relief, holding a giant Toblerone in one hand and a pregnancy test in the other, “now it won’t be as awkward.” After that we ducked into the nearby Tim Hortons and both went into separate bathrooms to do the same thing for different reasons. I remember reconvening outside of the restrooms and pulling up a pair of stools to the nearest counter. “I set an alarm for three minutes,” she said, a time window too narrow to do anything but too long to do nothing. I grabbed a nearby community newspaper and began casually flipping through pages while my free hand held my girlfriend’s. Before long, our grasp had grown warm with sweat, though I couldn’t tell if it was from my hand or hers.
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NEWS
June 15, 2015
news editor email
Melissa Roach associate news editor news@the-peak.ca
Samaah Jaffer
NEWS
Nick Bondi Peak Associate
June 15, 2015
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6 NEWS
During the question period, Senator Jon Driver responded to a request for an update on the new Centre for English Language Teaching, Learning, and Research (CELLTR) initiative. Driver spoke to the multilingual nature of the Lower Mainland and added that SFU’s campus community reflects that diversity. “As a university, we ought to be very proud that we graduate large numbers of students who are competent in more than one language,” said Driver. “Nevertheless, the English language abilities of some of our students can make it more difficult for them to progress through their programs.” Driver explained that due to concerns around that difficulty, a committee was formed and taking into considerations their report as well as some parallel examples from other institutions. He came to the conclusion that “the right approach to supporting students for whom English is not their first language is to integrate those supports across the university rather than segregating those supports into a particular functional unit.” Out of this came the idea for CELLTR, a small unit that would organize and expand efforts to understand the university experience of students for whom English is not their first language. Senator David Paterson expanded, “What’s new about CELLTR is the integration of research and service delivery.” He also added that the research component would allow the centre to constantly assess the impact of their services and then improve them. SFU President Andrew Petter added, “It has the potential to create crosscultural communication that will not only assist with linguistic competence, but also provide educational, cultural, irreversible development that can go way beyond that.”
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After occupying its location in the Cornerstone building for just over a decade, the Himalayan Peak Indian Cuisine restaurant has served its very last “mountain cream butter chicken” and “seven chakra channa masala.”
From February 2005 to May 2015, the Himalayan Peak served thousands of ethnic dishes to the SFU community and employed over 150 students. At the time the restaurant was established, three of the
four business owners — Aman Bhangu, Vikas Kumar, and Aarti Kumar — were SFU students. While both Vikas and Aarti Kumar were pursuing their undergraduate degrees, Bhangu was completing an MBA and working full-time for SFU as an analyst in institutional research and planning. The fourth partner, Sunny Kumar, doubled as Himalayan Peak’s executive chef. The Peak spoke to Bhangu on the vision behind the restaurant’s inception, the decision to sell the business, and the legacy it leaves behind. Himalayan Peak was the first independent sit-down restaurant in the history of SFU. “We are proud of that fact,” said Bhangu. “We like to think that [Himalayan Peak] carved out a small space in the university’s history books. “Before the opening of the Cornerstone building,” Bhangu explained, “the dining options on campus were limited and generally considered to be poor quality by students and staff alike. We wanted to open something on campus that was unique, [served] high quality food, and [had] a nice atmosphere that was welcoming to students, faculty, staff, and the UniverCity residents.
“Sunny Kumar was a seasoned chef, experienced, and specializing in Indian cuisine, therefore, an Indian restaurant was the natural choice. The name Himalayan Peak was chosen to be consistent [with] SFU’s biggest feature — Burnaby Mountain!” The 70-seat restaurant was equipped with an authentic tandoor, or clay oven, for baking tandoori dishes and Indian naan bread. According to Bhangu, the most rewarding part of running the restaurant was the connections they made within the SFU community. “SFU is filled with so many interesting people and Himalayan Peak provided the opportunity to form long term relationships with them. So many SFU faculty, staff, students, alumni would come through the doors on a regular basis. “There was even a group of international students that would refer to [the manager] Onika, as ‘mom,’” Bhangu explained. “One of the best moments was when the mother of an international student came in during convocation and thanked Onika and Sunny for taking care of their son while he was away from home.” The biggest challenge, and ultimate reason for selling the business, was the increase in food vendors on campus.
During his time as an SFU employee, Bhangu was responsible for analyzing the space on campus. Last year he applied that experience to find out how much of the campus space was occupied by food services. “I found that from 2004 to 2014 there was a 93 per cent increase in the square footage allocated to food services across a combined SFU and UniverCity. Meanwhile, I found the population on campus grew at a much more conservative clip.” Based on his calculations, Bhangu concluded, “There are about 50 per cent more dining services on campus than I believe there should be. [. . .] The underlying issue is simply too much food and too few stomachs.” The decision to sell the restaurant was made with the facts in mind, and noting the trend towards “more chains, less ‘mom-and-pop’” restaurants, they hoped to make space for the “new concept.” Students can expect the Cornerstone spot will be filled with another food vendor in the near future. Although unable to release details, Bhangu confirmed that, “[Himalayan Peak] was purchased by what we believe will be a successful eastern Canadian restaurant chain, which fortunately is also owned by SFU alumni.”
NEWS
As old as the university itself, the SFU Office of the Ombudsperson is significant in that it was the first of its kind found at an academic institution in North America. The office is an independent resource for the university community that aids in conflict resolution when it comes to issues of academic integrity, academic difficulties, or misunderstandings related to language skills or different culture. The word Ombudsperson may throw some people off, as it has its roots in a 300-year-old Swedish term, ‘ombudsman’, meaning “person who has an ear to the people.” ‘Ombudsperson’ means an advocate for fairness and equity, rather than for individual’s specific complaints. As the university opened in 1965, the students at the time felt that the Ombudsperson was something that would benefit the university. “At that point, there were no other ombudspersons in any other universities,” explained Jay Solman, SFU Ombudsperson.
The Council moved to hire an external consulting company to help the GSS develop and implement its Strategic Plan. Greg Christie, Director of Finance prefaced the motion by saying, “We’re at a very interesting [point of time] in the society where we’ve been giving serious consideration to [. . .] how we want to run the GSS over the next few years.” Scott Blythe from AdvanceU1st Consultants gave a
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For the 50th anniversary, a joint conference was held in May “where ombudspersons from all over North America and Europe came. It was hosted at the Harbour Centre downtown, and SFU did contribute to the conference as a sponsor,” said Solman. The office has evolved over the years in response to turnover in students, faculty members, and student societies. In 2007, students had approached the university because they felt that the office was needed to fall in line with where other offices had gone. Solman explained, “Over time, things start to get more
brief summary of his firm’s proposal to assist the society to specify its goals, and to define and carry out actions to help achieve those goals. He identified a few points of improvement, including a lack of planned action to carry out goals and ways to measure their success, as well as there being no structured points of communication with university governing bodies like Senate or the Board of Governors. Concerns from Council representatives included hiring externally instead of providing opportunities to grad students, and there were some questions regarding the ambiguity of the language in the proposal. Interim Executive Director Mike Soron pointed out the advantages of having someone external who is not bogged down by regular
professional, they grow. [. . .] So [SFU] felt that having a jointly funded office [by SFU, the Graduate Student Society, and the Simon Fraser Student Society] — that was fulfilling national standards.”
The office is independent, as it is not affiliated with any other parts of the university.
society business to work on long-term planning. The motion ultimately passed by simple majority.
While Mike Soron is currently filling in as Interim Executive Director of the GSS, come September, the staff position will once again be vacant. Council voted to begin the hiring process of a new Executive Director and appointed a hiring panel. The society will advertise the position over weeks to come, and will be accepting applicants until the end of July. The selected candidate will be ratified at the August Council meeting and will be trained to take over in September. The position will pay a yearly stipend of approximately $70,000 — a figure
According to Solman, “The independence is about the respect that the office is given, and the understanding that there is a reason for independence within the university.” The primary role of the Ombudsperson at SFU is in conflict resolution between the university and students. When students feel like they have been treated unfairly by the university, the Ombudsperson is one of the resources that they can seek. “This office helps the students exercise their rights, in
which was concerningly high to some representatives of the Council. It was pointed out that this was the national average for a director of a nonprofit organization with one to two years of experience. Some discussion revolved around the possibility of the position being held by a student, as the GSS has articulated a desire to create opportunities for graduate students. Soron replied, “We would be putting the society at risk, quite honestly, by not having somebody with the institutional memory lasting over a year, a full-time dedication to the society separate from any academic commitments [. . .] I do think that’s quite important.” The hiring panel will add a testing component to the process to ensure candidates meet the desired level of skill for the position.
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some way, and also helps the students to understand how to resolve a problem within the university,” expresses Solman. The Office of Ombudsperson works in two ways: holding the university accountable to a standard of treatment of its students and helping the students directly. “[The university] should be transparent, we should be clear with our policies, we should be timely in the decisions we [make], and a student should have a real understanding of what happens if they are accused of something,” emphasized Solman. About 400 students a year come see the Ombudsperson through referrals. There are variety of issues that the Ombudsperson deals with, such as students in Residence and Housing, students with extenuating circumstances, grade appeals, graduate students who have issues with their supervisors, issues around fees and transfer credits, students with issues about certain policies in the university and academic integrity. Said Solman, “Every day is different. There are always unique problems. “University is complicated, and then when you get different answers, that can be hard to figure that out,” he added. “I am a resource. I am really here to help students resolve issues. [They do] not need to be huge issues.”
8 NEWS
SFU students may no longer have to bust open their piggy banks to buy course materials for popular courses. Recently, the Minister of Advanced Education for the provincial government Andrew Wilkinson announced that BCcampus would
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add 50 new open textbooks to the already 70 strong database this fall. Open texts are freely accessible ones available digitally. The Open Textbook Program began in 2012 when the government pledged $1 million to BCcampus to develop low- or no-cost materials for the most commonly taken courses. It is now used by around 5,000 students across BC. Minister Wilkinson explained to The Peak some of the potential benefits he sees in open textbooks: “[Students] get [a] curriculum that is very much related to British Columbia priorities and British Columbia teaching standards.”
UBC scientists receive $3 million to provide job-related training [VANCOUVER] –– A number of UBC students were granted $3 millions worth in scholarships over six years by The National Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada to prepare them for the workforce. The award is presented in a form of training programs, which give the opportunity for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students to have more practical training in the fields of science and technology. The two programs Collaborative Research and Training Experience, and ECOSCOPE were given the grant to help bridge the knowledge learned in university with actual job experience. With files from The Ubyssey
He acknowledged, “We all know that the published textbook is in danger of becoming obsolete the minute it’s printed.” However, open textbooks, as he explained, can be updated online on a constant basis. The Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) has been involved with the Open Textbook Program since 2013, when former SFSS president Chardaye Bueckert emphasized it in her election platform. Brady Yano, current VP University Relations, and other volunteers began to reach out to students by starting a petition which collected 2,500 signatures from undergraduates who were
interested in the university exploring open textbooks. Yano remarked that most students were unaware that such textbooks were freely available. He said, “The majority of students were interested in the potential cost savings that were associated with open textbooks.” Wilkinson expanded, “Our goal is to provide affordable educational tools for students, and if that means we’re going to compete with the academic publishers who revamp textbooks every year or two with essentially the same content, we’re quite happy to compete with them.” Yano acknowledged that a small number of students were opposed to open text. Their complaints, in his opinion, boiled down to the textbooks threatening student jobs at the SFU bookstore and that physical books were preferable to digital ones. Yano was quick to point out that all open textbooks can be printed for about $13. Furthermore, the SFU bookstore exist as a break-even operation. Yano predicted that open textbooks would save SFU money by eliminating the need to return unsold textbooks back to the publisher at a loss. He referred to the bookstore’s losses from the 2013/2014 fiscal year, totalling $481,000.
Queen’s drafts new policy on sexual assault [KINGSTON] –– The draft for a new policy at Queen’s University was released by their Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Working Group (SAPRWG) on June 1 demanding recommendations to the university Senate about inclusion and improvement of the policy already in effect. In addition to resources available to victims, the new draft includes a list of definitions of words including sexual assault, consent, harassment and misconduct. SAPRWG aims to present this policy to the Senate in the coming weeks hoping the new amendments come into effect before the start of the Fall semester. With files from The Journal
According to Wilkinson, the most significant challenge for the open textbook program has been getting faculty on board. He noted that utilisation of the open textbooks was higher in teaching universities and colleges compared to research universities such as SFU. Yano noted that while SFU provides the highest number of faculty that review these texts, no open textbook has been adopted at any of the university’s three campuses. Said Yano, “I think if professors were reminded of the fact that tuition is significantly more expensive today than in previous times, hopefully they can empathize with students and help save students money.” Wilkinson further explained that “one of the priorities of this program is to [understand] the decisionmakers and sort out why they aren’t making more use of these texts.” He added, “if it’s because they’re concerned about content, then we want them to participate in improving the content.” Where does Minister Wilkinson see the program in the next few years? “We’re hoping it continues to expand,” he said, “Now we have to get the instructors to catch onto the idea [. . .] that these materials are every bit as good as the ones available commercially.”
York University mascots stir controversy [TORONTO] –– Earlier last year, a member of the Students Against Israeli Apartheid posed with the York University Lions mascots, carrying a sign supporting the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement, inspiring anger from many Toronto Pro-Israel groups. The university responded by saying that the mascots promote university spirit by walking around campus on a regular basis and posing for photographs when asked. A recent video was released showing York Lions mascots posing with random students, which the university hopes will affirm that there was no political intent behind the photograph. With files from The Excalibur
OPINIONS
When it comes to purchasing a single-family detached home in increasingly unaffordable Vancouver, it appears that millennials literally can’t even. The hashtag #donthave1million, begun by 29 year-old environmental scientist Eveline Xia, has become a rallying point for disgruntled young urban professionals frustrated that they will never be able to afford a home. Xia recently attracted a crowd of over 500 people, sharing their grievances at the Vancouver Art Gallery. The message here is clear: both the municipal and provincial governments must snap out of their blissful ignorance and take action on a housing market that only services the rich and neglects the middle class. A popular target for Xia and her supporters is the issue of foreign investment, which they believe inflates prices in Vancouver when wealthy foreign buyers purchase property as a highearning, low-risk investment. The data that backs this theory up, though, is difficult to find. The Globe and Mail reports that “45,000 millionaire migrants arrived in Vancouver between 2005 and 2012.” Additionally, Business Vancouver reported on June 10 that foreign investors estimate around 5 per cent of the housing market, but “no hard number on foreign buyers [. . .] exists.”
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These numbers don’t reveal the true scale of foreign buying, though they do suggest it could be a problem. More action should be taken to prevent wealthy buyers from sinking money into luxury Vancouver homes, which have risen in value by 63 per cent since 2001. For reference, salaries have risen by only 36.2 per cent in the same time period.
A solution to this could be an absentee homeowner tax which would introduce a property tax on owners who leave their residence empty for a large portion of the year. This measure would specifically target those who either purchase holiday homes in Vancouver or those who buy homes for purely speculative purposes, with no intention of living in them. Perhaps even more important than cooling down the breakneck inflation of the housing market is to rethink housing development in Vancouver. Maybe the age of the single-family home has come and gone. Vancouver is dwarfed by geographic barriers such as mountains, bodies of water, and farmlands, which prevent the city from sprawling in all directions. As space reaches a premium, the “Vancouver dream” may have to shift from a detached family home to a condo or townhouse. The City of Vancouver must be more proactive in rezoning neighborhoods to accommodate
higher density living, as well as creating incentives for high density development. What is immediately apparent about mostly privileged millennials who are unable to afford a spacious detached house as their first property is that homeless people and those living under the poverty line are completely neglected from the debate. Any property taxes or rezoning investments will only marginally reduce housing price inflation and will primarily help the upper middle class. But British Columbia remains a province where approximately one child out of five lives in poverty. While Ms. Xia’s group, Organized Vancouverites for Affordable Housing Rally, channels the ire of twentysomethings looking for a foothold in Vancouver’s property market, it is unclear who is advocating for the interests of those in extreme poverty. For these people, a single family-home may never be a reality and affordable housing initiatives must consider this. The most pressing priority on the government’s agenda should be the creation of more public and subsidized housing across the entire Metro Vancouver region. While making homes more affordable is desirable and important for the city’s economy, as long as homelessness and poverty remains an issue, Millennials like Xia will have to stick it out with landlords.
opinions editor email
Adam Van der Zwan opinions@the-peak.ca
The damage that was inflicted on First Nations children within residential schools is a painful part of Canadian history. Children were forced to assimilate into Western culture, having their language and customs beaten out of them. Even when they had forgotten their native tongue and their home, they were always seen as outcasts, as peoples who never truly belonged in Canadian society.
On June 2, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released a final report which included 94 recommendations on how Canadians can begin to move forward in repairing the “cultural genocide” committed by residential school staff, as well as their relationships with First Nations peoples. These recommendations included the creation of a National Centre and Council for Truth and Reconciliation, and policy objectives regarding Aboriginal health, education, justice, and commemoration, among others. While Stephen Harper publicly apologized to former residential school students in 2008, the pain and sorrow inflicted by these institutions is not something that a simple apology can fix. The atrocities committed at residential schools
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were actually far worse than the few details that Canadian public social studies and history classes imply. In 1965, Russell Moses wrote a letter to the Indian Affairs branch of the federal government detailing his experiences in a residential school, after they had asked for a candid account of his schooling. Moses spoke of scarcely having enough to eat, while some children resorted to stealing food scraps meant for the pigs to feed their own empty bellies. The children had no toothbrushes, no underwear, and were beaten if they were caught speaking their native tongue. Religion was forced upon them, but it lacked any sentiment of Christian love and care. Even back in the ‘60s, Moses emphasized the importance of the preservation of Aboriginal culture and, most of all, that people received a proper education. The TRC echoes this by combatting stigma and judgment against First Nations peoples, through putting an emphasis on educating the public about residential school history. Education and legislation are important first steps towards raising awareness about what First Nations peoples have been through, but we can’t truly erase the hurt of the past. While the recommendations of the Commission are certainly admirable, they can only be put into action through collaboration with First Nations peoples on how to best implement these principles. Their input needs to be valued in order to ensure that their people and their culture are fully respected. True reconciliation will only come with forgiveness, and the focus that the government and the general public place on making sure that history doesn’t repeat itself. We all have a part to play in remembering this dark part of Canada’s history, and moving forward to a future filled with hope and understanding.
10 OPINIONS
seem as though it would be commonplace for boys to go so far as to change their gender identity in every aspect of their lives simply to ogle girls in a bathroom, an environment which I promise the former Arkansas Governor is far from sexy, no matter what porn tells him.
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On June 3, Mike Huckabee, a US Presidential candidate, argued that transgenderism is a “social experiment.” Although Huckabee’s and my opinions on gender identity issues greatly differ, there’s merit in the essence of this statement. With headlines blown up by Caitlyn Jenner’s vogue debut, BuzzFeed videos going viral about transgender transitions, and public advocacy booming for gender neutral bathrooms, the question of gender and its place in society is a hot topic. People like Huckabee like to joke about the ridiculousness of situations in which preexisting gender roles are questioned. In his speech addressed to the National Religious Broadcasters’ convention, Huckabee says that he would have pretended to be transgender if it meant showering with girls in high school, and that children shouldn’t have to see men in the women’s bathroom, implying that it’s inappropriate. In both situations, Huckabee depicts men as stereotypically hyper-sexualized. He makes it
By saying that men in women’s washrooms is subjecting children to something inappropriate, Huckabee implied that parents should be worried about pedophiles in women’s washrooms. But something tells me that Huckabee wouldn’t give a woman in a men’s washroom more than an awkward glance, rather than fearing for his children’s safety. Putting aside the issues of gender and how people are classified, why would a straight man in a women’s washroom really be a threat? Are all men pedophiles? Why are washrooms any different than other public spaces such as busses — if a man sat near your child on a bus, would you be scared for their safety?
As a former Barbra Rae co-ed residence inhabitant, I can personally advocate that seeing men in my washroom isn’t as big a deal as naysayers make it out to be. For the first week or so of using a co-ed bathroom (showers and all — shocking, I know), I did find a male presence a bit off-putting; but this is because I was outside the boundaries of what I had been taught was normal, not because I was worried for my safety or concerned about my privacy. The borders placed upon gender and the classifications that come with it are taught to us, which also means public attitudes can be taught to change in the future. The popularization of topics such as transgenderism and gender identity in general brings to light the way people are taught to interact with one another. I personally think that people like Caitlyn Jenner are advocating not only for transgender people but also for a generally better society. If transgenderism is a “social experiment,” I’d argue it’s a positive one. We need to reevaluate the way we approach gender; the way we assume all men are predators, the way we feel that
FIFA has never been the poster child for well-run, squeaky clean organizations. There have been rumblings for years about corruption within the management ranks, but no concrete evidence or charges were brought up. Through it all, FIFA survived, seemingly more powerful than ever. Of course, that all changed recently, with 11 FIFA executives
banned for bribery or corruption charges dating back two decades as a result of criminal proceedings from the US and Switzerland. The public face of all that was wrong with FIFA was President Sepp Blatter, and he did nothing to help himself, either. He awarded the 2022 World Cup location to Qatar, where migrant labourers are continually being worked to death and homosexuality remains illegal. According to the Washington Post, 1,200 workers have already died in Qatar since the games were announced. and 4,000 are likely to die while working on these sites. On the problem of racism within global soccer, Blatter stated that most of it could be
settled with a handshake. In another one of his most infamous comments, he said that to increase the popularity of women’s soccer, the athletes should wear tighter shorts. Then, of course, there’s the numerous accusations that he gave out bribes for his vote in his re-election attempts, and like any man addicted to power, said that he wasn’t going to run for re-election in 2011, but did so anyway in 2015. With Sepp Blatter’s resignation comes hope that change will come. It’s obvious why he is resigning now after denying he would a few days earlier: like a long-winded car chase, the investigation is soon to close in on him. Vice-President Jack
everyone must fit into a neat box. These on-trend topics act as a platform for a social experiment in bettering the way we, as a society, treat one another. It’s just time to make sure that people like Huckabee don’t drown out those looking for newfound equality.
Warner is now under investigation, and ex-FIFA official Chuck Blazer admitted that FIFA did in fact accept bribes for the 1998 and 2010 World Cup Bids. Unfortunately, Warner’s official last day in power will be in December, but hey, that’s better than nothing.
The new President will have a heck of a job in front of them. FIFA needs to elect someone who embodies the respectful spirit of soccer. Former players such as Luis Figo and Michel Platini would be
perfect for it. Luis Figo is a former Real Madrid and Barcelona star, and was running for election in 2015 until he pulled out stating that the “election process is a plebiscite for the delivery of absolute power to one man — something I refuse to go along with.” Michel Platini is also a former player, and is the current head of UEFA. He has experience running a soccer federation, and like Figom is already well respected within the community. It took some outside force, but FIFA has finally gotten rid of the man who was holding them back. Now they have the chance to focus on their future.
OPINIONS
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Adam Van der Zwan Opinions Editor Wow! A whole lot of hate has been thrown at Mark Zuckerberg recently — both from media skeptics and other generally educated people. And while I’ve been painfully trying to play devil’s advocate toward some of the Facebook-related issues out there, I really just can’t with this one.
Zuckerberg’s Internet.org project, powered by Facebook, aims to bring the Internet to parts of the world that don’t have access. This means that an assortment of Middle Eastern and African countries will have access to basic, predetermined Internet services: a saddeningly small selection of websites (yes, of course Facebook tops the list!) which will broaden these citizens’ minds and further connect the world. Sounds like a real utopia, right? A real marketing utopia, that is. The ambitious project, deemed “The Fake Internet” by media rights organizations both foreign and domestic, has elicited harsh criticism over net neutrality by activists who proclaim a two-tiered Internet system under the corporation’s frightening leer. Pakistan, say ‘hello’ to your new can of American worms: insecure websites, barred innovation, loss of free digital expression, and a complete lack of privacy. Facebook hasn’t ‘liberated’ you, it has invaded you. So what are we going to do about it? Unfortunately, not much. Watching Facebook slither its way into Africa takes me
back to the months I was working with SFU’s Media Democracy Project, an organization aiming to help ‘democratize’ our news media. As I scanned headlines on human rights in order to post weekly news roundups, I found I was reading — how should I put it? — a whole lot of ‘bark’ but not too much ‘bite.’ While activists from large-scale organizations against a variety of corporate causes were setting the awareness bar high, not a lot was being accomplished. This isn’t to say that activists are failures, or that the issues addressed weren’t important (they all are!). I just found that campaigns against large companies like Facebook only settled into a mish-mash of anger, resentment, and exasperation, while corporate entities continued to invade IP addresses and squeeze out ignorant dollars. The unfortunate truth is that Facebook simply has too much power and influence; campaigns like OpenMedia can encourage people to sign petition forms, but in reality it will only result inasmuch as a scab on this corporate monster, whose claws already seep into one third of the world’s veins. The social network has endured public criticism through all forms of communication, yet it keeps on truckin’. In this case, the only real choice is to sit back and watch Facebook brainwash an oblivious 65 per cent of Nigerians into thinking that “Facebook is the Internet,” as Geopoll and World Wide Worx recently found in a study, and thwart Indians
with the amazing possibilities that only a suffocated list of factually incorrect Wikipedia articles can bring. Zuckerberg will continue to pounce on this incredible marketing opportunity, widening the digital divide, taking advantage of those who don’t yet understand how their data will be used, and violating the principles of an open web. I’m not here to demean the relentless work of interest groups or human rights organizations — I love them and am blissfully proud of their achievements — but folks, the truth may hurt: Facebook could be too big for you.
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That’s right: the best show on TV that you’re still not watching is back. Get ready for another season of mouthwatering dishes made of human organs, overly stylized homoerotic tension, and Gillian Anderson being flawless. This season, our favourite Dantequoting, classical-music loving cannibal has settled down in Florence, where no one seems to notice he’s a wanted criminal even though it’s 2015 and the Internet has presumably posted pictures of his dreamy
cheekbones on every Facebook wall and Twitter feed. But who cares? Hannibal has never really been about believable plots — it’s about watching a suave serial killer gradually find his way into our hearts while his victims gradually find their way into his stomach. Don’t be surprised if the show’s third season ends up being its most visually striking and exciting yet, without having to resort to tired, misogynistic plot twists. Eat your heart out, Game of Thrones.
Okay, I admit it: Hannibal was pretty badass. Consistently ranked among the most talented military strategists in history — secondly only to Alexander the flipping Great — Hannibal’s exploits in the Second Punic Wars against the Roman Empire earned him his legendary status, most notably due to his march towards Rome in which he took 100,000 troops and 40 war elephants through the French Alps and almost took the capital. So you’re probably asking: how could this guy possibly count as a boohoo?
Well, if you were a Roman, you better believe Hannibal was a boohoo. Seriously: this guy posed a real threat to the most powerful empire in the world at the time, nearly capturing the city of Rome with little help from his native Carthage. When he was eventually exiled, he poisoned himself so as not to fall into enemy hands. And even after his death, Roman parents would use the story of his conquests to scare their children into behaving. So yeah, don’t fuck with Hannibal.
June 15, 2015
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COMMUNITY PHOTOS June 15, 2015
photo editor email
Phoebe Lim photos@the-peak.ca
ARTS
arts editor email
June 15, 2015
Tessa Perkins arts@the-peak.ca
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COMIC CONNOISSEUR
One of the goals of festivals such as Bard on the Beach is the promotion of the works of William Shakespeare. This is promotion not from obscurity, but from the negative association so many link with his name — so often related to the difficulty or perceived inaccessibility of his texts. One can only applaud such goals. Shakespeare, perhaps more than any other literary figure in history, has too often suffered the groans of kids in school who see him only as a laborious chore, the barrier to a good mark or an easy semester. Most are introduced to him at an early age, and the only remnant they retain of a Shakespearean education is the difficulty of his text. Many adults will surely have similar memories and complaints. The reason why this happens varies, though much of the reaction can be linked to how Shakespeare is taught in
school. This is where festivals like Bard on the Beach are meant to help. Show Shakespeare in a setting other than a classroom, and his greatness can be more easily pinpointed, free from the pressures of getting a good grade. This year’s Bard on the Beach certainly has the plays to achieve this goal. King Lear, ranked among Shakespeare’s best, touches on emotions that stick long after its end — which is a reason so many struggle to read it or act it. Every generation has found something different in it, something else to remember from it, from the difficulties of aging to the pangs of unreturned love or the forgotten cruelty a child can levy on their parent. Love’s Labour’s Lost , a much lighter and more comical play, is a personal favourite. Its central theme is whether the pursuit of study can be seen as so noble that its students are willing to forgo youthful love for it. Another comedy to be performed at this year’s festival is The Comedy of Errors . If the title seems familiar it is because the phrase itself, like so many of Shakespeare’s lines, has entered our general lexicon permanently. The play is one of Shakespeare’s earliest, but the language and humour is so inviting that, like King Lear and Love’s Labour’s
Lost, it counteracts the image of a boring and unexciting Shakespeare. Moving away from plays written by Shakespeare, and in a list of delights one can expect from Bard on the Beach, is Shakespeare’s Rebel. This stage adaptation of C.C. Humphrey’s successful novel follows the life of John Lawley, a man stuck in the centre of the politically revolutionary fervour of Elizabethan England. Among Lawley’s many goals, he wants to continue his job as a fight choreographer for the plays of Shakespeare. The larger context of the play also helps to shed light on another aspect of Shakespeare: as universal as his plays and characters are, they also had something to say about the age he lived in, a fact this play highlights in between inspired duel scenes and exciting glimpses of a past era. Shakespeare’s greatness lies in his ability to articulate your own thoughts and feelings better than you could. Whatever joys or woes colour your life, there is a brilliant passage from Shakespeare related to it. To read his works is to find a collection of characters, to borrow a line from his friend and contemporary Ben Jonson, “rammed with life.” If Bard on the Beach can do something to display this, then they will have achieved their goal.
Quantum and Woody are the worst crime fighters ever created. There is no duo in comics today that can match the hijinks of these two mismatched protectors. Joined by a supporting cast that includes a sexy clone named Sixty-Nine and a goat who can shoot lasers from its eyes, it is enough to make one wonder if Valiant Comics were stoned when they announced the comic’s return after a 13-year hiatus. However, since their reboot in 2013, the characters have seen more success than anyone expected. In a time where virtuous superheroes are innumerably prevalent, it is a welcome surprise to see two characters that share none of those admirable qualities. Quantum and Woody are not even ruthless vigilantes; they’re just a pair of nitwits that should have never been granted superpowers. Their adventures are nothing less than a train wreck from start to finish, and this earns the comic the distinction of being a side-splitting odyssey of grandiose stupidity you have to see to believe. In Quantum and Woody: Crooked Pasts, Present Tense the series comes to its grand conclusion with the same loveable craziness readers have come to expect. Complete with a Voodoo Heist and an evil reanimated Thomas Edison, it is everything readers have always wanted but could never articulate with words. At its core, Quantum and Woody is story about two
estranged adoptive brothers who would not hesitate to kill one another if given the opportunity. Brought together to try and solve the murder of their father, the un-dynamic duo are accidently imbued with superpowers in the process. To make matters worse, Quantum and Woody cannot be away from each other for a period of over 24 hours or every atom in their body will come apart. As they progress closer to the mystery surrounding their father’s death, tensions between the brothers mount astronomically. In the end, they create twice as much conflict for themselves than all the antagonists in the series combined. The banter between the brothers is what makes up a majority of the series’ charm. James Asmus perfectly encapsulates their petty squabbles with his witty, fast-paced dialogue. Every panel in the series packs hilarity — you cannot help but laugh hysterically as these characters find new and exciting ways to make things worse for themselves. The brothers are magnets for catastrophe, and every situation is better than the last. The series is not perfect, though. For instance, it suffers from inconsistent artwork throughout the whole volume. This is not to say the artwork doesn’t service the story, but it does become distracting when artists change chapter to chapter. The series could have benefitted from having the same artist for every issue; it would have made the overall collection more well-rounded. All in all though, Quantum and Woody is a series which can brighten even the darkest day with its humour — and remind only-children everywhere how lucky they are to be alone.
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Classic Chic Productions has a mandate of performing classic plays with all-female casts — they credit themselves as “chicks bringing class to the classics.” Last year’s production of The Winter’s Tale was very well-received, and this year they’ve taken on the classic tale of desperate salesmen, Glengarry Glen Ross. The intimate venue of The Beaumont Stage allowed for the audience to be engrossed by the fast-paced, razor sharp dialogue, and I was extremely impressed with the way these ladies were able to convey the masculine gestures of these domineering male characters. It would be easy to take a play like
Life is like a long bike race: a grueling trek to the finish that consists of exhilarating ups, depressing downs, and moments of uncertainty where you feel like quitting. Inside Out takes place near the
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this, especially when done by a female cast, and have it turn out cheesy or over the top with exaggerated gesture, but that was not the case at all. Shelley Levene (Colleen Winton) is in the middle of a bad streak of luck and needs to catch a break, but office manager John Williamson (Marci T House) is not willing to help him out. The opening exchange between these two characters was nuanced and full of just the right amount of masculine bravado, right down to the minute changes in their facial expressions. I knew right away that this play was going to be superb. Each character was very well defined, and the whole cast gave exceptional performances. I particularly loved Richard Roma’s (Michelle Martin) monologue about the meaning of life that hooked a potential customer at a bar before Richard quickly slid a brochure under his nose. As these men show, it’s all about setting them up properly before you ask them to sign the contract. Back at the office when the same client came to see him, Dave Moss (Corina Akeson) was
smooth as silk in his attempts to defer a meeting where he knew the client wanted to cancel. Meanwhile, Dave has a plan to move up in the world of sales, aided by the unlikely accomplice George Aaronow (Suzanne Ristic). Their conversation about a potential robbery of the office was another highlight of the show, as Dave guides George through a hypothetical scenario
the whole way, until he finally realizes what is being implied: “Are you saying you’re going to rob the office? I thought we were just talking!” I was so captivated by the performances, the lengthy conversations of the first act flew by, and the scene in the office held my attention with its impeccable timing and characterizations that never wavered. What a
spectacular achievement by this talented group of women.
beginning, during the exhilaration period. This is a film about what happens when the training wheels come off and innocence is lost. There are bound to be some scraped knees, but we all get back to pedaling. The plot could be told in a trite 10 minute short film: a young girl whose upbringing was driven by joy has to deal with overwhelming, conflicted emotions when she has to leave her friends behind to move to San Francisco, where she embarrasses herself at school
during an emotional breakdown. The past fades, imaginary friends dissolve, and old companions evaporate into the fog of memory. What remains are feelings and emotions. You may not remember exactly what happened, but you’ll always know how you felt. Inside Out is less concerned about the particulars of the situation — the story of the girl is generic and universal — and more embroiled in the emotions fighting behind it. That’s not just my own jibber jabber. This movie actually takes place inside an 11-year-old’s head as her five emotions (Joy, Anger, Fear, Sadness, and Disgust) attempt to navigate Riley’s ever-changing world. This is an ambitious concept, but it’s clear that if you’re trying to look at this deeper layer throughout, not everything fits as a metaphorical representation of Riley’s psyche. At times this can be frustrating, but the film must be interpreted as a whole rather than considering each instance on its own.
The ensemble manages to form a fairly deep palette of characters, and a lot of this characterization is done through meticulous visual design. Although Riley’s external world is fairly banal and grounded, it accentuates the vibrancy and detail of the production design inside her head. Each feeling is modeled around preconceptions that we already associate with feelings: Joy is a star-shaped glowing beam of yellow light with lively big eyes; Sadness is short, blue skinned, chubby, and covered head to toe in a turtleneck. Each character has distinct details that make you recognize the feeling they represent even without any other factors. If you thought Pixar had lost the magic from Wall-E, Up, Ratatouille, Toy Story, Monsters Inc. and The Incredibles, you can take solace; Inside Out is a welcome addition to that list. Without a doubt the funniest film they have ever made, this high-concept emotional rollercoaster takes a simple and familiar story and tells it with creativity and heart.
This is a film of great moments such as when Riley’s “facts and opinions” boxes get mixed up, or when the crew in charge of Riley’s long-term memory decide to not throw the annoyingly catchy gum commercial into the dump. There is also a slapstick bit that doubles as a history of abstract painting. Kids in the theatre were laughing, but this might be the most adultoriented Pixar film to date. Older audiences should be thoroughly wrapped up in this story about growing up and transitioning into a new part of life. The last line of dialogue, after Riley’s control board gets an upgrade with new buttons including swear words and puberty, is Joy saying, now that she’s 12, “what could possibly go wrong?” We know there will be more memories, more buttons, and more sadness. Until we bike across the finish line, life’s going to put forks in the road and maybe even a few flat tires. The key is to learn how to manage our emotions, inside and out.
ARTS
If Me and Earl and the Dying Girl were a person, I would wrap my arms around them and squeeze as hard as I could. Based on a single viewing, this is one of the most affecting and lovely films I’ve ever seen. It’s funny, sad, touching, and profound. It also subverts almost every expectation while reinventing tropes I’ve seen a million times, making it that much more unpredictable and moving. Greg, an awkward high school senior, interacts in the safety of his empty social cocoon and befriends a girl with leukemia. He has attributes which I see in myself: awkwardness, unattractiveness, complete ineptitude in interactions with girls, and an illogical headover heels love for cinema. I adore the moment where Greg — who makes terrible homages to classics like Midnight Cowboy , A Clockwork Orange , and Breathless (and many, many more of my favourite movies) — is in his room directly above where his parents are fighting about his grades and the fact that he won’t be admitted into college the following year. Greg has spent so much time with Rachel, the titular dying girl, that he has done “literally zero homework” all year. Like it’s a drug, Greg injects himself with a dose of Francois Truffaut’s 400 Blows, escaping to another world of sadness to express his emotion and frustration. I don’t know about you, but I’ve done that. There are many moments where the film calls attention to its construction by having
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Greg narrate a contrast between this movie and a conventional Hollywood one. For example, when he and Rachel begin to have some chemistry, he breaks up the moment by saying, “so if this was a touching romantic story, our eyes would meet and suddenly we would be furiously making out with the passion of 1,000 suns. But this isn’t a touching romantic story.” This approach is often very funny, but more importantly, it serves the story by creating an ironic distance that Greg not only creates between himself and the other characters, but also the spectator. As Greg learns to open up to those around him, the narration also becomes less self-reflexive and more of a tool to express emotion. When Greg tells us that the movie we’re watching won’t end with Rachel dying because it’s not that kind of lowlevel film, it is like a defence mechanism against the audience judging him. So in the end, once his arc is complete, the film allows itself to go into more conventional story beats (albeit in a different way from what you’ve seen) because Greg is no longer hiding behind his pretensions. This approach is so apparent in the final scene that it seems almost ripped out of the film Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close. What ends up separating this film from more gooey manipulation is that it uses these tropes to tell us something about the character. Greg is unlike the teenmovie protagonists to whom we’ve become accustomed. He doesn’t drink. He’s not trying to lose his virginity. He doesn’t do drugs, although he does once accidentally. He’s not obsessed with finding a date for prom. He’s not a jock, a nerd, a geek, a bookworm, or any other stereotype. He is clunky and unrefined. He says excruciatingly stupid things yet still remains entirely endearing to us because we could see ourselves acting that way — in fact, most of us probably have.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Leo nominees Joel Ashton McCarthy and Bryant H. Boesen, the co-directors, producers, and editors of Taking My Parents to Burning Man. Bryant, who along with his parents were the stars of the movie, says the experience was spontaneous, dusty, and emotional. They were nominated for Best Feature Length Documentary Program, Best Direction in a Documentary Program, Best Picture Editing, and Best Sound Editing (by Robert Phaneuf). Joel and Bryant were classmates at Vancouver Film School and used to team up to make stoner comedy movies. Joel noted that they are “very different people, but are drawn together because of their creative nature.” Of course, being on the same artistic wavelength enabled them to work on 10 different projects together during their time at VFS. Bryant was adamant that the movie should be called “Burning Boundaries,” an idea that Joel was vehemently against, even going to the extent that he would only do the movie if the title was changed. Bryant said that the film was a ‘passion project’ in which he wanted to take the values and mindset of Burning Man and show them to the world. When his parents told him that they were planning to go to Burning Man, he was ecstatic and wanted to capture the experience through their eyes. At first, Bryant’s parents said to him, “we are not gonna be in your dumb reality show,” but they soon realized that since they were going anyways it would be great to support their son’s project. Joel and Bryant had been out of school for only two months when they decided to take this on with no financial resources and a crew of eight people, including Bryant and his parents. They started shooting in the summer of 2012 and took over year and a
half to edit, which paid off when the film premiered in California in April 2014. When the film was nominated alongside other feature documentaries that had bigger budgets, they instantly became the underdogs. After selling out their first eleven consecutive screenings, the film won the Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary at both the 2014 Sonoma International Film Festival and the 2014 Newport Beach Film Festival. Two kids that spent $10,000 competing with films whose budgets were exponentially bigger goes to show what eager film students can achieve when they put their minds to it. Of course, a project like this does not come without its challenges. Joel said that the biggest shock was the weather, as 2012 was the dustiest year in Burning Man’s history; the two were afraid that all the expensive cameras were going to be destroyed with dust. After surviving their personal Mad Max environment, the second challenge was recording audio in windy conditions. Bryant also shared a couple other obstacles that arose before even beginning the film. A week before Burning Man, his mom broke her ankle but, lukily, was able to pull through. A friend who was supposed to lend them an RV bailed on them and they were forced to find another means of transportation. They ended up with the beautiful green school bus that is featured in the film. For Bryant, not much writing was required because Burning Man has a story arc of its own. All they needed was a rolling camera and attentiveness to spontaneity. Joel said that their film offers the audience an idea of how big Burning Man is, and how inclusive its community is. When his documentary course instructor asked how things were going, Bryant replied that everything was falling apart. The instructor asked quickly whether they were filming it. When a nervous Bryant replied with a “yeah,” the instructor affirmed enthusiastically: “Great, that’s your movie.”
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The Leo Awards are about celebrating excellence in the film and television industry of British Columbia. The first leg of the 2015 Leo Awards took place on June 6 at The Westin Bayshore Hotel, where local technical geniuses were celebrated. Ellie Harvie (Mrs. Bubkes in Some Assembly Required) wasn’t able to attend due to an emergency family issue, but Veena Sood (Mrs. Rashid in Little Mosque on the Prairie) rose to the occasion and was kind enough to co-host with Paul McGillion (Dr. Carson Beckett in Stargate: Atlantis). After an exquisitely hilarious bit alluding to actors as assholes, the long awaited celebration of technical talent kicked off. Eadweard was the winner of four Leos: Best Makeup, Best Costume Design, Best Hairstyling, and Best Production Design. Kathy Howatt, the make up designer for the film, quipped, “If anybody is talking to Josh [Epstein, Eadweard’s co-writer and producer], can you tell him he owes me therapy for all the merkins I had to apply?” Violent, the second winner in the motion picture category, received three awards for Best Cinematography, Best Picture Editing, and Best Visual Effects. Dead Hearts, a short drama, took home three Leos for Best Production Design, Best Make-Up, and Best Costume Design. In the category of Dramatic Series, The Flash’s episode “Going Rogue” took the Leo Award in Visual Effects. Among the documentaries, Jordan Paterson and Norm Li won Leos for Cinematography and Picture Editing for Tricks On The Dead: The Story Of The Chinese Labour Corps In WWI. It was a lovely night of many stars, peer appreciation, and heartfelt gratitude.
16 DIVERSIONS / ETC
Across 1-Fleet fleet 5- You _____ mouthful! 10- Places to sleep 14- Squabbling 15- Like ziti 16- Et _____ 17- _____ noire 18- Point in question 19- Fling 20- Try again 22- Doorway 24- First letter of the Hebrew alphabet 25- Necessitate 26- Lion’s den 28- Rodeo rope 32- Graf ____ 35- It’s a bit of cheer 37- Shone 38- Some M.I.T. grads 39- Maker of Pong 41- Is for you? 42- President before Bush 45- Message in a bottle? 46- Goes back 47- Experiment 48- Eye sore 50- Series of prayers 54- Mountain spinach 58- Simpler than the aria 61- Evening party 62- Not a dup. LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION
63- Gadget 65- Della’s creator 66- Gen. Robt. ____ 67- Folding words 68- Earth 69- Crash wherever convenient 70- Slow movement 71- ___ the night before Christmas. . . Down 1- Native-born Israeli 2- Alloy of iron and carbon 3- One tenth, usually 4- Spire 5- Swizzle 6- Hung. neighbor 7- “A Doll’s House” playwright
8- Intimidate 9- Prince Valiant’s wife 10- Codfish 11- Enthusiastic vigor and liveliness 12- Round object, often used to store computer data 13- Stuff 21- There you are! 23- Moon valley 25- Quod ____ demonstrandum 27- OPEC member 29- Large mop 30- Novi Sad native 31- Poems, often used to praise someone or something 32- Spanish muralist 33- Look
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34- Actor Morales 36- Owns 37- Heart 40- Optimistic 43- Automobile shelters 44- Frequently 46- Most strange 49- ___-hoo! 51- Seal 52- Soul 53- Stubble remover 55- Shaft shot from a bow 56- Salsa singer Cruz 57- Loaf ends 58- Like some dorms 59- He sang about Alice 60- Contends 61- And ___ bed 64- Drinking cup
EVENT LISTINGS ARE FREE FOR SFU STUDENTS AND STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS. SEND THE DATE, TIME, LOCATION, NAME, AND A 15 WORD DESCRIPTION TO CLASSIFIEDS@THE-PEAK.CA
HUMOUR
Remember earlier this year when four episodes of Game of Thrones were leaked online before the season even aired? Unfortunately, the security breaches keep coming for the HBO mega-hit, as, not even a week after the show’s season finale, a supposedly leaked script for next year’s premiere has revealed the fate of at least one fan favourite character. The leaked document, which HBO has yet to comment on the authenticity of, includes a scene where bastard son Jon Snow has his right hand sliced off and his stump of an arm crammed into his mouth, causing him to choke on his own blood, all before he is slowly lowered into a vat of mystical acid, which not only burns through flesh and bone but also incinerates a person’s soul, ensuring an eternity of hell in the afterlife.
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June 15, 2015
Fan reaction to the script’s leak has been overwhelmingly negative, with many criticising the showrunners for digressing too far from George R.R. Martin’s source material, the book series A Song of Ice and Fire. At the end of A Dance With Dragons (spoiler alert), Jon Snow only gets three of his fingers cut off before being lowered into the cauldron of boiling mystical acid, a much tamer send-off than the one HBO has allegedly cooked up for the character. In fact, many fans have been posting online since the leak, threatening to boycott the show unless HBO changes the script to be more representative of Snow’s fate in the novel. “I get that it’s a violent show,” one reviewer for TVLine said in response, having read the season six premiere script, “and I know the showrunners have been deviating further and further from the books, but they’re ruining the character of Jon Snow for me. The way he goes out in the novel is poetic and so heroic; what the show does is just torture porn, plain and simple.”
While the show has never shied away from controversial topics like violence against women, last season was particularly brutal with the rape of Sansa Stark in the sixth episode and Stannis Baratheon sacrificing his only daughter to be burned at the stake in the season’s penultimate episode. However, some fans are pleased with this new supposed
Jacey Gibb humour@the-peak.ca
development, if only because it’s a male character being put through such torturous events. “I’m sad we won’t get to see Kit Harington’s beautiful, bearded baby face anymore,” commented Jezebel columnist Sarah Ranger, “but whether or not the showrunners are aware of it, the death of Jon Snow has a lot of feminist undertones to it. His character is literally
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left to simmer and boil in the broth of patriarchy and he pays the ultimate price because of it. Perhaps the most surprising part of this latest twist is how progressive Snow’s mutilation is.” It’s unlikely we’ll find out anytime soon if the leaked script is real or not, but one thing’s for certain: Game of Thrones fans sure like to complain about stuff.
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HUMOUR
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Non-humans of SFU
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20 LAST WORD
editor-in-chief email
Max Hill eic@the-peak.ca
June 15, 2015
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