Vol. 4 Issue 10

THE VOL. 04 ISSUE 10 02.07.2012

RANDOM COVER ISSUE

NEWS AND CULTURE FOR THE STUDENTS OF KWANTLEN POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY

MONEY

OPINION

GENDER

MOVIES

STUDENTS NOT FREELOADERS PAGE 5

GAY MARRIAGE PAGE 7

THE SILICONE DIARIES PAGE 8

ON THE LINE AT VIMFF PAGE 14

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page two | February 07 2012 | vol. 4 issue 10

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NEWS

www.runnermag.ca | The Runner

vol. 4 issue 10 | February 07 2012 | page three

CAMPUS NEWS

The Runner Roundup A brief run around the latest news from the world of Kwantlen and beyond.

Smoke signals

A Kwantlen security guard extinguishes an impromptu fire outside the Grassroots café on the Surrey campus, Monday, Jan. 30. MATT DIMERA/THE RUNNER

Peak suit settled The Kwantlen Student Association (KSA) has dropped its defamation lawsuit against Simon Fraser University’s student newspaper, the Peak.

A consent order was filed in the BC Supreme Court Jan. 19, dismissing the case without costs to either party.

“The long ordeal of the Peak and its journalists has come to a rapid and appropriate end, case dismissed,” wrote Sam Reynolds of The Peak Publications Society in a Jan. 29 emailed statement.

“Those journalists had reported to SFU students (primarily) about governance issues at KSA, and got sued for their trouble in a lawsuit funded by KSA funds. It falls in the category: no good deed goes unpunished!”

The original civil claim was filed in October, 2011 on behalf of the KSA and now-impeached president Harman “Sean Birdman” Bassi, alleging that the Peak had “falsely and maliciously printed” defamatory statements about them “with the intent of increasing sales of the Peak newspaper” and to increase the prominence and further the career of reporter Sam Reynolds.

Among the suit’s claims was that the newspaper had falsely alleged that Bassi “channels Moammar Gadhafi.”

Former KSA president Harman “Sean Birdman” Bassi at a council meeting, before he was impeached.

MATT DIMERA/THE RUNNER

KSA director quits (again) One of the four KSA council members who was not impeached at the Nov. 30 special general meeting, has resigned his seat.

Ken McIntyre, a Langley campus representative, quit unexpectedly at the first council meeting following November’s mass impeachments.

At the Dec. 2 meeting, McIntyre asked to be nominated for the director of operations executive position, but lost out to Christopher Girodat in a secret ballot vote.

McIntyre has offered no public explanation for his departure and an emailed request for an interview remained unanswered as of deadline.

This is not the first time that the long-

time student politician has quit an elected position. McIntyre was a student representative on Kwantlen’s education council (the precursor to the senate) from 2004-2007. He rejoined in January 2008, but resigned his seat in August of that year. In 2011 he was removed again, for missing too many meetings.

KSA minutes show that since as early as 2004, McIntyre has served as Surrey campus representative, Surrey campus officer, director of academic affairs, Surrey campus director and the students with disabilities liaison. In 2009, he resigned from his liaison position over a dispute about social justice funding.

Former Langley campus representative Ken McIntyre MATT DIMERA/THE RUNNER

page four | February 07 2012 | vol. 4 issue 10

NEWS

The Runner | www.runnermag.ca

LAWSUIT

Newly elected student representative sues Thompson Rivers University Student rep Adrian Miller claims TRU failed to accommodate disability and medical issues.

I

DEVAN C. TASA THE OMEGA (THOMPSON RIVERS UNIVERSITY)

KAMLOOPS, B.C. (CUP) — A recently elected student representative to Thompson Rivers University’s board of governors and senate is in the midst of suing TRU for 16 different claims.

“It’s difficult to determine what the claim is,” said John Hogg, the university’s lawyer, in court on Jan. 20. “He’s claimed almost every tort in the textbook.”

Adrian Miller, who was elected by students in an online election held between Dec. 8 and Dec. 22, says in legal documents filed to the court that the university failed to reasonably accommodate his disability and medical problems, the nature of which were left unspecified.

Miller’s documents go on to say that when he went to senior TRU officials to ask for help in receiving accommodation, they ignored or squelched his complaints and failed to apply university policy. The documents also say that TRU sought to make Miller miserable so he would leave the university.

The university has denied the allegations. “[Miller] knows these allegations are false, unnecessary, scandalous, frivolous and vexatious,” stated a legal document filed in response to the lawsuit.

The university’s documents also claim that TRU properly investigated any complaints and that Miller failed to use internal processes to seek remedy to his complaints even after being told about them.

According to the legal documents filed by Miller, he is asking TRU to pay $249,999.99 in damages, write a letter of apology to him, pay for university and living expenses from September 2007 to the time his lawsuit is completed, pay for all future post-secondary education and admit him unconditionally to the faculty of law with a full scholarship in compensation for his troubles.

Miller has faced legal issues in the past.

Newly elected student rep Adrian Miller is suing Thompson Rivers University, claiming the university failed to reasonably accommodate his disability. OMEGA FILE PHOTO

When confronted by Kamloops reporters about a previous mischief conviction, he told them it was the result of a prank done when he was on the University of Northern B.C.’s basketball team in 2007. But Kamloops This Week found out that Miller was not part of the team.

Court documents revealed that he was convicted of damaging an apartment in Prince George from which he was evicted.

The documents do not mention anybody being accused besides Miller, who claimed

a girlfriend did the damage. Miller was also arrested Jan. 19 on an outstanding warrant on a new breach charge, but was released a few hours later.

Despite Miller’s legal battles, Thompson Rivers University Students’ Union (TRUSU) executive director Nathan Lane said that TRUSU will treat Miller like any other duly elected student representative to the board of governors and senate.

“We [will] set up a meeting with each one of [the newly elected representatives]

in the coming month to let them know that we are available as a resource and that we are happy to work with them on issues of institutional governance,” Lane said.

According to TRU’s election procedures, a student can only be barred from seeking and holding elected office if they have not paid their fees or if their studies would end before the end of the one-year term.

Miller was unavailable for comment by press time.

www.runnermag.ca | The Runner

NEWS

vol. 4 issue 10 | February 07 2012 | page five

EDUCATION

Students more than pay off tuition subsidies through future tax revenue: study I

ARSHY MANN CUP WESTERN BUREAU CHIEF

VANCOUVER (CUP) — A new study argues that students aren’t the freeloaders that some might believe them to be.

“Paid in Full: Who Pays for University Education in B.C.,” published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), has found that British Columbians with a post-secondary degree contribute more to the public coffers through future income taxes than it would cost taxpayers to entirely pay for their entire degrees now.

“There seems to be a conventional wisdom ... that students are subsidized and they should stop complaining about high tuition fees because really taxpayers pay for their education,” said Iglika Ivanova, an economist with the CCPA and the author of the report.

“But because [post-secondary graduates] earn more money, they end up paying more taxes. The question is how much more do they pay in taxes and is that enough to cover the upfront costs of their degree.”

In the study, Ivanova compared how much it costs to fund a four-year degree to the expected lifetime income tax contributions of a university graduate. The higher earnings of degree-holders combined with lower rates of dependence on welfare or employment insurance meant that students more than end up end up paying their own way.

“A lot of people, when you talk about lowering tuition fees, think you’re saying you want to subsidize education,” said Ivanova. “But you’re not really subsidizing it. They pay.”

According to her findings, governments could cover the entire cost of tuition twice-over and would still be getting a bargain.

The CCPA study didn’t take into account the various other ways that degreeholders contribute to the economy, such as by paying higher consumption taxes, contributing to economic growth and

RUNNER FILE PHOTO

through innovation.

Ivanova embarked on the project in order to update a previous CCPA study done by UBC economist Robert Allen in 1998, which came to a similar conclusion.

She was interested if Allen’s findings still held at a time that tuition rates increased substantially and British Columbians were paying less in taxes.

“Some people have speculated that we have so many graduates now [and] that university education isn’t what it used to be. Maybe it no longer has a payoff for students,” she said.

“But by and large we continue to find that almost every field of study including things that you would think have no practical value, like humanities, pay for themselves.”

There was only one discipline that didn’t cover its own cost — visual arts — and that’s because artists tend to earn considerably less than their peers in other professions.

Ivanova went on to argue that because many prospective students experience “sticker shock” when confronted with the high cost of a university degree, they may decide to pass on higher education and that governments are therefore missing out on the potential tax revenue.

“So why are we putting barriers to education for so many people by having high tuition fees instead of making sure that everyone who wants to can get an education and contribute to society?” she said.

Zach Crispin, the chairperson for the B.C. wing of the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) argued that decision-makers should take heed of this study.

“I would definitely hope that [governments] would take a look at the data that’s been presented here by the CCPA and at least choose to freeze and work towards reducing tuition fees in the short term and really think fully about getting rid of financial barriers to post-secondary

education,” he said.

He also pointed out that the study demonstrates that the net gains to the public treasury from higher education have actually been decreasing.

“The fact is that when we used to have a more progressive tax system, those numbers were higher,” he said. “As we move to reduce tuition fees and increase the tax base through a progressive tax system, students are going to be paying for their education more times over and we can actually increase the quality of it at the same time.”

Ivanova emphasized that regardless of how high tuition fees are, students end up paying for their degrees one way or another — it’s just a matter of when.

“It’s economically feasible and fairer to ask graduates to pay for their degrees through taxes after graduation rather than asking them to pay through high tuition fees up front.”

page six | February 07 2012 | vol. 4 issue 10

EDITORIAL

The Runner | www.runnermag.ca

OPINION

GOPen Marriage It’s really unfortunate that Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich has suddenly become the gross, 68-year-old poster boy for open marriage.

I

LAURA BEESTON THE LINK (CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY)

Last week, his second ex-wife, Marianne Gingrich, revealed in an ABC News interview that Newt had requested to open up the marriage after she discovered he was having a six-year affair with a political aide — who later became his third and current wife.

“I refused,” Marianne told ABC about the alleged conversation. “And I said no, that is not a marriage.”

There are many things wrong with this entire scenario and how it’s being played out in the public consciousness, but let’s start with that reaction: As uncomfortable as you may personally feel about it, Marianne, an open marriage is still a marriage and it’s a real blow to those practicing responsible non-monogamy that you freely declared otherwise.

But open marriage, whatever Newt’s attempts, should never be a loophole to negate infidelity. Despite being relegated to the fringes of society due to conservative and reactionary comments like these, open marriages are a legitimate lifestyle choice of committed couples that recognize the confines of sexual monogamy doesn’t work for their particular partnership.

It should be personal — but now it’s political.

Evidently, this arrangement doesn’t work for everyone and it certainly didn’t work for Mrs. Gingrich the Second at the time, but writing off alternative sexual unions because Newt Gingrich is a lying cheat sets us back light-years in terms of sexual evolution and understanding.

It doesn’t help that her statement is dripping with an undeserved sense of superiority. One form of marriage

here is “right,” and the other is set up as profane, perverse — and apparently un-presidential.

But the public reaction to this revelation is, sadly, predictable—with some exceptions actually opening up a discussion about the plurality of ways to engage in romantic and civil partnerships.

British newspaper The Guardian, for example, published an excellent feature called “I could teach Newt Gingrich a thing or two about open marriage” on Jan. 20.

The article outlined how “polyfamily values” force those within the relationship to discuss their behaviour and expectations, negotiating partnerships and freedom in an ethical, open way — rather than going down the Newt path, hoping not to be found out and back-pedaling like crazy when they are.

While it’s understandable people are raising hell about the subject — considering the request for an open marriage was coming from the same man who was hell-bent to impeach Bill Clinton over that famous blowjob, and who hypocritically seeks to moralize and impose laws on sex and love — there is something very disingenuous about associating Newt with this model of marriage.

The pillars of an open marriage, as described in the bestselling 1972 book Open Marriage, are arguably the ideals of any loving partnership: they include trust, flexibility, communication and equality.

Clearly, these were not the things Newt was asking for or aiming to give to his former wife. He played the open marriage card because he was imploring her to turn a blind eye towards his years of philandering and messing around.

ILLUSTRATION BY PAKU DAOUST-CLOUTIER/THE LINK

It was, as many pundits have stated over the weekend, “retroactive permission.”

If we are to believe what has been alleged about his personal lives and previous wives, the ethics of an open marriage were nowhere to be found.

At this juncture, it’s worth mentioning how super convenient it is that Newt has since publicly stated to have been reformed through the church and recognized the errors of his ways. Apparently, a little God as an afterthought is a good enough cheating cleanse, and makes his transgressions excusable for those Republicans in Camp Newt.

Please, someone, make it stop.

At the base of it, the entire debacle has given responsible non-monogamy — which really does have the potential

to create more loving and realistic partnerships in a world where divorce rates and depression rates are at all-time-highs — a really ugly and undeserving rap. It’s also what keeps people who are having open marriages from “coming out” about them.

Open marriages are a valid lifestyle choice — maybe not for the Gingriches, but for the estimated two to six per cent of wedded folks who are actively making it work.

If anything, maybe there is hope that Newt’s marriage “bomb” creates some public wiggle room to think critically about social and sexual prohibitions and prescriptions, and why there is still a huge significance placed on sexual exclusivity as the only way for a partnership to work.

EDITORIAL

www.runnermag.ca | The Runner

vol. 4 issue 10 | February 07 2012 | page seven

OPINION

the letter of the with its

Align

law

spirit

Gay marriage may not be under attack — but it’s still in danger.

I

Arbutus 3710/3720 12666 72 Ave. Surrey, B.C. V3W 2M8 www.runnermag.ca 778-565-3801

Vol. 4 Issue no. 10 Feb. 07, 2012 ISSN# 1916-8241

EDITORIAL DIVISION: Coordinating Editor / Jeff Groat editor@runnerrag.ca / 778-565-3803

SHANDI SHIACH AND VANESSA ANNAND THE MARTLET (UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA)

VICTORIA (CUP) — Headlines like “Thousands of same-sex marriages performed in Canada may not be legal” (National Post) provoked an intense response from citizens on Jan. 12. The outcry arose after a lawyer for the Department of Justice told courts a lesbian couple could not get a divorce here, even though they had married in Canada in 2005. He said that because their respective places of residence (Florida and the U.K.) do not recognize the union, they were never actually married.

Thankfully, the Harper government has since backtracked on its lawyer’s statements. Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said on Jan. 13, “We will change the Civil Marriage Act so that any marriages performed in Canada that aren’t recognized in the couple’s home jurisdiction will be recognized in Canada.” The news came as a relief to the 5,000 same-sex couples who have come from other countries to marry in Canada since the legalization of same sex marriage here in 2005.

But this doesn’t mean these couples are out of the woods yet. If the Civil Marriage Act changes but the Divorce Act does not, they may still have trouble obtaining a divorce, not because of the legality of their marriage, but because of the length of their stay in Canada.

Canadian law requires that one or both spouses must live in Canada for at least one year before they can divorce. This isn’t a problem for heterosexual couples who move away and then seek divorce, because they can usually divorce in their current jurisdiction. However, since samesex marriages aren’t legal in many other jurisdictions, neither is same-sex divorce.

If Canada grants these couples the right to marry, it can’t very well turn around

The Runner is student owned and operated

by Kwantlen Polytechnic University students, published under Polytechnic Ink Publishing Society.

Culture Editor / Kristi Alexandra culture@runnerrag.ca / 778-565-3804 News Editor / Matt DiMera news@runnerrag.ca / 778-565-3805 Production Editor / Antonio Su production@runnerrag.ca / 778-565-3806 Media Editor / Matt Law media@runnerrag.ca / 778-565-3806 SENIOR WRITERS: Senior Culture Writer / Chris Yee Senior Entertainment Writer / Mike Shames GRAPHIC BY RYAN HAAK/THE MARTLET

and say they were never married, or deny them a divorce. Most people — including the government — seem to be on the same page on that front. The question is whether courts should hold these couples to the one-year residency requirement.

If there were no residency requirement at all, Canadian courts could be bogged down with people from all over the world shopping for Canadian divorces that may be cheaper or work out more in their favour than a divorce in their own jurisdiction.

If, however, our government were to waive the requirement only for couples who were legally married in Canada and — here’s the important bit — can’t reasonably be expected to carry out the divorce elsewhere, it would come close to an even playing field for same-sex and heterosexual couples in Canada. That is why Canada legallized gay marriage in the first place, is it not?

Even if one member of a same-sex marriage is willing to put their life on hold and

live in Canada for a year, they may not be able to because of other legal restrictions.

An American can only live in Canada for six months without a visa, and even if they manage to obtain a visa, they may not be allowed to work. Essentially, only someone with expendable wealth and a lot of time on their hands could meet the residency requirement in many cases.

Do we really want to be a country where equal rights are contingent on money?

Those aren’t equal rights at all.

Until the one-year residency requirement is waived for same-sex couples (and it should be), Canada has an obligation to make same-sex couples from abroad aware of the murky situation. Any couples considering coming here to marry should be duly informed that a divorce may be near-impossible to obtain at the moment — but only for the moment. The government should modify the Divorce Act as well as the Civil Marriage Act, and with expediency.

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Funds are collected by the university and channelled to PIPS via the KSA.

The Silicone Diaries

gives a cutting g I

KRISTI ALEXANDRA CULTURE EDITOR

Make a call to Toronto-based Buddies in Bad Times Theatre Productions’ offices, and a sultry, feminine voice may answer your call. You might hang up, thinking you accidentally dialed that sex-chat operator you talked to last night. You didn’t.

It’s the voice of Nina Arsenault: columnist, actress, former sex-trade worker and professor. She’s also Canada’s most famous trans woman, who happens to be the writer and star of BIBT’s most provocative play, The Silicone Diaries.

The Silicone Diaries is a true-to-life account of Arsenault’s transformation from “awkward man into a 36D-26-40 bombshell” through over 60 surgeries and a long, spiritual trajectory.

“It starts with the idea that I knew I was a woman and that I had to have surgical procedures if I wanted to look like one,” says Arsenualt over the phone from her hometown of Toronto. “When I aged, I masculinized. That doesn’t happen to all transsexuals, but that’s what happened to me. Then, [the play] becomes more about my pursuit of beauty. That’s it in a nutshell.”

Ironic, since the transformation that many trans women experience are long, complicated and diverse — anything but that which can be summed up in “a nutshell.” And frankly, Arsenault’s personal experience can’t be paraphrased into a couple sentences. That’s where her memoir takes over.

It’s an exploration into the concepts of real and fake identity, both physically and spiritually. And, despite Arsenault’s plastic-

enhanced appearance, the story is steeped in authenticity.

“There’s no such thing in this culture as being real,” Arsenault offers. “Every identity has been given to you, every identity is something that’s been bought and sold.

[People’s] sense of realness has been handed down to them by their parents telling them what to do and who to be, or hip hop music, or music videos or whatever societal pressures in some way. And I am absolutely part of that. I absoulutely bought an identity, I bought an image and I don’t consider myself different from anyone else so when people turn around and call me fake, I’m like ‘I’m just as fake as you!’”

And we are. Whether it’s the tonnes of make-up bought by teenage girls each year, the jock’s football uniform or the continuous upkeep of dyed hair, we are constantly struggling to artificially match our outer appearances to our inner personas.

“You know sometimes they say transsexual women are men trapped in women’s bodies? I think a lot of people are trapped in their bodies,” Arsenault says.

“My experience went like this: the interior never really matched the exterior completely. First, I had the body of a young boy and the spirit of a young girl, then I had the body of a grown man and the spirit of a grown woman, then I started to have hormones and plastic surgery and then I had the body of a transsexual woman and the spirit of a real woman. I started doing more and more surgical procedures , then I kind of had the body of a silicone porn star in a certain way. By the time I had achieved that, I had the spirit of an intellectual, so it has never totally matched up.”

Arsenault’s pursuit of beauty lands on a few more concepts – including society’s “cutting gaze” on what exactly beauty is and where it should come from and society’s general lack of understanding about transpeople.

“I think there’s so much work to be done in Canada to accept trans people,” she says.

“There’s this idea that people are like ‘I don’t understand trans women,’ and it’s like ‘who cares?’ I’m never really going to understand what it’s like to be black. That doesn’t mean that I say racist things.”

Arsenault alludes to her distaste of people calling trans women “hot tranny messes” when they’re having a bad hair day, saying it’s a series of misrepresentations about transsexuals that leads to these often hurtful labels.

“It’s this weird thing in culture that people think they should have the privilege to understand everything. But it’s like, ‘maybe you just don’t understand it. There’s nothing wrong with it, but maybe you just don’t get it.’ Why can’t people have that attitude?”

Arsenault incorporates her remarks about cultural standards of beauty in The Silicone Diaries, but is in no way preaching a holier-than-thou approach.

“There is a kind of commentary on societal standards of beauty, and certainly I critique myself. I have quite a cutting gaze to my society, but I also turn that cutting gaze onto myself –– quite literally.”

The Silicone Diaries opens on Feb. 14 at 8 p.m. at The Cultch.

gaze

PHOTO BY DAVID HAWE

page ten | Feburary 7 2012 | vol. 4 issue 10

CULTURE

The Runner | www.runnermag.ca

GENDER

A night in a Japanese love hotel Photographer Nathalie Daoust explores female sexuality and the subversion of gender stereotypes.

I

JULIA WHALEN THE AQUINIAN (ST. THOMAS UNIVERSITY)

FREDERICTON (CUP) — Photographer Nathalie Daoust spent several months in a Japanese love hotel exploring female sexuality and the subversion of gender stereotypes.

She had no idea the people she met would be so special and kind.

She also didn’t expect to be tied upside down by a shibari master — a specialist in Japanese bondage.

“He said that I should try it if I was going to photograph his model in this position.

I said, ‘Why not.’”

Daoust lived in Tokyo’s Alpha-In, one of the biggest S&M — short for sadomasochism — love hotels in Japan. People who practice S&M are pleasured either by inflicting or receiving pain or humiliation from their sexual partner.

Daoust photographed 39 women of all ages who took dominant roles in S&M. The photos show them in their private rooms, surrounded by the specialist equipment and costumes that define their trade of dominatrix.

She believes in confronting stereotypes of gender roles that exist not only in Japan, but all over the world. Her goal is to provide an insight into the concept of women as dominant beings.

“I would say that women are more oppressed in Japan, [but] of course not all,” Daoust said. “Even the dominatrix that I met would bow lower than their customers and walk behind them. Only when the hotel doors would close would they then have the power.”

Love hotels, also known as fashion or boutique hotels, can be for short stays — up to three hours — or overnight. They’re operated around the world with the primary purpose to allow couples undisturbed time together, but they’re also used for budget travellers looking to share accommodation or prostitution.

Daoust had the idea for the project after living in the Carlton Arms Hotel, also known as the Artbreak Hotel, in New York City from 1997 to 1999. Each room in the hotel was designed by a different artist: for example, British street artist Banksy decorated a stairwell.

She lived in and photographed every

room in the hotel, and it was during this time she met some Japanese tourists who told her about theme-decorated hotels in Japan.

The purpose of these hotels, though, was for three-hour stays.

“I was interested in documenting this and moved to Tokyo for two years,” she said.

Daoust photographed many love hotels in Japan, but the Alpha-In didn’t allow it.

When she published her first book, her New York Hotel series, she returned to Alpha and showed her work to the owner.

“He then invited me to come back to Japan and do a project on his hotel, and now we are very good friends,” she said.

The artist said Alpha was initially a very strange place for her, but after several months in the hotel everything seemed almost normal.

“I only had preconceived notions to what S&M was and the people that go there. After a while I got used to hearing the screaming from behind the doors, seeing the tools and costumes or even seeing customers ‘playing’ in the hallways.”

Over the years, Western media has sensationalized and negatively affected Japanese sexual practices to the point where some love hotels like Alpha were done away with to create a different political image. Daoust said in 2001 when she was documenting the love hotels, hotels were in the process of being taken down because of foreign media.

Healthy practices of sexuality and fantasy, she said, seem to be constantly swept under the rug in North America. She said it’s this unwillingness to openly discuss sexuality that’s a major contributing factor to the challenges of confronting stereotypes of gender roles.

After several months in the Alpha-In and talking with different people, Daoust said she realized there was actually nothing wrong with what they were doing as long as everyone consents.

“It was quite sad [to see them go because] many hotels that had amazing decorations were being destroyed or just painted in plain white walls. What was so wrong about this fantasy? Before this experience, I mostly learned that S&M was bad, and whoever does it must be disturbed. [But] Japan is quite open to experience any type of fantasy.

I find this better then repressing it.”

(PHOTOS COURTESY OF NATHALIE DAOUST)

www.runnermag.ca | The Runner

CULTURE

vol. 4 issue 10 | February 07 2012 | page eleven

SEX AND VALENTINES

Taboo sex show reveals new trends in being naughty I

KRISTI ALEXANDRA CULTURE EDITOR

Vancouverites aren’t known for being lurid or adventurous, whether it’s our antisocial behavior, inability to stay up past 1:00 a.m. or our lack of sexual freedom (we cordon off the nudists at Wreck Beach in the farthest corner of the city, where — surprise — only half the beach-goers are actually liberated enough to go au naturel).

So when the annual Taboo Naughty But Nice Sex Show comes around, we dig deep in our closets and put on our erotic costumes — figuratively and literally — and try to discover our kinks.

But if there’s anything this year’s Taboo (Jan. 19-22) revealed to me, it’s just what my taboos — not kinks — really are.

Unfortunately for myself — a woman who once considered herself pretty sexually liberated — there are many.

The travelling trade-show stopped over at the Vancouver convention centre, boasting performances and wares from vanilla to vixen, and everything in between.

Exhibitioners and exhibitionists alike had the usual fare: vibrators, pocket pussies, bondage costumes and fuzzy handcuffs.

And then there was the unusual; the male urethral stimulators, inflatable sheep (yes, like a blow-up doll, but a sheep) and full-body binding suits.

In a rare moment, I found myself totally intimidated by the variety of toys, costumes and accessories there were for singles, couples and more. More than that, I had never seen such a concentration of people who were going balls-out (pardon the expression) in expressing themselves sexually.

My cleavage-baring dress and heels might as well have been a nun’s habit and wimple.

For days following the Taboo show, I found myself wondering about the sex lives of the ordinary-looking people around me. Were they doms in denial?

Did they own a self-masturbation toy that looked like an elaborate hamster-trap?

Were they in polyamorous relationships?

Or were they just attendees at the Taboo sex show who hammed it up for the only weekend of the year that Vancouver gets sexy?

Tab0o’s array of naughty goodies makes this gaggle of dildos look as innocent as kittens and clouds. CHRYSAORA.FLICKR.

The Taboo sex show can really tell a lady who thinks she’s sexually-liberated that there’s a lot more to, well, liberate.

Here’s a start:

YOU GOTTA GIVE UP THE BUTT, AT LEAST ONCE. Having something inserted into your anus for the first time is probably terrifying. Giving up the butt doesn’t mean you should actually have anal penetration.

There are a lot of different ways to have butt-play. Rimming, for one. But if you are considering anal penetration, there are ways to ease into it instead of ramming a lube-soaked sausage into your anus. There are various sizes of butt-plugs, starting with the very petite and working their way up.

RESTRAINING Perhaps, like me, you never thought of restraining your partner because the tools available seemed cheesey. Fuzzy handcuffs? What could be sexy about cuffs is overshadowed by the puke-worthy pink fluff that reminds you of your first childhood toy. And on the other hand, using zap-straps and real rope is a little too panic-inducing. Try leather restraints –– a little more comfortable than steel handcuffs, but still tightening-adjustable while feeling dangerous.

PLAYING DRESS-UP Sure, your cute Mrs. Claus lingerie worked this past holiday season, but ted-

dies and slips aren’t going to cut it. You’re going to have to go a step further and try out a full dom-suit. This can be as simple as a PVC corset, or chains, straps and spikes, to a full-body binding suit, with an air hole, of course.

SWING No, I don’t mean what your grandparents were doing in the ‘60s, although consensual non-monagamy is ever-so-popular these days. Invest in a sex-swing. It should be hung and enforced like a hammock to hold weight and suspend, and provides an aerodynamic way to try any position.

Bonus points for its ability to facilitate every angle.

page twelve | February 07 2012 | vol. 4 issue 10

CULTURE

The Runner | www.runnermag.ca

ARTIST INTERVIEW

In Flames talks fireworks, ferris wheels and in-band feuds I

JACOB ZINN CONTRIBUTOR

Gothenburg, Sweden is the epicentre of melodic death metal, and with over two million records sold since the early ‘90s, the city’s own In Flames is arguably the most successful group of the niche genre. With the release of the band’s tenth studio album, Sounds of a Playground Fading, the band is currently touring North America, performing two nights at Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom.

The Runner spoke with In Flames’ longtime, on-and-off guitarist Niclas Engelin about being in the band on four different occasions, recording the new album without founding fretburner Jesper Strömblad and the experience of shredding on a Ferris wheel with fireworks erupting outside his window.

Jacob Zinn: You’ve been a prominent member in three Swedish melodic death metal bands: In Flames, Gardenian and your current band, Engel. How has pioneering such a successful style of music changed you as a musician over your career?

Niclas Engelin: (Laughs) I don’t tend to think about that too much. As a musician, you always strive to progress and to reach goals all the time, and to be hungry as well, to keep the flame alive and really go for it.

I make music and I perform the music live and I really enjoy doing it.

JZ: Since 1997, you’ve been in and out of In Flames four times, finally landing a full-time position. How has rejoining the band been this time around?

NE: I’ve known some of the guys since ’89 or ’90, so it’s a long time. It feels like we’ve known each other forever. I was in the band back in ’97, then I helped them out back in ’06 when Jesper was ill. At the same time, I’ve been doing Engel. Here I am, permanent member of In Flames, which is really good.

We enjoy hanging out and playing music together, and I think we deliver perfect live shows as well. I’ve known the guys for so long, and when we are touring as much as we do, it’s nice to have a good chemistry and to really enjoy being around it. It’s never been a problem, it’s just been a smooth ride.

JZ: Sounds of a Playground Fading is the band’s first album without founding guitarist Jesper Strömblad. How has the dynamic of the band been with his departure?

NE: Jesper has his problem, he needs to work on that, but we have fun and we enjoy playing music together and going on tour together and hanging out together. The audience really loves what we are doing onstage, so it’s the perfect chemistry.

JZ: In the current line-up, you and Björn Gelotte are both on guitar. How do you divide up the guitar duties when you play live?

NE: It’s mostly Björn on the solos, but I tend to do some as well. We’re really tight, me and Björn. Of course, I’m filling in for your Jesper, I just had to learn Jesper’s part, and then it was touring, touring, touring, touring. And a lot of time to record a new album, and all of a sudden, let’s tour again.

JZ: The album debuted at #12 on the Canadian Billboard charts, and it has a lot of heavy tracks.

How did the name Sounds of a Playground Fading come about?

NE: I think it was during the demo sessions when all the songs blend together, the riffage and song structure and melodies. We brought everything to the table and it was like a playground.

JZ: The video for the album’s first single, “Deliver Us”, features fireworks exploding next to Gothenburg’s Wheel of Excellence ferris wheel, while each of the band members rock out in separate cabins. Where did the inspiration for that video come from?

NE: We wanted to show people outside Sweden that Gothenburg can be really lovely. We had this wheel in the middle of the city and we got to use that for this event.

At first, it was a little bit confusing, a little bit scary being in those small cubes when you’re rocking out in one of those and the wheel was spinning at the same time. First you had to overcome the fear of actually being in one of those. Then, when you feel comfortable about that, the fireworks started. I had to get used to it. It all went shaky, rocking back and forth.

In Flames guitarist Niclas Engelin shredded at the Commodore Ballroom on Monday, Jan. 30. JACOB ZINN/THE RUNNER.

JZ: In Europe, there are a lot of large heavy metal festivals like Rock am Ring and Wacken. What’s the transition like when playing more theatretype venues in North America?

NE: I love theatres. It couldn’t be more epic than playing theatres, that’s for sure. For me, I’m not used to [festivals] so much.

Maybe when we tour over here and stuff, but in Europe, there’s mostly clubs. In some other parts, we do play arenas, but we don’t have the theatre-look at the clubs.

JZ: You’re about two weeks into the North American dates with Trivium, Veil of Maya and Kyng.

How have they been as opening acts?

NE: To be precise, we’re two-and-a-half weeks in. (Laughs) It’s been really good so far and I really like the bands we are touring with. Kyng is a really cool band, Veil of Maya is a really cool band and Trivium I’ve toured with a lot. It’s a smooth ride and we’re all having fun, just having a blast. It’s really nice when it’s like that, laidback. We just go for it, play and have fun, and that’s the way it should be.

www.runnermag.ca | The Runner

CULTURE

vol. 4 issue 10 | February 07 2012 | page thirteen

VINYL DUST-OFF

Vinyl Dust-Off: David Axelrod – Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience I

LLIAM EASTERBROOK SENIOR FEATURES WRITER

5/5 RECORDS

I try to live my life as if a Jackson Pollock painting were a handful of William Blake aphorisms thrown madly against a wall, where the paint screams like a wild flying adage, and the cold canvas stops it dead.

Blake’s aphorisms — “Prudence is a rich, ugly, old maid courted by incapacity,” “Better murder an infant in its cradle than nurse an unacted desire,” “Imagination is the real and eternal world of which this vegetable universe is but a faint shadow,” and my personal favourite, “If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thru’ narrow chinks in his cavern” — are the terse yet sublime words of a radical, revolutionary, an abolitionist when slavery was still relatively unquestioned, an arbiter of free love in an intensely conservative time. Idiosyncratic, William Blake was a mystical poet and artist of the Romantic period; some say the first Modernist.

Vehemently against authority and institution of all kinds but intensely spiritual, Blake went largely unrecognized in his lifetime, dying poor, reportedly spending his last coins on a pencil so he could sketch. He was a lasting influence on Beat writers Jack Kerouac, Allan Ginsberg and co., Jim Morrison of the Doors, Tom Waits, and Johnny Depp (Depp played Blake in the Jim Jarmusch film Dead Man).

While his poetry is canonical, his art remains relatively outside the establishment, yet many still regard him to be one of the greatest artists Britain has ever produced.

The poet William Wordsworth remarked of Blake: “There was no doubt that this poor man was mad, but there is something in the madness that interests me more than the sanity of Lord Byron and Walter Scott.”

Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience — two of Blake’s early companion

LLIAM EASTERBROOK/THE RUNNER

collections — examine many of Milton’s existential-mythic states — paradise and the Fall — as well as Blake’s deeply libertarian beliefs. SOI showcases the freedom and ingenuousness of childhood, but maintains that children can be exploited.

SOE expresses a profound repugnance for institution and repudiates succumbing to inhibition. To Blake, inhibition withers the soul while freedom and imagination comprise humanity’s true spirit. The juxtaposition of unhinged but naïve innocence with the fettered knowledge of experience leads Blake to conclude that a blending of the two is paramount for humanity to flourish as empathetic and creative beings.

Knowing my affinity for Blake — my obsession, as it were — and my concurrence with even his most radical beliefs (and probably experiencing my enactment

of these to a comparable extent — for good or ill) my pal Brando introduced me to a hidden gem while we were in a Victoria record store a few weeks ago: a set of instrumental records from the late 60’s based on Blake’s Innocence and Experience.

Sampled by artists such as Dr. Dre, Unkle, Wu-Tang Clan, Sublime, and Cypress Hill, composer David Axelrod arranged lush and vibrant soundscapes on SOI and SOE, naming most tracks after Blake poems from each compendium. Blending jazz, psychedelia, rock, classical, theatre and funk music, the two albums lead the listener through a myriad of emotive climes through rich compositions evoking the Blakean spirit of contemplative melancholy, dream, and awe.

Check out the majestic godliness of “Urizen,” the eerie heights and cathartic

chasms of “The Fly,” the delicate fury of “The Human Abstract,” the groovy creeping of “A Divine Image,” and the pastoral tranquility of “A Dream.”

Here, more than other albums, the analog sound really lets the music breathe.

I’ll concede and say that these albums changed my life. I still feel like the paint, but now there’s no flytrap canvas to stop me.

If you’re in any way looking for alternative music to facilitate creativity or meditation, or if you’re just looking for some tasty jams to dig, I highly recommend getting your hands on these two gems from the late ‘60s. Couple that, if you dare, with your choicest perception-cleansing substance and a copy of Blake’s poetry, and you’ll be well on your way to… well…

Play It Loud. Play It Proud.

page fourteen | February 07 2012 | vol. 4 issue 10

CULTURE

The Runner | www.runnermag.ca

FILM FEST

From tarsands to the Pacific Vancouver filmmaker tackles the route of a controversial oil pipeline.

OILY FILMS AT VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL MOUNTAIN FILM FEST VIMFF runs from Feb. 10-18 featuring 51 films with an outdoor bent. vimff.org The following films show at the Centennial Theatre in North Vancouver

The Pipedreams Projects (Wednesday, Feb. 15) 25 minutes Three kayakers embark on an epic two-month expedition along the length of the B.C. coast to see what impact oil tankers could have.

Tipping Barrels (Wednesday, Feb. 15) 20 minutes A unique combination of surfing and environmental journalism that follows surfers into the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest.

PHOTO COURTESY FRANK WOLF

I

MATT LAW MEDIA EDITOR

British Columbia is buzzing over the proposed Northern Gateway oil pipeline.

Few people, however, understand the landscape and communities the pipeline could impact.

In 2010, North Vancouver adventurefilmmaker Frank Wolf and friend Todd McGowan set out to get a first-hand look at what is at stake along the 1,170-kilometre route from Bruderheim, Alberta to Kitimat, B.C. The result: a 51-minute documentary (recently picked up by the CBC and will air in March) that follows their journey On the Line.

“The film is the process of my education [about the pipeline] and the information from the people along the way,” said Wolf.

Armed with minimalist equipment and funding, the two men began their self-propelled journey in Fort McMurray, Alta. on a pair of $70 bikes purchased on Craigslist.

Their route took them 450 km south to Bruderheim, Alta. the potential starting point of the Northern Gateway. Wolf and McGowan then followed the proposed route by foot, bike, raft and kayak, all the way to the Pa-

cific Ocean, over two mountain ranges.

In 2008, Wolf produced his first independent film called Borealis which follows his 3,100 km canoe trip through Canada’s boreal forest. The film examines issues affecting a forest that ranges from Canada’s East Coast all the way to the Yukon.

Wolf’s passion for the outdoors certainly shows in the films he makes.

“After a while you travel through these areas and you enjoy the adventure and the beauty of the area, but then you also begin to see degradation clawing away at these areas of natural beauty that are so valuable,” said Wolf.

Wolf states he is not in favour of the pipeline, but he did not set out to control the message of the film.

“I don’t like preachy environmental films. A lot of those can brow-beat you for an hour and a half and you just feel exhausted and depressed,” he said.

None of the interviews in On the Line were prearranged or scripted — Wolf allows the people he meets along the way to tell the story.

“The message naturally comes out of the narrative and the landscape as you move through it,” he says.

Over the 53-day journey, Wolf and McGowan trekked a total of 2,400 kms as they made their way to the coast. They made small detours to speak with people in communities who could be directly affected by the pipeline.

Wolf notes they saw a dramatic change in peoples’ views after they crossed the Rockies into B.C. Many of the Albertans, who have grown up with the oil industry and earn a living from it, are in favour of the project, while there is a much different sentiment in B.C. “We just let them speak their mind. I don’t challenge people on what their opinion is I just let them say what they want.

You get a natural transition of opinion as we move across from Alberta to B.C.,” he said.

Along the journey, Wolf and McGowan saw grizzly bears, wolves and humpback whales, but those encounters were not the most impactful for Wolf.

“We had a seminal moment when we were crossing through the Rockies where it is an absolutely pristine untouched wilderness, more pristine than any park just because people don’t go there. It’s not like it’s got trails or trail maps to it. It’s just this

White Water Black Gold (Wednesday, Feb. 15) 54 minutes Follow David Lavallee on a three-year journey through western Canada in search of the truth about the impact of the world’s thirstiest oil industry. beautiful old-growth wilderness. Just the act of punching a hole through this area of the Rockies, even if there is never a spill, you have basically destroyed an area. That just made you think that this is kind of a crazy project,” he said.

But Paul Stanway, Communications Manager for Northern Gateway says that parts of Wolf’s film are misleading.

“There is one suggestions in there, for example, talking about going over a particular part of the Coast Mountains, and in fact we are putting tunnels through, we are not going over the top of this particular rugged piece of terrain that they photographed,” said Stanway.

He also states that the building of pipelines is not as intrusive as it once was and can be handled with minimal environmental impact.

On the Line will be playing at the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival on February, 15 at the Centennial Theatre in North Vancouver. Over 50 outdoor-focused films will be shown from Feb. 10-18 during the festival.

For more information, visit vmiff.org.

PROCRASTINATION

www.runnermag.ca | The Runner

STARS

vol. 4 issue 10 | February 07 2012 | page fifteen

PONDERING WATER - PAM OLIVER

AQUARIUS Jan. 21 - Feb. 19

LEO July 24 - Aug. 23

Get liquored up before you start writing your next paper. It will help.

Start a break dance fight while in class. Your peers will give you mad props for it.

PISCES Feb. 20 - March 20

Report the weather every 30 minutes like Blacky Williams.

VIRGO Aug. 24 - Sept. 23

Listing lazily to the left while walking down the hallway is a great way to make new friends.

SMART ZONE LIBRA Sept. 24 - Oct. 23

ARIES March 21 - April 19 Sex toys are the perfect tools for dramatizing the War of 1812.

Your childhood dreams will come true. But not the cool ones.

TAURUS April 20 - May 20

The stars align for you this week. I don’t know what this means but good luck to you.

GEMINI May 21 - June 20

SCORPIO Oct. 24 - Nov. 22

You will find fortune and fame beyond your wildest ... oops ... this was meant for Gemini.

SAGITTARIUS Nov. 23 - Dec. 21

You will find fortune and fame beyond your wildest imagination.

CANCER June 21 - july 23

You should really get checked for crabs ... and cancer.

Give yourself credit for the things you have accomplished. Such as learning to walk and remembering to breathe.

CAPRICORN Dec. 22 - Jan. 20

Start liking cookies. Seriously, who doesn’t like cookies?

(CUP) — Puzzles provided by BestCrosswords.com.

Used with permission.

Across 1- Arabian republic; 6- Falls short; 11- Family man; 14- Hersey’s bell town; 15- Capital of Jordan; 16- Afore; 17- Senate attendants; 18- “Cheers” waitress; 19- Adult males; 20- Blunted blade; 22- Healing plants; 24- Exacted retribution; 28- Pleasing; 30- Inhabitant of Tripoli; 31- Hebrew prophet; 32Agent; 33- Wife of Akhenaton; 37- Attila, e.g.; 38Rich cake; 39- _ de mer; 40- Skewness; 43- Jewish scholar; 45- Brooklyn’s _ Island; 46- Flat roofing tile; 47- Lease holders; 50- Engage in textual misprision; 51- Single things; 52- Pith helmet; 53- Actress Ruby; 54- Group of eight; 57- Chancy; 62- Tolkien ogre; 63- Midway alternative; 64- Bert’s buddy; 65- Fish eggs; 66- Sherpa’s home; 67- Chairs;

Down 1- Mouth, slangily; 2- Writer LeShan; 3- Periodical, briefly; 4- Chemical ending; 5- Posy; 6Washed out; 7- French friend; 8- _ little teapot...; 9- PC linkup; 10- Athletic shoe; 11- Brit’s discharge; 12- Staggering; 13- Compact; 21- Compose; 23Endure; 24- A, as in Athens; 25- Infectious agent; 26- Black-wooded tree; 27- Greek goddess of night; 28- Towering; 29- Aha!; 31- Joyous; 33- Short letters; 34- Permeate; 35- Small hand drum; 36- Greek epic poem; 38- Canvas shelter used on camping trips; 41- Future doc’s exam; 42- Rainy season; 43- Dwells; 44- Cabinet dept.; 46- Apex; 47- English royal house; 48- Diciembre follower; 49- Bridget Fonda, to Jane; 50- Standard for comparison; 52Skater Lipinski; 55- Friend of Fidel; 56- Faucet; 58Metal-bearing mineral; 59- Kind of fingerprint; 60Obtain, slangily; 61- Affirmative answer;

page sixteen | February 07 2012 | vol. 4 issue 10

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