March 13, 2013

VOLUME 22 ISSUE 22

MARCH 13, 2013

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B.C.’s public broadcaster

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Kamloops Film Festival coverage 6&7

WolfPack hockey bows out of playoffs 10

Celebrating film

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TRU’s Independent Student Newspaper

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March 13, 2013

Feature

Star Wars ruined film

TRU professor’s life revolves around film and soon yours could, too Mike Davies

Ω Editor-in-Chief We were in his office in the TRU Clocktower. One wall is full of books (many of them with names on their spines that you can also find on DVD covers) and the seeming clutter is that of religious images viewed in a satirical light, madeup credentials and ordainments from organizations you’ve never heard of, pop culture figures, as well as his fair share of weird-seeming collectables, such as an action figure of bacon (still in the box).

“Like most men of my age, my first cinematic memory is standing in line to see Star Wars with my grandfather,” said Mark Wallin, TRU film studies professor and current chair of the flagship event of the Kamloops Film Society (KFS), the Kamloops Film Festival (KFF).

“We stood in a line that was around the block,” he continued. “In terms of the ‘cinematic experience’ it was the first non-kids movie that I saw and was just a very important experience in my life,” he said. “But I have come to hate George Lucas.”

Apparently, Wallin often opens his film studies courses with an in-depth analysis of how George Lucas and Steven Spielberg — two of the most well known figures in the film industry — have ruined film.

Star Wars — Wallin’s earliest and most important film memory that spawned the love that would come to, in some ways, take over his life — was also the reason film itself started down a terrible path.

“Up to that point, the United States was making some of the best films that the world had ever seen — truly intense, insightful and daring films. With the advent of Star Wars, E.T. and (as much as I love it) Indiana Jones — those films just demolished any kind of serious filmmaking and drove it underground for the next 20 years.”

It wasn’t necessarily about the grandiose nature of the films themselves, or the box office successes that they became, but the change in what cinema’s role is in our society that they spurred, he said.

Lucas and Spielberg were (and are) all about the money and that mentality has been the downfall of the industry as far as its ability to produce worthwhile film.

“Their relentless commercialization at any expense…there’s no level at which they say, ‘Oh no, that would just be too tacky, that would just be too crass to commodify that.’ These guys will turn anything into money and that was really the turning point [for film],” according to Wallin.

“In the ‘70s, you could get a project greenlighted that was both a searing political indictment and an entertaining film,” he said. That role has been taken over by documentary filmmaking these days, due to, as he calls it, “the blockbusterization of American cinema.”

But at its base level, according to Wallin, the film industry is reflecting the values we place on things in our society.

theatres.’ That’s just not going to happen anymore,” said Wallin, reminiscing about the days of Hitchcock’s Vertigo and Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation. “Those movies would never get made now.”

Nonetheless, his love for film itself never wavered and when he arrived in Kamloops in 2005, Wallin’s lifelong love for film naturally brought him to the KFS. The Kamloops Film Society

In downtown Kamloops at the Interior Health building in the early 1970s there gathered a group of people in love with film. They did this periodically to discuss the medium in general, share their love for it with each other and try to find a way to bring some of that love out to the broader public in the area.

That was the start of the KFS. From its origins downtown, to moving up to Cariboo College (now TRU), to becoming a major presence in the region’s arts scene, the KFS has travelled a long and winding road without ever leaving town.

Currently in its —Mark Wallin, fortieth year, the society is running its 17th TRU film studies and KFF chair annual film festival, runs three film series “You can start looking at it in the throughout the year and is one of the way that we value public companies,” main entities responsible for fostering he said. “It’s in the emphasis that our film appreciation in the region by culture has on beating expectations and promoting independent and art-house quarterly profit — when that becomes filmmaking and allowing the public to the ballgame, that’s not a way to build a engage with films they would otherwise likely never have the opportunity to see serious filmmaking enterprise.

“That places the priority on making — at least on a screen the size they were money. If you’re playing in the same intended to fill.

Their website states, “Our mission league as Apple — because if you’re on the stock market it doesn’t matter what is to bring the best in independent, you’re selling — you can’t take a gamble Canadian and foreign cinema to Kamloops. We endeavour to promote that doesn’t pay off.”

In an industry that now — since Star and support film and related visual Wars, remember — pegs its success not media in the Kamloops area by offering even necessarily to box office success grants periodically throughout each or whether they cover their costs, but year.”

Every other Thursday, the public to beating market expectations, “there’s no studio that’s going to be courageous is invited to take advantage of their and say, ‘This is a story that needs to be dedication to that cause.

And then there’s the annual Kamloops told, even if it’s not going to pack the Film Festival (KFF), which Wallin currently chairs.

Beginning in the mid-1990s, the KFS had been seeing success in their mandate to bring film to the region and began throwing their annual weeklong celebration of film. Coincidentally, it was around that time when the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) developed their “film circuit” model and began to corner the market on film distribution in Canada. Distributors stopped wanting to deal with the small markets, because they could simply send community organizations to go to TIFF to acquire films as an intermediary.

While this made things easier for both distributors and small-scale organizations like the KFS, it created a situation where TIFF now held the keys to the empire as far as Canadian Victoria Weller of the Thompson Nicola Regional District Film filmgoers were concerned.

Commission (left) gives her thoughts on The World Before At the time, it was largely a win-win Her, the opening film of this year’s festival. Writer/director/ situation for filmmakers and distributors, producer Nisha Pahuja (right) was gracious enough to attend as well as for those who screen the films a Q&A after the screening.

—PHOTO BY MIKE DAVIES and those who go see them.

“These guys will turn any-

thing into money and that was really the turning point.”

Mark Wallin announces the opening of the 17th annual Kamloops Film Festival March 7 at the Paramount Theatre. Wallin is also heading a push for a film studies program at TRU.

—PHOTO BY MIKE DAVIES

Fast-forward to today, where TIFF is having a harder time justifying their existence, according to Wallin, because of the quick turnaround in the film industry due to advancing technology enabling filmmakers to get their work out to the public much quicker, and Wallin thinks that’s almost making the “circuit model” obsolete.

Because of the TIFF distribution model, “By the time we book our films now — this is what happens every year — we look at the films, we get excited about them and we book them and they’re on video by the time the festival rolls around,” according to Wallin.

The board of the film festival starts selecting films in October, trying to finalize the line-up before Christmas, “and then if a production company decides to bump up their release dates, we’re hooped,” Wallin said Adding to the complication of the quick turnaround of the film industry, there’s also a Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) issue. The film festival can’t show films that don’t have Canadian distributor without an exemption from the CRTC and those exemptions are costly and time consuming to acquire.

“It’s not to say that we’re not satisfied with the films that we’re bringing in, but three of the films in [this year’s festival] are currently out on release and several more are going to be released next week.

I find that unacceptable. As a chair, I’m not satisfied with that. I want to bring film in that people in this community wouldn’t have access to otherwise.

That’s the point of the festival. It’s not supposed to be a preview for your DVD purchasing.”

While Wallin is largely happy with

what the festival has become (it’s grown immensely since he came on board) and as much as he loves film itself, now in his fourth year as the chair of the annual week-long KFS event, he is ready to pass the torch and focus his efforts on other things — efforts like bringing a full-on film program to the region.

TRU to reach into the film industry on another level While TRU currently offers some courses in film studies and appreciation, adaptation theory and other aspects of film, there have been rumours of an expansion of that coverage into a fullfledged film program.

Wallin confirms that this is, in fact, one of his end-goals here at TRU. “We’re kind of having to start from scratch, which in some ways is good,” he said.

Apparently we were having this conversation mere hours before yet another official meeting about how the film program will come together. It will take many people from many disciplines and faculties to make it work.

“The kind of program we want needs to be interdisciplinary. We need to have multiple stakeholders. If we’re going to have a film studies program we’re going to have to be working across multiple different programs…visual arts, journalism, communications, English,” said Wallin.

It has been in the discussion for a while now and the obstacles along the way have been many and varied.

SEE TRU FILM p. 8

ON THE COVER: Mark Wallin speaks to the audience before the March 10 showing of Lunarcy! at the 2013 Kamloops Film Festival. Check out the reviews and coverage starting on page 6 this week and at theomega.ca as the reviews come in. — PHOTO BY SEAN BRADY

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The Omega · Volume 22, Issue 22

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March 13, 2013

Volume 22, Issue 22

Published since November 27, 1991

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Editorial/Opinions Time keeps on slipping...

Mike Davies

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Devan C. Tasa

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Courtney Dickson

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Taylor Rocca

copy@truomega.ca @manovrboard

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Editor’s Note Mike Davies Ω Editor-in-Chief I’ve always known that Daylight Saving Time (DST) is just plain stupid.

I grew up in Saskatchewan, where they don’t use it, and it confused me why other places did this whole “change your clocks” thing twice a year. After all, don’t they realize that they’re just screwing with themselves?

I assumed, in my youth, that some regions did this because they had jobs that needed a certain amount of light in order to accomplish, and changing their workday so that there was a longer period of light was a benefit. But shortly after I thought of this (or was told…I don’t remember, I’m a bit more tired today than usual for some reason), I realized, “but why don’t those people just get up earlier or later so they can work when they need to be able to?”

Enacted during the First World War to save energy when electricity was obviously at a premium, the practise of turning the clocks back and forth an hour at two points in the year is not only outdated, but it turns out it’s actually dangerous for us as a society.

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Do it.

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may fail to work correctly, we are concerned about equipment that consumers or patients use in their homes,” said the FDA. The release is titled, “Advice for Patients: Change in Daylight Saving Time May Affect Your Medical Equipment in an Unpredictable Way.” That doesn’t sound good, let’s read on, shall we?

Actually, let’s check out another more concrete example of why this clock adjustment is a stupid idea, rather than dwelling on people telling us that they just don’t know if our medical equipment will work properly because we subscribe to it.

Sleep and Biological Rhythms, a scientific journal produced by the Japanese Society of Sleep Research published an Australian study in 2008 which concluded that, “small changes in chronobiological rhythms are potentially destabilizing in vulnerable individuals,” and that “male suicide rates rise in the weeks following the commencement of daylight saving, compared to the weeks following the return to eastern standard time and for the rest of the year.”

There are a ton of studies out there from actual smart people that say this is bad for us. Whether they are studying the number of times people are hit by cars crossing the street at various points of the year, or examining how it screws with people who already have sleep issues (and how many university students can say they don’t?), it’s time we listened to reason — and those smart people I mentioned earlier — and abolished this absurd practise.

I’m not moving back to Saskatchewan, but they’ve got it right on this one. editor@truomega.ca

thing all students should always be aware of.

Motivation is the first thing that goes for me around this time of the year and I almost always come back to music to keep my head screwed on tight and in the game. After all, music is always there for you. It isn’t going to betray you or turn its back on you when you need it.

The thing I love about music keeping me together and sane is that, amongst many other things, there are two specific positives that it contributes to battling through the final weeks of the school year: 1) it provides the inspiration and motivation to keep working through the challenges; and 2) it can be a reassuring voice that relates to any confusing or conflicting thoughts.

When I think about it, music is my best friend. It doesn’t judge me.

It doesn’t blame me for anything. It doesn’t get mad at me when I make a mistake or say something stupid. It doesn’t give up on me when I am not at my best.

Most importantly, music helps me to believe in myself during times when believing in myself maybe isn’t the easiest thing to do.

I typically like to impart some wisdom, share some thoughts or communicate a little bit of my own opinion when it comes to this column. Some weeks I’m the one who needs some extra encouragement so this week I’m going to pass on the knowledge that is keeping me going.

With that being said, I want to share with you a few lyrical lines of wisdom that have been getting heavy rotation on my iPod over the past few months.

“Ten Thousand Hours” is the lead track off of the latest release from Seattle rapper Macklemore and his partner in crime, Ryan Lewis.

“I stand here in front of you today all because of an idea,” Mackelmore drops. “I could be who I wanted if I could see my potential and I know one day I’ma be him.”

Fast-forward from the album’s first beat to its conclusion, “Victory Lap.” “And they say, ‘Don’t forget where you come from. Don’t die holding on to your words ‘cause you know that you got a whole world to change but understand who you got to change first,’” Mackelmore belts out before going on to chronicle the trials and tribulations of his career before he finally found success.

I guess when it all comes down to it, you can be whatever you want to be.

Sure, a lot of kids are raised with these unrealistic “dream lots and dream big” thoughts, but what is wrong with dreaming big to keep yourself motivated?

Chances are you won’t get somewhere you want to be without dreaming big. So if it helps you keep your head up and to push on, I say dream big. There will definitely be some bumps in that road, but the potential reward at the end of it all will be worth the battle. copy@truomega.ca

“Ten Thousand Hours”

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(Correspondence not intended for publication should be labelled as such.)

No, I’m not just talking about talking possibly reaching across the counter at Tim Horton’s when the idiot behind the counter made a one-cream-three-sugar instead of a three-cream-one-sugar because you’re both tired, I’m talking about actual statistics that say we just can’t handle shifting time like this.

The New England Journal of Medicine published a study in 2008 out of Sweden that found there to be approximately a seven per cent increase in heart attacks during the three working days after the clocks are reset in the spring.

It kind of comes out in the wash when you see the equivalent decrease in the same statistic in the fall when the clocks move the other way, but doesn’t that kind of observation itself tell you that maybe this ain’t good for our health?

Okay, what!? A press release from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration updated March 8, 2013 (originally released about the same time in 2007) says the following: “Medical equipment you use could have been made before the DST rules were changed, and so your equipment may use the wrong dates for the start and end of daylight saving time,” according to a press release from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration updated March 8, 2013 (originally released about the same time in 2007). That can’t possibly cause any problems, though, right? I mean it’s probably just a documentation issue because the machines will be an hour off, yes?

“We do not know if any medical equipment will be affected, how it will be affected, or how it may affect patients. Although we don’t know what specific equipment

TRUe Thoughts Taylor Rocca Ω Copy/Web Editor Well folks, the home stretch is here.

The final month of the 2012-13 academic year.

What?

The final month already?

It certainly came quickly. The odd thing is, if you’re feeling the way I am these days, the end can’t come quick enough.

This isn’t the first time I’ve talked about burnout or mental wellness. It might seem like a topic that is overdone and beaten to death, but really, can we truly say that we talk about mental health and well-being too much?

I sure hope not.

If anything, this is a subject that should be raised and talked about more often than not. Regardless of what we are talking about, whether it is burnout or depression, mental health is some-

Busy schedules don’t have to be unhealthy ones

Courtney Dickson Ω Roving Editor

The stereotypical student lifestyle doesn’t allow for much nutrition.

Running between classes, meeting with groups at weird times and staying up late writing papers makes it easy for students to grab a bagel and an extra-large, extra-hot, extra-calorie cappuccino.

How much did that fancy coffee and gourmet bagel cost you? Probably at least $5. Students are always concerned about how much money they (don’t) have and yet they are shelling out money left and right for a meal here and a snack there, just to save time.

Organic markets are often pricier shopping destinations, which scares many students away from purchasing healthier options. How can we students, save money, eat healthy and maximize time?

Buying a boatload of fruits and vegetables is not that expensive. I recently paid $2.50 for a box of spinach at Superstore. It went into four smoothies and made three salads.

By planning my meals ahead of time and knowing I would want to throw some fruit into the same smoothies and salads, I was able to purchase a $4 basket of strawberries that would add some flavour to my food.

Getting up 10 minutes early every day to make a smoothie isn’t the end of the world. That’s how long I would spend waiting in the line-up at Tim Horton’s, anyways.

Mental health is always a concern for students as we are under pressure all the time to perform intellectually. A big part of maintaining that is how we eat.

Dr. Drew Ramsey is an American psychiatrist and author of The Happiness Diet. He has spent most of his career researching and teaching others about the links between mental health and nutrition.

“Your brain is made of food, and that’s why meal choices are so increasingly linked to depression,” Ramsey said, in a video on his website.

Ramsey said one of the most important nutrients that students (and people in general) are lacking is magnesium.

“Your brain burns a tremendous amount of energy,” he said. “20 per cent of the calories you eat go towards the thoughts and feelings and the actions that stem from your brain” If we want to keep our brains healthy, we need to be eating more foods rich in magnesium, such as leafy greens, whole grains and beans, as opposed to inhaling a box of macaroni and drinking an energy drink for breakfast, skipping lunch and having pizza for dinner.

Our nutrition shouldn’t be based on how much time or money we have. We need to base our eating habits on how much we care about our bodies, minds and ultimately our ability to learn.

I’m not perfect. I grab a muffin between classes when my tummy is growling and I enjoy a beer or five on the weekend with my friends. But I do take my overall health and wellness seriously.

You probably should too.

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March 13, 2013

News Knowledge Network CEO discusses its evolution Devan C. Tasa Ω News Editor

It started, of all places, on a tropical beach a little more than six years ago. In 2006, Rudy Buttignol had just finished his position at TVOntario and was hired as a consultant to look at the operation of the Knowledge Network, B.C.’s public education broadcaster.

He was tasked to create some questions that related to the network’s strategic plan.

“I was going to start writing questions for the board and I thought, ‘You know what? I’m going to go for a swim, get a beer, I’m going to sip on it and I’m just going to write what I would do if I was going to run the network,’” he said.

Buttignol was going to base his questions on the plan he made up, but when he talked to the Knowledge Network’s board, they told him to just tell them about the plan instead. Based on that plan, the board hired Buttignol in 2007 as president and CEO. In the six years that Buttignol has led the network, it has gone to 24-hour programming, seen large changes in its corporate culture and bought another television channel.

Buttignol, who came to TRU as the guest for the dean of business and economics speaker series, talked to an audience of approximately 60 people on March 6.

While we live in a multichannel media universe, it’s still important to have a public broadcaster, Buttignol said.

“For me, the answer is it’s a trusted public space and it’s accessible to everybody,” he said.

“As a public network, our mission is to serve absolutely everyone in the province at some point in time.”

He also compared the Knowledge Network to Stanley Park.

The park serves as a public space and improves the quality of life but private developers wouldn’t mind filling it up with new buildings.

When Buttignol became CEO, the Knowledge Network had just survived a review examining if it should be privatized, it had a conservative corporate culture, it had bad relations with the provincial government and it was only on air from 7 a.m. to 12 a.m.

Buttignol patched up government relations by politely discussing what the network did with top bureaucrats and cabinet ministers.

By installing an automated digital control room, the network was able to air kids shows during the day and biographies during the night. The control room also made it possible to stream online when the technology became available.

As for the culture, Buttignol required every single employee, including himself, to take schooling to develop their skills.

But there were jobs cuts as well.

Rudy Buttignol, president of the Knowledge Network, discusses the changes there during his six years of leading the organization at the dean of business’ speaker speakers on March 6.

—PHOTO BY DEVAN C. TASA

Approximately 33 per cent of the network’s employees were laid off, including the entire inhouse production and publication departments.

“If I was going to do it again, I’d do it faster and I’d do it deeper, because everybody knows that it’s coming,” he said.

“Sometimes when you do it

Electronic textbook sales suprisingly low across BC Karla Karcioglu Ω Contributor

Despite saving students’ money and conveniently helping them avoid future back problems, electronic textbooks aren’t gaining popularity on B.C. campuses.

Glenn Read, TRU’s bookstore manager, said etexts, which have been offered for four years, are consistently less than one per cent of total sales.

“It’s not caught on,” he said.

The numbers are the same at Capilano University, said Brian Ball, bookstore manager, with etexts accounting for less than one per cent of total sales.

Ryan Hirowatari, manager of the University of British Columbia’s bookstore, said etext sales are 1.5 percent of total sales.

At Simon Fraser University, etext sales are about 6.5 per cent, according to Carrie Harfman, bookstore supervisor.

“Considering we have 28,000 students, yes it’s very low,” she said.

Though there is no way to say for sure why etexts aren’t very popular for post-secondary students, several theories were offered.

“When digital came out, there were certain restrictions that didn’t lend itself to a semester,” Read said. “Some [etexts] had a time frame like 180 days.

So it sometimes it didn’t last the entire semester and when it came down to crunch time when preparing for exams, you no longer had access to it or you’d have to pay more to acquire it again.

“It wasn’t really designed well, in my opinion, for the benefit of our students.”

Harfman has a different theory.

“The reason why [etexts] are not taking off as fast in Canada, compared to the U.S., is because of the cost benefit

and the conversion of Canadian content,” she said.

“Right now there is not enough comfort for students to try digital books,” Ball said, adding that interest is rising but access is difficult.

“Our bookstore is posting links to digital books, which helps get students the right book,” Ball said. “It can be confusing, as the publisher often has quite a few different versions of the same material. Some come with study aids, some don’t, some have quiz components, etcetera.”

“Publishers are going around the bookstores, encouraging faculty and staff to buy etexts directly from the companies that create them,” said Penny Drapper, textbook manager at the University of Victoria bookstore. “So what bookstores see as sales are just a small percentage. Most [experts] suggest that real numbers are closer to 25 per cent.”

Tiesha Collins-Newton, a first-year bachelor of science, purchased one etext

and said she would not do it again.

She said despite the convenience of being able to fit it on her iPad, the etext was slow and difficult to work with.

Peter Schmalz, a first-year tourism management student, also purchased one etext. He said it was a fraction of the price and came quickly.

Derek Scott, a second-year nursing student, said he has not and would not consider buying one. He said he’s traditional, preferring to have the book with him as opposed to going online.

Ball feels etexts will slowly become more popular as more students try it successfully and the word spreads. He is expecting etext sales to reach 10 to 20 per cent in a few years.

Read isn’t certain whether etexts will become more popular in the future.

“Maybe that will change as the next generation comes along that has been accustomed to a tablet versus a traditional book,” he said. “I’m not sure.

Time will tell.”

much more carefully, you think you are being the nice guy because you are letting everybody down gently.

“In fact it’s brutal because everyone knows the other shoe is going to drop.”

Since then, the Knowledge Network has expanded. Last year, it bought the Canadian ver-

sion of the BBC Kids channel.

That has made it so the network generates 50 per cent of its own revenue. In 2006, 80 per cent of its revenue came from the B.C. government.

In the next few years, the network will be looking at increasing its presence on Facebook and mobile devices.

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hrblock.ca | 800-HRBLOCK (472-5625) © 2013 H&R Block Canada, Inc. *Average is based on all student returns prepared at H&R Block in Canada for 2010 tax returns. The average refund amount calculated for students was over $1,100, cannot be guaranteed and varies based on each individual tax situation. $29.95 valid for student tax preparation only. To qualify, student must present either (i) a T2202a documenting 4 or more months of full-time attendance at a college or university during the applicable tax year or (ii) a valid high school ID card. Students pay $79.99 for Complex/Premier return. Expires 12/31/2013. Valid only at participating locations. Additional fees apply. SPC cards available at participating locations in Canada only.

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5

The Omega · Volume 22, Issue 22

News

Mark Hendricks Ω Contributor

Bob McDonald, CBC’s chief science correspondent and host of the national science radio show Quirks and Quarks, spoke to a packed audience as the guest of the March 4 president’s lecture series.

The lecture was held in the Grand Hall of the Campus Activity Center.

The hall was full as the audience waited in anticipation of McDonald’s talk, entitled “Thriving in the Third Millennium.”

Despite having no formal science education, McDonald has received the Michael Smith Award for science promotion, the Sandford Fleming Medal from the Royal Canadian Institute, the McNeil Medal for public awareness of science, is an officer of the Order of Canada and has received six honorary PhDs. McDonald’s talk began by discussing Canadian scientific endeavors, beginning with astronaut Chris Hadfield. Hadfield was the first Canadian astronaut to walk in space and will soon be the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station He’s also a personal friend of McDonald’s.

“I have had the honor of knowing him for a number of years now,” McDonald said.

McDonald even gave an anecdote about being invited by Hadfield to play in his band while wearing his loudest Hawaiian shirt.

McDonald briefly touched on Canada’s contribution to early satellites. Canada was the third country in space, Russia was first with Sputnik, the United States was second with Explorer and Canada was third with Alouette 1.

“Sputnik decayed after 3 months.

Explorer, 12 years. Alouette 1, still up there,” McDonald said as he let out a cheer.

McDonald took time to cover the facts and figures associated with global warming, starting with how the data is being collected. Scientists drill ice cores into the Arctic and extract long cylinders of ice that have air pockets trapped inside them.

This air can then be examined to determine what it contains. That data is then extrapolated to get figures on temperature and other variables to create detailed climate records.

The trend shows what we already know, a distinct spike in carbon emissions starting in the 1800s, aligning with the mass consumption of fossil fuels.

“I’m not making this up, the numbers are right here,” McDonald said.

McDonald spoke of several alternate energy solutions, believing

that solar, while not necessarily the entire answer, will be part of the solution. He also showed a convection turbine in France that forces hot air heated in a greenhouse through a windmill-lined chimney as an example of the clever solutions people are finding.

Cars are a part of everyday life in North America and McDonald recognizes that they are part of the problem. But he also recognizes the solutions people are offering.

McDonald began by talking about the old 400-horsepower muscle cars of his youth, the gas guzzling titans of the ‘60s. Then he moved onto the modern electric supercar, the Tesla roadster.

The Tesla is a fully electric supercar that has 248-hp and an effective range of 393 kilometres. The Tesla is powered by what according to McDonald is the equivalent of 2000 lithium ion laptop batteries.

“Unfortunately it costs $100,000,” McDonald said.

Water will be the scarce resource of note in the future according to McDonald. Using a visual demonstration and a young volunteer from the audience he showed why only one per cent of the world’s water is drinkable.

Of the remaining 99 per cent, 90 per cent is salt water and the remaining nine per cent is frozen. According to McDonald the oil wars of the past will be nothing compared to the water wars of the future.

“And Canada is the Iraq of water,” McDonald said.

McDonald wanted to leave the audience on a message of hope, as he truly does believe that we can fix the situation we’re in.

“We need an evolution, not a revolution,” McDonald said.

McDonald believes that although the resources will stay the same, the way we use them needs to change.

Efficiency is our largest problem.

Four-stroke engines used in modern cars are only at a maximum 20 per cent efficient, the remaining 80 per cent of the energy in the fuel being lost to heat.

“Imagine putting $10 worth of gas in your car,” McDonald said, “and then pouring the remaining $40 of gas on the ground.”

Scientists are clever and the market will respond to externalities.

McDonald remembers the 1970s oil crisis and the immediate change in the market from muscle cars to fuel efficient cars with small engines like the Ford Pinto.

“If you hit the back end it exploded,” McDonald said, “but other than that it was a good car.”

McDonald believes that this can happen again if the market, meaning all of us, demands it.

Puzzle of the Week Puzzle of the Week #18 – The Power of Memorisation Suppose that you decided to memorise a lot of powers: bases of 2 and up from, for each base, the square up to the highest power that is less than or equal to 1,000,000. (All numbers in this puzzle are integers.)

How many powers would you have to memorise to do this?

This contest is sponsored by the Mathematics and Statistics department. The full-time student with the best score at the end of the year will win a prize.

Please submit your solution (not just the answer but also why) by noon next Wednesday to Gene Wirchenko <genew@telus.net>. Submissions by others are also welcome. The solution will be posted the Wednesday after that in the Math Centre (HL210A). Come visit: we are friendly.

International Intonation

Mice with human brains (cells, anyway), recent climate change numbers and a printed skull?

Mark Hendricks

Are the numbers wrong on climate change?

Ω Contributor

Guard the cheese, mice are here!

smart

Last week scientists linked the brains of two mice and created telepathic mice capable of transmitting neural impulses across countries. This week scientists are making mice smarter by injecting them with human brain cells.

Scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York have recently conducted a study in which they injected human glial progenitor cells into newborn mice.

Glial cells surround neurons and hold them in place; supply nutrients to neurons; insulate one neuron from another; and destroy pathogens and dead neurons.

Six months after the injection the human progenitor cells had almost completely replaced the mouse’s glial progenitor cells.

The team also used another group of mice as a control and injected them with mouse glial progenitor cells to ensure it was the human cells that were making the difference, not that there were simply more brain cells.

The mice were then run through a series of tests and the mice that had the human progenitor cells were more capable in tests that involved learning and memory.

Where you can find out more: www.sciencenews.org

A study published in the March issue of Science, one of the world’s leading journals for scientific research, suggests that the actual numbers on climate change might not be what we thought they were. They’re worse.

Printing a skull

— IMAGE COURTESY CHRISTIAN

FISCHER / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

A team of scientists, led by Shaun A. Marcott from Oregon State University, constructed detailed surface temperature data for the past 1,500 years and found that although the Earth has been getting warmer overall since the industrial revolution the Earth should have been getting colder.

“If you were to predict—based

TRU Human Rights Club now official Courtney Dickson Ω Roving Editor

Mike Wolfson and Aachal Goundar, both law students at TRU, were on their way home to Vancouver in the fall when they realized they were both passionate about human rights and wanted to get more students involved in discussion about human rights issues. As of January 2013, the two students made the Human Rights Club an official group at TRU. The goal of the club is to increase awareness and discussion about, as well as promote the protection of, human rights. They plan to host a conference, bring in guest lecturers and show films to establish TRU as an advocate and promoter of human rights.

They also hope to act as a resource for students at TRU by directing people to information about a wide range of topics.

As law students, Wolfson and Goundar are not able to give legal advice, but they can tell people where to look for information. They want to apply this practice to the club, as well.

“This is more like a vehicle to help people realize their goals,” Goundar said.

More than 20 students from a variety of backgrounds have shown-up to their first set of meetings, but they are hoping to generate more interest, particularly among students outside the law school. Though they plan to have a table set up at clubs day in Septem-

on where we are relative to the position of the sun and how we are tilted,” Marcott told CNN news, “you would predict that we would still be cooling, but we’re not.”

To get the data, Marcott and his team examined 73 sediment and polar ice samples taken from across the globe and analyzed the chemicals found within.

Where you can find out more: www.cnn.com

ber, the hope is to start building the group this semester.

“We’re just putting down the foundation,” Goundar said. “These issues are not just for the legal environment.”

The theme this week for the Human Rights Club is human trafficking. Tania Vig, law student and member of the club, chose a topic she felt passionate about and found a film she hoped would raise awareness about the issue.

On Thursday, March 14, Vig and the Human Rights Club will be showing Enslaved and Exploited: The Story of Sex Trafficking in Canada at 12:30 p.m. in the Clock Tower’s Alumni Theatre. There will be a discussion about the issue of human trafficking in Canada thereafter.

Though human trafficking is rarely thought of as a problem in a developed country like Canada, there were 56 cases before the courts as of April 2012 according to Public Safety Canada.

At least 26 of these cases involved persons under the age of 18. Though Canadians may not find this to be a noticeable problem, it is happening, nonetheless.

The Human Rights Club can be found on Facebook at facebook.com/ TruHumanRightsClub, Twitter at twitter.com/TRUHumanRights and on their website and blog at truhumanrights.com. Students looking for further information about meeting dates and times can contact the group at truhumanrights@gmail.com.

Last week’s mentioned the Urbee 2, a 3-D printed car being constructed by Kor Product Designs. This week we have something that may be even more impressive.

On March 4, doctors used a 3-D printed implant to replace 75 per cent of a patient’s skull using an implant technology known as OsteoFab. The benefit of using a 3-D printed implant is it gives total control over all aspects of construction. This allows doctors to create a perfect replica that matches the lost bone and encourages the growth of new cells.

OsteoFab plans to create 3-D printed bone replacements for the entire human skeleton.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of 3-D printed skull implants last month.

Where you can find out more: www.scienceworldreport.com

theomega.ca

Bob McDonald takes on science and the environment

6

March 13, 2013

The World Before Her Mike Davies

The story bounces between the two girls’ lives and that of their families. At first glance Prachi, an angry, militant-style you would think they had nothdrill leader at a right wing camp ing in common, but soon come where she helps teach violence to realize that they are each in and resistance to westerniza- a similar battle for identity with tion to young girls, says her dad their own families, despite their beats her, but only when she’s individual identities being starkdone something wrong. It’s okay, ly different.

“Now that I step back from because he let her live instead of killing her when she was born a it,” said Pahuja after the film, when the audience was invited girl.

Ruhi, one of a select few who across the street to a question made it to the finals of the an- and answer session, “I realize that all they are nual Miss India is a ref lection pageant, is a proof their country. gressive, modern [India is] a counyoung woman try undergoing who embraces tremendous powestern culture, litical, cultural, because blendand economic ing cultures has change…and so always happened, naturally they she says, it’s just are going to be happening easier a mirror of that and faster now complexity.” that we have the Ruhi’s world of means to share it pageantry is one more efficiently. of conformity She wants to and surface valmake her parue. Many scenes ents proud of in the film are her by winning simply following the pageant, becontestants cause, like Pra—PHOTO COURTESY the chi, she realizes STORYLINE ENTERTAINMENT as they prepare for the event, bethat many parents ing taught how would have killed her at birth and her being physi- to walk the same, pose the same cally beautiful proves that they and more or less look the same.

They are subjected to “beauty” made the right decision.

A story of “old world” versus treatments such as Botox shots “new world,” perception of pro- and skin lightening procedures, gression versus regression and in- there are frank discussions about herent generational conf lict, The how faces should be “properly World Before Her opened the 17th proportioned,” diction lessons annual Kamloops Film Festival at and runway sessions where the young women are covered from the Paramount Theatre March 7.

The documentary’s writer/di- head to waist in white sheets and rector/producer Nisha Pahuja was judged on their lower-halfs only.

Prachi’s world is also about in attendance and spoke brief ly before the film saying she hoped conformity, however, it’s more that people would get something about a spiritual sameness. The out of it — that people would “feel girls in the camp run drills in formation, and their lives are all something.”

One can’t help but feel some- about being a good Hindu womthing watching this film. It is vi- an and rejecting — by physical sually brilliant, contrasting a mil- force if need be — any outside itary-style camp in the desert with concepts such as other religions the ritz and glamour of a televised or nationalities.

2012 winner of the Best Docuevent viewed internationally by more than one billion people, but mentary Feature at the Tribeca also emotionally powerful and Film Festival in New York (where the film made its debut), this is a conf licting.

You don’t know who you’re must-see for anyone who considcheering for as this film progress- ers themselves a fan of the genre.

Or anyone who finds cultural es — but finally realize you were cheering for everyone, even if you differences and the differences don’t want to because you don’t within cultures themselves as fascinating as I do. share their beliefs.

Ω Editor-in-Chief

—IMAGE COURTESY LA PARTI PRODUCTIONS

Lunarcy!

Sean Brady Ω Contributor

What can we say about those in society who operate on the fringe?

Most of the time we ignore what they have to say simply because of how they’re going about spreading their message. There’s the doomsayer on the sidewalk, the zealous conspiracy theorist or even the homeless man convinced someone is tracking his every move. A lot of the time we have good reasons to dismiss fringe behavior. Sometimes we don’t.

Lunarcy! documents the dreams and obsessions of its subjects, six in all, who share a common interest in the moon and space travel. The documentary’s main focus is Christopher Carson, who wants to travel to the moon. He insists that after he receives the billions in funding he requires, it would be a mere 18 months until he was on the moon himself.

Carson takes his own ideas very seriously and struggles to deal with

the reality of how people respond to him. Carson is obviously different.

His obsession with the moon is a full-time endeavour that takes him around the United States to trade shows and speaking engagements.

He describes himself as “a person who tries to find the next reality.”

In one scene, Carson is trying to hand out leaflets on the streets of New York, petitioning people to return to the moon, but he’s met with “no thanks,” ignored or worse.

Meanwhile we learn more about Carson’s dreams than his street audience ever would.

The film’s style is a playful one and at times it straddles the line between making fun of its subjects and telling their stories, as they unveil ideas like selling property on the moon, building elaborate off-planet colonies or establishing a galactic-level government in conjunction with the United Nations.

Ultimately the film is a collection of light-hearted tales and ideas we might normally roll our eyes at.

The packing is what makes it work.

The ideas of these people aren’t

forced upon us. Instead, they’re told through each of the subjects’ lives in a way that conveys both their ideas and a biographical sketch.

We get a real sense of how these characters relate to this (and other) world(s).

Particularly endearing are the film’s titles that it uses to divide the documentary into segments relating to one particular subject or idea. This is where director Simon Ennis’ humour comes through the most. He manages to stay respectful to his subjects while also framing their obsessions in a creative way that accentuates their peculiarity.

Although there’s a supporting cast, Lunarcy! is wholly the tale of Christopher Carson’s ignored passion to travel to the moon. As the film progresses, Carson’s obsessions become ours and we’re left excited, wondrous and hopeful for the future of space travel. He embodies a side of the space exploration debate we should probably examine more frequently: why aren’t we satisfying our wonder?

Ernest & Célestine

Oriol Salvador Ω Contributor

This is not the first time that anthropomorphized animals are used to show the glories and miseries of our society.

The technique is as old as humanity and is tied close to a little mouse that became the icon for a major animation film company (and for the 20th century in general) or even further, with the earliest fairy tales.

In the traditionally crafted animated film Ernest & Célestine, it is shown through two main characters, a little mouse and a big bear, outsiders of their respective societies, living in parallel worlds on the surface and in the underground.

Célestine is a little orphan mouse that grew up in her own world full of paintings and not as afraid as her peers when told tales of the frightening story about the Big Bad Bear. She found a way to make a living stealing teeth in the bear’s world which rodent dentists use as implants.

Ernest is a solitary bear, an artist and a street musician who

refuses to be a lawyer like his father was and instead, is starving, seeking food to feed his belly. He is an old acquaintance for the village’s policebears, as an outlaw.

Coincidences cause their lives to intersect on a cold winter day when Célestine is trapped in a bin and Ernest finds her and as is established in the foundations of their society, wants to eat her.

However, the stubborn Célestine changes his mind. Instead, they cooperate to satisfy their hunger.

This provides the basis for a strong friendship later on.

By questioning the foundations of their societies in acts of selfexpression, they become prosecutable by the established rules and in parallel situations, their worlds question their attitudes.

This is an emotional animated feature, entertaining and thought-provoking both for children and adults, who would find different levels of interpretation – from the power of societies’ established rules to shape our behavior on a daily basis to the benefits of a good oral hygiene and the power of friendship.

The film is based on a series of books under the same title, created by the Belgian author and illustrator Gabrielle Vincent in the 1980s.

The transfer of the book to the big screen was the duty of animation and short film directors Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar and Benjamin Renner.

It was a co-production of Les Armateurs, StudioCanal, Maybe Movies, France 3 Cinéma, La Parti Production and Melusine Productions, with the economic support of the European MEDIA program; the movie was released in France in December 2012.

Among other accolades, it won the César Award for Best Animated Feature in 2013 (award from the French Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinema), a special mention for the Director’s Fortnight prize in Cannes Film Festival 2012, recognitions in BFI London Film Festival 2012 and Seville European Film Festival 2012, the Muhr Award & People’s Choice Award at Dubai International Film Festival also in 2012 and the Cinekid Film Award International Film in 2011.

7

The Omega · Volume 22, Issue 22

Camera Shy

Mason Buettner Ω Contributor

Camera Shy’s co-writer Doug Barber introduced the film to the audience, describing the film as a micro-budget project shot over 18 days in different areas of the lower mainland, in and around Vancouver. The film was made with a budget of only $300,000, but it is not noticeable in the slightest when viewing the film. Director and co-writer Mark Sawers was able to create a captivating original concept within the well-known genre of dark comedy, making this film worth seeing.

The film’s dark comedy is established within the first minutes and the witty humour doesn’t relent until the final scene fades into the credits. Screenwriters Barber and Sawers wrote a brilliant screenplay forcing the audience to pay close attention to keep up with the numerous plot twists throughout. As the plot develops, Camera Shy turns into a movie within a movie through the eyes of the narcissistic main character Larry Coyle, played by Nicolas Wright.

Coyle is a corrupt Vancouver city

councilor doing anything he can to pursue his dream of becoming a federal cabinet minister, including using his adopted orphan kids to get himself out of numerous sticky situations. He consistently does worse things and commits more crimes to achieve his dreams.

Coyle seems perfectly fine with what he has done until he starts being followed by a cameraman who films his every incriminating move, but it turns out Coyle is the only one who can see him. Wright plays the character of Coyle perfectly as he bounces back and forth between the imaginary cameraman and the actual cameraman shooting the movie.

Coyle reluctantly seeks the help of a psychiatrist, which eventually leads him to believe that he is a character in a movie of his own life after refusing to take the advice of the psychiatrist. Things really get interesting when Coyle realizes he is responsible for moving the plot forward as the main character of the movie.

He takes things into his own hands, but nothing goes as planned. Coyle keeps digging himself deeper into a pit of crime and corruption. It’s a new take on the common movie-within-a-movie and Sawers pulls it off well.

Sawers and Barber weren’t afraid to tackle taboo topics in their dark humour either, causing uproarious laughter each time. They even go as far as poking fun at the film industry itself. The film provides different intertextual references to other popular movies as well, leading into their movie-within-a-movie scenes.

It could be described as a movie-withina-movie-within-a-movie. It’s nice to see some original ideas and Camera Shy is a movie worthy of another viewing.

pathizes with her, as he was an alcoholic at one time. He invites Kate to an alcoholics anonymous meeting where she meets her sponsor, Jenny, played by the talented Octavia Spencer.

“I think I need to slow down.

And I might need help,” Kate tells her inebriated husband after she wakes up outside on a duct-taped couch.

Smashed successfully depicted the life of an alcoholic as less than glamorous.

Between wetting the bed, peeing on the f loor of the general store and falling asleep during sex, this couple could sway anyone away from such a lifestyle.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead gave an outstanding performance, especially during Kate’s relapse after being fired from her job.

Winstead disturbed the audience when she portrayed Kate’s alcohol-soaked desperation and recklessness during a drunken argument with her at-the-time sober husband.

“Love is the easy part. It’s the rest of this shit that’s hard,”

Kate tells Charlie. “I can’t be sober and be with you.”

Fade to black.

The next scene takes place one year later, at an AA celebration of Kate’s one-year sobriety. She is now separated from Charlie and has a new job.

“I’m so thankful for this boring new life of mine.”

In his own fit of desperation, Charlie calls Kate and asks to see her. She reluctantly visits him at what was once her home and they have a game of croquet in the yard.

The film comes to an abrupt end when Charlie asks Kate to stay and the screen turns to black. It is up to viewers to interpret what Kate chose to do.

Smashed was filmed in only 19 days and on a noticeably low budget, which added authenticity to the mediocre lifestyle the Hannah’s were living.

Smashed is filled with truth and emotion. It will leave viewers with something to discuss, which is exactly what the film industry needs nowadays.

—PHOTO COURTESY MARK SAWYERS PRODUCTIONS

Holy Motors

beggar lady, a dying uncle, a gangster and many others. Scob Ω Arts & Entertainment Editor is solid as well and as they are the only two actors we see over French cinema is often por- the entire film, their portrayals trayed as over-the-top and pre- are the thread which carries the tentious. Holy Motors doesn’t do film.

However the rest of the film anything to dissuade that opinion. In fact, it seems to have been is difficult to submerge into. It takes awhile to get a hold of what built with that type of attitude.

To describe the plot of the 2012 exactly is going on and it’s very French fantasy-drama one has to difficult to find anything that understand that the plot doesn’t would draw the audience in for seem to be especially central to any length of time.

It often feels like a series of the film at times. The audience starts off in a confusing surre- scenes from other films, based alistic scene where a man living on Lavant’s rotating roster, next to an airport opens a secret strung together, using the limo door in his bedroom which leads driving duo as the plot’s connecinto a hallway. At the end of the tive tissue.

For North hallways is a balAmerican aucony overlooking diences, Eva a crowded theatre Mendes’s and while a film plays Kylie Minogue’s and a child (in involvement little-to-no clothwere highly touting) and a large ed, though they black dog walk appear in one up and down the segment each. aisles. This sets Mendes is noththe tone of the ing special as film as more of she plays a coman arts-y festival pletely emotionfilm than a wide less model more release feature. akin to a Barbie We then move doll with fully to the real story f lexible limbs line, which is than a character, fairly straight though the scene forward chronorelies much logically.

We —PHOTO COURTESY more heavily on follow a man CITIZEN JONES Lavant’s crazy (Monsieur Oscar hobo lepreplayed by Denis Lavant) and his female chauffeur chaun-like character.

Minogue’s scene is much more (Celine played by Edith Scob) as they drive around Paris in a involved and actually includes white limousine. Throughout the the most character development day Oscar transforms himself for Oscar as he and Minogue’s into different characters, taking Kay M. discuss their vague past.

Overall the film seems to have on different lives and becoming each person in the film’s reality. a subtext discussing how we live Some characters seem to be part our lives, though it’s difficult to performance art, others he could discern what the message is exhave been hired as some sort of actly.

It could be saying that all the criminal plot or for someone’s personal ref lection of their own world is a stage, or commentary life. There does seem to be some on our unique perspectives of sort of large organization behind the world or pointing out how the scenes running the opera- we all have roles in each other’s lives that we play as characters tion.

Lavant takes on the difficult despite being individual people.

Maybe it’s all three. role with great skill, as he apMaybe it’s just a weird bit of plies make-up to Oscar’s face and transforms himself into a French cinema.

Brendan Kergin

Smashed Courtney Dickson Ω Roving Editor

Kate and Charlie Hannah are a carefree, happily married couple. They work nine-to-five jobs and play croquet in their backyard.

They’re also alcoholics.

The Kamloops Film Society showed the 2005 comedy-drama Smashed, directed by Jake Schreier, on the second night of the Kamloops Film Festival.

Smashed explores the consequences of becoming sober when the foundation of one’s marriage is alcohol.

The degree of Kate’s problem is magnified when she vomits in front of her first grade students. In an attempt to save her job, she lies to her students and her principal, telling them she’s pregnant, which later backfires.

Parks and Recreation’s Nick Offerman plays the vice principal of the school where Kate teaches.

He’s the only one who sym-

—PHOTO COURTESY SUPER CRISPY ENTERTAINMENT

8

March 13, 2013

Arts & Entertainment Album review: We Swore We’d See The Sunrise

Jess Buick

Ω Contributor Last week marked the release of The Matinee’s third full-length album, We Swore We’d See The Sunrise. The name of the album comes from a line on the second track from the album, “L’Absinthe.”

This is the band’s first full album after a third-place finish at the 2011 Peak Performance Project, a B.C. recording artist competition. After listening to We Swore We’d See The Sunrise front to back, the first word that comes to mind to describe it is “solid.”

The five-piece band from Vancouver has a drive and intense passion for music and a unique alt-country rock twang; they’ve come along ways since humble beginnings in 2007.

Steve Berlin, who has worked with greats such as R.E.M. and The Tragically Hip, produced this album.

The Matinee kicks the album off with the first single, “Young &

Lazy,” which produces smiles and good vibes from the very beginning.

Right away the listener is longing for summer sunshine and road trips. The following four tracks are just as fun, with attention to the well thought out lyrics.

“Who Stoned The Roses,” “The Sinking Of Greenhill Park” and “December Slumber” then slow things down. The harmonies on these tracks are incredible and one can picture hearing them in a sold out arena, holding up a lighter and swaying to the increasing intensity of the power ballads. The haunting sound of Matt Rose’s slide guitar shows off the band’s particular attention to detail in the music and its ability to draw certain feelings from the audience.

At the same time, “Gasoline” returns to a more rock sound - with elements of grunge - sounding grimy and sweaty. The album comes to a close with the fabulously written “On Our Own” building up to an epic conclusion. “Are you willing to let go?” is repeated and “on our own” is the last lyric, making an appropriate final statement.

With captivating lyrics about love, youth and struggle We Swore We’d See The Sunrise gives one a sense of belonging, a sense of attachment. It’s clear that this band has worked hard and put its best state of mind in all aspects of this album. It’s safe to say that with this fantastic, heartfelt album The Matinee will be climbing to the top of the Canadian indie charts and with any luck maybe some Juno nominations in 2014.

Canadian Music Corner Travis Persaud

Ω Resident Music Guy Running with Canadian music powerhouses like Jason Collett and Afie Jurvanen (better known as Bahamas) it’s no surprise that Zeus is closer and closer to becoming a household name. Through Toronto connections, the group released its 2010 debut album, Say Us, on the Arts & Crafts label.

With its breezy indie-pop, Zeus achieves a timeless sound. It’s easy to liken the tunes to those of previous generations. As if playing the part, band member Neil Quin has a convincing John Lennon look about him.

Brendan Kergin

Ω Arts & Entertainment Editor They may have less than 20 songs under their belt, but Edmonton electrospace-pop duo Purity Ring has shown huge promise to come with music critics and fans hoping for a repeat performance of 2012’s Shrines.

With female-led vocals over a dark but melodic electronic base, Purity Ring is not dissimilar to another breakout artist from last year, Montreal’s Grimes.

However, vocalist Megan James has a lighter sound to her singing with clearer lyrics and Corin Roddick mixes ‘80s synth-pop sounds with modern production values. Imagine “Tainted Love” if it got a dark remake and slowed down rhythmically.

Following the trend of the quirky but fun music video started with “Marching Through Your Head” off of Say Us, Zeus outdid themselves with the food puppet musicians versus dogs scenario seen in their “Are You Gonna Waste My Time” video, a single off the sophomore album, Busting Visions, released in March 2012.

On April 2, Zeus is set to release a deluxe edition of Busting Visions boasting seven cover songs.

The covers will also be released as an EP under the moniker Cover Me. As of the March 4 EP announcement, Cover Me will feature songs by Michael Jackson, R. Kelly and Stone Temple Pilots.

Both were part of a larger band prior to Purity Ring, which came about as Roddick played around with electronic production and asked James to provide vocals on the first track, released in 2011, “Ungirthed.” From there the buzz around the duo helped build momentum in to the 11-song Shrines. While Roddick is still working on his electronic productions another piece has been released on YouTube, a cover of Soulja Boy’s “Grammy.”

Thanks to the Internet Purity Ring has quickly earned an international audience and is hitting locales in England and Australia right now, which may not be a bad thing as Roddick’s original compositions started while on tour.

However, if you’re interested in checking out these dreamy, dark, electro-pop newcomers, try the original, “Ungirthed.”

TRU film program under development TRU FILM...from p. 2

“It has the support of the people above us. I’ve been told it’s something that we value [as an institution].”

It should really come as no surprise to those who know about the options already on offer at TRU as far as communications courses and those in other faculties and departments.

“With surprisingly few additions, we could [already] put together a decent program that would be a broadspectrum approach about film studies and film production,” Wallin said.

At the same time, Wallin and the rest of the folks involved in the development of the program realize they need to be realistic in their goals.

“Because of the nature of our university, we’re not going to compete with Vancouver Film School,” Wallin admits, but adds that because TRU already has strengths in journalism, theatre and writing, combined with the fact that it will be a cooperative program between various departments and faculties we are already strong in, he has confidence that the program will be successful.

Rather than falling under the current model most programs use, where a chair of a department oversees the program, Wallin said the program would likely be operated as a cooperative.

“It’s a steering committee from all the interested departments that’s going to be spearheading this, so while its current official home is in the communications program, there’s a working group from all the interested parties involved.

“It doesn’t matter to me who’s picking up the ball and running with it, or even where it’s housed, as long as we can put together a program that’s going to deliver something for students and really give them value.”

And what exactly will that value be?

Rudy Buttignol, president and CEO of Knowledge Network, British Columbia’s public broadcaster, who finances independent film (especially documentary), spoke at the KFF’s opening night event about the industry’s current state in Canada.

He pointed out that there’s a big dif-

Don’t expect things to change too drastically at the film festival when Dúsan Magdolen (above) takes over as chair once Wallin steps down to focus on the TRU film program. They have similar visions for the festival, according to Wallin.

—PHOTO BY MIKE DAVIES

ference between wanting to be involved in filmmaking and being a filmmaker.

“In the non-industrial model, it’s always been hard,” he said. “If you want to do someone else’s work, people will give you a job. If you want to do your own work, you’re going to suffer.”

So will TRU’s film program be pumping out film workers or filmmakers?

“What we would like to do,” said Wallin, “is have the students we produce be well-versed in the history and techniques of filmmaking that have come before but also be on the cutting edge of what is happening.”

So they’ll want to be graduating people who want to go into the technical side of production and will be capable of joining film crews on productions, but also those who will

have the knowledge, expertise, and desire to see a film go all the way from concept to finished product — possibly their own.

“We don’t necessarily see ourselves producing the next David Fincher [Seven, Fight Club, The Game, The Social Network] — we’ll leave that to Vancouver Film School, that’s what they do — but we could conceivably produce the next Michael Moore.”

So keep your eyes and ears open on this developing opportunity if you’re interested in film, because somewhere down the line, there’s a very real chance that you could find yourself in a desk learning about film from Mark Wallin, on your way to making your own Roger and Me. Just don’t tell Mark how you plan on licensing the action figures and lunchboxes.

On his way to Canadian Music Week 2013 in Toronto, Victoria-based JP Maurice played at Heroes Pub on Wednesday, March 6. Maurice was backed-up by fellow singer-songwriters Fisticuffs on the drums and Jamison Troy on the bass while local acts Hobos in Sunday Clothes and Sentier completed the bill. This was a TRU Natural Resource Science Students fundraiser for Belize Tropical Field Studies.

—PHOTO BY ORIOL SALVADOR

9

The Omega · Volume 22, Issue 22

Arts & Entertainment

Chai culture at Commodore

Billy Talent hits the road Jess Buick

Ω Contributor Once again Billy Talent is hitting the road. With Sept. 11, 2012 marking the release of new album Dead Silence the band begun touring to support it and is currently on the final Canadian leg of the 11-month Dead Silence Tour.

When Billy Talent takes the stage in Kamloops on March 16, Sum 41, Hollerado and Indian Handcrafts will be backing them up. Essentially this will be a “Canadian pride” tour.

Ian D’sa, Billy Talent’s guitarist, spoke about the tour and Dead Silence, which he produced.

“We really try to bring out great bands on tour with us,” D’Sa said.

“We feel that bringing out up-andcoming bands with us on tour, we help further their careers as musicians.”

Sum 41 took Billy Talent on tour 10 years ago when the band was just starting out and building a reputation.

“The bands that tour with us are all people we have met and bonded with in the past and it makes touring more fun,” D’Sa said.

It’s been a while since Billy Talent has hit the road and the group is looking forward to lighting up audiences with the new album.

“We’re so excited to be hitting the road in Canada once again,” D’Sa said.

The decision to call this album Dead Silence was mutually agreed upon by the band as they wanted to move away from the previous three album titles which were simply Billy Talent, Billy Talent II and Billy Talent III. “Dead Silence” is also the last track on the album and the band felt it went with the theme of the album artwork, which was created by artist Ken Styles. The cover features an underwater city and circling sharks with a man in a telephone booth in the centre, inspiring hope.

Allison Declercq-Matthas Ω Contributor

—PHOTO COURTESY KIM ERLANDSEN/FLICKR (COMMON LICENSE)

D’Sa also produced this record and said it’s always an interesting and new approach to making a record.

The band can collaborate more and find a specific sound to stick to.

“With this record we moved away from the sound of III, which was a little more dark,” D’Sa said. “We went back to more of a punk sound on Dead Silence.”

Billy Talent took time to make this album, criss-crossing Canada to record the 14-song album, making this the longest Billy Talent album (by number of songs and length of time).

“We got a chance to do our own thing,” D’Sa said. “We did the recording on the drums at the Armoury studio in Vancouver, bass and guitar at Noble Street Studio in Toronto and did vocals in our own studio.”

Started in 1993, Billy Talent has been going strong for almost 20 years, originally known as Pezz. The

group changed its name to Billy Talent in 1999 and gained success with its first full-length album, Billy Talent, in 2003. As Billy Talent, the band has become incredibly successful with 17 Juno Award nominations and seven wins.

“We have a mutual respect for one another,” D’Sa said of his band mates.

“We’ve become brothers and we have a common love for making music.”

During this 20-stop tour, the guys will be hitting some smaller towns around Canada such as Red Deer and Moncton.

“When the first record came out, we only hit major cities and now that we’ve established more of a name and more people know about us, we like to go to smaller cities like Dawson Creek and Fort McMurray because it gives our fans a chance to see us in a place that doesn’t necessarily get any big shows,” D’Sa said.

Citizens of Kamloops were welcomed to an introduction to the culture of chai, or tea, in India on March 10. The exhibit, Sipping Culture, hosted at the Commodore Grande Café and Lounge, encouraged attendees to explore the taste, sight, smell and social aspect of chai.

“Ask anyone in India. The tea stall is important,” said Christine Anderson, organizer of the exhibit.

A second-year graduate student in the master of arts, intercultural and international communication program at Royal Roads University in Victoria, Anderson created the exhibit as a school project. Featuring a visual display consisting of the photos she took in India, a mock Indian tea stall and the sound of Indian streets, attendees of the event were pulled right into the experience.

“I don’t see the tea stall going anywhere,” Anderson said.

After spending time in India and on the web researching how the people of India interact with chai, she put together Sipping Culture and asked Ankur Sud, an international Indian student to brew the chai for the event.

Recruiting Fariaa Zaidi, a student from Pakistan, Sud was at the mock Indian tea stall stirring and pouring chai for all those who attended.

“I’m really pleased with the turnout,” Anderson said.

The exhibit saw 10 to 12 people at a time, between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., which meant the crowd f lowed well through the display and Anderson could answer all the questions. She moved from person to person, speaking of the social significance of chai, particularly in areas of illiteracy, as well as how chai is such a revenue generator the Indian government recognizes tea stalls as part of the economy. With the introduction of Starbucks in India in 2012, Anderson is interested in how the company will fare and how it will affect the local tea stalls.

Ankur Sud, an Indian tourism student, was asked by TRU World to help Anderson with her project by brewing the chai.

“They’ve had tea at my place a couple times,” he said. “They liked my tea.”

Jun Fu, a TRU student, enjoyed the familiar presence of chai.

“We Chinese drink tea too,” he said at the exhibit. “I like to drink tea to talk to people.”

Fariaa Zaida, a TRU student from Pakistan, further illustrated the reach of chai when she was asked to assist Sud with making the chai.

“Some people need to drink chai everyday,” Zaida said.

She is not one of those people, but she often makes chai for visitors.

Follow us on Twitter @TRU_Omega or @PaperguyDavies @manovrboard @dctasa @Dicksoncourtney @roguetowel @adamwilliams87 TRU student Ankur Sud pours tea for Commodore patrons at Sunday’s Sipping Culture exhibit.

—PHOTO BY ALLISON DECLERCQ-MATTHAS

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March 13, 2013

Sports WolfPack eliminated from BCIHL playoffs like every time the Wolf Pack went on the offensive, SFU Ω Contributor stayed strong defensively and kept things relatively easy for Kurylo.

Losing to the Simon Fraser In the waning minutes of University (SFU) Clan has been the game the Wolf Pack finally a theme all year for the TRU cashed in on a lucky bounce when Wolf Pack men’s hockey team.

Tyler Jackson received a pass Time and time again victory from Colten DeFrias and potted it against the Clan has eluded their glove side to make it 5-2. Unforgrasps and the 5-2 loss at the tunately it was too little too late, Memorial Arena on March 9 was the season coming to an abrupt no different. It was the second end after a questionable holding loss in as many nights and ended call on Duncan Schulz allowed the 2012-13 BCIHL playoffs for the Clan to effectively run the TRU. clock out.

The Wolf Pack struggled all Despite the loss, year with the Clan, coach Schulz reseveral times commained positive ing out of the gates after the game and slow, surrendering touched on the two and three-goal fact that the Wolfleads before finding Pack competed their legs. The same slow start hurt the

—Don Schulz, for a full 60 minutes night in and Wolf Pack Saturday and TRU found WolfPack head coach night out. He commended the team’s themselves down courage and char2-0 after highlightreel goals by SFU’s Christopher potted two more. Alessio To- acter, adamant the loss will help massetti had arguably the best them next season and beyond.

Hoe and Brenden Silvester.

“It’s not just the hockey part.

Hoe struck first on a beautiful chance of the period on a short stretch pass from Ben Van Lare breakaway but his deke was We try to prepare these guys for and made no mistake going top turned aside by SFU goalie Evan life after hockey and their professional lives,” coach Schulz addshelf on TRU goaltender Shane Kurylo.

“It’s tough because you only ed. “I’d like to think we’ve been Mainprize. Four minutes later, Van Lare set up a tic-tac-toe get a few chances here and there. a big part of that.”

The Wolf Pack program has goal, dishing it to Joey Pavone They’re not a bad defensive team who sent cross ice to Silvester at all,” captain Curtis Tonello been a fairly successful one who made no mistake. Bruin said post-game. “You want to throughout recent years and this McDonald made it 3-0 on a bury, it doesn’t always happen. year was no different. One of the backhand in a scramble in front It sucks, but you have to keep benefits heading into next season will be familiarity as coach of the net before the first frame pushing.”

Looking to find a spark in Schulz said that TRU will return ended.

The goals were indicative of the third period, TRU built off most of its core and has plans to SFU’s first period dominance, the strong goaltending of Main- recruit more talent. Many times Wolf Pack head coach Don prize, who made 30 saves. Dun- this year the Wolf Pack were Schulz admitted TRU was be- can Schulz walked in on a power stuck playing with just four or play and deked Kurylo to make five defencemen on the back end hind the 8-ball early on.

“I kept stressing the fact that the score 5-1. However it seemed and rarely rolled four lines.

Owen Munro

we had to win more one-onone battles and play better in confined spaces,” coach Schulz said. “We had to concentrate on executing our systems and once we did that we started winning some one-on-one battles.

“Their defensive core is an experienced group and if you give them time and space they’re going to move the puck on you.”

The tides began to turn in the second period as TRU matched SFU’s intensity and physicality. Despite numerous scoring chances, the Wolf Pack couldn’t find the back of the net and SFU

“It sucks, but you have to keep pushing.”

Despite an early playoff exit, head coach Don Schulz was pleased with his team’s efforts on the season.

—PHOTO BY ANDREW SNUCINS

Their success in finding contributing rookies like Jake Howardson, Jarrett Martin and Kevin Lourens and a solid core of players such as Colten DeFrias, Tyler Jackson and Anthony Delong

gives TRU an extremely bright outlook for the future. As the calibre of the BCIHL and collegiate hockey continues to grow, so too will the Wolf Pack as a first-class hockey program.

Homophobia in the locker room Robert Murray CUP Sports Editor

—PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY CORY D’ENTREMENT/THE ARGOSY

SACKVILLE (CUP) — Competing on the ice, field, or hard court is supposed to serve as a medium in which humans can be careless, free and at peace. For gay athletes, it can feel more like a prison.

To any athlete, nothing is more important when they compete than getting the win and basking in glory.

For decades though, gay athletes have been held back by what You Can Play co-founder Brian Kitts calls “casual homophobia.” After campaigns to rid the locker room of racist and sexist behavior, homophobia has been thrust in the spotlight as the next target.

The campaign to end homophobia in the locker room has been a hot-button issue in locker rooms, from the big leagues to local arenas, for a significant portion of the last half-century.

“We can’t do it, they have to,” commented Kitts in reference to how the project can have a realistic impact in the locker room.

You Can Play was co-founded by Kitts, Patrick Burke and Glenn Witman back in March 2012 as a tribute to Patrick’s brother Brendan, who came out in November 2009 and worked to eradicate homophobia in professional sports before he died in a

car crash in February 2010. At the time, Brendan was the student-manager at Miami University for the men’s hockey team.

Despite the gains made in recent years through athletes, executives, journalists, and teams coming together, one Mount Allison athlete still thinks that total acceptance of gay athletes is unbalanced.

“I think that in general it’s more accepted among women to have gay teammates than men,” the athlete, who wished to remain anonymous, answered.

According to another Mt. A athlete homophobia should not be tolerated in sport. “We’re all the same. Nobody should be judged or made fun of because of their sexual preference,” said fourth-year hockey forward Chelsea King.

The campaign to end homophobia in the locker room faces some roadblocks. Locker room decisions and the events that transpire in them are usually restricted to athletes and team personnel. This puts the majority of the decisions on the shoulders of athletes and the team to take a stand.

“Humans by nature value fairness,” said Kitts. “It’s a matter of giving them the opportunity to get on board with this.”

Since their founding almost a year ago, You Can Play has joined forces with several prom-

inent schools, teams, and athletes, all pledging to take a stand to end homophobia. St. Thomas University Tommies, the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds, University of Ottawa GeeGee’s, and the Ontario Intercollegiate Fastpitch Association have all made the stand at the university sport level in Canada.

However, the battle is still a long way from being over. Kitts noted the importance of not only forming an alliance of gay athletes but straight athletes as well.

“We’re going to grow out of [casual homophobia],” he commented.

Much like the way of racism and sexism, Kitts is hoping homophobia suffers the same fate, though he admitted change will not come overnight. He referred to several decades ago when it would have been considered acceptable to some degree to use derogatory language towards athletes of different races or gender.

Those times have come and gone now, and Kitts is firmly focused on placing homophobia in the same category. For now he and his team work day in and day out to ensure that athletic ability is the only determining factor for success in sports, from the bright lights of the world’s biggest athletic events to minor hockey game at the local arena.

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The Omega · Volume 22, Issue 22

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1. Certain bird 6. Keats, for one 10. “The Sound of Music” backdrop 14. Antipasto morsel 15. Biblical preposition 16. Gloss 17. George’s aunt 20. Calendar abbr.

21. Puzzle 22. Put something on 23. Blast from the past 26. Reduces friction 27. Contradicted 29. Arouse desire 30. Bouquet 31. “___ No Sunshine” 32. “A pox on you!”

35. “Stony End” singer 39. Numbskull 40. Irritate 41. Salsa, for one 42. Mark 44. Colorful bird 45. Call a koala an elk, e.g.

48. Chipper 49. Secrets 50. Arctic bird 51. TV doc 54. She beat Bo Bice 58. And others, for short

59. ‘80s rock band 60. As such 61. Gym set 62. 1987 Costner role 63. Myers and Douglas Down 1. Microsoft product 2. African plant 3. Stains 4. Holiday lead-in 5. “Losing My Religion” rock group 6. Blender button 7. Black stone 8. “Yadda, yadda, yadda” 9. Bear 10. Ancient meeting places 11. Floor coverings 12. Newbie, of sorts 13. Eye sores 18. All fired up 19. Aces, sometimes 24. Arm or leg 25. Abby address?

26. Romance, e.g.

27. Cake with a kick 28. “-zoic” things 29. Deed 31. Line to the audience 32. Needlepoint, e.g.

33. Ancient Andean

34. “Our Time in ___” (10,000 Maniacs album) 36. Speech of old Syria 37. Matinee ___ 38. Handel oratorio 42. “St. Elsewhere” singer, ____ Barkley 43. Eastern royal 44. Tip for the dealer 45. Court officer 46. Fit to be tied 47. Deep-six 48. Disloyal one 50. Cuckoos 52. Cheat, slangily 53. Lofty lines 55. Fair ___ doctrine 56. Engine speed, for short 57. Chinese dynasty

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March 13, 2013

TRUSU Membership Advisory Post-Secondary Education Fact:

Students file for FREE! Visit trusu.ca or ufile.ca for more info

In 2011/2012 Aboriginal students made up 11% of the TRU student body

ELECTION NOTICE:

This Week:

Nominations are now open.

• Human Trafficking Film • Story Teller’s Gala • Brew Off and Roast • La Bella Vita • Election Campaign Period • TRUSU Film Club Movie

Nomination packages are available at the Members’ Services Desk in the Students’ Union Building

Check out the Events Calendar at trusu.ca for details!

For more information visit

trusu.ca March 14th at 5:00PM TRU Grand Hall

Log on to trusu.ca and get connected!

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