February Issue 2012

THE VANIER COLLEGE NEWSPAPER SINCE 1966

FEBRUARY ISSUE

Valentine’s Blues – Full Hearts Make for Skinny Wallets on Valentine’s WORDS WORDS WORDS WORDS WORDS WORDS WORDS WORDS WORDS WORDS WORDS Susan Sejeong Kim Copy Editor

It all starts a week after Christmas. The evergreen conifer comes down; the tinsel, the garland and mistletoe have all gone into storage for next year.

Storekeepers dress the windows up in new attire – with big red hearts and smiling Cupid. Once upon a time, couples had the most reason to celebrate the romantic holiday; now businesses smile upon the opportunity to trade in lovers’ passion for cold cash.

Storefronts and grocery store shelves seem to encourage bigger, fancier gifts as if one could measure love in the size, price and amount of chocolate purchased. Simultaneously, as the wary shopper may have noticed, prices for popular gift choices increase as well. Chocolates and flowers are at the top of the gift list.

Almond-centered, cream-filled and caramel-coated succulent morsels in dark, milk and white – what says “You’re sweet” better than a box of literal sweets? Rows of candy lining the cash register already make adding a candy bar to the checkout items an irresistible task. During the Valentine season, reaching over and grabbing random candy bars is not only an irresistible task; it is also an illogical decision.

Most chocolate companies repackage their products and sell them for higher prices during the month. A popular chocolate brand one can find in most Torontonian drugstores sells Valentine version chocolates for $6.49 per 62g. A couple shelves away, the original chocolates from the same brand sell for $6.99 per 150g – more than double the amount of chocolate for just $0.50 more.

Customers purchasing the Valentine’s Day version may be paying for the advertising and extra-fancy packaging: sparkly red wrapping, shiny tin cans with “I love you” written in curvy letters and little stuffed animals attached on the side.

Try to focus less on the packaging and more on the actual content. If buying the original chocolates is a better deal, do it. Chocolate and candy sales hit the York campus every February as well, sometimes for charities.

Keep a lookout for candy sales from clubs and groups. If all else fails to impress, home-baked goods are not embarrassing or “granny”-like. In fact, it is more intimate and personal than any commercial products that come off a factory line or a bouquet of flowers from a local florist.

February is a busy month for flowers, especially for red roses. The classic dozen roses

can cost anywhere from around $20 to double that price on Valentine’s Day when the demand for the red buds multiplies exponentially. However, cut flowers from bouquets only retain their fresh look for a few days and will start wilting past the one week point, even with proper flower food and cool temperature. Avoid spending a fortune on roses at a hiked up price.

For lovers who hold a strong symbolic significance on exchanging flowers, it is best to go with the single rose and a thoughtful gift. If circumstances allow, it may be better to consider giving a small potted plant to last throughout the year rather than a few buds that will likely wilt and dry in the heated room.

After all, if flowers symbolize a couple’s love, ones that last more than a couple of days seem more meaningful.

ruary meant making Valentine’s Day cards for friends and family using construction paper, ribbons and sparkle glue. During recess, students could swap candies and cookies with a smile and a “Happy Valentine’s Day.” Somehow as the years pass, homemade cards and gifts became less appealing.

Valentine’s Day is about more than just flowers and gifts.

It is a day to confess new love, confirm old ones and find joy in each other’s smiles. Celebrate with a quiet dinner at home.

Celebrate with a walk in the park.

Celebrate it with a letter and a kiss.

The price of a gift does not have any positive or negative correlation with the amount of a love a couple feels. Because really, who can put a price on love?

In primary school, Feb-

Occupy Wall Street made headlines worldwide this fall with their anti-capitalist demonstrations that spread throughout the United States and into other western nations.

2

Letter from the Editor

Okay, I know I’m going on and on about human rights/ tolerance this issue but I have a bone to pick with you.

On December 6, 1989, 14 women were killed for being women. They were students or staff at the Engineering School at Ecole Polytechnique and he targetted them because he believed that women ruined his life. Basically, he was a sexist dirtbag. (but that’s just me talking)

Anyway, leading up to December 6, posters popped up advertising a memorial event. The posters focused on feminism and ending violence against women and someone (or some people) vandalised them. The vandal(s) barbarically rejected the notion of ending violence against women and even made it into a joke.

I may not be an activist, but I was sickened. To think that any-

one believes that ending violence against women is a joke saddens me. The Sharia trial going on Kingston proves that this issue isn’t just a third world problem but that it still exists all around us.

It’s not funny.

Fast-forward to this week, and there are posters advertising “Men, Masculinity and Gender Discussion Group.” They are focusing on men’s issues. Placing these two posters in juxtaposition - and seeing how little vandalism the men’s poster receives - I’m troubled. I understand that men feel attacked with all the antimasculine talk and action, but it’s not like it’s unfounded. Yes, feel threatened. Feel intimidated. Feel scared. But that doesn’t mean you need to re-enforce the ideas that created the need for feminism.

It means you accept that these things happened and that some-

thing needs to change. Don’t fight the change, just acknowledge that there was wrong-doing and move on.

It’s not like the feminists are lying, exaggerating or fighting for something unnecessary. Violence against women is a global issue and it needs to be addressed.

Don’t make it into a joke and don’t tell me to make you a sandwich. Join the men’s issues group - there’s nothing wrong with that - but don’t for a minute think that feminism is in any way illegitimate and don’t you dare reduce feminist issues.

Anyway, have a good February.

Contact The Vandoo is published seven times during the academic year (September to April inclusive) with a circulation of 2000. Funds are administered to The Vandoo through Vanier College Council. All submissions to The Vandoo become property of the newspaper; please make a copy of your writing or artwork.

withhold all correspondence which is of libelous nature. Submissions are preferred by email or delivered to The Vandoo office at 111 Vanier College or the Vanier College Council office at 121 Vanier College.

Vanier College Room 111 4700 Keele Street Toronto, Ontario M3H 1P3 (416) 736 – 2100 ext 70522

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Submissions If you are interested in contributing articles, poetry, artwork or other creative pieces to The Vandoo, please e-mail us at submit online at www. thevandoo.ca

3

Move On Already

Kailey Savage Editor-In-Chief

Aside from running the Vandoo, I also work on York’s social media outlets. In shorts, I tweet professionally. A while back, someone tweeted me (or rather, tweeted York) a picture along with “uhhhh... wtf is this?” This wasn’t unusual – lots of people are a little baffled by the goings-on on campus. It wasn’t unusual until I opened the image.

The image was a Blackberry photo of a the Queering Disney workshop poster. I explained in my 140 characters what the poster was for. The user delved into homophobic mockery and a few of her friends joined in. Later, as I walked from my office in the Bennett Centre to the Vandoo office, I noticed a collection of those same posters that someone tore down and tossed on the ground.

It sickened me. There is no room for hate in our world. If you don’t agree with something,

create dialogue. turn-out Don’t make clued in tosuch the fact that homophoout againstoftearing downaccepted nity, those who don’tis.are still the The impressive forchildgay rights events, as the Pride Parade, is speak just one indicator how widely homosexuality ish jokes and certainly don’t tear the posters down. If these posters advertised a ethnic or religious workshop and someone tore them down and mocked them, there would have been hell to pay. Why do people still think it’s okay to be hateful towards the LGBT community?

They probably haven’t

bia is now a minority belief. As journalist and activist Dan Savage says, “hating gay people is no longer the rule but the exception to the rule.” Gay bashing is uncommon, widely discouraged and highly punishable.

the queer-positive posters and to ostracize anyone who uses homophobic slurs. Just like we speak out against racial or religious slurs, we need to speak out against the homophobic, biphobic and transphobic slurs.

So where does that leave us? It leaves us in a position to supporting Queering Disney, to

Although many of us recognize that there is nothing wrong with the LGBT commu-

best-heard. We need to make sure those who behave hatefully or use slurs know just how barbaric their behaviour is. Don’t be hateful, don’t be complacent and don’t let homophobia continue. Call people out. Help stop homophobia on campus.

Tuition fee break for lower-income families Susan Sejeong Kim Copy Editor

In November of 2011, the Government of Ontario proposed a tuition grant for students from families earning up to $160,000 annually. This is welcome news for many current York University students struggling with a job to pay for tuition.

When implemented, this grant

will give these university students $1,600 a year and college students $730 a year to help support their studies –for buying textbooks, renting housing, or depositing for their next year of education.

However, after its release, the plan sparked debate among opposition groups and students.

Some students are thankful for the change that will take a chunk out of their tuition fees. Yet others would rather see an overall

reduction in tuition as opposed to grants. These grants, while useful for students from families earning less than $160,000 a year, exclude students who are not in the specific income group.

As with any new program, this province-wide effort may take a while to fully implement. As for York University, Nevia Jelenic, Designate for Financial Aid, Student Accounts and Student Financial Services at

York University, commented in mid-December that the university has not yet received official guidelines. And the grant, while it does not satisfy everyone, is without a doubt an important helping hand to those in need.

With the diversity of classes in Ontario, especially in Torontonian neighbourhoods, it may be impossible to reach a solution that leaves everyone equally satisfied. However, the discussion

and attention around education and student support should be welcome news for all post-secondary students.

Hopefully, as the province continues to change and improve in the coming years, students will be able to climb an increasingly smoother path to education.

Last month, Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty announced the details for the 30% tuition break he promised. While some are excited about the extra funds, many are still wondering where their cash is.

At the Drive-In Reunite for Coachella, new Mars Volta album next month Kristen Allicock Staff Writer El Paso’s post-hardcore kings At the Drive-In caused much stir in the music community last month with the news of a reunion via twitter stating, “¡ATTENTION! To whom it may concern: AT THE

DRIVE-IN will be breaking their 11 year silence THIS STATION IS …NOW…OPERATIONAL,”.

An obvious reference to their 2005 best-of album This Station is Non-Operational. After an 11 year break, the band is slated to make their first official onstage appearance at this year’s

Coachella music festival in April.

Aside from that, there is no further information as to which, if not all, original members will be returning and when the new music will be pouring in.

In other related news, a new Mars Volta album is slated for release on March 27th. Singer

Cedric Bixler-Zavala announced the news via his YouTube channel about the band’s work on their sixth studio LP Causing more speculation of the band’s new release was the reveal of a new Mars Volta song on the soundtrack for the Sony Playstation game “MLB 12 The Show”. No news yet

of an upcoming tour.

For more news and updates, check out www.atdimusic.com and www.themarsvolta.com Follow the band on twitter @ AtTheDriveIn

4

Movie Review: Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol (2011)

Tom Cruise claims to have done all his own stunts in the latest installment of Mission Impossible.

Genre: Action/Thriller Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts, Judi Dench Rating: R

Sam Cheung Staff Writer

Another Mission: Impossible movie? Really?

Ethan Hunt retired and settled down, right? Wrong. Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol hits the ground running. A team of inexperienced field agents working for the Impossible Mission Force (A black-box American spy agency) breaks veteran operative Ethan Hunt out of a Moscow prison. Hunt and his new team break into the Russian Kremlin, which is completely gutted by a bomb shortly after their infiltration.

Hunt is arrested on suspicion of the bomb attack by Russian agents, and the American government disavows ownership of the IMF. Hunt escapes custody and assembles a team of amateur agents to clear the IMF’s name and prevent a global nuclear catastrophe.

I’ll have to admit; I was skeptical when I first saw the trailer for Ghost Protocol.

Having seen each of the Mission: Impossible movies at some time or another, I’d learned that each succeeding movie was progressively worse than the previous one. This was due in part mostly to an increasing reliance on absurd action scenes, and the consistentlyinconsistent personality of series protagonist Ethan Hunt.

To my surprise, Ghost Protocol reversed all of my anxieties regarding the franchise, first and foremost with the main char-

acter.

Ghost Protocol’s Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is obviously at the forefront of the action.

This isn’t the same super-spy we were first introduced to 15 years ago. Although Mission: Impossible 3 worked tireless to try and paint Hunt as a veteran agent, it was difficult to how a seasoned professional would behave in the rash way he did.

Despite Hunt insisting that he preferred the quiet family life, the overall package of the experienced espionage master was a tough sell, which obviously didn’t quite work out.

Fortunately, Hunt appears to have finally reached a plateau of maturity in Ghost Protocol.

Gone is the devil-may-care attitude created in the John Woo directed Mission: Impossible 2. Hunt is a much more reserved and professional spy. He no longer relishes the dangerous stunts he used to embrace as a younger man. Instead, he seems genuinely annoyed when confronted with life-threatening chores. The adrenaline junkie Hunt is no longer. Nor is he the akimbopistol wielding action hero of yesteryear. Hunt appears to have reached a point in his career where he realises that violence is rarely a solution to the threats he must contend with in the espionage world. He is shown as an experienced spy, rather than the quasi super soldier he once was. His intellect seems to be his strongest asset in this instalment of the franchise. Ghost Protocol’s Hunt

is a more serious, philosophical character. The super-spy’s new personality makes Ghost Protocol a deeply satisfying, and more importantly, a more believable film to watch. This new personality is especially evident when contrasted with his younger, inexperienced team members.

Ghost Protocol’s cast is a wonderful display of talent at work. The Ghost Protocol IMF team consists of Dunn (Simon Pegg), Brandt (Jeremy Renner), and Carter (Paula Patton), a group of ragtag spies that compensate for a lack of experience with technological finesse and combat prowess. It is through bantering with these newcomers that Hunt’s maturity becomes evident. While Cruise’s character stops short of preaching at the younger spies, the unspoken deference to Hunt’s experience is what underscores the dynamic of the group. This is not to say that the new IMF spies have no personalities of their own.

badass-female-warrior/spy.

Carter’s sideplot culminates in the requisite “cat fight” that occurs in the middle of the film, with very little of it actually being shown. In a refreshing change of pace from most spy movies, Carter and Hunt never become romantically involved, and there isn’t even a hint of a spark between the pair. Rounding off the trio is Brandt, the IMF chief analyst with a mysterious past. The tension between Brandt and Hunt is best illustrated when the pair draw guns and disarm each other rapidly. Hunt and Brandt are at odds due to Brandt’s unusual aptitude for fieldcraft, despite describing himself as an analyst. Brandt’s backstory is a delightfully unexpected twist mid-way through the plot, and is a fine example of the oddities in espionage that were woefully absent from the previous two Mission: Impossible movies. But people don’t watch Mission: Impossible movies for Tom Clancy-style spy subplots.

They watch the IM movies for the action scenes.

As expected, Pegg’s character is a source of comic relief throughout the film, and he performs admirably as the team’s technical support wizard. The role of the quirky gadgets expert is almost as old as the spy film itself, and Pegg’s character breathes fresh life into the position with an array of character quirks. Patton’s performance is the least memorable of the trio, being typecasted as the film’s generic

The Mission: Impossible movies have been sold as action-packed thrill rides over last several years, and despite Hunt’s newfound restraint, Ghost Protocol is still stuffed with adrenaline-inducing scenes. What Ghost Protocol lacks in gunfights, it makes up for in hand-to-hand combat sequences. These aren’t the drawn out, laughably impractical fist fights of most Bond films. The IMF opera-

tives all demonstrate an expert understanding of disarming techniques, making the fight scenes more like an elegant dance than a re-arranging of facial structures. Two car chases take place in Ghost Protocol, although both seem to be high-priced, downshifted commercials for car navigation products rather than the white-knuckle scenes they could have been. Despite lacking a little in the speed department, the action scenes in Ghost Protocol are more than enough to satisfy the most diehard of adrenaline junkies.

There isn’t one single that that makes Ghost Protocol a good film. The zig-zagging plot, elaborate action sequences, and engaging characters make for an elaborately weaved web of narrative that engages first-time Mission: Impossible viewers, while still managing to slip in a few nods of appreciation to long-time fans of the franchise. Action, spy, and thriller movie fans will all be pleased by the fourth film in the Mission: Impossible series.

Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol is an experience not to be missed.

5

Film

Hugo, starring Ben Kingsley, is looking like a favourite at this year’s Oscars.

Nikolas Milenkowski Staff Writer

It’s Oscar month. This means a couple of things: 1) people will start making prejudgments on films they haven’t seen, 2) people will argue for films that haven’t been nominated, and 3) the follow-up to the big event is a month or two worth of horrible films that the studios don’t pay much attention to or much of anything else for those films.

Usually, February and March are the worst months for films because the studios just release whatever projects they don’t care enough for.

It’s been an odd month for news, however. For the past

couple months there have been news surrounding mostly newly released trailers – like that of The Hobbit – and new projects that have been announced – regrettably, and disturbingly, like Transformers 4. So, searching through the internet I found a few things. If you’re like me and grew up in the 90s, you got to experience the many (cartoon) shows that marked off certain spots in our childhood. One in particular, Rugrats, was recently turned into a live-action trailer.

It’s fan-made and can be found at www.funnyordie.com. A bit of a warning, though. It takes what you loved about the show and turns it into a very depressingly disturbing, raunchy, and

uncomfortable mashing of the original children’s show. Now, it’s just messed up.

But as Rugrats went up the rating scale (to probably 18A, or 14A (if they dare) at the very least), another film went down the rating scale. Rugrats is a children’s show that was depicted by fans to be a crazy nightmare.

Now, Chuck Norris, the source of memes all over the internet and everyday life, has impacted his newest film, Expendables 2, to go down from an R-rating to PG13. For those of you who haven’t seen the first Expendables film, it is by Sylvester Stallone featuring a collection of serious action stars like Jet Li, Steve Austin, Jason Statham, and Stallone himself.

There are a few others here and there, including cameos by Bruce Willis and Schwarzenegger, but the entire film is focused around only four of them as they commit a certain level of violence that Stallone seems crazy for. It was an R-rated film for language, violence, and gore, and was thought to continue to the next one. That is, until Chuck Norris came along and cleaned up the script. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or bad. Less swearing is great and all, including gore, but what would a Rambo-obsessed Stallone film be without it? You tell me.

As for the world of television, this March is going to include quite a few anticipated

shows including the new season of Mad Men. The creator of the show last month said in an interview that the two-hour season premiere on March 25th is a “big Mad Men movie.” I’ve never watched the show myself but perhaps it means more to you than me. What am I excited for then? I’m excited for Awake, starring Harry Potter actor Jason Isaacs as a man who lives within two dreams. Check out the trailer at www.nbc.com/awake. It’ll explain more. Until next issue, enjoy the Oscars and best of luck to our favourites!

lottery.

Toronto fans are always extreme to the point of winning and losing. If our team ever wins anything in the near future, I suggest leaving town for a while if you feel you cannot handle it. If a team loses, the player that is specifically at blame for this, I suggest you be required to leave town,

too. Although our temper and excitement is always present, we are never given what we would like to expect.

It is true, Toronto fans never really give up, but maybe we should. Let’s give those athletes of ours hell until we get what we want. I guess the outcome of that would be terrible, so I don’t

necessarily expect us to do so.

All I am saying, more tough love for our teams of Toronto will do them good. We are known as some of the most outrageous fans in sports, and I think our athletes have just expected us to all be this way. More booing and heckling at games may get them where we want them (scared).

Never Good Enough Brittany Tougher Staff Writer

Most NBA basketball fans were probably excited when the lockout ended; just like myself. Now we are all probably in the same position wondering, what were we thinking?

Now that the NBA is back and rolling again, it is extremely hard to predict our Toronto Raptors’ outcome this season. Although, if we were to predict it, it would not be playoffs and a championship ring, but rather something more along the lines of hitting the showers early and praying for a good draft in the

The recently ended NBA strike is making some Raptors fans wonder if it actually would be that difficult to live without our faltering basketball team.

6

Involvement Versus Over-commitment: How much is too much?

Emily Kennaley Staff Writer

It’s February already, and that means it’s time to start thinking about the end of another school year. In a few short weeks, student life will get even busier.

Mid-terms, essays, assignments and labs start pouring in. Family issues, rifts between friends, and the ever-popular “mid-term crises” collide and contribute to the mess. As fun as it can be to live in this exciting, fastpaced lifestyle, let’s face it - it’s overwhelming!

I mean, some of us have jobs to worry about. Maybe even two jobs. A full course-

load, mouths to feed, and a host of extra-curricular activities to attend. So often we fill our schedules with too many tasks to complete. When it comes to commitment, where do you draw the line?

Over-commitment is a problem I encounter in my own life. I want to get everything I can out of the university experience.

During my first year, I neglected to get involved. So this time around, I decided to look into the extra-curricular opportunities at York. There are so many options!

Religious groups, activist circles, sports teams, drama productions, and of course a variety of fieldrelated clubs, too. But how much

time do I have to participate in these things on top of my academic responsibilities? I mean, I’m already taking more than a full course load. If I choose to take up a job, do I have to forego a social life?

I have friends working jobs and doing school and balancing relationships on top of volunteerism. Sometimes, it isn’t all that glorious. In fact, I get tired just listening to them. There comes a point where it’s just too much.

It’s easy to get involved, and also very beneficial. It’s also easy to over-commit. Maybe you’re like me, and you have trouble saying no. Or maybe you like to think you can handle any challenge

that comes your way - which is a great attitude, but a potentially reckless one, too. Perhaps you’ve never even encountered the stress of over-commitment (I commend you). Whatever the case, I have some pointers. Simplify. If you can’t handle it, you can’t handle it. Minimize stress by choosing wisely based on what you must do, and balance that with what you want to do. Chances are, if you aren’t passionate about it, and don’t need it - you won’t do a good job anyway.

Stop worrying about the expectations of others. I know it sounds cliche, but it’s so true. We get swindled into things all the time just because we want to keep

other people happy. There isn’t anything inherently wrong with that. But your life shouldn’t be about people pleasing. If you sign up for too much for the sake of others, and burn yourself out, you won’t be pleasing anyone. Least of all, yourself.

Don’t be afraid to take on new responsibilities. This is what maturation to adulthood is all about, and university is an ideal threshold through which to get there. Just make sure you’re choosing the right path. Your life, your path. Good luck!

Ryan Gosling Isn’t the Only Good Thing From Burlington Kristen Allicock Staff Writer

By now if you have not heard of the overnight success story, Walk Off The Earth, SOPA must have gotten to you early.

The Burlington, Ontario band sprung to viral YouTube success with their video cover of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know”.

What peaked the interest of over

30 million viewers in a little over 10 days last month was the fact that five people performed this song on one acoustic guitar.

Listening to the track, you would know it was an acoustic rendering of the popular song. However, you would not know that there was only one instrument involved. The video instantly went viral all over Twitter and Facebook, flooding newsfeed and timelines with awe

A Splash of Colour Navaan Galloway Staff Writer

February is a great month. For one, it has the quirky honour of being the shortest month in the year with 28 or 29 days. And some pretty cool people were born this month as well, Rosa Parks, Kurt Kobain, John Travolta, myself, Drew Barrymore , Elizabeth Taylor, just to name a few. All jokes aside while February is beautiful, with snow glistening in the sun and the crisp cool wind blowing gently against all our faces, I feel as though it also gets us stuck in a drab colourless rut.

When we walk outside, on a good day we are greeted by a winter wonderland, snow lightly dusting surfaces, and perhaps accented by the grey buildings in the background of this snowy landscape. All around us are people dressed head to toe in black, nude, grey, or white. Mostly because these colours are neutral and work for winter coats or shoes, but after a while so seeing the same greyness in nature reflected in the people around us it starts to give us a case of the winter blahs.

Let’s live a little dangerously guys! Let’s inspire

and even caught attention of some of Hollywood’s elite (Russell Crowe and Alyssa Milano). Even more, the group got the nod of approval from Gotye and Kimbra for a job well done on covering their song. Their video garnered interest from big music labels and a spot on the daytime talk show “Ellen” last month.

While the amazement of five people playing one

instrument, the band insists that some additional audio tracks were dubbed over the recording and the reason for playing one guitar is that they only had one guitar at the time.

What is awesome for this band is that they are obviously talented individuals with strong imagination and creativity, so the fact that they have managed to stir up quite a bit of interest

is in favour for them. So kudos to them. They currently have several videos on their YouTube channel showcasing their talents with covers of songs by Adele, LMFAO and Radiohead to name a few. Check out some of Walk Off The Earth’s video here at: www.youtube.com/user/ walkofftheearth

one another with our tasteful splashes of colour in this season. I know after a while of wearing all of our neutrals for so long it make the transition to Technicolor a little more difficult.

Here’s what I suggest my friends.

In the Marc Jacobs ready-towear collection for this spring I noticed that there were a lot of nice tailored pieces such as vests, or trousers in bold oranges paired with dark blue blouses or even bright green oversized clutches.

Stella McCartney in her spring collection, played with different patterns and colour combinations as well to make shift dresses that were more visually appealing. Let’s

take these sources as inspiration to brighten up our wardrobes.

Everyone has basics, whether they are the blazer, jeans, a nice trouser, a cardigan or even the black winter coat. The key here is to take what you already have in their neutral colours and add an accent of colour. You can start experimenting with some of the colour trends for spring, with its vibrant colours as witnessed in Marc Jacobs’ collection or perhaps a more subtle pastel shade until you are more comfortable. Take a basic article of clothing such as high waited jeans and pair it with a tucked in loose fitting blouse in any bright colour you choose.

Right there you are taking a vibrant piece and grounding it in something basic so no colour overwhelms the outfit but rather, helps to make it have more of an interesting visual appeal. Even our outerwear can be made more vibrant with the pairing of our dark winter jackets with brighter colour scarves, hats, or gloves, purses or even school bags.

Each day in the morning when you all get ready I dare you to wear at least one piece of clothing or accessory in a vibrant colour. And before you know it, there will be lovely splashes of colour all around us.

7

CD Review: Making Mirrors proves Gotye is not a one-hit wonder.

Kristen Allicock Staff Writer

Gotye’s hit single Somebody That I Used to Know topped music charts all over world, with his music video gaining over 30 million hits, marked 2011 his most successful year yet. Aside from a catchy song which spawned video covers all over YouTube, which skyrocketed another small-time band’s success (see Ryan Gosling Isn’t the Only Good Thing From Burlington), Making Mirrors displays how the Melbourne, Australia artist’s musical range has evolved far beyond his 2006 release Like Drawing Blood. Melding elements of funk, soul, rock and 80s style pop, he manages to vary in taste yet delight your

ears without feeling too drawn out or scattered. With obvious influences drawing from classic male pop-artists such as Peter Gabriel, Sting and Hall and Oates, Gotye unleashes a sundry catalogued to suit almost every music enthusiast’s taste.

Now, I’m not going to bore you with a long, drawn out review as to why this album is better than any album out right now or why my musical opinion is so much better than yours.

Simply, I am going to explain what I like about Making Mirrors.

The title track sets the tone of the album with a short 0:38 introduction. Soft flutes flow throughout the track with Gotye’s voice making a dream-like appearance. The song nicely melts into the sec-

ond track Easy Way Out, a nice up-beat piece with buzzing guitars and quiet vocals. More notable songs on the album include the feel good track “I Feel Better”, with its grandios fanfare of trumpets and a nostalgic essence of 1960’s gleeful music of the Temptations, inducing an up-beat boost at the core of the album. Somebody That I Used to Know, features the powerful sultry vocals of Australian songstress, Kimbra, with pounding backing of drums, conveys the artist’s heartache through his strong lyrics. Even more powerful in its simplicity is the video that accompanies the song (which can be found via YouTube).

One of my favourites off the album is Eyes Wide Open, an obvious social commentary

on humans role in the world.

With Gotye’s thought-provoking lyrics stating “So this is the end of the story. Everything we had, everything we did is buried in dust and dust is all that’s left of us.” A little apocalyptic and cryptic warning of our inevitable end with we continue to destroy the Earth with our careless ways. The album comes to a sombre close with the quiet Bronte. Inspired by death, the obvious ambient, softness in tone and the heartfelt lyrics strikes a few chords while listening, especially if you have been touched by the loss of a loved one.

Overall, the album accomplishes what I feel is a good mix of everything, grabbing obvious influences from musical artists of the past. At

times it coming across a little artsy, but that is never a bad thing. Range and creativity in an artist proves to never be repetitive or simply a cookiecutter mould of everything else out there. The album reaches heights in optimistic pieces like Save Me and lows with the wake up calls in Eyes Wide Open and Somebody That I Used to Know. However, the album is not short of fun and quirkiness with songs In Your Light and State of the Art. Gotye is a definite staple, bound to reach the heights and longevity of his male musical predecessors. Well, one can only hope in this melting pot that is the mainstream music world.

For tour dates and info check out www.gotye.com and Twitter @gotye

February Concert Listings Barry Moore Associate Editor 1-FEB-12 2-FEB-12 3-FEB-12 3-FEB-12 4-FEB-12 $12.00 4-FEB-12 4-FEB-12 6-FEB-12 6-FEB-12 6-FEB-12 7-FEB-12 9-FEB-12 9-FEB-12 10-FEB-12 10-FEB-12 10-FEB-12 $13.50 10-FEB-12 11-FEB-12 11-FEB-12 11-FEB-12 $13.50 11-FEB-12 $12.00 12-FEB-12 14-FEB-12 14-FEB-12 14-FEB-12

DROP THE LIME WRONGBAR 19+ $10.00 DINOSAUR BONES HORSESHOE 19+ $10.50 JOHNNY DOWD SILVER DOLLAR 19+ $8.00 YOUNG EMPIRES HORSESHOE 19+ $10.00 BRY WEBB / WYRD VISIONS MUSIC GALLERY 19+ SURKIN WRONGBAR 19+ $13.50 THIS WILL DESTROY YOU LEE’S 19+ $13.50 ASTEROIDS GALAXY TOUR HOXTON 19+ $16.50 ICED EARTH PHOENIX ALL AGES $38.50 RUMER MOD CLUB ALL AGES $21.00 THE KILLS KOOL HAUS ALL AGES $28.00 A-TRAK HOXTON 19+ $20.00 EMMA-LEE LEE’S 19+ $12.00 CHRIS WEBBY MOD CLUB ALL AGES $17.50 KEYS N CRATES HOXTON 19+ $12.50 MATTYFEST 2012: LADYHAWK PARTS & LABOUR 19+ WILLIAM FITZSIMMONS GREAT HALL 19+ $17.50 CHARLES BRADLEY LEE’S 19+ $22.50 KATHLEEN EDWARDS PHOENIX 19+ $30.50 MATTYFEST 2012: LADYHAWK PARTS & LABOUR 19+ SCALE THE SUMMIT

ANNEX WRECKROOM ALL AGES

LOCK UP ANNEX WRECKROOM DIE ANTWOORD PHOENIX ENGLISH DOGS OPERA HOUSE 19+ IN FLAMES SOUND ACADEMY

19+ $20.00 19+ $29.00 $16.50 ALL AGES $30.00

14-FEB-12 14-FEB-12 15-FEB-12 16-FEB-12 16-FEB-12 17-FEB-12 17-FEB-12 17-FEB-12 18-FEB-12 18-FEB-12 18-FEB-12 18-FEB-12 18-FEB-12 19-FEB-12 19-FEB-12 20-FEB-12 21-FEB-12 21-FEB-12 22-FEB-12 22-FEB-12 23-FEB-12 24-FEB-12 25-FEB-12 $26.00 25-FEB-12 26-FEB-12 $30.00 28-FEB-12 28-FEB-12 29-FEB-12 29-FEB-12 29-FEB-12

OTHER LIVES DRAKE HOTEL 19+ $12.50 VERONIC FALLS GARRISON 19+ $10.50 12TH PLANET WRONGBAR 19+ $15.00 DEVIL MAKES THREE HORSESHOE 19+ $15.00 JOHN DAHLBACK HOXTON 19+ $15.00 PLANET SMASHERS LEE’S 19+ $15.50 PRIESTESS HORSESHOE 19+ $12.50 THEOPHILUS LONDON WRONGBAR 19+ $17.00 DJ KRUSH WRONGBAR 19+ $16.00 KITTIE OPERA HOUSE ALL AGES $17.00 THE MATADORS HARD LUCK 19+ $12.00 THE QUEERS HORSESHOE 19+ $13.50 SLEIGH BELLS PHOENIX ALL AGES $25.00 DOOMTREE SNEAKY DEES 19+ $15.00 SLOW CLUB RIVOLI 19+ $12.00 HEARTLESS BASTARDS HORSESHOE 19+ $15.50 EVERY TIME I DIE OPERA HOUSE ALL AGES $20.00 SHARON VAN ETTEN LEE’S 19+ $15.50 EMILIE AUTUMN OPERA HOUSE ALL AGES $20.00 TWO FRESH WRONGBAR 19+ $12.50 CROCODILES LEE’S 19+ $13.50 LES SEXAREENOS HORSESHOE 19+ $12.50 AUGUST BURNS RED SOUND ACADEMY ALL AGES SCUD MOUNTAIN BOYS LEE’S 19+ CHILDREN OF BODOM SOUND ACADEMY

$16.50 ALL AGES

ISLANDS MUSIC GALLERY ALL AGES PUNCH BROTHERS LEE’S 19+ $16.50 DREAM WRONGBAR 19+ $10.00 TENNIS HORSESHOE 19+ $13.50 TWILIGHT SAD LEE’S 19+ $12.00

$22.50

8

Once Upon A Time: Disney’s Redemption Adam Johnson Staff Writer

Supernatural, Being Human, Grimm, and Once Upon A Time are three shows that explore the, for lack of a better word, supernatural. Supernatural could be credited as one of the first shows in this new boom - new boom referring to the post-Buffy the Vampire Slayer era. Supernatural follows the lives of two brothers who hunt monsters. It is a successful fusion of horror, the road trip, and mystery – along with many experimental genre stints, such as occasional moments of comedy. Being Human is a remake

of the British show of the same name. It follows the relationship formed between a ghost, vampire and werewolf who, under strange circumstances, all end up living together.

Grimm and Once Upon A Time are the newest editions, which came out this past fall.

Grimm was off to a rough start, and still sits pretty low as of January 13th. It relies on the fusion of the crime drama with the supernatural. It is a modern approach to the Grimm fairy tales, yet seems to be screwing itself with trying to set these tales in this genre. They try to re-create the fairy tales in a dramatic way. The

idea has potential, but it seems to be moving slower than the turn of a page. As of January 9th, Once Upon A Time is being referred to as television’s number one entertainment show. And it’s right.

Once Upon A Time pretty much takes the same approach as Grimm, minus the crime show aspect. The fairy tales are placed in a modern context, but they are not altered for the sake of being nuance. With the unique use of flashbacks, Once Upon A Time shows the fairy tales in their original fantasy world, and then flashes forward to the town, which is under a curse, and forced to live in the modern world. The charac-

ters have no recollection of their past life in the fantasy world at all.

Another interesting aspect is that many of the fairy tale characters are popular characters from Disney movies, one example being Snow White. However, when considering the show is on ABC, it can be likely that it may be Disney trying to seek redemption for the past portrayals of such characters.

Snow White is not perceived as a helpless woman, with an itch to cook and clean, who needs Prince Charming to come along and save her. In fact, in Once Upon A Time, she saves Prince Charming!

Once Upon A Time also explores a backstory to all the fairy tales,

cleverly tying them all together, unlike Grimm. Instead of answering questions, Grimm just seems to make more questions, and still does not answer them.

It seems what ultimately makes Once Upon A Time more successful than Grimm is the fact that they don’t try to further explain the fantasy elements. They do not put a modern twist on it for the sake of being post-modern. The modernization is merely the result of form successfully reflecting content. And the ratings agree.

Disney is cashing in on the popularity of magic-realism laden fantasy shows with its new hit, “Once Upon a Time.”

Movie Previews Sam Cheung, Staff Writer

The Woman In Black (Horror)

A remake of a 1989 horror movie based on a horror novel of the same name, The Woman in Black stars Daniel Radcliffe as Arthur Kipps, a young lawyer from London. Kipps travels to a small, lonely village to settle the legal affairs of a recently deceased local woman. Kipps finds that the locals take to barricading the village children indoors every night, as if protecting them from an unseen foe. He soon hears the tale of the Woman in Black , a local woman who once failed to save her child from drowning. The ghost of the Woman In Black is said to haunt the village, and the locals claim that every time the Woman is seen, a local child will be killed.

As Kipps struggles to uncover the secrets of the village and put the evil spirit to rest, The Woman In Black turns her attention to Kipps’ own, sickly son.

Safe House (Thriller)

Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds) is a young C.I.A. agent working as the keeper to an agency-funded safe house. Weston is bored with his position, which involves sitting around the safe house keeping himself entertained for hours at a time.

Weston dreams of becoming a full-fledged C.I.A. field operative, and laments at his current position, which does not allow him to gain any practical field experience.

One day, a prisoner, Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington), is abruptly hauled into the safe house by a group of field operatives.

It’s not clear as to why the C.I.A wishes to interrogate Frost, but Weston is charged with looking after Frost for the time being.

When the safe house is attacked, Weston is forced to haul around Frost while on the run from a group of attackers hell-bent on them.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (Action)

Apparently, Nicolas Cage just can’t get enough of performing in campy roles.

The star returns in his role as the Ghost Rider, also known as Johnny Blaze. The film is based on the classic Marvel Comics line, Ghost Rider. Spirit of Vengeance takes place following the events of the original Ghost Rider movie. Blaze, now in hiding in Eastern Europe, is called upon to do battle with the Devil, who is attempting to take human form. The battle will pit him against Blackout (Johnny Whitworth), a professional assassin turned into a demon

by The Devil to do his bidding.

Journey 2: (Adventure)

The

Mysterious

Island

The Mysterious Island is the sequel to 2008’s Journey to the Center of The Earth.

The sequel has very little to do with the original movie, and main protagonist Brendan Fraser has been replaced by Dwayne Johnson. Returning character Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson) is forced to accompany his new step-father, Hank Parsons (Johnson), as Parsons tries to locate Anderson’s grandfather Alexander (Michael Caine), who mysteriously disappeared while exploring a lost island.

9

Rocksmith Won’t Forge You Into A Guitarist

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Platforms: PC, Android, iOS, Xbox 360 (2012) (Digitally Distributed) Publisher: Mojang Players: 1 (offline), 2+ (Online) (Co-op, Competitive) ESRB Rating: N/A Sam Cheung Staff Writer

Everyone has that one friend. You know, that guy who loves listening to music so much that he’s convinced himself he can actually play music? He probably owns a thousand-dollar guitar that he never plays. It sits in the corner of his room, shrouding itself in an impenetrable layer of dust. That guitar’s owner is probably always telling you that one day, he’ll learn to play properly.

Of course, you know he’ll never motivate himself to learn properly. Ubisoft figured that there were enough of these wannabe rockstars that they could release a game that taught people to play the guitar. Thus, Rocksmith was born.

The premise of Rocksmith is simple enough on paper.

The goal is to teach amateur musicians to properly take control of their instruments. The video game medium theoretically insures that the learning experience is interesting enough to keep players coming back, hopefully for long enough that they can gain a rudimentary understanding of how to play a few tunes on the guitar. But how does it do this?

A game that teaches people to play the guitar? No, it isn’t

another Rock Band/Guitar Hero knockoff. Rocksmith certainly uses the same general premise of both those titles, however. Players are presented with a moving spread of notes resembling the frets on a guitar. As the notes come closer to the bottom of the screen, each fret must be pressed down and the string must be strummed properly in order for the note to register. Unlike Rock Band or Guitar Hero, Rocksmith uses a real guitar as the method of input. Each copy of Rocksmith is bundled with a cable which is connected to the game console on one end, and the guitar on the other. The television is transformed into a makeshift amplifier.

In theory, Rocksmith does exactly what it promises.

The game includes a couple dozen rock tunes, ranging from the 60s all the way to the modern era. Rock fans will be not disappointed, as Rocksmith includes big names like The Rolling Stones, Nirvana, Radiohead, David Bowie, The Stone Temple Pilots, and the White Stripes. In short, there’s a little something for everyone. Obviously, some songs are more difficult than others to master. In response, Ubisoft built in a self-adjusting difficulty scale.

As players master the basic concepts of each song, more complex sections are introduced in subse-

quent playthroughs of the same song. The idea is that eventually, the guitarist will master the song completely, in the way the song was originally performed. But it is the self-adjusting difficulty that is also the downfall of Rocksmith.

When you’re learning something new, there is nothing more satisfying than the moment when you realize that you’ve finally mastered something. Even if it’s a little thing, the feeling of success is what keeps any student going. Rocksmith’s self-adjusting difficulty removes that sense of satisfaction. Whenever you finally master a section of a song (based on how many notes you hit) the section gets harder the next time you play. This means that, while you’re always challenged and kept on your toes, you’re also never completely in control of the song.

To master a song would take dozens of playthroughs, until Rocksmith finally decides that you can play the complete version. Sure, you could probably turn off the system and play a cheap facsimile of the song early on, but Rocksmith strives for perfection. In the words of the Rolling Stones, you just “Can’t Get No Satisfaction.”

The constant feeling of inadequacy is what fosters Rocksmith’s most crucial flaw with. If the goal of Rocksmith is to teach

a lazy amateur how to play the guitar, it hasn’t done a good job at engaging the player. Sure, there’s a large selection of songs, and plenty of mini-games to help the player work on techniques, but no part of Rocksmith is interesting enough to keep the player engaged. There isn’t really a story, or any sort of conflict to keep gamers coming back. So if Rocksmith was intended to make lazy guitarists practice, then it hasn’t been particularly effective. Arguably, sliding the game case onto a shelf and forgetting about it is much easier than skipping a guitar lesson.

The final nail in the coffin (or fretboard in this case), is that Rocksmith doesn’t actually teach any guitar basics. On plugging in the guitar for the first time, Rocksmith prompts gamers to tune the guitar. Making sure the guitar is in tune is a crucial part of making music, but the problem is that Rocksmith doesn’t actually teach you how. Any good guitarist should be able to tune the strings on a guitar simply by ear. This is something Rocksmith glazes over completely, by using a fancy graphical interface that does all the hard work for you.

All players need to do is turn the knobs and strum. The television will then announce whether or not a particular string is in tune.

While Rocksmith does include various video tutorials for basic guitar techniques, the way the game is laid out makes it completely unnecessary to understand any of them. Instead, users are encouraged to basically fiddle their way through songs until they can mechanically recite the song without the aid of the game.

So while Rocksmith won’t actually teach you to play the guitar, it’ll force you to memorize the movements required to play Under Cover of Darkness and House of the Rising Sun so well that you’ll be able to fool non-musicians into think you can actually play the guitar.

Is Rocksmith a good teaching tool? The answer is maybe. It really depends on how persistent you are at learning the guitar. If you can force yourself to repeatedly return to the game and pound a song’s structure into your head, you just might learn how to strum a few songs. If you have a guitar lying around and want to casually pretend that you can play it, Rocksmith will satisfy your craving. But if you’re looking for something to actually teach you how to play the guitar properly, buy a guidebook. Or better yet, invest in music lessons.

10

January Events Barry Moore Associate Editor

How To Build an Igloo, January 2 – 31: From Tuesday-Sunday after 12:00 PM all month, go to the National Film Board Mediatheque to learn all about the construction of igloos, then use their media tools to create your own animated igloo.

Admission is free and you can drop in any time they’re open! Keep an eye out for their free screenings on selected films about Inuit culture all month as well!

DJ Skate Night Saturdays, Now – February 19: Missed your chance to go skating this holiday season? Well, every Saturday from 8:00 PM – 11:00 PM the Harbourfront Center is hosting free late night skate events with some of Toronto’s best DJs! Coming After, Now – March 4: An exhibition of artwork by queer artists about growing up in the shadow of the previous generation’s activist efforts and the feeling of having missed out on an important part of their cultural heritage. The exhibition is being held at The Power Plant. Student tickets are $3 and Wednesday nights from 5-8 PM the exhibition is free.

to the TEL Building between 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM to meet a variety of employers to learn about full-time, part-time and summer employment opportunities, as well as available internships, for students and graduates.

Music @ Midday, January 24 – 27: For three days at 12:30 PM there will be free performances given by York University Music Students in the Martin Family Lounge, room 219 in the Accolade East Building. Then on the 27th, a fourth free concert will be given at the same time in the Tribute Communities Recital Hall, also in Accolade East.

Calumet College Book Sale, January 31 – February 2: Calumet will be hosting its annual book sale all weekend from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM each day!

LunarFest, January 20: A celebration of Canadian and Asian art and culture, the Harbourfront Center will be hosting this free event with a giant lantern aquarium, skating, and more!

Events at York: Winter Career Fair, January 26: Head

Staff Members EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Kailey Savage ASSOCIATE EDITOR Barry Moore COPY EDITOR Christina Colavecchia, Susan Sejeong Kim LAYOUT EDITOR Matt De Melo WEB EDITOR Kyle Pombiere

STAFF WRITERS Adam Johnson Brittany Tougher Daniel Gold Emily Kennaley Kristen Allicock Melissa Barnas Nikolas Milenkowski Rabia Khokhar Rafazliban Rishabh Bablani Sam Cheung

BLOGGERS Ashley Perkins Danea Gray Laura Beaton Lina Sovani Mercedes B Mubeen Ahmed Soumia S Stephanie Maclean Sylvia Nguyen Thomas Riess

CONTRIBUTORS Carly Silberberg Lindsay Jenkins