Vol. 25, Issue 7

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UBCSUO AGM votes to abolish slates

Fine Arts building taken over by art party

More on pg 5

more pictures pg 11

UBCO’s Student Newspaper

November 26th, 2012 | Vol. 24 Issue 7

The Phoenix News

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thephoenixnews.com

... pumping oil since 1989

Enbridge pipeline meets bc opposition pg 4,6, 12-13

Life’s a bitumen and then you die

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The Phoenix |

In this issue

November 26th, 2012

November 26th, 2012

continued from masthead a qualified person is necessary to fulfil our obligation to UBCO readers.

Now, this policy is based on our experience in past years, when OC and UBCO were still connected in several ways. Now that that relationship has changed, it may be worth re-evaluating that policy, and we invite you to send us your input on the topic. We began, and spent the better part of two decades, as the OUC student newspaper. After the split, we were, are, and will continue to unequivocally be the student newspaper of UBCO. However, the connection between the two institutions, a

Room 109, University Center 3333 University Way Kelowna, BC Canada V1Y 5N3 Phone: 250-807-9296 Fax: 250-807-8431 thephoenixnews.com

Editor-in-chief: Cameron Welch

editorinchief@thephoenixnews.com

Art Director: Nadine Bradshaw artdirector@thephoenixnews.com

connection that was maintained at various levels up until recently, was represented here at The Phoenix in a couple ways; for example, we ran a page from the OCSU alongside our two pages from the UBCSUO as recently as 2010. This fall, we felt that as there was still enough of a connection for us to distribute at OC (after being absent in 2011-2012 for logistical reasons) and accept the input of OC students in some capacity. We were never made aware that ties had been officially cut, and we will be looking more into the breakup because we don’t think that you, the students, were fully made aware of it either.

For now, I would like to clarify that any OC content, and of course any non-UBCO content, in general, is never put ahead of UBCO students’ input. We are UBCO’s student newspaper and what UBCO students want to write, photograph, and read always comes first. I was, and still am, interested in having at least some kind of relationship with Okanagan College. I think that OC students and UBCO students’ concerns, interests, and lives are similar enough that our content will (hopefully) sometimes be relevant to OC students, and OC content may sometimes be relevant to UBCO students.

| The Phoenix

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Editor’s note: Just to be clear, I was definitely being tongue-in-cheek about the “drama” stuff at the start. I fully support and appreciate students wanting to keep us, the SU, and the institution accountable, and don’t consider that OC-style drama. Just so everyone’s clear.

Speaking of students being involved in what goes on campus, last week’s Senate, AGM, and BOD meetings featured several issues that have been highly controversial. However, no students showed up to speak against the BSW cancellation and barely fifty students were present to vote on the abolsihment of slates. If you have thoughts on these changes, or the low turnout, let us know at opinions@thephoenixnews.com.

Creative Director: Aidan Whiteley Photo Editor: Hanss Lujan

photo@thephoenixnews.com

Copy Editor: Gavin Gamache copy@thephoenixnews.com

News Editor: David Nixon

news@thephoenixnews.com

Features Editor: Rumnique Nannar features@thephoenixnews.com

Arts Editor: Janelle Sheppard arts@thephoenixnews.com

Events Editor: Laura Sciarpelletti

read more in News on pgs

events@thephoenixnews.com

Sports Editor: Jesse Shopa

Opinions Editor: Matt Lauzon

opinions@thephoenixnews.com

Staff Writer: Brandon Taylor writer@thephoenixnews.com

OC drama

Ad Sales Rep: Brendan Savage

Cameron Welch

ads@thephoenixnews.com

Editor-in-chief

Managing Editor: Alex Eastman

Back in middle school (or high school, if you stuck with it that long), when you tuned into The OC you expected to see some drama going down. But drama wasn’t what we planned for when we ran a brief writeup about another OC — Okanagan College — two weeks ago. Looking back, though, given the way I phrased some parts of the write-up, I see why it became contentious.

I’d like to apologize for the way I worded things and take this opportunity to fully explain the situation and clear up any misconceptions.

Last issue we published an address I wrote explaining that, after a year-long absence, copies of The Phoenix newspaper are back on the Kelowna Okanagan College campus and we hoped to return to other OC campuses as well if possible. In it, I mentioned that two of our staff members attend OC and encouraged OC students to submit articles or photos or simply to send us suggestions of things we could cover or write about.

Several days after the issue was released, UBCSUO Financial Co-ordinator Curtis Tse contacted Alex (our Managing Editor) and me to say that he had been approached by a student who was asking why the student media fund they pay into (the fund that we draw from to operate the paper) was benefiting OC students.

Curtis also explained that the formal and informal ties between UBCO and OC that had existed in previous years had been cut by the institution and the UBCSUO, and we’ve heard from various sources that this divorce was not the msot amicable.

managingeditor@thephoenixnews.com

Contributors: Ali Young, Sally Casey, Amy Stetzl, Cary Mellon, Jeff Stychin, Dale Abbey Cover Graphic by Nadine Bradshaw (The Phoenix).

Corrections: last issue we spelled

“Trayvon” and “Canadian” wrong on the cover. We did the cover last and didn’t check it over. Sorry guys.

As well, in the News section we mistakenly put “UBCO Board of Governors” in Tim Krupa’s bio instead of “UBC Board of Governors”.

The Phoenix is the UBC-O students’ free press. Editorial content is separate from the Student’s Governing Body (UBCSUO) and from the institution at large.

The editorial staff encourages everyone to submit material to the Phoenix but reserves the right to withdraw submissions from publication for any reason. “Any reason” could be material deemed to be sexist, racist, The Phoenix

will not publish materials which condone, promote, or express actions which are illegal under current laws.

This does not include articles which provide an in-depth examination of both sides of a controversial subject (e.g. legalising marijuana).

We welcome letters: Letters should be typed, doublespaced, under 300 words, and either left with or mailed to the Phoenix office. Your name and phone number must be included. Anonymity may be granted at the discretion of the editorial staff of the Phoenix.

Electronic Submissions:

Submissions on disk should

include a hard copy. We ask that you save contributions on disk in “Text Only” or “RTF” formats, or attach documents to an email.

The Phoenix is published, in part by: The University of British Columbia Students’ Union Okanagan (UBCSUO) and is an active member of the Canadian University Press

www.ubcsuo.ca

&

and in our feature on pg

sports@thephoenixnews.com

homophobic, or of poor taste or quality.

4 6 12

www.cup.ca

Protest of Enbridge pipeline at Moricetown

Photo by Andrew Barton

Inside: To respond to the first point about the media fund being used for OC students: distribution to OC significantly improves our sell when dealing with national, local, and provincial advertisers. Distributing the paper at OC increases the number of students who see the paper’s content, and we feel that because of this OC essentially pays for itself. As well, we try to do any OC and downtown distribution using the overflow we receive above our standard number of papers.

As EIC, I think distributing to OC is good because other students get to see our content, UBCO’s presence is increased in the community, and many OC students do end up coming to UBCO after two years.

But the financial benefits are what enable us to do this and, we feel, what justifies our distribution to OC. To address the issue of members of our staff attending OC: it is our policy that when no UBCO students apply for a position, or when no significantly qualified UBCO students apply for a position, we are willing to hire UBCO alumni and/or OC students for that position. This policy exists because we believe having a skilled staff member to perform a role is necessary to live up to our mandate of providing UBCO students with a quality, completed newspaper, and these two types of applicants (alumni and OC students, particularly those OC students who are on a path to transferring to UBCO) are sufficiently related enough to the school that it’s not like we’re pulling in any person off the street. Simply put, we feel that hiring

continued on next page

News

AGM and Senate reports, including BSW cancellation and the end of slates -Page 4

Arts

Photos from Art Party -Page 11 Book-film adaptations -Page 10

Feature The Enbridge Pipeline and how it affects BC First Nations and the environment -Page 12

Sports

X-Country 4th in Canada -Page 15 Heat sports recaps -Page 16

Opinions

WebCT Vista’s replacement, Blackboard Connect, is even more of a gong show -Page 18

UBCSUO

-Page 22

Find a better atmosphere to prepare for exams

Get out of your distracting bedroom and study in a local cafe Janelle Sheppard Arts Editor

It’s that most wonderful time of year again where we all get serious about the fact that we are studious beings that really should have studied a lot more in the first three months of class. With the dense weight of neglected readings, last-minute papers, and impending all-nighters on our shoulders, we start to get a bit sluggish. I definitely have a hard time focusing on what I need to get done by the end of November.

We all know that sitting at home in our beds is as productively stimulating as the Suck Kut from Wayne’s World (“It is sucking my will to live!!!”). We spend our time reading the last five hours of tweets, watch “just one more episode” of some half-hour sitcom, and make a snack to “help us focus”. All of our efforts to be good students are sucked away by the black hole of our own habitats, and because it’s much more enjoyable to watch three hours of TedTalks than read about thirty years of performance practitioners, this pattern never changes. I find that the atmosphere of a quaint cafe, with my headphones and some instrumental music, can allow my mind to consume information much more productively. Here are some cafes worth giving a try if you need to escape your distracting bedroom or the crowded library.

Bean Scene

Streaming Cafe

Blenz

This cafe has the most character in town.

Between the eclectic array of customers and the artful decor, Bean Scene provides an excellent vibe. Although to really focus you may need to wear headphones, as the overheard conversations can be quite interesting and the cafe-folk tend to be unreservedly friendly. There is a wide variety of couches, wooden tables, and comfy armchairs to choose from and the storefront offers coffees at average prices and delicious baked snacks.

I’d recommend a london fog and one of the granola bar for a hearty study snack. If the downtown Bean Scene is too artsy for you, check out the one in the Landmark buildings.

It offers far less cozy seating, but a more professional and less bustling atmosphere.

Though they are only open until 4pm, Streaming Cafe offers a wonderful daylight-hours atmosphere for studying. The location (the corner of Leon and Bernard) is close enough to the downtown core for you to walk after closing to another cafe after Streaming closes, yet not so central that it encourages high customer traffic. Streaming is well known for their innovative music performances on weekends featuring local and touring bands, but during the day the shop can be an effective space for focus. Lounge seating is limited, discouraging daydreaming, and the large wooden tables are delightfully solid for typing or writing.. Beware some of the smaller round tables though, as they can be rickety.

Blenz is a little closer to the atmosphere of Starbucks (which I do not recommend for study) but it has its own attributes. It is open until 11pm, which is the latest of all the cafes. Also, there are several locations around town for conveniently located study premises. Blenz is located downtown, in the Mission on Pandosy, in the mall, on the Westside, and in Vernon. The Kelowna stores feature Bliss Bakery food which, though expensive, is delicious. Like the Bean Scene (and most coffee shops, really), Blenz may require headphones, as the atmosphere can be bustling at times, but there is a decent amount of comfortable armchair-type seating as well as some bar seating and small tables.

There are plenty of atmospheric cafes to host your cozy study season this winter. If you are planning on pulling all nighters, Tim Hortons and McDonald’s also provide wifi, and are open 24/7. These may not be ideal atmospheres for serious academic pursuits, but they are cheap and open all the time. Some cafes that may be worth your while (though I have not yet tried them) are Pulp Fiction, which I have heard has the fastest internet downtown, The Bicycle Shop, which has a decent sounding lunch menu, and GioBean, with an authentic Italian cafe owner. If you need a splash of adventure in your study time, try out a new cafe. It minimizes potential for distracting elements in the atmosphere.

Happy studies!

Staff picks

Alex

Jesse

Nadine

Best study spaces You’ve seen Janelle’s suggestions for where the best places to study in town are. Now check out the rest of the staff members’ picks for where to get your learn on.

Dave

I like the study room in the library. There’s always somewhere to sit in there. And it’s right there in the name: study room.

Anywhere but the Phoenix office.

Cam

I’ve never understood how people can study in busy places, or in big groups.

Even the quiet rooms in the library aren’t my thing — a bunch of people all being super quiet together for hours is weird and unnerving. I study at my house by myself, as nature intended. ...But if you want to study on campus, I’d recommend the corners of the office loops in Arts. They have just the right level of solitude to get in the zone before an exam.

On ASC second floor there’s a little nook in there with a fridge. That’s like the quietest place in the world. No, wait, I shouldn’t tell people, that’ll ruin it.

Rumnique

I agree with Cam: I can never really study on campus. Even in the library quiet spaces I always look out the windows and get distracted. So I guess true study... must come from within. Or... one must wait for the Muse to grant one study inspiration.

Before I was in Fine Arts, when I just did academics, I used to go to the airport. I would sit in the observatory where you can see the planes take off, because nobody ever goes there, and I would watch the planes coming and going and imagine I could fly to other places. This was back when I wanted to travel the world or maybe be a flight attendant or something.

Laura

I like the Arts atrium and Pulp Fiction Cafe downtown.

NEWS

Dave Nixon

News@thephoenixnews.com

N

Campus Pulse Dave Nixon and Laura Sciarpaletti News Editor

Events Editor

Transit Survey

Quail Crossing

UBCO students got a chance to express their frustration and/or contentment with the Kelowna transit system on November 13th.

The UBCO Student Union held a transit survey on-campus, which featured an impressive turnout.

The union will be going over the survey results during the winter break and will enter all data into a spreadsheet. This will allow them to determine exactly what UBCO students want the most from each route.

The Student Union will be calling on the Kelowna Transit Committee in order to draw their attention to the survey results, university students’ comments, and all transit related issues addressed her on campus. If you did not have a chance to fill out a transit survey, they are still available at the front desk of the Students’ Union. All surveys must be completed before the end of the semester when they are reviewed. If you want better transit for UBCO students, now is the time to get involved.

The final results will be posted in the new year, however preliminary results are sumarized below.

Your UBCSUO is advocating for a path to be placed in between Quail Ridge and UBCO. Students have always needed to find a way down from Quail Ridge and many prefer the walk, but it gets very difficult to navigate the terrain in winter. The Quail Ridge bus has helped the commute from Quail this year, so the path is another step towards providing easy commuting access to students living nearby. Three different districts, however, own the land in between UBCO and Quail so progress may be slow.

Deborah Buszard, Ph.D. Principal and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of UBCO, commented on the library in the Senate meeting on November 20 that “We can already see [the expansion] is not sufficient]. The remodeling of the library has gradually improved since the beginning of the semester, adding a new study room and upgrading the couches with small tables to better allow students to study on them. Space is sure to get even sparser as final exams approach, and students will need to find alternative places to work.

Campus Movie Theatre

New Canada/India Research Chair

The UBCSUO is launching use of the UNC 106 as a theatre with Anchorman and Dark Knight Rises.

The theatre is licensed and able to show movies that are not available for DVD yet, and the UBCSUO has high hopes of adding to the growing campus community with this project. They would also like to begin a weekly international movie night, which would rotate through movies from various countries. To this end, they are asking for international student feedback so that they can show movies that the students want to see. Contact the UBCSUO with your movie suggestions.

UBC will be heading a new Canada/India research center of excellence in partnership with the University of Alberta and the University of Toronto. Three areas of research will be focused on – fresh drinking water, sustainable infrastructure and prevention and treatment of waterborne diseases.

“The center will build stronger bilateral research ties and create valuable learning opportunities while generating positive economic and social benefits for both countries,” said Prime Minister Harper.

# of Surveys filled out: 192 125 37 16 22 58 12 46

Bus Route: 97 8 90 13 23 6 4 multiple routes

We bring you a world of knowledge.

You bring the inspiration to change it.

Library expansion “not sufficient”

Northern Gateway pipeline Joint Review Panel comes to Kelowna Got an opion? Get ready to voice it, January 28th, 2013

Dave Nixon News Editor

Want to have a say in the future of BC’s economic and environmental climate?

The JRP is an independent body consisting of 3 members, mandated by the Minister of the Environment and the National Energy Board (NEB). Its aim is to assess environmental factors related to the Northern Gateway Pipeline proposal and provide a recommendation to the Federal Government based on their findings.

It should be possible give an oral statement, which is a short speech (under 10 minutes) on what you would like to convey to the Panel in the context of their decision towards the pipeline proposal. The details regarding the panel are yet to be finalized, so check online for updates on its status.

The panel is composed of: Ms. Sheila Leggett - Vice-chair of the Nation Energy Board (top); Mr. Kenneth Bateman – Canadian energy lawyer (center); and Mr. Hans Matthews – professional geologist (bottom)

LIBRARY HOURS Monday to Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Statutory Holiday Hours: Dec 19 7 am-12am 9am-5pm 20-21 9:30am-5pm 22-23 9am-5pm 24 Closed 25-26

7:00am – 12:00am 7:00am – 10:00pm 9:00am – 10:00pm 10:00am – 12:00am

27-28 29-30 31 Jan 1

9am-5pm 9:30am-5pm 9am-5pm Closed

Check out our website for more Library information: ubc.ca/okanagan/library

News

November 26th, 2012

| The Phoenix

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UBCO curriculum and student government

will never be the same again SENATE (NOV 20)▼

UBCO Senate votes to cancel BSW program; discusses students accessing professor evaluations Bachelor of Social Work cancelled

The hottest debate during the meeting, the BSW program cancellation, ended in an almost unanimous vote, with only one against and one abstaining.

Student Senator Susana Baez raised concerns of students regarding the way in which this cancellation was communicated to them. Dr. Taylor, Director of the School of Social Work, responded by stating an email had been sent out and that he had attended one third year class. He has also been hosting office hours every Friday for students to bring their concerns to him. Upon hearing Senate’s decision he will call an assembly of all students to let them know the final decision.

Student Senator Tim Krupa asked if it could be delayed a year to allow students in second year to get through the program, and to notify those in first year of the decision. This was dismissed due to the cost of extending the program for another year. None of the student senators voted against the motion.

The Phoenix will have a final analysis of the BSW cancellation next issue.

BOD (NOV 19) & AGM (NOV 21)▼

Dave Nixon

Confidentiality assured in online professor evaluations, access for students to results may be available in the future

Addressing student concerns regarding the confidentiality of the new online professor evaluations, Wesley Pue, Provost and Vice Principal of UBCO, assured those present at the meeting that results remain anonymous. The concerns were that the need to login with a CWL password in order to access the evaluations could create a link to student numers.

Discussion by Senators led to the topic of access to results. Many Senators spoke in favor of working towards allowing students access in the future, though there is no formal plan in place.

Other topics included improvements to education infrastructure throughout the province including switching government operations to electronic to make a more efficient and cheaper government long term, opposition to the enormous risk of new oil pipelines, and improvements and investments into lower-level healthcare employees and UBCSUO.

News Editor

UBCSUO Board of Directors creates

By The Numbers controversial student interest groups; AGM abolishes slates and Meetings that voted to ap3 prove lasting changes for turns down a presidential structure students over the last week 10.5

Sum of hours taken by meetings over the week

50

Students necessary to reach quorum for UBCSUO’s AGM, which was barely reached

0

Students from the social work program who spoke at Senate against the cancellation of their program

0

Slates that will be permitted in student elections from now on

0

Methods available to students for directly contacting student senators

ON THE WEB follow us on twitter @ubcophoenix for news updates as they come in

Quotes ▼ “I was disappointed to learn after the meeting that voting members in attendance voted against the motions because of misinformation.

For instance, one voter thought that the new executive structure would mean the current Board of Governors representative (me) would become the UBCSUO President.

That is both disappointing and not true” –Tim Krupa

“We voted to open the floodgates of accessibility and to keep candidates accountable for their own platform and campaign. I believe this makes the process as democratic as possible.

It was a historic vote for our campus”

–Tim Krupa, on the vote to abolish slates

“I did not support that change” –Nick Dodds, when asked about the vote to abolish slates

“The motion about eliminating slates definitely took me by surprise …

Personally, running as a slate was a great experience for me and I learned so much during that period” –Sabrina Tikhomiroff

“I think holding slates is wrong, morally and politically. I desire that it should be no further spread in these United States” –Abraham Lincoln*

*not actually

New type of clubs

New forms of clubs called Special Interest Groups were ratified in the meeting. A main component of UBCSUO clubs is the mandate that they be inclusive of all. Special Interest Groups were formed to allow students to form clubs that would exclude people, to allow for groups such as Golden Key Clubs, which only the top students academically may join.

It would also mean the possibility of a fraternity or sorority on campus. These clubs need minimum five members, two thirds of which must be current students. They are not eligible for funding from the UBCSUO. There was significant dispute over these clubs by the Financial Coordinator, Curtis Tse, who voted against them on the premise that they were too similar to the type of groups that students had turned down in a referendum, and he did not want to go against the wishes of the student population if this was so. Other directors felt that any risks associated with these clubs would be mitigated by the need for prospective student interest groups to be ratified by a vote of directors.

2 new student clubs

UBCO Financial Literacy ratified: A club for helping students plan for their financial futures, something that many students are in dire need of, was approved. The club already has an expert on the subject coming in to give advice for personal finances.

UBCO BC Young Liberals ratified: There are now two young Liberal clubs on campus. Separate clubs are warranted because the BC Liberals and the federal Liberals have no connection with each other. This club is sure to have a lot of discussion surrounding B.C.’s looming May 14th 2013 election.

Problems in staffing

The UBCSUO is missing a key staff membe­­r—an organizer, who usually helps administrative deadlines be met. As a result, they have now made two administrative mistakes: failing to post unfinalized agendas to the SU website before the Board of Directors meeting, and failing to post the agenda for the UBCSUO AGM a week in advance as is required of them in their bylaws.

The job search is still on; a motion to split the organizer role into two part time jobs, to make it easier to find candidates, was tabled at the meeting and struck down.

UBCSUO AGM abolishes slates

A movement to ban slates in student politics at UBC Okanagan passed at the AGM. The new policy, moved by Tim Krupa, states that no candidates may be permitted to campaign in slates.

A slate entails two or more candidates merging campaign finances, materials, slogans, designs, social media, campaigning booths, and any object tangible or intangible to be used for the purpose of promoting.

Chair sends sustainability motion to Policy Committee

Danielle Prins brought a significant policy regarding environmental issues and sustainability to the meeting, but the Meeting Chair ruled that it had to be vetted

by Policy Committee for any problems before it could be voted on.

Student government changes voted down

Massive changes to the structure of student government, involving a potential presidential systm, were proposed, debated extensively, debated some more, and then fell due to a lack of support during the vote.

6

The Phoenix |

News

November 26th, 2012

Valuating culture

Student travels Gateway pipe route Dave Nixon

Activism on campus

Human Kinetics student Danielle Prins raises the profile of environmental activism on campus

News Editor

Photo byAndrew Barton

“Who can make that valuation of ‘well it was worth the risk,’ or ‘Canada got a good enough benefit out of it to make it worthwhile.”

-Andrew Barton

How does one place a dollar value on a way of life? How do you place a value on one’s culture and livelihood? Andrew Barton, a geography student at UBCO, won an Undergraduate Research Award in January 2012 for a unique project looking at the Northern Gateway pipeline proposal. Andrew’s intent was to study the valuation of things that cannot be measured by dollar value. To do so he spent the summer traveling the proposed route, speaking to people in the affected communities, and sifting through hundreds of transcripts from the Joint Review Panel (JRP) (see below) in order to understand all point of views.

“I wanted to look specifically at…the valuation of an economic project and [what] we as a society had a really hard time placing a dollar value on, like those intangible things: quality of life, or beautiful scenery,” Barton explained. “Economists have ways of putting a dollar value on those things, but they have certain issues based on the socio-economic status of people.” A group that stands out as placing a heavy value on intangibles turned out to be the various First Nations communities along the pipeline route.

First Nations’ traditions are largely oral history, and so it is little surprise that they were the largest group of speakers as interveners at the Joint Review Panels. Barton was moved by the passion they brought to their speeches: “Almost every First Nations [individual] who spoke had to pause…because they were so close to weeping [over] how concerned they were and how much they cared about the land.”

Chief John Ridsdale of the Wet’suwet’en spoke to the sustainability of their territory: “We do not own the land. We are only borrowing it from our grandchildren,” while another speaker referred to issues that had already occurred: “You can’t access some [hunting] areas [any] more. Oil companies brought their rigs there and a lot of them are fenced off now,” A big concern is the danger an oil spill would place on the subsistence hunting that many First Nations rely upon for their livelihood (see this issue’s Feature on page 12 for more on this).

Barton found out he had won the research award in January of this year. The $6,500 award worked out to be marginally more than 10 dollars an hour, and so he spent the summer working within these cost and time restraints.

The bottom line of Andrew’s research was the perception of risk, which he said was the possibility of either a pipeline rupture or a tanker spill. “It threatens ecosystems, ability for First Nations to carry on cultural practices, subsistence hunting and fishing…and even non-indigenous cultural practices,” he said, referring to non-indigenous cultural practices as the active outdoor culture that is so strong in British Columbia. “How do you quantify that? How do you compensate it? Who is responsible to do that compensation? And if it goes on for generations, and a culture disappears because of that, who can make that valuation of ‘well it was worth the risk,’ or ‘Canada got a good enough benefit out of it to make it worthwhile’.” The questions that Andrew has reached in his research have not been answered, or even directly addressed by governments or oil companies.

Photo from Facebook

“No one wakes up and thinks as a kid: I want to work at the Tar Sands when I grow up.”

This is one of the many interesting points that came up when we interviewed Danielle Prins, a UBCO Human Kinetics student who has recently moved into the epicenter of environmental activism on campus. Her new role is one she never planned for: “I was just some Human Kinetics student who was pissed off about the pipeline, so I made a poster,” she said, “and in a month, things had taken off.”

“I want to provoke [environmental] awareness and conversation around campus.”

-Danielle Prins

Danielle has been instrumental in raising awareness for enviromental issues around campus. Most recently that conversation has revolved around the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline proposal. She organized a presentation by Andrew Barton, also featured in this issue, on his undergraduate research that

examined socioeconomic issues surrounding the pipeline. She led the Defend Our Coast Day in town, and is responsible for some online forums for similar minded people or those that just wish to learn more. Danielle addressed a number of points on the topic, but one key argument that was raised centres around the economic benefits for the pipeline. In response Danielle stated that, regardless of the shortterm benefits, “In the long term, we are paying more for the repercussions of the impact of oil on the environment and our health.” And that will be a cost that BC pays.

Activists often get labeled negatively due to the confrontational nature of their messages, but Danielle values being a very approachable person. “I’m not here to be aggressive with anyone, or force my opinions, I love people coming with healthy opposition to me.”

Her message is a simple one: “I want to provoke [environmental] awareness and conversation around campus.” She is making an impression, but she has expressed honest confusion from her experiences speaking to other students, because people really don’t know what is happening. And she feels this is a big problem. “We have to know about these [issues]; we’re the next generation.”

She has recently gotten involved in student politics by pressuring the UBCSUO to adopt an environmental sustainability policy, but that’s not an end. “There’s talk of everything. I want to meet with local MLAs before the New Year. There are a lot of small things lined up, as well as some interest from private donors in doing some big events at locations like Prospera Place.”

News

November 26th, 2012

| The Phoenix

7

Meanwhile, shit is hitting the fan all over the world Democratic Republic of the Congo

Pakistan Taliban bomb claims at least six and wounds 90 others at a Shia religious event in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday, November 25th 2012.

The death toll has hit 31 of Pakistani Shiites from Taliban attacks. The religious chasm between the Sunnis (Taliban) and the Shiites dates back to the 7th century.

Mobile phone service has been shut off in major cities to prevent bomb triggers.

50,000 people flee from Goma, Congo, as heavily armed M23 rebels, led by warcrimes fugitive Bosco Ntaganda, marched on the city.

The UN has condemned their actions, but was unable to stop the conflict. The rebel group is currently in peace talks with the Congo Government, but it is too soon to know how it will progress.

China Egypt

Gaza

Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s President, makes a controversial grab for power inciting protests all over Egypt. Morsi was instrumental in brokering peace between Israel and Hamas, but he has failed to broker peace at home.

Recently, Egyptians woke up to find that their first elected

president had removed judicial review over his presidential decisions for at least the next year.

500 have been injured since Friday. Morsi’s election was supposed to mark a change from revolt to rebuilding for Egyptians, but this appears to be a step backwards.

Mohammed Morsi at the top of a balancing act between western interest, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Israel. Gazans are very happy with the ceasefire but Israelies do not support it.

Instability will escalate again if Israel comes into conflict with Iran over its nuclear program.

Ceasefire remains very uneasy, demonstrated by comments from senior Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zaha that Islamists would go on smuggling in weapons “by all possible means.” This peace is tenuous at best, but it also means a new regional diplomatic hierarchy, with Egypt’s President

New leaders in China have been selected behind the curtain. Xi Jinping is the new leader of the Comunist Party as well as China’s military.

He is much less reserved than other Communist Party leaders, using empathetic rhetoric during speeches and smiling often. Many hope for progressive change but little is known about Mr. Jinping as far as his plans for governing go.

Timeline of recent Gaza conflict Nov 14

Nov 15

Nov 16

Nov 17

Nov 18

Nov 19

Nov 20

Nov 21

•Israel launches Pillar of Defense in response to days of rocket fire from •Hamas militants in Gaza •20 airstrikes Killed Ahmad Jabari, Hamas military commander

•Hamas rockets reach Tel Aviv in the heart of Israel for the first time

•Air raid sirens go off in Jerusalem, capital of Israel, but no rockets hit •75k Israel reservists mobilized •Iran reported to be ready to double uranium for nukes, complicating Israel’s situation

•Israel’s Iron Dome knocks down a rocket headings for Tel Aviv

•Israel focuses on homoes of suspected Hamas activists •11 civilians killed in Gaza from Israel’s attack on homes, mostly women and children

•Flurry of diplomatic activity from countries such as U.S and Egypt to try and broker peace

•6 Palestinians killed for collaboration with Israel •Mixed reports of attempts at a truce

Death toll: •3 Israelies dead •111 Palestinians dead

Death toll: •5 Israelies dead •135 Palestinians dead

•Bombing in Israel on a bus injures 27 in Tel Aviv •Ceasefire brokered

by Egypt’s Mohammed Morsi •Conflict ended; polls show only about 30% of Israelies wanted to end the conflict

Death toll: •3 Israelies dead •19 Palestinians dead

Rocket count: •750 airstrikes by Israel •500 rockets by Hamas

Canada strengthens economic ties with countries not named America

Dave Nixon News Editor

The recent economic recession has lit a fire under Harper’s economic engine, as it became obvious that being so closely tied to the United States is not the safest bet.

As any good investor knows, portfolio diversification is important, and lately Harper has been blitzing through negotiations, and forcing Canada’s way into larger trade agreement.

CETA – Canada and Europe Covers free trade and intellectual property. Many of the provisions are similar to those in the proposed ACTA, recently rejected by the EU. China FIPPA Could be ratified any day now and it said to benefit Canadian investment in China, but significant controversy surrounds this agreement

Canada/Japan Negotiations start in Tokyo, November 26, and is currently estimated with a broad range of 3.8-9 billion prospective revenue to the Canadian economy were it to be ratified Trans Pacific Partnership Largest trade agreement since NAFTA: represents 20.5 trillion combined GDP and a market of over half of one billion people.

Canada was just invited into the negotiations, and lots of progress has already been made.

Canada/India trade negotiations began at the beginning of November, and could mean a 6 billion boost to the Canadian economy Canada/Panama One of the smaller trade agreements; it has been approved by the Canadian House of Commons and is now going to Senate

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ARTS

Janelle Sheppard

features@thephoenixnews.com

A

Spring will begin with buckets of pig’s blood

DIY Project: Apple cider cups

Stephen King’s supernatural horror novel Carrie gets a new film reboot

Start off the holiday season with edible dishes

Events Editor

Events Editor

Laura Sciarpelletti

To a sheltered eleven-year-old girl with a heavy stack of Anne of Green Gables novels and arts & crafts boxes by her bed, the 1976 Brian De Palma supernatural horror film Carrie was absolutely and deliciously terrifying. Having watched it secretly on a Halloween night after being forbidden to trick or treat (I can’t remember if it was a church reason or a razor-blades-in-chocolate-bar reason), I endured two weeks of pig’s blood soaked nightmares.

Based on the novel by Stephen King, Carrie is about a bullied young girl, played beautifully by Sissy Spacek, whose obsessive-religious and often abusive mother shelters her to such an extent that sweet and shy Carrie White grows up as a social outcast. Heavily damaged and harassed, Carrie discovers that she possesses telekinetic powers, an ability that surfaces whenever she is humiliated and bullied by her peers and teachers, or threatened by her unstable mother Margaret White, played brilliantly by seasoned actress Piper Laurie. Sporadic sincere kindness from two classmates is not enough to keep Carrie’s powers at bay, after a cruel gruesome joke constructed by her peers makes their high school prom night a supernatural literal bloodbath.

Carrie was a major blockbuster success, grossing $33.8 million on a budget of $1.8 million according to boxofficemojo. com, and earned both Spacek and Laurie Academy Award nominations for the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress categories. It also marked John Travolta’s first feature film appearance. Carrie has become a cult classic, a favorite Halloween film for many and a heartbreaking story about how cruel high school students can be to those who appear weak and different.

Now, a new generation will be introduced to King’s story as a more faithful version of the original novel is making its way to theatres. The new Carrie marks the first co-production between MGM and Screen Gems, and was written by playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. The remake is directed by Kimberly Pierce, known best for

writing and directing Boys Don’t Cry and Stop-Loss, and will story Kick-Ass and Let Me In actress Chloe Grace Moretz in the role of Carrie White.

The teaser trailer was released on October 15 of this year and featured Moretz standing in the midst of flames drenched in the iconic pig’s blood that Spacek had previously donned with haunting poise.

“It’s going to be very well done,” commented Moretz to comingsoon.net. “I don’t want to jinx it, but [Peirce] is a genius, genius, genius director. I would never do it with someone that I don’t trust. I trust her more than a lot of the directors I’ve worked with. She’s the right woman for the job.”

Julianne Moore replaces Laurie as Margaret White, a casting decision that will surely add further credibility and starpower to the film. Moore plays unstable characters very well and with vigorous attention to detail. After watching her interviews and public appearances with Moretz, it is evident that the pair will no doubt accomplish the mother/daughter chemistry depicted so expertly in the novel. By the end of the story, both characters are determined and dangerous, creating a horrifying clash of misdirected-religiousness and supernatural rage.

“I’m actually not looking at the original, even though De Palma’s movie was one of the best movies ever made,” continued Moretz. “It’s completely iconic and I’m proud to be able to be doing a retooling of it. We’re kind of going off the book.

It’s darker and much more psychological.

More ‘Black Swan.’ You’re really looking into her mind and it really looks into the relationship of Margaret and Carrie. It’s set in modern time, so it’s a lot different.”

Carrie is set to be released on March 15, 2013 and will no doubt inspire a slew of rereleased copies of the 1976 film as well as special editions of King’s novel. Viewers new to the story will have the chance to experience the horror that is Carrie very, very soon.

Laura Sciarpelletti

Photo by Laura Sciarpelletti

The weather is getting significantly colder and I now don my winter jacket with a giant fur hood, which is easily my favorite bit of apparel. Anyway, as the bitter winter looms ahead, hot beverages are on the rise.

Hot apple cider is a great way to stay warm and bring friends and family together. It is also enjoyable for holiday parties and can be used as a tasty DIY project. Ever gotten to the bottom of a delicious drink and wished that there was more? Well with this apple cider recipe there is more. Now you can eat the cup!

You will need: •Apple juice •Water (only enough to make the cider not overly sweet) •Thin lemon and orange slices •Cinnamon sticks •Whole cloves (too many will make the cider bitter)

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The amount of each recipe item you use is up to you. Take an apple, cut off the top and then carve out the core in the same way you would carve out the inside of a pumpkin. Large apples work best, as they hold more cider. Repeat this as many times as you like. In a large pot, bring the apple juice and water to a boil, then add the cloves and cinnamon sticks, turn the temperature to low, then cover the pot and let the mixture steep for thirty minutes. If you prefer, add sliced oranges and lemons to steep as well. Once the cider has steeped, pour into each apple cup, placing cinnamon sticks in each one as straws and mixing sticks. Enjoy and stay warm!

Arts

November 26th, 2012

film ▼

9

food ▼

Lincoln

An assured film that resonates in the Obama era

Rumnique Nannar Features Editor

Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln opens brilliantly with a dialogue between Abraham Lincoln and two black soldiers Ira Clark (David Oyelowo) and Harold Green (Colman Domingo) who recite his Gettysburg Address back at him. Clark offers a sobering reminder to the president that “all men are created equal,” which gives way to film’s purpose of demythologizing the man on the marble throne.

The film unfolds months after Lincoln’s re-election, when the Civil War is likely to be won at a hard cost by the North. His true aim is to push forth the 13th amendment, which would abolish slavery. However, this needs to be done before three Confederate commissioners from the South arrive for peace talks. The Democrats are vehemently against the Amendment, and William Seward (David Strathairn), Lincoln’s Secretary of State, and peers implore him to delay the vote.

The stakes are extremely high; if the Civil War is ended early, the amendment is unlikely to pass due to the Southern states who will claim the slaves as property in their losses.

The film is aided by a superb script by Tony Kushner, who makes sure that most scenes and passages during the film justifies its 149-minute length. Kushner delves into Lincoln’s flaws, fears, and doubts, which make this a perfect character study enacted by one of the best actors ever, Daniel Day Lewis. Political double-dealing was not above ‘Honest Abe,’ who sends out his best three lobbyists, the uproarious trio of Tim Blake Nelson, John Hawkes, and a deliciously slimy James Spader to buy out the thirteen remaining votes.

However, the film balks at introducing more African-American voices to counter Lincoln’s sudden force for the 13th Amendment. It does not explore why Lincoln changed his stance on slavery, which he tolerated and accepted during his first term.

Gloria Reuben and Stephen Henderson are effective and wonderful in their small roles as Lincoln’s home staff who do not see him as a saint but a man who has helped their people achieve fuller emancipation.

Kushner debunks the saintly Lincoln, who was possibly a vampire hunter as well as a courageous hero with a fire in his belly to eradicate an injustice

| The Phoenix

Take a trip to the Shire with Denny’s Hobbit menu Amy Stetzl Contributor

Build your own Hobbit Slam.

Poster curtosy of Touchstone Pictures

that worked to his own means.

The film is punctuated by a fervent energy and vigor that makes all the speechifying so rabble-rousing and entertaining. There are terrific set pieces such as the debates between radical abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones) and fiery Fernando Wood (Lee Pace).

Kushner develops an incendiary tension during these speeches, which are filmed with such stately tension by Spielberg’s reliable cinematographer Janusz Kaminski. Spielberg denies himself the visual fireworks and schmaltz, but more than makes up for it with his assured and measured direction.

Daniel Day-Lewis rids himself of any method bravado that features in most of his performances, and just imbues this Lincoln with a gentle and compassionate humour. With a drooped back, hollow cheeks, and straggly hair, Lewis completely looks the part.

Quite authentically, he manages to recreate Lincoln’s reedy voice by way of the iconic Raymond Massey rasp that captures the courtly cadences of the South that endears him as a man of the

people and a brilliant orator. He is ably supported by a fantastic cast who infuse such verve and energy into their characters.

Sally Field offers a tour-de-force role as Mary Todd Lincoln, who mourns the death of their son Willie and battles her own depression. She fills the role with inner turmoil and flame that makes a suitable contrast to her stately and aloof husband. If the Academy does not nominate Tommy Lee Jones then I will eat my hair! Jones is scathingly funny, and spares no hypocrite with his sharp tongue. His final scene with his black common-law wife (S. Epatha Merkerson) is just heartbreaking, and reveals why this trailblazer fought so hard.

Lincoln is one of the best films of the year, because it resonates so powerfully with the US politics of today. The similarities are rife with a certain gifted orator fighting against an extremely obstructionist house. Spielberg, Lewis, and Kushner paint a complex and daring portrait of a torn president. The Oscar race just got a lot tighter with this accomplished film.

Photo by Amy Stetzl

It’s the moment you have been waiting for! Or perhaps it is just the moment I have been waiting for… a reason to write about Denny’s while featuring local restaurants. The answer: The Hobbit Menu!

Denny’s has created a menu to coincide with one of the greatest phenomena of our time, or any time. Of course, if we were all marketing geniuses we would probably ride the coattails of something so large as well, because, let’s be honest, what better way to encourage people to come into your place of business.

If you have been to Denny’s in the last little while, then you know that they have their regular menu and also have a featured menu which is slightly smaller. The Hobbit’s version of this feature menu is filled with all of the familiar style of the Shire and the short folk who live there. Though the majority of The Hobbit menu realistically only consists of the standard fare with different names, there are a few additions which are old favorites and some which are completely new.

Radagast’s Red Velvet Pancake Puppies are essentially exactly the same as prior pancake puppies with a change in the name, whereas the Hobbit Hole breakfast with the option to add a Shire Sausage is something I have never seen at the franchise. The Hobbit Hole is an egg baked into the centre of a cheese bun which creates the appearance of a Hobbit hole. Adventurous as it sounds, I didn’t feel up to that sort of mission… quest… thing… for my late night snack. I settled with the Build your own Hobbit Slam – I took the easy route at first, but one cannot simply walk into Mordor so I made sure to try the Pumpkin Patch Pancakes, newly returned from their last visit this past Thanksgiving.

The disappointing factor with this is that they are just Pumpkin Patch Pancakes; they didn’t even care to give them a catchy name like Samwise’s Garden Fresh Pumpkin Cakes… or something like that – keep in mind that I never claimed to major in marketing. Aside from the plain old pancakes, my personal favorite on the menu is Frodo’s Pot Roast Skillet: “slow cooked pot roast, herb roasted carrots, celery, mushrooms, and onions over broccoli and seasoned red skinned potatoes served on a hot skillet.” For a late night diner that is generally overlooked for delicious food, this skillet is a hidden gem. The meat is succulent and falls apart nicely thanks to it being cooked to perfection and the fresh seasoning is just the added bonus.

Brilliant as it sounds, there’s another little bonus with this menu – the trading cards.

With a limited edition version of Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf the Grey (at the time), there is a reason to eat as much Hobbit food as you can get your hands on. These cards are the next big thing in the US so you have to order an entrée in Canada in order to claim your own, but in each pack of two cards there is also a nifty little coupon.

So far, I have received coupons for $5 off, 20% off, free drink with entrée, and free set of pancake puppies with entrée. Keep in mind that this is only around for a limited time! Tasty food, collectible trading cards, and nifty coupons that keep on giving there is no reason to not check into Denny’s on Four Square tonight. Pop on over when I’m there and you’ll get a five point bonus since I am the current mayor.

See you there!

10

The Phoenix |

Arts

November 26th, 2012

film ▼

The Life of Pi

Rumnique Nannar Features Editor

A stunning adaptation of the novel

Oscar season is upon us, and this is the right to time to roll out the big movies that will jostle for first place honours on all counts of acting, directing, writing, and producing. Ang Lee’s Life of Pi gives the leading favourite Lincoln a run for its money with its brilliant storytelling and visual mastery of 3D. Yann Martel’s bestseller, long thought to be completely unfilmable, is marvellously recreated into a film that wins you over with its scope and heart.

An older Pi Patel (the reliable Irrfan Khan) recounts the story of his awe-inspiring journey drifting across the Pacific Ocean to a wide-eyed Canadian novelist (Rafe Spall). On this journey he was accompanied by: a zebra, hyena, orangutan, and a Royal Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. The film begins with an entertaining prologue that introduces the audience to Pi’s idyllic childhood in Pondicherry, India. Pi’s parents own the town’s zoo, where we are introduced to the fearsome tiger. The movie thankfully does not anthropomorphize its tiger into a Disney one. In a key early scene, Pi’s father (Adil Hussain) reminds him that animals are indeed animals and fierce ones at that.

Interestingly, the book’s spirituality is mildly toned down for the film, as Pi’s flirtations with Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam do not become too preachy. The central focus is Pi’s sea and survival journey in which we experience the shipwreck with such thrilling immediacy. I usually hate 3D, which nearly every film uses for the big stunts and gimmicky visual tricks, but after Hugo, Life of Pi utilizes the medium for gratifying dramatic effect. There are beautiful sequences in the film which enhance Pi’s solitary existence as he gazes into the illuminated ocean and sees his mother and zoo animals from his past. The overtly 3D moments are underscored by the humour, as seen in a sequence where flying fish interrupt a tense fight between

Pi and the tiger, whacking them across the face, and jump out at the viewer. The cinematography by Claudio Miranda evokes the immediacy of a vivid dream. CGI does not betray the frightening vision and look of the tiger that we grow to love along the way.

Lee and screenwriter Richard Magee craft a wonderful story that foregoes the survival film tropes as found in Robinson Crusoe and Tom Hank’s Castaway. They keep faithful to Martel’s beloved book, and perhaps the author will be delighted that his film hasn’t been manhandled by the Hollywood process. Lee and Magee have invested the film with such poetic lyricism and a subtlety that captures the book’s metaphorical ponderings.

They instead focus on the tension between Pi’s relationship with Richard, which is endlessly tense but poignantly tender in the later act where the tiger learns to accept Pi as neither prey nor master, but another being to exist with. It is a testament to newcomer Suraj Sharma’s fabulous performance to act against a green screen for much of the film. He invests such depth to Pi, who isn’t a cipher against which the amazing events unfold around him. Pi takes charge of his dire situation with ingenious wisdom and humour that keeps the movie charged with energy and depth. While the film is surely in line for the big prizes, I would love to see Sharma, Irrfan Khan, or especially Adil Hussain, as Pi’s strong-willed father who warns him against his religious fervor, nominated for their wonderful and subtle performances.

Certainly, Life of Pi has the polish that its staggering budget justified, because we will have an extremely diverse crowd of frontrunners this awards season. Go and be dazzled by this visual feast, and set your bets early, this looks like it could steal all the gongs!

Midnight’s Children

An adaptation that is just too faithful

Midnight’s Children is one of my favourite books by Salman Rushdie, with its sweeping narrative and hypnotizing magic realism. When I heard that Deepa Mehta was directing with Rushdie writing the screenplay, I was extremely excited. There was no way it could be another example of source material getting lost in translation with a fine director and an erudite author.

Yet, this wonderful 600-page book transforms into a bloated 146-minute film that just drags on and misses many opportunities for greatness.

The film was not likely to end up a travesty, as Rushdie spent two years on developing a serviceable screenplay. Born at the stroke of midnight on August 15th 1947, Saleem Sinai’s (played by Satya Bhabha, literary theorist Homi Bhabha’s son) story crosses generations, and encompasses the growing pains of a new India emerging from two hundred years of colonial rule.

Because of his magical birth hour and ancestrally large nose, Saleem has a connection to every other child born on that fateful night. Saleem comes into fortune with his wealthy Muslim family when the hospital nurse Mary (Seema Biswas) switches him with Shiva (Siddharth) the poorer son of a boozy street musician.

Magic realism is recurrent throughout the novel, where Saleem experiences actual historical events like the Indo-Pakistan wars of the 1960s, and the emergency crackdown of Indira Gandhi’s government in the 1970s. However, Mehta adopts a shaky and uneven tone for the overlong film, where she tries to squeeze in these historical moments along with proselytizing against Gandhi’s rule and the Bangladesh wars.

She cannot seem to balance Saleem’s intertwinement with these events while also making him less of a cipher. After getting to know Saleem through the witty narration

by Rushdie, Bhabha tries valiantly with his wobbly Indian accent and performance.

However, the film triumphs in the first half

where we get an amusing prologue into Saleem’s history from his grandfather’s courtship to his mother’s dalliances before marriage. These moments achieve a quiet poetry and humour that later scenes sorely lack.

Last year at a TIFF press conference, Rushdie assured audiences that despite the outcome of the film the performances would sell it. He’s spot on here, as the performances more than make up for the middling narrative. Bhabha gets slightly better during the later portions of the film, but one would have hoped they did another switch and gave the splendid Tamil/ Telugu film actor Siddharth the bigger and meatier role. There are plenty of Bollywood actors here, who enhance the narrative with their lived-in roles, especially Ronit Roy as Saleem’s volatile father and Shahana Goswami as his courageous mother. The acting in the film is superb, and the ensemble cast do their best to embody their beloved characters.

The film is incredibly faithful to its source material, but Rushdie does not expound on anything new when bringing the novel to the screen. He does retain the wonderful heart beneath the chaotic history of the nation and its turmoil. While Rushdie allows his two heroes to meet in the climax, even this moment misses the dramatic tension of that cathartic confrontation. Rushdie appears to just copy his novel scene for scene but rarely captures its humour and balance.

This film needed that one money scene to really say something new about this grand conflict within the nation, but Rushdie doesn’t quite get to that point.

Midnight’s Children is unfortunately an example of being overly faithful to a novel to the point of being inauthentic and just plain drab. While it offers a glossy history lesson for Western viewers, to the novel’s readers Rushdie and Mehta sidestep that grand sweep for a compassionate plea for family, which only moderately works.

Arts

November 26th, 2012

Art Party takes over FINA

Words by

Jeff Stychin

Photos by

Hanss Lujan & Ali Young

Contributor

Photo Editor

& Cameron Welch Editor in Chief Contributor

On Friday the 23rd, the Fine Arts building hosted its annual semesterending Art Party. The event opened with a spoken word set (featuring our own Alex Eastman and Laura Sciarpelletti) in the gallery among new paintings and sculptures by FINA students, then moved into the hallway for performances by local bands Family, JoyfulDoor, and Windmills. The event also included DJ sets by TP Mazembe and Ethan Foster, as well as interactive installations and performances, including a video wall and a visit from a well-endowed alien.

Curated by Theatre Course Union, the theme was “Light” and consisted of over 25 different performances. Ranging from sculpture, painting, photography, spoken word, theatrical performances and live music The idea of a collective working together is something fantastic and both the Visual Arts as well as Creative Writing departments worked together to put this show on. A few of my friends performed live music as well as spoke at the party, and I was very pleased with the evenings events.

Being involved in the Art Party was extremely encouraging: how often does one get to be around such like minded, creative individuals? It’s a breath of fresh air, even though the air on campus that night wasn’t so appealing (pretty sure there was a sewage leak). Giving artists room to express themselves and create is what this night is all about, and we’re hoping for more events like this in the future. If you have yet to check one of these art shows out, keep your eyes out for the fourth-year show at the end of next semester, which is like the Art Party... but bigger.

| The Phoenix

11

FE ATURES

Rumnique Nannar

features@thephoenixnews.com

Gateway to prosperity... or gateway to disaster?

Dave Nixon News Editor

Sally Casey Contributor

Forty-five thousand jobs from B.C.’s seafood and oceanbased tourism rely upon the health of the BC coast and that of the Fraser, Skeena, and Kitimat rivers. The Fraser and Skeena rivers are the two largest sources of wild salmon in BC, and all three rivers play host to massive recreational fishing each year. Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline will cross these rivers and bring in 200 tankers annually along BC’s coast. These jobs and industries may be put at risk by the project. But the pipeline would also create work for BC: 560 long-term and 3,000 short-term jobs. It is not just a question of jobs, however; there are also many habitats and species threatened.

The tankers will run through a major humpback whale habitat, causing dangerous noise and possible collisions.

According to Paul Stanway, a spokesman from Enbridge, monitors would be assembled to locate the whales, helping the tanker captains adjust their speed or direction. However, Jim Darling, an environmental researcher, argues that these monitors are not sufficient, as they could not eliminate the risk of collision.

Above water animals at risk include the Trumpeter Swans wintering on the Fraser Lake, the rare Spirit Bear in the Great Bear rainforest and the woodland Caribou. Fish species in danger include several types of salmon: Sockeye, Kokanee, Steelhead Trout, Chinook, Chum, Coho and Pink Salmon, as well as the endangered White Sturgeon. The pipeline will also run through 30 important bird habitats.

The habitats, species, and jobs at risk are a serious concern that must be considered.In the context of amendments to environmental and habitat protection by Bill C-38 and Bill C-45, less scrutiny may be put on possible consequences resulting from projects such as the Northern Gateway pipeline. The question for British Columbians is whether or not these risks are worth the economic benefits.

Pierre Trudeau enacts a moratorium on all tanker traffic in coastal waters north of Vancouver Island, later expanded to all offshore oil activity

1977-8 West Coast Oil Ports Inquiry held to examine proposal for a supertanker port in Kitimat and pipeline to Alberta; the proposal is eventually withdrawn

2004 Federal Review on Offshore Oil and Gas (Priddle Process) hear from over 3,000 people who would be affected by oil development and tankers. More than 70% of respondents call for protecting the coast from tankers offshore oil and gas.

First Nations livelihood is at stake The Northern Gateway pipeline may threaten more than just the environment. “It could threaten lives,” said Andrew Barton, a UBCO student who recently completed a socioeconomic analysis of the pipeline through means of an undergraduate research award. He is referring to the large number of First Nation men and women who still rely on subsistence hunting and foraging to survive. During his research, Andrew heard from First Nations along the proposed pipeline route (seen above), some of who rely on hunting/foraging for up to 80% of their food. Barton’s project had a central question: how does one compensate accurately for risking intangibles such as culture or livelihood?

It is impossible to reduce the risk of a spill to zero, making it only a matter of time before the risk becomes reality. Even the CEO of Enbridge, Pat Daniel, suggests that this is true: “Can we promise there will never be an accident? No. Nobody can.” History shows that Enbridge’s record on spills is about as clean as the tar sands that they extract from; the Polaris Institute estimates that Enbridge has had over 800 spills since 1999. “[If a] tanker spill were to coat the shoreline of Haida Gwaii[…]all of the razorclam collecting and general fishing[…]would drop significantly.

Those people couldn’t afford to purchase food to replace [it], so they would have to leave the island. This would pretty much destroy the Haida culture,” said Barton. He pointed out that he had heard similar points from the Haisla nation as well. The effected First Nations have no treaty with the government and legislation requires consulting with them, but not necessarily listening to them.

This difficult situation has led to great frustration among First Nations, which has come out in the Joint Review Panel (JRP) hearings. Hereditary Chief Peter Erikson declared to the panel “no pipeline, built by Enbridge or any other company, will be allowed in our territory as long as the Nak’azdli are [here].” He echoes the statement of over 100 First Nations who have signed the Save the Fraser declaration, which bans oil sands pipelines from their territories.

It is clear that the First Nations in BC feel that Enbridge cannot compensate them for their way of life. The risk that the pipeline poses to them is just too large. “Even with Exxon Valdez, there are still ongoing issues in the fisheries because of the oil that’s still there, so what kind of compensation do you give to a people…who are now forced into a different kind of lifestyle. How do you quantify that?” asks Andrew. Unfortunately, that answer has yet to be found.

Pipeline operations promise jobs but puts BC industries at risk

1972

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What is the real risk of an oil spill?

Chris Weech, a senior geotechnical engineer, wrote to the JRP with estimation that one rupture every 10 to 15 years is inevitable. BC terrain poses greater challenges than the Alberta landscape Enbridge is used to, he argues. This estimation was based on historical data and the increased risk of landslides compared to locations that Enbridge currently operates in.

Dr. Wijewickreme of the Department of Civil Engineering at UBC Vancouver disagreed with this approach. “Damage estimates could [not] be made just by looking at statistics from the past. For example, new pipelines that are designed to withstand significant ground movements should perform better than old pipelines that were built based on less stringent design criteria.”

Many opponents to the pipeline cite Enbridge’s history of spills and frequency in order to discredit the Northern Gateway project, but those spills also gives the company experience in preventing future problems. Wijewickreme explained to us the logic behind the structural design and concluded with this: “Risk of damage to pipelines could be reduced to acceptable levels by proper design. However, it is important to remember there is nothing called zero risk.”

The question then becomes whether or not the conflicting parties in the pipeline negotiations can agree upon what ‘acceptable’ levels are. The problem with that question is how can one accurately measure an acceptable level, especially with variables such as the recent Haida Gwaii coastal quake.

The Haida Gwaii quake raised questions about the effect of such a disaster on the pipeline and the tankers transporting the oil. “Earthquake-induced permanent ground movements are a major concern for the performance of buried pipelines,” said Wijewickreme. He was confident that it is possible to address these in the design, however. “If considered vulnerable, there are four options to improve the performance of a given pipeline against an identified geotechnical hazard: (a) avoid the hazard by relocation; (b) isolate the pipeline from the hazard (e.g., use tunnels, sliding supports); (c) accommodate the hazard by strengthening the pipeline or increasing flexibility; and (d) mitigate the hazard using ground improvement. Although avoiding the hazard by relocation is the most effective approach, this option is often not attractive because of prohibitive costs associated with acquisition of pipeline right-of-way for realignment.”

There are a lot of factors in the risk of a spill. The cost to meeting all demands, in structural integrity as well as emergency response, by B.C. may be prove to be prohibitive to Enbridge. Additionally, not even the top standards of engineering can assure 0% chance of an accident, and historical statistics suggest it is an inevitability that a spill or rupture will occur - it is just a matter of time.

As the furore around the pipeline grows, we look at the impact of the Enbridge pipeline on the livelihood of First Nations, the wildlife, and the environment.

Bill C-38 and C-45 Legislation in Canada has recently focused on expediting commerical energy projects such as pipelines, and weakening protections around environmental issues. They have specific implications on the Northern Gateway pipeline, including the allowance for ‘disruption’ of marine habitats, removing the protected status of waterways, and taking away the final decision making power of the Joint Review Panel.

Sections of Bill C-38, the first bill tabled to implement the federal budget­—passed June 2012­—stipulate that: 1. Final say is no longer given to the Joint Review Panel, but to Cabinet.

2. JRP or other pipeline review process no longer required to accept or consider public comments – must only consider those deemed to be “directly affected” or those who have “relevant information or expertise.”

3. A 15 month time limit on reviews is imposed.

4. The Chair of NEB may remove members from decision making of review processes if they are in danger of missing the time limit.

5. Disrupting fish habitats is no longer prohibited 6. Officially repeals the Kyoto Implementation Act. 7. Exempts the requirement of NEB in pipeline review to consider and seek to minimize impacts on the habitat of species at risk.

8. Abolishes the National Roundtable on Economy and Environment, which was a source of independent advice aimed at reconciling economic and environmental needs.

9. Doubles time between reviews by Government of national parks, historic sites, marine conservation areas, and Parks Canada overall.

Bill C-45, a subsequent bill tabled to implement the budget—subject to committee reading as of November 2012— stipulates that: 1. Companies will be allowed to apply to the fisheries minister who can either amend or cancel old permits and conditions that applied to them.

2. Includes a transitional provision for designated projects to bypass environmental assessments required by the old rules.

3. Exempts major pipeline and interprovincial power line projects from being required to show they will not damage or destroy navigable waterways in Canada.

By The Numbers 2 1 170

Number of pipelines to be constructed Kilometers in length of each line

36

Pipeline diameter in inches

11

Petroleum tanks in Kitimat

3

Condensate storage tanks in Kitimat

2

Ship berths in Kitimat

800+ 804

Number of streams pipelines will cross Enbridge spills between 1999-2010

2.5 Million+

Litres of oil and gas leaked in the above spills

4 Million

Litres of crude oil spilled by Enbridge’s Lakehead pipeline into the Kalamazoo River

40 200 3000 1.2 Billion 830 Million 1989 10-15 0 45 000 100 Million

Age of moratorium on oil tankers off the BC coast Tankers through Kitimat annually People employed during peak construction Projected tax revenue over 30 years for BC Gov Dollars invested in local goods and services throughout project Year of Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William Sound % of oil typically recovered from a spill under ideal conditions Enbridge’s liability once oil is on a tanker B.C.’s seafood industry & ocean-based tourism jobs Estimated annual worth of the Skeena wild salmon economy

2005-6

Nov 2008

June 2009

Jan 2010

March 2010

May 27, 2010

Sept 2010

Nov 2010

Dec 2010

Oct 2011

Jan 2012

Feb 2012

Dec 2013

2014

2017

Enbridge first proposes project.

Lawsuit was pending from CarrierSekani Tribal Council.

Enbridge reannounces intention to proceed with project.

Wet’suwet’en host All Nations Energy forum in Moricetown, B.C., bringing together first Nations and others from across pipeline and tanker route.

Government appoints National Energy Board (NEB) panel to conduct review of the project. Over 2,000 comments were submitted to the NEB on the terms of reference for this assessment.

Nine Coastal First Nations declare ban on oil tankers through their territorial waters.

Enbridge files formal application for Northern Gateway Pipeline to the National Energy Board.

Union of B.C. Municipalities passes resolution calling for a tanker ban on the coast and opposing Enbridge.

Skeena-Bulkley Valley NDP MP Nathan Cullen put forward motion in support of a legislated tanker ban for Canada’s Pacific North coast that is passed by a majority with the support of all opposition parties.

Save the Fraser Declaration banning oil sands pipelines in their territories signed by 61 first Nations in the Fraser Watershed and affected Nations beyond. The Yinka Dene Alliance legally serves the declaration to Enbridge’s CEO.

Deadline to register to give an oral statement at the JRP community hearings – over 4,000 people registered.

Enbridge Joint Panel Review hearings begin.

Gitga’at host Rally in Prince Rupert, attracting 2,000 people opposing oil tankers.

Municipalities, including Smithers, Terrace, Prince Rupert and the SkeenaQueen Charlotte Regional District, pass resolutions against the introduction of oil tankers.

Final report from the Joint Review Panel of the Northern Gateway Pipeline due.

Construction of pipeline to commence, pending regulatory approval

Commencement of pipeline operations

SPORTS

Jesse Shopa

sports@thephoenixnews.com

Athletes of the week ▼

S

They said it ▼ “Easily our best showing all year. That is as good of a performance as a team can put together.”

Women’s volleyball head coach Steve Manuel following the Heat’s 3-0 (25-10, 25-20, 25-9) trouncing of sixth-ranked Manitoba on Saturday November 16th.

“Tonight we played soft. We need to realize that we must outwork and out-compete our opponents to put ourselves in a position to win.”

Men’s basketball head coach Pete Guarasci following a 22-15 4th quarter in favour of UNBC that vaulted the Timberwolves over the Heat 85-70

Jon Russo (Men’s Volleyball)

Sarah Allison (Women’s Basketball)

Although the Heat have struggled so far this season, Jon Russo continues to be a standout on the Heat squad. Nov 16th and 17th saw Jon have his best offensive games of his short career so far, tallying a total of 18 kills, 2 service aces, and 7 digs.

Traditionally a setter, Russo has been asked to play outisde hitter to provide more offense for a Heat squad that remains without Nate Speijer and recently, Brett Uniat.

So far, Jon has answered the call of head coach Greg Poitras, and will look to continue his strong play heading into the second-half of the season.

Sarah had by far her best offensive weekend of the young season so far, tearing up the UNBC defense for a total of 38 points, 24 of which came November 17th to lead the Heat to a 79-71 victory.

Only in her second year, the young guard has shown she has made the full transition from high school basketball to the ultra-competitive environment of CIS basketball.

An undersized team by normal standards, the Heat will depend on the efforts of Sarah Allison heavily to stretch the floor, and she is undoubtedly ready to answer the call.

“This year the women’s team put UBC Okanagan on the map. The team has made an incredible progression.”

Co-head coach of the Heat cross-country team and CCAA nominee for Coach of the Year, Nikki Reiter

“I’m upset with how things turned out in Miami. Just like the fans in South Florida, I was lied to on multiple occasions. But I’m putting it behind me and looking forward to moving on with my career.””

Recent Blue Jays addition Mark Buerhle commenting on his past time with the Miami Marlins

By the numbers ▼ 10th—Current national ranking of the Heat women’s volleyball team. The first time the Heat have cracked the top 10 this year; resulting from a weekend sweep over the sixth-ranked Manitoba Bisons 25—Points scored by first-year guard Mitch Goodwin in the Heat’s November 17th loss to UNBC. The Kelowna native has been putting up impressive numbers so far in his first season, averaging 12.8 PPG. 16th—Place of Heat cross-country runner Michelle Blackburn at the 2012 CCAA National Championships, The West Kelowna runner finished with a time of 20:04 against 136 other women student athletes.

43– Total digs for libero Lenai Schmidt over November 16th and 17th versus Manitoba, making up 35% of the team’s dig total on the weekend. $145,000,000—Amount commited to recent Blue Jay acquisitions Josh Johnson, Jose Reyes, Mark Buerhle, Emilio Bonifacio, and Melky Cabrera.

16—Steals by Heat women’s basketball standout Angela White.

With these 16 steals, White currently sits 5th in the nation in terms of steal total.

The Heat Cross-Country team placed 16th at Nationals.

Photo by UBCO Athletics

Sports

November 26th, 2012

| The Phoenix

15

Heat starting to solve the puzzle Pieces falling together after sweep of sixth-ranked Bisons Jesse Shopa Sports Editor

After a weekend split on the road in Calgary, AB against a mediocre Mount Royal squad, many were wondering if UBC Okanagan had yet to put it all together, or if this team was playing to their full potential.

However, the Heat silenced the critics on November 16th and 17th, sweeping the sixth-ranked team in the nation at home in extremely impressive fashion.

The Heat’s first game against the University of Manitoba Bisons was nothing short of a heart-stopper. UBCO built an early two-set lead over the Bisons (25-22, 25-23) and looked fully in control, but a veteran Bison squad was not to be outdone that easily. U of M fought back to tie the game at two sets a piece (25-22, 25-23, 21-25, 1825) to force the match-deciding fifth set. Fading fast, the Heat went on a six point run behind the strength of Myrte Schön (4th year, Langley, BC) to put the fifth and determining set at 10-5 for the Heat. The Heat then held off a Bison charge to win the game (15-11) for a game win (25-22, 2523, 21-25, 18-25, 15-11).

Myrte Schön finished the game with 13 kills and nine digs, while fourth-year libero Lenai Schmidt (Vernon, BC) had a team high of 25 digs.

Fifth-year outside hitter Alexandra Basso (Kelowna, BC) contributed 11 kills and 18 digs

to the Heat’s stunning effort over Manitoba.

The Bisons had 90 digs and the Heat had 81 digs over the course of the game. There were 10 lead changes and 20 tie scores throughout the five sets, making for the most riveting game the Heat have played so far this season.

The following game was unlike the first in that the Heat absolutely dominated the Bisons in every facet of the game. Undoubtedly this was the best performance of the Heat all season, and those in the Canada West conference should take note: this Heat team is a force to be reckoned with. The Heat cruised to an easy straight-set victory 3-0 (25-10, 25-20, 25-9) to send shockwaves through the CIS. A red-hot Heat attack and serve kept Manitoba scrambling in their own back-court for the entirety of the game. The Heat hit a combined .329 while painting the court for 11 aces.

Ineffective reception by the Bisons kept Manitoba’s biggest offensive threat, outside-hitter Rachel Cockrell (3rd year, Winnipeg, MB), from getting any rhythm going. She would finish with 8 kills on 23 attempts.

Although the stat sheet may not show it, libero Lenai Schmidt (4th year, Vernon, BC) was the key for the Heat on this night.

Surrendering only one service reception error while adding

18 digs, Schmidt was a calming presence in the backcourt with solid reception.

Katy Klomps (2nd year, Surrey, BC) was also key for the Heat, as she continued to feast on CIS competition. The star middle flexed her muscle on offense rather than defense in this game, tallying 12 kills on 15 attempts for an unparalleled .733 kill percentage. Myrte Schön (4th year, Langley, BC) continued her workhorse efforts for the Heat, adding 12 kills on 33 attempts to put her weekend attempts total at 86.

“Easily our best showing all year,” exclaimed head coach Steve Manuel. “That is as good of a performance as a team can put together.”

The Heat improve to 6-2 and find themselves putting all of the pieces together in the early portion of the Canada West season.

“Things are starting to come together for us,” added Manuel.

“We have the pieces to be a very good team in the CIS. It’s just a matter of maintaining that level of play.”

The Heat will look to continue their winning ways with an even taller order on Dec 1st and 2nd, as the first-ranked team in the nation comes to Kelowna in the form of the Trinity Western Spartans. Saturday’s game is scheduled for 5 PM, while Sunday’s begins early at 2 PM.

The Heat have a lot to cheer about after a weekend sweep Photo by Dale Abbey

UBC Okanagan X-Country Competes

Finish 4th at CCAA National Championships Cary Mellon

Sports Information Director (UBCO)

The Heat Cross Country teams toed the line at the biggest CCAA (Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association) championships event in history with a field of over 290 student-athletes from nearly 40 different colleges and universities from across the country.

The race, five kilometres for the women and eight kilometres for the men, was held at Parc Michel-Chartrand in Longueuil, Que. The cloudless sunny Saturday (Nov. 10) and was a perfect setting for the championships hosted by Champlain College Saint-Lambert.

The Heat women had a tremendous performance, and were just seconds away from a national medal, finishing fourth in the

team scoring, narrowly missing the podium by the slimmest of margins – just five points. Nikki Reiter, the head coach of the UBCO women’s team was extremely happy with the squad’s performance, but had to confess that it would have been really nice to medal with such an inexperienced group.

“This year the women’s team put UBC Okanagan on the map,” the elated Reiter remarked. “Although it stings to miss a medal by so little, the women’s team has made an incredible progression on their 13th place finish in 2011.”

The first Heat women runner to cross the finish line was a 2012 rookie from West Kelowna, Michelle Blackburne, who placed

16th overall in a time of 20:04.

Other scorers for the Heat were Alea Stockton (20:36 – 34th), Trisha Metro (20:45 – 38th), and Kelsey Robson (20:56 – 45th).

The Heat men also competed amongst the best in the CCAA and finished a respectable 10th in the team scoring, a good showing in a very strong field. Mohawk College, the eighth place team, finished with an average time of 28:21, the Heat clocked in at 28:22, and the school that finished 14th was 28:32, an incredible seven schools within 11 seconds of one another.

“The guys showed spirit and heart, fighting for every position in the last few kilometers of the race,” a proud Reiter com-

mented. This opportunity allowed our team to see how close the team scoring can be and sets the stage for where we want to be next year.”

Front runner Colin Wallace led the Heat finishing 23rd overall in a time of 27:07. Chemistry majors Jeff Kerkovius (28:33 – 55th) and Roger Sherwood (28:52 – 64th) moved through the race in the second half of the field.

Rounding out the scoring was senior Garrett Anstett who ran 28:57, which was over a minute faster than his finish in the 2011 CCAA Championships.

Prior to the race, four UBC Okanagan Heat runners were recognized as CCAA All-Canadians. Michelle Blackburne (West

Kelowna, BC) and team captain Shayla Millan (Nelson, BC) received the award for being the top two PACWEST finishers at the provincial championships.

On the men’s side, Colin Wallace (Kelowna, BC) and Roger Sherwood (St. Catherines, ON) were given the honour.

In addition, women’s coach Nikki Reiter was recognized at the event, receiving the PACWEST nomination for CCAA Coach of the Year.

Student-athletes interested in joining the team for next year should contact Nikki Reiter nikki.reiter@ubc.ca or Nathan Reiter reiterne@gmail.com as soon as possible as training resumes next month.

16

The Phoenix |

Sports

November 26th, 2012

Heat trade blows with Timberwolves Second weekend split in a row for women’s basketball Jesse Shopa Sports Editor

Mitch Goodwin has impressed so far in his rookie season.

Photo by Dale Abbey

Men go cold in Prince George

Heat basketball team unable to close things out against UNBC Jesse Shopa Sports Editor

It wasn’t the weekend the Heat had hoped for when they marked it off on their calendar. A relatively even matchup between the Heat and UNBC Timberwolves had the men’s team salivating at the chance for a weekend sweep. However, UNBC proved to be a more formidable foe than expected, and UBC Okanagan was sent back to Kelowna without securing a weekend victory, falling 85-70 and 81-74.

Behind a raucous home-crowd, the Timberwolves got off to a hot start against the Heat in the first game between both squads, taking a 14-2 lead six minutes into the game.

However, a 26-17 second quarter put the Heat within striking distance at the half 39-34. The Heat kept the game tight from then on, forcing Timberwolves errors and creating unanswered scoring opportunities late into the third.

Freshman Greet Gill (Guard, Osoyoos, BC) came up with back-to-back shots to keep the Heat in contention while keeping the Timberwolves under pressure.

However, in the fourth quarter the Timberwolves started to drain shots from the outside while increasing their defensive effort. Shooting 63% from the field and 50% from behind the arc, the Timberwolves outscored the Heat 22-15 in the last 10 minutes, swinging the game in their favour 85-70.

“We didn’t play with the energy and focus necessary to win on the road,” commented Heat head coach Pete Guarasci. “Tonight we played soft. We need to realize that we must outwork and out-compete our opponents to put ourselves in a position to win.”

The Heat were led by third year guard Anwar Faza (Ottawa, ON), who scored 14. Rookies Mitch Goodwin (Guard,

Kelowna, BC) and Greet Gill added 10 and 11 respectively.

Fourth year wing Ed Dane Medi (Rome, IT) was the leading rebounder with four offensive and four defense boards.

In the next game, the Heat answered head coach Guarasci call, and brought energy and a heightened work-ethic to the court against UNBC. Leading 58-52 after three quarters, the Heat were in the drivers seat, and looked to leave Prince George with a weekend split. The Timberwolves were not about to have any of that, however, using a 2916 fourth-quarter to down the Heat 81-74. 16 points in the paint coupled with eight second-chance points in the fourth quarter broke the game wide open for UNBC as the Heat cooled offensively at a crucial time in the game.

“We didn’t guard well in the fourth quarter and had some costly mistakes down the stretch,” commented head coach Pete Guarasci. “But the guys competed hard to try and earn the split.”

Despite the loss, the Heat were rewarded with an outstanding game from rookie guard Goodwin. The Kelowna Secondary product led the Heat with 25 points on the night, and shot 4-5 from beyond the arc. In the first half Goodwin was the offense for UBCOtallying 16 of the team’s 24 points.

“Mitch played his heart out tonight,” coach Guarasci remarked on his first year guard’s play. “He was aggressive on both ends of the floor and almost willed us to a win.

We’ll keep working to build on this performance.”

The Heat will look to get back on the horse on the road next weekend, traveling to Manitoba to face the Bisons on Dec 1st and the Wesmen on Dec 2nd. Both games are scheduled for 1 PM.

It was a tale of two games between the Heat and the UNBC Timberwolves on November 16th and 17th. Always a tough trip to make to Prince George, the Heat were able to split the weekend series with the host Timberwolves, falling 72-54 on the 16th, but winning 79-71 on the 17th.

Despite the final result in the first game between both squads, the Heat were dominant in three quarters versus UNBC. However, a 28-13 fourth-quarter in favour of the home team vaulted UNBC ahead of the Heat to the 72-54 victory.

Sarah Allison (South Surrey, BC) led the Heat in scoring, finishing with 14 points, and the driving force inside continues to come from fifth-year Roslyn Huber (Kelowna, BC) who added another 10 points. Madison Kaneda (Vernon, BC) kept pressure on the Timberwolves for the entire game, causing havoc in the UNBC backcourt. Early in the fourth Kaneda tied the game at 49 after being fouled on a layup.

Still, the Timberwolves broke away in the fourth quarter after scoring three 3-pointers in a minute and a half. “[UNBC] came out strong and we went back and forth down the stretch,” commented Huber. “They hit some big threes in the fourth that we didn’t respond to.”

As has been the case for the Heat so far this season, UBC Okanagan rallied in the second game to earn a victory. Using 26 points from the charity stripe, along with 24 points from Sarah Allison, the Heat were able to escape frigid northern British Columbia with a weekend split and win 79-71.

Second year guard Emily Kanester (Vernon, BC) was a perfect 12-12 from the free throw line, while backcourt mate Allison (2nd year, Surrey, BC) knocked down seven free throws on ten attempts from the line. As a team, the Heat were able to convert on 81.3% of their free throws (26-32) with 16 of those coming in the second half.

An eight point lead to begin the fourth quarter was slowly erased when a 13-6 run by the Timberwolves through the middle of the 4th quarter tied the game with 2:17 left to play. However, a clutch three-pointer by junior guard Angela White (North Vancouver, BC) at 1:19 put the Heat ahead 74-69, and from there on Sarah Allison shut the door on the ‘Wolves comeback from the free-throw line, converting 5-6 to ice the game for the Heat.

“Such a great win,” commented assistant coach Marc Semeniuk. “Everyone contributed and it felt so good.

It was a battle right to the end; the whole team never gave up.”

Five Heat players scored 6 or more points for the team, and the two-pronged attack of Allison and Kanester proved to be the difference. Kanester finished the game with 22 points and 9 rebounds, while Allison drained 24 points on 7-13 shooting.

“We came out with a fire and an intensity that we didn’t have last night,” exclaimed an exuberant Allison.

“We responded with more focus and we were united at both ends of the court.”

The Heat were successful in containing UNBC’s offense, forcing the team to shoot a dismal 36.05% from the field, while forcing 13 turnovers to sway the decision in their favour.

The Heat will travel to the beautiful prairie provinces next weekend, taking on the Manitoba Bisons on December 1st at 1 PM, and then traveling to Winnipeg, Manitoba the following day to face off against the Wesmen at 1 PM. Both games can be viewed on www.canadawest.tv

Sports

November 26th, 2012

| The Phoenix

17

The weekend of November 9th:

Women keep it close agaist high-ranked opponents Women’s Basketball:

The Heat put in their best effort of the season on Friday, defeating the visiting Brandon Bobcats in impressive fashion 68-56.

A 27-14 first quarter in favour of the Heat gave the team some room to work with, and UBC O never let the Bobcats within single digits for the rest of the game. Sarah Allison continued her dominating play as of late, tallying 19 points. Emily Kanester had seven points, five rebounds, and four steals on the night for a very impressive line.

The Heat also chose to implement a fullcourt press throughout the entirety of the game; something we haven’t seen from the Heat often so far this season. The press was effective however, as the Heat were able to collect 31 points off Bobcat turnovers.

Saturday’s game was a taller order for the Heat, having to host the third-ranked team in the nation in the Regina Cougars. Despite the disparity, the Heat played the Cougars extremely well, and headed into the half tied at 36-36. However, halftime adjustments went the way of the Cougars, who used a 22-9 third quarter to vault themselves ahead of the Heat en route to the 76-64.

An encouraging sign for the Heat was the play of Krystal Schouten. With 13 first half points and 20 points overall, Schouten put in her best effort in her young Heat career.

Emily Kanester finished with a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds in the losing effort for the Heat.

Women’s Volleyball:

Despite the difference in national rank between the Heat (ranked 10th) and the Alberta Pandas (Ranked 3rd), Saturday’s matchup between both teams was as evenly matched as it gets in the CIS women’s volleyball. With records of 6-2, both teams were looking to continue to climb the rankings, which resulted in a five set thriller in favour of the Pandas 3-2 (25-23, 25-18, 23-25, 23-25, 15-13). After losing the first two sets, the Heat proved worthy of their national ranking, showing resiliency and poise as they fought back to tie the game at two sets apiece.

The Heat then opened up the fifth set 4-1 on two errors by Alberta and kills by Alex Basso and Emily Oxland. However, Alberta rattled off 5 straight points to sway the set in their favour 6-4. Megan Festival countered the Alberta effort with 3 straight kills to bring the Heat within one point at 9-8, but at 14-12 it looked to be Alberta’s game to lose, and it almost was, as another fifth-set kill by the younger Festivals put the game at 14-13. But a kill by Alyssa Jones put the game out of reach for the Heat, who were unable to complete the third set victory, win, and upset.

As mentioned, first-year outside hitter Megan Festival (Calgary, AB) was key for the Heat. The younger of the two Festival’s put in the best game of her young career, tallying 12 kills on 30 attempts while adding 11 digs and 2 service aces. Alex Basso (5th year, Kelowna, BC) added 13 kills of her own, while Emily Oxland (1st year, North Vancouver, BC) collected 45 assists while never leaving the floor once over the course of the five sets.

Men’s Basketball:

Jon Russo has provided a spark on offense for the men’s team

Photo by Dale Abbey

Nov 16-17 ▼

Heat swept without Speijer and Uniat

Fourth-ranked Bisons pick apart Heat Jesse Shopa Sports Editor

News on the injury front got worse for the Heat this week, as middle Brett Uniat was forced to miss games on November 16th and 17th with a thumb injury. Already missing Nate Speijer, who continues to recover from an emergency appendectomy that occurred in late October, the Heat found themselves in hot water without Uniat as the fourth-ranked Bisons came to Kelowna looking for a weekend sweep.

The first game between the two squads was all Manitoba. A two-headed attack led by Dane Pischke (5th year, Winnipeg, MB) and Evan Jackson (3rd year, Winnipeg, MB), combined with 23 total blocks by the Bisons, proved to be the Heat’s demise. Jackson would finish the game with 13 kills, while Pischke added 10 to down the Heat 3-0 (20-25, 8-25, 15-25).

“A few moments of brilliance for sure, but not enough consistency to beat a good team,” commented Heat head coach Greg Poitras.

The Heat had some long sustained rallies in the first set against the Bisons but were unable to convert those attempts into

points. UBC O outside hitter Greg Niemantsverdriet (4th year, Vernon, BC) and second year Jon Russo (Outside Hitter, Lake Country, BC) were co-leaders for the Heat offense, notching 7 kills apiece.

The following game between both squads resulted in a better showing from the Heat.

Behind the strong arm of hybrid setter/ outside hitter John Russo, the Heat played a much closer game with Manitoba, but were unable to corral the Bisons, who left Kelowna with a weekend sweep after a second game victory 3-0 (19-25, 17-25, 23-25).

As mentioned, Jon Russo was the top Heat attacker with 11 kills, earning player of the game for his efforts. Freshman outside hitter Alex Swiatlowski (Victoria, BC) was next in line with 8 kills, attaining a .583 attack percentage in the process.

“I think we put ourselves into more chances tonight to win,” commented Heat head coach Greg Poitras. “We played with some heart and made some good plays.”

It won’t get any easier for the Heat, who will face Trinity Western University, on December 1st and 2nd.

A 21-16 fourth quarter, coupled with a worse shooting percentage (32%) than their counterparts (36.7%), proved to be the difference for the Heat friday night in their game versus the Brandon Bobcats, who came into Kelowna, BC and stole the game late 64-59.

The game was a classic back and forth affair in which both squads played great defense, holding their opponent in check. Throughout the 40 minutes of play, the game was tied up nine times with six lead changes. Neither team could muster a lead greater than seven points, and only when Brandon went on a 7-2 run to in the dying minutes did the Bobcats manage to claw the win away from the Heat.

Anwar Faza finished with 13 points and six rebounds, while freshman Mitch Goodwin added another 13 points along with three steals to keep the game close for the Heat Saturday’s game turned sour early for the Heat against the Regina Cougars. What was believed to be an even matchup turned into an early looking route for the visiting Cougars. However, an emphatic slam dunk by Azi Fahandeg-Sadi at 5:36 sparked the Heat, but it was not enough, as UBC Okanagan eventually fell 74-68.

A cold-shooting first half (27.8%) put the Heat in a deep hole early, but the Heat managed to claw their way back into the game with under one minute to play in the fourth quarter. A foul of Regina player Sterling Nostedt (5th year, Brandon, MB) put Anwar Faza (3rd year, Ottawa, ON) at the line with 0:46 remaining. Converting both freethrows, he put the Heat within six. Faza then put the Heat within five points after a layup at 0:28. Forced to foul, the Heat put Frank Brown (2nd year, Warner Robins, GA) at the line, who converted both of his free throws to keep the Heat at bay the rest of the game en route to the Regina victory

Men’s Volleyball:

Still looking for their first win of the season, the Heat traveled to Edmonton, AB in search of it against the first ranked team in the nation. An upset of monumental proportions would have to wait, however, as the Heat were quickly dispatched 3-0 (2512, 25-20, 25-10).

The first and second sets were both tightly contested, but the Heat ended up on the losing end in both. The first set was close (14-10) and then a nine point run by Alberta stretched the lead to 23-10. In the second set, the Heat were unable to take advantage of Alberta errors and then made a few of their own as the Bears stole the middle set 25-20.

With six kills, fifth-year outside hitter Riley McFarland was the top attacker for UBC O, and freshman setter Kristof Schlagintweit continues to handle the Heat’s offense dishing out 19 assists this afternoon. The Heat continue to miss the offensive prowess of Nate Speijer, who is still out after undergoing an emergency appendectomy in October. Whispers now swirl around the Heat camp as to whether he may decide to red-shirt this year and return next year for his final year of eligibility.

OPINIONS

Matt Lauzon

opinions@thephoenixnews.com

O

Disconnect.ubc.ca

UBC’s WebCT Vista replacement hones the art of disconnecting students Matthew Lauzon Opinions Editor

Ever since the inception of this year’s brand new Connect website, UBC has been sending emails, posting message boards, and inviting old and new students alike to use their premium web service.

Given a fresh coat of paint, “Connect is the new enterprise level online Learning Management System on the Blackboard Learn 9 platform.” It already sounds dry, doesn’t sound inviting, and doesn’t get much better than that when in use.

The old system, WebCT Vista, was very rough around the edges, and a little convoluted at times, but it got the job done. You logged in, clicked your course, and saw everything you needed to see, and could check your grade, assignments, and other tidbits of information for each course individually all on one page. Connect, on the other hand, looks like it’s trying to emulate everyone’s favourite social media platform while delivering the best academic experience possible.

We get announcements from professors and UBC itself, we get a hip notification centre, and a plethora of tools to use. There’s also a message centre that lets students interact with each other, and share their newly learned facts and skills and become a society within the campus. Sounds good, right?

From all of my courses this semester there are two professors who use the service, and one of whom set it up over the summer and has since ceased to add any more material. My message centre has been empty since the beginning of the year, and in the global discussion board, there’s only one active thread which is merely the student orientation to connect that is sent to all users of the service.

The thread seems to include everyone, but as of November 20th, only 349 students have actually made an effort to post. As of last year, UBC Okanagan had 7900 students enrolled. A rough estimate could be made that the tools that Connect has to unite peers are used by 5% of students (a generous round-up). I can only imagine how many students use the user directory, the address book, or the blogs. Not bad for a social network doomed from the start.

In lack of a better phrase (and because I don’t want to be that generous to the service), this is where shit starts to fall apart.

Students don’t want to use Connect, and the faculty doesn’t want to use Connect; we’re left with a ghost-town of a hub that is supposed to act as an intermediary between students and professors.

Personally, I’m stuck going to professors’ individual web pages-be it Google Sites, or their own domain--and need to memorize

a whole new set of links and web addresses. On top of that, many professors are inclined to use other web services to control assignments and homework--such as Aplia, WileyPlus, Mastering Physics/Biology/Chemistry/Astronomy to name a few--in order to keep their own work organized and in one place between their many courses they teach. They all tout being the “one place to grow,” or “the learning solution,” or some other line of flawed reasoning, but in the end they’re just more websites, usernames, and passwords to remember, and only serve to separate the students and faculty even more.

UBC’s forcing of students to check Connect, Aplia, WileyPlus, the Mastering series, and certain professors’ personal web pages in order to keep track of all the work to be done is nothing short of sadism. The irony of the digital age is how convoluted everything gets, despite its purpose being that of simplicity. It’s no wonder assignments that are online are often overlooked: we have to search webpages, open up countless tabs of professor’s personal sites, sign in to our “learning solutions,” and navigate Connect’s god-awful separation of courses and material in the name of cleanliness and polish. “It’s for the good of the environment,” some would say, “this generation is online for

hours a day, so it’s natural to cater everything to them in a familiar format.” It doesn’t work that way if you don’t understand how people think.

Before the internet, people kept their work in order very simply: separated into books and binders.

Class A is in the red binder, class B is in the blue binder. Handouts go into the binder as they are given. There certainly wasn’t a giant table that every faculty member put their work on for students to access by their own volition, and there certainly weren’t professors who refused to use the table and took to sitting at home, waiting for students to come by and pick up their assignments. There was paper, or there was a syllabus, or there was a quick blurb that told you what to get done. You wrote the work down on paper, and handed it in during class or office hours.

I actually love getting assignments on paper directly from the professors. It sits in my backpack, staring at me, reminding me it needs to get done. It degrades as I insert books, fumble for pens, and crumple it into a mess that eventually needs to be looked at.

The online deliverance of assignments is clean, sure. But it’s like any other piece of information that crops up through a feed: soand-so liked your status, it’s this person’s birthday, there’s a sale on

patio furniture, your assignment is overdue and cannot be submitted post-date--wait what? Who thought it would be a good idea to let critical pieces of information slip by in the same way? The best way to get the point across is to constantly show the person what’s happening as they avoid doing what they’re supposed to, just like paper getting ruined and staring you in the eye as you ignore it’s instructions for as long as possible. How did it feel sitting down in school only to remember something was due? How did it feel to spontaneously remember to sign in to WileyPlus and see an assignment overdue? One is a legitimate disappointment and somewhat motivating for the next time. The other is exhaustive and just provokes anger.

UBC’s insistence of a unified platform is a failure and was doomed from the beginning. It won’t become “facebook-like,” where everyone is connected and we can make our own memes and joke with our professors. Rather, it disconnects us from our ties to knowledge, and makes us long for the day when we had a physical piece of paper. It is vile, counterintuitive, and schadenfreude. It’s more than enough to have to pay ridiculous student fees, and deal with the stress of creating your future--now the institution insists on hiding our work from us.

Opinions

Think Similiarly Apple’s newest products don’t follow their campaign on thinking differently Matthew Lauzon Opinions Editor

November 26th, 2012

I always laugh when I watch the Jimmy Kimmel skit where he showed off an iPhone 4S and claimed it was an early release of iPhone 5.

As he showed it to pedestrians on the street, they all agreed that it was faster, lighter, smaller, and better than all of the older ones. A few pulled out their actual 4S’s and said the “new” one was significantly better. “The colours are brighter,” one said. “It feels lighter. Sturdier.”

It goes to show that Apple has, can, and will produce extremely similar products while marketing them as revolutionary. The upgrade from iPad 2 to iPad 3 was no different than a somewhat faster chip, more powerful graphics processor, and RAM. Oh and a much better screen. While the screen is actually a great addition, the rest is used just to show that Apple set out to make huge changes. Considering that iPads aren’t used for intensive projects and are used to launch simple applications, all of the additions aside from the screen resolution are negligible.

The evolution from iPhone 3G to 3GS, and 4 to 4S did the same thing. In the case of 3GS, they included a new feature in the camera. In 4S, they included Siri. The features are locked on older iterations of the phones and only included in the new ones. It’s funny, but also scary, that the hacking community for the iOS ecosystem has been able to rip the programs from the phones, and allow older phones to run the camera features, or Siri, on the original iPhone, and iPhone 4, respectively.

Apple has a way with words. Every generation of iProducts, they’re able to create new buzzwords like “amazing,” “beautiful,” “resolutionary,” and “Retina©” to make it seem like they’re delivering a brand new product. They tout their CPUs as being 4 times faster than the previous

Disorderly Drunken Diane

Sawyer might’ve been drunk, but she garnered a crowd Matthew Lauzon Opinions Editor

So what was up with Diane Sawyer during the Presidential Election? The rumours of her being drunk on air as she covered the event are all but confirmed after watching the highlight reel of her slurred sentences, and bizarre phrases.

Whatever the case, is it totally wrong that we can laugh at her? Nah. The presidency is about the image--it’s all a big show now. We don’t vote for Obama and his team, we vote for Obama (well, we don’t, but nonetheless). Having a news anchor acting silly adds to the show--it keeps us engaged. As satisfying as it was to see Fox’s news team’s hearts ripped out of their chests as Obama was given the re-election, watching Diane Sawyer slur her words was the highlight of the night. Other people had fun with it too; during the night of the election, the opinion of the pros doesn’t matter--we just wait and see what the voters decided. It was great to see interviewees hold back chuckles and smiles as Sawyer struggled to make her point and ask a question. They had fun, we had fun, and she most certainly was having fun.

So what’s the fallout? ABC PR said she was over-tired.

Every news person is over-tired during election season, it’s just the perks of the trade. Nobody got hurt, and she didn’t necessarily provoke a political hailstorm. Sure, she might have used a little discretion when talking about Katie Couric: “And she has run so long, and so hard, and with so, much, moneyyyy.” But she also raised some deep questions about superstition: “And we also know that the governor has a lucky milkshake.” What is this lucky milkshake made of? Where can I get one? If one thing’s for sure, it’s that Diane probably had her own lucky milkshake behind the desk all evening.

It’s worth touching on HBO’s hit new show The Newsroom which follows anchor Will MacAvoy and his struggles with being a news person. The show covers recent news throughout the world, and especially made out to cover the finding and killing of Osama Bin Laden last year. In the episode, MacAvoy was drunk, ate some pot cookies, took a bunch of vicodin, and had to go on air in such a critical mo-

ment in American history. He said he was smashed, but he did the job. To avoid getting into the show it just needs to be said that regardless of the anchor, it’s the news that matters.

Diane Sawyer, while making us scratch our heads, told us what mattered: the president was re-elected.

We just get so deep into analyzing every little thing about the presidential candidates. They need to wear the right colour tie and they need to have the right amount of scuff on their shoe. By getting so engaged into every little detail, it may be hard to have much fun during election season--nobody says it better than Diane Sawyer: “We are, we are, we, we’ve--we’ve been spending a lot of time with these two candidates.”

It’s little slip-ups like these that take the edge off. During the night of the election, a Twitter account named @DRNKDianeSawyer was created, and garnered tons of views and re-tweets. People laughed and had their fun. When I heard of Diane’s sporatic performance, I tuned into ABC, as did many others. Regardless of the reasoning behind watching her on air, people tuned in to watch.

Though it was a heavy election during some economically tough times, it still doesn’t warrant everyone getting so serious and worked up over things. Diane’s performance and almost giddy laugh when she announced that Obama (she almost called him “Orama”) won Ohio touched hearts. She reminds us that in such critical times we need to take a moment and have some fun. Whether she was actually drunk on set, or just suffering from having been up for quite a few days doesn’t matter. She did the news, she engaged her audience, and she made us laugh in the end.

Allegedly tipsy Diane Sawyer

Photo byasterix661 (flickr), illustrated by Aidan Whiteley

| The Phoenix

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generation every time, they label the new chips with an ‘x’-suffix (because X is the coolest and most extreme letter), and appeal to the users who’ve been with them since the beginning, and the product is getting stale.

There’s a false sense of shock and awe held by consumers when seeing a new iProduct, because it sounds impossible to substantially improve on what many say is the best product available. When the result is only marginally better, it is viewed as a brand new experience that trumps the older iteration.

It’s not that people are stupid when it comes to technology; they just want the best thing. When Apple shows slight improvements and one or two new features, holders of the old technology feel lost in the dust. Apple’s planned obsolescence of products by way of firmware upgrades makes the customers holding the newest version feel like they’re part of an exclusive club. Since the old 3GS can’t upgrade to the newest version of iOS without losing many of its features, they aren’t getting a complete phone; they need the new one to be up to date.

I’ll give Apple credit for their iPad mini conference. Not only did they premiere a more accessible, portable product; they refreshed their iMac line, Mac mini, and delivered the highly anticipated 13-inch Macbook Pro with the high resolution “Retina” display.

Apple is good at giving the people what they want when the time comes for it. The only problem is, people don’t know what they want. Apple will continue to supply marginal upgrades for premium prices simply on the basis that people don’t expect more. They expect, and want, what Apple tells them. iPhone Photo by Kawa0310 (flickr)

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Opinions

November 26th, 2012

Your enthusiasm needs a good curbing Between television shows, movies, web comics, and any form of media, comedy is a consistent genre to appeal to the masses.

The difference between a good comedy, and a great one requires a jumping a huge margin of writing, personality, and talent.

Larry David, the co-creator of the number one television show of its time, Seinfeld, is no stranger to the genre, and is a leading example of how to create quality comedy. The multi-talented writer, actor, producer, and stand-up comedian has been in the game for decades, and is still contributing to the plethora of goods he has produced.

He’s had a bit of a rough ride, though, and his type of humour doesn’t appeal to nearly everyone. The job of being a standup comedian isn’t easy; David struggled to connect with his audiences in the 70‘s and 80’s with his high-brow humour, and delivery. In a famous incident, he called his onlookers “uneducated cunts” after nobody laughed when using the following joke: “Every morning I wake up and thank God that I wasn’t born a wealthy Spanish landowner,” Larry would say say. “Because if I was, I would never know whether to address the help using the tu form or the usted form. If I use the usted form, I don’t want them to feel like I’m being condescending, yet if I use the tu form, I don’t want them to feel so familiar that they can just come into my kitchen and help themselves to anything in my refrigerator.”

It’s a pretty lame joke--most people just can’t connect with it. But being a non-native French speaker and trying to grasp the proper context of the tu and vous form, I realize how relate-able his above statement is.

David has also told a version of the joke regarding Julius Caesar as not taking his assassination seriously because he uttered “Et tu, Brute?” even after the fact of being stabbed.

It’s interesting to note that he’s thankful for not being a wealthy landowner, just because he feels the interactions with his caretakers would be slightly awkward. This is the part of Larry David’s psyche that enables him to dream up these ridiculous scenarios that come out in his productions.

Needless to say his early stand-up was lacking, but he had something underneath that layer of cynicism and sociological interpretation: he’s an observer and a terrific improviser. If something doesn’t go his way, or just doesn’t make sense to him, he’s sure to let you know. When working as a writer for NBC’s Saturday Night Live, he actually heckled host Michael McKean in 1984 during a sketch. In a publicly famous and parodied event in Seinfeld, Larry quit his job at Saturday Night Live, screaming at his boss. A few days later, he showed up for work and pretended nothing actually happened. A story so ridiculous could only have come from one man.

Why Larry David is pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good Matthew Lauzon Opinions Editor

“The one thing about Hitler that I admire is that he wouldn’t take any shit from magicians.” - Larry David Photo by cdslug(flickr)

In his hit tv-show Curb Your Enthusiasm, David spars with big Hollywood names such as Richard Lewis, Ted Danson, Stephen Colbert, and more. The odd thing about these encounters are, though, is that they are not scripted. David will go on minute long rants about sociological encounters like “stop-andchats,” “caviar allotment,” “tipping,” the appropriate distance between people to hold open a door, and any other little thing that annoys him about what we go through everyday. And they’re genius!

David no only complains about our daily endeavors, he justifies wholeheartedly and makes the viewer feel like an idiot for falling for the follies that we experience everyday.

Outside of his television persona, David makes audiences laugh with seemingly little effort. He made a speech in tribute of Steve Martin at the Mark Twain Awards, going so far as to walk on stage and say, “I’m the last person you want here.” David’s entire speech captivated the audience as he went on about an encounter he had with Martin, which can only be summarized through his description of the man as being a “meanselfish-plagiarizing-incontinent-cowardly-drunken-egomaniac.” The audience, including Martin himself, was in stitches as he said, “maybe next time you’ll give this award to somebody who really deserves it, someone whose personal conduct is beyond reproach.”

Comedy these days mostly relies on observational humour, looking at things we see everyday in a different light. Larry David is no different, he fights daily customs and etiquette. What makes him so different, however, is his personality: he comes off as a cranky old man who sweats all the little things, refuses to be wrong, and will pester his combatants until they admit defeat. In a world where countless new comedians step up to the plate trying to become the next sensation, David has innovated the sitcom formula, and is still defining quality situational comedy.

While his HBO television show “Curb Your Enthusiasm” is taking a break this year, David won’t be absent from the screen: he’s in the process of filming his movie “Clear History,” due in 2014.

Larry David’s sense of humour doesn’t appeal to everyone, some see him as a whiny, loser, but that’s what he plays off of. He knows he’s a loser. He keeps his identity close to his heart, and understands that we all take our social interactions for granted. If you’re a fan of comedy, outrageous storytelling, and social investigation, check out Larry David in any of his performances, he’s pretty, pretty, pretty, prettay, pretty good. What starts as a 20 second clip from his TV show, turns into a 4 hour bender of hilarity, astonishment, confusion and wonder.

EVENTS & GAMES

Laura Sciarpelletti

features@thephoenixnews.com

E

Nov. 26 - DEC. 10 Joshua Smith Concert Nov 27, 8 PM Minstrel Cafe & Bar Folk alternative pop performance, with both original music and an exciting array of covers. Check it out!

Kelowna Rockets vs. Tri-City Nov 27, 7:05 PM Prospera Place Kelowna Rockets home game starting at $16 admission.

Support your local WHL team!

Cafe Sahara Smokey Student Night Nov 27, 7 PM Cafe Sahara A smokey night of half-priced Hookahs and Beau Jamz tunes.

It is sure to be an original night.

Monty Python’s Life of Brian Final Screening!

Nov 28, 4 PM UBCO: UNC Theatre And now for something completely different...UBCO Film Club presents Monty Python!

Minds and Music: early Spanish guitar music Nov 28, 4 PM UBCO Ballroom, UNC 200 Spanish guitar performance by Alan Rinehart. No charge.

Country Night Nov 28, 9 PM The Well Pints for charity! Free cover and drink specials all night all for the Kelowna Women’s Shelter.

Spoken Word Dec 1, 7:30 PM The Well Come dressed in the ugliest sweater you can find and listen to some talented young writers perform their work. Open mic!

Studio One11 Rags to Riches Nov 29, 7 PM The Rotary Center Another goodtime zine relase by Studio One11. $2 for Alternator members and $5 regular.

Movember Ender Bender Nov 30 The Well I CANNOT WAIT FOR EVERYONE TO SHAVE ALREADY!!!!!!

Half Way Celebration Dec 1, 5 PM UBCO Gymnasium Celebrate UBCO’s successes at the Heat Volleyball games. Food, drink, face painting and more!

Journey with special guests Loverboy and Night Ranger Dec 1, 7 PM Prospera Place DON’T STOP...BELIIEEVING! Hold on to that old rock n’ roll.

Poor Young Things Concert Dec 1 Doc Willoughby’s The five piece rock ‘n’ roll band from Thunder Bay, Ontario comes to Kelowna.

Dan Tait Concert Dec 1, 8 PM Pheasant & Quail Pub A musician from a small town in Ontario, Tait’s songwriting and singing skills are already drawing signifigant attention.

Miracle on 34th Street, the musical Dec 5, 8 PM Kelowna Actors Studio Some classic Christmas family fun kicks off December 5th!

Kytami: Beats, Strings & Life Tour Dec 7 Doc Willoughby’s Dynamic and skilled violinistextremist fiddle player fusing classical with contemporary.

The 15th Annual Okanagan Short Laura Sciarpelletti Story Contest Events Editor Each year the UBCO Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies gives local writers the chance to submit their work. The 15th Annual Okanagan Short Story Contest is now officially open and will award the best new adult fiction short stories by writers who reside within the Southern Interior of British Columbia. This is a great opportunity for anyone who would like to have their work critiqued by fellow writers as well an opportunity to win cash prizes.

Three cash prizes will be given: $500 for first prize, $200 for second, and $100 for third. These three winning stories will be honored at a reading, and the winners will ultimately be chosen by nationally renowned author, Erin Mouré. The three stories will be published in a limited-edition chapbook, making the contest a valuable tool for emerging writers.

I’ve found the contest to be a fantastic motivator and inspiration in the past, and this year I get to be one of the judges, so I look forward to reading your submissions. Last year the contest featured winning stories about a variety of topics including family drama and the life of a bee. The contest was quite successful last year, and the winners read their work at a FCCS Visiting Author Series event at the downtown public library. The venue for 2013 will be determined closer to the date, but will most likely take place in the downtown sector of Kelowna.

Kelowna Capital News is the contest’s media sponsor this year; other sponsors include the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, Okanagan College, and the Central Okanagan Foundation.

All short story submissions must be works of adult fiction and should be between 1000 and 4000 words in length, typed and doublespaced. A $15 entry fee is required with each submission, and late submissions will not be accepted. All manuscripts must be post-marked for January 4, 2013, and submitted in paper format by mail. Electronic submissions will not be accepted, so grab some of those old-fashioned things called stamps and head on over to the post office!

For contest rules and general submission inquiries, please visit the official website www.okstorycontest.org. For more, like the contest’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/OkanaganShortStoryContest.

POLL

Does the removal of slates from UBCO student politics make you more or less inclined to run for council or senate in the spring elections?

Send your political ambitions to: managingeditor@thephoenixnews.com

ubcsuo pages

COUNTRY NIGHT! PINTS FOR CHARITY! FREE COVER & DRINK SPECIALS PROCEEDS AND DONATIONS WILL GO TO THE KELOWNA WOMEN’S SHELTER

WEDNESDAY NOV. 28 th A T T HE W ELL

Doors Open at 9:00 pm

UNC Theater opening on November 30!

Come check out some great movies before you hide away for exam cramming First Show: 5:30 pm - Anchorman, in honour of Movember Second Show: 7:00 pm - The Dark Knight Rises $5 cover for the movie at the door Please see combo specials at cineplex

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The Phoenix |

November 12th, 2012

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