Liberating our food from the grocery store since 1918
UBC presents options for the new bus loop. Find out what they are on page 3. The madwoman of chaillot comes to the UBC stage. page 8
the ubyssey
SEPTEMBER 30, 2010 • volume 92, number ix • room 24, student union building • published monday and thursday • feedback@ubyssey.ca
hot and buttered
The Vancouver International Film Festival is here. our look into the VIFF’s highlights and the film industry in vancouver. pages 4-7
2 / u b y s s e y. c a / e v e n t s / 2 0 1 0 . 0 9 . 3 0 september 30, 2010 volume xcii, no ix editorial
events
coordinating editor
Justin McElroy : coordinating@ubyssey.ca
news editor
Arshy Mann : news@ubyssey.ca
associate news editor
thursday, sept. 30
friday, oct. 1
Sally Crampton : associate.news@ubyssey.ca
culture editors
Jonny Wakefield & Bryce Warnes : culture@ubyssey.ca
associate culture editor
Anna Zoria : associate.culture@ubyssey.ca
sports editor
Ian Turner : sports@ubyssey.ca
features editor
Trevor Record : features@ubyssey.ca
photo editor
Geoff Lister : photos@ubyssey.ca
production manager
Virginie Ménard : production@ubyssey.ca
copy editor
the madwoman of chaillot Theatre at UBC presents the first of its mainstage 2010 –11 season, The Madwoman of Chaillot. Sweet madness ensues when an eccentric circle of Parisians plot to foil corporate plans that will transform “The City of Light” into a rubble-strewn oilfield. At once whimsical, poetic and comedic, this production is a must-see. • Sept 29 – Oct 9, 7:30pm, at the Frederic Wood Theatre.
Kai Green : copy@ubyssey.ca
multimedia editor
Tara Martellaro : multimedia@ubyssey.ca
associate multimedia editor Stephanie Warren : associate.multimedia@ubyssey.ca
video editor
Matt Wetzler : video@ubyssey.ca
webmaster
Jeff Blake : webmaster@ubyssey.ca Room 24, Student Union Building 6138 Student Union Boulevard Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1 tel: 604.822.2301 web: www.ubyssey.ca e-mail: feedback@ubyssey.ca
business Room 23, Student Union Building advertising: 604.822.1654 business office: 604.822.6681 fax: 604.822.1658 e-mail: advertising@ubyssey.ca
business manager
Fernie Pereira : business@ubyssey.ca
film society screening: micmacs Micmacs is a new film from Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the director of Amélie. The film tells the story of Bazil, an ingenious salvage artist who ekes out a marginal existence in a scrap dump together with a good-humoured and resourceful group of misfits. • 7pm, Norm Theatre, $5 for nonmembers / $2.50 for members.
classified ADULT BALLET with HELEN EVANS, highly experienced teacher—mat fitness workout and ballet barre. At 7th Ave. Dance Studio, 1555 W. 7th Ave., and Kits and Dunbar Community Centres. Consult Craigslist & Kijiji for schedules. Call 604 732 5429 or evansgerry@ yahoo.ca.
MIX AND SCRATCH: THE TURNTABLE beCOMES A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT This talk focuses on the transformation of the turntable from a playback device to a musical instrument during the early years of hip-hop. It will offer a framework for understanding the musical and social bases for the turntable and demonstrate how hip-hop went from being a performance practice to a musical genre in its own right. • 5 – 6:30pm, Green College 6201 Cecil Green Park Road. postsecret live Frank Warren started PostSecret by asking strangers to anonymously mail him secrets on postcards. Half a million postcards later, PostSecret has become a worldwide phenomenon. Presenting to packed houses around the country, Warren brings communication, compassion and community to life. • 8–10pm, Chan Centre, tickets on sale via ticketmaster. ca. AMS FARMERS’ MARKET Come support your local vendors at the AMS Farmers’ Market. Products such as honey, handmade soaps, 100 per cent natural mineral makeup and organic vegetables will be on sale. • 10:30am5:30pm, south side of the SUB.
print ad sales
Kathy Yan Li : advertising@ubyssey.ca
web ad sales
Paul Bucci : webads@ubyssey.ca
accounts Alex Hoopes
contributors Mandy Ng Kasha Chang Karina Palmitesta Austin Holm Kait Bolongaro Michael Haack Rhys Edwards Greg Ursic Inés de Sequera Kellie Hogan Andrew MacIsaac Ginette Monaco Olivia Fellows Ashley Whillans Ginny Monaco Fabrizio Stendardo Anne Tastad
legal The Ubyssey is the official student newspaper of the University of British Columbia. It is published every Monday and Thursday by The Ubyssey Publications Society. We are an autonomous, democratically run student organization, and all students are encouraged to participate. Editorials are chosen and written by the Ubyssey staff. They are the expressed opinion of the staff, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Ubyssey Publications Society or the University of British Columbia. All editorial content appearing in The Ubyssey is the property of The Ubyssey Publications Society. Stories, opinions, photographs and artwork contained herein cannot be reproduced without the expressed, written permission of The Ubyssey Publications Society. The Ubyssey is a founding member of Canadian University Press (CUP) and adheres to CUP’s guiding principles. Letters to the editor must be under 300 words. Please include your phone number, student number and signature (not for publication) as well as your year and faculty with all submissions. ID will be checked when submissions are dropped off at the editorial office of The Ubyssey; otherwise verification will be done by phone. “Perspectives” are opinion pieces over 300 words but under 750 words and are run according to space. “Freestyles” are opinion pieces written by Ubyssey staff members. Priority will be given to letters and perspectives over freestyles unless the latter is time sensitive. Opinion pieces will not be run until the identity of the writer has been verified. The Ubyssey reserves the right to edit submissions for length and clarity. All letters must be received by 12 noon the day before intended publication. Letters received after this point will be published in the following issue unless there is an urgent time restriction or other matter deemed relevant by the Ubyssey staff. It is agreed by all persons placing display or classified advertising that if the Ubyssey Publications Society fails to publish an advertisement or if an error in the ad occurs the liability of the UPS will not be greater than the price paid for the ad. The UPS shall not be responsible for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value or the impact of the ad.
Canada Post Sales Agreement Number 0040878022
printed on 100% recycled paper
We don’t have as much room as we used to, but send us your events anyway! events@ubyssey.ca
U theubyssey.ca
2 010 . 0 9. 3 0 / u b y s s e y. c a / n e w s \ / 3
News
editor ARSHY MANN » news@ubyssey.ca associate SALLY CRAMPTON » associate.news@ubyssey.ca
Bus loop consultations underway Campus community presented with three options Arshy Mann news@ubyssey.ca UBC is presenting students with options for a new bus loop—and none of them are underground. UBC Campus and Community Planning (CCP) has been holding consultations over the past two weeks in order to collect input from the UBC community regarding future transit options for campus. This is a continuation of a process that began in March with the Ideas Fair. “I’m impressed by the participation we’ve had,” said Joe Stott, the director of CCP. “It’s right up there with other successful consultations we’ve had on campus. I think it helped that we started back in March with the Ideas Fair—it was a chance to go back to the drawing board and start from square one.” AMS President Bijan Ahmadian was similarly pleased with how consultations have been proceeding. “Students have an opportunity to give input, which is great,” he said. “We had Campus and Community planning in the SUB, and they were in a very prominent location with lots of traffic. I know that lots of people have been directed to fill out the forms online so they can vote on it and I’ve seen lots of posts on Facebook so I know it’s going around.” While CCP is presenting three different bus loop options, Stott made it clear that these were not final options, but instead a way
But will the lines get shorter? geoff lister photo/The Ubyssey
in which to gain input from the campus community. “We could have presented variations on all three of the options,” he said. “We’re trying to look at options that had incorporated as much of the practical input we received from the first round of consultations. It’s not a vote and the final option may borrow from all three.” He said that there are potential benefits and hindrances to all three options. “Option one is a way to make permanent what’s essentially
the status quo. We install trolley buses on University Boulevard and we free up Gage South [where the current bus loop is] by moving the buses a little closer to War Memorial Gym. “Option two is a request to get better coverage of the campus by having the regional bus routes serve the western side of the campus, and that we have a two-node approach. “The final one was to think more fundamentally about a transit terminal and see if we couldn’t do it in a more urban approach,
the same way you would in Downtown Vancouver for example. “We’d use the streets as the terminal, so essentially we’re taking the trolley buses and installing them on University Boulevard, and we’re taking the diesel buses and replicat[ing] the facilities that they have now, but stretch it down Wesbrook Mall.” Ahmadian said that although the AMS does not have an official preference for any of the bus loop designs, they have made it clear that any design should focus around the new Student Union Building. “We have spent a lot of time and energy [planning] a world class Student Union Building,” he said. “We want this building to be the crown jewel of campus and to be the point of arrival for students and for everybody when they get off the bus.” Stott said that the SUB renew project, alongside with the building of a new alumni centre in the same area, will all have to be taken into account after the designs for the bus loop are finalized. “One of the problems with the transit terminal is there are a number of other initiatives at play right now, including the Student Union Building and the Alumni Centre, and we have to bear in mind that what we see on the ground is going to change,” said Stott. “We need to make sure when we provide better facilities for the transit riders to and from UBC that it’s integrated into a whole, rather than sort of a disjointed approach.” U
UBC students take home an Emmy Justin Mcelroy coordinating@ubyssey.ca UBC journalism students and faculty have won an Emmy Award for a documentary that investigated the effects of electronic waste shipped to other countries. “Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground,” is a PBS documentary produced by UBC Journalism students and faculty, and was the winner of the Outstanding Investigative Journalism in a News Magazine award at the 2010 News and Documentary Emmy Awards in New York. The program, shown on Frontline/World, defeated documentaries that aired on 60 Minutes, Nightline, and 48 Hours Mystery. The award marks the first time students at a Canadian journalism school have won an Emmy. “It’s awesome,” said Dan Haves, one of ten UBC Journalism students who, due to being a co-producer on the documentary, is now an Emmy winner. “We found out an hour ago, we didn’t expect to win, we’re super thrilled that we did.”
Haves, who was Multimedia Editor of The Ubyssey in 2008, was in the school’s International Reporting class, which is taught by Peter Klein, a former producer at 60 Minutes. Each school year, students produce a longform documentary, which is funded through a $1 million gift from the Mindset Social Innovation Foundation. The foundation funded “Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground,” for which students travelled to China, India and Ghana in 2008. Mary Lynn Young, Director of the UBC Graduate School of Journalism, said in a press release, “Winning these awards early in their careers will give these students a tremendous leg up, and reflects the quality of journalism students and faculty at UBC.” Haves seconded the notion. “For all of us, we graduated in one of the tougher times in the industry…something like this award may validate choosing to get involved in the first place.” But hours after winning the award, Haves is content to ask simpler questions.
But will the lines get shorter? geoff lister photo/The Ubyssey
“One: Do we get a trophy?” he said. “And two, where will I put it?” U The full list of students includes Shira Bick, Ian Bickis,
Krysia Collyer, Allison Cross, Heba Elasaad, Dan Haves, Doerthe Keilholz, Jodie Martinson, Dan McKinney, Blake Sifton and Leslie Young.
Levy decries Israeli occupation Fabrizio Stendardo Contributor “We must believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel, even though it might be the light from the train in front of us.” So said controversial Israeli journalist Gideon Levy to about three hundred people on Sunday night at UBC’s Wesbrook building. Levy, an award winning journalist for Haaretz, Israel’s largest newspaper, and the son of Holocaust survivors, was in Vancouver on the last leg of his Canadian tour to promote his new book The Punishment of Gaza. The book is a collection of his articles from 2006 up until last year about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Levy, who referred to himself as “an Israeli patriot,” spoke for nearly an hour about what he believes are the injustices taking place in the West Bank and in Gaza. “I realize there is almost no one who wants to hear this story,” he said. Levy was jovial throughout his talk, at one point recalling a girl who had approached him and said, “You look so much older in life than in the poster.” Yet his speech had a dark undertone. There were moments of shock from the audience, such as when Levy said about Israel that he “cannot recall one occupation that the occupier feels so good about themselves.” He also claimed Israel is brainwashing its citizens through its education system. Levy said that “the responsibility [for peace] is on the occupier, not the occupied. When a thief steals your car, the thief is not in a position to put conditions on returning your car.” At the end of his speech, most of the audience rose to its feet to applaud Levy. The event was organized by Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR), an AMS club, in collaboration with Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME). Omar Shaban, president of SPHR, said he was happy with the turnout, considering that the event took place on a Sunday night. Shaban claimed that people came from as far out as Surrey, Coquitlam and Burnaby to attend. Reaction to Levy’s presentation was mixed, however. “I found it to be pretty inspiring that there’s somebody in Israel taking these measures,” said Daniella Shovitz, a UBC student. However, Pat Johnson, director of programming for Vancouver Hillel Foundation, thought Levy placed too much blame on Israel. “Mr Levy’s perspective lacks context of the historical situation that has led to the ongoing conflict,” he said. “It is not fair to place all of the blame on one party.” Hardeel Khadper, a Palestinian Muslim, said he appreciated Levy’s perspective on the issues. “He wasn’t trying to find a solution...just [saying] that a solution needed to be found and he presented it from the perspective of an Israeli citizen,” Khadper said. U
4 / u b y s s e y . c a / fi l m / 2 0 1 0 . 0 9 . 3 0
Film
features editor TREVOR RECORD » features@ubyssey.ca guest editor GREG URSIC » gursic@ubyssey.ca
Lights, camera, action Greg Ursic gursic@ ubyssey.ca Judg i n g by t he plet ho ra of film festivals in Vancouver, including DOXA, the Queer Film Festival, Whistler Mountain Film Festival and, of course, the granddaddy of them all, VIFF (not to mention a half dozen smaller festivals) it’s obvious that Vancouverites love their films. And owing to
our proximity to Hollywood and the number of films that are shot here (as noted by the ubiquitous fluorescent arrows posted around the city), it goes beyond mere interest. Aside from a mini rush in the film industry in the 1930s, it was the creation of tax incentives in the 1970s that led to a boom in film productions in Vancouver and our title as Hollywood North. But what was once just cheap film production naturally led to a growth in film-related industries such as stunt
Greg’s VIFF Tips schools, increased enrollment in film programs and a thriving special effects industry. Not surprisingly, with a wealth of local talent, professional crews, excellent locations and burgeoning service, industry productions keep coming back, despite the rising Canadian dollar. This supplement provides a behind-the-scenes look at the people that make the magic happen and are keeping film in Vancouver alive, from an interview with a stuntman, to an interview with a UBC alumna
whose documentary made a huge splash in 2009. We’ll also be looking at the growth and accessibility of local filmmaking made possible by the ubiquity of digital film cameras (heck, most people have them on their phones these days), as well as a look at VIFF’s evolution from a one-venue festival into the fifth biggest festival in North America and the man behind it. So if you want to find out more about the film industry or just need a break from calculus, keep reading. U
VIFF: behind the curtain Greg Ursic gursic@ubyssey.ca With the dog days of summer but a fleeting memory, most Vancouverites are grumbling about the approaching dark and damp. But for moviegoers, the turning of the leaves means the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is on its way. Now in its 29th year, VIFF, which runs from September 30–October 15, will host over 600 screenings of 359 films from around the world on every imaginable topic (well, a lot, anyway.) And it’s the result of one man’s quest for “quality” cinema. Leonard Schein, currently the operator of Vancouver’s Festival Cinemas (The Ridge, The Park and Fifth Avenue Cinemas) and the Board Chair of the Canadian Cancer Society, has been active in both the art and business communities and as a philanthropist for decades. Yet no matter how busy he gets, he’s always found time for films. “I grew up in Hollywood,” he explains, “and saw great movies on campus all the time when I went to Stanford.” While working on his Masters degree at the University of Saskatchewan in the early 70s, Schein’s interest turned to involvement. “I started a film club there and...showed movies by Fellini, Kurosawa and old Hollywood movies like Casablanca.” When he moved to Vancouver, where as a registered psychologist he took on clients and taught psychology at three colleges, something was missing. “There were very few movie theatres that showed what I considered quality films,” he laments, “and I missed all the good films I used to see.” Most would simply grouse about it, or, if particularly motivated, dash off a letter to one of the local theatres. Not Schein. “I thought one way to see good films was to open up my own movie theatre,” he says. So in 1978, at the ripe old age of 30, he assumed the lease for The Ridge. Knowing nothing about running a theatre didn’t dissuade Schein, as “...part of the deal was that they trained me how to be a projectionist.” Schein added several more theatres, then took the next step.
Plan Ahead Picking your class schedule is child’s play compared to the labyrinthine machinations required to ensure that you see as many films as humanly possible in the 16 days allotted. If you just show up for a random screening, you might find yourself in the Kazakh remake of Gigli, and no one deserves that. A good starting point is the film synopses online at www.viff.org which are broken down by genres and series and are searchable. You can also avail yourself of the extensive coverage in The Ubyssey or pick up one of the local papers. Once you’ve picked some potentials, check out when they`re screening and where and make a list. Getting there All the venues are easy to get to on transit: just grab a #17 or #4 downtown and get off at the nearest cross street. For the Park, you can either go downtown and catch the Canada Line to King Edward and walk several blocks, or grab a 99 B-line and get off on Cambie and grab the Canada Line. You could also wait for the Cambie bus at Cambie and Broadway: it will drop you off closer to the theater, but it runs infrequently. Don’t dress to impress If you’re viewing three or more screenings a day—Xtreme Movie Viewing, as we veterans like to call it—pretend you’re planning for an 8 hour flight. Lululemon sweats or relax fit jeans are a good choice; you`re going to be in the dark anyway, right? You’ll also want to layer, because while it may have been sunny when you left the house, you might be greeted by a torrential downpour on the way home. A small umbrella is also a good idea.
One of the screens at the Vancouver International Film Centre. courtesy of VIFF
“I had been to the Seattle and Toronto film festivals and thought Vancouver was ready to have one too.” He approached Telefilm about funding and they informed him that “...there were enough festivals in Canada and if people in Vancouver wanted to go to a festival they could go to the one in Toronto.” He chuckles, “Apparently they didn’t have an idea how far Toronto was from Vancouver.” So once again, Schein took matters into his own hands. He contacted his friends at SIFF and arranged to bring up prints from Seattle, “so originally our film festival followed theirs [in May].” Despite a complete lack of sponsors, Schein took the leap, holding the first VIFF in 1982. “We had 39 films at the first festival at The Ridge and attendance was really good,” he notes happily. “The Ridge basically subsidized [VIFF] for the first several years, but from the first one on we were able to pay all the bills.” From the start, the festival was so successful that “it was never a financial difficulty.” Schein shepherded the festival for the next three years, expanding it to multiple screens, including premieres for Canadian films and inviting guests
like Paul Verhoeven and Sidney Poitier. Although Schein went on to work at TIFF and the Montreal World Film Festival, he clearly influenced those around him, including VIFF’s current director, Alan Farney. “Alan worked at The Ridge theatre right out of high school, doing concession, box office and worked his way up. I was on the board that hired him in 1988.” For h is work in cinema, Schein received the Canadian Picture Pioneers lifetime service award this year. “It was a surprise to me because I didn’t think of myself as being that old,” he laughs, adding, “but now that I’ve been around for 32 years with the industry and have been involved with the industry as a distributor, an exhibitor and film festivals, it’s a nice award to get.” Schein’s pet project has grown into one of the top film festivals in North America. Since its inception, VIFF has screened 11,000 films for 3,000,000 festivalgoers and is renowned for its programming and forums. Schein, too, is proud of what he hopes will be his legacy: “that I helped bring quality films and speciality films to Vancouver both with the VIFF and the theatres I’ve operated over the years.” U
More about VIFF It’s one of the top five film festivals in North America, with annual attendance of 150,000. VIFF shows more Canadian films than any other film festival. The Dragons and Tigers Series is the largest exposition of East Asian films outside Asia. The Non-Fiction Series, Hot Docs, is the largest of any nondocumentary-specific festival. The Vancouver Film & TV Forum, which allows attendees ton meet and brainstorm with industry professionals, is one of the largest in North America. Where to go VIFF will be screening on ten screens at the following locations: Empire Granville 7 Pacific Cinematheque Park Theatre Vancity Theatre The Vancouver International Film Centre Tickets are $12, $10 for matinees and a student 5-pack is $50. For details on tickets and films check-out www.viff.org or dial 604-683-FILM (3456).
Pack some snacks If you’re settling in for a marathon session, food becomes a concern. There’s always the concession stand, or if downtown, the many local eateries within walking distance. Theatres are also a tad more relaxed about outside food during the festival; you might want to consider bringing some snacks. Use small, easy to open reusable containers carried in a backpack. Avoid using plastic wrap or anything crinkly that sounds like chipmunks on speed: these could incite violence. And subtlety is the key here, people: do not stand by the entrance to the theatre chomping on your peanut butter and sardine sandwich, or ask the concession stand if they can heat up your burrito—they will not be amused, and may well ask you leave. turn off your phone Finally, cell phones are considered the Devil’s devices by festivalgoers and they are far less tolerant than regular moviegoers. If your cell rings, expect to be yelled at by several people until you turn it off. And don’t even think about texting. Unless you are a doctor on call or enjoy being the object of scorn, turn it off before you go in. U
2 0 1 0 . 0 9 . 3 0 / u b y s s e y . c a / fi l m / 5
A labour of love: Nimisha Mukerji talks docs Kellie Hogan Contributor Only four years after graduating from UBC’s Film Production Program, Nimisha Mukerji has made a name for herself as one of Canada’s emerging young film talents. “[UBC] was a really nurturing environment to work in; the program has a strong community feel,” said Mukerji. She credits her graduating project—a narrative short entitled Scattering Eden—with instilling the confidence she needed to succeed in the film industry. Nimisha said it was “really helpful to have the experience of getting all the way through a project, in every aspect, from production to shooting. “It was nice just to have a short film like that completed in your arsenal, especially to have that confidence when you are out there on your own in the industry, with people looking at you, questioning your abilities.” At last year’s Vancouver International Film Festival, Nimisha showed her film 65_RedRoses, which she produced and codirected with fellow UBC alumnus Philip Lyall. The documentary follows Eva Markvoort, a young woman with cystic fibrosis, as she waits for a doublelung transplant and blogs about her experience under the screenname “65_RedRoses.” Following Eva’s death earlier this year, Nimisha repurposed the official website for 65_RedRoses to encourage organ donation and began self-distributing the DVD
because you’re dealing with real people; these are their real lives.” Nimisha said that her job is to ask responsible questions, but she feels that the most important thing is being able to listen.
“You have a responsibility as a documentarian to emotional truthfulness and integrity, because you’re dealing with real people.” Nimisha Mukerji Documentarian
Eva Markvoort, the subject of Nimisha Mukerji & Philip Lyall’s 65_RedRoses. courtesy of Nimisha Mukerji
online, with a portion of the proceeds contributed to the movement Eva Markvoort created for organ donation. This year, Nimisha will be pitching her new project, a cinéma vérité documentary entitled Blood Relatives, shot on location in Mumbai, India, along with other local filmmakers. The broadcasters they will be pitching to include Knowledge Network, PBS and the BBC, among others, at Storyville, a new initiative at the VIFF Film and Television Forum.
While working on Blood Relatives in Mumbai, Nimisha stumbled upon her first hurdle as a woman in the film industry when she encountered resistance from an all-male Indian film crew. Nimisha, determined not to give up, learned how to use any perceived weaknesses to her advantage. Nimisha spoke about the fast learning curve she went through with criticism in general, being in such a public industry. She was surprised to have her postgrad film 65_RedRoses win so
many audience awards at film festivals across Canada and the United States. In particular, she counts her win at Banff, where they beat out all the other genres at the festival, as a huge accomplishment. “To cross the boundaries of narrative and documentary film is very difficult,” she said of the win. “You hope and you pray for the public to love what you make, but you certainly never expect it. “You have a responsibility as a documentarian to emotional truthfulness and integrity,
“Tell the story in the best way you can, so that [the audience] emotionally invests in what they are watching,” she said. Nimisha especially enjoys the opportunity to meet new people and get into the nitty gritty details of their lives. She noted the importance of letting your subjects open up without feeling judged or interrupted when documenting their lives. “It’s so rewarding to translate the bond you form with each person onto the screen so that the audience can feel that same bond,” said Mukerji. “I love that mutual investment that exists solely in documentary filmmaking.” U
6 / u b y s s e y . c a / fi l m / 2 0 1 0 . 0 9 . 3 0
Digital film: from cameras to cell phones Anyone can make a film, but will you be heard above the noise? Jonny Wakefield culture@ubyssey.ca “To talk about having a digital camera is like saying ‘I’ve got an electric telephone.’” So says Chris Gallagher, an associate professor with the UBC Film School. For Gallagher, the shift from analog to digital that occurred more than a decade ago is very much old news. The UBC Film School has been teaching digital technologies for years, and the heavy cameras and film reels of old have not been kept around for anything more than nostalgia. “Every once in a while we reminisce on how things used to be done,” says Gallagher. “It just seems so incredibly awkward and quaint.” While the technology itself is certainly old news, the implications of cheap digital equipment
are still something the industry and filmmakers are pondering. Anyone with a shoestring budget and a little bit of drive can make a film for the big screen. For a medium that for so long relied on scarcity, it’s a major shift that has yet to arrive at a status quo. “Images come cheap these days,” says Alan Franey, director of the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF). “You can shoot an image that will look fantastic on the big screen on a camera that costs less than a thousand dollars.” Or even cheaper. “We’ve shown films [at VIFF] shot on cell phones,” he adds. Franey admits that these cell phone programs, which are in vogue at many film festivals around the world, rely a bit too heavily on what he calls a “geewhiz factor.” But while some
of these DIY films are novelty acts, Franey argues many amateur works are surprisingly good. “[Low budget film submissions to VIFF] are not all garbage just because [they] didn’t cost a lot,” he says. “I would have thought the more people making films, the lower the average would be. But, in fact, I think there’s just a lot more interesting films being made.” Gallagher says cheaper technology has led to an explosion in niche films. “Film doesn’t have to be a ll t hings to a ll people,” he says. Franey says he saw a similar trend when 35mm film became affordable. VIFF gets more and more submissions every year. “Between the two dozen of us seeing films for the festival, we see several thousand [before we] select the final list.”
That’s not so bad for someone who’s paid to watch films, but Franey worries about the effect of this trend on the general public. “The problem is that a lot of those interesting films will never find an audience. It’s scary when you can make a really fabulous film and no one sees it.” Gallagher adds that this fragmentation is in many ways a positive trend from a filmmaking stand point. “The interest groups are much smaller and more fragmented and it’s possible now to make a film about a very specific topic...and somehow get it to people who share those interests,” he says. This trend has given rise to many niche or culturally specific film festivals, like Vancouver’s DOXA Documentary Film Festival, the Queer Film Festival and the Asian Film Festival.
“[The film festival business] has become quite a money machine in some ways,” says Gallagher, due to the sheer volume of films out there looking for an audience. “You could start your own little film festival and charge a hefty entry fee and you’d still get thousands of entries, because people want their films to be seen.” Web services like withoutabox.com, an application submission service for film festivals, have been very successful in linking film makers to the thousands of festivals out there. Gallagher and Franey contend that while the volume, genre and accessibility of films have changed tremendously in the past ten years, good filmmaking still relies on a few fundamentals. “You’re not going to make a work of art unless you know what you’re doing,” says Franey. U
Film Festivals for students and amateurs Andrew MacIsaac Contributor There has been a complete revolution in the both the number of festivals and the diversity of genres being produced as vast advances in film technology have brought in a much greater talent base. “Before, when you were shooting on film, it was more like a ratio of $1000 a minute,” said UBC Film Production student Tyler Funk. “Now, digital SLR [cameras] have changed a lot of things... we shot an indie feature this spring, and on that we spent $5000 – 6000.” When a full-length, professional-quality movie that once would have cost tens of thousands of dollars can now be made for a price comparable to one year’s UBC tuition, it’s easy to see why more people are able to get into film. With a borrowed camera and some editing software, anyone can produce a short film for next to nothing. With the increased number of participants comes the creation of many new film festivals, each catering to a different area of the rapid ly expanding film scene. Below are a few of the Vancouver-area favourites: Crazy Eights www.crazy8s.cc After submitting a five-minute video pitch of a short film idea, successful teams compete to convince a panel of industry professionals to produce their short. In the process, the 12 finalists get to work with a CBC story editor to further develop their project, and the top six are awarded a production package containing everything they need to make their film and a première screening in front of Vancouver film industry professionals. The Vancouver Short Film Festival www.vsff.com With the goal of showcasing both student and professional
Digital camera technology has made it possible for some to make films on their cell phones. geoff lister photo/the ubyssey
talent in the same festival, VSFF hopes to “build ties between emerging and established filmmakers, allowing BC’s film industry to grow and flourish.” The festival accepts submissions up to 15 minutes long, and presents awards in both student and professional categories. The Celluloid Social Club www.celluloidsocialclub.com Based out of the ANZA Club, the CSC is a Vancouver organization whose goal is to help filmmakers screen their completed works to an audience and get feedback in a social setting. Through this mandate the organization acts as host to a number of niche festivals: Vancouver Film Race, Bloodshots and Hot Shot Shorts.
The Vancouver Film Race www.filmracing.com
must be used to create a two-toseven minute horror film.
The local branch of a international competition started in New York City. Film Racing is a frantic, caffeine-driven sport wherein competitors are given 24 hours to create a four minute film on based a set of criteria, including a theme and a surprise element revealed at the start of the race.
Hot Shot Shorts www.celluloidsocialclub.com/ contests-hotshotshorts.htm
Bloodshots www.myspace.com/ bloodshotscanada Similar to the Vancouver Film Race in that there is a time crunch, but differing in that the race time is 48 hours, and each team is given a horror subgenre, prop, and line of dialogue that
A contest run directly by the Celluloid Social Club, Hot Shot Shorts provides sponsorship to a winning script submission up to ten pages in length. The winning script is provided with approximately $30,000 in services to allow the submitting team to produce a final product for entry into major film festivals. Cultural Film Festivals The recent growth in the number of film festivals has not overlooked the cultural diversity of Canada.
The following are just a few such festivals in the Vancouver area: •
Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival www.visaff.com
• • Vancouver Serbian Film Festival www.vsfilmfest.com • • The Brazilian Film Festival www.brazilianfilmfestival. com/vancouver.html • • Vancouver Latin American Film Festival www.vlaff.org • • The Taiwanese Film Festival www.twff.ca
2 0 1 0 . 0 9 . 3 0 / u b y s s e y . c a / fi l m / 7
Stuntman Steven Chang is the world’s toughest landlord Ginette Monaco Contribtuor It’s safe to say that my landlord could beat up your landlord. Unless your landlord also happens to be trained in hapkido, karate, kung fu toa, kickboxing, jiu jitsu, krav maga and tae kwon do. His name is Steve Chang, and he managed to turn an athletic background and a thrill-seeking hobby into a career as a stuntman. He has been working in the business for six years now, and in that time Steve’s worked with some high-profile people on some big-name projects. Ubyssey: What made you decide to get into stunt work? Steve Chang: When I was in high
school I used to joke about it... I used to drive around, crawling on top of the car while a friend of mine would hop into the driver’s seat. I would climb out the back and over into the passenger’s side. This was when I was like 16, 17. I’d always liked it, but I never knew how to get into it. It wasn’t until many years later…
U: I guess it helped growing up
in Los Angeles?
SC: Oh yeah. Definitely. They say it’s all about who you know. That definitely holds some truth. U: What was your first stunt job? SC: It was on this show called For
Steven Chang on the set of Tropic Thunder. courtesy of Steven Chang
Really down to earth. So yeah, I get beaten up. I go through a window out of a building.
The People with Lea Thompson. I think I worked for four hours and it was the easiest, easiest day of work. I just had to shoot a fake gun and fall down, you know, because the cops are chasing me. I was like, “Oh my god, this is the best job in the world!”
U: I know you worked on Trop-
U: And what have you worked on
SC: Some of those shots, they’re
most recently?
SC: Transformers 3. I just shot that over the summer in LA. I was doubling Ken Jeong. He’s a super smart guy and he’s a comedian.
ic Thunder. There’s a scene in that movie where they blow up a whole section of jungle and the cameras aren’t even filming. Do you ever feel any pressure to get the scene right the first time? over $100,000, that one shot. But it’s the time too. It’s not the most practical thing. On Indiana Jones [and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull], I mean, Stephen Spielberg basically
writes his own ticket. There’s one scene I was working on in that movie, and he just didn’t get t he shot he wanted. We came back to it for a couple days and you’re thinking how many thousands of dollars, six pictures per day, just to get one shot. U: You’ve worked with some
legends.
SC: Yeah. Steven Spielberg, obvi-
ously. Clint Eastwood, Academy Award winner and Hollywood icon. Just recently, on Transformers 3, I worked with Michael Bay. He’s probably the biggest action director out there.
U: Sometimes it’s just as much
acting as it is stunt work. You have that hilarious scene in Blades of Glory.
SC: I missed some work on He-
roes [Note: Chang doubled Masi Oka, who plays Hiro Nakamura on the show] because of that job but it was just hilarious watching those guys work. The whole domino thing, when Will Ferrell head butts Jon Heder and Jon Heder bumps into me then I bumped into the lady. That lady, her name’s Jeannie Epper, she’s one of the legends. She was Wonder Woman’s stunt double.
U: Are there many stuntwomen?
SC: Oh yeah. There’s a lot of
great ones out t here. Everyone respects stuntwomen because they’re in miniskirts and high heels. They don’t get to pad up as much. Lot of respect for those women.
U: So what does it take to get
into the stunt business?
SC: This business is about longevity. You are the product, so you want to keep up with your skills. I would say, right now, t he basis to do st unt s is an athletic background. It’s that body dynamic, gymnastic or martial arts t hat you’ve got to have. U
Big-budget filming on the rise in BC Ginette Monaco Contributor Not everyone dislikes the HST. When prices went up for almost everything else, the cost of filmmaking went down. BC Film Commissioner Susan Croome says that the HST “ leveled t he play ing field.” Productions in Ontario and Quebec were already receiving tax exemptions, and now that a similar policy is in effect for British Columbia, American studios are rediscovering the benefits of filming in Vancouver. According to the Commission’s internal film list, a count of productions that are not publically registered, there are 36 shows currently taking advantage of what “Hollywood North” has to offer. This number is up from the 27 filming at this time last year. Most of these film productions are for television series from major networks in Los Angeles. The film commission is responsible for showcasing British Columbia to producers globally, nationally and locally. It’s not a difficult pitch to make. “It’s a great production hub. We have over 1000 feet
of studio space, diverse geography, fantastic cast and crew, animators. It’s also a very livable city.” Despite the current influx of foreign business, domestic productions are in decline. Croome points to the recent downturn in the economy and the fact that most Canadian broadcasters are located in Ontario. It is unclear exactly how many Canadian productions will return to Vancouver or what will draw them back, but Croome is optimistic. “We’re hoping we will see that side of the business grow.” With the new tax incentives in place, there is no reason the increase in international productions will not continue. BC’s climate and geography have proven to be very flexible over the years. “The studios wanted to be here,” says Croome. “We’re close to Los Angeles and [BC] can be anywhere. It’s New York, it’s Seattle. If you want Antarctica, you go to Prince George. The Okanagan can be the desert, wine country. Parts of Twilight were shot in Tofino. Our fabulous geography is what got us into the game in the first place—and our talented, talented people.” U
Film at UBC From Battlestar Galactica to The Stepfather, UBC has hosted a slew of films over the last decades. A 2009 article in The Ubyssey reported that the university had made more than $200,000 the previous year alone from commercial film projects. UBC Business Development charges $2500 per day in location fees. Films must be deemed to have no adverse effect on the universit y and its reputation, and must not be disruptive to the universit y during filming before they are approved. The majority of films on campus are American; however, approved films by UBC students have their fees waived. In addition, a portion of these revenues go to the departments of Film Studies and Film Production. U —By Trevor Record, with files from Sophie Raider
A scene from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which was filmed on the UBC campus in 2009. This culminated with an explosive shot outside of Buchanan. Goh Iromoto file photo/the ubyssey
8/ u bys se y.c a /c u lt u r e /2 010 . 0 9. 3 0
culture
editorS BRYCE WARNES & JONNY WAKEFIELD » culture@ubyssey.ca ASSOCIATE ANNA ZORIA » associate.culture@ubyssey.ca
Riffin’ off VIFF: The first batch of reviews The Ubyssey’s patented VIFF Review Guide
Hot ‘n’ buttered
Half Empty?
Trashcorn
VIFF is in town. Now is your chance to take in some of the freshest films out there. Not sure where to start? The Ubyssey’s intrepid team of cinephiles has been attending press screenings, taking in films at ungodly hours of the morning so you don’t end up seeing a stinker. Stay tuned for reviews throughout the next two weeks. Enjoy the show! Waiting for “Superman”
It’s hard to pick the most heartbreaking scene among the many
in Davis Guggenheim’s Waiting for “Superman.” The Inconvenient Truth director’s latest documentary tackles the broken US education system, focusing on five families with good kids close to falling through the cracks. During an interview, Guggenheim asks Anthony, a kid from Harlem, why he hopes he’ll get into a competitive magnet boarding school in his neighborhood. Anthony pauses for a moment. “I want my kids to have better than what I have,” he replies. Anthony is ten years old. Guggenheim’s is an ambitious project, but one that he tackles with humanity and authority. The film is a sweeping narrative covering the past half century of the US education system, touching on such broad topics as teachers’ unionization and the shift to a post-industrial economy. Guggenheim then turns the camera on the end result of an education bureaucracy that has failed to modernize: the “rubber rooms,” where tenured teachers spend years playing cards at full pay awaiting hearings; the magnet school lotteries, where a bingo ball determines if a kid will go to a good school or a “dropout factory” where they’ll most likely end up in prison. Superman emphasizes the humanity of an issue that could have been tackled from a bureaucratic or political standpoint. Kids like Anthony are the perfect foil to the teachers’ unionists that Guggenheim bluntly sets up as
boogiemen. In the end, the film and its message are overwhelming—but necessary. —Jonny Wakefield The Woodmans
Directed by Emmy winner C. Scott Willis, The Woodmans is a fascinating look into the lives of a family of artists: George, an abstract painter, Betty, a ceramicist, and their children, Charles, a video artist, and Francesca, one of the 20th century’s great photographers. “Art is about remembering,” says Betty, and that’s exactly what this film is about. In a series of intimate interviews, with the camera zoomed in uncomfortably close, the family remembers Francesca as she grew into herself as an artist. It opens with a video of Francesca, naked behind a sheet of paper and writing her name. You can hear George and Betty Woodman’s voices reminiscing about their daughter before her tragic spiral into depression. These interviews, along with the seamless integration of her photos, experimental videos and private journal entries, make for a haunting insight into the troubled mind of their daughter. Today, Francesca is a world-renowned photographer, but her success only came after her suicide, an
event that left her family stunned and devastated. The film is a delicate and sad study of tragedy and healing and is an eye into the hidden world of artists. —Inés de Sequera The Princess of Montpensier
Based on a 1662 novella by Madame de La Fayette and directed by Bertrand Tavernier, The Princess of Montpensier tells the story of Marie de Mézières (played by Mélanie Thierry), a captivating young noblewoman who is forced away from the man she loves, and into a marriage with a man she knows nothing about. Running at 139 minutes long, The Princess of Montpensier tries to fit too much into too limited a format. Marie quickly jumps from one romantic entanglement to the next, starting with her lover and her husband but soon including her tutor and the Duc d’Anjou. All this happens too quickly, with not enough background to make it believable. With its sex, drama, and intrigue, The Princess of Montpensier could easily outpace Showtime’s The Tudors in the realm of prime-time period drama, but as an overly long feature film it leaves the audience wanting both more and less at the same time. —Andrew MacIsaac
Madwoman of Chaillot a moral parable UBC Theatre’s new season opens tonight Rhys Edwards Contributor On September 30, the Department of Film and Theatre at UBC will open its 2010—11 season with their production of The Madwoman of Chaillot at the Frederic Wood Theatre. Written by Jean Giraudoux during the Second World War, the plot of Madwoman sounds like something out of a music video for a darling indie rock band: abundant, with colourful and potentially nonironic eccentricity and a prevalence of youthful righteousness. In a Parisian cafe, Countess Aurelia, the overtly idealistic madwoman, conspires to put a group of evil corporate prospectors to trial with a motley crew of larger-thanlife personalities. Though a comedy by definition, Madwoman is more than mere whimsy. “It is a play that is, sadly, back in fashion,” said Stephen Heatley, the director. “It’s about greed, people not looking out for each other and the world... it’s oddly timely, given that it’s 60, almost 70 years old.” But Madwoman is not necessarily a moral parable, either. “There’s a stylistic challenge in doing a play like this... any play has to be believable, but this play has a ‘fable’ aspect to it,” said Heatley. “Although there are many street characters, we didn’t want it to look like a commentary on the street, like the Downtown East Side or
Joanna Williams in the play’s title role. Photo courtesy of tim Matheson
something... it’s more fantastical than that. “There’s a kind of ambiguity to it too, in that... a woman decides to kill a bunch of people, and somewhere in that it’s supposed to be looked on as okay. I hope that it poses the question, you know, when is
it really okay to exterminate people? I don’t think the play is saying, ‘Solving the problems of the world is simple’ ... it’s saying we have to remain vigilant, on guard, all the time.” Barbara Kozicki, who recently received the prestigious Hnatyshyn
Foundation Developing Artist Grant, stars in the production as one of Aurelia’s eccentric co-conspirators. On the ambiguity of the script, she elaborates: “When you analyze the script ... there are times when you wonder if it’s meant to be reality or if it’s in the head. Is it fantastical, or is it an alternate world? When you’re dealing with things like that, it can be tricky at times because you have to be clear on your understanding of the world in the play, and your role in it.” Ambiguity aside, there are more practical concerns for Kozicki, who plays the role of a deaf, mute juggler. “Every actor dreams of being asked to learn a new skill in a production; I started juggling an hour every day after being cast! But the greatest thing I’ve taken away from this is that I’ve gained so much knowledge about deaf culture.” Kozicki is certain the audience will appreciate the qualities of the production too: “I was overwhelmed over how beautiful the show is, to know that the content is so interesting and relevant, yet on top of that it has a beautiful design ... and there is so much camaraderie in my year. It’s our last time we’re gonna be treading the boards here.” With a vivacious script and the ripe acting talents of this year’s senior Theatre students, audiences can expect, at the very least, an intriguing performance. U
food with kait bolongaro Review: Salmon ‘n’ Bannock Many Vancouverites are ignorant of First Nations food traditions, and this isn’t helped by thelackofeateries and restaurants offering the cuisine. Enter Salmon ‘N’ Bannock, which opened in February2010.It’sthebrainchildof Remy Caudron and Inez Cook, who noticed this absence and createdarestaurant that is becoming a centre of First Nations style cuisine in Vancouver. This hideaway has a welcoming atmosphere and takes its decorating inspiration from traditional First Nations elements. The walls are painted cream, charcoal and red and display new works from West Coast artists. The kitchen is visible from the dining area through a sort of window, where guests can watch Chef Eli Isaac work his magic. Caudron and Cook source their ingredients from local food markets. Their fish is all wild Pacific, and the meat is organic. Remy explains, “That is why we don’t use beef or pork in our dishes: it is difficult to find an organic supplier and these two meats were not used in traditional cuisine.” The menu is an epicurean haven with its fusion of traditional and modern ingredients. As an appetizer, I would recommend the Arctic prosciutto roll. It is wild musk ox from the North of Canada which has been air dried and salted in the same manner as the traditional Italian version. It’s purplish in colour and has an earthy taste, which complements the smooth oka cheese and crisp asparagus it envelops. It’s lightly drizzled with blueberry marinade, which is perfect for the dish. For entrées, there are many delicious choices ranging from venison to salmon to duck. As a lighter dish, the smoked salmon club sandwich with the house salad is perfect. It’s two-tiered, separating the smoked salmon and the lettuce and tomato, allowing the fish to dominate. It is held together by thin slices of in-house made bannock loaf— bannock being traditional First Nations bread,pan-fried and light tasting. Accompanying it is the house salad topped with roasted pumpkin seeds, which complements this “bannock-wich.” Another option is the bison cheese burger and sweet potato wedges. The bison has a mild taste, and isn’t nearly as greasy as beef. It is enveloped in a plump, soft bannock bun, and topped with melted cheese, lettuce and tomato. The sweet potato wedges are on the heavier side, yet the fry retains its sweet taste. For dessert, the bannock and berry bread pudding is the perfect finish. However, it could have used more berries, as their flavour was lost between the bannock pudding and the ice cream. This location is ideal for a date night, or for a more formal occasion, as the prices are above the average student budget. But it’s worth the extra money spent for the cultural and culinary experience. Salmon ‘N’ Bannock is at 1128 West Broadway—easily reached via the 99 B-line. U
2 010 . 0 9. 3 0/ u bys se y.c a /c u lt u r e /9
PostSecret and the greater mysteries of life Frank Warren comes to the Chan Centre this Friday Anna Zoria associate.culture@ubyssey.ca Frank Warren is the world’s most trusted stranger. Six years ago, Warren founded PostSecret, an ongoing community art project where ordinary people anonymously mail him their deepest secrets written on decorated 4x6 inch postcards. What started as a personal art exhibition quickly turned into one of the biggest internet sensations of the decade: Warren’s blog, where new secrets are posted every Sunday, receives approximately 200 hits a minute. The idea behind PostSecret is simple: turn your confession— whether it be dark, thought-provoking or humourous—into art. Warren, previously a small business owner, said that the concept first came to him during a stay in Paris, where he purchased two Little Prince postcards and put them in his nightstand drawer. “I had a lucid dream and saw the postcards in my dream with writing on the back. When I woke up I took out the actual postcards and made them appear the way they had looked in my dream. I remember one of the cards read ‘Unrecognize evidence of forgotten journeys unknowingly rediscovered.’” Upon his return home to suburban Washington, DC, Warren decided to turn his dream into reality. He left over 3000 blank postcards in coffee shops, between book pages and on park benches with instructions on the back inviting random strangers to anonymously mail him their
Assorted secrets. geoff lister Photo Illustration/The Ubyssey
secrets. He received around 100 back and posted them on his blog, after which the idea caught on and secrets started pouring into his mailbox by t he t housands from all over the world. Since then, Warren has produced five books containing collections of the postcards, ma ny of wh ich have never been seen before. His most recent, PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death and God reached number one on the New York Times bestsellers list. Though Warren has received over half a million postcards to date, he said his most recent favourite secret is pretty lighthearted. “It says, ‘I wait until I get to work to go to the
bathroom...that way I can get paid to poop.’ I thought that was pretty funny.” But what about those more serious secrets—some of them disturbing cries for help? Warren said that he tries his best not to meddle in the lives to which the secrets belong. “From the beginning, I’ve asked that the secrets be sent anonymously. I think that when people release the secrets they don’t necessarily want me to try and fix it, or tell them what the answer is. They just want to let it go, a nd that’s enou g h i n many cases.” But in many ways, Warren does use his project to reach out and help people directly. Since PostSecret’s beginning,
he has been supporting suicide prevention. Though he doesn’t feel that there is a direct connection between secrets and suicide, it has been an issue which has affected him personally and has given him the incentive to raise funds and awareness for the suicide prevention hotline. Anot her way t hat Warren connects to his readership is through his speech tours, during which PostSecret is taken on the road to universities and colleges all over North America. It’s a venue that suits Warren. “The students are stronger at asking questions about what’s real and what’s bullshit, and they’re not as locked into their identit y as people are when
t hey get into t heir 30s and 40s,” he said. So what can we expect from the PostSecret show this Friday? “I project images on t he screen of postcards that were banned from the books, as well as ones that have changed lives, and, essentially, have changed my life.” There will also be an open mic portion of the night during which audience members will be invited to walk up to the microphone and confess their own secrets in front of hundreds of people. Warren said that this is usually his favourite part of the presentation, as it is often “highly emotional and inspiring.” At the end of our interview I wanted to let Frank Warren know how refreshing it was to see such a simple project be able to reflect the wide spectrum of our daily existence. He agreed. “I think you can’t help but see the beauty in it when there are so many secrets coming from earnest people, sharing the full range of human emotion. I think that you really can’t help but be invited to think about the greater mysteries of life.” U PostSecret comes to the Chan Centre on Oct. 1 at 8pm. Tickets are available at the box office or from chancentre.com.
U
Online exclusives
Interviews with the Crash Test Dummies and Chad VanGaalen @ ubyssey.ca/culture.
10 / u b y s s e y. c a / g a m e s / 2 010 . 0 9. 3 0
games & comics royal panda cloud revolution, by david marino
sudoku (very easy)
blundergrads, by phil flickinger (blundergrads.com)
comicmaster, by maria cirstea solution
Submit your comics to our website at ubyssey. ca /volunteer/submita-comic. virginie menard | production@ubyssey.ca
U theubyssey.ca
Step 1: Come by our office on Wednesdays. Step 2: Get free dinner. Step 3: Repeat each Wednesday. justin mcelroy | coordinating@ubyssey.ca
U theubyssey.ca
2010.09. 30/ubyssey.ca/opinions/11
opinions
do you care? WRITE US A LETTER » feedback@ubyssey.ca
editorial the book is better than the movie In the distant future, when kids are wirelessly jacking into the global neural-net hivemind and having their pituitary glands regulated by third party apps, Facebook will be a nostalgic reminder of the past. The website’s development into a cultural monolith is being cemented this Friday with the release of The Social Network. Directed by David Fincher, the film mythologizes the creation of Facebook and its establishment as a zeitgeist of the 21st century’s first decade. Remember life before Facebook? You shouldn’t have trouble—it was only six years ago. But in the era when an amateur video of a cat in a t-shirt playing piano can capture the hearts and minds of millions, this sort of rapid ascendancy is no longer indicative of a flash-in-the-pan phenomenon. Information comes quickly now, and so does culture. It should be no surprise when an online service that has existed for a little over half a decade is considered by many to be as indispensable as TV remotes or indoor plumbing. If The Social Network does well—and early reviews are overwhelmingly positive—it may become the Easy Rider of our generation. Just as the former captured the free spirit of the ‘60s counter-culture movement as it clashed with the conservative old world order, The Social Network encapsulates the attitudes and anxieties of the ‘00s. And what better characterizes this group—and the modern era—than Facebook? The pursuit of celebrity, large and small-scale; the gratification that comes from having the most distant people follow your most mundane activities. The almost compulsive urge to network, to post and re-post, to comment, blog and tweet. Self-definition and self-expression without a second though. Individuality: the opiate of the masses. So try not to feel bad, in the future, when your grandchildren watch the 40th Anniversary Edition of The Social Network. They’ve never lived without Facebook, or whatever form social networking evolves into next. They’ve never had to ask someone their religion, political affiliation or sexual preferences. They’ve never had anyone in their lives further away than the tips of their fingertips. And they probably never will. toope+bijan+awkward videos=success? Last week, you may have received a broadcast email from UBC that was, shall we say, very peculiar. It was a link to a six-minute promotional video, with the UBC President (Stephen Toope) and AMS President (Bijan Ahmadian) trading lines about UBC and opportunities for students. Sometimes, they tried out beat poetry. All of the time, it was weird. Sadly, comments are banned on the video. We suspect this may be due to the fact that, in the first video they made together, someone wrote “Stephen Toope must regret having taken part in this remarkably horrible video.” But leaving aside the amusement of seeing Toope attempt to appear “with it” by getting on the intertubes with his former research assistant, there is the question of how the AMS and UBC presidents working closely together benefits students. Certainly there are some positives. The AMS becomes more visible, and considering they’re responsible for advocating for us, that’s not a bad thing. And after the reign of Blake Frederick, who never found a UBC decision he couldn’t disagree with, having a student leader that isn’t outright antagonistic to the university is a useful counter-balance. There are limits, however. Two weeks ago, Ahmadian tried to convince council that the AMS shouldn’t have specific objectives in negotiating policy with UBC in land-use consultations, and should instead trust him to deliver a fair deal for students. Council wisely responded that a policy without teeth isn’t a good policy, and unanimously rejected his suggestion. Fundamentally, a student union needs to disagree with what the university is doing from time to time, and this has and always will be a blind spot for Ahmadian. It still opens up unique possibilities for the AMS. For example: they’re planning a talent show, and if enough people buy tickets to the event. Ahmadian and Toope will sing a duet together. Whether you think this is a great motivator or a silly stunt is probably indicative of what you think of the close relationship between the two. U
anne tastad graphic/the ubyssey
opinions
Reaction to Tamil refugees a double standard arshy mann news@ubyssey.ca Canadians have always prided ourselves for our immigrant heritage. We speak constantly of multiculturalism, tolerance and the “Canadian mosaic.” When xenophobia flares up in the United States or Europe, we’re quick to denounce, and even quicker to point to ourselves as an example of a harmonious and accepting society. But when push comes to shove, Canadians are equally quick to allow bigotry and fear to drown out common decency. Take for example the MV Sun Sea, which arrived on Canadian shores last month with around five hundred Tamil people fleeing Sri Lanka. When reports of the vessel first surfaced, the government, the media and the Canadian public at large all entered a state of panic. According to the prevalent narrative, they were Tamil Tigers attempting
to infiltrate the country and exploit the goodwill of the Canadian people. These people who risked their lives in a trans-Pacific voyage were inherently suspect, including the many women and children on board. Many dispute their claimed refugee status. And that’s a fair argument. Regardless of the fact that the Sri Lankan government recently crushed a twenty-year-long Tamil separatist movement, and in the process displaced hundreds of thousands and detained tens of thousands in refugee camps, refugee claims should be decided by the mechanisms that we have set up. The rhetoric around their arrival, however, stinks of the same xenophobia that led Canada to turn back the Komagata Maru in 1914 and to send many of the passengers of the MS St Louis to their deaths in 1939. Canada’s anxieties over immigration have always run deep. Unlike most other immigrant-receiving countries,
Canada has no poorer neighbour to serve as the primary source of our immigrants, meaning that most people who do come here are well-trained professionals with university degrees. So when the poor and desperate make their way to our shores, we’re offended that these brown-skinned people would dare wish to live among us. But almost all of Canada’s people have their roots in immigration. The only difference now is where the immigrants are coming from. The reports have characterized these refugees as terrorists until they prove otherwise. However, the 37,000 Hungarians Canada accepted in 1958 didn’t have to prove they weren’t communist revolutionaries. Neither did the 5000 refugees from the Balkans have to prove that they weren’t genocidaires. It’s a fair argument as to whether the Tamils are refugees. But as to whether a double standard exists? There’s no debate. U
reporter (read: hack opinion writer) hopped aboard the internets and set sail towards the lands of lazy research. Unfortunately, WHORING, it might be a while before you pay off your student loans with the sex trade. Although an Ontario judge did recently repeal some of Canada’s anti-prostitution laws, you may safely be assured that a giant, sexy money-making party will probably not be coming to a brothel near you. More likely, the sex trade will remain a dangerous grey area within the law. Here’s the deal. Technically, prostitution isn’t illegal in Canada. However, Canada’s laws do specifically target prostituting-type actions, making it a pain in the ass (often literally, I’m sure) to sell your meat on the street. But the Ontario Superior Court has struck down three parts of the law in its own province. Keeping a common bawdy house is now legal, meaning the ladies and laddies of the night can bring their buddies back to their own boudoirs without fearing the popo. Communicating for the purposes of prostitution is now legal, so next time you get chatty with some
streetwalker, you don’t have to worry about being unduly harrassed. And finally, living off the avails of prostitution is no longer illegal. This opens the doors for prostitutes to have nice things, like bodyguards and unions. Although some might herald this as a fantastic ruling that has the potential to seriously ameliorate some of the harms of the sex trade (and despite our joking tone, there are harms), Canada’s Conservative government has‚ of course‚ decided they will fight this ruling tooth and nail. And so, WHORING, we’re sorry to say that a UBC brothel will not result from this ruling. Given that the judge gave a thirty day period before the law would come into effect and the Tories are determined to sink it before that, there might not even be any brothels for our Ontario students to return home to over winter break. Alas! At least we still have the back of The Georgia Straight... U Anyways, that’s all for this week. Send us your letters at toosexy@ubyssey. ca or use the anonymous web form at ubyssey.ca.
too sexy Entrepreneurial Readership, In this, our post-financial bailout epoch, in can be hard for a fella/fellette to make a buck. UBC students, aside from their scholarly pursuits, have been known to find themselves in all sorts of odd jobs in their hunt for better living through beer money. We’ve even known the odd sex worker or two. Which is exactly why this week’s letter demanded our interest. Too Sexay!!! So I hear a judge just repealed Canada’s prostitution laws. How soon till we can open up a UBC brothel and start paying off our student loans? —Wishing Humans Observed Real Innovative New Ground Hey, WHORING, Thank you for sending in the vaguest letter we’ve ever received. When Too Sexy received this letter, we had not heard the news. Undaunted, this
12/ubyssey.ca/our campus/2010.09.30
our campus
Justin McElroy coordinating@ubyssey.ca T-shirts with funny symbols filled the SUB concourse Monday afternoon for bids day, the annual event in which those hoping to join a fraternity find out if they have been bid upon—and by whom. Held the day after Formal Rush, any fraternity that would like an individual to become a pledge of the fraternity puts a card (bid) with the individual’s name on it and the fraternity name. Some UBC students could have multiple bids to different fraternities—but they can only pick one. Chants are chanted. Songs are sung. Drinks are, well, drunk. Fraternities are replenished with new members. The antelope eats the grass. And the circle is renewed. U
Got a camera? Take some photos for us. geoff lister photos@ubyssey.ca
U theubyssey.ca
geoff lister photo/the ubyssey
Have an opinion? We want to print it. Send a letter to feedback@ubyssey.ca, and we’ll print it. Promise. justin mcelroy | coordinating@ubyssey.ca
U theubyssey.ca