October 30, 2008 Hating on music since 1875 Vol. 138 Iss.

7
Argosy
T
h
e
I n d e p e n d e n t S t u d e n t J o u r n a l o f Mo u n t A l l i s o n U n i v e r s i t y
Its one more example of how
the commerce department has
outstretched themselves, taking away
from numerous other departments,
said one Mt. A student, choosing to
remain anonymous. A second student,
upon overhearing the comment,
said its one more thing to attract
commerce students to Mt. A and
provide some extra services to all the
departments based in Avard-Dixon.
ese students are referring to the
new lounge in the building. Replacing
a space formerly used as one of two
Avard-Dixon computer labs, the new
lounge was built for the Commerce
Department. According to the
second student, a commerce major,
the lounge is to be used for commerce
students in prepping for presentations
and group work, though this hasnt
been conrmed by the department.
As the unveiling on Monday
announced, the lounge was part of
a $5 million sole donation by Ron
Commerce department sitting pretty
Five million dollar donation leads to conversion of computer lab into lounge
Jessica Emin
Sasha Van Katwyk
Argosy Staff
Joyce, co-founder of the Tim Hortons
chain, to the commerce department.
And according to Paul Berry, head of
the commerce department, the rest
of the funds not put into the lounge
will go towards funding events and
activities for the Centre of Business
Studies.
e philanthropic gesture was
certainly welcomed by the university
and Berry pointed out in an interview
the funds have helped the program
gain accreditation with the Society of
Management Accountants (CMA),
and we have been able to attract a
visiting scholar this term.
In fact, the commerce department
has a great deal to be proud of right
now. Early this week, the department
was awarded Best Overall Research
Performance at the Atlantic Schools
of Business Conference. Berry
attributed this to our commitment
to research as well as collaborative
eorts with schools in the region.
e recent successes of the
commerce department, however,
have raised some hesitant concerns by
those in other departments as to their
own abilities to succeed with fewer
resources at their disposal. Ronald
Beattie, head of the computer sciences
department described the loss of
the computer lab to the new lounge
as denitely losing something we
thought was extremely valuable.
at lab was [...] relatively large
for us, and the loss of any resource is a
setback, Beattie said. [It] would be
better if we could replace it with some
smaller labs to allow us to distribute
more classes, but for now that doesnt
seem to be in the works.
Berry pointed out that a few years
ago a student lounge and library of
sorts [and two small oces] were
changed to a computer classroom. e
building needs and uses are constantly
evolving.
In response to a question about
how some students saw this as taking
away from other departments, Berry
implied that students need to take
more into consideration.
Looking at one change in isolation
can lead to erroneous conclusions.
It goes beyond just this lounge,
the rst student, an anthropology
major, argues. She and other students
interviewed assert that the commerce
department gets too much attention
from the administration. Possible
evidence of this is that the JUMP
Campaign last year had ve major
issues that they believed were the
most relevant to be discussed in
relation to the functioning of Mt.
A. One of them was Academic
Departments. Another was the
Commerce Department itself.
It certainly seems the
administrations intent is to expand
the role of the commerce department,
said Beattie.
However, he also pointed out that
e success of certain
departments aids other
departments, as students are
exposed to all the programmes
while studying here.
- Stephen McClatchie

its the administrations role to decide

how it chooses to market the school.
Obviously they thought it was more
important to have that space to
enhance the commerce department,
and in this case we suered a loss.
Provost and VP Academic
Stephen McClatchie attributed the
attention and resources being given
to the commerce department to the
fact that the department has the
advantage of being very easy to raise
money for.
We try to focus our campaign
priorities on where Mt. A can most
easily raise funds, Dr. McClatchie
explained, there is certainly an
element at a school like Mt. A that the
success of certain departments aids
other departments [] as students are
exposed to all the programmes while
studying here.
e administration also attempts
to support departments in a variety of
fashions that are often not as visible to
students as major donations might be,
McClatchie stated.
HaIifax P p
ExpI si n
p. 14
PAGE 2 THE ARGOSY NEWS OCTOBER 30, 2008
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student newspcpers.
Coee houses and open-mic events are common
at Mount Allison, but not so common are ones
featuring a subliminally political German duo
and Scottish bagpipes. ese acts and more were
featured at Society of All Nations (SAN) Coee
House on October 22 at the New Caf.
Leah Wofsy, SAN Co-President, says the
club really tries to hold events where Canadian
students and international students can come
together and have fun, as well as showcasing
Canadian culture to international students.
Wofsy, along with co-president Nakita
Knowles, expressed that the focus of the Society
is to bridge the gap between cultural stereotypes
of the world. Sally Ng, SAN Social Chair,
added that the coee house is meant to welcome
the talents and cultural expressions from all
students, not only those coming from outside of
Canada, and [this years] turnout really showed
that.
Wofsy estimates 90 to 95 people came out
Wednesday night to appreciate the talents of Mt.
As student body, though we never know how it
will go until the night of, because we dont sell
tickets. e society received a total of $78 from
the one dollar cover charge at the door.
e SAN executive hadnt planned on the
numbers that turned out, and they had to put out
more chairs as people continued to spill in. e
New Caf proved to be a good location for the
event, Ng explained, because the stage against
the inside wall was in a really accessible spot
for performers, and comfortable viewing for the
audience. e ramp o to the side worked well
for latecomers because they were able to sneak in
without disturbing the performers.
Coee House a sensation for All Nations
Judi Keefe
Argosy Contributor
Knowles was dumbfounded when she came in
more than halfway into the show, and saw how
many were present. I walked in and was like,
Oh wow! ere are tons of people here.
Each year the show represents the diversity of
ethnicities on campus, and SAN hopes this will
allow everyone to share in an evening of cultural
appreciation.
e set of performers this year was diverse.
Bonnie Laing sang in Chinese with piano.
e Mount Allison Christian Fellowship
band performed. Chris Hirata showcased his
beatboxing, Curtis Michaelis shared spoken
word, and Ian Luddington played bagpipes.
Simon Behranes and Marcus Schraranca sang
with both guitar and a cappella. Lucy Collins,
Kailea Switzer, Graeme Bousada, Emma
McMullin, and Horace Karnes Jr. all sang with
guitar.
e Christian Fellowship, Karnes Jr., and
Luddington are all repeat performers, having
played at last years coee house; this was the
third year for Michaelis original spoken word
reections of society. e rst-timers were
well received by the audience, and were also
appreciative of the opportunity to perform
original compositions for friends and peers.
As far as Wofsy can remember, there have
been two previous Coee Houses in SAN
history. Last year, a large group of Pakistani
students put together a traditional dance and the
campus salsa club performed as well. Although
the setting, in the mezzanine level of Jennings,
wasnt ideal, the previous years turnout of
audience members and performers was diverse.
e Society of All Nations is a SAC club,
and although there are no regular meetings to
attend, they do host two gatherings a month.
e executive encourages everyone to attend
and become involved. A membership fee of $12
is accepted, and although optional, it allows for
discounts to SAN events throughout the year.
Upcoming events hosted the Society include
Pumpkin Carving on October 31, American
anksgiving on November 28, a bonre
in collaboration with the Mt. A Christian
Fellowship, e Welcome Back Potluck in
January, a eld trip to a sugar farm, and the
SAN Banquet in March.
The SAN Coffee House featured various
acts, including bagpiper Ian Luddington,
pictured above. A large number of people
came out to see the event, held in the
New Caf.
Society of All Nations
Society of All Nations
e meeting began with a member expressing
his frustration at the lack of appointments of
students at large. Mike Currie, SAC President,
agreed to look into the situation.
Sandy MacKay then gave an update on SAC
Entertainment at the Pub. Attendance changes
depending on whos playing and on mid-terms,
he explained. He also said that sound might be
improved if the drums were on a movable riser
covered in carpet. He encouraged students to
attend shows, as every Wednesday night for the
rest of the year is booked.
e next issue was the by-election for SAC
VP Academic and Science Senator, headed by
Kyra OHanley, Chief Returning Ocer. It was
suggested to shift the supper poll at Jennings to
a later time to get more students to vote.
Sarah Smith, Secretary of the Union, was
concerned about the lack of by-laws for the by-
election, and thought that there would be more
of a chance for students to contest the results.
Currie stated that after this election, the SAC
will have to write by-laws.
Reg Ferguson, O-campus Rep, along with
International Councillor Nakita Knowles,
expressed their dislike for how quickly the
elections were moving, because of the seriousness
of the positions as well as the lack of time to get
to know the candidates.
Ryan Robski brought up his concern about
Senator applications late in the year, suggesting
that nominations should be open for all
disciplines in order to encourage more interest
from experienced candidates.
Science Senator Nathan Walker felt it was
important to have someone in sciences as they
will better understand the problems in the
department. e issue was shelved to be later
discussed when the operations committee
creates by-laws for by-elections.
Next on the agenda was a visit by David
Stewart, Mt. As VP Administrations. He was
invited to the SAC meeting to address concerns
over the master plan for the university.
Robski wants to see the website updated to
reect where Mt. A is currently in the master
plan. Stewart then detailed the changes that
have been made, such as building Campbell
Hall instead of a residence by the King St.
parking lot. e next step is the conversion of
the old STUD into a Fine and Performing Arts
Studio, but this will not occur for years.
Victoria Munnoch, ornton House Rep,
brought up the issues in her residence associated
with temporary rooms, including furniture
not being removed promptly, and emotional
considerations of students living in the rooms.
Stewart explained that the residence system
changes with need. While some would prefer
satellite buildings beinging reopened, Stewart
said that the administration is trying to keep costs
as low as possible, and that opening satellites is
an added expense to students. Also, any extra
money coming from those in temporary rooms
will stay in the system.
Currie expressed his desire to have a bar
services cooler in the new Student Centre, but
Stewart explained that the planned storage
space in the building isnt there anymore.
Mark Brister, VP External, said that the
loss of venues could cause security problems.
O-campus parties are not as safe due to less
security measures by the university, he said.
However, Stewart insisted that there hasnt been
a big change in viable spaces on-campus.
Stewart then left the meeting and the oor was
turned over to Dan Wortman, who addressed
last weeks concerns. He explained that Michelle
Strain was looking into the couches in Bennetts
lounges, and will get more if needed.
Wortman will look into house representatives
distributing yearbooks in residences. Also, the
funding for clubs and societies was extended to
Monday, October 27 at 7pm.
Next on the agenda was Councilor Concerns.
e possibility of having the gyms side entrance
reopened was brought up, and VP Student Life
Pat Barry explained that the alarm has been
reactivated, but hell look into it.
Rachel Betuik, Bigelow House rep, wanted
to know which house had the biggest election
turnout, and Brister said that the SAC was still
tallying the votes, but Bennett was in the lead.
Walker asked that the bookspace under desks
in Barclay 02 be taken out for more leg room.
Doug MacLean, O-campus rep, was
interested in having more information about
grad schools available, possibly in the form of
a grad fair.
Following this was the VP Communications
report. Abigail McGillvery wants to improve
the SAC website, to increase communication
with students. She addressed the changes in
the SAC page in the Argosy, and discussed her
plans for SAC awareness week.
e last item on the agenda was the VP
Externals report. Brister talked about the NB
Student Alliance, saying that they were against
the tuition freeze for various reasons and were
looking into a debt cap for NB.
Brister then spoke about the recent Sackville
Town Meeting. e Sackville share-a-ride
program is about to launch, expanding on the
Mt. A Carpool. Merrill Fullerton, Sackville
Councillor, will not support another extension
on noise by-laws. Also, Sackville has signed a
new waste management contract.
Brister nished with his hope that the number
of students that voted in residence in the federal
election will be enough to ensure another
campus poll.
e happenings of student
politics: October 22
Justine Galbraith
Argosy Staff
N
OCTOBER 30, 2008 NEWS THE ARGOSY PAGE 3
Oil drops to half of its July price
In midday commodities trading on
Friday, the cost for a barrel of crude oil
dropped to $64.15, which represents a
57 per cent drop from the high-water
mark of $147.27 this July.
e Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) which
regulates exports from most of the
worlds oil producers announced a
1.5 million barrel per day cut in the
amount of exported oil in hopes of
steadying prices. However, fears
that the economic slowdown in the
developed world would severely reduce
the demand for oil overwhelmed such
a move, according to the CBC.
In September in China, the rate of
oil demand rose by only 2 per cent, the
lowest rate of increase in ten months.
Rallies to increase the demand for
oil articially and temporarily have
largely been unsuccessful. However,
the American stock markets did
surprisingly well, posting slight gains
at the end of last week while the major
overseas markets dropped by between
two and six per cent, with Japans
Nikkei index shedding nine points.
US bombs Syrian border town,
killing eight
In a further expansion of the
is week in the world
A weekly miscellany compiled by Tom Llewellin
American-led anti-terrorism
operations past the ocially-
sanctioned borders of Iraq and
Afghanistan, the American air force
on Friday bombed a village within
the borders of Syria, killing eight
civilians, according to the BBC.
Syrian foreign minister Walid al-
Moallem warned of possible military
action against the US if such an action
was repeated. Washington refused to
ocially conrm or deny the reports
that it crossed into Syria, but tacitly
conrmed this by saying that the
area bombed was used as a starting
point for cross-border raids, the BBC
reported. e aircraft travelled eight
miles (13 km) into the country, they
said, before dropping their bombs.
According to the Syrian foreign
ministry, those killed include three
children and their father, and a family
of farm guards, all in the town of Abu
Jamal.
In international law, this is terrorist
aggression, the ministry warned.
e US maintained however, that
the raid resulted in the death of Abu
Ghadiya, a former lieutenant of Al-
Qaeda heavyweight Abu Musab Al-
Zarqawi, and from their perspective
was a successful military operation.
He had a knowledge of many of
the rat lines or smuggling networks,
said a military spokesman, and
predicted that the assasination would
have a delibilitating eect on the
foreign ghter network.
In recent months, the numbers of
ghters pouring into Iraq from nearby
countries, especially Iran and Syria,
has intensied.
Ukraine, Iceland bailed out by IMF
e International Monetary Fund
gave out a series of major bailouts over
the weekend, including a $16.5 billion
US dollars to the Ukraine, and $2.1
billion for Iceland. ese countries
economy crashed completely, with
stock trading having been halted since
the middle of the month. Both loans
need nal regulatory approval from
both countries authorities, but are
expected to pass without problems,
reported Der Spiegel.
e Ukrainian economy has been
devastated after a collapse in world
commodity prices, particularly steel,
and Russia and Canada, which own
the two largest foreign stakes in the
country respectively, have been selling
o Ukrainian assets rapidly.
IMF loans are very controversial,
since approval depends on the
countries changing their policies
to what the fund sees as more cost-
eective, resulting in massive cuts in
government spending. When the IMF
bailed out Bolivia in 1995, the country
was required to dismantle virtually
all of its government infrastructure.
is sparked the Cochabamba Riots
two years later after residents revolted
against the extremely high water
prices charged by the American utility
to which the government had sold the
citys water services.
US Senator Ted Stevens found guilty
e longest-serving member of the US
Senate, 84 year-old Ted Stevens, was
found guilty on Monday of perjury
for lying about $250 000 US of gifts
he received from an oil company
executive in return for favourable
policies. Bill Allen, the founder of
Veco Oil, also paid for contractors
to work in Stevens vacation home in
Girdwood, Alaska, and was found
guilty of bribery in 2007.
Prosecutors didnt believe Stevens
argument that most of the gifts were
loans, with lead prosecutor Joseph
Bottini lambasting his defense of a
massage chair, stating Are we really
supposed to believe [this chair] was a
loan? Its been in his home for seven
years!
Stevens, a gure with what the New
York Times terms as outsize inuence
over federal spending, has long been
one of the most powerful gures in
the Senate, and Alaskas primary
mover and shaker. As a member of
the Appropriations Committee, he
is inuential in bringing government
money into the state, and played a
role in a recent tendered contract
for a pipeline into BC and Alberta
being awarded, allegedly improperly,
to Calgary-based TransCanada
Pipelines.
Stevens is currently up for election
for another term in the Senate, and as
of Monday was neck-and-neck with
his opponent, a Democrat.
e campus climate challenge,
or C3, is starting early this year,
eective Saturday, November 1.
e event, organized by the Mount
Allison environmental group Eco-
action, will be held to see how well
students on-campus can reduce their
environmental impact.
For those students who are
unfamiliar with the challenge, C3 is
a competition between on-campus
buildings to see who can reduce their
electricity, heating, and water use by
the greatest amount at the end of the
month-long period. e House that
reduces their carbon footprint by the
greatest percentage will receive an
as-yet unrevealed prize from Eco-
action.
is is the third year for the
C3 kick-o to kick out the carbons
Jennifer Musgrave
Argosy Correspondent
for continued awareness on climate
change throughout the year.
David Lieske, a geography
professor at Mt. A, likes the idea of
the challenge but felt that it has the
potential to be a touchy issue.
It does raise the question of
whether we are imposing on other
people and making them feel that
we are controlling their lives or
eliminating their personal freedom,
which could raise some peoples
hackles, he said.
He believes that what is really
needed is a critical mass of people
who think this way so that it becomes
a part of the culture.
e idea that you can expect that
people are going to spontaneously
do things [like look after the
environment] is nave, commented
Lieske. By building a culture that
always reduces, it creates a mindset
that believes its bad to waste.
Lieske believes that C3 has a valid
goal of instilling environmental
habits into the minds of the students.
He thought that having an incentive,
like competition, to motivate people
into being conscious about the
environment was a wonderful idea
and should be done on a large scale,
similar to the proposed carbon tax.
e last two years winners of the
challenge, Windsor and Hunton, were
able to reduce their carbon emissions
by 24% and 26% respectively. Eco-
action member Stephen Middleton
commented the group is hoping to
build on this success to ensure that
this years C3 is the best yet.
Eco-action is also looking into
the possibility of holding a second
C3 challenge in February. is
event will be an Atlantic region wide
competition between universities to
see who can be the greenest school.
is year, as well, C3 is going to
have a wet/dry concert on Saturday,
November 1 at the New Caf. Eco-
action and Music as a Cure are
working together to present music in
action, a collaborative of local bands
to play at the concert. Tickets are
being sold in advance at Jennings for
$5 each.
is event will be a fundraiser for
Campus-wide challenge encourages students to reduce emissions
By building a culture that
always reduces, it creates a
mindset that believes its bad
to waste.
- David Lieske

challenge, which is usually held

later on in the year. However, this
time Eco-action decided to host it in
November so that students may learn
to adopt healthy environmental habits
sooner.
November is a chance for all of our
residents to get their climate change
game face on, says Natalie Gerum,
one of eco-actions lead members. We
hope that this will set a precedent
November is a chance for
all of our residents to get their
climate challenge game face
on. We hope that this will
set a precedent for continued
awareness on climate change
throughout the year.
- Natalie Gerum

Eco-action, but also aims to raise

environmental awareness among
the students. Hannah MacDonald,
another member of Eco-action,
commented that this concert will be
a fun way to raise money for Music
as a Cures Malawi charity and to get
everyone excited for this years C3.
Music as a Cure is a group that
is currently raising money for the
Malawi girls on the move charity,
which helps to provide funding for
Malawi girls to go to school and
achieve self-suciency through
education. By organizing music
concerts and events they are able to
help in contributing to this Canadian/
Malawi organization.
is past Saturday, Mount Allisons
Team Fox put on its third pancake
breakfast to raise money and
awareness for Parkinsons research;
an event which put Team Fox o to a
great start in their fundraising.
We broke our record this breakfast,
in that we made almost $400 more
than last time which is excellent, said
Team Fox co-president Amy Kitchen.
We also had almost 200 people come
and eat breakfast.
Last year, Team Fox had set a goal
to raise $1000, and in the end ended
up raising $2000. is year, the
group hopes to match and exceed the
previous total. e pancake breakfast
got them $1200 closer to their goal.
e breakfast began early in the
morning, at 7am, when the group
began making pancakes and preparing
various toppings. Many in the Mt. A
and Sackville community attended
the breakfast, including those from
SMILE.
We went through a ridiculous
A Flippin Good
Time had by all
Team Fox earned more than half its total goal at the pancake breakfast.
Team members also had fun making and decorating the pancakes.
Cejay Riley
Argosy Correspondent
amount of food, said Kitchen. [One
team member] cut up almost 100
bananas, we went through almost ten
bags of berries, ve bags of apples,
[about] ve bags of ten pound pancake
mix, four containers of cool whip, 100
cups of coee, 15 orange juice and 20
pitchers of apple juice.
Some of Team Foxs members even
got a little creative with their pancake
making and produced pancakes of
various shapes, such as stars, squiggly
lines, spirals, a witchs hat, and even
some smiley faces to the delight of
customers.
Even though most of our
committee has mostly new members
this year we worked really well
together as a team, said Kitchen. e
group was joined by Owens intern
Kerri George, and recent graduate
and Team Fox veteran Melissa Wells.
Team Fox is part of the Michael J.
Fox Foundation. It is an international
organization dedicated to nding
creative ways to raise money in support
of Parkinsons research. In its rst
two years, Team Fox has raised over
$3 million for the cause and hopes to
nd a cure within the decade.
Cejay Riley
NATIONAL
The Drop Fees campaign called on Ontarios provincial government to reduce tuition fees and convert a
portion of all student loans to grants.
Riley McLeod, Ryerson Free Press
HAMILTON (CUP) Students
rolled out thousands of petitions
onto the lawn of Ontarios legislature
in Toronto, and presented tens of
thousands to Ontario Premier Dalton
McGuintys constituency oce in
Ottawa.
Increased tuition fees, insucient
funding, and the current economic
crisis have motivated over 50,000
students to send in signatures.
Reaching Higher, McGuintys
post-secondary framework, was one of
the topics addressed in the petition.
e provincial government has
increased funding for post-secondary
education, but many students and
lobby groups say this isnt enough.
No one would deny that the
Ontario government has sunk
more money into post-secondary
education, said Shelley Melanson,
Ontario chairperson for the Canadian
Federation of Students, Canadas
largest student lobby group.
But, tuition rates continue to rise,
and students are graduating with
more debt than ever before.
e petitions delivered on Oct.
22 call on the government to reduce
tuition and ancillary fees for all
students in the province. ey also
ask that a portion of all student loans
be converted into grants.
We knew the government was
Students deliver 50,000 petitions to Ontario government
Nathan Swyers
The Satellite (Mohawk College of
Applied Arts and Technology)
going to be making an announcement
on the state of the economy and
giving an update on the budget, said
Melanson.
Like many places in the world,
Ontario is facing an economic
downturn. What we are trying to
argue is that one of the best ways
to alleviate a poor economy and to
strengthen it is to invest in post-
secondary education.
Statistics Canada released a report
in early October that said tuition fees
in Ontario increased at the highest
dollar amount in Canada. is has
pushed Ontarios tuition fees for an
undergraduate degree to the second
highest in the country, after Nova
Scotia.
She says federal and provincial
funding was cut during the 1990s,
and tuition fees have gone up by 350
per cent since 1991, four times the
rate of ination.
Melanson says the biggest issue
with McGuintys Reaching Higher
plan is increased tuition fees along
with increased loan limits.
I guess the theory the government
has is that by increasing loan limits,
youre increasing access, because
people have the ability to cover the
new cost of education, she said.
e problem is [the plan] creates a
signicant graduation debt. For most
students, the average debt for a four-
year degree is quickly approaching
$28,000.
She says Canada is experiencing
enormous job losses within the
manufacturing industry and a shift
toward a knowledge-based economy.
Most new listed jobs in Canada
require some form of post-secondary
education.
While fees go up, class sizes are
increasing as well, says McMaster
University professor Richard Day, an
expert in the quality of undergraduate
education.
We have much larger classes in
most institutions now. We havent
had the amount of funding from the
government that would allow us to do
faculty renewal, said Day.
He says that while more funding
is needed, the quality of education
hasnt changed.
If you look at what a quality
education means, it is always
dependant on the eort the student
puts in to learn things, and I dont
think that has changed over the years
at all, said Day.
On Nov. 5, the Canadian
Federation of Students will be hosting
an Ontario-wide Day of Action to
call for accessible post-secondary
education. Marches and rallies will
take place across the province.
Students are going to continue
to escalate until we see our demands
met, said Melanson. Its really
important for us that we take this
opportunity now to address these
issues before they get completely out
of control.
WINNIPEG (CUP) e
economic cycle is moving into a
recession, which spells trouble for
students about to graduate.
We are seeing a short-term
slowdown in a long-term growth
pattern, said Hugh Grant, a professor
of economics at the University of
Winnipeg who specializes in labour
economics.
Grant says the time when a student
Students graduate into an economic slowdown
Recession impacts students job prospects, says prof
Joe Kornelsen
The Uniter (University of Winnipeg)
enters the labour market can have an
impact on their long-term earnings.
Enter a bad labour market and
here I mean a prolonged recession
you may get a job, but a lousy job,
he said. When the labour market
improves ve years later and jobs open
up in your eld, you nd yourself
competing with fresh graduates.
According to Grant, studies show
that this economic scarring can
be reected in a workers wages
throughout their life.
Russell Plett remembers well the
recession in the eighties. He was
shingling roofs in the early years
of the decade and remembers the
diculty nding work.
We didnt get to shop for jobs, he
said. I dont know that I ever turned
a job down.
By 1983, Plett decided he would
rather be in school than face the
elements on rooftops throughout the
seasons. He graduated with a degree
in education in 1988 and began
teaching in northern Manitoba.
Today he spends his days writing.
Keep your human capital up to
date, said Plett. Its about keeping
your education credentials fresh.
Economies naturally cycle through
periods of growth and decline.
Decline happens when an economy
shows two consecutive quarters of
negative growth.
Some recessions can be short and
shallow like in 2001, or they can be
much longer and deeper like in the
early 1980s.
Stephanie Barke graduated from
the University of Winnipeg last
April with a bachelor of arts, and
although she didnt nd a job in her
eld, by June she was working with a
company developing information and
communications software.
Barke recently received an e-mail
from the president of her company
about the current nancial trouble,
saying that things will continue as
normal, but that its hard to predict
the next six months.
Im not worried too much right
now, she said. [But] the phones
arent ringing o the hook like they
were in July.
ST. JOHNS (CUP) e kegs of
free and cheap beer slowed to a drip as
administration at Memorial University
ended residence dependency on
sponsorship and donations from
breweries in St. Johns, N.L.
Christine Burke, director of
Housing, Food, and Conference
Services at Memorial, says that the
decision came after a review of similar
sponsorships at other Canadian
campuses across the nation, which
found that no other university allowed
endorsements by alcohol companies.
Due to changes to residence
Memorial University bans beer sponsorship
Kenny Sharpe
The Muse (Memorial University of
Newfoundland)
eligibility requirements implemented
last year, as of this September, 64 per
cent of those students living on campus
were underage. Burke indicated that
this information, combined with a
number of behavioural reports, acted
as the basis for the ban.
Last year we saw signicant
changes with regards to behaviour
of our rst-year students in residence
that could be attributed to drinking.
As a result, we put our heads together
to determine the best way to deal with
this, said Burke.
We changed the ratio of rst-year
and senior students last year. With
that, we had challenges last year that
we didnt have before. We had people
who had behaviours that were not
acceptable.
Burke acknowledges the fact that
campus residences benet in other
ways from brewery endorsements.
Noting that sponsors sometimes
oered money or other monetary
mechanisms for house events or
charity fundraisers, she suggests that
Housings contribution to on-campus
life should cover all residence needs.
She also says that each house on
campus receives $1,000 per term, and
another $1,000 for a damage deposit
refund. Also, Housing has a fund for
each house to make major purchases,
like big screen TVs, gaming consoles,
and lounging sets.
In addition to this, Burke notes that
this year Housing paid 50 per cent of
what it cost each house to make their
orientation house shirts, and have
also increased resident assistant and
proctor spending to $100 per house
event.
Burke says the beer company
sponsors didnt like the idea, but
they understood Housings reasoning
given that so many students are now
underage.
I met with the district managers
and VPs from the breweries. I cant
say they liked the idea, however,
they realized that we were being too
diligent, and given that the ratio had
changed so much in just a year . . .
technically their sponsorship should
only pertain to the 30 odd per cent
who are actually of age.
Mishelle LeClerc, a rst-year
student living on campus, disagrees
with the move.
[Housing] knows that college
students or university students are on
a budget, theyre not all rich, and that
the all love to party. Its just a given.
And then [Housing] goes and takes
away stu like a dollar a beer. at
deal is awesome for someone who
doesnt have $15, you know? said
LeClerc.
Now we have to go o and get a
taxi, go all the way to the liquor store,
and spend a whole bunch of money on
alcohol when they could have gotten
it for half price. Students are still
going to drink, its just going to cost
us a lot more.
Burke says that there will be
repercussions for any house found
dealing with alcohol sponsorships
under the new guidelines.
SAC
The Student Administrative Council Page
The S.A.Cs
Mission
Statement
The Mount Allison Students
Union aims to foster a
community where the
quality of student life
(education, social, and
personal) is constantly
improving.
The Students Administrative
Council will promote high-
quality student learning.
It will advocate student
interests, as well as those of
Mount Allison University and
post-secondary education
as a whole. The council will
provide its members with
diverse opportunities to
become exceptional leaders.
It will be exible enough to
accommodate a changing
world.
The S.A.C.s priorities will
be determined by its
members. The Council will
foster communication both
internally and externally,
in order to be democratic,
fair, accountable to and
accessible to its members. It
will provide services students
want and can use. It will
cultivate unity and good
will among its members, but
will respect differing views
of all members. It will solve
problems with the best
interest of students in mind
at all times.
What does the S.A.C. represent?
S.A.C. Awareness Week
October 27-31
Congratulations to Bennett on winning the
residence voting competition!
S.A.C. Bingo @ the Pub
Your Student
Administrative Council
presents S.A.C. Bingo
at the PUB Thursday
The draw has been open
all week. The ballots will
be collected at 4:30 pm on
Friday. To submit a ballot for
the draw, you simply need
to stop by the S.A.C. ofce
and ll one out. As an added
bonus, you will receive a
bubble-gum lled sucker. The
Garnet and Gold themed
draw basket is lled with:
20 Dollar Gift Certicate for
the Olive Branch
10 Dollar Gift Certicate for
Joeys
A Rickards Baseball Cap
A Garnet Knit Hat
A Enviro-Mug
A Enviro-Bag
A Triangular Mount Allison
Banner
Popcorn
Two Chocolate Bars
Two Packages of Gum
A package of red licorice
Toothpaste
Toothbrush
Hand Sanitizer
S, A, and C Shaped Sticky
Notes
S.A.C Garnet and Gold themed draw basket
(tonight)! It will begin at
10:00 pm and continue
into the night. The prizes
will be drinking tickets.
Come out and show
us how loud you can
scream, BINGO! Dan
Wortman will be your
host of the evening. The
PUB will be hopping so
be sure to come out and
win!
The S.A.C. will be among the
best student associations of
Canada.
The S.A.Cs
Mandate
The mandate of the S.A.C.
is to improve student
life and protect student
interests. The Mount Allison
Students Union aims to
foster a community where
the quality of student life
(educational, social, and
personal) is constantly
improving. The Students
Union is governed by the
Student Administrative
Council where all students
are members and have
voting privileges. The
Council has two major
responsibilities: to be a
political representation and
to provide services for the
students. There are various
political committees where
students are represented.
The S.A.C.s
Background
The Union is run by six
executive members and
elected representatives
from both off campus and
on campus ridings. The six
executive consist of the
President, Vice President
of Academic Affairs, Vice
President of External Affairs,
Vice President of Campus
Life, Vice President of
Finance and Operations,
and Vice President of
Communications. The
Council has representatives
from each residence on
campus, one representative
for every one hundred and
three (103) off campus, as
well as one representative for
the international students.
There are also two support
staff who work full time in
the ofce, the Ofce Manager
and the Ofce Administrator.
There are also several other
appointments who work
for the union and provide
various services.
ENTERTAINMENT
Jocelyn Turner
Argosy Correspondent
Sackville welcomed the musical
stylings of Cape Bretons Gordie
Sampson and Winnipegs Chantal
Kreviazuk as part of the Songs on
Stage festival last ursday, October
23. e musicians were met with a
nearly full Convocation Hall.
Gordie Sampson kicked o the
show. After telling the crowd a little
about himself, he quickly got down
to business heating up the crowd with
a few of his hits such as Sunburn,
Sorry, Davey Jones, and Fear of
Flying.
Before the majority of his songs, he
took a minute to explain where each
came along. He explained the Fear
of Flying was written in the point
of view of a young woman who was
fooling around with a committed man
who would not leave the other woman
for her, and implored the audience to
imagine him as a sexy blonde woman.
Sampson introduced Davey Jones by
saying that he probably never would
have written it had he seen the Pirates
of the Caribbean movies rst, most
likely because his descriptions were
put to death by the movies computer-
generated Davy Jones.
When addressing the crowd, he
portrayed a denite Maritimer quality
that helped to form a connection
between audience and artist. In
comparison to Kreviazuk, I found that
he was more in tune with the audience,
and was able to connect with them on
a personal and regional level.
Sampsons performance was
absolutely worth it. Although I was
unfamiliar with him before the show, I
was in awe of his talent, creativity, and
captivation of the audience. His songs
were down to earth and easy to connect
to and easy to dream in. eir tone was
subtle, and yet had an indescribable
eagerness to them that encouraged a
sheer desire to hear more.
Chantal Kreviazuks performance
was less engaging. It consisted
Good and bad performances give evening
an uneven feel
mostly of banter between herself and
the audience, where she frequently
recounted stories. For example, she told
a story about the day she gave birth to
her third son as an introduction for
Feels Like Home. She also asked for
there to be light on the audience so
she could see who she was singing to,
which seemed to give her an intimate
feel with the audience, much in the
same way that Sampson did when he
had the audience participate in the
singing of one of his ballads.
During one of her compositions,
Kreviazuk stopped in the middle of
it and demonstrated what she usually
did when playing. Apparently, she felt
the need to show o the ris and frills
she usually performed, and add that
she had a pretty bad cold.
Honestly, I feel that the night, once
Kreviazuk started to play, seemed to
drag on and on. I almost cried out of
utter disgust when she came back on
for an encore.
Even with a cold, her voice was
wonderful to listen to, when she was
singing of course. I found that she
ruined her half of the evening by
talking continuously about things that
were either quite disgusting or had no
relevant point to the songs she was
introducing - I can ocially say that I
Beauty and the beast
Anastasia Llewellyn
Argosy Correspondent
e show was set to begin at 8:00, but
by 7:30 the front half of Convocation
Hall was nearly full, and people
continued to stream in, chattering
expectantly.
e show began with an acoustic
set by Nova Scotia indie rocker Joel
Plaskett, accompanied by his father,
Bill, who played guitar and provided
backup vocals. e younger Plaskett
won six 2008 East Coast Music Awards
with his group, the Joel Plaskett
Emergency, for the album Ashtray
Rock. roughout the set, Joel and Bill
Plaskett, both dressed in sweater vests,
played songs from previous albums
as well as from their upcoming triple
Joel Plaskett and Ron Sexsmith headline nal Songs on Stage show
album. Between songs, Joel Plaskett
interacted with the crowd, showing his
sense of humour through the banter
with the audience. Joel Plasketts clear,
pure voice was soulful and echoed the
emotions of the lyrics. e younger
Plaskett, who played guitar for all but
one song, moved with the music, gently
shuing back and forth, stomping his
feet to the beat. For one song, to which
the crowd clapped along, he played a
little keyboard which he claimed to
have purchased at Value Village. His
attention to detail further endeared
him to the audience. Partway through
the set, the elder Plaskett left the stage,
leaving the spotlight on his son. While
alone onstage, Plaskett played Face of
the Earth from latest album Ashtray
Rock. He lent powerful emotion to the
song, nearly shouting the lyrics, yet in
a very melodic way. After two more
songs, and a successful attempt at
getting the audience to sing along, his
father once more joined him onstage.
At the end of their performance,
the Plasketts received an immediate
standing ovation from the crowd,
which was clearly moved. e applause
persisted long after their exit from
the stage, prompting them to return
for an encore, of Natural Disaster.
During the intermission, they were
in the lobby, signing autographs and
interacting with fans.
After the intermission, Ron
Sexsmith and his band took over the
stage. Dressed in a gold jacket, Sexsmith
appeared almost comical following
the unpretentious presentation
of the previous act. Sexsmith was
accompanied by a drummer, a guitarist
and a bassist, who also provided some
backup vocals. Like Plaskett, Sexsmith
tried to add humour to his interaction
with the crowd, but whereas it seemed
very natural coming from the former,
here it seemed rather contrived.
Sexsmith played guitar on most songs,
but took a break in the middle of the
set to sit at the piano. After playing
a couple of songs with the full band,
the songwriter remained alone at the
piano to sing Tomorrow in Her Eyes,
which he dedicated to his sweetheart
back home, creating the only real
emotional moment in his set. Overall,
while obviously a talented musician,
Sexsmith paled in comparison to
Plaskett, sounding downright whiny,
as opposed to plaintive, and sometimes
quite unclear. While Sexsmith and his
band also received a standing ovation,
Closing the books and the town
most of the audience left right after,
missing the three-song encore.
While Ron Sexsmith may have
been the bigger name on Saturday
night, Joel and Bill Plaskett made a
more lasting impression.
Graeme Bousada
Argosy Contributor
Another ursday night and
Sackville is up to nothing again. Sure,
Chantal Kreviazuk was lighting up
Convocation Hall and Keiths Crew
ensured many a drunk-a-lunks would
be crawling out of Club L, but down
in the little artist run gallery on Lorne,
Kelp Records artists showed up ready
to bust out.
Down at Struts Gallery last
ursday, October 24, Kelp Records
showed o three of their artists
to a small, but responsive crowd.
Andrew Vincent, Andy Swan and
Hilotrons played their hearts out to
the collage covered walls in Struts.
e independent record label based
out of Ottawa (right on Bank Street
mothapufas!) showed o some of the
great talent that the nations capital
has to oer, while keeping their price
to a reasonable ve dollars.
By far the greats of the evening were
the Ottawas Hilotrons, an alternative,
new pop band. e quintet melded
sticky retro melodies with reggaeton
inuenced bass lines, well versed
harmonies with slick drumbeats.
Showing a little umph, the band
played with awesome energy, most
notably the lead singer, Michael John
Dubue. I have never seen a singer who
has so much fun on stage, toying with
Kelp Records review
the microphone to create the sounds
that were just right. Extraordinarily
expressive, his style ranged from
ambient yells to operatic singing to
funky falsetto, keeping one constantly
guessing as to what was coming next.
Essential to the bands sound was
keyboard/synthesizer player Mike
Schultz who through his digital
soundboard melded 8-bit sounding
melodies behind Paul Michael
Hogans sticky guitar, phat basslines
from Damian Sawka and solid
drumming from Philip Shaw Bova.
All in all, I was very impressed with
the bands performance and happy they
remembered Sackville on their way to
the rock the Halifax Pop Explosion.
eyre new album Happymatic can be
bought online.
Other featured artists were Andrew
Vincent and Andy Swan, two
Torontonian artists signed to Kelp
Records. Merging with
members from Hilotrons,
Andrew Vincent played
a solid show, mostly
consisting of covers. By
far the hit was his Boys
of Summer cover, done
with several members of
Hilotrons.
Andy Swan, roommate
and close friend of
Andrew Vincent,
melded folk guitar with
jazz drums. Teamed up
with an elusive gure on
drums, whose name deviously escapes
me, Andy Swan played a solid set.
ough neither Andrew Vincent
nor Andy Swan disappointed the
crowd, they were no match for the
energy and power that Hilotrons
showcased to conclude the evening.
Kelp Records showcased solid talent
to a meagre crowd at Struts. Come out
and support Canadian music and take
advantage of the great name Sackville
has for attracting artists from across
the country.
know how many centimeters Chantal
Kreviazuk was dilated when she started
screaming for the drugs during labour.
It seems as though her attempts at
being humorous was greatly inspired
by Sampsons automatic uniqueness
and the laughter he inspired during
his set. Sampson had a relatively
easy time at being funny as his sense
of humor seemed genuine and less
forced, whereas hers was very dull and
done through the telling of unneeded
stories that were rather inappropriate
and done through large amounts of
foul language, even though she made
it known that she was aware that there
were young children present.
As for her musical talent, it was
outstanding. Her ngers moving on the
piano keys were amazing. Her music
and her lyrics were just awesome. ey
inspired these feelings that move you,
for lack of a better explanation. Her
creative writing ability is amazing.
In comparison however, it was
Gordie Sampson won me over. I
enjoyed his performance so much more
than Kreviazuks because he wasnt
trying to be funny; he was naturally
entertaining. I even enjoyed his music,
even though Im not a Celtic folk
music fan of any sort.
Hardly washed up
Jocelyn Turner
www.gctc.ca
E
OCTOBER 30, 2008 ENTERTAINMENT THE ARGOSY PAGE 13
Betty Liang
Argosy Correspondent
e Stone Angel (2007, Canada. Starring
Ellen Burstyn, Christine Horne; Directed
by Kari Skogland)
e Stone Angel, by Margaret
Laurence is a literary classic in
Canada.
After taken on and o the banned
books list for being blasphemous and
somewhat risque, e Stone Angel has
nally been adapted into a feature lm
where the school boards cant get it.
Alas, I am ashamed to say that Ive yet
to read this book and I surely wouldve
had it not been for time-consuming
tasks such as studying for midterms.
However,I know the basics of the book:
an aging Hagar Shipley is struggling
with her independence after her son
Marvin tries to put her in a retirement
home. rough vignettes of her past,
we see Hagar with all her faults and
virtues as history repeats itself.
Sadly, these vignettes werent enough
for me. frequently during the lm, I
felt as if there was more to the story
than what I was seeing on the screen,
as if I were missing out on some little
secret everyone knows about but me.
which is probably the case considering
Stone Angel a rigid aair
the print to lm transition that had
to be made. Of course, this is a fairly
common problem with a lot of lm
adaptations of novels and although the
overall eect of e Stone Angel wasnt
hindered completely, I would have
loved a bit more elaboration. Insight
into certain characters or events
would have enhanced the movie, but
I suppose one could always read the
novel and supplement the information
in that fashion.
Perhaps my own opinion of the lm
would have been better formed had
I read the book before hand and if I
hadnt heard the opinions of those who
had already seen the movie in theatres.
It seems to me that those who have
read the book prefer the book for the
exact reason that Ive mentioned above
while those who havent read the novel
found e Stone Angel powerful enough
to bring them to tears.
Even though I didnt cry while
watching it, I must admit that if e
Stone Angel does accomplish one thing
and one thing only, its that it has
the ability to be utterly depressing. I
know I walked out of that theatre a
little less cheery than I was earlier in
the evening, brooding over all thatd
happened on the movie screen.
e premise of the lm dredges up
questions about society and how were
able to blindly cast away the people
in our life. It shows us our treatment
of each other and especially the
treatment, or rather mistreatment, of
the elderly.
Ellen Burstyn did a more than
wonderful job portraying the elderly,
but perpetually stubborn and feisty
Hagar who is nearing the end of her
life. eres a beautiful frailty about
Burstyns appearance (which one
would expect from a woman Hagars
age) while still being able to maintain
a roughness in her voice and actions,
which are denitive of Hagars
character.
Paired with the equally as ery
and beautiful Christine Horne as the
young Hagar, they make the perfect
duo. e two depict Hagar in a way
that Im sure readers of the book will
fully appreciate and in the end, that is
what the whole lm comes down to.
Being the tragic story of one
womens blind ambitions, e Stone
Angel isnt exactly a pick-me-up, but its
a story that shouldnt be missed. Youll
fall in love with Hagar and hate her at
the same time and perhaps come out
of the movie a better person, learning
from Hagars mistakes.
Justine Galbraith
Argosy Staff
Last weeks show at the Pub started an
hour late, but the audience didnt mind
as they were treated to a fun show,
and a surprise bonus guest performer
between the sets.
Coming to the stage in trendy
glasses and decked out in red and
black, Gianna Lauren began the night
with a voice and guitar combo. She
has a beautiful, soft voice which was
complimented nicely with the hard
sound of her (red) electric guitar.
Each of Laurens songs was unique
and pretty, but I found them slightly
one-dimensional with little guitar
variation within a song. However, she
was a great performer, and anyone who
encourages crowd clapping is ne in
my books.
Next to the stage was an individual
who I initially thought was doing
the sound-check for the main act.
One song in, I realized my mistake
as I enjoyed the Kalimba stylings of
Torontos Laura Barrett.
Barrett really caught my eye with
her instrument, which just looked like
a small box with buttons, but lled the
room with sound. She only played a
few songs, and the crowd enjoyed the
impromptu interruption.
Finally, the headliners - e
Kings of Leon: Only by the Night
e Tennessee rock group, Kings of
Leon, has just released their fourth
album in just less than ve years, to
the delight of their many international
fans. eir unique style has grabbed
attention from critics across the world
and has built them a huge fan base
which has been begging for more
since the release of 2007s Because of the
Time. Critics have compared this rath-
er up and coming band to such greats
as e Chili Peppers and e Killers.
e hit single Sex on Fire is an in-
stant hit, perfect for blasting down the
halls, or at any party. e album meets
standards set by previous albums, but
just barely manages to surpass them.
With an identical style, the album
feels like an extension on their previ-
ous albums. However, being just a bit
better than amazing is nothing to be
ashamed of; take e Dark Knight for
example. When its all said and done
this album is a must have for any rock
lovers library. Only by the Night can be
purchased in stores, or from iTunes.
Erik Fraser
Argosy Contributor
Joshua Radin: Simple Times
It takes me little hesitation to name
Joshua Radins most recent album,
Simple Times, as one of the top
undiscovered albums of the year.
e album consistently turns out
fantastic lyrics and impressive tracks
from start to nish. e fast paced,
yet easy listening style is perfect for
hanging out in residence with friends,
as background music to do your
homework to, or to lift you up after a
long day of classes. e albums single,
Id rather be with you, is two minutes
and forty-eight seconds of greatness. It
is his rst song to break the top 50 on
iTunes most downloaded. Although
relatively unheard of, Joshua Radins
compelling voice and guitar playing
will appeal to Damien Rice, Jack
Johnson, and Coldplay fans. Work
from his previous album, First Between
ird and Fourth, will be recognized
by frequent viewers of Scrubs and
Greys Anatomy. Simple Times receives
my highest recommendation and is a
denite must listen.
Takes on new discs
Two gems that should be bought
Alexandra Theroux
Argosy Correspondent
e newest album from the southern
rock family band from Tennessee is
denitely one of their best. With the
popular release of the single Sex on
Fire, and an appearance on Saturday
Night Live before the release of the al-
bum, the Kings were pretty much set
to have a good reception for their lat-
est work.
In this album, the band seems to
have done a lot more stepping out of
their carefully established comfort
Kings of Leon
Only By the Night
RCA Records Label
zone as seen in the previous albums
(Youth and Young Manhood, Ah Ha
Shake Heartbreak, and Because of the
Times). Each song features a little more
of Jared Followills keyboard stylings
and Matthew Followills guitar solos,
which stand out in comparison to the
other albums. As for the lyrics, the
songs are without a doubt Kings of
Leon songs, lled with gritty rhythm
and lyrics which can almost all be
describing sex in some way (although
not in an explicit, vulgar way). Caleb
Followill, who in Youth & Young
Manhood almost had Bob Dylan beat
for mumbled lyrics, has shown how far
hes come, which in turn helps us see
how far the entire band has come.
Songs to watch out for: Crawl,
Sex on Fire, Revelry, and I Want
You.
Judi Keefe
Argosy Contributor
I have to admit that I was apprehensive
in pushing play on my stereo to begin
listening and forming a review of
Sylvie. I had no expectations for the
music: I had never even heard of the
band, or their songs before, and the
shy cover art further alluded to an
obscure assembly of sounds.
However, I was initially drawn to the
acoustic punk sound, and enticingly
powerful lyrics of this Saskatchewan
Sylvie
Trees and Shade are
our Only Fences
bands third brain-child. Sylvie has a
denite spunk and personality to their
music that isnt altogether pretty, but
its entrancing.
My favourite songs include ve of
the twelve: Please Make it Home,
Listen Up, Satellites, Dark
Ages, and Notes On Counters,
Although much of the album sounds
relatively similar, these are tracks with
memorable vocals and playful guitar
ris set over a steady drumbeat, which
is relatively unchanging through the
entire album.
Overall, I was impressed by
the composition of the album. It has
a great mood to it, and the songs are
tantalizing and provide perfect white
noise for studying.
ree out of four stars.
Meligrove Band - took the stage, with
Jason Nunes on keyboard and vocals,
Darcy Rego on drums, and Michael
Small on bass. ey seemed to really
enjoy performing, and it came across
in their music.
I can only describe their songs as
epic - it seemed that, at least for a
little while, they had a main ri and
then would go o into variations,
come back to the ri, and then go in
a dierent direction altogether. e
keyboard favoured the lower range, the
bass player favoured the higher range,
Melin-grooves
Surprise guest takes stage at Pub
Music in Action, benefit
concert organized by
Eco-Action and Music as
a Cure. All proceeds go to
Malawi Gir ls on the Move
(www.igirlsonthemove.
com) devoted to providing
scholarships and building
a school for girls in rural
Literary adaptation good, but will leave fans wanting more
Upcoming this weekend!
and throughout, Rego added his vocals
to the mix.
In the second half of their set,
Nunes switched to guitar, and their
sound adapted to favour this. ere
were always distinct melodies in
their instruments, and near the end,
the audience got up to dance. e
Meligrove Band was enjoyable, catchy,
but with a fun edge that sets them
apart from others in their genre.
Overall, it was an fun show with
sweet, unexpected, danceable and
interesting acts.
Gianna Lauren opened the show
Compact Discs!
Malawi. Also devoted to
raising awareness about
C3, the Campus Climate
Challenge occurring during
the month of November
Featuring Mount Allison
artists, Graeme Bousada,
Small Town City and Corey
Isenor and Haligonian
Rich Aucoin.
10pm - 1am, New Student
Cafe, $5 at the door.
Wear green to support
the environment!
E
PAGE 14 THE ARGOSY ENTERTAINMENT OCTOBER 30, 2008
William Gregory
Argosy Staff
e Halifax Pop Explosion is now a seasoned
festival, able to attract prominent names from
Atlantic Canada, recognizable acts from Ontario,
Quebec and the rest of Canada, and obscure
acts from around the globe. Time constraints
and overlapping billing meant that out of the
approximately 125 bands playing this years
festival, I managed to take in a paltry fraction of
what was available.
ursday Scarce headlined at the Seahorse,
while Polaris nominees Holy Fuck were rocking
e Marquee and their drab and dour sound
did little for me. Hailing from Boston, the trio
Neil Bonner
Argosy Staff
THURSDAY: e big show tonight is Holy
Fuck at the Marquee Club, but on the trusted
recommendation of my friend Chris I decide to
check out the Coconut Grove on Grafton St. Its
a cozy little club located up from street level, with
a rooftop patio where one can sit in a plastic deck
chair and watch drunk Dal students mill about
the pizzerias below. Regrettably, I arrived just as
Boxer the Horse was reaching the end of their
set. I dont think I can fairly judge them based on
a couple of songs, but suce it to say I wanted
to hear more. e Rural Alberta Advantage have
a devoted following at Mount Allison after a
February gig at the Pub, but scatterbrain that I
am, I missed out on it. Turns out the raves were
well deserved. e band has found an intersection
between the heart-tugging, anthemic power of
indie rock and the detail and clarity of western
roots music, and it makes for instantly memorable
songs. e dual percussion and surging acoustic
electric propel the songwriting forward while
synth organ casts a sepia-toned glow.
Ive never been to see a Flaming Lips show, but
Rich Aucoin somehow crammed the experience
into the loft of the Coconut Grove. Dressed in
white from his shirt to his kicks, Rich tossed
HALIFAX EXPLODES FOR A 17TH TIME
confetti and balloons into the crowd, made shadow
puppets against projections of old cartoons and
black-and-white lms while bringing the crowd
together with his heart-on-sleeve synthpop tunes.
e sound was slightly bottom-heavy, but theres
no denying the quirky power of Aucoins live
show. Speaking of quirky, it would be tempting
to write o Halifaxs Ghost Bees with that one
word. eir stage setup consisted of a tablecloth
and doily over the RAAs drum, ceramic masks
on their mics and costumes that seemed tailor-
made for a ghost at the Overlook Hotel. eir
lyrics deal with tea-leaf reading, ancestry, war,
and blood. But these twin sisters make it work,
with genuinely enchanting arrangements and
startlingly clear vocals that surpass likeminded
artists Joanna Newsom and CocoRosie. Plus
they had their own personal blend of dream
tea for sale at the merch table.
ey were a perfect preface to the
nights headliner, Laura Barrett. A sometimes-
member of the Hidden Cameras, Lauras solo
show involves her voice and a box of kalimbas
thumb pianos with a bewitching, music-box
like sound. Her voice has the perfectly-toned
exibility of a jazz singer coupled with the
unpredictable swoops of Bjork. By this point,
much of the crowd had dispersed, turning the
Grove into an intimate little music hall, allowing
Barrett to step into the crowd and predict peoples
futures through song - according to her,
I will be a virtuous academic. What
better way to end the rst show?
FRIDAY
Halifax has seen an inux of
big hip hop acts lately, from Naughty
by Nature to Nas. In keeping with
that tradition, the HPX organizers
invited the GZA, an original member
of the Wu-Tang Clan, to perform his
legendary 1995 album, Liquid Swords.
I arrived early at the Marquee expecting a huge
crowd, but the club was still pretty vacant, so
I nursed a Rickards while Ghostface Killah
played over the loudspeakers. After a while, I
headed down to Hells Kitchen directly below
the Marquee to check out some local hip
hop. Truros Joe Buck opened, and he faced the
unenviable task of psyching up a crowd of about
15 with an energetic performance and fresh
beats. True, here was nothing earth-shattering
about his rhymes his hometown, his skills and
the ladies came up often but it was strangely
thrilling having these lyrics applied to Nova
Scotia. e next act, J Gutta, spit nothing but
clich though technically competent thug-
posturing over undercooked beats. A tip: if youre
going to rap about being the shit, make damn
sure you have the skills to back it up. I headed
back upstairs to see DJ Cosmo, Halifaxs DJ
champion for the past two years. He darted back
and forth between decks, cutting classic and
modern hip-hop from KRS One, TI and Busta
Rhymes. He stayed on stage as one of three DJs
for renowned Halifax MC Ghettosocks. Socks
funny-but-not-jokey verses about Wal-Mart and
Voltron were backed by condently old-school
beats an upbeat cocktail of scratches, samples
and breakbeats from Cosmo and crew. I have
profound respect for anyone who incorporates
Reading Rainbow theme into their set. e
block-party-like atmosphere brought the crowd
together for the main event. After a long setup,
GZA took the stage to the ominous samurai-
movie intro of Liquid Swords. He made it
through most of that seminal album as well as
some recent solo work and classic Wu-Tang (he
did Clan in Da Front!!). It was one of the more
interactive shows of the weekend, with GZA
could be best described as a moody, goth band
with a gloomy sound. e Maynards are known
for an upbeat and enthusiastic show, which they
delivered with their Seahorse set. eir energetic
brand of pop/punk was accentuated by a contest
for an attractive red jacket, awarded to the audience
member deemed the best dancer by the band.
e ruby allure of the jacket attracted a sizable
contingent to the dance oor, who swayed and
bashed their way to glory. Bloodsport played an
uninspired set, to an uninspired crowd. Although
I missed the rst two openers, Electrolyte and
American Epic, the Seahorses atmosphere was
rather sedate, with only e Maynards proving
successful in energizing the venue.
e agship show Friday night was the
hyped hiphop show headlined by GZA (or the
Genius). He was the highest prole artist at
this years explosion. From what I saw, GZAs
smooth and calm delivery is awe inspiring,
although the acoustics in e Marquee made
his lyrics unintelligible at times. Moreover, his
tendency to hand vocals over to the audience to
nish lines detracted from the overall
performance.
Saturday was a busy day with of
several daytime shows in addition
to the standard docket of late night
entertainment. Daytime, all ages
shows typically lack the energy of late
night venues since a lack of alcohol
and an excess of sunlight usually
depress the amount of energy. e
Pavilion, an uninspiring grati-ridden
concrete block of a building, housed one of the
few all ages shows at this years pop explosion.
Headlining the Marquee eight hours later,
Sebastian Grainger and Islands did their best for
the small crowds. One of the openers, undrah
employed considerable amounts of distortion,
all photos by Jessica Emin
E
OCTOBER 30, 2008 ENTERTAINMENT THE ARGOSY PAGE 15
HALIFAX EXPLODES FOR A 17TH TIME
dropping the ends of verses for the audience to
ll in, signing merch onstage and bantering back
and forth with the crowd. He even jumped into
the teeming mass of Haligonian hip hop heads to
perform a track, transforming the audience into
a security-driven mosh pit. True, it was hard to
make out some of the verses, and I sometimes
wished he would nish the lyrics himself, but the
loose, fun atmosphere and the thrill of singing
along to Duel of the Iron Mic with a giddy
crowd proved once again that Wu-Tang is for the
children.
SATURDAY e Pavillion is the citys
all-ages venue, conveniently located next to the
skate park and the sports eld. Little more than
a utilitarian concrete room with card tables for
merch and a drink fridge at the back, it was
the site of my rst real rock show at the 2005
Pop Explosion (Ted Leo and the Pharmacists).
e afternoon show was a preview of the
evenings big Marquee club show, but with
dierent openers. e rst band, Greenbelt
Collective, seemed to embody every clich
about indie rock, from the eleven-member
roster to the carefully-styled thrift store
wardrobe and twee lyrics. But they
managed to win me over with genuinely
catchy hooks and unexpectedly beautiful
instrumentation (their Mountain Song
was a highlight). Montreals Special
Noise played an intense, headbang-friendly set
that combined the force of Death from Above
1979 with the prog-rock prociency of e Mars
Volta. Special mention should go to the godly
rocking of drummer Jef Simmons, who needed
a new hi-hat after the rst song. e afternoons
most bizarre moment came at the end of their
set when a member of Greenbelt raised the
microphone to the ceiling, shouted THIS
SONG IS CALLED BANANA and jumped
around screaming into the mic while the band
played. undrah, another Montreal band, played
a tedious set of atmospheric, loop-heavy hardcore.
e afternoons rst headliner, ex-Death From
Above 1979-er Sebastien Grainger brought his
new project, the Mountains, to the stage. If DFA
was the aural equivalent of drunken, uninhibited
moshing in a cramped, sweaty bar, the Mountains
are equal to drunken, uninhibited waving
of lighters at an arena rock show. Graingers
passionate vocals remain, though theyre given
more room to breathe against his bands muscular
and catchy rock n roll. e hooks didnt quite
come through onstage, however largely due
to the sound which melded together Graingers
songs. Overall, this is an intriguing and rewarding
new direction for Grainger. e main act, Islands,
beautifully translated their baroque pop stylings
to the Pavillion. e violins were balanced nicely
with the rest of the band as they played songs
from Arms Way and Return to the Sea. Some
technical diculties reduced the length of their
set, but they ended on a high note with the epic
Swans (Life After Death). Singer/guitarist
Nick orburn oered to sing in the parking
lot or play basketball after the show, but we left
before we could check out his jump shot.
Fittingly, my Pop Explosion ended where it
began, in the comfy cones of the Coconut Grove.
e evening showcased the Fuzzy Logic Records
roster, and it wrapped up the Pop Explosion
with an evening of good vibrations and diverse
talent. Were Scared began the proceedings with
striking, catchy acoustic pop. eyre very new
their rst show was early in 2007 but their
forthcoming debut album is one to watch for.
Township Expansion not only played a great set,
but provided the best stage banter of the weekend
when they tried to talk the sound man into
turning on the lasers to accompany their uid 90s
style alternative. e Bicycles came onstage with
dragon masks fashioned from cardboard boxes,
introducing themselves as the new GWAR
before laying into a fun, handclap-friendly set of
addictive, sugary rock. Fuzzy Logics resident beat
maestro Peter Project laid down a set of electro-
hip-hop tracks replete with vintage lm samples,
dextrous scratching and an infectious sense of
fun. Montreal MC More or Les joined him on
several tracks, rapping about brunch, repetitive
stress injuries and his accountant, in one of my
favorite sets of the weekend. Hamiltons Young
Rival played what initially sounded like wiry
postmillenial indie reminiscent of the Hives.
As their set progressed, they revealed a deeper
kinship with lo- sixties garage rock, one that
became perfectly clear when lead singer Aron
DAlesio pulled out his harmonica for the last
song. Hopefully you checked them out at the
Pub yesterday. Finally, those purveyors of hot n
heavy electro club bangers Woodhands played to
a moshing crowd (and a rather confused birthday
pubcrawl that just happened to stop by). I didnt
get to stay for the whole thing, but I did see the
band bring out More or Les for a rather awkward
freestyle, while singer Dan Werb reinterpreted
Biz Markies Just a Friendas an angry electronic
tantrum. And so I headed home; tired, sweaty,
pop-exploded and happy.
reverb and echos during their set, creating a bit
of a drugged out atmosphere. However, it seems
that the distortion was the point of the set,
blurring distinctions between instruments, which
were frequently changed and making their sound
unintelligible. More or less, undrah treated the
crowd to a fuzzy, amorphous sound that while
initially intriguing left something to be desired
after an entire set. Sebastian Grainger, formerly of
Montreal icons Death from Above 1979, played
a great set backed by the Mountains. Compared
to the hyped up sound of DFA, Grainger and
the Mountains had a muscular and robust
sound that featured the same hectic
vocals that characterized DFA. Powerful
basslines formed the backbone of the set
making for a welcome change from the
usually anemic compositions of most indie
bands. Islands started late, experienced
delays and nished on time, making for
a quick and rushed set. Nevertheless,
Islands set was excellent, featuring stirring
string arrangements, and relatively crisp
sound (considering the venue). e songs were
mostly of the pop/rock variety, with themes like
love or lack thereof but they pulled them of in an
engaging manner.
e Coconut Groves cozy atmosphere was a
great setting for the warm pop of the Bicycles,
Peter Projects fresh beats, Young Rivals tough
industrial sound, nishing with Woodhands all
playing in the Fuzzy Logic Records Showcase.
e Bicycles are touring in support of a new
disc Oh No, Its Love, which dominated their set.
However, they played some old favorites too.
Peter Projects long set was my personal favorite
of the night. Employing a DJ, his sound was
reminiscent of e Avalanches in his sampling
of random speech and the use of a wide variety
of instruments. When joined by Montreal rapper
More or Les, the experimentation diminished in
favour of more conventional hip hop - (when
I say doctor you say Sanchez) or (not breakfast
not lunch the name of this song is brunch) More
or Les provided the best advice I heard over the
weekend - when you get a rash, get it checked
out right away. Words to live by. Young Rival
played tough and industrial, inuenced 1960s
garage rock. Woodhands nished o the night
with their unique style of electronic rock, that
makes use of live synthesizers and prerecorded
material. Woodhands energy certainly was not
lacking and the increased crowd (including a lost
looking birthday pub crawl) crowded the tiny bar
giving the Coconut Grove a frenzied atmosphere.
Overall, the nal show was the best one since
with each act proving stellar in their own right.
E
PAGE 16 THE ARGOSY ENTERTAINMENT OCTOBER 30, 2008
Neil Bonner
Argosy Staff
After winning the inaugural Polaris
Music Prize for 2006s He Poos
Clouds, violin virtuoso Final Fantasy
(aka Owen Pallett) won many new
fans who have been eagerly awaiting
his followup LP, Heartland. To tide
listeners over, Pallet has released two
brand new EPs to tide fans over. A set
of fake eld recordings, Spectrum,
14th Century explores the history, and
culture of a ctional kingdom called
Spectrum, populated by lovelorn
farmers, penitent bishops, and even
Pallet himself. Unlike previous
Final Fantasy records, Spectrum is
a collaboration with members of
Beirut, a critically adored band who
play baroque pop with Balkan, and
French inuences. As a result, Pallets
compositions are beautifully eshed
Julie Cruikshank
Argosy Staff
If you think that Keane is just a more
emo Coldplay, chances are you havent
really listened to them. True, both are
British alternative rock bands formed
in 1998, and both are known for
their mellow, piano-heavy melodies.
However, Keane is a band with a feel
all their own. ey are probably best
known for featuring the piano as their
lead instrument, instead of the guitar.
eir latest album, Perfect Symmetry,
shows a maturation of their sound
that has been evolving since their rst
studio album, Hopes and Fears, was
released in 2004.
e rst thing I noticed about
Perfect Symmetry was its solidity. In
previous albums, the band (consisting
of lead singer Tom Chaplin, bassist,
composer, and pianist Tim Rice-
Oxley, guitarist and backing vocalist
Jesse Quin, and drummer Richard
Final Fantasy
Spectrum 14th Century
Blocks Recoding Club
out: album highlight Blue Imelda is
carried by an improbably gorgeous steel
drum, backed by spare percussion, and
a lone tuba, until an ethereal trumpet
solo pushes Pallets voice into the
stratosphere. Elsewhere, Final Fantasy
irts with unexpected forms: hip-hop
on Cockatrice, the minimal pulse at
the core of e Butcher, reminiscent
of modern classical artists like Steve
Reich, and Philip Glass.
For readers who are hitherto
unfamiliar with Final Fantasy, this
might sound extremely pretentious.
But Pallets lyrics are too strange, too
witty; a blend of the ornate, and the
bawdy lled with unexpected humor
and self-deprecation. Blue Imelda,he
laments in a thin, stately voice, shes
the saddest bitch in all of Spectrum.
Overall, this is an impish, proudly odd
EP that shows real growth from one of
Canadas unexpected talents.
Keane
Perfect Symmetry
Interscope
Hughes) has been characterized by
their dreamy, slightly ethereal sound.
Several of the tracks on Hopes and
Fears, and 2006s Under the Iron Sea,
have an almost experimental feel.
Perfect Symmetry sounds like the result
of that experimentation. e songs
have a more polished, upbeat feel than
some of their earlier fare. is music is
slightly harder and edgier; tracks like
Again and Again, and Pretend that
Youre Alone, are positively bouncy
compared with the bands earliest
material. e album begins with the
high-tempo Spiralling, followed by
e Lovers are Losing both solid,
well-realized tracks.
One thing made evident in Perfect
Symmetry is a positive evolution in
the bands songwriting abilities; their
lyrics in particular have come a long
way since Hopes and Fears. And their
old nemesis, the seemingly endless,
synthesizer-heavy bridge, has at
last been eectively conquered - a
particularly refreshing move. Its still
Erin Jemczyk
Argosy Staff
Saturday at the Main Street Baptist
Church about sixty people, mostly in
the over-forty crowd, sat attentively in
their pews facing the altar. However
this wasnt your typical afternoon at
church: with their heads bopping
in time to the music, the audience
erupted in applause after every song
Hot Toddy and Rob Lutes performed
as part of Sackvilles Songs on Stage.
e audience seemed to enjoy Lutes
hour-long set lled with tunes about
love, life lessons, hurt, and stories
including Marie - a feminist road
song inspired by a friend of his who
said fuck it and went on a journey of
self discovery.
His songs were punctuated with
anecdotes about his family, including
his trip to Dollywood with his
daughter and the birth of a new son.
Despite sharing details of his life Lutes
emphasized that his song writing was
not inspired by his children so much
as the path of discovery about (his)
own life.
e stripped-down set featuring
acoustic guitar, harmonica, slide
guitar, and Lutes raspy voice suited
a Saturday afternoon, however the
intimate nature of the performance
would have suited a coee house much
better than a church.
Many of Lutes quieter songs with
rhyming lyrics ran together, with the
highlights surely being some of his
up-tempo pieces, including Keep a
Man Down, and If the Blues dont
shake you than youre dead. Lutes got
the audience clapping along with his
adept nger-picking and strength in
his vocals.
e tempo Lutes nished on was
maintained by Fredrictons Hot Toddy,
an award-winning acoustic roots and
blues trio who recently produced their
seventh album, Trio, which acoustic
bassist Tom Easley described as lled
there, but less obviously so, blending
in with, and complementing the other
instruments, instead of overpowering
them. eyve also added the banjo to
their instrumental repertoire, making
an interesting appearance in Better
an is. Perfect Symmetry,
the title track, is a characteristic
Keane-ballad in the same vein as
Bedshaped. Ballads have always
been Keanes forte, and the title song
is one of the strongest on the album.
Like Bedshaped, it makes extremely
eective use of piano as the bands
lead instrument, blending it seamlessly
with a powerful percussive tempo. e
song also showcases Chaplins vocals
to their greatest advantage.
Like both of Keanes previous albums,
Perfect Symmetry denitely has its
stronger and weaker tracks. Although
Spiralling, e Lovers are Losing,
Perfect Symmetry,and Pretend at
Youre Alone are all strong, distinctive
songs with well-conceived lyrics, and
an eective blending of vocals and
instruments; some of the ller tracks
are less memorable. Better an is,
Playing Along, and Love is the
End are bland, and have a tendency
to fade into the background of the
album. One shortcoming of Keanes
trademark piano/synth sound is that it
sometimes overpowers the individual
songs.
Perfect Symmetry isnt quite as perfect
as its title suggests, but its pretty darn
good. Keane are obviously maturing in
their sound and songwriting abilities,
and the album has more solid tracks
than mediocre ones. If you have the
rst two albums, I strongly recommend
buying this one to keep them company.
Unlike earlier eorts (which are good),
this wont give your iPod the emos.
Anastasia Llewellyn
Argosy Correspondent
2007, Anton Corbijn, Starring Sam
Riley, Samantha Morton, Alexandra
Maria Lara
Anton Corbijn made a wise decision
when he opted to lm his biopic of
post-punk musician Ian Curtis entirely
in black and white. e eect perfectly
captures the tragic tone of the Joy
Division frontmans short life. As an
independent British lm, Control had
a small theatrical release in North
America, but the lm is now widely
available on DVD. It is an account of
Ian Curtiss troubled life, from his rise
to the top of the British music scene
in the late 1970s, to his self-inicted
death at the age of 23. e events
depicted in the lm took place over a
short, but very intense, period of time.
e title refers to the Joy Division
song Shes Lost Control, about an
epileptic girl Curtis met at work, who
later died during a seizure. Curtiss own
seizures, as well as his dicult marriage
and aair with a Belgian journalist are
all believed to have contributed to
his eventual suicide, just prior to Joy
Divisions tour of America.
e lm was based on the book
Touching from a Distance by Ian Curtiss
widow Deborah, who also played a part
in the production. Director Corbijn,
who worked as a photographer with
Joy Division during their rise to fame,
attempts to produce a fair portrayal
of all involved, allowing for nuances
in the points of view. Rather than
being criticized for his mistreatment
of those close to him, Curtis is
presented as a victim. Sam Riley
powerfully incarnates Curtiss persona,
showcasing the multiple facets of his
ephemeral life, and the overwhelming
success he encountered. Samantha
Morton is heartbreaking as the wife
whose husband gradually drifts away
to his new lover, and away from his
young family. Screenwriter Matt
Greenhalgh, who won a BAFTA for
Best Newcomer, used words sparingly.
Many of the lms more poignant
moments are created by silence, and
little music is used in the background.
Live segments of Joy Divisions music,
of which there are plenty in this lm,
were recorded live by Riley and the
actors playing Curtiss bandmates,
all of whom deliver an incredible
performance. In brief, Control is a
beautiful tribute to Ian Curtis, and an
insightful vision into a troubled soul.
with challenging new pieces that took
a year to work out.
Hot Toddy fused instrumental
pieces and with vocals, maintaining a
high degree of intensity throughout
their short set. Longtemps cleverly
combined French and English lyrics,
singing in an eective harmony. eir
three voices along with Joel Leblanc on
electric guitar and harmonica, om
Swift on acoustic guitar, and Easley
on acoustic bass provided richness and
depth to each song.
Although each musician is involved
in other projects, which Easley
noted brings new experiences in the
group Hot Toddy is the trios main
band - and it shows. Every solo they
performed was improvised, which
according to Easley takes work
and time. Nobody spontaneously
improvises without thinking about
it. Every time they perform tunes
like Spaceman is unique. Easly
commented that Wonderfuel, a
rocking number written for world-
renound bagpiper Andy Rogers, has
dierent parameters every night.
e band alternated high tempo
tunes with some mellow melodies,
including Far From Home, a
soulful song about the disappearing
prostitutes from Gastown British
Columbia. Charlie, an instrumental
piece dedicated to bassist Charlie
Haden is reminiscent of Haden and
Pat Methenys Beyond the Missouri
Sky, which Easley remarked he was
constantly listening to when he wrote
it.
In between songs the trio told stories
of their inspirations, children, and a
debate emerged about whether or not
one could say bum in church. Swift
quipped Gods got a bum, everybodys
got a bum. e consensus is you can
say bum. e levity continued as Hot
Toddy nished with a high energy
shue, leaving the audience of the
Main Street Baptist Church tapping
their toes in the pews.
More than whiskey
Hot Toddy rock the church
Control is a good portrayal of Ian Curtis
Lost promise
blogs.villagepost.com
electricityandlust.les.wordpress.com
CHMA 106.9 CAMPUS & COMMUNITY RADIO BULLETIN
) 9 6 < . / ; ; 6 @ 6 < ) @ ; / , - 0 5 , - 6 3 2 : ( ; ( ; ; 0 * ) 9 6 ( + * ( : ; 0 5 .
WE CAN BUILD IN PIECES
OCTOBER 30, 2008.
ORENTATON SESSON TO BE HELD EVERY TUESDAY AT 4:00 PM N THE CHMA OFFCE LOCATED ON THE 3RD FLOOR OF
THE WALLACE MCCAN STUDENT CENTRE
For more info contact the Program Director @ 364-2221 or chma_pro@mta.ca - www.mta.ca/chma

CHMA CHARTS
COUNTDOWN TO
STEREOPHONIC:
79 DAYS
* indicates Canadian artist. Chart ranking reflects airplay during the week
ending 21-Oct-2008.
Top 30
21-Oct-2008
RANK ARTlST TlTLE (LABELj
01 SNAlLHOUSE* Lies On The Prize (Unfamiliarj
02 SUNPARLOUR PLAYERS* Hymns For The Happy (Baudelairej
03 ANGELA DESvEAUX* The Mighty Ship (Thrill Jockey/Sonic Unyonj
04 THE SOlREE* Minor Details (lndependentj
05 JlLL BARBER* Chances (Outsidej
06 WOLF PARADE* At Mount Zoomer (Sub Popj
07 GlANNA LAUREN* Fist ln A Heart (lndependentj
08 $100* Hold lt Together (lndependentj
09 MATTHEW DE ZOETE* Bottom Of The World (lndependentj
10 B.A. JOHNSTON* Stairway To Hamilton (Just Friendsj
11 lSLANDS* Arm's Way (Antij
12 FLEET FOXES Fleet Foxes (Sub Popj
13 MATT MAYS AND EL TORPEDO* Terminal Romance (Sonicj
14 CONSTRUCTlON AND DESTRUCTlON* The volume Wars (lndiej
15 STEvE DAWSON* Telescope (Black Henj
16 THE CONSTANTlNES* Hard Feelings (Arts & Craftsj
17 CHAD vANGAALEN* Soft Airplane (Flemish Eye/Sub Popj
18 HEY ROSETTA!* lnto Your Lungs (Sonicj
19 LAURA BARRETT* victory Garden (Paper Bagj
20 BETTE & WALLET* voici... (Saspoorayj
21 THE RURAL ALBERTA ADvANTAGE* Hometowns (lndependentj
22 THE D'URBERvlLLES* We Are The Hunters (Out Of This Sparkj
23 KOAK* Morningtime Stumble (Deloreanj
24 HlLOTRONS* Happymatic (Kelpj
25 OKKERvlL RlvER The Stand lns (Jagjaguwarj
26 FEMBOTS* Calling Out (Weewerkj
27 HUSBAND AND KNlFE* An End (Divorcej
28 ALENA MANERA* Alena Manera (lndependentj
29 ARCHlTECTURE lN HELSlNKl Like lt Or Not (Polyvinylj
30 TlLLY AND THE WALL O (Team Lovej
Andre Charles Theriault - s/t
ln his own words Andre only listens to old punk and old folk records.
Both these influences are clear on this record. His style and overall
demeanour are reminiscent of the early folk scene while his insouciant
lyrics show his punk stripes. These songs are expertly crafted and his
cracky voice sounds fragile as it hangs over top of the simple guitar
lines. These songs seem built to remind us that we are fragile and
that important problems are simple.
On "staying alive" Andre sings about getting rides home in a friends
old car, an experience instantly relatable yet also deeply personal as
he peppers it with private details. Like the best songwriters, Andre
is able to make the personal universal and bring everyone into his
life. This record is well worth a listen, and might be the the perfect
companion to your tea-fueled Sunday afternoon essay-writing session.
JG
Now playing on CHMA 106.9FM
Highlight Tracks: 4,6,7,10
www.myspace.com/andretheriault
ALBUM REVIEW
Come out in costume for this fantastic halloween show all the cool
kids will be there. The music promises to be upbeat and excellent.
Ghettopony bring their Guelph ex-pat electro-pop sound to Sackville
for the first time. Blending found sound with live instrumentation and
breakbeats they are sure to entertain and get the floor hopping. Or
should l say keeping it hopping after New Royalty blow your mind.
Charlettown's newest expert these fresh monarchs are indie-pop
savants. Don't believe me? After their set in August former CHMA Music
Director Mark Brownlee said "these kids are my new favourite band"
tall praise from a man who has heard it all. Also, some Sackville up and
comers will be unleashing their dancey math jam sound. Not to be missed.
GHETTOPONY + NEW ROYALTY +
A NEW SACKVILLE PARTY BAND
GEORGE'S FABULOUS ROADHOUSE,
10:00PM. FRIDAY OCT 31. 5 DOLLARS
Attic Magazine (1PM Fridays and Sundaysj is a news radio program that focuses on
the goings on in the Sackville and Tantramar area. The program is hosted and
produced by Marc Leger and has weekly contributions from CHMA staff. Attic
often features interviews with musicians, visiting artists, guest speakers and
professors on topics of interest to our listeners. Attic is also a great place
to catch up on live music performances and regularly airs a concert review
series produced by llse Kramer.
Students and community members interested in journalism are welcome to
contribute both ideas and stories. As a community news program Attic producers
strive to provide a voice to those who wish to promote fund-raisers, awareness
campaigns and benefits in the area.
CHMA will provide training to any aspiring journalists and offers great
opportunities for those who are interested in learning technical skills and
using our great audio editing tools. CHMA has a long history of producing
journalists who have moved on to positions at the CBC and beyond.
Those interested in contributing to Attic or getting involved at CHMA can
contact CHMA spoken word director Chris Ricketts at chma_news@mta.ca
CHMA PRESENTS LIVE MUSIC:
WHAT YOU COULD BE
LISTENING TO
PHOTO BY AARON MACKENZlE FRASER
HUMOUR
T
a
n
i
t
h

W
a
l
l
e
b
e
c
k

Suddenly Bertha realized she had forgotten to put on
underwear that morning...
HORRORscopes
By Madame Starbeam - represent!
ARIES (March 21-April 20) The only things getting me through this week are hard liquor, Flogging Molly, Sean Connery,
and British television programming. Help me Aries. Irish Car bombs at the pub tonight?
TAURUS (April 21-May 21) I hate John Mayer. It`s the truth. He`s a Ireak. I do love his songs though. LiIe is flled with con-
tradictions, Taurus.
GEMINI (May 22-June 21) Have you ever had a shower, and found this weird dry scaly patch of skin on your upper thigh that
kinda looks like Abe Lincoln, tried scrubbing it off and found that it just got bigger? And after a while it started to itch like crazy
and kinda started to smell like cheese? No? Just me?
CANCER (June 22-July 22) Ive always wanted to be able to grow a beard. Its just one of those things that Ive always
wanted to be able to do. I think itd be killer to grow a beard or Mutton Chops - now those are so sexy on men and women. Keep
that in mind Cancer.
LEO (July 23-August 23) Feelin a little emo this week Leo? Listen to No Children by the Mountain Goats. It wont make you
feel better, but its catchy.
VIRGO (August 24-September 22) Papers are coming. I hate papers. You should become President of the World and make
writing papers illegal. Id vote for you. If I ever become a prof (dont laugh, it could happen) Id grade my papers by how far they
go when crumpled into a ball.
LIBRA (September 23-October 23) Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night thinking someones trying to chase you
and then you realize that it was just a dream but you still feel pretty freaked out and it takes you a while to go back to sleep? I
have a class like that.
SCORPIO (October 24-November 22) If I ruled the world Id make it illegal to wear a mullet. Im sorry, but if you EVER
grow a mullet Ill never speak to you again. We can have sex occasionally but no talking.
SAGITTARIUS (November 23-December 21) Saggie, you smell amazing! What is it that youre wearing? I really like it. My
birthday is coming up. You should buy me some for my birthday.
CAPRICORN (December 22-January 20) do not ask a woman if shes pregnant. It is not wise. Im still trying to pick the glass
out of my face.
AQUARIUS (January 21-February 18) I want ice cream! Remember the ghost popsicles that you could get from the ice cream
man? With the bubblegum eyes? I want one of those right now.
PISCES (February 19-March 20) Grow a set.
Hey ladies...Is that a bone in my pocket or
am I just happy to see you?
@><PN@O<FDIB<NCJMO>POOCMJPBC<C<PIO@?
>@H@O@MTDN<GR<TN<BJJ?D?@<
Ted hoped the Viagra would do
something against his baldness, too...
truthfultreachery.deviantart.com
H
PAGE 22 THE ARGOSY HUMOUR OCTOBER 30, 2008
This year Ive invested in pumpkins.
Theyve been going up the whole month of
October and I got a feeling theyre going to
peak right around January.
Serious (footnote 1) Answers to Serious (footnote 2) Questions
Hey Mount A! Do you have a serious (footnote 3) question and a burning
desire to have it answered by real (footnote 4) Argosy editors (footnote
5)? Drop your question in the folder on the Argosys door or send it to
argosy@mta.ca, and get real(footnote 6), honest (footnote 7) answers!
Were to help you (footnote 8)!
Question: I keep trying to go trick-or-treating, but no one answers the
door. What am I doing wrong?
Noah: Have you ever thought that YOU might be the
problem? Ive never had people run away from me
(Im pretty damn attractive, even in a ghost cos-
tume), but I have friends who have had some
pretty interesting costumes that they thought
would attract people, but ended up netting them
no candy.
One friend, lets call him Phillip, thought
it would be fun to trick-or-treat in the nude. He
walked up to each house, wearing the Emperors new
clothes, and just rocked out. He even no-handed the doorbell,if you get
my drift. Now, Phillip did not get one piece of candy that Halloween,
not even those crappy salt-water tafes you always throw away because
they suck so much. Whats the moral here? Being naked isnt a costume,
its a felony.
Stuart: Have you checked the date? I myself obtained a
piezoelectric calendar and implanted it in the skin of
my left wrist for this very purpose after a caroling
incident in June; friends opined that I ought to have
inferred the season from the weather, but I hold that
dramatic temperature swings are simply a part of post-
climate change reality, and thus prevent precipita-
tion-related recognizance of the time of year. Er,
where was I?
Ah yes; the installation of said calendar is quite
simple, given a topical anesthetic and a steady hand.
The calendar also serves as an on-board ashlight! I suppose one could
use a paper calendar, but given the unusual lack of automatic updates I
dont recommend it.
Footnote 1: Not serious at all
Footnote 2: I guess they could be serious
Footnote 3: You could submit a real question, I guess
Footnote 4: Real is such a harsh word; think caricatures of
Footnote 5: Well, sort of
Footnote 6: Seriously, they arent real, come on now have you even read
them?
Footnote 7: Hey they might be honest, nobodys stopping em
Footnote 8: Please dont really take our advice...We wont be held re-
sponsible if you do, though.
YOU SHOULD BLOODY WELL KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS BY NOW! IN OTHER
NEWS: EMAIL ARGOSY@MTA.CA WITH YOUR SUBMISSIONS OF THINGS YOU OR
OTHERS FIND MORBIDLY FUNNY!
SPORTS & FITNESS
With just a little over a year remaining
until the Winter Olympics kick o
in Vancouver, construction is still
underway on venues needed for
events and to house the athletes and
volunteers. Around this time last year,
it looked like the Vancouver Olympic
Committee seemed to be in a good
position, construction was progressing
smoothly, and they were running
a surplus of approximately $60.9
million; however that was last year.
While construction is still progressing
and many venues are completed with
only minor construction activity
remaining according to organizers,
the committee is now experiencing a
decit of $48.1 million as of July 31,
2008. With venue costs rising, the
organizing committee maintains that
they are in a strong nancial position.
Apparently uctuating between
decits and surpluses is to be expected
from organizing committees, due to
the fact that money doesnt always
come in at the same time when it
needs to go out. According to John
Furlong, the Chief Executive Ocer
of the Organizing Committee,
rough a steady, disciplined focus
on cost management and new revenue
generation across the organization
weve managed to maintain a
positive nancial position and met
our ambitious budget targets for the
year.As we quickly transition out of
venue construction into a year focused
largely on operations, we continue to
exercise a strong internal cost control
focus with a view to delivering great
Games and leaving both positive
nancial and enduring sport legacies.
e Games were planned around a
budget of $1.6 billion, with the rising
costs of venue construction being
covered by a dwindling contingency
fund, which is now around $13 million.
e $1.6 billion is only what the
organizers themselves are spending;
the venue construction costs are being
shared by both provincial and federal
governments with approximately $580
million, according to a statement
released last ursday, this number
remains rm. is however doesnt
take into account the rising cost of
venues and other related buildings
that are being covered by the cities of
Vancouver, Richmond, and Whistler,
B.C. e athletes village in Vancouver
was budgeted for $315 million for
its construction, while the price of
the actual construction is around $1
billion, and theyre already $65 million
over that. Another example is in
Surrey, B.C., where construction has
not begun on a $10.5 million Games
preparation centre.
While organizers maintain their
position that even with a $48.1 million
decit, they are in a strong position,
the budget for the Games doesnt even
include the overall security cost, or the
money the cities around the venues
are spending on related activities.
Organizers also state that there will
be an increase in spending next year
as they start buying things needed to
run the Games, like fuel, food, and
everything in between. ey say that
they expect to pour about $1 billion
into the local economy.
According to John McLaughlin,
the Chief Financial Ocer for the
Organizing Committee: Looking
ahead, we anticipate an increase
in procurement as the organizing
committee ramps up operations in
preparation for hosting the Games..
With a signicant level of activity
in the next scal year, we remain
condent in our nancial position in
spite of a turbulent global economy.
One has to wonder with the rising
costs of construction and more
spending ahead, despite the organizing
committees condence, will Canada
have another Montreal on its hands?
Will Canada have another
Montreal on its hands?
2010 Olympics
running a decit
Cejay Riley
Argosy Correspondent
e Edmonton Oilers, who got o
to a ying start, have
cooled o considerably.
ey have dropped
three straight games
and fallen to the
middle of the Western Conference.
e Oilers were defeated by the
Vancouver Canucks 6-3 on Saturday.
An eastern road trip appears to have
been just what the
doctor ordered for
the Anaheim Ducks.
Struggling early, the
Ducks appear to have
found their form with away victories
against Toronto, Ottawa, and a 6-
4 victory over the red hot Montreal
Canadiens on Saturday.
e Ottawa Senators, seen as a solid
playo team at the
start of season, have
fallen back in to the
form they have carried
since about Christmas last season. is
fall by the Senators early in the season,
who sit in 29th place in the NHL, has
brought back many of the questions
that sounded them last season, their
goaltending. e early season woes
hit were evident on Saturday night
following a loss to rival the Toronto
Maple Leafs.
e New York Rangers continue to
lead the NHL, partly
due to having played at
least two more games
than any other team,
and show no signs of
slowing down. Detroit had a rocky
start to the season, but now appear
to have gotten their train rolling with
four straight victories to jump to the
top of the Central Division.
e Calgary Flames also appear to
be overcoming a
slow start with three
straight wins, and are
now just two points
out of top spot in the
Northwest Division. Flames winger
Todd Bertuzzi has continued his
rejuvenated play, and is one of Calgarys
biggest surprises so far.
Ryan Esch
Argosy Correspondent
NHL Roundup
With midterm season starting to wrap
up, many students on campus are
probably singing the praises of Red
Bull and other energy drinks. Why not?
ey keep you awake, give you the jolt
you need walking into a midterm that
you were studying for all night. Wheres
the harm? According to energy drink
researchers, there is actually quite a bit
of potential harm, and it isnt nearly
well enough advertised by energy
drink manufacturers.
While there are energy drinks that
have the same amount of caeine as
your average cup of coee (around
80 milligrams), there are also energy
drinks that have over six times that
much, and the label isnt likely to tell
you the dierence between the two.
Caeine pills with 100 milligrams
of caeine are regulated by the US
Food and Drug Association (FDA),
and carry warning such as the
recommended dose of this product
contains about as much caeine as
a cup of coee. Limit use of caeine
containing medications, foods, or
beverages while taking this product
because too much caeine may cause
nervousness, irritability, sleeplessness,
and occasionally, rapid heart beat. Its
a long warning for a relatively small
amount of caeine when you consider
that an energy drink like Fixx, with 500
mg of caeine, doesnt need a warning
label at all.
e researchers from Johns Hopkins
University want the FDA to require
energy drinks to carry warnings
about the health risks associated
with caeine. Caeine intoxication,
substance dependence syndrome,
hypertension, anxiety, headaches, and
interrupted sleep patterns are only a
few of the problems faced by those
who drink energy drinks excessively.
Youth, mainly young men, are the
target of energy drink advertising
campaigns. As researchers point out
however, younger people dont have the
same caeine tolerance as people who
have been drinking coee for years;
massive caeine consumption will
aect them far more than it would an
adult. Additionally, there are the other
additives whose long term eects are
unknown.
In Canada, energy drinks are a much
newer product, and they are more
strictly regulated than in the United
States. Canadian energy drinks are
required to carry labels that warn
against consuming more than 500
mililitres in a day, mixing with alcohol
and consumption by children and
pregnant women. France, Denmark,
Norway, and Sweden however have
banned energy drinks altogether
because they were linked to several
deaths.
Energy drinks are just starting to
cause a buzz in Canada, but unlike the
29 per cent of university students who
experience the post-energy drink crash
weekly, energy drink sales look to be in
no danger of crashing any time soon.
With all its associated risks, maybe
now is the time for the Canadian
government to step up and make more
regulations for the labeling of energy
drinks, before they become as popular
here as they are in the US.
Since we live in a society where
even your coee cup has a label of
Warning Contents May Be Hot, it
seems like maybe our energy drinks
should have at the very least an equally
as informative warning on them.
Susan Rogers
Argosy Correspondent

Mountie striker Jules Alie controls the ball in the visitors box. The
mens soccer team beat UPEI 3-2 in a home game on Friday, while the
womens soccer team suffered a loss to UPEI 3-0 the same night.
Buzz on energy drinks
Researchers want warning labels
Cejay Riley
S
OCTOBER 30, 2008 SPORTS & FITNESS THE ARGOSY PAGE 25
&
F
ere are very few experiences in life
that can rival stepping onto the eld
of play with your season on the line,
needing a win to keep playing, to
justify the months of conditioning,
long hours of practice and all the
missed events.
is past Sunday, the MTA Rugby
Clubs hosted the ACAA Semi-
nal game, looking to prolong their
undefeated campaigns and have the
opportunity to host the nals next
weekend.
e womens club, fresh o winning
the Maritime Challenge Cup against
UNB two weeks ago, were able to
run their plays whim on the visitors
from Saint omas University. e
Mounties, who had defeated STU at
home 31-0 in the opening game of
the season, did not allow the visitors
threaten once throughout the entire
game.
e play of the womens backs was
supported by a strong showing from
the forwards, who brought the ball
strong into contact, ooading well
to keep cycling down the eld. Jess
Frenette scored a beautiful try on a
well-timed pass that sprung her free
from half.
Ultimately, the womens defence won
the game, refusing to surrender a score
for the third time this season. e
nal resulted saw the women leave the
eld with a 24-0 victory and a home
championship game.
e Mens team was coming o a long
three week break, having nished their
season with a dicult game against
the same opponent that they faced
on Sundays game. NSAC came into
the game condent that they could
compete with the regular season
champions but the Mounties opened
strong, scoring a try in the opening
minutes.
However, on the ensuing kicko,
a series of undisciplined penalties
allowed the visiting side to march the
eld and after being given multiple
scrums from ve yards out, STU
touched the ball down to tie the game.
However, any delusions of an upset
victory where quickly put to the rest,
as the forwards played their best rugby
of the season. Having had diculty
countering the size of the opponents
scrums all season, the pack controlled
the scrum and rucks all game.
e backs were able to play their
usual dominate style, swinging the ball
The womens team ghts for the ball Sunday against STU. The women defeated STU 31-0 and
moved on to the nals next weekend.
Mountie rugby teams triumph
Both men and women advance to the nals
Will Russell
Argosy Correspondent
wide at leisure and scoring easily. e
highlight of the game was the try of
fourth-year anker Tag omson, who
dove in to score after a maul brought
the ball right to the line. It was the
rst time that ompson had scored
in his MTA career. e nal score was
a lopsided 39-5 win, giving the Mens
side condence heading into the nal
weekend.
e two other games of the weekend
to decide who faced Mount Allison in
the nals were played between NSAC
and Kings on the womens side, and
STU and Kings for the men. e
womans side from NSAC was racked
up the score, winning 36-12, while
Kings easily defeated STU 22-5.
With the stage now set for the nals,
both teams enter their last week of
practices prepared to complete their
undefeated seasons. One can only hope
that on Halloween weekend, there are
no tricks in store for the teams!
A moment of silence was observed
before the Mens game in honour of
Cole Ryder, a promising young athlete,
who tragically passed away last week.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the
Ryder family.
e Mount Allison Mounties football
squad hosted the Acadia Axemen
on Saturday, and lost a hard-fought
matchup 28-25. e Mounties nished
the regular season 2-6, and in third
place in the competitive AUS.
e game did not get o to a good
start for the Mounties. e rst play
from scrimmage was a 106-yard catch-
and-run touchdown for the Axemen.
Quarterback Kelly Hughes
orchestrated an excellent drive to
answer back for Mt. A. Receptions
by Ben Stehr and Adam Molnar, for
gains of 13 and ten respectively, 24
yards on the ground by Hughes, and
a 17-yard run by Colin Weldon put
the Mounties inside the ten yard-line.
Matt Pickett ran it in from there to tie
the game up.
Minutes later, after a eld goal by
Acadia, the Mounties drove the eld
again, helped largely by a 22-yard
completion to Weldon, Pickett ran it
in again, from ve yards out, to put the
Mounties ahead.
e second quarter ended with the
score 14-13 for the home team, and
saw many good oensive plays for
the Mounties lead to nothing on the
scoreboard.
e third quarter began much the
same as the rst, unfortunately for the
Mounties. Hughes was stripped of the
ball, and the fumble was returned for
a touchdown, putting the Axemen up
by six.
Just as before, Hughes put together
an impressive drive to answer an
Axemen score, marching the Mounties
down to the Acadia 31. From there
Hughes found Molnar on a short
route over the middle, and the son of
former CFL-er Steve Molnar did the
rest, nding paydirt for the second
time this season.
Acadia would concede a safety to
round out the scoring in the third
quarter, which saw Jake Maxwell come
in at quarterback in relief of Hughes.
After a 35-yard kicko return by
Pickett, Maxwell drove the Mounties
all the way down to the 14, and Olivier
Eddie kicked a 21-yard eld goal,
giving him the scoring title for the
AUS this season.
Around midway through the fourth
quarter, the Axemen recovered on
a Mountie fumble, and scored the
winning points on the resulting drive.
e nal play of the game gave some
fans a minor heart attack; Acadia had
third down and would punt to Elliot
Pick Hicks of the Mounties. e snap
was high, and the Axemen punter
had to climb the ladder to bring the
ball down. Also, the punt was almost
blocked by a pair of Mounties, and
nally, Hicks picked up a few nice
blocks and looked for a moment as if
he was going to take it to the house, on
a 36-yard return to the Acadia 44.
In just over a half of work, Hughes
passed for 164 yards, completing 12-of-
18 passes and a touchdown to Molnar.
He also was the games leading rusher
with 92 yards on seven carries.
Pickett had a career day on the
ground, carrying the ball 13 times for
78 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Nick Barra Cuda also impressed, with
11 carries for 43 yards.
e Mounties played the game
without arguably their best player,
Gary Ross, who sat out in order to
rest up for the playos next week.
Receiving-wise, three players each had
three catches; Molnar totaled 76 yards,
Jarrett King had 31 yards, and Stehr
had 27 on their catches. James Mad
Puppy Halpern made his rst career
CIS catch, a 21-yard gain late in the
fourth quarter.
Defensively, safety Callan Exeter
continued his superb play, with 14
tackles and an interception to his
credit this game. He nishes the
season leading the AUS in tackles by a
ridiculous margin; Exeter has an AUS
record 77.5 tackles, easily eclipsing
the second-place tackler who sits with
40.5. Exeter also led the country in
tackles this regular season, with 4.5
more than the next tackler.
Scott Sheer had 5.5 tackles on
Saturday, Ise Savory had four, and
Halpern and Jermaine Oram each
had three for the Mounties. Hicks and
Luke African under Ekoh each had
pass breakups to their credit.
Hughes nishes the regular season
leading the AUS in virtually every
passing statistic, with 1870 yards
on 137 completions to go with 11
touchdowns through the air. His
1870 yards put him eighth in the
country. He also nished second in
AUS rushing with 616 yards and two
touchdowns on 89 attempts, also good
enough for eleventh in the nation in
rushing yards.
Ross, even though not playing in the
nal game, nished rst in the AUS in
receptions with 47, a team record, and
also in receiving yards with 675. ose
stats put him ninth in the CIS for
yards and fth in receptions. Molnar
nished third in yards with 452 and
receptions with 30.
Olivier Steady Eddie, the pride of
Dieppe, nished the season leading
the AUS in points with 75, and eighth
in the CIS. He also led the conference
in eld goals, going 16-of-21.
e race for several conference
awards include several Mountie
players; Hughes and Ross are expected
to be one of three people considered for
MVP. Exeter will likely be considered
for Defensive MVP, and Sheer is
expected to be a favourite for Lineman
of the Year. Many also believe that
due to the life he leads on and o the
eld, Ross would be a great candidate
for the Russ Jackson award, awarded
to someone who excels on the eld, as
well as o the eld, in the classroom
and community.
Six Mounties played in their nal
home games on Saturday, and will
be graduating this year. Defensive
linemen Scott Sheer and Andrew
Blencowe, linebackers Sean Riley and
Mike Glover, oensive lineman Josh
Hamilton, and receiver/running back
Colin Weldon all move on following
the season.
Head Coach Jerey and the
Mounties follow the warpath to
Antigonish this weekend to play the
AUS Semi-Final against the St FX X-
Men. e winner will travel to Halifax
the following week, where the Saint
Marys Huskies await in the AUS
championship.
Mounties playo-bound
Lose nal regular season game against Acadia
Wray Perkin
Argosy Staff
Sue Seaborn
Left: Matt Pickett runs the ball
in for the Mounties. On Saturday,
they head to St. FX for the AUS
Semi-Final game.
Cejay Riley
S
PAGE 26 THE ARGOSY SPORTS & FITNESS OCTOBER 30, 2008
&
F
Its 3 pm, and your stomach is crying
for food. It hates you right now, and
you have the sudden urge to run
towards the snack section of the
grocery store or meal hall. Your hands
reach out for the most appetizing
thing you can nd, four chewy M&M
cookies. STOP! Dont do it! Snacks
are bad! Well ok, maybe we went a
bit over the top there, but that type
of snacking will denitely send you
straight to the freshman fteen.
Snacking isnt completely wrong, in
fact it is encouraged; eating small
amounts continuously throughout the
day actually speeds your metabolism.
However snacking on junk food
all day can work against you. is
is where smart snacking comes in.
What the heck is smart snacking, and
how does it work? Smart snacking is
simply what it says, being smart about
choosing your snacks and the amount
of snacking you do.
Why is it so hard to choose smart
snacks? Most often when our bodies
are craving food we tend to head for
what looks most appetizing and most
lling. What can we eat the most of?
More often than not, we dont think
to ourselves, Hey look! An apple! I
am sure that will ll me up! Instead,
our stomach says COOKIES! simply
because they seem to be the more
lling of the two. So, how do we train
our stomach to crave healthy snacks?
Simple, grab a healthy snack that
is lling; granted, apples are a great
snack, but they dont always ll you
up the way you need them to. A great
snack to tide you over between lunch
and dinner is half a whole grain bagel
and peanut butter. It is easy to make,
and you can nd it at meal hall even
between serving times. Another option
(for those of you who are anti-carb!) is
the classic veggies and dip. A plate full
of the three Cs, celery, cucumbers and
carrots, with a tiny bowl of Catalina
dressing is a healthy way to hold your
hunger, and lls you to the brim. ese
two options not only ll you up and
quiet your rumbling stomach they are
also energy foods; foods that give you a
burst of long lasting energy to get you
through the nal hours of class before
you can ll up at diner.
M&M cookies are not the only
demon snack issues out there. Aside
from choosing the right kind of snacks,
there is choosing the right portion. You
can always overdo snacking, which can
For most, winter is not the best time
for mountain biking, and a company
in Cleveland, Ohio, USA has heard
and responded to this lament of those
enthusiasts who wish to keep their
limbs and avoid concussions during
the snowy months. Ray's MTB
Indoor Park opened in 2004 and is the
world's rst multi-terrain indoor bike
park. Indoor skateparks have existed
for skateboarding and BMX, but this
is the rst indoor park to feature an
experience mimicking terrain that can
be found in nature.
With 103,000 square feet of space,
the facility has room for three levels
of diculty. Beginners start by riding
through a course to become familiar
with the arena's rules and terrain,
riding over logs and rocks. ey can
then head to the next room where the
terrain becomes more dicult, and can
practice jumps by landing at rst in a
foam pit, then gradually working their
way to a pipe and then a pipe.
When they are then comfortable with
jumps, they enter the expert room,
where the terrain is the most dicult,
and can even follow paths into the
rafters of the facility, high above the
rest of those who have chosen to stay
grounded. e paths are made from
natural and manmade materials, and
feature sliding bridges, wooden ramps,
banked turns, and pivoting teeter-
totters, raising riders vertically and
dropping them down again to land
haphazardly on thin tracks to zoom on
to the next challenge.
e owner and the facility's
namesake, Ray, was once a skilled
carpenter and built his indoor park
by night. He says he had no business
plan, and he just did it. He is proud
of his livelihood, and says about his
undertaking, I feel like the funnel
that the mountain bike gods ran this
through. e arena is sponsored by
big companies, like Subaru and Fox
Head, who contacted Ray and oered
their sponsorship. His business has
attracted customers from all over the
United States and Canada, and from
as far away as England, Germany, and
Japan. is is still the only one in the
world that's designed for mountain
bikes and is set up the way it is set up,
says Ray. Visitors can pay $150 USD
for one 3-hour skill session to become
oriented with the course and learn
tips to make it through in one piece.
Otherwise, visitors can buy a season
pass (the season runs from October
to April) for $299 USD (cheaper
than a season pass at most ski resorts);
non-members can pay $18 USD on
weekdays and $21 USD on weekends
for a whole day, and weekend passes are
available. Ray makes sure the fridge is
stocked with soft drinks and snacks to
keep energies and stamina high.
e response from customers is
positive: this is our second time here,
we really enjoy it say two customers,
and another comments, it keeps you
young. ey agree that the obstacle
course keeps them in training while
they are unable to ride due to the snow
and cold. e format of this enterprise,
now that it has been proven to work,
may act as a template for others who
wish to open similar businesses more
parks like this may therefore spring
up in other corners of the world. For
now, those interested can nd more
information at www.raysmtb.com
Smart snacking
Christina Ashley
Argosy Correspondent
Vivi Reich
Argosy Staff
Indoor mountain biking facility
ramps up excitement
lead to packing on the snack pounds.
is happens when you are so hungry
that you hoover down your rst plate
of veggies, and do not allow them to
ll you up the way they should. A plate
full of veggies is all you really need,
not two or three. To not take more
than you need, take your time eating,
and then relax for ve minutes after
you eat. is allows your body time to
process the amount of food you have
just consumed. If you take your time
then you not only enjoy the food, but
you feel it lling you up. Dont let your
hunger get the best of you.
Snacks arent the devil, but they can
often take on that disguise when we
let out stomachs and cravings get the
best of us. Snacking can be a healthy
way to keep up your energy and speed
your metabolism, as long as you dont
let your stomach take control. Choose
healthy snacks, take your time eating
them, and dont take more than you
need.
Dorm room snack list:
Nature Valley Granola Bars
Bananas
Four whole wheat crackers and
bruschetta mix
Four whole wheat crackers and peanut
butter
Jessica Emin
File photo by Anna Travers
Good luck to the volleyball team
this weekend!
Internet photo
S
OCTOBER 30, 2008 SPORTS & FITNESS THE ARGOSY PAGE 27
&
F
Athlete of the Week
Midelder Kohei Yamashita of the mens soccer
team has been honoured as Mount Allisons
Athlete of the Week for his play in the last two
regular season games against UPEI (3-2 win),
and the UNB Reds in Fredericton (1-0 loss).
In the Mounties 3-2 victory over the
visiting Panthers, Yamashita topped a season of
amazing skills with a goal full of his audacious
talent, when he volleyed home from 47 metres.
Twenty-ve minutes into the game, the ball
arrived at Koheis feet his rst touch lifted
the ball o the ground his second, as he
swivelled, was volleyed into the roof of the net,
leaving the Panther goal keeper a spectator and
the fans going wild.
is was only part of his all-round display
in the game against PEI a quality of
performance he maintained in the tough Sunday
loss to regular-season champions UNB. Since
his sudden arrival, Kohei has delighted team
members and supporters alike with a range of
skills normally not seen at this level of soccer.
He has a technical ability that is matched by his
enjoyment of the game.
A Mt. A MASSIE student (Mount Allison
Sophomore Semester in English), Kohei is a 57
resident of Osaka Minoh, Japan. He is a former
midelder with both Kwansei Gakuin High
School and University in Japan, and is currently
at Mt. A, taking second-year policy studies, he
hopes to pursue a career in advertising.
Other Athlete of the Week nominees were:
Jenna Munden (soccer), Matt Pickett (football),
Alison Heard (hockey), and Caila Henderson
(volleyball).
Kohei Yamashita
Sue Seaborn
WRITE
SPORTS.
YOULL WIN AT
EVERYTHING
FOR LIFE.
Live in Concert
Brunton
Auditorium
@ Mount A
November 8
$18.00
tax & service charges
included
Get your
tickets at
Tidewater Books
Live Bait Theatre
or
www.ticketpro.ca
CELEBRATE UNICORN COSTUMES AND
INDEPENDENT MEDIA
OPINIONS
Darren Mercer
Argosy Staff
I have to make a couple confessions.
I like the earth, I actually think its
kind of awesome. I think we, as a
civilization, have been irresponsible
stewards of this planet, and have
abused it to a level which, in some
ways, may be irreversible. I think, as a
society, our unwillingness to all agree
to admit these mistakes weve made
is a sad statement about the nature
of humankind. I also think that it
should be one of our foremost goals
to attempt to preserve what remains
of our environment, and repair what
damage we have caused.
I have one more confession to make,
however. I think Mount Allisons
Campus Climate Challenge is absurd.
Mt. As Campus Climate Challenge,
set to begin this Saturday, November
1, is a contest in which the residences
on campus are issued a challenge
to reduce their energy usage over
the course of one month, which,
in the case of this years challenge,
will be November. Energy usage is
monitored by Facilities Management,
and compared with statistics from last
year, allowing the residence that shows
the greatest percentage decrease year-
to-year to be declared the winner,
and given all prizes and pride that
achievement entails.
Im sure the environmentalists at
Eco-Action, the society behind the
event, had only the best intentions
when implementing the contest, and
a belief that it truly would increase
awareness of the many ways students
can decrease their environmental
impact while living in residence.
Somewhere during its implementation,
however, the competitive nature of the
project has perverted this goal, turning
the contest into a curious oddity.
e contest now represents an
environmental absurdity in most
residences, as students are encouraged,
Environmental bulimia plagues Mt. A
e unsustainable campus climate challenge returns for a new year
by a various assortment of residential
executives, eco-reps, and ambitious
housemates, to use a wide variety of
unsustainable practices to quickly
diminish energy usage for one specic
month.
In the area of laundry, for example,
students are encouraged to use a wide
range of methods to limit energy
usage. Some of the focus is placed on
reasonable ways to reduce energy, such
as encouraging the usage of cold water
in washers, and drying clothing by
hanging rather than using the driers.
Disappointingly, though, much of the
focus is actually placed on methods
which, while decreasing the energy
usage in that specic residence for
the month-long period, actually do
nothing to decrease a students true
environmental impact. Students, for
example, are encouraged to do all their
laundry on October 30 and 31, so that
they will be able to avoid this for as
long as possible during November.
Even more hypocritically, students
are encouraged to, when possible,
avoid using the residence facilities for
tasks such as laundry, or showering. It
is sometimes suggested that students
do their laundry at the new student
centre, or a town laundromat, shower
at the athletics centre, or not at all, or
even do these tasks at the house of a
friend living o-campus.
While these practices will be very
eective at reducing the perceived
energy usage in one residence for
a single month, few of these will
actually do anything to truly reduce
the environmental impact of a student,
as energy is simply used at another
building rather than their own
residence.
Even more disappointing is
that many of these practices are
unsustainable. While a student may
agree to stop showering for a week,
to temporarily and drastically reduce
their energy usage for that month, is
this a practice which that student will
continue later in their life? It would
have been more eective to train that
student in a sustainable practice, such
as staggered showers, which they
would have then continued past the
end of the month-long contest.
e Campus Climate Challenge,
in its current form, represents the
environmental equivalent of crash
dieting. By analyzing only one month
of an academic year, it encourages
students to use unsustainable practices
to decrease short-term energy usage.
is problem needs to be remedied
for the contest to be truly eective in
encouraging awareness of sustainable
practices.
e contest needs to be transformed
from a month-long challenge to a year
long event, where the energy usage of
each residence is compared September
to April. By doing so, residences
will be forced to practice sustainable,
long-term methods for decreasing
their environmental impact, such as
staggered showers, cold-water laundry,
and turning o unnecessary lights.
No longer will residences be able to
focus on unsustainable, crash diet
methods to have an impact. Instead,
students will be encouraged to develop
sustainable, eective, and long-term
habits to reduce their environmental
impact, habits that they will continue
long after they leave residence.
Is using the washers in the Student Centre (left) more environmentally friendly than using the ones in Edwards House (right)?
Darren Mercer Erin Jemczyk
Jeffrey Parker
Caution to readers: is article directly
discusses specic event in the lm
ere Will Be Blood. If you would not
like anything spoiled for you, then
you shouldnt read this.
In last weeks issue of e Argosy,
Dylan Cunningham wrote an article
entitled Oscars Pick Should Be
Trashed, imploring readers to avoid
P.T. Andersons award winning and
critically acclaimed 2007 lm, ere
Will Be Blood. Cunningham tells us
that the lm, is an oense to cinematic
enjoyment. However, by not oering
sucient objective evidence, he fails to
prove that said movie is unworthy of
the acclaim it has earned. ough he
claims, quite legitimately, that he did
not like ere Will Be Blood, he errs
by trying to deter others from watching
the lm. It seems as if Cunningham
has mistaken opinion from critic.
Examining Cunninghams article,
one cannot help but notice that he
comments on many positive aspects of
the lm. He makes specic reference
to how the lm is well shot, and of
its technical prowess, not to mention
awarding Daniel Day-Lewis a great
big plaque reading Best Actor Ever or
at Least in the Top Ten. It seems fair
to assume that Cunningham would at
least assert that ere Will Be Blood
is a well-made lm. Why then, are
we discouraged from watching P.T.
Andersons lm? He does oer a few
reasons, the validity of which shall be
considered here.
He asserts that there are signicant
problems with Day-Lewis character.
His claim is that no real psychological
proling of Daniel Plainview is
possible, and that the character is
inconsistent. Plainview, however, is a
realistic character in a realistic movie.
Real people are not consistent, and
dont t comfortably into psychological
proles. ough admittedly Plainviews
actions may seem inconsistent with his
character on a surface level, what must
be recognized is that the motivations
behind those actions are consistent
ones. For example, it may seem
inconsistent that Plainview abandons
his adopted son, alone on a train only
to send for his return later. Consider
Plainviews introduction of his son at
the beginning of the movie. Plainview
is proposing at a town meeting to drill
oil in the small community, he says,
I am a family man. I run a family
business. is is my son and business
partner H.W. Plainview. We oer you
the bond of family that very few oil
men can understand. However H.W.
is not Plainviews son at all, so what
then is the relationship between the
two? First and foremost it is a business
relationship. When H.W. is rendered
deaf his use to Daniel is over. Plus,
he no longer needs H.W. in order
to maintain the pretext of running a
family business since his assumed
brother Henry has arrived on the scene.
Once Henrys real identity becomes
known and Daniel kills him, he once
again needs H.W. In addition, he must
save face after Eli Sunday publicly
makes him admit to abandoning his
child. How do we know that Daniel
is not acting out of love for the boy?
H.W.s return is not lmed in a close
up showing the emotional response of
either character, but instead we view
the reunion in one continuous long
shot representative of the emotional
distance.
Cunningham is not so kind in his
analysis of Paul Danos performance,
which he did not like. He writes,
[Dano] makes an uncomfortable
and even irritating spectacle in his
big scenes as young Eli Sunday.
is statement actually serves itself
better as a positive review of Danos
performance, for who is Eli Sunday, if
not uncomfortable, irritating, and loud?
A realistic playing out of dramatic
situations characterizes ere Will Be
Blood, and may be why Cunningham
claims the movie lacks story and seems
directionless. Certainly it doesnt follow
the three-act structure that dominates
contemporary cinema, however, plot is
not the primary concern of ere Will
Be Blood. Instead, it is a character
study, similar to lms like Raging Bull,
or Serpico. It is more of a literary
lm in the sense that the events and
characters function to develop the
lms themes and ideas, as opposed to
pushing the story forward.
e claim in the article that is the
most disconcerting is one mentioned
above, that ere Will Be Blood is an
oense to cinematic enjoyment. He
goes on to describe the tone as one of
discomfort for the viewer. Statements
such as this pose not a critical response
to a lm, but a subjective one. If we
are to consider lm as an art form, and
not simply empty escapism, then we
must allow for the art to be disturbing,
and not write it o when it pushes our
comfort levels, or fails to conform to
our ideas of what the lm should be.
is is not to suggest that the viewers
response to a piece of art is invalid,
however a critical response relies on
objective evaluation and knowledge
of what works cinematically and
what does not. Neither of which were
suciently present in Cunninghams
article.
Finally, ere Will Be Blood, beyond
being a well-made lm, is an important
lm. In a time of a global fuel crisis,
a story of the greed, corruption, and
money that said industry is built
upon has profound implications into
our modern world. To guide people
away from such a lm is a mistake.
Cunningham didnt enjoy ere Will
Be Blood, and thats ne, however,
oering his opinion as if it were a critic
is simply irresponsible.
In defense of ere Will Be Blood
O
PAGE 6 THE ARGOSY OPINIONS OCTOBER 30, 2008
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Katherine Boyle - B.O.D.I.E.S.
As B.O.D.I.E.S kicks o its two-
month anti-violence campaign, it is
important to realize that violence
against women is still a prevalent issue
within Canada and worldwide, and
one that is widespread enough to merit
everyones involvement in putting
an end to it. According to numbers
provided by Statistics Canada from
the 2004 census, 198 women were
murdered in 2004, of this number 75
were killed by their partners; mainly
husbands, but also boyfriends, and on
average 182 women are killed each
year. While these numbers alone are
shocking it is important to realize
that these are only the cases of abuse
that escalated to murder; this does not
include the number of women who
have been physically abused, raped, and
stalked each year. It is also interesting
to note that these are just the reported
numbers; there are denitely many
more women who have not reported
cases of abuse. So these numbers,
while still terrifyingly high, do not in
any sense truly encapsulate the reality
of the situation.
It is easy to read these numbers
and be shocked and horried for a
few minutes, but then to put them
down and return to ones daily life
and activities. After all, they are just
numbers, and many people can ignore
them and think that they themselves
are not at risk. However it is interesting
to look at what many women do each
day, without thinking, to stay safe
and to lessen the chances of having
violence occur to them. Many women
do not feel secure to walk alone after
dark; if they have to, many often keep
their cell phones handy, even open and
ready to dial for help. Many women
have probably at some point in their
life been told to keep their keys in
their hand as it could serve as a make-
shift weapon if attacked. ere are
several other stay-safe techniques that
women do knowingly, and some that
are so ingrained that they are done
without thinking. While it is smart for
women to take precautions, it is also
sad that these precautions have to be
taken and are so ingrained and such an
Not just numbers
everyday part of our world. So while
the large, scary statistics are denitely
horrifying, it is also the little everyday
safety habits that are truly saddening.
As mentioned before, when faced
with an issue of this scale, a common
reaction is to feel empathetic towards
these women for a few moments, but
then to turn a blind eye and continue
on with life. ese issues seem too
huge and pervasive for one person to
make a dierence; but there are many
things that people can do to help the
ght against violence without being
overwhelmed. On the most basic level
men and women need to be supportive
of victims who come forward. is
seems so basic, but many women do
not report abuse because they feel that
they will be viewed negatively, or feel
that people will be able to justify the
abuse against them, and that somehow
the situation will be seen as their
fault. Some options for helping to
ght violence against women include
joining a human rights advocacy group
such as Amnesty International, which
is involved with major campaigns
worldwide to stop violence against
women and girls. Supporting womens
shelters monetarily or through
volunteer time is also an excellent
option; having the resource of a shelter
is especially important for women who
have experienced domestic violence
and need a place to stay away from
their abuser. Even just becoming more
aware of violence against women is
a start; education about its existence,
causes, outcomes and prevention, as
well as helping victims, is extremely
important. If anyone is interested in
becoming involved with the anti-
violence campaign at Mt. A, come to
a B.O.D.I.E.S meeting, or take part in
the Take Back the Night walk which is
coming up soon.
Sam Gregg-Wallace
is past weekend Sackville was blessed
with some of the best Canadian artists.
is issue of the Argosy will, Im sure,
lay them all out on the table. But there
is one instance in particular that I
would like to bring to the attention
of the student body as an example
of much appreciation I have for this
community
e concert at Convocation Hall
on Saturday night featured the
talented Joel Plaskett with his ever-
supportive father Bill, opening for
the magnicent Ron Sexsmith. After
the show had nished and the crowds
disbursed, I approached the stage
and asked Ron and the band for an
autograph, assuming this would end a
great evening of Canadas nest music.
Whos in your kitchen?
Chris Durrant
Argosy Staff
It seemed as if he had no idea
there were any other victims in the
Holocaust than Jews. at was my
impression this weekend after hearing
a short presentation given by a fourth
year political science major at another
university. is student was given ten
minutes to talk about his experiences
with the March of Remembrance
and Hope, a non-prot group that
takes university students on tours of
concentration camps and related sites.
roughout his talk, he described
the chilling experience of touring
concentration camps. My problem
with his descriptions however, was that
he used the word Jew in the sentences
that applied to all the victims of the
concentration camps, such as when
the Jews entered the camp, their
One step towards never again
e critical role the Holocausts other victims
heads were shaved. roughout his
presentation, he never once made a
reference to any of the other victims of
the Holocaust.
All groups that were sent to
the concentration camps suered
immeasurable cruelty. Nothing should
ever be done to diminish the memory of
the six million Jewish people who died
in the camps. It is imperative however,
that the other victims be remembered
with equal vigor. e lives of Roma,
Communists, Free Masons, Jehovahs
Witnesses, homosexuals, Poles,
criminals, and those with disabilities
must all be remembered.
A discussion of the Holocaust
that only mentions Jewish victims
is less challenging to the audience.
Listeners need only reect on their
views and actions towards religious
minorities. e challenge increases
the more groups that are mentioned.
When Communists are mentioned,
it is encouragement to reect on the
humanity of those who hold dierent
political views than the mainstream.
When Jehovahs Witnesses are
mentioned, it is a call to think about
the value of the lives of people who
may seem to separate themselves from
mainstream society. When criminals
are mentioned, we are reminded of
the limits to what people who have
done wrong should be subjected to in
return.
e fact that this student was able
to go on a week long tour in Poland
and Germany, and not understand
the role of the other victims raises
questions. What is being talked about
during the March of Remembrance
and Hope? Naturally all organizations
have their graduates who ignore or
misunderstand the lessons theyve been
taught. However, this student provides
good reason to ask questions about the
programs curriculum, and about the
language and approaches we use when
we talk about the Holocaust.
If we are to pursue the goal of
never again,we cant be sloppy. When
we talk about the Holocaust, we need
to approach it not as a tragedy that
happened to a certain group or groups
of people, but as one of many instances
in human history where people who
were perceived as others or opposed
a conformist project, were vilied and
then had their human rights violated.
e more we understand that
the Holocaust and similar events as
nal outcomes of the vilication of
dierence, the better we can guard
against the behaviours that are the
initials steps towards these atrocities.
Oh, how wrong I was.
Skipping a few precursory details,
Ron Sexsmith and his band found
themselves immersed in the culture
of a cultural capital, in my kitchen.
For a couple hours Ron and company
sat around my kitchen table eating,
drinking, and playing music. As we
listened to old Dylan and Zevon
records, the band spoke of being
welcomed into peoples homes, drank
too much homemade wine, and sang
songs.
All good things, of course, must
come to an end. e band departed
and I was left with a kitchen full of
empty wine bottles and a stupid grin
on my face. Im not sure if Ron will
come back to Sackville, but I hope he
feels welcome. Victims of violence are people
usatoday.com
Erin Jemczyk
Ron Sexsmith had a great time with Sam.
FEATURES
Sasha Van Katwyk
Argosy Staff
In the same week that Catalyst
presented their series of queer puns
for awareness week, another Positive
Space campaign made their presence
ocially known. Campbell Hall
held their Positive Space Campaign
kicko, making it the rst residence
to have a Positive Space program.
While Catalyst focuses mostly on
issues of sexuality, we wanted Positive
Space in Campbell to be broader to
address all forms of discrimination a
resident might feel,says Mike Minard,
Campbells Positive Space coordinator,
and this years Assistant Don.
To send this message to those
attending the kicko, Minard and the
campaigns student facilitators had
couch stations at which dierent issues
were discussed in terms of how one
might feel unaccepted by their peers. e
issues were ethnicity, religion, sexuality,
social awkwardness, and disabilities.
e idea to have a campaign in
residence arose at a seminar organized
by Catalyst last year, where the club
presented to house execs and RAs
the idea of in-residence campaigns.
I think that residence is the place
where a large majority of Mt. A
students begin their life here, said
Catalyst president, Katie Saulnier,
and by educating students early on
aboutissues in residence, those
students will then go on to take those
lessons of inclusivity with them in their
upper years to the rest of campus.
Some students interviewed
about the houses campaign
thought it was unnecessary.
It seems pointless to have people
running up and down the halls
screaming, this is a positive space,like
were living in Care Bear land, said
one student. We dont have serious
discrimination issues and of course
Im not against it, but being told that
we do discriminate and having posters
of multi-coloured geckos (the house
animal) on the walls seems like a waste.
Indeed, there were those around
campus who, upon being told of
Campbell Halls Positive Space
Campaign responded with a mix of
humour and annoyance, the consensus
being that it was a waste of time. One
student said Only in Campbell
I dont think discrimination is
widespread, says Campbell Halls
Don, Robin MacDonald, its more
subtle in how it occurspeople
might not realise when theyre saying
or doing something thats oensive
or hurtful to those around them,
and I think thats the reason why
Positive Space is important here.
Without question, the large majority
of Mt. A students interviewed believe
that Positive Space in residence is
a good idea. e question for many
of them, however, was how the
campaign goes beyond what and RA
is already supposed to be doing with
regards to issues of discrimination.
Mike Minard made it clear at the
kick o that Positive Space is not
an activist body meant to weed out
discrimination. Instead its a forum
for student concerns and issues that,
through the facilitators and discussion
around the house, can raise awareness.
Were trying to bring ideas out
and opening peoples minds, Minard
points out, to allow more open
discussion about these issues, and for
people to feel more comfortable about
how they feel and what they think.
In a group interview with students,
there was a question of, at what point is
something no longer debate, and instead
discriminatory? e example used was
a hypothetical situation involving a
full blown scientologist sharing their
beliefs with non-believing peers. One
student presented this question: Now
if one of them says to the scientologist,
isnt the idea of aliens setting o
nukes in our volcanoes releasing spirit
devils into the world that we expel
Positive space campaign in residence raises debates
What happens when a gecko goes rainbow?
A rainbow coloured gecko. (It was rainbow coloured, before it was converted to greyscale. Trust us on this.)
whenever we sneeze or crap kind of
ridiculous? Is that discrimination?
ese are the kinds of questions
we want asked, says Minard, when
told of the hypothetical encounter
in an interview. Were not trying
to stie debate. I think its good
to be open enough to talk about
things like that in a respectful way
with others to nd out for yourself
whats acceptable and what isnt.
As for his take on the possible
discrimination towards the hypothetical
scientologist, Minard pointed out that
it was purely situational, as many alleged
acts of discrimination turn out to be.
Campbell Halls Positive Space kick
o showed that there are certainly
many students open to these kinds
of discussions, with approximately 65
residents showing up to hear about the
campaign, an impressive amount for
this kind of event,according to Minard.
ere was support for the event
outside the house as well, with a
Christina Free
Argosy Contributor
In 1990, Aung San Suu Kyi ran for
oce as the leader of the National
League for Democracy when the
military junta held a general election
in Burma. Although she won
decisively, and would have assumed
role as prime minister, the military
nullied her victory and placed her
under house arrest despite both local
and international outcry. Since then,
she has become an international
symbol for peaceful resistance in
the face of oppression, and won
the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
She said e struggle for
democracy and human rights
in Burma is a struggle for life
and dignity. It is a struggle that
encompasses our political, social, and
economic aspirations.e repression
regime of the military junta in Burma
continues to commit human rights
violations today while Aung San
Suu Kyi perseveres as a spokesperson
for the average Burmese citizen.
is humanitarian crisis has been
playing out for over 20 years, and
under the harsh military regime,
thousands upon thousands have
been brutally slaughtered, even more
have been detained, forced into slave
labour, and displaced from their
homes. Burmese women and girls
have been raped and sexually violated,
and many have been tracked into
ailand and forced into prostitution.
Amnesty International has
commented that torture has become
an institution in Burma, and the
United Nations have repeatedly
detailed the aforementioned crimes
against humanity. ere are over
1,300 political prisoners who
were detained without fair trial.
In 2002, the military committed
over 173 incidents of rape and other
forms of sexual violence involving
625 girls and women in the Shan
state, and these numbers are most
likely a conservative estimate.
Rape is condoned as a weapon
of war by the military junta to
control ethnic minorities within the
Burmese borders, and 25 per cent
of all rapes have resulted in death.
On May 3, 2008, Cyclone Nargis
brought new suering to the people of
Burma. A suering made worse by the
military regimes adamant refusal to
accept the international communitys
oers of humanitarian assistance.
e list goes on and on, and the
global community has heard the cries
of the Burmese and have recognized
their agony. Panties for Peace is one
such organization that has recognized
the need for change in Burma, and
has taken action against the military
generals in a most creative way.
Established by the Lanna Action
for Burma, a womans organization
based on the Burma-ailand
border, the group plays on the
regime leaders superstitious fear that
contact with a womans underpants
will rob them of their power.
e horrible aftermath of Cyclone
Nargis has helped remind us all of
Panties for peace. Boxers for Burma.
the military regimes corruption
and tyranny, says Lanna Action
for Burma. e regime is now
in a weakened state and we must
use every power at our disposal
to see it toppled once and for all.
e Rights and Democracy Chapter
of Mount Allison University has
recognized Lanna Action for Burmas
cry for help, to speak out against the
actions of the military generals in
Burma. e group is one of many
all over the world that is running a
Panties for Peace campaign on
campus to raise awareness of the
travesties faced by Burmese women
every day, and also to send their panties
as a clear message to the military junta
that their actions will not be tolerated.
For the rest of the week, the
group has set up a collection box
in the library for students and
faculty to donate their panties
(paper or real) and boxers which
will be sent to the representatives
of the military junta in Canada.
Mika Levesque, the Asia Regional
Ocer with Rights and Democracy
will be coming to speak at Mount
Allison University on Monday,
November 3 at 8 pm at the Wu Centre.
e Rights and Democracy Chapter
encourage all students to participate in
the campaign to show solidarity with
the women of Burma and condemn
the actions of the military government.
e Lanna Action for Burma
cry out to the world for support:
We women of Burma need the
support of women around the world.
Your commitment to endorse this
important and therapeutic campaign
on our behalf gives hope, courage,
and triumph to the women of Burma
at the time when we need it most.
Challenges that will be faced, mainly
that not everyone necessarily wants
to be involved in res, or is willing
to consider changing their way of
thinking about issues of inclusivity.
is is a universal issue though, and
I think that the more people see
others being accepting, the more they
will be inclined to do so themselves.
Internet Photo
few administrative ocials passing
through to see the campaign, and even
take part in some of the discussion, and
Aramark Foods donated an estimated
$300 worth of food and beverages as
a gesture of support for the campaign.
What were hoping for is not only
for this to catch on in Campbell, but
for other houses to create their own
Positive Space campaigns based on
what their residents think is important
to be discussed, says Minard.
I think its really great Campbell
Hall wants to expand this
endeavour, Catalysts Saulnier said
in an interview, there are all sorts of
challenges that will be faced, mainly
that not everyone necessarily wants
to be involved in res, or is willing
to consider changing their way of
thinking about issues of inclusivity.
is is a universal issue though, and
I think that the more people see
others being accepting, the more they
will be inclined to do so themselves.
F
PAGE 8 THE ARGOSY FEATURES OCTOBER 30, 2008
Rev. John C. Perkin
University Chaplain
e conservative Christian group in
the United States, Focus on the Family,
is trying to rally the evangelical wing
of Christian America into support
for John McCain for President. He
is, they argue, the candidate who
represents their interests and biblical
values.
ey describe the possible dire
consequences of electing Barack
Obama, Democratic candidate, to the
American Presidency; in a letter from
2012,an imagined future is lled with
suggestions of fear, including terrorist
strikes on four American cities, Russia
invading Eastern Europe, and Israel
being hit by a nuclear bomb.
e Focus on the Family makes
Republican values principally
promotion of Christian interests in
the public sphere equivalent to
Christian values. Focus on the Family
wants a return to strong Christian
and biblical values of the kind that it
specically endorses.
One wonders about some of these
purportedly Christian and biblical
values that Focus on the Family
stands behind, such as gun ownership,
increased drilling for oil, making it
more dicult for unions to organize,
barring homosexuals from jobs, such
as teaching, and the military. What
are the biblical values in this current
election? What are biblical or Christian
values generally?
Perhaps we might begin by rst
turning to the Bible, and the opening
book, Genesis. We read there a story
not about how the world was made, as is
often assumed, but rather a story about
Gods love for creation. e emphasis
is on the goodness of creation. It is, at
heart, an environmental story.
Why is the environment not an
issue for the evangelical churches?
Why do they seek, as a response to
fears over oil shortages, to encourage
more consumption, more drilling,
more exploration, more carbon gas
emissions? Why is the evangelical
chorus drill, baby, drill, not conserve,
conserve, conserve?
Poverty needs to be mentioned,
although it is conspicuously absent
from the Focus on the Family letter
of fear. Of the thirty thousand plus
verses in the Bible, over two thousand
of them touch on the issue of poverty,
with the injunction that poverty must
be eradicated, the poor defended and
supported, that justice meaning a
more equitable balance of wealth and
food be done.
In the United States, over thirty
million people, including twelve million
children, live below the poverty line.
When one examines poverty level on
racial lines, it doubles among African
Americans.
rough stained glass
Argosy Staff
Death of a Great king
Alfred the Great died on Oct. 26, ca.
899. Although the cause of his death
is unknown, historians speculate that
it may have been related to a painful
illness, most likely Crohns Disease.
e only king in the history of
the English monarchy to take on the
epithet the Great, Alfred came to
the throne of Wessex after the death
of his brother, Aethelred, in 871. He
is particularly known for his defence
of his kingdom against the invading
Vikings, until 886, when he captured
London, eventually becoming
recognized by Saxons and Danes alike
as their king. He was also the rst
king to hold the title of King of the
English.
Because of his deep interest in
learning and religion, he encouraged
education, and worked to improve the
law system of his kingdom. He founded
court schools to educate nobles and he
encouraged the great scholars of the
time to come to England.
He is also famous for making
English the ocial written language
of Britain, he himself used English to
translate several religious texts, which,
prior to this change, had all been
written in Latin.
She just wanted to kill the most
On Oct. 29, 1901, Jane Toppan (born
Honora Kelley) was arrested for the
murder of the Davis family of Boston,
killed by an overdose of morphine.
Shortly after her arrest, Toppan
confessed to have killed almost 31
people, and was reported to have said
that her ambition was to kill more
people helpless people than any
other man or woman who ever lived.
Born in Massachusetts, her family
had a history of mental illness, and at
a young age she and her sister were
put in an orphanage by their father.
She was later adopted by Ann Toppan,
but not ocially, although she gave
the child her last name. Her adopted
mother was reportedly abusive, and
Toppan resented her, but remained
with her foster family.
In 1885, she began training to be a
nurse at Cambridge Hospital; all the
while using her patients as test subjects,
using them to see how the nervous
system would react to dierent doses
of morphine and atropine. Although
she killed several people during her
experiments, no one ever suspected
foul play.
In 1889, she was recommended to
the reputable Massachusetts General
Hospital, where she killed several
more patients before being red the
next year. She returned to Cambridge
Hospital, but was dismissed later; she
then began to work as a private nurse.
In 1895, she began a killing spree,
rst by killing her landlords and then
killing her foster sister, who she had
hated due to the familys favouritism of
the sister. In 1901, Toppan was hired
by the Davis family to care for Alden
Davis, after the death of his wife (at
the hands of Toppan). Within mere
weeks of moving in with the Davis
family, Toppan managed to kill Davis
and two of his daughters.
Afterwards, she began to date her
(now dead) foster sisters husband,
then killed his sister, and poisoned
him, so she could prove herself by
nursing him back to health. She
even went as far as to poison herself
to evoke his sympathy, but all it got
her was out of his house. By the time
she had been kicked out of his house,
the remaining members of the Davis
family had ordered toxicology test on
Davis youngest daughter; the results
came back saying that she had been
poisoned.
e Davis called the police and
gave them Toppans description. ey
promptly arrested her for murder.
Even though she confessed to killing
31 people, she was found not guilty
by reason of insanity at her trial, and
was sentenced to be imprisoned at an
asylum for life.
Martians are invading
On October 30, 1938, Orson
Welles directed and narrated a radio
adaptation of H.G. Wells War of the
Worlds, performed as a Halloween
special episode, creating panic among
those who heard it, believing the news
bulletins to be real.
e rst part of the hour-long
broadcast consisted of false news
bulletins and reports, suggesting to
listeners that there was actually a
Martian invasion in process. Adding
to the dramatic eect was the fact
that the radio show ran completely
free of radio commercials. e radio
A weekly compilation by Sarah Robinson
This week in history
show company used a contemporary
documentary-style newscast to retell
the main events of Wells novel.
Some listeners, however, had only
heard parts of the broadcast, and with
the anxiety leading up to World War
II, mistook the show for an actual
news broadcast. Newspapers reported
that the broadcast caused sensational
terror, making people ee their homes,
thinking they could smell poisonous
gases or believing that they could see
ashing lights in the sky. However,
research studies have shown that
although spooked, listeners were not
scared enough to leave their houses.
Also this week:
Oct. 26, 1776: Benjamin Franklin
leaves America to travel to France,
in search of French support for the
American Revolution
Oct. 26, 1905: Norway becomes
independent from Sweden
Oct. 26, 1965: e Beatles are
appointed Members of the Order of
the British Empire
Oct. 27, 1904: the rst underground
NYC subway line opens
Oct. 27, 1914: birth of Welsh poet
Dylan omas
Oct. 28, 1848: the rst railroad
in Spain opens, running between
Barcelona and Matar
Oct. 28, 1929: Black Monday, a day in
the Wall Street Crash of 1929
Oct. 29, 1390: rst witchcraft trial in
Paris
Oct. 29, 1618: adventurer and writer
Sir Walter Raleigh is beheaded for
allegedly conspiring against James I of
England
Oct. 30, 1485: Henry VII is crowned
king of England
Oct. 30, 1821: Russian writer Fyodor
Dostoevsky is born
Oct. 30, 1922: Benito Mussolini is
made Prime Minister of Italy
Oct. 30, 1960: Michael Woodru
completes the rst successful kidney
transplant in the UK
Oct. 31, 1517: Martin Luther posts his
95 eses on the door of a church in
Wittenberg, Germany
Oct. 31, 1795: English poet John
Keats is born
Oct. 31, 1892: Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle publishes e Adventures of
Sherlock Holmes
Oct. 31, 1926: death of magician/
escapist Harry Houdini
Oct. 31, 1961: Joseph Stalins body
is removed from Lenins Tomb in
Russia
Oct. 31, 1984: Indian Prime Minister
Indira Ghandi is assassinated by two
Sikh security guards
Nov. 1, 1512: the ceiling of the Sistine
Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, is
shown to the public for the rst time
Nov. 1, 1604: rst showing of William
Shakespeares tragedy Othello
Nov. 1, 1611: rst showing of William
Shakespeares romantic comedy e
Tempest
Nov. 1, 1894: Nicholas II becomes
Tsar of Russia
Nov. 1, 1911: rst dropping of a bomb
from a plane in combat
Nov. 1, 1939: rst rabbit born after
articial insemination is exhibited to
the world
Why is this not the dominant thrust
of a group concerned with biblical
values? It seems that committed
Christians should be concerned rst
with the eradication of poverty, as the
key concern enunciated by the prophets
and by Jesus. What happened to the
war on poverty?
And mentioning war, the cost of the
war in Iraq has now run up to half a
trillion dollars, and continues to climb
in lives. Over four thousand American
soldiers have been killed, and over thirty
thousand wounded. is takes nothing
into account of the incredible damage
to Iraq in infrastructure, in health, in
lives lost including many civilian lives.
e evangelical organization, Focus
on the Family, is concerned that
Obama will seek to bring American
troops home, to end this conict that
seems to have no denition. ere is in
the bible, running from the prophets
through the prophetic teachings of
Jesus, a consistent message of peace,
of standing against war, of doing the
things that make for peace.
e familiar words of Micah come
to mind, they shall beat their swords
into ploughshares and their spears into
pruning hooks. e words of Jesus in
the Sermon on the Mount, blessed are
the peacemakers, seem to suggest that
an approach other than armed conict
is to be desired by people of faith.
e Hebrew prophet Isaiah spoke of
security, not in terms of armed defence,
but in terms of a peace that comes
from justice: he envisioned a world in
which each would have their own vine
and g tree, so no one can make them
afraid.
Why not implore church members
to vote for the candidate who wants
to mediate, to enter into diplomacy,
to seek other solutions than armed
conict.
e biblical injunction against war,
for justice, is based on a premise of the
sanctity of life, the need to choose life,
to preserve life. All life. It is holding
a consistent ethic for life. e Judeo-
Christian tradition from the prophets
to Jesus addresses threats to life, and
seeks to redeem life. is is not a plea
for the anti-abortion platform. e
biblical ethic did not take abortion
into account. A consistent ethic for
life means reecting on all issues.
Guarding life, in all forms, and not
seeking vengeance through execution,
not permitting genocide to take place,
seeing all life as equal.
In the 1970s, American President
Jimmy Carter a committed Christian
who stood at odds with many of his
evangelical colleagues once asked
how many African children it took to
equal one American child as a way of
calling attention to the need to respond
to humanitarian crises in Africa. His
response, of course, was only one.
In matters of life and the sanctity of
life, there are no easy simple formulas
by which to judge all issues. Faith and
politics cannot be reduced to saying
no, or yes, to abortion, and yes, or no,
to capital punishment. In matters of
life and the sanctity of life, war is an
issue. Genocide is an issue. Health
care is an issue. End of life ethics is
an issue. Stem cell research is an issue.
e treatment of prisoners, including
prisoners of war, is an issue.
ese are issues that are not resolved
by revisiting old laws and turning back
the clock, but by working to ensure
that the deeper matters are raised and
understood, and that life is valued in a
just society.
Every human being bears the image
of God, so issues must be resolved
through seeking to protect and preserve
human rights and human dignity. e
biblical injunction is to see the image
of God in all people, to welcome the
stranger, to uphold the dispossessed,
to love even the unlovable. e list
could go on.
Focus on the Family has decided to
focus on a very narrow denition of
family - as the white and the privileged
- and has made that the standard for
biblical ethics. It is a signicant voting
bloc in the American election.
It will be interesting to see if
evangelical Christians are able to look
beyond their own self-interests to
really see the Christian biblical ethic,
and if that will make a dierence on
election day.
F
OCTOBER 30, 2008 FEATURES THE ARGOSY PAGE 9
by Vision in Blue
I was at a sex store in Moncton last
Friday, getting some gummy boobs
(fruity and edible!), among other
things, and noticed this energy
drink claiming to increase sexual
performance. e only ingredient on
the list that actually looked promising
was caeine, meaning the $10 drink
was most likely merely just redbull
with blue dye.
To the sex industry, performance
enhancing supplements are a huge
industry. While popping Viagra may
be enjoyable, however, heres a list of
some natural aphrodisiacs which you
may be interested in trying:
Chocolate: Its got antioxidants,
and is wonderfully tasty, but what
you really want to take note of is
that it releases one of the same
neuropeptides than your body does
after sex, endorphins (which resemble
opiates). While the level of release
isnt the same as an orgasm, a Hershey
bar isnt gonna make you cream, if you
stick to the dark chocolate variety,
and make sure its good quality (like
Doln, Callebaut, or Green&Black),
you might just get a very enjoyable
experience out of it.
Oysters: ese are especially good
for men, as they boost zinc levels,
which, in addition to helping your
immune system, increases your bodys
production of testosterone. Oysters
are also full of rare amino acids, which
increase sex hormones. Champagne
party, anyone?
Chili: Im East Indian, I like a little
spice in my food. My country is also
responsible for writing the Kama
Sutra. Do you see the connection?
Add a bit of spice to your food, or eat
chili peppers straight out of the fridge.
Whatever your method, itll probably
make you all hot and bothered. (Note
that with the chilies, wash your hands
thoroughly before sticking ngers near
genitalia, as the burning sensation that
will result wont be pleasant.)
Poison: I dont recommend this
one, mostly because too much can
cause you to die, which would suck.
However, it is said that rat poison, in
small quantities, can cause intense,
yet pleasurable pain to ones genitals.
Instead, Id suggest visiting a sex store,
as there are many creams that cause
anything from tingling to pain down
there (and theres no risk of death).
Check out names like Tickle Her
Pink or Tickle Her Like A Virgin.
Im sure theres stu for guys as well,
inquire at the counter.
Avocado: If you look at the way
these grow on trees, youll notice they
grow in dangling pairs, kind of like
certain male body parts. e Aztecs
called the avocado tree Ahuacatl,
which roughly translates to testicle
tree.
Asparagus: Im not sure if this is
because of the phallic shape or not,
but note that the tips of this veggie
are particularly important.
Other Aphrodisiacs: For more fun,
try Coee, Garlic, Lobster, Unagi,
Yeast and Wine.
Just a note on that last one, excess
alcohol has a negative eect on sexual
performance. Its called Whiskey
Dick for a reason, but theres also
Rum Dick, Vodka Dick, Beer Dick,
and the list goes on.
And if you still want to go the
Viagra route, 23 million males (and
counting!) have been prescribed the
drug since it rst came out.
Corey Isenor and
James Goddard
Argosy Correspondents
Save Easy
75 Main St.

Most of you have probably been to
the Save Easy before to pick up some
exam period snacks or get that missing
ingredient for your pot-luck dish, but
have you ever noticed the deli section?
Grocery stores are commonly thought
of as places to go for raw foods, but
value-added products do exist.
e local grocery store oers
prepared options such as wraps and
sandwiches; lettuce, spinach and
various other kinds of salads; as well
as deep fried chicken of many kinds
and potato wedges. You can nd the
deli counter by turning right upon
entering the Save Easy, and walking
past the cashiers and the real (beyond
a student budget) cheese fridge.
ey keep the wedges and fries
under a heat lamp beside the rotisserie
chicken, the sandwiches and salads
are kept in a refrigerated shelving
unit next to that. ey oer several
lunch deals mostly involving dierent
combinations of fried chicken and
wedges.
Corey decided to go with a variation
on one of these options, instead of the
common 3 chicken strips and wedges
he got a few more (ve specically)
and a small serving of potato wedges.
e total came too $5.30, a very
reasonable price for the amount
of food he got. Also interestingly
enough, a little cheaper than the 3
pieces of chicken and wedges.
James took a dierent root and
opted for a Chicken Caesar wrap
accompanied by a bag of chips and a
Fruitopia. His total was a little more
than Coreys, but still only $6.00.
One thing that the Save Easy
certainly has going for it is its price.
It is rare that you can get a full meal
for under $8.00, even at lunchtime in
this town.
e service was also quite good.
Grocery store workers undergo some
pretty serious training regimes, I am
told, and this seems to pay o. In
James case he was able to simply pick
his sandwich up o the shelf and go,
while Corey had to be served.
e food, however, does come in
a great deal of plastic and cardboard
packaging, which given the storage
conditions is understandable but all the
same regrettable. ere are also many
vegetarian options, an abundance of
pre-made salads are available.
As this is a grocery store, those
feeling more adventurous can get a
little creative. Beyond the deli the
Save-Easy oers a wide-variety of
ready-to-eat foodstus.
Looking for something to chew on
during class? Why not pick up some
hummus and bread. Need a quick sugar
boost? Try a box of donuts. Although
these options may be convenient we
warn you that they for the most part
are not the healthiest of choices.
ere is nowhere to eat at the Save-
Easy, so we returned to campus and
ate in the new caf lounge. If it had
been a nicer day the bandstand down
and across the street would have been
a pretty good place to eat.
e food was of a decent quality,
edible without being particularly
good. e chicken was fresh and juicy
while the wedges were a bit on the
dry-side. e chicken Caesar wrap
was an interesting interpretation of
the classic; it featured a little too much
Caesar dressing and didnt really hold
together very well.
We would like to add that James
Fruitopia seemed to have spent a little
too long on the shelf in the fridge,
and all of the sugar had turned to
sediment. Corey found that his meal
didnt end up sitting too well for the
rest of the day; he wasnt sick but it
was digestively troubling.
All in all we give the Save-Easy one
thumb up. It certainly ranks highly for
aordability and convenience, but it
isnt necessarily the best place to grab
lunch for you or the environment.
Corey and James eat out
Emily Bird
Argosy Correspondent

e warm months embrace a
deconstruction of architecture with
owy fabrics, but the cool seasons
swayed designers to place the notion
of shape at centre stage. Curves, nips,
and tucks are the primary components
of jackets, skirts, and dresses in this
seasons closet.
e eighties made a reappearance
in all of Fashion Weeks collections,
whether it was subtle hints or complete
reincarnations of the cropped shoulder
padded jackets and the famous mini
skirt. e artistry displayed this fall
has dened the power of shape and
how it directs fashions character.
Curves both subtle and extreme
are the primary look of modern
fashion visionaries. Breathless
spectators automatically associate this
seasons boxy jackets, rued tails, and
cinched waists with the imperial and
pronounced eighties, however these
shapely ideals originated in the 19th
century.
Originally, this construction of a
short overskirt, the peplum, was not
attached to the jacket, but was simply
axed to the waist where it dropped
down. In the 19th century, this xture
extended much beyond the waist,
serving as an extended overskirt.
e hour-glass gure, a shape
evoking sensuality, was rst
achieved through tof cinched corsets
constructed out of whale bone. is
epitomized gure distinguishes itself
with a proclaimed narrowed waist, and
redistributed weight above and below
the waistline.
Such designers as Christian Dior
took the peplum form and created
lavished gowns that dened romantic
femininity; go back and dwell upon
sti ballroom fabrications. Others,
such as Graeme Black took a slightly
more architecturally based approach,
giving simplicity to this seasons
shapely trend.
Every woman should be excited
about accentuating the natural
feminine form this season. Keep
in mind the following key pieces to
acquire this cold seasons runway look:
shoulder pads, cinched waists, and
rued tails - invariably keep volume
in mind.
According to John Galliano, this
season evokes the optimism and
opulence of the sixties. Volume is the
foreground of this seasons painting of
trends, rather than imsy sheaths of
spring and summer. One can take a
hold of this shapely trend in either the
masses ordainty quantities. Whether it
be an oce ensemble or a statement
look for an event, this trend is adaptable
Shapely love
Internet Photo
A piece from the Christian Dior ready-to-wear Fall 2008 collection.
to any occasion at any time of the day.
If the oce is your venue, make
your day upbeat in one of this seasons
skirts. Whether it is be a bubble, tulip,
or mini skirt, the collective variety can
be worn casually with a simple tted
t-shirt, or with the sophistication of an
elegant blouse. Top o the ensemble
by sporting a tted cropped jacket with
padded shoulders, and accentuate the
waist even more evidently with a wide
belt. Your collaboration of specic fall
trends is sure to turn heads within the
dull oce space.
Going out to an exceptionally
smashing event? Exhibit your mode
of choice and hourglass gure in one
of this seasons short bubble dresses.
Peruse the collections are trendsetting
designers such as Christian Dior, John
Galliano, and Donatella Versace.
e eighties lampshade and bubble
dresses were esteemed magnique by
international audiences. If youre one
who is easily intimidated by abstract
fashion, do not worry that you will be
left out from this seasons parade of
hips, shoulders, and waists. ere is a
colour, length, and shape for every one
and their gure.
If simplicity is a key ideal, envelope
yourself in a streamlined take on
the little black dress as modeled at
Balenciagas show. Nicolas Ghesquire,
designer at Balenciaga, evoked both
tech-y and sexy in his curved molded
dresses.
Strong heels continued their reign on
the catwalks in multitudes of geometric
shapes, patterns, and bright colours.
is seasons theme of exaggerated
proportions perpetrated all the way
down to the shoes as models paraded
in unimaginable wedges, t-strap heels,
vampy Mary Janes, bright platforms,
and above the knee high boots.
Achievement of this falls
exaggerated voluminous looks is quite
a simple endeavour. e diculty
arises from the multitude of thematic
options evoked on the runways in Paris,
New York, and Milan. From Stella
McCartneys friendly eco-conscious
dressing, to Jean Paul Gaultiers animal
kingdom, and Riccardo Tiscis mix of
rocker-gypsy, the moods for fall are
ideal fantasies. Let nothing hold back
you back from falls fantastic visions.
Internet Photo
F
PAGE 10 THE ARGOSY FEATURES OCTOBER 30, 2008
Rebecca Anne Dixon
Argosy Correspondent
Welcome to the city of legends!
e 80 or so university students
arriving in St. Johns Newfoundland
for the Millennium Excellence
Awards Atlantic Regional Conference
may have felt deceived by this greeting,
as the mysterious mists of St. Johns
Harbour were strangely absent this past
weekend. Meanwhile, the gathering
of young people with big ideas about
how to impact their communities and
the world may indeed have laid the
foundations for some new legends.
e conference was appropriately
themed Moving Forward.
According to Mount Allison student
and Millennium Scholarship
Laureate Alexandra McLennan,
it stayed true to this title.
e conference wasnt about saying
were so great but about challenging
us to think about what comes nextshe
said. is was done through student-
led workshops, discussions and most
importantly, all the in-between
Millenium Scholarship Foundations time draws to an end
Scholarship of legends!
SAC President Mike Currie spoke with prospective students at last
weeks Open House. Organizers expected over 400 guests to visit.
Sasha Van Katwyk
Argosy Staff
If you want to save Africa dont give
us aid or government council, Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, former nance minister
of Nigeria said, invest in our businesses.
Development strategy in the global
south, most markedly in Africa,
has become an ad hoc collection of
non-governmental organizations
(NGOs), United Nations programs,
and national government attempts
at advancement despite pervasive
inexperience in many oces and
enormous debt to developed states.
Its reached a point where everyone
is grasping for straws, remarks well
known economist Jeery Sachs, we
have the knowledge and understanding
of the issues facing the people, but fail
to be able to address them properly.
One of the newer strategies however,
takes Okonjo-Iwealas request to heart.
Micro-nance banking organizations
such as BlueOrchard and Grameen
Bankthe Bangladeshi-based
originator of the micro-nancing
approach established by Nobel
prize winner Prof. Muhammad
Yunushave created major waves in
both the international development
realm and the banking industry.
e fundamental idea behind the
micro-nancing business is that the
Micro-Financing Institutions (MFIs)
provide loans of $1,000 (USD) or
less, to poor families overlooked by
commercial banks at under ve per
cent interestrather than the ve to
ten per cent standard banks charge.
e loans mostly go towards creating
household businesses most often run
by women. e policy of most MFIs
is to loan chiey to women to ensure
greater security for their investment.
e interest allows for prots by
the banks, irking some development
workers who believe money being put
into the developing world should be
given on philanthropic grounds alone.
As Alexandre de Lesseps, co-owner
of BlueOrchard Finance in Geneva,
points out youre not going to get rich
investing in micronance[but] you
also get the satisfaction of knowing
that your money is doing good for
people in the world. Indeed, micro-
nancing does seem to work. In the
32 years since Grameen Bank was
established, Bangladeshs rural poor
have seen an enormous increase in
living standards, particularly in the
last decade, in communities where
Grameen customers live. e results can
be seen wherever MFIs have succeeded.
MFIs around the world, the likes
of which include ACLEDA Bank in
Cambodia, Bandhan Bank in India,
Partner Bank in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
and FINCA ECU in Ecuador, have
all had enormous success in providing
opportunities for poor families in their
communities through investment.
Banking industries have taken note
of the potential two billion customers
that such investments could provide.
An important factor in the success
of MFI strategy has been the high
pay-o rate - 95 per cent of those
given loans by Grameen Bank have
paid them back on time, according
to Grameens spokesperson. De
Lesseps of BlueOrchard has insisted
that high rates of return are common
in poor communities, as it is a
matter of pride to those being given
a rst chance at something more.
Skeptics have noted that administrative
costs for making small loans can be 25
cents to the dollar, making it dicult
for MFIs to maintain their investments
without charging exorbitant interest
rates. MFI leaders have responded
that while the micronance business
is about free trade investments
and therefore about prots, theyre
willing to take losses in this particular
market to have greater gains later.
While MFIs have become a
beacon for development experts
because they actively address poverty
while keeping within the connes
of a free market system, the strategy
has not caught on yet in Africa.
Africa is a development workers
hell, to once again quote Sachs, from
war and disease to corruption and
unforgiving povertyAfricas separate
states each face a combination of
barriers [that are] not only immense
in scale but dier from place to place.
Africa has a history of, as economist
thinker Amartya Sen put it, tearing out
the crux of a development strategy by the
slightest fracture in implementation.
Indeed, MFIs have found it dicult to
establish themselves in much of Africa
for a combination of reasons, ranging
from corruption of the institutions
and infrastructure restrictions to
inexperienced bank employees that have
wrung out the social capital potential
of communities looking for loans.
Micronance is not a development
strategy in itself, however. Its an
investment stratagem designed to
tap into and expand markets that
have plausible potential for prot
for the investors. Its real place in the
development process is one aspect of
as the United Nations calls it, a multi-
pronged approach for development.
Investment is not the sole answer
to alleviating poverty, but it has
clearly presented itself as an eective
piece of the puzzle. BlueOrchards
de Lesseps believes MFIs play a
crucial role in one particular way as
well; for me the only way to make a
dierence is to make sure the money
going to poor countries is properly
managed and not just thrown away.
e free trader would argue theres
no better way to avoid ineciency than
to let the market do its thing. And
while MFIs have certainly provided
credence to this argument, it has also
allowed those leading the institutions
to show that sometimes absorbing early
losses is necessary to tap into the long
term benets, and those benets go far
beyond just the prots of a few investors.
How micronance banks t into
alleviating global poverty
e poor mans banker
St Johns: city of legends, host of the Millennium Atlantic Regional Conference
Rebecca Anne Dixon
Mt. As rst open house of the year
Jessica Emin

Save The Argosy from Trapped Whitespace
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socializing that allowed students to be
inspired and encouraged by one another.
e Millennium Foundation
was created in 1998 by the federal
government as a private organization,
with the mandate to improve the
access of post-secondary education
to all students in Canada. ere
are many misconceptions about
the actual role of the Foundation,
and about its approaching end.
e Foundation has three main
sections but the Scholarship Program
is the best known, and probably the
one with the worst press as its awards
are based on academic excellence and
community leadership rather than
need. e other two parts, the Research
Program and the Bursary Program,
have received less recognition.
e Research Program began
in 2001. One of its strengths, says
Millennium Sta Policy Ocer Chad
Lubelsky, is that it examined education
on a national level in a country where
education is a provincial responsibility.
It studied access to post-secondary
education, especially for members of
the First Nations and rst generation
immigrants. Furthermore, it analysed
the impact of the policies instituted
to deal with these issues, hoping to
impact public policy across the country.
e Bursary Program helps fund the
education of students in nancial need.
is actually accounts for 95 per cent of
the money given out by the Foundation.
Critics of the Foundation focus on
the amount of money that it spends on
the Millennium Excellence Scholarship
and conferences such as the one in St.
Johns (as expenses are paid, by the
foundation, for the participants). In
response, the foundation counters that
this represents only ve per cent of
the money given to the Millennium
Foundation years ago and has increased
only through independent investing.
e Newfoundland chapter
worked to the extremes planning
this conference, said Coady Bustin,
one of the main student organizers.
ere was a tangible feeling of
openness and genuine interest, and
this enthusiasm made the conference
a huge success he concluded.
Andrew Woodall, director of
the Award Program, refers to the
formal and informal discussions at
these conferences as courageous
conversations about leadership, ideas
and concrete ways of implementing
them. He hopes that laureates will
spread these conversations outside
of the conference circle, leading
to personal development and a
stronger and more resilient Canada.
is is especially important in light
of the Foundations closing. It has
had a nite date from the beginning,
so this is not unexpected. ough
there was question of renewing its
mandate, Chad Lubelsky reports that
this has been ocially abandoned. He
pointed out that this time restriction
has encouraged the Foundation to
be proactive in using its resources as
eciently as possible on programs
having the greatest impact. Still,
many regret the loss of enrichment
programs like the Research
Program and the conferences.
I am very disappointed that the
Foundation is closing, says Alexandra.
I think it was very good at what it
did, at reaching people all over the
country, even in small communities
like mine in Cape Breton.
In its nal year, the Foundation
plans to go out with a bang with
a full slate of conferences and
programs. If the enthusiasm displayed
for networking at the St. Johns
conference is any indication, Laureates
will carry forward the links formed
by the Millennium Foundation
as they persist in their projects.
ARTS & LITERATURE
Last week in Sackville one of the
highlights of the You even called me
friend art symposium, was a round
table discussion of seven of the artists.
Moderated by Jane Dryden, the
discussion was entitled, Performing
Sackville.In his opening remarks, John
Murchie spoke about his reasoning for
the title. Mentioning the link between
the name Virgil Hammock gave his
own event, Sculpture Sackville, the
Struts coordinator explained that
he hoped the panel would focus on
the subject the name hinted at
performing and creating in Sackville.
e roundtable the set up in an
oval; the artists facing the audience
consisted of seven artists. Pam
Hall and Margaret Dragu have spent
the month of October in residence at
Struts the long time artistic partners
brought a brash wit to the event that
seemed similar to their work. While
Dragu was the quieter of the two, she
was vocal when the moment arose
and not soft in her expressions. Hall
who is based out of Newfoundland
presented some of the evenings
most intriguing points, even going so
far as to question her own presence in
the world, and why she does the things
she does.
Ed Pien gave several other talks
over the course of the week, as well
as visiting several art classes and
holding private workshops. e
Toronto based artist made a note of
introducing himself as a drawer, a
term that seems to encompass his art
ideals about his work. Mario Doucette
a Moncton based artist along with
Pien, seemed content to let the others
lead the discussion. e two did insert
their opinions and observations, but
far more seldom than their colleagues.
Felicity Tayler is a Montreal based
artist, and one of the co-founders
of Centre de recherch urbaine de
Montreal (CRUM). Although
almost every artist on the panel has an
interdisciplinary background, Taylers
contributions to the discussion were
laced with ideas originating from her
history with Library and Informational
studies. All the artists brought a unique
mix of disciplines to the discussion.
jake moore - an artist who uses any
form of media to express her ideas
had a slightly earthy vibe to her as she
participated in the discussion. Paulina
Abarca-Cantin the current director
of Studio XX contributed a slightly
media heavy perspective on the panels
discussion. Both moore and Abarca-
Cantin added opposite approaches
earthy versus technological and yet
were based in similar ideas.
One of the recurring topics was the
idea of dispelling labels and the idea of
same. e group discussed at length
the relation of geographical impact on
performances and creation constantly
coming back to the idea of worth of
the artist, and whether a space requires
an artist or an artist requires a space.
e language used by the group
ran from gentle to blunt. In response
to the idea that an artist is integral
to advancing small or rural areas, the
exclamation thats crap, was easily
thrown out. Hall was perhaps the
most vocal, even going as far as to
describe St. Johns Newfoundland as a
little piece of shit on the edge of the
Performing Sackville
A recollection of a discussion on presence and thought
Julie Stephenson
Argosy Staff
world. Her comment was loving, but
lled blunt honesty about the place of
smaller arts communities in Canada.
e group brought up several
intriguing ideas giving the audience
many things to think about. In our
current climates political, social,
and environmental are artists truly
receiving or being received? Where
do expectations of artists lie? Where
is the importance in residences and
exhibitionswhich plays the more
important role? Is society romanticizing
rural small town Canada? Are there
negative aects to that?
While the turn-out to the roundtable
was sparse the ideas were abundant.
Perhaps the next art symposium
might have the artists act upon the
ideas discussed this time around.
Perhaps Performing Sackville was a
performance all on its own.
...to describe St. Johns,
Newfoundland as a little
piece of shit on the edge of the
world...
Animals dont send each other text
messages. ey dont call each other on
their cell phones. ey most assuredly
dont have BlackBerries, although some
of them probably eat blackberries. In
short, animals dont own a million
electronic gadgets that are supposed
to help them communicate with
each other, but really just deepen the
divide.
is was one of the points raised
by Tom Sherman, a New York based
artist, professor in the department of
Transmedia at Syracuse University,
and last Fridays keynote speaker. His
talk focused on the evolution of art in
the information age, and the ways in
which our perception and experience
of art is being eected by the electronic,
transmission-heavy world in which
we live. As he explains it, animals
arent encumbered by electronic
transmissions or an information deluge
at all times the way we are today. For
them, life is reasonably simple: nd
some good turf, tell everyone its yours,
and start soliciting sex.
Sherman himself is something of a
pioneer in electronic and video-based
art. He is also the founding head of
the Media Arts section of the Canada
Council for the Arts.
Nowadays, he works primarily
in video installation, radio, and
performance. He is interested in the
impact of the information age on how
art is produced and experienced. In a
time when we all expect to be instantly
gratied, it takes a lot to hold our
interest. If a video on YouTube isnt
really cool after about three seconds,
how many of us will close the window?
With this immediate-entertainment
mentality, it is obvious that the way
we experience and perceive art has
changed.
An interesting aspect of Shermans
address was his discussion of people as
transceivers. Most of us are constantly
sending and receiving information
from our handheld devices, in some
cases sending and receiving messages
simultaneously. is, Sherman argues,
has aected our consciousness and
our ability to have deep experiences.
is apparent lambasting of electronic
media is interesting coming from
an artist who works in video art.
But his is more of an attitude of
accommodation: it is important, he
argues, to establish artistic dierence,
and to make electronic media spaces
social. Electronic art can function as
a way of returning social interaction
to the digital world for instance, an
act of live performance art can at the
same time be broadcast and translated
into media, bringing people together
in their experiencing of it despite
diering physical locations.
e phenomenon of physical
distance has led to a dichotomy in
society and the arts between those who
are super-mediated, and those who
are super-physical. e avant-garde,
Sherman explains, has now turned
to dysfunctional communication and
exclusivity in art, rather than instantly
accessible work. And yet this widespread
and immediate access to resources and,
most importantly, to tools, has also
in its own way revolutionized the art
world by rendering the art-making and
art-viewing processes more universal
and easier to access.
As a speaker, Sherman is poised
and eloquent. He keeps his audiences
attention using wit and humour, and
a disarming sense of casualness. It is
clear that he is a master communicator
at home in his medium. And in the
Art in the age of technology
Julie Cruikshank
Argosy Staff
spirit of reconnection in the electronic
age, Sherman opened up the oor for
discussion in the second half of his
talk. For him, communication seems
to be the key. e best way to achieve
it is to allow and promote people to
communicate with each other, whether
electronically or physically, in a way
that is deeper and more profound than
a simple text message.
is past Saturday night the
Sackville Curling Club played host
to the nal event of the 13th Annual
Symposium of Art. e White
Noise Performance Cabaret was an
opportunity for artists, aspiring artists
and brave souls to, in some cases, bare
all in the name of art. Co-organized
by the Owens Art Gallery and Struts
Gallery & Faucet Media Arts Centre,
this years symposium brought together
local, national and international artists
in a week-long series of artist talks,
panel discussions, gallery openings,
radio shows, workshops, lm
screenings and performance pieces.
Titled You Even Called Me Friend,
the symposium featured, among
others, artists Valerie D. Walker
and Jake Moore from Studio XX (a
feminist art centre for technological
creation and critique in Montreal);
CRUM (the Centre de recherche
urbaine de Montreal) was represented
by Felicity Tayler, drawer Ed Pien, and
video artist/theorist Tom Shermam.
Hosted by Halifax-based artist/
musician Mitchell Wiebe, produced
by Faucet Manager Paul Henderson,
and organised by Owens Intern Kerri
George, the Cabaret began with the
Anne Murray song You Needed Me,
which includes lines that have been
used as titles for previous symposiums.
Sackville artist and Fine Arts professor
Leah Garnett opemed the night with
a telepathic piece that included former
co-host of CHMA show Drawing on
Air, Lianne Zannier, on the phone
from Montreal, attempting to guess
a card whose suit and face value were
being thought of by the audience.
Participants were also invited to
draw their impressions of telepathy.
Clare Halpines Why is my dance
card empty? combined an energetic
Rhianna-inspired dance routine
that referenced the more genteel
courtship process of yesteryear. Tom
Shermans magical plumber-related
life experiences reminded us all of
the importance of learning a trade.
Struts own Amanda Dawn Christie
performed What a Beautiful Piece of
Heartache. Sackville musician Luke
Patterson followed a bell curve as he
used his drums to interact with the white
noise of two out-of-tune televisions.
Felicity Tayler joined myself and
recent Mount Allison graduate
Julia Chan in inviting participants
outside during the intermission to
perform I.A.D. Improvised Artistic
Devices which included over two-
hundred sparklers. Artist and Struts
Co-ordinator John Murchies Hell
or Even Vancouver recounted a
recent performance trip to western
Canada. Sandi Hartlings untitled
work manifested a visceral sense of
white noise as she walked blindfolded
back and forth along a side wall of the
event space, humming as she increased
speed and faded into the background.
W.L. Altmans musical number,
a performance of Anne Murrays
You Needed Me accompanied by
a striptease, humorously revealed
the true source of white noise.
Adriana Kuiper and Ryan Suter
reprised their traditional Cabaret
theme-related performance with this
years White Russian. Participants
won a caucasian for answering e
Big Lebowski trivia. Mathieu Lefevre
gave an interpretative artist talk
as he used contemporary dance to
communicate his art practice. Lianne
Zannier submitted an informative
video titled It came Free with the
Fridge?, in which she explored the
evolution of the fridge while examining
the interior of her own. Capping the
night of festivities, DJ Jon Cleveland
spun a groovy late-night dance party
as this years Cabaret and Symposium
came to an end with the traditional
popping of decorative balloons.
It was the Owens Gallery, Struts
Gallery, Volunteer Co-ordinator
Modulated Frequencies
A review of the White Noise Performance Cabaret
Chris Ricketts
Argosy Correspondent
Paula Cowan, and all the volunteers
who made the Cabaret possible.
e Sackville Curling Club, e
New Brunswick Arts Board and e
Canada Council for the Arts should
also gave their support for this unique
annual event that gives amateurs the
opportunity to perform alongside
established artists. It was a very special
night and I would encourage you all to
start thinking about your performances
for next year.
The I.A.D. Improvised Artistic
Devices Performance.
Jessica Emin

Julie Cruikshank
A
OCTOBER 30, 2008 ARTS & LITERATURE THE ARGOSY PAGE 19
&
L
If, like me, you still sometimes get that
uncontrollable urge to let out some
creative self expression all over the
walls, then you may have found your
outlet last week at Struts, when the
annual 12-hour drawing marathon
(part of the performance symposium)
took place.
e symposium began in the mid
nineties, when then Fine Arts professor
and artist Rita McKeough gave her
students an assignment that had them
make performing objects sculptures
that did something. is fostered an
interest in performance that grew into
the symposium, now it its 13th year.
Performance work involves people
working in a visual art tradition, but
doing so in a live, performative way. A
sculptor or painter who creates work
in front of an audience, for example,
could be considered performative.
According to John Murchie, the
coordinator at Struts and Fawcett,
the drawing marathon is in itself
a performance. It was initiated by
students four or ve years ago, and
strongly supported by both Struts and
the Owens. Basically, you show up,
theres food and, and a lot of free art
supplies, and you draw on the walls for
twelve hours. So, in essence its the
most fun you can have while pulling an
all-nighter. Murchie stresses that the
marathon is a collaborative, social event
that isnt just about making pictures.
He explains that the marathon, and
the symposium, are about broadening
peoples denitions of what art and
performance are. Im a big believer
myself in that you keep doing these
things and they become part of life,
he says.
Working on the walls has a sort of
cathartic appeal theres something
very liberating about smearing paint
haphazardly on a white wall and letting
it drip. In previous years, Struts has
covered the walls with white paper, but
this year the drawings were done right
on the bare surface. As the evening
progresses, people tend to temporarily
abandon their own work and move into
others, resulting in a huge collaborative
drawing that lls the room. ere is no
animosity about this appropriation of
others work: its all part of the spirit of
the performance. And the results can
be quite astonishing. An interesting
inclusion to this years marathon was
the presence of visiting artist Ed Pien,
who taped pencils together to form a
long rod which he then used to make
marks on the wall from a distance.
ere are no rules or boundaries its
a creative free-for-all.
e drawing marathon is open
to anyone, and it is as much about
social camaraderie and a sense of
community, as it is about people (not
just artists) coming together in a
creative space and collaborating on a
work of art. It happens annually as
part of the performance symposium,
so if you missed it this year, there are
still plenty more chances. Its a great
way to express yourself with others, to
broaden your horizons, and perhaps
most importantly, to experience a
unique creative environment that
loosens the boundaries about what art
and performance can be.
Drawing till
the cows
come home
Julie Cruikshank
Argosy Staff
Jessica Emin
Jessica Emin
Jessica Emin
Jessica Emin
Jessica Emin
Jessica Emin
Jessica Emin
Remembering John ompson
Preview of Saturday poetry gatherings around Sackville
Chris Durrant
Argosy Sta
A Mount Allison professor for his
whole career, John ompson died
at the age of 38 in his apartment on
Bridge Street. ompson was a dark
horse on the Canadian poetry scene,
acclaimed by poets like Margaret
Attwood and Michael Odaatje but
overall overlooked by the Canadian
literary scene and even by Mount
Allison. is is the impression you get
talking to Janna Graham, a Mount
Allison graduate.
It was a desire to honour ompson
that led Graham to organize White
Salt Mountain: A Gathering of Poet
for John ompson. e tribute
will take place on November 1, and
consist of events throughout the day
honouring ompson.
More than simply being a talented
poet, ompson is considered
something of a pioneer in terms of the
introduction of the ghazal to Canadian
literature. Not a particularly common
form of poetry, the ghazal is a form
of poetry that involves ve to twelve
couplets, which dont have to have
any obvious or narrative connection.
omsons second and posthumously
published book Stilt Jack consists of
thirty-eight ghazals.
ompsons poetry and the ghazal
itself are not for everyone. Poet
Amanda Jernigan, one of the poets
taking part in the November rst
activities, admits that it took her a long
time to warm up to ompsons work.
When rst introduced to his work by
Mount Allison English department
professor Deborah Wills, Jernigan was
skeptical. It was only years later, when
she gave ompson poetry - which can
seem drunken - a second chance.
Hes a much more careful writer
than I gave him credit for He has a
deeply intensive, allusive quality to his
work. Indeed, his work draws from a
wide variety of sources. e ghazal itself
is a Persian form of poetry. e title of
the gathering White Salt Gathering is
taken from a line in one of ompsons
poems, which he took from the poems
of the Chinese poet Du Fu.
For Graham, the gathering goes
beyond honouring ompson however.
ere are so many crazy stories about
him, people dont often look at his
poems critically. According to poet
Amanda Jernigan, one of the poets
reading at the festival, it looks as if the
gathering will correct that problem.
According to her, what Graham
has done is chosen poets who both
seek to imitate and pay homage to
ompson, as well as others whos
work is more critical, and talk backs
to ompsons.
Im amazed that ompson has
never formally been honoured by
Mount A Graham says. ompson
was thought to have an acrimonious
relationship with the universitys
administration at the time of his
death, and stories surrounding is time
at Mount Allison include showing up
at Cranewood drunk, and shooting the
clock in front of Town Hall with a rie.
Old acrimony aside, Mount Allison
has helped with the tribute, both the
Centre for Canadian Studies and the
Department of English Literature
contributed. e event is also sponsored
by the Sackville Cultural Capital
celebration, appropriate considering
that ompsons poetry was deeply
inuenced by the Tantramar marshes.
e events of tribute include an
informal talk and workshop with poet
Rob Winger at the Presidents Cottage
at 10am, a two pm poetry reading at the
Bridge Street Caf by Harry urston,
Peter Sanger, and Arc Poetry magazine
editor Anita Lahey. Returning at
ve pm, ompson-biographer Peter
Sanger will give a talk at the Owens
Art gallery. Finishing the day will be a
low-light speak-easy at Struts Gallery
with performances by Rob Winger,
Amanda Jernigan and Allan Cooper.
irty-two years after the poets
mysterious and sudden death, it
appears the poet is being well feted
in the town the inspired much of his
poetry.
Tim Crawford
Thompson once shot Sackvilles
town hall clock.
Ed Pien participates in the 12-hour drawing marathon at
Struts Gallery.
Students and community members covered the walls of
Struts with a myriad of drawings.
Pam Hall and Margaret Dragus exhibit at Start/Struts
Gallery.
Revangeline by Francois Gaudet at
the Owens Art Gallery.
Passe Recompose by Maryse Arsenault at the Owens Art Gallery.
La Derniere Expo by Jean Denis
Boudreau at Owens Art Gallery.
Autobiographies-Lamort de lours by Hermenegilde Chiasson at the Owens
Art Gallery.
A
PAGE 20 THE ARGOSY ARTS & LITERATURE OCTOBER 30, 2008
&
L
Until they are old enough to question
the beliefs of their families, most
people seem to ascribe to a faith
almost blindly. Once a person reaches
the age at which they begin to question
the world around them, they either
arm the beliefs their parents taught
them or change their beliefs. In Guy
Harrisons case, as hard as he tried to be
a believer in God, the did not possess
the required faith. Instead, Harrison
became fascinated with others faith
and fascination with religion and the
God they ascribe to.
In his book, Fifty Reasons People
Give for Believing in a God, Harrison
endeavours to discover why people
believe in God and why their beliefs
hold such resonance for them. Harrison
often recalls his own youth when he
struggled to truly believe in the God
his parents and friends put their faith
in. It is from this struggle that the book
eventually came about. After years of
studying history and anthropology and
working as a journalist, Harrison began
to travel, seeking out various people of
all faiths, beliefs, nationalities, age, and
race. From numerous interviews about
belief in religion and God, came the
book Harrison now hopes will inspire
more critical thought surrounding
religion.
In his pitch to younger audiences,
Harrison promotes the book as
relevant for university students as he
believes them to be engaged thinkers
the exact demographic the book aims
at. Although Harrison also mentioned
that many students nd university to
be a time of exploration to test limits,
create new ones, and to challenge
what was previously thought veried.
Harrison is sure that the book remains
respectful of each person interviewed,
and of each faith discussed. As he
states, I dont argueI just share my
ideas and show that there is plenty of
room for doubt regarding the most
popular justications for belief in a
god or gods.
Harrison is not idealistic about the
impact of Fifty Reasons. He maintains
the book is primarily for raising
What are your reasons for believing in a God?
An interview with Guy Harrison, author of Fifty Reasons People Give for Believing in a God
Julie Stephenson
Argosy Staff
thought and provoking discussion.
When asked about the hoped eects
of the book Harrison replies, Im not
trying to convert readersWhat they
conclude in the end is up to them and
I wouldnt want it any other way. In
a world that is constantly changing,
Harrison merely seems to be trying
to inject a little reason and critical
thinking.
Top on his list of things people
often tend to misconstrue is the
meaning of the word atheist. A self
proclaimed atheist himself, Harrison
believes people often perceive atheists
as individuals who hate religion and
God. Instead, Harrison says, they are
individuals who simply do not believe
God exists as they have been shown
no proof to indicate otherwise, I cant
hate someone who Im not convinced
even exists. Harrison also hopes that
people see the lack of negativity in
his book he maintains that he has
no ill will against any God, that he
is only challenging their reasons for
believing.
Harrison has travelled across the
world, visiting such sacred places
at Jerusalem, e Vatican, Giza,
Umayyad Mosque, and others. He has
spoken with all types of people. He
has experienced powerful emotional
connections to the people in these
places, and continually acknowledges
the pull and emotions that others
feel in such sacred places. However,
Harrison mentioned that he has still
not encountered a response to change
his own beliefs. Despite this, Harrison
does admit that if a good enough
reason came along, he would not
hesitate to label himself a believer and
begin a life that matched that label.
So far says Harrison, all feedback
has been extremely positive. I have
heard from Christians, Muslims,
and one Hindu, so far, who said they
enjoyed the book and it gave them
plenty to think about. Along with
the good reviews, Harrison has also
received oers of conversion from the
many people of faith he speaks with.
To him, it always originates out of the
best intentions people often believe
he will suer for his thinking, and
hope to save him from torment but
the oers are always politely refused.
I dont have a problem with every
aspect of every religion However,
when religious belief lead people to
segregate themselves, hate, killthats
when I have a serious problem with it,
says Harrison as he explains his views
on the varying degrees of religion.
Perhaps a question with many
answers across the world is if we
will ever live in a world without
religion. Harrisons rst reaction is
Yes! He goes on to explain that in
his view our world seems to have
several communities with high infant
mortality rates, violence, human rights
issues, and various other problems that
have high populations of intensely
religious people. is is in comparison
to more progressive communities
that Harrison examines in his book
communities with lower populations
of highly religious groups. While
Harrison believes these are signs for
a possible world without religion, the
exact answer to that question can only
truly be answered in time.
Guy Harrisons book, Fifty Reasons
People Give for Believing in a God,
will be a unique experience for each
reader. e beauty in our world tends
to lie in the idea of peoples dierences
from one another, including the way
we think. In that light, it is a good idea
to consider all aspects of an issue when
deciding your stance on it. So, perhaps
picking up a copy of a book that
challenges, discusses, and promotes
critical thinking might just be a good
idea.
Considering that Halloween is coming
up, I gured a comprehensive guide
to decomposition was in order. Mary
Roachs book, Sti: the Curious Lives of
Human Cadavers, is quite possibly one
of the most engrossing and informative
reads out there. Covering everything
from body-snatching in the early years
of dissection and anatomy studies,
all the way up to crash-test cadavers,
Roach went all over doing things which
would give most people nightmares, all
in the name of scientic discovery and
entertainment.
Her book reads like an instruction
manual for all of the dierent ways
to deal with your body. She went to a
cosmetic surgery seminar, which took
place in a giant room with about 20 or
30 tables each holding a human head
in a turkey pan.
...with about 20 or 30 tables
each holding a human head in
a turkey pan.
Gross you say? Um, yea, but Roach
adds her own brand of wit and insight
to the situations she encounters, in
order to allow the reader to focus on
the material without throwing up.
With chapter names such as A
Head is a Terrible ing to Waste,
and How to Know if Youre Dead,
she grabs your attention and holds
it while taking you on a thrill ride of
information and laughter.
One would think that with all the
laughter she would cross the line into
disrespect at least once or twice, but
Roach explains that while her humour
may be unexpected, it is the only way
to deal with some of the things she sees
and she doesnt cross the line once.
If you like this one try her other
books:
Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife
Bonk: e Curious Coupling of Science
and Sex
Sti: e Curious Lives
of Human Cadavers
All the things your body can do when
you leave it behind
Alexandra Theroux
Argosy Correspondent
With what can I start?
Knowledge is found and lost
ever faster than I can think.
I will not know truths cost.
Doomed in ignorance to sink.
My eyes opened,
gazing pon beach and brilliant ocean,
glittering in million points of lifes light.
Promise on horizon.
But shift so,
do the sands twixt my bleeding toes,
and call me deeper into the dark mire.
Cold, thoughtless.
Promise sinks so,
hind lifes shifting drowning expanse,
ever deeper and nothing worth to know.
I, silent, scream.
With the exception of all those reading this
Ive been brooding and getting pissed,
that in speculation were nding bliss,
with no formed thoughts no nesse,
preferring bastard-banter and a guess,
to a clear-cut conscience.
But distress overwhelms our weary minds.
We fall with the swishing dregs of the dead,
thought-starved,
mind-fucked,
un-fed-
miserable people.
So with our inated heads,
we hold convictions with no edge
to cut or create a-new this place
we suck dry to bone and deface.
Before we know any better, we disgrace.
Poetry by Scribbles...
THE ARTS ARE SEXY.
WRITE ARTS. WRITE ARTS.
G. Harrison

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

On October 15, Microsoft China
made a low-key annoucement that,
beginning on Oct 21, they would begin
releasing software updates designed
to sni out pirated Chinese copies of
their Windows XP operating system.
ese Windows Genuine
Advantage updates, downloaded by
XPs Windows Update service, change
a pirated systems desktop background
to a black screen and deploy a popup
in the lower right hand corner alerting
the user that their operating system is
not legitimate. is move, termed the
Black Screen of Death after Windows
infamous Blue Screen of Death error
message, has been met with worry and
confusion from the Chinese public,
with many calling for Microsofts
hacking attack to immediately cease.
Microsoft claims the Black
Screen of Death does not aect the
performance of aected computers,
nor does it report any information
about the user of a pirated system.
Dong Zhengwei, a Beijing lawyer,
lodged a formal complaint with the
Chinese Ministry of Public Security,
Its ocial, ladies and gentlemen: the
weirdest gnome in the world is no
longer the traveling garden gnome
from the movie Amelie. As it turns
out, the title has now gone to the one
that appears to be terrorizing a town
in Argentina.
Earlier this year, a group of teenage
boys in General Gemes, Argentina,
caught the gnome on lm using a
phone camera. Other people from
the town have since come forward
claiming that the gnome has been
terrorising their town for twenty years,
and that they are afraid to walk the
streets at night.
How exactly the gnomes reign of
terror is aecting the Argentinean
town is a bit vague. ere is without
a doubt a short, creepy, side stepping,
bearded, and pointy hat wearing
creature walking the streets of the
town. What it does other than scare
the locals by, well, being a creepy,
sidestepping, bearded, and pointy hat
wearing creature that barks like a dog,
is a mystery as well. Locals are terried
nonetheless; one of the boys in the
group that recorded the gnome was
reportedly so afraid that he had to be
taken to the hospital.
China accuses Microsoft
of massive hacking
Stuart Townsend
Argosy Staff
Chinese Windows XP users seeing red over black screen
Geek Chic
of the Week
Tired of looking for a good, cheap stun gun to tote about as an active deterrent to Sackvilles criminal element? Well,
according to some of the Internets ercer gun nuts, this isnt it. at said, this humble compiler of Geek Chic of
the Week fails to understand how 200,000 volts for $13USD wont incapacitate (or at least impress) your would-be
assailant.
http://www.surpluscomputers.com/under_Stun_200_000_Volt_Stun/
Know a useful/nerdy/awesome program/toy/gadget? Email us at argosy@mta.ca and share your nd!
October 30, 2008:
Thunder Stun Gun
claiming Microsofts move was
tantamount to invading personal
computers without user permission or
judicial authorization. His complaint
has become a rallying point for fearful
and angry Chinese computer users.
Microsoft countered with a statement
reiterating that they were not collecting
any data from computers running
counterfeit software and were helping
protect unaware users against risks
traditionally associated with pirated
operating systems, such as identity
theft.
To many pundits, Chinese and
otherwise, the move comes as no
surprise. China has become notorious
for developing new and innovative
ways to pirate Microsofts products,
in large part due to said products
Chinese pricing.
A genuine copy of Windows costs
over 1000RMB, which is about the
monthly GDP per person; the pirated
copies available on the street corners
of any Chinese metropolis cost
approximately 5RMB. Unsurprisingly,
it is estimated that over 85% of all
Microsoft software currently in use in
China is pirated.
Despite all the uproar surrounding
the Black Screen of Death, its very
Some experts who looked at the lm
have said that it is credible. en again,
the same has been said of footage of
the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, the
Yeti, and others. Strangely enough,
the police described the gnome as
the newest Bigfoot. e obvious irony
of comparing a pointy hat wearing
creature of less than four feet to the
massive, hairy Bigfoot aside, the police
have a point; this gnome is the latest in
an ongoing series of cryptozoological
mysteries that may very well just
turn out to be a very short man who
enjoys dressing up and scaring his
neighbours.
ere is little that makes this story
sound much dierent from more
famous cryptozoology cases, though.
A crazed gnome running the streets of
Argentina, leaving behind no evidence
except very fuzzy camera footage and
some scared teenagers, prompting a
full scale police investigation, brings to
mind the many years (and occasional
hysteria) of people hunting for Nessie
at Loch Ness.
People cling to fuzzy lm footage
and blurry photos as proof that the
Loch Ness Monster exists - it took
60 years to discover that the Surgeons
Photo, one of the most famous photos
of Nessie, was not the monster at all,
but a head attached to a toy submarine.
Susan Rogers
Argosy Correspondant
Calling all cryptozoologists...
A breakthrough announcement made
recently by a team of researches at
La Trobe University in Australia,
indicates that antibodies from shark
blood could be the next leap forward
in cancer treatment. Dr. Stewart
Nuttall, one of the lead research
scientists for the project, explains it
this way: Were initially interested
in sharks because they play a pivotal
role in immune evolution. If you look
at a shark, anything below them in
an invertebrate scale doesnt have an
immune system. Sharks and everything
above it has an immune system very
much like humans. But they also have
this unusual type of antibodies.
Shark antibodies are somewhat
unusual because of their ability to
withstand extreme temperatures, pH
levels, and their tiny size; researchers
are excited about this because it
opens up the possibility of having a
pill treatment for cancer rather than
having to rely on injections.
us far, the major stumbling block
with developing an oral treatment for
cancer has been the harsh environment
of the digestive system. Mick Foley,
associate professor of molecular biology
at La Trobe University and co-lead
researcher, describes the diculties:
e rst step in being able to get an
orally available antibody, which really
is a bit of a holy grail in therapeutics,
is to at least survive the gut. And then
you have to get it taken up. And so
these molecules seem to be extremely
stable in the gut. And therefore there
is a good chance that we have at least
have got past rst base.
If the antibody survives the
inhospitable environment of the
digestive system, it then binds on to
the surface of the target cancer cells
and prevents them from growing.
ere have already been some
promising results from the lab, where
the researchers have been testing
the ecacy of the shark antibody
treatment on breast cancer cells. Dr.
Foley describes the results: In the
wells that weve added the shark
Sharks versus cancer
How Jaws could lend a hand in the
ght against human cancers
Kelly OConnor
Argosy Staff
antibodies you can see that the cells are
actually growing less than in the wells
where we dont add a shark antibody
or we add a completely irrelevant shark
antibody. So this indicates the shark
antibody that we have is binding to
those cancer cells and for some reason
causing them to grow more slowly and
perhaps even killing them.
In order to produce such antibodies,
the traditional approach has been
to inject sharks with an antigen and
wait for a sucient immune response
to develop. Instead, these Australian
researchers take genes from the sharks,
and modify them in the lab by adding
random proteins to cause random
mutations in a process which closely
mimics how the human immune system
works. is enables the researchers
to develop a library of antibodies
capable of responding to a vast array
of diseases and conditions, including
malaria and rheumatoid arthritis. Dr.
Foley explains: e aim is to use these
shark antibodies as a way of nding
high-anity binding agents to bind to
anything we want such as a molecule
on cancer cells, or inammatory
proteins that you could then use in
therapy. rough a slow process of
trial and error, the researchers expose
antibodies to various target molecules
(such as cancer cells), and see if there
is any reaction.
e advantages (and potential
payout) of successfully developing
an oral-based antibody treatment
for cancer are huge. For patients
who must be subjected to constant
injections, taking pills would be a
dramatic improvement. Antibody-
based treatments are also much more
specic than the current methods.
Although there are already other
similar treatments in development,
they are all in their early stages with
none available for patient use as of yet.
is leaves a market potentially worth
billions of dollars wide open.
So next time you see a shark, try
to look past those vicious teeth and
occasional man-eating tendencies and
just appreciate the irony; one of the
newest advances in cancer treatment
could come from one of the oceans
most ancient predators.
similar to Microsofts anti-piracy
measures employed elsewhere in the
world. Windows Genuine Advantage,
as it exists in North America, shares
most features with its Chinese
counterpart, such as denial of further
Windows updates and a popup box
alerting the user that their copy is
pirated.
e Black Screen of Death is the
only unique feature of the Chinese
version and is in fact slated to be
included in every regions Windows
Genuine Advantage update within
two months. at said, for WGA to
be downloaded to a users computer,
that user must have Windows Update
enabled. us, whether in China or
Sackville, a user of a pirate copy of
XP is safe as long as they dont mind
missing out on the latest XP security
patches.
Some, however, see this as just
another event in the endless arms
race between software crackers and
software developers. Many Chinese
commentators report that pirates have
already subverted this new measure
- and they expect the newly pirated
version to sell quite well.
As the case for many cryptozoological
entities, experts may decide that the
proof that exists is doctored, but
that doesnt stop many who refuse to
believe scientic evidence over their
gut feelings.
Whether it is in fact a gnome that
is wandering the streets of General
Gemes, a more than twenty year-long
hoax, or simply a very misunderstood
midget, is something that likely
only time will tell. In any case, until
local cryptozoologists triumphantly
uncover evidence of a monster in the
Waterfowl Park or vampire swans in
the swan pond, we probably dont have
to worry about gnomes taking over the
world anytime soon.
http://www.surpluscomputers.com/
SAC
The Student Administrative Council Page
The S.A.Cs
Mission
Statement
The Mount Allison Students
Union aims to foster a
community where the
quality of student life
(education, social, and
personal) is constantly
improving.
The Students Administrative
Council will promote high-
quality student learning.
It will advocate student
interests, as well as those of
Mount Allison University and
post-secondary education
as a whole. The council will
provide its members with
diverse opportunities to
become exceptional leaders.
It will be exible enough to
accommodate a changing
world.
The S.A.C.s priorities will
be determined by its
members. The Council will
foster communication both
internally and externally,
in order to be democratic,
fair, accountable to and
accessible to its members. It
will provide services students
want and can use. It will
cultivate unity and good
will among its members, but
will respect differing views
of all members. It will solve
problems with the best
interest of students in mind
at all times.
What does the S.A.C. represent?
S.A.C. Awareness Week
October 27-31
Congratulations to Bennett on winning the
residence voting competition!
S.A.C. Bingo @ the Pub
Your Student
Administrative Council
presents S.A.C. Bingo
at the PUB Thursday
The draw has been open
all week. The ballots will
be collected at 4:30 pm on
Friday. To submit a ballot for
the draw, you simply need
to stop by the S.A.C. ofce
and ll one out. As an added
bonus, you will receive a
bubble-gum lled sucker. The
Garnet and Gold themed
draw basket is lled with:
20 Dollar Gift Certicate for
the Olive Branch
10 Dollar Gift Certicate for
Joeys
A Rickards Baseball Cap
A Garnet Knit Hat
A Enviro-Mug
A Enviro-Bag
A Triangular Mount Allison
Banner
Popcorn
Two Chocolate Bars
Two Packages of Gum
A package of red licorice
Toothpaste
Toothbrush
Hand Sanitizer
S, A, and C Shaped Sticky
Notes
S.A.C Garnet and Gold themed draw basket
(tonight)! It will begin at
10:00 pm and continue
into the night. The prizes
will be drinking tickets.
Come out and show
us how loud you can
scream, BINGO! Dan
Wortman will be your
host of the evening. The
PUB will be hopping so
be sure to come out and
win!
The S.A.C. will be among the
best student associations of
Canada.
The S.A.Cs
Mandate
The mandate of the S.A.C.
is to improve student
life and protect student
interests. The Mount Allison
Students Union aims to
foster a community where
the quality of student life
(educational, social, and
personal) is constantly
improving. The Students
Union is governed by the
Student Administrative
Council where all students
are members and have
voting privileges. The
Council has two major
responsibilities: to be a
political representation and
to provide services for the
students. There are various
political committees where
students are represented.
The S.A.C.s
Background
The Union is run by six
executive members and
elected representatives
from both off campus and
on campus ridings. The six
executive consist of the
President, Vice President
of Academic Affairs, Vice
President of External Affairs,
Vice President of Campus
Life, Vice President of
Finance and Operations,
and Vice President of
Communications. The
Council has representatives
from each residence on
campus, one representative
for every one hundred and
three (103) off campus, as
well as one representative for
the international students.
There are also two support
staff who work full time in
the ofce, the Ofce Manager
and the Ofce Administrator.
There are also several other
appointments who work
for the union and provide
various services.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
On October 15, Microsoft China
made a low-key annoucement that,
beginning on Oct 21, they would begin
releasing software updates designed
to sni out pirated Chinese copies of
their Windows XP operating system.
ese Windows Genuine
Advantage updates, downloaded by
XPs Windows Update service, change
a pirated systems desktop background
to a black screen and deploy a popup
in the lower right hand corner alerting
the user that their operating system is
not legitimate. is move, termed the
Black Screen of Death after Windows
infamous Blue Screen of Death error
message, has been met with worry and
confusion from the Chinese public,
with many calling for Microsofts
hacking attack to immediately cease.
Microsoft claims the Black
Screen of Death does not aect the
performance of aected computers,
nor does it report any information
about the user of a pirated system.
Dong Zhengwei, a Beijing lawyer,
lodged a formal complaint with the
Chinese Ministry of Public Security,
Its ocial, ladies and gentlemen: the
weirdest gnome in the world is no
longer the traveling garden gnome
from the movie Amelie. As it turns
out, the title has now gone to the one
that appears to be terrorizing a town
in Argentina.
Earlier this year, a group of teenage
boys in General Gemes, Argentina,
caught the gnome on lm using a
phone camera. Other people from
the town have since come forward
claiming that the gnome has been
terrorising their town for twenty years,
and that they are afraid to walk the
streets at night.
How exactly the gnomes reign of
terror is aecting the Argentinean
town is a bit vague. ere is without
a doubt a short, creepy, side stepping,
bearded, and pointy hat wearing
creature walking the streets of the
town. What it does other than scare
the locals by, well, being a creepy,
sidestepping, bearded, and pointy hat
wearing creature that barks like a dog,
is a mystery as well. Locals are terried
nonetheless; one of the boys in the
group that recorded the gnome was
reportedly so afraid that he had to be
taken to the hospital.
China accuses Microsoft
of massive hacking
Stuart Townsend
Argosy Staff
Chinese Windows XP users seeing red over black screen
Geek Chic
of the Week
Tired of looking for a good, cheap stun gun to tote about as an active deterrent to Sackvilles criminal element? Well,
according to some of the Internets ercer gun nuts, this isnt it. at said, this humble compiler of Geek Chic of
the Week fails to understand how 200,000 volts for $13USD wont incapacitate (or at least impress) your would-be
assailant.
http://www.surpluscomputers.com/under_Stun_200_000_Volt_Stun/
Know a useful/nerdy/awesome program/toy/gadget? Email us at argosy@mta.ca and share your nd!
October 30, 2008:
Thunder Stun Gun
claiming Microsofts move was
tantamount to invading personal
computers without user permission or
judicial authorization. His complaint
has become a rallying point for fearful
and angry Chinese computer users.
Microsoft countered with a statement
reiterating that they were not collecting
any data from computers running
counterfeit software and were helping
protect unaware users against risks
traditionally associated with pirated
operating systems, such as identity
theft.
To many pundits, Chinese and
otherwise, the move comes as no
surprise. China has become notorious
for developing new and innovative
ways to pirate Microsofts products,
in large part due to said products
Chinese pricing.
A genuine copy of Windows costs
over 1000RMB, which is about the
monthly GDP per person; the pirated
copies available on the street corners
of any Chinese metropolis cost
approximately 5RMB. Unsurprisingly,
it is estimated that over 85% of all
Microsoft software currently in use in
China is pirated.
Despite all the uproar surrounding
the Black Screen of Death, its very
Some experts who looked at the lm
have said that it is credible. en again,
the same has been said of footage of
the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, the
Yeti, and others. Strangely enough,
the police described the gnome as
the newest Bigfoot. e obvious irony
of comparing a pointy hat wearing
creature of less than four feet to the
massive, hairy Bigfoot aside, the police
have a point; this gnome is the latest in
an ongoing series of cryptozoological
mysteries that may very well just
turn out to be a very short man who
enjoys dressing up and scaring his
neighbours.
ere is little that makes this story
sound much dierent from more
famous cryptozoology cases, though.
A crazed gnome running the streets of
Argentina, leaving behind no evidence
except very fuzzy camera footage and
some scared teenagers, prompting a
full scale police investigation, brings to
mind the many years (and occasional
hysteria) of people hunting for Nessie
at Loch Ness.
People cling to fuzzy lm footage
and blurry photos as proof that the
Loch Ness Monster exists - it took
60 years to discover that the Surgeons
Photo, one of the most famous photos
of Nessie, was not the monster at all,
but a head attached to a toy submarine.
Susan Rogers
Argosy Correspondant
Calling all cryptozoologists...
A breakthrough announcement made
recently by a team of researches at
La Trobe University in Australia,
indicates that antibodies from shark
blood could be the next leap forward
in cancer treatment. Dr. Stewart
Nuttall, one of the lead research
scientists for the project, explains it
this way: Were initially interested
in sharks because they play a pivotal
role in immune evolution. If you look
at a shark, anything below them in
an invertebrate scale doesnt have an
immune system. Sharks and everything
above it has an immune system very
much like humans. But they also have
this unusual type of antibodies.
Shark antibodies are somewhat
unusual because of their ability to
withstand extreme temperatures, pH
levels, and their tiny size; researchers
are excited about this because it
opens up the possibility of having a
pill treatment for cancer rather than
having to rely on injections.
us far, the major stumbling block
with developing an oral treatment for
cancer has been the harsh environment
of the digestive system. Mick Foley,
associate professor of molecular biology
at La Trobe University and co-lead
researcher, describes the diculties:
e rst step in being able to get an
orally available antibody, which really
is a bit of a holy grail in therapeutics,
is to at least survive the gut. And then
you have to get it taken up. And so
these molecules seem to be extremely
stable in the gut. And therefore there
is a good chance that we have at least
have got past rst base.
If the antibody survives the
inhospitable environment of the
digestive system, it then binds on to
the surface of the target cancer cells
and prevents them from growing.
ere have already been some
promising results from the lab, where
the researchers have been testing
the ecacy of the shark antibody
treatment on breast cancer cells. Dr.
Foley describes the results: In the
wells that weve added the shark
Sharks versus cancer
How Jaws could lend a hand in the
ght against human cancers
Kelly OConnor
Argosy Staff
antibodies you can see that the cells are
actually growing less than in the wells
where we dont add a shark antibody
or we add a completely irrelevant shark
antibody. So this indicates the shark
antibody that we have is binding to
those cancer cells and for some reason
causing them to grow more slowly and
perhaps even killing them.
In order to produce such antibodies,
the traditional approach has been
to inject sharks with an antigen and
wait for a sucient immune response
to develop. Instead, these Australian
researchers take genes from the sharks,
and modify them in the lab by adding
random proteins to cause random
mutations in a process which closely
mimics how the human immune system
works. is enables the researchers
to develop a library of antibodies
capable of responding to a vast array
of diseases and conditions, including
malaria and rheumatoid arthritis. Dr.
Foley explains: e aim is to use these
shark antibodies as a way of nding
high-anity binding agents to bind to
anything we want such as a molecule
on cancer cells, or inammatory
proteins that you could then use in
therapy. rough a slow process of
trial and error, the researchers expose
antibodies to various target molecules
(such as cancer cells), and see if there
is any reaction.
e advantages (and potential
payout) of successfully developing
an oral-based antibody treatment
for cancer are huge. For patients
who must be subjected to constant
injections, taking pills would be a
dramatic improvement. Antibody-
based treatments are also much more
specic than the current methods.
Although there are already other
similar treatments in development,
they are all in their early stages with
none available for patient use as of yet.
is leaves a market potentially worth
billions of dollars wide open.
So next time you see a shark, try
to look past those vicious teeth and
occasional man-eating tendencies and
just appreciate the irony; one of the
newest advances in cancer treatment
could come from one of the oceans
most ancient predators.
similar to Microsofts anti-piracy
measures employed elsewhere in the
world. Windows Genuine Advantage,
as it exists in North America, shares
most features with its Chinese
counterpart, such as denial of further
Windows updates and a popup box
alerting the user that their copy is
pirated.
e Black Screen of Death is the
only unique feature of the Chinese
version and is in fact slated to be
included in every regions Windows
Genuine Advantage update within
two months. at said, for WGA to
be downloaded to a users computer,
that user must have Windows Update
enabled. us, whether in China or
Sackville, a user of a pirate copy of
XP is safe as long as they dont mind
missing out on the latest XP security
patches.
Some, however, see this as just
another event in the endless arms
race between software crackers and
software developers. Many Chinese
commentators report that pirates have
already subverted this new measure
- and they expect the newly pirated
version to sell quite well.
As the case for many cryptozoological
entities, experts may decide that the
proof that exists is doctored, but
that doesnt stop many who refuse to
believe scientic evidence over their
gut feelings.
Whether it is in fact a gnome that
is wandering the streets of General
Gemes, a more than 20 year-long
hoax, or simply a very misunderstood
midget, is something that likely
only time will tell. In any case, until
local cryptozoologists triumphantly
uncover evidence of a monster in the
Waterfowl Park or vampire swans in
the swan pond, we probably dont have
to worry about gnomes taking over the
world anytime soon.
http://www.surpluscomputers.com/