THE BELIEVABILITY OF SEVERED EYEBALLS Visual FX still flourishing with 3D Imaging

 

Krystynn Hernandez pokes at the jawbone protruding through the side of the corpse's face, smearing a gob of blackish-green pus. She carefully places a maggot on the rotting, putrid flesh, then changes her mind and smears more blood over the wound. She is clearly enjoying herself, and her determined enthusiasm is a touch unnerving.

“This one’s coming along – she’s got a cheek on now,” says Ryan Nicholson as he inspects Krystynn's handiwork. He is darting between the four students working on their final projects for New Image College of Fine Arts, offering advice, adjusting prosthetic facial features, and trying not to take over. He already knows he is good at what he does.

As an instructor of Professional Makeup Artistry, and with over two decades experience in practical makeup effects, Nicholson is qualified to teach the darker side of the film industry. He learned the process through trial and error, working on movies, but now teaches it formally. From an early start doing makeup for his high school theatre performances, he soon began running a lab out of the basement of his horror movie video rental store in Victoria. “I basically taught myself, but eventually I started working in a lab in Montreal, doing effects for big budget movies.”

From there he was able to transition back to Vancouver during the 90's “boom days”, working on effects driven productions, like The X-Files. It wasn't long before he decided to open his own shop, and began focusing on his own vision. “The thing is, I always wanted to make my own movies, and I was always writing. Now I don't really see myself doing makeup for other movies – I will teach it, and I’ll do my own movies and that's really the extent of what I want to do.”

 

His own movies are classic slasher films, definitely owing much to Ryan's wasted youth watching 80's horror films. “One of our last movies was called Gutterballs, and it had some really insane FX. People love to talk about the special effects in that movie, and the sex, and the violence.” He is aware of the campy nature of this genre, and as he states “it definitely wasn't about the story, the story was secondary to the effects.”

Plotdigger Films is the production company he started to make movies, including such gems as Hanger, Torched, Live Feed, and Star Vehicle. Nicholson has written and directed all of them, but he is quick to point out how it is a team effort. Most recently, Star Vehicle was co-produced with New Image College, who provided actors, locations and “makeup expertise.”

The formula for Plotdigger productions is sex, violence, and extremely gory special effects. The attraction for him is the morbid fascination of it all. “With a grandfather who was a police detective and a father who worked at a funeral home, everything in my life has been on the morbid side, and the FX side. . .The appeal is to know that there is somebody out there that enjoys the movies I’m making, [but] really I do it for myself.” He is a aware that the violence is so over the top you can't help but laugh.

For independent film makers who want more production value for less money, he has this advice: “You need good blood. The cheap way is to buy Rit clothing dye – it's dirt cheap, and you can make a bunch of it, but it stains like a bitch, and wardrobe hates it. . .blood can be really expensive. A fog machine, you can get a little fog machine and just pour straight glycerine in it, go to the drugstore, and it's way cheaper.”

He advises putting your money where it counts. If your film has a main death scene, then focus your resources on that, and make it the best you can. He recognizes that emerging makeup artists and students will do volunteer work to meet people and practice their craft –  plus people need the credit.

“You need to have a lot of good coffee. It’s the one thing that makes our movies go. Cause we're shooting all night, we'll go six days straight shooting all night and if we don't have coffee, we'll have a riot on the set.”

As he helps Krystynn apply makeup to the zombie face, he explains, “you don’t necessarily have to be a makeup artist to do this, you can just be an artist, because there’s a lot of sculpting and painting.” He goes on to illustrate the reason why the program is extensive: “We teach them makeup and beauty because it’s very much skin oriented, so you have to know what human skin is like.”

He also makes it clear that you need an artistic spark from within, as well as an abundance of patience. “You can’t give up. You need to get experience doing it, working on your craft.”

Computer Effects – The Competition

Though Nicholson is transmitting passion and artistry, many other modern filmmakers are not wasting their time and money on these elaborate and time-consuming fantasies. Instead, they are working with computer effects and 3D imaging.

In 1993, a truly terrifying movie was released: Jurassic Park. But it wasn't the T-Rex that sent fear and doubt throughout the practical effects community, it was the way in which the T-Rex was created. Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) was started by George Lucas to fulfill his vision of Star Wars, and Jurassic Park marked the first time ILM's digital technology had been used to create a detailed and convincing living creature. Unlike the dinosaurs of the Jurassic period, practical makeup artists could envision their own extinction, as computer generated effects threatened to all but eradicate the traditionalists.

Seeing the dinosaurs' smooth rendering and sinister movements, anyone could see the advantage. Early monster flicks like Godzilla, for example, barely managed to create a sense of suspended belief, as it was always obvious that the audience was watching some guy in a lizard suit. In the Lord of the Rings movie, Peter Jackson employed cutting edge technology to create Shelob, the terrifying giant spider that threatens Frodo. It created a believability that prosthetics and costuming could never achieve.

Troy Robinson is Chief Operating Officer for XYZ RGB Inc. They provide 3D scanning to the motion picture, video game and manufacturing markets. Although they have been responsible for such frightening monsters as the giant spider Shelob, he admits that as far as creativity is concerned, “there is not a whole lot of that.” Their job is to make possible the elaborate fantasies that human actors cannot perform, like showing Shelob run up of a rock wall, or, in the case of The Matrix, enabling the elaborate fight scenes of Neo.

XYZ RGB also did the cyber-scanning for District 9, and even though they use the latest technology they still must have a physical maquette or model to work with. Robinson explains that ultimately, the film industry currently requires both aspects to create a true suspension of belief, stressing that they must work hand in hand with traditional visual FX artists. According to XYZ RGB: “Marrying the correct scanning solution with an object’s physical characteristics [and] material properties . . . is 50% of the know-how.”

Still, that 50% is beyond the reach of most budgets. This kind of digital imaging is still prohibitively expensive and relatively rare, so the practical effects are still preferred by those with more imagination than money. But a big budget does not necessarily make a great movie, just ask Kevin Costner (see Waterworld. No, on second thought, don't).

Back in New Image Studios, business is rolling, and the marriage of both art forms is expected and embraced, rather than feared. Ryan Nicholson credits Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson for showing the world how the two methods of creating special effects can work symbiotically: “He used to do FX for his own stuff, like his first movie Bad Taste; he built all the crap, he did the practical stuff.” The core illusion of the films are still based on glue, fur, makeup and paint, as in the hair on the Hobbits feet in Lord of the Rings. Jackson is aware of what scenes need CGI and what requires practical FX – the Hobbits and Elves just wouldn't benefit from computer generated pointy ears, but the overall illusion requires them.

Visual effects makeup is still a cornerstone of building a believable fantasy. It isn't just necessary for horror and sci-fi, it is critical for any kind of storytelling, due to the very fact that it is real. The most immediate advantage belongs to the actor. Being in full makeup intensifies the character, and consequently helps the actor to embrace the role in a more believable way. The hours spent outfitting a convincing zombie prosthetic allows an actor to embrace the role through more raw senses – the sight, feel and even smell of the costume brings its own tangible connection to the role, and is still the industry standard.

There has been a massive shift in FX creation methods in the last 15 years, but we seem to have reached a happy medium with digital FX working hand in hand with traditional makeup and prosthetics. The artistry nowadays is in the choices a director makes regarding the two approaches.

As Ryan Nicholson helps Jeanine Chau attach a mask of tentacles to a nightmarish creature, he says, as much for his students as for me: “There is always gonna be a place for what we do. There is still a love for the craft and the hands on stuff. Plus, actors don't want to do just voice over.”

//Mike Kennedy

Arts Editor

FROM THE EDITOR: Expansion

Last week, the Courier brought back one of our old Editors in Chief, Erin Millar, to inform the new Courier staff of the experiences she’s gained as a journalist outside of our paper. She now holds a position as the editor of Maclean’s On Campus. I was only a reader of the Courier during the time of her reign. And in retrospect, the core of what the Courier meant to me back then hasn’t changed much despite the fact that there were three Editors in Chief between our leadership. During her presentation, she asked Kevin and I what our vision for the Courier was. Our response had to do with adequately representing Capilano’s student demographics while uniting readers. I had answered, “To unite and represent the student body’s best interests.” But I wish I had simply responded: “This week’s agenda.”

The events that followed this week went beyond us being simply a paper. And although that may sound like I’m gloating, know that I’m commenting just as much on those outside of the Courier as ourselves. Yes, Erin was part of the Courier staff long ago, but now she is an editor for one of Canada’s top news magazines and lending all of our writers a hand. Following Erin's presentation, the Courier brought twenty of our staff to the Western Prairie and Northern region Canadian University Press (WPNCUP) conference in Kelowna. In terms of numbers, we were the second largest constituency at the conference, and represented our paper well to the rest of Western Canada’s campus papers. Over the weekend, we gathered as much praise and criticism on our paper and writing in general as we could. From our writing style, to our print layout, to our website, our aim is to improve from what we learnt.

Afterward, on Wednesday, the Courier’s political side was finally put in its final stages of a mass overhaul. Our Board met up and went over some of the final points needed to give our old constitution an upgrade. The Annual General Meeting will be held on November 10th and we encourage you, the reader, to come vote in a new board. (You’ll get free food!) 

Proceeding that Board meeting we teamed up with the CSU and CBUS to provide a very successful party (much credit and thanks to the CSU and CBUS for the work they’ve done). The significance was that it was one of the first times I’ve seen all three of Capilano’s largest societies come together to host an event. Capilano’s student body was spry with energy during this Halloween party. CBUS seemed keen to repeat such events, so if you didn’t make it, you’ll still have time to catch some of that - dare I say it - spirit. Yes, spirit is something that this school has been severely lacking, but just like that night’s Halloween music boasted: “I ain’t afraid of no ghost.”

And still, the Courier has future plans to expand and create further bonds. This week we’ve met with members of the Capilano Blues, who wish to help us reincarnate our Sports section with stories of their accomplishments. We’ll also have our first installment of a Business section with help from students in the Business program.

That all occurred in one week, but we’re not done. If you feel that you or your society ought to have more coverage or representation in the Courier, I invite you to raise your concern with us. The Courier is an autonomous paper, which means we will always have the right to hold a critical eye towards the world around us - that’s our job. But we also have a mandate to represent our student population fairly. The good and the bad. For the greater good of the student body as a whole.

//Alamir Novin,
Editor

Voicebox

“Taylor Swift is not racist! She’s too good.”
[RIGHT? -Giles]

“I hate leaving after class at three o’clock, because there’s
always a huge lineup for the bus and you never get a seat.
And last week I had to stand next to a guy who was listening
to Soulja Boy really loud. Seriously. Soulja Boy.”

“Soon, when you Google a song, the song will show up at
the top of the page and you’ll just press play and it’ll play the
song. Like, any song. I just think that’s neat.”

“I read on the Internet that the world is going to end this
week. No wait, America is going to get blown up. That’s
what I read. Same thing.”
[The Internet never lies. -Giles]

“Everyone should stop eating the cafeteria food here. If I
just walk down the road to Seymour’s Pub, I can get a giant
meal on a plate for less than ten bucks with my student card
discount. Whereas here, you pay practically that much for a
couple of soggy perogies. Plus Seymour’s has beer.”

I don’t like all these assholes walking around school dressed
all fancy.
[Second voice] Those are business students.
[first voice] No, they’re assholes!
[They are also business students. -Giles]

CSU AMENDS ELECTION BYLAWS Election day drama leads to exciting policy adjustments

At the beginning of the summer, Trevor Page, the chairman of the Electoral Committee, began revisions on the Student Union Election Policy and By Laws. The new policy was presented and passed at the Capilano Students Union (CSU) Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, October 27.

One of the major changes in the Policy deals with disqualifying a candidate before an election.  The reason for the clarification in the bylaw was because of a violation  that occurred last year.

Prior to the revision, the Executive Committee Policy stated in section 8.1, “Consequence of Misconduct: Violations of Bylaws and/or policies by a candidate may  result in a written warning given by the Electoral Committee or in the disqualification of the candidate, pending on the severity of the situation.”

The new policy now states in section 8.1.a: “Due to the severity of violating bylaw, any infraction thereof shall result in immediate disqualification and b: Any infraction of policy, unless otherwise specified, shall result in a warning. If the offense continues or a second infraction is committed disqualification
shall result.”

When asked for the reason for this change in wording , Trevor Page stated “We felt that by giving the Electoral Committee room to maneuver around whether they should give a warning or disqualification becomes very subjective. If a candidate violates policy or bylaws they are violating the election rules and something should come of it…the electoral committee is responsible for ensuring these policies and bylaws are upheld, how can they do that if they're not upholding them themselves?”

In a controversial incident last year, candidate Armando Cercenia was running for the position of Social Justice Coordinator. Cercenia violated the bylaw that stated no canvassing should take place within ten meters of a polling station.
He was disqualified and appealed the decision, and the following day
the decision was upheld at the appeal. However, the protocol for consequence of Misconduct was unclear, making these new changes necessary.

Another important change in the policy is that when a candidate is disqualified, his/her name is to be prominently displayed at the polling station, stating his disqualification.
However, only if the candidate gives permission, the electoral committee will display a short description of the infraction, a short explanation of the electoral procedures in relation to this issue, and the contact information of the electoral committee (in case of an appeal hearing).

The decision to withhold the candidate's infraction from the student body is meant to protect the candidate in the event that he/she decides to run again in the future.
Trevor Page added to this point “because a lot of the people running in these elections are still emerging in their careers and its their first time dealing with this type of stuff, that it was not fair to release the full information of the violation without their permission... for the simple fact that this is not World Politics and we're not dealing with fraud.”

A smaller but notable change in the policy is a decrease in the number of signatures needed for a nomination. The number needed went from fifteen down to five. This would affect potential first year or exchange candidates, who may not possess the social contacts that older students may have.

//Andrew Kirkpatrick

Writer

More information on the
Cercenia Case can be found at www.capcourier.com/2009/02/23/csu-candidate-disqualified

VANCOUVER LOBBIES FOR CLIMATE CHANGE Bridge to a Cool Planet puts on a multitude of events

 
“The best outcome from the event was the building of connections between communities,” says Kevin Washburn, an organizer of the Bridge to a Cool Planet group. The group held a massive parade in Vancouver on October 24, as part of a global day of action on climate change, directed at Canada's leaders.

As the parade snaked past GM place, stretching from the bottom of Cambie Bridge to the end of Pacific Boulevard, these connections were on full display. Whole families, groups of friends, and the old and young of every nationality happily joined together in a festive mood that was reinforced by stilt-wearing activists and cyclists blaring upbeat music out of boomboxes. 

After arriving at Science World, the potpourri of Vancouverites was treated to additional awareness events that added to the already large numbers from the parade. A “Hot Salsa, Cool Planet” dance show was thrown, as well as an eco-fair on green business, a dance stage with SHAH DJ, and even several bands, including well-known locals Mojave.

The Bridge to a Cool Planet is an independent organization that was asked to join with 350, a movement that put on over 5200 similar events worldwide on October 24.

350 is the brainchild of author Bill McKibben and the movement takes its name from what research has concluded is the safe amount of C02 in our atmosphere, 350 parts-per-million – a level we have already surpassed.  The goal of 350 is to force world leaders to take action this December when a new world treaty on climate change will be passed in Copenhagen. 

There has been massive Canadian support for this initiative, in terms of participation in the 350 movement. However, it is contrasted by what the government has done to reduce carbon emissions. Since the Kyoto accord was signed in 1997, Canada has done the least to reduce emissions out of all the G8 nations, something Washburn attributes to strategic vote counting by Canadian politicians.

“The Conservatives are beholden to their base in energy rich Alberta, and don't want to make the tough choices that need making to get us on the path to a low carbon economy. Similarly, the Liberals want to build a national base and so don't want to alienate Alberta or Saskatchewan either, for fear of the NDP presumably,” said Washburn.

Unlike current Candian developments, powerful global leaders such as Barack Obama are beginning to recognize the profits and positives that new, renewable sources of energy can yield.

At a recent speech at MIT, Obama compared this search for new methods of energy production to a race, and believes that “the nation that wins this competition will be the nation that leads the global economy.”

According to 350’s website, many powerful leaders are still unreceptive to the urgency of global warming, and time is running out as Copenhagen looms closer and closer. The site’s Science section also notes that the treaty currently being proposed would be ineffective in slowing down global warming, and fails to meet the 350 parts-per-million standard set by researchers.

This year's UN Copenhagen climate change conference will be take place between December 8 and 17.

For more information on the 350 movement, visit www.350.org

//Mac Fairbairn

Writer

PIGS FLY Swine flu infects first wave of Cap U students

 
"Several students” have confirmed being hit with Swine flu (H1N1), according to Capilano’s Human Resources Vice President, Mike Arbogast. Although three weeks ago, students were alerted by classroom signs and leaflets that certain classes had been sanitized, there was no mention that Cap students had even been suspected of having the H1N1 flu. Similarly, on October 14, an email was sent out to students alerting them that Cap’s administration was taking a “proactive approach” to dealing with H1N1 while providing further documentation for students - but no confirmation of student infection was mentioned in the email either. According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, schools are not under a mandatory obligation to inform students if other students have been affected by H1N1.

“They reacted a little slow in my case, since I already had the flu for several days before the [October 14] email was sent out,” Paul says. Paul, who asked for his last name to not be revealed, is a Cap student who has contracted H1N1. He has been absent from all of his classes for at least three weeks, up until the time of this interview, due to his H1N1 flu. He informed his instructor but not the administration. Instructors are required to report to administration, as that’s how Human Resources is gauging the campus’ levels of H1N1.

Arbogast believes that Cap U was well prepared for H1N1. He notes that Human Resources had all computers and keyboards sanitized in August and a hand-washing booth set up on September 30. Marketing and Communications provided H1N1 information, prepared by the Public Health Agency of Canada, with Student Orientation packages on September 8, as well as 10 posters on student bulletin boards. facilities also did “extra cleaning” in classrooms used by students who had reported cases of H1N1. A website, videos, and other information alerts were also set up. Nowhere in the list of precautions taken by the University was a notification given to the student body that there were confirmed cases of H1N1 on campus. The closest Capilano got to giving a confirmation were the emails sent on October 14 and 29. As to why neither emails contained confirmation that students on campus had H1N1, Arbogast responded:

“No decision was made one way or another.” Arbogast acknowledged that sending a confirmation would create panic, but believed such panic would be unnecessary. He stressed the “personal responsibility” of the student in presuming that there ought to be H1N1 cases on campus: “You absolutely know by basic statistics that someone in this place, and on the bus, will have the flu.”

As for the actual contents of the email, Paul felt that the email’s information was helpful, as it seemed to answer the general concerns of most students. Nevertheless, the timing of the October 14 email was Paul’s greatest concern, as he added: “They could have been a little more on the ball considering all the warnings over the past few months.”

Administration emails that are sent out to all 7,400 registered students usually have an eight hour delay, but Paul’s notification was made days before. The Communicable Disease Control (CDC) did contact Cap U and other post-secondary institutions three weeks earlier, on September 22, to discuss H1N1 prevention procedures. Afterwards, with the aid of an H1N1 committee put together by Capilano’s administration, dates for 6000 cost-free vaccinations were set up. The dates for the vaccination will occur on November 17 and 18, for a “two day blitz,” according to Arbogast. A major part of the “blitz” was coordinated by Mary Ciccone, Capilano U’s Health Services’ nurse. She informed the UBC Health Services that Capilano, “don’t have the staff” to carry out any vaccinations and asked for their assistance. UBC’s School of Nursing offered to provide their nurses to assist Capilano, as part of their practicum.

The delay in response, from the confirmation that students had H1N1 to the actual set up for a date for vaccination, is partly due to how the federal government has prioritized who gets vaccinated first. The vaccine itself was approved on October 21 by Health Canada. Demographics that are more susceptible to the flu virus, such as senior citizens, and pregnant women, are provided access to the vaccine before the student demographic.

On October 29, Human Resources emailed students the dates for vaccination. Now that the Capilano student’s demographic will be vaccinated, who is eligible will remain open - if a Cap student has a child that they’d like to be vaccinated, they will not be turned away. As for residents near campus who show up to be vaccinated, Mike Arbogast responded: “If it happens, it happens,” because the vaccine is free and meant for all of public. Although the government provides the vaccine free, “[Capilano U] still has to pay the extras. We have to do our own food, our own supplies… There is a cost to us, we don’t get everything free.”

// alamir novin, editor


Capilano’s Dates for Vaccination

Tuesday, November 17th
8am to 6pm

Wednesday, November 18th
8am to 4pm

NOTE: We anticipate peak times will be from
11:30am to 1pm each day, so please plan accordingly.

There will be no cost for the immunization.

There will be several immunization stations set up. We suggest you wear a loose fitting top as the vaccine will be given in the upper arm.

Juice and cookies will be available.


-Mike Arbogast
VP-Human Resource

STUDENTS EXPERIENCE DISABILITES Diversity Awareness Day offers students a unique awareness experience

Highlighting the everyday struggles and challenges of students with disabilities, the Birch building cafeteria played host to Diversity Awareness on October 22. Students were invited to come out and try the different activities as they drifted through the building, and for a moment, literally live in someone else's shoes.

One activity involved strapping on clunky rubber shoes with a small half-circle on the bottom, and attempting to navigate across a small portion of the cafeteria floor. This activity was not only a chance to wear some flashy footwear, but to also experience something much more serious – walking with Parkinson's disease. Students stumbled across the linoleum, with a cane as their only aid, attempting to regain normal movement and balance.

Many of the students laughed off their fumbles, but stated that they didn't really realize what it was actually like and weighed in on the situation.

At a table informing students of Schizophrenia, students tried to listen to a set of instructions and follow them accordingly. It was an easy enough task, only there were two voices talking in the ears of the participant in the meantime. One of the voices was Shaun Stewart, the liaison for students with disabilities and a past sufferer of the disorder. When asked about what it was like to suffer from it, he replied that it was “a lot like being on a drug that you couldn't get off of” and that quite a lot of people misjudge what it actually is.

Many a time, as Shaun voiced, the public is misinformed about these disabilities, just assuming that they are something a person can get over. In the case of Schizophrenia, it is the widely held belief that it is a split-personality disorder, when it is actually a chemical imbalance in the brain's chemistry.

This is why Disability Services are striving to inform students and alter the reputation attached to physical and mental disabilities, with days such as Diversity Awareness. As Disability Services Facilitator Lucas Foss stated, “there is a certain stigma attached to ‘Disability’ – that’s why we changed it to ‘Diversity’”.

Students are invited to learn about subjects that they may have previously relied on the Internet or word of mouth to inform them of – to understand just what it is like to manage with a disability.

But there are many other events that the disability committee are hosting, from a Halloween Movie Night on October 29, to a talk on Schizophrenia on the 27. Everyone is invited to these events, and they are great ways to get to know your fellow students and expand a horizon or two.

You can contact the Family Support Centre at 604-926-0856 for inquires into personal support and information on major mental illness.

Weekly meetings for the Disability Committee are held Wednesdays at 12:40 in the Birch cafeteria.

//Haley Wishaw

Writer

BLUES B-BALL OPEN FOR BUSINESS Men's team starts strong while Women's team faces growing pains

For new recruits Mac Fairbairn, Sinclair Brown, rookie head coach Jordan Yu, and five other Capilano Blues men’s basketball players, home court has a double meaning this year. Yu is an ex-player at Capilano, while Fairbairn and Brown returned to the North Shore after the former played two years at the University of Saskatchewan, and the latter made stops at SFU and the University of Waterloo. Combined with Connor Lewis, Mike Zayonc, Connor Mahannah, Reece Gavin, and Sean Ashkenazy, the Blues boast a roster with seven North Shore natives.

Capilano has had great success in recent years at sending players on to universities across Canada – no fewer than ten players in the last four years. Bringing two of the North Shore’s top recent grads back, however, helps boosts the program. Still, that program will have to be reinvented this year.

Coach Yu stresses “I’m not going to reinvent the game.”

Yu replaces Paul “Ebe” Eberhardt, a Blues institution who led the team for the last decade. It was Eberhardt who was yelling, stomping, coaching and sometimes wearing a top hat on the sidelines when Yu led the Blues to the 2002 Provincial Championship, the same year he won tournament MVP.

North Shore fans took their first good look at the Blues on their home floor the weekend of October 9-11 during the Blues Classic tournament. The men picked up three wins and one loss over the weekend. On the other hand, the Blues women fared less well, sporting an inverse record of one win and three losses by the end of the weekend.

The men’s team opened up the tournament with a disappointing 83-78 loss versus as-of-then undefeated Kwantlen University, but followed with a 94-87 victory versus Quest University, a 92-69 defeat of Camosun College, and finally a 79-70 triumph versus Columbia Bible College.

The men’s team opened up the tournament with a disappointing loss versus as-of-then undefeated Kwantlen University, but followed with victories versus Quest University, Camosun College, and Columbia Bible College (CBC).

It took an impressive overtime performance for Capilano to defeat Quest, and Fairbairn, an Argyle Secondary alumnus, showed why he was a coveted recruit after his career with the Pipers.

Fairbairn explained his thought process at the time.

“It’s just one of those things – you try to assert yourself. The moment just presented itself.”

Coach Yu was in agreement, confirming “leaders emerged. . .from that win.”

However, Fairbairn stressed that “All the guys on our team are leaders themselves.” The Blues certainly boast one of the most experienced rosters in recent history.

He also admitted these first home court games were extra-significant.

“My mom only saw me play [at the University of Saskatchewan] twice.”

Fairbairn is an aggressive guard who can get to the hoop seemingly with ease, and matches his offensive intensity with his defense. He didn’t exactly look like a momma’s boy on the court, but he admitted that this home court advantage has been “something [he’s] missed.”

Yu admits, “I got pretty lucky” with recruits Brown and Fairbairn.

“They wanted to be home, playing in front of home fans, friends, family. It was a timing thing.”

Yu also managed to add Swaroop “Rupee” Clair, who has been shooting the lights out in the BCCAA for both Kwantlen and the University of Northern British Columbia in the past. Clair returned to the Lower Mainland from Prince George in order to better manage his diabetes.

With so many quality North Shore players, Yu is pleased, to say the least – especially considering he wasn’t hired until the recruiting season was well underway.

“I was surprised with the level of talent that came through the doors. Having those ties to the community, it’s great.”

Nevertheless, “I’m not going to pass up a superb talent just because he lives far away.”

Indeed, one of the Blues ‘big man’ recruits, Sandhu Manraj, hails from Surrey.

On the women’s side, head coach Paul Chiarenza reflected without despair at a 80-44 loss to Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), a 76-69 defeat at the hands of Mount Royal College, or a 57-44 loss to Quest University. The lady Blues crushed CBC by 39 points, 84-45 to start the tournament.

The ever-descriptive Chiarenza explained: “We were anemic on offense, but oozing with intestinal fortitude on defense.”

Despite the offensive struggles of his almost completely overhauled roster and the addition of nine new players, Chiarenza saw many positives.

Jessica Franz, Donna Blaszak, Amber Pedersen, and Laura Kynoch were among the team’s leaders over the weekend. Blaszak, Pedersen, and Kynoch are all rookies, while Blaszak is the only local North Vancouver product on the women’s side.

“In a lot of ways, [this team is] extremely tough.”

“We’re mentally more capable of going deeper in the season.”

Chiarenza knows losses versus SAIT and Mount Royal are nothing to be ashamed of. Both schools have expressed interest in joining the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) or possibly even the NCAA.

“It would have been nice to have a couple more wins,” admits Chiarenza, however, he still relishes the challenge of forging a “completely new team.”

“It forces you to kick your own butt. You can’t let up. It’s actually pretty fun, having that fire lit under you.”

Both the Blues men and women open their regular seasons at Douglas College on November 6. The home openers are the following weekend November 13-14 versus CBC.

//Jens Ourom

Sports Writer

COOK AND WALKER A Massacre of Misogyny

 

 

Polytechnique, directed by Denis Villeneuve

One of the most horrific events in recent Canadian history was the Montreal Massacre of 1989. 14 women were shot down at the Ecole’ Polytechnique by a man who also took his own life. And now, this devastating act of misogyny is the subject of French-Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve’s new film, Polytechnique.

Are Canadians ready to revisit this horrific event through another person’s perspective? To debate this question we’ve divided the film’s finer points and placed them into three categories: Misogyny, Cinematography, and the Canadian awareness.

The Misogyny

Cook:              Villeneuve isn't bound to simply retell the Montreal Massacre. He uses this tragedy as a way of examining the casual misogyny in our culture, and its horrific consequences. We spend quite a bit of time with the killer in the film, but he is never closely analyzed – merely observed. There's also a second male character that is essentially the antithesis of the killer. He shows sensitivity towards women and in the midst of the shooting does as much as he can to help out. These two men, to my mind, are two sides of a coin, and represent our sex as one in dire conflict between love and hate. 

Walker: I have to compliment Villeneuve for structuring the narrative through the guide of figures as opposed to developed characters; it makes the subject matter all the more dominate. One of these figures is a young woman whose passion for mechanical engineering has lead her to apply for an internship. In the application process, the interviewer berates her for having an interest in a male-dominated world. Villeneuve immediately makes a contrast with this scene and that of the perpetrator of the massacre and the victim. Villeneuve never intrudes with a cemented message, but this conflict, and various others that are scattered throughout the film, leave little room for interactivity; they are strikingly simple. This thematic simplicity is at times a benefactor, but was largely a detracting property of the film. 

The Cinematography

Cook:               I wouldn't go so far as to say its simplicity is detrimental. Quite the opposite, in fact. It knows what is too complex to try and tackle and what is obvious enough to make itself apparent.

I'm glad you brought up the job interview with the young woman. The way it is shown to us at first, we don't know if she got the internship or not. Basically, the interviewer expresses his concern that she will eventually bail out to raise a family, and comments that men are better suited for the position. Then it cuts to her crying in a bathroom stall, and it isn't until later that she tells her friend she got the internship, and that she had to hold off on mentioning her desire to have children. We then heartbreakingly realize that she was crying because she had to compromise her integrity in order to succeed. Thus, misogyny takes its toll on our culture. It sets our world out of balance, a truth that the filmmaking supports, as we notice the camera often finds itself floating about, unable to maintain equilibrium. 

Walker: The cinematography is gentle. Villeneuve takes a fragile approach to the material, which constructs a memorable aesthetic in that the drama is properly matched with a camera: it refuses intrusion. The trajectory into the killer’s ideals and breakdown is briefly communicated in the opening moments of the film wherein the killer aggressively reads a suicide letter addressed to the world. Villeneuve maintains his distorted psyche by filming the halls of the Polytechnique with expressionistic camera movements, which is possibly my favorite feature of the film. Also, the choice of black and white fittingly derives from Villeneuve's obsession with matching and desensitizing. The film looks like an assemblage of newspaper clippings, which would have surely been the public’s eye into the event at the time. The black and white simultaneously dampens the effect of the immense violence that is displayed.

The Canadiana

Walker: I'd consider Polytechnique a good Canadian film that makes mistakes by dipping into some mundane contrasts in ideologies – yet, credit must be given to the fact that a film bound to a historical event has come out of Canada. It’s amazing that this film came out of the deprived cinema Canada has. What’s even more astonishing is that it’s based on true events, which rarely is a good thing in terms of allowing the filmmaker creative freedom. But in this case, Villeneuve maintains creative authorship without losing the sincerity that the subject matter demands. 

Cook:               I'm glad you champion this as a Canadian accomplishment, but even out of that context, Polytechnique is praiseworthy. It does pale in comparison to Gus van Sant's Elephant, a film that depicted a fictionalized version of the Columbine shooting. That movie was a masterpiece. But Polytechnique is looking at entirely different themes, and should be seen on its own terms.

Villeneuve finds overwhelming despair within this tragedy, and ultimately in our culture. He also finds stark terror, which makes the scenes that actually depict the shooting almost unbearably intense and harrowing. Polytechnique is an admirable achievement, with an emotional resonance so affecting that I was nearly exhausted by the end. As much as I wholeheartedly recommend the film, I fear returning to it; within the classrooms and hallways of the Ecole’ Polytechnique, there is more pain than I can bear.

The Rating

Walker’s Rating 4/5

Cook’s Rating 4.5/5

Overall 8.5/10

//Adam Cook and Kurt Walker

Muppets

PENIS PUPPETEERS Fun (and appropriate) for the whole family

VICTORIA (CUP) – Apart from exotic dancers, not many people can say they make a living playing with themselves onstage. Rich Binning is one of the lucky few.

Along with his cohort Chris Cannon, Binning started showing off moves he learned from a Puppetry of the Penis book as a way to entertain his friends in theatre school. At first they never thought they would make a career out of the act, which originated in Australia in 1997 (the original puppeteers are penis pioneers David Friend and Simon Morley).

"Chris Cannon saw the [original] show in Portland, Ore., where he's from," says Binning. "He bought the book afterward, and he took it to college. He did some tricks at a party and I thought it was really funny, so I made him teach me some. And then we became known for doing the penis tricks around school."

After a friend suggested they go to a Puppetry audition in New York, Binning and Cannon hopped on a jet to try out as a duo. According to Binning, what won them the gig was their genuine understanding of the show.

"At the audition there were lots of weirdoes, people who just wanted to get naked in an audition," says Binning. "Chris and I were very familiar with the show; I think we understood the style of humour that it was."

The pair soon discovered playing with their junk in front of a live audience was a completely different experience than doing it for their buddies.

"It didn't really strike us as nerve-wracking until our very first show in New York," recalls Binning. "After that first performance, we felt a lot better about getting out there."

But it wasn't just the performers who had to get over the shock factor. Audiences often have to get used to what they're witnessing on stage.

"There have been people that think it's going to be puppets and not real penises, and they're kind of shocked at first," says Binning. "But after 10 or 15 minutes the shock is completely worn off on everyone and they're like, 'Oh yeah, this does look like the Loch Ness Monster.’"

And according to Binning, a Puppetry show isn't raunchy in any way. "A great thing about the show is how wholesome it is, in a way," says Binning. "My mom and my 17-year-old sister came to see the show. Chris' mom has been to see the show. There's no foul language, no sexual jokes. It'd just be too easy to go there."

Binning enjoys the challenge of winning over the audience, especially those members who were reluctant to check out the penile puppeteers.

"The rare one is the husband who is dragged along to a show by his wife," explains Binning. "It's always funny to watch those guys go from having their arms crossed, thinking, ‘Why would I want to see this?’ And then they're the ones that end up laughing the loudest."

While Binning feels he would like to move on to something else one day – his background is in theatre – right now he’s having a blast manipulating his genitalia on stage.

"We're getting a chance to see the world because of it," he says.

//Alan Piffer,

Nexus (Camosun College)

SURVIVING AS AN INDIE BAND In promoter-infested waters

 
We all have friends in bands. For the one girl it gets them annually, sometimes the hardship makes it hardly seem worth it. Stories of spending thousands of dollars for an album no one ever hears or playing shows in an East Van dive to never get paid pop up all too often. Garrett Wolf, bass player and back up vocalist for death metal act Fetal Butchery described one such situation in barely audible gutturals.

“We got ripped off by this promoter, we played the Columbia for him back when they did metal shows and we never got paid. Somehow he convinced the band to play for him again with the promise of paying for both the gig he owed us, and the one upcoming. Of course when we finished playing that night, we found out he had ducked out before the last band and we never got paid for either. At that point we were out a lot of money for gas, and time.”

So how does a band avoid this expensive and disheartening situation? Do your research before seeking out a promoter. A bad reputation gets around very fast, and by talking to bands that have worked with a promoter in the past, you can find out a lot about their business practices. Wolf advises a band who is booked to play a show to take a walk around the city and look for posters with your bands name on it. Open up a Georgia Straight and look for ads, to be sure your promoter is doing their job. 

Al Harlow teaches Commercial Relations for the Jazz program at Capilano. Al Harlow has been playing live music since the late 70's, and although he was quick to point out that the industry has changed a lot, he offered up some relevant advice. Harlow, in describing what to watch out for when playing a rented hall or a alternative club, recommends that a band try and get a contract out of a promoter.

“I know this might be difficult when you're playing a fringe indie club, but a 50% advance deposit on the show is the performers' best security. If you show up to the gig, and there's no gig or no pay, the deposit partially covers you. A deposit beats a signature any day, but also shows integrity from the buyer who is willing to pay it, an indicator there won't be any problems.”

When a band plays a live show, their set is the commodity. After they play, their bargaining power is lost. This is the reason Harlow attributes so much importance to having something in writing. Not only will it protect your band, but, in his experience, a purchaser will also respect you for being organized enough to present them with a contract.

Calen Degnan from The Shiny Diamonds, a Vancouver indie rock band, believes that getting a contract or any sort of payment in advance is a rare scenario. “There is a very low likelihood of a contract from an opening band being honoured or even considered by the promoter. In my experience, the level of professionalism displayed by local promoters has been only slightly higher than that of the bands.”

Although The Shiny Diamonds have suffered numerous financial disappointments when playing live music, Degnan points out that it's not all bad in Vancouver. He mentions that playing Pub 340 and Richards on Richards, venues which provided a boisterous and receptive audience, were certainly highlights. However, the nominal compensation barely covers a pint for each member of the band. Degnan believes that in the cutthroat reality that is the Vancouver music scene, the real reward is the interaction with the audience.

Al Harlow seems to agree, and resigning to the fact that you're not going to make a living playing music for a while is essential. Making money and creating your own music, which is an energy-sucking task in itself, are two separate pursuits. These sentiments are common among bands playing in Vancouver. Wolf jests: “Make sure everyone in your band has a steady job. You’re going to spend a while paying your dues – sometimes with real money”.

It is important to note that many indie bands do get paid for playing live. It is not all doom and gloom in Vancouver. Wolf attributes Fetal Butchery's marginal success in the live circuit on the band’s willingness to play shows. He views it essential to build up notoriety in your music community and garner some sort of a following.

Undeniably, a huge portion of playing in a successful band is the business aspect. Harlow mentions that “as artists, we tend to be almost compliant in our eagerness to make people happy, so unless you have someone in the band who doesn't mind negotiating all that business, having a manager is definitely helpful to avoid being taken advantage of.”  Playing live music in Vancouver can be daunting, and you may ask yourself if it's even worth it. However, as long as you get into the game with some business knowledge to protect yourself and with out the preconceived notion that you will going to get rich quick, you should be able to start building up a fan base and playing some rewarding shows.

//Marco Ferriera,

Writer

GAMING: THE CASUAL DIVIDE Examining the new polarization of video game players

WATERLOO, Ont. (CUP) – Last month, Nintendo announced that it would cut the price of its Wii console by $50 to combat slumping sales numbers. The move says a great deal about the financial success of the Wii, given that this minor price-drop is the console’s first price reduction since its release nearly three years ago.

Contrast the Wii’s relatively consistent price point to its competitor, Sony’s PlayStation 3 (PS3). Since its launch in 2006, the price of the PS3 has undergone a cumulative $300 price drop, and a cheaper-to-make offshoot, the PS3 Slim, was released.

The PS3’s predecessor, the PlayStation 2, sold nearly 140 million units and was the best-selling video game console of all time. Today, the Wii is outselling the PS3 on a two-to-one basis – so what changed?

Shifts in gamer demographics are central to understanding this transformation in sales. Video game players can generally be divided into two groups: “casual” gamers who prefer games with straightforward concepts and “hardcore” gamers who are more invested in game competition and depth.

It's incorrect to compartmentalize all individuals who play video games, or even attempt to find a concrete definition for a casual or hardcore gamer. That being said, there is a generally agreed-upon division between those who view video games as an informal hobby and those who have a more in-depth personal investment in the medium.

             

The PS2’s success laid in its ability to simultaneously appeal to hardcore and casual gamers. A look at the top-selling games for that console reveals a diverse list of titles, ranging from the lighter “EyeToy” and “Madden” game series to more complex series like “Dragon Quest “and “Metal Gear Solid.”

A single, unifying console is nowhere to be seen this generation. Video game players have become increasingly polarized by consoles, with casual gamers tending to prefer Nintendo’s Wii, and the more hardcore crowd gravitating towards the PS3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360.

This polarization, combined with the global recession, has had a profound impact on the gaming industry. Gaming companies are willing to pander to casual gamers because, simply put, they are far less picky. In cold cost-benefit analysis, a casual game thrown together by some junior programmer is far more cost-effective than a multi-year, blockbuster hardcore title that's developed over multiple years.

But it is clear that video games are quickly approaching a casual ceiling, and that the ability of casual gamers to sustain the industry is rapidly diminishing.

Gaming companies have grown complacent in the ability of casual gamers to buy cheap-to-make titles; this has allowed the market to become saturated with truly awful games.

“So what?” you may argue. “Just because you’re not interested in ‘Hannah Montana: Spotlight World Tour’ doesn’t mean no one else is.”

Though that argument is valid, it's a short-term observation. Casual gamers are characterized by their lack of brand loyalty and passive attitude towards the gaming medium. When the next flashy technological innovation comes along, the casual market may very well take their money elsewhere.

If and when the well of casual support dries up for those games, companies will be left with their core support of hardcore gamers who have been ignored.

Though game companies may succeed in fostering a sustained loyalty from casual gamers, they are ultimately too shortsighted for the loyalty to persist.

And when the day comes that the casuals have fled, the hardcore crowd will remain, waiting to be pandered to yet again.

//Morgan Alan

The Cord (Wilfrid Laurier University)

SONIC COLLAGE Sticking it to U2

In what was being billed as a festival of “the art of sampled and repurposed sounds and images”, The Copyright/Copyleft Festival concluded on Saturday with a video/dialogue presentation by Mark Hosler, one of the founding members of the musical act Negativland. With a central theme of “sound collagism”, copyright legality, and freedom of expression, the festival featured artists who manipulate sound and samples to create.

Negativland, formed in the late 1970’s, has gained a certain cult status and notoriety in the US, in part for their musical productions consisting of looped audio segments, cut and pasted (literally) off old radio station carts, cassette tapes and movie soundtracks. This found sound is then put onto a bed of ambient soundscapes, creating a collage of potty-humoured politicism and promoted as conceptual art, complete with music videos.

At the end of the 80’s and into the early 90’s, Negativland became embroiled in a series of controversies, stemming firstly from a press release the group fabricated to bolster up a failing live tour. By falsely linking their music as inspiration to a teenage mass murderer, a media blitz followed that was conducted without any fact checking, a cause célèbre for the group’s next album.

This follow-up resulted in another controversy, involving a lawsuit with U2 over cover art design and music sampling. Negativland’s U2 EP ripped off the Irish band’s name graphically, in order to assuage the public into buying the record, and explicitly sampled “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” without permission.

Hosler’s pseudo-nonchalant reminiscing of these events provoked interesting questions about mass media literacy (especially as most of North America is still dealing with the Balloon Boy hangover) and rights to intellectual property, relevant in our current Digital Age.

But reminiscing accounted for most of his presentation, reeking of a last-shot-in-the-spotlight take, with preferences leaning more towards industry name dropping than to his half-hearted attempts at radical dialogue. Hosler presented himself, and the group’s work, as Beavis and Butthead Americana, and as success piggybacking from other people’s triumphs and misfortunes, rather than from the acclaim of solid conceptual artwork.

The second half of the evening afforded a rather unusual setting to see, but mostly hear, as virtuosic pianist Uri Caine performed with a group formed for this event. The Scotia-bank Dance Centre does have a stage, but the musicians instead played right on the floor. As time and music unfolded, it seemed to make sense, or at least not matter. Caine's many facets began to appear and combine to form wistful, frenetic or ponderously humorous gestures of sound that needed no visual. 

He has been described as both a Jazz and Classical artist, but his wide-ranging collaboration with musicians from many genres (among them trumpeter Dave Douglas and The Roots' drummer Questlove) inform Caine's sensibility in composition and playing. Seemingly limitless improvisational ideas and masterful execution allow Caine to move through many moods, sometimes quite abruptly, as with a new through- composed piece he played in the first set. At least half an hour to forty minutes went by with barely a pause in the intensity of the music as it shifted from frenetic passages, reminiscent of avant-garde pianist Cecil Taylor's more aggressive moments, to a kind of Parisian/Klezmer waltz theme punctuated by Ben Perowski's world class drumming.

Giorgio Magnanensi, artistic director of Copyright/Copyleft, himself an international New Music practitioner, joined Caine, manipulating the acoustic sound of the band through laptop to great effect. Using fragments from passages only moments out from under the fingers, he managed to restate and reinterpret material, now processed in various ways to give new perspective on something just heard. 

To bring such disparate or previously unconnected styles together is the essence of sampling. To borrow and juxtapose, re-shape and create something new from the combination. Having Uri Caine end this four-day festival of sonic collage makes sense. His music is fiery exploration with an elegant outcome. Sample success.

//Ian Cox and Morgan Applewood

Writers

PEAK SPEAK

Question of the week: What do you think your chances are of finding true love at Capilano? 
 

Name: Dan I 

Studying: Creative Writing first year

Answer: “Definitely a lot of hot girls here. You know what really needs to happen is have functions that involve booze so the students can mingle. But then I’d probably show up to class hungover. But in terms of true love, I couldn’t put it into odds, but I’m definitely open to it.” 

Name: Kaitrin M 

Studying: Tourism Management fourth year 

Answer: “Umm, already have mine. And it wasn’t at Cap. But the odds of finding true love at Cap… It can be found anywhere, school or not. You just have to be willing to let it happen.” 

Name: Elliott B 

Studying: General Arts second year 

Answer: “[Laughs] Nill. Not to say this is a defining characteristic, but I’m a bit older. And the girls here aren’t quite as evolved as I’m into.”

Name: Jesse L 

Studying: Communications third year 

Answer: “ Zero. Actually no, truthfully. Not high. Because people you interact with are international students, it’s multicultural. Therefore it’s hard to find one person you actually like in Capilano.”

Name: Kaley L 

Studying: Classical Music first year 

Answer: “Oh, I’ve already found it! But for people at Capilano I would say over four years there’s a pretty good chance.”

//Léo Newman 

Field Reporter