Issue 10, Vol 141, The Brunswickan

10

arts

07

sports

opinions

04

The Brunswickan

Volume 141 Issue 10 • Canada’s Oldest Official Student Publication • UNB Fredericton’s Student Paper • Nov. 7, 2007

Destruction for a cause

Electoral trouble

by Jennifer McKenzie and Alicia Del Frate

Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

Engineers Without Borders UNB Representative Rodger Kallal continues the destruction of an old Toyota Tercel with a makeshift sledgehammer last Wednesday. The EWB-UNB event, ‘Beat the CRAP out of Poverty Car Smash,’ took place last Wednesday, October 31st. For coverage, see page 3.

Last spring’s Student Union General Election’s controversy is not over yet.

The Brunswickan has learned that many St. Thomas University students were able to vote for executive positions.

STU students taking at least one class at UNB are considered part-time University of New Brunswick students, and are thus given a Login ID. While these students are eligible to vote for campuswide positions, including the Board of Governors and Senate positions, as they do not pay a Student Union fee, they are ineligible to cast a ballot for Representatives’ positions. However, all undergraduate and graduate students opting into paying the fee) are eligible to mark on a ballot.

Several STU students have disclosed that they voted in UNBSU’s General Election. “I noticed the voting tab, and decided to try it out. When I realized I could actually vote, I was surprised because I haven’t paid the SU fee…If I have a vote, I may as well use it,” explained STU student Dan Murphy.

Student Union President Brad Mullins, who was elected in the last General Election, was troubled by the news that STU students may have been eligible to vote, but explains that the Union is doing what it can with the situation at hand.

“The tricky part about this is that we’ve improved a lot on our end. The problem isn’t a policy issue; it’s a technological problem. We are going to have to continue working with ITS to make sure it isn’t happening and it can’t happen in the Spring Election.”

The improvements of which Mullins speaks are mainly based on recommendations made by last year’s Chief Returning Officer, Clare Henderson, after Rafael Velazquez resigned from the position, in the midst of electoral controversy. The election by-laws were amended with the intention of making the election process more efficient.

Bethany Vail, Vice President Academic for the Student Union, believes the improvements the Union has made this year have already made an impact in the fall by-election. Not only has a new CRO been hired, but according to by-law changes, he has hired a Deputy CRO. “We have amended our by-laws, and it seems like things are going a lot better this time… This year the CRO has a lot of training, which is a really good thing.

He’s been studying up on the by-laws and taking this job very seriously,” commented Vail.

Mullins hoped the controversy surrounding last year’s election wouldn’t negatively affect students’ views on voting, but realizes that it is likely to have an impact.

“If someone is perceiving the voting procedures as invalid or ineffective, they’re not going to participate. I believe students should continue voting.”

It appears as though students are still feeling the impact of last year’s election controversy, as they are choosing to

see Election page 21

No lease and no peace Steroids and strippers; the

debut of a Road well-travelled

by Josh O’Kane

by Ashley Bursey

With establishments such as The Cellar Pub & Grill and College Hill Social Club, students have the convenience of staying on campus to socialize and spend their evenings.

Both of these facilities, however, are on the last legs of their current leases for their locations in the Student Union Building.

The Cellar is currently riding on the edge of its 2006 lease extension and is waiting on a final deal with the university. The Social Club has a lease until June 2008 but is holding back on improvements until it gets the final word from UNB. The management of both establishments finds itself on its toes, waiting to find out their fates.

Matt Harris, Manager of the Social Club, has many plans for the bar but is waiting for a long-term lease to properly invest members’ money.

“We’re told that we’re most likely getting a five year extension,” says Harris, “which is great because we have a lot of renovations that we’ve wanted to do for about the last five years… If you’re being a good financial planner, you shouldn’t spend $50,000 in renovations on a two year lease.”

Harris, who has managed the Club since 1988, says there have been ideas for renovations in mind for some time now, but the Social Club has been continually receiving two year leases.

“There’s a lot of things that we don’t know if we can do. It comes down to how long the lease is and how much it would cost to do it. It’s putting the cart in front of the horse until we know how much time we have.”

Food service is one new option he’d

Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

Lyle Skinner is President of SUBS Inc, the board of directors for the Cellar Pub & Grill.The Cellar and the Social Club are both awaiting new lease deals. like to have for members.

“Nothing major, like the Cellar,” says Harris, “but we’d like to have possibly more finger foods available. We’re always interested in more space if we can get it, but that’s usually unlikely.”

Equipment also needs to be replaced, bars need to be rebuilt, and Harris says he’d even consider restructuring the Club by moving things around.

“It’s all really expensive stuff. You don’t like to invest and change things until you have a longer term plan.”

His hopes are still high, though.

“We’ve been really good corporate citizens up here for a long period of time so we like to assume that we’re going to get a long term lease this time. Ideally, we’d like a seven year lease, is what we’re actually after, but we don’t know if that’s actually going to happen.

“Our hands are totally tied, and our hands have been tied for the last two years, because the things that we want to do will cost in excess of $50,000. That’s a fair amount of members’ money, so we don’t want to invest that in a short timeframe. We want to invest that over a long timeframe.”

Still now, Harris says that “we haven’t had an official statement from the uni-

versity stating what we’re getting.”

Lyle Skinner is President of SUBS Inc., the governing body in charge of The Cellar.

“At the moment, we’re operating on the previous lease,” says Skinner. “Right now we’re in negotiations with the UNB administration with regards to a new lease. We’re still in the consulting stages with the university solicitor, and things like that.

“This new lease will, I think, ensure a more successful business relationship between the university and The Cellar because it will solidify many things which were subject to ambiguity.”

Some of the items subject to ambiguity include the times at which doormen (or bouncers) are required to start standing at The Cellar’s landing. The current contract states they must be in place starting in the evening, but does not necessarily discuss specific hours.

Items like this are subject to debate, says Skinner, and are en route to becoming more specific in the proposal for a new lease.

Skinner also mentions that at the time of the original lease-signing, The Cellar

see Lease page 2

Football and stripping don’t have a lot in common, unless you’re watching Jon Kitchen’s latest film, ‘Road to Victory’.

It’s an unconventional love story; an injured football player accused of taking steroids meets a stripper and falls in love.

Realizing he can’t perform sexually, the story twists, exposing both characters at their most vulnerable.

“I think that one thing which the general public has a difficult time understanding is just what a ‘gentleman’s club’ steroid use is,” says Kitchen, a New Brunswick native and UNB graduate, via e-mail. “The only athletes who admit to steroid use are those who benefit from talking about it. We watched professional football player, Bill Romonowski cry about how guilty he felt on CBS’s ‘60 Minutes’, but this interview conveniently coincided with his book release, ‘Romo’…The fact is that no athlete would admit to using steroids, unless they had something to gain, because of the stigma that follows them for the rest of their lives.

“It’s also an examination into the role sex plays in relationships,” he adds.

“This film asks what happens in a relationship when sex isn’t possible. And if sex isn’t a possibility, then how does this affect the issue of fidelity?”

Kitchen wanted to create something universally appealing, touching the human side of the story instead of the pigskin.

“Football was always meant to be just a backdrop, so we could have the

THURSDAY NOV 8

Submitted

UNB graduate Jon Kitchen’s ‘Road to Victory’ is an unconventional love story of a stripper and football player,. character of an athlete; someone with an innate drive that an audience could understand had something important at stake,” he explains.

“What I would like to make clear about the film is that most importantly, we wanted to make a love story that was honest in its expression of pain. Nobody ever chooses to be at their most vulnerable. It’s an emotional nakedness forced upon us by circumstance.”

For Kitchen, who started his film career in Professor Barry Cameron’s first Film Production class in ’98, went on to study at the Vancouver Film School, where the idea originated for Road to Victory.

He calls the journey a “rewarding and punishing process;” an independent, DIY film with a small budget and big dreams.

But the film has received critical acclaim, including Best of Fest at the 2007 Reelheart International Film Festival in Toronto, and a 2007 Official Selection at the Sacramento Film and Music Festival. Mark Allen of CBS/CW Television Stations calls it “poignant, engaging, and remarkably crafted; with

performances and moments so moving, you will feel this film long after the end credits.”

For Kitchen, the critical acclaim is welcome, but the film, he says, is more than that.

“That audiences and critics have appreciated the story we’ve worked so hard to bring to them is incredibly gratifying,” he says. “I mean, really, that’s why you make films, so that you can share something unique about the human experience with others.”

And, he adds, it’s grassroots festivals like Silver Wave that help share the wealth. “[These festivals] give the truly independent filmmaker their ‘voice’, a voice which might otherwise remain unheard,” he says. “It allows them to share their artistic vision with a receptive audience. There isn’t a bigger gift to a struggling artist than giving them the opportunity to showcase their hard work in a theatrical setting. I mean, how cool is that?”

Road to Victory screens on Thursday, November 8, at 9:30 p.m. at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre.

Regular Specials in Effect

100% – All Door Charges or Donations 25¢ For Every Beverage Sold

SPCA Fundraiser

Show us a picture of your pet when you enter for a chance to win a great door prize

For Members & Guests Only

News

2 • November 7, 2007 • Issue 10

still Keeping it for students and keeping it cheap NBSA unhappy

by Josh O’Kane

The minds behind the Social Club and The Cellar would like you to know that every time you take advantage of a campus bar’s services, the money goes right back to you.

Lyle Skinner, President of SUBS Inc., which presides over The Cellar, says The Cellar’s services are set up with students as maximum priority. This year, several changes have been implemented to guarantee that savings go back to students, both with pricing and with the sales profits.

“We’ve hired a new manager, Pat Hansen,” says Skinner. “One of the conditions of his employment was to cut prices across the board… We liked Pat’s business strategy, where, as opposed to paying a premium price – for the student, paying a higher price to increase revenue – we’re increasing [profit] by

volume. That means for anyone who goes to The Cellar, you may end up paying less per time you go there.”

“Also, more importantly, the price you see on the food and beverage products, the tax is included on that. Although it may not seem like substantial savings, there’s also even more because you factor in the tax difference.”

Skinner says this year, the pool and foosball tables have been reopened for use, and take-out service is being expanded. Services like take-out, he says, allow even underage students to take advantage of The Cellar, as well as to provide an alternative to Sodexho when dining.

As well, each night from Monday to Thursday are dedicated as ‘faculty nights’ for students from each faculty to come and enjoy The Cellar’s services.

The faculty whose night brings in the biggest profit will have a party dedicated to them at the end of the semester.

The SUBS Inc. President emphasizes the profits from The Cellar ultimately go back to the students.

“That the money that you pay there helps students, in the sense that our staff

are students, but also it helps anyone that is an undergraduate student at UNB, because the more money that goes into the bar, the more money they get back on the output end, in terms of services with the Students Union.”

Skinner says based on sales, The Cellar has performed better or on par with last year for the months of September and October.

The Social Club provides a similar situation for its members. The Club, memberships for which cost $25, sees all its profits go back to its members. Manager Matt Harris says that membership sales have been positive – but thanks to the warm fall, attendance is not as high as it has been in the past.

“Some days are just massively busy,” says Harris, “but the warm weather is taking a bit more out of us than normal. It’s been a very warm fall and the warmer the fall, the harder it is to pull people off the patios.”

Charity wet/dry events, traditionally held by residences, have been occurring frequently on Wednesdays, and may be pulling business away from Thursday nights at the Social Club, when it tra-

Leases could breathe new life

ditionally holds ‘Ladies’ Night’. Harris says the reasoning for the trend may be due to student budgets.

“Most students are on a fairly fixed budget on what they’re going to spend, so if they go out on a Wednesday and spend ‘x’ amount of money, they’re that much less likely to go out on a Thursday.

We don’t know that for sure, it’s a really hard thing to track, but we’ve noticed that it can have an effect on it.”

Harris has been managing the Social Club for nearly 20 years, and says what matters is that students can continually receive the benefits of the student-run bar, which has been run for nearly 40 years without funding from any outside organization.

“Whether I’ve been here 10, 15, or 20 years is irrelevant,” says Harris.

“What’s relevant is the Club has been here, serving students and the university community since 1970. It’s going on 38 years of serving students.”

The top priority of the Social Club, says Harris, is to serve the members and offer them a high-quality facility that will be there for years to come.

“When kids spend their money with

us, with The Cellar, with the Grad House, they’re spending money on themselves and they’re spending it on the legacy of students to come down the road. The things you do today can benefit your little brother, your little sister, your son or daughter some year.”

The Social Club is currently in the midst of negotiating a new lease with the university that could see upwards of $50,000 of renovations to benefit students in years to come.

Harris totes the benefits of on-campus bars by going through the costs of going out to a bar on campus versus off, and the importance of support from peers.

“It’s like with the price of drinks on a Saturday night,” he explains. “If you actually take the time to calculate what you spend on a cab, cover charge, with the cost of drinks downtown, and compare it with the cost of the drinks on any of the campus bars, you will find that you have significant savings. There is no question.”

“The other benefit is, when you come to this bar, you’re dealing with your peers. It’s a safer environment for you to party in.”

Problems with SU election from Election page 1 disregard their vote this year. When polls closed last Friday night, only 85 students voted; voter turnout was a dismal 1.03%.

Though surrounded by continuing controversy and the apparent lack of confidence students have placed in the Student Union electoral process, some members of the SU are not taking

the low voter turnout very seriously.

As Mullins explained the situation to Council last Thursday, it was met with laughter from councilors.

The CRO was not at Thursday’s meeting, and the Chair refused to take questions on the issue.

“I shouldn’t have been allowed to vote, but I did. I can understand a simple oversight on the part of the Student Union, these things happen. Mistakes happen, but this shouldn’t make them any less accountable,” added Murphy.

Gotz to speak at UNB The Cellar, pictured above, is one of the two campus bars in the SUB which are coming toward the end of their lease.

from Lease page 1 restaurant was not open for business, so some stipulations of the existing contract may not adequately reflect the environment of the restaurant and pub.

“It was signed at a time when The Cellar restaurant was not operational.

The new lease will reflect the character that it’s not a pub, but it’s also a restaurant as well. Essentially, it’s going to create a situation where The Cellar can be more profitable but also more enjoyable for students, with more things like concerts in the ballroom and concerts in the cafeteria.”

The Cellar was under fire last year due to several infractions with underage patrons consuming alcohol. Since the start of this year, Skinner says that infractions have gone down and that

the management is working to ensure the trend stays that way. The new lease, despite incorporating the restaurant, will reflect this.

“I’ve had a meeting with the administration,” he says, “where we acknowledged that the status quo, or how things occurred in the past, whether in reality or perception, can no longer occur. Going forward, one of the things that you see more prominently when you go down to the cellar is a sign that says you must be 19 years of age and also have a university ID. “For strict purposes of our liquor license, we can have underage people there; however, it is an internal policy that we do not allow underage people to be in there because it makes it easier to run into problems. We’re taking a proactive approach so that we do not have underage people period, and that way we will not run into any problems.”

Skinner says the intent of SUBS Inc. is to sign the new lease as soon as possible – he hopes by the end of November.

“The new lease will be subject to a one-year test run,” he says. “Based on if both parties are happy on that, it could be subject to a longer-term leasing arrangement, which could be up to five years. However, the specific terms of this lease are one year.”

Skinner believes the adjusted lease and the enhanced measures of security and safety are the right step forward so that The Cellar will be a UNB staple for years to come.

“Those issues of safety and security were the university’s main concerns about The Cellar. Certainly they don’t have a problem with us doing our thing, but we have to do it in a responsible environment because we are part of a larger university community.

“I am very confident that the new lease will be signed.”

SHOUT UNB hosts a guest lecture next Wednesday night

by Bruns News Department

Next Wednesday, November 14, SHOUT UNB is hosting ‘Remembering Dachau to Defend Darfur’ with guest speaker Elly Gotz.

Gotz is a Holocaust survivor. He was born in 1928, in Luthania and spent his teenage years in German concentration camps and was liberated from Dachau in 1945 by the American Army.

Gotz came to Canada in 1964 with his wife and children, after living in Germany, Norway, Rhodesia and South Africa. He now lives in Toronto.

A graduate electronics engineer and a businessman, Gotz is an educator at

Submitted

Guest lecturer Elly Gotz the Holocaust Centre of Toronto. He is a human rights activist, and volunteers as a speaker and educator.

Following Gotz’ lecture will be a brief but comprehensive presentation on the genocide in Darfur.

The event takes place in MacLaggan Hall, room 105, starting at 7:00pm.

SHOUT UNB is a student group working to promote tolerance and understanding. For further information contact SHOUT at shoutunb@ gmail.com or 471-1982

with premier

by Jordan Gill

On October 24, representatives from the New Brunswick Student Alliance along with representatives of student unions and community colleges from around the province met with New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham and several other key officials but they are still “disappointed.”

In a press release on October 24, NBSA recognized there has been progress made but not nearly enough.

“The NBSA is pleased that the Premier recognized that students’ concerns are valid and need to be heard. While the meeting provided a good opportunity for discussion about concerns specific to each institution and to students in general, the NBSA is disappointed with the decision for a complete lack of direct student input in the decision-making process,” said the press release.

Student leaders were informed by Premier Graham that the working group formed entirely of university presidents and community college principals will be making the decisions on all of the recommendations, including student financial aid. If students want to be informed and have a voice they should “keep open communication with their university administration.”

With over 26,000 students in the post-secondary education system (according to the Commission’s report) it appears unexpected that students would not have a form of direct input on decisions that will affect them and future students for years to come. The current setup is one whereby students would tell their administration and the Minister what they wanted and hope the message is correctly shared and properly lobbied in the meetings.

However, not everyone sees the need to have students on the Board. The University of New Brunswick Student Union VP External Jordan Graham said that not only would having students on the board be unnecessary but would be a burden to the government.

“UNBSU is not necessarily disappointed. Many of the items that will be discussed on the action committee are administrative resolutions that need to occur. It would be a waste of time in a situation where there is not enough time as is to have someone bog down a committee,” he said. “Also, if the government were to add students to this group, every single interest group would need to be added and that makes for a bureaucratic monster. We want results for students and we are confident that John McLaughlin will deliver that for us.”

Students seem to hold the view that students should be directly involved.

One UNB student that finds the situation disconcerting did not share this view.

She mentioned there needs to be accurate representation by everyone; it might be bias because there is speculation the report of which the committee is basing decisions was composed of people who supported the idea of a polytechnic. So as long as the students are accurately represented, it might be a good idea to review it. The worry is that students will not be accurately represented if they are not included.

The Graham government has urged students to keep in contact with their university presidents so they will know what viewpoints to bring to the meetings of this new group.

Brunswickan News Section Meetings Every Friday at 10:30 AM bruns.news@gmail.com

News

Issue 10 • November 7, 2007 • 3

Taking a second look at the UNB smoking policy As a call went out from the National Conference on Tobacco and Health to make Canada a smoke free country

by December 2008, some universities choose to make their campuses completely smoke free.

by Lauren Kennedy

While more and more people choose to give up smoking and pass it off as a nasty habit, there are still people out there who choose to smoke. The current policy at the University of New Brunswick Fredericton is that smoking is permitted as long as it is ten meters away from any building, although some people choose not to follow this rule, or confuse the term ‘meters’ with ‘feet’.

Earlier in October, there was a National Conference on Tobacco and Health held in Edmonton with various health care professionals, where it was

proposed to make Canada a completely smoke-free country, making it the first of its kind in North America, by December 2008.

Considering there is no such thing as safe secondhand smoke and that smoking kills about 37,000 people each year, some campuses across Canada have already made their campuses smoke-free.

The University of Winnipeg last year went smoke free, as well as Dalhousie University which has been smoke-free for a number of years, and more recently the University of Prince Edward Island is considering the option of having people not be able to smoke anywhere on the university property.

UNB has a smoking policy that has been evolving since it was first established in 1987, which limited smoking to designated areas, excluding classrooms. In 1994, it was revised again to include smoking only outside main entrances to buildings, with the exception of residence rooms, the cafeteria, and the Central Heating Plant. In 2002, it changed again to include the no smoking policy in residence rooms at the students’ requests, while it proposed a ten meter rule around buildings that, at the time, was consistent with all other universities in the Atlantic region. Finally, in 2003, the City of Fredericton adopted a new by-law prohibiting smoking in all public places and a task force on smok-

ing was established to take a closer look at the evolving smoking policy.

The intent of the entire policy was to recognize that cigarette smoke continues to be a major factor in various serious health problems, as well recognizing that exposure to secondhand smoke can cause a significant health hazard to non-smokers. It was the objective of the university to ensure a healthier, smokefree environment for all those within the university community. Within the enforcement section of the policy, it even states, “the right of the non-smoker to protect his/her health and safety will take precedence over another’s desire to smoke.”

According to the UNB website, the evolution of this policy stopped in 2004 and since then, there have been no other changes to the policy.

Interestingly enough, according to the St. Thomas Residence Guide 2006-07, it states that their personal smoking policy for residence students is that they must be only “five meters from any residence hall,” while at UNB, it stands at ten meters.

Angela Garnett, the Director of Residential Life at UNBF, feels that the policy on campus is currently working well and there are no major issues with the policy as of yet.

“I feel the policy is working in some respects because no one smokes in the

buildings anymore, which is fantastic from a few years ago, and if they are outside, most students will move away from the doors,” she said.

While it may be working for most aspects, Garnett says that some people still do not tend to follow the ten-meter rule.

“This has been a big problem in the winter and will likely continue to be this year as well. We ask security to address this when they see it and we ask the Dons to address this in each house as it becomes problematic.”

As for Residential Life’s stance on the smoking issue, there are no major changes for them.

“We don’t have any changes in place for this year as far as different means of enforcement to the policy. Like any residence policy, if a student continues to violate it after a warning, Houses should initiate more escalated discipline like fines, etc.,” said Garnett.

The UNB Student Union also doesn’t seem to have a problem with the policy the way it is now, or even a position on it.

“The SU doesn’t, that I’m aware of, have a position on it,” said Jordan Graham, VP External of the UNB Student Union in an e-mail response. “However, if enough attention is brought up around it, then I’m sure we would be looking at it much more closely.”

Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

Some students, faculty and staff chose to not pay attention to the 10 meter rule which is placed on doors of all buildings at UNBF.

Engineers without Borders New Proto2 arm wins award beats the crap out of poverty

by Lauren Kennedy

by Alison Clack

Feeling frustrated about world poverty? Stressed about the inequality of the world? Do you sometimes feel like you could smash a car with a hammer in frustration? UNB students had the opportunity to do so at the third annual ‘Beat the Crap out of Poverty Car Smash’ this past Wednesday in the quad outside the Harriet Irving Library.

In hopes of enlightening and educating students about poverty, the UNB chapter of Engineers Without Borders held this annual charity event. Participants, after paying a small fee ($1-$5, depending on the kind of ‘weapon’ chosen), were asked questions about poverty and development-related issues, which determined the length of time they were able to smash the car – 30 seconds for every correct question, on top of the minimum 30 seconds allocated per participant.

After this, participants were free to pick up one of several weapons, each representing a resource that could help end world poverty, including the sledge ‘education’ hammer, and have at the car.

“Car smashing itself doesn't stop poverty. Smashing a car results in a destructed car,” says Kristina Nilsson, one of the event’s organizers. She goes on to say how the act in itself raises awareness on the subject of poverty.

“The weapons of smashing help illustrate the effectiveness of various developmental tools. Labeling effective weapons used to smash poverty with such things as education (sledgehammer), agricultural knowledge (baseball bat), medication and healthcare (crowbar), activism (megaphone), and clean water (hammer), shows these to be effective things against poverty as they are able to put a serious dent in the car.

“Also, we had much less effective weapons. We had a normal kitchen

Dr. Kevin Englehart, the Associate Director of UNB’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering, is part of a team of engineers, clinical research staff, and graduate students who have made a breakthrough in prosthetic limb development. He and his team developed a ‘Proto 2’ state-of-the-art myoelectric arm that has most of the same characteristics as a human arm. With its ability to move in 27 different ways, the discovery earned them the Popular Mechanics 2007 Breakthrough Award.

Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

The Car Smash raised $425 for EWB-UNB. spoon, representing Canada's food aid.

It was relatively expensive yet ineffective at beating a car. There were also other Band-Aid solutions, such as actual Band-Aids which could be stuck on the car to cover up the problem, while accomplishing very little, though they look pretty.”

While this event has been held

by EWB-UNB every year since the 2004-05 year, with the exception of last year, some new adjustments were made this year in order to help participants and onlookers understand the meaning behind the car smash.

“The addition of the trivia questions and linking methods to combat extreme poverty with specific weapons was new to the event year. The labeling of weapons and asking of trivia questions were new this year because of concerns about relevancy and the message getting out in previous years,” notes Nilsson.

The event managed to raise $425 for EWB-UNB. “Money goes to Engineers Without Borders,” says Nilsson. “It helps with overseas programming (four month placements for UNB students working

on sustainable development projects in Ghana, Zambia, and Malawi), educational outreach events (presentations on development issues in local elementary, middle, and high schools), and chapter activities, such as the battery recycling program,” explains Nilsson.

The event not only helped raise awareness but also, for some students, provided a helpful way to de-stress.

“There is nothing like taking out midterm stress in a way that raises attention for such a serious issue," says participant Brendan Wood.

The one-day event is hoped to have made a lasting impact on the students of this campus, as opposed to an interesting sight to see on Halloween afternoon.

“The key is to keep acting after this event. The car smash alone won't accomplish anything, but it can be the start of a sustained solution to address the root causes of poverty,” explains participant Bryn Ferris.

The car smash represents a real world problem, and while smashing a car only takes a day, it represents a problem that will take a lot more time and awareness.

“This is such an exciting time in the field of prosthetics technology,” said Englehart in a recent press release.

“We’ve really come a long way in the development of artificial limbs.”

This arm is different from others, as it is designed to simulate not only the muscles of the arm, but nervous fibers, and eventually, the brain. Translated, people using the arm will be able to control it by thinking, as it has 80 sensors in the fingertips and palm that send signals back to the brain.

Said Englehart in the same press release, “We’ve tested Proto 2 on an amputee user and the results have been remarkable. In addition to unprecedented dexterity, it is more powerful, less noisy, and more comfortable than any other before it.”

The role of the University in this project was to develop the pattern recognition software that is at the heart of the

project. This decodes the information sent through the muscles and nerves and allows the arm to control different movements.

The project was funded through the Defence Advances Research Projects Agency (DARBA) in the United States, while currently managed by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Its aim is to develop newfound boundaries using sensors to control signals in the body. This recent Proto 2 project is the halfway point of the entire venture with a second generating system under testing.

The UNB Institute of Biomedical Engineering is a world-renowned institute in biomedical engineering and one of the oldest research establishments to be dedicated solely to this type of engineering.

It is also the Atlantic regions’ prosthetic fitting centre, where amputees are fitted with these artificial limbs.

Comments & Letters Photo of the Week

Last Friday the Brunswickan staff and volunteers took to the ice for some recreational curling (and a little beer).

We are always looking for new volunteers. Come out to our weekly meeting on Wednesdays at 12:30 in Room 35 of the SUB. The next Bruns social will be December 1st. Any volunteer is welcome to join.

eic@unb.ca • November 7, 2007

The Brunswickan Editorial Board

Editor-In-Chief • Jennifer McKenzie Managing Editor • Tony von Richter Co-News Editor • Josh O’Kane Co-News Editor • Lauren Kennedy Arts Editor • Ashley Bursey Photo Editor • Andrew Meade Sports Editor • Brian Munn Copy Editor • Alicia Del Frate Production Editor • Ed Cullinan

Staff Advertising Sales Rep • Bill Traer Delivery • Mike Lee Contributors Christian Hapgood, Brad Conley, Alison Clack, Jordan Gill, Doug Estey, Dan Hagerman, Sean Horsley, Dave Briggs, Melanie Bell, Naomi Osborne, Mitchell Bernard, Ed Bowes, Jason Henry, Nick Ouellette

Letters to the Editor Dear Editor: It’s that time of year again. We’ve passed the half-way mark of term and we’re all swamped with work and studying for midterms, which, for many of us, will last until mid-November. Perhaps it’s time for a review of library etiquette.

While I have experienced the occasional lack of respect from others for the quiet concept of the library—the chatting on the cell phone, students in deep discussion amid the stacks, or the constant munching on a bag of potato chips— never before have I been so disgusted by the disregard of library custom shown by one individual to those around her.

Let me explain.

Last Wednesday morning, as any well-intentioned fourth year student looking to earn the marks to graduate in May would do, I went to the Harriet Irving Library to put in the final couple of hours of studying before the midterm I had to write that afternoon. The library was a busy spot that morning, and I managed to grab what appeared to be the last study carrel along the back wall of the fourth floor. It was not long after I settled into my seat, with my textbook and notes spread out in front of me, that I noticed the curious noise— music. I passed it off as coming from the headphones of a student walking by. But as he disappeared around the corner, the music did not go with him... he didn’t seem the type to be listening to The Pussycat Dolls anyway. I cringed when I realized what was happening.

Someone was sitting at a carrel near me listening to music, and the music was loud enough that I could recognize the song, hear every note, and sing along if I had wanted to! Suffice it to say that I was certainly not in the mood to listen to someone else’s teeny-bopper music (I respect that everyone can have their own taste in music, but honestly, the Pussycat Dolls?). Being the shy, introverted, non-confrontational person that I am, I wasn’t able to rouse up enough innerstrength to get up and locate the listener and ask for the music to be turned down. So I suffered through the houror-so long CD, trying to understand the basics of fat and carbohydrate digestion while being distracted by “Don’t cha wish your girlfriend was...”

This brings me to my point on library etiquette. I’ve never been one who was able to study with music playing.

While it certainly can drown out other noise, my brain tends to focus on the

music I’m hearing, not the words I’m supposed to be reading. So I ask that you, all my fellow students, do a simple check the next time you go to listen to music in the library: if you cover your headphones with your hands, and can still hear the music, chances are that everyone else around you can to. So do your ears, and everyone else’s sanity, a favour and TURN IT DOWN! I’m there to study, not think about the letter I’m going to write to the Brunswickan about you when I get home.

Sincerely, Sarah Charters Dear Editor: I woke this morning quite sore and stiff.

“What the heck did I do yesterday,” I thought to myself. And it hit me; I beat the crap out of poverty.

Engineers Without Borders UNB Chapter hosted the highly entertaining outreach event and fundraiser, “Beat the Crap out of Poverty.” Beat the Crap out of Poverty is basically a car smash; an old, derelict car was donated by Capital City Auto Parts and spray painted with words representing the inequitable truths that exist in our world – poverty, illiteracy, hunger, AIDS, poor sanitation, racism, inequality. Passers by then paid anywhere’s from $1-$5 to demonstrate their discontent for those realities, having a choice of relevant poverty-beating tools such as Education (a sledge hammer), Food Aid (spoon – expensive and ineffective), Band Aid Solutions (BandAids), Activism (megaphone) and etc.

But if anything, these metaphors were forced. The fact is beating a car for a minute or so will probably not eliminate the lack of opportunity that 1.2 billion billon people in our world experience.

And doesn’t beating up a car like that seem like a waste of resource? Furthermore, to many passer-bys and indeed, member of our own group, the event appears to be quite the promotion of violence. Why then, would EWB waste their time on such an event?

There is no doubt about it, the message that the group was trying to get out is not terribly deep; we just wanted people to think about poverty. At times, we fear as a group that we have become too intense, radical perhaps, to be able to get our message across to the moderates or to those who just do not care. That is not what we want. EWB works overseas, its true, but equally important to us is

the work we do in Canada. We wanted to show people that they do not have to go overseas to make a difference. Being aware of the issues and understanding the Canadian policy – 0.7% of GDP dedicated to foreign aid, untying Canadian aid that exists now and generally supporting the majority world – are key to changing what we as Canadian citizens accept in the world we live in.

So it was a loud event, it got of attention. And for every person that wondered why the heck Engineers Without Borders, an international development group, was beating the crap out of a car and how the heck that car represented poverty in any way, we feel successful.

It got you thinkin’ about poverty, how much people clearly hate it and what would be more effective ways to defeat it. Don’t let that thought process end now that our event is over.

Sincerely, EWB-UNB Chapter Executive Dear Editor: I first came to UNB at 17 years young, a bit naïve and a whole lot ignorant. I lacked all awareness, let alone sympathy, for the plight of socio or ethnic minorities and imagine my surprise to learn there can be downsides to capitalist social structure. A decade later I can look back at the way 17 years of small town PEI built walls up in my mind that were broken down through my exposure to new people with new ideas during my university experience. This was an exciting time in my life, a period I revel in and something our campus paper certainly played a role in.

Things seemed to progress so rapidly in those early days with personal development becoming an addiction of sorts.

There will always be surprises in life but it feels as though they are fewer and farer between in my late 20’s. When I turn to old sources for an information fix that will take my internal debates to that next level, I find myself disappointed and have begun to wonder who the Bruns most benefits.

Each year our paper looks more or less the same and at a given time of the year the content can mostly be guaranteed.

We know the anti-consumerism articles will be popping up around the major holidays, the sex how-to’s and knowabout’s will be peppered in, the student union is bound to screw up and take up at least 3 issues squabbling (if the trend

for past years holds true), interlace a few ‘boycott this,’ ‘apathy is rampant!,’ or ‘things are bad somewhere’ articles and you have a year of the Bruns.

It seems that, for better or worse, history repeats itself each year in a new batch of students being brought up to speed with the same content in our student paper. In sciences there is much emphasis on producing original works that benefit the scientific community yet there is merit and much to be gained in learning through your own experiences.

The Bruns is good at providing baseline information on many issues but perhaps fails at pushing the debates to higher levels. I think current Bruns content appears to be geared towards issues concerning mostly young students leaving students who have already passed through this stage in life gasping.

Critique is easy and rather than make this article a Bruns rip-fest, I would appeal to other older students to contribute and make our paper interesting to a broader range of students. Amazing research is being conducted at UNB in a variety of fields and in many places across the globe, each with stories of hurdles overcome that I would love to hear about.

Sincerely, Mark Alexander MacDonald Grad student, Forestry/Biology Dear Editor, I am writing in regards to the article written by Nick Ouelette published in last week’s issue of the Brunswickan.

While I can understand the point Mr. Ouelette is trying to convey I believe the article was unnecessary and unwarranted. The argument presented by the author constitutes a direct attack on the candidates. He even went so far as to name individual candidates that “each deserve a No vote.” This is unfair to the candidates because the bylaws of the Student Union that govern the election dictate a media blackout for candidates.

This means they are not allowed to defend themselves in a public forum.

I am impressed with the amount of interest the author has taken in the election process. I believe everyone should be just as involved in the election process, and should exercise their right to vote for the people representing them.

These people are willing to put the time in to make sure each demographic group has some representation. I do

not believe attacking them while they are unable to respond is warranted.

Should someone wish to ask questions and interview a candidate they should do so while the candidates are permitted to respond publicly.

The suggestion that the candidates would put the same effort into representing the group they belong to is also ungrounded. What reasonable proof does the author provide that deems these students unfit for the job.

I know from my own experience that some students do not use all the forms of media available to campaign for their position because they find them ineffective. Who stops to read through all the posters on the bulletin boards every day. I know I don’t. How many people read the e-news that is published almost daily. Most people don’t give it a second glance. Some faculties are small enough to campaign in a more personable way.

Some candidates may choose to speak in front of a class instead of spending money on posters that are potentially ineffective. In the case of the “free” advertising in the Brunswickan, many people simply don’t read it. For a paper with a circulation of 10,000, there seems to be an incredibly large amount of issues left from past weeks that sit in the displays or on a chair in McConnell Hall.

Candidates are free to choose the most effective method of campaigning, the Brunswickan is simply one option.

It seems interesting how the Brunswickan published the candidates page in the October 24 issue using the chosen format. It appears to be a not-so-subtle attack on the candidates who didn’t submit a write-up. Then the article

by Mr. Ouelette appears the following week. It is interesting how these two events seemingly came to be and yet are unrelated. Considering Mr. Ouelette is regular contributor to the paper, I suggest that possibly the events were planned in advance so the paper would contain an interesting (one might go so far as to say scandalous) article.

I would just like to state that Mr. Ouelette’s article was uncalled for. It calls into question the integrity of many people, all of whom do not deserve such abuse. The comments made were inappropriate, and as such should not have been published.

Sincerely, Jason Tait CRO, UNBSU

About Us The Brunswickan, in its 141st year of publication, is Canada’s Oldest Official Student Publication.

We are an autonomous student newspaper owned and operated

by Brunswickan Publishing Inc., a non-profit, independant body.

We are a founding member of the Canadian University Press, and love it so. We are also members of U-Wire, a media exchange of university media throughout North America.

We publish weekly during the academic year with a circulation of 10,000.

Letters Must be submitted by e-mail including your name, letters with pseudonymns will not be printed. Letters must be 200 words maximum. Deadline for letters is Friday at noon.

Editorial Policy While we endeavour to provide an open forum for a variety of viewpoints and ideas, we may refuse any submission considered by the editorial board to be racist, sexist, libellous, or in any way discriminatory.

The opinions and views expressed in this newspaper are those of the individual writers, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Brunswickan, its Editorial Board, or its Board of Directors.

All editorial content appearing in The Brunswickan is the property of Brunswickan Publishing Inc. Stories, photographs, and artwork contained herein cannot be reproduced without the express, written permission of the Editorin-Chief.

21 Pacey Drive, SUB Suite 35 Fredericton, NB, E3B 5A3 main office • (506) 447-3388 advertising • (506) 452-6099 fax • (506) 453-5073 email • bruns.editor@gmail.com

Comments & Letters

Issue 10 • November 7, 2007 • 5

No, we don’t wear togas...

Rousing the Rabbles by Nick Ouellette

Every month, Tilley 303 turns into a Senate chamber. It is certainly not as august as any meeting place of the Canadian Senate and the members of the group that meets there are not especially prominent public figures, but its discussions and the decisions it makes likely have a more direct impact on your life today than its equivalent in Parliament.

UNB Senators have the final say on academic policy at our university, and their authority is wide ranging.

The importance of this fact cannot be overstated given that this is a learn-

ing institution and we are students.

Services for students, technology used at UNB, dealing with cheating and plagiarism, scholarships, teaching awards, residences, and course descriptions are just a few of the items that come before the Senate over the course of a year. Even more matters arrive regularly on the desks of its committees.

And students matter on Senate.

In fact, full time undergraduate students elect six representatives on the Fredericton Senate, and graduate students and part time students vote on one Senator each.

Student Senators do not only sit on the Senate. We also make sure that students have a say in every committee established by the Senate, which is where we are able to help students most effectively.

Importantly, by working with each committee, we learn about and meet the people who are in charge of administering the university.

So when you have a problem with a class, or when a professor treats you or your class unfairly, or when the library just isn’t serving you properly, turn to your Senators. Whether at the Senate level, at one of its committees, or in discussions with a UNB vice president, dean, or department

What’s your favorite thing in your wallet?

director, we will work with you to resolve your issue.

The full time undergraduate Senators currently studying at UNB Fredericton are: • Bethany Vail, UNBSU Vice President Academic – academic@unb.ca • Brad Mullins, UNBSU President – suprez@unb.ca • Nick Ouellette – nick.o@unb.ca • Lyle Skinner – lyle.skinner@unb.ca • Adam Garland – adam.garland@unb.ca • Stephanie Lord – stephanie.lord@unb.ca

Mastercard Kelly d’Viette

Fake ID Emily Davis

Social Club Membership Nathan Armstrong

A condom Chris Reid

Flashlight Amanda Mason

Girlfriend’s picture Shawn Leroux

We are here to serve you. All it takes is asking, so send us an email.

We would be happy to hear from you.

Nick Ouellette, a UNB law student, has served on the UNB Student Union Council and the UNB Board of Governors, and now serves on the UNB Fredericton Senate and as an Assistant Don in UNB’s Residence Community.

7:00-8:30, November 14

MacLaggan Hall rm105

6 • The Brunswickan

November 7 • 2007

Sports M-V-P!

brunswickansports@gmail.com •November 7, 2007

UNB home to Fifty-one Academic All-Canadians

Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

While the Varsity Reds men’s soccer team fell in their quest to repeat as Atlantic University Sport Champions, Ken Morrison managed to bring home some hardware from Antigonish. Morrison, a third year fullback from Fredericton, New Brunswick, was named as the league’s Most Valuable Player. He netted three goals this season and was also named to the conference’s first all-star team. The first member of the Varsity Reds to be named the league MVP since Paul Noble in 1995, Morrison possesses excellent defensive instincts, is very creative in launching the attack, and has a tremendous ability to read the game. He will represent the conference as the league’s nominee for the Joe Johnson Memorial Trophy as the CIS Player of the Year. Coach Miles Pinsent applauded Morrison’s effort in claiming the highest individual honour in the AUS. “It was nice for Ken to be recognized as the League’s MVP. I have always felt that he has been extremely underrated by many in the soccer community. But for him to win the MVP in only his third season speaks to what he has been able to accomplish.

Funny enough, I don’t believe that Ken was at his best this season, and I truly feel that he is capable of better over the next couple of seasons. It’s exciting.”

Red hot week for CIS leaders

by Bruns Sports Department

Men’s Hockey UNB – 8 STU – 3 In the 150th playing of the Battle of the Hill, the Reds trounced the Tommies at the LBR. Perth-Andover native Lachlan MacIntosh tallied for the Reds just four minutes into the game as UNB jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead.

MacIntosh finished with a hat trick, while Rob Hennigar tallied four points and Luke Gallant scored twice for the Reds. The all-time record in the Battle of the Hill now stands at 97-45-8 in favor of UNB.

UNB – 6 Acadia – 1 The Varsity Reds returned to home ice on Friday night, hosting the Acadia Axemen in what turned out to be another blowout by UNB. Forwards Hunter Tremblay and Rob Hennigar combined for nine points – four goals and five assists – to help UNB remain unbeaten atop the AUS Conference.

Derek Yeomans got the start for UNB, facing just 16 stops from Acadia. With two assists, Hennigar passed Jeff Andrews on the UNB all-time assists list.

UNB – 2 Dalhousie – 1 The Varsity Reds wrapped up their

Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

The Men’s hockey team went 3-0 last week, improving their league-leading record to 8-0-0. UNB’s women lost twice, falling to 1-4-1 on the year. weekend with their closest game of the season, topping the Dalhousie Tigers.

Although UNB out shot Dalhousie 46-23, Tigers’ goalie Josh Disher turned aside the Reds all night. Brad Efthimaiou scored UNB’s only goal of the first period, although UNB put 22 shots on Disher. With the game tied late in the third, Reds captain Dustin Freisen fired a point shot through a crowd in front for the game winner, and his first goal of the season.

Women’s Hockey UNB – 1 U de M – 4 The Varsity Reds were in Moncton on Saturday, taking on the fourth-place Anges Bleus. UNB was shut down for the first two periods, and were already down 4-0 before Sarah Sullivan was able

to score her second goal of the season two minutes into the third. Janeil Parrott picked up the assist. Amy Howard played well in the Reds net, recording 41 saves. UNB struggled in the offensive zone, putting just 16 shots on goal.

UNB – 0 STU – 3 UNB dropped their second straight game on Sunday, falling to cross-campus rivals STU at the Aitken Centre. The game remained scoreless into the third period, when the Tommies kicked their offense into high gear. Catherine Boudreau picked up two goals and an assist for STU. The Reds again struggled to get the puck on net, recording just 21 shots against Mia Leander. Teri Ryerson looked sharp for UNB, making 32 saves.

The highly-skilled forward, who played his last CIS season this past year, was also an assistant captain with Team Canada at the 2007 Winter Universiade in Italy, where the squad comprised of AUS all-stars captured FISU gold with

by Ed Bowes a win over Russia.

In 2006-07, Sinclair was named to the Dean's List for the third time, and was the recipient of UNB's Mark Jeffrey Memorial Award for leadership, Every year, a growing number of CIS inspiration, and dedication to his team, athletes are acknowledged as Academic the Copeland Medal as UNB's top All-Canadians, a prestigious group of all-around athlete, and the prestigious hard working students who uphold an James Bayer Award as the top studentaverage of 80% or better while compet- athlete in AUS. "I coached against Colin for three ing for one of their university's varsity years in the Western Hockey League," teams.

In the 2006-07 academic year, over says Dickie, "and even then, his reputa2,000 student athletes from across tion as a multi-dimensional player and Canada found their way onto this es- person preceded him; it was clear that he was going to do some great things." teemed list.

Upon graduation, Sinclair signed on "Over 20% of all CIS student athletes achieved Academic All-Canadian with the Idaho Steelheads of the East status this year, an impressive statistic Coast Hockey League (ECHL). So that demonstrates the Canadian com- far this season, Colin has totaled seven mitment to excellence both on the points for his new team, recording one playing field and in the classroom," goal and six assists in only five games.

Accompanying Sinclair on the list said CIS Chief Executive Officer, Marg of the Desjardins Top 8 are Dalhousie McGregor.

"This year’s recipients are all excep- soccer player Katie Hollinshead, Bioltional individuals and they symbolize ogy; Montreal swimmer Audry Lacroix, the many outstanding student athletes, Communications and Politics; polevaulter David Foley from Sherbrooke, coaches, and universities in Canada."

Since the introduction of the program Mechanical Engineering; Queen's in 1990, UNB has produced a whop- cross-country and track star Justin ping 691 Academic All-Canadians, Hall, Biochemistry; Manitoba volleyball player Katie Davidincluding 51 Reds athson, Pre-Dentistry; letes holding the much “We have hockey player Jay sought-after prize this Langager from past season. This set a new the University of of statistics illustrates slogan that Lethbridge, KineUNB's dedication to finding the ideal bal- encapsulates siology; and Jacqueline Malette, a ance between athletes’ our goal Windsor, Ontario hard work inside and cross-country and outside the classroom. in the CIS... track athlete, Math Kevin Dickie, UNB's The Varsity and Statistics, who Athletics Director, deon the scribed this search for Reds will be islistappearing for the second equilibrium in the new straight year. champions V-Reds athletic/acaAs the Athletics demic mandate, saying, of academic Director, Director "We have adopted and heavily endorsed a new and athletic of the Aitken University Centre, and slogan for the UNB excellence” a member of the athletics program that Faculty of Kinesiolencapsulates our goal - Kevin Dickie ogy, Kevin Dickie in the CIS. The Varsity has worked closely Reds will be champions with many of the UNB athletes, includof academic and athletic excellence."

From the master list of these out- ing those selected as All-Canadians.

Dickie feels that there are three standing individuals, one female and one male student-athlete from each of major components involved in the sucthe four CIS regional associations are cess of the UNB Varsity Reds athletics selected annually as the Desjardins Top program.

"Our goal is to be multidimensional.

8 Academic All-Canadians, a distinction honoring athletes who have not only We strive to be outstanding in the arena, achieved status as an All-Canadian, but on the field, or on the court; we want to who have also made important contri- be great ambassadors in the community butions to their team, university, and as well. Finally, we do our utmost to act as leaders in the classroom. We need to greater community.

Among the 2006-07 Desjardins have students, faculties, deans, and staff Top 8 is Colin Sinclair, an Alberta na- feeling good about our programs."

It is the combination of these imtive and former member of the Varsity Reds men's hockey team who gradu- portant factors that have given UNB ated last year with a master's degree in such a high number of Academic AllCanadians, as well as seven teams to Business.

During his tenure at UNB, Sinclair rank top ten in the nation during the made immeasurable contributions to the 2006-07 season. There is no doubt Varsity Reds athletics program, while that in the years to come, the number simultaneously making academics his of Varsity Reds All-Canadians will only continue to grow. top priority.

Season after season, UNB will continSinclair was an assistant captain with the Varsity Reds and finished sixth in ue to earn its reputation as a university AUS scoring with 32 points in 2006-07, that produces well-rounded athletes, as UNB captured the second University ready to take their exceptional work ethic into a post-university career.

Cup title in team history.

The hottest thing on ice

by Brad Conley with files from Brian Munn

Bigger goaltender pads, composite sticks, and reformed jerseys seemed to be the newest fads in hockey, but that is all changing. The new, hottest trend is the heated skate blade.

The ThermaBlade is the newest tool professional hockey players are using to step up their game, and the trend seems to be catching on fast.

ThermaBlade is the brain child of Tory Weber, and is manufactured in Quebec by skate blade maker ThermaBlade Inc. The creation is exactly what it sounds like: it is a heated blade on a player’s skate, which is designed to help players skate faster and conserve energy for the end of the game by cutting down the friction between the blade and the ice, and the amount of resistance the players face while skating.

The design and technology of the blade are currently being tested by a select group of NHL players. Kris King, the senior manager of hockey operations

for the NHL, said the league is allowing the test period to establish the safety and reliability of the blade under game conditions.

The science behind this new creation is rather interesting. There is a battery located close to the heel of the skate that is connected to the skate blade. This battery is used to control the temperature of the skate blade, which heats up to roughly five degrees Celsius.

A regular sheet of ice has a very small layer of water on top of it. This small layer of water acts as a lubricant and allows the blade to slide quickly through the ice. With the skate blade heated up, it will allow for a larger layer of water, and thus more lubrication.

The point of the invention is not to make the player go quicker, but rather it will just increase acceleration, especially within the first three strides. The company claims that it will reduce starting resistance by up to 75%, and that the technology can also help a player turn tighter corners without losing as much speed, and give the skater much more control.

In addition, the technology is reported to reduce gliding resistance up to 55%, allowing a player to glide quicker during a game, and conserve more energy for the end.

The battery itself is able to last for up to 75 minutes of ice time, and takes two

hours to charge.

The ThermaBlade is beginning to take the hockey world by storm, already collecting an endorsement from the Great One himself, Wayne Gretzky.

“There's no doubt that we are seeing the latest advance in the evolution of skating technology, and I see Thermablade being popular equipment among NHL players,” said Gretzky, who is an investor in the new skate.

“ThermaBlades are going to revolutionize the game of hockey. They represent the most significant advance in skate blade design in at last 30 years.”

While the technology of the blade seems quite finite and advanced, it is a project that Weber has been working on since 1975. The first prototype of his invention – a skate blade with and electrical extension cord attached to it – was donated to the Hockey Hall of Fame during the launch of new product.

Though not widely used, ThermaBlades will be available in specialty sports shops across Canada shortly. They will retail at a suggested price of $399.99.

“ThermaBlades are about to change the game of hockey,” Weber announced when launching the Thermablade. “The technology substantially enhances skating performance and the heated blade has absolutely no negative impact on the ice surface at all.”

V-Reds Results Wednesday, October 31st Men’s Hockey UNB – 8 STU – 3 Thursday, November 1st Women’s Basketball UMaine - Orono – 86 UNB – 80 Friday, November 2nd Men’s Soccer UPEI – 0 UNB – 1 Women’s Volleyball St. FX – 0 UNB – 3 Men’s Hockey Acadia – 1 UNB – 6 Women’s Basketball UNH – 79 UNB – 72 Men’s Basketball UNB – 77 UQAM – 93 Men’s Volleyball UNB – 3 MUN – 1 Saturday, November 3rd Men’s Soccer UNB – 0 CBU – 2 Women’s Hockey U de M – 4 UNB – 1 Women’s Volleyball CBU – 0 UNB – 3 Men’s Volleyball MUN – 0 UNB – 3 Men’s Hockey Dal – 1 UNB – 2 Sunday, November 4th Women’s Basketball UNB – 62 Bentley College – 80 Women’s Hockey STU – 3 UNB – 0

Upcominig V-Reds Events Friday, November 9th Women’s Volleyball UPEI @ UNB 6:00pm @ LB Gym Women’s Hockey SMU @ UNB 7:00pm @ AUC Men’s Volleyball UNB @ Dal Men’s Hockey UNB @ Acadia Saturday, November 10th Women’s Basketball UNB @ UPEI Men’s Basketball UNB @ UPEI Men’s Volleyball UNB @ Dal Women’s Hockey Mt. A @ UNB 7:00pm @ AUC Men’s Hockey UNB @ Dal Sunday, November 11th Women’s Basketball UNB @ UPEI Men’s Basketball UNB @ UPEI

V-Reds Athletes of the week

Jill Blanchard Women’s Volleyball

Rob Hennigar Men’s Hockey

Sports

8 • November 7, 2007 • Issue 10

UNB Wellness: Keep fit and have fun Things that make you go AHHH!

by Mitchell Bernard

The UNB Fitness and Wellness department have been quite busy these past months. That is because the department is working hard to make opportunities available for students to get and stay active. Through programs and newsletters, the department works to create awareness among students of the many benefits in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Lauren Rogers is the Fitness and Wellness Coordinator at UNB, and oversees a massive array of programs on campus.

One of the more popular programs is Ashtanga Yoga, a powerful practice designed to focus and direct energy. It can improve your physical body and is designed to realign, detoxify, and strengthen the entire system. This class is suitable for those who are reasonably fit.

Yoga/Pilates is a gentle and energizing movement class that combines the holistic practice of Akhanda yoga with Pilates exercises, is also offered at UNB. It can help to improve your overall level of fitness, flexibility and core strength.

Learn to focus more clearly, breath deeper, and improve your posture. It is a very positive practice, which allows you to appreciate the wisdom of your body.

Hatha Yoga is the most widely practiced form of yoga. It combines body postures and breathing techniques with the goal of bringing a sound, healthy body and a clear, peaceful mind. Poses will help increase stamina, strength, and flexibility.

Hot Yoga involves practicing in a preheated room. Yoga is known to restore vitality, heal and help prevent a range of common chronic ailments. Heat aids the stretching process while challenging the focus of the mind. Everyone from beginners to athletes can benefit from Hot Yoga.

For those looking for an exciting, fast paced activity, Latin Dance is one of the most popular classes offered by UNB Fitness and Wellness. You can learn the Salsa, Merengue, Qumbia, and Bachata with Alexis and Otto. Both couples and singles are welcome.

UNB Fitness and Wellness are also offering a Midterm Group Fitness Special.

There are over nine group fitness classes per week, ranging from step, cardio variety, muscle max, and more from now until the end of exams. A full schedule is available online at www.unbf.ca/

campusrec.

Although Christmas is just around the corner, it is not too late to join the programs. Prices range from $30-45 for full-time students. The fees are for full time UNB/STU students. Nonstudents can still join these programs for a slightly higher fee. You can join by either going down to the Campus Recreation office or online at www.unbf. ca/campusrec.

Along with the numerous programs being offered, the Campus Recreation ‘A Healthy Balance’ newsletter began in January 2006. It was created to increase awareness of physical activity, healthy eating, and overall wellness. The newsletter provides facility updates, new and existing program opportunities, introduce staff to the reader, and more.

“The newsletter has received a lot of attention and the feedback has been very positive. We publish an edition every academic term: winter, spring/summer, and fall,” noted Rogers.

Previous newsletters can be accessed on the campus recreation website. According to Rogers, upcoming newsletters will include information on New Year's resolutions and keeping active during the winter months.

Another unique service offered by the Fitness and Wellness department is the Fitness Assessment Centre. It is a facil-

ity that is dedicated to promoting the health and wellness of all individuals.

“We offer a variety of services to suit your needs. We have a variety of individuals who access our centre, including students, faculty, staff, and community members. We offer a variety of services including body composition analysis (to calculate body fat and muscle percentage), full fitness assessments (testing all five components of fitness: cardiovascular, muscle strength, endurance, flexibility, and body composition), fitness and lifestyle counseling, and personal training (for those who need motivation and/or a training program designed specifically for their goals). We offer additional testing services based on clients’ specific needs.”

The Fitness Assessment Centre also conducts job-specific testing for those wishing to enter the RCMP or municipal police.

“The Assessment Centre is very important to UNB. For Kinesiology students, they have the opportunity to get hands-on experience in training and testing. The Centre is also a resource for those who want information on improving their overall health and well-being.

We recognize the financial challenges that students have, so affordable prices have been set to ensure students can access these services.”

Laying the Spike Down The UNB Varsity Reds kicked off their 2007-08 home schedules in style over the weekend, posting perfect records on their home court. The women’s team played flawlessly against both St. FX and Cape Breton University, defeating both teams 3-0. The victories improved UNB’s record on the season to 3-1, good for third in the AUS. The Reds trail the Universite de Moncton and Memorial, both of whom have 8 points. UNB will host the CIS Women’s Volleyball Nationals in February. The men’s team opened their season by defeating the Memorial Seahawks 3-1 on Friday and 3-0 on Saturday, leaving them tied with Dalhousie for first place in the AUS. Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

The Fifty Mission Cap by Brian Munn

Sports injuries are about as hardcore as it gets.

If you’re sitting back to enjoy a hockey game or a football game, you’re going to witness some of the most disgusting, devastating acts of destruction against the human body this side of Guantanamo Bay. Now before you start to think this is one of those ‘Sports are too violent and headshots are bad and Don Cherry is the devil’ articles, relax. Don’t turn the page.

Give me a minute to elaborate.

Yes, headshots are a problem. There’s no room in any sport for the kind of player who will pull a Bertuzzi, a Simon, or a Boulerice. Even better, remember Alexei Perezhogin two-handing that guy from the Cleveland Barons in the face?

That’s nuts.

But what I’m talking about here are those hits that, after you see them, you grab that part of your own body and keel over in sympathy pain.

Remember a few seasons back, when Marco Sturm was racing for a touch icing, and Adam Foote drove him feet-first into the boards at full speed?

Sturm’s ankle and leg were shattered, and hockey fans everywhere – or at least the 17 San Jose Sharks fans watching the game – agonizingly groaned in unison.

Or last season, after Junior Seau’s ‘graduation’ from the NFL and his subsequent signing with the New England Patriots four days later. Seau jammed his arm during a play, and his forearm snapped in half.

Nothing can make a grown man squirm like seeing another guy’s arm dangling by the tendons.

How about Jorge Garbajosa with the Raptors last season? He goes for

the lay-up, then gets tangled up on the landing and demolishes his knee, ankle, and lower leg.

Or Shaun Livingston of the LA Clippers, who blew his knee on a dunk, reminiscent of the injury sustained by Miami Hurricane’s running back Willis McGahee in the Sugar Bowl.

These injuries are gross, but eye injuries are a whole other story. I don’t know if it’s the sense of terror of losing such a vital organ or the instant bloodsplatter, but an eye injury is something to behold.

The first one I remember came in the NHL, when an errant high-stick – which was actually the flailing follow-through of a spinning slap-shot – by Marion Hossa of the Senators clipped Maple Leafs Bryan Berard in the eye, sending him to the ice in a pool of blood.

Or how about in the movie ‘Any Given Sunday’, when the guy playing for the Dallas Knights loses his eyeball from being thumb gouged. All you see is the trainer picking up his eye from the field.

I guess you could say that I have first... umm…‘eye’ experience though, so I may be a little more sensitive to shots to the eyes.

For those of you who don’t work for the paper and still read The Brunswickan Sports Section every week, you may have noticed something missing from last week’s issue.

Me. Yours truly tried to act like Jacoby Ellsbury during an intramural softball game a couple weeks back, tracking down a pop fly in foul territory, and then sliding in to make a sweet inningending catch.

What I failed to remember, though, is that I’m not Jacoby Ellsbury. So I missed the ball with my glove – and caught it – squarely in the left eye.

So after lots of blood, a trip in the ambulance and a beauty of a concussion, I was out of commission for about a week, and the Sports Section was left in the able hands of Tony von Richter and Brad Conley.

Who, may I say, did an Ellsburyesque job.

But now that the swelling is gone and the cuts are healing, I can look back with both eyes and draw one simple lesson from my attempt at being a good ball player: a shot in the eye hurts.

But man, it makes you look tough.

November 7 • 2007

The Brunswickan • 9

Classifieds

Classifieds are a FREE service for members of the university community. Please try to limit submissions to 35 words or less. Your name, student number, and phone number are required at submission, but will not be published. We can accept them at Room 35, SUB, 453-5073 (Fax), or e-mail: bruns-ad@unb.ca. Please do not submit by phone. We reserve the right to edit or refuse publication. All classifieds are subject to available space. For display advertising contact Bill at 447-3388. Classified deadline is Monday at noon.

FOR SALE

Ibanez JS100 Guitar (Joe Satriani model), new bridge, locking nut and whammy bar. New Dimarzio pickups, originals included. Extremely versatile with great sound and feel. Asking $900. Contact Tim at 457-2638 or e-mail: timlingley@ gmail.com.

French courses, indvidual, groups, tutor, in affordable prices, and learning French from France accent. Call 455 0549.

Boys Columbia one piece snowsuit for sale, size 7/8, is navy in color with red/green on the shoulders.

Paid $130 and asking $50. Worn only once, excellent condition. Call 454-4411.

1998 Toyota Corolla VE (Black), 247 km, Automatic, 4 door, new MVI & registration in early October, 2 new tires. Asking $2,800.00.

Call 450-8094 if interested and ask for Terry.

Need a cheap winter vehicle? Buy this 1994 Olds Eighty-Eight Royale, fully loaded, 6 cyl, auto, air, cruise, four door, approx 200,000 km, owned and maintained by retired auto mechanic. Good mechanical condition. Inspected until Jan 08. Registered until July 08.

Asking $1,000. Call 206-2121 for more info. Please leave message.

Please note vehicle is located in Sussex.

Large black futon $100. Three seater sofa and matching chair (wooden frame) (multi colored) $99. Very large overstuffed sectional sofa with hide-a-bed muted grey colors $200.

Double bed complete (metal frame, box spring & mattress) $125. Small round kitchen table with two chairs (black wrought iron pedestal) chairs black metal frame with upholstered seats $50. Four drawer metal filing cabinet $50. Glider rocker (wooden frame)(brown maternal on seat) 25. Love seat with brass frame. floral upholstery seat $50. Full length mirror $10. Gold and brown upholstered armchair $25. Phone: 455-6450 Simmonds futon, natural wood, futon mattress, removable cover (beige) less than one year old. $400. E-mail: b3qwic@unb.ca.

ACCOMMODATIONS First month free. Available immediately. Nice three-bedroom apartment in good neighbourhood.

Short walk to campus. Partially furnished, wired for cable TV and high speed. $999/month ($333/ rm)includes heat, lights, parking.

Call 461-9986.

Two bedroom apartment on George Street, available December 1, $600, nothing included. Washer/dryer hookup, Bell ExpressVu satellite dish, great central location, two minute walk to downtown, 15 minute walk to university. Call 455-1883 to view.

Available now: One unfurnished bedroom in a furnished three-bedroom apartment to be shared with two other male students. Location Beckwith Street. Two minute walk to campus. Laundry on site. Rent and lease term negotiable. Call 455-0263, leave message. E-mail to Phillip at j3nm1@unb.ca and/or Steven at p59tv@unb.ca.

Two bedroom apartment on Graham Avenue. Very close to UNB/ STU, fridge, stove included. Place for washer and dryer (not included). Unheated, unlighted. $550 per month. Parking available. Lease

to April 30. Call 461-8443.

Room available in a house for a mature respectful person very close to UNB. $400 all included. Call Dwight 292 0223 or e-mail: respectfordiversity@alloymail.com.

Furnished room for rent in a three bedroom apt, five min walk to campus in skyline area. Bright, clean and spacious apt includes heat, lights, cable plus, high speed internet, washer/dryer, parking and shared phone. This is available to a mature, quite, non-smoking female tenant.

Rent is $325 monthly, and lease for duration of school year is available.

Please call 454-4411 or e-mail: veronica.fequet@unb.ca.

PSAs Fredericton Choral Society presents the annual Saint Cecilia’s Day concert this year in honour of Paul Murray, organist, conductor, and music educator, known to many in Fredericton. The Choral Society will perform Murray’s Missa Brevis under the direction of Björn Runefors, and the choir will be conducted by Carolyn Brown in a performance of highlights from Porgy and Bess.

Also singing are the Lintuhtine Melodies under the direction of Helen Morag McKinnon and the Elm City Echoes, directed by Christine Freeman and Jill Woodley. The Concert will take place at Wilmot United Church, on Sunday, November 18, 2007, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available from choir members, at Westminster Books, Mazucca’s, and at the door the evening of the performance. Adults $10.00, seniors and students $8.00, and families $20.

Marriage Preparation. The Fredericton Institute for Christian Studies will offer a Marriage Preparation session Friday evening, November 16th to Saturday afternoon, No-

vember 17th at St. Theresa’s Parish Hall, Fredericton. Please note that this will be the only Marriage Preparation session before spring 2008.

Please call 472-0660 or e-mail: christian_studies@yahoo.ca for information or to register. Registration is limited and positions fill quickly.

On Friday November 2 at 2:30 there will be a tour of local businesses and alternative spaces in Fredericton. Fredericton is a vibrant place as long as you know where to look. We’ll be visiting local grocery stores, cafes, bookstores, art galleries and music stores. We’ll discuss some of the “why’s” of local shopping, and have an opportunity to learn from each other. Meet in front of the Harriet Irving library to let the fun begin. Brought to you

by Mobilization, a student community social justice group. p.m.

Looking for something fun to do to help get you, your family, your

friends and/or co-workers into the holiday spirit? Consider volunteering some of your time at the Festival of Christmas Magic from December 7th – December 9th at the Hugh John Flemming Forestry Complex in support of the Chalmers Hospital Foundation. We are looking to have the following positions filled: Door greeters, admission table, Santa’s breakfast, cider & cookie tables, raffle table. If you’re interested in volunteering or would just like some more information on the event, please e-mail: christine.little@ rvh.nb.ca.

by rolling up their sleeves to donate at the Fredericton Inn blood donor clinics on November 7. These clinics will be open from 2 to 4 p.m. and 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Volunteers from the land, sea and air cadets will be on hand to assist at the clinics and to thank donors

Between November 1-30, 2007, during our month of remembrance, Canadians will be able to pay tribute to Canada’s 25,000 Military Reservists, as well as regular forces troops past and present, by donating a unit of blood in their honour.

Fredericton and area residents are encouraged to show their support for the troops in Canada and abroad

TANNING SPECIALS

3 LOCATIONS 530 Queen St. 458-9771 1113 Regent St. 454-8267 154 Main St. 472-5048

2 FREE TANS

20% OFF 11/30/07

Arts & Entertainment

bruns.arts@gmail.com • November 7, 2007

The sweet smell of success… or not A tale of feline break. I overhear classmates talking about the overpowering smell coming from the classroom. Embarrassed, I decide I have to reapply and cover the Arm and Hammer with Spring Breeze.

The rest of the day goes smoothly.

by Ed Bowes

Stink much? For years, scientistis have been trying to come up with reasons for why we stink. They’ve finally done it; but have they found a solution? I decided to find out.

Today’s deodorants have become increasingly stronger and more powerful in an attempt to mask the odors and kill the bacteria which propagate from our bodies.

Our choices have never been so broad; you can choose from solid white sticks, clear sticks, gels, spray cans, rollons, products with baking soda, baby powder. Basically, you name it and it has been tried. The big question now is which one works best?

Over the past week, I have been conducting a series of deodorant tests in a variety of common social situations.

Over a four day period, I put four of the leading brands head to head in an all-out battle for underarm supremacy.

Contestant 1: Old Spice Red Zone (Glacial Falls) Old Spice is a classic ‘dad’s’ deodorant that has recently been attempting to market itself to a younger generation with its flashy new packaging and hip new names. They even went so far as to release a new line of aerosol spray cans.

I decided to put this old-timer through the challenge of surviving a night of debauchery at Sweetwater’s.

10:00 pm - I have a quick shower and prepare myself for the night. I apply a thick coating of Red Zone to my underarms, hoping for complete coverage throughout the evening.

12:00 - The bar is packed shoulder to shoulder. It takes nearly 20 minutes to navigate my way through the sweaty patrons to get a drink. I can feel beads of sweat forming on my brow. This worries me.

1:00 - There is an eerie cloud of perspiration hovering above the bar and dance floor. The whole place has become one giant sweat factory.

Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

The Secret to smelling great isn’t as obvious as one might think.

1:25 - I am forced outside by the products the same task of enduring my stench of sweat. Is it me or the crowd? daily walk from Aberdeen up the hill to 1:26 - It’s definitely me. Red Zone Marshal D’Avry.

11:00 - I shower and apply the Arm appears to be failing.

1:45 - Clearly an important time at and Hammer to my left armpit and the Secret to my right.

Sweetwater’s, especially 12:50 - Class if your looking to pick “I put four of starts in 10 minup. Definitely not a the leading utes, forcing me to good time to be concerned with body odor brands head walk at a brisk pace.

This immediately and freshness. to head in spells trouble.

2:07 - I am in the 1:02 - I fall as I line at Jack’s; I have an all-out attempt to get up a left alone. Evidently the battle for flight of stairs two task of withstanding a steps at a time. A night at Sweetwater’s underarm few people see. has proved to be too 1:10 - I have armuch for Old Spice. supremacy.” rived late for class.

The smell of BO is in - Ed Bowes After a quick smell the air. check I realized that 11:30 (The next day) - I awake in a daze, a shower is the sweaty walk has already begun to take its toll, but wait a minute…my right a must.

Contestant 2 and 3: Arm and side still has the aroma of Spring Breeze.

Hammer (Ultra Max) versus Secret Maybe there is hope.

1:50 - My class is small, with only (Spring Breeze) ten students in close quarters around Arm and Hammer, with its bland a conference table. It’s too early to tell, orangey-yellow label, boasts a whopbut I feel they are beginning to notice ping “24 hours of clean,” while Secret something is amiss. claims to be “strong enough for a man 2:00 - The Secret side is still holding but made for a woman.” Both products strong.

I wonder if it will be able to make huge statements concerning their mask the odor coming from the Arm commitment to freshness, but can they and Hammer side. back it up? I decided to give these two 2:30 - We are taking our 15 minute

Contestant 4: Axe Phoenix First of all I would like to clarify that upon application, I was not attacked by gorgeous, over-sexualized women looking for one thing only…Lies. This aerosol spray can be accredited with making the spray-on family of deodorants cool again. Nowadays, it seems like every brand has their own Axe-like product. I gave this marketing genius the daunting task of suffering its way through a Halloween celebration at The Cellar. Dressed as a ‘Greaser’, I was draped in about ten pounds of red leather atop an unbuttoned dress shirt and white tank top; clearly a haven for bacteria and odor.

11:30 - Two hours after application, my Phoenix scent is still strong. I decide to hit the dance floor and cut a rug.

12:30 - Dancing was an awful idea. I enter the men’s washroom and discover two sweat stains the size of beach balls.

They remind me of an old math teacher from high school, which makes me laugh and I forget about my impending odor problem.

1:30 - I have given up on the leather jacket and tie it tightly around my waist; thank God it’s Halloween. I am now faced with two choices: reapply or leave.

1:50 - Two friends help me home from the bar. I would later find out that they carried me with my arms wrapped around their shoulders. They were at Ground Zero for odor and bacteria. The testing is over. Axe has failed.

It’s pretty clear that the Secret was the only product strong enough to stand up to my perspiration; I guess their slogan is true. As for the losers, I think UNB students can make their own conclusions as to the odor-fighting power of these other products. Also, I would like readers to know that this was not a completely accurate test. Not all variables were taken into account and it was definitely not performed in a controlled environment, but I am confident that this will change a lot of people’s mind next time they’re standing in the deodorant aisle.

inspiration

moving air.

The eerie silence was broken by the faint patter of a lone tomcat skulking across the ice, pausing for a moment to at me. I made the typical “come Sheet Music glance here, kitty” sound by puckering my lips together, creating the high-pitched hissby ing noise that humans somehow equate Steven MacDougall, to be cat language. of Slowcoaster "What do you want?" said the cat with its hunter’s eyes. "You’re no mouse or mole. I can't eat you."

Then, it hit me all at once. This was it. This was the inspiration I had been Slowcoaster released their waiting for, searching for. It was one of third album, Future Radio, in those rare moments in life where, instead 2007 and are currently touring of having to look for something, it finds you by chance. It seemed like a metaphor through Eastern Canada. for destiny – sometimes you just have to wait for that something to find you.

There are those of us who believe that life is ruled by destiny, or that something or someone is pulling the It was a long summer in Cape Breton strings and dancing us through our this year. It held on like the smolder- existence. As the song Bread Crumbs ing embers of last night’s bonfire. The goes, “If I come back, I'll leave a trail of leaves here are turning their brilliantly crumbs for the birds but that’s if only I tinged shades of gold, red, yellow, and decide to return to this little hole in the ground.” That moearthy brown. Behind ment with just the cat, the beauty of this island the cold night air, and autumn is the prelude of myself was so perfect, what's to come: an East I wasn’t sure I wanted Coast winter. the crumbs to be there I remember writing to find my way home. the song ‘Bread Crumbs’ I would really rather from the Slowcoaster althat the birds ate my bum ‘Where Are They trail markers so that I Going?’ It was the night could become lost in of the first silver thaw the moment forever. in 2003 when layers of I live in the city now, freezing rain grasped the Slowcoaster’s latest album, where the sounds of bare, naked tree branches, Future Radio cars, distant shouting, creating a two-inch thick and sirens break the sicrust of ice. These barren, ice-ladled soldiers march on in forest lence of night. But every time I perform fashion as far as the eye can see. As a Bread Crumbs on stage, I remember child, I used to fantasize about skating that special moment in time. That into school at a terminal velocity, using my stance is imprinted in my mind, a Polaroid of words and time captured forever. puffy winter coat as the sail.

One cold winter evening that year For a brief moment during a tiny sliver in March, I snuck outside for a smoke, of a cold, sanitized, winter midnight, if attempting to cure some late night I had been asked, I would have said, “I writer’s block. The air was painfully may have believed in God.” Check out http://www.slowcoaster. still. The smoke from the chimneys in the village rose up in perfectly straight ca for more details, including song lines, leveling off 200 feet up with the lyrics.

Poppin’ fresh: “That’s life in the Hollywood fast lane”

by Ashley Bursey

If for no other reason, go to ‘Popcorn’ just for the dialogue.

“Oscar at night, alimony in the morning – that’s life in the Hollywood fast lane,” says one character, pushing her hair back from her face as she snorts a line from a glass coffee table.

And once you’re there, lean back: the comedic timing, realistic delivery, and

first-rate actors make the show a fastpaced, frenetic delight.

The play, written by Ben Elton and directed by Theatre UNB’s Mandy MacLean, is a riot – witty, acerbic backand-forth, with a little bit of Pulp Fiction sensibility and a Tarantino love for gore, plus a killer vocabulary.

It’s Oscar night in Hollywoodland, and director Bruce Delamitri is trying to choose which clip from his newest movie to use at that evening’s Oscar presentation. But we see hints of trouble on the horizon: a too-smart-for-her-own-good teenage daughter, Violet; an addict of a mother, Farrah; and Bruce’s producer, Karl, one of the only voices of reason in the piece.

The play winds forward and we learn

about the Mall Murderers, a duo who, based on Bruce’s movies, have become killers copycatting the style of his gory, gleeful films. They’ve broken into Bruce’s house and have big plans for their next act.

Moving forward yet again, we see Bruce take home an Oscar and join nude model Brooke ‘I’m an actress’ Daniels in a coke binge at his home, thoroughly enjoy himself, until Brooke points a gun at his face and insists on a part in his next movie.

The play opens with a bang, pulling audiences into the over-glamorized world of Hollywood, with all its vices.

“Even a subliminal vagina is unacceptable in prime time,” says Karl, arguing with Bruce about which clip – the one in

question is from a vaginal “perspective,” says Bruce – to play during the Oscar nomination.

In walks Bruce’s separated wife, Farrah, “Can I help it if I have an addictive personality?” she preens, to Bruce’s comment about a “self-indulgence license.”

The pacing is quick and the tone is sharp, satirizing the ridiculousness and pretentiousness of Hollywood (Bruce’s Oscar speech – “you are the wind beneath my wings and I flap for you!”

– being a key example). For the rest of the piece, playing on stereotypes proves to be a model for campy exaggeration, for pointing out the flaws in modern Hollywood.

A potential sex scene between Brooke and Bruce, complete with campy oldschool porn music, head-banging, and cliché innuendos, is exactly that. “Pantyhose aren’t sexy,” says the director, in response to why all of the characters in his film wear stockings. To which the actress – resplendent in an Oscar gown – proceeds to sexily remove her hose. This is the one scene really lacking verisimilitude because, seriously, what kind of self-respecting female would wear hose to the Oscars?

But it’s not all droll repartee and clever phraseology. The play, despite its

fluffy name, has its messages, among them the idea that gory, trigger-happy films encourage their viewers to play out the plotlines (as per the Mall Murderers, Wayne and Scout).

And then there’s Hollywood, with all the backstabbing, the schmoozing, the under-the-table deals – “I don’t screw on a professional basis” – and the family life

always coming in second to the glitz and glamour of movie-making. The subtle themes ripple throughout the play, but you might get too caught up in the great lines to immediately notice.

No matter. If you like movies or not, Popcorn is fresh, buttery, and easy to swallow, with no shortage of quotable quotes for that next dull moment.

Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

Theatre UNB’s ‘Popcorn’ is a wild romp through Hollywoodland. Here, Bruce Delamitri (played by Mike Woodside) accepts his Oscar

Arts & Entertainment

Issue 10 • November 7, 2007 • 11

Silver Wave’s seventh year is coming up golden A Bruns writer chats with a whole host of artists from the upcoming Silver Wave Film Festival

by Mitchell Bernard

The seventh annual Silver Wave Film Festival is set to begin tomorrow, here in Fredericton. One of the most popular events of the festival is the NB Shorts Series, which displays films produced locally. All films in the series are between two and 20 minutes in length.

A full schedule can be found at www. swfilmfest.com.

To get a bit of a background of the producers in the series, the Bruns asked five of them what their films are all about. These producers include Ralph Pritchard, ‘Changed Fortunes’; Britany Sparrow, ‘The Perfect Cliché’; Jacob Hiltz, ‘The Amazing Adventures of Captain Awesome’, produced with Davin Tong; Joel Thompson, ‘Waiting for Myra’; and Tara Wells, ‘Swan Pond’.

Brunswickan: Describe your film in one sentence.

Pritchard: Good people ending up in bad situations can still get a break.

Sparrow: It's a story about falling in love with someone for the first time, and even though it's not a perfect match, it's going to be with you for the rest of your

life because it's real.

Hiltz: It's a superhero satire that university students, as well as superheroes, can relate to.

Thompson: A romance that depicts the power of love and the lasting effects of a perfect moment.

Wells: A stop motion music video for the Julie Doiron song of the same name.

guess shooting at O’Dell Park was really beautiful as well. I've always wanted to shoot there.

W: The best part of working on any project is trying things out and having them work. It's also fascinating to see these inanimate objects I create seemingly spring to life after months of work. I also enjoyed the fact that I had complete creative control.

B: What was your biggest challenge in the making of the film?

P: Capturing good sound on location is always a challenge when you can’t afford to block traffic and stop day-to-day life.

S: Biggest challenge was probably locations. I shot on a stage so it was hard finding a place to shoot that wasn't going to cost me a lot of money.

H: Working with 16mm film and all the equipment that it required as opposed to just shooting on digital video.

The 16mm was costly, as 20 minutes of film cost $200, so you didn’t have the opportunity to take multiple takes, where with digital video, you can take as many takes as you want and just delete what you don't like.

T: We were working with 16mm celluloid for the first time, so getting the exposure right was difficult, and also, the viewfinder was very dark on the camera so we couldn't focus by eye.

W: The biggest challenge was finding the time to do the video. Stop motion takes hours, plus I build all my own props and sets. And then there's all the editing and effects. Since this wasn't a paying gig, I had to work on it between other projects.

B: What does your film mean to New Brunswick?

P: There is tremendous versatility in New Brunswick, not just in the people but also the locations. This film demonstrates that you can take simple everyday locations and enhance a story.

In addition you can take up-and-coming talent and tell an inspiring story through them.

S: I think my film is proof that if you have a story to tell, you can tell it. The New Brunswick Filmmakers' Co-operative is great because they make filmmak-

B: What was the best part of working on the film?

P: It was amazing to see the actors

Submitted

Tara Wells’ ‘Swan Pond’.

Submitted

Britany Sparrow’s ‘The Perfect Cliché’

Submitted

Jacob Hiltz’s ‘The Amazing Adventures of Captain Awesome’, produced with Davin Tong bring the characters to life and add their own unique personalities to the mix.

S: The best part of this whole process was having the opportunity to work with so many great people who are so talented. It's still a little hard to believe that so many people saw my project as something worth investing their time in. I am so grateful for having the opportunity.

H: Although it was also the biggest challenge, getting the experience of working on 16mm as opposed to just shooting in digital [was the best part], and working with equipment that required a crew of 15 people or more.

T: I would have to say the best part was expressing what I feel to be true about love and how powerful it is. I

SJ filmmakers go On the Road

by Ashley Bursey

Most stories don’t start with renting a hearse – unless you’re Greg Hemmings, that is.

Hemmings, of Hemmings House Productions, is part of the brains beyond a potential new series, ‘Grave Concerns’, featuring what he calls a “subculture of grave hunters.”

The original idea stemmed from Hemmings’ pal, Brent Mason, a singer/ songwriter from Saint John, who originally wanted to create a coffee-table book about grave hunting.

Hemmings decided to take it one step further, and that’s where the hearse comes in. The two hopped in and took off for Lowell, Massachusetts, to scour the town for the grave of infamous beat author, Jack Kerouac.

The timing was perfect; they planned

to be in Lowell during the same weekend Kerouac’s legendary 150-foot scroll was to be presented to his hometown.

Kerouac had written the celebrated ‘On the Road’ in “one week; he typed it on one piece of paper, on a crazy cocaine binge, and carried the scroll on the road for like three years in his backpack,” says Hemmings, chatting with me from a hotel room in L.A. where he’s in the middle of filming a documentary.

So why Kerouac? Well, both Hemmings and Mason have always been fans, and the timing was “just too perfect,” says Hemmings, with the return of the iconic scroll.

The pair wandered around Lowell, checking out the grave, friends’ houses, and filming it all as a pilot for what Hemmings hopes will become a series of pop culture icons and their burial spots.

“We were in there interviewing [Kerouac’s best friend Billy] and he was showing me pictures of Jack with a bottle of Hennessey in his hand, sitting in the same chair I was sitting in,” says Hemmings. His excitement is infectious.

“There were cats like Bob Dylan who would drop by to see Jack when he was drunk and crashed out in his house...”

Hemmings and Mason also noticed a lot of similarities between Lowell and their own place of residence.

“It was also really neat because Saint JoHe adds that folks in Lowell didn’t really appreciate Kerouac’s genius when he was alive, as “they thought he was a drunk,” he says.

“Maybe this is the beginning of an era when people will celebrate their artists while they have them. I was thinking, ‘that’s so true of Saint John and the Maritimes; why don ‘t people support and celebrate their artists right now?’...I thought that was a really neat message.”

And what about the future of the show?

“Really, the world of the dead is our oyster,” he says, laughing. “Any North American pop icons, political figures, or artists ... anybody dead and famous.

From our generation, it might be neat to document Kurt Cobain or Jimmy Hendrix, for the music side, but we could go back to Hemmingway...I think personally, I will be really interested to go to anyone’s grave.”

Grave Concerns shows Saturday, November 10, 2007 at 4 pm at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre.

Slice-and-dice in Freddy

by Naomi Osborne

It all started on 43 Lampkin Lane, with a little guy named Mike Myers.

For New Brunswick director Joel Thompson, the cult – and eventual commercial – success of the first Halloween movie, directed by John Carpenter, led him down a path of horror movie creation. Although Thompson had always been a fan of horror movies, the low-budget, independent film’s twisted storyline encouraged him to make his own.

For three years, Thompson has been writing, producing, and shooting his own horror film in Fredericton. Working without a budget, he and his crew have been trying to get their independent feature film called ‘They Didn’t Make It’ into the opening gala for the Silver Wave Film Festival.

Opening night will feature some

of New Brunswick’s most anticipated feature films in years. The festival is a perfect opportunity for local talent to be recognized.

Thompson’s feature film runs at an hour and half long, and was shot in many popular places in Fredericton, such as Quizno’s, Home Hardware, and the parking lot outside the downtown liquor store. The film is about a group of teenagers who are going to a party, but late-night shenanigans turn deadly when they’re attacked by an unstoppable killer.

For many residents, the film is right in their backyard – a chance to see local faces and places as a homegrown, Fredericton movie.

Choosing to shoot the film in New Brunswick was definitely a challenge for Thompson, but it was a lot easier than making it in a larger city such as Toronto where he may not have received a lot of support.

“New Brunswick is an arts community,” said Thompson. “There is so much going on and people aren’t aware of it.”

Some of his other inspirations include Alfred Hitchcock for the way he is able

to get into people’s minds and Stephen Spielberg for his mass appeal.

Since Thompson was working without a budget, creating special effects took a lot of hard work and planning.

“Ever since I was a kid I wanted to be a magician. It is all about creating illusions, and I had to come up with clever ways of constructing things,” he said.

He made most of the props himself, even going so far as creating plasters of the actors’ faces for different scenes.

He also took care of editing, sound, score, and everything that a crew would normally do. “I hope people will be really impressed by what the filmmakers have done. I hope they are scared, entertained, and enjoy it all at the same time,” he said. “Most of all, I hope they understand it and all the effort that was put into it.

“There was a lot of passion and creativity put into it and I think people will appreciate that,” he said. “This is a film that hits close to home for university students.”

‘They Didn’t Make It’ screens at the Festival’s opening gala at the Charlotte Street Arts Center on November 8 at 7 p.m.

ing accessible to everyone. Without the Co-op, it would be a lot harder to make films in this province.

H: I think what it means to New Brunswick is that there is a great film scene in New Brunswick and that there are very creative and imaginative people in New Brunswick, such as Christopher Nyarady who wrote the screenplay, played the title character, and did all the artwork for the DVD case.

T: Well, to New Brunswick and to people in general, I hope it helps them appreciate their relationships.

W: I think it just helps to show what can be done here.

B: Who is your influence in the film world?

P: Although I don't really study films

Submitted

Ralph Pritchard’s ‘Changed Fortunes’ per se, James Cameron (Titanic, Terminators, etc.) has impressed me with the work he has done.

S: To be honest, lately I'm the most influenced by people in New Brunswick who are out there doing their thing. It's so cool to know that people I know and have worked with are out there making their films, working on the pro shoots, and making a life out of filmmaking here in New Brunswick.

H: My three favorite directors would have to be Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick, and Alfred Hitchcock.

T: That's a tough one because I look up to so many different people for different reasons. I love Spielberg's ability to make films that huge arrays of people love, I love Robert Rodriguez's ingenuity, I love how Alfred Hitchcock built so much suspense and could get into the viewer’s mind. I could go on and on.

W: I'm sure I’ve been influenced by everything I’ve ever seen, but I really like movies by Wes Anderson, P.T. Anderson, Michel Gondry, the Coen Brothers, and David Fincher.

B: Any ideas for the future?

P: I am going to keep making short films until I get them right. I am a storyteller by nature, so that part comes fairly easy. Now I want to make sure the technical aspects of filmmaking and the artistry of directing and cinematography keep the audience from being distracted from the story. Once I do that, I will start creating feature lengths or even TV series.

S: I'm currently working on my next script, a comedy about life in residence, and I hope to shoot that next summer.

H: I have two more years here at UNB taking Multimedia Studies and the Film Certificate program, and then after that I'd like to go to film school in either Vancouver or Toronto.

T: Of course! My mind never stops.

I have a dramatic feature film that I'm writing and would love to get funded and shot within the next year.

W: Yes. But if I tell you I will just have to come back in my time machine and kill you.

Submitted

Joel Thompson’s ‘Waiting for Myra’

Arts & Entertainment

12 • November 7, 2007 • Issue 10

Getting Like a rock-andvery rollin’ stone sleepy…

Elitism vs. Guitar Hero: An epic struggle

by Dan Hagerman

by Ashley Bursey

…and very racy, when Tony Lee comes to town

by Bruns Arts Department

He’s a favorite on college campuses across the country, and X-rated hypnotist Tony Lee couldn’t be happier.

It’s his favorite crowd, he’s said in past interviews, and always a lot of fun to prank.

But this isn’t your normal hypnotist show. There’s no tame ‘bark like a dog’ or ‘do a handstand’ junk here. Lee’s all about asking college frat boys to dance seductively around each other, or recreating a bizarre, risqué scene.

In fact, there are many YouTube clips featuring college students psyched to watch themselves after a night they can’t really seem to remember.

But Lee isn’t about to make anyone uncomfortable or put anyone in a compromising situation; he has said that it’s all in good fun.

“The volunteers are always different. I mean, we have no idea what these people are going to do at each show,” he said in an interview with The Brock Press in Ontario. “It sounds really obscure, but it's all done in fun and in the parameters of good taste, so you don't cross that barrier, wherever you draw that line.”

When Lee first started, he began with bar shows and gradually evolved to the show he performs now, which is centered mainly on college students.

“When I first started, I said, ‘you know what, I'll do some shows at the bar and have some fun’,” he has said. “Over the years, we developed new hypnosis methods and figured that we'd go on the road for a couple years and see the world before we get a real job. Twenty years later, we're still doing it.”

Lee’s show plays at 8 PM on November 7. Tickets are $7 at the door.

The answer, for John Stewart, was ‘Blowin’ in the Wind,” way down in Boston.

“The seeds of the idea came during a Bob Dylan concert I attended in Boston.

We didn't have a camera, but hundreds of others in the crowd did,” says Stewart via e-mail. “It occurred to me that any one person there had a single perspective, but that collectively, the crowd had a rather complete picture of the show – hundreds of images and videos from multiple perspectives.”

The show launched the idea for RansomNoteMusic.com, a community-created source for “live music information and media,” including local, national, or international shows, pictures from different concerts, and the chance to win kick-ass prizes – all music-related, of course. While it’s not quite Giraffecycle.com, and doesn’t try to be, it might attract some of the same crowd – music lovers who itch for the next stellar show.

But back to Boston. “I drove ten hours to be at that show. [I wondered], ‘Where did the person sitting next to me come from? Is this her first Dylan show, too? Who else drove from Fredericton to be here?’” Stewart adds. “When I'm feeling nostalgic, where can I go to find an echo of this moment? Hopefully [my website] will be the answer to all of these questions.”

Stewart, a self-proclaimed audiophile with a love for Tom Waits and Radiohead, has already logged more than 2,000 hours in the site, he says; it’s become more than a hobby, and he quit his job to work full-time on RansomNotes.

But for a smaller community like Fredericton, some might wonder why the site features shows as far away as the U.K. Stewart has an explanation.

“Though the scope of the site is global, it's beginning right here in Fredericton. The site is both broad and focused,” he says. “You can find out what's going on in Toronto if you want,

Internet

RansomNoteMusic.com is a source for photos and show information. but there's also a page for every artist and venue, so you can find out what's going on specifically at say, the Cellar.

You can even search for all videos of a particular song.

“Potentially, the mixture of global and local content means that people from say, Toronto can get a snapshot of Fredericton's music scene at the click of a button. This is great for audiophiles in general, and is potentially a great way for bands to reach beyond the city in which they reside.”

Although he admits Fredericton has a “thriving music scene,” Stewart knows there’s always a market for more music, and people always want to know when great shows are happening.

“We recently had our launch party, and I was rather touched by everyone's kind words. People seem really optimistic about the idea, and what it could become,” he says. “My lady friend even cooked up a RansomNote cake. It was delicious.”

Although it’s only in the beginning stages right now, Stewart wants the site to evolve into something practical, useful, and fun.

“What's nice about creating a website as opposed to say, a novel, is that it is dynamic rather than static,” he says.

“Even though it has launched, it's still changing nearly everyday. Ideas are fleshed out, and new ones bubble up.

The site will change and grow based on how the community responds to it.

“Fredericton doesn't need [the site] – it has a thriving music scene without it. But I really hope that this tool helps connect the music community in new ways.”

I think that it’s blatantly obvious to everyone who knows me that I’m a big fan of the Guitar Hero series. I enjoy playing it by myself and with others. I am also ridiculously excited to get my hands on the new Guitar Hero 3. However, what makes me not so ridiculously excited is when I tell certain people that I play these games.

These people will sneer at me and sarcastically remark, “Why don’t you try playing those songs on a real guitar?

Then you might have some talent.” This phrase makes me increasingly frustrated every time I hear it. It’s not because the people who say this to me are bad people by any stretch of the imagination, they’re just under the wrong impression as to why I play Guitar Hero.

I never think to myself for a minute

Internet

Guitar Hero 3 was released on Oct 28 in North America, making legions of ready-to-rockers very happy. that I can play the songs in Guitar Hero Halo series. Do I suggest to them that in real life, on a real guitar. That would they’re not ‘cool enough’ because they’re take months, if not years, of practicing not actually genetically-enhanced super daily, which I likely cannot do. How- soldiers and can’t use really cool alien ever, I also don’t care that I cannot do weaponry? Except for the fact that I these things. I play Guitar Hero because mentioned it right now, no, I do not. it is fun to play and, as opposed to real So please, the next time you feel quality guitars and amps, is pretty darn compelled to remind me that I’m not cheap. a real rock star, remind yourself that I Oddly enough, many of the same am a real person, who just so happens people who make that dreaded remark to enjoy rocking out on a plastic guitar. to me also happen to be big fans of the Live and let rock.

“Oh McGriddle, my heart be thine” Rip by Sean M.H.

McDonalds, I miss you.

Ever since you shut your doors and tore down your Prospect Street building, I haven’t been the same.

I’ve probably never been healthier or thinner, either. But that’s beside the point.

And I know you’ve left me with other locations to visit.

But I hate going to the mall and I only go if it’s absolutely necessary. Although my Big Mac cravings are almost making it necessary, I just won’t wade through 16 year old Paris wannabes and 18

year old ‘playas’ just to wait in line for twenty minutes to eat in a god damn food court.

I’m not at that point just yet.

And there’s no way in hell I’m going to the North side location. If I’m not waiting inside for a half hour and watching four workers move slower than death, I’m outside in the drive-thru line losing my mind because I haven’t moved in 45 minutes.

Every story I’ve ever heard about that place involves a half-hour minimum wait and snotty kids handing over a bag of cold food, so I refuse to go to that one.

And there’s no other option.

I could go to Oromocto, but I think we all know that going there is not something many of us are willing to do, even if it is for sweet, sweet golden brown Chicken McNuggets.

And the fries. I don’t know how you do it but those fries are like heroin.

What am I supposed to do, McDonalds? I love you so much and you’ve abandoned me.

Where else am I supposed to pay my

roommate to drive me to at 4 am when I’m too drunk and I need a Quarter Pounder? Where?

Who else has the most delicious breakfast under $5 in the whole world?

Oh McGriddle, my heart be thine.

What was wrong with that building the way it was? Why did you have to tear it down, McDonalds?

I feel so alone.

I’ve been going to other fast-food places, I must admit.

Some have good burgers, some have good fries, but nobody has the whole package the way you do.

You just know how to work it, McDonalds.

Even when I’m eating a Whopper or a Flamethrower, my mind races back to the good old days of Big Extras and, dare I dream, McRibs.

So please come back, McDonalds.

Tell those construction workers to hurry up.

Don’t make me eat another Teen Burger.

I’m counting on you. Don’t let me down.