The Silhouette - November 19th, 2009

Solar Car team comes back from Australia with new incites

Andy interviews Canadian crooner Matt Dusk

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McMASTER UNIVERSITY'S STUDENT NEWSPAPER / THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2009

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VOLUME 80, NO. 14

$33M boost for research initiatives LILY PANAMSKY

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

McMaster University was awarded over $33 million by the Ontario Research Fund-Research Infrastructure program on Nov. 17 to pursue research in the science and engineering fields.

Ontario Minister of Research and Innovation John Milloy, accompanied by MPP for Ancaster-Dundas-FlamboroughWestdale Ted McMeekin and MPP for Hamilton Mountain Sophia Aggelonitis, announced the investment while at the new Engineering and Technology

Building that opened earlier this year. The money will be allocated to more than 300 researchers and 18 research projects regarding digital technology, life sciences, and green energy.

Mo Elbestawi, vicepresident of research and international affairs, stated that the investment was “great news for our community, our city, and our region.”

Approximately $14 million of the investment will be reserved for research in clean energy, and $9 million will be for the production of safer, more efficient power systems within nuclear energy. $5 million of the investment will be allocated

to “take photovoltaic technology to the next level,” said Milloy. Dr. Rafael Kleiman, lead researcher for photovoltaic energy, spoke on behalf of his team. “I’m convinced that we can capture much more of the sun’s power to provide affordable electricity for all the world’s needs, and the province is helping us realize that bold vision,” said Kleiman. The investment is part of a larger $268 million Ontario-wide contribution to science and engineering research that will help fund 214 projects and over 3,300 researchers in 14 cities.

Milloy discussed the current economic situation Ontario is facing and stressed the importance

of being on the forefront of science and engineering. “We have to be at the cutting edge of research innovation,” he said, referencing competition between leadingtechnology countries such as China.

The 18 projects funded by the program, as stated in the Ontario Ministry press release sheet, are: recovering waste heat energy to meet future energy needs, advancing solar energy, advancing nuclear power, investigating how contaminants impact environmental systems, developing ways to restore and conserve peatlands, gaining greater insights into how organisms respond to environmental stress,

developing sophisticated new biomaterials and devices, expanding the pool of stem cell researchers, developing a better strategy for treating gastrointestinal disorders, preventing and treating acute intestinal infections, discovering how hormones affect obesity, designing digital games for multiple devices, ensuring safe buildings and critical infrastructure, preparing for the greying of Canada’s babyboomers, exploring how the brain works, discovering archaeological pasts, engineering advanced new materials, and developing new and better hearing technologies.

McMaster joins Project Hero initiative Mac professor named

researcher of the year SELMA AL-SAMARRAI SENIOR NEWS EDITOR

Dr. Michael Boyle, a professor at the Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences department at McMaster University, has been named the 2009 Researcher of the Year Award in Health Services and Systems and Population Health by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

Boyle is also the Canada Research Chair in the Social Determinants of Child Health.

Boyle headed a longitudinal study named the Ontario Child Health Study between 1983 and 2001 where he worked with about 3,200 children to study children’s mental health.

This was the first largescale study of children’s mental Thanks to Project Hero, students of fallen soldiers can receive a tuition waiver for four years of education. health in Canada.

As of recently, Boyle has SELMA AL-SAMARRAI Lieutenant-Colonel Kevin Reed resident or a Canadian citizen, and been involved in another study SENIOR NEWS EDITOR and Retired General Rick Hillier for an undergraduate student enrolled where he observes large scale the purpose of providing support for in a ministry-funded and full-time studies and surveys that are done in As of Sep. 2009, students of fallen children of soldiers who were killed program. Eligible students have developing countries to understand soldiers who attend McMaster in active duty. to apply for Project Hero between cross national differences and University will receive a tuition In order to meet the criteria Sept. 1, 2009 and Aug. 31, 2014. determinants of infant mortality and waiver for four years of education, for the Project Hero initiative, the The idea was introduced growth in developing countries. including a room in residence and a student must be under the age of at McMaster earlier this year by Boyle has been a part regular mean plan for the first year of 26, a child of a Canadian forces McMaster’s provost Ilene Busch- of the department of Psychiatry study. This initiative, titled Project personnel who died while serving and Behavioural Neurosciences • PLEASE SEE FREE, A3 at McMaster since 1988 and a Hero, was co-founded by Honorary in an active mission, a permanent JONATHON FAIRCLOUGH / SILHOUETTE STAFF

professor at the department since 1994.

Regarding the prestigious win, Boyle expressed, “I’m deeply honoured, I think I was surprised, it was unexpected. I think I have many, many deserving colleagues and I’m sure many people who I don’t know would be deserving and of course I’m delighted that I’ve received it.”

In the CIHR press release, Dr. Alain Beaudet the president of CIHR said, “Dr. Boyle has made fundamental contributions in the field of health services research…

His exceptional work and commitment to making a difference is helping many children overcome difficult circumstances to reach their full potential.”

The Canadian Health Research Awards are presented annually. Other CIHR award winners this year are Dr. Nahum Sonenberg, a Professor in Biochemistry at McGill University who won the Researcher of the year for Biomedical and Clinical Research award.

Dr. Lynne-Marie Postovi, a professor in cell biology at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario received the Canada’s Premier Young Researcher Award.

Assyrian refugee campaign

Arts Quad fire sparked Students simulate the life of an Iraqi refugee by cigarette butt

to raise awareness and funds for persecution of ethnic minorities— specifically Assyrians—in the war Members of the Assyrian Chaldean in Iraq.

Syriac Student Union are conducting Ashor Sworesho, Evon a volunteer project in an effort Sworesho, and Shan Oshana began LILY PANAMSKY

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

McMaster men’s and women’s basketball teams opened up home court this past weekend.

Sports, B1

Inside the Sil this week

Peace education conference . . . . . . . . . . .A3 Dave Thomas’ honorary degree . . . . . . . .A4 CIS bronze for women’s cross country . . B1 Lynch named rookie of the year. . . . . . . . B4

their event on Monday and will continue until Thursday.

“What we’re doing here is called ‘The life of an Iraqi refuge’,” said A. Sworesho. “We started sleeping out here from Monday, until Thursday. We’re trying to simulate, as much as we can, life of Iraqi refugees. Any food that we ate came from other people, just like refugees in the Iraq war.”

The student group stated that 50 per cent of the Assyrian Christian population has fled its native land.

“Everyone in Iraq suffered from the war, but the people who suffered the most are the minorities. The one example is the Assyrians, who are an ethnic minority and a religious minority.

Their populations went from about… two to five per cent of the population before the war, but UN stats say they’re about 30 or 40 per cent of the refugees. It shows that

SOURCE; YOUTUBE..COM

Pictured above is fire coming from the underlayment beneath the stones just outside of Kenneth Taylor Hall.

SELMA AL-SAMARRAI

Public Relations at McMaster, the Arts Quad fire was caused by a “cigarette butt” that was thrown On the afternoon of Friday Nov. onto the ground. It went through the 13, there was a small fire against stones and lit the fiber underlayment the Kenneth Taylor Hall building beneath the stones on fire. within the Arts Quad. According • PLEASE SEE UNIV., A3 • PLEASE SEE DAY, A3 to Andrea Farquhar, director of SENIOR NEWS EDITOR

All boys’ schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A7 Catholic Church on gay rights . . . . . . . . .A7 War and Peace in Middle East . . . . . . . . . B8 Sex and the Steel City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B9

Organic food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B10 Coco Avant Chanel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .C5 A Christmas Carol’s director . . . . . . . . . .C6 Weezer: say it ain’t so . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .C8

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A D V E R T I S E M E N T

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A D V E R T I S E M E N T

THE SILHOUETTE • A3

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2009

Newsbites Free education for students University provides

Compiled by Jennifer Bacher Man calls 911 for sex Florida police say a man was arrested for repeatedly calling the 911 emergency dial looking for sex. 29-year-old Joshua Basso claimed it was the only number he could dial after running out of cell phone minutes. Tampa police said Basso made sexual comments directed towards the 911 dispatcher and asked if he could come to her house. Investigators say when she hung up, he called back four more times. He was arrested about 15 minutes later at his home late Wednesday and was charged with making a false 911 call.

Student suspended for hairstyle Dustin Reader got the NFL team, the Cincinnati Bengals stripes and “B” insignia cut into his hair as a tribute to the team’s good season.

When he showed up to school on Monday, officials put the eighthgrader into in-school suspension.

The school says its code of conduct prohibits extreme and distracting hairstyles. Reader’s parents and barber say they don’t understand why the haircut is out of bounds.

School officials say he will continue to do his studies away from other students until the hair grows back or he changes the style.

Man distracted by bird, drives into marsh A man blamed a low-flying pelican and for the accident happened in the middle of the afternoon about 35 miles southeast of Houston. The man was driving his luxury Frenchbuilt Bugatti Veyron when the bird distracted him. The motorist then dropped his cell phone, reached to pick it up and veered off the road and into the salt marsh. The car was half-submerged in the brine about 20 feet from the road when police arrived.

Mock funeral mourns Venice A procession of gondolas accompanied a pink coffin along Venice’s Grand Canal on Saturday in a mock funeral to protest against the steep decline in the city’s population. They accompanied the flower-draped coffin symbolizing the death of the “Queen of Adriatic” at the hands of rampant tourism, rising waters, rising housing costs, a low birth rate and a lack of services. It was brought ashore at the city hall where a message of condolence and a poem in the Venetian dialect were read out.

Venice’s population has halved since 1966 as residents have left to seek work elsewhere and housing costs have soared as homes have been converted into hotels or guest houses. The protest was organized by local website Venessia.com. It was inspired by a report last month that the city’s population had fallen below 60,000, the minimum for an Italian city.

Kazakhstan urges citizens to use planes over cars The government of Kazakhstan that has an average weekly wage of $114, has urged its citizens to make more use of small planes to replace the long car journey. Deputy Prime Minister on Tuesday announced new laws to cut the paperwork required for flights on private planes, some of which are “no more expensive than a jeep.” Most of Kazakhstan’s 16 million citizens, whose average wage is around $455 per month, are used to long car and rail journeys, such as the 2,000-mile trip. But a small elite, many with close ties to the government and the oil business, use helicopters and private planes to traverse the country’s vast steppe.

Canadian police nab drunken clown A Vancouver man who was driving erratically in a clown suit crashed into a police car. A police officer in West Vancouver was searching for suspects involved in a reported fight early on Sunday when he spotted a man, later found to be wearing a brightly coloured clown costume, driving at him on the wrong side of the road. The officer stopped his own car and turned on its emergency lights to warn the other driver, who nonetheless crashed head-on into the cruiser at 20 km per hour.

of fallen soldiers at Mac • CONT’D FROM A1 Vishniac. Manager of Public and Media Relations at McMaster, Jane Christmas, speaking on behalf of McMaster President Peter George and Director of student financial aid and scholarships, explained, “We recognize that there are emotional as well as financial issues that confront the families of fallen soldiers… after the funerals and the words of condolence, families are left to struggle on alone. The

emotional loss is compounded by the realization that an income has also been lost. The children of such families often don’t get a chance to go on to higher education and so McMaster decided we would do this to not only show compassion but to show gratitude for the human sacrifice their family made.”

Similar scholarships are also offered in Memorial University in Newfoundland, the University of Ottawa, the University of Windsor, and the University of Calgary.

little detail on fire • CONT’D FROM A1 Farquhar added, “As soon as it was spotted it was put out; there was no damage. It’s funny because a lot of the time, fires can look a lot worse than they are, especially because of the composition of the underlay that would’ve created the smoke.” Farquhar reported that the fire was quickly put out, adding that she did not know the exact time that the incident had happened.

The Environmental and

Occupational Health Support Services sub department from Human Resources Services was repeatedly contacted for information regarding the fire. They had no comment to provide to the Silhouette, who were subsequently forwarded to McMaster’s Public Relations.

Public Relations had no further comments. Two short videos posted on YouTube of the fire on Nov. 13 attracted nearly 3,000 views.

Mac hosts Peace Education Conference The eighth annual event aimed at reducing violence through education

CHRISTOPHER CHANG / SILHOUETTE STAFF

Ian Harris, pictured above, was one of the speakers at the conference, focusing on violence against women.

MELANIE FERRIER SILHOUETTE STAFF

This past weekend, students, professors and members of various education and social justice organizations from across the globe came together for the eighth annual Peace Education Conference. From Nov. 13 to 15, the third floor of the student center was hosting an event with new ideas aimed towards reducing violence, both at home and abroad, through education.

The conference, hosted by the Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace (CCTP) and the McMaster Centre for Peace Studies, had a very specific focus this year, to begin discussion around the new School Peace Program.

Although most of the conference participants were educators and representatives from social justice groups, the organizers were pleased to see a number of McMaster students in attendance.

The CCTP is a national umbrella organization whose goal is to see the creation of local peace centres and peace cafés – such as the Hamilton Centre for Teaching Peace and the Bread and Roses Café – across Canada.They are also eager to integrate a framework for teaching peace into the standard school curriculum, in order to build a movement for world peace from the “ground up.”

According to Robert children with disabilities.

Stewart, director of the CCTP, In the year that she taught education is the path towards peace. them, Collette expressed her “Peace education is learning the understanding of the purpose of attitudes, skills and behaviours education, “making a connection at of how to live together more the heart level and allowing the kids successfully,” said Stewart, “It’s not to flourish and become who they are just a class here and a class there. intended to be.”

It’s [changing] the culture within This understanding of schools.” education inspired her to create When the culture within a framework which could be schools moves from one of violence expanded by individual schools into to one of peace, the a comprehensive, ground-up approach peace-encouraging to building peace in Peace education is curriculum.

The our world begins. discussion paper, learning the Steward pointed out resulted from behaviours of how which that “once you start her research, was learning about it and to live together... the focal point of modeling it, you share It’s not just a class Friday’s discussion. it with other people.”

Participants were here and a class able to read, discuss, In this way, he there. It’s maintained, educating dissect and modify one person in peace is her proposals. At [changing] the a means of educating the close of the culture within the world. day, discussion In the turned towards schools.” midst of a number of ways in which the workshops and panel discussions, framework could be promoted two aspects of the Conference stood to “the ministries of education, apart from the rest. The first was a to the school boards, to the series of discussions surrounding teacher’s colleges, to the parental the launch of the CCTP School communities, [and] to community Peace Program.

Anne-Marie leaders.”

Collette is the mind behind the The second highlighted program. In 2003, her passions for event was a lecture, given by retired children and for peace education Wisconsin professor Dr. Ian Harris, came together in an opportunity on “Overcoming Violence through to teach a second grade class of Education – Exploring Masculinity,

Violence and Peace.” Before receiving his doctorate, Harris was a teacher in the inner city of Philadelphia. It was this experience that motivated his future work, “The students I taught in Philadelphia were so traumatized by violence in their lives…. [they] weren’t stupid, but they couldn’t focus on their lessons because mom got beaten up last night or dad didn’t get a job or a friend had gotten shot – urban violence was dragging them down.”

Harris wanted to help.

He wanted to give them the skills they needed to address these issues in a non-violent manner. When he became a professor at the University of Wisconsin, the desire led to the creation of a course on peace education.

His desire for peace also led him into the realm of male violence.

When the feminists pointed out, in the 1980s, that men created most violence, Harris asked himself, “Why?” After 10 years of looking at cultural messages, institutional violence, and emotional abuse, Harris concluded, “the key factor in male violence … is wounding. Men are wounded in a variety of ways … and a sense of rage grows up inside them.”

Harris hopes that by revealing the many complex factors that influence masculine violence, he might create an understanding that will pave the way towards greater peace.

When asked why students should pay attention to peace education, Stewart, Collette and Harris converged on the importance of conflict-resolution skills in every-day life.

According to Harris, conflict resolution is just as important as learning how to read and write: “we have what we call the four Rs: reading, ‘righting, ‘rithmetic and resolution.” Collette makes it clear that “no man is an island – we are all connected.”

If we are going to live together successfully, we need a way to solve our differences in a non-violent manner. Harris reminded students that “life is full of conflict… the key is determining how you resolve that conflict.”

Day-and-night event raises awareness • CONT’D FROM A1

TERRY SHAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

The Assyrian Chaidean Syriac Student Union, in an attempt to raise awareness and money for Iraqi refugees, have been simulating the poverty of an Iraqi refugee by living outside the student center for four days.

there’s systematic targeting of the minorities.”

Collection boxes for donations are beside the tents. All proceeds will go to the Assyrian Aid Society, which is an organization “that works on the grounds in Iraq.

They build schools, they build clinics and they just provide relief for refuges of the Iraq war.”

Although the students have not yet counted the donation sum, A. Sworesho maintained that the number was high.

The three students sleeping in the tent during the four nights were available to answer any questions or concerns. They also spoke during several classes.

Their general opinion was that professors had been very supportive of their initiative.

“So thank Mac in general for the money that’s going to help the refuges in Iraq,” said A. Sworesho.

A4 • THE SILHOUETTE

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2009

Rare Maps of Gulf Region unveiled at Mac SELMA AL-SAMARRAI SENIOR NEWS EDITOR

For the first time in North America, rare and important maps that chronicle the evolution of human knowledge about the areas within the Gulf Region were displayed at the McMaster Museum of Art on Oct. 31. The 96 maps were collected and provided by the Ruler of Sharjah in United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi.

The exhibit of maps

provides an idea of how the Middle East was historically perceived, running from the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries.

At an event held in combination with the recent unveiling of the map exhibit, on Nov. 18, Historian Ben J. Slot spoke at Convocation Hall of cartography in the Gulf region between the second and nineteenth centuries

The exhibit of maps will be on display until Mar. 13, 2010. The free exhibit is open to the general The maps exhibit, pictured above, is on display in the McMaster Museum of Art until Mar. 13, 2010. public.

CHRISTOPHER CHANG / SILHOUETTE STAFF

THE SILHOUETTE • A5

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2009

QSCC arranges McMaster’s first Pride Parade SELMA AL-SAMARRAI SENIOR NEWS EDITOR

C/O THE MARMOR

The first McMaster Pride Parade was held on Nov. 13. The parade began at Les Prince Residence, went through the campus, and ended at Mary Keyes Residence.

Dave Thomas among three to receive honorary degree Fall Convocation awards three distinguished Canadians LILY PANAMSKY

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

Three prominent Canadians will receive honorary degrees from McMaster University on Friday Nov. 20, during this year’s Fall Convocation.

Well-known comedian and McMaster Dave Thomas will receive a Doctor of Letters during the morning Convocation ceremony, which begins at 9:30 a.m. at the Great Hall of Hamilton Place.

Thomas Kierans, vice president and chair of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and Frank Graham, professor emeritus of biology, pathology, and molecular medicine at McMaster University, will receive a Doctor of Laws and Doctor of Science, respectively, during the afternoon ceremony, which begins at 2:30 p.m.

Thomas is one of McMaster’s most distinguished alumni. He graduated from the school in 1972 with an Honours Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. He was the Executive Editor of the Silhouette during the 1971-1972 school year.

He first achieved fame on the comedy series Second City Television (SCTV), where he portrayed, among other characters, Doug McKenzie. His first movie was Home to Stay, directed by Delbert Mann. His most famous movies include Beethoven’s 5th and Coneheads. He renewed the role of Doug McKenzie in the animated series that premiered earlier this year, Bob & Doug.

An honorary degree is a degree for which a university has waived the standard academic requirements, including residence, study, writing of a thesis, and passing of examinations.

There are three general categories of people upon whom McMaster bestows honorary degrees—those who are distinguished scholar or who have made distinguished contributions to the creative or performing arts; those who have outstanding reputations in the area of public service at the national or international level or who have long-established, outstanding careers in professions such as law or educators; and those who have made important contributions to the McMaster and/or local community.

Special consideration is given to McMaster alumni.

Four types of honorary degrees may be given to recipients.

A Doctor of Divinity (D.D) is awarded to a person who has provided outstanding service in the religious community.

A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is given to one with achievement in the Social Sciences or a significant contribution at the local, national, or international level. A Doctor of Letters (D.Litt) is awarded for achievement in the humanities, fine arts, or performing arts.

Finally, a Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) is awarded for achievement in the pure and applied sciences, most often through research. Each convocation, a range from one to three honorary degrees are bestowed upon distinguished people.

The Queer Students Community Centre (QSCC) held the annual Mac Pride week from Nov. 9 to Nov. 13, which was concluded with the first pride parade ever held at McMaster University.

QSCC is an MSU service that offers support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transvestite and queer students at McMaster and provides an open social space five days a week from 9.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m at their MUSC location.

McMaster’s Pride week’s events included an opening ceremony on Nov. 9, a movie night that played Milk on Nov. 10, a Gay Trivia night on Nov. 11, a drag show on Nov. 12 and the pride parade on Nov. 13.

Most events were held on campus except for the drag show, which was held in the Marauders bar in the basement of Kelsey’s on Main Street.

The Mac Pride Parade began at Les Prince Residence, went through campus, and concluded at Mary Keyes restaurant and garnered the involvement of about 20 people.

Suzanne Kane, coordinator of QSCC explained, “The parade was good, it was smaller than I expected it would be, but I think it went really well and next year it will be bigger.

20 people attended, that’s ok for its first year.”

According to Kane, the remaining events for QSCC garnered popular involvement and she hopes that next semester’s QSCC-arranged events will bring about a similar success. “It did go as I planned, it was a lot of planning just trying to get everything together… but everyone was really helpful and I think it turned out really well.”

Information and updates about QSCC are provided through their website, their forum and their office in the McMaster University Student Centre.

Anti-Darwinist memo circulates ASHLEIGH MATTERN THE SHEAF (CUP)

Students who got a free copy of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” on campuses this month might be surprised to find an introduction by intelligent design proponent Ray Comfort.

Comfort and Living Waters Publications are targeting North American universities during November to give “future doctors, lawyers and politicians . . . information about Intelligent Design,” according to their website. Intelligent design and creationism are beliefs opposed to Darwinian evolution, positing that a supernatural creator set life in motion.

On Nov. 9, an unknown group handed out several copies to passers-by at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.

The books have also been handed out at the University of Alberta.

Torien Cafferata is the president of the University of Saskatchewan Freethought Alliance, a campus group for scientific integrity and secularism. He said he is concerned that the books were handed out “in a weaselly kind of way.”

Steve Newton, public information project director for the California-based National Center for Science Education, said Comfort and supporters plan to distribute the books to 100 American universities on Nov. 19, and 24 Canadian universities on Nov. 24, the 150th anniversary of the first publication of “On the Origin of Species.”

Cafferata said that he thinks they may have changed their plans due to pressure from secularist groups like the Freethought Alliance.

“They learned that a lot of secularists’ societies were planning a counteroffensive, like to celebrate evolution on that

day. We were planning to find out where they were planning to release the book, then we would set up next to them and have all the supportive facts for evolution.”

Dr. Jose Andrés, an evolutionary biologist at the U of S, said that one of his issues with Comfort’s introduction in the Living Waters Publications version is that it’s inappropriate for the scientific topic of the book.

The introduction talks about religion and “solving life’s more important questions,” but Andrés pointed out that “All of that has nothing to do, absolutely nothing to do, with the origin of the species or with any biological textbook.”

“It’s fine by me, and I’m happy to read that as the introduction to a religious book but not as the introduction to a piece of work that has to do with science.”

There are at least two versions of the book circulating campuses. In an open letter from Comfort on the Living Waters website, he wrote, “My name will be on the cover (for those who think that we are somehow being deceptive),” but his name appears nowhere on the back or front cover on a copy obtained by Canadian University Press newspaper the Sheaf.

The version handed out at the U of S is an older version, which Newton said has several chapters of Darwin’s original text removed and a slightly different introduction. In the version of “Origin” discussed for campus distribution on the Living Waters website, however, “Nothing has been removed from Darwin’s original work.”

Joseph Anderson, an employee at Kenderdine Art Gallery at the U of S, happened to pick up a free copy. Having always wanted to read “On the Origin of Species,” Anderson said he was excited to get

the free copy but said it surprised him to find out the introduction was written by a creationist.

“Just because the ‘Origin of Species’ by Darwin has sort of been held up as an anti-Christian kind of book for so long, I was surprised it was being used as a missionary tool,” he says.

Still, he says compared to some of the religious groups he has encountered on his campus, the people handing out the books were innocuous.

“I actually have a really strong religious background, though not so much anymore,” said Anderson. “So I don’t know. The way they went about it seems a gentle approach, which I appreciate.

I’m not for banning groups from campus or anything like that.”

Warren Kirkland, the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union president, echoed Anderson’s sentiments, saying anyone can hand things out on campus and that as long as they’re being respectful and no one has complained, it isn’t an issue.

“The university is about embracing different views and thoughts,” Kirkland said.

Cafferata said he’s most worried about the students who pick up the book and think Comfort has a valid argument against evolution.

Robert Luhn, director of communications for the National Center for Science Education, agreed, saying the introduction has “bad science, bad history and bad theology.”

“The telling points being that it’s not just a matter of, gosh, Ray Comfort doesn’t know anything about science,” Luhn said.

“He makes completely spurious claims. There’s no transitional fossils? There are transitional fossils in museums all over the world!”

Student mental health awareness encouraged ASHLEY GABOURY

CUP CENTRAL BUREAU CHIEF

At a time in life when mental disorders are most likely to strike, university students are being encouraged by experts in the mental health field to talk more openly and honestly about how they are feeling to reduce stigma and increase awareness of mental illness and the importance of positive mental health.

The Canadian Mental Health Association cites suicide as one of the leading causes of death amongst Canadian 15-24 years of age, second only to accidents. The youth suicide rate in Canada is the third-highest in the industrialized world. These statistics are familiar to Dr. Stanley Kutcher, professor of psychiatry and the Sun Life Financial chair in adolescent mental health at Dalhousie University and

an expert in the area of adolescent mental health.

According to Kutcher, mental disorders are the most common medical illnesses for young people and that 70 per cent mental illness begin before the age of 25.

“The college years are the years in a person’s life when they are at highest risk for developing a major mental disorder, simply because that’s when [mental disorders] happen,” said Kutcher.

“The age that students are heading off to university or heading off to college are exactly those years when the mental illnesses strike.

They are more vulnerable because they are outside they’re usual social supports and away from their families,” he said.

Kutcher said that at university, students are more liking to be faced with lifestyles of partying, heavy drinking and little sleep that can make them more vulnerable to mental illness.

Tracey Peter, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Manitoba (U of M), recently conducted a study on first year sociology students at the U of M with a survey of questions related to mental health and well being.

According to Peter, there are a small numbers of students who aren’t doing so well – “languishing” – and small numbers who are on

top of their game – “flourishing” – in terms of their well being, while most she said are somewhere in the middle. “Most students are what is called moderately healthy. They are not really languishing but they are not really flourishing either. They’re doing okay,” said Peter.

Peter said her work challenges the idea of continuum with mentally ill people at one end and mentally healthy people at the other and the idea that if you’re not ill, you’re healthy.

She said that instead, she likes to think of mental illness and mental health as two separate issues. “Obviously people who are high on mental illness are going to be low on metal health but it is possible that someone could be high on mental illness and high on mental health . . . If [someone with a mental illness] has a good support network, they can have some really good psychological well being [and] they can function.”

According to Peter, students can improve their mental health by increasing their social connections and have an overall awareness of how they’re feeling.

“‘Do I like myself? Do I feel good about myself? What don’t I like about myself?’ and asking those really important questions.

The reality is that most of those questions you ask are things that you can change,” said Peter.

A6 • THE SILHOUETTE

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2009

EDITORIAL McMaster University’s Student Newspaper

The Silhouette

Empire state of mind

TheSil.ca Executive Editor Jeff Green Managing Editor Bahram Dideban Senior News Editor Selma Al-Samarrai Assistant News Editor Lily Panamsky Features Editor Paige Faber Opinions Editor Peter Goffin Sports Editor Brian Decker

Insideout Editor Lindsay Jolivet Assistant Insideout Phyllis Tsang Photo Editor Will van Engen Staff Photographer Terry Shan Multimedia Editor Ava Dideban Production Editor Katherine Marsden Web Editor Jason Lamb Health Editor Sarah Levitt Distribution Coordinator Jonathon Fairclough Ad Manager Sandro Giordano

Senior Andy Editor Grace Evans Music Editor Corrigan Hammond Entertainment Editor Myles Herod

Silhouette Staff

Sam Colbert, Joey Coleman, Kevin Elliott, Noah Nemoy, Julie Compton, Jenifer Bacher, Michael Hewak, Christopher Chang, Lauren Jewett, Jacqueline Flaggiello, Natasha Pirani, Amanda Fracz

Contact Us Volume 80 2009-10 • McMaster University Student Centre, Room B110 McMaster University 1280 Main Street West Hamilton, ON L8S 4S4 • Fax: (905) 529–3208 • E–Mail: thesil@thesil.ca • Production Office: (905) 525-9140, extension 27117 • Advertising: (905) 525-9140, extension 27557 • 10,000 circulation • Published by the McMaster Students Union

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Worth Repeating:

Re: Kicking out Coke AUSTIN DAVIS The Carillon (University of Regina)

Editorial Board

Assistant Sports Editor David Koots

PHYLLIS TSANG / ASSISTANT INSIDEOUT EDITOR

There’s something to be said for 80,000 people breathing in at exactly the same time. It gives you that tingle, that hair-raising feeling. And then, in as much synchrony as you can expect from 80,000 people (50,000 of whom are drunk), all you hear is “J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS.”

I think my neck just went red.

A Sunday tilt between two .500 NFL teams was just what the doctor ordered. For too long, I had forgotten what it was like to be part of something so big, so sweeping. I hate the Jets, can’t stand ‘em, yet there I was, living and dying by Quarterback Mark Sanchez ineffective 3 yard throws.

Sure, I missed one of the best games Ivor Lose has seen in a while, a CFL playoff match that saw the hometown Tabbies lose in overtime. A win seemed in the cards with quarterback Kevin Glen nearly willing the Ti-Cats into the playoffs. I wish I had been there to heckle former Tabbie Casey Printers, but I was part of something so big, it made up for it in leaps and bounds. A weekly occurrence for the 80,000 fortunate enough to have a ticket. And I wish I could be there every week.

I love Mac, and I love Hamilton – let’s just get that out of the way.

But nothing can compare to the fanfare that the NFL, NCAA, and in my case, the state of New York can provide. Burridge gym hosted the then no.

4 ranked team in the country, your McMaster Marauders men’s basketball, in a game where, from what I heard, you could hear a pin drop at. No fanfare, no display, and no fault of the athletes. In preseason action, the same team beat NCAA Div-I Wagner College Seahawks. The Seahawks sit in front a regular crowd of 2,000 people, and Saturday’s match barely grabbed 200. McMaster has 23,000 students, Wagner has 2,300. That’s not a typo. The most prevalent group of supports is routinely the alumni.

Why Americans so closely identify with their alma mater and how that is different in Canada escapes me – it’s as if we’re missing something, or perhaps we never got the experience that the schools down south got. A chicken and egg situation, indeed.

The slice of New York cheesecake that I got was sweet, but I’ve had it before. When I was in first year, Les Prince Field was still on campus (yes I’m fully aware I’ve been here forever). A toonie and a canned good got me into the Frosh Week game, which had us packed into the stadium like sardines. We cheered, we chanted, and we watched Jessie Lumsden run over the Queen’s defence on a real grass field – one of those ones with dirt, mud and the smell of school spirit. It was exactly what I expected from university athletics, and I haven’t had that same feeling since then.

Ron Joyce Field is stunning, yet cold. There have been subtle hints that the atmosphere could be great, peeks into the past I guess. The teams are still great, and the athletes compete at the same level yet, like the grass and the dirt, the spirit is gone (possibly excavated to put in an underground parking garage).

Back in NYC, I stopped into a highly recommended BBQ joint, Brother Jimmy’s. After a few pints of Sam Adams, a glut of people adorned in purple and white poured into the bar. TCU (Texas Christian University) fans. It took me until kickoff to realize that they were all there to watch the football game. If it was the local college, I could understand. But these were the alumni of a university in Texas gathering to watch their beloved “Horned Frogs” in NYC. There was more spirit 3,000 miles away from their campus than the Marauders get at home games.

Maybe comparing the two is like comparing apples and oranges.

But then again, maybe it’s not. Your Marauders tied in a basketball scrimmage against Army in their preseason tune-up – a team that made it to March Madness. Or maybe, the students six years ago are nowhere like the students now. But at this point, I’d rather not speculate, I’m draped in green and white and cheering on my one night stand Jets, and I don’t want to forget that feeling.

•Jeff Green

Volunteer Want to get involved? Come attend one of our sectional meetings in the basement of the student center, room b110 News: Wednesdays @ 12:30 pm InsideOut: Mondays @ 1:30 pm Sports: Thursdays @ 1:30 pm Andy: Mondays @ 1:30 pm Photo: Fridays @ 3:30 pm Opinions: Tuesdays @ 1:30 (all opinions can be mailed to opinions@thesil.ca, keep them 500-700 words)

Corrections

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REGINA (CUP) – A University of Regina campus group called Food Fight is waging a battle against the world’s largest manufacturer, distributor, and advertiser of nonalcoholic beverages: the Coca-Cola Company.

The Food Fight initiative was born when Mariel Harvey and 22 other students attended Food Sovereignty Mexico 2009, a course that was offered through the university. There, students paid specific attention to issues like water privatization and food sovereignty. Harvey returned to Canadian soil with a plan, motivated by the information she had received.

“My action plan was to remove Coca-Cola from campus,” Harvey explained. “Mayah [Stratton] and I had talked about this previously – a couple years before, actually – and never got our act together until this group was formed and we had other people backing us up.”

The group officially formed in September of this year.

Citing human rights violations and environmental abuses that committed by Coca-Cola as the group’s motivation, Food Fight has made significant progress despite having only existed for several months.

Harvey, Stratton, and other members of the group first had tables in various high-profile places on the University of Regina campus to spread awareness of their cause in early October. They repeated this tactic on Nov. 16, this time at the campus’s largest food court.

The growing visibility has

to mutemath in times square, bitchessss. to joe nameth. to bands that you find at shows that open for bands you like that you, in turn, end up liking a lot despite not knowing them before. to a.s. --> happy birthday beautiful. to the tip drill. to librarians with a sense of humour. to c.c. -> you came up from the minors this week. stellar performance. to the snl photographers. i hate you. i want you. i want to be in you. in your head at least. to richard avedon. he did that on the side of a truck. man. to as tall as lions. check that shit out. to the babies b-day celebration. shit show ya’ll. to thumbnails and thimbles. to low standards. come on profs, i need this. to cannolis and lasagna.

benefited Food Fight’s petition to try to abolish the soft drink giant from campus.The petition currently has about 700 signatures, according to Harvey, growing the chances to put forward a deciding referendum on the matter.

The goal is to remove Coca-Cola products, including Dasani, Fanta, Minute Maid, Nestea, Powerade, and Sprite from the campus.

Food Fight has partnered with two organizations, the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke (killercoke.org) and Corporate Accountability International (stopcorporateabuse.org).

This fight against the drink company adds the University of Regina to a long list of North American and European postsecondary institutions campaigning for for the same ban.

Food Fight members have been handing out copies of material used by killercoke.org that claim criminal, malicious activity by CocaCola, discussing lawsuits filed in 2001 and 2006 against the company.

“For the most part, I think people are impressed that they’re learning the issues behind Coca-Cola’s practices,” said Stratton of the campaign’s reception.

The reliance on anecdotal evidence from killercoke.org, however, and not sources from the company or the Colombian government, has had some students question the issues being brought forward.

“A lot of people have never heard of such issues,” said Stratton. “A lot of people want us to prove such things, [but] those kind of things aren’t really our purpose to prove.”

to pimp juice. to mark sanchez. to that bitch who kicked the cab i was in. seriously, she had platforms on, she deserved my heckle. who wears platforms. to parking six miles (literally) away from the stadium. to puerto ricans. if they knew better they wouldn’t be puerto ricans! jokes, it’s from the departed, trust yo. to m.v. -> fuck you. to the sickness that has plagued me, and this office, for far too long. leave you demon virus. 201, we’re coming for you. to different accents, you lace curtain mother fucker. to underwear. i never really liked you anyway. free-ballin’ for the win. to french cuisine. to the constitutional changes having no relevance and being a complete waste of time and money. keep up the good work. to meat that tastes like a puppy.

THE SILHOUETTE • A7

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2009

OPINIONS

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production office: extension 27117

opinions@thesil.ca

Proposed all-boys school a dud

What do you think of gay marriage? Separation not the answer to education problems Peter Goffin OPINIONS EDITOR

Feedback

“What people do in their bedroom is their own business. My mom may not agree with it but it’s their business.”

Asfand Minhas

“Whatever you do is fine but even heterosexual marriage is just a certificate.”

Mizna Zaveri

I’ve always had sort of mixed feelings about the Toronto District School Board and all its moving parts. I am an alumnus of Toronto’s public education system and I rather enjoyed school as a kid. Conversely, though, while I never had empirical proof to back me up, I always had the sense that the board’s braintrust was inhaling too much Elmer’s White School Glue down at the head office. Thankfully my uncertainty can be put to rest now.

I no longer have to be torn between my mostly positive memories of going to school and my bone-deep distrust of educational authority figures and decision-makers. My suspicions have been validated: the movers and shakers of Toronto’s school system are shooting intellectual blanks.

Consider the recent proposal by one Chris Spence, director of the TDSB. Only two years after Toronto was thrown into an incendiary debate on all-black schools and the merits of voluntary student segregation, Spence has suggested the creation of all-boys schools.

I don’t agree with the idea of Afro-centric schools and I never did. I believe that we should alter the existing history books to be more inclusive, not create a second, equally exclusive one on the basis that it excludes in favour of the typically ex-

CHRISTOPHER CHANG / SILHOUETTE STAFF

The Toronto public school board wants to create all-boys public schools. cluded. But at least I could see the merit and attraction of a school that would focus on its students’ unique heritage.

An all-boys school, however, is missing even that upside.

For several years, boys have lagged behind girls in test scores, particularly in areas such as math and reading and it stands to reason that something should be done to rectify that. Spence says the answer is to create several all-boys classes in Toronto schools and at least one all-boys elementary school which, it is suggested, will be called the “Male Leadership Academy.” And how can that go wrong? I’ve heard that a lot of the betterknown cults out there have

instituted Leadership Academies with some success.

Seriously, if I was taking the bus to something called a “Leadership Academy” every day I think I’d volunteer for the Male Leadership Russian Roulette tournament. And then take a dive in the first round.

But that’s just a name, soul-crushing as it may be. I’m sure if the school is ever actually built it would have a much more reasonable label, like Cro-Magnon Man Memorial Elementary School.

The point is more that when it does things like create race or gender-specific schools, the Board of Education is failing as an institution of knowledge and development.

I would assume, because I am an idealist and a bit of a nut, that the purpose of school is to educate children, to teach them valuable lessons on life. But what does the act of creating specialized schools really teach children? Well, for one thing, it teaches them that concessions will always be made for them, no matter how illogical or inconvenient.

It teaches them that the solution to major problems is avoidance. It teaches them that girls and boys really aren’t equals but rather two beings so alien to each other that their minds aren’t even capable of fathoming the same thing at the same time.

• PLEASE SEE PLAN, A10

Are the beacons of morality moral?

D.C. Diocese not really loving its neighbours

“If two people want to get married, then why not? It’s a free world.”

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Compiled by Peter Goffin and Christopher Chang

Ginette Moores

Gay rights activists demonstrate in Washington D.C. at a recent rally.

Chris Erl OPINION

“There’s nothing wrong with being gay but going public and making a big deal out of it is pointless.”

Jessica Foughere

From time to time, people must take a step back and examine the morality of those who call themselves moral.

It’s often under the guise of principles that the worst offenses known to humanity are committed.We must be evervigilant of anyone who calls themselves “moral,” because no person, group or organization is ever wholly moral.

A pertinent example arose this past week involving an organization that often perches itself at the apex of the moral spectrum.

The Catholic Church in Washington D.C. has extensive social service contracts with that city, pro-

viding adoption services and of the most progressive legyouth-focused programs as islative bodies in the United well as operating nearly all of States (not a single Repubthe city’s homeless shelters. lican sits on their council), The connection between they are currently in the proCatholic charities and Wash- cess of adopting legislation i n g t o n ’s that will municipal further A bill simply making it authoriextend ties is the basic illegal for someone to strong, rights and has outwardly hate and attack enjoyed endured a gay, lesbian, bisexual or by the w h e r e transgender person will heteromost secsexual not end the world, nor ular and c o m religious munity will it force people agreeto gay to stray from ments couples. h a v e Part of b e e n the bill s t r a i n e d . explicitly prohibits any reliEnter the Washing- gious organization from diston D.C. city council. One criminating against gays and

SILHOUETTE FILE PHOTO

lesbians, while stopping short of legally requiring them to perform marriage ceremonies. As of last Thursday, the bill was set to go ahead with nearly unanimous approval

by Washington councillors.

In a moment of archetypical obstinance, the Catholic Church has reverted to the same alienating policies that have driven so many of the faithful into the arms of more liberal strands of Christianity, notably the extremely diverse and progressive United Church. It was their response to the bill, specifically, that still has moderate Catholics, secular observers and gay rights activists reeling. The Diocese of Washington gave the follow• SEE CHURCH, A10

A8 • THE SILHOUETTE

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2009

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2009

“Student, be not afraid. Be calm.”

THE SILHOUETTE • A9

Still smoking the good smoke

Patches? We don’t need no stinkin’ patches!

I’m done for. Like grad school rejection done.

Peter Goffin OPINIONS EDITOR

No, as a matter of fact I ain’t doing so great. And yeah, the anxiety dreams have stopped, and, I think, you know, the nightmares too, but only because I don’t sleep anymore. Or not for more than ten minutes at a time. I have sort of terrible daydreams now. Daymares? Is that a thing? (No, it is not, you are just losing your mind in a small way.) And, um, my sheets are damp. From the night sweats I guess. I hope.

I feel like I’m running a fever, too. Could I be getting sick again, because I heard that you aren’t necessarily immune to something just because you’ve already had it and if I get sick again I’ll miss all the review sessions and then come back just in time for exams and that isn’t going to help me. (You’re not getting sick. It’s all in your head. Get out of there. Go for a walk. Get the jams out.) I don’t have time to dick around like that. I have to work.

(Leave it all behind. Let go.

Fear not.) But it’s school. It’s important. And I need to get admission to grad school. Oh Christ I haven’t started applying to grad school yet and I’m never going to get references from my seminar profs, there’s no way they like me enough.

That’s it I’m screwed, I’m going to get left behind. I’ll be that kid who fell through the cracks, had so much potential and not enough resolve and just never made it.

Oh Jesus people are going to talk. “Such a pity,” they’ll say and stuff like that and – um, I mean, if people even talk like that anymore. (No one will mind whether you get into grad school or not.

There is nothing to be ashamed of.

Graduate school is not the be-all-andend-all of existence. You’ll be fine.)

Oh, no. No, no, no, no I won’t be fine. I’ll be a failure that’s what I’ll be. Nothing but a failure with a four-year degree. Oh

that’s just great, I’ll be bottom of the heap and how am I supposed to even get in the door for a job with a four-year honours degree? That’s kids’ stuff. Birdcage liner. (An honours degree is a fine qualification. In fact you should be proud to get one. You are overreacting.

You always do this.You will be alright.)

And you always say that.

Besides you’re just a deep-seeded train of thought from far within my sub-conscious, and probably a symptom of my impending mental break-up. What do you know? (But you are always alright, are you not? He really is, you know.)

But that just means that I’m due for a big windfall of failure now. And don’t talk about me when I’m right here like that. (Like what? He really will be alright, you know.) Like that! Jesus, what am I even doing here? I should be reading or something, I have to write an essay on the power structure of Latin America and there’s that in-class exam and I should know about, um, oh shit what is that thing? Oh I can’t remember it now, um...fuck... (But you will be alright.)

(He really will be alright. He may not be at the top of his class, he may not qualify for the Dean’s list. He may not even get into graduate school.

But there are more important things.

And he will survive. Because he is twenty-one and so little of what happens now will matter in even two or three years. He is just too close to his problems now. A lot of his type are.

But they all make it. Thousands of them every year put on silly caps and gowns and walk down an aisle to collect a degree, and then take off their silly caps and gowns and step into the world. And it’s scary and ugly, but everyone makes it. People like him ought to realize that. They ought to realize that a lot of what they think they need to do is not really that important a-tall. I’ve tried to tell him before but he never listens.

He’s a neurotic case.)

WILL VAN ENGEN / PHOTO EDITOR

Jon Fairclough DISTRIBUTION COORDINATOR

Hello, I am an impulsive smoker.

They tell me admitting it is the first step to recovery. It’s those other steps that confuse me.

It’s all that “self-admission of powerlessness” and “placing my faith in a higher being” nonsense that has me in this degrading cycle that leaves my throat course and breath stinky.

Yes, I’m one of those people – the kind you sigh and roll your eyes at in “I-know-better” frustration.

When essays and midterms pile up, you can find me running to the local convenience store looking to score, looking to taste the sweet, sweet nectar of nicotine and genetically modified chemicals.

I feel entitled, proud sometimes, to partake in this habit of mine.

As a young “adult” with the world before me, I chuckle

when I get lectured by my friends about smoking. I jokingly try to convert them to the dark side, a Big Tobacco missionary if you will, but of course their pride (and commonsense) compels them to decline.

I am happy to have friends like that, people who constantly give me hell for my ways, because at the end of the day I’ll be the first person to tell you: I need help.

I would like to stop. I would like to be a man and suck it up, as any sports coach or father would say, but I can’t seem to follow through with my plan. I’ll have that momentous last drag, or even crush the pack of cigarettes in my hand and throw it into oblivion but whadaya know, a week later I’ll be asking a convenience store clerk for more of the bad stuff.

Most of you will probably see this issue as a lack of will, or lack of control, but I beg to differ.

My need to smoke and feel the ef-

fects of nicotine far surpasses any mind-over-matter solution. I need a change of routine, an immediate end to everyday repetition if this sad and self-righteous habit is going to end. Simply put, I must change.

So, how?

Well that’s the thing, I don’t know. So all you critics and condoners out there, go to thesil.ca and tell me what you think.Tell me how silly I am for smoking, how wonderful nicotine is, how good my joke about the 60-foot clitoris was last week.

Tell me anything. I would like feedback on an issue that is talked about endlessly but always seems to come down to an “us versus them” debate. I would love to hear what you have to say. I want kick this habit before I have a hole in my neck, speaking like a robot.

Oh and don’t say “change starts with you” because that’s lame and I know it already.

HAVE YOUR SAY ON THESIL.CA. WE WANT TO HEAR WHAT YOU THINK OF US. WITHIN REASON.

A10 • THE SILHOUETTE

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2009

Unions have merit, even when striking

We should not discount the many benefits of organized labour Roy Campbell OPINION

First, let me say that I’m glad the strike is over. I don’t think anyone enjoys a strike; we all want to avoid picket lines and having to walk way farther to get to the bus. The end of a strike should be a time when (theoretically) everyone is satisfied.

The workers are pleased with the agreed-to terms, the employer is willing to provide said terms, and everyone else who is affected is glad to be rid of all the difficulties.

What stands out about the CUPE strike, however, is the fact that the student body seems to be showing contempt for the union. Throughout the strike and in the days leading up to it, people throughout campus and on the opinion pages of the Silhouette showed very little sympathy for the union, calling what they were doing “unwarranted” and “selfish.”

Some people said that they sup-

ported the union, but felt that the strike was inconvenient and unfair to everyone else on campus.

I was never a saint in any of this, either. I grumbled about the picket lines and missed tutorials, I worried about a York-like situation and feared for my assignments, I wondered what the point of it all was, too. Nonetheless, I still felt that the union had a right to strike for better wages and benefits, so it was a bit unexpected when several people made some pretty harsh criticisms of the strike, some of which appeared in the Silhouette’s opinions section. These people mainly argued that the union was inconsiderate to the university and ungrateful for what it already had.

By definition, a union provides “power to the people” by working to ensure that employees are paid and treated fairly. It is meant to ensure that working conditions are acceptable to all current and future workers. This is

why workers go on strike instead of simply quitting, as one commentator suggested they do, if they do not agree with their labour agreement. They feel that the conditions they work under are not fair, and they would not want anyone else who might take their job to work under the same conditions, so they feel that it is in all workers’ long-term interests to protest rather than permanently leave.

Some have argued that these people are completely selfish for protesting a $39-an-hour salary when so many people are out of work because of the recession. The first point to be clarified here is that while the hourly rate is high, it has been set to this rate because most TAs work roughly 10 hours per week, sometimes less.

Because most of them are students whose time is spent on classes and assignments, a raise of roughly one per cent (¢40) is unlikely to help them pay a rising tuition, let alone

offset the current inflation rate.

Secondly, while it’s true that many people are out of work, it is still important to maintain standards in the workplace. This economic situation has many people fighting amongst themselves. Rather than looking on someone who is striving to earn a decent wage with contempt, people should strive toward getting good wages as well.

We are not in a race to the bottom, we should be trying (as it has been said) to “float all the boats as high as possible.” The fact that there is unemployment does not mean that everyone should be brought to a level where they are not earning what they should be.

Rather, everyone should instead be working to ensure that all workers get what they need; focusing on this would help those who have lost their jobs get back on their feet faster. By insisting on a fairer contract, CUPE workers set an example of improving standards. The

importance of a union is to ensure that everyone gets what they need, even when times get tough.

Some of the controversy about the strike revolved around the view that TAs were holding students’ educations hostage in exchange for benefits, however, the inherent point of a strike is to cause at least something of an inconvenience to an employer by refusing to work. There is, of course, a line between strike tactics and outright extortion, but I don’t think this strike ever crossed it.

The misunderstanding between students and TAs took the focus off of what the strike was actually about (wages and benefits) and placed it onto the picketers themselves. The resulting backlash against the union likely weakened their initiative and led to its workers feeling pressured into voting for an agreement that they may not have thought was completely fair, just to get it over with.

Church spiteful over gay rights Plan for Toronto

• CONT’D FROM A7 ing ultimatum to Washington City Council: if the bill passes, the Catholic Church will immediately stop providing social services to the 68,000 of the people it currently helps.

Realistically, the response was hardly surprising, considering the church’s opposition to gay marriage in the past and their adherence to some of the more arcane policies setting them back with progressives and activists.

Idealistically, it would have been nice to see the Catholic Church observe the teachings of Jesus a little more closely.

Sure, dragging the Bible into this argument may seem a little strange, but I think the relevance is there.

The church is threatening that, if their beliefs are officially condemned by the elected representatives of the people, they will in turn restrict service to

those who elected them. That sure sounds like a response of equal or greater value to me. Doesn’t quite sync up with the whole “turn the other cheek” thing very well.

Nor does their decision to abandon those in need over a political decision lend much credibility to their charge to do good works and be merciful.

It sure as hell doesn’t fit well with the beatitude that says the poor will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, either.

I may been reading something wrong, but didn’t God himself say “Love they neighbour as thyself.”

Plus I think it said that he went on to say that, of all the Commandments…even the ones about killing, murdering and having wild sex…this one was the most important.

All sarcasm aside, what the Diocese of Washington D.C. is threatening to do is wrong.

Their threats are morally, biblically and socially unjust, and do nothing to lend legitimacy to the recent attempts by church leaders to make the Catholic Church seem more accepting and tolerant.

A bill simply making it illegal for someone to outwardly hate and attack a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person will not end the world, nor will it force people to stray from the teachings of Jesus.

The only thing this bill has done to hurt Roman Catholicism is to lure the radical conservatives in the church out into the light of day, where they now so openly and violently spread their hatred.

The only straying from Jesus’ word is being done by those extremists, who would rather put petty bigotry before the rights of their fellow human beings.

Goes to show that those who preach morality are sometimes far from moral themselves.

schools is faulty • CONT’D FROM A7 It reinforces the differences. There is no way in this chalk-board walled world that a system which separates children from each other based on gender or ethnicity will produce accepting, tolerant human beings.

Distrust of the unknown and foreign is what it would breed.

But worst of all, creating a special school for each sex, each race, is dishonest. It is a lie to children about the way that the world works.

And once they get out of school and into post-secondary education or the workforce, they’ll see how terrible a lie it is.

Because the truth is that in the real world people of all types have to work side by side, regardless of who they are.

In the real world, you have to

make up your own slack if your math skills aren’t up to scratch.

And in the real world you can’t ask for a new office because it will be easier if your work is given a more male-centric slant.

The advent of an allboys school is still far from a reality. But if there is any sanity left in the TDSB boardroom, the proposal will be quashed with extreme prejudice at the soonest possible opportunity. I was in Toronto public schools for 14 years.

Believe me, they already have more than enough segregation and double-standards and distrust to go around.And even if boys’ math scores would go up, or a bureaucrat would score points for appearing to take action, it’s not worth messing with kids’ heads to achieve it.

THE SILHOUETTE • A11

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2009

Lawlerbone: by Zach Ellis and Peter Hindrichs

Can a person get a A disappointing kind of poll Campus elections still not impressing me tomato in here?

Unhealthy food abounds in McMaster’s eateries

Corrigan Hammond ANDY MUSIC EDITOR

public office, running on this sort of platform not only really, really, really doesn’t motivate the electorate, but it also makes the democratic institutions that they represent into a gigantic fucking joke.

Which is why I was excited when the MSU decided to survey the student body in an attempt to figure out how to boost voter turn-out and student faith in their elected representatives. “Heck, maybe this year I’ll vote,” I thought.

It might feel good to exercise my democratic rights as a member of the McMaster Student Union before my time here at Mac is done.

Then I logged on to the online survey. The first question asked me what my preferred method of voting is. “Good question,” I thought. But then I saw the

I love democracy. And my favourite part of democracy is voting. When an opportunity to exercise my democratic right to vote arises, I seize it. I vote.

I vote in municipal elections. I vote in provincial elections.

I vote in federal elections. I even vote for American Idol (multiple times). I do not, however, vote in MSU elections. This is for the simple reason that campus democracy at McMaster is a joke.

Unlike most elections, MSU and SRA candidates either fit into one of two categories. Some run on pie in the sky platforms — promising to shut down the campus establishment formerly known as Quarters as part of a ploy to recoup losses, proposing crazy schemes to return student fees to the students, and so on in this vein.

Others seem to run on the platform that students should vote for them because they don’t give a shit.

Case in point, in the last SRA election this fall, one of the candidate’s posters suggested voting for her so she could do nothing.

And then there was James Lim’s notoriously ironic run at the presidency last year.

Seriously? You’re having yet another burger?

Although I recognize that most politicians don’t actuKaitlin Peters appetite was impressively larger, ally do anything while serving in Get in there. Cast your voting stone.

SILHOUETTE STAFF which meant I had to practically retrain myself back to how much I I think there’s universal agreement was eating before I experienced the that campus food anywhere is not culinary delights of Commons. Sitwrite for exactly high ranking when it comes ting in the student centre today, I opinions to the maximization of nutrients decided to check out the hospitaland the minimization of fat and ity site just to see what Mac had to excess calories. What makes me say on their nutrition page (I wasn’t or else they’ll a little sad, though, is that it’s not quite sure if they even had one). put me out to just universal agreement, but more McMaster emphasizes “choices that like acceptance. This is what hap- balance higher fat choices with lowpasture pens when you go to university. er fat choices over the long term.”

Screw the fresh fruits and veggies, Pretty much, after eating that pouwhich is a nice because who has money for that tine for lunch, you should probably way of saying stuff anymore? Bring on the pizza stick to leafy greens for dinner. and fries because it’s everywhere That would be a great they’ll send me to you turn and is conveniently one plan if there was an equal balance the glue of the cheapest items on the menu between the greasy crap and the factory (got to stretch that meal plan!). healthier fare, and both were just as

I remember what first easily accessible. But if you want to year was like, and you pretty much get your daily requirement of vegwhich is a nice had two options: you could either gies without eating some form of way of saying starve yourself to save up for the salad, you’re unfortunately out of few healthy options, or eat the luck. Some of the venues on camthey’ll put me out deep fried delights that were half pus that do offer the occasional stir of my misery the price and feel full. When your fry have restricted hours and are tummy is rumbling the choice isn’t only open at awkward times, when that hard, and you don’t have to the lines are so long you decide to which is a feel the side effects until a couple screw it and go get a burger instead. nice way of of hours later when you can’t con- I remember my first couple saying they’ll centrate on reading Philosophy in of days when I discovered that I had Politics because you have a head- a certain amount of dollars I could take me out back ache and are slightly nauseous. It’s spend off campus as well (joy!). But and shoot me. not just the deep fried-ness or off-campus dining ended up being combination of cheese, bacon, and only a slight variation of the food please help. egg on the burgers; it’s the abso- you could get on campus (well, it lutely gigantic portion sizes. Liter- tasted better most of the time). ally equaling about twice as much It’s really too bad those flex dollars opinions@thesil.ca as the regular person would serve couldn’t be used at a grocery store themselves, these sandwiches and because sometimes I had the urge bowls of pastas could provide food to buy a head of broccoli or a bushel meetings every for almost two meals. But who of apples, or something that wasn’t tuesday at 1:30 doggy bags their lunch so they fried and sitting between two slicMUSC B110 can finish it for dinner? You either es of bread. All in all, it’s times like throw it out or you learn to fin- these that I’m glad I pack my lunch ish these new larger portion sizes. every day, though it would have

And after first year my been nice to have other options.

first option: “Cast a stone.” And while I find this method of voting intriguing, especially if I get to cast my stone in the general direction of some of the bone-headed MSU candidates, really? Seriously guys?

Not only are MSU elections a joke, but the only people who are oblivious to this fact seem to be the jokers responsible for perpetuating this yearly sham.

This poll is a waste of the student body’s time and money. If the MSU really wanted students to vote, they would find candidates who actually cared about these elections. Until then, I’m going to continue to not vote and I urge my fellow students to join me in boycotting these sham elections. At least until stones are provided at MSU polling stations.

SILHOUETTE FILE PHOTO

SILHOUETTE FILE PHOTO

A12 • THE SILHOUETTE

SpeculatoR The Hamilton

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2009

INSIDE THE SPECULATOR

A2: Johnson’s gonna run a buttonhook and feint to the left.

B4: Poloski, you go deep and try to beat them on the weak side.

L72: Wait, Ti-Cats lost? No mo’ foo’ball? It’s like the words Oskee-wee-wee don’t even mean anything.

Thursday, November 19, 2009 F You got us babe. Because you paid for it.

Mills library hostage crisis: day 15

Several librarians are still missing and presumed to be bored

BUCK HOROWITZ SPECULATOR

A move was finally made in recent days to free the handful of Mills Library librarians taken hostage by the Readers’ Liberation Front two weeks ago.

The university was

originally reluctant to act, given their long-standing policy not to negotiate with terrorists.

But when the Chancellor’s office started receiving pieces of The Great Gatsby in the mail, the institution realized that Melvin “Che” Finkelstein and his roving gang of guerilla literati mean business.

A university task force, made up of two campus security officers, the registrar and a benchwarmer from the ringette team, have been trying to bring the terrifying standoff to an end.

On Monday, they lobbed tear-gas grenades through an upper floor window, but

Extree, extree! Buck’s in love!

the studious insurgents were unaffected, assumingly because they were protected by their very thick reading glasses.

Contingency strategies include blasting popular music outside the library and cutting off the electricity to the building.

But there is some fear

that any attempt to do anything or move or breathe too heavily will result in yet another fire.

For more on the Mills Library hostage crisis, tune in to the Hamilton Speculator next week, same slanderous time, same slanderous station.

Something rotten in the state of Mac BUCK HOROWITZ SPECULATOR

It’s been years but Mac may have a hero again. Ever since that guy who swallowed goldfish for a dollar graduated, the students of McMaster have gone wanting for a student who will defend their rights and all things good, honest, collegial, pure, virginal and hygienic.

Early reports from McMaster’s crisis centre, commonly known as the third stall along, second floor men’s room, Kenneth Taylor Hall, is that either a comic-book grade super-hero or a deranged lunatic who wears jockey underpants outside his absurdly tight leotard is working to keep Mac safe, one averted crisis at a time.

Scuttlebutt and hearsay is that he mostly targets rogue engineering students building things like watermelon catapults or potato canons or uranium powered death machines or whatever the Christ it is they do in the field outside JHE when everyone’s trying to get to class.

It’s a metaphor. I think. Aw what do I care, I’m out of here.

BUCK HOROWITZ SPECULATOR A major event occurred on campus today. Somebody did something, which resulted in something else, and then that someone probably made a statement to another party, quite possibly a reporter, I don’t know.

I wasn’t there. And I don’t care.

Because I have bigger news.

I’ve met someone.

And she’s amazing. She’s a dream, wrapped in a fantasy, circumferenced by a vision, candy-

coated in a mirage of beauty. And the world looks different now.

Birds are brighter, the sun tastes louder, food feels better than I’ve ever smelled before. Her name isn’t important (but it’s Gloria. Gloria DiMarco. Her address is 358 James Street North., Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 6Q9). What’s important is that I’ve met her and I love her.

From the moment I set hands on her. My God when she walked into my office with that thin, unwashed hair, those narrow, disapproving lips and, sharply pointed shin and

uneven bow-legged shuffle my lungs skipped a beat. I swear to you.

And then when she walked out – man. “There goes the ass that broke my heart,” I thought to myself.

So I’m hanging up my typewriter and getting out of the game. You’ve been good to me all these years, readers but I’m retiring to marry Gloria DiMarco, my one true love. * * * And I’m sure that when she finally meets me she’ll feel exactly the same way.

“What Did You Learn This Week, Timmy?”

“I learned

how to talk dirty in Arabic. The words are heinous but they sound real pretty.”

Disclaimer: Stories printed in The Hamilton Speculator are fact. Any resemblance to persons real or dead is likely intentional and done out of spite. Opinions expressed are those of The Speculator and if you disagree with them you are wrong. And stupid. Possibly ugly as well.

THE SILHOUETTE • B1

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2009

SPORTS

production office: extension 27117

Mac returns to Burridge with win Women’s basketball takes down Ryerson in home opener

e-mail: sports@thesil.ca

Women take bronze at CIS Nationals DAVID KOOTS

ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

CHRISTOPHER CHANG / SILHOUETTE STAFF

turnovers.

Rookie Nicole Rosenkranz (Niagara Falls, ON), a breakout star in last week’s win over Queen’s, led a balanced McMaster effort with 14 points and four rebounds on the night. Coming off the bench, Rosenkranz provided scoring punch and energy, proving too much for the Rams to handle.

“You can’t win with one player, but we’ve been trying to get

The McMaster men’s and women’s cross country teams travelled to Kingston this past week to compete in the CIS Championships, and the women returned home with bronze medals around their necks. The third place finish is the best ever result for the women at Nationals, but the result was nearly even better as the team finished only three points behind the second place team from the University of Toronto. The men placed exactly in the middle of the field of 19 with their ninth place finish.

Leading the way for the Marauder women was CIS first team All-Star Jessica Pearo (Richmond Hill, ON). Pearo, a third year kinesiology student, had excellent results all year and crossed the line with the fifth fastest time of the day. Earlier in the month Pearo took home the OUA women’s cross country student-athlete community service award.

The next fastest Marauders were Jillian Wyman (Dundas, ON) and Sara Giovannetti (Mississauga, ON) who crossed four seconds apart in 22nd and 23rd place, respectively.

Sarah Haliburton (Richmond Hill, ON) finished in 48th while Katie Anderson (Exeter, ON) crossed right behind her in 49th to round out the scorers for Mac.

The Guelph Gryphons continued their dominance of the sport, claiming first place with a comfortable 87 point lead over Toronto. The victory is the school’s fifth consecutive win at the CIS Championships.

However, it was not

• PLEASE SEE SMITH, B5

• PLEASE SEE MEN, B3

PHOTO C/O RICHARD ZAZULAK

Left: Nicole Rosenkranz will help determine if a Mac Championship is to be or not to be. Right: Rebecca Rewi scored 13 points against Ryerson.

BRIAN DECKER

We haven’t played on our home court this year, and especially for a group of rookies, that was a nice After waiting nearly a month to way for them to get their baptism on finally play on their home court, the their home court,” said Head Coach McMaster women’s basketball team Theresa Burns. had to wait one more night to play The game came one night their first home game of the season. after a match up with the Toronto The patience paid off, however, Varsity Blues was postponed. with Mac using a blazing start to A number of Toronto players down the Ryerson Rams 76-48. contracted the H1N1 virus, and the

“It feels good. The team’s game was moved in accordance with really been looking forward to this. the OUA’s policy on the flu virus.

SPORTS EDITOR

The game has been rescheduled for Dec. 2 at 6 p.m. in the Burridge Gym.

McMaster opened the game with a 9-0 run, forcing the Rams into taking tough shots and knocking down jumpers with precision on the other end.

Veteran guard Rebecca Rewi (Ancaster, ON) spearheaded the Marauder defence, which created a number of opportunities in transition after forcing Ryerson

Mac’s undefeated record falls in weekend split BRIAN DECKER SPORTS EDITOR

With papers due and exams approaching, November is a time students often get a wake-up call for the semester. This is no different for the McMaster men’s basketball team, who lost their first game of the season and may have lost their starting centre this weekend.

The Marauders dropped a 77-67 decision to the Toronto Varsity Blues last Friday, and may be without star recruit Ryan Christie (Hamilton, ON) indefinitely for what Head Coach Joe Raso called an “internal issue.” Mac rebounded to defeat the Ryerson Rams 72-60 on Saturday night, improving their conference record to 3-1.

Friday’s game against the Blues was McMaster’s home opener, and saw the maroon and grey take their undefeated record and no. 4 CIS ranking in front of a big and boisterous crowd in the Burridge Gym. Toronto, on the other hand, came in without 6’8” forward Nick Snow (London, ON), and lacking size to match up against the Marauder frontline.

Using their small, quick lineup, however, the Blues used a zone defense formation to throw off McMaster’s inside attack, and played it to perfection in forcing 24 turnovers. Forward Patrick Sewell (London, ON) a former Canadian College Athletic Association Player of the Year, led the Blues at both ends of the floor, coming up with five steals and posting 21 points to lead Toronto.

The McMaster defence, lauded by opposing coaches in the preseason for its energy and tenacity, looked a step slow in the loss. The Marauders’ double teams came slow off of Toronto penetration, and the Blues made McMaster pay dearly for it, shooting a blazing-hot 61.5 per cent from behind the arc.

Sewell went 3-for-3 on the night from deep, while speedy Toronto guards Nick Magalas (Burlington, ON) and Rob Paris (St Catharines, ON) each knocked down a pair of threes.

The Marauders dominated the glass, outrebounding Toronto

47-26, but could not take advantage and answer Toronto’s long bombs down the stretch. Keenan Jeppesen (Stoney Creek, ON) once again led the Marauders on the stat sheet, posting 23 points and 11 rebounds.

Scott Laws (Gormley, ON) and Tyrell Vernon (Hamilton, ON) added 12 and 11 points respectively.

On Saturday, the Marauders butted heads with the Rams and brought a much more intense defensive effort, holding Ryerson to just 25 first half points and putting away the game early with a three-point barrage.

“We passed the ball.

[Against Toronto], we had to be a better passing team, tonight we did that, and we did a better job at the free throw line” said Raso after the game.

McMaster held last year’s CIS leading scorer Boris Bakovic (Toronto, ON) to just 13 points on 3-16 shooting, and used a hot shooting start from Vernon and rookie Victor Raso (Hamilton, ON) to build a lead the Rams could not climb over.

“We made [Bakovic] work without the ball, even though he made a few circus shots,” commented Raso on the job McMaster did slowing down the All-Star forward. “The thing with Boris is you don’t want to put him on the free throw line, because he knocks them down.”

Though the Marauders looked like the top-5 team they are in the first half, the second half was marked by a slower effort, with Ryerson getting back to within nine points before time ran out on the comeback.

“Sometimes you play games not to lose,” said Raso. “This game got close because they went for a free throw parade in the fourth quarter. Our guys coming off the bench have to do a better job.”

Jeppesen once again led the Marauders, posting another double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. McMaster took advantage of Jeppesen’s considerable passing skills, working a high-low post formation with Matt Wilusz (Stoney Creek, ON) to perfection for a

PHOTO C/O RICHARD ZAZULAK

• PLEASE SEE MARAUDERS, B3

Tyrell Vernon goes up for a layup in the Marauders’ 77-67 loss to Toronto, McMaster’s first loss of the season.

B2 • THE SILHOUETTE

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2009

Rugby vets close out careers Men’s soccer falls in shootout, takes 7th BEN ORR

SILHOUETTE STAFF

ANDREW HO / WESTERN GAZETTE

Mike Sheppard (front) and Sam Roberts (back) will help fill the void left by Mac’s graduating players.

BRIAN DECKER SPORTS EDITOR

The McMaster men’s rugby team, winners of five of the last seven OUA Championships, fell 21-17 to the Brock Badgers in the OUA bronze medal match, putting a cap on a disappointing season marked by injuries. And while next season brings promise of another shot at glory, the game marked the final match for a number of key components of those titles.

Mac’s comeback in the bronze medal match fell just short, as a try in the final minute of the second half left them just short of tying the game. The Marauders matched the Badgers with three tries apiece, but with two of Mac’s tries scored at the far side of the end zone, it was conversions that decided the match.

Brock’s Ryan MacSween (Toronto, ON) broke free from the Marauder defence and reached the end zone right under the posts, giving the Badgers an easy 14 points. Mike Sheppard (Brampton, ON), rookie Ryan Fried (New Hamburg, ON) and Jeff McDiarmid (Oshawa, ON) scored tries for McMaster in the loss.

McDiarmid is a part of the group of players graduating this season. The 5’9” flyhalf sports a sweet mullet and crafty skills with

the ball, originally enrolled at Trent, but came to Mac to help bolster what has consistently been one of the best programs in the province for years.

Captain Andrew Lombard (Oakville, ON) leaves the team as team captain and an OUA All-Star.

“It will be tough to see Andrew go. I’ve known him since he was 14 all the way through to leading McMaster to OUA Gold Medals. He is absolutely the salt of the earth,” said Head Coach Dr. Phil White.

Fourth year players Andy Holwerda (Brantford, ON) and Joel Waldock (Tottenham, ON) give the Marauders a hole to fill in leadership, with the two having been leaders since their first game with Mac.

“Joel and Andy have been leaders on our team since the day they arrived. They have been 100 per cent dedicated to McMaster Rugby for four years and played a huge role in our success,” commented Dr. White.

While no player in rugby is as valuable as his team, flanker Keegan Selby (Lindsay, ON) is about as close as it gets. The fourth year health sciences student, who recently received the Dr. Jack Kennedy Award as McMaster’s top male student-athlete, has done it all with the Marauders. In addition to

winning the Kennedy Award, Selby won the 2009 Ivor Wynne Award as McMaster’s top male athlete in a team sport, is a two time MVP, and has won two OUA Championships.

Said White, “to say he will be missed is an understatement.”

Also potentially leaving is Shawn Windsor (Stoney Creek, ON), the star flyhalf who was instrumental in Mac’s 2008 OUA triumph over Queen’s. “Shawn is one of the most talented athletes I have had the pleasure of coaching - and it has been nothing but a pleasure. In the 2008 OUA Final, Shawn dug us out of a hole to pretty much win the game single-handed.

He is a true difference-maker,” said White. Windsor and Selby missed much of the season with the Ontario Blues in the Americas Cup Tournament.

While these players will be missed, an outstanding group of young players give Mac hope for the future. Powerful 2nd row Tyler Ardron (Lakefield, ON) and centre Matt Raguseo (Stoney Creek, ON) showed flashes of brilliance in their rookie seasons, and AllStars Sheppard and Sam Roberts (Oshawa, ON) will move into larger roles next season. Also returning will be key veterans Lucas McIvor (Guelph, ON), Chris Dickenson (Oakville, ON) and Grant Schneider (Oakville, ON).

The McMaster men’s soccer team’s dream-like season ended abruptly this past weekend, after entering their fifth shootout of their Cinderella post-season. Arriving in Langley, B.C. as the OUA champions on the heels of an upset of the No. 1 Toronto Varsity Blues, the men would fall 10-9 on penalties to the McGill Redmen to register a 1-0 loss in the national quarterfinal of their first CIS Championship game since 2001.

The Thursday afternoon match at Trinity Western University began in a way the Marauders were accustomed with 90 minutes of nail-biting yet scoreless action, highlighted by stellar play from both goalkeepers.

“The game was cautious right from the start. It was a typical first game at Nationals, no one wanted to let a goal in early in the game,” said first-year McGill head coach David Simon.

The game headed into familiar territory for Mac, who had yet to play a postseason game that had not entered extra time. Two periods of overtime were fruitless and penalties kicks were needed to end the clash between the Quebec finalists and OUA champions.

The Marauders and Redmen went goal-for-goal until McGill’s Jean-Lou Gosselin (Longueuil, QC) made the first and only save of the shootout on the Marauder’s Chris Succi (Ancaster, ON). Michael Stein (Toronto, ON) would play hero for the Redmen, beating Marauder keeper Matthew Grant (Hamilton, ON) to clinch the victory. The loss sent McMaster into a consolation match against the Cape Breton Capers, the Atlantic University Sport champions, on Friday.

The Marauders fell behind early, as Shayne Hollis (Baileys Bay, Bermuda) scored in the seventh minute. Mark Reilly (Hamilton, ON) countered in the 23rd, but the comeback was not to be completed. The Capers would add goals in the 35th, 62nd and 68th

minutes on route to a 4-1 win, their first at the CIS Championships after going 0-2 in 2007. The game was called in the 76th minute after an injury to McMaster’s Chinomnso (Jimmy) Nwamandi (Brampton, ON) required him to not be moved until an ambulance arrived. Players of the game were Hollis, who netted two goals on the day, and Reilly, who scored Mac’s only goal of the tournament.

The loss marked the end to an exciting and successful season for the Marauder men, who made the OUA playoffs as the fifth seed only to capture the title on the back of four straight shootout wins. The men would finish tied for seventh at the CIS tournament.

The Laval Rouge et Or won the national title after a come-frombehind victory over McGill. Despite having beaten the Redmen in the Quebec final, Laval fell behind 2-0 early. Not fazed, they roared back with three goals in the final four minutes of the first half, and would hold on for their school’s first men’s soccer CIS championship.

Laval was the hottest team heading into the tournament, finishing the season on a 14-game winning streak. Gabriel Moreau (St. Hyacinthe, QC) was named tournament MVP.

The host Trinity Western Spartans defeated the Toronto Varsity Blues to claim the bronze medal. Tied 1-1 after regular and extra time, and Spartans would win the shootout 4-2, winning their fourth medal in five years.

The Victoria Vikes defeated Cape Breton in the fifth place match.

With very few players graduating this year, McMaster should be a better squad next year and will be seen as a contender in the very strong OUA West division.

After going eight years without a trip to the CIS Championship, next year’s team will look to make Nationals in consecutive years.

Key contributors Grant, Reilly and Anthony Costa (Stoney Creek, ON) are all back in 2010 and will be counted on to carry this year’s playoff momentum into the regular season.

THE SILHOUETTE • B3

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2009

Marauders move to 5-1 with win Cross Country teams finish 3rd and 9th Janssen, Holt lead McMaster over Guelph

PHOTO C/O MCMASTER ATHLETICS AND RECREATION

The women’s cross country team took home their first CIS medal.

• CONT’D FROM B1

PHOTO C/O LARRY SKELLY

The women’s volleyball ball team has gotten off to a quick start, dropping just one match in conference play.

FRASER CALDWELL SILHOUETTE STAFF

The McMaster women’s volleyball team improved their record to 5-1 this past week with a Wednesday night victory over the Guelph Gryphons (15-25, 25-14, 25-15, 2519). The four set triumph sees the Marauders rise to second place in the OUA West standings behind the undefeated Waterloo Warriors (60). McMaster will get their chance to end the perfect season on Friday night, when they travel to Waterloo to take on the Warriors in the first game of a weekend doubleheader.

Wednesday’s encounter with Guelph saw the Marauders begin on the back foot, losing the first set before rallying to win the next three. After a tight opening to the match, the Gryphons took a 2-6 lead after the Marauders were whistled for a double touch, forcing McMaster into a timeout to regroup.

Unfortunately, the gap would only widen for McMaster, with Larissa Puhach (Burlington, ON) firing an attack long to make it 3-10. The Marauders would make a slight surge late in the set, bringing the teams within 9 points after a great tip from Kaila Janssen (Oshawa, ON), but it would prove to be too little too late. The next point sealed the set for Guelph when Jennifer Holt (Hamilton, ON) watched her serve flutter harmlessly wide of the mark.

However, the Marauders would rebound well in the second set, fighting through a tight early stretch before dominating the later stages. The killer instinct of Janssen saw McMaster take an

early 5-3 lead, before the Marauders experienced an inexplicable slide to give their opponents the edge at 6-7. After a crafty, dipping ace from veteran Genevieve Dumas (North Bay, ON) brought Mac into the first technical timeout with a single point advantage, the Marauders would widen the gap thanks to some disorganized play from the Gryphons.

From here, the rout was on, and McMaster’s advantage would reach 17-9 after another precision kill from Janssen nicked the back line. Despite a brief comeback attempt by Guelph, the Marauders would seal the set with further demonstrations of power from the influential Janssen, wrapping things up when Dumas killed smartly off the block on set point.

The third set would prove to be remarkably similar to the second, with McMaster grinding out an early lead and widening it with steady play down the stretch.

The Marauders raced out to an early 5-1 advantage thanks to a brilliant ace from rookie Kailee Stock (Newmarket, ON), as well as powerful kills from Puhach and Janssen.

Although the Gryphons would manage to largely close the gap at the first technical timeout, Mac came out from the break on fire, and would go into the second technical with a 16-7 lead after a cross-court kill from Sarah Kiernan (Hamilton, ON). Once again, Guelph would find its feet in the late going, but could not prevent the Marauders from taking the set. After Dumas tipped over the Gryphon block to give Mac a set point at 24-

15, Guelph would bring the frame to a close by blasting an attack wide of the mark.

The fourth and final period saw McMaster piece together a midset lead before allowing Guelph back into the game, finally putting the match to bed after a substantial scare. An exceptionally tight opening to the set would give way to a Marauder lead when Kailee Stock produced a blazing kill to make the score 10-7. Momentum was clearly on the side of McMaster, and they would continue to stretch their advantage into the second technical timeout, where it stood at 16-9 after a botched Gryphon attack.

The Marauders’ dominance carried them to 22-10 after a smouldering serve from Laura Cobb (Chatham, ON), before the hometown squad seemingly fell into complacency. They would lose seven of the next eight points to bring the Gryphons back to respectability at 23-17, before regaining their composure to finish the match. After Puhach killed off the Guelph block, Holt would seal victory for the Marauders with a rare kill of her own.

The all-star setter would take McMaster’s player of the game award with a typically dominant tally of 39 assists. The ever-present Kaila Janssen led the Marauders with 16 points on the night, followed by Sarah Kiernan, who chipped in 12.

The women return to action this weekend, when they travel to Waterloo for games against the Warriors (Friday, Nov. 20) and the Laurier Golden Hawks (Saturday, Nov. 21).

a Gryphon who stood atop the podium as Toronto runner Megan Brown (Guelph, ON) dominated on the day, finishing in first by nearly 20 seconds. The standout runner has now won the national finals in backto-back years and has won three of the last four meets. Toronto had three of the top six runners on the day but did not have the same depth as the Gryphons with their fourth and fifth place runners finishing way back in 36th and 97th and spoiling Toronto’s bid for team gold.

The Guelph men proved to be even more dominating than their female counterparts. The men

won their fourth straight national title after scoring an unthinkable 31 points and having their last place scorer place 12th. The Gryphons claimed first and second and had three of the seven first team AllStars.

The Marauder men, unranked before the event, had a strong showing with Captain Larry Abbott (Sarnia, ON) leading the way with a 15th place finish.

Both the women and the men will look to build on this year’s success and already have plenty of promise for 2010. All of the scorers for the women will return next year while the men should return at least four of their top five.

Marauders fall to Blues, beat Rams Men’s hoops drops to 3 in 1 early in the season

• CONT’D FROM B1 number of easy baskets.

“Keenan got touches in places that can really help us,” said Raso. “He’s a great passer.”

While the win was good news for the Marauders, seeing Christie watching the game amongst the fans was not. The 6’6” pivot has proved to be a force in the paint this season, bringing size and athleticism that few in the OUA can match, and his absence leaves McMaster in a tough spot.

“It was a coaches’ decision, just internal stuff we’re dealing with, and right now the ball’s in his court,” said Raso, who did not elaborate on what the issue was.

“We had to move forward. There’s a chance Ryan can still be here, but tonight wasn’t it.”

Forwards Wilusz and Anthony Bishop (Whitby, ON)

filled in nicely for McMaster against Ryerson, and Geoff McLaughlin (Oakville, ON) brings size at 6’10” and 265 pounds. With Christie’s ability to create mismatches and draw double teams unavailable, the Marauders will depend on Jeppesen, who is averaging 20.3 points per game this season, even more to create offence. Vernon, Laws and Jermaine DeCosta (Hamilton, ON), outstanding playmakers in their own right, will also be drawn upon to set up the offence.

The Marauders will travel to Laurentian and York for games this weekend, and will return the following week for match ups with the Ottawa Gee-Gees and Carleton Ravens. The Carleton game will give McMaster their biggest test of the first semester, with Carleton the reigning CIS National Champions.

Both games will be at 8 p.m. in the Burridge Gym.

PHOTO C/O RICHARD ZAZULAK

Keenan Jeppesen’s Marauders defeated Boris Bakovic’s Rams.

B4 • THE SILHOUETTE

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2009

Lynch named OUA Water polo teams playoff bound Rookie of the Year Mac closes out season with wins over Queen’s FRASER CALDWELL

(Hamilton, ON) led the Marauders with a hat-trick on the day, with Graham Park (Waterdown, ON), McMaster’s water polo teams Tristan Colterjohn (Hamilton, ON), concluded their conference play this and Roland White (Vancouver, BC) past weekend with games against chipping in two goals each. Park’s Carleton and Queen’s. The men’s younger brother Jack completed team wrapped up their season by the scoring with a single tally of his tying the second place Ravens 10- own. The Ravens were led by a four 10, before demolishing the Gaels goal effort from Samuel Cardarelli 22-5 on Sunday. The results move (Rockland, ON). their record to 5-4-1, which puts the Sunday’s encounter Marauders in third place in the OUA with Queen’s gave the Marauders standings leading into the upcoming a chance to showcase their provincial playoffs. skills against a less competitive

The women meanwhile, Gaels squad. McMaster did not split their games in the most disappoint, pouring in 22 goals on dramatic of fashions, being handily route to a convincing win over their beaten by Carleton to the tune of Kingston opposition. Jack Park and 11-1, before thrashing Queen’s 14-1 Ian Stanley led the Marauders with the next day. With these results, four goals apiece, with Michael the Marauders finish with an even Hallas (Hamilton, ON) contributing record of 4-4, also good for third a hat-trick. spot in the OUA rankings.

In the first half of their

For the men’s team, weekend double-header, the Saturday’s game against Carleton McMaster women were crushed represented a tough test, coming by the OUA leading Carleton against one of the best squads in Ravens, losing by a humbling 10 the province, which made their goal differential. Nadine Asmis hard-fought tie an impressive result. (Etobicoke, ON) contributed the Fourth year veteran Ian Stanley only goal for the Marauders in a SILHOUETTE STAFF

PHOTO C/O RICHARD ZAZULAK

Cody Lynch returned kicks in addition to his role as shutdown corner.

DAVID KOOTS

ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

The OUA handed out its major awards for football last Thursday, and McMaster Marauder defensive back Cody Lynch (Stoney Creek, ON) walked away with the Norm Marshall Trophy for rookie of the year thanks to his stellar play in Mac’s young secondary in 2009.

Lynch finished the year with 22.5 tackles and three interceptions and was consistently covering opposing teams’ top offensive threats. Marauder fans will remember Lynch’s interception for a touchdown in McMaster’s 30-14 loss to the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks.

This is the second time in three years that a Mac player has won the Norm Marshall trophy, with standout linebacker Ryan Chmielewski (St Catharines, ON) being the winner in 2007. Lynch is Ontario’s nominee for the Peter Gorman Trophy for CIS rookie of the year.

Other major award winners were Western Mustangs Michael Faulds (Eden Mills, ON) and John Surla (Niagara Falls, ON), named OUA MVP and defensive player of the year, respectively.

Fifth-year Windsor Warriors veteran Matt Morencie (Windsor, ON) won the award for top lineman

losing cause. Carleton’s victory was fuelled by two goal performances from four different players, including Rachelle and Elizabeth Aldrich (Ottawa, ON), Kaitlyn Sennema (Ottawa, ON), and Sydney Ferguson (Etobicoke, ON).

The women finished their weekend on a much more positive note, blowing out the Queen’s Golden Gaels 14-1 on Sunday.

Chaneesa Ryan (Hamilton, ON) and Kate Feather (Rockwood, ON) each had three goals in the win, while Bryn Sutherland (Hamilton, ON), Alyssa Fotheringham (Ancaster, ON), and Carleigh Carter (Ottawa, ON) added two each. Alison Caldwell (Hamilton, ON) and Danielle McCallum (Ancaster, ON) rounded out the scoring with a goal apiece.

With their respective seasons officially in the books, the water polo teams now look forward to the OUA playoffs, which will be held next weekend. The semi-final games will be played at the Ivor Wynne Centre on Saturday, Nov. 28, followed by the medal games the following day.

while linebacker T.J. Leeper (London, ON) of the Queen’s Gaels claimed the Russ Jackson award for academic achievement, football skill and citizenship.

In CIS playoff action, Faulds duelled with Queen’s quarterback Danny Brannagan (Burlington, ON) in an shootout between high powered offences, with Queen’s coming out on top 43-39 to win the 102nd OUA Yates Cup. The Gaels will now face Laval Rouge et Or, the nation’s top ranked team and defending Vanier Cup winners on Saturday in the Mitchell Bowl.

Laval handily won the Quebec final after beating a strong Montreal Carabins team 31-7 at home. Despite the game being in Kingston, the Rouge et Or will enter the game as heavy favourites as they have lost only one game in the past two years. TSN will have live coverage at 1 p.m.

The winner of LavalQueen’s will then travel to Quebec for the 2009 Vanier Cup on Nov. 28.

Their opponent will be the winner of the Uteck Bowl, which features the Calgary Dinos versus the St. Mary’s Huskies, Canada West and Atlantic champions, respectively.

The Uteck Bowl starts at noon and will be aired on a tape-delay on TSN starting at 4 p.m. from the Huskies’ home in Halifax.

The men’s and women’s water polo teams will open up the playoffs at home on Saturday Nov. 28th.

CHRISTOPHER CHANG / SILHOUETTE STAFF

THE SILHOUETTE • B5

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2009

UFC 105 takes a jaunt to England 16,235 fans witness Couture beat Vera

FRASER CALDWELL SILHOUETTE STAFF

The mixed martial arts extravaganza that is the Ultimate Fighting Championship rolled into Manchester, England for its 105th event this past Saturday, with a card that featured a headlining bout between the timeless legend, Randy Couture, and the mercurial talent, Brandon Vera. The card was filled with a healthy smattering of British brawlers, the widespread success of whom was sure to please the 16,235 fans at the packed Manchester Evening News Arena (a new European attendance record for the UFC).

The night could only be considered a resounding success, with a bevy of exciting fights on offer, a new challenger unearthed for Georges St. Pierre’s coveted welterweight title, and a controversial result in the hotlycontested main event.

The televised portion of the card kicked off with a lightweight contest between Ultimate Fighter winner, Ross Pearson, and the wily journeyman, Aaron Riley.

The first round saw Pearson put on a fearsome display of striking technique, punishing Riley with a wide variety of kicks, punches, and knees in the clinch. He would continue his dominance in the second round, eventually forcing a doctor’s stoppage of the fight after smashing Riley’s nose with a textbook flying knee.

The second fight of the night saw another Ultimate Fighter winner, James Wilks, face off against the American striking specialist Matt Brown. A tight first round proved to be largely inactive, with the fighters spending most of the frame clinched against the cage,

before Wilks managed a lacklustre takedown before the closing bell.

In the second, Wilks was noticeably heavier on his feet after Brown landed a flush knee early on, with the Brit unable to muster any sort of power in either his strikes or his takedown attempts.

Brown was quick to pounce on this vulnerability, pounding his helpless opponent until the referee mercifully stepped in to stop the bout.

The third contest of the night featured the hard-hitting Canadian veteran Denis Kang, and Britain’s most famous mixed martial artist, Michael Bisping, in a middleweight matchup. The Canadian would take the first round after dropping Bisping with a crunching straight right hand, and settling into his guard ineffectively for the remainder of the frame.

However, the Brit would bounce back in fine style in the second, taking Kang down and putting on a brutal display of ground and pound under which his opponent could not help but wilt.

Bisping’s impressive display will no doubt help him to rebuild his reputation in the cage, which had suffered greatly after his humbling knockout at the hands of Dan Henderson.

The co-main event between the brash Brit, Dan Hardy, and the aptly nicknamed Mike “Quick” Swick, was a welterweight bout with explicit title ramifications, with the winner having the next opportunity to snatch the title belt from Canadian superstar Georges St. Pierre. In this high pressure environment, it was Hardy who rose to the occasion, producing his most impressive performance in the octagon to take the three-round decision.

The mohawk-sporting brawler known as the “Outlaw” continually damaged his American opponent with his powerful hooks and demoralizing clinch work.

Swick was wobbled on three different occasions, and cut over the forehead by a well-timed elbow from Hardy. All of this translated to a unanimous decision on the part of the judges, clearing the way for what will undoubtedly be the toughest fight of the young Brit’s career.

In the main event, Randy Couture and Brandon Vera went the full three rounds in a closely contested bout, the result of which has sparked considerable controversy within the mixed martial arts community. Despite controlling much of the fight in his typically suffocating, cage-clinging fashion, Couture failed to do much in the way of damage to his younger opponent.

By comparison, Vera looked extremely dangerous whenever he could gain the space to put his elite kickboxing skills to use, landing several deadly combinations as well as a huge body kick which crumpled the former two-division champion.

However, it was Couture’s ability to control the fight which eventually won over the judges, who scored a highly contentious unanimous decision in his favour. Following the announcement of the decision, a noticeably enraged Vera stormed from the cage.

With its latest incursion into Britain in the books, the UFC continues its busy November this weekend, when crowd favourite Forrest Griffin rematches the longtime light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Rebuilding year for Mac badminton

PHOTO C/O MCMASTER ATHLETICS AND RECREATION

The Marauders returned just half of their roster from last season.

MIKE CHONG

THE SILHOUETTE

Last year’s 2008-2009 season proved to be a giant success for the Marauder badminton team as they finished fourth place at the OUA championships, next to the dominating trio of Toronto, Waterloo, and Western who have been the top 3 teams in OUA badminton for the past three years. With only four playoff spots, McMaster managed to outhustle York and Ryerson to snag that last spot, eventually falling to Toronto in the bronze medal match.

With less than half of the roster returning from the previous season, there was little expectation for the Marauders to repeat, let alone surpass their 2008-2009 playoff performance.

Last year’s team had been full of experience, this year’s squad was full of new faces and so 2009 was most certainly a building year. Under dedicated head coach Nay Kaneda and his four assistant coaches, the Marauders adopted a simple “back to basics” approach to the season and focused on improv-

Smith, Rosenkranz lead team to win

PHOTO C/O RICHARD ZAZULAK

Rookie guard Vanessa Bonomo threads a pass in Saturday’s home win.

• CONT’D FROM B1 our young players… to understand what it takes at this level,” said Burns. “They executed very well at both ends of the court.”

While Rosenkranz was the leader on the score sheet, it was once again Taylor Smith (Hamilton, ON) who controlled the flow of the game. The fifth-year point guard posted 12 points and nine assists, showing again why she is one of the most dangerous players in the OUA.

“When you have a veteran like Taylor Smith… she’s just helping those young players progress so much more quickly leading them out there on the floor,” said Burns. Smith was a first-team OUA All-Star last season, averaging 12.5 points and 6.6 assists per game.

Rewi added 13 points

for the Marauders, while Jaklynn Nimec (Binbrook, ON), another impressive rookie, reached double figures in scoring for the second consecutive game, posting 12 points and six rebounds. Forward Taylor Chiarot (Hamilton, ON) chipped in 10 points in the win.

The emergence and continued growth of Nimec and Rosenkranz will be key for the Marauders’ success in the future.

“It’s a long term process,” said Burns of trying to integrate two rookies into a team that includes such seasoned veterans as Rewi, Chiarot and Smith. Burns still believes this is a team that can contend with the best, now however.

“What we’re aiming for is to be ready for February, and I thought today was a huge step towards that.”

ing their conditioning and fundamentals.

Despite going 0-4 in their first four matches, the Marauders went into their final contest of the regular season against York with a chance to qualify for the playoffs.

They needed at least a 9-4 win and though the odds were stacked against them, with York having won one more game than McMaster at this point, there was a slight chance that the Marauders would surprise.

After a hard fought, characterbuilding battle, the young Marauders succumbed to the slightly more experienced York team, falling short by 3 games at 6-7.

“Although our record doesn’t show it, this was another successful year for McMaster badminton. We played as a team the entire season and always stayed positive. Everyone is ready to work hard during the off-season, so we can come back strong next year and contend for the OUA title,” summarized Neil Dattani (Thornhill, ON).

The OUA semifinals begin this weekend at York with Western, Waterloo, Toronto and York taking part.

B6 • THE SILHOUETTE

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2009

THE SILHOUETTE • B7

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2009

INSIDEOUT

War and Peace in Middle East, B8

production office: extension 27117

e-mail: insideout@thesil.ca

Pheonix II races across Australia

McMaster Solar Car Project completes five-day energy challenge PHYLLIS TSANG

On Nov. 5, the team of 15 returned from their three-week trip, while Phoenix II, McMaster’s Have you ever thought about join- solar car is still making its way back ing a solar car team, designing and through the sea. making a car, shipping it half way “The best word I could around the world, and racing it? come up with to describe [the ex McMaster’s solar car team perience] is surreal,” said Sean has done it. From Oct. 25-30, Phoe- Johnstone, a third year Chemical nix II and the team drove across and Bioengineering and the Project Australia—from Darwin, the cap- Manager of McMaster Solar Car ital city of the Northern Territory to Project.

Adelaide, one of the most populous The World Solar Race, cities in South Ausnow the tenth race since inaugurattralia—stretching ed in 1987, “pioneered and promot3,000 km in the ed research into sustainable transWorld Solar port…[to] promote and celebrate Challenge. global technical excellence and draw attention to the imperatives of sustainable transport,” ASSISTANT INSIDEOUT EDITOR

according to its website.

The McMaster Solar Project began its operation in 1997 and has since designed four cars: Fireball I & II, and Phoenix I & II. Four years ago, the team competed in its first long distance race at the North American Solar Challenge.

The project then went into hiatus but recovered about two years ago when the current Solar Team, which Johnstone described as “a strong team base,” got together and began working on the new design, Phoenix II.

“About 10 months ago, we started building Phoenix II, completed it over the summer, and shipped it over to Australia in September,” said Johnstone.

This student-based team is responsible for

PHOTOS C/O MCMASTER SOLAR CAR PROJECT

MAC Solar Car Project members show off Canadian spirit in Australia. both the design and construction of the solar car “from the ground up,” with occasional faculty and alumni involvement.

“This is really one differentiating point about us versus other solar teams,” Alan Beaver, CoBusiness Manager and a commerce student, pointed out, “Ninety-five per cent of everything we do is student based.”

The major construction of the car was done in a span of six months, with the exception of its electrical components, which were done over a two-year process. Its structural and mechanical com-

ponents, including its space frame, a solar panel mounted shell, and a canopy as “windshield” was done in the summer.

“We built our system, we built our battery pack, and all the circuitry in the car, everything structural and mechanical [is] all student built,” Johnstone explained.

Phoenix II performed very well in both pre-race static and dynamic ‘scrutineering’, despite some “slight mechanical problems,” minor fixes, and “an electrical fire,” tweeted live by the team during the race. The weakest link of the car • PLEASE SEE SOLAR, B9

how-to-do-it

Avoid the perils of cannibalism PETER GOFFIN

OPINIONS EDITOR

Scene: You are on the coach bus of your choice, finally heading home after a brutal exam period. But it’s December, it’s snowing and the roads are bad. Maybe the driver has something else on his mind. Whatever the reason, old steadyhands up there at the wheel loses control of the vehicle and the bus jumps the shoulder, careening off the road and into the snowy darkness, landing on its side in the lonely wilderness of SouthEastern Ontario.

No one is hurt, but everyone is stranded. And if you’ve got any sense at all, you’ll cross yourself and thank God you read this installment of “How to do it”. ‘Cause it’s cannibalism o’clock now, boy. Let’s face it, after an hour on the road and a few hours in the roadside woods, you and your fellow travelers are going to start to get hungry, and unless someone thought to

pack a whole lot of animal crackers for the trip, one of you is going to end up being reported missing and presumed delicious. Accept that fact. Got it?

Good. Now, all you have to do is make sure that you aren’t the unlucky entree. The good n e w s is that you have several courses of action to choose from. And they go a little something like this:

1. Book it, son. You don’t have to be the fastest person there, just faster than the slowest person there.

2. Prevention is the greatest chance you have. So before you take long and possibly perilous trips, stay out of the shower for a few days.

Rub some dirt on yourself.

Really get into the muck.

Just try to look and feel and smell as unappetizing a s you possibly can.

3. An imminent shishkebabing is no

PHYLLIS TSANG / ASSISTANT INSIDEOUT EDITOR

call for vanity. Remind everyone of your flaws. Like that you are probably dry and stringy in the middle and no good without caramelized onions and a strawberry reduction sauce.

Whatever you do, do not tell them about your free-range, grain-fed upbringing.

4. When desperation starts to set in, be eloquent. Whip out the old Webster’s English and start using big words.

Communication is the greatest tool you have. Appeal to your colleagues’ sense of humanity and moral decency. Remind them of the binding brotherhood of mankind and the basic laws of nature which they are about to violate. And if that doesn’t work, point out that the guy sitting next to you looks like he’d be pretty tender and meaty when slow-roasted.

Quote: “You haven’t seen anything until you’ve photographed it.”

TylerHayward 1st year Multimedia/Communication Studies

Favourite artist: Bloc Party

Watch: Diesel $150 Jacket: Nike Windbreaker $50 T-shirt: Superdry $45

How would you describe your personal style? “Urban, contemporary, “chic” What do you look for in a significant other? “Eye-catching smile, shorter than me, weird and loves to talk.”

Shoes: Nike Blazers $90 Pants: Levi’s Sol Slim Straight $75

ThreadCount WILL VAN ENGEN / PHOTO EDITOR

B8 • THE SILHOUETTE

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2009

A look at Middle East war & peace Into the Lecture by Gwynne Dyer addresses media hype on war AYDA ASKARI THE SILHOUETTE

Anyone who follows international news and politics can testify to the numerous disputes that have risen within the last few years in the area known as the Middle East.

More specifically these areas of tension can be summarized into the Palestine-Israeli confrontations, the international threat of Iran, and the involvement of America in Middle Eastern wars.

However, among the three discussion criteria, the one that has sparked the most recent debates relates to that of the International threat of Iranian nuclear program.

Thus, it does not come as a surprise that journalist, broadcaster, historian, and author Gwynne Dyer chose to begin his guest lecture on this very same hot topic.

“We are continuously exhorted to be frightened by Iranian nuclear weapons,” opened Dyer.

Yet among the allegedly scheming tactics of the Iranian nuclear program, it is interesting that “if you listen to the reports of the American intelligent services [it’s] not true,” claimed Dyer. “The media tells it’s true. Politicians rave as though it were true. But the most recent report of the US intelligent services to the Whitehouse, like its predecessors, says that Iran is no closer than 5-10 years of nuclear weapons should it choose to make them and that it isn’t working on them at the moment.”

“How interesting?” noted Dyer. “How did we arrive at this curious situation?” Inevitable nonetheless, the beginning details of this pressing issue once again shed light on the manipulations of the public media and the human mind.

Yet as flawed as the media perception may be, the understanding of the country

as a whole stems from the politics after the 1978-1979 Iranian revolution. During this time, the Iranian Shah was overthrown by an Islamist regime led by Ayatollah Khomeini and was classified subsequently as an ‘Islamist’ society—with cautious reference.

Here, “Islamist is not the same as the Sunni and Al-kadhi variety of Afghanistan or of the Taliban,” described Dyer, as it is a Shia dominated society. “We are not dealing with a potentially or ambitiously world spanning ideology here. It’s much closer to home.”

Nevertheless, the becoming of the Islamist state of Iran was a serious revolution and altered many aspects of domestic life for the people. But regardless of the implications of it - be it for better or for worse - “the Iranian revolution has not attacked anybody for 25 years,” supported Dyer. And while the country may have “occasionally support[ed] terrorist attacks,” there is “no evidence at all that Iran has behaved on a large international scale.” And “in terms of actually attacking another state, it has never done that.” Not only that, it “doesn’t really have the ability to invade anyone at all.”

So, why would Iran seek nuclear weapons to begin with? To answer this, Dyer draws on historical reference. After the Shah was overthrown, Ayatollah Khomeini “stopped [the] ongoing nuclear pro-

gram.” Three years later, amidst the invasion of Iraq, the nuclear program was again reopened in response to what Dyer described as a “desperate situation.” When the war ended, the program halted again until its reopening in 1999 where it started with preliminary drawings and blueprints. At the same time the refining and enriching stages of uranium were set into motion.

This paranoia of the reestablishment of the nuclear program caused a whirlpool of commotion among the international community. But as Dyer pointed out, it was all in accordance with Iran’s immediate neighbour: Pakistan.

“In 1998 Pakistan tested nuclear weapons,” described Dyer and Iran responded to this incident through the reestablishment of its own nuclear program. It is important to realize as Dyer mentioned that “from Iran’s point of view, Pakistan is a frightening country,” and it is “really frightening with nuclear weapons.” Sharing a border with its Iranian neighbours, having “twice the population of Iran,” and owning a handful of nuclear weapons that may or may not fall into the hands of Sunni Islamist radicals certainly paints a per-

ceived picture of threat—justifying the once again active state of the 1999 Iranian nuclear project.

But no discussion of the nuclear energy is complete without reference to the non proliferation treaty - a 1960s treaty which ensures that every signing country has a right to develop civilian nuclear technology. Furthermore, Iran was “not obliged to report to the International Atomic Nuclear Agency [sic] until 6 months before they unload uranium into the enrichment devices.” And as addressed by Dyer, “it isn’t stupid or foolish for a country that has a lot of oil to put in nuclear power too.”

A classic example is that of Ontario, “which draws a very large amount from nuclear but has a lot of oil.”

So the question arises: why keep the nuclear energy program a secret? “Well, when you’re Iran, you have a long list of countries who want to bomb you,” stated Dyer.

And so, like everything else in life, there is no need to “go public earlier than you need to.”

CHRISTOPHER CHANG / SILHOUETTE STAFF

woods at Hamilton Theatre PHYLLIS TSANG

ASSISTANT INSIDEOUT EDITOR

Since Hamilton Theatre Inc. (HTI) presented its first show in the spring of 1956, it has been a training ground for theatre people to “hone their art,” and an outlet to present the “Best of Broadway” to its local community.

“Over the past few years, we have presented shows in just about every imaginable style, from jazz to rock to ‘classic’ musical theatre,” said Charlie Henderson, the company’s publicist.

This season, HTI is presenting Into the Woods, a musical written by Stephen Sondheim (music and lyrics) and James Lapine (book). The musical, premiered on Broadway in 1987, incorporated numerous characters from familiar stories like Cinderella, little Red Riding Hood, Jack (of Beanstalk fame) and Rapunzel. The final product was a newly constructed fairy tale where old storybook characters embark on a journey of growth and self-discovery.

“While every show is different, Into the Woods differs from most of the shows we have done in the past several years in that the score is very much in a classical style,” said Henderson. “And, like most classical scores, especially those of the twentieth century, this show is vocally demanding and requires a solid cast to perform.”

Furthermore, a production at this scale demands a very intricate set, props, sound and light.

Henderson ensured that HTI has “a very talented cast and production crew that examines every detail of this production.”

Performances of Into the Woods are currently running until Nov. 22 at the Downtown Arts Centre (28 Rebecca Street).

THE SILHOUETTE • B9

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2009

Solar car team raced in Australia

S E X AND THE STEEL CIT Y

A look at the first date Overseas adventure

Is there an etiquette to getting the date?

end well, or other times end in silence, with an awkward hug and a “I’ll see ya around sometime.” How do we get to this point in the first place?

The art of dating—for some it may come as a breeze and for others the recording of Dr. Phil’s How to fall in Love episode is left on repeat. But we put ourselves out there and hope for the best. That is, until we question our actions. Who should make the first move? Who should pay on the first date? What if the date’s a bust? What if he/she thinks you’re boring?

When making the first move, first year Humanities student Rachel Verboom said, “personally, I think guys should do it,” but first year Social Science student Amy Pielaszek disagreed. “There’s nothing wrong with the girl making the first move, don’t be afraid of rejection.” When Kyle Fisher was asked the same question, he responded with “I guess we’re obliged to, but it’s not a big deal.”

One of the tricky parts about dating: guys and girls, for the most part, think completely different. When it comes to who should pay on a first date, Verboom said, “I would offer, but I would expect him to pay, if he did the asking.” Whereas Fisher believes going “dutch” is the best way. When jumping into the world of dating, Pielaszek advised, “You have to be willing to get to know the person, or else you will never know what could have been.”

An article by dating blogger IIanna Donna Arazie shared some of the major setbacks when it comes to dating. According to This is sweet, but it might not prevent awkwardness later.

Arazie, one of the worst mistakes made by men when on a date is CASSANDRA JEFFERY

There are thousands of dat- “yammering on about ex-girlSILHOUETTE STAFF ing websites, movies, and books out friends. I want to get to know you there to help those of us, who let’s first, not the women you’ve been Nerve racking and awkward—two say absolutely fail on a first date, with. Use your guy friend to cry on, of the best words to describe a first but how helpful is the media when it not me,” says Arazie. Women, on date. comes to dating? Can we really fol- the other hand, have the tendency to

Yes, sometimes a date can low the advice of these dating servi- stick with “cyber-communication.” turn out to be a night of fun and ces? Find love in 6 months guaran- “We develop superficial relationlaughter, but those first 20-45 min- teed or your money back! Really? ships over text, instant messaging, utes of driving to a burger joint or Dating is an unpredictable and e-mail.” standing in line for popcorn at the chance. Two people are taking a Whether or not this informovies can make you sweat buck- chance while sitting through a two mation is beneficial in the dating ets. Initiating a first date can be hour romantic comedy in the hopes world, the truth remains: dating is rough, but if all goes well then that they both share love for the col- not a walk in the park. it looks like date number two is our red and Desperate Housewives.

But if you get past the around the corner.

Sometimes the date can awkwardness, it can be enjoyable.

CHRISTOPHER CHANG / SILHOUETTE STAFF

The Silhouette is producing a full issue in February for...

...and we need models like you! Contact InsideOut@thesil.ca

leads to new insights

PHOTO C / O SOLAR CAR TEAM

Preparing the solar car for its race in the outback.

• CONT’D FROM B7 was, ironically, the off-the-shelf wheel made by the auto industry.

On day three of the five-day race, Phoenix II’s right wheel “collapsed during the race breaking the rim and sending the car fishtailing down the highway.”

“We weren’t too upset with it actually,” said Johnstone. “We turned the whole experience into a positive one by the end of the day,” he shared, “It was a chance for us to follow behind and help the other teams.” Like giving the Stanford team a hand when their solar car had a break down.

“We get a chance to see the other teams and get their ideas. We have all the contacts of the other teams and we could talk about new directions,” said Leah Kesselman, a third year Chemical and Bioengineering student.

While the team is still catching up with schoolwork after almost a five-week leave to prepare and participate in the race, the team already has its eyes set on the North American Solar Challenge in June 2010.

“We should be ready to go after some minor fixes and replacing of the wheels,” said Johnstone, anticipating a more competitive performance from Phoenix II.

However, Phoenix II will officially retire after its next race because “technology has gone further” as the team witnessed in Australia. Phoenix II will become an educational tool to teach young

people and communities about green energy.

“Maybe you are not going to see a family in a tin-foil like solar car, but you will see solar power integrated into other applications, offsetting [electricity needed in] any number of consumer products,” Johnstone pointed out, “Like a [solar powered] satellite phone when you are camping and there’s no electricity available.”

Meanwhile, the new members of the team are already working on the design of a new solar car. Senior students like Johnstone, Kessellman, and Beaver will take a more supervisory role in the new design and hope that the younger students will continue with the project even after they graduate.

Although it is primarily an engineering project, the solar team extents its invitation to anyone interested, including those in different disciplines. “We require different perspectives,” said Johnstone.

Like commerce student Alan Beaver who has been managing this quarter-million budget project, being part of the project is about “pushing your boundary and the ability to go through a [challenging] process,” which is applicable in any field and discipline.

After all, how often would you get a chance to wake up at 5am in the morning to a bunch of peacocks walking around, while your team’s solar car is being recharged on the track?

GameReview

Call of Duty 2 brings the heat Despite its shortness, Modern Warfare rocks STEPHANIE HAUCK

– generating over $310 million in sales. This game was a hot buy. But was it a game that made more than It’s time to pull out the big guns just Activision CEO, Bobby Kotick – as gamers everywhere are once happy? again called to duty with the release The answer is simple of COD: Modern Warfare 2. This (unreal game), and not surprising mind blowing sequel takes modern given the track record the COD warfare to the next level with new series holds. Modern Welfare 2 and improved graphics and yet yet again revolutionizes the firstanother jam-packed storyline. person shooting genres. One of

According to Gamespot the newest features to the game is news, Modern Warfare 2 sold over its spec. ops (special operations), 4.7 million copies in the first 24 hrs which allow the gamer to do special of sales in the US, UK and Canada sniper, undercover, and skill-testing SILHOUETTE STAFF

missions. Unfortunately, no game is without criticism. Therefore be prepared for a confusing campaign storyline as well as a short one. For an intermediate player the estimated completion time is approximately 5 hours on regular game play – which most gamers know is not exactly a long time. So, make your way to the nearest video game store because this is one game you won’t want to wait to play. Grab your controller and rise to the call of duty.

HHHHH

SILHOUETTE FILE PHOTO

Call of Duty 2: Modern Warfare has a complex and interesting storyline and great graphics.

B10 • THE SILHOUETTE

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2009

Grocery stores have gone organic With the recent boom in organic products, will consumers buy in?

LINDSAY JOLIVET INSIDEOUT EDITOR

From veggies and fruit to ice cream and chips—our food has gone organic.

It marched off the grocery store shelves and picketed until the farmers agreed to start growing food in a way that helps “protect the environment, minimize soil degradation and erosion, decrease pollution, optimize biological productivity and promote a sound state of health.”

This is the first principle of the Canadian Organic Growers. The rest cover the need to use renewable resources, maintain biological diversity, maintain soil fertility and treat livestock with respect.

Specifically, these terms mean that the growers must follow the Canadian Organic Standards and Regulations, implemented in June 2009. The regulations state that the following substances are prohibited in organic products: any genetically engineered products, synthetic pesticides, growth regulators, processing substances, and allopathic veterinary drugs like

antibiotics and parasiticides (with some exceptions); composted wood from trees that have been treated with paint, “sewage sludge as a soil amendment,” ionizing radiation, and cloned farm animals and their descendants.

The Canadian Federal Government’s “Organic Production Systems—Permitted Substances Lists” contains some exceptions to these products. Products that are certified organic may be labelled with the Canada Organic logo, but use of the logo is voluntary, so there is no way to tell for certain.

However, what do these regulations mean for consumers? The explosion of everything organic means two shelves of every kind of fruit, vegetable and most other products face shoppers with every trip to the grocery store. From a practical perspective, organic foods do not keep as long as so-called ‘conventionally prepared foods’.

Those who buy organic must be sure not to let their fruits and veggies lie around too long. With prices that often far exceed non-organic foods, those with smaller budgets must

CHRIS CHANG / SILHOUETTE STAFF

Potato chips, spinach, and chocolate covered almonds are only a few of the organic options available. consider whether buying organic is worth the extra change.

While the environmental benefits of organic farming are rarely questioned, the health benefits of eating organic are often debated. Primary concerns about non-organic foods focus on the use of pesticides in processing, which are then put into our bodies.

However, some argue that there are no major nutritional benefits to organic foods. A recent

Truly, organically beautiful

Natural products aren’t only in grocery stores

study commissioned by the The Food Standards Agency in England determined there was only a small difference in nutrition between organic and conventionally produced food, “but not large enough to be of any public health relevance,” according to the study leader as quoted in a BBC News article in July 2009.

The study did not look at pesticides and was criticized by the soil association for being

Lifestyle Tidbits Education for marriage A study in Sweden concluded a significant relationship between the social position and education of a person’s spouse and their mortality rate. The study determined that women’s education was particularly important to the mortality of their husbands. From perspective, this could mean that men who marry educated women live longer. The lesson? Choose carefully, because your choice of spouse could affect your lifespan.

Everything should taste like bacon?

Let’s bring the kids to the mountain today A German architect has proposed the construction of a mountain in Berlin as a recreation space.

Named “the Berg,” this mountain would be an artificially constructed natural environment, covered with snow from September to March.

Many are supporting the project as a unique way to cover the land where the Tempelhof airport is currently located. Certainly a change from skyscrapers. Soon, Germans may be bringing their kids to the mountain instead of the park.

Imagine a synthetic version of this.

Natural beauty has moved beyond the cucumber, with brand-name products that are certified organic. an “Apple-a-day.”

Another favourite of Sephora’s Natural Seal is the Bare Organic beauty is similar to the ba- Escentuals foundation that has won sic principles behind living a green- countless awards for “Best Natural er lifestyle—it’s based on the prem- and Organic Beauty” and “Best ise of bettering the environment, Foundation” every year since 2007. your skin and you. With the same Its success is attributed mainly to bold colours, but newly added bet- its basic and pure composition with ter-for-you ingredinaturally obtained ents, it’s hard to deny benefits like SPF 15, With Sephora’s but it was noticed the effectiveness of organic beauty, es- Natural Seal, you firstly because of its pecially at the reaeffectiveness. can rest assured sonable cost of these Nvey Eco is a natural products. it is free of GMO, newer brand supportLet’s start parabens, petro- ed with Sephora’s with the all-imNatural Seal but portant lips. With chemicals, phthal- also carries its own Tarte’s line of lip Australian Organic ates and other products you can cation. Like chemically engi- Certifi hope for the best Bare Escentuals and prepare for the neered ingredients... and Tarte, Nvey best. With Sephora’s also carries a full Natural Seal, you line of beauty prodcan rest assured it is free of GMO, ucts; however they’ve also creatparabens, petrochemicals, phthal- ed unique palette combinations of ates and other chemically engi- eye shadows in shockingly bright neered ingredients that aren’t that and bold colours that have amazgreat for your insides or outsides. ing staying power through the day In addition, the lipsticks, lip glosses or night. and lip stains are all packed with anWhile the developments tioxidants, vitamins and other skin in organic make up are extremesoftening properties that taste like ly exciting and highly applicable, SILHOUETTE STAFF

organic beauty goes beyond make up. Using organic washes and moisturizers like those by Live Clean, Lush, and Juice Beauty are better for your skin and hair and leave you feeling moisturized and smelling fresh.

Levi’s is looking to prove that organic beauty is fashion forward with their eco line of jeans made with 100 per cent organic cotton. Also joining the organic bandwagon is American Apparel with their everyday T’s and tanks also made with 100 per cent organic cotton and Stella McCartney with her infamously green and eco-conscious line of fur and leather free designs that always use organic materials like bamboo and hemp.

While the integration of organic products into any beauty regimen can really make a girl nervous, remember that in the long run it’s better for the environment, healthier, and doesn’t actually change the way you curl those lashes or pout those lips. So go green, ‘cause green is gorgeous.’

Tip: When shopping for organic products, make sure you see an approved Organic Certification.

An example would be Ecocert, the international Organic Certification.

SILHOUETTE FILE PHOTO

Study hard for your spouse’s sake.

Mmm mail Improving your lifestyle with great flavours, the latest product from J & D’s Everything Should Taste Like Bacon products is bacon flavoured envelopes. Never worry about death by envelope glue again—or at least not a yucky tasting death. Apparently they are also Kosher certified.

Other products from this company include bacon flavoured popcorn and bacon salt. Maybe people will actually start writing letters to each other again. Get licking!

JONATHON FAIRCLOUGH / DISTRIBUTION COORDINATOR

LEANNE MARK

inadequate. The policy director at the Soil Association admitted that better quality studies are needed, particularly research on the impact of consuming pesticides.

For those who can afford the sometimes-elevated price and short lifespan of organic products there is little evidence against its benefits. For the sake of health, soil quality, and the environment, many food producers are joining the organic cause.

JONATHON FAIRCLOUGH / SILHOUETTE STAFF

JONATHON FAIRCLOUGH / SILHOUETTE STAFF

THE SILHOUETTE • B11

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2009

Crossword Across 1- Upper limbs, weapons 5- Ecclesiastical rule 10- Short tail 14- Tides that attain the least height 15- Concert venue 16- I could ___ horse!

17- Like some orders 18- Ascended 19- Ship's company 20- Pertaining to the small intestine 22- Hot-weather wear 24- Switchblade 27- Combustible heap 28- Stress 32- Collection of maps 36- Acapulco article 37- Tumults 39- Reflect 40- Carbonized fuel 42- Narrow openings 44- Indian exercise method 45- Cruise stops 47- Entangled with; 49- Bit of film, to a photog; 50- Relinquish; 51- Excellently; 53- Lab fluids; 56- Cookbook amts.; 57- Assistant; 61- Bridge positions; 65- Heath 66- Ages between 13 and 19 69- Sudden misfortune 70- Mayberry moppet 71- Mindlessly stupid 72- Actress Turner 73- Tear 74- Aquatic mammal 75- Expel gas or odor

CommunityEvents Nov. 19 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM Say Bye to Buy Local 1180 Barton Street East

How secret trade deals threaten our economies, our jobs, and the environment -- and weaken your community. The Council of Canadians and CUPE Ontario present speakers Maude Barlow and Sid Ryan to discuss secret interprovincial and international trade deals and their potentially damaging effects. The speakers will argue that these deals threaten the jobs, the economy, the environment and weaken communities.

Nov. 19 2009 7:00 PM Guatemala: Land Reform, Justice & Beyond Fair Trade Coffee Skydragon Cooperative Centre, 27 King William St. A filmviewing, presentation, and discussion on the Campesino Committee of the Highlands—a Guatemalan movement that is fighting for the rights of rural population and highland Maya of Guatemala. Fair trade coffee “Café Justicia” will be sold for $10.

Speaker Lesbia Morales Sican of the committee will speak on their cause.

By Sandy Chase / CUP Graphics Bureau Chief

Crossword puzzles provided by BestCrosswords.com (http://www.bestcrosswords.com). Used with permission.

Down 1- Against; 2- Actual; 3Boy or man; 4- Spatter; 5- Automobile; 6- Jackie's second; 7- Capone's nemesis 8- Get the better of 9- Nursemaid 10- Privily 11- Attention 12- Salt Lake City hoopsters 13- Shooting marbles 21- Blacken the edges of 23- Bummer 25- Egyptian goddess of fertility 26- Orchestra string 28- 1961 Heston role 29- Bullwinkle, e.g.

30- Sacred song

31- Rigid 33- Big cats 34- Celestial being 35- Histrionic 38- European ermine 41- Unhurried 43- Adds 46- Editor's mark 48- Easy stride 52- Good, in a way 54- Rate 55- Concerning 57- Latin love 58- Narcotic 59- Connect 60- Milk source 62- Close with force 63- Author Morrison; 64- Attack a fly 67- Vane dir.

68- Sun. talk

Solutions

Solution to last week’s crossword and sudoku

Save the lives of three people with one blood donation. Appointments take one hour.

Nov. 24, 2009 5:30PM to 8:00PM Hungry for Change 1140 King St. W., in the hall attached to St. Paul’s Church (corner of King and Cline) Addressing issues of food and water shortages around the world. Dinner is included, and will reflect the way food is distributed around the world. Discussion will follow dinner along with a speaker on water insecurities locally and globally. Proceeds will go to charity.

Nov. 25, 2009 7:00PM to 9:00PM Prescription for Excellence: A Presentation by Dr. Michael Rachlis MDCL 3020 Mac for Medicare and Dr. Gordon Guyatt present speaker Dr. Michael Rachlis, health specialist, health policy consultant and associate professor at the University of Toronto to discuss Medicare’s poor quality and possible solutions to this problem. The lecture will take the stance that privatization and more money are not the most important issues.

Quality is key, and lacking.

Nov. 25 2009 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM Film Night: Our Local Water History The Sky Dragon Centre, Hamilton, 27 King William St. A viewing of the film “Geologic Journey: The Great Lakes” by David Suzuki discusses drastic changes in the landscape and geology of the vast central of North America. The film is especially relevant to the Greater Toronto Area because of our proximity to one of the great lakes, lake Ontario.

Sudoku 3 5 2 6 8 7 4 9 1 3 5 1 6 8 9 4 7 2

Gettingthere

Nov. 23, 2009 10:30AM to 5:00PM Blood Donor Clinic CIBC Hall, MUSC

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Get from start to sleep, but do your homework and avoid facebook and the kegger

You should know how this goes by now.

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BreadBin

Blueberry Couscous Pressed for time? Out of ideas? Sick of campus food? Tasty, yet healthy, meals don’t need to take an eternity to make. (This dish doesn’t even require heat! It’s an excellent option for students in residence.) Couscous is very similar to rice. It doesn’t have to be cooked, just soaked until soft. Like rice, it goes with pretty much any ingredients, and can be soaked in any flavourful liquid.

Blueberry Couscous Ingredients  1 cup of couscous  1 handful of fresh blueberries  1 cup of orange juice Recipe 1. Mix everything together, cover, and let it sit in the fridge for about 45 minutes.

That’s it! I told you it was easy!

SILHOUETTE FILE PHOTO

Simple but delicious blueberry couscous.

Be creative and experiment with different combinations of fruits and vegetables, and substitute other fruit juices or broths for the orange juice. This recipe can be made as a dessert or as a side dish, depending on your ingredients.

•

By Angel Lai, Bread Bin Co-Director

Do you love everything Lifestyle?

From Fashion and Beauty to Cultural and Social issues, InsideOut has it covered. InsideOut@thesil.ca

Write for us

and get in touch with your McMaster community!

AVA DIDEBAN / MULTIMEDIA EDITOR

B12 • THE SILHOUETTE

HEALTH

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2009

production office: extension 27117

The ergonomics of studying

in partnership with SHEC

Meditation helps Proper posture relieves stiff and sore muscles decrease stress levels ASHWIN SANKAR SILHOUETTE STAFF

AYAN DEY / SILHOUETTE STAFF

The greater part of the 20th century saw a divide in the medical world between the East and the West.

The West adopted the so-called somatic model, which professed physical disturbances as the primary underlying mechanism for disease, while the Eastern world laid their beliefs in holistic practices that attributed disease states to organic mishaps in the functional relationship between the mind and body.

Until very recently, the Western model had trumped the Eastern one given that scientific evidence in the primary literature had ascertained its use. However, recent research trends have advocated for the effectiveness of Eastern practices, and this evidence has led to the resolution of the EastWest medical dichotomy.

A prime example of a therapeutic modality that originated in the Eastern world and has penetrated the depths of Western society is meditation. This exercise is an ancient Indian practice that promotes relaxation and mindfulness. Its origins have been dated to early Hindu scriptures, where it was used with the goal of attaining self-transformation into a liberated state.

The birth of meditation in the Western world came with Harvard doctor Herbert Benson in the 1970s. His meditative technique, the “relaxation response,” is concentrative in its roots, and recommends silent repetition of words or sounds while sitting down for ten to twenty minute periods.

While meditating, any intruding thoughts should be dismissed to focus attention on the words being repeated. The technique is difficult and requires practice, but has gained widespread acceptance as ancillary treatment to decreasing anxiety, improving cardiovascular health, and even providing symptom-relief in cancer.

The main physiological mechanism by which symptomrelief is achieved is by switching the body from the “fight-or-flight” hyperactive state to a “ruminating” state of relaxation. In this fashion,

meditation has been useful in treating high blood pressure and managing hot flashes, addictive behaviours, and conditions with a chronic anxiety component, such as HIV.

A very recent study out of the University of North Carolina highlights the effectiveness of meditation in numbing the perception of pain. In this study, a group of college students were trained in twenty-minute meditation sessions for three consecutive days, and were compared with a group not trained in meditation. These students were all subjected to mild electrical shocks, and it was determined that meditation sessions reduced general pain sensitivity; participants who were mindful following meditation were less anxious on subjective assessments.

Despite the effectiveness of meditation as a therapeutic modality, getting to the heart of this issue involves assessing whether or not meditation is effective at relieving stress in a schooling population. Given that the exam season is fast approaching, and student stress levels are high at this time, is meditation a useful stress reliever?

Students around campus seem to think so. When asked about stress relief and meditation, Kyle Subica, a first-year student, remarked, “meditation really helps to control [your] mind and body, and bring them together. I feel focused and mindful following quick fiveminute meditation sessions.” In studies examining meditation among school students, meditation was correlated with improved grade scores, better work habits, and fewer absences in class.

Thus, the growing popularity of meditation is reflected in the body of research supporting its use. By switching physiological mechanisms to more relaxed states, meditation has been established as effective adjunct treatment to a plethora of conditions involving anxiety, and it even reduces the perception of pain. But more importantly, can it help with stress reduction during exam time? If meditation clears our heads and allows us to breath easier, I would say give it a try.

Hunching over or sitting in one position for too long makes studying more painful than it needs to be. areas. Over time, this sensation can vertical lines while upright is the MOHINI BHAVSAR THE SILHOUETTE cause physical damage to your most ergonomic way of standing. muscles, ligaments and joints.

Most importantly, you want to Have you ever been accused of the As students, we spend distribute your body weight evenly “cashew position”? Even if you hours sitting in chairs at desks, to the front, back and sides of your have not heard of it, I am positive and often forget about posture feet while standing. If that becomes that you are guilty as charged. while we anxiously try and meet uncomfortable, try leaning to Maybe you engaged in it today in deadlines. Thus, we are especially one side, hunching the shoulders your early morning class or last susceptible to suffering from the forward or tilting your head to reach night while you were finishing up symptoms illustrated above. A a better position. that project. You are probably doing helpful technique to correct posture Use helpful props to it right now as you read this article. is to keep your body aligned while maintain your positive ergonomic I see the “cashew position” all over sitting in a chair. Using the chair progress. Invest in a supportive campus. The “cashew position” is features, sit up straight, and align backpack or purse that is designed to when you are sitting or standing your ears, shoulders and hips in minimize back strain. Avoid leaning and your back is hunched over, one vertical line. It definitely pays or straining your neck with the head like a cashew. Bad posture and to invest in a comfortable working titled forward, as is commonly seen specifically, bad study posture is a chair when it comes to studying when working on a computer or typical student faux pas. Here are in an ergonomically-friendly way. laptop. If you find yourself having some details on why the “cashew Also, try and avoid doing your work to peer closely to the computer position” is terrible for your body, on your bed; albeit how comfortable monitor, try to make the window some techniques for good study it seems to feel, it is really not bigger or perhaps even book an posture and tips on how to avoid meant to support good posture for appointment for a new prescription. collapsing back into the “cashew”. working.

Computer screens can also cause

We probably practiced Some quick tips on proper neck stiffness and strain if they are better posture as children than sitting posture include: keeping positioned incorrectly. Make sure to we do now that we are hunched your feet on the floor or on a footrest adjust the computer screen so it is at over library desks. Poor posture, if they do not reach the floor, do not your resting eye position. for most of us, is almost second cross your legs (your ankles should If you are pulling a nature. We are all too familiar with be in front of your knees), keep a notorious all-nighter, or have the consequences: stiff necks, back small gap between the back of your committed yourself to working pains and tight shoulders. These knees and the front of your seat, and a continuously long time, treat are the clear warning signs that your knees should be below or level yourself (and your body) to a stretch your studying is not ergonomically with your hips. Moreover, you can break in an effort to relieve strain. sound. Bad posture is terrible for adjust the backrest of your chair, or One quick and effective stretch is our bodies, in addition to being use a back support, to prop up your massaging your neck by tilting it in an unattractive way of presenting lower and mid-back. Remember to all four directions, avoiding rolling ourselves. Posture-related pains always relax your shoulders and it in a circle. When studying, it may can extend from the lower back and keep your forearms parallel to the also be helpful to fit in some yoga shoulders all the way to the neck, ground. Avoid sitting in the same exercises that stretch the back. even causing frequent headaches. position for long periods of time so Additionally, most posture Moreover, other body parts will that your muscles do not tense up. problems start with the feet. typically try to compensate for bad The same technique for Wearing high heels often can affect posture, which results in pressure sitting applies for standing too. the body’s center of gravity and and tension being placed on multiple Keeping your body in straight, negatively impact back support and posture. Wear supportive footwear when walking to campus and save those heels for a night out.

In a recent report published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, researchers showed that sitting and standing up straight may be linked to self-confidence.

Thus, our postures may affect how we think about ourselves. The benefits to proper posture, then, are not solely physical, but possibly contribute to positive mental health as well. Posture is something a lot of people have a hard time with.

The first step is to try and be aware of it. Think “cashew” before you’re about to slouch back into that chair, and you will already be off to a good start.

Practicing meditation can make you calmer during periods of high stress.

WILL VAN ENGEN / PHOTO EDITOR

weezer • the racoon wedding • matt dusk coco avant chanel • adoration • a christmas carol and robert zemeckis

index

C2 • the silhouette’s art + culture magazine

thursday, november 19, 2009

Senior Editor: Grace Evans Entertainment Editor: Myles Herod Music Editor: Corrigan Hammond Contributors: Chris Hoy, Michael Clemens, Catherine Brasch, Kevin Elliott, Ben Small, Roxanne Hathway-Baxter, Matt Wright, Noah Nemoy, Trevor Roach, Josh Parsons

Cover: Jonathon Fairclough

this week

what’s inside

in the hammer

feature

p.4

nov. 30 dec. 3

The Reason Casbah 8:00 p.m.

Matt Dusk Hamilton Place Studio 8:00 p.m.

International Guitar Night Hamilton Place Studio 8:00 p.m.

Social Code Casbah 8:00 p.m.

USS Rokbar 9:00 p.m.

andy’s pick

Still Life Still Casbah 8:00 p.m.

now

dec. 10

nov. 19

Adoration: “Atom Egoyan’s latest film Adoration is one of those movies that you feel like you have to watch a couple of times for it to sink in.”

p.5

nov. 20

Coco avant Chanel: “Coco avant Chanel is a French film based on the life of Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, before she was the famous French fashion designer Coco Chanel.”

The Sadies Casbah 9:00 p.m.

nov. 21

art Crude Landscapes Art Gallery of Hamilton 123 King St., Hamilton 905-577-6610 info@artgalleryofhamilton. com

sept.26-jan.17

film

Holly McNarland Casbah 9:00 p.m.

nov. 22

p.12

Constantines Casbah 8:00 p.m

nov. 24

p.8

Born Ruffians Rokbar 8:00 p.m

nov. 24

Matt Dusk: “Matt Dusk’s latest disc, Good News, is a significant musical departure from his older work— the straightlaced, Sinatra-esque crooner that defined 2004’s Two Shots and its 2006 follow up, Back In Town.”

music

Lights Copps Coliseum 8:00 p.m.

nov. 26

Weezer: “Instead of being like every clichéd high-school geek, who is a lame fool at the beginning of the movie and is the cool nerd who gets the girl by the film’s end, Cuomo has taken the reverse path in his life.”

Westdale Theatre Twilight: New Moon Fri: 7:00, 9:20 Sat, Sun: 4:00, 7:00, 9:20

theatre nov.24-jan.3

music

opening

p.6

Twilight: New Moon Planet 51 The Blind Side Broken Embraces

playng

film

nov. 28

A Christmas Carol: “A hunched, skeletal Ebenezer Scrooge sitting in a narrow armchair by the fire asks the ghost of his long-dead, former business partner, Jacob Marley, in a raspy voice, “What do you want with me?”

White Christmas

By Ron Ulrich Theatre Aquarius 190 King William St. 1-800-465-7529 boxoffice@theatreaquarius.org

must be santa. allen g. / a. ginsberg. glee. warren zevon. kitchen renovations.

dear angel-headed hipsters, don’t cower in unshaven rooms... write for andy. musc b110.

matt good with mother mother

at hamilton place december 17

you should go

column

thursday, november 19, 2009

f.u.b.a.r. editorial column corrigan hammond

Bob Dylan is back. And just in time for the holiday season too. Which is probably a good thing, because it seems we’ve been in a bit of a zany rockstar recession of late. Sure, Bono’s off erecting a brand new miniature Berlin Wall just to remind Germans of what they’ve been missing out on for the past twenty years and Aerosmith can’t seem to figure out who’s in the band, who’s out, who’s on stage or even where the stage ends.

But as a rule, the big-name-rock-star club (a loose conglomeration of nut-cases and egomaniacs, that used to site certifiable insanity as a prerequisite for entry) has been about as exciting lately as an episode of Coronation Street. Axl Rose hasn’t beaten any one up in a while. Amy Winehouse quit doing crack. Kanye West hasn’t been invited to any award shows since this summer. Paul McCartney has refrained from marrying any amputees. And I’m pretty sure that Elvis is still dead (although a jury of blue-haired old ladies and fast-food employees is still out on that one).

Enter Bob Dylan and his brand new album, Christmas In The Heart – possibly the strangest collection yuletide tunes since

Twisted Sister gave us A Twisted Christmas in 2006. Pardon my xenophobia, but nothing says Christmas like a confused Robert Zimmerman mumbling through yet another rendition of “The Little Drummer Boy.” I mean we already have Neil Diamond.

But such a commercial ape on the part of one of the most respected songwriters and poets of the twentieth-century isn’t exactly out of character. Indeed, Dylan, like any good rock and roll aristocrat, knows a thing or two about branding and marketing. He’s a man who once took it upon himself to affix his name to a collectable picnic set — an essential purchase for those who feel a compulsion to advertise their good taste in music while eating egg-salad sandwiches in the park with their closest friends and family.

The funny thing is though, that Christmas In The Heart, as dubious an undertaking as it is, might actually present us with a side of Dylan that he hasn’t publically shown since the late sixties — the fun-loving, irreverent side. Between vehemently denying being the voice of his generation on 60 Minutes three years ago, to doing his darndest to skim over his entire career in the first instalment of his memoirs, Dylan has become a character so cryptic, that it is impossible to tell whether he is himself or a parody of a poet, or just some mumbly cartoon character. Sometime between now and 1970, Dylan, the clown who used to turn press conferences into parodies of themselves, who used to make

music that seemed like one part art, one part comedy, became the most serious weirdo in show business. Gone were the irreverently poetic songs of his so called mid-sixties preRaphaelite period filled with elaborate jokes about America, drugs, women and America again — and in was scowling seriousness, of cocaine, women, God and then cocaine again.

The first thing that you will be reminded of though when you watch the video for his new holiday single “Must Be Santa,” is the explosive psychedelia of Blonde on Blonde’s opening track “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35.” The video’s opening shot of an accordion playing elf captures the exact irreverence of “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35’s”initial drum roll and subsequent stoned marching bad reverie. Both tracks are defined by Dylan’s sheer childlike joy and uncharacteristic laughter. Dylan might not laugh often, but when he does, he giggles with the glee of an eight-month-old baby. That Dylan is a different person than the strange, nasal voiced character who sporadically emerges from hiding to glare down Ed Bradley on national television (normally Andy Rooney’s job). And while it’s fun to watch a scraggly, incoherent rock star bewilder interviewers used to talking truth out of tyrants, presidents and corrupt corporate CEO’s, you can only watch the same person not make sense so many times before the shtick gets old and worn. For Dylan, this probably happened sometime

the big tickle compiled by terry shan &

“rachmaninov.” seanna hayes

the silhouette’s art + culture magazine • C3 around 1979 (coincidentally at about the same time that he released the cocaine fuelled train wreck now known as Live At Budokan).

Indeed, the fact that Dylan is having fun again is probably a positive development in the career of a singer who’s legacy, despite recording twenty-five albums since then, is effectively frozen in 1967. Based on the strength of his first eight albums, Dylan can pretty much do anything he wants to and still be chiefly remembered as one of the seminal voices of the 1960’s. Heck — Dylan could invent a cure for cancer, and when he died the headline would still read: “Man Who Wrote ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ Dead.” I mean, not only did the guy invent rock music back in 1965, but his been behaving ever since like he received a get out of jail free card for it.

At least this latest batch of weirdness is fun.

q: who’s your favourite crazy musician?

corrigan hammond

“sid vicious.”

“jimi hendrix.” angelica asis

paisley mcnab

“gene simmons.” owen smith

“lady gaga.” stefanie kucemba

C4 • the silhouette’s art + culture magazine

film

thursday, november 19, 2009

the act of worship

canadian filmmaker atom egoyan delivers another thought-provoking piece of cinema Adoration Directed by: Atom Egoyan Starring: Devon Bostick, Scott Speedman, Arsinée Khanjian

 Atom Egoyan’s latest film Adoration is one of those movies that you feel like you have to watch a couple of times for it to sink in. His first film in four years, the famed ArmenianCanadian writer and director follows up his past work with his regular themes of isolation and competing view points. As with most of Egoyan’s works, Adoration follows a nonlinear plot that makes it hard to follow at times, and it’s certainly no Ararat. However, Adoration is a very deep and well done film in its own right and a must-see if you feel like contemplating the human condition.

Filmed and set in Toronto, Simon (Devon Bostick) is an orphan living with his working class tow-truck driving uncle Tom (Scott Speedman). His sympathetic French teacher Sabine (Arsinée Khanjian) assigns Simon’s class to translate a news

story about a failed terrorist attack in which a terrorist planted a bomb in the luggage of his pregnant fiancé. Simon writes the story from the perspective of the unborn child but infuses it with elements of his own family.

Simon’s personal demons surrounding the unanswered questions about the car crash that killed his parents become the moral issues of terrorism. Simon posts the story on the internet without clarifying the fictional elements, and soon it spreads like wildfire across chatrooms with dozens of people debating the morals of terrorism. Eerily, like Simon, the people posting start to selfidentify with the story, comparing their own lives and ideological views.

Adoration deals with the themes of isolation and truth. Simon is a loner in his personal life yet a celebrity on the internet.

Dozens of people talk in chat-rooms while sitting alone at home on computers. And what isolation must drive people to take interest in the personal story of a complete stranger, or to publicly share their ideologies with whoever will bother to listen? And when these armchair philosophers debate their views on terrorism, it causes them to revise

their views on martyrdom and victimization, and devolve into their own personal experiences and emotional issues. Simon, his uncle, and his teacher are all swept up in this situation despite living personal lives alienated from others. To better accomplish this theme Egoyan uses trick photography to create a cross between Skype and a chat room, a technology that is frighteningly feasible.

The quest for truth is the other major theme. Simon doesn’t know the truth about his parents’ death and seeks to find it.

His story is a lie but is accepted as fact. The failed terrorist attack is seen as a potential massacre by some and a failed heroic act by others. Depending on whose point of view is taken, Simon’s uncle Tom is either a closeminded blue collar bully or a scared artistic young man with too much responsibility forced upon him. Sabine is either a kind, caring teacher or a psychotic traumatized refugee. Simon’s grandfather is either a kind old man or a racist control freak. It is also commendable that unlike most movies that might preach about differing views on terrorism, Egoyan uses it as a segue to explore the differing views humans have of each

other, be they strangers or family.

The acting is excellent. Devon Bostick excels as the quiet, traumatized, Simon. It’s his first major role, but he seems to have a bright future ahead of him.

Scott Speedman hasn’t been around much since his staring role of Michael Corvin in the Underworld series. His performance as Tom makes you realize how much of an underused actor he is. Arsinée Khanjian is amazing as Sabine. As the wife of Egoyan, she has stared in every one of his movies but this is definitely due to her talent and not her husband. She seems to be typecast as a Middle Eastern woman in most of her roles, but this is largely due to Egoyan’s devotion to Armenia.

As a whole Adoration is an excellent film. It’s highly cerebral and at times disjointed and confusing but then again so is the world we live in. While the ending seemed a little contrived, the movie is so well done that it’s easy to forgive. If you feel like seeing a film that will make you think about isolation, points of view, and the human condition, I would highly recommend it.

•Noah Nemoy

thursday, november 19, 2009

beauty is pain

film

audrey tautou stars in french bio pic coco before chanel Directed by: Anne Fontaine Starring: Audrey Tautou

HHHH Coco avant Chanel is a French film based on the life of Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, before she was the famous French fashion designer Coco Chanel. Coco who is played

by Audrey Tautou, is delightful, charming, and avant garde. The movie starts off by showing the harsh life of Coco and her sister as they are raised in an orphanage, then flashes forward in time to when Coco and her sister are in their twenties and are singing at night clubs and acting as seamstresses for the other performers.

Throughout the film Coco constantly challenges the decorum that France is suggesting women follow, most importantly with regards to fashion. Along with an interest in fashion, Coco really wants to be famous and rich.

However she is conflicted, as she wants to be part of high society but does not want to be in the company of boring elites.

Coco is presented with many conflicts within this film, especially concerning love and the question of marriage. There are two men in her life, the one character Étienne Balsan has all the power and this exactly what Coco wants but he also seems to be ashamed of her. While Arthur “Boy” Capel (an English businessman) is the man that Coco should be with, as he is not ashamed of her and shares many of the same values, especially her value of working for a living. She befriends a woman who becomes interested in her designs which encourages Coco to take her designs further.

Coco believes that one could be beautiful without adorning themselves with feathers, corsets, and other physically restricting fashions. Coco Chanel instead opts for comfortable clothes with no corsets that are very much gender bending and influenced by the comfortable style of men. Her

style consists of simple yet elegant clothes and is very much inspired by the equestrian style.

This movie is delightful, and it may have to do with the fact that it’s European. The film is spoken in French and contains English subtitles, but somehow the French language makes the film more pleasurable. Audrey Tautou also does a splendid job in portraying Coco Chanel’s feisty nature. Audrey’s character is one who always has something to say and consistently has people anticipating what she will say next.

Coco’s scanning glance with her beautiful dark eyes is what makes her intriguing as she is continuously intrigued by the human relations of everyday life.

Anne Fontaine directed the film and she truly goes above and beyond the expectations of Coco Chanel fans. Fontaine pulls you into Coco’s world of social class hierarchy in France. This is done through rich scenery, costumes, and an amazing cast.

The cinematic performances are carried by Tautou’s ability to play so many emotions at once, to the point where the viewer is uncertain as to what she has planned next.

The plot may seem a little bit thin but the fantastic cast makes the supporting characters the most important part of the film. Every character is dynamic, all of whom have a special relationship with Coco in one way or another.

The film portrays the hard working nature of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel who once had nothing, and who learned what was important in life by making sacrifices. Coco’s mentality is drastically different from the other women in France as she wishes to be successful in the workforce as opposed to her love life. This makes her a true inspiration for anyone who was ever told they could not amount to anything.

Coco avant Chanel was released in Canada on Oct. 2, though it’s only a limited release.

•Catherine Brasch

the silhouette’s art + culture magazine • C5

feature

C6 • the silhouette’s art + culture magazine

thursday, november 19, 2009 • C7

the movie

the man behind the movie

andy talks to seasoned director robert zemeckis about his newest project, jim carrey, and performance capture technology In a career that has spanned four decades, and stylistically moved from live action film to performance capture animation, legendary writer/director Robert Zemeckis has been at the forefront of Hollywood’s transition into all things digital. With a back catalog of films that would make the likes of any noted auteur blush, Zemeckis first received major attention with the seminal 1980’s sci-fi comedy, Back to the Future. Not one to be pigeonholed by special effects and universal adoration of his time-travel blockbuster, Robert forged ahead with even greater ambitions.

While 1988 brought the truly original and still unmatched ingenuity of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a seamless achievement of real actors and cartoons, 1994

marked the director’s critical and commercial peak with the much beloved Forrest Gump. Acknowledged with six Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, Gump not only stood as a testament of classic American cinema, combined with state-of-the-art special effects (recreating historic events), it also allowed Zemeckis the freedom to pursue any project he desired. The 2000’s have seen Robert develop and perfect his new passion, performance capture – a hybrid of live actors and 3D rendered modeling. Now, with the release of his newest picture, an adaption of Dickens’ novella A Christmas Carol, Zemeckis has set the standard again with his reworking of the holiday classic.

In a recent interview, Zemeckis discussed why he chose

to follow up 2007’s Beowulf with another animated film: “I realized this is a great form to reintroduce classic stories in a new way, to a new generation of moviegoers.”

Employing much of the same 3D modeling technology as he previous two films, he expressed why he thinks his newest project translated so well in this format. “Many of these classic stories have great spectacle in them…In the case of Christmas Carol, you get a chance to realize the story in the spectacular and surreal way that Dickens wrote it.” In praising the word of Dickens, Zemeckis went on to further explain the smooth transition from page to screen “He wrote very filmically, a hundred years before the invention of movies.

It’s really amazing when you read his work, he writes in scenes.”

Indeed, A Christmas Carol follows the path of recent projects, which offer a rich embodiment of wonder and awe that extends from its visual power. Yet with all its technical jargon, what is performance capture technology? “The actors work in a volume of infrared light, and they’re surrounded by receptors, which for lack of a better word record digital information that comes off their sensors.” He went on to further explain that after the actors had recorded their takes, a process of assembly takes place with computers. “What we do is we take that information, that digital performance that has been burned into the hard drive and we basically wrap a digital skin, digital hair, and a digital costume around that performance, and then we take that character and put him in a virtual

environment.”

Jim Carrey, native of Southern Ontario, was Zemeckis’ first and only choice to personify the mean spirited Ebenezer Scrooge.

“I knew I needed someone with a magnificent sense of humour and a great ability to do drama to really make Scrooge as mean as Dickens actually wrote him.” Although Carrey took on dual roles as Scrooge and the ghosts of past, present and future, Zemeckis found the strategy of having a secondary actor work along side Jim very beneficial. “Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride, Saw), who is a great actor in his own right, was gracious enough to volunteer to be on the receiving end of Jim when we did all the scenes. So when Jim was Scrooge, Cary would do a ghost, and when Jim was a ghost, Cary would do Scrooge. Having a really great actor, who was able to watch Jim and basically memorize the way he was doing one or the other side of the character and bringing it back in the timing that we needed was really crucial.”

In terms of directing, Zemeckis explained that when it comes to getting the right performance from his actors, it’s a whole different animal with performance capture. “No matter how much I try to explain to them what the experience is going to be like, it’s impossible to imagine until they do it. What happens and why they all immediately fall in love with it after the first hour of working in this process is they very quickly understand that it’s all about performance. You get to see this wonderful revelation that happens,

a darker rendition of charles dickens’ classic story features an emotionally fragile ebenezer scrooge its like ‘oh man, this is just about my performance, my performance is everything here! I don’t have to fumble with a costume, I don’t hide behind a costume, I don’t hide behind a beard, I don’t have makeup, its all pure.’ ” Although A Christmas Carol is a Disney produced feature, Zemeckis makes it clear that his reimaging is not just sunshine and lollipops. “You have to understand that Scrooge has this wild nightmare, that’s what happens to him. I really feel very strongly that you have to have the dark before you can have the light. That’s something I wanted to really present in the way that Dickens wrote it.” As for the character of Scrooge himself, Zemeckis explained “He’s not a bad man, he’s just man who doesn’t know what to do with his scared past, and I think that’s why it’s a timeless story and that’s why it’s such a great story, and why we can all relate to that character so well.”

A constant innovator, Robert Zemeckis’ latest creation has already garnered major box receipts and critical praise. Film critic Roger Ebert, awarded the film four stars, stating, “I like the way that Zemeckis does it. He seems to have a more sure touch than many other directors, using 3-D instead of being used by it.” Zemeckis concluded that in order to make it successful as a director, writing must be your first priority, “To be a really great filmmaker you have to know how to do that anyways, and also it’s really the ticket in because everyone will be receptive to a great idea.”

•Myles Herod

A Christmas Carol Directed by: Robert Zemeckis Starring: Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman

 A hunched, skeletal Ebenezer Scrooge sitting in a narrow armchair by the fire asks the ghost of his longdead, former business partner, Jacob Marley, in a raspy voice, “What do you want with me?” The ghost responds, “You will be haunted by three spirits.” To which Scrooge replies a short, “I’d rather not.”

This is the tone Zemeckis sets in his adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol; one that is darker, drier, and subtly heartbreaking but ultimately uplifting.

The film is darker than I expected, and it begins very slowly.

With the performance capture technology that director Robert Zemeckis employed, the establishing shots of Victorian England were beautiful and incredibly detailed.

The performance capture created animated human characters that is more realistic than anything animated I’ve seen before, however the realism was definitely improved when less people appear in the shot.

Shots of people-lined streets made the characters look oddly smooth and Sim-like.

The detail was incredible, from the individual snowflakes on cracked wood, to the condensation on wrought iron gates.

As far as the classic story goes, the ghosts were much more literal interpretations of Dickens’ writing. All of the Ghost’s appearances began tediously, slowly, and I became

impatient for Scrooge to figure out what was happening. The ghost of Christmas past was bizarre. I couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be funny or not. Shaking with silent laughter, I thought it was hilariously creepy, but it seemed so out of place to situate a comic character in such emotional scenes. A candle, with the flame his head and the wax his body, the ghost tossed his flickering hairline around and whispered his messages in a Will Ferrell-esque fashion. The second ghost was apparently very similar to the way he appeared in the book; he started out as a jolly giant man, but things took a jarring turn when he transformed into a disintegrating skeleton.

It is the third ghost that was a little terrifying; this is why you might not want to bring kids.

But more problematic than being scary was the confusion that arose out of this ghost’s appearance. The ghost of Christmas future appeared silently, dark and ominous. But there was a confusing sequence where the ghost chased Scrooge, then chased him from horse-drawn wagon, and suddenly Scrooge had shrunken to the size of a mouse.

Jim Carrey isn’t classic Carrey in this film; a restraint comes from the character. He played Scrooge without emotion; Scrooge wasn’t necessarily mean and awful, he was just boring, hardened and lacking warmth. Carrey’s character resembled him facially, but was impossibly thin and curved. Unlike his portrayal of the Grinch, this time his anti-Christmas character did not have the laughable, sarcasm. Instead Scrooge was disturbingly cold, but

commanded sympathy as the film progressed.

Carrey also voiced all three of the ghosts. Gary Oldman voiced Bob Cratchit, Jacob Marley and Tiny Tim, while Colin Firth voiced Scrooge’s nephew Fred. The other characters in the film were not memorable, fading into the background behind Jim Carrey’s performance. Carrey’s nephew Fred was warm and cheerily impatient, and extended invitations to Scrooge despite the lack of interest demonstrated by his uncle.

Since I don’t have to worry about spoilers, I’ll tell you: the ending was very good. You’ll leave the theatre with a sugary, warm feeling from Scrooge’s reunion with his nephew.

The previously bleak, dark streets that Scrooge was chased through and flew

over the night before are brimming with unbounded joy, Christmas decorations and caroling.

In this adaptation of A Christmas Carol - maybe because I’m

older and the characters are not being acted by the Muppets - I really got the sense that Scrooge was a sad old man that had lost any semblance or love and self-reflexivity. At the conclusion of his experience, instead of withdrawing into an isolated regret, he turned his attention outward with a newfound sense of joy and love. It is truly the kind of story that suits the holidays because it is sincere, in a season that is rampant with forced cheer and over the top expressions of love.

•Grace Evans

C8 • the silhouette’s art + culture magazine

say it ain’t so

music

thursday, november 19, 2009

andy’s kevin elliott discusses the artistic decline of weezer and their subsequent release, raditude

I’ll give Rivers Cuomo some credit for being unique in one aspect: he goes against the grain. Instead of being like every clichéd high-school geek, who is a lame fool at the beginning of the movie and is the cool nerd who gets the girl by the film’s end, Cuomo has taken the reverse path in his life.

Honestly, can somebody please tell me what the hell has happened to Rivers Cuomo over the past few years?

He used to be a really cool guy; he almost single-handedly innovated rock music when his band Weezer got big in the mid-1990s with the release of their massively successful debut, self-titled album by introducing a geek-oriented, catchy, yet still reflexive and provocative genre. Indeed, Weezer’s socalled Blue Album is matched only by Green Day’s Dookie and The Offspring’s Smash as marking 1994 as a pivotal year in rock music: the death of grunge, the punk-rock revival, and the birth of pop-punk. Cuomo continued the trend of being a smart, talented, cool nerd for the next decade or so, and his song-writing remained sharp throughout.

Two weeks ago, Weezer released Raditude, the band’s seventh full-length album, and I might as well be blunt: it really sucks. Then again, is anyone really surprised? Of course, I knew Raditude was probably going to be bad when the album title was revealed (thanks Rainn Wilson). I knew the album was probably going to be bad when the album cover was released (ugh). Finally, I knew the album was probably going to be bad after the band’s most recent colour-coded, self-titled release was largely a disappointment. Raditude reflects a worsening trend that started with the Red Album of

a serious Weezer regress. Perhaps Cuomo’s absence from the sphere of academics has hindered him so severely, he feels lost. The dude attended Harvard University intermittently since 1995 and graduated in 2006 Phi Betta Cappa, all while being a famous rock star and continuing to write and release incredible music — which is cool, or I guess, was cool.

Admittedly, the album’s opening track and lead single is kind of catchy. “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” begins with a nifty little, fast-paced acoustic guitar melody, quickly joined in by the drums and bass, and Cuomo’s trademark adorable vocals. The chorus too has a notable sing-a-long quality to it. Think 1950’s rock-and-roll, Buddy Holly (the actual Buddy Holly, not “Buddy Holly”) and Green Album/Maladroit-era Weezer all thrown into a blender at once. Heck, the song itself would probably be better suited for Spike Jonze’s innovative Happy Days-inspired music video than “Buddy Holly” was.

The lyrics are cute (falling in love with a girl, spending the summer with her, being nervous about meeting her parents, etc.), but they get tiring as early as the second track. Of the album’s ten songs, seven of them are about high-school love/girls, two are about partying, and one about irresponsible, adolescent reckless abandon. There are two problems here: Cuomo is almost forty years old; and, he has previously proven that he is able to write much more introspective and meaningful lyrics (I refer you particularly to Pinkerton). We’re beyond nostalgia as an excuse here: there’s a difference between writing critically nuanced,

nostalgic lyrics and writing poorly thought-out lyrics that could fit nicely into any Miley Cyrus or Jonas Brothers song.

“Can’t Stop Partying” is a narcissistic, Rivers-goesrap song, complete with dance beats, embarrassing lyrics, and Lil’ Wayne supplying unusually unsatisfying guest vocals; it sounds like he’s reading the lyrics instead of rapping them.

“Love Is the Answer” is what you’d get if Bono decided to take a shitty U2 B-side and adapt it for a Bollywood soundtrack — I’m not kidding. “In the Mall” — the only song not written

by Cuomo, but instead by drummer Patrick Wilson — is dominated by a grungy and overly simplistic guitar riff which would make Kurt Cobain himself blush. Oh, and it’s a song about dickin’ around in a mall, in case you were wondering.

“Let It All Hang Out” is the only song that resembles classic Weezer, as it could’ve easily been taken from the Green Album or Maladroit with its pop-punk structure and effects-heavy guitar. A rarity on Raditude, the lyrics, while similar in content to the other songs, are still subtle enough to not be obnoxious or annoying.

Still, it is now apparent that Rivers Cuomo has lost his mind. Does he even know that he is no longer the voice of a youth generation? Please, somebody tell him before the Yellow Album is released, in which every song is about how much the forty-one year old Cuomo likes to pick up girls at the club and drive a Lexus.

As for Raditude, if you must listen to it, I suggest listening to Pinkerton immediately afterwards to cleanse your ears.

•Kevin Elliott

thursday, november 19, 2009

under the radar

it leaked www.it-leaked.com

off the web natural news www.naturalnews.com Natural News is a great independent website if you’re looking for information and news on natural health and the environment.

I’m a natural remedy type of girl and I absolutely love this website because I can find information about pretty much any natural health topic as well as news about the latest medical and environmental issues/ controversies from the flu vaccine to global warming. There are informative articles, opinions, interviews, podcasts, nutrition guides, links and discounts for supplements, and much more.

•Anne Hussain found magazine www.foundmagazine.com Similar to PostSecret, Found Magazine offers the opportunity to take a brief glimpse into the life of a stranger. The site is a collection of found objects, ranging from shopping lists to love letters. Some of the finds are funny, some are heartbreaking and others are completely bizarre. It’s very easy to spend hours perusing the finds.

•Roxanne Hathway-Baxter

It-leaked is a comprehensive database of almost every genre and artist of music you can think of. This invite only site is user generated, and pumps out anywhere from a couple dozen brand new albums a day; and the bonus is that all of the links are to sites where the album is free. It-leaked allows invited users to search their favourite artists, download all their music for free, and then be rewarded for uploading links to file sharing sites where users can do the same.

Because there is such a crackdown on torrent sites such as Pirate Bay, It-leaked provides the beautiful alternative of being able to download leaked albums weeks before their retail date, without the risk of someone watching your IP address.

•Matt Wright if you make it www.ifyoumakeit.com This website provides plenty of free ways to discover wonderful, new music that generally falls under, but not limited to, the punk banner. The Pink Couch Sessions has bands playing acoustic versions of their songs on, you guessed it, a pink couch. There are various records that can be downloaded free of charge as well as live songs from shows. Have a peruse one afternoon and you will no doubt find something you love. Recommended: watch Heathers’ Pink Couch and download Busman Holiday’s EP. •Ben Small

the silhouette’s art + culture magazine • C9

zine beat

Bill Daniel’s Mostly True: The West’s Most Popular Hobo Graffiti Magazine Vol. 19, No. 7. Microcosm, 2008.

Jack Kerouac once remarked: “The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candle.” For Bill Daniels, author of zine Mostly True: The West’s Most Popular Hobo Graffiti Magazine, the mad ones are the hobos and rail workers of early 20th century America, iconoclasts free from the confines of borders and state lines. Hobos and railroad men alike leave both crude and elaborate sketches on boxcars and trains as effigies to the transient life of the railway and perhaps metaphorically, a fleeting world.

Home is only a nice place to visit, not a place to live.

This “rail zine” of boxcar graffiti and folklore combines stories, interviews, sketches, historical anecdotes, and photographs to create a collage of a forgotten generation of artists who lived on the rails.

Daniel loosely weaves rumours, hearsay, and fact with nostalgic passion, and perceptive wit, to document the hypnotic and crazy world of railroad graffiti artists. A tidy system

of regimented panels or a sustained narrative thread might give the material more structure, but a cleaner design would only make the zine’s content less natural, less spontaneous, and therefore less poignant. Daniels aspires to be as authentic as the Americana art form he depicts and in this he succeeds admirably. The sprawling pages give depth and breadth to the fascinating life, and beautiful artwork of forgotten freight train legends. Bill Daniel’s zine is an intensely interesting and absorbing read for the road.

•Michael Clemens

C10 • the silhouette’s art + culture magazine

music

thursday, november 19, 2009

making community

brantford’s the racoon wedding talk to andy about their musical roots Americana-styled music has become one of the vogue, underground sounds of the past half-decade. Yet the Canadian, and indeed, Southern Ontario roots of this music isn’t often discussed. One of the most striking features included in the recent book Whispering Pines, musicologist Jason Schnieider’s fresh exploration of the Canadian roots of Americana music, are the Southern Ontario place names that gave birth to this strong musical heritage — towns like Simcoe, Oshweken and Brantford.

Hailing from the geographic heart of this storied musical history is Brantford based five-piece The Racoon Wedding.

Their music is very much indebted to that of seminal 1970’s folk-rock outfit The Band — taking hometown pride in the sounds of group whose members were largely raised in the tiny villages which surround their city.

“I think that [our] main influence,” The Racoon Wedding’s front man Tim Ford explained to me, “would be Brantford and the history and the future of it. I mean, that’s the only thing that we feel like we can write about because that’s the only thing we know. Musically [though, our influences are] all over the place. I mean, we all come from like punk backgrounds, but we also

listen to The Band and folk records.”

On their new disc, Gather Gather Bones/Rattle Rattle Truth, on tracks like “Basement or the Attic,” the group pays tribute to The Band. “That was just sort of a little wink and nod,” Ford explained.

“We knew it kind of sounded like a Band song and I didn’t want people thinking that like we’re a total rip-off [group].

That’s just a wink and a nod to sort of say, ‘yeah, it’s definitely influenced by it.’

“Musically [they’re] the band that we always sort of look at because they’re just the best band of all time,” he joked.

“Obviously there is just like the music [which] is extraordinary. And I really like Robbie Robertson’s lyrics and [the way] that they’re very specific,” Ford continued.

“What he is writing about is a very specific time in history, but it’s very [approachable].

Anyone can listen to it. There is a lot of mystic with them, and a lot of mystery.”

“That’s just sort of the lyrics that I always love. [It’s] like when Bruce Springsteen sings about specific streets in New Jersey, but someone in England can listen to it and still be entranced by it and still accept the music. I really like those things — you can be so [geographically]

specific, but … you don’t need to be from [there] to know what [he’s] talking about.”

“No matter where you’re from, that’s what shapes you and what makes you the person you are,” he continued. “We like everyone to know we’re from Brantford, but if we go to Kitchener, we want them to know that its totally cool that they’re from Kitchener… and that they should embrace that and totally look into the history of Kitchener and of Hamilton or wherever they’re from. Being from Brantford is specifically about us, and we write that because that’s what we write about. If people take anything from [our] music, it’s just to embrace their own hometown pride.”

The idea of hometown pride is an important concept for The Racoon Wedding – especially coming from a Southern Ontario hard luck city that doesn’t necessarily embrace its past, or its local art scene. “[Local music scenes have] a lot to do with the people who don’t necessarily belong to the ‘community,’” Ford explained.

“There [are] a lot of people out there who don’t like going to fairs and don’t like going to the football game and I think independent music and music as a whole connects to a whole different kind

of people,” he continued. “And so if there’s a guy out there who doesn’t feel like he’s involved in anything, [and he] starts writing a song on the guitar and starts playing, … you know, there [are going to] be a hundred kids who see him and I think that really builds confidence in people in the community.”

That community, he explained, “is the only thing I feel, you know, obligated to write about — I don’t really sing about girls or whatever. I like singing about Brantford. So no matter what band I’m in, I think [the music] is always going always go in that direction.”

“I think any support is necessary.”

Ford continued. “I mean, you don’t have to play an instrument to love music. Every person that comes to the Ford Plant [the allages club that he owns] or any venue to see a band is supporting in a way that should be done. People take it differently if you start a band and you start playing locally that brings people to the club and the club helps the band because they’re giving them a venue to play — it’s all connected.”

The Racoon Wedding’s debut album, Gather Gather Bones/Rattle Rattle Truth, was released in stores earlier this month.

•Corrigan Hammond

thursday, november 19, 2009

classic review

in stereo

the silhouette’s art + culture magazine • C11

featured review

Recorded in 1967, The Velvet Underground’s début has, in the decades since its release, become recognised as a gritty antithesis to the brightness, magic and pyschedelia of the ‘Summer of Love.’ The standout darkness of The Velvet Underground & Nico quickly established the album as one of the most influential recordings of all time – and has led many critics to label it the first punk-rock record.

As Brian Eno famously remarked “even though hardly anyone bought Velvet Underground recordings at the time they first

appeared, nearly everyone who did formed their own bands.”

Among those who first heard The Velvet Underground & Nico was a then unknown Detroit, Michigan native Iggy Pop. Although as he would later recall, “the first time I heard the album, I fucking hated it,” the future punk-rock icon quickly changed his mind about the album. “About six months later it hit me,” Pop continued — “this is just a fucking great record!” Because the jarring sounds of the album were such a powerful departure from any other music ever before recorded, an entire generation of musicians would have similar recollections about the record.

What set the record apart from the all other music being recorded at the time was the group’s absolute disregard for the mechanics of music. They weren’t worried

The Balconies The Balconies

Russian Circles Geneva

The Wooden Sky If I Don’t Come Home You’ll Know I’m Gone

The Lawrence Arms Buttsweat and Tears

Grabbing your attention right away with some fast-paced strumming contrasted with delicately powerful picking and catchy, funky bass lines, The Balconies self-titled debut brings new light to the concept of boy/girl fronted indie band.

While bassist Stephen Neville’s voice teeters dangerously close to sounding like “Love Shack” by the B-52’s, his sister Jacquie’s powerful vocals and catchy guitar riffs are enough to keep you interested until his more Morrissey-like vocals grow on you. With passionate bass lines perfectly pumping up the intensity of Jacquie’s vocal freak outs, tension rises beautifully to create some awesomely executed choruses particularly in the track “Ghost Fever.” For only three people, The Balconies catchy chants, deadly bass lines, surprisingly infectious guitar style, and divergent vocals are uniquely magnetic.

•Trevor Roach

Chicago’s instrumental trio Russian Circles comfortably rest at the midpoint of a bridge between sludgy metal and experimental soundscapes. Each song pleasantly chugs along and builds upon a dark tension wholly attributable to the fortified rhythm section. What is most refreshing is that the songs sound neither jammy nor loose; it seems that nearly every note was precisely conceived. Both guitarists flirt extensively with sound loops, aiding in the construction of a surprisingly lush sound despite the modest size of the band. The album’s strongest is easily “Melee” which begins with a vibrating bass line that drones under a subtle arrangement of classical strings. Geneva remains compelling throughout and skillfully lacks the needless noodling so common to instrumental music.

•Josh Parsons

The Wooden Sky’s second album, If I Don’t Come Home You’ll Know I’m Gone is both musically and lyrically stunning. The folk-influenced guitar style is backed with heavy drums that drive the tracks and give them an undeniable strength. Sudden changes in dynamics demonstrate power but there is a noted softness present through the cameo roles of pianos, woodwinds and violins.

Lead singer, Gavin Gardiner, sings eloquently about moving on and emotional growth in “Bit Part,” and “When We Were Young” is a great anthem for youthful abandon.

The stylistic diversity of the album is interesting and demonstrates the talent of this up and coming band. If I Don’t Come Home You’ll Know I’m Gone combines beautiful lyrics and expert instrumentation to create an emotional trip that is more than worth listening to.

•Roxanne Hathway-Baxter

After ten years as a band and three years since their last album, Chicago’s hardest working punk band brings us their long awaited EP, Buttsweat and Tears. The Lawrence Arms rip through five new tracks of their own brand of raw, catchy punk rock. Melodic riffs and whiskey-soaked vocals drive relatable lyrics about love, loneliness and booze in the American Midwest. Despite the title, this EP plays like a soundtrack to the common existence of individuals in an urban drudgery with a scathing wit that punctuates every heartfelt line. From hanging out with your best friends late into the summer night, to sitting alone at a bar in the dead of winter, the music manages to encompass all the highs and lows into a genuinely sincere and honest delivery that hits close to home.

•Chris Hoy

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Velvet Underground Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)

about melody. They weren’t worried about rhythm or timing. The result was a powerful sound that no selfrespecting record label would have ever released. And indeed, had it not been for Andy Warhol’s visual fascination with the band, their music would have been damned to obscurity. However, his intervention granted the band a platform to be heard and forever altered the future of rock and roll music.

•Corrigan Hammond

Dashboard Confessional Alter the Ending

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Dashboard Confessional’s new album Alter the Ending is nothing like Dusk and Summer, or A Mark, a Mission, a Brand, a Scar. From the beginning of the guitar riff of the track “Get Me Right,” it is clear that it is heavily influenced by Jimmy Eat World.

This album is a return to the rock genre but still holds true to Carrabba’s strong emotional lyrics.

The songs on this album aren’t as relaxing as the songs from Dusk and Summer, but musically they are more structured. The song “The Motions” embodies the image of Dashboard’s sixth studio album, energized and infused with clarity. This album seems to present conflicts but the songs push to resolve them in a hopeful way, a somewhat foreign idea to the emo genre.

Even though this album is more rock, the band has also made a deluxe version available which includes acoustic versions of each song. While the band has changed, they still stays true to their roots. Also with the transition in sound it is apparent that the band has refined their craft, and Carrabba’s vocals stay strong with an improvement that is undeniable.

The sound on this album isn’t revolutionary but it is a step in a different direction for the band. This may be risky but it is still a satisfying album, the power of which comes from Carrabba’s amazing lyrics that intertwine perfectly with guitar-driven rock.

•Catherine Brasch

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C12 • the silhouette’s art + culture magazine

music

thursday, november 19, 2009

his way canadian crooner matt dusk talks good news with andy Matt Dusk’s latest disc, Good News, is a significant musical departure from his older work — the straight-laced, Sinatra-esque crooner that defined 2004’s Two Shots and its 2006 follow up, Back In Town. “On my last record,” Dusk explained to me, “there were two tracks that [were] really … pop rock — I guess you could say especially on “All About Me,” … there were tones of electric guitar, distortion guitar, big sounding roomy drums.”

“When we were on the road,” he continued, “meeting all the people who would come to the shows, … when they would want to talk about something [it] would be “Back in Town” or “All About Me.” And I said ‘well, if those are the songs that are seeming to connect with my audience, then why can’t we make a whole record of that?’”

Indeed, Dusk spent a year and a half combing the world for the pop music gems to make up his new record. “If Nat King Cole or Frank Sinatra were alive today, there would be publishers who put out songs, and everyone would go record them, so I said ‘OK, I kind of want to put some original tunes on the record, but I also want to take an old school approach to recording music and making it pop,’” he laughed. “So I went out to some countries around the world with a knapsack, and I got some writers and wrote a bunch and then also found some number one songs that were big hits in other countries. A lot of times you’ll record a song and it will be a number one hit in one country but in the next no one will even know it exists.”

“You’ve got to think, when all those crooners were singing back in the day, in the forties and fifties, that was the pop music of the day. So why can’t we take a different approach to that? Why can’t we take an old school approach to making music?” Dusk said.

This desire to modernise crooner music has set Dusk apart from many of his peers, who, following the multi-platinum success of Paul Anka’s Rock Swings album in 2005, have taken the opposite route of performing contemporary hits in a very traditional way. As a result of his more adventurous approach to music, a number of opportunities have come Dusk’s way — particularly when U2 front man Bono gave him his first single, “Two Shots Happy, One Shot Sad,” that had originally been

written for his late hero Frank Sinatra.

“Bono is, and always has been, a big fan of Sinatra. Back in the early nineties they did a duets record. Sinatra [recorded with] all these younger pop stars and Bono, being a huge fan of Sinatra, did “Under My Skin.” And after that Bono said ‘Frank, I’m going write you a song,’” Dusk explained.

“So he took a bunch of time and for six months he wrote with The Edge. They wrote [‘One Shot Happy, Two Shots Sad’,] and he consistently pitched it to Frank. But Frank, you know, wasn’t recording music, so he never did it. And then on Frank’s 81st birthday they had this big birthday bash with all these artists performing, and Bono was like, (sighs) ‘Frank, I’ve pitched this song to you I don’t know how many times, but [since] there [isn’t] any time better than now, I’m going to perform it for you one last time.’ And he sang it. And it was recorded.

And then, obviously because he knew that Frank would never record it, he put it out as a B-Side on a single back in 1997.”

“But then … nothing happened with the song— it was just kind of a piece of U2 history,” he continued. “But then our publisher who worked with Universal was like, ‘dude, there’s a song and you’ve got to listen to it. I think it would be perfect for your record.’ So, we demoed it and we sent it to Paul McGuiness, U2’s manager, and he played it for them and they really liked it.”

“Then we got this opportunity to play on this TV show called The Casino, and [Survivor producer] Mark Burnett … said ‘I want to use this as a theme song, but I don’t want to pay for it.’ So they contacted U2’s publishing company … and said ‘we want to use this, can we use it?’

Because U2 [is] very, very particular about how they synchronise their songs with TV and video, and they were like ‘this is going to be a great shot for Matt, go for broke.

The song is yours.’” As a result, not only was Burnett allowed to use Dusk’s version of “Two Shots Happy, One Shot Sad” on the program, but Dusk scored his first hit.

Dusk’s latest album, Good News was released in stores on Nov. 10. He will be in town, playing at Hamilton Place Studio on Sunday, Nov. 22.

•Corrigan Hammond