The Silhouette

Mac rides crowd support in first Welcome Week home game since 2003. see page 7

McMASTER UNIVERSITY'S STUDENT NEWSPAPER / THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

www.thesil.ca

The Silhouette VOLUME 80, NO. 4

Est. 1930

CAW 555 rejects final offer from University CAW Local 555 represents 2200 staff at McMaster University, which include the administrative, The Canadian Auto Workers and technical support staff. Andrea (CAW) Local 555 has rejected the Farquhar, the director of public and university’s final offer. Bargaining government relations at McMaster began between the union and the University, explained that the university approximately five process began with discussing and months ago. Since then, there resolving small issues, which up to have been exactly 21 days at the date have composed approximately bargaining table. Unit one of the 95 per cent of the contract.

SELMA AL-SAMARRAI SENIOR NEWS EDITOR

The last bargaining date was Aug. 20. At that point the university requested the option of presenting a final offer to CAW through a vote administered by the ministry of labor. The vote was held on Sept. 2, where 62 per cent of the union members voted down the university’s final offer, with a voter turnout of 79 per cent.

Near the end of August,

58 per cent of the union members voted in favour of a strike, which is less than the two-thirds of union members required to call a strike, according to CAW constitution.

Following the Sept. 2 vote, the CAW Local 555 website posted the following message, “the unacceptable clawbacks tabled by the university have been firmly rejected by you. It’s time

for the university to drop their strong-arm tactics and get back to the bargaining table to negotiate a fair deal that reflects the contributions that we make to the McMaster community. Contrary to the university’s misleading communications, there is no strike action planned at this time.”

Some of the key issues that • PLEASE SEE P3

Frosh Week ‘09: USS lights up Faculty Hollow for McMaster students on Tuesday night’s Welcome Week concert

JONATHON FAIRCLOUGH / SILHOUETTE STAFF

Sewage overflow tank being constructed in west parking lot LILY PANAMSKY

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

Construction in the Southwest corner of parking zone M continues through the fall. Proposed and begun by the city of Hamilton in April 2009, the project was designed to create a new Combined

Sewage Overflow (CSO) tank on the McMaster University campus.

The underground tank will span an area of 6,000 cubic-meters and collect excess sewage and rainwater.

Director of Security and Parking Services Terry Sullivan explained the reason behind the

CSO tank construction on campus.

“What happens is, a lot of the times the sewage becomes too much for the system to hold, and especially in high rains, it floods and it floods into the creek [at the back of the Cootes conservation area].” The CSO tank will serve as a holding reservoir for the sewage

until the rain subsides. Once this occurs, the water will be able to be transported to the treatment plant.

The City of Hamilton is funding the project and any required improvisations.

A temporary ramp has been erected to maintain a vehicle passageway through the existing zone M

exit gates and, due to travel impediments, a new shuttle bus stop has been established. This new, permanent bus stop is slightly farther than the one it replaced, thus causing parking patrons walk more to reach the stop. Sullivan maintains that there are many • PLEASE SEE P3

inglorious indeed The latest from Quentin Tarantino flops in this Andy editor’s opinion.

Andy, P12

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THE SILHOUETTE • 3

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

Construction delays expected

Mac students celebrate Frosh Week

will be directed to the underground parking lots beside the Ron Joyce benefits of this change: “…it saves Stadium. The underground parking mileage on the bus; it also saves lots are $54 more expensive per fuel, it’ll save [approximately] month, but the City of Hamilton 26,000 liters of fuel, of diesel fuel, has agreed to pay the difference of the parking pass just by cutting out rates. this particular loop, The project was Lot M is able to over the course be over 100 per cent expected to be of the year [when adding up all of] completed by Aug. booked because of the new parking the buses.” The 25, just before system developed city is building a the start of the by Security and cement pad for the parking zone and semester, but the Parking Services. a is implementing deadline has now Previously, enhancements such been pushed back lottery system was as overhead lights at least two months. used when selling parking permits. and emergency Singh explained phones to cater to that a few years back, “the zone M parking patrons.

The project was expected computers would generate a list, to be completed by Aug. 25, just and the top 1200 or 1500 would before the start of the fall semester, get parking, and the rest would be but the deadline has now been on a waiting list”. After studying pushed back at least two months. parking trends over the past couple Sullivan and Parking Supervisor of years, Security and Parking Sandra Singh stated that the Services realized that, at any given lateness of the project has led to the time, not all of the spots were loss of about 460 parking spaces. taken.

Therefore, parking passes Singh explained the university’s temporary alternative to the are now being sold over capacity problem. “Well we’ve spaced it so that more spots will be in use at on 1200 parking spaces in Lot M, all times of the day. Sullivan thus and we’ve allocated 140 per cent assured that anyone who requires a of the lot to undergrad parking, parking permit will be able to get and any overflow in parking lot one, despite the recent setbacks P at that point.” Further overflow due to the construction.

• CONT’D FROM 1

WILL VAN ENGEN / PHOTO EDITOR

WILL VAN ENGEN / PHOTO EDITOR

WILL VAN ENGEN / PHOTO EDITOR

Negotiations over outstanding issues continue • CONT’D FROM 1 have prevented a final resolution between the university and CAW include selecting pension plans and post-retirement benefits for future employees, changing job position evaluations and increasing wages.

The current pension plan is the Defined Benefit Plan where employees and their employer pay into the pension plan with every pay cheque. The Defined Benefit Plan also estimates the employee’s pension based on their years of service and their income.

The university is now proposing to change the pension plan for future employees from the Defined Benefit Plan to a group Registered Retirement Savings plan.

According to Farquhar, the major difference between the two is that, with the defined benefit plan, employees have no control over what goes into their pensions or whatever investments occur within their money. On the other hand,

the group RRSP allows employees more control and portability over their money and what investments go into them.

Farquhar explained that the reason that hesitation might have occurred regarding this issue is due to concern over the new lack of funding to pensions. “I think there’s been some concern that if new employees aren’t joining the defined benefit plan, how are we going to keep having money to go into pension? We’re responsible under law to ensure that the benefit is given to any member of the plan until all those benefits are paid.”

Another outstanding point is job position evaluations.

CAW members feel that they are not included in the process of rating job positions that determine how much the employee gets paid for them.

The negotiations regarding post-retirement benefits are due to the university’s proposal that future employees contribute to the fund that allows them

to continue receiving medical and dental insurance when they retire. Farquhar explained that the lack of ability to estimate future medical and dental care of retirees makes budget planning difficult.

Therefore, the university proposes that future employees become part of a health program where they also contribute to their benefits.

Farquhar explained, “When they retire they will still have benefits but it will be paid for out of that fund, so it’s not an outgoing cost for the university, the fund has to absorb the cost.” Members of CAW do not accept the current plan, which would affect future employees.

The wage increase offers presented by the university include a 5.85 per cent increase in wage every three years, on top of the average 2.7 per cent wage increase given every year anniversary.

The university has also offered a 1000-dollar signing bonus for employees working over half time, and a 500-dollar signing bonus for

those working less than half time.

Farquhar explained that this offer has been received favorably but remains unsigned, and therefore counts as an outstanding issue.

The next meeting that was arranged to resolve the outstanding issues will start on Sep. 16 and carry through to Sep. 18. The university and CAW will meet and a representative from the ministry of labour will be present where new options are expected.

According to Farquhar, if a strike were to occur, it would be very different from the York University strike that occurred early this year. “Access to campus would slow down, but campus would stay open and classes would continue. Its very unlike York, York closed. There aren’t any teachers [in this potential strike].”

Some of the changes that students might be facing include the lack of bus entrances on campus due to the picket line and hours may be reduced in some areas of the university. According

to Farquhar, the management group at McMaster has been working to ensure the university maintains most of its operations if the strike occurs. “There are 50 managers on campus, part of the management group at McMaster. Those people are not part of the union so they have to have plans to maintain the school and prioritize; what the essential things are that need to be done.”

Farquhar ensures that food services and physical plant maintenance will be operating incase the strike occurs because they belong to completely different bargaining units.

Regarding what the near future holds for McMaster, Farquhar explained, “the university’s bargaining team has been working very hard in this process. There are going to be limits ultimately to what that offer can be … and we’re just hopeful that the union will come forward with new ideas on how to reach that resolution.”

4 • THE SILHOUETTE

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

EDITORIAL Worth Repeating:

McMaster University’s Student Newspaper

The Silhouette

York gym implements women-only gym time

TheSil.ca

Editorial Board

By Ryan Buchanan Excalibur (York University)

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 Assistant Sports Editor David Koots 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 Ad Manager Sandro Giordano

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Out of place or right on the money?

As if in sync with the Welcome Week cheers you’ve heard and are probably sick of, Ward 1 Councillor Brian McHattie stood up and shouted “forget McMaster, let’s find another University for downtown Hamilton, more, more, more, more!”

Well, not exactly. He didn’t shout, but he did say that it’s time to reach out to other post-secondary institutions for the downtown core, according to a CHML 900 report.

Two things scream out about this: the fact that this isn’t McHattie’s own ward (ward 1 ends at Queen Street) and the fact that many see ward 1 as spoiled with McMaster University in it’s domain.

Some might say he’s speaking out of turn, asking where is Ward 2 (city Center) Councillor Bob Bratina? Others might ask why he would bite the hand that feeds – but should this be something that we should be expecting from our representatives? He is, after all, suggesting something for the better of all of Hamilton. McMaster has routinely scoffed at the opportunity of a downtown campus – half hearted attempts don’t count.

Yet here we find ourselves in the middle of Welcome Week – the peak of McMaster’s isolation – the most these students are encouraged to go off campus is for the PJ Parade.

So are these comments something that we, as residents of Ward 1, should be upset about? He’s not speaking for the direct benefit of the residents between Queen and Ancaster, but he is a Hamilton boy no matter how you cut it.

I’ll gladly join in on the cheering. The worst defining aspect of Hamilton is the barrier from Westdale and the rest of the city. Maybe McHattie is sick of the attitude of limiting students to Westdale. Or maybe he just wants them out.

• Jeff Green

Starting off the year right If you’re looking to volunteer at the Silhouette this year, simply attend one of the following sectional meetings, get to know your editors and go from there. Here are the times, with all meetings happening in the basement of the Student Center, room B110.

News: Wednesdays @ 12:30 pm InsideOut (Lifestyle): Mondays @ 1:30 pm Sports: Thursdays @ 1:30 pm Andy (Arts & Entertainment): Mondays @ 1:30 pm Photo: Fridays @ 3:30 pm Opinions: all opinions should be mailed to opinions@ thesil.ca, keep them 500-700 words

TORONTO (CUP) – Starting this fall, York University’s Tait McKenzie fitness centre will be implementing a women-only time slot for a portion of the facility.

An area will be specifically reserved for women during this allotted time, and men will not be permitted in the area. The plan was developed after meetings between the York Federation of Students (YFS) and Tait McKenzie administrators yielded a plan to implement the proposed change.

“Our campaign was aiming to secure women-only time at the Tait McKenzie Centre,” said Darshika Selvasivam, YFS Vice-President of Campaigns and Advocacy. “This is a campaign promise that we are very excited to fulfill.There have been requests from students to have available space for women to participate in the recreational facilities for some time, and now it’s finally going to happen.”

The time schedule for the initiative is still to be decided, as are many of the fine details, including whether or not more staff will need to be hired for the initiative. Students can expect to see its implementation sometime in the fall.

“We don’t have anything definitiv Around the York campus, many students appeared supportive of the idea.

“I think it’s a great thing,” said Reshma Patil, a second-year master of business administration student. “It is especially good for female international students who are used to going to all-female facilities in their native countries.

I think they can become selfconscious when they come here

and see that it is co-ed. I know I felt that way when I first came here. It could provide more women with the opportunity to use the facility.”

Navpreet Kaur, a firstyear sociology student, agreed with Patil.

“I don’t know why, but it just feels more comfortable to work out that way,” Kaur said. “So I think it’s a good idea.”

Zagross Motamed, a male fourth-year kinesiology student, disagreed with the idea.

“What if someone else wants to use [the gym] when the women are using it? Everyone pays the same to use the gym. It’s discrimination against men,” he said.

Other men, however, were supportive of the initiative.

Second-year business student Mathieu Milliand said he felt that women-only time might provide a more comfortable experience for female students, perhaps increasing the amount of women who use the facility.

“Having it restricted just for females might be good for some women,” Milliand said.

“There are women who feel like some men just go to the gym to stare at them, so they might be able to relax more this way.”

For students worried that women-only hours will affect their workout schedules, Selvasivam stressed that the initiative would not be a hindrance and that the women-only hours would not affect the men using the co-ed area.

“This isn’t going to impede on any of the current co-ed space,” Selvasivam said.

“This is a separate space that isn’t currently being used, so it’s going to be utilized for women-only gym time.”

to early production.

to farmville.

to p.g.’s tan.

to standardized tests.

to a.o.

to solar. ‘nuff said

to 1991. what a year.

to the smell he left behind.

to welcome week and wicked football games... keep it coming mac.

to moving all your shit at least once a year.

to new houses that need parties to be warmed. to the new staff.

to 2013. to the smell of a first year class at 8:30 am.. wake up earlier kids.

THE SILHOUETTE • 5

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

OPINIONS Uni gets easier with time

production office: extension 27117

Sorry Jim Balsillie, we Pressure of first year can be overcome have a team already Peter Goffin

OPINIONS EDITOR

How did we forget what it’s like to be in first year? Was it really so long ago, or were we just uniquely immune to the challenges of starting university?

A week ago, I helped my sister move into residence at Waterloo and, from I could tell, incoming froshes are still pretty much the way I remember being on day one. They are quiet, they are jittery, and though it doesn’t show, there’s probably at least a little bit of backpedalling going on, a bit of “why, God, am I here?”

Now, there must be at least a few people out there who actually like the early transition parts of first year. I don’t know why or how.

I don’t think they’re spectacularly well-adjusted. It’s more likely that they don’t have the sense to worry about the things that other people do. Or maybe it never really clicks for them that after Welcome Week ends there is, in fact, another eight months of school to go.

And Welcome Week was great, wasn’t it? Well sure it was.

It was structured activities and meeting new people and being guided by frosh leaders and residence advisors and having just enough independence to feel in control and pretty good. And there were no books and no heavy reading. But now there are classes to go to and a whole campus to navigate and notes to take and papers to write and readings to

read, like, every day. And there are lectures and tutorials and at least one person in each one who won’t shut the hell up for ten minutes and stop trying to prove how much smarter he is than everyone else and marks are going to start coming back any time now and maybe they won’t all be so great.

And the way we handle froshes, the way we talk to them, the way we try to appeal to them really doesn’t do too much to smooth the transition into postsecondary education. As they get dropped into what almost definitely seems like pandemonium, all we tell them is that they made the right choice and are at a great big school with hundreds of classrooms and really successful alumni and a terrific reputation. But all that doesn’t amount to very much comfort to a new student in the strangest place they’ve ever been. They’re already here and they’ve already paid their money.They ought to be reassured, not sold.

If they’re anything like I was – and judging by the faces in the res parking lot on move-in day, they are – froshes probably wouldn’t mind hearing that university is going to get a lot better than the first few weeks of classes and a lot less scary, too. They probably wouldn’t mind being told that all the problems they foresee for the immediate future will generally work out okay. They probably wouldn’t mind being told that they will survive university and won’t even have to struggle too much or

try too hard to do it. But nobody tells them any of that.

Nobody tells them that it won’t take long at all to learn every corner of campus and how to get around it. Nobody tells them that the dreaded final paper can be conquered, or that by second semester they will be able to, and probably will, take notes in their sleep. And the kid in their classes who loves to hear the sound of his own voice and won’t shut up? Well, he just becomes a slightly older kid who loves the sound of his own voice and won’t shut up. But it does get easier to ignore him.

It all gets easier. It all gets better than these first few panic-inducing weeks.

I guess that from a safe upper-year perch all of that reassurance sounds pretty obvious, like it should go without saying. But it does need to be said. Because even if it seems obvious that surviving university is possible at McMaster or Waterloo or any other school, it can do an apprehensive new arrival a lot of good to hear so. And it wouldn’t hurt, either, to know that just about everyone felt that way as a frosh at some point and managed to overcome it. Thousands of undergraduates do it every year.

But nobody tells them any of that stuff. So I will. Clearly. Listen, first years: you’re going to be okay.

Do you hear me? University isn’t so bad and it isn’t so hard. It’s survivable. Breathe, froshes - it’s going to be alright.

Remember your first day? University life won’t always be so unnerving.

WILL VAN ENGEN / PHOTO EDITOR

Hamilton Bulldogs have all the hockey action we need

Go get yourself some Bulldog pride.

Andrew Baulcomb OPINION

SILHOUETTE FILE PHOTO

all, the team boasts a veritable who’s who of All-Star players, and could easily make another run for The NHL regular season may be the Cup this year. But here’s the just around the corner, but the best problem. action money can buy is already For starters, a pair of right here at home—especially NHL playoff tickets isn’t exactly if you’re looking to take in some cheap. Even without a capacity playoff action. crowd, fans can expect to dish

Rounding out the out hundreds of dollars for a 2008/2009 season with an decent pair of seats—and that’s impressive 49-27-4 record, the • PLEASE SEE HAMILTON, 6 Hamilton Bulldogs entered the AHL playoffs for the tenth time since relocating from Cape Breton in 1996. This impressive run has included two division championships, three conference championships, three trips to the finals, and one Calder Cup title.

This is a far cry from the Bulldogs’ NHL-affiliate Montreal Canadians, who have claimed only one division title since their Stanley Cup run in 1993. The Buffalo Sabres, Ottawa Senators, and Toronto Maple Leafs have fared no better in recent years, missing the 2009 playoffs entirely after finishing tenth, eleventh, and twelfth, respectively.

With little or no playoff hockey in Ontario, Quebec, and Western New York, the next best option for taking in a game becomes Detroit. As the defending Western Conference champions and a perennial contender, the prospect of attending a Red Wings playoff game is pretty alluring. After

6 • THE SILHOUETTE

Hamilton hockey heroes

• CONT’D FROM 5 just to get in the front door.

Factor in concessions, parking, merchandise, accommodations, and transportation to and from Detroit and you can almost bankroll a week’s vacation in the Caribbean.

With the next closest options being Boston, New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and New Jersey, you may as well kiss those NHL playoff tickets goodbye— unless you’re willing to spend the money and tackle the drive.

Thankfully, all hope is not lost. If you’re looking for some great hockey and a little more bang for your buck, look no further than our hometown AHL club. We may take them for granted at times, but the Bulldogs truly are a blessing in disguise.

At least in the AHL, ticket prices are more than reasonable.

Take your standard NHL playoff ticket, divide the cost into quarters, and you can almost take a family of four to a game in Hamilton.

Several HSR bus lines run to and from Copps Coliseum from all ends of the city, and it’s always easy to hail a cab or find some cheap parking. For all of the games I attended last year, I don’t think my friends and I spent more than $40 apiece on our ticket,

transportation, and food. Trust me, it gets better.

The Bulldogs may be an AHL franchise, but the quality of play is well worth the price of admission. In the North Division alone, Hamilton plays regularly against the farm clubs for Detroit, Vancouver, and Toronto, not to mention a host of other NHL affiliates throughout the league.

On any given night, fans can expect a glimpse and past, present, and future NHL’ers, many of whom have promising careers still ahead of them.

Notable Bulldogs who have made the big-league jump in recent years include Carey Price, Christopher Higgins, Maxim Lapierre, Fernando Pisani, Georges Laraque, and Francois Beauchemin.

The latter won a Stanley Cup with Anaheim in 2007.

Current players like Kyle Chipchura, Ryan Russell, and Mathieu Aubin are also expected to make waves in the NHL, so you may as well see them live while you still can.

Bottom line—when it comes to playoff hockey at a reasonable price, you can’t beat the Bulldogs. Start with a few regular season games, and then settle in for the long haul. You won’t regret it.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

A benefit to befriending profs?

Your lecturers can be pretty likeable Joey Coleman OPINION

The student-professor relationship is the most important interaction that you will have during your university career. It is more important than the relationship you may have with any girlfriend or boyfriend or peer. You can replace your significant others and your friends but you are stuck with your professor. For better or worse, you are locked into each other for at least four months.

I’ve enjoyed many benefits from building friendships with my professors. In first year, I took an introductory Political Science course during the summer.

I worked hard in tutorials and made a point of debating course material with my professor during his Friday office hours. After a few weeks, the professor knew that I was a committed student who understood the course material.

Fast-forward to the final exam. It was my first non-multiplechoice exam and I soon became nervous at the prospect of writing an entire essay in 90 minutes. I answered the questions poorly

and expected to fail the exam. My exam paper came back with a “B” mark on it. When I went to the professor’s office to inform him of the error, he told me that there was no error. He had granted me a higher mark than I would have otherwise received because he knew of my ability and referred me to programs to assist me with future exams. My relationship with this particular professor saved my Grade Point Average, as well as my scholarship for the following year.

And it’s not just in the classroom that I’ve benefitted from these relationships. In the spring, I faced an unprecedented series of personal crises and was quickly

overwhelmed by them. I had no difficulty in securing deferrals for my assignments and exams, but I needed more. I needed someone to talk to. As I have strong relationships with a few professors, I was able to e-mail one of them on a Thursday morning to invite them out for breakfast that day.

At that moment, I had felt that the world was crashing down on me.

I left that breakfast feeling I could carry my world again.

These are just two of the many stories I could tell of times that knowing my professors resulted in a positive outcome for me. I hope that you have similarly positive experiences with yours.

GET AN EARLY START WRITE FOR OPINIONS AS SOON AS YOU CAN GET TO A COMPUTER. OR PEN. OR TYPEWRITER, CHALK BOARD, STONE TABLET, SIGNAL FLAGS. opinions@thesil.ca

Guilt and penance and flying rodents

Peter Goffin

OPINIONS EDITOR

I killed a bat. I hate to lay it on you like that, but that’s how it is.

I killed a bat in self-defense. He had entered my place of residence and, realizing that it was either him or me, I struck him with a blunt household object. I was fantastic, really. Quite brave. You would have liked me had you seen this go down.

But even so, and all that impressiveness aside, this bat business shook me up, you know, because, the way I see it, I hadn’t merely disposed of an airborne rodent, I had crossed a mortal line or something similarly ominous.

The point is, I had taken a life and that isn’t something I ‘m at all accustomed to or comfortable with. I’m not a killer, you see.

Please believe me. I mean, I’m not a vegetarian so I guess I kill for food. But that’s for survival. And sometimes for snack. And I don’t even do that killing personally. So even if I do kill by extension for very necessary sustenance, I’ve always been opposed to death in general and the precipitating of death in particular.You can see, I’m sure, what a blow this must have been to me. Not as big a blow as the one I inflicted on the bat, but still a blow.

There was blood was on my hands and my conscience was

hounding me over it, whispering Lady Macbeth soliloquies to me in my sleep. I was riddled with guilt and paranoia. Did my victim have bat family? Did he have bat friends? Were bats vengeful? Had I unwittingly left myself open to some kind of bat vendetta? And how the shit did a bat get into my house in the first place?

Most of all, though, what kind of person had I become? I had opened and walked through that door which is most difficult to exit by. I had crossed the threshold between man and god and forcefully separated a being from its living, breathing essence. I am become death.

What if I developed a

taste for this sort of thing? I could kill again at any moment. I would have to satiate my newfound taste for violence somehow. But how would I do that? Today it was the bludgeoning of a leathery hairy nocturnal ratty thing but that’s just where it starts. This is just the sort of traumatic event that could lead a person to habitual brutality. Tomorrow I could be an unrepentant swatter of people. Oh God, I’d probably end up buying a gun and camouflaged clothes and turn into one of those hermit-like nuts whose neighbours inevitably end up on the 6 o’clock news saying, “He was so quiet, I just can’t believe this happened.”

I wouldn’t be fit to live

in regular society. I’d have to volunteer for prison or even join the army. And the army would make me cut my hair. No, I couldn’t become that person.

“I’m sorry!” I finally screamed into the night, “Forgive me God or Dracula or whoever keeps track of these things! I didn’t mean it, I’m not a killer!”

And from that moment of wild and complete insanity came clarity. I wasn’t a killer. And I wasn’t going to go on a spree or buy a gun or become a mercenary. All I had done was kill a bat. I’m not a psychopath. But I will say this – if I ever see a bat in my house again, he’ll wish that I were anything that simple.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

SPORTS Football off to solid start for ‘09

THE SILHOUETTE • 7

e-mail: sports@thesil.ca production office: extension 27117

Baseball McMaster takes down Waterloo 52-21 in front of 5,678 fans title defense begins DAVID KOOTS

ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

The defending OUA Champion McMaster Baseball team kicked off their regular season this past Saturday with a 2-1 victory over the Toronto Varsity Blues at Bernie Arbour Stadium in Hamilton.

Graeme Copeland (Guelph, ON) and John McGregor (Ottawa, ON) both drove in runs in the bottom of the third inning to give the Marauders a lead they would never relinquish. Matthew Piccini (Mississauga, ON) pitched a complete game, striking out four while giving up just one earned run on four hits.

The champs were back in action the following day with a doubleheader against the always tough Brock Badgers. After being upset by the Marauders in the 2008 OUA finals and with several key players returning, Brock was looking for some revenge. In game one, McMaster jumped out to an early 6-0 lead after the third inning, thanks in part to two RBIs from first year player Cameron Ryerson (Mississauga, ON). But the lead did not last, as the Badgers stormed back with seven runs, including three in the seventh inning to win the game 7-6. Andrew Morales (Toronto, ON) pitched six innings for Mac, giving up one earned run on five hits while striking out three. the way to a 52-21 win.

During Morales’ fifth-inning, the performance by the O-line. Added defence gave up three runs due Ptaszek, “We’re going to ride them to errors. Phillip Murray-Smith as far as they’ll take us. They’ve (Toronto, ON) was charged with got lots of stuff they can clean up • PLEASE SEE MAC, 8 and get better on, but they’re big, they’re strong and they can play four quarters of football. They controlled the line of scrimmage and that’s why we won.”

In addition to his punting and placekicking duties, kicker Andrew Waugh (Perth, ON) made a touchdown-saving tackle on a punt return towards the end of the third quarter, looking like he was trying to give Ptaszek a late tryout for linebacker. The third year commerce student kicked two field goals and converted five touchdowns in the win.

A noted point for improvement over last season was the team’s ability to recover from mistakes. Waterloo’s Brian Adams (Kitchener, ON) blocked a Waugh punt in the first half, giving his team the lead. But this was the only lead Waterloo ever had as Mac was able to limit the damage and recover for a near-flawless second WILL VAN ENGEN / PHOTO EDITOR

Jordan Kozina powered through the Waterloo defence for a whopping total of 142 yards rushing on BRIAN DECKER SPORTS EDITOR

The cheers of 5,678 fans helped propel the McMaster football team to a dominating 52-21 win over the Waterloo Warriors on Labour Day, led by the offensive outputs of quarterback Ryan Fantham (London, ON) and running backs Jordan Kozina (Brantford, ON) and Joey Nemet (Burlington, ON).

“It was awesome, you know the crowd, the atmosphere. I know in all my years here before we didn’t have a crowd as rowdy like that. It felt great to be on campus,” said Kozina of the first game on campus during Welcome Week since 2003.

With just over a minute remaining in the first half, Mac took a 12-7 lead on a 53-yard touchdown from Fantham to slotback Kevin D’Hollander (London, ON) and stretched that lead to 12 early in the third quarter after Fantham and D’Hollander connected again, this time from 35 yards out. Fantham also threw a short touchdown pass to Matthew

Peressini (Hannon, ON) midway through the same quarter to blow open a 28-7 lead. The pair would hook up later in the fourth quarter to add to the Marauder lead.

While Fantham, D’Hollander and Peressini were finishing plays through the air, Kozina and Nemet were making life difficult for the Waterloo defence on the ground, combining to rush for 259 yards. Nemet enters the season having earned OUA second-team All Star status last season, posting 759 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns. Kozina is returning to the team after spending time with Rugby Canada in Victoria, BC since 2007. The 4th year history major earned OUA second-team All Star status in 2005 as a rookie.

A huge turning point in the game came toward the end of the second quarter, when third year defensive lineman Mitchell Heighway (London, ON) came up with an enourmous sack, energizing the crowd.

Shortly thereafter, Fantham and D’Hollander connected for their

first score. Apart from two late touchdowns well after the game had been decided, Mac’s defence proved to be a dominant force.

“It’s a symbiotic relationship.

We had 80 offensive plays which is huge and that’s because the defence is forcing two and outs and we’re running the ball, and so their offence didn’t get on the field much until that 4th quarter,” said Coach Stefan Ptaszek after the game. Waterloo all-time leading receiver Sean Cowie (Dundas, ON) was contained to 84 yards on eight catches.

In addition to its solid defensive line, Mac is returning its entire offensive line from the 2008 season including fourth year offensive guard, and OUA secondteam all-star Mike Hoy (Kitchener, ON) and fourth year offensive tackle and 2008 East West Bowl participant Justin Glover (Hamilton, ON). “[The offensive line] made my job very easy today.

I was protected very well, I didn’t take too many hits so that was a big key to our success today,” commented Fantham on the solid

• PLEASE SEE SOLD-OUT, 8

8 • THE SILHOUETTE

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

McMaster rugby teams begin quests for OUA championship glory BRIAN DECKER SPORTS EDITOR

Sold-out home crowd propels team to win

WILL VAN ENGEN / PHOTO EDITOR

• CONT’D FROM 7 half. “If you saw the game in 2008 against Waterloo, we had the exact same thing happen and we couldn’t recover… 2009 is a different group, they recovered before halftime and then put them away in the second half, so I’m not glad it happened but I’m certainly happy with the response to it,” Ptaszek said after the game.

While the team received a well-deserved standing ovation

leaving the field, the Marauders have their sights set on challenges ahead, including the CIS 7thranked Queen’s Gaels on Saturday.

“We set our standards pretty high for the season, so you know [Coach Ptaszek] was saying this is our starting point and there is work to do, so we’ll just keep on getting better every week,” said Kozina after the game. Mac will take on the Gaels at Richardson Stadium in Kingston at 1:00 pm.

After a season in which they claimed their second consecutive OUA Championship, the McMaster Marauder Men’s Rugby Team is back for more. With a majority of its core retained, and a strong recruiting class bolstering the roster, a three-peat appears to be within striking distance.

Key returning players include flanker Kevin Noble (Dundas, ON) back Shawn Windsor (Stoney Creek, ON), winger Grant Schneider (Oakville, ON) and OUA West MVP Keegan Selby (Lindsay, ON). Selby led McMaster with seven tries, ranking him second in Ontario. The 6’2” openside flanker took home the award in 2008 for the second

consecutive season.

The 2009 rugby recruiting class has been labeled as the best since 2002 by coach Dr. Phil White, with four national and three provincial team members joining the squad. White expressed his excitement, saying “[The] 2009 rugby recruit class is the strongest since the 2002 group that included 3 players (Dan Pletch, Mike Pletch and Aaron Carpenter) who would go on to represent Canada at the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Each of the six incoming players bring something different to the table, encompassing any of power, height, athleticism or skill.”

Mac took home its fifth rugby title in seven years in 2008, fighting out a grueling 18-10 victory over Queen’s.

The team kicked off its

season on the road Wednesday night against the University of Toronto. The score was unavailable at press time.

While the Men’s team looks to repeat its dominant 2008 season, the Women’s team will be looking to improve on its OUA Bronze Medal last season. The team will return two OUA AllStars from 2008, including 8-man Natasha Turner (Palo Alto, CA) and CIS All-Canadian flyhalf Paige Churchill (Brantford, ON).

Centre Nina Bui (Toronto, ON) and 8-man Sarah Van Hoof (Lindsay, ON) were also named OUA AllStars last season. The team won the bronze medal in a tightly contested 10-8 victory over the Trent Excalibur. The 2009 season kicks off Saturday at home versus the York Lions.

Mac splits weekend doubleheader with Brock • CONT’D FROM 7 the loss after coming in to pitch in the seventh and giving up the crucial seventh run.

In game two, Marauder ace Chris Piccini (Mississauga, ON) took to the mound and picked up where he left off last season, pitching a complete game and giving up one run on eight hits

while striking out four. Piccini was the winning pitcher in the OUA Final last season, and was equally impressive this time around.

Apart from his pitching duties, Piccini, the reigning OUA Most Valuable Hitter, went 3-for-4 and scored two runs. The Marauders had a big fifth inning, scoring five runs on route to a 7-1

victory.

The Marauders played another home doubleheader at press time Wednesday, taking on the 3-0 Western Mustangs. The team’s next action takes place on Saturday, as the team heads to Kitchener-Waterloo for a doubleheader against the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks.

THE SILHOUETTE • 9

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

INSIDEOUT

production office: extension 27117

SEX STEEL What is love like in a brain?

CITY Explaining the science of love in chemical terms AND THE

PHYLLIS TSANG

ASSISTANT INSIDEOUT EDITOR

Before you fall in love with that new acquaintance in class or at the gym, have you considered what is going on in your brain?

For centuries, humanity has understood love as a matter of the heart. Love has been the subject of artists, songwriters, poets and playwrights. However, in recent decades, love has also found its way into scientific research as researchers attempt to unravel its mystery. What they have found is that the magic happens in the brain, not the heart.

Everyone who has the experience of falling in love would know something about intense feelings and attractions, racing heartbeats, and sweaty palms.

While people blame Cupid’s poisoned arrows, scientists blame the chemicals at work in your brain.

One key chemical, which explains feelings of attachment called oxytocin, is a cuddle hormone released during life experiences that involve intense emotions like birth, breast-feeding, and sexual climax. In 1993, behavioral neurobiologist Sue Carter, who studies extensively on social bonding and parental behavior, examined the brains of prairie voles to understand their monogamous and bi-parental behavior.

This behavior is only

practiced by five per cent of mammal species. Unlike the other 95 per cent, male and female prairie voles remain attached monogamously for life after mating, and raise cubs together. A key to this behaviour, according to Dr. Carter, is the release of oxytocin.

She found out that in monogamous voles, oxytocin receptors are planted in brain regions associated with reward and pleasure, making long-term commitments to their mates preferable and separation undesirable.

Another key chemical needed for bonding is dopamine, an important neurotransmitter as well as naturally-produced “pleasure chemical” associated with the reward system of the brain. It provides feelings of enjoyment and reinforcement to motivate people to do certain activities.

Helen Fisher, a renowned anthropology research professor at Rutgers University and the author of Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love, believes that dopamine, which is also associated with other forms of addiction, is what gets us hooked on romantic love.

Fisher stated, “When our subjects [in experiments] look at a photograph of their sweetheart, one of the main parts of the brain that lights up is the ventral tegmental area, a tiny little region that makes dopamine and sprays it around the brain. Dopamine is a natural stimulant. It gives you ecstasy.

It gives you focused attention. It gives you motivation and goaloriented behaviour. It’s associated with arousal and, at very high levels, anxiety and fear.”

Her hypothesis is supported by results from fMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) which looks at blood flow in the brain to detect neural activity.

Through controlled experiments and fMRIs, scientists are able to identify regions of the brain that are responsible for love. Furthermore, researchers found out that maternal love and romantic love mediate at regions specific to each but overlap in the brain’s reward system, creating a pleasurable emotional bond between humans.

Progress in scientific findings has provided a lot of answers about love that we have never known before. But is this all there is known about love? Is love nothing more than an emotion sparked by chemicals? Could a human still love in the case of chemical deficiency? What about moral obligations in a loving relationship?

Stay tune for the second part of this two-part Sex and the Steel City series.

Meanwhile, consider whether you would accept an apology from your unfaithful boyfriend or girlfriend on the basis of a lack of oxytocin receptor in the Chemicals in our brain hold the keys to love. brain.

Sudoku

TECHTALK

Welcome, iTunes 9! iTunes 9 has been released! Beyond the redesigned iTunes store, cleaned-up navigation system, and the return of album gallery, there are two other reasons why we are stoked about the new release.

First is the new app management – with an interface that simulates your iPhone, you can rearrange apps and shop the app store at ease. Second is the home sharing function that allows you to share music, movies, and TV shows with five authorized machines on your network. New purchases made on any of the machines would be added to your library automatically.

Say goodbye to CD burning and

TERRY SHAN / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

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iTunes 9 made improvement in syncing.

USB transferring to import contents! With seamless syncing and enhanced features, Apple never disappoints.

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Come write for InsideOut! Contact us at: insideout@thesil.ca

10 • THE SILHOUETTE

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

Getting to know your McMaster

With countless areas of study, getting to class is just the beginning students will find their experience defined by more than cheers. Dean of Engineering Dr. David Wilkinson chose one word to define the Engineering experience: “engagement.”

He cited specifically experiential learning and involvement with Engineering events.

The faculty has a number of specialized programs, a brand new strategic plan entitled Engineering a Sustainable Society, and a new building in the works.

Indigenous Studies The Indigenous Studies program is not affiliated with a faculty, but it is a disciplinary program that students can combine with another subject in their second year. In terms of experience, Acting Dean for the Faculty Rick Monture said, “We find that it really opens [undergrads] up to a kind of history that they are unaware of, even if they have lived in Canada all of their lives.” He stressed that many students in the faculty are of non-native descent, and everyone is welcome to study or take certain courses within the program. With approximately 80 students currently enrolled, the program is small but growing.

For many students, first year is an opportunity to get acquainted with a new school and a new lifestyle. The Deans, an overview of McMaster’s faculties. Get to know your school.

Assistant Deans, and Directors of each “Students learn real world knowledge that campus during Welcome Week, especially faculty expressed a similar pride for their will stay with them in their future careers,” with their fiery leaders, the Red Suits. But areas of study, and certainly a desire to she said. Dr. Thompson also mentioned now that Welcome Week is over, Engineering answer questions.

DeGroote’s MARS apprentice, Canada’s Next Top Ad Exec, and Five Days for the Homeless. Check out the DeGroote School of Business building; the architecture and rooms are worth a tour.

Health Sciences B! BHSC! You’ll probably hear this Health Science chant around campus if you haven’t already. There are five undergraduate programs in this rowdy faculty. The Director of Education Services, Dr. Susan Birnie, explained a number of characteristics that, in her opinion, make Health Sciences an innovative faculty at McMaster. She stated that certain factors defined the student experience, including “Interprofessional experiences, small group tutorials, [and] a problem-based, person-based or inquirybased curriculum.”

Arts and Science ArtScis unite! Arts and Science students are stereotypically a close-knit bunch. The programs’ independence from a faculty is one aspect that makes it unique. Arts and Science Director, Dr. Peter Sutherland, noted a few others. “The students have a strong sense of community,” he held, “partly because the program size is small… partly because they have an excellent “home base”…and partly because they have a shared interest in issues of public concern.” With a highly interdisciplinary approach and a rigorous admissions process, Arts & Science supports a high standard of education and involvement at McMaster.

Humanities Bold and in blue this week, the Humanities Hummers are representing those working toward a Bachelor of Arts at McMaster, in any of eighteen areas of study. From Art to Women’s Studies, this faculty almost covers A to Z. Many courses are open as electives or minors to students in other faculties.

Studies in Humanities comprise a multitude of perspectives; there is a new way to look at the world for every course this faculty offers.

Engineering The Engineering Faculty is tough to miss on PHOTO CARE OF MCMASTER ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Class of 2013, let the learning begin with LINDSAY JOLIVET INSIDEOUT EDITOR

Hey, class of 2013, are you all cheered out and ready for classes to begin? Now that your fellow students are no longer colourcoded, take some time to get to know what students of various faculties will be buckling down to study from today until April.

Science The Faculty of Science is looking colourful this week, because each of the faculty’s seven level I programs is sporting their own style of T-shirt and chanting their own cheers. This faculty covers a broad range of disciplines. Associate Dean of Science Dr. Alison Sills stated plainly what made Science a McMaster faculty worthy of envy: “Our strength and breadth of programs, our research strengths at all levels from undergraduate to professor, and all the while, we’re a small enough group that we can care about all our students and ensure that they can reach their full potential.”

Social Sciences There is no hiding for social sciences this week with their bright yellow outfits, and that’s just the way they like it. This frat house is made up of 12 academic areas. Associate Dean of Social Sciences Dr. Susan Watt explained her faculty’s goals. “Each area has a disciplinary perspective which seeks to understand the thoughts, behaviours, and perspectives of individuals and families, organizations and communities around the world.” Watt also said that Social Sciences aims to transform students into engaged citizens of the world, with issues of social justice in mind.

DeGroote School of Business and Undergraduate Commerce Program Playfully self-named the “Commies,” the first year undergraduate commerce students can be seen sporting “abercommie and rich” shirts this week. Besides their expensive taste, directors of the Degroote School of Business feel this faculty adds something unique to McMaster. Communications officer for the faculty Dr. Julia Thomson had plenty to say about DeGroote’s contributions, inside the classroom and out.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION AVA DIDEBAN / MULTIMEDIA EDITOR

andy

THE SILHOUETTE • 11

INSIDE

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

arts and entertainment

baby you’re a rich man

andy delivers the scoop on this week’s new beatles’ reissues The last time the Beatles catalogue was reissued was in 1987. The emphasis however, wasn’t on the audio quality of the recordings, focusing instead on the physical act of making content available on the new CD format. As a result, an entire generation of Beatles fans have grown up listening to, what many critics have asserted, are subpar versions of some of the Fab Four’s seminal discography.

Indeed, as anyone who listened to the group’s 2006 experimental Love remix album can attest to, on those old Beatles CDs the audio sounds flat and dated compared to the infinite sonic possibilities and musical potential of the digital era. After fours years of dedicated work though, it looks as though Sir Paul McCartney and company may have finally realized the music’s potential.

Each cut on each disc is beautifully cleaned up as the dense and carefully layered details of the music are subtly realized for the first time in over twenty years. Hearing these remasters isn’t like listening to a replica of the old recordings, like the 1987 set attempted to do, but rather, like experiencing the quality of audio that you would expect from a top grossing contemporary act releasing a new album. The remaining Beatles have taken the

time to go through each track and not only enhance the audio – bringing up the bass on the drums, treble on guitar or spreading out the sound for a more full, room filling experience– but they’ve also taken time to correct some of the band’s notorious flubs. Gone, some critics complain, are some of the technical flaws, like Ringo’s famous drum stool squeak midway through “A Day in the Life,” that gave the records a distinct flavour— although most listeners, myself included, who never noted such imperfections, will be awed by the new vibrancy brought to their old favourites.

Then there’s the old packaging, which, predating the now industry vogue digipaks, now seems big and bulky in those ugly plastic jewel cases. The sleek packaging for the new fourteen reissued discs is almost like a mini-version of the old gatefold record sleeves – an effort to imbue them with a timeless quality capable of transgressing the disposability attached to so much music in a twenty-first century cultural landscape obsessed with free content. Branding, the catchword-du-jour for the savvy businessperson, has in recent years never been far from Sir Paul’s mind. Through the new digipak packaging, he hopes to once again align the group and their music with

the big tickle

pertinent social issues – this time climate change. And like a number of his fellow sixties classic rock alumni – everyone from Bob Dylan (who began experimenting with special edition digipak packaging for the 2003 reissues of Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde), to CCR and Leonard Cohen who reissued comprehensive back catalogues last year, the Beatles have recognized the potential to utilize new and creative packaging as a medium to both produce albums in a more ethical manner and present cover art as “it was originally intended to be.”

Strangely though, the same attention to detail that has produced a beautiful production – that trademark Beatles’ obsession with creating music that is both uncompromisingly artful and undeniably popular may prove to be the project’s critical undoing.

While, without a doubt, the music deserves to be presented in its fullest and most vibrant potential, the barrage of hype that has preempted the 09/09/09 release date has produced a number of sneers that the new reissues are merely a cash grab – particularly since many Beatles fans and collectors already own very comprehensive collections of the group’s music. It isn’t uncommon to find Fab Four fans

compiled by will van engen

“strawberry fields forever.” ben taunton

“elinor rigby.” chris holowatyj

who, not only own the complete Beatles discography on CD, but also on vinyl record, cassette and sometimes even eight-track.

Nothing was left to chance with regards to the project’s success.

Not only did the surviving Beatles, Ringo and Sir Paul, reunite on stage this past summer— offering the pair a rare moment of genuine glee and excitement following a glut of bad press for both men over the past few years, but, in an effort to compliment the glut of Beatles brand merchandise that began appearing in stores last spring, the group even coordinated the release of the fourteen discs to coincide with their very first video game, The Beatles: Rock Band. Even the date of the remasters was strategically chosen to coincide with John Lennon’s famous and mythologized

karmic fascination with the number nine— bucking the normal industry practice of issuing content on Mondays in Europe and Tuesdays everywhere else, and insisting on the once in a thousand year opportunity of 09/09/09.

Many observers in the record industry will be curious to see whether the high-quality physical product being placed in stores, complete with limited edition mimeograph posters and bonus DVD documentaries, will sway sales away from online digital music retailers like Amazon and iTunes. Some stores have even offered trade-in deals on old Beatles CDs. That said, enjoy – forty years since disbanding, The Beatles have never sounded so good nor been as musically relevant.

• Corrigan Hammond

q: what’s your favourite beatles song?

“let it be.” david said

“i want to hold your hand.” milana sobhi

12 • THE SILHOUETTE

the fun in dysfunctional alison bechdel’s “fun home” graphic memoir In the same vein as Augustan Burroughs or David Sedaris, Alison Bechdel has written a book about her dysfunctional family that is personal, poignant, and yet absurdly eccentric.

Bechdel’s Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic is a graphic memoir, drawn in black line art with

a gray-green ink wash.

The graphic memoir follows Bechdel’s upbringing in rural Pennsylvania, focusing on the complicated relationship between Alison and her father. The book parallels both figures’ quests for their

own sexual identities in two contrasting generational viewpoints. Bechdel illuminates the intersections between personal identity and literature, resulting in a book heavily littered with literary allusions. In Fun Home, Bechdel writes, “I employ these allusions ... not only as descriptive devices, but because my parents are most real to me in fictional terms. And perhaps my cool aesthetic distance itself does more to convey the Arctic climate of our family than any particular literary comparison.”

While Alison and her father’s relationship develop through the discussion of literature, books also play a huge role in Alison’s own sexual liberation and the formation of her identity. Reading Anaïs Nin, Our Bodies, Ourselves and other important feminist texts, Alison’s time at college is illustrated in the book as a beautiful, painful enlightenment. Other than sexual orientation and gender roles, there is also an emphasis on themes such as suicide, estrangement and death— given the family business is a funeral home (nicknamed “fun home”).

Fun Home spent two weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers list winning numerous awards. Several small towns in the United States have even unsuccessfully

an inglourious mess Tarantino can’t decide: Nazi’s or comedy?

Quentin Tarantino is undoubtedly talented, that’s obvious. He is a rare filmmaker whose pictures are immensely anticipated upon release — channeling a reverence of cinema through his signature dialogue and excessive bloodshed. Yet, for all his accolades, why is Inglourious Basterds merely, mediocre? Yes, the elements seem to play out to his palette of tricks with an outrageous premise titillating the senses. Even more so, he has the uncanny ability to extract a career-defining performance from an actor who has long been forgotten— or in this case, unknown to American audiences, Christoph Waltz.

In its truest form Inglourious Basterds resembles the aesthetic style of a comic book —a washout of everything that is over the top. From villainous to the heroic, Tarantino creates a world so enamored with violence that when the gunfire settles, a quiet moment has the distinction of either retaliating as an

awkward transition or a hint of something better.

The film opens up on a serene shot of the rural French landscape during the height of the Nazi’s reign. As a farmer and his daughters tend to their land they are visited by the films malevolent tour de force, Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). As the scene develops, one comes to understand the specific reason of the Colonel’s arrival through a tense, albeit tedious confrontation.

As the secret reveals itself through persistent interrogation Landa explodes with a balance of coy naivety and psychotic aggression, laying way for his unpredictability that comes to define his character as a Nazi.

The film is broken into chapters, cleverly devising the quickest solution to bookend heavy scenes of dialogue. The Basterds, in which the title of the film derives from, are not introduced until the 20-minute mark. A rough and tough gang of Jewish American soldiers, their mission pertains to the elimination of “Nat-zees.” Bludgeoning, scalping and humiliating their captives are all in a days work for the Basterds as scenes of brutal violence sit uneasily between comedic and disturbing. Brad Pitt leads the pack of mercenaries, boasting cocksure American pride while providing a kitschy southern drawl that emphasizes the film’s cartoonish tone.

The Basterds, for all intents and purposes, do very little to advance the plot. In fact, some of the weakest scenes in the film stem from their involvement.

Tarantino simply has not written their parts convincingly. While the film’s title leads one perceive of them as the main subject, they bizarrely play second fiddle to German officers and femme fatales. And therein lies the problem — enough time is not given to flesh out the Basterds, we see them just as actors. Brad Pitt doesn’t give a bad performance, just an over confident one. A

little less would have benefited greatly. The others (aside from Eli Roth and BJ Novak) are relative unknowns, so their identities blend into their background without much notice.

As for the rest of the picture, it tries desperately to intertwine its uneven storytelling — centering a good portion of the action on a young Jewish girl, Shosanna, played by Melanie Laurent. As the lone survivor of Col. Hans Landa’s unexpected killing spree, she finds refuge four years later as the owner of a local French cinema. When the Nazi’s become interested in her facilities for the release of their latest propaganda film, she obliges, secretly planning her ultimate revenge.

In the best scene of the film, Shosanna uncomfortably sits down with the man that almost ended her life, Col. Hans Landa. Waltz’s Landa subtly picks apart the

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

tried to ban the graphic memoir from their libraries. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic is an intelligent and moving graphic novel, one of the best I have ever read. You can find Alison Bechdel’s other work at dykestowatchoutfor. com.

• Grace Evans

Inglourious Basterds Starring: Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz Directed by Quentin Tarantino

HHH soul Laurent’s Shosanna, all in the presence of milk and pastries

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Tarantino’s indulgences run rampant, specifically as the opening night arrives for the propaganda picture. As the gala brings about every character in the film to the one location, even Adolph Hitler, a scene depicting Melanie Laurent’s character dressing for the occasion, set against an 80’s rock David Bowie croon, does little more than work as a music video. It enhances nothing for the story. The end finale results in a mess of betrayals, crude humour, revenge fantasies, and a visual manifesto.

Is Inglourious Basterds Tarantino’s magnum opus? Hardly. More like a filmmaker’s ego getting the best of him. Next time, he shouldn’t try so hard.

• Myles Herod