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Stationary: A Recession Era Musical features honest songs about dead-end jobs

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EIC
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Photo courtesy of Luca Ragogna.
Photo courtesy of Luca Ragogna.
Photo courtesy of Luca Ragogna.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re stuck in a job you don’t like just to pay the bills, or you’re just waiting for your life to start, you’ll relate to Stationary and its cast of young, unsatisfied office workers.

The set looked like a typical office with claustrophobic cubicles, a reception area, and a management office. There was also the cliché of a blooming romance between the cute receptionist (Lizzie, played by Christine Quintana), and the office nice guy (new kid Aiden, played by Anton Lipovetsky).

This group of exceptionally talented actors and musicians brought the story to life through relatable songs like “Monday” about the struggle to get through that first work day of the week, and “Comin’ for You” about the fantasy of taking out revenge on a terrible boss.

The theme of feeling stuck in a dead end job and waiting for the start of one’s life runs through this show. The characters feel their lives are stationary — not just in terms of their careers, but also in a financial sense, being unable to afford houses, for instance.

Britta (Claire Hesselgrave) and Mel (Meaghan Chenosky) hate their jobs and their boss Anna (Mishelle Cuttler), and resolve to quit if Mel doesn’t get the new Assistant Manager position; Ana, meanwhile, is eyeing Brad (Brian Cochrane) for the role.

Anna’s diatribes are so well written. I loved lines such as, “I don’t understand where the breakdown in communication occurred,” and “You have a tendency to get overwhelmed and make mistakes, so I want to support you by making things as clear as possible.”

Britta stood out as my favourite character. She played the disgruntled, fed up, hungover office worker we all know and love, and I loved both her authentic disdain for her job, and her passionate singing about hurting her boss. Lipovetsky as the naïve, bright eyed Aiden, also gave a great performance, and Cochrane added some hip hop flair with his witty rap songs.

The best part about this musical was how integrated the instruments were. Anna’s desk, for example, flipped open to reveal a piano underneath, and a few musicians sitting in the cubicles at the back of the stage seamlessly emerged to join in with the musical numbers.

For anyone who knows what it’s like to drag oneself to a job while waiting for your real life to begin, this musical will have you shouting in solidarity with the cast, and inspire you to quit your dead end job before you’re stationary for too long.

Stationary: A Recession Era Musical was presented by Delinquent Theatre April 21 – May 2 at The Cultch. For more information, visit thecultch.com.

The Peak is hiring a distributor for the Burnaby campus

By
Peak Web
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0
- SFU

We are looking for an individual to distribute The Peak to approximately 40 newsstands across the Burnaby campus. If you or someone you know is looking to make some extra cash over the summer semester, please send a resume and brief letter of intent to [email protected] by Thursday, May 7 at 9:00 p.m.

Purpose: The Burnaby Distribution Coordinator exists to deliver physical copies of The Peak to stands in a timely and efficient manner, to collect information on circulation and pickup, and to maintain The Peak’s distribution infrastructure at the SFU Burnaby campus.

Duties:

  • Responsible for meeting courier at the Burnaby campus and receiving each new issue of The Peak
  • Shall distribute an appropriate number of copies to The Peak‘s distribution points at the Burnaby campus
  • Shall keep track of the number of unused copies on each stand in this jurisdiction, report these numbers to the Business Manager on a weekly basis, and dispose of unused copies in the appropriate recycling boxes
  • Shall inspect all distribution points at the Burnaby campus at least once mid-week and restock and tidy as necessary
  • Shall ensure each Peak newsstand in this jurisdiction is kept tidy and clean from posters and graffiti and that the area around the stand is kept tidy
  • Shall dispose of unauthorized advertising materials placed on Peak distribution points and report large-scale unauthorized use to the Business Manager
  • Shall maintain all Peak newsstands including cleaning, painting, and coordinating replacement of damaged or stolen boxes
  • When necessary, shall attend all Peak employee meetings
  • Other related duties as requested by the Business Manager, Board of Directors, or Collective

Qualifications:

  • Must be self-motivated, able to work and fulfill expectations without direct supervision
  • Must be capable of carrying large stacks of newspapers and use a hand truck

Other details:

  • Hired on a semesterly basis
  • 4-6 hours per week
  • Paid $100 per week
  • Preference given to students of SFU

The Peak is Hiring for The Tartan Magazine!

By
EIC
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0

Are you looking to be a part of SFU’s first student-run magazine focused on long-form journalism and creative writing?

The Peak Publications Society will be producing a special 50th anniversary magazine called The Tartan as a pilot project for a potential semesterly magazine, and we need a team to make it a reality.

We’re hiring for four exciting positions including a Managing Editor, an Associate Editor in charge of non-fiction content, an Associate Editor in charge of fiction content, and a designer! Links to the job descriptions are posted below. To apply for any position please send in a resume, a cover letter, and a portfolio of any editing, writing and/or design work which proves your skills to [email protected].

Managing Editor

Associate Fiction Editor

Associate Non-Fiction Editor

Designer

Applications will close at 1pm on May 20 for the Managing Editor position and May 27 for the other positions. Applicants for the Managing Editor position will be required to make a presentation in front of The Peak’s collective at a collective meeting on Wednesday, May 20 at 1pm and be given the opportunity to give a one minute speech and answer a minimum of three questions from collective members.The position will be determined by a vote while all other positions will be hired after an interview process.
For more information on The Tartan please read through the project’s proposal, The Tartan’s editorial policy, and the contributor and reader guide. You may also e-mail [email protected] or [email protected] to learn even more!

SFU observatory opens its doors

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EIC
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The Trottier Observatory opened to the public on April 17, 2015. - SFU Flickr
The Trottier Observatory opened to the public on April 17, 2015. - SFU Flickr
The Trottier Observatory opened to the public on April 17, 2015. – SFU Flickr

The SFU community has just become much closer to the stars drifting overhead.

The Trottier Observatory and Science Courtyard was opened to the public on April 17. It welcomed a crowd of almost 2,000 people eager to get a glimpse of what lies beyond our little blue planet.

Lying just east of the AQ on Burnaby Campus, the observatory was built over the course of the past two semesters and is intended to engage scientists and non-scientists alike.

For Howard Trottier of SFU’s physics department, this is a dream come true. A $2.7 million gift from the Trottier Family Foundation helped cover the $5.1 million cost of the project.

He explained that a major step forward for the project was SFU’s offering of the building site. Trottier offered, “I used to dream about having that spot, but I thought I would never ask because I would never get it.”

The surrounding courtyard features diagrams of stars visible in the night sky during the various seasons and a row of benches representing the light emitting spectra of astronomically important elements like hydrogen and helium.

In the near future, lampposts with power outlets will be installed to support amateur astronomers who bring their own telescopes. There are also plans to install a flat screen monitor on the interior observatory wall to show the telescope feed, as well as to stream it online.

Many attendees of the opening night were participants of SFU’s Starry Nights program. Founded in 2007, the free program brings together stargazing enthusiasts in order to satisfy their curiosity of space — weather permitting.

Starry Nights, hosted by Trottier, helps educate and train grade school children, parents, students, and teachers in the use of telescopes and the observation of stellar bodies. The program has given away hundreds of free telescopes to communities, grade-school classes, and families.

When asked about the choice to use astronomy for science outreach, Trottier explained that there are very few barriers to the average person from observing the night sky. “People can look at the sky with their eyeballs and see what’s out there without there being anything between them in that experience,” he said. “That makes it very accessible to people.”

That very experience had a lasting impact on a young Trottier when a camp counselor first introduced him to the night sky in grade six. “Eventually I got my own little telescope,” Trottier recalled. “I remember when I saw the rings of Saturn the first time, I’ll never forget it.”

What’s next for the observatory? Trottier said the next thing is encouraging students to use it, along with “figuring out how to use it.”

For those wanting to get involved and experience the majesty of space, Trottier emphatically stated that no professional experience or education was necessary. “You just have to be interested.”

Peak Publications Society board meeting agenda

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Peak Web
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Empty Conference Room --- Image by © Bill Varie/Corbis

Peak Publications Society Board of Directors Meeting Agenda

April 30, 2015

The Reef (Main Street)

Chair: Alison Roach

In Attendance:

Editor-in-Chief, Alison Roach

Collective Representative, Leah Bjornson

Collective Representative, Melissa Roach
At-Large Representative, Emma Kehler

At-Large Representative, Natalie Serafini

Maia Odegaard (Board Secretary, non-voting)

Guest, Max Hill

Guest, Brad McLeod

Regrets:

Lavpreet Parmar

  1.  Approval of Agenda
  1.   Approval of past minutes from April 9, 2015
  1. Tartan Magazine Pilot Proposal

Brad McLeod will present his proposal for a pilot issue of the Tartan Magazine. See Appendix A.

Motion: Whereas members consulted saw the benefits of launching a subsidiary, sister publication under the control of the Peak Publications Society, Whereas members felt a 50th Anniversary project would allow them to gauge student interest in a long-form journalism and creative writing publication, Be it resolved to approve the pilot project, “The Peak Publications Society presents: The Tartan: SFU’s 50th Anniversary Special,” as detailed in the attachment 1.0 (or w/e it is). Be it resolved to reallocate $2,885 from short-term investments to the pilot project budget.

  1. Removal of Features Editor Position

Motion: Whereas members consulted feel that weekly features coordinated by a Features editor are unnecessary, Whereas the Features section could be managed on a case-by-case basis by the Editor in Chief, Be it resolved to remove the position of Features editor from The Peak’s editorial staff.

  1. Change to Editor-in-Chief job description

Motion: Be it resolved to amend the EIC job description to include oversight and management of the features middle spread and back page.

  1. Employee Representative

Maia Odegaard to present a Katherine Gillard as a candidate for Employee Representative of the Board for the summer semester.

  1. New signing officers

Maia Odegaard to discuss the adoption of two new signing officers for the PPS’s bank account with Vancity Savings Credit Union, to replace Alison Roach and Leah Bjornson.

  1. Disciplinary Action

All guests will be asked to leave for discussion of this item.

  1.      Adjournment

_____________________

Peak Publications Society Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

April 9, 2015, 5:30 p.m.

Peak Offices

In attendance:

Editor-in-Chief, Alison Roach

Collective Representative, Leah Bjornson

Collective Representative, Melissa Roach
At-Large Representative, Emma Kehler

At-Large Representative, Natalie Serafini

Maia Odegaard (Board Secretary, non-voting)

Guest, Max Hill

Guest, Brad McLeod

Guest, Adam Van der Zwan

Guest, Joel Mackenzie

 

Regrets:

Employee Representative, Lavpreet Parmar

1. Called to order: 5:40 p.m.

2. Approval of agenda

3. Approval of past minutes from March 12

 

Natalie/Melissa

4. Financial update
Maia Odegaard summarized the Society’s finances through March 31, 2015. See appendix B.

5. Investment update

Maia reported on the status of the Society’s investments.

 

6. Changing signing officer on Investment Account

 

Motion: to appoint Maia Odegaard and Max Hill as the new signing officers for the investment account managed by Vancity Investment Management and administered by Raymond James.

Natalie/Emma

All in favour

7. Semesterly magazine proposal
The board discussed Brad McLeod’s request to go forward with a full proposal for a pilot of the Tartan magazine. Concerns regarding his initial proposal included the detailed financials, affiliation with The Peak, the transition of the features editor, and the hiring of staff for this pilot magazine.

 

Motion: The board tasked a working group composed of Brad McLeod, Max Hill, Leah Bjornson, and Maia Odegaard, to hold weekly meetings to solicit ideas from the collective and student body at large, and present a final proposal to the board at the first board meeting of the new semester.

Leah/Natalie

All in favour
8. Amendment to job descriptions re: promotional events

Leah Bjornson presented on behalf of Katherine Gillard, Promotions Coordinator.

Motion: Whereas the Promotions Coordinator requires the help of Editorial Staff Members to host events, be it resolved to amend the job descriptions of all Editorial Staff Members to sign up to represent The Peak during at least two (2) events during the semester.

Emma/Melissa

All in favour

9. News Editor and Associate News Editor SFSS election stipend

 

Leah Bjornson proposed an additional stipend for the editorial staff, in the event that they are required to go above and beyond their job descriptions, subject to preapproval by the EIC.

BIRT in the event that supplementary projects require editorial staff members to work beyond the requirements of their job descriptions, editorial staff members may collect an additional stipend based on an hourly rate of $15 for additional work with an estimated number of hours.

Emma/Melissa

All in favour
10. Distribution update

 

Maia Odegaard updated the board on the ongoing investigation of the distribution incident, which took place on Monday, March 23, 2015. The SFU security supervisor conducting the investigation, Jason Morlin, informed us that he had finished his review of the security footage of the loading dock and had determined who was responsible for placing the bundles of current issues in the recycling, However, as the incident involves an SFU student, and The Peak and its Business Manager are not affiliated with SFU, security’s policy dictates that the matter be brought towards SFU Student Discipline, and Morlin was unable to give us further details.
11. Making minutes and board meeting agendas available online

 

Task: The Chair of the Board will be required to publish the meeting agenda online 24 hours in advance of each board meeting, and the minutes will be published on the Peak website within one week of approval.

No vote.

 

  • Adjournment

 

7:00 p.m.

Vancouver Fan Expo: In the Artists’ Alley with Jaime Gervais

By
EIC
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Photo courtesy of Jaime Gervais.
Photo courtesy of Jaime Gervais.
Photo courtesy of Jaime Gervais.

It’s Friday morning and Jaime Gervais rushes around to pack the last of her things. As she checks to make sure she has her business cards and twin banners with her, a wave of excitement envelops her. The North Vancouver native is off to the Vancouver Fan Expo, but this year will be different from every other.

After wrestling traffic, Jamie arrives and is lead into the convention centre just before the doors open to the rest of the fans. An exhilarating feeling hits her as she reaches her table. This year, she is not just a fan, but an exhibitor. For the first time, she will be selling her own artwork, and on the other side of the table.

While some would be nervous in her position, Jaime is absolutely ecstatic to share her art and meet new people. As she laughs and shares her story with me, it’s clear that she feels completely at home.

The Peak: What got you into art?

Gervais: I love sci-fi, fantasy — anything. So, I used to draw when I was, like, holding a crayon [as] a little girl. And now it’s sort of gone into painting and now digital painting. So anything sci-fi, fantasy, with a lot of color I’m happy.

P: What was the first drawing you ever made?

JG: Oh, mermaids! And unicorns and Pegasus — that was what I was all about. So much fun!

P: Is this your first comic convention?

JG: I’ve been to conventions, but this is the first time been here as an artist.

P: What made you made you want to become an Exhibitor?

JG: When you see everyone’s beautiful art and you want to get yours better and you actually want to be there. I saw myself here; I thought I would love to be here selling my own artwork to fans as well.

P: Do you hope to get into comics at some point?

JG: I’m actually focusing on TV. I’m working in television and eventually film. I’d love to work on a marvel [film]. Hint, hint!

P: Alright, so what’s your dream Marvel project?

JG: Avengers. One of them. There’s going to be so many movies from that — I’m just waiting until my time.

P: If you could take a stab at designing one character who would it be?

JG: Thor. I’d love to work on Thor [. . .] to do different designs for him. But it’s hard to choose; there are so many other characters I love too. I have a really big thing for Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson. I love Coulson! But he doesn’t wear any outfits.

P: If you were to re-design Agent Coulson, what would you do?

JG: Probably armour like the Destroyer. I’d love to see him all badass in a mech.

For more information about Jaime Gervais and her art, visit jaimegervais.com. 

Arts Club adapts Raymond Chandler’s Farewell, My Lovely for the stage

By
EIC
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0
Photo courtesy of Benjamin Laird Arts & Photo.
Photo courtesy of Benjamin Laird Arts & Photo.
Photo courtesy of Benjamin Laird Arts & Photo.

Raymond Chandler’s iconic private investigator, Philip Marlowe (Graham Percy), is at it again. This time he’s on the hunt for Velma (Jamie Konchak), a blond bombshell who is rumoured to be dead.

Moose Malloy (Beau Dixon) is released from prison and wants to reunite with Velma to pick up their relationship where they left off. The police also enlist Marlowe to help them find Velma, but for different reasons. Along the way our private dick runs into jewel thieves, psychics, and femme fatale Annie Riordon (Emma Slipp), a girl who knows how to handle her men almost as well as she knows how to handle her gun.

Chandler set the precedent for hard-boiled detective tales, and this classic novel is translated film noir-style to the stage with beautiful videography, smoke, and versatile sets. The hazy feeling of 1940s Los Angeles comes across well, and the cast smokes, drinks, and fires their guns in almost every scene.

As Marlowe addresses the audience directly with his snide narration, his snarky character was almost as I imagined him. Somehow I pictured him to be more confident or have a different air about him as he delivers his dryly humorous one-liners, but Percy portrayed him as slightly more insecure than I remembered.

Marlowe admits that famous private detectives are always screwing up only to solve the case in the end, and one can’t help but root for him as he bumbles his way through the mess of information he is presented.

The clumsy love triangle between Marlowe, Riordon, and Helen Grayle (Jamie Konchak) felt a bit forced and unlikely at times, but I suppose that is the nature of this genre with men and women betraying each other as often as they change underwear.

The only thing that I felt was missing in some of the more serious scenes was a bit more emotional gravitas from Marlowe as he delivers poignant lines. These could have had more of a punch if given more emphasis.

Intrigue, romance, and plenty of scotch and cigars come together to create this enjoyable adaptation. With great lines like “Irritating people wear bowties because it makes it harder to strangle them,” this show is a lot of fun and is a must-see for Chandler fans.

Farewell, My Lovely is presented by Arts Club Theatre Company and Vertigo Theatre from April 2 to May 2 at the Granville Island Stage. For more information, visit artsclub.com.

SFU names new men’s basketball head coach

By
EIC
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Image courtesy of SFU Athletics
Image courtesy of SFU Athletics
Image courtesy of SFU Athletics

On Wednesday, SFU Athletics announced that Clan alumnus Virgil Hill will be the men’s basketball team’s seventh head coach.

“I was impressed with his experience, excited by his vision, and amazed at the level of support that poured in for him from the basketball community across the country,” athletics director Milt Richards said in a press release.

Hill, who played forward for the Clan from the 1989–90 to 1992–93 seasons and graduated with a BSc in kinesiology, replaces former head coach James Blake who resigned after going 38–90 over five seasons. Hill is the first SFU alumnus to take the job since former Toronto Raptors head coach and current Portland Trail Blazers assistant coach Jay Triano, who coached the team from 1989 to 1995, and under whom Hill started his coaching career as an assistant coach, a position he held for six years.

The Sarnia, ON native was previously the head coach of Laurentian University, a CIS school, from 2000 to 2007, and most recently served as the head coach at Collingwood School, a private high school where he also taught math, as well as strength and conditioning.

“What I want to bring to the team is a sense of togetherness and community. When I [played] there, that was the overarching message from the coaches [that] we were part of a bigger family, the SFU athletics community, the SFU community as a whole, and the community of Burnaby,” he said.

Part of that building a sense of community would include reaching out to local basketball communities and visiting schools with motivational talks, but a large part of it would come with an emphasis on recruiting locally.

“The first part of that is having an eye on local recruiting. Obviously, we want to win, so there has to be a balance between enough of the local BC kids, and you cautiously sprinkle that with recruits from other parts.

“When you have kids from the area — or close to the area — that gets people supporting you, because people want to support the local kids,” he noted. “I think when you get some of those kids playing for you [. . .] you’d be surprised at what other doors open in terms of other aspects of support.”

Hill indicated that he will not bring back the full throttle offence that Blake had adopted for the team last season. The style gave the Clan an exciting game, with the team leading the NCAA Division II in scoring offence with 104.2 points per game and never shooting below 75 points (the previous season’s lowest scoring game resulted in only 49 points for the Clan) — but it only resulted in three more Great Northwest Athletic Conference wins than the season before, and a 6–12 record in the conference.

“I’m just not sure that was the right way to go,” Hill said. “We will certainly slow down and have a little bit more deliberate offensive taste to us, and hopefully that turns into a stronger defensive stance at the other end, where we’re not giving up 100 points, or where we’re having to score 120 points to win a game.

“That type of offence just puts too much pressure on your offence because you’re forced to score a lot of points, and it’s tough to score 100 points a game. So I think that playing a little bit slower, a little bit more deliberate [. . .] makes more sense.”

Hill, who has been on the job officially since Monday but working “on this for two weeks or so,” noted that he only saw one game last season, and due to NCAA rules he is not allowed to watch the team play until September, which makes it difficult for him to evaluate the talent he has or who will even be playing come fall.

“I’ll get to see what players are going to leave, who is going to stay, what other players are interested, what recruits are in the mix, where those kids are at in their decision, because when a coach is announced or once a coach is fired, the kids could ask for a release,” he said.

“I have a few kids in mind [to recruit]. it’s balancing [recruiting] with what kids are staying. Do I want to turnover the entire roster, [or] do I want to turn over some of the roster?”

MFA student presents mixed media collection about the perception of light

By
EIC
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0
Photo courtesy of Emiliano Sepulveda.
Photo courtesy of Emiliano Sepulveda.
Photo courtesy of Emiliano Sepulveda.

Directed out the window following the light, the current exhibition at the School for the Contemporary Arts office, is an installation of mixed media assemblages by Emiliano Sepulveda, a first-year MFA student. The exhibition is based around the phenomenological perception of light, and is composed of elements such as photographs, contrast filters, mirrors, and hand-drawn text. Through the use of reflective surfaces and obliquely placed 4×6” photos, the installation creates a disorienting sensation within the context of the office space.

The Peak: In your artist statement for the exhibition, could you elaborate on your description of “the built environment as an active agent in creating perception?”

Emiliano Sepulveda: What we perceive is influenced by what we expect to perceive when we know we’re going to encounter a particular thing around a corner, what we actually perceive, what we think we perceive, and what we remember perceiving. It’s all constantly in flux and full of gaps.

P: Within the context of Woodward’s as an institutional space, how do you see your work altering the way in which the built environment of the office creates perception?

ES: It is easy to focus on how institutional spaces are oppressive, but I am more interested in trying to carve a nurturing space out of that, something that is more generous. A couple people have mentioned to me that they saw the piece working very strongly as institutional critique, which was heartening because it seems to me that there is a potential for creating a criticism of a space that leaves room for other experiences.

P: Because your work involves light, how would you describe the light of Vancouver?

ES: The light in Vancouver is definitely a very particular thing. It has its own personality and idiosyncrasies. It lends this soft focus to everything, even in the summer. All the glass condos downtown interact with it in a very imagistic way that turns so many things into a picture.

P: Your work incorporates material elements such as pink cord and foil emergency blankets that call to mind outdoor survival, or at least outdoor preparedness. Are you using these materials in reference to their intended purpose?

ES: The safety materials have a connection to well being, and maintaining health, and often materials that have this emergency or safety purpose also have a certain relationship to light. In the case of the emergency blanket, it literally reflects infrared light from your own body back at you to keep you warm. The common pink of the cord and the filters is something I find really beautiful. In my drawings I tend to only draw with black or magenta.

P: What qualities do you look for in the photos to include them within your work?

ES: I look at what sort of relationship to light they represent, for example, the visible flashes of light and light leaks. These are moments where the light does not behave as to how we intend it and becomes this sticky elemental and untamable power that resists our desire to order it. I like these photographs because they resist being images, which means functioning as narratives and they function more as objects. This is something I have been thinking about for a long time: how a photograph can exist as sculpture.

The SCA Office (GCA 2860) is located on the second floor of SFU Woodward’s. The current exhibition is open to the public during office hours until April 17.

 

Staying weird at Fan Expo Vancouver

By
EIC
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0
Photo courtesy of Jamal Dumas.
Photo courtesy of Jamal Dumas.
Photo courtesy of Jamal Dumas.

I wandered into the Vancouver Convention Centre, apprehensive about attending my first-ever comic book convention. However, the crowd was as diverse as they come, and the enthusiasm and good nature demonstrated by attendees was out of this world. The cosplaying was as epic as expected. The best cosplayers inhabited their characters’ personalities. This full committal to their role separates the pros from the amateurs — well, that and comically large weapons.

Of the many quirky goings on at the Expo, the one that stood out the most was a spontaneous rendition of the Rocky Horror Picture Show classic “Time Warp,” dance included. This was done in the middle of the vendor stalls and amongst the participants were two Deadpools, a Poison Ivy, and a cosplay Jesus. No word yet on how real Jesus felt about this.

During the course of the Expo I had the chance to speak with two artists working in entertainment; John Gallagher who is a concept artist for television and video games, and Nathan Fairbairn, a comic book colorist.

Gallagher has worked on games such as Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect, and television programs like The Flash. Speaking to his creative process when creating concept art, Gallagher said “I’m creating the page everybody has to be on. And I’m also dealing with a broad range of visual literacies. I have to draw the page so that everybody knows what it looks like.”

He also spoke about how the creative process in his industry has shifted. “We had a fairly kind of elliptical process of creating things, and now from what I understand it doesn’t work like that at all. But in the early days we were free to inform the game with things we thought were cool, and the other way around.”

Nathan Fairbairn is a colourist for comic books and graphic novels, frequently collaborating with Bryan Lee O’Malley on series like the wildly popular Scott Pilgrim. Said Fairbairn, “I think the colourist has a lot of jobs, but I think you can distill it to three things: colourists need to add mood, focus, and they need to add depth to the images.”

He elaborated, “If it’s a very intense fight scene or full of rage, you’re going to want to use a lot of red. . . to kind of amplify that mood. If it’s a very sombre page, you want to have very cool, desaturated tones.”

While trying to bask in the nerdgasm that is the Expo, I decided to try my hand at Archery Tag, which uses foam tipped arrows launched at dizzying but definitely not fatal speeds. As I was next in line, I was interrupted by a posse of Expo employees accompanying Scott Wilson and Chad Coleman, who portrayed Hershel and Tyreese respectively on The Walking Dead. I was delayed 10 minutes while waiting for their photo-op to conclude. I snidely remembered that their characters had been killed in the show. Clearly their archery skills were not up to par.

The Q and A sessions for the day were packed. The one that appeared to attract the largest audience was that of actor John Barrowman, who stars in Arrow. Barrowman was a hit from the moment he stepped on stage, cracking obscene but hilarious jokes. The audience showed interest in Barrowman’s work against bullying and his advocacy for LGBT rights.

This year’s Fan Expo was an exhilarating, if slightly overwhelming, intersection of a wide variety of fandoms all coming together with a single purpose in mind: to celebrate popular culture and nerd culture. And also to be a little weird. Stay weird, nerds. Stay weird.

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Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

Contact us: [email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society 1965-2024

Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

Contact us:
[email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society 1965-2024