Around Town

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January 27, 2014

Woodwards

“When you try to picture the future what do you see? A world bursting with human potential, and the technology that liberates it? Or one defined by hard limits to growth, and the rural ideals of earlier generations?”

This question was posited by panelists at the event, How Climate Change Is Reshaping Our Future, last Wednesday, Jan. 22 night. Four of Vancouver’s leading speakers on environmental change (Jim Hoggan, Keith Gillard, Carleen Thomas, and Christie Stephenson) spoke on how global warming is already remaking “our entire culture.”

Surrey

SFU brought its first ever Teen Café, a Philosopher’s Café event for adolescents, to Surrey students last Tuesday. The free session, entitled “The Evolution of Bullying”, was held in the Surrey Centre Library and was open to ages 13-18. The discussion topic covered bullying in all its forms and how it is perceived, with an emphasis on cyber-bullying. The sessions are scheduled to occur monthly and will treat a variety of subjects, the next of which will be “Is Technology the New Drug of the Century?” on Feb. 18.

Vancouver

Last Wednesday, Jan. 22, social media manager for the Vancouver Canucks, Nicole van Zanten, spoke with SFU students on how to build and maintain the relationships you create at networking events.

Hosted by the Communications Student Union at Take 5 Café, this event saw van Zanten share her personal experiences from working with the Canucks, where one of her most important jobs is ensuring the fans have “a truly unique and engaging time via the Vancouver Canucks’ social platforms.”

Rising tuition fees are a slap to the face

By

EIC

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January 27, 2014

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SFU, I hate your ridiculous international school fees!

SFU is yet again increasing tuition fees by an additional eight per cent, on top of the already basic two per cent increase per annum. I am not the only one growling at this injustice. As an international student, I already pay $595 per credit, almost four times the amount locals pay. SFU wants to increase that by another ten per cent each coming year? Pardon me while I scoff. And curl up in a corner.

But it isn’t just SFU. According to Statistics Canada, in 2013 fee increases for undergraduate international students ranged from 1.4 per cent in Alberta to 10.1 per cent in Ontario. Graduate fee increases were a tad bit better, ranging from 1.6 per cent in Manitoba to 6.7 per cent in Saskatchewan. But the trend appears to only be going up.

International students hang on to their existence in Canada by a thread; the only reason most of us are allowed to stay is because of a piece of paper permitting us to study here (terms and conditions apply). If we dislike our school fees, we can’t do anything but take it, or leave Canada. Honestly, what’s to stop a school from increasing international fees other than sheer conscience?

If our tuition fees really increase by 30 per cent over the next three years, international students will get fed up. Current students might have no choice but to finish our degrees to make sure all the money we’ve forked out so far gets us at least something in the end. Future students, though, will hopefully think twice about applying to SFU, and even other Canadian institutions. You can only push us so far before we push back.

Maybe Canadian universities think that they can raise our school fees because of the demand for Canadian education from international students, but exponentially capitalizing on this opportunity means that you are exploiting us.

If tuition fees were actually affordable, I would take classes left, right, and center. There are so many interesting, stimulating classes that I want to take but can’t because I don’t want to stretch my resources even more by going over the 120 credits needed to graduate. What happened to the spirit of education? We’ve lost it to the profiteering ways of business.

I like my experience in Canada enough. I just don’t think it has to come at such a high price.

Saudi Arabia Revolution

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EIC

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January 27, 2014

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Starting in 2010, a wave of political protests swept across Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa, in what is now referred to as the Arab Spring.

Saudi Arabia was able to avoid regime change and ultimate turmoil; some believe that sizeable wage increases and promises of more public goods and services were largely responsible for keeping the royal family in power. However, this strategy of appeasing politically conscious citizens with increased public goods and services may not work so well in the near future.

One prevalent practice within this regime has been subsidizing a variety of daily needs, such as electricity, oil, etc. As a result, citizens pay below-market prices for gasoline and electricity, with the cost mainly shouldered by the government. In fact, according to Numbeo.com, as of 2014, gasoline in Saudi Arabia costs a mere 15 cents per litre on average!

The royal family’s popularity depends mainly on the subsidies it provides.

An article was published in Al-Monitor near the end of 2013 that highlights the impacts of Saudi Arabia’s energy subsidy program. Specifically, it estimated that the expenditures funding the program constitute approximately 10 per cent — a huge portion — of the kingdom’s GDP.

Unfortunately, the low prices these subsidies result in has lead to high rates of energy consumption, and a rapid increase of the country’s population within all of its sectors. To make matters worse, the country relies heavily on fossil fuels for the bulk of its energy needs.

Assuming that rapid population growth continues in Saudi Arabia, it is reasonable to suggest that underfunding of public services could become a critical problem for the survival of the royal family in the near future.

The royal family’s popularity depends mainly on the subsidies it provides; straining to deliver at least satisfactory levels of subsidies, as well as education, healthcare, housing, etc., to its citizens could lead to its ultimate downfall.

Consequently, I think the Saudi government will have to rely on different forms of taxation to provide public goods and services to the Saudi people. This could pressure the royal family to introduce a form of democracy to the country, as the people are likely to demand more say in government accountability with respect to government revenues.

Subsidization exemplifies poor financial management and bad economics, and is a critical bargaining tool between citizens and what I would consider an authoritarian government. External shocks to subsidy programs may break this fragile social contract and lead to political instability, which could result in similar revolutions to those in the Middle East’s near past.

Disco magazine blames decline in sales on ‘death of print’

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EIC

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January 27, 2014

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TORONTO — The editors of the once very popular Disco Weekly Magazine, who have been facing increasingly low sales since 1979, believe that they have discovered the root cause of all their problems.

“People just aren’t buying magazines anymore, it’s obvious,” said DWM editor-in-chief Craig Shubert. “What else could possibly account for the lack of interest in a weekly disco periodical?”

Shubert has said that he is well aware of the recent “death of print” phenomenon and has no doubt in his mind that it is what is driving his business into the ground.

“Everybody knows that print is a thing of the past and I’m not blind to it,” he explained. “Print publications aren’t going to be around forever, it’s just like Disco Halls … halls were always doomed to fail!”

Despite the best efforts of Disco Weekly Magazine’s staff to rally the entire magazine industry, their calls have fallen on deaf ears of major publications like Rolling Stone, Time, GQ and National Geographic who all claim to be doing “just fine.”

“We got Pet Rock Aficionado and Penny-farthing Quarterly on board but to be honest with you they have more problems than just a decline in print popularity,” affirmed DWM vice-president Allan King. “I mean there’s no way either of those magazines can honestly believe that they can compete with the likes of Pet Rock Illustrated or the High-Wheeler Observer!”

While King and Shubert, along with the rest of the DWM staff, know that changes need to be made if they want their publication to stay in business, they claim that they have no idea what to do.

“I’ve heard from some people that we ‘need to get online’ but I really don’t think this whole Internet thing is going to catch on,” Shubert told The Peak.

“Instead we’ve been trying to talk to the people from Tamagotchi about getting some of our content on their devices, but they haven’t returned our phone calls . . . must be because they’re too popular!”

With no concrete solutions on the horizon, and even their almost non-existent sales numbers falling everyday, Disco Weekly is on the brink of shutting down for good. But despite their grim prospects, Shubert has still managed to find some consolation.

“At least disco music will never die,” he said, laughing at such a ridiculous notion. He then excused himself and left to wallow in despair at the nearest oxygen bar, an almost 30 kilometre drive, which he assumed must be due to the recent decline in interest in “bars”.

The man without a plan

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EIC

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January 27, 2014

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The author Alan Lakein once said, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” If this is the case, then it would appear that Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party are indeed planning to fail, with Trudeau having stated last year that the Liberal Party will not be announcing a platform until 2015, the year of the next federal election.

Trudeau has made a lot of noise about improving Canada’s middle class, but has so far been silent on how he intends to accomplish this. Even the Liberal Party website is full of wonderfully written phrases on what they believe, but no substance as to how they intend to accomplish the goals they have set for themselves.

This is a dangerous move on the part of a Liberal Party struggling to recover from its crushing defeat in the last federal election. With Tom Mulcair’s New Democrats targeting the same middle class audience, the Liberals run the risk of, once again, being left out in the cold.

It would seem that the Liberals have yet to learn an important lesson from 2011: that it is not enough to criticize the government; parties must present themselves as a clear, viable alternative. One of the reasons the Conservatives were able to gain a majority government in the last election is that the PM had a clearly defined plan, particularly with regards to the economy.

At the leaders’ debates, when asked about economic policy, all three leaders failed to present their plans for the nation, instead limiting themselves to attacking Conservative policy. When Canadians went to the polls on Election Day, they elected the Conservatives. I am willing to bet that many did so with one idea running through their heads: better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.

Better the devil you know that the devil you don’t.

It seems that the Liberal Party is banking on the Trudeau name and their leader’s relative youth (Trudeau is 42, while Mulcair is 59 and Harper is 54). These two traits act as a double-edged sword, as they have also become the main avenue of attack from both other parties.

Both Conservatives and New Democrats have commented on Mr. Trudeau’s lack of experience in the political arena. It is hard to argue against that point, with Harper having been involved in politics since the 1980’s, Mulcair since the 90’s, and Trudeau only becoming significantly involved in the 2000’s. His name could be divisive in itself, as the late Pierre Trudeau was hardly a universally liked figure, especially out West.

While they still have a lot of time leading up to the next federal election, Liberals need to start getting their ideas out there, or else they risk giving an advantage to the other parties. By the time the election rolls around in October of next year, we will have had over nine years of experience with the Conservative platform and, with Mulcair starting the campaign early, Canadians will have an extra year of exposure to NDP ideas.

While Trudeau still holds the lead in Nanos Research polls, he is losing ground to both Mulcair and Harper. If he wants to be a contender next year, the man needs to come up with a plan and get it to the people. If he fails to do so, the 2015 federal election will be a case of NDP left vs. Conservative right, with the Liberal Party again relegated to third party status.

Tippy Top 10 List: John Tortorella

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EIC

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January 27, 2014

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Tippy Top 10 Ways John Tortorella is Planning to Spend His Suspension

10. Quality time with family, berating them to “play some fucking defense”

9. With Rodman in rehab, become best friends with Kim Jong Un

8. Commit numerous crimes and laugh incredulously at arrest warrants

7. Take over as Richard Sherman’s media relations advisor full-time

6. Create a Facebook account and poke Jannik Hansen 50 times

5. Start a fight club, but talk about it

4. Take up cooking, but then realize that Gordon Ramsay already exists

3. Come up with new nicknames for Dale Weise . . . Weisey, Weiser, okay done.

2. Finally hang-out in visitor’s locker room in peace

1. Suspension? They told me this was a 15-day vacation!

Manhattan and Monopoly: Woody Allen and the commodification of art

By

Peak Web

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January 27, 2014

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“In Beverly Hills … they don’t throw their garbage away. They make it into television shows.”

This is a classic ‘Woodyism,’ embodying the perpetual commodification of art and commercial artists in Woody Allen’s films.

What is a Woodyism, you may ask? It’s that witty one-liner delivered by the neurotic, intellectual director that, beneath its comic relief, provides critical insight into underlying existential, political, and artistic themes. These one–liners which characterize the work of Woody Allen are a reflection of why his films are, with a few exceptions, consistently lower grossing in North America than Europe. Manhattan and Monopoly will explore the commodification of art through Woody’s films.

Despite his controversial personal life, the man has an incredible talent for diversity: Interiors and Hannah and Her Sisters leave audiences paralyzed by the realistic depiction of the crumbling lives of a dysfunctional family; Annie Hall and Midnight in Paris are lauded as nervous, sentimental romances; and Sleeper, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex*But Were Too Afraid to Ask, and What’s Up, Tiger Lily? stand out as seemingly odd and erotic compared to the rest.

Sex and comedy sound like a combination that would go over well in Hollywood, so why are these films traditionally less popular in North America than Europe? North American industries of art and culture epitomize one recurring Woody Allen theme: the reduction of various art forms to mere commodities that can be bought, sold, and monopolized. North Americans have become so naturalized to feel–good dramas and nationalist action films that character–based dialogue, driven by witty commentary, critical questions, and moral crises, do not resonate with a vast North American audience.

But commodification of the film industry stretches far beyond a few missed Woodyisms. Another thing we learn from Woody Allen films is that art comes in many forms, all of which are becoming increasingly commodified in their own right. So, what is the significance of this phenomenon?

North American industries of art and culture epitomize one recurring Woody Allen theme: the reduction of various art forms to mere commodities

Art is more than pleasure and entertainment. Indeed, it can be that too, but a film is more than a couple of hours of visual pleasure and emotional commentary, an album is more than an hour of auditory ecstasy, an academic journal is more than 30 pages of enlightenment, and a painting is more than an abstract world of colours and illusions; art reflects, creates, and maintains culture.

When commodified, art is no longer a valid means of cultural expression; it no longer represents the everyday struggles of the average North American, rather a glorified, unrealistic portrayal of life that reflects the values, beliefs, and behaviours of an elite few.

The analogous relationship between contemporary culture and commodification of the arts is an issue of deep significance.

In the following weeks, with the inspiration, ideas, and insight of Woody Allen, I will explore the perplexities of this relationship through the contrast of sell-out culture industries and noncommercial raw art — from media and film, to graffiti walls and bathroom stalls, I will divulge why the commodification of the arts is more pertinent now than ever before.

Join the Club: Pool Hustlers Club

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EIC

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January 27, 2014

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JOIN THE CLUB is a feature that highlights SFU’s lesser known clubs and non-existent organizations. This week we highlight . . .

The Pool Hustlers Club

The SFU Pool ~~Hustlers~~ Club is a fun and relaxed place where SFU students can come learn to play pool without any pressure. Unlike the Billiards Club, you won’t find a bunch of pool experts or “sharks” who you can’t compete with. In fact, none of our current members are really that good at all.

Newcomers of any sub-par skill level are welcome to come join and play a game or two. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never picked up a cue (or is it a stick? I always forget . . . haha). We’re all beginners here. Who knows, you’ll probably even beat us in the first couple of games.

Now, another difference between us and that stuffy old “Billiards Club” is that if, after a couple of games, you start feeling pretty confident and you want to throw a couple of bucks down on a game, we’re totally cool with it. Our only expectation is that if you win, you give your opponent a chance to go double-or-nothing, that’s just common courtesy.

So, if you’re looking for a little more informal place to practice your pool skills and aren’t going to be a tight-ass with your money, come join the SFU Pool ~~Hustlers~~ Club. We won’t judge you: all amateurs, first-timers, rubes, suckers and stooges are welcome!

Spiders twerk hard for the hunnies

By

EIC

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January 27, 2014

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Pop stars and teenage girls no longer have a monopoly on twerking — male black widows have joined their ranks.

Research in animal communication at SFU has led to the discovery of the importance of vibratory signals to the black widow courting process. The male must gently shake his thorax, or abdomen, to alert the female that he is, indeed, a potential mate and not her next meal.

Courting a female black widow is no easy task. They are approximately twice the size of the males and have immediate predatory reactions to anything that approaches them. Unfortunately for the males, their size puts them right into the females’ prey category.

SFU biology professor, Gerhard Gries, and graduate students Samantha Vibert and Catherine Scott have determined how the female spiders differentiate between prey and prospective mates who land on their web.

Gries explains that the female’s web is not only for catching prey — it has a second function. “The web is the dance floor for the males,” Gries said. They come to the web in response to a chemical signal, a pheromone, that the female releases onto the silken strands as she spins her web. He explains that this pheromone is essentially advertising to all males: “I’m a virgin female, if you’re interested in being my mate, respond to this chemical message.”

Once a male spider lands on the female’s web, the vibrations of his movements will indicate whether he is a suitor or a victim. Male vibrations are significantly more subtle than the percussive vibrations of a struggling fly, for instance, and therefore do not trigger a predatory response in the female.

Gries uses the analogy of a first date to show the precariousness of the situation. The male can’t afford to “get off on the wrong foot” with the female. If the male makes a misstep, not only is his date over, he will inevitably become her dinner.

The professor and his fellow researchers put this to the test. Using a sophisticated playback device with an attached rod that makes contact with the web, they played their recordings of male spider signals and of struggling prey at opposite amplitudes.

If played at its regular amplitude, the fly’s vibratory signal would elicit a predatory response from the female, but if played at a lower amplitude (like the male spider’s signal), it would not. In contrast, if the male spider’s signal was played at the same high amplitude as the fly’s, the female would rush out in search of prey.

According to Gries, this demonstrates that “the amplitude of the vibrations, or the displacement of the strands, they tell her [the female spider], ‘Okay it’s prey, I’ll rush out to have a meal, or, it’s a male that wants to court me.’”

Reflecting on his findings, Gries says, “It’s quite fascinating to see that such a seemingly small [thing] makes all the difference in the world.”

Inside Inside Llewyn Davis

By

Peak Web

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January 27, 2014

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Llewyn Davis is an asshole. His friends know it, his manager knows it, and the orange tabby cat that follows him around knows it. Llewyn, played beautifully by newcomer Oscar Isaac, knows it too — and deep down, he knows it’s the reason he can’t find success as a folk singer in New York’s early 60s Greenwich Village scene. As the big-shot record producer Bud Grossman tells him in the film’s third act, there’s no money in what he does. He just can’t connect with people.

Like the best of Joel and Ethan Coen’s films, Inside Llewyn Davis is a cactus: prickly on the outside, gooey on the inside. There’s no plot, save for Llewyn’s attempts to keep track of a friend’s cat — the film simply summarizes a week in the singer’s life, as he plays gigs for the café crowd, pays for an abortion, surfs couches across Manhattan, and takes a pilgrimage to Chicago in zero below weather.

The Coens deny us any overarching themes or story arcs; characters disappear for days at a time, and several — including Justin Timberlake’s cheerful Jim — duck out halfway through the film, never to return. This isn’t their story. Like it or not, we’re with Llewyn for the long haul, and it’s a credit to Isaac that the cantankerous, cynical folkie never grates.

Though Llewyn’s story is full of poetic nuances and moments of gravity, it’s easy to see the film as a self-indulgent mess of historical revisionism and aimless melancholia. But the Coen’s Joycean approach to filmic narrative — if you can even call it that — paints a broader and more complex picture of the titular character than we might’ve found in a more conventional flick.

Inside Llewyn Davis is a cactus: prickly on the outside, gooey on the inside.

This isn’t to suggest that the film is a boring, intellectualized pile of mush. Quite the opposite, actually: Inside Llewyn Davis is beautifully shot and edited, and its songs — most of which are old standards, save for the charming original “Please Mr. Kennedy” — are remarkably well performed. The acting is great across the board, but Carey Mulligan and John Goodman are in particularly fine form here, as Llewyn’s former flame and a heroin-addled jazz musician, respectively.

Maybe the best thing about Inside Llewyn Davis is that its titular vagrant isn’t great — he’s good, maybe even very good, but not great. Priding himself on his authenticity, Llewyn cringes at the thought of recording a novelty track. He’s a genuine songster, and the industry chews him up and spits him out — Grossman tells him he’s got the chops to sing backup, but not to make it as a leading man. He’s probably right. The Coens don’t shy away from the dark side of being an artist, and the film is all the more powerful for it.

In the final scene, Llewyn leaves a café after a show to confront a shadowy man in an alley, while a young Bob Dylan plays a gig in the background. By the end, he’s lying face down in a gutter, like a character out of a Dylan song. For Llewyn, fame is at arms’ length — all around him, but just out of reach.

The royal family’s popularity depends mainly on the subsidies it provides.

Better the devil you know that the devil you don’t.

Tippy Top 10 Ways John Tortorella is Planning to Spend His Suspension

North American industries of art and culture epitomize one recurring Woody Allen theme: the reduction of various art forms to mere commodities

The Pool Hustlers Club

Inside Llewyn Davis is a cactus: prickly on the outside, gooey on the inside.