Home Blog Page 1349

Rio: no more flicks?

By
EIC
-
0

By Sam Reynolds

The projectors may not be out for long at East Vancouver’s only movie theatre.

In a statement to the press, Solicitor General Shirley Bond said the province is investigating the possibility of changing the laws that prevent the Rio Theatre from being able to both hold a liquor license and screen films.

“We are aware of the challenges that these establishments have faced with current regulations and in fact over the last several months have been examining the policy implications and are currently considering what changes may be appropriate,” Bond said in a press release. “We look forward to having to more say about this in the near future.”

Currently, provincial law prohibits movie theatres from holding liquor primary licenses due to a clause regarding concerns around alcohol and audience members who are minors.

“We are working to try and balance the desire to assist business owners in being successful with the responsibility of regulating liquor in the interest of public safety,” Bond’s statement continued.

In mid-January, the Manitoba Liquor Control Commission announced it had amended its rules to allow liquor to be sold in movie theatres. The minister responsible for the liquor commission, Gord Mackintosh, said the changes were part of Manitoba’s new “hospitality strategy”.

The Rio — an East Vancouver landmark — has a storied history. Originally built in 1938, it was re-opened in 2006 after a $2-million renovation. In May 2008 the theatre changed hands, after being purchased by a group of investors and former restaurateur Corinne Lea.

When Lea, who is also the general manager, took over in 2008, she sought to counter dwindling ticket sales and revenue by having the theatre alternate between a movie house and live performance venue. As unlicensed live events were only marginally profitable, Lea sought a liquor primary license to allow alcohol to be served at shows.

Some movie theatres in British Columbia do allow alcohol to be served on the premises, albeit under different conditions; Ciniplex’s Silver City “VIP” cinema in Coquitlam operates a licensed lounge, and the Vancouver International Film Centre is licensed as a club as opposed to a theatre opened to the general public.

Lea received the license on January 19 and intended to begin serving alcohol at live events, and continue to screen films without alcohol service. According to media reports and a press release issued by the Rio Theatre, it was Lea’s understanding after consulting a liquor inspector that the theatre would be able to screen films when the license was not in effect — before 6:00 pm.

On January 20, the province informed Lea that as the Rio was now a licensed venue it was “not to show movies or any type of cinematic screenings at any time.”

In an interview with the Vancouver Sun, the Liquor Control and Licensing Branch’s general manager Karen Ayers clarified why the Rio was not allowed to serve liquor, even when it was operating as a performance venue and not a movie theatre.

“In order to screen motion pictures (in any number whether only one a year or very many) an establishment is required to hold a license through Consumer Protection B.C. and by law they become a movie theatre according to the Motion Picture Act. The Rio Theatre has such a license. Therefore they are a movie theatre, which also offers live entertainment,” said Ayers.

Lea has repeatedly contested the Rio’s classification as a movie theatre, claiming the establishment is a “multimedia venue”. She has also argued that facilities such as B.C. Place or Rogers Area are allowed to serve alcohol at events where minors attend.

The Fraser Institute’s Joel Wood, who recently penned an op-ed in the Province about the Rio’s plight, explained to The Peak by email that while the first revision of the Liquor Control and Licensing Act passed by the outgoing NDP government in 1975 was seen as a “huge step forward” in liberalizing B.C.’s liquor laws, successive governments have changed that.

“The regulation in question was likely crafted in 1976 by an incoming Social Credit Government that indeed wanted to placate a small, but vocal group of supporters that were morally opposed to alcohol consumption,” explained Wood. “It appears that the original intent of the regulation was to restrict alcohol consumption for moral reasons, despite the act itself being a big leap forward in B.C.”

Wood continued to argue that such “subjective” enforcement of the rules ultimately hinders businesses, and this was an unnecessary intrusion of government into the actions of individuals.

Support for the Rio has come from all levels of government, and in the case of Vancouver city council has been a bi-partisan affair.

NDP MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert presented a petition with 2000 signatures to the B.C. legislature calling on the province to change the laws, while fellow NDP MLA Jenny Kwan has publicly taken up the fight for the theatre.

Vision Vancouver city councilor Heather Deal has publicly announced plans to introduce a motion to city council calling on the province to update its liquor laws.

NPA councillor George Affleck told The Peak that he is very supportive of the motion.

“I was going to submit a similar one, but the councillor beat me to it,” said Affleck.

A night in a Japanese love hotel

By
EIC
-
0

By Julia Whalen (The Aquinian)

A photographer takes her quest to present the complexity of gender to the S&M scene in the love hotels of Tokyo

FREDERICTON (CUP) — Photographer Nathalie Daoust spent several months in a Japanese love hotel exploring female sexuality and the subversion of gender stereotypes. She had no idea the people she met would be so special and kind.

She also didn’t expect to be tied upside down by a shibari master — a specialist in Japanese bondage.

“He said that I should try it if I was going to photograph his model in this position. I said, ‘Why not?’”

Daoust lived in Tokyo’s Alpha-In, one of the biggest S&M love hotels in Japan. People who practice S&M are pleasured either by inflicting or receiving pain or humiliation from their sexual partner.

Daoust photographed 39 women of all ages who took dominant roles in S&M. The photos show them in their private rooms, surrounded by the specialist equipment and costumes that define their trade.She believes in confronting stereotypes of gender roles that exist not only in Japan, but all over the world. Her goal is to provide an insight into the concept of women as dominant beings.

“I would say that women are more oppressed in Japan, [but] of course not always,” Daoust said. “Even the dominatrixes that I met would bow lower than their customers and walk behind them. Only when the hotel doors would close would they then have the power.”

Love hotels, also known as fashion or boutique hotels, can be for short stays — up to three hours — or overnight. They’re operated around the world with the primary purpose to allow couples undisturbed time together, but they’re also used for budget travellers looking to share accommodation or prostitution.

Daoust had the idea for the project after living in the Carlton Arms Hotel, also known as the Artbreak Hotel, in New York City from 1997 to 1999. Each room in the hotel was designed by a different artist: for example, British street artist Banksy decorated a stairwell.

She lived in and photographed every room in the hotel, and it was during this time she met some Japanese tourists who told her about theme-decorated hotels in Japan. The purpose of these hotels, though, was for three-hour stays.

“I was interested in documenting this and moved to Tokyo for two years,” she said.

Daoust photographed many love hotels in Japan, but the Alpha-In didn’t allow it. When she published her first book, her New York Hotel series, she returned to Alpha and showed her work to the owner.

“He then invited me to come back to Japan and do a project on his hotel, and now we are very good friends,” she said. Alpha was initially a very strange place for her, but after several months in the hotel everything seemed almost normal. “I only had preconceived notions to what S&M was and the people that go there. After a while I got used to hearing the screaming from behind the doors, seeing the tools and costumes or even seeing customers ‘playing’ in the hallways.”

Over the years, Western media has sensationalized and negatively affected Japanese sexual practices to the point where some love hotels like Alpha were done away with to create a different political image. Daoust said in 2001 when she was documenting the love hotels, they were in the process of being taken down because of foreign media.

Healthy practices of sexuality and fantasy, she said, seem to be constantly swept under the rug in North America. She said it’s this unwillingness to openly discuss sexuality that’s a major contributing factor to the challenges of confronting stereotypes of gender roles.

After several months in the Alpha-In and talking with different people, Daoust said she realized there was actually nothing wrong with what they were doing as long as everyone consents.

“It was quite sad [to see them go because] many hotels that had amazing decorations were being destroyed or just painted in plain white walls. What was so wrong about this fantasy? Before this experience, I mostly learned that S&M was bad, and whoever does it must be disturbed. [But] Japan is quite open to experience any type of fantasy. I find this better then repressing it.”

theWAREHOUSE comic: Pizza!

By
EIC
-
0

By Carl Huber at theWAREHOUSE comic

The Daily Snooze: Skinny Jeans

By
EIC
-
0

By Jacob Samuel at The Daily Snooze

SFU buys out Videomatica’s documentaries

By
EIC
-
0

By Ali Omelaniec
Photo by Geoff Lister (The Ubyssey)

In preparation for a new cinema studies major, SFU expands its film collection, keeping Videomatica’s stock out of private hands

After 28 years of housing one of the most extensive video collections in Canada, Videomatica has shut its doors. The big question among customers and film buffs after the iconic rental shop closed was, “What would happen to the collection?” It would certainly no easy task to find homes for Videomatica’s medley of DVDs, Blu-rays, and VHS tapes, which are appraised at $1.7 million.

Videomatica’s shelves housed foreign films from over 75 countries, rare classics, large selections from the Vancouver International Film Festival, and other obscure films that no major distributers carried. With such a diverse collection, Videomatica felt it would be sacrilege to sell the films for private ownership instead of sharing it with a larger community.

The owners of Videomatica, Graham Peat and Brian Bosworth, held a meeting and accepted proposals from several regional universities. Charles Eckman, the dean of library services at SFU, set to work with Gwen Bird, SFU’s former dean of collections, in formulating a proposal to acquire and steward a portion of the collection. The acquisition was fueled by the possibility of a cinema studies degree being created, slated to become available in the coming fall semester.

“We had originally made a proposal for the entire collection, which the owners really liked, but we didn’t have quite as many funds dedicated to it as UBC,” Eckman explained.

The general consensus then was that the documentary component would be the most valuable to the existing film program, as well as the potential cinema studies major. “One of the tenets of SFU’s film program is to nurture a future generation of documentary filmmakers,” said Todd Mundle, the current dean of collections.

Colin Browne, a contemporary arts professor and documentary filmmaker, says that these documentaries will be adding a lot of depth to the collection, which currently consists of mostly experimental film.

SFU shelled out $40,000 for some 2,800 documentaries, while UBC bought the rest of the collection for $200,000.

“Both universities see it as one collection, and something that needs to be preserved for long-term scholarship. We will be working with UBC to ensure reciprocal access,” said Eckman, who explained that this would likely occur through the interlibrary loan system already in place between the two institutions.

The library has given itself until 2013 to iron out the details of the lending program. However, the staff has predicted the newer copies could be available to students much sooner. Some of the Videomatica titles are already on shelves.

The collection will be available to all SFU students, though a minority may have to be placed in Special Collections due to their “fragility and rarity,” says Mundle. This will include some VHS and analogue copies.

“SFU has been building a film collection for years and this will augment an already strong collection. There is great opportunity here not only for film students and the study of the documentary but there are classroom applications across many subjects and disciplines,” adds Mundle.

This Week on Petter Watch: January 30th 2012

By
EIC
-
0

By Colin Sharp and Gary Lim 

Stuff We Hate: January 30th 2012

By
EIC
-
0

Handshakes
By Gary Lim

I absolutely despise handshakes. I mean it’s 2012 people, why do we still insist on greeting one another by awkwardly flailing our upper appendages at one another?

Apparently it’s a gentlemanly show of respect, but let me ask you something, how gentlemanly is it for people who’ve never even met to begin contact by groping one another’s hands? I mean you don’t even know where their hands have been. The other person could’ve just finished god knows what and now they standing there, hand reaching out ready to wrap their fingers around your hand like some kind of fleshy straightjacket.

Not to mention the crushing number of social dictates you have to keep in mind.  How many pumps? How hard do I clench? Is it supposed to be this sweaty? No seriously, is it supposed to be this sweaty? God it’s like prom night all over again.

 

 

 

Printers
By Janice Turnblad

No, no you asshole. Just print, that’s what you do right? You’re a print-er, as in a machine that prints things. You’ve been making the “I’m printing something” noise for 10 minutes now, but I have as of yet come out of you.

Also if you flash that “PC LOAD TRAY EMPTY” one more time . . .  Empty? Empty?! I’ve practically loaded the entire pacific rainforest in there; and don’t even think about “TONER LOW.” I’ve changed cartridge six times this month. How do you even use that much toner? I print 10, maybe 15 pages of notes a week.

So help me god printer,  I will find a way to travel back in time and I will murder Johannes Gutenberg, father of the modern printing press. I don’t even care about the effects on the future. Do you hear me printer? I will FUCK. YOU. UP.

Oh, so now you’re printing. That’s right, you know who’s boss. Double-sided!? You son of a bitch.

 

‘Extinct’ monkey rediscovered by scientists

By
EIC
-
0

By Alison Roach

SFU PhD student Brent Loken ‘accidentally’ finds rare monkey while searching for the Bornean clouded leopard

A monkey thought for years to be extinct has been spotted in the forests of Borneo. SFU PhD student Brent Loken was part of a team working in Borneo that caught sight of this monkey, named ‘Miller’s Grizzled Langur’, in time-lapse photos. This was an unexpected outcome of a larger biodiversity study that had been organized by the local Wehea Dayak community in an effort to build up a legal case to protect their forests.

The monkey was captured on film by camera traps at a salt lick in the Wehea forest of East Kalimantan in Borneo last June. The primate was thought to have been extinct since 2004. “It’s extremely rare, and it’s incredibly cryptic; that just makes it a monkey that’s very hard to find,” said Loken. The camera traps in an area that was outside of its known geographic range also captured it. “We just demonstrated how little we know about this monkey,” said Loken.

In fact, so little is known about this species that there were no existing pictures to compare it to, and the finding had to be confirmed through other means. The main description eventually came from a museum, using only drawings. A specialist of the species also had to be contacted to confirm that it was in fact this particular species of monkey. At least one, and possibly two families were seen, with the smallest group at two individuals and the largest at 11. The fact that the Miller’s Grizzled Langur still exist and in family groups, amazed researchers.

In the past 20 years, Borneo has lost an estimated 50 per cent of its forests, due to logging, palm oil harvesting, and coal mining. According to Loken, there has also been a problem with hunting. “A lot of the animals are hunted quite extensively. This is happening to a lot of primates and other animals in this area.” The local Dayak people have been attempting to protect the area in recent years, with strict hunting laws enforced by local rangers.

This new effort to protect the forest, however, was based on biology. Loken’s team, headed by primatologist Stanislav Hota, was attempting to learn more about the forest and its inhabitants to increase awareness and the legal boundaries for the protection of the forest. Loken’s original goal was to capture images of the Bornean clouded leopard, in which he was also successful.

Loken first became involved with conservation in Borneo when he saw the palm oil plantations. “Seeing [them] against these beautiful rainforests just compelled my wife and I to action,” he said. The team he was a part of uses a mixture of conservation, science, and education in an attempt to protect these forests. Borneo has one of the highest levels of animal diversity in the world, and also one of the highest levels of animal extinction. The Miller’s Grizzled Langur is not the only species thought to be extinct.

According to Loken, the fact that there are creatures in existence that we’re not even aware of should shows us that we need to be even more careful about our impact. One of the biggest things Loken recommends we can do as Canadians is to start reading labels and learning about palm oil, since many of us aren’t even aware that it’s contributing to this destruction.

“What happens to the forests in Borneo affects us here in the northern countries. . . As we lose the tropical forest, the Arctic is warming up. We can’t not care about these areas; I believe we have a moral obligation.”

TransLink to offer new daily U-Pass program

By
EIC
-
0

 
Photo by Ben Derochie 

By Colin Sharp 

Humorist Emeritus

Tag:“We’re getting really good at wasting money by changing the system,” says TransLink

In response to continued complaints that the U-Pass program is still not vulnerable enough to fraud, TransLink has worked with Lower Mainland universities to develop a new daily system for transit riders. Under the new system students will not even be required to carry a pass with them as they will be confirming their student status on a daily basisIn a press release issued on Thursday morning, TransLink stated that in order to verify the student status of riders boarding the bus, SkyTrain, or SeaBus, they will simply be asking them to promise that they are definitely students. Their claim is that this new method will enable more people then ever to take advantage of a system created purely for students.

Despite the insistence of TransLink, many taxpayers, both inside and outside of the university community, are concerned that some people won’t be able to flaunt their disrespect of the new U-Pass system openly enough.

“What about people who ride the SkyTrain?”, questioned SFU graduate Kevin Mills, who hasn’t taken a course at the university since 2008. “There’s no drivers, so I won’t get the pleasure of tricking someone into letting me use transit for free.”

TransLink is aware of this concern, and in talks with the Vancouver Police Department to deploy more transit police than ever. These officers will be making riders promise they are students just as bus drivers do, although to make up for their less frequent appearances they may ask riders to cross their heart, hope to die, and stick a needle in their eye.

Last year saw the first in a series of overhauls of the system, as TransLink did away with the old method of a semesterly U-Pass with a photograph of the student’s face. Many deemed that the inclusion of the photograph made the U-Pass “too secure” as it ensured that you could only use the pass if you looked vaguely like the person that it was initially issued to.

The photograph was removed last year when TransLink switched to a monthly pass. Many were concerned about the effort involved in having to fake a new pass each month, but these concerns were quickly mitigated when it was discovered that the pass would be the exact same colour every month.

“I need a three-zone pass, so I was concerned I might end up having to actually buy one,” said Michael Cho, a 26-year-old who has never even attended a university. “But by the time October 20th hit and I had used my girlfriend’s old September pass nearly every day, my faith was restored in TransLink.”

Changes to the U-Pass system are the first in a series of steps TransLink is taking in order to make transit easier and cheaper to use. At a press conference on Friday they announced that starting in May 2012 buses throughout the Lower Mainland will begin accepting I.O.U.’s as a substitute for actual bus fare.

Ski Ninjas: Beards

By
EIC
-
0

By Kyle Lees at Ski Ninjas

1...1,3481,3491,350...1,358Page 1,349 of 1,358

EDITOR PICKS

POPULAR POSTS

POPULAR CATEGORY

ABOUT US

Simon Fraser University's independent student newspaper since 1965.

Contact us: [email protected]

FOLLOW US

© The Peak Publications Society 1965-2024

رومابت ماه بت پین باهیس bettingmagazine.org بت کارت یاس بت یک بت مگاپاری اونجابت آلوین بت betboro بت فا 1win giriş بت وینر 4shart.com 1xbet giriş وان کیک بت وین بت ریتزو بت وان ایکس بت بت فوروارد