Campus Update: March 12th

-

March 12, 2012

By Katie Mulligan

Even after five years and $250 million of development, the story of John Carter falls short of expectations

John Carter may be rated PG-13, but there is no lack of action and bloodshed, amplified by special effects and 3D glasses. Adapted by Disney from the 1912 novel A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the movie takes place just after the American Civil War.

Taylor Kitsch plays war-weary former Confederate captain John Carter who is first seen in Arizona, searching for gold in the land of the Apache Indians. Hiding in a cave from Apaches, he stumbles on a medallion that teleports him to the planet Mars — or Barsoom — where he’s reluctantly thrown into the planet’s conflict.

As the hero of the epic, all John Carter needs is a beautiful princess in distress for the plot to move forward. Enter Princess Dejah of Helium, love interest, who fully fulfills the on-screen romance. Cheesy love scenes are plentiful, with one that ends with her asking “Will you stay and fight for me; will you fight for Barsoom?”

If the scenes focused more on unfolding the story rather than on Princess Dejah’s barely-there outfits, perhaps the audience would be left less bewildered by random rivers and flying machines.

Director Andrew Stanton, who deviates from his usual repetoire of Pixar animations in taking on this film, allegedly went over budget for the production that Wall Street analysts predict will cost Disney a loss of at least $100 million.

You’d think that having worked on the project with passion for years and spent so much money, it would be a well developed success but it was so overloaded by special effects and action sequences that it couldn’t go deep into the story.

The first trailer was released almost a year before the movie was released, with an extended commercial trailer promoting its release during the Super Bowl.

John Carter has been met with mixed reviews, and it has not lived up to the critical expectations of a film that took so much planning, but the blend of history, science fiction, action, and romance makes it easy to enjoy.

University Briefs

By

-

March 12, 2012

By Ariane Madden

B.C. government to cut higher education funding

The British Columbia government announced last week that it will be cutting $70 million in funding from advanced education. The cuts, which only amount to 2.2 per cent of the government’s current funding total, are supposed to come from “administrative savings”.

Fire at UBC residence caused by cigarette

A fire at the University of British Columbia’s Gage residence tower last Wednesday was a result of a poorly discarded cigarette. The fire, which started in a recycling bin on the 16th floor of the south tower, did not cause any injuries and students were able to return to the building shortly after it was extinguished.

Carleton prof faces criticism for anti-climate change class

A Carleton University earth sciences professor faced academic criticism for running a class whichz featured speakers who denied human involvement in global climate change without informing of the general scientific consensus. The Committee for the Advancement of Scientific Criticism compiled a 98-page report offering 148 corrections to claims made during the 12-lecture class.

McGill shuts down “wikileaks“ university website

Officials at McGill University in Montreal shut down a wikileaks-style website which exposed information about donors to the university. McGill administration and Montreal police are investigating the source of the information breach, saying that it was malicious in nature.

UBC research investigated for cruelty to monkeys

The British Columbia SPCA has announced that it is investigating the treatment of macaque monkeys at UBC’s brain research facilities. The Stop UBC Animal Research group alleges that four monkeys were killed after being injected by neurotoxins, a practice they say is part of cruel treatment of the research animals.

— Ariane Madden

Ski Ninjas: Pregnancy?

By

-

March 12, 2012

By Kyle Lees at Ski Ninjas

SFU’s International Studies program to award degree to anyone that watched #KONY2012 film

By

-

March 12, 2012

3

By Colin Sharp

Due to the overnight success of the charity Invisible Children’s #KONY2012 campaign and their associated video, SFU’s international studies department has decided that anyone who watched the video should be awarded a full degree from the program.

Thanks to social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter, the video and the campaign were shared with millions of people over the last few days. Anyone who watched the 30 minute film was exposed to absolutely every relevant piece of information about the entire conflict, and is now able to make highly informed and intelligent decisions without doing any further research. It is a remarkable accomplishment by the director, especially since he spent a third of the film talking about himself and his kid instead of the actual issue.

The international studies program has recognized the impact of the film and determined that they really don’t have anything else to contribute.

“Yeah, the video kind of nailed it,” said Joshua Russel, the department chair. “I don’t think any of us in the program have anything left to add. I mean, how much benefit will people get from understanding the other side of the argument or the history of conflict in the area? Let’s just focus on killing the one dude instead of working on the larger problem.”

Critics have questioned international studies’ decision to award these degrees, suggesting that it cheapens the importance of actually knowing things in academia. International studies has responded by saying that these people are all being cynics and if they question the cause then they might as well be personally handing out AK-47s to African children.

Despite the controversy, supporters that are new to the campaign are thrilled to be part of such an important cause. When asked what he thought of Invisible Children’s methods in Africa, supporter Cameron James told The Peak, “These t-shirts are super cool.” When we asked the question again, slowly and using extremely simple language, James said “Oh man, and these bracelets are rad. You gonna buy an action kit bro?”

Invisible Children is a group seeking to raise awareness regarding the war crimes of Joseph Kony, a Ugandan warlord who has been using child soldiers in his Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) since 1986. A major part of this is an extensive worldwide postering campaign planned for April 20th. Presumably this is so they can target stoners, a group known largely for their ability to quickly and effectively accomplish goals.

If you have watched the film, international studies is encouraging you to contact them regarding your degree. If you haven’t seen the film, but are still interested in turning your activism into a degree, the education, criminology, and earth sciences programs are all awarding transfer credit for that time you raised awareness about violence against child by changing your profile picture to a cartoon.

SFU grad-directed documentary released

By

-

March 12, 2012

By Ljudmila Petrovic

Footage of the eider duck and Nunavut’s Sanikiluaq community in it spans over seven winters

A Ph.D project to create an underwater camera system to view the eider duck diving below sea ice was the inspiration for SFU grad student Joel Heath’s award-winning documentary People of a Feather. Evan Warner and Jocelyne Chaput, both graduates from SFU’s film program, were involved in post-production of the documentary, and film professor Colin Browne was a key consultant in the project.

“Film is the ultimate medium of communication,” said Heath. “We figured the underwater footage we were already getting from the project could be turned into a way to let people know about life in the Arctic and see the changes that we were seeing.”

Beginning in 2002, Heath followed the Inuit living on Belcher Islands in Hudson Bay, and learned far more than just the ecological knowledge he had been seeking through his work and research. Hydroelectric mega-projects near Hudson Bay have upset the ocean currents and sea ice ecosystems in the area, and the Inuit have been worried over the habitat changes that have led to increased winter die-offs of the eider duck, since they do not migrate south in the winter, as they can dive for food in ice-free areas. The pivotal role which eider ducks play in the Sanikiluaq community, which relies on subsistence hunting, is chronicled in People of a Feather.

Heath’s first-hand experience of the area and the growing environmental and cultural divide that has gone largely unaddressed moved him to begin documenting the relationship between the Inuit people and the eider ducks. “In many ways I risked my academic career to make this film, but I knew it would be worth it, and now I am sure,” said Heath. “Through the whole process I understand much more about Inuit ways of knowing, and it has affected my perspective on everything in life.”

People of a Feather has already received rave reviews and awards, and made the top-10 list for Most Popular Canadian Film at the Vancouver International Film Festival. People of a Feather portrays the detrimental effects of our lifestyle on the environment, but also places it into a cultural perspective, and shows how distressing this can be to traditional communities such as the Inuit community seen in Heath’s documentary.

People of a Feather is showing at the Rio Theatre until March 10.

Beck to the future

By

-

March 12, 2012

There’s no doubt what the biggest story has been this NFL offseason: Peyton Manning’s release from the Indianapolis Colts. Alone, it warrants coverage, but play a little six-degrees-of-separation, and an interesting SFU twist pops up.

Poised to select Andrew Luck with the first overall draft pick in the April draft, the Colts have released Manning to free agency, where one of the front-runners to land him is the Washington Redskins. Naturally, if Manning ends up in D.C., he’d automatically become the starting quarterback, usurping the incumbent John Beck. John Beck played his college football at Bringham Young University, where he was backed up by a man by the name of Jason Beck (no relation), also known as SFU’s brand new offensive coordinator.

Fun and games aside, Jason Beck is poised to make a serious mark on the SFU program.

Beck comes to SFU with high praise, and a college pedigree few can match. After graduating from the BYU program, he joined the school’s coaching staff. He later moved on to join LSU’s football staff, where he was part of a Tigers program whose offense set 10 school records and averaged 38.6 points per game.

He’s spent the last three seasons as the quarterbacks coach at Weber State College, where he again had tremendous success. Under his tutelage, quarterback Cameron Higgins became the Big Sky Conference’s all-time leader in touchdowns with 98 and is easily Weber State’s all-time passing leader, with 12,252 yards.

“Where he played, where he coached, his pedigree is just dramatically different,” said head coach Dave Johnson. However, it almost goes without saying that his college lineage is not the sole reason he was brought on to steady a developing program — even if he is just four ‘degrees’ away from the legendary Peyton Manning.

“He has a unique combination of youth and character that we’ve been missing,” added Johnson. “I interviewed countless guys [for the position], but he stood out.

“He’s eaten some humble pie in his days, especially being beaten out for the starting job at BYU. We preach character to our players, and he has a ton of it.”

The Clan’s transition to the NCAA ranks hasn’t exactly been a smooth one; most notable are the team’s two conference wins in as many seasons since joining the GNAC. The players, like their tenure in the NCAA, are still young, and always developing, and Johnson believes Beck can still relate.

“We do have two years of experience through our lineup, but we’re still young. He’s still young enough to be able to relate to the players, and he brings a youthful perspective and energy that’ll come in handy as I get greyer,” laughed Johnson.

Perhaps the biggest selling point for Johnson was Beck’s knowledge of the passing game. While the Clan’s Bo Palmer-led running game was a sight to see, their aerial game last year was “anemic”, according to Johnson, and that’s a pretty fair description.

“We played five games where our quarterbacks threw for less than 100 yards, and you just can’t win in this league when that happens. We brought [Beck] on board to bring a much-needed balance to our offence.”

That sentiment was echoed by Beck himself.

“We’ll keep playing to our strengths,” added Beck, “Obviously our run game is just that, but we definitely want to become more balanced, and more unpredictable.”

Beck, who arrived at SFU just in time to start spring training, already has a strong grasp on where the Clan are now, and what he needs to do to get them where they need to be.

“My experience as a player and as a coach, has really prepared me for this opportunity. I think we have the pieces in place to have a chance to win every game, but it’s not just going to come to us,” he said.

“We’re going to have to work for it.”

Beck’s past certainly bodes well for the Clan’s future, even if it does take some time to iron out the kinks.

“We’ve made such great strides the past year, and we don’t want to have to take
any steps back,” said Johnson. “Bringing in Jason Beck is definitely a step forward.”

Clan softball struggles after sizzling start

By

-

March 12, 2012

A week after running their record to an impressive 8–1, the Clan softball team has struggled to keep that momentum rolling since. The team dropped three of their next four, while impressive rains postponed two others, dropping the Clan’s record to 9–4.

That’s still an impressive mark, but after their scorching start, it is leaving much to be desired.

The lone win in that stretch came against Montana State University Billings in the second of four straight games against the Yellowjackets. After dropping the first half of the first doubleheader, the Clan came back to earn the split, but barely.

It was no doubt a pitcher’s duel, especially early on. SFU’s number-two pitcher Kelsie Hawkins, and MSUB counterpart Annaleisha Parsley kept their respective opposition scoreless through the first three innings. The Clan would open the scoring in the fourth, but would immediately give the lead right to the Jackets in the top of the fifth. It took until late in the sixth for the Clan to respond, setting the stage for a fantastic finish and the Clan’s only win of the series.

Senior shortstop Leah Riske came up to the plate in the bottom of the seventh, and belted a walk-off solo home run to earn the victory.

“The first game was bit disappointing,” said Riske. “We came back after being down and then let them take back the lead. The second game we talked about coming away with a win and we did that.”

It was a very solid effort from the Clan in game two, but one that was, unfortunately not built upon over the next two contests. Sloppy play cost the Clan, and they were outscored 24–8 in consecutive losses (including an 18–6 drubbing).

Clan ace Cara Lukawesky kept the Yellowjackets at bay for a while in the third matchup between the two teams, but she couldn’t couldn’t keep it scoreless forever. MSUB connected for three runnings in the third inning, and that was all they needed to win (though it wouldn’t be all they’d take). Lukawesky had little run support, and the Clan dropped the contest 6–2. The lack of offence, coupled with a few bad errors, did the team in, but the defeat pales in comparison to the two team’s next contest.

The aforementioned 18–6 loss was a product of more messy play, as four Clan errors turned into eight unearned runs for the Jackets. Those alone would’ve been enough to best the Clan’s six, but
the MSUB bats were hot, scoring 10 earned runs as well. Such a blowout loss is a tough pill for anyone to swallow, but it’s no doubt a wakeup call for a team that was riding high just a week ago.

“We just have to get our heads [back] in the game a little bit more and be more focused,” said junior outfielder Trisha Bouchard. “We have to go back to the basics and go from there.”

They may have hit a rough patch, but they have the personnel and the mindset, and they have a coach who, just coming off his 500th career victory, has the experience to right the ship.

Clan season finally comes to a close

By

-

March 12, 2012

“Rage, rage against the dying of the light,” wrote Dylan Thomas in 1951.

Although the women’s season finally came to an end in a 74–70 loss against Alaska Anchorage, the Clan fought defeat to the very end. They came back from two deficits of at least 18 points, but they couldn’t find a way to beat the eighth-ranked Seawolves.

In spite of the defeat, the Clan remain positive about their effort, and their season past, as well as next year’s.

“I thought we showed a lot of resiliency,” said head coach Bruce Langford post-game, “especially being down 18 twice and coming back against a top 10 team that’s deep and very physical.”

The Clan actually out-performed the Seawolves in every statistic, save for the one that shows up on the scoreboard.

“We had a couple of missed opportunities that ultimately hurt us,” said Langford of his team’s final undoing. The team was typically clutch late in the game, but the heroics fell just short. Really though, coming off a victory in their first-ever NCAA playoff game, there’s little to be upset about the 2011–2012 season.

“We returned a lot of players this year and had some new kids come in that showed a lot of improvement,” continued Langford. Building off a strong returning corps was a blessing for the Clan, as they didn’t have to waste much time getting familiar with each other. Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe and Kristina Collins, two players who earned a lot of well-deserved attention (both from the opposition and the media) only strengthened their already-dangerous chemistry, and the duo became on of the most potent threats in the GNAC. Other players, like Carla Wyman or Chelsea Reist, or even freshman Erin Chambers developed into a strong secondary-scoring group for the Clan, and the team’s bench players were more-than-capable replacements. Really, the only knock on the team is a lack of consistency, something they know full well they need to address moving forward.

“Next year, we need to work on being more consistent,” said a succinct Langford. “We always need to get stronger and more skilled,” he added, but consistency was at the top of the list. Just as this year was one full of returners though, next season will be much the same. The only graduating senior is Anna Carolsfeld, which leaves the team — and its chemistry — largely intact.

That will no doubt help the Clan improve on all they need to — from the big things like consistency to the much more nitty-gritty — but there’s more than enough time for that. Right now, it’s about the season that was, as it was one of the most impressive seasons a Clan team has put forth since SFU joined the NCAA.

Of course, no one on the roster was happy to see their season draw to a close, but they didn’t wilt away when they were down; they fought until time simply ran out.

“The team needs to feel pretty proud about how they played [against Alaska Anchorage]. I’m so proud of them,” said Langford, and for good reason.

“Do not go gentle into that good night,” wrote Thomas. The Clan certainly didn’t.

Manning easily tops list of 2012 free agents

By

-

March 12, 2012