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Hot dogs and teddy bears: Partyfest 2019 pushes musical boundaries

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Arts
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Partyfest’s mascot baby Butter Bear will be in attendance for photographs. Image courtesy of BAD/GOOD.

By: Alison Wick, Arts Editor

This Friday, July 19, for the second time ever, Red Gate Arts Society is putting on their Xanadu-themed birthday party turned local music festival — and it’ll be the first time it’s held at their new location on 1965 Main St. This year, Partyfest is being co-headlined by Devours and shitlord fuckerman, and organizers have also announced a barbecue and multiple DJ sets by Okibi. Other confirmed performers for the Friday evening show include Freak Dream, Spencer Owen Timeshare, Joey Chaos and the Ghosts, Operator 2 and Seth Eggler. In anticipation of the event, I interviewed Joey Chaos over email, Partyfest’s founder, organizer, and SFU Masters of Fine Arts student about how Partyfest began and the sets you won’t want to miss.

Editor’s note: Responses have been edited for style and clarity.

Alison Wick: So how did Partyfest get started?

Joey Chaos: Partyfest originally started as a Xanadu-themed birthday party when I lived in Victoria in 2009. My friend’s house above the Cook Street Food Court doubled as a venue, and we had one band and a DJ play. Since then it grew to a series of annual house shows until 2014. A through line for the whole series of events is that it started off as a joke. The initial few years were fairly meme-heavy, though we’ve since cooled off on that front and focused more on the music and community aspect of the event.

After moving to Vancouver, I took a one-year hiatus, then held the first one at the Red Gate Arts Society at their old location on Hastings Street in 2016. I’ve organized many shows on the island but this was my first time throwing a mini-festival in Vancouver. I’ve always had a passion for local music scenes and have gravitated towards synth and rock acts.

Along with organizing the festival, Joey will be performing with his band Joey Chaos and the Ghosts. Image courtesy of Joey Chaos and the Ghosts.

Can you tell me a bit about last year’s festival and how this year is going to be the same or different?

The last year we held Partyfest was in 2017 and that was also at the old Red Gate location on Hastings. I’m stoked to be hosting it in their new space on 1965 Main Street in the old VIVO building; I find the space is a bit less cavernous and the main room is a better layout. 

We do indeed have a BBQ happening again this year. We’re doggin’ it up again this year and, the same as last year, we will have vegan and gluten-free options available as well. I also bought two bottles of Daddy’s Ketchup in Kuala Lumpur and have smuggled them back to Canada just for the event. Hot dogs are going for $2 and all profit from that goes directly to the artists as well. The BBQ is run by Anna, one of our long-term Party Pals, who volunteers to help out with the festival. 

Also, this year we’re going to have a photo booth with baby Butter Bear, the festival’s official mascot. I got him from a toy-fair in Victoria for $2 and the festival wouldn’t be here without him.

What do you seek to bring to your audience/to the Vancouver music scene and is the event intended to continue to happen annually?

Genre doesn’t really define the artists curated for Partyfest — really, I’m just looking for fresh acts that will get people moving. This year’s co-headliners are Devours and shitlord fuckerman, two artists pushing boundaries in music as well as gender and identity. As far as a platform goes, I try and push diversity as much as possible with the shows I curate, though I realize there’s always room for improvement.

This year we received a grant from Creative BC which will help fund the advertising and rentals for Partyfest — lights, backline, etc. Aside from covering the base costs for the festival, this allows more money to go directly to the artists. The money collected at the door and bar are split evenly between performers and the Red Gate Arts Society and I’m proud to be able to help raise funds for one of the few artist-run spaces left in the city.

Co-headliners Devours and shitlord fuckerman push boundaries through music and performance. Courtesy of shitlord fuckerman via Facebook.

What are you most excited about for this year’s festival? What are some highlights you are looking forward to?

I’m stoked for this year’s line-up. Devours [Editor’s note: stage name of Jeff Cancade] is one of my favourite artists in town and Jeff’s set is going to bring down the house. Shitlord has promised some cowboy-tinged vibes and this year we also have the last-minute addition of Operator 2, a bass heavy chill-wave project by Seth Eggler. Freak Dream always shreds heavy and Elliot Fanglord’s a killer vocalist. Spencer Owen Timeshare are making the journey from Oakland, California to make the festival and my own band, Joey Chaos and The Ghosts, have a lot of new material we’ll be unveiling for the show. Lastly, Okibi is the secret sauce of Partyfest. He’ll be spinning jams all night in between each set and at the end of the night.

For people who did not attend last year or may not have heard of Partyfest, what can they expect from the show?

SOLID TIMES. This is going to be the sickest party of the summer. Not too big, not too small, just right. We are going to transform the space again with a giant orange-and-white parachute hung from the ceiling and we’re going over the top with lights this year — it’s going to be good.

The festival is on July 19 at the Red Gate Arts Society. Tickets can be purchased online at partyfresh.ca or at the door. They cost $10 but no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

SFU student fails

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Features
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Image courtesy of jessica45 via Pixabay

By: Kitty Cheung (Staff Writer),  Mishaa Khan, Vivien Ying Qi Li, Jennifer Low (Features Editor), Nathaniel Tok

I fell into the Academic Quadrangle (AQ) Pond… and it’s kind of my fault

Over my time here at SFU, it’s become something of a yearly tradition for me to walk on the frozen AQ pond during winter. Why? I’m not sure. Maybe I like snow, maybe I like to show my dominance over the koi fish in the pond, or maybe I just like walking on water.

I remember that the first time I went to go walk on the pond, I was super careful. I gave the pond a few cold days to freeze over thoroughly and I threw pebbles on the ice to test it. I put one foot first on the ice, took off my bag and heavy clothing, and inched slowly and timidly onto the ice. Success! 

Every year thereafter, I reduced my level of precaution for the annual tradition. This year, I gave the ice less time to freeze; I kept hold of my bag (containing some medium-weight textbooks and my laptop) and my heavy-duty jacket. It probably didn’t help that I  proceeded to do tuck-jumps on the ice while trying to film myself with my phone. Then I heard a deep but faint cracking sound . . . oops.

– N. T. 

 

Follow the leader does not pay off 

In my first semester at SFU, I was still learning to navigate campus effectively. I was walking to the AQ from my residence through the second floor in West Mall when I realized I didn’t know where to go. I saw a group of people exiting the second floor of West Mall and decided to follow them. 

I would later learn that these people were SFU’s football players.  I ended up walking into the Athletics and Recreation office in the Transportation Centre building. I soon realized I was in the wrong place and ran out embarrassed. 

-M. K. 

 

Oops… Wrong classroom 

Walking into the wrong room on the first day of class is by no means the most embarrassing thing that could happen to you. 

In fact, it’s not even close. 

You can, after all, just exit the classroom inconspicuously like any sane human being and find the correct room. However, the word “inconspicuous” doesn’t seem to exist in my vocabulary, because that is exactly what I didn’t do when I found myself in the wrong classroom at the beginning of my second semester.

In my defence, I had tried to make a graceful exit… but when you’re notorious for being clumsy, you know things are bound to go wrong somewhere. Just as suspected, instead of leaving quietly like I had planned to, I managed to drop my notes, trip over the nearby chairs, and nearly spill scalding hot tea on myself before I could even make it to the door. By then, everyone’s attention was already on me and my plan to leave unseen was ruined. Long story short, what started off as a small mistake turned into one of the most embarrassing situations in a matter of seconds, all thanks to my clumsiness.

– V. L. 

 

I hit someone with the microwave door… 

I’ve had my share of embarrassing, student-fail moments at SFU. Dropping a water bottle in the new lecture hall where it rolled all the way to the prof’s feet, not closing my coffee lid tight enough and letting it leak as I walked down the hallway . . . the list goes on and on. But no moment quite makes me cringe like the time I hit someone in the face with a microwave door.

It was lunchtime in the Learning Hub at Education Central. I was distracted by my phone as my chicken pot pie heated in the microwave. As soon as I heard the beep, without looking up, I instinctively reached up and opened the microwave door ― smashing it right into the face of some poor guy reaching for a paper towel. With a quick apology, I ran back to my seat, only to realize that he and his group of friends were seated right beside me. To make matters worse, I forgot cutlery that day and had to use my emergency chopsticks to eat my microwavable chicken pot pie. 

– J. L. 

 

Apparently, I’m just unlucky… 

Last winter, Burnaby campus got cold enough that the AQ pond froze over. Walking across the concrete path, I could see footprints on the snow over the pond ― evidence that others had made the daring trip over the ice. 

Enticed and excited, I felt bold enough to step away from the concrete path only to have my entire leg submerged in icy water as my weight broke its frozen surface. I floundered around for a bit between the fractured ice and concrete, one leg hopping in the frigid pond water, before grasping the pathway tiles. Pulling myself back up, I remember crawling across the concrete, eyes darting around to see if anyone had noticed. 

Thankfully, it was a weekend afternoon, so the AQ was mostly deserted. Aside from a couple of Burnaby Mountain residents walking their dogs, my tomato-red face and icicle-crusted nostrils were somewhat saved from embarrassment. I was also fortunate enough to have been living in residence at the time, so I trotted back to the west end of campus with my one very soggy leg to warm my frozen toes. 

– K.C.

Hilarious and outstandingly feminist: Late Night celebrates women in comedy

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Arts
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Mindy Kaling in her new film, Late Night. Image courtesy of Amazon Studios.

By: Kitty Cheung, Staff Writer

Coming from modern-day rom-com queen Mindy Kaling, Late Night is a sincere ode to women in comedy. Working as both screenwriter and actor on the film, Kaling stars alongside Emma Thompson in this showbusiness dramedy. Thompson plays Katherine Newbury, a witty and sharp-tongued late-night talk show host who, as the first woman to host her own show, is seen as a pioneer in entertainment. 

After being called a “woman who hates women“, Newbury hires Molly Patel (played by Mindy Kaling), an Indian-American novice comedy writer, to join the all-male writers’ room of her show. Going from working at a chemical plant to writing on the show of her comedy hero, Patel is living out her dream. The film follows her story as she realizes the reality of the late-night entertainment  industry, struggling under Newbury’s critical eye but developing as a writer.

Patel’s naive but earnest enthusiasm for her job makes for many endearingly embarrassing moments, like being hit in the face with a trash bag after reflecting that “this is [her] dream.” In trying to prove herself in a (white) man’s world, she remains humble and grounded, offering fresh ideas and strong support for Newbury.

The failures and successes of Newbury’s show are also a main driving force in the plot. Thompson’s performance as Newbury is especially notable for her razor-sharp delivery of quips and callous professionalism, achieving a character who is both shockingly severe and hilariously quick-witted. She is also able to show vulnerability in Newbury’s complex character, particularly with how the celebrity struggles to shield her personal life from public scrutiny.

As an extremely biased and avid fan of Kaling’s work, I was admittedly disappointed in the casting of this film. Despite Late Night’s clear message of promoting diversity in entertainment, I found that the film itself didn’t quite adhere to this value. Aside from Patel and her character’s family, most of the people of colour cast in Late Night were given roles as extras. 

If Kaling is advocating for more minorities to possess creative power in show business, the film could have benefitted from giving more voice to minority characters. Aside from these casting decisions, I was glad that there were POC in notable creative roles offscreen, such as Nisha Ganatra as the director and, of course, Kaling herself as the screenwriter.  

Overall, Late Night is a hilarious and heartwarming comedy with strong feminist tones. This film is filled with tongue-in-cheek social commentary on the entertainment industry polished by Kaling’s sincere and comedic storytelling. While its message of diversity could have been strengthened by better-developed characters written for minority actors, Molly Patel shines through with her unique talent and voice.

Bard’s Spaghetti Western The Taming of the Shrew is everything a retelling should be

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Arts
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Andrew McNee and Jennifer Lines as Petruchio and Kate. Image courtesy of Bard on the Beach.

By: Gabrielle McLaren, Editor-in-Chief

Oh, Bard on the Beach. How I love you. Setting a Shakespearean comedy to the absurd Spaghetti Western genre was a hilarious and brilliant artistic direction. I find that comedies are prone to age poorlBay since the jokes get lost over time, but this show was genuinely hilarious. Everything from The Taming of the Shrew’s costumes (Mara Gottler) to the set (Cory Sincennes) and the godawful country music played before and after the show and at the intermission sold me on this strange world. There was even square dancing during the curtain call. 

I also appreciated a note in the program acknowledging that “in the burgeoning American West, there are many stories we could tell about persons, and diverse communities, who were pushed aside. This is only one story, of one woman.” As fun as certain elements of the Western genre can be, they rest on an inherently colonial and racist premise and history. Director Lois Anderson was keenly aware of this as she chose this setting for the story of a woman who didn’t want to comply in a world where rebelliousness is only valued in able white men.  

The plot of the play is straightforward, if not… well, icky. This rich widow refuses to allow her beautiful and beloved daughter Bianca to marry until she can a husband for her eldest daughter, the loud-mouthed and rebellious Katherine (Kate). The man who finally agrees to marry Kate, named Petruchio, is broke and after her dowry. 

Petruchio then basically engages in psychological warfare against his new wife to “break her in.” The play ends with Petruchio winning an elaborate bet about who has the most obedient wife at a large banquet. Katherine’s transformation, or taming, marks this comedy’s happily ever after. Yeah… 

That’s how it normally goes, unless you’re Lois Anderson. In that case, you set The Taming of the Shrew in the wild West and give everybody multiple guns and cowboy hats. Anderson transforms the final “contest” into a good old fashioned heist, orchestrated by Katherine and Petruchio to empty the pockets of everyone at the banquet. The play ends with Katherine, played by Jennifer Lines, ripping off the stolen garment she paraded around as the perfect wife in, shooting down two chandeliers, grabbing the money, and dragging her husband out of the theatre. 

Anderson’s retelling of The Taming of the Shrew works because she sets it in a believable and appropriately chosen world, using tropes that the entire audience was familiar with to spin Shakespeare’s work on its head. Does Kate change over the course of the play? Yes. But, instead of shedding her alleged shrew-ness, she just finds a compatible pain in the ass, Petruchio, to become her partner. 

Jennifer Lines’ incredibly energetic performance as Katherine is also so, so important to hammer home this retelling because she does not make Kate likeable. She plays Kate as the character is: aggressive and impatient. But Lines so expertly conveys the character’s depth and completeness to show that, hey, she doesn’t have to be likeable, because she’s real. And real people don’t exist to be liked; we’re just here to be messy. 

And that, I think, is why the crowd cheered so loudly when Kate ends the play riding off into the sunset.

The Taming of the Shrew runs from June 5 — September 21 at Bard on the Beach in Vanier Park, on the BMO mainstage. Students are eligible for $26 tickets. Warnings for the show include multiple gunshot sounds, sometimes with warnings and sometimes without, and water-based haze to simulate fog. Because of the Western theme, alcohol and drinking is also a big motif in the play. 

From Surrey campus to Silicon Valley: an interview with designer, Sean Leach

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Features
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Photo courtesy of Sean Leach

By: Kitty Cheung, Staff Writer

Fast Facts

Name: Sean Leach

Pronouns: He/Him

Department Affiliation: School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT)

Hometown: Coquitlam, BC

Hobbies: Cycling, animation, woodworking, travelling, and gaming

Fun Fact: Despite being a designer and working with colour, Leach is actually deuteranopic; a type of colour blindness which causes him to have trouble differentiating between most reds/greens, blues/purples, and greys/pinks.

Favourite Instagram Filter: Leach’s favourite Instagram filter is “Hologram” because it was made by his friend (@joekndy)!

 

Recent SIAT graduate Sean Leach will be moving to Silicon Valley to work as a product designer at Instagram. During his degree, Leach had several international learning experiences in the Netherlands and Italy, even completing three internships in San Francisco. In an email interview with The Peak, Leach discussed his design process, valuable lessons learned in the SIAT program, and his upcoming job at Instagram.

 

The Peak: What drew you to study design?

Sean Leach: That’s a very hard question to answer. I don’t think I always knew that I wanted to pursue design. But I do remember that back in high school, my favourite class was Media Arts, where we learned the classic Adobe programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to apply to the School of Interactive Arts and Technology at SFU hoping that I would get the chance to utilize those skills. A few years later, I eventually found myself in IAT438, a class which studied User Experience design [UX], and was introduced to the potential career of being a UX designer. I think that above everything else, my curiosity for how things work and my love for problem-solving allowed me to get a grasp of this type of design quite quickly.

 

P: What was the most valuable design lesson that you learned during your time in SIAT?

SL: DO INTERNSHIPS! Throughout my seven years in SIAT I had the opportunity to do three internships in San Francisco to take my learning outside of the classroom and apply it in the real world. Without a doubt, these internships were some of the most valuable learning opportunities that I had during my undergraduate degree.

 

P: I understand that you worked as a TA for SIAT. Were there any key concepts that you found to be most important to share with your students? 

SL: Working as a TA for IAT 233 was one of the most rewarding experiences that I had in SIAT. I always tried to communicate to my students that when you’re learning a new language —in this case, it was “design” as a language — it requires relentless practice.

 

P: Can you tell me more about the design field schools that you completed in the Netherlands and in Italy? What were the most memorable experiences that you had during your travels?

SL: I participated in two field schools during my undergraduate degree, the 2015 dutchDesign and 2018 italiaDesign field schools. These field schools are seven-month programs and they explore culture and design in the context of the Netherlands and Italy. Each field school consisted of a group of 12 students. Our director, Russell Taylor, gave us the opportunity to work with and conduct interviews with the top designers and thinkers in their region. Between the two field schools, I had too many memorable experiences to list them all but a couple of memories that stood out were interviewing Ronan Bouroullec with one of my best friends Robyn Goodridge in 2015 and cycling to Montepulciano in Tuscany with Russell Taylor.

 

P: Can you tell us about your favourite design project that you’ve worked on? I’m particularly interested in the process behind your ideas. How do you approach finding creative solutions to design problems?

SL: My favourite design project that I worked on would have to be the Crisis Center for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). I was lucky enough to work with two of my best friends, Chris Elawa and Robyn Goodridge, over the course of nine weeks on a proposal for the ACLU. This project would introduce a hub on their existing website that is the keeper and deployer of legal resources for individuals in urgent need of help in protecting their civil liberties. This project was in response to the 2016 “Muslim Ban,” where thousands of individuals were being illegally detained at multiple airports throughout the United States and many were without access to legal representation.

 

P: What are you most looking forward to with regards to joining Instagram? In particular, what about being a product designer excites you?

SL: I am most looking forward to the mentorship at Instagram. I’ll be working alongside some of the industry’s most experienced designers and I’m so excited to pick their brains. Aside from the mentorship, I think having the opportunity to design a product that has over one billion people on the platform will challenge me to practice inclusive design.

 

Note: Responses have been edited for clarity and length. More of Leach’s projects can be found at iamseanleach.com.

Winona Forever release their new album with a mosh pit and crowd surfers at the Russian Hall

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Arts
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Gudrun Wai-Gunnarsson / The Peak

By: Winona Forever, Head Staff Writer

The crowd for the Winona Forever was a sea of lanky twenty-somethings, tousled hair, high-waisted denim, and people more hip than you.

Winona Forever is a Vancouver founded band that recently moved to Montreal, where they are now based. They recently released their sophomore album, Feelgood, on June 7. On Saturday, June 29, they hosted an all ages album release party at the Russian Hall, sharing the stage with a few other local bands.

The evening began with the Austin-native band, TC Superstar. The lead singer and dancers ended their show on a high note with a choreographed dance to their insanely infectious “Toyota Corolla“ in matching outfits (think pink T-shirts and tiny shorts). Hailey Blais followed the band with a few stirring ballads with her powerhouse vocals, balancing a delicate voice with strong, strung-out notes. Finally, Yung Heazy opened their set with a Beatles cover, “Because,” and proceeded to rock out and even bring audience members up to dance with them.

When Winona Forever arrived onstage, I was expecting them to match the theatricality of all their openers. I was wrong — but that wasn’t actually a bad thing. Their toned-down stage performance worked in their favour to make them stand out in a different way from their fellow performers.

Feelgood may not have as many quirky little track titles as their first album, This is Fine., but the lyrics are just as offbeat and whimsical. On the album’s lead single and arguably best track, “Keep Kool,” we see Winona Forever’s strengths as a band: smooth, almost ghostlike vocals, steady beats, and sweet electric guitar riffs. The song kickstarts the album with Ben Robertson singing cool vocals about his anxious and fumbling self against a bubbly, almost elevator-pop sound. 

Winona Forever is also truly by and for twenty-somethings. Lyrics like “I drop whatever I’m doing / At first chance of you sending an adorable dog pic / Don’t have a clue what I am doing / More than half the time, at least Google can help me rhyme,” epitomize the anxiety-tinged thoughts of Millennial flirting. Another highlight on the album was “Heads or Tails,” a dynamic track, full of shy yet hopeful lyrics, chill vocals, and what I can only describe as an ambitious use of the oboe.

It’s clear that in Feelgood, Winona Forever have honed in on their sound — murmured vocals, eclectic, twinkling guitar riffs, and soft but steady-as-hell beats. 

Onstage at the Russian Hall, visually, the band was striking. None of the band members shared a single colour in their outfits. But when it came to music, all were synchronized. They started the show with their first track from This is Fine.: “Shrek ~ Chic,” guitars roaring to life. But for all of the energy and life their music breathed into the air, the band members remained laid-back and relaxed onstage.

Aside from the anomaly of the moshpit (which included crowd-surfing at some point!), it was clear that the audience and Winona Forever were all there for one thing and one thing only: good music. 

The concert swept through most of their new album, including great tracks like “Joyride” and “Gazing.” However, the setlist also included some of the more lacklustre tracks from their new album, like “Ruckus,” “5alive,” and “Happy Day.” After a certain point, the groovy guitar riffs and soft vocals blurred together, and made for some unmemorable tracks.

But even for the mixed-bag song choices, the band ended on a high note with their lead single, “Keep Kool.” And after many chants from the audience, they even returned to the stage to play their most popular track, “Hedges,” a track that demands vocals and a scattered attention span and that Robertson complained about briefly.

“No one ever write a song that high; it’s a bad idea,” Robertson laughed.

Overall, even if Winona Forever may lack stage theatrics as performers, they are a band of musicians, not performers. And that’s OK. And despite the too-cool indie concertgoers, there was still a mosh pit had attendees with nothing but bright smiles on their faces. It’s clear the band is beloved by all. 

Vancouver gems like Winona Forever remind us to shower your local bands with love before they decide to head east for affordable housing. But at least they’ll still come back to visit and play some groovy sets.

Top 5 free outdoor movie nights to attend this summer

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Image via Vancouver Sun courtesy of PNG Merlin Archive.

By: Marco Ovies, Peak Associate

Every summer there are tons of free outdoor movie screenings, so it can be difficult, even overwhelming, to decide which one is worth your time. I’ve broken down my top five favourite outdoor movie events happening this year so you can just sit back, relax, and enjoy your favourite movie under the stars.

  1. Burnaby Outdoor Movies at the Civic Square – Thursdays, 8:30 p.m.

If you’re looking for a fun family night out, look no further than Burnaby Outdoor Movies. They are offering plenty of kid-friendly movies, both new and old, to delight audiences of all ages. But make sure to bring a blanket to sit on and a long-sleeved sweater to fight off the onslaught of mosquitoes that come out here at night. If you’re going to attend a movie night with kids, this is definitely the event to go to, as it also starts a bit earlier, but if you’re looking for a more grown-up date idea, this may not be it.

August 8 – Mary Poppins Returns

August 15 – Hotel Transylvania 3

August 22 – Madagascar 3

August 29 – The Wizard of Oz (1939)

  1. Waterfront Cinema at Canada Place – Thursday evenings, dusk

You 100% need to bring a lawn chair or blanket to sit on for this movie night as the screening is set up on a concrete floor. Aside from that, this is a great place to host a movie night. Watch the sunset on the water as you wait for you movie to start and make sure to snuggle up in a nice cozy sweater as it gets quite cold along the water. Additionally, this line-up of movies will please everyone, as the roster includes a wide range of both classics and new releases. 

July 11, 2019 – Captain Marvel

July 18, 2019 – Crazy Rich Asians

July 25, 2019 – Elf

August 1, 2019 – Shazam!

August 8, 2019 – Beauty and the Beast

August 15, 2019 – How to Train your Dragon: The Hidden World

August 22, 2019 – Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

August 29, 2019 – Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade

  1. New Westminster Outdoor Movie Night – Friday evenings, dusk

Now this outdoor movie night is one that you should mark down on your calendars. Each screening takes place at a different park in New Westminster, giving viewers a glimpse of the great local parks. But that’s not even the most exciting part: the screening of Bohemian Rhapsody is a 19+ event where there will be food and liquor for purchase. You heard right: alcohol, good movies, and no annoying kids hitting you in the head with a soccer ball in the middle of the film (I’m looking at you Jimmy, you ruined Jumanji for me). 

July 12, 2019 – The Lego Movie (at Sapperton Park)

July 19, 2019 – The Avengers (at Moody Park)

July 26, 2019 – Bohemian Rhapsody (at Westminster Pier Park) (19+)

  1. Stanley Park Summer Cinema at Second Beach – Tuesday evenings, dusk

Stanley Park Summer Cinema is the event that started it all. For the 11th year, you can watch your favourite movies on “one of the largest outdoor screens in the Lower Mainland” (according to Vancouver’s Best Places) for free. 

This event can get very crowded though so make sure to get their early to reserve your seat. Or if you don’t feel like waiting for hours for the movie to start, you can reserve a VIP spot for $20. It automatically bumps you up to right in front of the screen and gives you a super comfy lawn chair to sit on. So you can show up five minutes before the film and have the best seat in the house (though parking will probably be a nightmare). 

Also, make sure to check out their Dinner & Movie package where, for $35, you not only get reserved seating but also a three-course meal from select restaurants. This is the perfect date night if you’re looking to impress your significant other or if you don’t want to wait around all day for the movie.

July 9, 2019 – Beetlejuice

July 16, 2019 – Shrek

July 23, 2019 – Sleepless in Seattle

July 30, 2019 – Moulin Rouge! 

August 6, 2019 – Finding Nemo 

August 13, 2019 – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

August 20, 2019 – Jurassic Park

  1. Richmond Outdoor Drive-In Movies at Lansdowne Centre – Wednesday evenings, dusk

For a truly unique outdoor experience, I whole-heartedly recommend hitting up the Richmond Outdoor Drive-In Movie night. There’s free drive-in parking for up to 200 vehicles so make sure to get there right at 6 p.m. when parking opens. If you don’t have a car that’s no problem either, there is also plenty of space for people to set up their lawn chairs/blankets to enjoy the movie. If you want to experience a classic Drive-in movie experience, for FREE don’t forget, then Richmond Outdoor Drive-In Movies are a must go. Plus the movie lineup is probably the best out of all the other outdoor movie nights so how could I not give it the number one spot?

July 10, 2019 – Ocean’s 8

July 17, 2019 – Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

July 24, 2019 – The Notebook

July 31, 2019 – Batman: The Dark Knight

August 7, 2019 – Aquaman

August 14, 2019 – Shazam!

August 21, 2019 – Detective Pikachu

August 28, 2019 – Inception

Do you hear the students sing?

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Humour
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Written by: Ana Staskevich, Staff Writer
Illustration by: Marissa Ouyang 

 

“Do You Hear The Students Sing?”

 

[Business:]

Do you hear the students sing?

Singing the song of undergrads?

It is the war cry of stressed youth

Who are the school’s broke comrades!

The slamming of books shall then

Drown out the drills of construction

No finals will be held again

When semester ends!

 

[Liberal Arts:]

Will you follow our movement?

Who will leave class and march with me?

For our own improvement

Don’t you wish parking was free?

 

[Health Science:]

Come enter the cause

Let us fight against those textbook fees!

 

[Business:]

Do you hear the students sing?

Singing the song of undergrads?

It is the war cry of stressed youth

Who are the school’s broke comrades!

The slamming of books shall then

Drown out the drills of construction

No finals will be held again

When semester ends!

 

[Social Sciences:]

Can you sacrifice your marks

So we can stand up to the profs

And escape the school in sparks

This time, they will have to back off

The cries of us scapegoats

Will fill the halls of SFU!

 

[Every faculty:]

Do you hear the students sing?

Singing the song of undergrads?

It is the war cry of stressed youth

Who are the school’s broke comrades!

The slamming of books shall then

Drown out the drills of construction

No finals will be held again

When semester ends!

 

Henry Petter and the Horcruxes of SFU

By
Humour
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0

Written by: Mishaa Khan, Peak Associate
Illustration by:Jarielle Lim

Once upon a time, in a caring, construction-free land called SFU, there studied a miserable tenth-year student named Ted Misermort. After being unable to get into his required courses for the 15th semester in a row, Misermort decided to ensure that no one else would graduate, either. 

He consulted the dark magic present in the hidden corners of RCB and split his bad luck into seven deadly pieces. These horrible Horcruxes were hidden around campus, resulting in student apathy, a mental health decline, bad grades, constant construction, and late enrollment dates. As time passed by, construction and fog enveloped the campus to cover the voices of the Screaming Students and the site of GPA-sucking Dementors.  

Henry Petter was summoned by the SFU Forensics team to destroy the Horcruxes before SFU is obliterated by the dark forces of endless construction. Each Horcrux was hidden in a place that represented a devastating part of Misermorts’s life during his time at SFU. After going through the memories of other SFU students who knew Misermort, Petter began his 100-day adventure, trekking through the endless construction to destroy the Horcruxes and save SFU.

His first stop was a location responsible for every student’s misery: IT Services. Petter burnt down the IT Service Room while spending four hours on the phone with the SFU administration to distract them. This allowed the first horcrux, the SFU server, to crash. With goSFU down, no student could get a late enrollment date. 

Petter proceeded to the office of Professor McFoggnall, who had once given Misermort 2% for his final PSYC385 exam. He used his Invisibility Cloak to not-so-stealthily enter McFoggnall’s office. Brandishing his pen-shaped wand, he destroyed the Horcrux with Fiendfyre hotter than the roasts the Professor had left in their comment on Misermort’s exam.

Petter then dived into the AQ pond to retrieve a legendary item notorious among students for its wasteful attributes: the iClicker. On his way down, Petter was nearly drowned by the infernal koi fish haunting the pond. As he succeeded in his quest, Petter was able to use the iClicker to destroy the third Horcrux: a syllabus with mandatory participation. 

He then staggered quickly into the AQ’s 6th floor bathroom to dry off before any of the Muggles saw him. When he was drying up, he heard a hissing sound coming from the stall behind him. He slowly walked to the door and kicked it open only to see Misenmort’s loyal familiar, the raccoon Ragini, ready to attack. He quickly fed her some food he snuck out of the Dining Hall, causing her to shriek and collapse into a lifeless corpse.  

Petter ran to WMC to find his next Horcrux: a Beedie lanyard, in the possession by a Beedie snake Animagus. He knew Parseltongue, and could hear faint whispers when he stopped to get his Iced Capp. He explored the area to find the Beedie snake sitting on a table, trying to sell unnecessary Beedie merchandise to broke students. Petter quietly approached the snake and whispered a spell in Parseltongue, turning the snake’s skin white with fear. With Petter’s Accio, he tore the Beedie merchandise from the snake’s hands and destroyed the pieces of Misermort’s misfortune residing within. Out of embarrassment, the snake dropped out of Beedie and regained his human form.

The next stop was every student’s favourite place to stress nap: the fifth floor of the library, also known as the Chamber of Misery. In the Chamber of Misery, Petter found the academic journal that was ideal for Misermort’s PSYC 385 exam that he failed, but he had been unable to access because it was behind a paywall, resulting in him receiving a big fat F. Petter bled the paper with a Starbucks latte and dropped 10 student tears on each page to destroy the horcrux.

Due to SFU’s inconvenient location, Petter — despite being a wizard — had to wait for the 145 bus at the Upper Bus Loop for longer than the scheduled time. Before arriving to the Muggle World, Petter had purchased a transit version of the Marauder’s Map, the Muggle’s Map, from Weasleys’ Wizarding Wheezes. Once he located the bus on the Muggle’s Map, he used the spell Wingardium Leviosa to move the bus to the top of the mountain despite TransLink trying to resist arriving on time as much as possible. This destroyed the last Horcrux, the concept of TransLink buses’ eternal lateness. Thus, Petter lifted Misermort’s curse preventing anyone from graduating.

Despite Petter’s success in saving SFU from dark forces, there are still occasions of students taking over eight years to graduate. This is because there are still Student Eaters lurking around on campus covertly, trying to complete the mission Misermort began and waiting for his return. 

 

 

 

 

 

SFU WUSC marks World Refugee Day with an event to raise awareness for refugee students

By
News
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0
Courtesy of SFU

By: Gurpreet Kambo

“I was born as a refugee,” said Wafaa Zaqout, Refugee and Newcomers Program coordinator at SFU, when asked where her interest and passion for refugee rights began. Zaqout was born in a camp that was called Canada, in Egypt, near Palestine. “It’s a part of my identity.”

June 20 is internationally known as World Refugee Day. This year, the SFU chapter of World University Service of Canada (WUSC) marked the day by holding an event in the Diamond Alumni Centre called “Pursuing Equity In Education for Refugee Students.” 

“WUSC’s Student Refugee Program (SRP) has allowed people who have had their education interrupted by conflict and persecution continue their studies in post-secondary institutions across Canada. SFU has been sponsoring students since 1981.”

Their first year’s tuition and living expenses paid through semesterly student levies: $2.50 per full-time student and $1.25 per part-time student.

“[Refugees] have been deprived of their basic rights in education, security . . . Everything you take for granted, they’ve been deprived of,” said Zaqout, who helped organize the event, on why holding it was so important.

“To mark one day is not enough. We need to keep reminding people that there’s this huge group of people that’ve been forced to flee their houses. We need to try to help out, do something, anything.”

That evening, three short films highlighted different issues affecting refugees and at-risk and vulnerable youth. The event also featured a brief workshop and discussion led by three facilitators from the Access to Media Education Society: Ayan Ismail, Valeen Jules, and Vida Nacho.

Zaqout also announced at the event that because the costs of bringing refugee students to SFU are rising, WUSC SFU will be seeking an increase to its student levy from the current $2.50 to $5 dollars per student per semester. According to a previously reported article by The Peak, the part-time student levy would implement a $1.50 increase. 

A student levy increase must be voted on via referendum the student body. It is not yet confirmed when WUSC plans to seek the increase.

“It’s a collective responsibility,” said Zaqout on why SFU students should support the referendum. “There are [millions] of refugees across the world. Among them, they have lots of dreams.

“I was dreaming of being an astronaut . . . but I was dreaming only. I can’t be an astronaut, because I’m a refugee. We need to make sure that some of these people have access to education and have another chance. A second chance.”

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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