Jasdeep Singh led the Clan with 25 points. (Photo courtesy of SFU Athletics)
On Saturday, February 9, the SFU men’s basketball team won their third straight game after beating the Central Washington University Wildcats on home court. A dominant first half was all the Clan would need, as they took a 17-point halftime lead and cruised to a 82–66 win.
After a disappointing start to their GNAC season, the Clan appear to have turned things around. Always seeing themselves as a team that can compete for a playoff spot, the team is now finally playing like it. Their blowout win on Saturday came after upset victories over Saint Martin’s and Northwest Nazarene.
Jasdeep Singh had arguably his best game of the season, finishing with 25 points on 11–16 shooting from the field. Between him, Othniel Spence (15 points), Jordan Muir-Keung (12 points) and Wilfried Balata (10 points), the Clan have multiple scoring options from the perimeter.
On the inside, Julian Roche has had a spectacular season in his first year with SFU. The big man had another double-double on Saturday night, finishing with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Games like this are becoming the norm for him, as he has consistently played at a high level as of late.
Meshing all the pieces together is point guard Michael Provenzano, who is first the GNAC with 4.8 assists per game. Saturday was no different, as he had a game-high eight assists in the contest.
Saturday showed that the Clan have all the pieces needed to be a playoff team. Beating two top teams in a row and then handling a lesser opponent comfortably is the best three-game stretch of the season for SFU.
They are now 6–8 in the GNAC, meaning that half of their wins have come over this stretch. The win streak moves them up to sixth place in the conference, one game back of Alaska Anchorage, who have a 7–7 record. Finishing in the top four will be a difficult task, however, as Saint Martin’s (12–2), Northwest Nazarene (11–3), Western Oregon (10–4) and Seattle Pacific (10–4), have a pretty firm hold on the top spots.
What’s next:
Catch the Clan as they go for their fourth straight win on Tuesday, February 12 against Western Washington University. The Vikings have an identical 6–8 record as the Clan, and are led by Trevor Jasinsky, who is second in the GNAC in scoring, averaging 20 points per game.
This has all the makings to be a good one. Tip off is at 7 p.m.
We all have had high-school teachers who scared the bejeezus out of us when they described professors at university. Dive into this piece to compare those myths your high school professors used to tell you about university with what it’s really like.
High-school teachers: “You can’t know anything about my life.”
College professors: “By the way, I have a drinking problem. Also, I adopted a raccoon last month without my wife’s permission, so she and I are getting divorced next month.”
High-school teachers: “You are going to need to work really hard at university.”
College professors: “Just to clarify, this Thursday, the midterm will consist of chapters one through five. In the meantime, do you want to listen to rap music or watch Frozen for this class?”
High-school teachers: “Well, really, I cannot share my political opinions with you.”
College professors: “Well, the orange-headed president in our neighbouring country needs to get impeached immediately. I will raise your letter grade if someone could end this presidency for their final project.”
High-school teachers: “You are not permitted to EAT or DRINK in my classroom!”
College professors: *devours a pack of crisps and sips a can of Red Bull as they lecture*
High-school teachers: “You won’t have another chance to retake the midterms.”
College professors: “Honestly, if you can’t make it, just let me know. You can come during my office hours, or even come home with me next Wednesday. My wife will understand. Really, just keep me in the loop.”
High-school teachers: “Write a 4000-word essay about glaucoma and cataracts in LEDCs vs MEDCs.”
College professors: “Man oh man, if you exceed 1000 words, you will be expelled on sight.”
High-school teachers: “I will be absent next week, but you will be having a substitute teacher.”
College professors: “My dog gave birth, class is cancelled.” *picture of puppies attached at the end of email*
High-school teachers: “Please only contact me through email or in person”
College professors: *on the first day* “This is my phone number. Feel free to call me at any time — just not at 3 a.m. or on a Friday night, ‘cause I promise you, I WILL give you the death stare during the next lecture if you interrupt my sleep.”
Senate discusses how bursaries should be distributed for international undergraduate students
At the senate meeting on February 4, Simon Fraser University senators reviewed their annual report on scholarships, awards, and bursaries for the 2017–18 fiscal year.
According to the 2017–18 financial report, the university has disbursed approximately $2.38 million and $2.23 million in bursaries for international undergraduate students and domestic undergraduate students, respectively.
Senator Daniel Leznoff commented that currently, there is a policy at SFU where approximately 25% of international students’ tuition fees go back to the university’s bursaries program for international students. Leznoff then asked: “Is there any consideration in the committee or elsewhere in the administration to reconsider this policy?”
Stephen Spector, acting chair for senate policy committee on scholarships, awards and bursaries responded: “The simple answer at this point is no. However, it is something that can be brought forward for consideration.”
In a follow-up interview with The Peak, Wade Parkhouse, vice-provost and associate vice-president academic, commented that the 25% redistribution of international tuition fees is not really a policy, but more so “a practice/commitment which the administration has made the last number of years and next year in terms of tuition [sic].”
“SFU continues to commit that 25% of the international undergraduate tuition revenue beyond the general fee increase of 2%, will be designated toward international student support and services,” said Parkhouse in the email interview.
Parkhouse further commented that as international tuition has increased at SFU, the intention of providing bursaries is to help international students, especially those who come from poorer parts of the world where paying tuition in Canadian dollars can be an obstacle for them.
Leznoff then suggested that it would be worthwhile to compile a list of where these bursary recipients are originally from.
“The international student body is not as diverse internationally as we would like it to be if the majority of the bursaries are going to the majority of the students from certain countries. That is not achieving that goal and the money could be used by, for example, domestic students,“ said Leznoff. “It’s unclear to me that the bursaries are attracting the best and the brightest.”
Senator Pablo Nepomnaschy also agreed with Leznoff that the university should give a breakdown of where these bursaries are going to, specifically, the recipients’ ethnicity.
Manoj Bhakthan, SFU director of financial aid and awards, however, noted that bursaries are provided to students on a needs-based and they’re not meant to identify students based on their academics or community service involvements. He also shared that bursaries are typically disbursed at the middle of the term just to help the students finish off their semester, and it’s typically “never enough to cover all of their expenses and needs.”
“Ideally, the impact of the bursaries is to help any students, international or domestic to be able to fund their education or at least provide a little bit of funding to support them. It’s not meant to support any other additional tuition fees,” said Bhakthan.
Spector also agreed with Bhakthan that bursaries should be provided on a needs-based basis. “Bursaries [are] not for attracting the best and the brightest. It’s often the case [for] students who are in less desirable financial straits that we enable them to stay at the university.”
Image courtesy of Alexandra Genova, provided by Shark Party Media via theknow.denverpost.com
By: Winona Young, Arts Editor
He’s the meme man of our dreams, the maniacal mother in “Company is Coming,” and is afraid to talk to men — he’s Chris Fleming.
This week, The Peak interviewed the comedian to talk about his upcoming show in Vancouver, his viral videos, and of course, GAYLE.
LIFE AS A CHRIS AND AS A COMEDIAN
After successfully graduating college (“Aw man, graduating theatre school is bleak”), Chris Fleming got signed by an LA agent, moved out to California, and then had his agent leave him to become a chef.
“And so there was in LA, basically representation-less,” he said. It was that poor turn of luck that led Fleming to begin creating GAYLE, his hit web-series on Youtube.
Image courtesy of eventsfy.com
It was through times like that and his time performing at a Chicago comedy club that helped Fleming begin developing his style of humour, which some may call bizarre. Fleming can certainly paint a picture with words when describing things in his comedy, employing metaphors like “Looking like an owl prostitute,” “Ichabod Crane child,” and “Ursula passing a kidney stone.”
But Fleming doesn’t think his comedy was too strange. “I used to think my stuff was Rob Thomas from Matchbox Twenty type. I didn’t think it was that strange. ”
Looking through Fleming’s videos, he’s clearly not afraid to go off on any particular rant or mock, even when the butt of the joke is himself.
Image courtesy of Chris Fleming via YouTube
When I ask Fleming at the start of the interview for his pronouns, he replies, “Anything works for me.” Frequent commenters have asked Fleming about his gender, to which he replies in his stand-up set available on YouTube, “Dad, I’m not a man, I’m not a woman, I’m a showpig.”
I ask Fleming, who’s released videos unabashedly stating’s he’s afraid to talk to men, how he can be so secure with his masculinity. After I ask that, he laughs over the phone, and tells me it’s actually quite the opposite. “Oh, I’m not secure with my masculinity, I just don’t have any masculinity.”
He continues, “There’s just such a lack of it, I have no respect for it. I have zero respect for masculinity so it makes it easier to talk about.”
BEHIND THE SCENES ON GAYLE AND COMPANY IS COMING
Image courtesy of Chris Fleming via Youtube
For the most part, his old Massachusetts neighbourhood was, and remains, very supportive of his series, GAYLE, but one neighbour in particular wasn’t.
“There’s one woman, who a lot of [GAYLE] was inspired by, who is NOT happy about it, at all,” he said.
Which means, yes, there is a real-life Gayle deep in the suburbs of Massachusetts. While Fleming hasn’t seen her in the past few years, Fleming has received word from many sources that she’s “absolutely pissed.” Which may be warranted given that he accidentally slipped in her actual name into one of the series’ background characters. We’d say oops, but apparently this is a habit of Fleming’s.
“I forget to change people’s names sometimes, so a lot of my life has been trying to explain to people’s faces that something that is very obviously about them is not about them. . . I will tell you [her real name],” he said. Promptly followed by, “Wait no, I’m not gonna (laughs).” I asked him later if I may know the name of the real Gayle after the interview, and he told me he would. Score.
He coughs before answering me (“I’m sorry, I’m absolutely bubonic over here”) “I’m still very grateful Company is Coming got the attention that it did, it’s funny when people think that’s the extent of the character,” Fleming began.
Fleming remarked about how often people thought of Gayle simply as “the crazy mom character,” so much so that he feels almost the need to defend her being “disrespected” like this.
“I’ve played that character for so long I have such love for her, you know, and there’s so many different facets to her,” he said. “That’s just one part of her being, I hate that that’s what people think of her in general. There’s so many other beautiful (laughs) shades to her psyche.”
TOURING HIS COMEDY
When asked what Vancouver audiences can expect for his show, he replied that it would be a dynamic night.
“It’s a funny thing of mix of monologues, mix of song and dance, little multimedia thrown in there, little bit of drama, it’s got it all,” he said.
With the success of his Internet videos and comedy, Fleming has toured through America and even London. But one fan encounter in Portland after a show especially struck a chord with Fleming, so much so that it was the inspiration for his video, “Meet and Greets.”
Image courtesy of JFL Northwest Festival
I asked him what happened that night that was weirder than his video. “Well, maybe not weirder,” he amended, “but to me, it was more bone-chilling.”
“This woman was in an all-fleece one-piece, and she waited around, and she wasn’t even necessarily in the line, and she was leaning up against the wall, and I had to approach her,” he said, simultaneously laughing and in horror. “And she was muttering, and I couldn’t understand what she was saying, and she wanted to show me something, and then she just ran off into the rain afterwards,” he concluded.
It was such a bizarre encounter that Fleming made a video to try to convey what he felt during that odd meeting — which, overall, is what he was tries to do in all his videos: convey feeling.
By the time the interview wound down, I asked Fleming to summarize how he felt about his comedy in one word. He paused. “Loose,” he said.
“Can you elaborate?” I asked.
“Oh, I didn’t know I’d have to explain,” he said, and laughed. “I can’t,” he said. “I like to keep it loose.”
The war in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, codenamed Operation Enduring Freedom. Ironically, the operation did not bring freedom, but instead endured for 17 years. But there’s potentially an end in sight as the first week of peace talks have ended between the United States and the Taliban.
America’s essentially been working to pull out of Afghanistan since the Obama administration, which endured two failed peace talks in 2013 and 2015. This only heightened this desire and now it appears that the war in Afghanistan is closer than ever to being done.
While discussions are extremely private at the moment, there appears to be two goals. First, the U.S. wants the Taliban not to allow another international terrorist group to establish its headquarters in Afghanistan, as they did with al-Qaeda in the early 2000s. The Taliban, meanwhile, are demanding a timeline for the removal of U.S. troops, as well as the establishment of an Islamic government.
Yet the Afghan government is afraid that these peace talks and the inevitable removal of U.S. troops will only worsen the entire situation in Afghanistan, as there will be significantly fewer forces in place to oppose insurgence groups and hold them back from gaining greater power.
A key worry to be had with these talks is that these were between the U.S. and the Taliban, rather than the Afghan government. With this choice, the U.S. showed that they see the Taliban as holding all of the power. Even if this was unintentional, it still risks sending conflicting messages to Afghanistan about who they trust and wish to work with.
Furthermore, the Taliban are still an illegal group and have carried out devastating attacks on different government facilities in recent months. The U.S. presence is one of the only stabilizing factors in the country at the moment. If they leave now, there is a chance that the Taliban could return to their full power and destroy all of the progress that Afghanistan has made.
The peace talks have only just started, but given this shaky ground, there’s a high chance this peace talk will fall out like the previous two. Whether they succeed or fail, it is likely that the U.S. is going to leave this time, and their exit would have a direct effect on the future of Afghanistan.
Dilloway’s article is a searing call-out to the backlash against the titular host of Netflix’s Tidying Upwith Marie Kondo.
First, Dilloway recounts her Japanese upbringing and the reverence for Shinto gods. Dilloway affirms that Kondo’s KonMari method is rooted in the basic respect Japanese Shintoism holds for inanimate objects.
Dilloway does not hold back — she fiercely defends Kondo against the backlash she’s received for her methods. She asserts that no, Washington Post critic Ron Charles, Kondo is not a book-hating monster who believes people should have 30 books. And no, BuzzFeed writer Anne Helen Petersen, Kondo’s insistence on decluttering is not just for the sake of a minimalist aesthetic and doesn’t contribute to Millennial burnout.
Dilloway affirms the KonMari method is meant to re-evaluate one’s belongings, not to haphazardly cast them aside if they don’t impulsively “spark joy.” She elaborates on how many of Kondo’s critics paint her as a judgmental, pushy, trash-hating maniac, when in reality, Kondo is non-threatening, gentle, and even encouraging when clients choose to keep belongings instead of throwing them away.
More importantly, Dilloway calls out the underlying racism thrown at Kondo. Dilloway asserts that white, Western audiences are criticizing Kondo harshly because she is an accomplished woman of colour telling them to re-evaluate their choices. Audiences seem to think this off as too aggressive for a woman of colour, and in turn, they completely delegitimize her work and methods. I personally applaud Dilloway standing in solidarity with Kondo, and her article proves the necessity of writers of colour.
Transcript of the Live Coverage from the Peak’s Sports Correspondent Chad Terbocks and Lecture-Hall Expert Ken I. Havanap.
Chad: Well hello there folks, for those of you just tuning in, I’m Chad Terbocks
Ken: and I’m Ken I. Havanap
Chad: We’re coming to you live from the SFU Burnaby Campus; Images Theatre. If you’re still with us . . .
Ken: and haven’t fallen asleep . . .
Chad: We’re just coming into the second quarter of this ridiculously long lecture.
Ken: The lecture seats are full and the silence is intimidating as ever. With only the slight sound of fingers on keyboards and the droning voice of the prof, it’s going to be quite the show.
Chad: That’s right, Ken . . . Our student has just reached the door now. After that bathroom break, you can tell they’re nervous about getting back into the lecture hall.
Ken: Oh, you bet! I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone attempt to open a door that quietly. Look at that strategy! Watch as they open the door with one pull, one beautiful fluid motion.
Chad: No kidding, do you see that concentration, folks? They’re really regretting having that second cup of coffee, should’ve gone to the washroom before class.
Chad: Aaaaand they’re off! Making their way down the stairs, slowly but steadily.
Ken: A great start, but there are still a lot of obstacles before they reach their seat there. Middle of the hall, seat 15 — oof! What a challenge.
Chad: The “mid-lecture hall seat” really wasn’t a good choice today.
Ken: Alright, this student is attempting an extremely risky move, are you seeing this Chad?
Chad: Dear God, look at that, they’ve chosen to step OVER the water bottle AND a backpack on the floor there — this could be fatal!
Ken: An overextension of the leg would definitely cause tripping and even worse, get the attention of the prof.
Chad: There they go. Uh-oh! We’ve got a situation!
Ken: It appears our student has a backpack strap wrapped around their ankle.
Chad: I can’t believe what I’m watching! This is it, it’s over! What are they doing? Leaning forward like that over the lower seats . . . they’re going to fall! If they’re going to make it through this they’re going to need an assist from that coffee cup girl, otherwise I swear she’ll be squished!
Ken: I don’t think so, Chad! Look at that expert leg manoeuver! Let me tell you, it takes a lot of skill to accomplish that . . . Years of training and skill; everything has gone into preparing for this moment.
Chad: You said it! Check out that footwork; weaving between those desks with the grace of a sprightly young gazelle . . . I’m pretty sure coffee cup girl’s noticed too. An impressive recovery!
Ken: It’s been a rough semester so far, this might just be the comeback our student needs. Especially after the water bottle catastrophe of Fall 2018 . . .
Chad: No no no no. Those new AQ lecture halls are built slanted! I say that it was the tilt of the stage that caused it.
Ken: Nevertheless kicking that waterbottle all the way to the prof’s feet caused the biggest disruption of the season.
Chad: It takes a lot to come back from that kind of soul-crushing humiliation . . .
Ken: Here’s another tricky spot. Seriously, who hangs their jacket on the back of their seat in a lecture hall? That’s just inconsiderate!
Ken: You can just feel the tension in this room. A few students have cringed. What a scathing look from inconsiderate jacket guy . . . that’s going to haunt me.
Chad: Coming up on the home stretch now!
Ken: They picked a really squeaky seat this semester.
Chad: A really poor choice like that at the beginning of this season is serious bad luck for rest of the semester.
Ken: That might not be our student’s biggest problem . . . Think about what must be going through their head right now!
Chad: I’m thinking serious regret that they left all their stuff on the desktop . . . it’s going to be too heavy to lift . . . they’re going to have to attempt the famous shimmy between desk and chair.
Ken: Here we go . . . Nice and easy . . . oh God . . .
Chad: OH YES THEY STICK THE LANDING!
Ken: Whew! What a feat! I’m still sweating!
Chad: You said it Ken. That’s all for now folks . . . or at least until next lecture.
Here are some quick breakfast recipes to sustain you throughout the day:
Overnight oats: Overnight oats are flexible and easy to make. Here are some guidelines:
Make a base the night before your snack: Mix a ⅓ cup of yoghurt, ½ cup of rolled oats, ⅔ cup of milk, and 1 tablespoon of chia seeds. If you want, you can also add honey, maple syrup, and vanilla extract.
Mix all of the ingredients together, place them in a container, and refrigerate them overnight.
In the morning, add your favorite toppings. This can include fruits, granola, vegetables, chocolate chips, nuts, spices, and so much more!
Note: To make this vegan, you can omit the yoghurt.
Egg and sausage taquitos: Place a piece of sausage, some scrambled eggs, and cheese on a piece of tortilla on a greased pan and wait for the cheese to melt. Once it has, roll the taquito up. You can also make these beforehand and freeze or refrigerate them, and microwave them before you head out to catch the bus.
Avocado toast with egg: Spread some avocado on a piece of toast and add a fresh fried or scrambled egg on top of it. This meal is really good for getting all your macronutrients in: healthy fats, protein, and carbs. If you prefer a vegan option, the egg can easily be taken out or replaced with scrambled tofu.
Omelette Waffle: If you have a waffle iron, you can beat a few eggs, add your favorite vegetables and some cheese, and make yourself a quick omelette without a pan. Just poor the mixture into the waffle iron and wait until your eggs have solidified.
Smoothies: Smoothies are extremely fast to make and can be incredibly nutritious. You can blend these quickly in the morning, or the night before and take them on the go. You can mix and match your favorite flavours, but some of mine are:
Peanut butter and chocolate: One banana, 1 cup of almond chocolate milk, and 1 tablespoon of peanut butter.
Berry Bliss: ½ cup of mixed blueberries, strawberries and raspberries with 1 cup of milk (or ⅔ cup of milk and a few tablespoons of yoghurt).
Peach, Mango, and Banana: 1 cup of mangoes and peaches, 1 banana, 1 cup of yoghurt and a handful of ice.
Cherry Vanilla: 1 cup of cherries, 1 cup of milk, and ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Green tea and almond: Brew 1 1/2 cups extra-strong green tea and wait for it to cool. Add a 1/3 cup almonds, 1/4 cup honey, and some cup ice.
Tropical: Blend mangoes, guavas, passion fruit, peach, strawberries, and yoghurt in whatever combination that best suits your taste buds.
Kale, Mango, and Spinach: Combine kale, mango, spinach, apple juice, orange juice, and pineapple with some ice.
Avocado, Pineapple, and Banana: Combine 1 avocado, pineapple, and one banana with 1 cup of coconut water.
Coffee Smoothie: Blend a cold cup of brewed coffee with a banana, cinnamon, almond milk, cocoa powder, and honey.
If you want to add any additional nutrients to your smoothies, you can always throw in chia seeds, turmeric powder, cinnamon, protein powder, or hemp hearts.
Smoothie Bowls: Have some extra time? You can use your smoothies to make smoothie bowls by pouring them into bowls and adding extra toppings in. Examples include granola, fruits, chia seeds, hemp hearts, coconut shavings, and more! Be creative.
French Toast: Beat one egg, one teaspoon of vanilla, ½ a teaspoon of cinnamon, and ¼ cup of milk in a shallow container. Dip four pieces of bread in the mixture and make sure each side is covered evenly. Cook the bread on a greased pan until it is brown on both sides.
For those busy mornings when there’s no time, here are some options on the Burnaby campus:
Mackenzie Cafe: Mackenzie Cafe offers an all-day breakfast menu which includes omelettes ($6.19 to $7.19), a variety of waffles (each priced at $6.19), a breakfast poutine ($5.49), breakfast sandwiches ($3-4 depending on your protein), and larger breakfast plates which will combine eggs, hash browns, toast, meat, and vegetables ($5.49-$7.89). There’s also a selection of coffee and breakfast pastries for you. If you haven’t been yet, you’ll find Mackenzie Cafe in the AQ.
Junction 65: Junction 65, on the bottom floor of the AQ, has breakfast available until 11 a.m. everyday. They offer a breakfast sandwich, a breakfast burrito, a breakfast poutine, and a traditional breakfast plate. Meals range from $5-9, but you can upgrade and get a combo which includes the main breakfast item along with hashbrowns and tea/coffee.
Jugo Juice: Jugo Juice, near the education building in the AQ, offers a variety of healthy options such as smoothies, wraps, and fruits. Even though it is on the pricier side (with regular-sized smoothies starting from around $6 and wraps starting at $5) it is definitely worth it. If you have a SPC card, you can get a free regular Xtra benefit (such as ginger, whey protein…) with the purchase of any regular smoothie.
Discovery Cafe:Discovery Cafe (on level 1000 of Discovery 1), is pretty far from most of campus but it is an ideal breakfast stop for FIC students. Their breakfast options are pretty similars to MacKenzie’s. They offer omelettes, toast, hashbrown, cage free eggs, breakfast sandwiches, and breakfast poutine. Their prices range from $1.39 for toast to $7.19 for a protein omelette. Unlike McKenzie, they offer breakfast only from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Dining Hall:The dining hall has an all-you-can-eat offer for only $6.49! Breakfast is available 8–10:30 a.m. You can commonly find pancakes, sausages, hash browns, boiled eggs, freshly fried eggs, yoghurt, granola, fruit, muffins, and a wide range of drinks. The only downside to this is that you cannot take any food out, and that it may not be the quickest option due to its location and any lineups you might face. (Of course, if you’re having a late breakfast, the dining hall still has a lunch all-you-can-eat option. The same rules apply except this is pricier for $9.99 and from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.)
It shouldn’t be hard to make a pink ball of sweetness like Kirby even more adorable than he already is. You’d think the video games would be enough, but from 2001–03, there were a few years where it managed to have an adorable animated series to take his adorability further.
But it took until 2019 for Kirby to peak, all thanks to several talented people expressing Kirby’s cuteness in their own beautiful ways.
Image courtesy of Kirby Reanimated on Youtube (artist: LJARINO/@LJARINO on Twitter)
Kirby Reanimated is a non-profit collaborative project on YouTube created by over 300 artists. Each artist was given a few seconds of a 22-minute episode of Kirby: Right Back At Ya, and reanimated their segment with complete artistic freedom. This style of video has appeared a lot lately as an opportunity for artists to practice and network. Similar reanimated renditions have been done for old cartoons like the Super Mario World show and Yu-Gi-Oh, and even for full-length movies like Shrek.
Image courtesy of Kirby Reanimated on Youtube (artist: Lola Khattou/@avlvla_ on Twitter)
The various 2D animators each have their own style, from anime-inspired detail to bubbly character reinterpretations. They bring so much life and originality to the show through strong colours, comically expressive characters, and a fair share of surprisingly detailed background gags. Each artist’s rendition adds more energy to the cartoon, which the original severely lacks.
But there’s a lot more to this work than just 2D drawing. There are also alternative animation forms, using puppetry and stop motion with 3D models. It’s a wonderful collage of art that’s worthwhile just for the surprise of how each artist will interpret the characters and dialogue, putting out tons of personality in just a few short moments.
Image courtesy of Kirby Reanimated on Youtube (artist: Spollywood/@SpollywoodRB on Twitter)
What makes Kirby Reanimated stand out from its peers, though, is the choice of an episode where the main villain King Dedede produces a cartoon of himself, with the main characters going through the process of studio animation. The episode covers everything from background art, to character sketches, to even voice acting in a way that doesn’t usually show up in cartoons.
Image courtesy of Kirby Reanimated on Youtube (artist: Beau Q./@romcomyourmom on Twitter)
If this shows up in your recommendations on Youtube, it’s absolutely worth putting down your phone and spending 30 minutes with your full attention, especially if you’re either a big time Kirby fan, or a cartoon geek who just wants to take in something a little extra unique.
Image courtesy of Kirby Reanimated on Youtube (artist: Abbie Bacilla /@abbie_k on Twitter)
Maggie Rogers got her start after a video of her performing impressed Pharrell. From there on, Rogers rightfully caught the attention of the alternative music world.In her latest album, Heard It In A Past Life, it’s clear Maggie Roger’s started to find her unique sound. She continues to show off amazing lyrics on top of unique electronic beats in songs like “Alaska,” and “On + Off.” But we start to see a return to her singer-songwriter roots in songs like “Light On.” Rogers lets her vocals take the forefront over stripped back instrumentals, showing off her natural talent. The album comes full circle with the final track “Back In My Body,” which echoes the first track, “Give A Little.”
Maggie Rogers’ debut album has developed her unique sound and earned her a spot as one of the best alternative artists of our generation so far. – MO
Assume Form, James Blake
Being a James Blake fan during a time in my life wherein catharsis meant listening to sad, slow songs, I fully expected his new album, Assume Form, to bring back all of those feelings and emotions — especially since this album was made with his girlfriend in mind
However, I found myself very surprised by just how much more upbeat and expressive the album was in comparison to his previous work, almost as if he pumped this album with affectionate love. It still feels like any other James Blake album, in the sense that it has ominous, sensual, and dark tones to vibe of each song, but it just has this life to it that you do not usually see from his music.
Artists such as Metro Boomin’, Travis Scott, and Andre 3000 feature on notable tracks such as “Mile High”and “Where’s The Catch?”, all exemplifying Blake’s love and respect for hip-hop and rap. – GM
Single: “Cartoons” by Louie Zong
It’s charming, it’s catchy, and of course it’s about cartoons — artist and songwriter Louie Zong is back with a new single which is sure to make you think of cartoons way more than usual. While his artistry is best known for Cartoon Network’s We Bare Bears (and that adorable ghost duet), Zong proves himself a great songwriter (and singer) on his new single, “Cartoons.”
The music video is self-animated and has its classic DIY charm, being so expressive and comedic. The song itself is a light-hearted rumination on working in animation and the slight exhaustion that may come with it. The song not only showcases his vocals well, but also features fresh instrumentals with a jazzy piano and trumpet.
With “Cartoons,” it’s no doubt that Zong started 2019 on a high note. – WY
Maggie Rogers got her start after a video of her performing impressed Pharrell. From there on, Rogers rightfully caught the attention of the alternative music world.
Being a James Blake fan during a time in my life wherein catharsis meant listening to sad, slow songs, I fully expected his new album,
It’s charming, it’s catchy, and of course it’s about cartoons — artist and songwriter Louie Zong is back with a new single which is sure to make you think of cartoons way more than usual. While his artistry is best known for Cartoon Network’s 
