Wonder Woman: the DCEU finally gets something right

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June 9, 2017

By: Vanessa Romein

As the fourth film in the dubiously successful DC Extended Universe (DCEU) lineup, Wonder Woman is perhaps the first to merit any real attention, not just from DC fans, but also from action and fantasy fans in general. Though not an outstanding film by any particular measure, Wonder Woman does a solid job of keeping audiences both entertained and engaged all movie long.

Set during WWI, the film covers the origin story of Princess Diana (Gal Gadot) of the Amazonian island of Themyscira, who goes on to become the Wonder Woman who appeared briefly in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and will supposedly play a big role in the upcoming Justice League. However, no knowledge of her role in the comics or the rest of the DCEU is necessary to sit back and enjoy this one.

The film covers Diana’s departure from her idyllic island home, prompted by the crash landing of Captain Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), the first man she’s ever met. Believing that it is her duty to intercede in the war, she follows him off the island and is forced to reconcile her view of humanity and the world with what she thought was true. At the same time, she has to deal with an entirely different culture and the reality of large-scale warfare in the early twentieth century.

Despite its heavy setting and theme, the film carries itself lightly, keeping up a steady stream of banter between Diana and Steve and introducing a lineup of ethnically diverse and often amusing minor characters.

As for the acting, Gadot maintains a commanding and passionate presence on-screen, even during some of the more comedic moments. Co-star Pine does a fantastic job of bringing to life a character that has nothing particularly distinguishing about him besides his military position and an unexplained but alluded-to past. Their on-screen chemistry is certainly appreciable, and together they do much of the film’s heavy lifting on both the emotional and comedic fronts.

The action sequences, often featuring a combination of guns, bombs, and Diana’s Amazonian weapons, provide a feel reminiscent of 300 or Sucker Punch. A combination of slow motion and creative angles make for dynamic and engrossing fight scenes, and the Amazonians’ highly athletic style of combat is stunning. Among Diana’s iconic weapons are her bullet-stopping bracelets of submission, used plentifully, and the Lasso of Truth, both a weapon and a plot device as it is used in a variety of creative ways. Both make for unique and visually interesting elements throughout the film.

Altogether, Wonder Woman is worth a watch for anyone looking to be entertained, and certainly a big step above what the DCEU has put forth so far. With any luck, the trend will continue in Justice League.

Student society approves budget for fall kickoff concert

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EIC

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June 9, 2017

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The Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) Board of Directors unanimously approved the budget for this year’s fall kickoff concert currently scheduled to take place on September 22. It is the sixth concert hosted by the SFSS and the largest event the society organizes all year.

The estimated cost of the event is $111,400 and the expected revenue is $97,000, leaving a forecast $14,400 loss, according to the budget submitted by vice-president student life Alam Khehra at the June 5 board meeting.

“It’s a very conservative budget, we are hoping everything is like this,” Khehra said in response to some board members who expressed concerns about the decreased budget for the after-party and event promotion this time around.

“I think a big thing that [Khehra] worked on was coming up with an event that was going to be able to deliver on the amount of service that we’ve delivered in the past few years, but also maintain the costs at a reasonable level for students,” SFU President Hangue Kim explained to the board.

“The money has to be cut from somewhere and we didn’t want to raise the ticket prices for students because we wanted to keep it at a reasonable range.”

Last year the total cost of the event was $112,198 and, once revenue from ticket sales was factored in, it ran a $24,777 loss.

The SFSS is hopeful that they can decrease the loss this year by increasing sponsorship.

This year, the society is aiming to attract 2,000 attendees to the event and a sold out after-party of 300. The planning committee is intending to hold the after-party in the Highland Pub.

The numbers of students attending these events is growing each year, Kim noted.

Board members Jimmy Dhesa, Aarushi Sharma, and Juvina Silvestre were not present for the vote to approve the budget.

University urges SFSS to develop sexual violence policy

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EIC

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June 9, 2017

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SUB_edited copy — The Student Union Building, owned by the Simon Fraser Student Society, will not fall under the jurisdiction of the university's sexual violence policy.

After provincial legislation came into force last month requiring that universities have a policy to address sexual violence, SFU is urging the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) to develop their own policy.

“In terms of jurisdiction, the way our policies are written, [the university] would not have jurisdiction related to spaces owned and operated by the Simon Fraser Student Society,” vice-provost students Tim Rahilly told the SFSS in a presentation at the Board of Governors meeting on June 5.

Rahilly said that he wanted to flag the issue for the SFSS ahead of the completion of the society-owned Student Union Building that is currently under construction.

“We cannot overextend our boundaries from a legal point of view and you as a society […] have a role and a responsibility with respect to the operation of your society,” he noted. Other societies on campus such as the Graduate Student Society also do not fall under the jurisdiction of the policy.

The board discussed the feasibility of adopting the university’s policy, similar to the steps taken by student societies at other universities according to Prab Bassi, vice-president external relations. Rahilly noted that there is certainly the opportunity for the SFSS to take language from SFU’s policy.

However, SFSS chief executive officer Martin Wyant cautioned the board against adopting a policy developed by an external organization.

“We are not a university, we are a separate society that has our own bylaws and our own policies and procedures,” Wyant told the board. It’s about finding a balance between the university policy and what works best for the society, he said.

Rahilly noted that the university is interested in assisting the society with the development of their policies and may be able to make a contract with societies to handle sexual violence investigations.

“What we don’t want is to have a patchwork on our campus,” he said.

The SFSS has struck a working group to evaluate their options for a sexual violence policy.

World News Beat

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Peak Web

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June 9, 2017

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By: Olivia Roberts

IRAN – Deadly attacks in the Iranian capital

At least a dozen people were killed following shootings in the Iranian Parliament and the shrine of former supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini in Tehran. It is reported that the two attacks were coordinated and the so-called Islamic State has taken responsibility. It is unclear how many attackers were at the Iranian Parliament. Four assailants were reported at Khomeini’s shrine and one reportedly detonated a suicide vest outside the mausoleum.

With files from BBC News and The Times of Israel.

UNITED STATES – Donald Trump versus world leaders

American President Donald Trump started off the week insulting London mayor Sadiq Khan in a tweeted misunderstanding of Khan’s attempts to calm the city after recent terror attacks.

At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is “no reason to be alarmed!”

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2017

Khan had said in a statement that: “Londoners will see an increased police presence today and over the course of the next few days. There’s no reason to be alarmed.”

On Tuesday, criticism grew of Trump’s move to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement. North Korea was among the countries shaming the US, with a foreign ministry spokesman reportedly telling a state news agency that the move was “the height of egotism,” and “[g]lobal warming is one of the gravest challenges that humankind is facing today.”

With files from The Toronto Star and The Daily Telegraph.

ENGLAND – Latest attacks rattle London

Last weekend, the third attack in the UK in as many months claimed the lives of eight people, and injured at least 48. The three male attackers, now identified as Youssef Zaghba, Khuram Shazad Butt, and Rachid Redouane, were killed by police moving to stop the terror incident. The so-called Islamic State has claimed responsibility.

With files from BBC News.

FLORIDA – Six shot in Orlando one week before nightclub shooting anniversary

Just one week before the first anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting, six people, including the gunman who took his own life before the police arrived, were shot dead in an Orlando, Florida warehouse. John Robert Neumann Jr. had been fired by his employer months earlier. He was carrying a semi-automatic handgun along with a hunting knife.

With files from The New York Times.

Latest VAG exhibition tells the story of Vancouver photography

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Peak Web

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June 8, 2017

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(Photo courtesy of the Vancouver Art Gallery)

By: Oscar Alfonso

This summer, the Vancouver Art Gallery presents Pictures From Here, a survey of photography in Vancouver from the 1950s to the present. Situated on the gallery’s second floor, the exhibit runs from May 19 until September 4. Pictures From Here features the work of some 22 artists and draws heavily from the photo-conceptualist tradition that is now widely associated with Vancouver.

The exhibit includes large-scale photographs and light boxes by such key figures as Jeff Wall, Rodney Graham, and Ian Wallace, alongside video works, street photographs, and photographic experiments by other artists that present a more extensive understanding of photography in Vancouver.

The earlier work from the ‘50s and ‘60s is that of Fred Herzog and N. E. Thing Co., who worked at a time when photography was not a respected artistic medium. Both artists are important figures in the eventual development of the photo-conceptualism tradition that has pushed Vancouver photography into the spotlight.

Pictures From Here features a number of works which haven’t been exhibited in Vancouver previously, and which together act as a portrait of a city and a province. The street photography of Fred Herzog and Greg Girard, for instance, captures different decades in a rapidly changing urban landscape. Meanwhile, Henri Robideau’s Four Directions of the Okanagan documents the interior of the province at the turn of the millennium. Other works point us towards our troubled social history. Paul Wong’s video work VIGIL 5.4 documents Rebecca Belmore’s 2002 work VIGIL, which addressed missing and murdered Indigenous women through a visceral performance in the Downtown East Side.

This portrait of a city is also turned in on itself through Roy Arden’s portraits of Vancouver artists, several of whom have work in Pictures From Here. This inward look hints at the interconnectedness of Vancouver’s art environment, where artists often work together, and where everyone knows one another.

This interconnectedness also extends to Simon Fraser University. Althea Thauberger, whose 2005 video work Northern is included in the exhibit, has recently taught as a sessional instructor with SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts. She is joined by Jeff Wall, Fred Herzog, and Christos Dikeakos who have taught at SFU at various points over the several past decades.

N. E. Thing & Co., formed of Iain and Ingrid Baxter, is another such case as Iain Baxter is one of the founders of SFU’s visual arts program. Baxter worked at the Centre for the Communications and the Arts — the predecessor to SFU Galleries and the School for the Contemporary Arts — until the 1970s. One work by N. E. Thing & Co. in particular brings SFU into the gallery. Paint into Earth consists of two photographs and a map that document a conceptual action at SFU in the 1960s. In it, N. E. Thing & Co. made a hole in the woods and filled it with paint, connecting the campus to land art and contemporary conceptual experiments elsewhere. It is perhaps still out there, somewhere.

Be an eco-friendly student

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Peak Web

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June 8, 2017

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By: Aliocha Perriard-Abdoh

June 5 was World Environment Day and as this year’s host country, Canada got to choose the theme to help raise awareness of various environmental issues such as sustainable consumption, marine pollution, and global warming. This year’s theme, ‘Connecting People to Nature,’ explores our relationship with the environment and urges us to appreciate its beauty, its importance, and to take it upon ourselves to make a positive change in our daily routines to help protect the earth we all share. In honor of World Environment Day and World Oceans Day, I have assembled a list of minor things you can do to help take care of the earth so that we may all enjoy Earth’s beauty with the guilt-free happy feeling we get when we know we are always striving to be better inhabitants of Earth.

Pay attention to your usage of water:

It’s the little things that really do make a difference: think about how often you waste water during mundane, everyday chores and activities. Consider these options to make your daily water use a bit more environmentally conscious:

Turn off the tap when you can
When you brush your teeth, clean your hands, or most importantly, wash the dishes, consider turning the water off between actions that don’t require water. When you turn the water off when brushing your teeth or shaving, you could be saving 10 gallons of water per day, and approximately 2,880 gallons of water per year!

Get good at taking speedy showers
Showers that take up to five minutes in duration could save you 12.5 gallons. If you’re more of a bath person, that’s OK; you can still make an environmentally-conscious decision by not filling the tub past the midway level which saves 12 gallons per bath.

Buy a reusable water bottle
Invest in a quality water bottle that you’ll actually want to use. That way you won’t just forget it at home and buy yourself a plastic one at the convenience store. Seven litres of water are wasted to produce each one-litre plastic bottle.

Choose a different form of protein
I know this one may be a tough one to swallow for some of you who just love the taste of a juicy piece of meat . . . but by substituting one of your meals every week with a vegetarian option, you can save more than 3,000 gallons of water per week. Over the course of a year, that’s 171,704 gallons of water saved. Chew on that, SFU!

Fix your leaks
Lastly, I know we’re all busy, believe me, but if you have a leaky toilet, get that fixed ASAP. Mother Earth will thank you for it.

Ride the bus:

This one should be easy for all of us to do. Waiting for the bus can be a hassle and getting into a bus that feels like a can of sardines and smells like one, too, during the summer can be a little daunting and frustrating. But just cheer yourself up by thinking of how you are reducing your environmental footprint. If you are an avid driver to school or work, challenge yourself by leaving the car at home at least two days a week. You will be reducing greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 1,590 pounds a year.

Sort your waste:

We’ve all spent at least five minutes in front of an SFU colour-coded recycling bin, debating whether or not to toss our used Tims cups in the green bin or the yellow bin, before hastily tossing it into the grey bin and rushing off to class. The aim of these bins is to divert 70% of all waste into recycling. So, in case you still don’t know what goes where, here’s a refresher course on how to properly recycle your waste.

Green — Food waste and compostables. Here’s the tricky thing for this one: paper products are also biodegradable, so if you have a paper product that has food on it or that held your beverage (like a non-waxy paper cup), you can toss that in the green bin.

Yellow — Paper. To make that clear for you, that’s all clean paper. If it isn’t clean, toss it into the green bin.

Blue — Recyclables such as plastic and glass.

Grey — Landfill. Consider this the least-desirable option.

Buy second-hand:

Macklemore even wrote a song (“Thrift Shop”) about this next tip for being more environmentally-friendly. Hit up some local thrift stores to score yourself some cheap and one-of-a-kind finds. By thrifting, you can buy yourself some pretty sweet jeans for around $6.99, which sure beats buying a brand new pair for $30. Sometimes you can even find items of clothing that still have the original tags on. The reason that people often donate their unused and gently-used items is because their sense of style changes over time.

So here’s a tip: unclutter your closet by freeing yourself of clothes you won’t wear anymore and whenever it’s time to revamp your closet, visit a thrift store. There are also various Facebook sale groups that run with the sole purpose of buying and selling used clothes. There is a Facebook page for almost every single subsection of the Greater Vancouver area, and most members will agree to meet at any skytrain station or mall in the area, so it really is quite convenient. Get on out there and buy (or sell) ethically-recycled clothing.

Get crafty:

This one is similar to number four. It’s called DIY or life-hacking, and it basically involves the practice of getting good at life. It involves the second ‘R’ of the three ‘Rs’ (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle). If you stop and look at an item, you see that you could probably reuse it multiple times before recycling it. My all-time favourite is taking glass jars and repurposing them as lunch containers or soup jars. Nothing beats eating your soup out of an old glass peanut butter jar. The list of DIYs goes on and on, so get out there and have fun saving the environment!

Smino, a name you probably don’t know, but won’t forget

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Peak Web

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June 7, 2017

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By: Neil MacAlister

In recent years, Chicago’s rap scene has come to join the ranks of New York, LA, and Atlanta for generating scores of remarkable artists. Two of 2016’s most acclaimed albums (and two of my personal favourites) came out of Chicago: Saba’s Bucket List Project and Noname’s Telefone. Both albums were incredibly written, powerful statements on issues both political and personal, employing many of the same local artists for features and following similar trends of airy, neo-soul hip hop. But they also shared something else in common: the concluding verse on both projects was not by the artists themselves, but by a buzzing artist named Smino.

Smino grew up in St. Louis, to which he owes his Nelly-esque “Hot in Herre” accent, but after moving to Chicago for college, his musical connections led to the formation of Zero Fatigue, a collective of up-and-coming Chicago and St. Louis artists with an unconventional ear for hip hop and R&B. Four of those artists joined Smino on his Swanita tour, which stopped off in Vancouver on May 24. Monte Booker, who produced nearly the entirety of Smino’s excellent blkswn album, started the night with a DJ set that ranged from TLC’s “No Scrubs” to ScHoolboy Q’s “Druggys Wit Hoes Again.”

Bari, a childhood friend of Smino, brought his signature muddy, sing/rap flow that’s as rousing as it is incomprehensible and Jay2, an impressive Chicago wordsmith, drew a ton of crowd participation for his hit “All Night.” The true star of the lengthy opening segment, however, was Jean Deaux, a Chicago-based singer and rapper whose talents have seen her working with the likes of Isaiah Rashad and Mick Jenkins. She brought a natural stage presence and raw energy to the venue, putting her music into a new perspective that’s always been missing from her studio recordings.

After a late start and so many openers, it was creeping up on midnight by the time Smino finally took the stage, but neither the artists nor the crowd seemed to notice the time. Supported by crutches after injuring his leg in Michigan, sipping tea to combat a cold, and recovering from a lengthy border search that saw all of his weed confiscated, one would reasonably expect Smino to be a little under the weather. But his performance was one of the most effortlessly energetic shows I’ve seen.

Starting with blkswn opener “Wild Irish Roses,” Smino eased quickly into the vibe of the venue, launching wholeheartedly into his addictive single “Netflix & Dusse,” punching along to the drums on “B Role,” and filling the room with his impassioned, ecstatic crooning on “Anita,” his biggest hit to date. He even performed a couple of covers (unusual for a rap show), getting the whole crowd singing along to Nelly’s “Air Force Ones,” and transitioning perfectly from T-Pain’s “Chopped N Skrewed” into his own song, “blkjuptr,” an emotional, racially-driven standout off his breakout EP of the same name.

From the timing, to the myriad openers, to the many obstacles in his way, Smino’s show seemed to have a lot working against it, but it was a total success nonetheless. If his upward trend in the industry continues, this may be the last time you could catch him for as little as $13. If you get a chance to see Smino in concert, it’s absolutely worth it. Just imagine what he could do under perfect conditions.

The Peakeasy 2017: Episode 1

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Peak Web

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June 7, 2017

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The Hunger Room is a play full of surprises

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EIC

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June 6, 2017

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By: Tessa Perkins

Two male high school teachers share a whiskey and discuss the challenges of working with young girls who sometimes look older than they are. One seems to be hinting that he struggles to resist acting on his sexual thoughts while the other becomes increasingly uncomfortable. Their “chain of trust” is soon stretched thin as a shocking confession emerges.

Mr. Richards (Evan Frayne) and Mr. Milette (Joey Lespérance) attempt to solve the mystery of the cryptic notes being left in some of the female students’ lockers and figure out what the “hunger room” is. The mysterious stalker has made the notes look like they were written in blood and has included a variety of violent threats. In the opening scene, Anna (Raylene Harewood) tells Caitlin (Camille Legg) about the note she received, and their chemistry along with the razor-sharp dialogue, draws us into their story right away.

Scott Button’s writing is unexpected, quick-witted, and full of surprise humour that catches you off guard. And the delivery of those lines was impeccable, especially by Lespérance, an endearing art teacher who says things like “breath is the activism of the unconscious.”

Introverted Tyler and bad-girl Caitlin have recently started dating and their relationship is full of teenage awkwardness. They fall into easy banter as Caitlin explains to him that The Fault in Our Stars is not actually a sad movie and proceeds to give a re-retelling where everything goes wrong, the protagonist doesn’t have a boyfriend, her parents are bankrupt, and she dies at the end.

The musical transitions that move us from one side of the stage to the other are also strong. The seats are arranged in two sets of rows facing each other across a narrow aisle, and at each end of that is a space for a set where the majority of the action takes place. This results in a lot of seat shifting and neck craning in order to see what’s happening, but other than that the staging works well to quickly move us from one location to another without having to wait for a set change.

K.Flay’s “Blood in the Cut” was perhaps chosen to open the show and re-start the action after intermission as it relates to Tyler cutting himself and to the show’s many violent moments. On a more metaphorical level, it represents the crises of each character and the abundance of self-loathing that permeates the story.

After intermission, I was so caught up in how this play tumbled to a conclusion that I didn’t even think to take notes. It was enthralling. There’s nothing like a good, unpredictable thriller, and this play had me guessing until the end.

SFU students host massive India versus Pakistan cricket tournament screening

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Peak Web

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June 6, 2017

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indiapakistan_WEB — Arsalan Anwar, president of the Pakistan Student Association, and Aayush Arora, president of the Indian Student Federation, organized the event.

By: Pranaya Chakraborty

The Indian Student Federation and the Pakistan Student Association collaboratively hosted a screening of the ICC Champions Trophy cricket tournament between rival cricketing nations India and Pakistan in the Images Theatre on Burnaby campus last weekend. The organizers believe it was the biggest screening of the cricket match in Metro Vancouver.

As the biggest rivalry in cricket, the event did not fail to attract viewers from all around the city. Fans of both teams poured in to watch the most anticipated match of the tournament. Hundreds of people showed up to watch the match, some from as far as Surrey and Richmond, to witness the spectacle.

“Our goal with events like these is to promote multiculturalism within the SFU community, as many people here are international students and we hope that cross-cultural interaction will allow them to integrate into this environment better,” said Arsalan Anwar, the president of the Pakistan Student Association.

The event started at 2:30 a.m. local time and didn’t end until almost noon. It also provided a late dinner for spectators, many of whom were fasting for Ramadan.

“As both the [Indian Student Federation] and [the Pakistan Student Association] now have new board teams, this event is the perfect way to start off our summer as far as our clubs are concerned. And seeing the number of people that showed up, I’d say this event is a great success,” said Aayush Arora, the president of the Indian Student Federation.

The crowd grew as the match progressed with spectators still coming in until 4:00 a.m. that morning. Such passion for the game is seldom seen as Mirza Fahad, a Pakistan Student Association executive noted, “It’s the biggest rivalry in cricket.”

Indeed, the facts do justice to such a claim as both India and Pakistan, former World Champions, have faced each other numerous in all three formats of international cricket and each time they’ve met, they’ve never failed to entertain.

Although Pakistan leads in the total number of One-Day International tournament victories with a tally of 72 victories for 52 defeats, India has certainly shown consistency in international tournaments over their archrivals by winning all of their previous World Cup encounters.

In the end, India amassed a score of 319 runs for three wickets as Pakistan fell 124 runs short of their target, scoring 164 runs for the loss of nine wickets. The target for the match had to be readjusted to 289 runs due to the rain.

Even as India gained their fifty-second victory over Pakistan, spectators from both sides congratulated each other on a well-played game. Though divided by borders, the game united the spectators in support of their teams.