Lotus is the pride of East Richmond

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February 15, 2016

Bon appetit everyone, it’s Bartosz, the new meat correspondent for Food Fight! Previous meat expert Jess Whitesel has moved onto taking the newspaper editor world by storm, so I have been given the impossible task of taking her place. However, my Polish ancestry gives me an automatic expertise on all things alcoholic, pickled, and meat-related, so I do feel right at home.

The first meat-venture I’ll take you on is into my ‘hood, the hinterlands of East Richmond.

You might think that East Richmond is not known for having a wide array of luxury eateries, and you’d be correct. But what this place lacks in hipster bars and Michelin Stars, it more than makes up for in cheap, hole-in-the-wall restaurants, with the best one by a country mile being Lotus.

Lotus is a Vietnamese restaurant that specializes in serving delicious, life giving bowls of pho — their nickname is “The Place for Pho Lovers.” A few weeks ago, vegan aficionado of the Food Fight column Gemma Lee reviewed a delectable Vietnamese restaurant of her own, Paradise Vegetarian Noodle House. I’m here to assure all the carnivores out there that Lotus has your Vietnamese needs covered as well.

When you walk into Lotus, the first thing you notice is its cleanliness and a simple-yet-sleek décor that would make any IKEA designer tip their hat. The service is incredibly quick and with a smile, and the complimentary green tea that is served is actually prepared correctly — not brewed beyond all recognition.

The appetizers that I tried out were their shrimp salad roll and chicken wings. Though somewhat bland on its own, the roll was very well paired with its complimentary peanut sauce. The chicken wings also delivered. Crispy on the outside and with soft meat that fell off the bone on the inside, Lotus’ wings can definitely hold their own with any potential challenger.

Now onto the crown jewel of Lotus, their pho. Every part of this soup was excellent. The broth had a “just like mama used to make” homemade taste, and perfectly balanced with the ingredients inside it. The vermicelli noodles were delicious as well, and went great with the steak and meatballs that I ordered. If that’s not your jam, though, there is a plethora of other goodies you can put in your pho, such as beef tendon, tripe, flank, and brisket.

I also got to try out one of their other mains, which was a chicken fillet served on rice. While simple, it was made incredibly well, with the chicken simultaneously having a crunchy skin and tender core.

If you ever find yourself lost in East Richmond and are in serious need of some sustenance, then you can feel safe knowing that Lotus will take good care of you. With their appetizers ranging between $3–6, and their mains being $7–12, you can be sure of the fact that both your taste buds and wallet will be fully satisfied.

CINEPILIA: Superlatives of Sundance

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EIC

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February 15, 2016

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Ross McDonnell — *Love and Friendship* removes the stilted feel of most period pieces.

The way time is experienced at a film festival is paradoxical — accelerated by the lack of sleep, and at the same time decelerated from living so many lifetimes inside cinema. As I sit here nearly a week later, recalling the slightest impressions from the festival, these memories remain the most prominent. The following are my highlights from Sundance 2016, most of which I kind of, sort of, remember.

Best Comedy: Love and Friendship

In Whit Stillman’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s unpublished novel, Lady Susan, Kate Beckinsale’s revelatory performance is Oscar worthy: her subtle condescension, her disrespect through chivalry, her perfectly-timed delivery of Stillman’s dialogue.

Period pieces, which have the potential to feel stilted and inaccessible, are rarely this funny, rarely played for these kinds of screwball laughs. Audiences won’t have to wait long for this comedy of manners; American viewers will be able to see it in theatres starting May 13, and a Canadian release date is in the works. Runner up: Wiener-Dog

Best Documentary: Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World

Werner Herzog’s documentary is hardly a beautiful mess as some might have you believe, but rather a kind of abstract expressionist documentary, where disconnected subjects are spread across the screen in a way that is both random and perfectly coherent.

Playing like science-fiction as much as “documentary,” Herzog’s introspection into the Internet is philosophical in its implications and immediate in its emotional impact. I could easily have watched the director muse on the subject for another nine hours.

Best Genre Film: Operation Avalanche

Matt Johnson’s found footage flick about a couple of movie-lovers who infiltrate NASA, fake the moon landing, and bear the consequences takes a trite format into new thematic and formal territory, a kind of coup on what is mostly a dumb genre.

Although the film has layers of self-reflexivity that will make your head spin (the director, like the characters, infiltrated NASA to make the film), it always works as entertaining movie-magic, and thematic introspection into the narcissism of two men who make themselves the stars of a movie that doubles as a pivotal event in American history.

Runner up: Under the Shadow

Best Film: Manchester By The Sea

It’s entirely possible that two of my favorite films of the year, decade, and (potentially) all time, premiered at Sundance 2016. Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester By The Sea is delightful and delicate, literary in its density yet cinematic in its form.

Featuring all-time great performance from Casey Affleck, a screenplay with a daringly subtle structure, and impactful formal choices, the film is perhaps as close to perfect as any other film ever made. Every gesture, every line of dialogue, every shot choice – when to move the camera, when to be funny, when to be sad, when to be both at the same time — the film almost never makes a false step and sticks with you for long after the credits. I saw the film twice in a cinema and another 10 times in my mind.

Runner up: Certain Women

Although the rest of the festival’s lineup never reached the heights of Manchester By The Sea or Certain Women in terms of emotion, vision, or execution, Sundance was still a wonderful distraction, a way to get away from school and responsibilities. As soon as I got back from the festival, I hibernated for 12 hours without interruption. The memories are slowly slipping away, even as I try to recall the films I attended, the people I met, and the experiences I had.

Review roundup

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EIC

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February 15, 2016

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Agent Carter

Season two finds our favourite Strategic Scientific Reserve agent in Los Angeles. Once more, Carter teams up with Sousa, who is now chief of the L.A. branch, to solve a series of bizarre occurrences that all seem to trace back to a new substance called zero matter. Jarvis is also in the city of sun, and provides comedic relief throughout, while bringing back the sassy, knowing dynamic between the two.

Add in a scientist who doesn’t exist on the same plane as humans, a woman acting as a vessel for the most volatile substance on Earth (zero matter), and the not-forgotten spy, Dottie, and this season’s cracking up to be awesome.

The 100

The third season starts with the Mountain Men, the gang from Mount Weather, being only a nightmare of the previous season. A sect of Grounders (people born on Earth) called the Ice Nation, look like the new bad guys for the season, wishing to bring an end to the unsteady peace with the Skaikru and other Grounders.

Their method: capture Clarke (Wanheda, Commander of Death), then the Queen of the Ice Nation will kill her to absorb Clarke’s supposed powers. At the end of the second episode, Clarke has been captured, but taken to Commander Lexa instead. Monty’s found his mom, and Jaha is being his usual idiotic self. Shit is hitting the fan.

Ah, the show we know and love, only better.

Legends of Tomorrow

A spin-off of The CW’s Arrow and The Flash, this show is like The Avengers and Doctor Who had a baby in the time vortex.

A bunch of little-known superheroes team up with a Time Master, a protector of the world’s timeline, to change the course of history and prevent an almost-immortal enemy, Vandal Savage — stupid name, right? — from taking over the entire world.

It has that cheesy superhero show quality, which may stem from there only being one bad guy (who’s lived for thousands of years). However, the delivery is smart and witty, with the added bonus of badassery from Sara “White Canary” Lance, Kendra “Hawkgirl” Saunders, and Jefferson “Jax” Jackson, the latter of whom is one half of “Firestorm.”

Shadowhunters

Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series has found a new home on the channel Freeform. Thank whatever almighty power there is because holy crap, that movie based on City of Bones, the first book in the series, was shitty.

The casting is A+, with Simon being adorkably endearing and Isabelle a whip-wielding knockout. There’s lots of seraph-blade-wielding fighting, smart-alecky quips, and overall sexual tension because goddamn this cast is gorgeous.

The show-runners have taken some creative licence with the source material (anyone else seeing the Isabelle-Clary ship?) and the Mortal Cup is way more important and powerful than it was in the books, but it’s a great show to watch with friends or family. There’s something for everyone.

SFU among fastest-growing sugar baby schools in Canada

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EIC

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February 15, 2016

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WEB-sugarbabies-Montreal Blog — SFU sugar babies cited many reasons for participating in the service, from paying their tuition to meeting new people. - Photo courtesy of MTL Blog

A new study from the website Seeking Arrangements suggests that Simon Fraser University is among the “fastest growing sugar baby schools in Canada,” with increasing numbers of students using it as a way to both pay for tuition and as a dating app.

According to the website, 280 SFU students are currently registered as “sugar babies,” meaning that over a quarter thousand students are financially taken care of by a wealthy, older person (a sugar daddy or sugar mama) in exchange for companionship.

SFU students had already turned to the app over previous years, with only 31 students being classified as ‘new’ to the website from February 2015-2016. The University of Toronto had the most new students signed up during the same time with 133.

According to the press release accompanying the study, sugar babies receive over $2,600 on average in monthly allowances. To help attract students, free premium membership is offered to anyone that either registers with a school email or shows proof of enrollment.

Marina is a student at SFU who has chosen to keep her identity anonymous. She’s also a sugar baby, and has been for a few semesters now. Speaking with The Peak, she said that she found it to be a great way to pay for tuition, even before the worldwide economic crisis hit in 2008.

“I just heard a lot of horror stories about going into debt, and this seemed like a way to avoid it that was up my alley,” said Marina. “It’s basically like a fancy dating site, except I set my terms and conditions and walk away from it with a bit more cash than if I was using a real dating site.

“I think there is a weird stigma about it. I’m basically deciding who I want to spend my time with outside of school. A lot of them really just want someone to care about, and have the advantage of just being able to pay for it instead of hoping for something to happen.”

Even though Seeking Arrangement’s press release with the story says that students are turning to the site because of tuition hikes and budget cuts, this isn’t a brand new trend for students, and it has been going on across the country for a while.

Denise graduated from the University of Calgary last year, and she paid for the latter half of her undergraduate degree through being a sugar baby. She identified as a sex worker while she was using it, and clarified that she only keeps her identity anonymous because she doesn’t want her parents to find out.

“I would meet on the ‘first date,’ as you would call it, and decide if I would go on more dates with them. If I liked them enough, I would sleep with them. Sometimes I didn’t have sex with them, because either I didn’t want to or they weren’t looking for someone to sleep with,” she said.

“A lot of sugar daddies I found wouldn’t want someone to sleep with. They just wanted someone to escort them when they went to fancy parties so they could have someone attractive as their date, but not somebody who was going to embarrass them.”

Not all students on the site end up having sexual encounters. This was the case for Shane, a recent graduate from SFU, who saw it more of just a dating app.

“In my experience, I’ve met a bunch of people off [Seeking Arrangements], but none have ever escalated to a relationship,” he said. “I’ve never actually engaged in intercourse with anyone I’ve met through the website.

“I’ve never been specifically paid for it, it really did just feel like a dating app. I was never handed money, I never asked for money.”

These are only a few of the experiences of those using the website, and do not represent those of all of its users. With 280 students at SFU, there are likely a variety of individual stories to be told.

Woohoo, Boohoo: Valentine’s Day

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EIC

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February 15, 2016

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45243090.cached — February 14 is the day where you reflect on the fact that you're single.

Woohoo: Singleness Awareness Day

Unbeknownst to many lovers out there, America’s favourite romantic day of recognition is also known to ‘outsiders’ by a few other labels — my favourite being ‘Singleness Awareness Day.’

Yes, all you single people. February 14 is the day where you recognize and reflect on the fact that you’re alone. For most single people, this is a difficult reality; I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen silently indignant individuals scoff at relationships as if they’re meagre annoyances. Or the types of dejected individuals who openly and relentlessly spill their sorrowed guts with the beliefs that they will “never find their other half.” Or the people who’ve just come off a breakup and seem traumatized at the fact that they “actually don’t have anyone to spend Valentine’s Day with this year.” How sad.

Please. Treat yourself this Singleness Awareness Day. Download a movie, buy a tub of your favourite ice cream, and bask in the idea that you don’t have to spend loads of dollars on another individual today to make them happy. Life isn’t all about being dependent, so just take a chill pill.

Boohoo: Emotional Porn Day

I’ll be honest and say I’m not a fan of Valentine’s Day for the ridiculous portrayals of happy relationships I see everywhere. No, this isn’t about V-Day being a corporate cash-grab (although it is), it’s about the gushy intimate behavioural expectations with which media penalizes us. Scrolling through Facebook, watching YouTube videos, flipping on the television, I witness scenes of couples lip-locked, their love practically bursting from every orifice in their bodies.

This is all nice and sweet — in small doses.

But on February 14, it’s safe to say we don’t even have to open our laptops to actively search out porn because Facebook and Twitter already have it covered. This emotional overload convinces couples that this is the only way to love, and by constantly barraging the public with images of nose-nuzzling and vociferous spit-swapping, we’re led to believe that if we aren’t following suit then we’re doing V-Day all wrong.

Do yourself a favour and close your laptop during Emotional Porn Day.

Four ways to make up for screwing up Valentine’s Day

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EIC

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February 15, 2016

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1. Admit that a gift card was a bad idea.

2. Return the Star Wars: Episode VII Lego play set, which was clearly for yourself.

3. Stick to Hallmark: you’re nobody’s poet.

4. Take the #$%^ing blender back, already.

SFU hockey: a tale of two games

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EIC

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February 15, 2016

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WEB-Hockey-Lisa Dimyadi — Brandon Tidy (#53) scored in his fourth consecutive game.

On Saturday, SFU was able to squeak out a 2–0 victory over local rivals Trinity Western. It was a game that was vastly different from the previous night, where SFU won 10–5, scoring five goals in the third period alone. The Clan came out and played a very tight, defensive game that was still highly entertaining.

“I thought it was one of those games where you have to guts out a victory,” said Head Coach Mark Coletta afterwards. “It’s even both ways, both teams are playing with injured players, and you go from one night where there’s 15 goals to a night where there’s only two. It’s a character win, and we’ll take those.”

The first period was marked by penalties. A total of eight were taken by both teams, five by Simon Fraser. In the second, Brandon Tidy broke the deadlock, scoring in his fourth straight game off a fortunate bounce. Jono Ceci sealed it in the third period with an empty net goal, his second point of the night and the team-leading 25th point. The majority of the game was quite defensive, with both teams determined to tighten up after the goal fest of the previous game.

The big story of the game, however, was Clan goaltender Jordan Liem. He made 33 saves that night gaining the win and a shutout. He made a number of terrific saves, including an amazing cross-crease save early in the third period to preserve the one goal lead.

“Try to keep calm,” said Liem on what went through his mind late in the game. “Usually when the play’s in your end you’re not usually thinking too much. But when it goes down the other way, you’re definitely trying not to say the word ‘shutout’ in your head, or trying not to think of the end of the game with a shutout. You’re just trying to keep your team in it with a 1–0 lead.”

Another big story afterwards was the unsportsmanlike conduct penalties that SFU took during the game. The Clan took three of them during the game, two of them after ordinary cross checking and slashing calls. This meant regular two-minute penalties turned into massive four-minute kills for the SFU penalty kill.

“I don’t think he likes us very much, to be honest,” said Liem afterwards. “I think we rubbed him the wrong way right off the bat, with [Matthew] Luongo being a little lippy. We know him from before and he’s just that kind of ref where if you get on his bad side, you’re on his bad side for the rest of the game.”

With top pairing defensemen Jesse Williamson still out, Dustin Cave stepped into his spot alongside Darnel St. Pierre. “The Caveman” filled in nicely, providing a number of bone-crunching hits throughout the game, and seemed to have instant chemistry with St. Pierre.

“They’re finally coming into their own,” said Coletta on the pairing. “They’re first-year guys, and it takes time for these guys to get used to this style of hockey. Everybody always thinks that the BCIHL is a collegiate league that isn’t that great, and we don’t get much respect. Which is fine. When they come from Junior A or Junior B and they’re the big guys in the pond, they come play for us, they realise how good this league really is.

“Cave and St. Pierre are very physical guys, and that’s what we need them to do, and they did that tonight.”

Political science should replace WQB requirements

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EIC

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February 15, 2016

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[dropcap]S[/dropcap]FU’s WQB requirements should be replaced with practical knowledge courses that will help us students become more responsible adults in our communities. In particular, Introduction to Political Science (POL 101) would be the best alternative course to our current WQB options, as to be an informed Canadian citizen is just about as ‘practical’ as it gets.

You thought you lacked an intimate relationship in time for Valentine’s Day? Don’t worry about it. The government is a very intimate part of our lives, whether or not we want to admit it. It has an impactful and powerful say over every little thing: the air we breathe, our money, our homes, our food, our information, and even our personal agency.

That’s right, ladies. If you choose the wrong government, next thing you know it may have something legally unpleasant to say about whether or not you even have entitlement over your own body.

You can be religious, atheist, man, or woman from any manner of background, yet you will still fall under the one umbrella that is Canada. If you are a Canadian citizen over the age of 19, I believe that you have the responsibility to be educated and active in politics. But this isn’t as daunting as it sounds. It could simply mean you do your research, form an opinion, support your party, and vote. It could also mean that throughout that party’s term, you keep them accountable to their platform and continue to fight for the changes you want to see.

SFU’s POL 101 is currently a Breadth-Social Science course, so there is a higher chance that more students will take it as compared to other 100-level courses, yet it’s still not enough to make a democratic difference. Why? Because POL 101 is not mandatory for everybody.

I was so shocked during this past election, where the political stakes were so high and personal, yet many students I spoke to did not “care much about politics” or “know enough to cast a vote.”

I wanted to tear my hair out. It’s your job to know. It’s your job to represent as many minorities in your community as you can. People that don’t have the same rights that you do are placed in a very vulnerable position, don’t you understand this?

POL 101 is a theory-based course that not only teaches you the basic definitions and theories surrounding politics, but encourages you to form your own opinion on the issues you see around you, and to think about what kind of changes you’d like to see made by our highest authority.

This should be a mandatory course at SFU. It’s something much more applicable and useful for a post-grad adult, rather than our other current WQB requirements, which include learning about pointless topics such as dinosaurs and the stars in the sky (in my case, as a liberal arts student).

As fascinating as that is, my priorities lie in knowing exactly who is representing the Canadian people, and exactly what I can do to be heard if I don’t approve of their actions or lack thereof.

Make POL 101 a requirement.

Satellite Signals

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EIC

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February 15, 2016

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Woodward’s

From February 11 to 21, the SFU Woodward’s Cultural Program will be presenting daily showings of Robert Lepage’s one-man show 887 at 7:30 p.m. in the Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre at The Goldcorp Centre for the Arts.

887 premiered in Toronto earlier this year and explores the mechanisms behind memory, consciousness, and childhood.

Harbour Centre

On Wednesday, February 17, there will be a poetry recitation at Harbour Centre. “Lunch Poems at SFU” will take place at noon at the Teck Gallery, and is a free event open to the public. Poetry readings at Harbour Centre are held on the third Wednesday of each month.

Poetry will be recited by UBC Humanities teacher and poet Ted Byrne, as well as Kayla Czaga, who was nominated for the Governor General’s Award for Poetry in 2014 for her debut collection of poems, For Your Safety Please Hold On.

Michael Harper’s fourth quarter

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EIC

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February 15, 2016

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WEB-Michael Harper-Lisa Dimyadi — Harper leads SFU in scoring, averaging 14.1 points per game.

It’s been a tough season for the men’s basketball team, to say the least. The team suffered through a 18-game losing streak, and has only won a single game in conference play this season. One of the constants throughout this trying season has been senior Michael Harper. The native of Melbourne, Australia has averaged the most minutes on the team, and leads SFU in scoring for the season.

“I’d be lying if I said it didn’t take a hit, but guys still like playing basketball,” said Harper on the team’s struggles this season. “[The players] still enjoy the competitiveness, and that helps take away from the aspect of losing. Just the fact that you enjoy basketball still. And you know, there’s always hope for the next game. You’re always looking forward to the next game, because we’re not down and out, we’re never down and out.

“Your spirits are always trying to stay high, [and] this is when you really get tested to see [where you are] with the program. When you get to this level, winning is what keeps jobs and keeps scholarships. [. . .] So if you’re in a losing environment, [when] things get heated, we stay together. I think everyone has each other’s back.”

Harper started playing basketball at the age of eight, when a friend of his started playing. While still in Australia, he had his eyes set on coming over to North America to play basketball.

“Basketball in Australia is more kind of European, because high school basketball isn’t as big,” he explained. “There’s still high school basketball, but it’s not as serious. And then once you get to university [in Australia], no one plays, everyone who’s on the university team shows up drunk to the game. That’s kind of why I wanted to come to the [United] States or North America, because the basketball for my age, that’s where it’s at.”

Harper elaborated further. “You can play professional in Australia, there are club teams that pay you, but it’s not about development once you go professional. [In North America] there are college coaches that are with you every day. It’s just more hands-on at the collegiate level. You grow up watching college basketball, like high Division I schools, and you see them on TV and they’re just out of high school.”

“One of the tests that I’ve had as a senior is being more vocal.”

Harper got his wish when he went to play for the University of Hawaii in his first two years of university.

“It was good,” he said. “It showed me different people’s coaching styles. Just different athleticism, playing with guys growing up in America, [. . .] I had to adapt my game a little bit. [It was] more challenging, [and] I think I learned a lot at the Division I level that translates well to the Division II level.”

After not getting much playing time at the University of Hawaii, Harper transferred here to Simon Fraser, to finish his collegiate career playing regular minutes.

“[I] just wanted to play in my college career,” he said. “I didn’t want to sit on the bench for all four years. [. . .] James Blake, the head coach before our current coach, contacted me because he knew someone at the University of Hawaii in the offices. They obviously knew that I was looking to transfer, so Blake got into contact with me and it all went from there, really.”

With James Blake gone and his successor Virgil Hill at the helm, the Clan have drastically changed their style. Not only are the two coaches’ game philosophes different, their coaching style is different as well.

“They’re pretty different,” said Harper. “Last year we had a more loosely-flowing offence, which is a fact [that goes with] the players that we had last year versus the players that we’ve had [this] year. Coach Hill has more of a hands-on system, more plays that are run. We have a younger team this year as well, so he’s really trying to build a program [. . .] As the lone senior, he puts a lot of pressure on me to show [the others] how it’s done. And just really lead the way, and show how college basketball should be played. We have good juniors as well, in Hidder [Vos] and Max [Barkeley].”

Harper has also had to adjust this season, becoming a leader on the team — a stark contrast to his supporting role earlier in his career at Hawaii.

“I’ve always been a guy that leads by example,” said Harper. “One of the tests that I’ve had as a senior is being more vocal. I’ve never been the most vocal guy growing up, so it’s always just been my actions. So that’s how I’ve kind of how I try and do it, is leading by actions. And it helps that we have guys from last year as well, a few guys from last year that help me and Coach Hill build the program as well.

“It’s not just me as a senior, it’s everyone pulling their part, wanting to win, wanting to get better. Instilling that confidence that it’s just a process.”

Once his NCAA eligibility is over after the season, Harper plans to go back to Australia to finish his degree while playing for a club team.