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 Editorial: 300 ways to anger Iran
2007-03-29
Editorial - The film 300 is a lot of things. It is borderline racist, possibly misogynist and doubtlessly homoerotic. It is also, in the unintentionally meaningful words of a 15-year-old who shuffled along in front of me as we exited the theatre, "fucking rad."
The film depicts outrageously-muscled, obviously-white Europeans viciously slaughtering a superior invading force of grotesque-looking Persians in CG-assisted, slow-motion glory. Every now and then the Spartans will take a break from killing to shout something about "freedom" or "glory" at the top of their lungs, but other than a few implied stops to oil themselves up and re-apply their eye shadow, that first sentence just about sums up the whole experience. And, not unsurprisingly, Iran is furious.
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 Leaping the great white divide
2007-03-29
Eighty metres and 30 centimetres. That's how far Cassiar, B.C. native Ross Mercer sailed off of a ramp over the frozen lands of Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
In an official world record attempt at the world's largest snowmobile terrain park, the Compound, Mercer gunned the engine on his Ski-doo and nailed the ramp at 126 km/h. Mercer shattered the previous record of 74.6 m.
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 Azeda Booth: A Japanese enclosure of some kind?
2007-03-29
The elusive sound of Azeda Booth is a difficult bird to catch. Described by band members as "an interstellar Japanese blend of post-neo-futurecore pop," the songs on their upcoming EP, Mysterious Body, feature an equal blend of electronica, melodic guitar and founding member Jordon Hossack's searingly feminine vocals. The result is an extremely textured, borderline-ambient sound reminiscent of Aphex Twin and Sigur Ros.
"Our music's been pretty well-received across fans of different genres," says band member Marc Rimmer. "I've had people from death metal bands and hardcore bands that were on the same bill as us who said they totally loved it. But then there's people who usually like pop music that totally hate it."
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 The U of C: more than just ugly statues and under-achievers
An historical examination by Jon Roe
2007-03-29
When the University of Calgary was built in 1960, there were two buildings on a massive dust field at the outer reaches of northwest Calgary. In 1966, the U of C's first year of autonomy from the University of Alberta, there were 4,000 students and 300 faculty members. The population of Calgary was 323,289. Now in a city with over a million people, the U of C has 22,794 undergraduate students with the same number of frosh each year as the total students in 1966, and nearly 3,000 faculty. The two-building ghost town situated on a dirty plain has morphed into a 218-hectare campus with well over 50 buildings.
In the 40 years since the U of C gained autonomy from the U of A, the campus' evolution has been more than physical. From under the yoke of the U of A, the U of C has become one of the top 10 universities in Canada in under half a century or, if measured by different terms, one academic career. Dr. Maurice Yacowar's time at the U of C bookended the establishment of the university as a degree granting institution. He started as an English student in 1959-1963 and returned as the dean of fine arts in 1995.
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