At 9:30pm on a Sunday night, I venture to

the Zone to see this dance-haven/shit-hole

for myself. I must admit, I’m a little hesi-

tant. I don’t want to get arrested or have a

“Pete Doherty type” try to spike my drink

with GHB. But as the attendants at the

door greet me with smiles and a friendly

(but not too friendly) search, my anxiety

begins to decrease.

“Will there be any raids tonight?” I ask.

“It’s been crazy. We’re just here to have a

good time” says the girl at the door. Police

raids at the Comfort Zone in the past two

weeks have encouraged plenty of fi nger-

wags and upturned noses. They’ve also

invoked sweeping generalizations about

the venue’s patrons who, as one writer in-

sisted, must be “Pete Doherty” types.

Now no one would deny that there are

drugs at the Comfort Zone, or that there

are people on those drugs, or that there are

people who want to sell you those drugs.

Drugs are to electronic music as booze is

to a frat party. However, after investigat-

ing the reopened club on Sunday evening,

I found that the derogatory labeling and

ceaseless bashing of the Comfort Zone

sells the club short.

A fl ight of stairs leads me down to a

cemented area, the walls painted black;

low ceilings with fl uorescent lighting il-

luminate teeth and white tees. About

thirty people are congregated in front of

the stage, spaced out (physically), and an-

ticipating the DJ’s set. Most people are in

street clothes; a couple of girls are in tight

halter tops that emphasize their stunning

attributes. What I notice most, however,

is that people genuinely seem to be here

for the music. Sitting off to the side of the

club, I too fi nd myself unable to stay seat-

ed, drawn like a moth to the dance fl oor

where DJ Paco Osuna plays wicked beats

through an impressive sound system. I

think to myself, fi nally!

Were some people on drugs? I think

it’s safe to say yes. But not everyone who

visits the Comfort Zone is a drug addict.

Dancing is an awesome way to get rid of

stress, and the Comfort Zone has some

great DJ’s.

The half an hour I’d planned to stay

turned into a two and a half hour excursion

that offered me, sober and overly studious

on a Sunday night, a chance to dance my

ass off to some of the best music I’ve heard

in a while without being hassled by beer-

chugging arseholes or even by whacked-

out addicts.

I defi nitely got rid of a lot more stress

than I would have sitting in a pub and so-

cially acceptably drinking myself

into oblivion.

Most people are in street

clothes; a couple of girls are in

tight halter tops that emphasize their stunning

attributes.

After a weekend of drug busts and police raids, the newspaper sends their expert undercover reporter to the grand re-opening of Comfort Zone

War Child Canada

Founder Exclusive

November 22 2007

Vol. XXX No. XI

the newspapertoronto’s student community paper www.thenewspaper.cawww.thenewspaper.ca

March 27 2008

Vol. XXX No. XXIV

By Nicole Corness

In the Zone

Dr. Samantha Nutt—executive director of

War Child Canada—spoke to a near-ca-

pacity crowd at Hart House’s Great Hall

Tuesday. Dr. Nutt challenged the audi-

ence to take responsibility for individual

decisions that affect global society.

“Global society is about more than

CFLs and carbon footprints,” she noted.

“The single greatest threat is war ... we

need to think outside the blue box,” she

said.

Dr. Nutt’s personal journey began as a

fresh graduate of medical school in 1994.

She went to Somalia, and there, for the

fi rst time, saw war in the context of social

responsibility.

“Once I had seen war and heard it and

experienced it and touched it... there was

absolutely no way I could go back to how

I was living before,” she said.

What surprised her most about her

experience was the sheer proliferation

of guns—and the young people who use

them. There are an estimated 100 million

AK-47 machine guns in the world.

70 per cent of the arms trade is to

developing countries, and the fi ve per-

manent members of the United Nations

Security Council sell 90 percent. Canada,

not a permanent member of the council,

ranks sixth in the world for arms sales.

“War is the world’s biggest business,”

said Dr. Nutt. She offers four suggestions

to anyone who wants to accept the re-

sponsibility of global society.

First, stay informed. Read the interna-

tional section of the newspaper or keep

up-to-date through organizations that

work in the developing world.

Second, if you care at all, it’s important

to give. Dr. Nutt noted that the goal that

Canada has set for international foreign

aid (which has never been met) is 0.7 per

cent of the GDP. Since tax dollars are not

enough, she suggests giving somewhere

in the order of $7 for every thousand dol-

lars you earn. “Even a student can afford

that,” she said.

Third, make incremental changes to

your commercial and consumer habits.

For example, asking cellphone manufac-

turers about the origins of the coltran (a

conductive mineral used in the devices)

promotes awareness that much of the war

in the Congo is over this mineral.

Fourth—and Dr. Nutt admits that this

is the hardest—stop ceding to the idea

that life here, in Canada, is somehow

worth more than life elsewhere.

Dr. Nutt spoke as part of the Hancock

Hart House Lecture, which was founded

in 2001. The annual event is named after

Margaret Hancock, former Warden of

Hart House and herself a tireless advo-

cate for social change and respon-

sibility.

Samantha Nutt’s Four Easy Steps to Accepting Global Responsibility By Peter Josselyn

Pho

to b

y S

ean

Lil

ian

i

For those who aren’t in the loop, a pro-

test and four-hour sit-in led by the left-

ist group AlwaysQuestion and several

members of UTSU and ASSU took place

at Simcoe hall last Thursday. The pro-

test, over an increase in New College

residence fees, took a turn that would

please the “Don’t Taze Me, Bro!” exhibi-

tionist. Around thirty students stormed

into Simcoe Hall, vowing not to leave

until they spoke to UofT president, Da-

vid Naylor and the New College Stu-

dent Council president, Jason Marin.

The protesters allegedly barricaded the

hallway, preventing staff members from

either entering or leaving the building.

What exactly ensued is still up in the air

but the protesters cried police brutality

when the campus police protecting those

inside started to shove and drag –some

will say toss and trample– protesters out

of the building. When the protest ended,

raw footage of the incident from a mini-

DV camcorder surfaced on the web.

Since then, the protesters, UofT ad-

ministrators, and their respective sup-

porters have accused both sides of mis-

information and transgression of rights.

In a statement released on Monday,

March 24th, Naylor said that “the pro-

posed increase in New College resi-

dence fees (not including the meal plan)

includes 7% that was already planned

since 2006, and an additional infl ation-

ary increase per usual. Thus, the actual

surcharge to deal with the defi cit is ap-

proximately 10%.” The statement goes

on to condemn the protesters for “in-

sisting that no one should leave the Pro-

vost’s Offi ce until their demands were

met,” an action the Provost would later

say, “some might refer to as hostage

taking”.

While mainstream news outlets such

as CityNews and CBC also questioned

Simcoe Hall DisasterA peaceful protest goes horribly wrong last Thursday at Simcoe Hall -inside and out.

By Moe Abbas

See Simcoe cont. pg. 2

the newspaper gets personified

with the new the newspaper mascot

the actions of the protesters, UofT stu-

dents have been divided over the issue:

some disgusted by the actions of the

involved student groups, others com-

mending their activism.

The protesters accuse UofT adminis-

tration of lying and covering up facts.

Semra-Eylul Sevi, a member of Always-

Question, accuses Rob Steiner of Stratgic

Communications of either being “mis-

informed or willfully misleading every-

one”. Semra also notes that, “after all…

[as] ‘Strategic Communications’ you

probably know exactly how to spin the

truth into lies – even if that contradicts

your own documentation.”

Protestors were also irked about the

media’s fixation on the presence of a Pal-

estinian flag at the protest, and chants

that denounced the war in Iraq and

Afghanistan. “As someone who actu-

ally went to the protest and sit-in,” says

ASSU president, “I can say that the abso-

lute focus of the demands never changed

[but] remained on the fee increase.”

The justification for the anti-war

chants was to take aim at university

investments in U.S. arms manufacturer

Lockheed Martin. The student groups

involved unanimously agree that last

Thursday’s protest was a “call for every

individual’s right to accessible educa-

tion, not just for UofT students,” as one

protestor put it.

This Tuesday, Simcoe Hall staff mem-

bers saw a follow-up protest at their

doorstep when an even larger crowd ac-

cumulated to denounce the University

Affairs Board meeting going on inside.

Far less controversial and much more

effective than the preceding protest, per-

vasive chants from protestors set a som-

bre tone on the inside. Although repeat-

edly acknowledged, student concerns

over ancillary fees were consistently

deferred to the domain of the Provincial

Government. One board member specu-

lated that the protest might be better

served “500 meters to the East,” in refer-

ence to Queen’s Park.

In spite of an increase in discussion

on the item of Service Ancillaries the

budget was approved with an over-

whelming majority – dissenting votes

being disproportionately made up of

student governors.

While this protest remained less

physical than the last, about fifteen pro-

testors showed up to counter the New

College naysayers, condemning the

“aggressive” tactics of last Thursday’s

protestors.

What does the campus police have

to say about all this? Nothing yet, but

when they do speak out, it may be the

last word. According to Naylor, an in-

vestigation is currently underway to see

if pressing charges against a number of

protestors is a viable option.

It never ends…

For those of you familiar with the

protest paradigm, and those who

are not, let me preface this by say-

ing that, having studied it myself,

I realize this will be a gross over-

simplification of the type of stuff

theses are made of. The crux of

the matter is this: the media as a

whole (Eastern, Western, global)

will naturally favour the status

quo and inherently reports on

protests in a way that undermines

the message(s) and intent(s).

Douglas M. McLeod is one of

the most prolific academic writers

on this monolithic manufacturing

of public opinion. He identifies a

variety of mechanisms of social

control that include story framing,

reliance on official sources and

definitions, delegitimization, de-

monization, and noncoverage.

It is posited that ”the more

radical a group is perceived to be,

the more closely journalists will

conform to the protest paradigm

when covering the group.”

How does this happen? What

I offer is the sensationalizing na-

ture of media outlets. The recent

Simcoe Hall sit-in at UofT is an

excellent example of this. After

reading six different pieces cover-

ing the incident, I was able to see

the protest paradigm at work in

every single one. Coverage of any

issue generally tends to aim at the

lowest common denominator, and

this means highlighting confron-

tation, inflammatory remarks, etc.

In the case of the Simcoe sit-

in, the group was perceived to be

extremely radical, and the cover-

age reflected that. There has since

been some debate as to what the

group’s issues and demands were,

but very little effort was made on

the part of journalists to uncover

this. The concerns that may or

may not have brought the group

to Simcoe Hall were given a mini-

mal amount of attention, while

the bulk of every piece focused

on the conflict between campus

police and protesters -either lay-

ing blame or questioning where it

should lie.

That anyone was hurt or even

perceived to be is an injustice not

to be ignored. However, it is even

more unfortunate that it seems

all this was for naught: the issues

raised were lost in the commo-

tion. Ask anyone who was there,

or go to the Varsity (a local campus

newspaper) piece online and read

the comments. Not one participant

felt that the people or their causes

were accurately represented. Re-

gardless of the stance on the issues

of the protest or the conflict, it

cannot be ignored that the protest

paradigm left the people trapped

in it without a voice.

I strongly urge EVERYONE

to learn more about the protest

paradigm. Once aware of it, you

will be able to identify it in every

protest-related story you see. It is

the glass between the people and

transparent democracy. It is how

upper-class men are kept in power

while the general populace is kept

outside looking in, without

a voice.

2 the newspaper 27 March 2008

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the newspaperEditor-in-Chief

Sean Liliani

Managing Editor

Joe Zabukovec

Arts Editor

Niya Bajaj

Associate Editor

Timothy Ryan

Art Director

Elena Viltovskaiai

Copy Editor

Elizabeth Hilborn

Contributors

Alan Osadetz, Alexandra Kazia, Catalina Gomez,

Evan Jordan, Lauren Greenwood , Nicole Corness,

Nina Manasan, Mathieu Jacob, Matthew Pope,

Moe Abbas, Peter Josselyn , Stephanie Busato

Timothy Ryan1 Spadina Crescent,

Suite 245

Toronto, Ontario,

M5S 1A1

editorial:(416) 593-1552

fax: (416) 593-0552

www.thenewspaper.ca

Photo Editor

Evan Jordan

Intern

Tracy Chen

By Matthew Pope

Pointing Fingers More Important Than Key Issues Simcoe cont. from pg. 2

The Protest ParadigmTake a moment to re!ect on the manner

in which the media portrays protests.

Hell, start with the newspaper.

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4 the newspaper 27 March 2008

For those of us who habitually hunker

down for days at a time within the dark re-

cesses of our homemade studios, Caribou

(a.k.a. Dan Snaith) can provide hope for

brighter days. From humble beginnings

in Dundas, Ontario (yes, there’s a town

called Dundas) to worldwide notoriety,

Snaith has successfully gotten his feet out

of the home studio and into the door of the

music industry.

“That’s totally the story of how I got

into music because I started listening to

rock music when I was a teenager and

thinking, how do you get noticed and get

into this expensive studio? It just seemed

so impossible to make a record,” Dan told

the newspaper over a pint of water.

It turns out the success of Caribou

would depend on the changing environ-

ment of the industry. “I started getting into

electronic music and I was realizing, ‘hey,

these people are making these records

on inexpensive software,’ and that hap-

pened more and more as I grew up. The

possibilities were more approachable. All

of my four albums I’ve recorded every-

thing at home, recorded all the parts on

various pieces of cheap equipment. I’ve

done everything on a home computer on

a program called Acid, which is a very in-

troductory thing.”

For an artist who’s reaped the benefits

of affordable technology, Dan tells us the

auspices of the internet have also played

a huge role. “We were in far flung places

like Moscow and Istanbul and Zagreb and

Athens and loads of people were coming

out to shows everywhere. In most of those

places you couldn’t buy a copy of the re-

cord.”

Now living in London, England, Snaith

isn’t merely an inspiration for hermetic

musicians but also an exemplary practitio-

ner of time management. While some star

musicians of the day proudly proclaim

themselves to be college dropouts, Snaith

passively admits to impressive academic

success. While cranking out four albums

Dan not only completed a degree in Math-

ematics from UofT but also a Ph.D. at Im-

perial College London.

To make it all possible meant bringing

his homework on the road. “I did a lot of

touring when I was in school and avoided

all the TAing. I was probably in London

maybe half the time I was doing my Ph.D.

The other time I was on tour scribbling

things [of a mathematical nature] on the

backs of napkins”.

His newest album, Andorra, marks the

first time Caribou has been able to focus

efforts entirely on music, something Dan

describes as “a dream come true”.

As a first time listener of Andorra you

probably wouldn’t suspect that the entire

album was recorded on Snaith’s personal

computer; if you have heard the album

then you’ll know that it offers a smorgas-

bord of sixties-like psychedelic sounds.

Snaith explains how he achieved this

faux nostalgic sound for his latest album:

“the one thing I don’t want my albums

to sound like is bedroomy, like they were

recorded in a small room. The fact that I

can take a small sample from an old record

that’s recorded in a massive kind of room

with awesome old ribbon microphones

will give it a whole other dimension that

you don’t get if every instrument is record-

ed in a low-fi way.” Like a carefully crafted

essay, Snaith deconstructs ideas and spews

their discarded remains onto the track to

make his own composition.

For a reclusive musician/mathematics

Ph.D. with thick rimmed glasses, Snaith

is surprisingly un-nerdy. Not only is he

a beacon for aspiring musicians but for

UofT students who are unsure of where

their degrees will lead, Snaith demon-

strates that there are job opportunities in

completely unrelated fields; hob-

bies can be made into careers.

Artist Pro!le: Caribou by Sean Liliani

Pho

to b

y E

van

Jor

dan

125 UofT faculty members expressed their

disapproval for Israeli Apartheid Week

(IAW) in an advertisement that ran the in

the March 22nd issue of the National Post.

Aside from the 125 names, the ad-

vertisement read: “We, the undersigned

faculty members of the University of To-

ronto, oppose the hosting of IAW at our

institution, and request that the adminis-

tration stop this hateful and divisive event

from returning to our university in future

years.”

This was the fourth year IAW has taken

place at UofT. It is an international series

of events held in various cities and cam-

puses.

Dr. Sergio Grinstein, a professor of bio-

chemistry at the University of Toronto,

says that a group of faculty members had

spoken to various members of the ad-

ministration from the president to those

in public relations to no avail. As a result,

a group of them got together and drafted

the text for the ad.

When asked what aspects of the week

he found particularly destructive to the

reputation of the school, he said, “[You

can] start with the name of the event, to the

quality of the speakers and content of their

usual lectures […] some of these people

have been fired from their universities be-

cause they are considered to be fabricators

of information, [and] others denying the

holocaust, and being anti-Semitic.”

Grinstein is referring to past speakers

such as Jaggi Singh, a 2005 speaker, who

was banned from Concordia after he

helped organize the riot that prevented a

speech by former Israeli Prime Minister,

Benjamin Netanyahu.

And Hazem Jamjoum, a Palestinian-

Canadian lawyer, activist and a 2007

speaker, allegedly stated at a conference

in 2003 that organizers of the event will

not denounce suicide attacks because

“the point of the conference is not to

start telling the Palestinians how to resist

their occupation.”

The university maintains its stance

on the freedom of speech, however, that

stance is questioned by members of the

group that created the advertisement.

Grinstein said that he can only speak for

himself but to him it seems that freedom

of speech is being applied somewhat se-

lectively.

He concluded that “They have stated

that they would not allow Islamaphobia,

but I feel that Israeliphobia should be kept

away from campus as well.”

Demonstrations and protests have been

an imbedded part of higher education for

some time, even before the more notable

and radical movements of the 60s. The

cynical, oversimplified model goes like

this: a) Put a bunch of young people

together in one place. b) Flood them with

hitherto unfathomed information about

the workings and injustices of the world

they live in. c) Factor in the enthusiasm

and arrogance of one who has not yet

been crushed by the weight of the world.

d) Shake vigorously …and voila! You’ve

got yourself a veritable powder keg for

political unrest.

Sadly, few of those holding the signs

and chanting slogans understand much

beyond the signs and slogans themselves.

To simply band together groups of people

and begin chanting accomplishes nothing;

planning and understanding of the work-

ings of mass media can enable one to bet-

ter map out an effective plan for delivering

the message.

Do protest. The right to demonstrate is

one that few enjoy, so make use of it every

time you deem it necessary.

Active protest should be done in addi-

tion to and in concert with a coordinated

grass roots campaign; remember that the

hours of tedious paperwork and meetings

are simply part and parcel to fighting “the

Man”.

Thoroughly research your cause. Be

prepared to answer real questions, not just

shout slogans and spout rhetoric.

Ensure your aims are not too specific

and can be popular to the larger commu-

nity or society. It is difficult to rally support

for a cause people do not feel will benefit

them.

Have your own ‘security’. Make sure all

the organizers are able to help to control

the crowd, preventing overzealous partici-

pants from undermining the cause with

aggressive or offensive behaviour.

Pick your battles. Not every err to your

cause demands a mass demonstration.

Location, location, location.

Advertise! Let everyone know what

you intend to do, why you need to do it,

and where you will do it. Without par-

ticipants and press coverage, a protest is

doomed to futility.

Know the rules and follow them! Make

sure you know the laws that govern pub-

lic space and demonstrations, and ensure

that everyone adheres to them. Push the

limits, but if you don’t cross them, you’re

untouchable.

Avoid inflammatory remarks of any

kind. Intelligent or clever insults are still

insults. State concerns and demands in

an academic fashion. Above all: K.I.S.S.!

(Keep It Simple Stupid!) Make sure your

concerns are clear, concise and do not stray

from them.

Be sure to distinguish “peaceful protest”

from “civil disobedience”. It is rare that, in

our society, a protest will necessitate an act

of civil disobedience. If it does, look for

inspiration from the past; Thoreau’s 1849

essay Civil Disobedience is a classic text. Ex-

amining the Civil Rights movement will

also give you inspiration. View the PBS

documentary Eyes on the Prize for an inside

look at the effective use of civil disobedi-

ence in the Civil Rights movement.

UofT faculty against Israeli Apartheid Week speak out in the National Post By Alexandra Kazia

How to

ProtestBy Matthew Pope

Faculty takes a stand

For a reclusive mathematics Ph.D. with thick rimmed glasses, Caribou is surprisingly un-nerdy

the newspaper 527 March 2008

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For more information about this program and

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b &

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What is your trick for not getting sick?

“I have no trick, which is why I have a cold right now. I live in res, so if one person gets it, we all get it.“

“Chicken noodle soup!”

“I drink orange juice every morning. Vitamin C.”

“You get it so many times your body gets immune to it.”

Jeny

Harout

Daron

Ryan

Within each of us exists a sub-culture,

an underworld located in your gastro-

intestinal (GI) tract that is home to a

plethora of species more diverse than

what we observe on Earth today.

This microbe community begins in

utero, stemming from a starter popula-

tion of bacteria and yeast (referred to as

probiotics in the media) received from

your mother. By age 3, the ecosystem is

alive and well, and, to put its size into

perspective, the total number of mi-

crobes in your body exceeds the total

number of cells by a factor of 10. Talking

strictly numbers, we are 90% microbial.

But little credit is given to your gut flora,

even though it provides you with an ar-

senal of super powers that assist you in

living a healthy life. Let’s take a look at

them:

1 Eating probiotics-laced yogurt allows

you to walk around with three yellow

spheres orbiting your thinned waistline.

I am lactose intolerant so I haven’t had

the chance to experience it and I haven’t

personally seen anyone eat this type of

yogurt. But I highly recommend it be-

cause the commercials are just cool.

2 The nutritional benefits of the gut

flora are quite impressive. They assist in

harvesting nutrients and the manufac-

turing of vitamins and minerals. In ad-

dition to vitamins K and B12

, which are

produced by bacteria lining your gut,

a bacterial strain in the GI tract helps

the body mine calcium from its diet. It

does so by producing lactic acid, which

increases the solubility of calcium al-

lowing easier absorption into the blood-

stream. In rats, this has been shown to

reduce osteoporosis by increasing bone

density and strength à la Wolverine.

3 Probiotic treatment has been shown

to decrease the duration of colds as well

as reduce the intensity of the symptoms.

In test subjects treated with probiotics,

there was an increase in activated help-

er T-cells (better known as white blood

cells), which remove foreign species

such as cold viruses from the body.

4 Finally, they can make you less fat! A

number of probiotics break down a bile

acid taurocholic acid which is secreted

into your GI tract to help emulsify fats,

thus easing their absorption into your

body and increasing your calorie count.

When this emulsifier is broken down by

probiotics, more fat goes undigested.

Go probiotics!

PROBIOTICS!

the science by Timothy Ryan

On their website, www.wearescientists.com, the band de-

scribes themselves as “A three-tusked mastodon. A triple mo-

hawk. A flight from New York to L.A. with three layovers”.

Although this doesn’t speak of their thick grungy guitar

work, catchy indie hooks, and clever lyrics, it certainly re-

veals their light approach to the band. Check out their advice

column to get an idea of how seriously they take themselves.

The indie rock base of We Are Scientists sophomore album

is enjoyably speckled with raw 80s synth, grungy guitar work

and danceable momentum. Admittedly this album is more

subdued than their debut With Love & Squalor, with tracks like

‘Spoken For’ and ‘That’s What Counts’ mellowingly mixed in

with tracks like the amphetamine-inspired ‘Lethal Enforcer’

and ‘After Hours’. This album has a more mature feel to it

but it doesn’t take away from the enjoyability of this

developing band in this fickle industry.

We Are Scientists Brain Thrust Mastery By Lauren Greenwood

Samuel James Songs Famed For Sorrow and Joy

Samuel James’ album Songs Famed For

Sorrow and Joy is Oh Brother Where Art

Thou? meets Tom Waits. Blues guitar

mingles with unmistakable, gritty dic-

tion. Songs that make fun of themselves,

like “The ‘Here Comes Nina’ Country-

Rag Time Surprise”, turn out to be sur-

prisingly catchy and profound.

‘Dirty Tales of Rosa’, ‘One-Eyed Ka-

tie’, and ‘Big Black Ben’ pull the listener

in with the promise and deliverance of

epic story-telling. Samuel James’ guitar

is so rhythmic he doesn’t even need a

drummer or other band members for

that matter. It’s just him and his guitar.

This album demonstrates blues in its

purest form. It is yet another reason to be

proud of being part of a city that produces

the world’s most varied and talented art-

ists. If this album was an episode of Slid-

ers we would all be sippin’ mint juleps on

our granddaddy’s porches at sunset,

watching the fireflies sparkle.

By Lauren Greenwood

6 the newspaper 27 March 2008the REVIEWS

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EDITORS

the newspaper will be

holding its annual

editorial sta!

elections on

Monday April 7, 2008

OPEN POSITIONS:

Arts EditorNews Editor

Set in the late 1940s, just after WWII,

Married Life finds four characters mixed

up in one anothers’ lives who are forced

to deal with love, lust, triumph, suffer-

ing, and murder.

Harry Allen (Chris Cooper) loves his

wife Pat (Patricia Clarkson), but he loves

his mistress Kay (Rachel McAdams)

even more. To prevent putting his wife

through the humiliation of a divorce he

decides to plot her murder. What Harry

doesn’t know is that his best friend since

childhood, Richard (Pierce Brosnan), also

begins to fall in love with Kay, whilst Pat

is having an affair of her own. They each

twist and contort their lives into an irre-

versible knot, forcing the audience to ask

whether or not they know what really

goes on in the mind of the person with

whom they sleep

I enjoyed the use of classic cinema to

set the scene for Brosnan’s character. He

watches old movies, quotes them, and in

the end experiences them. His character

lives in a world of fantasy and perfec-

tion. Initially he is seemingly carefree

and, as a character, seems undeveloped,

but his scheming prevails and his life be-

comes better for it.

On the other hand, Cooper’s character

experiences drama at its finest. Random

interactions with hitchhikers, doctors,

and secretaries set the scene for absolute

chaos in his life. He pretends to be a per-

fectionist, but his life is in utter disarray.

Harry and Richard represent the oppo-

site ends of the spectrum.

On a personal note, I have never been

led astray by following the career of

Rachel McAdams. What I enjoy about

her choice of roles is that I never know

what to expect. She has yet to choose the

same character. From Queen Bee Regina

George, to hopeless romantic Allie Ham-

ilton, she continues to surprise audiences

with her roles. In this movie she plays a

deeply torn character suffering from the

loss of a husband in the war. She tries to

find love with a man who will take care

of her.

There is something peculiar about the

relationship and on screen chemistry of

Rachel McAdams and Pierce Brosnan in

this film. What is interesting is that the

age gap between McAdams and Coo-

per is the same as that of McAdams

and Brosnan, but the conversation and

chemistry between McAdams and the

latter is outstanding. You want to listen

to their conversations; you hang on to

their words.

The movie is narrated by Brosnan’s

character, and he engages the audience

in the actions and consequences of the

characters. The fly on the wall experi-

ence offered by this movie allows a

glimpse into intimate relationships. As

an audience member, you are able to

judge what others do, but inevitably

end up realizing that the movie is actu-

ally forcing you to judge yourself.

Married Life Directed by: Ira SachsStarring: Pierce Brosnan, Rachel McAdams, Chris Cooperby Stephanie Busato

8 the newspaper 27 March 2008 BACKPAGE

Toothpaste for Dinner

Solution From Two Weeks Ago

This Weeks Problem

BY DREW

t h e c o m i c sBob the Angry Flower By Stephen Notley

I’ll Sudoku YOU

the jock talk by Alan Osadetz

This book is by far the best birthday present

I have received, ever. Don’t be fooled by the

title - it has something to offer to everyone.

To summarize the material in one sentence,

this book is all about how to improve

your life. It’s similar to a self-help book,

except it’s not totally gay. For example:

the book taught me that I can increase the

muscularity of my chest by varying the

width of my grip while performing the

bench press to work different regions. The

day I worked the inside of my chest for the

very first time, I awoke the next morning

beside a gorgeous woman whom I had

met the night before and had definitely

boned numerous times.

It is a lengthy read, but you will be

quickly taken in by Arnold’s deep and

colourful style of writing. This is more a

story of survival and self-discovery than an

800 page paperback with endless photos of

the same ten guys lifting weights with no

shirts on, flexing their muscles in various

poses.

Arnold lets you in on all his secrets to

success. His advice applies to everyone,

and toe everyday situations. For example,

in the chapter about posing, he says: “I

have sometimes done things like hit a

biceps shot and pointed to the biceps,

daring my opponents to hit the same shot,”

and, “Never hit the same pose as another

competitor unless you are sure you look

better doing it than he does.”

I recommend this book to everyone.

Although I haven’t read the entire thing,

because I lack the attention span to do so,

I guarantee you will pick up this book and

find a new creative way to achieve your

life goals.

1 Public health care - why should the rest

of us have to pay high taxes for you to eat

yourself to death?

2 Nobody likes you. Except for, possibly,

other fat people.

3 Even if you’re successful, it just means

you’ll have enough money to become a

drug addict and kill yourself like Chris

Farley.

4 Because I don’t want to ever have to

think about fat people again.

5 Not only do you frighten children, but

you’re also setting a bad example.

6 You ruin pictures.

7 You ruin moments.

8 The thought of you ever having sex

single-handedly ruins the day of at least

50% of the people whom you meet.

9 Because only aircrafts are meant to be

equipped with flaps. Their flaps serve a

purpose.

10 It’s fucking disgusting.

The Encyclopedia

of Body Building by Arnold Schwarzenegger

10 Reasons it’s not OK to be fat.