There were no surprises in what is quite possibly Ontario’s least entertaining general election yet. Dalton McGuinty will serve his third consecutive term as premier of the province, Tim Hudak will lead the opposition (for now), and An-drea Horwath will sit third in Queen’s Park with her plucky yet underwhelm-ing New Democrats.

“One of the differences between the federal and provincial elections in On-tario is that the disproportionality of the youth vote for the NDP was higher in the federal election,” said Nelson Wiseman, associate professor of Political Science at U of T. “I think that’s because a lot of people vote strategically. Voters in the provincial election concluded that the NDP couldn’t overtake the Liberals, so if their priority was to keep the Progres-sive Conservatives out, they favoured the Liberals over the NDP. Federally, that trend reversed in the end because a lot of people had given up on the Liberals.”

While McGuinty may be premier yet again, his Liberals are no longer a ma-jority force in the Legislative Assembly, albeit just barely. They only earned 53 of the 107 seats available, having lost 17 of the 70 seats earned four years ago. But the results seem more likely to reflect a dwindling faith in McGuinty’s adminis-tration, rather than a drastic shift of pow-er into either PC or NDP hands. This may not only indicate a lack of faith in the Lib-

eral platform, but an insidious burgeon-ing sense of voter apathy as well.

CBC reports that the voter turnout for the election was a record low 49.2%, sinking below even the previous nadir of 52.8% set in 2007’s general election. Only around 18.4% of eligible voters chose the Liberals, while more than half of the re-maining population evidently chose not to bother.

The reasons for the embarrassing turn-out figures are not easy to pinpoint, but the disconnect between civic obligation and political passion could be a key fac-tor. In lieu of strongly identifying with a particular platform to rally behind, those who abstained possibly lacked adequate

incentive to vote since no party truly championed their concerns.

For many young voters who tend to-wards the NDP - that warm and inviting orange tide which less than six months ago swept over the Liberals in the most re-cent federal election - their performance on Thursday does not at all seem to re-flect the palpable momentum they’ve gained on the national scale. They may have gained seven seats and the most See “Elections” on Page 2

The University of Toronto’s Independent Weekly Since 1978 VOL XXXIV Issue 6 • October 13, 2011 the newspaper

THE ARTSBeware The Ides of MarchPage 7

THE OPINION‘AmericanSpring’ comes to CanadaPage 4

THE ARTSOn wage slavery and unemploymentPage 6

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Inside this week’s issue

Can this UofT band make classical music cool? PAGE 4

How to get paid to write for WikipediaPAGE 3^̂

Six years ago a potter living in a rural vil-lage in western India, where electricity is rare and clay is abundant, built an earth-enware fridge that doesn’t require elec-tricity and can keep fruit and vegetables fresh for several days. The “Metticool” refrigerator, as it is called, is one of the better-known examples of low-cost inno-vation in India.

Professor Dilip Soman, the inaugural director of the India Innovation Insti-tute, a joint initiative of the Munk Centre and Rotman School, said clever innova-tion with meager resources is the norm in India. “Conventional wisdom states that the best innovation happens in the absence of constraints. India has shown that you can innovate in the presence of significant financial and resource con-straints.”

The India Innovation Institute, launched last week, will bring together faculty and students from disciplines as diverse as engineering and medicine to study the innovation process in India. Initially, the institute will be a place for faculty to discuss and further their re-search into Indian innovation. Soman hopes the institute will eventually host seminars and think tanks, as well as offer courses for students at all levels based on research being conducted there.

“We plan to draw people from all over campus. While this is primarily a Rot-

man – Munk collaboration, we would like the institute to be a hub for anyone broadly interested in innovations.”

By “innovation,” Soman does not sim-ply mean “development.” “I see the two as distinct and independent,” he said. “I view innovation very broadly as some-thing new and revolutionary - it could be a new thing (product innovation), a new way of doing things (process innovation) or a new way of thinking (innovation in mindsets). I would like our [institute] to study all three.”

The Indian case is different and insight-ful, Soman explained, because - unlike “innovators in the west, who go about their Indian innovators “pare down.” “They provide the bare minimum that meets the basic needs, is inexpensive and can reach the masses. It’s a great story of what one would call frugal innovation.”

Necessity is the mother of innovationMultidisciplinary research at new institute to focus on Indian developmentby Geoff Vendeville

The dullest provincial election ever?Inside the election you probably slept throughby Andrew Walt

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SPIFFY NEW DESIGN!

For the NDP, the party that rode the ‘Orange Crush’ in May’s federal elections, the results are very disappointing.

“India has shown that you can innovate in

the presence of significant ... constraints.”– Dilip Soman

2 October 13, 2011 THE NEWS

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“Elections” from Page 1 influence they’ve had since 1995, but for a party thought to be riding the “Orange Crush,” the results are underwhelming.

With federal successes and provincial stumblings, some curious eyes are now fixed upon the Ontario New Demo-crats. “The long term questions surrounding the NDP seem to revolve around their base shift-

ing from downtown Toronto toward Brampton and parts of Mississauga and Scarborough,” said Wiseman. “The NPD has generally done well among poor folk, and poor folk increasingly can’t afford to live in the down-town core. They live in the mar-gins of the city, and it was inter-esting to me that the NDP won a seat in the 905 which they’ve never won before. I think that

might be a harbinger of things to come.”

In the meantime, the Liberals have a stranglehold in urban centres while rural areas have overwhelmingly supported the Progressive Conservatives. And while the NDP collects them-selves, one thing remains clear: nobody – neither the govern-ment nor its opposition parties – wants another election.

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Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty has led his party to a third victory, one seat short of a majority.

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www.thenewspaper.ca 3 THE NEWS

Dear SuzieDear Suzie,I’ve been out on a couple dates with a guy I get along well with. The con-versations are great, and what’s better, they’re in French, the language in which I need to be more proficient to finish my French Studies pro-gram at UofT. Unfortunately the good conversation hasn’t translated to good chemistry. I’m afraid that if I continue to see him, I’ll be using our time merely for my own scholarly pursuits. Do I go on a third date (to see my favorite Jean-Luc Godard flick) or do I cut short les rendez-vous?

Yours truly,Mademoiselle Godard

Dear Mademoiselle,First off, chapeau à vous for not only learning French by actually speaking it, but also for realizing your true feelings about this guy. You’ve made it clear to me that there is no romantic future for the two of you. Now you should make it clear to him. Before the movie, make some time to see him, and let him know that you don’t want to lead him on, and you would rather just be friends. If he would still like to see À bout de souffle with you, that’s great. If not, go with a friend or by yourself, and look into EFUT’s French Parleur, which takes place every Wednesday at UC. Bonne chance!

Sincerely,Suzie

Dear Suzie, I hate my best friend’s girlfriend. They’ve been dating for two months and she’s become increasingly clingy, irritating and needy. It’s gotten to the point where I’m running out of excuses to tell him why I can’t hang out. He’s so hung up on this girl but I’m ready to rip my hair out if I have to listen to her speak again. What do I do?

Sincerely,Miserable third wheel

Dear Miserable,Whatever happened to “bros before hos?” I feel for you, because hell hath no fury like a stage five clinger. That being said, you can’t let your growing resentment build up until it boils over. Think of it this way: before this girl came along, you and your bro were most likely fine with letting the other know if something was up. You have to abide by this all-too-important broship rule. Clear the air, and say that although you like Jessica, it bothers you that you never get to hang out one on one anymore, and you’d like to set aside a concrete time or activity to do that. Most likely, your best friend has been too blinded by ass to see what’s been going on, and will agree with you on this. Be careful not to get defensive or insulting towards the girl, because if you step over that line, there is definitely no going back, bro or no bro.

Sincerely,Suzie

Je ne veux pas coucher avec toi and the stage five clingerGot a question for Suzie? E-mail her at: suzienewsie@gmail.com

As a member of western civili-zation, you probably use Wiki-pedia quite frequently, but starting this year you can get paid for it.

Last month, the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organization behind the on-line encyclopedia, Wikipedia, and other Wiki- prefixed proj-ects, established the Wikipe-dian Scholarship in Medicine, awarding $1000 to the Cana-dian post-secondary student who provides the best “over-all improvement to a disease-related article” on Wikipedia. The scholarship was endowed by Dr. James Heilman, an ER physician based in British Columbia and a prolific con-tributor to Wikipedia. He said the scholarship is intended to increase the quality of student contributions to Wikipedia ar-ticles.

Anyone with an internet connection can access and edit Wikipedia articles. An ongoing concern among the Wikimedia community is to encourage well informed read-ers to contribute. “Our efforts at Wikimedia Canada is not to convince academics to read Wikipedia (we already know many of them are) but to con-

vince them to edit,” Heilman said. “Whether you like it or not Wikipedia is what the world is reading and as health care providers/academics we have an obligation to make sure it is correct.”

According to Heilman, “Wikipedia is used by about 50-70% of physicians in clini-cal practice and 30-70% of pharmacists,” making it the “second most used internet re-source after Google for junior physicians.” However, Heil-man said Wikipedia should be used carefully. Much like a tra-ditional encyclopedia, he said, “Wikipedia is a starting point for research... One should not typically quote Wikipedia.”

At least one Canadian uni-versity (Heilman would not re-veal its name) refused to offer the scholarship officially out of concern that participating might tarnish its reputation. The scholarship is therefore being offered as an “external scholarship, which means that it is being offered by an organi-zation outside of a University. A check for $1000 CAD will be written to the winner and they can spend it as they see fit.”

Is Wikipedia good? “Yes or else why would the world be turning to it? Could it be bet-ter? Definitely.”

Wiki-scholarshipWho knew Wikipedia could help you get through school?by Harlan Tufford

Are you an expert on this topic? Wikipedia could use your help.

This week starts what looks like will be major participation from Canadians in the grow-ing global frustration against rampant capitalism. Partici-pants in this movement don’t represent a sudden swelling in the ranks of Birkenstock-and-flower hippies, anti-govern-ment “black bloc” protestors, or even a resurgence of McCar-thy’s communist sympathiz-ers. What they do seem to be is comprised of the most wide-ranging political and social backgrounds of any global pro-test movement in years, if ever.

Events are planned for To-ronto, which are overshad-owed by the incidents of the G20 protests and emphasize ensuring a leaderless popular uprising against financial in-equality. Protesters in Vancou-ver are working closely with police to try to put together a “family friendly” movement of concerned citizens. Pro-tests are also planned for sev-eral other Canadian cities. In the words of Iranian General

Masoud Jazayeri, the Occupy Wall Street movement is the “beginning of an American Spring.”

As someone who doesn’t participate in direct-action activism often, I’m intrigued for a couple reasons. The time seems right, I agree with the message, and, most impor-tantly, the movement actually seems to have traction. There is certainly something to be said for the motivating power of a chance at success, remote though that chance may be.

More importantly, however, is that a popular uprising in the comfortabley rich West, successful or not, may be a sign that people are starting to real-ize we can’t wait for some of our biggest global problems to be solved by politicians. This is likely impacted by the main-stream public acceptance that all political parties are corrupt to varying degrees due to the inherent imbalance of power between the wealthy elite and the general public.

The environment has been a major issue that polls well in

Canada, as long as there isn’t an election on the horizon, at which point the economy and jobs take over. Whether the protesters joining the Oc-cupy Wall Street movement realize it or not, a reduction in corporate influence over poli-tics and a return to more rea-sonable taxes on the rich will have a direct impact on many environmental issues. Power-ful corporations have long set the tone in public policy by swaying politicians directly as well funding propaganda cam-

paigns, with Canadian policies on climate change being one of the best and most recent ex-amples.

While economic stabil-ity and job creation are impor-tant issues, they won’t matter much if we don’t have a stable climate or affordable, clean drinking water and food. Cor-porations and private interests have been using economic ar-guments to scare the public away from dealing with these issues for years, but this strat-egy may have finally backfired.

People have had enough. If it takes the occupation of Wall Street to get people’s attention I’ll gladly welcome it.

From my perspective the ul-timate goal is to reduce corpo-rate influence and political cor-ruption that so often are used to distract the public from the issues that are most dangerous to society, such as pollution, climate change, and deforesta-tion. Having a job won’t matter if you can’t breathe or access clean food and water.

‘AmericanSpring’ comes to Canada by Daryn Caister

4 October 13, 2011 THE INSIDE

Occupy Wall Street protestors gather in Manhattan’s Financial District

As an entrepreneur, “you have to be courageous.” Not an old line touted by a Rotman prof, that advice came from Dina Bina, African advocate of women’s economic empower-ment. On the topic of Grow-ing Economic Opportunities for Women in the Developing World she and Lalita Krishnas-wami shared their stories last Thursday at the first Global Voices event co-hosted by the Canadian International Devel-opment Agency and the Munk Centre.

The event took place just after the Conference on Wom-en’s Economic Empowerment, organized by the UN and CIDA,

took place in Ottawa earlier in the week.

Dina Bina was one of two speakers at the event. An ac-countant by profession, the owner of Dina Flowers and President of the Tanzania Women Chambers of Com-merce, she explained that her professional success was hard won.

With borrowed money, she and her husband rented a room and purchased five bunches of flowers for re-sale. The first customer to approach saw the pails of water they were filling. He asked, “Are you selling wa-ter?” “Yes!” Bina replied - never one to pass up a business op-portunity. That glass of water, sold for twenty cents, is Dina

Flowers’ legendary first sale.Lalita Krishnaswami’s

early attempts at organiz-ing women’s labour in India also showed what is possible despite humble beginnings. When she started the Self-Employed Women’s Associa-tion (SEWA) bank in 1974, the bank’s promoters couldn’t even sign their names. “We went to register the bank”, she recalled, “and they said, ‘you must be out of your mind!’”

Having founded SEWA’s trade union two years before, Krishnaswami was far from crazy. The bank was estab-lished to meet the needs of the poorest of the poor. Once off the ground, the bank overcame the problem of illiteracy by

simply placing photographs on its identification cards.

Janice Stein, Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and moderator of the event reminded audience members that these are two examples of highly successful business women. Once both guests had taken their turns to speak, Stein posed questions about current themes of women and economic development.

Bina’s responses were made in light of her experience as a family business owner and advocate of entrepreneur-ship. The daughter of a min-ister, Bina preaches to her own crowd of aspiring entre-preneurs on her weekly radio show, sharing women’s small business success stories. She also stressed the value of mo-bile phones in processing orders and verifying market prices in remote, rural envi-ronments.

Focusing on collective ac-tion, Krishnaswami highlight-ed gains made through her work building trade unions and co-operatives. By organiz-ing female workers in a myr-iad of businesses – from agri-culture to cleaning services to

jewelry making – she provides them with access to capital and marketing resources. Beyond business opportunities, the 1.3 million women in SEWA’s trade unions gain security through insurance, health care and legal services.

“Events like this are im-portant at U of T”, Jenna Hay, first year MA ERES student re-marked happily while leaving the event. While she believes that academics’ perspectives are valuable in exploring de-velopment issues, Hay is glad the talk gave voice to real lead-ers in the field. “…in reality, they’re the ones who have had to overcome the obstacles that we’ve identified and defy the odds we’ve studied endlessly.”

For CIDA, the Global Voices series is a new project that comes out of an established relationship with the Munk Centre. Last Thursday’s event fit under two of three CIDA pil-lars. The aid agenda includes increasing food security, secur-ing the future of children and youth and stimulating sustain-able economic growth.

Visit http://munk.utoronto.ca for more info about Global Voices.

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Movement enjoys broad political representation

by Ashton Osmak

Global Voices speak to studentsWomen entrepreneurs discuss their roles in economic development

www.thenewspaper.ca 5 THE INSIDE

The Toy Piano Composers are best known across the city for playfully challenging the notion that classical music is lame. These young, (mostly) U of T Music grads are typi-cally less into writing tunes that make your toes tap, but this Saturday they’re amping things up for the premier of their 4th season, Avant Gui-tars. The concert at Gallery 345 will showcase 8 brand new works composed for and per-formed live by electric guitar quartet. Electric guitars and classical composition? Should be interesting. It’s a season pre-mier you won’t want to miss.

To get an inside look at this hip, homegrown composer’s collective, we caught up with Monica Pearce, the Toy Piano Composer’s Artistic Director. She filled us in on the group’s inspiration, roots and what’s in store for this weekend’s show and the rest of their 2011-12 season.

the newspaper: First off, where did you come up with that name, Toy Piano Compos-ers? And how did TPC come about? Monica Pearce: When I fin-ished my Masters at the Uni-versity of Toronto, I was wor-ried that all the performance opportunities to get my music played were going to dwindle outside of the academic envi-ronment, where performers are literally around every cor-ner. So, my fellow composer friend Chris Thornborrow and I came up with the idea to have a composer collective where we would put on unique con-certs of new compositions for all different types of ensem-

bles. I toyed around with a few different ideas, but when I landed on the Toy Piano Com-posers, it just clicked. The toy piano is like a symbol for the group, representing playful-ness, humour, and imagina-tion. Plus - I had just bought a beautiful second-hand 37-key Schoenhut toy piano and I was dying to use it!

tn: What exactly does TPC do? MP: The Toy Piano Compos-ers put on a season of concerts (usually three or four) featur-ing a variety of ensembles and with all new music by its composers. Every concert we put on has a particular con-cept or theme to it, because we want to make the concert experience of new music as interesting and engaging as possible. We also like to put on concerts that explore different demographics as well - such as in February, when we put on a kid’s concert of percussion music featuring TorQ percus-sion quartet.

tn: Has it evolved over the years and if so, how? MP: In our first season, we simply went from concert to concert, hoping that we would have performers to play our music, an audience to hear it and enough money to get us to our next concert. As the group evolved, performers began ap-proaching us for projects such as the Sneak Peek Orchestra, TorQ Percussion, junctQin keyboard collective, and more. And now, we have amassed a fairly sizeable audience filled with people of all ages who are always curious about what we are going to write next.

In the past few years, we have really evolved as composers as

well, and I think I speak for all the composers when I say that we have learned a great deal from each other. It is always a special time when we get to-gether with the performers for the first time to read through the music. It is such a privilege to be able to work with such a wonderfully diverse group of composers.

This weekend’s performance showcases electric guitars. In

the past you’ve had concerts called Recess and ...and then my brain exploded. How did you settle on the themes and ensembles for your shows. Do you agree collectively on the themes or is there a mandate you’re trying to fol-low? Is there something co-hesive about each season?

MP: The short answer is we do whatever excites us artisti-cally - one of us will come to the group and say, “Guys - how about a concert where the au-dience has to guess who wrote which piece?!!” and then we go from there. Chris Thornbor-row (co-founder and co-Artistic Director), Elisha Denburg (co-Artistic Director) and myself (Founder and Artistic Direc-tor) are basically the team that thinks up most of the concert ideas, and then we each curate one of the concerts of the sea-son. For instance, this concert “Avant-Guitars” is my baby, a

labour of love. I had collaborat-ed with Rob MacDonald (one of the guitarists) on another project a few years ago, and when he told me that he was putting together an electric guitar quartet, I thought it was a perfect project for us - little edgy, definitely on the fringe of Classical music, many ex-citing sound possibilities. The “Opera Scenesters” concert in January is being curated by Eli-sha Denburg, and he has put together a stellar trio of singers (Maureen Batt, Marta Herman and Jeremy Ludwig) and even a director for the scenes (Erik Thor). And then our season fi-nale “Encounters: TPC meets Array” in April is being curated by Chris Thornborrow, and we are all thrilled to be writing for new music legends ArrayMu-sic.

tn: Looking at your site, 7 out of the 9 members of Toy Piano composers are U of T alumnae. Are you guys just a bunch of old school friends? Or was there something about the grad com-position programs at our mu-sic department that drew this group of composers together? MP: When Chris and I sat down to discuss who would actually be in the group, we decided we weren’t looking for a certain compositional aesthetic, but instead a cer-tain attitude to composing. We wanted composers who were slightly on the outskirts of academia in various ways. For instance, Fiona Ryan has a spectacularly unique com-positional voice - her music is so playful and imaginative that it caused my husband to remark, “It sounds like she has pixies in her head!” And then on the other spectrum, we also have Dan Brophy, who is heav-

ily inspired by death metal, and it comes out in his music loud and clear. We wanted to work with composers who we got along with, and composers who didn’t take themselves too seriously.tn: Your show this Saturday is called Avant-Guitars. What can we expect to see and hear at the show? MP: You’ll hear a lot of at-mospheric guitar music, mu-sic where you enter a lovely sound world and decide to curl up and enjoy it. But you’ll also hear some really loud stuff, which will make you want to rock out. All in all, when do you ever get to hear four elec-tric guitars playing together in an art music setting?

tn: TPC fans always look for-ward to the exclusive TPC but-tons available at your shows. Will there be buttons on Sat-urday? Can you share what they’ll look like? MP: Of course there will be buttons. We have a new one for every concert and I love do-ing it. It makes me feel like we are putting on a rock show and that we have merch. This con-cert’s button will be our new logo, which was made by Nick Thornborrow (amazing artist who does all our posters).

Catch the Toy Piano Composer’s 4th season premier, Avant Gui-tars: Works for Electric Guitar Quartet, at Gallery 345 (345 Sorauren Avenue) on Saturday, October 15th at 8 pm. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door. They’re on sale now online at: www.thetoypianocomposers.com

by Ashton Osmak

Pushing the boundaries of classical musicthe newspaper talks to Monica Pearce, the artistic director of The Toy Piano Composers

“You’ll hear a lot of at-mospheric guitar music, music where you enter a lovely sound world and decide to curl up and enjoy it. ”Monica Pearce

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by Aberdeen Berry

On wage slaveryand unemployment

6 October 13, 2011 THE ARTS

Satirical oeuvre by Mark kingwell and Joshua Glenn pokes fun at recession

Faced with unemployment, wage cuts, and the breaking of the social contract, what is your average proletarian to do? He or she ought, of course, to turn to satire. The Wage Slave’s Glossary is a delicious and timely trifle by Glenn and Kingwell. It is a small green book, with gold edging on the cover, and charming illustra-tions by cartoonist Seth, this year’s recipient of the Har-bourfront Festival Prize. The book is divided into an intro-ductory essay by Kingwell ti-tled, “Wage Slavery, Bullshit, and the Good Infinite,” and then the glossary proper by Glenn.

Kingwell begins his oeuvre by arguing for the relevancy of the book in an era of unem-ployment and recession. What

follows is a lighthearted dis-cussion on the soul-crushing effects of the modern work-place, and some apt question-ing of the real value of hard work. Kingwell also remarks upon the lack of any real pro-tests to the perceived excesses of the era. Since the time of writing, Occupy Wall Street has emerged as a movement, but it appears that few are ca-pable of demonstrating what its aims may be.

The second part of the book provides a dryly amusing look at many of the terms associ-ated with wage slavery. Draw-ing on sources from history and popular culture (includ-ing Douglas Coupland, voice of a generation), readers will be treated to tongue-in-cheek explanations of many popu-lar buzzwords, and their ge-nealogies. Of particular note

is the well-known “synergy”, which despite being “ersatz digital newspeak,” apparently “express[es] the notion that corporate mergers will lead to efficiencies and financial benefits.” It is also probably (though not conclusively) a noun.

While The Wage Slave’s Glos-sary does not start a trend of systematic critique of the capi-talist system, it will likely be offensive to the few who live in a bubble. But that’s a mere one percent of people, and likely they’re on the wrong side of history anyway. Such individuals are especially ad-vised to avoid the probable next volume in the series, the red-bound Class Warrior’s Handbook. Your reviewer’s only complaint is that a hardbound edition remains unavailable.

Learn more about graduate studies, visit www.discoveruOttawa.ca.

Graduate Studiesat uOttawa.

University of Ottawa

DISCOVER

»

the mixtapeAndrew – Xavier Cugat, “Perfidia”

Ashton – Corinne Bailey Rae, “Are You Here”

Bodi – Daniel Johnston, “True Love Will Find You

In the End”

Cara – Roy Harper, “Blackpool”

Dan – YACHT, “Shangri-La”

Matthew – Fleet Foxes, “Your Protector”

Suzie – Stevie Wonder, “We Can Work It Out”

Talia – Ohbijou, “Niagra”

Geoff – Mamas & the Papas, “Once Was A Time I Thought”

Here's what the staff has on rotation at the newspaper office this week. Visit thenewspaper.ca to listen.

www.thenewspaper.ca 7 THE ARTS

Across1. Also4. Feminine pronoun7. Singe11. Rip

27. Makes available30. Pork product 31. Metric volume32. Evergreen tree33. Soda34. More robust35. Age36. With joy38. Aural organ39. Bunny 41. Slippery42. “Step ___ my office...”43. Book of maps44. Look upon45. Beneath46. Plant progeny47. Formal male address48. Inquire49. Feline50. Regret51. Ontario museum54. Nurtures a garden58. Walked aimlessly60. Forever61. Craft or skill62. Direct63. Coin receptacle64. Agree to; say ___65. At a distance

Down1. Sawbucks2. Solemn vow3. Raw mineral4. Knock over a glass of milk5. Back or rear (___ leg)6. Ovum7. Male child8. Conclude9. Advance in years

12. Boar13. Porous cleaning material15. Walking into17. Looked after18. Fire trace

19. Aged20. Obtain21. Wise bird, to some 22. Buzz23. Truth

10. Be angry; see ___11. Coffee alternative13. Main trunk of a flower14. Dog, cat, or bird16. Horizontal columns20. Chewing candy21. Single22. More elated23. Snug, tight, or loose24. See to25. Manufacture26. Dread27. Works of Verdi28. Blackbeard, for example29. Make possible30. Little jump31. Set down33. Congratulation; ___ on the back34. House or horse36. Possessive masculine pronoun37. Frozen water40. Wicked42. Pen fluid44. Take a seat45. Preowned47. Backtalk48. Uncles’ mates49. Weep50. Uncommon51. Length times width52. Top ___ (BBC programme)53. Unusual54. “T’___ the night before...”55. Each and every56. Twice 21 Down57. Have food58. Route59. Santa’s minion

The Crossword by Andrew Walt

We all saw it coming, slowly but surely, and now the day has finally arrived. From Mouseke-teer on the Mickey Mouse Club to the leading man in the most notable romance film in recent memory (say it with me: The Notebook) to an Oscar nod for Half Nelson along with a half-dozen other indie appearances to – wait, what happened to Ryan Gosling after Lars and the Real Girl in 2007?

Well, now we know: he was spending three years plotting his leap to the Hollywood A+ list. Front and centre in Blue Valentine (that was this year, wasn’t it?); Crazy, Stupid, Love; Drive; and now The Ides of March? That kind of run would make even Nic Cage jealous – let alone that critics might hang on to the screener DVDs of Goslings film for more than drink-coaster-value after a first viewing.

There can be no denying it that Gosling has made the transition from indie darling to mainstream giant. And what better way to cement your arrival in the big leagues than sidling up next to the sexiest man alive himself, Mr. George Clooney?

Despite them each sharing half of each others’ faces on a movie poster, the pair don’t end up sharing a lot of screen time. In fact, Gosling isn’t re-ally into sharing a lot of screen time with anyone, unless it is one character at a time.

The story is told exclusively from the perspective of Ste-phen Meyers (Gosling), whose side we don’t leave for longer than a minute through the whole film. Meyers is the Ju-nior Campaign Manager under Paul Zara’s (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) Senior for Governor Mike Morris’ (Clooney) demo-cratic presidential primary bid.

Sparked by an offer for a

private meeting from the ri-val campaign manager (Paul Giamatti) and a romantic lia-son with a provocative intern (Evan Rachel Wood), Meyers’ personal and political lives slowly unravel in a whirlwind of back-stabbings and double-crosses.

The agility in writing ne-cessitated by such rampant deceit among its characters is demonstrated by the script’s meticulous plotting. Not only is each twist and turn timed perfectly, but each is also car-ried out realistically motivated characters – a detail made all the more important by the po-litical context of the film.

Such strength in story comes as no surprise, as the screen-play was adapted from a previ-ous work by Beau Willimon’s play entitled Farragut North, after a transit station at the heart of D.C.’s political district.

The film wears its stage ori-gins on its sleeve; a medium

marked by emphasis on drama in its most proper sense: strong characters acting against one another to create tension. Sad-ly it is just this emphasis that ends up leaving the film rather flaccid as a political drama; a problem not helped by Cloo-ney’s thoroughly practical and nonhazardous direction.

Ides presents a rather bleak view of modern American po-litical machinations, but not a particularly thoughtful one. We can’t help but feel as if most of the story could be lifted into a nonpolitical setting without much trouble, with occasional peeks into Governor Morris’ platform feeling more like a friendly reminder of what kind of movie we’re watching than any essential part of the main proceedings.

The whole cast brings their A-game, with special men-tion going to the heavily fea-tured Hoffman, an endlessly natural and resourceful actor

whose next appearance I crave throughout the film, and whose campaign manager role is twinned by Giamatti – the next-best character actor in Hollywood.

Also worth noting is the sizzling chemistry between Gosling and Wood, with the former’s sickening amount of charm making itself evident. Oh, and Marisa Tomei frumps it up (sexily, of course) as a ruthless Times reporter.

So if you’re looking for a crackerjack 100 minute (what a quickie!) mystery drama with lots of nice neckties and American flags, and/or if you want to hop on the Clooney/Gosling joy train, this is the film for you. But if you’re look-ing for something you can think about after, maybe pick up The Economist from the newsstand instead.Check local listings for theatre times (if you really want).

beware The Ides of Marchlatest Gosling film leaves much to be desiredby Dan Christensen

8 October 13, 2011 THE bACk PAGE

If you have even the slightest interest in video games as more than just flippant distractions or inane wastes of time, or if you’re even remotely curious about the narrative and emotional potential of video games beyond puerile power fantasies, you must play Gravity Bone. It’s free, it’s short, and it’s damn well brilliant. What more do you need to know?

Created by Brendon Chung of LA based Blendo Games, Gravity Bone is best described as a first-per-son romp. As soon as the game loads, you’re descend-ing an elevator into The Saturday Club. The bombas-tic brass of a Xavier Cugat arrangement delights the ears as you infiltrate a swanky black tie affair popu-lated with paper-craft patrons. You pull up a business card which instructs you to head to the furnace room for a spot of wet work. The mission? Deliver a bugged

drink to a man with red hair. In equal measure you notice the security gaze following your every move and the stunt planes whizzing through the mountain air. Nothing makes sense, but it’s a charmingly imagi-native experience. What a strange, wildly confident, and immaculately realized game.

Despite lasting only 15 minutes, Gravity Bone nev-ertheless has so many curious and fascinating little touches that it becomes endlessly engaging both in terms of presentation and gameplay. Its in medias res approach to what little narrative actually exists cre-ates the sense of playing through select scenes in a grand espionage epic. And not only is that narrative seamlessly integrated with the gameplay, but so are the actual gameplay mechanics into its aesthetic de-sign (“Safety first! Press [e] to use doorknobs”). It even

allows freedom of perspective in scripted sequences, which still enables empathy even when control has been taken away for cinematic purposes. And to cap it all off, the final sequence is one of the most breathtak-ing gameplay experiences ever devised, fantastically executed in all its brevity, surrealism, and surprise.

Gravity Bone is an incredible game, remarkable for its subversive approach to first-person game design, beautiful construction, and taut composition. It’s highly experimental and perhaps a bit rough around the edges, but its risks pay high dividends for those who are curious to explore its wonderfully wacky world of guns and glory. Few games leave an impres-sion quite like Gravity Bone. While it may be a short ride, it’s also free and provides an experience that won’t soon be forgotten.

The Adventures of Citizen Abelby Andrew Walt

A release from work and worry with brendon Chung’s Gravity bone

Rookie Toronto Councillor James “Snack Man” Pasternak wants to feed fellow councillors from taxpayers’ hands. Maybe if there was more variety in the vending machines, Toronto’s workers wouldn’t get so grumpy between lunch and dinner. the newspaper asked “What food should be (but isn’t yet) in U of T vending machines?”

VINCENT Actuarial science, 4th year - “Instant Noodles”

EMILY & SEAN Computer science, 4th year - “Dried fruits and canned chili”

MOHAMMEDEngineering science, 3rd year - “Canned foods like Campbell Soup or Thai noodles in a cup”

BOD

I BO

LD

OMARMath and Physics, 5th year - “Obviously sushi!”

LAURENMechanical Engineering, 3rd year - “Healthier choices, like granola bars”

CHRISTINEMechanical Engineering, 3rd year - “Canned espresso shots”

the campus comment “

A screenshot of the videogame Citizen Abel