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Only the devil wants you to see
OK, so I’ve been skirting around the issue for long enough; every week writing about something even more inane than the last, completely ignoring what I’ve really been wanting to talk about until now. I cannot however, continue to bite my tongue any longer, for fear that I might bite it clean off and then have to explain to the emergency doctor how I came to bite off my tongue — not an easy task without a tongue.
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Sugar water isn’t sweet for our health
With consumers’ rising interest in making lifestyle changes rather than choosing fad diets, food manufacturers are feeling the pressure more than ever to eliminate artificial ingredients. Many artificial ingredients have been linked to all types of health issues, including weight gain, cancer, neurological problems, headaches and chest pain.
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Trying to win it all without losing everything
The big joke in Canada is that people only care about amateur sports once every four years, and then they only care for about two weeks.
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A full doll’s house
Shakespeare, Ibsen and Brecht were all masterful playwrights. But as societal views change, are the meanings of our classic plays getting lost in the passage of time? And if so, how are we to keep the classics relevant in the modern age?
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$5 for a real latte, or $3 for a fake one
Canada’s favourite franchise, Tim Hortons, is stepping further into the American market this summer, opening nearly a dozen new storefronts in New York City, including one in Times Square. At the same time, Starbucks has announced huge closures and is rebranding some locations in an attempt to weather the economic downturn.
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Good chemistry and thorough research
Do Jian Ghomeshi and I have good chemistry?
It’s the unlikely question this writer stopped to ask himself in the midst of an interview with the popular broadcaster at the Winnipeg Folk Festival last month. -
Love from London and Paris
On a recent trip to Europe this summer, I was able to look at the diverse fashions on the streets of London and Paris.
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Non-representational, not abstract
Colourful paintings line the walls of Keith Wood’s studio in preparation for his upcoming exhibition at the newly relocated Ken Segal Gallery. Wood’s exhibition is called Right Click and will consist of 15 vibrant encaustic paintings and seven or eight colourful lithographs.
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Coming of age classic well worth a watch
As a part of their fantastic Repertory program, the Cinematheque this month is showing the 1973 Italian surrealistic masterpiece Amarcord, directed by that nation’s greatest ambassador of cinema, Federico Fellini.
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An ode to rural life and love
Sergey Dvortsevoy’s Tulpan is billed as a love story, but it’s far from a typical onscreen romance. The Tulpan of the movie’s title is a young woman whose love is pursued by Dvortsevoy’s protagonist, a young Khazak sailor named Asa, but the film’s focus is not their courtship, but Asa’s life as a would-be shepherd. Tulpan is more of a love letter to agricultural life on Kazakhstan’s steppes than a story of human passion.
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Watch Canada’s best short films from the comfort of your computer chair
Ah, it’s time again for NSI’s online film fest. And with this summer’s record breaking cold spells, there’s no better place to be than glued to your computer screen checking out the finest Canadian shorts out there.
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War, capitalism and personal struggle set to sweet beats
Reggae fans will get more grooves for their green at this year’s Winnipeg Ska & Reggae Festival, with more bands and cheaper ticket prices.
Now in its fourth year, the festival, which runs Aug. 20 to Aug. 22, features an all-Canadian line-up and includes some of the most respected reggae artists in the country. It wasn’t organizer Matt Henderson’s original plan to feature strictly home-grown talent, but a poor Canadian dollar in January made it tough to book the big acts from Jamaica and the U.S. -
Young Kidd goes hard
Violence, incarceration, police corruption and positivity in the face of adversity – these are the underlying dynamics of Frank “Young Kidd” Fontaine’s first full-length album, I Go Hard.
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Sleeping in school buses, and loving it
Still fresh from winning a 2009 Juno award, a cappella group Chic Gamine is finally returning to Winnipeg for a long awaited hometown concert and a two-year anniversary celebration.
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Where the Watson is
When Patrick Watson found out director Spike Jonze was adapting the famed children’s book Where the Wild Things Are for the big screen, he knew just what he had to do.
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Lost Winnipeg
Old Market Square, the place in the Exchange to go for historically-themed walking tours, free concerts of dubious quality, or some great people watching (“Hipster or Hobo?” is always a fun game), is actually not that old at all. Built in the 1970s on the site of the old Central Fire Hall as a farmer‘s market and green space, the “Old” was thrown in to add some quaint venerability to the place. The original Market Square was a block north, now buried underneath the Public Safety Building and Civic Parkade.
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Profitability trumps watchability
The King of Pop died on June 25 and by the end of the week, questions of mental instability and surgically altered pigmentation were of the hour.
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How to raise voter turnout, English-style
If you’ve ever sat in on a discussion with a group of political theorists, you know that sooner or later the discussion will turn towards electoral reform.
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Looking out for a Little Scrapper
Sunshine may be sparse in Winnipeg this summer, but festivals certainly are not. The Winnipeg Folk Festival and Winnipeg Fringe Festival had record years proving that regardless of the weather, Winnipeggers are still determined to have a good time.
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Lest we forget
Lately, it seems like every day brings news of another celebrity death. It started in June with David Carradine. Since then, Arturo Gatti, Billy Mays, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Koko Taylor, Michael Jackson and the Taco Bell dog have all gone to join the Great Gig in the Sky.
So let’s take a moment to remember the Flin Flon grow-op. -
Re: “Crying Wolf Over Gentrification”
This letter is in response to Gareth Du Plooy’s article Crying Wolf Over Gentrification published in the July 16 Uniter. First, I would like to thank Du Plooy and The Uniter for questioning the merits of an anti-gentrification stance in Spence. Certainly the 48 Spence residents who participated in our research last summer welcomed - just as Mr. Du Plooy does – the new amenities and improved housing stock Spence has received in approximately the past three years.
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Re: “Winnipeg blogs”
The story about Winnipeg blogs in your latest edition (July 16 edition of The Uniter) deliberately propogated (sic) a “myth” that I am responsible for the writing of an anonymous blog, The Black Rod.
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*Insert phony inspirational editorial here*
Since this issue will be on stands when all the bright-eyed university students return to expand their minds in hopes of bettering themselves and the world, the obvious thing would be to write about how this paper is the place where everyone can express themselves, where we can effect change, and where you, special individual, can make a difference.
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New facilities, same struggles
The development of the Spence Street Promenade between Portage and Ellice avenues, a greenspace equipped with a bandstand and basketball court, will be ready for campus use this fall. The promenade, which is funded by a provincial government grant, is the newest of several significant developments that are underway at the university’s main campus.
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Private public water
City Council recently passed a proposal for a public-private partnership (or P3) for Winnipeg’s water and waste department, which means the city will be striking a deal with the private sector to manage its water refineries.
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Five years clean, and counting
The Red Road Lodge, an alcohol and drug-free rooming house, is celebrating its five-year anniversary this month. Thanks to volunteer support, improved funding, effective programming and constant renovations, the Red Road Lodge continues to be an urban oasis for the impoverished in Winnipeg’s downtown.
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AFN election says a lot about Aboriginal People’s worldview
The Assembly of First Nations’ (AFN) recent election highlighted the differences between the election processes used by Aboriginal Peoples and those utilized by other Canadians. Some say these differences say a lot about the mindset of Aboriginal People.
University of Winnipeg and downtown community newspaper