Month: November 2000

By Mike Bowerman

Two-hundred and fifty million landmines are the disease; the University of Calgary faculty of Engineering is the cure. Four mechanical and manufacturing engineering students won second place in a national competition held by Mines Action Canada for their design of a solar-powered battery recharger for mine detection equipment. The team members included Aparna Verma, Jason… Continue reading Helping rid the world of mines

By Aida Sadr

Every year, thousands of women are victims of sexual assault, but according to a 1993 Statistics Canada survey, only six per cent of females over the age of 16 who experience the terrifying and often brutal crime report the incident to the police. A recent University of Calgary study conducted by Debra Tomlinson, a Master’s… Continue reading Too afraid to speak out

By Andrew Ross

The band is really rocking, psychedelic guitar riffs crash up against funked-out vocals as the mop-topped singer dances wildly on the stage, the floor, the tables, the audience–anywhere he can reach. This may sound like the scene at a wild ’60s rock concert, but it took place this month. The band? Toronto’s More Plastic. "It’s… Continue reading More Plastic are just groovy, baby

By Lawrence Bailey

Jay Newman’s second directorial foray for the Morpheus Theatre deals with inevitability, intellect and emotion. Six Degrees of Separation follows a young black con man, who knows which buttons to push, and the wealthy couple who is affected by his exploits. With a track record of performances and a feature film resulting from the script,… Continue reading Morpheus deals with separation anxiety

By Paul Margach

There are three kinds of people in this world: those who fit in, those who want to fit in and those who don’t care. It was true in junior high school and it still applies today, only without quite as many sloppy joes thrown at your French teacher. Kelowna’s The Grapes of Wrath have been… Continue reading Picking up squashed grapes

By Alex Brown

"I’d really like it if the audience screamed during the show," says David McIntosh. "It would be nice to have that permission to engage with the audience in that way." McIntosh, along with Lee Su-Feh, comprises Battery Opera, a Vancouver-based dance company currently performing here in Reptile Diva. McIntosh and Su-Feh are working to create… Continue reading Reptile Diva slithers through spaces

By James Keller

Walking into the Auburn Saloon, it’s obvious why it is the perfect place for this interview. With a laid back atmosphere, peppered with a faint backdrop of music, it is both intimate and comfortable. Looking right at home, relaxed on a couch in the corner, sits the man behind "Let Your Backbone Slide," Maestro Fresh-Wes.… Continue reading Fresh new Maestro

By Bryanne Miller

It’s not very often one can walk down the street in Calgary and overhear French, let alone understand it. Why is that? Quebec, after all, is just as much a part of Canada as is Saskatchewan, except that perhaps it has more of a fresh and distinctly different culture to offer. Sage Theatre noticed the… Continue reading French play a daring trial affair

By David Kenney

Fri., Nov. 25, 7:30 p.m. Lorrie Matheson looks a little tense. Hand clutched on the phone, the curly-haired local musician is talking in a quiet, concerned tone in what sounds like damage-control mode. Hanging up, Matheson rises with a smile. "Just trying to keep the band together," he says from behind the counter at Hot… Continue reading National Dust welcomes you to utopia

By James Keller

You’ve heard rhetoric during this year’s election race about health care and social spending. You’ve heard the debates about abortion and gay rights. And you’ve most certainly seen the CD advertisements for a book-on-tape version of Jean Chrétien’s lack of planning skills. Unfortunately, you’ve been blinded by these so-called "political issues" and have been kept… Continue reading The King is dead. Long live the Queen!