Last week, amid a great deal of fanfare, a new Canadian political party was born--the Canadian Alliance. Narrowly avoiding becoming the first party in Canada to have a naughty acronym, the Canadian Alliance seeks to offer conservative-minded voters a right-wing alternative to the governing Liberal party. It will be interesting to see what comes of this.

There is no place in this world for a Renaissance man," I remarked as the dental hygienist shot deadly nanorays through my jaw.

"And what is it with these people and their weird obsession with my teeth?"

The streaming muzak background only strengthened my argument: technology, once our friend, serves as the new master of unconscious alienation.

The onslaught of award ceremonies in the past few weeks nauseated me. It seems everyone in the movie/music world has received a shiny trinket for their "brilliant" performance in the newest pop culture flick/video. Yet, ironically, it's not who received the Academy Award for Best Actress or who snagged a Grammy for Best New Artist, but Jennifer Lopez's dress that everyone remembers so well.

I, and others, have only one question: why that dress?

NCAA vs. CIAU? No contest. Last month, the CIAU basketball playoffs came and went, with little fanfare. TSN picked up the men's and women's final, but the playoffs received little press attention. The NCAA tournament, on the other hand, is a network bonanza--games can be found on several Canadian networks and the nightly news is packed with highlights. Some feel the lack of attention given to Canadian basketball by the Canadian media is unfair, relative to the press the NCAA tournament receives.

University sports fans in western Canada will be able to watch their favourite teams from the comfort of their own homes next season, thanks to Headline Sports.

On March 24, the network, which currently televises sports highlights 24-hours-a-day, received amendments to its license from the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission that permit it to broadcast live events.

After eight seasons as head coach of the Dinos field hockey team, Deb Covey-Barnett announced her resignation on Wednesday.

Covey-Barnett's husband, Andy--with whom she has a 14-month-old son, Matthew--accepted a position with an athlete-training complex near Tampa, Florida, that starts in May.

"I'm sad to be leaving the program--it's been building for awhile," she said. "But this is a super opportunity in the sports field in the States."

April 6, the University of Calgary Athletic Department will hand out its annual awards at the Night of the Dino. This year, there will be a few changes. Five nominees for athlete of the year will be announced ahead of time, giving interested parties time to speculate about the winners. As well, a rookie of the year award has been established this year--very appropriate, considering this year's outstanding rookie crop--and three nominees will be announced for that award.

Human rights atrocities and widespread violence are daily occurrences in Colombia. In fact, for the last 50 years, life in this country has been so typified by civil war, the country has earned the moniker of "Most Violent Country in the Western Hemisphere."

Reports suggest dozens of people are killed each day and frequent threats are made against innocent civilians, and both national and international human rights workers.

Oh my gawd! They are like, so dreamy! Mytown is yet another boy band in an oh-so long line of all-male groups. With their self-titled release, Mytown has accomplished something that few other boy-bands have yet to do. This Irish quartet has written the majority of the songs which appear on this disc.

Ground control to Major Tom: Eels ready for lift-off.

After the chaotic and disappointing Electro-Shock Blues, lead Eel E revamps his Beautiful Freak sound via an acoustic blender. Gone are the noisy guitars with E using hushed acoustics to balance his ballerina-box keyboards. Daisies of the Galaxy is where E gets even.