7pm, November 07, 2007, Tinsletown, Vancouver BC. The screening for ‘No Country for Old Men’ was packed. The movie is set in the rural and suburban American South were ordinary folk get involved with dangerous and sometimes psychotic drug traffickers. This story is told from several perspectives. All point to one major crime. A drug deal, murders and betrayal only lead to more violence. Those who become concerned in this initial problem eventually find themselves getting more than they signed up for and having to deal with hiding from a bloodthirsty hit man. The recurring theme in this film is self-restraint or lack thereof.
The scenery of this movie is great for those who appreciate the dust and cacti of the dry southern desserts. I enjoyed the Texas-style accent of the actors, which was spot on in all cases. The friendly rural attitudes of the townsfolk in this film are completely utilized. One scene at a gas station with Bardem’s character and a gas attendant proved that silence can be the most entertaining and stressful situations.
For those who are not horror, war or action movie fans, this movie is not for you. While there is a fairly well written plot and character dialogues, a large portion of this film is dedicated to violence and destruction. This is largely due to the antagonist, Chigurh, played by Javier Bardem. He shows no mercy or compassion toward his victims. Their deaths hardly amuse or effect him at all. Many of the characters are supposedly ex-military. This film definitely shows the darker consequences of generations of trained killer Americans back home.
This film was directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Actors include Tommy Lee Jones Who played a third generation Sheriff, Sherriff in a small American town in the South. He is excellent, and the interaction between this character and his protégé throughout the movie are amusing and entertaining from a dialogue-script point of view. Josh Brolin plays the main protagonist, a man Vietnam veteran who is faced with overwhelming stubbornness, curiosity and a little greed. He is the sort of quiet bushman that anyone from a small enough town will have met at least once. Javier Bardem performed beautifully as a eerily calm and convincing serial killer.
Overall, I enjoyed this movie. It was entertaining, visually interesting and well made. There did not seem to be any moral allegiances as to the nature of murder. I liked how the director left his question up to the audience to decide, making the ending a bit more of a thinker. This movie definitely requires less escapist audiences to be fully and thoroughly enjoyed. It was a sort of less trippy and more serious action-based version of ‘Natural Born Killers’ without as much romance. Go out and see it, it screens again at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 8 and 10. I would recommend this film to realist, violence-loving people who also get a kick out of hearing a good Southern drawl.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Delegation demands 10$/hour from BC MLAs ~By Elise Ikoma
November 1, 2007, MLAs met with delegation of ten BC group representatives and Low-Wage Earners who presented over 40,000 signatures for the Federation $10 NOW petition. After the meeting at 10:30 am, the petition was tabled during the afternoon session of Parliament. This marked the anniversary of the last B.C.’s minimum increase in 2001. One representative, Rev. Margaret Marquardt urged, “people in our province are earning a wage below the poverty line and they cannot make ends meat.”
Another representative present was Shamus Reid of Chair of the BC Canadian Federation of Students. He said, “low-wages affects the ability to go back to school” and that “the min wage hasn’t kept pace with inflation.” When describing who is affected by minimum wage, Mr. Reid points to “a vast cross section” including people with disabilities, new immigrants, women, and “students and young people.”
Rev. Marquardt attended “on behalf of the justice and peace unit of the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster” who have been “supportive of the initiative for … ten dollars this year and 11 dollars next year, and of course, indexed.” In terms of the delegation and the petition being tabled, she comments, “we had some good hearings, we made some major presentations, we’re going to keep going and we’re not to give up.”
According to Mr.Reid, the current “government has taken an ideological stand” against the increase, even after the “54% increase in their own wages.” Apparently, the “opposition supported the increase” and “40% BC people say minimum wage will be a vote determining factor”. Will this topic reappear closer to election-time? Shamus agrees there would be “more pressure, but there are a couple year left before then.” Just as Marquardt noted, this meeting was “certainly a beginning.” According to the BCFS chair, this meeting was “only the beginning of more petitions and more talk in communities across BC.” But how long will it take?
Rev. Marquardt contends that people earn higher wages in certain areas but a “quarter of a million people making minimum wage.” Relocation, she suggests, is not always possible. She feels some “don’t have the resources… they don’t have childcare … transportation needed, or they are taking care of a relative.” Additionally, “Many children are being effected.”
The petition is on Public Service Alliance of Canada BC website (www.psacbc.com/tag/bc-fed). There, it is says a 10$/h minimum wage would benefit 250,000 workers. The BC Federation of Labour’s petition states “We urge Premier Gordon Campbell to eliminate the training wage and immediately increase BC's minimum wage to at least $10 per hour and index future increases to growth in inflation.” It adds “Yes, Premier, after six years it's time to give BC's lowest paid workers a raise”.
Sources: Rev. Margaret Marquardt, Shamus Reid, www.psacbc.com/tag/bc-fed,
Another representative present was Shamus Reid of Chair of the BC Canadian Federation of Students. He said, “low-wages affects the ability to go back to school” and that “the min wage hasn’t kept pace with inflation.” When describing who is affected by minimum wage, Mr. Reid points to “a vast cross section” including people with disabilities, new immigrants, women, and “students and young people.”
Rev. Marquardt attended “on behalf of the justice and peace unit of the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster” who have been “supportive of the initiative for … ten dollars this year and 11 dollars next year, and of course, indexed.” In terms of the delegation and the petition being tabled, she comments, “we had some good hearings, we made some major presentations, we’re going to keep going and we’re not to give up.”
According to Mr.Reid, the current “government has taken an ideological stand” against the increase, even after the “54% increase in their own wages.” Apparently, the “opposition supported the increase” and “40% BC people say minimum wage will be a vote determining factor”. Will this topic reappear closer to election-time? Shamus agrees there would be “more pressure, but there are a couple year left before then.” Just as Marquardt noted, this meeting was “certainly a beginning.” According to the BCFS chair, this meeting was “only the beginning of more petitions and more talk in communities across BC.” But how long will it take?
Rev. Marquardt contends that people earn higher wages in certain areas but a “quarter of a million people making minimum wage.” Relocation, she suggests, is not always possible. She feels some “don’t have the resources… they don’t have childcare … transportation needed, or they are taking care of a relative.” Additionally, “Many children are being effected.”
The petition is on Public Service Alliance of Canada BC website (www.psacbc.com/tag/bc-fed). There, it is says a 10$/h minimum wage would benefit 250,000 workers. The BC Federation of Labour’s petition states “We urge Premier Gordon Campbell to eliminate the training wage and immediately increase BC's minimum wage to at least $10 per hour and index future increases to growth in inflation.” It adds “Yes, Premier, after six years it's time to give BC's lowest paid workers a raise”.
Sources: Rev. Margaret Marquardt, Shamus Reid, www.psacbc.com/tag/bc-fed,
What does is Take to be a Writer? ~by Elise Ikoma
It occurred to me that a new writer would be wise to research their own field. Several written publications were contacted due to a recent personal interest in journalism. Someone from the monthly Vancouver View Magazine responded. Mr. M Toren, I looked it up and it turns out that he is an owner of the Magazine: www.vanouverview.net. I conducted a phone-interview with him on CJSF Radio. The following is from a transcription of this interview, October 16, 2007.
E. Ikoma: Tell us about yourself.
M. Toren: I’m 34 years old. I graduated with average marks from West Vancouver Secondary school and started my entrepreneurial trek after and during grade 11 and 12. I am a cereal entrepreneur, and what I mean by that is that my brother and I buy failing businesses and we build them up with various strategies and sell the m for a profit.
E. Ikoma: What made you start to become interested in business as early as high school?
M. Toren: Good question. I guess it’s just something that’s in my blood. I’m not sure, people have asked me that before and I have to say that it’s just that, I took marketing classes in high school. It might have been marketing classes where I found my niche. I love marketing. I thrive on marketing. I’m a sponge and I like to hear everything about marketing and business.
E. Ikoma: Your current venture is now View Magazine, how did you get involved in that?
M. Toren: How did I get involved in it? Well, it is one on the ventures I’ve had. I finally found my passion after the many businesses that I had; I’ve owned a pool halls, I’ve owned cafés, I’ve owned all-natural pet food company that delivered to your door, I’ve owned many different businesses and I owned a printing company called Platinum Express in downtown Vancouver and I was printing out a little magazine in Yaletown, which is where I lived at the time. So one thing led to another and we started our first publication back in 2003 and it was called Yaletown View magazine. I had Yaletown View magazine then Kitsilano View magazine and Coal Harbour View magazine all separately. But I wanted to get more of the market share and that’s what brought about Vancouver View magazine.
E. Ikoma: And when was the first Vancouver View magazine issue?
M. Toren: Two and a half years ago.
E. Ikoma: How would you describe a typical day or week for you at work?
M. Toren: A typical day for me, is I wake up at about 10:30am and I average about 30 conversations or so. I talk to various people to do with the Vancouver View, all of the sales reps I have. Large clients I deal with directly. I answer about 70-100 emails a day to do with the View. I’m a night person. I wake up at 10am but I stay up until about 3am working everyday including weekends, which may sound like a drag but I really enjoy it.
E. Ikoma: And how many people are currently working with you at the Vancouver View?
M. Toren: We have a team of 25 outstanding great people that work with the Vancouver View and we are always expanding our publication looking for more great people to come onboard.
E. Ikoma: Ok, and I know you have many sales reps, but what about the writers? How is the turnover rate for your writers?
M. Toren: The turnover rate is very minimal. When we find a writer that we like we try to create a win/win situation and keep them onboard.
E. Ikoma: Good to hear, so, what do you look for, what kind of qualities do you look for in a writer for your magazine?
M. Toren: We look for a smart, innovative creative people that are self-starters. You know, go out there and find a unique topic to write about and go with it and they keep on doing it again and again. And when one of those topics hits, then we publish it.
E. Ikoma: Which leads to my next question; How do you, or your writers, go about choosing different topics for each issue?
M. Toren: Different topics are chosen by a few different people at our organization. We have a team that looks over all the topics that come in, and we get a short list. The Editor has the final say as to what goes into our publications.
E. Ikoma: Your articles are mostly about Health, Entertainment, Fashion, local businesses such and spas and pet services. What kind of audience are you catering to?
M. Toren: That’s a great question. We are a lifestyle magazine that caters to the target demographic of approximately 25-39 year olds. The Vancouver View is Vancouver’s #1 magazine because we have such a diverse readership. It’s very interactive. People read the magazine, they email you back, email all the writers and they ask questions. And that’s why we’ve started our Ask-an-Expert section in the publication recently, which is getting a lot of people emailing and calling our publication. We have a very diverse distribution of our publication. We deliver our magazine free to any business or resident in Yaletown, the West End, Coal Harbour, False Creek, Grandville Island, Point Grey, Karrisdale, North and West Vancouver and Whistler. We also run all the newsstand all throughout BC at all the Save-on-Foods, Chapters, London Drugs, Superstore, International Youth and BC Ferries.
E. Ikoma: What is your favourite topic to read about?
M. Toren: As I said before, I love marketing and business. If it has to do with marketing or business, sign me up. I love learning about it. I investigate every aspect of marketing that you can read about on the internet, I read about it , all the magazines too. A really good magazine is Forbes Magazine. I love reading Forbes because it has all the good techniques and tricks of the trade. The new stuff that’s coming out in the years ahead.
E. Ikoma: What is your favorite part of your job?
M. Toren: I don’t really consider this a job. It’s a passion of mine I’ve been lucky to find after doing many businesses over the years. Publishing is a sincere passion that I really look forward to doing in the future. It makes me happy doing it every single day and it makes me a better person.
E. Ikoma: Great, all the good luck to you. I just have one more question: What advice would you have for a new interested aspiring writers, or even entrepreneurs?
M. Toren: I would say be creative, be smart, when you’re writing your topical stories being a journalist. It’s very simple, if you know what you’re doing or even if you’re brand new, be innovative and submit them to the right people, at the publication or wherever you’re submitting them to since there are a lot of filter that you have to go through to hit the right person. And once you’ve found that right people always follow up. Follow-up is key and you’ll be successful.
E. Ikoma: All right, thank you!
M. Toren: Thank you!
E. Ikoma: Tell us about yourself.
M. Toren: I’m 34 years old. I graduated with average marks from West Vancouver Secondary school and started my entrepreneurial trek after and during grade 11 and 12. I am a cereal entrepreneur, and what I mean by that is that my brother and I buy failing businesses and we build them up with various strategies and sell the m for a profit.
E. Ikoma: What made you start to become interested in business as early as high school?
M. Toren: Good question. I guess it’s just something that’s in my blood. I’m not sure, people have asked me that before and I have to say that it’s just that, I took marketing classes in high school. It might have been marketing classes where I found my niche. I love marketing. I thrive on marketing. I’m a sponge and I like to hear everything about marketing and business.
E. Ikoma: Your current venture is now View Magazine, how did you get involved in that?
M. Toren: How did I get involved in it? Well, it is one on the ventures I’ve had. I finally found my passion after the many businesses that I had; I’ve owned a pool halls, I’ve owned cafés, I’ve owned all-natural pet food company that delivered to your door, I’ve owned many different businesses and I owned a printing company called Platinum Express in downtown Vancouver and I was printing out a little magazine in Yaletown, which is where I lived at the time. So one thing led to another and we started our first publication back in 2003 and it was called Yaletown View magazine. I had Yaletown View magazine then Kitsilano View magazine and Coal Harbour View magazine all separately. But I wanted to get more of the market share and that’s what brought about Vancouver View magazine.
E. Ikoma: And when was the first Vancouver View magazine issue?
M. Toren: Two and a half years ago.
E. Ikoma: How would you describe a typical day or week for you at work?
M. Toren: A typical day for me, is I wake up at about 10:30am and I average about 30 conversations or so. I talk to various people to do with the Vancouver View, all of the sales reps I have. Large clients I deal with directly. I answer about 70-100 emails a day to do with the View. I’m a night person. I wake up at 10am but I stay up until about 3am working everyday including weekends, which may sound like a drag but I really enjoy it.
E. Ikoma: And how many people are currently working with you at the Vancouver View?
M. Toren: We have a team of 25 outstanding great people that work with the Vancouver View and we are always expanding our publication looking for more great people to come onboard.
E. Ikoma: Ok, and I know you have many sales reps, but what about the writers? How is the turnover rate for your writers?
M. Toren: The turnover rate is very minimal. When we find a writer that we like we try to create a win/win situation and keep them onboard.
E. Ikoma: Good to hear, so, what do you look for, what kind of qualities do you look for in a writer for your magazine?
M. Toren: We look for a smart, innovative creative people that are self-starters. You know, go out there and find a unique topic to write about and go with it and they keep on doing it again and again. And when one of those topics hits, then we publish it.
E. Ikoma: Which leads to my next question; How do you, or your writers, go about choosing different topics for each issue?
M. Toren: Different topics are chosen by a few different people at our organization. We have a team that looks over all the topics that come in, and we get a short list. The Editor has the final say as to what goes into our publications.
E. Ikoma: Your articles are mostly about Health, Entertainment, Fashion, local businesses such and spas and pet services. What kind of audience are you catering to?
M. Toren: That’s a great question. We are a lifestyle magazine that caters to the target demographic of approximately 25-39 year olds. The Vancouver View is Vancouver’s #1 magazine because we have such a diverse readership. It’s very interactive. People read the magazine, they email you back, email all the writers and they ask questions. And that’s why we’ve started our Ask-an-Expert section in the publication recently, which is getting a lot of people emailing and calling our publication. We have a very diverse distribution of our publication. We deliver our magazine free to any business or resident in Yaletown, the West End, Coal Harbour, False Creek, Grandville Island, Point Grey, Karrisdale, North and West Vancouver and Whistler. We also run all the newsstand all throughout BC at all the Save-on-Foods, Chapters, London Drugs, Superstore, International Youth and BC Ferries.
E. Ikoma: What is your favourite topic to read about?
M. Toren: As I said before, I love marketing and business. If it has to do with marketing or business, sign me up. I love learning about it. I investigate every aspect of marketing that you can read about on the internet, I read about it , all the magazines too. A really good magazine is Forbes Magazine. I love reading Forbes because it has all the good techniques and tricks of the trade. The new stuff that’s coming out in the years ahead.
E. Ikoma: What is your favorite part of your job?
M. Toren: I don’t really consider this a job. It’s a passion of mine I’ve been lucky to find after doing many businesses over the years. Publishing is a sincere passion that I really look forward to doing in the future. It makes me happy doing it every single day and it makes me a better person.
E. Ikoma: Great, all the good luck to you. I just have one more question: What advice would you have for a new interested aspiring writers, or even entrepreneurs?
M. Toren: I would say be creative, be smart, when you’re writing your topical stories being a journalist. It’s very simple, if you know what you’re doing or even if you’re brand new, be innovative and submit them to the right people, at the publication or wherever you’re submitting them to since there are a lot of filter that you have to go through to hit the right person. And once you’ve found that right people always follow up. Follow-up is key and you’ll be successful.
E. Ikoma: All right, thank you!
M. Toren: Thank you!
Friday, November 9, 2007
Pro-Democracy Afghani Feminist Malalai Joya and Libby Davies
Saturday October 27, 2007, former Afghan member of Parliament Malalai Joya spoke
out against her government at a Rally, following the MAWO march last Saturday. She claims she has recently been “suspended, threatened and suppressed” by her own government. Malalai has been very outspoken about “the former warlords and criminal of Afghanistan
Having just come from Europe, and more specificallyItaly 
the rally. This woman came from a Feminist Muslim group in Richmond
Malalai Joya also denounced the Taliban and the Northern Allies “for committing murder on innocent people” both at the rally and the receptive luncheon. The fifty-odd people at the welcoming luncheon seemed supportive While these people may be against Canadian military presence in Afghanistan and in favour of justice for the past actions of current people in power, Malalai ensures them that this opinion is shared by many oppressed impoverished Afghan people who cannot speak out. Many people at this reception uttered the word “brave” in regard to Malalai.
The luncheon was put on with the help of Libby Davies, NDP
MP for Vancouver East and various others that she mentioned during her introduction to Malalai. As I met Malalai she greeted me in the very Afghani way of kissing my cheek. She embraced and talked to many of her supporters at this gathering, during the march and through the rally. In the last weeks she has been through a frenzy of media and traveling to gather support from abroad.
She has supporters in women’s rights groups, peace activists and former Afghans throughout the greaterVancouver US
Having arrived quite recently Malalai is scheduled to leave in the next week. Human rights groups and peace groups around the globe may give the many Afghan people who support Malalai hope, but the Afghan government has not been swayed. They have not given Malalai back the position to which she was elected.
out against her government at a Rally, following the MAWO march last Saturday. She claims she has recently been “suspended, threatened and suppressed” by her own government. Malalai has been very outspoken about “the former warlords and criminal of Having just come from Europe, and more specifically
the rally. This woman came from a Feminist Muslim group in Malalai Joya also denounced the Taliban and the Northern Allies “for committing murder on innocent people” both at the rally and the receptive luncheon. The fifty-odd people at the welcoming luncheon seemed supportive While these people may be against Canadian military presence in Afghanistan and in favour of justice for the past actions of current people in power, Malalai ensures them that this opinion is shared by many oppressed impoverished Afghan people who cannot speak out. Many people at this reception uttered the word “brave” in regard to Malalai.
The luncheon was put on with the help of Libby Davies, NDP
MP for Vancouver East and various others that she mentioned during her introduction to Malalai. As I met Malalai she greeted me in the very Afghani way of kissing my cheek. She embraced and talked to many of her supporters at this gathering, during the march and through the rally. In the last weeks she has been through a frenzy of media and traveling to gather support from abroad.She has supporters in women’s rights groups, peace activists and former Afghans throughout the greater
Having arrived quite recently Malalai is scheduled to leave in the next week. Human rights groups and peace groups around the globe may give the many Afghan people who support Malalai hope, but the Afghan government has not been swayed. They have not given Malalai back the position to which she was elected.
Gateway Rally and Panel Discussion from SFU’s Cornerstone down to AQ
16h30-17:14, November 08, 2007, Cornerstone, SFU, a Rally of 20 to30 gathered to protest the Gateway Project. Carrying signs saying things such as, ‘Hug a bus Driver,’ ‘Gateway Sucks’ and ‘Give us: Buses, trains HOV lanes’ protesters chanted “Highways and pollution are not the solution,” “We want buses to get through the rushes” and “We want trains and cue-jumper lanes.” Bruce McArthur, of the coalition to save Eagle Ridge Bluff bused out from West Van for the protest.
John Buker, a resident of
On the south end of SFU Transit exchange Stop #53096 or Bay 2 and Stop #51861 or Bay 1, these political activists cheered for each 145, 135, 144 and 143 that took away riders.
Burnaby-Douglas MP Bill Siksay attended a portion of the rally holding a ‘Say something Now’ sign and spoke in favor of transit, Federally funded Buses and repair of the
17:30-18:50, November 08, 2007 a panel about the expansion of the Tsawassen Delta port, building another bridge next to the PortMann and expanding of Highway 1 sat speakeing and answering audience questions in AQ 3181 at SFU. Biology grad student and member of SFPIRG Climate Change Action Group, Jenn Sunday, helped organize the panel and said sspeakers “were chosen in a way to make the discussion inter-disciplinary and to raise awareness of their research to students on campus.” Abstracts and a list of sponsors of the speaker series can be found at www.SFPIRG.ca under ‘Climate Change Speaker Series’.
The panel was divided on the one hand Bob Wilds of the Gateway Council and Allen Domaas from the Fraser River Port Authority. On the other end, Dr. Gordon Price from SFU Urban Studies and Shane Simpson an NDP MLA Environment Critic received considerable support from the audience during the later question period.
First, Mr.Wilds spoke in favour of both the Gateway project and more transit projects. He talked of population growth, a lack of meaningful land use and the jobs that the gateway project has created. Next, Mr. Price spoke passionately warning everyone not to “let the guys who drive big trucks design our region.” His biggest criticism of the project was that it acknowledged or perpetuated the idea that “you would be nuts to get around without a car.” He warned that the Gateway project would create a situation not unlike the San Fernando Valley and the
Ms. Sunday noted that there was such “a positive response from more profs than we could accommodate, [that] there is potential for a second speaker series at a later date.” The last panel in the SFU Fall Speaker Series on Climate Change series will be ‘The Role of Local Economies’ Thursday November 22, 3pm in room C9001.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Democratic Journalism?
HARBOUR CENTRE, VANCOUVER, October 26, 2007 the annual democratic media event was held. I had been tabling and making the rounds, eating a 1.25$ slice pizza from up the road. There were so many people from Ohio and Conneticut. Different tables had small printed, online, video audio, radio and all that jazz. This was the results of alternative media.
These collectives, personal projects, societies, coops, or student-funded groups are great outlets where people are given a voice unavailable through mainstream media in some cases. I think however, it is important to understand the balance between one's personal mission to represent the truth as they see it with the priorities of a larger media machine.
After working with various printed or radiobroadcast shows, I find that the written word is easy to alter. When you are a writer, the editor's opinions will magically morph with yours. Some may be more noticable than others, theoretically the Sunny Vancouver Bugle might alter a word or two o the author's or the author's source to liven up a story. One man at commented that, "real journalism is dead" these days.
Do journalists with integrity have to starve or face the devil and give up a shred of credability for money? Is it now up to those concerened citizens with day jobs to start blogg and research and inquire?
These collectives, personal projects, societies, coops, or student-funded groups are great outlets where people are given a voice unavailable through mainstream media in some cases. I think however, it is important to understand the balance between one's personal mission to represent the truth as they see it with the priorities of a larger media machine.
After working with various printed or radiobroadcast shows, I find that the written word is easy to alter. When you are a writer, the editor's opinions will magically morph with yours. Some may be more noticable than others, theoretically the Sunny Vancouver Bugle might alter a word or two o the author's or the author's source to liven up a story. One man at commented that, "real journalism is dead" these days.
Do journalists with integrity have to starve or face the devil and give up a shred of credability for money? Is it now up to those concerened citizens with day jobs to start blogg and research and inquire?
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