Day Four — Vote MR. Western

Omid Salari busts out 'the gracious.'

Yesterday’s blog was light on linkage and heavy on poorly-formed opinion so I’ll start you off with a link right off the top.

Blog the Vote was featured on Macleans.ca yesterday by parliamentary reporter Aaron Wherry. This is a pretty big deal for us humble insomniacs who put out Canada’s only daily student newspaper. It’s rare that we get praise from anyone — even on campus — let alone a parliamentary reporter so that was pretty cool. Certainly since we’ve hit MacClean’s on just day three of the campaign, we should be on CNN sometime next week.

Anyway, on with the show. It’s a special trenta sized Friday edition of Blog the Vote. On a quick programming note: We’ll likely do something in this space Saturday morning but maybe take Sunday off before getting back at it next week. Maybe.

The big news

Friday is going to be fun.

I have it on good authority that Omid Salari will in fact be launching his campaign on Friday, with website, UC Hill sign, twitter presence et al.

In fact, by the time you read this, the University Students’ Council speaker’s website and twitter account will likely be live.

He’s been gearing up for this day for some time and I think everyone has fairly high expectations considering his testiness in debates and his pledge to start his campaign “whenever I damn well please.” I still think he’s hurt his campaign by not being active for the first three days of this two-week exercise. It’s kind of like showing up 20 minutes late to a job interview. It’s always more impressive when you’re there on time and ready to rock and roll.

But let’s see what Salari has up his sleeve before we pass too much judgment. What are we in store for? Well, probably a lot of bluntness and not your typical campaign materials. The website will surely be an entertaining read if only for a glimpse into Salari’s wildly entertaining stream of consciousness. And I’ve been told that he will have a series of videos, taking both serious and humorous approaches. Forgione’s catchy campaign video is tough to top, but a fresh approach to the typically tiresome USC campaign video from Salari could get some folks talking.

Will his campaign be earth shattering? Will it fail to live up to the hype and underwhelm the masses? The answer probably lies somewhere in between.

Oh yeah — and there could be an airborne campaign sign above UC Hill. No big deal.

Hashtag madness

Twitter tells me lots of stuff I don’t particularly need to know, such as the fact more #Forgibombsarecoming (You’re welcome for that one by the way). I don’t know what this means but Forgione’s legion of followers was slowly mobilizing on Twitter Thursday night. Who knows what they have up their sleeves but it is likely coming on Friday. I would hazard a guess that it will be a video of some sort but that’s purely speculation.

I told you Friday would be fun

If only people spoke this nicely about the Gazette…

This arrived in my inbox anonymously on Thursday. Considering how hashtag excited Chief Returning Officer Adam Smith was to be on the cover of the Gazette yesterday, this should have him pleased as punch.

By the way, I agree with just about everything said here. Smith has been on the ball at debates and while I think some of the new rules this year are too harsh, I have to give him credit for sticking to them without fail. And it has clearly had an effect on the candidates — four days in and no demerit meetings yet. (that we know of) For the sake of fairness, this e-mail was not edited. So don’t be a wise ass and point out the spelling mistakes in the comments section.

“In all of these election times, it’s easy to forget who the real heroes are. Sure the Presidential Candidates are busy building their teams, pandering for votes and spamming students inboxes with facebook messages and sweet tweets. But it’s the people who are emailing them that should be commended.

Adam Smith, CRO and his elections committee meet frequently to make sure that the candidates are staying in line, and that all of their needs are met. Nicole Fassina, Communications Officer, has really come into her own as a liaison between the candidates, the students and the administration. The All-Candidates meeting that I attended was well-organized, a full information package was sent out to all candidates- telling them clearly what they can and cannot do, and the level of support has been un-president-ed.

Not to mention the Website. For the first time ever, there is a solid web presence from Elections Committee with links to all the websites and pictures of the candidates. It’s beautiful, well-organized, and well-implented. If the President’s really want to make a difference, they need only to look at Elections Committee.

If you see Adam or Nicole, or know anyone on Elections Committee, please thank them for making things so easy on all the Candidates, and for facilitating what is easily the most haphazard, childish, difficult, unorganized event on campus.

From the bottom of my heart, thanks.

yours truly,

Parden Swelling.”

Odd and Ends

• So, I was summoned to the Gazette’s front office Thursday around noon. That’s where Gazette editor-in-chief Stuart Thompson and deputy editor Meagan Kashty sit in the big chairs. Normally we’d have this pow wow a bit earlier in the day (likely week) but Wednesday was a Rick night, so noon it was. They asked me if I had any ideas for a front page feature for Friday’s paper that we could pull off in an afternoon. I said, “Well, I have this crazy idea…” And then this happened.
• By the way, if you can’t get enough of MR. Western, be sure to check out the exclusive online photo gallery of his campaign shots. Tell me you wouldn’t vote for that guy and his campaign-branded beach ball.
• Hat tip to my man Pat Searle for this one. Now you can make your own Andrew Forgione campaign song with this cool website that lets you customize Duck Sauce’s “Barbra Streisand.” This song was kind of made for student union campaign videos, no? Literally any phrase works — it’s ridiculous.
• More from Pat Searle, who was resoundingly praised at Wednesday evening’s council debate for his ability to think logically and string together a pair of coherent sentences. He and his friends with the Student Legacy Challenge string together a rather long, yet important sentence in this video plugging the USC’s Leave our Mark effort. Don’t be fooled, it’s actually not a purple store advertisement.
• The campaign videos trend has trickled down to even the faculty races as Jen Ye Won Kim and her team have produced this uncomfortably touchy effort in support of her run for Social Science President. Her competitor, Ashley McGuire, is currently producing her video which she hopes to drop soon. But she does have a pretty slick website which she claims is her first attempt at ever making one.
• Shannon Elliot, running for Health Sciences president, also has a dizzying, shaky campaign video that looks like it was shot on a roller coaster and nearly made me lose my lunch. Props to Elliott for busting out a tumblr account though. I’m not sold on councilors and faculty presidents needing websites and elaborate, wide-reaching campaigns like some of the presidential candidates employ.  But a tumblr page or similar blog is a good way to stay relevant and welcoming.
• I’ll end with a stray thought that really doesn’t deserve to be elaborated into a full section on this blog. When did the USC become a junior high school? Omid Salari just wants the USC to be cool. Andrew Forgione says students are intimidated by adults. David Basu Roy is ostracized and picked on by the USC cool kids. I swear I saw this episode on Degrassi…

Daft Punk – Tron Soundtrack

TRON: Legacy Soundtrack

Daft Punk

Walt Disney Records

2/5 Stars

French DJ duo Daft Punk, an 85-piece orchestra, and the groundbreaking cinematic experience of TRON should have been a match made in heaven.

For over 10 years, Daft Punk’s synth-based, fist-pumping music and live shows have conjured images of robots, flying cars and neon clothes, all of which are featured prominently in the latest 3D thriller, TRON: Legacy. Two years ago, the DJ duo was given the task of creating the film’s soundtrack.

But if you’re looking for Daft Punk to shine and show their creativity in this album, you will be left frustrated.

On tracks such as “Rinzer” and “Fall,” the duo gets infuriatingly close to moments of greatness but fail to reach their potential — it’s as if they know where they’re trying to go, but their goal is just out of reach.

Fans who might be curious to hear the soundtrack are better to use their money to see the movie rather than buy the album.

— Tim Spratt

APK Live hosts charity concert

A musical evening featuring local bands Wild Domestic, Say Domino, Olenka Krakus and Alanna Gurr will take place Saturday at APK Live in support of the Children Housed Education Team Inspiration in Tanzania. The event aims to improve the lives of the students.

Sarah McNiven, a Western student who worked at these schools in Tanzania for two months, explains how the money raised will benefit the CHETI schools.

“It’s entering rainy season so the kids are working in a very mucky room,” McNiven explains. “This [money] will go towards roofing. Anything extra will go to building bathrooms and anything extra from that will go towards books and pencils.”

All the proceeds from the door sales will be donated, as well as 15 per cent of food sales. An artist compilation album will also be sold for $5 with all those proceeds also going towards the charity.

“In the last two years, having all the volunteers has made a world of difference. We’ve expanded quickly in the last few years mostly through volunteers because you can’t raise money quickly in Tanzania,” McNiven says. “It’s not a huge charity, it’s a non-profit organization. The word isn’t really out there — the only people who really know about it are friends and family.”

The Charity Show for CHETI is a 19+ and cover is $5. Doors open at 8 p.m. APK Live is located at 340 Wellington St.

— Brent Holmes

Down With Webster parties hard on stage

In true Down With Webster fashion, the group’s seven members celebrated their show at the London Music Hall on Tuesday night with multiple tequila shots onstage.

It’s been a good week for the Toronto-based band. Juno nominations were announced Tuesday morning and the band was nominated in two categories: “Best Pop Album” and “Best Group.”

The “Best Pop Album” Juno nod, given to their debut effort Time to Win, Vol. 1, is a symbol of the transition the band has undergone over the past year. After extensive media coverage and video play on MuchMusic, their fan base has expanded rapidly to incorporate a new and younger cohort of admirers.

The band successfully transitioned from word-of-mouth promotion to official sponsorship, which can sometimes work to a musical act’s detriment. Tuesday night’s show, however, demonstrated the same raucous style and high level of energy that have gained them notoriety among concert-goers over their decade-long history together.

Toronto band The Midway State opened the show and were given an enthusiastic reception by the crowd and played several songs from their debut album Holes.

Down With Webster’s own set list paid homage to what has now become rare material from their first independently-produced album, as well as new songs they have been posted periodically on their website. Well-known singles such as “Rich Girl” and “Woe is Me” also made their customary appearances.

Crowd participation has always been a major part of the band’s live show and Tuesday’s concert was no different. The band invited fans to join them onstage and perform the lyrics of one of their older songs “Ten” with varying degrees of success.

Despite the changes that have accompanied the awards nominations, television appearances and regular airplay, Down With Webster’s live efforts have remained essentially the same. The onstage party they appear to be having at their concerts shows no signs of stopping yet.

Murder in Huntsville in No Traveler Returns

No Traveler Returns, written by Maureen Jennings the acclaimed author of the book series Murdoch Mysteries, is currently playing at the Arts Project.

The story takes place in 1895 at a HuntsvilleiInn when Detective William Murdoch is present for a murder while undercover. Murdoch tries to solve the mystery, despite it being unlike any case he’s taken before.

The play was discovered by a secretary at Out of Sight Productions — the company producing the show. The secretary stumbled upon the script and convinced author Maureen Jennings to let the production company produce the play. Jennings arranged the script herself to include Detective Murdoch.

“[The cast and crew] are thrilled that this writer would want to work with [their] group and help [them] along,” Kelly MacDonald, Out of Sight’s company director, says. “It was quite an honour for us.”

Out of Sight is unique in that the actors are both blind and sighted. Although there are some challenges that come with having visually impaired actors, MacDonald says the audience will be unable to tell who’s sighted and who’s not.

“It’s not like you’ll know the blind people when they stumble over the carpet. The set becomes our home [and] we know where everything is, ” MacDonald says. “Out of Sight puts more time into a show, just based on the fundamentals, before [we] even get into the acting.

MacDonald stars in the show on top of producing. He plays Ben Ryan, the character who is murdered. Although MacDonald enjoys playing rougher characters and aspires to play a mobster one day, the character is anything but a tough guy. MacDonald has been anxiously developing Ryan to ensure the performance is believable, as well as memorable.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” MacDonald says. “There’s magic, interesting characters, funny characters and ones you can empathize with.”

Out of Sight is celebrating their fifth anniversary and first full-length show.

For people who are Detective Murdoch or murder mystery fans the show is sure to be an exciting thriller. For anyone who is interested in meeting Maureen Jennings, she will be present at the opening night production and is also planning on giving talk on the creation of Murdoch Mysteries before the Feb. 5 show.

No Traveler Returns run until Feb. 12.  Tickets are $15 and can be purchased by calling The Arts Project 519-642-2767. For more information on show times or Out of Sight Productions go to oosproductions.com. The Arts Project is located at 203 Dundas St.

Pow, right to the kisser: MMA debuts in London

There will be blood. That’s the expectation this May when London’s first mixed martial arts fight makes its way to the John Labatt Centre.

The event is planned for May 19 at the JLC, bringing with it a separate battle entirely — one between concerned officials and fans of the controversial sport.

“I’m unhappy because it’s another vehicle by which violence is condoned,” Graham Pollett, medical officer of health for the Middlesex-London Health Unit, explained. He noted studies have been released showing repeated exposure to violence causes individuals to show violent behaviour.

“Mixed martial arts has been described as both vulgar and savage and I couldn’t agree more.”

However, organizers of the event aren’t concerned.

“You’re going to get negatives and people who don’t support the sport,” Brad Jones, president of the Jones Entertainment Group, explained. The group is responsible for the London event along with two other events in Ontario.

Jones noted this would be the first MMA event in London and they were expecting about 5,000 attendees. The group has been planning the event since last August when MMA’s arrival was announced in Ontario. The Ontario Athletic Commission spent the next several months creating rules for the sport in Ontario.

Richard Hustwick, senior media advisor and stakeholder liaison for the OAC, noted the first event in the province would be in the next couple of weeks. “This will be the beginning of this history.”

While this is a first for London, Jones said they’re interested in MMA becoming an annual event for the Forest City.

“This is going to come to Ontario whether we like it or not, why not start in London?” Jones explained. “I’m not concerned about [backlash] because the sport has been around for so long.”

John Winston, general manager of Tourism London, predicted the event would bring a “tremendous following and tremendous attendance.” He noted Tourism London would promote the event on its website, despite concerns over violence.

“Who are we to determine what we should put into the facility or not into the facility?” Winston said. “We’ll post WWE events and there’s people who don’t like them.”

Winston also noted there would be many economic benefits to the city with the coming of an MMA event.

The province has also legislated five percent of each events ticket sales are paid to them. “The money from the gate fee is used to help regulate the sport.” Hustwick explained.

MMA was legalized in the province because of the money it would yield for communities, Pollett explained. However, he felt cities would have to spend more money than they would gain to offer the events.

But his biggest concern with the sport is the cultural effects of celebrating violence. He noted London had opened a second women’s shelter and has a strained children’s aid program because of violence in communities.

“People are not making the connection,” Pollet explained. “Violence is a learned behaviour.”

He also explained children and other individuals learned fighting from many different sources, such as video games and even hockey fights.

“All this has a cumulative effect, and it’s a negative one,” Pollet explained.

MMA fights are staged under the rules set by the Ontario Athletic Commission, who already oversee martial arts fighting in the province. The athletics commissioner approves all planned fights and Hustwick said fights would be rejected if they were clearly mismatched.

“We are imposing the same regulations for mixed martial arts as boxing and kickboxing in the province,” he said.

He noted fighters from within the province were licensed annually, in a process that included medical checks. Before each fight, fighters weigh in and have a physical.

“Any of the officials can stop [the fight] if it is clear the fighter is getting hurt.”

But for people who still find the sport disturbing, Jones noted another solution.

“Don’t come, it’s as simple as that. We’re not going to force you to buy a ticket.”

Pacifika offers global sound

What do you get when you bring together a Canadian guitarist, a Barbados-raised drummer and a Peruvian-born singer? You get Pacifika — a self-proclaimed global pop band based out of Vancouver.

Their latest album Supermagique, released in August 2010 combines Latin rhythms and high-energy lyrics sung in English, Spanish and French, and was just nominated for a Juno for World Music Album of the Year. The Gazette caught up with lead singer/songwriter Silvana Kane to find out more about the global pop trio, who will be hitting up London’s Aeolian Hall tomorrow.

Your latest album Supermagique has done extremely well on the indie scene. How has your music evolved since you first began playing together as a band?

I guess as our relationship deepens, so does the music. We change with the changes and so our music is just shifting the way that we do but it still maintains the same mix. We all bring something different to the table.

And what would you say you each bring?

We all have different musical backgrounds and different cultural backgrounds – we all grew up in different parts of the world. We all bring our different influences and our different interests. It depends on the type of song that it is, but each of us brings a different thing.

For example, I bring the melody, lyrics and arrangements, Toby brings in drum beats and base lines and Adam covers guitar and different instruments – he’s a really great engineer.

You describe your music as “global pop.” What does that mean and why did you choose to use that term to categorize your music?

Well, usually people need to categorize pretty much anything and “global pop” is something that suits us. We play music in different languages and we do have different feelings and vibes on the record and so it’s kind of a world sound, [but] it’s not really a traditional world sound. [Our music] does have some pop feel to it melodically speaking so it did feel like it was a good term.

What influences your music?

Well, I grew up in South America — at least my childhood was in Peru — so for me, a lot of traditional South American music and folklore music has influenced my musical style. Speaking for the guys, Adam grew up with interesting new wave music and Toby grew up with dub and reggae. Mostly what we all really dig is music with a really great tone.

Pacifika will be playing in London for the final stop on your Quebec/Ontario tour. What can concert-goers expect to see at your performance?

They can expect to have fun with us. It’s a very fun, energetic, deep show from beginning to end. We all really like each other and that probably comes off on stage. We’re just interested in having a good time and contributing to positive vibes in this world so it’ll be a nice evening — a positive evening. For us it’s like an exchange between the people that are there to listen and us on stage so we try to have a nice exchange with the public. We just let the night take its own course.

What can we expect to see from Pacifika in the future?

Well we’re just about to release Supermagique in the UK, France and Germany, so this is the year that we’re hoping to take Pacifika to a more international scale. We’re going to be travelling overseas as well so that’s in the immediate future. In the long term, we would just love to be able to continue to be creative and to be able to make this our lives’ work. It’s a big deal, it’s a big honour, and we just hope to be able to keep on going.

Hobbled Mustangs edge past Badgers

Corey Stanford/Gazette

It may have been the sloppiest game the Mustangs played all season.

But a win is a win and in the uber-tight Ontario University Athletics west division where two points separate the fourth seed from the eighth, victories have never been more important.

That’s why Western Mustangs head coach Brad Campbell couldn’t complain after watching his team edge past the Brock Badgers 70-69 Thursday night at Alumni Hall in London.

No matter how lethargic they played.

“Right now, winning is absolutely essential for us,” Campbell said. “We’re trying to make the playoffs and whoever we can beat on any given day, no matter what the score is, is huge for us.”

The win gave Western 16 points and allowed them to creep into a three-way tie for fourth place with Brock and McMaster. Guelph and Waterloo, however, are both just a game behind with 14 points apiece.

The Mustangs have a chance to earn some separation in the coming weeks though, with their next three games coming against Guelph, McMaster and Waterloo.

“We’re going to have to grind out these next few games,” Andrew Wedemire, who led the Mustangs with 22 points, said. “It’s going to be tough on all of us because we’re battling through a lot of injuries right now.”

What’s scary is Wedemire may have been making an understatement.

With Garret Olexiuk already out of the lineup, the Mustangs lost another forward in Adam Jespersen who missed Thursday’s game and will sit out Saturday as well.

The 6’8 Jesperson, averaging 9.5 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, has been playing with a broken thumb and injured wrist for much of the season. But his wrist injury worsened after Western’s win over Laurier last week and depending on the result of an upcoming CT scan, he could be lost for the season.

“We’re holding our breath, but it’s likely he could miss the rest of the year,” Campbell admitted after Wednesday’s game. “We just have to wait and see what his status is.”

For Wedemire, already the team’s leading rebounder with 7.1 per game and playing through an injured ankle himself, it will mean even more work under the basket.

The team is now down to just three bigs: Wedemire, Greg Edelsward and rookie Peter Scholtes.

“Yeah, I feel some more pressure now, especially as a big,” Wedemire said. “We have to rotate a lot of guards to try and guard bigger guys and that could be a disadvantage against teams coming up.”

Rebounding was certainly a disadvantage again Thursday night as the Mustangs allowed Brock to grab 13 offensive boards, an area that has plagued the Mustangs all season.

Unfortunately for Brock, they don’t award points for rebounds and a strong second half that saw the Mustangs shoot 46 per cent from the field while limiting Brock to just 38 per cent allowed Western to hang on for the win.

Fourth-year point guard Ryan Barbeau was especially solid in the second half, scoring 13 points and getting to the free throw line five times.

He even had a chance to force the Badgers into a tough spot by extending the lead to three with two free throws in the dying seconds. But he missed both, setting off a mad scramble for the rebound which ended up running out the clock.

“Brock exposed some things we struggle with,” Campbell said. “But I wouldn’t say we got away with one. […] We deserved to win that game. “

To his credit, Badgers head coach Brad Rootes agreed.

“We played awful the whole game,” Rootes said bluntly after watching his team struggle to shoot from all over the floor with 33 per cent rates from both the field and beyond the arc.

“We didn’t play with a purpose or a passion tonight. We didn’t deserve to win the game. [Western] wanted it far more than we did and they outworked us.”

Veteran point guard Mike Cruickshank led the Badgers with 23 points, while Andrew Ferguson and Andrew Kraus chipped in 13 apiece. The rest of the Badgers team, however, managed just 20 points total.

“I’m not sure if we saw that they were undermanned or took them lightly because we beat them at home,” Rootes said. “[Western] was picked as one of the teams to win the conference for a reason this year. They’re a good team.”

Western wrestling builds on a solid year

The wrestling room at Alumni Hall holds a special place in Mustangs lore. It’s part of a long tradition of triumph and tragedy and the tiny margin that separates the two. Grunts of pain and shouts of success are as much a part of the furniture as the brightly-coloured mats that line the floor.

This past Saturday, the men and women of Western Wrestling carried that tradition with them into Alumni Hall at the Western Open invitational wrestling meet.
And in the end, the Western grapplers put on a solid, if not inspiring, performance. The men’s side picked up three medals: a second place finish for Jordan Swail (61kg) and two bronze medals for brothers Scott (82kg) and Shawn (90kg) Wheatley. The men finished third in overall points, tying with the University of Calgary and finishing behind McMaster and Guelph.

Liz Sera (55kg) and Olivia Gunnell (59kg) both took home bronze medals for the women’s team, who just missed the top three teams in overall standings.

For Western coach Scott Proctor, Saturday’s meet was a mixed bag.

“Overall, I think we performed up to expectations. I think we had some good wins, some surprising results, and some solid performances,” Proctor said when asked about the team’s results.

“Of course, I don’t think we performed as well as we could have.  Also when you consider that almost half the team was away, I think we did well.”

Western was missing some its most promising recruits as a result of the Ontario Junior Team Challenge being held the same day in Hamilton.  Some of these athletes included recruits like Steven Takahashi and Ilya Abelev.

Forced to work without a full roster, Proctor still sees a big upside in the results of the meet.

“The most important thing as far as this tournament was concerned is that the wrestlers that were here got in lots of matches. We know some things we have to work on now, so we’ll be more prepared next time. When we field the full team for the [Ontario University Championships] in two weeks we’ll definitely have a stronger team.”

Proctor was influential in organizing this year’s meet while being a constant presence for Western down on the mats. His patience was rewarded with strong performances from UWO wrestlers in several weight categories.

“Our weight class was small, but there were a lot of really good wrestlers in it,” said Jordan Swail, who won a silver medal in the 61kg class. “I think our men’s team as a whole has stepped it up this year, and I think we were competitive at every weight today.”

The Wheatley brothers, who reached the podium in both their respective weight classes, turned in a pair of strong performances. For brother Shawn, success or failure was a matter of inches.

“I would have made it to the finals,” Wheatley explained, “except I went for a throw that wasn’t there, and I lost the position, and that was it.”

“I think my performance overall was not bad. Third place means not bad, right?” Wheatley laughs. “When it comes time for the [Ontario University Championships] we’ll be ready.”

On the women’s side, Liz Sera gave a good performance in making the podium in her highly competitive weight class. She echoed the hopeful sentiments of her teammates for success at the OUA championships in two weeks.

“It was a great tournament as far as depth [of female wrestlers],” Sera remarked. “And if you add in some of the people we were missing today, I think we have a strong team. We came second last year overall and I think we could match that or do better this year.”

So it’s cautious optimism as far as Western wrestling is concerned. It should be noted that the  juniors captured the Ontario Junior Championships this past Saturday with a dominant performance that saw six top-six finishes overall and four visits to the podium, with two resulting in gold. Western looks to improve on their  performance in two weeks when they will travel to Lakehead University to compete in the Ontario University Championships.

MR Western

He knows what the people want!

He's concerned about your issues and wants to hear the student voice!

He cares about the environment!

MR. Western is slam dunk for USC president!

He's looking for your vote!

He really loves the Mustangs! Go Western!

Progress is possible with MR Western!

Vote Matt Ryan - MR Western.

Photography by Corey Stanford, Nyssa Kuwahara and Sophia Lemon

inShape: Skip and Sculpt

For a fun full body workout, try Skip and Sculpt at the Western Student Recreation Centre. Skipping gets the heart pumping, and it’s also a fun activity that improves balance and posture while toning arm and leg muscles. Campus Recreation instructor Tori Daly sat down with the Gazette before Tuesday’s class to talk about Skip and Sculpt and its benefits.

What does Skip and Sculpt involve?
It’s an interval class with five minutes of skipping drills followed by five minutes of muscle work. The skipping drills are very high intensity, but easy to follow.

What parts of the body does this class involve?
It’s a total body workout. The cardio component of the class elevates your heart rate and the muscle work strengthens most of the major muscle groups, finishing with abs.

Who should avoid taking this class?
Someone who isn’t willing to work and have a positive attitude. I would say anyone coming to this class with an open mind would enjoy themselves. Each move can be modified to your own comfort and ability level, and all the skipping drills can be done without the rope — so don’t let that scare you.

What would you say to someone who is hesitant to try the class?
I would remind them of how much fun skipping games were as a child and have them remember those careless fun memories.

What should someone wear to Skip and Sculpt?
Come prepared to sweat, so I would suggest light clothing. T-shirt and shorts that are not too baggy would be ideal because of all the bouncing around.

How did you get involved in fitness/teaching?
I used to be a gymnast when I was younger and once I stopped doing that I started going to aerobics classes with my mom. I’ve been hooked ever since because they make me feel great and they are so much fun.

What classes do you teach at Campus Rec?
My favourite class to teach every week is Skip and Sculpt. I also enjoy filling in for other instructors for Lunch Flex and Sleek and Strong classes.

Skip and Sculpt is offered Tuesdays from 10:05 a.m. to 10:55 a.m., Wednesdays 2:05 p.m. to 2:55 p.m., Thursdays 11:05 a.m. to 11:55 a.m. and 1:05 p.m. to 1:55 p.m., and Saturday 3:35 p.m. to 4:25 p.m.

Day Three — A little counselling

Ugh.

So it was a Rick night last night. Let’s all just keep that in mind as we peruse the certainly mistake-laden array I have for you to read this morning.

Snow-meh-geddon

The weather was a bit of an issue for the candidate on Wednesday, with the wind and snow wiping out Andrew Forgione’s UC Hill sign. It was down for most of the day but was resurrected in the afternoon.  Andrew Basu Roy’s sign had a bit more structural integrity, withstanding the storm and living to stand there idly another day. HIs wood-based sign is a bit sturdier and weighed down with sandbags. Basu Roy’s King’s sign, however, fell victim to the storm.

It really says something about Wednesday’s proceedings that this is one of the more interesting things I have to write about this morning.

Omid or omit?

Had a chance to chat with the mystery man Omid Salari Wednesday afternoon. He’s doing just fine and he thanks you for asking. When is his campaign going to kick off, you ask?

“I’ll launch my campaign whenever I damn well please.”

Well then — there you have it.

Hard to deny, Salari has kind of made himself into a talking point by virtue of his absence. It isn’t helping him reach out to voters who aren’t familiar with the candidates, but within those select few who are informed, Salari is a popular topic. There’s much anticipation for what his campaign will include and to his credit Salari says the anticipation is warranted.

An advantage to waiting this long is that now Salari will get to dictate his own pace. What may have hurt Basu Roy is that his campaign was instantly compared to Forgione’s since they both launched on the same day. Forgione has been meticulously planning his campaign for months. It would have been extraordinarily tough for a candidate to compare to what he’s done with campus presence, branding and especially social media. But whenever Salari decides to grace us with his campaign, he will have the advantage of letting his introduction to the race stand alone.

He wants to blow the lid off this thing and maybe he will. Until he decides to make a move, we’ll just have to wait.

Trail mix

It was a relatively quiet day of campaigning Wednesday, with the candidates fairly spread out across campus. The three came together for a debate before the Ivey council and all three made an appearance at the Black Students Association’s Black History Month ceremonies in the UCC. But otherwise they were fairly dispersed, likely boning up on their USC policy ahead of Wednesday’s night’s council debate. Oh yeah, speaking of that…

The council debate

So that happened.

As a candidate, you can go to the Ivey council or the science council and cruise through a debate. But when you’re going in front of the USC, you know there’s dozens of people in that room out for blood.

Certainly some candidates deal with it better than others. And even more certainly, none of us who were sitting in the crowd would have liked to be sitting where those three were perched for nearly three hours. Surely it’s one of the tougher tasks of this process.

But this trio knew what they were signing up for.

Forgione was polished as usual. He didn’t make any glaring mistakes but he also didn’t take any risks or leave a serious mark. We know that will be what defines him in this race — stay the course and don’t sway too far to any side. Just walk the line. It’s a campaign-to-win race and Forgione knows that. Until one of the other candidates makes some noise, Forgione is pretty safe staying the course.

Basu Roy was definitely grilled harder than the other two, which he must have expected considering his outsider status. Despite representing every single undergraduate student at Western, the USC is an incredibly insular arena. If you don’t walk like them, talk like them and BBM gossip like them, you’re going to end up ostracized. That’s Basu Roy’s reality at the moment and until he can bring some undeniable proof of his platform’s feasibility to the table, his campaign will continue to be constantly challenged.

And that Salari kid didn’t really make much of a mark.

…

Oh wait, was he the guy repeatedly swearing, lofting backhanded criticisms toward his colleagues and challenging members of council to ask him about particular aspects of his candidacy? Well that was something, wasn’t it?

It’s undeniable that Salari is truly in his element when he’s speaking in front of a crowd. He can’t help but let his personality shine through and while it certainly must alienate a large segment of the audience, there must be a good number of folks who appreciate his honest, aggressive and, at times, crude assessment of the USC.

The thing about Salari is he has two sides to his rhetoric. There’s good Salari — which comes out when he’s undeniably passionate about an issue and gives a blunt, no-nonsense assessment of the topic. But there’s also bad Salari who throws in a ‘sucka’ or ‘wuddup’ at the end of his statements and punctuates everything with an Eminem-inspired hand gesture.

Obviously everyone has their good and bad side and maybe Salari is the kind of guy who just can’t help but be himself. But it’s undeniable that the best answers he gives come from good Salari.

This is politics, after all. Who has ever won an election by being completely genuine?