John Locke. Immanuel Kant. Plato.

But when it comes time to describe life in law school, he turns to a more modern philosopher.

“My goal was to spin law school life in a different light and show people that, man, it’s a hustle here too,” Lickver said, taking the words right out of rap star Rick Ross’ mouth. “Whatever your hustle is, our hustle is law school and we grind it out every day.”

Well, certainly Locke and Plato wouldn’t approve of that description of their favourite topic but these days you have to relate to the kids.

And that’s exactly what Lickver was going for when he and some of his closest buddies set out to create the music video about life in law school that would quickly become an overnight YouTube hit.

“Law School Husslin’” — the product of a weekend of filming in and around Western — boasts over 10,000 views

on YouTube and has been featured in Precedent Magazine, the National Post and on the front page of the London Free Press.

Not bad for something nobody was supposed to see.

“No one believes me, but at the time I actually did not know that anybody was going to see this. It’s one of those things that you make for your buddies to laugh at and then it just spins out of control and somehow ends up being watched by like 10,000 people,” Lickver said.

Lickver — in his third year of the combined law and MBA program at Ivey — produced the video for the annual Western Law talent show, held every year in February to benefit the London Hospice.

Inspired by other faculty themed videos he had seen on YouTube, Lickver set out to create what he hoped would be the greatest law school video Western had ever seen.

“I saw these videos out there and I knew I could make a better one. I knew I could take it to the next level,” Lickver said. “When I do things, I don’t like to do them half-assed.”

Using his networks from both Toronto and London to leverage connections, Lickver secured time in a professional recording studio, a top of the line $15,000 camera, professional lights and even a green screen.

“That’s why people see the difference between some other videos that just get thrown on YouTube. We had professional equipment,” Lickver said. “I told the film company I was a student and it was for charity and because of that they gave me an amazing rate on everything.”

When it comes to whether or not Lickver has achieved his goal of producing the best law school video of all time — well, the jury’s still out.

But the reaction, according to the Richmond Hill native, has been overwhelmingly positive, including an unexpected e-mail from Dr. Ian Holloway, Western’s Dean of Law.

“That was the best one for me — he e-mailed me and said he was ‘gob smacked.’ I literally had to look up that word,” Lickver said. “It wasn’t just the dean too. It was the entire faculty. They all loved it.”

Of course, once Lickver’s Ivey friends caught wind of the video, they had to have one too. After weeks of pestering, the 26-year-old was convinced to get back behind the camera for the Drake-inspired “MBA Forever.”

Many of the characters from “Law School Husslin’” make return appearances and the auto tune on the chorus — “I don’t plan on stoppin’ at all, I’m an MBA forever, man” —is pitch perfect to Drake’s multi-platinum original.

“I actually recorded it at a studio that has worked with Drake a bunch of times. That’s how we got the sound quality,” Lickver said. “I started at the bottom. I made the song and then the video just fell into place.

“MBA Forever” has been even more successful than “Law School Husslin,’” garnering just shy of 14,000 YouTube views. But when you talk to Lickver, it’s clear that “Law School Husslin’” is really his baby.

That’s why come February — just in time for this year’s Western Law talent show — Lickver plans to drop his third single, a sequel to “Law School Husslin’” where we’ll learn the verdict of the trafficking case from the original.

“For the next video, I’m thinking about doing it on a much larger scale. I want to get corporate sponsors. I really want to outdo myself,” Lickver said.

Of course, if you’re Mike Lickver you can’t stop there. You’ve produced two of the best faculty videos Western’s campus has ever seen and your services are in high demand.

“I’m being pushed to do a med school video,” Lickver said with a laugh. “I don’t mind taking on the campus title of professional video consultant. If any other faculties out there want to make a video, they know who to come see.”

But coming into the 2010 OUA football season, one thing is clear — this year’s competition is truly a crapshoot. Five of the ten…. errr nine teams have a legitimate shot at advancing to the Yates Cup, which is why the myriad of preseason rankings that currently litter the internet are kind of incredibly pointless.

So in lieu of irrelevant rankings based on silly things like talent, coaching or personnel, I’ve accumulated rankings based on optimism — ordered from those with the highest aspirations going into the season to the teams wallowing in despair.

As Larry Dobrow — whose awesome weekly MLB  power rankings and MLB optimism index are the inspiration for this experiment — put it, “think of it as a power rankings for your feelings.”

So here it is — your first ever OUA optimism rankings, along with selected notes and an optimism measure which I assure you is entirely arbitrary and based on absolutely nothing.

Photo by Jeff Chan

All photos courtesy of the incomparable Jeff Chan.

Ottawa Gee Gee’s — 96.4 — Aggressively confident

• The Gee Gee’s are singlehandedly keeping Ottawa bus drivers in business with their annually atrocious travel schedule. They get a bit of a break by drawing a date in Kingston and a bit of a kick in the teeth by opening their season in Windsor. It’s only 800 km…
• Of course, maybe that’s not such a bad thing. The Gee Gee’s went 4-0 on the road in 2009 but just 2-3 at home including their 27-15 playoff loss to McMaster.
• Tough to pinpoint why, but the Gee Gee’s have under-performed the last few years. Will rookie head coach Jean-Philippe Asselin — who, at 27-years-old, could probably play on this team — help shake them out of their funk?
• QB Brad Sinopoli is suddenly the most experienced pivot in the league after the three musketeers (Faulds, Brannagan, Dunk) moved on. He had a quietly impressive season — 11 touchdowns, 2084 yards — in 2009
• The team will field a starting lineup made up almost entirely of fifth year players — I guess they just like education that much…
• I’d love to make more fun of the Gee Gee’s here, but I’m struggling — this team actually looks really good.

Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks  — 90.2 — Firmly undaunted

Dillon Heap and head coach Gary Jeffries. Photo by Jeff Chan.

• This could be trouble. Taurean Allen is off to the CFL, Chime Ihekwoaba is gone to the NFL and Courtney Stephen is lost to the NCAA. Suddenly one of the scariest defences in the league doesn’t look so frightening.
• What they do have is a nifty training camp video featuring the Remember the Titans — “Are you sure football is fun!?!?!?” —  ‘run up and down the stadium stairs workout.
• Dillon Heap returns with his Tasmanian devil routine on kick returns. He’s easily the most exciting returner in the OUA.
• Meanwhile, University of Waterloo deserter Dustin Zender crosses University Ave. to join the Golden Hawks receiving corps and take some of the weightoff the shoulders ofHeap and Shamawd Chambers .
• No wonder the quarterback position is such a big question mark for so many OUA teams this year — Laurier is hogging all of them. They have three quarterbacks (incumbent Luke Thompson, last year’s second stringer turned starter Evan Pawliuk and NCAA transfer Shane Kelly) who can easily play well in this league. Someone’s not going to be happy with their playing time in that locker room.
• Not much to see on defence but if your ridiculously loaded offence can score 50+ points a game, what does it really matter?
• Slot back Vince Luciani has easily the best twitter account in the CIS. Never underestimate the value of street cred.
• Running back Mike Montoya and his Jersey Shore arms bench pressed 225 lbs 40 times at the CFL’s evaluation camp last year. Of course those wel-sculpted guns don’t really help when it comes to holding onto the football — he had more fumbles than touchdowns last season. But when you lead the league in rushing I suppose it doesn’t really matter.

McMaster Marauders — 88.7 — Discreetly promising

• There is legitimate reason to be optimistic here. The Marauders kind of resemble the 2009 Queen’s Gaels — a solid core of cohesive veterans who have been playing together for years. Add a division weakened by losing its top three quarterbacks and it could be a perfect storm for a McMaster run in the playoffs this year. Seriously…
• Sometimes it’s easy to forget that CIS football players are also full time students enrolled in anywhere from three to five courses per semester. Apparently Marauders cornerback Cody Lynch forgot about that too — after being named the OUA rookie of the year in 2009 he promptly flunked out of school.
• Marauders kicker Andrew Waugh was 9 for 12 on field goals last year which apparently wasn’t good enough to stop McMaster from recruiting kicking wizard Tyler Crapigna who may just be the next Rob Maver. Nice knowing ya, Andrew.
• Head coach Stefan Ptaszek’s name may be hard to pronounce, but he’s one of the craftier coaches in the OUA and hasn’t had a losing record in the regular season since he took over in 2006.
• The Marauders are probably regretting whatever they have done to scorn the OUA schedule-maker — they play Queen’s, Laurier, Western and Ottawa in their first four games.

Western Mustangs — 85.3 — Cautiously optimistic

Donnie Marshall (7) chats with his father and head coach Greg Marshall, left, and his predecessor Michael Faulds, right. Photo by Jeff Chan.

• Michael Faulds, who carried the team — sometimes on just one leg — for the past five years, is gone — off to York to pursue a career in coaching.
• Who will step up to fill the void? Donnie Marshall, the coach’s son? Ben Rossong, the incoming east coast phenom?  Jack Fairs, the former Mustangs basketball, hockey and tennis athlete who also played both ways for the football team and is currently the Mustangs squash coach? Okay maybe that last one is a stretch. But nevertheless, intrigue!
• Defensive Lineman Mike Van Praet is healthy — well, as healthy as you can be at 300+ pounds — and was recently described as a “dyke” by the London Free Press. Ummm… sure! UWO will just be happy if he can fill the void left by Chris Greaves who now plies his trade for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
• Running back Nathan Riva will be busy. If he can run for 200 yards a game like he did in the playoffs last year then maybe this team has a chance! Look for timeless head coach Greg Marshall — he’s still got it! — to call his own number and take over the running back duties if Riva falters.
• And as I write that Riva tears his hamstring in training camp. Panic! Does anyone have Da’Shawn Thomas’ cell number?
• Lil’ Wayne fan and occasional Gazette model John Surla — the 2009 OUA defensive player of the year — still patrols the secondary at TD Waterhouse, which is bad for opposition running backs but good for trash talk enthusiasts.
• WR Brian Marshall — son of head coach Greg, brother of QB Donnie, nephew of 80’s era FB Blake, not related to former Golden State Warriors small forward Donyell — joins the team as the Marshall brood’s plan to turn the Mustangs into a family business continues to evolve.
• Thanks to the wisenheimers at Waterloo, the Mustangs now open the season with three games in 11 days.
• My office is on the campus of the University of Western Ontario so be my guest and question this, but I think this Mustangs team is being seriously under-rated in pre-season polling.

Queen’s Gaels — 83.1 — Basking in the glow

• The good news is they’re still technically the national champions until November 27. The bad news? They lost the entire core of their team. Minor detail…
• Last season the Gaels’ offensive line was a lot like the mother hen at the bar on Saturday night — nothing was getting through that. But with several new faces this season, things could get rather uncomfortable for the Gaels quarterback…
• Oh yeah, who the hell is going to play quarterback? Justin Chapdelaine would seem to have the inside track, but he’s going to have a steep learning curve. He was sacked three times in the extremely limited action he saw last season. A point of reference? Danny Brannagan — who took 98% of the snaps — was sacked just five times all season…
• Whoever gets the call behind centre will certainly have some targets to throw too. Devan Sheahan, Blaise Morrison and Chris Ioannides will spread defences like butter.
• The defence is Osie Ukwuoma’s unit now, I guess. But when your best defensive player past him is probably sophomore Frank Pankewich, we may have a problem.
• I will say this — Ben D’Andrea, Alex Daprato and Stephen Laporte picked up their games defensively in the 2009 playoffs when it counted. Especially in the Vanier Cup.
• Of course the biggest advantage for the Gaels is Richardson Stadium, the dilapidated grassy abyss… I mean… football field they play on. They haven’t lost a regular season game at home since 2007.

The Gaels offensive line was their mother hen in 2009. Photo by Jeff Chan.

Gryphons — 73.4 — Shaken resolve

• Good news for people who like bad news — the Gryphons lost easily their three best players from 2009 in QB Justin Dunk, K Rob Maver and OL Ryan Bomben.
• Standout running back Nick FitzGibbon is still around but past him things get real iffy on the offensive side of the ball which is traditionally a strength for the Gryphons.
• True story — Dunk is the sports editor for the Guelph student newspaper The Ontarion this year. Objectivity is overrated anyway…
• We are talking about optimism here and, quite frankly, second year QB Chris Rossetti doesn’t inspire confidence in anybody.
• Conventional wisdom says defence wins football games so respect to the Gryphons for thinking outside the box by not fielding one. This is easily still one of the worst defensive units outside of metropolitan Toronto. They allowed an astronomical 490 yards per game last season.
• Another true story — At last year’s homecoming game, the nor’ westerly wind caught the cloud of marijuana smoke that hung over Guelph campus and blew it down onto the sidelines of the Western Mustangs. The Gryphons were almost able to beat their suddenly timid and hungry foes, but Western held on for the 41-39 win. Good try, fellas…
• Incoming Head Coach Stu Lang — who won hearts when he said he would coach the team if they only paid him a dollar — brings two full time coordinators with him who should help over-complicate things for this young Gryphons squad.
• New coaching staff, same atrocious defence, young yet underwhelming offence — this is a team just trying to tread water

University of Toronto Varsity Blues — 60.3 — Gaining courage

• Oh, silly U of T. Investing all of your money into academics and research instead of athletics. Idiots…
• The Blues are actually fairly excited about their backfield this year. Really, no joke. Walter Cariazo — who is deceptively speedy — returns to battle for snaps with University of Toledo — like, the NCAA division one University of Toledo — transfer Chris Weiland and prized recruit Keema Nnawuchi.
• Here’s a reason for optimism: They have the Neate Sager bump. The CIS guru — and unabashed Queen’s supporter — actually picked this team to finish 3-5 and earn the sixth and final OUA playoff spot.
• Here’s a reason to forget about that optimism: the team does not have a defence. They gave up 500 yards per game last season and didn’t make a single significant addition to the unit in the off season.
• Andrew Gillis is back behind centre. Surely he’s familiar with the playbook but it doesn’t really matter when half your snaps just turn into scrambles anyway. If only he had some semblance of an offensive line we could actually see what it’s like when he passes the ball.
• The Varsity Blues are kind of like Entourage — Any given week you might get a good surprise individual performance but as a whole it’s pretty bad.

Windsor Lancers — 42.1 — Secure with own inadequacy

• Wait, these guys still have a team?
• Kinda like how standing next to the pimply kid with the lazy eye in class pictures always made you look better by comparison, not much attention has been paid to the Lancers’ futility in recent years because, well, York and Toronto are just a bit better at being terrible.
• The Lancers made absolutely zero sense in 2009, only managing to beat the putrid York Lions by three points and allowing Waterloo to shut them out 49-0, while at the same time losing to McMaster by just a point and putting up a good fight against Ottawa in the final week of the season. Why don’t things ever just happen the way they’re supposed to in this league?
• Say what you will about the Warriors, they certainly make things interesting. They managed to lose to McMaster in overtime last year when they blocked a field goal and returned it for a touchdown only to have the play negated by a blocking penalty, giving McMaster a single point and the win.
• I really, really want to mention a couple notable incoming players for this season, but it’s just a wasteland of poor recruiting and misused resources.
• Their perceived advantage in American recruitment — Like Brett Favre’s retirement and hangover-free beer — was unfortunately just too good to be true.
• There is a very real possibility that this team could drop below Toronto if they don’t get their act together. And that’s something I never thought I would write.

York Lions — 24.9 Soul-crushing despair

• Optimism? What is this optimism that you speak of?
  

  York quarterback Nickolas Coutu. Photo by Jeff Chan.

• True optimists will tell you that, like Shania Twain in a basement elevator, the Lions can only go up from here. Unless they somehow get worse this year — which is actually a possibility…
• Last season the Lions defensive strategy basically consisted of trying to hold the opposing team to under 50 points — a feat they only accomplished in half their games…
• The last time York won a game? September 29, 2007 when they beat the University of Toronto 21-20 in a barn burner that saw both teams punt for more yards than they collected offensively. We’d all like to pretend that debacle never happened, but until York wins again — don’t hold your breath — it’s a part of history…
• The season should get off on the right foot — the Lions chose to play their only preseason game against perennial Vanier Cup favourites Laval for reasons that can only be explained as masochistic.
• Unless they can figure out how to multiply his DNA and begin farming an army of football players in his mold, it’s doubtful that former Mustangs QB and CIS all-time leading passer Michael Faulds can save this offence as its new coordinator.
• But look on the bright side, not many teams boast offensive coordinators who are better athletes than the majority of the team. So they’ve got that.

Waterloo Warriors — 2.9 — Awkwardly lingering

• Waterloo looks to challenge this year with a good core of returning players plus a talented class of incoming recruits. They’ll have strong contributions from…
• What’s that? They arrested who? And the school did what? For the entire season? Oh… This is awkward….

“We’re very much more a knowledge economy, one that is focused on knowledge based jobs,” Milloy explained, adding 70 per cent of new jobs will require a credential from either a university a college or an apprenticeship. “We’re taking that very seriously.”

John Milloy

The minister explained there have been 200,000 new students accepted across the province — a figure he said is three times that of London’s entire student population. But this increase in enrollment isn’t without some drawbacks; critics have claimed the increase in enrollment has lead to Ontario funding its universities the least per student in the country.

“I really do take issue with ‘the fun with figures’,” Milloy responded. He explained the comparisons between Ontario and smaller provinces weren’t accurate. “I’m sure Western has more students than some provinces have […] I don’t think you can make those comparisons.”

Milloy also explained independent studies have shown the Ontario Student Assistance Program is one of the most generous in the country. “One thing that I’m really excited about and I’m not sure students are aware, is the repayment assistance program.”

Changes to this program included income-based repayment and having outstanding student loans dropped after 15 years. This was done as part of the $1.5 million in changes to OSAP, which were announced in March. Another change was the ability to increase the maximum textbook allowance under OSAP to match the consumer price index.

But Milloy expressed regret at the lack of changes which could be made to the Textbook and Technology Grant. “We had hoped we could increase it over a multiyear basis […] We’re going to have to continue at the $150 level.” He cited the province’s deficit as the rationale for these actions.

The province’s deficit has also been cited as the rationale behind the recent decision to freeze the salaries of public sector workers, excluding university faculty, for two years. However the province has been putting pressure on schools to do the same.

“I think what the government’s has been saying is that everyone needs to be realistic as they move forward,” Milloy explained. He felt confident both parties could reach an agreement.

James Compton, president of the University of Ontario Faculty Association, disagreed, saying the province is trying to persuade faculty associations to agree to a compensation freeze when none currently exists.

Looking forward, Milloy stated he hoped to continue his contacts with student groups because they have encouraged him to make the necessary changes.

“It’s a student business we’re dealing with,” he concluded.

During Orientation Week, the University Students’ Council is the boss. By renting out Western’s campus, they have control over the week’s events. This gives them the ability to decide who gets to promote to frosh and who does not. In recent years, only those who pay sponsorship dues have been allowed to promote themselves during the week, leaving some student groups frustrated.

This year Rogers and the Athletic Club are shelling out big bucks — between $3,000 and $6,000 each — to be a visible part of Western’s O-Week.

The Mustang cheerleaders are one group who are not allowed to recruit frosh during the weeklong event.

“Countless times I’ve heard the USC tell me, ‘You can’t promote [the cheerleaders] like that’,” coach David-Lee Tracey said. “The cheerleaders promote Western spirit. Since when is promoting a bad thing when it’s for Western?”

The USC countered by saying clubs and sports teams including the Mustang cheerleaders and marching band are welcome on campus during O-Week as long as they don’t try to promote themselves. In other words, no recruiting.

“We’re willing to acknowledge that we want them there, we want that Western spirit,” said Mark Wellington, manager of the USC’s Student Life department.

Sponsors are allowed to promote more than Western groups because it’s difficult to offer fairness, according to Justin Mackie, vice-president of student events for the USC.

“We want to make sure that there is equity amongst all of our groups and it would be near impossible to facilitate all campus groups during the week since there are over 200 of them,” he pointed out.

Another reason why sponsors are the only ones allowed to promote during O-Week is to control messages sent to frosh, according to Wellington.

“Many years ago Orientation Week was full of hazing, sexism and homophobic comments. As people became more aware of this the University and the USC decided to take action,” Wellington recalled. “We’ve worked with the USC to get it down, it’s taken almost two decades to get where we are now, providing a consistently welcoming and friendly environment for first years.”

The USC pointed out O-Week staff and sophs are trained to encourage this welcoming message and that all sponsors are reviewed by an advertisement oversight committee to ensure they are appropriate and contained.

But Tracey argued frosh are not as impressionable as the USC believes and the sponsorship system strips frosh of a genuine Western experience.

“Whether it be a protective policy or a sponsors-only thing, it’s as though we aren’t allowed to truly be Western during O-Week,” Tracey commented.

Student groups can still have access to O-Week through advertising, Wellington said. Some groups have purchased small inserts into the O-Week kit in the past.

While the majority of clubs and Western groups don’t make use of this option, Wellington concluded sponsorships — and the rules that come with them — are necessary to provide the kind of O-Week students want and expect.

“In the majority of years, sponsorship has provided the revenues necessary to fund 20 to 40 per cent of O-Week’s programming,” he said. “Without it, it is likely that one or more of the major evening events would be cut.”

This year the USC is introducing Purple Week immediately after O-Week, an initiative kick-starting the promotion of USC groups, projects and operations. The week is quickly followed by Clubs Week, which allows campus clubs to promote themselves in the University Community Centre atrium.

In a parallel story that takes place in the present day, Jordan Scott must return to the isolated Utah community he was thrown out of as a teenager. He’s forced to return home when his mother, the 19th wife of a well-respected man in town, is arrested for murder.

While book is chalk- full of historical merit, Ebershoff succeeds in using a variety of different voices to keep it from reading like a history textbook. He includes diary entries, letters, Wikipedia articles and occasionally the perspective of other characters so that the reader is able to construct a complete picture of the lives of the two individuals.

Despite being confusing at parts (jumping between narratives can prove to be a challenge to follow), and there being little to connect the stories of Ann and Jordan, the novel flows surprisingly well.

Perhaps the most striking part of the book is Ebershoff’s depiction of polygamy – both past and present. His ability to reveal so much about the history of such a taboo subject is alone worth the read.

The beloved Talbot Street bar and music venue has relocated to Wellington after closing in March 2009.

“We had challenges at the old location with respect to the model that we wanted to present to our faithful crowds,” says Marc Gammel, owner of both the new and old venue. “It just made sense to move on, reassess the model, and make a pledge at getting back into the industry.”

The old Alex P. Keaton had a reputation for welcoming local musical talent, embracing many forms of art and, of course, providing loyal patrons with food and drink. There always seemed to be something happening at the APK, and Gammel is happy to be able to continue that tradition, especially by supporting live arts and entertainment in London.

“The opportunity to present local, provincial and national talent is of the utmost importance in the brand as it was before,” he says. “Hopefully it can be that place where live arts, whether it be music or poetry, can have a stage.”

After scoping out a few different locations, 340 Wellington Street was chosen because of the landlord’s enthusiasm for arts and culture. The venue is in the downtown core this time, making it accessible to various crowds. Gammel also  likes the fact that the new venue is a sort of gateway into London since it’s right off the highway.

Renovations began once the location was solidified — but opening a new bar isn’t always smooth sailing.

“There are always things that pop up when you go into a space you’re not familiar with,” Gammel says. “You know, you tear down a wall or you open a drainage pipe and you find new issues you have to deal with. But in the end, the city has been amazing to work with.”

Gammel expects the APK to open in and around mid-late September.

“We’re just working through various details with permits,” he says.

No doubt former frequenters of the APK are anticipating the reopening, and Gammel says he’s excited for people – whether familiar with the old venue or not – to walk through their doors.

“We’re a bit overwhelmed by the support we’ve had in the past year,” he says. “I think it just shows that London is a really neat spot and there’s a harnessing of energy that seems to be pulling together in various different outlets – we just want to be part of that energy.”

The new APK will be located at 340 Wellington Street Lower beneath Yuk Yuks.

If you’re starting to get a little panicky about summer almost being over, distract yourself by picking some beautiful summer blueberries and trying this dish out!

Ingredients:

- Approximately 4 cups of blueberries

- 1 heaping cup of oatmeal

- 1/2 cup of flour

- 1/4 cup of brown sugar

- 1 tsp of cinnamon

- 2 tbsp of coconut oil, margarine, or shortening

Directions:

1. Thoroughly wash blueberries

2. Pick through the blueberries, removing stems and any rotten blueberries.

3. Place the blueberries in a strainer and let them drip dry.

4. Preheat oven to 350.

5. Using wax paper or paper towel, grease a deep dish baking pan with margarine, coconut oil, or shortening.

6. Spread blueberries in the pan

7. Measure one heaping cup of instant oatmeal (or 4 packets of oatmeal). For a healthier option, use rolled oats.

8. Measure 1/2 cup of flour – either all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, or spelt flour.

9. Combine ingredients.

10. Measure one teaspoon of cinnamon and add to ingredients.

11.  Measure 1/4 cup of brown sugar and pat down in measuring cup. For a healthier option, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar and 1 tablespoon of chicolin stevia mix.

12. Thoroughly mix ingredients.

13. Measure 2 tablespoons of either margarine, coconut oil, or shortening. We used coconut oil.

14. Using a spoon, begin mixing the coconut oil in with the dry ingredients. Use your hands to squeeze the ingredients together to create a crumble.

15. Evenly spread the crumble over the blueberries.

16. Cover the crumble with a lid or tin foil and bake for 30 minutes. Once the blueberries start bubbling, remove the covering for approximately 10 minutes to brown the top. Be careful not to burn the top.

Serve warm by itself or with yogurt, ice cream, and tea. Enjoy!

During Orientation Week, the University Students’ Council rents the entire campus from Western. This lets them decide who comes and goes. On the VIP list are frosh, sophs, students, staff, and one other party: advertisers. Anyone who can’t foot the sponsorship bill is denied access to promote themselves, including clubs and sports teams.

Like any sponsorship, money from advertisers gets routed through the USC to create bigger and more prominent events. Sponsors cover about 20-40 per cent of the bill, making Down With Webster and Sex With Sue likely impossible without them.

Whether O-Week advertising is appropriate depends on what you think O-Week is for. Some would argue a true orientation week welcomes frosh to Western and “orients” them with information. Clubs would recruit, varsity teams would publicize and off-campus promoters would promote.

Running that kind of O-Week wouldn’t need the same level of sponsorship to round out the expenses. After all, students buy O-Week kits to help fund the week of events. Clubs and sports teams would promote themselves for free and even provide entertainment in some cases.

The truth is, O-Week doesn’t have to be about all that. Some would argue it’s about one thing: fun.

When you think back to O-Week, you don’t remember any sponsorships, banner ads or junk mail in your O-Week kit. What you remember is breaking the ice at Sex With Sue. You remember jamming with friends at the Talbot Bowl concert. You remember that hypnotized guy who was terrified of his belt buckle.

O-Week is a glitzy festival filled with Western pomp. It’s a time when the impending gloom and doom of university is put on hold — even if it’s just for a little while.

Clubs get Clubs Week. Varsity teams have the rest of the year to recruit. The USC now has “Purple Week,” which is supposed to showcase USC services once O-Week ends. Summer Academic Orientation covers almost everything else.

If sponsorships can help make our O-Week a real spectacle, there’s no real harm in doing so.

But the USC has to be careful about how far it goes with sponsorships. Making the “biggest O-Week in Canada” a reality is one thing, but what about allowing the USC’s Speaker Series to be “brought to you by Rogers”?

Advertising can be a slippery slope. Bringing advertising into normal USC projects would turn sponsorships into a revenue stream they would soon come rely on. Once you go down that road, it’s hard to crawl back. While sponsoring a festival-type event is appropriate, sponsoring regular USC services is another. The USC already tried — and failed — with the HYPE Team, which was once sponsored by Hype Energy Drinks.

As a student government, the USC needs to look at advertising on a student-centric basis. O-Week sponsors help bring us things we’ll remember that would otherwise be impossible. And if sponsorships elsewhere can provide this kind of value, the USC should seek them out and use them responsibly. Kind of like a nice, cold, refreshing bottle of Bud Light Lime.

See the related article about O-Week sponsorships.

As much as I appreciate my ability to use two eyes to accurately gauge relative distances, sometimes I just want to be able to witness the world in two dimensions.

While many of the movies being released in three dimensions right now are obvious attempts to sell tickets based only on the use of this new technology, what I don’t enjoy is most high-profile animated films are intended to be seen while wearing large, plastic glasses that make certain things on the screen jump out as you’re trying to take in the story.

There are only two things that 3D glasses are useful for. The first thing is hiding the tears threatening to escape over your eyelids as you’re hit by a combination of extreme nostalgia and the seemingly inevitable death of your favourite group of animated playthings while watching Toy Story 3. The second is standing in front of a mirror and experimenting with the awesome effects of polarized light. What they are not useful for is opening the door to the future of film making—and whatever the key to that door is, I hope it doesn’t involve looking like the world’s least successful Buddy Holly impersonator.

In order to avoid seeming like a crotchety old man violently resisting change and progress as the youth of today stand around confused at what I’ve chosen to focus my complaints on, I am not saying that 3D films and television have no place in entertainment. Rather, I’m choosing to complain about being in the unfortunate position of being subjected to a new technology which has been far from mastered. I feel like I wouldn’t have appreciated colour television either if I’d been forced to wear special goggles in order to experience the colours of the rainbow—sometimes I like to itch my eyes, or not picture myself being laughed at by people living 50 years in the future for the lengths we traveled to experience this “cool, futuristic technology.”

I look forward to one day being immersed into a holographic and realistic three-dimensional environment when I sit down to watch a movie. I also look forward to not paying 130 per cent of a regular price ticket only to be subjected to gimmicky screen manipulations and a mandatory accessory less attractive than Tila Tequila’s last public appearance.

With any sort of luck, Hollywood’s equivalent of Auto-Tune will either let up in the near future, or quickly evolve into being a legitimate form of entertainment. Until that time comes, I will continue to vehemently avoid any movie that proudly announces it’s in 3D.