Due to exams, summer, and the fact that we have nothing more to publish, The Blue and White […]
By Max Carnella
Watching Orfeo ed Euridice was a unique experience that will not soon be forgotten. The singing was excellent, and the incident was an interesting one, however I do not understand why people would venture out and see more than one of these per year, but maybe I will once I have a greater appreciation for culture and am living out my twilight years in a condominium in Clearwater, Florida.
Interview Conducted by James MacFarlane
Mr. Paul Winnell is enjoying his final days as a staff member at UCC, just a year shy of the Quarter-Century Club. He is known to a majority of the student body as the guy who shakes hands at every assembly, but he also does important work behind the scenes. His confident, easy-going demeanor as well as his past experiences at UCC makes it easy for the average student to relate to him. I sat down for a brief conversation with Paul the other day, where he talked about his experience and gave a piece of invaluable advice to this year’s leaving class.
As any UCC student will tell you (see Isaac Fish below), we experienced some technical difficulties this weekend resulting in Internet connection problems on Monday. Being UCC’s premiere online publication, TBAW takes such communication breakdowns very seriously. We sent our reporters to ask students and faculty their thoughts on the day’s events. The reflections offered lend a perspective on the outage, the outrage that followed, and our dependence on technology.
By Aaron Boehlert
This weekend, I went to the Art Gallery of Ontario to check out the Abstract Expressionist (AbEx) retrospective, on loan from the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 2004, the AGO underwent a massive renovation/expansion, spearheaded by renowned Canadian architect Frank Gehry, and called TransformationAGO. The finished product is absolutely beautiful, with abundant natural light and spacious galleries. However, the AGO has not seen any exhibits of the relative artistic importance of AbEx since its renovation.
Interview conducted by James Macfarlane
JM: How have your tastes in music changed over time?
IT: In the early years, I was hard into Ozzy, Crue, AC/DC and Maiden. My first concert was Somewhere on Tour- Iron Maiden-1987. Eddie was walking around the stage at Maple Leaf Gardens, it was cool! That crew of friends got in a lot of trouble…Next, I was into anything from CFNY-Smiths, New Order, Depeche Mode, Cure. Then went to Uni, and the Grunge era was upon us: Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Jane’s Addiction, in addition to UK imports like Oasis, The Verve and of course Coldplay. But through it all I still have my top 5 that I can listen to on a deserted island.
JM: What was your favourite song when you were in high school?
IT: Probably something from a John Hughes Movie – “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” by Simple Minds – Great soundtracks from his movies. Always great songs for High school dances!
By William Rooney
The FY student stared, wondering where to begin. He was gazing at a pile of books. Papers were tucked haphazardly in between the pages where he had stopped working. All his energy disappeared as soon as he quit school for the day. Those in university didn’t have this problem, so he became a university student.
By Aaron Boehlert
This past Saturday, the Toronto Underground Cinema on Spadina hosted the 6th annual Toronto Student Film Festival, featuring twenty-six films from student producers around the world. Selected from hundreds of submissions, the films shown were extremely diverse, ranging from a dark comedy about a young girl in Singapore feeding her abusive parents Clorox-tainted rice (Rice, dir. Sofri Yusoff, Singapore) to an adorable animated film about love between rock formations on planets in outer space (Crater Face, dir. Skyler Page, USA. Check it out below!). There were profound themes showcased in every single one of the featured works, some subtle and some outright ridiculous in the best possible way.
By James MacFarlane
Those who attended last week’s May Day and persevered through the A Day-esque weather were rewarded with a delicious assortment of fine cuisine.
The most popular food of choice was the poutine. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much out of Smoke’s Poutinerie. I never had much of a taste for poutine in the past, which was probably a result of subpar cooking (my only poutine experience had been out of a sketchy wooden shack in the small northern town of Mattice). Little did I know that I was about to be pleasantly surprised.
This past Tuesday was Denim Day – a casual dress day of sorts whose specifications were a bit […]
By James Macfarlane.
Fans entering the David Chu Theatre were greeted by a solo from Oliver Clark, last Thursday, as the Varsity Jazz Band performed in its annual Jazz Night.
The first vocal performance of the night was from BSS senior Flo Labrie, who displayed an impressive range singing ‘Fever.’ She went on to sing ‘Relax Max,’ and to collaborate with IB2 Owen Woodside, singing Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat’s ‘Lucky.’
Today was a casual day, in celebration of Easter and the IB2 Leaving Class. Sartorialist Aaron Boehlert takes an educated look at what who’s wearing.
Usher
I’ll confess, this isn’t from today, but an outfit like this deserves mention. IB1 Alex Romoff somehow pulls off this embarrassing ushers’ outfit, complete with brass buttons, black cap, and gloves. It takes real courage to wear something like this, and courage is the ultimate accessory for summer.
By Gavin Elias
Art seldom converges with insanity more intimately than it does with ‘Crave’. The penultimate work of British playwright Sarah Kane (who, after struggling with severe depression and psychosis herself, committed suicide in a mental institution), ‘Crave’ unfolds as a character study of the broken human mind – a theatrical freight train into the turbid depths of psychological agony. It’s a play that dismisses all niceties and euphemisms from the outset, and one that makes no attempt to refine or simplify the complicated (and even confusing) nature of its subject material. Accordingly, it’s also a supremely challenging play – both to understand, and to stage. Yet this fact only makes the achievement of the cast and crew of the student-directed, UCC-BSS production of ‘Crave’ even more remarkable, as their rendition of the work cannot be described as anything less than a terrific success. By embracing an unsettling and difficult work with creativity, finesse, and emotional intensity, they have delivered something both elusive and startling – a performance whose brutal power is surpassed only by its lyrical elegance and poignancy.
For our inaugural episode of TBAW.tv, Jonah Freedman talks bananas with Sensei Richard.
By Connor Taylor
Much has been said about Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff this past month: the Conservatives have branded him as an inept politician and an anti-Canadian expatriate while others have lauded the intellectual prowess of the Harvard professor, award-winning historian, and UCC Old Boy. However, Ignatieff’s work as an artist has been almost entirely overlooked. In addition to writing two screenplays, Ignatieff has published three novels, Asya, Scar Tissue, and Charlie Johnson in the Flames.
By Connor Taylor/James Macfarlane 8:14 PM: Well folks, it’s been a time. Two hours have passed since I […]
By Gavin Elias
It’s a shame really, when we finally realize how badly ‘Sucker Punch’ misses the mark. At first glance it certainly seems intriguing enough. Directed by Zach Snyder, the visually innovative director of ‘300’ and ‘Watchmen’, the film strikes up with a promising premise: a girl placed in an asylum by her abusive stepfather slips into a sort of ‘Alice in Wonderland with machineguns’ as she tries to escape the horror of her surroundings and achieve freedom. It’s the kind of premise that almost screams potential. Yet by the time the credits roll, the viewer is firmly out of fantasy land and fully aware of the reality that ‘Sucker Punch’ is, for all intents and purposes, a dud – an unfortunate misfire of a film whose biggest weaknesses seem to lie not in concept, but in execution.
By Will Hall
Jonathan Welstead (IB2 McHugh’s) was named the champion of the 2011 Poetry in Voice competition on Tuesday night, taking home the first-place prize of $5000, as well as a $2500 donation to the school library, $500 of which is earmarked for poetry books.
By Will Hall This Saturday I’m going to see Matt Walker’s version of Sarah Kane’s Crave (David Chu Theatre […]
By Gavin Elias Nothing. Ghost lights from the laptop screen Push the dark back a few inches, Just […]
By Jesse Shulman IB and life outside IB keeps me busy. So instead of new fiction, I present […]
By James Macfarlane
This year’s House Hockey Final pitted two longtime foes – Mowbray’s and Orr’s – against each other. After tying their regular season meeting, they were looking to settle the series with one final rubber match.
White jackets were awarded in assembly Friday. Find results below. Head of Bremner’s – Shashwat Koirala Head of Howard’s […]
By Aaron Boehlert Today is the Race for Dignity – an event in which participants raise funds in […]
By Jonah Freedman For my birthday I asked for a G-Shock. It’s the sort of thing that’s so […]
By Gavin Elias There are musicals, and then there are Musicals – the second being arbitrarily defined here […]
By James Klein (Original picture of Cookie Monster by Angut Pederson)
The winners for the 2011 Winterfest Photo contest are… Connor Cimowsky: Best Close-up of a Logo Angut Pederson: […]
Our new head steward Ryan Manucha plays volleyball, is Facebook friends with Bob Rae, and is a decided […]
By Aaron Boehlert Last weekend I went to see Nixon in China at the Four Seasons Centre for the […]
Blue Army fan section at the CISAA finals at St. Mike’s. (Photo by Henry Vehovec)
Harry Jarvis (IB2 Martland’s) on the runway. Friday night was the Art Without Limits fashion show, organized […]
Creativity Steward-elect Max Ledger plays varsity squash and has attended every Taylor Swift concert in Toronto. He sat […]
By Mohammed Niaz Every year there comes a day when, for some reason, Upper Canada College finds that the […]
Community Service Steward-elect Nick Deng is an ardent servant of the community. His Facebook interests include Mythbusters, football, […]
Every year, the Grade 12 BSS drama class holds a festival of one-act plays. Auditions for this event […]
By Alex Romoff It seems that this site has recently been dominated by the likes of Aaron Boehlert […]
The Miami Heat are 43-17, the second best in the East, and Lebron is still scoring at will. […]
Athletic Steward-elect Peter Hannon plays Varsity football, JV basketball, and Varsity rugby. He was recognized as one of […]
The new white jackets were just announced. The portfolio stewards for 2011-2012 will be Academic – Lucas Farewell […]
By Gavin Elias With ‘The King’s Speech’ having been nominated for 12 Academy Awards, it seems almost redundant […]
By Aaron Boehlert So today was Pink Day – a casual dress day in support of anti-bullying – and […]
By James Klein
By Jonah Freedman By Jonah Freedman Some say that Carrie Brownstein has the ‘midas touch.’ And this may […]
By Aaron Boehlert I was sitting at dinner this evening with my parents and my (paternal) grandparents, off […]
By Gavin Elias Jean-Paul Sartre’s classic work, ‘No Exit,’ is surely one of the more challenging plays to […]
By Gavin Elias There are a great deal of adjectives that could be applied to ‘Inception’. Perhaps the […]
By Aaron Boehlert The ROM is one of Toronto’s last remaining buildings built before the 1970’s, or at […]
By Aaron Boehlert The new TIFF Bell Lightbox, located on King Street about three blocks east of Spadina, […]
By Gavin Elias Vetoed Productions’ ‘Lysistrata’ is undeniably a curious beast – on one level, it is the […]
The Blue and White 