Over the Edge ° October 10th 2012 WHY YOU NEED FANTASY HUMOUR IN YOUR LIFE JORDAN TUCKER ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR PHOTO ONLINE SOURCE Personally, I've never been much of a fan of moder fantasy writers. | find much (and | am here generalizing heavily, but if you want to write and tell me about how Robyn Hobbe-Lyndholm or George R.R. Martin is totally awesome and | don't understand and should be trampled to death in a dragon stampede, please do, as it will fill up my section) of the genre to be replete with overwrought and over-boring hero's journey storytelling written by authors who have never seen the pointy end of an editor's red pen. The imagery involves words with way too many “e’s and “y’s, all the cute girls have pointy ears and a mysterious past, and just about every old man could have his name replaced with “Gandalf” without seriously injuring the storyline. | find most fantasy books to be a slog into the murky kiddy pool of some basement dweller's imagination, with the murkiness related less to depth as to the amount of bodily waste in the water. However, unlike pool poo, lots of modern fantasy is not funny. Also unlike pool poo, it is fairly dry. | have nothing against elements of fantasy, specifically trolls or orcs or elves or witches. | love that stuff. What | can't abide with most fantasy is not only how alienating it is, but also how unfunny it is. Most fantasy is like going through an extremely detailed account of life on another planet by the world's driest anthropologist. | don't read to nobly grit my teeth through the underbelly of some fictional plane so | can gain a better understanding of why the Clarkxans beat the Slurhgans in battle, along with the accompanying three page flagellating descriptions of Planeswalker chain mail. If one reads fantasy, | think they do for the escape into magic, for the grand lessons we can find, the hard-learned similarities between dwarves and elves. | personally like it when it goes one step further. Humour! Enter Terry Pratchett. Pratchett writes a delightful sort of fantasy novel that parodies and often downright mocks our contemporary society through the foils and foibles of the characters living in Ankh-Morpork, his flat world which exists on the backs of elephants carried by turtles. Through the descriptions of the adventures of Police Commander Sam Vimes, the Wyrd Sisters, or even Death himself, Pratchett weaves a world that is not only unto itself, but also so complete that is sometimes punches through the fourth wall to remind us of how silly we are. Terry Pratchett writes a fantasy that is readable because of its simplicity and wry glance at the world, a skill honed and made useful by the many years Pratchett spent as a journalist. Pratchett also enjoys a bit of clever savagery, as evidenced by the note on his wikipedia page that details his ownership of a greenhouse full of carnivorous plants. He has spoken intelligently and compassionately on the topic of assisted suicide, which reveals him to be humane and understanding. Clearly, you should buy his books. | won't attempt to surmise the reasons he is funny, | will only list a few quotations: “Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying 'End-of-the-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH; the paint wouldn't even have time to dry.’ - Thief of Time “If cats looked like frogs we'd realize what nasty, cruel little bastards they are. Style. That's what people remember.” -Lords and Ladies “In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded.” - Lords and Ladies “God does not play dice with the universe; He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players [ie. everybody], to being involved in an obscure and complex variant of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time.” - Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, “If complete and utter chaos was lightning, then he'd be the sort to stand on a hilltop in athunderstorm wearing wet copper armour and shouting ‘All gods are bastards!” - The Color of Magic If you are going to chance by your local bookseller's, | would recommend that you pick up Going Postal, Wyrd Sisters, or two of my favourites, Guards! Guards! It will provide you with a bit of easy, funny reading. It will also not make you wish to claw your eyes out, something that is useful in a book. Buy some Pratchett books, if only to procrastinate from your midterms more. ARTS FUNDING 101: AN INTRODUCTION 10 GRANT OPPORTUNITIES FOR BRITISH COLUMBIAN ARTISTS JEFF HOLLETT I’m an artist — | keep hearing about grant programs, but | really don’t know what they are all about, or where to get more information. If the preceding statement represents your situation, check out this brief FAQ. How many grant programs for artists are actually out there? There are quite a few grant programs designed specifically for the arts sector. Some of these are: The British Columbia Arts Council: www.bcartscouncil.ca «The Canada Council for the Arts: www.canadacouncil.ca The Aboriginal Arts Development Program: www.fpcc.ca «BC Film & Media: www.bcfm.ca «Music BC: www.musicbc.org To learn about other art-specific grant programs: Contact staff at the above organizations. In addition to being knowledgeable about their own programs, these folks are often familiar with other programs that may be useful to you. If you sell your art, then you are in business, and you are potentially eligible for some of these programs. Each program has unique eligibility criteria - you may or may not find a business grant program to fit your particular circumstances. Here are two examples: The B.C. government's Self Employment Benefit Program helps unemployed individuals become self-employed by providing start-up advice, mentoring, and a living allowance during the difficult first year in business. To learn more, select “Self Employment” from the “Job Seekers” tab at www.labourmarketservices.gov.bc.ca. The federal government's Aboriginal Business Canada Program provides grants of up to $100,000 to aboriginal entrepreneurs to help start and expand businesses. To learn more, select “Economic Development”, and then “Funding” at www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca. available in British Columbia. Review the websites of grant organizations. Often these sites will provide links to other grant programs. «Talk to established artists. What types of projects get funded by these programs? You can learn about other business grant possibilities at this federal government website www. canadabusiness.ca. Select “British Columbia” from the “My Region” tab to get a list of programs I’ve heard that getting approved for a grant is a long shot — is this true? Application approval rates vary by program. Not all granting organizations publish the number of applications received and approved, but at least two key organizations do publish these figures. In 2011/12, the British Columbia Arts Council received 2,148 applications, and approved 1,028, Each program has a different purpose, but most will fund the creation of new artwork, and the en- hancement of artistic skills & abilities. Some will fund travel costs, marketing and other activities as well. I’m a university student. Are students eligible for arts grants? The rules vary. Some programs are open to everyone — students and non-students alike. Some programs exclude full-time undergraduate students, but are open to graduate students. Most programs do not exclude part-time students. When should | apply for a grant? Are there any deadlines to worry about? Some programs operate with submission deadlines, while others accept applications all through- out the year. How do | apply for these grants? Is there help available if I’m new at this? Each grant provider has a different application format and process. In many cases you can get “how to apply” information from program websites, as well as from program staff. Some grant providers even allow you to submit draft applications for feedback, in order to optimize your final submis- sion. What exactly is a business grant? If I’m a commercial artist, can | access any business grants? Business grant programs provide funding to entrepreneurs to help them start and expand busi- nesses. for an approval rate of nearly 50%. In 2010/11, the Canada Council for the Arts received 15,443 applications, and approved 6,098, for an approval rate of nearly 40%. In other words, the odds of grant approval at these two organizations are really quite good. Of course, not every artist, or every project, is a candidate for funding. It is good practice to discuss your project idea with program staff, before you start working on an application. Often these folks can give you feedback about whether, in principle, your idea fits with program criteria. If it doesn’t fit, at least you will have found out before putting in all that effort to complete an application! \ GC Take the ‘Red Pen’ Challenge