OVER THE EDGE
March 12<Narch 26, 2005

The North is Vancouver's Nerve-Endings

Tyier CLARKE

Puoto/Prapuction COORDINATOR —

Prince George is getting its art on full force
this semester, by means of both visual and liter-
ary dimensions. This is all in hopes of promoting
the new UNBC/Emily Carr Institute partnership
with regards to a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree. | -

The most recent event was a UNBC/Emily |
Carr poetry reading and arts presentation, held
at the Two Rivers Art Gallery, located by the
Civic Centre downtown, Saturday March 1.

A small crowd of under 30 was present for the
event in the main entrance of the Two Rivers
Gallery, consisting mainly of current UNBC
students.

The event had UNBC/Emily Carr professor
Sheila Hall give a presentation on various artis-
tic projects she’s been a part of across the globe,
in addition to UNBC English professor Robert
Budde’s poetry reading. The event was free of
charge, and included appetizers as well as free |
access to the full Two Rivers gallery.

“The North has wanted this for so so long...
Prince George and Northerners can stay in their
own latitude and explore their artistic state- |:
ments,” UNBC English masters student and ©=

| “There are some excellent artists from Prince
George and UNBC.”

Then, rather than discuss the Fine Arts pro-
gram as this reporter expected, she decided
to lecture about various artistic projects she’s
been a part of during the past few years. These
included various open-air exhibits in the Lower
Main Land, as well as projects she did with stu-
dents in Africa. Some of this work is with the
School For Life. For those interested, the web-
site is theschoolforlife.org.

This was Hall’s last week in Prince George,
as she goes back to the Emily Carr Institute
following her teaching of intensive courses at
UNBC.

Although she said that there are some things
she will miss in Prince George, she said “I’m
not going to miss flying up here every week.”

In between presentations, the Two Rivers
Gallery was open for people to wander around
the art displays. The display on feature at the
moment was The Good, The Bad, and The
Bunny. The display consisted of evil looking
bunnies, houses with legs, and sock-bunnies
hanging from wires on the ceiling. There didn’t
seem to be any artistic purpose to the display, it

co-organizer of the event Jeremy Stewart said UNBC English professor Robert Budde reads a selection from his latest book of

didn’t provoke any thought, and didn’t deserve
more than a fleeing glance from the observer.

during the event’s introduction. poetry, Finding Fort George, Saturday March 1 at the Two Rivers Art Gallery. 5, opefully Fine Arts graduates from the UNBC/
Budde followed with praise for the program, as PHOTO TAKEN BY TYLER CLARKE Emily Carr partnership produce more meaning-

well as selections from his latest book, Finding 5 : : ful art than that specific display.

Fort George. He also presented a few poems from Budde was well received and liked by ie audience. ; Other pieces of art in the museum exuded more talent than

a work in progress series with a working title of Poem’s Poem, Hall opened her time with a short discussion of the import- featured display.

consisting of poetry from the point of view of the poem. baa of the Eve Aris program at UNBC Emily pao laste, For more information on this Bachelor of Fine Arts joint de-
“They’re about he or she would react to the world,” Budde Vancouver is too isolating... [The North] is the nerve end- gree between UNBC and the Emily Carr Institute, go to http://

said, followed by a poem about a poem going to the dentist. ings that send messages to the centre [Vancouver],” Hall said.

www.unbc.ca/finearts/index.html.

Total War redefines epic battles

VIDEO GAME REVIEW
GAME: MEDIEVAL 2: TOTAL WAR
PLATFORM: PC

PRODUCER: SEGA
RATING: TEEN

FHIAAKON SULLIVAN

Puoto/Propuction GOORDINATOR

The middle ages were filled with suffering and
drudgery, but one cannot ignore the massive
influence that this age has on our society today.
From the hundred years war to the Crusades,
certain events molded Europe and in Medieval
2: Total War, you wipe those historical events
clean and begin Europe’s nearly ancient age
from its beginning. Gathering your forces
behind a banner of any nation of the time, it

is your goal to wage total war and dominate
Europe for the good of the nation.

This game is basically a turn based strategy and
a real time strategy game hybrid. The turn based
aspect of the game involves managing your
troop training and building construction in your
regions on a gigantic map of Europe. You will
also end up choosing targets for your armies,
diplomats and assassins. The real time aspect of
the game puts you in direct command of your
forces as you besiege a castle or sally forth out
of your own to bring the fight to the enemy.

These battles are usually epic as the number of
troops can reach the one-thousand mark.
Overall, the game is not that difficult to
understand, but very difficult to master.
Commanding your empire is basic. Make sure
your budget is balanced, your people are happy,
and your troops are plentiful so you are in the
proper position to wage war. This position is
good enough on the easy modes, but if you want
more of a challenge you must master juggling
diplomacy, religion, technology and more in
order to get an edge on your opponents. This can
create a game that is much more complex than
at first.sight.

The graphics in the game are stunning, putting
the battlefield and the troops to a level of detail
that puts the game to a level that engrosses

the player in the epic battle. The music also
contributes to the epic experience as it plays
gothic style music...sort of like the “Duel of the
Fates” music in Star Wars.

This is a game that you can play a few hundred
times and never have the same game twice.
One game you could be playing Scotland and
conquer both England and France. In another,
you can be playing the Moors and conquer the
Spanish and the Egyptians. Hell, you can even
be the English and be crushed by the Mongol
horde.

In general, this is a game that that has an
infinite number of possibilities with no two
play-throughs being the same. This game has
only a small shred of history embedded into it
making the game very open ended letting you do
whatever you want with Europe. If you’re not
into the campaign mode, you can play specific
historical battles if you want to jump right into
the real time strategy.

Fun: 7/2,
Difficulty: 1.5/2
Presentation: 2/2

Story: 1.0/2
Replay Value: 2/2
Total: 8.2/10

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