12 arts & entertainment October 6, 2010 + Over the Edge Annual Fall Season Fair 29th Celebrated at the Civic Center DARCIE SMITH ARTS EDITOR It's easy to tell when there is an event happening at the Civic Centre, all you have to do is look at the Public Library’s overflowing parking lot. The 29" annual Mennonite Fall Fair was held on Saturday September 25" at the Civic Centre, allowing hundreds from Prince George and other Northern communities to lend their support to both local and international charities. There were tables throughout dedicated to fresh produce, baked goods, crafts, used books, various garage sale items, and an area where Ten Thousand Villages items could be purchased. A cafeteria area also featured the return of homemade borscht and farmers sausage that have been staple delights, year after year. Each year, Westwood Church takes the lead in seeing this event through to success, with the help of many willing and dedicated volunteers from the congregation. The organization behind the concept is the Mennonite Central Committee, self-described as “the relief, development and peace agency of the Mennonite and Brethren in Christ Churches in North America.” According to the local event coordinator Wendy Herring, since the very first fair 29 years ago, approximately $500,000 has been raised. She predicts that this year the numbers will be down from last year, but there were still plenty of people that made it out to support the event. She listed three goals of the event, the first and main goal being international world relief, this includes food and clean water, through the MCC. The second goal has a local focus, which sees financial assistance provided for New Life Centre, Ness Lake Bible Camp, and the Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship. The third and final goal is directed at the church community. Herring stressed the importance of this last goal as being a chance for the church to give and work together. Even if this year was slower than last, it still seemed like it was fairly busy and Fair favorites include Tenthousand Villages (above) and the used book sale (below) there were lots of contributions made. If you were one of the unfortunate few who missed out on this years festivities, there’s always next year. First Listen: The Murder Plans Not so good omens... DARCIE SMITH ARTS EDITOR The Murder Plans are an independent rock band from Ottawa, Ontario, and seem to be making some noise with this release over on that side of the country. However, after giving this album a listen, | found myself wanting to turn them down. This band isn’t terrible, but | got the feeling that they tried a bit too hard, and in the end it just comes out weak. When | first received this album in my mailbox, | read the press release thoroughly, hoping that something in it would pump me up to give it a spin. The article was well-written and certainly gave them some great credit; it described the sound like Wilco and Nick Cave. | was immediately jealous at the thought of someone being able to decide that before I’d even heard of the band. However, the first song, “Someday | Won’t” didn’t sound so bad when it was only the instruments, but once the vocals came in | was less impressed. The vocalist sounds a bit like indie-rock Bruce Springsteen, and judging by my tone | am confident you can tell how | feel about Bruce Springsteen. | wrote the entire first paragraph of this review while listening to the second song of the album, “Tell A Lie,” and that should tell you two things: 1) It makes great background noise, therefore ideal for studying and writing papers and 2) It makes great background noise, therefore it’s unremarkable and not something that | feel compelled to pay attention to. “Hurt Somebody” is a bit more catchy, or at least it tries to be. It’s a good song to follow “Tell A Lie” because if you got bored like | did, then you'll perhaps snap back to attention when the next song comes on. The rest of the album is very similar and relies on the same techniques for each song. Normally that isn’t necessarily a crime, but for a band that needs a little extra help, it becomes their downfall. Like | mentioned, the Murder Plans may not be terrible, but they are certainly underwhelming. My least favourite song on Good Omens was “Napoleon.” The singer really needs to stop putting so much breath into one sentence. On the upside, | really liked the line “you must be crazy to love this town” from “Halfway House.” But take it from me: if you actually like Wilco and Nick Cave, you will not like this band. Better luck next time? 5 stars out of 10 DARCIE SMITH N Banff Mountain Film Festival Prince George leaves inspired JESSICA N SHAPIRO CONTRIBUTOR The Banff Mountain Film Festival came through Prince George last Tuesday, September 28" on one of the many stops of its national tour. Starting in 1986, the purpose of this film tour was to share the efforts of the finest mountain filmmakers with thousands of people who could not otherwise make the trek to the Canadian Rockies where the festival takes place. Though Prince George is not but a hop, skip and a jump from the Rockies, the local crowd seemed quite excited to gather close to home for the event. The Cranbrooke Hill Greenway Society — the folks responsible for the trails in the city — hosted the festival at the Prince George Playhouse. Eight films were chosen and screened during three hours. The first picture, entitled Kranked-Revolve, was an adrenaline-filled short film illustrating the finesse and rigor of mountain biking. The audience, though encouraged by the Banff Film Festival MC to shout and holler during the films, didn’t make a sound until one of the mountain bike tricksters was introduced as being from Prince George. Once the surprising applause was out, the crowd perked up and remained excited for the rest of the night. The next film, Deep/ Shinetsu, was three minutes in length and expressed the pleasure and beauty of skiing in powder almost 4-feet deep — typical conditions on the mountains in Japan. Set to a calm and graceful tune, the short film was well received. The last movie before intermission, Finding Farley, was the 2010 Grand Prize and People’s Choice award winner, and subsequently the talk of the night. Finding Farley is the story of a small and adventurous family retracing the footsteps of their favourite Canadian author Farley Mowat, in hopes to make it from their home in western Canada, to his summer home in Nova Scotia. Filmmakers Karsten Heuer and Leanne Allison journeyed 5,000 km with their two-year old son Zev, and courageous dog, Willow, trekking, sailing, portaging and paddling through Canada’s beautiful, and sometimes daunting landscapes. Certain parents would consider this cross-country trip as dangerous, but the crowd from Prince George was heartened and inspired to say the least. After intermission the Banff Mountain Festival and the Greenway Society organized a prize draw consisting of many things a mountaineer would need. People were encouraged once again to let outa convincing yelp of joy if their ticket number was Called out, but the only strident winners were Dr. Roger Wheat, a professor from the Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability (NRES) program at UNBC, and a grateful grad student who won a set of camping pots, also from the NRES program. Afterward, the movies resumed, and the crowd continued to be awed. The highlights of the second half of the screening included a French film directed by Guillaume Broust, who in six minutes showed the audience his attempt to capture six different mountain sports: climbing, skiing, snowboarding, speed riding, paragliding and base jumping, in one single photo frame. The result was brilliant. The following movie, Mont-Blanc Speed Flying, was an artsy and cinematographically impressive short documenting speed riders (skiers with parachutes attached to their backs) flying down the slopes of Mont-Blanc in France. The movie was filmed in one continuous shot, and the speed riders looked like red and yellow butterflies effortlessly floating in the foreground of an almost unbelievable backdrop. The rest of the movies that have not been mentioned followed suit — inspiring, unbelievable, nail-biting, engaging, and exceptionally artistic. The crowd that attended the festival last week was overwhelmingly outdoorsy and adventurous. Perhaps some of the audience had even done their own film-worthy mountain stunts. Regardless, it seemed that everyone leaving the theater at the end of the night had perhaps been inspired to set their goals a little higher; imagine more to be possible; and gain renewed appreciation of ‘what it means to be human.’