ie bours, the Seattle pare Fook on the Pittsburgh Steelers, aieetely losing 21-10.” Canad kicked things off right in the February Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, by placing third overall, just be- hind first-place Germany. and runner- up United States, A new i record was set by the’? gold, 10 silver, ‘and 7 bronze. medals received by Canadian athletes in. a diverse set of competitions, including speed skating, curling, and skiing. Speed--. skater Cindy Klassen was the standout star, becoming the year's biggest winner and Canada's most-decorated Olympian ever with her five-medal sweep. For many, however, the real highlight came in fnid-summer when for a short petiod sports fans could watch the finest there is in soccer, hockey, and basketball, all at the same time. Riots ensued in Ed- monton where the Oilers were compet- ing against the Carolina Hurricanes for their first Stanley Cup since Mulroney was in office, but suffered a disappoint- ~ ing (albeit deserved) loss in game seven. After losing their first two games, the FEATURE Miami Heat (led by Shaquille O'Neal ‘and Dwayne Wade) put away the Dal- las Mavericks by sweeping the next four games. : ae Meanwhile, the World Cup opened with an unusually high-scoring gatne, with Germany defeating Costa Rica 4-2. There were a few surprises in the first round, the biggest being Ghana's advancement into the second round arid Brazil's disappointing showing. Brazil never lived up to its expectations, and in the end it was France and Italy compet- ing for the title, with Italy winning ina shoot-out. ‘The other big story of the year was the absence of seven-time winner Lance Armstrong in the Tour de France. The United States still dominated, though, when Floyd Landis took the top spot in the closest three-way finish ever. Haw- ever, the victory has been marred by allegations of doping, and it is possible that Landis will be disqualified in favour of Spain's Oscar Pereiro Sio. In tennis it was Roger Federer's year, as he racked up wins in the Australian Open, US Open, and Wimbledon, along with a second-place finish in the French Open. The US Open also saw the retire- ment of Andre Agassi. ANDREW KURJATA EDITOR (N CHIEF On August 28, 1993, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers had just made their debut, challenging the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the hearts of action-loving children everywhere. By that November, Jean Chretien had taken his place as the 20th Prime Minis- ter of Canada, and so if you're of typical undergraduate age this is your first real experience with a Conservative govern- ment. Not only that, but Stephen Harp- er is the first Prime Minister to be born after the baby bootn, and the first since Joe Clark's brief run in 1979 to not rep- resent a Quebec riding, Because he represented so many firsts, Harper was treated like a breath of fresh air by the media. “Is This The New Canada?” wondered the headlines, and before long Harper was being praised as a deft political player with a clear vision and a clear head. His first five months in office are still viewed as one of the fin- est displays of leadership in the last fifty years, as Harper quickly worked through the agenda he had layed out during the election: taxes, federal accountability, crime, child care and health care. No matter where you stood on his policies, it had to be admitted that Harper was doing what he said he was going to do- and fast. He also proved to be a shrewd OVER THE EGE NEWSPAPER. NOVEMBER 22, 2006 manager of federalism, giving Quebec what it wanted in health care reform without ticking off any of the other provinces. Top this off with promises of _ fixing the long-broken Senate, a trip to Afghanistan, and a new committment to US relations, and you had the makings of an all-out revolution. But there were cracks in his boat, and it was only a matter of time before the leaks started to sink him, His grace per- iod with the media, which forgave him such sins as appointing Conservative-in- Liberal-clothing MPs and non-elected Senate members to Cabinet, came to a close somewhere around the time it became clear he wasn't always going to play nice. He kept tight controls over interview opportunities, and brought his wrath down upon any other Con- servatives who failed to do the same. He is quick to make his views clear on international issues (he was the first world leader to cut off aid to Palestine after Hamas took over), arid while this was praised at first, his recent diplomatic kefuffle with China has served to paint him as hot-headed individual who will burn more international bridges than he can afford. And for all his talk of re- newed relations with the United States, he hasnt really gotten anything in return for keeping his mouth shut when Mr. Bush comes to call-- not even an apology for the wrongful deportment of Mahar Arar to Syria. But perhaps his biggest liability is the environment, where the far-off 2050 committment has united oppos- ition parties, environmentalists, voting citizens, and even the United ‘Nations against him. Because of the hollowness of the Clean Air Act, the environment shot up to the number two issue for Canadian voters, falling just short of perrenial number one health care. The NDP has threatened a confidence vote if the Consetvatives don't mend their ways, and you can bet that this will be the issue opposition parties hammer Harper on during the election. With the Liberals just months away from having a leader again, Harper only has so long before he can operate without real op- position- after that he's going to have to learn compromise. Minority govern- ments in Canada are “in” right now, and increasingly a leader's ability to govern will be based on how well they can form alliances with their opposition. As the only right-wing party in Canada, the Conservatives find themselves on the wrong side of the room. Hatper's early appeal may have stemmed from his will- ingness to get off the beaten path and forge a new trail for Canada, but from now on his survival depends on how well he hugs the centre. Buy Cheap! Wisdom from 4.5 Years of UNBC CAMERON ORR NEWS EDITOR I am just about to finish my undergrad from UNBC and there are many things T've learned along the way through my 4.5 years as a student. Less notable are such gemis as lockers could have been really useful to me if I had rented one, and the cafeteria smells alot better than it really ends up tasting, ‘There, however, is one all-important, ctucial bit of information that I must share with people and that is this: buy cheap food. Really. It's that simple. No Name food, or store brands, are usually just as good as name brand food.. You see, back at-home, in my small town of Madeira Park (Where?), the lo- cal grocery store wasnt a giant behemoth of a box store, and the brand names that they carried were more often the name brands. Coming to Prince George, I soon discovered the wonders of buying cheap food. For the most part, it is really all the same. Instead of buying Heinz, I buy No “Name. In the place of Coca-Cola, I buy President's Choice Cola. It's all the same food! For breakfast this morning Thad myself a delicious helping of Corn Dunks from No Name. Sure, I could have been trendy and got myself Corn Pops but being trendy and cool is not what I'm all about. ‘There are some exceptions to this that I have found, though. The No Name version of Rice Krispies are not,.in fact, delicious. And President's Choice Gola is good for sometimes, but not for par- ties when you want to offer the good stuff. The flavour just isn't in-the store brand. Sure there were other things I learned while learning at UNBC. Neanderthals ate arguably not directly related to- us modern Homo sapiens, the English lan- guage had its troubles through the Nor- man invasion, and scrambled eggs aren't that difficult to make. Rum and coke is better than gin and orange juice, owning cats is a lor of work, and it's scary walk- ing downtown after 5 in the evening. But most importantly, the thing that has helped me in my entire academic career, is cheap food. However do re- member to spoil yourself sometimes. Personally, I like going to the BX Pub on Mondays in the evening, The wings are only 15 cents! Cheers to good times and cheap eat- ing! Don't Believe the Hype? What The Internet Means for Entertainment ANDREW KURJATA EDITOR IN CHIEF For years there has been talk of the internet “revolution”: how it will take the power of media away from the elites and place it firmly in the hands of the mass- es, who ate of course better equipped to handle it, anyway, It was 2005 when it teally changed, with bloggers causing the downfall of CBS news anchors and exposing political stories that CNN was just too afraid to cover. It was assumed that it would only grow from there: be- fore long the proletariat would rise up, throw off their shackles and engage in the pursuit of truth and beauty as never before! And then someone put snakes on the motherfucking plane. You know how it goes: movie title leaks, bloggers love it, movie studio changes title, bloggers get angry, Samuel Jackson raises hell, title restored. SOAP became the biggest story of the summer before it was even released, and thanks to the power of the internet the studio even ordered extra scenes to reflect some of the spoofs/tributes that were going around the internet. But was it worth it? Diehards will always say yes, but according to most _ people it was just a middle-of-the-road movie with a really good back story. The world would really have been no better and no worse of a place if it had been released as “Pacific Air Flight 121,’ or if it hadn't been released at all. The same goes for the other internet-success story of ‘06, the release of British band the Arctic Monkey's debut album, “What- ever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.’ The basic story behind this one is that over in jolly old England, a group of teenagers with guitars made it big after they built a fanbase through internet downloads and MySpace pages, without the help of a major label. People started going on about how this was proof that company fat cats had their heads up their arse and weren't able to recognize the most talented band to come around since Oasis or maybe even the Clash. “Thank god we have the internet,’ was the standard sentiment, ‘otherwise this gem would have been lost forever!” The truth is, however, that the major labels can be forgiven for overlooking the Arctic Monkeys. Though in no way bad, they aren't that good, either. It's pretty much a group of teenagers who want to be the Strokes and the Libertines mak- ing a paint-by-the-numbers album that sounds like a group of teenagers trying to be the Strokes and the Libertines. A bold artistic statement, it ain't. The thing is, for all the waxing poetic about how putting power in the hands of the masses is changing the world, not many people are really stopping to think about what this means. Most movie buffs will tell you that the “Director's Cut” of classic films is the way to go be- cause it is closest to the artistic vision of the creator, Interference comes from the studio when test audiences respond negatively to the lack of a love story or a happy ending. So does it bode well when a united sphere of YouTube users can decide pivotal plot points? I mean, really, Romeo and Juliet would probably have sold more tickets if not for all that nasty business of suicide. Not that I’m saying the internet's ef- fect is a bad thing-- Snakes on a Plane and the Arctic Monkeys and anyone else with a MySpace site obviously have an audience that they appeal to, and if the internet helps facilitate that, then more power to all. I'm just saying that we shouldn't put too much stock into the belief that if the audience gets to shape the art, the art will be stronger for it. For the most part, the truly groundbreaking work will continue to come from art- sists working alone with funding from a major company that believes in them, not from the collective minds of online forums. In the words of Henry Ford, “If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.’ Or in today’s case, more snakes on the plane.