TyieR CLARKE

Propuction CooRDINATOR

For me, talent shows bring

to mind an episode of Dawson’s
Creek where Joey becomes a con-
testant in a Miss. Capeside pa-
geant, despite being a farm girl of
questionable upbringing. Pacey,
the bad-ass, decides to mix things
up by entering this females-only
pageant. Everyone involved takes
themselves much too seriously,

giving self-absorbed speeches, -

dressing up far too nicely, and not
seeming to have much fun at all.

On March 10 UNBC’s WUSC
[World University Service - of
Canada] put on the annual Mr/
Ms UNBC pageant at the Nights
of Columbus Hall in College
Heights. At this event, the previ-
ous-conventions exemplified by
that episode of Dawson’s Creek
were cast aside. At Mr/Ms UNBC
no one took themselves too ser-
iously, and everyone, contestants
and audience alike, had a blast in
doing so.

Jennifer McLennan won both
Miss Congeniality and Miss.
UNBC, while Hal Friesen won
both the People’s Choice and Mr.
UNBC.

McLennan easily won the
audience with her speech about
overcoming adversity, mention-
ing personal.stories with disabled
individuals that she has encoun-
tered while working at AiMHi,
an organization in Prince George
dedicated to community living for
the disabled.

McLennanalso gave perhaps
the most memorable display of tal-
ent. In her presentation on how to
groom a horse she brought a horse
on stage to display the varying
grooming strategies and brushes
involved. The horse, a mighty
steed, wore 2 pairs of sneak-
ers and had two human faces. It
must have been mutated at birth,
or something along those lines.
Despite this, the horse was very
cooperative.

Hal Friesen gave another enter-
taining take on the talent category,
playing Dance Dance Revolution
on a projected screen in front of
the audience. This generated the
loudest cheers of the evening.

During the speeches section
Matt Church gave the most unique
presentation with his speech about
the evils of the news media, tak-
ing all of his sources from the
very reliable and scholarly Wiki-
pedia website. News, he argued,
is usually negative, which leads
to the increasing depression rates
across North America. Things
such as “dancing on mountain
tops,” he argued, would make bet-
ter and more enjoyable news, but
the news media doesn’t pick these
stories as they aren’t “hard news.”

he went on to lament about PGTV
and his role-model David Hassel-
hoff, or “The Hoff.”

“He was completely hyster-
ical! That’s the one everyone will
remember because everyone was
pissing themselves
commented audience member
Torie. —~

Key memorable talents in-
volved Samantha Gurvin’s mak-
ing a mean Pina Colada on stage
to display her bartending skills,
and Tandra Paciejewski’s amazing
ability to clumsily strip off several
layers of clothing, as well as Mc-
Lennan and Friesen’s talents that

laughing,” —

would go on to help them win the
pageant.

All contestants went for laughs
during the fashion show portion of
the evening, which required them
to dress up in a manner that dis-
plays Northern spirit. The most
memorable of which were the
many layers of clothing Thomas

Knudsen wore, representing the .

varying temperatures of the Prince
George region. Stripping off layer
after layer of clothing one began
to wonder just how far he would
go. Turns out he went as far as
skin-tight swimming shorts.
Other costumes included Don-

OVER THE EDGE = March 14, 2007

Mr/Ms UNBC Unconventionally Delightful

nie Van Dyk’s wolf mascot cos-
tume, Monique Elliott’s hockey
gear, Hal Friesen’s pink panther
costume [that he had a somewhat
difficult time attributing to the
North], Matthew Church’s Mr. PG,
Dustin Blake’s Budweiser bottle,
Jennifer McLennan’s winter-gear,
and Warren Grafton’s boat. An in-
teresting display at the end includ-
ed Samantha Gurvin, Kyle Van-
dersteen and Tandra Paciejewski
dressing up as a pine beetle, pine
tree, and bunny, respectively, act-
ing out a skit in which a pine tree
is attacked by the pine beetle. The
bunny served as the skit’s narra-

is a good thing

tor...for some reason.

This event was put on by
WUSC and organized primarily
by Sarah Pickett and Jenna Po-
cock.

The, main purpose of this
event, aside from having fun, was
to raise money so that WUSC can
afford to bring another refugee
student into UNBC, paying for
their first year’s tuition.

Also present were two giant
Subway sandwiches that audience
members made short work of, and
a bartender who was kept busy
throughout the evening.

F YOU'D BUY ANYWAY

the SPC Card" gets you exclusive discounts at hundreds of Canadian retailers.

come in today or call
1-800-HRBLOCK
hrblock.ca

af

abet | a lide doomentig | :
Caria BP ct anegaee BEER tid Le) EXTER oe

nF a uae