Film: Happy (Wadi Rum Films 2011) Director: Roko Belic Genre: Documentary ?A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.? Proverbs 17:22 NIV ?One must choose happiness.? Stratis Myrivilis, in Life in the Tomb The Care and Feeding of the Bluebird of Happiness A handsome young Japanese businessman has, by… Read more »
AU Students urge candidates to improve university funding AU students are concerned about the financial health of Athabasca University and the effect of recent news stories on the reputation of the AUSU membership. A recent CBC report notes that in recent years the university has made a series of reserve draws to cover budget shortfalls,… Read more »
Film: The Turin Horse (Hungarian with subtitles) (2011) Directors: Béla Tarr, Ágnes Hranitzky Cast: János Derzsi, Erika Bók, Mihály Kormos Screenwriters: Béla Tarr, László Krasznahorkai ?Man is the cruelest animal.? Friedrich Nietzsche ?Acquire, debase, debase, acquire. Or I can put it differently if you’d like. To touch, debase, and thereby acquire, or touch, acquire, and… Read more »
Harvest 2012 was a thing of beauty. Never in 35 years of farming do I remember such a long stretch of absolutely perfect harvest weather. And That’s quite something for a farmer to admit! We began combining at 5 pm on Sunday, September 16, and worked almost without interruption until 1:30 on September 25. Each… Read more »
There’s some great non-fiction hitting the shelves these days, covering everything from deadly missions in Iraq to real-life Shades of Grey. But what about the reader who’s looking for something truly different? Well, fear not, eclectic book lover! No matter how offbeat or arcane the subject, chances are that someone, somewhere, has published a book… Read more »
In my first update from the front lines of the war zone known as my kitchen renovation, I blow the drywall dust off my glasses, keyboard, and hands to write this. Lest You’re tempted to remind me, I do remember saying I’d gladly live through six months of chaos than wait for the perfect moment… Read more »
Film: Chico & Rita (Music Box Films 2012) Directors: Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal, Tono Errando Music: Bebo Valdés Cast: Bebo Valdés, Idania Valdés, Estrella Morente, Limara Meneses, Eman Xor Oña, Mario Guerra ?All art is political in the sense that it serves someone’s politics.? August Wilson How Politics Crush Love and Art It’s 1948 in… Read more »
AU Students urge candidates to improve university funding AU students are concerned about the financial health of Athabasca University and the effect of recent news stories on the reputation of the AUSU membership. A recent CBC report notes that in recent years the university has made a series of reserve draws to cover budget shortfalls,… Read more »
Students of human behaviour have long known what motivates us. Most of us will do more to avoid pain than to gain pleasure. we’ll quit smoking when we’ve got lung cancer rather than doing it to have sweeter breath or more lung capacity and money. we’ll lose weight as a prerequisite for knee replacement surgery,… Read more »
From the very first day you stepped into kindergarten, you probably noticed that school is all about rules. Rules for behaviour, rules for lessons. Rules about what you have to read. Now, there are even rules about how to read, with some universities insisting on e-textbooks over paper. Has the education rule book gone too… Read more »