eyeBlog

And now, the end is near…

Eric Lam — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:49:25 +0000

I dont’ really have much to say, but then again I never did in any of my blog entries. Still, this blog will be one of the many things I will miss about the Eyeopener as the year winds down and I prepare myself for working for the enemy next semester.

So while this blog at times was the bane of my existence (nobody ever wants to do anything if they’ve been told to do it) I have nonetheless been heartened by how well the Eyeopener community has taken to our meagre attempt at moving into the 21st century.

So to whoever takes over for us next year, please don’t stop blogging. If nothing else, it’ll make next year’s RSU elections at least slightly more interesting.

Something unpredictable

Kerry — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 04:06:50 +0000

For the last few years, the Eyeopenerites seeking the job of editor-in-chief have carefully planned and performed something special on election speech night. In 2006, Robyn and Barry did a disturbingly thoroughly prepared dance to the strains of Europe’s The Final Countdown and capped it all off with a thumb war. The following year, John and Tristan preceded their speeches with an equally disturbingly heartfelt rendition of Hero by Enrique Iglesias and ended the night with a Wonderwall sing-along.

This year, Carla, Karon and Tristan turned their performance into a tribute to John, who’s moving overseas for a job in two weeks.

“And so,” Tristan said before the performance, “we’re going to do Good Riddance.”

Zing.

Nightmare on Elm Street

Eric Lam — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 20:35:46 +0000

This post is really about nothing in particular.

But c’mon, somebody was gonna make that connection sooner or later, and I figured it might as well be me.

Seriously though, the Wolf and Firkin has become like a second home for us Eyeopener people in a very short time. What with the great food and atmosphere (dare I give a shout out to Auggie?) and now a great election night, the Wolf’s place in Eyeopener lore has already been secured.

So here’s hoping Auggie brings back all our favourite songs this Tuesday night when the 2007-2008 Eyeopener masthead breaks bread together one last time.

It’ll be a good one.

AWESOME!

danielbray — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 23:57:33 +0000

2008-2009

Kerry — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 04:51:32 +0000

Meet your new Eyeopener masthead:

Editor-in-Chief
Carla Wintersgill

News Editors
Laura Blenkinsop
Shannon Higgins

Ass. News
Andrea MacLean

Features
Adrian Morrow

Sports
Erin Valois

Arts
Alex Hamlyn
Jessica Lewis

Biz & Tech
John Shmuel

Photo
Carmen Chai

Ass. Photo
Andrew Williamson
Jordan Roberts

Fun
Leif Parker

Radio
Greg Hudson
Joe Yachimec

And thanks most of all to everyone who ran. It’s not easy to stand up in front of a room full of people, especially if most of them are strangers, drunk or both, and make a speech. Kudos everybody.

We have one more issue left, and the blog will likely wind down. Of course, it’ll be hard to tell exactly when it starts winding down because posting was so sporadic this year. (That was a joke, masthead! I love you all!)

Thanks for reading!

The end is nigh

Kerry — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 04:52:41 +0000

Eyeopener election speeches will take place tonight at the Wolf and Firkin Pub on Elm Street (between Bay and Yonge). This is set to be a particularly interesting election, as all but a few positions are contested. We even have a three-way race for editor-in-chief.

The excitement.

And now for something completely different…

Eric Lam — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:26:07 +0000

Hi everybody. We’ve had a few successful specialty issues this semester (the magamazine and the Love & Sex issue) but as it turns out we’ve got one more in us, that we saved for the end of the year.

So if any of you pick up the Eyeopener tomorrow and wonder why the stories are even more outrageous than usual, that’s because it’s our parody issue.

And no, it’s not because we suddenly decided to forget about those pesky journalism ethics that some claim we never had in the first place *ahem* robbie paskowitz *ahem*

In any case, when you see the parody issue on newsstands tomorrow, don’t be afraid. Embrace it. Go with it. It’s supposed to be funny.

Oh and by the by, we’re having our elections night this Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Wolf and Firkin pub on Elm Street. If you’re so inclined, come on out and check out the next generation of Eye editors.

Oh Wired…

Kerry — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:59:23 +0000

It’s the Reznor vs. Radiohead smackdown!

Trent is winning.

Why I Read

bobbybensewer1985 — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:04:18 +0000

Sometimes when I read, the characters can’t be called characters, because they are not characters. They are people, people with thoughts and feelings beyond the pages. And if these people are not given a body, they must inhabit something. So they inhabit me.
Inside me, they breathe hard, and I forget to. Until I close the book, suffocating them, the only thing that moves in me is my heart, trying to beat fast enough for all of us. Only then do I realize that I have stopped breathing. I let go. I want nothing more but to give breath to the people who gasp for air within closed pages. Writers give birth to them, the pages then give them a home and it’s up to me to let them breathe. To just open a book, to think about it, to absorb it and to let it live, as it should, long beyond the pages.
Sometimes after I read, I hear a voice that tells me things that were never in the text to begin with. A voice screams, “UNFINISHED!” It forces me to realize the sad truth that great art is never completed, only abandoned. There are no masterpieces — only works in progress or on hiatus. Who said “The End” ever meant anything? If the whole thing was fiction, what makes those two words any different? As said in Kevin Brooks’ book, Lucas (and I’m paraphrasing), there are no endings, only new beginnings.
Practice makes perfect — and then what? Stop practicing? You write a book about someone’s engagement — and then what? Do they stop living at your fabricated happy ending or at the wedding? Maybe not in yours, but in my world, characters, or rather, people — live long beyond the pages they call home. A happy marraige, a divorce.. life goes on.
Sometimes when I write, I think about just how easy it is to tell someone a lie, to make up a person and get away with it. When you tell someone you went out with that imaginary girlfriend (don’t get any ideas), her image — her actual self — materializes in that person’s mind. You tell them she has blonde hair — and she has blonde hair. You tell them she wants you — and she has bad taste. Those things become true in their mind. We’ve all got our perspectives, and now, from one in many, this Suzy-Lynn or whatever you choose to call her, is real. She has a brain. She has a heart and a soul. She is a person and she lives long beyond your lie.
Sometimes when I watch a movie, I can’t get past the familiar face. How can I honestly take Courtney Cox seriously in a dramatic role when I just see her as Monica Gellar? Those characters live beyond the reel until they appear on the red carpet and suddenly aren’t the detective, the casino owner or the homeless person in the film. As the magic of the movie fades with the cleanliness of the blood-red carpet: a status symbol for the shallow and the rich, the few and the undeserving many, we are sucked into their eyes and forget about the characters who suffocate inside closed books.

One hell of a family reunion

karonliu — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 04:48:10 +0000

Yes, this is real.

Researchers at the New England Historic Genealogical Society found that Barack Obama is a distant cousin of Brad Pitt and Hillary Clinton is related to Angelina Jolie.

Clinton’s French-Canadian heritage also made her a distant cousin of Madonna, Alanis Morissette and Celine Dion. Obama’s extended family tree has no singers, but lots of White House inhabitants: President George W. Bush and his father, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harrs S. Truman and James Madison. Obama is also a cousin of Winston Churchill, Robert E. Lee and finally, Dick Cheney.

That’s got to make some awkward Christmas dinner conversations.

Read the full article here