Off the Board

OFF THE BOARD: Confessions of a Renegade Cyclist

To those whose misfortune it may have been, at two p.m. on any given weekday at the beginning of this summer, after my logic class ended, to have found themselves somewhere along the most direct route – and I mean the most direct – between campus and my apartment on Rue St.

OFF THE BOARD: Mac for President

Those stupid Apple commercials are everywhere. If you haven’t seen the black and white Warhol-esque ads of people dancing in a faux-minimalist frenzy, the towers of cds exploding into pretentious, post-modern music mayhem or even the latest iPod glow-in-the-dark graffiti kick, you are missing out on one wild ride of counter-culture appropriation.

OFF THE BOARD: Vexed in the city

Sex and the City is the physical embodiment of everything that is wrong with the universe. Yes. I said everything. If you have not heard of Sex and the City, stop reading now; not because you won’t understand what is to follow, but because you are a filthy liar and I have no patience for you.

OFF THE BOARD: Of football and 9/11

For many, the highlight of the TV viewing experience this weekend was the season premiere of The Simpsons or Family Guy on Fox. Both shows are usually funny, occasionally outlandish and once in a while insightful, but don’t ask me to comment on them because I didn’t watch either one.

OFF THE BOARD: Proud to be a man again

Early forms of feminism were founded upon the notion of female equality; that women should be able to take firm control of their personal and professional lives, be equally represented in the workplace, receive the same professional courtesy and salary as men and obtain the respect they merit in the home.

OFF THE BOARD: Smart people have never been so stupid

I work at a record store and we have a listening counter on the basement level: a broad semi-circular counter with a half-dozen control panels and headphones jutting out of it at two-foot intervals. Customers stand about shoulder-length apart, skimming through the liner notes of a potential purchase, bopping their heads rhythmically.

OFF THE BOARD: The self-shot revolution

The bastard son of the 17th century’s commissioned works and the late 19th century’s photographic revolution, portraits are here to stay. We’ve all had one taken. Graduations. Weddings. Family Reunions. Selfies in the park. Sunday night webcam sessions. Blue Dog Friday night Canon-fests.

OFF THE BOARD: My first mugshot

As a recent martyr for student journalism, I can say that getting arrested sucks. I attended the 14th annual March Against Police Brutality on March 15 with two other Tribune photojournalists to get some shots of the inevitable violence and rioting that occurs during the event.

OFF THE BOARD: A stereotypically Canadian ceremony

Stereotypes can sometimes be funny. Although insensitive and often in bad taste, where would “guy-walked-into-a-bar” jokes be without them? Despite their comedic value, the Olympic Games are not an appropriate forum for stereotypes, and it would be far beyond good taste to greet the Italian teams with pizzas and Mario Kart.

OFF THE BOARD: Class you can watch in bed?

PSYCH 213: Cognition is like most 200-level psychology courses: it’s straightforward, chock-full of interesting studies that explain human behaviour, and it’s in Leacock 132. But unlike most large science classes, it’s not recorded. Among the many redundant questions posted on WebCT, there have been well over 100 requests to record Cognition lectures – in addition to dozens of emails and in-class appeals about the same subject.

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