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Sports

10 Things: Athletes whose careers came back from the ‘dead’

by Lucas Harvey, Sam Wendel, Jordan Foy, and Stephen Gill on

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1. Kurt Warner

After he went undrafted in the 1993 NFL Draft and was subsequently cut by the Green Bay Packers, Warner began stocking grocery store shelves. But the quarterback persisted, and after dominating in the Arena Football League for three seasons, was given another shot by the St. Louis Rams in 1997. He made most of the opportunity, finishing his career with two Most Valuable Player awards, one Super Bowl ring, and two additional Super Bowl appearances.

 

2. Dara Torres

Torres’ return to swimming in the 2000 Sydney Olympics was surprising enough, as she earned five medals as part of Team U.S.A. However, she one-upped that feat when she came back to Olympic swimming once again in 2008. At 41 years old and 16 months after giving birth, Torres won three silver medals in Beijing.

 

3. Petr Cech

In a Premier League match in 2006, the then-Chelsea goalkeeper was struck in the head by an opposing player’s knee. The collision gave Cech a nearly-fatal depressed skull fracture. Despite the traumatic injury, he returned to play later in the season in superb form, including nine consecutive clean sheets.

 

4. Muhammad Ali

While dodging the draft, Ali had his boxing license suspended and couldn’t box competitively for three years. He returned to boxing after his conviction was overturned. Despite a rusty start, Ali regained his prior dominance, defeating boxing legends like Joe Frazier and George Foreman on his way back to the top.

 

5. Bethany Hamilton

In 2003, Hamilton was bitten by a shark while surfing. The attack left her without her left arm, but after just a month of recovery, she began surfing again. Hamilton would go on to surf professionally with inspirational success, nearly winning prestigious competitions such as the U.S. Open of Surfing and Fiji Women’s Pro. She has participated in competitions as recently as 2016.

 

6. Shaun Livingston

In Livingston’s third NBA season, he landed awkwardly on his leg in a graphic injury that resulted in three torn ligaments, a sprained MCL, a dislocated patella, and a dislocated kneecap. Doctors considered amputation, but ultimately he overcame the injury and returned to the league. Since then, he has sustained a career as an experienced veteran, winning two NBA championships with the Golden State Warriors.

 

7. Monica Seles

During her reign as the world’s top female tennis player, Seles was stabbed by a spectator during a Citizen Cup match in 1993. She missed two years while recovering from the attack, but eventually returned to tennis to win an Australian Open championship and reach three more Grand Slam finals.

 

8. Mario Lemieux

In 1993, the hockey legend was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. This only kept him out of action for two months, and he still managed to win the Art Ross Trophy that season. Lemieux played five seasons after the diagnosis—winning two more Ross trophies and a Hart Memorial trophy—finally deciding to hang it up and become an owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Amazingly, the Hall-of-Famer returned to the league again from 2000 to 2006 in an unprecedented player-owner role.

 

9. Andre Agassi

Agassi won two Grand Slam finals and reached another in 1994 and 1995, but failed to follow up in 1996. His career bottomed out the following year between a wrist injury, failed marriage, and crystal meth bout. Still, Agassi came back in 1999 to win two Grand Slams and finish second at Wimbledon.

 

10. Brett Favre

After an illustrious 16-year career with the Green Bay Packers—highlighted by three consecutive MVP awards and one Super Bowl—Brett Favre called it a career on March 4, 2008, but for just 156 days before returning to the NFL to sign with the New York Jets. After an up-and-down season, he retired again—this time, for 112 days. Favre would go on to play one of the best statistical seasons of his career with the Minnesota Vikings, with a Pro Bowl appearance and almost another Super Bowl appearance  before retiring for a third time. This time, it was for good.

Commentary, Opinion

The problem with “broad-based” scholarships

by Keating Reid on

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A fundamental principle of a liberal education is its status as “the great equalizer.” It’s meant to serve as a vehicle for talented individuals to reach their potential, no matter their financial background. It’s a justification for education’s status as a human right. It’s also why The Universal Declaration on Human Rights asserts that “higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.”

To this end, virtually all Canadian universities offer merit scholarships to help poorer students invest in their futures. However, this vision of equal opportunity is threatened by a recent trend in scholarship applications—emphasis on extracurricular activities. “Broad-based” application processes are sold as a progressive practice, allowing capable students whose strengths aren’t measured in a grade point average to compete with their more traditionally academic peers. But, there are unintended, regressive consequences to this development: Namely, it disadvantages students from lower-class backgrounds when competing for the scholarships they need most.

According to a 2015 survey of university admissions teams by gap-year provider World Challenge, extracurricular activities—like volunteering, athletics, and the ever-nebulous trait of “leadership experience”—have grown in importance for admissions decisions over the last 10 years. The trend also applies to scholarship applications: For example, the McGill Major Entrance Scholarship application recommends listing service, athletic, and artistic activities.

Completely eliminating the educational advantages that come with wealth is a difficult task, but broad-based scholarship applications do more to disadvantage low-income students than they do to include them.

While these non-academic experiences are valuable for students, the reality is that most model scholarship students are not self-made. Taking on extensive extracurricular activities often requires family support—logistically and financially. Athletics are particularly expensive: The cost of equipment, lessons, travel, and miscellaneous expenses can run into the thousands. Even less expensive activities, such as volunteering, take parental investment in the form of car rides, help finding opportunities, and above all, encouraging these activities from a young age. Without this parental involvement, students are left with the difficult task of organizing themselves. Some students may even need to balance school with working to support their families, leaving little time for unpaid community work or extracurriculars. It’s no surprise then that participation in extracurricular activities is split along class lines. Children from families wealthy in time and money have an inherent advantage in competing for scholarships, but the truth is, these are the people who need them the least.

In order to remedy these skewed opportunity structures, schools must de-emphasize consideration of extracurricular involvement in broad-based scholarships, and instead use a combination of high school grades and standardized testing. While some parents and educators argue that standardized tests are biased in favour of the rich, and that they only effectively measure test-taking ability, the data shows otherwise. According to a 2012 study from the University of Minnesota, 21.2 per cent of variance in SAT scores can be linked to socioeconomic status. While this number is significant, and speaks to a need for academic equalization as well, it is worth noting that 78.8 per cent of SAT scores have no correlation with socioeconomic status—which is no small amount. The study also found that SAT scores, especially when considered alongside high school grades, can effectively predict university performance.

It is true that students from low-income families face disproportionate challenges in their academic pursuits, and that the problem is not limited to extracurriculars. Schools in low-income areas may not offer the same resources as their wealthier counterparts. Certain lifestyle pressures, like needing to work to contribute to family expenses, are unique barriers. But merit scholarships aim to help those students who succeed in spite of such barriers. Admittedly, they’re a palliative solution until society finds a way to truly equitize the education system, but the current trend of broad-based scholarships is not helping in this aim.

Completely eliminating the educational advantages that come with wealth is a difficult task, but broad-based scholarship applications do more to disadvantage low-income students than they do to include them. Not using expensive, inaccessible extracurricular activities as measures of merit—or at least, viewing them in the context of a student’s financial background—is a start to making education accessible to all. Increasing need-based financial aid offered by governments and universities is even better. And, while not perfect, the use of standardized testing goes a long way in levelling the playing field. Incorporating them in a thoughtful way would help make sure education remains “the great equalizer.”

 

 

 

Keating is a U0 in the Faculty of Arts planning to study political science. He’s often found reading the news and grumbling in his bathrobe.

 

 

@mcgilltribop | [email protected]

 

 
Basketball, Know Your Athlete, Men's Varsity, Sports

Know Your Athlete: Jenning Leung

by Alec Regino on

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As Jenning Leung, the six-foot-one starting McGill Redmen point guard, was set to begin his fifth and final year, he reflected on some of the things he’s grown to appreciate during his time at McGill.

“I’ll miss Montreal a lot,” Leung said. “I love the city and my friends here. I’ll especially miss the basketball team; those are my brothers. I’ll miss the coaching staff. They are a special team of guys and I’ll miss them a ton.”

Last season, Leung and the Redmen matched the program’s best-ever finish: They came fourth at nationals, thwarted by the Dalhousie Tigers in a close loss. Leung was also named RSEQ First Team All-Star after scoring over 14 points per game, the second best mark in the RSEQ. But Leung wasn’t always a mainstay on the team. When he first joined the Redmen in 2013, he averaged just six minutes per game.

“In my first year, one of the major issues was that my confidence level wasn’t high,” Leung said. “I was so shocked about how good everyone else was.”

Leung’s recruitment story is far from typical. He grew up and learned to love the game in the Philippines, where his brother—a McGill alum—coached him. In his senior year of high school, Leung sent emails to universities all over Canada and flew across the world to try out for teams willing to watch him play. McGill was the first school to offer him a spot.

(McGill Athletics)

 

Once Leung started training with the team, it was a whole new ball game.

“When I first came I was not up the same level as the other guys,” Leung said. “It was a shock to me. The game was much faster, and mentally I was just like, ‘What’s happening?’”

Leung, however, remained persistent. Despite his slow start, he worked on his game relentlessly that summer back in the Philippines. During his second year, opportunity sprang in the form of a shallow point guard rotation. By the end of his sophomore season, Leung had started in 13 games, and has been a starter ever since.

But Leung isn’t satisfied solely with individual growth. Wanting to win a championship with McGill was one of the main reasons he decided to come back for a fifth season. 

“We finished fourth in nationals, but the goal was to win it all,” Leung said. “It was just a disappointing end to the season, and I really think that our team is special and I think we can win it this year. That's one of the major reasons I came back. The expectation this year is to win a national championship.”

Leung has already accomplished the once-improbable objectives of making the roster of a university basketball team from a country that is rarely scouted, and has worked tirelessly to secure his position in the rotation. A national championship—an elusive standard that the McGill men’s basketball team has yet to reach—would be the icing on the cake for this determined athlete.

After he finishes out his final year at McGill, Leung hopes he can continue to play basketball at a high level.

“I’d like to go to Asia and play professionally,” Leung said. “A lot of things have to go right for [that] to happen, but that’s something I’d like to do.”

On Nov. 9, Leung will suit up for his final home opener as a member of the McGill Redmen basketball team.

Arts & Entertainment, Theatre

Cristina Cugliandro’s spin-off adaptation asks pertinent questions

by Avleen K Mokha on

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Montreal-based director Cristina Cugliandro, co-founder of Odd Stumble Theatre,  is staging What Happened After Nora Left Her Husband on Nov. 3 and 4. A part of Imago Theatre’s forthcoming Her Side of the Story: Revision to Resist theatre festival, taking place from Oct. 31 to Nov. 5, Cugliandro’s story holds relevance for today.

“As a theatre practitioner I strive to tell stories I believe are important,” Cugliandro said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “If a deep thought or feeling is born, unleashed, or revisited, the work has fulfilled its purpose.”

What Happened After Nora Left Her Husband, written by Austrian playwright Elfriede Jelinek in 1979, follows Nora Helmer, the female protagonist from Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, who leaves her husband at the end of Ibsen’s play, thus starting her long-due search for independence. Cugliandro concedes that she is less pessimistic than Jelinek, but admits that the playwright’s piece asks hard questions about the notion of progress.

“When I read [Jelinek’s] piece, I was struck by how she draws upon Ibsen’s plays,” Cugliandro said. “She brought together many elements […] how the unchallenged capitalist society has morphed our humanity and our beliefs. [Essentially], how easily we are taught to […] absorb ideas about gender and class. The most inspiring feature was […] how [Jelinek] does not apologize for her opinions.”

The cultural mood of the play also piqued Cugliandro’s interest. Set in the so-called ‘flapper era’ of the 1920s, the setting is one of apparent abundance, although the instability leading up to the Great Depression can already be felt. The script sets up a parallel between Nora’s individual experience as a woman who leaves her husband, and  larger economic and racial systems of violence.

“During this time, women’s movements began to gain momentum, but [Jelinek] was uncertain what these would lead to,” Cugliandro said. “She [wants to know] whether [our] ideas about the placement of gender have changed or not. I think that’s an interesting conversation to have. When we look at gender, race, and politics today, we start to realize that [discrimination] is still in place.”

Cugliandro is also moved by the depiction of advertisements in the script, and the advertising industry's role in distributing propaganda both during and in between the two World Wars. According to Cugliandro, the mission of Jelinek’s sequel was to show how economics, sexism, and racism intertwine. Cugliandro, her actors, and her crew worked as a team to centre these themes in the adaptation.

“The idea for taking a text like this [was to talk] to the actors and crew about what the style of the delivery will be,” Cugliandro said. “The Brechtian technique of alienation [to] simply state things, so the audience understands what is being talked about [was also important]. The play is actually full of humour and hilarious moments. For me, it was about finding that balance […] about allowing people to laugh, cry and understand at the same time […] to awaken and provoke thought.”

Cugliandro hopes to convey a message of active and critical thinking to a generally sheltered Western theatre audience.

“I think real change comes from knowledge and anger,” Cugliandro said. “It’s not enough to say [those of us in the Western world] are the lucky ones. We need to find ways to change the society we find ourselves in [….] Hopefully the piece starts a discussion about where we are and how to go forward in the best way we can.”

What Happened After Nora Left Her Husband will show on November 3 & 4 at 8 pm, Centaur Theatre, C1. Tickets are $20, $15 for students/seniors, artists, or by donation at the door.

Montreal, News

McGill students protest passage of Bill 62

by Fionn Adamian on

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The National Assembly of Québec passed Bill 62 on Oct. 18 by a vote of 66 to 51, mandating that all recipients of government services, as well as the officials providing them, keep their faces uncovered during public exchanges. The legislation, introduced by Minister of Justice Stephanie Vallée in 2015, applies to patients receiving care from hospital doctors, bus and metro commuters, and public university students attending professors’ lectures.

Since its passage, McGill students have protested the bill by writing letters to Quebec Members of Assembly, wearing sunglasses to class, and circulating petitions online. Although the legislation applies equally to sunglasses and scarves, activists argue that the bill implicitly targets the niqab, a religious garment that covers the face.

“By omitting women’s access to public services if they wear a niqab, you're essentially omitting a segment of the population from essential services that they are paying taxes to access and maintain,” Munema Moiz, a McGill alumna who was a writer and activist against Islamophobia, said. “On a basic level, if you can't use a bus anymore, now this person has to make a choice, ‘Should I get to work or school or should I continue wearing my niqab?’”

In a press conference on Oct. 24, Vallée reneged on a previous statement that people would have to uncover their faces to ride the bus, insisting that someone wearing a niqab would not be denied service unless that they refused to remove the garment while presenting photo documentation. However, Bee Khaleeli, U2 Arts, and a co-organizer of the letter writing campaign, maintained that the bill cultivates an unsafe environment for Muslim women.

“Particularly in the context of Montreal, a lot of women who wear a niqab are new immigrants, a lot of women rely on public services to exist in the world,” Khaleeli said. “[The bill] sanctions instances in which women have their veils ripped off. It clearly marks them as outsiders in Quebec society and people who pose a threat to society's welfare and consequently are deserving of that violence.”

Students are also taking to writing articles to convey their views on the legislation. A group of students at the McGill Faculty of Law penned an opinion piece, titled “Law 62: When ‘neutrality’ rhymes with discrimination,” about the Bill’s discriminatory nature. In the coming months, the students also plan to provide legal resources explaining a person’s rights if an official tries to enforce compliance with it.

“We just want to minimize the impact on individual women who will experience the effects,” Jessica Cytryn, a second year in Law and a co-author of the opinion article, said. “We hope to do this through highlighting that [Bill 62] is unconstitutional.”

Moiz expressed that the bill’s passage had been a long time coming, given how the proposed Québec Charter of Values attempted to single out Muslim women by prohibiting public employees from wearing objects indicating religious affiliation.  Activists maintained a positive attitude about the potential for resistance against the law at McGill.  

“I don’t think I expected the effort of people who said ‘Even if I can't come I want to write a letter,’” Khaleeli said. “Students clearly have some interest in agitating against this bill. That’s a really valuable start.”

Student Life, Word on the Y

Word on the Y: What’s your favourite Halloween memory?

by Emma Carr, Miguel Principe, Mary Lynne Loftus on

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When it comes to Halloween memories, everyone has had their share of tricks and treats. The McGill Tribune talked to students passing by the Y-Intersection about their spine-tingling, sugar-filled, sentimental recollections of Halloweens past.

(Gabriel Helfant/ The McGill Tribune)

Sophie Sklar, U0 Arts

“[I remember] always carving a pumpkin. That was like, the big shabang with all of my cousins. [Also] trick-or-treating. All the kids on my block would dress in a group costume, and then we would drive to the rich [neighbourhoods] to get full-sized candy bars.”

(Gabriel Helfant / The McGill Tribune)

Kevin Judras, U3 Psychology

“My favourite Halloween memories are with my father. [We would] get some [pumpkins], carve them up, and give candy to children.”

(Gabriel Helfant / The McGill Tribune)

Taylor Burnett, U2 Anthropology

“My mom used to do group Halloween costumes for me and my siblings. For three years in a row, she was Cruella de Vil and me and my little sisters were all dalmatian puppies. [101 Dalmatians] was one of my favourite movies, so I appreciate that she put in effort. She walked me and my twin and my younger sister around the neighbourhood in our little dog costumes.”

(Gabriel Helfant / The McGill Tribune)

Vishwaa Ramkrishnan, U0 Arts

“[I love] Kit Kat bars. [I remember] digging through candy [bags] for Kit Kat bars. Once the Kit Kat bars are [gone], basically Halloween is over. Nowadays I don’t go trick-or-treating as much, I just steal [Kit Kats] off my sister.”

(Gabriel Helfant / The McGill Tribune)

Milton Calderon, U2 International Development and Economics

“My friend Josh and I […] we would go around the neighborhood with our bag and collect candy. It was sweet. Sometimes we would give out candy. I remember one time I was a zombie and I cut my shirt and my sisters painted my face, so that was chill.”

Sanchit Gupta, U2 Ecnomics

“A bunch of my friends, we went to a house that never celebrates Halloween […] and rang the doorbell and sprinted down the street. [The owner of the house] got in his car and followed us. After that, we never went back there.”

(Gabriel Helfant / The McGill Tribune)

Harriet Yan, U3 Physiology

“One year, my best friend and I dressed up as giant babies and it was the best Halloween ever. That was when we were in high school. It was a really silly costume and we had a lot of fun. We got a lot of weird looks from people in public because we went to school in them.”

Off the Board, Opinion

Maybe it wasn’t the wind: In defence of ghost stories

by April Barrett on

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Last summer, amid the shelves of children’s novels in my house, I found a book titled 101 Ways to Find a Ghost by Melissa Martin Ellis. As someone who has always explored and enjoyed anything related to the paranormal, I dove into it. What I found most odd about the book was its meticulous, scientific approach to “ghost hunting.” Ellis imparts some advice in the opening chapter: “Your credibility as a paranormal investigator relies on maintaining your objectivity. Critics and skeptics believe that most ghost hunters are unreliable. Ghost hunters are often labeled as fantasy prone personalities—people who like to make things up.”

I love hearing ghost stories, and I’ve always approached sightings of ghosts and other supernatural phenomena with a curious skepticism. I like to ask questions that could explain occurrences in the story (maybe it was just the wind?), but feel a satisfying sensation of eeriness when there appears to be no explanation. The most horrifying ghost stories I’ve heard have often been from people close to me; objective proof is a difficult concept to insert into this dynamic. My belief in ghosts relies on a certain kind of knowledge, one that is not scientific at all, and is in fact, entirely subjective; it requires me to believe in other people. This kind of knowledge is different from the measurable evidence that Ellis looks for, but that doesn’t make it any less true.

The supernatural and paranormal could be analyzed through a scientific, evidence-based framework and likely, if tested, ghost sightings would prove no conclusive result. But it’s more valuable to view them as folklore. Folklore is defined by Merriam Webster as “traditional customs, tales, sayings, dances, or art forms preserved among a people.” Today, Reddit threads and Tumblr blogs discussing sightings of Skinwalkers (creatures of Navajo legend) and black-eyed kids (aliens, most likely) are modern communities of people sharing knowledge through anecdotes and word of mouth. These communities value sensory perception as a way of knowing, and oral history as a record of that knowledge. The channels to impart and gain this kind of knowledge aren’t official, and they certainly aren’t considered legitimate or respectable from an academic standpoint. Still, as folklore has always done, these stories reveal a certain kind of truth. They are a form of expression for people to relate experiences, feelings, and perceptions of their lives that are real despite being unscientific.

Believing in ghosts requires me to take the stories that people tell me at face value. It’s a trust in the idea that other people’s perception might yield something valuable. Hearing these stories out also requires an understanding that reality itself is shaped by multiple perspectives, and can be analyzed through many frameworks. Even if someone may be seeing something that isn’t objectively there, they’re still seeing something. To try to explore the meaning or possibility behind that something, instead of just discounting it because I haven’t experienced it myself, is a validating and mind-opening exercise.

Enjoying a ghost story—and suspending your disbelief—is all about getting comfortable with ambiguity. It’s about giving over to the fear of the unknown.

Of course, there will always be people who intentionally lie or try to profit off of others’ beliefs. As such, when collecting qualitative information, one must remain skeptical. Moreover, it is important to distinguish science from folklore. These two ways of knowing can intertwine, and even benefit from each other, but ultimately, they serve different purposes.

Still, Ellis’s words suggest that people who have experienced something considered abnormal are required to prove themselves in order to be believed. Even more so, what Ellis reveals is that most people are highly uncomfortable with what they can’t explain. Enjoying a ghost story—and suspending your disbelief—is all about getting comfortable with ambiguity. It’s about giving over to the fear of the unknown.

So this Halloween, instead of looking outward for proof of ghosts, try looking inward, at your own perception of the world around you. As Stephen King said in his introduction to the 2001 edition of The Shining: “[The] truth is that monsters are real, and ghosts are real, too. They live inside us, and sometimes they win.”

Happy Halloween!

 

April Barrett is in her final semester studying Anthropology and World Cinemas. She is the Multimedia Editor at the Tribune. I hear her hair's insured for $10,000.

 

 

@mcgilltribop | [email protected]

 

 
Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

A&E Halloween special: the best horror movies for all your niche spook-season needs

by Christina Stackpole, Virginia Shram, Jordan Foy on

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With Christmas family-comedy season beginning to rear its cringey head, our writers prescribe four horror classics to keep your spook-levels up all year round.

Horror Movie with the Best Female Leads: Ginger Snaps (2000)

 

 

In a genre littered with disturbing representations of women, Ginger Snaps offers a unique portrayal of meaningful and complex female relationships, and an examination of the bonds of sisterhood. Ginger and Brigitte Fitzgerald (Katharine Isabelle and Emily Perkins) are teenaged sisters attached at the hip—snarky loners with a macabre sense of humour and a fascination with death. However, when Ginger gets her first period and is subsequently attacked by a werewolf, she begins a monstrous physical and psychological transformation—and it is up to Brigitte to save her sister.

Ginger Snaps is a fearless, sharp, and truly important feminist contribution to the horror genre—complete with excellent special effects, beautiful art direction, and a darkly-comedic script. Isabelle and Perkins are standouts as the film’s feisty heroines. Director John Fawcett (Orphan Black) forgoes sexist stereotypes—instead delivering a scathing commentary on the impossible double-standard of purity and sexual experience, society’s fear of powerful women, and the stigma against menstruation. If you’re on the hunt for a great creature feature with some pitch-black humor and hard-hitting social commentary, look no further.

Horror Movie That Will Make You Want to Never Have Kids: Dark Water (2002)

 

 

If you’re ever considering having children, look no further than the age-old “creepy child” horror film to squash that desire once and for all. Perhaps no subgenre does it better than Japanese ghost stories, most notably in Dark Water. Don’t be turned off by the shoddy American remake—the original Dark Water is a modern horror milestone. Directed by Hideo Nakata (Ringu, 1998), Dark Water is a chilling melodrama about a divorced mother who moves into a derelict apartment building with her young daughter, only to be haunted by inexplicable ghostly activity involving water and a mysterious young girl.

Nakata combines genuinely unnerving images with an emotionally resonant story about failed motherhood, abandonment, and breaking traditional family roles. Most of Dark Water’s terror stems from the expertly-crafted atmosphere, which Nakata accomplishes through his use of cool tones and sepia coloring, and jarring cinematography. Even in the lulls between scares, the film’s pervasive sense of dread and isolation keeps viewers tightly in its clutches until the very end.

The child-ghost is an ominous reminder of the consequences of neglectful parenting and cycles of abuse. Impeccably produced, superbly written, and frighteningly relevant, Dark Water is a challenging tear-jerker that will appeal both to horror connoisseurs and those more hesitant to dip their toes into the genre.

Best Date Night Horror Movie: Paranormal Activity (2007)

 

 

Paranormal Activity is the perfect date night horror movie—combining thrills, innovative filmmaking techniques, and a compelling story. Oren Peli’s low-budget film uses a found-footage style to tell the story of couple Micah and Katie, the latter of whom has suffered from strange inexplicable occurrences throughout her life. Micah’s attempt to get to the bottom of this results in a clash with the supernatural forces that are haunting Katie. The experiences faced by the couple push their relationship to the edge.

The good thing about Paranormal Activity is that it’s not too scary; there are enough thrills to make for a solid bonding experience between you and your date, without the risk of  losing any sleep. Paranormal Activity also offers good post-film discussions, and there’s a plethora of ‘did you see that’ moments to chat about once the movie ends. Plus, film nerds will appreciate the impressive special effects given the movie’s low-budget.  

Don’t judge Paranormal Activity by the series of mediocre sequels it spawned—the original is truly a classic.

Best horror movie drinking game: The ABC’s of Death (2012)

 

 

Can’t decide on a movie? Preparing for a Halloween bash? The ABC’s of Death is the modern equivalent of clicking through creepy YouTube videos as a preteen at a 2-a.m. slumber party and eventually landing on “Scary Car Commercial.” By no means a critically-acclaimed film, it is nonetheless rowdy, indulgent, bloody fun. The movie is composed of shorts, each corresponding to one of 26 words starting with each letter from A-Z. Since the anthology is a collaboration  between 26 different directors, there’s something for everyone in varying levels of dread—including classic paranoia, body-horror, gore, slasher, and even comedy.

The ABC’s of Death’s segmented structure makes it a great Halloween party movie, and also perfect for drinking games. The rules: Each person has the length of the short to guess the word that characterizes the segment. Each person can only guess once, and after being claimed, that answer is locked in and off the table for anyone else. There’s advantage to an early guess, but slightly more risk. If you guess correctly, everyone else drinks twice. If everyone gets it wrong, everyone drinks once. If anyone screams prematurely, they have to have a bonus sip.

Science & Technology

Five spooky animals to keep you up at night

by Emma Gillies on

More in Science & Technology:

Halloween and creepy creatures go hand in hand, but there’s more to the animal kingdom than the generic vampire bat or black cat. Here are five spooky animals to get you in the Halloween spirit:

 

Tufted deer

Found in the mountainous forests of China, Tibet, and Myanmar, the tufted deer is a dainty and elusive animal characterized by a small tuft of black fur on its forehead.  At first glance, it looks like any other deer—until you notice their fangs. Males have protruding canines, known as tusks, that they use as weapons when competing for territories or females. Though females also have canines, they aren’t as long.

This physical difference between the sexes—called sexual dimorphism—may have been brought about by  sexual selection, an evolutionary pressure that acts on an organism’s features, and thus, the ability of an organism to mate.

Despite their fangs, these vampire-like deer must still be careful of predators, and are endangered due to poaching and habitat loss.

 

Marine hatchetfish

These sea creatures live in most temperate waters around the world. Their large eyes that are very sensitive to light lead them to migrate to shallower waters at night and return to deeper depths during the day, where they hunt by looking for the silhouettes of their prey above them. Through the process of bioluminescence, these organisms create their own light. Using photophores—or light emitting organs that cause bioluminescence—many deep-sea ocean dwellers are able to survive in the deep dark ocean. Since they can live at depths of up to 1,370 metres, not much is known about the deep-sea hatchetfish—aside from the fact that they look like they’re about to suck out your soul.

 

Vampire finch

A subspecies of the sharp-beaked ground finch that is found in the Galapagos Islands, the vampire finch has developed an unusual behaviour to supplement its diet when seeds and insects are scarce; it picks at the feathers and drinks the blood of the blue-footed booby—a larger bird that inhabits the Islands. They have even been known to do so in large groups. In addition, vampire finches often eat other birds’ eggs by rolling them onto rocks so that they break.

Their behaviour is not as evil as it seems, however—nipping at other bird’s feathers is actually an example of a mutualistic relationship, in which both species benefit from the actions of the other. The finch is able to take in more nutrients, and in the process, remove parasites from the booby’s feathers.

 

Aye-aye

The aye-aye is found only on the island of Madagascar. A species of lemur, they are thought to be the only primate to use echolocation—he use of sound waves and echoes to determine where objects are in space—to find prey. They spend their lives in the trees and have an elongated middle finger to dig grubs out of holes in trees, and thus fill the same ecological niche as a woodpecker. Their large eyes and long, spindly fingers do make them look a little creepy; unfortunately, some locals in Madagascar kill the aye-aye because of legends that paint them to be evil spirits.

The aye-aye allegedly sneaks into the homes of nearby villagers and uses its elongated middle finger to pierce through their hearts while they sleep. The fact that the species is completely unafraid of humans does not help their cause.

 

Assassin spider

Assassin spiders, otherwise known as pelican spiders, are made to kill. Though they are slow rather than stealthy, their long neck and chelicerae—fang-bearing segments that are found on all spiders and allow them to inject venom—enable them to sink their jaws into prey from a relatively long distance. They were first discovered in 40-million-year-old fossils and were presumed to have gone extinct, until they were discovered in Madagascar in 1881. They have since been found in South Africa and Australia.

Humans don’t have to be worried about these creepy crawlies—but other spiders do. They don’t weave a web, hanging instead on a single line of silk at night and impaling wandering spiders with their jaws.

While these animals are all quite spooky, it’s important to remember that their scientific significance is not confined to Halloween scares. Their bizarre traits are the result of millions of years of evolution, and they each play a vital role in nature.

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