6 THE VOICE, WEDNESDAY, NOV. 25, 2015

EDITOR TONY SU

lewpoints

Rookie

carries
UBC

e’ve all heard the news by
Wi: the UBC Thunderbirds

football team is heading to
its first Vanier Cup in 17 years.

They accomplished this on the
shoulders of “freshman” quarter-
back, Michael O’Connor. The NCAA
recruit has single-handedly turned
UBC into a championship-calibre
team.

I put “freshman” in quotes
because the Penn State transfer is
anything but fresh. O’Connor is a
first-year student at UBC but comes
with a wealth of football experience.

Not only did O’Connor train with
the team at Penn State for a season,
he also played high school football at
the prestigious
IMG Academy in
Florida, whose
alumni include
NFL stars Russell
Wilson and Cam
Newton.

*,
ey
—

be = A typical

a bE Canadian

OPI N ON university
football team has

KEVINUNDERHILE = over 40 players.

And as much as

the program
doesn’t want to admit it, their
sudden success really just comes
down to one player.

This is a clear indication of how
far behind Canadian university
football is compared to American
college football. This sounds like a
fun experiment more teams should
try: recruit an NCAA freshman,
throw him a Canadian university
team and watch them vault from a
2-6 season to a Vanier Cup berth.

The T-birds routed the University
of Manitoba Bisons in the Canada
West semi-finals, and then defeated
the No. 1 ranked University of
Calgary Dinos in the Hardy Cup
before running all over St. Francis
Xavier in the Uteck Bowl last
weekend.

O’Connor threw for almost 300
yards per game in his rookie season,
good for 90 more average yards than
UBC’s quarterback in 2014, Carson
Williams. He threw 20 touchdown
passes and rushed for two more,
absolutely blowing out last year’s
UBC statistics.

A freshman putting up these
kinds of numbers is astounding.
Let’s not forget, O’Connor has four
more years in the blue and gold.

We all know there is no “I” in
team but without O’Connor, there’d
be no T-Birds in the Vanier Cup.

We want to hear from you

Got a different point of view?
Write to us.
Problems with something we've said?
Let us know.
Think we got a fact wrong?
Tellus.

Journalisin instructor

Erica Bulman oversees

The Voice. Email her at
ebulman@langara.be.ca

Music player overpriced

$500 splurge for Neil Young’s

PonoPlayer is too expensive

for most audiophiles, let

alone average music-listen-
ers.

When I first learned that Young
had founded PonoMusic and created
the PonoPlayer more than a year
ago, I was excited.

Young, one of
Canada’s most
revered and
controversial
artists, is a notori-

in |
ous audiophile. a
He’s also an b 4
outspoken critic
on the degrada- 0 Pl N 10 N
tion of audio BEN BENGTSON
quality in the

MP3 age, which is
something he has claimed reduces
the entire medium.

To my mind, Young’s neurosis and

attention to detail is what makes his
artistry so fascinating. In a musical
culture dominated by quick-fix
music streaming services and
singles, he believes there should be
a place for sonically superior,
full-length albums.

The PonoPlayer, which has been
available in the U.S. since the
beginning of the year and just saw a
release in Canada, could have been a
breath of fresh air.

Sadly, price is going to bea
barrier for audiophiles who want to
give Pono a chance. Apathy from the
wider mainstream might be what
kills it.

It’s true that the Toblerone-
shaped Pono has great sound. The
device can support different
uncompressed, lossless formats and,
ideally, play back music as close to
studio-level quality as possible. But
realistically, the vast majority of

music listeners won’t be able to
notice a difference, nor will they
perhaps even care.

The Pono is an expensive niche
product, especially considering most
people listen to music on their
smartphones anyway.

Likewise, for those audiophiles
that might actually want to give
Pono’s sonic superiority a chance,
$500 for the Pono ~ plus up to $20 per
high-quality album online —is a
steep price.

Young has claimed he wants Pono
to give a superior music listening
experience back to the people. But
the device is only suited for the
wealthy, and it’s far away from
giving music back to everyone. Pono
has a long way to go before the
device and PonoMusic’s catalogue of
high-fidelity audio can reach the
masses.

SEAN LEE comic

Anonymous artists get fair opportunity

Ihe anonymous art show on
| Bow Shore is a significant
event for artists trying to make
names for themselves.

The eleventh
Anonymous Art
Show at the
CityScape
Community Art
Space, sponsored
by the North
Vancouver
Community Arts
Council, provides
the mystery of
not knowing who
is the genius
behind each
painting. It could potentially be the
painting that launches the artist into

OPINION

TONY SU

stardom. The biggest draw for
artists is that people are paying for
the painting that they resonate with
and not the name tagged with
canvas. It’s a great confidence
booster for the unmotivated painters
who believe they won’t have a
successful art career because their
name or art hasn’t had any expo-
sure. I have many friends who
consider themselves “not an
established” artist, and they'll be
delighted to hear about this perfect
outlet to share their creations.
Although this doesn’t mean they can
start making a living, it’s an oppor-
tunity to make connections with
other artists and the buyers.

There is a $45 membership fee to
join the anonymous art show for

artists, but it’s definitely worth the
shot if it means getting your artwork
out to the world.

Of all the great things, the show
doesn’t have an age restriction,
painters range from six to 75 years
old. The creativity is unimaginable.

The audience should be excitied
because they can see the difference
work from a developing and mature
mind. The artwork varies from
simple to complex to goofy for
instance, a cow, staring at you.

The paintings are small 8x 8
inches and cost $100, $50 for the
organizers and $50 for the artist, it’s
a bit steep for a small painting. In
the end it’s not about the money, but
the unconventional path toward
exposure.

Fil fay ce)

The Voice is
published by Langara
College's journalism
department. Editorial
opinions are those
of the staff and are
independent of
views of the student
government and
administration. We
welcome letters to
the editor. They may
be edited for brevity.
Your letter must
include your name
and phone number.

HOW TO REACH US
PHONE
604-323-5396

FAX
604-323-5398

E-MAIL
thevoice@langara.bc.ca

DROP-IN

Room A226
Langara College
There is a mailbox at
the entrance to the
journalism rooms.

SNAIL MAIL

The Voice

100 West 49th Ave.
Vancouver, B.C.
V5Y 226

WEBSITE

wwwiangaravoice.ca

EDITORIAL STAFF

MANAGING EDITOR
Alex Hoegler

CITY EDITOR
Dustin Godfrey

CITY DESKER
Bailey Nicholson

PAGE EDITORS
PAGE 1

Xiao Xu

PAGE 2

James Smith

PAGE 3
Bryan McGovern

PAGE 4
Jocelyn Aspa

PAGE 5

Erin Boe

PAGE 7
Ethan Reyes

PAGE 8
Sara Rabey

MANAGING
WEB EDITOR

Anna Dimoff

COPY EDITORS

Kelvin Gawley
Owen Munro

COPY/WEB EDITOR
Mona Butler
Tanya Commisso

SOCIAL MEDIA
EDITOR
Michael Lylyk

REPORTERS
Ben Bengtson
Jake Costello
Scott Drake
Rumana Dsouza
Jason Hamilton
Murray B. Hunt
Sean Lee

Vincent Matak
Rosemary Newton
Serena Patter
Nancy Plechaty
Seyedmostafa Raziei
Kate Richardson
Anne-Sophie Rocet
Mark Stuart

Kevin Underhill
Tessa Vikander
Bridgette Watson
Julia Wickham
Kathryn Wu

Contact
us:

Online at
langaravoice.ca

Twitter:
@LangaraVoice