I am the lead writer and editor of ArtsWIRE, an online publication with news and views from the Faculty of Arts at the University of British Columbia. Content consists of feature stories, audio podcasts and videos.
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Captain's log. Stardate 140206. I am. Not. Repeat, not. Boldly. Going where. No man has gone before.
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Published in The Calgary Herald on June 30, 2009 CALGARY – We fit? Well, somewhat, but most of us live a fairly sedentary lifestyle. And so with the new trend of exergaming –the genre of fitness video games–kinesiologists in Calgary see an opportunity to get kids twitching more than just their thumbs. Canada’s first Exergaming Research Centre was unveiled Thursday in hopes of having an impact on youth fitness and even dealing with the growing incidence of child obesity in Canada. It is located at Calgary’s Foundations for the Future Academy southwest campus, in a collaboration between the University of Calgary and Mount Royal College. “Our hope is to try to connect exergaming to the acquisition of fundamental movement skills,” said lead researcher Dwayne Sheehan, a professor at MRC and a PhD student at the U of C. “Can we develop skills like balance? Laterality? Reaction time? Agility? If we...
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* This article originally appeared in my weekly tech column, Of Mice and Men, and was published on Feb. 27, 2009 For whom the digital bell tolls: Satellite radio on its deathbed Nick Lewis, Canwest News Service: Friday, February 27, 2009 Satellite radio. Photo Credit: Handout, Files The corpse of satellite radio is twitching a while longer. Colorado-based conglomerate Liberty Media last week offered the merged Sirius XM radio corporation up to $530 million in loans to pay off immediately owed convertible bonds. Those loans have staved off Sirius XM having to file for bankruptcy this week, but there's no telling how long the debt collectors will tap their feet waiting on the $3.25 billion they're due. In the eight years since the advent of satellite radio, neither Sirius nor XM posted a profitable year, and teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, the death of the merged company may soon...
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Published on Mon, 09 Feb 2009 in The Calgary Herald. HOMETOWN HERO? Follow Our Mission To Have A Calgary Landmark Named After Stoner Icon Tommy Chong And why not? Why not reward the world's most famous pot-smoking high-school dropout by naming a street in Calgary after him? He's Tommy Chong! And love him or hate him, you know who he is without searching Wikipedia! Can you say that about James Macleod? John Laurie? Cornelius 17th Avenue? I think not. Although he was born in Edmonton and came to fame in Vancouver, comedian-actor-musician Tommy Chong spent most of his formative years in Calgary. Face it Calgary, you made Tommy Chong who he is. Don't shy away now. Chong is a counterculture hero and a champion to those who believe in the decriminalization of marijuana. Along with partner Cheech Marin, he popularized the comedy album and invented the now-ubiquitous stoner comedy genre...
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Published in The Calgary Herald on Jan. 22, 2009. The best-selling, most Grammy nominated music artist of 2008 blazed through frigid Calgary on Thursday night, Lil Wayne igniting the Saddledome crowd with a shower of pyrotechnics and an incendiary rap set roaring with favourites. From the opening salvo of Mr. Carter to the booming 808 on A Milli, the New Orleans rapper who claims to be "allergic to wintertime" kept things hot for the thousands of teens filling the air with a blanket of skunky smoke, singing along to every word as if a musical pledge of allegiance. "I got three things to say," Weezy addressed the crowd early with. "First, I believe in God, do you? Second, I ain't (expletive) without you, so give yourselves a hand. And third, I ain't (expletive) without you, so give yourself a hand." His deft wordplay, staccato flow and scratchy sing-song drawl have...
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Published on Canada.com and The Calgary Herald on Dec. 4, 2008. It's the most wonderful time of the year, Andy Williams sang in 1963, and that was well before the video game industry hijacked the season and made it all the more so. Much like Hollywood, the gaming industry saves its best fare for the weeks leading into Christmas. It's an ideal arrangement on all sides, as game companies try to boost their revenues before year's end, and us gamers prepare to hibernate indoors for a few months. But not all these releases are as good as advertised, and in a year when money is tight you'll want to make informed purchases. That's why we're here to help. If you're in the market for a video game, we'd like to help you find the perfect title to while away the winter months. We considered 2008 releases on all the major...
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By Nick Lewis Published in The Calgary Herald on November 18, 2008 They sold more than 70 million records between 1988 and 1994, about as many as Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen have over their entire careers. They charted countless No. 1 hits, sold out arenas across the world, and had their mugs plastered on everything from lunch boxes to, well, mugs. When the inevitable backlash came, the pressure crashed in and broke them up. Fourteen years later, the world's biggest boy band is back together, and Donnie Wahlberg for one is having a blast with New Kids on the Block. "I don't really get caught up in successes and I don't harp on failures, but the timing has been impeccable," the 39-year-old says during a sound check in Salt Lake City. "Each member of the group in some way deserves credit for that. Not for the timing itself, because...
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