Tag Archives: guillaume houle

Yet More Debates: Snoozefest

Day Four of debates took a huge turn away from yesterday’s barely-disguised sexual tension to… a total snoozefest.  Seriously.  Most disappointing was that Blake Frederick (running for BoG) and Michael Haack (VP Admin) didn’t even attend. Apparently Blake was having health problems (or was just plain tired, or both) and Michael was visiting family.  Too tragic, as our BF’s presence could have completed a Sean-proxy/Guillaume/Blake argyle trifecta.  All the debates suffered from a lack of competitors and audience interest, and the whole thing was over in an hour.

The only even vaguely amusing part of this whole thing was when Guillaume said that if the university tried to push past something unpopular with students, he’d be up in arms! and simultaneously raised his arms. Really.  That was it.  And I put in a corresponding amount of effort:

Photo opportunities with the life-sized cardboard cutout of Sean were also available, so now Crystal Hon has embarrassing pictures of us OH SHEEEEIIIIIIIITTTTT

Later today: better material.

A Life Size Dreamboat!

Well, today was a little more exciting. Hottie Ekat squared off against Michael in a rather dull debate of generic answers (apparently- this editor was running a little late). Do Me Now Duncan asked the candidates to show some personality, in which Ekat stood up and tried her hardest to garner enthusiasm from the crowd, whereas Michael just tried to re-emphasize his previous points. These candidates are quite different; Michael is studying political science/philosophy, put the words “Let’s Rock This Shit” on his posters, and was wearing plaid. Ekat is a Commerce student who wants to “Build a Better AMS” and was channelling her inner Blair Waldorf with a fabulous peacock headband. Hopefully tomorrow’s debates will allow us to tell the candidates apart a bit better and deem one a dreamboat.

Then came the Board of Governors debate. Guillaume was rocking a crisp suit, Azim was channelling his inner frat boy and Bijan with a pullover, Blake was wearing his classic camouflage (khaki green and khaki), and Sean Heisler was looking radiant in real life. Yes, Sean Heisler couldn’t be at the debate (he’s debating in Winnipeg) so he sent a LIFE SIZE CUT OUT OF HIMSELF along with a proxy. If that’s not sexy, we’re not sure what is. These editors are sswwwooonnning with love, especially after saying that “Defying Gravity” is his campaign theme song (Wicked! Glee! Love!!). Such a dreamboat.

The Board of Governor’s debate was definitely the most interesting, though this editor was still a little bored. Here are some interesting quotes, and we definitely recommend coming out to see the continuation: VP Admin, VP Finance, & Board of Governors Debate in the Norm Theatre, 12-130pm.

The notion that the relationship between the AMS and the University is somehow damaged is absolutely ridiculous.
-Blake Frederick

I violate my values on a daily basis. (crowd erupts in awkward laughter)
-Blake Frederick

I would like to see sprouts growing.
-Rodrigo Ferrari-Nunes on what he would like to see at UBC if he had a magic wand as VP Academic

We’d love to see some more personality from the candidates, so please, stop playing it safe.

Also! We received our first fan mail today! A former dreamboat and current candidate made us a UNICORN HORN. That’s adjustable. We’re currently accepting other kinds of love (ahem, endorsements hey?).

Our campaign guide: First Batch of Surveys

Sunday evening, we sent out surveys to every candidate we could think of, and as of today we’ve received ten back. The love is… palpable? Based on this barely acceptable sample size, here are your aggregated commonalities for AMS electoral candidates:

Our editorial staff has no math majors.

Favorite Board Game: Settlers of Catan
Favorite Monty Python Member: John Cleese
Consensus on skinnydipping, naked high dive: Have done, would do again
Leno or Conan: They’re all with Coco
Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie: Angelina
UN Complaints: none yet
Flow chart results: Johannes/Mike Duncan even split

Funniest: Sean
Shortest: Joël
Nicest: Ekat
Most Apologetic: Alyssa (who was, we understand, sick)
Most Into It: Brittany

After the jump, selected highlights from all the surveys we’ve received so far.  Candidates are grouped according to their position.

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Aaaand they’re off.

Day one after the announcement of candidates, and rumor has it

(and by ‘rumor’ I mean verifiable evidence plus the natural supposition that of course elections officials are in Panic Epic Work Mode at the moment)

that Chief Elections Officer & CEO of Our Hearts Isabel Ferreras has spent her morning off and on the phone to her staff.  Certainly we’ve already seen three—three!—BoG candidates drop out.  Goodbye, Peter Stein, AJ Hajir Hajian, and Nader Beyzaei—we hardly knew ye.

We’ve got the complete list for you after the break, but first, let’s take a little walk down quelle scandale potentiale lane, y’all.

The buzz at beer last night and brunch this morning was triplefold—quadruple if you count the cheap Gallery pitchers—but it boils down to this:

  1. Blake Frederick.  It’s been too easy lately to forget that our BF came into office as something of a golden boy, hailed by supporters and detractors alike both for his passionate commitment and political credentials.

    Happier times.  (Photo: Gerald Deo)

    And despite—or perhaps because of—the shitshow that’s marked his end of term, Frederick hasn’t given up the political life.  He’s thrown his hat into, in fact, three races—not only the usual Senate/BoG pairing, but also the Ubyssey’s Board of Directors.  This last is interesting considering that Frederick & our beloved campus publication are not what you’d call the best of friends.  There have been scathing editorials all round and a rather sudden crackdown on AMS communications policy getting in the way of good relations.  With all that history, one wonders what the Ubyssey Board could look like at this time next year—assuming, of course, that Frederick doesn’t disqualify himself by winning another race.

  2. The positions of interest. Although it’s not unusual to see BoG, Senate, and VP External attract a few more competitors than other positions, this year’s International Student Rep hopefuls are almost frighteningly numerous.  You guys know this position is non-voting, right?  (And Star, you know you submitted all materials without a last name, right? you do know? and it’s a thing? oh. cool.)  It’s also heartening to see two relative unknowns rounding out the Presidential nominees, although it makes hunting for pictures a heckuva lot harder.  Don’t even ask me about typing the tags up for this post.  RIDICULOUS.

    YOU SEE HOW I SUFFER FOR YOU

  3. The Elections Committee’s (presumed) accountability screed. One of the new features this year will be a PENALTY BOX on the Elections official website.  Isabel Ferreras is a formidable woman, as seen here:

    cower, puny candidates!! leg-biting will be penalized!

    and we have no doubt that she won’t hesitate to use this box, which purpose is to daily—publicly!—keep the voting public very aware of any and all “warnings, violations, infractions and penalties.” It’s a move we here at Fuzzy Kitten Unicorn Scandal are looking forward to a little too much, frankly.

BUT WHO ELSE is out there? here are the people we’ll be stalking bothering in the name of Fair Game Media Coverage for the next month:

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Last Night’s Whatever

Researchers say the G-spot doesn’t appear to exist.  Super-tragic!  However, there are still lots of fun things for you to play with from last night’s Council meeting—like these brand-spanking-new ballot-approved referenda:

  1. DESTROY ALL BLAKES
  2. DESTROY ALL TIMS
  3. “Engagement Levy”
  4. Fees Tied to CPI
  5. —fail—requires more signatures to get Slates
  6. Bylaw Amendments for Director Removal, etc.

And rumors abound of the following folks being tipped for nominations—although nothing’s in stone until Saturday’s meeting.  (If you know anything fun about one of them that’s not going to consitute a gross violation of privacy—past political efforts, charming policy predilections—do give us a shout.)

  • VP Academic: Rodrigo Ferrari-Nunes (former pres nominee plus a bunch of other involvement, Ben Cappellacci (psyduck lover, safewalk coordinator, marketing, DKE)
  • VP Admin: Ekat Dovjenko (Commerce rep, dangerous curves)
  • VP Finance: empty????
  • President: Natalie Swift (08-09 Forestry rep, VPX FUS, sexy plaid-wearer); Bijan Ahmadian (um… everything, “Persian Mario”)
  • VP External: Jeremy McElroy (Man of Arts, sexy DJ), Tim Chu (possible fallback career: go-go dancer?)
  • Undecided: Aaron Palm (joke candidate?, former silly VP Admin candidate)

But enough of this old news.  For what do you salivate, dear Ubyssey editorial staff readers?  oh yeah.  FASHION COUNCIL!!!1!!

Although Dylan Callow (Commerce kid-at-large) continued to represnt classy short coats & a general aura of healthy Canadian youth, I’m afraid it was the Arts kids who again swept our highly subjective grading system.  Tim Chu repeated a truly epic small-check collared shirt, which, combined with his ultra-soft grey sweater, managed to communicate both fantastic style and an aura of cuddliness. Plus, smaller man, layering up, always good.  Mitch Wright dialled it in with his usual hipster-casual, but points are awarded for finding the perfect mustard t-shirt to pair with one of the colors in your ubiquitous plaid.  Guillaume Houle‘s amazing buttery leathery grandpa shoes set our editors s-s-s-swooning, and Crystal Hon kindly pointed out to us that although she was wearing Uncharacteristic Pants (gasp!shock!) her top was Ella Moss.  Studded.  KNITWEAR WIN.