Currently listening to: “French Navy” – Camera Obscura
AMS election voting starts today and continues through the week (Jan 25-29)! Go out and exercise your democratic rights lest you wish to waive your right to complain about anything else AMS that happens over the next year.
But first, a sprinkling of accolades and snark to hand out, based on the candidates’ performances thus far…
Wit and Words:
I am rather disappointed that puns and wordplay ran few and far in between! What happened to the creative minds at work here? A snappy and intriguing catchphrase always makes a good first impression. While fully understanding some candidates’ preference of staying staid and professional, the sprightly capriciousness of a well-crafted statement which allows personality to shine through never fails to impress. In this case, VP Admin candidate Michael Haack‘s “I’m a Haack!” pun is oh so painful and thus oh so painfully fantastic. Moving on. Following closely behind in terms of unorthodox wordplay, I wouldn’t go quite as far as to call presidential candidate Pak Ho Leung’s platform eloquent (indeed, I have no idea if the fellow’s serious), but the conversational style he’s presented himself in is absolutely hilarious. Thus, bonus points for daring creativity and populist rhetoric. Opportunities passed up: Presidential candidate Natalie Swift officially needs more headdesk-worthy puns based upon her last name.
Colour Me Impressed (And Then Some):
Websites and posters and holy gods of design geekery! The scroll-through user-friendliness of VP Academic candidate Ben Cappellacci’s website is brilliant, as are his posters. Absolutely splendidly designed; almost Lomography-esque in their eye-catching simplicity. Many, many props. VP External candidate Jeremy McElroy’s website is an absolutely breathtaking sight to behold. Splendid mastery of the colour green, not to mention those PDFs. Presidential candidate Bijan Ahmadian’s website is extremely impressive, what with buttons and pop-ups and frames and technological savviness all around. However, FONTS, people! Fonts can make or break any website design, as the fine people over at Clients from Hell can attest. The header with blobby font must go. Other fine examples of design include VP Academic candidate Rodrigo Ferrari-Nunes’ posters. Very effective use of b&w – keeping it classy.
Sweater Vest Incarnation to Rival Stephen Harper’s:
[I apologize in advance for the superficiality of the following paragraph. But by Jove, I am curious!]
What is it about election campaigning that draws out the sweaters, sweater vests, and the argyle? I am no AMS Confidential, so there shan’t be compare-and-contrast pictures of Harper and the candidates, but there has been a good number of sweaters (and not just incumbent VP External Tim Chu’s usual attire of decidedly comfortable-looking fuzzy sweaters). Board of Governors candidate Guillaume Houle was spotted in the AUS office in a green-and-grey argyle sweater; rumour has it that VP External candidate Stas Pavlov has been sporting argyle sweater vests in a myriad of colours, while VP Admin candidate Michael Haack’s website features him in similar attire. An attempt to look more personable, as a certain prime minister attempted, or a serious sartorial consideration (and possible cause for concern)?
A Sublime Example of Parody:
VP External candidate Aaron Palm’s campaign is a stellar example of how satire should be done- bold, in-your-face, accompanied by spiffy .jpgs. This entire section is thus dedicated to Mr. Palm’s excellent parody of the Grand Ole’ Party, Tea Parties, gun-slinging-mud-slinging, Sarah Palin, representing mav’riks all across Amurrika UBC.
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So go VOTE! Even better, vote and then tell nine people, who will tell nine people…
