UBCevents

One of the highlights of being on campus during the summer months is the UBC Blueberry festival. It’s four days of yummy blueberry goodness from freshly-made blueberry pancakes to straight-up blueberry eating. There was even a blueberry tart eating contest! I didn’t enter, but I did enjoy a delicious blueberry tart.

Opening day was a little quiet. CiTR was setting up their live broadcasting table, and Steve Golob, the residence chef for Vanier was being interview by Brenda Grunau, the station manager at CiTR, before his live cooking demonstration. But as the clock struck noon, the lunch hour rush hit, and the blueberry scones, pancakes, blitzes, which is a crepe stuffed with blueberries and cream cheese, tarts, muffins, polenta cakes and crumbles were quickly snapped up.

Overall, the opening day of the Blueberry Fest had more of a blueberry bake sale feeling, but I’m sure the Family Day portion lived up to its festival name.

Sarah, Liam, and Lu (cameraman) headed down to the UBC Farm for their annual Joy of Feeding fundraiser. They got a chance to chat with the cooks and ran into Vancouver Mayor, Gregor Robertson!

Sarah and Liam headed to a few of the spring congregation ceremonies happening at UBC Vancouver and decided to ask our new grads a few questions.

Before coming into UBC Theatre’s performance of Macbeth, I was quite curious of how the production would compare with my preconceived understanding of the story. From my experience viewing Shakespeare plays by various theatre troupes, modern interpretations have usually resonated with me more than traditional ones have. Although UBC Theatre’s portrayal of the story was traditional in nature, it pleasantly surprised me with it’s skillfully staged and accurate depictions of this bloody tale.

Sitting in the audience, I felt an odd mix of pity and anger for the character, while lady Macbeth, played by Christine Bortolin, tried to wash the blood from her hands and desperately cried “out spot, out”. Meanwhile, human vulnerability to power and our own mind is clearly illustrated through her husband’s character of Macbeth, played by Alexander Keurvorst.

A twist on the relationship between the witches and Macbeth kept me on my toes until the end of the play, as they appeared in the form of his conflicting conscience. The live bagpipe music throughout the play completely submerged the audience into the story and helped them connect with the characters’ states. The director, Patrick New, made each character in the play memorable, regardless of the role’s scope, making them an invaluable part of the play.

It is fair to say that the story’s most important lessons were inexplicitly yet vividly conveyed to the audience through cleaver twists, scene selection and the wonderful acting of the UBC Theatre troupe. I salute the actors in succeeding to evoke contradicting emotions in the audience that Shakespeare perhaps intended the viewers to feel.

The play is on from now until March 31st at the Frederic Wood Theatre. You can purchase your tickets here.

Lee Johnson, Keyanna Burgher, and Lu Zhang with George Stroumboulopoulos.

For the past two years we’ve been producing weekly videos that highlight upcoming events at UBC. Since January 2011 we’ve had the pleasure of having a regular hosts for our videos – Angela Jung, Lee Johnson, and Keyanna Burgher. It’s the end of the term and we’re looking for a host for the summer months (Lee and Keyanna are heading home, but will be back in September).

The UBCevents host will film minimum one video per week during the summer (May 1st – August 31st) with the opportunity to continue from September – April 2013. The successful applicant will also get access to several special events throughout the year when filming opportunities arise. Time commitment is max. 5 hours per week.

Eligibility:

Applicant must be a current UBC student.

To Apply:

Upload a video of yourself on YouTube expressing why you want to be the next host of UBCevents. Email the link to your video and a short bio to info.events@ubc.ca by Friday, April 20th, 2012.

Please note that this is a volunteer position. The successful candidate will start in the first full week of May.

For questions about the UBCevents Video Host position, please contact jamil.rhajiak@ubc.ca.

Are you talented at Twitter?

This contest is open to all members of the UBC Community: staff, students, faculty, residents, alumni and even people that have a general interest in UBC.

Here are the details:

On March 29th, UBC will host UBC’s Got Talent, a variety show showcasing various talent within the UBC community. Tickets to the event can be purchased at the Bookstore.

Winners receive two tickets valued at ten dollars to the event. They can claim tickets at the box office the day of the event.

Here’s how to play:

• RT @ubcevents whenever we tweet out info about @ubcgottalent and follow us to enter
• One entry per person regardless of the number of tweets.
• We will draw the winner by latest Sunday, March 25th.

Winners: Make sure you check your Twitter Sunday night or Monday morning or we will give away your ticket. You must email info.events@ubc.ca with your name and number.

That’s it! Happy Tweeting!