issue 13 // volume 43

No escape from reality

> ‘The Game of Life’ board game review

Ed Appleby
Illustrator

 

« I; this the real life? Is this

just fantasy?” - “Bohemian
Rhapsody” by Queen.

The Game of Life (1960) is a spin and
move board game designed by Reuben
Klamer and Bill Markham, and is based
on The Checkered Game of Life (1860),
one of the first parlour games designed
by Milton Bradley. In the game, players
spin a wheel and move their piece along a
board conveniently marked with their age,
during which they come across several
life events: get a job, get married, have
kids, buy a house, buy another house,
and retire. The winner is decided by who
has acquired the most stuff by the end.

The gameplay is boring. You are
railroaded onto a track with very little
variation, almost no decisions, and—
strangely—a bonus for being the first
to complete things. There is also a
very out of place gambling mini game.
The whole game revolves around luck,
just like life. Two out of five stars.

Choirs 1n Concert review

> Music department’s offering was impressively complex

Analyn Cuarto
Photographer

 

had an opportunity to see and hear the

Choirs of Douglas College at Choirs in
Concert, which was held by the Douglas
College Music Department on November
26, in the Laura C. Muir Performing Arts
Theatre, and conducted by Eric Hannan.
The choirs performed baroque music
by Bach, Buxtehude, Telemann, and
Charpentier, Standoford’s “Beati quorum
via,” Robinovitch’s “Noche de Llluvia,”
an arrangement of jazz standards, and
more. It was a beautiful concert, very
relaxing and uplifting. It is classically
elegant and sophisticated music.

I was extremely impressed by the
talented choir members from Douglas
College and community and their ability
to sing such a varied range of songs. The
concert started with the beautiful song,
“Noche de Lluvia” by Sid Robinovitch,
with both Choral and Chorus choir
members singing alongside the piano
accompaniment by Kylie Fonacier. It was
followed by a piece called “Beati quorum
via” by Charles Villiers Standford.

As I was standing there, taking
pictures while listening to the different
singers sing, I thought about how strong
and amazing their voices are, and how the
different voices combined and interacted
with each other to have a balanced,
clear, and soothing sound across the
corner of the whole theatre. I liked how,
when the choir was singing, different
parts would stop and other parts would
keep going, and then it would switch.

I think that this gave the performance
dimension, kept the audience’s mind
moving, and gave them something to
think about rather than just having the
entire choir sing for the whole time.

The music I really enjoyed
was a piece by Johann Sebastian
Bach called “Gute Nacht, o Wesen.”

And now for what I really think:
This game is nothing like life. Why can
only one player pick each job? Why do
I have to get married? Or buy a house?
Maybe I want to move to the city and
draw butts at 3 a.m.? Life is all about
the poor choices you make. And why
can’t my deadbeat spouse get a job?

This does bring up a few good things
about the game. One is the fact that you
are not forced to pick a wife or husband.
The colour of peg you put in the car next
to you matters very little. There have also
been updates over the years that have
made the game less brutal, and have
modernized the kind of jobs you can get.
So be careful which version you pick up.

That being said, Hasbro just released
a new edition of the game called The
Game of Life: Empire (2016) which adds
brands such as Levi’s, Xbox, and the Food
Network into the mix. So now, not only
can you play a game where you've been
forced down a life path you don’t want,
but you get actual invasive corporate
branding shoved right down your throat.

You know, just like real life.

However, I think my favourite was
“Misty,” a jazz standard written
in 1954 by the pianist Erroll Garner
with lyrics by Johnny Burke.

The piece truly touched my
heart, and I can really feel the strong
emotions and feelings coming out from
each and every word of the piece from
how the singers delivered it. Also, the
singers were able to express different
emotions through the traditional carol
song such as “In dulci jubilo” (In sweet
rejoicing) by Dietrich Buxtehude. It
was accompanied by violinists Angela
Cavadas and Heilwig von Koegnigsloew,
and Sue Round, who played cello.

The choir concert went very well,
and IJ thought that the performers did
a great job. It is clear they worked very
hard to get where they are today. Both
Douglas College Choral and Douglas
College Chorus members delivered a
jubilant and outstanding performance.
I loved going to the concert and ] would
recommend it to anyone, especially those
who like to hear music performed live.

arts // no. 9

  

Illustration by Ed Appleby

 

  

Photographs by Analyn Cuarto