@ va Have an idea for a story? M arts@theotherpress.ca (¥ High fantasy versus low fantasy (YY Just the two of us (Y Canadian horror: Where it's been and where it’s going And more! The worst songs for Valentine's Day > Tunes that are terrible at being romantic Caroline Ho Arts Editor o perfect Valentine’s Day date would be complete without the perfect romantic soundtrack. However, not all love songs are good love songs. You probably shouldn't include any of the following on your Valentine’s Day mixtape (or Spotify playlist, or whatever kids do nowadays). Every Breath You Take - The Police (1983) Anyone who includes this track on a list of genuinely romantic songs needs either a good slap in the face or a restraining order. Sting himself, frontman of the Police, has explicitly acknowledged that “Every Breath You Take” is not a love song, but one about jealousy and an unhealthy obsession. It was written around the time Sting very publicly left his wife to start dating her best friend. Lest the new wave smoothness mislead you into thinking this tune is harmless, lyrics like “Oh, can’t you see you belong to me?” should make it apparent that watching someone’s every action isn’t endearing, it’s downright creepy. You're Beautiful - James Blunt (2005) At first listen, this song might sound like it has all the ingredients of a romantic ballad—a gentle acoustic guitar, a soulful male singer with a slightly raspy voice, and massive popularity when it came out. But along with topping music singles a charts, it also tops a lot of lists of terrible love songs, and for good reasons. Even beyond the absurdity that is the music video—which features Blunt in a snowfall, slowly stripping away layers of clothing and eventually jumping off a cliff—any song that starts with the line “My life is brilliant” is going to have a hard time being taken seriously. Believing in love at first sight is one thing, but seeing someone once, being convinced that they’re the most gorgeous being ever, and being in melodious agony about the impossibility of your imagined relationship is something else entirely. Screenshot of Love Story via Youtube Also, it would be nice if there were more to attraction than just being beautiful. Gotta Be Somebody - Nickelback (2008) Because what everyone needs on their Valentine’s playlist is an anthem to the forever alone. It’s hard to find a song that more adequately describes—with those generic yet oddly relatable lyrics that only Nickelback can pull off, no less—that sense of incompleteness when youre looking for “the one.” It’s not such a bad Valentine’s song if you're dedicating it to your Changing the way we eat food. > ‘The Founder’ film review Jerrison Oracion Senior Columnist kkkenknx efore there was Build Your Own Burger, the McRib, and even the Big Mac, McDonald’s was a place where you could get a hamburger combo for 35¢. The biopic The Founder shows how a diner would become the fast food restaurant chain that many people know today, and at the same time how it created controversies that still plague the fast food industry. After trying to make it big in Hollywood, two brothers named Maurice McDonald (John Carroll Lynch) and Richard McDonald (Nick Offerman) open a diner in San Bernardino that sells fresh hamburgers. The diner is very popular and serves a lot of people, until a milkshake maker salesman named Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton) comes in and sells the brothers’ idea to the rest of the United States. The film explains the important moments in McDonald’s expansion to the rest of the US. I liked the scene in the film when Maurice and Richard tell Ray how they made McDonald’s because it has a lot of instant jumpcuts. In the beginning of the film, it looks like Ray is narrating because he is looking towards the camera, but he is not narrating it—he is actually trying to sell a milkshake maker to the owner of a diner. Michael Keaton does a great job playing Ray because, in the first half of the film, you think that Ray is helping the brothers succeed with their diner, and in the second half of it, you realize that he is upsetting a lot of people. I learned a few interesting things from the film. McDonald’s was very innovative in the 1950s. Maurice and Richard invented the speedy system, which is like an assembly line, and it allowed the cooks in the diner to make a hamburger in a few minutes and have it still be fresh. Before McDonald’s was started, you had to get food in a drive-thru diner and it took a long time for the food to be cooked. The golden arches that are now a famous logo were originally part of a concept design that would have been used for the design of the diner. In the film, the arches describe what McDonald’s represents, which is family and America, because it is a place where people spend time together, and a symbol of America. The classic orange drink that they have is one of the diner’s first products, although it has since been replaced with Fruitopia and Hi-C. Another thing that I learned from The Founder is that in order for the restaurant to save money, the brothers had to replace their freshly-made milkshakes with an instant milkshake. This idea was suggested by the wife of the owner of one of their locations, Joan (Linda Cardellini), who was also Ray’s soon-to-be wife. The instant formula compromised the quality of their milkshakes because it had a lot of artificial ingredients in it. A few decades later, McDonald’s went back to making their milkshakes fresh, although they still have some artificial ingredients. A similar thing happened with their other products as the years went by, and this led to the “Our Food. Your Questions.” digital platform in Canada, where McDonald’s customers beloved who you really do feel you've been waiting for your whole life, but it also reverberates with the desperate hopelessness of waiting forever for that hypothetical true love. If nothing else, at least Chad Kroeger is looking fora partner with whom he can empathize, and not just someone beautiful. Love Story — Taylor Swift (2008) There are two potential problems here: Western culture’s obsession with Romeo and Juliet, and Taylor Swift's obsession with writing about her exes. “Love Story” dodges the latter but exemplifies the former. We probably shouldn't be glorifying the idea of meeting as young teenagers, getting married a couple of days later, and then dying in a tragic double suicide miscommunication mess. Maybe it’s simply too hard to imagine country star sweetheart Swift as a parental-authority-defying youth. In any case, the Shakespearean classic in pop song form doesn’t make a very convincing love story. I Hate Everything About You - Three Days Grace (2003) Okay, this isn’t even remotely a love song—even though Adam Gontier sings “Why do I love you?” in the chorus. However, it does very well encapsulate all the negativity and resentment that can accumulate without realization in an unhealthy relationship. Admittedly, this is only getting mentioned on this list because it would be hilarious to include on a Valentine’s Day playlist. weet ER ry ion . can ask questions online about the food. The Founder is a very interesting film that summarizes how McDonald’s became what it is today and set the standard for fast food restaurants. Poster of ‘The Founder’