Welcome to Heterotopia. “Where?” you ask. Heterotopia is a place and a play its dramatist and scientist creators describe as “What happens when you lose track of time …” It’s a shared moment of consciousness, a question about time and a coming together of the lost minds of seven confused characters.

“I think seventy per cent of the people don’t know what’s going on, thirty per cent of the people kind of know what’s going on, and that includes us as well—we’re not entirely sure what’s going on,” said Liane Fong, ArtSci ’06, regarding her experiences with the Japanada party series.

The story is as old as time—boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy can’t be with girl because he is damned to be chained to a rock with birds pecking at his insides for eternity. Or at least such is the twist on the Greek myth of Prometheus in the production of B at the Exposure Arts Festival.

While many students dread the month of March, with essay deadlines, thesis projects and of course the haunting thought of final exams just around the corner, I’m one of those girls that eagerly awaits its arrival every year. It’s the time of year when we’re finally given a preview of this year’s spring fashion.

When The Weakerthans and The Constantines brought their Rolling Tundra Revue tour into Kingston last April, hardly anyone knew what to expect when the virtually unknown opening act, The Hylozoists, a rag-tag indie orchestra dressed entirely in virgin white, took to the stage.

On Monday, the men of el Torpedo, guided by their fearless leader Matt Mays, were in Charlottetown where they won four East Coast Music Awards and played their hit “Cocaine Cowgirl” to close out the show. By Wednesday, Matt Mays and el Torpedo were at the Ale House, where they proved to everyone present exactly why each and every award they received was fully deserved.

Someone in the audience watching the University Wits’ production of The Taming of the Shrew might notice something odd about the characters. Katherine is about a foot taller than her suitor, Petrucchio, who seems unusually buxom. And the bit of Bianca’s shin visible to the audience is quite hairy.

Sitting in the comfy—if not a little cramped—apartment/practice space of the Diableros, on the outskirts of Toronto’s Kensington Market, drinking echinacea-laced tea with four of the six band members, you’d never know that the unassuming sextet are the city’s current critical darlings, nor that their debut album, You Can’t Break the Strings in Our Olympic Hearts (which can be streamed in its entirety on their website, thediableros.tv) was just released across the country only a few days earlier.

White, white, white was the colour scheme of choice at Tuesday night’s Metric show at Grant Hall. Appropriate perhaps, given the icy winds and occasional blusters of snow outside.

There must be something about Queen’s University and writers. From Robertson Davies, our illustrious grandfather of fiction, to contemporary aces like Russell Smith and Steven Heighton, Queen’s hovers like a proud, invisible godmother at bookstores around the world. In 2004, Robert McGill, ArtSci ’99, took up the literary torch with his stunning debut novel, The Mysteries.

Not everyone can claim that they make a living by forcing their best friend to eat his own vomit, but that’s exactly the path that Kenny Hotz’s life has taken. It’s certainly a detour for the Toronto native who began his career as a photographer.

Clark Hall Pub’s sizeable Battle of the Bands crowd was not quite hushed or attentive last Monday night as QEA Head Manager Aaron Libbey announced “And the judges’ scores … ”

Trevstock is an annual concert that raises funds to send children with autism to camp, as well as train counsellors.

Everybody’s got a story to tell, but the question is: how do you tell 18 of them in one night?
Students of Queen’s drama department will tackle that very challenge this week as the DRAM 439 Storytelling class presents What’s Your Story?, a night of short scenes featuring oral stories told through a variety of mediums including song, dance and puppetry.

Harrison Ford’s latest performance helps to prop up an otherwise uninteresting motion picture. In this case, star power is a no-brainer. Unfortunately, so is the script. Firewall, aside from having a cool-sounding title that has nothing to do with the movie, resorts to pretentious computer lingo to play itself as being more intelligent than it actually is.

Some like the clichéd notion that “home is where the heart is,” while others prefer to think of home as the place where they grew up. What it ultimately comes down to is this: home is whatever you want it to be.

The Queen’s Student Opera Company (QSOC) production of Les Dialogues des Carmélites, playing tonight and tomorrow at Grant Hall, features a combination of these unlikely themes. Unlike most well-known operas—including those previously produced by QSOC—Poulenc’s 1956 work centers on religious devotion rather than love, hate and human relationships. Conversations about martyrdom, religion and death replace love duets and arias. With Les Dialogues des Carmélites, QSOC shows that it is as comfortable dealing with these traditionally un-operatic topics as it is on more familiar terra

There are times when theatre can move you to unexpected feelings of satisfaction. Other times, you’re left wishing for resolution. The third installment of the Vogt series of student productions takes these two emotions and provides an honestly intimate look at what it feels like to be a person on the verge.

The vaginas are coming. They have a lot to speak about to you—well, to all of us. They’re on their way to Queen’s via The Vagina Monologues with the support of the Women’s Empowerment Committee.

The seventh annual reelout Queer Film and Video Festival concluded this weekend after enjoying great success. At the premiere of Unveiled, by German filmmaker Angelina Maccarone, seats were sold out and many viewers risked back pain by sitting on the floor just to see this engaging film. Unveiled follows the story of forbidden love, exile and the strength of one woman determined to be free.