The Griffin

By Catrin Hughes
Life & Arts Writer

London is many things: a multicultural melting pot, a shopping mecca, a center for culture, but one thing London is not is cheap. So for all you Canisuis students who will be studying abroad or just going on vacation to the British capital, here is your guide for doing London on budget.

Now, remember, there is one good reason to go to London and that is the drinking age is 18. But drinks are expensive with an average price for a bottle of beer being £4-£5.50 ($8-$10).  Here is a tip for all you beer lovers: get pints instead of bottles. You get more for your money and they are cheaper, averaging around £3. Every weekday night, the majority of bars and clubs in London will have a happy hour where drinks will be half-price. Happy hours vary from bar to bar; some are just an hour long, but bars like the Gardeners Club near Convent Garden Market start happy hour at 5 p.m. and finish at 10 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday and at 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.  The Gardeners Club also holds London’s longest-running student night on Mondays—with a student card, house spirits are £2.
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By Sadie McManus
Life & Arts Writer

Canisius was honored to have local poet Carl Dennis read from his book New and Selected Poems Tuesday. The book was published in 2004 and it includes Dennis’ poems from 1974 to the present.  At the presentation, sponsored by the Canisius English Department and alumni John Kolaga and Judy Kubiniec, Dennis read a variety of selected poems from his newest book and gave the audience brief interpretations, describing how the words personally affect him. The reading was followed by a book signing and many people stood patiently in line, waiting to chat with the man responsible for such literary brilliance.
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By Katie Alfaro and Katherine Wutz
Copy Reader and Life & Arts Writer

Editor’s note: Copy Reader Katie Alfaro will be studying abroad at the same school that Life & Arts Writer Katherine Wutz is currently attending.   Katie asked the questions, to which Katherine responded.

What’s the food, honestly, really like?  Will I plead to my parents to ship over sustenance every now and then, or is the food one of the selling points of Ireland?

The food isn’t awful. Indian food seems to be very popular here, which threw me at first.
I personally have become addicted to the chocolate-covered digestive biscuits they have here, as well as the incredible french fries (or as they would call them, chips).

The vegetables and fruits tend to be more expensive than in the States and not as fresh.  The dining hall on campus isn’t as good as Chartwell’s, but there is an okay salad bar and you can always get soup or something to fulfill that veggie requirement.

There are a few greengrocers in town as well and there’s a health food store nearby that sells frozen organic vegetables and all sorts of things to keep you fit and healthy over here.

I do, however, recommend asking your parents to ship you boxes of Kraft Mac and Cheese. They don’t have it anywhere here, and I think it’s the one thing my roommates and I miss the most.
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By Katie Alfaro
Copy Reader

They’ve made a total of 75 cents and don’t like to be categorized.  Meet The Bear, a new local band that drives to be original.  You want to know the secret to their success?  They don’t care.

Senior Mike Lovering, who plays the guitar, started the band as a joke.  He thought it would be funny to be in a band and make fun of other bands and types of music.  Along the way, their music became a kind of parody of other music.  Their music is, what I would like to call, “subtly satirical.”
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If your birthday was yesterday, you share it with Maggie Gyllenhaal, if today, with Martin Scorsese. Yesterday, in 1532, Pizarro seized the great Incan Emperor Atahualpa after a battle at Cajamarca, in the country we call Peru; today in 1973 President Nixon declared to the nation at a press conference, “I am not a crook!” Sometimes we think our days are strange, full of promise and pleasure and sometimes we know it.
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By Paula Hopeck
Life & Arts Editor

In the 1970s, Augusten Burroughs was abandoned by his parents to livewith the family of his mother’s psychiatrist.  He would later write his memoirs, entitled Running with Scissors based on that experience.  Directed by Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck), the movie adaptation, starring Annette Bening and Joseph Cross, is a compelling look at this time in Burroughs’ life.

Deirdre Burroughs (Bening) is an aspiring poet whose career would flourish if not for her husband, Norman (Alec Baldwin) and son, Augusten (Cross) who do not understand her.  No one understands her except for her eccentric psychiatrist, Dr. Finch (Brian Cox), who convinces her to divorce her husband and send Augusten to live with him and his family.
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By Duyen Nguyen
Life & Arts Writer

VH1 recently put Snow Patrol on their list of best new artists on the rise, “You Oughta Know.” But don’t let this fool you – Snow Patrol is not a new band. In fact, their latest album, Eyes Open, is the fourth that they’ve released. Formed in 1994 by vocalist/guitarist Gary Lightbody and bassist/keyboardist Mark McClelland, the band first achieved mainstream success with their third album, Final Straw, which appeared in the United States in 2004 and produced such hits as “Spitting Games” and “Run.”

Since the release of Final Straw, however, much has changed internally with the band. In March 2005, Paul Wilson replaced co-founder McClelland on bass and in April of the same year, Tom Simpson, who had often toured with the band, was named the official keyboardist. Given the changes in the band’s line-up, it is not surprising that Eyes Open is not the indie record that Snow Patrol’s first three releases tried to be. With soaring choruses and plaintive ballads about breaking up and getting back together, the album clearly aims to match, or even surpass, the mainstream success of its predecessor.
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By Katherine Wutz
Life & Arts Writer

The mood in Niland House was certainly festive the day of the first International Rules Football Test. My roommates and I were running around making sure we had no trace of navy (Australia’s color) on our clothing and one Irish boy stood in the downstairs foyer directing the proceedings.

“You’re writing about this, right?” He demanded of me several times. This was, he claimed, “more Irish than any f—— castle” and what kind of study abroad reporter would I be if I failed to chronicle this event?
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By Sadie McManus
Life & Arts Writer

The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the BPO for short, gave an astonishing performance last Wednesday at their annual concert in the vast Montante Cultural Center. The stage was packed with both male and female musicians, dressed in formal black suits and glittering sequined blouses, perfectly outfitted for the occasion. Many people from the Buffalo and Canisius community attended the performance, which was presented by ArtsCanisius.

The BPO consists of some of the most talented and professional musicians in the Buffalo area. In this performance, the orchestra was joined by three extremely skilled and experienced faculty musicians: Ansgarius Aylward, violin; Betsy Reeds, flute and Jane Cary, harpsichord. All three musician/faculty members gave outstanding solo performances.
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By Elyse Krezmien
News Editor

There is nothing better than a night out at the theatre.  Not even the man seated next to me who thought he owned not only the armrest, but also half of my seat or the annoying tweens sitting behind me in their enormous and impractical wedge heels could ruin this particular night.

The reason for this unexpected indulgence in thespian culture was the recent Broadway hit, Three Days of Rain, which is currently playing at Studio Arena Theatre with artistic director Kathleen Gaffney making her directorial debut. Writer Richard Greenberg tells a complicated story that spans two generations and is a hard one to tell.
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