ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT
Monday, March 11 – Saturday, March 15
Order of Pi
What better way to celebrate Pi Day (March 14, or 3.14, get it?) than to throw pies in people’s faces! That’s the UVic engineering student mindset at work. Anyway, the Order of Pi, a long-standing annual fundraising event for Children’s Health Foundation of Vancouver Island and the Mustard Seed, involves sending out a group of people dressed as monks to deliver a pie in the face to various individuals for made-up crimes. If you have someone you’d like to condemn to pie-dom, give the UVic Engineering Student’s Society a ring at 250-721-8822 (or email them at esschar@uvic.ca) and give them a name, place, time and location. Once the monks track down the unsuspecting person, a trial/ceremony is then delivered to that person pre-pieing. But be warned — if that person really doesn’t want to get pied, they can donate the amount you donated, plus an extra $5, to have the pieing put on you instead! You can reverse that, of course, with a counter-donation of whatever the other person offered, with yet another $5 extra. You can see where this is going; the end result will be messy and potentially expensive. Sounds like you’d either want to have a lot of cash on hand that week . . . or maybe just wear clothes you don’t care so much about. Donations are a $20 minimum.
For more info (or to get someone pied!), call 250-721-8822 or email esschar@uvic.ca.
$20 minimum (to get someone pied!).
Wednesday, March 13 – Thursday, March 14
The House I Live In (Cinecenta)
Directed by investigative journalist Eugene Jarecki, The House I Live In looks like it will be a very provocative documentary about the U.S. private prison system and how it ties in to the history of, and the issues surrounding, that country’s War on Drugs. Anyone into social justice issues really ought to check this out. This film will also feature an interesting panel discussion right after the March 13 showing, featuring members of the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C. and a member of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition.
For more info, visit cinecenta.com.
Cinecenta (UVic Student Union Building), March 13, 7 p.m. / March 14, 7 p.m. & 9:10 p.m. $5.75 or $3.75 for 9 p.m. shows or later (UVSS students).
Saturday, March 16
An Improvised Dungeons and Dragons
As part of Intrepid Theatre’s YOU SHOW series, this event is exactly as the title says — an improvised Dungeons and Dragons game, complete with live, costumed characters. Here’s a fun fact: some people used to do exactly this about 30 years ago. It created a stir in the media, spawning cheesy TV movies and a ton of scared parents who thought the game would warp teenagers’ fragile minds, leading them to lurk in forests, caves and sewers with real swords and spiked armour. But the truth is, D&D was never anything more than four or five mild-mannered nerds sitting in a living room, rolling dice, casting spells, drinking pop and eating potato chips on a Saturday night (I should know; I was one of those nerds. I still am a nerd, mind you, but now I play guitar as a hobby instead). Anyway, the outcome of this show depends upon rolls of actual dice; does this mean it will end early if a series of unlucky dice rolls leads to all the characters getting killed off by a roving gang of half-orcs within five minutes? “I want my money back!” “Sorry; it’s not our fault. It was the dice!”
Email sammieg@intrepidtheatre.com for more info, or call (250) 383-2663.
Intrepid Studio (1609 Blanshard St.), doors at 7:30 p.m., show at 8 p.m. $12.
ENVIRONMENT
Saturday, March 16
Rally for Ancient Forests and B.C. Jobs
Let’s face it — forestry is a big part of B.C.’s livelihood, and it has fallen on tough times. If you’re concerned about our forests, the forest industry and its practices, you’ll certainly want to be at this rally. Thousands of people from all walks of life are expected to be on hand; the theme of the rally is “Save the Old-Growth, Sustainably Log Second-Growth, and End Raw Log Exports.” The event starts at Centennial Square before proceeding down to the legislature for a series of speeches as well as other activities.
Email info@ancientforestalliance.org for more information.
Centennial Square, 11:30 a.m.; legislature, 12 p.m. Free.
Tuesday, March 19
Victoria Natural History Society Botany Night: Growing Mediterranean Fruits in the Victoria Area
Have you ever read anything about the concept of food security or the logistics of our global food supply chain? If you have, you’re familiar with the idea that if there’s any kind of a disruption in that system (like rising fuel prices), then we may not always be able to access the exotic fruits we can usually so easily buy in a grocery store. Well, that may not have to be the case if we can grow stuff right here on Vancouver Island. At this presentation hosted by Bob Duncan, you’ll find out how to grow exotic fruits in our local climate. Sounds kind of fun and interesting right now, and who knows how valuable this information could prove to be someday?
For more info, call (250) 479-6622 or email dccopley@telus.net.
Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature House (3873 Swan Lake Rd.), 7:30 p.m. Free.
CAREER
Thursday, March 14
What can you do with your degree in . . . Arts, Culture and Communications?
“What can you do with your degree in . . . Arts, Culture and Communications?” That’s not just the title of this event. It’s also most likely what your parents and other family members have been asking you for the past few years if you happen to be working towards a UVic degree in . . . Arts, Culture and Communications. Anyway, what can you do with such a degree? Listen to industry experts at this seminar to find out! Hopefully it will give you a lot of useful advice and suggestions; better yet, hopefully it will help keep those nosy people in your family off your friggin’ back. Visit learninginmotion.uvic.ca to sign up.
For more info, visit uvic.ca/coopandcareer/wcydwyd.
UVic Engineering/Computer Science Building (ECS), Room 124, 5:30–7 p.m. Free.
