On Campus

What students are talking about today (Sept. 7 edition)

Kristen Stewart, TIFF, Jimmy Kimmel is mean & bubble tea

Kristen Stewart (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)

1. Maclean’s, headquartered in the city currently known as TIFF, has a team working to bring you the latest news on films and celebrities right here. You thought Kristen Stewart, that famous double-timer, would steal all the attention? Well, she sure did. Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon Levitt, whose sci-fi flick Looper opened the festival, were also popular on the red carpet last night.

2. While we’re on the topic of TIFF, intrepid Maclean’s reporter Jessica Allen is seeing Spring Break today. It’s the movie students everywhere are talking about—and I can see why. It has a classic plot: Selena Gomez and friends rob a restaurant so that they can party in Florida, but get busted for drugs and then have to rely on James Franco to bail them out of prison.

3. Comedian Jimmy Kimmel launched a segment on his show called “Hey Jimmy Kimmel, I Got My Kid a Horrible Back-to-School Outfit.” Not everyone thinks it’s funny. Parents taped the horrified reactions of kids given embarrassing back-to-school clothes. The segment included more than a few homophobic stereotypes, including one t-shirt that says “I’m So Gay I Sh*t Rainbows.”

4. Canada’s economy gained 34,300 new jobs last month, which looks pretty good, especially considering the U.S. economy added a mere 96,000. It looks less good when you consider that the gains were mostly part-time jobs. It’s also less good in Ontario where 25,000 jobs were lost.

5. A 19-year-old male has been arrested after a report of a sexual assault that occurred on the campus of York University around 2 a.m. Friday. Toronto universities have had a string of sexual assaults in the past year, including one reported earlier this week near Ryerson University.

6. Not every university official drives a Lexus as it might have seemed if you’ve been reading Quebec news lately. Vianne Timmons, president of the University of Regina, drives an economically and environmentally sensible hybrid Toyota Prius. The Star Phoenix’s full investigation here.

7. Last night’s MTV Video Music Awards sent Rihanna home with the big prize for her video “We Found Love.” As the Washington Post points out, the Democratic National Convention had the bigger stars, including the Foo Fighters, Mary J. Blige and President Barack Obama.

8. International students are facing long delays getting visas and some are blaming the government cutbacks. It’s a problem from Prince Edward Island to British Columbia. At UBC, at least 100 students will not be able to start school until January. That’s a costly delay for all involved.

9. Germans sure know how to ruin a good thing. Researchers at University Hospital Aachen say bubble tea, that sweet Taiwanese concoction with giant tapioca balls at the bottom, contain cancer-causing PCBs. On top of that, the government says it’s concerned with the risk of choking.

10. Today is the day that universities across country proudly announce their “record enrollment.” That isn’t always a good thing. Due to lack of classroom space, hundreds of Dalhousie University students are forced to take classes in movie theatres. Oh wait, that actually sounds fun.

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