Karaoke Box Rocks All the Socks

Karaoke Box is one of those landmarks of St. Catherine’s street that should be on every student’s nightlife list.

It is positively hopping on Fridays and Saturday, so it’s better to head over on the early side to keep from ending up looking in on the merry crowd from the cold like a character in some Dickens novel. That said, it’s quiet enough during the week to go after class and relax with a few friends and a beer or two (or three).

Karaoke Box - it's what's inside that counts

The prices are almost foolishly inexpensive. When asking the barista if there were any specials, she shrugged her shoulders in a “not really”, and smiled. “Everything’s so cheap already,” she said.

To prove her point, she brought over a couple of menus and lo! 4L pitchers (choice of Alexander Keith’s, Bud or Blue) for $17.50, 23 shots for $23, pints for $3.25, and most mixed drinks or hard liquor for just $4 a glass. The beer’s no Guinness, but it most definitely does the job.

Karaoke Box may seem cramped from the outside, but that’s only because this little Concordian classic is able to cram in a good time.

The bar, conveniently right at the entrance

Inside is a jungle of tables and chairs to navigate through which gives it a cozy and intimate vibe. The room is narrow but long, and decked out with rows of television screens. The bar is conveniently placed at the entrance to make sure priorities are set, ensuring no hand is without a drink.

At the far end of the room is the main event: the karaoke stage. It’s open for business as soon as the bar is, but around 10pm is the perfect time to start doing the drunken stumble to the open mic to sing your guts out.

Karaoke stage on off hours

They have a great selection of English pop songs, so get pumped for the fact that this is one of the few times aside from driving alone and in the shower that Carly Rae Jepson or Nicki Minaj can be belted out with no shame.

To go along with the music is an eclectic collection of music videos that range from the artist’s official releases to what looks like a montage of all the oddest gifs the Internet has ever birthed. It’s almost more entertaining to watch the TV screens than the person singing onstage.

Lots of alcohol

If singing isn’t your scene, there are also lotto machines to try your luck on.

A night at good old K-Box is a great way to unwind from holiday family reunions or even just to congratulate yourself for going to your first week of classes. There’s no better place to kick off the semester – particularly from your wallet’s perspective.

Porn – A Depressive or Incentive for Your Sex Life?

[Here's my article for this week's issue for The Concordian. My first time writing about something using actual opinions other than mine yay!]

Anxiety over the negative effects of extensive porn-watching is not something new, but it begs the question, what are the negative effects, if any?

A recent article in Men’s Health, “Is Porn Harmful?” linked watching porn with depression (in men) based on a study in Arkansas, but also found that porn was more commonly used when stressed or bored rather than lonely.

Telecommunications professor Byant Paul of Indiana University states that there definitely is a negative bias when presenting porn in the media, implying that there might be a positive light to consider.

Men’s Health’s article “Is Porn Bumming You Out?” explores this very subject. Duane McBride, Ph. D of Andrews University says that porn may be a cause of metal health problems because of the isolation it involves, but admits that there isn’t necessarily a correlation between the two. Rather, as the article’s writer Kiera Aaron puts it, “Porn might not cause isolation but rather be a symptom of isolation—meaning those who are already antisocial tend to rely more on pornography”.

So let’s look at porn in that positive light suggested by Paul while removing the isolation factor.

A Norwegian study observed relations between couples and porn habits. Hands down, the most dysfunctional relationships were the ones where only one member used it. Surprisingly the most satisfied couples were the ones who both incorporated it into their sex lives.

Why? Researchers found they were more capable communicating their fantasies to one another, experimenting, and being open minded when romping around the sheets.

A study done in the University of Denver also concluded that couples who are open about and even join the other in their X-Rated movie nights are more likely to keep relationships going strong.

To find out how Concordia’s students feel, The Concordian interviewed Chris Herbert* and Melissa Park*.

When asked if porn ever made them feel depressed, Park disagreed, but Herbert answered yes, and that he only watches it if in a good mood. “Masturbation is not substitute for actual sex,” he says, “and will often make me feel lonelier afterwards.”

They both agreed that porn was definitely a good educator and felt it never diminished their sex lives. If anything, Herbert says porn has helped him appreciate his partners more. “I’ve learned a lot about how much better real-life sex with a real person can be,” he added.

McBride of Andrews University addresses this opinion, stating, “Experts believe that face-to-face social interactions improve mood and perceptions of physical health while social isolation has the opposite effect”.

The application of the open-porn relationship expressed in the Norwegian survey, however, seems easier said than done.

“I’ve never watched porn on a regular basis with a partner,” says Herbert, although he adds that this was for no other reason than the fact that his partners were not interested in watching it. Park seconds the importance of the partner’s personal preference. “I’ve talked about it pretty openly with past partners,” she says, “but it really depends on how they feel about it.”

According to the studies, the bottom line seems to be intimacy and connection, something Herbert and Park both feel is most important as well. Herbert states, “My relationship with porn definitely affected myself personally, but never my relationships in a direct way.” He feels porn neither improves or diminishes his sex life, stating instead, “Chemistry and communication affect this much more than pornography ever could.”

Park’s experiences have been mixed among partners. “One boyfriend was really not cool with [porn],” she says. “Others were a lot more receptive and adventuresome.”

She ends optimistically, though, with a smile: “It’s all about communication.”

*For the privacy of the participants, names have been changed.

Up the Food Chain

After writing three articles (not including my work last semester), I have officially been promoted to staff writer for The Concordian newspaper!

This week I've written up a tea/shisha lounge review and a promo for the Rocky Horror Halloween Ball to get people in the mood for decadence. It'll be good to see my name in print in two sections.

Can. Lit. Begone!

After much debating, I've decided to drop my Canadian Lit class. It's rather bittersweet - on the pros side of the argument, it's a great teacher, I'd be able to graduate this year instead of taking an extra semester (maybe), and we're studying Scott Pilgrim. But honestly, it's at 10:15 am. Which for most normal people is absolutely fine, but I need to catch an 8 am bus to get there in time and I only get home at a quarter past nine the night before because I have late classes. I am not a morning person. The earliest I can get up without it affecting me, even if I get a solid 8 hours of sleep, is 8 am. Any earlier and I'm not a happy camper. So this, paired with the fact that I'd have a 5 hour break on Tuesdays and Thursdays and absolutely no time to do homework at all by adding a fifth class onto my course load alongside my part time job and internship, made me decide that I'm better off dropping it. As my mother said to me last night when I was whinging about how hard my life is, "If you were to die in five years what would you be doing?" Of course I said I'd drop out and travel and party it up with all the alcohol I could find, but she made a good point. I don't want to stress myself out for no reason. I'll be here for two more years no matter what, so I might as well fill out my time with taking classes this time next year instead of letting my brain rot. It's my last few classes for my BA, I'd rather enjoy them and give my usual 100%. Still, I have the terrible gnawing feeling I might regret this...

In other news:

Headline: Not getting enough sleep makes me so damned unhappy and grumpy. Mental note: sleep.

Upcoming events: Comic con is on Sunday and my internship is giving my friend and I free tickets if we hand out flyers!

Arts and Entertainment: Stars of Track and Field are amazing.

Food: My camera is broken, otherwise I'd have uploaded a picture of the amazing bacon-brie-potato omelette I made for breakfast.

Weather: It's getting colder after that major thunderstorm we had. And now it's doing that thing where it's pissing light rain all day and the clouds hang so low and thick the sky has before entirely white. Balls.

Mornings

I think what it boils down to, in the purest most tangible form, is earl grey tea and practicing how to speak Middle English first thing in the morning to wake yourself up. And by "it", I mean being an English Major. Nothing screams "Lit Dork!" like steaming water mixed with dried leaf flakes and learning the archaic roots of your own language.

In other news, I've discovered I can actually graduate on time and that makes me unspeakably happy (not to be paradoxical to the above professions of adoration for my degree or anything). In all likelihood it will take two years - one and a half, stretching it - before I can get back to Australia to work for a year, and then I can head to grad school after saving some moolah for ze tuition, etc. So I should probably enjoy these last two semesters of uni. Which I probably will, if I don't go crazy from my job and internship...

And now off to school for the day to learn things!