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a, News

Meet your SSMU executives

by Ben Carter-Whitney, Erica Friesen, Jessica Fu, Sam Pinto, and Emma Windfeld on

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Katie Larson: President 


What have you accomplished this summer?

This summer really felt like it got going around the end of July. Transitioning into the role of a SSMU executive is not easy, and I think we all finally have the basics under our belts. In my portfolio, the main thing that got a lot of work done was the Constitutional review process, [which] started more than a year ago and is now almost complete. Additionally, there are a lot of new faces in our permanent staff, and learning about how to work to improve SSMU HR [human resources] has been interesting.

What challenges do you expect for the upcoming school year?

The lease for the University Centre has not been signed. I am hopeful that we are close, but that is still an ongoing priority. Another upcoming challenge will be the BoG [Board of Governors], and the CAMSR [Committee to Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility] committee terms of reference review. This will be a particular challenge because communicating [with students] will be difficult until the end of the process due to confidentiality.

What are your long-term goals this year?

Signing the lease for the Shatner Building in the interest of SSMU in the long term is a priority. Also continuing to work on interfaculty collaboration is a must, and establishing ways to increase this communication is key.

How would you describe your approach to interacting with upper-level administrators?

My approach to interacting with administrators is the same way I interact with any person. At the end of the day, in any business relationship it is important to act in good faith. I feel encouraged that our new deputy provost and principal are going to be a refreshing change to McGill’s often-criticized admin.

 

Brian Farnan: VP Internal BrianSSMU.AlexandraAllaire.online

What have you accomplished this summer?

Throughout the summer, we’ve essentially been working towards a much more integrated orientation week. Through May, we met as all the various coordinators from the faculties and [Macdonald] campus, [and] went on a retreat organized by SSMU and the Student Services First-Year Office. [We] essentially outlined the various issues that occurred last year and in years past, tried to identify those issues, find out solutions for those, and outline our goals, as well as the various initiatives that we wanted to undertake.

Some of the goals we came up with were [to create] a more integrated and inclusive orientation week. We’ve worked hard to develop innovative and inclusive programming. This  programming allows all ages the option to do ‘à la carte’ events and have a choice of what they participate in.

What challenges do you face as VP Internal this year?

I’d say there are two large challenges, the first of which is redefining how events are run and the various things that go into them. Part of my platform was to consult an appropriate equity and sustainability resource before any of my events, so that has happened with frosh.

Another challenge is bolstering SSMU’s communications. It’s a part of the portfolio that’s really been neglected for the past couple of years, and so I hope to improve that. We’ve implemented a new software called Soapbox. This allows students to rank various ideas, or submit questions or concerns and then rank them. It allows us to see which are the popular questions, concerns, or ideas, and then implement them. That’s going to be unveiling and launching in September.

What are your long-term goals this year?

Myself and some of the permanent staff who work with my portfolio have made it a goal to revamp the communications of the SSMU. We’ve worked over the summer on a communication guide as well as communications strategy, so fully completing that communications strategy, [and determining] where we see ourselves now and where we see ourselves going over the course of the year. It’s going to be a main priority for me to truly figure out our publications — having Old McGill returned to its former glory, having it restored and marketed properly and filled with the best content possible.

 

JoeySSMU.AlexandraAllaire.onlineJoey Shea: VP University Affairs

What have you accomplished this summer?

There have been a few projects I’ve been working on. One, in conjunction with Sam Gregory, is called IDEAS (the Institute for the Development of Entrepreneurship and Advancing Society). Students who have project ideas and are looking for a place to make it a reality can go and be connected to the wider Montreal community. We are looking at it being very interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary. For example, an NGO wants to develop an app, so they would use engineering students to help develop the app. There would also be room for political science students to participate.

A few years ago, there were these things called Sustainability Fridays. People across the university would get together and talk about the research they’ve been doing about sustainability, and try to make connections across the university. Since Vision 2020 and everything last year they kind of fell by the wayside, but we’re interested in getting them started again. McGill’s Harrassment, Sexual Harassment, and Discrimination Policy is also under review.

What challenges do you predict for yourself in your position over the next year?

I think that all the issues that have come up with the libraries will be a challenge. Obviously, the library equipment fund is under my portfolio, and there have significant changes with that over the summer. We’ve been looking into ways for SSMU to help out, especially with the extended hours, possibly looking into how the Shatner Building can be used for study space. We will be holding a town hall where students can come and ask questions about what happened over the summer.

What are your long-term goals this year?

One of my long-term goals is to really start off those two very important relationships with the [new] principal and deputy provost on the best note that we can and build really strong foundations so that we can work together.

What changes will you be making to SSMU that will be different from last year?

One thing that I want to change this year is the way that the senate caucus is run. I really want to make those positions as effective as possible and give the most support for the senators and their personal projects by using the academic research position and the secretary general positions.

 

Sam Harris: VP External 

What have you accomplished this summer?

I attended a lot of meetings of TaCEQ [Table de concertation étudiante du Québec], which is the students’ association that SSMU is a member of. We had some structural reform where there was a third executive position created. SSMU also took over TaCEQ’s accounting because there were issues where TaCEQ was not paying its taxes to Revenu Québec and was getting fines. That was kind of a mess, but we cleaned it all up and it’s going really well.

The one other area that I’ve been working on this summer is community relations in Milton Park. During frosh we’re doing street teams—pairs of McGill students who are identifiable giving out water, apples, and granola bars, and reminding groups of students to quiet down for the residents. I’ve also been meeting with Hélène Brisson, who’s the main contact with the Milton Parc Citizens’ Committee, and trying to figure out what are the best harm-reduction and noise-reduction strategies for the year ahead.

What are your long-term goals this year?

For external affairs, I want to strengthen relations between McGill and the wider community of Montreal and Quebec. One example of how that could be achieved is through the municipal elections coming up on Nov. 3. We’ve had two mayors resign within the last year­—one of which was arrested with 14 criminal charges—and I think there are a lot of municipal issues that are really interesting to students.

I also want to make TaCEQ more financially transparent. We’re going to present the TaCEQ budget at Council, and we’d also like the Secretary and Vice-Secretary Generals to present themselves to Council. It’s also been our position that we should translate both the website and the Règlements généreaux—basically the constitution.

Do you have any ideas for how to advance the community relations, which is part of the portfolio, especially after frosh?

One thing we’re planning on doing is for Community Engagement Day, which is being organized through SEDE (the Social Equity and Diversity Education Office). We’re hoping to have a big community barbecue and meet-and-greet, possibly on campus or somewhere where the students and residents can meet up, talk over barbecue, and possibly have a film screening.

 

Stefan Fong: VP Clubs and Services

What have you accomplished this summer?

One thing I did was change the advanced room booking system. In previous years you could only book within two weeks of your event. What I’ve decided to change this year is to have all the rooms be bookable six weeks in advance for the internal groups, and then have the special event rooms open three months in advance. Those rooms are only available two months in advance and the regular rooms four weeks in advance for external groups. So there’s a period where only the internal groups can book before it’s opened up to external groups.

What are your long-term goals this year?

I really want to have a better communications process with the services. Because of high exec turnover, a lot of information is lost throughout the years; so I want to work with the executives this year to create guides for the incoming executives next year.

The ISG (Independent Student Group) status isn’t terribly defined as of yet and hasn’t been granted in quite a while, but this year I’ve already received five applications for ISG status, which basically provides a lot of privileges. Right now the bylaws just say that I have to be satisfied that the group is beneficial to the student community, and bring it to council as a recommendation. That isn’t terribly legitimate compared to the clubs and services, which have to go through a rigorous process. I’m interested in providing the foundation for ISG status this year because I think there’s a lot of potential there for a lot of groups.

Do you have plans to change the way activities night is run?

Yes—we’re going to open up the Brown Building this year, which allows us to plan a route so that every group has equal exposure. The security issue at activities night is the capacity of the building itself, and the fact that people are walking in different directions in the same area. Opening up the Brown Building will allow us to have a route that is one-way the entire way, and for every space in the building to be visited equally. It reduces confusion and provides more flow for the event.

 

Tyker Hofmeister: VP Finance and Operations 

What have you accomplished this summer?

The most significant project that Jean Paul [Briggs, former vice president finance and operations] started and I hope to finish is a complete review of all of SSMU’s banking. This project has the potential to lower costs for upcoming years and to provide a higher level of service to all of the SSMU Clubs and Services who run bank accounts through the SSMU.

Another project I have begun is the compilation of a database including all of each faculty association’s significant purchases over the last year. The database currently includes the purchases for four student associations and is expected to be completed upon the end of September. The VP Finances and I will be meeting later in the year to discuss the patterns that arise within the data and whether or not having contracts with preferred suppliers is a suitable option for everyone. This system could drastically lower costs that each faculty pays on a recurring basis by levying the purchasing power of each student association jointly.

After speaking at length with other executives and the SSMU general manager, we have agreed that all of SSMU’s governance documents are to be reviewed over the coming year. This project will help ensure that the SSMU’s finances are responsibly managed in the future.

I also created a document that details all of the necessary work that needs to be completed if a Student Run Café is to open in the foreseeable future.

What challenges do you predict for yourself and for SSMU in the upcoming school year?

My challenge will be the coordination of the budget. I have already gone through previous years’ budgets, and the tools SSMU accounting department past executives have used. This is a tremendous effort, not just for my position but for many SSMU permanent staff members and for the SSMU Services. I have worked on a timeline for myself in order to manage my work done to complete this project. I am confident that I will complete a budget that demonstrates transparency for SSMU’s finances, while ensuring their responsible distribution, but I am well aware [that a] great effort will be needed to complete the budget revisions and creation by the time they are required.

a, Student Life

Personal budgeting basics: getting your finances in order

by Marlee Vineagar on

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Many students begin the road to independence upon commencing university. Part of this change is taking on new responsibilities—especially financial ones. Whether you’re working two jobs to pay for your tuition and housing or still living with your parents and receiving a monthly allowance, you make monetary decisions every day of your life. These choices can influence the state of your finances years into the future.

Due to increasing tuition fees, it is difficult for students to support themselves, and the ease with which students may acquire credit cards makes it all the more probable that they will accumulate potentially crippling debt. In the Bank of Montreal’s 2012 Student Survey, more students ranked paying for their education as their top source of stress, rather than the stress of succeeding academically or finding a job after graduation. Although just hearing the word ‘budget’ may make most McGillians cringe, personal budgeting is essential for a fiscally responsible life.

No matter what budgeting format you choose, planning a budget comes down to the same basics of estimating, prioritizing, and persistence. The first step is to estimate your total pool of monetary resources—for example, from a job, student loans, and parental assistance like Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs). Then calculate your total costs, starting with known ones such as rent and tuition, and moving on to other living expenses like groceries, transportation, and entertainment. These costs can then be prioritized—ideally allocating more for necessary costs and savings for the future, and fewer for bar tabs.

Although this may sound difficult and intimidating, there are fortunately plenty of resources available to help students manage their finances. One valuable tool is The Frugal Scholar Program, which is run by McGill’s Scholarships and Student Aid Office. This program provides financial guidance for students and advice on how to be money-wise. The website provides a step-by-step explanation for how you can plan your budge for both your year and the entire duration of your education at McGill.

If you’re interested in technology, there are also numerous other budgeting tools available online and for mobile devices. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) has a free budget calculator that creates downloadable summary reports and Excel spreadsheets. Another free online option is the website Mint.com, which connects information from all of your bank accounts together, tracks spending and payments, sets up budgets, and identifies financial goals and potential ways to increase savings. You can access your account from a computer or with the smartphone app.

Living on a budget takes some practice and the hardest part is sticking to it. It can be so easy to just pull out some plastic to pay for a round of drinks or cab to Upper Rez when it’s -20oC without considering the consequences. Beyond having self-restraint from over-spending, it’s also prudent to record spending to ensure that you’re staying within your budget. Doing so allows you to reap the benefits of being able to see where to cut back on spending, or if there’s an opportunity to increase savings.

The school year is just beginning, making now the perfect time to plan out a budget before all your summer earnings are spent on alcohol, new shoes, and overpriced groceries. Here’s to a new, fiscally responsible school year!

a, Off the Board, Opinion

On tomatoes

by Abraham Moussako on

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The players are far from unknown. There’s the tomato: a round, plump fruit, often confused for a vegetable (although definitely a vegetable for taxation purposes, according to a 19th century U.S. Supreme Court ruling). Then there’s McGill University: a Canadian research institution with global renown and an annual late-August set of welcome exercises for new students.

It was, in retrospect, a match made in heaven.

A week ago this Tuesday, McGill’s Student Housing and Hospitality Services organized a five course, tomato themed meal, culminating in a 500 pound tomato cake. As I wasn’t there, it’s hard to tell whether that would count as the dessert—that probably hinges on the fruit vs. vegetable distinction. Even so, the event last week could not outdo last year’s welcoming gambit, an 11,197 pound fruit salad that, according to no less an authority than the Guinness Book of World Records, was the world’s largest at the time.

Sounds tasty. But what’s the point? According to an article in the McGill Reporter, the event certainly attracted some local luminaries—Members of Parliament and city councilors, doubtless ever-aware of a photo opportunity. This year’s event, certainly smaller but in a similar vein, was more of the same: foods from Macdonald Campus, donations to charity, all that good stuff.

But are we really served by these festivals of epicurean excess? In this age of reduced budgets, our university needs every dollar it can find. Every serving of tomato cake is probably equal to 1/2000 of a library budget that does not need to be cut, or one third of a course lecturer’s semester wages. I’m not saying we can’t have these events, but we need to be asking these critical questions of our administration. Perhaps eliminating these events could even allow for a fraction of a cent discount on every first-year’s residence bill, who knows.

Even if the goal is breaking records, the triumph is ephemeral at best—earlier this week, the University of Massachusetts Amherst  bested  McGill with their own, 15,000 pound plus fruit salad.

Still, if the administration ignores my humble suggestions, let’s hope that our next food-based welcome event features foods that are a bit less acidic. My stomach upsets easily.

 

a, Student Life

Five classes you won’t regret choosing as electives

by Rebecca Babcock on

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Students spend the majority of their their time in university in classes that will propel them towards a future career. Many don’t have electives and the few who do sometimes waste them on so-called ‘bird courses.’ If you’re looking for a new approach, try choosing courses that are worth your while—either subjects that interest you, or courses that provide a fresh look at your field and will give you a new spark that will help keep you excited about studying in that department. Here are five courses for students, across the board, that either have great professors, interesting material, or—if you are really lucky—both.

History of Math (MATH 338):  Are you interested in how math began and developed? Does learning how to do math in the way of the Egyptians and Babylonians intrigue you? This can be a class for both math and non-math students who appreciate the origins of specific equations and how they changed the world. A word of caution—general math knowledge and, more specifically, calculus, is valuable in this course. If you’re inexperienced in those areas, however, you can always go to Room 911 in Burnside to visit the Department of Mathematics & Statistics help desk.

World of Chemistry (CHEM 181): There are four different World of Chemistry courses: Food, Environment, Technology, and Drugs. The professors for the course, Harpp, Fenster, and Schwarcz, are all well-known for being funny, interesting, and knowledgeable. The courses themselves address diverse topics. For example, the food course has a class on wine and cheese where you learn about things like reading  wine labels and good pairings. You’ll also learn about the chemical structures of sugars, carbohydrates, and fats and pertinent issues like global warming or dieting. Finally, there is the option of buying notes from the Note Taking Club (NTC), which have the most important points in bold. This allows you to better enjoy what you are learning in class by reducing the level of stress caused by scrambling to write down all the important information for the final exam.

Social Psychology (PSYC 215): Social interactions are an important part of everyday life, which makes a course about social psychology suitable for anyone. Professors Lyndon and Taylor alternate teaching this course. Having taken this course myself, I can assure you that both are fantastic. I have nicknamed it Dating 101 because Taylor teaches how to read the signals that indicate if it is okay to hold someone’s hand on a date—it’s hilarious. Similarly, Lyndon has a 3.5 rating  out of four on Ratemyprofessors.com and is described as entertaining. Every class is interesting, the matieral is very applicable. You’ll learn a lot about yourself and those around you.

Religion and the Sciences (RELG 340): This course looks at how science and religion interact and affect one another, and is suitable for students in philosophy, religious studies, the history and philosophy of science, and science, or students wanting to expand their horizons regarding the so-called conflict between religion and science. The professor who teaches the course keeps an open mind, listens to different student’s perspectives, takes the time to repeatedly explain complex philosophical ideas, and, most importantly, does not choose a side between religion and science—at least not in the classroom. Perspectives of Science (BIOL 210) is another option for students looking to see how science and the arts interact with one another, and how the arts are quite important to the sciences.

Special Topics in Canadian Studies (ENGL 441): In humanities, the focus is all too often on Britain and America. Most courses focus on these countries, and will add notes here and there about how, and if, Canada plays a role in a particular field. Courses like Special Topics in Canadian Studies are great because they vary from year to year, provide an interesting Canadian perspective on a field, and incorporate a cultural studies aspect to the course. This could mean that students watch movies and examine visual media like photos, in addition to reading a large variety of literature. If English is not your thing, try to find a class in a different department that focuses on Canada or Montreal in relation to Canada and the world.

a, Sports

Point counterpoint

by Wyatt Fine-Gagné & Rebecca Babcock on

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In July 2013, Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin signed a law which gave police officers the right to make arrests on the grounds of disseminating “gay propaganda.” A number of other anti-gay laws have since followed under Putin, creating a whirlwind of controversy. Two contributors weigh in on whether a boycott by athletes and nations of the 2014 Sochi Olympics would be a good idea.

 

Against boycotting Sochi:

Before beginning, I would like to make it clear that I believe that the Russian government’s behaviour is clearly wrong. The Russian anti-gay legislation is a grave human rights violation. Unfortunately, despite this glaring fact, the 2014 Winter Olympics is unlikely to be moved. Many athletes and countries will be forced to make a tough decision: whether or not to boycott the Games. I believe they should not.

Qualifying for the Olympics is no easy feat, and those that do make the cut will probably only do so twice during their career, maybe three times if they’re lucky. Athletes spend their entire lives dreaming about an Olympic gold medal, but they have very few opportunities to realize this goal. If countries boycott the Games entirely, they will be taking away one of the few chances that a competitor gets to reach the pinnacle of athletic success. While a boycott by countries such as Canada or the United States would be detrimental to Russia and the Olympics, the impact would be brief and not very noticeable in the long run. However, the effect it would have on athletes and staff from the boycotting country could be very significant. This is why the decision to participate should be one that each athlete makes individually.

While some athletes will not be comfortable being a part of the Games, for most, it would be a mistake to boycott. If one athlete snubs the Games, another who didn’t originally qualify will surely be willing to step in to replace them. These “replacements” would likely have been just seconds too slow to qualify. Thus, even with boycotts from certain athletes or countries, the level of competition would remain high and the actual product would likely not be significantly worse than what was offered by past games. The Athletes who do want to compete are not who we should be demonizing. Instead, both Russia and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) should be punished.

The most effective boycott would be one by the viewers. Don’t watch on television and don’t purchase tickets to the events. If there is Olympic gear for sale, make sure that it stays on the shelves. This would serve the purpose of driving down the attention that these Games receive. Low television ratings and reduced media coverage would send a clear message to the IOC and to the Russian government that we as viewers will not be a part of future Games with similar situations. With all the problems that are surfacing in Brazil in anticipation of the 2014 World Cup, it seems that the IOC may have to make another difficult decision in a few years about leaving a host nation with significant social problems. A viewer boycott, not one by athletes or countries, would set the IOC on a path to making the right choice come 2016.

— Wyatt Fine-Gagné

 

For boycotting Sochi:

Boycotting the Olympics has been a failure in the past. It did not affect the Soviet Union’s behaviour following the 1980 Olympics. In fact, it only caused a backlash in 1984, where the Soviet Union and 15 other nations declined to attend the Los Angeles Olympics because their athletes could not be guaranteed safety. In the media, it has been largely judged that having a presence in Sochi is better in terms of making a pro-LGBT rights statement than to not be there at all. Still, a boycott has its benefits and should be considered a legitimate choice to make a change to Russia’s new legislation against “homosexual propaganda.”

First, a boycott of the Olympics would mean that Russia’s nationalist propaganda is not seen nor experienced by the world. Jesse Owens, an African-American sprinter chose to participate in the 1936 Berlin Games, and his four gold medals in Nazi Germany were viewed as a triumph in disproving Hitler’s view of a ‘master race’. Unfortunately, the Olympics as an event was construed as a victory for the Third Reich. While showing up to the Games can provide a platform to make a statement, small acts of defiance can only go so far.

Second, the Olympics could be potentially dangerous to athletes and guests to Russia. It is unclear whether Russian officials will really target foreigners at the event, risking strained relations in the international community or even causing a diplomatic crisis. However, we cannot preclude this possibility—the situation should absolutely be approached with caution.

Third, a boycott can occur in more than one way. Pierre Martin, a writer for The Toronto Star, suggested that Canada boycott hockey at the 2014 Olympics because it would send a message to hockey-crazy Russia. Since hockey is a sport in which only a few teams—namely the U.S., Canada, and Russia—dominate the play, not having Canada or the United States attend would render Sochi’s most popular competition meaningless. Boycotting specific sports suggests that there is prominent governmental support for LGBT rights. Not only is the government voicing its opinion against Russia’s legislation, it is also actively supporting LGBT rights and the movement towards equality at home. Also, by boycotting only specific events, many athletes still have the opportunity to have a presence in Sochi and initiate dialogue on the issues.

Finally, doing this shows Russia that its behaviour is unacceptable; nations will not stand by and watch this happen. A study shows that two-thirds of Russia’s population accept and support the new legislation.  Although boycotting may be an extreme action, it ultimately produces a strong message. As actor Stephen Fry said in an open letter to the IOC and British Prime Minister David Cameron, “At all costs Putin cannot be seen to have the approval of the civilized world.” If we attend the Olympics, we will be giving Putin our approval.

— Rebecca Babcock

 

Editors’ pick: Don’t boycott the Games

Although boycotting the Sochi Olympics would certainly send a powerful message to Russia about their mandate on banning homosexuality, there are other effective methods to make a statement without risking the dreams of athletes around the world. Top-level athletes only have a few opportunities to reach the Olympics, and a boycott of the Games is a brash solution to a complex problem.

a, Arts & Entertainment

Drinking like there’s no tomorrow

by Daniel Fishbayn on

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If  there is one lesson to be learned from all three features writ- ten by Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg in the last decade, it is that looks are always  deceiving.  In Shaun of the Dead (2004), the titular Shaun treks to the  corner  store  to buy  Cornettos— the U.K. equivalent of Drum- sticks, and a recurring motif in each of the films— oblivious  to the fact that a zombie  apocalypse is occur- ring around him. Similarly, Hot Fuzz (2007)  played  upon  the  superficial innocence  of a sleepy English  village. The creative duo revisits these themes of lurking malevolence in The World’s End, this time waxing Sci-Fi while simultaneously exploring one man’s yearning to return to his golden youth. The result does not disappoint.

Pegg  stars  as  Gary King,  a 40-year-old alcoholic deadbeat who tries to relive the greatest night of his life by dragging his high school bud- dies,  now  successful  businessmen, back  to  his  hometown  of  Newton Haven. They plan to finish the ambitious 12-stop pub crawl, culminating at the aptly named ‘World’s End’ that they failed to complete 20 years ear- lier. Yet an unlikely obstacle stands in their way: body-snatching  aliens have settled in Newton Haven. The concept   works   brilliantly   as   we watch King gallop from pub to pub, his  resentful  friends  trailing  along behind him and berating his idiocy as they are forced to battle with malicious humanoids.

Also  key to this film’s appeal are  excellent  performances  on  the part  of Pegg  and the remainder  of the  film’s  entire   supporting   cast. Pegg    perfectly    portrays    King’s groan-inducing immaturity and desperate nostalgia as he enters middle age, while his buddies provide other moments  of  hilarity.  Martin  Free- man  is excellent  as the  Bluetooth-sporting  Oliver,  whose  catchphrase — “Double-you  tee eff, Gary!?”— gets increasingly hilarious with each repeated exclamation.

If The World’s End has a weak-ness, it’s that it tries to cram so much material   into   its   modest   running time of 109 minutes that the viewer can sometimes  feel left in the dust. Wright  and Pegg seek to bring the audience up to speed by kicking off the film with a delightfully  kitschy prologue   telling   the   whole   story of  the  legendary  1990  pub  crawl through  King’s  eyes.  But  because the sequence  moves so  rapidly and we get so little time with each character,  it’s  frustrating  to  figure  out which friend is which in the present- day scenes that follow.

Luckily, we have Wright’s dynamic  directing  style to keep us engrossed  from start to finish. That being  said, Wright offers nothing new here stylistically;  almost all of the   ingenious   techniques   he  uses are recognizable  from his previous work. Also reused are a number of sight gags: characters  find creative ways to finish off their inhuman foes just as they did in Shaun of the Dead, and turn their heads only to be met with the creepy, synchronized stares of the townspeople  just as they did in Hot Fuzz. Nevertheless, the visual gags have been used just sparingly enough that they still feel fresh and entertaining  here.  Moreover,  some of  them— like when King tries to jump over a fence and  instead knocks it over (a trilogy trademark) —are clearly intended to be winking tributes rather than lazy repeats.

The  World’s End doesn’t try to hide the fact that it owes a great deal to its predecessor  and to classic Sci-Fi staples like Invasion of the Body Snatchers and  Doctor Who. In the end, it doesn’t need to, since Wright and Pegg have the imaginative potency to make even the most recognizable movie clichés feel new again.

The World’s End was released on Aug. 23 and is currently playing at the Scotiabank Theatre on 977 rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest.

a, Opinion

Will work for free: unpaid internships in focus

by Victoria Dillman on

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Last semester, with finals still looming, I began to contemplate what to do for the summer. A lot, or very little, can be accomplished in four months. After applying to several positions, I landed a full-time marketing internship close to home with a small company that seemed very professionally enriching. The only issue was that it was unpaid.

I ended up taking the internship and working part-time on top of that. It was a great experience, and I learned what day-to-day life in an office is about. It would have been ideal to be paid minimum wage, or worked part-time, but instead I ended up working exhausting 13 hour days between my two jobs. Even then, I didn’t make nearly enough money for the incoming year. While I’m lucky to have parents with the resources to cover the shortfall, for many this isn’t possible.

The ethics of unpaid internships seemed to be the major debate this past summer. While unpaid internships have existed for years, they have become more necessary to achieving the holy grail of a paid job within one’s field, and students everywhere—myself included—are lining up to work for free.

Recently, some have argued that the student part of the equation should be cut off. Students, they feel, should just say “No” to unpaid internships. While appealing in theory, it is unreasonable to ask students to give up an opportunity for the purported ‘good’ of the general populace.

Instead, companies must be the ones to change. At the moment, each province has its own Labour or Employment Standards Act, which tries to stem the surge of unpaid labour. Ontario’s act, for example, specifies that a company employing an unpaid student must derive “little, if any, benefit from the activity of the individual while he or she is being trained,” and that such a trainee must not displace a paid employee. Many are also suggesting that unpaid internships must qualify for course credit at academic institutions. This is starting to take hold at McGill, where there are dedicated departments which aid in locating internships and offering course credit for them, such as the Arts Internship Office. However, the most effective means of combating the negative effects of unpaid internships would be a more vigorus enforcement of labor laws. While such efforts would come at a cost to both governments and schools, it would certainly pay dividends for society.

 

a, Arts & Entertainment, Music

Still Life: Mourning Trance

by Alex Kpeglo-Hennessy on

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Often, archetypal indie pop concerns itself with loss, generally that of some idealized relationship or another. However, Still Life’s new album shifts its creative focus to a different type of loss: mourning the deaths of extended family members of the band. This theme attests to the collective history of the musicians, who have been playing together since childhood. Every track reflects on these experiences, but it feels more like a tribute to living on rather than a cry against the unfairness of the world.

Still Life: Mourning Trance
Still Life: Mourning Trance

Mourning Trance opens with “Burial Suit,” a sedate track that sometimes suffers from poorly intertwined elements, drowning out lyricism. “Dancing Spines” is where the album begins to engage, with punchy vocals and bass riffs that clearly represent one of the band’s strengths. “Revolving Doors” is another exemplary song, in large part due to the mastery of the layering of different sections that the band seemed to strive for in the beginning of the album- every component seems deliberate. “Hanging With Our Family” begins almost like a hymn, with a lethargic coupling of vocals and keyboard. Only as the song and the album itself come to a close does it begin to be drowned in sonic feedback.

Unfortunately, Still Life hardly differentiates themselves sonically from their musical peers. Nevertheless, most of the album is likable, and there’s no good reason to bemoan the interesting sound of Still Life’s mourning music.

a, Behind the Bench, Sports

Third man in

by Steven Lampert on

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For university students, May is the month when our exam anxiety evaporates and we veer off to begin our promising summer plans. However, this summer brought with it a new cause for uneasiness and hope. It was NHL playoff hockey, and it had finally returned to Toronto.

To say that the city was itching for the post-season is not dire enough. Toronto sports fandom in general took an unfortunate course over the past decade. Being removed from meaningful sports action for so long changed our ethos. Even in the most hopeful of circumstances when our confidence bordered on irrationality, our teams always seemed to crumble, triggering the regrettably familiar combination of self-loathing and self-deprecation.

In this case, the sentiment was amplified because it was the Leafs—the pantheon of all Toronto sports teams—who finally seemed to have awoken from their decade- long trip of embarrassment.

The feat was that much more personally significant because the once unthinkable decline of the franchise occurred during the decade in which I, along with many of my friends and my peers, were wrestling with the culmination of gawkiness commonly known as adolescence. Our teams should have united us and made us secure, but those blankets left us cold, and that didn’t help our cause or settle my hormones.

However, with an outpouring of enthusiasm and excitement came rational fans that sensibly calmed the tide. The smart bunch argued that we should celebrate postseason qualification, and should be proud no matter how far the team went. Many Leafs fans quickly began to share this feeling, especially once we drew the Boston Bruins—the Debbie Downer of our hockey existence.

What moderate hope we had held onto all but dissipated when the Bruins took a 3-1 series lead into Boston, one win away from closing out the Leafs. Strangely enough, most seemed content with the inevitable—we generally outplayed the Bruins, a few breaks didn’t go our way, but it was overall a quality experience for our young, promising core. We were, dare I say, learning, and ripe with real, tempered optimism, even on the brink of defeat. Perhaps we no longer fell victim to false hope.

Just remember though, it’s not officially over yet, so don’t poke the irrational bear.

Almost unbelievably, the Leafs won Game 5 in Boston and then Game 6 in Toronto. The unfathomable was unfolding in front of our eyes. The series was tied at 3-3 and heading back to Beantown for the final, deciding game.

Please, please don’t poke the bear.

In a blink, Toronto somehow held a 4-1 lead in Game 7 with only 10 minutes remaining in the third period, an almost insurmountable deficit for any hockey team in any normal situation. Leafs Nation could think of only one logical outcome: the Leafs were going to beat Boston against all odds and then win the Cup because they are the team of destiny.

Poked.

Then, in our delirium, it happened again: 4-2 … 4-3 … 4-4… Overtime.

Toronto, the team and the city, internally combusted.

I warned you not to poke the bear.

The collapse was so predictable that it verged on laughable; this was a Toronto sports team, of course. Ridiculously, I was still hopeful, even after enduring 10 minutes of devastation and reassembling my body parts. Maybe, just maybe, the Leafs would calm down in the dressing room, somehow reverse the momentum, and prevail in overtime.

Who was I kidding? This was Toronto and we were the Leafs. With another blink, it was 5-4. Bruins advance. Cue the YouTube reaction montages. I hate myself.

Four months later, it still stings. But hey, we actually might have a chance next year. Right?

a, Science & Technology

Australian restaurateur develops symbol for ‘the’

by Abhishek Gupta on

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With the development of social media and communications technology, language is facing external pressures to shift towards a more condensed form, as seen in the current use of slangs, abbreviations, and connotations.

Take, for example, restaurateur Paul Mathis, who is trying to transform the way we send texts and tweets by creating a shorthand symbol for the word ‘the’—the most commonly used word in the English language according to oxforddictionaries.com. He proposed combining a capital ‘T’ with a lowercase ‘h’ sharing a common stem.  Though not much shorter than the original three-letter word, Mathis argues that it will increase efficiency by saving two extra characters every time you tweet.

“The word ‘and’ is only the fifth-most used word in English, and it has its own symbol—the ampersand,” said Mathis in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald. “Isn’t it time we accorded the same respect to ‘the’?”

However, Mathis’ new symbol did not receive the hype he had hoped for. Its similarity to a Cyrillic character (used by Slavic languages), awkward font spacing, and Apple’s refusal to allow such a symbol to be used on their devices halted its rise to becoming commonplace.

Despite its lack of success, Mathis is not alone in his preference for short forms. Since the advent of Twitter in 2006, the use of acronyms shot up significantly. Expressing oneself in 140 characters is evolving to become very much the norm, and to some extent, an art form.

Acronyms, too, are evolving to move away from their original meanings when they were first used in Internet Relay Chat (IRC) rooms to acquire new connotations. For instance, some of the acronyms employed in text messages are no longer used in their original context. For instance, ‘LOL’ no longer singly stands for ‘laugh out loud’; rather, it is used more often as a standard response in conversations that are not necessarily funny.

Apple refused to implement the "the" symbol on its devices’ keyboards. (laughingsquid.com)
Apple refused to implement the “the” symbol on its devices’ keyboards. (laughingsquid.com)

Hashtags used on Twitter and Instagram— and more recently on Facebook— also represent a shift in the way we interpret these symbols and the meaning that they carry. Showing an Instagram photo littered with hashtags to someone in the ‘90s would definitely have left them baffled by the use of a symbol that meant ‘phone number’ preceding captions of a picture.

However, not everyone is on board with this evolution of the written word. Some puritans of the English language argue that such a change is pulling us away from what is widely accepted as the ‘correct’ way to write and express oneself. For instance, a study conducted in May 2012 by the Pennsylvania University Media Effects Research Laboratory showed that children who recently engaged in text messaging performed significantly worse on a grammar exam than those who did not.

While the benefits of this new type of language are up for debate, evolution is certainly at work. Considering how English changed from Chaucer to Shakespeare, or to the pre-Internet era; this phenomenon is hardly new. Unlike these past changes, which were largely dictated by changes in verbal communication, today there seems to be a disconnect between the short forms used on the Internet and our conversations in person. In the age of texting and tweeting, perhaps we’ll soon all be speaking in hashtag, too.

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