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POP RHETORIC: The movie is, like, always better than the book

by Crystal Chan on

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I was making small talk with a co-worker this summer when my eyes latched on to the title on the spine of the book she was reading, Pride and Prejudice.

“Oh yeah,” she explained, “it’s this movie with Keira Knightley, and it was pretty romantic so when I saw the book version I thought I’d check it out for summer.” She proceeded to flip the book around, the front of which featured a glossy picture of Keira on the English moors with her dress blowing decoratively around her. If you squinted and looked at the fine print on the bottom, overshadowed by the huge block letters ‘Focus Features’, you could somewhat make out ‘Jane Austen.’

This episode disturbed me at first, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Would this girl have passed up The Undomestic Goddess to read Pride and Prejudice if it had not borne Keira on the cover? And why was the thought of Pride and Prejudice as light summer reading so shocking to begin with? It is a romance novel, after all.

Turns out, movie remakes of books are the best thing for the advancement of modern culture and one of the smartest economic success stories of our time. Movies repackage culture for the masses. How else would lazy high school English teachers interest their kids in Romeo & Juliet without showing Westside Story – excuse me, I stand corrected, rather Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo+Juliet? Especially significant to education seem to be the teen versions. A variety of past examples have already proven them to be a true recipe for success. Austen got her popular cover in Clueless, but Shakespeare has shown himself to be the most adaptable to teen movie format with such movies as 10 Things I Hate About You, O, and the newest addition She’s the Man, an Amanda Bynes Twelfth Night lighter than the feather quill the Bard penned his plays with – just the way kids like ’em.

The movie industry is only doing what our mothers used to do: hiding brussel sprouts in something cheesy and delicious. We can grumble and fuss from below, but we will thank them later. Not only are the books themselves being touted in the public arena due to movie versions of them, but so are whole cultural interests and movements. Movies induce huge resurgences of interest in the subject matter of the books. Interest in Shakespeare, interest in Sylvia Plath. These movies provoke cultural change, cultural insight, cultural interest. After a successful version of Pride and Prejudice, I would be surprised if there wasn’t a biopic released in the near future on Jane Austen with all sorts of fleshed out, heretofore unknown controversies in what was seemingly a quiet and lonely life.

Economically speaking, it takes only a simpleton to realize that the field of books-turned-movies is a profit paradise. Case in point: when I went to Chapters, the new editions of books with movie posters were always more expensive than the similar quality Penguin edition paperbacks. It’s a privilege to have Keira on your book cover. Also, with most classics, the profit-makers of a movie version will never have to concern themselves with author settlements. They are conveniently dead. Maybe a little percentage to the Jane Austen foundation to purchase rights, and you’re set. And since you know how the book itself fared, you don’t even have to enlist brainpower into figuring out your target audience for marketing. People love a good, old revival: the books – new and improved! Renditions of books have even shot past their book counterparts in many cases. Think Maltese Falcon or Jurassic Park.

So, the pretentious lot of us who cringe when Macfayden’s, Firth’s and Olivier’s Darcy says “I have struggled in vain” instead of “in vain have I struggled,” as God and Austen intended, just don’t realize how truly crucial these seemingly second-rate versions are. Movie deals are what every good writer wants, after all. J.K. Rowling loves hers, and I’m sure Austen would have too.

A cover of a song is usually seen as a nod of respect to the original artist, since imitation is after all the best form of flattery. So maybe a cover of a book smeared with Keira Knightley’s face isn’t such a bad thing after all. Books are the perfect fodder for movies; really, books are the stuff movies (and dreams) are made of. With such a never ending bank of ideas within reach of producers, who even needs books? Maybe it’s a dead art form. We should just enlist emerging authors and scoop them up to write directly for the screen, skip this middle stuff. Nobody ever has to be creative again, when one can just repackage old classics over and over.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

MUSIC: Where’s the Schulich at?

by Elizabeth Nieto on

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Members of the music community are positing Montreal as the next Seattle or Greenwich Village. While Toronto is well known for its festivals lined with big-name artists, such as the Virgin Music Festival, which hosted both Gnarles Barkley and The Strokes this year, the sounds that are challenging and changing the face of North America’s oversaturated music industry are being produced in our own backyard.

Osheaga, for example, was a hugely successful two-day concert event that took place in Parc Jean Drapeau earlier this month and attracted a flood of international artists such as Ben Harper, The Flaming Lips and K-Os. Perhaps even more significant, though, is the POP Montreal festival that happens in October. This event has come to be a central forum for upcoming artists, and some are even considering it comparable to Coachella and South by Southwest in its power to predict which bands will dominate the Indie scene in the upcoming year.

It may be surprising to some that many of Canada’s new, Montreal-bred artists are actually McGill alumni. This month’s McGill alumni magazine, though, did not shy away from boasting the fact. In a brief article, it attached McGill degrees to members of popular bands such as The Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, Sam Roberts and DJ Eight-Trak. What is interesting is that a bare minimum of these musicians received musical training at McGill.

In fact, many up-and-coming McGill-based musicians are not affiliated with the Schulich music school at all. “I feel like most musicians that are out there and playing in Montreal are not part of the music faculty,” explains Jordan Safer, U2 Political Science and member of the McGill-based rock band Moksa. “We know several big-name bands at McGill that are not.” Many students, like Safer and his band-mates, are critical of the lack of facilities available to independent musicians who want to play their instruments while maintaining a separate degree. “Practice space is also a problem,” Safer adds.

“Ideally, it would be great if the faculty of music would do a better job at helping to facilitate independent bands like us, but, I guess you can kind of understand why they wouldn’t be so accommodating,” says Adam Jesin, the band’s lead vocalist and a U3 History major, who suggests that the band’s music style – far from classical or jazz oriented – would not be taken seriously by students of the faculty. “But, we would really love [McGill’s] support and help,” Jesin admits.

While it is arguable whether or not McGill has a strong enough support network for their independent musicians, OAP and SnoAP have certainly become valuable forums from which McGill bands can showcase their music.

“I came in the 12th grade to get a tour of McGill campus and I saw the OAP setup, a live performance on stage, and people having a good time relaxing and listening to the music. That was the second I thought: ‘this is the place where I need to go.'” Jesin recounts.

“We are all about the live performance. An outdoor performance between classes in the first week of school is a great thing, we get such positive feedback from it,” Zeke Caplan, Moksa’s lead guitarist and principal songwriter says with a smile.

Unfortunately, Moksa’s performance in last week’s OAP lineup was cancelled due to rain, but, being veterans of both OAP and SnoAP, the band did not appear too discouraged.

While OAP and SnoAP provide great opportunities for McGill-based bands to practice performing, a lot of students believe that more could still be done to help foster a community among the currently scattered group of independent musicians at McGill. If not, it would at least help to promote existing, but sometimes little-known campus talent, like Moksa. As the currently famous McGill Alumni bands have proven, it is not unrealistic to assume that the current campus bands could eventually become major players in the Canadian music industry. It would be nice for McGill to be able to claim having played a real part in their success.

Student Life

FOOD: Tea’s company

by Ben Lemieux on

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Though it has only been a Western commodity for the past few centuries, tea has one of the longest and most illustrious histories of any beverage. Legend cites its discovery by Emperor Shennong of China around 2700 BCE, though early written record of the drink only stretches back to 300 CE or so. Trade routes were soon developed to ensure its speedy progress across the oceans. Great Britain, for one, adopted tea as its national drink, and colonial resistance to a tax imposed upon the beverage led to the infamous Boston Tea Party of 1773.

Today, you can buy it at Starbucks. Unfortunately.

The John Company (another name referring to the East India trading company), located at 5681 Avenue du Parc, is at the forefront of what can safely be called the “tea revival movment.”

“I always wanted an avenue to be different with a restaurant,” explains owner Rob Wiseman. “And then I was reading about the tea shops becoming more and more popular in the States and even in Montreal and I decided it would be a much more feasible idea to have a teahouse/restaurant in the near future than to have the 70 seat restaurant that I ultimately want to have. So I decided to put the two together and the John Company was born out of that.”

On Feb. 13 of this year, Wiseman’s five-year stint with Rogers wireless came to an end when the store he worked at closed its doors. That same evening, the 23-year-old entrepreneur began to draft a business plan with a fresh idea in mind.

“A year ago I got into tea,” Wiseman elaborates. “I really like tasting the subtleties from one thing to another. It’s very easy to get into something like this. You start tasting two or three different teas and all of a sudden you’re like: ‘Ouhh. The blackberry notes compared to the honey notes in this one are really great. The smokiness in this one compared to the flatter taste in this one.’ It could go on forever.”

Most North American households have forgotten about the purity and understated wonders of tea drinking, settling for store-bought Taster’s Choice or whatever mediocrity the local coffee shop is likely to serve you. John Company’s ultimate goal is to steer everyday folk towards a fresher, subtler blend. Basically, they pour hot water over the leaves and let the tea work its magic.

“If you have someone who’s used to drinking packaged tea from bags, they’ll be more likely than anyone to notice how much more robust these flavours are, how much fresher, because this is the correct way to drink tea,” explains John Lumar, John Company’s manager and an old teenage friend of Wiseman’s. “The one-off that you get if you’re drinking packaged tea is what’s left at the bottom of the barrel.”

In the process of establishing the business, Wiseman sampled hundreds of different teas before settling upon the 55 you’ll now find in the store. “I had to sit down with somebody who had the knowledge of 100-150 different teas so that he could guide me along the path of which teas we both felt would be good sellers, which teas had certain health benefits that are important, because teas offer a multitude of different things for the body, from anti-oxidents to vitamins,” says Wiseman. “We have teas that help cure headaches, we have teas that help cure hangovers, we have teas that basically do it all for you.”

In addition to that, Wiseman remodeled what used to be a decrepit-looking kosher butchery on Parc avenue into a pleasant, serene Mile End hangout. The John Company’s look boasts a hip old-meets-new kind of flavour, provided by giant maps of East India trade routes at the entrance juxtaposed with modern graffiti, contemporary local artwork and a classic, elegant dining room at the back. Wiseman notes that creating a comfortable space was the prime motivator in his choice of décor. “You walk into a Java U and it’s all stainless steel and frosted glass,” Wiseman explains. You walk in, you look around and you say, ‘Am I cool enough to be hanging out in this place? Am I wearing the right clothes to be drinking an iced latte here? How many different words can I say to describe my coffee?’ I’m looking to create a warm atmosphere where people can come in, hang out and feel welcome.”

Wiseman, who does double duty as the John Company’s resident chef, also serves up a variety of foods, ranging from sandwich/salad dishes to delectable and unique fine cuisine experiences. For $20, customers receive a starter, a seasonal main course, dessert and choice of tea. For a touch of class, subtlety and comfort, the John Company is a fine place to spend an evening.

Features

FEATURE: A day in the life of a floor fellow

by Rachel Melnik and Ross Walker on

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As hard-working McGill students endure an intense five-day long stretch of classes, assignments and meetings, the weekend eventually rolls around, offering sleep-deprived class-goers a break from the stress of everyday life. Unlike most McGillians, Jessica Margolis-Pineo’s work doesn’t end on the weekends. As a floor fellow in the New Residence hall, Margolis-Pineo, U2 Cultural Studies, sacrifices her favourite weekend rituals of dining in Chinatown and watching Grey’s Anatomy to keep her freshmen company.

Yet, according to Margolis-Pineo, the sacrifice is well worth it. The life of a floor fellow, she claims, is incredibly “fulfilling.” Young New Rez students, many of whom are away from home for the first time, keep her extremely busy .Margolis-Pineo’s job often feels like “emotionally draining counselling without pay,” but nevertheless, she loves it. “We’re there because we care,” claims a comfortable and confident Margolis-Pineo. She values the connection that she is able to form with her floor as they adjust to university life.

As a responsible pseudo-maternal figure, Margolis-Pineo takes late night condom requests and post-puke tuck-ins lightly. Margolis-Pineo has, in fact, already given away an entire box of condoms to these equally responsible first years. Margolis-Pineo is herself a New Rez graduate, owing her amazing freshman year experience to her own former floor fellow. His hands-off, socially cohesive style of leadership inspired her own approach to leadership.

The popular image of a drunken, lazy upper-year who is utterly incapable of leaving the safety nest of the dorm room does not exist in McGill’s Rez life. Rather, being a floor fellow is a highly coveted position that is certainly not for the weak. Hundreds of bright-eyed and hopeful youths attempt to become members of the mentorship clan each year, undergoing an intense screening process filled with essays, references and interviews.

At first glance, the responsibility can seem unappealing to many ex-resident students. “I wouldn’t go backto living there [in New Rez] if they held a rifle to my head,” says Jeff Fisher, a U1 economics major. But for Margolis-Pineo, reliving the Rez life has been rewarding. “I have plenty of time for a social life,” says Margolis-Pineo. This residence guru is only “on duty” (meaning: she is required on the premises), for four weekends out of the whole school year.

But do floor fellows miss out on the know-how of off-campus living? “I don’t regret my decision,” asserts Margolis-Pineo, “but I do kind of wish I had the experience. … There are moments [in Rez] when you’re actually reminded why you get an apartment and cook your own meals.” Nevertheless, Margolis-Pineo isn’t in a hurry to live outside of the college bubble. “There will be plenty of time for that when real life starts.”

Features

FEATURE: Last call for froshies

by Matthew Cronkite on

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In a vibrant city like Montreal, McGill students are constantly urged to get out of the campus “bubble.” There is even a student club called – surprise! – Outside the Bubble, whose sole purpose lies in integrating anti-social McGill students into the greater Montreal culture. Nevertheless, many eager McGillians venture out at night only to find themselves at local bars surrounded by-you guessed it-their fellow classmates. Every night, local bars such as Vol de Nuit, Bar des Pins and Lodge serve as watering holes for McGill undergrads who seek to get the most of their city experience without wandering too far from campus.

During Frosh, McGill’s premiere drinking extravaganza, these bars experience a higher-than-average flow of insanely drunk students enjoying their back-to-school (and back-to-alcohol) freedom. Yet while froshies-and their older binge-drinking role models-­­are out having an alcoholic fiesta, do they ever stop to think about the impression they make on local Montrealers?

According to James, the manager of Vol de Nuit on the busy corner of St-Laurent and Prince Arthur, Frosh is the bartenders’ most dreaded event of the year. “We hate Frosh,” said James, stressfully preparing for another night of McGill-fueled drinking. “We don’t like accepting anyone with a bracelet.” James, who refused to provide his last name, added that St-Laurent is the most vandalized street in Montreal, especially during Frosh week. “McGill students break everything.” Perhaps the university student organizations make a profit from frosh week, but, as James bitterly suggested, they may be the only ones.

Evan Eichler, a bartender at Lodge, another hotspot on Prince Arthur and St-Laurent, also denounced the rowdy atmosphere of Frosh week. Like Vol de Nuit, Lodge (despite its trendy hunting cabin atmosphere) mainly caters to McGill students. “You could see them [the Froshies] get drunker a lot faster than other customers,” Eichler said. Yet while Froshies get drunk easily, their alcohol tolerance and alcohol consumption level do not exactly correlate. Eichler claimed that because the Froshies are “already pretty sloppy when they get here, they don’t drink too much at the bar. Not only do they purchase less alcohol, but they are also typically pretty bad tippers.”

Bar des Pins, better known to those that frequent it as BDP, is another popular bar inside the McGill bubble. With its bright orange tabletops and generally seedy surroundings, who wouldn’t want to stumble through BDP during the drinking rampage that occupies the first week back at school? Sami, who also wouldn’t give a last name, only had positive things to say about Frosh at his bar. He loves all of the fresh faces Frosh brings into this city and insists that “it’s good to meet some new people. Sometimes you meet people from far away.” Sami’s only complaint was that the Froshie’s drink selection was rather limited, as their requests generally remained in the beer department. Perhaps if the Froshies ordered Manhattans and Appletinis, the staff at Vol de Nuit and Lodge would be more accomodating.

Features

FEATURE: Deadbolts and deadbeats

by Sana Yusuf on

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It’s a common misconception that burglaries in this city occur exclusively at nighttime, when the windows are shut tight, the doors are barred and security systems are active. In fact, recently, home invasions in Montreal during the daytime hours have become less of an anomaly, especially in the suburbs.

Who would even think twice about a 20-year-old girl asking her new, 23-year-old neighbour to borrow a cup of sugar in the mid-afternoon? In Brossard, a suburb about 15 kilometers southwest of Montreal, such an event took place in the mid-afternoon and afterward, four men barged in, tied the resident up, and proceeded to ransack the place. It is no wonder why Montreal’s suburban residents are on edge.

Indeed, the prevalence of daytime home-invasions does not appear to be subsiding: This summer, for example, a disturbing number of people were badly injured and even killed during armed burglaries. The Montreal Gazette reported that one victim, a local Laval artist, was shot to death during a home invasion while his wife and child were held hostage.

Cars, electronics, cash and jewelry; these are the key items burglars are looking for, and, thankfully, most students do not possess them in large quantities. While most recent break-ins have not occurred in downtown Montreal, it is naive to assume that robberies are uncommon in the heart of the city. Two years ago, an out-of-province couple staying in a downtown montreal hotel trusted their belongings to what they thought was a hotel bellhop. Instead, this man ended up stealing the couple’s suitcases and vanity packs, which were valued at over $10,000. These events occurred dangerously close to the McGill campus in broad daylight.

In fact, McGill campus is not completely immune to these crimes. In 2004, a man walked into the New Residence Hall and stole two laptop computers from a student’s bedroom. Nevertheless, most of Quebec’s home offenses still tend to occur in the suburbs. According to Statistics Canada, the target destinations for crime include Verdun, Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Montréal-Nord, Rosemount-La-Petite-Patrie and Villeray-St-Michel-Parc-Extension.

Alarming facts about Montreal and criminal activity:

– The West End Gang is one of Canada’s most influential criminal groups. Active since the early 1900s, its rise to notoriety began in the 1960s, when it were known simply as the “Irish gang” and members’ criminal activities were focused in the west side of Montreal. Most of the gang’s earnings derived from truck hijacking, home invasions, kidnapping and armed robbery. -The West End Gang is now affiliated with the mafia Cosa Nostra and Hells Angels. The three merged to form an organization called the “Consortium.”

– Montreal Police estimate that the West End Gang currently consists of approximately 125 to 150 members. The group does not operate with a Mafia-like hierarchy. It is loosely connected, with captains heading different factions. The group often collaborates with the Montreal Mafia and the Hells Angels in enormous drug shipments and remains one of the most powerful and profitable criminal organizations in the country.

– The highest provincial crime rates continue to be seen in the West. Saskatchewan recorded the highest overall rate, followed by British Columbia and Manitoba. Rates are lowest in Ontario and Quebec.

-The overall rate of break-ins has fallen seven per cent since 1991 and is continuing to decline.

Off the Board, Opinion

OFF THE BOARD: Smart people have never been so stupid

by Ben Lemieux on

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I work at a record store and we have a listening counter on the basement level: a broad semi-circular counter with a half-dozen control panels and headphones jutting out of it at two-foot intervals. Customers stand about shoulder-length apart, skimming through the liner notes of a potential purchase, bopping their heads rhythmically. I’m the dude who stands behind the counter rewrapping discarded and unloved CDs, placing them in section-specific piles which ascend gradually towards the ceiling as the day wears on.

Every day, without fail, someone steps up, quickly examines the goings-on of my work environment, turns to me and ventures a guess: “Is this the check-out line?”

Brilliant. The answer, to myself, invariably: “Fuck, man. I dunno. Are you paying in cash or in headphones?”

The situation is very much the same in other parts of the city. Public transportation users engage in daily struggles with the back doors of busses: I’m sure we’ve all seen those irate passengers madly waving their hands a few feet away from the motion detectors while the bus is moving or heatedly pressing against the doors without even bothering to contemplate the possibility that the steps beneath them are pressure activated. I mean, it’s not like it’s written right in front of them.

Or take an Off the Board piece yours truly wrote last week proposing “masculinism.” For what I felt was an utterly harmless piece of writing, the Tribune received letters of complaint and accusations of sexism and misogyny. You would figure that people in their third year of university would clue into the fact that the mere use of the term “masculinism,” in addition to denoting General Tao’s chicken as exotic foreign cuisine and arbitrarily combining laundry loads as economical and productive, is fairly laced with irony and sarcasm. Or not. Maybe Perceiving Irony is a fourth-year course.

See that? That was sarcasm. I know full well that irony isn’t taught in school, the same way that I know women are equal beings metaphysically speaking, though underrepresented in government and certain areas of the workforce.

All these shenanigans came full circle last week while I was reading about McGill’s no. 8 listing in High Times’s counterculture heavyweights. Naturally, some McGill tight-ass stuck his neck out to say, “This is so ridiculous. It makes us sound like a bunch of stoners when we’re actually all so busy studying that we don’t have time to get high.”

And this, dear readers, is the nature of the beast. We’re all too busy studying.

I’m not proclaiming that people should put away them lame-ass books and start rockin’ the ganj ’round the clock, just that we take stock of what our environment is doing to us. McGill’s campus comprises some of the brightest young people this side of the tropic of Cancer. I mean that. Any number of the people whose paths you cross daily could write you a hefty dissertation on why Africa is in such pitiful political and economic shape, explain in detail how J.B. Watson changed the way we examine the human mind or build you a snowmobile in a couple of days. And yet these very same people have trouble grasping irony or how to open motion-activated doors.

As a society, we’ve all become gifted at reading, retaining facts and contributing in our workplace and occasionally at home, but lost touch with just about everything else. We’re seeing generations of people who are book smart but not street smart.

We must embrace this duality within ourselves. We must become hybrids: part Hawking, part Shaft. We must observe our surroundings with an eagle’s eye and a fox’s sly wit. We must take time away from our books and our work to nourish the person inside of us who desperately wants to not look like an idiot, and in doing so, give ourselves a teleological rebirth. Ashes to ashes, funk to funky.

Student Life

JUMBO SHRIMP: Something blue

by J.F. Kostuck on

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The big fashion trend this fall is not the skinny jean, nor is it the sweater-dress, peek-toe pumps or military coats. The hot accessory for autumn, as I was informed this past weekend, is the engagement ring.

Ah, engagement rings. The world’s smallest set of handcuffs, some might say. Speaking from the perspective of one who has long accepted her inevitable spinsterhood, it boggles the mind as to why anyone still young enough to get carded at a bar would commit to spending the rest of their lives with a single, solitary specimen.

It began, as I believe Shakespeare intended all tragedies to, on instant messenger. I was accosted by a high school acquaintance, one with whom I thankfully have precious few conversations. Assuming that her sending me a message was a result of boredom, I benevolently decided to entertain Suzy’s valiant attempt at coherent banter (all names have been changed). After a few exchanges, it became evident that she was far stupider than I remembered her to be, and I far more cynical than she remembered me.

When I began to feel my IQ decreasing, I prepared to end the conversation with the conveniently placed Block button. It was just then that Suzy managed to fully capture my attention with a shocking piece of information.

xSuzyEmoHighschoolx: did u here abt Ashley?

BitterandContent: No, what?

xSuzyEmoHighschoolx: She got engaged.

BitterandContent: Well, damn.

Discounting my detestation for happy endings and ignoring my abhorrence for affection, this news left me with a bad taste in my mouth and a burning in my loins.

Normally after hearing of such scandal a Joan Crawford-calibre outburst would ensue, one liberally fuelled by hard liquour. This time however, I remained self-controlled and sober. The reason, you ask? As it happens, I had been hit with identical news not three days before.

Another girl with whom I had the displeasure of attending high school was planning on walking down the aisle. Here were two passably competent girls, willingly signing their freedom away. I would almost understand the notion if these were commissioned acts, organized on the Russian black market, but they were not. These girls were getting married for “love.”

There are multitudes of women who lament their singledom as they watch more attractive and less intelligent friends get married. Sayings such as “always the bridesmaid, never the bride” have worked their way into popular culture, so as to further stress the importance of having a partner with whom to shuffle off this mortal coil.

Sure, maybe these girls will marry young, die old and spend the time in between living out a Nicholas Sparks novel, but maybe they won’t. Maybe they’ll begin to long for their days as singular nouns and look upon us spinsters with envy. We may be the ones in metallic seafoam as opposed to white lace, but bridesmaids don’t get in trouble for sleeping with two thirds of the groomsmen before/during/after the rehearsal dinner.

I could use this conclusion as a place to make some sort of radical social commentary on the institution of marriage, but for now I’m going to hit the snooze button on my biological clock and go have some promiscuous sex. Hopefully with someone’s fiance. Eat it, Ashley.

Opinion

INFORMATIONATION: Privacy lost-browsing in the fishbowl society

by Andrew Schaaf on

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I offer you questions, not answers. Privacy is a complicated issue, with many problems dwelling at the collision of our various human values.

We feel differently about our information being in the hands of others depending on who they are. Information in the hands of stalkers is creepy and possibly dangerous. Information in the hands of friends is useful and lets us see connections we might have missed. Information in the hands of oppressive governments gets good people killed or tortured. Information in the hands of decent governments can convict criminals. And information in the hands of large corporations can bring great efficiencies. In the right hands or the wrong hands, data does things.

What most of us are missing is just how much data has built up and in whose hands it lies.

With every web page you visit, every link you click, a cryptic HTTP query log is made by the server on the other end, storing the following facts about your visit.

IP Address: This unique number for your current internet connection can be traced to you.

Timestamp: How much time do you spend reading which pages? And why, exactly, were you browsing Facebook profiles until 4:30 a.m.?

What software you’re using: The software equivalent of “Officer, his car was a light green 1989 Chevy Camaro.”

Referring page: A Web site can tell which web page you came from. In the case of searching, it can see your search terms.

Individually, these queries aren’t too bad, but that is not how they are taken. They are taken en masse and can be linked together by their common features or by cookies, and linked to pages where you logged in or identified yourself in some way.

Each ad on a page also gives the ad company one of those queries, with your current page as the reference, letting them learn your click trail. Search engines log all your searches and have already handed over data to various governments around the world.

There are a few ways of ensuring some anonymity. For example, you can download the program Tor from eff.org, get the Torbutton plugin for Firefox from addons.mozilla.org and cryptographically blend into the crowd of Tor users.

“Chilling effects” are when we are not forced to self-censor but face significant incentives to do so. Imagine for a moment that all your web browsing and personal data were accessible to your insurance companies and potential employers. Some employers already use Facebook profiles to disqualify some applicants.

Imagine that everything you choose to read or watch will affect the impression some people or algorithms will have of you. Do a term paper on alcohol addiction or look up a serious illness for a friend, and watch your insurance premiums change a bit. Exploring controversial and unpopular things could affect your image.

Now what if your online data were visible to all your friends, the way some of it is now with the Facebook mini-feed? There would be remarkable new benefits and efficiencies and serendipity would get an algorithmic boost, but we would also feel pressures to self-censor or conform.

Combine web data with other data such as detailed purchase histories, phone logs, the position of your cell phone over time, and so on, and you’ll find there is a lot of information floating around with no clear social agreements on privacy. What privacy balance do we need? What balance do we actually have?

McGill, News

CAMPUS: McGill unveils Medical Centre

by Kayvon Afshari on

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The transition from medical textbooks to a clinical setting often leads to mistakes by well-meaning but inexperienced medical students. To try to help them learn in a risk-free setting, McGill has opened a Medical Simulation Centre to

offer hands-on training. Situated in the basement of the Galeries du Parc, the centre is the largest, most comprehensive

medical skills simulation and learning facility in Canada.

It combines training techniques from high-risk professions like

aviation and emergency response with the latest medical simulation technologies.

“This was an initiative from a group of surgeons,” said Linda Crelinsten, manager of the medical simulation centre. “The idea was just to do surgery and then people found that after some discussion, that it would be best to try to incorporate a lot of other skills that a lot of clinicians need.”

The World Health Organization estimates that one in every 10 hospital patients suffers from medical mistakes leading to serious and sometimes fatal consequences.

The focus of the simulation centre moved away from technical skills and towards developing a multidisciplinary center for all health care professions, according to Crelinsten. The centre will be used by McGill students in medicine, nursing, occupational therapy and physiotherapy, as well as those doing their residencies.

The funding for the centre came from the Faculty of Medicine, the Ministry of Education and from donors.

According to Crelinsten, the use of the centre is currently only offered to classes.

“It’s class-based. A nursing class has been here three times, which has been planned since April. The instructors know exactly what they want them to do, so people have to have objectives for their course. We hope to have some time for students to practice, but that hasn’t been set up as of yet,” Crelinsten said.

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