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Arts & Entertainment, Music

Where do I begin?: K-pop

by Areni Nicoghosian on

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Ever heard of K-pop? How about a singer named PSY? There is much more to the Korean pop phenomenon than the famous “Gangnam Style” singer. There are a plethora of girl and boy groups, all of which have different styles. Each group and every performance has a different aesthetic, as K-pop groups include a blend of singers, dancers, and rappers. 

If you’ve never had a friend that introduced you to K-pop, here is a list of groups you should check out. Once you get into it, you can join the K-pop fandom, an online community that makes each new album release and piece of celebrity gossip all the more exciting. 

The big three

The big three companies are S.M. Entertainment (SM), YG Entertainment (YG), and JYP Entertainment (JYP). Most people start with groups from these companies because they often dominate the music charts. I would recommend branching out and listening to groups from smaller, lesser—known companies—there is talent everywhere.

Multi-talented groups

What I love most about K-pop is the aesthetic combination of dancing, singing, and rapping. There is no need to worry about the language barrier, as the music goes beyond language. The songs are not only catchy, but the music videos are visually entertaining. Each has dances to go along with them, and the clothing is fun and colourful, showcasing a broad range of styles depending on the concept of the music video and song. 

Boy groups

Bangtan Boys (BTS) is a seven-member group formed by Big Hit Entertainment in 2013. The group’s popularity began to rise quickly after the release of their single, “I Need You” in 2015. 

BTS is my favourite group because of the beautiful production design and the universal themes behind their songs and music videos—addressing issues such as  the importance of camaraderie and individuality. Check out their music video (MV) “Blood Sweat & Tears.” Their MVs strive for perfection–the intricate storytelling, costuming, and set design still keep blowing me away. 

Co-ed group

K.A.R.D. is a four-member group, with two girls and two boys, and is currently the only active co-ed group. They were formed under DBS Media in 2016. They released their first song at the end of the year and fans anxiously waited for their next song, which finally came out February 2017. Co-ed groups are rare in K-pop and do not tend to last long. So far, K.A.R.D. has been exceptional—blending catchy rap and an edgy spirit into one. Check out their videos for “Oh NaNa” and “Don’t Recall.” 

Girl groups

BLACKPINK is a four-member girl group under YG, formed in 2016. They are my favourite girl group because of their bad-girl persona. A lot of girl groups are often very feminine and cutesy, yet BLACKPINK diverges from this typical style. Thus, for a beginner to K-pop, I recommend this group because they are different from the more common types of girl groups. Their debut songs—“Boombayah” and “Whistle”—were hits, showcasing the typically edgy persona that YG groups are known for. Their most recent songs ,“Playing with Fire”—which has a great MV—and “Stay” display a softer side to their music. If you prefer romantic ballads, check out “Stay.”

These groups are few among many talented groups that you should check out. K-pop helps me get through the hard days, boosts my energy, and makes me happy. 

McGill, News

Innocence McGill hosts annual conference on wrongful criminal convictions

by Samuel Lottes on

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Innocence McGill is a legal clinic at the Faculty of Law that investigates wrongful convictions in Quebec. On March 15, it hosted its annual Bad Science Brought to Justice Conference, a panel series started in 2006 that provides a spotlight for wrongful convictions stemming from negligent forensic analysis and bad science.

Moderated by Assistant Law Professor Alana Klein, this year’s panel consisted of Lianne Thibeault, an Ontario woman wrongfully convicted of murdering her child, the Honourable Stephen Goudge, commissioner of the Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology, and Caroline Tanguay, an expert at the Laboratoire de sciences judiciaires et de médecine légale in Quebec.

On Nov. 30, 1995, Thibeault’s 10-month-old son Nicholas accidentally fell and hit his head on a sewing machine in their Sudbury, Ontario home. Nicholas was rushed to the hospital and later pronounced dead. It was soon revealed to Thibeault, however, that the former head of the Ontario Pediatric Forensic Pathology Unit, Dr. Charles Smith, had accused Thibeault of murdering her son.

“What soon followed was a never-ending series of cruelty, lies, and sheer incompetence,” Thibeault said. “[Dr. Smith] was 99.9 per cent certain that I had caused Nicholas’ death and that I would do it again.”

Goudge established the 2007 Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario, also known as the Goudge Inquiry. The inquiry was a response to concerns that arose regarding criminally suspicious deaths of children handled by the Province of Ontario, many of which directly involved Dr. Smith directly. After the inquiry was completed, a report was published in 2008.

“During the 1990s, there were red flags about the work of [Dr.] Smith,” Goudge said. “He was adamant his failings were never intentional, but it was discovered [that Dr.] Smith lacked basic knowledge about forensic pathology.”

Goudge’s inquiry prompted the reinvestigation of more than 40 cases that Dr. Smith was involved in.

“It was quickly determined that in 20 [cases], the evidence didn’t sustain [Dr. Smith’s] opinion and in 12 cases there had been wrongful convictions,” Goudge said.

Goudge concluded that the legal system had failed the Thibeault family and at least twenty others wrongfully accused by Dr. Smith.

“It wasn’t just the failings of one individual,” Goudge said. “It was the failings of the set of participants in the system, […] the police and the scientists. In many of the cases, the lawyers failed to understand the weakness of the science.”

Klein then directed the conversation toward the question of why a respected doctor, like Dr. Smith, would work to persecute so many grieving families on evidence that was often ambiguous or misleading. Tanguay said that Dr. Smith’s actions accelerated Ontario’s standards for pathology training

“Once people became pathologists, [they] jumped into performing autopsies without any training, without any notion of differentiating post-mortem changes,” Tanguay said. “They wouldn’t recognize the limits, […they] would start to testify in court and because they testified, they would be recognized as expert witnesses and would build their credibility on personal experience, which they developed themselves without any formal training.”

Months after her son had been re-examined in a second autopsy, Thibeault’s case was independently investigated by the provincial coroner’s office, which unequivocally determined that there was no evidence of foul play. Thibeault was acquitted of all charges and Dr. Smith was banned from performing further autopsies. Dr. Smith was reprimanded for his actions but it was not until 2011 that he was stripped of his license to practice medicine. Many of the families affected, including Thibeault’s, have been entitled to financial compensation.

Commentary, Opinion, Private

In its Charter review, McGill should revise grading policies

by Gabriel Rincon on

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On March 6, McGill announced that its Senate would be consulting students on how the McGill Charter of Students’ Rights should be revised. The Charter is a document that outlines the rights and freedoms that each student at McGill is guaranteed, including academic rights. This revision is an apt opportunity for the university to review its grading policies.

The current grading policy is composed of a patchwork of faculty specific policies broadly governed by the Student Assessment Policy (SAP), which outlines the school’s policies on all forms of student assessment, as well as some rights delineated in the Charter. While these documents are comprehensive in guaranteeing generally fair assessment practices, faculties retain the discretion to define their own grading schemes and grade reassessment policies. This leeway can compromise the rights that the SAP and the Charter afford students, especially when it comes to consistent grading across faculties.

In the SAP, there is nothing to ensure a uniform grading scheme across courses, or even across different sections of the same course. The result is that some faculties, such as Management, pursue a very rigid curving scheme whereas others, such as Arts, leave it to the professors to determine how they wish to grade. Hence, students face very different outcomes depending on their major and their professor. This disparity translates to a significant injustice when students are competing for jobs, scholarships and academic accolades. A grade is only useful insofar as it communicates a uniform standard of quality; without some objective sense of what a B+ means and how it differs from a B-, grades become arbitrary. Thus, McGill should ensure that its assessment policies yield university-wide standards of grading. However, this reform would be moot if it is not paired with clear grading criteria across faculties.

 

The current grading policy is composed of a patchwork of faculty specific policies broadly governed by the Student Assessment Policy (SAP), which outlines the school’s policies on all forms of student assessment, as well as some rights delineated in the Charter.

As students, we are no strangers to poorly-defined assignments. Oftentimes, there are no detailed grading rubrics given for assignments, or point values are not assigned to questions. When the assignment is handed back, it is discouraging when the only comments are a few pen marks and a grade. Inevitably, growing class sizes, substantial workloads, and prioritization of research projects limit professor’s and teaching assistants’ (TAs)’ ability to provide comprehensive feedback to students. However, if the university is committed to a “quality education” for each student, as the Charter promises, provisions should exist that emphasize the role of TAs and professors as not merely evaluators, but as educators. As stated in the Charter and in the SAP, students do have the right to an explanation of their grade–however, assessment reviews and explanations are available only upon student request. This provision should go further, by stipulating that students be provided assignment rubrics where possible. Additionally, the SAP should include reasonable comments on positive areas and where improvement is needed. Feedback is essential to students learning from their mistakes and improving, and to any definition of a “quality education”.

Moreover, when students feel their grade is simply unjust, they may find little avail in the regrading policy. There is no university-wide regrading policy—it varies by faculty. Moreover, regrading is usually a tacit threat of a lower grade. Consequently, students are forced to weigh the possibility of a lower grade against the benefit of challenging one they believe to be unfair. Thus, in practice, the right to regrading is more a formality than a meaningful avenue of recourse. As such, McGill should devise a uniform double-blind regrading procedure in which all students are guaranteed a fair reassessment.

If the administration is truly looking to improve students’ well-being with Charter reforms, it would be an oversight to not review grading policies. There are three clear gaps in the current SAP that have perverse effects on students: Inconsistent grading schemes, poorly defined assignments and the regrading policy. Fair evaluations are an issue of justice where students are at significant power disadvantage. The current policies do not go far enough to address this.

 

 

 

 

@mcgilltribop | [email protected]

 

 
Album Reviews, Arts & Entertainment, Music

Album Review: Jay Som – ‘Everybody Works’

by Eric Noble-Marks on

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It’s hard to make an indie-rock record in 2017. With rock’s virtually non-existent commercial clout  and alternative music’s critical supremacy all but sapped, the genre has been bogged down in a midlife crisis for the past few years. Those who have managed to hang around—Mitski, Car Seat Headrest—have done so through a combination of lyrical dexterity and an ability to pluck freely from past tropes without being defined by them. Add to this list 22-year-old Melina Duterte, aka Jay Som, whose sophomore album, Everybody Works, is the most competent rock release of this year so far—if not the most boundary-pushing.

Opener “Lipstick Stains” begins with gorgeous swells of piano, guitar drones and the calming coo of Duterte’s voice. Easily the most effusive song on the record, it is a bit of a red herring on an album that will run the gamut of modern rock and pop niches, but is nevertheless a breathtaking first track. 

Starting things off proper is lead single, “The Bus Song,” which sounds like a faithful copy of late 90s emo, right down to the American Football-style trumpet at the end. Nevertheless, in the first instance of what will be a recurring theme on Everybody Works, Duterte manages to find her voice within the conventions of genre, swapping emo heartbreak for cool-headed devotion. The chorus—“Take time to figure it out/I’ll be the one who sticks around”—exudes a quiet confidence. Som’s low-key ferocity elevates her above her contemporaries.

It’s perhaps the deep resonance of tracks like “The Bus Song” that makes the album’s more upbeat and immediate tracks feel a bit jarring. Tracks like “1 Billion Dogs” and “Take It” draw heavily from artists such as the Pixies, displaying an urgency that doesn’t feel earnest when paired with Duterte’s slow delivery.

Better tracks are the slow burners “One More Time, Please” and “Baybee,” which pair slick, after-midnight R&B hooks with some of Duterte’s haziest vocal work. These songs feel intimate and atmospheric without coming off as dreary, a set of jams just as suitable for the bedroom as the dancefloor. They are the album’s conceptual peak. 

The title track is a solidly crafted piece of power-pop bedrock that neither seems rushed nor overstays its welcome. Though the same cannot be said for closer “For Light,” which at 7:23 seems to drag a little, but nevertheless remains a respectable closer for a respectable album. 

Not everything works on Everybody Works. Nevertheless, there is  a workman-like efficiency to this record, where Duterte samples pretty much everything going on in alternative music today and hits the mark more often than not. This is not the record that will save indie-rock, but it’s proof that the genre is alive, even if its time in the limelight continues to recede.  

Commentary, Opinion

The value of a Liberal Arts degree in a post-truth World

by Grey Gunning on

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The liberal arts is often portrayed to be a set of dying disciplines, a collection of studies with a long pedigree, but no practical applications in today’s world. Their continued existence is perennially up for debate. According to Statistics Canada, enrollment in Liberal Arts majors decreased by almost 6 per cent in 2015, and many universities are either decreasing their liberal arts offerings or combining the majors with other disciplines. While coming out of university with a Business degree might seem more economically tenable than exiting with a degree in, say, literature, a Liberal Arts degree is more than just a tenuous path to a job. It is a tool that facilitates communication and criticism. Liberal Arts degrees enable their recipients to discern fact from fiction in the world around them, a skill that is increasingly important in a ‘post-truth’ world.

“Liberal Arts” is a nebulous category that encompasses a multitude of disciplines, from the humanities to the social sciences. What these degrees all have in common is a basis in critical thinking and “cultural citizenship, through participation in the various conversations that constitute a culture.” In essence, a Liberal Arts degree facilitates cultural commentary and criticism, allowing students to step outside of cultural structures and comment on them. It provides its bearer with a way of thinking and a way of engaging with the world.

The importance of meeting the world with critical thinking skills cannot be overstated. Liberal Arts courses teach their students to question biased sources and challenge established precepts of thought. Students are taught to be sensitive to bias, and to look beyond what they are told. In an era of “fake news” and “alternative facts,” a Liberal Arts education helps its recipient to read and watch with a critical eye. According to The Economist, Americans shared 30 million false pro-Trump articles during the 2016 election cycle.

 

Liberal Arts degrees enable their recipients to discern fact from fiction in the world around them, a skill that is increasingly important in a ‘post-truth’ world.

This kind of comfort with fake news is not exclusive to America—it is a phenomenon in Western politics at large. The rhetoric of a post-truth world is visible in Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, as supporters of Brexit reject reliable data and scoff at expert opinions. While Canada has not yet experienced such an egregious example of post-truth thought, the politics of falsehood prominent in its southern neighbour have begun to sneak across the border, most notably in the pushback against a Canadian carbon tax following Trump’s anti-climate change rhetoric.

While the fake news boom may seem like a baffling anomaly of the 21st century, it may also just be an unfortunate symptom of the Internet era. In his book “The Internet of Us,” philosophy professor and writer Michael Lynch argues that the Internet “blinds” its users from truth, as they come to rely on it as a news source. As Lynch gravely suggests, the inability to critically consume internet media hamstrings objective reasoning. Moreover, the internet undeniably provides an influx of information that is unprecedented in human history. Because of this, the people of the Internet age are perched on the edge of a radical reconceptualization of truth—the Internet may be an intended as an egalitarian sphere where anyone can speak their mind, but this egalitarianism can negate legitimacy as users come to trust online sources with no credentials.

These qualities of the online era, compounded by a political culture in which people no longer feel that they can trust established authorities, causes false sources to gain undue traction in public consciousness. Consequently, per The Economist’s observations on ‘the art of the lie’, “lies that are widely shared online within a network, whose members trust each other more than they trust any mainstream-media source, can quickly take on the appearance of truth.” It is imperative, then, for people to adjust themselves to an online culture in which truth is not always easy to find. To do this, responsible citizens need critical thinking skills and cultural literacy—skills that are traditionally associated with a Liberal Arts degree.

Educators and students must not lose sight of the importance of an education that teaches its recipient to responsibly consume and create media. Liberal Arts education provides the invaluable ability to not just discern truth, but to also shape what is perceived as “truth” through commentary. This is crucial today because the nature of truth itself is in question. Beyond any economic usefulness, a Liberal Arts degree might have, it allows its bearer to take part in shaping political and cultural paradigms in a period of flux.

 

 

 

Grey Gunning is a U2 History major and occasional artist. She enjoys climbing, gardening, and cheesy 80's sci fi.

 

@mcgilltribop | [email protected]

 

 
Science & Technology

Fresh off the Petri dish: The emerging industry of cellular agriculture

by Daria Kiseleva on

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Which came first: The chicken or the egg? In the not too distant future, the popular dilemma may become less universal.

On March 13, Effective Altruists at McGill, with the support of Greenpeace McGill, hosted an informative presentation delivered by co-President Yarrow Eady entitled, “Saving the World through Biotechnology.”

Eady began by highlighting the environmental and health-related costs of the modern animal agriculture industry, including its contribution of about 14.5 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, susceptibility to disease epidemics, and its role in creating antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

The harsh treatment of animals in the name of efficiency poses an additional ethical concern, which is implicitly acknowledged by laws that prohibit filming in factory farms.

“The reality is that like everything else that we buy, animal products are produced in huge industrial facilities that don’t look like farms look in the popular imagination,” Eady said.

However, significantly reducing demand for animal products—especially in the face of rapid global population growth—is hardly realistic. A 2014 study showed that as many as 84 per cent of people who attempted a vegan or vegetarian diet returned to eating meat or other animal products.

Enter cellular agriculture—a field that aims to create molecular duplicates of animal products on a cellular or subcellular level. In the near future, this pioneering industry promises to serve lab-grown meat, eggs, and dairy products that perfectly mimic the properties of their naturally-derived equivalents, but spare us the troubling aftertaste of environmental and ethical implications. Indeed, the production of animal products in a lab requires significantly less energy, land, and water, and produces less greenhouse gas than traditional farming.

“The biotechnological solution to animal agriculture would be like making a cigarette that has the same experience for the smoker, but has no negative impact on human health,” Eady said. “You wouldn’t have to deal with the super hard behaviour change problem.”

The first cultured beef burger, created by Dr. Mark Post at Maastricht University, famously debuted in London in 2013. Its design began with extraction of muscle stem cells from a living cow. The cells were allowed to grow and divide in an artificial environment supplied with growth medium. In the absence of blood vessels to deliver nutrients to and remove waste from cells directly, tissue could only grow to a limited size, so many tiny strands had to be layered together in the final beef patty.

The cell culture still relied on fetal bovine serum—a product extracted from fetal cows. Ongoing research continues to look for sustainable animal-free alternatives for growth media.

Re-creation of egg whites and dairy, on the other hand, relies only on the dutiful service of yeast. Egg whites are made up of protein, whereas milk contains both proteins and fats. Yeast DNA is modified by inserting genes that drive the yeast to produce desired proteins. The yeast consumes sugar and divides while obediently secreting these target proteins, which are then isolated from the yeast. In the case of milk, plant-sourced fats are then added.

While a variety of cellular agriculture research is currently funded by non-profit institutes, notably New Harvest, some biotechnology companies have surprisingly attracted investors from the animal agriculture industry.

“It’s like the innovator’s dilemma where these [animal agriculture] companies can see the future, but the future also destroys the present business,” Eady said. “[….] Maybe some will drag their heels, [but] others will try and get ahead of this [and] go along with the future rather than fight against it.”

Cellular agriculture might be closer than one might imagine. Perfect Day, a startup developing animal-free dairy, promised to launch its first commercial product by the end of 2017.

As a self-proclaimed enthusiast of technological trends, Eady speculates that cellular agriculture will eventually advance beyond mere imitation of existing animal products.

“When you look beyond the five-year timespan, [it will be possible to manipulate biomolecules] with the same sort of detailed precision that we can manipulate software,” Eady said. “So, there’s a possibility in the very long-term for us to create entirely new foods, […which] no one today even imagines.”

Science & Technology

Nanosatellites: The future of space exploration?

by Courtney Wright & Oyku Cildir on

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NASA has always been an institute of great scientific accomplishment and innovation, but this comes with a hefty price tag. As the agency moves forward in its three-stage plan to put humans on Mars, the public agency’s budget is under heavy scrutiny. Increased pressure has been put on NASA to develop more cost-effective alternatives.

In its Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 budget estimates, NASA requested $19 billion USD from the U.S. government, projected to increase to $20.4 billion USD by 2021. With such a large budget, it seems natural to assume that the 2020 Mars rover will be superior to its predecessors in every way. In 2017, $377 million USD will go to the 2020 Mars rover exploration mission alone, according the FY 2017 budget estimates.

The 2020 rover will be heavily based upon the Curiosity rover, which launched in November 2011. While the Curiosity rover has been hailed as a huge success, NASA stated that a major reason for re-implementing much of the 2011 technology in the 2020 rover is to cut costs. Considering the net cost of the 2020 rover, the fact that NASA had to reuse technology, and that the agency is largely funded by taxpayers, it is obvious why people may look for more cost-efficient solutions to space research.

In recent years, NASA has started to put significant effort into deploying nanosatellites, such as cube satellites, in order to maximize research while cutting costs. Nanosatellites have a mass between one to ten kilograms and provide a smaller, less expensive alternative to conventional satellites. One such example is the CubeSat Launch Initiative. Cube satellites are a specific type of nanosatellite measured in standard 10x10x11cm units, called U’s. Started in 2008, this initiative organizes partnerships between NASA and educational institutions all over the US to launch cube satellites into space. The consistent size of cube satellites makes it easy to standardize the launch process, allowing NASA to launch 49 CubeSats into space since the beginning of the 2008 initiative.

In Fall 2016, U3 electrical engineering student Paul Albert-LeBrun founded a space club called The McGill Space Systems Group. Albert-Lebrun said his interest in space exploration has been a part of his life since he was a child, citing his father’s job in the aerospace industry as the original source of inspiration.

“We have pretty much visited everything [on Earth…],” Albert-Lebrun said. “Space is something we don’t know much of and there are so many things to explore about it.”

This interest in the unknown drove Albert-Lebrun to seek out aerospace internships, resulting in work placements at several different companies, including aerospace giant Lockheed Martin.

The McGill Space Systems Group is part of the wave of university groups, such as those taking part in NASA’s CubeSat program, working with nanosatellites. The group is currently designing and building a nanosatellite to identify gravitational waves and other space activity. Albert-Lebrun hopes that through this process he can make the concept of space exploration and technologies more accessible to students and overall more useful and interesting.

“The idea of nanosatellites is very important […],” Albert-Lebrun said. “You can build in a week, they are more affordable, and are built on a smaller scale [….] This is the only way that the space industry can survive. There is still the financial limitation but we have to move towards a more agile system.”

Under NASA’s budget restrictions, nanosatellites are looking to be more and more promising. The next generation of space explorers can join in the effort  now to provide a more sustainable future for the space industry.

Science & Technology

The impact of music on identity

by Izze Siemann on

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Music affects the human brain in endless ways. From experiencing pleasure and joy to sound, to remembering autobiographical events, to communicating through movement, music impacts humans constantly and significantly.

In a recent study published in February in Scientific Reports—led by Cognitive Psychologist and Professor Dr. Daniel Levitin—sex, drugs, and music were all shown to operate in the same reward pathway in the brain—showing how musical pleasure compares to the pleasure received from sex and drugs. According to PhD candidate and co-author of the paper, Adiel Mallik, this system is known as the dopamine-opioid pathway.

“The drug naltrexone blocks the mu-opioid receptor, which is responsible for experiencing euphoria and pain relief,” Mallik said.

In the study, the participants who were administered naltrexone reported a dulling of their overall emotions—even after they were asked to listen to their self-identified favourite songs.

“One [participant] said, ‘I know this is my favourite song, but it doesn’t feel like it usually does,’” Levitin said of a report he received from a study subject. “Another [reported], ‘It sounds pretty, but it’s not doing anything for me.’”

But the effects don’t end there. The team also investigated the impact of naltrexone on zygomatic activity—also known as ‘smiling’ activity—and corrugator activity—a muscle activated while frowning. Subjects were connected to a facial electromyogram—used to measure emotional expression.

“What I found interesting was that we expected the zygomatic activity to go down, but the corrugator muscle activity also went down, so there was a positive and negative emotional response,” Mallik said.

The opioid blockage thus made people both frown and smile less, having an overall neutralizing impact on participants. The team was surprised to find that the feelings shown by the subjects towards their favourite songs was emptiness, as opposed to experiencing pure negativity. Imagine an all-time favourite song, one that previously evoked joy and emotional intensity, eliciting no feelings.

Opioids are, however, often associated with addictive behaviours, which can cause damage to an individual’s life and those around them. Thus, research toward understanding the complex interactions between neurochemical roots of pleasure may help neuroscientists address addiction as an issue.

Emotion inspired by music can also be visibly seen and comprehended. A study published last April in Emotion, conducted by Steven Livingstone, a former postdoctoral fellow in McGill’s Department of Psychology, and Dr. Caroline Palmer, McGill psychology professor and Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience of Performance, showed that singers and performers can express their emotions when they move their bodies—their head signals carry information to the audience before any sound is even made.

“We know from how singers sing that they are very expressive when they move their bodies, and head movements of singers and of speakers carry a lot of information—even before they start making sound,” Palmer explained.

The study showed that subjects possessed the ability to judge emotion based on head movements alone, without the addition of sounds or expressions. This ability allows situations to be analyzed where no discernable music or sound persists, such as in a noisy club, or observing others in conversation.

Clearly, music contributes to human emotion and the display of emotion; however, it can reach further and influence one’s personal identity.

“Music is a powerful trigger to thinking about the past,” Dr. Signy Sheldon, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, said.

In her February 2017 study, entitled “More than a feeling: Emotional cues impact the access and experience of autobiographical memories,” Sheldon explores what characteristics of music stimulate memory: Is the song itself what sparks an image from the past, or is it the characteristics of music as a whole?

As Levitin’s study shows, music influences current mood and feelings. Sheldon focuses on how music can turn on different aspects of emotion, allowing for memory conjuration.

To investigate this question, participants in Sheldon’s study listened to unfamiliar, classical, scientifically-developed music that evoked different emotions. The happier music had a major key and was more upbeat, while the sad music samples had minor keys and slower tempos.

Unexpected results arose from this study. Participants accessed memories faster when listening to happy music as opposed to sad, although they had never heard the classical tunes before. In addition, positive music promoted the recollection of positive memories, while the negative music, whether scary or sad, brought negative memories to the surface.

The ramifications of these findings reveal a lot about human nature.

“Past memories help us build our self-identity, or our concept of self,” Sheldon said. “So being able to access memories from past autobiographical events, and access our past personal experiences, to happy music, could mean that we are constantly trying to uphold a happy depiction of our autobiographical selves. Happy music will make us think about ourselves more than any other type of music because of this function of autobiographical memory, to maintain a positive self-identity.”

The fact that the tone of music influences human emotion also highlights key elements of memory retrieval—that it is dynamic and flexible. Accessing our past is not based on personal choice. Rather, our surroundings and the emotions being experienced, control which memories we access.

“This study shows us that we won’t access memories based on what we need, but based on the situation we’re in while we’re remembering,” Sheldon said.

Scientists were able to make this observation after they discovered music’s impact on emotion.

In future studies, Sheldon will research how emotions experienced while listening to music affect learning or the uptake of information. Participants will be presented with complex images while listening to similar musical emotional queues. Eye tracking techniques will be applied to analyze how people digest this information. Sheldon also plans to use brain scanning in order to identify any differences in cortical—or brain—regions while subjects access memories in light of happy cues.

“[The] take-home message is that if you are trying to remind someone of a past event and you want them to remember it in a positive light, play happy music for them,” Sheldon said.

These two studies show the connections between music and emotional cues and how they promote access to memories. The best part of this newly discovered link: The relationship between music and the brain is practically universal. From six-month-old babies to adults with musical and non-musical careers, music recognition and its impact on people works in similar ways.

“Everyone is a skilled foot-tapper. Everyone is a skilled hummer. Everyone is a good clapper-to-the-beat at a concert. And how is that possible?” Palmer asked. “The idea that you can go to a concert and hear a piece of music that you have never heard before and move in time to it is wonderful.”

Every day, music revives memories within us that remind us who we are, and who we want to be—so keep clapping, tapping, and listening.

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

‘Logan’ is a fitting finale to the Wolverine franchise

by Jordan Foy on

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X-Men films are a standard of the superhero genre, dating back to the first film, X-Men, in 2000. Over the course of the series, the original trilogy of films was joined by multiple spin-offs, including X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), a weird quasi-reboot that confused many fans. One of the only constants in the series was Hugh Jackman’s character, Wolverine, who makes an appearance in every film. Intended to be the final film in which Jackman will portray Wolverine, Logan is a spectacular send-off for Jackman—and may even be the best film in the X-Men series.  

When Logan begins, it is clear that things have changed since the last X-Men movie that starred Wolverine—Days of Future Past. Mutants are on the verge of extinction, most of the X-Men have disappeared, and Logan (Hugh Jackman) is in Mexico taking care of Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), who appears to have lost some of his marbles. Along with fellow mutant Caliban (Stephen Merchant), the trio live a quiet existence along the Mexico-United States border. However, the arrival of a mysterious girl, Laura (Dafne Keen), forces Logan to embark on a cross-country journey to get her to safety.

Logan is action-packed, epic, and grittier than a mouthful of sand. In many ways, the film bends the traditional paradigms of the superhero genre, with more complexity than an average action film. Logan is without a doubt the darkest and most intense X-Men movie, as reflected by its R-rating. The film is laden with f-bombs and graphic violence, but Logan is more than just a hyper-violent action film. Important themes, such as family and redemption, as well as stylistic flairs, add depth to the film’s surface thrills.  

The influence of the Western genre can be felt throughout the film. The epic and vast landscapes characteristic of  Westerns make their way into Logan via its beautiful, scenic shots. The bad guys are essentially ‘guns for hire,’ and the film even ends in a showdown of sorts. The incorporation of these elements makes for a satisfying deviation from the standard superhero film formula.  

Logan focuses on a cast of few characters, in contrast to other recent blockbusters like The Avengers and the upcoming Justice League, that feature large ensembles. This proves to be refreshing, as the smaller cast allows viewers to enjoy the relationships that develop between the characters, ultimately enabling audiences to become more emotionally invested than other blockbusters of this kind. Hugh Jackman’s portrayal of Wolverine is excellent—at times the ferocious character we are used to, but at others displaying a more sensitive and conflicted side.  Additionally,  Wolverine’s dynamic with Laura, is enormously entertaining—the two characters are equally stubborn and angry, and constantly butt heads.  

However, one drawback is that the violence and action sequences can be excessive. After so many severed limbs and decapitations, the violence can be a little overwhelming, and at times detracts from the story. 

Regardless, Logan is an emotional finale to the story of Wolverine, and will leave fans of the X-Men series satisfied. The film shows another side to the Wolverine character, as well as the superhero genre, and is truly a superb film. It is a reminder that big-budget films that deviate from typical formulas pay off.

Hockey, Martlets, Men's Varsity, Sports

McGill Hockey championships roundup

by Stephen Gill, André Morin on

More in Hockey:

REDMEN

Stephen Gill

Christopher Lalonde scored seventh-seeded McGill’s only goal in a 4-1 loss to St. Francis Xavier in the U Sports University Cup quarterfinals on March 17. The X-Men’s offence proved too persistent, outshooting the Redmen 35-22 and scoring two goals within 51 seconds into the third period to push the game out of reach. 

The disappointing loss marked the end of the season for men’s hockey. McGill struggled out of the gates in 2016, splitting six wins and losses in their first 12 games. However, the team’s performance soon stabilized and they finished the season with a strong 29-14 record. Coach Kelly Nobes and his team carried this momentum into the postseason as they reached the OUA East finals and secured a wild-card spot in the U Sports tournament.

Nobes has his work cut out for him heading into next season, where he could lose up to eight players to graduation this year, including Mathieu Pompei and Patrick Delisle-Houde. Pompei led the team in points while Delisle-Houde, a two-year captain, scored a team-high 17 goals. On the bright side, the squad will not lose much of its supporting cast, so a successful 2017-2018 campaign is certainly within reach.

 

(mcgillathletics.ca)
(mcgillathletics.ca)

MARTLETS

André Morin

The McGill Martlets women’s hockey team suffered a heartbreaking defeat in the U Sports Gold Medal Game, falling 2-1 in double overtime against the sixth-seeded University of Alberta Pandas. The Pandas took a 1-0 lead into the third period, which would stand until fifth-year forward Mélodie Daoust scored a power-play goal with under five minutes to go. 

Fatigue began to set in during the overtime periods, as the teams exchanged chances at both ends. McGill failed to capitalize on two minutes of 4-on-3 power-play in the second overtime. After over four periods, a deflection by Pandas’ defender Taylor Kezama scored on Martlets’ goalkeeper Tricia Deguire and gave Alberta their record eighth national championship. Daoust received player of the game honours for McGill, as well as being named to the tournament All-Star team with teammates Gabrielle Davidson and Emilia Cotter.

The Martlets entered the tournament as RSEQ champions and the fourth seed, taking on the fifth-seeded St. Francis Xavier X-Women in the first round. Down 1-0 early, fifth-year forward Gabrielle Davidson soon scored the first of her two goals on the night to tie things up. Freshman forward Jade Downie-Landry scored the eventual game winner in the second period while freshman netminder Tricia Deguire held down the fort the rest of the way as the Martlets moved on with a convincing 3-1 win.

In the semi-finals, the Martlets took on the top-seeded University of British Columbia (UBC) Thunderbirds. Once again, Davidson was the hero, scoring the only goal in the final minutes of the game, lifting McGill to a shocking 1-0 win over UBC. Deguire put together another solid performance in net, posting 17 saves in her shutout. In a game filled with penalties, the Martlets were able to successfully kill six Thunderbirds powerplays, but were unable to capitalize on any of their eight.

The Martlets finish their season with a 29-11-1 record. They are now four for eight in Championship game appearances. 

With fifth years Davidson and Daoust graduating at the end of the year, Head Coach Peter Smith will look to sophmore forward Olivia Atkinson and netminder Deguire to continue to improve after their stellar seasons. With nine first year players on the team this season, McGill should be able to reload quickly and contend again next year as they try to make their fifth straight national finals. The experience at this year’s final should serve as 

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