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a, Arts & Entertainment

Album Review: Ty Segall – Emotional Mugger

by Jonathan Herlin on

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Emotional Mugger is creative and unorthodox in a way that’s wholly unpredictable and not particularly welcoming. On “The Magazine,” rapid rhythmic clapping comes out of nowhere to overwhelm the melody, which simultaneously collapses into nothing more than record scratching and atonal vocals. The track “W.U.O.T.W.S.” goes from weird distorted murmurs to an acoustic guitar outro reminiscent of The Beatles’ “Honey Pie.” In fact, the album’s primary theme is dissonance; Segall intends to create a moody, at times horrific atmosphere—and he often succeeds. The album cover—baby in a menacing white mask against an ominous, grainy backdrop—is straight out of an ’80s horror film.

The guitar breakdowns are the best part of this album. Although Segall’s guitarist employs the fairly common minor pentatonic blues scale, he manages to make it new. He uses effects like gain and fuzz to great effect, and his bitingly aggressive breakdowns contrast well with Segall’s droning verses. The best example of this is “California Hills,” in which the guitar breakdowns are in double time, and are reminiscent of The Strokes on Room on Fire. By contrast, the lyrics are nothing special. There are rare gems, which are provocative and insightful, such as the following lines from “California Hills:” “American nightmare, guilty generation / Fingers on the pulse of their parents’ alienation / From the history, histories of western civilization.”

Segall’s vocals can be characterized as weird for the sake of being weird. He usually sings in a high, fuzzed out drone. Along with production, the vocals are the main way in which Segall creates an air of horror. For example, the track “Squealer Two” concludes with some sort of demented clown laughing out the lines “squealer man.” And while creepy vocals are not necessarily a bad thing, they lack any aesthetic or redeeming quality on this album. This is especially true on “Baby Big Man,” where, much like the entire track, the vocals are essentially pointless.

On the whole, this album is not particularly enjoyable. There are a few good songs, the standout track being the aforementioned “California Hills,” but most songs are either forgettable or too jarring to listen to more than once. This album is not likely to have a wide influence, nor is it aesthetically significant, but it is certainly an interesting listening experience.

Standout tracks:

“Californian Hills,” “Mandy Cream,” “Diversion”

Sounds like:

The mood occasionally evokes the droning of Sonic Youth and the guitar riffs sound like the early White Stripes. Note that these comparisons make the album seem far better than it is.

Standout lyric:

“American nightmare, guilty generation / fingers on the pulse of their parents’ alienation / from the history, histories of western civilization.”

LCD soundsystem
a, Arts & Entertainment, Music

Pop Rhetoric: Drop the cynicism and get excited for LCD Soundsystem’s return

by Eric Noble-Marks on

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Remember when the reunion rumour was solely in the domain of the great fossils of rock’s mesozoic era? When the ravenous rumour mill of music journalism (read: Rolling Stone Magazine) was content to feast on reports of fabricated Zeppelin tours and that time that Pink Floyd got back together for Live 8? Every once in awhile, the rumour mill would be thrown a bone in the form of the Police or Van Halen and there would be much rejoicing. In fairness, this was almost immediately followed by an avalanche of hand-wringing think pieces about $200 tickets and 'legacy' from those who consider themselves to be part of rock’s indie and alternative intelligentsia.

Well, the joke’s on them. Alternative rock has officially entered the reunion era; however, when critically beloved dance-punk tastemakers LCD Soundsystem announced their reunion early this year, there was little rejoicing. In fact, people who came out in droves to buy records and see shows during the band’s initial six-year-run were disappointed and even hurt by their decision to return. Frontman James Murphy went so far as to share an apology on the band’s website. It was jarring to see such a negative reaction. But here’s the thing: It doesn’t matter. Fans should be stoked beyond belief that LCD Soundsystem are back. 

The release of a new LCD album is a sketchy proposition for many fans. These are your typical reunion naysayers who harp on about legacy and the effect that an underwhelming fourth album might have on the band’s classic discography. For one, the album may very well be great; the other LCD records certainly were. Second, even if it’s a disaster, there is no reason why this should affect the perception of the other records. If you loved Sound of Silver and whatever new record they put out makes you love Sound of Silver less, maybe you like that record for the wrong reasons. Whatever happens, listeners will always have the first three albums. Whatever comes next should be thought of as a bonus.

Admittedly, LCD’s break up was a bit of an anomaly in the music world. Unlike other bands that spontaneously combust due to ego-collision and infighting, LCD’s separation was serene and meticulously planned. There was a last show at Madison Square Garden in 2011. There was a documentary about that show and the breakup of the band, 2012’s Shut Up and Play the Hits. There was a vinyl box set of the last show released for record store day 2014 called The Long Goodbye. Everything was wrapped in a nice little bow before the band came back and supposedly ruined everything. There have been countless comments online about how people’s experience of that last show is now sullied by the band’s reunion just five years later. That’s understandable. Here these people were thinking they were witnessing the end of an era only to have it resume roughly the same amount of time that it takes to record a new Radiohead record (fingers crossed).

People love a good ending, but consider this: I for one, was turned on to LCD at age 14 by a friend who linked me to a live stream of their last show. When it ended, I felt that great feeling that one always feels when they immediately connect to music for the first time, but of course, the moment was bittersweet. For myself and others who fell in love with this band over the past five years, LCD’s return is an opportunity to see the band live and experience the release of a new album for the first time. More than this, there are legions of potential fans who now have the chance to catch LCD at a festival and discover, for the first time, just what makes this band so special. Let’s not take that away from them. This is happening. Let’s get excited.

The Clash
a, Arts & Entertainment, Music

Flashback: London Calling by The Clash (1979)

by Alissa Zilberchteine on

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London, 1979. It has been a decade of rebellious confrontation, slashed jeans, and protests against mainstream society. To sum it all up: Loud. However, this active time of musical production, pioneered by individuals who desired to create and say something, should not be confused with ‘noise.’ The raging guitar riffs and screaming vocals are loud, but they are deliberate and carefully composed by the music scene’s enthusiasts. Among these are the legendary punk rock band The Clash, who released their third studio album London Calling in 1979 with Epic Records. The album was a commercial success in the UK and US, and a significant triumph for the group, as it diverged from their previous work, incorporating elements of rockabilly, reggae, ska, and jazz-inspired sounds. London Calling demonstrates the band’s musical innovation and complex craftsmanship; it challenged the long-availing, widespread punk-rock myth that all songs sound the same.

The album begins with the title track “London Calling,” a confrontation with the iconic city’s despairing state of high unemployment and social unrest. Joe Strummer calls out the city’s wrongs and criticizes its establishments as he sings, “The ice age is coming/ The sun is zooming in/ Engines stop running/ And the wheat is growing thin.” Strummer and Mick Jones created the album over the span of several months in Jones’ grandmother’s apartment; Strummer wrote lyrics while Jones composed the music. The album tackles significant social issues, including the Spanish Civil War (“Spanish Bombs”), the failures of capitalism (“Clampdown”), and conflicts with the police (“The Guns of Brixton”). The song “Lost in the Supermarket” deals with struggles of self-identity in a world plagued by commercialism, juxtaposed with the backdrop of a shopping market. Strummer compares the search for one’s self with the pursuit of a grocery item, “I’m all lost in the supermarket/ I can no longer shop happily/ I came in here for a special offer/ Guaranteed personality.” Likewise, other songs on the album deal with similar universal human issues in the context of London’s socio-economic circumstances in the '70s.

While the album is filled with fast guitar riffs and loud drum beats—the standard musical duo of many punk songs—they are accompanied with an organ and a series of horn instruments. The latter’s role in the musical ensemble contributes to the album’s reggae and jazz-inspired motifs. The horns are particularly apparent in “Rudie Can’t Fail,” “The Right Profile,” and “Wrong ‘Em Boyo.” “Revolution Rock” is immersed in reggae influences evidenced in the repetition of the brass instruments, the off-beat guitar, and relaxed thumping of the drums. This is all complemented by Strummer’s carefree manner of singing. The role of the organ and brasses in the album provide a stark contrast with the band’s two earlier works, The Clash (1977) and Give ‘Em Enough Rope (1978), which primarily featured rock music instruments. These changes suggest bold stylistic experimentation and a conscious desire to further evolve their music.

London Calling is a unique contribution in the history of punk rock. Its ranging musical composition, distinctive instrumental ensemble, and ground-breaking lyrics demonstrate evident diversions from The Clash’s earlier sound or the music of The Sex Pistols and The Ramones. Even its commercial success could be seen as opposing the punk tradition of primarily underground activity. Despite some of these differences, the album encapsulates punk music’s essence of free creative speech, total musical authorship, and rebellion against the mainstream. London Calling challenges and rebels against the characterized sounds of its own genre, proving to be a bold musical statement and a truly iconic example of punk music.

a, News

EUS Council decides against hosting International Engineering Competition

by William Pang on

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At its Jan. 25 meeting, the Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS)council  relinquished its bid to host the International Engineering Competition (IEC) and set dates for their upcoming election. In addition, they heard a presentation from the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Vice-President (VP) Finance, Zacheriah Houston, on the SSMU base fee increase special referendum question.

EUS not hosting upcoming engineering competition

The EUS relinquished its bid to host the 2016 International Engineering Competition, an event managed by the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students (CFES).

“There has been a lot of miscommunication between us and the CFES […] and besides, it was too much for us to take, especially on the financial side of things,” EUS VP External Jean-Louis Shi said. “The whole point of relinquishing the bid is official to say that [the EUS has] no financial obligation [to host the event].”

Shi noted that EUS will be hosting two other CFES activities: The Canadian Engineering Competition and the Conference of Diversity in Engineering; however, the IEC event will still be organized by Mélanie Laroche–Boisvert, who served as a chairperson of the EUS IEC 2016 committee.   

“Initially the idea was to say we don’t want to [host IEC] anymore, but Mélanie still wanted to continue,” Shi said.

EUS will be providing free room access for Laroche-Boisvert to organize the next edition of IEC.

SSMU membership fee increase

SSMU executives have been making rounds to faculty councils to advocate for a $5.50 increase in membership fee.  On Monday, Houston explained to the EUS that the membership fee has not increased since 2008, and SSMU’s current budget is unsustainable given its rapid growth over the past few years.

“Roughly 30 per cent would go to additional support staff for SSMU, roughly 40 per cent would go to financial stability, and roughly 25 per percent would go to student identified priorities,” Houston said, before elaborating that the fee increase would bring around $240,000 in additional revenue.

EUS President Mariam Hachem questioned Houston on why faculties except for Law, Religious Studies, Dentistry, and Medicine have to pay a higher membership fee. Houston explained that the irregular fee structure is due to historical reasons, and emphasized that no other SSMU fee is structured similarly.

“Personally I am not in favour of the fee structure, and we’re not proposing a proportional increase,” Houston said. “The deputy provost’s office doesn’t allow you to have two questions in one [referendum], so fee restructuring combined with a fee increase, we would get a lot of resistance to that [….]  It could take a year to get them to allow us to have two questions at once.”

EUS executive elections

Council members passed a Policy and Bylaw Review Committee (PBRC) bylaw to set up a nominations committee within EUS and approved their electoral calendar for the upcoming month.

“Elections for EUS execs and representatives to SSMU, the nomination period, which we are already in, is from [Jan. 20] to [Feb. 3],” Hachem announced.  “The campaigning period will be after, [Feb. 8] to [Feb. 14].

Election debates will be held on Feb. 10 in the EUS Common Room.

The nomination period for Engineering departmental executives will be held from Feb. 22 to Mar. 8, with the campaign period held Mar. 14 to Mar. 20.

a, Fact or Fiction, Science & Technology

Fact or Fiction: Is MSG bad for you?

by Lydia Kaprelian on

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It seems like no food is safe anymore. High fructose corn syrup causes diabetes. Swordfish is filled with mercury, a neurotoxin. And the latest bad news? Bacon is a carcinogen according to the World Health Organization (WHO). When it comes to monosodium glutamate (MSG), though, it looks like science is on the side of tasty foods.

Commonly associated with Chinese food, MSG has garnered quite a negative reputation over the years. Its use has been linked to a variety of health problems from headaches to allergic reactions to general sluggishness.

MSG’s bad rap can be traced back to a letter written in 1968 to the New England Journal of Medicine by Dr. Robert Ho Man Kwok. The letter, titled “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome,” recounted Ho Man Kwok’s experience of eating out at Chinese restaurants, which resulted in him having symptoms of numbness and weakness. Ho Man Kwok speculated that his malaise could be due to the flavouring used by Chinese restaurants.

“The cause is obscure,” the paper reads. “[Some] have suggested that it may be caused by the monosodium glutamate seasoning used to a great extent for seasoning in Chinese restaurants.”

And with that, Ho Man Kwok sparked one of the most pervasive food myths of today: MSG is dangerous.

Nowadays, stigma has caused many Chinese restaurants in Montreal and throughout North America to boast “No MSG” on storefronts and in menus. The label can be found in the grocery store aisles on seasoning salts and pre-packaged foods. The signs and labels are meant to ease customer concerns, but they also feed the fire that MSG should be avoided. As of yet, there’s no rigorous scientific evidence or research to back MSG’s infamous reputation.

Discovered by Tokyo Imperial University chemist Kikunae Ikeda in 1907, MSG was created to capitalize on umami flavour. Umami, a flavour outside of the four basic tastes—sour, sweet, salty, and bitter—is hailed as the savoury taste that’s found in foods such as mushrooms, beef, miso and Parmesan cheese. Umami-packed MSG helps to explain the deliciousness of ramen flavouring packets, for example.

It was Ikeda who first attempted to identify this feeling or flavour of umami. He discovered that many of the foods associated with umami contained L-glutamate. Seeking to isolate umami, Ikeda synthesized MSG by extracting glutamate from kombu seaweed and stabilizing the molecule with table salt and water. Glutamate is a non-essential amino acid naturally produced in the human body. L-glutamate refers to the chiral orientation of the amino acid.

If the two components of MSG—table salt and glutamate—are naturally-occurring substances, then what is the big concern over MSG?

As it turns out, MSG’s demise is more than just a story about the difficulties of altering public perception; it is also a story about the misuse of science.

Soon after Ho Man Kwok’s letter to the New England Journal of Medicine was published, a study came out in Science, which implicated MSG consumption in some nasty symptoms. John Olney, a professor at the Washington University School of Medicine, published “Brain lesions, obesity, and other disturbances in mice treated with monosodium glutamate” in which newborn mice were subcutaneously injected—that is, injected under their skin—with about 0.4 to 5 mg of MSG. Following the injections, the mice developed a slew of symptoms ranging from stunted skeletal development to obesity to neuronal necrosis of the hypothalamus.

Though the results did prove that direct injections of enormous quantities of MSG will have harmful effects, it by no means mimicked the way MSG is consumed by humans. For example, Olney injected the mice with MSG whereas humans acquire MSG by eating it. As a result, the human body will metabolize MSG differently than Olney’s mice. This, coupled with the dose the mice received—rates of which would be very unlikely for humans—means that very little of this work can be applied to actual human consumption.

The study performed by Olney is an important lesson when considering scientific findings. While results may have indicated MSG  is causing trouble for mice, it might not mean the same for humans. With MSG so heavily demonized in North America, changing the minds of the public is likely to take a long time. 

a, Science & Technology

The dark secret behind snow pollution

by Sihara Wickremasignhe on

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The white blanket that covers everything and anything after a snowfall may not be as pure and untarnished as it appears. A recent study from McGill University discovered that freezing temperatures and fallen snow can change the way compounds found in air—air particulates—are distributed. Yevgen Nazarenko, a postdoctoral fellow from McGill’s Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and a researcher with the study, explained that snow is the perfect pollutant trap.

“If you go to polluted regions like some cities in China and India […] or even stand near some major roads, especially where they have a lot of diesel engines, you can see the air pollution,” Nazarenko explained. “You can physically see the particulates in the air or you see the brown smog.”

In areas where pollutants aren’t as visible, like Montreal for example, toxins are still absorbed by the snow, making them present in higher concentrations and potentially harmful.

 Nazarenko and his team found increased levels of four specific petroleum-derived chemicals—benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes (BTEX)—that have been shown to be toxic and carcinogenic. Benzene is quickly and effectively absorbed into the body, causing drowsiness, confusion and headaches. High enough levels (>10,000,000 parts per billion) can lead to death. Toluene and ethylbenzene are eagerly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract after ingestion and can cause kidney and liver problems. Xylenes negatively impact the nervous system, affecting muscle coordination and balance. These monocyclic molecules are small—they can have width of about 240pm. As a result, they can enter the human respiratory and circulatory systems with ease, leading to increased incidences of cancer and cardiovascular pulmonary disease. Snow is an extremely efficient pollutant trap, because it’s a mixture of water and ice.

“Snow is assembled [from] minute crystals with very high surface [areas] and, above -20 degrees Celsius, snow has a quasi-liquid water phase,” Nazarenko explained. “You have a lot of surfaces and various phases for absorption of the solution of substances into the snowpack whereas in water, you have much lower surface area for contact with air pollution.”

Immediate exposure of heated emissions from exhaust pipes to the cool winter atmosphere causes gases to condense into particulate form, which acts to increase snow’s absorption. Despite these factors, many agencies have continued to ignore snow pollution.

“Much of the environmental protection regulations and standards are based on warm temperature research and don’t take into account the presence of snow, cold, freezing temperatures,” Nazarenko said. 

This is because calculating these factors in cold weather can be difficult, expensive, and often inaccurate. To address this problem and isolate vehicle pollution data, the research team at McGill created a system where they eliminated various environmental factors like changes in wind speed, wind pumping—wind blowing through the snowpack—structure of the snowpack, interaction between surfaces like vegetation and buildings, and other pollutant sources. They collected freshly fallen snow from Parc du Mont-Royal which they kept at freezing temperature and measured the pollutant levels in the sample as a blank. The snow was then exposed to diluted exhaust from a gasoline engine and analysed.

 Thus far, this study serves as a starting point for further research.

“Certain chemicals do undergo various chemical reactions due to photochemistry, pollution in the environment and in snow is not constant,” Nazarenko said. “Whatever is absorbed there, whatever your starting pollutants are, is not necessarily all going to remain in that form.” 

More studies have to be conducted to identify the exact type and quantity of pollutants and to determine exactly what the environmental and health implications are. The end result may be that policy makers will encourage research in this field and update emission standards.

5th wave
a, Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

The 5th Wave more one singular wave of disappointment

by Celine Renaud-Brice on

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Stop me if this sounds familiar: In a post-apocalyptic nation, one spunky hero sparks a trilogy-long revolution against a corrupt government, as the fate of the world rests upon their shoulders. The 5th Wave proves to be a lacklustre addition to the current trend of young-adult (YA), dystopian thrillers, which includes the likes of The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner. Directed by J Blakeson and based upon Rick Yancey’s bestselling 2013 novel, the film follows Cassie Sullivan (Chloë Grace Moretz), a 16-year-old survivor of an alien invasion. As one of Earth’s last remaining survivors, she must fend off wave after wave of deadly attacks, including power outages, plagues, earthquakes, and floods—with the eponymous fifth wave being the story’s main focus—in order to reunite with her younger brother, Sammy (Zackary Arthur). An intriguing premise perhaps, but the reality is a generic teenage angst-ridden romance, paired with an alien invasion thrown in as an afterthought.

Love triangles, paper-thin characters, and brooding bad boys galore, The 5th Wave can’t seem to pull itself out of its YA clichés. Too bad though, as the film boasts some genuinely surprising plot turns and impressive special effects. Its main achievement can be traced back to the dilemma many popular book series experience when they become global sensations and movie franchises; which parts to bring to life to satisfy the fans and which to eliminate so as to maintain a coherent narrative. Finding that right balance can be tricky, however, the film manages to successfully juggle its two coinciding storylines, Cassie’s search for Sammy, and Sammy’s training in a military boot camp.

But that’s where the good ends, sadly. Overlooking the story’s obvious similarity to other films of its ilk proves to be an impossible feat. It follows trope after trope of cliché young-adult franchises, like Twilight or Divergent. From hormone-addled teens to truly eye-roll inducing dialogue, The 5th Wave struggles under the weight of its simplistic plot line. A more accurate synopsis of the film should be: Socially awkward, beautiful, (yet unaware of her own beauty) nerdy girl meets aloof, yet sensitive, young man (Alex Roe) with a mysterious past. In the midst of an apocalypse, Cassie must decide which cute boy she likes best, as her hair and makeup remain picture perfect after living alone in the wilderness for a year.

Even less impressive than the plot itself is the film’s highly questionable acting. Moretz seems to make use of only two facial expressions: Gaping mouth and wide eyes (that’s fear) or pursed lips and wide eyes (that’s love). Though, to be fair, she’s not entirely to blame. One has to wonder how people can act convincingly when faced with the line, “My name is Ben because my dad likes Ben & Jerry’s,” to which she replies, “I’m sure your dad loves you more than ice cream.” On the other hand, Maika Monroe, who plays a sassy, rebellious soldier in the boot camp, stands out as a badass, feminist role model, with her sharp quips and no-nonsense attitude. Unlike Cassie, Monroe’s character is strong, independent, and wastes no time ogling boys when the end of the world is nigh.

Ultimately, The 5th Wave starts out mediocre and ends as a derivative, comical farce. The irony is that for a film that emphasizes humanity being the key to mankind’s survival, it’s emotionally truncated characters lack the depth that could ever resemble real life. Best of luck to all in surviving the five waves: Confusion, frustration, tedium, fatigue, and finally, disappointment.

Hateful Eight
a, Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

Tarantino adds some sauce to the classic spaghetti western in “The Hateful Eight”

by Rebecca Potters on

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When you walk into a Quentin Tarantino film, you can expect three things: Lots of blood, an intricately layered storyline, and Samuel L. Jackson. If you’ve seen The Hateful Eight, you’ll recognize that Tarantino meets those expectations, and then quickly surpasses them. Granted, this movie is not for everyone. It is long, drawn out, and gory; however, if you have the patience and the stamina, it is well worth the watch.

The first chapter the movie takes place inside of a horse-drawn wagon, ushering bounty hunter John Ruth (Kurt Russell) and his prisoner Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) off to the town of Red Rock so she can be hanged. On the way, they reluctantly pick up Major Marquis Warren (Jackson) and Sheriff Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins). This ensemble of three law-enforcers and a criminal makes for a violently slapstick wagon ride until they reach their checkpoint, Minnie’s Haberdashery, where they’re forced to hole up in the face of an impending blizzard. It is here that the story picks up, and we leave the beautifully shot, snow-covered Wyoming wasteland, and enter the cabin that houses the rest of the cast, and serves as the setting for the rest of the movie.

In Minnie’s Haberdashery, the audience is introduced to familiar actors such as Bruce Dern, Michael Madson, Tim Roth, Demián Bichir, and Channing Tatum. For the remainder of the movie, you get the sense that you are watching a vengeful spaghetti western that has crossed over into Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit. Everyone is trapped in one room facing existential dilemmas and playing a game of “whodunit?”

Audience engagement is a major component of this specific movie-going experience. Assumptions are made and suspicions rise. Once a culprit seems apparent, suspicions are then disproven with the introduction of a brand new concept or character and it’s back to square one. This technique is how Tarantino keeps audiences on the edge of their seat for the entirety of the film.

If you're unable to see the film in its 70mm glory, the standard 35mm format is still very much worth the watch. The bleak, snow-covered setting in conjunction with the cinematography and panning shots of landscape serve as vehicles of isolation that allow audience members to join the cast in that horse-drawn wagon, and feel the familiar yet fraught dynamic between every character.

Ennio Morricone’s score is so subtly catchy that during the screening, you are almost unaware that there is even music in the background at all; however you will leave the theatre humming the theme that you realize was playing the entire time. The music aids in the suspense and anxiety of the characters for the duration. From the beginning, even before any important events occur, the music gives an ominous impression of the conflict that will inevitably play out over the next two hours. Inspiration for the soundtrack was taken from the screenplay itself, and was further influenced by the Italian Giallo genre, a slasher/thriller genre equipped with elements of mystery, crime or the supernatural.

Overall, The Hateful Eight combines elements of drama, comedy, western, action, romance, and thriller. As Tarantino does so well, the movie was exciting and unpredictable, gruesome yet tasteful, and generally just fun to watch. Even if you are of the faint of heart, the tongue-in-cheek dialogue alone makes up for the generous amount of violence and fake blood. The best advice would be to know when to close your eyes, sit back, and let Mr. Tarantino lead you into his twisted cinematic world.

a, Off the Board, Opinion

Kevin O’Leary’s legacy of ashes

by Christopher Lutes on

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Dragon. Shark. Mr. Wonderful. These are all nicknames of Canadian entrepreneur and TV personality Kevin O’Leary, the unfiltered personification of capitalistic inhumanity. More than usual, he has been artificially inserting himself into the nation’s headlines. O’Leary has offered the tidy sum of $1 million in investment to the Alberta energy sector in exchange for Premier Rachel Notley’s resignation—surely a panacea to counteract the estimated $5 billion that the Canadian economy has already lost with the drop in oil prices. Now, there are murmurs that he may run in the upcoming Conservative leadership race. At first pass, it might seem like a good fit: O’Leary has the name recognition of a Donald Trump, but he’s also poised himself as some sort of paragon of fiscal pragmatism. But to understand why this isn’t remotely true, one need only dig a bit into his history.

After getting an MBA at Western University and working in the sexy world of cat food marketing for Nabisco, O’Leary founded SoftKey International, a children’s game software company behind such classic titles as “Shelley Duvall’s Tales of Digby the Dog” and “Solitaire Antics.” O’Leary’s strategy of packaging SoftKey’s titles as superfluous freeware with paid software or selling them at bargain basement prices eventually worked well enough that SoftKey was able to acquire The Learning Company (TLC) in 1995.

 

 

He’s a celebrity now, living in a world where image is more important than actual achievement.

Under the next three years of O’Leary’s management, TLC ran a deficit of $1.1 billion, but managed to seem profitable through accounting practices that could generously be called ‘highly suspicious.’ O’Leary then sold TLC to the Mattel toy company for $3.6 billion, making himself a very rich in the process. This is seen as one of the most lopsidedly bad acquisitions in business history, kneecapping Mattel’s stock prices, and ended with the company’s shareholders suing management.

Since then, O’Leary has risen to fame as a television personality on Dragon’s Den and Shark Tank, where he’s built a reputation as a proponent of pursuing profit at all costs, the kind of guy who refers to himself as the “Voldemort of Capitalism.” His hedge fund, which is called the O’Leary Fund despite not being run by him—he doesn’t have the licence required to operate a hedge fund—has posted a 17 per cent loss since its inception in 2012. That’s a high rate of loss, even when the recent tanking of the economy is taken into account.

But none of that matters because most people don’t know his history. He’s a celebrity now, living in a world where image is more important than actual achievement. After seeing the kind of publicity Donald Trump has gotten in the US, O’Leary must feel like he has a reasonable shot at becoming the Canadian equivalent. He could not be more wrong.

For the Conservatives, he would be an unprecedented choice—a bombastic political outsider from a party that tends to pick buttoned-down career politicians. The Tories pride themselves on not rocking the boat too much, making their machinations when they’re outside of the public eye. This is a party that had Stephen Harper, the human equivalent of a toast sandwich, as its leader for over a decade. ‘Personality’ is a four-letter word to them, just like ‘compassion,’ or ‘refugee.’ More broadly, O’Leary seems ill-suited to potentially hold the reins on an economy that is supposed to benefit people other than himself. His entire ethos is based around toxic Randian ideas of self-sufficiency and unfettered liberty that don’t play as well in Canada as they do in the US.

Ideally, O’Leary runs for Conservative leader and does to the party what he did to Mattel and The Learning Company in the past, or what Trump is doing to the Republican Party in the present. But he won’t get that far—Canadian politics, thankfully, is not the place where bluster and fame trump performance record and intelligence.

 

 

 

 

Christopher Lutes is a U3 double major in Political Science and Economics. He is an Arts and Entertainment Editor at the McGill Tribune.

 

@McGillTribOp | [email protected]

a, News

Campaigning for SSMU special referendum sees controversy

by Regina Wung on

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Campaigning for the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Winter term Special Referendum is now in full swing, with the polling period fast approaching. This semester, SSMU Council has put forward two questions for consideration: One concerns a $5.50 increase in the mandatory SSMU base fee while the other proposes the creation of a seventh SSMU executive position, vice-president (VP) Operations. The two questions are independent of one another, allowing students to vote for one and against the other, if they so wish.

The special referendum involves a $5.50 increase in mandatory SSMU membership fees per semester. If passed, full-time students in the faculties of Arts, Architecture, Education, Engineering, Music, Management, Nursing, Physical & Occupational Therapy, Science, and Arts & Science will see their fees increased from $44.75 to $50.25 per term, and part-time students in the same faculties will see their fees increased from $22.44 to $27.94 per term. In the faculties of Law, Religious Studies, Dentistry, and Medicine, fees will rise from $33.56 to $39.06 per semester for full-time students, and from $16.83 to $22.33 per semester for part-time students. According to Zacheriah Houston, SSMU VP Finance and Operations, the funding from this increase will be invested in student services, and will extend the clubs fund by $25,000 as well as reduce the cost of the leases of Independent Student Groups (ISG) by 15 per cent.

“The $5.50 increase will generate approximately $245,000 in annual revenue,” Houston said. “This additional revenue will go primarily towards increasing SSMU’s support for student groups, growth in mental health programming, and a greater focus on space improvements in the SSMU Building.”

According to Houston, without the fee increase, the services and improvements that SSMU Council have promised will have to be revoked, and students will potentially face cuts  to services. 

“If the referendum question does not pass, […] we will need to make approximately $100,000 in cuts to the next year’s operating budget,” he said. “These cuts will primarily involve reduced salaries, which translates into fewer available student staff positions and cuts to full-time salaries. These staffing cuts would result in reduced service, including slower room booking approvals and funding disbursements, and the continuation of overburdened executives who are inaccessible and unable to fulfill their campaign commitments.”

According to Houston, an increase in fees now will be able to sustain the SSMU over the next decade. In his opinion, students will not need to expect further increases in membership fees if the $5.50 increase passes.

“The reason that the fee needs to be increased now is that the SSMU has grown dramatically over the last 10 years, and we now have reached a point where we need to slow the growth of the SSMU and ensure that its current operations are sustainable,” he explained. “I do not think the fee will need to be increased again for as long as the SSMU’s operations remain relatively constant; I imagine this will be the case for at least the next 10 years.”

However, some students feel that the proposed increase is unnecessary. A “Vote ‘NO’ to the SSMU Membership Fee Increase!” Facebook event page has been created in opposition to the “Yes” Campaign’s own Facebook event page. A thread organized by the SSMU executives on Reddit has received a number of negative comments on the subject of the proposed membership fee increase. Many express a lack of confidence in SSMU’s contributions to student life. After reading through the referendum, U2 Economics student Fanta Kamara voiced her reluctance to consent to the fee increase.

“I do not think it is needed,” said Kamara. “We pay about $44 per semester in fees already—not including the extra charges for SSMU groups and activities such as the SSMU Equity Fee, Environment Fee, University Centre Fee [….] I’m not complaining about those charges because I think it’s all worthy; I just don’t see the need for an extra $5.50 per semester.”

The second question in this term’s referendum calls for the establishment of a seventh SSMU executive position. If passed, the VP Finance and Operations position will be split into two separate positions. According to the motion regarding the restructuring of executive portfolios, SSMU executives work upwards of 85 hours each week, although they are only contracted to work a maximum of 70 hours per week. Jennifer Moh, U3 Economics and International Development Studies, sympathizes with the SSMU Executive Council.

“Seeing that SSMU executives work 85 hours a week, I would be for adding another [executive],” said Moh. “An average person works roughly 40 hours a week and SSMU execs are working double that.”

For SSMU President Kareem Ibrahim, the introduction of a new executive is the most efficient solution to alleviating the current executive’s workload and serving the students.

“With a team that burns out annually and is stretched very thin, each portfolio consistently features areas in which not enough energy [is] dedicated, simply due to the sheer volume to which they have all grown,” he said. “SSMU’s capacity to deliver adequate services and satisfy student needs depends on a well-functioning executive team which is neither overburdened, nor with poor mental or physical health.” 

According to Ibrahim, in the event that the proposal to create a new executive position is rejected, the alternative options that remain mainly involve cutting student services. 

“Services that our students have come to rely on will have to be reduced in volume, and wait times and costs associated with these services will likely increase,” he said. “Another option we could explore is to hire more student staff, but this is not a great solution either, as these staff need to be trained and actively supervised; both of these tasks require a great deal of people-power, something which the SSMU is lacking at the moment.”

Based on the proposed structure of executive portfolios, the changes that would be taking place if the referendum were passed are relatively subtle. Kamara questioned whether the current structure necessitated change.

“There is a lot of overlap between [the proposed] VP Operations and other positions, which makes me slightly skeptical of the need for it, but I believe that a new SSMU position should be created if it increases the efficiency of SSMU,” she said.

SSMU Council was mandated to create a “Yes” Committee to organize the campaign. To maintain the neutrality of SSMU on this referendum, the SSMU executives were not able to speak as members of the executive council at the same time as they answered questions about the campaign.

“The executive committee was mandated to create a ‘Yes’ Committee in order to ensure that the time we are spending on this campaign is legitimate,” said Ibrahim, on behalf of the “Yes” Committee. “We are not allowed to use SSMU resources for our campaign, which makes sense, as that would advantage us over any other referendum committee, and our time in the office is a SSMU resource, since we are paid using SSMU funds.”

The campaigning period continues through Jan. 29, and the polling period will be open from Jan. 27 until Jan. 29.

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