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a, Men's Varsity, Sports

Hockey: Redmen win fifth OUA East title in six seasons

by Remi Lu on

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After sweeping the OUA East quarter-finals and semifinals with ease, the McGill Redmen entered the OUA East Finals riding a seven-game win streak to take on the no. 4 Carleton Ravens. The Ravens began the series with a statement win of 5-2 over the Redmen before dropping the second game to a resilient McGill team, 3-2. The seesaw series set the table for the last match on Sunday at Carleton, in which the Redmen prevailed 2-1 off of a game-winning shot by defenceman Jean-Philippe Mathieu. The win clinched the Redmen’s fifth  OUA Eastern Conference Championship in six years.

Characteristic to its starts in the two previous games in the series, the Redmen opened the match by scoring in the first period. This time the goal came by way of rookie Neal Prokop, who was assisted by 5’10” centre Cedric McNicoll and fellow left-winger Patrick Deslisle-Houde on the play. A frustrated Ravens team was unable to get on the board before the end of the period.

With its season on the line, Carleton increased its physicality as the match moved into the second frame, posting four penalties after a penalty-free first period. The Ravens’ scrappy play led to a goal at the 14:48 mark, which evened the score at 1-1. However, Mathieu paid Carleton back in turn, as the second-year defenseman scored on a power play with 2:43 remaining in the second period to clinch the game. The goal was Mathieu’s second of the series, after he netted a similar game-winner in Saturday’s matchup at McConnell Arena.

The Ravens were unable to get past McGill netminder Jacob Gervais-Chouinard in the third period despite posting an overall shot advantage of 34-27. The match improved the rookie goalie’s overall playoff record to 6-1.

The OUA Eastern Conference victory is the Redmen’s first since the 2011-12 squad, which went on to win the National Championship. Last year McGill finished its season with a disappointing loss to Nipissing University in the OUA semifinals after posting a conference record of 17-11. This year’s roster is relatively young, with 23 first- and second-year players, in contrast to the veteran-laden squad that hoisted the University Cup two seasons ago.

After the weekend’s loss, the Ravens will now go on to host the Lakehead Thunderwolves in the OUA bronze medal game. The winner of that game will earn a wildcard berth to the CIS National Championships.

The Redmen’s next task will be to face the Windsor Lancers in next Saturday’s OUA Queen’s Cup gold medal game. The series win against Carleton also guaranteed a spot for McGill at the CIS National Championships, which will take place in Saskatoon from Mar. 20-23.

a, Arts & Entertainment, Music

Deep Cuts: Songs to cure your insomnia

by Jacqueline Galbraith on

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Whiskey, Whiskey, Whiskey

Artist: John Mayer

Album: Born and Raised

Released: May 22, 2012

This peaceful track off of John Mayer’s fifth studio album stands out as a thoughtful lament, ornamented with simple harmonica and sparing guitar. Mayer’s soulful vocals create a comfortingly repetitive effect, evoking feelings of both melancholy and contentment in the listener. The barebones chorus manages to be both sad and beautiful in its minimalism.

Kiss Me

Artist: Ed Sheeran 

Album: +

Released: September 9, 2011

Singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran penned this ballad for his godparents, who got engaged after years of friendship. The couple asked him to sing at their wedding, but none of the covers he tried felt quite right, so he decided to write them their own love song. Sheeran dips into the lower end of his register for this one, and a guitar riff that can only be described as heartfelt make this number the musical equivalent of a warm hug.

A Cold Night Close to the End

Artist: Said the Whale

Album: Islands Disappear

Released: October 13, 2009

Vancouver-based indie rock band Said the Whale has a bevy of up-tempo tunes, but “A Cold Night Close to the End” slows things down, giving it a calming effect despite the slight rockabilly feel provided by the lead guitar. The band is known for incorporating natural imagery into their songs, and this tale about a nighttime hike in winter is no exception. This track will have you drifting off to its steady beat and gentle vocals in no time.

The Temptation of Adam

Artist: Josh Ritter

Album: The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter

Released: August 21, 2007

Ritter’s expert guitar skills set the perfect backdrop for this Cold War love story. Relaxing you into the rhythm, this number offers one lyrically intricate verse after another. The soothing instrumental breaks keep the track from feeling too busy and Ritter’s folksy vocals create a cozy atmosphere despite the final stanza, in which he raises the troubling question of temptation alluded to in the title.

a, News

Initiative seeks to create city-wide policy on affordable and accessible student housing

by Jenny Shen on

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A new initiative to study and develop affordable student housing in Montreal is gaining support from universities around the city.

After being approached by independent research organization L’Unité de travail pour l’implantation de logement étudiant (UTILE), the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) has begun to take part in UTILE’s citywide initiative.

UTILE is a non-profit organization created in Jan. 2013 by students from Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Université de Montréal (UdeM), and other Montreal universities. The organization is currently working on a project called Prospection des habitudes et aspirations résidentielles étudiantes (PHARE).

The purpose of the project is to collect data about student housing from a variety of universities in Montreal, with the intention of creating options for affordable student housing in the city.

“We created this non-profit because we realized that there’s absolutely no one that’s working on affordable student housing in Quebec,” Laurent Levesque, UTILE executive director, said. “One of the things we want to push forward is to record and have data on [the] Quebec student housing situation.”

According to SSMU Vice-President External Samuel Harris, UTILE initially approached SSMU and other student associations in the city in hopes of collaborating in data collection.

“There’s a lot of [data] about affordable housing, social housing—and those are very important—but [with] affordable student housing [….] a lot of advocacy and research has not been done,” Harris said. “There’s a lack of hard data, as opposed to anecdotal stories about the experiences of students.”

Similarly, the Concordia Student Union (CSU) also saw value in participating in this type of data collection.

“We’re very aware of the fact that housing is often a very serious concern for many students,” said Gene Marrow, CSU vice-president academic and representative for CSU in the PHARE initiative. “Through our Housing and Job Bank, which also acts as a sort of legal information clinic, we have the chance to learn about a lot of the individual situations facing students. However, without solid representative data, it is hard to dress a portrait of the average student at Concordia.”

On March 7, SSMU sent out a survey via email to a sample of SSMU members. It asked questions focused on the student’s current housing situations, factors considered when deciding on a new lease, and price ranges that are within the student’s budget.

“In April, we’ll have the data [and] what’s really exciting about this project is that the firm will produce the market […] for affordable student housing,” Levesque said.

After the data has been collected, UTILE and the student associations hope to use that information in order to develop student-housing policy. While a concrete policy has not been determined, the goal would be to ask the city to develop student housing policies that would make housing more affordable.

“We hope to publish this to make a case for the need for affordable student housing for Montreal , especially at a time where the need is recognized by private developers who are making luxury student housing in very high numbers,” Levesque said.

Levesque noted that the city has already expressed interest in the research.

“The city wanted to have more information on the student housing situation before going forward on the policy,” he said.

Alongside the current research initiative, UTILE is also looking for a location to build its first co-ops for student housing. Levesque said it will have 100 to 200 rooms, and construction will hopefully be completed by 2016.

“It’s already almost entirely funded […] from the government of Quebec, which created a pilot program [from] the Societé d’Habitation du Quebec (SHQ), which is funding our first building,” Levesque said. “Our project will be the first inside that program.”

Levesque explained that the co-op is just one example of the direction that UTILE hopes to take with this new concept of student housing. UTILE wants to create a more communal style of student living, with students from  different universities living together.

“We don’t want to only build student housing as we’ve been building [it] for 40 years,” said Levesque. “We think that it’s a great opportunity to rethink student housing and adapt it to the needs of students of the 21st century [….] The model we’re developing […] is based [on] communal living.”

a, Martlets, Men's Varsity, Sports

Sports briefs – Mar. 11

by Ben Carter-Whitney on

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Basketball

The Martlets completed a three-peat on March 1, claiming their third consecutive RSEQ title with a 63-50 win over the UQAM Citadins. Leading the way was RSEQ Player-of-the-Year, Mariam Sylla, who recorded a double-double—her 10th of the season—with 22 points and 13 rebounds.

The game featured a strong defensive showing from the Martlets, who held their opponents to a mere 21.2 per cent from the floor and 28.6 per cent from outside the arc. Particularly dominant defensively was co-captain Hélène Bibeau, who earned six of her nine rebounds on her own in what was her final RSEQ game.

The championship win came after a 46-35 takedown of Laval the day before, in which senior guard Françoise Charest led the way with 15 points. Sylla also had a strong night, chipping in seven points and 13 rebounds which, along with her performance against UQAM, earned her RSEQ Athlete-of-the-Week honours.

With the RSEQ title in hand, the Martlets will move to the CIS Championship weekend, to be held in Windsor, Ontario from March 14-16. They enter the tournament having placed seventh and fifth in the past two years respectively, and will be looking to continue their rise by improving on their past results.

a, Arts & Entertainment, Music

The Fray—Helios

by Jack Neal on

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The Fray is back! Just over a year since releasing the commercially-successful Scars & Stories, the alternative rock band from Colorado have returned with their fourth—and ultimately, fairly predictable—studio album, Helios.

The first 10 seconds of the opening track “Hold My Hand” are as brilliant as anything they’ve previously released, highlighted by their signature irresistible piano-based sound. But at the 20-second mark, it changes. In comes an electronic undertone, pulsing and very much present—perhaps a new musical direction for this band? A pounding drumbeat follows, succeeded with an intricately designed guitar riff before the song climaxes with a massive choir-backed final chorus.

But nothing else on the album comes across as particularly different. From there on, Helios is a mix of up-tempo stadium fillers and subtler yet still catchy piano ballads. The Fray has delivered strong performances on each song: vocally, musically, and even lyrically. It’s clear that the songs are well produced, and Isaac Slade’s lead vocals are as brilliant as ever—but maybe that’s the downfall.

Songs like “Wherever This Goes” are good songs—easy to listen to, with a clear beat, and pleasing vocals. However, once it’s over, it’s over. There is no lasting impact. It’s the kind of song one hears, enjoys it, and then moves on, and it’s unfortunately the same with the album as a whole. Helios has its noteworthy moments; “Our Last Days” is truly a great song, but it suffers in the sense that realistically, it isn’t that far from anything The Fray have done before. While the faint electronic influence is present, and the band have clearly developed their sound into Five For Fighting territory, it is very much a typical Fray record.

a, Arts & Entertainment, Music

Spring—Celebrations

by Evie Kaczmarek on

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In listening to Celebrations by Sprïng, a band that self-identifies as a “psychedelic rock band,” it’s hard to determine whether the multifarious tracks are true exemplifications of intelligent prog-rock, or if they’re too distracted and overdone to make a serious impression.

Although the latter may be true for the average, one-time listener, those with a keen ear and taste for a more unorthodox, experimental style might notice that the band’s credentials do impress. The Vancouver- based bunch more or less morphed from the band SSRIs—a highly acclaimed, prog-punk group, which made waves in the scene for more than five years. Sprïng features a handful of talented musicians and composers. Many of the group’s sonic experiments do contain praiseworthy elements: expert finger picking, complex, perpetually changing time signatures, and incredible layering of major and minor harmonies. However, these virtues somehow fall short of coalescing into an enjoyable, meaningful listening experience.

When SSRIs rebirthed as Sprïng, they certainly matured; the over-processed electronics and keyboard use in SSRIs’s album Effeminate Godzilla Sized Windchimes, has been replaced with softer vocal harmonies and intricate acoustic instrumentals in Celebrations. It’s reminiscent of a college kid coming back home for Christmas break and wondering why he or she was ever so rebellious in high school. However, this kid still gets mad when mom and dad impose a curfew on Friday night—the sporadic, head-banging, electric guitar riffs are more annoying than pensive.

Too ‘angst-y’ to really settle on a concrete sound, Sprïng flits back and forth between a palatable, more traditional indie groove (similar to Fleet Foxes or Belle and Sebastian), a pop ‘60s British psychedelic feel (like Magical Mystery Tour at some points), and a good amount of cumbersome, ambient babbling. Interesting in its own right, I wish Sprïng the best in honing its diverse abilities into a more clear-cut niche

a, Creative

Montreal en lumiere

on

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a, Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

Keeping up with The Americans

by Mayaz Alam on

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*Spoiler alert!* It is unsurprising that in a time when American politics have reached new levels of dysfunction, Hollywood has capitalized on it by pumping out political dramas left, right, and centre. Hit series such as Scandal and House of Cards focus squarely on the inner workings of Washington politics: the backroom dealings, the power players, and their litany of flaws. The Americans, on the other hand, opts to take a different look into the world of political theatre through the lens of the American Dream.

Using characters who are KGB undercover agents and FBI G-men, The Americans—like most television shows worth watching—chooses to focus on the human condition. Dead drops, dead ends, and dead spies are only a way to examine relationships between people and consequently, the show allows viewers to empathize with people who are just like them. At times during the first season, it didn’t matter who the incognito Jennings family were or what they actually did. All  that mattered was that they were a married couple struggling to make the most of a life that was planned out for them in the Moscow Politburo.

The second season begins slowly, with Elizabeth (Keri Russell) emerging from her gunshot wound-induced slumber in the middle of the woods. As she comes home to her family, the viewers realize that two to three months have passed by. Now that Phil and Elizabeth’s marriage has stabilized, the focus shifts to their ability to raise a family. Their teenage children, Paige (Holly Taylor) and Henry (Keidrich Sellati), are growing up and growing curious. At the end of last season, Paige was seen heading downstairs to see her mother emerging from the laundry room in the middle of the night. The teenager’s naivety wears away as she begins questioning her parents’ guidance, routinely sneaking around to learn more about the secrets her parents keep from her. However, this backfires on Paige as she walks in on her parents rekindling their love, a situation which requires a family meeting to weather the fallout.

Also of note is the brief introduction of another family to the fold, albeit only for one episode. The family, whose parents are spy friends of Phil (Matthew Rhys) offers an interesting parallel to the Jennings’. At an amusement park in old town Alexandria, the two families are seen in a peaceful and tranquil state, simply enjoying a quiet weekend away from it all. The serenity is ominous as Phil later walks into their hotel room to find that family brutally murdered—a sign that despite how quiet or peaceful things may seem, danger is always lurking.

Thus far, the show hasn’t introduced any major new characters; and even more interestingly, Claudia, (Margo Martindale), who acted as the Jennings’ constant thorn-in-the-side handler, has been nonexistent. It will be interesting to see how she reintroduces herself to their lives as the tension between Moscow and the Directorate S operatives rises.

Also of interest is the development of the relationship between Nina (Annet Mahendru) and Agent Beeman (Noah Emmerich). So far, Nina has fully embraced the role of being a triple agent and it is clear that she has Beeman in the palm of her hands. If she is able to continue to manipulate her former lover, it will be a great favour to the cause, but I won’t be surprised if Agent Beeman—who so powerfully controlled the narrative of the first season—returns.

The most important plotline to follow coming up will be how each of the characters gains or relinquishes the trust of their fellow characters. In a world where victories are measured by economic resources, scientific progress, and the number of nuclear weapons a given side has, simple characteristics become the most powerful bargaining tool any character in The Americans has. Simply put, trust is scarce, and finding someone to trust is nearly impossible. The sooner everyone begins operating under the philosophy that they can trust no one, the safer—and more paranoid—they will be.

a, Recipes, Student Life

Salted Caramel Bread Pudding

by Alessandra Hechanova on

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Ingredients

¾ cup granulated sugar

6 tbsp unsalted butter

3 pinches coarse salt

12 ounce loaf challah bread, cut into ½ inch slices

8 large eggs

1 cup 2% milk

¼ cup crème fraiche, plus ¾ cups to serve

¼ tsp vanilla extract

Night before

1. To make caramel, in a small saucepan heat sugar, butter, and salt on medium heat for 8 minutes or until sugar begins to brown.

2. Reduce heat to medium low and stir, mixing sugar and butter together until the caramel is a copper colour.

3. Pour the caramel into a casserole dish and tilt to just coat a bit of the sides of the dish.

4. Place dish in refrigerator for 30 min to allow caramel to solidify.

5. Remove dish once cooled and assemble bread within dish in an overlapping, circular fashion.

6. In a small bowl, combine 1 cup milk and ¼ cup crème fraiche.

7. In a large bowl whisk together eggs and the milk- crème fraiche mixture. Once smooth, add vanilla extract.

8. Pour mixture over the bread, ensuring all bread is soaked.

9. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator overnight.

Morning

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. Unwrap dish and bake for roughly 30 minutes or until centre is no longer wet, but still moist.

3. Cut around the edges of the dish, place a serving plate on top of dish, and flip pudding onto serving plate.

4. Serve pudding with the crème fraiche that was set aside.

a, McGill, News

Qualitative vs. quantitative: A look at McGill’s admissions policy

by Samiha Sharif on

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While academic grades were once seen as the only standard for analyzing a student’s ability for admissions, this stance is changing for many in today’s society.

McGill is sometimes criticized for being too “grade-centric” with their admissions process, as many programs at McGill only consider transcripts for admission.

Other universities in Canada, such as Queen’s University and the University of British Columbia, have adopted a more qualitative admission system that considers factors such as essays, recommendations, and extra-curricular engagement.

“Grades have become a measure of what you’ve memorized, not what you’ve learned,” Arielle VanInderstine, U0 Arts and Science, said. “McGill should adopt a more qualitative system of admissions to encourage bright young learners and thinkers, not test-takers.”

Kim Bartlett, one of several directors of admission, is responsible for undergraduate admissions in several faculties, including Arts, Engineering, and Management. She emphasized that admissions policies at McGill are different depending on faculty; for example, Medicine and Dentistry require an interview process.

Bartlett said the university’s values drive its admission policies.

“The central concepts are the idea[s] that admission is competitive and based on proven academic performance,” Bartlett said. “Competitive means that there is no prior decision about who gets in; we want the best candidates for the spaces. The [latter means] grades or test scores on the transcript, not about what your potential could be but what you have done.”

However, some students question this rationale.

“It’s important for a university to choose people who are not only good at testing and writing exams but who also have intellectual depth,” Sarah Nafisa Shahid, U1 Arts, said. “You don’t want to admit student[s] who are just good at writing exams [….] You want the next Bill Gates or Zuckerberg to be in your alumnus.”

While grades do not capture the whole story, Bartlett said qualitative admissions can also be problematic. When admissions require students to have community engagement, they have to be really careful that they do facilitate the exclusion of some groups.

“In many cases, we have students of lower socio-economic levels who are not able to participate in extracurricular activities because they are working, and they need to work to support their families,” she said. “In some cultures volunteerism is just not part of the mainstream, [while] in places like the U.S. it is really prevalent.”

Mila Ghorayeb, U1 Arts and Science, said admissions based on grades are the most fair to everyone.

“Grades are more objective whereas qualitative measures such as how much one volunteers comes down to a matter of opinion,” Ghorayeb said.

Student opinion on the topic appears to be divided.

“I strongly dislike writing application essays and talking about myself; I’m not very good at it,” Ilias Hurley, U0 Engineering, said. “I would really dislike having my getting into McGill depend on an essay. Judging by the people I’ve met. At McGill the admissions system is at a good level.”

Others have argued that qualitative measures would contribute towards a more cohesive and active community on campus.

“Some people are more orientated towards academics while others focus on extracurricular,” Céline Garandeau, U1 Science, said. “Allowing a qualitative system will hopefully result in a more well-rounded student body.”

Bartlett emphasized that changes are not currently under consideration by the Senate. Change in admissions policies are made at the faculty level.

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