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a, Martlets, Sports

Basketball: Martlets steamroll Laval in consecutive victories

by Remi Lu on

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The McGill Martlets (6-0) cruised to back-to-back wins over the Laval Rouge et Or (1-5) last week, winning at both Love Competition Hall and Laval’s Centre PEPs. At home Thursday evening, the Martlets claimed a 52-34 victory spearheaded by sophomore Mariam Sylla’s 18 points and nine rebounds. Helene Bibeau added 17 points, and Françoise Charest tallied six assists as the Martlets managed to stay undefeated in the season.

Dating back to last season, McGill has now won 13 straight games against RSEQ opponents. After finishing in fifth place at the CIS Final 8, the team has stuck with its young core of Sylla, Dianna Ros, and Gabriela Hebert, while leaning on veteran talents Bibeau and Charest to lead the way. However, the Martlets also brought in a number of new pieces this year, including Montreal native Jennifer Silver and University of Massachusetts transfer student Carolann Cloutier. So far this season, Silver and Cloutier have managed to seamlessly integrate themselves into the lineup.

“[Both of them] have been good additions to our program,” said Head Coach Ryan Thorne.

Although McGill has managed to jump out to early leads to begin games so far this season, the team struggled to start with the same urgency against Laval on Thursday evening. Sloppy play resulted in a number of early turnovers by both teams, leading to a narrow 24-16 edge for McGill at halftime. However, the Martlets caught fire in the second half, with Bibeau converting four of her five three-pointers after the break. Sylla went a perfect 6-6 at the free throw line to help the Martlets pull away from the Rouge et Or and put the game away in the fourth quarter.

“[Bibeau] allows us to stretch the defence inside, so she allows us to bring their bigger players to the perimeter,” said Thorne. “Mariam right now is playing like our best player. She’s a great perimeter scorer [….] And it’s just understanding when to attack and when to defer to someone else. When she does that I think that she’ll be really outstanding.”

(Wendy Chen / McGill Tribune)
(Wendy Chen / McGill Tribune)

The Martlets currently lead the RSEQ division by four points, with UQAM and Concordia trailing in second and third place respectively. McGill has blown out its division opponents so far this season, winning games by an average of 14 points. The team has shown a natural ability to play together; at this point in the season, the new player acquisitions have meshed seamlessly with the members of last year’s team.

“The players know each other well,” Thorne said. “They spend a lot of the time in the off-season playing together, going to little tournaments, and having fun together. There’s a pretty good chemistry—they genuinely like each other on this team. That puts them in a position where they will do whatever needs to be done to make sure the other one’s successful.”

However, the team is currently ranked seventh in the nation, and in order to make a real run at the CIS Championship, the Martlets will have to learn from their mistakes from the Final 8 last year.

“The biggest thing was understanding that we can play with anyone in the country,” Thorne said. “Our fifth-year players [Charest and Bibeau] coming back and understanding what they need to do to be more successful and how to manage and lead this team [….] We know that in this conference we’re pretty strong, and that we just need to make sure that we take care of the details of the game throughout if we want to be successful [….] I think that the experience we gained at nationals we need to carry forward to every game we play here in Quebec.”

After squeaking out a 57-53 win against Laval on Friday—by far their closest match of the season—the Martlets will take a short break from league play before facing off against the Concordia Stingers on Jan. 23 at Concordia Gym.

a, Science & Technology, Student Research

Get A Seat released in time to ease add/drop period woes

by Caity Hui on

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With over 22,000 full time undergraduate students at McGill and limited course registration, the first few weeks of January—also known as the add/drop period—can be stressful. After forgetting to check Minerva one time too many, Noah Lackstein, a U2 Management student at McGill, developed the app Get A Seat to make the add/drop period easier.

“I’m terrible at remembering to do things, and I was trying to get into a course last Winter and I just never checked Minerva,” said Lackstein. “It would be midnight and I would be getting into bed and I would realize, ‘Oh shoot, I forgot to check if I can get into this course that I want.’”

In response to this problem, Lackstein wrote an app that would send him an email to remind him when space opened up in the classes into which he was trying to enrol. Lackstein was surprised when his friends asked if they, too, could use the app after they saw how well it worked. Due to the growing interest in his program, he decided to take the time over the break to make the app available to all McGill students.

“When I get into Bronfman I see tons of students lined up to see advisors to try to get into a course,” said Lackstein. “I felt that clearly, there was a market for this [app].”

Get A Seat is not the first app Lackstein has designed. In 2008, he started a website for music enthusiasts. Although he is no longer actively involved with the site, it has expanded to over 160,000 active users.

“I’ve been programming since grade five,” Lackstein said. “I was always fascinated with websites—how you get them on the Internet, how they work. My elementary school had a course that taught you how to make a website; and from there, I knew enough to look on the Internet and teach myself.”

This passion for programming was a major factor in the development of Get A Seat.

“I’d say [I worked on it for] about 100 hours over the break,” said Lackstein. “It was a good break from my break. [As] I had not done much programming over the past few years, this was a good way to get back into it.”

The app is designed to provide students with a simple method of monitoring their course registration and class availability. Lackstein entered all of the course information from McGill, so that when students type in the course information that they want and click submit, the app will pull down all the sections that are offered for the course.

“Three sections might fit your schedule, for instance,” said Lackstein. “At most, every five or six minutes the app will check who has dropped the course. If [the app] finds out that any section that you wanted to be notified about have opened up, [it] will send you a notification, text message, or email.”

Lackstein released Get A Seat on Dec 28 2013, and since then, over 870 students have signed up for the app. While the app was free until last Tuesday night, to cover the costs of running it, Lackstein is now charging students two dollars to sign up for the program.

“Next semester, I hope to partner up with a used book exchange,” said Lackstein. “If I get you into a course, you will need the books for [it]. If I can get those to you [through a partnership], I can make the app free for students and have the app sponsored by used book companies. That would be much better for the students, and that would be much better for me.”

With the success of the app, Lackstein is looking to bring it to Concordia in the Fall, with the hopes of eventually expanding across Canada and to the U.S.

For more information and to download the app, visit https://getaseat.ca.

a, Arts & Entertainment, Music

Igloofest preview

by Kia Pouliot on

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As January reaches its midpoint, it seems fair to assume that winter is getting to you. Going out becomes increasingly less appealing when it’s 30 degrees below zero and the icy streets make walking anywhere downright treacherous. You’re likely getting to the point where you’d much rather get cozy with a movie than head out for a night on the town. The last place you want to spend a night like this is at an open-air concert right? Wrong!

Igloofest, a winter wonderland of electronic music in Montreal, returns for its eighth installment beginning this Thursday, Jan. 16, and will continue every weekend until Feb. 8. Located at the Jacques-Cartier Quay in the Old Port, this unique event brings thousands of electronic music fans together to dance under the stars while sporting their most colorful snow gear.

This year’s edition promises to be the most exciting yet, as along with the main stage—which will continue to showcase some of the best international and local artists—a second stage will be added to the venue, designed to highlight local acts exclusively.

Headlining the festival’s opening weekend are artists from around the globe. Thursday night, the Toronto based duo, “Art Department” will set the crowd grooving with their raw deep house beats. Techno-pop connoisseur Matthew Dear will take the stage Friday, and to Saturday night belongs UK DJ Skream, whose unpredictable genre manipulations will be sure to keep you on your toes.

Some of the local acts to look out for this weekend include Mono-Poly, monthly resident at Mount-Royal night club Salon Daomé; Christian Pronovost, veteran of the Montreal underground electronic music scene; and Compton Chic, who will inspire you to get low with her hip-hop inspired house beats. This is just a handful of the talent that will be gracing the stage over the course of the festival, so get your one-piece snowsuit ready, and be sure to check it out.

Igloofest runs for four consecutive weekends from Jan. 16 to Feb. 8. Sets begin at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $18. 

a, Student Life

Despite cold weather Defrosh provides warm welcome to new students

by Marlee Vinegar on

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The back-to-school event line up is packed, from the organized ski trip Snow Jam to Carnival, Management’s weeklong fundraiser. Now add Defrosh this coming weekend—hosted by Power to Change, Newman Students’ Society, McGill Christian Fellowship, and Initiative 22—to the list.

The weekend-long event presents new McGill students with the chance to get to know new people and the city through a series of planned activities, including playing board games, dancing, a warm beverage party and—a notable favourite from last year—a trip to Fête des Neiges at Jean-Drapeau Park.

“The original vision behind Defrosh, two years ago, [was] we saw that there wasn’t any frosh welcoming students,” Rachel Lin, head coordinator of Defrosh, said. “We wanted to give new students and international students a chance to explore Montreal and make friends and get plugged in to a community. The same opportunities frosh people in the Fall semester have.”

Rachel estimates that there are roughly 200 students who begin university at McGill each Winter, most of whom are international or on exchange. They are given a McGill orientation and have resources to help them get settled, but Rachel says there is a lack of resources from a social perspective. While Winter semester events such as Carnival allow returning students to cut loose as they ease back into their school routine, new students are—for the most part— left out in the cold at the start of the semester.

“When you come in the Winter it’s kind of unnoticed,” Rachel said. “If you’re new [in the fall], normally everyone is trying to know each other and make friends, but in the Winter people already have their community so they’re not as eager to go out and make friends [….] There are events to help you explore, but it’s hard to seek out each event, and try to put yourself out there doing it alone.”

Despite the original vision as an event for incoming students in the winter, they only represent the minority of participants. Rather, the majority of those taking part are first-year students, many of whom did Fish Frosh in the Fall. This was the case for U1 Nursingstudent Maggie Lin, who participated last year and intends to volunteer this year.

“I found that last year was really helpful,” Msggie said. “This year I kind of wanted to serve the new people and first-years as well [….] I received a lot of love and care, and I want to do that in return.”

Defrosh also sets itself apart from other frosh-like events. Unlike some of the other January events— that revolve around the consumption of alcohol—Defrosh is a dry event.

“Being able to build relationships that last, even after you graduate, is really important,” Rachel said. “When there is alcohol, it becomes the main thing and that’s why [students] come. We want to offer something more, for people to actually talk.”

Maggie noted that the alcohol-free nature of the event provided a more inviting social setting.

“I don’t drink a lot,” she said. “This would be a great way for students that don’t enjoy drinking that much to still feel comfortable.”

Saturday also includes a planned worship night, where students can pray and worship together, and a church swap where students can attend different churches together. While the spiritual aspects could be perceived as exclusionary, Rachel maintains that they can serve as a means of getting to know other students. She stresses that everyone is welcome regardless of their belief system.

“We want to open it up to all new students […] but letting them know that there are events like worship night and church swap,” Rachel said. “The point is to get to know each other, and just make friends and relationships that last throughout the entire year.”

This year, Rachel expects approximately 80 students to participate in Defrosh. She said she would like to see Defrosh expand in future years.However, unlike Frosh in the fall, advertising and publicity have presented major challenges. Currently, Defrosh organizers primarily hand out fliers and speak to students at winter orientation as well as advertising through social media and listservs.

“I can see it becoming really valuable for new students,” Rachel said. “The goal is for having them know about it, whether they come or not. Even that goal, if every single student knew that there were people that wanted to welcome them in, that would be really cool.”

Defrosh runs Jan. 17-19. Registration is $10. See http://justinezed.wix.com/fishfrosh#!defrosh-2014 for details.

a, Martlets, Sports

Track and Field Preview

by Mayaz Alam on

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Following a fairly successful season that saw both the Martlets win their first RSEQ Championship in six seasons and the Redmen place third in their conference, the McGill Track and Field program will look to build on the foundation it laid last year.

On the Martlet side, the primary challenge will be replacing the talents of team captain and long distance runner Sarah McQuaig as well as those of Alana Battison, a multi-discipline star who left her mark in the record books in the pentathlon. Stepping up to the table will be sophomore jumper Caroline Tanguay, who showed much promise last season.

For the Redmen, multiple athletes have demonstrated the capacity to qualify for Nationals. In the Martlet Open held in the Fall, Max Beaumont-Courteau won gold in the pole vault while Redmen athletes took five other medals in a range of disciplines. Notably, third-year Scott Hancock garnered silver medals in both the 60m sprint and the long jump.

McGill has a very young squad, which could prove to be either problematic due to a lack of experience or an asset to the program’s future if the nearly 30 underclassmen on the roster can reach their potential. Head Coach Dennis Barrett also returns for his 29th season in charge of the McGill Track and Field program. Barrett is noted for his ability to develop middle and long distance runners, and should be expected to have both the Redmen and the Martlets competing at a high level down the stretch.

a, Arts & Entertainment, Music

Deep Cuts

by Haviva Yesgat on

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Sweatpants

Artist: Childish Gambino

Album: Because the Internet

Released: December 6, 2013

With the release of his new album, Because the Internet, Childish Gambino introduces us to head banger, “Sweatpants.” ‘Bino uses his intelligent wordplay, and ghostly beat to create a musical aura of contagion. Rapping about the luxuries of the rich is sure to sound addictive to even the most modest of people. With a dry wit accompanying an impressive flow, “Sweatpants” will surely have you pressing the replay button.

All that I’ve Got

Artist: Rebecca Ferguson 

Album: Freedom

Released: December 2, 2013

Ferguson has created a breakup anthem for women everywhere with the release of “All that I’ve Got.” Her raspy tone allows for a vivid portrayal of recovery following episodes of immense heartbreak. With the help of a subdued tempo and dramatic instrumentals, this track sets itself apart from the rest of the album. Ferguson’s war-like portrayal of a bad breakup is sure to have every woman chanting.

Games

Artist: Rosie Lowe

Album: Right Thing EP

Released: December 2, 2013

A newcomer to the music scene, Rosie Lowe seems to have created the perfect niche for her unique sound. “Games” is a rare hybrid between the genres of R&B, soul, and Indie pop. The track hypnotizes with the melodies of its verses and lures with the soul found in its chorus. Lowe will undoubtedly have listeners hooked with the distinctive approach she takes to her craft.

All Your Reasons

Artist: Jake Bugg

Album: Shangri La

Released: November 18, 2013

At 19 years of age, Bugg’s lyrics leave listeners pondering the depths of his musical talents and his ceiling as an artist. “All Your Reasons” has a bluesy chord progression, and folk-like sound. With a style that recalls the likes of Donovan, Jake Bugg impresses with his raw talent. Live acoustic performances of “All Your Reasons” will entice you to delve deeper into Shangri La.

a, Science & Technology

Soup and Science Preview 2014

by Caity Hui on

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What is it?

This week, head over to the Redpath museum to listen to a collection of professors provide a short presentation of their research. Make sure to get there early, as seating is limited and spots fill up fast. Following the presentations, students are invited to mingle with the presenters over lunch to find out more about their research and how they can get involved.

Soup and Science is being held January 13 to 17, 11:30 AM each day at the Redpath Museum.

Check out the website at http://www.mcgill.ca/science/research/ours/soupscience/jan2014 for a complete list of the presenters this week.

Who you can see:

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Jörg Kienzle (Computer Science): Software Engineering (model-driven engineering, aspect-oriented software development), dependability (fault tolerance), massively multiplayer games (scalability, fault tolerance)

Wednesday, January 15 2014 

Alyson Fournier (Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute): Neuronal Regeneration and axon guidance

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Dan Bernard (Pharmacology): Molecular mechanisms of pituitary hormone synthesis

Caroline Palmer (Psychology): Memory and motor control in performance, skill acquisition, music cognition, knowledge representation

Friday, January 17 2014

Louigi Addario-Berry (Mathematics & Statistics): Probability and combinatorics

Elena Bennett (Natural Resource Sciences, School of Environment): Managing landscapes for multiple ecosystem services; human impact on large scale phosphorus cycling

Sebastien Breau (Geography): Geographies of inequality

a, Basketball, Sports

Around the Water Cooler – Jan. 14

by Zikomo Smith on

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In case you were too busy stuck in a polar vortex at Pearson Airport, here’s what you missed in the world of sports …

NCAA Football

—Following FSU’s 34-31 victory over Auburn, Dee Dee Bonner (Alabama Quarterback AJ McCarron’s mother) contributed to the national debate over whether colleges are doing enough to educate their student athletes. Her response to Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston’s post-game speech—“Is that even English?”—raised an important point concerning the academic exceptions granted to certain student athletes on the basis of their importance to their university’s sports program. FSU responded with a collective ‘U mad bro?’ coupled with a picture of Winston’s Heisman trophy and the crystal ball shaped national championship.

NBA

—Mediocrity is truly a terrible existence. The Toronto Raptors can empathize with Kierkegaard’s existential angst as they will struggle to either go deep in the playoffs or obtain the number 1 pick in the 2014 NBA draft. After getting rid of Rudy Gay, the Raptors went 6-3 with Head Coach Dwayne Casey questioning the meaning of life and the rules governing winning the game of basketball. Oh well, considering how bad the Eastern Conference has been, Casey at least knows that his team can play at this level and still be good for home court advantage in the first round. Who ever said losing basketball isn’t playoff basketball?

IIHF U-20 World Championships

—Canada extended its gold medal drought to five years, and Tim Hortons wondered if its hockey sponsorship money could be put to better use. In a dominant performance, Finland won 5-1 in the semifinals against the junior Canucks. With the tournament heading to Toronto and Montreal next year, fans should get an early start raising their expectations to wildly enreasonable levels.

NFL

—Spike Jonze couldn’t have written a better matchup than that which awaits NFL fans in the Conference Championship weekend. The Saints went marching out against Beastquake Lynch and the Seattle Skittles. They face their archrivals the San Francisco 49ers who ripped apart the Carolina Panthers after stealing all of their signature moves. In the AFC, icons Tom Brady and Peyton Manning faced off for the 15th time. Manning led the Denver Broncos past divisional rivals, the San Diego Chargers who proved that temper tantrum throwing abilities do not correlate to playoff success. The Luck ran out on the Indianapolis Colts as Tom Brady’s Patriots proved to be unflappable.

Ashes Cricket

—For those of you who look to expand your sporting horizons across the Atlantic (and Pacific), Australia just demolished England 5-0 in their recent cricket series, the Ashes. Yes, cricket, that most noble sport enshrined in Canadian history, with the first ever international cricket match having been played between none other than Canada and the United States. Australia, inspired by their rampant fast bowler Mitchell Johnson, played one of the most effective and brutal brands of cricket in recent memory to claim this year’s title.

a, Science & Technology

Dress up your Android and iOS for productivity

by Abhishek Gupta on

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Apart from the usual suspects on your phone, such as Instagram and Snapchat, many other apps exist that can help you keep up with your schedule and manage your social life. Check out these lesser-known apps to ring in the New Year.

evernoteEvernote

Advertised as a suite of programs that “make modern life manageable, by letting you easily collect and find everything that matters,” the flagship Evernote app has a very neat interface that lets the user create all sorts of notes. It can be used as a Dictaphone—allowing you to take audio notes—or you can capture images and text to create a more visual reminder.

Regular text notes are an option, but the other features are what make this app truly stand out from the flood of work management apps on the market. Syncing with your home computer and other devices like tablets is a breeze, making organization a little more fun.

anydoAny.Do

From former developers at Unit 8200—the Israeli military’s tech division­—this app promises to keep the lazier or more forgetful members of our society on their toes. With its extremely simple design, the app allows users to plan their days with a feature known as “Any.do Moment.” This prompts you to schedule tasks and stagger them throughout the day. Any.do also has other useful functionalities, such as reminding users of missed calls and setting call back times so that you never fall behind in communication.

 

aviaryicon

Aviary

Impressed by your photographer friends whose pictures always look better than yours? Fear not—Aviary aims to bridge the gap between the amateur and professional. It’s like Photoshop on your mobile with an extensive set of features for enhancing and creating artistic snaps out of your everyday captures. With the ability to alter warmth, saturation, focus, and contrast, including the ever-trending ‘Instagram-styled’ filters, Aviary offers lots of options to put a fun spin on mobile photography.

 

cal

Cal

Also from the developers of Any.do, Cal supports all the regular functions that you can expect from a good calendar app along with a strong integration with Any.do that makes your entire planned day available in a single neat interface. Like most apps from this company, the focus is on a simplistic yet visually stunning design that encourages use of the app.

 

 

currents

Currents

With so many online publications, Currents comes to the rescue to keep you up to date with your favorite picks. The app has organizational sections ranging from technology to business. It aggregates articles from the publications that you add as subscriptions and then delivers them to you in an easy-to-read format. This app is a must-have for anybody who likes to stay afloat in today’s ever changing world.

 

 

These apps are available to download for free for iOS and Android devices.

a, Editorial, Opinion

Give students a say in student services surplus

by McGill Tribune Editorial Board on

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At the end of last semester, an unexpected surplus was announced in the Student Services contingency fund, to the tune of $5 million. In the coming weeks and months, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens will be faced with the decision of how to allocate these funds. Although there are currently no official proposals on the table, it is crucial that these funds remain within Student Services—where they would be most beneficial to students—and that students themselves are given a voice throughout the decision-making process.

Given the ongoing budgetary constraints across the board at McGill, there is no shortage of potential destinations for this money. Indeed, with the announcement of these funds in December, Dyens proposed using the money towards the hiring of additional library security, among other projects.

Rather than being treated as an unattached sum, this money must be put towards fulfilling the Student Services mandate. Given the constant shortage of resources and lengthy wait times facing those who do seek to use these services, there is no justification for taking back money that had initially been budgeted to this unit. To his credit, Dyens was quick to step away from his initial suggestion when it was met with opposition from students—and since promised to keep the funds within Student Services—but there are still critical decisions to be made as options are considered.

There is also the issue of how to distribute the money within Student Services. Student representatives of the Student Services advisory committee have expressed a desire to see the individual units of Student Services (e.g. Counselling Service, Scholarships and Student Aid) consulted on the impact that the extra resources could have in their areas. While this would certainly help to ensure that an informed decision is made, the most important consultation to be had is with the students whom these funds will ultimately be serving.

Student consultation, however, is not an easy proposition. Attempts by the administration at consulting the student body—especially in recent years—have often consisted solely of poorly-attended town halls, and resulted in decisions to which the student body at large was strongly opposed, as seen in 2012 and early 2013 with the development of the Operating Procedures Regarding Demonstrations, Protests, and Occupations. While student apathy plays a part in these failures, the administration has a responsibility of its own. Effective consultation means engaging students, rather than merely providing a venue and hoping they show up. It also means making efforts to communicate what is at stake, and giving actual proposals as to what is possible, rather than trying to coax out students’ interests and priorities in the abstract. To that end, the administration could open up the different proposals to direct evaluation from students.

With $5 million at play here, Dyens has an opportunity to truly grab students’ attention—especially in an area about which students have proven to care so deeply. Recently, calls for the university to offer sexual assault resources of its own, the student-led Students in Mind conference, and student-run initiatives such as the Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS) and the newly founded Peer Support Network are all evidence of a desire from McGill students to engage and innovate when it comes to student wellness.

Arriving on the heels of a semester in which some of the most prominent topics on campus—from sexual assault to mental health—concerned student wellness and safety, this is a chance for the administration to actually demonstrate its commitment to these issues. Giving students a voice in the process will ensure that all standpoints and visions are heard, as we strive towards a happier and healthier campus.

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