THE LEDGERPLUMBER’S Volume 11, Issue 1 August 2022
2 The Plumber’s Ledger IN THIS ISSUE Front Cover Photograph by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash Back Cover Illustration by Ann PublishedTrinhbyTHE ENGINEERING UNDERGRAD UATE SOCIETY, a student society at McGill Uni versity. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of THE ENGINEERING UNDER GRADUATE SOCIETY and does not necessarily represent the views of McGill University. For questions, comments, and complaints, as well as more information on the policies of The Plumber’s Ledger, please use the contact information below. Use this contact information also if you have an in terest in contributing to The Plumber’s Ledger on a one-time or regular basis. Join the Team The Plumber’s Ledger is always looking for new peo ple! If you want to be involved in the publication process, we have many roles available such as writer, illustrator and editor, or any combination of these. Contact Us Email: ToFacebook:ledger@mcgilleus.caThePlumbersLedgerlearnmoreaboutthepublications under the EUS, check out the EUS Publications instagram. Instagram: eus_publications View this issue and previous ones in glorious techni color at issuu.com/theplumbersledger Volume 11, Issue 1 August 2022 4 10 Things to Know Before Starting McGill Engineering By Marie Mansour 5 Club Feature Series: McGill AR/VR Association By Charlotte Volk 8 Is This It Retrospective By Ammar Mooraj 10 Book Review - Starlight By Bianca Dubois 11 How to Save Money as a Student in Montreal By Paul Hinta 12 Dune - A Comparison By Charlotte Volk 15 Love, and other lies By Shagun Sachar 16 Club Feature Series: McGill Biomechanics Club By Charlotte Volk 18 Montreal 101 By Shafaq Nami 19 WHAT DO WE WANT?
LETTER
Ann and Bianca
We at the Plumber’s Ledger are looking forward to the new year and cannot wait to meet you all.
Let’s not forget Shagun Sachar’s poem, “love, and other lies” and Paul Hinta’s “How to Save Money as a Student in Montreal” coming in to save the day and your wallet.
3August 2022 THE Editors-in-ChiefTEAM Bianca Dubois Ann Trinh Contributers
For the book geeks out there, take a look at Bianca Dubois’ “”Starlight” - a Book Review”, the final novel written by the acclaimed Richard Wag amese. “”Dune”: A Comparison of the Book and Movie” by Charlotte Volk talks about the strengths and weaknesses of Denis Villeneuve’s movie adaptation of Frank Herbet’s 1965 novel “Dune”. Or maybe mu sic is more to your liking, then “Is This It Retrospective” by Ammar Mooraj would unlock the inner indie rock lover in you. Still have the nerves going into engineering? Well maybe Marie Man sour’s “10 Things to Know Before Starting McGill Engineering’’ is what you need to kick off the school year. If you’re new to Montreal, Sha faq Nami’s piece “Montreal 101: Tips for Newcomers to McGill and the City of Montreal”, could be a great way to get you adjusted to the city.
Charlotte Volk
Ammar Mooraj Shagun Sachar MarieShafaqPaulMansourHintaNami Publications Director
from the Editors-in-Chief
Then check out Volk’s interview with co-founders Roseline Théroux and Maria Calderbank about the McGill Biomechanics Club.
Speaking of clubs, if you have an interest in the fast growing technol ogy of AR/VR take a look at Charlotte Volk’s interview with founder and president of the McGill AR/VR Association, or MARVA for short. Or are you looking to learn more about innovative medical solutions?
With the start of the Fall semester right around the corner, all of us at McGill (both new and returning) are getting prepped for the first fully in-person school year since 2020. There are a lot of unknowns going into the academic year but we can all feel the excitement of getting back on campus, meeting old friends, and making new ones from classes, events, or clubs.
2. Don’t fall behind in your classes. If you fall behind in a class, it will be virtually impos sible to catch up by the time the fi nal comes around. Save yourself the trouble.
Most teachers don’t end up using the textbooks and will most likely have their own exercises for you to prac tice. However, if you feel like those exercises are enough, buying the textbook and reading it by yourself might end up being more effective for understanding the material. It all depends on your personal studying style, which you will learn during your first year here at McGill!
4. Don’t take FACC 300 your first year. Take it during the summer!!!! I cannot stress this enough!!!
5. Take a management course as an elective. Broad en your horizons and take a busi ness-related course. It will be a good introduction to a possible future in the business world, which many en gineers end up pursuing.
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I’m gonna get straight to the point here - McGill engineering is HARD. There is no way to sugarcoat it. It doesn’t matter what type of engi neering you’re pursuing, every sin gle field is challenging in its own way. Since I am in electrical engi neering, I can’t speak for everyone but my goal here is to provide you with 10 things to know before start ing your first year as an engineer ing student, so that you can enjoy a memorable university experience.
3. Work hard, play hard. It’s important to balance your academ ic workload with your personal life. Study hard, but make sure you make the most of the events and activities going on around you, all while be ing mindful of social distancing and safety precautions.
10 TO KNOW STARTINGENGINEERINGMcGILL
8. Consult with people before finalizing your schedule. Talk to the many advisors and counselors available to you on cam pus. Make connections with older students so they can give you advice on classes they’ve already taken.. Go on reddit (https://www.reddit. com/r/mcgill/) and inquire about your schedule and different classes.
9. Don’t compare yourself to others. Don’t assume that ev eryone understands everything that is going on. Most of the time, people will be just as lost as you in class (if not more lost).
BEFORE
10. Read your textbooks!!! This is self-explanatory. I know the textbooks look intimidating. Don’t go to your textbook to learn and practice specific details. Instead, read your textbook sections for a general understanding of the ma terial. Also, DO NOT BUY your textbook BEFORE your professor has told you they will be using it!!!!
6. Join clubs. There are hun dreds, and I mean hundreds of clubs at McGill to choose from - there tru ly is something for everyone. I can guarantee you’ll find something that sparks your interest.
7. Try your assignment by yourself before getting help. This is definitely important. Most of the time, it will be much eas ier to give up and ask your friends for answers to assignments. McGill professors tend to reuse assignment problems on exams, so being able to work them out and understand them is a valuable skill you’ll come to appreciate. You’ll understand things a lot better and you won’t fall as far behind.
THINGS
4 The Plumber’s Ledger
BY MARIE MANSOUR
1. Take 4 classes your first semester. Give yourself a chance to breathe! Your first year of univer sity is meant to be filled with new experiences, social events, and new friends.
AR stands for augmented re ality, and it is the process of super imposing visual assets onto the real world to enhance it. The best exam ple I can give is Pokémon Go, which Photo from McGill AR/VR Association
BY CHARLOTTE VOLK Apply for an executive position, fill out the interest form, or follow MARVRA on social media using this link: https://linktr.ee/marvra
JM: My name is Julian Mirijello, I’m going into my fourth year at McGill, studying management, more specif ically marketing with a concentra tion in business analytics. I’m also an AR and VR enthusiast. I worked at a startup last summer and they spe cialized in creating simulations for doctors using virtual reality, more specifically how to intubate patients, so they could practice. I worked as a marketing and communications in tern but I was immersed in this new world where people were able to do complex procedures safely, cheaply, and continuously with this technol ogy. I started McGill AR VR associ ation to create a community at Mc Gill where I can find other students who are interested in this technolo gy and we can build stuff together, and learn what the potential is for this technology. It’s still relatively new, so it’s pretty exciting. And I’m also interested in how this technol ogy integrates into marketing in my own studies.
CV: Can you introduce yourself, and tell me a bit about yourself?
McGILL AR/VR ASSOCIATION (MARVRA)
JM: We are actually not officially a full-status club since we’re so new, we have our interim status right now as of February 2023, and we’re working on getting our full status. We’ve already hosted one event, which was an information session on what the metaverse is and how AR and VR technology fit into that whole new ecosystem. We think it went really successfully; there seems to be a lot of interest around cam pus, so we’re excited to do more events and some in-person events in the upcoming Fall semester. But re ally what we do is we try to democ ratize AR and VR technologies and development by using the funding from our sponsors, from the school, and from other technology partners to buy this technology and put it in the hands of students who can cre ate things with it. Other than that, we don’t really want to limit what people create with it, as long as it’s not harming society. We really just want to see people start projects and create something cool with it. And if not, they don’t need to create any thing, just learn - make mistakes and learn. And hopefully we have this technology that we can pass on to other generations of McGill stu dents too.
5August 2022 CLUB FEATURE SERIES:
CV: Can you talk a little more about MARVRA?
CV: Can you give a brief explanation of AR, VR, and what the metaverse JM:is?
a structure to the club? How does it work?
JM: Well you have to be a member in order to get access to our equip ment. And becoming a member is very easy, there’s no real barrier to entry. You just have to have an inter est in the technology. Once you join, you get put into a cohort. The struc ture’s not official yet but basically the idea is to get someone who’s a developer or interested in develop ing, get someone who’s interested in user interface, as well as some project managers, to create a nimble team to simulate what it would be like if we were to create a product.
CV: Are you looking to recruit more executives or new members for the upcoming year? Can you tell me what kinds of positions you’re look ing to fill?
JM: We have a lot of positions to fill this year. Right now, I’m look ing at bringing on a co-President. We also have some unconventional positions just because of the nature of our club. We have the Directors of Education, who are responsible for creating tutorials and collect ing educational resources to share with the club. We have Directors of Technology, who would be manag ing the technology, making sure it’s up to date, storing it properly, and fixing any bugs that people face in their hardware or software devel opment. These roles sound techni cal, but they’re not: really the only requirement is just a willingness to learn, and we don’t require any kind of previous knowledge. It’s always an asset for positions like Director of Technology and Director of Ed ucation, but it’s not a requirement. Then we are looking for a Director of Marketing & Communications and a Director of Outreach. Once we get approved as a full-status club, we’re going to need a Director of Finance. We have a lot of positions available! But those are the core po sitions we’re looking at hiring.
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everyone is probably very familiar with, and that’s probably the best use case for AR that there is. There’s a lot of applications for AR in medi cine, and in advertising, marketing, and commercial sales. VR, or vir tual reality, is different. VR is when a user is immersed into a virtual world, and you now start interacting with digital assets. You’re wearing a headset that covers your eyes and you’re in a totally virtual world. The metaverse is at this point a diluted word, but I think the metaverse will be whatever the internet becomes in the future. The internet will become more of an immersive space where we can travel to different virtual CV:worlds.Isthere
CV: If people are interested in the technical side, but don’t have any Photo from David Grandmougin on Unsplash
JM: We want to be as open as pos sible as a club, and one of our man dates is democratizing AR and VR development. We don’t have any kind of application process, or try outs or anything like that. Basical ly, you need to come with a can-do attitude and just really have a will ingness to learn. Just be positive and really just show that you are inter ested in the technology and take in terest in what we do as a club too, get involved in our events. And in doing that, I think you’ll be able to take a lot from the club. I’m sure a lot of CS students would find our club interesting, just because of the nature of their degree, but we had people from management last year, we had some Arts students, and al though they might not be involved in the technical side of AR and VR, they might be involved in some of the other project management sides or the creative development side.
The Plumber’s Ledger
CV: And then you’re also looking at recruiting new members, right? Who are you looking for? What do you want people to know before they join?
CV: Anything else you want to add?
7August 2022
CV: What does the time commit ment look like for members or ex JM:ecutives?I’llstart with executives. We’re very mindful that obviously, Mc Gill is a very intensive university, so some of the higher end positions like the co-Presidents, we’re looking
JM: Don’t be intimidated by AR and VR. No one knows what they’re do ing, I’ve seen firsthand projects go from the minimal viable product to something finished and polished. So it’s really just a learning process; just get excited about it. Edited for clarity.
JM: The reason why I believe de mocratizing AR and VR is import ant is mainly because the technol ogy is so young right now. And for people who start now, when you start thinking about how to use this technology to solve problems and you start developing it, the learning curve for them once the technology comes to full fruition is much lower because you grow with the technol ogy. It puts you ahead of the game. So I think it’s really important for students to start thinking about how this technology could solve prob lems. There’s a huge use case for it in education and training - I think once the cost comes down, we’ll be able to really learn from anywhere like we’re in a real space.
JM: Yes, for sure. Because AR and VR is so new, there are so many resources available online. And so what we’ve done is we’re basically curating a curriculum for people to come in and we’re connecting them with resources. So companies like Unity - which is a big game devel opment engine but is now also big for VR development - they have a whole course on VR development. We work with students to connect them with that, and also pair them with other students who are learn ing at the same time to help people feed off of each other. So our goal is really just to help connect people with those resources.
CV:want.How do the club meetings
JM:work?The goal is to have meetings where students come together and they work together in what we call jam sessions. And there you have the Directors of Technology and Ed ucation, as well as senior members to support you and help you work through the problems. But most of the time you’ll be able to rent the
at maybe upwards of 5 hours a week of commitment. For the other posi tions like Director of Education and Director of Technology, what we do is we recruit two or three of them so that we can really reduce that com mitment down to 1-3 hours a week. It would be 3 hours in the busy sea sons, like when we have events, and then 1 hour during exams. And then from a member standpoint, what you put into it you get out of it. You can come to our meetings whenev er you want, there’s no hourly re quirement or commitment. But the resources will be there for you, and you can pick and choose what you
background, is there an avenue for them to learn in the club?
Photo from Sara Kurig on Unsplash technology and take it home with you and develop on your own time. Other than that, there’s also edu cational events so you can come in and learn about how to 3D model your own assets for your game, or your application that you’re build ing in VR, or you can learn how to program a specific function for your CV:application.You’ve been talking about de mocratizing AR and VR. Why do you think that’s so important to do?
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8 The Plumber’s Ledger IS THIS IT RETROSPECTIVE
BY AMMAR MOORAJ
Every now and then records are re leased that define their genres and scenes for the years to come. Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue”, Sex Pistols’ “Nevermind The Bollocks Here’s The Sex Pistols”, Joy Division’s “Un known Pleasures”, Nirvana’s “Nev ermind”, and of course the album which would define 2000s rock, The Strokes’ “Is This It”. Now, twenty years later, I want to do an autopsy. Where did it come from, where has it gone and what made it so great to begin with?
The nineties were, for a time, dom inated by a post-punk genre called grunge, first popularized by Nirva na. But after Kurt Cobain’s death, pretty much every other grunge band either collapsed in on itself or purposefully faded into obscu rity and away from the limelight that they never wanted. Pop-rock and pop-punk were finding a lot of mainstream commercial success, but their fan bases tended to be white suburban early-teens and preteens. It was in this brief moment where The Strokes’ caught people’s attention with “Is This It”. Well… sort of. That’s one narrative of what happened, and while it is compel ling it’s also a little romanticized. But there is some degree of truth to the idea that “Is This It” pushed in die rock into the limelight. The Strokes were formed in 1998 around the social connections of the charismatic lead singer Jullian Casablancas. It began with just him, guitarist Nick Valensi and drummer Fabrizio Moretti but would later in clude Nikolai Fraiture and Alebrt Hammond Jr., all of whom were friends of Casablancas from the various prestigious private schools he attended. They would find some early success in 2000 with some demos and eventually the EP Mod ern Age, but it was in 2001 with their full length LP “Is This It” that they would find real success. A 9.1 from Pitchfork, four stars from Roll ing Stone, recommendations from NME and a place on everyone’s top ten albums of the year. Its release resulted in the explosion of what’s since been called the ga rage rock revival, the post-punk revival, the new-wave revival and the new rock revolution. What you may notice about all those different titles is that they’re conflicting in their reference to what exactly these bands were reviving or doing. The reality is there is very little connec Photo from pitchfork.com
So, what about the album itself?
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tion between the acts supposedly part of this scene. Bands like The Strokes, The White Stripes and LCD Soundsystem share about as much in common with each other as any other musical act that uses an elec tric guitar. While the idea that there was any sort of cohesive indie rock scene in the early 2000s is pretty ri diculous, ultimately The Strokes did become the face of indie rock for a while. They became key inspirations for their contemporaries like The Arctic Monkeys and their influence can still be clearly heard in modern indie rock. Any time you hear those bright, surf and blues inspired bub blegum indie rock acts like Declan McKenna, Arlie, Wallows, HAIM etc. you’re hearing the influence of The Strokes.
The best way I can describe it is that listening to “Is This It” feels like watching a classic John Hughes coming-of-age movie. It’s the expe rience of being young condensed into a tight thirty-six minutes. With chugging power chords reminiscent of surf-rock, bass lines that sound like they’re straight out of the newwave, bluesy guitar solos and the most charismatic vocals you will ever hear on record the album flies by with an adolescent urgency. As soon as the album opens with the title track “Is This It” a momentum is set in place that really never stops. Every track feels like a highlight and when it ends it feels satisfying but too soon. You’re left wanting more but knowing what you got was just perfect. Casablancas’ charisma in stantly hooks you. He’s like music’s Ferris Bueller; he instantly comes across as cool and confident, the person we all wanted to be in high school. Yet, it’s the playful coun terpoint and melodies between the bass and two guitars that give every track so much replay value. Maybe I’m biased when I say this, after all the album did soundtrack my entire high school experience, but I think it’s about as close as you can get to a perfect album. Short, sweet, nostal gic and fun. This is music you make memories to. So, it is with twenty years of hind sight that I say “Is This It” is a must listen album. It was important when it dropped, it’s important today and above all else it’s simply incredible. from nme.com
9August 2022
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BY BIANCA DUBOIS
Richard Wagamese is one of Canada’s most revered Indigenous au thors. Wagames has writ ten many famous novels such as Medicine Walk, Indian Horse and many more. His novels are thought-provoking and haunting as he explores the Indigenous condi tion. Most of his books strongly emphasize na ture and the protago nist’s connection to the natural world. Starlight is Wagamese’s final un finished novel. The novel was published posthu mously with the blessing of his family with mini mal editing. The novel may be a little raw and unpolished compared to his other works; howev er, it was a delight to read and an excellent farewell to an outstanding Cana dian Starlightauthor.comes as a se quel to Wagamese’s renowned novel Medicine Walk, with Frank Starlight continuing as the protagonist. Frank is now a rancher and photographer in interior British Columbia with his close friend and ranch hand. Starlight is deeply connected with nature and captures beautiful mo ments causing him to grow a follow ing. While in town, Starlight helps a woman and her daughter who got caught shoplifting from a grocery store. After the woman faces losing her daughter to child services, he offers the woman a job and a place to stay. Emmy (the woman) and her daughter Winnie are on the run from her abusive ex-boyfriend, who is chasing them down.
10 The Plumber’s Ledger BOOK BYSTARLIGHTREVIEWRICHARDWAGAMESE
Emmy and Winnie brighten up the ranch and force Starlight and his friend Roth to real ize how empty their lives were before the girls ar rive. Meanwhile, Emmy and Winnie learn to trust again in people and the natural world as Starlight shows them the beau ty of the world around them and self-sufficien cy. Wagamese masterful ly crafts bonds between the characters and the land they are on without feeling too cheesy while raising tension and the stakes as Emmy’s ex gets closer and closer to their new idyllic lives. Although the ending was rather abrupt, it felt like a natural pause to the novel. We may not know what the actual ending had in store, but it was still a lovely read full of growth, acceptance and found family. I would rate this book 4/5 because although I enjoyed it, it could have used some back and forth between the author and ed itors to clean up some passages. Nonetheless, I would recommend this book to Wagamese fans, along with any reader who enjoys charac ter-driven novels.
Photo from press.princeton.edu
BY PAUL HINTA Student life is hard for so many rea sons. Not only are classes tougher than what you’ve previously seen in high school or CEGEP, but you’re likely at an age where you’re taking on more and more responsibility; a lot of us call this ‘adulting’. Need less to say, the concept of having to deal with money is scary enough to keep most of us away from business school. Luckily for you, we’ve com piled a list of six steps you can take as a student in Montreal to guide you towards making more financial ly conscious decisions.
3. Taking Advantage of Student Deals
One of the first things you should do while adjusting to student life is to set yourself a budget. The idea of setting a budget may seem daunting at first, but it really is the best thing you can do for your money. It doesn’t have to be super formal: simply writing out your expected income and expenses over the semester is often more than enough! Besides, if it’s your first time living away from home, there’s no better time to learn this important life skill!
HOW TO SAVE MONEY AS A STUDENT IN MONTREAL
Regardless of your living situation— on or off campus, with or without parents—chances are that you’ll in cur some form of expenses through out the year. As a student, a lot of your purchases reflect a lower bud get, and you’d be surprised at how many companies have implemented savings programs to help you out.
Part of what makes Montreal such a beautiful city is the uniqueness of its neighbourhoods : Vieux Port, Mile End, and the Gay Village, to name a few. If you take the time to explore these different areas, you’ll find that there are so many small thrift shops, markets, coffee shops and health stores where you can buy local alter natives of your favourite products for much cheaper. You’re bound to step out of your room anyway, so why not make it the best experience possible? Get out there!
4. Exploring the City
Off Without a doubt, Montreal’s night life is one of the best in North Amer ica. No one would blame you for wanting to go out with your friends after a hard midterm or stressful week. However, after picking up your drinks for the pre, the cover fee at the club and maybe a drink or two from the bar, plus the uber back, you could be looking at well over $50 for one night! Be careful on nights that you want to go out, otherwise those bills will really start eating away at your bank account.
2. Buying Used School Supplies Textbooks are expensive. As much as this sucks, there are many ways to get all the supplies you need without necessarily breaking the bank. If you find out that you absolutely need a textbook for a class, check your on line resources before heading to the bookstore: Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji, and the SSMU Marketplace are all great places to check. Note that these resources aren’t limited to just textbooks. You’ll find plenty of lab gear, calculators, and exam prep material there too!
11August 2022
1. Setting a Budget
6. Applying for Scholarships It’s so much easier to save money if you have some form of income, no doubt. While you may be too busy to work a part-time job throughout a semester, there are other ways to earn some money—such as scholar ships. Every year, there are tons of scholarships and other forms of fi nancial aid that go unawarded sim ply because no one applies for them. Next time you have a couple hours to spare, look through McGill’s fi nancial award database, as well as for other scholarships around Mon treal. Who knows, a little extra ef fort that you put here or there might make for a nice payday at the end of the semester.
5. Taking a Couple Nights
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The Plumber’s Ledger I have always been an avid reader, but I tend to avoid movie adapta tions of my favourite books, espe cially science fiction adaptations. I find that it is hard to capture the alien landscapes, creatures, and worlds visually using only human objects and CGI, and have them re tain the ‘otherworldliness’ that can be captured in the written word. If the movie captures the book poorly, it is often difficult to get that version out of your head and return to the book version. For an example, see Ender’s Game: excellent book; terri ble Thatmovie.being said, I was optimistic when I heard that “Dune” was be ing adapted into a movie. As a huge fan of Golden Age science fiction, “Dune” is one of my favourite nov els. I’ve read it at least five times, and I always find something new to appreciate about it. Along with Asi mov, Clarke, and Heinlein, author Frank Herbert is a master of world building, deftly crafting a com pletely alien society that still retains shadows of our own world, mirror ing our vices and flaws. The direc tor, Dennis Villeneuve, was report edly a huge fan of Herbert’s “Dune”, and aimed to stay true to the book. I watched the movie, and thoroughly enjoyed it. However, as a die-hard fan of the book, I have many opin ions on the movie, as compared to the novel. This is a long-overdue written version of the many passion ate conversations/rants I have had about “Dune”, for anyone who is in terested in how the movie stacks up to the book. Important note: there will be MAJOR SPOILERS for any one who has not yet seen the movie or read the book.
First, the good parts. The soundtrack and cinematography were excellent. Although I am by no means an ex pert, I felt the soundtrack was per fect for creating the mood of an alien, hostile world that is trying to kill you at every opportunity, but re veals hidden beauty as you become enmeshed in it. One of the things I was worried about for this mov ie adaptation was how the worms would be represented. I was not sure that the way the worms were de scribed in the book would translate well to the screen. It would be easy to make them look cartoonish when attempting to capture their size and terrifying features. However, I thought that the worms were one of the most well-executed parts of the movie. The cinematography really does the job of giving you the im pression of enormity, and represents the worms as terrifying beings while
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DUNE: A COMPARISION OF THE BOOK AND MOVIE
BY CHARLOTTE VOLK
Photo from muddycolors.com
Photo from dunenewsnet.com
13August 2022 not overdoing it. Another part of this movie I was impressed by was the casting of Paul Atreides and Duke Leto Atreides. Timothée Cha lamet and Oscar Isaac are perfect for their roles, and both exude the kind of quiet elegance and sophistication that one would expect from a roy al family with a strong sense of re sponsibility and obligation towards their However,people.Ialso believe that sever al aspects of the movie could have been Numberimproved.one,the casting and char acter development of Lady Jessica. In the book, Jessica is a quietly pow erful woman whose true strength, when revealed, is awe-inspiring. She can control people merely by speaking and has such complete knowledge of her own body that she can even control the functioning of her organs, and knows she is preg nant almost immediately. Howev er, in the movie, Jessica’s strength was watered down so much as to be almost unnoticeable, and Paul is made out to be her protector. The only moment when her true strength is revealed is the scene in the ornithopter when Jessica and Paul are captured, and she uses the Voice to escape. In this scene, she looks strong and terrifying, and as powerful as she should. But, this is the only point in the movie where she reveals any hint of how power ful she is. In the book, Jessica’s quiet power is probably the most import ant part of her character. For exam ple, Jessica is supposed to be willing to sacrifice Paul in the Gom Jabbar test. She is guarding the door so that nobody will be able to save him. But in the movie, we see Jessica standing outside the door crying. Now, she is understandably worried for her son. But Jessica is not the type of charac ter who would be crying in this mo ment. In the book, she is easily capa ble of controlling her emotions, and in fact most body functions, and she would never be seen breaking down in this critical moment. I feel that the movie missed a great opportuni ty to highlight a strong, stoic female character, and the multiple scenes of her crying when she is supposed to be standing strong undercuts that Numbersomewhat.two, the casting of Duncan Idaho. While writing this article, I almost wrote ‘Jason Momoa’ instead of ‘Duncan Idaho’, which illustrates my point perfectly. Jason Momoa is impossible to see as anyone but Ja son Momoa. He feels completely out of place in this movie. While Timo thée Chalamet and Oscar Isaac ra diate an elegance that fits in with the demands of a noble family In a com pletely alien society that has strict rules of etiquette and conduct, Jason Momoa feels like a regular Ameri can displaced into the movie. He speaks with an American accent, he uses contractions and slang, and he altogether just feels like he is playing himself but in h. Next are some scenes that I felt were not impactful enough in the movie.
Since most movies have background music in scenes like this, it gave the sense of something missing, and made the scene ring a little hollow for me. The rest of the soundtrack is excellent, and I felt that adding some elements of the music back in as the fight continued would have been a better Overall,choice.“Dune” was a fantastic movie that is definitely worth see ing. However, if you are a fan of the book, expect to have a few differenc es of opinion with the director (or more than a few…). After watching “Dune”, I am extremely excited to watch the next part of the movie, and to see how the climax of the plot in the book will be treated.
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The Plumber’s Ledger
First is the worm riding. In my opinion, the revelation that the Fre men not only respect and revere the worms, but live in harmony with them enough to ride them, was un derdone in the movie. The fact that the Fremen ride worms should have been a major twist, and instead the movie played it off as somewhat of a non-event. The moment passed very quickly, without leaving a strong Oneimpression.ofthe other moments that could have had more of an impact on the viewer is the Duke’s death scene. I loved the staging and dia logue, and Duke Leto was impec cably cast. However, in the movie, the Duke dies without knowing that the Baron has escaped death. There fore, he dies with at least a modi cum of peace, believing that he has killed the biggest threat to his son and partner. This lessened the im pact of the Duke’s death for me, as in the book the Duke sees the Bar on escaping as he dies, by slipping out a secret side door, and knows that even his final, desperate act to save his son and love were futile. As a side note, the Baron should not fly! His “suspensors”, which are what support his weight and allow him to float across the ground, are a symbol of indulgence and excess, and extreme wealth compared to the poverty of the rest of the people living on Arrakis. In the book, they are supposed to allow the Baron to walk without supporting his weight, allowing him to overindulge with no consequences. This can be read as a commentary on the different social classes on Arrakis, and the stark contrast between the Baron’s wealth and indulgence and the pov erty elsewhere on the planet. How ever, in the movie they made him fly several feet above his underlings. This looks a bit ludicrous, especially in the Duke’s death scene, where he literally flies up to the ceiling. For me, it takes some of the weight and gravitas away from the scene, and in general, making him fly takes away some of the Baron’s sense of menace and danger. The battle scene between Paul and Jamis was, for me, anticlimactic. It was supposed to be a huge deal for Paul to have to kill someone – he never has before, and this should be very hard for him to do. In the book, Paul waits so long to kill Jamis, even though he is clearly more skilled, be cause he doesn’t want to kill Jamis.
Photo from vanityfair.com
However, Stilgar misinterprets this as Paul “toying” with Jamis and tor turing him with the knowledge of his impending death. This still oc curs in the movie, but not after long enough. The entire scene works best, I think, with the sense of builtup tension, and the movie scene wasn’t long enough to fully capture that suspense. We were also not able to read Paul’s emotions during what was supposed to be a very difficult and emotional moment for him. Having the camera focus more on Paul’s facial expressions so we can feel the emotion would have made more of an impact than focusing on the actual fighting movements. As well, I thought that the choice to completely remove any music from the scene was interesting, but ulti mately removed some of the impact of the scene instead of adding to it.
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15August 2022 BALLADS OF BURDEN: LOVE, AND OTHER LIES BY SHAGUN SACHAR
CV: What was the inspiration be hind MBC, and what motivated you to start the club?
MBC: As we mentioned previous ly, alongside our events, we also run a yearly project. This year we’re working on a tremor-suppressing exoskeleton for those affected by Parkinson’s disease, and we plan on finishing this at the end of Winter 2023. Having started the project in Winter 2022, we’ve now finished a large portion of the research. This is Photo from McGill Biomechanics Club
(MBC)Club
MBC: We both are Presidents and co-founders of the club, so we over see the running of the club. We work behind the scenes, and we take care of the plans for the club’s future.
CV: What are some of your goals for the upcoming year?
Email: teamcontact.mbc@gmail.
Facebook:com McGill Biomechanics
CV: Can you introduce yourselves, and tell me a bit about yourselves?
16 The Plumber’s Ledger CLUB FEATURE SERIES:
MBC:neering?The biomedical world is rap idly growing, particularly in the field of biomechanics. This is why we think it’s an incredibly exciting and important field to be involved with right now.
Instagram:Club mcgillbiomechanicsclub
McGILL Biomechanics
BY CHARLOTTE VOLK
MBC: We are Roseline Théroux and Maria Calderbank, and we’re both U4 Mechanical engineers. Maria is from the UK and Roseline is from Quebec. We’re both very passionate about using our engineering abili ties to help others through develop ing biomechanical devices.
MBC: MBC stands for McGill Bio mechanics Club, and our mission is to innovate medical solutions that help others by building skills and knowledge through practical expe rience in biomechanical projects, workshops, and events.
CV: Can you tell me a bit about Mc Gill Biomechanics Club?
CV: What are your positions in MBC, and can you tell me about your roles and responsibilities?
MBC: We met in our first year at Frosh, and we both had an interest in biomechanics, for example pros thetics and exoskeletons. We dis covered throughout our undergrad degree as mechanical engineers, that biomechanics isn’t something that you’re expressly taught until the technical complementary courses in your final years. We wanted to make biomechanics more accessible by creating a space for people, both external and internal to the Engi neering faculty, to share their mu tual interest and network in the ev er-evolving medical device industry. We wanted somewhere where they can develop a more specific under standing of biomechanics and col laborate on biomechanical projects. We also really aspire to emphasize the hands-on aspect of the club. Our MBC project team works on what we describe as “achievable project ideas” so members can gain expe rience following a project through its entire life cycle within just a year. These projects address real-world problems, so it’s great for people who are passionate about helping others, because they can develop worthwhile solutions with MBC in just a year!
CV: You’ve already touched on this, but why do you think it’s so import ant for students to be exposed to biomechanics or biomedical engi
CV: Can you tell me more about the project, and what exactly you’re working on?
CV: What’s the time commitment like for executive positions and for regular members? MBC: For the MBC project team, there’s weekly meetings where all of the members work on the project together, as well as update the rest of the team on their work from that week. For the execs, we have weekly meetings for updates.
MBC: For our project this year we are developing a tremor suppressing exoskeleton to aid those affected by Parkinson’s Disease with the use of their hands. The device measures movements in the hand which are filtered to decide whether or not they are voluntary. When move ments are perceived as tremors, a control unit sends a signal to the damping system. This changes the viscosity of a magnetic fluid in the damper to restrict motion.
CV: What can new members expect when they join? What can they ex pect to accomplish? MBC: Like we mentioned before, we wanted to create a community to collaborate and learn from others’ experience, such as hosting events like PhD afternoon tea, which is a space to learn from academics in biomechanics. Another thing we re ally want people to be able to gain from MBC is practical experience. For example, we plan on running workshops to teach people engi neering softwares. I especially think that’s great for people external to en gineering who may not be exposed to such softwares through their de gree. We are passionate about the projects we complete, as they aim to solve a real-world issue. We did a lot of research into finding an area that we could address that was worthwhile. Alongside practical ex perience, members have the ability to follow a project through its life cycle, because we make sure that our projects are achievable within a year. Finally, we provide a space for people to learn from and network with charities, businesses, and ac ademics, that are all in the medical device field and specifically in bio mechanics. So it’s a really great way, if you’re interested in the biomedical industry, to learn more about bio mechanics specifically. CV: For you both, what has been the best part of being President and starting the club? MBC: It’s been having a meaningful impact on the university student life. We know we are currently making the biomechanics field more acces sible to a lot of current and new Mc Gill students, and this motivates us to continuously improve and grow.
MBC:engineering?Every year we hold a fund raiser for charities that support those experiencing the condition that our yearly project is address ing. So, for example, our fundraiser this year would be for a Parkinson’s Editedcharity.for clarity. ◆
17August 2022 really exciting, as it means that this fall, we’ll be prototyping, making it a really great time for people to join the club who particularly want to gain practical experience. One of MBC’s goals is to host events monthly. These range from work shops, to study parties, to network ing events, such as our infamous PhD afternoon tea. This year, we’ll be throwing some larger-scale events, such as a fundraiser evening to raise money for a Parkinson’s charity, and networking socials with medical professionals, charities, and academic professionals.
MBC: As we said, it’s a really excit ing time to join the MBC project team. We’d also like to mention that our events are open to everyone, whether or not you’re a member of MBC. And, being such a new club, we have lots of important positions still available. So make sure to fol low us on our socials, because this is where we post updates.
CV: You touched on the fact that it would be a good time for new mem bers to join. Are you looking for ex ecutives, or just new members?
CV: Do you have any fun facts about your club, or about biomechanical
Starting your first year at university can be quite challenging, especially if you are moving to an entirely new city. As someone who experienced moving to a new city and a new life style, I have compiled a list of tips to help ease the process!
MONTREAL 101 TIPS FOR NEWCOMERS TO McGILL AND THE CITY OF MONTREAL: STUDYING AND EXPLORING IN MONTREAL BY SHAFAQ NAMI
Get an umbrella as soon as you can! It rains a lot with out warning in Montreal and it’s not very fun to get caught in the rain. An umbrella can also be helpful in light snow.There are no major assign ments before the add/drop deadline so you can use these cou ple of weeks to go out and explore the city.If you keep up with class work, the semester can be pretty chill. However if work starts to pile up, uni can get very stressful, very fast! Find a good study sched ule that works for you so that you can keep up with your work. You’ll thank yourself for that once mid term season rolls around. Definitely research your profs beforehand (Rate My Profes sor and the McGill reddit page are a huge help) especially when pick ing electives or you will learn your lesson the hard way (such as when I took a 300 level course in my first semester at McGill). 9.
4.3.2.1. 8.7.6.5.
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View of Montreal City from McGill’s La Citadelle residence Explore different study meth ods early on, the things that worked in high school might not necessarily work now! As I men tioned earlier, the sooner you find the method that works for you, the better. Don’t buy textbooks before classes start; more often than not, you don’t even need them or can get them from somewhere else for much cheaper than the McGill bookstore.Explore the city! Being cooped up inside can take its toll on your mental health . Take breaks, make a list of places you want to go or stuff you want to do and go outside. Montreal is a beau tiful city with lots of different things happening at any given time, even during the Therewinter.aremany free food op portunities in Montreal and
The Plumber’s Ledger at McGill if you want to save some money. For example, every time the Montreal Canadiens hockey team scores first, McDonalds gives away one free medium fries. Don’t stress about not know ing French. Everyone in Montreal, especially downtown, speaks English. At the same time, living in Montreal is the perfect op portunity to pick up a new language and Whilepractice!yourfirst year at McGill can be an amazing experience, it might not turn out the way you imagined. It’s alright if it takes you more time to adjust to your new environment than anticipated or if your GPA isn’t as high as you would like it to be. You have 3-4 more years to do all the things you dreamed about and things do get better. Don’t hesitate to reach out to people if you need help! ◆
19August 2022 WHAT DO WE WANT? WHAT DO WE WANT? HOW DO WE JOIN? WHEN CAN WE JOIN? TO JOIN THE signNOW!LEDGER!uponourinterestform Find our intrest form at https://linktr.ee/euspublications
20 The Plumber’s Ledger
