I am Robot: Autotune

So what’s the big hoopla anyway? Recently, artists like T-Pain and Lil Wayne have come under fire by critics and most notably Jay-Z for their avid use of Auto-tune. Auto-tune, a fun little gadget unbeknownst to consumers for quite some time, is a pitch-perfecting machine which has been used by music producers for years. We first heard it on Cher’s song ‘Believe’ in 1998, where it was used in a very deliberate manner to distort her voice for a portion of the song. Less deliberate and more sneaky uses of Auto-tune have been prevalent in the music industry since its release to the market in 1997. Country music stars like Tim McGraw, pop stars like Britney Spears, and hip hop artists like Kanye West have all admitted to using Auto-tune.

I’m usually not such a gadget geek, but I’ve become interested in this particular one because of all the debate it has sparked. Many people think using Auto-tune is cheating the system and undermining the careers of legitimately talented singers. “I Hate Auto-tune” groups have popped up around Facebook and musicians are loudly voicing their opinions towards the machine. Jay Z recently released the first song off his upcoming album called “D.O.A – Death of Auto-tune” in which he publicly critiques rappers for trying to sing while using the device. He calls out to rappers asking them to go back to their roots instead of caving to the industry trend.

What I think is fishy about this whole thing is that this ‘Anti-Auto-tune’ album of Jay-Z’s was PRODUCED BY KANYE WEST. Kanye West has gone on record to say he “loves Auto-Tune” and heavily used it in his 2008 album 808s and HeartBreak. Why would Jay-Z ask an Auto tune-loving artist to produce his Anti-Auto tune album? Hmmm something doesn’t seem right.

Who thinks that this whole Anti-Auto Tune movement is a publicity gimmick for Jay-Z to sell more records?! I Do!

First of all, what is so wrong with artists using Auto-Tune? As humans we strive towards perfection in all areas of our lives, including our careers. Michael Phelps practices every day to try and break more world records, we study our butts off for exams to (in theory) try and get as close to 100% as we can, we slave in a gym for 20 minutes 3 times a week for years on end to trim our waistlines, tone our abs and sculpt our bodies to reach a “perfect” figure. We try and try and try and finally when one man cracks the code and figures out how to reach perfection in the music industry, we label it “cheating” and become staunchly against the idea. Why do I feel like we are always trying to preserve an old innocence that has been long since forgotten? If consumers are against Auto-tune then why are they not against metronomes? Metronomes are devices which set a perfect beat so musicians can play along and perfect their timing. Is that cheating? The inventor of Auto Tune, Andy Hildebrand, was once asked if he thought Auto-Tune was evil. He responded by saying, “My wife wears make up. Is that evil?”

I also don’t think it is wrong for artists like Lil Wayne and Kanye West to experiment with Auto Tune because they have already established themselves as talented artists. They have won countless awards for their rapping, and writing skills and Kanye for his producing. In a world where Actors become Politicians, and Parents become Reality Television Divas, does a rapper becoming a singer really seem that far off? I personally found Madonna becoming a children’s author much more disturbing…

I must admit, the fact that we as a generation enjoy listening to robotic noises is a bit disturbing. It might just be my incessant paranoia here, but do you think that this is a pre cursor for the future?? I’m picturing those futuristic movies where everyone is wearing plastic and metal clothing, and food is sent to us in vitamin-enriched liquid form through a tube and we don’t drive cars but float on hovercrafts and instead of songs we like listening to junkyard noises and synthesized robot voices???? The fifth element anyone?!?! …Good movie. But that’s beside the point!

And last but not least. If you don’t like it, don’t listen to it. Of course that probably means you won’t be able to listen to any popular song for the rest of time, but at least you’ll be making a statement that you are against all synthesized music, (no matter how much you liked Alvin and the chipmunks as kid). As for the rest of us, we will continue to go along happily listening to the future.

Be True to Your School

Welcome.

Right now, you are part of something. You have been a part of things in the past, but this is much different. Over the next 3, 4, 5, or perhaps 6 years (Iím not here to judge) you will be taking the majority of your classes, doing the majority of your studying, meeting the majority of your new friends in the: The Management/Transport Building.

Wait a minute. I signed up to go to the Asper School of Business. Isnít it the Asper Building that Iím in? No. The official name of the bricks and mortar which you are in is, in fact, The Management/Transport Building. This surrounds the Drake Centre, which is the home of the Asper School of Business. Confused? Let me explain

We at the Asper School know virtually nothing about our schoolís past, present or future. Considering I spend more time here than I do at home I think this is a shocking reality. Let us add up the hours. Bare minimum you are here 9-15 hours per week for class, depending on course load and attendance habits. You also may choose to study at the school or come to speak with a professor at one point or another. I would venture that the average student is in the School around 20 hours per week. That is almost a full day!

So, letís recap: You are spending one full day per week, for the majority of the year, for 4 years in this building. It might be a good idea to know what it is called. What do you think would happen if you didnít know your address after living there for 4 years? Your parents would be putting padding on the sharp corners around the house and not letting you play with the small Legos.

This is why you need to take 5 minutes out of your busy day and learn a little something about where you are. I have a brief history of the school that was compiled by Sheila Molloy, the Executive Director of the Associates, and she has kindly allowed me to use her hard work. All factual information in this article has been collected and provided by Ms. Molloy and I thank her.

THE BEGINNING....

The University of Manitobaís Centre for Professional Management Education (predecessor of the Asper School of Business) was founded in 1937. Todayís building, however, was not constructed for some time after that. This is the story of how it came to be:

In 1981 Roland Grandpre became the Dean of the Faculty. He had three major priorities; revise the undergraduate program, build the support of the business community and raise funds to build a new building specifically for the Faculty of Management. Recognizing the significant capital needed to construct a building, he focused on his second goal: Building the support of the Winnipeg business community.

In 1982 Dean Grandpre began the Associates of the Asper School of Business (www.associatesmb.ca). The business community quickly came on board and today the Associates has well over 200 members (visit the website for the impressive member list). The number one goal of the Associates was and is to improve the quality of business education at the University of Manitoba. Our school would not be where it is today without them and all students should be thankful.

Dean Grandpre was not the only person who felt a need for a new building. Students who wanted to actively pressure the University to construct a new building soon approached him. The Dean suggested that rather than protest, the students should do something positive. This was the birth of the ìRace for Spaceî which was a 10k run designed to raise funds, and more importantly publicity, for the new building. The Race was held annually from 1982-84 and the participants ranged from politicians, to faculty members, to students, to a large amount of Winnipeg business-people. Over its three-year life, the campaign raised around $50,000, but more importantly a large amount of publicity and support.

In 1985 ground broke on the Freedman Crescent site, chosen from three options. The site was chosen by architect Etienne Gaboury for its view of the Red River, proximity to both the University Library and the center of campus.

The buildinG....

The building, as designed by Gaboury, is roughly 130,000 square feet and had a price tag of $14.5 million. This was funded, in addition to the private donations received, by the Federal Government. The problem was the Feds didnít give money to the construction of business schools, but rather to institutes that contribute to National improvement. Thus, half of the building was dedicated to the Transport Institute. You can still see the signage denoting areas of the building to this cause. This 50/50 partnership between the Feds and the University is reflected in the buildingís title (The Management/Transport Building).

This is when the naming becomes interesting. During the Capital Campaign for the construction of the Building an Associate by the name of Jack McKeag called a fellow graduate by the name of Bill Pollock. Mr Pollock was the co-founder of what would eventually become Drake International, one of the worldís largest human resource management firms. Mr Pollock made a generous donation of $2 million to the Campaign, the largest made at that time, but he did not want anything named after him. He instead chose for the space within the building that did not house the Transport Institute to be named after his company: The Drake Centre. This dedication was made in 1987.

Israel Asper...

I want to first go on a brief tangent about Israel Asper. This was an amazing man. I think that in order to graduate from our School a requirement should be to have read ìIzzyî by Peter C. Newman. It is an absolutely extraordinary account of the compelling life of Dr. Asper and anyone interested in business would be well served to read it.

Izzyís first donation to the School was in 1997. Through the Asper Foundation $1 million was given towards the creation of the Asper Centre for Entrepreneurship. Three years later in 2000 he made an additional gift of $10 million, and the I. H. Asper School of Business was created (later re-branded the Asper School of Business).

The donation of $10 million went a long way to improve the quality of the school. Its commitment to continuous improvement and to its goal of producing some of Manitoba, Canada and the Worldís most outstanding leaders changed the school forever.

So now you know where you are. The building is just one part of the history of our school. The full history would, and is going to, fill a book. Make sure to take the time to learn some of this history. I guarantee you will feel more pride in your school and in yourself for it.

The Jets are Dead, Get over it

Spring time means a lot to hockey fans, playoffs are in full swing and the intensity of the sport seems to grow with each passing series. For the hockey fans of Winnipeg, not only was the spirit of the game embodied by the fabulous Calder Cup run by the Manitoba Moose, but also by the swirling rumors of a Winnipeg Jets return to the ìheart of the continentî, based on the financial difficulty facing the Phoenix Coyotes.

Much of the hype towards the improbable return of the team was stirred by comments from the NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, who according to court documents was quoted as saying that, ìif the [Phoenix Coyotes] did return to Canada, it would be to Winnipeg.î This was enough to bring the Jets fanatics out of the woodwork in desperate belief that Winnipeg will once again be home to a NHL franchise.

The fact of the matter is this dream is not going to happen, and for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the NHLís agenda does not support expansion or relocation to Canada at this time. Bettman has made it clear that the NHL is satisfied at 30 teams, and if a team were to relocate, there are a number of cities that rank above Winnipeg on the short list, such as Kansas, Portland, Houston or possibly Las Vegas.

Has that much changed since the Jets left Winnipeg in í96? The Jets were losing money, the arena was half empty and financially the NHL was tanking. Fast forward to today, one of the biggest arguments for the Jets returning to Winnipeg has to do with the myth that the salary cap solves all problems. Think about this, in 1996, Keith Tkachuk was the third highest paid player in the NHL behind Gretzky and Messier at $6 million per year. Last year, Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin were the second and third highest paid players in the league, both raking in $9 million each. Just because there is a salary cap, doesnít necessarily mean that we can afford it.

Furthermore, where does everyone expect that funding to come from? We built the MTS Centre to hold almost 400 less seats than the Winnipeg Arena held, and if it were stacked up against other NHL arenas, it holds over 1200 less people than the next smallest capacity (New York Islanders, Nassau Veterans Coliseum). The NHL does not enjoy the same profit sharing scheme that the economic juggernaut NFL does where the teams are almost completely kept on an even financial field due to the amount of revenue sharing from both national television contracts and ticket revenue. This means that where smaller market teams in the NFL are able to keep sustainable, those same smaller market teams in the NHL have no choice but to run in the red. Large amounts of money are lost in attempts to keep NHL teams alive. Almost half the teams in the league lose money every year, which means that to have a team in Winnipeg we would need to have somebody, or a group of corporations willing to spend money and possibly lose money, on this dream. Does Winnipeg have anyone willing to spend this kind of money? No. Does Winnipeg have corporations eager to spend this kind of money on the Jets? No, if the corporations did, they would have forked out this capital to keep them here in '96.

Finally, little would actually change from last time, obviously the initial excitement of a new team would fill the building for most of the inaugural season, but letís face it, we are Winnipeg, we donít move unless there is a sale. I wonít make the argument about not being able to completely fill the MTS Centre for the Moose playoffs until the finals because that is a completely separate argument, but I will point to our pride and joy of a franchise the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. In the 2008 season we had one playoff game at home in November, we failed miserably at filling that stadium. Each of the last two Grey Cups that have come to Winnipeg has relied on last minute sales to come even remotely close to selling out. Currently those making income in our city are from a younger era that doesnít fully remember the Jets being here and never developed the attachment to them as Winnipegís team. The desire to bring back the Jets isnít being generated through them, but through the generation of baby boomers who are retiring and who are probably not willing to spend their pensions on overpriced tickets to make up for our lack of corporate sponsorship and undersized arena.

I used to be a season ticket holder for the Jets in the most amazing seats at centre ice. I would love to be reliving those moments in the old Winnipeg Arena and wish that the Jets had never left in the first place, however those who think that somehow the NHL is going to up-and-give us a team that will magically be financially sustainable, need to step back and realize that the Winnipeg Jets are not coming back, not now, not ever.

Help Wanted: Next Generations Professors

I remember when I was an undergraduate student in Commerce. Those long early mornings from

North Kildonan over the Disraeli and down Pembina to get to my 830 classes. The first few

terms were ëschool as usualí with courses like Managerial Accounting, Corporation

Finance, Introduction to Marketing and Organizational Behavior. I went to class, wrote my

exams, got my grades and then went on and did it all again the next term.

Sometime in my last year something changed. I can still remember the class ñ it was the

second class in Administrative Policy. The teacher, a professor named Dr. Ross Henderson

who retired back in the 90ís, taught using the Socratic method, that is by asking

questions rather than telling us the answers. It was a totally different way of learning

ñ not by someone lecturing, us memorizing and then giving it all back on the final, but

by us actually thinking along with the professor in live-time.

That class also got me thinking ñ maybe being a prof might be a career option. It was

reasonably uncharted water as no one from my family had ever pursued an academic career.

But the more I thought about it, the more attractive it became: getting paid to read,

think, come up with ideas, lead classes ñ why not?

Just over a quarter century later, here I am, back at the University of Manitoba, leading

my own classes, asking the next generation of students questions that will hopefully help

prepare them to become the kind of businesspeople needed for competing effectively in

this new century. Suffice to say, itís been a great career that I might never have

thought of had I not taken that class with Dr. Henderson.

Why am I mentioning this? Because it is my hunch that there is probably at least one or

two people reading this column who have never thought of becoming professors. To them my

message is simple: Why not at least consider the possibility. Why do I say that? Because,

as I mentioned earlier, itís an extremely interesting way to make a living. Why else do I

say that? Because, the market for business educators is one that is going to have all

kinds of long term opportunities. And finally because we are going to need the very best

and brightest of minds to come up with the most innovative and creative of ways to make

our way forward in this very interesting world in which we find ourselves.

So as you go through the year ahead consider the long-term possibility of moving from the

back of the room to the front. It may be a move worth exploring.

The Park is Worse than its Bite

Students who have had the pleasure of dealing with the university parking system understand that there is one word and one word alone to describe the feeling that this system causes, and that word is aneurism. Okay, hold onÖmaybe using a word that describes an exploding artery is a little harsh, but this writer sees no other way to describe the sheer pain students go through when it comes to parking.

Now for those of you who never have parked at the university, and for those first year students, please allow me to take you down the dramafilled trail that was, and is the university parking system. U of M students begin by logging on to the universityís online parking system located on the JUMP website, sometime between mid May and June. Once youíve logged on you must remember your username and password even though you have spent the last 2 months partying and having fun in the sun. If you are one of the lucky people that remembers these facts you are well ahead of at least 20% of the people trying to pay for their parking.

After you have logged on to our wonderful, error free and easy to use websiteÖor more commonly referred to as the 4th circle of hell, you must enter in your information and be thrown into a lottery for one of our very attractive parking lots, including the illustrious U lot and the ominous Q lot. U lot offers its users the promise of exercise as you hike fifteen minutes through ice, prevailing winds, minus 30 degree temperatures and to a lesser extent, vicious wild animals in order to get to class. Managing to catch the shutle however, allows the user to enjoy the awful smells and an asinine scheduling route, That is, unless you take all of your classes in Frank Kennedy.

In addition to the migraine that is U Lot, Q Lot provides its users with a life altering experience equivalent to shrinking 5 inches in height, gaining thirty pounds, losing your dimple and all of your hair. On the plus side the established location of Q lot tends to cater to the large 0.232 percent of the university population that is actually enrolled in St. Paulís College.

Now back in my day (which was a Wednesday I believe) there used to be this nice little lot named L. This lot was the fairy tale of parking with only about 150 spots could be given away and you always hearing of a friend of a friend of yours who actually managed to park there. This lot offered easy and warm access to the tunnel system through Robson Hall and quick access to the faculties of Arts, Science, and Business. Sadly though, this lot has gone the way of the Dodo in favour of pay by day parking. This wouldnít be so bad if it didnít cost you over $1000 a year to park there 5 days a week. Now why has this lot disappeared you may ask? Well it is simple, the University has (over one summer) miraculously changed from a commuter campus to a non commuter campus, where the majority of the students donít drive, live on campus, and/or take the bus. I mean thatís the only logical explanation since the University would never want to take away anything that actually helps students. What better way to show the students you care than by taking away the best lot on campus so more students can pay 8 dollars a day to park on top of their wonderful $40.00 parking ticket they just got yesterday because they were late to hand a paper in and left their car in N lot for all of 3.34 minutes.

Speaking of parking tickets, do you know what really grinds my gears? PARKING TICKETS. Seriously, do they have an army of semi retired parking officers, who are not afraid to journey out into the cold of winter to write down licence plates, and hide behind poles to catch the obviously rich university student whose1994 Lebaron is parked two inches outside the snow-covered painted lines? The parking officers may very well be the most dis-liked people on campus with the exception of the guy that cuts in front of you at Tim Horton at 8:30 in the morning after your thirty minute walk from U Lot. The minimum of 5 parking tickets a year (which you refuse to pay by the way) will have you begging and bartering after mid terms and finals just to get rid of these tickets so you can see your marks. And that my friend is the pains and pleasures of the University of Manitoba parking system.

Editorial by Ryan Didoshak