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Day: 12 March 2013

5 songs in the field of: Russia

Written by James Birtles on . Posted in Music.

t.A.T.u – All the Things She Said

t.A.T.u. are more known for their ‘lesbianism’ than their music and the surrounding controversies with this song’s video and the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest, in which they placed third. With a name that is a short form of “This girl loves that girl” what more can you expect?!

Korobeiniki 

What is this Korobeiniki I hear you cry? Well, it’s a Russian folk song, better known as the theme from Tetris. Whether the Red Army Choir of the 8-bit version does it for you, there’s no doubting it’s a Russian classic.

Dschinghis Khan – Moskau

Well, this is the first of the 80s German disco bands in the list. The song was an underground success. Fifteen seconds of this song was shown on State-run TV leading to immediate dismissal of the network director. However, some countries even used this as their coverage theme for the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

Prokofiev – Dance of the Knights

To those who aren’t experts in classical music, Prokofiev’s Dance of the Knights is the current theme tune for The Apprentice. Russia has created some wonderful compositions; Shostakovich’s Leningrad symphony, Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and The Nutcracker and Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf so why this one? Because it is underappreciated compared to those listed.

Boney M – Rasputin

And finally we come to the other 80s German disco band. Boney M’s classic; Rasputin. What else is better than mixing Russian Tsarist history and disco? The answer: nothing. But a word of caution to those studying Russian, Boney M is not a reliable source for using in those Russian history essays, unfortunately.

Album: Hurts – Exile

Written by Fin Murphy on . Posted in Music.

Major Label/RCA

Did anyone manage to avoid Hurts a few years ago? Possessing the aura of Wham! with graphic design degrees, they were a flashy assault on the charts before slotting into a prolonged cycle of touring. Now, they’re back and ready to take on a pop scene very different to their entrance; one now more open to the likes of The xx and Bastille, as opposed to sugar-rush synthpop. However, every indication is that this record is a lot darker than their debut, the triumphant Happiness, from album cover to lyrical content.

This change is marked by title track and opener, ‘Exile’. Vocalist Theo Hutchcraft gives a performance much less like the male Annie Lennox he affected previously. Here, he is somewhat comparable to the likes of Matt Bellamy from Muse, balancing his range alongside a downbeat mood. It’s an odd change but fitting to the grimmer instrumentation; however, will it go down so well with a fanbase used to a more bombastic sound?

It’d be incorrect to say that there’s been an entire departure from their original sound; ‘Only You’ and ‘Miracle’ possess all the expected glamour and are shaped to be hits, but possess new ideas. For instance, guitars play a significant part on Exile, notably on ‘Miracle’ and ‘Somebody To Die For’, suggesting either a desire to grow or the realisation of the confines of two men and a keyboard. Indeed, there seems to be a wider palate of influences at work here. This ranges from the crisp, R&B-tinged ‘Sandman’ to the restrained pianos and choral backing of ‘Help’ to the sleazy rock of ‘The Cupid.’ However, there seems to be an insincerity to this cherry-picking, as if swiping genre conventions in order to broaden appeal.

Lyrically, Hurts had a lot to improve on from “it feels better than love.” Now, it’s all “when I open my eyes, you disappear,” as heard on ‘The Road.’ This has been a well-publicised track, notable in the Mancunian duo’s minds of the Ballard and McCarthy influence. That quibble aside, there is a heavy atmosphere created by Adam Anderson’s keyboard work, adding tension to Hutchcraft’s tense vocals, a welcome departure from the hit-ready formula.

Overall, Hurts have suggested for the first time in their career that there’s more to them than suits and gel; knowledge of balancing nuances and hooks, brevity of influences, a bravery in risking alienating their fans. However, ‘Exile’ sounds like a work of disunity, never managing to marry the odd-ends into a work of coherence, dragged down by an attempted glumness. Orchestra strings to six strings, triumph to despair, theatre stage to kitchen sink.

From the vault: The Notorious B.I.G. – Life After Death

Written by Chris Wosu on . Posted in Music.

Originally released: 25th March 1997

Bad Boy Records

The legendary status of Christopher Wallace is undoubtedly cemented in the Hip-Hop hall of fame, with almost every rapper you can think of taking inspiration from the Brooklyn-born icon. His real-life tale of rags to riches, recently documented on the big screen, is one to truly admire.

Biggie’s rap career, although relatively short-lived, was laced with controversy following THAT infamous feud with Tupac which inevitably led to the loss of two Hip-Hop greats. However prior to this, his critically acclaimed debut album, Ready To Die, which boasted classics such as ‘Juicy’ and ‘One More Chance’ reached No.13 in the Billboard Charts. And with the scene still in its ‘Golden Era’ he threw on those famous Versace shades, stepped into the studio and recorded one of the greatest Hip-Hop albums of all time.

Life After Death, the final studio album recorded by Biggie Smalls, is a classic rap record that truly captures the environment it was created in. Each song and carefully constructed skit help to piece together the puzzle of the man some claim is the greatest rapper to ever do it. His innate ability to glorify extravagance whilst capturing the intensity of his struggle, elevated his position within the Hip-Hop hierarchy. And with an over-excited Puff Daddy in the background ready to throw in ad-libs at random, he couldn’t lose.

The two-disc album begins on a sombre tone, as the Brooklyn rapper was tragically murdered two weeks before the album was originally set for release. However the mood is soon lifted as the recognisable deep tones of Biggie are heard gracing classics such as ‘Hypnotize’ and ‘Mo Money Mo Problems’. Interestingly, weaved between the clever word-play and tales of the hood, there are subtle references aimed at big names such as Nas. The Notorious B.I.G. was not one to shy away from conflict and this is a strong theme portrayed throughout the album.

Debatably, Life After Death indicated a change in the style of Gangsta Rap as its more upbeat sound gained commercial success. However, regardless of the radio-friendly production, none of Biggie’s unmistakable gritty style was compromised.

The ability to apply the true essence of Hip Hop to every scenario is what earned B.I.G. a position above many of his peers and undoubtedly a place amongst rap royalty.

From the vault: The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed

Written by James Birtles on . Posted in Music.

Originally released: 5th December 1969

London/Decca

1969 was a year that would change our history and culture. Man had finally set foot on the moon, an X-rated film had won the Best Picture Oscar and the Woodstock festival was born. But it was in December 1969 that The Rolling Stones stated the hippie movement was over on Let It Bleed and they didn’t realise how true those words would become at a little-known place called Altamont.

The album’s opening track, ‘Gimme Shelter’, has become a Vietnam War classic along with The Stones’ ‘Sympathy for the Devil’. The song details of the horrors of the world and along with former Raenette Merry Clayton and her breaking voice just add to the depth of the song.

The apocalyptic era Jagger sings about became even more realistic one day after Let It Bleed’s release, the infamous Altamont festival. The Hell’s Angels ran security for the festival, which ended with one homicide, three accidental deaths and the band forced to evacuate the stage as a riot ensued.

The album also contained a country version of ‘Honky Tonk Women’ now called ‘Country Honk’ and, as stated by Keith Richards, this is the original version of the song. The album closes with The Rolling Stones classic ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ with them teaming up with the London Bach Orchestra. The song covers the three main topics of the 60s: drugs, politics and love. The lyrics start with optimism but resign to the disillusion these topics have caused.

Let It Bleed also became iconic for its cover of figurines of the band on top of a cake featuring a tyre, clock face and a pizza was created, in part, by then-unknown cookery writer, Delia Smith. The album cover was even chosen by The Royal Mail as a stamp set of iconic album covers in 2010.

The album benefits from one of the best music partnerships in the history of music in Jagger and Richards. Let It Bleed is arguably one of The Rolling Stones’ best albums and that’s quite a feat with a career having lasted over fifty years.

Interview: Stiff Little Fingers

Written by Tom Ingham on . Posted in Music.

“I realised even at 12 I was never going to be George Best, you’d know if you’ve ever seen me kick a football.” Stiff Little Fingers front man Jake Burns recalls the day he decided to form a band. “The main reason I wanted to pick up the guitar was seeing Rory Gallagher on the TV, I was just walking out the room after the football results, but when he came on next it completely stopped me in my tracks.”

Starting out as a school band called Highway Star (after the Deep Purple song); the band had a pretty sudden change in direction, ditching the classic rock vibe for the aggressive allure of punk. “Henry, our guitarist, was the first big convert in the band, I was listening to Dr. Feelgood at the time and it’s not that big of a leap from Dr. Feelgood to the Sex Pistols. I think punk was exactly the kick in the backside the music business needed, but I didn’t know where it was going to go after that initial bang. When I heard people like Elvis Costello and The Clash, I thought these guys are writing about real things and aren’t just going for the shock factor, it came as a hug pointer as to what you could write about as a band.”

The Belfast Punks are perhaps most famous for their political stances, commenting on the Troubles in Northern Ireland. “At the time all we were ever trying to do was reflect what was going on, and we were very careful to not try and take sides. It was no fun to live in, even though people assume the riots might have been kind of dangerous but still exciting – but it wasn’t, if anything it was just incredibly boring, no bands would come and play and your movement was restricted with a load of stupid curfews. That’s what ‘Alternative Ulster’ was written about – “Nothin’ for us in Belfast”

However the change in style was not a smooth transition: “Our bass player Gordon quit, we were lucky that a mutual friend who put is in touch with Ali McMordie, who had been listening to Iggy and the Stooges, MC5 and all that, which we were frankly catching up on – and he had a proper amplifier.”

Heading out into Belfast as a punk band was not a well trodden route, in actual fact it was a route the band didn’t even know existed. “If you take into account the situation, you didn’t go out every night and check out new bands. We were convinced we were the only band that were doing that sought of thing – and the other bands thought exactly the same. We kind of became the others’ audience, going to see each other and slagging each other off – but we all became really good friends in the end. When The Clash came over to play the insurance companies pulled the gig, they’d have Lindisfarne play but not The Clash. We were just surprised that there was so many people milling about outside who had even heard of The Clash.”

The band split in 1983 after releasing Now Then, which had received critical acclaim but didn’t go down well with SLF faithful. “We’d done a lot in that time we’d been together, you do a lot between 18 and 23, unfortunately we had grown apart, and instead of talking we would argue and fight. Looking back on it if someone had said don’t see each other for six months and re-assess we might have weathered the storm. There was no interest in our loud pop songs once the New Romantics came in – that was the final nail really”.

As one of the original iconic Punk bands of the 70s, Jake feels the genre has lost its way nowadays. “Once the entertainment industry realised  out there was to be money made out of punk then the whole thing became subsumed; a few of us fought to be independent even within major labels and were successful for a while. It’s really sad that what started out as a really broad church, with the likes of The Ramones, Blondie and Elvis Costello all considered punk in one way or another, and you could do it however you wanted, now if you don’t have the regulation studded leather jacket and all your songs aren’t about fighting, drinking and screwing then you’re not allowed to be in a punk band – it’s limiting and it’s pointless”.

Jake is the only original member from the mk.1 line up, but SLF are very much still alive. “We hope to have the album out in the autumn, it’s the second run at the thing, I pretty much had it written when I was 50, but then after my birthday bender I listened to the nine songs I had again and thought they were just terrible. It sounded like the sought of thing I couldn’t have written when I was 22, which might sounds good, but it was too obvious and clichéd for me, almost SLF by numbers. Now it’s taken another fice years to pool these songs, and I’m a lot happier with them, we’ve played a lot of them live and it’s given us a great perspective of them in terms of seeing which parts work and which parts don’t. We’re aiming to follow off from the last album, Guitar and Drums because we weren’t going to use anything that we didn’t play or couldn’t do live – horns sound great in the studio but live you think how the hell are we going to do that.”

Stiff Little Fingers play The Ritz on March 14th

Top 5: Moments of terror

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Film.

Nosferatu (1922)

Nosferatu emerges from his coffin on board a gothic ship. His eerie rising immediately shows his imposing figure and his ability to conquer death. The cold, fixated eyes and piercing fangs reduce the sailor to a quivering wreck. This is a moment which shows how haunting images alone can be.

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Rosemary’s Baby touches upon themes of Satanism, rape and gender which culminate to deliver true terror. Rosemary confronts her infant’s sacrificed body in a satanic apartment. The camera restricts our view and leaves us horrified as Rosemary shrieks, ‘What have you done to his eyes, you maniacs!’

The Exorcist (1973)

Father Karras arrives in a subway station, a beggar mutters, ‘Father, could you help an old altar boy?’ Karras ignores the man but is eerily reminded later on. Karras meets the possessed Regan who croaks, ‘Can you help an old altar boy, Father?’ The line is simple yet haunting.

Don’t Look Now (1973)

The drowning of a young daughter leaves its mark on the rest of the film. The horror lies in a father’s inability to save his daughter as he wades helplessly through icy water only to drag a lifeless body to the surface, his screams and visibly weakened body are truly horrifying.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

After escaping the torture house, Sally flees and hitches a ride. As Leatherface wields his chainsaw in frustration the camera focuses on Sally’s demonic, blood stained face. Despite her escape, her wide eyes and shrieking suggest that she has merely escaped the horror’s location; the experience shall haunt her forever.

Album: Atoms for Peace – Amok

Written by Dan Stables on . Posted in Music.

XL Recordings

Back in 2009, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke recruited a few celebrity chums, among them Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea and longtime Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, to play his 2006 solo album The Eraser in its entirety at a Los Angeles show. Three-and-a-half years and a Radiohead album later, and Yorke’s side project – now mercifully christened Atoms for Peace having originally been presented to fans simply as ‘??????’ – is manifest in recorded form for the first time in Amok.

Lead single ‘Default’, driven by stuttering synth hooks and cut-up percussion, is otherwise a conventional rock song in its structure, presided over by Yorke’s familiar high croon; in these respects it represents the whole album nicely. Much has been made by Yorke of his new band’s attempts to blur the sonic boundaries between man and machine, and certainly the production here achieves just that; percussive sounds are hard to pin down, and warm, organic guitars jostle for prominence with robotic synths.

While effective, the occasional vocal blips and prominent juxtaposition of ‘playing’ with ‘programming’ can feel slightly forced, so that when an apparently disembodied Yorke sighs, on ‘Ingenue’, “If I’m not there now physically, I’m always before you”, it serves both as a summary of the album’s mood and a reminder of what we’re supposed to be hearing. The material here is similar to Yorke’s solo work, and any expectations that a line-up which includes high profile alumni of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and R.E.M would lead to a more creatively collaborative effort are quickly debunked. The band’s name is shared with a track on Yorke’s solo album, and one of the songs here – ‘Judge, Jury and Executioner’ – is also the subtitle of a song on Radiohead’s 2003 album Hail to the Thief.

Opener ‘Before Your Very Eyes…’ could be Radiohead, until after its first chorus when it spills over with fuzzy synths. It’s fitting that Atoms for Peace have presented themselves as so firmly rooted in Yorke’s musical past, as here it is he who pulls the strings – along with, you suspect, Godrich, who has been Radiohead’s producer for nigh on twenty years and has been described as their sixth member. While it may not breech much in the way of new territory, Amok’s genre-blending continues something they started together in 2000 with Kid A, and is proof – as though it were needed – that Yorke’s light shines as brightly as ever.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Review

Written by Mariana Cerqueira on . Posted in Books.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower was given to me on my birthday, as both said present-giver and I were excited about the film adaptation with Emma Watson. The book was published in 1999 by MTV Books but became famous because of its movie adaptation that came out in 2012. Stephen Chbosky, the author of the book, also wrote the screenplay for the eponymous film.

But after much anticipation, for me, the book started out a disappointment. I’m not too fond of the epistolary style in novels and this is the story’s format. Charlie, the main character, starts writing letters to an anonymous friend just before starting high school, as a way to cope with all he’s going through.

Charlie seemed like the kind of character I would never have a connection with. He’s very complex – socially awkward, gets angry often but is incredibly sweet; he passes out when he starts thinking a lot about stuff, and you have no clue why he is like this. It seems a prerequisite that to care about what happens to character, you have to care about them. In Charlie’s case, I wasn’t that bothered at first.

But after getting past the first chunk of the book, I entered Charlie’s life as if it were my own. Charlie ‘sees’ things that make so much sense when you think about them. When I finished the book, I had about fifty quotes that really meant something to me. Quotes that expressed just what I felt so many times that I couldn’t articulate.

Apart from Charlie, who’s a pretty extraordinary guy, most of the other characters are as quirky as him, but with far less (serious) issues. You’ll end up wishing they were your friends by the end of the book.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower helped me understand a lot about life and people in general, even if I’m long past the puberty phase. It’s classified as a young adult book, but university may well be the best time to read it. Your teenage years are still relatively fresh in your mind and Charlie will help you figure out some of those situations you went through or maybe even those that may still be happening.

‘Burning Bright’: Blake at the John Rylands

Written by Annie Muir on . Posted in Books.

To get to the old John Rylands Library in Deansgate (built in 1889 if you were wondering), you have walk through the revolving glass doors of the new building, past the cheap postcards and overpriced café, up the stairs and into the sturdy, stone Gothic past.

Apart from the name, ‘Burning Bright’, the current William Blake exhibition in the library does not focus specifically on Blake’s poetry, but his collaborations and commissions from other writers to create engravings or watercolours for their books. He engraved prints for Mary Wollstonecraft’s book of short-stories in 1796, and designed and engraved a series of images in response to Virgil’s verse in 1821. The small, intricate, cross-hatch of his engravings meant that I kept steaming up the glass boxes that the books were enclosed in because I wanted to look closer.

The exhibition carried on into the Spenser and Crawford rooms where there was one piece of Blake’s work in each and the rest of the exhibition was the rooms themselves: the brownest rooms I’ve ever seen, with shiny spines of books behind glass for wallpaper, and the lights a mix between Victorian street lamps and a bluebell.

The only pieces of Blake’s own poetry in the exhibition were two facsimiles of Blake’s own ‘illuminated manuscripts’, published by William Muir in 1885. Blake did not send his poetry to be published on William Caxton’s printing press in his lifetime, but stuck to a much earlier form of craftsmanship. His books were etched, printed and hand-coloured in water colours and stitched together to make up a volume. All the poems, lettering and design are the work of Blake (although sometimes his wife helped with water colours).

His Songs of Experience is open on the page of the poem The Little Girl Found, but I couldn’t quite read the poem inside its glass cage so I went and looked at a printed copy. I was struck by its plainness; what would Blake think of his poem being printed this way? There is something so much more intimate about reading a poem that was written by the author’s own hand – not just scribbled on a piece of paper but painstakingly designed and intricately produced. All that so modern publishers could dismiss it as ‘too hard to read’ and throw his hard work away for black words on a white page, all the same size, all the same.

Postscript: On my way out of the John Rylands I was approached by a tiny old woman who told me she had been trying to find her way out for twenty minutes. I led her out and she told me she liked the Blake exhibition but she only saw half of it because most of the books were displayed quite high up. This is my official complaint on behalf of her.

Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag

Written by Sam Dumitriu on . Posted in Games.

Ubisoft have announced the latest entry in the Assassin’s Creed series Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag. The trailer shows notorious pirate Blackbeard describing assassin Edward Kenway to a bar full of pirates. Fans of the series will recognise the name Kenway from Assassin’s Creed 3’s protagonist Connor Kenway.  Edward is the grandfather of Connor and the first Kenway to join the Assassin’s order.

The game is set in 1715 in the last decade of the Golden Age of Piracy in the West Indies. The treaty of Utrecht has ended the war between the major European powers of Spain, France, Portugal, Britain and the Dutch Republic. This left privateers unemployed, and pushed many into Piracy in the Caribbean. It is against this backdrop that the Assassin’s and the Templars continue their battle for the fate of humanity.

Black Flag promises to be a huge game, spanning 50 unique locations at land and sea. Action will span from Kingston, Jamaica to the famous pirate base in Nassau, home to legendary pirates Blackbeard, Black Sam and Calico Jack.

In the main story there will be a 60:40 split between Land based and Navel based mission. You’ll have a customisable boat, the Jackdaw, which through plundering and pillaging allows you to build large galleons, recruit sailors and attack enemy ships. Keeping with the pirate theme, you’ll be able to loot underwater ships, hunt rare animals in untamed jungles and establish a lawless republic in the Bahamas.  The weaponry keeps with the theme, as well as the classic hidden blades, you also carry two cutlass swords and four flintlock pistols.

Black Flag is set for release on all next generation consoles with improved graphics and physics on the current generation release. Ubisoft also intend to create a game with a “single connected player” which hopes to combine the single player experience with the fun of playing with a huge community.

Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag will ship on November 1.

TRAILER:

 

 

 

Must See: 11th-18th March

Written by Hannah Lawrence on . Posted in Theatre.

The Beginning/Debut

This comprises two plays. The Beginning is the second in a trilogy inspired by Shakespearean stage directions which question what it means to begin. Debut is a performance from BA Contemporary Theatre Practice students from the university of Salford students in which they reflect upon their first performances.

Runs 15th March at the Lowry. Tickets £9.

Connections Home Performance

This brings 10 pieces of original writing to theatres across the UK. Works from writers across the country are performed by young theatre companies offering a glance at the stars of the future.

Runs 11th – 12th March at the Lowry. Tickets £8.

Digging Deep: The Adventures of Sky the Reluctant Hero

A ‘beautiful immersive adventure’, according to the Contact theatre, which deals with the nature of mental health. The performance boasts incredible sound and animation.

Runs 13th – 16th March at the Contact. Tickets £5.

Review: Mother Courage and Her Children

Written by Rebekah Murrell on . Posted in Theatre.

In typical Brechtian fashion, the normal rules do not apply in Mother Courage and Her Children.

A bleak tale of war, sacrifice and humanity, Brecht’s post-WWII comment on the relentless and self-destructive cruelty of mankind and nations has been dubbed the greatest ‘anti-war’ play ever written. This particular production also includes sex jokes, and a great reel of songs straight out of the dance hall (‘20s, not Jamaican).

The combination, as Brecht would be pleased to know, does make you sit up and think; Mother Courage isn’t just a 17th century woman making do by selling wares from the back of a wagon with her three children. She’s Gaffs post-license loss. She’s your mum feeding you mayonnaise sandwiches for that entire shitty week after rent’s due but before payday. She’s Alan Sugar before he discovered computers (or whatever it is he did). Whoever; what I’m trying to say is she’s contemporary struggle in the face of social, financial and moral adversity.

Eve Polycarpou’s ‘tough Northern lass’ Mother Courage drags the metaphorical and literal wagon of juggling family, work and self – and though there’s no war at home today, her anxious but resolute sacrifices made for kids, money and love are all the more poignant for the familiarity she conveys them with.

Another heart of the play’s representative power lies in its conscious transcendence of generally accepted time boundaries. Aside from its length (three and a half HOURS), its context is the Thirty Year War, a pointless and inexplicably long 17th century conflict.

Between Brecht’s script, Tony Kushner’s translation and Chris Honer’s staging, contemporary and anachronistic effects are deliberately juxtaposed – one minute we’re in a 17th century village shouting the c-word at women, then we’re reading scene cue-cards on an LED display with the drone of helicopters in battle overhead, before hearing talk of peasants and cannons whilst Natalie Grady’s brilliant Yvette the prostitute saunters about in the powders and puffs of the 19th century English ‘loose woman’.

But cannons and cabaret aside, what really comes out through some beautiful and haunting performances (of a mute daughter and roguish chef in particular, as well as the others mentioned) is the extent to which, off the battlefield, human relationships are taken as the inevitable collateral casualties of war and capitalism. The effect is one that traverses time and place, settling disturbingly in our own and making you feel really, really crap about the world and the government, so make sure you’ve got enough money for a pint or five afterwards.

 

Three and a half stars out of five

UoM dreaming of double after semi-final win

Written by Andrew Georgeson on . Posted in Sport.

The University of Manchester secured their place in the BUCS Hockey Trophy final with a close 1-0 victory over Newcastle University at the Armitage.

The team went into the match already having won the Northern 1A division, in which they played Newcastle twice, winning once and drawing their second match.

Despite the fact that the two teams knew each other well, there was still a distinctively cup tie feel about the match with both teams showing lack of quality during the opening exchanges.

Although Newcastle’s slick passing seeming to cause problems at first, it was Manchester who came closest to breaking the deadlock with Osbourne firing just wide before Plummer’s shot was well saved from a penalty corner.

However, much of the first half was a disjointed affair, with free hits a constant occurence as both sides struggled to gain control.

The goal the game desperately needed came in the 28th minute. A hit from Clemenson was played to Osbourne, who turned the on Newcastle defender before sliding it underneath the oncoming goalkeeper.

Manchester started to turn the screw after taking the lead. Another shot at the Newcastle goal strayed agonisingly wide, before the Newcastle goalkeeper made an excellent excellent diving save from a Plummer shot.

Newcastle picked themselves up for a last attack on the Manchester goal before the first half drawn to a close; however, the defense coped excellently with anything that was thrown at them. Before the half was finished, Stateford managed to release Douley who found Radcliffe in an excellent position in front of goal; unfortunately, he was unable to control the pass and the ball ran out of play, ending the first half.

It did not take long for Manchester to find their rhythm in the second half with Osbourne having a shot saved with only two minutes on the clock.

Much of Manchester’s play in the second half came from the outstanding Capper. Every aspect of his game in the second half was excellent, setting up three chances in as many minutes by playing great passes to Plummer and Mullholland before one of his runs ended in gaining Manchester a free hit. Despite the early Manchester dominance they were still unable to break the deadlock.

Ten minutes into the second half, however, it appeared that the deadlock had been broken from a penalty corner. First Trent hit the crossbar then Mulholland’s attempt was blocked before Dutoy finished. Initially it appeared as if the goal had been rewarded and the teams were ready to kick off again, however, after consultation with his second official, the referee ruled the goal out.

In truth a goal would have ended the game as a contest, but despite the fact it was dubiously disallowed, Manchester did not let it dishearten them, keeping the pressure on Newcastle to the extent that Newcastle’s team had only one venture into their opponent’s D and it took until 20 minutes from time for this to happen.

The match ended in one final attack from Manchester with Osbourne breaking with a two on one overlap. He cleverly released the extra man but he was fouled by the Newcastle striker, gaining a free hit which eventually came to nothing.

The final whistle went and, despite the early problems, Manchester had totally dominated Newcastle to book their place in the BUCS trophy final and give themselves a great chance of completing a league and cup double.

Žižek, Ideology and the CrossCountry Train Network

Written by Everyday Analysis on . Posted in Arts.

John McCririck tells us in a special Cheltenham Cup CrossCountry Trains advertisement that when travelling with this company “Everything is laid on for you at your leisure!” The first comment on the YouTube video of the ad, from stevealston185, however, rather gives us these odds: “5-1 sit on the floor; 4-1 sit on the roof; 3-1 trolley can’t get through; 2-1 aircon fails; Evens – DB, the German firm want rid of this god awful franchise.” On the 15:11 service from Nottingham to Cardiff Central on Friday 15 February 2013 there were approximately 12-15 standing passengers to each vestibule, every seat being taken on the under-carriaged train.

One of the things Slavoj Žižek is big on identifying is ‘precisely how ideology functions today.’ Perhaps we can propose something of an empirical means of testing this functioning, in taking cognisance of the distance between an advertisement and its advertisand. If ‘Everything laid on at your leisure’ be the slogan, and sweatily standing in an unventilated vestibule with the trolley service waiting to get past for an hour the reality, here we can do something like attribute a simple ratio, e.g., 5:2. 5 for the ‘five-star’ expectation based on McCririck’s slogan, and 2 for the actual experience (an overpriced journey in relative discomfort, which albeit got there on time).

Ideology, fittingly perhaps, is the colon that separates the ratio’s two numbers; a colon giving enough leeway to allow companies access to unlimited disproportionate distantiation. In other words, there’s no need any longer, on the ideological level, to represent a product’s actual experience with a correlative expectation: there’s no need for a monopolist to produce a true reflection of their product, to give its potential customers such real knowledge. Indeed, what other service can we use to get home? And nevertheless, it’ll be full-whack again, fare-wise, to take the next sweaty train, if we’re pre-booked on this one. As Richard Appignanesi et al put it in Introducing Postmodernism: “The opposite of knowledge is not ignorance but deceit and fraud” (p.136). Ideology functions best today when the standing are in no way entitled to take a stand. 

BA Econ in Amsterdam

Written by Kate Bullivant on . Posted in Societies.

After surviving the January exams last month, the BA Econ society was back with its legendary trip abroad. This time, 165 students from the BA Econ society took over Amsterdam for three days.

While some indulged in cycling along the stunning streets of Amsterdam, some visited breath-taking historic sites such as the Dam square, Anne Frank’s house and the Heineken museum, to name a few. The brave few chose the path of exploring coffee shops and sex shows.  The BA Econ made the most of their time in Amsterdam by fully experiencing what the nightlife had to offer. Tochim Eduputa explained: “On the first night, we hit Dansen bij Jansen, one of the most popular student clubs in Amsterdam. New friends were made, potential couples were realized and most importantly, we showed the Dutch how to party University of Manchester-style. On the second night we took on Amsterdam’s famous ultimate bar crawl. Let’s just say our BA Econ bar crawl T-shirts were bright and so right, as it was indeed ‘A night you would not remember but never forget’.’

Rich Edwards said the trip was “a perfect end of exams bow-out” and the nightlife was “crazy and at some times very surreal.”  However the BA Econ society did not just go to Amsterdam for a long weekend of drunken revelry; they also made the most of being in European city with such a rich culture: “In the daytime, we faced the streets of Amsterdam to embrace the culture and appreciate the incredible architecture. Everyone did their own thing in the daytime and we reconvened to go out together at night.”

BA Econ hold a trip abroad every year, so although you missed out this year there is always next time. They are also holding an end of year ball at the Palace Hotel on the 27th of April; the theme will be Cirque du Soliel so keep your eyes open for ticket sales.

For more information on future trips and the end of year ball you can Email:[email protected]

Freud and The Gruffalo

Written by Everyday Analysis on . Posted in Arts.

We usually think of anxiety as being caused by fear; we feel anxious because we are scared of something or because we worry something might happen.  We speak of feeling anxious ‘about’ something or of something ‘making’ us anxious.  A strange man hanging around outside our house will make us feel anxious, because we fear what his presence might lead to.

Freud argues in opposition to this that anxiety cannot be seen as an anxiety of something or because of something.  For Freud this makes anxiety different to fear or phobia.  A phobia, Freud says, is in fact formed as a response to anxiety.   The phobia or fear centres unplaced anxiety around an object.  Through this process `an internal, instinctual danger’ (that of unplaced anxiety) is replaced by an `external, perceptual one’ (that of fear directed at a particular object) and this allows the subject to stop feeling anxious.  Anxiety exists first; we deal with it through fear.

This seems to change the way in which children’s stories about monsters need to be read.  In this reading it is not that we transfer our fears and phobias of real things (murderers, paedophiles, terrorists) into the imaginary figure of the monster-under-the-bed, but rather that we create a monster in order to create fear, to feel that there is some external ‘thing’ to be scared of, so that we do not have to face the more foundational anxiety within ourselves. But doesn’t The Gruffalo, the famous children’s story written by current Children’s Laureate Julia Donaldson in 1999 but now a major series of books, television shows and theatrical productions, take this one step further?

The first half of the story represents exactly what we have seen through Freud.  A mouse takes a stroll through a deep dark wood, and is approached by three predatory hostile figures; the fox, the owl, and the snake.  Each tries to convince the mouse to come into their homes, so that they can eat the mouse.  The mouse tells each of them that he is going to have lunch with a ‘Gruffalo’ and describes the horrible monster to them, saying that its favourite food is ‘roasted fox’, ‘owl ice cream’ and ‘scrambled snake’.

The mouse creates this ultimate-scary image of the monster (description of whom takes one third of the book) not out of the things he really fears – it shares no characteristics with the fox, the snake or the owl – but instead as something so completely ‘other’ that he does not have to face anything which is really threatening to him.  Each time the mouse fools his predators he remarks:

Silly old fox/owl/snake, doesn’t he know?

There’s no such thing as a gruffalo!

The mouse is able to deal with the potential ‘fear’ of the Gruffalo because it does not exist, and this allows him to escape any more serious anxieties, to escape the anxiety of his real conditions.

Then, at the midway point of the book, the story takes an interesting turn.  Where we expect the mouse to sit down and enjoy his lunch, having fooled his enemies, the Gruffalo actually appears.  At the very moment that the mouse has turned his anxieties into a fear that he can deal with, this fear is realized.  The statement is that in dealing with your anxieties by producing an imaginary ‘Other’ – this imaginary Other is really and truly produced when it did not exist previously

But, The Gruffalo has a third turn, and this third movement is the one which makes the story truly radical.  Rather than being eaten by the Gruffalo (or having to run for his life to safety, which would amount to the same thing in more child-friendly terms), the mouse is able to control the Gruffalo by pretending he is ‘the scariest’ creature in the wood.  The mouse marches back past the snake, the fox and the owl, each of whom run away screaming because of the Gruffalo (who doesn’t realize that he is the scary one).  Having proved his dominance over the wood, only then can the mouse do away with the Gruffalo, stating ‘now my tummy is beginning to rumble, and my favourite food is Gruffalo crumble.’

Isn’t this one of the most radical assessments of Western culture that contemporary literature has produced?  The West (represented by the mouse) deals with its internal and real anxieties (represented by the snake, owl and fox) and now walks safely through the wood, with an imaginary Other which it has created (represented by the Gruffalo) beside it.  The West appears to be the only thing which can control the Other which it has itself created, and this allows it to dominate over the rest of the woods.  The West is the smallest and physically weakest creature, but it has control over ideology.

Society Swap

Written by Kate Bullivant on . Posted in Societies.

Rosie Webster is a member of the University of Manchester She Choir and went along to a beginners’ tap dance class.

How did you find the beginners’ tap session?

I really enjoyed it, although I definitely found it pretty tough! It is so fun to do a dance that also makes music. I even learnt how to do a ‘Susie Q’, although not sure I quite mastered it. It is a very rewarding thing to do because you can see and hear the improvements. Although you can also hear yourself go wrong and so can everyone else.

What really impressed you about the way the session was run that you could apply to She Choir?

It was very prompt at starting, which was good and which we could perhaps do better at She Choir.  It has got me thinking that it would be great to incorporate a bit of dancing into our choir, though I’d definitely have to check first with the other girls on that one.

What were the bad things, if any?

Perhaps there wasn’t enough of a warm up or stretch session at the beginning. The warming up bit in She Choir is always an excuse to mess around a bit and have fun.

How well organised was it?

Pretty well organised I think, although the class was quite small. But that suited me as I was a bit nervous, so I was glad there were not a lot of people watching.

Is it what you expected?

 It is noisier than I expected, and perhaps more exciting. There is something quite empowering about the effect you can have just by tapping your toe on the floor, especially when you are in sync with the people next to you. It is also more of a work out than I imagined, and I realised there is more to it than just what you do with your feet. It is important that your whole body embraces the rhythm. I think I had associated it too much with being forced into a leotard in nursery school and hadn’t realised what a great dance it is.

How did you find the instructor?

Very helpful, I think she was really good teacher. She was really nice and smiley and very patient of people’s varied abilities. She was also really good at tap, which was quite intimidating, but very impressive. She was lovely though, and really supportive even when I was clattering about. And she picked good songs, we were all tapping away to Britney Spears!

Would you go again?

I think so – I have been practising a couple of the moves around my kitchen.

Would you recommend other societies taking part in the society swap? Yes

Score out of ten? 

8

Tap Classes are from 6pm – 6 45pm on a Thursday. Check the Facebook page for the location: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Dance-Society-The-University-of-Manchester/198477156871431?fref=ts

Molly Byrne is the Chair of the Dance Society and she went along to a rehearsal with the University of Manchester She Choir.

How did you find the rehearsal with the She Choir?

I had a really great time, everyone was very approachable. There was definitely a family atmosphere and I could tell how well everyone gets along in the society. It seemed to be really relaxed, in a good way.

How well organised was it?

We were a bit too early and they were a tiny bit late but it was very well organised once we got going. One of the society members called Ruth conducted and I thought the songs we were taught were really well prepared.

What was the thing that really impressed you about She Choir, which you could apply to Dance Society?

I think the main thing which struck me was the relaxed atmosphere, I could tell the people who were there had a genuine passion for singing in a choir and everyone was so welcoming so I wasn’t made to feel like a visitor.

What were the bad things, if any?

The only drawback was on the day there was no pianist, which was a shame because it would have been fun to have the music from the piano. However I am pretty sure they do normally have a pianist but she just wasn’t there that day.

What did you think about their songs chosen to sing?

The timing was difficult to get the hang of but I was really impressed that she took it on and it sounded lovely.

Would you go again?

Yes

Would you recommend other societies taking part in the society swap?

Absolutely! It’s a great way to meet new diverse people, have fun and it’s great publicity for the societies involved.

Score out of ten?

8

If you want to join the She Choir, they rehearse at 5pm on Wednesdays at the Catholic Chaplaincy opposite the Student Union. Or find them on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/155514391144484/?fref=ts 

 

The Bridge Society

Written by CharlieBoorman on . Posted in Societies.

Contact Bridge –  the card game of James Bond in Moonraker, Agatha Christie’s Poirot, and also of many University of Manchester students who meet every Wednesday (2-5pm upstairs in The Oxford pub) and Thursday (7.30-close in The Student Union in the Khalid Said Room) as members of the Bridge Society.

Bridge is a trick-taking game played by four people in two competing partnerships. Each player is dealt 13 cards, and players subsequently bid on how many tricks they think they will win over the course of the hand. It is, as Society Chair Mike Coop told us, “hard to describe,” but he does assure us that it “has to be tried to be believed!”

And it seems plenty of people are trying it – four years ago the society was founded with only three members, yet it now boasts “over 120 interested members, and a steady number of 16-20.” Of those members there is “a secretary (responsible for keeping the society informed about union events) and a treasurer (to make sure [the Chairman doesn’t] pocket all the cash!). We also have two university bridge teams, who travel around the UK representing UoM in inter-university bridge tournaments.”

For example, the society enters the annual Portland Bowl knock-out tournament. Last week, the B-team narrowly lost to Durham University by seven points, and the A-team are currently in Coventry playing against the University of Warwick. The Bridge Society also enters the London Cup, and closer to home they also attend Manchester Bridge Club and Manchester Country tournaments and competitions.

It’s not all about big competitions, though. The Bridge Society caters for members with varying degrees of ability: “We assume new members know nothing about a deck of cards and go from there. No matter how late in the academic year, we’re always up for teaching new members.”  This teaching seems to be doing the trick; novice members who only joined in September are already competing in tournaments and holding their own.

If you would like to get involved in Contact Bridge, details are:

E-mail: [email protected]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/UoMBridge/

Or just turn up on a Wednesday or Thursday!