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Day: 4 February 2014

Club: Hi Ku presents Graeme Park

Written by Patrick Hinton on . Posted in Music.

24th January

The Roadhouse

7/10

As news filters through at 5pm that Terrence Parker has missed his flight and won’t be fulfilling his DJing commitments this evening (a common occurrence by all accounts), this seems like a night doomed before it has even begun. Yet Hi Ku move quickly and rather than er’ing over what to do, they cut out the hesitation and book a replacement in the form of slightly shorter named Graeme Park – a Hacienda legend no less – and the show goes on.

Despite an undoubtedly stressful day, the residents on the night prove their prowess and are upbeat and on form, delivering sets that arouse a joyous mood in The Roadhouse. Whilst strings are often associated with a mopey atmosphere, those on Carl Craig’s remix of Tom Trago’s ‘Use Me Again’ boom euphorically through the room and gets fists pumping. There’s perhaps even an edge of defiance directed at Mr Parker with the choice of set closer; Hi Ku aren’t here to be messed about and used, they’re here to have a party.

Graeme Park expertly continues this theme, showing not only his experience but the reason for his continued relevance by dropping the likes of Inner City’s club classic ‘Big Fun’ into the mix alongside more recent releases from artists such as Tensnake. One thing that stays constant through his blend of old and new music is a feel good vibe. “It’s my mission in life to let people hear good music” was the quote from Park emblazoned on the event page. For tonight at least, he can consider that mission accomplished.

Live: Bank & Mekka presents Objekt

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Music.

13th December

2022 NQ

8/10

Along with many of today’s musical innovators, Objekt shuns the limelight. His sparse yet varied back catalogue of just six releases makes him hard to pin down. From dubstep’s last breath on ‘Cactus’, to the recent clinical march of ‘Stutter’, he’s not afraid to explore. Albeit, explore across a handful of tracks, on a few handpicked labels. Objekt is the sound of restraint. Such self-control makes each release feel like an event. How refreshing.

Unsurprisingly then, you’re not going to catch him at Sankeys every week (sorry Mr Syrossian). So, hats off to Bank and Mekka for another solid booking at a decent venue. That being 2022 NQ, a newish basement spot. Punctuated by the odd pillar, its airy dancefloor is suited to this sort of affair.

That dancefloor was then well and truly pounded by Objekt. Lit dimly by a single bulb, his lanky frame worked relentlessly for three hours. The same ferocious energy which winds its way through his productions was on full display. A rare vocally moment came in the form of Thomas Bangalter’s boisterous ‘What To Do’. Beginning with breaks, it morphs into a four-to-the-floor stomper until the two are combined in a frenetic climax.

A similar synthesis was found across the set, which gracefully moved between contrasting tempos and rhythm. Progressing through records at a faster tempo than techno is normally heard, you’re reminded that Objekt’s roots are firmly grounded in the UK. Like the Hessle boys, he provides a uniquely British and dubstep-inspired take on the 130 bpm genre. As the night came to a close, I felt a familiar sensation. Like listening to an Objekt track for the first time, my ears begged me for more. Is there higher praise for a DJ?

Interview: Graham Hunter

Written by Thomas Turner on . Posted in Sport.

“I moved to Spain in 2002. I couldn’t speak the language, I didn’t have a job. Barcelona were rubbish”, explains Graham Hunter in a bustling National Football Museum foyer prior to a promotional event for his second book – “Spain: The Inside Story of La Roja’s Historic Treble”.

The seeds of Hunter’s journey from Aberdeen to the Nou Camp were first sewn in 1982, as the author embarked on a three day train journey to Marbella for the 1982 World Cup. Having intervened to stop an English supporter attacking a Spaniard on the train, Hunter found himself held at gunpoint by the Guardia Civil -only to be released in the nick of time after protestations by a fellow traveller.

These days however, Hunter is the envy of football fans across the world. Not only has he enjoyed unrivalled access to the development of a golden era at Barcelona, he has also witnessed the Spanish national team achieve a feat experienced by none before them. The book recounts in vivid detail this historical treble – consisting of two European Championships and a World cup. But has he witnessed the two greatest sides to ever play football, I ask?

“That’s feasible – but isn’t something which I will be advancing myself. What I will say, is that the international teams which came closest to what Spain achieved (notably the German team of the early/mid seventies) did so in much easier conditions”.

Indeed, the stats are astonishing. In the past two European championships and last World Cup, Spain contested a total of 19 fixtures. The Germans on the other hand, who were denied the treble on penalties by Czechoslovakia in the 1976 European Championship final, played just 11.

With regards to Barcelona, Hunter claims this golden generation has “taken club football to a level we have not seen before”. But is, I ask, this golden generations reaching its curtain call? In the wake of last season’s all German Champions League final, a whole host of respected columnists and amateur enthusiasts pronounced the death of tiki-taka. We were, they claimed, on the verge of a new era to be dominated by pace and power – which the current German crop happen to possess in abundance. The much heralded ‘Spanish model’ was giving way to the ‘German model’, they said.

“Current German football is a process which began in 2000-01. The German FA conjoined with the clubs, and they started to replicate some of the things which the Spanish have” Hunter said. “German teams like to hold the ball and pass it. The German national team is more Spain than Spain – with the advantage now of being stronger, fitter and younger”.

Hunter’s admirations and respect for the German national team is quite obvious. He recalls a conversation with Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas prior to the World Cup semi-final against Germany in 2010, in which Casillas revealed that the Germans scared him, and that they were “building an era which could dominate for a generation”.

However with regards to club football, Graham is a little less convinced.

Making direct comparison between La Liga and the Bundesliga, he argued the underbelly of the latter (including teams such as Schakle, Leverkusen and Hamburg) cannot yet be classified as a golden era – with each of them “light-years” behind Bayern.

On the other hand, he cited La Liga teams such as Valencia, Sevilla, Real Betis and Villarreal – all of whom have made waves on either the domestic or European stage in recent years. Hunter’s overriding message is an important one – that “we need to be more careful about how we assess changes in eras”.

Switching focus back to home soil, Hunter agrees that the disconnect between the football association and clubs in England is self-defeating. Citing the breakaway of the Premier League and the vast fortunes it brought for those in its upper echelons, Hunter says that ironically, “what has made the Premier League so huge globally, is the same as what has weakened it so much domestically”.

I then ask whether Hunter misses the Premier League. He admits that upon leaving for Spain over ten years ago, he had stopped enjoying Premiership football as much as before. “The Premier League used to be about technical players – Scholes, Poyet, Carbone”.

As the emphasis moved to pace and tricks, Hunter says that too few Premier League clubs put a premium on intelligent, strategic players. “I do miss English football culture though”, he adds.

In his talk later in the evening, Hunter revealed how English and Spanish football differ with regards to the access journalists like himself have to players. He regularly recalls long conversations with some of the most pre-eminent footballers of our generation and also reveals his trick – not to ask people “the same old shit they’ve already answered before” (in hindsight, I hope I wasn’t guilty of this myself!).

With an emphasis on quality and the trust he has developed with players who he has watched throughout almost their whole careers, Hunter is without doubt one of the most respected writers of his generation. The negative upshot of this is that you may well encounter a few bogus transfer tipsters around this time of year using his name to give their nonsense credibility.

Towards the end of our conversation he says he was born with a “natural ability – verbally at least – to tell a story”. Having read both of Hunter’s books, I can testify that he does it far better than most.

Competition Time

Win a copy of “Spain: The Inside Story of La Roja’s Historic Treble”

 Q. Who did Spain beat in the final of the 2010 World Cup?

 a) Germany

b) Netherlands

c) Uruguay

 To enter, either email the answer to [email protected] or tweet your answer to @Mancunion_Sport

Entries close at midnight on Sunday 9th February 2014.

All entrants must be students at the University of Manchester.

The quest for equality is inciting the wrath of God…through seasonal floods?

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Opinion.

So recently one of our country’s top theoretical climate scientists, philanthropist and (in his spare time) UKIP councillor David Silvester has published an article in a respected, peer reviewed scientific journal (called ‘The Henley Standard’ – I’ve never heard of it so it must be really elite) about how the copious amounts of water vapour emanating from the mouths of our MPs as they passionately delivered their arguments concerning the equal marriage bill in parliament have caused an increase in the overall humidity level, arguing that
“Since the passage of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act, the nation has been beset by serious storms and floods”.

It was all very scientific and well thought through, and nobody could think of any criticisms whatsoever. Because as we all know, correlation absolutely always and with no exception implies causation. It made me wonder if we really should be striving for equality, if all the impassioned talking makes it rain a bit too much. I I hate to be the one to bring God into this (basing one’s argument on an entity that is by definition improvable, and far from universally accepted does tend to weaken that argument somewhat) but I thought we we’re all created equal, in his image? Galatians 3:28. Kind of. I Googled it. I know there’s this whole health and safety concern, with all the flooding etcetera, but isn’t it worth the risk just to live the way God made us to? I’m sure Silvester meant well, but this new information puts us in a bit of a sticky dilemma…

Right, so apparently, I’ve got my research a little bit wrong. It seems that Silvester isn’t actually a scientist, and he was the one doing the talking about God. Actually, he thinks what happened is that God changed his mind about everyone being equal and got quite cross that our government wasn’t able to keep up with his modern views, but instead of sending the Angel of Death to take all of the MP’s firstborns, or a plague of locusts to destroy all of David Cameron’s favourite foods, like he used to do before the credit crunch, now all he can afford is a bit of a flood, something that happens anyway, equal marriage bill or not, in a town that didn’t really have anything to do with the bill.  I hear Heaven might go the same way as Greece without these stringent austerity measures. They’ll be in my prayers.

Also, it turns out, anybody with a primary school Key Stage 1 knowledge of ‘The Water Cycle’ can tell you that rain actually happens because the sun shines on the sea, which makes the water vapour rise, which then condenses into clouds, which then rain on the mountains, and then the water runs down the mountains as streams and rivers and things and ends up back in the sea, and God doesn’t have anything to do with it because it’s all fully automated and He might not exist. I guess I must have had the flu that day.

But Silvester’s boss, Nigel Farage, was around for that lesson, and so knew that Silvester had to be stopped. He tried to achieve this by filming a passive aggressive rant disguised as a weather forecast that rated in political cringeworthyness as being roughly somewhere in-between Boris Johnson leading London’s LGBTQ pride march in a pink cowboy hat and Nick Griffin starting his own cookery show.

Unfortunately for Farage, his rant was overshadowed by a rogue shipping forecaster, Nicholas Pegg, who broadcast a completely genuine and not at all fake episode, based around Silvester’s hypothesis.

I just have no idea what to think anymore. Is the evidence based logical reasoning and falsifiability of modern science correct to say that there is no proven direct link between government legislation and the weather? Or is it a safer bet to believe the unverifiable musings of a right wing extremist?

Does the UK need to change its “Benefits Culture”?

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Opinion.

YES

Emily Thomas

The subject of Government allocated financial benefits is never far from the media spotlight. The debate has rumbled on over the years as to the efficiency and fairness of the system. The series Benefits Street currently airing on Channel 4 documents the lives of residents on James Turner Street in Birmingham where it is estimated 90% of people on the street are unemployed. After its first showing, Benefits Street was the most talked about television show in the UK. Viewers flocked to social media to express their opinion and there weren’t many positive comments. Is the anger felt by the British public justified, or are we just demonising the poor?

In theory, welfare money is given to people who need extra support to get by on a day-to-day basis, making sure that everyone in the UK can survive if their situation means they cannot get a job. Ranging from heating and housing benefits to Jobseekers allowance, there are a variety of reasons that one could claim benefits. Currently in the UK, 64% of families are receiving some form of benefits to help them through the difficult financial climate. Certainly, no-one would argue that in valid circumstances, benefits are the only option. Some illnesses prevent people from being able to work and being a single parent can hinder one’s availability but the cases shown on Benefits Street did little to convince people of any genuine situations that validated the jobless lifestyle that was flaunted.

The financial climate in the UK has been difficult since the recession, people lost their jobs bringing income to a grinding halt at the same time the cost of living was sky-rocketing. For some, the only option was to grudgingly sign on for benefits.

People took any job they could get their hands on in a desperate attempt to get back into work and get the money coming in again.

These are not the people shown on Benefits Street where most admit they have never worked and aren’t looking for a job. Why? In short, they are better off living on government and taxpayers’ money than getting a job, which would see a significant decrease in the money they could claim.

The anger felt by the public is justified. To be a hard-working citizen and manage to scrape by without claiming off the government, seeing how those who don’t work can live comfortably smoking and drinking away taxpayers’ money is the ultimate kick in the teeth.

The system has become flawed, allowing claimants to take as much as they can for as little effort as they can give. Benefits are being directed to the wrong people and used in the wrong way.

A balance is needed between helping people in the right way and reducing the abuse of the system. Living on benefits does not entitle one to the latest smart phone and computer. The situation will continue to divide opinion for the foreseeable future.

 

NO

Alice Rigby

Picture the scene: an aerial camera descends onto a terraced street in an ordinary midlands town. As the houses and their occupants become clearer the show’s title pops into view. Immigrant Street views the plight of those who have been granted the right to live in the UK permanently, having been born overseas. Ninety per cent of the people who live on the street conform to this status and we’re going to get to see what they’re up to. After all, it’s our country; we’ve let them in so we’ve got a right to see what they’re doing right?

Obviously you can’t picture this scene. Of course, even the prospect of such an ‘entertainment’ programme leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. The idea of singling people out simply because of their national origin? Unthinkable. Yet, Benefits Street does the very same thing, only with those asking for assistance from the government. In this country, poverty makes people fair game. Defenders of shows like Benefits Street suggest that we have a right to scrutinise the actions of the people claiming money from the government.

It’s because it’s ‘our’ money, we pay taxes and they don’t – or at least they don’t at the moment. This is just another case of treating those in need as subjects of those who aren’t.We don’t ask to scrutinise every patient coming through the NHS. We’d never dream of suggesting that the education provision needs to be cut, so that parents are motivated to work harder and send their children to private schools.

Even though many of us may end up needing to claim some form of benefit in our lives, it’s still assumed that those people who’ve been forced to do so by economic circumstance or a myriad of other reasons could somehow be doing things differently. Our society’s duty of care concerns the elderly, the young and the disabled but for some reason seems not to extend to the poor.

This is a problem precisely because benefits aren’t one in this country. The estimated extent of benefits fraud? £1.2 billion. The estimated amount of benefits unclaimed? £16 billion. Tax avoided or evaded? Anywhere between £30 billion and £120 billion, depending on who you ask. No one in his or her right mind would focus on the first figure. Yet, this is what our politicians and our popular media repeatedly tell us to do.

Long live the Audacious Church

Written by Lauren Wills on . Posted in Opinion.

From the horrendous allegations against priests in the Catholic Church, to pastors in evangelical Churches living in million dollar mansions, one might ask whether the Christian Church has had its day. In a modern-day, multi-cultural and secular society, do we really need the Church?

It only takes a minute when walking into Manchester to realise that this city needs help. You can give some change to a homeless person and get that warm feeling inside, only to turn the corner and see a whole row of people living on the street. There is addiction, prostitution, homelessness and trafficking in our city. Whilst not undermining individual help, it’s evident these people need structure and consistency; an organisation who are 100% committed to deliberate kindness and altruism.

Last week, the BBC reported that Audacious Church in Manchester took 100 homeless people out to the Red Hot World Buffet for an all-expenses paid meal. To even watch this on the news was heart-warming; people who had never been to a restaurant before were enjoying a fantastic evening. Perhaps more importantly, this wasn’t a single act or a publicity stunt. The Church opens its doors to the homeless every week for food and drinks. The Church has 1000 people every Sunday attend their 3 services, diverse in background, ethnicity and class. At Christmas, the Church even hired a limousine to take the homeless women for a spa day.

This portrays the Church in a light contrary to what we’ve been shown by the media. No brainwashing, no exclusivity, no ‘Christian bubble’ when it comes to helping people, but a genuine altruistic desire to make a difference. Francis Chan considered this in his book ‘Crazy Love’, discussing the many people who say ‘I don’t believe in organized religion’. He argues that people wouldn’t say this if the Church really lived how they are called to live by their values. The Audacious Church appears to be changing the face of religion in secular society, which evidently is well needed.

The vision of Audacious Church involves displaying the love of God to others. Its desire is to be a ‘Church which stops the traffic”. It has a culture of being-all inclusive, all-accepting and committed to helping others. When we attend on the odd occasion at Christmas or Easter, we have fears of being rejected or looked down upon for being different, for being ‘sinful’ or not truly believing. Audacious turns this ideology on its head with its radical 21st century style and its inclusive culture.

In fact, sometimes I wonder where it all went wrong. The bible shows that Jesus interacted with cheaters, liars, outcasts, the contagiously sick and even prostitutes. On one occasion he let a prostitute wash his feet and then wipe them dry with her hair. If that’s not outrageous, I don’t know what is. I sometimes wonder how that could have possibly turned into an exclusive club of religious people coming together every Sunday.

I for one am glad there are Churches like Audacious changing the perception of religion in the UK, ensuring they are inclusive, and committed to making a difference in the outside world. The Church is certainly alive and well, and is committed to doing its very valuable job.

Album: Wild Beasts – Present Tense

Written by Jonny McAreavey on . Posted in Music.

Released 24th February, 2014

Domino

7/10

Now on their fourth effort, Present Tense captures Wild Beasts in some kind of musical Autumn, in limbo of direction and sound and in the process of shedding many of their most recognisable characteristics.

The band’s gentle percussion, reverb-soaked timbres and sense of perversity, persevere. Meanwhile Hayden Thorpe’s extraordinary countertenor voice and Tom Fleming’s rustic growl remain. Present Tense, however, finds Wild Beasts coming out of the woods, as it were, and moving towards a much more accessible destination.

Forthcoming first single and first track, ‘Wanderlust’, is the best instance of this. Other than the odd ‘Devil’s Crayon’, Limbo, Panto and Two Dancers were albums that required several listens to be fully rewarding and ‘Wanderlust’ is by far the most challenging thing here, if only for its atypical pop structure and metronomic, almost crazed beat, in 3/4 time. The song is also cloaked in brash electronic timbres which those albums (and third effort Smother) held, but would not have housed to such a degree; a prevalent feature of the rest of Present Tense.

Most commonly such electronic timbres manifest themselves in lewd saw wave form (‘Sweet Spot’, ‘Wanderlust’) or as chiming leads (‘Daughters’, ‘Past Perfect’, ‘Nature Boy’). Meanwhile, there is the scent of danceability in the almost funk basslines of ‘A Simple Beautiful Truth’ and ‘Past Perfect’.It’s not quite synthpop – the band have not lost their sensitivity or sense of mysticism – though, there is certainly a ‘bigger’ aura surrounding Present Tense, than on previous work.

Indeed, much of the album resembles Kate Bush (on Hounds of Love) and Talk Talk (on The Colour of Spring) at their most pop-centric, whilst retaining a dedication to delicate and nuanced song-writing. Common pop chord progressions are a staple of Present Tense, whilst big choruses are another.  Highlight, ‘Mecca’ revolves around two such choruses in succinct loveliness, with Thorpe cooing in typically reflective and yearning mood “All we want is to feel that feeling again”.  If it weren’t for such sensitivity, ‘Sweet Spot’ could almost be a Peaches song, though it does capture Wild Beasts love for the suggestive, with Thorpe intoning “Between the womb and the end” at the song’s stripped climax.

What is questionable, however, is if this breaks any new sonic ground. There are no dulcimers, no ‘Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants’ and generally nothing difficult. “Throw the ball up into space” says Fleming on ‘A Dog’s Life’. It’s not difficult to see a band gazing skywards.

Review: Pangaea – The Lost City

Written by Patrick Hinton on . Posted in Music.

25th January

UoMSU

8/10

As an event fuelled by post exams celebratory spirit, Pangaea was always going to be an enjoyable affair. Yet this January’s The Lost City edition displayed the event’s worth beyond being just a place to get wrecked before starting work and lectures again on Monday.

The music spun throughout the night enthralled the present revellers. Despite the aqueous theme, Paul Woolford managed to ignite Academy 2 with the fire that is his remix of ‘Renegade Master’, whilst Manchester legend Zed Bias caused the outdoor tent to erupt with a slick edit of ‘Get Get Down’ and ‘Hackney Parrot’. Artwork impressively MC’d much of his own set, declaring “I like Manchester, they know how to dance”, whilst throwing down disco classics such as Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’ and Todd Terje’s utterly ecstatic ‘Inspector Norse’.

The smaller rooms in the Union were overtaken by a number of Manchester’s dance music promoters and they superbly showcased the city’s musical diversity. Bank and Mekka kept their room raw and dark with bass heavy techno; Hi Ku proved their eclecticism by mixing the likes of Marvin Gaye’s soulful ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’ and Lone’s erratic ‘Airglow Fires’; the M20 Collective room went on a journey from funk and hip hop, through electro swing, to Breakbeat and DnB.

Being in the Union makes Pangaea particularly novel, the site of exams and rushed pre-lecture coffees is transformed into a hedonistic setting filled with elaborate costumes and music that isn’t someone murdering Fur Elise on that piano. In terms of University sponsored events, it can’t be beat.

Top 5: Rising stars of 2014

Written by Jackson Ball on . Posted in Film.

5. Dane DeHaan

After bursting on to the scene with great performances in the likes of Chronicle and Kill Your Darlings, DeHann looks set to keep his momentum high. He’ll be starring in off-beat comedy Life After Beth opposite Anna Kendrick, before playing Harry Osborne in this summer’s The Amazing Spiderman 2.

4. Imogen Poots

This year, Poots is really going places. She will be starring opposite Zac Efron in rom-com That Awkward Moment, and then it’s on to this summer’s Need for Speed. Lastly, she’s landed a role in Terrence Malick’s Knight of Cups, scheduled for a late 2014 release.

3. Joel Kinnaman

The Swedish star from The Killing is set to take the action genre by storm, landing the titular role in the Robocop remake. If that was not enough, Kinnaman will get to flex his acting muscles in Malick’s much-awaited Knight of Cups too.

2. Juno Temple

Easily the busiest actress this year, you might find it difficult to avoid Juno Temple this year. First she is opposite Daniel Radcliffe in Horns, followed by roles in Maleficent and Truck Stop. Finally, Temple will cap off the year by playing Sally in the hotly anticipated sequel Sin City: a Dame to Kill For.  

1. Chris Pratt

Previously best known for his hilarious antics on Parks and Recreation, Pratt is going to have a humungous year, starting by voicing the lead character in The Lego Movie. However, this summer he’ll reach dangerous levels of awesomeness, playing Star-Lord in Marvel’s new franchise: Guardians of the Galaxy. 

Preview: The Double

Written by Angus Harrison on . Posted in Film.

“It was a little before eight o’clock in the morning when Yakov Petrovitch Golyadkin, a titular councilor, woke up from a long sleep. He yawned, stretched, and at last opened his eyes completely. For two minutes, however, he lay in his bed without moving, as though he were not yet quite certain whether he were awake or still asleep, whether all that was going on around him were real and actual, or the continuation of his confused dreams.”

So begins Dostoyevsky’s The Double, a bizarre novella of mistaken identity and the source material for Richard Ayoade’s second feature. He hasn’t given very much away as of yet, opting for a trailer that, unlike most, doesn’t detail every major plot point or all the best jokes. Yet there are still some fantastic details worth picking out from the stirring teaser. Most notably the stellar cast he has gathered together. The film will star Jesse Eisenberg, not once but twice as he plays the protagonist Golyadkin and the films antagonist –  his doppledanger. Surrounding the two Eisenbergs are Mia Wakowski, Shawn Wallace, Noah Taylor, the elusive Chris Morris and Yasmin Paige (who is working with Ayoade again after her turn in Submarine).

Beyond the cast the trailer actually gives very little detail on plot. One option would be, of course, to read the novella which would most likely give a fairly good synopsis. Mostly I’m a pretty staunch advocate of ‘reading the book’ – it can give the film a much greater context and allows the director a more space to breathe, not being tied to spelling out narrative details. However in this case, I think I’m going to watch the film first. The very aesthetic of the trailer is intriguing enough, suggesting an charming yet somehow ugly concrete landscape of nondescript offices and bureaus. Eisenberg’s character is clearly going to be challenged by his double, in his work life and his social life, yet the coiled tension of the trailer certainly suggests that this conflict will be played out slowly. This simmering quality should create a perfect atmosphere for sharp comedy and dynamic interactions between the excellent cast.

Finally there is Ayoade behind the camera. Now more than ever he is more than Moss from The IT Crowd, but if he needed anything to truly cut the chord it will be this film. Described by those who have seen it as ‘weird as fuck’ and ‘knowingly niche’, it seems he has stepped far beyond the groundwork he set out in ‘Submarine’, breaking into new bewildering Gillam-esque territory. The film has gone down a storm at Sundance and can be expected in the UK in April.

Cornerhouse Pick of the Week: How to Survive a Plague

Written by Tom Bruce on . Posted in Film.

If you’re interested in the upcoming drama Dallas Buyers Club, which sees Matthew McConaughey as an AIDS suffering activist, How to Survive a Plague is the perfect companion piece. Howard France’s decade spanning retrospect on the ACT-UP AIDS movement got a best documentary Oscar nod last year, and by combining ‘talking head’ style exposition with the activist group’s amazing raw footage, he has created an extremely informative and inspiring feature.

In 1987, hospitals in Manhattan’s East village were taking pneumonia stricken, blister covered AIDS victims and turning them into the street. There was nothing anybody could do; there were no known treatments, nobody even knew how it was contracted and worst of all, the immune disorder was surrounded by an inescapable, homophobic stigma.  Largely due to the efforts of a group of New York based AIDS activists, a drug called AZT became widely available as the first line of defence against their deadly, invisible foe. Unfortunately, AZT was purely a stopgap; meds cost around $10,000 a year, it was heavily toxic for the users’ organs and it did not cure the symptoms, it merely abated them.  How to Survive a Plague tracks the relentless efforts of people like Peter Staley, Ann Northrop and Larry Kramer, who started the ACT-UP movement to promote awareness about the ever growing AIDS epidemic.

Discrimination, internal divisions and tragic death were just some of the many obstacles faced by the ACT-UP movement as it campaigned for more effective treatments of AIDS. Almost all the people you meet in the documentary are HIV positive, and fully aware that their lives may be cut short due to the apathy and ignorance of the ‘men in charge’. Knowing that they had but little time, this afflicted majority banded together in a most remarkable way. The fact that ACT-UP members never resorted to violence to achieve their means is highly commendable, even keeping their cool when dealing with the corporate faces and policy makers that were actively preventing breakthroughs in AIDS  medication. Rather than conflict, ACT-UP leaders gave impassioned speeches and carried out headline-grabbing hijinks. In response to homophobic Senator Jesse Helms’ disparagement of AIDS prevention (he labelled sufferers as ‘obscene’ sodomites), ACT-UP slipped a 35 foot tall condom over his house. Activism will never be that cool again.

Over time, the emaciation and declining health of the central campaigners becomes quite upsetting, and sadly some don’t make it to see the AIDS advancements of the mid -90s. How to Survive a Plague eradicates the ideology of ‘sodomy’ as an evil that causes AIDS; men, women, homosexuals, heterosexuals – all can be affected. This documentary makes a powerful statement, reminding you that AIDS isn’t a ‘gay thing’, it’s a human thing.

Twitter Tw*ts

Written by Dana Fowles on . Posted in Lifestyle.

Twitter. For most of it’s become the daily newspaper: the first thing we check in the morning and the last thing at night.

According to statisticbrain.com 645,750,000 of us are registered on the social networking site, with this figure increasing by around 135,000 each day. On average 9,100 tweets are posted per second, with this amounting to a whopping 58 million every 24 hours. Home to the latest local, national, global and celebrity news, it’s easy to see why. For us students, it’s a good place to start scanning for internship and graduate opportunities. It’s also a good place to find out the every move of virtually every single person we know.Now, there are those whose Twitter feeds are a pleasure to stalk, I mean, browse. Unfortunately there are also the Twitter tw*ts, whose 140 character updates us with no choice but to contemplate – SHOCK HORROR – unfollowing them. I’m sure we’ve all committed the odd Twitter sin, but here are four of the repeat offenders.

1)      The loved up couples

Love my boyfriend @girlfriend

In bed with @boyfriend having #snuggles. #lovehim #myboo #togetherforever

Love my girlfriend @boyfriend

Loving every second @girlfriend, but stop taking up so much room. #bedhogger #nightinwiththemrs #loveher

You’re in the same room! Please talk to each other. These culprits are also likely to have checked in on Facebook at ‘my baby girl/boy’s bed.’ These kind of tweets are only set to get worse as we approach Valentine’s Day, so brace yourselves #vom.

2)      The football fanatics

MUFC 4eva @thebeautifulgame                   3m

Two men sent off in the space of three minutes.

MUFC 4eva @thebeautifulgame                   2m

That’s much better from United #MUFC.

MUFC 4eva @thebeautifulgame                   30s

Defeat was due to injuries and fatigue caused by lack of depth to squad. #football

Who needs to watch the game when you can get second by second updates from all of your male friends? Go forth and have long and fruitful careers as commentators.

3)      The super organised

Little miss amazing @Iamperfect

Finished all three of my essays for this semester two months early. Time to let my hair down at Gold Teeth tonight. #woo #gome #workhardplayhard

Just how? HOW!? These Tweets make you feel really, really bad about yourself. Like us, they regularly OD on vod. Unlike us, they still find the time to produce First class essays way in advance of the deadlines. They are ‘time management’ personified. #teachus

4)      The gym bunnies

Squat Queen @mybodyisatemple

Got up at 6 for a run then ended the day in my favourite way with 50,000 squats. Not as many as usual, but I’m feeling lazy this week. #stayhealthy #befit

When you’re sat reading these Tweets in a tiger onesie, while shovelling the contents of a share bag of Milky Stars into your mouth, these kind of Tweets are not what you want to see. This person is also likely to post a selfie of ‘the view’ on holiday, which is actually a view of their perfectly toned, bronzed stomach and pins to die for stretched out on a sun lounger. Please. Stop.

So, it’s official. We can now blame the Twittersphere for making us feel terrible about our own  #snuggle-less, squatless, unproductive daily lives. And find out how the game’s going, of course . . .

Trainspotting: Book vs. film

Written by Pam Kaur on . Posted in Books.

Trainspotting is the controversial first novel of Scottish author, Irvine Welsh. Set in the late ‘80s, it exposes us to the world of Edinburgh’s underclass antihero, Mark Renton, and his group of hedonistic and heroin addicted friends. The darker side of their Scottish psyche is peeled back, revealing complicated and controversial issues: HIV/AIDS, nationalism, abortion, the dole, heroin. Despite failing to reach the same level of mainstream success as the film adaptation directed by Danny Boyle, the book is a cult classic and critically acclaimed.

Admittedly, at first it isn’t a ‘fluid’ read. There is something awkward about reading the phonetic Scottish dialect. I mean, God help any foreign language students. Trying to get your head around passages like “ah whip oaf ma keks and sit oan the cold wet porcelain shunky” is a challenge for native English speakers. Yet it is well worth the effort; the ability to ‘read Scottish’ will become second nature after a while. It does add so much depth and character: you can hear them talking in their gritty accents as you read, making Trainspotting hard to put down.

What is interesting about Boyle’s adaptation is the way he manages to capture the zeitgeist of the ‘90s, which is less clear in Welsh’s work. One reassuring correlation between Boyle’s films is his ability to pick the right songs for exactly the right moments, changing the way you perceive and remember the scenes completely. I love the scenes featuring ‘90s britpop band Elastica: Justine Frischmann’s seductively gritty voice flows effortlessly around the shenanigans of Mark Renton. Altogether the soundtrack really epitomises the early to mid ‘90s music scene from the underground androgyny of Elastica to then club royalty Underworld. Boyle simply sums up a time and a place through good music, good directing and good casting.

Technology’s the one that needs a chastity belt

Written by Lauren Arthur on . Posted in Lifestyle.

First came Tinder, then BreakupText  – ‘end your relationship in just a few taps’(?!) – and now it seems technology has wormed its way into the bedroom as well. Japanese lingerie company Ravijour have developed ‘The True Love Tester’, a bra that only opens ‘for true love’

Apparently when truly head over heels, we secrete a hormone called catecholamine which is what increases our heart rate. The bra contains sensors that measure this and uses Bluetooth to connect to the app on your phone for analysis of the data. If the readings fall into a certain category the bra unhooks automatically.

Great, so the slightest increase in heart rate and ping, there goes your underwear. What if you have to run for a bus? Or you like the look of the Nandos waiter? I don’t fancy having to fear a wardrobe malfunction every time I sneeze.

If the idea isn’t stupid enough, the promotion advert is somehow even worse. ‘A revolutionary bra that knows how women truly feel’ says a creepy woman’s voice who sounds as though she’s trying to imitate an evil Disney character. Pause. Rewind. My bra doesn’t need to know how I feel, it needs to support me, make me feel better. ‘The True Love Tester’ with its barely there, diamante studded cups certainly doesn’t look like it would do either.

‘Until now, the bra was a piece of clothing to remove, but now it is an instrument to test for true love’ – brilliant, what we’ve always wanted. It then continues with the sweeping statement that ‘women always seek true love’. What cretinous creature has made this? You can’t just throw sexist statements here there and everywhere and think women will start hailing your company as the new Victoria’s Secret.

Men should be able to design women’s lingerie if they so please but I struggle to see how they can redesign the concept of a garment they don’t wear. And if the advert is a real representation of the ‘automatic unhooking’, the only thing your bra will succeed in doing is knocking your beloved out.

Short stories come to life at Selfridges

Written by Elizabeth Linsley on . Posted in Books.

On a rainy Friday I put on my best coat, straightened my hair and trotted off to a short story reading at Selfridges. I was hoping to look like a glamorous, swishy-haired professional, using my lunch break to feed my brain and not my upper thighs, instead of a late, lazy student.

Three authors, Emma Jane Unsworth, Richard Hirst and Marli Roode each read a short story as part of Selfridges Festival of Imagination. There are events running in Selfridges nation-wide, including Manchester Exchange Square, until 20th February. They include talks and workshops, covering imagination, science, crafting, dinosaurs, music and art. The Whitworth Art Gallery has curated an exhibition in the store.

At a reading the story becomes more than just words on a page; the story becomes transformed by the room you’re sitting in and the person sitting next to you. An amusing sentence becomes much funnier when you’re laughing with a group of people. Characters are brought to life by a comedy French accent. The slight shake of the authors hand on their papers betrays their nerves and is a reminder that they are putting their lovingly crafted words out into the world to be judged.

The stories were excellent; funny, entertaining, thought provoking. ‘I Arrive First’ by Unsworth was a tale of love, where the protagonists communicated entirely through the titles on book covers, until the closure of their library forced them to speak. Hirst’s ‘Bait’ was a darkly comic narrative, as a man used a Snickers bar and a lobster soup to kill his first and second wives by their respective peanut and shellfish allergies. Roode finished with ‘Animal Sentinel’, a melancholic portrait of the end of a marriage. I left the reading feeling inspired and entertained, an excellent way to fill a rainy lunchtime hour.

 

Selfridges Festival of Imagination runs until February 20th. For a list of events, click here.

Ones to watch for 2014

Written by Susie Coen on . Posted in Fashion & Beauty.

Image: uk.burberry.com

The Model: Neelam Johal

Move over Cara, this 18-year-old from Coventry set to be the model of 2014. With those class-cut cheekbones, long luscious locks and envy-inducing eyebrows what more could you want? Johal demanded our attention when she stormed down the runway for Burberry in September wearing an elegant pastel blue lace ensemble and red sandals. On top of this she has been revealed as one of the latest faces for Burberry’s campaign, making her the first Indian model ever to be featured in Burberry fashion campaign. Her success should be an inspiration to other Indian women trying to make it in an infamously harsh industry.

Image: myflashtrash.com

The Designer: Ashely Williams

She’s been deemed the new Henry Holland with her ‘tongue-in-cheek’ prints and refreshing styles. The recent graduate from Westminster University wooed everyone from Vogue to Wonderland in her A/W 2013 shows. She has also just launched a jewellery line with her good friend Pixie Geldof (as you do) called ‘FunkyOffish’. She explained that the phrase implied “an alleged humorous style mash up, but it can also be employed to describe the unexpected cool of anything and everything: from an old snap of Chloe Sevigny playing guitar in a circus leotard through to next season’s Chanel backpack”.  Their gold jewellery ranges from earrings to necklaces with a vintage feel and seems to be just the beginning of what we have to see from Williams.


Image: Flikr Creative Commons @Los Guiltys de Pinguirina

The Actress: Lupita Nyong’o

This star of Steve McQueens 12 Years a Slave star has not only wowed us with her incredible performance, but with a string of style YES’s on the red carpet she has started the year as our style icon of 2014 – a position I can’t see her losing. The 30-year-old actress commanded our attention at the Critic’s Choice Awards in a custom Calvin Klein white dress creating a clean-cut silhouette and leaving the other stars in her shadows. She showed us she wasn’t afraid to experiment at the Golden Globes while wearing a red Ralph Lauren dress with an eye-catching cape. With 12 Years a Slave being her first acting job since leaving Yale School of Drama in 2012, this can only be the beginning of our relationship of envy and adoration with Lupita and her wardrobe.

What goes up must come down

Written by Susie Coen on . Posted in Fashion & Beauty.

What’s Hot: 

Image: Flikr Creative Commons @Vladmir Serov

P-P-P-Poker straight
Sleek, straight hair is set to be the hairstyle of S/S 2014 with models for names such as Chloe, Helmut Lang and Proenza Schouler  donning it on the runway.

 

 

Image: Flikr Creative Commons @A. Franskoy


Feminism
With Elle magazine campaigning for a rebranding of feminism and Joseph Gordon-Levitt telling Ellen Degeneres he is ‘absolutely’ a feminist, feminism is slowly losing its negative implications.

 


Top 29.99 Zara. Image: zara.com


Pastels
These soft hues are going nowhere this season. Although pink still takes the lead, invest in some lemon yellows, baby blues and mint tones too and clash, clash, clash.

 


Image: thehunt.com

Sportswear
Gym clothes are now a double investment as they move to the front of the fashion scene. First stop, Tiffany blue Nike Free Runs.

 


Image: asos.com

Loose Silhouettes
Figure hugging ensembles are gathering dust in wardrobes while culottes, circle skirts and boyfriend jeans take the limelight.

 

What’s Not:


Image: office.com

Bright Trainers
My eyes bleed when I walk into office – having five different colours on a pair of trainers was never a thing. Stop it.

 

 

Image: Flikr Creative Commons @jaydeeford

Smokey eyes
Time to loose the kohl I’m afraid, ladies. Instead try this season’s staple orange lips or if you need something on your lids opt for a rich solid blue.


Image: topshop.com

Tights
Bare legs are back, oh how we missed you. Spend the money you save on hosiery on taxis to your legs don’t freeze off.

 


Image: debenhams.com

Wedge-heel trainers
It never ceases to amaze me that people ever did, let alone do, wear these. They’re so wrong they should constitute an 8th deadly sin.

 

 


Image: asos.com

Dangly earrings
Drop earrings were all the rage this time last year but ear cuffs have well and truly ousted them as the ‘it’ accessory of 2014.

 

 

February Events

Written by Annie Muir on . Posted in Books.

‘The Other Room’ at The Castle Hotel: an evening of experimental Poetry, featuring Frances Presley, Gavin Selerie and Chris Stephenson. Free.

Wednesday 5th February, 7pm. The Castle Hotel, Oldham Street, Manchester M2 4PD

 

‘Poets and Players’: Poetry read by Alice Oswald music by Chris Davies and Beth Allen. The music on the theme of ‘breath’ that Chris and Beth will perform was commissioned originally by the National Aspergillosis Centre, which treats patients with fungal disease of the lungs. Free.

Sat 8th Feb, 2.30pm. Reading Room, John Rylands Library, 150 Deansgate, Manchester M3 3EH

 

Carol Ann Duffy & Friends: An evening of poetry and music hosted by Manchester’s much-loved Poet Laureate: with readings from students and graduates of the Manchester Writing School at MMU, led by House Poet Liz Venn. £10 for concessions.

Mon 10th Feb, 7pm. The Studio, Royal Exchange Theatre, St Anns Square, Manchester, M2 7DH

 

‘Evidently Stand Up’: Poetry every second Monday of the month at the Black Lion, Salford. Their aim is to bring poetry back to the masses and prove that it can be more than you were taught in school. £3 Entry.

Mon 10th Feb, 7.30pm. The Black Lion, 65 Chapel St, Salford, M3 5BZ

 

Young Enigma, Jackie Kay & guests: Renowned authors and poets Jackie Kay, Patience Agbabi and Gerry Potter join Manchesters young LGBT writers collective Young Enigma for an evening examining the theme of identity. Only £5 for concessions.

Tue 11th Feb, 7.30pm. Contact Theatre – Oxford Road, Manchester, M15 6JA

 

An Evening of Canadian Poetry: Canadian poets Sheri Benning, Richard Greene and Nyla Matuk escape the polar vortex to read in Manchester at the Burgess Foundations Engine House. Free.

Tue 18th Feb, 6.30pm. International Anthony Burgess Centre – Cambridge St, Manchester, M1 5BY, GB

 

Kate Tempest, Brand New Ancients: Poet and spoken word artist, Kate Tempest tells an everyday epic over an exhilarating live score played by tuba, cello, violin, drums and electronics. £7 for concessions, book it now!

Fri 21st Feb, 8pm. Contact Theatre

 

The Wasteland: Manchester’s pre-eminent new music ensemble Psappha in collaboration with The International Anthony Burgess Foundation presents Anthony Burgess’s musical setting of T.S. Eliot’s masterpiece. £9 for concessions.

Fri 28th Feb, 6pm. International Anthony Burgess Foundation

 

 

 

Top 5 Campus Novels

Written by Annie Muir on . Posted in Books.

 1. Engleby, Sebastian Faulks

This is not just another campus novel about a boy, Mike Engleby, who attends an ‘ancient university’ and falls completely and unrequited-ly in love with a girl, Jennifer Arkland. It is so much more than that. Read it and find out.

2. Starter for Ten, David Nichols

Set in 1985, Starter for Ten is the story of Brian Jackson from Essex’s first year at an unnamed university, and his two obsessions: Alice Harbinson and the TV Quiz show University Challenge. It was made into a film starring James McAvoy in 2006.

3. This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald

Fitzgerald’s debut novel examines the lives and morality of post- World War I youth through his protagonist Amory Blaine, a student at Princeton University. The novel evolved from 80 pages of an unpublished novel called The Romantic Egotist which Fitzgerald himself wrote during his own time at Princeton.

4. Gaudy Night, Dorothy L. Sayers

Gaudy Night – set in Shrewbury College, an all-women institution in Oxford – has been called ‘the first feminist mystery novel’. In the novel, published in 1935, the prestigious college is a place of mischief and malice, where pranks, sinister poison-pen letters and vandalism are everyday occurrences.

5. The Rules of Attraction, Bret Easton Ellis

The novel is famous for beginning in the middle of a sentence (the first word is ‘and’), throwing you straight into the lives of a group of spoiled bohemian college students at the fictional Camden College, a liberal arts school on the East Coast of the United States. The story is told in first person accounts by the love-triangle of protagonists, who do drugs, don’t go to class, and throw a few “End of the World” parties.

Album: Neck Deep – Wishful Thinking

Written by Donald Spencer on . Posted in Music.

Released January 14th 2014

Hopeless Records

8/10

When alternative legends New Found Glory played Leeds Festival in 2013, their backdrop on stage read ‘‘Pop-Punk’s not dead.’’ The debut release from U.K. (yes U.K.!) outfit Neck Deep lets these words ring true. Granted, the pop-punk scene is strongly linked to the late 90’s and bad haircuts, but the raw emotion and honesty bleeding from this record breathes contemporary life into a seemingly dormant genre.

The record opens with ‘Losing Teeth’ which lyrically deals with the trials of growing up, with a sound that yells “we aren’t just any band, we’re Neck Deep.” The song has a very angst ridden aura where front man Ben Barlow delivers lines such as “Give a fuck if we don’t fit in, we don’t need them, they don’t know a thing about us.” This cracker should give the crowd a reason to get off their feet and for those hearing the song at home, lyrics with which to identify with.

Wishful Thinking maintains its thunderous momentum with lead single ‘Crushing Grief (No Remedy)’ which went on to become a video made by the fans which showed short, homemade clips of Neck Deep unit fans doing what made them happy. Certainly the song deals with relationship difficulties and the heartache pop-punk lyrics are renowned for, but the fast paced and upbeat guitar tones create a positive essence. Following this is the album’s high point ‘Staircase Wit’ which delivers the typical Neck Deep formula, but with extra wow-factor. The lyrics in this song display just what Neck Deep are capable of and display Barlow as a true poet and down to earth chap “Don’t judge me on my bad habits, I could pick out every flaw of yours, unearth all your imperfections beneath the surface I have seen, the ugly truth behind the beauty queen.”

‘Staircase Wit’ might be the peak, but the album doesn’t go downhill by any means. The mid-section of Wishful Thinking contains some infectious riffs and sing-along worthy chorus’s as well as the second single ‘Growing Pains’ which could brighten the day of even the grumpiest of grumpy gits.

The back end of Wishful Thinking pales slightly in comparison to the preceding bangers. The minute long track ‘Say What You Want’ doesn’t really bring much to the overall package, but is a salute to the aggressive element seen in their debut E.P. Rain In July. There is also a re-recorded version of a song from the same E.P. This does nothing for the record really, but may be a pleasant surprise for hardcore ND fans. The album closes with ‘Candour’ – a heartfelt ballad which demonstrates Ben’s vocal diversity, the lyrical content is open to interpretation but is clearly very personal.

In conclusion, Wishful Thinking is by no means a perfect record, but what defines perfect? Wishful Thinking is a fantastic milestone for the band to build upon, and it wouldn’t be a longshot to state that this is an album people can grow up to.