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Month: February 2014

Review: Priscilla Queen of the Desert

To quote my friend Richard, Priscilla Queen of the Desert is ‘probably the campest show ever’; and this is where the genius behind the show resides. While the audience is visually confronted with an explosion of glitter, feathers and fabulous costumes, the story behind the glamour actually holds a lot of poignancy and resonance. When three friends, who happen to be drag queens, head off on a road trip across Australia, they explore the relationships behind family, love and friendship and how these relationships are often complicated by (for want of a better word) ‘unconventional’ sexualities and gender identities. Yes, Priscilla is camp, fun and frivolous, but it also delves into the complicated lives of its characters.

Having seen Priscilla in the West End, several years ago, I arrived at The Palace knowing that I was in for a very fun evening and there is no denying that the show delivered. Miss Understanding (Alan Hunter) opened the show with energy and enthusiasm, which infected the audience as easily as the common cold. Alan Turner is perhaps one of the most engaging performers in the show, and it was disappointing that Miss Understanding did not have a larger part throughout the performance. As the play progressed, some of this initial energy seemed to diminish, and I didn’t feel that the show reached the same energetic heights again.

The acting between musical numbers was superb, with Tick (Jason Donovan), Bernadette (Richard Grieve) and Felicia (Graham Weaver) creating and sustaining a believable friendship – they explore the fun, the sombre and the irritating aspects of friendship and draw the audience into this realistic portrayal. However, the musical numbers often disappointed. Despite brilliant acting scenes, Jason Donovan seemed more like a man forced to wear a dress and dance than a professional drag queen. His dancing often lacked grace and extension, which left the audience feeling a mild sense of disillusionment. Graham Weaver, while more convincing, often lacked the exuberant energy of his character’s acting scenes once the music took over. Richard Grieve definitely outshone his co-stars by sustaining the graceful demeanour of Bernadette throughout his performance and, whilst Bob (Giles Watling) fell in love with her, I definitely did too!

It is hard to sustain both a flamboyant, camp show and integrate serious aspects of hate crime and difficultly into this flamboyance. Priscilla achieved this most of the time – the audience was appalled by the violence against Felicia and very moved by Benji’s response to his father’s show. However, there were other moments when the contrast was too sudden for the audience to keep up with the shifts in tone. When Priscilla, the bus, is vandalised with homophobic slurs, I heard some members of the audience laugh – whether this was due to uncomfortable shock, or too much pre-show wine, I can’t say, but it was not the desired response.

Priscilla Queen of the Desert is not a show for everyone and those sitting either side of me in the audience were testament to this – on the left were two women having a whale of a time, dancing and singing along; on the right, two women who did not seem to appreciate foreskin jokes. If you enjoy an evening of camp delights and silly, sexual jokes, Priscilla will not disappoint you; but be sure to appreciate the subtler elements of this performance whilst belting ‘I Will Survive’ at the top of your lungs.

Three out of five stars

Conquer YouTube with Your Console

There came a weird crystalizing moment when I realised that, for the past several hours, all I’d been doing was watching YouTube videos of people playing games. Games that I own, and could’ve spent those hours actually playing. I asked myself how did that happen? How have I just been more entertained watching a group of people play my games, and talk what often was little more than gibberish, than if I’d been doing it myself?

The answer was Achievement Hunter, a YouTube phenomenon that every gamer will no doubt be familiar with.  They are just one of several big names in online videos whose entire business is to play games and record themselves doing it. On the surface, their fortune seems to be founded on something anyone could do, and many have tried. YouTube is overflowing with such content. But most of this isn’t noteworthy, and isn’t going to appeal to a wide audience. Most hopefuls who upload their efforts to the website see very little of the limelight. So how do the Yogscast’s and KSI’s of this world succeed where others fail?

Achievement Hunter is an excellent example of how to do it right. The primary element that makes them so popular is the people. When watching an AH video, you’re watching a familiar group. Their cast is consistent and, over time, their on-screen personalities and relationships have developed to the point that the games are no longer the stars of the show. It doesn’t matter what they’re playing, we’re really tuning in for Michael’s short fuse or Gavin’s affable incompetence. By contrast, we can look at Epic Meal Time’s attempts at cornering the gaming demographic. While their gruff and manly approach to cooking made them big, their personas lack the depth and real human connection that comes with Achievement Hunter. Watching their gaming videos is like watching their other videos, but without all the good bits about putting together ridiculous food. It’s hard to sit through five minutes of, let alone an hour (the length of some AH videos).

The humble beginnings of Achievement Hunter involved Geoff, a founder member of Rooster Teeth (of Red vs Blue fame), and Jack making weekly videos discussing games, and later featuring fan-made submissions of embarrassing Halo moments (at time of writing this long running feature is at episode 178!) and challenging Halo maps for the duo to compete in. Their continued commitment to the viewers is a big part of what helped Achievement Hunter grow. By taking user submissions, they kept their fanbase involved at every step of the way.

It’s one thing to capture an online audience, but to keep them you need to have quantity as well as quality. This is something Achievement Hunter does superbly with their diverse portfolio of regular features. They’re constantly evolving and expanding their offering to ensure that viewers will want to keep giving them hits. Their original Halo videos quickly adapted to covering more games, and their range of regular features grew massively. Now, their most popular content is Let’s Plays of Minecraft & GTA V, and Michael’s signature Rage Quit and the competitive GO! episodes among others maintain a healthy variety. They regularly convene the core gang to compete in often-ridiculous challenges across Minecraft and GTA Online in their Let’s Plays. Alliances are formed, betrayals are revealed and pranks abound. Their simple ideas often convert to lengthy videos that are compelling without. Even when there are lulls in the gameplay, the banter and horseplay maintains the entertainment value.

Talking to The Mancunion, Senior Producer Jack Pattillo said “We have always made an attempt to bring our viewers onto the couch with us.  We want our content to sound like buddies sitting around in a living room having a good time.” This attitude shines through in just a few minutes of viewing. He went on to say that “This sense of inclusion has always helped our content be more authentic than others.”

Achievement Hunter has been running since 2010. In that time, the number of episodes and hours of content produced has grown huge. Something vital that they do well is be accessible. Naturally, there are some in-jokes, but it doesn’t take long for these to become clear and it’s easy to just jump in at any point in a series and understand why, for example, they’re all jumping out of helicopters in GTA: Online and trying desperately to avoiding being splattered by jets.

If you want to be like the Achievement Hunters, be likable, be adaptable and be everywhere. By employing these tactics, Achievement Hunter is likely to remain on top of the YouTube world for some time to come.

Five twitter accounts you should be following

1. Harry Potter (@ArryPottah) 

None of us were ready to let go of the Harry Potter series and luckily it lives on through many a parody account. (Similar:  The Dark Lord/@Lord_Voldemort7)

 2. Classic Pics (@History_Pics)

Who doesn’t like looking at old black and whites? A collection of photos that make you go ‘ooh’, celebrities in their younger years and people who are generally cooler/more interesting than you.

 3. can you not? (@SassyGirl)

Tweeting to represent the fives fs (fabulous, feisty, fearless, feminine and fierce). Note: you may only class yourself as sassy if you get to the bottom of the third page and still find yourself relating to her wise words.

4. Faces in Things (@FacesPics)

Your door handle has a face? Yes it does, and so do a lot of other inanimate objects apparently.

5. Present Day Clueless (@ModernClueless)

Cher was from the 90s but who said she should stay there? Here she is tweeting about her woes and troubles, 2014 style.  

William S. Burrough: The man and the legend

The bohemian vagabond William S. Burroughs was a primary figure of the Beat Generation. His semi-autobiographical novels brought as much outrage as they did inspiration, dealing with controversial subjects such as heroin and homosexuality, and Jack Kerouac once described his comrade as “the greatest writer since Jonathan Swift.” Thanks in part to the influence of Allen Ginsberg, he was inducted into the American Academy and Institute of Arts in 1983. Burroughs branched out into the music world, where he befriended Kurt Cobain, collaborated with Nick Cave and Tom Waits on the spoken word album, Smack My Crack, and even made a cameo in U2’s music video, Last Night on Earth. He was to the 20th century what a shooting comet is to the night sky, a burning entity giving off the most wonderful and dangerous light.

William Seward Burroughs II was born into an affluent family on February 5th 1914 in St. Louis, Missouri. He was the younger of Mortimer Perry Burroughs and Laura Hammon Lee’s two sons. His uncle, Ivy Lee, was a publicist for the Rockefellers, and his grandfather was the founder of the Burroughs Corporation. His family were very reserved, which caused Burroughs to repress his sexual orientation for much of his younger life, despite an erotic attachment to another boy during his time in a New Mexico boarding school.

He attended Harvard University to gain an arts degree, and it was during his college years that he was introduced to New York City and its gay subculture.

Upon his graduation in 1936, his parents promised him a princely allowance of $200 a month – they were one of the few who profited from the Wall Street Crash in 1929 – which allowed Burroughs substantial freedom. He ventured to Europe, where he picked up boys from the Vienna baths and met and married his first wife, Ilse Klapper, a Jewish woman fleeing Nazi persecution and in need of a US visa. The pair divorced after a couple of years but remained good friends.

Burroughs returned to the US hoping to join the army. However, when he only achieved a menial role there, he began to become disillusioned with life. His mother noticed his depression and successfully applied for his civilian discharge.

After his successful recovery, he moved to New York where he shared an apartment with Jack Kerouac and Klapper, as well as with Joan Vollmer, who Burroughs would later marry. Kerouac and Burroughs collaborated on And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks, which was only published in 2008. He developed an expensive heroin addiction, and became a dealer to fund his habit. Vollmer also became an addict but preferred the then-prescription drug, Benzedrine.

Before long, a forged prescription note from Burroughs was discovered and he was sentenced to go back and live with his parents. After he served his time, he discovered that Vollmer had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital. He managed to get her released, and the couple moved to Texas, where they before gave birth to their only son, William S. Burroughs Jr., in 1947. Police arrested Burroughs after raiding his home in New Orleans and finding letters between him and Allen Ginsberg discussing a marijuana pick-up. The new family decided to escape to Mexico. During a wild party in 1951 there, Burroughs shot and killed Vollmer after trying, and failing, to re-enact the William Tell bow-and-arrow scene. A glut of bribes and shoddy legal work meant Burroughs again escaped prosecution, but his guilt would continue to torment him and would influence the rest of his literary life. He later wrote, “I am forced to the appalling conclusion that I would never have become a writer but for Joan’s death.”

Burroughs wrote Queer and Junkie in the early 1950s, though the former was not published until 1985. He then moved to Tangier in Morocco, drawn by the promise of cheap narcotics amongst other things. Kerouac and Ginsberg visited him there and helped him to write The Naked Lunch, his most renowned novel, which used the Brion Gysin process of slicing up phrases and words to create new sentences. The book also appears to prophesise AIDs, liposuction, autoerotic fatalities, and the crack pandemic.

In 1966, Burroughs moved to London in the hope of curing his drug addiction. He underwent a treatment that would later be undertaken by Keith Richards, and followed this up by writing a piece for The British Journal of Addiction describing his experiences. Burroughs continued to live in London, returning to America to escort his opiate addicted son to a hospital in St. Louis. He later relapsed.

Concerned with his friend’s condition, Ginsberg helped Burroughs to acquire a job as a lecturer in New York in 1974. Burroughs hated it but continued to live in New York and began mixing with the cultural heavyweights of the time, such as Lou Reed, Andy Warhol and Susan Sontag, hosting drug-fuelled gatherings at his house.

His son, suffering from liver problems, died in 1981. Their relationship had grown sour in the last couple of years, with Burroughs Jr. insisting that his father had “poisoned” his life.

Burroughs spent the last two decades of his life immersed in the art world, collaborating with various musical artists and helping with the adaptation of The Naked Lunch into a critically acclaimed film. He died in 1997, aged 83, while undergoing a methadone treatment designed to cure his heroin addiction.

WWI novels: A retrospective

Often lauded as the greatest of all the novels set during the First World War, Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front (1929), also made into an Oscar-winning film in 1930 by Lewis Milestone, documents the stress undergone by German soldiers during the war and their struggles integrating back into civilian life. It is a powerful evocation of the horrors of the war.

Ernest Hemingway set A Farewell to Arms (1929) in the Italian campaign of WWI. It tells the story of the American Frederic Henry, who is serving as a lieutenant in the Italian army, and of his love affair with Catherine Barkley. Hemingway based his novel on his own experiences in Italy and his real-life relationship with a nurse who looked after him in a hospital in Milan after he was wounded. A Farewell to Arms has been the subject of a number of films.

For my money, the most fascinating contemporary novels about WWI are those by Pat Barker, author of The Regeneration Trilogy. Regeneration (1991), The Eye in the Door (1993) and The Ghost Road (1995) explore the psychological damage caused by trench warfare and the treatment of ‘shell-shocked’ soldiers at Craiglockhart Hospital in Edinburgh by the renowned psychiatrist W.H.R. Rivers. The Regeneration Trilogy features fictional characters as well as historical figures, including the poets Wilfrid Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. In it, Barker deals with questions about homosexuality, masculinity, madness and entrapment.

Vera Brittain, mother of British politician and academic Shirley Williams, published a memoir entitled Testament of Youth in 1933, which spanned the first quarter of the 20th century. Her brother, Edward, and her fiancé, Roland Leighton, were both killed in the First World War. The most moving part of Testament of Youth is the pact Brittain made with Roland that if he died, he would attempt to contact her. Of course, in later years, she had to admit that no such contact had been made.

No discussion of WWI fiction would be complete without mentioning Birdsong (1993), a novel by Sebastian Faulks. Told in a series of flashbacks and flashforwards, it documents Stephen Wraysford’s relationship with Isabelle Azaire, a woman he meets while working for her husband before the outbreak of war. Birdsong was adapted for television in 2012 and, though perhaps not Faulks’ greatest achievement, it is definitely worth a read.

My final pick – and my personal favourite – is A Very Long Engagement (1991) by Sebastien Japrisot. It follows Mathilde Donnay, a determined and unique young woman, as she searches for her fiancé Manek, convicted of self-mutilation alongside four other soldiers and believed to have been killed during the Battle of the Somme. In 2004, A Very Long Engagement was made into a terrific film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and starring Audrey Tautou.

NYFW: Rodarte reds

New York fashion week defines what will be this season’s biggest trends not only in terms of style, but in the beauty world too. Backstage, makeup artists work tirelessly to create cutting edge and jaw dropping looks which, combined with the sartorial prowess of stylists and designers, create an unforgettable aesthetic that characterises New York’s runways. This season, beauty is bolder than ever and I have chosen to create a tutorial based on the whimsical nostalgia of the ‘bruised smokey eye’ as seen at Rodarte.

Step 1:

After priming your peepers, generously apply a deep, rich matte brown shadow all over your lids, blending it out towards the brown bone with a soft, round brush. Bring this colour down below your lower lash line to create a heavy, doe eye effect. Define your brows with either a pencil or eye shadow that complements your natural brow shade and slanted brush. Apply mascara heavily to upper and lower lashes, wiggling from side to side to achieve more volume and oomph.

Step 2:

Apply a cream eye shadow in a pink/brown hue such as Maybelline Colour Tattoo in Metallic Pomegranate  all over your lids using your fingers. The creamy consistency means that the colour will appear bolder and more pigmented, as well as being more resilient. Again, bring this under your eyes using a small brush and into the inner corners. Don’t worry too much about precision and clean lines, the look at Rodarte was very liberally applied to create that ‘bruised’ effect.

Step 3:

 

Defining and highlighting is always my favourite part as it really adds vivacity to the eyes. Grab a deep red/purple eyeliner and liberally line the upper and lower lash lines in fast, short strokes. Then line the water line with a black kohl liner to create a dark shadow affect around the eye and add intensity.

Step 4:

Finally, apply a burgundy shade to your lips. The darker the shade, the more intense and vampy your look will appear. At Rodarte, the models actually sported metallic lips, and if you dare, I would recommend pressing a fine shimmery pigment such as Mac ..in over the lipstick to add a futuristic feel to an otherwise nostalgic look. Pair this with feminine lace, pastels and pleats and give those New York fashionistas a run for their money.

NYFW: Beauty round up

Featured image credits: Instagram @lisaeldridgemakeup

Runway fashion can often be debatable (Kendall Jenner for Marc Jacobs, thoughts?), but there’s one thing that you can never fault: make-up. Whilst I’ve not had the time to watch all the live fashion shows, I recommend using Instagram to catch up on backstage pictures and runway looks.

The electric pop

Lisa Eldridge shows us how you can liven up your look with an electric blue eye liner. The best part of this look is that it is very wearable; you can easily translate this runway fashion into the streets of Manchester, perhaps toning it down slightly for every day wear. She personally recommends using a peacock blue liner on top and smudging a darker shade of blue eyeshadow on the lower lash line. The pop of blue was seen in the Marc by Marc Jacobs, Alice Temperly  and Badgley Mischka shows. This might just be the only colour you’ll need for spring!

The glossy lid 

Instagram: @ctilburymakeup

Beyoncé fans, this might just be a recreation of her look from her recent epic album. Charlotte Tilbury has translated the look onto the models for Joseph Fashion by ingeniously using a nude lip lacquer in Bardot Beige to mimic a natural glossy lid. This might not be as long lasting as a powder or cream shadow would be, but it definitely adds an extra dimension to the au naturale look.  Play around with other lip colours on your eyes if you dare, as most makeup can be used anywhere on your face. Try pretty eyeshadows as blush, and even coloured eyeliners for lipliners.

Glowing skin

Instagram: @narsissist

This glowy look seen on models of Phillip Lim’s and J. Mendel’s runway left me with serious glow envy. TGFM (Thank god for makeup) because despite the lack of sunshine in England, we can always fake it with a subtle illuminator! A recommended duo would be using the NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer with a tiny amount of NARS Copacabana liquid illuminator.  Mix it in with your foundation or on the planes of your cheeks and down the nose, and even your forehead for an ethereal glow.  An oldie but a goodie indeed!

Yes, Pieminister

Pieminister, 53 Church Street, Northern Quarter, M4 1PD (opposite Black Dog Ballroom)

The student diner demands high standards in this day and age of the British food renaissance where provenance awareness, animal welfare, and quality are paramount in many outlets’ manifesto. These in minds, an eight month old venture in the Northern Quarter caught our attention—enter Pieminister.

It seems a pretty straight forward concept, but co-founders John and Tristan and Manchester franchise owners Ben and Graham White are trying their hands at projecting an entire culinary and lifestyle philosophy through the medium of the pie. The word we’d heard on the street was good but nothing beats first-hand experience, so off we went to investigate whether Pieminister’s vision materialised on the plate.

First and foremost is to address the food. The whole thing is about the pie, and so they would have to be pretty much flawless, if not the whole idea would be compromised; the menu makes impressive reading—eight of the eleven pies on the menu hold national pie awards, the only ones yet to adorn a crown are the new ones which are yet to compete.

Now, there seems to be a skilful blend of tradition and innovation, beef is paired with chorizo, there is venison and dry cured bacon, furthermore a reflection of the social awareness of Pieminister, centre stage is the ‘Heidi’ vegetarian pie made up of goats cheese, sweet potato, spinach and red onion.

All pies can be served on their own (hot or cold) but there are an array of sides and toppings to turn a solitary pie into a multifaceted feast. ‘The Mothership’ meal deal is a pie, mash, and gravy, with minty mushy peas, and sprinkled with grated cheddar and crispy shallots—for £7.95 this is either a massive lunch or a substantial supper. Being gluttons we went for the mighty ‘Mothership’ and I must report some remarkable findings.

With all Northern Quarter style and flare, the pie-centricity of this entire outfit, and impressive display of red ribbons attached to their pies we were expecting nothing short of wonderment. That is what we got; butter pasty walls and a suet lid makes for a nice contrast in texture and appearance, the fillings are chunky and discernible—no homogeneous gloop in sight, and I can’t resist saying ‘no soggy bottoms’.

The Heidi is really a sort of Greek tart in pie form and initial doubt was cast as the whether these flavours would pair with gravy but all concerns were abated as the different elements married nicely. We tried too the Spanish inspired Matador Pie; the chorizo was spicy and cut through the rich gravy and buttery mash. Pastry, potato, and boozy gravy can be all a little too sweet, and the masterstroke in this pie is the inclusion of olives—their saltiness balances everything out just lovely. The Matador has a little kick of spice and certainly is a triumph of fusion cuisine. Third we sampled the big selling Deerstalker, a venison, bacon, red wine, and puy lentil concoction highlights the innovation of Pieminister once more; this pie is very rich and a slight criticism could be angled that the cured bacon was not pronounced enough amidst the other powerful flavours.

Alas, not to forget the extras, as they were happily not just a tokenistic sideshow. The mash was rich and creamy, the peas were a dream—not puréed but left chunky with a good heft of mint. The crunchy shallots offer a much needed texture variation amidst the soft peas, spud, gravy, and pie filling.

This is by no means an exhaustive exploration of the menu however! Combinations of ham hock, chicken, leeks, and mushrooms account for the, ‘Free Ranger’, Wild shroom’, and ‘Chicken of Aragon’, the latter crowned champion at the British Pie Awards. Of the 11 pies there are 3 vegetarian options, plus a MSC certified mash topped smoked haddock, salmon, pollock, and prawn pie for the hearty sea lover.

We had, before our Pieminister experience, consigned this place to a lunch-time specialist, but in actual fact, being open until 8pm and serving booze and bar snacks (the pork scratching and apple sauce were of the highest crunchy, salty and unhealthy calibre), Pieminister is a dinner and supper venue boasting a small but elite selection of beer and cider to supplement and compliment your feast.

The food in undoubtedly the essential thing here, but of course it wouldn’t be the Northern Quarter without an interior exuding style and atmosphere. The industrial chic, reclaimed school chairs, the exposed brick, enamel crockery, and fluorescent wall feature add up to make this the epitome of the pie and mash shop for the twenty first century.

The one thing I felt was missing however was any attention paid to the health conscious punter, as nothing puts on love handles quite like pastry. Yet my questioning was met by a confident rebuttal; there were in fact a range of new pies that are in the process of becoming menu staples that had a ‘calorie count’ of 440 per pie, which for a whole pie with pastry on all sides is rather quite decent. There is also a new salad creation being designed for the summer.

Pieminister has entered a very competitive market of casual, informal eateries in the NQ and no doubt people have loyalties, but I must say, Pieminister is value for money, substantial and filling fare, a neat blend of tradition and culinary innovation, and made from ingredients that are sourced responsibly and conscientiously.

There really is no reason why you shouldn’t pop on up and get your 10% student discount at this quite excellent addition to the Manchester foodie landscape.

The continuing odyssey of the craft beer revolution

‘Craft’ when prefixing the word beer means one thing for certain, and that is that it has a hefty price tag, but it does also mean, for the best part, that you’ll be getting a quality beverage too. Craft has also become synonymous with the great United States of America and so the justification is that once the imported rare batch of nectar from deep in Appalachia has reached our shores the price will go up, and this is fine; a rare imported wine, liquor, cheese, or cured meat all have the prices inflated to compensate for being couriered from the four corners of the world to our plates and chalices.

Now however, craft beer has become just so popular that it is available almost everywhere, including the supermarket. I stand besides Brooklyn Lager and Sierra Nevada as still excellent example of American beer that is rich and deep in flavour—but these high quality brews are now regular, everyday beers, easily accessible to be enjoyed on a thoroughly regular basis. In fact it is hard to avoid these beers now in bars, and since these are now firmly set in our beer zeitgeist, we must now push the boundaries further and become even more adventurous. Goose Island, though still delicious, is no longer rare and exotic, it has since become permanent on our landscape, and so we must push the boundaries and not settle for this, though undeniable excellent, staus quo.

So, what is out there and what is really quite different and is still genuinely micro in its brewing?

5 Barrel Odell is sophisticated and classy, and for me, the best beer in the world. It is a pale ale of the highest calibre; hoppy, fresh, and balanced with an intoxicating fruity bouquet but not over powering like Brew Dog per se. Don’t just take my word for it however, last year 5 Barrel won Gold in the Classic English-style Pale Ale division of the 2013 Great American Beer Festival Awards. All the way from Colorado, Odell beer in general, but especially 5 Barrel is the most sensational pale ale experience, and I urge you to indulge.

…And now for something completely different. Maui Coconut Porter really is something different, and delightfully so. This comes in beautifully decorated cans (and cans, unlike glass, keep light totally out and thus prevent the destruction of the organic compounds in beer that deliver flavour) and Maui Coconut Porter delivers flavour on so, so many levels. Though a porter, and of course full bodied, it is not too heavy or thick and makes for year round drinking. Coconut, though certainly present on the nose and palate, is not overpowering or artificial; the beer is evocative of smoky and toasty notes that come from the roasted malts and I think I sense a little dark chocolate and coffee too. There is no doubt this is a complex beer, something to savour, but it is worth every penny.

I must concede though that these beers are not probably the best session ales; I mean supping coconut porter all night would be some heavy going. So I have endeavoured to find beer that still has all the complexity and flavour a quality craft beer but can be consumed by the bucket load.  The good news is my choice here is the most widely available of this selection and is truly a world class beer. Behold Anchor Steam Beer, a Californian king, and at 4.9% you won’t be falling asleep (or into the urinal) after have five too many.

Amber in colour, the lager-like aroma, mild carbonation, and crisp dry finish makes this just so quaffable. There is also a smidgen of sweetness—the hops aren’t too bitter and the medium body leaves quite a smooth roundness. I think if you want a high class, complex, craft session beer, stay on the Anchor Steam.

 

To embrace the beer of the new world, here are a few stockists spread across the city; Port Street Beer House in the Northern Quarter, the Micro bar in the Arndale, Carrington’s in East Didsbury, and even Fallowfield’s very own Fallow. Happy drinking.

 

 

 

All hail the sandwich maker

In recent times the student world has been wooed by the stylish sophistication of the domestic coffee machine and the allure of the home juicer, but these frivolous lifestyle choices pale at the mighty, the sturdy, the no-nonsense sandwich toaster. In all my many years at university I have never known any of my humble abodes to be without one, and in every instance the sandwich toaster is a 1980s relic bestowed upon you by parents who, thinking they have unloaded some ancient clutter, have unknowingly empowered their soon to be eternally grateful son or daughter.

Having had my heirloom give up the ghost I was forced into finally investing in a new model, the sleek Breville VST025 Sandwich Press. To celebrate this momentous occasion I endeavoured to explore the yet unconquered frontiers of sandwich toaster possibilities.

First of all I took it easy and experimented with the most mainstream of sandwich. To get into the swing of things I rustled up a simple Gouda and smoked ham toastie. My big recommendation here is to sprinkle a little grated cheese on the top of the sandwich just before lid is closed—the cheese melts and then transforms into a golden molten crisp layer adding a new texture, colour, and flavour to the humble cheese and ham toastie.

Next, I figured why not make sweet sandwiches? Taking my inspiration from an artisan sandwich bar I discovered last year, I can only endorse this phenomenal and striking concoction.  Now this will sound pretty far out but the marriage really works; a brie, strawberry and chocolate toasted sandwich! Start by laying your brie on wholegrain bread; place on top a few broken pieces of nice dark chocolate (which of course melt sumptuously during grilling) and layer on a few sliced strawberries. The juicy fruit, the salty cheese, and hot molten chocolate, texturally balanced by the toasted bread makes for a king of a sandwich.

Take a trip south of the border and bang, we have Quesadillas. Take your soft flour tortillas and fold in half. On one half heap some strong grated cheddar, add in some diced chorizo, and scatter on some red chillies and finely sliced spring onion, and a shower of chop flecks of coriander. Once the tortilla is folded into a half moon into the jaws of fate it goes. The outside with be hard and crisp and the inside molten, spicy, and gooey. I served it with guacamole, but any dip such as sour cream or salsa will do.

 

Despite all the endless variations of toasted sandwiches, there must a parallel universe of rosti, halloumi, and slice fruit caramelisation…

 

 

NYC Style Tutorial

If you happen to be popping over to New York sometime soon (lucky devil), now is the time to start thinking about outfits. Having recently been confirmed as the most fashionable city in the world, NYC is not the sort of place where you can don a practical fleece (nb. If you actually own a practical fleece, burn it immediately). But before you start weeping and breaking out in cold sweats, let me show you a couple of my enlightened outfit combos…

asos.com

1. Stuffing your face with pancakes at breakfast

Let’s be honest, it’s probably going to happen. Who can resist the temptation of a light fluffy American pancake? Whether you are living the dream and having a hotel breakfast, or finding a bustling city café, New Yorkers have no time for people that look like they’ve just woken up. This silk shirt dress from Topshop is a gorgeous colour, and will look perfect paired with some neutral ballet pumps and a leather tote. With its forgiving floaty design, it’s the perfect breakfast partner.

Coat: mango.com
Top: matalan.co.uk h&m.com

2. Strolling through Central Park

The central issue here is looking good, whilst avoiding blisters. I’d get into town sharpish and bag yourself a pair of these long, suede boots from H&M. Couple them with a cute nautical tee and the very essence of springtime – the trench coat. This Mango piece has hints of black tailoring, which will tie in perfectly with your boots and a comfy pair of black skinny jeans. What we have achieved here, ladies, is effortless tourist chic.

 

missselfridge.com
FRONT, BACK asos.com

3. Cocktails at The Plaza

If you didn’t already know, The Plaza is sort of a big deal. This is not the time to drag out your moth-bitten frock from prom 2k10; we need high class, eye catching fashion on a student budget. Some might shy from the challenge, but not I. If you trot on down to Miss Selfridge you will find this amazing black jumpsuit. With a cheeky bit of back on show, it’s as demure and sexy as they come. All you need are some wacker-stacker heels and this elegant gold clutch by Johnny Loves Rosie. I wouldn’t worry about the price of cocktails darling, they will be queuing up.

 

Crochet Coral Project

Alongside the ‘Coral: Something Rich and Strange’ exhibition (that I’ve written about here too, I’m a little keen), are a set of crochet workshops that in a way subsidise the installation of a crochet coral reef, as the objects made contribute to it. These workshops are part of an international community project unfussily called ‘The Crochet Coral Reef Project’, set up by Margaret and Christine Wertheim, directors of the Institute of Figuring, an ‘…organization dedicated to the poetic and aesthetic dimensions of science, mathematics and engineering.’ Starting out in the US, the project has now reached the UK and Australia, each community described as a ‘Satellite Reef’. And the installation in this temporary exhibition is Manchester’s ‘Reef’.

The idea of the workshops at the Museum therefore is to get the local community involved, regardless of previous crocheting experience. Therefore, as an intrepid student journalist I took it upon myself to discover the intricacies of crochet. Definitely intricate.

At the museum, in a small room adjacent to another full of obnoxious children eating crayons, was a tranquil circle of crocheting. I was given wool, a needle, some instruction from a very patient and experienced crocheter, and off I went for an hour and a half to produce the masterpiece before you.

Definitely something to contribute to the Manchester crochet coral reef, but there’s no doubt that I learnt how to crochet, if somewhat limitedly. The instructor was more than helpful and I even learnt a few different techniques, which I did try out but the aesthetic of them seems to have been lost in the mush of wool.

Besides this, knotting the wool was therapeutic and kind of meditative. Dealing with that miserable Sunday feeling I was sceptical as to how much patience I’d have with the task, but I couldn’t have whittled away the afternoon more productively or enjoyably.
My efforts may be meagre but perhaps you would be more inclined to make a hyperbolic crochet masterpiece that was worthy of exhibition. If you’re interested there are still workshops to come, and the project isn’t limited to the exhibition timings; contributions can be sent in as long as it’s made form acrylic yarn. On the 27th February there is an after-hours session from 6:30-9pm, where you can learn to crochet, or practise and talk with those more experienced, and I’ve also been told red wine will be involved, which could be the deciding factor. Happy crocheting!

‘Coral: Something Rich and Strange’ at the Manchester Museum

Bobbie Hook gives us a private tour of the Coral exhibition at the Manchester Museum.

Most art history students would probably agree that we don’t get many ‘perks’ from the course… the compulsory trip to Florence/Paris/New York or another exotic escape no longer exists. But recently the second years were treated to what essentially was a personal tour of an exhibition by the curator. Not Paris but pretty special. ‘Coral: Something Rich and Strange’ at the Manchester Museum was curated by Dr Marion Endt-Jones who personally showed us around the exhibition. On till the 16th March, there’s still a little time to catch it. Only one room, it doesn’t take long to meander around and take in the exceptionally diverse uses and studies of coral. The display ranges from an art installation piece to a coral dummy to glass models used to teach natural sciences. The most notable theme of the exhibition is the mixture of science and art…how ‘Leonardo’. But seriously, let’s get interested in coral, it’s pretty well known that due to pollution and the phenomenon of global warming the coral reefs are suffering. Certainly one of the pieces is directly involved in the awareness of corals demise; a community (or rather an international) project where crocheter’s combine their efforts to create a woolly coral reef. Yes the concept is slightly naff, but apparently crochet can create a convincing coral replica, and the unity of crocheters from all over the world have contributed to one of the installations in the exhibition, I even attempted to create such an object myself (this only manifested into my new, limited knowledge of crocheting, not a crochet coral).

The first installation is Mark Dion’s ‘The Bureau of the Centre for the Study of Surrealism and It’s Legacy’ (2005); a room of its own, essentially a replica of a kind of nineteenth century private collection of classified natural and man made objects, however the objects found, chosen by Dion from the museum, are described as unclassifiable. The word in fact, that in terms of natural science, would best describe coral: not quite a plant underwater, could be an animal, above water it could be stone…super ambiguous.

And this perhaps sets the second theme of the exhibition. Leading from the right side of the strategically placed wall, on the left as you enter, (as directed by the curator herself who told us that some visitors go left…please go right), the the blue glowing light of the central element creates the ethereal sense of the wishy washy way coral had been studied/used/portrayed. There are displays of the actually object, hard and stone like, sometimes withdrawn of their colour; natural science studies which re-imbue them with colour and a sense of the softness of it undersea; leading on to the glass models used for studying perhaps with even more colour. Already there’s the idea that coral can very much be described in an artistic sense. The natural lines and fantastic colour are so ethereal no wonder people used to believe it had mystical powers. In the past it was used in jewellery and even dummies to ward away evil spirits and the like.

At this point the exhibition takes a turn and begins to show the more artistic inclusion of coral in contemporary and historical paintings. Marion has included a piece by the recent Tate Modern exhibited artist Ellen Gallagher (definitely worth checking out…sorry for the plug but she’s one of my faves). Part of her ‘Watery Ecstatic’ series, on closer inspection of the plain white expanse of paper, very delicately pasted paper faces of african women are made out, the faces are linked by wave like threads of paper creating the biomorphic shapes similar to the natural form of coral. Marion explained that these figures represented the thousands of africans who died during the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean on the slave ships. There were myths that those lost souls found freedom under the sea and created a new world for themselves. Slightly digressing from the subject of coral, but certainly indicative of its aesthetic influence on art.

But that is exactly one of the ideas that could be taken from this humble exhibition, that the natural attractiveness of coral has directly inspired mystical motifs and artistic expression from its discovery. Marion has chosen objects for a collection that describes the ambiguity of coral as well its subtle influence, while also including an awareness project for the threatened species.

So when you find a spare half hour in the next few weeks stroll over to the not-so-secret gem on campus, and have a gander at this mixture of magical and informative visual feast.

Twitch turns Pokémon into team game

A bizarre social experiment has been taking place in the gaming world recently. The community of Twitch, a website that allows users to stream game related footage and have chat discussions alongside, have been desperately trying to play Pokémon together. One imaginative user has established a server that allows everyone to play the same game of Pokémon Red at the same time, simply by posting their button commands into the chat window. The chaos that has been unfolding ever since is unprecedented.

At time of writing, the game was over six full days in constant playtime. Over 75,000 users are logged on. They’re four gym badges down out of eight, a feat that I would’ve called impossible. The road has not been smooth. There have been triumphs, and heartbreak. The simple act of cutting down a bush using one of the game’s HM moves didn’t take place until over two days into the marathon.

Every single action that the poor Pokémon trainer must perform is an uphill battle. Not only does he have to compete with the many thousands of people all trying to do the same thing at once, but he must also put up with a similar number deliberately trying to make him do the wrong thing. Twitch also employs a 20+ second delay on the input, requiring people to plan ahead to execute their intentions, be they good or bad.

The obvious analogy to make would be to a thousand monkeys working on a thousand typewriters, but the monkeys would probably be doing a better job at Pokémon. So far, mischievous users have successfully released the team’s beloved Charmeleon, affectionately called “ABBBBBBK (“ (pronounced how it is spelt) and tossed away just about every important item they can. The un-tossable Helix fossil has become a thing of legend, practically worshipped by many who keep forcing the cursor onto it during battle to find out that, sure enough, Professor Oak won’t allow them to use it.

In an effort to bring order to the chaos, the creator introduced an Anarchy/Democracy dynamic. Players vote on how the game will be played and, once the new ideal has 75% of the vote, the game changes to that method. Anarchy, the most popular option, is what we already know and love. Under Democracy, the game changes. Input is only carried out every 10 seconds, with the most popular option in that span being performed. Needless to say, the hive mind did not appreciate Democracy, and quickly ousted it.

The player spent over 24 hours stuck in a labyrinthine Rocket building that I honestly struggle with when playing solo. The frustrating floor traps kept poor Red occupied for several hours. Unfortunately, as has become a common theme, as soon as he made progress the trusty users across the world managed to navigate the menus and use the Dig move to automatically escape the area. Some have tried to put the perpetrator into the storage PC, but others are afraid of a similar event to the one that saw the release of “ABBBBBBK (“ and “JLVWNNOOOO”.

In an interview with Polygon, the creator (who wishes to remain anonymous) said “I just wanted to put it up to see how people would respond. I put it together and put it up on a dedicated server all within a few days”. In a separate interview with BADatVIDEOGAMES, the Australian programmer behind the madness went on to say “Although I claim it is a social experiment I think that gives the false impression that it was planned or for a particular purpose, it’s just a fancy way of saying ‘I want to see what happens’.”

I can only assume that, barring some catastrophic server crash, this travesty will still be going at time of printing, and thoroughly encourage you to see how they’re doing. Hopefully they’ll have escaped the maze by that point.

 

Top 5: Sex and the City Ready Cocktail Dresses

With all eyes turning to New York for the first fashion week of the season, it seems appropriate to look back to a phenomenon that captured the essence of the city that never sleeps.  Needless to say that in six series and two feature films, Sex and the City catalogued a vast collection of clothes and some looks have remained more infamous than others.  Inspired by the New York style icons Samantha, Miranda, Charlotte and Carrie, these dresses can be picked up on the high street today and all for under £50.

 

1. Samantha  – £45.00

Lauded for opinions and sex advice as colourful as her wardrobe, this dress is a modern homage to Samantha’s penchant for power dressing and block colours.  The bright yellow and black contrast detail makes this dress an inevitable talking point in any room; as Samantha was on numerous occasions in the Big Apple.

[image missselfridge.com]

 

2. Miranda – £38.00

Miranda’s slender figure and more tomboy tastes epitomised the iconic 90s supermodel style.  Sometimes graceful, sometimes questionable, Miranda’s preferred loose-fitting and often vibrantly-patterned clothes are reflected in this Warehouse dress.  The T shirt style combined with the graphic floral print offer a flattering and contemporary twist on Miranda’s look that is inevitably back with vengeance in the recent 90s revival.

[image warehouse.com]

 

3. Charlotte – £32.00

The most girly of the group, Charlotte’s pastels (wardrobe, house interior, etc…) are very prominent in all high street shops this spring.  Sweet and sugary, pale colours and floaty fabrics will hopefully make you feel more romantic and chirpy, even if the weather is a bit more Manchester than Manhattan.

[image topshop.com]

 

4. Carrie – £39.99

In the six years Sex and the City aired on TV, countless LBDs featured onscreen; a look synonymous with 90s New York chic.  This Zara dress characterises the minimalist 90s LBD trend.  Notorious for some questionable outfit combinations, to wear it à la Carrie, you could opt for a fluffy shawl, a diamanté duck-shaped clutch bag and some clumpy 90s sandals to complete your look.  If you’d rather not, that is understandable.

[image zara.com]

 

5. The tutu  – £45.00

At the start of every episode, there is Carrie in that infamous pink tutu.  Braless, in Times Square, and soaked as a passing bus turns a puddle into a tidal wave, this disaster would make it up there as the worst moment of anyone’s week (all too familiar for those who make the treacherous walk down Oxford Road on a rainy day).  This look, however, became synonymous with the series as a whole.  Apparently only bought for $5, the dress inadvertently became a huge success and even on the high street today there are tutu dresses imitating this legendary look.  NB – just remember to avoid any puddles.

[image misselfridge.com]

Career Corner: Maria Hyland

Novelist and former lawyer Maria J. Hyland lectures in creative writing at the University of Manchester. The author of three multi-award-winning  novels (How The Light Gets In [2004], Carry Me Down [2006] and This is How [2009]), she has also written for The Guardian, The Financial Times, the London Review of Books and elsewhere.

Name
Maria Hyland

Job Title
Lecturer in Creative Writing, Novelist and Editor

Where and what did you study?
I studied Law and English Literature at the University of Melbourne and then did a Masters in English Literature. I graduated from Law and English Literature in 1996 with a 1st Class, and did my MA from 2000-2002.

Did you know what you wanted to do when you graduated?
Yes, whilst I was studying Law I was writing (especially short stories) although, haphazardly and without very much discipline. I was also editing a literary magazine throughout my combined degree which took six years to complete. Although I loved studying Law, I wasn’t especially keen on the practice of Law – although I did it for seven years! Two of those years I lectured in Law but I knew that sooner or later I would be a writer. It was a question of getting myself organised and disciplined enough to write a novel and as soon as my first novel was published I quit Law altogether.

What path did you take to get you where you are now?
I have been writing since I was 7 but my first short story was published when I was 17. It took me so long to write and publish my first novel because I was studying and practicing Law. I was also a professional procrastinator, especially after getting home from a day of working at various Law firms. I quit Law in 2003, which is the year my first novel came out and did nothing but write from then until 2007. I was a full-time writer!  I then went to Rome to do a yearlong scholarship when I received an email from the University of Manchester asking if I’d be interested in coming in for an interview to teach. In Rome, I was running out of money and thought about how much I love teaching. I had only ever taught in Law and never in a formal capacity on the topic of Creative Writing. So, I came from Rome to Manchester; a place I had never been before and I did the interview and got the job!

Which authors inspire you?
Oh gosh! The true answer is a long one but mostly American short story writers from around 1940’s onwards. The writers who are like catnip to me are Flannery O’Connor, Raymond Carver and Richard Ford as well as certain Russian writers such as Nikolai Gogol and Anton Chekhov. I also read a lot of non-fiction.

What genre are your novels and what draws you to this genre?
I loathe the topic of genre. I want to write intelligent page turners and the most important thing for me is plot and the overall telling of the story – so, its genre-less! Crime is featured in my novels, especially the second and third. However, my stories are focused on psychological examination and the unconscious life of the mind of usually one core principal character.

What does your current job involve?
Although I love to teach I want to continue writing novels and therefore work part-time at the University of Manchester. I teach second and third year undergraduates as well as the Masters programme for fiction writing. I teach alongside whoever happens to be the iconic appointment at that time. It was Martin Amis and then Colm Tóibín and now it’s Jeanette Winterson. I also like to write pieces of non-fiction from time to time for newspapers such as The Guardian but my main gig is novel writing!

What do you most enjoy about your current role?
I am in love with teaching and it matters a great deal. A young writer’s apprenticeship can be sped up by years if they have a decent teacher and if that sometimes means being tough then I’ll be tough! I always had good teachers so I guess it’s in my bloodstream.

What advice would you give to students who might aspire to have a similar career?
To write a lot and read copiously! Think of it as akin to wanting to be a musician; you wouldn’t dream of thinking of it as a profession unless you had that guitar or violin in your hands for less than three or four hours a day. A student of writing should be leading up towards that mark. It’s work. It’s talent plus ten thousand hours to see whether you, as a writer, have the stamina, will and drive to write for the long-haul.

Do you have any reading recommendations?
You have to find a writer you like and you have to love their style. As I have already said, Raymond Carver and Flannery O’Connor are fantastic writers with a unique and established sense of style. Someone who is eager to read or write can subscribe to something like Granta magazine which will introduce you to new writers and give you a sense of what the standard is or what you might aim for. Or you can do what I used to do and go through the Nobel Laureate list.

Moving back home: top tips

You’re nearing the end of your degree and you’re facing that dreaded prospect: moving back in with the parents. According to the Office for National Statistics, an increasing number of young people are making this choice. In 2014, it’s estimated that twenty-six percent of adults in the UK between the ages of twenty and thirty-four will be living at home with their parents; not surprising really as rising living costs and an unstable job-market sometimes mean it’s impossible to consider anything else after years of accumulating massive debts at uni.

So, you’ve packed up three years of your life and dropped off your keys, said an emotional goodbye to your housemates and sobbed all the way home.  You get in and your mum tells you dinner is ready. It’s already like you never moved out. But what do you do now? Below are some tips for surviving the first few months back home.

Surviving the First Week

The first week isn’t so bad; you’ll wonder what you were ever worried about. Your mum keeps saying how nice it is to have your things left all over the house again, they let you lie in and there’s a free supply of alcohol readily available.

But don’t be fooled. A week later, you find all the stuff you left lying around in a pile by your door and if you’re still asleep past nine in the morning, your mum may suddenly decide there’s a patch of carpet just outside your room that needs vacuuming.

Oh, and when you go to the fridge for a glass of wine three nights in a row, be prepared for the concerned looks and questions and be ready to say no, you don’t have a drinking problem. Then just neck the rest of the bottle anyway.

 

Make Plans

Once the first few weeks are over and your parents have exhausted the list of relatives who haven’t seen you in years to invite round for dinner, brace yourself for some pretty long nights doing nothing. Gone are the days when you could spontaneously plan a night out. Now you have to plan in advance. Friends might be busy or live miles away, and good nights out are not often readily available if you don’t like in a city as vibrant as Manchester. You will find yourself wondering if you will ever be ridiculously drunk again, or whether you are confined to watching The Chase and Holby City every evening for eternity.

It’s vital though- both for your own sanity and your parents- that you spend some time apart. You might be shocked to notice that after a month you’ve began channeling your sixteen year-old self, whining about tidying up, or crying because your dad won’t let you watch X-Factor in the living room. The first time you notice this, after the initial ‘what have I become?’ moment, you should be more than motivated to have some much needed time to yourself. Start going to the gym perhaps, or take up a hobby that gets you outside of the house and enjoying yourself. Unfortunately, you have to start working out what adults do for fun now.

 

There is no such thing as ‘clean enough’

You may not be paying hefty amounts of rent in a crumbling student let anymore, but that means that you have to pull your weight around the house. Welcome back to the world of chores. At uni, cleaning may have meant washing all the pots when you ran out of plates and glasses. But back home, your parents run a tighter ship.

The cleaning cupboard’s a minefield. Who knew there were so many types of disinfectant? But get used to using the right ones, because the first time your mum spots you using kitchen cleaner in the living room, there’ll be hell to pay (even though they’re probably the same thing).

You might feel obliged to do the odd spot of housework if you’re living at home rent-free. So you clean all day and you’re feeling pretty proud of yourself by the time your parents walk through the door. However, be prepared an hour later to find someone redoing the floors because ‘you missed a bit’. Don’t be offended; maybe one day you’ll understand this level of perfection (or obsession). For now just leave them to it.

 

The prospect of returning to ‘family mealtimes’ and a bedroom that has been frozen in time since you were eighteen may seem pretty bleak, but there are advantages too: your bank balance (and liver) will get some well-deserved rest and your health can only benefit from you eating vegetables again.

Moving home can actually be a great alternative if you iron out the creases in the first few weeks. Your parents need to see that you’re not the same person you were when you moved to uni, but equally, you need to understand that they developed a certain way of doing things in your absence.

So, take a deep breath and just get on with it. Always wash up after yourself, turn down your TV after ten pm and never, ever let your mum catch you putting a drink on the table without using a coaster. Remember, it could be much worse and it won’t be forever. One day you might even miss it!

Aftermath exhibition at the John Rylands Library

Designed to bring together examples of “protest, reflection, memorial and invention”, the aftermath exhibition aims to show how, throughout history, some of the greatest acts of brutality have been countered with pieces of compassion and ingenuity. As you move past the exhibits, you step from tragedy to tragedy, interlaced with pieces of poetry and artwork. There are pieces ranging from before WW1 (which this year marks the centenary of) all the way through to the 9/11 attacks and the war in Iraq.

The exhibit is housed within the John Rylands Library in Deansgate. Yet it is in a space no bigger than a corridor, which sadly doesn’t work as an advantage. The result is that as you can jump decades in one step, which had the effect of removing any empathy for those who were affected by the various horrors. It made it feel more like a far-removed documentary, especially with later tragedies, which had little content. Perhaps a better move would have been to focus the entire exhibit solely on the disasters of WW1. This would have enabled it properly mark the centenary and have more focus on the resulting pieces of art and literature.

One piece which really captured my eye was a collection of a letters from students at Manchester University, who were soldiers at the time, to their professor in Manchester. It was very interesting to see what the relationship between tutor and student was like 100 years ago and to see how it has changed since.

Overall it was an interesting exhibition, however I feel it would have benefited from a stronger focus on WW1. It’s worth seeing if you are nearby the John Rylands library, but I wouldn’t make a day of it.

James Jackman

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I expected a general summary of WWI but the exhibition focused more on the effects, during and after war, on our very own Manchester.

It featured items that had been dug up in WhitworthPark by archeologists. I remember seeing people digging in WhitworthPark and now I know why. There are many hidden treasures lying underneath our feet! Because of the 1933 war memorial, the park has become an important space for former veterans to meet in remembrance of those who died.

The exhibit didn’t objectively showcase facts about WW1 but the experiences of the people going through it, using various art forms such as poetry, artwork and letters. This made it more personal than general, as it takes you on an emotional journey through the shoes, of not only the soldiers, but also the families and friends affected by war. For example the descriptions of women who were displaced and grief-stricken by the war, but who took comfort in the writings of other women such as the poet Lynette Roberts, who wrote war poems about those who were left behind.

The exhibition allows you to experience the aftermath of war through its influence on art and the city we live in today. If you haven’t been yet it’s definitely worth the detour from your weekend shopping spree.

Bianca Boorer

Tell me what’s your flavour

So, it’s been and gone again: that glorious time of year when perfectly happy singletons are made to feel like Miss Havisham, and couples are forced to prove their love for each other by buying naff balloons or − God forbid − sitting through ANOTHER Anne Hathaway vom-com. There is nothing to miss about Valentine’s Day. From the incessant TV ads filled with gooey eyed love-munchkins, to finding yourself queuing in Primark to buy a fluffy pink thong (#solidinvestment), everyone should be glad to see the back  of it.

In an attempt to make everyone’s next Valentine’s Day less stressful (couples included), here’s my two cents on how to invest in something you can rely on and avoid romantic disappointment. When Cupid brandished his bow this year, I decided to point him in the direction of Gary Lineker. Not because him and his sexy ears tickle my pickle but because he also holds the key to my heart: crisps. Much like my intellectual counterpart Russell Brand, I am an addict. However, my favoured rock is rock salt. My name is Rowena, and I am a crispaholic.

Crisps are flawless and divine in every single way. They’re diverse, nutritious (definitely one of your five-a-day) and perfect for bringing people together, as your hands tentatively touch as you reach for the bowl… Being such a fanatic, I regularly encounter the impossible question, “What’s your favourite flavour?” This is basically like Sophie’s Choice. Stop asking me. I can’t choose. I won’t choose.

So next year guys, my advice to everyone is to chill out about Valentine’s Day, whack on ‘Kiss from a Rose’, and instead have some quality time with that salty potato you’ve been eyeing up for a while.

My top five recommendations for Valentine’s Day (or any other day for that matter):

  1. Sea Salt and Balsamic Vinegar Kettle Chips. To add a bit of class to the occasion go for this classic. Salty, sexy and not too overpowering in the breath department. An aphrodisiac if there ever was one.
  2. Quavers. A fitness fave for all the babes out there, at only 88 calories you can have another pack!
  3. Frazzles. For anyone who considers themselves a bit trendy, these are the perfect Hipster crisp. Totally vintage. Totally delish.
  4. Pickled Onion Monster Munch. Not for the faint-hearted or those in a relationship (v. pungent) but these bad boys are guaranteed to spice up a night alone and go fantastically with a side of Bobby Pickett’s ‘Monster Mash’.
  5. The Multi-Pack. Any flavour will do. This is the party choice for the greedy go-getter. Much like any sexy experience, whether it’s a party for 1 or for 8, you’ll come out with a smile on your face.

Festival of Imagination

The Festival of Imagination, simultaneously held in London, Manchester and Birmingham, is a new campaign which encourages you to “open your mind and explore”. The festival consisted of events and workshops as well as a programme of talks from world-renowned figures. One of these talks was a discussion which aimed to examine the darker side of the imagination. Jeremy Deller, Mary Anne Hobbes and Dave Haslam, a trio who have frequently worked together on music and art projects came together to express their views on the ‘power of the imagination’. I attended this talk at the peculiar and mundane setting of Manchester’s Selfridges store. On arrival I was chaperoned through the store with pop-band Bastille blasting out of the rather tinny speakers – not what I had expected when I was told I would be going to see a Q & A involving three highly respected professionals within the art world.

Mary Anne Hobbes was interested in how the imagination is an escape from boredom and how as a young girl it was all she had to drive her away from her ‘uninspiring’ hillside town of Garstang, Lancashire. However the ongoing contrast in the views of the other two panelists was what interested me especially.

Jeremy Deller was interested in the positive effects of the imagination and spoke about how for conceptual art, free thinking (the imagination) is how you get to new ideas. He spoke about putting himself in the state of a child – allowing your imagination to run free without embarrassment and worries. Although Deller spoke about the use of the freedom of imagination in art, he avoided speaking about the negative effects which the chair of the talk, Dave Haslam, seemed to want to probe into and question the most . Writer, DJ and legendary honorary Mancunian, Haslam, addressed issues such as how it can be dangerous to ‘imagine’ a life out of your reach, showing his obvious interest in the dark and dangerous side of the imagination. This appeared to me a particularly fresh approach as it is often easy to herald our imagination as a tool for positivity and progression, ignoring the uneasy paths our imagination can take us down.

What frustrated me was how Haslam’s attempt to provoke interesting debate was often repressed by Deller who seemed to blatantly ignore his comments, perhaps in an attempt to avoid digging too deep. Instead of engaging, Deller would reply with a witty comment, once even jokingly announcing that ‘Dave, you must be depressed’. This was a shame as his lightheartedness steered the conversation away from something that could have been more personal and profound. This rigidness in his position within the debate and his unwillingness to open up to the audience undermined its intention: to explore and understand the power and depths of the imagination.  What I really wanted to hear was how he has personally experienced his imagination taking a wrong turn. Isn’t it so refreshing and eye opening hearing about someone else’s darker moments, the moments that people often think they are alone in having?