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Month: September 2017

Designer vs high street: the fashion week edition

Written by Talia Lee-Skudder on . Posted in Fashion & Beauty.

For those of us who can’t afford to take out a loan to blow on the hottest looks straight from the runway, here are the strikingly similar top picks from our faithful high street. If it’s cheaper, then surely that means we can buy even more, right?

With designers jumping on board with the see-now-buy-now runway collections, there is even more demand for high street retailers to keep up to date with the best trends from the catwalk, and get them into stores while there’s still a post-fashion-week-buzz. The purpose behind these see-now-buy-now collections is to prevent shoppers from turning to replicas of designer items during the agonising wait from runway to store. Yet it seems our high street is just too good — earlier this month, Kourtney Kardashian posted on Instagram a photo of her in that Gucci-inspired-but-really-its-H&M tracksuit. Within days, copies were popping up on online retailer sites such as Missy Empire.

If buying straight off the runway is just a hopeful but distant dream, fear not, because the high street has got you covered.

Burberry

The trench coat is synonymous with Burberry, and this season we’ve seen a spin on the classic style of what you and I would call a raincoat. Yes, it is still plastic and waterproof, but it has been given the more luxurious name of a ‘car coat’ because if you’re wearing Burberry then why on earth would you be walking in the rain? If you don’t have a spare grand, then ASOS have a great selection of rain/car coats to satisfy all of your travelling needs. Rains macs and Monki, in particular, are great.

Photo: burberry.com Photo: [email protected]

Erdem

The London show was a nod to the 50s silhouette — cinched in waists and full skirts, with a cardigan draped over the shoulders. In true Erdem style, the collection plays with textures and patterns from floral to feather, and fringing.  Spring/Summer 2018 is a beautiful collection for Erdem. Whilst it is near impossible to find items on the high street that have the same exquisite detail as Erdem, take inspiration from the shape of their clothes and the prints. All hope is not lost, however, because Erdem is collaborating with high street juggernaut H&M this season. Expect the signature style, but at a fraction of the price. The collaboration hits stores on the 2nd of November.

Photo: erdem @instagram Photo: topshop.com

 

 

JW Anderson

This London fashion week saw JW Anderson showcase a collection inspired by the simplicity of homemade clothes. Patch-worked fabrics and raw hems in muted tones were the main features in this season’s show, as were cropped peasant tops paired with flowing cotton trousers and skirts. Of course, no JW Anderson show would be complete without an assortment of corset style tops, and this collection has seen the fail-safe style revived in leather and knitwear. Check out these corsets on ASOS, or you can head over to Uniqlo and check out their collaboration with JW Anderson to get your hands on pieces designed by the man himself. The Uniqlo and JW Anderson collaboration is available in selected Uniqlo stores now.

 

Photo: jw_anderson@instagram Photo: asos.com Photo: asos.com

HOME Cinema Preview: 22nd September

Written by James Gill on . Posted in Film.

Films opening at HOME this week:

Borg Vs McEnroe

Directed by Janus Metz Pedersen — Rated 15

Award-winning Danish director Janus Metz brings to the screen the story of one of the world’s greatest icons Björn Borg — and his biggest rival, the young and talented John McEnroe — for their legendary duel during the 1980 Wimbledon tournament. The film stars Sverrir Gudnason as Borg and Shia LaBeouf as his tennis court rival John McEnroe. Playing Borg’s trainer, the legendary Lennart Bergelin, Stellan Skarsgård returns for a major part in a Swedish film for the first time in almost a decade.

Click here to book tickets

In Between

Directed by Maysaloun Hamoud — Rated 15

In director Maysaloun Hamoud’s remarkable feature debut, three Palestinian women sharing an apartment in the vibrant heart of Tel Aviv find themselves doing the same balancing act between tradition and modernity and citizenship and culture.

Click here to book tickets

On Body and Soul

Directed by Ildikó Enyedi — Rated 18

A slaughterhouse in Budapest is the setting of a strangely beautiful love story. No sooner does Mária start work as the new quality controller than the whispers begin. At lunch, the young woman always chooses a table on her own in the sterile canteen, where she sits in silence. She takes her job seriously and adheres strictly to the rules, deducting penalty points for every excessive ounce of fat. Hers is a world that consists of figures and data that have imprinted themselves on her memory since early childhood. Her slightly older boss Endre is also the quiet type. Tentatively, they begin to get to know each other. Recognising their spiritual kinship, they are amazed to discover that they even have the same dreams at night. Carefully, they attempt to make them come true.

This story of two people discovering the realm of emotions and physical desire — at first individually and then together — is tenderly told by director Ildikó Enyedi, but in a way that also exudes subtle humour. On Body and Soul is a film about the fears and inhibitions associated with opening up to others, and about how exhilarating it can be when you finally do.

Click here to book tickets

Orlando

Directed by Sally Potter — Rated 15

Orlando is a story of the quest for love, and it is also an ironic dance through English history. Addressing contemporary concerns about gender and identity, the film is remarkably true to the spirit of Virginia Woolf, but it also skilfully adapts the original story to give it a striking, cinematic form. The screenplay is a standard text taught in film schools as a radical and successful adaptation of a classic work. Orlando is a bold, unsentimental re-working of Virginia Woolf’s classic novel in which an innocent aristocrat (Swinton) journeys through 400 years of English history first as a man, then as a woman.

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Tramontane

Directed by Vatche Boulghourjian — Rated 15

Vatche Boulghourjian’s poetic and sensitive feature debut is a poignant exploration of the role of culture and storytelling in navigating the complex histories of war and life after conflict. Rabih, a young blind man, finds his life unravelling when he applies for a passport in order to tour with his choir and discovers the ID card he’s carried his whole life is a forgery. With his mother unable and his uncle unwilling to address his many questions, he sets out to find answers himself. Travelling across rural Lebanon in search of the truth, he must confront the sheer magnitude of the layers of collective silence that permeate the country’s troubled recent past. In his first acting role, real-life blind musician Barakat Jabbour bestows Rabih with a drive and persistence that are deeply moving, enhanced by his magnetic and defiant musical performances.

Click here to book tickets

 

Films continuing this week:

Mother!

Directed by Darren Aronofsky — Rated 18

A couple’s relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence. From filmmaker Darren Aronofsky of Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream fame, Mother! stars Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer in a potent psychological thriller about love, devotion and sacrifice.

Click here to book tickets

Victoria and Abdul

Directed by Stephen Frears — Rated PG

The extraordinary true story of an unexpected friendship in the later years of Queen Victoria’s rule. When Abdul Karim (Ali Fazal), a young clerk, travels from India to participate in the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, he is surprised to find favour with the Queen herself. As the Queen questions the constrictions of her long-held position, the two forge an unlikely and devoted alliance with a loyalty to one another that her household and inner circle all attempt to destroy. As the friendship deepens, the Queen begins to see a changing world through new eyes and joyfully reclaims her humanity. Directed with characteristic intelligence by Stephen Frears.

Click here to book tickets

Wind River

Directed by Taylor Sheridan — Rated 15

Screened to acclaim in Cannes where director Taylor Sheridan deservedly won the Best Director in the Un Certain Regard section, Wind River is a chilling thriller that follows a rookie FBI agent (Olsen) who teams up with a local game tracker with deep community ties and a haunted past (Renner) to investigate the murder of a local girl on a remote Native American Reservation in the hopes of solving her mysterious death.

Click here to book tickets

God’s Own Country

Directed by Francis Lee — Rated 15

Johnny, a young sheep farmer from Yorkshire, has sacrificed his own life choices to run the family farm. As lambing season approaches, much to Johnny’s initial resentment, migrant worker Gheorghe is hired to assist. Gheorghe proves he not only understands this farming life but more importantly, he understands Johnny.

Click here to book tickets

 

Special events taking place this week:

23rd & 24th September — Hook

Directed by Steven Spielberg — Rated U

Captain Hook kidnaps his children so an adult Peter Pan (Robin Williams) must return to Neverland and reclaim his youthful spirit in order to challenge his old enemy.

Click here to book tickets

23rd September — The Night is Short, Walk on Girl

Directed by Masaaki Yuasa — Rated CTBA

Masaaki Yuasa’s animated tale of young love is based on Tomihiko Morimi’s novel of the same name. Sendai falls head-over-heels in love with a fellow student at his college and decides on a strategy of ‘accidentally’ running into her to get her to notice him.

Click here to book tickets

24th September — The Tango Lesson

Directed by Sally Potter — Rated PG

The Tango Lesson is about a female filmmaker (Potter) who discovers and falls in love with the tango. In between bouts of writing a screenplay for Hollywood with which she finds herself increasingly dissatisfied she places herself under the tutelage of Pablo, an Argentinean tango dancer living in Paris. As the lessons proceed, they strike a bargain: if he will make her a tango dancer, she will make him a movie star. He accomplishes his side of the bargain when they perform in a show, but her attempt to make a film with Pablo in Buenos Aires exposes the complexities at the heart of the story — how do you follow when your instinct is to lead?

Click here to book tickets

24th September — The Cinema Travellers 

Directed by Shirley Abraham, Amit Madheshiya — Rated 12A

Part of HOME’s Not Just Bollywood Season

One of the most critically acclaimed documentaries to have come out of India in years. Amit Madheshiya and Shirley Abraham’s stirring elegy is a semi-observational portrait of the travelling cinemas of India, uncovering an unforgettable subterranean subculture of dreamers, cinephiles and projectionists. The work also depicts the transition from celluloid to digital and the inescapable anxieties associated with this technological leap of faith.

The work also depicts the transition from celluloid to digital and the inescapable anxieties associated with this technological leap of faith.

Moreover, Madheshiya and Abraham’s eye trains itself on capturing the idiosyncrasies of the ways in which audiences behave and watch films, leading to some rapturous images of cinema gazing. The Cinema Travellers has won numerous prizes at various film festivals including most notably The Golden Eye (Special Mention) at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, The Young Critics Choice Award at The Mumbai Film Festival 2016 and the Special Jury Award at the National Film Awards in 2017.

Click here to book tickets

25th September — Step

Directed by Amanda Lipitz — Rated PG

The Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women opened in 2009 with a mandate to send every student to college, despite the barriers that their home lives and community might present. Now, as the first class enters its senior year, the stakes are high to achieve that purpose. The film follows three irrepressible seniors and their ‘Lethal Ladies’ step dance team as they navigate a nerve-wracking college application process and strive to elevate the creative outlet that keeps them united and fighting to reach their goals.

Step hones in on the trials and triumphs of these tenacious young women, as well as their relationships with the women who champion and challenge them: their mothers, an unstoppable college counsellor, and a no-nonsense step coach. These mentors are never far, doing all that they can to enable achievement, often with the odds stacked against them. This founding class is wrestling with life at the brink of their independence, always to a contagious beat that is haunting and universal.

Click here to book tickets

25th September — The Lost Weekend

Directed by Billy Wilder — Rated PG

Don Birnam (Milland) is a struggling writer. Every day he bangs away at his typewriter, trying to compose something he can sell to meet the rent and to keep his creativity alive. But instead of completing pages of manuscript, Don is only adept at finishing off bottles of liquor.

Burdened with a severe case of writer’s block, he turns to alcohol for inspiration and emotional support. Wick (Phillip Terry) Don’s brother, tries to bring his sibling back from the abyss of alcoholic despair. Even the protestations of Don’s girlfriend, Helen (Jane Wyman) are not enough to stop the writer’s descent into a black hole from which he may never return.

The Lost Weekend is selected by Portraits of Recovery as part of a week-long series of activities here at HOME, including the free live performance Portraits of Recovery present: Apples & Other Fruits, and indoor gallery picnic and discussion, Portraits of Recovery present: Sustenance. Portraits of Recovery are a Manchester based, international visual arts charity. Founded in 2011 by Mark Prest, the organisation’s work supports people and communities affected by and in recovery from substance use to open up new ways of knowing and looking at the subject by working with contemporary visual art and artists.

Click here to book tickets

26th September — Court + Panel Discussion

Directed by Chaitanya Tamhane — Rated PG

Part of HOME’s Not Just Bollywood Season

An astonishing directorial debut, this skilfully scripted docu-fiction political melodrama from Chaityane Tamhane won a major prize at the Venice Film Festival. Taking a pointed look at the contradictions of the Indian legal system, Tamhane uncovers a prescient story about Mumbai’s invisible underclass in which an ageing folk singer emerges as an unlikely source of socio-political resistance. The film took three years to make and was supported by the Hubert Bals Fund of International Film Festival Rotterdam. Court was met with universal critical acclaim on the film festival circuit and is one of the best films to emerge from the recent wave of independent Indian films.

This screening will be followed by an informal panel discussion exploring Indian independent cinema. We will be joined by Ashvin Devasundaram, Lecturer in World Cinema at Queen Mary, University of London; Cary Sawhney, Director of the London Indian Film Festival; and Roy Stafford, freelance film educator.

Click here to book tickets

27th September — Missing

Directed by Costa-Gavras — Rated 15

When his son goes missing in a Latin American country following a military coup that overthrew a democratically elected government, Ed Horman is quick to blame the young man’s radical politics. However, when Ed visits the country to try to find his son he slowly realises the American government he supports so much is deeply involved in the atrocities enacted in the aftermath of the coup. A gripping story based on real events that took place in Chile following the overthrow of President Allende, Missing won the Palme d’Or and Best Actor awards at the 1982 Cannes film festival and is another example of director Costa-Gavras’ mastery of the political thriller.

Click here to book tickets

27th September — The Man Who Cried

Directed by Sally Potter — Rated 12A

Fegele (Christina Ricci), a Russian Jewish refugee working in a variety troupe in Paris just before the Second World War, is befriended by Lola, a white Russian exile (Cate Blanchet). Fegele meets Cesar, a traveller (Johnny Depp) in the world of the opera and they fall in love. But when the German Nazis invade Paris, Dante Domino, the star of the opera (John Turturro) betrays Fegele, and she has to escape. Under the extreme conditions of war, alliances are formed and broken and questions of identity become matters of life and death.

Click here to book tickets

28th September — Black Sabbath The End of the End

Directed by Dick Carruthers — Rated 15

The End of The End chronicles the final tour from the band who forged the sound of metal — Black Sabbath. On 4th of February 2017, the band took to the stage in Birmingham, the city where it all began, to play the 81st and final gig of The End tour — bringing down the curtain on a career that spanned almost half a century.

The sold out show marked the culmination of a tour that had seen them play to well over a million fans in arenas across the globe. Since their beginnings in 1968, they created a sound that would form the basis of heavy metal, going on to influence bands all over the world — an influence which is still felt to this day.

The End of The End is the story of that final, emotionally-charged concert. Fans are taken into the heart of the action, up close and personal with the band on stage as they perform genre-defining hits, from Iron Man to Paranoid to War Pigs, amongst others. Sabbath also took the opportunity to spend some time in the studio, delivering a unique performance of some of their favourite songs.

This film gives fans an intimate glimpse into the band’s relationships and their banter with each other, with both individual and group recollections from Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler.

The band’s loyal following spans generations and this is the opportunity for fans, young and old, to come together and see the boys from Birmingham doing what they do best, almost 50 years after they started. This is the final word from the greatest metal band of all time.

Click here to book tickets

Manchester joins ‘The Conversation’

Written by Rosa Simonet on . Posted in News, Science & Tech.

As of September 2017, Manchester has become an official member of  ‘The Conversation’, a non-profit group funded by universities, acting as an online news source for academics.

The Conversation is an online news source who, according to their website, publish “intelligent discussion” as well as “independent and fact-based debate.” They aim to “rebuild trust in journalism,” stating that “access to independent, high quality, authenticated, explanatory journalism underpins a functioning democracy.” Contributors and partners come from a range of acclaimed institutions around the world.

The website launched in Australia in 2011, and has since expanded to six editions. The Conversation launched in the UK in 2013, and has since been backed by a list of institutions, including 11 Russell group universities. As of May 2017, the site has reported a monthly online audience of 5.2 million, and a reach of 35 million people.

According to a Manchester Cancer Research Centre (MCRC) bulletin, “media relations are encouraging academic colleagues to register as authors so they are able to work with the Conversation’s team of professional editors.

“The editorial team work with university and research institute experts to unlock their knowledge for use by the wider public. It is proving to be a powerful way for colleagues to talk about their area of expertise to a mass audience.”

Recent contributors from the University of Manchester include cultural anthropology specialist Heather Cockayne, reader in environmental politics Sherilyn MacGregor, and research fellow Nicholas Chilton.

The site praises their sponsors for recognising the “value of helping us develop a new independent information channel that would also showcase the talent and knowledge of the university and research sector.”

Fallowfield Freshers: your local guide to the best restaurants to visit with a hangover

Written by Daisy Tolcher on . Posted in News.

The Friendship Inn £

This pub is based in the heart of Fallowfield and is perfect for providing a ‘hair of the dog’ remedy for your hangover. Whilst it is better known for selling cheap pints, the Friendship Inn also serves a wide and affordable range of food. Dishes include hot wings, burgers and classic pub grub. However it is their range of pizzas and calzones which really make the visit worthwhile!

Recommendation: ‘The American’ Stone-Baked Pizza £6.95 / Veg: ‘The Veggie Mighty’ Stone-Baked Pizza £5.95

Photo: Adam Bruderer @ Flikr

Dosa Xpress £

Although it is situated just outside of Fallowfield, Dosa Xpress is well worth the five minute bus ride into neighbouring Withington. Whilst this intimately understated restaurant specialises in dosas — essentially a south Indian ‘crepe’ — it also serves a wide array of vegetarian curries and other traditional dishes. Expect to enjoy a main and sides for less than ten pounds.

Recommendation: Chicken Masala Dosa £5.99 / Veg: Spring Dosa £4.99

Photo: ironypoisoning @ Flikr

Revolution £

Who says the weekend has to end on a Sunday? For those of you starting the week as you intend to go on, a meal at ‘revs’ is a good solution for that Monday hangover – with 50 per cent off selected food all day. This offer includes their range of burgers, pizzas and sandwiches, which you can pair with a drink from their vast cocktail list.

Recommendation: Brooklyn Chicken Burger £ 4.80 (with deal) / Veg: Halloumi Fish and Chips £4.90 (with deal).

The Fallow ££

This restaurant serves food every day from 9:00 a.m.- 9:00 p.m., which makes it the perfect spot to cure that delayed hangover. The menu changes seasonally and includes brunches, burgers and sharing platters, to name just a few. Whilst the portions are a little on the small side, the prices won’t break the bank!

Recommendation: Philly Cheese Steak Ciabatta £9 / Veg: Middle Eastern Sharing Platter (feeds two) £12.50

The Font ££

Positioned directly opposite the Fallowfield campus and with prices well-situated in a student’s budget, you cannot go wrong with this restaurant/cocktail bar. Serving a variety of dishes from big burgers to even bigger fry ups, the Font never fails to be generous with its portion sizes.

Recommendation: Full Fry up £7 / Veg: Harissa Roasted Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Flatbread £6.50

 

Super quick and healthy salmon supper

Written by Anokhi Shah on . Posted in Food & Drink.

Ingredients:

1 Salmon fillet (fresh or frozen)

2 Spring onions

1 Clove of garlic

6 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 Tablespoons sweet chilli sauce

4-5 Mushrooms

Handful spinach leaves

Handful green beans

1 Pak choi

Substitute any veg you like

 

Method:

  1. Finely chop spring onions and garlic.
  2. In a measuring jug, mix soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce and add the chopped garlic and spring onions.
  3. Chop the pak choi and mushrooms and take the ends of the green beans.
  4. Take a large piece of foil and place the fillet in the middle, on top of the salmon place the chopped vegetables.
  5. Make a bowl shape around the salmon with the foil.
  6. Pour the soy sauce marinade into the foil bowl then seal the foil around the fillet in a Cornish pasty shaped parcel.
  7. Place on a baking tray and cook at gas mark 6 for around 20 minutes or 30 mins if salmon is frozen.
  8. Remove from oven, open the parcel and serve with rice.
    Tip: This dish is easy to meal prep; make extra parcels which you can pop in the fridge, ready to put in the oven.
Photo: Anokhi Shah

NB: Feel free to substitute the salmon for any firm fillet of fish or a chicken breast.

Andy Burnham to crack down on private landlords

Written by Amy Wei on . Posted in News.

Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, is planning to implement a ‘Good Landlords’ scheme in Greater Manchester to protect students from dodgy contracts.

The scheme will “set basic standards for what is good practice in terms of being fair to tenants, in terms of rent prices, but also in terms of the safety of the accommodation, and also its energy efficiency.”

Speaking to The Mancunion, Burnham disclosed frustration with private landlords and the government for not taking care of student tenants.

“We’ve got a private renting sector in the UK that isn’t regulated in any meaningful way, so what we’ve got to try and do at the [Greater Manchester] level is to introduce a scheme that puts pressure on them.”

Manchester City Council does not currently operate any landlord accreditation scheme. Manchester Student Homes, an organisation co-owned by the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University, runs an independent landlord accreditation scheme, but the mayor is unsatisfied with its current standards.

He continued: “I have real concerns that a lot of the student housing in the city is way below the standard it should be — from a simple living point of view, but also from an environmental point of view… that is, I think, quite a big issue that we need to confront that we probably haven’t done.”

Burnham hopes that accrediting quality landlords in the scheme will help students determine which landlords to avoid, and motivate sub-standard landlords to make significant changes to the housing they let to students.

Burnham called on the city’s universities to work together with him to make the ‘Good Landlords’ scheme a success. “One specific that I think the university could help with is challenging private landlords who provide accommodation to the university students.”

“If all four universities within Greater Manchester were to work with us on the Good Landlords scheme, I think it would deliver significant benefits to the students.”

Many students at the University of Manchester have alleged that they’ve been exploited by private landlords in the past.

A PhD student who occupied what he called a sub-standard house-share from a local estate agent in Manchester told The Mancunion: “My room last year got black mould and damp, and even my clothes in my wardrobe which were clean got mould on them even though they were clean. I had to throw them out. All through this, the agency kept implying it was my fault.”

Representatives of the company were allegedly “patronising” and then claimed that a surveyor came and reported that there was no damp. Eventually, the student “threatened to report them to the council for letting out accommodation not fit for human habitation,” after which “they paid for having a dryer installed downstairs as a compromise.”

Another student came forward to The Mancunion after renting a house-share from an independent landlord. “She was very shady concerning her identity: she never signed off her e-mail and never told us her real name.

“Our contracts were all wrong for many reasons: she was saying we were lodgers but she wasn’t living with us; plus on some contracts she said that the bills were included in the rent, on others she said they were not included. She also changed the price of the rooms during the year and forced some people to sign new contracts. Some people also never had a contract. She was literally treating everyone very differently.

“She promised us at the start of the year that she would show us the bills if we required it. We asked her several times, and I even confronted her, but she never showed them, obviously because she was charging us way too much.”

Burnham affirmed that he was familiar with such cases: “Yes. I’ve heard that call when I’ve been at the university, and I think people are right to say they deserve better.”

While the ‘Good Landlords’ scheme is still being discussed, Burnham stresses that the University of Manchester will be “a very, very important partner for us in making that happen.”

UoM study paves way for treating form of dwarfism

Written by Kieran O'Brien on . Posted in News, Science & Tech.

A study carried out in mice at the University of Manchester — in collaboration with Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Australia, and the Institute of Genetic Medicine, Newcastle University — has led researchers to believe the drug carbamazepine, used commonly to treat epilepsy and bi-polar disorder, could also be useful in promoting bone growth for people with metaphyseal chondrodysplasia type Schmid (MCDS) (commonly referred to as ‘dwarfism’).

This disorder causes skeletal dysplasia, which impedes bone growth and leads to disproportionately short limbs. Administering mice with carbamazepine was shown to mitigate the effects of the MCDS, leading to a potential treatment for people with dwarfism.

Human trials are said to be taking place at the end of the year.

University of Manchester biochemist Professor Ray Boot-Handford who led the study, said: “The indication from this study is that carbamazepine might work in a number of other conditions, where the same process involving mutant protein accumulation takes place.

“But clearly, the next stage is to test it in humans.”

Another researcher, Professor Michael Briggs, from Newcastle University said: “It exemplifies the power of drug re-purposing for rare diseases: there has been no involvement of big pharma and this inexpensive drug has had a great safety record since the 1950s.”

MCDS is caused by a mutation in ‘collagen X’, a protein responsible for cell differentiation and bone growth. It is believed that the introduction of carbamazepine degrades the mutant form of collagen X, allowing the cells to differentiate and grow properly.

In the mice studied, three weeks of drug administration showed a marked reduction of hip dysplasia and misallignment. The results are published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

This is not the first time that drugs used for one disorder have been found to treat or cure other, seemingly unrelated disorders; Sildenafil (or ‘Viagra’) was originally developed as a drug to treat pulmonary hypertension, but was also accidentally found to treat erectile dysfunction.

Album: Foo Fighters – Concrete And Gold

Written by Jay Plent on . Posted in Music.

Foo Fighters are over 20 years old now. Let that sink in.

It’s impressive that they’ve maintained such a dedicated consistency in material and delivery over the course of their career, in no small part due to the vividness of David Grohl’s vision.  His dedication to hard rock-and-roll combined with glitzy accessible pop staples is like… well, Concrete And Gold, actually.

You certainly can’t fault the Foo Fighters’s resolve, and although it’s still difficult to actively dislike the group themselves, the material on this, their ninth studio album, doesn’t get let off quite so easy.

To cut right to the chase, Concrete and Gold’s tracks are hit and miss; not to the extent that they’re dreadful songs, but in that they consistently underwhelm after the initial impact of their first few minutes. There are a few crucial symptoms to the illness.

First and foremost is the predictability of the album. Nearly every track follows the same structure. Like the beats in a Marvel movie, it recycles the same plot points over and over and expects you to feel just as elated as the first time you hear them.

For example, there are at least 2 occasions where the band tries to pull off a folky misdirect, starting gentle then ambushing you with a wall of amp-bursting guitars. They do it on ‘T-Shirt’, then again on ‘Dirty Water’, and are clearly tempted to do it thrice on ‘Happy Ever After’.

Although this structural shift works on the tracks individually (‘Dirty Water’ is by far the most interesting track on the album), as a whole, it makes the album predictable. We’ve heard the punchline to this joke already: you can’t tell it twice and still expect a laugh.

And speaking of oral delivery, Grohl’s lyrics are another drawback to this album. Increasingly, the once fiery teen who led a revolution in 90s rock is relying more and more on tried and true clichés when it comes to his poetics, and it just edges the material that much closer to becoming really corny dad rock.

There are highlights of course: ‘Run’ is fun, and the lyrics for ‘The Sky Is A Neighborhood’ and ‘Dirty Water’ feature some nice extended metaphors about storms and communal strife, but for every high there’s a low.

The half-arsed attempt at a political statement in ‘La Dee Da’ is the most dire: “Turn up the American ruse…white house, death in June”. Really?

It’s not so much the fact Grohl tries to address the turmoil in American politics, it’s that he has nothing meaningful to say. It’s akin to throwing in a funny meme reference in a conversation, you’re not really saying or inventing or contributing anything, you’re just perpetuating an idea someone else has had without engaging with it on any meaningful, creative level.

The final problem is the production. Yes, it’s glossy and full, all the instruments sound great, indeed this might be the best sounding Foo Fighters record since Echoes, Silence Patience and Grace. However, the album is so oppressively loud most of the time, with little to no dynamic shift between the verses and choruses, that unless you were off your face AT a Foo Fighters show, or had an allergy to music under a certain decibel level, you’d find this album very hard to listen to continuously.

As talented a producer as Greg Kurstin is, I can’t help but wonder if it’s his pop-flex muscling in on the quality of Concrete and Gold. In truth, the aforementioned ‘folky-misdirect’ tracks on the album are the most listenable only because they have some semblance of sonic variety.

The tracks are so thickly stacked with instruments for so much of the time that they have nowhere to go. They start on 11 rather than starting on 10, leaving no headroom for the tracks to grow. Old Foo Fighters tracks had light and shade, peaks and troughs. Concrete And Gold is like Salar de Uyni in Bolivia: really fucking high, and really fucking flat.

Despite these drawbacks, I wouldn’t say this album is hateful. As I said earlier, the performances are still phenomenal, and the band do take some risks and bring in some new elements that pay off.

Although it somewhat contributes to the flatness problem, the chunky synths interspersed throughout are a welcome addition to the band’s palette, and it’s nice to hear Taylor Hawkins’ vocals again on ‘Sunday Rain’.

What’s more, the features this album boasts all mesh superbly with the texture of the album; I genuinely didn’t imagine adding Boyz II Men’s Shawn Stockman to proceedings would work, but lo and behold it sounds great. And of course there’s some rock royalty in there to in the form of The Kills’ Alison Mossheart. All these additions make things more fun, basically.

Concrete And Gold is an album that will certainly please die-hard Foo fans, but holds little of interest to anyone outside of that sphere who’s looking for music with a little more invention or depth. The playing is excellent, the production, whilst squashed and compressed, sounds huge and rich, and the featured artists, generally, are exciting editions to the band’s canon.

That being said, why they decided to include Paul McCartney playing drums is beyond me. Paul McCartney sucks at drums. Shout it from the rooftops. His playing on the album is one of the worst bits about it.

Overall, this is a largely accessible, Concrete and Gold shows underwhelming effort from the Foo Fighters. They take some admirable risks, some pay off and some don’t, and even if you don’t enjoy the album, it’s reassuring to see that people still love a good old fashioned blast up with some nice blokes who can still kick some amount of ass this late into their career.

5/10

Guardiola can not afford to repeat last season’s mistakes

Written by Sam Cooper on . Posted in Sport.

With Pep Guardiola’s arrival to English shores, many sat eagerly in anticipation at the effect the most talked about coach in world football would have on the Premier League. The Catalan’s arrival coincided with José Mourinho’s at Manchester United and the build-up to the new campaign focused on the locking of horns between these two managers.

City started last season superbly under Guardiola, winning the first six league games. This early season form had some already writing City’s name on the trophy, but a tumultuous October saw the Manchester club pick up five points out of a possible 12. The month began with an embarrassing away defeat at Tottenham in which the London club proceeded to pick apart City.

The end of October saw City still top of the league, but this was to be the last time, as a November draw at home to Middlesbrough saw them slip to second. It is always tough to succeed in your first season and managers such as Antonio Conte should be applauded as an exception to the rule rather than the standard.

For Guardiola, his task at City was an especially tough one given the contrast in his style to Manuel Pellegrini’s as well as the average age of his players. The summer of 2017 required a clear out and Guardiola strengthened well. City are no longer a team managed by Guardiola, instead, they are a team forged by him.

In the same vein as last season, the team have again started strongly in 2017/18. A 1-1 draw at home to Everton when the side was down to ten men is City’s only black mark so far and most pleasing for Guardiola will be the fluidity in which his team play.

Unlike last season where it was glimpses of Guardiola, this term it is more of the complete package. The Catalan has the players, has had the time to drill the training in and the benefits are being shown on the pitch.

After the 6-0 dismantling of Watford, Guardiola spoke of his happiness and how he believes this season’s opening good form is more substantial than last season’s. “There are many things we are doing now that we didn’t do last season.” the manager said in his post-match press conference. “Last season there was new enthusiasm with a new manager and new players and everybody expecting. Now we are more stable, we know each other better.”

One of City’s biggest problems last season was that they were not clinical enough. The style that Guardiola brings is one that produces many goal opportunities and in the 16/17 campaign, City produced an average of 12.68 chances per game, but only scored an average of 2.11. Fast forward to this season and while City create marginally more chances at 13.80, they score an average of 3.20.

This increase in goals has seen City steamroller many teams already this season. Between the 9th and 16th of September, the Manchester side scored 15 goals, with none conceded.

Perhaps the most pleasing part of that stat for Guardiola will be the zero conceded. City’s expensive search for a partner or even a replacement to Vincent Kompany has proved fruitless season after season but with a tactical switch to a back three, the team can rely on the sum of its parts rather than individuals.

John Stones has excelled in his central position. And while Nicolás Otamendi has looked vulnerable, with the help of the full backs, his weaknesses have not been fully exposed.

For Guardiola, maintaining this early season form is his biggest challenge. The manager is in the middle season of his three-year contract and for his time in England to be deemed a success, Guardiola knows he must avoid another embarrassing collapse this time around.

Cassini’s grand finale

Written by Kieran O'Brien on . Posted in News, Science & Tech.

On Friday the 15th of September, the Cassini probe was purposefully directed into Saturn, burning up in its atmosphere almost instantly and bringing to an end an almost 20-year mission to study the gas giant.

Launched on the 15th of October 1997 as a collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, the Mariner Mark II spacecraft entered Saturn’s orbit on the 1st of July 2004, and spent the following 13 years studying the planet’s famous rings and natural satellites.

Throughout its 13-year orbit of Saturn, Cassini discovered seven previously unknown Saturnian moons, whilst making detailed observations of Saturn’s rings, and largest its moon, Titan.

The rings were discovered to be composed of mostly water ice, and whilst extending a phenomenal 80,000 km away from Saturn’s equator, were found to be on average only a few metres thick, and even as little as one metre in some areas. Their icy composition explains why they are so visible, and can be seen from Earth with only the aid of amateur telescopes, as the ice reflects the sun’s light.

Another major component of this groundbreaking mission was the sending of another probe — Huygens, named after the Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens, who discovered Saturn in 1655 — onto the surface of Titan. Huygens successfully landed on Titan’s surface on the 14th January of 2005, and from this made important discoveries such as the composition of Titan’s atmosphere, and the presence of liquid lakes of methane and ethane in the polar regions of the moon.

Perhaps one of Cassini’s most famous and recent events was in 2015, when it flew through a vapour plume erupting from the surface of another of Saturn’s moons, Enceladus. These plumes were first discovered a few years previously, and various analyses and data from Cassini’s fly-through confirmed that these clouds contained mostly water vapour, as well as traces of nitrogen, methane and carbon dioxide. The plumes are from liquid repositories under the surface of Enceladus which erupt when they reach the surface of the moon, in much the same way that geysers behave on Earth.

Of course, what goes up, must come down — even if not necessarily back down to Earth — and Cassini made its preparations for its ‘death plunge’ into Saturn’s atmosphere a few weeks ago. In preparation for this final act, the probe became the first man-made object to orbit between Saturn and its rings, making several orbits in this region and continuing to make scientific observations. The decision to destroy Cassini in this manner came from worries that biological contamination from the spacecraft could affect any one of Saturn’s moons — particularly Titan and Enceladus — if these worlds harbour any form of extraterrestrial life.

Finally, Cassini took one last picture of Saturn’s atmosphere before entering it; signal was lost at 7:56 AM EDT on the 15th of September 2017.

Few missions to explore the outer reaches of our solar system have given us so much information about the worlds orbiting our star, as well as prompting such marvel and wonder about outer-space and beyond.

Thanks to Cassini, further missions to the Saturnian system are being proposed, including the suggestion of sending a probe to Enceladus and its geysers, with the explicit goal of finding life elsewhere in the solar system.

Manchester University to mark NHS’s 70th birthday with exhibition and films

Written by Cameron Broome on . Posted in News.

Marking the institution’s 70th anniversary in 2018, The University of Manchester will create the first shared social history of the National Health Service (NHS), thanks to £785,000 of National Lottery Funding.

The Centre for the History of Science, Technology & Medicine (CHSTM), part of the university’s Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, has received initial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for the ‘From Cradle to Grave: The NHS at 70’ project.

The grant will allow the multi-partner project to train volunteers to gather stories from the NHS’s patients and workers, as well as politicians and the general public, recording its unique place in everyday, post-war British life.

Commenting on the award, Project Director, Stephanie Snow said: “We are thrilled to have received National Lottery funding. The project has huge potential to transform engagement with the NHS’s history across the UK and beyond through digital tools, and through the contributions of volunteers and communities.”

A major component of the project will be the creation of an innovative new website which will allow the public to submit their stories of the NHS by uploading recordings, photos, and documents. The website will act as a hub for existing and previous histories of the NHS.

The project will also create a touring exhibition, a programme of events, and 40-minute feature film.

“We urgently need to capture the memories of the first generations who worked and were cared for by this unique institution, as they are now in their 80s and 90s”, Stephanie Snow said.

160 people will be trained to gather stories and artefacts from the NHS’s 70-year history, while 70 young people aged 14-25 will act as Community Reporters, filming stories in their local area.

These testimonies, from everyday users and workers in the health service to key policymakers, MPs, and trade union officials, will contribute to a multimedia, publicly accessible record of the NHS, filling existing gaps in its history, and recording the personal stories that make the service so unique.

“The funding is a mark of the high regard with which Manchester is viewed in healthcare”, suggested Niall Dickson, Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents health organisations in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Frances O’Grady, General Secretary of the British Trades Union Congress said: “The NHS is the people’s health service. It is a bond between all of us — patients, staff and communities. Everyone has a story about how the NHS changed their lives. Those stories need to be told, need to be captured and celebrated. We’re delighted to be involved with this project and can think of no better way of celebrating the 70th anniversary of the NHS than bearing testimony to the millions of people that have contributed to this wonderful national institution.”

Album: Mount Kimbie – Love What Survives

Written by Lowell Clarke on . Posted in Music.

There’s a brief but beautiful moment in the opening track, ‘Four Years and One Day’, where after building for most of the track, the synths break off from the kraut-rock inspired guitar crescendo, only for the guitars to smash back in with a resemblance to Joy Division’s ‘Shadowplay’.

Gone are the stripped back and precise sounds of old; this is the messy, raw sound of Mount Kimbie injecting their music with the joy of playing instruments without the pretence of making a dance record.

The first guest vocalist, King Krule, arrives on the next track.  ‘Blue Train Lines’ is, unsurprisingly, a very Krule-esque track. Like most of the other guest vocalists on the album, the real surprise is that Mount Kimbie sound like the featured artists in their own songs. Most of the album comes across as two musicians who have compromised between being background producers or a band led by the instrumentation.

But of course they still have an incredible attention to details that bring sections of the album to life. There’s something oddly hypnotic about the sounds of Audition, like Joy Division covering the cold, robotic sounds of Warp label heavyweights Autechre.

It contrasts with the love drunk rhythms of the next track, ‘Marilyn ft. Micachu’, which strikes the emotional high point of the album. This one will be streaming from many a late night crooning playlists for years to come.

At so many times and in so many ways the album sounds like a pale homage to something else. ‘T.A.M.E.D’ was described by the band as “Our version of a pop song; a really deranged pop song”, which must be code for ripping off Metronomy and hoping no one notices.

It’s moments like these when the influences are so boldly obvious, comparable to Errol Alkan’s psych inspired side project, Beyond The Wizards Sleeve, which never feels bored of the music it brilliantly pastiches. It leaves you wondering what Mount Kimbie would achieve if they tuned out everything else and focused on the music inside their own clearly brilliant minds.

Fortunately they’re sure to be around experimenting for a while yet.

6/10

The Red Devils go joint top after a 4-0 win at Everton

Written by James Gill on . Posted in Sport.

Ronald Koeman is something of a bogey manager for Mourinho. Throughout his career, he is the only manager Mourinho has played five times and not beaten. This looks destined to change though as Everton are winless in ten consecutive games and have failed to score in their last three.

United are flying high coming off the back of a comfortable 3-0 victory against Basel and make five changes from the team that played on Wednesday. Bailly and Jones return at centre-back, having not played during the week due to European suspension. Valencia comes in for Blind, Fellaini for the injured Pogba and Rashford for Martial. De Gea, Young, Matic, Mata, Mkhitaryan and Lukaku all start too. The Red Devils need to score five to go clear of Manchester City at the top of the table on goal difference.

Andre Marriner blows his whistle to start the game on a rainy Sunday afternoon at Old Trafford. Everton sit deep from the start playing five at the back with a row of four midfielders sitting just in front. Former red Wayne Rooney plays as a lone, isolated striker. Despite this defensive approach they start brightly, pressing quickly to try and force errors. United are unfazed by this and hold possession well.

The first chance comes in the 3rd minute as Matic takes control of the ball on the left-hand side of the pitch. There are three red shirts waiting in the box but instead, he crosses to Valencia on the edge of the 16-yard box. To the surprise of Everton’s keeper Pickford, his teammates and everybody watching the game, Valencia strikes the ball first time on the volley. Like an Oasis reunion, some things are just meant to be and the ball goes right into the top corner of the net. 1-0.

Rather than sit back and defend for the following 87 minutes like last season, United continue to have the lion’s share of possession. Mkhitaryan has a free role and keeps finding pockets of space in between the two rigid defensive lines with the Toffee’s looking unable to cope with the fluidity of play.

After 20 minutes Everton begin to settle and thread some passes together. Sadly they are a few stitches short of a quilt and their final third passing leaves a lot to be desired. Aside from a driven shot by Rooney that goes well wide, they have been unable to get into shooting areas.

United look content to play without the ball, letting the visitor’s push forward, creating large gaps on the pitch in the process. The pace of the forwards combined with their superiority in one on one situations leaves them incredibly dangerous even without the ball.

In a lapse of concentration, Leighton Baines passes it wide of Schneiderlin to Mata who puts Lukaku in on goal. Unlike the Valencia chance, everybody in the stadium would have thought this was a simple finish for the Belgian but he chips it just wide. A clear opportunity to put daylight between the two teams.

Soon after Martina breaks down the right-hand side for Everton and crosses in to Davies who, a couple of yards short of the ball, tries an audacious diving header. The header goes straight at De Gea and he came from an offside position but he deserves credit for his outside-the-box-while-inside-the-box thinking.

At half time United are deservedly ahead, although it should perhaps be two goals up rather than one. Mourinho will be very happy with his team’s performance even though Everton came out of their shell for the last 20 minutes of the half as their possession didn’t translate into concrete chances.

Koeman must have given quite the team talk as Everton storm out of the gates in the second half. They get rewarded for their effort too as a neat one-two by Rooney allows him to fire a shot away and forces a good save by De Gea.

As time progresses the United fans are becoming increasingly frustrated, their team deep sitting deeper and deeper. Thoughts of wasted leads and points last year are still fresh in their minds and having tasted the sweet nectar of 4-0 victories they don’t want to go back.

The players sensing this frustration kick it up a notch and play with a higher intensity. Mata whips a cross into Lukaku but a poor chest down leaves the ball just out of reach for him. Another wasted chance by Lukaku. Fellaini, or as some might call him the ‘Belgian Liam Neeson’ with his very particular set of skills, has a far better chest touch and probably would have converted it. Lukaku then changes his boots on the touchline, surely now he will convert his opportunities.

The first substitution comes in the 60th minute, Rashford off for Lingard. Rashford has been threatening with his pace but often lacked the final pass. He would suit a central role far better but will struggle to dislodge Lukaku for the places.

Pickford clears the ball appallingly, giving the ball straight to Mata. Williams fouls him just on the edge of the box to prevent a goalscoring opportunity and picking up the first yellow of the game. The free kick results in a Mata shot hitting the post. United pick up the pace now with Lingard and Matic both coming close with shots but ultimately not causing too much trouble.

Herrera comes on for Mata in the second substitute of the game. The Spaniard struggled with the physicality of the game, being easily barged off the ball.

Having already picked up a yellow card Williams makes a desperate challenge on Lingard inside the box, taking none of the ball but all of the man. Marriner gives no penalty but a second viewing shows it to be a clear foul and Williams should be becoming acquainted with the changing room showers. Following this Bailly gets a yellow card for sweeping the leg of Calvert-Lewin.

Williams’ game goes from bad to worse making yet another mistake giving the ball away to Fellaini. Lukaku receives the ball opts not to shoot but instead pass to Mkhitaryan who is in acres of space. The assister becomes the assisted and in pure FIFA style he finesses the ball past Pickford to make it 2-0 in the 83rd minute killing the game. Mkhitaryan then comes off for Martial.

Smelling blood, United pile on the pressure and Lingard is fouled by Baines on the edge of the box. Lukaku picks up the ball, fancying his chances. Immediately a roar of boos and whistles come from the away end — a disappointing sight to see. The free kick hits the wall and is deflected out wide to Matic. He controls the ball before crossing it in and like a Valencia shot from 25 yards out some things are just meant to be. Lukaku taps it in from three yards. As he celebrates he runs to the away end holding his hand to his ear, mirroring the disrespect. He has scored in five consecutive Premier League games now, equalling the record of Robin Van Persie and Louis Saha.

In the first of three minutes of injury time, Everton get a corner and commit all but two players forward, trying to at least stop the clean sheet for De Gea. Instead, they get caught on the break by the fresh legs of Lingard and Martial. Lingard takes on two, and then a third who slides in and uses his hand to stop the ball. The referee takes a moment before blowing his whistle, penalty to united.

Up steps Anthony Martial, with a perfect five from five penalty record. He sends Pickford the wrong way to make it 4-0. Everton have completely capitulated in the last 10 minutes of the game. A third goal this season for Martial, all as substitutes.

4-0 the games ends and United go joint top of the table. Fun fact time, if the season ended here there would have to be an additional playoff game between United and City to determine the winner of the league as the points total, goals for, goals against and goal difference are all equal.

Review: Wind River

Written by Jamie McEvoy on . Posted in Film.

Crime in sub-zero territory has been well-represented on-screen throughout the years.  Notable examples include classics such as the Coens’ Fargo (1996), and more recent hits, such as Jennifer Lawrence’s breakthrough film Winter’s Bone (2010) and Sky Atlantic’s Fortitude.  There is something about the bleak and monotonic landscape of tundra, or frozen expanses, that injects into audiences a chill which is difficult to recreate in other settings.

Wind River is no exception.  Right from the film’s opening scene, in which we see a terrified girl run barefoot through vast stretches of snow, the unforgiving nature of the environment is evident.  Do not let the inclusion of Avengers duo Renner and Olsen fool you — this film could not be any further from the glossy superhero romps Marvel continue to churn out.

After 18 year old Natalie Hanson’s body is found frozen in the Wind River Indian Reservation, FBI agent Jane Banner (Olsen) arrives to assess whether the death was a homicide.  With help from Renner’s Cory Lambert — a predator hunter for the reservation — she follows an ominous trail of leads to track down the culprit, only to uncover a truth much darker and sinister than first suspected.

All in all, it is a highly impressive directorial debut from Taylor Sheridan (ignoring his 2011 gore-porn flick Vile).  He is known for his superb screenplays in Sicario (2015) and Hell or High Water (2016), and the dialogue and tone of these two films is very much present in Wind River. However, he has avoided merely mimicking the techniques he undoubtedly observed from directors Denis Villeneuve and David McKenzie while working on these films; with immensely powerful and atmospheric cinematography from the relatively inexperienced Ben Richardson, Sheridan has made the film his own, and could be looking at a very prosperous directorial career ahead of him.

The major shortcoming of the film, however, is its initial pace.  The audience warms to Renner’s Lambert immediately, through expositional scenes of the hunter with his son and ex-wife.  Yet it is the scenes in which Sheridan introduces us to the mourning parents of victim Natalie, and in which Lambert berates the junkie Hanson brother Chip, that dilute the tension and suspense, causing the opening act drag somewhat.

Nevertheless, this is a minor pitfall which is quickly forgotten as the tried-and-tested chemistry between Renner and Olsen blossoms further, and the plot thickens.  There is an ingenious flashback scene which completely changes the complexion of the act it interrupts (starring a Jon Bernthal very different to the characters he is renowned for playing in The Walking Dead and this year’s Baby Driver), and at the film’s climax there is an exhilarating stand-off scene which more than makes up for the film’s slow start.

Sheridan’s next film project is Villeneuve’s Sicario sequel, Soldado, for which he has written the screenplay.  Wind River is an excellent first run-out as director for the writer, and already enjoying vast critical and commercial success, could prove to be Sheridan’s gateway to a successful directorial career.

4/5

Review: Mother!

Written by Jamie McEvoy on . Posted in Film.

Darren Aronofsky has an interesting back catalogue. Artistic and dark features such as Requiem for a Dream (2000) and Black Swan (2010) are the front-runners, whilst more mainstream hits in The Wrestler (2008) and Noah (2014) are entertaining, yet less inventive works by the American auteur. Expectations were high for Mother!, with such a tremendous cast and premise.

Jennifer Lawrence stars as the wife of struggling writer Javier Bardem, and they live together in an isolated, picturesque house surrounded by fields and woodland.  Lawrence’s ‘Mother’ (the characters are nameless, and are credited simply with descriptors such as ‘Him’ or ‘Fool’) describes her home as a “paradise”, yet this self-made utopia is disrupted when ‘Man’ (Ed Harris) appears at their door, claiming to mistake the house for a bed and breakfast. Shortly after, ‘Woman’ (Michelle Pfeiffer) turns up — Man’s glamorous and femme fatale-esque spouse.

What follows is a tale of paranoia, deceit, and horror as ‘Mother’ faces a struggle to maintain her sanity, whilst attempting to prove to her naïve husband that something is not quite right about the polite yet sinister guests who have arrived at their home.

Having watched the trailer and heard tales of audiences walking out of screenings in disgust, going into Mother! I felt I was prepared for whatever Aronofsky was going to throw at me. The film starts slowly, yet the intrigue the director induces in the audience is almost tangible. The first hour or so is reminiscent of an eerie, tension-ridden silence before a jump-scare in a horror film, and just as Lawrence’s protagonist does, the audience scrutinises every detail on the screen, ears pricked for the quietest of noises.

The relationship between Lawrence and Bardem is akin to that of Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes in Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby (1968) — a wife who can sense malignant conspiracy but whose suspicions are constantly rebuked and laughed away by her starry-eyed and narcissistic husband.

Once the tension rises to boiling level and inevitably explodes, the film descends into chaos.  Without meaning to include any spoilers, it is possibly the most uncomfortable and oppressive stretch of on-screen action I have watched in my life. One scene in particular is horrifying, and similar to reviews I had read beforehand, certain members of the audience evidently found it too much and left the auditorium.

Despite all the religious connotations and allegories to Genesis (in short, Jennifer Lawrence’s character is a metaphor for ‘Mother Earth’ and Bardem’s ‘Him’ is representative of God), Mother! is a nightmarish whirlwind which ultimately somewhat loses direction.  The intrigue and tension, with which the film’s first act is ripe, is seemingly tossed aside by Aronofsky in the film’s later two acts.  I could not help but feel that this was arguably a gratuitous attempt to merely shock the audience to an extent which surpasses the boundaries of ‘mainstream cinema’.

However, Mother! is undoubtedly an impressive artistic feat. Visually it is masterful, and regular Denis Villeneuve collaborator Jóhan Jóhansson has produced a chilling and understated score which perfectly encapsulates the mental torment of Lawrence’s ‘Mother’.  The star-studded cast is equally fantastic, with Lawrence demonstrating her acting prowess by portraying a character that is very different from those that she’s best known for in The Hunger Games and X-Men series.

A shocking and traumatic film which feels more like artwork than a movie, Mother! is an oppressive, hellish ordeal which just about retains enough structure to avoid descending into pure havoc and terror.  Definitely not for the faint-hearted, and even for those who deem themselves confident in the face of boundary-pushing cinema, take a deep breath before viewing.

3/5

12 Manchester dining deals that will get you through September

Written by Anokhi Shah on . Posted in News.

It’s the start of a new academic year. The student loan has arrived. The temptation to hear about your friend’s summer escapades over a yummy dinner is high. Here are some dining deals in Manchester that will allow you to indulge without causing injury to the precious student loan too early on in the term.

Rosso — 3 Courses for £25 and a bottle of wine for £9.95  Available Mon-Sat — book online: 43 Spring Gardens, M2 2BG

Blackhouse — Sunday Roast for £12.95 Available Sundays — book Online: New York Sreet, M1 4BD

Insolito — Lunch and soft drink or coffee Available daily — no need to book: 72 Mosley Street, M23LW

Teppanyaki Chinatown — 3 Courses for £9.95 Available weekdays — no need to book: 58/60 George Street, Chinatown, M1 4HF

Harvey Nichols — 3 Courses and cocktail for £22 Available Mon-Sat — book online: Second Floor Brasserie, 21 New Cathedral Street, M1 1AD

Chilli Banana Didsbury — 1 small plate/2 small plates and noodle, rice, or special for £9.95/£11.95 Available daily — no need to book: 105-107 Lapwing Lane, Didsbury, M20 6UR

Gusto — 2 Courses for £12.95 or 3 for £14.95 Available weekdays — book online: 4 Lloyd Street, M2 5AB

The Deaf Institute — Buy-one-get-one-free on main meals Available Wednesdays — no need to book: 135 Grosvenor Street, M17HE

Byron — Special Burger and beer for £13 Available daily — book online: Corn Exchange, M4 3TR

The Alchemist — 2 for 1 breakfast and brunch Available weekdays — book online: various locations

Dive — 55 per cent off food Available Mondays — no need to book: Tib Street Northern Quarter, M4 1SH

Don Giovanni — 50 per cent off À la Carte (including lobster!) Available daily — book online: Peter House, 1-2 Oxford Street, M1 5AN

 

Easy peasy tikka masala marinade

Written by Anokhi Shah on . Posted in Food & Drink.

This tikka masala recipe has been passed on to me by my mum. It was always my first request when I went home but I didn’t realise how easy it is to make myself. The marinade takes around five minutes to make and can spice up anything from big chunks of veg to pieces of lamb, chicken, and my favourite, salmon.

Ingredients for tikka masala marinade:

Tablespoon of coriander seeds
Tablespoon of cumin seeds
Tablespoon of caraway seeds
Tablespoon of tandoori masala
2/3 Tablespoons of thick plain yoghurt
Tablespoon of oil
Teaspoon of crushed garlic
Tablespoon of crushed ginger

Method:

  1. Grind up the coriander, cumin, and caraway seeds (I would recommend grinding up more than you need so next time you can skip this step).
  2. Add all ingredients to the yoghurt.
  3. Coat the meat or veg with the marinade.
  4. Leave for a couple of hours for the flavours to infuse.
  5. Cook in the oven at around 175 degrees, or for however long the meat or veg needs to go golden. Alternatively, this dish works brilliantly skewered on the barbecue.
  6. I usually serve with a mixed leaf crunchy salad and some crispy, oven baked new potatoes.

 

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3: Leave to Marinade

 

 

DELICIOUS!

The most outrageous guacamole

Written by Anokhi Shah on . Posted in Food & Drink.

This guacamole has oodles of flavour and can excite any dish.

I personally have this guacamole with nearly everything! From Mexican food as its traditional partner, to adding some attitude to your eggs on toast, or simply as a dip with some carrot sticks or nachos. It will last up to a week in the fridge giving you plenty of time to try it with many meals.

Ingredients:

4/5 Ripe avocados

Juice from a lime

Handful of fresh coriander

2 Tomatoes

Half a red onion

Half a fresh chilli (add the whole one if you like it hot)

One/two cloves of fresh garlic (depending on your taste)

Teaspoon of salt

Fresh black pepper

Method:

Depending on desired consistency either blend all ingredients together for a nice spread to add character to sandwiches

OR

Roughly mash the avocado and add all the ingredients finely chopped for a more chunky consistency, perfect as a side to chicken or eggs.

Muggings on the rise in Fallowfield

Written by Cameron Broome on . Posted in News.

Police said they have seen a “spate of personal robberies” around Wilmslow Road, Platt Lane and Platt Fields park, the Manchester Evening News have reported.

Over the last two days, a group of teenage boys are said to have taken iPhones, iPads, money and other electronic devices.

Incidents are reported to have most commonly occurred between 1.30am and 3.30am.

On the 22th of September, GMP Fallowfield reported that a student had been mugged near Platt Fields park around 1AM, with his phone and wallet taken.

In some of the incidents, the group have told victims they have a weapon, and have kicked or punched people who have refused to hand over items.

According to The Manchester Evening News, the offenders have been described as black males, around 18-years-old wearing black and white clothing with one wearing a blue bubble jacket, and have been seen hanging around opposite the Platt Fields entrance.

A statement from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said: “We are aware of these attacks and investigations are underway.

“We urge you to share this with friends or any student family in and around south Manchester and avoid the Platt Fields entrance when walking alone.

“Only carry devices on your person in this area if absolutely necessary.”

Any witnesses or anyone with further information can call GMP on 101, or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111 quoting log 265 190917.

This is a developing story. Anyone who has any further information, please contact [email protected]

Review: The Hitman’s Bodyguard

Written by Eloïse Wright on . Posted in Film.

‘Triple A’ bodyguard to criminals Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) finds himself having to protect professional hitman Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson) on an excessively violent road trip to Amsterdam so he can testify at the International Criminal Court.

The first scene shows us a successful, sharp Bryce bid farewell to his client, Japanese arms dealer Takasi Kurosawa. At the last minute, Kurosawa is shot, and from there the film fast forwards to Bryce two years later who has experienced a steep downfall in his status and career. Here, the brilliant Richard E. Grant has a not so brilliant minor role as a cocaine addicted CEO under Bryce’s protection that has perhaps three minutes of screen time, never to be seen again.

For the rest of the film, we follow the same formula of intensive gunshot scenes and car chases immediately followed by soporific emotional drivel that could be described as “character building”, always about Bryce’s love interest — played by Elodie Yung — who apparently ruined his career and broke his heart. We’re also presented with Kincaid’s explosive imprisoned wife, played by Salma Hayek, who dialled up the hot-headed Latina stereotype to the point of derision.

Attempts at intrigue are constantly made, that regrettably could never actually be intriguing because of the persistent use of music to emotionally spoon feed us. There is a distinct formula to the buddy-genre, which Hughes follows religiously offering nothing new. It is a tried and tested method that works with audiences, thus explaining the continual funding of such films, but this is a particularly bad example and hints towards diminishing returns. That is of course until the next one, where hopefully someone will add something to the genre.

Awful acting paired with dialogue just as unenticing made watching Ryan Reynolds painful. He appears to be going for the lovable sarcastic hipster — one who is morally conflicted when he starts to contemplate what is worse: protecting criminals or killing them. The amount of violence for the sake of violence was exasperating, even though it was obviously meant for comedic effect. Samuel L. Jackson’s performance was awful, as if he was told to play “himself”, or in other words, playing the character of his character. Playing an exaggerated version of his already exaggerated demeanour came off as ridiculous.  It’s all been done before, and often quite a lot better.

There are many films that are so poor in their execution that they become enjoyable to watch, and many that are well aware they are not brilliant cinema and want the audience to know that too. But this one wants you to know it so badly that it is frustrating to sit through. It would be instantly forgettable if it didn’t leave you wondering why it was made, or why anyone in the production process thought any part of the movie was worth a watch.

1/5