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Year: 2012

Art History Lessons with Lucy J

Written by Lucy Johnson on . Posted in Arts.

1) He was born Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa in 1864, to an aristocratic French family

2) His parents were first cousins

3) He put himself into his painting ‘The Moulin Rouge’, and is pictured walking next to his cousin Dr. Tapie de Celyran

4) He fractured his legs at 14, and they stopped growing, meaning as an adult he only stood 4 ft 6 in tall

5) He contracted syphilis from one of his favourite models, a prostitute named Rosa la Rouge

6) His paintings often depict the music halls, circuses, brothels, and cabaret life of Paris

7) He invented a cocktail, a mix of absinthe and cognac, called the ‘Earthquake’

8) Although his paintings were not received well in his lifetime, his painting ‘La blanchisseuse’ sold for 22.4 million dollars in 2005

9) He was an astonishingly productive painter – 1,000 paintings, 5,000 drawings, and 350 prints and posters

10) He died aged only 37

Review: ‘I’ – The Sleep Collection

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Arts.

Art exhibitions and creative spaces are not the natural grazing grounds of the Mancunion’s laziest contributors. However, living with the Arts editor does, at times, mean we have to bite our tongues and agree to attend such cultural arenas. Our first foray into creativity saw us attend ‘I’ – The Sleep Collectionat one of Manchester’s (sort of Salford?) most titillating industrial spaces, the Islington Mill.

Roshana Rubin-Mayhew installed a bed into one of the twenty gallery spaces at the Mill for two weeks from the 6th-20th November. Each night over the first week, members of the public were invited by Roshana to sleep over whilst they were being photographed falling asleep, during sleep and as they were waking up.  The resulting triptych of photographs were arranged together around the bed, made up with black sheets, forming the focal point of the exhibit.

Initially confronted by what appeared to be a potentially underwhelming set up, we opted to quell our boot shaking fear of the arts and embrace what we had been ordered to see.  In doing so, it became obvious that the image of someone sleeping carries far more cultural, emotional and aesthetic significance than may first appear. Lucy embraced her academic calling and Toby attempted to keep up as we embraced the restful yet challenging images.

Most of the pictures were composed of the subjects face, occasionally with a section of torso and/or arm. The ambiguous camera angles free the subjects of the constraints of the bed they’re in, suspending them in a state of timeless innocence.  In particular the central images of the triptych, depicting actual sleep, evoked the expanse of the dreaming mind or as if they were poised in space.

Although all compositionally similar, each image had an aesthetic beauty emphasised by subtle individualities. The sleeping self, that is to say ourselves at our most vulnerable, tends to be something belonging in the private sphere, a state only those closest to you would witness. Transferred to the public arena, we engage almost voyeuristically with the act of sleeping, and are for a moment gifted access to the private space of the individual. It is the sense of immediacy and intimacy that the exhibition so strongly conveys.

Although attending under duress, we both left the Mill with a more informed    sense of the capacity of photographs to convey truth and intimacy. There is an honesty in the exhibition in part due to the photographic medium but also reflected in the simplicity of the composition.

 

A Night at the Museum

Written by Grace Williams on . Posted in Arts.

To mark 100 years since the opening of the first Egypt gallery in Manchester Museum, the Ancient Worlds exhibition has been redeveloped and three new galleries created. As part of the Museum Meets initiative – the museum’s adult programme – I attended an After Hours event which promised to showcase the new galleries at night and offer some related amusements.

After being greeted with wine and live Greek bouzouki music, I entered the first of the new galleries which explores Manchester’s contribution to archaeology.  As well as displaying locally found artefacts, the individuals involved in the discovery, analysis and preservation of objects are brought to attention through photographs and media displays. Contributors to Manchester’s archaeological legacy, past and present, are acknowledged and celebrated. The opportunity to meet with the man behind the displays and Curator of Archaeology Bryan Sitch felt like something of an honour, and his passion for the artefacts and their unique stories was infectious. Serving as a prelude to the Egypt collection, the displays go some way in explaining the processes involved in archaeology today.

Egyptian Worlds, the second gallery, transports us right back to Ancient Egypt. The awesome impact of brightly decorated coffins and the delicate beauty of tomb jewellery powerfully convey the remarkable achievements of civilisation all those thousands of years ago. Just as Egyptian life and culture revolved around preparation for death, there is greater emphasis on ceremonial objects required for transition into the afterlife, and of course the coffins and mummies themselves take centre stage.

Finally, the third space, Exploring Objects, offers visually stunning mass collections of everyday objects such as jewellery and stone vessels from the ancient civilisations of Greece, Rome and Egypt. The Ancient Worlds galleries now have more objects on display than ever before. Selected artefacts are free to be handled and new smart phone interactivity will allow greater accessibility to objects.

Aside from the exciting new galleries, the opportunity to attempt mummification (with an orange!) and watch a pharoah perform tricks was much enjoyed. Overall the once cramped galleries of the Ancient Worlds exhibition are now light and well arranged, and there is a continuity in the material presented that leaves you with a deeper understanding, not only of ancient life, but of the discipline of archaeology as well. The sheer number and diversity of objects on display, combined with the implementation of the newest technologies and approaches in museology, yields an impressive exhibition experience.

 

These attacks on smart drugs aren’t very smart

Written by James Jackson on . Posted in Opinion.

“One in six students have experimented with some kind of performance enhancing drug” wrote Antonia Jennings in last week’s Mancunion, in an article that considered ideas such as random drugs tests and sniffer dogs to stop people from taking cognitive enhancing drugs during exams. Her reasoning seemed to be that “heightening the brain to some unnatural level gave the remaining students an unfair disadvantage,” and that therefore taking these substances is unfair and wrong. I have one question for Antonia: do you like coffee?

The concept of a ‘drug,’ like ‘pornography,’ is notoriously difficult to define. With something like ketamine, it is obvious to everyone that it is indeed a drug. However, when you think of substances like caffeine, which have a less obvious affect, the line blurs. Caffeine is a cognitive enhancer, and therefore any bans against “smart drugs” are inconsistent and ill-thought out. Any way you look at it, coffee is a performance enhancing drug, or at least contains one. Caffeine has been proven to increase alertness, improve concentration and short-term memory; these are the same performance-enhancing properties that supposedly give Ritalin-taking students an unfair advantage. And yet they are present in most of our drinks. This is especially true for Modafinil, the main purpose of which is to increase alertness. Should some students be deemed “cheats” or penalized because they prefer to get their alertness in a £1 pill rather than £3 coffees?

Following the Lance Armstrong scandal, where cycling’s most famous sportsman was found to have used performance enhancing drugs, it is understandable to want to do something about cheating. However, viewing academia as a competitive sport similar to cycling is a grave mistake. There is a reason economists don’t take part in the Olympics: academia isn’t about beating your opponents, it is about producing good quality research or learning the skills to do so. Does it matter if you discover the Higgs Boson stoned or visualize the double-helix of DNA while tripping on LSD? It has been widely reported that Francis Crick had indeed taken the powerful psychedelic when his greatest discovery came to him. Should we strip him of his Nobel Prize like we stripped Lance of his medals? Of course not, because the point of research is not the competition, but the result. If the statistics are anything to go by, there are probably researchers at this university taking smart drugs. If this helps them work harder, and discover a cure for a disease faster, isn’t this a good thing?

At the root of these ethical questions are, I think, a number of unchallenged assumptions. The nature of the human mind is one of them. Many seem to think of drugs as unnatural and therefore fundamentally bad, but many smart drugs work by enhancing or inhibiting systems already found in the brain. Taking Omega oil supplements helps keep your brain healthy, but so does Piracetam, an Alzheimer’s drug that prevents age and alcohol damage and promotes cognition and memory recall. It has also been proven to increase the performance of dyslexic children.

I belief that many of the students who take non-prescribed cognitive enhancers are doing this to self-medicate undiagnosed learning difficulties. Would someone really go through the effort, and risk, of gaining a black-market substance such as Ritalin if they did not have a serious problem with concentration? Adult ADHD is poorly understood, and doctors are often suspicious of young people looking for a prescription. Some people have had bad experiences with doctors and the bureaucracy of the NHS and therefore prefer to find their own treatment, taking matters of their (mental) health into their own hands. What is wrong with a dyslexic student deciding on how to treat their learning difficulties? They probably have more time than their GP does to research new treatments, and more motivation to make the best decision for themselves.

Drug abuse has brought significant suffering to our society, with millions of people a year dying from alcohol, tobacco and other drug-related illnesses, but it is dishonest to pretend that they can’t be used positively. In the words of Bill Hicks: “If you don’t believe drugs have done good things for us, do me a favour. Go home tonight. Take all your albums, all your tapes and all your CDs and burn them. ‘Cause you know what, the musicians that made all that great music that’s enhanced your lives throughout the years were rrreal fucking high on drugs. The Beatles were so fucking high they let Ringo sing a few tunes.”

 

Blind Date: Louisa & Richard

Written by Zara Zubeidi on . Posted in Lifestyle.

Richard, 1st year, Medical Imaging MSc

First impressions?

Confident and stylish.

What did you have to eat?

A burger and then Sticky Toffee Pudding

What did you guys talk about?

Lots, our home towns, our courses and life in Manchester mostly

If they were an alcoholic beverage which one would they be and why?

I would have to say an Irish coffee. Apart from the fact that she’s from Ireland, she also seemed very energetic and focused.

Were there any awkward silences?

Maybe a few…

Rating?

7

Finally, hug, kiss or something more?

None of the above.

 

 

Louisa, 2nd year, Psychology 

First impressions?

He seemed friendly and was easy to get on with

What did you have to eat?

A Trof burger and brownie

What did you guys talk about?

Lots of different things, about our courses, where we go out in Manchester etc.

If they were an alcoholic beverage which one would they be and why?

A tangy cocktail because he was eccentric and interesting!

Were there any awkward silences?

No, not at all

Rating?

7

Finally, hug, kiss or something more?

None, and we did not swap numbers so it’s unlikely that we will see each other again

 

Louisa and Richard ate at Trof, Fallowfield. Thanks to the guys down there for getting involved. To check out their menu and what’s going on there head to http://www.troffallowfield.co.uk/

To sign up for blind date please e-mail your name, year of study and course to [email protected] with ‘blind date’ as the subject

Must See This Week In Theatre: 26th November-3rd December

Written by Josephine Lane on . Posted in Theatre.

Arabian Nights

The Library Theatre Company’s Christmas show this year is the infamous tale of Arabian Nights. The classic story of a thousand and one stories is staged in the round and promises to be visually stunning!

Runs from 30th November until 12th January 2013 at the Lowry Theatre

Tickets £14.50-£20

 

Peter Pan

The Bolton Octagon’s family festive show this year is the timeless classic we all know and love: Peter Pan. With a talented cast of actor-musicians playing originally composed music, the show is sure to bring out the child in all of us!

Runs until 12th January 2013 at the Bolton Octagon

Tickets £9.50-£22

 

Orpheus Descending

Whilst being one of Tennesse William’s lesser-known plays, Orpheus Descending, still has plenty of what we love about him: a young male drifter, an unhappy Southern belle and lots of passion. Stars Imogen Stubbs as Lady Torrance.

Runs from 24th October to 24th November at The Royal Exchange Theatre

Student Tickets £10 or £5 on a Monday or Friday

 

Irving Berlin’s White Christmas

A musical based on the Bing Crosby film classic, following the success of the record-breaking, sell-out run of 2009. A spectacle that’ll warm any Scrooge-like heart, White Christmas promises to deliver ‘lots of laughter and some of the greatest songs ever written’.

Runs from the 30th November to 5th December

Tickets £24-£45

Live: DIIV

Written by Joe Goggins on . Posted in Music.

20th November 2012

9/10

The Deaf Institute has spent the five or so years since its opening acting, in effect, as Manchester’s portal to the blogosphere; it’s served as a base of sorts for the city’s hottest promoters in Now Wave, and accordingly has seen a long procession of buzz bands pass through its doors.  It’s hardly surprising, then, to see DIIV make their Mancunian debut here; they’ve managed to slot in a slew of their own shows around a support slot with The Vaccines who, to their credit, are clearly capable of appreciating interesting music if not making it.

DIIV (pronounced ‘Dive’) already have impressive indie pedigree; drummer Colby Hewitt is formerly of Smith Westerns, and singer-songwriter Zachary Cole Smith began working on this project whilst a touring guitarist with Beach Fossils, culminating in Oshin, released back in June. Tonight’s show is an out-of-order run-through of a record that’s already starting to appear on a host of end-of-year album lists, and its translation to the live arena enthrals and surprises in equal measure. On record, Oshin weaves layer after layer of melodic guitar to create gorgeous dream-pop textures, with distant, distorted vocals floated over the top to impressive effect.

The effect of chopping and changing between instrumental and vocal-heavy tracks on Oshin is subtle on the album, but live, the results are far more pronounced; the vocally-light likes of ‘(Druun)’ and ‘Air Conditioning’ are as quietly mesmerising as their recorded counterparts, but the heavier material is a revelation; the guitars sound that much fiercer, and the vocals pack that much more bite, on the faster, more driven likes of ‘Doused’ and ‘How Long Have You Known’. DIIV took their name from a Nirvana song, and it’s an influence far more obvious on stage than in the studio; the noisier jams from Oshin manage to be at once hypnotic and thrilling. With only one LP under their belts, it is of course all over much too quickly, but with no lack of promise for what next time might hold. A revelatory debut.

Manchester Equestrians achieve victory

Written by Ciaran Milner on . Posted in Sport.

The Equestrian Club’s B team has won its first competition of the year, storming to victory by over 30 points against Keele, Central Lancaster (UCLAN) and Lancaster.

Individually Manchester’s Asher Hillsmith won overall, narrowly beating team mate Lacey Monroe to second place while Claire Henderson and Lizzi Hudson brought home fourth and fifth rosettes.

Only one UCLAN rider prevented a Manchester clean sweep.

The A team and Dev team will be contesting their first local matches in the next few weeks.

Eleni Papadopoulos ‘determined to make it to Rio 2016’

Written by Ciaran Milner on . Posted in Sport.

Like many others across the country, I spent the first weekend of November attempting to get excited by the vague, tepid patriotism of Bonfire night. After the thrilling spectacle of sport that swept Britain up in a wave of national pride over the summer, I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.

Not everyone spent that weekend shivering in the cold, however. Not content to allow the superb performances of our athletes over the summer to fizzle out, Manchester student Eleni Papadopoulos continued to ride the patriotic wave and took it upon herself to smash the 200m butterfly world record in the S10 category, clocking an incredible 2.37:52.

“I knew what time I had to beat,” Leni (as she prefers to be called), recalls. “I was quite surprised though. It was a really good personal best for me. I got it by a few seconds”. Her recollection of the event seems understated. Although we talk more than a week after the event, I’m a little surprised to see that the excitement of breaking the world record appears to have worn off slightly, especially when I am in such awe of the achievement.

As we talk, though, it becomes apparent that Leni’s apparent nonchalant attitude to her achievement is not a display of arrogance – far from it –  but instead a showing of humility; the kind of humility that comes after thousands upon thousands of hours of training. To Leni, swimming has been a focal point of her life for so long that for someone like me to seem so impressed by it must seem a little odd.

“I started swimming at the age of four”, she says. Since the age of fifteen, she has trained for thirty hours a week. “24 hours in the pool each week, and possibly 6 hours gym work. Getting out of bed at 5am… it’s become a bit of a routine, it’s fine”.

What’s more impressive is that it doesn’t seem to affect her studies.

“I’ve always had to find the balance between education and sport. My coach and lecturers are really understanding. In the next five weeks I’m racing every weekend, so my coach has given me time off training to catch up on my work. It makes a massive difference when they are so understanding. “

Leni swims in the S10 category, which is classed as minimal disability. “When I was six, I fell off the monkey bars and I landed on my left side”, she says of the accident that damaged the nerves in her arm and ruptured her muscles. “My hand basically went into a claw. When I was seven, they straightened it out, and loosened some of the tendons so my hand isn’t as much of a claw as it was”.

The accident left damage that still affects her today, sending shooting pains up her arm. However, it also started her down the path to glory. “Swimming was really important as part of my rehabilitation, and then I suppose I just carried it on from there”.

Despite breaking the world record, Leni believes she has so much more to offer, “I was surprised”, she says, “because in the months between September and December we are in really hard training, so we are not expected to perform well as we are not ‘peaked’. We’re not expected to get personal bests and things like that.”

“When I am peaked, when I am meant to perform, when I’m rested… I can do even better”.

Indeed, Leni only just missed out on the Paralympic team for this summer’s Olympics. “Sadly I wasn’t picked for the team. I missed out on the qualification time by the skin of my teeth. I was fairly disappointed [by the decision]. The whole selection criteria is very complicated. But I do think that 2016 is a really big possibility”.

The last statement piques my interest. She sounds supremely confident in her ability to make it to Rio for 2016. Unfortunately  for Leni, her event isn’t a Paralympic event. “It’s just such a shame the 200m fly isn’t included. I’m much more of an endurance swimmer than a sprinter.”

This doesn’t appear to have even slightly affected her desire, however.

“I’m determined. After another four years of hard work, I’m definitely determined to get to Brazil for 2016.”

It is an exciting prospect to imagine a Manchester graduate representing team GB at the next Paralympics. Whatever she goes on to accomplish, though, we should take nothing away from the successes she has achieved this month. Leni, well done and good luck.

To buy or not to buy

Written by Daniel Jones on . Posted in Music.

Whether you agree with it or not, free music downloading has gradually become a part of everyday life over the past 20 years. Napster, Morpheus, Kazaa, Limewire and Pirate Bay have all come and gone, but the peer-to-peer sharing bug seems impossible to stamp out once and for all. With every attempted copyright crackdown, the file-sharing community reacts by evolving and multiplying. It’s a bit like fighting the giant Hydra out of Hercules; every time you cut off one of her heads, another three grow back in its place. You should soon realise that lopping off heads is not the solution.

One of the main problems with free downloading is that it compromises the ability of independent artists and labels to make a living from physical / iTunes sales. That’s a given. CDs, MP3s and vinyl are still an important source of income for labels and, to be fair, if you love an album that much then you should be willing to support the people who made it, in some way.

Spotify is another route; it’s alright for those who can stand the iffy catalogue but you can never really know how directly you are contributing to an artist’s cause. It’s a shame that the cost of new vinyl is so goddamn expensive because it’s the only format that you can truly get a sense of the tangible effort in production. You get the beauty of the sleeve, the guaranteed audio quality of each track and the knowledge that you are helping to sustain the career of somebody who genuinely inspires you, as well as the format itself.

But wait, if it wasn’t for peer-to-peer sharing then most up and coming artists wouldn’t even exist in the listening sphere of the average human being. In the technological age, free downloads are essential gifts at the beginning of any budding new musician’s path to stardom. They are an attempt to get the world to sit up and take notice, to persuade the listener to want to hear and see more. It’s not about being paid, it’s about being heard. Touring is the real money-maker (unless the artist is very old, or dead) and in that sense, free downloads are necessary to accumulate a global fan base. But as soon as popularity looks on the cards, free downloading becomes illegal piracy. There has to be a middle ground.

No surprise then that the problem has been met with a few interesting reactions from those within the industry. In Rainbows revolutionised the way in which artists can offer their work to the world by championing the pay-what-you-want template. Crowd-funding sites like Kickstarter offer a service for musicians who are trying to raise money to subsidise independent projects, so there are possibilities available to those who value their music as a gift and not as a cash cow.

It’s not an overnight process, but the way music is financed, bought and sold is definitely changing. Gone are the days when you had to wait a month for your copy of the latest Motown 45’’ to come through the post. Technology has enabled artists like Radiohead and Amanda Palmer to set the wheels in motion, and there will undoubtedly be others who jump on the bandwagon. It is important to support the artists that you adore, but if can’t see them live and you can’t quite afford to spunk your loan on a wax copy of their latest album, I won’t judge you for using Mediafire for the time being.

From the vault: Rage Against the Machine – Rage Against the Machine

Written by Charlie Boydell-Smith on . Posted in Music.

Were it not for Rage Against the Machine, it would be easy to imagine Zack De La Rocha as the leader of a radical left wing activist network, ranting and raving about corrupt policemen and the government controlling the population through the media. Thankfully, Rage burst onto the scene in 1992 with their politically charged debut album, allowing De La Rocha’s views to be transmitted in a manner which is much more pleasing to the ear, with the band channeling a raw punk energy so perfectly surmised by their moniker.

The very concept of rap metal seems incongruous, bringing together two genres that, on paper, seem to have little in common, but Rage’s debut is by no means contrived, with de la Rocha spitting his articulate lyrics over the simple-but-effective guitar lines that have become Tom Morello’s signature.

The album explodes with ‘Bombtrack’, discussing the bands aggrievance with social inequality with the belief that ‘landlords and power whores’ should ‘burn’ before legendary single ‘Killing In The Name’ is unleashed. Even without the successful Facebook campaign that got the song to Christmas number 1 in 2009, which has subsequently led the song to become the face of opposition towards modern pop music, this would still be regarded as a classic. The track is an angry, brutal attack on American society with reference to cross burning by the Klu Klux Klan and the accusation that some members of the US Police Force are associated with the racial group, ‘some of those that work forces, are the same that burn crosses’.

There is no time to take a breather before the record rips into ‘Bullet in the Head’ and the ‘Know Your Enemy’, with ‘Freedom’ providing a riotous close to proceedings. Even if you don’t agree with De La Rocha’s views, you certainly can’t ignore them with his powerful and commanding vocal delivery.

Since their debut, Rage have perfected the art of rap metal (no matter how hard Limp Bizkit have tried) and through their eponymous debut album in particular, they will forever be spoken as one of the real giants of music.

Interview: Daniel Bortz

Written by Daniel Jones on . Posted in Music.

Within the current sphere of four to the floor music, it’s difficult to differentiate between the shit-ton of artists out there.  It’s even more difficult to find a label that’s able to carve out its own sound amid the hackneyed din of bubblegum house.  Leading the charge for Berlin’s Suol imprint, Daniel Bortz is one of the finest purveyors of soulful German techno to fully emerge on the circuit over recent years.  His appearance alongside Ame and Dixon at Sankeys back in March marked his first visit to Manchester, but, speaking from his hometown flat in Augsburg, Bortz reveals he is relishing the chance of getting another crack at the whip.

“I remember it was a really great night, I can’t wait for December. I love playing the UK in general.  The people are open to so many types of music which makes my job that much easier.  Augsburg can be very critical, which does make it harder in some ways, but it’s still a good place to test whether your music can really work.  It’s a small town where people get bored easily, so you have to be on point if you want to inspire them.”

It’s been a fairly long road for the Augsburg-born producer; he has been making music since 1994, yet his first big release on Pastamusik didn’t actually arrive until 2007. “I tried many different kinds of electronic music over that time,” he confesses, “In the beginning it was hip hop, then acid.  I played with drum computers and actual drums for quite a few years. Eventually I bought an MPC and started messing around with outboard synths and Logic.  It was an interesting time because I was listening to everything from psychedelic rock to RnB to techno, but I still wasn’t sure what style I wanted to go for.”

When questioned further about his production technique and majestic sampling, Bortz explains that making music is usually a solitary process for him.  “I can only produce in my studio, never on the road or just on headphones.  I need the bass! Producing with friends is good fun and I might try out some other studios in future, but I think that finalising will always be a lonely process for me.  As for samples, I dig as deep as I can and record them as part of a freestyle jam, but sampling also brings out your inner nerd too.  You have to be a nerd if you want to know all the samples in our musical history!”

Given his fairly consistent output, Bortz very rarely releases remixes of his own tracks, a fact that he acknowledges himself. “I guess I just want my music to stay pure.  I’m not saying there aren’t artists out there who do a great job but I try to focus on my own productions.  It’s just not something for me.” That said, he does appear to be much more inclined to remix the work of others. There a few quality examples knocking about, particularly his edits of Kolombo’s ‘Shape Your Life’ and James Blake’s ‘Limit’, but in terms of original material, ‘I’m Talking’ is the one.  The sample comes from Eddie (of Temptations fame) Kendrick’s 1973 lick “Keep on Truckin”, but take nothing away from Bortz who remains a wizard in the arrangement process.  The beat is relentless, the riffs are infectious and the cuts are perfectly placed.

His productions reflect the same musical range that can be found in many of his mixes; this sense of variety is something he attributes to a crowd-reading alertness. “If the people aren’t into a particular style you have to switch up the BPM.  I’m very concentrated when I play, I think constantly about which song needs to come next in order to sustain the flow. Once you start making links between tracks, you begin to remember which songs go well together but, yeah, I always try to get in contact with the crowd.”

Fortunately for us, the German has been able to gather enough musical connections and flows over the past 20 years to satisfy the multitudinous needs of European club-goers.  “I’ve been DJing for just as long as I have been producing so I’d consider myself very familiar with club music. That experience aided the transition from playing smaller venues back home to the bigger venues I play now.  You can’t compare clubs together though, everywhere is different but the principle is the same. Get people dancing.”

If he wasn’t into the whole superstar DJ thing, he hypothesises that he would still be involved in the music game in some other way.  “That, or cooking,” he adds.  It seems a logical choice for somebody so well adept in the mixture of combinations.  What’s certain is the fact that Daniel Bortz has now firmly cemented himself in the scene and will no doubt continue to make a name for himself over the coming year.

Daniel Bortz plays the Suol Showcase at Sankeys on Saturday 1st December with Chopstick and Johnjon. Check www.sankeys.info for more info.

Art History Lessons with Lucy J: Van Gogh

Written by Lucy Johnson on . Posted in Arts.

1)     Van Gogh came from a religious family and originally wanted to become a pastor like his father.

2)     The reason that so many of Van Gogh’s paintings are of himself, landscapes and flowers is because he was too poor to pay for models to sit for him.

3)     He was a deeply unhappy man and suffered from mental illness which is still undetected, hallucinations and epilepsy.

4)     His brother Theo supported Van Gogh financially and often bought him his paints as they were expensive. They had a very close relationship and kept in close correspondence through letters which we still have 800 of today.

5)     Sadly, Van Gogh never found love.

6)     The first time Van Gogh went to art school was in 1885 four years before his death, by which time he had painted most of his 900 paintings.

7)     During an epileptic seizure, he cut off his own ear lobe with a razor blade as he attempted to attack Paul Gaugin.

8)     He only became famous after his death and would never have guessed the impact of his work on the art world.

9)     Van Gogh only sold one painting during his lifetime.

10)   Van Gogh died at the age of 37 having shot himself in a field in Auvers, France.

 

Secret Manchester: The Portico Library

Written by Harriet Hill-Payne on . Posted in Arts.

I was trying to find something to write about for this week’s column, and was checking through the usual suspects – Manchester Art Galley, the Whitwoth, Cornerhouse, and then thought I’d just have a quick look on Creative Tourist to see if they had added anything new. Seeing as its where I find the listings for nearly every event seen on these pages, I check it obsessively and wasn’t expecting much to come from the search. I certainly wasn’t expecting the gem that is the Portico Library. Opened in 1806 as a Library and Newsroom on Mosely Steet (declared by John Dalton ‘he most elegant … in town’), the Library retains a faded elegance which belies its up-to-date research catalogues, wi-fi and super efficient librarians.

Having suffered financially in the 20s and 30s, the ground floor of the Grade II listed building is leased, but finding the small side door, being buzzed in, and going up the stairs and emerging into a hushed and airy reading room has quite a charm of its own. The floor-to-ceiling shelves hold mainly 19th century collection of travel, biography and ‘polite’ literature, with lesser known names jostling for shelf space with Dickens, Wilkie Collins and Elizabeth Gasckall.

What I had come for, however, were not the books or the homemade cake on offer, but the Gallery, currently hosting Clare Allan’s ‘Burnt Wood and Paper,’ an exhibition capturing ‘the feels of the places I draw… places with stories and histories’. That curiosity surrounding where and how somewhere sits in hisory is communicated through Allan’s series of black and white charcoal sketches, which oscillate between beautifully still snowy scenes, and bustling contemporary city scapes. There is a sweetness amd innocence to the opening images -‘When it Snowed’, which, as you’d expect, shows snowy hills rising behind cottages covered with a blanket of snow – which is refreshingly undercut before it becomes to saccharine  by ‘Peak Road and the Shooting Cabin’ (‘Houses on the estate that were once white) and ‘Bin Day on Cote Lane,’ which have a grittier and more contemporary feel.

The reimaginigs of Adolphe Valette’s work are really interseting, and again open a fascinating dialogue surrouning place and time, as Allan recreates an old image using contemporary Manchester, most successfully , I felt, in Albert Square (after Valette). The exhibition moves toward its close with a series of nudes, which though beautifully observed, I felt sat slightly oddly with the majority of the exhibition.

There is much to admire here – but my favourite had to be the picure of the Portico itself, which captured the sense of discovery and secrecy felt on finding that little side door and ringing the buzzer. You have to be a member to use the reading room, but anyone can go and sit in the main libary and sample tea and cake in quite spectacular surroundings.

Top 4 + 1 books in the field of war

Written by Aidan Gregory on . Posted in Books.

Remembrance day has come and gone, the Palestine conflict escalates once more. Now is a good time to remind ourselves of war and its continuing impact, through some of its many literary representations

1.Catch 22, Joseph Heller (1961)
‘The first time I read about Yossarian, I fell madly in love with him’. It was a tough one to call, but topping off this list is a chaotic, almost incoherent satire on life. Joseph Heller was part of a new generation of American writers who saw action in the Second World War, including Salinger, Gore Vidal, and Kurt Vonnegut. Set in the closing months of the conflict, Catch 22 follows the story of Captain John Yossarian – the ultimate anti-hero with a burning desire to be anywhere but combat missions. It’s written in an extremely unique style, with a rather upbeat and comical first half, and then things take an abruptly brutal turn as Yossarian’s friends are all killed off. Widely hailed by critics as a modern classic, the novel will make you laugh, cry and most importantly reflect on the nonsensical side of war.

2. All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque (1929)
The devastation of the First World War paradoxically produced some of the most beautiful novels and poems ever written. At number two is the oldest book in the list; first published in 1929. It’s a novel that was banned by the Nazis, and one which reminds me why I wear a poppy each November. What makes it special is that it is written from the German perspective, which challenges the all-too-often partisan perspective we have on wars. Most crucially, the novel captures perfectly the brutal loss of innocence that occurs in war. The characters that populate the book are mostly students our own age, catapulted from their classrooms into the mud and smoke of the trenches. It’s heart-wrenching as one by one they are whittled down.

3.Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks (1993)
In spite of the fact that the book has become something of a cliché, no list of war books could be complete without Birdsong. It was butchered by a recent star-studded, historically inaccurate BBC adaptation in. No matter, Faulks’ harrowing 1993 masterpiece is still as emotional as ever. You can’t help but be sucked into the story of Stephen Raysford, the young officer cast into the horror of The Somme, haunted by the memory of a lost love. It features a number of graphic, but I think we can agree, ultimately well-written sex scenes, alongside gory details of causalities and above all the tragic heartbreak of Stephen’s life.

4.Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell (1938)
George Orwell, the most important writer of the 20th century (arguably), makes an appearance with his politically charged memoir. Orwell took up arms to fight on the Republican side against Franco’s rebellion in the 1930s. The book tells the story of his service, with lucid detail and more than a pinch of humour. Throughout history, war and conflict have inspired many of the greatest writers. Orwell is no exception. The Spanish Civil War stirred Orwell’s mind, and inspirations for his masterpiece 1984 are very much evident in the book. For instance, the trench rats that Orwell writes about in horror must be the same rats that Winston Smith faces in Room 101. Anyone with an interest in the man himself, the war, or even just excellent prose should give it a go.

Editor’s pick, Top 1 War Book written not by a man or a soldier:

1. The Diary of Anne Frank, (or The Diary of a Young Girl), Anne Frank (1947)
It’s ‘action’ doesn’t take place in the trenches, or on any battlefield, or inside a tank, but Anne Frank’s diary is possibly one of the most revealing books about war ever written by anyone (including a man). It documents the experience of war, as one not necessarily shaken by shrapnel every few seconds but nonetheless shaped by it; an experience in which fear sits squarely next to the quotidian, fear becomes the quotidian. And it is quietly, silently heartbreaking. Why? because it’s real tragedy takes place offstage, silenced by the reality of war that men keep fighting.

“Collective madness is called sanity”

Written by Phillipa Moran on . Posted in Books.

So it was essay deadline time. And having run out of books to read as procrastination, I naturally turned to the trusty internet. A few weeks ago I wrote an article about the impact of technology – and in particular, the internet –on literature. Despite knowing this, however, I had never really delved into the particulars of book blogs…until now.

Google helpfully pointed me towards a site ranking the top 50 most popular blogs. At the top of the list was the blog of Paulo Coelho. Paulo Coelho is definitely a writer I had intended on devoting a little more time to, when I got around to it, and his blog reminded me of his gifts as a writer. I’d read his novel Veronika Decides to Die, which I thought was incredible (-if you get the chance, definitely give it a go!).

One post that particularly interested me was posted on 9th November, titled ‘What is Happiness?’ The theme echoed those of the novel I had read. Coelho answered the rhetorical question pretty philosophically, in a way that appealed to the struggles of the reader and causing no small amount of self-reflection:

“I don’t know if everyone is unhappy. I do know that people are always busy: working overtime, looking after the kids, the husband, the career, the university degree, what to do tomorrow, what they need to buy, whatever it is they need to have in order not to feel inferior, and so on… Most say: “I’m fine, I’ve managed to get all I ever wanted”… So the meaning of life is work, the family, children who grow up and leave you, a wife or husband who will become more like a friend than a true love-mate. And one day the work will come to an end. What will you do when that happens?”
-Paulocoelhoblog.com

This part in particular rang powerful for me. It’s so easy to get caught up in the stress of university life – the increasing workload, deadlines, student budgets, homesickness, and all the other parts that aren’t so rosy about university. What makes me happy? What makes you happy? It’s such an open-ended and unanswerable question. And his attempt to grapple with this fundamental part of every life demonstrates his use of a blog not as superficial self-interest but as a way to connect widely and deeply. I think back to the character of Veronika and it makes me reconsider her completely.

When I first started looking for blogs, I did so with slight prejudice. There is so much on the internet, it can be overwhelming and you often have filter through a lot to find your pot of gold. Coelho’s quote, “collective madness is called sanity” seems strangely relevant. However, overall I’ve learnt that book blogs – especially those by authors – are quite refreshing. They remind you that the writer is a living, breathing (questioning) being and it gives you the chance to read between the lines of their novels – into their actual lives, opinions, feelings, and moral motives. Blogs are an interactive method of writing allowing for a wide range of debate and comment. I for one can’t wait to discover more blogs like that of Paulo Coelho.

Living abroad: Marbella

Written by Lucy Gardner on . Posted in Lifestyle.

“Why are you here?” – not the most welcoming of questions but one I’ve heard countless times in the past two months. Fresher’s introductions come in three steps: Name, course, where you’re from. Having lived in Marbella since I was four, the last question caused excitement as it broke the chain of “near Manchester” answers. I’ll be asked why I would leave sunny, old Spain for grey and drizzly Manchester? What was it like? Did I see any of the ‘rich and famous celebrities’ that are said to use Marbella as their personal playground? In all honesty, Marbella isn’t all the glitz and glam TOWIE like to make it out to be. In fact, it’s a lot more Essex than they may think.

Yes, you can find the clubs that charge you €1,000 for a bottle of champagne and the hotel resorts graced by famous faces and millionaires but the reality of living on the Costa del Sol is a bit rougher around the edges. You drive past countless unfinished apartment blocks and rundown buildings that have been neglected in the wake of the recession, the local port is more fishing boats than expensive yachts and it’s hard to miss the underlying world of crime that is rife along the struggling coast. However, just a few minutes away from this you will enter a world where money is no issue and is thrown around like there’s no tomorrow. You really can find everything on Spain’s south coast.

Nights outs, more often than not, are more Malia than Miami with the morning after the night before breakfasts being more McDonalds than sangria by the side of a fancy, beach-club pool. The cheap, predominantly English town of Fuengirola is home to cheesy yet appropriately named party bars such as Tramps and Playerz (yes, with a Z) which outside of the holiday season are usually filled with the local Year 10s dancing on the bar, getting ‘wasted’ on Smirnoff Ice – something that is unavoidable when a student budget won’t quite stretch to €20 Marbella club entries. Weekends would be welcomed with €1 shots and jugs of suspicious, lethal sounding concoctions. The summer marked the start of bars’ wet t-shirt contests, drunken street fights and rather loud rides home on the 6am bus. A word of warning, do not decide that a stroll along the beach at sunrise is a pleasant or romantic thing to do – far too many times have I had to witness, in the harsh light of a new day, sex on the beach not being just a cocktail but a promise. Despite the flaws, it is strangely difficult to not develop a crush on the tackiness of the town.

If you do venture towards the slightly more dignified west you will find Puerto Banús – a town that tries its hardest to maintain the Marbella image. Overpriced (in my opinion) cars will inconveniently cruise along the front line of the port as people watch on from the sea front, upscale restaurants. If you do have the money the nightlife can live up to the hype. If not, you find yourself in the pricey yet still completely tacky bars and clubs that hide behind the front streets of expensive designer shops and boutiques.

If you are looking for the ‘Marbella’ experience, this is where you go. Cheap, drunken, probably not going to be remembered weekend? Go East.  Looking for culture? Prepare to look hard and leave the shiny Marbella bubble and head to the old town or nearby villages to experience the ‘real’ Spain (may include donkeys, tapas and a lot of beer). Living in Marbella is a mix of all three of these experiences and in all honesty, I wouldn’t change a thing.

Student 101: the rise of mobile phone theft

Written by Emma Williams on . Posted in Lifestyle.

It’s like losing a limb, they say, or being thrown back into the dark ages, but when it happens to you, it almost feels as though your world has ended. Mobile phone theft is a crime that renders you almost helpless; no means of communication to ring your parents for the “You should be more vigilant” lecture, no way to play Angry Birds mid-lecture, and… How am I going to Instagram my Starbucks now?!

The frequency of mobile phone theft has frighteningly been on the up lately, with recent figures released showing that a staggering 260 mobile phones have been stolen on average everyday so far this year. Students are definitely vulnerable to most crimes, especially when it comes to the theft of a phone because most of us are on tariff contracts, have insurance being away from home and will probably have the newest model of smart phone in our pocket: prime targets.

Being a victim of mobile phone theft myself a few weeks ago on a night out in Cardiff (which along with London’s Hyde Park, is an apparent hot-spot for phone theft), I wondered how I could do anything to stop thieves and the consequential anxiety for every time afterwards when someone would brush past my bag. Useful tips from the Manchester Metropolitan Police encourage students not to have their phones or earphones on display when not in use, not to walk and text and to record your handset’s unique IMEI number to make it easier to track if it ends up being sold on the black market.

My sister too, recently had her phone stolen from her bag while it was on her, inside a nightclub, which does make you think that you must have your guard up everywhere you go. But there are ways to deter thieves from trying to nab your phone, which will stop your big night out from reaching a disastrous, sobbing conclusion, and most importantly keep your pristine new iPhone 5 safely in your possession:

Girls – invest in a zip-close bag. You’ll be able to feel any crafty pickpockets trying their luck compared to the quick, pop-open, button-fastened bags we all tend to use. The best for keeping your stuff safe, but a pain when it comes to dancing, is a clutch bag, because everything is held close to you. As long as you don’t dance around it or leave it in the booth for the night, you’re laughing!

Get yourself a cheapy ‘going out’ handset. It may seem like quite the effort, but it’s worth it if you’re a forgetful, drunken mess most nights. Yes, you won’t look like the most tech-friendly person as you whack out your old brick handset to swap numbers with someone in the club, but let’s face it—nobody’s going to mug you for your old Nokia paperweight, are they?

Remember to take heed when you’re out on the murky streets of Fallowfield, especially as it gets dark earlier, and to avoid the reversion to your old 3310 handset at all costs: keep your phone safely hidden away when you’re out alone or in a dodgy area.

Year abroad: Jordan

Written by Zara Zubeidi on . Posted in Lifestyle.

How did you feel arriving in Amman?

Disorientated! It was pitch black but really hot. I hadn’t spoken Arabic for four months, since my summer exams, and couldn’t understand any of the signs, until I realised they were all written in English underneath! I was mainly excited about starting my year abroad though.

How would you describe the quality of teaching? 

The teaching is very different to Manchester; our class is very small, with only five students. I have learnt a lot but you can’t get away with not doing your homework and hoping to hide at the back of the class! In Manchester I study cultural and history modules alongside the language but here it’s just language which can get a bit much sometimes, but thankfully we get three day weekends.

Have you found it difficult to adapt to the culture?

Jordan, and particularly Amman, is very Westernised, but still very different to home. The first thing that I noticed was all the men honk their car horns at you when you walk down the street. Most people are very friendly though and the food is amazing!

What has been the highlight of your year abroad so far?

The highlight so far has been going to Wadi Rum when we had a holiday for Eid Al-Adha. Wadi Rum is a massive desert in the south of Jordan. As far as you can see is sand and rocks and blue sky. It was boiling hot during the day but freezing at night, me and my friends all had to snuggle together in one bed. We rode camels too which was a lot of fun, if a bit scary at first!

Why do you think it’s important for a student to have a year abroad?

I think everyone should do a year abroad. You can never really learn about another culture until you live there. You also learn so much about yourself. I’m only two months into my year abroad and I’ve already met so many kind and interesting people. I’m having so much fun but the time is going so quickly!

 

Top 5: Movie insults

Written by Nihal Tharoor-Menon on . Posted in Film.

5. Happy Gilmore – Golfing newcomer Gilmore (Adam Sandler) is confronted by contemptuous pro, Shooter, before the beginning of their tournament.

Shooter: I eat pieces of sh*t like you for breakfast

Gilmore: You eat pieces of sh*t for breakfast?

 

3. In The Loop – Spin doctor Malcolm Tucker berates government employee Judy Molloy in one of his classic fits of rage.

Malcolm: Allow me to pop a jaunty little bonnet on your purview and ram it up your sh*tter with a lubricated horse c*ck

 

3. Reservoir Dogs – Mr. White shouts at Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) for acting like a psychopath during their disastrous jewel store heist. Unmoved Mr. Blonde responds.

Blonde: Are you gonna bark all day, little doggy. Or are you gonna bite?

 

2. Casablanca ­– Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) American businessman in Nazi occupied Morocco responds to a petty crook who turns up at his bar.

Crook: You despise me don’t you?

Blaine: Well, if I gave you any thought I probably would.

 

1. In Bruges – Crime-boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes) finds out his top hitman has defected and proceeds to violently batter his phone in a fit of rage. His wife enters.

Wife: It’s an inanimate f**king object

Harry: You’re an inanimate f**king object