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Month: January 2017

New Year, miserable you?

When the clock ticks over to midnight on the 1st of January each new year, we’re all programmed to start thinking about ‘fresh starts’ in which we can cast aside the excess and laziness of the Christmas season and remake ourselves into better people. However, this idea can be damaging and leave us with a feeling of failure, as 43% of people in the UK break their New Year resolutions within the first month. By putting huge amounts of pressure on ourselves, we end up unable to fulfil unattainable promises to ourselves. Surely it’s better to implement changes one at a time when you feel ready rather than waiting for one particular date or a new year to make a ton of resolutions you could never hope to keep?

Many of the most common New Year resolutions revolve around weight loss and fitness. While these resolutions are often made with the best of intentions, they are hard to keep and often encourage unhealthy behaviour, as we pressure ourselves to achieve too much too quickly.

January is one of the hardest times of the year for people recovering from eating disorders and many argue that the constant bombardment of messages about diet and exercise throughout the first month of the year can even encourage disordered eating. Some feel that the media chastise us for the amount we eat and drink during December and attempt to shame us into diets and intense exercise regimes.

Perhaps it would be better for everyone if we encouraged self-love and acceptance all year round and encouraged people to make changes to their lifestyles in order to make themselves feel healthier and more vibrant, rather than focussing so intently on appearance. The body positivity movement has really sky-rocketed in the last year, and online personalities such as bodyposipanda (Megan Jayne Crabb) use social media in order to spread messages about self-acceptance and recovery from eating disorders.

For people who want to lose weight for health reasons or just because they want to be more active and feel healthier, it can often be easier to make these changes throughout the year without all the pressure and shaming of the post-Christmas season.

Many of the changes that people cite as their New Year’s resolutions are small things which you needn’t wait for the 1st of January to try and implement. Reminding yourself daily to try and put your all into what you do, show kindness and respect to others, and even ring your mum more often are easy little things that you can change right now and see the benefit of almost immediately.

If you reprogramme your brain into seeing each day as the brand new slate that we think of as unique to January 1st, you achieve your goals far more efficiently rather than waiting a whole year for the one day where you feel you can challenge yourself… why can’t every day be that day?

Wayne Rooney: record-breaker

History was made at the Bet365 Stadium on Saturday, as Wayne Rooney broke Sir Bobby Charlton’s goal scoring record for Manchester United, a record which stood for 44 years. As he has done so many times in the last decade or so, the England forward stepped up to the plate to deliver the all-important goal, which rescued a point for his team on a difficult afternoon in Stoke.

The goal also marked another landmark for Rooney, as he scored his 88th away goal in the Premier League, overtaking Alan Shearer, who had previously held the record. Just as he has scored the most goals for his club and country and the most for a single club in the Premier League era, it is yet another milestone held solely by the United and England captain.

It isn’t just in the goal scoring department where records are tumbling either, Rooney is the ultimate team player. The ex-Everton man has laid on 102 assists for his team-mates during his 14-year stint in English football. He has the second most assists in Premier League history, level with Frank Lampard. Rooney’s next assist will see him go outright second behind his former team-mate Ryan Giggs, who has the most Premier League assists with 162.

Over the past 10 years, Rooney has been and still is one of the biggest names in football, mainly because of what he does on the pitch. Off the pitch, he appears to be a calm man of few words, but he does most his talking on the pitch, and on Saturday he shown once again why he is one of the best players to ever grace the Premier League. He is a true figure of consistency.

Of course, it is fantastic when a player performs consistently for three seasons, as Rooney’s England team-mate Harry Kane has done for Spurs. But he has a long way to go if he wants to surpass what his England skipper has achieved in the game.

The same can be said for former-Liverpool star Luis Suárez, the Uruguayan striker dazzled for three and a half years in the red of Liverpool, scoring 69 goals in 110 Premier League appearances. In the same period Suárez was at Liverpool, Rooney netted 65 goals for United while providing 32 assists, nine more than Suárez managed.

Everyone knows that Suárez is one of the best strikers the Premier League has ever seen, and of his generation. Rooney, however, does not get the same amount credit amongst all football fans, despite more than matching Suárez’s goal involvement in the Premier League. Aside of this, Rooney won two Premier League titles between 2011 and 2014 as well as scoring in a UEFA Champions League final, something Suárez did not manage until he moved to FC Barcelona in the summer of 2014.

Since Suárez has moved to Catalonia, he has been sensational, but he has had to leave the Premier League to achieve the team medals Rooney has achieved, including a Champions League winners medal in 2015.

Another player who had to leave England to emerge victorious on the European stage was Arsenal legend Thierry Henry. Just as Suárez did, Henry moved from the Premier League to Barcelona to play with the likes of Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Xavi. The Frenchman won a domestic treble in just his second season in Spain, something Suárez managed in his first.

When Match of the Day pundit Alan Hansen picked his all-time Premier League XI in 2014, just before he retired, he paired Henry and Suárez up front together. It was a selection not many might have argued with, but disregarding Rooney is something he may want to reconsider.

Henry was prolific in the Premier League in his eight years with Arsenal, scoring 174 goals in 254 appearances, while registering an impressive 75 assists. In comparison with Henry, Rooney has scored 195 goals in 451 appearances.

While he may not boast as good a goal ratio as Henry, it should be considered that the Frenchman played as an out-and-out striker during his time in North London. Rooney, on the other hand, has played in a variety of other positions as well, including as a number 10, winger, and even in a deep lying midfield role under Louis Van Gaal.

A further factor in Henry’s favour is the age. ‘Titi’ arrived in the Premier League when he was 22 and approaching the prime of his career, while Rooney started out as a 16-year-old. Consistently scoring goals from the age of 16 right through to 31 is something Henry may not have managed if his career followed a similar pattern to Rooney’s, in the world’s most physically demanding league.

Instead, just as Suárez did, Henry went to Spain to prolong and improve his career in a better team. The two Premier League icons also went on to be greats at Barcelona, and if Rooney took the same path as the duo, no doubt he would have been equally as successful in one of the greatest teams ever to have played the game.

It remains unclear, however, that Henry and Suárez would have thrived in the Premier League for 14 years and counting just as Rooney has done, winning honours year after year while breaking records for club and country.

Time and time again, Rooney has received unfair criticism where other players have had credit for achieving less than him. Henry and Suárez are two examples. Undoubtedly, both are wonderful strikers, but their achievements in English football don’t match up to Rooney’s.

Perhaps the Manchester United and England serial record-breaker does not get the credit that he deserves…

In other news, water is wet.

Poet of the week: Elizabeth Gibson

Elizabeth Gibson is an IPML student at UoM and a Digital Reporter for Manchester Literature Festival. She is a member of The Writing Squad and has had work in Far Off Places, London Journal of Fiction, Octavius, Severine, Ink, Sweat & Tears and Gigantic Sequins. She tweets @Grizonne and blogs at http://elizabethgibsonwriter.blogspot.co.uk.

There are pigs everywhere, oinking at us.
We are drowning in pink. They are what
Segovia is known for, you tell me. Pork,
in all its guises: cured, pulled, spicy, raw.
The aqueduct is two storeys tall and rules
the airspace, made of square white stones.
They look too neat to be real. You tell me
there was a pact with a devil. I believe it.

We trek up the hill to the spiky house, La
Casa de los Picos. It does what it says on
the tin. I could fall back into it, the initial
pain subsiding into something therapeutic,
like a massage, or when they burn stuff on
your back. You know? We turn back for
a slice of view. Hillside. Pale sky, a sun
on its way to tyrant mode. Not there yet.

There are little mosaics on every corner,
telling us where we are meant to be. Here
is a chalice and host – Plaza del Corpus,
the Square of the Body. We approach the
cathedral, La Dama they call her, the Lady.
She is big and white, and kind of squat. In
my mind’s eye I rest my cheek against her
stone, discover whether the lime is hot like

the day or miraculously cool, her holy belly
pulsating ice. You just look at me. We stop
in a café and have crepes made from cheese
and – yes, ham. They are tiny and so rich my

tongue recoils. We gulp weird drinks, wipe
fat from our lips. Back down the hill we go,
pigs staring up at us accusingly from their
plates and postcards. I didn’t mean it, I tell
them in both languages. Es extraña, you say.
You are strange. I know, I know I am. It is
still not that hot. Time to go. I can taste fat,
and limestone, though I never did kiss that.

If you would like to have your work published in The Mancunion, as poet of the week, please email [email protected], with a selection of work and a short biography.

Review: A Minger’s Tale by R. B. N. Bookmark

A Minger’s Tale is an autobiographical story of R.B.N Bookmark growing up in Manchester as the son of Irish immigrants through the latter half of the twentieth century. Once you get past the odd title the book is an engaging reflection of the author’s youth in Manchester set against the social, economic and political unrest of the 70s and 80s. The book is an insight into everyday life in that era, whether that’s the stories of industrial strikes or the occasional offensive stereotype. A Minger’s Tale tells Ribban’s story from school to college to a variety of jobs including but not limited to waiting tables in a luxury hotel in Piccadilly, a kitchen porter in isolated, winter Cornwall, and fruit picking in a former prisoner of war camp.

The structure of the book with most short chapters boiling down to a single anecdote works well if you’re planning on picking the book up sporadically. However, reading it in a couple of sittings made it feel a little disjointed. The author’s humour and frankness meant I felt like I was listening to Rickon tell me these anecdotes after bumping into him in a pub in Hulme, which I enjoyed. From the beginning of the book, it is clear that this is a reflection on the author’s love for his recently deceased father, Manchester United, and the city itself.

The book truly shines when Ribban is talking about his life in various Manchester suburbs moving from Ardwick to Hulme to Moss Side through the 70s and 80s. His narration touches upon the economic decline of industrial areas like Manchester as we ricochet from unsuccessful job opportunities to the dole queue in Aytoun Street with our narrator. The chapter on the 1981 Moss Side riots is an obvious stand out. Ribban’s story of attempting to get to and from work whilst buildings are ablaze and the threatening presence of riot vans are on every corner is a fascinating insight to this piece of British history. Another highlight is Ribban’s story about his very short stint at signing up for the Army. His internal battle between unwillingness to follow through his sign-up and his refusal to disappoint his father was one of the few times in the book I felt genuine emotional investment in the author’s story.

Side characters appear fleetingly, apart from his parents and a couple of friends, and each chapter seems to introduce several co-workers, friends, or acquaintances made on public transport who disappear as quickly as they’re introduced. His younger siblings appear occasionally throughout the book but oddly not as much as you would imagine when living in a two bedroom house with three children.

If you’re curious about discovering local history through a series of authentic anecdotes then this book is a great insight to life in Manchester in the latter half of the twentieth century.

Race for Life in the New Year!

Each one of us wants the New Year to be bigger and better than ever before — and many of us make New Year’s resolutions. Improving our health, losing weight, or going to the gym more are always popular resolutions. The struggle is always to stick to them throughout the year.

January is a great time to embark upon a new challenge. Why not sign up to Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life and enter 5k, 10k or Pretty Muddy? In Manchester, Pretty Muddy takes place on Saturday 8th July and the 5k and 10k events are scheduled for Sunday 9th July. It might seem like a while off, but by signing up to Race for Life right now, female students in Manchester will be playing their part in beating cancer. Plus, it gives you a chance to train and get into shape! There’s no better time for you to lace your trainers, get a little more active, and join like-minded girls committed to the cause. Money raised will help Cancer Research UK scientists find new ways to treat cancer and save more lives.

Kirsti Thompson, Cancer Research UK’s Manchester Event Manager, said: “Signing up to take part in Race for Life is a great way for female students to set themselves a new and exciting challenge for 2017.

“Race for Life events are non-competitive and participants can choose to walk, jog or run around the course. What matters most is their participation. Whether they plan to amble with friends or sprint to the finish line, every step they take will help to bring forward the day when all cancers are cured.”

“Every day, around 110 people are diagnosed with cancer in the North West,” added Kirsti. “That’s why we’re calling on women in Manchester to make 2017 a year to remember. Together, we can stop this devastating disease in its tracks.”

Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life is a series of fun and inspiring women-only events raising money for research into around 200 types of cancer affecting men, women and children. Whether you choose a 5k or a marathon, whether you do it in a tutu or just an old pink T-shirt, do your part to help research into cancer and stop this deadly disease.

Signing up to take part couldn’t be easier — simply visit raceforlife.org.

Sunderland in Crisis: The Myth of Positive Relegation

On 21st of January, Sunderland’s away fans once again sold out their allocation, this time at The Hawthorns, and witnessed yet another dire performance. Sunderland suffered their 15th defeat of the season. After recording the worst start to a season in Premier League history, David Moyes’ team are bottom of the table, ravaged by injuries, and seemingly helpless on-and-off the pitch. It is looking increasingly likely that this is the year the League’s great escapologists will finally fail to avoid relegation.

The financial devastation caused by relegation could prove particularly ruinous for Sunderland. A recent UEFA report found that Sunderland had the 11th highest level of debt in Europe and the 3rd highest in England, at around £182Million. A particularly worrying figure from 2014-15 is that the club spent 76 per cent of its turnover on wages, the 3rd highest proportion in the league. If Sunderland were to be relegated this season, they would lose a large chunk of the money they gain from TV and broadcasting deals – which currently makes up 68 per cent of the club’s revenue. The club would suffer greatly.

Sunderland should not be in this position. The club enjoys tremendous support, (the 6th highest average attendance in the Premier League) and the spend lots on transfers and players’ wages. With the 11th highest wage spend in the league, it is expected that Sunderland would be a comfortable mid-table side.

Ellis Short, owner and Chairman of Sunderland, cannot be accused of underspending, but should take the blame for overseeing a disgraceful level of misspending. Only three of 46 signings since 2009 have been sold for a profit (James McClean, Darren Bent and Simon Mignolet).

There is also little evidence of Short’s business acumen in his running of the club, with a meagre £4 million increase in non-TV earnings since his ownership began in 2008. This misspending has brought little quality to Wearside, yet has taken the club to the brink of Financial Fair Play breaches, meaning Moyes now finds himself near-powerless to bring in new faces this January.

Despite these dangers, there persists a myth among those around Sunderland that relegation may not be such a long-term setback for the Club, and could even be a benefit. Former manager Dick Advocaat has said that: “Maybe it’s better to go down, to build a new team like Newcastle, who have a great club, a great fan base, and a great stadium just like Sunderland”, but he fails to account for Sunderland’s relative lack of marketable players with which to fund a new team. Beyond this, an instant return to the Premiership is no guarantee, even for a big club like Sunderland — just ask Leeds United or Nottingham Forest.

Micky Gray, a Sunderland player for twelve years, has similarly stated that relegation would allow Moyes to “start building from the ground up, from the foundations to what he needs to get us back in the Premier League”. Not only does Gray fail to explain where the funds would come from to allow such “building”, but his belief that Moyes is the man capable of doing so should be questioned. Not only are Sunderland seemingly becoming worse as the season goes on, Moyes himself seems to not believe he can stop the rot, offering little in the way of hopeful or inspiring comments to the media and starting the season with predictions of a relegation battle.

After Sunderland’s 4-1 home defeat to Arsenal in October, Moyes explained that “Arsenal’s quality, and the strength they’ve got on the bench showed”. While this is of course true, it is worth noting that six of the seven players on Sunderland’s bench were signed by Moyes in the summer, with only one starting, Steven Pienaar. The roughly £27M summer spend by Moyes, not to mention the wages of his free signings, have clearly not been of the calibre to improve the team, or in many cases even get into the starting eleven.

Moyes seems to be shooting his own Life On Mars adaptation, awakening from the double car-crash of his Manchester United and Real Sociedad spells in the heady days of mid-noughties Everton, with Victor Anichebe, Steven Pienaar, and now Joleon Lescott answering his casting call: “Old Evertonians wanted: history of injuries required, fading abilities preferred.”

It is of little reassurance to Sunderland fans that at a time when relegation rivals Crystal Palace, Swansea, and Hull have all replaced managers and brought in new players to aid their survival fights, Sunderland’s only action this January has been to sign Joleon Lescott. The personification of Aston Villa’s on-and-off pitch horrors last season has come to work his magic on Wearside, comforting fan concerns of player salaries with tweets of £120,000 cars, and reminding his new teammates that relegation need not spell financial disaster, but can be a “weight off people’s shoulders”.

Fans can only hope that Lescott has learned from his mistakes, and is eager to repair the damage done to his legacy, or that the money earned from Patrick van Aanholt’s impending move to Crystal Palace is for once invested wisely.

Sunderland may only be three points off Swansea in 17th place, but there is little reason for fans to expect an upturn in fortune on or off the pitch. If Sunderland manage another late escape this season, it will undoubtedly be their most unlikely yet, and must be followed up with a bid to aim higher than merely surviving in the Premier League. If not, it seems they risk emulating Portsmouth’s decline and fall down the Football League and into financial collapse.

Is ‘relatable’ online content homogenising us?

After the ‘post-truth’ age — the entirely new phenomenon of propaganda informing belief systems — the world came to realise the insidious effect of lives being spent online. One such effect was the issue of people’s newsfeeds on social media creating echo chambers of opinion. This occurs because the ‘suggested content’ on one’s social media stream is informed by those sites and accounts you already follow — hence, reinforcing opinion. All that you see holds a mirror up to that which you already believe. It was quite right to bring this problem to light, but the issue we have now is that many have centred their critique of the internet around this single fact, despite a host of other problems.

So, now, in between my normal routine of scrolling through popular tweets that somehow always seem to understand exactly how I am feeling at any given moment, I am going to take a second to ponder whether our online lives are reducing our expressive and emotional capacity.

You might have guessed by the heavy stench of pretension emanating from my prose, but I am a literature student (and, yes, I did just categorise my own article as ‘prose’ to enact that level of pretension. Well done if you got it.) One of my concerns is that the effect of soundbite articles and churned-out retweetable lifestyle-based content intended to appeal to the masses is a generation of people who think the only way one can feel in a variety of situations is through the visual conduit of a frog. For, apparently, this is the most ‘accurate’ way of describing the whole gamut of human emotion.

I don’t want to harp on about books too much, especially as I have forgotten to bring in my harp today, but these kinds of glib, shallow and essentially meaningless turns of phrase make me wonder how the creative process of many of the literary greats could be reimagined through the prism of the relatable content machine.

I see Virginia Woolf. She is taking a seat in a room, a room of her own presumably. It has been a day of deep depression for the long-time sufferer. But, she thinks, putting pen to paper might prove cathartic, as has been the case many times before. She begins writing on a page she has marked, “accuracy af.” It might be noted that this title sits next to a crossed-out title of “it me” — well, she always was a perfectionist. She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, reopens them, and, focusing intensely on exactly what it is she is experiencing, begins to write: “17 times life was less than chill”. She proceeds, in the form of a relatable listicle, to bare her soul. She closes her eyes once more and lets out a deep sigh. Tears fall slowly down her cheeks. She feels some type of way.

The narrowing of our emotional and expressive capacity is in some ways inverse to the problem caused by people’s newsfeeds being reduced to echo chambers of opinion. This issue relates to the content you turn towards when you have had enough of news and politics. Instead of appearing to be a narrow tunnel, this online content seems general, generic, universal even. The scope seems so wide that it can relate to everyone. Yet, once again, it actually has the effect of reducing a wide variety of people and their modes of self-expression into one person who dabs, says things are “lit”, and quite often “can’t cope” with various situations. They just can’t. “I just can’t”, they often reaffirm.

This may seem to be a banal issue. It may seem as though the way we express ourselves does not change how we are on the inside, how we process things, how we feel. But for better or for worse (hmm let’s have a think about that one) the influence of popular culture need no longer wait in line to offer its suggestion on how we should be acting, but is now with us on our phones even in the most private moments.

Populist media may have damaging effects regarding the inculcation of unfounded, inaccurate political convictions; but we should not overlook the ways in which the relatable meme industry, fun and funny as it can it can be, is similarly pernicious in that it shapes those parts of ourselves that we might think in our vain way transcend the reach of a picture of a man sprinkling some salt.

If we don’t step away from the tweets for at least a few seconds a day, perhaps all emotions will be rendered through meme-based content. This will make us feel sad. But when we try to break down how we are feeling there will just be a picture of a frowning frog imprinted deep within our soul.

Literary critic Harold Bloom said, “no one can bear to see his own inner struggle as being mere artifice.” This turmoil is doubled when mere artifice becomes meme artifice. In the midst of this struggle, I know I can relate to these words, and I am sure you can too. Like, share and subscribe, if so.

‘Clean Eating’ – A Food Fad Gone Wrong?

Some of the biggest foodies of our time are turning their ethos’ on their head, but, how serious are the bad claims against ‘clean eating’?

Ella Mills (Deliciously Ella) is leading the wave by removing the mention of ‘clean eating’ from her blog. Previous to the controversy, her blog was covered in statements pledging her alliance to a “clean” and “healthy” life. However, in 2017, Ella has quickly denied these claims and said: “I’ve never described myself as ‘clean’ “.

So, what exactly is ‘clean eating’ and what are the reasons for this sudden backlash on what seemed to be an untouchable part of the modern food scene? ‘Clean eating’ can be described as eating food that avoids processed food, meat and dairy, and, instead, focuses on a fruit, vegetables, and other whole natural foods. To abide by this, Ella herself is a vegan and prides herself on her “clean” cookbooks, two London delis, and now her new energy ball snacks. Clean eating in this sense doesn’t sound all too bad. However, when BBC Horizon and Dr Giles Yeo took a closer look into the idea, all does not seem well.

Ella appears on the show and in discussion with Dr Giles she quickly explains that the idea of ‘clean eating’ has been misconstrued. People now dub “unclean” foods as “dirty”, which is a clear misconception, as for a large part of our society things such as dairy and gluten are beneficial to a balanced healthy diet and do not need to be wholly avoided. ‘Clean eating’ therefore supports an unnecessary restrictive diet.

In addition to this, Dr Giles delved into the inspirations behind ‘clean eating’ books such as Natasha Corrett’s book ‘Honestly Healthy’ and what he found was a surprise to all of those watching. ‘Honestly Healthy’ took ideas from Dr Robert O Young, one of the main believers in the alkaline diet. He strongly supported the idea that the diet could treat cancer due to bacteria coming from inside the body. However, it was later revealed he is facing jail time for practising medicine without a license and taking money from cancer suffers a time of vulnerability.

But, how much of the blame can we put on these so-called wellness gurus and how bad can ‘clean eating’ really be? No foodies in the public eye claim that diets can cure cancer, no-one describe foods as “dirty”, and most only strive to promote what they believe to be a healthy lifestyle. Fault must lie in social media for overwhelming viewers with the image that things such as gluten are bad and also in the professionals exaggerating research findings to show ‘clean eating’ is good for everyone.

Latin stereotypes are getting old

Do you know the cartel? Do you know how to dance? Do you get angry easily?

These are a few examples of some of the questions a Latinx may be asked whilst residing outside their country of origin. Like other stereotypes, there are numerous exceptions to the rules and norms of what it is to be Latino. Not all of us are illegal immigrants. Not all Latinas are sexy. And not all Latinos have an accent. Yet, the stereotypes persist, and Hollywood has a role to play in perpetuating these generalisations.

One typical Hollywood Latin character that comes to mind is Gloria Pritchett from Modern Family. Sofia Vergara is loved by many in her comic role as a loud and passionate Colombian, and it is always great to see Latin roles on screen. However, after her joke at the Golden Globes this year — in which she poked fun at her own accent, saying “anal” and “anus” instead of “annual” — it is becoming evident that the antics are getting old.

Latin roles have exploded in the past fifteen years, finally reaching roles that do not box them as the stereotypical maid/sex-symbol/macho-man/drug-lord. Examples of ‘unLatino’ roles include Gina Rodriguez’s Jane in Jane the Virgin, Diego Luna as Cassian Andor in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, or Oscar Isaac as Apocalypse in X-men: Apocalypse. The extent to which roles for Latinos have developed can be seen when compared to older films such as Once Upon A Time In Mexico, where each Latin actor is limited to Hollywood’s perception of what it is to be Latino. Although there is still a way to go, Latino actors and actresses are finally allowed to play roles that don’t even reference their heritage, instead focusing on actors’ raw talent.

It is because of this progress that Vergara’s joke at the Golden Globes comes as a disappointment. After seeing her emerge in the English-speaking world thanks to her role in Modern Family, it is sad to have to see her still rely on her accent and Latinness for a few laughs. Vergara is a talented actress and businesswoman who could easily develop her role in Hollywood without losing her popularity. Yet, she still limits herself to playing the role of the stereotypical Latina. Still, at least she’s not playing the role of the maid.

The problem is not so much the actors themselves, but rather the writers, directors, and producers. Of course, it is up to the actors and actresses to accept and decline roles, especially when you are as famous and influential to other Latinos as Vergara is. But there is a problem when the only roles available to Latinos are those that play on the stereotypes. And the more those stereotypical roles are played, the more they keep being produced. It’s a vicious cycle that is slowly being broken with the infiltration of Latinos behind the scenes. Recent examples include directors Alejandro G. Iñárritu (The Revenant) and Pablo Larrain (Jackie). Both have presented Oscar-worthy films not categorised in “Best Foreign-Language Film”.

By increasing the participation of Latinos behind the scenes, we are battling ignorance. For, at the end of the day, the lack of roles available to Latinos is because of writers’ and producers’ ignorance. If you have a room full of WASP writers who are told to write a film that includes minorities, it is likely that a few of these roles will adhere to stereotypes, as it is what is most recognizable to these writers.

If you grew up in an environment where the films you watched, and later participated in, only show Latinos as two-dimensional characters that follow Hollywood’s expectations of what a Latinx is, then you are bound to end up writing a film or two that exploit that stereotype. However, by getting not only Latinos, but all minorities in the USA involved in the process of writing, we may be able to grow the volume of films in which where a Latino is not either a gardener or a player, a black woman isn’t sassy, and a gay man isn’t feminised. Only then can we offer not only a variety of roles to minorities which won’t force them into playing a stereotype, but also an alternative view of minorities that won’t lead to the repetition of stereotypes.

This is not an article condemning Vergara for having an accent, being loud, or being good-looking. Everyone is free to create their own image. It may just be that Vergara is coincidentally everything Hollywood expects a Latina to be. But continuously playing on that stereotype does Latinos everywhere no favours. And being such a representative in an under-represented group, Vergara has a responsibility to show other aspects of what it is to be a Latino. Alone, it is almost impossible to break down Hollywood’s barriers. But by participating alongside other Latin actors in getting rid of stereotypes, Vergara would be opening more doors to future Latin actors/actresses, rather than keeping them shut.

Chilli Banana – Didsbury

After hearing there was a new Thai restaurant to open right on my doorstep, there was nothing else for it but to head down right away and see if it could compete with some of the already show-stopping Asian cuisine in Manchester.

After a dark and cold cycle-ride, we arrived outside Chilli Banana, which is situated on Lapwing Lane, just between East and West Didsbury, and I was impressed due to the warming light that shone through the large windows. Me and my housemate entered, and were welcomed genuinely by a colourfully dressed waitress. As we wandered through the restaurant to our designated table, I wondered about the practicality of the carpeted floor. Despite it maybe becoming stained within a few weeks, I wasn’t opposed to it as it did bring a cosy vibe to the large space.

We were sat down at the far end of the room, right by the semi-open kitchen, a centrepiece that seems to be becoming more and more prevalent in restaurants all over the country. We eagerly gazed in to see what the chefs were up to, and were met with smiles and clean surfaces that gleamed.

We ordered a glass of white wine each which we sipped upon whilst considering the extensive food menu. After some deliberation, we decided to share all of our options in order to taste as many dishes and flavours as possible. To start we ordered Thai prawn crackers and some spare ribs. When the ribs arrived, both of our eyes lit up at the crispy skinned, meaty-looking pork that was given to us. We dug in using our hands and dipped the succulent meat into the accompanying plum sauce. Overall, the dish was really impressive, especially to a self-confessed rib snob; the marinade of garlic, ginger and coriander came through perfectly and was well-balanced.

Despite nearly every item on the menu tempting us, we decided to opt for, some king prawns stir-fried in chilli, onion and sweet basil, a Massaman Nua curry, and, of course, some sticky Thai rice. I sometimes find ordering prawns slightly difficult due to my extreme fussiness of them being cooked faultlessly, however, due to them being a large feature to the menu, we decided it was worth a try. When the waitress brought them over, we were pleased by the amount of prawns and the combination of colours allowed for a vibrant looking dish. On tasting, we were met with a luxuriously sweet sauce, hints of spicy chilli, and, yes, perfectly cooked prawns, hallelujah! Although the flavours in this dish were truly inspiring, for the price on the dish, we think some rice or noodles should have been included rather than extras we had added.

Next, we moved onto our curry. Thai curries are some of my favourite things to eat when out, so, I was expecting big things from its tasty sounding description on the menu. After initially slowly slurping a small taste off a spoon, I couldn’t help but quickly dive in for another full spoonful. The sauce was a delicious mix of mild spice, peanut, and coconut, which surrounded huge chunks of potatoes and melt-in-the-mouth beef. We combined this hearty mix with our sticky rice to complete perfect mouthfuls.

After we had finished this last dish we were entirely full and sat back in our comfy chairs to enjoy the rest of our wine. I thought to myself, I can’t wait to come back and try the rest of the menu, but, actually, would I just order the same dishes again? It’s a nice predicament to be in at the end of a meal.

Preview: Manchester Film Festival

After attending the official press release for the festival a couple of weeks ago, I must say, I have big expectations for some of the films that are going to be screened. This year, all films that are part of the Manchester Film Festival will be shown across several screens in the Odeon situated within The Printworks and will be powered by Metrolink. Unlike previous years when films have been screened across various locations that were part of the festival, this choice to use one location will provide a more connected vibe and is something that the organisers and directors of the festival seem very excited about.

The three strands of films for this year’s festival are Rising Stars, Be Who You Are, Say What You Feel and Women in Film. The Rising Stars strand offers the upcoming and emerging talent for both in front of and behind the camera, including the anticipated film Katie Says Goodbye, starring Olivia Cooke whilst the Be Who You Are, Say What You Feel strand is a selection of films that centre around the themes of acceptance and freedom, including Ben Price’s Taubman starring Jack P Shephard and the Brazilian feature Public Intimacy.  This year’s Women in Film strand is interesting and inspirational. With over thirty pieces of work by female directors being screened at the festival, including the Hollywood great Karen Allen’s A Tree, A Rock, A Cloud, there are definitely films in there that are going to be talked about well after this year’s Manchester Film Festival is over with.

The final film line-up has been created from an incredible amount of submissions, meaning that the festival is showcasing amazing pieces of work from all around the world right here in Manchester. Appearances and Q&A’s from Timothy Spall, Karen Allen and Stef Dawson have also been confirmed and with the option for audiences to buy a pass that admits you to either all of the documentaries, all of the short films or all of the feature lengths, there really is something for everyone at the Manchester Film Festival. The festival runs from the 2nd-5th March, so put the dates into your diary because it is something that I promise you will not want to miss.

Head over heels for fashion in La La Land

Damien Chazelle’s La La Land swept the Golden Globes earlier this month, with both Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling taking home awards as well the film winning best motion picture for a musical or comedy. And now with fourteen Oscar nominations under its belt, La La Land looks set to take home more awards than any film in history. From its breathtaking cinematography to the electrifying chemistry between Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, La La Land is definitely not to be missed.

The film follows Mia and Sebastian on their quests to follow their dreams and is a brilliant compromise between the classic Hollywood musicals of the forties and fifties and modern day Los Angeles. In one particularly memorable scene where Mia and Sebastian are dancing against the idyllic backdrop of Los Angeles at dawn, for a moment the audience are transported back to the films from the Golden Age of Hollywood until Mia’s phone rings and you are brought back to 2017. The film is a classic story of hopes and dreams with an unforgettable modern twist.

In paying tribute to the Technicolor pictures of the 40s and 50s, the choice and influence of the clothing used in the film should not be underestimated. From the impressive opening sequence of a gridlocked Los Angeles freeway, the importance of colour is unmistakable. As the commuters break out into a spectacular musical number, the bright colours of their outifts are part of the choreography that brightens up the bumper-to-bumper traffic jam. This vivid primary colour inspired theme continues in to the early part of the film and most notably in a scene with Emma Stone and her three roommates. As they dance down the streetlight lit road, Stone’s royal blue dress stands out against the red, yellow and green dresses of her girlfriends. The bright dresses are just one example of Chazelle paying homage to the Technicolor cinema of days gone by.

One of the fourteen Oscars that La La Land is nominated for includes Best Costume Design, with Emma Stone’s canary yellow dress making the film a serious contender for securing the sought after gong. Mary Zophres, the costume designer for the film, perhaps looked for inspiration from the likes of Grace Kelly and Ingrid Bergman, the latter who just so happens to be a recurring theme throughout the film as one of Mia’s idols.  The retro style of Stone’s dresses throughout is a nod to the Golden Age of Hollywood; however, Zophres said that she wanted the costumes to be relatable, and believable that a struggling actress would be able to afford them. The canary yellow dress was inspired by one of Stone’s red carpet looks — the Atelier Versace gown she wore in 2014. The colour perfectly compliments Stone’s hair colour and skin tone whilst looking spectacular against the stunning backdrop of the Hollywood hills during her dance number with Gosling.

As the movie progresses, the bright colours that dominated the beginning of the film start to become relaxed until the final scene of the play when we see Stone wearing a classic cut black dress. The use of the colour of the outfits throughout the film, particularly Mia’s, seems to chart the changing trajectory of the characters and their pursuits to achieve their dreams in the City of Stars. La La Land is truly unmissable, and if musicals aren’t your thing at least go for the outfits… or Ryan Gosling.

Lion: a human film about hope

Australian director Garth Davis’ new film Lion presents the true story of how five-year-old Saroo Brierly (Sunny Pawar) ended up being adopted by an Australian couple (Nicole Kidman and David Wenham) after having mistakenly boarded a train that took him to Calcutta, 1600km away from his rural home. The story begins in India, in a small village called Ganesh Talai, where Saroo had been living a life of poverty – but not suffering – with his mother, brother and sister. One night, whilst accompanying his brother on a late-night shift, Saroo accidentally winds up on a train that takes him far from home, to an area of India where he cannot even speak the language. Although only five, the audience is struck by his resourcefulness and wit as he finds ways to survive the streets of Calcutta. Without being over-dramatized, this section of the film shows the reality of homeless children in India, who as well as looking for a way to make ends meet, must watch out for those who seek to capture them for financial gain. For the two months following his unprecedented arrival in Calcutta, Saroo is forced to live in this vague space between hiding from kidnappers and finding someone to help him get back home, all the while searching for food and shelter. Finally, the day arrives where a stranger takes him to a home for lost children. Here the pace slows down, allowing the audience to catch their breath as they finally see Saroo being fed and sleeping on a reasonably decent mattress. It is in this home that Saroo is given up for adoption to an Australian couple. Although it is not his original home, there is a sigh of relief as his struggles on the streets are finally over.

The film then enters a second half with a slightly slower pace, although by no means tedious. Time is fast-forwarded twenty years, showing a twenty-five-year-old Saroo (Dev Patel) that is fluent in English as well as ready to embark on a career in the hospitality industry. This section of the film tackles problems, that to a Western audience, may be more familiar, such as adoption, romance and growing-up. However, as recognizable as his life may be to any University student, there is still an urgent need to find ‘home’. As this need becomes more urgent we witness him give up his job and girlfriend in order to scour Google Images to find his home. His hair becomes long and unruly with each scene, reflecting the chaos his life has become since embarking on this mission. Although the audience can easily Google the life of Saroo Brierly, or read his novel, A Long Way Home, it still comes as a surprise when he stumbles upon a recognizable train station. Finally, there is closure.

Despite the dramatic plot, director Davis does not rely on the exaggeration of events in Lion so that they would be more heart-rendering, yet less credible. With the aid of powerful performances by Pawar, Patel and Kidman, Davis offers a human story that tackles social issues such as the disappearance of 80,000 children per year in India, as well as familiar issues we may find closer to home. There are many scenes which lend themselves to over-dramatization, yet Davis ensures that there is not a moment when hope is lost. Lion is a not a traditionally feel-good film, yet because of the portrayal and development of Saroo’s character, there is a constant feeling of “things will get better”. And they do.

 

Rating: 5/5

In defence of all-nighters

Writing an essay in one night may seem like penance to some: overwhelmingly stressful with a high-risk element. However, to others the all-nighter is the only way to go. I find that leaving things to the last minute gives me the needed adrenaline rush to produce decent quality work. Additionally, I like to argue that the skills gained in all-nighters can be easily applied to any high-pressure job… or maybe that is stretching it a little. Whilst I choose to write in this style, I understand that for some this is not a choice, but a predicament caused by the madness of deadlines. As a seasoned all-nighter, I would like to share my tips for successfully writing an essay in a single night:

1. Fuel
For this, pick your (caffeinated) poison. Coffee is the clear winner, but if it’s not your flavour, Pepsi has more caffeine than Coke. In terms of snacks, have a variety of sweet and savoury. Staying up all night is already unhealthy, so you might as well commit to it.

2. Plan
For those who prefer writing without a plan, this stage is completely optional. However, for me this is the most vital stage of an all-nighter. I prefer doing my plan in the early stages so that if my friends are still awake they can help me if needs be. Start with a basic plan with the general gist of where your essay is going, before fleshing it out with quotes, analysis, and critics to support your points if required. This stage takes most of the evening/early night shift, as it almost eliminates the dreaded early morning writer’s block, and it generally speeds up the process of writing the actual essay. If you are a planner, I would recommend starting this part as early as possible. If you do get writer’s block, simply type away to get the words flowing, and highlight it for review once you’ve finished. Time is of the essence!

3. Set goals
You might not stick to them exactly, but this is OK. They will help you to structure the night, and give you something to aim for at 3am when you’re questioning whether you actually need a degree. Something like having the plan finished by 12am, and writing 500 words by 1:30am, etc. Make sure they’re realistic!

4. Reference as you go along
This is important, as in the early hours of the morning it is often the little things such as referencing that will trip you up. I usually write my bibliography after I’ve finished the plan, but before I start the actual essay. In the long run, this will also speed up your writing.

5. Move around
Sitting in one place for an extended period of time can make this experience feel worse than it already is. Moving work stations can help to clear your mind and reset your thoughts. Fresh air and walking around will ease the process and will help you stay more awake.

6. Take breaks
It’s 5:37am and you’re only 500 words in. You’re shaking with a tummy ache and you think you’re going a little bit crazy. Don’t panic! This is just the crippling stress resulting from the combination of caffeine overdose and sleep deprivation. You’re only human. Indulge yourself a little bit. Have some breaks every hour or so where you have a snack or a cigarette.

The sun rises, and you’ve finally finished your essay. Maybe you’re older and wiser, or perhaps diamonds are made under pressure. Either way, producing a large body of work in the space of one night is undeniably an art form.

Beauty buys worth the splurge

Whether you’re celebrating your hard work or some much needed post-exam retail therapy, treat yourself to some of the new and classic beauty favourites.

Anastasia Beverly Hills ‘Glow kit’, £39-£47: Fans of the American brand ‘Anastasia Beverly Hills’ were thrilled following the announcement that the brand have set up their UK online store, eradicating the additional cost of international shipping to an already pricey purchase. Amongst the best sellers are their ‘glow kits’ highlighter palettes containing between four and six highly pigmented highlighters. With five different palettes to choose from, there’s a kit for everyone. Available online. 

kat von d Photo: debenhams.com

Kat Von D ‘Tattoo Liner’, £16: Another big beauty name that has graced the UK high street. Kat Von D tattoo liner is one of the best liquid eyeliners around. With a pen style application that doesn’t dry out like other brands, it creates sharp, bold lines that stay all day. Available in Debenhams stores and Debenhams online.

la base. Photo: lancome.co.uk

Lancôme ‘La Base Pro’ Primer, £28.50: Never faltering when it comes to quality, Lancôme have once more raised eyebrows everywhere with their primer. It has a delicate, lightweight feel and doesn’t sit on your skin or melt into your foundation. Its gel-like consistency means it combats the skins natural oils. The best bit is that due to the quality, only the tiniest pea size is needed meaning it will last you way beyond your final student finance instalment! Available online or at any Lancôme counter.

nail envy. Photo: opi.com

OPI ‘Nail Envy’, £19: With the combination of cold weather and examine stress, it is likely that your nails have been left bitten and/or brittle, so it might be about time to invest in a good quality nail strengthener like OPI’s ‘Nail Envy’. OPI top the nail varnish leader-boards and their strengthener is no exception, use on its own or as a base, your nails will thank you for it. Buy from boots or on Amazon

Philip Kingsley Elasticizer 150ml. Photo: feelunique.com

Philip Kingsley ‘Elasticizer’ hair mask, £17: Much like your nails, your hair will also be feeling the impact of months of cold weather. To combat dry texture, heat damage and split ends invest in a top quality hair mask to rejuvenate your hair and replenish its moisture. The ‘elasticizer’ hair mask was originally created by Philip Kingsley for Audrey Hepburn, so you can feel super glam yet humbled by the fact that even Hollywood’s most beautiful star suffered from split ends. Buy from feelunique.com, lookfantastic.com and some larger M&S branches.

Review: Assassin’s Creed

Assassin’s Creed is a perfect example of how a film with such potential can end up being such a disappointment. Based on a video game series of the same name, it appears that the film’s creators misunderstood the nature of the games and neglected to include many key story elements that would have made for a more watertight screenplay. Instead what we have is the Swiss cheese of films, with so many gaping holes it’s surprising that it made it to the cinema.

Anyone unfamiliar with the games may find it difficult to grasp the story, and unless you take a notebook and pen to the theatre I doubt you ever will. The opening hour of the film tries to force so much information down your throat that it forgets to forge any meaningful character interaction. As a result of this, and to no fault of their own, the film features possibly the worst performances of Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard. Fassbender’s most memorable line throughout the entire film across both of his characters is “I’m hungry”, which speaks volumes. The line is repeated several times in conceivably the most unengaging scene, although there is a lot of competition for that title.

There are a few positive aspects to Assassin’s Creed, but each of those are overshadowed by their poor implementation. For instance, the depiction of 15th Century Spain was truly beautiful. It is a shame however that we barely got to see it, and when we did it was during chaotic chase scenes with fast paced and blurry views of Seville. On the topic of chase scenes, there was a wonderfully choreographed chariot chase scene early on. Once again though, its awe-inspiring impact wasn’t exploited, or even felt. This was due to the mystifying decision to include around 7 different camera angles of the action. The pièce de résistance of the scene, where Fassbender’s character leaps from one chariot to the other, would have been edge-of-seat excitement if shown in one continuous shot. After perhaps the 4th mid-air camera angle change though my discontent became almost palpable.

The most baffling part of the film, in my opinion, was the inclusion of Brendan Gleeson playing Fassbender’s character, Callum Lynch’s father. He was likely added to the story in an attempt to give Lynch’s present day life some grounding but every scene featuring Gleeson’s character is redundant, often leading to more story confusion. The money used in hiring him could have been used more efficiently to create more animus based scenes or another writer who could create a screenplay with more lively dialogue.

Director Justin Kurzel completely misses the point with Assassin’s Creed. The games aren’t about the story so much as the exploration. Where else can you climb the Dome of the Rock Mosque and look over 13th Century Jerusalem, or jump into a gondola and row through the canals of 15th Century Venice? And even when forced into combat, stealth is key. I’d rather have watched Fassbender hiding in a haystack for 5 minutes waiting for the optimal time to strike than the overly choreographed and repetitive fight scenes presented to me. Maybe if the time spent trying to create the basis for two more lacklustre films was put into making the initial film higher quality, there would actually be a sequel.

The best way to counter PC culture is to speak your mind

Late last year, City University Students’ Union had a vote on whether to ban newspapers such as The Daily Mail, The Sun and the Daily Express. Unsurprisingly, the motion passed. Free speech advocates across the whole country were crying out, aligning this case with ongoing trend of increased campus censorship and attention to political correctness.

Now, I am not the biggest fan of those running our students’ unions. However, I do feel that those complaining that the actions of SU officers amount to the worst thing ever are doing the free speech movement a disservice. In the end, we are merely talking about some shops not stocking certain newspapers.

Let’s be honest, the average student is not very political, let alone political enough to even go and purchase a newspaper. If they so-desired to purchase the Daily Mail, they are free to buy one on their way home from university at a local store. Student unions are hardly suppressing their ability to keep up to date with the Kardashians.

In this modern world, most students likely read the news on their phones. City are hardly banning all the news websites they don’t like via the university Wi-Fi. This motion does not even prevent a student from reading these newspapers to their heart’s content on university computers. Students still are free to read copies of the “banned” newspapers if purchased elsewhere.

Some pro-free speechers need to get a grip. I really couldn’t care less that the SU shop doesn’t stock those newspapers. Let’s be honest, students are hardly a target market for the Daily Mail.

Rather than becoming tangled in debates such as these, there should be more outcry when atrocities such as the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack occur. Cartoon artists were literally shot dead at their office because they used their freedom of expression. That is something of grave concern. We should not be giving these student union officials the recognition that they want.

There have been cases where student unions do try to shut down debate. Prominent cases include the occasions when Manchester Students’ Union banned Milo Yiannopoulos and Julie Bindel from speaking at the Union because their views were not in compliance with its safe space policy.  The Free Speech and Secular Society ensured that the debate, chaired by myself, still went ahead — even without the backing of the Students’ Union.

It is not enough to complain that your free speech is being eroded and not do something about it. Nor does it help when you say that you are being censored at universities, when the reality is that you are not. Yes, I understand that there is a culture of intolerance at our universities — I have faced a lot of this myself. However, the best thing that one can do in this safe space culture is to just speak your mind.

In my experience, I have found that speaking your own mind seems to be quite a novelty these days. Students who seem ever more fearful of the impact that their social media comments may have on their future careers now seem reluctant even to voice their genuine opinion in simple discussion. It is far easier to say that you defend the freedom of speech than actually exercise it. The latter is the only way to tackle the current culture of political correctness.

Previously, I have talked a lot about how there is a lack of free speech at our universities. But even I am bored by the constant stories about the latest that students’ unions are up to. Complaining does not get you anywhere. I know that just expressing these sentiments will be seen as controversial by those who believe in the freedom of speech and who may think that I am on the side of the students’ union. I am not. I just feel that we must pick our battles more wisely. Making grand examples of very trivial situations only hinders everything that we stand for.

New Year, New Predictions

Whilst many welcomed the end of 2016, billing it ‘the worst year in history’, the start of 2017 may already be off to a bad start: the Obamas left the White House and the Trumps trooped in; tuition fees quietly increased; it’s also January — the gloomiest, longest, exam-ridden month of the year. Who knows what the rest of the year will bring? But considering the bewildering, tumultuous year behind us, The Mancunion Fashion and Beauty department are prepared for any unforeseen surprises the year might bring. So with the possibility of another unpredictable year, here’s what you can prepare for:

10: Following Donald Trump’s inauguration, the fake tanning phenomenon reaches an all time low: beauty product companies St. Tropez and Johnson’s suffer catastrophic financial set backs and The Tanning Shop closes indefinitely.

9: To commemorate the ten-year anniversary of Britney Spears’s traumatic breakdown, nineties and noughties babies across the Western world symbolically shave their heads to demonstrate their undying love for the pop queen.

8. As a result of her flourishing acting career, Cara Delevingne abandons her renowned big screen extravaganzas to build a theatre school. There’s an age-old proverb in there somewhere…

7. A swanky watch? A designer handbag? No no, this year the 2017 trend for sweet sixteens across the globe comes in facial skin tinting. Who needs a tiffany necklace when you can have a permanent contour?

6. When questioned about later retirement from her political career, Theresa May announces her intentions to open a shoe store in her constituency of Maidenhead.

5. Kendall Jenner, GiGi Hadid and Hailey Baldwin join forces to start an anti-social media movement, deleting their Instagram accounts that ripples worldwide. Teenage boys and girls hurl their iPhone 6s’s out of windows and into rivers in an act of defiance and solidarity with their icons, until a public apology is made by the supermodels and they explain their actions were unjustified and hinder their careers too greatly.

4. When over half the global population adopts veganism, the necessity falls to a reconnection with nature and the croc makes a comeback to ease those lengthy country walks. Made from recycled plastics, of course.

3. In a bid to conceal any material mishaps within his AW17 Yeezy Line, Kanye West introduces a mauve tone to his designs, astounding dumbstruck audience members who fail to notice three models’ high heels snapping during the show.

2. Melania Trump redecorates the White House, installing a liquor cabinet, surround-sound system and pleather sofas in the Oval Office. After undertaking an interior designing course, she implements the ever-important colour harmonies and chooses baby blue curtains to nicely set off her husband’s skin tone in photographs.

1. In recognition of her changed identity as a dame, Anna Wintour grows out her fringe.

Interview: J. Chambers

“I think my reputation within the scene’s changed. I get recognised a little bit now which is pretty funny and I get kind of flustered,” local Manchester rapper J. Chambers remarks on the success of his Merchant of Manny EP last July. The politically-charged MC has been a rising figure on the Manchester hip hop scene for the last four years. Following the success of his 2014 EP Moment of Silence, he supported huge names like Akala, Dead Prez and Talib Kweli. I spoke to him backstage at Band On The Wall before the pre-release show of his next EP Moment of Silence II: The Road to Perdition.

“The reception for Merchant of Manny was really good. I was kind of surprised because prior to that most of my stuff had been traditionalist hip hop, the samples are very boom bap. And Merchant of Manny, although it may not seem like it to the outside ear, internally with me and my team it was quite experimental. It was still lyrically what [my fans] expected but then sonically it was different.”

Moment of Silence II: The Road to Perdition involves a change in lyrical themes. “This new project is a continuation of the first Moment of Silence. The first one I wrote when I was depressed, and after Merchant of Manny dropped and everything started fizzling out, I went back into that way of being quite depressed and stuff. I was making these songs with [producer] Dyno and it was very therapeutic as I’m the type of guy that’s not a very emotional guy so I don’t like to talk about my feelings — it just manifests itself and comes out within the music.” Like many politically conscious artists, Chambers had noticed, “a lot of my music reflects the world but it doesn’t reflect myself, so I’m not really talking about myself too much [in past releases]. This project, you get to know me inside out really.”

Chambers is sure to maintain good relations with his fans and supporters, though it’s hard to imagine many artists like him being able to do this and much more without social media. He reflects on this, saying “most of my relationships with supporters and fans is based off face-to-face. I make sure I speak to people and I’m active on my pages so when people message in or ask for music, I’ll send them little exclusives and just keep people within the circle. I imagine without Facebook, we could still do that but it would be by the means of bringing them to my studio or whatever. So I think I could still be sufficient without the internet but my reach wouldn’t be as great.”

His beliefs extend further than just his music as he aims to use the power of education. “I’m in the process at the moment of setting up workshops using hip hop as a platform for better understanding the English language within GCSE English. I’m in the process of getting funding for that. I work in a college as well. It’s kind of mad — working with young people, it’s something I’ve always enjoyed doing and it’s reflected within the music, wanting to make a change and changing the way things are starts with changing the young people because they’re going to be the citizens of tomorrow so it’s a way I can continue the message of my music — as arrogant as that sounds!”

The conversation turns to more topical issues. The socially conscious person he is, I wonder if he has much of an opinion on the widely debated issue of cultural appropriation. His views are mixed. “Do I think that cultural appropriation exists? Yes. For example, a white person saying the n-word would piss me off, a black person saying the n-word would piss me off, but a white person using it in the sense of slang is kind of — just because of the society we live in, that would be classed as cultural appropriation because they’re taking a word that really shouldn’t be used in that context. But in terms of hairstyles and clothing, I think some of the stuff’s a bit sensitive.” He says he has no problem with white people with dreadlocks, using the example of women with weaves to show that culture is a two-way “melting-pot” system.

But he certainly thinks there’s a problem of appropriation within history and music. “There’s a lot of whitewashing within British history, like when I was in school, the only thing we were taught about [race issues] was Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have A Dream’, we weren’t taught about anything else. And then as you get older, you start reading more, you find out that black people didn’t just come over on the Mayflower, we had black Victorians and people like that. There’s loads of little bits that’s kind of appropriated within history that we’re taught.”

On the music side of the issue, “someone like Slim Jesus, who’s this Mormon kid who makes drill music, so like American gun-gangster-drug music. But he admits that he’s a Mormon and believes in that and says ‘I just do this [music] because I get paid money to do it.’ That’s appropriation. Because you’re taking culture and an art form that it respected and you’re devaluing it and you’re not doing it in a format that the people who started it want it to be portrayed in. And because of that music, he’s not the person who suffers the consequence of that appropriation. So for him pushing that up to the mainstream and showing all these middle-class suburban kids and their parents ‘this is what happens in these communities’, their perception of people who actually dwell within those communities changes. But he’s not affected by that because he’s outside of that community.”

Despite being a solo artist, he uses the term ‘we’ a lot when talking about his music, crediting the producers and management team behind him. “We’ve got a lot more support now. I’m trying to move away from doing as many support shows and doing more of my own things to kind of make everything more self-sufficient and etch my name in Manchester,” he says of his current goals while the future is certainly looking bright. “We drop a single on 6th February, then we have another single dropping after that, the project should be coming out [in March] on Medication Recordings with is [local collective] Virus Syndicate’s label . My manager’s trying to set up a little tour, we’ve got some European dates on the cards as well which is looking pretty cool. So yeah just growth, just taking things to the next level.”

Moment of Silence II: The Road to Perdition is scheduled for release in early March.

Review: Captain Fantastic

Is university a waste of our limited time on this planet?

As the imminent exams drain our energy and motivation drop by drop, only the thought that someday it’ll be worth it keeps us from storming out of the Ali G and heading off to do whatever it is we’d rather be doing. After all, our education will help us become better people, achieve our goals and be satisfied with our lives at the end of the day.

Only it won’t. Not according to Captain Fantastic, at least. To Ben Cash, father of six and recently widowed, traditional education is a waste of potential, teaching nothing but how to adapt to a world which is messed up in the first place. His own kids have been reared in a cabin in the woods, speak multiple languages, possess a thorough understanding of the Bill of Rights and are trained in combat. As unrealistic as their omniscience may be, it does make you wonder if there are better ways to assimilate knowledge than spending twenty years slouching on an endless series of chairs, struggling to retain information. We are fully aware that a good deal of it will probably fade away once we’ve passed our exams. What’s more, Ben and his wife Leslie raise their kids to despise not just traditional education but the entire system, with its injustice and repression – watching sweet-looking eight-year-olds spew curses and discuss the meaning of fascism is both unsettling and amusing. When the whole family shows up at her austere Catholic funeral in colourful clothing and flowers in their hair, proclaiming that the dearly departed Leslie wished for her ashes to be dumped in a public toilet, the darkly-clad congregation throws Ben out as if he were insane.

Of course, this is perfectly obtuse and unreasonable on their part: Ben is a loving father who only gives his children dangerous weapons to teach them how to slaughter woodland creatures, and only makes them shoplift because he refuses to buy “poisonous” food from a fast food restaurant. I wonder how many of us would sympathise with that logic in real life. The film reverses the established mindset, making normal life seem absurd and an absurd life seem far closer to us. It is certainly not a novelty for a movie to make us root for the outcast who refuses to comply to a rotten system. However, this film is brilliant at making a radical and dangerous life choice so appealing. I sincerely hope that even those of us who do not plan on dropping everything and retiring to a cabin in the woods still nourish the hope of experiencing a full and meaningful life, perhaps even improving the rotten system.

Overall, I think this is a beautiful film. It reminds its audience that they are in control of their life, regardless of how helpless they may feel in an oppressive reality and encourages them to savour every aspect of this world. Any artwork which can deliver this message without precipitating into cheesiness is worth seeing.

4/5