QuenchFebruary 2015 Issue 150

Now you see them, now you don’t

The lowdown on the page three controversy (p. 6)

Also in this issue: Does anyone care about award ceremonies anymore? (p.48)

Long-term trips for shoestring travellers (p.32)

Less Beano, more Bug Martini (p.16) February Sleaford Mods May 10/03/15, £10 ADV The Jesus And Mary Halestorm Hoobastank Chain 13/03/15, £15 ADV 15/05/15, £22 ADV 27/02/15, £25 ADV Four Year Strong June Treatment presents... 24/03/15, £14 ADV Ten Walls Live Young Guns 27/02/15, £18.50 ADV April 04/06/15, £12.50 ADV March Lower Than Atlantis 09/04/15, £12 ADV Stiff Little Fingers Limehouse Lizzy vs 08/03/15, £18.50 ADV Livewire AC/DC The Stranglers 17/04/15, £20 ADV 10/03/15, £23 ADV

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FEATURES 6 Page 3 Boobs vs. News? Aimee-lee Abraham tackles e Sun’s most unique selling point

COLUMNIST 13 e S k e t c h Gareth Evans’ re ects on the mine eld that is your teenage years

CULTURE 14 Interview: Josie Long Aimee-lee Abraham interviews comedian Josie Long about her upcoming tour 16 e Future is Now: Webcomics A beginners’ guide to the artists’ world of webcomics 18 In Review: WARP’s G39 Exhibition A breathtaking exhibition showcasing an unprecidented range of upcoming talent 20 Ending the Winter of Discontent Pitting history against contemporary gender politics in Richard III

22 e Beauty Experts Credit: 21 Student eatre: e Count of Monte Cristo We take a front row seat at Act One’s production of the classic tale

FASHION & BEAUTY 20 Spice Up Your Wardrobe for Spring Everything you need to know to make that transition from winter to spring 21 Sexualisation of the Fashion Industry Has fashion become too sexualised? Harriet Martin elucidates 22 For and Against: Makeup is century’s beauty dilemma: does makeup enhance or conceal your natural beauty? 24 #HashtagOf eDay: democracy for Emily Lowery investigates whether fashion hashtags are taking over the job of fashion, or industry destroyer? leading fashion experts

TRAVEL 26 Long-term Travel Is it a ordable for the cash strapped student? 30 Travel Hacks Tips and tricks on how to save money abroad

48 3154 e Boston Calendar Credit: MUSIC

34 New/Newydd New artists to look out for as per our editors’ recommendations Sleaford Mods 35 Microfest Exclusive interview with Feels Like Summer headliners, Johnny Foreigner February May 36 Interview: Menace Beach We chat supergroups and stage set ups with Leeds  ve-piece, Menace Beach 10/03/15, £10 ADV 38 History In e Making e LGBT+ musicians giving the community a face 40 Music Reviews We review Kate Tempest, Get Inuit, Charli XCX and more... The Jesus And Mary Halestorm Hoobastank Chain 13/03/15, £15 ADV 15/05/15, £22 ADV VIDEO GAMES 42 e YouTuber Review More of the contributors to the newest form of Video Game Media are reviewed 27/02/15, £25 ADV 44 e Good Protagonist & Antagonist Main characters in video games are incredibly important, but makes the best the best? Four Year Strong June 46 Digital Symphony Music is prevalent in many areas and this is no di erent than in Video Games Treatment presents... 24/03/15, £14 ADV 47 Review: Dragon Age Inquisition e deepest fantasy RPG returns with a bang. Video Games takes a look Young Guns Ten Walls Live FILM & TV 47 27/02/15, £18.50 ADV April 04/06/15, £12.50 ADV 48 Best in Show: An Awards Show Critique So you’ve won an Oscar, should people care? 50 Genre in Review: Sci-Fi Out of this world as their narratives can be; we review the Sci-Fi genre 52 Fear vs Freedom: Do Cyber reats Is it  nally time for inner beauty to take centre stage? March Lower Than Atlantis Signal the End of Creative Expression? 09/04/15, £12 ADV 54 Going Mainstream: Evolution of LGBT From the outskirts to the forefront. we mark LGBT+ History Month with their screen characters evolution Stiff Little Fingers Limehouse Lizzy vs FOOD & DRINK 08/03/15, £18.50 ADV 56 Food Evening: La Shish Get the round up from our latest Quench Food Evening Livewire AC/DC 58 Food as Art Is Instagram taking over our eating habits? The Stranglers 17/04/15, £20 ADV 60 e Cake Makeover: Vegetable Cakes We have a look at the rise of vegetable cakes and a delicious avocado brownie recipe 10/03/15, £23 ADV

58 / Steaks Sarah Credit: and Chops

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EDITOR’S Quench NOTE

EDITOR [email protected] Where mad punnage takes place, and a plea for appreciation is Sum Sze Tam @QuenchMag extended to you, the reader DEPUTY EDITOR Chloe May

FEATURES An ode to May their living room time. Why? Because I’m envious. Aimee-lee Abraham [email protected] e month of May this year looks set to be a Personally, there’s nothing I’d love to do more right Jason Roberts @Quench_Features busy one. For one, we’ll be having our Cardi Student now than spend my days 1) playing Super Smash Media Awards (a guy from VICE is judging our Best Bros. with the housemates 2) playing XCOM 3) COLUMNIST Long Form Writer category - check out the other making soup or 4) making a pumpkin tart. Gareth Evans @_GarethEvans categories at http://tinyurl.com/CSMAQuench), e reason I’m so envious is mostly because which for many will no doubt end in heartbreak, or I  nd myself so busy nowadays. I’m not exactly CULTURE [email protected] liverbreak. Keep an eye out if you’re interested in working multiple jobs to get by, as I’m sure many of Elouise Hobbs @QuenchCulture coming - we spend a proper amount of money on my fellow university students are. But I treat Quench Jasmine Freeman this ceremony, which means you get a *real* trophy as a quasi-job, and I also work on production for the if you win. Gair Rhydd besides (which takes up the majority of FASHION & BEAUTY [email protected] ere’s also the General Elections, which will my time, really). e sheer amount of time and e ort Franciska Bodnar @Quench_Fashion QuenchStreetStyle be a mega exciting time and you should all vote if some of the core people here in Cardi Student Nicole Petty you care even a little bit about how the UK landscape Media put in is simply astonishing - more than the will look in the next few years, especially for when hours a person would work full-time, and they’d get TRAVEL [email protected] you graduate! Whether you want to do a postgrad, paid otherwise. A large number of us might as well Olivia Waltho @Quench_Travel Quench_Travel get a job, travel, or even if you haven’t really started bloody live in this o ce. to think about it yet, the decisions made by party I’ve knocked around a few calculations over MUSIC [email protected] politicians are going to a ect you greatly. Most of the past few days, and I’ve  gured out that I spend Charlie Mock @QuenchMusic QuenchMusic you reading this will actually have the ability to vote, just over 40 hours a week in this o ce, and on a whereas I won’t. Quench production week I spend about 8 hours VIDEO GAMES [email protected] But this note’s sole purpose isn’t just to push more on top of that. at’s almost 50 hours a week! Alex Glazer @QuenchGames Union promo, I promise. ere’s another May I’d I’m not even the person who spends the most time like you to look forward to, and that’s the wholly in here, because o the top of my head I can think of FILM & TV [email protected] independent editorial debut of Chloe May, the secret at least  ve other people who at least spend as much Aaron Roberts @QuenchFilm weapon to Quench’s success (and its deputy editor). time in here, if not more, as I do. Emily Giblett She’s brie y taken over for the transformation of e point of this isn’t to moan about my life this issue from digital to print format. (not really). I suppose it’s more to impress upon FOOD & DRINK [email protected] She’s also going to be in charge of Ty Celf, readers who may not realise just how much of our Emma Giles @Quench_Food QuenchFoodCardiff which will be an arts supplement in next month’s lives just doing student media has taken up. We’re Kathryn Lewis issue. Send us your creative writing, artwork and all volunteers, but we endeavour to be professionals. photography if you fancy being published! It’ll be a We’re all students, but we’re working as though great party. we’re adults. It is rare for many people to be the head of many sections for more than a year, because HEAD OF DESIGN [email protected] A couch potato by any other name... it literally burns you out. Emilia Ignaciuk How much free time do you give yourselves at But ultimately, a large cohort of us continue uni? How often do you just sit around the sofa with to do what we do. And for good reason. It’s ART EDITORS your housemates with no coursework or academic rewarding beyond belief, and the friends you meet Franciska Bodnar @frankiebods work on your mind, and just chill? become friends for life. In fact, over time most of us Naomi Brown @honeyandbrown Every night on my way back from the Media have gradually reversed our priorities so much that Eleanor Du y @eleanorduff y O ce I do this thing where I pretend to be just grades are no longer the main reason for us living in Lucy Okell @lucyokell taking a slow, leisurely walk next to people’s living Cardi , but student media is. So please appreciate Olivia omas @oliviadthomas room windows. But really, I’m just trying to peek out us for the work we do. Pretty pretty please. Georgia Hamer @georgialeehamer of the corner of my eyes to see what people do with Bryn Evans @MantaRayBryn

SPECIAL THANKS TO Michael O’Connell-Davidson, Aaron Roberts, Emily Giblett, Charlie Mock, Alex Glazer, Daisy Lane, Alice Byron, Kathryn Lewis,Olivier VDBK, Greg McChesney, Emma Giles, Bryn Evans, Olivia omas, Eleanor Duff y and Georgia Hamer for helping us out on deadline night, Elaine Morgan for having a birthday and not telling anyone about it, the new Ty Celf editorial team for being brave enough to step up to the role, Alex Miarli for agreeing to be our very own Page 3 model, Rupert Murdoch for making  e Sun what it is today, and the actual sun for not leaving us in complete darkness every morning anymore.

5 QuenchThe

As the feature continues to disappear and reappear again, AIMEE-LEE ABRAHAM wrestles the Now ‘British institution’ that is (or was!?) The Sun’s Page Three in a tale of you boobs and news

On the day the magazine you are holding went to print, The “Mammary Sun, the best selling newspaper in the UK, hasn’t run a pair of naked breasts on its third page for a record 26 days. This shaped missiles is a significant period of time if we are to consider the fact that it published a nude shot every single day before that see since 1970. This is an significant period of time if we are that have been to look back at the last time The Sunstopped printing Page flung back Three as we know it (20th January 2015) and replaced it with clothed images for a grand total of two days before it and forth in a reappeared again in what looked like one big PR stunt at the expense of ‘comfy shoe wearing’ fun-spoilers everywhere. relentless debate No official statement has been released to confirm if it’s them, gone for good, and it’s unlikely that this will materialise over the morality any time soon (if at all). For now, we can only wait to hear of its fate. of The Sun’s most Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past month, it’s unlikely that you would have found shelter from distinctive unique the mammary-shaped missiles that have been flung back and forth in relentless debate over the morality of The Sun’s now most distinctive unique selling point. Almost a quarter of selling point” a million people have signed Lucy Holme’s petition, a plea for editor David Dinsmore to ‘stop conditioning readers to view women as sex objects’ and to reconsider the relevance of boobs as news in 2015, but many questions remain unanswered. Is page three really that bad? Is glamour modelling always inherently exploitative? And why do you media commentators keep making bizarre comparisons between Charlie Hebdo’s right to satirise extremism and The Sun’s right to show off Nicole from Bournemouth’s youthful assets? Perhaps the most prominent argument in defence of Page Three has been ‘surely it’s not the worst example out there in terms of objectification?’ And yes, it’s incontestable don’t that the daily Page Three feature in The Sun can be seen as

6 features

Like what you see? Meet our lush cover man, Alex Miarli. Find out more about him on the next page

the lesser of several evils in a highly sexualised digital age. pay, anyone?), we shouldn’t congratulate ourselves just yet. If we are to remove ourselves from the connotations of Nor should we make the mistake of thinking that sexism its existence and look objectively at the content, then it’s exists in a vacuum. Bare boobies printed in a newspaper pretty tame. Even Nicole from Bournemouth, the poster are not the cause or catalyst of complex societal ills like girl for the feature’s brief but triumphant return, looked a sexual assault and rape, but bit lukewarm in her beachside garb. If the tweets of Sun PR they are contributing to a chief Dylan Sharpe are anything to go by, her wink was no wider dialogue about what it doubt intended as a sexy, suggestive middle finger to all the means to be a woman today There was not haters. But it fell disappointingly flat. There was something that is proven to influence almost slapstick about it, and in a stylistic sense, it was sexual decision making a hint of sexual so distinctly Page Three - all wink-wink, nudge-nudge processes. When we examine and cruise ship innuendo. There was not a hint of sexual how democratic a society deviancy in those glassy baby blues of Nicole’s, and the is, we are quick to turn to deviancy in those meadow in which she stood looking unconvincingly wistful the media as an indicator of was more ‘fancy a frolic through the hills?’ than it was ‘fuck societal attitudes. We should glassy baby me on the floor’. interrogate the media we Perhaps it’s this vanilla girl-next-door aesthetic that consume whenever we can, blues of Nicole’s, fuels the notion that it’s just a bit of old-fashioned fun. Even and demand debate when it Germaine Greer said so in a recent Newsnight interview, fails. and the meadow admitting that it had always struck her as ‘innocent’. In a The reason Page Three rapid and rabid sexual landscape, Page Three has stood still, feels familiar is because every in which she frozen in time for almost half a century. As a result, the day the content follows the predictable series of shots featuring interchangeable girls same formula - a pair of stood looking with identical head tilts and vacant expressions which were (typically white, typically once considered stimulating are now about as arousing for large) tits accompanied most people as walking in on your mum in the bath. by a brief description of unconvincingly For many, Page Three appears to cater to two distinct the woman they belong stereotypes in its outdatedness: the nosy neighbour to. Sometimes there is the wistful was more peeping over the fence as you sunbathe and the occasional ogling description construction worker who assures you that it might never of said ‘t*ts’, asterisk and all. ‘fancy a frolic happen. For others, Page Three is something more malign, The word itself is censored like the mole on the hypochondriac’s arm - a ticking time in print, and in an age where through the hills?’ bomb, unchanging but unnerving. It occupies an unknown the C’s and the F’s are thrown familiar space in British culture, simultaneously harmless about without caution in most than it was ‘fuck and volatile. Defenders of free speech at all costs may note forms of popular culture, this that it’s an innocuous British ‘institution’, just another is somewhat mystifying; it of our eccentricities. Some have compared it to the cup seems that what is used in me on the floor’. of tea and the art of sarcasm, arguing that it’s embedded playground conversations in our cultural fabric. However, those who call for it to be without so much of a raised banned may note that colonialism was also once a British brow from observing adults is institution. I’d argue that both sides are being a little too too risqué for the best selling newspaper in the UK. binary in their comparisons. We cannot possibly compare Perhaps it’s censored because it makes the editors come the plight of Page Three to slavery without completely over all shy and flustered. Is ‘tit’ reserved for special undermining the entire argument against printing it, and occasions at News International? Maybe they have an we cannot pretend that sexism in the UK is a degree of office ‘t*t-tip’ jar (like a swear jar with nips) and collect sexism comparable to that in certain other countries, where change whenever someone in the newsroom suffers a slip women dream of having even a fraction of our liberties. of the tongue. Maybe they’ll notice the black lace beneath At the same time, until gender ceases to be grounds for Jennifer from Marketing’s white shirt one day at the water institutionalised discrimination on a national scale (equal cooler and bring ‘tit’ out from under linguistic lock and

7 Little Alex “Miarls” Miarli was a sweet little boy, who loved playing football on Sunday after church

As a typical Italian mother’s boy, he was always very well behaved... but not anymore. Now he takes his life lessons from the likes of Don Corleone and Silvio Berlusconi

Now he likes nothing more than to pop on his Speedos and head down to the beach with the lads to try and entice some young ladies with “the gunshow”

8 features

key then. It’s unlikely but not impossible that they’re wary at the image of a bikini-clad Reeva Steenkamp, whose body defeated. Others were glaringly obvious to anyone familiar of IPSO intervention if they use the word ‘tit’ in a ‘family was barely cold before the media started dissecting her; she with the political allegiance of The Sun and its then editor newspaper’, despite the fact that they use boobs to sell had appeared on The Sun’s front cover after being murdered Rebekah Wade (now Brooks of Leveson notoriety). A prime news. Whatever the reason, treating the word ‘tit’ with by her boyfriend Oscar Pistorius. Her gleaming body was example of this can be found in a series of News in Briefs the hushed caution of the word ‘Voldemort’ sends mixed juxtaposed with by-lines that were indistinguishable from pieces from 2004, where the feature was used to publicly messages. What we have here is perverted prudishness, Hollywood dialogue (‘3 shots. Screams. 3 more shots’), and defend then home secretary David Blunkett (a close friend an oxymoronic attitude that has little relevance in liberal for days the insensitivity behind this editorial decision of Brooks) in the midst of a media shit-storm following twenty-first century Britain. The idea that nude breasts tested my nineteen yearold logic. I am now 21, and I am an extra-marital affair gone public. One example, dated are worthy of column inches but unworthy of uncensored sick of this bullshit. 16 December 2004, saw Katie highlighting Blunkett’s acknowledgement just serves to fuel the argument that the When I quizzed friends for their opinions on the achievements while expressing her ‘devastation’ at his content is misplaced. If there’s nothing inherently wrong or sex appeal of the feature, most of them felt passive and alleged resignation, stating : ‘I think it’s terrible that a man odd about serving up half naked women with your current indifferent. “What’s the point of it, really?”, they sang in who has done so much for the country has felt it necessary affairs, then why put an asterisk in the word ‘tits’? unison. Regardless of your moral stance, Page Three was to leave public office… Blunkett was one of the few Home This is especially true in reference to tabloid sexy once upon a time. Now, it merely blends into the Secretaries prepared to get tough on issues that matter to publications regularly printing sex scandals as front page background. It pales in comparison to lad mags and is ordinary people - asylum, terrorism and law and order’. news, often at the expense of more pressing global issues practically translucent when contrasted with the oil-slicked, All along it was heavily implied, though never which get left on the back bench as a result. The Sun was acrobatic underworld of porn. There, bodies as malleable directly addressed, that News in Briefs was meant to be as dough are frequently rolled into pretzels.There, every satirical, with the assumption that most readers knew full fetish and fantasy imaginable is catered to in HD and is well that the model had not said what they claimed. Those available at the click of a button. This is something that Sun who didn’t get the gag were perhaps too simple to warrant spokespersons are keen to remind the public of, reassuring worry. This is troubling because it not only mocks readers ‘This is troubling concerned parents in particular that they are ‘on side’ in who don’t know better, but it also fuels the discourse the fight against the sexualisation of Britain’s children, that the opinions of attractive women are invalid. It says squeaky clean and saccharin in a cum-stained, gritty media (albeit it in softer terms) ‘women capable of exciting you because it fuels landscape. Awkward PR scripting aside, they may have a downstairs have nothing going on upstairs’. It’s a few valid argument. If Page Three were to vanish off the face centimeters wide, while the half naked image dominates a of the earth for good, people would still exercise their right full page spread. We could say that this is representative the discourse to get off. They’d just stop wiping up the mess with Mystic of the value we place on beauty over intellect, seeing it Meg’s crumpled face. Perhaps the world would be better as some sort of bonus add-on that does little to improve for it. There are few things more tragic than an indifferent the bigger picture. After all, how could nineteen year old that the opinions wank, but that’s probably beside the point. Beth from Swindon, fresh out of college with an NVQ in So, in light of all the jokes about how PG Page Three is, beauty therapy, possibly know about the economic cost of why is it that so many care so passionately about seeing the investing in more sustainable energy sources? And what of attractive back of it? Well, context is everything, and this is precisely about Katie, all doe-eyed and DD’s, fresh out of school? why the persistent presence of the feature warrants our What makes her an authority on intervention in Syria? attention. I spoke to Cynthia Carter, a senior lecturer These women may not possess knowledge in these women are at Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and areas. They may not have opinions based on solidly Cultural Studies and an expert in media representations grounded expertise. They may not have an opinion on the of gender. When I asked her if the removal of Page Three subject in question at all. Frankly, they might not give a invalid. It says would make little to no difference to women’s position in fuck. All of these things are beside the point. It doesn’t society, she bore light on the difference between seeing a matter if these women are nail technicians or barristers. half naked woman in a newspaper and seeing her in another All women deserve our respect, and putting words in their ‘women capable media form: mouths in a way that is intended to belittle and tease does ‘The difference is that The Sun purports to be a them a disservice. newspaper. Other forms of media and culture do not; they I’ll admit that watching footage of the debate unfold of exciting you are entertainment publications where one would expect on live television a few weeks ago, I too was guilty of putting different sorts of representations. these women into boxes. I squirmed as Page Three regular Newspapers are supposed to represent the important Chloe Goodman tried to defend Page Three by comparing downstairs have issues and debates with which we engage in a democratic it to classical art, as if Michelangelo and Murdoch were society. Therefore, a semi clad woman on Page Three sends brothers in arms somehow. ‘What did we think of women the message that women are largely there to be looked at in and men one thousand years years ago when you see statues nothing going a democratic society; their value judged on their appearance written all over the walls in the nude?’ she asked, as Jon instead of what they have to say. Snow tried to keep a straight face and Harriet Harman gave As such, it supports the idea that men are the him a knowing side-eye. Statues written on the walls? What on upstairs’. decision makers and citizens and that women are primarily is this sorcery? But mocking these women on this basis is a included in the news for men’s pleasure.’ cheap shot. It serves no purpose in tackling the root of the Dr. Carter’s point about the absence of voice in the problem, just as telling models they were exploited in their feature grows pertinent if we look at its recent history. Up jobs when they felt in control (as much of the left wing until 2013, Page Three shots were accompanied by ‘News press has done throughout) fuels Murdoch’s claims that In Briefs’ boxes. Consisting of short, (frequently politically opponents are ‘elitist’ and patronising in their approach. a regular fixture at the dinner table when I was growing charged) soundbites, these boxes featured commentary Dr. Carter pointed out to me that we need to interrogate up. I can’t overstate how working class my South Walian from the model on display. They were engineered, however, the notion of choice in a society where women continue to upbringing was, and I feel this is relevant as a response with past models admitting they had no input into the fight for equal pay and as a noticeable minority in positions to the cries of ‘Snobbery!’ that have come from Murdoch words the paper claimed came out of their mouth. This of power, but we must also bear the individual in mind. All himself and many media commentators, who have taken allowed News In Briefs to tackle the current editorial line, of the women featured during the reign of News in Briefs to assuming that the Page Three battleground is some kind with past examples ranging from opinions on foreign policy were undoubtedly the butt of an ugly joke, and although of class war in disguise. I remember that as a seven-year- to football, all delivered through an attractive mouthpiece. this particular element of the feature has been scrapped, old, I read a page that disclosed as series of salacious texts Some of these were subtle and had did not concern matters it must not be forgotten. Just two years gone, it can teach exchanged between David Beckham and Rebecca Loos. One in the public interest, appearing almost like office banter us a lot about how the paper has chosen to portray women. sentence in particular – that described Beckham wishing that had spilt over onto the page. We can speculate that Feminist studies of the media have extensively proved Loos’ body was his bar of soap as he bathed alone in hotel maybe Anna was expressing her love of Man United, for that women predominantly make the news in certain rooms – tested my logic, even as a seven year-old. How example, just because James from Showbiz was an avid ways. They are the whores, the clothes horses, the victims could a soap lady be better than a real one? I also vividly fan and wanted to use the page as a platform to rub the and the girlfriends. Female politicians have a particularly remember waking up next to my partner and feeling sick victory in the faces of staff supporters of the team they hard time, as the Daily Mail’s ‘Downing Street Catwalk’

9 argument tirelessly used by and this extends far beyond sex scandals and coverage of editorial staff at The Sun. It grisly murders. Tackling concepts of what is newsworthy fuels the archaic and offensive and why is an incredibly complicated process. There are notion that men are simple certain factors, such as timing, significance, proximity and creatures driven by desire, and prominence which can generally be applied to most of the this has far-reaching negative news we consume, with human interest stories proving effects. It’s both binary and more complicated in their frequent deviation from these heteronormative, failing to usual constraints. Page Three is hard to justify in terms of represent masculinity in all its raw news value. It’s certainly not new or unusual, and it’s its complexity and breadth. difficult to argue that it carries any sort of human interest Instead, it presents us with a besides the appeal to basic inherent sexual impulses. But, caricature of a white van man on that note, we would be elitist puritans if we thought we who lives and breathes for could or should just rid our news of items we don’t deem upskirt shots and a cuppa with newsworthy. For a start, the value of a piece of information three sugars. Sure, these men is very much subjective. Our society is a melting pot of exist. Sure, they are statistically tastes and world views and we cannot dictate what the likely to be found in The Sun’s key masses should or should not show an interest in without demographic, but they are in no resorting to dictatorship. Secondly, if we were going to do way representative of an entire this, we’d have hardly anything left. Newspapers are no gender or class. The sooner we longer mere information subsidies - they are platforms for embrace fluidity and abandon informed debate; they are entertainment sources; they are black and white thinking when vehicles for storytelling. If we were to ban boobs in news it comes to issues of gender on this basis, we’d also need to ban stories about babies and sexuality, the healthier and dressed up in cute costumes and that would be a terrible more tolerant we will be become. tragedy for all. Tim Samuels, a radio 5 Men’s Regardless of how this situation develops, one thing Hour presenter, summarised we can take away from the media hoo-ha surrounding the this perfectly in a think piece for disappearance and reappearance of the increasingly elusive The Guardian back in January, Page Three feature is a need for constant interrogation noting that: and inquisition over censorship. If we can start a dialogue ‘The “exploitation” of about media discourse and the ways in which it impacts our daft male tendencies is hardly citizens, the battle for equal and fair representations for all the greatest peril facing society is half-won. – but it’s part of a wider trend, especially in advertising, to portray men as fools who are barely able to use oven cleaner ‘It fuels the or are liable to come back from shopping expeditions with a puppy instead of a pint of milk archaic and feature last year so grotesquely demonstrated. Of course, (happens all the time – it’s like all politicians are frequently the subjects of ridicule. Many 101 Dalmatians in my kitchen). Gracefully retiring Page 3 to would argue that Ed Miliband’s perceived incompetence its rightful bin of outdated 80s naffness would be a decent has more to do with his vacant expression and nasal tone step towards giving men a bit more credit – recognising offensive notion than it does with his policies, for example. The fact that his that we are emotionally nuanced characters who can’t brother is an irresistibly charming fucker with a perfect (always) be bought off with a boob.’ jaw doesn’t do anything to dispel claims he’d be a better Similarly, when I asked a friend to share his views on that men are candidate. how his masculinity is perceived by others, he too felt that What makes our treatment of female politicians the laddish culture perpetuated by The Sun alienated him. particularly telling is the fact that women rarely make the He said: simple creatures headlines for their achievements. When they do, we often All-around, not uniformly but very prevalently, is the fixate on irrelevant details of their lives (i.e ‘I know you’re a assumption that as a sexually active man I’m in a constant world class athlete and warrior in your own right, but who state of animal lust. On the one hand I’m some stuffy driven by desire, are you sleeping with and which diet are you on and when killjoy because I don’t share male friends’ and colleagues’ are you having babies?!’). Women’s magazines are perhaps inability to be near attractive women without defaulting to ironically the biggest perpetrators of this. For women, ape-humour or resorting to a collective ‘I’d give her one’. and this has Page Three is arguably less damaging to their perceptions On the other, and I think as a direct consequence of this of themselves than the backstabbing best friend who idea of who men are and how we often present ourselves, materialises in the women’s glossy. If the average woman’s I’m not able to approach women without either being far-reaching glossy were to take on human form, she would be a vicious perceived as a flirt, adulterer or one of those creepy little handbag-fixated creature of the highest calibre. She would Michael Cera-types that collect female friends as insurance mutter that your ‘bum looks big in that’ while stroking your policies in case their current thing doesn’t work-out. And negative hair and denying all knowledge with a strawberry scented here I am with a great love of socialising and drinking and smile. You would never know where you stood with her. conversation and fucking, but painted as something other One minute she could raise you up, armed with advice and than this because I’m not at ease with a particular type of effects. It’s both products to transform you into the best possible version banter. And its the mainstreaming of this culture, whether of yourself. The next, you might catch her spiking your or not its what most men actually think of the world as overpriced cosmopolitan with ipecac and doubt. individuals, that I think causes this. binary and Moreover, we have to ask what Page Three is communicating What we are left with, then, is not an argument about men. There is something depressing about the about boobs, but an argument about news values and assumption that men will part with their pennies in responsible representation of the sexes. Of course, the heteronormative’ exchange for a little nip slip, as implied in the ‘sex sells’ editorial staff at The Sun are no strangers to sensationalism,

10 News in briefs

Alex has high hopes for the new Socialist government in Greece. He has enjoyed holidays in Greece since his childhood in Italy, but has something to say about the Eurozone. “As an Italian man, I like Europe as much as the next man. But the euro? I mean... come on! As the great Bobby Charlton once said: ‘Pull your socks up boys!’. I like football” eat

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How to handle a decade with an actress next to me (my dog). Reality demigods, however tempting they may be. has been cruel to my dreams. However, I’m While remaining on the straight and of absurdity? going to make a profound point – the future narrow, there will still be new experiences always looks nicer than today. It’s easy to to try and as much as being young is great Here’s An Open Letter spend time thinking how great it will be to it’s best to get your  rst times out of the way turn 18 because you can buy a WKD and sit now. Getting drunk for the  rst time is okay to 12 year olds. in a Wetherspoons but it’s much better to just at 14, everyone’s with you, it’s a collective enjoy the present. Besides, the rose-tinted Dear Anonymous child, future glasses are swapped for rose-tinted I recently turned 21 and in doing so nostalgia ones at about 19 and you start to left behind ‘youth’ in its most obvious sense. realise how great being young really is. I am still young after all, I am still naïve, and I know it’s a cliché, but you should I still like to go home and have food made for try and appreciate it as much as possible. me and get my clothes washed. I also enjoyed At 12 I’m almost certain you could go and having a birthday cake far too much, and the roll down some hills without fear of social immeasurable joy I received from blowing out reprisal. You won’t be able to do that again its candles was frankly embarrassing. I still until Glastonbury 2021; so do it. You get feel young, but ‘o cially’ I am a developed three meals a day prepared for you, that human being; I am a grown up. won’t happen again until your all-inclusive  ere is nothing that I cannot do holiday to Turkey in 2019; so lap it up. Even – nothing – except drive because I never school has no bearing on your future success bothered to learn and I spent all my money on and that is something that you really should nonsense.  ese are my  rst two tips actually: make the most of. if you can do, try and learn to drive.  e bus However, I appreciate that being isn’t cool unless it’s a tour bus and I don’t told to relish your transient youth by a think the X14 from Chepstow at 3:25 really comparatively old man is probably a bit counts as that. Secondly, money is probably annoying, and instead you came to this a demon you will battle with until your dying day.  e transition I struggled with was that, as a child, the only time you have any money is experience. It’s better than drinking vodka at your birthday and that is solely disposable The first time is like it’s water at 31 and then doing terrible, income designed to please you. I continued terrible, things to your colleagues.  e to consider all money ‘birthday money’ so to an awful, clumsy, same goes for sex.  e  rst time is an awful, speak, even when I got a job, had rent to pay, awkward, festival clumsy, awkward, festival of confusion and and needed to survive.  is doesn’t work so of confusion and that’s alright. As I say, better at 16 than 31 when you get older, only treat actual birthday and on your wedding night. money as birthday money otherwise you that’s alright. As Do I say more about sex? Girls, don’t end up with a shelf of interminable joy but I say, better at expect too much, and guys, try not to injure an empty fridge and an angry landlord. anyone. I suppose sex education was the least I digress, so let me take a step back 16 than 31 and helpful thing possible. From what I remember quickly. When I said that there’s nothing on your wedding we watched a tame video of two young people I cannot do, I remember how the idea of night. having sex, the girl got pregnant, and then being 21 used to look to me. Like a mirage the guy  ed the country. I left thinking that sex was the most extreme version of tag possible. (Tag! You’re pregnant lol!) But unquali ed and confused column seeking serious advice for the future. It is true that your teenage years are incredibly daunting. I understand that. At 12, you stand at the edge You know the really of the ravine, a ravine sodden with cheap alcohol, condoms, bad deodorant and even cool and popular worse haircuts. But how do you approach people? They crossing the bridge? I suppose I can give some advice from the perspective of someone who will be pregnant, has just made it across. (Side note: I now face incarcerated or the second ravine that is my twenties and all both by eighteen I can see is in nite darkness.) Your teenage years begin with starting secondary school and this is generally a terrible time; you are small, weak, scared and seriously, just remember contraception. lost. On re ection, what I will say is this – And what more can be said? Probably you know the really cool and popular people? a lot, but oh well. I don’t imagine this was  ey will be pregnant, incarcerated or both helpful in the slightest but just remember by eighteen. Don’t try and please these that it’s inevitable that you’ll look back at people, stay on the straight and narrow and your teenage self and feel massively nauseous get Facebook so you can lord over them in ten with both embarrassment and anger.  at’s years.  ese are the people who were top of okay though, I once had a fringe made solely the pile in Year 8 but are now de ned by the of hair gel and owned a white Sony Ericsson on the horizon, I was going to be a tall fact that they ‘Went to *insert small town* with nothing but Dizzee Rascal on it. We all (true), handsome (refer to sketch), shining Comprehensive’ and ‘Live in *insert small make mistakes, just make sure they’re not Zeus driving a car of the future (bus of the town*.’ You don’t want that to be the peak too bad, and don’t take yourself too seriously. nineties) across the desert (Monmouthshire) of your existence, so avoid these detention You look ridiculous after all. THE SKETCHTHE with EVANS GARETH Illustrations: Naomi Brown

13 JOSIE LONG Aimee-Lee Abraham talks to Josie Long about her upcoming tour, heartache and having the courage to pursue a career in the arts when the world is against you

My first conversation with Josie Long is if they so wish’ even in an economy where art characteristically, charmingly dysfunctional. rarely pays. We’re at the mercy of technology, the whole If you’re unfamiliar with her stand-up, thing a blur of distorted fuzz and ‘Oh Fuck’’s. Josie is best known for being a political tour- The line cuts out and I text her with one hand de-force in the comedy arena. ‘I just fucking as I dash through the house looking for a spot love a bit of social justice!’, she beams. Known with better signal. She tells me she’s in in for her goofy, unyielding optimism, she fre- the middle of doing her tax returns and she’s quently rips politicians to shreds with a smile forgotten what day of the week it is and the and a heel-click. Her latest work, however, two of us become involved in a kind of self- sees a deviation from her signature rants and deprecating, sweary dance as we try to re- unmerciful impressions, turning inward. She schedule. We have been talking for less than assures me that she’s no less passionate about ten seconds but her wit and warmth are seep- politics (and there is still a gag about imagin- ing through my phone by some kind of come- ing a picnic with Nigel Farage in there), but dic osmosis. She seems genuinely enthused felt that it was time to change the record. about my trip the following week, a total pain Having used all three of her previous tours as in the arse as far as the whole rescheduling platforms for expressing angst at dissapoint- debacle is concerned; ‘Paris? Awww FAN-T- ment in a society she feels still frequently A-S-T-I-C. You’ll have the best time m’love!’ fails to care for its most vulnerable members, she says in her signature Kentish twang. Very it was time to move on. loudly. Very quickly. There’s something effer- The result is Cara Josephine: an ode to vescent about her, every word delivered with familial dysfunction and heartache and learn- urgency and sparkle. ‘She’s great. She’s the ing how to stand on your own two feet. Fit- sort of person I’d want to go for a pint and tingly named after her newborn niece whom bitch about boys with’ I think, frantically flip- she has become wholeheartedly obsessed ping through my diary. We finally settle on with, the tour reflects on a most turbulent the following Wednesday. year. It’s a medley of emotional experiences, tackling awkward memories of childhood and the breakdown of a long-term relationship Josie Long is a force to reckoned with. At just with a merciless and brutal honesty that will 32 years old, she has three Edinburgh comedy no doubt resonate with readers who spent award nominations under her belt and has their valentine’s just past hunched over a co-founded her own charity, Arts Emergency: dominoes having an existential meltdown. a project that aims to empower ‘children who Though the subject matter is dark at times, don’t come for privilege to pursue the educa- it’s infused with Josie’s infectious silliness tion and the careers of their dreams… to keep and is laced with messages of empowerment an indignant flame burning in their heart and acceptance. that they deserve to make a living an artist Throughout our conversation, I get Credit: GilesCredit: Smith

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a real sense that Josie Long has grown up, It’s good to feel like you’re not trying to be and she thinks so, too. There’s still some- some rich wanker in an ivory tower’. thing wonderfully childlike about her man- Are there any surprises we can look nerisms, all foot stomps and fist pumps and forward to in Cara Josephine? Josie is rela- eye rolls (she told The Guardian earlier this tively tight-lipped and keen not to spoil any year that she’s ‘basically a twelve year old surprises, but she does reveal that another bully trapped in an adult’s body’) but there’s topic explored in Cara Josephine is ‘the joy of a strong woman inside, compelling you to being outside’. She tells me she’s become as listen attentively to her every word. I feel a ‘outdoorsy as a bear’, which is pretty fuck- real sense of misplaced pride as she tells me ing outdoorsy. There are stories of adventure about her journey, which is kind of bizarre, to be told here; tales of swimming through given that: freezing cold rivers and camping under the stars. Josie started a ‘heartbreak climbing a. I’m only 21 myself and therefore club’ with friends who had all found them- thoroughly lost, and selves simultaneously single, and it there “ I JUST b. She is a complete stranger that they enjoyed discovering in unison who they were and what they wanted in a way But the feelings I experienced during that felt just like coming up for air after be- our conversation are testament to Josie’s ing held underwater for far too long. ‘There’s character. You can’t help but feel like you a lot of chat about that stuff in this tour’, want to be her best friend, and it’s easy to and Josie is well aware of how saccharine see how Josie ended up in comedy. She’s this may sound. She reassures me through FUCKING been at it for a long time, perfecting her giggles and mouthfuls of toast (she’s in the craft in professional surroundings since middle of lunch when I call) that there’s the age of 14, when her Mum decided to do not even a hint of Eat, Pray, Love in there, something about her natural love of showing though. Promise. off and enrolled her on a comedy course at Instead, what we can expect is an una- her local arts centre. She’s infectiously posi- pologetic insight into the real Josie Long, LOVE A tive, and even manages to put a joyous spin who seems thoroughly like the sweary, sar- on the depressingly bleak job market many castic agony aunt everyone deserves to have readers will be entering when they graduate in their life. this summer. Struggle is a key part of any story, she reassures me, and ‘It’s good to be a A nationwide tour of Cara Josephine runs from BIT OF part of what everyone else is going through. 19 January to 28 March. SOCIAL JUSTICE! ” Credit: GilesCredit: Smith

15 recently, comic books have undergone a revolution; the rescued relics from teenage bedrooms now occupy times Square’s billboards and represent a multi-million dollar industry. However, they have also had less ostentatious overhaul where artist masterpieces dominate the designs. Tom Morris investigates the rise of the webcomics.

hen you think of comics, you prob- ing in a GIF comic isn’t unheard of, although ably think of one of two things: ei- sometimes this isn’t always a good thing as Wther comic books, with their huge, some people feel it necessary to go on and testosterone packed action set pieces and big on just because space on a webpage is more muscly superheroes, or newspaper comics, a or less unlimited. Needless to say, there is a once great source of comedy now turned into huge variety of webcomics out there in the an unfunny dinosaur squeezed between the blogosphere, and I’ve attempted to show- horoscopes and the crossword. Strips like case some of the better ones. So if you need Garfi eld are still bumbling along, but many a way to burn a few hundred hours, waste of the greats such as Calvin and Hobbes and away your whole life bursting your sides, and Peanuts have gracefully retired long ago. Th e you fi nd that Facebook “relatable posts” just spiritual successors of those genius comics aren’t cutting it anymore, read on. are now to be found online, in the thriving Perhaps the best example of a webcom- webcomic genre. ic which could almost have been a newspaper Just like with anything else online comic back in the day is the Perry Bible Fel- there are big comics, and then there are lowship (pbfcomics.com), or PBF to its fans. small, criminally underappreciated comics. Featuring simple white blob people and un- From a personal experience, it quickly be- matched wit, the author doesn’t post very of- came evident that it requires not only artistic ten but when he does you can be sure its sim- fl air and humour, but technical expertise or ple art will keep his incredible talent under at the very least expert knowledge on how to wraps. Th e artist, Nicholas Gurewitch, did in promote your comics in the cutthroat world fact originally publish the comics in newspa- of social media whilst still getting the advert pers, but in 2007 went online only to ensure money you need to keep your dream alive. the integrity of his comics remained intact. Webcomics have the advantage of be- In similar styles to PBF are Channelate ing unrestricted by boring old paper - sneak- (channelate.com) and Extra Fabulous Com- www.bouletcorp.com

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‘It requires not only artistic flair and humour, but technical expertise or at the very least expert knowledge on how to promote your comics’

ics (extrafabulouscomics.com). Ryan Hud- You might also have heard of Death- of these comics, but you may well have seen might even learn something. The great sad- son’s Channelate is another great example bulge (deathbulge.com), a comic written by a them rehashed as “exploitables” all around ness is however, that Gibb and Russell’s Dead of an artist who puts the digital format to British artist who has really nailed the small the web. Both feature excellent cartoonists Philosophers, a strip originally circulated in good use, with a bonus panel to each comic. kind of jokes that make comics as great as backed up by a decent variety of jokes that student magazines not unlike the one you You might say it’s a scheme to generate more they are- not a single comic goes by without aren’t always just “look how unrealistic this are reading and one of my all-time favourite clicks, but they’re always very funny, so I at least one absolutely insane hairstyle or game is!”. comics, has now not updated for almost a wouldn’t complain. Meanwhile, Zach of Ex- throwaway pun, but still leaving room for a If you’re more a thinker than a gam- year. But, such is the beauty of the web that tra Fabulous Comics goes for a more “abrupt” punchline to blow everything else out of the er, you might already have heard of Zach you can instead go back and read your fa- style, with minimal dialogue. I could also water. Weiner’s Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal vourite comics from months long past. Luck- mention Cyanide and Happiness here in the If it’s great art you’re after, the quite (smbc-comics.com), a wildly successful comic ily, the lower production values of Existential “simplistic but excellent” category, but most old fashioned style of Toonhole (toonhole. that often touches on philosophical ideas Comics mean it can fill the hole in your cold people who’ve used the internet a little bit com) matches well with its surprisingly whilst still being funny (but having an odd sociologist’s heart. will surely have heard of them. modern humour. But nothing can match the fondness for poses that involve looking over That just about wraps up my rough If you find yourself looking for a very incredible skill of Frenchman Boulet, the ge- a character’s shoulder) and of course Randall guide to the world of webcomics. Check them old fashioned sort of strip that even looks nius behind Bouletcorp (english.bouletcorp. Munroe’s capital-shredding xkcd (xkcd.com), out for yourself, and spend a couple of hun- like it should be printed alongside the cross- com)- I have a firm belief that no-one draws a comic that often eschews humour entirely dred hours sifting through their archives. word, then Bug Martini (bugmartini.com), jaws quite like Boulet does. in favour of just being, well, interesting- and It’s also a good idea to keep an eye on vari- the five-days-a-week comic by Adam Huber, One trend you will see in webcomics is has the science of minimalist art absolutely ous social media sites for upcoming talent, should be right up your street, with simple that they are very much affected by internet nailed. Two underappreciated but under- such as the Comics subreddit (comics.reddit. black and white illustrations, weird ant-like culture, and it’s no surprise that so many of standably niche comics that might be best com) and the Comics hashtag on Tumblr. people that still manage some degree of ex- them are themed around video games. Of suited for those studying subjects such as Following the artists themselves on Twitter pression, and constant narration. course there are the juggernauts like Penny sociology are the beautifully Photoshopped and Facebook is recommended as not only If you ever feel like you’re just… not Arcade (penny-arcade.com) which are all well Dead Philosophers In Heaven (dead-philos- will you discover related comics to your in- normal, then you might well enjoy the semi- and good, but there are plenty of smaller ophers.com) and the crude Microsoft Paint terests through their shared posts but these autobiographical adventures of Ronnie game themed comics to enjoy like John masterpiece that is Existential Comics (ex- funny types tend to think of so many jokes Filyaw, star and artist of Whomp (whomp- Kleckner’s Hejibits (hejibits.com) and Katie istentialcomics.com), both featuring famous that they often just throw the weaker ones comic.com) and a bona fide neckbeard, ad- Tiedrich’s Awkward Zombie (awkwardzom- thinkers such as Aristotle, Socrates, Marx away in a tweet, which is always great. Happy dicted to chicken nuggets and anime. bie.com). You might not have actually heard and Freud in some bizarre situations. You reading!

17 IN REVIEW:

39 WARPS’s g Exhibition

When Cardiff’s very own internationally renowned Artes tion – such is the beauty of this exhibit being open to the tion into the work of Welsh poet RS Thomas (something Mundi main exhibition is situated on the opposite side of public before completion. These developmental spaces are physically tangible for the more artistically persuaded Eng- town, the Welsh contemporary art scene is viewed as very open to the public only on Saturdays, so you can see how lish degree students out there) in their g39 residence. To one-dimensional in a lot of respects, so with the arrival these works are formed week-to-week (should you want artists like Simon Holly whose digital media influence has of g39’s UNIT(e) exhibition in mid-January, we now have to). been previously shown in utilising grid systems to under- something to level the playing field. In week 2 of UNIT(e) being open we stumbled upon pin kaleidoscopic, psychedelic, and pixelated pieces, after With the Wales Artist Resource Programme (WARP) John-Michael Parry, one of the younger artists at work which he de/reconstructs them by hand – likely the most and their holding over g39 - a new artist exhibition recent- within the group, whose ‘product’ design is functionally complex exhibit from UNIT(e) that will be the most intri- ly moved over to an expansive warehouse on Oxford Street ambiguous and confusing in nature, but subverts the role cately changing over time. - comes an actively exhibiting rival even to the modernity of the designer, the consumer, and the product, all within Gwenan Davies’s work specialises within interior of what Artes Mundi has to offer. the same bracket. Barry mentions to us: “I have an image in spaces, occasionally rather comedic in appearance. Her ex- But similar to what AM have done, g39 have taken my head but it’s all impromptu at the same time - comic but hibit is working via the ideas of conglomerate companies on a group of 12 artists that are pushing themselves to the powerful.” He shows us a plastic axe head that he aims to and with the juxtaposition between homes and workplac- forefront of a scene that prides itself on, well, being at the build up and function as a lamp, on the floor of a workshop es, while Harry Morgan takes labour intensive works that forefront. that looks like an embodied Google search for the word ‘3D create conversely tinier, more complex pieces, creating his Admirably so, if you put down this article, packed ambiguity’ – comic but powerful indeed, we can’t wait to own objects from home-made coal dust, and redefining the your lunch and headed over to the warehouse right now, see what he cooks up. term ‘modesty’ into something more objective. If you’re you would stumble into a huge space divided into over a From artists such as the Welsh natives ‘good cop bad looking for the rose among the contemporary thorns, then dozen rooms where you would be seeing an unfinished cop’ – who work across various artistic platforms travelling Morgan’s space is your port of call. work-in-progress from every artist in the UNIT(e) exhibi- through performance art, and continue an innate fascina- Upon browsing the other in-production exhibits,

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we can see works of emotive graffiti caged in scaffolding, floors swimming in varying sizes of wooden blocks, and for now? The occasional empty room. But even so, there’s already an excitement within the very present starkness ‘g39 have taken on a group of 12 that comes with the inherent spontaneity of what’s going on here; the huge difference that two weeks will make be- artists that are pushing themselves to the tween what I see and what you, the reader, will see upon forefront of a scene that prides itself on... visiting g39. For instance, the aforementioned and ‘im- promptu’ Mr. Parry could possibly have created a piece well... being at the forefront...’ overnight highlighting him as the next Damien Hirst, or you could very well be discovering the next Tracy Emin or Anish Kapoor in the room opposite him! (Which, let’s face it, is a pretty damn awesome possibility to behold.) No doubt that when the UNIT(e) exhibition is more well-rounded and complete there will be a far richer visual canvas on show than what any number of visits in the prior weeks could give you. If you’ve ever wanted to see what was underneath the layers of the Mona Lisa, how much in- tent and thought really went into that Banksy stencil, or if you wanted to see for yourself the marble from which Hepworth’s ‘Image II’ sculpture was carved from; the foun- dations of the most innate pieces of era-defining art? Then take a walk to the g39 warehouse once, twice… maybe three times over a few months, because if you want to witness an exhibition that embodies the ever-morphing spirit of con- temporary art, one that mirrors it in all of it’s minimalist, extravagant, beautifully consistent and/or inconsistent glory, then g39’s UNIT(e) is taking it to new heights.

— Veryan Leaper

WARP’s exhibition at g39 will be on display from January to March 2015.

19 ENDING THE WINTER OF OMIDAZE PRODUCTIONS CELEBRATES DISCONTENT WOMEN IN THEATRE WITH THEIR ALL FEMALE CASTING OF RICHARD III

Female actresses in classic dramas are often sidelined to the recreated all of Shakespeare’s plays without featuring a single them to view performances of this type in a different light. role of ’damsel in distress’ - something Omidaze Productions woman. Consequently, all female productions of the bard’s This production is not only pushing the boundaries of has challenged in their truly inspirational adaptation of Rich- plays are very rare and is precisely what makes this produc- character expectations within a Shakespearian play, it is also ard III which features an entirely female cast. tion so unique. plays with the idea of staging. The performance will be in the When you think of William Shakespeare, you think of This bold casting choice by director Yvonne Murphy is roof void (or attic) of the Millennium Centre - a space that his great catalogue of plays and iconic characters. From “Hon- an attempt to normalise women playing male parts, with a has never before been used for performance but will be trans- est Iago’s” creation of Othello into the “green-eyed monster” view to ultimately achieve equality for women in the theatre formed into a large and unique theatre space. This alternative to Hamlet’s philosophical pondering of “to be or not to be’’, industry. Despite women taking a 68% majority of theatre at- performance space becomes inextricably linked with the per- his characters have entered the public psyche and are thus tendees in the UK, males amount to over 70% of the creative formance itself as it provides a challenge to everything about visible in many texts today. However, many of the great talent and production. Omidaze Productions is tenacious in the audience’s experience of theatre. women in Shakespeare’s plays are often forgotten: Portia’s The performance of Richard III is set to coincide with outwitting of Shylock in Merchant of Venice is overshadowed city-wide events combining to create WOW (Women of the by her marriage, Lady Macbeth is “unsexed” as her actions World festival) Caerdydd. This festival is set to take place are not viewed as feminine and not one single Shakespeare “ This bold casting choice in March and will celebrate women; recognising both their play is named after a woman, despite 20 plays being named by director Yvonne Murphy struggles to achieve equality and their creative and academic after men. achievements. So, where does this position of the female actress fit in a attempts to normalise women This celebration of women in the theatre moves away contemporary production of Shakespeare’s plays? The answer from the traditional and safe to a new presentation of the to this question is a difficult one which has been tackled in playing male parts “ past, but spills also into the way women are viewed in society. many different ways over the years. Some directors choose By pushing the creative boundaries of theatre it questions the to highlight the subtler lines where the power of women is perceived limitations of women and grants the public a new more prevalent, some decide to play with gender roles using its efforts to engage women in the craft of theatre, but also perspective on a male-dominated history. Drawing on the in- staging but a new production at the Wales Millennium Centre to captivate audiences who still view the art form as highbrow famous words of Iago, this plays allows the actresses to show this February will see the entire cast of Richard III replaced by and disengaging. Through their open rehearsal strategy of “I am not what I am”. women, both onstage and behind the scenes. taking their rehearsals on a road trip around deprived areas of Interestingly, in contemporary productions of Shake- Cardiff and the Vale, they give young people access to a profes- Richard III played at the Wales Millenium Centre in February. spearian plays, men often took female roles when real women sional production standard that would otherwise be impos- Catch up with what else Omidaze are doing on http://www.omi- were banned from the stage. This has led to a tradition of all sible to relate to and engage with. All this is undertaken with daze.co.uk/ male productions of Shakespeare’s plays becoming common- the ultimate goal of allowing young people to feel that they place. For example, The Reduced Shakespeare Company have have played a part in the production and will hopefully inspire — Elouise Hobbs

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Student Theatre: THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO

Student theatre has moved from strength to strength in recent years with sellout performances, alternate pantomimes and Cardiff University’s very own drama group Act One performing 12 different shows this year. Quench Culture visits one of these performances, The Count of Monte Cristo, and reflects on the changes in student theatre

Ct One’s The Count of Monte Cristo was performed at Monte Cristo saw not one empty seat in the house and organ- the YMCA theatre in Roath, a community-run space isers were even turning people away at the door. This reality Aalive with people from all over Cardiff, and home to is only a dream for the bigger theatres who often find them- a number of student productions. The front of the building selves unable to fill their theatres due to increasingly high is unassuming but once inside, the true beauty of the thea- ticket costs. tre is revealed. Up a few flights of stairs lies a vintage feeling This year will see many more student created shows theatre; the cosy space is filled with velvet covered chairs and with sell out performances. Thought provoking A Theory of a beautifully decorated ceiling which adds to the grandeur of Justice is set to be performed on the 4th - 7th March, directed the space. by Cardiff student Sarah Robert. Following this, students will As the curtain rose to signal the beginning of the per- take to the stage on 25th March in a prefromance of Christo- formance, a creatively dressed set was revealed, with a vast pher Marlowe’s classic Dr Faustus, directed by Alex Diggins. array of characters. The adaptation of the famous novel by The play, which is based on German folklore, tells the story of Alexandre Dumas was written by Rhys Edwards. The play rec- a man who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for limitless reates the classic revenge thriller, set in the villainous world power, pleasure and ultimate knowledge. of investment bankers and follows an interview with a young Student theatre is unique in its freedom, it is able to journalist who is questioning the infamous serial killer, Ed- give writers the opportunity to see their plays performed in a mond Dante. Throughout the preformance Dante narrates an professional setting. This is even more crucial in the current unfolding tale of deception, dishonesty and greed. economical climate. Theatre funding has been cut in recent After the performance we caught up with some of the years and there is consequently less money to fund new pro- members of the cast. One member of Act One commented ductions. This year Act One is championing Battle Scars: An that performing in the show was challenging but rewarding: Original Musical which is written and directed by Alex Gath- “the script was so dynamic, it was a real challenge to live up erer and is going to be shown on the 18th - 21st March. to Rhys’ vision, but I think we pulled it off, special mention Ultimately, as theatre becomes more expensive to pro- must go to Rob England, who played Edmond Dantes. His en- duce and harder to fund, eyes turn to the student community ergy and connection with the script gave us all a lift in our who have the means and enthusiasm to create stellar perfor- performance.” mances for enjoyment of all the community. The most promising thing about student performances is that they often perform to sell out audiences. The Count of — Elouise Hobbs.

21 Spice up your wa Jump into spring with fashi and her top tips to 1. Oversized Jumpers and Leather wardrobe Shorts

If you’re anything like me, as soon as summer was ‘o cially’ coming to a close, you sprinted to Topshop, River Island and co. to stock up on their  nest, com est and cosiest jumpers. Safe to say, we all needed something to cheer us up with deadlines on the horizon... Well, you can put your layering 2. days behind you (for now). Leather shorts and an oversized jumper; whether you’re sticking to neutral or opting for bold, New Arm Candy (just While JT is still work it – you won’t regret it. taken)

Sure, it may be a somewhat neglected letter, standing right at the end of our alphabet...but Z stands for ZARA, and you can’t beat Zara for handbags (unless you’re Mulberry, but that’s another story). Zara has seen me through many seasons, and I have fallen for - don’t tell my boyfriend - their Spring/Summer Collection, in particular the Navy Crocodile Bucket Bag. If that doesn’t suit your fancy, their new collection sees over 50 bags hit the shelves, so what are you waiting for? Get shopping!

5. Investment: 1 Mini, 1 Midi

I’m sure you’ve all seen it, Miss Selfridge’s new take on the ‘denim skirt’ – skater style, with buttoning up the entire front. A skirt you can work every which way this spring! And to contrast, they were 6. your statement party piece last season, but they’ve had a Spring- over. For the pleated midi skirt – no more black.  is time, we’re Leather Spring Clean going pastel – in pink pastel PU; so get yourself to Topshop ASAP. Quite the investment , you can team it with some fresh white  ere’s nothing like a good spring clean to refresh your wardrobe. Take everything out and be sure to only put back the items you will wear this spring. Some, like leather jackets, can be worn all year round, revamp your leather jacket collection by making it lighter and brighter and you can’t get brighter than white. My go-to-store Topshop is where you will  nd yours and at a STEAL price no doubt.

22 FASHION & BEAUTY rdrobe for spring on writer, Sophie Blackwell, rejuvinate your

4. Sports Luxe

So you know those joggers that have seen you through all these 3. dark, cold, stormy nights... Team them with a crop top, leather jacket and a pair of barely there heels (yes, the ones still in your THE Statement Shirt wardrobe somewhere from last summer) and.... VOILA! No need to break the bank for an updated, new season look.

Oversized with trainers, or  tted with jeans and boots, acrisp, white shirt will be a statement piece next season. Steal from your Dad’s work wardrobe or head down to H&M for a bargain. Either way, you’ll need one - or two as it’s the essential piece that will take you from day to night with the right accessory

8. Wipe Away ose Panda Eyes...

Ditch the black eyeliner; kohl eyes are to be left with the miserable, drizzly days please. Dare to be di erent with Dior’s catwalk look, pastel eyes, instead of digging out your overused, much-loved Smokey-Eye 7. palette.  ink dewy foundation, bright eyes, and nude lipstick. Two make up bag essentials for spring are MAC Studio Sculpt foundation Run, Sun, Shop: Trainers - You’re and Bene t  ey’re Real mascara for an au naturelle complexion and e ortless, show stopping eyes. Gonna Need em

Trainers are true friends; they promise to be there for us throughout all seasons, no matter what. Shop around this season and try something new by taking advantage of your student discount. With Schuh’s Free Standard Delivery, 10% student discount and 365 returns, you’d be silly not to. New to their shelves are the wonderful white and grey metallic-inspired Roshe runs – a clever investment, wouldn’t you agree?

23 #ootd #beauty #HashtagOfTheDay: democracy for fashion or industry destroyer? Are the public becoming dictators of what’s fashionable? Are they taking over the job of fashion gurus and experts? Fashion writer Emily Lowery gives us her opinion on the evolution of fashion

#selfie #wiwt

24 fashion & beauty

#fotd #fashion

In a world that is permeated with social media, it is no hashtags aid this. Fashion bloggers can use the hashtag, and magazine. surprise that fashion has become entwined with the hashtag show to other users how they have adapted the trends of the Of course, there is the side of the general public. You do not phenomenon. With popular hashtags, such as #selfie, being catwalk into their everyday style. It is almost as if, rather have to be a fashion blogger, guru at the forefront of the media, it would seem logical that the than dictating what is fashionable and taking over the job of or expert to join in on the hashtag phenomenon. If you like fashion industry would benefit from coining hashtags where fashion gurus, the hashtags are operating as the middle man. what you were wearing that day, those who are interested in the latest trends can look to for The fashion bloggers can watch the catwalk trends, and show then you are free to snap a quick mirror photo, upload it to inspiration. This beats being told directly what trends are other users how they can wear these (sometimes) over-the- Instagram and tag it as #ootd, #wiwt #fashion ... there are so “so last season” by those experts who may not be viewed as top trends in everyday life. many hashtags out there! I feel that this public contribution relatable. Fashion is about personal style, and hashtags such Given the decision taken by Company magazine in autumn to fashion does not dictate what to wear, but instead opens up as #ootd (outfit of the day) and #wiwt (what I wore today), last year to stop manufacturing a hard copy of their the discussion of individual fashion. So what if this season’s embrace this and encourage others to wear what they want magazine, it could be said that hashtags are taking over the trend is khaki? You do not have to wear khaki in order to and share it with the world. job of fashion gurus. As a magazine which claims to be aimed be ‘fashionable.’ I absolutely adore pastel shades, and just Rather than seeing the hashtag phenomenon as the public at ‘street-style-obsessed young British women,’ it begs the because it’s the winter season, it does not mean I have to dictating what is fashionable and taking over the job of fashion question of whether their young fashionable readers have eliminate them from my wardrobe. Sure, I may seem oddly gurus and experts, I view it as an accessible trend where users turned to digital platforms such as Instagram. Anna Jones, bright against the dull Cardiff backdrop, but that is my style. can find inspiration for their own individual styles. There are chief executive officer of Hearst Magazines UK, explained that This is what I feel hashtags represent. Rather than dictating so many fashion bloggers who utilise these hashtags to show ‘Company already has a strong social presence across Twitter, what you should wear, and what is on trend, it would seem off their daily looks, and inspire others to share what their Instagram, Facebook and YouTube,’ so it would seem that that they instead show a variety of what people would consider own personal style is to others. These bloggers tend to be far they are jumping on the hashtag bandwagon in order to let as ‘fashionable.’ It is time to ditch the idea that fashion can more relatable than some fashion gurus. their professional fashion advice be heard. Considering this be dictated, and embrace it as the sense of individuality that Sometimes I look to the catwalk for the latest trends of is a magazine which has run since 1978, it could certainly every person holds. the season, and cannot help but wonder how people would be seen that the rise in social media, and thus hashtags, adapt these trends into an outfit to wear every day. Fashion has contributed to its decision to become a purely digital

#blogger #notd

25 SEX IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY

26 FASHION & BEAUTY

Harriet Martin reveals how sex has become so much a part of modern fashion in everything from the design of the clothes to the advertising.

A few decades ago, overtly sexual images in advertisements adverts featuring Cara Delevingne and Kate Moss. the Topshop customer. is is signi cant as Topshop clearly were considered to be a taboo. However, in today’s media In this campaign, both Moss and Delevingne are shown to be appeals to a much younger demographic than Burberry does. saturated environment sexuality is arguably omnipresent completely naked, with the exception of the famous Burberry e a ordability of the clothes in the high-street shop also within all aspects of life. trench coat. As well as the excessive amount of skin on show, means that they are much more accessible to a wider range rough music, television and fashion, the presence of sex is both models are shown facing inwards hugging each other, in of people. erefore, sexual images and revealing styles of inescapable; yet, the main concern is whether the selling of sex an overtly sexual way. us, whilst the models are depicted as clothing are vividly exposed to a much younger consumer. is prioritized in advertisements over the products themselves. being sexual objects, the product at the center of the campaign Today, men are just as likely as women to be overtly is lost. Is Burberry therefore advertising the sexual presence sexualised within mainstream media, and fashion. is “Are fashion adverts now of the supermodels or the trench coat and new fragrance? is undoubtedly as a consequence of the social acceptance What is more striking is that the  gures in these of sexual imagery in advertisements. As technology has selling sex rather than campaigns are considered as fashion icons and role models. advanced over the years, so has the art of airbrushing and Sex is being exposed to a signi cantly younger target glamourising the male body. clothes?” audience, who aspire to be like these women. is means that For example, in Calvin Klein’s most recent campaign the star Justin Bieber’s body has been noticeably enhanced. Are fashion adverts now selling sex rather than clothes? Moreover, male sexualisation is also depicted in the Marks Caryn Franklin, a former host of the BBC’s Clothes “Fashion is becoming and Spencer’s recent Autograph campaign. is is equally as Show, has raised this argument when she notably said, ‘from a branch of the porn signi cant as Cara Delevingne modeling for Topshop because, Chanel to Burberry, fashion is becoming a branch of the porn David Gandy, who is a renowned supermodel, is featured industry.’ industry” Further still, it is not just women who are becoming sexualised in the fashion industry; men are just as likely to be. As a result “It is striking that the of the designer brands portraying sexual imagery, it has also the younger generation may grow up to expect explicit nudity sexualised figures  ltered down into high street fashion. is is deemed as wherever they go, due to the sexualisation of the fashion worrying because it is unknown to what extent this industry. are considered role sexualisation is having an e ect on young people today. erefore, these supermodels are merely alluding to the To counter this argument, the sexualisation of the fashion sophisticated ethos of the high-end brand and are encouraging models” industry can to some extent be justi ed as being a form of the sexualisation of the female body. empowerment, and due to the frequency that the viewer is e images depicted in high-end fashion campaigns are subjected to it, the presence of sex is normalised. e idea regularly  ltered down into high-street brands, and this in the advertising for the high-street brand M&S. Gandy is that sex ‘sells,’ and the portrayal of sex in the fashion industry also demonstrates that sex is a signi cant feature of modern shown to be posing sexually in almost all of the artwork used is essentially an allusion of glamour used to mask the soft- fashion. For example, the same model from the Burberry for the advertising. Similarly to Topshop, M&S reaches a much pornographic advertising techniques which are having an campaign, Cara Delevingne is also the star model for Topshop’s larger audience than the exclusive designer brands. unknown e ect on the consumer. 2014/15 seasons. Consequently, Topshop is integrating what Undoubtedly from the catwalk, to the high-street the Nevertheless, sex has undoubtedly become a signi cant part is shown to be popular on the high-end catwalks into their presence of sex is everywhere. Yet the normalisation of it and of modern fashion. For one, it’s inextricably linked to fashion own clothing ranges. e style of clothes, which has  ltered the campaigns targeting younger audiences is an issue which advertising. Sex is evident throughout almost all modern down from the catwalk, is often deemed as sexual or revealing. still needs to be addressed. Crucially, we may never be able to fashion campaigns, and most notably the recent Burberry As a result the revealing garments are widely available to fully escape the popular phrase, ‘sex sells,’ but we do have a

It appears that Cara’s clothes are missing and Kate’s coat is barely showing. What fashion item is being advertised here exactly? Burberry are basically trying to sell us the face and body of these models rather than their clothes.

No, that is not an amateur mistake on our behalf putting two pictures of Bieber next to one another with one slightly stretched, that IS the amount of photoshopping the image went through in order to make the singer appear more masculine and ‘sexy’.

Or how about this American Apparel advert where the model is positioned sexually and awkwardly with her crotch in main focus.

With the amount of money Mr Gandy gets paid, they could have really put more clothes on him to make it more worth the campaign.

27 B D E E A B U A T T Y E

The debate of the season around women’s use of makeup is one that we can’t seem to escape. Vicky Chandler argues that make-up is a creative expression whilst Ciara Rafter argues against believing that makeup masks and conceals our natural beauty. FOR AGAINST As a self-proclaimed beauty buff, I live and explore and change herself when she feels Don’t get me wrong, I wear makeup at times. say we do not need all these cosmetics to breathe makeup. I don’t wear it every day, like it without reaching for the surgical knife. I don’t always face the day as fresh faced as make us beautiful, to make us confident. It is but when I do, I relish in the opportunity to Putting my makeup on in the morning can be. I am not anti-makeup. I am not pro okay to wear makeup, we are entitled to do try new products, test out new looks, and or before a night out has always been a ritual makeup. There is more to life than right or as we please, but the reason should not be experiment with different techniques. This for me, something that I like to do privately, wrong, black or white. It almost feels weird because we cannot leave the house without isn’t everyone’s way of life, but whether in my own time and at my own leisure. to think about the possibility of not getting looking perfect, or leaving a bathroom you’re the biggest beauty product hoarder, Makeup is my time to look after myself. I glammed up for a night out. You want to look without topping up our lipstick. We say or only have a tinted moisturiser and know it may seem ridiculous to say that you good. You want to impress, or maybe you that all we want is for someone to love us mascara to your name, there are so many can look after yourself with makeup, but it’s don’t, but I think the majority of women can when we wake up in the morning with our reasons as to why makeup is SO fantastic. true. Makeup that contains SPF (you should admit that they want to look in the mirror face makeup-less and our flaws on show. I don’t know about you, but I look always be using a foundation or moisturiser before they leave the house and mentally So why is it that we wear makeup in the back through my teen years and remember that has SPF in it anyway!) or antioxidants, say to themselves, ‘yeah, I look good.’ But first place? Why not skip the fuss and put pivotal moments in my life based on what protect and nourish your skin. Even if it’s needless to say is that the need for makeup our flaws on the surface from the word go? makeup I had; those awful glitter sprays you purely for aesthetic purposes, who cares? is not an innate attribute that we acquire at I can only speak for myself, but taking used to apply all over before the primary Makeup allows people to make themselves birth. We were not born to look in the mirror my makeup off at the end of the day is the school disco, the huge winged eyeliner that feel good, whether it is to impress others and frown at our pale, blemished faces. most refreshing part of my day. I don’t have went halfway across your face, the orange or to be comfortable in themselves. Instead, we grow up in media to worry about my lipstick smudging or streaks you used to leave on your school It’s not up to us to decide what a dominated culture with beauty queens my eyes watering and ruining my mascara shirts, foundation lips... These were never person is like based upon whether they wear as role models and this is why we acquire when it’s windy outside. I can appreciate good looks for the best of people, but it was makeup or not, nor are we in a position to the need for makeup. Our mothers do the softness of my skin, my freckles are a chance for us to experiment with who we judge someone on the makeup choices they not raise us to cover our completely no longer non-existent, and even the wanted to be and our way of expressing make, or lack thereof. Makeup is something normal spots that cannot be avoided during parts that aren’t conventionally beauty our personalities and chosen styles. that enhances beauty that people already puberty with concealer, and our eyelashes queen-esque are perfect because they are The argument that makeup makes possess, it gives you that opportunity with mascara. But the rest of the world does. authentic, they are unique, and they are me. women feel like they ‘conform’ is a ridiculous to look after yourself, and experiment Maybe we should listen to our mothers. accusation as I’m a huge believer that cosmetics with a way you’ve always wanted to look. Maybe we should listen to them when they are a creative tool that allows a woman to

28 FASHION & BEAUTY

Over the previous decades, pointed ats have come and gone numerous times. Nicole Petty tells you the styles that are expected to come back this season and how to wear them so that you can be ahead of the trend.

Th e most memorable appearance of the pointed fl at was styled made a point in proving that these fl ats can look outfi t will certainly highlight the pointy fl ats’ signature by the iconic Audrey Hepburn who bolstered the classic black extremely refi ned and stylish when worn the right way. sophistication, by keeping things incredibly light and natural. shoe with a fresh identity in the 1950s-60s, not to mention Pointed fl ats off er a polished alternative to the Understandably, the British weather is not always kind their dominating presence in the 1980s fashion scene. average round toed ballet fl ats. In both their simpler to us, but keep in mind that the pointed fl ats look incredible Last year, we saw the return of the pointed fl ats. It wasn’t and gorgeously detailed trends, the pointy fl ats when paired with skinny ankle grazer jeans or trousers, short until the 2014 fashion catwalks that designers and fashionistas promise the same thing: to help you make a fashionable A-line skirts, and midi-dresses. So, if we do have an overcast fi nally embraced their sharpness and marked their absolute statement, while placing comfort above everything else. day, think twice when you go to grab your winter ankle boots. comeback, and it seems we’re not getting rid of them just yet. If you want to create a longer leg line when wearing your Understandably, their stern elegance and statement fl ats (which I’m sure you all do!), but you’re not mad about style is not everybody’s cup of tea, but despite some wearing heels, trust the pointy fl ats to help you achieve initial hostility, the spring 2015 fashion shows that same eff ect. If minimalism is your style, an all-white

Go Bold Add a splash of colour to your outfi t this spring; whether you dare to wear red, or decide to channel your inner childhood by opting for a fl amboyant yellow shoe - a guaranteed eye- catcher. Both Next and Dorothy Perkins off er a wide range of brightly coloured pointed shoes for you to mix and match this season. Our favourite shoe D&G pair lounge

Embellished Madness Th is season, think pointed bling-ifi ed courts in  e Court Shoe neutral tonal colours such as nude, gold and silver. If you’re looking for a premium shoe, make a smart Looking for a barely-there-heel with minimal pain? Look no investment with Phase Eight’s bejewelled pumps. further than Marks & Spencer’s, where you’ll stumble across Th ese shoes will not only last you to next season, their outrageously comfy ‘insolia’ pointed court shoes. Play but you can instantly turn a boring outfi t into it safe with pastel shades and nude tones, a sure winner to something more spectacular. Also, if you have a compliment any outfi t you choose to wear. Don’t be shy to shake wedding or a spring ball lined up this year, and are things up a little with unique textures and eye-popping prints. not a fan of wearing heels, Phase Eight’s luxurious Faux-snake printed shoes created in colourful shades such as pointed fl ats will not only put any set of heels to pink, mint green and orange, are strong contenders this season. shame, but you’ll be the last belle on the dance Th e bolder the shoes, the more confi dent you’ll feel. fl oor! Th ink less pain, more dancing.

29 CHEAPEST TIME OF THE YEAR TO TRAVEL

is varies a lot depending on where you are heading, but in the second half of January plane ticket prices tend to drop drastically, together with hotel and activity prices. e most expensive time to travel is July and August because almost everyone seems to holiday in this time. Skyscanner is great for  nding the best deals if you are  exible on the destination and time. You can see how plane ticket prices  uctuate across the whole month or a year, and you can choose not just an airport as your destination but the whole country, including all the airports. If you’re indecisive, you can choose the option ‘Everywhere’.

CHEAPEST TIME OF THE YEAR TO BUY TICKETS

Some experts’ claim that the earlier you book, the cheaper tickets. Research through Skyscanner shows the average return  ight price from the UK in the Summer, how many weeks in advance you should book it and how much you could save. At this point in the year, (20 weeks in advance) a return ticket from London to Milan in the peak month of July, the prices start at as low as £50. It is clear that if you know where and when exactly you want to go, book your tickets as far in advance as possible. Airline companies rarely have special o ers later on for the destinations of your choice. However, if you are  exible on the destination, waiting for a special o er is a good decision. Price patterns and special o ers vary by airline, so make sure to check all airlines’ deals.

HOW TO SAVE MONEY BEFORE THE TRIP

Unfortunately, there’s no miracle to it, but one rule: don’t buy crap and work your  ngers to the bone, especially if you have a minimum wage paying job like most students or graduates. Before buying anything, think how you would spend this money on travelling. And if you actually need to buy something, don’t buy on impulse but research online in advance to  nd the best price. Also, start writing your expenditure list to see where your money actually goes and plan how you could save more. Cook at home (it’s way cheaper, healthier and tastier), cancel memberships you don’t actually need (for example the gym), and start jogging and exercising in the park, maybe even sell some clothes and books which you don’t need.

30 TRAVEL

“One rule: don’t buy crap and work your  ngers to the bone”

HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON THE TRIP HOW TO STRETCH YOUR MONEY AND DO IT LONG TERM ere are four main things you spend money on while travelling: Food, accommodation, transport and activities (such as shopping Consider volunteering. Organisations like EVS (European and visiting museums). In order to save, you need to plan how much Voluntary Service) have programmes lasting from a few money each matter deserves. Arguably, the least important of them weeks to a year where you’re provided with accommodation, is accommodation; as long as there’s a bed and hot water (preferably some pocket money and 90% of the travelling costs are no cockroaches as well), you’ll be  ne. erefore, try to spend as compensated. Otherwise,  nd a job. ere are plenty of little as possible on it or get it for free via Couchsur ng, Bewelcome, sectors, from teaching English to picking fruit. If you’re Hospitality club or any similar site. If you choose to stay at a locals planning to visit a destination where English isn’t the place from any of these sites, you also have an advantage of being able native language, learn the basics of the spoken language to cook food yourself which is always cheaper, and also gain useful there as it will tremendously increase your prospects of tips on things to do in the area. Sometimes your host may even drive landing a job and  nding an opportunity to volunteer. you to/from the airport and while all these things are great, don’t exploit him/her; bring a souvenir, prepare a meal, share a skill or o er Ingrida Kurlinkute to pay for the gas – no one likes freeloaders.

If you decide instead to stay at a hostel or a hotel and you can’t cook there, this still doesn’t mean you must eat every meal in a restaurant. Buy some bread and spread from a supermarket, drink tap water and whenever you feel like it, let yourself indulge in some local specialities. As for transport, hitchhiking is free but you must be extremely cautious, especially in a foreign country where there may be language barriers and you don’t know the local customs. If you have a planned schedule, try to book tickets in advance and ask locals on travel forums about the most reliable and cheap way to travel in their countries (many have megabus or another cheap alternative). Do your research on activities you would like to do, check if there’s any discount and get an international student card if this helps. Don’t forget that in every place there’s always something free to do or a way to visit something for free (i.e. the admission fee to St Paul’s Cathedral in London is around £16 but if you go to the evening Holy Mass, it’s free!). Also, most major cities have so-called ‘free’ walking tours where you can pay whatever you feel like. Illustration by Naomi Brown Naomi by Illustration 31 Is long-term travel affordable for the cash strapped student?

Taking that dream ‘gap yah’ at the end of an education that the other side of the world for less money? Hard choice. The meet people if you’re travelling alone. The jobs can vary from lasted nearly two decades is something that has crossed most room rates are not the only advantage you get with a hostel. being a receptionist, simple housekeeping tasks or, as many students’ minds. Unfortunately, these thoughts are kept in They often have kitchens so you can cook your own food hostels have bars, there are various catering jobs available. close company with the reality of lack of money; primarily instead of eating out, some give free meals, and you can gain Don’t think working for accommodation is simply restricted the ominous debt resulting from a few years of university. valuable advice from other travellers about where the best to hostels; there are also options such as au pairing. The sheer reality is there will never be another time when (and cheapest) places to go are. A useful download is the It’s all well and good planning how to save the dollar you can travel the world with such a complete freedom ‘hostelworld’ app. Like most product comparing websites, it’s once you get to the country, but another financial hurdle is and complete lack of responsibility. If you have spent nine a site that compiles the prices of a huge variety of hostels the travel itself. Consider using car sharing as a cheap way thousand pounds per year on tuition fees for a powerpoint for your chosen dates and number of people It’s a must have. to get around. People making journeys who have a spare seat assisted course, then you deserve to spend a little money There is also ‘airbnb’ which allows people to rent out their can advertise them on sites like ‘blablacar.com’, and you can on something a bit more exciting, something to give you a homes over the Internet, and it is often cheaper than staying simply click and join the ride for as little as a pound. break. There is no denying that University has broken all of in a hotel. This is a gem for long-term travellers because the For those looking to take their time and see a great our banks; money is an issue. But, there are so many ways to host may want their house occupied for a long period of time deal of places, some motorhome rental companies such minimise the damage. Scrimping on things doesn’t mean the whilst they are away. as ‘Apollo’ offer massively discounted prices for people to experience is any less valuable, it’s often better. The other handy website is ‘couchsurfing’, which is a relocate the vehicles. You get discounted travel (dependent Travelling for a long period actually gives you more database of hosts who let you stay at their house. This differs on how poor you are), free accommodation, and sometimes options because you are less time restricted, meaning you slightly from ‘airbnb’ in that it is free. You simply set up a even get a petrol allowance for doing the exact same thing could get a job, you can live more like a local, and you can use profile, state your dates of travelling and find your ideal host. that the people paying in full are doing. The difference is, you little money saving hacks like cooking your own meals. They will stay in the house with you, and depending on luck, are doing a ‘job’ by relocating it to where it’s meant to be. In One of the main factors is the destination you plan on they could prove to be your new tour guide. You may end up vast places such as Australia, this is a frequent practice, and visiting. If you’re travelling for an extended period of time, sleeping on a sofa, but lets just remember it’s for free, and that way you can attempt to see at least more than Sydney your pot of money will soon be depleted if you solely stick lets be honest, you’ve probably woken up in a few worse harbour. to more expensive places like Europe or Australia. Asia and places over your years at university. Despite the stereotype of a ‘rich kid discovering South America are some of the cheapest places to go, and If the money has truly run out, and your couchsurfing themselves’ in Thailand, whilst spending thousands of boast some amazing scenery and culture. host has had enough of you, there is always the option of pounds in the process, travelling doesn’t always have to Once the basics are settled, the real lifesaver comes in working in return for accommodation. This is the advantage be break-the-bank expensive. With an open mind and the the form of a hostel. There is no other option when thinking of long-term travel as hostels will look for a resident who potential from the many new websites tailored for young about long-term travel. Depending on which parts of the intends to stay longer than a week. It lets you feel like you’re travellers, you will see it become more like a reality, and less world you are wanting to go to, the rates can dip as low as £3 actually living there, and saves money for the more important like that dream you always had. per night. When prices like that are available, it makes you things you set out to do. Most of the jobs don’t pay, however question why you would ever pay rent on a mouldy student for as little as a few hours work per day, you can get free - Sarah Barltrop house. Severely below average student housing, or a hostel accommodation, sometimes free food, and its great way to

“Severely below average student housing, or a hostel the other side of the world for less money? Hard choice.” 32 TRAVEL Illustration by Naomi Brown Naomi by Illustration 33 New/ newydd

Everett Orr

If January is a time for reflecting upon 2014 whilst also risking the integrity of your nipples every time you step out- doors, then February is a time for excite- ment of the now not-so-distant summer. To ensure impatient souls are not left yearning, we welcome Everett Orr to the hypothetical cabana. Orr’s first of- fering, ‘Closer’, is a deliciously creamy Get Inuit number, brimming with tropical vibes and electronic allure; lie back, lounge in ‘We make dirty, surf inspired pop music and we come from Kent’ is what this the soothing trumpets and pitched per- Sittingboune quartet tell us on the world wide web. And, if we’re completely cussion and let Evvy O’s crisp production honest, they’ve got themselves pretty well sussed. More sussed than we can wash all over you. Peace out, man, peace get them in a measly 100 words, anyway. With debut EP 001 out now on out. UKIP’s favourite indie record label, Alcopop!, Get Inuit are the band that will come out of festival season on a high that never quite plateaus. Prepare to For Fans Of: Jacques Greene & Lapalux have your hearts filled with a fuzzy feeling of joy; Get Inuit are great. Download: ‘Closer’ soundcloud.com/everettorr For Fans Of: Vampire Weekend circa 2008 @Everettorr Download: ‘Dress Of Bubblewrap’ soundcloud.com/get-inuit @GetInuit

WebsterX

Just a hop, skip and a jump away in Milwaukee, WebsterX is doing something superbly interesting. Citing King Krule as a big inspiration, WebsterX dispenses aggression, tenacity and heartfelt emotion over instrumentation and production that is for the most part, subdued and a little sinister. Having collected 20K plays in a couple of days on his video for latest track ‘Doomsday (ft. Siren)’, WebsterX is grabbing the attention of omg so many ppl. We give it a couple of months before this profound beauty storms into the consciousness of the mainstream.

For Fans Of: Open Mike Eagle, MF Doom Download: ‘Doomsday (ft. Siren)’ soundcloud.com/websterx @_websterX

biLLLy ‘Producer from London’ might be the most overused profile padding this side of ‘lifestyle and beauty blogger.’ But, in true Quench fashion, we still like to give them a chance. Lucky for us, this London-based producer is one of the more promising of his kind; making waves in the all the right places, biLLLy offers a stunning brand of electronic funk, peppered with all the trappings of a big time summer hit. Give him a listen, we dare ya.

For Fans Of: Jai Paul, Jungle Download: ‘Bad Timing’ soundcloud.com/b-illly

34 MUSIC

Jealous Lovers Club and Juxtaposed kick off the festival season this May with a corker of a day at Cardiff ’s cosiest establishment, Johnny Foreigner chat to Quench Music Gwdihw. Feels Like Summer will take over the venue with two stages and a line up fi lled to the brim with some of the best names in up and coming and underground alternative music, including in an EXCLUSIVE interview about their freshly announced headliners, Johnny Foreigner, and folk quintet My Grey Horse. With over ten more acts yet to be announced and the promise of classic Cardiffi an weather, it’s set to be a cracking headline spot at Feels Like Summer Festival start to the summer; cue the beers.

FEELS LIKE SUMMER What about headlining Feels Like Summer are you most looking forward to? What can people who haven’t heard of Johnny It’s a pretty mad ego trip to play a festival Foreigner expect from your live show? ‘Having named after your own song, but all Jealous Lovers Um, we’re a 4 piece, male and female singing, shows we’ve done have been hella fun. Mostly big guitars… We play like a 90s US indie-rock band looking forward to, you know, being on stage and and our lives depend on it. We’re not but they do. nearby doing a rock show. And for those who have heard of you, why should How does Cardiff sit amongst the cities you’ve they head down to Feels Like Summer? Greggs and played in? Oh man I don’t know, we’ve been around It’s defi nitely one of the drunker cities. forever so I’ve run out of ‘come see our band’ real toilets Cardiff has this mad sparky energy to it, even when sentences. Th ey should come see us because we were playing to 10 people at the old barfl y there that’s what we do and who we are and it’d be hella was a buzz that you don’t really get in England. embarrassing if no one shows up. Th ings might go goes a long We’re happy to be coming back for sure. wrong or fall apart but we’ll for sure be entertaining.

As both musicians and punters, what appeals to Are you planning anything particularly special way the you about city festivals? to bring the festival to a close? It’s the convenience of a festival and the Oh wow are we closing it? Okay, I dunno, we convenience of a high street. I do love the summer don’t really have much of a pyro budget but I’m sure older we when we all get to hang out on farms but having we can fi nd some cool celebratory surprises. SEE nearby Greggs and real toilets goes a long way the YOU SOON! get’ older we get... Also, cities have personalities in a way that some tents in a fi eld don’t; it’s a cool way to experience that.

35 ‘It really bums me out when bands have artwork stuff that looks rushed and at odds with itself, yet they clearly spend hours picking out jazzy shirts.’

36 Music MENACE BEACH Dillon Eastoe chats singer and guitarist Ryan Needham about their freshman release, reading the reviews and keeping it real Two years after playing their first show, Leeds five-piece Menace PA and Needham and Violet’s dreamy harmonies swimming above Beach released their debut album, Ratworld. a raucous half hour of the grungey rhythm section. From the frenetic blast of ‘Lowtalking’ pop-infused grunge. Ahead of the band’s show at Bristol’s Louisiana, to the woozy pop of ‘Tastes Like Medicine,’ the band own the stage singer and guitarist Ryan Needham is nonplussed at the time taken with an effortless cool. Punters range from pogoing devotees to to complete the release. ‘It’s been so great to let it out there, but adolescent indie kids to older bearded types, confirming the good it doesn’t feel like it’s been a wait at all really. We’ve released a press exposure Menace Beach have enjoyed recently. Needham couple of EPs and 7” singles in that time, and done a fair few shows admits that he’s been paying some attention to recent reviews. and festivals, so we’ve kind of just done stuff when we felt like it.” ‘When the first few were really positive it was like, ‘ok that’s fine, With fuzzy guitars and squalling feedback enveloping I don’t need to read any more.’ I’m super relaxed about everything sumptuously catchy choruses, this spontaneity certainly carries but yeah, there’s still an egotistic brat in there somewhere.’ over to the songs committed to record. ‘We don’t have band Needham’s ‘ego’ regarding the album is a result of the hard practices as such, so when we went in to do the album we just work put into every facet of the release. ‘It’s our first album and we listened through to all the demos me and Liza (Violet, co-vocalist put so much [of ourselves] into stuff like the artwork and videos, and keyboardist) had recorded, collectively chose the ones we and we were involved in every single part of this happening, so it thought worked and then just played through them a few times with was kind of hard not to read some.’ This has extended to Needham the others suggesting changes here and there and then recorded and Violet carefully putting together trippy and captivating visuals them straight down. That spontaneity and rawness is very real.” for last summer’s festival sets, including Derbyshire’s Y NOT This approach can have its drawbacks, says Needham, as weekender. ‘The screen at Y NOT was great. We put those visuals they’ve been finding out on tour. ‘It together with some animation that can be a little bit frustrating when ‘It helped swerve a lot of ‘how did me and Liza did, and then just cut in you start playing live shows and figure all the videos we’ve done so far. The out cool parts and wish you’d added you meet?’ questions in interviews; idea is to just keep chucking each them to the record.’ Despite this, the video into the projection loop and band are happy to commit hot-off- adding bits over the top as we go along.’ the-press ideas to tape. ‘I think the bands have to try and make it sound The newcomers put some big payoff is worth it. It beats trying to name acts to shame that weekend with record songs that you’re already sick of.’ interesting when really, they just met their weird and engaging backdrop, and As you might expect, there are Needham can’t get his head round the some lyrical curveballs on the record; at a university in Shropshire’ lack of attention bands pay to their art named after a 90s Nintendo game compared to their wardrobe. ‘It really featuring a skateboarder that uses frogs and balloons to defeat bums me out when bands have artwork stuff that looks rushed and at ninjas and clowns, Menace Beach are no strangers to mixing things odds with itself, yet they clearly spend hours picking out jazzy shirts.’ up a bit. But Needham maintains that, despite their zany nature, his After a summer of playing to open fields on big stages, the lyrics do come from personal experience. ‘I can only speak for the band are now getting back into the groove of the club circuit to songs I wrote the words for but yeah, most of it is super personal, promote Ratworld. Unlike a lot of artists who get bogged down in then there’s a bit of patching up with phrases or words that I find technical issues and lack of set up time, Menace Beach have no real kind of visually interesting. A couple of the songs were written just preference for their own shows over festival slots. ‘They are totally before moving cities and loosely documented why and how I was different experiences, but I’m really into festivals right now. The feeling around that time, then there are some on there that were lead up to the show at a festival is significantly more slapdash and written really recently so it kind of spans that whole period of my life.’ fun. You just turn up, watch a couple of bands, chuck your gear The core duo of Needham and Violet are complemented by on stage and hope for the best, and I like that element of chaos.’ a revolving cast of backing musicians, notably MJ of Hookworms, For now, Menace Beach are back to the basement as it were, who doubles as the record’s producer, and Pulled Apart By Horses’ taking Ratworld to clubs and in-stores around the country. ‘Regular Robert Lee. Needham isn’t bothered by some of the ‘supergroup’ touring is a lot more systematic but you just can’t beat playing in comments tossed their way though, ‘Nah it’s not annoying. It’s not dark little sweaty rooms; it’s really exciting.’ Keen to keep moving true, but it’s not annoying. I guess it was a point of interest when we forward and build on the momentum generated by their debut put the first few things out and we do operate slightly differently to a release, Needham already has ideas for the year ahead. ‘I want to lot of bands in that we sometimes have different people playing live do some more recording with MJ, maybe put out a summer EP with us and stuff. If anything it helped swerve a lot of ‘how did you or something like that and then just festivals and touring lots meet?’ questions in interviews; bands have to try and make it sound hopefully.’ And, with a cracking freshman record under their belt and interesting when really they just met at a university in Shropshire.’ a live show that’s in fine nick, it’s likely that Menace Beach will be The current configuration showcases guitarist Nick on his continuing through 2015 doing exactly what they set their sights on. debut tour with the band. In the cramped confines of the busy –—Dillon Eastoe Louisiana, their tunes pack a punch, with distortion blasting from the

37 HISTORYIN THE

In celebration of LGBT+ HistoryMAKING Month, Quench Music take you through some of the community’s most influential musical figureheads

In the build-up to his eagerly anticipated 2012 debut Channel Orange, rumours surrounding Frank Ocean’s sexuality began to circulate. Critics, who were able to listen to the album prior to its release, noticed that gen- der pronouns implying a male love interest were used on the song ‘Forrest Gump’. While the technique of writing a love song from a di erent point of view had been used in the past, most prominently by fellow RnB star J. Cole in ‘Lost Ones’, the possibility was neglected amongst the speculations. As the release date for Channel Orange drew closer, rumours con- tinued to surface across the Internet. In reaction to the gossip, Ocean released a statement on his Tumblr page that was supposed to be in- cluded in the linear notes of the album. In this statement Ocean wrote about what he called his  rst love, con rming that it was someone of the same gender that he had fallen in love with. Never giving his sexuality a label, Ocean garnered great amounts of praise for coming out publically. Coming from a genre of music that has been plagued with a history of dissension towards LGBT+ persons, it’s not surprising that the discus- sion of Frank’s sexuality was met with some opposition. As part of the hip-hop collective Odd Future, who have previously been criticised for us- ing homophobic slurs in their musical projects, Ocean is no stranger to the prejudice that the LGBT+ community still face today. Despite this, Odd Future leader Tyler,  e Creator voiced his support for Frank, claiming that he knew Ocean’s sexuality much before his announcement. Although the majority response towards Ocean’s announcement was positive, there were a few instances that tarnished the music industry’s attitude of FRANK OCEAN LGBT+ artists. Prominent rappers  e Game and Lil’ Wayne both released songs that included homophobic lyrics that clearly referenced Frank and ‘Prominent rappers released songs that his sexuality. While these instances are still worrying, the wide acceptance of Ocean’s sexuality is a de nitive step forward for a community plagued included homophobic lyrics that clearly with a reputation of underrepresenting artists who identify as LGBT+. referenced Frank and his sexuality.’ —Jack Boyce

38 MUSIC LAURA JANE GRACE  ere are approximately 700,000 people in the US who have It was in 2012 that Laura Jane Grace decided that she in a way, to have someone like Laura in the position that been a ected by gender dysphoria. Laura Jane Grace, front- wanted to transition. She told her wife and the band about she’s in, putting herself out there in a really honest way, is woman of Against Me!, counts for one of this statistic. Her her transgender identity and Rolling Stone magazine released what people really need.’  e Against Me! song ‘Searching earliest memories of her childhood are tainted by gender an article, detailing her battle with gender dysphoria and for a Former Clarity’ saved January’s life because it direct- dysphoria, a condition that causes a person to experience a her decision to come out. Her family and friends reacted ly related to what she was going through as a transgender mismatch between their biological sex and gender identity. warmly to her announcement, with the exception of her fa- teenager in New York. About a man su ering from AIDs, Grace has described it as a ‘misalignment in the body,’ a con- ther, who she hopes will reach out to her one day. Bandmate ‘Searching For A Former Clarity’ features slippages of Grace’s  ict between ‘the way you feel and the way people perceive James Bowman con rmed that ‘nothing’s changed’ and her battle with dysphoria, illustrated by lyrics such as ‘confess- you.’ As a teen, Grace, formerly known as Tommy Gabel, mother said that ‘not [once] did it change how I felt about ing childhood secrets of dressing up in women’s clothes.’ didn’t know how to cope with her dysphoria. She was repeat- her […] it made me prouder.’ Since revealing her struggle, During her transition, Grace has received a lot of sup- edly getting into  ghts, getting arrested and taking drugs port from her fans and the punk community, including musi- to  nd a means of escape from the world and her feelings. cians such as Brian Fallon, Brendan Kelly, Franz Nicolay and During her turbulent youth, Grace fell in love with ‘Checking into hotels Mike Shinoda. Grace hopes that showcasing her experiences punk rock and became attracted to the idea of  ghting the will help the public better understand the lives of transgen- system and its gender roles. Grace met James Bowman, with dressed as a woman in the der people, but is determined not to let her changed gender whom she formed the band Against Me!, in high school. A identity de ne her. ‘I don’t want it to be the only thing about bedroom project turned success story, the band took to the hope of finding solitude in me as an artist. I don’t want it to always be ‘transgender road. While on tour, Grace was confronted with a male dom- performer,’ ‘transgender singer,’ I just want to be a singer. inated scene and was left to feel like she was ‘shoved into songwriting, she I just want to be in a band.’ Grace is currently working on this role of the angry white man in a punk band.’ She was a new record with Against Me!, writing ‘things that are fun forced to confront her own masculinity but for the sake of realised that her feelings to dance to...songs about hanging out with your friends and the band, Grace decided to commit to a male image. While travelling the world and playing music.’ Since transition- on tour with Alkaline Trio in 2006, Grace met Heather Han- would never change’ ing, things are completely new for Grace: she is no longer noura, a punk-rocker from Detroit, and the couple were en- with her partner, half of th e members of Against Me! are gaged in the same year. During their whirlwind romance, Grace dropped her birth name and began undergoing the new, she’s touring with new people and has moved into an Grace was able to suppress her dysphoria. However, in 2009, medical transition, involving hormone replacement ther- apartment in Chicago and according to Grace, the world feels when Heather became pregnant with their daughter Evelyn, apy, electrolysis, breast surgery and facial plastic surgery. like it did when she was nineteen, ‘terrifying and thrilling.’ the feelings she had tried to ignore began to resurface; per- Last year, Grace released a ten-part AOL web-series - Kate Barlow forming lost its sense of fun because the screaming crowds called True Trans in celebration of National Coming Out didn’t know the truth. Grace tried to ignore her feelings for Day.  e documentary depicts Grace’s own experiences with another year, but Against Me! were dropped by their label gender dypshoria and her transitional process, as well as and her dysphoria became unavoidable. Checking into hotels the experiences of other transgender people that she has dressed as a woman in the hope of  nding solitude in song- met throughout her career. January Hunt, whom Grace writing, she realised that her feelings would never change. met at one of Against Me!’s shows, says that ‘it’s iconic, CN LESTER It’s di cult to  nd artists to compare to CN Lester.  e London-based musician straddles the worlds of classical and alternative music, managing to build a reputation as an opera singer while making time to release several highly acclaimed albums of original songs. But that’s not the only shattered dichotomy that makes CN such a unique voice in the music industry; they are also openly non-binary, identifying as neither male nor female. When not making music, CN is a blogger and activist for transgender rights, ‘CN’s powerful mezzo- even appearing on the 2013 Pink List of in uential LGBT+  gures.  ey often write about the challenges of living in the space outside of gender, an experience soprano voice is one of which most of society refuses to even acknowledge. In particular, they have found one major similarity between the classical and popular music industries. Both are the first to sing directly more conservative than they would like to appear, at least when it comes to trans- gender and non-binary identities; anything that subverts cultural norms too far to them, helping them in the wrong direction becomes inconvenient to package and sell to consumers, making it harder for artists like CN to get taken seriously, in spite of their talent. feel less alone in a But like the gender binary, the old system is starting to unravel. As the Inter- net provides artists with more opportunities to communicate directly with audiences world too often divided and manage their own careers, a new diversity of identities will hopefully be allowed to  ourish. CN’s last two albums, Dark Angels and the hauntingly beautiful Aether, into black and white’ were both crowdfunded through Indiegogo.  ey could not have raised that money without a strong following in online LGBT+ communities, amassed through their blog and twitter presence. As increasing numbers of young people start to identify as non-binary, CN’s powerful mezzo-soprano voice is one of the  rst to sing directly to them, helping them feel less alone in a world too often divided into black and white. —Kevin Smyth

39 music reviews Kerrang! Tour With Don Broco, We Are The In Crowd, Bury Laura Marling Y Plas, February 13th Thekla Valentine’s Eve and a queue of cold, slightly soggy people line the road of CUSU, not super keen for the SU’s Speed February 7th Kate Tempest Dating event the day after, but rather queuing to see their favourite bands on this year’s Kerrang! Tour. Opening, I recently suffered the indignity of going to the cinema are Ohio metalcore titans Beartooth. Tonight, they come completely alone on a Saturday night. Buying my Motion with as much energy and furore as if they were headliners tickets and popcorn, I could only grin sheepishly as I themselves, and as a floor-wide mosh pit erupts, the lads repeated ‘yes just the one adult ticket, thanks’. Not a Februrary 8th from across the pond give one hell of an act to follow. This half hour previously I was at Bristol’s Thekla enjoying a isn’t a problem however, as next up are self-confessed captivating, intimate performance by Laura Marling – metal kings Bury Tomorrow. Lead vocalist Dani Winter- who is currently touring her as-yet unreleased LP Short In a packed-out and jumper-worthy Motion, Kate Bates preaches the ethos of metal through music and word Movie (debuting March 23) – and yet, there I was, alone. Tempest holds court to the second date of her live tour, and with arms wide open, an army of screaming girls at his The venue seemed the perfect match for Marling; Thekla’s the largest venue she confesses to have played so far. feet, this man is a deity-esque image for all to feast upon. history as a seafaring cargo ship echoes the incessant touring Support act Loyle Carner rips out some mellow jams for Mid-gig, special guests Young Guns hit the stage with schedule that Marling has endured since she was 16 years old. the first half of his set, sticking blissfully to recorded a three song set. The crowd have enough time to lap up Both take firm position as cultural powerhouses in their own material, making sure his presence is heard for the crowd- the up-tempo pop rock before the stage is prepped for right. In its relatively short history, Thekla has played host to participation of the final minutes. Carner is new blood tonight’s fourth band, We Are The In Crowd. Fronted by seminal artists such as Massive Attack and Portishead, while and intricately talented, but when Tempest walks out to th seemingly the only female on the tour, Tay Jardine, they Marling’s Short Movie will be her 5 album release in 7 years, a heavy-dropping ‘Marshall Law’ to thunderous applause pace through an array of bouncy pop tunes that close with each album receiving greater critical acclaim than the last. it’s clear he’s only here to warm us up. the pit and unite the crowd into one giant jump-fest. One of the myriad reasons for Marling’s success both live Tempest keeps awesomely to her namesake and spits Finally, headliners Don Broco burst onto the stage and in studio is for the emotion with which she imbues out some stormy bars on the scarily realistic storyline every single track. From the first minute of the opening and Y Plas transforms into a party. All those who of ‘Marshall.’ All I can do is stand and stare among the song it is apparent that Marling’s performance is not to be stood by the bar flock forward to get in on the action. swelling crowd and take in everything that she has to a clinical, note-for-note mimicry of her studio recordings; With energy and smiles abundant, they take us throw at me; two drummers so frenetically in sync that with Joni Mitchell-esque fluidity she moved on a whim through classics, some old and some new. It is by you expect them to shed skin and uncover a robotic from delicate, honeyed vocals to warm, familiar spoken far the most exciting set of the night, complete with interior; a backing singer filling into Tempest’s dialogue word. Her engagement with the audience is comfortable and pyro and semi-naked crowdsurfers. Don Broco were and showing some serious vocal pipes in the process; the easy, shirking the pretence of Marling as a performer, and made for the stage and rounding off the most eclectic synth shaking deep with startling energy. instead taking on the human, easy-going character of the tour 2015 has seen thus far sees them right at home. Kate Tempest is more than your two-dimensional Marling whose birthday was celebrated not 3 days previously. —Alice Hoddinott Mercury nominee. The eclectic material from her debut Then, all of a sudden, it’s her last song of the evening. A mere 75 minutes after first taking the stage, I am left standing Everybody Down is filled with a bleak reality reflecting on the street, my breath frosting before me wondering the fake romance of Jamie T and The Streets and the what to do for the next 4 hours before my bus ride home. panache of Scroobius Pip. Tempest is as real is it gets, —Greg McChesney barely holding back the cheeky grin and swelling emotion when the responsive crowd becomes too much. Someone shouts “we love you Kate!” and, wiping the tears from her eyes, Kate replies “I fucking love you too, mate”. An immersive experience and Kate Tempest is, without doubt, one storm that I wouldn’t want to pass anytime soon. —Veryan Leaper Credit: Veryan Leaper Veryan Credit:

40 MUSIC

PEACE IBEYI Happy People Ibeyi

Waifi sh indie boys Peace return with the follow up Ibeyi, a French Cuban duo who’s music is eclectic as to their 2013 debut, In Love. Similarly optimistic they’re cultural backgrounds, arrive with their self in title, Happy People is what the media would titled debut. Singing in English and Nigerian Yoruba call the ‘diffi cult second’ album, yet Peace have languages, the album sees a fusion of modern music managed to create something that feels easy and styles and cultural clashes; on paper, inconceivable natural. Th e album, which juxtaposes unhappy to work coherently. On whole however, the album lyrics with happy melody, is full of buoyant beats GET INUIT completely quells these fears. Each track fl ows into the and joyful vibes: the trademark sound of the indie next, creating a wholly fl uid sound o the overall record. rock ‘n’ roll they are so insistent on keeping alive. 100 No one song is lost in this fl owing trajectory of the debut. ‘I’m just trying to change the world you live in’ croons Each song brings with it its own unique contribution surprise heartthrob of the last year, Harry Koisser, on to the album, cumulatively building the distinctive opening track ‘O You’; an optimistic statement and sound that the pair produces. Highlights include the one which this album probably won’t fulfi l. Songs like For those of you who aren’t aware, Get Inuit are a funky echoing tones of ‘Th ink Of You’ set over recognizable ‘Gen Strange’ take you back to an era past and have you indie-pop quartet from Kent. Th ey’re pretty fresh hip hop beats, creating a stark and altogether haunting dancing around in a daydream haze, and the gorgeous and are tipped to be one of the hottest newcomers track. ‘Weatherman’ also encapsulates this sound, ‘Money’ has you singing along like you’re part of the of 2015. Th e ingeniously titled 001 is a four track channelling R&B melodies and rhythms with the two Brummie quartet yourself. A lot of indie rock is all package of fun hooks and catchy lines which are piercing voices. Th e prior released tracks such as ‘River’ guitars and bravado, but Happy People is more than bound to get you bopping your head at the very least. and ‘Ghosts’ that initiated the hype around the girls that. It’s clever, coy and incredibly catchy. Th e mix EP opener, ‘Dress of Bubblewrap’ is an infectious can also not be ignored. Far from being overplayed, of past and present grooves removes you from your slice of Get Inuit’s poppier side. It’s the sort of song they still remain fresh amongst the new material, current concept of indie rock and has you re-evaluate that if you heard it coming from a festival tent, you’d aiding the rejuvenation of the well-trodden tracks. it, helping you fi nd something far more exciting. head over and check out what the crowd were making Th e album certainly showcases the sisters’ talent, ‘I wish I had perfect skin, I wish I was tall and thin, such a fuss over; it’s defi nitely one for the summer setting them fi rmly on the alternative stage. We I wish I wore gorgeous clothes’ pleads Koisser on the playlists. ‘Coping With Death, In A Nutshell’ brings are left, however, with a somewhat bitter taste, iridescent ‘Perfect Skin’, and then there’s ‘I’m A Girl’ the EP down a notch, turning that bop you’ve got wondering where the distinctly diff erent duo can which simply oozes coolness. It’s bigger and bolder going on into a sway. It feels a bit drawn-out but take their music from here. Ibeyi push the boundaries songs like these that really bring this album to your that can be overlooked as by the time you get to with this debut; how much further they can go is a attention. Yes, there’s songs like title track ‘Happy track three, you’re back in the fun zone. ‘Cutie Pie, question begging to be answered. For now though, People’ and ‘Under the Moon’ which have you wishing I’m Bloated’ is the band’s best track. ‘I wanna be your in their initiatory phases, you can only merit such the formula for this album was the same as it was for In stick in the mud’ whines vocalist Jamie Glass over and a brave and altogether well composed piece of art. Love but overall, Happy People feels like the album Peace over again in traditional indie style. Th e fi nal track of —Jade Attwood should have been brave enough to make from the start. the EP, ‘I Would’, is Get Inuit’s latest single and full of —Alice Hoddinott the echo and reverb that will make them contenders against the likes of Palma Violets and Drenge. 001, in a nutshell, is as cool as anything the indie heavyweights of the industry could record and best of all, it’s only a sneak-peak into what Get Inuit can do; certainly a glittering promise. —Alice Hoddinott

41 TheYouTuber Review AFTER THE SUCCESS OF THE FIRST YOUTUBER REVIEW FEATURE LAST MONTH, VIDEO GAMES HAS DECIDED TO DIVE ONCE AGAIN INTO THE WORLD OF THE NEWEST FORM OF VIDEO GAME MEDIA

"IN MY YEARS OF WATCHING That One Video Gamer THE COMPUTER SCREEN LIKE A GOLDFISH, I CAN HONESTLY SAY I HAVE NEVER 344K SUBSCRIBERS SEEN A YOUTUBER WITH MORE PASSION OR PRIDE While most YouTubers comfort appear regularly in SuperScopeShow and themselves with simply running through collaborates with the likes of Jesse Cox IN THEIR WORK THAN THE a game for the sake of an LP, it just isn't and e Warp Zone in e Scary Game COMPLETIONIST." enough for at One Video Gamer. Jirard Squad where Khalil and three others Khalil, known as e Completionist, drunkenly stumble their way through aided by his partner in crime Greg, takes one horror game after another. If you games suggested by the audience every have ever wanted a man to embark on a week. He completes them before going three year project to complete Skyrim on to discuss the gameplay, presentation, or to complete A Link Between Worlds story and his personal experiences with twice before release, then you have found the game. e Completionist has so far your man. In my years of watching the o cially completed approximately 115 computer screen like a gold sh, I can games which include Diablo II, Conker's honestly say I have never seen a YouTuber Bad Fur Day, Five Nights At Freddy's with more passion or pride in their work and more, all while showering you with than e Completionist. knee-slapping comedic gold. In addition to these weekly videos, e Completionist also forms half of e Beard Bros who — Liam Pad eld OfficialNerdCubed 2M SUBSCRIBERS

By being far and away the biggest channel and a complete series which he records on this list, it is obvious that I am not live on Twitch and uploads to YouTube writing about Nerd3 to give him some in an episodic format. Aside from being extra publicity. His channel is special entertainment, he also tries to stand up for for me since it was the  rst channel that the rights of the consumer against the big I subscribed to when I started to tune companies. It is often the case that you will into video game YouTubers and there come across a Nerd3 Extra video which are reasons for why I have continued to are usually when something happens in watch his videos ever since. His primary the gaming industry, such as Dungeon focus is on entertainment. His longest Keeper Mobile which he feels deserves running series Nerd3 Plays… is where being pointed out and berated. ese often you will now  nd his original comedy skits evolve into interesting but very poignant on a huge variety of games. It is credit to rants. All I can say is this – Nerd3 has how popular that particular series is as something for everyone. his channel has undergone many reboots in regards to his content. Currently his series include Nerd3’s FW, Nerd3’s Hell — Alex Glazer

42 VIDEO GAMES ExInTheVatican – Vinesauce 121K SUBSCRIBERS 3 “ExIn eVatican”, known by his followers plays a tremendous amount of lesser as “Vinesauce Joel” is a charismatic known and independent video games, Youtuber and frequent live-streamer. He and showcases a large number of games has captivated his audience with surreal ranging from Skyrim to very obscure MS- gaming streams, hilarious videos with DOS games. Some notable works include exceptional comedic timing and a loyal e Sims 3 series, wherein he uses mods following who send in their own drawings to hack the game to its breaking point of the humorous events in a display of and a Halloween special which involves superb audience participation. Joel excels a game where he controls a skeleton in creating a niche amongst YouTube trying to eat cereal and gain calories. He “Let’s Players” by utilizing interesting and is highly recommended for those of you entertaining concepts that have yet to be with a twisted sense of humour and enjoy featured by more pronounced members of laughing at the uncanny and sometimes the YouTube community. He plays retro absurd results of broken games. video games, which are then hacked apart to change and glitch the game, usually — Matthew Scanlon with hysterical results. He frequently

Yahtzee (from Zero Punctuation)

3K SUBSCRIBERS "THE TWO BOUNCE OFF EACH OTHER WITH OFTEN HILARIOUS YouTube game reviewers have metaphors he uses to describe AND ENGAGING RESULTS, THE become as synonymous with gaming games. The games he reviews are as the games themselves. In this a mixture of indie titles that often KIND OF CHEMISTRY MOST saturated side of YouTube we miss the spotlight, popular games BUDDY-COP MOVIES COULD find that most of these reviewers (which he usually ridicules) and ONLY DREAM OF. " follow the JonTron standard of older games on occasion. Yahtzee game reviewing: fawning, mindless is not one for pulling punches in slapstick comedy or the use of interviews, so expect swearing, nostalgia as the justification for no the treading on of the games and original ideas. Cue Yahtzee, who tropes you hold dear and plenty of in my opinion is one of the few profanity. For a mixture of comedy YouTube game reviewers worth your and genuine gaming insight, Happy Console Gamer time. He’s a quick-paced matter-of- although controversial, I recommend fact reviewer, who peppers his short Yahtzee’s Zero Punctuation series on reviews (the longest I’ve clocked in the Escapist YouTube channel. being 5 minutes) with charming if 92K SUBSCRIBERS not basic animations of the colourful — Ryan Barker ose with a soft spot for gaming values. Also on hand is frequent co- nostalgia will adore the output host and lifelong friend Robman. of Johnny Millenium, aka e two bounce o each other with HappyConsoleGamer. A friendly often hilarious and engaging results, chap with an enviable fanaticism the kind of chemistry most buddy- for the hobby, it's hard not to be cop movies could only dream of. drawn to his unbridled enthusiasm... It might remind you of exchanges not to mention bitterly envious both witnessed and held down in a of his vast, generation spanning pub, though instead of discussing game collection. e channel's last night's ludicrous display or the primary focus is to recount fondly delicate intricacies of lad culture, remembered anecdotes on once they're recounting friendship- new consoles and games. Subjects destroying Street Fighter matches and of interest vary from celebrated bizarre incidents involving cruelty classics, such as Fantasy VII and and Super Mario 64. Very much Resident Evil 2, to lesser known fan as endearing and grin-inducing, favourites like Ys, Phantasy Star and just without the football chants. Shenmue. Everything comes together to make for informative, well-spoken — James Reid videos, which is further bolstered by impressively strong production

43 WHAT MAKES A GOOD PROTAGONIST? THE PAST FEW YEARS HAVE SEEN THE DEVELOPMENT OF VIDEO GAME CHARACTERS LIKE NEVER BEFORE. WE INVESTIGATE WHAT SETS THE TRULY MEMORABLE FIGURES APART

As video games have over the past 25 years moved beyond always been on Earth and are trying to reclaim what they see simply because as soon as the game starts game the empire simple eight-bit games, so have the heroes. From the rst as their planet. A simple and clear objective needs to be set is trying to lop o the avatar’s head for no apparent reason. Zelda game on the Famicom Disk System, to Crash Bandicoot from the beginning to let the player know what needs to be If the hero is not an avatar then they need to be a on the PlayStation, to the Master Chief from countless Halo achieved.  is will drive the player to complete the game while character that the player can either connect with or root for games spanning multiple systems, all these games have had deepening their bond with the protagonist, and ultimately regardless of backstory.  e most successful of these heroes memorable, likable heroes that helped drive the story forward. making his goal more interesting. are ones that allow the hero to play as some over the top  e formula for a good protagonist has not changed since. Sometimes the protagonist should be silent throughout badass such as Kratos from the God of War franchise. Although  ere are two ways to make a good protagonist.  e character most of the game and exist merely as an avatar that allows he is a morally ambiguous demi-god from ancient Sparta, who needs to either be an avatar that allows you to explore the me to explore the world through your own eyes every time doesn’t want to have the ability to kill violently gods such as world in which they exist, allowing them to merely be an you turn on the console. While the avatar should have an Ares and Poseidon and take revenge against those who have extension of player, or a larger than life character - the type interesting backstory, sometimes the best protagonists are wronged others? of person that the player can connect with right at the start those that give us some level of customisation, allowing us to  ere is no single formula to making a good protagonist. of the game. Protagonists can have amazing adventures that insert ourselves into the game more fully. Games such as the  ere will always be universally-loved heroes and there will the player must see to the end, or they can have some sort Fallout series and Mass E ect enable the player to choose the always be heroes that, while not as well received on the whole, of ultimate characteristic that makes them deeply interesting hero’s gender, hair-colour, eye-colour amongst a wider range will have a small following who will ercely defend their or very likeable.  is is usually achieved through an over the of customisable settings.  ese types of blank heroes should position amongst the best in the business. As long as the top personality like the Duke Nukem of the 1990s or the hero either be silent with all their dialogue being read through text protagonist is likeable, be this through the ability of the player merely being a badass like Solid Snake or Kratos. or if the hero has been given a voice like Commander Shepard in to project themselves within the game or a well written back  e protagonist needs to have one simple goal. Mass E ect then we should at least be able to choose the hero’s story, and hav a well thought out story to take the player along Whether these are time-tested classics such as saving the dialogue.  is a ords players the agency to respond to NPCs for, then that hero will be seen as a good protagonist. princess like Mario and Link have done time and time again as they deem t, allowing them to get closer to supporting or saving the world, galaxy or even universe from some sort characters that they have common ground with and to make   omas Harrison of intergalactic threat, whatever form that threat may take; enemies of those that they disagree with from the get go.  is aliens, interdimensional demons or creatures that have can be seen in choosing to side with the rebellion in Skyrim

“THE HERO NEEDS TO HAVE ONE SIMPLE GOAL. WHETHER THESE ARE TIME-TESTED CLASSICS SUCH AS SAVING THE PRINCESS LIKE MARIO AND LINK HAVE DONE TIME AND TIME AGAIN OR SAVING THE WORLD, GALAXY OR EVEN UNIVERSE FROM SOME SORT OF INTERGALACTIC THREAT.“

44 VIDEO GAMES

“A GOOD ANTAGONIST HAS TO REPRESENT SOMETHING WITHIN AN INDIVIDUAL. AN EFFECTIVE BAD GUY MAKES THINGS PERSONAL. THEY EVOKE AN EMOTIONAL RESPONSE FROM BOTH THE CHARACTER YOU PLAY, AND YOU PERSONALLY.”

What makes a good antagonist? Some games don’t even have highly intelligent and cunning. Who else would be a worthy combination with their appearance that makes them who - a bad guy within their narrative and are still great games. opponent to Batman? One reason why the Arkham games and not just what - they are. Albert Wesker annoyed me in Tetris and Gran Turismo are forever going to be remembered worked was the character arcs built around that of all the Resident Evil, as he started out as someone on my side.  e as great games. However, they were genre de ning. Games antagonists you had to face, not just around the Joker, and the same can be said of General Sheppard in Modern Warfare such as Halo and Space Invaders also do not have a speci c challenges that lay before you were di erent. 2.  e way both characters berayed me left me furious.  e antagonist, pitting the player against a collective of foes. A good antagonist has to represent something within Xenomorph in Alien Isolation and Silent Hill’s Pyramid Head  e great games, lms and television series are remembered an individual. An e ective bad guy makes things personal. embodied the emotion of fear. Lurking in the shadows, and in my opinion for the bad guys.  e protagonist of a game  ey evoke an emotional response from both the character it was the waiting for them to turn up, as they seemingly is not without complexity, but ultimately their narrative is you play, and from within you personally. I remember playing pleased, that made them such great antagonists. parallel to that of their antagonist and the choices made by Final Fantasy VII and being in awe of the game and learning all Antagonists in games, in my humble opinion, are those that person. As games have evolved, so have their audiences. about the characters, their backstories and abilities, and how based upon human complexity, and are a worthy adversary Consequently, an immersive story is just as essential as they t amongst the shenanigans with Chocobo breeding and that make us think.  ey are not just there to challenge our graphics and gameplay, if not more so. gambling money away at the Gold Saucer.  e Game’s single game playing ability, or obstacles to overcome. Today, heroes Believability and realism are both contextual and largely de ning moment is when the antagonist Sephiroth impales in games are measured by the foe they face, and not knowing subjective, but the humanity of a character is what makes them the party’s cleric (and the protagonist’s love interest) through how things might turn out with every challenge, but being believable and real to an individual. Megatron and Optimus her chest; she fell, he pulled out the sword, smirked at me, and engrossed in the narrative is what attracts most people Prime are two autonomous robots locked in battles and can left. As a 12 year old I experienced an overwhelming hatred nowadays. For every Marcus Fenix and Link, there is a Raam transform in to objects of secondary purpose.  ey are not so for an antagonist, the rst time I’d felt that way. Not being and Ganondorf; as such, they are seemingly linear narratives. realistic or believable, but in the context of the Transformers able to beat Robotnik or Bowser only caused hissy ts of Ultimately, the great antagonists that stay with you like the franchise, that doesn’t matter. Add character and backstory frustration in comparison. I was left with a desire for revenge Alien and Sephiroth, are not just physically challenging, but to this, and you have a story arc that eliminates the need for that compelled me to continue with the story, and delve more cerebral, charismatic and captivating. realism, and provides entertainment.  e Joker is arguably into not only the game, but why this person did what they did. one of the best antagonists in gaming and entertainment But  is was a game, for goodness’ sake, not real life. Other  Ian Dunne lore. He has his own morality, as a man who has no concern antagonists have since come close, but probably not touched, for a person’s well-being; he is unhinged, psychopathic, and yet that level of hatred. It is the complexity of the antagonist in WHAT MAKES A GOOD ANTAGONIST?

45 IGITAL YMPHONY

THE USE OF BOTH LICENSED AND ORIGINAL MUSIC IN VIDEO GAMES IS OFTEN UNDERSTATED BUT IN FACT IT IS AN IRREPLACEABLE PART OF THE WINNING FORMULA

Video games give developers one of the most flexible literal are talking about older games here. The game to look at here status – mainly whether you are at war or not – and is so good and metaphorical creative licenses in the entertainment is MediEvil from the PS1 era and its PSP retelling MediEvil: that you will often find yourself humming along to it as you industry. It is the power to create unique universes filled Resurrection. Here each level has its own distinct theme fitting play. with fascinating characters experiencing wondrous stories. the setting of the level. It is highly likely that you have heard The final usage of music in video games is licensed This licence extends to the field of music. So often critically the quirky, tuba-driven, “Wheat Demon” which has often been music. To clarify, this is music that was not written specifically acclaimed games are accompanied (and made better) by used on TV. This is not the only one with “Gallowmere Waltz”, for a video game but that has been licensed by the developer superb use of music both original (composed specifically for “George the Pumpkin” and “Hilltop Mausoleum” being of to be used in a game. As mentioned above, classical music the game) and licensed (pre-existing classical or popular music particular significance. This game highlights the importance is often used by games such as Civilization but this area is that has been paid for), that its importance cannot be ignored. of music in earlier games when the technology restricted not necessarily restricted to music written before the 20th Perhaps it is best to start with an example. Bioware’s developers’ ability to create the diverse universes of the size Century. The use of Alex Torres and his Orchestra in the Tropico Mass Effect trilogy is often perceived as being the Space Odyssey that we see so often today. Games like this and Super Mario series is fitting since you play as the dictator of an island in the of the gaming industry. Thus like films of the same genre, Bros. and the legendary Tetris, whose theme was inspired by Caribbean and the vibe required is that of a sunny disposition it is accompanied by a spectacular soundtrack. Mass Effect 2 an old, Russian folk-song, helped establish music’s importance with a hint of despotism. Much like in EUIV you will often find is of particular note as its epic final mission is accompanied in gaming. yourself humming along. Perhaps the most inventive use of by an orchestral performance of epic proportions fittingly Music is also prevalent in games that are not necessarily licensed music was in the recent Wolfenstein: The New Order named “Suicide Mission”. This piece of music does a great job action-packed shoot-'em-ups, but also in games instead which re-wrote classic Beatles songs into German in order to of setting the scene for the last push to defeat the collectors focused on more patient and strategic gameplay. Games such fit its alternate history setting. This was not only extremely from bringing back the reapers. It achieves this by building up as Civilization V and the Tropico series do a fantastic job of clever but it really helps immerse the player in the universe the music through crescendo and diminuendo which has the using classical and Latin-American music respectively but that it has created. effect of letting the player know that something huge is about we shall come back to licensed usage later. The game that I Throughout the history of the video game industry, to go down. There is no doubt that without “Suicide Mission”, want to talk about here is the phenomenal Europa Universalis: from the early pioneers through to the global hegemons of Mass Effect 2’s ending would be far less memorable than it is IV. The developers of this game, Paradox Interactive, have today, music has played an integral role. It is impossible to in reality. become renowned for making some of the deepest and most imagine where video games’ status as cultural icons would One other technique that is employed by developers complex grand strategy games in existence. A large part of be without this factor. One thing is for sure, the partnership when it comes to music is to have recognisable themes for EUIV’s success is owed to it’s utterly phenomenal orchestral between video games and music is very strong and does not certain levels. This is more common in games which are linear soundtrack which hits you from the very first menu. The look like changing anytime soon. in their format and are broken up by individual levels, so we music also changes depending on your country’s diplomatic Alex Glazer

46 VIDEO GAMES

DRAGON AGE: INQUISITION

Set shortly after the events of Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age: Inquisition is the latest game by Bioware. How does it rank?

Dragon Age: Inquisition is the latest title from Bioware and guide to see the recommended levels for these zones as the  e story, characters and choices that you get to make is set shortly after the events in Dragon Age 2. A giant rift game doesn’t tell you what level the zones are.  is level is a trademark of Bioware games.  e cast of companions is tearing the sky apart and you are the lone survivor of requirement does force players to stay in zones for longer for the most part is the best yet in any Bioware game, the explosion that caused it. You’ve gained the power to than they may feel they want to and to some degree slows each one with a  eshed out personality and backstory that close the fade rifts that are spewing demons into the real down the story progression, whilst you can travel to all the really brings them to life. Romance can still be achieved by world. Your quest is to close the tear in the sky and save areas it’s best to stick to areas with enemies of a similar choosing the “ irt” option whenever it appears, the only the world. level to yourself as it’s near impossible to take higher level thing stopping you from romancing someone is that if Bioware o ers four races to players, Humans, enemies on. you aren’t their sexual orientation or species preference. Dwarfs, Elves and for the  rst time in the series the  e combat isn’t bad either, although it does get a bit  is is one area of the game that could use some massive Quinari. Each race o ers minor boosts such as a 25% repetitive. It’s akin to MMO gameplay with cool downs on improvements to. damage resistance for Dwarfs but nothing really game- abilities and a manna or energy bar that slowly recharges.  e main story is really good during the instances changing. Of course depending on what race you choose Also the tactical camera doesn’t really function very well, it takes place, and with a decent villain the world at stake e ects how you are treated and perceived in-game. I it’s only purpose seems to be for higher game di culties. you’ll want to  nd out what happens next. With a few played around thirty hours as a male dwarf before deciding However combat serves its purpose well enough.  ere’s also shock moments and revelations I enjoyed it immensely at to make a male generic “hero” character. Being a human, a multiplayer mode similar to that in Mass E ect 3; however the time but looking back none of my choices made any my background was that I was from a noble house and so it just isn’t as good. Mass E ect’s multiplayer wasn’t the best di erence to the ending of the game. Ultimately that’s what this opened up new choices for me in game as opposed to either at launch and only got better with time so hopefully these games should be about; how your choices a ect the being a surface Dwarf who may or may not be part of the DA:I will follow suit.  e game runs well on console even world. It’s not as bad as Mass E ect 3’s ending but it just Dwarven equivalent of the Ma a. It was surprising that when mages are  ring lightning everywhere and very rarely makes everything you do during the game seem somewhat you could not change the backstory as it would truly allow were there any framerate drops.  e game on PC is fairly irrelevant. Sure there’s a nice cut-scene with pictures and you to make a unique character. demanding and requires a high end rig to max it out. What narration of what your choices did but during the game but  e world design involves a kind of MMO-style may come as a disappointment to the PC crowd is that cut- other than that I felt the hours I had spent upgrading the level zones. Unlike games such as Skyrim that involved scenes are reduced to 30 fps and the change is apparently Inquisition were pointless. one huge map DA:I has around a dozen di erent and fairly very noticeable. Overall DA:I is a great RPG and you’ll spend hours unique areas that range from a windswept coast to vast playing it, but ultimately it’s the amazing characters deserts.  ese areas are huge though.  e starting area that make the game worth playing.  e story is good if “ e Hinterlands” took me around twenty  ve hours to predictable, the combat is  ne but repetitive and there is complete.  e reason for this is the amount of dialogue an abundance of side-quests and lore to delve into. All of and lore that you encounter, for a person new to the this combined with one of, if not the most realised and series I couldn’t get enough of it. By skipping everything beautiful fantasy worlds created and you can see why this on my second playthrough I cut the time down to nine game had so many Game of the Year nominations and wins. hours, it really depends on how fast you want to complete the game. It may also be worth having a quick look at a Reviewed on PC Ben Jamieson w

9/10

47 Best in Show : An Awards Show Critique

With this year’s Oscars a matter of days behind us, we take a look at what it means to conquer awards season, and if it even matters.

It’s a mind-boggling affair really; the stars whose films and shows we’ve watched for the previous eligible year, all get dressed up and sit in a room where they pat each other on the back and give themselves some nice golden, metal, and marble statues. It would be remiss to say they don’t matter, of course they matter. Awards season itself is a multi-million pound business with corporate sponsors, fashion house loans and some seriously bad taste jokes (here’s looking at you Gervais). I love award shows (you could say I’m an Oscarologist – it’s a real profession, honest). Some people follow sports religiously and some follow the process of giving merit to the year’s past films and TV shows. Both are complex, both have the high-paid frequently used athletes (read here as actors) and both heavily split audiences. I’ve watched every awards season, for every discipline, that’s been televised for about 6 years religiously. The entire awards season revolves around the By the time we get to the ‘most ‘Big Five’. If the performance is ‘good’ enough, it’ll sweep the entire board. If there’s stiff competition prestigious’ Mr Oscar at the end of a whole other lot of factors come into play (age, nationality, longevity of career, debut performance the road, we’ve had to stop off at the etc.). The Golden Globes are first in the season, making it a family affair by having the film Globes and the SAGs, entertained industry’s little brother, TV, a part of the night. The Screen Actors Guild (where the actors themselves the critics, had the approval of of choose the best performances) follows, with the Critics’ Choice, the BAFTAs and Academy Awards the Producer and Director Guilds (colloquially known as the Oscars) pulling up the rear. It begs the question however, what does it and not to mention having the British mean to be the ‘Best’ of the year? In one sense, it’s the gratification that the performance(s) have been blessing of the BAFTAs effective on the audience, especially those from a realistic narrative, and the other components (direction, editing, sound, visual effects etc.) have been executed seamlessly. However, it’s a pretty subjective description; you cannot account for taste and one person’s best may be another person’s worst. It can be said however, to be the ‘Best’ of the year pretty much solidifies your stance within the industry (if only till the following awards season). Performance wise, some are richly deserved and a long time coming (another factor which decides who gets the award); Robin Williams’s Oscar for Good Will Hunting was justified. It was a win however that endorsed the ‘comedians don’t win Oscars’ staple, to win an Oscar he had to take on a dramatic role. The Oscars (or any of the five) rarely reward comedy, and they most certainly don’t award horrors. There is a process for this, one I have called ‘The Guaranteed Nomination Formula’: find a dramatic role, cry a little, look ugly, and maybe shed the clothes too (bonus points if you do all this and ground your performance in some sort of health threatening disease – Like more than half of the overall nominees of the 2014/15 awards season did). It’s this formula that has won year on year performances that were so so but had all

48 film and tv

the components that make a ‘winning performance’: this the day after that ceremony so we can’t comment Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side, Anne Hathaway in Les for sure) all for a performance – Still Alice – that won’t be Misérables, Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart, Alan Arkin in Little shown in the UK until March, at the earliest. It is this sort of Miss Sunshine, and even Halle Berry in Monster’s Ball. display that really begs the question; why the hell is awards Then there are those forever nominated but never win. season giving merit to films audiences haven’t even seen? The ultimate snub; Leonardo DiCaprio. You keep doing you, The main negative that can be said about awards Leo and don’t listen to those Academy members who keep season is that there’s too many of them. By time we get to nominating but thinking you’re not worthy. (His performance the ‘most prestigious’ Mr Oscar at the end of the road, we’ve in The Wolf of Wall Street was much more rich and complex had to stop off at the Globes and the SAGs, entertained the than Matthew McConna-talk-too-much in Dallas Buyers Critics, had the approval off of the Producer and Director Club). The old ‘he’s due an Oscar’ spiel is wonderful, until Guilds and not to mention having the British blessing of another 20 years have passed the BAFTAs just before and he’s closer to death than getting to the Oscars. By getting his hands on the Gold. this point; who genuinely But hey, then they’ll give him The old ‘he’s due an Oscar’ cares who’s won? We’ve the Lifetime Achievement already seen duplicated Award. The Miss Congeniality spiel is wonderful, until speeches and winners of any and all awarding for months. And why are bodies.However winning the another 20 years have audience still hooked on the Five doesn’t necessarily mean shows? Because awards are career bolstering, just ask passed and he’s closer to equated with relevance, and Gwyneth Paltrow that. After without the former you’re wining for Shakespeare in Love, death than getting his hands nothing but an actor who Paltrow’s career nosedived used to be on screen once. into the deep end (resurfacing on the Gold. But hey, then Should people care slightly a few years back for about awards shows? Yes. an Emmy winning turn on they’ll give him the Lifetime Honouring achievements is Glee). Winning the Oscar a business old as time, we gold doesn’t always translate Achievement Award. The do it through out school and well into career gold. There is in our professional lives – so no downside really however; Miss Congeniality of any of course the entertainment you’ll always be referred industries will award what to as Oscar winner (insert and all awarding bodies. it is deemed the best. name here) regardless ‘For Your Consideration’ if your career falls flat. are three words you’ll It is pretty transparent who decides who is best. It see most commonly throughout the year, especially isn’t the audience of the films, cause hey, they haven’t even the pre awards season slot of September to January. hit cinemas yet (and probably won’t for a good two to three The conversation will always encompass “Is it Oscar months). It’s the awarding bodies made up of producers, worthy?” because that’s how they relate it to the masses; directors, and actors, the critics, and the money (think they need performances to be in debate and films to be in Harvey Weinstein and his brother) – that’s who decides dispute with each other to create buzz about its components. who is best. It’s this sort of ‘keeping it in the family’ that Frivolity that encompasses the pre-show aside, award caused the utter mayhem after this year’s nominees were shows are brining attention to films and shows to the announced. Not a single performance by a black actor in any masses – and that can’t be a bad thing. (We’ll just ignore of the acting categories (And we shouldn’t even get started on the corporate money exchanging hands, and the same the fact the Academy is predominately white men over 70). people nominated every year. Cough - Meryl Streep - cough.) Take this year for example: Julianne Moore has won the Golden Globe, Critics Choice, Screen Actors Guild and — Aaron Roberts the BAFTA (and no doubt the Oscar but you’ll be reading

49 GENRE IN REVIEW :SCI-FI

Science ction is the most imaginative genre; it evokes anything foreign. All that di ers is their approach. more fear and thought than any other genre. Watching a In classics like Alien (1979) and Independence Day marathon of sci- lms says a lot about how our thinking (1996), aliens typically drain the life out of humans has progressed over the years; about how we imagine the It’s essentially the genre with their extra-terrestrial powers, weapons and size, future and ourselves, and our answers to the big questions. whether it’s a seven-foot alien or droves of 15-mile When dealing with the majority of sci- lms about that encompasses the wide alien ships. Also typical is the human desire to test extraterrestrial life, there is a strong ‘us’ and ‘them’ feel, the aliens and eventually, in true Hollywood fashion, even in children’s lms like E.T. (1982). Filmmakers have these lms’ often have decisive human victories. used the possibility of extraterrestrial life to explore an big guns (literally), the While it is natural to think extra-terrestrial life will be a inherent xenophobia within us - we are scared of what threat, it doesn’t mean they will be. How would we react if aliens we haven’t met but imagine them to be di erent to us. next instalment in our are malnourished and pose little threat? Cynically, District 9 Extraterrestrial life may be as harmless or harmful as (2009) decides that we will exploit the aliens’ weakness, assert we are, or a weapon of extinction, it doesn’t matter. review serial: Sci-Fi our superiority and ruthlessly satisfy our scienti c curiosity; Sci- lmmakers have a general consensus: we will vivisect them in labs and repress them in slums and we will experiment on extraterrestrial life and concentration camps.  is is a horri c reality far beyond Yoda’s assert our authority over our planet when facing principles in Star Wars: e Empire Strikes trilogy: “A Jedi

50 FILM AND TV

uses the Force for knowledge and defence, never for attack”. in the planes of Africa; upright apes, all set for extinction”. Conversely, in the Star Wars franchise there are millions Ex Machina examines the di erence between an of sentient species, humans are merely one of them; they live A.I. mimicking human behaviour and adopting a form mainly in harmony. Interestingly, though not the strongest of consciousness to rival and potentially surpass human nor cleverest species, humans tend to be the most dominant, consciousness. Her (2013) delves into what Ex Machina and the central protagonist of the trilogy, Luke Skywalker is predicts. An A.I., Samantha, evolves to realise that the human indeed human. It begs the question: can we live in harmony body she craved would be nothing but a limitation; she gradually with extraterrestrial life only if humans remain dominant? embraces her capability to expand beyond human capacities. It’s not just extra-terrestrial life that makes sci- Alongside A.I. advancement, lmmakers have been writers’ brains whirr. Sci- addicts, computer scientists and fascinated by the future of human life; they have conjured philosophers have been driven mad for years by potential countless dystopias for humans to overcome. In Sunshine developments in arti cial intelligence (A.I.), begging the (2007) our sun reaches a natural death and in typical fashion question: what does it mean to be human? In S1M0NE an astronaut attempts to revive it. Silent Running (1972) (2002), Al Pacino’s character, Viktor, uses a computer shows us an earth devoid of plants and an astronaut’s mission programme to simulate an actress whose speech and actions to save the remaining plants in space. In Elysium (2013), he controls.  e issue here is not about her consciousness the earth is too polluted, diseased and overcrowded to live but instead, keeping up the pretence to her fans. in and those rich enough live in the aptly named Elysium, More interesting exploration of A.I.s in I, Robot (2004) which our protagonist aims to make inclusive. Children of sees subservient robots act in humans’ best interests. Men (2006) envisage an Earth under totalitarian control,  is lm explores advancements in an A.I. with emotions where humans can no longer reproduce and face extinction. and an urge to keep humans safe from each other above When it comes to dystopian futures, lmmakers seem all else. Yet it all goes back to the ‘us’ and ‘them’ attitude to re ect our own awareness of our exploitation of the Earth’s typical to the genre: humans think advanced robots are nite resources. However, it remains unclear whether they problematic while robots see human interactions as threats. want us to stop taking these resources for granted, or accept Filmmakers are getting increasingly philosophical in that their scarcity is an inevitability. Over the decades, we their depiction of A.I./human interactions, moving past the have created technologies we rely on, from aeroplanes and ‘us’ and ‘them’ attitude. A decade later, in Ex Machina (2014) the vacuum cleaners to fridges and the internet. We get excited concept of A.I.s advancing past humans is not confronted but at the idea of something new to combat our current woes, be accepted; A.I. creator, Nathan speculates, “One day the A.I.s it eradicating diseases or a form of ultra fast transport. It’s will look back on us the same way we look at fossil skeletons no wonder a large proportion of sci- tackles technological advancements and its various e ects on human life.  e ability to access our hidden mental abilities has occupied the plots of many lms in the sci- genre. Limitless When it comes to (2011) and Lucy (2014) wouldn’t be sci- thrillers without the race to overcome disastrous side e ects. On another level of scienti c advancement, in Never Let Me Go (2010) human dystopian futures, disease is history but only because clones have been bred to donate organs and die young. Similarly dark, in Black Mirror: White Christmas (2014), Z-eye implants mean internet access filmmakers seem and the ability to ‘block’ someone in real life using just your eyes, and with a simple surgery, your consciousness can be replicated and placed in a portable ‘cookie’. to reflect our own  e potential of all this technology raises questions sci- has repeatedly confronted over the years. Is technology making our lives simpler or bringing unnecessary awareness of our complications? Is it ever morally justi able to make cloned A.I.s for the purpose of serving humans? Is it any less cruel to breed organ-donating clones in social communities exploitation of (Never Let Me Go) than clones doomed to forever make toast in solitude (Black Mirror: White Christmas)? When an A.I. has consciousness, is it morally equivalent to a human? the Earth’s finite As well as providing entertainment, sci- allows us to speculate the pros and cons of non-existent resources technology to morally and legally prepare us for the future. —Asal Golshaie

51 “We are sending you our warning again. Do carry potential to provide a shrewd and witty satirical out our demand if you want to escape us. And, stop commentary on world issues is reduced to the level immediately showing the movie of terrorism which of generic vulgarity that quickly and inevitably can break the regional peace and cause the War!” becomes tiring to anyone who has a maturity level This is part of a statement released by above that of a teenage boy. The cause of worldwide Guardians of Peace - the group reportedly behind indignation at the cancellation of The Interview the Sony hacking scandal that crippled its computer was not anything to do with the film itself, but systems worldwide and caused a huge amount rather the submissive message that it sent to of sensitive data, such as the salaries of major potential terrorists across the world - that major Hollywood stars such as Rebel Wilson and Sylvester global corporations will bow down to the requests Stallone to be released into the public domain. of renegade individuals given enough pressure The motivation for this drastic cyber-attack? The and the implications this would have for creative release of The Interview, the comic conception freedom. Celebrities such as Steve Carell, whose of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg that sees an film Pyongyang, a thriller also set in North Korea, airhead infotainment show host and his long- was pulled in the same week, tweeted that Sony’s suffering producer travel to North Korea in order to decision marked ‘a sad day for creative expression’, interview, and covertly assassinate, the republic’s whilst director Gore Verbinski wrote ‘I find it supreme leader, Kim Jong Un. The producers of the ironic that fear is eliminating the possibility to tell film clearly intended to mock negative aspects of stories that depict our ability to overcome fear.’ North Korean culture, such as the idolatry of their In the wake of recent events such as the Charlie leader as a God despite his apparent disinterest in Hebdo shooting and the protests in support of free the wellbeing of his people. The Sony hackers were expression that followed, it has become clearer unable to acknowledge the obvious satire and instead than ever that creative freedom is a notion that identified The Interview as ‘a movie of terrorism’ - people across the world are fiercely keen to protect. an attack upon the peace between East and West. The fact that Charlie Hebdo and The Interview came With their systems severely debilitated, under attack calls into question where the boundary Sony was reportedly reduced to using pens, paper is between satire and blatant insult. Whilst The and fax machines to communicate. American Interview mocked an albeit supremely powerful cinemas began to pull out of showing the film individual, Charlie Hebdo often published cartoons as hackers threatened to attack those venues mocking the Prophet Mohammed alongside the who chose to do so, calling for cinema goers to figureheads of other world religions, making it the ‘Remember the 11th of September 2001.’ On irresponsibility to call out the supposed hypocrisy of Wednesday 17th December 2014, in a move that religion through the lens of secularist satire. It has caused outcry across America, Sony announced recently been argued that the boundary between that they had cancelled the theatrical release and satire and racism is crossed when mockery comes to had ‘no further release plans’ for The Interview. stigmatise and make unfair generalisations about Having watched the film several times, I can a group of people. It is widely accepted however, categorically state that this film is not worth the that retaliation, whether physically violent or controversy that it stirred up. As Scott Foundas of technologically damaging will only serve to further Variety noted, the film ‘won’t bring global diplomacy destroy the precarious civility between groups with to its knees, but should feel like a kind of terror such differing views on the freedom of expression. attack to any audience with a limited tolerance for anal penetration jokes.’ A premise that had the

In the wake of attacks on free expression that have shocked the West, Quench Film and TV investigate the implications of creative freedom on the film industry.

Fear vs Do Cyber-Threats Signal the End of Creative Freedom Expression?

52 FILM AND TV

Th e Interview

After President Obama announced in a press fi lm industry and the media in general has in its conference that he believed Sony had made ability to infl uence our perception of the people ‘I find it ironic a mistake by not releasing Th e Interview, the it features through the way they are portrayed. corporation swiftly performed a u-turn, declaring Th e invention of the Internet and the that cinema-goers would be able to watch the fi lm technological advances that have followed swiftly in theatres that chose to show it. It was argued by ever since allow us to connect with people on a that fear is many including the President himself that Sony’s global scale, allowing us to disregard the limits of actions that week constituted setting a dangerous distance and supposedly break down boundaries precedent of how they and other multi-national that existed previously to explore a new realm of corporations would react to the almost inevitable creative freedom. Th is freedom is power, and to eliminating cyber-attacks of the future. quote Voltaire (and Spiderman) ‘with great power Time will tell whether the events of this comes great responsibility’. If there is anything winter will lead to creative self-censoring, so as not that recent events can teach us, it is that freedom to off end the sensibilities of those, in the words of expression is a concept that people across the possibility of Obama, ‘whose sensibilities probably need to the world value extremely highly, the supposed be off ended’. Perhaps the attack on Sony will spur misuse of which can be catastrophic. We can directors on to push the limits of their creative only hope for a positive outcome of the recent freedom further than ever before, perhaps straying threats, a renaissance for creative expression, to tell stories over the boundary of culturally acceptable limits in pushing the fi lm industry to stretch the physical terms of international relations. One such fi m that and narrative limits of fi lm-making more than has recently stirred up controversy is awards season ever before. Used responsibly, creativity has favourite, American Sniper, a biographical war drama the power to connect people regardless of race, that depict that documents the personal and professional life of gender and religion and the positive potential of Chris Kyle, the deadliest marksman in U.S. military this is something that should never be forgotten. history. Th ough it has widely been received with critical acclaim and is director Clint Eastwood’s —Emily Giblett our ability to most successful fi lm to date, the picture has been attacked by many academics for idolising a man reported to have killed over 200 people. A montage of hate-fi lled tweets towards the citizens of Iraq by overcome fear’ users who had watched American Sniper later went viral, serving to illustrate the huge power that the

53 G OING evolution of LGBT+ MAINSTREAM characters

With an abundance of critically acclaimed shows and fi lms; we celebrate lGBt history month by marking the evolution of lGBt characters from the margins, into the heart of this industry’s output.

54 film and tv

Flashback thirty years and the world of film and TV looked to homosexuality than there was a few years previous. awareness, hoping to see many other actresses like her very different to how it does today. Heteronormativity TV shows such as the UK Bad Girls and Queer As brought into the spotlight. 2013’s Oscar nominated was so ingrained into every narrative and every character Folk, and the ever-popular US sitcoms Will & Grace and film Dallas Buyers Club also featured a transwoman on every show that even the suggestion of homosexuality Friends all displayed openly gay and lesbian couples before character, Rayon, which although very appreciated to see was frowned upon. Looking at the state of film and TV the millennium hit, but these representations were only a transgender character in a motion picture, I personally today, however, I’m ecstatic to see that it clearly tells a portrayed as an underdeveloped plot or an aside to another believe that this role should have gone to a transgender different story. Mainstream triumphs such as Brokeback narrative. Though it seemed that representations were actor such as Cox, not a cisgender man like Jared Leto. Mountain and Buffy the Vampire Slayer all contained non- getting better, stigma regarding anything other than the Homosexuality is now commonplace in mainstream hetero elements that have slowly but surely brought heterosexuality were ever present, and the notion of mixed television, with main characters in shows such as Modern LGBT representation to the forefront of modern gender pairings still reigned as the norm. The representation Family, Pretty Little Liars, and Glee displaying both lesbian society, but the question is, just how has it evolved? of homosexuality was present, but there were no indications and gay sexualities. More and more shows are including It could be said that 1997 was a pivotal moment of this as a norm or even a hint of bisexuality or transgender. LGBT themes aimed at younger teen audiences, such as The for the gay and lesbian community; when the first New Normal, and the brand new Channel 4 drama series’ major moment of non-hetero representation occurred Cucumber, Banana and Tofu; showing how even a small in mainstream television. Comedian Ellen DeGeneres, representation of sexuality can lead to better awareness now known most famously in the UK for voicing Dory in “Yes, some people are amongst the mainstream. Though some of the characters Finding Nemo, not only came out to the public as a lesbian, are slightly stereotypical, they are also seen to be fighting but outed the main character of her self-titled sitcom as gay. Some people are bi. inequality at the same time, highlighting underlying well. Seen at the time by critics and the LGBT community messages of acceptance throughout mainstream television. as revolutionary, Ellen also inspired many others to feel Some people are Latina, Motion pictures are slightly holding back with their comfortable about whom they were no matter their representations, only using homosexual characters as plot sexuality. Unfortunately this lead to many advertisers are black, are transgender, points to further a narrative in films such as I Love You pulling out of the show, citing the theme it was taking Philip Morris, The Imitation Game and A Single Man. Whereas as ‘unnatural’, and the sitcom was cancelled one season are white… Get over it and mainstream indie successes The Kids are Alright and Blue is later. Fast forward to today however, and Ellen not only the Warmest Colour displayed an LGBT representation as has her own exceedingly popular chat show broadcasted accept each other!” something completely new: normal. It could be said that every weekday which has also won over 30 Daytime television shows are more situated and real life based, Emmy Awards, but DeGeneres also presented the Oscars but a larger representation of LGBT community would be last year to critical acclaim (a repeat performance of her Enter in Orange is the New Black over a decade later. appreciated on the big screen as well as the small one, and much acclaimed hosting of the 2004 Oscars). It’s clear This ground breaking and incredibly popular (streamed) the bisexual and transgender community should be just that the decision to bring the sexuality of the character television show features homosexuality, bisexuality, as recognised in the mainstream media in all platforms. in DeGeneres’ 90’s sitcom was the trigger that started the transgender and racial diversity, which, rather than a plot It’s clear to see the representation of the LGBT ball rolling for LGBT representation. The Ellen DeGeneres point, just happens to be attributes of the characters, community in the mainstream media has clearly evolved Show is one of the most popular shows on daytime TV, sending a message to the masses of “Yes, some people into a much more diverse spectacle than ever seen showing that sexuality in general is not as much of a factor are gay. Some people are bi. Some people are Latina, are before, but it is also apparent that heterosexuality is that it was in 1997. This year, Ellen is being succeeded black, are transgender, are white…Get over it and accept still the dominant sexuality in all media narratives, at the Academy Awards by openly gay actor Neil Patrick each other!”. This refreshing portrayal has led many people meaning that there is still much work to do before Harris, another American national treasure valued for his to see and accept the diversity of people, regardless of equality is achieved in both film and television. entertainment and personality, rather than his sexuality, our own personal beliefs or attributes. It is hard to say showing again that celebrities are now mostly valued on how much OITNB has done for LGBT evolution, but this talent rather than sexual orientation. Both Harris and one specific show has done more than any other before — Em Gates DeGeneres are now part of power couples that the American it. Transgender actress Laverne Cox who has gained audience adore, showing a completely different approach fame through the show now campaigns for transgender

55 Quench Food Evening: LA’SHISH Continuing our journey of food discovery around Cardiff, we head to La’Shish for this month’s Quench Food Evening. Promising a taste of the Middle East right in the heart of City Road, La’Shish’s open-grill style restaurant boasted a large menu ranging from mezze-style dishes and grilled steak platters. The restaurant was bustling, busy with chattering friends and fragrant with enticing smells of the spicy feast we were about to experience. With lantern-clad walls and the open grill on display, we were intrigued to see whether the food would justifying the authentic atmosphere created here. Here’s what we thought of La’Shish:

“New to Quench, I was the rst to arrive to the food evening at La’Shish Grill House, fortunately giving me extra time to look through the huge menu on o er. Whilst waiting I enjoyed a fresh fruity cocktail; watermelon, mango and pineapple, a delicious and refreshing mix. After much uncertainty regarding my main course, I eventually decided to share a platter consisting of lamb and chicken shish, kufta and shawerma, served with rice, salad, naan bread and, surprisingly, chips.  e portion size certainly didn’t disappoint and meant there was even enough to take home, however the food itself varied in quality. Whilst the strips of chicken and lamb appeared well cooked with a slight spice to the mouth, it remained considerably bland. Although the sour cream dip nely complemented the heat, it almost needed another ‘kick’ in order for it to be fully  avoursome. As for the rest, the naan bread was fresh from the oven and the creamy rice was delicate on the tongue, creating a well balanced platter.  e salty olives in the mixed-leaf salad nished the dish o well, however, the portion of chips were left untouched and seemed to be a strange addition to the menu as a whole. Overall, La’Shish serves tasty food and creates a friendly atmosphere whilst remaining good value for money.”

– Daisy Lane Photo by Vicky Chandler

56 FOOD AND DRINK

“I was excited to see what La Shish had to o er after  e dish was also very meat heavy, lacking in onions looking at the extensive menu. From mezze-style and peppers, something I think the dish would have dishes to grilled meat platters, it seemed La Shish had bene tted from in order to add a range of  avours something for everyone. and textures. Opting for the hummus starter proved a good Whilst the restaurant delivered in terms of choice, served with warm naan style bread that had atmosphere, the food left a fair bit to be desired. On the perfect crisp to accompany the smooth houmous. re ection, choosing a range of mezze dishes may have I went for the chicken fajita main, expecting a wealth been tastier, more authentic and an overall better of spices with soft tender chicken. I was however choice.” left slightly disappointed as the meat failed to lack any sort of spice and wasalso cold in temperature. – Emma Giles

“A busy restaurant is normally a great indicator for the “La Shish looked promising with a glance at the menu, but unfortunately the food did not live up to my food coming your expectations. I ordered the Lamb Shawerma and the lamb was cold and a bit fatty.  e rice on the other hand way, and entering was quite  avoursome and maybe the meal would have been nicer if I had ordered the chicken.” La’Shish on a – Emily Lowery blustery Monday evening the City Vicky by Chandler Photo’s Road eatery was bustling.”

“A busy restaurant is normally a great indicator for a short wait the food was on the table and with an the food coming your way, and entering La Shish on assortment of di erent shaped and sized dishes, I a blustery Monday evening the City Road eatery was couldn’t wait to get stuck in. First up was the spicy bustling. With an array of vibrant, exciting sights and chicken cooked with peppers and beans. Bursting smells I thought this was going to be a winner. with  avour the rich sauce was delicious, the only Admittedly catering for a large group of shame was that the bread it was promised to arrive hungry students is a big ask, however the service with never reached the table.  e halloumi and olive at La Shish was a little more rushed and  ustered salad I’d ordered with it couldn’t really live up to the than previous Quench Food Evenings with similar bread’s carby soaking abilities, but served its purpose numbers. Once we’d all managed to nd a seat (this as a refreshing side salad with a salty punch. My nal did take a good while) and had a chance to consider o ering was deep-fried vegetable parcels served with how to satisfy our rumbling tums, the menu suddenly a spicy sauce. Resembling a frozen spring roll, these seemed extremely daunting. With a huge number of were unfortunately disappointing, the lack of spicy dishes to choose from, this is a great place for people sauce adding to the dissatisfaction. who love variety and are familiar with Middle Eastern All in all the food served at La’Shish was good food. However, for those not as clued up, it is a little value for the hearty portions reaching the table.  e hard to distinguish one dish from another. dishes had real potential but a few minor mistakes, Not one to let something as petty as language probably owing to our large party size, let down the barriers stop me, I went for a selection of mezze whole experience.” dishes so I could get a real taste for the food. After – Kathryn Lewis Photo’s by Emily by LoweryPhoto’s 57 We wanted to jump on the food photography bandwagon and see how easy it is to take Food as art beautiful pictures of what we are eating. So with the help of Zenn Wong behind the camera, here’s the results of the first ever Quench Food photo shoot.

Zenn Wong Food and drink

Kathryn Lewis takes a look at how our plates are becoming frames for our artistic foodie conquests.

There was a time when food solely served a nutritional purpose; food equalled calories, calories equalled energy and that was it. Yet now, in our land of plenty, food can be indulgent, food can be fashionable and now it appears in many ways that food can be art. Just take a look at Instagram. The photo sharing platform is saturated with pictures of food. From images of restaurant dishes to our own kitchen conquests, we’re sharing what we eat with the social world and doing so in an ever more artistic manner. It’s not simply a question of selecting the correct filter, it’s the perfect angle, light and placement of the items; everything is considered in order to produce the most attractive framing of the meal. Cutlery, plates and table settings also come into the equation. With tableware styles coming in and out of fashion as quickly as clothes these days, what it’s being served on and around appears to be as important as the food itself. Our obsession with documenting our food indulgences on social media in ever more imaginative ways is no doubt inspired by the expanding food photography industry. Pick up any cookbook and the first thing you’ll be drawn to are the large, colourful pictures accompanying the recipes. The same holds true for food and drink magazines, consumed with more and more pictures and fewer words. Take something like Bon Appetite Magazine for instance; at first glance you could be flicking through a photography magazine, but, dotted between the pictures, are recipes and articles. However, with strikingly beautiful images, these pictures definitely have place, even if we just want to pick up the magazines to dribble over them. But. how is our new found perspective of food as an artistic form actually affecting our eating habits? Yes, we may all be eating our meals a little cooler due to the time taken to picture it in the perfect light, but that’s our own fault. What we should really be questioning is whether our dining-out experiences are changing. Omitting the days gone by when mum cut sandwiches into exciting shapes, the creative presentation of food really started in fine dining restaurants. With a pea foam here, a bed of rocket there and a de-constructed apple pie to follow; although these fancy terms may seem alluring, when presentation is key it can often mean style over substance. Do we really want or need all these extras on our plates? Garnishing our meat with micro herbs and decorating our cakes with flowers may look great, but sometimes these little additions can leave a sour taste, especially when selected purely for aesthetics. There are still a great deal of venues in Cardiff which excel in presentation and still come up trumps when the quality is considered. With The Potted Pig, The Clink and Bully’s Restaurant to name a few. Therefore, food as art shouldn’t be viewed as a negative concept. Okay, some may say it’s pretentious, a meal will taste the same in whatever form it reaches the table but why not make food beautiful if it’s not going to be at the taste’s expense? We really do eat with our eyes, and the more attractive a meal looks, the more appealing it will be to eat. Living in such an image obsessed world, it was only a matter of time before it caught up with the basic necessities. Unlike our bodies, however, food doesn’t have feelings, so why not give it a bit of a nip here and a tuck there to make it pretty?

Zenn Wong 59 vegetable cakes

e cake makeover: vegetable cakes

Cake; that one little word that instantly brings joy. After all, who doesn’t get excited at the prospect of cake? And when I say cake, I’m sure you’re all envisaging a chocolate coated, multi-layer, icing lathered cake. So what if I said vegetable cake? Yes, pretty daunting right? Why on earth would you mix vegetables with cake when cake is already perfect as is it is? e answer to that is that frankly, vegetable cakes and desserts can be surprisingly delicious. Just think of the carrot cake. When  rst created I’m sure it seemed ludicrous, yet we all know how great a chunky slice of carrot cake can be. With lots of di erent vegetable-based cake recipes circulating online and within cookery books, it’s hard not to be at least a little bit intrigued as to how they may taste. With popular recipes including courgette, beetroot and even avocado within our favourite sweet treats, people are getting more and more experimental with ingredients and  avours. Anyway, what better way to make yourself feel better about eating masses of cake than convincing yourself that a vegetable cake de nitely counts as one of your 5-a-day? So if you’re a keen baker, or just like cake, these recipes can o er something a little di erent which may just surprise you. If you’re reading this thinking that it’s still completely ludicrous, I dare you to try these avocado brownies:

Avocado Brownies Recipe

Makes 8-10

Ingredients: • 1 large ripe avocado • 425g light brown sugar • 50g cocoa powder • 100g unsalted butter • 2 eggs • 1 tsp of vanilla extract • 1 tsp salt • 70g plain fl our • 100g plain chocolate chips

Method:

1. First, preheat the oven to 170 degrees and line a large baking dish with butter. 2. Remove the skin and the stone from the avocado and put the fl esh into a large bowl. Mash the  esh with the back of a fork until it forms a smooth paste. Once smooth add in the sugar and cocoa powder and stir until mixed, it should form quite a thick gloopy mixture. 3. Next, melt the butter in the microwave and allow to cool slightly for a minute or so. en, add the butter to the cocoa mixture and mix thoroughly. 4. Crack the two eggs and add them to the bowl along with the vanilla extract and salt, once combined add the  our and the chocolate chips. 5. Transfer the mixture into the lined baking dish and cook for about 40 minutes. To check that the brownie has cooked through, place a knife through the centre. If it comes back clean it’s ready.

60 food and drink The Cardiff Guide to Burgers

Uni Pulled THE FACE 11 Gourmet Burger - Pork-Bun GRAZING - CHEESE burger 1 Got Beef 2 - cOSY 3 SHED - 4 BURGER 5 kitchen cLUB FRISKING - the taxi Doubts were high when this Located in the centre of the quirky combination was first CHICKEN student hub that is Cathays driver spotted on Got Beef’s menu: If you’re looking for the Terrace, there lies a hidden a 6oz. beef burger topped ultimate comfort food, the This little gem hidden away gem that is the Face 11 1/2lb With a vast array of burgers with crispy calamari, could pulled pork burger at the Cosy on the corner of Barrack Cheese Burger. Presented on on the menu, Gourmet Burger seafood and beef actually Club is the burger for you. Lane will get your taste buds a wooden cutting board, it is Kitchen is one for the best work outside the much loved Sweet, melt in the mouth eight tingling; for there is nothing a burger which immediately burger experts out there. If anomaly that is the surf hour slow-cooked pork is piled better than the chargrilled ignites your inner need to you’re looking for a spicy twist and turf? Hell yeah it can. generously into a brioche bun piece of chicken layered with Instagram. But, not only is it on the classic beef burger, The thick patty made from and lathered with cheddar thick bacon, spicy avocado presented in a way that would GBK’s Taxi Driver is definitely 100% Welsh beef was suitably cheese, sour cream and mash and ‘The Grazing Shed’s’ make you salivate on the one to try. The jam-packed blushed in the centre and sweetcorn relish. The saltiness trademark ‘boom boom’ mayo, spot, it tastes amazing. The burger is not one that can oozed with flavoursome of the cheese blends perfectly on a bed of peppery rocket. cheese is melted within the be eaten graciously as it is juices. On top lay two crispy with the hint of spice from the Served in the classic American half-pound of beef mince so piled high with an interesting calamari rings, packing a relish and the sour cream adds style basket in a sesame seeded with every bite, you taste the combination of Cajun relish, perfect crunch to accompany a creamy coolness to the fiery bun, the portion is more gorgeous mixture of melted smoked chilli mayo, dill the subtle flavours of Chinese BBQ sauce that clings to the than generous at £8.50. To cheese and succulent beef. It pickle, American cheese, salad five spice that manage to carry delicate pork. Situated on the make it a meal complete with is also available at a student and a crispy onion ring. It just the right amount of heat Hayes in Cardiff City Centre, fries and bottomless drinks friendly price of £8.50 (served may seem intimidating but to make things interesting. The Cosy Club is in easy reach is just £3 extra; a welcome with ‘farmhouse’ chips and the smokiness of the mayo Before the sweet hit of for any over-worked student surprise is their quirky drinks garnish on the side) so you partnered with the juicy beef the brioche bun, the Asian hungry for comfort and choices of root beer, cloudy won’t be breaking the bank patty is delicious. At £9.80, slaw teeming with cooling ultimate burger satisfaction. lemonade, elderflower presse with your indulgence. It is the burger is suitably priced edamame beans came next, Accompanied by a house and ginger beer. This burger definitely worth checking out considering the sheer amount adding a welcomed balance to salad and skin-on fries, this is a far cry from the sloppy this restaurant and treating of food you get. The crispy the spiced meats and seafood pulled-pork burger is not for McDonald’s chicken sandwich yourself to this burger. onion ring is a nice little but also an exciting contrast those with a small appetite. At that many of us flock to at addition, promising a bit of of textures. And of course, £9.75 the portion is plenty big 3am on Queen Street; it’s — Emily Lowery crunch alongside the range the burger was rounded off enough to get your money’s bursting with flavour, with of sauces, relish and cheese. with a beautifully soft bun, worth, and it is safe to say quality cuts of locally sourced All nestled in one soft brioche encasing the intriguing array that you will probably leave Welsh meat that melts into bun, the Taxi Driver is burger of ingredients. With a big old with the top button of your the soft avocado and garlic mastery and definitely one to bowl of seasoned sweet potato jeans undone; feeling at least mayonnaise. This is a proper get your teeth into; that’s if fries on the side, this meal is half a stone heavier than burger, and one that you you think you can handle it. more than worthy of the title when you entered. For burger won’t forget in a hurry! of King of Burgers in the lovers, though, this food baby — Emma Giles ‘diff. Move over surf and turf, is definitely worth it. — Emily Jones there’s a new ruler in town. — Emily Jones — Kathryn Lewis

61 “ e fruit and vegetables on display at the greengrocers may look a little less bu ed and perfected than the shiny sprayed apples from the Tesco, but the taste is certainly fresher and the price di erence is a happy coincidence.”

Buy Local, Buy Better? Imogen Byers investigates how easy it really is to revolt against the supermarkets by eating local produce and supporting independent food retailers in Cardi . 62 FOOD AND DRINK

When picturing student dinners, the idea of endless So as far as fresh fruit and vegetables are but look a little closer and you will  nd more cafes plates of beans on toast, frozen pizza and pre-made concerned, there really isn’t much of an excuse once providing a di erent range of goodies, often with pasta sauces are often the  rst images to come you know where to  nd them. Buying meat as a fresher ingredients and a more personal touch. to mind.  e bulk of this food stash quite likely student, however, can be a bit of a risk. How much City and Crwys Road for those who are situated hoarded from the cheaper chain superstores such as are we willing to trust the sources of the basic, cheap in Cathays hold a great deal of these independent ‘Iceland’ and ‘LIDL’, simply due to the lower prices cuts of meat? Any animal produce that you can be eateries, often at much cheaper prices than their big and convenience. sure will be safe even before the cooking process business competitors, giving you the opportunity to However, among the budding student cooks even begins is more expensive than organic produce try something new every time!  e tea-freaks among who care a little more about the origin and freshness so it is always a good idea to ensure you are able to us will be happy to know that generally, in these of their food, are those who dare enter the seemingly get the freshest meat for the best price. As well as indie cafes, the range of teas is far more exciting and hidden world of local produce.  roughout Cardi the stalls in the central market, there are also a few varied than the average co ee shop. It is often in there are independent retailers selling all types of these types of places that you  nd a love for a new food from the surrounding area, striving to provide  avour of tea or cake (courgette and beetroot cake, organic  avours and a fresher taste. For those who “Look a little closer anyone?) so venturing out is a great idea for anyone have not yet ventured into the unknown, Cardi willing to broaden their culinary horizons. has a wide range of places where you can buy locally- and you will fi nd sourced fruit, vegetables and meat as well as a great range of independent restaurants and cafes where more indie cafes you can support the local community without spending a fortune! providing a diff erent Photography by  e biggest honeypot of local produce in Cardi , available within the student budget, is the range of goodies, Central Market located just o St. Mary’s Street.

 e market makes itself easily accessible with long Pethybridge Emma opening hours (8:30am-5pm every day of the week often with fresher except Sunday) so there really is no excuse not to give it a try however heavy your timetable may be. ingredients and  ere’s a massive range of stalls to explore, with six separate butchers alone to choose from. With a more personal similar numbers of fruit and veg merchants, cheese delicatessens and sweeter goodies, there is no lack touch” of variety or choice. Plus for the cheekier chappies among us there’s the chance to try out their best independently run butchers dotted around Cardi bargaining skills. which sell meats reared in nearby farms with many For those without the time to regularly of the butchers being able to tell you exactly which venture into town (no doubt, one of the downfalls farm it was sourced from. A good idea for those of such fresh food is its limited shelf-life) there may students trying to save a few pennies is to make be other options to support the local community visits to these butchers just before closing time in closer to home.  e ‘Market Garden’ is a small order to get the meat which hasn’t sold that day for greengrocers located slap bang in the middle of bargain prices. Another advantage of visiting these Albany Road, interestingly positioned right next to friendlier stores is the personal service and advice the our old friend Tesco Metro, a guilty dependence for butchers provide about cooking techniques, storage many of us.  e fruit and vegetables on display at and timings which may be useful to the novice chefs the greengrocers may look a little less bu ed and or those simply wanting to try something di erent. It isn’t hard to see that with the appropriate perfected than the shiny sprayed apples from the For the many students under stricter time planning and preparation, you can increase your Tesco, but the taste is certainly fresher and the price constraints or the just plain lazy, you will be pleased community support by buying from local producers di erence is a happy coincidence. Another bene t of to hear that you can still support the Cardi and dining out at local eateries. Who knows what these open markets is the friendly customer service community by simply eating out at the independent you might discover deep within Cardi ’s realms? that the greengrocers always provide.  e owners cafes and restaurants. How often is it that we  nd After all, for those of us who are living away from often strive to pick out the most attractive selection ourselves nipping to Costa or Cafe Nero to grab home, you might as well make the most of what for the best price which is a nice comparison to that daily pick-me-up? Sure, popular chains such Cardi has to o er while you can! token mouldy satsuma you’re destined to  nd at the as Subway and Starbucks have cleverly located Imogen Byers bottom of a value pack of supermarket fruit. themselves within easy reach of Cardi students 63