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V AUGHAN I DENTITY JAN窶認EB 2015 ISSUE
NOUS - SOMMES - CHARLIE JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2015, ISSUE 4
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V AUGHAN I DENTITY J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 5 A BRIEF INTRODUCTION 3 EDITORIAL WORLD REPORTING 4-8 GEORGE WHEAR - JE SUIS CHARLIE ROBEL DURUB - BOKO HARAM JACK FRANCO - SHOOTING TARGETS TOM McGRATH - EUROPEAN UNION JOE LORENZO - CAMERON GOES GREEN THE CRITICS: ON THE SCREEN(S) 9-11 JOSEPH MELLY - BIRDMAN OSCAR LIONETTI - OSCAR’S OSCARS BEPPE LORENZO - BOYHOOD THE CRITICS: GAMES 12-13 HENRY MATTAR - BORDERLANDS: The Pre Sequel PHOENIX GUWA - ASSASSIN’S CREED: UNITY INDEPENDENT ARTICLES 14 JOSEPH STEWART - FOOTBALL HOOLIGANISM FASHION 15 KERUBEL SHOA- KERUBEL’S KICKS TECH TALK 16-17 FILIPPO GALDIOLO - WIRELESS CHARGING FRANKIE DE SOUZA - ONE PLUS ONE SPORT 18-19 TOM McGRATH - BERNIE AND VLAD: BFFs ROWAN CALDWELL - QATAR WORLD CUP COMIC 20-21 PETER STRZALEK—STANECKI - WORLD’S EDGE COVER SAM LEAHY - “Erasing the Past and Writing the Future”
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We can’t love you, but we will serve you. Vaughan Identity: the finest newspaper your form tutor will ever give you. JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2015, ISSUE 4
JEAN FRANCO 4SS is the co editor at The Vaughan Identity . Jean has contributed to “CVMS Today” and “The Vaughan Identity” since 2011. 11francoje@cvms.co.uk JACK FRANCO 4NC is the co editor of the newspaper. Jack has been writing for Lower School newspapers as the Politics writer for 3 years. 11francoja@cvms.co.uk TOM McGRATH 4NC is a sub editor at the Lower School newspaper. Having joined this year, he is now a mainstay feature as The Vaughan Identity’s politics writer. GEORGE WHEAR 4NC is a sub editor. A specialist in independent articles and sport, he too is a regular writer this year. FILIPPO GALDIOLO 4NC is the Chief Technology writer. He has often written about upcoming new technologies, from cars to drones. JOSEPH STEWART 4SS is the Politics correspondent for the newspaper. Joe has also previously contributed as a sub editor. BEDE JOLY 4SS is a sub editor. Bede is also the main Culture & Arts correspondent for The Vaughan Identity. SAM LEAHY 4NC is the cover artist for The Vaughan Identity. He started in the September 2014 Issue, designing the Scottish Referendum front page. THE VAUGHAN IDENTITY CONTACT: TheVaughanIdentityOfficial@gmail.com SEND ALL SUBMISSIONS TO THIS EMAIL
EDITORIAL - JACK & JEAN FRANCO
tion. Although we take our education for granted, we must not let this great fortune out of our sights. The French-Algerian writer Albert Those in Pakistan, France and NiCamus once said ‘There are causes geria all gave their tomorrow so worth dying for but none worth killing that we could live our today. This for’. Issue is dedicated to them. As the international community On a lighter note, For Issue 4 of starts to emerge bruised and bat- TVI, we’ve prepared a solid Cultered from a rough patch, this ture and Arts section for those could not be more true. After the who prefer that to commentaries Charlie Hebdo attacks, the Boko on politics (we see you…). Our Haram massacre and the barbaric gaming section has had a revamp assault on a school – much like the with now 2 full length articles on Vaughan - in Pakistan. In all these the best (and worst) gaming reattacks, scores of people died for a leases we’ve seen so far. As usual, cause that was worth dying for: our sports page is ever present, Freedom of Expression and Educa3
but now with a particular focus on Sporting Scandals. We hope that this issue gets you off to good start in 2015. Please come to the library on any Thursday Form period if you would like to contribute, or contact Mr Garfath and Jack & Jean Franco (email above).
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2015, ISSUE 4
Consider this… BOKO HARAM CONTINUE BLOODY CAMPAIGN ROBEL DURUB Consider this:
2014. In September 2010, they conducted a prison break after having regrouped under their new leader, and broke 105 of its members out of prison in Maiduguri along with over 600 other prisoners and went on to launch attacks in several areas of northern Nigeria.
Two Islamic terrorists attacked the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and shoppers in a Paris supermarket, killing 17 people, igniting international uproar and support. The hashtag #JeSuisCharlie trended globally. Even world leaders took to the street to participate in The Baga massacre consisted of a number of attacks on the marches. the Nigerian village of Baga. It is said to have started on rd In northern Nigeria an army of Islamic extremists de- the 3th of January. The relentless onslaught stopped on stroyed the village of Baga, killing as many as 2,000 the 7 of January. people – mostly women and children who were unable to flee the attacks. Later in the week they strapped explosives to the body of a 10-year-old girl and sent her into Maiduguri’s main poultry market. The bomb detonated and killed at least 19 innocent people. Have there been any trendy hashtag campaigns for these victims? No.These disgusting extremists are called Boko Haram. It was founded and led by Mohammed Yusuf, but he ended being killed by Nigerian security forces in 2009. It is now lead by Abubakar Shekau, who applauded the Charlie Hebdo killings on video. Boko Haram means, “western education is forbidden.” I doubt it would be a fan of the Vaughan.
I openly criticize the international media for a lack of coverage of the massacre. However, I do take into account that Paris is a highly connected global city with thousands of working journalists, while Baga is isolated, difficult and dangerous to reach.
Does that excuse the fact that no one reading this artiThe Baga massacre is not the first atrocity Boko Haram cle knows the name of a single victim of Boko Haram? has committed. Since 2009 Boko Haram have abducted Does that excuse the fact that Nigeria’s president GoodLuck Jonathon has condemned the French attacks but hasn’t mentioned the slaughter in his own country? Does that excuse the fact that a study we conducted in April 2014 suggests that media outlets publish three to 10 times as many stories about France than about Nigeria? more than 500 men, women and children, including the kidnapping of 276 school girls from Chibok in April No. It does not. 4
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Je suis Charlie THE PARIS ATTACKS EXPLAINED GEORGE WHEAR This month France is emerging from its most tragic ter- Said Kouachi was hit in the neck. Following the shootout a high speed car chase ensued as the police rorist attack in decades. Its target was the satirical chased the brothers towards Paris. The pursuit culmiweekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo. nated in the brothers seeking refuge in the print works The reason for this attack was a cartoon of the Prophet in Dammartin-en-Goele. The manhunt drew to a close on the Friday as the Charlie Hebdo attackers were surMuhammad, published by Charlie Hebdo, which the rounded by hundreds of officers as well as elite forces, Islamic extremists found offensive. The murder of 18 innocent people was completely wrong and should in no snipers and helicopters. Any hope of the brothers escaping was non-existent. The pair emerged from the buildway shape or form be justified. Furthermore, the fact ing firing at the police. Both were killed but two officthat the issue arose from a satirical cartoon makes this ers were injured. act even more barbaric. On 7th January 2015, two masked gunmen, Cherif and Said Kouachi, burst into the Charlie Hebdo offices shooting the caretaker Frederic Boisseau on the way, he was the first of 18 to die. Once inside, the gunmen forced one cartoonist, Corinne Rey, to enter the keypad code for entry to the newsroom. After entry Franck
Meanwhile, in Paris, another separate attack was underway. While the Charlie Hebdo attackers were surrounded at the print works, a gunman held several people hostage in a kosher supermarket in Paris. Minutes later, police had surrounded the building. Coulibaly, who had been identified as the hostage-taker, threatened to kill the hostages unless the Kouachi brothers were allowed to go free. Minutes after the end of the print work siege, explosions were heard from the kosher supermarket as Special Forces moved in. They found Coulibaly praying, and after shooting the gunman 15 hostages were rescued from the store. Four hostages were found dead. The death count was now complete at 18 deaths.
These three days of terror that devastated Paris shocked the whole world, but now questions must be asked concerning freedom of speech. Both shootings were a response to a cartoon which the readers and editors thought was just the expression of their freedom of speech, but the Islamic extremists viewed it as highly offensive and blasphemous. Freedom of speech is a right, and is an essential element of a free and democratic society—it enables our modern society to funcBrinsolaro, the editor’s police bodyguard, was shot. The gunmen then asked for the editor, Stephane Char- tion normally. However, with the right of freedom of bonnier, as well as four other cartoonists. They were all speech comes its responsibility, meaning we must exerkilled along with three other editorial staff and a guest. cise this right sensitively so that communities can coexist. This is the essence freedom of speech: allowing all The death count had now risen to eleven. people to be treated as equals and to live together as equals, so that the world can function in harmony. The police were alerted to the shooting incident and arrived at the offices as the brothers were leaving. The Whether Charlie Hebdo over-stepped the ‘sensitivity’ brothers opened fire on the police officers, one officer mark is a matter of opinion, but what is not up for debate is that murderous violence is never justifiable, let escaped unhurt but the other was injured. One of the attackers approached the injured police officer and shot alone as a response to an ‘offensive’ cartoon him from close range, killing him instantly. The gunmen then escaped in a car. Paris was shocked by the at- France has not sought pity in the face of these unspeakatack and was put on maximum alert, launching a major ble and horrific events. In fact, they have risen above the violence; they have united and have shown defiance security operation with an additional 500 police deagainst the actions of the Islamic extremists. The soliployed, initiating the manhunt for the two gunmen. darity that France has shown has inspired the rest of EuThe following day a lone gunman shot two people, in- rope; the solidarity has inspired the whole world, and cluding a policewoman, in Montrouge; French authori- has united us, in the defence of freedom of speech, under the single phrase, “Je Suis Charlie”. ties dismissed a link with the Charlie Hebdo attack. However, this link was later confirmed. On the morning of Friday 9th January, the gunmen engaged in a shootout with the police; during the gunfight 5
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Shooting Targets JACK FRANCO In early August 2011, Londoners rioted: plundering and pillaging shops around London, primarily in Tottenham. The key to the unrest lay in one place – the earlier killing of black teenager Mark Duggan by a white policeman in Tottenham, North London.
earlier – before gasping 'I can't breathe'. Pantaleo continued until Garner fell on the floor motionless. CPR was not attempted. A New York Staten Island Grand Jury failed to indict Pantaleo. Protests ensued.
Three years later and one continent to the west, the public is faced with a similar situation, but rather than one Some have made the point that these shootings have exkilling, there were four. posed the immanent racism deeply rooted within the US’s Police Force. However, another aspect emerges: The first was in Ferguson, a predominantly black suburb the militarisation of police. From the ‘70s, when Presiof Missouri where black 18-year-old Michael Brown was dent Nixon signed the first 'no-knock warrant', to 1996, shot multiple times in the head and the chest by where $4.3 billion worth of military grade mawhite St. Louis County PD Patrolman Darren terial was given from the Army to Police Wilson. At the trial of the Officer, it was heard Force around the country. Despite Obama's that Wilson fired twelve out of his thirteen availexecutive order to reduce the traffic of miliable bullets and had no previous experience with tary equipment to PDs, 92,442 small arms; firearms. According to several reports, the trial 617 armoured vehicles and 620 aircraft have was hardly the most reliable. To begin with, the been sent to those on the beat since 2006, all composition of the Grand Jury ‘representing’ St. with 200,000 rounds of ammunition. This inLouis County was all white neglecting that apevitably created an atmosphere that lent Officproximately seven tenths of the population of ers a certain overconfidence and potentially Ferguson – where the shooting took place – is arrogance; a sense that as Police Officers, they black. The ruling itself was controversial as some are more powerful than the people they witnesses from the trial were reported to have 'safeguard'. Stark differences in racial debeen lying and changing their accounts under oath. mographics go hand in hand with the latter. In Ferguson The Grand Jury failed to indict Wilson. for example, 94% of the PD is white, with Ferguson 66% black. The defenders of freedom don't seem to repThe precursor to the case was the killing of Dontre Ham- resent the free. And a point to conclude: the shooting of ilton, a 31-year-old black man shot by white police in Dontre Hamilton initiated a domino effect, where preMilwaukee. On April 30th, Officer Christopher Manney dominantly white police forces build up a fear of black approached Hamilton – a man with a history of emotion- offenders. As this fear develops, they seek to protect al instability – and tried to overcome him with a baton themselves against a purely hypothetical threat postulated before shooting to kill. Hamilton was shot 14 times, after by a fear of race, while seeking to suppress the latter. being told to leave the Red Arrow Park bench he was When this fear reaches the courts, a white man's word resting on. Manney was reported to have dismissed Ham- always seem to be worth more than a black man's. In ilton's emotional needs, and in due course was dismissed Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout contemfrom the Milwaukee Police Department. plates: “I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks.” Christopher Manney was not charged. If only that were true. Perhaps the second most high profile case of 2014 was the killing-by-asphyxiation of black man Eric Garner, by white NYPD Patrolman Daniel Pantaleo. Pantaleo approached Garner after suspecting that he was selling loose, untaxed cigarettes, known as 'loosies'. A video published on the Guardian shows Garner on the floor in a chokehold position – a move banned by the NYPD years 6
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EU TIME TO GROW OUT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION TOM McGRATH If the referendum takes place in 2017, this country will have a profound opportunity to shape its future, and yours, for decades to come. As you know, some people use racial and xenophobic arguments for leaving the EU, but there are far more convincing economic and political reasons to leave regardless. The European Union is an undemocratic and outdated organisation, led by unaccountable bureaucrats - many of whom care very little for this country’s interests. Its existence is resulting in the suffocation of British sovereign power, the destruction of nation states and, through a gradual amalgamation of European power, the creation of a European Federation. The EU is completely baffling: for a champion of world democracy, it is remarkably undemocratic. The EU primarily consists of the European Commission and the European Parliament. The former makes the legislation and is actually appointed, not elected. The Parliament passes the laws drawn up by the Commission and, while it is elected, there is a massive void between individual voters and their representatives. Very few people know who their European representatives are, or care what happens on their behalf within the EU (are you one of them?) – meaning this Parliament has very limited legitimacy. Fundamentally, when hundreds of members from different parties from different areas from 28 different countries around Europe are thrown together, the end result is not an equal voice for everyone, but a voice for no one. This is not democracy. As a result, Britain has hardly any influence within the EU - currently holding a paltry 8.4% of votes in the EU Parliament (which will soon be watered down further, with new arrivals Croatia). But the EU still gets to influence around half of British laws. This is a far cry from the purely economic community your parents and grand-parents chose to join in 1973. Meanwhile, less than a tenth of Britain’s GDP comes from trade with the EU, yet we give the EU the power to control huge parts of the economy – resulting in damage to the fishing industry, farming and postal services. Because of our tiny minority in the EU Parliament, we are losing control of our own economy. You may have heard otherwise, but leaving the EU will not stop Britain’s ability to trade with other European nations. Britain is a major consumer for the EU, meaning the EU would be placing itself at a disadvantage by 7
not freely trading with us – in fact, they would be forced to regardless under the terms of the Lisbon Treaty. Take Switzerland as evidence: despite being outside of the EU, in 2010 the Swiss exported four times as much per head to the EU as British people did. Besides, as I write, the economic importance of Europe continues crumbling euro by euro. When Britain joined in 1973 Western Europe accounted for 40% of the world’s GDP. Today that figure is 19%. Europe just isn’t where the money is anymore. Being out of the Union will give Britain the ability to create its own individual trade agreements with countries around the world and to increase relations with Commonwealth countries that currently, despite often having strong ties with the UK, are turned aside. Interestingly, the population of the Commonwealth is over four times as large as the EU’s – meaning a plentiful supply of highly skilled workers from countries such as Canada, India and Australia can be welcomed and will undoubtedly boost the economy. The largest investor in the UK isn’t even a country in the EU, but the US - surely we should be looking beyond our small continent. It’s not clear that Britain particularly gains much international standing from its EU membership either: Britain’s global influence actually comes from membership of the G8, a seat on the UN Security Council, being a key member of NATO and the Commonwealth and having a large economy and powerful military. Tellingly, in an Ernst and Young international report in 2010, Britain’s EU membership wasn’t even mentioned as an important factor in Britain’s global economic influence. If you’re ever feeling down, take heart from the forecast that this country is set to have an economic boom in the years to come – becoming the wealthiest nation in Europe by 2030. When this happens it will be Britain, not Germany, who has to pay the bill for the bailout of any struggling European country. Britain already pays £55 million a day to be part of a club depriving us of our national freedom and economic control, while giving little in return. Forty years of partnership with our European neighbours has been a good thing, but now we must grow out of these local geographical ties and look out into the rest of the world.
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Cameron Goes Green DAVID CAMERON SUPPORTS GREEN’S INCLUSON IN TV DEBATES JOSEPH LORENZO Prime Minister David Cameron has ordered that the Green Party be included in the April Television Debates taking place during the run up to this year’s General Election. Cameron’s reason for this outburst is, in theory at least, out of fairness. Personally, I find it very difficult to believe that Mr Cameron is doing this out of humanity and consideration for the parties he is supposedly trying to beat. The leader of the Conservative Party claimed that it was unfair that “minor parties” like the Liberal Democrats and UKIP would be included, yet, the Greens not. The Prime Minister has gone so far as to say that if his requests are not met that he will not take part in the debates at all. However, it seems the real reason for the Prime Minister’s actions is to take away votes from the Labour Party.
the Labour, Lib Dems and UKIP parties coming forward and publically criticising David Cameron. A defiant Ed Miliband said that Cameron should “stop running scared” and take part in the crucial debates while Nick Clegg told the Prime Minister to “stop ducking and weaving”. Nigel Farage, however, called the leader of the Conservative Party a “chicken”. Cameron has come under even more criticism, given
that, in the run up to the 2010 Election, he said the Debates “would help engage the public” and “help answer some of the questions [people have]”. So how far can we trust the man who leads our country today? Some have questioned Cameron’s right to pull out. Surely it is not right for one man to decide who is or who isn’t allowed to take part in the debates. This has prompted Ed Miliband to say that “no one political leader should be able to stop these debates happening [or] should be able to veto [or] block these debates”. The Labour Leader even defended the idea of having an “empty chair” to represent David Cameron during the debates. The first television debate is scheduled to air on the 2nd April with the other two on the 16th and 30th reOver the last few months, the UK Independence Par- spectively. ty has been growing in popularity, taking votes usually won by the Conservatives. This is all happening be- It seems that fairness for David Cameron is completecause these two parties are both on the right so natu- ly unfair for others and I think that this pattern is gorally voters are going to be swaying between them. ing to be ever present throughout the run-up to this Now, the Green Party leans more towards the left so, year’s General Election. just as UKIP steals votes from the Tories, it is more likely to take votes away from Cameron’s left-wing rival party, Labour. All this has caused a political storm with the leaders of 8
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The Critics: Current Cinema
Birdman THE LATEST FILM FROM MICHAEL KEATON JOSEPH MELLY It’s not a superhero movie. Nor is it a Kick-Ass style “let’s pretend to be superheroes for fun, yaaaaay!” movie. Let’s just get that cleared up. It’s a depressingly overrated movie about the seductions of fame and prestige, to put it fancily. In other words, it’s about how and why celebrities have and deserve such pointless lifestyles. Birdman was nominated for a number of Golden Globe Awards, and won Best Screenplay and Best Actor for Keaton. Moreover, the Oscars have it down for best picture, best director for Inarritu, best actor (Michael Keaton), supporting actor (Edward Norton), supporting actress (Emma Stone), original screenplay and cinematography, as well as some technical nods. What I think everybody finds so interesting about this eccentric movie is the cinematography tactics, which attempt to enhance a rather juicy viewing experience. It is safe to say that the long-take trick which is used, and how mindless children will fall for the “yep we did this all in one take, no water breaks” nonsense explains, in part, why the worse-than-average-comedy is so overrated. You will read from critics who tell you “Iñárritu’s hilarious, beautiful, film-defying film plays out in a continuous, cut-free sequence. It is grand, spectacular movie – a cosmological blockbuster – that makes us ask again what cinema can do and be”. That lie, and the uniqueness of the uninspired references to Broadway and theatre, and the pointless ‘artsy’ debates which come of this, lead to the “hype”. I didn’t love the film. I will admit that I did rather enjoy this movie at first, because of the good acting and the hilarity it withheld. However, after a while I feel like these factors did not did enough to distract me from the single-mindedness of the movie. Sure, it’s good to be different, but as a wise old man once said (probably) “if it works, don’t 9
change it”. And films did work for me, so the absurdity of this completely un-called for style is rather glaring. It just says to me “hey, you’ll love what we’ve done with this movie – cinema will never be the same again. Come on people, this is the way forward”, It’s not the way forward. And don’t fall for that either. What it is, is yet another attempt to be clever that we see in so many films these days *ahem Nolan ahem*. If it does not make sense to you, it does not make sense. And if it does make sense to you you’re lying. It just doesn’t work. The only part that actually did work in Birdman was the acting. Michael Keaton, I know you’ve completely forgotten who he is, probably gives the best performance his career (he was Batman in the early 90’s). And he could not be better supported). Edward Norton was on point as usual, and Emma Stone also probably gained a lot of fans… a lot of nerdy fans. Zach Galafianakis (undoubtedly not how you spell his surname) also deserves a shout-out I guess. The film has chucked a bunch of perfectly decent actors into a small space, and let their egos do the rest. Sadly though, I see through the But go watch it if you would like to be chasing a depressed character around the backstage of a theatre, and popular street in New York, in an even more depressing film. Oh, and listening to that stupid jazzy drum beat the whole time. Having said this, is it worth going to see? Probably. Why? Because everyone else says so. But if you do, don’t get your hopes up. You will end up forcing yourself to tell your friends you enjoyed it anyway. That’s another thing this film does – tear away your freedom of speech. Anyway, I hope you all had a fun form time, and I will look forward to writing off another illusion-filled fraud of a movie next time.
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The Critics: Films
Oscar’s Oscars OSCAR LIONETTI This year has been full of great films and disappointing films. However, the Oscar nominations have come round to tell us which films are the top of the Film Industry The first important category to talk about is Best Director. This category has some strong contenders. The one I think should win, however, is either Wes Anderson for The Grand Budapest Hotel or Alejandro Iñárritu for Birdman. Using his unique style of directing Wes Anderson uses an astonishing range of colours which make the film so intriguing to the eye. The way the camera switches position to different parts of the set really makes the film enjoyable—as well as the joyful upbeat music constantly playing throughout the film. Alejandro Iñárritu, in contrast, uses ingenius editing and camera angles to create the illusion that the entire film was shot in one take. This really makes you feel as if you are in the room with the actors and are part of the film.
script and how the Actors manage to pull off their roles all doing great jobs. Michael Keaton and Edward Norton have an on-screen chemistry that is fascinating to watch. Boyhood is also full of great performances, most notably Ethan Hawke, who delivers such a great emotional roller coaster as the father of the main character. The most unique thing about this film is the fact that it is all shot over a period of 12 years, so as to make it feel like you are growing up with the characters. It really does work well, and all the same quality of modern technology is kept throughout the film.
On to Best Actor: in my opinion, not everyone nominated for the Oscar should have received a nomination. For example Steve Carell: while he gave a good performance as the psychotic Boxing Coach John Du Pont, I would have much rather seen Jake Gylenhall get nominated for Nightcrawler. Regarding who should win, it has to be, without a doubt, Michael Keaton He played the Broadway actor Riggan Thompson amazingly, and watching his character develop on screen is fantastic. Finally, possibly the most important category: Best Picture. Picking who should win is the hardest task to do, but I have narrowed it down to either Birdman or Boyhood. Birdman is just brilliant. There's Comedy, Drama, Romance and even a shocking twist at the end. However, what really makes this movie great is the amazing 10
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The Critics: Films
Boyhood: Belongs with the best JOSEPH DI LORENZO
A movie has to be extremely good to be favourite to win Best Picture at the annual February Film showdown culminating in Los Angeles and the Oscars; Richard Linklater’s Boyhood is certainly no exception to this rule. The movie follows a six-year-old boy for twelve years as he experiences much of what our generation is now. From fights with his sister to going off to University the film covers it all. The film truly is a landmark and with its main rival currently being Birdman-which is as dull as reading Twilight-it seems to me as if its going to ease its way to the main prize. Despite some lacklustre acting performances, the story-line really does shine through. Boyhood is an exceptional film and by far the best film I’ve seen that has been nominated for an Oscar this year. I would certainly recommend a watch but it is very long so if you go on a long car journey or something it would be perfect.
Ellar Coltrane plays the lead character, Mason Jr, and he, after nearly three hours of watching, could not have a more depressing and gloomy tone of voice. Talking about depressing, why not watch the suicidal Birdman which is the worst film I have ever, ever seen in my entire life. Furthermore, Patricia Arquette, who acts as Mason’s mum-or mom as they somehow put it in Americabawls her eyes out on her way to an Oscar nomination, which she looks set to win. However, Ethan Hawke, who performs as Mason’s dad, does a really sound job earning himself, too, an Oscar nomination. He portrays the divorced dad exceptionally well and, for me, is the best character.
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The Critics: Games
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel 2K ADDS ANOTHER ENJOYABLE EPISODE TO THE BORDERLANDS FRANCHISE HENRY MATTAR Released in October last year was the highly anticipated game ‘Borderlands the Pre-Sequel’. As suggested by the title, this latest edition to the Borderlands family fits in between ‘Borderlands’ and ‘Borderlands 2’.
games are so famous for. New to the game are a bunch of Australian voice actors, which has seemed to annoy Americans but which I think is a welcome change—it also gives a chance for Aussie characters to poke some satirical fun at American accents.
Borderlands the Pre-Sequel places you in the boots of four playable characters who have all featured in one of the older Borderlands franchise: Wilhelm the enforcer (made cyborg in Borderlands 2 and fought against as a boss), Athena the gladiator (from Borderlands DLC), Nisha the Lawbringer (boss and girlfriend to Handsome Jack in Borderlands 2) and CL4P-TP, or Clap-Trap, the most likeable annoying idiot in game history. Controversial to game normality, this game puts you on the same side as the antagonist in the previous game (or future game). The Pre-Sequel places you on one of Pandora’s moons called Elpis, where you meet Janey Springs, a fun, murderous Australian who shows you around the new things in Borderlands the Pre-Sequel, including laser guns, the Cryo element type, O2 canisters to breathe
As is obvious, I really like this game and it is a great addition to the Borderlands family. I would, however, only suggest this to you after you have at least played one of the previous Borderlands games, as this isn’t their best game to date. That being said, it is still a great game, and a must buy, to which I rate 8/10. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (minimum) CPU SPEED: 2.4 GHz Dual Core RAM: 2GB OS: Windows XP VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA Geforce 8500 (or similar standard) SOUND CARD: Yes DISK SPACE : 13GB
and double jumping. From there one, we enjoy a fun story with the same random, sometimes dark and often crude humour which we all love the franchise for, and the shoot ‘n’ loot style FPS which made the Borderlands games so successful. With the reappearance of the Borderlands games, returns the comic-like art style that the Borderlands 12
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The Critics: Games
Vive La Révolution! 6.78/10 PHOENIX GUWA Being the Creed series’ first effort for this current generation, Unity, was the ideal springboard for starting a new era in the series; however, it seems that Ubisoft might have lost their heads in the process. It isn’t very difficult to identify what the best thing about Assassin's Creed Unity is: Revolutionary Paris is one of the most beautifully assembled settings in this long-running, temporally uninhibited series. Although the game takes part in such a revolutionary setting, revolutionary gameplay cannot be expected.
Assassin’s Creed unity tells the tale of Arno, a youth who sadly loses his father but gains a mentor on the same day. Unity follows Arno’s life from a young boy, still mourning his father’s death to the peak of his Assassin’s career, and (in my opinion) is one of the most compelling and strongest story line that we’ve seen from an Assassin’s Creed game for some time, especially at the start of the game. Despite having such a great storyline, it is clear that finding enjoyment in Unity requires a great deal of patience, far more than anyone can afford. Unity is packed with a plethora of hiccups and glitches which Ubisoft are ‘still working on’. Some glitches show Arno struggling with climbing things—sometimes, seemingly swimming/dangling on things that he shouldn't be and, occasionally, falling through the ground. My personal favourite though has to be when the texture doesn’t load.
sions up to you. You're still given hints about what to do, with Arno scanning the area for potential infiltration points and eavesdropping on exploitable civiliansbut you can choose to completely ignore them and forge your own path. Similarly impressive is the new parkour system; when you hold down B or O, Arno automatically descends, an activity that’s never had a specific input before. This allows you to reach ground level without making a plunge or hopping down over and over. Perhaps the greatest advancement in Unity, apart from the new graphics, is the game’s inclusion of cooperative multiplayer, which is a first for the franchise. Friends can drop in or out of your game at any time, and specific missions are designed for 2 or 4 assassins. This is a maximum limit, meaning you can take on any mission in the game by yourself if you dare. The more you get spotted, the less loot you take away at the end, so there’s incentive to stay in the shadows. It’s way
more fun with friends who know what they’re doing, but you can also match up with a stranger and take your chances. To summarise: Assassin’s Creed Unity is at once comfortably familiar yet drastically different. With mild improvements in stealth and combat, the game is overwhelmed by bugs which have no place in a French Revolution.
Previously, one would have to complete a mission in a certain way, according to the mission objectives, this could be poisoning a drink, or sneaking in through a certain entrance – Unity, however, leaves those deci13
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Independent Articles
Football: Who’s it for? JOSEPH STEWART Being a football fanatic and possessing a season ticket for the club Queens Park Rangers, I have seen a lot right-wing actions at football, and despite major progress from the 1970’s to 1980’s era when racism, sexism and homophobia were rife in English football, these views have not completely disappeared from football. I suppose England’s problems of rightwingers are not as bad as nations such as Russia and Ukraine, with various NeoNazi zany ultras (fighting squad) being observed in many teams. However, I can’t help but feel as if not enough is being done to get rid of this problem by the FA in this country, and FIFA and other football organisations across the world— especially in Europe. England has a major problem with right-winged organisations such as the EDL (English Defence League) seeping into teams, with leaflets often being passed out outside grounds such as The Den (Millwall FC’s ground), and to get rid of them would mean major progress, as fewer young people, and vulnerable working class people, would fall into their trap. Queens Park Rangers is generally quite a multi-cultural side and doesn’t suffer with many problems, although that’s not to say you don’t get the odd idiot. For instance, racist chants were sang about Loic Remy, who had moved to one of our main rivals Chelsea FC, at Southampton away, leading to a huge brawl between racists and evidently antiracists. At a later date we played Chelsea away and I heard many singing this song at Loic Remy—this and shouting racist slurs at Didier Drogba. These chants came from a bunch of drunk hooligans with nothing better to do but let put their inside anger (a common trait in extreme right-wingers) on talented black stars. The irony was that whilst singing such chants, they abused John Terry for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand in a previous season. Maybe a bit less drink would help restore some brain cells. 14
Being working class myself I’ve only ever experienced football around working class folk, which I assume is a lot more enjoyable than being stuck in a box with your wealthy parents eating a meal, and not actually experiencing the chanting and cheering—the raw emotion. The working class are the ones in the
‘firm’ (those responsible for the violence), and the ones actually cheering your team onto victory (they can’t hear your shouts in those blacked out boxes, put their so the peasants don’t even glimpse at you). By being around working class people at football I’ve often heard people’s fears and unnecessary worries about ‘these Eastern Europeans coming over here and taking our jobs’. I’ll often object to these fears with good reasoning and be met with a homophobic attack (often stemming from insecurities about their own sexuality). I feel this negative cohesion between working class men has caused these attitudes to become quite widespread in football, and has caused many to join racist organisations such as the EDL and Britain First. Homophobia is a matter which is not as common as racism in football, and many players from various clubs have even laced in the colours of the gay rights flag (colours of the rainbow) to support Homosexual footballers, which is extremely pleasing to see - and has even led to players coming out publicly as gay (such as Thomas Hitzlsperger, who’s last club before retirement was Everton FC a very Catholic and left-wing club). However, homophobia is still observed at many clubs and brushed off as nothing in
reality, e.g. many were singing ‘Jose Mourinho is gay’ at Chelsea FC vs. QPR and nobody necessarily had much concern, as opposed to if people were singing racial chants. I feel both of these should be treated as the equivalent to one another, and should be dealt with in the same manner. With all these terrible actions often being observed comes left-wing ultras to attempt to keep a little bit of balance, but right-wing ultras tend to outweigh them. Teams such as Celtic in Scotland, St.Pauli in Germany and Clapton FC here in England have close affiliations with Anti-Fascist groups and tend to be more welcoming to different races and cultures. They have realised it’s not the immigrants causing the disparity gap but the 1 %, big corporate businesses and government who are exploiting the workers of the world. England had awful problems with racism in the ‘70s and ‘80s and many black players suffered terrible racial abuse, whether it be verbally or even physically with many non-white players having darts, golf balls and even golf balls with darts in them thrown at them. I feel we have thankfully come a long way from those days and do not have issues as bad as Russia, which have many violently racist, and extremely homophobic ultras. It’s clear that these Right-wingers have a lot of anger in them that’s just bursting to come out, and this needs to be dealt with. We need to observe fans closely; if they’re found chanting such things they should be put onto a tolerance course which will teach them to be more accepting—and that immigrants are not the cause of their socio-economic problems. A jail sentence will only lead to them becoming more angry; we need to help them as well as insisting on some form of punishment—for example, community service, fines or a jail sentence, depending on the seriousness of the act, alongside still attending these classes. JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2015, ISSUE 4
Fashion
Kerubel’s Kicks KERUBEL SHOA
The ongoing rivalry of two megabrands has caught our attention and has made us question ourselves “Nike or Adidas?” Check out the tables below showing the features and best products of each brand and decide which side you’re on.
NIKE
ADIDAS
Product One: Nike Air Huaraches Avg. Price: £85 Rating: 8/10
Product One: Adidas Originals ZX Flux Avg. Price: £50+ Rating: 7/10
Product Two: Nike Air Max 90 Avg. Price: £75+ . Rating: 7/10
Product Three: Nike Magista Superfly Avg. Price: £100+ Rating: 9/10
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Product Two: Adidas Originals Gazelle Avg. Price: £80+ Rating: 6/10
Product Three: Adidas Predator Instincts Avg. Price: £90+ Rating: 8.5/10
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Tech Talk
It’s all wireless DOES WIRELESS CHARGING REALLY EXIST? FILIPPO GALDIOLO
Wireless charging is not a new invention, in fact, it has been used since the early 1990s in electric toothbrushes and surgically implanted devices, such as artificial hearts. Today, this method is being used to charge probably one of the most useful things in our daily lives: our phones.
How cool is that?
So How Does It Work? Wireless inductive charging, as the name suggests, means you can charge up your phone or electrical device without using a plug socket.
Unlike traditional electrical transfer, wireless inductive charging does not require contact points. This means that as long as your device is near to the source of the magnetic field (the charging pad), it will receive power. You will not have to worry if your device falls to one side or the connection is obstructed by dust—your device will continue to receive power. Last week Starbucks announced that coffee drinkers and panini eaters will be able to charge mobiles wirelessly in 10 Starbucks cafes in London by the end of the month.
It uses a method by which a magnetic field transfers electricity from an external source (the charger) to a mobile device (your phone) without the use of standard wiring. It does this by generating a magnetic field and creating a current in the receiving device. With the Top Brands: compatible receiver attached to your device – in the
Powerbot PB1020: £9.30 Qi Inductive Wireless Power Charger: £5.33
form of a clip, case or sleeve – electricity can move through the air and recharge your device’s battery.
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Tech Talk
OnePlus One EMERGING CHINESE TECH COMPANY ADD THEIR FLAGSHIP MODEL TO THE SMARTPHONE ARENA FRANKIE DE SOUZA
The new generation of smartphone will be the cheaper, for this version. The OnePlus One’s speaker is also more affordable phones made for the common person louder than both the iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S5. (not willing to spend £600 on an iPhone). One of the So why aren’t these new phones selling out of our first of these new phones is the OnePlus One. The OnePlus One, made by OnePlus, a Chinese company founded in 2013, is the first of many more affordable phones (averaging at around £299). This may still seem fairly dear, but when you look at the specs and compare it to the big names out there such as Apple and Samsung, you may change your mind. The OnePlus One’s processing power is almost double that of an IPhone 6, with a 2.5GHz Quad-core CPU; stores? Well, since it was the most anticipated phone of the year, OnePlus introduced a new selling system to stop the company being swamped on demand. The idea is that to buy the new phone, you have to receive an invite from a friend who has already bought the phone; when you buy the phone, you receive a few invites which you can send to more of your friends. This way, stock will remain full in stores as the phone sales grow larger over time.
it also beats the Samsung Galaxy S5 on the amount of RAM it can carry (it can carry 3GB compared to the S5’s 2GB). The new phone’s Gorilla Glass also reduces the chances of your screen smashing, a common problem on Apple’s iPhones. The OnePlus One also doesn’t bend, although this comes at a price, it being 33g heavier and 2mm thicker than the IPhone. The iPhone’s 1080p camera, which was massively over-promoted by Apple, is surpassed by the OnePlus Ones 2160p camera, however, you have to pay slightly more
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Sport
Qatari World Cup BEHIND FIFA’S DECISION TO AWARD THE WOLRD CUP TO QATAR ROWAN CALDWELL Since 2010, the 2022 world cup hosts Qatar have been questioned. The first problem was the weather and climate. It was considered too hot; many ideas were suggested, from artificial clouds to playing it indoors. Many called for the host to be changed, as Qatar were going to have to build all the host stadiums anyway, whereas nations such as England, France and Germany have football infrastructure in place, not to mention the much more suitable climates. Yet Sepp Blatter was adamant that the world cup would be held in Qatar, even though it is now being played in the winter. Then in the summer of 2014, after a slightly poorly organised World Cup in Brazil where riots took place over Brazil’s allocation of money, The Sunday Times published leaked documents and emails made by former Qatar FA chairman Mohammed Bin Hammam. These showed that he paid members of other associations to vote for Qatar. This was not helped by a whistle-blower, Phaedra AlMajid, who was actually part of the controversial bid.
UEFA’s Michel Platini, the league system could be disrupted three years either side of the tournament because of the international match breaks they take.
However, I watched the last rugby autumn internationals; I was amazed that Premiership club games were still being played in Europe. It caused me to wonder: why can’t football do the same thing? Greg Dyke wants young players to play top level football. Why disrupt the English football system when you can just yet younger players play while the main players play at the World Cup. Instead of the world complaining about a World Cup it the winter, why don’t they just play through it? It is a good opportunity for youngsters to play, as the big clubs are always going to buy foreign players—but they can’t if they are big world stars playing in the World Cup. This will mean, for a month at least, home-grown players have the chance to shine. It could also make the league more interesting, as bigger clubs who are more reliant on transfer money from their owners may struggle against smaller clubs with a better youth acadeIn the English FA, former Brentford chairman and my. It may mean Everton or Swansea could be the BBC general director Greg Dyke replaced David 2022/23 champions rather than one of the big ManBernstein as chairman. His first concern was the pro- chester clubs. portion of home-grown players in the Premier In conclusion, I feel that England and Greg Dyke’s League. For example, last season Chelsea could field plan could benefit from a winter World Cup. This is two different sides only from players out on loan. not to say that England couldn’t win it with future One of his ideas was to create a new B-League, that stars including Will Hughes, Lewis Baker and Solly would be placed between League two and the Con- March. ference National. However representatives of football league clubs decided against it. According to 18
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Sport
Bernie and Vlad: BFFs TOM McGRATH Have a guess at what the worst run sport in the world is? Could it be Football? (I hear FIFA aren’t masters at the not-accepting-money-from-Qataris thing.) Or what about Cycling? (Lance seems to be doing well.) But no. You see, these little niggles fall into insignificance when compared to the monumental, the incredible, the extraordinary, the apocalyptically mindboggling level of sheer stupidity and greed shown every day by those in charge of Formula One. This fantastic sport has been run by the same man for decades. In fact, Bernie Ecclestone (Chief Executive and commercial rights controller of F1), has demonstrated over the years many of the qualities that his bestie Vladimir Putin no doubt admires: longevity; manipulation; almost total power; and getting away with outrageous things - Bernie praising Hitler for the way in which he "got things
joke, eh?) And all this before we even get to the enormous strides F1 management has made in recent years towards destroying the sport forever. Their achievements include a drive to prevent anyone under the age of fifty watching the sport by placing the majority of coverage on expensive pay-tv stations; introducing slower, quieter engines so everyone falls asleep during races; and, best of all, ar-
ranging the prize money in such a way that Bernie and CVC (F1’s owner) get as much money as possible while some of the teams get hardly any and so go out of business (R.I.P. Caterham and Marussia). Still; Hamilton’s winning so I don’t care, right? Hooray for Bernie! done" springs to mind (Vlad, meanwhile, got away with invading Ukraine). Bernie and Vlad also had a jolly good time at the recent Russian Grand Prix – which went ahead, despite widespread international feeling that it shouldn’t because of the whole, you know, invasion thing. Some other odd moments from Ecclestone’s catalogue are his bizarre requests that the worldfamous Monaco Grand Prix be dropped (comparable to removing Brazil, Germany and Spain from the World Cup) because it was "not paying enough" – simultaneously making most of the F1 world question his sanity. Worse still, Ecclestone was quoted as saying "women should all be dressed in white like all the other domestic appliances" (let’s just hope that was just an appalling 19
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WORLD’S EDGE: EPISODE FOUR PETER STRZALEK-STANECKI
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THE
V AUGHAN I DENTITY JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2015, ISSUE FOUR CARDINAL VAUGHAN MEMORIAL SCHOOL 22
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