The Event - Issue 181

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Art Fashion Film Music Television

Supergrass Interview!

Inside... Zombies Stephen Fry Wallace & Gromit

Contents Features

Centre  Spread

Stephen  Fry  10  &  11

TV Â 4

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Reviews

Art  9

TV Â 14

Fashion  12  &  13

Art  15

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Film  16  &  17

Regulars

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Creative  Writing  8 Listings  6 Horoscopes  8

Music  18  &  19

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Hello We  certainly  have  been  rubbing  shoulders  with  the  biggest  and  brightest  celebs  this  fortnight.  The  pressure  has  been  entirely  lifted  from  me  with  regards  to  writing  anything  witty  as  the  intellectually  mighty.  Stephen  Fry  is  occupying  the  centre  spread,  leaving  its  pages  dripping  with  unfathomably  clever  stuff.  It  certainly  was  a  pleasure  to  have  him  speak  to  us,  and  we  hope  that  you  enjoy  reading  all  about  it.  Don’t  feel  dwarfed  by  his  obvious  marvellousness,  instead  use  this  as  an  inspiration  to  go  out  and  do  something  creative Â

Editor-in-chief  4BSBI &EXBSEFT of  your  own.  Perhaps  this  could  be  the Â ďŹ rst  step  towards  a  proďŹ table  career  as  a  playwright,  sculptor  or  very  good  TV  presenter  for  one  fair  reader.  If  this  is  the  case,  then  please  let  us  know.  If  you’re  not  feeling  quite  so  ambitious,  try  your  luck  at  our  competitions.  They’re  free  to  enter,  and  the  sense  of  trepidation  with Â ďŹ ll  your  life  with  excitement  for  at  least  an  afternoon. Â

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Feature

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ith  the  latest  series  of  The  X  Factor  in  full  swing,  the  nation  has  been  thrust  yet  again  into  reality  television  fever  -­  yet  are  reality  TV  shows  stooping  to  new  lows  in  order  to  shock  their  audiences  and  boost  ratings?  With  shows  such  as  ‘Cosmetic  Surgery‌Live’,  ‘Extreme  Makeover’  and  ‘Cheaters’  ooding  our  screens,  it  seems  as  though  producers  will  stop  at  nothing  to  gain  viewers,  throwing  their  ethical  and  moral  considerations  aside.   Most  of  the  shocking  concepts  of  these  reality  shows  come  from  across  the  pond  in  America  (surprise  surprise).  The  new  ‘makeover’  genre  that  has  gripped  much  of  the  population  recently  was  devised  in  the  USA;Íž  for  those  of  you  who  have  missed  out  on  this  phenom-­ enon,  the  basis  of  the  programme  is  to  take  the  ugly  duckling  and  turn  it  into  the  beautiful  swan.  The  extremeness  of  the  genre  varies  –  the  relatively  tame  ’10  Years  Younger’  merely Â ďŹ xes  the  person  in  question  up  with  a  new  wardrobe  and  gives  them  a  few  make  up  and  personal  hygiene  tips  in  an  attempt  to  make  them  look  10  years  younger  (the  clue  is  in  the  title!).  However,  ‘Extreme  Makeover’  takes  the  person  and  spends  literally  thousands  of  pounds  on  surgical  fa-­ cial  and  body  reconstruction  so  that  the  person  is  unrecognisable  at  the  end.  Cameras  follow  this  whole  process,  including  gory  close  ups  of  the  actual  surgery  and  after-­care,  neither  of  which  are  exactly  TV  dinner  viewing.  Men  and  women  with  extremely  low  self-­esteem  and  deep  psychological  problems  are  deliberately  chosen  and  are  told  that  being  beautiful  will  resolve  their  issues.

Perhaps  it  is  a  reection  of  our  shallow  culture  that  a  person  has  to  be  attractive  to  be  accepted  and  have  a  problem  free  future.  Are Â

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television  companies  failing  to  see  the  superďŹ cial  quality  of  these  programmes  as  they  readily  promote  the  illusion  that  the  more  good  looking  the  person  the  more  successful  and  happy  they  will  become?  Or  are  they  simply  pampering  to  our  morbid  fascination  with  plastic  surgery  and  the  grotesque  to  boost  ratings?  This  means  that  the  media  is  now  dictating  what  we  think  about  ourselves  and  clearly  deďŹ ning  the  boundaries  between  beautiful  and  ugly,  leaving  those  who  fall  into  the  later  category  as  social  outcasts.  Many  competition  programs  have  now  slipped  into  the  realms  of  reality  television  with  the  success  of  shows  like  ‘Big  Brother’  and  ‘Pop  Idol’  which  themselves  are  pretty  harmless.  Yet  concerns  were  raised  recently  when  the  programme  ‘Be  My  Baby’  aired  in  America  -­  the  concept  of  which  was  that  couples  battled  it  out  to  ‘win’  a Â

1SPEVDFST XJMM TUPQ BU OPUI JOH UP HBJO WJFXFST UISPX JOH UIFJS FUIJDBM BOE NPSBM DPOTJEFSBUJPOT BTJEF newborn  baby  from  a  young  woman  who  was  putting  her  child  up  for  adoption.  Even  the  most  morally  relaxed  of  us  know  that  there  is  something  seriously  wrong  with  having  a  competition  in  which  a  human  life  is  the  prize.  However,  as  much  as  the  ethics  (or  lack  thereof)  can  be  condemned,  the  show  does  sound  like  compelling  viewing  and  it  would  probably  receive  huge  viewing  numbers  if  it  were  broadcast  in  England.  Therefore,  perhaps  it  could  be  said  that  reality  shows  like  ‘Be  My  Baby’  say  more  about  the  audience  than  the  producers,  who  are  proving  that  we  all  revel  in  the  act  of  voyeur-­

ism  and  are  suckers  for  this  exploitation  of  raw  emotion,  no  matter  what  the  cost.  A  similar  argument  can  be  conducted  in  reference  to  the  Amer-­ ican  hit  show  ‘Cheaters’.  The  idea  is  simple;Íž  take  an  individual  who  believes  that  their  partner  is  being  unfaithful  and  follow  said  partner  using  hidden  cameras,  then  establish  a  confrontation  between  the  accused  and  accuser  and  watch  the  sparks  y.  The  moral  predica-­ ment  remains  as  to  whether  it  is  wrong  to  gain  entertainment  from  the  misery  and  embarrassment  of  others  and  it  almost  certainly  is  wrong,  yet  it  is  hard  to  deny  that  part  of  us  does  gain  a  weird  kind  of  self-­satisfaction  from  watching  programmes  like  ‘Cheaters’.  We  take  pleasure  from  the  fact  that  we  are  not  in  their  shoes  and  we  enjoy  ridiculing  the  guy  who  couldn’t  keep  it  in  his  trousers,  while  we  sympathise  with  the  woman  who  couldn’t  hold  her  man  down  and  assure  ourselves  that  we  would  never  make  her  mistake.  Ad-­ ditionally,  all  of  the  confrontations  are  carefully  constructed  and  of-­ ten  result  in  violence  that  would  have  otherwise  been  avoided.  The  most  famous  example  of  this  was  when  the  host  of  the  show  was  stabbed  on  a Â ďŹ shing  boat  by  a  so-­called  cheater  who  really  did  not  want  to  be  found  out.  The  issue  of  privacy  is  also  raised  -­  what  right  do  television  crews  have  to  follow  random  members  of  the  public  around  with  cameras  and  make  unfounded  judgements  on  their  private  lives  for  the  whole  world  to  see?

Perhaps  the  most  controversial  reality  television  show  yet  has  been  made  and  broadcast  in  Russia.  The  aim  of  the  show  is  for  contestants  to  steal  a  car  and  become  involved  in  a  real  chase  with  the  police;͞  if  they  get  away,  then  they  win  the  car.  The  idea  is  lu-­ dicrous  and  highly  illegal,  yet  the  show  is  fully  supported  by  the  Russian  police  force.  Perhaps  the  producers  had  just  been  drinking  a  bit  too  much  Smirnoff  or  maybe  the  Russians  are  even  harder  to  shock  than  us  Brits.  Either  way,  the  programme  blurs  the  bounda-­ ries  between  illusion  and  reality  by  allowing  the  contestants  to  act  out  the  classic  fantasy  of  being  involved  in  a  high  speed  Bond  style  car  chase.  The  show  also  undermines  the  authority  of  the  police  by  sending  out  the  message  that,  as  long  as  you  get  away  with  a  crime,  you  can  escape  without  having  any  guilt.

Back  in  England,  we  have  the  man  that  merges  magic  with  re-­ ality  TV  -­  Derren  Brown.  Millions  tuned  in  to  see  Brown  play  Rus-­ sian  roulette  live  on  Channel  4  in  the  expectation  that  they  may  actually  witness  the  suicide  of  another  human  being,  which  surely  says  something  about  the  morality  of  our  country.  A  cultural  critic  recently  commented  that  the  next  step  in  the  downward  spiral  of  reality  television  is  the  live  broadcast  of  executions  in  America.  In  each  of  these  examples,  television  producers  are  drawing  upon  an  element  of  the  human  psyche  that  is  both  horriďŹ ed  and  intrigued  to  witness  the  death  of  another  person.  We  have  seen  all  manner  of  taboo  subjects  on  TV  and  possibly  the  only  avenue  left  unexplored  is  that  of  witnessing  real  live  deaths.

In  the  end,  we  are  left  questioning  whether  tel-­ evision  executives  are  disassociating  themselves  from   their  morals  by  producing  shows  that  exploit  the  pain  and  embar-­ rassment  of  others,  devalue  human  rights  and  promote  the  illu-­ sion  that  only  the  beautiful  are  ever  happy.  Alternatively,  are  the  shows  merely  catering  for  our  increasing  need  to  take  the  moral  high  ground  by  scrutinising  and  making  judgements  on  real  peo-­ ple,  while  comforting  ourselves  with  the  fact  that  nothing  like  that  would  ever  happen  to  us?  Or  are  we  simply  just  fed  up  with  watch-­ ing  bad  acting  in Â ďŹ lms  and  TV  and  crave  to  view  the  raw  emotion  of  others  which  we  can  easily  understand  and  connect  to?  Maybe  the  answer  lies  in  a  combination  of  all  three;Íž  yet  the  TV  bosses  need  to  lead  the  way  by  producing  shows  that  provide  real  moral  messages  instead  of  superďŹ cial  garbage. Â

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Demise  of  the  Dead

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an  you  hear  that  noise  too?  That  lonely  moan  of  hor-­ ror  and  despair?  That  shuf  e  of  limping  feet  on  emp-­ ty  streets  and  sidewalks?  That  bone-­rattling  lurch  of  old,  decaying    esh?  Can  that  be  what  we  all  imagine  it  is?  What  many  of  us  have  been  in  an  anxious,  20  year  wait  for?  A  terrifying  return  of  the  legion  of  the  living  dead,  ready  to  sink  decayed  teeth  once  again  into  unsuspecting,  fearful  cinema  audiences?  It  would  be  great  to  say  so,  but  unfortunately,  no.  What  you’re  probably  hearing  is  the  arduously  painful  sound  of  a  wounded  George  A.  Romero,  stumbling  back  from  the  signiďŹ Â cant  box-­ofďŹ Â ce  failure  of  his  most  recent  (and  possibly  last)  addition  to  the  leg-­ endary  Dead  series,  Land  of  the  Dead.  We  can  only  imagine  what  thoughts  must  be  now  squirming  their  way  around  a  mind  that  ar-­ guably  gave  birth  to  a  new  kind  of  horror  some  37  years  ago;Íž  back  when  the  legendary,  genre-­breaking  Night  of  the  Living  Dead  genu-­ inely  terriďŹ Â ed  audiences  with  its  intelligent,  believable  take  on  the  zombie Â ďŹ Â lm.  We  can  only  guess  that  these  thoughts  are  something  along  the  lines  of:  “But  what  went  wrong?â€?  So  what  exactly  did  go  wrong?  The  recent  decade  has  seen  something  of  a  revival  in  the  cellu-­ loid  land  of    esh-­eating  monsters  and  helpless,  hysterical  victims.  After  all,  Resident  Evil  –  with  it’s  loose  take  on  a  bestselling  video  game  –  racked  up  enough  cash  to  spawn  a  sequel  (though  argu-­ ably  one  that  should  have  been  left  on  the  cutting  room    oor).  In  a  similar  fashion  the  Dawn  of  the  Dead  remake  lured  audiences  in  with  a  result  of  a  $60  million  dollar  gross;Íž  while  the  closely-­followed  Shaun  of  the  Dead,  with  its  Spaced-­style  tongue-­in-­cheek  homage  to  the  zombie  tradition,  dragged  in Â ďŹ Â lm-­goers  and  TV  fans  alike  with  its  unique  take  on  the  genre.  So  why  is  it  that  when  the  undisputed  father  of  all  modern    esh  eaters  –  20  long  years  since  the  release  of  his  last  walking  corpse  extravaganza,  Day  of  the  Dead  –   returned  to  the  big  screen,  he  wasn’t  received  with  the  warm,  open  embrace  that  we  all  expected;Íž  but  a  cold,  distant  frown  of  disapproval?

Is  it  just  possible  that  in  the  2  years  since  Dawn  of  the  Dead  (Ironically  a  remake  of  Romero’s Â ďŹ Â lm  of  the  same  title)  the  zombie Â ďŹ Â lm  has  once  again  dropped  from  the  spot-­ light  of  popularity,  ready  to  carry  on  its  existence  in  the  hearts Â

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recent  boom  in  DVD  sales  –  has  gained  a  serious  momentum  over  the  past  few  decades;͞  and  whether  you  love  them  or  loathe  them,  zombies  have  undeniably  cut  themselves  a  nice,  thick  slice  out  of  the  cult  cake.

So  why  the  failure  of  Land?  What  particular  thing  about  it  turned  the  noses  of  just  about  everyone  who  wasn’t  a  hard-­ core  Romero  fanatic?  The  answer  lies  in  the  fact  that  while  audiences  still  revel  in  a  good  old,  all-­out  splatter  fest,  the  true  zombie Â ďŹ Â lm  has  perhaps  gone  a  little  stale  in  a  fast-­paced  age  of  scientiďŹ Â c  thrillers  and  edgy,  psychologi-­ cal  horrors.

Zombie Â ďŹ Â lms  have  never  been  something  to  take  too  seriously.  While  their  primary  purpose  has  always  been  and  (and  most  likely)  will  always  be  to, Â ďŹ Â rst  and  foremost,  shock,  they  nevertheless  share  a  closely  paralleled  existence  with  com-­ edy.  It’s  hard  to  not  splutter  into  hysterics  when  so  much  lu-­ dicrously,  over  the  top  gore  comes    ying  at  you  from  the  television  screen,  or  when  the  poorly-­spoken  dialog  of  an  inexperienced  actress  makes  you  cheer  and  yell  as  she’s  helplessly  ripped  apart. Â

dead  kill  survivors’  cinema,  and  the  hard-­edged  fans  witnessed  the  long  awaited  return  as  looking  suspiciously  like  a  higher-­budget  Resi-­ dent  Evil.  Romero’s  last  effort  came  across  not  as  the  embodiment  of  all  we’ve  learnt  to  love  and  cherish  about  the  genre,  but  as  an  aging  concept  horribly  draped  in  a  mess  of  over-­the-­top  metal  tunes  and  high-­budget  special  effects.  In  short:  it  looked  too,  just  plain...  new  for  our  liking.  The Â ďŹ Â lm  might  have  had  a  chance  however  (after  all  it  was  Romero  at  the  helm)  had  it  not  been  for  one Â ďŹ Â nal,  crippling  blow:  a  BBFC-­awarded  15  certiďŹ Â cate.  It  was  a  time  when  you  could  stick  your  head  out  the  window  and  almost  hear  the  distant  thud  of  a  million  fans’  hopes  dropping  limply  to  the    oor.

It’s  safe  to  say  that  a  zombie Â ďŹ Â lm  deemed  suitable  for  an  emo-­

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and  video-­ racks  of  its  legions  of  gore-­loving  fans  alike?  It’s  pos-­ sible,  after  all  it  is  a  genre  that  has  never  truly  been  a  tremen-­ dous  pillar  of  success  for  cinema.  But  nevertheless,  Romero’s  tril-­

To  put  it  bluntly,  what  makes  zombie    icks  great  is  that  they’re  usually  complete  and  ut-­ ter  crap.  But  it’s  good,  messy,  fun  crap.  Crap  that  you  can  stick  on  at  any  time  of  the  day  (maybe  not  dinnertime)  and  always  have  a  genuinely  good  time.  Some  may  be  so  old  fashioned  and  so  ridiculously  cheesy  that  there’s  barely  any  horror  left  at  all;͞  but  this  is  –  in  essence  –  what  they’re  truly  all  about.

And  this  is  where  Romero  perhaps  ran  into  trouble.  The  main  problem  with  Land  of  the  Dead  is  that  it  man-­ aged  to  spectacularly  miss  pretty  much  every  type  of  target  audience  imaginable.  The  average Â ďŹ Â lmgoer  saw  the  advertisements  and  yawned  at Â

tionally  fragile  mass  is  one  that  misses  the  entire  point  of  the  genre.  There  are  few  people  out  there  who  could  admit  to  watching  Zombie  Flesh  Eaters  without  the  notorious  splinter-­in-­the-­eye  scene  in  mind,  or  turning  on  Day  of  the  Dead  for  the  pure  purposes  of  its  cinema-­ tography  and  heavy-­handed  subject  matter.  The  sad  truth  is  that  the  zombie Â ďŹ Â lm  is  one  of  those  cinematic  rarities  that  actually  relies  on  the  process  of  aging  to  make  it  all  the  better.  It’s  easy  to  forget  that  while  Shaun  of  the  Dead  did  achieve  a  moderate  amount  of  success,  it  was  pitched  almost  solely  as  a  comedy.  A  similar  thing  can  be  said  of  28  Days  Later,  which  presented  itself  as  more  of  an  edgy  take  on  a  post-­apocalyptic  society  that  an  all-­out  zombie  carnage  fest.

While  the  much  loved  tradition  of  ridiculous  dialogue,  body-­shift-­ ing  shocks,  gut  churning  violence  and  fantastically  ludicrous  amounts  of  internal  organs  will  always  hold  a  warm  place  in  the  hearts  of  movie  fans  alike,  it  seems  that  for  the  time  being,  the  true,  humble  zombie Â

ogy  of  the  dead  –  aided  by  the Â

yet  another,  repetitive  looking  piece  of  ‘dead  rule  earth,  dead  seek  survivors, Â

ďŹ Â lm  has  become  a  little  stagnant  in  this  day  and  age.  Maybe  in  20  years  time,  another  generation  will  look  at  our  recent  attempts  with Â

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ith  a  top  ten  album  called  ‘Road  to  Rouen’  released  this  sum-­ mer,  a  massive  selling  best  of  collection  under  their  belt  and  a  brand  new  single  out  this  week,  Supergrass  have  hit  the  road.  A  date  at  UEA  marked  the  last  night  of  their  tour  and  The  Event  was  lucky  enough  to  get  a  brief  interview  with  Gaz  Coombes,  lead  singer  and  guitarist  with  the  group,  before  the  band’s  sound  check.

Firstly,  Gaz  was  asked  how  the  band  came  together  over  eleven  years  ago.  Taking  a  drag  from  his  freshly  lit  cigarette,  he  replied  “We  all  met  at  school,  pretty  much.  Me  and  Mick  [bassist]  lived  in  the  same  village,  so  we  knew  each  other  from  that,  and  then  I  met  Danny  [drummer]  at  school.  And  then  there’s  Rob,  who  I  guess  I’ve  known  since  I  was  born.�  He  laughs  at  this  –  Rob  is  the  group’s  keyboard  player  and  Gaz’s  brother.  “We  got  together  and  realised  that  we  loved  making  music,  so  started  to  do  our  own  stuff.�

A  series  of  questions  on  the  new  album  came  next  –  it’s  a  marked  departure  from  previous  albums,  retaining  the  band’s  sense  of  fun  and  adventure  yet  taking  the  music  in  a  completely  new,  mellow  and  blues-­orientated  style.  Through  these  questions,  Gaz  revealed  a  lot  about  Supergrass’  thinking  behind  the  album.  “We’re  a  completely  different  band  now.  Its  been  eleven  years  or  whatever  since  our Â ďŹ rst  single  and  I  kind  of  expect  our  music  to  change  in  that  time  and  go  along  different  paths  that  lead  to  differ-­ ent  styles.  When  we  go  to  the  next  album,  it’ll  be  an  entirely  differ-­ ent  direction  then.  We  don’t  want  to  alienate  our  fans  or  anything,  but  we  want  to  keep  changing  and  keep  them  interested  in  what  we  do.  If  we  kept  repeating  the  same  record,  it  wouldn’t  be  as  exciting.  In  a  way,  we  wanted  to  make  a  record  that  felt  really  true.  There  are  times  when  you  have  a  hit  single  and  it  kind  of  takes  the  focus  away  from  the  album.  I  deďŹ nitely  felt  a  satisfaction  when  we Â ďŹ nished  the  record,  that  it  didn’t  have  any  clear  singles,  and  I  feel  that  it’s  stronger  musically  than  any  of  our  previous  work.â€?

On  the  subject  of  singles,  The  Event  asked  if  it  annoyed  the  band  because  they’d  be  remembered  for  Alright  more  than  anything  else.  Gaz  took  a  drag  on  his  cigarette  before  replying  emphatically.  “No  not  at  all.  I  still  think  it’s  a  really  good  song.  The  song  wrote  itself  and  we  had  no  idea  what  was  going  to  happen  with  it.  People  think  it’s  a  joke  song,  but  it  really  isn’t  –  there  are  elements  of  the  verses  that  are  really  interesting  musically.  We’re  very  proud  of  it  and  it’s  a  big  part  of  our  past.�  So,  what  does  ‘we  run  green’  actually  mean?  “It  just  means  freedom  and  running  through  life,  oblivious  to  the  results  of  your  actions.�  Gaz  also  revealed  that  the  next  single  from  the  current  album  will  either  be  Fin  or  Road  to  Rouen.  When  questioned  about  the  massive  success  of  Supergrass’s  best  of  compilation,  released  last  year,  Gaz  seemed  very  happy  about  it.  “The  songs  hit  a  lot  of  people  and  a  whole  new  generation  picked  up  on  our  songs  with  that  best  of  too.  It  reinforced  one  of  our  slogans  –  Supergrass:  Everyone’s  Second  Favourite  Band  –  be-­ cause  everybody  knows  our  songs  and  putting  them  all  on  one  CD  was  great.  It  was  a  really  rewarding  period  for  us  to  get  all  that  stuff  together.�

A  lot  of  bands  were  namedropped  in  answer  to  a  question  about  what  he  listens  to  at  the  moment.  “The  White  Stripes  have  consistently  impressed  me.  Arcade  Fire  are  pretty  interesting  and  Acoustic  Ladyland  are  great.  Son  of  Dave  [the  band’s  support  act,  a  one  man  blues  group]  is  inspirational  for  having  the  guts  to  do  what  he  does.  We  listened  to  a  lot  of  Elliott  Smith  when  we  were  recording  the  new  album,  as  well  as  some  Zappa.  I  really  like  Kings  of  Leon’s  second  record.  There  are  some  mad  things  out  there,  but  they’re  not  the  big  things.  It’s  always  the  way.  The  big  thing  at  the  moment  is  Hard-­Fi  and  those  sort  of  bands.  The  Arctic  Monkeys Â

are  a  bit  cheeky,  aren’t  they?â€?  He  grins.  “It’s  a  bit  worrying  that  they  remind  me  a  bit  of  some  of  the  darker  sides  of  Britpop,  like  Menswear.  That’s  why  it’s  always  interesting  to  hear  things  that  go  against  the  grain  a  bitâ€?.  The  video  to  new  single  Low  C  is  directed  by  Hammer  and  Tongs,  the  brains  behind  the  brilliant  videos  to  Supergrass’  Pump-­ ing  On  Your  Stereo  and  Blur’s  Coffee  and  TV.  Gaz  told  us  why  they  asked  them  to  do  their  latest  video,  a  strange  documentary  about  a  town  inhabited  by  mermaids.  “After  they  did  the  video  to  Pumping,  we  really  wanted  them  to  give  their  treatment  to  this  song.  They’re  really  good  people  and  they  make  excellent  videos.  Garth  [one  half Â

0G DPVSTF XF E MPWF JU JG PVS SFDPSET TPME NJMMJPOT CVU XF SF IBQQZ XJUI PVS NVTJD BOE XIFSF PVS MJWFT BSF BU UIF NPNFOU of  Hammer  and  Tongs,  and  the  director  of  The  Hitchhiker’s  Guide  to  the  Galaxy]  in  particular  is  really  imaginative  and  it  was  him  that  came  up  with  this  crazy  idea  for  a  society  of  mermaids.  We  weren’t  surprised  when  he  told  us  about  it.â€?  After  the  praise  heaped  on  these  videos,  we  asked  Gaz  what  made  a  good  video,  in  his  opinion.  He  took  another  drag  while  thinking  and  replied,  “A  good  video  is  one  that  lets  the  audience  connect  with  the  band.  Too  often,  the  vid-­ eo  is  stylish  for  the  sake  of  it,  like  a  story  or  an  angle  that’s  just  too  fancy  for  the  song,  and  the  band  get  diluted.  Like  videos  where  the  director  takes  a  crazy  angle  for  a  story  where  the  band  keep  turning  up  in  different  places,  and  they  all  look  really  uncomfortable.â€?  He  mimes  the  nervousness  of  the  band  in  the  video  he’s  clearly  think-­ ing  of  –  although  he  didn’t  tell  us  what  it  was.  “They  should  just  be  themselves.  They  should  take  an  idea  and  stick  with  it.  One  of  my  favourites  that  we  did  was  Rush  Hour  Soul,  where  I’m  dressed  as  a  tramp  walking  through  London.  It’s  only  one  idea,  but  I  felt  that  it Â

said  a  lot.  The  Kiss  of  Life  video  was  an  early  idea  that  we  felt  worked  and  we  stuck  with  it  –  it  was  one  of  our  cheapest  videos,  it  only  cost  £12,000.â€?  He  then  told  us  that  Low  C’s  video  cost  about  £25,000  and  Pumping  On  Your  Stereo  cost  around  £200,000!  Returning  to  the  questions  about  how  Supergrass  have  turned  their  back  on  commercialisation  to  make  music  they’re  happy  with  and  also  about  how  they’re  seen  as  underrated  (for  example,  by  Brett  Anderson  of  Suede  and  The  Tears),  Gaz  seemed  slightly  bitter  about  it.  “At  times  it  does  feel  that  we’re  underrated,  but  that’s  just  the  way  it  is.  There  are  things  you  can  do  to  get  yourself  out  there,  but  I  don’t  think  we’re  prepared  to  do  them.  It’s  not  that  we’re  unambitious  or  lazy,  but  you  need  privacy  and  personal  space  sometimes  and  there’s  a  level  you  can  reach  where  you  completely  lose  that.  Of  course  we’d  love  it  if  our  records  sold  millions,  but  we’re  happy  with  our  music  and  where  our  lives  are  at  the  moment.  That’s  why  it’s  great  that  we’ve  got  the  freedom  to  make  the  records  that  we  do;Íž  if  we  sold  three  million  records  every  time,  then  there’d  be  a  lot  of  pressure  on  us  to  maintain  that  sound.  Like  Coldplay,  they’re  keeping  EMI  up  in  the  rankings  and  a  band  that’s  holding  a  record  company  up  is  such  a  massive  pressure  for  them.  They’ll  either  disappear  or  do  another  X&Y;Íž  they’ve  got  no  other  choice.  It’s  a  horrible  situation  to  be  in,  because  they’re  not  free.  It  becomes  a  vicious  circle  –  to  be  more  popular,  you  have  to  be  more  commercialised,  but  we  don’t  want  to  be  commercialised  and  so  we  remain‌  not  unpopular,  but  on  the  fringes  of  popularity.  It’s  all  a  bit  hectic.â€?

On Â ďŹ nishing  the  interview  and  signing  some  CDs,  Gaz  left  for  the  band’s  sound  check.  We  were  left  with  a  strange  impression  of  the  band  –  they  seem  to  love  the  music  they’re  making,  yet  want  to  be  more  popular,  but  don’t  want  to  compromise  their  music  for  the  sake  of  that.  However,  the  sell-­out  gig  proved  that  there  are  still  many  Supergrass  fans,  no  matter  what  they  do.  The  set  mixed  gentle  songs  from  the  new  album  with  many  of  their  biggest  songs,  which  got  the  crowd  relaxed  and  bouncing  around  equally.  We  even  got  to  the  front,  where  Gaz  acknowledged  us!  Whatever  direction  the  band  go  in  next,  they’ve  proved  (both  over  the  last  eleven  years  and  at  the  gig)  that  they  can  carry  out  anything  they  put  their  mind  too,  and  be  bloody  good  at  it.  Hopefully,  another  Supergrass  gig  at  UEA  won’t  be  too  far  away. Â

Event The

7

Creative  Writing Longing

TAXI  Cabby’s  Corner

@

Cabby’s  corner  is  dedicated  to  the  taxi  driv-­ ers  of  Norwich  with  their  endless  facts,  sto-­ ries  and  revelations.   Next  time  you  get  a  taxi  bring  your  notepad  and  email  your  own  cabby’s  corner  to  m.whitton@uea.ac.uk

It  raises  my  blood  pressure  see,  all  these  fancy  dress  LCR’s  with  girls  in  well  you  know,  not  much  yes.  I  had  school  girls  in  last  week,  cowgirls,  pocah-­bloody-­hontis,  you  name  it.  Who  are  you  meant  to  be  then?  Jessica  Alba.  Sin  what?  Here,  we’ve  got  this  one  old  guy,  sixty  he  is,  I’m  not  mentioning  names  but  last  week  two  stoodents  didn’t  have  enough  money  to  pay  for  the  taxi,  so,  well,  you  know,  they  did  him.  Oh  yeah  happens  all  the  time,  you  didn’t  know  that.  I’ve  never,  but  my  wife  worries.  Some  women  I’ve  had  in  though,  put  it  this  way  I  can’t  say  I  haven’t  been  tempted,  but  there’s  this  one  girl  always  grabbing  my  balls,  I  had  to  have  a  serious  word  last  week,  grabbed  them  just  as  I  was  dropping  her  off  at  her  boyfriends,  he  couldn’t  see  like  but  Christ  it  gave  me  a  shock.   blood  pressure  see,  all  these  fancy  dress  LCR’s  with  girls  in  well  you  know,  not Â

Madonna  Without  Child

Longing  is  not A  deceptive  word Like  when  I  say I  long  to  have  you  here, And  in  in  your  absence Wear  your  shirt.

It  tells  of  something Which  is  not  love But  aches  almost  as  much.

She  stares  at  me,  that  frozen-­faced  beauty  of  crinoline.

Diaphanous  folds  of  organza  conceal  the  bruise,  pristine.

I  want  to  fall  deep  within  her  feather-­owered  hair, Hide  my  soul’s  desires  within  tight  pores  never  seen, Live  my  hermit  contentment  inside  her  there. &SJDB 8BSL

Ode  to  the  New  Beat  Poets

Your  ego  dances  across  the  keyboard;͞ starving,  hysterical,  naked.

Mindless  tangerian  opiate  dreams a  spooling  nonsensical  spiel of  boxcars,  boxcars,  boxcars‌ Always  with  the  boxcars.  Your  words  are  aperçus  into  a  fascinating  mind, cryptic  signiďŹ ers  to  some  elusive  signiďŹ ed‌* [*of  which  I  begin  to  doubt  the  existence] “You  can’t  understand  my  poetry  without  understanding  me.â€? and  “Poetry  is  no  longer  an  elitist  artformâ€?, but  some  people  are  more  unique  than  others  and, personally, I Â ďŹ nd  the  inside  of  your  head  so  tantalising  that I  just  want  to  crawl  inside  like  it  was  a  big‌  rotting‌  peach.

Because  you’ve  read  Derrida and  you’re  the  girl  everybody  wants  to  decon-­ struct. Â

But  love’s  transience  is  a  cloud  already  packed  with  tears And  as  the Â ďŹ rst  ecks  fall  death-­slow  decay  appears.

My  walls  are  being  stripped  out  to  the  winds  and,  below, The  knee  high  leather  boots  mould  within  her  fears: Flesh  malleable  and  corruptible  that  longs  to  ow.

I  would  kiss  her  zippers  and  stroke  the  eyebrow  shorn, (Some  Nazarite  vow  of  a  body  from  its  longing  torn), A  commitment  to  vapours,  rosaries  and  the  reli-­ gious  mystic.

Palm  to  palm  I’d  lick  the  little Â ďŹ nger  nail,  forlorn, While  thoughts  drift  within  pale  bubbles  wet  slick.

The  wings  at  her  back  like  love’s Â ďŹ rst  bed-­duvet, A  body  to  lie  upon  in  pleasure,  a  smile  au  fait.

The  corners  of  her  mouth:  the  orbit  of  my  whole  world.

But  Eve  crunched  the  apple  so  love  became  fate And  this  fallen  angel  into  my  open  arms  was  hurled.

(PSEPO 8FFUNBO

)FMFO 5BZMPS

1MFBTF FNBJM ZPVS DPOUSJCVUJPOT UP

In  A  Slip

In  a  slip,  with  white  calves smoothing  down  into  ankles red  from  cold,  from  dusk  in October—  I  lift  my  hem,  invite  night  to Â ďŹ ll  the  space. in  bed,  when  his  body  is  absent,  a  glow  marks  where  the  edge of  shoulder  and  neck  should  be.

I  rest  my  head  there,  pretend the  heart  that  I  am  hearing  is  his. my  mouth  drifts  open  in  the  night,  and  the  light  of  stories  leaks  out from  between  gaps  in  my  teeth, over  soft  tongue,  into  thick  air. the  comet-­like  trails  hover,  icker,  and  fade.  they  appear in  old  photographs,  get  mistaken for  the  circles  of  the  dead. they  are  actually  stories who  have  had  their  wicks  lit. dreams  to  keep  me  company when  I  awaken  in  the  night and Â ďŹ nd  myself  alone  in  the  linen. yet,  I  awaken with  such  a  toothy-­grin.  this  is  a  luxury.  I  run  my Â ďŹ nger  along  the  edge of  my  morning  glass and  the  water  sings. +BNJF "HOFMMP

N XIJUUPO!VFB BD VL

HOROSCOPES Aquarius:  Jan  20  -  Feb  18 The  waning  moon  suggests  your  wa-­ tery  ways  will  no  longer  be  winning  -­  dry  up,  go  out,  get  in!  This  fortnight,  it’s  all  about  the  social  scene.

Lucky  Colour:  A  sort  of  reddish-­brown.

Aries:  Mar  21  -  Apr  19

A  friend  will  ask  to  borrow  some  money  for  ‘private  problems’.  If  you  choose  to  help  them,  get  your  mon-­ ey’s  worth  in  gossip Â ďŹ rst  -­  it’s  what  you  know.   Lucky  Fruit:  Plum  tomato.

Leo:  Jul  23  -  Aug  22

The  stars  suggest  romance,  but  also   a  nasty  rash  -­  be  cautious.  Keep  your  temper  in  the  supermarket  queue,  your  tutor  WILL  be  behind  you.

Lucky  building:  Colman  House

A  blonde  in  your  life  does  not  mean  well  -­  avoid  conďŹ dences  this  fort-­ night.  That  essay  will  only  get  harder  if  you  avoid  it.  FACT. Lucky  pixie:   kelpie

Cancer:  Jun  22  -  Jul  22

Libra:  Sept  23  -  Oct  23

Your  opening  up  has  paid  off  ro-­ mantically,  but  storms  are  on  the  way  -­  don’t  retreat  at  the Â ďŹ rst  sign  of  trouble,  it’s  worth  it!

Lucky  implement:  can  opener

Avoid  trafďŹ c  and  get  in  touch  with  your  sensitive  side  -­  a  walk  round  the  lake  will  uncover  a  useful  secret.  Be  wary  of  making  assumptions.

Lucky  tree:  weeping  willow.

Capricorn:  Dec  22  -  Jan  19 Give  up  that Â ďŹ lthy  habit  -­  you  know  what  I’m  talking  about.  Replace  it  with  some  good  clean  fun  -­  something  outdoorsy.  Trials  are  good  for  the  soul.

Lucky  cheese:  jarlsberg.

8

Gemini:  May  21  -  Jun  21

Event The

Pisces:  Feb  19  -  Mar  20 There’s  little  that  can  go  wrong  this  fortnight  -­  go  with  the  ow  and  all  shold  be  well.  Use  this  peaceful  time  to  prepare  for  forthcoming  challenges.

Lucky  shape:  octagon.

Sagittarius:  Nov  22  -  Dec  21 Shoot Â ďŹ rst,  ask  questions  later  -­  your  instincts  will  be  right.  Do  not  trust  people  who  ask  if  you’ve  lost  weight.  Avoid  oily Â ďŹ sh  on  Mondays.

Lucky  letter:  M

Scorpio:  Oct  24  -  Nov  21 The  stars  are  against  you  this  month  -­  keep  your  head  down.  An  old  friend  will  get  in  touch  offering  a  lifeline,  but  check  your  facts Â ďŹ rst.

Lucky  beverage:  peppermint  tea.

Taurus:  Apr  20  -  May  20  Your  lucky  streak  continues  -­  but  know  when  to  stop.  Rely  on  the  advice  of  a  stranger  with  nascent  dreadlocks.  A  tat-­ too  is  NOT   a  good  idea.

Lucky  time:  shortly  after  3  am  (don’t  sleep!)

Virgo:  Aug  23  -  Sept  22 Persist  with  that  special  someone  -­  they  will  succumb  in  time.  Venus  fa-­ vours  assertiveness.  Make  that  trip  this  month  -­  Customs  OfďŹ cers  will  be  lax!

Lucky  pastry:  cream  horn.

Feature

No  Strings  Attached

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ou  can  tell  upon  entering  the  Norwich  Pup-­ pet  Theatre  that  it  is  a  wholly  unique  place.  From  the  outside  the  converted  church  of  St.  James  looks  austere,  just  as  much  a  part  of  the  natural  surroundings  as  any  other  int  church  in  Norwich.  It  doesn’t  seem  like  the  most  obvious  choice  of  building  for  what  immediately  appears  to  be  children’s  enter-­ tainment.  However,  as  The  Event  stands  waiting  for  the  theatre’s  general  manager,  Ian  Woods,  we  have  the  chance  to  have  a  look  around,  and  the  life  of  the  theatre  becomes  apparent.  There  is  a  fascinating  array  of  puppets  and  props  hanging  from  the  walls  and  ceiling  that  give  the  impression  of  being  only  temporarily  station-­ ary,  as  these  are  the  very  actors  of  the  performances  that  take  place  at  the  theatre.  In  particular  there  are  two  puppets  directly  opposite  where  The  Event  is  sitting  that  seem  to  be  staring  straight  towards  us.  They  have  unsettlingly  blank  expressions  and  what  look  like  big  green  hats  on  their  heads.  We  later Â ďŹ nd  out  that  these  are  Hansel  and  Gretel,  and  what  seemed  to  be  hats  were  actually  halves  of  ba-­ guettes  that  had  been  painted,  intended  to  symbolise  the  bread  trail  the  characters  left  behind.  Clearly  appearences  can  be  deceptive.  Talking  to  Mr.  Woods  The  Event  soon  realises  that  there  are  a  fair  few  things  still  to  be  learnt  about  puppet  theatre.  The  best  way  to  think  about  it  is  that,  as  he  succinctly  put  it,  ‘puppet  theatre  is  theatre.’  This  may  seem  self  evident,  still  it  is  good  to  remember  that  the  Norwich  puppet  theatre  is  one  of  the  best  places  in  the  country  to  see  both  childrens’  and  professional  puppet  theatre.  The  events  that  have  been  arranged  for  the  25  year  anniversary  dem-­ onstrate  this  mix  well.  The  majority  of  the  afternoon  and  morning  shows  are  targeted  to  a  younger  audience,  and  include  versions  of  well  known  fairy  tales  like  Jack  and  the  Beanstalk,  Pinocchio  and  a  reworking  of  Cinderella  by  the  Banyan  theatre  company.  Although  these  have  been  written  to  appeal  to  children,  and  the  timing  of  the  celebration  has  been  arranged  to  coincide  with  the  school  half-­ term,  they  can  also  be  appreciated  by  adults,  as  there  are  different  levels  of  interpretation  for  each  show.  The  evening  shows,  however,  are  speciďŹ cally  intended  for  adults.  There  are  avant-­garde  perform-­ ances,  shadow  puppetry  and  interpretations  of  serious  literature  as  well.  This  variety  is  just  one  way  in  which  the  puppet  theatre  has  tried  to  demonstarte  its  multi-­faceted  history  and  inuences.

The  puppet  theatre  was  established  in  1979  by  Ray  and  Joan  DaSilva  after  they  bought  the  St.  James  church  just  off  Whitefriars  roundabout.  They  converted  the  building  and  opened  for  business  on  the  1st  of  December  the  following  year,  and  it  is  now  one  of  only Â

" HPPE QFSGPSNFS DBO UIVT FYQSFTT UIFNTFMWFT GVMMZ UISPVHI UIF NPWFNFOUT PG UIF QVQQFU TPNFIPX DSFBUJOH UIF JMMVTJPO PG MJGF XJUIJO JU two  theatres  in  Britain  speciďŹ cally  dedicated  to  puppet  theatre.  The  DaSilva’s  original  intention  for  the  project  was  to  have  a  theatre  that  supported  and  encouraged  both  puppet  theatre  and  its  allied  arts.  They  were  very  much  involved  in  the  theatre’s  early  successes,  however  they  handed  over  direct  artistic  control  in  1985  to  Barry  Smith  who  changed  the  theatre’s  direction  quite  radically.  Smith  was  very  artistically  driven,  and  steered  his  productions  to  more  high-­brow,  original  shows,  which  was  very  different  to  the  traditions  of  the  60’s  and  70’s  that  the  DaSilva’s  represented.  The  change  was  uncomfortable  for  some  however,  and  since  Luis  Boy  became  artistic  director  in  1991,  he  has  tried  to  provide  a  range  of  different Â

shows  in  order  to  appeal  to  a  wider  audience  and  show  a  more  evolved  style.  One  of  the  deďŹ ning  roles  of  the  puppet  theatre  has  been  to  act  as  a  resource  and  focus  for  all  kinds  of  artists  involved  in  the  art  of  puppet  theatre,  both  from  Britain  and  abroad.  The  shows  created  by  the  theatre’s  professional  company  for  instance,  under  the  di-­ rection  of  Luis  Boy,  have  toured  extensively,  performing  at  national  festivals  and  in  various  countries  around  the  world.  This  aspect  of  their  work  is  reected  in  the  variety  of  cultures  and  nations  show-­ ing  during  the  celebration  week.  There  are  performances  by  visiting  companies  from  Spain,  France,  Portugal,  Japan,  the  Slovak  Repub-­ lic  and  Russia,  and  by  guest  performers  from  India  and  Argentina.  One  of  the  highlights  of  the  travelling  shows  is  the  Nevsky  Prospekt  by  the  Russian  company  Theatre  Potudan,  which  is  based  on  a  story  by  Gogol.  It  is  described  as  a  ‘theatrical  world  in  miniature,’  which  follows  an  artist’s  life  in  St.Petersburg,  and  has  been  chosen  to  be  the  closing  show  of  the  celebration  because  of  its  sheer  intensity  and  scope.  It  is  slightly  longer  and  has  more  puppeteers  than  all  the  other  performances,  which  makes  it  more  visually  challenging,  however  it  is  a  great  example  of  serious  puppet  theatre  from  a  for-­ eign  tradition.

The  theatre’s  management  have  arranged  their  anniversary  cel-­ ebration  to  be  a  recognition  of  their  past  work  by  putting  on  shows  that  appeal  to  both  young  and  old,  and  ones  that  appeal  both  to  those  who  know  about  puppet  theatre  and  those  who  have  not  been  to  a  show  before.  Another  important  feature  of  the  theatre’s  role  is  to  teach  people  and  facilitate  amateur  interest  in  puppet  theatre.  During  the  week  there  are  four  workshops  put  on  during  the  day  so  that  people  of  all  ages  can  learn  about  the  practical  aspects  of  puppetry.  The  individual  workshops  are  for  origami,  circus  perform-­ ance,  hand  shadow,  and  rod  puppetry.  The  Event  asks  Woods  what Â

are  the  most  important  qualities  in  a  puppeteer,  to  which  he  replies  that  it  is  important  that  the  audience  do  not  notice  the  strings  or  rods,  but  focus  their  attention  on  the  character  of  the  puppet  itself.  This  is  how  puppet  theatre  can  be  compared  to  theatre  in  general,  as  the  puppets  are  meant  to  be  extensions  of  the  performers  and  not  replacements  for  them.  A  good  performer  can  thus  express  them-­ selves  fully  through  the  movements  of  the  puppet,  somehow  creating  the  illusion  of  life  within  it,  so  that  the  audience  almost  forget  the  character  is  not  real.

After  visiting  the  theatre  and  talking  to  Mr.  Woods,  it  becomes  apparent  that  puppet  theatre  is  not  a  shallow  or  restrictive  art  form,  but  that  it  can  be  as  complex  and  multi-­faceted  as  any  other  theatre.  It  is  also  very  entertaining  and  thoroughly  unpretentious,  which  is  demonstrated  well  in  the  range  of  shows  that  are  being  put  on  for  the  celebration.  The  puppets  look  fantastic,  and  are  constantly  visu-­ ally  surprising.  Clearly  a  lot  of  thought  goes  into  their  design  by  the  artistic  director.  They  can  almost  certainly  be  described  as  a  form  of  sculpture  in  their  own  right.  Since  opening  25  years  ago  the  puppet  theatre  has  become  an  intrinsic  part  of  Norwich’s  cultural  landscape.  This  may  be  because  puppet  theatre  is  quite  under-­represented  in  Britain,  despite  the  immense  popularity  of  programs  like  Thunderbirds,  Sesame  Street  and  the  Muppets.  The  theatre  is  partly  responsible  for  maintaining  standards  in  the  industry,  as  it  provides  the  much  needed  stability  for  less  focused  individual  performers  and  companies.  Therefore  it  seems Â ďŹ tting  that  the  theatre  should  celebrate  its  past  successes,  not  to  mention  its  present  importance  to  the  people  of  Norwich,  with  the  diverse  range  of  shows  on  offer  this  week  in  its  International  Celebra-­ tion  of  Puppet  Theatre.  The  events  on  display  perfectly  demonstrate  the  theatre’s  progress  throughout  its  twenty-Â­ďŹ ve  year  existence. Â

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Stephen’s  No  Small  Fry 5IF QFSFOOJBMMZ #SJUJTI BMQIB CSBJO EJTTFDUT IJT FWFS QSFTFOU EFNPOT XJUI 5IF &WFOU T WFSZ PXO 3PBOOB #POE FODPVOUFSJOH 0TDBS 8JMEF MBXONPXFST BOE UIF AFNPUJPOBM NBTUVSCBUJPO UIBU JT NPEFSO EBZ QPFUSZ BMPOH UIF XBZ

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tephen  Fry’s  laughter  ricochets  through  the  walls,  boundlessly  illuminating  the  drab,  dull  ofďŹ ce  in  which  he  sits.  The  man  behind  such  creations  of  comic  genius  as  Blackadder,  Jeeves  and  Wooster  and  QI,  lounges  languidly  in  his  seat,  jovially  expounding  upon  the  joys  of  seasonal  smoking.  It  transpires  that  he  prefers  to  smoke  pipes  in  winter,  while  in  the  summer  he  enjoys  the  odd  cigarette.  He  is  currently  in  a  transitional  period,  however.  As  if  to  illustrate  this,  he  now  amboyantly  lights  up  a  ciga-­ rette  whilst  speaking,  explaining  that  his  only  worry  is  that  pipes  can  look  a  little  pretentious.

Pretentious  is  in  fact  one  of  the  very  last  adjectives  it  would  be  fair  to  attribute  to  Fry.  He  is  incredibly  self-­deprecating,  open  and  genuine.  For  a  man  so  widely  revered,  he  doesn’t  shy  away  from  any  discussion  of  his  rather  turbulent  past,  on  the  contrary  he  welcomes  it.  When  asked  whether  he  thinks  that  growing  up  in  a  rural  area  af-­ fects  the  way  you  are  brought  up,  Fry  is  impressively  candid,  remark-­ ing  wryly:  ‘Well,  you  wouldn’t  expect  someone  from  my  background  to  end  up  spending  three  months  in  prison,  so  it‘s  hard  to  tell.’  Hav-­ ing  spent  the  majority  of  his  formative  years,  when  not  at  boarding  school,  living  in  deepest  darkest  Norfolk,  he  should  know.  Fry’s  chequered  past  is  no  secret  to  most  these  days:  the  noto-­ rious  adolescent  credit-­card  theft  that  landed  him  three  months  in  prison,  the  numerous  expulsions  from  schools  when  he  was  young-­ er,  the  frequent  battles  with  heavy  episodes  of  depression.  Not  to  mention  the  time  he  absconded  from  the  West  End  production  of  ‘Cell  Mates’  half-­way  through  the  run  and  ed  to  Belgium.  Again,  he  amicably  links  these  misadventures  back  to  his  upbringing,  citing  the  rurally  situated  house  where  he  spent  much  of  his  childhood  as  a  mo-­ tive  for  why  he  always  ‘runs  away  from  schools  and  things’.  He  puts  it  down  to  a  need  to  ‘go  in  search  of  adventure.’:  ‘I  was  cut  off  from  any  kind  of  entertainment  when  I  was  younger:  friends  houses,  cinemas,  bars,  we  simply  couldn’t  imagine  having  that  kind  of  thing  nearby.  It  gives  you  a  certain  desperation  to  leave.  All  I  really  had  was  books.’ Thus,  a  more  positive  outcome  of  his  remote  childhood  is  un-­ covered:  ‘That’s  what  got  me  started  on  all  this,  I  suppose.  I  spent  my  whole  time  reading.’  If  that  be  the  case,  then  Fry’s  loss  as  a  child  was  later  to  be  our  nation’s  gain.  His  literary  credits  are  many,  hav-­ ing  already  written  a  wide  selection  of  novels,  including  The  Liar,  The  Hippopotamus  and  The  Stars’  Tennis  Balls,  an  autobiography  enti-­ tled  ‘Moab  is  my  Washpot’  and,  his  latest  published  work,  a  guide  to  writing  poetry  called  ‘The  Ode  Less  Travelled:  Unlocking  The  Poet  Within’.

Alongside  this  impressive  array  of  accomplishments,  he  has  built  up  an  enviable  CV,  including,  among  many  other  things:  becoming  a  millionaire  at  the  age  of  twenty  seven  after  writing  the  libretto  for  the  musical  Me  and  My  Girl,  playing  Oscar  Wilde  in  the Â ďŹ lm  Wilde,  directing  his Â ďŹ rst  major  feature Â ďŹ lm,  Bright  Young  Things,  perform-­ ing  in  a  host  of  roles  for  television,  including  Sherlock  Holmes,  and  presenting  the  BAFTA  awards.  For  a  man  of  so  many  talents  he  is  an  incredibly  affable,  charm-­ ing  and  generous  conversationalist,  his  banter  littered  with  all  the  trade-­marked  wit  you  would  expect  from  one  so  renowned  for  his  intelligence  and  humour.  Any  attempts  to  highlight  his  numerous  achievements,  in  the  face  of  his  acute  self-­deprecation  and  modesty,  are  dismissed  with  a  humble  wave  of  the  hand.  Beneath  his  debonair  charisma,  however,  lies  a  muddle  of  insecurities.  Nuances  of  his  ex-­ treme  physical  self-­loathing  surface  occasionally,  offering  glimmers  of  understanding  into  his  self-­imposed  sixteen  year  period  of  celibacy  and  the  beginnings  of  an  insight  into  what  motivates  his  infamously  wayward  behaviour.          For  a  man  who  is  so  openly  analytical  of  his  many  neuroses,  writ-­ ing  an  autobiography  seems  like  the  perfect  way  to  achieve  some  kind  of  catharsis.  The  Event  suggests  that  it  must  be  extremely  healthy Â

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Event The

to  be  given  the  opportunity  to  reect  in  this  manner,  to  which  Fry  readily  agrees:  ‘There’s  deďŹ nitely  an  element  of  catharsis.  It  sounds  incredibly  banal  to  say  it  of  course,  but  I  suppose  it  really  depends  on  the  type  of  life  you’ve  lived.  In  my  case  I  was  writing  an  autobi-­ ography  of  a  very,  I  think,  unusual  childhood.’ When  asked  if  there  is  any  chance  of  a  sequel,  as  the  book  only  covers  the Â ďŹ rst  twenty  years  of  Fry’s  life,  he  ponders  for  a  moment  before  responding:  ‘If  I  was  to  write  a  second  volume,  it  would  be  very  hard  for  it  not  to  become  more  typical,  because  it  would  be-­ come  a  showbiz  biography.  The  difďŹ culty  is  that  now  I  would  have  to  write  about  people  that  everybody  knows,  whereas  when  I  was  writing  about  my  school  days  I  could  conate  and  amalgamate  peo-­ ple.  I  could  even  make  up  their  names  if  I  wanted  to  protect  their  identities.  But  now  there’s  no  way  I  could  make  anything  up  now.  I’d  have  to  be  gushy  and  showbiz-­like  and  greasy.  Which  basically  means  I’d  have  to  write  about  my  life  not  touching  on  my  work,  which  has  been  the  large  extent  of  my  life.  So  that’s  the  difďŹ culty.  Besides  I’m  still  too  busy  living  life  at  the  moment,  but  I  might  get  around  to  it  at  some  stage.’  Moab  Is  My  Washpot  is  a  remarkably  affecting  autobiography.  In  it  Fry  effortlessly  details  the  agonies  of  his  childhood  with  an  honesty  that  is  both  startling  and  unique.  At  times  he  paints  such  a Â

A5IF UIJOH XJUI UBMFOU JT UP QSFUFOE UIBU ZPV EPO U mOE JU FBTZ BOE UIFO JU JT NPSF SFXBSEJOH UP CF DPOHSBUV MBUFE GPS JU tormented  portrait  of  himself  that  it  makes  for  quite  unbearably  sad  reading.  When  asked  whether  he  ever  had  any  qualms  about  being  so  excruciatingly  frank  in  the  book,  Fry  remains  realistic:  ‘I  think  part  of  the  pleasure  in  writing  about  oneself  is  that  it  is,  in  a  sense,  the  purest  sort  of  writing  you  can  have.  The  beauty  of  writing  is  that  you  can  inspect  things  with  pitiless  honesty,  it’s  just  about  being  able  to  remain  humble  in  the  face  of  facts  about  yourself.  Also,  part  of  me  is  always  aware  that  I‘m  writing  for  me  in  my  past,  I’m  writing  what  I  would  like  to  have  read  when  I  was  younger.’ ‘A  lot  of  people Â ďŹ nd  all  these  sorts  of  things  very  embarrassing.  I  think  one  of  the  advantages  I  have  in  not  seeming  to  be  neurotic  in  a  sort  of  American  way,  is  that  it  means  I  can  reect  on  what  I  am  feeling.  I  always  enjoy  myself  so  much  more  when  I  read  people  being  honest  about  their  lives  and  I  never  think  worse  of  them  for  it  at  all,  quite  the  opposite  in  fact.  Part  of  you  of  course  thinks  vaguely  ‘Oh  God  are  my  parents  going  to  be  embarrassed?’  But  I‘m  very  lucky  to  have  parents  who  I  can  share  this  kind  of  thing  with.â€?

The  Event  wonders  then  whether  he  feels  that,  without  these  insecurities,  would  he  be  able  to  write  and  act  so  successfully?  ‘It’s  such  a  good  question,  I  mean,  W.  H.  Auden  once  said,  don’t  take  away  people’s  devils  because  you’ll  take  away  their  angels  too.  One  sometimes  feels  that  the  idea  of  trying  to  get  rid  of  these  neuroses  is  kind  of  insane.  Neuroses  are  the  things  that  make  us  precisely  who  we  are  and  maybe  they  can  seem  sometimes  to  burden  us,  but  then  you  think,  ‘alright  well  you  know,  lets  think  of  someone  I  really  envy,  who’s  life  would  I  like  to  have?  Would  I  want  to  be  Bill  Gates?’  No!  Good  God,  I  mean  imagine  waking  up  every  morning  being  Bill  Gates!  And  then  you  think,  well,  what  about  writers  I  admire?  Would  I  want  to  be  Seamus  Heaney  or  Julian  Barnes?’  Again,  no.  I’m  happy  to  admire  those  people,  but  it  doesn’t  mean  I  want  to  be  them.  So  I  think  one  praises  God  for  ones  neuroses  in  a  way,  I  certainly  praise  God  for  everything  that  makes  me  different.’ He  pauses  or  a  moment  or  two,  before  adding:  ‘One  of  the Â

absolute  privileges  of  being  a  student,  for  example,  is  that  it  au-­ tomatically  gives  you  a  sort  of  visa  to  bohemia.  You  don’t  have  to  spend  your  life  thinking  ‘Oh  God,  did  I  leave  the  lawnmower  out?’  Lawnmowers  are  a  symbol  of  everything  one  should  hate.  Never  care  about  your  lawnmower.’ Could  it  be  then  that,  although  the  idea  of  the  tortured  artist  is  somewhat  of  a  clichĂŠ  these  days,  it  is  a  clichĂŠ  that  contains  a  degree  of  merit?  ‘Well,  exactly.  I  think  Oscar  Wilde  put  it  very  well,  as  he  does  with  so  many  things.  He  discusses  in  one  of  his  essays  the  idea  of  the  artistic  life.   By  the  artistic  life,  I  mean  the  dynamic  life.  Some  people  have  a  very  clear  idea  of  what  they  want  to  do  and  be  in  the  world,  for  example,  a  lawyer  or  a  teacher  or  an  industrialist,  and  they  nearly  always  become  it.  That  is  their  punishment.  But  for  those  of  us  that  choose  the  artistic  life,  we  do  not  know  from  one  day  to  the  next  what  we  want  to  be,  we  only  know  that  we  want  to  try  to  be  things,  eat  different  fruit  from  different  trees  from  all  the  orchards  around  the  world.  And  some  will  be  bitter  and  terrible,  and  some  will  be  wonderful,  but  not  to  have  tried  them  at  all  seems  to  us  to  be  a  failure.’ ‘Every  old  clichĂŠ  says  that  this  is  not  a  rehearsal,  this  life,  that  this  is  all  you  get,  but  I  think  it  is  an  insult  to  creation  not  to  throw  oneself  into  all  available  possibilities  and  experiences.’ Does  he  feel  then  that  it  is  possible  to  achieve  the  more  posi-­ tive  accomplishments  in  life,  his  extraordinary  artistic  abilities,  for  example,  without  the  more  negative  aspects,  his  compulsive  over-­ analysis  and  self-­laceration,  for  instance?  ‘Well,  it’s  an  integral  part  of  many  philosophies,  this  idea  of  balance.  The  Chinese,  for  exam-­ ple,  have  this  idea  of  Ying  Yang,  and  I  think  you  cannot  help  but  observe  that  there  is  a  kind  of  equation  in  these  things.  Alcohol  and  drugs  are  a  good  example,  for  every  ounce  of  joy  that  you  get  from  taking  a  drink  or  drug,  there  is  always  an  equal  amount  of  misery  to  be  suffered  afterwards.  Or  if  you  take  more  obvious  examples,  the  things  we  all  envy,  beauty  and  talent  for  instance.  Someone  who  is  astonishingly  beautiful,  say,  we  all  want  to  be,  because  we  would  like  to  know  what  it  feels  like  to  be  beautiful.  In  fact,  it’s  very  hard  for  us  not  to  think  that  beauty  isn’t  almost  a  sort  of  moral  qual-­ ity,  that  the  beautiful  aren‘t  invested  with  something  extra  then  us  mere  mortals.  To  be  found  to  be  beautiful  is  something  we  would  all  love  to  experience,  and  yet  we  also  know  that  beauty  is  an  awful  privilege,  partly  because  it  means  one  can  never  be  sure  whether  one  is  loved  for  one’s  true  character  or  not,  and  partly  because  of  the  knowledge  that  it  is  absolutely  transient.  So  one  can  recognise  that,  for  all  the  advantages  it  may  offer,  there  are  also  terrible  dis-­ advantages.   ‘Similarly  with  talent,  I  think.  The  thing  with  talent  is  to  pretend  that  you  don’t Â ďŹ nd  it  easy  and  then  it  is  more  rewarding  to  be  con-­ gratulated  for  it.  You  never  hear  of  a  renowned  cricketer  or  tennis  player  saying,  ‘I’m  really  pleased  that  I’m  so  talented!’  What  they  want  to  be  admired  for  is  the  effort  that  they  put  into  it,  the  fact  that  they  worked  really  hard  to  get  where  they  are.  Because  that’s  what  they  feel  that  they  invested  their  whole  self  into.  Talent  is  just  an  extra  really.’ There  is  a  paragraph  in  the  foreword  to  ‘The  Ode  Less  Trav-­ elled’  where  Fry  argues  something  similar  to  this.  Clearly  then,  The  Event  suggests,  it  is  a  subject  very  close  to  his  heart.  It’s  an  interest-­ ing  idea.  If  this  is  the  case,  if  people  are  indeed  reluctant  to  accept  praise  for  their  God  given  gifts,  then  surely  many  of  Fry’s  seemingly  innate  qualities,  his  quick-­witted  sense  of  humour  and  his  intelli-­ gence,  for  instance,  must  come  into  question  when  he  is  making  an  appraisal  of  himself?  ‘Well,  it’s  interesting.  There  was  actually  a  much  longer  section  originally  in  the  foreword,  which  I  then  cut,  about  how  people  often  apply  that  horrendous  phrase  to  me  ‘multi-­talented’,  and  I Â ďŹ nd  it  deeply  distressing  and  uncomfortable.  I  hate  it  that  people  refer  to  me  as  this  kind  of  renaissance  person.   Partly,  of  course,  that’s  van-­

ity.  I  would  like  to  be  thought  of  as  someone  who  worked  hard  to  achieve  what  they  do.  I  mean,  I’m  aware  that  some  things  seem  to  come,  perhaps,  more  easily  to  me  then  they  do  to  other  people,  but  I  would  like  to  think  that  it  is  not  just  something  I’ve  been  given.  I  suspect,  of  course,  that  that’s  all  nonsense  really,  though.’      Whether  he  feels  that  he  can  take  credit  for  the  skills  he  pos-­ sesses  or  not,  however,  it  is  undeniable  that  Fry’s  powers  as  a  writer  are  truly  formidable.  His  stories  are  infused  with  a  strong,  sharp  sense  of  wit  and  an  eloquence  that  is  rare  among  his  British  con-­ temporaries.  Time  and  again  he  has  been  lauded  by  critics  for  his  mastery  of  language  and  skilful  storytelling.  The  Stars’  Tennis  Balls,  in  particular,  is  a  modern  day  masterpiece.  He  manages  to  achieve  a  balance  that  so  few  other  writers  seem  to  accomplish  these  days,  combining  well  woven,  meticulous  plots  with  intricately  depicted  characters  and  piercingly  accurate  observations  on  everyday  life.  In  his  latest  book,  ‘The  Ode  Less  Travelled’,  he  takes  a  break  from  his  usual  style  of  writing,  however,  and  tries  instead  to  teach  others  how  to  write.  The  basic  principle  of  the  book,  he  explains,  is  to  educate  people  in  how  to  write  poetry,  so  that  they  can  pick  it  up  as  a  hobby,  should  they  wish,  much  in  the  same  way  that  they  would  pick  up  painting  or  dancing  as  a  past  time.  It  becomes  apparent  he  sorely  feels  that  poetry  is  a  much  maligned  art  form,  asserting  his  opinion  that  people  are  ‘embarrassed’  to  admit  that  they  indulge  in  the  activity  of  writing.  Even  more  irksome  then  that,  however,  is  his  irritation  at  the  ‘arse  dribble’  that  is  modern  poetry.  This  is  an  idea  that  he  specu-­ lates  on  at  length  in  his  book,  for  he  condemns  the  ‘English-­lan-­ guage  poetics  of  today’  as  ‘tattered  and  tired’  and  argues  that  ‘most  of  what  passes  for  poetry  nowadays  is  utterly  listless,  there’s  just  no  energy  and  drive  in  it  anymore.’  What  he  thinks  is  needed  then  is  a  return  to  traditional  form. Â

He  believes  that  more  attention  should  be  paid  to  the  rules,  poets  should  start  adhering  to  ideas  of  metre  and  verse  once  more.  He  scathingly  describes  the  ‘free  form  meanderings’  of  contemporary  poets  as  ‘emotional  masturbation’  and  suggests  that  it  is  much  more  fun  to  make  use  of  existing  forms  and  structures  and  play  around  with  them.        Much  of  his Â ďŹ ctional  work  is  invested  with  a  highly  accom-­ plished,  imaginative  air,  yet  it  is  also  peppered  with  recognisable  links  to  his  own  past.  A  number  of  the  ideas  dissected  in  his  au-­

A-BXONPXFST BSF B TZNCPM PG FWFSZUIJOH POF TIPVME IBUF /FWFS DBSF BCPVU ZPVS MBXONPXFS tobiography,  for  example,  seem  to  turn  up  with  great  frequency  in  his  writing,  predominantly,  the  recurring  themes  of  public  school  struggles,  middle  class  guilt  and  physical  self-­loathing.  Given  this,  The  Event  would  like  to Â ďŹ nd  out  whether  he  agrees  with  that  old  adage  you  should  only  write  what  you  know?  ‘Yes  I  do,  although  I  think  that  it  is  very  difďŹ cult  to  examine  what  one  knows  because  oddly  enough,  I  think  that  write  what  you  know  is  actually  exactly  the  same  as  saying  use  your  imagination.  Of  course  it  sounds  like  they  should  be  two  complete  opposites,  but  imagina-­ tion  is  not  the  same  as  fantasy.  Fantasy  is  when  you  make  things  up,  imagination  is  when  you  penetrate  the  truth  of  the  thing,  it’s  what  you  really  truly  know  about  something.  The  trick  to  writing  is  to  know  what  it  is  like  to  be  someone  different,  it’s  really  even  the  trick  to  just  behaving  well  as  a  human  being.’

‘So  that’s  all  writers  do,  essentially,  they  write  about  what  they  know.   If,  for  example,  I  was  to  write  my  next  novel  about  a  coffee  plantation  in  Columbia,  the  truth  of  the  book  would  not  be  in  re-­ searching  how  many  hours  the  characters  would  work,  or Â ďŹ nding  out  when  the  coffee  harvest  is,  it  would  be  in  knowing  how  people  re-­ spond  to  things.  Because  that’s  the  truth  of  what  human  beings  are.  But  on  a  more  obvious  level,  I  mean,  if  one  is  to  write  a  novel,  then  clearly  it  is  easier  to  set  it  in  a  milieu  one  is  familiar  with’          The  Event  points  out  that  this  is  particularly  apparent  in  his  works  of Â ďŹ ction,  especially  in  the  frequent  allusions  to  public  school  life  and  the  middle  classes,  to  which  he  enthusiastically  agrees:  ‘Well,  yes,  exactly  you  see,  because  then  I  understand  most  of  the  backgrounds  and  ways  of  thinking  of  the  characters  in  my  books.  I  mean  The  Stars’  Tennis  Balls  is  loosely  based  on  The  Count  of  Monte  Cristo  in  terms  of  its  plot  outline,  but  I  wasn’t  going  to  write  it  set  back  in  medieval  times,  or  indeed  the  late  eighteenth  or  early  nineteenth  century,  be-­ cause  that’s  just  not  what  I  am  familiar  with.  But  I  am  familiar  with  the  nature  of  man  and  it  seemed  to  me  to  be  more  truthful  when  presented  in  this  way.  Really,  above  all  else,  you  just  need  to  imagine  what  it  feels  like  to  be  someone  else.  That’s  what  great  writing  is.’  And  with  that,  the  interview Â ďŹ nishes  and  he  is  off  to  give  a  lec-­ ture  on  ‘The  Ode  Less  Travelled’  to  the  waiting  masses.  Flicking  the  now  long  ago  out  burnt  out  cigarette  into  the  waste  paper  basket  as  he  leaves,  he  meanders  towards  the  door,  amiably  muttering  words  like  ‘terriďŹ c’  and  ’splendid’  in  his  intoxicatingly  erudite  undertones.  Watching  him,  it  is  impossible  not  to  come  to  the  conclusion  that,  for  all  his  modest  misgivings,  he  may  very  well  just  be  one  of  those  ca-­ pable  of  achieving  the  ‘great’  writing  he  so  admires.  Only  he’s  never  likely  to  let  us  acknowledge  it.        Â

Event 11 The

Fashion

Fancy  Dress  to  Impress

5IF FYDJUFNFOU PG GBODZ ESFTT TUBSUT XFMM CFGPSF UIF OJHIU 5IF BOUJDJQBUJPO PG BSSJWJOH BU B UIFNFE QBSUZ HVBSBOUFFT TUVEFOU GVO HSFBU QIPUP PQQPSUVOJUJFT UIBU XJMM EFTFSWF B QMBDF PO ZPVS CFESPPN XBMM BOE BO FYDVTF UP XFBS TPNFUIJOH XBDLZ BOE XPOEFSGVM 5IJT )BMMPXFFO ,BUISZO 8FTU MPPLT BU TDBSZ DPTUVNFT XJUI TUZMF

M

ost  students  dress  up  from  head  to  toe  whatever  the  theme  is,  as  a  naughty  school  girl/boy,  a  ghost  or  a  lifeguard‌as  roles  and  char-­ acters  from  themes,  which  have  become  popular  amongst  the  enthusiastic  university  student  today.  Efforts  for  these  dressing  up  occasions  faze  other  students,  however  a  little  planning  means  you  will  be  going  to  the  party  looking  the  part.  Participation  gives  a  dressing  up  party  the  edge.  The  saying  “a  little  goes  a  long  wayâ€?  is  appropriate  -­  dressing  up  is  less  hassle  than  some  may  believe.  In-­ ventiveness  costs  little.  The  allegorical  costumes  for  example,  which  enjoyed  quite  a  vogue  during  the  1860s,  were  often  nothing  more  than  a  few  stars  or  owers  sprinkled  on  a  cloak  or  evening  dress.  In  those  past  times,  the  removal  or  addition  of  different  trimmings  and  decorations  transformed  and  indeed  rescued  what  might  have  otherwise  been  another  monotonous  social  event!  Costumes  such  as  these  were  often  given  an  exalted  name,  adding  to  the  atmosphere  of  “anything  goesâ€?.

Fancy  dress  parties  are  not  anything  new;Íž  the  idea  of  wearing Â

a  costume  or  disguise  has  long  been  part  of  cultures  around  the  world,  being  particularly  popular  in  Europe  during  the  16th  and  17th  centuries.  This  popularity  of  fancy  dress  is  largely  down  to  Italy,  who  contributed  in  making  the  craze.  Their  extravagant  costumes  and  masks  worn  during  carnival  was  a  direct  inuence  on  the  18th  century  European  attention  to  masquerade.  However,  much  of  Europe,  especially  England,  lost  this  inter-­ est  in  the  19th  century  and  discarded  masks.  The  Victorian  age  still  held  a  keen  interest  in  fancy  dress  parties  luckily,  and  it  was  the  Queen’s  interest  in  literature,  poetry  and  history  which  kept  fancy  dress  something  people  united  and  got  involved  in.  Think  of  any  notable Â ďŹ gure  in  history  and  literature‌this  was  likely  to  be  an  inspiration  to  the  fancy  dress  party  guests.  Well-­known  charac-­ ters  such  as  those  from  the  Shakespeare  plays  were  welcomed  as  people  to  dress  up  as  but  there  was  also  an  inspiration  for  original  and  creative  costumes.  It  seems  Queen  Victoria’s  personal  inter-­ est  in  British  history  and  her  desire  for  authenticity  helped  those  fancy  dress  parties  to  reach  frenzied  proportions!  (Let’s  have  three  cheers!).  Although  this  desire  for  authenticity  reected  the  fashion-­ able  line  of  the  day,  it  was  used  as  an  excuse  to  expose  esh!  Yes,  these  times  witnessed  the  display  of  many  a  lady’s  calf  and  ankle!  Gosh!  It  was  an  opportunity  for  ladies  to  step  outside  some  of  the  strict  codes  of  their  society.  The  19th  century  saw  many  a  fancy  dress  gather-­ ing,  illustrating  an  important  impact  on  the  Queen’s  long  rein.

Fancy  dress  today  is  gradually  be-­ coming  less  of  a  scene.  A  great  excuse  then  is  to  keep  it  popular.  Everyone  has  an  upcoming  event  to  celebrate:  Halloween‌which  is  one  of  the  more  popular  times  people  of  today  gener-­ ally  dress  up  for‌another  excuse  to  be  all  for  a  dab  of  daring  make-­up  and  the  swish  of  a  black  cape!  Fancy  that!  We  know  you  want  it  to  be  as  easy  and  cheap  as  possible.  If  you  think  that Â

the  original  iconic  robe  worn  by  Sir  Alec  Guinness  as  Obi-­Wan  Ke-­ nobi  in  Star  Wars  was  found  in  a  fancy  dress  shop  at  a  value  of  £25,000,  ready  for  the  public  to  hire  at  street  prices,  costumes  on  hire  don’t  have  to  cost  the  earth!  But  even  more  affordable  for  the  student:  Charity  shops.  A  convincing  Halloween  outďŹ t  can  be  found  in  Charity  shops  around  Norwich  to  aid  the  transformation  of  old  clothes  into  new  costumes,  or  you  can Â ďŹ nd  a  top  to  toe  outďŹ t  for  less  than Â ďŹ ve  pounds  if  you’re  a  bargain  hunter.

Dress  Up  Everyday This  may  be  the  season  for  fancy  dress,  but  with  au-­ tumn’s  grey  skies  blending  with  the  grey  concrete  of  campus  why  restrict  your  dressing  up  to  Halloween?  Prolong  the  warmth  of  summer  and  capture  the  hap-­ piness  of  those  months  by  bringing  colour  and  imagi-­ nation  to  your  outďŹ ts.  Bold,  bright  colours  are  ideal  for  this  season,  they’ll  make  you  look  and  feel  happy  and  most  importantly  they  will  make  you  stand  out  amongst  the  crowds  in  their  black,  brown  and  grey.

You  don’t  need  anything  new,  just  rummage  through  your  cupboards.  Particular  colours  to  look  for  are  blues,  greens,  yellows  and  oranges.  Layer  items  of  different  colours  and  styles  together.  Be  brave!  Try  combinations  that  might  oppose  each  other,  some  contrasts  look  really  fantastic!  Blue  or  green  with  or-­ ange  for  example.  Boys  could  use  long  vests  under  T-­shirts  or  T-­shirts  with Â ďŹ tted  shirts.  Girls  should  try Â

12

Event The

old  fashioned  dresses  like  those  from  ‘The  Dustbin’.  To  keep  warm  wear  T-­shirts  or  vest  tops  underneath  and/or  a  cardigan.  Better  still  mix  a  dress  with  a  tank-­ top.  To  keep  those  legs  cosy  wear  coloured  or  pat-­ terned  tights.

To  emphasise  the  dressing  up  style  accessorise  liberally.  Use  complimentary  coloured  badges,  col-­ ourful  belts,  bangles,  broaches  and  plastic  beads  (all  can  be  found  in  charity  shops).  These  are  great  for  transforming  your  outďŹ t  into  something  special.  Also  look  out  for  unique  items  either  from  charity  shops  or  ‘found’  from  family  members.  Remember  the  most  important  thing  is  to  be  bold  and  to  have  fun  –  the  essence  of  dressing  up. .BSL %FOMFZ BOE *NPHFO 5PQMJTT

Fashion

Under  £5

Dead  Bride  Outfit

5IF &WFOU T GBTIJPO UFBN IBWF TDPVSFE UIF TUSFFUT PG /PSXJDI UP mOE UIF QFSGFDU DSFFQZ DPTUVNF IFSF T XIBU UIFZ HPU BOE XIFSF

Oxfam 8-­10  Magdalen  Street Norwich NR3  1HU Tel:  01603  665508 Ladies  gloves  £1 Â

British  Heart  Foundation 64  London  Street Norwich NR2  1JK Tel:  01603  766228 Ladies  silk  white  dress  £3

Anglian  Fashion  Fabrics Dress  &  Haberdashery  Dep 29  Magdalen  Street Norwich NR3  1LE Tel:  01603  611661 Black  mesh  material  £1  for  veil

5IJOHT ZPV SF MJLFMZ UP IBWF BMSFBEZ Mud  and  leaves  from  your  garden!

Ribbon…black  or  blood  red Alice  band/  black  elastic/  tiara Talc  powder  for  skull  like  face  accompanied  with  blood  red  lippy Pearly  necklace  &  bracelet  Black  nail  varnish Heels  or  just  muddy  bare  feet!

The  perfect  prop:  dead,  drooping  flowers #FDLZ 3VUU BOE 7JDLZ 8BMMFO

Event 13 The

TV

Primetime

Blessed ##$ QN 'SJEBZ

Blessed  is  the  latest  effort  from  the  BBC  to Â ďŹ ll  the  dreaded  Friday  night  sitcom  slot.  Written  by  Ben  Elton  (his Â ďŹ rst  sitcom  since  The  Thin  Blue  Line  ten  years  ago)  and  starring  Ardal  O’Hanlon  and  Mel  Giedroyc  of  Mel  and  Sue,  it  follows  the  lives  of  Gary  and  Sue  as  their  peaceful  urban  existence  is  torn  apart  by  the  birth  of  their  second  child.   The Â ďŹ rst  episode  followed  each  of  the  couple  as  they  tried  to  get  a  good  night’s  sleep,  with  Gary  resorting  to  sleeping  on  the  oor  of  the  recording  studio  that  he  works  in  as  a  jingle  com-­ poser.  It  also  introduced  the  various  supporting  characters,  such  as  their  scarily  enthusiastic  yuppie  neighbours  Bill  (Robert  Webb  of  Peep  Show)  and  Mary  (Sue  Bretton  from  Green  Wing),  and  Gary’s  backing  band.         Surprisingly  for  a  Friday  night  BBC1  show,  Blessed  isn’t  too  bad.  The  laughs  don’t  exactly  come  thick  and  fast,  but  there  are  occasional  great  moments,  such  the  typically  Elton  comic  device  of  the  monologue  –  in  this  episode,  Gary  rants  at  a  queue  in  the  corner  shop  about  how  their  lives  revolve  around  being  served Â

Suds

:PVS EPTF PG TPBQ OFXT )PMMZPBLT   Once  again  the  Hollyoaks  village  has  been  brimming  with  activity.  The  estranged  Justin  has  roped  in  schoolgirl  Nicole  to  help  with  his  dirty  work  and  caused  their  two  families  to  fall  out.  Nicole  turned  to  Becca  for  help,  but  ended  up  making  the  situation  worse  and  jeop-­ ardised  the  chance  of  Becca  defending  young  Justin  in  court.  Things  have  also  been  hotting  up  with  the  students,  as  Louise  woke  up  in  Joe’s  bed  with  no  idea  of  how  she  got  there.  Unknown  to  him,  she  is  planning  a  gruesome  revenge  after  his  dishonest  ways  which  will  come  about  at  the  Halloween  party.  Mandy  and  Tony’s  relationship  hasn’t  been  going  well  after  the  birth  of  her  premature  baby,  as  she  refuses  to  touch  or  even  accept  it.  Cameron  and  Steph  are  still  madly  in  love  but  she  can’t  bring  herself  to  be  seen  dating  a  geek,  so  their  relationship  is  still  being  kept  under  wraps  from  the  other  students.  The  Halloween  party  is  set  to  be  an  exciting  episode  with  all  the  char-­ acters  getting  up  to  no  good  -­  make  sure  you  don’t  miss  it. #FDLZ 3VUU

/FJHICPVST Wow!  Could  Neighbours  have  been  anymore  dramatic  this  week?  Producers  pulled  out  all  of  the  stops  for  the  show’s  20  year  anniver-­ sary  and  consequently  we  have  seen  the  welcome  return  of  many  old  faces,  including  Joe  Mangel,  Lucy  Robinson,  Phil  Martin  and  personal  favourite  Lance  -­  yet,  sadly,  there  was  no  sign  of  Kylie.   Perhaps  even  more  shocking  was  when  Izzy  confessed  to  Max  that  Gus  had  not  in  fact  raped  her  and  that  she  had  only  said  this  to  pre-­ vent  Karl  from Â ďŹ nding  out  about  her  affair.  Yet.  in  true  Neighbours  style.  it  turned  out  that  Karl  was  listening  behind  the  door  and  had  heard  the  whole  sorry  tale.  What  followed  was  a  sensational  scene  in  which  Karl  let  rip  at  Izzy  in  front  of  the  whole  of  Ramsay  Street.  Izzy  was  left  with  no  one  to  turn  to  and  -­  as  a  last  resort  -­  looked  to  Susan,  who  was  at  the  time  symbolically  throwing  out  the  trash.

Additionally,  Kayla  ed  after  confessing  to  Boyd  that  she  was  still  in  love  with  the  father  of  her  baby  and  Lou  found  out  about  Paul  and  Izzy’s  affair.  What  on  Earth  will  happen  next?

3FCFDDB )VOU

14

Event The

by  the  mindless  drones  that  work  there.  The  monologue  itself  is  amusing,  and  it’s  easy  to  imagine  Elton  himself  or  perhaps  Rowan  Atkinson’s  brilliantly  bitter  Inspector  Fowler  from  The  Thin  Blue  Line  performing  it.  Ardal  O’Hanlon  doesn’t  have  the  comic  deliv-­ ery  of  either  of  these  and,  despite  Gary’s  impatience,  it’s  difďŹ cult  for  the  viewer  to  take  the  character  as  such,  thanks  to  O’Hanlon’s  previous  nice-­but-­dim  roles  in  Father  Ted  and  My  Hero.  The  mono-­ logues  look  set  to  become  a  recurring  feature,  as  Gary’s  character  seems  doomed  to  heighten  any  situation  into  a  terrible  ordeal,  whether  it’s  trying  to  buy  shopping  or  remember  the  names  of  his  next  door  neighbours.  This  feature  harks  back  to  ‘classic’  sitcoms,  such  as  One  Foot  in  the  Grave  and  Fawlty  Towers.           The  character  of  Sue  hasn’t  had  the  chance  to  develop  beyond  ordering  Gary  to  carry  out  her  every  whim,  yet  there  seems  to  be  the  potential  there  for  her  to  become  as  interesting  and  funny  a  character  as  Gary  proves  to  be  in  the Â ďŹ rst  episode.  She  has  given  up  her  job  to  live  in  their  toy-­strewn  house  and  has  become  trapped  by  the  responsibilities  of  caring  for  the  toddler  and  baby  while  Gary Â

earns  money  for  them  –  or  gets  a  break  from  it,  as  she  sees  it.  She  is  possibly  more  bitter  than  Gary  at  the  situation  they’ve  got  into  it  and  this  shows  itself  in  the  funny  put-­downs  she  frequently  hisses  at  him.  With  more  character  development,  and  Giedroyc’s  obvious  comic  talents,  Sue  seems  likely  to  become  funnier  than  Gary.         After  this  promising  start,  Blessed  has  some  way  to  plummet  to  reach  the  depths  of  previous  Friday  night  sitcoms  (My  Family,  According  To  Bex)  but,  due  to  it’s  sharp  script  and  interesting  char-­ acters,  this  –  thankfully  –  doesn’t  look  likely. $ISJT )ZEF

TV Â DVD

$4* /FX :PSL b 3FMFBTFE With  the  huge  success  of  ‘CSI’  and  ‘CSI:  Miami’,  it’s  not  surprising  that  producer  Jerry  Bruckheimer  decided  to  set  up  another  money  spinner.  Set  in  the  gloomy  aftermath  of  post-­9/11,  ‘CSI:  New  York’  distinguishes  itself  with  an  even  darker,  grittier  tone  than  either  of  its  predecessors.  Veteran Â ďŹ lm  actor  Gary  Sinise  heads  the  cast,  playing  Detective  Mac  Taylor,  ex-­marine  and  lead  CSI.   Sinise  may  be  less  intense  than  Miami’s  David  Caruso  and  lacks  the  humour  of  the  original’s  William  Petersen,  but  he  brings  a  more  human  appeal  to  the  show.   Though  his  stoic  exterior  masks  the  pain  of  losing  his  wife  in  the  World  Trade  Centre  attacks,  he  brings  a  glow  of  warmth  to  the  shad-­ owy  setting  of  New  York.  The  pilot  uses  emotional  plot  rather  than  shock  factor  to  draw  the  audience  in  and  create  a  connection  with  the  characters.  This  seems  a  bit  lacking  in  excitement,  but  the  plot  lines  pick  up  as  the  series  goes  on.  Location  is  everything  for  the  show  -­  where  else  would  you  be  able  to  triangulate  location  from  skyscrapers  or  be  able  to  use  sewer  rats  as  witnesses?  Some  of  the  storylines  seem  a  bit  farfetched  (such  as  the  blunt  force  trauma  victim  killed  by  a  fall-­ ing  frozen  human  waste  from  an  aeroplane),  but  on  the  whole  are Â

engaging  and  often  humorous  (such  as  ‘Recycling’,  which  features  murderous  dog  owners).  However  the  character  episodes  are  what  give  the  show  an  edge.  Messer  (the  team’s  smart-­alec)  is  something  of  a  loose  can-­ non,  letting  his  prejudices  guide  his  actions  rather  than  being  the  impartial  detective.  ‘On  The  Job’  is  one  of  the  stronger  episodes  in  which  Taylor’s  no-­nonsense  attitude  distances  him  from  the  rest  of  the  team.  The  setting  is  decidedly  dark  and  gritty  with  sombre,  blue-­tinged  cinematography,  visually  separating  it  from  the  other  shows.  The  spin-­off  emphasises  well-­drawn  character  development  without  sacriďŹ cing  any  of  the  grisly  criminal  and  scientiďŹ c  elements  that  made  its  parent  show  such  a  smashing  success.

For  those  of  you  who  have  never  watched  either  preceding  se-­ ries,  you  need  not  worry  –  the  series  stands  alone,  so  starting  with  ‘CSI:  New  York’  will  not  leave  you  at  a  disadvantage  plot  wise.  But  if  you  are  fed  up  with  the  likes  of  ‘NYPD’  or  ‘Law  and  Order’  and  are  looking  for  a  more  daring,  complex  show  with  a  stronger  plot,  then  the  original  CSI  is  the  only  way  to  go.  /BUBTIB ,VOEBJLFS

Telly  Classics 0QFO "MM )PVST To  mark  the  unfortunate  passing  of  British  comedy  legend  Ronnie  Barker,  we’ve  decided  to  review  a  classic  Barker  program.  While  ‘Porridge’  and  ‘The  Two  Ronnies’  proved  strong  contenders,  it  was  decided  that  ‘Open  All  Hours’  deserved  a  mention,  as  it’s  been  un-­ fairly  overlooked  for  a  long  time. ‘Open  All  Hours’  is  about  a  shop  in  a  typically  bleak  Northern  town  that  is  owned  and  run  by  the  miserly  Arkwright  (Barker),  helped  by  his  dozy  nephew  Granville  (David  Jason).  Most  episodes  revolve  around  either  Arkwright’s  schemes  to  make  easy  money  quickly  or  his  unsuccessful  attempts  to  woo  the  local  nurse  Gladys.  To  add  to  these  very  simple  plots,  any  opportunities  for  comedy  are  taken  advantage  of.  One  major  comic  device  is  the  stutter  that  Barker  oc-­ casionally  uses.  Watching  Arkwright  trying  to  pronounce  the  word Â

‘Granville’  and  the  facial  expressions  used  is  very  simple,  yet  very  effective,  comedy.  While  Arkwright  is  content  with  his  life  revolving  around  the  shop,  Granville  is  constantly  trying  to  escape  from  it  and  live  his  life  to  the  fullest.  The  theme  of  escapism  was  present  in  a  lot  of  70s  sitcoms  (e.g.  ‘The  Good  Life’)  and  the  contrasting  attitudes  to  it  of  the  two  main  characters  in  ‘Open  All  Hours’  reected  those  of  70s  society:  the  younger  generations  ocking  to  the  cities  and  leaving  the  older  people  in  the  way  of  life  they  grew  up  in.

Without  Ronnie  Barker,  ‘Open  All  Hours’  wouldn’t  have  been  any-­ where  near  as  funny  as  it  is.  It’s  vastly  underrated  and  deserves  to  be  remembered  amongst  Barker’s  best  work. $ISJT )ZEF

Art

Bestsellers

Theatre

1 5IVE

Stewart Lee

Terry Pratchett £7.99 Bloomsbury

5IF 1MBZIPVTF 5VFTEBZ UI 0DUPCFS

2 6OUPME 4UPSJFT Alan Bennett £6.99 Corgi Adult

3 5IF %B 7JODJ $PEF

After hitting something of a rough patch, Stewart Lee is touring again, performing standup across the UK. The last time Lee’s name was in the papers it was because of his involvement in The Jerry Springer Opera, a charming production that caused some contro-­ versy amongst those partial to religion. Its screening on Channel 4 earlier in the year resulted in a barrage of complaints to the network and a number of demonstrations. Stewart Lee was not a popular man at the time.

This bout of bad press doesn’t seem to have stunted him as his stand-­up routine is as prickly as it ever was, pricklier in fact.

However, with this established, the usual pitfall of many comics who choose to take a controversial aprroach to comedy (not being funny), is happily avoided by Lee who is currently in peak condition.

The calming, measured tone of his voice meanders through a pleth-­ ora of topics, few that would be suitable for discussion with one’s wrinkly relatives over tea, with the ease and dexterity of someone who has been on the circuit a very long time and has thicker skin than most. One hangover from the Springer affair does peep into the show in the form of a rather gruesome climax, obviously de-­ voted to flying in the face of all the criticism the comedian has had to swallow in recent months. Whilst the point of these efforts may be admirable, there is a rather more serious tinge to the comedy at these points in the show that reveals a man rather more bitter than his finer comic moments account for. ,BUF #SZBOU

Dan Brown £6.99 Abacus

4 5IF 8PSME "DDPSEJOH UP $MBSLTPO Jeremy Clarkson £6.99 Penguin

5 (PJOH 1PTUBM Terry Pratchett £6.99 Corgi Adult

6 +POBUIBO 4USBOHF BOE .S /PSSFMM Suzanne Clarke £7.99 Vintage

7 5IF 4IBEPX PG UIF 8JOE Carlos Ruiz Zafon £6.99 Time Warner Paperbacks

8 "OHFMT BOE %FNPOT Dan Brown Ebury Press

9 4DPUMBOE 4USFFU Alexander Mcall Smith £7.99 Vintage

10 5IF 'JWF 1FPQMF ZPV NFFU JO )FBWFO Mitch Alborn £8.99 BBC Books =

Books

5IF PGmDJBM 'BISFOIFJU .JDIBFM .PPSF Reading the screenplay of Michael Moore’s controversial documentary in print is a some-­ what different experience from watching the film: it certainly loses some of its impact with-­ out the shocking images. However, being able to focus solely on the words means it is easier to make connections between some of the dif-­ ferent revelations presented throughout the narrative. It also shows that the facts put to-­ gether in the documentary are strong enough to stand on their own as a condemnation of the Bush regime, without the intense pathos cre-­ ated by some of the film footage.

The book also contains evidence to support Moore’s claims, a selection of e-­mails from

the public, essays and critiques, and articles on issues raised by the film. This makes for an enlightening collection, although it is more suitable for reference, than something to read cover-­to-­cover. Some of the e-­mails collected here are rather moving, but it would have been interesting to include some criticism of Moore for comparison, as it gets a little tiresome read-­ ing page after page of sycophantic prose. The supplementary evidence and the writings on issues from the film, however, contain some particularly disturbing information and would serve as a useful starting point for anyone in-­ terested in this area. $IBSMFOF 1SJDF

5PLZP %PFTO U -PWF VT "OZNPSF 3BZ -PSJHB Set in the very near future, this is the story of a travelling salesman floating from arid Arizona parking lots to steamy Bangkok bars to ped-­ dle the hottest new commodity — a drug that erases memory — for a group known only as The Company.

The quote on the cover is highly alluring: “If Don Quixote had known about Tamazipam, he’d have been much the same . . .brilliant”, not to mention misleading. Clearly, the reviewer for Arena magazine simply heard that there was a book by a Spanish author that was a bit loco, so decided to make a feeble link between one of the greatest novels ever written, and a book in which the protagonist is incapable of keeping his penis in his trousers when faced with either

man, woman, child, or indeed, feet.

However, the prose is chilling and concise, hitting you like an iron fist in your stomach. It relaxes you into the disjointed and repetitive narrative of Loriga’s futuristic and nihilistic world, each page becoming a dark spotlight on the modern allure of pharmaceuticals’ power to attempt to assuage all ills.

We’ve all wished that we could take a pill and forget, but after Loriga’s pithy and thought-­ provoking portrayal of narcotic dissipation, you’ll be holding on tighter than ever to those fading memories. Despite this, it remains in no way comparable to Don Quixote!

(MPSJB 4BOEFST

Event 15 The

Film

Main  Feature

Wallace  &  Gromit: The  Curse  of  the  Were-Rabbit %JS /JDL 1BSL 4UFWF #PY 3FMFBTF %BUF

It’s  been  a  heck  of  a  long  time  since  we  last  met  Nick  Park’s  Oscar  winning,  plasticine  duo;Íž  10  years  to  be  precise:  plenty  of  time  to  allow  for  the  dust  build  up,  and  the  gags  to  go  as  stale  as  an  old  cracker.  Luckily  though  no  such  thing  has  happened,  as  the  ever  loved  team  of  a  genius/  idiot/  professor  and  his  sullen  mutt  make  their  very Â ďŹ rst  cinema  outing,  with  outstanding  results.

A  phenomenal  5  years  in  the  making  (and  boy  does  it  show)  Aardman  seem  to  have  lost  none  of  their  air,  expertly  telling  a  wonderfully  offbeat  tale  of  humongous  rabbits,  massive  vegeta-­ bles  and  a  surely-­unhealthy  amount  of  Wensleydale.  The Â ďŹ lm  kicks Â

off  with  the  two  running  a  ‘humane  pest-­control’  service,  keeping  a  population  of  crop-­hungry  rabbits  harmlessly  at  bay  while  the  whole  town  prepares  for  the  annual  competition  of  exceptionally  large  vegetables.  Everything  is  going Â ďŹ ne  however  until  reports  of  a  supernaturally-­large,  long-­eared,  produce-­devouring  beast  begin  to  circulate,  leaving  it  up  to  the  two  to  solve  the  obscure  case,  all  in  the  short  time  of  the  quickly-­looming  competition  (plus  home  for  cheese  and  crackers  of  course).

At  a  trim  83  minutes  (but  still  50  longer  than  their  previous  outing)  the  story  takes  no  time  for  stops,  careening  the  plot  around  with  neck-­jolting  speed,  always  making  you  wonder  just  where  it  will  end  up  next.  It’s  this  sense  of  unpredictability  that  aids  in  mak-­ ing  just  about  every  minute  of  the  tale  so  unbelievably  fun.  Add  to  this  a  continual  string  of  every  gag  under  the  cinematic  sun  (slap-­ stick/  vocal/  even  a  few  raunchy  innuendos  for  the  older  folk)  and  even  the  most  stern-­natured  of  cinema-­goers  will Â ďŹ nd  themselves  smiling  by  the  time  the  credits  role.

Peppered  with  surprisingly Â ďŹ tting  CGI,  and  beautifully  con-­ ceived  under  a  budget  of  $30  million,  it’s  safe  to  say  that  Park’s  take  on  an  obscure,  perfectly  satirical  British  town  has  never  looked  quite  so  good.  The  sheer  quality  of  the  stop-­motion  animation  (now  largely  abandoned  in  an  age  dominated  by  computers)  shines  through  in  every  frame,  bringing  with  it  a  warming  sense  of  old-­age Â

charm,  while  at  the  same  time  proving  just  why  the  Aardman  pro-­ duction  team  managed  an  average  of  3  seconds  worth  of  footage  a  day.  It’s  a  truly  astonishing  sight,  and  one  which  will  surely  put  Park  up  for  his  fourth  Oscar  in  achievement  in  animation.  The  voice  talent  is  also  second  to  none:  Helena  Bonham  Carter  (Fight  Club,  Charlie  and  the  Chocolate  Factory)  brings  to  life  Wal-­ lace’s  wealthy,  upper-­class  love  interest  Lady  Tottington  (‘Please,  call  me  Totty’)  with  distinguishable  charm,  while  Ralph  Fiennes  (Spider,  Red  Dragon)  energetically  sneers  his  way  to  great  effect  through  his  role  as  the  hunting-­obsessed  Victor  Quartermaine.  Though  the  celebrities  do  sparkle,  and  Peter  Sallis  again  proves  himself  more  than  perfect  for  the  voice  of  Wallace,  it’s  the  mute,  sullen  Gromit  that  truly  steals  the  frame,  riding  many  a  well-­placed  joke  on  a  mere  ex  of  his  plasticine  brow  alone.

Never  held  in  place  by  any  weighty,  under-­running  subject  mat-­ ter  (I  think  the  closest  you’ll  get  is  Tottington’s  distaste  of  hunting),  Curse  of  the  Were-­Rabbit  establishes  itself  as  a  breezy-­light  but  forceful  gale  of  pure,  delirious  entertainment.  In  a  cinematic  age  of  such  heavy-­handed  subject  material,  it’s  a  refreshing  change  to  take  a  trip  through  Park’s  vast,  unforgettable  imagination,  having  a  grand  day  out  in  the  process  (it  just  had  to  be  done). &EEJF )PXBSUI

Other  screens *OUP UIF #MVF %JS +PIO 4UPDLXFMM 3FMFBTFE

%PNJOP %JS 5POZ 4DPUU 3FMFBTFE

For  anybody  moping  over  our  lack  of  summer  this  year  here’s  a  sexy  thriller  set  in  the  Caribbean  sun.  The Â ďŹ lm  is  based  on  the  hot  cou-­ ple:  Jared  (Paul  Walker,  2  Fast  2  Furious)  and  Sam  (Jessica  Alba,  Sin  City),  who  are  so  poor  that  they  live  in  a  caravan  and  their  boat  is  half  ooded‌.yet  between  them  they  have  enough  designer  swimwear  to Â ďŹ ll  a  small  store!  I  digress.  Another  couple  arrives  on  the  scene:  Bryce  (Scott  Caan,  Ocean’s  Twelve)  and  Amanda  (Ashley  Scott,  SWAT)  who  drive  the  group  into  all  sorts  of  problems  with  not-­to-­be-­messed-­with  island  drug  lords.  After  a  slow  opening  it  picks  up  a  little,  but  lacks  the  intensity  that  could  have  made  this  plot  great.  With  some  drug  lords  here  and  a  shark  attack  there  the Â ďŹ lm  remains  nothing  more  than  a  weak  thriller  with  some  buff  bods!  After  all,  nearly  every  scene  is  a  chance  to  enjoy  Walker’s  six  pack  or  Alba  in  her  itsy  bitsy  bikini‌.  in  the  water,  out  of  the  water,  wet,  dry  etc  etc! $BSPMJOF #FFS

Domino  is  a  ‘biopic’  of  the  life  of  Domino  Harvey,  albeit  “sort  ofâ€?  based  on  truth.  Kiera  Knightley  takes  the  title  role  and  is  stunning  on  screen  as  the  model  turned  Bounty  Hunter.  Knightley  does  her  best  with  the  role  but  her  BBC  World  Service  accent  (that  Harvey  actu-­ ally  had)  just  feels  pretentious  and  distracting.  However  the  undeni-­ able  problem  lies  in  the  direction  and  script.  Tony  Scott’s  direction  is  too  much;Íž  the  spinning  camera  and  editing  gimmicks  mean  we  miss  most  of  the Â ďŹ lm.  But  more  damaging  is  the  awed  script  which  introduces  far  too  many  pointless  subplots  and  results  in  an  incom-­ prehensible  conclusion.  The  reason  why  this  is  so  disappointing  is  because  the  script  was  written  by  none-­other  than  Donnie  Darko  creator  Richard  Kelly.  At  their  best  Tony  Scott  and  Richard  Kelly  could  have  made  excellent  use  of  the  resources  of  cast  and  story  they  had,  unfortunately  the  result  is  just  a  soulless  mess.  -ZEJB .PTTBIFCJ

-PSE PG 8BS %JS "OESFX /JDDPM 3FMFBTFE

$PSQTF #SJEF %JS 5JN #VSUPO .JLF +PIOTPO 3FMFBTFE

Con  Air,  Gone  in  60  Seconds,  Windtalkers,  and  now  Lord  of  War.   The  list  for  sub-­standard  Nicholas  Cage Â ďŹ lms  just  continues  to  grow,  not  to  mention  Captain  Corelli’s  Mandolin.  The  narrative  follows  the  life  of  an  arms  dealer  as  he  struggles  for  recognition,  giving  a  sense  of  originality  and  realism  –  an  optimistic  view  which  quickly  evaporates.   In  fact  this Â ďŹ lm  is  anything  but.  For  a  start  Yuri  Orlov  (Cage)  and  his  brother  Vitaly  (Jared  Leto)  don’t  appear  to  age  a  day,  despite  the  fact  that  the  story  spans  over  twenty  years,  including  a  constant  as-­ sociation  with  drink  and  drugs.  The  script  is  cheesy,  the  shots  even  more  so.  Cage  delivers  a  performance  blessed  with  monotony  as  he  acquaints  himself  with  warlords  from  the  heart  of  Africa.  Though  di-­ rected  by  Andrew  Niccol,  (Gattaca),  and  with  an  established  cast  in-­ cluding  Ethan  Hawke,  this  picture  is  not  worthy  of  such  A  list  names.  It  could  be  said  to  be  mildly  amusing  but  that’s  not  a  great  compli-­ ment.  If  you  haven’t  guessed,  I  don’t  recommend  it!

16

Event The

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The  most  pressing  question  on  everyone’s  lips  about  Tim  Burton’s  second  dalliance  in  the  land  of  stop  motion  animation  is  ‘will  it  be  as  good  as  The  Nightmare  Before  Christmas?’.  Sadly,  one  of  the Â ďŹ rst  things  that  becomes  apparent  when  watching  Corpse  Bride  is  that  it  fails  to  capture  the  same  off-­beat  majesty  that  Nightmare  had,  even  though  it  treads  an  all-­too-­similar  path.  However,  the Â ďŹ lm  does  have  a  very  inticing  style  about  it  with  a  Calligari-­esque  cast  of  characters,  Even  with  such  big  shoes  to Â ďŹ ll  it  manages  to  be  playful  and  wallow  in  its  beautiful  idiosyncratic  details.  There  is  a  pleasing  contrast  drawn  between  the  monochrome  land  of  the  living  and  the  bawdy,  vibrant  land  of  the  dead  with  its  bars  and  jazz  bands  that  gives  Corpse  Bride   a  little  more  for  adult  audences  to  mull  over.  Other  than  this,  the  nar-­ rative  is  a  little  thin  and  predictable  and  despite  the  all  star  cast,  none  of  the  performances  are  winning  enough  to  transcend  this. ,BUF #SZBOU

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Film

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It’s  difďŹ cult  to  get  excited  about  yet  another Â ďŹ lm  about  the  French  middle  classes,  the  favoured  topic  of  Gallic  cinema  for  some  time  now.  This  is  a  drama  about  six  Parisians  connected  by  estate  agents,  of  all  things.  Unfortunately,  the  characters  regularly  burst  into  song,  almost  at  random,  though  usually  when  expressing  emotion.  What  is  so  unusual,  not  to  say  plain  odd,  is  that  the  actors  themselves  don’t  sing;Íž  they  lip-­synch,  badly,  and  the  original  recording  is  piped  in.  Cer-­ tainly  an  interesting  idea,  but  it  really  doesn’t  work.  The  songs  are  all  French  pop  from  the  1920s  to  early  ‘90s,  and  they  don’t  translate  well  to  a  foreign  audience.  Would  Moulin  Rouge  be  as  enjoyable  if  you  had  no  knowledge  of  music  post-­1960?  Besides  this,  any  mood  cre-­ ated  is  instantly  destroyed  by  the  overly-­chirpy  songs.  Similarly,  the  quirky  special  effects,  like  those  popularised  by  Jean  Pierre  Jeunet,  are  confusing  and  unnecessary,  leaving  this  an  acquired  taste  and  hard  to  recommend. +BNFT #FSSJMM

Gregg  Araki’s  tender,  intimate,  and  harrowing  portrait  of  teenage  sexuality  in  Kansas  suburbia  is  a  welcome  modiďŹ cation  of  the  stiing  nihilism  to  be  found  in  previous  works  Doom  Generation  (1995)  and  Nowhere  (1997).  Gone  are  the  excruciatingly  staged  spectacles  of  an-­ nihilation  and  punk-­youth  clichĂŠs,  and  in  their  place  a  poignant  psy-­ chological  drama.  There  is  still  a  good  degree  of  provocation  in  Mys-­ terious  Skin  though,  which  follows  18-­year-­old  Brian’s  (Brady  Corbet)  search  for  the  truth  surrounding  a  missing  episode  in  his  childhood  –  a  repressed  memory  that  he  thinks  one-­time  Little  League  team-­ mate  Neil  (Joseph  Gordon-­Levitt),  now  a  gay  hustler,  may  be  able  to  unlock.  As  a  complex  meditation  on  fantasy  and  memory,  the Â ďŹ lm  weaves  some  exquisitely  beautiful  hallucinations  with  a  series  of  visceral  shocks  (involving  child  abuse  and  sexual  violence)  that  will  prove  uncomfortable  viewing  for  most,  notwithstanding  their  sensi-­ tive  and  un-­sensationalised  presentation.

4FC .BOMFZ

Cinefile N o 60 .

Hana-bi

"MPOF JO UIF %BSL %JS 6XF #PMM "VUVNO 4VO %JS &EVBSEP .JHOPHOB 3FMFBTFE CZ .PNFOUVN 1JDUVSFT 3FMFBTFE CZ 1BUIF %JTUSJCVUJPO Based  on  a  semi-­famous  computer  game,  here  we  follow  ‘paranor-­ mal’  detective  Edward  Carnby  (Christian  Slater)  as  he  tries  to  stop  a  demonic  invasion  assisted  by  Aline  Cedric,  a  historical  professor  played  by‌  Tara  Reid?!  This Â ďŹ lm  would  like  to  think  it  was  a  clever  su-­ pernatural  thriller/horror  with  a  complex  plot.  But  the  plot  is  shoddy  and  makes  no  sense,  whilst  the  thrills  come  from  overuse  of  shad-­ ows,  which  is  just  irritating  and  intrudes  on  the  action.  Director  Uwe  Boll  has  a Â ďŹ xation  on  camera  tricks,  such  as  slow  motion  and  bullet  time,  which  are  not  only  pulled  off  poorly  but  at  precisely  the  wrong  moments.  The  acting  is  consistently  wooden  and  bland,  and  the  soundtrack  is  also  particularly  excruciating.  Frankly,  my  time  watch-­ ing  Alone  in  the  Dark  could  have  been  better  spent  setting Â ďŹ re  to  my  own  pubic  hair,  whilst  listening  to  Bon  Jovi’s  latest  album.

"OEZ +VETPO

Clara  Goldstein  is  a  charming  middle  aged  Jewish  woman  who  places  an  ad  for  likewise  gentleman  in  the  personal  columns  in  an  attempt  to  console  her  brother’s  desires  for  her  to  settle  down  with  a  nice  Jew-­ ish  gentleman.  She  meets  Raul  who  at Â ďŹ rst  glance  fails  to  fulďŹ ll  any  of  her  requirements  including  being  a  Gentile.  With  no  alternative  on  offer,  Clara  proceeds  to  instruct  Raul  in  an  intensive  understanding  of  Judaism.  The  relationship  is  interesting  as  the  two  fall  for  each  other  and  affections  cloud  Clara’s  mission.  What  begins  as  an  arrangement  of  convenience  ends  in  an  affectionate  love  story.  My  reaction:  A  wee  bit  slow  to  get  off  the  ground,  with  subtitles  on  a  small  telly  difďŹ cult  to  accommodate,  but  once  going  the  content  of  this Â ďŹ lm  is  humorous  and  captivating.  The  kind  of  thing  to  watch  when  you’re  washed  out  and  in  need  of  some  comfort  and  a  few  glasses  of  red!

'SBODFT )BSWFZ

Special  Feature Kung  Fu  Hustle

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Ever  since  Crouching  Tiger,  Hidden  Dragon,  the  Asian Â ďŹ lm  industry  has  shown  that  commercially  and  globally  it’s  in  league  with  the  cream  of  the  crop  in  Hollywood,  and  Kung  Fu  Hustle  is  no  excep-­ tion.  Fusing  together  the  mayhem  of  Hong  Kong  action  movies,  su-­ perb Â ďŹ ght  sequences,  the  humour  of  silent  comedies  and  elements  of  the  Looney  Toons  via  Kill  Bill,  Stephen  Chow  creates  a  visually  stunning  comedy  that  will  have  you  splitting  your  sides.  Writer,  di-­ rector,  producer  and  star,  on-­screen  he’s  the  reluctant  and  initially  misguided  hero,  while  behind  the  camera  he’s  a  mastermind  of  style  and  creative  vision.  Set  amidst  the  chaos  of  pre-­revolution  China  (with  an  uncanny  resemblance  to  classic  Westerns),  Chow  plays  Sing,  a  small-­time  and  rather  pathetic  crook  who  attempts  to  blackmail  the  locals  of  the  run  down  slum  of  Pig  Sty  Alley,  by  posing  as  a  member  of  the  feared  Axe  Gang  –  the  all  singing,  all  dancing  ruthless  mobsters  of  Shanghai.  When  the  real  gang  members  arrive  to  cause  trouble,  Sing  is  caught  in  the  middle  of  a  raging  turf  battle  and  discovers  that  hidden  among  the  humble  poor  are  three  legendary  kung  fu  masters.  The  battles  are  pure  art  in  motion  and  do  not  disappoint,  as  to  be  expected  from  Yuen  Wo  Ping,  choreographer  of  The  Ma-­ trix.  The  scenes  incorporate  the  traditional  with  the  visually  artistic  styles  of Â ďŹ ghting,  as  well  as  bullet-­time  moves;Íž  however  Chow  in-­ cludes  snippets  of  humour  integrating  both  combat  and  comedy  into  the Â ďŹ lm.  Â

The  plot  is  thin  but  it  is  not  a  movie  that  only  serves  to  show  off  the Â ďŹ ght  sequences  –  beautiful  though  they  are.  Hidden  behind  it  is  the  morality  that  much  Asian  cinema  is  steeped  in  –  the Â ďŹ ght  for  justice  and  good  verses  evil.  Though  the  end  is  a  little  lacking  in  strength,  with  Chow  choosing  the  happy  and  almost  generic  ending  of  the  guy  getting  the  girl  and Â ďŹ nding  the  path  of  good,  it  is  the  only  part  of  the Â ďŹ lm  which  steers  towards  convention.  Chow  complements  the  kung  fu  action  with  its  unique  sup-­ porting  characters  –  namely  the  three  seemingly  unlikely  kung  fu  masters  who  are  looking  for  solitude  in  ordinary  life,  the  extremely  creepy  assassins  with  their  homicidal  harps  and  the  odd-­ball  hair-­ dresser,  to  whom  you  can  only  say  one  thing  –  pull  up  those  pants!  However  it  is  the  hen-­pecked  landlord  (Wah  Yuen)  and  his  chain-­ smoking,  battleaxe  wife  (Qui  Yuen)  that  steal  the  show  with  their Â ďŹ endishly  entertaining  and  outrageous  personalities.   With  screams  like  earthquakes  and  foot  chases  clocked  at  Roadrunner  speed,  this  movie  will  leave  you  dizzy,  make  you  cry  and  laugh  (often  both  at  the  same  time),  and  have  you  reaching  for  the  tissues.  Kung  Fu  Hustle  more  than  lives  up  to  the  promise  of  Chow’s  previous Â ďŹ lm,  Shaolin  Soccer.  Hollywood  would  never  al-­ low  such  state-­of-­the-­art  absurdity,  which  is  what  makes  this Â ďŹ lm  so  unique  –  there  is  literally  nothing  quite  like  it.  A  must  see  movie. Â

4P XIBU T JU BMM BCPVU Expertly  written,  directed  and  edited  by  Japan’s  premier  writer/  di-­ rector/  cult-­superstar  Takeshi  Kitano,  Hana-­Bi  unfolds  a  delicately  crafted  tale  of  love,  hope  and  despair,  punctuated  frequently  with  scenes  of  gut-­churning  violence  and  dark  humour.  After  losing  his  job  in  the  metropolitan  police  when  his  partner  is  inadvertently  killed,  Nishi  (Takeshi  Kitano),  racked  with  the  guilt  of  his  lost  colleague,  has  to  face  further  problems  in  the  form  of  his  wife  Miyuki  (Kayoko  Kishimoto)  slowly  wasting  away  from  a  terminal  disease,  his  friend  permanently  conďŹ ned  to  a  wheelchair,  and  the  maďŹ a  hounding  him  for  interest  on  an  unpaid  debt.  It’s  not  long  before  Nishi  has  to  re-­ sort  to  more  drastic  measures  as  a  means  of  straightening  out  what  remains  of  his  slowly  collapsing  world,  turning  to  a  violent  criminal  life  so  that  others  may  gain  a  sliver  of  hope  and  happiness  in  their  otherwise  joyless  lives.

5BLFTIJ ,JUBOP )BWFO U * IFBSE PG IJN CFGPSF Perhaps  more  generally  known  for  his  recently  revived  ‘Challenge’  hit,  Takeshi’s  Castle,  Kitano  also  happens  to  be  one  of  the  most  prodi-­ gious  and  critically  acclaimed  actors/writers/directors  to  come  out  of  Japan  since  the  grainy  but  glorious  days  of  Kurosawa.  While  having  penned  and  directed  a  whole  string  of  ‘cult-­hits’  (Violent  Cop  (1989),  Sonatine  (1993),  and  most  recently  the  sublime  Zatoichi  (2003),  which  won   its  director  a  wider  audience  through  a  beguiling  mix  of  stylish  samurai  action  and  deadpan  humour),  Kitano  is  also  known  for  his  remarkable  skills  at  acting,  starring  in  a  variety  of  other  Asian  Cult-­Classics,  namely  the  late  Fukasaku’s  darkly  comic  masterwork,  Battle  Royale.

4PVOET EFQSFTTJOH 8IZ TIPVME * XBUDI JU Not  a  leisurely  stroll  through  the  Hundred-­Acre  woods,  nor  a  mad  dash  across  the  rooftop  of  Nakatomi  building,  Hana-­Bi  nevertheless  manages  to  construct  something  attributed  more  to  an  unforgettable  experience  than  a  simple  hour-­and-­a-­half  of  entertainment.  Kitano’s  performance  is  nothing  short  of  a  cinematic  slap  in  the  face,  effort-­ lessly  conveying  a  character  on  the  teetering  brink  of  madness,  while  still  delivering  a  heart-­breaking  sense  of  tenderness  and  loyalty  to-­ ward  his  expiring  wife.  Add  to  this  frequent  scenes  of  cold,  brutal  violence  (just  wait  until  you  see  what  he  does  with  some  chopsticks),  plus  moments  on  the  pitch-­black  end  of  comedy  (try  not  giggling  at  Nishi’s  insensitive  destruction  of  the  little  girl’s  kite)  and  it’s  safe  to  say  that  Hana-­Bi  isn’t  just  a  hands-­down  winner,  but  a  praise-­worthy  wonder  of  modern  cinema.

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Music

Depeche Mode Golden Sounds Playing The Angel ,JOHT PG -FPO

:PVUI :PVOH .BOIPPE Few bands have managed to tint masculity in all its boozy, hairy glory with such tenderness and sensitivity as Kings of Leon. Youth & Young Manhood catches a key stage in the development of the band, on the cusp of success but also (somehow more significantly) adulthood.

The hormonal screeching of vocals and guitars, impatient and frantic, is knowingly laced in touching, considered lyrics. Most of the album focuses its attention on the classic trio -­ sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, but with the intensity of a greasy haired youth strumming to Bowie in his bedroom. This isn’t an album to ruminate over, its one to connect with on a more fundamental level. The album remains rough around the edges, betraying the inexperience of the band but also elec-­ tric with promise and originality. Rather than signifying the peak of an already booming career, Youth & Young Manhood is loaded with the promise of a journey just begun.

Kate Bryant

Singles "SDBEF 'JSF 8BLF 6Q 2005 has arguably been the year of Arcade Fire.

From relative obscurity in January, they’ve gone from strength to strength with the release of the amazing ‘Funeral’ album and their famously spec-­ tacular live shows. This song is the last single from that album and is one of their best songs.

The first few seconds completely hook the listen-­ er’s attention, with chugging guitars and drums giving way to a chorus of chanting voices that take you completely by surprise. This is very uplifting, as are the verses, which Win Butler sings in a voice cracking with emotion. The choir and guitars grad-­ ually build up the song to an intense and dramatic climax, which is then blown away by a minute-­and-­ a-­half long piano-­led jam that takes the song in a completely different and unexpected direction.

‘Wake Up’ is a powerful and truly moving song and cannot be rated highly enough. If you buy only one single this semester, then buy this and find out exactly why everyone thinks so much of Arcade Fire.

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For some time now, the 1980s have been recognized as one of mu-­ sic’s darkest decades but of course not in terms of talent. The synth revolution, the rise of Goth -­ these and other factors contributed to some truly innovative and exciting bands which has now returned as a fashion amongst cutting edge artists. Among the original tal-­ ents however were Depeche Mode, and little has waned from their impact since.

With this new album, carrying the tagline “Pain and suffering in various tempos“, Depeche Mode give us a fresh reminder of what it is that makes their music special -­ the element of surprise. A highly anticipated world tour is scheduled for early next year where they have bagged the slot of becoming the first ever band to play at the New Wembly Arena, Playing The Angel is their silver anniversary gift. The rhythms are disjointed, the beats are murky, the lyrics and imagery are ice cold, yet rather than sounding like the contents of a teenage Goth‘s poetry book, Playing The Angel feels like a touching collection of love songs, albeit somewhat sinister ones, the under-­ ling religious metaphors of DMs exploration of relationships is still their forte. Dave Gahan’s vocals have not aged a day since 1980, and the backing combo of Andy Fletcher and Martin Gore provide some truly emotive soundscapes. Things have developed though;; the industrial screeching of “A Pain That I’m Used To,” ranges from sounds of industrial noise and techno style beats but not an inch of their sincerity has been lost. On Lilian, Gahan’s anguish seems to be personified and at its most poignant, while Nothing’s Impos-­ sible yields some menacingly beautiful guitar work. These are two strong tracks among many.

%BOJFM 1PXUFS 'SFF -PPQ Daniel Powter’s second single ‘Free Loop’ is good, but whether it will be able to convince many of the undecided to buy the album yet, it’s doubtful. It’s another lively tune, which is easy to hum along to but it maybe slightly too similar to ‘Bad Day’ to sway the critics. Written by Powter, the familiar progressive piano chords are there, along with the repeat-­to-­fade chorus which makes it an ideal pop song and it will no doubt do well in the charts. If you liked ‘Bad Day’ you’ll definitely like this single, although we’ll have to wait a little while yet to see Powter’s full abilities as a singer-­songwriter.

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The twenty five year life-­cycle of Depeche Mode has been one of drug abuse, gruelling live commitments and multiple line-­up changes. After providing some true classics in the form of “Just Can’t Get Enough” and the anthemic “Enjoy The Silence”, this is a band who can proudly proclaim to have found their winning for-­ mula. What is also noteworthy is that Depeche Mode, much like other 80s veterans such as The Cure, The Pixies and New Order, return to the public fore at a time when a generation of new bands are busy trying to emanate their music. Depeche Mode, like their peers, prove here that the original is often the best.

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A male-­female partnership, producing raw, stripped down blues-­rock without a bassist. Sounds famil-­ iar. However, the obvious comparison between transatlantic band The White Stripes, is perhaps not the most revealing. Alison Mosshart has had her haunting, seductive vocals likened to both PJ Harvey and Chrissie Hynde;; altogether more tell-­ ing comparisons. Forthcoming single No Wow employs just the two voices, a guitar and a drum machine to menacing effect, while it is the nega-­ tive space on the track that proves compelling. The military drum-­machine intro and pounding climax give the single an intense darkness, epitomizing the attitude which makes the band so exciting.

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(SFFO %BZ +FTVT PG 4VCVSCJB Yet another single in the deluge taken from the American Idiot album -­ am I the only one who feels like Green Day are out to fill their coffers from this “comeback”? What is really just a combina-­ tion of five songs threaded together in a jam ses-­ sion feels aimless and wandering;; you cant help but think that theses were five ideas that weren’t good enough to be made into full length songs.

I Don’t Care is the highlight of the five sections, injecting some welcome vitriol in an otherwise mediocre selection This nine minute epic is sadly neither a return to the Green Day of the good old days, nor a progression.

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The black cloud of Busted that critics thought would consume any talents Fightstar might have had never came. Charlie remains a bit of a legend, indeed it was his former band who caused this new project to get any attention at all. The bottom line is that Fightstar certainly can hold their own in the field of UK post-­hardcore. It may only be the breakdown that saves this song from standard rock drudgery but that friendly Busted influence means that they truly know how to make the mu-­ sic listenable.

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,BJTFS $IJFGT .PEFSO 8BZ The Kaisers return once again to offer us some heavy relief after lethal overdoses of both I Predict a Riot and Oh My God;; yes people this is not an-­ other re-­release, it is genuine. The melancholy feel of The Modern Way makes it all too easy to draw comparisons with Blur at their darker periods, how-­ ever even if this single sounds like a momentarily lapse in pace for the Kaisers after earlier dance floor fillers, you are soon encapsulated by perhaps one of the most original and addictive tunes to be taken from debut album Employment.

This is essentially another slice pure Brit-­Rock, which seems ironically heavy on ambition from a band on the verge of mammoth proportions;; “and I will stop at nothing, Just to get what I want”. In an era full of mainstream neglect, it would seem simple to write off The Modern Way as cheap moneymaking farce, but its easy enough to forgive with another pop number as grand as this. Looks like another top-­ten single in the bag then Ricky!

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Music

Live: The Subways

-$3

One year on from John Peel’s untimely death, the only appropriate way to celebrate his momentous life and prestigious career was to gig it! And The Subways were certainly a band worthy of our late favourite’s passionate musical ear.

Support came from hairy baby faced wonders The Kooks, energeti-­ cally bopping about the stage and filling all hearts with blissfully fizzy vibrancy. These delicately dapper boys would break even the stoni-­ est of expressions, with ‘Eddie’s gun’ receiving waves of frolicking souls.

But The Subways obviously stole the show. Looking cool but modest they simply and effortlessly invited the crowd to scream their lungs out in over excited appreciation. There was not one caged voice in the building and every single body was giving them a shimmy or an

energetic shake-­down. The room was awash with heaving euphoric high spirits.

‘With you’ and ‘Oh Yeah’ shook all to the core and finishing track ‘Rock and Roll Queen’ filled many a heart with pride, I’m sure John Peel was rocking away on his cloud somewhere upstairs.

Lead singer Billy’s leap into the crowd only heightened the audi-­ ence’s passion, as he swung from the ceiling, gripped and petted by achingly amorous audience members.

Charlotte on stage, looked on, probably anxious for her moment, but as many a girl jealously hissed insults at her after the show, truly her whiney tones deserve it! But thankfully together ‘You are so cool, you are so Rock and Roll!’

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The Coral -$3 Despite being hampered by a slightly muddy PA, which prevents the intricacies of their songs being fully appreciated by the audience, the Coral were on top form tonight. Following on from the feisty but ulti-­ mately formulaic indie rock of support band Little Flames, the Scouse seven-­piece arrive on stage to massive applause from a packed LCR. Singer James Skelly is a commanding and charismatic presence, de-­ spite saying little to the audience and his slightly rubbish haircut. He croons his way through the songs’ dark lyrics whilst his bandmates plough through a wide variety of genres, ranging from perfect, sum-­

mery pop (“In The Morning”, “Pass It On”) to eerie, voodoo psych-­ edelia that sounds like a soundtrack to the League of Gentlemen (“Bill McCai”, “She sings the Mourning”). The crowd is suitably ecstatic, muting slightly only during the more obscure album tracks. The sin-­ gles, however, especially their best known song “Dreaming of You”, with its bouncy bassline and insanely catchy chorus, ensure that by the time the Coral leave the stage they have the audience in the palm of their hands.

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Albums &VSZUINJDT 6MUJNBUF $PMMFDUJPO

Released to coincide with the recent interest in their trademark decade, Ultimate Collection is so eight-­ ies it hurts. From the power suits worn on the cover to the lashings of synths and reverb-­heavy drum loops, it pretty much distils the whole of eighties pop into one handy package. As a result, it is cool, catchy, unashamedly sincere and often irritating.

Most potential buyers will want this compilation for the six or so hits that turned the band into a global phenomenon. Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) and Love Is A Stranger, with their pulsing dance beat and icy vocals, are deservedly recog-­ nised as prime examples of eighties pop, but as a result have been played to dearth in a thousand cheesy discos. Likewise, Who’s That Girl? and Here Comes The Rain Again will please those who can remember that era and like to sing along. Unfor-­ tunately, the hits die out after track 11, the naffness skyrockets and the tunes disappear, turning the

last 30 minutes into more of an endurance test than an enjoyable listen. Songs like Miracle of Love and 17 can only be described as sentimental, over-­ blown fluff. Recent single I’ve Got a Life is equally cringe-­inducing – epic eighties style disco backing a laughably straight-­faced vocal that is both defiant and pleading. Annie Lennox turns scary soul diva in duet Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves and there are even some steel drums and samba whistles on Right By Your Side. Think long and hard before making that “ironic” record purchase.

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,JMMB ,FMB &MPDVUJPO Pharrell Williams and Justin Timberlake think he’s the best in the world, admittedly though you have to see it to belive it, singing and beatboxing at the same time is one of those things too easily eminated in a studio. Kela, and indeed the rest of Spitkingdom’s, live show is however no less than phenominal. Those of you lucky enough to have seen him last thursday will fully understand that Kela’s debut solo album is simply second rate to showing off is awesome talents. Indeed the com-­ parisons with Stateside Rhazel has caused some-­

what of a rivalry but for Kela its not all about the beatboxing;; Elocution shows of the very best of UK MC and DJ collaborations.

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