The event issue 162 10 03 2004

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lt's...

IS: Event Editor Nathan "gripe gripe " Di.xon

As sistant Editor Richard "grumble grumble" Simm Arts Editors Katharine Clemow & Edward Mooney Film Editor Philip "gnashing of teeth" Sainty Music Editors Sarah Edwardes & Matt Sargeson TV Editors Tim Barker & Kate Bryant Event Chief Photographer/Dogs body Colin "I'm hungry " Griffiths

Contributors (in order of appearance): Paul Wade • UEA students in and around c ampus on 4th March • Isabel Dyson • Toby Lewis • Rob Lavine • Lucy Mowatt • Adam O'Brien • Harriet Brooks· Frances Stapleton • Suzeanne Rickenback • 'Jedi' • Alistair Lawrence • Joe Dunthorne • Neil Bryan • 'The Mighty Atom' • Cat Lumb • Jonathan Perlmutter • 'Chad Sexington' • Benjamin Hines • Credit to Anna Plumeyer for her photos of To bias Wolff last issue • Thanks to Helena Morley for proofing

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Corner!\ Well 'corner ' is perhaps geometrically inaccurate, but what do you care? Your mind, warped by years of exposure to the free market economy, is already drunk on the prospect of getting stuff for free ... 'M-u-s-t ... con-sume.'

ee Cinema -..r-..- Th e Event and Ste rCe ntury cin e mas bring you the chance to win one of l 0 p airs of ticke ts to see Th e Girl Next Door, the latest teen remcorn about a guy (Emile Hirsch) and a girl (Elisha Cuthbe rt) who live .. .yes that's rig ht... next door to each othe r.

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C e ntury Fox Home The film is also out to Entertainment and The b uy on DVD and rent Event giVe yo u the on DVD and chance to win one of vide o fro m the five copies of the DVD, l st March from that's g e ne rous Pathe Distribution Ltd. Thanks to them isn't it - hurrah we h ave 5 copie s of this to give away! for capitalism! "@ "' Wunderbarl

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Que stion : wassisname again?

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haps the most unoriginal title for a romantic comedy, a nd should the y fact and tro uble calle d it Love is Lovely, Actually and Mary Said Som ething ab out a Funeral on a Notty Hi ll? The answe r is 'ye s' .

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All answe rs to: su.concrete@ uea.ac.uk

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Features 03

Grand Designs

Cinefile I stand alone

no. 41

Hollywood is looking back to the epic film after Its huge success in the 1950s.

Paul Wade looks at the reasons why lt still draws audiences to cinema screens.

than to look into the past? Gladiator definitely created the next big wave of epics. I'm just surprised it took so long to get going." he wave has turned into a tsunami with every major studio turning out at least one epic and their siege of the cinema has already started with no signs of glVmg up anytime soon. Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge, Romeo + julief) is working on an adaptation of the Alexander the Great story.

It is expected to be released in 2005.

Wolfgang Petersen (The Perfect Storm) retells the tail of Homer's Iliad and is due out this summeÂŁ. Troy focuses on the rivalry between Achilles (Pitt) and Hector (Eric Bana) against the backdrop of the Trojan War. But it's not all togas and sandals; John Lee Hancock (Bad Boys 2) has The Alamo due out this Christmas and Robert Duvall stars in the Civil War epic Gods & Generals again out later this year.

One film which is greatly anticipated and surrounded in controversy is

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ladiator - people love it.

People hate it.

Some just don't

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Cinematically it is probably one of the most important films released since the millennium. It seems a drastic comment to make, but Gladiator is the first Hollywood epic to come out since its heyday back in the 50's and 60's. The Hollywood epic, once a vital and dominant genre in cinema, went the way of the dinosaurs four decades ago.

Audiences grew tired of the long running times, the ropey sets and special effects but mostly with the scale of films themselves. But now the millennium's been and gone, cinema audiences all over the world are flocking to see historical epics, having grown tired of gangsters, aliens, serial killers and all the other stereotypes of nineties mainstream movies.

Studios lost faith in epic cinema when the budgets became too big to support. Films like Ben Hur, Cleopatra, Laurence of Arabia, Spartacus and Sinbad- movies that were epic in every sense of the word - were condemned to history like the behemoths of a mythic age. Only now do directors and writers who were raised on these films have the passion, drive and ambition to make these films great again. And with the success of Gladiator, Master and Commander, Gangs of New York, Titantic, and the fantasy epic Lord of the Rings, Hollywood has realised that the

epic is back.

What has made these movies so appealing again to the studios is the development of CGI and FX, allowing casts of thousands to become casts of millions. Armies, the size of which have never been seen on screen, can mazch to the gates of Ilium or defend Middle Earth from Ores. These days Rome can't be built in a day but it can be partially virtually constructed. it'll cost you a few million dollars though. It's hard to understand how a studio can justify a $100 million plus on a film and call it affordable but Gladiator managed to gross over $457.2 million world wide in cinema ticket sales alone. That's not factoring in DVD sales that grossed $288

million. Even movies that make a loss at the cinema are now able to make a profit in the home market through rental and video/DVD sales. The problem in the 50's and 60's was that the cost just became too high. Studios could rise and fall with the cost of one production.

Cleopatra was really the final nail in the coffin in 1963. Promoted as "the motion

"These days Rome still can't be built in a day but it can be virtually constructed. It'll cost you a few million dollars though." picture the world had been waiting for" , the tale of the queen of the Nile cost $44 million. Today it would have cost approximately $268 million. When Cleopatra completely bombed at the cinema, barely able to get back a quarter of its cost, it was the final lesson for the studios.In fact the production didn't even have enough money to have the sets taken down, so they just buried them in the Nevada Desert.

The epic was dead, killed by the expensive weight of its own ambition.

Studios started producing science fiction and horror movies that had greatly reduced budgets. The studios' decision to move towards sci-fi and horror films led to the development the CGI and highly complicated effects. Now the sci-fi blockbuster has had its time and the epic is returning. Films like the appalling remakes of Godzilla and jurassic Park 3, which failed to draw crowds at the cinema, but did have spectacular effects, show that incredible images of fantasy or antiquity are possible. And one director, Ridley Scott, grasped the opportunity.

Ironically Scott was no fan of historical epics as a child. "I couldn't quite get with them", says Scott, who is now working on the film Tripoli, a $150 million story about the Barbary Coast pirates. Scott believes that of the epics of old "those worlds looked theatrical and not real." This realisation drew Scott to the project. "I could create worlds easily, worlds that were real to the audience. When Russell stood in front of the troops (Gladiator), they knew it was real". These days Scott says he understands the attraction of these films. "What could be more remarkable

Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ". The film has drawn a lot of debate, not only from those who claim the film is anti-semitic. The claim that Hollywood is manipulating films based on historical events is true and is greatly worrying to some. Almost all of the epics are guilty of this, for example, Gladiator's Emperor Commodus did not die at the hands of Russell Crow seeking vengeance.lnstead, he died on New Year's Eve 192AD after being drugged by his mistresses and then strangled by a wrestler. Whether or not we like it, many people learn a lot of history through pop culture, so the calls for the studios to get the history correct is a fair point. Do the issues with "The Passion of Christ" lie with Mel Gibson and his interpretation of the New Testament or some other bias? Who knows? What is important is that if Hollywood is going to deal with such sensitive issues, they must try to get it right. Historian, Arthur Fuller, author of Time and Place: A Brief World View, said "The movies can take us places that art and books simply can't. The brutality of wars then, the squalor people lived in movies are getting more and more accurate in those areas. Now if they could just drop all the love stories. Real history is dramatic enough. It doesn't need embellishment." The Hollywood epic has had a troubled past finically and now has problems with the portrayal of history, but audiences still flock to see epics. The spectacular and the amazing is what cinema goers want and studios are now gathering historical heroes from all around the world to do battle for your hard earned cash.

Isn't this by that Irreversible chap?

Well, yes it is.lt's Gasper Noe's previous film. As a nice, tidy, pointlessly trivial connection you can impress your arty friends with, the main protagonist in I Stand Alone appears at the beginning of Irreversible, wearily telling another guy that he slept with his own daughter.

Fair play. Can I hear the whole story?

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Go on then. He's a butcher, played with worryingly convincing instability by Philippe Nahon, who hasn't had the best luck with his life. If that wasn't enough, he is trapped in a loveless marriage, in a world he hates, with a mute daughter he adores locked up in a mental asylum. And don't you just get in one of those moods where all the existential troubles of life pile up, and all you can do is mentally implode, hit your pregnant missus several times in the stomach and run off to Paris to retrieve your child who you have barely repressed sexual desire for? I think this is something we can all relate to.

So what happens?

It's basically a monologue, cataloguing one man's psychological breakdown and social alienation. We hear all his profane, bile ridden, misogynist, racist, homophobic, spiteful, violent thoughts as Noe follows him on his travels to reclaim his daughter, the only person who has ever meant anything to him.

It's strangely absorbing, repellent and self conscious. Noe is a director who realises he has an audience with a morbid fascination, and exploits this to the full .

In what way?

Near the end of the film, a warning flashes up onscreen which gives the audience thirty seconds to leave the cinema. The countdown starts. No one's going to leave. Then Noe really does pull out all the stops in this subjective universe he's created. There's an imagined 'sad' ending, where he kills his daughter and himself. And a very real 'happy' ending, where he has sex with her, complete with tasteful classical music. Bless.

Sounds, er, interesting...

It's definitely worth a watch if you can track it dawn. I'm sure The People Upstairs will give it a Region 2 release on DVD soon enough, given the success of Irreversible. If you've seen or heard anything about Irreversible, you know sort of what to expect in terms of graphic content. It's an intense film, and not one to watch with your wife, girlfriend, mother, father, son, daughter, friends, cousins, uncles, aunts, grandparents, colleagues or perfect strangers. But, you know, still worth a watch.

Paul Case

10.03.04

04

000 he sweet sound of somnolenc e is in the a1r.

Echoing (quietly) down office corridors and floatmg from the windows of student bedsits, it wraps Jtself around chilly-eared pedestnans and ra1ses a gentle smile from pub drunks across the country. Tur n on the radio and the chances are Jt Will be the first thing yo u hear. A dulcet-toned DJ will mtroduce it as Norah Jones, perhaps, or Katie Melua, and then urge you to sit back and unWind while a honey voice purrs seductJvely out of the speakers over a backdrop of tinkling piano and lovmglystrurnmed guitar.

This , for those not in the musical know, 1s the sound of the 'new easy', the recalcitrant grandchild of easy listerung and an unlikely focus for a very demure chart rebellion. Standing against a youthorientated industry founded on brash marketing and calculated cool, the new easy represents a vote for substance over style, a soul-driven cross against the box marked ' authenticity'.

Easy listening's evolution from musical embodiment of the colour beige to alternative pillar of the pop charts has been, until now, a relatively slow process.

For decades, the term evoked the swooning vocals of Music to Watch Girls By and

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1n Come Fly With Me, a smooth-talking Andy Wilhams and the crisp. besillted figure of Frarik Sinatra. It meant old staples and old fol ks. But, with a bit of help

"With the help of Norah Jones and Katie Melua, easy listening has started to shake off its pension-onvinyl image and adapt itself for a new millennium." from Jones, Melua and more traditional crooners such as Jamie Cullum and Michael Buble, the genre has started to shake off its pension-on-vinyl image and adapt itself for a new millennium.

By the end of 2003, the respectable face of modern easy no longer looked like Engelbert Humperdinck.

In fact, it bore a striking resemblance to Joss Stone, the teenage luminary whose remarkable voice has become the defining sound of a new generation of young singers. After winning her first record deal at only 14, Stone spent two years honing her style with top producers in Britain and America. Her debut album, The Soul Sessions, was released late last year.

The clamouring critical acclaim for its inspired and eclectic mix of covers including a jazzed-up version of the White Stripes' Fell in Love with a Girl, retitled Fell in Love with a Boy- was vindicated by the album's massive commercial success.

Boasting comparisons with legendary arhsts such as Aretha Franklm, Stone's world-conquering pedigree 1s made all the more JmpressJve for her ongms as a stage-shy schoolgirl from a small village m Devon. Unlike so many of the pre-packaged stars she shares the charts With, Stone ·s only expenence of the Pop Idol conveyor belt was a BBC competitiOn that she entered on an impulse, and won, at the age of 12. The rest of her career so far can be put down to a little bit of providence and a lot of raw talent. le media anticipaon for Stone 's selfenned 'proper' ebut continues to mount, so does the audience's appetite for more of the same. Melua, Cullum and Buble all had their first breaks at a similar time as Stone - and all were helped by airplay from Radio Two. It is no coincidence that the resurgence in demand for 'proper' songwriting, melody and craftsmanship has corresponded to an increase in the station's popularity. The figure s from Rajar (Radio Join t Audience Research Ltd.) for the last quarter of 2003 showed that Radio Two now reaches just over 13 million listene r s, comfortably b e ating Radio One, whose audience fell to an all-time low of 9.4 million. With a 16% audience

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10.03.04

Jamie Cullum: easy

share, Radio Two is officially the most listened-to station in the country.

This is not all. At a time when fewer and fewer CD singles are being sold, and a young audience disillusioned with the aggressive commodification of their culture are increasmgly turning to web downloads , the bulk of music sales are shifting towards the middle market.

According to recent figures from the British Phonographic Industry, the majority of albums are now bought by people aged between 40 and 49. They accounted for 19.1 •;o of album sales m 2002. compared With only 16.4 ° o from

Cullum, two more staples from the station's playlist. Cullum also has a highprofile fan in the shape of Michael Parkinson, who championed him on his Radio Two programme and later ensured the singer a performing slot on his television series. The success of Cullum's d eb ut album Twentysomething, an antiquated blend of pop, swing and jazz, is testament both to the publicity power of radio, and the enduring appeal of an understated flair ior showbiz.

Understatement lies at the heart of the new easy's popularity. This IS a

For a public unused to taking record-buying tips from Terry Wogan, it might come as a surpise to learn that tracks from the current No. 1 were first played on his show.

12-to-19 year olds. Teenagers, it seems, are no longer the mass audience.

The effect of Radio Two 's strong position in the ratings, and this general trend towards a music industry that caters for older generations, is reflected in the album charts, where the audience that counts is evidently enamoured with the new easy. For a public unfamiliar with taking record-buying tips from Terry Wogan, it might come as something of a surprise to learn that tracks from the current number one, Call off the Search by Katie Melua, received their first airplay on his Radio Two breakfast show. Melua's album shifted its one millionth copy last week, and is now the biggest-selling album of the year so far.

Following close behind her in the top three are Norah Jones and Jamie

movement that doesn't need to shout its credentials from the neon vacuum of magazine covers and their TV equivalents that litter the music scene. From coffee table to chillout room, the ethereal melodies of Norah Jones to Amy Winehouse's unabashed take on the soul confessional, it is a rejection of hype and a concerted attempt to bypass the tyrannical middle-man.

There are no Gallows or Watermans here, just an exquisite, insightful set of new voices and an audience with a taste for something different.

Exuding mild-marmered defiance and the peerless knack for a good tune, the new easy looks like it is set to stay.

For once, this is a revolution that won't involve a fight. Lay d own your arms, surrender your record c ollections and b reathe in the tranquillity.

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And the award goes to ...

Past classics Jarvis and Jacko at the BRITS took it upon himto demonstrate the ne•:Jative aspects of Mr Jacksons performance. In other words he, got on stage and wiggled his bum at Jacko and the audience.

Sacheen Littlefeather's OSCAR rebuttle The supposed American was sent Marlon Brando to decline the oscar for best actor and highlight: "the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry...and on television in movie reruns, and also the recent happenings at Wounded Knee."

Chumbawumba

at the BRI TS band took issue Prescott's presence the BRITS and Danbert Nobacon illustrated this by throwing a bucket of water on his head.

They dedicated the act to "single mothers, sacked dockworkers, people who will be denied legal aid, students who will be denied the free education that the whole Labour front bench benefitted from ..." and so on.

Julian Clary and Fisting at the Comedy Awa rds Julian's outburst on live TV went down in history as being one of the funniest but also most damaging to a carear, when asked by Jonathan Ross: "How's it hanging?" he replied: "Oh, very well thank you. Very nice of you to recreate Hampstead Heath for me here. As a matter of fact , I've just b een fisting Norman Lamont ...

the sound men at the OSCARS Myers offended a film technician everywhere with his pitiless speech whilst presenting the OSCAR for best sound and sound editing, he remarked: "Now I know what you're asking yourself.

Will the winner this year be Chet Flippy, or Tommy Blub-Blub?"

o we really care who wins what anymore? Aside, that is, from a large amount of supporters who wanted Peter Jackson to clear up at all the awards for his previously overlooked Lord of the Rings. It has to be said that award ceremonies, the highlight of which is supposedly the Oscars, are losing their appeal.

The Brits, the BAITA's , the Oscars and so on have all lost the respect that they used to have for rewarding the artists in their field . The Oscars have long been turning into an industry back-scratching exercise, with the whole show devolving into a glamorous orgy of designer clothing, but perhaps it has found a greater strength herein? It is true there are more articles written and more attention given on the day to what people are wearing than what they are there to do or receive. But this also seems to be what people want.

People want their movie stars to be clothes horses for the night, not really the point, but if that's what the adoring public wants ... It was also very necessary to 'reglam' since the last years Oscars was such a dour affair, what with all that warrespecting black, no red carpet and half the audience they normally have.

Similarly the BAITAs this year got very little response from the British public, the film on ITV Unbreakable got considerably more viewers.

The lack of alcohol at the Brits directly reflected how boring the whole thing was this year. The organiser's supposedly wanted to stop celeb antics and draw the attention back to the awards, which are not always that attention worthy - an interesting choice which is reflected in the general trend to limit any sort of unrehearsed and in-appropriate behaviour.

The Oscars was sent out with a time delay, as a response to the Janet Jackson debacle and also, surely, the outspoken Michael Moore's comments last year didn't help. Everything we get to see has already been censored, so what's the point in watching them live? Half the appeal of award ceremonies is the idea that a star could make a complete fool of themselves and, rather than reading about it in the papers the next day, you can say you saw it happen. But we can never see 'the event' anymore as it wouldn 't be aired if something did go wrong.

Perhaps this is a light reason for watching awards ceremonies, but, nonetheless, it 's a valid one and more amusing than watching celebs picking up statuettes. he BAITAs are not really up there with the best award ceremonies , even on a good day, and this year was no exception.

People don't seem to have noticed that the supposed purpose of the awards: highlighting the British film industry, has been relplaced with a new purpose: celebs glamrning up for the night. The red carpet fashion parade is almost the entire focus of these events nowadays, with only the after show parties coming close to rivaling what people are wearing for interest.

It seems that we're no longer tuning in to these various glamour soaked

events to participate in a celebration of talent and innovation. Although we 're more than happy to make do with just the odd incident guaranteed to permanently stain an otherwise promising career, even these are getting few and far between. Sadly, the vomit-happy world of music has been subdued due to the many, many alcohol soaked antics of those naughty celebs. The trend for making everything sober in the music industry seems bizarre because the drunken rantings of pop stars was one of their biggest appeals. It was bound to happen however as the Brits are an

"the BAFTAs this year got very little response from the British public, the film on ITV got more viewers." industry owned show, and their spoiltsport notions of maintaining a respectable image constantly rain on the parade.

So all award ceremondies are crap and nobody should bother watching them anymore seems to be the point of all this so far. That's not entirely what I was trying to say although it certainly seems like !hats what I've ended up saying. The reality is award shows on tv will sometimes be watchable, sometimes laughable and sometimes absolute crap but we will still watch them, and though we are all now exhausted from the barage of awards that have been hitting our screens recently we'll all still tune in again next year for more of the same. Which either means we will watch anything or we have always just liked watching the alist look their finest and get worshipped for it.

T

10.03.04----------------------------------

Features 07

W iting Wong pparently, the world is getting smaller. Welcome to the 'global village' we are told, it's a 'cultural meltpot' .

Jaded like this aside, technology's conquering of distance has meant a massive increase in communication between places once reachable only by the hardiest pioneer, now anybody with the price of an airfare can go there in hours or contact it with the touch of buttons in seconds: East has undoubtedly met West and the Far East isn't that far anymore.

For art, this has meant two very different cultural heritages encountering each other and starting to blend, having developed isolated from each other for centuries. Further, this amalgam. once considered the intellectual territory of academics only, has precipitated down to become more easily accessible.

The latest book to come out of such a climate is Po Wah Lam's The Locust Hunter, published at the end of last month by Blackamber books. Centrally, the book is about childhood, and this is reflected in its simple style. It has been referred to as magic realism, though perhaps mistakenly as it focuses not on

David Wong to awani a creative writing course place and £25,000 to a writer wanting to write a serious work of English fiction set in the Far East. Wong is also a writer, having so far published three collections of short stories and, most recently, a novel, The Evergreen Teahouse, and like Lam and other beneficiaries of his fellowship, his stories are set in the Far East although written in English. This, along with ~\:. f.. the generosity of the fellowship, 1 suggests Wong to be somebody who wholeheartedly supports the literary dialogue between East and West. Asked about his emphasis on an Eastern setting which must be conveyed in English, he replies: " It's because I think most of the problems in the world today are caused by misunderstandings and miscommunications between peoples and I can see vast gaps in the understanding between East and West: we've had horrible wars - the Korean War, the Vietnam war and so on and so forth and it's because people can't quite communicate." English, he feels, is the only practical language to use if such communication is to take place, "this is the only way of getting what we write read Hopefully, while we retain our cultural values, background, and attitudes, the key is how to convey

1

"In all developing societies, the material aspects are so much of a lure; in capitalism, that's the thing people latch onto" the actually fantastic but on something that is real, the far-fetched imagination of children. ''This story is set between two worlds, in between two opposing societies, it can never have inbetweens. You are either very young or very old", writes Lam. But childhoe>d and adulthoe>d are not the only opposing societies it focuses on. As well as, and intertwined with, this theme is the cultural interplay of West and East. It is set in 1970s Hong Kong, 'the mongrel city', during its British rule, and along its border runs a fault line between the uber-capitalist 'cashtocracy' of Hong Kong and the basic rural living of southern Communist China. The innocence of childhoe>d mirrors old-world naivety, in opposition to the ugly reality of the late Twentieth Century, as youth is to maturity. The distance between the natural juvenile and the social adult is explored Boc>ks such as The Locust Hunter have a lot to tell us, specifically how the West has made its presence felt in Asia.

Lam's biography reveals him to be a goe>d candidate to conduct the exploration. Born in Liverpool, brought up in Hong Kong and most recently educated at UEA, studying on the esteemed Creative Writing masters course and winner of the first award of the David Wong fellowship given in 1998, his experience is clearly emblematic of the cultural exchange. The Locust Hunter is the first result of the fellowship set up by

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the West for the sake of it." By way of example: ''Ten years ago, I warrant hardly anybody in China knew about St. Valentine 's day. Now it's a big thing ... are going crazy buying things for their girlfriends, spending money and you think, 'wait a there are plenty of vllllllt•se festivals people are now rfignc>rirLg because this particular f oc:camo,nhas a big material dimension' ... I think that, in all developing societies, the material aspects are so much of a lure; in capitalism, that's thing people latch onto. They the visible signs of wealth and success."

Does the effect of the West's money-grabbing consumer ensnarement mean that the meeting ofWest and East has been a negative thing - would it

be better for Asia if the two were still in isolation of each other? Neither Wong nor Lam adopt this position, or are totally hostile to the West. Instead, the message seems to be that, like growing up, the loss of innocence is inevitable, be it childhood or old-world tranquillity.

However, there is still a sense that the encounter could have gone better, that the focus should have been more in terms of edification than profit. As Wong puts it: ''The point is that people want to be Western but they want 'Western' in a particularly narrow and superficial way.

They haven't absorbed Western philosophy or Western culture and literature and all rest of it. They see it as McDonalds or Burger King or Coca Cola and that's what they want - but that's not the West. The West is much more than that."

NORWICH THEATRE ROYAL BOX OFFICE (01603) 63 00 00

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this to a foreign audience and to make them stop and say: 'Ahhh, so this is how they look at things, well we didn't look at it in that way."' n creating this literary bridge between the two hemispheres, the work of writers like Lam and Wong allow investigation into the collision of East and West. In The Locust Hunter the western influence on the characters' childhoe>ds is described in detail: with wonderment they sample the new and exciting KFC; use bottles of 1 Up almost as a currency; and find a role model, almost a messiah figure, in Bruce Lee, whose success in the USA has made their lives in the East certifiable via celluloid. Wong's novel follows the Gold Star Corporation and the effect of its Western-style capitalism on the lives of the book's characters, whether they work for it or become victims of its influence.

So Anglo-Asian literature appears to focus on the encroachment of Western capitalism with its shallow trappings.

Wong thinks 'convergence' is perhaps a misleading word in describing the East/West relationship: "Since China opened up to the rest of the world, Western clothes, Western-style food and even Western festivals have been picked up in a big way by the Chinese population; but one always has a fear that the more superficial things are being adopted and people want to ape

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ime for another chance to win win win. Get it? A competition from 'Time' nightclub here in loverly h i p -hop 'n' happening old Norwich.

Anyway... WHO WANTS TO SEE 'GIRLS ALOUD ' @ TIME NIGHTCLUB FOR FREE?...

Girls Aloud are coming to TIME? Yes! We're excited too. Th e five stunning ladies will be perfoming an exclusive set at the Riverside luxury that is TIME on Friday 26th March. The wonderful people at Time have arranged one of the best competitions in Concrete's history. You could actually mingle with the girls! If you want to win one of ten pairs of exclusive tickets, including VIP treatment and FREE champagne, simply send us an e-mail with the intention of making us laugh. Not that hard, we're all quite s imple.

All entries to: su.concrete@uea.ac. uk The best entries will be chosen on the 20th of March, so please send in your entries no later than the 19th. Don't forget to include your telephone number.

1350AM

Blaggery!!

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h e Even t has twe ntyfive party tic kets for the marvellou s Snow Patrol after-show p arty on Thursday 11th to g ive away . These tickets are seperate from those given away in Rabbit and by Livewire, and therefore provide yet another chance for you to win your opportu- ~-.. ,:-,.., ~ ; nity to attempt to impress the band with sparkling repartee and/or little clothing. Or just turn up for the booze and pretend you're not impressed. Either way, you should be grateful for such a wonderful prize and enter immed ia tely as time is short. You must email us at su.concrete@uea.ac.uk by 4:00 on Thursday afternoon, remember to include your mobile number or another way of contacting you speedily when you give us the answer to the following question: TRAP LOONS, W. Is an anagram of what?

Remember, you only have untill6: 00 hours on Thursday 11th March to email your answers to us.

Schedule

Tue

Wed

Thu

6-10 ~BREAKFAST

XFM BREAKFAST

XFM BREAKFAST

XFM BREAKFAST

XFM BREAKFAST

10-1 2 IMON&BONE ~imon&Mark COOK 12-14

BOUNCE Rob Lavine BEN&JAMES

NEIL&ANNIE

WEIRD/ WONDERFUL F1JCK&JO

14-16 ~ RAGAMUFFINS ~at &Simone GAY BAR 16-18 p reg&Mike CONNECT 18-20 f'luisDavis 20-22 PAYDREAM omBuckharn

BLONDESOC Rhi Clarke EUROCKS Elena& Gael BROKEN SOUL Ross Nicolson FRUITY FLAYAS Mark Wheeler LOADED Kev &Jack XFM

XPOSURE Tessa & Martin TASTE STATES Nick Krarner TESSA & MARTIN NEW MUSIC Caroline & Kat LCRWARM-UP Simon & Ross REBELLION Paul & Jarnes FED. LEIT Neil Milton XFM

RHIANNON CLARKE STARSKl & DOCK Tom Hutchins BEST BEATS Greg Conn WILLSCARFF

M on

fJzz!E

!rEAM fUNK

22-00 ~TENIGHT r.uss Brody 00-6

pcrn

Sat 9- 11 IMORNIN' an&Mark 11 - 13 tyHESURGERY vano &Ben 13- 15 pucKY & STEVEN

!JaM

15- 17 ~PORTS SHOW IRoss & Dave SHOW 17-19 tromNeish 19-2 1jc-FORCE arnes & Mike 21-23 IIDMSHOW on Pelharn

lumiTLED

23-6

!JaM

Sun KNICK-KNACKS Matt Knight KARLBROWN NEWS SHOW DANCE DAMAGE Nick Adonis MARK&JOE SUNDAY RINSE T. Hulse BABYLON Jarnie XFM

GRAPEVINE Kate &Helen THE FRANCIS & TOBYSHOW SOS CALLING Dave Bill HIPHOPPIN Rowan SANQUENTIN Lucy &Joel BILL VINE XFM

Fri

DAVE, JEZ & OLI

XFM

LIVEWIRE & XFM PRESENT SNOW PATROL In celebration of our new partnership with London's XFM, we are proud to present Snow Patrol live at the UEA on 11 th March with an exclusive after show party featuring XFM DJ lain Baker. For your chance to win free tickets to this very special event, tune in to Livewire all this month.

Also, win tickets here in Concrete or by being one of the first 200 people through the door at the gig with your NUS card.

Check out our website for all the details on the gig, our after show party, your chance to win free tickets and all the very latest music news courtesy ofXFM ...

09 Features . ..............................................................

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of those brave few who dared to go to Nestle I love Kit-Kats said Rosy Please do not buy The Big Issue exclaimed the shabby looking fellow Surrender now and we will not kill your godesses Merely keep them as our slaves and concubines No rhyming over restructuring The struggle would continue into the wee small hours The transverse componenent of N II don't know if I knew I wouldn't be here right now I said I could wait, and you smiled

U - GradBar And yet none of it was as good as the spaceships...

Come ye now away from the ziggurats Bangers, mash and skyscrapers NEVER WALK UNDER A DURIAN TREE But to the mountains, walk to see What's the difference between God and Tony Blair?

Thoughts within my head Behind the golden clock and stepped inside the door The eagle snatches the child

m - Creative Writing Society And he ranged, waywardly, like the star of veldt Swords rusteth, heroes ageth, and all days melt.

The path was long and yet untrodden, but noble feet awaited

very civilisation has its spontaneous outpouring of folk literature.

Ancient Greece taught Homer by heart to its c.h ldren. Rome got Vugil to copy him.

India has its immense Ramayama and Mahabharata cycles, Japan got the Tales of Genji and even little old England got not one but two fiery puritanical tirades from Milton. The UEA

has been a fully-fledged civilisation for forty years, yet has not even scraped together a heroic couplet let alone a sweeping, muse-struck, story of millions (provided we completely forget the creative writing courses, of course).

So, here, for the first time, is the UEA-iad - a story of we happy students striving to do different, yet inexplicably ending up doing rather similar; a story of fear and pain, and a little bit of love; a story of people who have far too much time to sit around in the UEA's various drinks outlets. The paper was passed around with a pen and students jumped at the chance to grasp the weeping nettle of poetry and make it theirs. Read, recite. This is beauty!

I - The Hive Sing! Heavenly muse of those mendicant moderns who do different And then she smiled with a knowing look in her eye Whatever people see they don't think it And they all bowed down at the feet of Incubus So they walked away...

AND SLEPT FOREVER Never to wake in this world again With the sound of piglets hooves chattering in the distance And the beautiful sunset darkening Like all the stars had gone out Lights Out Exploding darkness erupts smothering the poor foetus Rosy fingered dawn tickled the hopes

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lliilll~liiiiil--------lmiiii::ii:

IV - Concrete Office Peas on earth and broccoli to all men N' oubliez pas les petits-pois, je deteste mes pantalons rouges Oh the pain, the fear, the fear of the coming weekend, the horror, the horror But the Cafe de Colombie will keep us strong, if a little jittery I would attempt to be loquacious but I'm just not literary Can I d o it later? I'm busy.

V - The Bowl

Nice idea in the rain Come on let's bring on the pain When will I see you again?

Tokenism (nominal emotion towards a quality) A CONCRETE CLEARING IN A GREEN OASIS Nathan is cool, but a bit of a fool 6 letters, of a town, begins with U It's all a con Like lambs to the slaughter I have no inspiration whatsoever A sparkle of knowedge in the foggy clearing I lack money for coffee And the Coventry made the play-offs Please let me finish my coffee

VI - Bio-Cafe s=ut+Yzat2 And there shall be wailing and grinding of teeth

Happy birthday to me The bus fares have gone up No they haven't Yes they have Have they?

Just use your bike I pulled at the LCR last night - now I feel dirty and shamed. Curse you LCR!!

And lo! he was not of a virgin born When will I see you again?

Already had that Mmmmm,lovely geraniums These are nothing but wild and whirling words my lord We read Shakespeare, as well as Mendel My tea's gone cold, and she owes me a cup No I don't d here endeth our wonderful notes towards an epic. It may seem next to idiculous to tally our veryday little quibbles over bus fares, or Newton's se.::ond law, with Homer et al, but the very quotidian nature of our lives is our epic. It is rare that we be called upon to fight 'beautlful' wars, setting sail over wine-dark seas, or contend with jealous and often multiple-limbed gods. Yet, in between the seeming boredom and banality of sitting in the Bowl, or elsewhere, come gems of folk-wisdom - I for one will not be walking under a Durian tree in the near future, and the cry of pain contained in, "I lack money for coffee," is just the sort of window onto normal life which mediaevalists spend years scanning documents looking for.

How proud can we be that we have provided future historians with just the information they need to re-create UEA life in their history books? At the same time, of course, we have produced a work of great beauty. Beauty? Of course, beauty is a ridiculously subjective concept. Most people seem to agree however that this 'epic' is not beautiful. Take your Wordsworth lenses off- your life is beautiful too. Even without vales and hills to wander lonely over.

A

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10 Features .................................................................. ................................................................ Features 11

Lights , e>tie>n ---

nee upon a time you knew wnere you were with Disney: wide-eyed animation, impeccable family values and the odd release from Pixar to rake in a couple of hundred million dollars. But lately, cracks have been appearing in the corporation's cast-iron cuddly image.

First it was revealed that, for the first time since the 1930s, Disney don't have a feature length cartoon in production. Next, Roy Disney, Wall's nephew, resigned from the board, in protest at chairman Michael Eisner's handling of the company. Then, worst of all, Eisner refused to agree to Pixar's contract demands, destroying a partnership that has made both companies billions.

Of all the major studios, Disney have long been the most successful at presenting a marketable image to the film-going public. Yet recent events are a timely reminder that, far from being every child's best friend, they are in fact an intern(\tional cash machine.

However, just because they're out to make a profit doesn't discount them as a creative entity. If anything, financial involvement makes studios more careful of what they pay to be released. In these days of mega-stars and auteurs, isn't possible that the first name you check on the movie poster should be the guys who stumped up the cash?

In Disney's case, until the 1960s this would be a pretty safe bet. For all his faults (using the mob to prevent unionisation of IUs workforce being amongst the most endearing), Walt cared deeply about his studio's product. This may partly have been because, from their first feature, Snow White, to well after Bambi, the fortunes of the entire enterprise were depe.n dent on the success of each release. With everything being run through one man, the company achieved a remarkable coherence.

Even when they branched out into live action with flicks including 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Absent Minded Professor, the emphasis was still on making conservative movies the whole family could enjoy.

Unfortunately, matters started to fragment as soon as Walt decided to

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times a willingness in the company to produce ostensibly anti-capitalist films such as .FYght Club as long as it will make a profit. Unsurprisingly, Fox doesn't seem to criticise the media's grip on the mind of civilisation.

TobyLewis

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stop being alive. Without their leader, the studio lost its way. Former executives have attested that, in the period from 1966 onwards, 'What would Walt do?' was the question most frequently heard in the corridors of the Mouse House; the irony being, of course, that he'd look to the future rather than the past.

Adrift throughout the 1970s, it took a pair of forme.r Paramount executives, Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg, to pull Disney out of its slump. But their solution wasn't a return to dictatorial autonomy. Since the mid 80s, there have been three broad sections to Disney's movie production. Initially under the control of Katzenberg (until he fell out with Eisner and eo-founded Dreamworks), the animation divi.s ion got back to the serious business of family entertainment.

More important, however, was the creation of Touchstone and Miramax to handle more adult orientated fare.

Touchstone is now the current home of super producer Jerry Bruckheimer, while Miramax, headed by the Weinstein brothers, caters for the popular art-house crowd. Indeed, Miramax, for all its claims of fostering film making talent, is now the nearest to Wall's original method of operating, with brother Harvey earning the nickname Scissorhands for his mauling of releases into Oscar-friendly shape.

Dante's description of the Gates of Hell was proved s omewhat innacurate

10.03.04

ncorporated as a division of Rupert Murd:>ch's News Corporation since 1985 the studio is a fragment of one man's current attempts to dominate the world's media. It used to make wholesome annoying fare but has changed in the hope that its commercial punch will aid Mwdoch's world eating plans. A studio that has been lucky with the unexpected financial successes that it has achieved at crucial intervals perhaps epitomised by the bizarre success of the Star War.s franchise and the near sinking fitanic. For much of the late 30s, 40s and 50s it was the third most profitable o: the studios after Paramount and MGM, carving out a niche market in middle America for boring films and brutalised adaptations such as the life affirming happy ending imposed on John Ford's The Grapes ofWrath.

William Fox had originally set up the Fox J'ilm Corporation in 1915 with a domineering reign over the studio. Fox lost a crucial law suit in March 1935 when he attempted to persuade the US Supreme Court to grant him the US Patent rights to the Tri-Ergon sound film process. If Fox had won this case he would have secured a monopoly over the film industry, as theoretically he could have sued every sound film producer al the time for substantial damages. Iutead this costly court case meant that the company faced bankruptcy proceedings and provided Darryl F. Zanuck's newly formed Twentieth Century with the opportunity to take over Fox. Whilst financial disaster loomed over the company in the 1960s after the fall out of the production of Cleopatra.

This le<i to a return of the pugnacious Zanuck who had originally been kicked out due to his wariness of making such expensive epics. The studio managed to hang on until the 1970s when the rebirth of the blockbuster came with riskily spiralling production costs but the lure of even greater profit. The reason fox the company's purchase by News International was because much of its capital became tied up in the production costs of the blockbuster films the public were responding to and needed an overarching company that could not be sunk by the possibility of a few badly performing expensive movies.

The studio, to its credit, has always had a vanguard special effects and technicu department which most dramatically influence the development of cinema as an artistic medium with their pioneer role in the development of Cinema Scope in 1952. This decision was credited with leading to the widescreen revolution and encouraged the birth of the aesthetic of the long take.

The studio's television manifestations vary between the alarmingly subjective Right Wing diatribe of Fox News and the open-minded irreverent satire of such programs as the Simpsons and Family Guy. Similarly there is some-

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stablished in 1994 :by three industry moguls - successful director and producer, Steven Speilberg; former Disney executive and animation master, Jeffrey Katzenberg and music recording giant David Geffen Dreamworks SKG did not embark on the customary tale of success. Surviving without a Studio for over three years and with fairly mediocre launch films, The and Mousehunt, Peacemaker Dreamworks' only hope would prove to be the persistence of its exceptionally loaded eo-founding team.

Dreamworks SKG was formed on over $2 billion of revenue, ensuring, despite many setbacks, its eventual institution. All three executives initially invested a major $33 million for an equal 22% stake in the project and backing them up was Microsoft eo-founder Paul Alien, who remains the principal shareholder with a 24% stake.

Aiming to dominate the market of producing live action films, animated features (Katzenburg's quest to conquer Disney), television programming, home entertainment, consumer products and music entertainment - the four years it took for their first credible blockbuster Saving Private Ryan, was wholly unpredictable. Today, only a decade on, things are not looking good as Dreamworks SKG have now abandoned the Gameworks video arcade venture it began with SEGA and Unive.r sal Pictures and have sold their music business to Universal Music.

The first year of production in 1997 amassed a seemingly acceptable, but by industry standards meagre $300 million at the box office, with the release of its first three films Amistad, The Peacemaker and Mousehunt. Fortunately with its secure financial backing, the new millennium three years later turned $300 million into $2000 million after the smash hits of the heroic Gladiator and Tom

Hanks' three hour long conversation with a volley ball in Castaway, each earning well over $400 million at the box office.

Building up to such success the year before in 1999, came their first Oscar award for the victorious American Beauty.

However, so far it appears that these years were in fact the most promising yet.

By 2001, Dreamworks SKG'~ box offic·e take dropped significantly from its impressive rise down to $1100 million after gambles on fruitless films such as jade Scorpion and The Last Castle.

Though its survival continued with the huge success of Sh.rek, singularly taking well over $400 million in ticket sales alone. Despite this, Dreamworks' reluctance to risk too much is evide.n t in its sharing of Gladiator and What Lies Beneath; the studio gene.r ally sticks to playing the Paramount game of eofinancing, and for the last two years has only had a 2.8% market share. Last year saw yet another decrease in box office takings with no hopers like Biker Boyz and Millenium Actress, safe teen-market films that fail to attract the masses. It appears that Dreamworks SKG is hanging on with the unimpressive impact of semisuccessful films in the domain of Seabiscuit and The Ring.

According to the figures, Dreamworks SKG is veering towards a failing and inefficient production strategy but can realistically afford to enjoy a great deal more success; after almost a decade in the business it has barely produced the equivalent of one great triumph a year. However, with the continued support of Tom "can do no wrong" Hanks and other such 'luvvies' in the business on hand to the friend of the stars, producer Speilberg, added to the unrelenting genius of their animation studios - and the approval of a Shrek 3 and Shark Tale already in the making - Dreamworks will undoubtedly yet make it to its 1Oth anniversary.

Isabel Dyson

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BliENA VISTA JN1 ERNATlONAL

e Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lion first oared on the opening of the 1929 movie Bulldog Drummond. This was the first time that the three studios produced a film as one, and marked the beginning of a production company renowned for its lavish musicals, from the likes Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Busby Berkeley, and equally for other productions such as the James Bond films.

In 1952 one of the best loved film musicals was released by MGM; directed

by Stanley Donen and starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds, Singin' in the Rain is a musical masterpiece. It's a film that's so well known it's difficult to find someone who can't hum the title track. Indeed, the song predates the film, dating back to Busby Berkeley in the 1930s. Even Judy Garland and Cary Grant can be heard giving their own renditions of the song in various films. A musical would not be a musical without dance scenes, and these are pretty spectacular, with the Broadway Melody scene mixing different styles of dance; including a ballet with Cyd Charisse.

Some believe that there were very few successful films after Singin' in the Rain.

The Pink Panther was prosperous though, and it celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. The Pink Panther was initially a cartoon, to which the inept Inspector Clousseau was added, and then adapted for the big screen starring Peter Sellers searching for the notorious diamond. The theme music by Henry Mancini is immediately associated with the cartoons and films, so even people who haven't seen them know what is being referred to when the tune is heard.

The Wizard of Oz starred one of

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MGM's biggest stars. Judy Garland appeared in many MGM movies, in::luding The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St. Louis and Easter Parade, and was married to one MGM's directors;Vincente Minnelli.

She is still seen as Hollywood's girlnext-door in the 1940s and 1950s, and despite her premature death the recognition of her talents endures.

Recently, MGM's output has dwindled, producing few major box office hits.

However, remaking musicals seems to be a way of bringing new life to this venerated company, with N.oulin Rouge already a successful reproduction, and plans for Guys and Do/is are emerging. MGM will always be associated with its nostalgic escapist musicals such as Singin' in the Rain, the elegance of The Pink Panther and its stars.

LucyMowatt

Warner Bros.

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arry, Albert, Samuel and Jack were the Warner brothers. None were in fact American - three were born in Poland, while Jack was born in London, Ontario. Although the brothers had opened a Nickelodeon theatre in Pennsylvania in 1903, it wasn't untill923 that Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. was founded. After suffering the traumas of financial insecurity thro~ghout the 1920s (even by film studio standards) they finally avoided bankruptcy with the technologically seminal The jazz Singer (1927).

This film is deservedly famollS. Its importance can not really be overstated; finally sealing the fate of the silent film and heralding a new age in narrative entertainment. However, do r.ot be fooled by its status. The jazz Singer is in many parts weak, in some parts painful, and whilst some of Al Jolson's dialogue can be undeniably funny (largely unintentionally), it is a film likely to disappoint.

Your time would be much better spent on Warner Brothers films :>f the 1930s. Here they mastered both the Musical and the Gangster genres, producing such timeless classics as Little Caesar (1930), Public Enemy (1931) and

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Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933). Following the financial crash of 1929, the studio chose to produc·e a large number of low budget films, often re-using sets and rehashing plots, essentially appealing to the working class audiences. This approach gives Warner Brothers films of the period a level of authenticity and lack of pretension that sets them apart from rival productions of Paramount and MGM. From the 30s and into the 40s, much of the studio's success relied on a supply of excellent actors, from Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney to Bette Davi.s. Films such as Casablanca (1942) and Jezebel (1938) drew heavily on the appeal of such stars, and it was a formula that was never likely to survive forever.

By the late 50s, the studio had become distracted by television production (77 Sunset Strip, Maverick) and the 60s was notoriously unkind to many major studios. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966) and Bonnie and Clyde (1967) were notable exceptions, but the name Warner Brothers was now more closely linked with the success of cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, and never again would the studio (or for that matter any studio) really retain a distinctive voice in film production. Following the 1989 merger with Time Inc, later to be joined by AOL, its film productiou looks unlikely to retain any sense of individual authorship, despite its rich and distinctive history.

Adam O'Brien

aramount, more than any of the other major studios, have revolutionized commercial moviemaking, for better or for worse, over recent years. Founded early in the century, it started out presenting photographed versions of stage successes, but under the leadership of nickelodeon showman Adolph Zukor, it grew into a fully fledged film giant, combining distribution with the films being created at their newly acquired Hollywood studio. In the

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Pizzas 2 for 1 Mon, Tue, Wed 5-8 with NUS

early days the studios could be clearly defined by what kind of movies they were putting out and Paramount became known as more of a family oriented studio, its leading names including silent superstars Mary Pickford, Rudolph Valentino, as well as Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Marx Brothers and directors Billy Wilder and Cecil B. De Mille .

However it was in the 70's that Paramount really hit it's stride. Diving headfirst into the post-Easy Rider new Hollywood, studio head Charlie Bluhdorn installed up-and-corners Bob Evans and Frank Yablans to run the studio, and was rewarded with a terrific run that included lpve Story, Paper Moon, Chinatown, Saturday Night Fever, Grease and The Godfather 1 and 2, which

cleaned up at the Oscars, as well as shattering box office records. They may not all have been high art, but Paramount was certainly leading the pack at the box office.

They would change direction again in the SO's. Under a leadership team of renowned movie dealmakers Barry Dill er, Jeffrey Katzenburger and Michael Eisner, and with the help of producers Simpson and Bruckheimer, Paramount pioneered the idea of the high concept movie, making shallow, but flashy films which made millions. These included, among others, 7bp Gun, Beverley Hills Cop, and Flashdance, and, together with Fox's Star Wars and the collapse of United Artists, set the scene for the blockbuster-fuelled Hollywood of today.

The company was being run by executives who'd worked in television and they brought a similar mindset to thei.r new jobs. Further to this, Paramount was taken over in 1994 by entertainment conglomerate Viacom, a company which includes MTY, CBS television and the Blockbuster video chain. In the last ten years, their biggest hits have included Forrest Gump, Mission Impossible, Thmb Raider and, hugest of all, Titanic.

The company seems to market relatively safe shlock these days, but don't they all, really? The credibility is left to Paramount Classics, their low budget division, though apart from the Virgin Suicides, they haven't produced much of note as yet.

Rob La vine

Arts 15

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aint Benedict's Street suffers from Church overload. Walking along it is disconcerting, and it begins to feel like the repeated background drawing used in a cartoon. This does mean that it is far too easy to miss The Queen of Hungary. Situated in a small half timbered building between the Arts Centre and Saint Margaret's it offers very little. This is not to be pejorative! It has lots to offer the imaginative passer-by in its windows in which are displayed regularly changed installations, available to view twenty-four hours a day, and for free. There is an element of heroic failure in the enterprise; it is far too easy just to walk past. Yet, the concept is arresting; it appropriates the window-display consumer culture for more than simply selling. A small amount of explanatory literature is provided, but the potential consumer is allowed a radical liberty by being able so easily to ignore. This unassuming art, art which happens relentlessly, and whether anyone cares or not, has a romantic nobility, struggling as it does to make new, to make better, faced by apathy, and those who prefer the windows at Top Shop!

Perhaps, though, a little evangelisation is needed; the artists at The Queen of Hungary clearly have something to say and need to be heard. They would do well to take a tip from the anonymous but loud artists who regularly daub

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revolutionary futurist in terms of post-war culpture in the 1960's, Donald Judd aved the way for artworks which 'eliminate all traces of the artist's hand.' Judd remains highly influential today, and this exhibition, ten years on from his death in 1994 is the first to document both his early and late works and displays beginnings of the now prevalent juxtapositions of design, architecture/environment and the artwork.

This is not a show for the anti-minimalist, anti-conceptual, more traditional art lover, but for those who have a keen interest in modem sculpture and see Judd as a break away from the conventional norms of the 'artist as skilled creator.' Curated by Nicholas Serota, with sympathies to the importance Judd placed on form, space and environment, each of the 11 whitewashed rooms, all effortlessly easy on the eye, play host to works which as you move around them develop and mature displaying a natural

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Norwich's very own Berlin Wall in wild colours, and angry, despairing slogans. The ever-changing view of the West Pottergate tunnel is a crash course in local opinion and talent. Take the tunnel on your walk to The Ten Bells, then, at chucking out time, stare blearily in the window at the Queen of Hungary, lit, to catch the attention of all passing drunkards. What will you see?

This month the installation is an ostensible architectural model, though it appears at first glance like someone has tipped out the contents of a City Council recycling collection box and consulted every Blue Peter fact-sheet of the past decade. A pattern of cardboard and polystyrene shapes and structures is laid out on a raised table and forms a low-rise concept city reminis-cent of the stunning, gridded, newness of Kunming or Milton Keynes. Mediaeval Norwich is a remarkable, clashing juxtaposition for such ideals, preferring instead flint and cobble to the collection of massive buildings, and open spaces hinted at by the modeL It would need indiscriminate bombing raids or Soviet-like modernising zeal to bring this image to life in Norwich but the artist Graham Seaton makes the point that this be seen as an imaginary picture, a guide for future ideas, an exposition of what's possible. A pity he wasn't around when Norwich's biggest urban renewal opportunity since the second world war, Riverside, was turned into a horrific gauntlet night clubs, a few warehouses and a multi-storey carpark! Head back through the tunnel, walking fast - shed a tear, if you dare.

Edward Mooney

or a moment it looked as if the Jazz Cafe might have been a disaster. Two acts didn't turn up and the wait was quite a long one.

Up stepped UEA's home-grown performance poetry group, Aisle 16, to attempt a daring rescue. Did they? Well, very nearly.

The audience was variably treated to and slightly alienated by seven young lads of versifying derring do. The stand-out poetic stand-ups were, one: Joel Stickley, with his unrhyming number (although there was a niggling half-rhyme that scuppered things at one point) and his wry 'improvisation' theme; two: the nose-tweaking letter writing of Tom Sutton, despite some slight difficulties with delivery on this particular evening; and three: Ross Sutherland, who displayed some real wit but perhaps too much constipated-looking emotion.

The main problem with the set-up was organisation. Although most of the following can be excused by the situation having being forced upon them, under the pressure of the last-minute rescue some fundamental cracks may have been revealed. In short, a few of the performers were too pissed. After the third declaration of inebriation in so many routines, it got a weeny bit annoying. The atmosphere slipped too far into a group of rowdy mates on stage having a laugh.

Too often heckles were being thrown by fellow

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progression of working from the early 1960's to early 1990's.

One is first introduced to the show with a brief insight into his painting bac·kground.

Although Judd worked in two dimensions between 1948 and 1960, (some works figurative and later more abstract), the show starts with two of his last paintings of 1961-62 which display single bold elements and the start of sculptural intervention. This introduction sets the tone of Judd's bold, dynamic belief in plain colour, shape and form which continues throughout his 3D works. From this point on we are shown the new possibilities the artist explored in three dimensions, initiated by his Untitled 1963 which consists of an iron pipe half submerged horizontally along a rectangular bright red solid, again testament to his faith in 'honest' colour. He continues this exploration with cubes, boxes and hollowed shapes, playing with the light and spatial relations of his most used materials; wood, metal, iron, aluminium, and coloured Plexiglas.

The acquisition of professional fabricators to assist him in his artworks from 1964, who worked according to his precise specifications, again gave him more scope to both create and realise his sculptures. His work was then impacted again in the 1980's when he discovered a factory in

Switzerland which could enamel thin sheets of aluminium in different colours. He used this material in many of his later works, most well known today in the sculpture highlighted by this exhibition, a horizontal wall based sculpture which consists of individually coloured units of different lengths bolted together and attached to the wall.

The extensive handout provided on entrance to the show also details the accommodation of Judd's work on Spring Street, New York and Marfa, Texas in the 60's and 70's and details the lengths to which the artist went, to ensure his works were seen in his desired context, the object and its environment all encompassed in the effect of the work.

This is a great exhibition set within the added dynamics of the thriving Tate Modem, which is still showing Olafur Elliasson's Weather Project' in the Turbine Hall. As you enter the darkened Hall with the bright sun ahead of you, surrounded by mist and a mirrored expanse of ceiling that in itself is an experience not to be missed!

DONALD ]UDD: Adults £8, Concessions £6: Showing till 25th April 2004.

Ned Glasier, further this approach effectively,: the use of wooden puppets, sheets contorted to resemble large linen bodies, all contribute to the sepia childlike ambience of the play, which reflects after all, that this play is just a story, whilst absurdly contrasting the harsh thematic drive.

The play focuses on a town in which all the men have been 'disappeared' by the Army as punishment for their political beliefs. The women are resigned to their lives as lonely women, comforted only by their fellow townswomen, and the faith in the return of their men.

Alice Birch's character "Sofia" distinguishes herself from the group with her total lack of faith and hope: "I can't move, I'm waiting here because I can't bear waiting anymore," offering possibly the most stunning performance, portraying the character with such resonance that one can almost believe she has become the role she

plays. Her cold fixed gaze, even involuntary twitching permeates the audience with the horror of War, whether we wanted to feel that or not.

In fact, the skills of the entire cast, to convince and compel an audience are very good.

The first half of the play gives the 'towns-women' a chance to offer emotionally exhausting performances, Elle Jones is particularly strong as Alexandra. The second half allows Andy Davis, as the Army Captain, and Seth Sinclair, as the Lieutenant, to offer fuel to their performances in bitter duologues fraught with tension. Taniel Yusof and Tim Demetris demonstrate beautifully the first lusty infatuations of a relationship between Cecile and Emmanuel, with subtle hinting of cracks that later split to reveal the violent and domineering nature of Emmanuel.

The play never feels tedious, at every moment there is some area of the stage alive with angry, bitte.r or celebratory energy, which is a

group members. It makes the audience feel a little awkward when rivalries and one-upmanship take too much of a driving seat, the crowd begins to tire. It looks a little unprofessional. Also, the stoodent hecklers at the front that evening should learn to shut their faces when they go to comedy gigs, or they will deserve the kicking they will eventually receive.

Tom Sutton should be moved to earlier in the line-up, as the slightly higher concentration level needed to appreciate his act can end up being drowned at the bar. Generally, there needs to be more new material more often, there were too many repetitions of poems and routines that have been on the list for years. Paul Macjoyce's Fistful of Learning is starting to sound too much like a Monty Python rip-off and his gattling-gun politics need to be straightened out a little. He is a fine performer though, if a bit shouty. Chris Farnell's Liberals, We 're ok as a follow-up act is a good idea, but perhaps less sustainable on its own, relying too heavily on residual heat from MacJoyce's inferno.

This all said, there were still plenty of laughs and the evening was an enjoyable one. An admirable achievement for a last-minute rush job. With more attention to detail and more dedication than was on display on this particular night, this talented bunch of young-bloods will go far, but they won't be 'young bloods' much longer. They will need to start trading off more than just precocity and boyish charmllikeability in the not too distant future to mix it with the big boys.

Nathan Dixon

Harriet Brooks

~

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Ariel Dorfrnan's play about courage in the face of totalitarian oppression does not sound like nice easy viewing for a lovely night out. The motives driving this piece are brutal and uncompromising as the play takes seed in a 1940's war tom village. But take comfort, for all those who have had their fill of the grotesque and gory which rears it head whenever the word War is mentioned, this interpretation of 'Widows", approaches the subject differently.

As an audience, we are !')ncouraged to paint the scene through imagination, with a simple bare-minimalist set. Directorial approaches from

testament to the constructive direction of the play. Certain scenes have been shifted to juxtapose successfully, these scenes are occasionally framed by maudlin Accapella song, performed hauntingly by Rachel Grundy.

One scene in particular, resonates very powerfully, because there is so much happening: Kidnap, violence, the degradation of relationships laid bare on the stage. The audience is audibly horrified, but as Alexandra crones) struggles in arms, she screams in absolute silence, and this is extremely effective, creating a sense of dwnb horror: the transcendence of tragedy beyond sound.

As with all rehearsals the play had minor problems in diction and tempo, but these will no doubt be resolved when it comes to the debut performance. It seems all of the actors have the raw passion and skill to make this a huge success.

Frances Stapleton

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he director and producer of academy award winning p icture A Beautiful Mind team up to create this powerful Wild West adventure . Set on a New Mexican ranch in the late nineteenth-century, Howard carries an adaptation of Thomas Edison's novel The Last Ride to the screen with compelling performances from both Gate Blanchett and supporting cast.

Maggie Gilkeson (Blanchett) 15 a single mother of two who offers basic doctoring from her ranch in the stillness of the Wild West. She is a hard, tough woman whose history is bleak. Her father (Lee Jones) abandoned her to adopt the lifestyle of a Wild Indian, resulting in the subsequent death of her mother and brother and her solitary survival comprising of suggested unpleasant circumstances in which her two daughters were conceived.

Despite its genre, the film wanders far from the usual conventions of a Wild West adventure - many events are noticeably too convenient to make a truly convincing narrative and the addition of a heroine as opposed to a hero exposes its contemporary make up. After a deadly snakebite results in the advice of a witchdoctor guiding him to reconcile with his remaining family, the film opens with the useful return

of Maggie's father Samuel Jones - just in time to comfort his unforgiving daughter as his newly acquired granddaughter is kidnapped by a gang of army deserting Apache Indians.

The entirely credible performances in The Missing compensate for the numerous reservations in the script. Gate Blanchett carries off an unfaltering Southern accent, as does Tommy Lee Jones with his entirely convincing Indian dialect - as persuasive as his accomplished White Indian, ravaged by age and numerous deceased kin.

Blanchett portrays absolute conviction in rescuing her daughter Lily from the fate of being sold into prostitution and is grip-

ng Came Pally marks Jenn.ifer Anniston's first film as leading lady aking her the m ost successful 'friend' . Hardly surprising when you look at the careers of the other five - Gourtney Gox-Arquette's encounter with Jim Garrey in Ace Ventura or Matt LeBlanc's Lost in Space, to name just two. Anniston proves herself worthy of the paycheque, admirably holding up against Ben Stiller's established co medy routine.

Polly Prince is a slightly kookier variation on Rachel - she has a blind ferret and 'commitment issues' - although still blessed with good clothes and hair (on those wages? I don't think so). Stiller plays Reuben Feffer, a top insurance analyst whose wife, Debra Messing, ran off with the scuba instructor (the nakedly excellent Hank Azaria). As this is billed as a romcom, it doesn't take Stephen Hawking to work out what's going to happen.

However, despite the fairly predictable plot d evices, such as Reuben's attempt at salsa dancing even though he 's a straightlaced guy (cue lots of falling over and Anniston looking embarrassed) it's still a watchable movie. Philip Seymour Hoffman deserves a mention as the mandatory

annoying best friend , who provides some of the comedy as he coins new phrases such as ' sharted' . (li you want to know what it means, see the film) . His past career as a child star also provides amusing setpieces such as his decision to hi-jack the amateur theatre production to cries of "You're Judas!"

The performances are slightly average, which is disappointing in a Stiller film.

John Hamburg is the writer/director in another Stiller project, prompting the expectation of something along the lines of Zoolander or Meet the Parents. Instead what is delivered is a formulaic rom-com with it's only saving grace being that it was quite harmless and the cast were all likeable enough. Apart from Messing, who you weren't supposed to like anyway.

The narrative is a simple 'boy meets girl ' one, which works well as a popcorn muncher but don't expect to be quoting for m onths afterwards, and I doubt it would hold up on repeat viewings. It would make a good date movie or one for the girls - not to be overly stereotypical, but female friends are more likely to grace the auditorium, than male ones (although, the draw of Ms . Aniston. The ferret 's pretty cute

T

pingly genuine as a woman scorned and hardened by time - she proves herself once again to be an exceptional talent .

The Missing's supporting cast also contribute to raise the film's prospects; Eric Schweig as the utterly repulsive and chilling Apache witch, a capable source of nightmares for any young child, not to mention adult. Jenna Boyd as Dot, the younger, brash daughter is greatly assertive in the quest to save her older but quite feeble and overly delicate sister, Lily (Rachel Wood).

Haward films The Missing in the stunning backdrop of New Mexico and involves a suitable quota of horse galloping and hot-pursuits as well as a various shoot-outs and gruesome deaths. The principle of the story - the kidnap of random young girls by a gang of pirate Indians, to be sold as sex slaves- is itself quite disturbing and the treatment of them is equally unsettling, but all in all the film as a whole is a successful rescue feat across desert plains and cavernous mountains.

Unless you have a particularly weak stomach or nervous disposition, this film is captivating and fittingly portrayed.

Isabel Dyson

though. See this if you liked any of Anniston's other rom-coms i.e. She's the One or Picture Perfect. She has proved hersell able of handling comedy and indie flicks with The Good Girl, but perhaps finds herself typecast through Friends.

Stiller, on the other hand, valiantly attempts to carry out his usual 'oh no' comedy moments but somehow lacks the conviction. Stiller fans should probably miss this and watch Starsky and Hutch instead- back in the Wilson!Stiller partnership which we all know and love.

Suzanne Rodger

~~~--------------------~

Grams comes from the capable directorial hands of Alejandro Gonziilez lftarritu, whose last film Amores Perros was widely tipped as the Mexican Goodfellas. In this case, 2 I Grams is the alternative Memento, although to put it this glibly doesn't really do it justice. The three leads Sean Penn, Naomi Watts and Benecio Del Toro are excellent as their characters deal with the question of life and death in savagely shocking ways. Without resorting to plot spoiling, but it basically revolves around Penn awaiting a heart transplant.lfiimitu's confidence at dealing with the narrative is astounding because he literally shatters the story into Tarantino-like chunks, and then carefully rearranges them so that you only see one 'card' at a time. It 's confusing for the first hall an hour, until you get into the rhythm and start to piece together the storylines into a recognisable jigsaw puzzle.

It's here that the actors come into their own - they can't rely on chronology or a fantastic story to hide or cloak their acting, so the fact that all three of them are extremely watchable is something to be admired. Each character is a complete stand alone, without back story or context

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actor or involved, and it's to credit that they pull it so well.

Although the basic premise is depressing the overall message is one of hope - a dark and brutal one, but hope nonetheless. The hope comes from the cyclical nature of life and death - as one dies another is reborn.

This may be metaphorically, such as in the case of del Toro's reformed convict, or literally, such as Watts' two daughters .

Despite the melancholic tone there are still comic moments , like the expression on Penn's face when his wife catches him having a sneaky fag. He throws the cigarette down the toilet and stands in the doorway of their apartment in his pyjamas, as he's admonished for it, like a naughty schoolboy.

However, it's lucky that the success of Amores Perros guaranteed A-list interest because without the strength of all of the actors Ifiiuritu would have found his rather weak story exposed. The fractured narra-

is technically brilas everything fits scene and revelaexactly where it be. 21 Grams be admired for as it is literally If you're enough you' ll pieced together ending by half-way through, although it has to be said that there's not much fun in that, as well as the fact that there are pieces of past, present and future missing until the final twenty minutes. For this reason 2 I Grams deserves a second viewing, simply because the action goes by too fast to take in all of the little details because you're too busy keeping up with the plot. Far from detracting from your enjoyment, it forces you to think more quickly take more of an interest in the film and the characters, as every little detail could potentially be important.

See this if you enjoy thoughtful, interesting films which almost certainly necessitate a second viewing. If that 's what you like, then you'll be seeing it again.

Suzanne Rodger

-----------------------------------------------------DVDjVHS 15

ome people, when considering the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of West and East Germany of a Sunday evening, may well entertain some misguided images as they sip their port. They see rejoicing Easterners, with lop-sided crewcuts or wonky perms and dour clothes/dungarees rejoicing as they ditch their sickles in the fields where they labour, or down their hammers in the factories in which they worked their gruelling forty-three hour shifts for half a potato, and thronging over the border to join the hedonistic party of western excess with overwhelming enthusiasm.

They see them flocking in their thousands to the beacon of our better way of life, the communist fools.

Surprisingly, the reality wasn't quite

S

axis a film that will inevitably cause controversy; indeed, it would be impossible to give a humanistic portrayal of AdoH Hitler without upsetting somebody.

Writer/director Menno Mayjes' assertion that Hitler's 'evil' was due in part to external pressures is a point that is bound to offend some, once again raising the eternal nature/nurture debate.

However, much to Mayjes' credit, the film does not revel in its controversial nature, opting for a measured tone that neither sensationalises nor condones the actions of the young Hitler. or course, the main character is not Hitler (you probably guessed that from the title) , but Max Rothman Qohn Cusack), a one armed Jewish World War I veteran, who comes into contact with the 30 year old Hitler through his art dealing business. Max is a realist

M

like this. It was, it seems, a little more complicated. Good Bye, Lenin/ makes a moving, charmingly funny and, at times, breath-taking effort to tell the largely unseen, to western eyes, side of this story.

Alex is the son of a staunch partymember Communist mother (Katrin SaB), driven by a commitment to the state in the absence of her defector husband. In the midst of the upheavals in Berlin, 1989, she collapses in shock in a street and falls into a coma. Upon awaking, 8 months later, she has seen nothing of the fall of the Berlin wall and the increasing western influence infiltrating the country. She is still fragile, however, and shocks must be avoidedAlex (Daniel Briihl), her son, decides to take care of her at home and attempts to hide from her the huge changes taking hold in the East, for fear of causing a relapse.

From this root premise grows an enlightening and incisive film that highlights aspects of the west's treatment of its new annexe and, hopefully,

armed with dry wit and practicality, perhaps due to the fact he lost an arm at Ypres, thus thwarting his dreams of becoming an artist. He is a loving family man, albeit one who unashamedly keeps a mistress.

Hitler (Noah Taylor) at 30 is presented as a gaunt, humourless man, constantly agitated and rather intense. He is also a painter and strikes up deal with Max to sell his art. Max sees potential in Hitler, but this is never realised; instead his energies are channelled into giving fiery anti-Semitic speeches concerning "pure blood" that display his charisma and suitably demonstrates how and why he starts to amass a following in this bleak post-Versailles Germany.

H the movie has a weak point then it would be that Mayjes' has to sacrifice anything resembling a plot in favour of exploring a number of prickly issues; this isn't exactly a criticism, those who like cine-

contributes to the opening of the minds of those westerners dead set on the notion that ours is 'the system' that 'works'. Through Alex's efforts at convincing his mother that all is well with 'the party' and the eastern-model state, we, the audience, are moved into an arena where thinking 'outside the box' is possible.

As Alex becomes more and more dependent on his imagined ideals the audience are also compelled to entertain them in their own minds; to think of things being different. Fantastical fake news broadcasts arranged by Alex and his film-making friend entertain the possibility that it all could have been better for the East and West if mutual edification, rather than patronising assimilation by Mammon, had been the way things turned out. These film-making scenes also pick-up the making of the film proper, Good Bye, Lenin/, and push these ideas further into the 'real world'; the audience must hold in their brain pictures of East meeting West in a different way - one based more on a

socialist model; the viewer considers that things could have gone better than the continuing muddy water-slide into rank consumerism. We are moved into thinking outside our social boxes and into an arena between the real and fiction, the realm of projected possibility.

Ponce aside, there is also an extremely compelling character-driven story of a family trying to survive adverse circumstances, attempting to find their way in a dizzily-changing world. And scenes to hold the breath for include the choppering away of a statue of Lenin, sitting on an openedout ruin at night and the comic, invidious unfurling of a Coca Cola banner.

These are scenes to watch again and again and work to dispel the prejudice of the East being merely a grey/blue area of bad cardigans and bread queues. There are real people there, and they have stories to tell that we can learn from.

ma to attempt something cerebral and thought provoking will find Max a revelation. But to fully appreciate the film, Mayjes demands a certain amount of prior knowledge regarding the events of the Versailles treaty, and even a basic understanding of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. And, of course, you have to accept that AdoH Hitler was a human being. Inevitably this will limit Max's appeal, which is a shame because the main subtext that runs throughout- that of the fine line that separates art and propaganda- is a fascinating one.After Hitler gives up painting, he declares that he ha!> "iscovered a deeper, more 'true" iorm of art: giving speeches, with the audience as his canvas. "I am the new avant-garde and politics is the new art," he tells Rothman. Max, not noticing Hitler for what he truly is sees the man's views of the future (with sketches of large buildings, wide roads, and sol-

diers in uniform) as a form of art. He does not consider the hatred and poison that underlie Hitler's vision.

The film ends on a very interesting note, raising questions as to what might have been; assuming that Hitler was as much a product of his surroundings as any innate evil, then what if his talents had been channelled elsewhere by some strong individual? The idea that he could have been an artistic force, perhaps even a force for 'good' is an unsettling one, but the even more startling revelation is that it is recognised that Hitler was merely the public manifestation of the discontented post-War Germany; someone's else's name could just as easily be in the history books, and Max dares to suggest that we would be demonising that person instead of a puny little man trying to sell his art. A brave move in a brave movie.

Nathan Dbcon

GaryBudden

Norfolk Property Management NOW LETTING TO STUDENTS 7 Charing Cross Norwich NR24AX TEI: 01603 619319 E-Mail: nch.property@clara.net

----------------------------------10.03.04

Absent Friends From their first 'proper' album Liberation (there was an earlier effort that has since been disowned) to 1998's Fin de Siecle, The Divine Comedy evolved along a fairly linear path, producing a string of increasingly elaborate demonstrations of what happens to pop music when you chuck an orchestra at it. However, though it's always been acknowledged ilia! ilie band is essentially Neil Hannon with the help of a few mates, by Fin de Siecle, it appeared Hannon's ambition was getting ilie better of him.

The album was not an easy listen, with songs and melody frequently losing out to bombastic arrangements of brass and strings.

Perhaps as a result, for his next album (tellingly titled Regeneration), Haru10n finally chose to give c ollaboration a try, eo-writing all the tracks with the rest of the group. Was 11 a success? The title of this new release should provide a hint.

Though Regeneration was something different for The Divine Comedy, it unfortunately sounded exactly like every other guitar band at the time. And frankly, one Travis is more than enough.

Now back on his own and back on form , the velvet-voiced arch-fop has returned with the album that should have followed 1996's Casanova . Absent Friends is packed with all ilie tricks that have made Hannon equally loved and reviled - superbly

the guitar noodling that marred the Seahorses, but the songwriting just isn't strong enough to fill the gap.

Omerta Oh god. It's not goddawful, and by far not the worst, but these men either haven't hit puberty or they have no manliness to the ir names and make me want to ram backbone into them. Smolting is mentioned and the thought that appears is 'you 're old enough?'. I'm usually an open-minded music-listener but this album makes me want to listen to the heaviest album I own, turn up the volume and grab the Jack Daniel's. This sounds like it belongs in a Dawson 's Creek episode. I can see why some would like this, but it is indistinguishable from the rest of the radio friendly music that's on the waves - it could be in the background and you just wouldn't care.

J}.,'(; 1..1 )~.

It's moments rather than songs that sparkle, like the building harmonies in People In the Sun, or the lullaby riff of the title track, but they're often drowned out by his awful, throaty voice, which is far too high up in the mix.

What really seems to be Jaclting here is ideas. Despite what bitter critics say, Squire still has talent, but like every guitar hero from Jirnrny Page to Johnny Marr, it's not worth much without a frontman of genuine personality and a pop sensibility to focus it.

Rob Lavine

'Would you like an identity?' 'No â&#x20AC;˘ thank you, I'd rather have guaranteed radio play' is the talk I can imagine that .;. went on in the studio. This is probably the music that most 13 to 14 year olds would pop their 'alternative' cherry to on their long intrepid journey for musical discovery, but as a fully developed and cynical 19 year old I have to say no thank you.

Serves me right for choosing the CD with the coolest name on it really.

Suzeanne Rickenback

Marshall's House Legend is a furmy tiling. Although Squire is almost certainly pissed off that his solo stuff constantly gets compared to the Stone Roses, it's hard to imagine him being able to get any ltind of label backing for the stuff he's putting out now without it.

Marshall 's House carries on in the vein of his last album, Time Changes Everything, witl1 a ltind of country rock meets Britpop feel, but there's nothing that separates it from tl1e legions of songwriters ploughing the same furrow. In a way, it's good that he's steered away from

10.03.04

with the exceptlon of fue apocalyptic title track, which risks nearly becornng hyperbolic with its doom-laden brooding.

Ultimately, a record that rewards reapealed listenings. ]edi

Seven Swans It comes as no surprise that this album, the debut by this New Jersey songwriter, was recorded over a series of weekends in a friend's basement studio, such is fue intimate, warm atmosphere of the record. Built around Stevens' banjo and guitar playing, and his quiet yet confident voice, drums , piano, organ and female backing vocals augment his arrangrnents without detracting from or cluttering them.

Stevens' lyrics search for the sublime in the everyday, provoking a strange uneasiness ; homely narratives about walks and watching fires in the distance give way to trees clapping fueir hands and dragons circling over head.

Again , we should not be surprised that Stevens' admits reading a lot of William Blake at fue time of writing the record.

The opening two tracks exemplify Stevens' less-is-more ethos and are simply joyous. The clunky, repetitive piano line of In The DeVlls' Territory brings to mind Four Tet circa Pause. After which the album changes course, with the middle becoming increasingly melancholy, and at moments rather ponderous.

However it comes back to end strongly,

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witty lyrics, terrifyingly catchy tunes and a taste for melodrama ilia! never fully admits to taking the piss. Though it's hard to tell if he means it, the principle theme here is loss and, while you'd think he'd be ecstatic at his new-found freedom, the songs are shot-through with theatrical melancholy. Sometimes this can get a little wearing - The Wreck of the Beautiful and Leaving Today are mournful to the point of standstill - but most tracks a chieve a state of toe-tapping depression that's well worth repeated listenings.

Four songs in parhcular make Absent Friends close to essential. The single, Come Home Billy Bird and closing number Charmed Life are as irreverent and fun as anyiliing Hannon has written, and My Imagma1y Friend is a light-hearted examination of childhood schizophrenia.

Best of all, though, is Our Mutual Friend , probably the most lavishly produced pub-joke in the history of popular music.

Successfully marrying technical brilliance with wit and style, it's a song no one else would ever produce, and proof that, no matter how much he may miss the rest of his band, Hannon was right to let them go.

]imWhalley

constant and high pitched baclting is brought down to earfu with some intricate dual lyricism and some breathtaking turntablism from a DJ riding high already off of a second well recieved solo album (Babu's Duck Season:Volume 2) and Big Business bounces along like Erni.niem's White America spat with a smoother and clearer vision.

NBGHBORHOOD WATCH

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DLA1'ED PEOPLES WatC._

Neighbourhood Watch is the fuird album

proper from high-tier hip-hop act Dilated Peoples, a funky group you could namedrop comfortably next to The Nextmen should you be so inclined while 'in fue lounge'. Consisting of two MCs (lriscience and Evidence) and the indomitable Babu behind fue turntables, the group prides itself on forcing out soul, forward Joolting cuts and g-life partying into the hip-hop mainstream, 200 I 's Expansion Team was a pure example of their high-pop methodologies resulting in the popular Worst Comes 7b Worst and

A Jet down considering previous material and infuriating in it's inability to move the Dilated blueprint where they !ways promised it would go. Give it a chance but don't expect miracles.

Matt Sargeson

The Book Of Fuck

Expansion Team Theme .

Which istn't to say the Dilated Peoples are a hip-hop bore-trip ; rafuer they're populists with fue flow to make it count. Devoid of fue wealfu of guest MCs featured on previous records, Neighbourhood Watch survives almost solely on the group's founding members and strays into the hit-and-miss territory too often treaded by such cont mporaries as fue People Under The Stairs.

Working on a pre mise of 'If it ain't broke .. .', much of the album's lyrical content has to do with touring the world, making sure 5-0 doesn't steel Evidence's weed stash and bangin' biddies with a caramel tone - and the flow's still good, both MCs ' rhythmic drawls shifting assuredly around some fairly sparse production bolted together with the finest cuts by an arsenal of guest producers ranging from the Beastie Boys to the Beamuts.

Few tracks cover much unchartered territory, but some shine: Wh os Who's

So you want to be a music journalist.

You want the backstage passes, the free drinks, the free records, the free drugs .. . the freezing cold flat in south

London, the stomach ulcer and soulless bastard of an editor who decides whether or not you can afford to eat this month. Not sure about that last bit? Well, neither is Ben Myers, but it appears to be his life.

The Book Of Fu ck 1s the first work of fiction , or rather ' gonzo-fiction', from the Geordie journalist who can count nearly (accidentally) shooting Ozzy Osbourne with an air-rifle and being briefly addicted to morphine aged 10 as a couple of noteworthy non-literary achievements.

Here, his reverence for the partreal, part-not genre invented by Hunter S. Thompson ensures that the plot is largely incidental. Myers has been assigned to track down the elusive God Of Fuck - a character who borrows a few of Axl Rose 's eccentricities so as to make him just different enough from Marilyn Manson - for an interview that will provide him with a chance to li ft himself out of the gutter for an indeterminable amount of time .

Really, though, the book is a series of mini-essays on a n uniller of topics that all brood with the paradoxical mix of self-deprecation and self-righteousness that comes from being a critic.

It 's about the struggle of striving to be an author but having to settle for being a writer. So we hear about how he starts a typical week by getting bailed out of the drunk tank at his local police station and habitually visits supermarket check-out girls for lifestyle tips but still manages to pass out on his ex-girlfriend 's doorstep when he responds to her not being at home by opening a bottle of cheap red wine with the blunt end of a Biro and necking the lot.

Taking care not to simply string together a succession of rants, every digression does hold some relevance to the seven-day period in which he has to track down the God Of Fuck. As for Myers ' style, it skips along in double-time wi th bleary-eyes and carries a debt to Charles Bukowski on its breath along with the smell of welltrodden grapes .

The convoluted metaphors and occasionally cliched cast of characters- his well-connected wideboy source, his cokehead boss, his jailb ait muse - don 't hide behind the cop-out of being 'pos tmodern ', rather they present themselves to help you scrutinise what can be, a t times , his utterly vacuous and absurd profession.

lllistair Lawrence

Singles 17

Live Review

Single Choice

Graham Coxon

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Exper!ence Tour,

24/02/03;: Uj;_A .LCR

Freakin' Out

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With Blur still enjoying the enormous success of Think Tank 1t would be easy to unagine that Graham Coxon might feel a little inttm~dated. But his new single Freakin' Out 1s nothing if not self-assured. It is about as straightforward as punk rock can be before it becomes boring. The song wntmg is in the vein of The Sex P1stols or Generation X: a few chords, a strong melody and memorable lyncs. In fact, the lyncs manage to be more than just catchy; they are quietly intelligent too. Coxon laments a generation with nothing to be angry about: "Nothing to feel, nothmg to

hate I Nothmg is real, it's all to late I What do you do when noth ing's wrong? I'Aint got a clue. 'aint got no song."

In contrast to Blur being all lo-fi and pretendmg that they can't play guitar, it 1s a relief to hear plenty of vintage Coxon noodling. Also his voice 1s vastly 1mproved from previous albums and 1t is ruce to hear someone smging punk music with a BritiSh accent, not a !aux-Califorrua drawl.

The track, for all its apparent simplicity, has subtle dynamICS that set 11 apart from most pop-punk. Producer Stephen Street, the man responsible for pre- Think Thnk Blur, has allowed plenty of room for the intricacies of Coxon's guitar playmg.

Graham Coxon will be playing the Waterfront on the 7th June and, if this tune is anything to go by, expect it to be a lesson in how to not fail in a solo career.

foe Dunthorne Magnet and Genuna Bayes - Lay Lady Lay

Delta Goodrem - Throw it Away

Anastacia - Left Outside Alone

Bob Dylan's songbook has always been fair game for chancers, and while people like Hendrix or the Byrds have occasionally produced great versions of his stuff, more often they're just underwhelming.

Ambient indie band Magnet and acoustic popster Gemma Hayes team up to give Lay Lady Lay a go here but, as seems to be the wont of Brit acoustic music these days, they've removed the sexuality and made it into a chill-out song.

The singing sounds neutered and the background music could almost be a Groove Armada track. Forget seduction, this song is more like a humdrum lullaby.

Following the huge success of Innocent Eyes, upcoming talent Delta Goodrem's new single has a lot to live up to, but Throw it Away has its own style and is one of the most upbeat songs on her album. The use of the guitar as the main instrument makes a change from Delta's normal favourite, the piano.

Delta really does sound like she is putting her soul into her voice, and that she has felt every heartache and emotion she sings. While Throw it Away is certainly not the best song on the album, it is a relaxing ballad to chill out with.

Reality check yo. The new Anastaca joint starts off sounding like Evanescence, contines sounding like Evanescence and ends ... well okay, like an Anastacia track. But either her balls have dropped or that gruff biker chick soul vocal has been trimmed of its low end by falsetto-fetishising studio execs. Anastacia now sounds like a boy, or worse, a real girly girl; and, as her retarded shetalent as a songwriter fails her, this means she's now trading alone on those voluptuous good looks. Peter Andre, you are the King of the Meek, and maybe you and Anastacia will one day indeed rule the world.

In the meantime, keep them away from your stereo .. .I mean, would you shit where you eat? Excactly.

RobLavine

Aqualung: Toss Aqualung- Easier to Lie Easier to lie has its share of whines, however there is a charm to this track that can't be denied. First time round the impression is (no offence - but brutal honesty here) moaning stereotypical indie toss - but give it time and it grows.

Anyone can relate to the breakdown of a relationship that just isn't working and Aqualung put to song what you feel and never tell anyone. The track isn't at all angry but has a quiet acceptance, however its downfalls are in the tendency to sound rather samey. The emotion behind the track endears you nevertheless.

Rebecca Lawrence

The Mighty Atom Stellastarr* - My Coco

Delta Goodrem: Soul

Suzanne Rickenback The

Magnet: Neutered

Beta

.Art Brut -Formed a Band

Assessment

"Look at us! We formed a band!", shriek Art Brut, striking

Band

A pseudo-scary title is all this new single from club DJ and Radio One presenter Lottie has to offer. To be fair I might have enjoyed listening Supakilla if only I could believe that the plodding sub-bass and filtered disco loops were interesting.

Sadly, they were not, and I must report that my listening pleasure was curtailed by the fact that I'm not a total idiot. The stupid, repetitive ring-tones chiming from every mobile phone in the land have made a bigger contribution to the advancement of electronic music than this record.

a mocking pose in the corner of a badly-lit indie disco.

Reeking of weak lager and fanzines, they set out to satirise their image-conscious contemporaries by- bizarrely- making a record that sounds like perennial nerdy underachievers Half Man Half Biscuit being pulped in a blender. Spiky, spiteful and so dripping with irony that even Alanis Morissette might get the joke, Ebrmed a Band has the aloof mentality of a cooler-than-thou playground gang. "It's just talking to the kids", announces a sneering voice. Let's hope the kids take note.

No details yet of the new album but the artwork for new single Assessment is pretty neat, as is the track. More in the vein of The Three E.P's than Hot Shots I!, the song hangs off a delightfully tight guitar and double bass campfire breakdown, blown apart later by some Groundhogs inspired jazz rock boogaloo. A track you can dance to, this new material suggests that one day soon Grandaddy and The Beta Band are going to join forces and play the most amazing dual headlining show of such mythical brilliance, it's kind shall never perhaps be seen again.

Fresher than Rennies - chow d own.

NeilBryan

Sarah Eclwardes

Matt Sargeson

Lottie - Supaldlla

The eighties revival ends here.

Why? Because it doesn't get any better than this. Imagine an entire School Disco CD melted down into one impeccable piece of foot stamping, brain bursting, where-has-this-beenall-my-life disco madness. In five gargantuan, groove-filled minutes, Stellastarr* are lovedup clubbers, art rockers, chic NewYorkers and stripey-nosed Adam and the Ants fans. My Coco is an aircraft hanger of a record, and needs more than the average stereo to do justice to its joyous pomposity. Pump up the volume, folks.

en I was growing up a 'gig' was Oasis at Wembley tadium, and my latest one has been the Lost Prophets so you can see how I was evidently sceptical when invited to the 'Smirnoff Experience Tour featuring Adam.

F and the Freestylers' . The fact that we managed to get the tickets free on a visit to the Hive, all in the spirit of making up the numbers, didn't inspire much confidence.

To prepare for my first taste of 'drum 'n' bass' I listened to a couple of my flatmates' Roni Size albums, but I still wasn't feeling the love. I was wrong.

Once we were in the LCR, a place I don't tend to want to see sober, I was hit by the atmosphere. At fear of being the ultimate cliche, I felt that no one in the room cared about what you were wearing, or, a large concern I had been having, how well you danced to the 'beats'.lt was all just easy to enjoy. I was especially impressed with the Freestylers, drum and bass by a real, 'live' (as the ticket stated) band, who improved even more when their featured singer (a lady whose name I cannot remember) proceeded to add an almost Aretha Franklinesque feel to the whole shebang.

Now I realise I sound like my mother when she is introduced to my 'modern music', but I can honestly say I have been won over by drum 'n' bass- 'live' that is!

'Cat"Lumb'

Wi

Live Review ounded less than a year ago, this Norwich-based promotion team is really starting to hit its stride, teaming a residency at Po Na Na with monthly 'event' gigs, and hosting big name DJs from across the UK. Their latest event, a double-header billed as "future acid house", was exactly the sort of storm needed to shake up a staid weekend in February. On Friday, Po Na Na hosted the return of the legendary John Carter.

Best known for his incredible technique, he wears his expertise very lightly indeed, using it to twist old classics into unexpected forms . He kept a discerning dancefloor Jumping all night.

In contrast, the crowd at the UEA managed to fill little more than half the venue - sad, given that the LCR was playing host to Radio One'sYousef, a DJ who, while not blessed with Carter's talent for deck-wrecking diablerie, nonetheless has a certain way with a crowd and kept us dancing right until the lights came up.

Minimalist decor and the biggest plasma screens I have ever seen almost made me think I had somehow left the UEA and been transported to some cool as fuck basement in New York.

Support on both nights came from Ricky Cox. He combines a tough, techy sound reminiscent of a good Saturday night at Fabric with an acute sensitivity to his environment, tackling the challenges of small clubs and big rooms like the LCR with equal alacrity. Basil Hayes, in contrast, is all about taste tonight, rocking a small but faithful contingent in the second room with the deftness of a pinball wizard.

Truth be told, it was one of the best weekends I have ever had in Norwich. Its just a shame that, judging from the complete lack of students at either event, you guys weren't with us. Students need house music. It's about having a good time, cutting loose while looking your best. There's no adolescent cleverness here, no layers of infantile irony, or faux sophisticated posturing - just hundreds of people talking, drinking, dancing, having a party. H everyone who reads this makes a special effort to come and see Lottie next month, I think the UEA would be a much happier place. Go on, d o it for yourselves.

F

]onathan Perlmutter Stellastarr•: Madness

10.03.04

18 TV/Games

Best of the Rest

01 2DTV Sunday, l0.30pm, ITVl ow in its fourth series, 2DTV has become the most successful British animated programme on television.

Yet the show is best seen as an original take on the impressions show, rather than as a cartoon. There are several David Beckhams, Simon Cowells and Tony Blairs currently floating around the world of light entertainment all making fundamentally similar jokes about how ridiculous and thick celebrities all are. However, we don't seem to be getting bored with pointing and laughing at George Bushes moronic laughter or Ozzy's huge patterned forearms any time soon.

Through being animated, 2DTV has the added advantage of not being entirely based on just one or two peoples ability to sound almost exactly like loads of celebs but not look very much like any of them. Instead the show plays to the strengths of most impressionists to sound just like their chosen celeb and nothing more. Like how Matthew in Stars In Their Eyes used to warn us to just judge the voice, not the costume, but we always e nded up complainin g that th ey looked nothing like whoever they were meant to be.

Even if the impressions were awful, and the animation second-rate, 2DTV is still e njoyable to watch. It should not be dismisse d as any le ss engaging simply because it is animated. ITV deserve a pat on the back for this, even though they're probably only showing it because it has Posh and Becks trundling around .

N

0 2 Doctors Weekdays , 2.03pm, BBC l Drama foll owing the midday showing of Neig hbours, Doctors is unavoid able so you might as well sit b ack and enj oy it. There's no use trying to escape your armchair.

03 Saturday Kitchen Saturd ay, lOam, BBC 2 Hoste d by Anthony Worrall Thompson and with occasional appearences of a sloshe d Floyd the Saturday Kitchen is the best way to waste your Saturday mornin g

Games:

10.03.04

Essential TV:

Catterick

Tuesday, 9.30pm, BBC3 bsolute, undeniable genius must be a difficult cross to bear. After appearing from owhere to create the nearest thing to original comedy for the last quarter-century with Vie Reeves' Big Night Out, Vie Reeves and Bob Mortimer never quite equalled their unforgettable start. The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer came agonisingly close and Shooting Stars was fun , but there's long been a distressing suspicion that theirs are careers in slow, irreversible decline , their talent squandered in a flurry of over-sized frying pans and ruinous comparisons to Eric Morecambe. Not that shows like Bang Bang and Randall and Hopkirk didn't have fantastic moments , just that those moments were creeping further apart .

Thankfully fans , and those unlucky few who have yet to realise they are fans , finally have a reason to stop weeping uncontrollably. The programme Vie and Bob always threatened to unleash has arrived - and it's called Catterick .

Catterick is the second time the duo have attempted to make a sitcom. The first, called The Weekenders and shown once late at night in 1992 , was destined never to make it past the pilot stage, a victim of budgetary constraints that meant the final fifteen minutes consisted of nothing but Vie, Bob and Paul Whitehouse pratting around in a field. While the BBC's support of the new show has hardly been exemplary (note that great Sunday night, BBC3 time-slot) , at least this time we're going to get the whole series; and , if the promise of Catterick's initial three installments is carried through to the conclusion, the Bible may have to hand over its Greatest Story Ever Told mantle.

It all begins with Car! (Bob), getting out of the

army and enlisting his brother Chris (Vie) to search for his long-lost son. Carl's a nice guy, if a little high-pitched; Chris hasn 't left their dead mother's house for several years and his only friend is a turkey he 's put in a box. But what should be a simple quest gets complicated when the pair accidentally steal a Landrover belonging to an armed-robber and find themselves accused of his crimes. Soon the brothers are holed up in the Meremade (sic) Hotel, where mystery, romance and slippers await.

Taken element by element, Catterick features little we haven't seen before, a fact re-enforced by a cast full ofVic and Bob regulars. Morwenna Banks plays a bi-polar receptionist, Charlie Higson is a barman, Matt Lucas plays a couple of roles including the scheming-but-tragic hotel manager. Yet when everything is put together it feels genuinely fresh. The plot is gripping and while the characters may lean towards the grotesque, most are sympathetic and remarkably complex. Also, by refusing to adhere to any par-

ticular genre, the show is a consistent surprise.

Characters burst out into song, the turkey gets shot, Car! and Chris (who some will recognise from Bang Bang as The Club's bouncers) have a five -minute argument about a ripped George Clooney poster.

Most importantly, however, Catterick will make you laugh. Often these days , 'cutting edge ' 'comedy' considers itself too 'clever' for 'jokes'.

Here the gags range from the willfully crude (one minor character is called Sgt. Mingemunchington) to the delightfully silly (the apparently American police chief works for the NYPD- North Yorkshire Police Department). And, before it starts to sound like a mess, it's all held together by Reeves and Mortimer's unique brand of vaguely sinister whimsy.

So, to c onclude: yes , Vie and Bob are back to their best; yes, it's by far the best thing on television; and yes, it is worth buying digital television for. Spread the word (Catterick) . ]im Whalley

Britain's Best Sitcoms: Dad's Army, Saturday, 9prn, BBC 1 ad's Army is where the smart money will be going for the top spot in this c ompetition. This doesn't necessarily mean it is the best sitcom Britain has to offer, but Dad's Army is without doubt one of the few names that is always guaranteed to be counted among the nations favourite TV delig hts. Set during the Second World War in the fictitious coastal town Walmington-on-sea, Capt. Mainwaring and his motley bunch of cohorts are pegged as the last line of defence, affection ately known as "Dad 's Army". Along w1th the self-important Capt.

Mainwaring we have a well thought out team of comedy stand ards, the young murnrnys-boy, the d odgy-dealer, and the old chap with the bladder complaint to n ame b ut a few. Ye t wha t is important to re m e mbe r here is tha t while Dad's Army happily p lays out all the clas sic com e dy scenarios with the se now predictable characte rs, it is all the atte mpts to copy shows such as Dad 's Army that have m a d e the se things so p redictable.

D

These classic comedy characters are classics because of how well they work, and Dad's Army is one of the shows that allowed them to first flex their muscles.

You d on 't have to have seen a single episode to know the show and its characters.

They are, ironically, the big-guns that the BBC whips out from time to time to remind us all that it's great. We've all heard the sharp snap of Capt. Mainwaring's "stupid boy" aimed at Pike so many times that th e words have lost all meaning, and the opening titles are almost on a par with the duh-duhs of Eastenders. The show has g one past the time wh en it c ould b e looked at objectively, as a sitcom with characters and writers , and b ecause of this cannot b e compared with those of today. It m a d e the rules, and while Th e Office and alike can b e cornrnende d for bending and b reaking these, it has taken this long to m ove on from them.

Chad Sexington

X2, PC, ÂŁ34.99 2: The Threat is an ope n -ended space exploration sim reminiscent of Elite". Such a d e scription will make you e ither a) salivate over your limited-edition Star Wars T-shirt with e xciteme nt or b ) look incredibly confused.

This is the main problem with such a game; it appeals to a very select and dedicated audience , as the dauntingly huge instruction manual a ttests.

The plotline is s tandard videogame fare involving a rebe llious pilot with a dark past, a missing-presumed-dead father and the need to save the universe from evil. To be fair, the story is a very small element of a game such as X2 and only really involve s undertaking certain compulsory missions/ watching cut scenes every so ofte n . But they 're worth watching at least once, although the voice-acting is comically bad and

X

the visuals , dialogue and subtitles go out of sync at random intervals. Luckily, this appears to be the only major bug.

At the beginning of X2, you are given the keys (or equivalent) to a basic spaceship, money and a simple mission to rende zvous with anothe r craft.

It is immediately clear that the game universe is both huge and colourful but the controls are very complex. A little perseverance pays off though, and within a couple of hours it is possible to get a basic grasp of the controls. Generally, the gameplay is pre tty standard for the genre, involving courier missions, seeking out and fighting enemy ships, or hauling loads of cargo from point A to the more profitable point B. The open-ended nature of the gameplay means one can choose to concentrate on acquiring money, following the

plot or simply fly around p icking fights like some kind of intergalactic townie thug. You can eve n invest in fac tories, which has the added benefit of a s teady income and p rices realistic ally fluctuate according to supply and demand. However, there are periods in the g ame when the player has to spend time accruing enough mone y to purchase the n e xt upgrade. Eve n worse, much of the game is spent clicking through menu afte r m e nu which gets pretty tedious .

X2: The Threat is not a classic, but can p rove fun if you are a fan of the genre and have both the time and the will to play b eyond the first few hours. A final word of warning though: this game requires a powerful computer to run and will d e finitely not appeal to everyone.

Benjamin Hines

19 Listings-----------------------------11 fortnight

in'ceveryone's favourite city .(Norwich) ..J

4. Spellbound @Union Film Brilliant documentary about the goings on at one of America's biggest Spelling Bee championships. Scary stuff. Very funny. Fri March 19 LT l

£15, cone. £12 Sat 20th-28th March 4.Play Without Words@Theatre Royal

Class satire, sixties swinging and a bit of dancing. Double Olivier award winner and directed

by Matthew Bourne.

16th-20th March, 7.30 pm, £4-22.50

Widows Maddermarket Theatre.

Written by Ariel Dorfman, politicised Chilean playwright, better known for his kidnap three hander Death and the Maiden showing on the 9th, 1Oth and 11th of March at 7:30pm. Tickets are £6 ,£3.50 for students.

5. New London Chamber Ensemble@School of Music Concert Room, UEA Wind quintet with live electronics.

Thu 11th March, 7.30pm, £3-6.

6. UEA Symphony Orchestra and Choir@St. Anclrew's Hall £3-14. 7.30pm Sat. 13th March 7. Latin American Art: Context and Accomplices@Special Exhibition Gallery Sainshury Centre Until 21st March

2. Derren Brown @Theatre Royal For ChristopherWalken fans!

Sun 21st March £4-15

8. Another issue of Ditto The Hive, Friday 12-2,look for the stall.

3.Boroclin String Quartet@John Innes Centre Named after the 19th century Russian composer Alexander Boridin this quartet will be performing all of Beethoven's String Quartets throughout the week. They've been going for 58 years and so it may be the last chance to catch some of their members live.

9.Wander around staring at the cloud bedecked sky and contemplating the meaning of life; admiring the patterns of the tracks at Norwich train station and marvelling at the day to day with a pensive air.

Mon - Fri. Entrance free. Not for everybody.

Sat & Sun are days off.

Katie Melua + Paddey Casey@LCR Melua, a name you love or hate- or, if over 40, you have hot flushes over. Take yourself along and throw praise, confetti or rotten vegetables at modern music's most irritating tiny teen star.

Sat March 13.

2.CKY@LCR Tired of laboring under the unhelpful 'Jackass Band' labelling, CKY head out on tour to teach the doubters about just how fucking good they're Misfits-infused Arch-skate/punk really is. Way better then Hundred Reasons. Tue March 16 3.Runclred Reasons + Biffy Clyro + Senses Fall@LCR As flaccid, impotent and passe' as Hundred Reasons are, they are giving us a chance to see Glaswegian alt.rock heroes Biffy Clyro and Drive-Thru records cherubs Senses Fail fuck up the LCR. Cheers you luckless fools. Wed March 17

(, 10.03.04

A Mighty Wind@ Cinema City From the makers of This is Spinal Tap and Best in Show comes this largely improvised, spoof documentary following a group of folk musicians on the road to a reunion concert.

From Sun March 21.

2. Master and Commander: The fir Side of the World@ Union FUm Yes, the title may be a bastard to say and no, it didn't win many Oscars, but Master and Commander is still a fantastic maritime adventure. Tue March 16, LTl 3. 21 Grams@ UCI/Ster Century Alejandro Gonzalez liianitu's follow-up to Amores Perros isn't quite as original as its predecessor, but the performances are great and it might even make you think about.

6. WombatWombat presents eeebleee + Luma Lane + Bikini Atoll @ Norwich Arts Centre Oxford-based Mark 'n' Lard faves eeebleee make a welcome return to wombatwombat with their impassioned symphonies of electro/double bass/chunky guitar and cut-up beats. Stick that in your lungs good buddy! Friday March 12 7. Brighton Rocks @ The Waterfront A night to get drunk, dirty, kiss housemates of either sexual persuasion and generally give the bouncers hassle. Everything from indie, rock, punk, alternative emo - and anything that's good with guitars from the 60's to now! Lush my friend, lush. Friday March 12

Out now.

6. School of Rock @UCI/Ster Century Richard Linklater (Slackers, Waking life) demonstrates that movies with loads of child actors don't have to be crap. Jack Black helps out. Outnow.

7. Starsky and Hutch @ UCI/Ster Century American reviews suggest it isn't great, but then they said the same about Old School (made by the same team) and that's now considered as great as Citizen Kane. (by some) Previews Mar 13114, full release Mar 19 8. The Trilogy @Union FUm Trio of vastly different, interlocking French movies that have done very well on the festival circuit. Thu Mar 11 , 18 & 25, LTl 9. Looney Toons: Back in Action@ UCI Because sometimes crashes are fun to watch.

Out now.

LCR on Friday March 12, with a happy hour from 9-lOpm in the Hive. Go, strut your funky thing!

4. Zero 7 @ LCR Bored of getting stoned in your lounge, jerking off to hardcore porn and picking popcorn out of your underpants? Take the 'erb to the LCR and let Zero 7, like, totally move your mind outside of the box. The past inside the present.

And electro-soul for all. Wed March 23 S.Snow Patrol @ LCR The whole world loves a scotsman, and there are five of them in Snow Patrol which makes adulation for the band literally impossible to matriculate. Their music makes us jiggle too, and amen to that. But it's sold out, so you'll probably be at home. Thursday March 11

5. Big Fish @UCI It won't be around much longer, so if you haven't seen Tim Burton's return to form (after Planet of the Apes) yet, leg it down to UCI.

Bliss @ Chicago Rock Cafe New gay night in association with the LGB Society. Expect DJs, live acts (opening night featured drag queens and ABBA tributes), drink deals and cash prizes. Every Tuesday.

2. Sam Jam Music Festival @LCR 15 unsigned bands play the LCR for a fund-raising and cannabis awareness day. Acts include Swift, Mindbleed, I Don't Know and Endangered Species, with street theatre from Theatre of War. Prize for best fancy dress. Sun March 21 , lpmmidnight.

3. Livewire Snow Patrol Party @ LCR Tickets are being given away all this week, and the first 200 on the door get in free. UEA's radio station have landed this exclusive aftershow party featuring XFM's lain Baker.

Thu March 11.

4. The Funkathon LCR Disco The climax of the Fairtrade Funkathon in the

5. Passion at Mercy NightClub Rumours have it that Glamour model Jordan will be turning up at Mercy Nightclub and entertaining punters with both her talents.

Perhaps we'll be able to find out all the latest gossip on the Peter Andre affair. Maybe he will even make a surprise appearance! Admission £3 before 11 :OOpm, £5 after. Dress code is smart casual. Expect to be listening to commercial Dance and RnB. 6. Time Night Club: Sin with resident DJ Scott Head down to the Riverside for classic dance anthems from 9.30pm till 3am.

Smart dress with no jeans, trainers, or sportswear.

It costs £5 before llpm, £7 after (£1 off for members.)

7. Funk, hip-hop and Chart at Po Na Nas. Get yourself down to Bank Plain for two-for-one cocktails at Po Na Na this Tuesday, and best of all entry is free. It's open till late so you can party into the wee hours.

8. Marvel at the Loft this Friday Funk, breakbeat, groove, soul, and all your favourite sounds can be found at the Loft, with a DJ upstairs and band downstairs. A cheap night at £3.50, and free before 11. No dress code.

12" 1.MARGHERITA

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r I

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(.)

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AT HENRY'S BAR+ CAFE

Mondays from 6pm

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