Venue - Issue 292 - 28 January 2014

VENUE

ISSUE 292 Jonathan Alomoto

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www.concrete-online.co.uk

28.01.14

VENUE

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contents

9 FASHION

makeup: evening wear Hello!

Snow is on the horizon (allegedly) so soon will be the time to stay indoors and wrap up warm.

We can’t promise any cancelled lectures but we’ll try and give you that warm fuzzy feeling.

Sadly, this month one of our most beloved actors Roger LloydPack passed away. You can find our tribute to him in Television, where Phil Turtle provides a run-through of the all programmes and movies we watched and loved him in.

Cinema City and the various cinemas around Norwich are packed with good films this month.

So make sure you find a chance to go down and see a few. The Wolf of Wall Street is a favourite pick at the moment, but make sure you’ve got

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15 GAMING

not so super mario

a good three hours to spare – it’s a long one.

Calling all photographers: Venue would love to have some new and original photography for the front and back covers of our publication. In collaboration with UEA Photo Soc, we will be running fortnightly competitions to showcase talent. Whether you make the cover or not, all entries will be featured in our website’s brand new online gallery. To enter, contact Jonathan Alomoto at ueaphotosoc@gmail.com for more details.

Stay cute, Ciara and Hayden

Issue 292

TELEVISION

roger lloyd-pack: a memorial

Editor-in-Chief | Sidonie Chaffer-Melley Venue Editors | Hayden East and Ciara Jack Music | Editors | Jack Enright and Alex Flood Music Contributors: Louis Cheslaw, Jack Enright, Alex Flood, Chris Harrison, Jack Lusby Fashion | Editors | Madz Abbasi and Ella Sharp Fashion Contributors: Gemma Carter, Ella Sharp , Helena Urquhart Arts | Editor | Callum Graham Arts Contributors: Kathryn Fox, Callum Graham, Sean Pearce Creative Writing | Editor | Holly McDede Creative Writing Contributors: Georgie Currie, Jake Reynolds, Lewis Buxton Gaming | Editor | Sam Emsley Gaming Contributors: Joe Fitzsimmons, Sam Emsley Television | Editor | Robert Drury Television Contributors: Adam Dawson, Neven Devies, Melissa Haggar, Rachel Keeley, Lydia Tewkesbury, Phil Turtle Film | Editors | Holly Wade and Adam White Film Contributors: Tyler Allen, Sarah Boughen, Adam Dawson, Neven Devies, David Humfrey, Jack Lusby, Melissa Taylor Competitions & Listings | Editor | Saul Holmes

4INTERVIEW: SOUNDCLASH RECORDS 28.01.2014

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MUSIC

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Alex Flood heads down to St Benedicts St. for a chat with owner Paul Mills

musicfromtheeastzone.co.uk

Far from the “boring green” of Soundclash’s younger days, the electric blue and outrageous orange of the shop’s exterior never fails to attract the roving eye of the unwitting shopper on St. Benedict’s Street, home to some of the best vintage media and fashion outlets Norwich’s hallowed streets have to offer.

Somehow managing to be packed with avid-record enthusiasts even on a dull Tuesday afternoon, perhaps such an outrageous colour scheme is the secret to the store’s longevity? Not so says owner Paul Mills.

Known as one of the country’s premier independent record stores ever since it’s break from Rough Trade led group, ‘The Chain with no name’, Soundclash is at the forefront of a recent revival in the vinyl trade, representing Norwich as the centre of the massively popular annual Record Store Day, a recent import from the States. Whilst the store “used to sell a lot of dance records to DJs”, Mr Mills reveals “that seems to have pretty much disappeared now”; an odd revelation considering the growth of house music in the city recently. Replacing this aspect of Soundclash’s sales are youngsters, with

“a lot more younger people buying retro and alternative LPs now.” Whatever the trends, it is still a commendable feat for Paul to be still open for business when so many similar shops have closed down in the previous decade. Throughout the 2000s, numbers of independent record stores fell dramatically from around 1000 at the start of the decade, to a pitiful 150 nationwide by its climax, a quite stunning statistic.

Despite this, Soundclash continues to prosper quite remarkably; Paul has even managed to build himself up a national reputation. When prompted it becomes clear how proud he is of this, waxing lyrically that “many bands come in here, and people visit Norwich to visit Soundclash… we’re forever having various bands pop in to browse our record collection, and I’ve had some pretty impressive name-checks from some pretty important people over the years.”

Paul, dressed in typically understated black, oozes passion for his craft, and is quite obviously a man in his element.

For him, music began with punk, “my whole world started with the Clash” he claims emphatically over a sound system

blaring old reggae hits from the 70s, and the Jamaican influence doesn’t stop there. “Soundclash is actually a Jamaican sound system.” “It’s when two sound systems would battle each other out with the freshest and newest tunes.” “So the meaning of the shop is that and also it’s a clash of sounds, like dance music mixed with rock music, or you’ve got black music mixed with white music together, so it’s a clash of sounds that melts together as one, that’s what the whole thing is, it’s a double meaning.”

This attention to detail is prevalent throughout the shop, from the carefully priced and labelled vinyl LPs and CDs to the elaborate testing facilities available, consisting of two store-branded turntables and sets of pristine headphones. However, to Paul music is music, and he doesn’t necessarily go in for the whole collector’s item business himself. “I was once given an Oasis LP, a platinum disc for the first LP, Definitely Maybe, and I had it as a mirror in my toilet, because it was of no interest to me.” This refreshing dematerialist attitude is something found rarely in today’s consumerist society, and perhaps says rather more about the quality

of the Gallagher brothers’ musical output than Mr Mills own musical taste. He still regards the vinyl record as the ultimate listening experience however, and when prompted explains, “Absolutely, it’s physical, it’s actual, it’s real, it’s warm, it’s got everything going for it. It’s not digital, digital is just noughts and ones, noughts and ones sound shit.”

A seemingly severe distaste for our current social media generation is an undercurrent of our conversation throughout. “People are isolated on screen,” Paul claims, as well as that “there’s less of a sense of community spirit.”

Accounting for the increased vinyl sales of recent times, he describes that “there’s a backlash on the Facebook generation, kids are wanting something from the real world to collect again.” The glee with which he details this story is apparent, Paul is a man whose love is music at its purest form, even relegating the vinyl form which he has dedicated his life to.

Rather tellingly, when the question of which record he would save from a flood in his beloved Soundclash is put to him, he cheekily quips, “I’d let them all sink and claim on insurance.”

MUSIC concrete.music@uea.ac.uk

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INTERVIEW: PEACE

28.01.2014

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Louis Cheslaw gets up close and personal with the birmingham fourpiece

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If you stand outside the Waterfront in Norwich for more than half an hour in deepest midwinter, chances are your whole body will feel the cold. It’ll start in your toes, fingers and ears, gradually making its way inwards until it almost completely numbs you. Venue wasn’t there, however, for some morbid biology experiment, rather to meet Peace, the Birminghambased fourpiece that spent 2013 singlehandedly keeping guitar music cool.

Speaking of how the band’s rapid ascent has come as something of a shock, lead singer Harrison Koisser jokingly looked back on how times have changed: “I never thought about touring to this level when we first started out, we’ve always just thought about what’s happening and what’s about to happen,” he says. “It was always like, going out in my brother’s van and going to play to thirty people in a pub, and then after that it was like, ‘what’s it going to be like when we can afford our own van?’ Then before this tour I was thinking, ‘hold on, we’re going to have our own bus to sleep in!’” There’s certainly room for more than just sleeping on this bus – just the lounge area that we’re sitting in on the upper deck is fully kitted out with a refrigerator, TV and table.

None of this, however, is particularly surprising. After being nominated in the

prestigious BBC Sound of 2013 poll and signing with Columbia Records, the band have released an acclaimed debut album and performed worldwide, with the tour they now find themselves on having just taken them through two sold-out nights at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire.

Talking about the shows, drummer Dominic Boyce pointed out some of the more personal aspects of playing backto-back nights at the same venue, such as how “you notice the difference in your own mood and performance more when you play two nights in a row, cause you’re doing the same kind of thing as the night before so instead of noticing a different venue or crowd you notice your mood being different more so than you would do night after night at different venues.”

Despite the impressive success the band have achieved so far, it may be a while yet until they reach the heights of hometown heroes Led Zeppelin, a legacy the band are constantly reminded of. As Koisser puts it, “In that area around Birmingham, in the south especially, there’s a little band that I think of as ‘Zeppelin country’, where there’s kind of every pub you’ve heard about from a Zeppelin biography, so we grew up around that. As far as musical heritage that’s probably the common link for us. Remnants of the group’s love for

their musical ancestors surround them, such as Koisser’s beloved double-necked guitar, which came from “seeing Jimmy Page with one my whole life,” however unfortunately the singer laments that “it’s pretty impractical live”.

From that conversation on live shows, talk somehow turns to hip-hop. Peace’s rap influences aren’t overtly clear, but Koisser remembers how “when you first discover it as a teenager you just think ‘this is amazing!’ I never really understood the cultural significance of it but I remember buying N.W.A’s ‘Straight Outta Compton’ and I can still remember every word. I’m also fascinated about sampling. I used to make loops on tapes to play and rap over.”

If the influence of hip-hop isn’t particularly evident in Peace’s music, the influence of cinema is clearly visible.

Watch any of their music videos and you’ll notice how stylised they are, and how some of the same recurring storylines and motifs are interwoven across each release. “The videos for ‘Lovesick’ and ‘Wraith’ were planned as a continuation of each other… those two don’t feel entirely like they’re set in this world,” Koisser recounts, and as enjoyable as the two dystopian videos are, it’s a concept that never quite made it to film that sounds the most exciting.

Just before the video for ‘Wraith’ went

into production, John Cusack himself (understandably) vetoed a video idea coined by Koisser, where a cult based around the Hollywood actor goes on the rampage, accompanied by music from ‘John and the Cusacks’ (played by the band themselves). The casting call for the video still exists in the depths of the internet, but tragically it seems that is as close as that particular idea will ever come to fruition.

Regardless, the band is far too busy to dwell on such minor disappointments.

At the end of this tour they’ll play to a sold out crowd at a homecoming show in Birmingham, something they are “just so excited for.” Bringing the discussion back to Norwich, however, Koisser mused on how “our first show here [at The Waterfront] was probably the biggest room we’d ever played. It’s so weird now actually, going back to venues we’ve played before and seeing how it’s all changed.” With a follow-up album already in the works, one can only imagine how much more it’ll continue to change in the future. One indication may be the large amount of fans lining up as I left who, having presumably spent far longer in the cold than I had, all seemed prepared and dedicated enough to propel Peace even further than they’ve already come.

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28.01.2014

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN HIGH HOPES Jack Lusby

There is a Bruce Springsteen album I have found myself regularly returning to over the past few years. Live/1975-85 is a triple-disc set compiling renditions of his very best in a release which encapsulates the manic, endearing workmanship of The Boss of old. Listening to Springsteen’s latest effort, High Hopes, I

EAST INDIA YOUTH TOTAL STRIFE FOREVER Chris Harrison

The scattering of MIDI notes across the album’s artwork is a clear indicator of

MUSIC

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ALBUM REVIEWS was filled with a great sense of nostalgia as the New Jersey native attempts to cling onto these qualities in an album which, ultimately, disappoints.

Fittingly, High Hopes is comprised largely of outtakes from previous album sessions, reimagined and provided a glossy studio sheen. It also includes three covers: Tim Scott McConnell’s ‘High Hopes’, The Saints’ ‘Just Like Fire Would’ and ‘Dream Baby Dream’, originally recorded by 70’s electronic punk duo Suicide. The result? A curiously collected jumble lacquered with the earnest mediocrity of Springsteen’s newly-developed sound.

As often with artists reaching the autumn years of their career, Springsteen’s musical trajectory of late has taken a turn for the conservative. Sat in a crowded Pyramid field at last year’s Glastonbury festival, I endured 40 minutes of tepid country musings before Billy Bragg launched into anything remotely akin to the spiky political triumphs that the festival omnipresent is so adept. This is similarly apparent with High Hopes, as Springsteen retreats into radio-friendly Americana, only affording glimpses of the energy with which he made his name.

High Hopes is at its worst with the early one-two of the wince-inducing ‘Harry’s Place’, and ‘American Skin

(41 Shots)’ - a drab, seven minute slog lamenting police shootings in America.

First performed in 2000 in response to the death of police shooting Amadou Diallo, the song now seems timely given the recent events surrounding the death of Trayvon Martin. However, for all of its poignancy, ‘American Skin (41 Shots)’ is an interminable bore.

This effort is not without its redemptive qualities, however. ‘Down in the Hole’ affects the understated pulse of Born in the USA’s ‘I’m on Fire’ to great effect and ‘The Ghost of Tom Joad’, originally released on 1995’s album of the same name, benefits from being significantly beefed up by Tom Morello’s guitar. Elsewhere, low-key jaunt ‘The Wall’ evokes Springsteen’s last great track, 2008’s ‘The Wrestler’, whilst the aforementioned ‘Dream Baby Dream’ swells into an inspired finale.

Overall a solid release, High Hopes is unfortunately undermined by its use of previously discarded numbers and a predilection for restrained conventionalism.

An album with an eye on the past, one can’t help but feel High Hopes is an unnecessary revisit.

what the album is comprised of – digital music. Computer music. Electronic Music. Before the naysayers dismiss it as therefore lacking a ‘human touch’, give Total Strife Forever a chance to prove you wrong, because it will. Hopefully it’ll also inspire you to seek out its inf luences (Berlin-era Bowie, Eno and Neu! to name just three), encouraging younger listeners to older, seminal genres of music.

William Doyle – aka East India Youth – has become something of a media darling since the release of his debut LP. It has received high praise from virtually all corners, with perhaps the highest praise coming from that fact that Brian Eno is now often seen in attendance at his gigs. The story goes that albums which receive this amount of hype are doomed to disappoint when you actually hear them for yourself.

Fortunately, Total Strife Forever lives up to the hype and delivers the goods in spades.

Most of the tracks on the album are straight instrumental tracks. The album’s title track comes in four parts;

each working with the same set of notes and playing with them in varying ways. Those four songs themselves are a remarkable achievement, perfectly evoking the album’s inward, contemplative feel. It’s the feeling of someone finding themselves in the face of an isolating urban landscape. Despite this, Total Strife Forever seems to be an optimistic record, as if the answers Doyle is searching for are just around the corner – wherever the corner may be.

Alongside the contemplative instrumental tracks sits the out-andout techno-dance belter ‘Hinterland’, its effect somehow enhanced by its placement between two of the albums tracks to feature lyrics. Doyle’s voice holds a very prominent place in the songs it features in, it’s his voice clear and distinct from the electronic, industrial noise that surrounds him. In ‘Looking for Someone’ we find Doyle “looking for someone, I don’t know where they are” suggesting he is reaching out for human contact, but this sentiment is cleverly f lipped a few lines later when he

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telegraph.co.uk

proclaims that “it’s just for me and noone else / I need something for myself ”.

He needs to find his place before he’s ready for the embrace of others.

The album’s triumph comes in the shape of ‘Heaven, How Long?’, which featured on the Hostel EP released last year, it really stands out at the midway point of the album as something different in tone than the rest of the songs. Doyle cleverly manipulates layers of synth-melody, electronic fuzz, and percussion to heighten our anticipation for the euphoric climax, which implores everyone to call out “Heaven, how long?” along with him, before it drops again into an utterly danceable coda. It is a representation of how all pop songs should sound in 2014.

2013 was a great year for music and Total Strife Forever is not only a glorious start to 2014, but East India Youth’s career. Hopefully this is just the beginning of that story.

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28.01.2014

2014 - ONES TO WATCH

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Music Editor Jack Enright takes a look at releases to watch out for over the coming year Last issue, the Venue music team picked out their top releases of 2013 - and what’s clear from the final list is that we were royally spoiled last year. From the retroinspired Cali-rock of Peace’s In Love, to the desperate lunge for divinity that was Kanye’s Yeezus, 2013 truly held something for everyone. It’s time now, however, to turn our attention to the next 12 months, and the upcoming albums that may challenge for the crown at the end of 2014.

When SBTRKT’s debut album fell onto our collective eardrums back in 2011, the self-titled record was so perfectly formed - unbelievably polished, refined and prepped for superstardom that it’s entirely understandable that the secretive producer would take his time over a follow-up. SBTRKT was remarkable for capturing exactly the musical zeitgeist of that year - a year that was weary of bastardised dubstep-fodder being rammed down their throats. SBTRKT took the post-dubstep sound championed by Mount Kimbie and James Blake and

added his own unique pop-inflection the result being a record that managed to juxtapose introspection with a facet of danceability. While his long term partner Sampha (and arguably the junior partner in the creative relationship) has pushed on with impressive string of solo EPs and bigname collaborations, SBTRKT has kept remarkably quiet since that debut. Recent months, though, have seen the producer provide a series of teasers, including ‘Runway’, featuring Jessie Ware, sparking expectation that 2014 could finally provide that long-awaited second album.

An artist operating in much the same musical vein as SBTRKT is Claire Boucher, who recently sent the internet into ecstasy by spilling the beans on her upcoming fourth album. Releasing music from behind her Grimes moniker, Boucher’s reputation has only improved since her debut in 2010, culminating in the release of Visions in 2012. Garnering both widespread critical acclaim and remarkable levels of commercial success,

Visions successfully walked that tightrope between mainstream success and left-field credibility. Fashioning her music from an eclectic variety of influences and styles, Grimes’ output is notoriously difficult to describe. Defining it herself as “ADD music,” it draws heavily from the world of electronic producers like Aphex Twin, but with the addition of pop sensibilities drawn from Bjork and Enya. Having recently revealed via Tumblr that work on her fourth studio album is underway, Boucher is undoubtedly one of the artists to watch out for in 2014.

A record coming from a slightly less well-known act is the debut album from Young Fathers, due for release on 3 February. This group garnered a huge amount of critical acclaim last year with the release of two scintillatingly good mixtapes - the aptly named Tape 1 and Tape 2. While these cuts were meltingpots positively spilling over with an eclectic mix of influences and styles Death Grips percussion, De La Soul vocal

harmonies, skull-bruising bass lines - they were also were infuriatingly brief, clocking in at barely 20 minutes apiece. Their debut long-player, Dead, will give us an opportunity to for a more in-depth look at Young Fathers, and show us just what the group are capable of.

The list outlined here consists of just a handful of records, and barely scratches the surface of the albums we can expect from 2014. Outkast, having just announced appearances at over 40 festivals around the world, are rumoured to have an album in the works to coincide with their 20th anniversary. Elsewhere, Chance The Rapper and Kendrick Lamar look set to dominate this year’s hip-hop scene - although Kanye won’t be relinquishing the spotlight without a fight. Alt-J’s longawaited follow-up to 2011’s An Awesome Wave is also on the horizon - although having just lost bassist Gwil Sainsbury, might it be asking to much for them to better their debut? Only one thing’s for certain - it’s going to be an interesting year.

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FASHION

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SMOKIN’ American Apparel Embracing the bush with their new mannequins- and so should you!

American Jersey Tops Look fashionably fit

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Is the Supermodel a Myth?

Gemma Carter on the rise and fall of the supermodel Supermodel status is what all aspiring models strive for throughout their career, hoping that one day they will achieve worldwide recognition for their beauty. Being known as a supermodel sets you apart from the rest and makes you memorable; not just another pretty model that can get lost in a crowd.

The faces of supermodels have changed dramatically over the past few decades, begging the question whether the idea of the supermodel is fast becoming a myth. Janice Dickinson refers to herself as the first supermodel. It may be hard to believe after all the surgery, but back in the day Janice was a knockout and a household name because of it (amongst other things). The 80s and 90s brought many legendary supermodels like Cindy Crawford and Elle Macpherson, with their big hair and incredibly long slender legs - these women were flawless. Also not forgetting the likes of Christine Brinkley, Christy Turlington and Naomi Campbell!

Although they were and still are strikingly beautiful you could tell them apart as their differences were celebrated – they weren’t styled and manufactured to look the same.

Being a statuesque stunner didn’t necessarily guarantee being a supermodel as the early 90s saw the arrival of a young Kate Moss onto the fashion scene and she took it by storm. Moss may not match up to the height of Crawford or Campbell but what she lacks in height she certainly made up for with her face. Although not a typical bombshell beauty, her bone structure ensures versatility for each look and campaign she fronts. Her unique style has rapidly revamped the runways and front covers of glossy magazines.

Kate has without a doubt influenced the models of today with her thin physique, as she famously said “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.”

Sadly it seems that the celebration of individuality has now been lost in the

fashion industry. Today we have the likes of Cara Delevigne and Jourdan Dunn who seem to be today’s supermodels, but looking at the catwalks of London fashion week it’s difficult to distinguish one model from another. This idea that being super-thin is the only thing that can make you beautiful is wrong. A supermodel has to have character and warmth that works both on and off the catwalk. Runways and magazines should include thin, athletic, slim and curvy models of all shapes and sizes. Supermodels are fading fast as the fashion industry continues to exploit just one look and not explore other forms of beauty. Models like Kate Upton and Robyn Lawley have caused controversy with their fuller figures. Estonian model Carmen Kass, who has graced the covers of Vogue and Elle, once said “It’s not really like you have a thing like a supermodel anymore. It’s more of a word than a real existence.” Coming from a top model that pretty much says it all, don’t you think?

Hot Right Now

Jeremy Scott for Adidas

Helena Urquhart gives you the rundown of the best dressed

Designing the S/S 2014 Adidas Originals collection

CHOKIN’

Hawaiian Shirts Not ever okay - even on holiday

WTF What was Bobby Abley thinking?!

David Beckham One of the most dashing men in Britain today, not a day goes by without David Beckham gracing our magazines or newspapers in yet another chic ensemble.

Beckham plays the perfect English gentleman well, his many dapper and well cut suits are an inspiration for men everywhere and even on his off days he has layering down to a T. His secret appears to be tailoring, we never see him in anything that is poorly fitted. Along with those notorious H and M underwear adverts, Beckham is one of the most prominent public figures trend setting within his own right.

Harry Styles Harry Styles is one fifth of the biggest boy band on the planet, has a gaggle of adoring fans that follow his every move, and is a style icon within his own right.

He just recently won the prestigious 2013 British Fashion Award and it is easy to see why. His chilled, laid back, yet indie look is setting trends and is set to win more awards as well as attract yet more fans. Styles by name, and oh so stylish by nature, Harry is undoubtedly one of the best dressed public figures of the moment.

Beyoncé Our obsession with Beyoncé began way

back in the nineties and sixteen Grammys later Queen B. is undoubtedly at the top of her game and synonymous with pop culture. When she became the first female headliner at Glastonbury a couple of years ago, she brought style to the stage. Adorned in a sensational sequined gold blazer and hot pants, it was a truly amazing ensemble that made everyone sit up and take notice. Beyoncé continually rocks her stage outfits and looks incredible whether she is dressed up to the nines for Wikipedia.com

a red carpet event, or in tribal shorts on holiday. But who is shocked by this? It is Queen B. after all.

Fearne Cotton The Radio 1 DJ, fashion designer and presenter is guilty of causing all of us significant wardrobe envy. Whether she is being papped on her way to the Radio 1 studios in the morning or at a flashy red carpet event or award ceremony, Fearne always looks amazing. Her iconic rock chick look never fails to impress and she seems to look fabulously put together on an everyday basis.

Jennifer Lawrence Jennifer Lawrence is hot property in Hollywood at the moment. Having scooped an Oscar last year, a Golden Globe this year, as well as fronting the hugely popular franchise, ‘The Hunger Games’ all eyes are on Lawrence. But she sure doesn’t disappoint on the wardrobe front – she is always impeccably dressed.

This girl certainly knows how to dress to impress, she wowed in Dior at the Oscars and can always be relied upon to look fabulous on the red carpet. Even on her numerous TV appearances she looks stylish in her flattering ensembles and knows how to work her curves to her advantage.

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28.01.2014

Photographer: Moji Adegbile, Make Up: Madz Abbasi, Model: Alice Middleton

VENUE BEAUTY EDIT

EVENING

Day time looks can be a little tired and plain. For a great twist, ditch the over-used black liner for a daring electric blue; try Superslick Liquid Eyeliner by MAC in ‘Signature Blue’. You could even go for a purple or green if you’re feeling adventurous.

For a more soft approach, tease your lash line with a coloured eye shadow rather than liner. Go for a natural shimmery gold for a base over your eyelid, this will catch the light and add depth to your day look. Try the new Urban Decay Naked 3 pallette to find your perfect shade.

For your face, go for a matte foundation to even out the shimmer on your eyes, we love Clean Finish Matte Foundation by Rimmel. A light dusting of a light pink blusher on the apples of your cheeks will give you a clean and fresh look, perfect for any day!

For a bold evening look don’t be afraid to do both lips and eyes. Using black and brown shades across the lid and into the socket softens what would usually be considered a harsh look, and using a thin black liner in the lash line allows for impact without too much drama. Go for khol pencil for an even softer look, we love Rimmel Soft Khol Kajal Eye Pencil, try in black or brown. A soft dark eye means you can go big with false eyelashes, try Eylure Naturalites Natural Texture False Eyelashes for a dramatic yet more subtle look.

For the foundation, embrace a shimmery look for evening, layer on both a pink blush and a bronzer just above the cheekbone to add some delicate contouring. A red lip is an evening staple – a pillar box red suits almost everyone but go a bit darker for a vampier vibe; we love MAC’s Ruby Woo for its matte finish.

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DAY

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THE DIRECTOR’S CUT

Sean Pearce on the possibilities of the cutting room floor

Ridley Scott’s Alien

A lot of people assume that the director’s cut is always better than the theatrical cut. It’s a perfectly understandable leap to make: studios do often play havoc with films if they’re worried that a director’s creative decisions might jeopardise their investment. A notorious example of this is Blade Runner, which has no fewer than seven different versions floating around, many of which betray significant and illadvised studio interference; it was only twenty-five years after initial release that director Ridley Scott was finally given full creative control over a version (2007’s ‘Final Cut’).

But, consider Alien, another Scott film. The theatrical cut is superb, and is the version you’re most likely to be familiar with. It is a near-perfect horror film, and a brilliant film generally. Both acting and dialogue are very naturalistic (there aren’t any quotable one-liners, as there are in the later films of the

franchise), the aesthetic varies from the industrial feel of the spacecraft and the oddly sexual, organic sleekness of the alien itself. Frankly, the director’s cut doesn’t really add anything. It certainly doesn’t detract from it: we get some more character interaction, and an interesting insight into the alien’s life-cycle, but Alien was already good enough.

Then we have The Exorcist. I saw the director’s cut before I saw the theatrical cut, and I’ve seen the former many more times than the latter, and I do think that it is better than the original. But this is not to say that the original is a bad film.

Indeed, one could quite convincingly argue that neither is better than the other, such is the strength of both.

So far, we’ve had improvement, no improvement and possible improvement.

None of this is particularly sensational, but what of films that have actively been harmed by a new director’s cut?

I am thinking of The Wicker Man (no, I don’t mean the Nicholas “Not the bees!” Cage version). The Wicker Man is one of the finest horror films ever made, and one of the finest British films in any genre. It is a menacing, deeply disturbing, self-contained masterpiece of a horror film, which, despite having a twist ending, loses none of its power for the end reveal now being common knowledge. The director’s cut is a mess. The addition of new scenes doesn’t add anything to the depth of the characters, they don’t expand on the film’s mythology, and, further, one scene which has an early introduction of Christopher Lee’s character more-orless gives away the ending. Further, the additional scenes are of woeful physical quality in comparison with the main body of the film, and cuts between them come with a distracting jolt.

So, what is the difference between a

good and a bad director’s cut? Restraint.

Blade Runner, Alien and The Exorcist do not have their narrative structure radically altered in the director’s cut (the removal of the voice-over in Blade Runner is an exception). The additional scenes mesh well with what was already there; they build on it and don’t try and re-work the foundations. They might alter the pacing and move a few scenes around, but not in a disruptive way. The Wicker Man feels rushed. The additional scenes simply add nothing, they just stretch out a story which is meant to be somewhat short.

Lost and cut scenes are interesting to watch, but just because they weren’t included in the theatrical cut doesn’t mean that they should be put back in a director’s cut to ‘make it better.’

Sometimes, the cutting room floor and the ‘special features’ menu are the best places for them.

ARTS

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28.01.2014

Review: The Perfect Murder

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Callum Graham shares his thoughts on Peter James’ foray into theatre CargoCollective

This week saw Peter James’ The Perfect Murder arrive at Norwich Theatre Royal.

The Perfect Murder is the first of James’ many crime novels to be adapted for the stage, it was done so with the help of Joshua Andrews.

The play itself tells the story of unhappily married couple Victor (Les Dennis) and Joan (Claire Goose) Smiley and their hapless plots to kill each other and run off with their respective lovers.

In the case of Victor his ‘other woman’ is generically Eastern-European prostitute Kamila Walcak, played by Romanian born Simona Armstrong.

At this point in a review Venue would normally concern itself with the actor’s performances, but to do so here doesn’t seem quite fair. Actors only have a fighting chance if the script their using can stand

up to scrutiny in its own right. The Perfect Murder’s script was fraught with obvious jokes and unnatural expositional dialogue leaving the whole performance as predictable as it was tenuous. The key to the play’s failings lies in its seeming inability to distinguish itself as either a farcical comedy or a dramatic thriller.

There are elements of both throughout, yet neither has enough weight to carry the production, and as a result it is left somewhere in between. Reaching for laughs and tears simultaneously means that it missed both. In essence the play ran like an episode of Miranda, with murder thrown with a heavy hand.

Although it wasn’t enough to save the show completely, the saving grace of The Perfect Murder is undoubtedly Les Dennis. His likeable persona was easily

transferred to his character Victor, and his natural comic timing helped to land many of the jokes the rest of the cast struggled with. That’s not to say that the audience couldn’t see the jokes coming a mile away, it’s just that they trusted Dennis to land them safely on stage.

Steven Miller took on the role of Detective Constable Roy Grace, Peter James’ reoccuring murder-solving good guy, with a performance that was difficult to judge. He seemed fairly stiff and uptight, whether this was due to poor acting or a poorer script is still unclear. The closest Grace came to revealing a personal side was in his tellling of a childhood story, told to gain the trust of Walcak.

Oh, and did we forget to mention that Walcak was a psychic? A topic handled with all the orginality of a recycling bin.

Norwich Theatre Royal

JMAC

Art in my Mouth

Kathryn Fox explores Moosey Art and its founder Frazer Bailey

Kathryn Fox

Norwich. City of... What comes to mind when you think of it?

Popular responses will undoubtedly include Delia Smith, Alan Partridge and Norwich F.C. But how many people would associate Norwich with an emerging art scene? Not many, and this is something which Norwich resident Frazer Bailey hopes to change.

Frazer has founded Moosey Art - a platform dedicated to covering the many aspects of the street art world - and organised his first art show, Art in My Mouth. A showcase of International street art created by both international and local artists - professional and new alike - the exhibition ran for three days at the Stew Gallery in Norwich, was visited by roughly 400 people, and culminated in a live

drawing which was auctioned off to raise money for the Philippines Typhoon Relief Fund, and was blogged about all the way across the atlantic in New York.

Visitors to the gallery expressed their surprise at both the quality of the show, and its taking place in Norwich. They were also amazed to learn that it was the first event that Frazer had organised. Yet his ambitions to place Norwich firmly on the art map do not stop here. In the short term he hopes to create a book to commemorate the art work displayed in Art in My Mouth, and to collaborate with artists to design a range of unique street art t-shirts. Looking to the long term he harbours aspirations to arrange an art show in London with the aim of exhibiting pieces created by primarily Norwich based artists. He is

also hoping to locate and gain permission for local and guest artists to paint on residential and commercial walls in and around Norwich, in order to both liven up the city and generate tourist interest.

As implied on Moosey Art’s website; tourist interest would both enable artists to showcase their art, and present Norwich as a city which promotes creative pursuits.

Alongside Frazer’s aspirations for Norwich, he also hopes to encourage students and budding artists to pursue their passions. One of his most memorable moments from Art in My Mouth was when two young artists - whose work had never been displayed before - both succeeded in selling one of their pieces. Through Moosey Art he hopes to do his “utmost to help young artists out,” whether that

be finding them shows to partake in, locating sponsorship or simply offering up any knowledge which may be of help.

Frazer also had some words of advice for those who were interested in first time event management. He suggests that they “be cheeky, don’t settle, get sponsors and approach everyone using any means that you can.” For Art in My Mouth Frazer used word of mouth to find a venue, and contacted many of the artists through Instagram.

For more information about Moosey Art, Art in My Mouth, current and future projects, or to get in contact with Frazer, visit www.mooseyart.co.uk, and in the meantime look forward to Norwich having associations beyond the culinary, the comedic and the athletic.

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CREATIVE WRITING

28.01.2014

www.concrete-online.co.uk

concrete.creativewriting@uea.ac.uk

once upon a time once childhood

memories goodbye gone

THEME: THE PAST

The following pieces were published on

@ UEA140Story Tweet stories of 140 characters or less to @UEA140Story

lost nostalgia innocence naivity time machine legos

Disappearance

Amnesia

There used to be skin there, taut, but you got caught on fishing line in a whirlwind of seas, fees, pelicans and their fat bills squeezing through your letterbox, the blubber swelling, lines on the forehead telling, written like a schoolboy letter of apology, saying this: when I grow up I won’t treat people like this.

I check her chest, feel for ribs Once, twice, thrice, Little matchsticks brittle and withered.

Rumbling, I whittle them out.

My hands trembling, I peel the crust but find no ending.

Carving knife turns to butcher’s hacksaw.

With edges serrated; its nashers bite and rip Paring, shaving Wearing and tearing, Furiously I try to get a clean cut, But that image slips amiss.

I cannot catch up.

These days, you’re at sea.

The hot thunder of the shower on your scalp is a distant memory; you’re picking up fragments, shards, of the one who disappeared; who saw white mice in socks and black rats lurking in shoes at night.

Madness; a cuckcoo-calling insanity Breaks the motor that powers my thinker.

Sanity, sense, wisdom, wit Now stretches to intuition, ingenuity and instinct, A raw incentive trapped in a jammed junction.

Traffic queued in a drunken oasis of clarity, now a desert, My miles have nearly run out and I thirst for fuel.

Your grip is the slipping of a knot.

You lean over the cot, and realise you spend at least eighty-five per cent of your time waiting, fifteen per cent being caught in the numbness of a moment.

That hot bundle in there, where does it go?

Where did you go, as the mound of fleshy blankets?

You disappeared into a mirror, a memory, the scent of a pine air freshener, an event.

Something lurks, Distorting and rearranging the furniture, Its taste licks and taints the tip of my tongue.

But itself I cannot place.

Just one more mouthful, no harm in that, It sneers and jeers torment on taste buds, I try to recall, recapture, But every meal is a prison; And I have lost the key.

I carve, I trim, cut here, slice there, I sculpt a tiny wooden figure She has no face nor hair.

But still I smell that memory Of distant saw dust and pencil shavings; It’s a familiar stranger.

Jake Reynolds

Flickr: Raining Rita

I went to a Sylvester Stallone Impersonator conference where the keynote speaker was Sylvester Stallone himself, not that anyone could tell…

Flickr:ChaoticGood01

Georgie Currie

The

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Familiarity drives me on, It lurks in the corner of my mind All the time.

Till I hit a fence, its gate padlocked; The chains tether me down.

I call out but no echo answers.

I grow weary, heavy, That memory still itches my fingertips But my feet are cemented, And I am left stranded on the wrong side.

The Debris of the Day

“We need blinds.”

“Why shut out the world?”

“So no one knows what’s going on.”

“It will be dark.”

“We’ll get special lights for the plants.” ***

***

Her note was on the table. It ended, “I can’t take any more, I’m going back to mum and dad.” He didn’t understand. Her parents were dead. *** I fell in love with a bohemian. Now I write poems on trains to meet him and cry on the way home.

Jake Reynolds

the wet dew was you. The day lay red, axe red, and the sun was hit; god gun.

Audio

You had the mad eye, and the sky saw.

Lewis Buxton

Its war was won, but sin ate you raw,

A cassette tape stuck in its recording coffin.

It’s skipping. As if reels of tape have been unwound and handed out to eager four year olds.

They will wind the alphabet around their new skipping ropes before they grow into C-Ds; their faces round and flat only ever reflecting the world around them. And they will be blank.

But on from that they will be i-pods.

They will store so many songs in their minds that all the memories of alphabets and love-at-first-sight will be pushed out. There will only be numbers in there now.

This is how they will spend most of their lives, i-pods shuffling from song to song, job to job, until finally they regress and become record players.

Again they will start to skip, trip over their own memories.

They will get stuck in a glitch of time.

and fog was mud for the fat cat paw.

It’s not how, but why the day was shy, why the day did not die, why you, hot wet wax, lay for the sly men who had

They will end their lives with the needle still stuck in their vinyl skin and with reels of tape wrapped round their necks.

old ire, new ash for you.

The day was its own foe, and cut its own ink ego.

Flickr: Aojedamart

GAMING concrete.gaming@uea.ac.uk

www.concrete-online.co.uk

28.01.2014

STEAM MACHINES Joe Fitzsimmons Late last year, Valve announced their plans to launch a new line of Linux based gaming systems running Steam OS, a dedicated gaming platform operating system, also developed by Valve.

Since September, Steam OS has been released to the public, and early prototypes of various developed Steam Machines have surfaced. With this, there have been a number of interesting developments.

The controller for the system is something very different from the standard console controller. Early designs showed two large touch sensitive trackpads dominating the face, but after a polarised reaction from the industry, Valve scaled back the pads to take the place of conventional analog sticks. Not to mention adding two sets of face buttons to serve as a d-pad and conventional a,b,x,y functions.

Whilst this certainly makes backwards compatibility and ports from consoles easier for developers, there seems to be an air of compromise surrounding the decisions to abandon the one of the most unique features of the system.

Bar Nintendo, and their bizarre Wiimote creations, consoles have lately been

and simply install Steam or Steam OS. Valve also faces the problem of a relatively small Linux compatible game library limiting the possible releases on Steam OS. This coupled with the console or PC identity crisis could very well spell an uncertain future for the system.

Valve is one of the most highly

regarded companies in the gaming community, and Steam is one of the most successful digital distribution systems around. As of now it is difficult to say where this will go, whether the name will be enough to carry them through or whether it will be tough times ahead for the Steam Machines.

NOT-SO SUPER MARIO

Nintendo’s stock plummeted 18% overnight as their forecast was slashed from a 55bn yen (£322m) profit to a 25bn yen (£146m) loss. Citing the failure of the WiiU and lack of game sales, the company now faces a huge uphill battle to salvage anything from this catastrophic situation.

Being such a prestigious and globally renowned company this will shock many, although the reasons for this failure are abundantly clear.

Nearly every gamer will have had some kind of experience with Nintendo games and consoles. Mario is a worldwide cultural icon decades after his game was released; although herein lies the problem, Nintendo’s business model is stuck in the past. The widespread rejection of novelty devices like the Kinect and Playstation Move should be enough proof to show that gamers aren’t interested in this kind of gameplay.

The astounding success of their competitors – which don’t base their games around motion control – should also be a clear warning to Nintendo, who seem

fantendo.wikia.com

Sam Emsley

all two keen to stick to the functional, and Valve’s controller may well have been an innovation.

With the redesign of the controller being just one of the small changes that edge the Steam Machines closer and closer to console territory, there is still a consensus that the machines lie in limbo between console and PC; simultaneously both, but somehow neither.

At the time this is written, the lowest priced steam machine, built by CyberpowerPC, is expected to retail for $499 USD, which puts in almost $100 more expensive than a PS4. Other, more powerful versions of the Steam Machine are expected to run up costs of over $2000.

Whilst Valve may view their product as a possible competition in the console market, other developers have their eyes on attracting PC gamers with high specs and even higher price tags. This lack of certainty over direction leaves Valve in a difficult situation.

Many console gamers will be loathe to buy a low end machine that does not match the specs their current system when it has a higher price tag, and dedicated pc gamers will be unlikely to splash out on a $2000 system when they could a better PC themselves for a fraction of the price,

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fixated on creating gimmicky consoles which are fun for a couple of hours but ultimately prove unviable for the vast majority of gamers.

Nintendo attempted to provide a different kind of controller which could revolutionise the way we played games, but unfortunately they ended up trying to fix something that wasn’t broken.

They repeated the same mistakes with the WiiU, providing the clunky tabletcontroller which didn’t improve the experience.

Software also seems to be a problem for Nintendo. Universal accounts still don’t exist, which means that online purchases are tied to consoles instead, so if consoles break and aren’t repaired, that’s all the purchases gone forever.

It is quite incredulous to think that this is still the case in 2014, when universal accounts are the norm on every other system for this exact reason.

Another issue is the games. Nintendo release constant iterations of previous successful titles, almost every year there are

new Pokemon, Zelda and Mario games, and it has been this way for far too long.

These still make for good games, but a new IP would be a refreshing change and might even see the creation of something as successful as these classic franchises.

Nintendo have also taken a draconian stance on online uploads of their gameplay; actively discouraging the free publicity it provides and alienating those who simply wish to share their experience.

Even things as simple as their naming choices are strange and confusing. Take for example the Wii and the WiiU. Many people still don’t realise these are two completely separate machines, with the name implying that the WiiU is some kind of add-on.

There is no one simple solution to this problem and a massive overhaul is needed for Nintendo to salvage this position and restore themselves to former glory. Instead of trying, and failing, for pariah status, maybe analysing why the Xbox One and PS4 have achieved such eminence, and taking some hints, might give them the same success.

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28.01.2014

TELEVISION

www.concrete-online.co.uk

concrete.television@uea.ac.uk

Benefits Street

Exploitative & damaging trash, or accurate & necessary?

Melissa Haggar With the recent debates about who should receive benefits from all your favourite tabloids, newspapers and politicians alike, it’s no wonder that there now is a programme all about this hotly contested topic.

Entitled Benefits Street is advertised

by Channel 4 as ‘the reality of life on benefits’. The programme’s alleged intention is to display how people live on benefits, how they interact with each other in their ‘community’ (James Turner Street) and their opinions on the current economical situation.

There has been much debate about the levels of exploitation surrounding the series, and more recently, the exploitation of the children featured in the program. Many claim that the series has exploited the residents, and some say that it was meant to be a ‘community’ programme, and nothing to do with their life on benefits.

Birmingham Mail It seems fairly evident that there is a certain level of exploitation and manipulation of the ‘lower-class’ citizens of the street; many do not seem to have a very long list of qualifications. Some can’t read or write, some are addicted to drugs and other substances, and others live in squalid conditions. Whilst some may argue that this is an accurate representation, an audience must be

wary and understanding of the holy grail of video production – the ability to edit.

Editing has the ability to interrupt the chronological flow; to rewind, to cut out bits which don’t suit and replace with something more appropriate. Whatever your opinion on the programme, ultimately, the power of the situation lies with production company Love Productions, and this programme could

The Musketeers - Review

BBC

Adam Dawson The BBC has really been pushing their original British drama adverts lately.

Almost every break has had some kind of ad for a new show, and this Sunday (19th) we finally got to see The Musketeers.

That’s right, an original British drama based on a French novel – some researcher didn’t do their homework. Anyway, The Musketeers is about Aramis, Porthos, and Athos, a 19th century French boyband who like to swashbuckle in their spare time.

The first episode sets up a fairly standard story. D’Artagnan’s father is murdered and he wants revenge on the musketeers, who are being framed by the wicked Cardinal for murder. The Cardinal has flimsy reasons for hating the King, the musketeers, and pretty much everyone he comes across. His reasons for

be considered as dangerous fodder to those arguing that everyone on benefits are ‘lazy scroungers’.

Ultimately, where do we draw the line on these types of ‘documentaries’?

Do we, as an audience, simply sit back and take in the information, citing it as gospel and criticize those who we neither know nor understand? Do we believe it? In a world where the distinction between reality and fiction is becoming increasingly blurred, it is often hard to know what to think.

That said, it is a fair statement to say that Benefits Street features elements of the community in a more positive light – the lady who campaigned for greener areas around the street, the man who sold household goods from a box – these people are evident in the program. You’ll no doubt have an opinion on Benefits Street, but let’s remind ourselves that this is Channel 4 – the same people who brought you treasures like Big Fat Gypsy Weddings and Celebrity Big Brother.

Hostages - Review

Channel 4 hating everyone make the episode fairly weak as it’s built around his hatred. This is a shame as he’s played by the sinisterfaced Peter Capaldi who can usually do no wrong. His considerable talent isn’t put to use in an average episode like this, though he gets the best lines.

Saying that, the script isn’t that great. It tries to mix humour and drama but neither really works. Instead of complimenting each other, the humour takes away from the drama and vice versa. It’s all a bit confused, like an ox in a china shop.

The Musketeers doesn’t fare well in its first outing. Saying that, if it could iron out its problems in the next episode, it’d be a fairly decent show.

[Read an extended version of Adam’s review on the Concrete website, and catch The Musketeers, Sundays on BBC1].

Neven Devies Three years on since the cancellation of biting dramedy United States of Tara, Emmy Award-winning actress Toni Collette returns to the small screen with high-concept thriller Hostages. Adapted from the hit Israeli series of the same name, Collette plays Dr Ellen Sanders, a surgeon who is given a radical ultimatum: ensure her upcoming operation on the US president fails, or her family is killed.

High-concept television serials are notoriously difficult to pull off well.

Audiences are either dragged through never-ending multiple season arcs, or the show is ultimately cancelled without a coherent resolution. Not that this actually matters in the case of Hostages.

Shot in that moody hue typically associated with quality television and with sweeping, dramatic pans of Washington

DC, Hostages tries so hard to aim for that quality prime-time TV aesthetic. Instead it finds itself round-kicked out of the window into kitschy soap opera land.

With a fifteen episode order from CBS, dramatic television is time consuming for audiences, and unlike cinema, star casts and pretty imagery can’t keep a show afloat without a strong, cleverly constructed plot.

A shame then, that the show opts for the heavy-handed twist-a-minute approach when it should have built mystery slowly, methodically, hinting at the revelations to come – more akin to the new wave of Scandinavian drama.

To say its narrative is rather convoluted would be the biggest understatement of the spring television season. With bizarre sub-plot additions and unfulfilling episode pay-offs, Hostages would work better as a campy, conspiracy romp, if only it took itself a little less seriously.

TELEVISION concrete.television@uea.ac.uk

www.concrete-online.co.uk

28.01.2014

Roger Lloyd-Pack: a memorial Phil Turtle Tributes poured in from across the show business world following the announcement of the death of actor Roger Lloyd-Pack. Best known for his appearances as dim-witted road sweeper Trigger in the BBC comedy Only Fools and Horses, the actor, 69, died at home following a battle against pancreatic cancer.

David Jason, his Only Fools co-star, described the actor as “a very quiet, kind and unassuming actor who was a pleasure to work with”, whilst Nicholas Lyndhurst, who played Rodney in the series, said: “He was the most accomplished actor and loved by millions. I will miss him greatly.”

In Only Fools and Horses, LloydPack’s character, Trigger, was infamous for his confused sayings, exemplified when he boasted to Del Boy and Rodney about having maintained his broom for 20 years, only to reveal it had received “17 new heads and 14 new handles in its time”. He was also notable for constantly referring to Rodney as ‘Dave’,

STV despite being informed of his mistake on numerous occasions.

Following Only Fools and Horses, he appeared as Barty Crouch in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, as well as making numerous appearances on the stage, including a turn as Sir Andrew Aguecheek in The Twelfth Night at the Apollo Theatre.

Aside from his best known roles, the actor performed in series as varied as Inspector Morse, Mr Bean, The Bill and Heartbeat. Roger returned to primetime acting with his role as farmer Owen Newitt in Richard Curtis’ 1990s comedy The Vicar of Dibley, hopelessly lusting after the female vicar played by Dawn French. In one memorable scene, the pair

Mom - Review

CBS

Lydia Tewkesbury Mom, a new sitcom from Chuck Lorre, creator of The Big Bang Theory is, we think, one of those shows that’s going to take a while to hit its stride.

Starring Anna Faris (The Dictator, The House Bunny) and Allison Janney (Masters of Sex, The West Wing), the show centres around Christy (Faris) a single mother, currently 118 days sober.

The first episode of Mom is a fairly standardised pilot. All situations are over the top, over complicated and in the end pretty obvious. We see Christy inadvertently reconnect with her mother (Janney) at an AA meeting, 2 years sober, find out that she is dating her married boss and that her own daughter is going off the rails.

Despite the lack of originality the pilot displayed, Mom may be worth

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kissed, with Owen realising he had lost part of his false tooth in the exchange.

The actor locally maintained a home in Fakenham, campaigning passionately in the region for an improved ambulance service. His love for the area was evident with his part in the film In Love with Alma Cogan, a 2011 romantic comedy based around the Pavilion Theatre in Cromer, North Norfolk. The film won an Award of Excellence at the Canada International Film Festival.

In contrast to his often foolish on screen persona, Roger was described by Norwich Theatre Royal chief executive Peter Wilson as “a thoughtful and considerate friend, an ambitious actor, and a genuinely intelligent, grounded and unpretentious person.” Outside of acting, Roger was actively involved in politics, previously supporting the Labour Party, as well as campaigning for social justice.

He leaves behind his wife Jehane and four children.

A tribute to Roger Lloyd-Pack will be broadcast on BBC1, on February 2nd, followed by the very first episode of Only Fools and Horses.

Mr Selfridge - Review

ITV sticking with. Christy is all over the place and on the wacky melodramatic side, but it’s easy to attach yourself to her.

One of the high points of the episode is a scene in which Christy is speaking at an AA meeting about why she feels her addiction became so out of control. The pace at which the show switches from dorky one-liners to Christy’s emotional speech is a little jarring, but it works.

The focal point of Mom is the complicated relationships between Christy, her mother and her daughter.

While Christy resents her mother for her terrible childhood, her own daughter is trying to deal with the anger she feels for very similar reasons.

Mom is show about forgiveness, and moving on, and it has the potential to be really quite something.

Catch up on the ITV Player and see the rest of the series, Mondays, 9PM, on ITV2.

Rachel Keeley From Call the Midwife to Downton Abbey, we love a good British period drama.

After a successful first series last January, this past Sunday night saw the return of ITV’s Mr Selfridge, a glamorous period drama based around the life of Harry Gordon Selfridge and his world famous London department store Selfridge & Co. With the first series having focused on the stores opening and its early days, this series begins with the press eager to talk to Harry about Selfridges celebrating its fifth anniversary. It becomes clear that since we last saw the store many things have changed, including Harry’s family life. In particular the surprise visit from Harry’s (now more independent) wife Rose, depicts how their relationship is still on edge.

The series also sees the return of many other central characters; such as Agnes Towler, Lady Mae, Victor Colleano and Henri Leclair. Over the five years there have been several promotions, allowing many characters to mature and grow, in addition to there being a few new members of staff.

Other new faces include Lady Mae’s elusive husband, Lord Loxley, and Rose Selfridge’s new friend, Delphine Day. Overall, this first of ten episodes was filled with the glitz and glamour expected of the return of Mr Selfridge.

Moreover, with several indications of war appearing throughout the episode it will be interesting to see how this affects the store and its staff over the upcoming weeks. With friendship, relationships and troubles abound the rest of the series is not to be missed.

Mr Selfridge is on Sundays, 9pm, ITV.

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28.01.2014

www.concrete-online.co.uk

Director Steve McQueen Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Lupita Nyong’o, Benedict Cumberbatch, Sarah Paulson, Paul Dano Cert 15 Runtime 134mins Tyler Allen Fantastically cast, visceral, and demanding of an audience, director Steve McQueen (most recently lauded for 2008’s Hunger and 2011’s Shame) excels at portraying the harrowing

concrete.film@uea.ac.uk

At Cinemas Near You

Film to Go

12 Years a Slave

FILM

story of Solomon Northup, a free black man from New York who is kidnapped and sold into slavery, only reaching freedom and his family twelve years later.

Adapted from Northup’s memoirs of his time, screenwriter John Ridley balances finely the aspects of each character. Not every one could be said to be a complex mix of kind and hard, or vulnerable and tough, but they are all multi-faceted and almost hypnotic at times in their unpredictability; Michael Fassbender’s Edwin Epps is a viciously cruel slave owner who buys Solomon’s freedom. Yet even he has contradictions and complications that promote more reactions in the audience than constant flinching, although there is plenty of that

too. There is an unmistakeable resonance within the film of what humanity is capable of. The best and the worst of it, which shocks and surprises us throughout the film; perhaps because we recognize parts of it in ourselves and are uncomfortable with the thought that we share even a little with Benedict Cumberbatch’s kinder, yet still slave-owning, plantation master.

McQueen utilizes a story that is at its essence about cruelty, power, corruption and inhumanity, not only to forcefully educate the audience about the topic of slavery at hand, but also to explore humanity; love, grief, and incredible resilience. It is McQueen’s juxtapositions, his contradictions, that produce some of the best moments in the film, adding depth and complexity to a story that is not clearly defined, but fluid and human.

McQueen breaks from the norm of cutting a scene’s music or sound as it ends, and instead layers sound in his scenes, such as when Paul Dano’s Tibeats’ singing of a song about runaway slaves in one scene spills over into the next, where Solomon and his fellow slaves engage in manual labour for the first time. McQueen seems to refuse to compartmentalize his story, instead showing how moments of life (and moments from the past through stunningly staged flashbacks) slip in to

one another naturally, and how aspects of Solomon’s life come back to haunt him, just as scenes and sounds come back to haunt the audience throughout.

Those familiar with Shame might recall his circular motifs and the irony they carry, as well as his partnership with Fassbender, and these directorial choices serve him equally well in 12 Years.

12 Years a Slave is both terribly hard and incredibly easy to watch. Difficult, because McQueen, Ridley, and Northup himself do not shy away from the reality of being a slave - emotionally and physically - but in his production of such an ugly story, McQueen finds beauty.

His long, silent shots of the Red River, and cinematographer Sean Bobbit’s work in perspectives and choosing often to shoot the most disturbing scenes in an unbroken shot draw the audience in, creating a world where they cannot look away, despite the scenes where they wish it most. The brutality of the story finds its redemption in the humanity of Solomon, the grace with which his story is told, and ultimately, the beauty and strength of humanity itself.

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Representations: Race in Hollywood

Adam Dawson investigates depictions of race in film in the first of a new series It’s not a great secret that Hollywood has problems representing people who aren’t straight white men.

Let’s do a little experiment. Think about all the directors you know. Unless you’re some kind of recluse who spends all their time in a dark basement watching movie after movie, you probably can’t name more than five female directors.

Try that again, but think about black directors. How many did you get? There’s the problem.

It’s never really gone away, but with Steve McQueen’s stunning 12 Years A Slave just coming out, a New York Magazine article recently argued that there should be fewer movies portraying black people as slaves or nannies or having to overcome some terrible ordeal. Sure, let’s just sweep under the carpet hundreds of years of history in the hope that the biggest atrocity man has ever committed against another man will just go away if we ignore it for long enough.

It’s important that subjects like

slavery are made into films, regardless of the fact that they (obviously) show black people dealing with hardships none of us can come close to imagining. So movies about slavery, or for that matter any traumatic issue in history involving African-Americans, have to feature a predominantly black cast. It’s a shame that we have to wait for movies like this to be made in order to see the deep well of talent on show, as it’s a sad but true fact that black actors are much less likely to be cast in a big franchise than white actors.

Remember when there were rumours that Will Smith would play Captain America?

Or that Donald Glover would be SpiderMan? Alas, they were given to two white men instead. Movies with black casts – be they portraying slaves, or going through any kind of difficulty – gives a platform for black actors they otherwise wouldn’t have.

We’ll get an inkling about how inclusive Hollywood is by following what happens to Lupita Nyong’o. She

has quite a bit in common with Jennifer Lawrence - they’re both young, appeared overnight, and blew everyone’s mind with how much talent they have. Patsey in 12 Years A Slave is Nyongo’s first feature film role. Directors should be fighting each other to get her in their movies, parts should be coming her way like there’s no tomorrow. This is what happened to Jennifer Lawrence after Winter’s Bone, and now she’s in almost everything you go and see. If Lupita Nyong’o goes the same way, then progress has been made.

If not, someone should be repeatedly hit about the head for letting such a talent go to waste.

Who are we – who is anyone for that matter? – to dictate what is an acceptable representation of black people? Especially when the expression comes from a black director. With Hollywood still running 80 years behind the rest of the world in terms of representing minorities, any film made by a black director featuring a black cast should be welcomed, not criticised.

The Improper

FILM

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28.01.2014

At Cinemas Near You The Wolf of Wall Street

Director Martin Scorsese Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Matthew McConaughey, Margot Robbie, Kyle Chandler, Rob Reiner, Jon Favreau, Joanna Lumley, Jean Dujardin Cert 18 Runtime 180mins David Humfrey The Wolf of Wall Street, which plays out like an interesting amalgamation of Goodfellas, Wall Street, and Blow, sees Scorsese pull us from our seats and launch us into the selfish, hedonistic, money-hungry world of Jordan Belfort (DiCaprio). The audience is mercilessly dragged along, forced to watch as Belfort goes further and further, sacrificing more and more, in his drunken desire for power.

In Oliver Stone’s depiction of New York’s financial district, you have to break the law to be successful. Here,

dishonesty isn’t enough, you have to be an arsehole too. The film opens with Belfort’s first day on Wall Street. Young, naïve, and, most importantly, sober – Belfort is introduced to his boss, the deranged Mark Hanna (McConaughey), who advises him, among other things, to stop caring and start masturbating.

After a month of cocaine, strippers, and stocks, the company collapses and Belfort is forced to work in an amateur business dealing worthless penny stocks.

Discovering the easy money to be made from large commissions, he hires Donnie (Hill), compiles a team, builds himself up, and, through conning gullible Americans, watches as the money rolls in.

Whether or not the film accurately depicts Wall Street, a question raised in other reviews, is beside the point. Much like in all his films - Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, or indeed the more recent Shutter Island – Scorsese immerses the viewer in the world of his protagonist. Here, we are completely in the mind of Jordan Belfort – excuse the cliché. Everyone is rich. Everyone is beautiful. Everyone cheats. And everybody shags everybody.

19 Chicago Now

In no scene, except for one, do we see the people who inhabit the world outside Wall Street. Belfort narrates his life to us in long, witty monologues, we hear his thoughts, we see what he sees. But, as the law begins to catch up and the ageold criminal question arises – “to rat, or not to rat?” - the monologues go and the humour drains from the picture until, by the end, the audience is left staring into the dead eyes of a man hollowed out by the promise that greed is good.

Depraved, sick, and incredibly funny, The Wolf of Wall Street is a brilliant film with a thoroughly convincing cast.

Complimented by the blind devotion of an office full of followers and a memorable Oscar-nominated performance from Hill, DiCaprio excels in his portrayal of money-induced madness. Working from a script by Terence Winter, Scorsese’s presentation is both original and refreshing - an orgy of dwarf-tossing, goldfish-eating, drug-consuming, yacht-sinking mayhem.

It’s absolutely horrific.

You’ll love it.

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Greatest Hits: Leonardo DiCaprio

With DiCaprio freshly nominated for his fourth oscar, Sarah Boughen ranks his best

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Hollywood.com

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New Linear Perspectives

Titanic (1997)

Catch Me if You Can (2002)

Shutter Island (2010)

Django Unchained (2013)

No DiCaprio Greatest Hits would be complete without Titanic, the film that thrust Leo into international stardom and the hearts of millions. At the age of only 22, he performed perfectly as the doomed young Jack, saving Kate Winslet’s Rose not only from death but a loveless marriage and a miserable life. Granted, the film is almost overly romantic and certainly since 1997 DiCaprio has performed exquisitely in some more mature roles, but in years to come, it will be Jack and Titanic, the second highest grossing film of all time, which DiCaprio is truly remembered for.

In possibly his most suave role, the then 28 year old DiCaprio took on the role of Frank Abagnale Jr., a teenage conman. A huge success with the ladies, Frank goes on to con millions of dollars in his various positions as a committed detective attempts to pursue him. Starring alongside Hollywood royalty Tom Hanks and Christopher Walken and under the direction of Steven Spielberg, DiCaprio asserted his position as being worthy of playing with the big boys and presented his brilliant acting talent to tremendous reviews from audiences and critics alike.

In his fourth collaboration with legendary Taxi Driver director Martin Scorsese, DiCaprio demonstrates his versatility in a move away from previous adventurous and romantic roles and a further step into the genre of thrillers. This move took the form of Teddy, a 1950s federal officer investigating the disappearance of a patient at a hospital for the criminally insane. With the plot’s twists and turns, DiCaprio was handed a gift of a role of which he did not fail to do justice.

The 2010 releases of both this and Inception reminded the world once more of DiCaprio’s incredible flair and talent.

Until Tarantino’s Django, DiCaprio mostly stuck to mysterious, rogue or loveable characters, but in his role as cruel plantation owner Calvin Candie, audiences were persuaded to hate him, probably for the first time. Within this role, DiCaprio truly proved his commitment to his art as in one scene he famously sliced his hand on a broken glass (later requiring stitches) but carried on in the take. His bloodied hand remains in the final cut of the film. Like numerous roles, DiCaprio’s performance as Candie confirmed once more that DiCaprio isn’t just a pretty boy.

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28.01.2014

Devil’s Due

Director Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett Starring Allison Miller, Sam Anderson, Roger Payano, Vanessa Ray Cert 15 Runtime 89mins Neven Devies With box office revenue dramatically decreasing with every instalment of Paranormal Activity, the state of the contemporary found-footage film within theatrical releasing continues to be questioned, with fans and critics alike frequently pondering just when the cheapo, quasi-sub genre fad will officially die out. Well it seems this year is definitely out of the question, with audiences blessed with not one but two majorstudio, minuscule-budget horror fares crashing head first into cinema screens.

This time, it’s the turn of white, middleclass newlyweds Samantha (Miller) and Zach (Gilford), who find themselves inevitably forced to battle the satanic on return from their honeymoon. After a not-so-subtle forewarning, Samantha

Delivery Man

Director Ken Scott Starring Vince Vaughn, Chris Pratt, Cobie Smulders, Simon Delaney, Bobby Moynihan, Dave Patten, Adam Chanler-Berat Cert 12A Runtime 105mins Jack Lusby The end of the Christmas period signals a steady stream of first-rate releases geared up for awards season. This year, along with those, out trickles the Vince Vaughn helmed ‘comedy’-drama Delivery Man. Vying with The Wolf of Wall Street, American Hustle, and 12 Years a Slave amongst others, Delivery Man falls flat.

In terms of the film’s premise, Delivery Man has potential. Vaughn stars as David Wozniak, a kind-hearted but gullible giant of a man who, struggling for money in his 20’s, makes a series of donations to his local sperm bank. Years later we join the ever-feckless Wozniak as he discovers he is the biological father of 533 children. Cue pandemonium.

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At Cinemas Near You is impregnated by the Antichrist in a bizarrely constructed ritual, its ambiguity more frustrating than genuinely unnerving. And it begins, a monotonous Molotov cocktail of delusional behaviour, omnipresent antagonists and melodramatic pregnancy problems.

For all the negative criticism the subgenre receives, making a decent foundfootage film isn’t an easy feat. Managing to propel a narrative, create an interesting mythology all whilst sustaining an escalating sense of dread is a difficult enough task for traditionally-produced horror films. More so when combined with an imposing, restrictive cinematographic formula and a heightened impression of verisimilitude. The found-footage aesthetic should resonate originality, an invigorating deviation from classical film-making. A shame that Hollywood has seemingly failed to capitalise on such a winning formula, resorting to using the generic template as a mere excuse to cheaply produce horror films of the lowest common denominator.

To an extent, lack of polish in regards to both performance and narrative become secondary to the experience, as long as the film remains effective in the scare department. The problem with Devil’s Due is that it fails to create both

In more capable hands, Delivery Man may have fared better. Stonercomedy luminary Judd Apatow, for example, proved this with the masterfully sentimental 40 YearOld Virgin. As it is, writer-director duties are left with Ken Scott, who remakes his 2011 original, Starbuck.

What we are left with is a film which fundamentally struggles to maintain its focus. As Wozniak becomes the self-proclaimed ‘guardian angel’ to a multitude of his uncurbed offspring, his relationship with pregnant girlfriend Emma (How I Met Your Mother’s Smulders) and the comedy value of best friend Brett – a wasted Chris Pratt – are forced to the sidelines.

However, the blame cannot be left at the door of Scott alone; Delivery Man marks a significant downturn in the fortunes of Vaughn, who struggles in the lead role. A sizeable draw in money-spinners such as Dodgeball and Old School, Vaughn has often benefitted from the presence of a more suitable comedic foil, the self-deprecating Ben Stiller. Here the American is left to forge on alone in a ham-fisted attempt

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a coherent narrative and genuine scares.

With all the clichéd elements the film borrows from far superior horror classics such as Rosemary’s Baby, the film never once manages to execute its scares in an effective manner, each attempt dropping like a lead balloon. Even worse, the amount of scares are almost non-existent, showing no coherent progression between the first and last. You would think the haphazard nature of the film’s frights would render the experience unpredictable - it doesn’t. Even when the mildly frenetic climax eventually rolls in, the sudden burst of much needed energy simply isn’t enough to save the film from

tedium. And it’s a far shame too that the characters are so flatly written, because performers Miller and Gilford are a joy to watch. Between their energetic onscreen chemistry and Miller’s refreshingly restrained transformation from innocent wife to delusional psychotic, the central performances remain the sole glimmer of hope for the film.

Highly derivative, predictable and tedious, Devil’s Due is a cinematic experience to avoid, not even constituting a DVD rental.

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at the kind of script Adam Sandler got so pitch perfect in the late 90’s.

For a film so forceful in its charm offensive, much of it seems uncoordinated. The scenes in which Wozniak spends time with his severely disabled son, played by Sébastian René in a role reprised from the original film, are mawkish and unnecessary. Elsewhere, Wozniak treats newly-discovered daughter Kristen’s drug addiction in one fell swoop – an issue later recycled into

one of the film’s many misfired gags.

Delivery Man attempts to tug at the heartstrings of its audience, as Vaughn’s clumsy protagonist learns to grow up alongside his children.

What becomes its main flaw is that, in a film so disjointed, we are not given enough time to care.

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Diminishing Returns

28.01.2014

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With Anchorman 2 still in cinemas, Melissa Taylor asks what makes a good sequel Getting a sequel just right can be difficult. If the first film is neatly resolved, it can sometimes feel like a bit of a botched job to stick a subsequent two hours onto the end of it.

Take, for example, the masterpiece that is Monsters Inc. In the original film, Mike says to Sully “you’ve been jealous of my good looks since the fourth grade”. Now it would be ludicrous to try and claim that its sequel, Monsters University, isn’t a great film. Obviously it is. However, the fact that they meet in fresher’s week does directly contradict a fact we were given in the original film.

Yes it’s a small flaw in an otherwise satisfying movie. However, that’s the thing about sequels. Whatever happens in the sequel, it has to compliment the original.

If it wasn’t for the success of the original movie, there wouldn’t even be a second film. Really, a good sequel should show some respect for its older and wiser sibling.

Here’s Concrete’s rundown of notable sequels. Spoiler alert: there are a few flops.

There are a lot of Anchorman fans out there, and not one of them would defend it as an intelligent film. If Anchorman were a person, you wouldn’t want to be on their team for Trivial Pursuit.

No doubt there were many people who were uneasy when they saw the trailer for Anchorman 2; it is unashamedly more stupid than the original. However, despite things getting very weird towards the end, the film actually manages to be funnier than its predecessor.

You stay classy, Ron Burgundy.

Although the chick flick is easy to dismiss as a frivolous and shallow genre, there are undeniably a few classics out there that have pretty much achieved world domination. Grease, Dirty Dancing, and Mean Girls are like the Holy Trinity of chick flicks. Anybody who says otherwise is wrong and you shouldn’t be friends with them. However, each of them has a sequel so bad it’s almost painful to watch. In all three cases, they’ve basically tried to recreate the magic with

the younger siblings of the original characters. Needless to say, it doesn’t work. Not even the heavenly Patrick Swayze (RIP) could save Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, that’s how bad it is.

Silence of the Lambs is perhaps one of the greatest crime thrillers of the last century, particularly due to its terrifyingly accurate depiction of a psychopath in the enigmatic form of Hannibal Lecter.

Unsurprisingly considering its success, Silence of the Lambs is orbited by a host of sequels and prequels. Whilst none are as captivating as the original film featuring Jodie Foster’s excellent performance, the other films do provide interesting context and backstory on the making of the monstrous Lecter. Whilst all the films are based on the same series of books

by Thomas Harris, all fall short of the original film. The sequels and prequels all seem crass and sensationalist compared to the unsettling subtlety of the original.

It wouldn’t be a sequels article without a mention of Godfather II, so

here it is. Although most sequels are generally considered either a flop or an interesting supplement to the original, this film is hailed as being greater than its original. It’s much darker for one thing, and you don’t have to imagine what you’d do if you came home to find a severed horse’s head in your bed.

That’s all we want from a film, really.

Digital Trends

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28.01.2014

LISTINGS

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concrete.listings@uea.ac.uk

28th January - 10th February live music 28th January

Thy Art Is Murder Waterfront Studio £8

The Monochrome Set NAC £10 1st February

Spectro NAC £5

Pony Up Launch Party NAC £3 29th January

Ira Brand – A Cure For Aging NAC £3-5 30th January My Darling Clementine NAC £12

Gentlemen’s Dub Club OPEN £14

3rd February The Treatment Waterfront Studio £9.50

Pure Floyd (Pink Floyd Tribute) The Brickmakers £5

4th February Drew Holcomb The Bicycle Shop £8

Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip The Waterfront £13.50

6th February

City and Colour UEA LCR £25 31st January

7th February

Chantel McGregor The Waterfront £12

George Ezra Waterfront Studio £8

This Boy Wonders Waterfront Studio £6 2nd February Rum Buffalo The Bicycle Shop £5

Blake Epic Studios £18.50 Lonely The Brave OPEN £9.50 8th February Verses Epic Studios £4-6 Evil Scarecrow Waterfront Studio £10 Young Fathers NAC £7

Oxfam Rocks The Hog In Armour £4

10th February Reel Big Fish/Less Than Jake UEA LCR £18.50

The Stray Birds NAC £10-12

comedy

30th January Rob Beckett The Playhouse £10-20

30th January Red Card Comedy Club NCFC £12

7th February Festival of the Spoken Nerd The Playhouse £12-14

8th February Hal Cruttenden The Playhouse £12-14

club nights 28th January Australian Beach Party LCR £2-5

1st February Meltdown + Rawkus The Waterfront £3.50-4.50

1st February The A List LCR £4.50 Emma Mackilligin

7th February 80s Night The Waterfront £3.50-4.50

4th February The Great Gatsby meets Bugsy Malone LCR £2-5

8th February The A List LCR £4.50

PUZZLES 28.01.2014

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the venue crossword

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Across 4. Lack of light (4) 5. Hot drink (6) 8. Lower ____ Lane (4) 9. Place of worship (9) 11. Dramatic work with singing (5) 12. Precious metal (6)

Down 1. Mistake or type of comedic play (5) 2. UEA Student Radio (8) 3. Young dog (5) 6. Picture made of coloured tiles (6) 7. Tottenham-based football team (7) 10. Norfolk town (4)

the venue sudoku

easy

medium

hard

VENUE Virginie Lassarre