Venue - Issue 281 - 5 March 2013

www.concrete-online.co.uk

The Sex Issue Tuesday 05 March 2013

VENUE

Photo: Chloe Hashemi

www.concrete-online.co.uk

VENUE

3

CONTENTS

Tuesday 05 March 2013

ISSUE 281

concrete.venue@uea.ac.uk

Editor-in-Chief | Amy Adams Venue Editors | Rachael Lum and Matt Tidby Music | Editors | Hayden East and Sam Warner Music Contributors> Melissa Taylor, Emily-Claire Tucker, Jack Enright, Emma Holbrook, Hayden East and Sam Warner Fashion | Editors | Jess Beech and Lucy Jobber Fashion Contributors> Ella Sharp, Jess Beech and Lucy Jobber Film | Editors | Kieran Rogers and Andrew Wilkins Film Contributors> Jonathan Blair, Ayoola Solarin, Ha Nguyen, Ben Baulch-Jones, Katryna Coak, Alex Dobrik, Holly Wade and Kieran Rogers Television | Editor | Ellissa Chilley Television Contributors> Adam Dawson, Jane Power, Lydia Tewkesbury, Jess Beech and Matt Tidby Creative Writing | Editor | Matthew Mulcahy Creative Writing Contributors> Maura Flatley, John Horv, Tabitha Hancock, Josh Perera, Sidonie Chaffer-Melly and Hayden East Gaming | Editor | Oliver Balaam Gaming Contributors> Simon Sampson and Amy Griffiths Arts | Editor | Hatty Farnham Arts Contributors> Leigh Horan, Monica Schachtel, J. Francis Perkin and Amy Adams Competitions/Listings | Editor | Amelia Edwards Cover Models

Jon Blair, Alex Munro, Lewis Buxton, Amy Threadgold, Alec Kent, Michaela Lo, Francis Varela, Sarah El Bagdaday, Em Clarke, Yasmin Toseafa, Bridie Wilkinson, James Watkinson, Harriet Smith, Hayden East, Hatty Farnham and Chris Teale

From the Editors Greetings and Salutations, Dear Reader!

Our Editorship reached a surreal nadir this week, with a steamy ‘ankles out’ photoshoot in one of the five ‘L’s’ and an impromptu editorial social in the Union House corridor when Of Monsters and Men were playing downstairs. We’ve had a number of odd days as Team Venue, but that easily surpassed previous records.

As you may have guessed, this is our Sex issue, and we’d like to take this chance to thank all our contributors for their salaciously saucy submissions, and our models for being fabulous and good sports too. If you fancy a go at some of the indisposable journalistic opportunities mentioned above, applications for Venue Editorship are now open. See more online at concblog.wordpress.com.

Thanks for reading, Rachael and Matt Photo: Chloe Hashemi Hand Models: Emma Williamson and Chris Teale

4

@music_concrete

MUSIC

www.concrete-online.co.uk

concrete.music@uea.ac.uk 05.03.2013

features: the sex issue

THE ERECTION SELECTION

With the advent of the sex issue, Melissa Taylor gives the musical do’s and don’ts for the bedroom Picture the scene: the lights are low and sultry, you’ve managed to find some underwear without holes in, and you’ve spent a good five to ten minute Febreezeing your boudoir to within an inch of its sorry life (what is that smell, anyway?). It doesn’t matter if you’ve got lucky at the LCR after copious amounts of VK, or if you’ve finally found The One, put on the wrong music and, at best, this could end up as another hilarious anecdote to laugh about with your friends over a pint/Lambrini/over-priced cocktail whilst inwardly sobbing “WHY AM I SO ALONE?” At worst, it could end as the world’s most awkward sexual nightmare which you repress so far into your grubby little subconscious that your

mojo is never quite the same again.

We here at Venue care deeply about all of your needs, sexual or otherwise, and want you all to have a long, fulfilling and nasty sex life. So, here are a few do’s, don’ts, and revelations about what your sex playlist really says about you.

Firstly, the shuffle playlist feature is not your friend. Not at all. Obviously you want to create the appearance of being spontaneous and carefree and fun, but what you really need is meticulous planning. We’ve all been at that party where everyone starts reminiscing about the early 2000’s and somebody rushes off to put on their 2003 playlist. Sean Paul’s back catalogue: great! Daniel Bedingfield’s Gotta Get Thru This: even better! White Flag by Dido: awkward hush descends on the room. Imagine if that happened whilst in bed with The One/attractive

stranger: truly harrowing. By the way, if you think any of those are suitable sex tracks then you almost definitely own a matching tracksuit in baby pink or baby blue with white stripes down the side.

Just because something sounds phenomenal when you’re grinding on the kitchen units at a house party does not mean it’s in anyway appropriate for the bedroom. In particular, although we can all agree that Missy Elliott’s early work is a seminal example of female Hip Hop, playing anything by her whilst in a five mile radius of anyone you fancy will make you seem like a crazy sexual terrorist. That woman is just too hot to handle and it’s a price we all have to pay.

If the 80s are your thing, a wellconstructed playlist of non-cheesy, alternative classics will never do you wrong. Think New Order, Talking

Heads, Bauhaus, and The Human League (NOT Don’t You Want Me, you fool). Joy Division is another good choice but the potential risk factor has to be considered.

Accidentally let Love Will Tear Us Apart slip through and you probably won’t end up getting down and dirty, but rather watching Titanic and crying for the full three and a half hours. Well done, you.

In a similar vein, there is no excuse for ever putting on The Smiths. Not even if one or both of you have thick ray bans and a Meat Is Murder t-shirt. Even if it doesn’t make you depressed, it does make you a dick. Save Moz for when you’re alone, thinking about your feelings (obviously), or when you’re talking about your feelings (duh) with your best friend/someone you met half an hour ago and wondering if they’re The One. He’d probably prefer it, to be honest.

SEX AND THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

Emily-Claire Tucker examines the importance of sex in the music industry When searching for almost any female popstar from the last ten, or even twenty years, Google helpfully suggests that you may want to specifically search for “up-skirt”, “topless” or even “sex tape” based information about the artist in question. This is of course, a horrible objectification of female performers, but before anyone starts criticising the way the public view female musicians, it’s important to consider the images which they are projecting to the general public in order to sell their music.

Let’s think back a whole eleven years for a moment, when Russian singing duo t.A.T.u hit the headlines for their single All The Things She Said which was accompanied with a video of the two young girls making out in the rain. The girls were demonised by the British press for unashamedly using sex appeal to shift singles, but to this day that song is the biggest selling single by a Russian artist in history, it also happens to be remembered by every young person allowed near a TV in the early 2000s.

These days there is hardly any uproar when sex is so obviously used to sell music, probably because it

happens so often that hardly anyone notices it anymore. Katy Perry shot to fame on the back of her suggestive-oflesbian-tendencies-but-straight-enoughto-appeal-to-a-male-audience single I Kissed A Girl (And I Liked It), whilst even the seemingly beyond famous Madonna had to repeatedly flash her over-fifty year old boobies during her world tour to get the press interested.

Although this trend may seem a lot more of a problem now, it’s been going on for as long as there has been a popular music scene, and it’s never been a case of just women being guilty of it. Elvis, the Beatles and even the very young and straight at the time Cliff Richard made teen girls swoon with cheeky camera glances and songs about girls before One Direction’s parents were even born. Even bands as pioneering and “rock’n’roll” as The Rolling Stones undoubtedly knew that they’d shift a few more records because of Mick Jagger’s pouting and hip wiggling.

It’s even arguable that at this moment the music industry is coming full circle and focusing back on the original talent of artists. After too many years of songs about sex and boiz and music videos full of almost aggressive booty shaking, the public were overjoyed when Adele came onto the scene, an artist who dresses like any girl her age, and lets her voice do the

attention grabbing rather than her body.

Her music and sound was and is deemed iconic, perhaps due to the stark contrast between the whole Adele package to the manufactured popstar package that we’d just come to expect over the years.

The sad truth that comes with using sexual attractiveness as a selling point for music, is that musicians are earning themselves fame with a clear expiry date on it. We only have to look at the Madonna boob flash or whatever on earth Lil’ Kim has paid to have done to her face to see that aging popstars cling to their sex appeal to try and reassure themselves of staying famous - it’s a sad, sad thing to witness, even more so when more and more artists appear every year only to disappear down the popstar plughole.

Saying that we should focus on talent rather than looks may be the most outdated argument to possibly make, but believe it or not, it’s still relevant to the way musicians are received by the public.

For instance, is anyone ever going to ask Carly Rae Jepsen to do the soundtrack for a James Bond Film? Will Ke$ha ever win an award for lyrical content?

Is anyone going to see One Direction once they’re middle-aged and married?

Who can say, but if the patterns set since the early 2000’s are anything to go by, probably not.

MUSIC

05.03.2013 concrete.music@uea.ac.uk

www.concrete-online.co.uk

@music_concrete

live reviews

NME AWARDS TOUR LCR 15.2.13 Jack Enright The passing of another year inevitably means the return of the NME Awards Tour to the LCR. This year’s line-up is, as ever, an eclectic mix of musical genres with the variety to attract pretty much any punter imaginable.

The evening is kicked off by one of the most promising new bands to emerge out of 2012 - Birminghambased Peace are the latest in a long list of bands to assume the dubious mantle of “saviours of guitar music”, but it certainly doesn’t look like such

expectation is weighing heavily on their shoulders. While their unique brand of dreamy, tropical surf-rock is not really raucous enough to fire up tonight’s crowd, it is a genuine pleasure to listen to - their upcoming debut album is surely one to watch out for.

Sadly, it is perhaps better to say as little about the next set as possible.

Palma Violets take to the stage evidently seeing themselves as the band with the presence and energy to really set this gig alight - but their set of nigh-on identical tracks means that they fall well short of this target.

There may well be lots of guitars, lots of distortion and lots of jumping about, but in the end it comes across as more annoying than inspiring. It is only with set closer Fourteen that Palma Violets instil any kind of emotional intensity into their music, and by then it is a case of too little, coming far too

late.

Next up is ex-Rascal’s and Last of The Shadow Puppet’s man Miles Kane (pictured), boasting what may well be the most outrageous pair of leather trousers the LCR has ever witnessed.

Trousers aside, what’s clear from the start of this set is that Kane will manage to do what Palma Violet’s so emphatically could not - that is, fire up tonight’s crowd with some raucous, chorus driven rock songs. From his first track to the last, he has the crowd eating out of his hand.

When Django Django take to the stage, it’s clear that many in the audience aren’t quite sure what to expect. Their eponymous debut album, whilst receiving widespread critical acclaim, was a record full of subtle harmonies that didn’t seem certain to translate into a live experience.

What Django Django delivered,

5

however, obliterated any such doubts.

Danceable guitar music is actually a genre incredibly hard to create, but tonight it is evident that Django Django possess that knack.

Their motley patchwork of sounds derive elements from such bands as Everything Everything, Pete and The Pirates, Hot Chip and everything in between, resulting in a glorious auditory soup that you can’t help but lose yourself in.

Their performance was less of the usual “succession-of-tracks” set, and more of a 60-minute musical odyssey each song gradually morphing into the next, with no pause to their inexorable march towards electro-dance-pop nirvana. Crowd favourites Hail Bop and Default may get the cheers, but it’s the ambitious, grand scale of their performance that makes this set so special.

When Venue met Peace.

Turn to page 6 for an interview with the Awards Tour opening band.

6

@music_concrete

www.concrete-online.co.uk

MUSIC

concrete.music@uea.ac.uk 05.03.2013

interview PEACE

After securing an opening slot on this year’s NME Awards tour, Jack Enright talks birmingham backstories with one of 2013’s hotly-tipped rock acts.

Cosseted within an LCR dressing room clearly designed for perhaps three people at most, the four-strong Birminghambased Peace, their tour manager and myself attempt to make ourselves passably comfortable. With only three chairs available, the tour manager and I lean against a wall, while lead guitarist Douglas Castle sits in the sink.

Somewhere behind him a crew member is doing something disagreeable in the toilet cubicle - the air, already heavy with cigarette smoke, now also carries the unsavoury aroma of roadiewaste. As I arrange myself among the debris, I cannot help but think that this might well be the most clichéd band interview ever conducted.

But even if the scenario feels clichéd, Peace certainly don’t come across that way. The band may be all skinny jeans and leather jackets - but ballsy, TV-outthe-window rock stereotypes they are not. From the first minute that I invade their already limited personal space they are sociable and warm. Jokes are bandied to and from with easygoing abandon, and the atmosphere in the room is one of steady contentment.

And so it should be - during the last six months Peace have broken out of

obscurity to become one of the most hotly-tipped acts of 2013. They’ve also become the figureheads for the most exciting scene in Britain since Madchester - what with the emergence of young bands such as Swim Deep, JAWS and Troumaca, Birmingham has become the new stronghold of British indie, with Peace’s unique brand of dreamy surf-rock firmly at the forefront.

With such a backdrop in place, it’s unsurprising that this is where conversation turns to first, and it soon transpires that the scene is actually much more tight-knit than you would ever guess. Frontman Harrison Kossier begins to explain; “when we first started, they were all friends with us, they were all from around the same places. Austin [Williams] from Swim Deep went to college with us, he was in the year below”. Castle, still straddling the sink, adds, “we’ve met Sam Baylis [Troumaca] many times, from just being out in Birmingham, he’s a good friend. I mean yeah, I suppose we’ve just known each other for years, even before the music took off.”

It wasn’t a scene constructed of casual drinking mates either - with such a concentration of talented young

musicians, it was inevitable that they would cross paths creatively too. “I think that we all definitely bounced off each other from going to each other’s shows, supporting one another at gigs”, says Castle, before smirking, “it’s kind of a healthy competition as well, I suppose!”.

If the tight-knit nature of this embryonic scene had to be summed up in a single anecdote, then it’d surely be the one Kossier now provides. “Cavan McCarthy was our merch-guy on one of our first tours, and at a show in London we were being supported by Swim Deep”, he explains. “Cav was on the merch stand and then Swim Deep’s manager comes up and says: ‘You’re our new bassist.’ Cavan said he didn’t play bass, but the manager didn’t care. And that’s how Cav joined Swim Deep!”.

In terms of musical influences, Peace downright refuse to start listing off specific names and groups. What they do disclose, however, is a newfound admiration for records that have lasted over time. As Harrison Kossier puts it, “now that we’re all here together actually physically making music, going through the actual grittiness of it, we really respect people who have made

stuff that’s lasted for ever.”

This healthy respect is something Peace have taken with them into the recording studio - “it’s stupid to sit back and just say like ‘ah we’re signed, fuck it, get the album out! Of course it’ll do well, it’s Columbia, it can’t go wrong!’” explains Kossier, “because in fact 9/10 bands on these labels do go wrong”.

Kossier’s brother, bassist Sam, is quick to agree: “That’s why we’ve spent so long mastering and tweaking the record, and why we tour so hard in support of it.”

Humility is clearly something Peace hold in high regard - their gruelling tour schedule and recent five-week stint in the recording studio are testament to this. It’s a mindset the band are sure can be traced back to their Birmingham roots: “no one had any expectation of their own bands or each other’s bands, there was no grand ambition” says bassist Sam Kossier, “so it’s all built on quite steady foundations I suppose, just playing to friends in pubs or whatever, we were a very grounded group”.

Grounded, humble and hardworking - not a set of adjectives you would usually associate with NME’s newest hype band. But Peace are used to defying clichés, and thank God for that.

MUSIC

05.03.2013 concrete.music@uea.ac.uk

www.concrete-online.co.uk

PALMA VIOLETS 180

album reviews

@music_concrete

7

Emma Holbrook

As the eagerly anticipated debut from latest NME darlings Palma Violets, 180 is a classic case of a record doomed

ATOMS FOR PEACE AMOK Sam Warner

Originally conceived as a backing band for touring Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke’s first solo effort The Eraser, the tantalisingly named ‘??????’ started to develop into something more prolific and was renamed Atoms For Peace in 2010. Made up of Yorke, long-term Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich and Flea amongst others, the band is certainly a mixture of stellar talent.

Their debut, Amok, hardly seems a showcasing balance though.

It is certainly a Thom Yorke record; not to say the others do not play their part. Opener Before Your Very Eyes is

to relative mediocrity thanks to the impracticable expectations placed upon it.

On paper, Palma Violets are almost too good to be true: signed by the same label as The Strokes and The Libertines; shortlisted in the BBC’s Sound of 2013 and hailed as this year’s Indie Rock Salvation, the foursome from Lambeth have the bittersweet task of living up to impossible media hype.

The band’s most recognisable tunes, Best of Friends and Step Up for the Cool Cats serve as a promising opening for 180 and the catchy indie anthems introduce a brash sound that blends psychedelic synth and new wave guitar riffs with Joe Strummer-esque vocals, encapsulating aloofness similar to the Velvet Underground.

Lyrically, the album is largely uninspiring – ‘I’ve got a brand new car/I

hope I’m gonna go far’ – but it is this nihilist attitude that is reminiscent of a punk-rock sensibility long forgotten.

Palma Violets’ lack of preoccupation with poetry is perhaps where their moments of profundity lie, and when the frontmen Sam Fryer and Chilli Jesson howl ‘you make me feel like I’m the only one’ in unison, it feels raw and earnest.

Pete Mayhew’s synth brilliantly haunts the entirety of the album, particularly evident in Chicken Dippers, and despite the title suggesting that the band rooted through the contents of their freezer for inspiration, it proves an atmospheric and enjoyable number.

Whilst there is nothing remarkable on show here, this does not detract from the undeniable potential in half of the album and its highlights, Rattlesnake Highway and Johnny Bagga’ Donuts, are

relatively faultless pieces of punk rock.

Conversely, All the Garden Birds, Three Stars and the self-indulgent denouement 14 teeter on the precipice of monotony and are largely forgettable, meaning that 180 disappointingly fizzles out.

Ultimately, if Palma Violets were to be tasked with rescuing indie rock from the perils of modern music, reinforcements would be necessary, at least for the time being. Context aside, 180 is a perfectly decent debut from a band formed just two years ago at Reading Festival, and its charm rests in a carpe diem ethic indicative of punk rock in full swing. However, instead of creating an immediate eagerness to hear more of their sound, Palma Violets leave you both nostalgic for early 21st century indie and craving a more accomplished album that is well within their reach in the future.

immediately established with blippy synths and a subtle bass line – Yorke’s obsession with IDM has been the chief driving force of his musical career since Kid A in 2000, collaborating with Flying Lotus and Four Tet in recent years.

Default provides a beautiful undercurrent in its unconventional beat, and as the record powers on through quiet house influences on Ingenue as well as tight chaotic buildups, it is clear that Amok is aiming to go somewhere, but isn’t quite reaching it.

Stuck Together Pieces seems like the first track that actually involves the whole band, with Flea’s bass powering through. From here on, the band presents a more comfortable ethic with tracks like Reverse Running. A glimpse of a melodic guitar line puts it more in line with Radiohead pre-Kid A, adding more character and colour to the streamlined chaos. The closing title track continues on this, albeit employing a darker vibe and building up to a rewarding climax – yet it somehow doesn’t seem earned.

Amok is no doubt a strong compilation of music (despite being a tightly produced jam session). Yet it is a Thom Yorke album at heart, with the other members of Atoms having their (brief ) shining moments.

Yorke’s drive is in no way a bad thing on this effort. Yet Amok feels like a somewhat missed collaborative opportunity, particularly with such a proficient pool of talent.

ICEAGE YOU’RE NOTHING

rock by the name of Warsaw, while the title track breathes with new-age nihilism. Perhaps the most curious addition to the fold is the slightly offkey piano that runs through centrepiece Morals, the closest Iceage will ever come to creating a ballad.

Sharpened by readings of French intellectuals, frontman Elias Rønnenfelt’s lyrics are at their most visceral. Whether through pained, dead-eyed grunts or the unhinged screams of “excess!”, his unpredictable vocal delivery meets this at every turn. Known for their polarising penchant for fascist imagery, the wellplaced Interlude smothers the record in atmosphere with it’s militaristic drumming and the sound of approaching helicopters. It might feel forced coming from four baby-faced teens, but it’s an illustration of how punk uses youth as a catalyst to explore more mature themes.

Each stride made with You’re Nothing feels necessary, but at times this sonic exploration comes at the expense of melody. What made their debut so staggering was its compromise between unyielding aggression and simple yet memorable guitar hooks. Here though, tracks such as It Might Hit First leave the rage uncultivated, rendering it dry and unoriginal.

Still, by giving a tired genre some much-needed maturity, You’re Nothing mostly succeeds in its attempt to redefine the short-fused punk song. There may be no less than four punk bands using the same name, but musically Iceage aren’t simply going through the motions. That alone makes them smart.

Hayden East

If Iceage are skilled at one thing, it’s execution. Their 2010 debut New Brigade saw them take the well-worn punk aesthetic and rejuvenate it during a time when modern youth were in need of such honest, back-to-basics attitude.

It was a singular statement, but delivered with precision and haste. The result was an unrelenting beast that held much more staying power than its 24 minutes.

With their sophomore LP, Iceage expand their palette while still preserving their penchant for concise, blunt pieces.

Ecstasy recalls the days when Joy Division would play Buzzcocks-influenced punk

8

@conc_fashion

SMOKIN’

www.concrete-online.co.uk

Kitten Flats Inject some cuteness into your date outfit.

Jennifer Lawrence Even looks amazing when falling over.

CHOKIN’

Norwich Fashion Week Preview Forget London, forget Milan, it’s all about Norwich Fashion Week. For one week only, our delightful city will be paying homage to its abundance of exciting local fashion from 7 - 15 March. The week will see an exciting array of shows and events, kicking off with the Launch Show at The Forum on 7 March and ending with the Norwich Fashion week wrap party at Lola Lo’s.

My top pick of the show to look out for would have to be The Designers Show on Tuesday 12 March. It’s the only show including real home grown talent as next generation designers from City College Norwich and Great Yarmouth College showcase their latest collections alongside more established brands. Tickets for the shows range from £12 and £15 and can be purchased from The Forum or The Playhouse dependent on the show.

If money is tight, there are still loads of ways to get involved with the week for free. From Saturday 2nd March, there will be a free preview exhibition at The Forum, showcasing street style photographs taken by local year 13 students.

Saturday 9 March sees prize draws and live entertainment at Jarrolds, as well as a John Lewis fashion show between 11 and 1 in store, styled by Norwich University

We know they’re in fashion but warmth is taking priority.

of the Arts students. For those wanting something a little more edgy there is also an event at the castle on Saturday 9 March.

Including live fashion shoots, tattooing from Rude Boy studios and talks on street style. Entry is free for 16 to 24 year olds and standard Castle entry for everyone else. The Lanes Fashion Night Out on Saturday 9 March is a fabulous chance to get glammed up, enjoy store discounts, live DJ’s and street art.

This year’s Norwich Fashion Week is set to be the best yet, and a fantastic event to get involved in. You’d be a fool to miss out on helping promote the very best of local fashion talent.

For a full programme of events and details on ticket purchases check out www.norwichfashion.co.uk In the meantime, get tweeting with the hashtag #NFW

The Au Natural Way To Shop

Bra tops

Venue Fashion spoke to local UEA student representative from EllaPure, Bev Couzens about the all-natural range she has been promoting around Norfolk.

Lucy Jobber Hi Bev, so first things first, what exactly is EllaPure?

Jess’s Starfish from New Girl More like a puzzle than underwear.

EllaPure is a family-run company which focuses on selling all natural health and beauty products for anyone and everyone.

We really want to make organic living accessible and affordable to those who are interested.

So what is it that makes EllaPure different from the mainstream high street brands?

Sorry, George. It’s not for you.

concrete.fashion@uea.ac.uk 05.03.2013

Jess Beech

High-waisted knickers They needn’t be Bridget Jones style.

Beardy men

FASHION

EllaPure differs from the high street brands in that it steers clear from nasty chemicals such as parabens and SLS which can often cause irritation to the skin. A lot of people don’t think to check the labels on well-known brands which contain these preservatives. The range is also dedicated to the organic and is fully

sourced in the UK, all from sustainable sources and without animal testing so your conscience is just as clean as your skin!

So taking a look at the EllaPure range, what sort of products would you recommend for the average student?

chemistry set! My mum has been using the Wondercream for the eczema on her hands and has said it’s instantly soothing, a definite winner in my books. What would you describe as your own personal favourite product from the range?

I think I’d have to go for the Wonderwash A large majority of our products are travel for its flexibility; I use it in the shower as size, perfect for when you’re just popping both a shampoo and body wash but can home for the weekend or off to a festival. also use it for tackling household chores We also have a ‘DIY’ WonderWash when dilated with a spot of water. I’m also where you can mix and match oils and a big fan of the massage rollerballs when scents, so if you’re quite prone to spots, I need to indulge and de-stress. Thanks mixing the base with tea tree oil - a great ever so much for coming to speak to us. antiseptic, should have great results and calming lavender and peppermint scents You can find out more information about are perfect to use when recovering from a the EllaPure range at: classic student hangover. www.ellapure.com/norfolk Or click “like” on Facebook at: That’s great, so it acts as a kind of DIY facebook.com/ellapurenaturalskincare

FASHION

05.03.2013 concrete.fashion@uea.ac.uk

www.concrete-online.co.uk

@conc_fashion

Photographer: Lizzy Margereson, Stylist: Ella Sharp, Model: Anna Walker

Raisin’ the bar on that first date...

9

Ella Sharp takes a look at the perfect first date outfit The big date is coming up. Finally that cutie from your seminar plucked up the courage to ask you out and on Friday night your heading to a quirky Norwich bar.

Your nails have been painted and you’ve rehearsed your “I’m listening” face countless times in the mirror. But nothing beats the blind panic of choosing what to wear.

Don’t fret! Venue is here to help.

Classic black Don’t assume black is boring; it’s classy, timeless and looks great on almost anyone. When you’re staring at your wardrobe for the 500th time, the LBD is the perfect life-saver. Styling it up with accessories, tussled hair or red lippy, a black dress oozes sex appeal while still remaining classy. The staple black dress will always be flattering and is great on those days where you feel nothing looks good.

Don’t be afraid of colour Although black is great, don’t be afraid to jazz up your date look with colour. Red dresses can be a little cliché, so mix it up with blues, purples or girly pinks or try a pattern for something a little different – it will definitely make sure your date remembers to call for a second meet-up! Just be careful to check the colour doesn’t wash you out. Before buying, hold the fabric up to your face to figure out if that daring mustard yellow dress looks brilliant, or turns you into a ghost.

Try a playsuit or jumpsuit Don’t assume date wear always means a dress or skirt.

A playsuit can be a fun alternative, and look equally as cute. Our model wears a River Island number, looking pretty, but styled with a studded belt giving a rocky edge. For a more daring look, a full length jumpsuit can also look great and show them you’ll both be wearing the trousers if the date turns into anything more!

Dig out the flats On a first date, heels can be a real disaster zone. With a stomach full of butterflies and a heart hammering away, the last thing you want to worry about is falling flat on your face walking around the cobbled streets of Pottergate. Flats are the answer- they can be pretty, practical and show you’re not trying too hard. However, if you’re going daring and wearing that jumpsuit, heels are a must to give you a sexy and feminine edge.

Show your inner confidence Your date wants to get to know you, and the best form of self-expression is through your wardrobe. There’s nothing sexier than a confident girl who is comfortable in her own skin. Throw out the rule book and choose what you feel good in. Over-thinking an outfit is worse than rocking up in your trainers.

10

@Concrete_Film

FILM

www.concrete-online.co.uk

concrete.film@uea.ac.uk 05.03.2013

REVIEWS CLOUD ATLAS (15) Dir. Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski

172mins

Starring: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Ben Whishaw, Xun Zhou, Hugh Grant

Jonathan Blair Ever since the announcement that Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell’s novel of the same name, would be adapted to the big screen, the decision has been surrounded by scepticism. Could it really be done?

Andy and Lana Wachowski and Tom Tykwer are the three directors of six storylines that range from the South Pacific of 1849 to a post-apocalyptic world of 2321, all shown in 172 minutes.

Arguably one of the most polarising films of recent years, it may be on just too large a scale for comfortable viewing, but upon experiencing its often-baffling multiplicity, is comfort what we really want?

Despite some initially shaky editing, there forms a central theme, vocalised many times through adages of “our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb we are bound to others” and “what is an ocean but a multitude of drops”.

The philosophical idea that everyone is connected, past present and future, in a film which comments on various forms of slavery, could seem irritatingly didactic, if not disfiguringly political. But the exquisite cinematography, art direction and stunning soundtrack correct this, as well as bringing seamlessness to the films endless transitions, which otherwise may have been harsh.

It is unfortunate, then, that faults begin to surface when Cloud Atlas tries to balance mainstream appeal with artistic integrity. It is not that these can’t coexist, but throughout its epic

length the film becomes increasingly oversaturated with A-list actors that seem out of their depth, each playing numerous prosthetically enhanced characters across the various storylines.

Tom Hanks’ portrayal of a disgruntled Irish writer with criminal tendencies in the year 2012, for instance, hasn’t even got the comic value to accommodate its badness, which disappoints considering the connotations of cinematic prowess his name carries. Such a sub-par performance fits comfortably with those of Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving, Hugh Grant, and Susan Sarandon to name just a few, which goes to show that the bigname Academy Award-winning club do not always play nicely with one another.

However, there are saviours in this area, with a fantastic performances given

by Jim Broadbent and Ben Whishaw, the latter expertly balancing a hidden homosexuality with a drive to complete his beloved musical composition, The Cloud Atlas Sextet, from which the film takes its name.

With all this going on you have to think, even after the credits have accredited. But this intensity is very well balanced with the purity of intent of its script, which never patronises. Despite sometimes questionable delivery, once the whole point of the film is grasped it will seize your imagination, even if it is in the third hour. Indeed, the dramatic scale of multiplicity in its plot, as well as its production, daunts Cloud Atlas from the first five minutes, but to endure it is to find its value.

FILM

05.03.2013 concrete.film@uea.ac.uk

www.concrete-online.co.uk

TO THE WONDER (12A) Dir. Terence Malick 112mins Starring: Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, Javier Bardem, Rachel McAdams

Ayoola Solarin Fans of director Terrence Malick’s previous work, The Tree of Life, will not only understand but appreciate his latest, To the Wonder, a film that explores the themes of love, loss and religion. The film tells the story of Neil (Ben Affleck), who is divided between his feelings for passionate Parisian, Marina (Olga Kurylenko), and country-fresh darling, Jane (Rachel McAdams). This love triangle of sorts plays on the backdrop of the struggles of a priest, Father Quintana (Javier Bardem).

When Neil whisks Marina and her tenyear-old daughter Tatiana from romantic Paris to dispirited, suburban America, we see Neil and Marina’s relationship unravel under pressure to change into a conventional American family. It is in this landscape that we witness Father Quintana’s own problems with his faith, as he confesses his own doubts and resignations. The film’s plot is simple and not at all innovative, yet there is something striking about it, be it its nostalgic feel or its aesthetically pleasing, thoughtprovoking shots.

THIS IS 40 (15)

Dir. Judd Apatow 134mins Starring: Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Maude Apatow, Iris Apatow

Ha Nguyen When you reach 40, it would appear that you look through a different window when viewing the world. The smallest thing could turn into the greatest disaster; the kids turn into the devil, and the roads are full of brainless killers.

In This is 40, this outlook has finally dawned upon Debbie (Leslie Mann) and Pete (Paul Rudd), the former of whom finds this new found cynicism to be slightly more troubling. Thus, they are largely Debbie’s fears, as she enters yet another decade of life, which are exploited freely throughout this film, to different levels of comic effect. There are plenty of creative moments that play on her anxiety, the highlight being a birthday cake that displays the number 38 to hide her real age.

If Pete seems to enter this new age with ease and comfort, it is probably because he has not aged throughout the five years since the film’s quasi-prequel, Knocked Up. A lot of This is 40’s gags come from his childishly stubborn ways. Apatow chooses this to display the couple’s many

differences in taste, their way of thinking and way of relating to others, However interesting the subject matter, though, the way everything plays out staggers the film’s sincerity and believability, its stand that this should be an age to reconsider your values and a topic. Leslie Mann’s candy-coated, stretched sentences seem to be delivered with little honesty, making the dialogue sound like a rehearsal that has been done too many times. Paul Rudd, meanwhile, might suit his role as the stubborn but suppressed husband, but some of Pete’s actions are rather exaggerated. A lot of the comic situations sometimes run dry rather than hit their mark. Instead, its key highlights come in the form of various cameos, with Megan Fox (surprisingly) nailing her role as the sensual shop assistant Desi, and Melissa McCarthy’s foul-mouthed mother, who seizes the screen at her entrance, marking a totally different level of comedy acting, in contrast to This is 40’s lead actors.

Nevertheless, by the end of its run-time the film feels really stretched and aimless.

When you can sense that the audience want it all to finish, they are invited to yet another sequence of self-indulgent, awkward comedy. This is 40 is, essentially, a sitcom trying to play out in serious cinematic fashion, and this combination of traits rarely fits together harmoniously.

MAMA (15)

Dir. Andrés Muschietti 100mins Starring: Jessica Chastain, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Megan Charpentier, Isabelle Nélisse

Ben Baulch-Jones Creepy kids? Angry ghosts? Necks in places they absolutely shouldn’t be? Just when you thought it was safe to look back in your wardrobe, Spanish director Andrés Muschietti’s directorial debut Mama will leave you reaching for the light switch. It is the chilling story of two missing children, found in the woods five years after they were presumed dead. When their estranged Uncle Lucas (Game of Thrones’ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and his girlfriend Annabel (rising star Jessica Chastain) offer to raise them, a series of disturbing events lead the couple to question just how alone the two girls were in the woods…

At its core, Mama is essentially a haunted house movie, but there is more than enough here to justify the ticket price. Though produced and presented

by Mexican monster-whisperer Guillermo Del Toro, Mama is a different beast to his own movies. While it shares the supernatural, slow-burn menace of The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth, it adds a healthy dose of pee-your-pants jump

@Concrete_Film

11

To the Wonder’s strength lies in what it does not say as much as what it does. Told through voiceovers and scenic imagery, the story unfolds in a subtle manner, giving the audience time to really consider the themes being portrayed. The picturesque shots of the landscapes, as well as soft, intimate shots of the characters interacting, fill in the gaps left by absent conversation.

On occasion this does tend to drag, as continuous images of cornfields, wistful glances and glowing sunsets does get a little tedious, especially in a film that is nearly two hours long. The film seems primarily concerned with cinematography and the aesthetics of filmmaking, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but may be off-putting to the average filmgoer, who could potentially see the film as dull and pretentious. What needs to be taken into account, though, is how gorgeously Terrence Malick portrays these huge, existential themes of love and religion, and how carefully and patiently he explores them, choosing to go with an understated approach rather an aggressive one.

Some poignant and considered performances from all actors involved, teamed with stunning cinematography and an encompassing orchestral score, shows that To the Wonder is another victory in storytelling for Terrence Malick, whose vision always manages to translate so beautifully on to the silver screen.

scares to create a potent cocktail. Sadly, the effect begins to wear off towards the end of the movie. Films like Mama thrive on fear of the unknown to create suspense.

Rinse and repeat scary scenes too often, or worse, commit the heinous crime of over exposing your central monster, and the terror disappears. Mama is guilty of both these horror movie sins.

Thankfully, however, most of the movie is so wonderfully terrifying. The film’s lead actors are excellent and complement each other perfectly, though it is the duo of Megan Charpentier and Isabelle Nélisse, as the abandoned kids, that really steal the show. They scuttle like Gollum, scream like banshees and, most terrifying of all, can act! In a genre so often derailed by wooden child stars, Mama’s cast is refreshingly convincing.

Whilst the end of Mama can rely too heavily on horror clichés, the genuinely disturbing opening of the film compensates with aplomb. Clever camera work and suspenseful pacing makes the flesh crawl; if one scene involving a wardrobe and a hideous case of mistaken identity doesn’t make you squirm, you are made of stone.

Overall, Mama is a stylish and shocking ghost story with a top cast and heart pounding scares. No doubt, despite its flaws, it will stay with you for a long time after the credits roll.

12

@Concrete_Film

www.concrete-online.co.uk

concrete.film@uea.ac.uk 05.03.2013

AWARDS SEASON

NEWS

Batman to climb Everest; Twilight wins accolades (...at the 33rd Golden Raspberry Awards) Katryna Coak Batman himself will be climbing Everest in the near future when Christian Bale plays a New Zealander in Everest, a film based on a disastrous expedition to climb the mountain in 1996. The climb was documented by journalist John Krakauer, in his book Into Thin Air: A Personal Account Of The Everest Disaster, which will form the basis of the film, with Contraband director Baltasar Kormakur taking a prominent role in production. This project will attempt to stand tall alongside Sony’s Everest project, based on Jeffrey Archer’s book Paths Of Glory. This is only one of many projects Christian Bale has lined up after the success of his Batman trilogy. Everest will start production this summer.

After their success with Silver Linings Playbook, rising star Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper are set to team up once again with director David O. Russell in a new project, previously named American Bullshit. This project will also feature Christian Bale along with Amy Adams, who is fresh out of her powerful supporting performance in The Master. Lawrence is cast as Cooper’s wife and Adams his girlfriend, in an adaptation of real-life F.B.I. operation: “Abscam”. The story revolves around the F.B.I.’s use of a con artist in an attempt

FILM

to expose the corruption of Congressmen during the 1980s.

Will Smith and Jay-Z’s recent attempts to back an Annie remake have seemingly come to fruition, with Easy A’s Will Gluck singed on to write and direct. However, as previously speculated, Will Smith’s daughter will not be eligible for the lead role, as she is now considered too old to play the 11year old orphan. However, Quvenzhané Wallis (of Beasts of the Southern Wild fame) will now star as Annie in this retelling of Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin’s classic musical, with a predicted 2014 release.

Finally, with the spectacle of the Oscars, it’s often easy to overlook the equally important “Razzies”, which honours the worst films of the year. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part Two won big (to the delight of many), being awarded the Razzie for Worst Picture, Worst Actress (Kristen Stewart), Worst Supporting Actor (Taylor Lautner), Worst Screen Couple (Lautner and Mackenzie Foy as Jacob and Renesmee), Worst Screen Ensemble, Worst Remake/Rip-Off or Sequel, and Worst Director (Bill Condon). Other films that were heavily featured include That’s My Boy and Battleship.

REVIEW: 85th ACADEMY AWARDS Alex Dobrik And so, after 3 ½ hours, a litre of coke and 4-5 cups of coffee the Oscars are finally over. However, this writer can honestly say that, for the first time in a long time, the ceremony wasn’t the gruelling, and at times arduous, slog of yesteryear. Instead, Seth MacFarlane of Family Guy fame presided over a funny and exceedingly entertaining musical Oscars that actually offered some fun, rather than just the selfindulgent “slapping of backs” routine that they have previously descended into.

After the drudge of the Red Carpet, a visibly nervous MacFarlane emerged on stage. While not every joke hit the mark (the standard Mel Gibson jibe got tiresome over a year ago), there were some truly unexpected and enjoyable highlights including some dancing from genuine A-listers; Channing Tatum and Charlize Theron performed a Waltz while Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Harry Potter teamed up with MacFarlane for an attempt best forgotten.

However, what was best about this year’s ceremony were the singing performances, barring Russell Crowes attempts (i.e. shouting) to upstage the more talented singers in a Les Misérable ensemble act. Dame Shirley Bassey, Adele (both performing their brilliant Bond songs), Barbara Streisand and even MacFarlane himself showed off their impressive lungs, in numerous performances that broke up an event that would have otherwise been a nervous man cracking jokes and celebrities blankly reading words on a teleprompter.

The awards themselves were all over the place - and that is no bad thing. No one film was singled out as having been the best of the best, the major awards being spread pretty evenly. Christoph Waltz scooped up his second Oscar for his performance in Django Unchained, via his eerily brilliant way of coming across as polite yet petrifying in the same breath. Best actor and supporting actress, the awards many considered to be undoubtedly going to Daniel DayLewis (who in Lincoln seemed to literally turn into the titular character) and Anne Hathaway (who despite about ten minutes of screen time upstaged the rest of the cast in the 2 ½ hour Les Misérable), turned up no surprises, whilst best actress fell into the hands of Jennifer Lawrence for her turn in Silver Linings Playbook.

The awards that looked harder to predict, though, were Best Director and Best Picture, showing just how good us cinemagoers had it last year. In arguably the biggest surprise of the night, Ang Lee took home the Best Director Oscar for Life of Pi, leaving Spielberg once again

wondering how many truly brilliant films he has to make to expand on his solitary Best Director award. Another surprise came in the complete lack of awards for Zero Dark Thirty, the film touted earlier on in awards season as deserving of Best Picture. Nobody could complain, however, about the eventual winner, Argo (though why Ben Affleck didn’t receive a Best Director nomination is unexplainable), marking what can be perceived as a Phoenix from the ashes moment, as Affleck continues his rise from the heart grindingly atrocious Gigli.

The only sense of injustice came in the form of Brave winning Best Animated Feature Film, when Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists made Brave look like Mars Needs Moms. Other than that, the 85th Academy Awards proved a fun ceremony, with (mostly) justly awarded films. Let’s hope this year can deliver just as many great pictures.

Oscars 2013: winner’s list Best Picture Argo Best Director Ang Lee, Life of Pi Best Actor Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln Best Actress Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook Supporting Actor Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables Best Original Screenplay Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained Best Adapted Screenplay Chris Terrio, Argo Foreign Language Film Amour Documentary Feature Searching For Sugar Man Achievement in Film Editing William Goldenberg, Argo Music - Original Song Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth, Skyfall (from Skyfall)

FILM

05.03.2013 concrete.film@uea.ac.uk

www.concrete-online.co.uk

PREVIEW: 50 SHADES OF GREY Holly Wade Last summer saw a huge furore surround the release of erotic novel 50 Shades of Grey.

Women everywhere were holding a copy, Ann Summers’ profits rapidly increased and it seemed that there was no escape from the trilogy of books, with posters emblazoned everywhere. It was the talk of the summer, as sales were so high it overtook Harry Potter as the fastest selling paperback of all time.

It is no secret that the novel is about sex. From “vanilla” to S&M, 50 Shades of Grey explicitly intimates the sex lives of its protagonists. But with the announcement of a film, due to be released in 2014, the question must be asked of how this franchise can turn itself from a novel that is so overtly sexual to a piece of on screen art

that isn’t just another piece of pornography?

If the film keeps all its sexual content it runs the risk of being repetitive and overly explicit, but if it gets rid of the sex it runs the risk of losing the point of the story itself. Seemingly, the film cannot win and so the people behind its production face a dilemma; to keep the lavishly overblown or not. Whichever way, they will be hoping the film follows in the footsteps of the highly successful novel and will shoot to fame rather than become a gigantic flop.

The author of the novel, E L James, claimed in a recent interview that the sex scenes shall be dealt with “great taste”, not something the screenwriter of the film, Kelly Marcel, agrees with - as she announced: “There is going to be a lot of sex in the film. It will be NC-17. It’s going to be raunchy.” So, with these differing

ideas how is 50 Shades of Grey going to be transferred to the film screen in a way that can appeal to all audiences?

A typical comparison to be made with the erotic novel would be with the Twilight Saga, in particular the sex scene of the penultimate film in the franchise, Breaking Dawn Part 1. A huge buzz surrounded its impending release as all waited to see Edward and Bella finally consummate their relationship. The scene itself seemed rather tame as the pair made love to a backdrop of romantic music but, of course, anything more explicit would not have been suitable for the tweens who poured to the cinemas to see it.

As has been proved by the thousands who read the book, sex sells - and with money a main incentive for the making of the film it

@Concrete_Film

13

SEX ISSUE SPECIAL

seems like this first addition to the franchise may be set to provide less substance and more sex as it vies to draw millions of viewers to the cinema for an erotic extravaganza.

THE ART OF STUDENT CINEMA

Road trips, home made cinemas and a 2d revolution; Writer-director Paul Allen discusses his debut feature, Big Font. Large Spacing, which is to be screened at UEA this month

Many will tell you that it’s a great challenge to make a feature film. You need the finances, the equipment and, more often than not, good ideas. Rest assured, it’s even harder first time around. For Paul Allen, a masters graduate at the International Film School Wales (where he was tutored by the late great Ken Russell) and now director at 33Story Productions, it took a year and four months to finalise his first feature: Big Font.

Large Spacing. What he developed, however, was more than a film, but an inventive form of exhibition that you’d think would belong in the music business. Furthermore, it was all based on an affection of 2D projection, and concerning a type of cinema, genre, and audience, often overlooked by the wider industry: the “student cinema.”

Big Font was as much for students as its story is about them (the film follows two best friends who have to write a 5,000 word essay one night from a deadline – a common problem for many at UEA, Venue believes). Having premiered at the Atlanta Film Festival in April 2010, Allen and his team then “toured” their film across 23 different universities. They did so after designing and building a 10-foot

outdoor cinema that could fold up into the back of a campervan, the screen their the film would be shown on night after night. Culminating in 2012, the tour was seen by 3,000 students. Now coming to UEA, Venue sat down with Allen to discuss deadlines, business, and why it all took so long to arrive in the east…

Venue: Now we’re in 2013 people will be asking, “Why has it taken this long for your project to reach UEA?” So, let’s start by asking exactly that…

Paul Allen: The honest answer is geography.

In my 1983 VW camper van, we had to plan a route that minimised the miles as much as possible, whilst visiting the maximum number of universities. Starting in Cardiff, Norwich felt a little ambitious. There was a reasonable chance if we went that far we might never make it back (the camper did in fact break down on us, so it was a justified concern!). Only now we’ve got the film on DVD is it possible to arrange screenings where we don’t have to bring our cinema kit. Sorry - we would have loved to have screened before.

V: When we first received information about the film, it was in an e-mail entitled “the revenge of 2D cinema.” Does this mean that, in some way, the whole project was a reaction to the emergence of “eyepopping” 3D? PA: In a way 2D Cinema (the secondary name of their project) was a reaction to 3D, in that 3D represented a push from the industry to try and sell more tickets, and particularly get people in to see big blockbusters like Avatar. 3D was therefore just launching when we had the idea of starting a pop-up cinema. We liked the idea that the small, independent filmmakers were fighting back with good old-fashioned 2D, taking cinema to new locations in exciting ways. We also undeniably called our project 2D Cinema as a marketing ploy to try and attract some attention to what we were doing! We needed all the exposure we could get.

V: When watching the film itself, some clear influences shine through. Most pertinent, in my opinion, was Edgar Wright’s Spaced.

From a creative viewpoint, what or who

had influence over the direction and the writing of the film?

PA: Spaced was certainly an influence, especially in terms of directing, and I’m a big fan of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. I like the fact that Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg celebrate Britishness, which is something we were keen to do in Big Font.

Large Spacing. Another big influence is the writer/director Billy Wilder, whose most famous film is probably The Apartment. I like a script-orientated film, that’s what interests me.

V: Have you ever been in a position where you have had to write an entire essay in one night? Is the film, in fact…biographical?

PA: I wasn’t a slacker by any means (I lean much more towards geek), but I did largely complete my essays the night before they were due in. When you’re up against it your mind really focuses. Finishing in the early hours of the morning was therefore familiar territory for me though, although I never strictly pulled an all-nighter right through to the morning. I was very close, mind.

Words: Kieran Rogers Big Font. Large Spacing will be shown on 15th March, at 6.30pm in LT3. Admission is free.

E-mail UEA’s Cinema Society at ueacinema@gmail.com for more information.

To read this interview in full, visit www.concreteonline.com/film.

14

www.concrete-online.co.uk

TELEVISION

concrete.television@uea.ac.uk 05.03.2013

Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents Matt Tidby During the big parental reveal at the end of a recent episode of BBC3’s noisy, sunburnt ethical minefield Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents, hard-drinking 18 year old builder Phil uttered some worrisome syllables of excuse for much misogynistic meandering on his phallocentric holiday.

When questioned by his parents, he spoke out for his ‘generation’, claiming “I’m just doing what every lad does…This is what people our age do.” Quite a claim- either he’s an omnipresent prophet-deity with the capacity to know all acts of offensive, sexually aggressive behaviour wherever they happen, or, much more likely, he’s a complete arse. Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents is part of a wider, long-term trend in youth sexuality on television; a spectrum of extreme behaviour, ‘shock and awe’ sexual representation to entice an audience into outrage, and crucially, viewership.

After three hit series, it would seem that this is a format that is here to stay.

Find a volunteer eighteen year old regular sod and parents fool enough to consider spying on them appropriate action, drop them on an island of aftersun and hangovers and watch the fireworks. And

they do- the whole of Sun, Sex… is about looking; endless gratuitous shots of the female form are blended into the environs with vigorous, thoughtless editing, until the audience believes itself to be watching a broadcast from a forbidden parallel dimension where thighs and cleavage are the anonymous, unique property of dark, loud rooms in the Mediterranean.

This sense of dislocation hangs heavy in every episode. Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents displays an unrealistic, end-of-the-pier, off-kilter kaleidoscope of sexuality, detached from reality and driven by alcohol, bravado and a nakedly manipulative television production team.

There’s absolutely no excuse for the behaviour exhibited by some participants on Sun, Sex..., and the producers soberly offer them no quarter, merrily displaying such horrors, pandering to the amused middle class voyeuristic audience. Shock! He threw up! Egads!

She’s hardly wearing anything at all, as that morally questionable close up helpfully demonstrates! Sadly, the show remains compelling viewing, if only to question these ethics, the sanity of the parents and whether this is how we want

The Right To Bare All

our generation to be seen. It is made to be compulsively watchable and not to represent – these are, now, apparently mutually exclusive qualities.

However, on occasion, we get glimpses of a better, more honest show. When a father finds out on camera that his son has got into University, when a Mother and Daughter unite over their differences

despite religious disagreement; the socio-cultural seam that Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents so merrily mines is rich enough as it is, and presented faithfully and intelligently, can make for fantastic, emotive, relatable viewing.

It could be called Sun, Soul-Searching and Re-negotiating Long-Term Parental Relationship Structures. Or not, whatever.

a look at changing attitudes to female nudity on tv

Adam Dawson Nudity and mainstream TV aren’t something you expect to go to together.

Turn the TV on and it’s almost inevitable you’ll be able to find a man without his shirt on, showing off his body. If you were to look for a woman doing this, you’d have to turn on the TV much later and to an entirely different kind of channel. Step in Lena Dunham. She’s a young writer/director challenging the normal ways of looking at a naked body, and women in general, with the recent HBO hit, Girls. Most importantly, she’s making it much more acceptable for women to bare all.

It’s fair to say that most of the reviews written about Dunham and her sitcom Girls are by women, boldly declaring how great it is that Dunham “gets her” and how “honest” her portrayal of female nudity is. Sure there’s toplessness a plenty, but what does it actually mean?

Well, nothing, and that’s exactly the point. Boobs and bums a-plenty are on show, but it’s very clearly not a sexual thing. The show helps get the message across that they’re just boobs, ain’t nothing to see here, people. In contrast to most nudity on TV, when the girls of

Girls get them out they’re not doing it for us. We’re not meant to gawk and get aroused by them. Like a leg or an arm, you’re not meant to get happy when they’re on show – they’re simply another body part.

Now then, a few male bloggers/ critics have said this makes them uncomfortable. And further to the point, Lena Dunham’s body makes them feel the same way. This is because Dunham it isn’t what they’re exposed to everyday.

It’s clear she’s a little bit bigger than other people we see splashed across magazines or doing nude scenes in a film or on TV, but that really is not the point. Her body is her body. It doesn’t have to be sexual nor does it have to hidden away beneath layer after layer of clothes because it doesn’t resemble a pencil. Men who are uncomfortable seeing Dunham’s naked self are exactly the type who’d benefit the most from watching Girls. They clearly need to learn that women have more going in their lives than being skinny.

These are women with issues – will they have a successful career? Will their relationships amount to something? The question that never crosses their mind is

“will me taking my shirt off make the guys watching want to sleep with me?”

So Girls is paving the way for more women to leave their clothes on the floor on TV. It doesn’t just appeal to stick

thin women or even just to women. It constantly tells men that women have bodies and boobs, but also have far more important things to do with their lives than get naked for our pleasure.

TELEVISION

05.03.2013 concrete.television@uea.ac.uk

www.concrete-online.co.uk

news

review

Jane Power

Lydia Tewkesbury

BBC Seeking Transgender Comedy This month sees the submission closing date for BBC Writersroom’s latest talent search, the Trans Comedy Award.

Aiming to broaden the BBC’s portrayal of minority groups, the award offers a cash prize of up to £5000 for the development of a television pilot that “features the positive portrayal of transgender characters or themes”. The award is being run in partnership with Trans Comedy, a group set up in the aim of giving a voice to the transgender community. Clearly, this is not only a great opportunity for all writers, but a platform for specifically transgender writers.

Claire Parker, the project-lead for Trans Comedy, explains that “The trans community live the trans experience first hand, day to day, and are the best and only source if you want to find out what

offends them and what makes them tick.”

It is clearly important that the BBC (as with all channels) reflect diversity, and this award can be seen as the start of a worthy response to December’s call for bolder LGBT portrayals within its shows, which compared the network to the more innovative Channel 4.

The BBC broadcasts to millions of people, and reflecting society’s diversity is an immeasurably important aspect of changing negative perceptions of minority groups; therefore cutting discrimination and prejudice. However, the Trans Comedy Award is just the start, and the effectiveness of this strategy is dependent on the success of the resultant show and the implementation of a wider variety of transgender characters within new and existing shows.

Derek

The talent of Ricky Gervais is a topic of discussion that has a remarkable capacity to divide opinion. From one perspective, the shows he creates are insightful, smart, funny and important moments in time.

On the other hand, he is a complete and utter dickhead, in such an extreme fashion as to make defending him (something that has been tried, oh so many times) almost impossible. But despite this, still every story he tells manages to produce fantastic television. And Derek, his new sitcom, another documentary style show, about a man with some learning difficulties working in a home for the elderly, is no different.

Derek’s life is populated by Dougie, played by Karl Pilkington, being himself, but better, Kev, the resident letch and Hannah. Oh, Hannah. In charge of a home under threat, she is trying desperately to keep the life she has created together. It is rare to come across a character as believable in sitcom, and her story is a little bit heart-breaking.

Derek is a departure for Gervais, from the self-involved but loveable idiot we all know. No one here needs redeeming.

Yes, it has its cringe-y moments and of course it is far from perfect, but I think

15 the gripes of the show’s critics might be more about the eternal Gervais debate, rather than Derek itself. Gervais may be a tool, but at its heart, Derek is a program about people that are good. It should be highly recommended.

Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway - returns Jess Beech Last Saturday saw the return of perfect Saturday night viewing with the much loved Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway. The show began with a bang, quite literally, with a gag involving fireworks, and all of the glitzy gimmicks we so missed. Everything was seamlessly topical, relevant and downright hilarious, its great strength being the way they embraced how long they have been away for and played upon it.

The most memorable sketch from previous series is undoubtedly Little Ant and Dec. They provided comedy gold with their adorable faces as they made A-list celebrities squirm with their innocently probing questions. Unfortunately, the boys are no longer very little, and little Ant now has a receding hairline. Hence the twosome set about recruiting a Little Little Ant and Dec, in a very cute The Apprentice meets Cbeebies sketch.

Another favourite has to be Ant vs Dec, where they compete in a variety of challenges, revealed live on the night, each week. Ashley Greene of the Pussycat Dolls is now presenting the segment, as revenge for the jungle celebrities. The first match of the series saw the boys clambering along a pole off the ITV building to retrieve a

flag. Dec looked terrified and Ant was victorious. Here hoping the producers are starting as they mean to go on with hair raising challenges.

How could you forget, the game the show counts down to, “Don’t just watch the ads, win them!” The setup remains unchanged here, an audience member is randomly selected by the “supercomputer” (amazing in a Geordie accent), and answers a series of questions to win the adverts from a recent ITV show. This is still a brilliant concept, with live audience participation at its best.

Alongside our old favourites are some fantastic new sections. A personal favourite will have to be “I’m a celebrity, get out me ear!” This week saw Louis Walsh invite three builders to his house, under the guise of needing some work done. Whilst there, Louis had to say everything that the boys instructed him to, through an earpiece. This made for laugh-out-loud, tears-rolling-down-your-face TV. As expected, the show is constantly entertaining and easy to watch. David Walliams and Robbie Williams were this week’s perfect celebrity guests, making this very much a family show, with the right amount of comedy, and some eye candy

for the Mums. The presence of the live studio audience makes the whole thing feel like one big laugh with two of your oldest mates at the helm. It has all of the

cheekiness and just the right amount of cheesiness that we love the duo for. Set to be even bigger and better than previous series.

16

Clicks

By Maura Flatley

CREATIVE WRITING

www.concrete-online.co.uk

concrete.creativewriting@uea.ac.uk 05.03.2013

themed submissions

Sex/Love

When our old housemate moved to America for a year abroad, we filled the gap with Lyla. We’d found her through a friend of a friend and, since then, her laziness never ceased to surprise me. She’d left her clothes on the line in winter, waving there like stiff flags until the first chirps of spring. Adam and I sat, speechless, as she collected the crumpled pile and threw them away.

Other than that, I didn’t know much about her.

I could only tell she still lived here through the increasing tally of dirty plates on the side, piling up until something snapped in me. Dishes had that extra sparkle when washed with bleach and obscenities.

Adam escaped to the bar for the smallest reason and, on one of those nights, Adam raised his glass and announced, “I have gossip on Lyla!”

“Good!” I slammed my glass down. “I spent all afternoon unclogging the shower of her hair.”

Adam laughed and I eyed him. “When you’re ready, spit it out.”

I sat back, sipping my drink. I knew him well enough not to push him; the more desperate I seemed for his nuggets of information, the longer he’d tease.

Looking back, perhaps I should have begged him until he kept it to himself.

I didn’t feel as uneasy after watching Lyla as Adam did. Instead, I couldn’t stop laughing. The day after, I found it difficult to pour the milk onto my cereal without picturing those hands rubbing circles around her nipples. Just then, Lyla walked in. I concentrated on eating. When I looked up, she was absent-mindedly caressing the lid of her milk bottle. I breathed in sharply, making a loud noise between a laugh and a cough. Lyla looked up just as I spat the remainder of my mouthful back into the bowl and ran, crying with laughter, to my room. I didn’t see the expression on her face.

I was ejected from a practical in that same week.

The cadaver was a slim female and I was in charge of the first incision. The scalpel shook as it punctured the skin, creating a jagged line above the pubis. That bony hand of my imagination appeared again, slipping down the abdominals - external oblique, tendonous inscriptions, rectus abdominis - to the groin. I struggled to control my mouth beneath the surgical mask. The hand started the slow circles again, teasing the pectineus. Someone called my name. I couldn’t tell who it was; my vision was blurred from tears. The scalpel was taken away. Laughter, deep and guttural, erupted from within. My lecturer placed a heavy hand on my shoulder and directed me to his office. My stomach cramped and my throat hurt. He demanded answers, called my actions disgusting, quietly asked if all was okay at home. Then he let me go with the threat of a disciplinary. I didn’t know what to say to him, I couldn’t even explain it to myself.

I had no way of knowing this would happen back at the bar; it seemed a huge joke. Adam refused to say how he found out about it, doing that ridiculous thing of tapping his nose. We speculated on what she’d be like; I bet she’d use toys, something big and thick, but Adam thought she’d go down the vulnerable route, big eyes and bunches. Too stereotypical, I argued,

but he gave me a look, and said something about a messy student who resorts to webcam shows to fund a lifestyle.

Something changed at that point. Gossip about our housemate turned into fiction, and so we decided to watch one of her shows together. They were regular, Adam claimed, Tuesdays, Thursdays and every other Sunday. I emptied my purse onto the table for my half of the membership fee, and we clinked our glasses together.

Tuesday came too slowly. I kept myself busy and we only talked about it once beforehand.

“Adam, I’m not sure about this anymore.”

He looked at me. The laughing Adam from the bar had gone. “We’ve paid. It’s too late now.” I didn’t push it further. He had been elbow-deep in the washing bowl, cleaning Lyla’s plates.

When the time came, he stood at the kitchen door and beckoned. I followed, silently. The webpage was already set up. The video player in the middle of the page was blank, with the headline LYLA LUV displayed above. Hearts and teddy bears adorned the page. Perhaps Adam was right about the schoolgirl route, but then he’d had the advantage over me all along.

Lyla popped up on the screen. Her blonde hair was in bunches. Her eyes were large, framed with careful make up, and her lips were thick and full. She smiled coyly towards us. I was surprised by my sudden recognition of her. It was a face I remembered from sitting and watching films together, when she’d just moved in. She’d looked uncomfortable as Adam and I joked away, probably unsure of how to fit into the easy mould we had. It was a face I remembered offering to help pay for the freezer contents when someone had flicked the wrong switch over Christmas. It was the face that had shyly held out a box of chocolates the day my Nana died.

Adam looked at me unsurely.

“This doesn’t seem like such a good idea anymore.”

Lyla blew a kiss from the corner of my eye.

I snorted loudly, “No.” Laughter began to pull at the corners of my mouth.

“Shush!” Adam hissed, “She’ll hear us.” I turned back to the screen. Lyla was slowly unbuttoning her school shirt. We had already paid. We were already complicit.

The air around me began to fizz. From the speakers emanated muted sounds of exaggerated pleasure.

Adam’s mouth was pulled tightly into a line. I couldn’t help it; I began to giggle. It bubbled out of me. Adam looked disgusted, which only made it worse. I clamped my hands over my mouth. Neither of us said a word when the show ended, until he quietly turned to me and asked me to leave.

While I struggled to control my laughter, I barely saw Adam at all afterwards. He avoided my gaze and avoided the house. I didn’t see Lyla much either. Her dirty plates didn’t pile up in the way they used to, and I wondered if Adam had been cleaning them for her. I had no way of knowing; I was living in a ghost house, with only the quiet clicks of doors to indicate I wasn’t truly alone.

17

CREATIVE WRITING

05.03.2013 concrete.creativewriting@uea.ac.uk

www.concrete-online.co.uk

themed submissions

Sex/Love

Darling

Ode to Hugh Jackman

By Jon Horv

By Tabitha Hancock

Pretentious darling,

Dearest Hugh Jackman,

By Sidonie Chaffer-Melly

You are the 3am seductress,

I’d like to write a book called

Oh, wonderful James,

Your perfect body:

‘Fifty Shades of Hugh’

your beautiful pecs make me

From your luscious hips meeting my lips,

For our sex issue,

want to be naked.

Mouth-watering kiss,

I think we should have some fun

Cigarette smoke caresses your curves,

(by ‘fun’ I mean sex)

Lustful consumption,

I know you want to;

Salivating anticipation,

Just forget your wife,

You are my Italian thin-

I’d do it better.

Oh, Channing Tatum,

crust Domino’s pizza.

Just one request, though:

you make me want to Step Up

Keep your Wolverine claws on;

to your Magic Mike.

James Franco

Channing Tatum

By Hayden East

They do it for me.

Sexy Famous Old Men

By Josh Perera What is this that stirs, roaring deep in my chest?

-and-the seven-old-dwarves-

A strapping young cub, fresh and battle-ready?

Hair, until the caress of his almost-sickly breath upon my face

Negative.

Causes me to turn away, sort of disgusted.

None but an elderly Mufasa can rouse the beast in me.

But, like the crazed metaphors that run around in my brain, I am not ashamed.

Beautiful ridges, the bottomless crevices of an extra deep crisp

If roses are red then lust, for me, is fifty years of grey.

Adorn his face; causing my heart to beat

Tie me up, Gandalf the Right-In-My-Face.

in a rhythm that would kill him if his heart were mine.

An old, overworked colon. A semi. But whose?

CAW. CAW.

Is it mine?

The irrelevant cry of a distant bird, but alas, he cannot hear it.

Who knows? But yeah, probably.

All but the closest noise go unheard by my beaux,

(Also they have to be famous or a wizard otherwise it’s kinda gross)

Another reason to be close to his snow white

For next issue, we’re looking for work on the theme of ‘Panic’

Please submit all writing by Tuesday 12 March

GAMING

05.03.2013 concrete.gaming@uea.ac.uk

www.concrete-online.co.uk

Preview: Playstation 4

@Concrete_Gaming

19

Simon Sampson After almost six years on the European market it seems the PS3 may be nearing retirement. Its successor - the imaginatively named Playstation 4 - was recently announced at a two-hour long press event in New York, although some rather key information was absent. If you were hoping for images of the console itself or a price-tag then you are going to be disappointed.

What we do have is a solid idea of the PS4’s specifications which, in a clear reaction to early development issues on the PS3, are much closer to the architecture of a PC or an Xbox than its predecessor.

Key to this is the presence of an eightcore x86-64 AMD Jaguar processor, a new GPU roughly on par with an AMD Radeon HD 7850 and 8GB of speedy GDDR5 RAM to share between them.

For those who I have just confused – the PS4 will be significantly more powerful than the PS3. Technically speaking it is not as powerful as a high end PC but considering the PS3 has been making do

Amy Griffiths BioWare, the creators of popular game franchises such as Mass Effect and Dragon Age have been subtly showing their support for the LGBT community for years. As those of you who have had the pleasure of playing the titles in these series will already know, role playing games created by BioWare tend towards long, epic plots with a combination of action, humour and romance.

Romantic options aren’t unique to BioWare games but their titles do stand out by catering to players of multiple sexualities. In Dragon Age II, for example, the characters in the protagonist’s party are all available for courting. Whether the player has chosen to play as male or female is not an issue, and the romance plots are the same for both genders.

Dragon Age: Origins even had two openly bisexual characters which the hero could choose to start a relationship with: Zevran (think: Legolas, but with the voice and back-story of Antonio Banderas’ Puss-inBoots) and Leliana, a bard.

Although optional romance subplots in video games are increasingly prevalent, BioWare seems to be handling them the most successfully, by offering well-written partners who exist as more than just objects to seduce. Often, these subplots will have the effect of developing the characters, which adds to the player’s investment.

This sets it apart from games like Fable III

with 512MB of RAM, which is less than you will find in many smartphones, it’s a colossal improvement.

The fact that the hardware inside the PS4 is similar to PC hardware should also help developers transition between the two platforms, making their lives easier and hopefully our games better. If the impressive early demos are anything to go by we’re already seeing the results of this restructure.

Another important addition is the extra processing core which will mean PS4 users will finally be able to perform tasks such as downloading in the background without having to stop what they are doing. Present are also a speedier Blu-Ray drive and USB 3.0 ports along with an internal hard drive, although the capacity is currently unknown While Sony didn’t reveal what the console will look like the new controller was shown off, sporting a front-facing touchpad and a lightbar to use in conjunction with the new Playstation Eye. The change Sony seemed most

enthusiastic about however was the allnew share button. That extra processing core will be constantly recording your gameplay so that with a touch of the share button you can, edit and upload your last 15 minutes of gameplay to social networks. You will also have the ability to stream your gameplay live to others, chat with viewers and even have the ability to ask a friend to take over your controller to help out if you get stuck.

Something that will probably annoy

many is the PS4 will not natively support PS3 games. There are plans to provide a game streaming service that will include a catalogue of all legacy Playstation games but it does not seem that this service will be ready for launch.

With much yet to be revealed about the PS4 anyone interested is advised to pay attention to this year’s E3 where more information about the console, and its competitors, should be revealed before its holiday 2013 launch.

BioWare, Sexuality and Romance and Skyrim, which offer the player both heterosexual and homosexual marriage options, but the player’s spouse tends to be a generic non-playable character with five lines of bland dialogue.

David Gaider, head writer of the Dragon Age games, discussed romance options in a recent blog post [bit.ly/ W3O78N]. Even though Dragon Age II offered a wide range of romance subplots, he dislikes the idea of all of the characters being possible romantic interests. He says that doing that causes the player to objectify all of the characters and to see them differently than they might do otherwise.

He suggests that it would also be better to make future romances more complex by introducing doomed relationships with realistic obstacles such as adultery.

These ideas could be really effective if implemented successfully, but there could be a risk of detracting from the main plot.

Narrative in BioWare RPGs is already end-of-the-galaxy dramatic so adding tragic relationships may affect the game negatively, causing too much melodrama or seeming downright petty in comparison to the bigger picture. So what does this mean for Dragon Age III: Inquisition, which is currently in development? Were Gaider’s comments about the romantic subplots foreshadowing some trouble in paradise?

With games becoming increasingly cinematic and technically proficient, complete immersion should continue to be a priority, and adding romance to the game can make a real difference in terms

of the player’s enjoyment. BioWare’s are industry leaders in this sense, acknowledging their wide demographic by making their RPGs accessible to players of all genders and sexualities.

20

@concrete_arts

www.concrete-online.co.uk

ARTS

concrete.arts@uea.ac.uk 05.03.2013

ARTS POLITICS: AMSELM KIEFER’S PRESENTATION OF WAR

Leigh Horan In 1945, the final year of the Second World War, artist Anselm Kiefer was born into a crippled Germany which had already witnessed the massacre of millions.

Logically, Kiefer’s preoccupation with this era has led to a body of work focused on this, and the myths that eventually propelled the Third Reich to power.

To me, it is Kiefer’s collection of work with the concluding painting “Margarete” which is particularly interesting. The majority of Kiefer’s paintings feature dark tilled fields and heavy, claustrophobic skies in dark color palettes, and suggest more than a proud German connection to land.

“Margarete” has gold corn, stretching up to the top of the canvas, suggesting a

possibility of growth, freedom and escape, against a background of blue skies.

The name “Margarete” comes from the poem “Death Fugue” by the Romanian poet Paul Celan. Celan alone of his family survived the concentration camps but later committed suicide at the age of 49. The poem is narrated from within the camp, the focus upon the blonde Margarete and her metaphorical contrast Shulamite, whose black hair indicates her Jewish origin and dooms her.

Throughout the poem continues a theme of digging graves “in the sky where it’s roomy to lie” and the collective “we” drinking black milk. The black milk is a corruption of life giving sustenance; that

most innocent nectar so important for growth is blackened and gives death.

In the poem, Margarete is representative of the Aryan selective, whilst Shulamite is Jewish and thereby representing the other “half ” of the nation. For Kiefer, Germany had maimed itself by the Holocaust. It had stripped itself of its own people. Only by uniting Margarete and Shulamite, and thereby, Germany’s people, could there be hope for a restoration of wholeness.

In “Margarete”, Kiefer’s knowledge of working in multiple medias allows him to represent Margarete’s blonde hair with the cornfield, the cornfield being actual corn on the canvas. At Margarete’s feet (at the roots of the corn) and in her

shadow is implied Shulamite, formed of black paint (“your ashen hair Shulamite”), suggesting her silent, erased presence, and the inextricable linking of these women implies the fiction of racial purity.

The painting is evocative once the viewer is aware of its context; it is easy to be misled by the bright colours on the canvas, and for this reason it seems necessary to have knowledge of the painting before viewing it. The painting itself is not stereotypical of war- feminine, with its imagery pertaining to fertility- but is a hope for reconciliation afterwards, fully expressing the concerns of any nation after turmoil. The painting depicts a longing to make the nation whole again.

SEX AND SELF HELP VENUE REVIEWS REWRITING THE RULES Amy Adams The self-help section is a scary corner of any bookshop. There are hundreds of titles promising perfection in your love life, your career, your soul - if only you’d follow a few easy steps.

The obvious response, of course, is that if it is so easy to fix every aspect of your life by reading a couple of books, then why are so many published? And why do they seem to contradict each other?

Combating this problem, Dr Meg Barker’s Rewriting the Rules claims to be an “anti-self-help” book. Rather than giving a set of rules which must be followed to the letter, Barker draws on her career as a psychology academic and

sex therapist to offer a critical look at the “rules” of relationships.

Do we really need to find “the One” to prove that we’re worth something?

If we break up with someone, is that relationship now meaningless? What about sex – does that always have to be “normal”? What if we don’t want to be with just one person?

Barker covers a range of topics in the book, including sex, gender, monogamy, conflict and love. She first examines what society’s current rules are, and the ways in which they often contradict each other. For example, we are told that sex is extremely important, but that you shouldn’t need to discuss it to do it well;

sex should be normal but also incredible every time - and anything else is a failure.

She then goes on to explain why it is important to question these rules: “bizarrely, there is still relatively little awareness that [penis-in-vagina] sex is actually unlikely to result in orgasm for women.”

Each chapter then offers alternative rules for each topic discussed. What if enjoyment was more important than being normal? What can we learn from bisexual or asexual people, from BDSM communities, from group sex? What if consent was the most important factor?

Finally, she goes on to examine how we might go beyond rules to “embrace

uncertainty”. Sexuality does not just involve being gay or straight, but many preferences and desires. Plus, “as well as being plural, there is increasing evidence that people’s sexualities are changeable and fluid over their lifetimes.” How we feel about sex at 15 is probably very different to how we will feel at 50.

Rewriting the Rules manages to communicate complex ideas accessibly, with examples from pop-culture as well as academia. And refreshingly, it nowhere claims to have all the answers; readers are encouraged to make up their own minds.

After all, there is no one-size-fits-all, easy fix for life – but the more we question ourselves and the society around us, the

ARTS

05.03.2013 concrete.arts@uea.ac.uk

www.concrete-online.co.uk

ARTS HISTORY GEORGIA O’ KEEFE: ARTIST, FEMINIST AND MODERNIST

@concrete_arts

21

Monica Schachtel Georgia O’Keeffe was born on 15 November on a farm in Wisconsin, to Irish and Hungarian parents. An artistic prodigy, she trained at the Art Institute in Chicago in 1905, and the Art Students League in New York in 1907. She won the League’s William Merritt Chase still life prize for a painting called Untitled (Dead Rabbit With Copper Pot) at 21.

In 1912 she enrolled in teaching courses at the University of Virginia. There she met a highly influential educator and artist, Arthur Wesley Dow. His instruction greatly influenced and encouraged Georgia’s style. Afterwards, Georgia taught art in Texas, where she developed an affinity for the South Western landscape.

From 1914-1915, Georgia attended Teacher’s College at Columbia University, where she mailed some charcoal drawings to a classmate named Anita Pollitzer. In 1916, Pollitzer sent them to 291 gallery owner and art connoisseur Alfred Stieglitz.

He would become her greatest heartache.

In 1918 she moved to New York to paint under his support. He publicized her work, and eventually they were married in 1924; he was 23 years her senior. He would go on to have several affairs, and publicly displayed his famous mistress, Dorothy Norman.

Georgia’s skilled modernist paintings became highly influential in the art world. She focused on the abstract forms of objects and sensuality. This drew both

J. Francis Perkin The last UEA Literary Festival featured Tracey Thorn (of 1980s duo Everything But The Girl) in conversation with Professor Lavinia Greenlaw. Topics included Tracey’s life, musical career, and her recently-published memoir, Bedsit Disco Queen: How I Grew Up and Tried to Be a Pop Star.

In 1982, Tracey Thorn formed Everything But The Girl with Ben Watt, a fellow-student at the University of Hull.

In front of an audience of fans, Thorn was able to speak candidly about stage-fright (she once refused to sing in front of her band, instead performing 1970s punk from inside a wardrobe), and difficulties working with record companies, while retaining a sharp sense of humour. This versatility is also present in a passage read from her book, describing her first day at

REVIEW: TRACEY THORN AT UEA’S LIT FEST Hull. She was, by the way, turned down

by UEA. Initially, Professor Greenlaw quizzed Tracy Thorn on her career, from buying her first electric guitar at sixteen – but no amp – to performing with Paul Weller in 1983, and an impromptu performance with Jeff Buckley at Glastonbury in 1995, during which she was “a bit pissed”.

As the evening developed, however, so did a more conversational atmosphere, and it was towards the end of the event – during a question-and-answer session – that Thorn made interesting remarks about the role of music for young people in the late-1970s. It was “mysterious”, she says, difficult to obtain and establish identities; a role that is now, to an extent, fulfilled by the internet. Thorn also addressed her discomfort over “having to be someone

else’ on stage, to audiences who expect ‘a version of me”. This fear, Thorn admits, has persisted throughout her career.

But this wasn’t apparent as she went on to speak movingly about Ben Watt’s struggle with Churg-Strauss Syndrome in the 1990s, upon which his own book, Patient (1996), is based. Thorn and Watt married in 2009, and although both now work independently, he played on her 2012 Christmas album, Tinsel and Lights.

This Literary Festival Event culminated in a book-signing of Bedsit Disco Queen in Waterstones. Despite Thorn’s sometimes joyous, sometimes sombre reflections, it was a consistently entertaining evening.

All profits will go towards Creative Writing Scholarships at UEA, an institution to which Tracey Thorn has certainly been a regretable loss.

Freudian interpretation, and admiration.

Her work was considered to truly represent “feminist iconography”, or the female form, according to activist Judy Chicago. It was said she marched to the beat of her own drum, wearing her hair in long, simple braids, instead of the crimped cuts of the time. She wore black and made her own clothes, abandoning the trendy flapper styles of the time.

Georgia was inspired by traveling.

Trips to Stieglitz’s home in Lake George allowed her to produce pieces like Lake George, Early Moonrise in 1930. Her time spent in the Big Apple led her to create the Radiator Building, Night, New York in 1927. Her favourite place was probably New Mexico. In 1929 she spent her first summer painting there, producing prolific works such as Pedernal in 1942. In 1940 she purchased homes in the state, and they served as a refuge from Stieglitz’s abuse until his death in 1949.

Unfortunately, in 1984 blindness forced O’Keeffe to retire, but the later years of her life were full. Her aid Juan Hamilton taught her pottery, and she travelled around the globe. In 1977 President Ford presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1985 she received the National Medal of the arts. Having no children of her own, she left Hamilton her estate after her death in 1986. She was 98 years old. She died a modernist, a feminist, and a global icon.

22

LISTINGS

www.concrete-online.co.uk

concrete.listings@uea.ac.uk 05.03.2013

ON CAMPUS

happening this fortnight Feminist Society KAOS UEA International Women’s Day The 6th Annual Kaos Fashion Show Thursday 7 March

International Women’s Day has been observed since the early 1900s and is now an official holiday in 27 countries worldwide and celebrated unofficially in many other countries. It is a day for celebration of women’s achievements and of the many improvements that have been made to women’s lives throughout the years, as well as looking to the future and the ways we can further improve women’s lives globally.

There will be a number of talks throughout the day in the LCR, on a variety of topics which affect women.

Events available are: 12:15 Nitya Rao (DEV) - Gender Justice and Violence 12:45 Helen Warner (PSI) - Women in Sport 1:15 Eylem Atakav (FTV) - Women, Islam and the Media 1:45 Vicki McDermott (PSY) - Violence in Intimate Teenage Relationships

2:15 Sarah Monks (ART) - Women and Art 2:45 Liz McKinnell (PHI) - Body Positivity and Street Harassment 3:15 Tori Cann (PSI) - Girlhood 3:45 Sanna Inthorn (PSI) - “I’m fit, I’m flirty and I’ve got double Fs.” Women and Sexuality on TV 4:15 Tessa Gilder Smith - Q&A with the newly elected Women’s Officer 5:00 Adrienne Jolly - Empowerment workshop, Arts 2.03.

From 7:30 there will be an evening of entertainment in the Blue Bar, featuring poetry, comedy and music from many talented women, as well as a special performance from the cast of UEA’s Vagina Monologues.

For more information on UEA’s Feminist Society, find them on facebook under UEA Feminist Discussion Group and Society, on twitter @UEA_Feminism or visit their blog at http://www. ueafeminism.co.uk/

Sunday 10 March Running into their sixth year of success, KAOS will once again be hosting one of the biggest LCR events of the year, fusing fashion with fundraising for a spectacular night of entertainment that refuses to disappoint. Collections created for the event by a coming together of local shops and top high street brands will be modelled

by UEA students for a fabulous night, definitely not to be missed!

All profits go directly to an orphanage in Kenya, where UEA KAOS members will spend the funds on the essential needs of the children.

Tickets are £4.50 advance or £5 on the door, with events starting at 7pm in the LCR. For more information on KAOS, find them on facebook at Kaos UEA, or on twitter @kaos_UEA

The Chapel Outreach Norwich “Getting Connected” Friday 8 March The Chapel Outreach Norwich is proud to host “Getting Connected” at Congregation Hall.

This event is an opportunity to dine and mingle, with free entry and food.

There will also be an opportunity to show off your talents, as well as games,

a motivational speech and informal chat.

This event takes place at 4.30pm in C.Hall, room 01.20.

For more information on this event, email t.ogundare@uea.ac.uk or call 07780243260

LISTINGS

05.03.2013 concrete.listings@uea.ac.uk

23

www.concrete-online.co.uk

5 March -18 March Live Music

Theatre and Comedy

5 March Mammal Hands & Andy Kirkham @ The Bicycle Shop Price £4 7.30pm The Bicycle Shop Johnnie Marr Price £19.50 7.30pm The Waterfront

11 March

12 March Heart of a Dog/ Milly Hirst @ The Bicycle Shop Price £3 7.30pm The Bicycle Shop 13 March Russell Swallow and the Wolf w/ Kimberley Anne and James Frost @ The Bicycle Shop Price £4 7.30pm The Bicycle Shop

Theatre 5-6 March A Midsummer Night’s Dream Price £14/£12 concessions 7.30pm The Playhouse The Sword in the Stone Price £13.50/£7 NUS 7.30pm The Waterfront

7-8 March

Comedy BUG#12 Price £15/£10 concessions 8pm The Playhouse

7 March

Lady Haha Price £10.50 7.30pm The Playhouse Paul Tonkinson Price £12/£10 concessions 8pm The Playhouse Pete Firman: Hoodwinker Price £15/£13 concessions 8pm The Playhouse

Club Nights 8 March

90s Videos Games LCR Price £3.50 10pm LCR

9 March

Non-Stop 90s + Alt 90s Price £4.50/£3.50 NUS 10pm The Waterfront

15 March

Meltdown + Britpoppin Price £4.50/£3.50 NUS 10pm The Waterfront

14 March Skunk Anansie w/Beware Of Darkness Price £24 7.30pm UEA LCR

Kutski Presents the Rave Alive Price £10/£8 10pm The Waterfront

15 March

Meltdown + Metal Lust Price £4.50/£3.50 NUS 10pm The Waterfront

12 March

16 March

Miscellaneous 5 March Literary Events presents Michael Symmons Roberts Price £7.00 7pm Lecture Theatre 1 Kaos Fashion Show 2013 Price £4.50 7pm UEA LCR

Photo: Chloe Hashemi Models: Matt Tidby and Chris Teale

8 March

9 March

A List Price £4.50 10pm LCR

Superheroes LCR Price £3.50 10pm LCR

14 March The Brew UK w/Bad Touch and Upgrade @ WF Studio Price £12 7pm The Waterfront

5 March

10 March

11 March Best of Vintage Norwich Awards 2013 Price £12/£10 concessions 7.30pm Norwich Puppet Theatre

12 March Literary Events presents Ruth Padel Price £7.00 7pm Lecture Theatre 1 15 March UEA Headlights Comedy Showcase Feat. Late Night Gimp Fight Price £5 (From Hive/Box Office) 8.30pm LCR Britten Centenery Concert Price £10/£7 concessions 7.30pm The Waterfront

16 March

UEA Dance Show 2013 Price £3.50 7.30pm UEA LCR

18 March

Literary Events presents Kathleen Jamie Price £7.00 7pm Lecture Theatre 1

GOT SOMETHING TO TELL UEA ABOUT?

If you’ve got a Society or on-campus event that you’d like to share, get in touch: concrete.listings@uea.ac.uk

COMPETITIONS concrete.competitions@uea.ac.uk

www.concrete-online.co.uk

05.03.2013

the venue crossword across

1

3. Being which can reproduce alone (7) 8. What is the internet for? (4) 9. Whale species known for its oil (5) 10. Only organ used solely for pleasure (8) 11.Without bends (8) 13. Most popular male contraception (6) 14. An inhabitant of Lesbos (7) 15. Latin word for ‘six’ (3) 16. Short for Richard (4)

2 3

5

6

7

8

9 10

down 1. The --- -- mightier than the sword (3,2) 2. Fun, full of joy (3) 4. The construction of a monument (8) 5. A tropical fruit (7) 6. 5,8008 upside-down (5) 7. Spoken (4) 12. Nat King Cole spelling song (4) 13. Male chicken (4) 14. One of the seven deadly sins (4)

4

11

12 13

14

15

16