Venue - Issue 247 - 9 November 2010 by Concrete - the official student newspaper of UEA.

I conuete.editor@ueo.acuk Venue Editor> Du neon Vicot-Brown I concrete.event@uea.ac.uk Editor-in-Chief> Donny Coli in

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Fashion Editor> Kat Jones

Deputy Fashion Editor> Honnoh Briff Fosh1on Contnbutors> Kat Jones, Honnoh Bntt

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Creative Writing Editor> Robert Van Egghen

Creative Wnting Contributors> Adeps1u Adetolo, Rochel Lum, Hazel (ompton l'r.l":"r':l~<.....:.&o:~:~-~,._\:o,~I.:A:.I~ I Television Editor>TosHo Golley Television Contnbutors> Helen Eaton Nota he Fletcher Helen Jones, Matt T1dby, Eleonor Brown

Wired Contnbutors>DJ Turner Wllhom Moron Stephen Pestor Vaughn Highheld, T1m Bates

MuSIC (ontnbutors> James Woodward Elhe Kumar Rose (lark, Alex Ross Joe Dobramxyk Chus Hayward Ed Leftw1ch Em1ly Pnchord Adorn Wedloke, Ant Firth (larke Alec Plowmon Duncan V1ca1 Brown

F1lm (ontnbutors> Tom Ross Lorna Ponterfract Bell Thomas, Josh Weotherill, Koty Ouigley, Drew N1Col, James Doc'keray Em1ly Baler Alek Stoodley Alec Plowmon, Paul Martin, Amy Gnfhths ~so.:n:l:li:3U~~I.:I.!.Ilo.:..Llcl.:.&.ll l Comedy Editor> Fiono Howord Comedy Contnbutors>George M1chael, Sarah Arnold, Duncon Vicot-Brown

Listings Contributors> lour a Hotten, Georgino Wade

Compet1t1ons (ontnbutors>Henry (roh

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D9NOV1DI ISSUE. 247

FASHION concrete.fashion@uea. ac . uk

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ONCE UPONA

8 TIME •••

This issue we look back to the times of yester-year. Yes, we have done vintage before, but th is is vintage w ith nosta lgic tendencies. Think of fashion as your diary, a window of memories and mix it with the brands you love from today. it's not all or nothing; it can be everything and anything. Deputy Fashion Editor Hannah Britt defines what vintage means to her, and Fash1on Editor Kat Jo nes captures the trend by recreating a fairytale favounte .

THE S M UG FACTOR

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"Everything I own is vintage lt smel ls funny. Maybe that's why I don't have a boyfriend." Lucy Liu has a point. Who wants to snugg le up to a cardigan that was prised from an incontinent old woman just before she was carted off to a home7 Lately, it would appea r that quite a lot of people actual ly would. Everything nowadays seems to be considered vintage, from a 1920s Chane l dress, to last year's Primark tights. "Oh this old th ing, it's vintage 1" is the worst answer someone can give when asked where their outfit is from. it's enough to make you want to punch t hem in the face. Pretentious idiots. You feel the need to correct them, to tell them that 1t's not vintage, it is second hand. it 's just old, and smells. Vintage, second hand, hand-me-down, plain old .. Whatever you want to call it, I must confess, that I myself am becom ing one of those terrib le peop le. After years of resisting, I have embraced the vintage.

Picture the scene, if you will. You're trudging around Topshop and uncover a beautifully oversized woolly jumper. You begin salivating. Then you looked at the price tag. The 7 and the 2 were the wrong way round. Gutted, you rem1nd yourself that you are a student who bought Tesco's value rice last night because Tilda's was a bit extravagant. You turn your back on the jumper and descend into a "shopping mood"you know, the most self indulgent, materialistic mood that your boyfriend can only relate to when you liken it to not being able to buy the latest and greatest Xbox game. You are truly grumpy, and stomp half-heartedly into a vintage store. You rummage whimsically; your heart IS not 1n it, you'd left it in Topshop on the sleeve of that JUmper. Suddenly, you come across something cream, somethmg woollen, something cable knit, something oversized Your shopping grump vanishes and is replaced by what you can only descnbe as smug satisfaction.

You hold in your hands a vintage version of the coveted jumper. lt wasn't going to be worn by hoards as the Topshop one would have been. And the best bit: it is only £1ol You could cry. Your boyfriend looks at you as if you've gone insane. This is the season to get your butt out ofTopshop and walk your feet to a vintage store. Charity shops are also fu ll of little gems if you take the time to rummage. Vintage shopping has one thing that high street shopping doesn't- the smug factor. I realise I have just lost hipster points by admitting to such a thing, but it is true. When asked where your outfit is from, answer them with a knowing, "Oh th1s old thing7 it's vintage I" Be safe in the knowledge that when someone compliments your dress, they cannot then go and buy it too. Selfish 7 Maybe. Satisfying 7 Definitely. Han nah Britt

LITTLE RED RIDING HooD AND THE BIG, BAD WoLF u

it's co ld, it's dark, it's lat e, yo u are wa rm and cosy in your pyjamas tucked up safely under the covers waiting for a bedtime st ory to ease you into the land of nod. A memory from the past maybe, but fairytales are not JUSt for children. Dark tales w ith disturbing ly w himsical ill ustrations by Tim Burton are one of many examples that fairytales are making a come back. So let this story lead you t hrough a world whe re vintage and modern entwine .

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Poppy Vale nti ne l.l. Ro yal Arcade N orwi ch NR2 l.NO Tel : Ol.6<?3 928802 http://www.poppyvalentine.com

Po ppy V alentine can be summed up in one word: 'darling'. When you were five years old, this would be the shop window you would stand on your tiptoes and press your face against to try and peek inside. Dreaming, hoping that when you grew up into a big girl (or a princess in my case) then you would shop in a p lace like this. Gleaming and glistening inside is a wardrobe of full sumptuous gold brocade cut into 6os minis, luscious candycane striped fabrics sculpted into flirty sos dresses, and elegant polka dot blouses w ith loose pussy bows. "You can look but you can't touch", my mother would tell the five-year-old me, but now I've blow n out my twenty one candles, I can happily cross the thresho ld and bask in vintage at its finest . Poppy Valentine relishes British heritage as it only sells products that are made in t he UK and each piece is lov ingly crafted by hand fr om a persona l co llection of fabrics. This means that many of the garments are one offs, accentuating that 'oh so special' feeling you get when you slip into something oozing with uppe r-c lass quality. Beyond clothes, there are charmingly made bags which mix leather and florals and quaint coin purses that are sealed with sat1n bows. This boutiq ue certainly mirrors its picturesque setting of the Royal Arcade, so shake the drop lets of your brol ly, catwalk it to the end of the arcade and play shop for real. Thanks to Tim and Claire for all their help.

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Venue would like to thank Elizabeth Lake and Michael Pointer for modelling for th is shoot. Thank you elements and Poppy Valentine for the clothes and support.

Elements 8 - 10 Lower Goat Lane Norwich NR2 1EL Tel : 01603 618661 http://www.elementsclothing .co .uk/ Having written many a time about Philip Browne of Norwich, let me introduce you to another of the city's treasures, which should be part of every man's black book. Elements is smaller than Phillip Browne but just as laden with an eclectic array of garments; its younger and equally dynamic cous in if you will. Situated just round the corner, step into a compact space of lacquered wood floors, streamlined white shelves, low snooker-sty.le lights and a soundtrack brimming with urban testosterone . High end labels?Yes . Pretentious? No. The balance is achieved by supplying the best of the British crop . Jam-packed with innovative designers from ou r kingdom, including Luke 77, which seeks to create an edgy look by merging traits of the gentleman with a bit of the rogue . it's your organic bacon, your free-range eggs, your 1ooo/o pork sausages, you r locally produced black pudding, say good morning to your fashion full English . it offers you what you know but better, familiarity but in quality. Savour the jeans, street tees and shoe selection downsta irs before moving upstairs to more substantial armour of blazers, sleek shirts, ties and scarves. With a confidently styled yet suitably rela xed team on hand to help. No doubt you'll leave feeling full and satisfied . KatJones

Hotlist Smokin'

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Accessori ze cosmetics collection

Mix and match nail colours

D-list celeb clothing lines

Poncho coats Bare ankles and boat shoes

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Essex: home to the vogue vintage fashion fair (sth/12/10)

Lanvin menswear atH&M

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D9NDV1DI ISSUE 24 7

ARTS>AUTUMN EVENTS

~ ART>'SuRREAL FRIENDs' ExHIBITION z

~ The Surreal Friends Exh ibit ion celebrates Ill the artistic achievements, astonishing _J lives and meaningfu l relationships of t hree leading female surreal ist artists of the 2oth century: British painter and scu lptor Leonora Carri ngton, Spanish >- painter Remedios Varo and Hungarian ~ phot ographer Kat i Horna. Surrea lism is ::E a form of expression exceeding rea listic 0 effects, but also one that involves an u element of surpr ise. This is appa rent in all three artists' work, where they have used previous life experiences in order to ::E produce unique and imaginative pieces. _J Th e ex hib ition t akes place in the Sainsbury lL Centre on the upper and lower ga ll eries. it is sp lit into three separate displays. The ex hibition presents viewers with the startling problematic world that the u three women encountered when targeted by the fierce Nazi regime. All three Ill :::J artists fled Europe for differing reasons. ::E and ended up in Mexico City in 1943. Though still young women, they had the experiences of a lifetime behind them and they shared memories of Paris, Surrealism, D the Spanish Civil War and WW II. Mexico w ([ offered the freedom they desired in order to explore their art in ways that had not 3 been possible before. Andre Breton once said Mexico was the surreal country 'par

exce ll ence.' Ka ti Horna (1912-2000) was th e first of the Surreal Friends to land in Mexico . She made a li vin g t hrough reportage and portraiture of the cultural elite, but

"they have used previous life experiences to produce unique and imaginative pieces" also produced independent work, often Surrealist and in series . The exhibition features Horna's captivating photography - first showing you atmospheric scenes from appealing Parisian cafes and flea markets of the 1930s, moving on to contrasting images showing the outbreak of the Spanish Civ il War which were photographed for Anarchist Repub lican magazines (Horna was a photojournalist for various newspapers). There are also a num ber of intimate images that document the lives

of her close friends, including Carrington and Varo. Leonora Carrington (b.1917) developed a high ly distinct ive sty le. Her comp lex paintings and sculptures feature humans, animals and fabled creatures- referencing fairy tales, myths and her Catholic upbringing. Horses are a reoccurring feature in her work and often symbolise her own situation. Works in the exhibition include Oans Below (1940-42) which shows a petrified horse, perhaps a symbol for the artist's own fear from when she was previously hospita lised in a menta l institution. Remedios Varo (1908-1963) produced a wealth of paintings inspired by her new home in Mexico, ful l of magic, humour and illusion. The awakening of her father's interests on philosophy, mysticism, plants and minerals are apparent in many of her works. This is seen in paintings such as The Creation of Birds (1957) which shows a woman transformed into a creature using a prism for aesthetic needs. The exhibition is skilfully arranged to showcase each of the artists' works as part of a la rger story of their lives and fully engages with the viewer to prov ide a hi ghly in te rest in g insight into these prominent Surrealist artists, regardless of

WORLD ART

COLLECTIONS

EXHIBmONS

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-"" whether you are an art stud ent or just a casual visitor.

The exhibition ends on 1.2th Decem ber 201.0 and is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue . Victoria Highfield

~ LITERATURE>IN PATAGONIA l'J

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In Patagonia was Bruce Chat w in's fi rst book, and was a radical departure from convention , yet a wo rk that has also

become a classic; having been ushered into the pantheon of great trave l w ri ting. His writing is sparse, laconic, stripped of extraneous adjectives, ar1d yet it spark les with clarity. it is a book which is easy to pick up and read even if, as when this reporter first picked up the book several years ago, you have never heard of Chatwin and are not entirely sure where Patagon ia is. At first Chatwin's style seems almost arid, but then the sca le of his interest becomes apparent, and nuggets of information on a vast range of subjects are dispensed with a contained and understated eloquence. The book is almost a sequence of anecdotes, a succession of characters encountered that range from We lsh farmers to Galic ian anarchists, and he ta lks to everyone: priests who believe in un icorns, exdes with ta les of Viki ngs in the Brazilian ra inforest, the Frenchman who is the se lf-proc laime d Kin g of Ara uca ni - eac h has their own story that adds colour to the sta rk scenery of Pat agon ia. He has an eye for the extraordinary, and is constantly uncovering hidden gems and making

connections, whether cataloguing Charles Darwin's dismay at the primitive Indians of Tierra del Fuego (who called them "most abject and miserable creatures" when they didn't fit in with his theory of evo lution), or searching for the remains of the ext in ct giant sloth, a piece of wh ich had sat in a glass case on his grandmother's mante lpiece.

\\sparse, lacon ic, stripped of extraneous adjectives, and yet it sparkles with clarity" Chatwin was fasc inated by the nomadic lifestyle, which became a recurring theme in his later work, and elements of it can be seen throughout In Patagonia. A great wa lker, he formed theories of how many

of the stresses of modern life could be alleviated by walking, and the lack of possessions, of being alone on foot in an empty landscape, of travelling at the natura l lope of the nomad's pace , all somehow shape the writing. Desolation Is land, Last Hope Sound, Hermit Is land the names that dot the map convey the sense of the land. Patagonia lies at the ends of the earth, and has attracted its share of eccentrics and fugitives over the years; Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid holed up in a cabin here for a whi le, and sightings of them continued long after their reported deaths in a shoot-out in Bolivia. Sorting the facts from the myths is impossible, and to an extent it doesn't matter - Patagonia was lo ng he ld to be a mythical place , and this book shows that the reality is no less fan t ast ic.

Jeremy Dales

09NOV10 ISSUE 24 7

Af=ITS

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LITERARY FESTIVAL>JOHN BANVILLE

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u UEA hosted its third event in its esteemed Autumn Literary Festival calendar by welcoming Man Booker prizewinner John Banville, also known as crime fiction writer Benjamin Black, to Norwich on 2oth October. Banville provided an illuminating insight into his life, and spoke candidly about his past, his faults, and his view of the world. Growing up in Wexford and going to an infamous Christian Brothers School, Banville began writing at an early age because he was "fascinated by words, in which Joyce was the ringleader". James Joyce, being a fellow Irishman from Dublin, was an eye-opening figvre that showed Banville "writing could be about life, life as I knew it". Other strong influences include Samuel Beckett's earnest prose and high style and W.B . Yeats' rhetorical stance on the world. Banville rejected the expected university pathway, instead choosing to educate himself - a decision that he now openly regrets, blaming his youthful ignorance for believing he could do anything himself, ("We take the directions

we take. Probably a mistake.") However, he still retains an essence ofthat stubborn arrogance, which is both comical in its own acknowledgement, and laudable, with his declaration that "anyone who wants to be an artist needs a healthy dose of arrogance". Banville's curiously open split public identity is a distinct decision, which he explains was in order to notify his readers about the departure in his writing style. Under the pseudonym Benjamin Black, he can quickly write a crime noire fiction novel in the space of 3 or 4 months, whereas to write a meticulous John Banville novel would take 4 or 5 years. In the Benjamin Black mode of fluid and spontaneous writing he can mentally view the novel's outline and structure, whilst the crafting of a John Banville post-modern novel which flirts with magic realism, invokes him with much more infuriation. He jokingly says that he keeps writing Banville novels in the hope that a new novel will exonerate him from all his previous ones, and that all he can do is "fail again, fail better." Banville is currently on aUK book tour

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promoting his latest book Elegy for April as Benjamin Black, the third instalment in his crime series set in ~950s Dublin, and his current Banville book The Infinities, an

elaborate and poetic mythical narrative.

u Carolina Bodmer

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THEATRE>UEA>GHETTO 0

nature, however the play as a whole handled it well. The projected photograph of the dead Jews as a backdrop for one of the songs was perhaps an exception as it was so shocking and could have been seen as excessive, however it brought home the reality of the issues that the Company had dramatized. The production made good use of the UEA drama studio, with short monologues projected from the balcony and an added stage on the right, providing different levels to the action of the play and holding the audience's attention throughout.

Ghetto was the first Minotaur Theatre production forth is academic year, and it was certainly a great way to start things off. An incorporation of live music, unforgettable performances and death; a Minotaur production is not one to miss. The performances from all of the cast were outstanding, especially that of the fantastically chilling character of 'Kittel', a Nazi officer in charge of the Jews. Terrifying yet comical, and slightly like a pantomime villain, 'Kittel' was so convincing that he made the audience feel constantly on edge. Dealing with the difficult subject of antiSemitism is not easy due to its controversial

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not one to miss" At some points it was slightly unclear as to whether we were viewing two different times; that of the ghetto in wartime and then years later, as certain costumes and scene transactions suggested such a transition . Nevertheless, as we left the studio with the whimpering of one of the Jews behind us, one thing was clear: Ghetto would not be an easily forgotten production - harrowing and poignant, it made for captivating and poignant viewing . Roberta Phillips

................... UniOn UEA OF

STUDENTS

The Union is expecting to take 250 students and stafffrom around Norwich to the National Demo -

the coaches wi 11 depart at ].3oam sharp and should return back to Norwich at approx. gpm You can still book your place- tickets available from the Box Office The Union has pioneered fabric wristbands, of which 3500 have been sold and distributed to student unions up and down the country - You still have time to buy yours!

What have we been up to?

Rob - Finance Officer

Tom - Communications Officer

Recruited a Chief Executive Developed and presented Focus Sport policy to Union Council Planning an induction for the new Chief Executive Helping out on the National Demo

Dan - Community & Student Rights Officer

Managed to fill all of the National Demo coa ches and booked 2 more!

Launching of the Union Volunteers Awards (check out ueastudent.comjvolunteer)

Helping out during the Chief Executive Recruitment

Organising Be Safe; we have 1000 Chlamydia kits and 2000 magnets to give away - keep your eyes peeled in week 8 (wfc 15th Nov) PLUS win ÂŁso at ueastudent.comjadvicejbesafe.

Organising electronic voting at Coun c il

Rachel -Academic Officer Student Experience Report Representing students to the University Helping out on the National Demo

C~EATIVE

09NOV10 ISSUE 24 7

W~ITING

AIR...

Carmen

Bound for Flight

I am awake but I can't wake up I feel it but I can't see it I'm not running away from my mirror I should pray lest things get ugly I should use mushrooms I need to see a lot.

Childhood is a bird whose soul is bound for flight. But men would clip their wings and force them to the ground . Remember this for tomorrow it'll ignite your dreams so bright.

M on et has done many things to the flowers I write for jokes Do you know the flowers? If you're in the mountains, there's nothing, there's anything. Angels are flying around You need to clean your soul, Carmi I don't know what I wrote Wait for it Where are my hands?

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Outside, the swing belongs to the little girl in white . Inside, the carpet brings the boy to a quaint Arabic town . Childhood is a bird whose soul is bound for flight. Grown -ups gather just to witness such a sight. Their bullets pierce the air till the crows come crashing down . Remember this for tomorrow it'll ignite your dreams so bright.

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Some, in pain, let go and choose to lose the fight; Others in a whisper let the message be passed round Childhood is a bird whose soul is bound for flight .

Those who still believe, like a swan that holds on tight Glides beyond the clouds, the sunlight captured in its crown. Remember this for tomorrow it'll ignite your dreams so. bright.

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Adepoju Adetola Who knows' Your reverie from yesterday just might Be a phoenix perched upon an ashy mound . Childhood is a bird whose soul is bound for flight: Remember this for tomorrow it'll ignite your dreams so bright. And that was when it all seemed beautiful, impossible, for he reached out deftly, and stole the balloon some child had let go as it sailed into the air, caught it before it was lost into the void of the unknown . And that was when it all seemed easy, impossibly easy, to know what she was to do. Just as he deftly plucked the balloon from the fearful sky, she plucked their baby from the sable choice of abortion and decided to clutch it, clutch it, sure that in clutching it, he would be just as amazed of her red, magic hold as the rubber hold of the balloon.

Rachael Lum

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But he was not amazed, he was horrified . He sat there, stoic as she now did in the garden, before his eyes turned to the balloon. He began to loosen his fingers like it was the baby, like if he let go, the baby would do too and whilst the balloon would rush upwards, a small dot of red in a harsh white sky, the baby would fall down, a large splash of red against the small white of her underwear. His last finger was loose from the balloon; it was about to float upwards, before Carrie's hand grabbed it, held it with her. She was going to keep the baby, even though that meant losing the boy as he glided, without a second's glance back, out of the carnival and away, into the cloud of people, never to be seen again.

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She cradled the balloon once more, before placing it back into the shed, its crib, waiting for when it would grow older, loose its youthful smoothness and wrinkle, like the foretelling of her own child . The balloon was replaceable, the boy was replaceable, but the choice was not.

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Creative Writing Events

Wednesday 17th November headCrash Cabaret - Russell J Turner presents a full -on spoken -word extravaganza with a dash of comedy and music at The Birdcage, 23 Pottergate, Norwich from 8:3opm. Only ÂŁ2.oo entry for "words, booze, and more sexy mo-fos than you can shake a stick at".

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An Evening of Prose and Poetry with lane Ormerod and Ashley Stoke- Unthank Books present An Evening of Poetry and Prose with Jane Ormerod (Recreational Vehicles on Fire, u Films, Nashville Invades Manhatten) and Ashley Stokes (Touching the Starfish and SubGrubStreet) at The Workshop, 53 Ear/ham Road, Norwich from 7:3opm . Free entry.

Here is a painting by John Copley to inspire you for the next issue ... Email your submissions to:

Wednesday 24th November

concrete. creativewriting@ uea .ac. uk

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Rose Tremain at UEA Literary Festival - Author of The Road Home and Music and Silence and winnerWhitbread Novel oft he Year Award and the Orange Broad band Prize for Fiction appea rs at UEA Literary Festival in LT1. from 7pm. Live video-link tickets available for ÂŁ2.50.

17th November

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09NOV10 ISSUE 247

TELEVISION DOWNLOAD: GLEE

PRIMETIME: THE EVENT

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What is The Event/T hi s is the first quest io n that arises after viewing t he t ra iler for t he latest US televis ion show to air in t he UK however, afte r watch ing the fi rst few episodes the answer is sti ll so mewhat of a mystery. The Event fo ll ows the story of Sean Walker as he sea rches for his girlfri end, Leil a who ha< been kidnapped by a woman who may or may not have so me connect ion to th e government. During his search, as with any typical US drama , Sea n manages to stumb le upon a conspiracy. Alongside this runs the narrative of t he President of the United States who IS uncovering and attempting to publicise said conspiracy. Whi le this may all seem reasonably standard viewing, everything is thrown off balance when a plane disappears midair and reappears in the desert. How on earth did this happen7 We ll it was the wo rk of aliens of course; aliens who are being he ld prisoner by the United States government and who, natura lly, are not alone. it is seemingly impossible to watch The Event wit hout mak in g co mpa ri so ns to Lost, Flash Forward and 24. The Event, like so many

befo re, has it all: the damsel in distress, the devot ed yet somewhat use less boyfriend, t he sympathetic FBI agent, t he mo rall y con fl ic ted President, the guy who may not be who he appears to be, not to ment ion al iens, t raito rs, massive ly exaggerated cliffhangers and a narrat ive timel ine that JUmps around all over the place for no apparent reason. While the premise for the prog ramme might have promise, it could simply be a repe t it ion of everyt hing that has been before. How long will it be before viewers get tired of waiting for answers7 Have we, as an aud ience, not learned our lesson from the likes of Lost? Although it managed to ho ld on for six se ries, it was only the most loyal and stubborn viewers who lasted until the end, determined for answers; the same might not be true of The Event.

Helen Eaton

With t he second season already in full swing over in America , if you stil l have n't see n Glee yet , where have you been7 The hyper-cheerful, hy per-energet ic hit show, whic h has made immediate stars of its all - sing ing all -dancing cast, has al ready ga ined a dedicated fol lowing, inc luding a who le host of ce lebrity fans who've been battling it out for a chance to appear on the show (a spec ial Britney Spears-themed episode kicked off season two, guest-starring the lady herself, no less). The show is hyper-hyped, but for once it's ful ly deserved. Believe t he hype. Glee tru ly is glee-ful. Set in William McKinley High School, Glee fo ll ows the highs and lows of the school's newly reformed Glee Club, New Directions, a club whose misfit members, branded 'Gieeks' and ostracised by their peers, struggle to deal with the sexual and social difficu lties of ado lescence, at the same time as having to fend off the advances of their arch nemesis, rival show choir Vocal Adrenaline, whi lst being led by teachers as clueless as they are. And all t his set to an amazing soundtrack, performed by a wildly, if not annoyingly

COMING SOON: TEMPTING FATES r0:

ea rt h; a university researcher. The mismatch of styles suc h as rea lit y TV, d rama and comedy come

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\\The show 1s hyperhyped, but for once, it's fully deserved" somet imes tugs on your heart strings too, meaning you'll soon be sucked into the dizzying world of Finn and Ouinn and Sue and Shue, and of course, mash-ups. Glee is perhaps the happiest show on TV but surprisingly, never sickly and always smart. Oh, and it's rea lly funny too. But don't worry, you've still got plenty of time to catch up as sadly the show doesn't return to UK screens until next January. N atalie Fletch er

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HElEN JONES TAI<ES A lOOI< AT THE NEW lOCAl DRAMA, TEMPTING FATES

t alented cast 1 What mo re could you ask for7 Wit h its charming mix of qu irky si ll in ess, ludicrous ly imp lausib le storylines and occas iona lly importa nt life lesso ns, th e awa rd winning show consistently entertains and

Te mp t ing Fat es presents an enterta inin g p lot w ith a nove l t w ist. M oc kin g The X Factor, it begi ns w ith t he t hree app re nt ices be ing chose n by a pub li c vo t e. T he thr ee gir ls are t hen sent t o eart h to prove th e m se lves, and lea rn th e ski ll s th ey w ill nee d in orde r t o t ake over from th e retirin g Fates. In ea ch epi sode th ey re ceive a mi ssion , rem iniscent of The Apprentice, whi ch the y have t o d ec iph er and so lve wi th t he he lp o f t heir contact o n

together cleverly in this or iginal p iece of programming. There is one major downfall; the whole thing is shot using hand he ld cameras, one for eac h g ir l. While this is a potentially good idea, and re fl ects the reality TV style, it does n't completely work and the number of ' Face book profi le p icture' sty le shots are slig ht ly cringeworthy. At t imes t he sty le seems fi tt in g; f o r examp le, w hen th e came ras are used to create video diaries. But , in m ost ca ses, th e c haract ers are all t oo awa re th at th ey are bei ng fil med , and even w hen it is obvio us t hat t hey sho uld be t alking t o th e oth er peop le in the scene , t hey seem to di rec t all their att e nti o n and eye contact t o t he came ra. This gets too muc h w hen t he gir l be hind th e cam e ra frequentl y t urns it on t o her own face to speak th e

line that is clearly directed to another character, not to the supposed audience. So, although the idea was good , t he way it is carried out has some fatal flaws. However, that said, the characters are likeable enough, and occasionally it is even quite funny. Also, for an amateur piece, the special effects are very impressive and seem almost professional. The programme does have potential and it is exciting to see somethi ng fi lmed in and around N orwich. Perhaps t he stro ngest aspect of t he show is it s continued devo ti on to in vo lve stud ents from U EA, NU CA and City Col lege . On those grounds alone , it is de fi nite ly wort h a wa t ch.

Tempting Fates is available to watch online now. Visit www. temptingfates . eo m He len Jones

[Y OUR CHAliCE TO GE., IIIVOLVED: Cash pnze competitions of ÂŁ25-f~oo are runn1ng alongside the launch, includ ing the chance to wri t e the first episode ofthe series . For more details, visit the we bsite.

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FA1'ES

TELEVISION

091\JOV1G ISSUE 24 7

WAR TIME TELEVISION

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In honour of Remembrance Day, Venue takes a look at some war time TV classics.

BLACI<ADDER GOES FORTH

DAD'S ARMY

Simply put, Blackadder Goes Forth is mind bogglingly perfect television. The hilarious, pitch-perfect and, ultimately, touching conclusion to the Blackadder franchise remains beloved by a huge cross-section of British society. With a sterling cast that modern-day producers would throttle their own mothers for, and scripts from the now legendary Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, it took to the trenches of the Somme in World War One and found comedy gold in the darkest of places. Always treading a fine line between intelligent satire and endearing silliness, the series charts the schemes and struggles of Captain Edmund B l ackadd~r (Rowan Atkinson) and his motley crew of loyal comrades (Hugh Laurie and Tony Robinson), as they battle to avoid 'having

it's impossible to talk about wartime TV shows without mentioning the classic BBC sitcom Dad's Army. Set in the fictional seaside town of Walmington-on-Sea, Dad's Army chronicles the formation of the town's Home Guard, a group of men either too young or too old to go to war but still had the desire to defend England during her hour of need.From defending local telephone lines to orchestrating river patrols, throughout its 8o episodes, Dad's Army gave viewers many memorable catch phrases and hilarious scenarios. But Dad's Army isn't all about the 'don't panic!' and 'stupid boy' moments: the melting pot of the entire show is without a doubt the dynamic relationship between Captain Mainwaring, the Manager of the local bank, and his deputy both in the

their brains blown out for Britain', an occupation readily encouraged by the insane General Melchett (Our Universa l Emperor, Stephen Fry). The series is well loved because it successfully amuses and entertains, whilst providing a cutting satire against the thoughtless slaughter of the Great War. A subject very closely bound to the British identity of the post-war period. The final episode, as Blackadder and his friends finally prepare to go over the top, is one of the most finely written and acted pieces of comedy in the history of British television. lt is funny, warm, endearing, intensely moving but also stingingly critical of the attitudes and fallacies of an era of great heroism and great loss. MattTidby

office and in the Home Guard, Sergeant Wilson. Arthur Lowe's glorious pomposity and John Le Mesu rier's carelessness, is one of the forgotten yet truly great comedy partnerships of the 2oth century; both actors always gave confident and amusing performances, even on the rare occasions when the plots were a little too zany for words. Yet the accumulation of nine series' work came with a poignant tribute to the men who gave up their free time and sometimes their lives, to serve their country. And that's the true beauty of Dad's Army: although it's very much a sitcom which portrays the funnier antics of the Home Guard, it never seeks to mock the work those men did but celebrate their courage and determination. Eleanor Brown

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Following the massive success of Band of Brothers, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks returned earlier this year with the release of The Pacific. The show follows the same formula as its predecessor, tracing the events of a select group of Marines and their true experiences in Guadalcanal. While the opening episodes may have been criticised for the slow moving character development, it is precisely this that makes The Pacific fascinating. Unlike Band of Brothers the protagonists of the programme are somewhat unrelated; the stories of Robert Leckie, John Basilone and Eugene Sledge run alongside each other but rarely cross paths and therefore provide alternative accounts of the events in the Pacific. The Pacific picks up straight after the attack on Pearl Harbour with the Marines, and the audience, are dropped onto a

silent, secluded beach, the complete opposite of what has been seen before in Band of Brothers and especially Saving Private Ryan. There is a clear presentation of a side of World War 11 which is relatively under-represented and yet is likely to have had the most devastating effect on those involved . The Pacific undoubtedly focuses on the psychological effects of war rather than the physical effects shown in Band of Brothers this is most effectively represented in the character of Eugene Sledge. The audience is presented with his journey from humdrum yet incredibly moral life in Alabama to a gold-tooth stealing killer. lt is this development of character that is present throughout the programme that makes The Pacific gripping.

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back in 2006, w ith Wi i Sports becoming a fad in hom es, pubs and ... we ll, anywhere w ith electricity rea ll y, but with the launch of Sony's M ove and Microsoft's Kinect the novelty of pointing a contro ll er at th e screen as it mimics your body movement is no longer an exclus1ve one. Sales figures show that the Wii has so ld a 'few more' units than both the Playstation 3 and the X box 360 (somewhere in excess of

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Since the arcade release of Donkey Kong in l98l Nintendo have been a household name and a family favourite when it comes to video games entertainment, as the success of the aptly titled Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was testament t o back in l983. With a multitude of bot h ho me and handhe ld conso les under thei r belt, Nintendo recently ce lebrated the 25th birthday of a gammg milestone - Super Moria Bros. (If you didn 't feel old before reading this article I can promise that you wi ll by the end of itl), which has raised the question "are Nintendo stil l doi ng it right'" At a glance it may be easy to dismiss any accusations leve ll ed at Nintend o losing their t o uch. As of thi s September the combined models of Nintendo OS had so ld over l35 mi lli on units, making it the best-se lling handheld conso le of al l time, and the secon d best-se lling co nso le overall (beaten on ly by the Pl aystat ion 2), though in a rap idly advanci ng home conso le market are Ni nt endo sw imm ing or trea ding water 7 The Ninten do Wii was initial ly well recei ved

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30 million per conso le to be more precise ... ), however the latest financial reports show losses for Nintendo for the first time si nce the Wii launched back in 2006 coup le this with Sony and Microsoft bringi ng their appeal to the famil y market, - and all in HO - one has to wonder what oth er t ri cks th e Wii ha s up its big w hit e sleeve. Rumou rs of the Wii HO were thinned out at

t here is the odd great t1tle here and there (franchise heavy weights Zelda, Met raid and frankly anything with Mario in the title ... oh and then th ere's the new GoldenEye 007), and the DS consoles are never short of a good timeki ller w hen Professor Layton pops in for hi s annua l magical mystery tour, th oug h if co nsumers are after a big mindblowing technically impressive game

world since then, and the blue Hedgehog, ironically, just hasn't been able to keep up. Hi s recent efforts have been generally received as a string of failures, full of poor gameplay, lame dialogue, an unlikeable cast and have generally been seen as bad all-round. There's no denying it; up until this year, Son ic's career has been in a tailspin . However this year its all set to change, because Sonic Team finally seem to be listening to the waves of anger fans have been throwing at them for the last decade; Sonic 4, Episode l, a download-only title for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 was a wel l

received trip down memory lane, paring the gameplay down to the bright colours and fast speeds that made the early Sonic games so popular. But, Sonic Team's real efforts to revive this franchise are being focused on the next full console release: Some Colours . The game looks just as simple and retro as Sonic 4 was, and structurally, 1t's the same as always; here's a long linear colourful pathway littered with evil robots, start running . The plot is also pleasantly simple; the ev il Doctor Eggman has built a series of planet-sized theme parks designed to capture members of an alien race called the 'Wisps', and it's up to Sonic to go save them. The twist here is, each of these Wisps have special powers depending on what colour they are, and, the more Sonic rescues, the more Powers he unlocks; there's one that turns him into a laser beam, one that g1ves him unlim ited boost, etc. The developers say this is going to add a real d1versity to the gamep lay, without sacrificing the core of the experience fans have always loved. Fans have obviously approached this 'g immick' with some caution; Sonic Team

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Sonic the Hedge hog is a well-known name in the Video Game world Ask any Gamer tod ay and they'l l either go misty-eyed about his heydays on th e Sega Genesis 111 the go's, or start rag ing at you about pretty muc h everything he's been in sin ce then. Back when the world was 2-0, no -one denies that Sonic was one of the best, most beloved mascots in the Industry, with a string of huge hits and games still beloved by fans today. But, a lot has changed in the Gaming

E3 earlier this year when Nintendo claimed they woul d have a bigger surprise for th e indu stry. Hmm .... lt ha s be en a while si nc e vid eo ga m e designer and producer Shigeru Miyamoto stated that Nintendo are interested in wo rking in HD, though not at the risk of sullying the game play experience . Ironically the current Nintendo consoles are not known for delivering quality games. Sure,

most w ill find th emse lves turning to the other major consoles. The 3DS, due for release next March, shou ld give Nintend o a much needed kick, and this wil l no doubt be a great adva ncement in the handheld market, but it's not going to be the same as blowing up the Helghast Empire (Killzone 3) on your massive full HO 3D Panasonic television is 1t' Yet lt seems that Nmtendo are happy churn ing out their eclect ic mi x of classic hardcore games (for the diehards) and super fun social party games (for families and casual fun). it's a good formula, and you really can 't beat a s1mple well-made game like Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but when we consider where the industry is heading it is sometimes d1fficult to see a place for Nintend o another 25 years down the line (unless you fancy a quick whizz on Mario 2035 - possib ly 1n H0 1). Th ere is no doubt that the Wii and OS currently offer the best range of games for the widest range of consumers (there really is somethmg for everyone), and as stated above the sales are definite ly there, but and it's a big one - there is no doubt that 2on wi ll be a trying year for Nintend o as Sony and Microsoft enter the family playing field , and with all the recent advancements in the gaming industry will Nintendo still offer th e full package 7 The proof is in the plumbing. DJ Turner

have said the1r newest ideas w ill enhance the core gameplay of this franchise before, but none of the past efforts have stuck. But, here, it ju st might be true; th e gamep lay we've seen so far with the Wisps has been fast, and flowed well with the fast pace of the series; the style of the early games is clear in the theme park aesthetic. There's no guns, no human g1rlfriends for Sonic to awkwardly mumble romantic lines to, Sonic Team really do seem to have fina lly found that balance for Sonic in the modern Gaming world . But, we' ll have to wait until November nth to find out for sure. Tim Bates

- A hopeful return to form for the franch1se with all the lessons learnt on the way.

-Potentially another 2.50/3 D Sonic to fail t o capture the son ic essence.

09NOV10 I SS U E 247

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Ul Fun links to pass the time between socialising and learning . LoadingReadyRun An Internet sketch comedy troupe that specialises in surreal humour in odd situations. Often video game related and highly self- referential. http://loadingreadyrun.com Spreadshirt An online clothes store - with a twist! You can design and sell shirts yourself through this website, as well as buy other peoples' des1gns . http://www.spreadshirt.co.uk The Daily Squee Thi s site is part of the 'cheezburger network', famous for its site on lolcats - cats given captions, effectively. No matter what your fee lings are on them, however, you can't deny that cute assortment of animals in adorable poses is the best way to end the day, which is what daily squee is. http://squee.icanhascheezburger.com/ Gametabs Ever been playing guitar, and thought 'wouldn't it be awesome to play the theme song to <enter game here>? Now you can! Gametabs offers a larger variety of gaming music than is available on a more general tab website . http://www.gametabs.net Stephen Pester

Microsoft is re-entering the smart phone market with a new mobile Operating System (OS), and a new line of phones. it looks set to succeed and give Apple and Google a run for their money. Why is Windows Phone 7 (WP7) so great? The standout feature is an innovative user interface (UI) . Android and iPhoneOS have several home screens that slide from side to side, on which there are icons that launch various functions . Microsoft's approach IS rather different, both aesthetically and in principle . The new approach is that users should be able to get all the basic information updates they want or need w1th a single glance at the simple, minimalistic home screen. Instead of clicking on each icon to get updates on their Facebook, emails, etc, there is one home screen . On this screen are two columns of squares - or 'live tiles'. Each of these 'tiles' represents functions and applications of the phone, and change dynamically, in real time, whenever something is updated. So if someone updates a thread on Face book, the 'People' tile on the home screen changes to reflect that. Touching the People tile shows all updates on Facebook or other social networking sites the user has subscribed to, and this is pretty much how everything works in WP7- a tile changes to reflect an update, you either think "ok, great" and leave it at that or you think "I want to know more" and press the relevant tile . it's a slick, efficient way of doing business. Microsoft have apparently learned

from the battle between iPhoneOS and Android that users enjoy the freedom to customise their phone, so all the tiles can be rearranged, and their colours changed. Despite this, some might be put off by the 2D -esque Ul, which isn't as shiny as that of

Android or iPhoneOS. it certainly gets the

job done, though. In the past, Windows Mobile was used very little by ordinary consumers because it was fiddly, slow and often did not offer any utility useful to the average person

beyond a weak web browsing .capability. Furthermore, the phone hardware was often underpowered, meanmg the already awkward software would often run sluggishly, providing a bad user experience. Microsoft has since mass1vely improved their phone software with WP7, and taken control of the end user experience by only licensing the OS for use on handsets that meet Microsoft's exacting hardware requirements . This means that the phones now have much improved software that isn't hampered by poor hardware . Each handset must pass a gauntlet of Microsoft tests, and have standardised hardware. Each phone must have the same four hardware buttons, at least 8GB of builtin flash storage, high-end CPU 's, high resolution capacitive touch screens and a camera that IS at least 5 megapixels or more with flash . So, all phones running Wmdows Phone 7 are fast and aren't lacking in any hardware area . The only thing differentiating them will be external casing- the shape, colours, presence of hardware OWERTY keyboards and so on . So far, no one has been able to come up with a 'perfect' smart phone operating system, but it was generally accepted that Wmdows Mobile was rather bad. W1th WP7, Microsoft is making a strong attempt at re-entering this burgeoning market, and if you are in the market for a new phone, this new platform is certainly worth a look.

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Some of the best, most interesting or just downright funny people tweeting right now! @TheOnion - Americas greatest satirical news source has its own Twitter feed' Follow the random, and continually funny, 'news' updates that perfectly sum up the political and social attitudes of American society. @JimCarrey -As spontaneous and irregular as the man himself. Follow his semi-regular updates and tweetpic posts that show he is as crazy off screen as he is on. He also seems to be arming his Twitter followers into an unnvalledÂˇ military force, just in case you fancied joining. @pitchforkmedia - Fan of music? Want to keep up to date with the big artists, the small artists and next big thing? Pitchfork media is the best place to do it 1 Now utilising Twitter as well as their own website, no longer will you be musically left in the dust.

Boxer

Celtx

With an increase in old MSDOS games, such as Escape from Monkey Island and Elder Scrolls I and 11, turning up for free on many game developers websites, the urge to relive the classics is too strong . Previously it was an exercise in tedium getting MS DOS to work on your computer, let alone your Mac. With DOS box failing to be a viable replacement for MSDOS, Boxer has answered all Mac users prayers. Boxer is quintessentially Mac. it turns the trial and error of mounting and installing games into a simple drag and drop action. it makes playing gems of the past for five minutes plausible as it wont take :1.0 minutes to launch a game. it even installs all your games and manages them in one easy to use and browse folder, and it does all ofthese things for free 1

Celtx is a free software programme designed to help you plan and create industry standard written media, and is particularly handy for screenplays and theatre. From creating storyboards to applying the finishing touches, Celtx makes great use of its simple and easy to use interface so that the user can get to grips with the preproduction of their chosen media . Writing a script? Loglines, scene headings and even actions can be done in seconds with the software's handy hot-key features, making this a perfect companion for drama and. film students; anyone who has ever tried to format a script in Word will find a much needed breath of fresh air here. Available on your laptop and your iPhone, Celtx means that you're never far from your project, and if you fancy getting some feedback on your work simply up load your script to the Celtx forum and let loose!

http://boxer.washboardabs.net/

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would have been proud h T e two entrepreneurs • : start to provide dead ••••••••••••• ••• •.: bodies to Dr. Knox and Dr. Director John Landis Monroe in what, at first, places a black-comedic seems a slightly immoral blanket over the historic but plausible business. However, as demand and murderous Irish immigrants William Burke increases, supply struggles (Simon Pegg) and William to keep up, leading Burke and Hare to start Hare (Andy Serkis), as they > attempt to make a living in killing civilians in order to 0 Edinburgh. maximise their business UJ potential. ::!: After failing to sell Although murderous, 0 goods in a TrottersU lndependent-Traders- funny and incompetent, Burke and Hare are esque approach, the two characters venture into crowd pleasers, but do have their ::!: the everyday world of the they enemies; the three man ..J corpses-for-dissection industry; everyday at least strong Edinburgh Militia IL for two medical professors (effectively the police of teaching human anatomy 1828) . Ronnie Corbett by dissection, in lectures gives a fantastically funny that Gunther van Hagen dimension to their leader

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A word of warning: don't see this film if you have a ~ weak stomach, and even if you don't- take a sick bag. .~ But anyone with a vague UJ idea what Jackass entails a: knows the set up. Indeed U the audience gets it all, from dog poo to pulled teeth, often featured in glorious one thousand frames-persecond slow-motion. After possibly the most visceral opening credits scene you'll see this year, the film jumps straight z into traditional Jackass 0 fare with a basic but effective first stunt, 'The High Five'. From there the stunts become increasingly excruciating, with selfinflicted pain and bodily

Captain Mclintock, whilst his two haemophobic assistants help complete the visual definition of bad law enforcement.

pulled out of a corpse and snapping vertebrates are not your cup of tea then you'll want to look away and read your popcorn box.

The scarce laughout-loud moments are treasured when they come, which is unfortunately all too rarely. Also if blood soaked lungs being

Constant cameos during the film work well for light entertainment; Stephen Merchant's googly eyes provide one laugh in his short thirty

fluids flowing liberally. Some of the scenes are so agonising, such as the 'Lamborghini Tooth Pull', that they wouldn't seem out of place in the latest Saw movie. Unfortunately, amid stand-outs such as 'Super Mighty Glue', most stunts fail to generate many laughs. The 3D technology neglects to add much freshness to the now slightly tired format; although the team manage to use it to great effect in the exhilarating final scenes. Alas, Jackass 3D too often whiffs of stale ideas and stuntmen past their best. That said, the film still manages to appeal best when making you writhe back into your seat, barely daring to watch. Josh Weatherill

FANATICAL ABOUT FILM

FACT: Originally cast as William Burke. David Tennant's timetravelling prowess was brought into question as he had to decline due to work commitments.

8URKE AND HARE :O i;;ct~;: j~h~ t:~Ji ; •o.Release Date: 29/10/10

seconds of glory. Amidst the admirable cast are decent actors such as Tom Wilkinson, Jessica Hynes, Christopher Lee and Reece Shearsmith (The League of Gentlemen). But the most satisfying cameo is Michael "Ca I m- Down- De a r-ltsOnly-a-Commercial" Winner. An axed down falling tree sends Winners' horse and carriage over a cliff edge as Burke and Hare try different methods to become connoisseurs of accidenta I ly-on-purpose murders; what a shame Esure wasn't around in the seventeenth century. Bill Bailey, who plays a hangman, directly addresses the audience at the beginning and the end of the film, contextualising

ASYA

Would you lie and pretend to be a whore in high school to get popular and noticed7 This may sound very contradictory, but Easy A is a true testament to the famous saying 'Any publicity is good publicity'. The film stars the witty and gorgeous Emma Stone who plays Olive Penderghast, a droll and clever girl who pretends to sleep with the boys at school in order to propel her social status up the proverbial 'high school pyramid'. The movie is a cross between the high school classic Saved and the US drama series Gossip school

drama

the location, characters, and livelihood. This works well at the beginning, but the ending seems a cop out to clearly tie off some loose ends when the film's budget started to run out. Safe cinematography provides a gateway to consider the script in more detail, which unfortunately suffers from the multitude of actors employed. The leads are so caught up in chasing after their goal that it is never apparent who they really are; its best to check beforehand whether Pegg is Burke or Hare. Complicating the story is Ginny (lsla Fisher), who seems just to be there to give the marketing team a marketable love interest. Tom Ross

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the film aside, highlight how white lies can misconstrued and blown out of proportion. Also starring is Amanda Bynes (Marianne) who plays a puritan that condemns Olive for her brazen alleged sexual misconduct. Both actresses have a good chemistry on screen with funny banter such as "There's a higher power that will judge you for your indecency", to which Olive replies "Tom Cruise"7 Overall, it is a light hearted comedy to watch, however the whole plot seems a little bit far fetched, and lacking in depth. As chick-flicks go, it's no Mean Girls, but you could do much worse; Wild Child, anyone7

Girl. High

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The Kids are Alright follows the lives of lesbian couple Nic (Annet.te Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore) whose family life is thrown into disarray when their eighteen year old daughter Joni decides to bring her sperm donor dad, Paul (Mark Ruffalo), back into their lives. Paul's laid back approach to life doesn't sit well with Nic's nononsense, controlling manner and, as both Jules and the kids become closer to him, the cracks in the couple's relationship begin to show. With a recent influx of films focussing on the theme of artificial

insemination, such as The Back Up Plan and The Switch, it would be easy to assume that this film is merely regurgitating the same tired ideas. However, this simply isn't the case. Writer and director Lisa Cholodenko has managed to create an incredibly intelligent comedy, moving seamlessly from scenes of excruciating social awkwardness, which will have you dying inside, to intense, bittersweet moments. Annette Bening gives a particularly great performance, and has a surprisingly convincing chemistry with Julianne Moo re, creating one of the most witty and moving films of the year. it's already generating a ton of awards buzz; don't write it off come Oscar season. Lorna Pontefract

••••••••••••••••••• •Director: Debs Gardner- • : Paterson : Release Date: 22/10/10

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After finding themselves in the Congo rather than t he trials for the World Cup 20~0 opening ceremony, t alented Rwandan footballer Fabrice and his manager decide not to give up. They embark on a quest t o get to South Africa on foot, picking up Fo reman George, an ex child soldier, and Celeste, an escaped sex sla ve along the way. Africa United is colourful and bright, but clearly has taken much of its style straight from Slumdog Millionaire and unfortunately pales incomparison . The editing and styling has been borrowed from

its forerunner and pulls it off for the most part, but the attempt to tackle issues within Africa falls short. The 88 minute running time means that everything the group have to endure, whether it be crime, war or encounters with sex slaves, is brushed over. As the film goes on the story is rushed with the team's progress shown using dots on a map and montages, leaving the film seem empty at heart. On the other hand, the use of stop motion animation and the characters cheerful personalities make th is a light hearted and enjoyable film, even if it is a little hollow. Maybe next time they will try and tackle a smaller slice of Africa, like

Hotel Uganda . Katy Ouigley

: : : •••••••••••••••••••• Normally, it would be difficult to review a film like Saw without having to give a spoiler alert. Luckily, this instalment gives the audience absolutely no answers that could be given away. As a final chapter, th is is a huge anti-clima x. Like its predecessors, it answers one question but creates two more . lt has cheated the entire franchise . After be ing strung along for 6 years; hoping (and paying) to get some answers to the plots many riddles, the fact that this final instalment fails to tie up the loose ends is a huge slap in the face . Let's talk 3D . The 3D

element is the major selling poi nt of th is instal me nt. This fact ajone should be a huge indicator that they have simply run out of ideas. However, even worse, the 3D just isn't that good . There are only a handful of scenes where it made the film more entertaining . it's defiantly not worth the extortio nate ticket prices . If you can't resist the u. ge to see Saw 3D ther you're a sucker for pu r. ishment. There is no m .:> ral message, and it is not f Jnny to watch people get cut into little pieces for no reason . To quote the advert 'the last piece of the puzzle is YOU'', which can be taken to mean that we are all Jigsaw's victims by being subjected to another of these meaningless sequels . Drew Nicol

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: Schwentke : : Release Dat e: 22t 1ot 10 : • • : ••••••••••••• ~ •••• : Retired and Extremely Dangerous. This is the code word for Frank Morris (Bruce Willis), an ex CIA who in his hay day brought down governments. Now in his twilight years, Morris tries to establish a normal life for himself. Look forward to seeing Bruce Willis; putting up Christmas decorations, reading a trashy romantic fiction, sitting in a chair watching his avocado plant grow and calling the lady from the call centre for a chat. Anyone who has spent time on the dole recently will be able to sympathise. However Morris's domestic life finishes in

very violent and extremely sati sfying way, when his white washed American house is reduced to a pile of corpses and rubble by a team of paid assassins. Retirement over. Morris takes to the road, one of the great features of this film is its incorporation of the romance of travelling around America . Our heroes are a team of CIA agents who must grapple with the paranoia that a life of wire tapping and spyi ng through the keyholes induces. The script explores this idea with superb blac k comedy. Marvin Bogg's (John Malkovich) odd behaviour, for example, is attributed to the LSD unknowingly fed to him every day for 12 years by the US government. James Dockeray

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Seal Team VI is the story of an elite squad of US soldiers carrying out a covert operation in Kuwait. Three days before the invasion of Kuwait in ~990, the United Nations Seal Team VI are sent in to run around the desert shooting soldiers. Then they run around a city shooting soldiers. That's about it. Some scenes appear to have had random footage thrown in for no reason; this, combined with generally poor editing, makes the film extremely hard to follow at some points. For example, at one point, Seal Team VI appear to parachute out of

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a helicopter at night, land in the sea at around midday (you can tell from the sun) and then reach the beach at 6AM (this appears on screen) . The fact that the acting is generally fairly soulless throughout doesn't help. However, the film's main strength is that it is based on real events and this comes through in the script. Until the last 20 minutes or so the viewer is presented with a harsh and realistic view of war

and soldierly comradeship . Unfortunately most of this is undone in the last 20 minutes by the embarrassingly cheesy 'happily ever after' ending . This is a film to be consigned to the bargain bin forever; a shame, as it had the potential to be an interesting and realistic look at modern warfare, like Hurt Locker, or Lebanon, either of which you would be well advised to watch before paying to own this. Alek St ood ley

Perhaps what is most disappointing about Get Him to the Greek is that the film did have the potential to be a successfully bawdy, slapstick comedy. Russell Brand is washed -up rocker Aldous Snow, who has agreed to do a ten-year anniversary gig at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. Jonah Hill is the lifelong fan, an eager young record executive who proposed this idea to his boss (Sean Combs) and now has to get Snow from London to the Greek in 72 hours. This proves far too short a time when Snow seems

hell -bent on destroying the plans through partying and drug taking, which Hill's character Aaron Green quickly gets caught up in . The central, initially humorous, set up of Brand and Hill's relationship and their ridiculous antics, are simply regurgitated in various different locations creating a disjointed final product with little sense of a proper narrative arc. Whilst Brand's pastiche performance is worth watching and the shocking

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drug use and crude sexuality is certai nly funny in places, it is shortchanged by the lack of effort to create a rounded film . A threadbare, ~ underdeveloped script o: means t hat all the film <( amounts to is a series of badly connected comic sketches which are often successful in being inanely funny, but not engaging enough to stop ~ the ~09 minutes feeling <(

lL painstakingly slow. Emily Bater

FILM

ODEON FANATICAL ABOUT FILM

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When Ted Turner announced in 1985 that he was considering (I) colo urising Citizen Kane, l!l th ere was outcry. The Z threat of altering one of I'- the most beloved movies (I) of all time ril ed many a _j film aficionado. Orson Welles reportedly begged filmmak er Henry Jag lom , "Don't let Ted Turner >- deface my movie with ~ hi s crayons". At the time, L George Lucas was one of 0 the most vocal opponents U of the co lourisat ion process . His criticism of the alteration of film te xts L wou ld become far more _j relevant later on than he perhaps rea lized at the

LET THE R IG HT O NE IN

Sweden and was met with w id espread critica l acc laim. The film is about a girl who is a vampire and D the bullied boy that she w a: befriends. Set in a sma ll town in Sweden whe re 3 everything is cove red in snow the setting feels very genuine, from the thick > forests to the equally thick I'- clothes. Although there are elements of horror, and a lot of violence, the film is essentially about the l!t relationship that blossoms Z between th e two children. I'Wh en Eli (the vampi re)

I watched throughout my life are preserved, so that my chi ldren can see them." Last month, Lucasfilm

asks wh ether George 'Judas路 Luca s sells his soul as the SlAR WARS series is set for 3D and blu-ray releases m 2012. The Em peror strikes bacl<'.

announced that the Star Wars series would be getting both 3D cinema and blu-ray releases in 2012. With regard to the original trilogy of films, a number of fans' worst fears were confirmed; only the 'special' edition versions of the movies would be making it onto the next generation format. For those not familiar with them, the 'special' ed iti ons of the trilogy contain several new CGI sequences and are updated in o rder to synchronise better with the prequel movies that Lucas released a f ew years ago. Naturally, allegations of hypocrisy have been

TALI<ING MOV ES

~ was released in 2008 in

time; "I am very concerned about our national heritage, and I am very concerned that the films that I watc he d w hen I was young and the films that

Alec Plowman

first meets Oskar she tells him that they can't be friends, and his only contact with other children is getting bullied. Drawn

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their shared loneliness, the two become close and help each other out with th eir respective problems . Th is may sou nd like a typical PG kids' film but there is also a large amount of su rpri sing ly graphi c violence and horror; she is a vampire

Matilda 's head teacher, Miss Trunchbull, is a butch, a: evil vi llain and takes some U so rt of sad istic pleasure in locking children in "The Chokey". This terrifying form of discipline involves a (I) I- chi ld standing in a cupboard a: w ith shard s of iron sticki ng <! into it and probab ly doesn't conform to OFSTED standa rd s. I-

6 Anastasia The creators of Anastasia ~ took a few artist ic liberties <! and made the villain of the lL piece Grigori Ra sputin. it's hard to be Ru ss ia's great est

love machine when you're portrayed as a rottin g corpse with limbs frequently breaking off. Along with his morbid bouts of leprosy, the mad monk was also given an unhealthy obsession with murdering Anastasia . The scene in which Rasputin tries to drag young Anastasia into an icy river is particularly harrowi ng .

he owns the films. They are his creations and he ha s the right to do with them what he will. The thing is ... that isn't strictly true. Obviously, you could argue that a whole team wen t into producing the Star Wars series, not just Lucas. Surely the Ben Burtts, Larry Kasdans and Dennis Murrens of the world deserve a say in all

after all. Without going into too much detail, one sc ,~ ne towards the end of the film invo lves several ch ild ren, yes children, being ripped apart by Eli, and although you see very little of what's going on, it's extremely shocking. What the director was trying to achieve through the seem ingly gratu itous violence is puzzling, like much of the film, but it's sti ll a fascinating watch and it's beautifully filmed . If you do choose to wa t ch this, make sure you avoid the English dubbed version and go for th e subtitle s. Al ek Stoodl ey

Th e viewer is then treat ed to unsettling shots of ghouls riding ske letal horses as they swirl around him. Th ere are creatures dan cing

LET ME IN Now if Fearne Cotton is to be believed, and she is a dubious woman that one, Matt Reeves 'shotgunned' his production for Let Me In a year before its Swedish predecessor. First of all, Matt Reeves directing ... WINI So, calm down all you naysayers out there, thi s film works in its own respects. Keeping to the same stylish shot for shot of Let the Right One In (2oo8) it shows that Hollywood can, albeit trying hard, maintain the horror essence created in the European film. lt

Thi S week,

follows a similar gawky kid type (McPhee) and his vampiric Kick Ass buddy (enter Chloe Mortez) who team up to teach those damn bullies a lesson. Setting the film in 1983, Reeves said it was to 'co nte xtua lise' hi s film but it cannot be helped in thinking

gives a run down on five films which scared you as a child .

devilish creature's glowing eyes, flames engu lfin g harpies and billowing smoke make the infant forget that they're watching Disney.

them to try and explain the horror to everyone else w ho hadn't seen it. The villain is the Horned King - a sinister ske leton with John Hurts' voice and Alan Sugar's temperament. His features are rarely shown, leaving the child's imagination to conjure a truly terrifying ima ge of him .

Jumanji

and writhing on the ground, until he scoops them up into his hands and ra ises them to his malicious grin before tossing them into a fiery gorge. Repeat ed shots of the

that 1t's more to do with the original's questionable fashion and technology. But, then again, it begs that question if the same magic would have been created if it were set in modern day Some little things are lost through its translation, 路 but what it lacks it makes up for from powerhouse performances from the child actors, drilling down to the core of their odd and awkward conversat ions. it's the first vampire film, in a long time, that doesn't piss your money or their blood up the wall, so check it out. Paul Martin

Amy Griffiths

Fantasia A notable example of the nightmare fue l from Disney's Fantasia is th e "Ni'g ht on Bald Mountain" sequence, in which the demonic Chernabog raises an army of spectres from their graves.

Al ec Plow m an

Up for debate this week is the Swedish film LET THE RrGHT ONE IN against 路 the American remake LET ME IN

THE POPCORN CHART

> Matilda

le velled against Lucas for both the alteration of his movies and the suppression of them in their original form. While some of the on screen changes are minor, they mean that episodes IV, V and VI aren't th e versions that a generation of children were first capt ivated by 30 years ago. Lucas defends that, unlike Turner with Citizen Kane,

of this7 Th ere 's a greater issue than that though; George Lucas doesn't own Star Wars. Hi s public does. When films inspire a religion, when children are named after both principal and minor characters and when catchphrases become imbued in the vernacular, no one man can claim ownership of that. Nor can one man try and change it. Get your damn Crayolas away from our movie Lucas, lest you disturb the force any further.

The Black Cauldron Not the best-known Disney film, The Black Cau ldron is able to traumatize its young victims and leave

Jumanji has quite a frightening concept for a famil y film. Th e titular board game emanates a tribal drumming sound until it's discovered, then proceeds to hold its players hostage whi le it moves the counters

around the board by itself. Eeri e riddles foreshadow each trial just before it occurs, and dangerous animals spawn into the real world to stampede through houses and attack the public. The most traumatic element is Van Pelt - a hunter who pursues Robin Wil liams' character and has no issues with shooting other human s, including children. A psychotic murderer, anarchy and deadly animals - all the components that could form a horror movie. Well played, Jumanji. Amy Griffiths

INTERVIEWS Mv PASSION blitzed the Arts Centre on 29th October as part of their relentless Ul< tour. Venue's Alec Plowman was on hand to chat with laurence Rene, John Be and Simon Rowlands before the show ... You've played almost every day of this month on what seems to be an incredibly rigorous tour. How does it feel playing so many dates in such a short space oftime? Laurence: Yeah, it gets tiring, but when we're doing shows that are so good ... this tour has been our first proper headliner since t his t ime last year and to see how it's grown in that time is very encouraging . You're quite happy to play so many dates when it goes like that. To get such great responses from t he crowds .. . you get over the aching body parts and dying bodies because it's so great every night.

John: We consider everyone we work with friends. We want to be able to go out for drinks with the people we work with, enjoy their company, and think that they're honest and nice people. That's important to us.

Laurence: Most important to me is that they understand what we're doing and where we are coming from . That we're all working towards the same goal rather than having different agendas and ideas.

Where do you want My Passion to be in the next five years?

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John: Our dreams for the band are as big as they can possibly be. Our favourite bands are groups like Muse that put on these huge stage performances in Wembley. That's the sort of thing we really want to do. We're planning it in our heads now.

John: lt's the first time we've been out and sold out all the major cities. We've never had that, going out on the road and knowing that. lt's amazing really. I mean, London sold out weeks after going on sale, which is crazy.

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Last time I spoke to you, Laurence, we talked about the importance of the family of people around My Passion and the way that they impact the material that you put out. As you're getting bigger and bigger, do you feel that dynamic changing? Laurence: lt's still pretty much the same right now. I mean, we're looking at how best to release this next album which may mean expanding the people that we work with .

Laurence: You always have dreams of what you want to do when you have the means to do it.

Simon: There comes a point where you have to branch out.. . Laurence: I mean, the workload becomes greater and you want to reach more people

so you need to do that. The core group of us still stays the same . We're still working at Outhouse which is a small studio, but it works well for us. We like that intimacy. lt feels right .

Simon: We've got the light show now that we're programming. That's pretty much the limit of what we can do right now and we're thinking what the limits will be in the future . Lawrence: We want it to be as big as the music will allow it to be.

Coming into Norwich fresh from their month long stint supporting My Passion, DoN Bnoco sat down with Venue's James Woodward to discuss music, university life, and strawberry picl<ing ... the venue out and they were really up for it.

Luke: We wanted to do something original.

lt seems that with every tour you increase your fanbase and take a step up in the UK underground scene. What would you attribute this success to at the moment?

You all went to Uni before forming Don Broco. How important was it for each of to get your degree before you put this band together?

Simon: I guess with the latest tour it has been the video. We did a video a couple of months ago for our tune called Dreamboy with our good mate Lawrence Hardy. lt's been on TV and having a video on Kerrang, Scuzz and things really does make a huge difference with things. You get kids who sit at home and watch the day through and if they see a band on there they will think "Oh, wow!" and instantly go and check them out.

How did you find the show? How was opening up for a band like My Passion? Simon: lt was really sweet as the crowd were really good . The venue is amazing : it's an old church with real character. In Norwich there are a lot of kids who have seen My Passion on the Kerrang tour so they packed

Where did the idea for the video (which features strawberry picking, a stage of hay bales and aeroplanes) come from? Rob: When we wrote the song it was in the summer heat and we just wanted a fun, bright video that really got down what the song was about.

Matt: We never wanted to go without the experience of Uni. lt was just awesome, the best three years I can remember. But we wanted to do both; I guess it was us just being greedy! I think if we are honest this is ultimately what we wanted to pursue afterwards. lt was always in the back of our minds and we kept up our playing through Uni. This one is for Simon. As a former UEA student, what aspects do you miss the most from campus life in Norwich? Simon: I miss hanging out at the Red Bar in the afternoon between my lectures, going to the LCR like all the time . I guess I just miss the general feel of the place, being in those rooms, being in the library. lt sounds weird but being around all that concrete is

something I never thought I'd miss but a few years on it is something I miss a lot.

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..... Getting a gig in Norwich has been a hassle for you guys. You have had 5 cancelled gigs, the only other time you have played here the promoter pulled out at the last minute. Ever been tempted to say 'fuck it' to playing here?

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Matt: Nah, never.

Simon: No. I love Norwich . lt is one of my favourite places in the UK. Even though we have had massively bad luck in trying to get shows here we always knew it was a place we had to play. By whatever means necessary we were going to play in Norwich and now we have a couple of times it has been brilliant both times.

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So, is the city destined to feel more of the Donny B love? Matt: We are definitely going to come back. We are heading out on tour in February 2011 and coming back to Norwich on the 28th .

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GIG-GATE 2010 lt's that time of year again, where every band and their mums' bridge clubs have booked an autumn tour. This is Gig-Gate 20 10 ...

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The queue outside the Norwich Arts Centre was made up mostly of teenagers u with vibrant coloured hair and multiple facial piercings, itching to get out of the ~ late October wind and indulge in some ~ pre-Ha lloween revelry. Despite some questionable denim shorts and a couple of feebly rece ived attempts at starting a mosh-pit, first act 0 Don Bronco's infectious energy dragged w a: the crowd away from the merchandise stand and their irres istib ly catc hy so ngs,

such as Dreamboy, made them focus. Hailmg from Sweden, Dead By April seemed to be an apparent draw for a section of the audience tonight, and even without a drummer, just a picture of Alexander Svenningson's face taped to the back of the drum kit; their set was smooth and built up of their most well known songs . The band's dedicated fans wasted no time in turning the floor into a frenzy and trymg to tear Zandro Santiago (voca list) from the stage into the pit.

pits th at swa ll owed up black clad sixteen year olds and spat them back out into the hands of t he bouncers. The atmosphere was emphatic and favourites such as A/ice Practice and Crimewave were delivered with all the energy and power expected. Et han Kath remained cool and hooded throughout the performance, juxtaposed by Alice who was every bit the punk front woman her demeanour promised. Her vocals were not always audible above the heavy synth , but she made up for it in her st age presence; making repeat stage dives w ith reckless abandon. By the end of the set she was bleeding, standing on the drum kit thrashing t he cymbals with her microphone. With her white skin and blacked out eyes, which don't always appear to be responsive to the outstretched hands around her, she resembled the living dead. At the end there were none of the standard "thank you's" to the crowds, the music stopped suddenly and the LCR went black. The band get their name from SheRa's fortress theme tune; "The fate of the world is safe in Crystal Castles". Well, if the fate of the world IS 1n the1r hands, it wi ll be energetiC, chaotic, sweaty and very excitmg.

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Sunday the 24th of October brought experimental electronic band Crystal Castles to the LCR on their last leg of their second album tour. (l} 1Three rounds of impatient applause a: and the festival favourite calls brought an <( aloof Ethan Kath and his accompanying drummer onto the stage. An electrical storm of strobe lighting, ear splitting synth z and drumming started off the night and 0 Alice Glass, notorious for her stage ant1cs, hurled herself on for Baptism and the crowd I went wild. (J) <( lt is rare that a band gets the entire U... venue jumping, but throughout the gig there was a sea of raised hands and mosh

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Rose Clark

Having only been around since 2005, My Pass1on is a band on the cusp of something special, with fans so loyal they border on insane. Taking to the stage in front of around 300 rab1d devotees, the group set about shedding any lingering suggestions that they are nothing but a My Chemica l Romance copy, with a fie rce smash of metallic pride . Their songs cross the best of dramatic goth performance and dynam1c punk with a burst of electronic sound; they are a band refusing to be pigeon -holed. For a tour promoting their forthcoming album, the fans were well rehearsed in the new material, and the old songs were welcomed w1th endless shneks of delight. Laurence Rem~ strutted around the stage like he was born there and the audience clearly loved it, as he tossed chansma all over the crowd, h1s trademark white striped quiff standing out like a crown. Ladies, there is a new idol in tight black jeans - get ready to throw some underwear.

Ellie Kumar

it's a Sunday and it's cold outside so a sold out venue of indie kids dancing to Darwin Deez's East Coast pop looks like the best way of keeping warm. For those unable or unwilling to embrace their inner Sebadoh, Deez's eponymous debut LP may have seemed repetitive and even a l1 ttle lacking in depth. Live and in person, however, Deez and his band are a notoriously different animal. With complete nonchalance they open w1th tw1sted and distorted b-side Lights On before new smgle Up In The Clouds gets the audience eating from the palm of the lanky protagonist's hand. The vaguely vitriolic Bad Day shimmers as 1f Mogwai had been let loose on it and drummer Greg Richardson fills out the

brilliant Bomb Song wh il st retaining all of the charm and Pavement- li ke beauty of the album version. Both Radar Detector and the infectious ConstellatiOns are met with the kind of rapturous response that they deserve, every word bemg hurled back at the stage. Throughout it all hyperactive gu1tarist Cole Smith bounds and writhes around the stage looking like the Ritalin-starved bastard son of Tom Morello and Rivers Cuomo; his outbursts of noise giving Deez's geeky pop the Sonic Youth edge that it needs when taken to the stage. Somehow the quartet's regular forays into rap battles and choreographed dances (ton1ght an Enya/Rage Against The Machine mix and a disturbingly good Single Ladies to name but two) fall perfectly into the set, never cringe-worthy and always worry1ngly entertaining. Deez's electric personality and flawlessly capt1vating band allow the set to switch between the ridiculous and the sincere with consummate ease, carrying the crowd w1th them effortlessly. All of this points towards the fact that Deez is an immensely talented songwriter with all the charm and charisma to grow still further; but like reading the book before watching the film, Deez has to be seen live in all his skinny, moustached glory to be fully understood. Alex Ross

GIG-GATE 20 10 SuM 41: LCR

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Considering the fact that the output from US skate-punk stalwarts Pennywise has started to sound more and more like a poor man's Bad Religion, it is with a sigh of relief t hat ex-singer Jim Lindberg's The Black Pacific burst onto the stage . Bringing with them an infectious energy and some top quality melodic hardcore/punk tunes, they do a fantastic job of路 inciting the partisan crowd . Although many people would have you believe that headliners Sum 41 belong to an age past and relics of another generation, on the evidence of tonight

OOLS HOllAND:

this is far from the truth . The LCR is rammed and the excitement in the air is palpable, as the lights go down and the epic intro music rings out across the room, screams of excitement pierce through the crescendo of sound and raised devil horns litter the crowd. Strange then that, in the midst of this call to arms from the baying crowd, Sum 41 almost blow their chance to send everyone in the room absolutely mental, opting to open with the downbeat metalpunk hit We're All To Blame. The response is lukewarm at best and it's a discouraging start, but the strength of the band's back catalogue shines through and as soon as they drop bouncy, pop-punk hit Motivation all is forgotten as the floor turns into a sea of pogoing loons. The energy levels rarely drop after this as the Canadian touring veterans blast out hit after hit, varying from the melodic punk riffage of The Hell Song and Over My Head to the soft rock balladry of Pieces. Aside from just providing the soundtrack to a fun night out, these songs clearly strike a chord with many in attendance with tales of small town boredom and disillusionment. The anthems that brought

LCR 29/10/10

Jools Holland is one of those rare musicians whose personality is utterly charming and whose music has the capacity to captivate an audience of all ages within seconds. With nearly 2000 people crammed tightly into the LCR on a bitterly cold Friday night, it didn't take long before the band's extensive passion for rhythm and blues shone through, transforming the room into a euphoric trip down musical memory lane, one which could warm even the coldest of hearts. Despite being alongside over a dozen

other members of his band, Holland and his piano took centre stage in every sense. They ran through a fantastic set of jazz and boogie-woogie classics which included Double 0 Boogie and Remember Me, which got the crowd bopping, tqpping and clapping away vigorously from start to finish. However Jools was by no means the only star of the show, and throughout the evening he invited some of his special guests onto the stage . First was reggae legend Rico Rodriguez who performed an unrivalled cover version of Louis Armstrong's What A Wonderful World which everyone sang along to, as well as singer Rosie May who performed a captivating version of Muddy Waters I Got My Mojo Working . The main vocal star of the evening was the wondrous Alison Moyet whose sultry set, which included some of her most well known songs such as Love Letters and Only You,wowed the crowd with every word . By the time gospel legend Ruby Turner was introduced towards the end of the setlist and got everyone dancing and cheering to her soulful sounds, Jools Holland and his Orchestra had succeeded it making it a memorable night for all those who attended, and every face left the LCR with a glowing smile. Chris Hayward

them to the attention of the mainstream get the response you'd expect, every single line of Fat Lip and In Too Deep are howled out with clamour and conviction. What's surprising though, is just how well cuts from their more recent albums are received, sometimes thin on record, they become multi-dimensional fan favourites

CHROME

HooF: ARTS

Sum 41 circa 2010 fi nd themselves in a good position then . Having forged out a cosy niche between the pop -punk fun that defined them and the darker flourishes that characterised their later output, whilst still keeping the ir fanbase, what they do next is entirely in their hands ...

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charming performance and musical skill got a good audience reaction . Who knows, one > of these days, maybe post-rock ambient folk r music will make the comeback it deserves. However the main event of the evening was Chrome Hoof, a 10-piece, progorchestral, electro, hip-hop, death-doom ~ metal disco band. Notyetfamousfordressing as 25th century space knights, Chrome Hoof r have 3 albums under their collective belt, a: and grow in popularity entirely by word-of- ~ mouth. Formed by the Cathedral bassist Leo Smee and his brother in 2ooo, the band have > been mostly bewilderin9 people for the past ..,_ 10 years. <( For those of you who know the Arts Centre, you may be thinking, how does a: u a 10-piece band fit on that rather small stage?The answer is, don't worry about the band, how do they fit that much music into one song? Trumpets, trombones, guitars, (I) synths, multiple drums, saxophones, violins, bassoons, two dancers and a mesmerising front woman, Lola Olafisoye, make the most incredible and diverse sound . For the purposes of a Halloween party, you couldn't pick two more perfectly out-ofthis-world bands. Catch either whenever you can, but when you do, make sure you aren't on any kind of medication, or you will be in for one hell of a trip .

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Something genuinely terrifying happened this Halloween. Something incredible, absurd and monstrous. The Norwich Arts Centre threw a fancy dress party, where the fancy dress was not compulsory. Not normally cause for concern, however, at this 'not necessarily' fancy dress party, two incredibly strange bands unleashed their mind-warping noises on an unsuspecting audience. Sam James Hill, a Norwich based artist who describes his music as sounding like, quote, "DELAY DELAY DELAY NOISE RARG LOOPING REVEEEEERB MANDOLIN MANDOLIN!!!!!" started the eveAing. A darling of the London and Norwich, lndieweird -but-kind-of-cool-noise pop scene, his

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Ascending the stage to pierc1ng synths, Ro lo Tomassi appeared as futuristic soothsayers of math rock, on a mission to eradicate t he lingering fog of the previous support ban d. The new Dip lo produced

album, Cosmology illustrates a more coherent, melod1c sound without losing any of the discordant hysteria that typified t heir first release. it is t estament to the band's longevity

Following Ant Firth -Ciark's damning review of Tinie Tempah's debut album last issue, Venue sent Adam Wedlake to see the man in action and report back for debrief and cocktails; Operation CounterScathe is in effect ...

was not so present, be1ng sacrificed for b1g club beats. Tinie paused for breath after these two thundering tracks, choos1ng to greet his audience with the usual appreciative speech we have all heard too many times. He went on to play Frisky, however Tin1e made it clear throughout the gig that he didn't want fans to just be enthused by h1s commerc1al s1ngles . He explamed that h1s debut album included many personal songs of substance, someth1ng he feels lackmg 1n today's music industry. Such songs included Obsession and Let Go the subtle beats and reflective lyrics of which had the fans st anding serene and appreciative. M iam i 2 Ibiza , Tinie's collabo ration w ith Swedish House Mafia, was the storm that followed, creating a frantic mosh pit in the midd le of the crowd. He ended his gig with an encore of h1s number 1 hit Pass Out and Tinie reached out to his many fans, showing his true love and appreciation for both them and his music. Fans left pleased and fulfilled having seen an artist who seems to have proved his worth. Adam Wed lake

Tinie Tempah has proven over the last year that he is at the forefront of Brit1sh rap and hip hop. Being one of many to emerge from t he ever expanding British grime scene Tinie has risen to the top of the pack, both in his re put atio n and the charts. His gig at UEA was part of his debut tour and a chance t o prove that he co ul d live up to hi s reputation in person, rather than bei ng protecte d by st ud1o tri ckery. Pull down screens above the stage t eased fans, showing him backstage sipping champagne and revelling in his new found fame and riches. Despite this his entrance was oddly ca lm, however the air of concentration he emerged in was soon abandoned as he erupted into t he exp losive Intra. An onslaught of freestyled lyrical dext erity foll owed , but was t hen seg ued int o Simply Unstoppable, where lyri cal skill

03 11 that their live shows have embraced the1r mus1cal development and ton1ght was no exception, with the melancholic, yet uplifting Kasia showcasing Eva Spence's split-personality vocals. One second a cooing choirgirl, the next shneking as though demon1cally possessed, the petite singer drew all eyes upon her as she sinuously wound her way across the stage. Old favounte I Love Turbulence saw the front row engage 1n a dedicated display of head bangmg that surely tnggered a sharp rise in cases of neck arthnt1s across Norfolk. However feverish the reception for Rolo Tomassi, there was a sense of anticipation building that could not be quelled by the Sheffield mob alone. Two flickering spotlights hung from the ceiling 1nto the darkness, transformmg the Waterfront into an apocalyptic bunker - the perfect setting for The Dillmger Escape Plan's cacophonous clamour. There was no chance of fleemg from the quintet's devastatingly complex sound as they launched 1nto a set that p1tted songs from new release, Op 'ion Para!ys1s against classics such as Sugar Coated Sour. Renowned for the h1gh octane nature of the1r l1ve shows, the band did not disappoint, with front man Greg Puc1ato scaling the overhead p1p1ng and delivering his vocals upside down, his head disappearing into the seething crowd.

For a band built upon contradictions, it seems fitt1ng that Puciato's brawny frame conceals a surprisingly tuneful vo1ce and he put it to great effect, stirring the audience into a sweaty and feroc1ous whirlwind dunng the climatic Sunshine the Werewolf. Technically brilliant and fascinatingly complex, The Dillinger Escape Plan have been challenging musical complacence for thirteen years. After tonight's gig, 1t's clear to see that they won't be changmg for anyone. Emil y Pric hard

Rolo Tomassi · Photo bv Alec Plowman

GIG-GATE 2010 MAGNETIC MAN

I<ATY 8:

Stepping into a hum idly packed Waterfront, support act Katy B got off to a spritely and eager kick-start, desperately aiming to brand herself the queen of pop-step. She effortlessly sends the eager crowd loopy, especially when dropping her chart smasher Katy On A Mission. She also had an interesting, Shoreditch-esque backing band, and performed a great cover of DJ NG's Tell Me What it Is. The build up to Magnetic Man's entrance had a perfectly constructed, subbass led, tension-building atmosphere that you wouldn't usually see shy of a festival. The stage sported a white-light set up that would leave the most levelminded a bit glitchy afterwards. Then, on swaggered three silhouetted figures dressed in all-black, oozing a路 confidence which immediately captured the hype of this audience. Alongside them was the MC for the evening, renowned for his residency at DMZ @ Mass, Sgt. Pokes. Kicking straight off into some squelchy

techie business from the start, they seamlessly flowed into Ms. Dynamite's banger Fire. The Bug, a track from the new album, saw Sgt. Pokes' vocals synthesized live. Alongside all this gut-wrenching noise, the crowd were treated to an epilepsy

osHuA FISHER, 'ATLAs' One of the many talented artists who currently make up the Norwich underground scene, Josh Fisher has been making enough of a stir to attract label attention . .The result of this, the Atlas EP, produced in part by legendary Smiths producer Robert Pusey, emerged blearyeyed and delicate before a spellbound Bedford Crypt.

WATERFRONT

26 10 10

inducing lightshow. However, half an hour into the show and things had become a bit stale, as a stroll through some of their weaker tunes had started to lose the crowd's attention. This may have had more to do with keeping

their record label happy, but either way something large needed to drop ... Forgetting this 'popstep' formula that's caught the majority of this audience's attention, Magnetic Man substituted their commercial melody for the wibbly, stomach-punching agro music that so many love them for. This clearly came as a shock to the 'gap-yah' clique, who were left scratching their heads, but the reemergence of Katy B for Perfect Stranger was enough to get them excited. With laptop controlled music, it's pretty hard to see how it can go wrong, and considering the talent of these three individuals, you can't help but wonder whether they are three times as good together. Still, Magnetic Man is the perfect display of how commercial, and yet how twisted, dubstep has become . The future of the genre is uncertain, but it's undeniable that these guys are heading straight to the top. Ant Firth-Ciark

OFFICIAL RELEASE: THE BEDFORD's CRYPT

personal Seasong, a gorgeous showcase for his voice (which drifts seamlessly between brittle and powerful). He was then joined by The Miles Away Project, and the gig switched from an intimate acoustic affair to a full on psychedelic folk jam. Particularly great were Failed Experiments, with its breathtaking harmonies,

25/1 Of 10

Duncan Vicat-Brown caught up with Josh after the gig to discuss 'Atlas路, future projects and Peruvian flute bands ... What's next, after this EP launch? Next is the album; we have had no idea what to expect from all this, but an album, naturally, looks like the next step. We are going to keep gigging and hit next summer with a whole list of songs, rather than just an EP's worth.

forget the dark cold winter in Norwich last year that led me to express myself in such a way. As much as I'm looking forward to the next step, I hope this winter is a bit happier.

-------------------------------,

What's the deal with The Miles Away Project?

The Miles Away Project are a very talented group of musicians who I've been lucky enough to work with over the past year, for some even longer, but we are working at the moment to properly come together and make a whole album, all names aside.

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With the mood set by some much appreciated duvets and the captivating Girl in a Thunderbolt with her stunning, unearthly voice, Josh took to the stage. He first tackled some of his quieter tracks backed by only violin and drums, Qf which the standout was the clearly deeply

I feel it has been like putting the songs to rest by finally recording them. With each end comes a new beginning, and musically I have no idea what will happen. This is the time I like to savour as I could be a song away, or and the gloriously heavy Another incident/accident away, from writing a salsa Kiss, featuring virtuoso guitar album or a Peruvian flute album. work from. Fabian Chaundy. Atlas is available now from Wliat's your favourite aspect of the 'Atlas' Amazon and iTunes. Do yourself EP? a favour and pick up a-copy, then My favourite aspect from the EP is the choice make sure you catch him live. of songs. Looking now, it is quite funny to see Duncan Vicat-Brown how these songs were connected. Iwill never

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INTRODUCING

This is very much a show in genesis . Th ough laugh-out-loud funny throughout, 1t still fee ls a little light compared to earlier tours. However, this is unsurprising, as Lee's oeuvre has always been to tour relentlessly, and hone rough material into a final product ove r time. This was very much the case with his last tour, if You 'd Prefer

a Milder Comedian, Please Ask For One, and it's more than likely to be the case for

Vegetable Stew. This is not to say that Vegetable Stew feels sloppy. Lee is a true craftsman , and never feels any le ss than comp letely in control of his audience There 's no telling how good Vegetable Stew could get by the time th e tour runs its course. Don 't you dare miss 1t when he brings it to Norwich. Duncan Vi cat- Brown

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RISE

Kevin Bridges played three dates at the Norwich Pl ayhouse this week, with sold out crowds at eac h. Th e Glagow-born comedian, a mere 23 years of age and alread y a national star, is selling out venues across th e country in his 59 -dat e autumn tour. He is not the on ly one. Television has woken up to stand -up comedy, and wave upon wave of circuit comedians now find t hemse lves on our TV screens. Not since the alternative comedy scene of the lg8o's, w hen sta rs like Ben Elton and Harry Enfie ld racked up big audiences on Saturday Live , has stand -up comedy been suc h big business. If there was a start ing point of the rise of the stand-up, it may have been Mock the Week. The programme's format all ows comedians to shoe -ho rn parts of their routine into a pane l-show environment

makes it s West End debut. Anyone nursing fears that his recent success will see a turn to more mainstream material can bre athe easy; if anything, the new material is meant to test the mettle of new fans . The trademark repetition, lengthy pauses and lack of 'jokes' are all present and correct, as is Lee 's habit of singling out one half of the room for special attenti on. As he is always quick to point out, he "doesn't have time to work a mixed ability room". In terms of th e content, Lee states at the start that the show is sp lit into three twenty -five minute bits which he is prepping for a new series of Comedy Vehicle; charity, Adrian Ch il es ("a Toby jug that has somehow learned to speak") and the government. Within these topics he covers everythmg from crisps and Russell Howard to Mothra and teenage mothers ("I've been told I cou ld sell that joke to Mock the Week - it shows the requisite level of contempt for the poor").

After alm ost th irty years of slav in g away in the alternat ive scene, Stewart Lee is hitting somet hin g of a career peak. Hi s celebrity fans, inc luding Ricky Gervais (who, essentially, 'borrowed' Lee's schtick for hi s own sta nd -up tours) have been getting increa si ngly numerous and voca l, and hi s stand -up/sket ch show hybrid, 2oog's Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle, was a sleepe r hit, despite Lee's own attempts to sabotage it; in a sat iric al review in Time Out, which he wrote, he described his performance as "pos itively Ne andertha l, suggesting a j ungle-dwelling pygmy, strugg ling to coax note s out of a clarinet that has fallen from a pa ss in g aircraft."To cap it all off, Lee's much f eted status as \lst Be st Stand Up Ever' was upgraded t o l2th earlier this year by a public vote. Still below Michael Mc lntyre, but that's just the world we li ve in. So it is w ith no sm all weig ht of expectation th at Vegetable Stew t entat ively

STAND u

STEWART LEE- VEGETABLE STEW

and has made stars of the previously little known comedians Ru sse ll Howard and Frankie Boyle. TV execs soon twigged to the fact that stand -up was cheap to film and eas ily marketable. Vehicles like Live at the Apollo, Stand-Up for the Week and Michae/ Mclntyre 's Comedy Roadshow have been created as showcases of comedic talent. Like Mclntyre and Howard, stand- up s like John Bishop and Step hen K. Amos ha ve been handed their own shows. Bridges is perhaps the biggest benefactor of all, skipping the slog of loss-mak ing Edinburgh shows and tiny ce ll ar gigs th at is the path for comed ians in their early twent ies. Li ke many popular comedians, Bridge s maintains a Twitter account. Since its advent, previously niche comedians have been able to bui ld up large followings, making light work of publ icity. In the chummy world of comedy, a few re-tweets

UEA

Despite onl y bei ng in its seco nd year, UEA Headlights is fast becoming an established hub of student comedy at UEA. Every Friday, somewhere in the recesses of the INTO building , Headlights come together to have a giggle, share their sk ill s, and generally unleash their inner attentionseeker. Within the vo lu me of the average two-hour meeting, a w hole host of comedy forms are catered for - the focus alternates on a fortnightly ba sis between sketchwriting and improvisation, and every meeting makes room for a fifteen minute "Bring Your Own Funn y" segme nt, in which members are urged to share pre-prepared . material, be that in sketch or stand-up form . The workshop-esque nature of these sess ion s means that, if the material th at begins life here is we ll -received, the chances are it will end up being performed

and a lesser-known friend's follower count can go through the roof and in the world of the pithy one -liner, many gag-merchants have found a natural home. Following in the footsteps on Stephen Fry, comedians can shape pub lic responses to both government and the media . The press, in turn, eagerly swa ll ow cheap, popular copy, gathering tweets and printing them in "Best of Tw itter" columns, further exposing comedians to a joke-hungry British pub li c. No boom la sts forever, of course . But with TV companies still feeling the bite of the recession and Twitter firmly embedded in the national media, it's unl ike ly the stand -up bubble will burst for some time yet. For Bridges and eo., t he crowds are only getting bigger and bigger. George Michael

HEADLIGHTS - THE CoMEDY SociETY

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HEAD LiGHTs comedy society

in Norwich at some point. Indeed, despite only having hosted its first open-mic night less than a year ago, Headlights has already ascertained

a healthy reputation for stand -up comedy both with in the society and throughout Norwich at large . Throughout 20lO, the Norw ich comedy scene has been heavi ly supplied and supported by up-and-coming comedic talent from within UEA's walls. A variety of comedy nights across the city now benefit from Head li ghts' services, li sting at least two members on every bi ll . In addition to this, the society now plays host to two gigs on campus on a monthly basis -t he now year-old Graduate Bar showcase and the recently-introduced open-mic night in the Blue Bar. As far as future projects are concerned , the troupe is currently rumoured to be working towards a Spring Showcase in aid of Comic Relief, comprised of sketches, stand-up and musical comedy, as well as guest appearances from any other

performance-based societies they can get th ei r wa nd ering han ds on . Ulti mately, however, their goal is to take a show t o the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 20l2, alth oug h a "reco nn aissa nce mission" there is already planned for this coming summer, during which members might very well have a hand in the odd open -mic night here and there. So, a society wo rth wa t chi ng, then ? Most defin itely. Returning this year with a doubled membership and two regularly hosted nights on campus, Headlights is, quite simply, unavoidable and, like a guilty smi le, it's only going to keep growing until it bursts into peals of explosive laughter somewhere dangerously quiet and terrib ly public. Don't say you weren't warned. Sarah Arnold

9 N O V10 I SS U E 2 4 7

LISTINGS

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- LCR- nopm (£13.50)

* UEA Symphony Orchestra - StAndrews Hall- nopm (£4-£13) * Children In Need - Mercy (free admission before upm with flyer) * Brazil 2- Norwich Arts Centre

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- LCR- 1opm (£3 .soadv) UEA Gra duate Short Film ShowNorwich Arts Centre - 8pm (£2) * Kevin Bridges- The Playhouse -

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Willy Wonkas Chocolat e Factory - Mercy (£2.oo off admission with flyer before midnight) * The CatThat Walked Himself (light and shadow show)- Norwich Arts Centre - 2pm (£S-£?)

- LCRNUS/UCU National Demo- London (£5- includes return coach seat; tickets available at box office, £5 deposit) *

~u~ * Lola Lo Official Opening Night- (doors open at 8pm) Sir Jorn Houghton, Prof Phil Jones and Sir David King- UEA Literary Festival- LT1 -6:3opm (£6 - call for availability) * - LCR - nopm (£16) * Army Night - Mercy (free admission . before up m - In support of Help The Heroes)

- LCR - nopm (£13 * -call for availability) * -Green Zone - LT1- 7:3opm (£2.80) * Bubble Flange- The HotTub Party Mercy- (free admission before upm with flyer) * Fatpoppadaddys Opening Night- Lola Lo (free entry/£2 before upm)

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* Urashima Taro- Norwich Puppet Theatre - 7:3opm (£8-£1o) * Tinchy Stryder Live - Mercy (£2.oo off admission with flyer before midnight) ~u~ * Remembrance Sunday ~flmlil * - LCR- nopm (£23.50) * Hamlet - The Playhouse 2:3opm/J:30pm - (Ho.so-£12 .50) continues until the 17th * Stornoway - The Waterfront- 7=30pm (£11)

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the week : Mondays will see the return of 'TRASHED', the always popular (and aptly named) student night which has graced our city for the past 13 years. Playing a mi x of lndie, Pop, Electro, Techno, Disco, DnB, Hip Hop, Dupstep and Rock there is music to suit everyone . To kick off the night and to ensure that the first TRASHED Monday goes off with a bang onto the Norwich club scene, multi-award winning DJ trio Scratch Perverts will be performing a set of their unique brand of club music. Wednesdays will be dedicated to the ISP International Student Night playing a fresh array of global sounds . With competitive drink deals, Lola Lo are positive in claiming to be 'the most exclusive international student night in the city'. On Thursdays we will see the return of Fat Poppadaddys . A night of utmost popularity in Po Na Na's, it will no doubt continue in the same fashion . As well as the night being a great success in Norwich over the past 3 years, Fat Poppadaddys

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* Penelopy Lively- UEA Literary Festival LT1- 6:3opm (£6) * - LCR -7:3opm (£20) * Norwich Jazz Collective Jam Session Norwich Arts Centre - 8pm (£4)

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BRINGI G A SUCI! OF SOUIH PACIPIC SUNSHINE TO NORWICH From the people who brought us the hugely successful club franchise Po Na Na, comes the eagerly anticipated opening of the Tiki bar club Lola Lo; with chains now open in Norwich, Brighton and Oxford, no doubt Lola Lo will be quick to rocket to success with both students and di ~, cerning club-goers alike. As we said our goodbyes to the Moroccan themed warmth of Po Na Na, we must now welcome with open arms (and open wallets) the newly styled, tropical themed club . Eclectic Clubs & Bars, the mastermind behind such chains as Sakura and Embaro 59, took inspiration from the lush extravagance of the ancient Polynesian islands and its inhabitants. Complete with bamboo seating and hand carved wooden decorations styled like the Polynesian Gods, Lola Lo promises an intimate bar and club experience which will transport you to the fresh decadence of the South Pacific. There are set to be three different student nights to choose from throughout

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is a huge club night all over the country including places such as Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge and Oxford. Quoted as 'quite simply class in a glass' by NME, expect to hear crazy mixes, dirty indie and dance floor bangers. With Lola Lo having had a brand new sound system installed, Fat Poppadaddys will almost certainly be bigger and better than ever. Last but not least, the drinks! With an extensive cocktail list including concoctions inspired by the Polynesian islands and an impressive selection of champagnes to choose from, you will never be left high and dry when choosing your poison . With private booths and exclusive VIP areas also available for booking, you can be sure that Lola Lo will cater to your every whim in style. We at Venue are sure that Lola Lo will indeed, as their promoters claim, capture the pure essence of care-free South Pacific joie de vivre .

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Gram my award w inning roc kers t he Goo Goo Dol ls wil l be playtng the LCR on the 15th Novermber. W1th a string of popu lar hit singles, including

::!: Ins and Name, and a reputation for ternfc live performances, th is prom1ses to be a fantastic g1g from one of Amenca's most lauded bands . For a chance of w in ntng a pa ir of ti ckets, JUSt bring your completed crossword to the Concrete Office by 3Pm on 12/11/lo.

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The lege ndary Steve Harley, one of Eng land's most popu lar singer songwnters, wi ll be playtng the LCR on the 17th November. To be in w1th a chance of w tnning, ju st c1rcle t he correct answer t o th e fo llowing question and bnng it to the Concrete Office by Wednesday 05/11/10.

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