CUB issue 558

MAGAZINE

ISSUE 558

CUB

Cover Image Kevin Choi

Letter from the Editor...

Welcome to this, the third and final issue of CUB magazine 2015/16. You may have noticed we were missing a print issue after Christmas, sadly due to funding issues we weren’t able to manage the fourth issue- but don’t worry, this one is a bumper 60 pages to make up for it! Inside you’ll find more original photography than ever before, and articles from ‘Bias in the Media’ to ‘Embarrassing Sex Stories.’ We hope you enjoy this final issue as much as we enjoyed putting it together. I also want to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone whohas been part of CUB this year, from our amazing editorial team, to our contributors, to everyone who picked up and enjoyed a copy. Editing CUB hasdefinitely been more of a challenge than I ever could have expected, but also an amazing experience that has given me so many new skills, and I’m really grateful to all of you. Good luck to next year’s team! If you want that to be you look out on our facebook page for info about when and how to apply.

Mattea Editor in Chief

SECTION GUIDE 2 // COLUMN Charlotte Watson

3// FILM L-0-V-E

15// ARTS Exhibition Round up 25// PHOTOGRAPHY 9 // LONDON Draughts Cafe

31 // COLUMN Ellen Mcmahon

33// FEATURES Yay or Nay

41// MUSIC Tormented artist

51// UNISEX There’s an App for that

55// EDITOR LIST

FB//CUB magazine Twitter//@CUBmagazine Instagram//@CUBmagazine

Photo Emily Gillings Peck

2 // COLUMN

Politista

If we have to prevent anything- can’t it be this?

Words Charlotte Watson

Picture this. You’re shopping for a new outfit, minding your own business and probably moaning about the fact you can’t find anything you want to buy.

Suddenly, someone comes up to you, screaming at you in front of all the other shoppers, telling you that your presence in the store is fundamentally wrong. Why? You’re wearing a hijab.

My friend told me this story about one of her family members the other day, and as someone lucky enough to not have to live in fear of this happening I found myself feeling ashamed. When she told me she worries about her own commute to uni having heard of hijabi women being thrown out of tube carriages, I have to wonder what legitimises and normalizes hate crimes towards Muslims (especially women) on such a regular basis.

The government’s four-pronged terrorism prevention strategy encompasses a strand called Prevent, aimed at tackling the sources of radicalisation and extremism, and so far it seems to be as useful as using Lego as

cat litter. It’s led to the arrest of a Muslim student for reading coursespecific texts on terrorism as well as the referral of a three-year-old to a government-sanctioned antiradicalisation programme.

Add this to several campaigns of racial hatred on public transport and David Cameron’s ill-advised and frankly sexist use of ‘traditionally submissive’ when describing Muslim women (because an entire group of women can definitely be characterised with one outdated religious stereotype), there’s no wonder that a culture of paranoia is building, with government policy seemingly justifying suspicion of Muslim citizens.

A Guardian article refers to the tendency of recent Prevent strategy to focus on ‘non-violent extremism’ as Orwellian, something I’d wholeheartedly agree with.

Emphasis on the importance of those ever-elusive ‘British values’ seems to be central to the Prevent doctrine, and the independent organisation CAGE espouses concerns that the encouragement for Muslims and others to look

for signs of extremism in schools, workplaces and the home allows for unforeseen intervention into people’s values and private lives.

How is it surprising that when government strategy claims to protect British values such as ‘the rights of all men and women to live free from persecution of any kind’ and then stigmatises an entire religious group, that there becomes an atmosphere of resentment? Following this, how is it surprising that the racial and religious tension between Muslims and other demographics have been heightened by this legislation?

When the Prevent initiative and dangerous, generalising rhetoric become the norm, it’s not surprised that some groups in society will mop it up and put it into practice. The resilience and tolerance of the vast majority of Muslims in the UK in the face of threat of attack from the state and its most ignorant citizens should be congratulated. But how much do you want to bet it won’t be?

With Valentine’s Day come and gone, the subject of love has been on everyone’s mind (and on their lips) even if some would deny it.

Regardless of your persuasion on the ‘holiday’ (and with needless debating aside), it is always nice to present your love for someone (or pizza).

Although that is entirely distinct from the common commercial representation of love, all pink with hearts everywhere; it strikes me as disingenuous with how (for lack of a better phrase) ‘lovey-dovey’ it is.

L-O-V-E

It’s like those people who post far too much about their own relationship on social media. It doesn’t tell me that they are a happy couple; it tells me that their self-esteem is closely linked with their relationship. Valentine’s day can be about the traditions surrounding the holiday, but it is important to acknowledge that in the winter months (when a relationship may also be becoming colder) what the relationship may need is not the false pageantry of Valentine’s day, but a time dedicated to reconnecting and telling one another how you

4 // FILM

truly feel, even if that is about how you think things could be better – that to me is the mature, realistic, not rose-tinted approach. I went out for a meal and drinks with a really special guy, which was nice.

In this mindset I began thinking of love, what defines ‘greatness’ in a love film, how cinema shapes our perception of love, and how it is presented in vastly different ways. Whether it be the blooming passionate romances which alight our screens, or the lasting, endearingly imperfect love of marriage. That magic of when you first fall in love with someone has been immortalised over and over; the testosterone and oestrogen of lust, that initial surge of adrenaline, then the rush of joy that is Dopamine, onto fascination from Serotonin. Whether it be between a young shop assistant and a decadent older woman, Carol (for my money, the best film I saw last year); a woman in a midst of a quarter-life crisis and Bill Murray, in Lost in Translation; two gay men going about their lives in Nottingham, in Weekend. All these films bring to us understated and authentic characters with tangible needs and desires, leaving a lasting emotional impact on the audience.

These are all great films but to truly enamour a lasting audience (and hence be seen as the ‘greatest’) the films must have a more complex, multigenerational even, exploration of love.

Brief Encounter is one such film. The 1945 British independent classic presents a world of custom and tradition, made so by the discipline required to win two world wars.

A respectable middle-class British woman, in a happy but decidedly dull marriage, encounters an idealistic doctor at a train station and is, for a brief time, taken on an emotional romance. This young doctor presents to us (and the married woman) some kind of antiestablishment excitement, some kind of happiness within her humdrum life within a rigid societal system.

Although, with the way these romances are, things aren't

meant to be; they say their farewells at the train station they met at, like a scene from a movie.

The wife returns loyally to her unknowing husband, obviously shaken by the whole thing, and the couple share a moment of implicit connection. ‘You've been a long way away’, ‘Yes’, ‘Thank you for coming back to me.’

The film is both narratively simple whilst also exploring complex themes. From one perspective the film is about an offer of freedom to a woman stuck in a sedentary lifestyle.

Although it is also about the upsand-downs of life, the natural flow of marriage and the obstacles therein.

Brief Encounter is a film about both ‘types’ of love described earlier. It is an emotional fight of hormones. I wouldn’t call it a typical Valentine’s Day film, but going back to what I was saying before – about how instead of the pageantry of Valentine’s we should take it as an opportunity to reconnect – perhaps it should be

words aaron west

CO//Wikicommons

Lasting partnerships (born from attachment from Oxytocin, and finally long-term commitment from Vasopressin) are less common in film and almost always about some

crisis in the relationship. Either from progressive estrangement in Le Mépris, or sudden resurgent detachment in Journey to Italy.

If you have been alive (or even in a state of blissful ignorance) for the past month, it would have been impossible for you to have not noticed the huge cultural phenomenon that is Deadpool. But hypothetically let’s assume that you have been in a state of catatonic unawareness (a state notuncommon amongst university students): The film had a record-breaking $135 million opening weekend in America; the biggest opening weekend for an R-rated movie; the biggest opening weekend for a Fox Studios production; Ryan Reynold’s biggest opening weekend; and the biggest opening weekend for a first time director (Tim Miller). In two weeks the film has made over half a BILLION dollars.

Apart from making a few people immensely rich, this success has also caused a lot of people (the less well off) to scratch their heads in awe and envy: how is it that this film, containing an actor who up until now had been box-office poison, with an R-Rating, whilst also earning an 83% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, can make an incredible amount of money?

I (the furthest thing from a box-office analyst) have an idea.

Many people have attributed Deadpool’s success to the fact that it is the first mainstream comic-book movie which has an R-Rating.

This seemed to earn Deadpool a sense of identity among the more ‘Disneyfied’comic-book movies. But are f-bombs and masturbation jokes the only reason for this film’s unprecedented success? Many people are acting like Deadpool is the first movie, based on material found in the comics, to have an R-Rating.

However Blade, Kick-Ass, Sin City, Watchmen, 300 and V for Vendetta all have a rated R or higher certificate, and yet their success at the box-office (not to reflect the actual quality of the films) was limited. Surely if the R-rating was the only sufficient factor that propagated Deadpool’s success, these aforementioned titles would have resonated ata higher level. The fact is: they didn’t.

To pinpoint Deadpool’s huge achievements to its age restriction is somewhat short sighted. Now you are probably asking: what is this elusive force that has caused everyone to know who Deadpool is? James Gunn, acclaimed director of Guardians of the Galaxy, has a point that hits the nail on the head:

In retaliation to idea that Deadpool succeeded as result of its ‘self-depreciating tone’, Gunn wrote ‘Deadpool was its own thing. THAT’S what people are reacting to. It’s original, it’s damn good, it was made with love by the filmmakers, and it wasn’t afraid to take risks.’

The film’s risky originality exists as a result of its small budget.

In an interview with Tech Insider Deadpool screenwriter Paul Wernick revealed that ‘the budget was much, much smaller relatively than big, huge superhero movies’. As a result, the studio considered Deadpool less of a risk; meaning that an R-rating was a realistic possibility and that director Tim Miller, lead actor Ryan Reynolds and the screenwriters could have more creative freedom. By keeping the budget small, the filmmakers were given the liberty to capture the perfect tone for the character, ensuring that the film could remain true to the ‘Merc with the Mouth’. And to bring it back to Gunn’s assertion, this allowed Deadpool to be it’s ‘own thing’ which, along with a tremendous advertising campaign, ensured that success was inevitable.

Casting our eyes to the future, it should come as no surprise that Fox have already greenlight a sequel to Deadpool. However as revealed in an article by Comic Book Movie, the screenwriters behind the film (the true heroes of this story) have stated firmly that they ‘don’t want a $150 million budget’ because that is ‘just not Deadpool.’ I could not agree more. This is a film that does not need that kind of money to honour the content which it is based on; not to the mention the detrimental effect that could have on its ability to remain ‘risky’. The key lesson that this film should teach us is that originality is key. Sadly Hollywood no longer wants to take big budget risks. As a result, to ensure creativity thrives, it is perhaps wise for studios across the world to start funding middle of the range movies, in order to ensure we are given the chance to watch more original films like Deadpool.

Words Greg Dimmock

6 // FILM

"Strong violence and language, disturbing imagery and sexual content including graphic nudity"

Conspiracy Hollywood and the

nvestigation movie Imagine if this planet and all its inhabitants suddenly disappeared from existence without a trace? Now imagine you had to explain to an alien both what this planet was and why it was so important, without any evidence of it?

This scenario may seem far-fetched but it’s a good analogy for the task Adam McKay faced when adapting The Big Short - the story of the financial crisis of 2008 into both an accessible and entertaining 2 hour movie.

The crisis may well be the most important event of this decade, however in order to explain to us how it happened, McKay has to explain both the reach and complexity of the economy and how its flaws were exacerbated unknowingly by the hundreds of white-collar workers who kept it going to the point of collapse.

As most of us don’t enter the cinema with a degree in economics this is already a difficult task but consider the fact that most of you probably switched off just reading the jargon of that last sentence and McKay’s task is even more monumental. To succeed his movie

wouldn’t just have to make his audience understand the crisis but also engage with it to feel its full effect.

Given these problems it’s amazing the film is so strong; it’s not only incredibly fun despite its subject matter but also leaves you with understanding the problem and feeling frustrated that this situation isn’t being resolved.

In much part this is thanks to the director’s innovative style. Coming from a comedy background McKay is unafraid to ditch traditional methods and instead incorporates humour, fourth wall breaking narration and celebrity cameos into his storytelling which gives the film a feeling of levity and pace while simplifying the systems which led the financial world to unravel so we can all understand their effects. But this style does cause its own problems. While never becoming gimmicky the comedic aspects can quickly become ineffective and annoying and by making its message so explicit the film feels clunky and self-important.

The Big Short went on to compete in the recent

8 // FILM

Oscar Best Picture race, where another similar film also contended, the story of Boston Globe journalists uncovering the child molestation and cover-up within the Catholic Church, Spotlight.

Like McKay’s film, Spotlight shows us a secret world whose debauchery, when revealed, has damaging consequences for all of us.

In Spotlight, Director Tom McCarthy exposes his subject by more conventional means. He uses an ensemble cast of acclaimed actors to give the story a personal angle. Set in 2003, the journalists in the film don’t even use the internet for their research but must physically search databases and knock on doors like the characters of ‘All the President’s Men’. Nevertheless it pays off, unlike The Big Short through character and subtlety rather than humour and gravitas, Spotlight effectively conveys the true depth and horror of its subject matter.

The Oscars used to highlight outstanding performances which pointed to a more equal and progressive industry, where now it struggles to nominate a single Actor or Actress of colour.

It seems that whilst the Oscars like celebrating films which address pressing issues, they are unable to ‘press their own issues’ per say.

Words Jacob Finlay

CO//Pixabay

So why does this debate matter? This is important because in the era of #OscarSoWhite although neither movie is prepared to point any fingers at Hollywood itself, their status as Oscar frontrunners presents a film industry ever-transitioning. Grappling with itself as it has done since its beginning, reaching forward, to milestone after milestone, as any art-form does and will do. Although from many people’s perspective, the industry recently seems to be going backwards.

We remember when Hilary Swank won Best Actress for her transformative portrayal as a transgendered female-to-male in Boys Don’t Cry, a bold statement

in 2000, when transphobia was worse than it is now.

Or when Tom Hanks won Best Actor for portraying a homosexual lawyer seeking justice as he struggles with HIV, still Hanks’ best performance, and a brave choice of Best Actor when not only homophobia but also HIV-stigma was still prevalent throughout America and the World.

DRAUGHTS

London’s First

Board

Words Megan Huntly

Game

Cafe

10 // LONDON

There are hundreds of great bars and cafes in London. In fact, at any given time, you’re probably no more than a stone’s throw away from a plate of avocado on toast and a poached egg.

And it’s certainly not hard to hunt down a cocktail, wherever you might be in the city.

So what makes Draughts any different?

Well, first things first, it all started with a Kickstarter campaign in August 2014. After only four months, the cafe opened its doors in November, having been funded entirely by the public, who’d heard about the cafe and decided it was just what London needed.

And why was that? Given the many other establishments already open around Hackney and Shoreditch, where Draughts is situated, it wasn’t as though the East End was deprived of the perfect lunch spot.

Draughts, however, is not just an ordinary cafe. It’s a board game cafe – London’s first, in fact. Now, I can already feel half of you switching off, because board games aren’t that cool and the only memories they usually invoke are of your mum lining the family up around the table to play Monopoly at Christmas, when all you really want to do is slip quietly into a food coma and find out who’s going to die on Downton Abbey this year.

But Draughts is cool. Set in a railway arch just down the road from Haggerston Overground station, the interior is all exposed brick and florescent mood lighting. In other words, it’s very East London.

Admittedly, their menu isn’t extensive. It consists mainly of artisan sandwiches served on wooden boards (did I mention that the cafe’s in East London?), as well as sharing boards, salads and ‘small plates’ of things like hummus or tzatziki and pitta. However, the food itself is really good, and no more expensive than anything else you’d expect to find in the area. Their cocktails are also great and, again, not too pricey, as is the selection of local craft beers that they serve.

But it’s not the food that people come for. I’ll be the first to admit that, while not adverse to a board game, I don’t know that much about them and I’m in no way an avid player. Given

this, I was a little surprised (pleasantly so) to find the cafe almost entirely full by the time we left at around 9:30 on a Monday evening.

Of course, you don’t have to play any of the board games to eat in the cafe, but everybody that I saw was firmly engrossed in one game or another. If you do want to play, each person pays a fiver and is then given free run of the extensive, 600-games-and-counting library at the back of the cafe. On weekdays, you’re free to stay for however long you please, while weekend tables are limited to four hours playing time, which is still more than enough (we booked our table for 5pm, and ended up playing for around four and a half hours). The £5 cover charge may seem like a drawback, but considering the huge variety of games available (everything from classics such as Cluedo and Boggle, to the lesser-known Eldritch Horror and Settlers of Catan) and the cafe’s origins as a Kickstarter, it’s actually not too pricey.

And you most definitely don’t have to be an expert to go. Their staff, known as ‘Game Gurus’ are all super friendly and on hand to help you set up and learn new games, as well as to provide recommendations. Not only that but, as far as I could see from my visit, there was no one ‘type’ of visitor to the cafe. On arrival, we were seated next to a group of four or five twenty-somethings, all adorned with party hats and clearly celebrating a birthday. As the night went on, lots more couples arrived, but there were also larger groups of friends seated in the sofa area to one side of the cafe.

All in all, the atmosphere is great fun and completely relaxed. If you’re happy to play Buckaroo all night, then that’s fine. If you get halfway through a game, decide you don’t like it and put it back on the shelf, that’s also fine. And if you play a game that you enjoy so much you decide you want to take it home with you, Draughts also has a small shop at the front of the cafe, where lots of their games are available for purchase.

As one anonymous reviewer on Google puts it: ‘It has it all, decent cocktails, jelly beans and board games.’ What more could you ask for?

Shakespeare’s

Globe

As you wander across the entanglement that is the Millennium Bridge, under the watchful stare of St Paul’s Cathedral, your eyes cannot help but gaze across the flowing Thames towards the grandeur of the London skyline. Concrete, steel and glass all burst skyward; the night sky illuminated by thousands of lights dancing out of window after window. You watch in awe.

c/o: wikicommons

What is this?

Situated on the South Bank, a white oddity with wooden beams and a thatched roof seems to have nestled itself amongst the greyness. It seems to be alive; its lungs breathe with the roar of applause; its heart beats in harmony with the poetry.

Shakespeare’s Globe theatre does not disappear into the background. It lives.

Walking in anticipation towards your destination, you cannot help but notice its majesty.

Reconstructed in 1997, thanks mainly to the noble efforts of actor Sam Wanamaker, the ‘new’ Globe sits only 230m away from the site of the 17th century original. The building acts as a perfect time capsule that speaks our history to us. Composed to almost exactly the same specifications as the previous theatre and built (as far as modern building regulations will allow) of the same materials, Shakespeare’s Globe is a unique entity within London.

The wooden doors swing open.

As you walk into the Globe, you naturally savour every footstep. It is a new world, but somehow familiar. It is imposing, yet welcoming. As your eyes amble across the three-tiered gallery, your

12 // LONDON

A Wooden Stage in a Concrete Jungle mind already populates each seat with a face full of anticipation for the work of Britain’s most iconic wordsmith. The poetry sprung from the lips of starcrossed lovers and the cries of kings killed before their kinsmen dance in the air in faint whispers. All the while, the night sky lingers above.

For my first trip to the Globe I had tickets to a historic tragedy which was first performed over four hundred years ago. Richard II is the perfect blend of political thriller and human drama. What is it that makes a good ruler? How do we cope with loss?

How can a man become a better person? Questions like these were continuously provoked throughout this excellent play, directed by Simon Goodwin and starring the magnificent Charles Edwards.

It is obvious that the team at the Globe do the best they can, pig’s blood aside, to bring authenticity to

their performance. The costumes are fantastic; the use of music energetic; the acting faultless. Every part of the stage, from the upper-balcony to the trapdoor, is utilised.

But for me, a first-time groundling, the most impressive aspect of Shakespeare’s Globe is how involved the audience become in the production.

Rather than being shrouded in an anonymous darkness, we are an integral element without which the play could not function. When Richard contemplates isolation, who is there to hear? When York bounds after his riding boots thrown into the pit, who will aid him back on stage? The answer is always the audience.

Words Greg Dimmock

The Crime Museum Uncovered

When you enter the exhibit, you can pick up a free guide that looks like an old newspaper. It leads you through the rooms with sketches and descriptions of all the objects. The first room contains death masks from Newgate prison offenders and a pistol used in an assassination attempt on Queen Victoria. Other objects include courtroom sketches of famous cases and evidence from interesting cases such as the 1880 Harley Street Murder.

There are also big areas dedicated to more infamous crimes, such as the Jack the Ripper murders and the cat burglar and murderer Charles Peace. These include appeals, seized items, letters and descriptions that lead you through the whole case.

c/o: wikicommons

You can also look into the history of the museum itself as they have the catalogue and the visitors book on display. The catalogue contains press cuttings and handwritten entries, and is open on a page detailing objects from a murder case. The visitors book contains all the names and signatures of everyone who visited the museum, dating back to 1877.

On the slightly more gruesome side, they also have execution ropes from hangings dating back to the nineteenth century. For those less interested in the grizzly side to this exhibition, you can also find out

about how fingerprint detection developed and how many times the New Scotland Yard sign spins a day (spoiler: it’s 14,000).

The next section of the museum has murder case study boxes all along the wall, detailing the events that occurred and evidence collected from famous cases dating from 1905-1975. This includes the gas mask worn by the Acid Bath Murderer and undoubtedly one of the most interesting objects - a briefcase with a spring-loaded syringe hidden in the side, used in the Kray twins’ trial. Upon seeing the object, Reggie Kray asked “is James Bond going to give evidence in this case?”

Other parts of the exhibition include objects from the Great Train Robbery, a case of concealed weapons, a section which asks you to work out which guns are real or not and more recent case studies such as the Millennium Dome diamond heist and the 2007 Glasgow airport attack.

Overall it’s a great way to find out about London’s hidden past and could well be a once in a lifetime opportunity. You don’t have to have a morbid fascination with murder to go along, there is something for everyone there and afterwards you can always go and look around the rest of the Museum of London for free.

The exhibit is open until the 10th of April and tickets cost £10 for adults, £8 for concessions.

Words Sarah Garnham

14 // LONDON

For the first time ever, objects from the Metropolitan Police’s Crime Museum, also known as the Black Museum, have been put on display in a special exhibit at the Museum of London. Opened in 1875, the museum has only ever been open to the police and invited guests. It’s a rare opportunity to see and learn about the UK’s most notorious crimes.

Exhibition Round up

WHERE? Wellcome Collection, Euston WHEN? 4th February –16th October, open Tuesday-Sunday

WHO? Includes work from artists

STATES OF MIND

Words: Dannielle Deans

What constitutes consciousness? Where lies the boundary between worldly reality and subjective perceptual experience?

States of Mind poses but does not answer these questions, instead it unabashedly presents to the viewer an exploration of the facts: despite hundreds of years of thought and research, we still don’t understand our conscious lives.

The exhibition is part of a year-long art study at the Wellcome Trust and follows Ann Veronica Janssens’ hugely successful YellowBluePink, proving to be equally as immersive. Through a plethora of video, painting, sculpture, installation and sketch the exhibition addresses four areas of study: Science & Soul, Sleep & Awake, Language & Memory, and Being & Not Being. The viewer is introduced first to a collection of literature exploring thought on the subject. Upon entering the exhibit hall, one is lulled into this inquisitive mind set through a traditional display of ‘artefacts’around the subject; a sketch from Descartes’ journal, Santiago Ramón y Cajal’s sketches of the nervous system, Nabokov’s Alphabet In Colours.

Like a psychological thriller, the deeper you delve into the rooms, the further you’re faced with a reality that both terrifies and enthrals. The walls of the Sleep & Awake room are decorated with articles and paintings; sleepwalking murderers, sleep paralysis sufferers, synaesthesia. But the crunch is still to come. With each piece the show becomes progressively more experimental; The Whisper Heard, Imogen Stidworthy’s installation about language acquisition transitions

Carla MacKinnon, Louise K Wilson, A. R. Hopwood, Mary Kelly and Aya Ben Ron

you into the last room. As you walk through the clinically white space, the echoing sound of a child’s voice is a juxtaposed with a video of an aphasia patient; your thoughts start to feel trapped inside your head; how in touch with reality are we?

The exhibition culminates with work on the vegetative state; when the mind and body fail to accord. Work from artists, psychologists, philosophers and neuroscientists all come together in a mix of interactive and passive pieces to consume. A video on the life of people in vegetative states is offered, after an assaultive mass of information on brain activity.

The studies pose issues with the assumption that conscious experience is what constitutes legitimate human experience; the more you learn, the further the lines between mind and world become blurred. As abrupt as being ripped from a dream, a banal door marks the end of the journey; you step out into the Wellcome Centre and go about the rest of your day.

States of Mind is most affective because it addresses something pertinent to day to day life; our individual experience of it. The art is both aesthetically and theoretically intriguing. It’s free, it’s clever yet accessible; it’s brilliant and definitely worth the trip to Euston.

CURTAIN UP

Words: Daniella Harrison

The V&A’s usual soundtrack is silence filled with the flow and ebb hubbub of visitors. From the third floor, however, comes the distinct sound of toe-tapping and finger snaps from the A Chorus Line soundtrack. I weave my way through the corridors of the museum, the music as my guide, and find myself in what can only be described as theatrical heaven.

Exhibition Round up

as comparing audience rates of the West End and Broadway, as well as the economic impact the theatre has on a city

The ‘Curtain Up’ exhibition has been curated to celebrate forty years of the Olivier Awards, the highlight of the British theatre calendar and a real force in determining where audiences seat themselves within London. It includes artefacts from much-loved productions from both the West End and Broadway of years gone by such as Chicago, Les Miserables, and Matilda. However, rather than being just another exhibition in the V&A, ‘Curtain Up’ succeeded in presenting itself much like its subject: in essence, the exhibition about theatre was itself a theatrical event.

The main way in which the exhibition achieves this aura is through its attention to displaying both the on- and off-stage, which gives spectators a real taste of quite what goes into the making of their evening’s entertainment. For example, the first room centres around a small stage on which the original War Horse is placed, as well as costumes from The Lion King and Swan Lake.It’s absolutely breath-taking to see these items up close, to really see the details so carefully woven or put into them which are missed when sat far back in the dress circle. It gives a new appreciation for how much effort and thought is put into something somebody wears. Michael Crawford’s mask from The Phantom of the Opera was also an item which was garnering a lot of attention, particularly as it isthe first item seen when entering the exhibition.

Set models and photos from An Inspector Calls and Arcadia give set enthusiasts a chance to see how sets are translated from concept to the stage, and rare annotated scripts are also included for an extra glance at how rehearsals are run. As the exhibition is commemorating the awards season, there are Olivier award trophies to look at as well as information about how awards are run and their different categories, as well as fun facts about recipients of awards, such as that nineteen actors have won both an Olivier and Tony for the same role in the same production in both countries. Throughout the exhibition itself are pieces of information about the theatre medium, such

What I must applaud the curators for is their design of the exhibition, which really inhabits its subject matter. The first thing seen when stepping into the room is a sign for Shaftesbury Avenue (the home of London’s ‘theatreland’), with programmes and playbills (surprisingly free on Broadway compared to the small fee here in London) hanging in the air around it. The floor maps out the locations of significant theatres in both cities, complemented by wall art of Broadway. A red curtain with ‘Curtain Up’ projected in yellow lighting gives the feeling that you are not just a spectator, but a performer within this exhibition.

This is something which I love about theatre – how involved it can make us feel – and ‘Curtain Up’really plays on this theme, with theatrical lights used throughout to light the rooms, and stepping into the ‘behind the scenes’ section there is a soundscape of technical managers counting down untilshow time. A mirror and ballet barre with gold top hats hanging above mimics the set for A Chrous Line, a beautiful design touch to the area. There a few opportunities to interact with the exhibition, becoming a performer within the space, such as being able to man a small lighting rig, or play around with sound on a sounddesk from Hairspray. The final room, my personal favourite, is a smaller recreation of the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time set, complete with strobe lighting and screens, making you feel as if you really are Christopher.

Overall, though a much smaller exhibition than I expected, it is a theatrical cavern of delights for the theatre enthusiast, and the amount of visitors it has gathered sums up just how important and exciting theatre is to us as humans. It will leave you with a big grin on your face and the urge to dance your way out of the museum.

WHERE? Victoria and Albert Museum WHEN? 9 February – 31 August 2016 WHO? Curtain Up showcases material from multiaward-winning productions such as The Phantom of the Opera, A Chorus Line and Wolf Hall

Exhibition Round up BEJEWELLED TREASURES

It is said that diamonds are forever and will always be a girl’s best friends.In the V&A they open and close the new jewellery exhibition, but they do not steal the whole show. Between the 17-diamonds turban clip belonging to the Maharaja of Nawanagar and a contemporary Cartier’s brooch with a 53 karat Golconda diamond one can find a colourful array of bejewelled masterpieces. In their eternal beauty they store the memories of 400 years of Indian jewellery, as well as the stories of its owners.

As we step inside the exhibition, we move from the bright spacious museum hall into a dark, refined interior, where a precisely directed light is a sole decoration. Nothing more is needed. The richness of the collection belonging to the Qatari Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al-Thani strikes the viewer from the first sight. It includes ancient masterpieces of the 17th century Mughal Empire as well as contemporary works of JAR Paris and Cartier. Almost a hundred bejewelled pieces gathered in six thematic rooms invite the viewer to take a journey through the changing tastes in Indian jewellery.

The first room presents a variety of precious stones that could be found in the royal Indian treasury. The Maharajas were proud owners of gems from all over the world: diamonds from Golconda, rubies from Burma, sapphires from Sri Lanka and exceptionally beautiful emeralds from South America. In the ancient tradition, different precious and semi-precious stones were combined to form a navaratna (‘the nine gem’) which was worn as an amulet. At the Mughal court the title of undisputed king of gems belonged to red spinel, a more transparent and bright cousin of ruby. Red spinels and emeralds were paired with pearls to create dazzling necklaces whose beauty lays in a fine balance between the interference of skilled goldsmiths and natural beauty of the gems that were allowed to keep their slightly irregular shapes.

Words: Malwina Wojcik

WHERE? Victoria and Ablert Museum WHEN? 21 November 2015 – 10 April WHO? The Al Thani Collection

Astonished by the richness and diversity of the royal treasury, we move forward to admire some of the oldest pieces of the collection, decorative objects made for the Tipu Sultan of Mysore. A viewer’s attention is immediately caught by a golden bird and a tiger’s head, which used to form a part of the Sultan’s golden throne. The animals are dotted with various gemstones with an incredible attention to detail: rubies decorate the tiger’s tongue and eyes, its teeth are diamond, while the bird’s tail shines with emeralds and sapphires.

The next room is devoted to the signature style of Indian goldsmiths, combining the technique of enamel and kundan, which allowed to create complex compositions by separating the gems with a gold foil. In the 19th century, after establishment of the British rule, the Indian jewellery became largely influenced by western taste. The influences however, were mutual. The beginning of 20thcentury saw Cartier and other famous European jewellers combine the exotic tradition of India with the spirit of art deco. This sophisticated mix is well demonstrated by Paul Irbe͛s brooch which shows an exceptional colour combination of emerald and sapphire in a typical art deco shape. The last room features contemporary pieces of jewellery inspired by Indian tradition. It includes Cartier’s astonishing necklace with irregular red spinels, similar to those from the royal treasury, and JAR Paris earrings with a spinel surrounded by a conical construction of pearls and diamonds.

The conclusion that comes to one’s mind after completing the journey into the past of the Indian jewellery is that while the tastes might change, the real beauty is eternal.

The Al-Thani collection embodies both the beauty of nature and the beauty of human creation. The piece that perfectly conflates them both is a contemporary pearl necklace

by Bhagat of Mumbai. It consists of 337 perfectly round natural pearls, combined according to the size to form 3 long strands with a sophisticated diamond fastening. A legend says that a similar necklace was used by Cartier to purchase his first New York boutique on the Fifth Avenue.

Another piece that demonstrates an exceptional skills and imagination of jewellers is the Mellerio dits Meller peacock brooch, the poster image of the exhibition. This three-dimensional, huge golden masterpiece, featuring enamelling and diamonds, looks incredibly light and sophisticated, like it came from a fairytale. The life of its owner in fact resembles the fairytale story of Cinderella.

Anita Delgado, a Spanish dancer, was 16-year when the maharajah of Kapurthalafell in love with her. He took her to Paris to educate her and dressed her up in Parisian haute couture. They got married soon afterwards. Anita wore the peacock brooch as a hair embellishment on her wedding day.

Like Anita Delgado’s brooch, every jewel on the exhibition has its own story. Each of them is a unique piece of history, often handed over from generation to generation. The ‘Bejewelled Treasures’ exhibition offers the viewers a unique possibility to explore not only the history of Indian jewellery, but also the history of the empires and people who stood behind them.

18 // ARTS

Exhibition Round up

The dying days of a diva are the talk of the town…

It’s 1969 and Judy Garland, drug dependant and frail, is scheduled to appear in a five week run at The Talk of the Town in London as her final attempt at a comeback. Drama ensues both on and off stage throughout Peter Quilter’s End of the Rainbow which explores the disastrous concerts; Judy’s strained relationship with her new young fiancé and the ultimately unsuccessful attempts of long-time friend and pianist, Anthony, to keep the star from her self-destructive habits in the months leading up to her death.

A beautifully crafted replica of the hotel in which Garland’s personal life fell apart is a presence on stage throughout the play, serving as a constant reminder that the performance anxiety the star faced in the lead up to a show was often carried on stage with her.

Clever lighting and a sparkling backdrop are utilised to carry the audience out of Garland’s London residence and onto the stage of her sell out concerts as a simple yet effective way of transitioning between scenes.

Alongside the star is her initially well intentioned fiancé, Mickey Deans (Sam Attwater), who becomes increasingly cold as Garland struggles to maintain her stamina on stage and succumbs to the demons that threatened to resurface throughout her entire career. Attwater plays well on Deans’ conflict between the health of his lover and his determination to revive her career, eventually opting to reintroduce the iconic actress to the pills that would eventually kill her.

Gary Wilmot provides an honest performance as Anthony Chapman, Garland’s ever suffering and devoted gay pianist, serving as a representative of Garland’s gay fan base who raised her to the status of icon.

imitation of Garland’s mannerisms and perfectly captures the vulnerable diva’s desperation for adoration. Where Maxwell truly succeeds is in her delivery of Garland’s famous numbers such as The Trolley Song, The Man That Got Away and an emotionally intense Over the Rainbow.

Instead of providing an impression of the Hollywood star, Maxwell, while still offering Garland’s iconic sound, is original and awe inspiring in her delivery.

20 // ARTS

Daniel Buckroyd’s direction succeeds in maintaining the pace of the piece with short musical interludes of Garland’s famous numbers between scenes, ensuring the audience remains engaged and never in doubt of the fact that Judy’s larger than life character is the star of the show.

Quilter’s play ensures the legacy of Judy Garland lives on, offering a view of the icon at both her best and worst.

In our celebrity obsessed culture, the rise and fall of Garland is still pertinent today, serving as a reminder that while her music lives on, even Judy wasn’t invincible.

Often providing comic relief in darker moments of the show, Wilmot is utterly charming and likable onstage. However, her co-stars are undoubtedly overshadowed by former Loose Woman, Lisa Maxwell, in her interpretation of Garland.

Maxwell’s hilarious and often emotionally wrought portrayal of Garland in her final months endears her to the audience as she emanates the charisma and charm that made Judy herself a star. Maxwell is skilful in her

Words Ben McDonald

Christ Claudet

22 // ARTS

Reclaiming the Venus?

Ahead of the V&A’s upcoming Botticelli Reimagined exhibition, BBC Four aired a documentary exploring the legacy of one of Western art’s most recognisable paintings; The Birth of Venus. Sam Roddick presented Botticelli’s Venus: The Making of an Icon, mapping centuries of our fascination with the painting and its countless re-workings by artists, photographers and filmmakers. This documentary led me to contemplate the importance of exploring the real reasons behind people’s obsession with The Birth of Venus, and if we’re really celebrating it for the right reasons.

Roddick argues that the painting is “a joyful celebration of female sexuality”, yet upon closer inspection, I can’t help but wonder if this is what the painting is really about.

Botticelli offers us a romantic and idealised interpretation

of the human form; Venus is stands in the Contrapposto pose, derived from classical sculpture. One arm is flexed to cover her genitalia and the other attempting to cover her breasts. She shows decorum, exuding innocence and purity.

Most importantly, she does not engage with the viewer and is instead gazing off into the distance, in order to preserve her modesty. On the right hand side of the painting Flora, the goddess of spring, is waiting to envelop Venus in a robe.

This is clearly a woman who is beautiful; yet coy and demure.

And it suggests to us that overt female sexuality is threatening.

Historian, Hallie Rubenhold recognises the censorship of Venus’s sexuality: “there is this hint of modesty there... and this makes her alluring to Renaissance men because

anything other than that it’s just too full-on, it’s too intense”.

Yet, the program fails to deliver the crucial conclusion to its viewers that a work of art that censures a women’s sexuality is surely an oppressive one.

Roddick program

concludes the by stating,

“He [Botticelli] has put Venus in a position where she doesn’t feel ashamed about her body, she doesn’t feel ashamed about her sexuality, she does not feel ashamed about her nudity.

So much of today is driven to make us feel ashamed of who we are. So Botticelli’s image is one of the only images that I know

24 // ARTS

that I can truly say that is sexually celebratory, one without shame.”

Perhaps Venus is not ashamed of her nudity, but she still feels the need to cover it up. The rising popularity of third wave feminism has arguably led to perceiving anything that presents women as embracing their sexuality as positive. In this case, we need to pause to consider the way in which woman is being presented as, like so many sexualised images of females, Botticelli’s painting is principally designed to invite the male gaze.

Perhaps a more empowering depiction of Venus can be found in Titian’s Venus of Urbino. Like Botticelli’s Venus, the Venus of Urbino shares the same beauty: a similarly voluptuous, idealised figure with flowing golden hair.

The difference lies in the way

the figures are presented to us. Titian’s Venus of Urbino lies languidly on a bed, her eyes staring directly at the viewer in an enticing, almost confrontational manner.

Her body is splayed out towards us, illuminated by the light source and not a garment in sight.

Her nudity is only emphasised by the presence of two fully clothed women in the distance and the red cushions on which she lies are symbolically suggestive of lust, passion and danger.

Moreover,Titian’s manipulation of oil paint adds even more richness and tonality to his sensual figure than Botticelli’s more linear Venus, painted with egg tempera. The Venus

of Urbino is unashamedly sexual, rather than sexualized.

Such representations are so important in today’s society because we are given such conflated ideas about how to look and behave. Women are undoubtedly under pressure to appear beautiful; yet if she shows a little too much cleavage or even, (heaven forbid!) a nipple, she is stigmatised for it. Women need to reclaim their own sexuality and that is why I think Sam Roddick’s praise for The Birth of Venus should be contested. Her program offers a thorough insight into how influential this painting has been and it’s continuing appeal; yet in anticipation of the Botticelli Reimagined exhibition we need to look at these paintings with critical minds in order to understand their relevance today.

The V&A’s Botticelli Reimagined runs 5th of March- 3rd of July and costs £10 for students.

Photos Priyanka Pau 26 // PHOTOGRAPHY

QM V A C ISUAL

CUB’s photography editor Emily Gillings Peck met up with Sophia Alvarez Barnes to talk about the recent VAC exhibition.

RTS

1. How long has the QM Visual Arts Collective been around?

VAC was founded in November 2014 when PhotoSoc formed a curatorial collaboration with the Experimental Media Forum and QMTV. Our first exhibition was March 2015.

2. QM doesn’t seem to have all that many arts groups, so this exhibition feels quite important. Do you think it could be paving the way for more artistic space and involvement across the university?

We set the collective up to give people a platform and hope that it continues to grow as new students bring new ideas.

We would love more artistic space and general artistic involvement across QM. The talent is definitely there.

OLLECTIVE

28 // PHOTOGRAPHY

Featured are a few of the photographers showcased at QM’s very own Visual Arts Collective which held its exhibition at 5th Base Gallery on Brick Lane from the 34th-29th of February.

Menelik Mimano

Lucy Corkish

Alice Clark

Priyanka Pau

Ellen’s Box

Galentines Day

A feature of capitalist society designed to celebrate heteronormative ideas of love must not be allowed to infiltrate your surroundings and make you feel in the slightest bit rubbish.

Ever.

Whoever you are, there’s some body out there, in the world, who loves you – and I separated that word for a reason. Those three words, as cliché as it sounds, aren’t said enough, not even by me, and I love everyone – especially when I’m pissed.

32 // COLUMN

How was YOUR Valentine’s Day this year? I hope, whether you gave, received, or neither(and you’re to interpret that however you want) you had a nice time and were, under no circumstances, sad because you told yourself that nobody loves you.

Bisous. of bitchiness – hurts in ways often deemed melodramatic, is because In the context of this article, I’m it came from one woman to another. going to be talking about my female Sadly, we expect men to hurt us. friendships, because to me they are Women on the other hand? Nah. the most important ones. I have received more love and affection from If you’re a self-identifying man females than I have ever from males, reading this, and you have friends and, whilst they may have pissed who are self-identifying women, you me off in various ways, no female should appreciate them even more friend has ever ‘broken my heart’. for appreciating you – for seeing you not as an oppressor or person who It is because of my female friends that might cause them harm, but as an I have grown up into a person that I ally. I always find myself addressing both like and respect. It is because of the ‘not all men’ argument, and my female friends that I can discuss yes, it’s valid, again, but I don’t things that are difficult to talk about. think I’m unfair in saying that men It was my female friends that inspired have a lot to learn about women. this column (one of them literally For years, they gave me the idea) and to be quite honest, it is my female friends who ignored us and didn’t will support me in anything I think or listen to us, and a lot say or do. Ever. On the not-so rare of dickheads still do. occasion that I’m being really stupid they’d tell me. Because of love. I’m overjoyed for any of you reading this who celebrated Valentine’s Day As women are so often told, with a significant other, but I am glad it’s in our nature to nurture; we I got to spend it surrounded by gals. care and listen and give more I’m lucky that I get to do this every than men do (if we want to). day, and I intend to keep doing so, whether in a relationship or not. Without being too lame, I’m not establishing though I suppose it fits with the a competition here, general theme, now that the day but there just are differences in female is behind us, for another year at least, let’s love ourselves, and each friendships; you other, and especially all women. see it in nightclub toilets, if nowhere Words Ellen Mcmahon else. so

I’ll

call

you

later.

I’ll be honest and tell you I had a bit of a cry on Feb 14th 2016, more about lost loves than loneliness, though.

However, in retrospect, I should have focused on what I do have rather than what I don’t have, because I have a lot of really nice people in my life that I love very very much. Just in case my mum reads this – she does that sometimes – I obviously know that you and dad and the fam love me the most, and obviously, I love you right back. Right now, though, Part of the reason that girl-on-girl I’m going to talk about friendships, action - even in the mildest forms

Should universities invite “r ALFIE TURNER: In the past few months Queen Mary has been criticized by the government for giving the floor to “extremist” speakers. According to the Prime Minister, “Schools, universities and colleges, more than anywhere else, have a duty to protect impressionable young minds”. But the growing tendency of placing pressure on universities to shut down debate, encouraging more bans on speakers and no-platforming, will have precisely the opposite effect.

Feminists Society later released a statement, seen as offering solidarity to ISOC on the grounds that Namazie was an “islamophobe” and that such people should be banned from universities. The idea that a student feels strongly about a religion or a belief, so much that another person should be banned from offering their own, sometimes opposing, opinion is insane. Similar attempts have been made to ban politicians, public figures and even comedians from speaking at universities. If I believe strongly that football is an offensive subject for conversation and nobody should be able to mention it, should I have the right to silence others from speaking about it? Of course I shouldn’t.

YAY

We are corroding the culture and nature of what a university should be. A university is not a church, a university is not a political stump, it is a place in which ideas should move freely and be challenged constantly. If somebody offers a “radical” opinion, a university is a place in which that opinion can be discussed, challenged or ridiculed. The government has a very dim view of university students if it thinks we all believe that 100% of everything we hear in a lecture, seminar or discussion with other students is sacrosanct.

The issue of what or who constitutes a “radical” speaker is the problem. Last November Maryam Namazie, an ex-muslim feminist and human-rights activist, gave a talk at Goldsmiths University for the Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society on blasphemy and apostasy. At the event, members of the university’s ISOC disrupted the event; shouting through the lecture and, at one point, pulling the power from her presentation. Namazie refused to be intimidated and leave, challenging members of the audience and completing the event. Goldsmiths

I would argue that major moments of historic progress; democracy, the civil rights movement in America, the legalization of same sex love and marriage; all were won by language in places where people were free to stand up and speak about ideas and issues.

If the government thinks it can cushion young people from ideas by preventing discussion of them, it will have the opposite effect. The real world is not a place in which you can neutralize all opinion by banning it and if you stop universities and schools from talking about important and difficult issues, young people will simply find other avenues to explore these issues, the growth of online radicalization being a case in point. Freedom of expression can hurt us, but it is a hard-fought right that has given us a great deal of liberty. We would be foolish to offer it the knife, especially on our universities.

NOUR KOBAYTER: On-going debates around whether or not universities should invite radical speakers to speak on campus events have opened up the debate on freedom of speech. Whilst freedom of speech remains to be an essential right for individuals to have, there needs to be a line demarcating when this speech becomes hateful and dangerous. Although I acknowledge that we all have different perspectives, views and values, universities should not openly be prepared to offend a multitude of people at the expense of furthering a particular society’ s agenda. Freedom of speech can be a slippery slope to racism, transphobia, Islamophobia, and religious fundamentalism. The linebetween hate speech and an open discussion on viewpoints remains blurred when speakers such as Germaine Greer and her problematic views towards transgender people are allowed to be put forward in a public discussion.

Universities continuously champion their position as arenas where people can be themselves, and be able to associate with whomever they choose. If they also allow speakers capable of preaching ideas that can cause considerable harm, they should be able to acknowledge the risk of possibly alienating a part of their student body.

on campus?

over her comments about transgender women.

To offer a summary of her views on transgender people, Greer believes that trans women are men because they “don’ t look like women”. In other words, if you don’ t look like a woman or if you don’ t menstruate, you cannot be a woman. Not only is this extremely transphobic and offensive, it just simply doesn’ t make any sense. Allowing Greer to portray a transphobic and transmisogynistic point of view at an open platform at a university perpetuates a dangerous atmosphere of intolerance, discrimination and further marginalises trans people. In this case, putting speakers like Greer on a ‘ no platform’ not only makes sense, but is thoroughly encouraged.

NAY

The University of Cardiff had initially invited Greer to host a talk about feminism and society. Greer has been hailed as one of the most important contemporary feminist thinkers yet she has received much criticism

If banning Greer does not convince you, then consider the current members of University “No Platform”.

The National Union of Students (NUS) compiled a list of organisations they deem too radical and hatefilled to be allowed to speak at University events.

Members include the BNP, EDL and Hizb-ut-Tahrir.

These organisations not only harbour harmful and controversial opinions that preach hatred, exclusion and violence, but they perpetuate a notion of cultural incompatibility and go against the very foundations of a tolerant and multicultural society. If speakers from these organisations and other controversial thinkers are allowed to speak at universities, are we prepared to deal with the consequences of perpetuating hatred, intolerance and discrimination?

34 // FEATURES

radical speakers”

MENTAL HEALTH AT UNIVERSITY: A PERSONAL STORY

most people) was therefore a key factor. (Incidentally, all humans are like this. So any doctor who says that they just became a doctor to help others in my view is not telling the full truth, though you shouldn’t judge them harshly for it anyway!)

Regardless of the reasons, ultimately it proved an unwise The ones struggling with health issues and personal demons, choice. the ones taking time off from their studies, and the ones who drop out, silently slipping off the social radar. I write this as a Let me be clear. I am not angry at QM, or the university dropout myself. A few months ago I handed in my withdrawal experience in general. My problems predated my arrival at from studies form after studying at QM for 2 years, followed QM by several years. I am certain that, had I gone to any other by a further 2 years of interrupted study, during which I tried, university, I would have suffered in a similar manner. My anger in vain, to rouse myself back to my degree. The cause of and frustration is directed at the adverse set of circumstances my problems; mental illness –a problem that has become I happened to find myself in growing up, and myself for my depressingly familiar for far too many students in this country. inability to cope with these events over the years. It would be very easy for me to blame my parents, my unhappy time at University is all about youth, hope for the future, and establishing school, or society at large, and I do, at times, yet I don’t think yourself as an adult. At least, that is what it should be. But not this is right. Although I do believe that the broad social and for me. My time at QM became a living nightmare, as I crashed economic changes that have occurred in the last 50 years may and burned downwards in a spiral of self-destruction. University well be increasing the likelihood of a given person experiencing and severe mental illness are a dangerous combination and a mental health problem, playing the blame game is not going they need to be handled with great care, common sense, and to help the individuals concerned, and it will be very hard to self-awareness. At QM, I never managed to handle the basics put the genie back in the bottle regarding the changes in the of looking after myself, and, several years down the line I am world we live in. Blaming outside factors can be a convenient still bearing the consequences. way to avoid taking personal responsibility for your life. My feeling is that for many people, their mental illness is the result My problems began – as they often do – whilst at school, aged of some bad luck – being the person with insufficient coping 15. Recently diagnosed with a chronic health condition, I also mechanisms suffering the wrong kind of experience. As the suffered a traumatic heart arrhythmia whilst in hospital that saying goes, life is a game of cards. Like many, I was dealt a left me with PTSD-like symptoms. Frequent family relocations poor hand – it is how you act in response to these difficulties meant I struggled to make friends at secondary school, which either make or break you. although I excelled academically. These events, coupled with a highly self-critical and cynical thinking style, made a mental The advice I can give to anyone wanting to help people like health problem an inevitability. I have seen many therapists me is simple. Reach out to fellow students who are struggling. over the years, had CBT and tried (lots of) medication but none Recognise that there is a huge variety in the ways people of it has worked. This adds in a whole new level of desperation experience mental health problems. Not everyone will respond and misery because you do wonder if anything will ever work. to the treatment currently available – therefore more research is desperately needed. Please appreciate how fortunate you In spite of all I have just said, I chose to do medicine – a are to have good mental health. And to those who may be degree you need to be fully committed to without worrying going through something a bit like what I did – stay in school about your health (physical or mental) all the time. I often and don’t listen to those voices in your head. Take charge of find myself wondering what possessed me (a stressed and your life and resist the temptation to get angry. far from the most resilient guy) to apply for medicine (one of the most stressful and demanding degrees there is). The truth The future for me is uncertain. I have reapplied for university is simple. The adverse health problems I suffered from, my and hope to studying once again come September. But I still mum’s work as a nurse, and my academic achievement left doubt my ability to cope with university life – my track record me with an interest in medicine. But at a deeper level, success is poor. The shiny gloss of hope and energy that is an integral at school raises your aspirations for life and you feel a need to part of being young has well and truly gone. I may only be 23 always be the best – in other words, a perfectionist. Medicine but I feel far older. What cannot be disputed however is the is a highly respected and prestigious career, and rightly or necessity that I try my damnedest to recover my life and that is wrongly a doctor is seen to be high up the social hierarchy. what I intend to do.

Being motivated by success and status (perhaps more than

36 // FEATURES

THIS ARTICLE IS FOR QUEEN MARY’S INVISIBLE STUDENTS.

SPOTLIGHT: BIAS IN THE MEDIA Spotlight shows the best of journalism: fearless intrepid investigators uncovering unpalatable truths. Yet the reality is more complicated. Angelica Hill interviews some leading news journalists about the political and commercial pressures under which today’s media operates; and the challenges it faces from the new digital age.

Talal Al-Hage, Al Arabiya’s US correspondent, described the qualities of a good journalist: “You always try your best to be factual, to be accurate and balanced, comprehensive, detached, ethical, it’s the ABCD of journalism...to have a fair report.” With evident pride, he recounts - at length - his biggest stories in the same way that fishermen describe their biggest catches. He talks of his interview with US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld and his scoop about Sudanese President Amul Bashar’s indictment for genocide by the International Criminal Court. The pressure was on in this last story.

Bashar was a close friend of the Saudi King. Al Arabiya is owned by Saudis.

Talal would have been fired if his story had been proved false. This is where, he adds, his experience told. “One of the problems with our journalists is that they don’t do their homework.” A good, “seasoned” journalist develops a “sixth sense” about the credibility of his sources and the interest of his audience. As a journalist “you are only

as good as your last story”, so make sure it’s a good one.

Rob Watson, whose worked as a journalist for the BBC for thirty years, seems to support the idea of this “sixth sense”, saying that when validating a story “you trust your own instincts… maybe that’s a dangerous thing”, but “if somebody offers you a story, or a fact that just looks too good, too convenient to be true, you know, it probably is”. He states “there’s no shortcut to being fair and making sure you’ve got it right…if you’re given a figure, don’t just accept it, check it” with some “good old-fashioned legwork”, before telling the story.

But there are increasing pressures that undermine this vision.

Nakhle El Hage, the Al Arabiya news Director in Dubai, described how “storytelling is not enough” and that in these times of conflict the media is faced with “little access...pressure

from governments, from terrorist organisations, [and] from criminals.”

Moreover news is not attractive to advertisers and is getting less and less attractive: “advertisers do not want to associate their brands with bad news, because unfortunately, most of our news is bad news.”

Nakhle walks a careful line in discussing the internal and external pressures he faces every day in steering Al Arabiya’s news coverage. He acknowledges the “governments or political parties, or terrorist organisations, who attack us in many places.” He acknowledges that “there is not much freedom of speech in this part of the world” and that, as editors, there is a choice between facing off the pressures or trying “to push the boundaries every day.” This sounds dangerously like an argument for appeasement, an excuse to dodge difficult decisions that will be unpopular. Nakhle pushes back on this. Pressed on Al Arabiya’s coverage of the war in Yemen, Nakhle argues forcefully that Al Arabiya’s reporting has been as even handed as that of the BBC. Moreover any spin is in response to the perceived influence of his (mainly Saudi) audience rather than any downwards pressure from his owners. “As a commercial channel we are subject to a lot of, sometimes, a lot of commercial discriminations.” “Our success is measured by our ratings.”

These are revealing admissions. Truth may not be hostage both to owners, audiences or advertisers - but it’s not immune to their influence.

Rob Watson does not think commercial stations such as Al Arabiya have vastly different challenges to channels like the BBC, and the challenges commercial news stations do face he thinks “they do a remarkably good job” at combatting and are “incredibly mindful”.

There is also a degree of evangelisms in an approach that seeks, as Nakhle does,

38 // FEATURES

to play a role “in merging this part of the world with the global mentality and make the globe closer to, to this part of the world.” Stations like Al Arabiya will trumpet their opposition to terrorist ideologies (although this likely doesn’t include non-violent but more extremist ideologies as some would argue hold sway in Saudi Arabia).

In an evershrinking global community this can only be a good thing. But is it the role of a news reporter?

Talal described the genesis of Al Jazeera, the channel that challenged the news hegemony of the BBC and CNN. The BBC Panorama team produced a programme profiling Muhammed Al-Masalli, a Saudi dissident, whom the British government had tried to deport following Saudi pressure. The programme, called Death of a Principle (mimicking the title of a 1970s episode called Death of a Princess), led to the BBC Arabic Service that had aired it being shut down. Many of the dismissed employees subsequently joined Al Jazeera, a free to air Arabic service, which had been set up in Doha: “a hole in the desert”. Initially, the station was almost identical to the BBC’s Arabic service “ the same team, the same equipment, even the chairs were the same!” It was soon recognised as an independent, reliable station, watched by “everybody in the Arab world, and even abroad who spoke Arabic.” The station went from strength to strength.

Talal described how, as Al Jazeera’s Washington Bureau chief, he was afforded all the access he wanted, but this all changed when Al Jazeera began to show tapes of Osama Bin Laden and the collateral damage caused by US air strikes in Afghanistan. Journalists like Talal “couldn’t travel anywhere without being isolated and searched ten times…it was very difficult times.”

Al Jazeera lost viewers and much of its popularity. But, funded by the wealth of the Qataris, it survived and remains a potent voice in the Middle East, even

if an unwelcome one to many Western governments.

Talal now works for Al Arabiya, set up and funded by the Saudis to challenge the dominance of Al Jazeera. He strives to maintain his credibility as a journalist, but is faced by similar challenges.

“If you work for a company they expect your loyalty, and as a journalist sometimes it’s difficult, its very difficult, a big challenge.” As the Saudi-led coalition (which includes the UK and US) fights a war in Yemen, resisting Houthi forces in yet another sunni-shia sectarian struggle, and are accused of bombing hospitals and inflicting civilian casualties, neutral coverage is difficult. Talal admitted “Al Arabiya is independent as long as the story doesn’t touch Saudi Arabia.”

He suggests that even the BBC is not

immune. It may not wear its bias on its sleeve like the Republican US Fox News channels, but Talal suggests they are equally guilty. With some trepidation and nervousness, this experienced news insider suggested that “if they can get away with it, they are sure they will not be caught, they will take sides, and they will…I don’t know how to say it…they will do things.” “But they will not do it in the open...their reputation is their currency”.

Rob Watson, states “it’s impossible to be totally unbiased”, the BBC “try to be as unbiased and as neutral as possible”, but “look at where the BBC is located…in the heart of London, in Britain, on of the world’s oldest liberal, capitalist democracies, and so clearly the people who are recruited

to work for the BBC, they come from this particular milieu…we’re living in western Europe and we have a western European outlook on the world”.

The pressures are not only political.

News channels and newspapers are businesses.

As if this was not enough, there are the challenges of online social media.

Traditional news businesses are having to adapt to a world where everyone carries a HD camera and spends more time online, or on their phones, than watching television or reading. Al Arabiya may have 54 billion social media followers, but is struggles to monetise this success. Nakhle’s aspiration that in a few years Al Arabiya will be able to control its social media followers in a way that will profit them by driving “them to the television station where we have advertising” sounds overoptimistic, a nostalgic hope for a time that has long past.

His vision of a future that revolves around a large screen, possibly 3D, possibly 360º,

possibly inter-active, doesn’t reflect a reality most Queen Mary students would recognise. Queen Anne student may be more inclined to agree with Rob Watson’s view that “the broadcast world is in a moment of transition”, “will people still be watching the television news in 100 years, of course they won’t be…the question is how long will it take for that to disappear”. The BBC has no idea how long this transition will take, all they seem to know is it’s going to be more expensive, having to keep up both the television and media news platforms, the longer it takes.

When asked how the BBC are dealing with just how instantaneous social media is at getting information into the world Rob noted that this challenge “is not new with social media” it happened when channels began moving “to having these live channels” where someone reported live from, or about an event. In this case there was huge fear these reporters would end up getting things wrong and misinforming the

public, however through the audiences understanding of the inevitability of this happening the obstacle was overcome.

These reporters would only give out confirmed information and add to the story as it developed. “What social media has introduced is people who are not professional journalist giving their opinion on absolutely everything, as it happens” and the key point is that “journalist need to be careful in how much account they take of the stuff that’s on social media when its opinion, rather than eye witness stuff.”

Journalism and social media are becoming inseparable when it comes to the circulation of news on a global level. Talal emphasized the extent to which journalists feel a necessity to stay informed on events across the world through social media when he stated that “if a journalist doesn’t have a Twitter account you have to be weary of, how does he get his news?” implying that journalists not following social media are bad, and possibly unreliable. The way stories are told are rapidly changing to engage the new generation of viewers, as Rob Watson puts it “good stories never change… the way you tell them does…the style that would have been appropriate when I joined in 1983 would sound boring” to a modern viewer, “I’d sound like some really stale old white guy”.

The world of TV news seems to be changing at a pace which many news stations are struggling to keep up with, and the idea of an entirely unbiased news station, which as Rob put it “could somehow float above the world and not bring any of its prejudices, or its history, or the kind of cultural mores” seems “impossible”. So as Queen Mary students it is important we understand when reading or watching news that, as Nakhle put it, “there are always two sides of the story” and no news station or newspaper can give you both.

I'm sitting on my bed in my childhood room, but it's not my room. Every time I come back something more has creeped in, a chest of drawers, a dollhouse, my sisters rejected clothes. My box room is packed full of things I never owned and things I've never even seen before. The walls are still grey, and the silver mural is still there, but now the quotes - which so clearly summed up my life at 18 - don't have the same meaning anymore. I'm home, but I'm not home. This was supposed to be a weekend of regression and long baths and toast made the way I like it. But there's nothing to regress to.

And then I'm back in London, but I'm an alien here as well. The lease only runs till June.Great we won't have to pay rent whilst when we're not here over summer. But now June is so close I can smell it and suddenly the money we'll save is outweighed by the knowledge I won't have a home in just over three months. Bur this flat always felt temporary, overtime a poster falls down I don't put it back up - what's the point? we're moving out soon anyway.

I have two homes, two buildings filled with warm people and friendly faces. But neither of them really fit, as I shuttle back and forth I feel the sting of it. Three years ago London welcomed me in and now it feels like I'm being spat back out again just as I was getting used to it. It doesn't help that seventeen years of continuous education are coming to an end. Another home eager to move me along.

There's an overwhelming feeling in the library, the coffee shops, the lecture theatres and the hallways. Everyone is holding their breath trying to make it to the end whilst not wanting to make it there at all. I'm itchy, everything itches and there's something in my throat and I don't have a home.

Words Molly Skinner

40 // FEATURES

Feels like home

THE TORMENTED CONTEMPORARY ARTIST

What is it about music that makes us so afraid?“ What are you on about?”, you’re telling me, unplugging your earphones as you do a double-take on what sort of deep sh*t I just asked. “I love music.”

Watch out - what’s coming next isn’t especially light reading.

Recently, a series of deeply worrying Facebook posts from singer Sinead O’Connor hit the headlines.

Authorities rushed to recover the singer, best known for her 1990 hit ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, following an apparent suicide attempt during late last November.

Just days before reportedly overdosing, O’Connor announced on social media that she would be quitting the music industry: “Music is over for me. Music did this. Rendered me invisible even unto my children. Murdered my soul.

I’m never going back to music.” Her fame long gone but struggles largely unnoticed, O’Connor’s emotional struggles resurfaced shortly after undergoing a hysterectomy in August.

But what do Sinead O’Connor, Kurt Cobain, Ian Curtis, and arguably even Jimi Hendrix all have in common?

For so long, the lifestyles of musicians have been associated with drug addiction and depressive symptoms. Sex, drugs ‘n’ rock n roll is more than a cliché. But what is

it about the music industry that exerts the tormented contemporary artist stereotype?

Perhaps artists are more predisposed to mental instability?

Is it always creative geniuses who fall at their own hands? Both in and outside of music, the notion of the troubled creative genius certainly isn’t a new phenomenon.

Elizabeth Gilbert, the writer of ‘Eat, Pray, Love’, pondered if there was a link between creativity and suffering during her infamous TEDx talk in 2009. She went on to ask, what is it about creative ventures that makes us so afraid for each others’ mental health?

Pressure in a massively competitive industry takes its toll. How many artists don’t make it? We only have to remind ourselves of socalled talent shows, which have particularly surfaced since the late 1990s, exist to find just one winner amid tens of thousands of entrants. In 2013, O’Connor criticised Simon Cowell and the X Factor of ruining the music industry.

Some say Kurt Cobain died because he despised the idea of his music becoming part of a bland corporate industry. Toxicology reports claim that Cobain, the Nirvana frontman who shot himself inthe head in April 1994, was intoxicated with a lethal dose of heroin at the time of death.

Suicide is often romanticised in music, and very often lyricised.

The likes of My Chemical Romance have glorified suicide to the

point where the ‘emo’ and grunge genres arrived, becoming renowned for their expressive and often confessional lyrics. Such poppunk music gave way to subcultures loosely associated with such music, bringing around a certain obsession with the emotionally unstable.

Writing music, or arguably any creative writing, prompts us to connect with our emotional personae; our inner thoughts and feelings. Perhaps that is what predisposes any lyricist, or any form of artist, to some sort of existential crisis. We’ve all had our own fair shot at creating something, perhaps a poem, song or even a piece of free-writing.

What if we get it right but what if it’s something we’re not ever able to do again? It’ll be lost forever? The fear of failure and a one hit wonder is something we all recognise.

Honestly, there isn’t a clear answer to this one. Any form of artist will always collect heavy scrutiny for opening their mouth.

O’Connor’s inner turmoils have gone long unnoticed, as have her previous attempts to fall at the hands of her own demise. Cobain’s bandmates spoke out against their frontman’s undiagnosed bipolar disorder. Unknown to the public eye, there’s a heck lot more struggle going into artistry than we realise.

So, isn’t it about time you plugged your earphones back in and really thoroughly indulged? One thing is for sure - the mixed-up artist prototype is here to stay.

42 // MUSIC

words Laura Potter

The top picks of London’s indie music venue scene London is usually called a music mecca, but this myth has only been kept alive through the strong network of independent music venues that have always been there to give opportunities to new talent. At least that was the case before London started killing them one by one. The Buffalo Bar and Power Lunches are only two of the venues that have been recently forced to close, while councils are making it harder for similar businesses to survive. Don’t let that get you down though, because London is still doing a pretty great job when it comes to music.

100 Club, Oxford Street There are loads of bands playing small venues everywhere on any given night, and we’ve put some together here:

MOTH Club, Hackney Tucked away in a quiet backstreet in Hackney, the MOTH is a fairly new venue that is slowly becoming an institution in the London gig circuit. From the gold glitter ceiling to the Twin Peaks-esque booths and checkered floor, this may not be your regular dingy, sticky music venue, but a gig there is something to be experienced.

It may be aggressively glam but since its opening it has hosted many a rowdy crowd on its wooden dancefloor. Keep an eye out for the club nights, especially Cave Club!

Well-hidden under the hellish stretch of asphalt known as Oxford Street, this place has accommodated London’s youth culture in all its incarnations since 1942, and miraculously survived the purge of Central London’s music venues thanks to giants like Paul McCartney. This place has seen a lot, from Sid Vicious accidentally blinding a girl at a gig in 1976 to Soko inciting a topless riot last year. Half the fun is finding it, but if you decide to go to a gig there you’ll probably have a great time (if you stay away from that pole in the middle of the room). Bands big and small play there weekly, but nobody’s judging if you just wanna go there for the pilgrimage.

44 // MUSIC

The Shacklewell Arms, Dalston

Worthy mentions:

• • •

The Sebright Arms (Bethnal Green) Birthdays (Dalston) The Old Blue Last (Shoreditch)

The Lock Tavern, Camden Town The downstairs half of this place is a bit of a posh pub, but the atmosphere changes dramatically once you climb up the narrow stairs to the gig room. Countless bands have played here (where entry is always free, by the way), including big names like Tame Impala and Florence and the Machine, and just as many have had their after parties here after gigs around Camden. That being said, there’s also a constant flow of new bands. Gigs there are always great because the low stage and lax attitude of the staff allows for crowdsurfing and other gig-related shenanigans, but expect to get intimate with your fellow gig goers because it always fills up to the very back!

Words Antigoni Pitta

images co:wikicommons

This place is one of the coolest, friendliest pubs in Dalston, which makes it generally great for hanging out, but it doesn’t hurt that it’s also a kick-ass music venue that puts on some amazing gigs every month – sometimes for free. The front half is a fully functioning pub, great for pre-and postgig boozing, while the back room has seen a lot of awesome gigs and club nights in its day. A mix of bands regularly grace its stage, from locals to small bands on the cusp of superstardom. (Case in point: Temples played here in 2012). It also has a really cute garden area and stays open until 3am on weekends, a miracle in the London of this day and age.

Burial the quiet prince of dance and rave

Future Garage, for those of you who aren’t aware, is basically dubstep before dubstep. The electronic genre got its name partly because of its eerie otherworldliness and partly due to its nostalgically familiar lo-fi ‘bedroom’quality that was pioneered in the 90s. Because of this lineage, Burial is a spiritual brother to the likes of Skream and Benga, yet his output is dislocated from his peers at the same time. Breakage is probably the closest artist to Burial sonically, but despite the two collaborating on the track ‘Vial’ the DJ and producer is still pretty far from Burial’s style.

His sound is gloomy, wavy, and atmospheric. At its core it is downbeat rave music for when the dancing is too much and you just need to remember you are human. Burial’s music can create a unifying feeling amongst its listeners. It is deeply emotional – spiritual, even – and I

know that sounds pretentious, but listen to the tracks ‘In McDonalds’ or ‘Stolen Dog’ and tell me it doesn’t hit you at your soul’s core. It is music that takes you to a dark, vulnerable, and moody place – but the good kind of moody, where it is somehow both depressing and uplifting simultaneously. Kode9,head of Burial’s label Hyperdub, said that his second album was the sound of ‘downcast euphoria’, which perfectly sums up Burial as a whole. A prime example of this is ‘NYC’, where a high-pitch sample sings ‘Me and you know / This is love / When I'm around you’and reveals the intimate quality of his music. ‘Archangel’, a song about loneliness, has a very similar effect.

His production is a mix of hi- and lo-fi, with a crispness that meshes with the echoey production inherited from his garage influences. You really want to put in headphones and lose yourself in the ghostly sound. Burial’s music is perfect for late night listening, for rainy days when spent alone, for when you need to calm down, for when you’re angry at the world.

One very common feature of Burial’s music is the crackle sound that is intertwined with looped drumbeats, the repetition of which provides a homely feel; and, in the clink of bullet

46 // MUSIC

Burial is a deeply mysterious and enigmatic figure in the music world.

The quiet prince of the dance and rave underworld has released two albums, the eponymous ‘Burial’ in 2006 and ‘Untrue’ in 2007, as well as multiple EPs since. One of my favourite musicians, he has carved out a unique sound in the Future Garage subgenre.

shells that he samples, you also find added depth. Yet their still remains an organic quality to the music, something that is inherently human.

Despite working with Four Tet and Thom York on tracks such as ‘Ego’, ‘Nova’, and ‘Moth’, and boasting a Mercury Prize nomination, he has still retained most of the anonymity he attempted to shroud his early career with. In a world of twenty four-hour news cycles, celebrity infatuation and twitter, Burial is an outlier. As he doesn’t play live shows and rarely gives interviews, we know virtually nothing about him. We only know his name, William Bevan, because it was exposed in 2008 by the Independent, and later confirmed by Burial online.

Beyond this, we only have his music.

Burial as a person is like an urban legend, choosing to remain under the radar; his music has a very real, emotional, and unique effect that speaks volumes so he doesn’t have to.

Words Nasif Haque

DON LAKA ON INNOVATION AND LEAVING LEGACIES WORDS MADIS KABASH

He is currently in London working on promotion of his recently released album Afro Chopin, a mixture of Kwaai-Jazz with Chopin’s classical music, and it’s a combination that go hand in hand surprisingly well. Influence came from a personal memory of his first piano book in which he encountered Chopin’s F Minor Etude and instantly fell in love with the Polish composer.

There is a parallel between the two musicians: Chopin mastering and reinventing the form of classical music with melodies from his homeland, and Laka re-enhancing Chopin’s renowned success by giving it a twist of contemporary jazz. “I couldn’t find anything that would express me” he claims, and not wanting to be told what to do he went ahead and made his own genre. But itis more than an artistic pursuit, it’s a project with a goal to have people from all over the world come and listen to the mixture of classical music with jazz, “combining the Eurocentric with the Afrocentric” and “bridging a gap in music”.

On asking what he thinks of current musical genres, it turns out Laka seriously appreciates hip-hop; having produced several records of the

genre himself he says it’s exactly the music he would make if he were younger - “I like to listen to what the youth are doing.” An artist who thinks about music at a theoretical level, his judgment comes from a perspective of innovation rather than personal preference.

On the use of digital audio in music he sees it as something that “you could use, or it could abuse you”. He thinks there is “a very intelligent way with working with computers, but I use computers as a band member rather than letting them take over.” Regardless of genre and equipment, Laka values live music as something “priceless”.

His advice for “the youth” is straightforward.

“You have to want to do what you want to do and don’t let anyone distract you from your ideas, because your ideas could be unique and people may choose to follow them. They might not like them immediately but you could leave a legacy behind you. I’ve done that in South Africa and now I want to do that around the rest of the world.”

48 // MUSIC

Don Laka is the pseudonym of a South African Jazz musician and founder of the first independent black record label in South Africa, Jazmee Records. However, what he is known for mostly is the unique genre he created, a blissful upbeat blend of Jazz and South African dance music known as Kwaai-Jazz.

2016

ones to watch in words Alex Wallace

the hot property

Even though Stormzy was getting all the chart hits last year, Lewisham grime artist Novelist was producing his own beats in his bedroom, putting work in on Rinse FM sets and setting himself up for a 2016 takeover. The 18 year old saw early success with his Mumdance produced track ‘Take Time’ and has since worked with Chase and Status and Grandmixxer, even travelling the states with Skepta on his US tour. The young gun has already dropped his debut 2016 track ‘Street Politician’, displaying some raw homemade production and a surprising feature from PM David Cameron (kind of); strap yourself in for what the kid from The Square has coming this year.

the comeback kid

You heard him on Radio 1 with the Kurupt FM crew, you heard him do a comeback track with Big Narstie in December, now Craig David is sat firmly in the garage spotlight, with every 2-step raver in the capital waiting for his next move. Craig started off 2016 with a Live Lounge cover of Bieber’s ‘Love Yourself’ and dropped in an unexpected freestyle, which is probably why you saw #craigdavidisback trending on twitter last month. Craig recorded garage classic ‘Re-Rewind’ at just 18 years old and then had 3 top 10 platinum albums; but his popularity took a dive around 10 years ago and he looked to be long forgotten. He hit the ground running in his late 2015 return however and with a new album on the way for later this year, Craig could find his old form and be the smoothed voiced garage poster-boy he once was.

the wildcard

If 2014 had grime and 2015 had garage, it looks like the big breakout genre for 2016 is going to be spoken-word poetry. No that wasn’t a joke. At 19 years old Brighton-born wordsmith Tommy Sissons has found a place in the heart of the London poetry scene with his grit and cynicism. Acting as a platform for young people to hear about problems they can relate too, in an age of Tory governments and spending cuts people are looking to get behind this genre and push its message forward. Sissons has already found himself a regular slot on a Channel 4 new music show and is currently working on a project with Red Bull to be released this year. If you’re looking to get into the genre I would recommend beginning with Tommy’s work, along with that of Kate Tempest and Scroobius Pip.

S o o t d e e a

m e h e s c r t

50 // MUSIC

goodbye s ta r m a n t i m e i n 1 9 7 1 a n r w o r l d ly b e i n g e n d e d d o w n t o h .

After one simple finger point and smile down the lens on Top of the Pops, Ziggy Stardust fever and our love of this ever-changing character began. We take certain things for granted in pop culture these days, but when David Bowie in 1972 stated in an interview to Melody Maker that he was gay, it was life changing for many kooks sat at home feeling like they didn’t belong. Now they had their very own oddity to pin up. ‘Oh no love, you’re not alone’ is a hand squeeze from someone who throughout the late 60s and 70s consistently challenged notions of sexuality and gender. Bowie was, and perhaps always will be, an icon for anyone who has felt a little out of place, an alien on their home planet.

It will never cease to amaze me how much thought has really gone into Bowie’s work. Often it is a patchwork of never ending references. From the garbled philosophy to religious iconography, from celebrities to literature, he cherry picks from all the random bits of knowledge that we all know gets gathered in that empty space in our heads and turns them into ballads with wacky chord shifts, or pop classics with groundbreaking music videos. But that’s not to say he wasn’t an innovator. Or at least, he rather uncannily seemed to be able to see the future at times. He was one of the first stars to really understand how the music video and MTV would change our relationship with music and video forever. He also was one of the early adopters of the internet, even providing fans with his own dial up connection, as well as being one of the first musicians to switch to mp3. He championed hip-hop before it was cool, and could see how disco, and later techno, would forever alter the boundaries between pop and rock.

Some of you might have had the chance to pay a visit to the V&A’s ‘David Bowie Is’ exhibit a few years back.

What really stuck with me was the final segment, which

was simply entitled ‘David Bowie Is Everywhere’. In a clinical, separate room was a collection of images and objects, which were heavily indebted to the work of David Bowie. Some of these were musicians, their work taking inspiration from Bowie. Some was from the fashion world, decades of trends that had delved into the many incarnations of him. Then you had further works – films and television shows who’s characters were obviously inspired by his work, iconography in advertising, in literature, in art, in, well, just about everything.

It was overwhelming. It became a bit of a game to me: everyday find a David Bowie reference. Of course, you’re going to find them once you start looking, especially if you’re a little bit obsessed like me, but even my less enthusiastic friends managed to successfully join in.

Entering the world in 1947, he has left it immeasurably altered. It’s hard to really pin point another icon who has managed to become quite so embedded in our universal pop culture and psyche as David Bowie. There’s an argument that Bowie laid the foundations for much of our modern world, and I find it difficult to entirely crush this notion. Regardless of your opinions of the man or his art it’s hard to imagine what the world today would look like without the work of David Bowie. It truly does feel like we’ve lost someone who only really comes around once. words Poppy Waring

There’s an App for that

Words Ruby Kilroy

Living in this new Information Age (AKA the Digital Age, the New Media Age or the Computer Age, srsly there are so many names) where we have an unparallelled ability to share and access data, sex has been put in the public forum like never before. The Kama Sutra is no longer the only place to pick up sex tips, Cosmo offers a ‘position of the day’ feature on their website and, if that’s too tame, there’s always a plethora of online porn you can get your hands on. But, outside of the obvious, how can we use these new technological advances to the benefit of our sex lives?

Well, let me tell you, there’s an app for that. Outside of the obvious, Grindr and Tinder I’m looking at you, the app store offers loads of ways to work out your kinks (pardon the pun). So here’s a breakdown of five of the friskiest apps:

1)

Diskreet

For those of you who see Tinder or Grindr as more ‘window shopping for hookups’ than actual dating, this offers a safer, sexier alternative. Anything you don’t want undesirables getting their hands on (see nudes, sex videos and the like) are locked up securely on your phone. The only people who can access them are you and the person you share the password with. This can be fun for couples, too, who enjoy a blow-by-blow (I’m sorry, I can’t help myself) account of their bedroom antics. It also limits the potential for revenge porn, leaks, or accidentally sending your belfie to your housemate.

2) Bumble Bumble considers itself a ‘feminist dating app’. Its layout is similar to Tinder, in terms of the swiping thing, except only the female participant in a successful match can initiate conversation. In terms of a match between people of the same gender, the leap-year rule is null and either may begin the chitter chatter. It eliminates the endless stream of crude sexual remarks that often accompany any matches made on Tinder, though if the woman doesn’t make the first move within the 24 hour time limitthe match expires. It can seem a little harsh, but it does show you how serious you are about a match.

52 // UNISEX

3) Sexy Vibes

4) Mimitate

The name is not subtle, and it pretty much does what you’d think. Download the app and your phone becomes a vibrator.

What’s more it can be controlled remotely by a partner, meaning either the two of you can recreate that dinner-table scene from The Ugly Truth, or your long-distance relationship can get a new lease of life. Though some people don’t like the idea of using your phone to do the nasty, for those of you who don’t mind, or own face wipes, it’s simply all more reason to buy that textured phone case you’ve been looking at.

Kind of like if Netflix and Chill had a love child with Tinder, Mimitate asks the user to post a selfie accompanied by what they’re watching. If another user likes what they see, they return the gesture with a selfie and program/ film of their own. It’s pretty funny and quite sweet, plus you can’t open up a dialogue until you return the interest vis-a-vis selfie, which removes the worry of unwelcome comments.

5) Whiplr

Bonus Feature: OMGYes

This final offering is one for those of you with specific kinks you want addressing. The app doesn’t use Facebook; instead you choose a nickname, meaning you can remain anonymous if you like, and input some info about yourself (e.g.: gender) and your fetishes or kinks. Just a heads up, the questions are very specific. The app will then attempt to find you a partner to match with. There is, however, a fee for the full version of the app. A free version does exist, but it is a bit limited so, unless you’re happy to pay the full price, this might not be the one for you.

OMGYes is designed for tablets and uses touch screen to simulate a vagina’s pressure receptors. Based on information given from thousands of women OMGYes offers users the chance to practise their pleasure-giving and even offers tips. It sounds funny and the website’s almost eerily glossy, but it is a safe, educational way of teaching women about their bodies, normalising ya bits and female pleasure. Basically an interactive vagina pops up on your screen and you poke different bits of it until the exercise, ahem, comes to an end. It is costly, however, and not everyone has a tablet, but if you can get over the weirdness of having a talking vagina app on your tablet, it’s a good idea.

Obviously we want you to be safe, people, so do be mindful when sharing personal information on the interwebs. Now, with the serious bit out of the way, go forth and download!

“Once when I had sex the condom stayed in “We were having sex in a park after dark when a afterwards. He had to go back down and pull it dog walker happened across us. All three of us froze, out. Not my finest moment.” staring but not sure what to do. In this end I asked if he was having a good evening, to which he replied ‘yes “I was going down on my ex and got thanks, you?’ I said I was and he went on his way. It a nosebleed. It was uncomfortable to was so surreal.”

“One time, no matter what position we tried, we couldn’t find my vagina. I don’t know what happened, it just got very shy. I’ve never forgiven my vagina for it.”

say the least”

AWKWARD SEX...

“My most awkward sexual encounter “I brought a guy back home drunk. In my state I thought I was being discreet until the next was when I was invited to a threesome morning when my very pissed off and very with an attractive couple. I thought I’d sleep deprived parents greeted him by his first hit the jackpot until I was asked to leave name despite never having been introduced and halfway through. And that is the story of reminded me that their room was right below mine.” how I lost my virginity” “As I came I let out a riotous, cheek clapping fart. She was nice enough to laugh about it, but I was still so embarrassed.”

“Her mum found my used valentines lingerie.”

“I’ve said the wrong name. More than once.”

“The first time I had sex with a girl I got a bit too excited and accidentally “My boyfriend and I wanted to try anal and we ended up peed on her leg. I pretended it was cum and left very quickly”

doing it on my mums new sofa.

“After my housemate moved out early we were clearing out the He pulled out too fast and... last of her things from her room and came across a hidden box of substances went all over the whips and paddles. We didn’t know what to do and thought it best couch. I blamed our dog Rosie, to tactfully post it back to her. Unfortunately her dad has the same and my mum still holds it initials as her and thought it was his. I am so glad I wasn’t there against her! I feel awful!” when he received it.”

...IN A SENTENCE “We were having spooning-sex when my dad opened the door and came in to ask about dinner. Luckily I was wearing a shirt so I don’t think he noticed anything, but my ex was still inside me during the whole conversation. At one point he moved and I let out a small yelp that I tried to pass off as coughing, but I don’t know how convincing it was.”

“After sex we were lying there and he was still inside me. Then I sneezed, getting snot all over him, while simultaneously pushing out his dick with all the accompanying fluids. It brought a new meaning to the phrase ‘from both ends’.”

“I didn’t realise how “My first kiss I didn’t really loud we were until my know what I was doing and housemates started ended up sucking her tongue calling my boyfriend by until she told me to stop. I never got a second date.” his sex names.”

Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief & design: Mattea Todd Deputy Editor & design: Molly Skinner Design Editor: Daniel Swann Features: Nour Kobayter, Alfie Turner & Ellen Robert-JameS Arts: Emily Richardson, Alison Murphy & Angelica Hill London: Megan Huntly, Katie Gill & Sophie Hollis Music: Hattie Long, Laura Potter & Georgie Farmer Film: Aaron West & Savena Surana Style: Emily Goodman, Annie Giles & Sophia Dass Unisex: Louise Bracken & Ruby Kilroy

Columns: Ellen McMahon, Georgia Miller, Charlotte Watson & Jola Jassy Photography: Emily Gillings-Peck Illustrator: Josie Roughneen Head of PR-Marketing: Robyn Cusworth PR-Marketing: Lizzie HorrocksW FB//CUB magazine Twitter//@CUBmagazine Instagram//@CUBmagazine

Image: Emily Gillings Peck

This issue was funded

by QMSU and hss