The Arms Debate: should defence companies be allowed to recruit on campus? Exeposé opens the floor. The Debate: Comment, P 10
Exeposé
Monday November 8 2010 Issue 571 www.exepose.com
Languages students face short deadlines Students still unable to apply for their years abroad Charlie Marchant News Editor APPLICATIONS for students undertaking a year abroad remain unopened in England and Wales. The Language Assistants programme, managed by the British Council for the Department of Education (DfE), is subject to the government funding review and so recruitment for the English Language Assistants placements in 2011-12 is unable to begin. The scheme offers foreign language students the opportunity to teach abroad, mainly in primary and secondary schools. It is only one of the year abroad options, but has always maintained a high uptake because it is paid work experience. University lecturers claim that interest in the programme has steadily risen over the years.
“It’s worrying considering the deadline is looming and there’s alot to consider”
Nadine Carpenter, second year French and Spanish student
Following George Osborne’s review, the British Council received a £30m cut to its FCO grant, which fell to £149m. In light of the cut, the British Council is understood to have written to tutors informing them that recruitment to the programme depended on the CSR. However, the application deadline still remains fixed at December 1. Usually, there is a matter of months to ap-
Photo: Henry White
£9,000 fees Ellie Busby News Editor
ply (applications for Ireland and Scotland opened October 15) but students in England will be left with only weeks to apply. Nadine Carpenter, second year French and Spanish student, said, “It’s worrying considering the deadline is looming and there’s a lot to consider.”
“I think we need to be encouraging students to study abroad, not making it more difficult” Bertie Archer, VP Academic Affairs
Gemma Smith, second year English and Spanish student, commented, “We have to hand in three completed applications to the year abroad co-ordinator a week before the deadline; the tutors that are writing our references are going to be inundated. We have to put together a strong application; as it’s not guaranteed we’ll be awarded a placement, on top of our university work, in a very short space of time.” The latest British Council figures, to be finalised in November, show that over 2,500 British students undertook a year abroad this academic year, with most of them going to France. About 2,800 foreign students are also currently teaching in British classrooms. Exeter graduate, JK Rowling, who was assigned to a school in Montreuil, near Paris, from 1985-86, is among the programme’s alumni. Bertie Archer, Guild VP Academic Affairs, said, “I think we need to be encouraging students to study abroad, rather than making it more difficult. If students experience any problems with the process, I would encourage them to contact the Guild.” There was no further information at the time of going to press.
Free
Forum Project in Focus
See P 6-7 for report
THE GOVERNMENT has announced that students will face an almost threefold increase in tuition fees, if parliament approves the proposal. On Wednesday November 3, David Willetts, Universities Minister, announced plans to raise fees to £6,000, with an upper tier of £9,000. Fees will still be paid back after graduation at a rate of interest, but the repayment threshold will rise to £21,000. This could be introduced as soon as 2012. The proposed fee rise, up from the current £3,290 per year, will supposedly replace funding cut from universities in the recent Spending Review. Many courses, particularly in arts and humanities, will almost entirely depend on income from students’ fees. Jonnie Beddall, Guild President, stated, “You’d think that increasing student fees by 275% will mean proportionately better facilities, better teaching quality, more contact hours and smaller class sizes. However with the government cutting the University teaching budget by 75%, this means that Exeter will need to charge £7,200 just to replace lost funding.” He added, “At a recent open-staff meeting, the Vice Chancellor was confident that Exeter will come out, not just “relatively” but “absolutely” stronger. Aaron Porter, NUS President, stated that the proposals would “force students to shoulder the bill for devastating cuts to teaching. The only things that students could expect in return for higher fees are higher debts.” Many students are angered by the Liberal Democrats’ quick dismissal of their election pledge to vote against any rise in fees. Alice Horton, a second year Geography student, said, “I voted for the LibDems and I feel betrayed and let down by the proposal. I am looking forward to protesting against the plans.” Tickets for the Guild coaches to the NUS London demonstration on Wednesday November 10 are now sold out.
2
Exeposé
The Exeter student newspaper
Exeposé, Cornwall House, St German’s Rd, Exeter, Devon, EX4 6TG (01392) 263513
P 6-7
News
Special report from inside the Forum Project. Henry White climbs the cranes.
Features P 12 Interviews Tony Benn, darling of the left and president of the Stop the War coalition.
Arts
P 31
Reviews Stewart Lee’s new stand up show: Vegetable Stew.
Sport
P 37 Varsity buildup. You may not like them, but your girlfriend does: meet the EURFC boys.
Editors Tristan Barclay & Andrew Waller editors@exepose.com - Office hour: Wed. 11.00-12.00
Deputy Editors Rachel Bayne & Jennifer Seymour depeds@exepose.com
News Editors Ellie Busby & Charlie Marchant news@exepose.com
Features Editors Columba Achilleos-Sarll & Anna-Marie Linnell features@exepose.com
Lifestyle Editors Laura Le Brocq & Clare Mullins lifestyle@exepose.com
Music Editors Ellie Bothwell & Ben Murphie music@exepose.com
Books Editors James Henderson & Jacob Moffatt
News
Exeposé
Aaron Porter fights for students
Ellie Busby & Charlie Marchant - news@exepose.com
House Fire
Photo: Rachel Bayne
Rachel Bayne Deputy Editor
A FIRE broke out on a student road on Thursday October 28. An unattended chip-pan caught fire at 22 Mount Pleasant Road whilst one of the housemates was making breakfast. Four fire engines, two police vans and an ambulance were rushed to the scene after the small kitchen fire filled the house with smoke. The main road was cordoned off between the junctions at Iddlesleigh Road and Monks Road for two hours from 11.30am to allow the emergency services time to contain the blaze and deal with the smoke. A local Spanish teacher and resident expressed her shock on discovering the fire, “At the beginning I thought it was just a test on the fire alarms, but when I walked downstairs I saw that the whole floor was full of smoke and everything in the kitchen was burning.” One of the residents was treated at the walk-in-clinic for a large burn covering his arm, but fortunately there were no other serious injuries. Rod Schneider, Station Manager from the Devon and Somerset Fire Service, explained, “One team was required to perform positive pressure ventilation on the first floor, and the other team of firemen had to let down the ceiling to clear out the residual smoke.”
Four fire engines, two police vans and an ambulance were sent to student road when a chip-pan fire broke out. The fire severely affected the house’s newly renovated kitchen, and excess fumes travelled up through the extractor fan and filled the first floor of the house. Rod Schneider expressed the importance of safety in the kitchen, explaining
that “oven chips are a far safer option for cooking, and if you must use a chip-pan, make sure that you do not leave it unattended.” Matt Bevan, second year Law student and resident of 20 Mount Pleasant Road,
said, “The smoke seemed to come out in spurts, and at one point, there was so much smoke coming out of the house.” Students in the area have received fire safety leaflets and have been warned to act safely in the kitchen.
St. Luke’s Andrew Vickers Autumn 2010 Elections Tristan Barclay Editor
books@exepose.com
Screen Editors Calum Baker & David Brake screen@exepose.com
Arts Editors Rosie Scudder & Ellie Steafel arts@exepose.com
Video Games Editors Steve O’Nion & Alice Scoble-Rees games@exepose.com
Sports Editors Alexander Cook & Andy Williams sport@exepose.com
Photography Editor Henry White photography@exepose.com
Advertising Stuart Smith S.C.G.Smith@exeter.ac.uk (01392) 722432 The opinions expressed in Exeposé are not necessarily those of the Exeposé Editors nor the University of Exeter Students’ Guild. While every care is taken to ensure that the information in this publication is correct and accurate, the Publisher can accept no liability for any consequential loss or damage, however caused, arising as a result of using the information printed. The Publisher cannot accept liability for any loss or damage to artwork or material submitted. The contents of this, unless stated otherwise, are copyright of the Publisher. Reproduction in any form requires the prior consent of the Publisher.
November 8 2010
Andrew Vickers, a popular student on Exeter’s St. Luke’s Campus, died in his sleep on Saturday October 23. Vickers was a stalwart of the Exeter University Rugby League team, and had recently embarked on his phd. See P 11 for tributes.
Results from the Guild’s Autumn 2010 Elections have been announced after technical difficulties caused thousands of students to be ineligible to vote. Problems with a new Online Voting System meant that almost a third of the student population was not initially registered to take part in the electoral process. And, although the final number of eligible voters stood at almost 16,000, some first year undergraduates, year-abroad students, and Peninsula medical and dental students were not able to vote in any of the elections in the Autumn series. Gary McLachlan, Guild Senior Elections Officer, said, “Given the problems we encountered starting up a new system I’m reasonably happy that we coped as best we could, but I’m not happy that we had to ‘cope’ at all and the Sabbati-
cal election round will be planned in far greater detail than has been the case in the past to make certain that we have robust systems and plans in place to cope with any problems that might arise.” The Autumn 2010 Elections return members to a number of Guild positions, including Guild Represenatives and NUS Delegates, whilst elections for Postgraduate and St Luke’s Committee positions also run in the same electoral cycle. Turnout for the Autumn 2010 Elections stood at just 288 individual voters. McLachlan said, “Given the problems we encountered along the way I’m satisfied that the eventual results were fair and democratic, although I always want more people to engage and stand and vote.” To see a full list of elected representatives, visit http://www.exeterguild.org/ haveyoursay/elections/
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Exeposé Week six
EUCC robbed when naked
Photo: Emily May
Safer Sex Ball Acts THE music acts have been announced for the RAG Safer Sex Ball. Tinchy Stryder, hip-hop vocalist, will headline the ball, whilst DJ Jaguar Skills will return after a successful performance at the 2009 SSB. The Brand New Band will make their debut performance at the event as well. Ruth Andrew, SSB Committee member, said, “We are really excited about the line up for this year’s SSB! “We picked the acts for their known amazing live performances and can’t wait for December 8 to see them on stage! “We hope the night will be one to really remember.”
Rachael Peers
MEMBERS of the Exeter University Canoe Club were robbed whilst participating in a naked photo shoot. The 14 members of the EUCC travelled to Ashburton in Newton Abbot on Saturday October 23 as part of their commitment to pose naked for the RAG annual naked calendar.
“It was extremely unfortunate that this happened in the few minutes that we were away from the vehicle”
Lynne Medlock, EUCC Captain Their vehicle was broken into whilst they were preparing for the shoot, and their belongings were stolen. The group had parked on an embankment near to the river, where the photo
News
Exeter University Canoe Club pose for photos in Newton Abbot for this year’s naked charity calendar.
shoot was taking place, with the students’ things left inside their van for safe-keeping. However, upon returning to the van at approximately 4.30pm the students discovered their possessions, including phones, iPods and purses, were missing. The incident was immediately reported to the police who took statements from everyone involved, but stressed that the recovery of any property was unlikely. Lynne Medlock, EUCC Captain,
Floella Benjamin’s EXEtreme imagination
Photo: Exeter University
Floella Benjamin, Exeter University Chancellor, launches her new childrens books.
who had organised the photo shoot, said, “It was extremely unfortunate that this happened in the few minutes that we were away from the vehicle. “The Ashburton police were very friendly and helpful and stressed that popular outdoor sports locations are often targeted because thieves are aware of the fact that bags have to be left in the vehicle.” Jessica Emily Mayers, EUCC mem-
ber, said, “The photo shoot itself was a really fun experience and I’m pleased that we managed to complete it before we noticed the robbery. Everyone was really upset by the losses, and I think this would have shown in the picture.” The Devon and Cornwall Police Press Office told Exeposé that this incident was just one of several similar thefts that had taken place in the area during that weekend.
David Brake Screen Editor
1/11 Unemployed
THE EXEtreme Imagination Festival of Literature for Children and Young People took place in Exeter City last week, where Floella Benjamin, Chancellor of the University, discussed her new books. The event, funded by the Arts Council England, was produced by Exeter City Council and the University of Exeter. The festival featured the likes of Floella Benjamin, Michael Rosen and Michael Morpurgo. The festival aimed to encourage children to get excited about literature and fulfil their potential. Floella Benjamin, said, “EXEtreme Imagination will give them the ability to create, then they can go on to become anything they want.” The University has acted as one of the main driving forces behind this project, appointing Lis Spencer to work with other organisations to ensure the event’s success. Furthermore, the Queen’s cafe hosted the EXEtreme Activity Hub, which hosted several literary events for young children. Floella took part in a meet and greet session on Saturday November 6 to discuss her new books, Arms of Britannia, an autobiography charting her teenage years as a black teenager living in Britain and a biography of her granddads, My Two Grandads. The event was hosted at several venues in the city, such as Exeter Phoenix, the Northcott Theatre and the Central Library.
Harriet Cotton EXETER students could lose out as graduate unemployment rates rise. A new poll in The Guardian has revealed that one in eleven graduates are unemployed six months after leaving university. The poll shows the graduate unemployment level at its highest for 17 years, with only 59.2% of graduates employed in comparison to 61.4% from the previous year. Students facing this situation are having to resort to taking many low-pay jobs which do not require a degree, such as waitressing and shelf stacking. The subjects studied by graduates seem to have a direct affect on their employability. Those graduating with a degree in IT are the hardest hit, with one in six being unemployed six months after graduation. Other degrees receiving the highest unemployment rates include: Media Studies, Design, Accountancy and Engineering. This news directly affects recent Exeter graduates and those graduating in the next few years. With government actions still unclear and the public sector employing less graduates, it is becoming more apparent that a degree in itself is no longer enough to gain a graduate job. Jonnie Bedall, Guild President, said, “Long holidays are the ideal opportunity to get invaluable work experience, and you have to use every single one, right from the first year.”
City Theatre Cuts CUTS will be made to Exeter city theatres, however the scale of cuts is currently unknown. Arts Council England revealed last week that it was slashing its grants budget by seven percent. This will affect a number of city organizations, including Exeter Phoenix, Theatre Alibi and the Exeter Northcott. Liz Forgan, chairman of Arts Council England, said, “These are severe cuts but we are determined to lead the arts through this tough period. “These measures are designed to ensure a strong and resilient future. The country needs its artists at a time like this and we are about building, as well as sustaining, our unparalleled arts and cultural sector.”
New John Lewis JOHN LEWIS will be moving into Exeter’s former Debenhams building. The development will cost £8.5m and will cover five floors of the tower block. The new outlet will create 180 jobs and is anticipated to boost the city’s economy by £10m per year. The store is expected to open between September and November 2011. Tim Harrison, John Lewis’ Head of Format Development, said, “We are really proud to be regenerating this iconic building in the heart of Exeter.” Greg Sheldon, Lead Councillor for Economy and Tourism, said the announcement was a major boost to the city. He commented, “John Lewis is a household name that people associate with quality and we’re thrilled that they have chosen Exeter to expand their UK presence. “It will make Exeter more attractive to investors. The vacant shops in the High Street are suddenly going to look more attractive because they’re on a direct walk from John Lewis to Marks & Spencer.” He added, “John Lewis can only enhance our reputation as a popular shopping destination.”
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November 8 2010
News
“No Choice, No Voice in Burma” say Amnesty International Students
Photo: Josh Irwandi
Exeposé
National Student News Scottish students fork out cash Joe Johnston STUDENTS in Scotland face a graduate contribution to fill the funding gap. Universities Scotland announced last week that graduates earning a reasonable salary should pay towards the cost of their degree, but upfront costs such as tuition fees will remain scrapped for Scottish students. The Scottish Funding Council is expected to cut university funding by 16%, a £250 million reduction from last year’s budget. University principals are concerned that the proposed funding cuts will make Scotland’s higher education sector less competitive internationally. A graduate contribution has been suggested by uni-
Amnesty International protest in Streatham Court about the unjust political system in Burma.
Hannah Brewer Senior Reporter PASSIONATE students rallied to protest against Burmese human rights violations last week. On Thursday, October 4, over 30 students were directly involved in the Amnesty International protest outside Streatham Court. Human rights violations are widespread in Burma; the undemocratic ruling military junta have politically oppressed Burma’s people by criminalising peaceful political dissent, which has resulted in over 2,200 political prisoners. Judicial proceedings against political detainees fall short of international standards and torture is common. On November 7, the first national elections in Burma since 1990 are to be held. Most of Burma’s political opposi-
tion are behind bars, and in the lead up to the election, attacks on activists are likely to intensify as the junta seeks to repress any challenge to its rule.
“I hope Amnesty achieves awareness for this cause” Alex Bordoli, Guild VP
Participation & Campuses Charlotte Mathysse, President of Amnesty International Society, hopes that the protest will “encourage Exeter students to join us in condemning the military junta and also demanding basic human rights for the Burmese.” The Amnesty protest was visually effective. Students lined the busy path outside Streatham Court wearing Aung
San Suu Kyi (Burma’s democracy leader, who has been detained for 15 years) masks and holding placards, whilst other members handed out leaflets and petitions to passers-by. Emily Reardon, English MA student and Amnesty protestor, is proud “to be part of Amnesty as a politically active student group which is protesting against Burma - one of the worst injustices in the world.” Alex Bordoli, Guild VP Participation & Campuses, is “proud to see students being active and standing up for what they believe in. I hope Amnesty achieves awareness for this cause.” Exeter University Amnesty International Society is dedicated to the Burma cause, and will be holding a ‘Protect the Human Party’ in Mama Stones on November 24.
versity chiefs to bridge the gap left by government cuts. NUS Scotland has agreed the prospect of a graduate tax is open to discussion, but warned that it may discourage those from lower-income families from applying. Director of Universities Scotland, Alistair Sim, has said “A contribution sought from graduates must be set at a level that does not discourage participation and students from all backgrounds must be able to study any course at any institution.” A summit is taking place on November 15 including MSPs, students and university representatives to discuss the prospect of a workable graduate contribution.
Student jailed for stabbing MP Ellie Busby News Editor A STUDENT from King’s College University has been jailed for life for the attempted murder of MP Stephen Timms because he voted for the war in Iraq. Roshonara Choudhry, 21, stabbed the MP in the stomach at his constituency surgery in the Beckton Globe community centre in east London on May 14. Stephen Timms, Labour MP, remarked he was totally unprepared for the attack. He said, “She appeared friendly. I think she was smiling, if I remember rightly. She was quite a slight young woman, looked studious, she looked like a student.”
The Muslim student is understood to have become radicalised watching online sermons by Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical American Muslim cleric of Yemeni descent. Mr Awlaki has been linked to a series of attacks and plots across the world. Choudhry told the police “I wanted to kill him... I was going to get revenge for the people of Iraq.” Choudhry, who was described as an outstanding student, dropped out of her English degree at King’s College London weeks before the attack. The student has been given a life sentence, and will have to serve a minimum term of 15 years. Timms has since made a full recovery.
Three Year Research Project on Cystic Fibrosis Males happy to kiss each other Hannah Sweet Senior Reporter RESEARCHERS at Exeter University have recently started work on a three year project to investigate the relationship between diabetes and a specific lung infection in patients with cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disease which causes difficulty in breathing and digesting food, due to infections and inflammation originating from a build up of mucus in the lungs and digestive system. Some individuals with the disease develop serious lung infections due to a specific group of bacteria (the Burkhol-
deria cepacia complex – Bcc). These infections reduce lung function and can result in decreased life expectancy. The pancreas’ ability to produce insulin is often also affected by the disease, and this can lead to CF related diabetes. Dr Alan Brown, leader of the research project, said, “In CF patients with diabetes, many different factors combine to cause a decrease in lung function. However, the direct effect that diabetes has on the bacteria within the lungs has not been addressed previously.” He went on to explain that, “Our research aims to find out how bacteria of the Bcc respond to different conditions that are relevant to diabetes and reveal the direct impact that diabetes has on the
Burkholderia infections of the CF lung. We hope that this will help us learn how to effectively manage patients with diabetes and Bcc infection, and in doing so increase their life expectancy.” The University has received an £18,000 research grant from The Cystic Fibrosis Trust, and the project is also funded by Exeter’s 2009 studentship campaign, which includes over 100 studentships and 80 bursaries for PhD students. Carmen Denman, the PhD student involved in the research, described it as “an incredibly interesting and relevant project, and one that I have thoroughly enjoyed working on [so far].”
Charlie Marchant News Editor HETEROSEXUAL male students are more comfortable than ever kissing other men, says researchers at the University of Bath. 89% of white undergraduate men at two UK universities and one sixth form college, said they were happy to kiss another man on the lips through friendship. Research further found that 36% of these men have also engaged in sustained kissing just for “a laugh.” Dr Anderson, from Bath University’s Department of Education, said, “Heterosexual men kissing each other
in friendship is an offshoot of what happens when homophobia is reduced. At these universities, overt homophobia has been reduced to near extinction, permitting those men to engage in behaviour that was once taboo.
“89% of white undergraduate men said they were happy to kiss another man on the lips” “The kiss is a sign of affection in student social spaces, a sign of victory on the pitch, or celebration at a nightclub, but it does not have a sexual connotation in any of these spaces.”
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pulse
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November 8 2010
News
Exeposé
Forum in Focus: Behind the
A special report from inside the Forum Project. Words and pictures by Henry White, Photography Editor
Hoardings: the faceless wall of wood that separates the student population from the muddy chaos of the Forum Project construction site. It only takes a few minutes to exhaust the information plastered there in the displays, after that, it is just a case of walking by each day, unable to see what goes on behind. In reality, any signs of building work are minimal. Foundations and drainage barely make a mark and never look very impressive when they are covered over with Devon’s characteristic red mud. The summer has been dominated by the demolition of the old shops and walkway, whilst the mountains and mountains of concrete that were left in their wake have also been cleared. The interior of Devonshire House has also been gutted, and the new Ram toilets are almost complete; a plush brownish-grey, floor to ceiling tiled affair with dark wood doors and modern style sinks. It is almost like a posh hotel in Mayfair, except for the dust. The rest of the building is a hollow shell, with smashed glass and the remains of kitchen appliances scattered on the floor. Looking out
the window now gives a direct view of the wall-less library opposite. All four levels are exposed, save for scaffolding and wood framework. The bridge is now a hole in the ground, with several foundation slabs marking the spot where, presumably, supporting pillars are soon to be erected. The muddy site is
dotted with poles and piping sticking out of the ground, or waiting to be moved via the enormous duo of cranes that now dominate our skyline. The air is thick with dust and the smell of paint or building materials. A pneumatic drill is destroying an interior wall and the noise and vi-
brations are reverberating throughout the now massive space of Devonshire House. Walking towards the library, the cranes glide silently above as they effortlessly lift massive concrete drainage tunnels around. The spot where the old Blackwell’s stood is now a deep excavation, fenced off
in a typically Health and Safety way. All around more steel poles are sticking up, adorned with yellow tags like a surprisingly difficult crazy golf course. What is impressive is just how steep the gradient of the site still is. The Forum will be a staggered building on a few levels but at the
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Exeposé Week six
hoardings
moment the ground is still steeply sloped, with a large amount of earth still waiting to be removed. Soil increases in volume by up to five times when it is excavated, so that is an incredible amount to remove. Adjacent to the library, just beyond the hoardings, is the site of the new Auditorium. This is the most complete section, and the only area even close to resembling a building.
“More steel poles with yellow tags like a surprisingly difficult crazy golf course” At the moment, it is two floors high, with the concrete being laid and set, with an elaborate amount of supporting and reinforcing scaffolding to protect it from the elements. The sheer scale of the site can only be truly appreciated from on top of the cranes that loom over it. The smaller of the two, on the library side, is just higher than the Northcott Theatre. This gives an impressive 360 degree view of the entire campus and site. The climb up to the top is a disconcerting labyrinth of ladders and trap doors. Each section of ladder is about four metres in length, divided by safe-
ty trap doors and entombed in a safety cage. It takes roughly ten minutes to climb up and it is a filthy experience as dirt from boots and general dust from the site coats each ladder wrung and the safety cages. At the top, the driver can see everything going on below, however, a man on the ground controls what is going on via a radio, as any activity is so far down it is merely small specs. The crane moves surprisingly fast, although this is relatively smooth and extremely quiet. Surprisingly the wind isn’t too strong either, although there is some sway, but the movement masks this. There is potential for the two cranes to collide, as their reach crosses over the others, roughly above the old Key Store location. This is avoided through the radio controllers on the ground coordinating work, however, should anything go wrong a “crash radio” button in the driver’s cab clears all radio frequencies and gives priority to the driver’s radios which can prevent an accident. Despite the minor inconvenience, the Forum construction is an interesting spectacle that is constantly evolving and, now that the foundations are almost complete, will progress rapidly. The Tower Cranes are on site until next August, with the first section due for completion in April.
News
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Exeposé Week six
Comment Tristan Barclay & Andrew Waller - editors@exepose.com
Exeposé
The Exeter Student Newspaper
£9,000 a year
Students across the country last week heard David Willetts, the universities minister, announce that the cap on tuition fees would rise by nearly 200% to £9,000. Finally, weeks of speculation have ended in a concrete proposal from the coalition. But why on earth should you care? You are going to graduate before this kicks in, and you are already saddled with your own debt, so feeling sorry for a future generation could be a bit difficult. Do not be fooled – this is a debate that will affect us all. The problems fall into two categories – the ideological, and the practical. Exeposé feels ideologically opposed to paying for higher education. To get on in modern life, qualifications are essential, but it is unfair to burden the nation’s youth with a lifetime of debt before people are in a position to change the system they inherit. Further, students paying for their education implies that the primary function of a degree is to increase future earnings, with little thought given to broadening the mind. Surely
we have to ask ourselves, is education for the benefit of the economy or of society? The two are not necessarily correlative. With a sliding scale for tuition fees, there is every chance we will see the emergence of an exclusive group of universities, charging fees that will deter students from poorer backgrounds. It’s all very well taking out a loan, but when that loan is for £30,000, things become a little uncomfortable. The practical implications to this commercialisation of higher education might be that undergraduates drop humanities in favour of business and law degrees that will yield greater earnings in the job market. Students will have less opportunity to develop creatively as they graduate with the same qualifications. So these are serious times for all of us. For many of you higher education will soon be over, but do not dismiss it out of hand. University funding will affect all of us in the future. If nothing else, consider whether you would be happy for your children to spend £9,000 for a year of Exeter education.
Last week, the Guild released its new magazine: G. This replaces the old X pullout that so confounded Exeposé readers for years. The new mag is produced separately from Exeposé, and, we’re told, will contain Guild features and society information, elements not covered by this student newspaper.
If the first issue is anything to go by, the new magazine should be a welcome addition to Exeter’s media world. The design of it all, with a Hamlet-esque Guild President brooding over tuition fees, looks very smart, and the pages contain useful information for students, giving great access to the Sabbatical Officers.
Amidst all the gloom around higher education, Exeter students certainly have something to look forward to as the term draws to a close, and if you want to show off your toned bod
in Exeposé, make sure you find our photographer at the SSB. Don’t be shy - this newspaper is of the opinion that going to a massive party in nothing but your pants is generally a good thing.
New Guild Magazine
The Safer Sex Ball
Thanks to all those who helped proof this issue Joshua Irwandi, Joanna Clifford, Fiona Kelly, Joe Johnstone, Lucy Cryle, Cyan Turan, Marie Notermans, Sophie Duncan, Paul Williams, Mia Nashe, Emily Leyshan, Heather McLean, Kate Rowley, Matt Knight & members of the Exeposé editiorial team.
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How high will Exeter go? Jonnie Beddall Guild President
The Government wants to allow universities to charge students up to £9,000 per year for a degree. Fees will still be paid back after graduation at a real rate of interest, but the repayment threshold will rise to £21,000. You’d think that increasing student fees by 275% will mean proportionately better facilities, better teaching quality, more contact hours and smaller class sizes. However with the Government cutting the university teaching budget by 75%, this means that Exeter will need to charge £7,200 just to replace lost funding. The question is, how much higher does the University go?
Above £6,000, the government will place demands on universities to meet widening access obligations. Let’s be clear, this is, or should be, extremely uncomfortable for Exeter. We are one of the most socially exclusive universities in the country with over 30% of students coming from independent schools, compared to 7% nationally. Furthermore, this 30% figure doesn’t account for selective state schools. Bursaries are important, and the University will have to be transparent in their offer to students less able to pay. But bursaries fail to tackle the perception that university is simply too expensive. If the perceived barrier prevents poorer students even considering university, what good is a bursary? Exeter does some good work with widening access, in particular with the Sutton Trust, which provides invaluable support to pre-GCSE pupils. However,
research from the Sutton Trust found that if fees are lifted to £7,000 per year, 45% of young people would want to apply to university. If fees rise to £10,000, that number drops to 26%. Without such fees, 80% of young people the Sutton Trust spoke to expected to apply to university. Let’s be clear, higher fees are two-fingers up to social mobility. So, how high will Exeter go? At a recent open-staff meeting, the ViceChancellor was confident that Exeter will come out, not just “relatively”, but “absolutely” stronger. This assumes the University will charge more than £7,200, and I’d guess they will go to £9,000 - benefitting to the tune of £25 million. The key question is how will this money be spent? How will the experience of students in 2012 differ from today? And critically, how will the University deal with social exclusivity?
improved beyond recognition and the area is sound baffled to make silent study easy; as well as pleasant. The real gem of the Commons is the Seminar room – a space reserved for Research seminars and conferences, and bookable by postgraduate students for student-led events, with all the tech you’d expect in a teaching space but without the battle for priority that you face in academic buildings. Also available is a 50-seating quiet study area with both wi-fi and hard-wired network and power points for students to take their laptops and work – there’s also a small breakout space and a limited number of PCs (as well as the other PCs still in the old stacks). There’s also some nifty laptop lockers, so that when you go for lunch you can leave your laptop on recharge in a locked cabinet while you eat or attend seminars. Focussed strongly on the requirements of postgraduate students, the Research Commons is a vastly improved resource for Research studies – if I didn’t
have an office allocated because I’m a GTA I’d definitely work in the commons myself; and there’s a suggestion box there (on reception) – I have been assured that the development of the Commons after INTO leave the building in January is very much in the hands of Research Students. Here’s the crux; and that’s where we have our destinies in our own hands on the future of the Commons – at the moment it’s under-used – if we use it and make suggestions for improvements and additional development then we’ll be taken seriously and the Research Commons will grow. If we don’t utilise it then the other sections of the Old Library will probably be turned into undergraduate teaching space – and there’s pressure for that to happen anyway. The best way to guarantee the failure of the Research Commons is to leave it under-used; at that point the postgraduate research community will have no one left to blame but ourselves.
Make use of the Commons Gary McLachlan PGU President
A couple of issues ago, I gave a onesided view of the Forum Project from the postgraduate perspective, using ‘what is commonly known’ to make my point. There was a reason – many postgraduates I have spoken to feel that way; but that perception is flawed in several ways and here’s the first reason why. The Research Commons project finished in the Old Library last year – or to put it in a more refined manner, the first phase of the Research Commons was finished. Within that space is a far superior entrance, with relaxing space and a balcony area that can be used for Research functions or just to relax in. The Special Collections reading space has been
Exeposé Photography Competition Look out for posters on campus Win a photography workshop Categories: Autumn/Winter in Exeter, Student Life, What does Exeter mean to you?
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November 8 2010 Exeposé
Comment
Arms companies: should they be on campus? Disabled but enabled No Yes Ben Tyson
If you were to look around Exeter campuses right now, I reckon the number of students on crutches could be counted on one hand. Granted, our city has a topography that better resembles the Himalayas than the Devon hills. But why do we see so few people with temporary or permanent disabilities around? Recently, I dislocated my patella (kneecap) and in the process severed some ligaments in my left knee. An injury that not only requires a full length leg brace and the constant use of crutches, but also necessitates painkillers and antiinflammatory pills even three weeks after the dislocation, soon to be followed by months of physio. Worst of all, I have not had a drink for over four weeks and can’t even remember what the inside of Arena looks like. Being unable to get further than the end of my road without breaking into a sweat, I was severely restricted when it came to getting to lectures. To keep up, I turned to the University, my college and the Guild for a hand with getting around campus. My college was great: understanding, sympathetic and even switched me to lectures at the bottom of the hill. The Guild was even better, dosing me up with some more sympathy, and helping me with some funding so I could afford taxis to and from lectures for a few weeks. And despite a process that even Lord Sugar would deem over-dramatised, the University itself has agreed to help out this poor crippled boy who just wants to get his degree. It was very generous of the University to help me pay for some taxis, but the process of applying for such funding seemed a little prolonged. Not only was my budget for the entire year required, including expenditure for things such as “clothes” and “entertainment costs”, but I was required to answer questions such as “do you have any children?”. Now I understand that the University has its universalised processes of going through these applications, but I was just looking for a hand with covering some of the taxi rides, not a recurring allowance for the next year. It seems to me that there should be a simpler, and better publicised,assistance service, possibly connected with the Disability Resource Centre. With a better known, and better run system, more students could benefit from this sort of help, without the hassle required to secure funding. If a few small changes are made, we might begin to see more disabled students on our campus.
Joel Moktar
Humans are a selfish bunch. As you read these words, we are overcharging, killing and generally exploiting each other all over the globe. To classify our own species as Homo Sapiens, wise man is to raise our egotism upon a pedestal. I am often reprimanded by my pals for my misanthropic tendencies, but genuinely, I do try my hardest to think the best of people. This task was made particularly difficult last week, when, flicking through a copy of Exeposé, I found myself reading the words of fellow students who are of the opinion that it is acceptable to lower one’s moral standards during difficult economic times. What I’m referring to are the three arms companies with very questionable human rights records who were present at the university careers fair last Thursday, and the sad truth that for some of us getting a job is more important than the lives of other innocent human beings. I’m not against arms companies per sé. There will always be dangerous people in the world and therefore always a need for nations to defend their citizens. I am however, against arms companies who, aided by the lack of a global arms trade treaty, sell their weapons and other technologies to states with atrocious human rights records. The three companies in question, EADS DS, QinetiQ and the Thales Group have been accused of providing unelected and unjust regimes, from Zimbabwe to Burma, with the weaponry needed to oppress their own peoples. EADS DS and Thales were even found to produce key components for cluster bombs, a weapon which 105 countries worldwide have now signed a treaty to stop using - mainly due to their tendency to blow civilians up months or
even years after being dropped. Short of taking down the arms companies themselves, there is nothing we can do to stop those who are comfortable with these records working for them. Nevertheless, these companies should not be given the platform to misinform students at our university. Unsurprisingly, none of the material given out by EADS DS, QinetiQ or the Thales Group last week mentioned the sales of arms, helicopters and planes to human rights abusing states. When confronted about this, the response of the graduate recruiters was, of course, “no comment”. Instead the colourful leaflets on offer simply focused on the companies’ sales to the UK armed forces and other upstanding western armies. The Guild’s position on the matter was particularly disappointing. To decline support for the coalition of societies who were protesting against the presence of the companies on the grounds that the Guild’s job is to “represent the student body equally,” is utterly ridiculous. Any portion of the student body that advocates human rights abuses does not deserve to be represented. Just because students come from service backgrounds or wish to join the Officer Training Corps does not mean that they automatically support anything weapons related, conversely, their motivation for signing up probably stems from the desire to make the world a better, safer and more just place. See, I do really try my hardest. Yet to be able to say that now, as a consequence of the relatively difficult economic climate, we should not be trying to stop companies like these – as was the opinion voiced by several students in the last issue – is simply incomprehensible. When the cash is flowing, we can be worried about millions dying unnecessarily worldwide; when it runs dry, it’s every man, woman and child for themself. The myopia of my fellow man never ceases to sadden me.
Reclaim the Night Rob Sturgeon Reclaim the Night Marches stand prominently among protests against gender violence. They date back to the second wave of feminism in the 1970s, where the first event was held by women attending the International Tribunal on Crimes against Women in 1976. Others were organised across Europe, where
women demanded “the right to move freely in their communities at day and night without harassment and sexual assault,” while 11 English towns marched in protest of the “Yorkshire Ripper” murders of 1977. The shocking truth behind this march is that it is still in dire need today. While the 1970s appear a more unequal time, one in four British women will still experience violence at the hands of a current or former partner. Some 2,000 women are raped every week, and of those that choose to take the rapist to court, the conviction rate is a mere 6.5%.
The notion that these companies “feed off violence, war and destruction” is unimaginably ridiculous as they produce to a demand, which is sadly unavoidable as more and more of our troops fight overseas to protect our country from a very real and dangerous threat. On top of this, to call the industry “immoral” also greatly upsets me, we, the people who may very well work
for these companies, do not understand where the opposition is coming from. Can the opponents recall that EADS is responsible for most of the communication systems found in fire stations across the country? Are they aware of QinetiQ’s work in Internet security systems for dealing with identity theft? Do they know that the Thales Group are to renew the CCTV and recording systems in Barajas Airport in Madrid next year? I won’t lie – I doubt they have a clue. I find it greatly regrettable that highly respected organisations like Amnesty International and UNICEF can make such bold claims without doing sufficient background reading on exactly what the companies do. It saddens engineering students at the University (not to mention those doing physics, maths and other science degrees) that these companies are being targeted because of a selected sector of their business, while forgetting, or possibly ignoring the other elements of their production lines. It is already hard enough to find any engineering companies at these careers fairs among the endless rows of accountancy and law firms. The last thing we need is to be denied our basic right to see the companies with which we wish to talk, not to be told by a group of people that we and the companies should be denied this freedom from their self-appointed moral soapbox. I have already written a formal apology to the companies on behalf of the students involved in the coalition for their incredibly rude and intolerable actions, but I congratulate the Guild on its decision to allow these companies to attend the fair and I thank Exeposé for bringing this matter to everyone’s attention. I also wish Amnesty International and UNICEF all the success with their other, more worthy campaigns, but certainly not with this one.
Considering that the number of false rape accusations is believed to be equal that of other crimes, this is an unforgiveable conviction rate. “Rape is one of the most terrible crimes on earth,” Kurt Cobain once said. “The problem with groups who deal with rape is that they try to educate women about how to defend themselves. What really needs to be done is to teach man not to rape, to go to the source and start there.” To question this trend is to question our beliefs on why rape happens. Does it occur because women are dressed provocatively? Or if they walk home alone? Is it because those women drink too much? No. Rape occurs because of rapists.
Men, who perpetrate around 91%, can help prevent it. It’s so simple a concept, yet one not grasped by the majority of us. And despite what we think we know, 77% are perpetrated by someone known to the victim. Devon and Cornwall police have refused to support Exeter’s Reclaim the Night march, adding that it was not an issue of ‘national significance.’ Looking at the statistics, this appears to be an affront to women and to the victims of sexual assault, harassment and rape all over the country. Don’t let their injustices continue. Don’t let the Police silence the issue of safety in our city. Show your support by signing the petition at http:// www.ipetitions.com/petition/reclaim/.
Jack Bennett XEng President I would like to say how disappointed I am that some students at this university can be so ill informed when it comes to Britain’s defence companies. As a fourth year Civil Engineering student and President of the Engineering Society, XEng, I feel that I must attempt to set the record straight on why it is both wrong and ignorant to ban arms companies from the careers fair. The very idea that these companies are “inherently destructive” (as quoted in the last issue of Exeposé) is nothing short of preposterously idiotic and irritatingly naive, as they are companies which also make the systems and equipment that defend the very troops and personnel they arm, as well as products for use in the civilian population. Therefore, I must state my (and other engineers’) huge disgust at the short-sighted and blinkered argument the opposition are posing.
“Are they aware of QinetiQ’s work in Internet security systems for dealing with identity theft?”
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Exeposé Week six
Your views on the SSB acts
“Sir Cliff Richard could play at this year’s SSB and I would still go. For lustful young adults, such as myself, the very thought of thousands of scarcely dressed members of the opposite sex, bouncing around all over the dance floor, is more than enough to attend the SSB.” Jack Tarrant “Really, the music is a fairly insignificant part of the SSB experience. People go to have one crazy, debauched night. I’d say Tinchy should be considered a real coup” Rosie Harrold “The discovery that the supporting act, DJ Jaguar Skills, will be making his second consecutive appearance seems to be a bit of a disappointment to those who attended last year.” Isabel Stoddart “The memory of the Freshers’ Ball is too fresh in my mind to believe that Tinchy Stryder will make it a night to remember” Marie Notermans
Comment
Squeezing the Middle Where will I park now? Sion Davies
Joel Moktar raised a salient point in the last edition: we shouldn’t lash out blindly against the Browne Report before we fully understand it. But whilst it is true that it will be some time before the complexities of the Report fully manifest themselves, one thing is plainly obvious from the outset: tuition fees are on the up. This changes our educational landscape in two major ways- and not necessarily in the most obvious ones. Politicians advocating the removal of the current cap have been quick to assure us that the disadvantaged in society will not be alienated and there will not be a regression to the old elitism. Good, I say, but I feel that something important has been overlooked. For the reality is this: the overwhelming majority of university students would not be bureaucratically classed as ‘disadvantaged’, but would nevertheless still
Tributes to Andrew Vickers “Cannot believe you are gone lad, only saw you in the summer. Will miss your donkey drops on the cricket field my old friend. Was always a pleasure to play alongside you and always a laugh. Always played with a smile on your face. You will be sorely missed.” “You were such a gentlemen and it was a pleasure to share both a rugby and cricket pitch with you. You always had a smile on your face and were great fun to be around. My thoughts and prayers are with your family at this time.” “Been thinking of you all day...and all those nonalcoholic beverages you must drinking right now!” “Lukes won’t be the same without you.” “You will never be forgotten mate and always missed, a true gent in everyones eyes! So many good memories, and tags!”
“RIP mate. Fond memories of playing League with you back in 07/08. Thanks for all your help and advice.” “You will be missed by many and will always hold a very special place in St Lukes heart. My thoughts are with you and your family in this difficult time.” “Life at Exeter just isn’t going to be the same without you, you are going to be deeply missed.” “You were the perfect gentleman. I’m very proud to say that I knew you at Exeter. You were an inspiration to all those in EURL, and it is a great shame that I only had the one year with you before leaving uni.” “Such a sad thing to happen to a top guy.” “The commitment Andy showed towards EURL, EUWRFC, Lukes, Uni, and simply sport, his many friends and life in general was fantastic to behold.”
find £6,000 a year an awful lot of money. So what about us? There’s been some mistake, surely? Apparently not. ‘Get on with it’, says Browne. Without any financial assistance, the BBC has estimated that 60-70% of graduates would take 30 years to pay off their debt should the suggested reforms be put through. Fair enough, you might say; the system needs money from somewhere. But a fear of being saddled with debt for the rest of their lives will begin to engender a culture in which prospective students accord potential future earnings primacy over everything else. University as a whole for this ‘squeezed middle’ will be seen as a mere means to a lucrative end, rather than the cultural and social eye-opener to the ways of the world that it has traditionally served as. Let those with the potential go to university, study what they want, think like they want, do what they want. Socrates never had an MBA, and he turned out alright.
Jess Leung
Every car owner dreads the day when they find the condemning bright yellow sticker with the words “Penalty charge notice enclosed” emblazoned across it for the entire world to see. Imagine being in my position and receiving two of these in a fortnight (I bet my Exeter University bumper sticker did not help.) I thought bringing my car down would make commuting cheaper and more convenient. Unfortunately, although I am a resident, I could not obtain a permit as it was restricted to two per household. The parking fines forced me to park in free spaces fifteen minutes away – not exactly convenient. There is a proposed £20,000
plan to restrict several of the roads around campus for residents only. This is outrageous as there is simply not enough parking as it is. There are signs everywhere which ban student parking and often my only option is to park off campus in the rare free spaces. If the University goes ahead with this then frankly it is a complete disregard of students’ needs. The University claims it invests in sustainable modes of transport to discourage student parking. Anyone who has waited an hour in stormy conditions for the D bus would agree that this system is not reliable enough. Another problem is the extortionate prices of commuting home by train. The fact is, I know many students who rely on their cars as their primary mode of transport for many aspects of their lives. I think the University should realise this as much as they realise the residents’ complaints.
Letters to the Editors - letters@exepose.com RE: Grumpy Librarians Exeposé, I was sorry to learn that ‘Quentin Rahley’ (‘Grumpy Librarians’, October 25) was uncomfortable in a library here at Exeter. It is right that the library is, first and foremost, a service and that delivering outstanding customer services is our aim at all times. Never is this more important than during the current building works. I take this opportunity to acknowledge Quentin’s letter and to encourage him to get in touch with me personally so we can learn from his experience. I’m not sure it is possible to describe all academic librarians with a single descriptive phrase. Still, one absolute of the group is the ability to understand and respond to criticism, to improve and be as good as or even better than the feedback received. Personally and professionally, I believe the Library should be a place of welcome for everyone, academic and student alike, and that helpful and friendly library staff should be a given. Kathy Baro Library Customer Services Manager k.p.baro@exeter.ac.uk RE: Time for Tea in the USA Exeposé, The previous edition of Exeposé demonstrates how misunderstood the Tea Party movement is. It was described as “borderline fascist” and the extent to which it sits comfortably with American democracy was called into question. In 2006 a wing of the Libertarian Party broke off and formed a political party called the Boston Tea Party. During
Ron Paul’s presidential campaign in 2007 there was a fundraising event on the anniversary of the original Boston Tea Party, and by 2008 grassroots libertarian protests were organised regularly. Conservatives hijacked the Tea parties to attack Obama, and the likes of Sarah Palin began to address their rallies. What the media ignores is that libertarians such as Ron Paul, who supports the legalisation of drugs and voted against the Iraq war, represents half of the movement. The split between libertarians and conservatives within the movement means social issues are avoided, and unity is found only on economic policy. A New York Times poll revealed that 47% of those within the movement say Sarah Palin wouldn’t be an effective President. Another poll shows that 42% oppose the idea that the state should intervene with moral issues, whilst 43% feel they should. Calling the Tea Party movement fascist is like calling all socialists Stalinists. It is an offensive generalisation, which betrays a complete lack of understanding of the movement. Ben Lodge Freedom Society Vice President Exeposé, In the last edition of Exeposé, in the article ‘Time for tea in the USA?’ there were a number of factual inaccuracies. The tea party movement are not borderline fascists. They are a grass roots organisation that is dedicated to free markets, fiscal accountability and low taxation. The tea party movement do not have a racial agenda and they are not birthers. The Arizona immigration debate is separate from the tea party and their aims and I would also like to point
out that according to polls roughly 70% of Americans agree with Arizona’s immigration laws. The debate over the ground zero Islamic centre is also separate from the tea party movement. I hope that in the future Exepose will publish accurate descriptions of political groups. Jago Alexander RE: Fresh Herd Exeposé, I can agree with the student’s opinions that the Matford Centre had a slightly “rustic” feel about it and acknowledge that it is not the ideal setting for the freshers ball. We had to find alternative locations with all of the building works on campus, otherwise the Ball would not have happened at all. The only spaces available with an indoor capacity of 1,800 in Exeter, or within reasonable travelling distance are Westpoint Arena (Exhibition Hall) or the Matford centre. Steps were taken to ensure the student experience was kept as high as possible. Jo Wiley is a well known DJ and played an excellent set – definitely one of my favourite acts of the last few years. Also extras such as lazerquest, the giroscope and fairground rides were more than in previous balls so that the focus of the event could be on music and entertainment. The Students’ Guild appreciates any feedback from our membership so that we can ensure that the balls and entertainment we provide is right for you. If you have any comments and would like to get in touch please email guildparticipation@ ex.ac.uk Alex Bordoli VP Participation and Campuses
Exeposé WEEK SIX
Features
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Columba Achilleos-Sarll & Anna-Marie Linnell - features@exepose.com
Just another protest?
Camilla Goodwin considers Exeter students’ secret love of revolution. THERE are few strangers to the events of Wednesday, November 10. I, along with three coachloads of other Exeter students made the five hour journey to demonstrate against an increase to tuition fees. But this was by no means the first protest that Exeter’s students have embarked on in recent years. In 2004 a number of universities began to phase out chemistry as a degree course in an attempt to cut costs. When Exeter University announced it would follow the trend, students weren’t about to give up without a fight. Exeter’s chemistry students flocked to the streets, shouting, singing and waving placards with messages such as “Save Chemistry” and “Let us finish our degrees.” Students were outraged by the decision, especially considering the 21% increase in applications to take chemistry. Student discontent was highlighted by the day long demonstration out-
side the university. Not all campaigns undertaken by Exeter students have been made on such a national scale. March 2010 saw more than 100 students take to the streets, but this time it was to our very own High Street, more specifically outside Virgin store. Anger built up last year as many students, especially in the Mount Pleasant area, were experiencing extremely slow broadband supplied by Virgin. After a Facebook campaign set up by some students, it was decided that everyone had had enough and they made sure the company knew it. A protest date was set for one Sunday in March. The term ‘short and sweet’ comes to mind with respect to this demonstration, as Virgin surrendered to students’ demands at the 11th hour so the protest wasn’t necessary. On the whole, though, the campaign was a success and Virgin amended the problem. Even in the build-up to the fees demonstration, Exeter students were out on campus with signs for a different cause: this time protesting against firms who supply arms from being allowed to advertise at the recent careers fair. Members of Amnesty International gathered in a small group at the entrance to Streatham campus with makeshift banners and placards, in an attempt to persuade fellow students to boycott these firms. This is just a small handful of protests Exeter students have been involved with, so it’s
evident that our student body is by no means apathetic. As a first year, it was extremely encouraging to go to a protest and see so many third years and postgraduates fighting the cause in London – and also to know that it was the students who increases in tuition fees will affect the least that organised the trip itself.
“Britain’s youth take their education far more seriously than previously thought” But was it all worth it? Has the congregation of 50,000 students in London armed with chants, whistles, costumes and signs really made any difference? The unfortunate events that occurred later in the day have definitely marred the spirit of the campaign. However, those who demonstrated did so to make a point. They demonstrated to highlight that if the coalition government thought they would be able to impose their higher education reforms without so much as a peep from former, current and future students, they were wrong. Britain’s youth take their education far more seriously than seemingly thought. It is true that a small group of students have relatively little power when it comes to the task of changing the minds of those who run our country, but Exeter’s small group contributed to a much larger and more effective one. No matter what, I believe the campaign was a great success. To raise awareness for the student cause was the aim and that was most definitely achieved.
The Front Line Jonny Williams Xpression FM Station Manager “THE Resistance Starts Now” were the parting words for the 50,000 students who attended the protest against the rise in tuition fees in London. Much had been made of the march beforehand, a few critics quipping that if students cared enough to get up before midday: SOMETHING must be up. But on first arrival, the protest really was an inspiring sight. I managed to join the protest at the front, about 300m from the final stop. Huge screens had been erected and there was a plinth with a microphone set up, for guest speakers from the NUS and related unions to have their two cents. Now, we’ve all seen propaganda and we know how just the right dose can inspire a population on to great things. The crowd was shown a video detailing all the promises the new coalition Government has broken regarding student fees. As soon as Nick Clegg came on the screen, a chorus of boos rang out. There’s nothing like a scapegoat. One video created by a university featuring a student dressed as MC Hammer rapping a song called “U Can’t Cut This” was met with laughter by the crowd. Up to this point, all seemed good: the right balance between light-hearted camaraderie and hard-hitting facts. Then the protest leader spoke up. “So I heard a chant you guys were singing earlier,” he shouted to the crowd. “When I say ‘Tory’, you say ‘scum’. Fancy giving that one a go?” My group was bemused. Was this message, effectively asking a group to take political bias as a result of one act of law, really the right message to
give to 50,000 people? Another guest speaker then took to the stage, who read his speech in such a faux-inspiring, textbook manner that the words had no meaning. What had started as a protest with togetherness, joviality and a serious belief in “The Resistance” suddenly just felt futile. I managed to see the attacks on the Millbank first-hand. Let’s just say that the media has blown the violence greatly out of proportion. A small minority of people, clearly out to cause damage and destruction, totally against the mantra of the march, thought actions would speak louder than words. It started with eggs (is there a more damning, shameful fate than being egged? How indescribably humiliating). As we’ve all seen, it ended in destruction with arrests - and the meaning of the protest erased. Yet most students held their ground, chanted their protest songs and made their feelings known peacefully. There were a few truly inspiring moments in the midst of it all. For the first 15 minutes of the presentation it felt that I, just like every other student in that crowd, could make the difference and overturn parliament’s decision with our feet and our words. Banners ranged from the nonsensical (“Is this the queue for Bieber tickets?”) to the rhetorical (“Learn your lesson. Let us learn.”). But one protestor in particular left a lasting impact. A 70-year-old woman, stood alone on the pavement, away from the main march. Her picket read “I’m doing this for my grandson.” It seems these controversial new plans haven’t only affected our generation and those to come. The NUS and UCU protest was covered by Xpression Fm. To listen to the podcasts, visit http://xmedia.ex.ac. uk/radio/podcast Cartoon: Nene Fisher. ‘Where’s Cleggy?’
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Features
November 8 2010
Exeposé
Columba Achilleos-Sarll & Anna-Marie Linnell - features@exepose.com
If you don’t like the Left - look Right
Columba Achilleos-Sarll, Features Editor, speaks to Tony Benn, President of the Anti-War Coalition, long-standing Member of Parliament and stalwart of left wing politics. TONY Benn’s straight talk about the current political scene needs no real introduction. “What they [the coalition] are doing is punishing the poor, the old, the sick, the young people and those employed in the public services,” he says. “And, what they really want is to save enough money from poorer people to pay for the war, and the nuclear weapons. It is not a good policy from any point of view.”
tive service during World War Two. Although the death of his brother gave Benn automatic membership to the House of Lords, he decided to renounce this title and run for a seat in the House of Commons instead. His election campaign was successful: “I was elected in 1950, when I was 25,” he says. “I was very, very lucky to be selected and I was there from 1950-2001: 51 years.” This election was the defining moment
“They are using the economic problem as a justification for policies that they believe in anyway” Since he first got involved with politics over sixty years ago, Benn has been a towering political figure for the Left. Having grown up in his area of West London, I witnessed first-hand his consistent engagement with the community (he can often be seen standing on a platform and speaking to people on the streets.) And this man, committed to equal opportunities, was born into the aristocracy. Benn’s commitment to his political values is striking. He first entered the political arena after the death of his older brother, Michael, who died doing ac-
in Tony Benn’s political career, it epitomized both his ideological stance and commonality with the British voter. In 2001, having served as an MP for more than half a century, Benn became the second longest serving Member of Parliament in office. Now aged 86 and retired, Benn is still active in politics. In the recent Labour Leadership campaigns, he supported Ed Milliband, not because the younger brother was the underdog, but because Benn has recognised his political potential since he met him aged 15. “Ed Milliband came
to my office when he was a student at 15 for work experience. I got to know him then and have followed him ever since. I think what he says is right to get what the party should be doing. However, we shall see very soon.” Benn describes the fundamental ideologies of Labour and the Conservatives, as he sees them, without political rhetoric. “The Labour Party exists just to represent people,” he says. “Therefore it has to be concerned with the problems that concern people in the country: the problem of jobs, homes, pensions and peace. We should be working on those issues.”
return for a job for himself and a few other Liberal ministers,” Benn tells me. “The Liberal Party sold themselves to the Conservative Party”. “This action will damage the Liberal Party prospects in the future and very seriously I think”. Benn’s very vocal assertions reignite the Labour-Conservative divide and are often seized on in the political arena, but Benn believes the extent of economic cuts are unjust. “They are using the economic problem as a justification for policies that they believe in anyway. Public services particularly. They are blaming everything on the public services.”
“Bankers are still living on huge bonuses and the people who are paying the price are the people who are on benefits or the unemployed” In contrast, he thinks: “The Conservative party represent wealthy people and business. It never wanted working people, including women, to have the vote in the first place because they knew that when ordinary people had the vote they would use the vote to buy public services; the health service and so on, which meets people’s needs.” Such black and white analyses of society have often led to Benn being labelled as so far to the Left that he borders on East European socialism. Such clear cut descriptions are refreshing, especially when traditional political conceptions have become blurred in the current political context. The ConDem coalition is a perfect example of the mixing of political ideologies, and Benn pulls no punches in his discussion of some of their specific policies. Michael Gove’s proposal of academies he describes as: “completely wrong.” “I am not in favour of the academies. I think they are just inviting private companies to take over education.” And, thus here he implies a social system where class systems persist. At the same time, Benn is not surprised that the Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg, entered into a coalition. “In
“The economic situation that we are in at the moment was not caused because so many people were on benefits they didn’t deserve, or something of that kind. It was a complicated result of what the bankers did”. Reminding us that, “the bankers are still living on huge bonuses and the people who are paying the price are the people who are on benefits or the people who are unemployed, you know, the people in the public services.” Suffice to say, Benn is not impressed by the tangled web he thinks George Osborne is weaving on the domestic front. So how does he feel about international affairs? As President of the ‘Stop the War’ coalition, Benn’s views on the situation in Afghanistan are open and apparent. He has also, however, been an active supporter of the Palestinian struggle for a homeland in occupied Palestine. He tells me that the situation will need: “a real change.” He continues, “I think there would have to be such changes made that I do not think the Israeli government will want to make those changes.” Benn seems almost pessimistic about a solution when he says that the Palestinian state must be recognised. He highlights the further questions that remain to be solved: “about refugees going back, the status of Jerusalem, settlements that they are building in occupied territories.” All of which make the recognition of the Palestinian state such a contentious issue for the Israelis especially. However, Benn also believes that
international communities, with growing liberal institutions, must recognise the immediacy of such a problem whilst adopting state pragmatism. He is critical of some politicians in the United States and says “more progress” would be made if America, as the present global hegemon, did not get caught up in bureaucracy. “There is work for the Americans who use the veto all the time at the United Nations to frustrate resolutions in support of the Palestinians.” Despite the current deflation of Democrats in the mid-term elections, Benn is generally supportive of Obama’s work in the Senate. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he enthusiastically supported Obama over George W. Bush. “I thought his campaign was very imaginative,” Benn says. “He didn’t say ‘vote for me and I will do all these things’; he said ‘yes we can do these things.’ He was elected and everybody’s hopes were raised.” “Obama has made quite a bit of progress. He has introduced National Health Care which is something the Americans have never had before; he tackled some of the abuses of the banks; he told the Israelis to stop building settlements on Palestinian land; he made an approach to the Russians on nuclear weapons and defence.” To these positive assessments, Benn adds one final statement. “I don’t agree with him about the Afghan war” he says. It’s heartening to know some things never change. Curriculum Vitae Born April 3 1925 Served as a pilot in the Second World War 1950: Briefly worked as a radio producer 1950: Selected as the Labour candidate for Bristol South East 1964-1966: Under the government of Harold Wilson, Benn was appointed Postmaster General 1966-1970: Appointed Minister of State for Technology 1971-1972: Chairman of the Labour Party 1975-1979: Appointed Secretary of State for Energy 1984-2001: Elected Member of Parliament for Chesterfield 2001: President of Stop the War Coalition
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Exeposé week six
Features
A Matter for Debate
This house proposes the motion that some species of animal should be allowed to become extinct. Katharine Bardsley, Hannah Petrie and Sarah Harding spend the night with DebSoc.
The debate as it unfolded THE University’s Debating Society, known affectionately to most as DebSoc, can be relied upon to confront some interesting and provocative topics during their weekly Friday night debate. Their most recent debate proved no different, with a thought-provoking environmental topic: “This House believes that some species should be allowed to become extinct.” Speaking for the proposition were John Gill, a 2nd year Physics student, and Chris Lodge, DebSoc’s General Secretary. Opposing them were David Laurence, DebSoc’s Publicity Secretary and Lauren Hitchman, DebSoc’s Social Secretary. In the opening vote, in an audience of 103, 55% voted for the motion, 20% against and 25% abstained. The closing vote gave an overwhelming majority of 70% for, which passed this controversial motion. The Proposition took a largely economic and financial line of argument, questioning how best to use the money and finite resources that are immediately available to the cause. They didn’t argue to advocate the cessation of conservation, or the extinction of all other species, but how to best manage limited resources for the sustainable future of the most vulnerable species affected. If the eventual effect of this informed approach to conservation is to result in the extinction of some species, then this must be allowed to happen in order to best preserve diversity. Chris Lodge also stressed that there was no dispute here about man’s negative impact on the environment, and that we do indeed have a duty of care. It was argued, however, that the extinction of small groups of species in an eco-system does not immediately cause a collapse. Indeed, it was suggested that the loss of certain species may even be beneficial in some cases and that saving an ecosystem in its entirety is more economically viable than saving an individual species. The Opposition’s rebuttal and argu-
ment questioned the Proposition’s moral logic: what qualifies humanity to decide which species should survive and which should face extinction? David Laurence argued that modern society is at odds with its natural roots. He argued that we should tackle our own disconnection to our natural environment and understand the interdependent nature of life on earth. The Opposition also asserted that all species are equally valid and important, that no species should knowingly be allowed to become extinct under our watch. Humanity should exercise a little compassion. The Opposition’s defining argument was to assert that our collective human responsibility should be to prevent what could be the biggest mass extinction in the history of the planet by letting no species fall through the net and face extinction.
OVER time, natural causes such as climate change, hurricanes, fires, floods and erosions all threaten a species’ habitat. However, humans also destroy a species’ habitat by building new housing developments, cutting down trees and making trails through forests. We also pollute an animal’s supply of food and water by littering and using pesticides, herbicides and other chemical pollutants. Furthermore, hunting threatens certain species. Dwindling stocks of cod are just one example of this. Humans often kill animals for sportor fashion, as well as for crafts or souvenirs, as in the case of elephant tusks, or even for medicine. In the last 500 years, human activity has made 869 wild species extinct. In short, it is a combination of natural causes and human activity that endanger animals. However, it is human activity that we should be most concerned about.
“The closing vote gave an overwhelming majority of 70% for, which passed this controversial motion”
“The proposition took a largely economic and financial line of argument: questioning how best to use the money and finite resources that are immediately available to the cause”
Both the Proposition and the Opposition’s arguments offered the audience some contentious questions, as well as posing some interesting ideological dilemmas. To pass such a controversial motion by such a large majority does not, as some might suggest, prove our lack of compassion for the natural world. Instead, it shows our understanding of a problem that needs thoughtful handling and some sacrifice for the sake of a larger cause. In a perfect world, there would be no question of which species to value over another, or how to prioritise species to preserve biodiversity. However, we don’t live in a perfect world. This debate has highlighted the need for careful planning and conservation but, most importantly, the acknowledgement of collective responsibility for such a large-scale issue.
Is it worth stopping extinction? EXTINCTION has recently gone from 100 to 1000 times the natural average. Deforestation, over-exploitation and poaching are some of the chief causes of extinction that humans are responsible for. After the drugs and arms trades, poaching of endangered species is the third-biggest form of organised crime in the world. There is no question that the actions of mankind are one of the main causes of species becoming endangered. The question is should we do anything about it? As the debate suggested, with limited resources, perhaps we should concentrate on saving species most likely to be saved through our inter-
How do species become extinct?
vention. The case of the giant panda is a good example. Chris Packham, BBC wildlife expert and television presenter, controversially stated that breeding giant pandas in captivity is “pointless” because “there is not enough habitat left to sustain them.” As an animal that can only produce one cub every two years, and needs a vast amount of bamboo to survive, Packham argues that the money spent on conserving the panda could be better spent elsewhere. The limited amount of conservation resources could thus be better used if we concentrate on those species that would have the biggest impact on humans if they were allowed to become extinct. One example of
Some species facing extinction: The Siberian tiger, the dhole and the giant panda this would be bees which are necessary to pollinate crops. According to the US Department of Agriculture, the cost to farmers of a collapse in the number of bees was $14.6bn, con-
“We have a moral obligation to help not only those species that our resources will allow, but to go above and beyond what we can feasibly do”
tributing to a global cost of pollination services of $190bn, according to The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (Teeb). Rather than try-
ing to save every endangered species, we should be pragmatic and prioritise those that would affect us most if they were allowed to disappear. However, it’s not quite as simple as that. It will be the poorest people in the world who suffer most in the event of extinction. Paven Sukhdev, a career banker and leader of Teeb, explains: “Biodiversity is valuable for everyone, but it is an absolute necessity for the poor.” According to Teeb, for example, the Earth’s natural resources and the services they provide contribute to 75% of the total economic output of Indonesia, and almost half of India’s output. So we have a moral obligation to
“The opposition’s defining argument was to assert that our collective responsibility should be to prevent what could be the biggest mass extinction in the history of the planet by letting no species fall through the net and face extinction” help not only those species that our resources will allow, but to go above and beyond what we can feasibly do. To choose between those species that we think are important and those that we think are not would be a mistake, as we simply do not know enough about the way ecosystems would be affected. 1.25 million species have been identified on earth, and it is estimated that there are a possible 35 million species altogether. As humankind is one of the major causes of extinction, we have a collective responsibility to look after the species that we have harmed.
14
November 8 2010
Features
Exeposé
LimeWire Shutdown
Emily May considers the shut down of a popular music downloading site. VISITORS to the notorious music downloading website LimeWire are now greeted with this message: “This is an official notice that LimeWire is under a court-ordered injunction to stop distributing and supporting its file sharing software. Downloading or sharing copyrighted content without authorisation is illegal.”
“Although many artists are rejoicing at this closure, some analysts are sceptical that this will impact the rise in illegal downloads” After a four year battle with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which represents the world’s largest record labels, LimeWire has been shut down by the US federal courts. The website was first founded in 2000 by Mark Gorton and allowed users to illegally download copyrighted material; including music files that cost the music industry hundreds of millions of dollars. According to RIAA figures, US recorded music sales fell from $14.5bn to $7.7bn between 1999 and 2009. File sharing networks are blamed as one of the main factors for this decline and a recent NDP survey found that nearly 60% of all file sharers in 2009 were using LimeWire to gather music. The compensation fine faced by the site will be decided in January, but a spokesperson for Gorton
insists they will continue “working with the music industry to move forward.” Although many artists are rejoicing at this closure, some analysts are sceptical that this will impact the rise in illegal downloads. 3.3 billion music files are downloaded illegally every month, whilst album sales have dropped every year for the past decade. iTunes claim that only 10 billion songs have been bought since 2003. The lasting impact of LimeWire may be the attitude that people feel they should not have to pay for music. Steve Purdham, of the music streaming website We7, argues that music lovers need to be educated about the danger of viruses from encrypted files and shown the benefits of the legal alternatives. “To keep generating the music we love,” he says, “artists need to be paid. People want to support the music they care about...we need to stop demonising consumers and create a sustainable business model that can work for everyone.” However, a study by Tiscali found that it is often the most dedicated music fans, those who spend money by traditional means such as CD sales and gig tickets, who were also more likely to download music illegally, completely aware of its unlawfulness. People’s relationship with music nowadays is far from simple. For many, illegal downloading is a way to explore new music without committing to payment. Streaming sites such as Spotify, which provide the “try before you buy” philosophy, could
be seen as the answer. They are legal, listeners just need to endure advert breaks every six songs from Roberta and Jonathan. The incentive to upgrade to uninterrupted Spotify Premium for £9.99 a month does exist, but figures estimate less than 5% of users choose to pay for this service. Whilst Spotify may seem a happy solution, the service is not perfect. Users cannot store files on their computer or put them on their iPod, and some big names are notably omitted from the music library - including The Beatles and Led Zeppelin. The service has also been criticised for failure to compensate independent artists fairly.
“US recorded music sales fell from $14.5bn to $7.7bn between 1999 and 2009. File sharing networks are blamed as one of the main factors for this decline” Music, like every other aspect of culture, is constantly evolving with the digital age. It is worth remembering that the artists need to be paid for doing what they do. Increasingly, however, the musical dilemma comes down to what music fans value more: whether they would like access to music, or whether they would like to own it.
A Pagan’s Progress
Commentary
Ben Murphie Music Editor MUSIC downloading is not so much an illegal practice for internet users as it is a tradition. If music is released for legal downloading somewhere on the internet, it will most certainly be available to download illegally somewhere else. The successful legal action taken by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to immediately put an end to the file sharing practices of LimeWire may at first seem to be a triumph for those trying to make a fair wage within the music industry. The idea behind the action is to allow musicians to make a decent amount of money from their music that is broadcasted heavily all over the internet as a promotional tool. The rise of illegal music downloading has indeed changed the nature of how profit is made within the music industry. The largest revenues to be found no longer come from the selling of music but from the exhibition of it. This is attested by artists such as Kings of Leon and Lady Gaga, who have been making frequent return trips to gargantuan venues such as the O2 Arena in London to
generate the massive profits that apparently benefit them and can no longer be found in album sales. This has in turn led to the gross rise in ticket and merchandise prices with ticket websites all too eager to capitalise with a list of supposedly essential booking, transaction and processing fees. Yet the shutting down of one file sharing site will only signify the spawning of a rival and the money lost by large record companies and musicians will never be regained. Perhaps rather than attempting the impossible task of regulating the entire internet, record companies should be searching for new and innovative ways to convince the public to pay for music. Websites such as Spotify that allow people to listen to music for free whilst giving them the option to purchase it seem like a good alternative. Lost revenues can be regained in advertising displayed on these sites whilst new music is shared between listeners for free. The shutting down of LimeWire is a redundant gesture because as long as there are products for sale, people will find ways to take them without paying, whether they be diamond rings or Katy Perry mp3s. To get someone to pay for a song when they can hear it in its entirety for free is what the RIAA should be spending their money on, rather than lengthy legal battles that stagnate progress.
Emily Pearson looks at the history of Halloween and examines the growth of this commercial phenomenon. THE abundance of orange and black decorations, extravagant masks, outfits, excessive amounts of sweet treats and a sudden surge in pumpkin sales only means one thing: Halloween has arrived. I am sure the vast majority of people reading this will have got involved in these festivities where mythology, folklore and superstition were originally the central components. However, like so many holidays that have become commercialised, it is easy to get lost in the excitement of it all, and as a result, forget the history behind the customs. So, let’s take a moment to explore this spooky holiday and the cultural traditions that have contributed to its continued success. All cultures view Halloween differently and the ways in which it is celebrated varies across the globe. However, there are inevitably some key facts that remain consistent. Halloween was originally a Celtic holiday which dates back over 2000 years, celebrated every year on October 31, which was the last day of the Celtic calendar. Its roots lay in the feast of Samhain, the
largest and most significant holiday of the Celtic year, which signifies the end of summer, the harvest season and ultimately, the approach of a long winter. However, for the pagan Celts, this date also marked the point at which the division between the living and the dead was temporarily disrupted, allowing spirits to be unleashed into the living world. It is from this festival that the traditional colours associated with Halloween derived. Orange signifies the harvest, whilst black represents death and spiritual activity. Many of the superstitious practices enacted by the pagans at this time still exist within our current society and it is interesting to consider the origins of the things we do today. Perhaps the most universal of these traditions is trick or treating. This custom dates back to the belief that the souls of the dead and malevolent spirits roamed the streets and villages on this particular night. Since not all spirits were thought to be friendly, treats and gifts were offered to pacify the evil spirits and to ensure the success and bounty of next year’s crop.
This concept of warding off evil spirits is also the reason behind the scary costumes and masks that we wear each year. Following the same reasoning, is the ritual of carving frightening faces into pumpkins to make jack-o’-lanterns. Halloween is also commonly referred to as All Hallows Eve which takes place on the day preceding All Saints Day. Samhain, with its emphasis on the supernatural, was decidedly pagan and therefore, when Christian missionaries were attempting to spread the word of Catholicism, they believed that this worship of the supernatural and evil deities strongly conflicted with their cause. Subsequently, on November 1, All Saints Day was established: a day to honour every Christian saint, especially those that did not otherwise have a special day devoted to them. This feast day was meant to substitute Samhain and to replace it forever. However as is evident, this was not in the least successful. Despite the fact that we are committed wholeheartedly to our Halloween celebrations in this country, it is safe to say that our American
friends take their festive antics to another level. On average, 86% of American households decorate their entire home for the holiday and this is a country in which the candy sales for Halloween alone average about $2 billion annually. Furthermore, in 2009
the sale of Halloween costumes and other decorations came to a staggering total of $6bn. When we look at figures such as this, it is understandable how Halloween is now the most successfully commercialised and marketed holiday in the calendar second only to Christmas. Photo: Henry White
15
Exeposé week six
Features
A Nobel Idea
Charlotte Abbots, a third year Physicist, discusses new developments in the scientific material world.
ON Thursday October 28, Exeter University hosted a public lecture delivered by the Nobel Prize winner, Dr Kostya Novoselov. Novoselov won the Nobel Prize for physics with Andre Geim in early October for their groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene. This talk was the second in a series about functional materials and included an overview of the properties and possible applications of graphene, the new wonder material. Kostya and other physicists at the University of Manchester and the Institute for Microelectronics Technology, Chernogolovka, Russia, first isolated individual graphene planes using Scotch tape in 2004. It performs outstandingly in the conduction of heat and electricity and, being hailed the new super-material, it could lead to massive advances in the world of nanotechnology. Current nanotechnologies, such as computer microprocessors, LCD displays and mobile phones, could be
greatly enhanced with the extraordinary physical properties of graphene. With its combination of mechanical strength and electrical conductivity, the possible practical applications are vast. Graphene is a thin flake of carbon, just one atom thick. Not only is it the thinnest material, it is also the strongest. This 2D crystal consists of a monolayer of carbon atoms joined together in a hexagonal lattice, similar to a honeycomb structure. It can be obtained through a number of scientific methods. Being so thin it is practically transparent and having the ability to conduct electricity makes graphene an ideal material for touch screen technology. It could also be possible to mix graphene with plastics to make new super strong materials which are elastic, thin and lightweight. These are important properties that in the future could be used for the manufacture of cars, planes and satellites. Companies such as Samsung, Nokia and the IBM Corp are already work-
ing with the material. Exeter University is “one of the best graphene centres in the world,” according to Dr Novoselov. The University hosts the Centre for Graphene Science, which is a joint venture with the University of Bath. The Centre was launched in 2008 with a £5 million Science and Innovation Award from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE), under the leadership of the late Professor Alex Savchenko. Dr Alan Usher, director of the Centre for Graphene Science at Exeter, states: “Visits by eminent researchers such as Professor Novoselov are absolutely vital in a field as rapidly changing as graphene research. We are able to exchange ideas and hone each others’ understanding of this remarkable material, which is constantly throwing up surprises.” Many areas of graphene research are being conducted at Exeter, including the production and fabrication of nano-scale devices, experimental and
i Newspaper
Joanna Clifford turns her eye to the new newspaper for the time and cash strapped.
ON October 26, The Independent launched its new sister paper, i: the first new broadsheet in nearly 25 years. The paper is designed for time strapped readers who don’t get the chance to read all the information in a normal broadsheet. However, on the same day of its release, a seminar tutor enquired how many members of our group read a newspaper. Not one person raised their hand. This might not be a clear reflection only of student apathy, but of the results of advanced technological journalism. Students just don’t pay for news they could get for free. As one blogger on the This is Pop website commented: “newsagents are for chocolate and fags... If I pay, I want content that I can’t get for free on my phone.” So I was keen to see whether i could live up to its hype of providing a daily briefing with a difference (“intelligence and brevity,” as they put it.) An immediate attraction of this new paper is the price. At 20p - or “a millionth of a Rooney” - i is a fifth of the price of most newspapers and half the price of a discounted paper in the campus shop. In spite of these obvious budget restrictions, i also seems to retain a high quality of news reporting and presentation. The most
interesting of today’s news stories are branded boldly across the front, with a bright and colourful cover which should lure in readers of a generation grown used to Heat magazine. Once inside, the articles are often short and animatedly summarised within the first few lines. There are no annoying pull-outs or obscure sections and The News Matrix offers the top news at a glance. Concise, contrasting views are then offered in the The Opinion Matrix on the top political stories. If you want to widen your knowledge, main international headlines are found in the spread entitled ‘Panorama: Around the world in 10 stories’. Or for television lovers, a TV Selector has been created to sort programmes into categories which might interest you. Admittedly more substantial articles for meaty news coverage are few and far between, but these are mixed with shorter stories to prevent the pages looking too formidable or monotonous. In such a way, i combines intelligent journalism with fast-paced news. So why is it called i? Voted as one of 20 words which describe the decade by magazine readers last year, i has become the most popular letter of our soci-
ety. Most notably adopted by Apple as the prefix for their products, as well as by other companies such as the BBC for its iPlayer, the director of the marketing company Brand Forensics concludes that the letter ‘i’ is about “the power of people” and meeting the population’s demands. It might be a bit of a cliché to name the paper after this, and it’s hardly likely to make the reader feel empowered or unique when it is now not only branded across all of our modern technology, but also smiling down at us from the shelves of every newsagent, but internet feedback for i seems to be positive so far. Many bloggers are hopeful for this new accessible paper that has no political allegiance. i has been created with the intention to revolutionise the newspaper industry, where sales have been dwindling. Whether or not it can really be a profitable enterprise to launch a new paper for the internet generation, I remain unsure. However, if you are planning to buy a newspaper in the morning, I can thoroughly recommend it.
theoretical analysis of graphene properties, and also the development of devices and their applications. During his visit to the university, Kostya made sure that he spent time in the School of Physics. Dr Alan Usher continues: “Alex Savchenko collaborated with Kostya in the past, and we expect a number of new collaborations to come out of this week’s visit.” However, Dr Usher explains that “a great deal of work still needs to be done to improve the quality and uniformity of large-area graphene and that requires close collaboration between engineers and scientists. That is what we have at the Centre for Graphene Science at Exeter and Bath.” Recent developments in the field have showed that a graphene transistor was as fast as its silicon counterpart. This is a huge milestone that could be the opening to graphene based electrical devices. We could soon be seeing another miniaturisation of electronics which will lead to computers becoming even more efficient. At the moment,
however, graphene computers are still just an aspiration. “The question of whether graphene will displace silicon is a much more controversial one”, says Dr Usher, “There are a number of materials that are technically superior to silicon, but ease of processing is a big issue and silicon processing has 40 years head start on its competition.” In spite of this, ideas are flowing and futuristic commercials showing paper-thin transparent computer screens that can be rolled up and carried in a hand bag have already emerged into the consumer market. With present day technologies, 1mm samples of graphene can be made. However, the big question remains as to whether graphene be manufactured on an industrial scale? Dr Novoselov may be very hopeful that one day graphene will be the major material in our technological world. But, for now, we can only speculate about the wondrous applications of this new and exciting material.
No, you can’t
Andrew Waller, Editor, looks at the US midterms and Obama’s future. It happened. Everyone predicted it. Obama lost the House of Congress and suffered defeats in the Senate. The euphoria of 2008 is well and truly dead. Cries of ‘Hope’ and ‘Change’ have been drowned out by a sea of anti-establishment placards. Even Obama seemed to think the dream was over when he admitted to John Stewart, “Yes, we can. But…” There is a delicious irony to antiestablishment candidates winning a clutch of seats in Congress. And, whilst the Tea Party were the undoubted stars of the show, history suggests this is a transient phase. Freshman will soon get used to their Capitol Hill lifestyle and the great GOP behemoth will assert itself on the new right-wingers. So begins a new era of party politics. A-level politics teachers across the country will be chanting that god-awful congressional synonym: gridlock. But even before the House was divided, legislating was not an easy process. Obama struggled to get the Healthcare bill through despite his control of both Houses. But some of the biggest losers of the midterms were the Blue Dogs. A bunch of conservative Democrats, half of whom lost their seats in these mid-terms. Some would argue this is a fair reward for stifling what had promised to be the most progressive period in recent political history. Don’t blame the left and the right, says Paul Krugman, “Blame the whiny center.” However, it is not just Americans who have seemed to lose faith in Obama. There’s a website doing the social media rounds at the moment called, ‘WTF has Obama Done So Far’. As an
overt Obamaphile, it’s a question I’m often asked. So, rather than bother me next time with such puerile teasing, spend a minute or two clicking through this long list of impressive achievements. Healthcare, the economy, torture and gay rights all feature highly. Some think that Obama will relish this new politics. He can credibly blame Republicans for slow progress and, if Clinton is any example to go by, use the veto with abandon. The US political system is designed as a ‘permanent revolution’ and it will soon be time for Obama’s name to appear on the ballot paper. Few will agree on Obama’s record in office, but none can argue with his formidable talent as a campaigner. That ‘shellacking’ he received last week should not be used as a template for 2012. The best of Obama is yet to come.
16
November 8 2010
Lifestyle
Exeposé
Laura Le Brocq & Clare Mullins - lifestyle@exepose.com
Second hand doesn’t mean second best Zoe Dickens on the art of charity shopping and rifling through the rails.
THIS year Exeter was voted to have the second worst high street in the UK. The bland mix of shops which make up our city were judged to allow no scope for individuality: in short our shops are boring. It may then surprise you to find that Exeter is in fact full of stores that are not only eco-friendly and very cheap, but also guarantee uniqueness in the items they sell. I am, of course, talking about charity shops. I unashamedly confess to be a great lover of the charity shop (to the extent that I now own enough men’s shirts sourced from charity shops to clothe a small army) and I seriously urge anyone who thinks of them as the sole preserve of old ladies and those looking for fancy dress to give them a chance. Of course they have their downsides. There is no denying that items bought from charity shops have a distinct old per-
son smell. Luckily this can generally be removed by a good wash and failing that simply spray the garment with a mixture of one part vodka and three parts water – sounds strange, but trust me, it works. Also, by the very nature of the way they operate they can’t offer a range of sizes; they will only have one of each garment and obviously everything is second hand. Then again, all of these complaints can be applied to vintage clothing stores and we all know that vintage is, like, so chic daahling! That said, shopping in a charity shop does require a slightly different approach to say, Topshop or H&M. There are dos and don’ts when it comes to purchasing from charity shops. For example, for hygiene reasons it is obviously extremely unadvisable to buy underwear, shoes and, in some cases, hats. When it comes to the issue of sizing it’s never a great idea to
buy something a size too small (you’re not going to shrink) but it’s fine to buy clothes that are too big (belts, brooches and ‘tucking in’ are generally able to make anything too large work.) Being handy with a needle and thread and having a certain amount of imagination can also come in useful when trying to uncover the gems that are hiding in almost every charity shop. Think of this as shopping ‘creatively’. It is usually quite simple to alter clothes; you simply have to spot the potential in them. For example, last week I bought an electric blue pleated floor-length dress from the RSPCA that quite frankly no-one under the age of 50 would be seen dead in. It is now an electric blue pleated mini-dress that wouldn’t look out of place on a night-out. This took very little effort (you’ll be surprised at the sewing skills you and your friends actually have) and only cost me £4.
For me, the best thing about charity shops is how frequently their stock changes. You can go to a charity shop one day and then go back to the same one two weeks later and it will be like a completely different store. Love the A/W ’10 trend for chunky knits but can’t afford Rodarte’s hefty price tags? Been lusting after a fur coat but simply don’t have the cash? Due to the cyclical nature of fashion it is happily on a very rare occasion that you will go to a charity shop and not find something bang on trend. The biggest thing I’ve learnt about charity shops is that if you see something you like then buy it because once it’s gone, it’s gone. For those still not convinced of the sartorial potential of charity shops they are, of course, also brilliant for old-school home entertainment. A 1984 version of Trivial Pursuit has become a prized possession in my house and if you like quirky
Would you steak your life on it?
Tom Goodsir reviews the Impy’s ‘Tuesday Steak Night’ and concedes it was decidedly ‘well done’.
FOR generations, there have been questions that have troubled the minds of mortal men. Philosophers and physicists alike have puzzled over the question of whether that tree falling in the woods really does make a noise, quite what the aural qualities of one hand clapping are and, inevitably, what colour a smurf ends up if you strangle it. Despite the best efforts of our foremost thinkers and despite the progress made in smurf biology, one question will remain eternally unanswered: “how would you like that cooked, sir?” The problem of how one should order one’s steak has been a defining topic at every middle class dinner party since the invention of the cow. There are few questions that are, on first glance, so simple, but with thought become so circumstantial. Present company is some-
thing to account for: on a lads’ night out the ‘curry-house-machismo’ takes over (rarer than whoever is next to you) but on Gran’s birthday you play it safe (medium). You’d go rare at Le Manoir, medium at Big Dave’s Grill. It’s hardly a domestic issue either, we all know they undercook everything in France. It was this discussion that prompted me to scale the cultural ladder and end up at the dizzying heights of Mr J.D. Wetherspoon’s ‘Tuesday Steak Night’ last week. Cheap and cheerful was the primary order of the day, but the hope of some decent quality food was certainly well and alive. Before we begin any evaluation of food, let me say that The Imperial is a truly beautiful venue. As pointed out in the last issue by Mark Carvell, the Impy was formerly a stately home. Despite having all the standard fixtures and fittings of a
Wetherspoon’s (random triangular advertisements on every table, empty glasses in places you didn’t know existed and one too many drunken pensioners) the Impy is a lovely place to while away an evening. Even on the briefest of tours (to and from the bar) you will come across some genuine period detailing, not-sogenuine (but incredibly comfy) antique armchairs and the Orangery, complete with its enormous, semi-circular window which overlooks the beer garden. Impressive. So what of the food? The physical task of ordering was challenging, roughly on a par with explaining the rules of cricket to an American. Our waitress, though infinitely charming, had been there only three weeks. Still, we all got through it alive and two sirloins (medium-rare), one rib-eye (rare) and two mixed grills (with
which you get no choice) were sent to fizzle away in the kitchen. A mixed grill, incidentally, is always a mistake in a restaurant. It’s the equivalent of asking a chef for ‘a bit of everything’ and expecting braised lobster in a gold leaf aioli. No, he’ll give you spam and marmite and the rubbish he can’t use for anything else. Nevertheless our food arrived and was rearranged a little bit (missing sausage, more chips etc.) but, generally, was good: a sizeable, tender cut of meat which was, indeed, cooked to medium rare with a good half-inch of pinkness still present. There was a decent sauce which helped bring out the flavour of the meat ratherthan mask it and an abundance of classic British pub chips: no ‘fries’ here, these were fat, chunky chips. Lovely. In keeping with culinary tradition, the
nik-naks, like a set of three wooden mallards that have taken pride of place in my housemate’s room, you’ll be in heaven. Also, if you do a subject like English or History charity shops can be brilliant for finding course reading. I bought about a quarter of my course material from charity shops this year and at an average of 25p per book you can’t really go wrong. So where are Exeter’s best charity shops? To be honest we’re spoilt for choice. The Oxfam Bookshop on South Street holds over 3500 titles as well as an impressive range of vinyls and collectibles. However, the place to go if you’re looking for variety is undoubtedly Paris Street. Affectionately known as ‘Millionaire’s Row’ in my household it is home to numerous charity shops, including the RSPCA and Age Concern, which are handily situated right next door to each other.
mixed grill was fantastically overcooked. Dessert, though, was better. The chocolate fudge cake (well done - though our waitress was in no mood to appreciate my comic efforts) was divine, moist, gooey and bursting with calories. If you’re going to do dessert best to do it well, right? The clinching factor of the night, however, was not the setting or the food or even the cake. The whole meal (moderate amounts of drink included) came in at just a little over £8 per head. For £8 I am absolutely obliged to recommend the Impy to anyone (and everyone). If you were wondering, the correct answer to “how you would like that cooked, sir?” is indeed medium rare: pink enough to taste, hot enough to enjoy. Or, alternatively, go for the mixed grill – that will save you even thinking about it.
17
Exeposé week six
University myth No 2:
“It’s where you’ll meet your friends for life”
Lifestyle’s columnist, Davina Cameron-Gale, examines the myths that surround university, studenthood and life on campus.
THERE are several permanent features on most undergraduate ‘to do’ lists. These include spending as much time as possible lost in an alcoholic fog, enjoying the deliciousness of hours on end slumped in front of daytime television and (God forbid) attempting to navigate their way through a degree, to name a few. But perhaps the ultimate aspiration lies in the tricky art of finding, and keeping, friends. I don’t mean just any friends. I don’t mean the guy that you say hello to in passing because word on the street is he’s going to be running the country one day. Nor do I mean that person you always see on a night out, hug tightly and hope fearfully that no-one asks to be introduced to them because there’s no way in hell you remember their name. I mean proper friends, the ones who will let you waffle on about the latest twist in your clearly pathetic love life and come with you to the supermarket because they know you hate going alone. It’s the little things; the small signs of selflessness that let you know when you have a Friend For Life. You frequently hear people referring to their ‘university crowd’, the close-knit group that developed during their undergraduate years and remained intact long after leaving and heading off into the real world. It’s hardly surprising really. The friendship-making process itself is incredibly intense; everyone’s thrown in at the deep end together and it has more than a hint of survival of the fittest about it. If you’re socially inept, particularly weird-looking, or just plain obnoxious, you will quickly fall by the
Campus Style OUR roving photographer and Lifestyle team bring you the best style on campus! The clocks turned back on Sunday and Winter is almost here. The current spate of cold weather means it’s a wise idea not to leave the house without a coat, but why sacrifice style for warmth? This week it’s all about the tweed jacket. [Centre] Name: Studying: What she’s wearing: [Left] Name: Agata Drelova Studying: History, PhD [Centre] Name: Louise Garrett Studying: Politics, 2nd year [Right] Name: Dan Kerr Studying: Film, 3rd year
wayside and end up becoming a hermit. Even if you’re a perfectly pleasant human being you still have to work at things, and it takes a while to find the people that you really click with, as opposed to those that you can simply pass the time with whilst thinking, “Is this it?” When you do eventually find your platonic soulmates it’s wonderful; it gives you such a sense of security knowing that you’re surrounded by people that genuinely care about you. The reason that university friendships are so head-over-heels all-consuming is because you’re going on a crash course through life together. It’s a three (or more) year period when you’re learning to be independent and making important decisions (such as “Should I watch Neighbours at lunchtime or at half five?”)
“Small signs of selflessness let you know when you have a friend for life.”
You may fall in love, you may figure out what you want to do with your life, you might start to understand yourself a bit better, and your uni friends are the witnesses to all these realisations and rites of passage. Being on the cusp of ‘Real Life’ and thinking of a time when it won’t be appropriate to casually down bottles of wine with gay abandon and go for three days without getting dressed is rather intimidating, and so the people
you share these fantastically carefree years with are automatically connected to you for life. And because this time is so full of freedom and fun, it’s no wonder that when people leave university they spend their twenties trying to re-create it, and part of that involves staying friends with the people you met there. You can fondly look back on the times you spent rolling in and out of clubs, putting the world to rights around the kitchen table at 3am, when you had everything ahead of you, all expectations and no disappointment. This may all be a load of sentimental old rubbish to a lot of people, who may just consider a glorified drinking buddy to be the definition of a close friend. Others might have a more cynical view of university altogether; certain acquaintances of mine seem to treat it as one long social networking opportunity. That’s absolutely fine, maybe even quite sensible, but to go your entire undergraduate life without finding people that you truly like and actually can’t really do without is a pretty depressing thought. We have so many chocolate box depictions of friendship groups in popular culture; the Sex and the City girls, the circles of friends from any Richard Curtis film, the gang from Friends. That’s all well and good, but university friends are far superior, our bonds run so much deeper, our connections are far more life-affirming. For example, did Rachel ever stand at the bottom of the stairs of Arena waiting to catch Monica after too many Jägerbombs? I rest my case.
Lifestyle
Lust for Leather Cyan Turan dons the trousers.
REMEMBER that episode of Friends you’re going to embrace, do so with utter where Ross wears leather trousers on a confidence and conviction. Not for the date, goes to the loo and can’t get them light-hearted, leathers need fierce heels back on again? The one where the lotion and an attitude to match, unless you have and the powder come together to form the legs of Elle Macpherson, in which a paste? Well if you thought that was a case go as flat as you like. What’s more, fate that was far beyond you, this season, the British high street is unbeatable, so trawl the stores until you find a style that think again… That’s right folks, leather trou- suits. Topshop, Reiss and asos.com all sers have made the comeback of all have some good options. Leather trousers are risqué, but they are also ever comebacks. The epitome of a sartorial so slightly risky, so be on your nightmare, leathers were thought to guard for any mutton-dressedhave bitten the dust along with the as-lamb-esque incidents. If in Backstreet Boys, 5ive and most doubt, drag a skeptical friend other forms of mid-nineties paraalong to view your transforphernalia. But woe betide those mation. who believe this to be true. The It is important to keep fashion powers that be have in mind that leather trousers hailed the return of the most say far more than good old difficult item of clothing to denim. Like your friend for wear. Ever. The woman life, jeans will stick around to blame is French throughout your moments fashion designer of the of black, biker madness, moment, Isabel Mawhereas leathers are for rant. Her skinny, cropped now. They’re the friend that leather trousers in cherry tells you that one more drink red and black sparked a won’t hurt. For women, they’re stampede of trend-hungry stylabout fashion and power, for ists and French fashion edimen they cannot help but be tors with long, lean legs. Now sexual and slightly scary at the clearly your average British same time. body doesn’t exactly match up Of course there are other to this vision of chic, but I’d ways to wear leather this sealike to think that we could give son: shorts, boots, skinny belts them a run for their money. and shearling-lined jackets, The question is, should but for me at least, none incite we embrace leather trousers a distinct lust for dishevelled or run screaming in the opinsouciance in quite the same posite direction? Perpetual way. For the ultimate in recollections of unshaven edgy yet minimal, trendmen, mid-life crisis, atop led but not try-hard, look gleaming motorbikes no further than the leather might dash your hopes trouser. They’re having of achieving goddessIllustration by a moment, a moment of like, leather-clad proCharlotte Micklewright madness perhaps, but a portions, but persemoment nevertheless. verance is the key. If
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Exeposé week six
Lifestyle
Paris je t’aime: 48 hours in the city of light
In preparation for the RAG hitchhike Emma Tattersall tells us how to make the most of 48 hours on a student budget.
IN the same way that I struggle to pinpoint my favourite song of all time, I also had to stop and ponder when I decided to write an article about what not to miss on a weekend in Paris. Having fallen in love with the city and made a
little life for myself there, I could go on for pages. One of the great aspects of the French capital is the number of things you can do for free. Oddly enough, one of the most expensive and glamorous
cities in Europe is also one of the most rich in accessible culture. Thanks to a great bit of legislation, all Europeans under the age of 25 can get into all permanent collections at major museums for free. Be it the Musée d’Orsay’s collection of Impressionist Art, the Louvre’s mummified mammals or the Centre Pompidou’s video exhibition, it is all there for you to see for free. The queuing is worth it, I promise! For those of you who like a bit more of an intimate museum experience, Paris has plenty of little museums on a range of bizarre topics. Two not to miss are the Porn Museum and its masturbation chair and the Magic Museum’s tricks and illusions. Once you’ve satisfied your hunger for art and the obscure, you must take a moment to indulge in one of the city’s little treasures. There are boulangeries on every corner and after a year of painstaking pain au chocolat sampling I can tell you on good authority that one of the best is at Metro Hôtel de Ville. Not far behind is Chez Justine just a few roads away from the Champs Elysées. For the more serious cake and patisserie lovers among you, there is a tearoom tucked away in the Marais that you really should not miss. Le Loir dans la Théière is renowned amongst locals and tourists alike for its cake buffet. Yes, that’s right, an entire buffet of cake. Freshly made carrot cake, triple chocolate gateau, tarte tartin and tropical fruitcake stand side-by-side waiting to be devoured. For €6 you get a slab of cake and a pot of tea with which you can slump into a battered leather armchair and enjoy watching the world go by. For the lemon meringue pie lovers among you, they are rumoured to have the best
in Paris and maybe even the world. If the weather is good, a picnic is a Parisian tradition. Arm yourselves with copious amounts of camembert, wine and chocolate and head off towards the Ile de la Cité. Not only is the Pont des Arts covered in padlocks, fastened onto its frame by lovers who then toss the keys into the Seine, but it also seems to be a hangout for steel drum players and fire throwers. The riverbanks are equally as seductive, especially the area around Pont Neuf. Just be sure to avoid going under the bridges after dark. If the English weather has followed you across the channel, then a great lit-
gives gorgeous Parisians a chance to natter on about Coldplay, Abbey Road and Maggie Thatcher and melt when they hear you butchering their language. This pub/club has hosted hundreds of spontaneous gigs with Kasabian, The Wombats and Beirut all having graced the stage. It stays open until 5am and musical genres vary massively throughout the night, so be open-minded and dance the night away with your friends. It is one of a very small group of good places in Paris that has free entry after midnight. However, if unlike me it is not your kind of thing, a more ‘serious’ club is
tle spot for a few drinks is Stolly’s Bar in the Marais. The likes of Chloë Sevigny and Pete Doherty can be found curled up in the corner enjoying a pint of Guinness or sushi from the restaurant opposite. Other attractions include the great music lulling the customers into alcohol-induced love affairs, Maurice the three-legged cow and Mike the barman’s cartoons. I must, however, warn you about the fashions that people come clad in every night - feather shoulder pads and sequin hot pants are not unusual. After last orders at Stolly’s, this crowd usually make their way to Le Truskel, another English hang out that
located just around the corner. Le Social Club is a bit pricier but the resident DJs are excellent and the music is more electro than eclectic. Get there in good time to avoid the queue. Paris is overflowing with things to do. Don’t forget the Eiffel Tower, the Bateaux Mouches and Notre Dame if it is your first time to the city. The best way to discover the capital’s best-kept secrets is to get lost in it. Hop off the metro and walk around a bit. Look at things and appreciate the beauty of the city and its people - have a camera at the ready. It is a magical city full of surprises; you just have to be looking out for them.
moderate to high heat for 2-3 minutes. 3. When cooked, stir in the onion and allow to fry for a further couple of minutes until soft. 4. Add the tin of tomatoes, tin of baked beans, Worcestershire sauce and herbs to the saucepan. Simmer and allow to reduce. Pour into an oven-proof dish. 5. Mash the potatoes with a splash of milk, salt and pepper. Evenly spoon the potatoes onto the tomato/meat mixture, starting from the outside working your way to the middle. Cover with grated cheese. 6. Cook in the oven for about 20 minutes until the cheese has melted and the top is browning. Bread and butter pudding is
a fast, easy and delicious winter warmer pudding. Serves: 4
place into a greased pie dish. 3. To make the custard mix measure the milk and cream into a saucepan and heat. DO NOT let it boil. 4. Whisk the 2 eggs with 1 oz sugar in a separate bowl. 5. Once the milk and cream is heated, gradually combine it with the eggs and sugar ensuring that you whisk all the time so lumps do not form. 6. Pour the custard mix over the preprepared brioche and sprinkle a healthy handful of sugar over the top. 7. Bake until golden or the custard is set. Serve piping hot with a dash of cream for extra indulgence!
Student bites for Autumn nights
WITH a surplus of pumpkins in supermarkets, you can guarantee yourself a cheap and tasty meal with Pumpkin Soup. Serves: 4 500ml stock 1 medium onion 1 pumpkin A splash of milk or cream 1 tbsp mixed herbs 1 tsp horseradish
1. Peel and slice the onion then fry gently in a saucepan for 2 minutes until soft and golden. Add the stock. 2. De-seed the pumpkin and cut into small cubes, removing the skin. 3. Add to the saucepan and allow to simmer for around 20 minutes or until soft. 4. Blend until smooth then add the milk, horseradish, herbs and salt and pepper.
This recipe for Shepherd’s Pie makes seven portions and is incredibly cheap to make. Last week I made it for £3 thanks to various deals in Sainsbury’s/Co op. Serves: 7 1 onion 1 tin of tomatoes 1 tin of baked beans 1 tsp mixed herbs 1 pack lamb mince 2 potatoes A handful of grated cheese A splash of milk A splash of Worcestershire sauce
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/ gas mark 4. 2. Peel and chop the potatoes then add to a saucepan of boiling water and boil for 15 minutes or until tender. Whilst the potatoes are cooking, fry the mince on a
6 chocolate brioche finger rolls 350ml/12 fl oz milk 50ml/ 2 fl oz double cream 2 eggs 1 oz granulated sugar (plus extra on top) Butter for greasing
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/ gas mark 4. 2. Slice the brioche fingers lengthways into three strips and
Pumpkin Soup and Shepherd’s Pie recipes by Olivia Hardy. Bread and Butter Pudding recipe by Alex Hargreaves. Pumpkins by Katherine Hyland.
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November 8 2010 Exeposé
Music
Ellie Bothwell & Ben Murphie - music@exepose.com
Upcoming
LIVE REVIEWs
8/11 – Voodoo Six + Guests, Cavern Club
10/11 – Yann Tiersen, Exeter Phoenix
10/11 – Richard James, Mama Stone’s 12/11 – Toddla T + Serocee, Cavern Club
12/11 – The National Pastime, Exeter Phoenix 12/11 – Mad Dog Mcrea, Mama Stone’s 12/11 – Dreadzone, Lemon Grove 13/11 – Roses Kings Castles, Cavern Club 14/11 – Gilad Atzmon and the Orient House Ensemble, Exeter Phoenix 14/11 – Six Day Riot, Exeter Phoenix 17/11 – Dan Donnelly, Mama Stone’s 19/11 – DJ Yoda, Exeter Phoenix 20/11 – Haight Ashbury, Cavern Club 20/11–Martin Stephenson, Exeter Phoenix 20/11 – Deep End, Exeter Phoenix 21/11 – Trash Talk + Cerebal Ballzy + Hooks, Cavern Club
Yeasayer, Roundhouse, London October 21 Internet darlings and apparent purveyors of the current ‘it’ sound, involving a rhythmic fusion of world beats with indie orientations, Yeasayer came to the Roundhouse on the back of a whirlwind eight months of touring. Their hotly anticipated second album Odd Blood was released this February and won instant accolades from the critics for its pop influenced atmosphere that lost none of the experimental respectability that their debut album All Hour Cymbals had created for them. Warming the crowd for
“Big, haunting beats seemed slightly spoiled by frontman Chris Keating’s melodramatic high pitched vocals”
Yeasayer were their hometown compatriots Suckers, who in the light of the more psychedelic aspects of Yeasayer created triumphant, brash songs fitted with coarse trumpeting and such unsubtle lyrics as “your heart is a crippled teen / with semen on his clothes.” Big, haunting beats seemed slightly spoiled by frontman, Chris Keating’s melodramatic high pitched vocals, but in their final song ‘It Gets Your Body Moving’ they finally achieved the euphoric wall of sound they had been pushing for. This joyous song alone marks them out to keep a future eye on. When the self-described ‘Middle Eastern psych-pop-snap-gospel’ Yeasayer arrived, the stage was set for them to live up to the hype. Taking the challenge they stormed out one of their latest singles, ‘Madder Red’, a moody, eighties affair steering firmly onto the indie-pop side of their personality. Tumbling effortlessly through an array of several frantic records resembling something like an improved version of Ricky Martin on acid, Yeasayer finally settled calmly into ‘Tightrope,’ a perfectly contrasting song with tropical African beats fighting off the weight of confessional outpouring vocals. Building from this came another debut album track, ‘Red Cave’, which, with its
“Yeasayer left the Roundhouse on a high and the crowd singing the most addictive chorus since MGMT’s ‘Kids’” Paul Simon-esque cautious optimism, is a song that builds hope and joy from its simple core. Shaking off the calm the band launched into ‘Sunrise’, filled with venom, energy and attitude. ‘Sunrise’ is a record that hits hard and hurts, despite its almost hippie-based lyrics: “And as the trees grew higher and higher / And the fish began to fly / I went and stole some wings / And thought why can’t I”. It’s a song that is developed with calculated precision, showing not praise for nature but a frustrated anger at it for not letting us in more. As the finale drew close the band delivered two of its most famous current singles ‘O.N.E’ and ‘Ambling Up’ portraying their more streamlined pop approach, whilst allowing the crowd to dance on their feet and the harmon-
ic octave generator to do its magic. There’s no doubt that these singles are catchy creations, tugging on the wind of popular demand to an almost radio friendly level. This is not necessarily a bad thing but something that must continue to be matched with the high speed ‘Ricky Martin on acid’ approach to retain the band’s boundary-pushing credentials. After a wildly enthusiastic encore Yeasayer happily pulled out another variety act, ‘The Children,’ a song that sounds like a heavy dub track mixed in an industrial factory, voiced by a remorseful, devilish singer. Finishing on the tight indie victory anthem ‘2080’, Yeasayer left the Roundhouse on a high and the crowd singing the most addictive chorus since MGMT’s ‘Kids’. If Yeasayer were a painting they would be great mess of colour but instead they are a band and so a great mess of sound, genre, attitude and vibe is produced. Swinging one minute from being peculiarly indie-looking on a world beat stage to the next minute delivering modern rock anthems that seem to tip them to popular glory, whichever side of their dual personality you sit on, you’re in for one lively raucous ride as you swing about the two. GEORGE AYRES
Exeposé week six
Zane Lowe, Lemon Grove, October 22 Friday October 22 saw one of Radio 1’s most enthusiastic DJs give the students of Exeter a night to remember. Despite the Lemmy taking a good few hours to fill out, from 10 o’clock onwards the drinks were being knocked back and the excitement was building. While it wasn’t the busiest the Lemon Grove has ever been, the atmosphere was one of merry students all eagerly awaiting the presence of Mr Zane Lowe himself. 11 o’ clock brought the surprise set of a supporting DJ, who successfully set the standard for what was to follow. The unusual mixture of Dubstep, Drum and Bass and Club anthems drew everyone away from the bar and nearer the stage. It wasn’t long before the majority of students were congregated around the act, arms raised and heads thumping along to the bass. It has to be said that the support DJ was on the verge of Zane Lowe’s standard, so much so that had it been the main act of the night, there would have been few disappointed faces. With the room fully hyped already, it wouldn’t have seemed possible that the excitement could have grown any more. However, as the support drew near to the end of his set, he was joined by no less than Mr Lowe himself, who casually
Marina and the Diamonds, Anson Rooms, Bristol, October 25 Already a self-professed Diamond (Marina and the Diamonds refers to her fans, not her backing band), I was counting down the days until her second tour. Entitled the ‘Burger Queen’ tour, Marina Diamandis said that it was a “dark Hollywood tale” criticising consumerism and that she was looking forward to being able to revel in the theatricality of her first tour after the release of her successful debut album The Family Jewels. Arriving at the Anson Rooms, I was disappointed to see that the vast majority of the audience was comprised of bewildered 14-year-old school girls and their bored parental chaperones, clearly not the target audience for the mutinous and sarcastic lyrics in Marina’s
“Whilst her performance was punchy and fabulously infectious, I was disappointed at the lack of props and videos to link her music to the somewhat hyped-up tour title ‘Burger Queen’”
21
strolled onto the stage to perform with the support before riding solo. What had seemed lively before now took on a whole new level as the remaining students scattered around fled to the stage, everyone wanting a glimpse of Radio 1’s finest. So, after an almost two-hour set of the support act and a brief duet, it was finally time for Zane Lowe to take to the stage alone and send the crowd into a frenzy. The expectations for the night were definitely high and I can safely say that Zane Lowe didn’t disappoint. Not only were the tunes original, new and brilliant, but you can’t deny that the guy has a hell of a stage presence. When watching him you could tell that he was having just as good a time as everyone watching him, with a permanent grin on his face and practically danc-
Music
“As the night drew on, the temperature rose to unhealthy heights as everyone packed more and more tightly around the stage”
“With the room fully hyped already, it wouldn’t have seemed possible that the excitement could have grown any more”
ing from deck to deck. He didn’t fail to entertain, especially when running his hand along the length of the front of the crowd, ‘high-fiving’ all those that were lucky enough to be within reach. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many girls move at such a pace, or guys for that matter. As the night drew on, the temperature rose to unhealthy heights as everyone packed more and more tightly around the stage in order to feel the full force of the bass. At times the crowd gave the impression of being a mosh pit as everyone pushed and shoved in order to get to the front. But the overall feeling of the night was a good one, with everyone far from sober, and a trancelike atmosphere developed as Zane Lowe played into the early hours of the morning. Despite the slight lack of stu-
album of corruption and vice. Having listened to a soulful and energetic warm-up act from CocknBullKid the audience were presented
with a new short film, which, with its silhouetted female dancers and instrumental backing, was very like a James Bond opening sequence. KickPhoto: Alex Wynick
dents and a later start than normal, Zane Lowe’s visit to Exeter’s Lemmy was a night not to be missed. Let’s hope we
have a repeat session in the near future.
ing off the set in a leather dress, Diamandis launched into the rebellious and feisty ‘Family Jewels’ with gusto, making it clear to the audience that complacency is not Marina’s style. Her live performance showcases her remarkable soprano range and her floor-stomping attitude that a recorded album simply cannot. The witch-
was the stunning ‘Numb’, performed at the keyboard, giving a lingering sensation of eeriness to the audience. Whilst her performance was punchy and fabulously infectious, I was disappointed at the lack of props and videos to link her music to the somewhat hyped-up tour title ‘Burger Queen’. In the pre-tour press, Diamandis said, “Drama is in my blood. And now, in these beautiful theatres, I am finally given free reign and am where I should be… The Burger. Trusty symbol of mass culture and consumerism; of instant gratification and our western world.” Aside from a barely visible Coca-Cola hat and brief appearance by a toy burger, there was no evidence that the Burger Queen had made any impact on the tour structure at all. It would have been a perfect set had it not followed the album quite so faithfully. Only two tracks, ‘Seventeen’ and ‘Jealousy’, were performed which were separate from The Family Jewels, and tracks such as, ‘Space and Woods’ and ‘Simplify’ were abandoned in favour for more well-known songs like ‘Rootless’ and ‘Hermit the Frog’. The incredible evening finished with Marina spending time with devoted Diamonds after the gig, happily signing every scrap of paper shoved at her and taking dozens of photos with excited fans. Her charisma is easily transferred to pavement as she answered questions about her next album, saying that it would focus on the concept of “Sex, sex, sex!” I eagerly await another album of sensational pop from this vivacious artist.
“Her live performance showcases her remarkable soprano range and her floorstomping” like whirling and leaping across stage gave energy to every song, even her lesser-known tracks such as ‘The Outsider’ and ‘Seventeen’. I particularly enjoyed her rendition of ‘Girls’, her hilariously dramatic eye rolling giving a punchier message behind the lyrics, “Oh their mothers must be proud, making money off your insecurity and doubt.” The second half of the set saw her perform her most popular songs, including ‘Shampain’, ‘Oh No!’ and ‘Hollywood’, finally evoking a lukewarm enthusiasm from the limp audience. The embarrassingly flaccid response didn’t daunt Marina however, who poured fervour and energy into every track as well as giving an endearing message to her fans, saying, “Five years ago when I started Marina and the Diamonds, I made you all up in my head, and now you’re really here in front of me.” Undoubtedly, the highlight of the second half
CAM GOODWIN
ALEX WYNICK
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Music
November 8 2010
Exeposé
ALBUM REVIEWs Magnetic Man Magnetic Man
October 2010 witnessed the release of the heavily anticipated self-titled album, Magnetic Man, from the Dubstep trio consisting of Skream, Benga and Artwork. With Dubstep as a genre gradually creeping its way into the mainstream market, it can’t ask for a better time for the delivery of this fast-paced and truly unique album. Throughout, the album delivers a fresh sound of Dubstep, diverging from the norm and offering listeners some matchless, yet distinctive rhythms. We would be quite naïve in saying that it is not a Dubstep album; it merely offers both an experimental and refreshing take on the genre. In a recent interview for NME, Skream refused to comment on the definition of the genre: “there are so many angles to say what Dubstep is and what some people perceive it as… it’s such an awkward question to answer ‘cause someone’s always going to say you’re wrong.” The album truly backs this up, with its offering of fresh and innovative tracks which broadens the boundaries of “Dubstep.” Magnetic Man’s style is truly diverse
and experimental; from the warped uneven synth in ‘K-Dance’, to the sweet, soft sound of xylophone chimes and violins in the harmonic ‘Flying in Tokyo’; ranging also from the auto-tuned vocals and pulsating bass in ‘The Bug’, to Dubstep’s answer to a love song with ‘Crossover’. The trio’s attempt to reach the UK youth market was fulfilled following the success of ‘I Need Air’, with the vocals supplied by Angela Hunt. The album also includes vocals from John Legend, the newly discovered talent Katy B, and bears witness to the reincarnation of hiphop diva Ms Dynamite. Defined at perhaps the epitome of his career, Skream went on to bring his unique and unbeatable style to the Lemon Grove, Exeter, on October 15, offering fans an inimitable set which led to a lot of heavy raving and an electric atmosphere. Magnetic Man must be dubbed as an album hit. Every track offers listeners variation, communicated in an individual and distinctive style. Within this, the album is beautifully constructed and for people who are into the Drum & Bass and Dubstep scene, this album is not one to be left on the shelves. DANIELLE CLARKE
Burning Your House Down The Jim Jones Revue For those of you that wonder whatever happened to the good ol’ fashioned rock ‘n’ roll blues of the 1950s, The Jim Jones Revue give you an intense reintroduction to the genre that many might now consider to be dead. Burning Your House Down revives the 12-bar-blues to perfection, but you can’t help but be disappointed that Chuck Berry isn’t going to appear as a guest vocalist on many of the songs. The quick keyboard strokes and chord-heavy guitar riffs are complimented by running bass lines and fundamental drum beats that are incredibly contagious. Before you know it you’ll be tapping your feet, or, in the case of this reviewer, dancing along as you per-
“The Jim Jones Revue give you an intense reintroduction to the genre that many might now consider to be dead” Grinderman 2 Grinderman
Nick Cave has always had a talent for capturing a listener, whether angrily screaming about numerous bloody killings in the thunderous Murder Ballads, wrenching out his heart to bear his shredded soul in The Boatman’s Call or, more recently, in Grinderman’s self-titled debut, his failed lusting after courting a young woman in the song ‘No Pussy Blues’. Yet Grinderman 2 sounds more primal than ever, and draws listeners into Cave’s fantastically wild imagery. The hefty cardboard case contains nine intense pieces and a sleeve about the same size as a children’s bed-time book. This, however, is by no means for children, depicting haunting cartoons of Cave and the gang in various hellish situations, peppered with the common theme of wolves and a flaming devil girl, enough to stop any child from
sleeping. After a few moments’ peace into the opening track, as the band tune their instruments, the quiet is suddenly shattered by the crash of a drum, the album kicking off with a hard-hitting six minutes detailing a near-vampiric sexual act. With its thrashing chorus and frantic narrative, the scene is set for just over half of the album.
“There is a rawness that comes through in Cave’s vocals”
There is a rawness that comes through in Cave’s vocals with the fiery guitars and bass on the more snarling tunes, bringing the sleek power of the wolf theme to mind. Cave’s ever impressive writing and dark humour are in abundance, most apparently in ‘Worm Tamer’, a track about the narrator’s girl, who charms and tames the men around town, and her various ‘worm taming’ nicknames. He tells us
she calls him the Loch Ness Monster, with the salacious line, “Two great big humps and then I’m gone.” Cave’s harsh voice and instruments hit the listener with a wall of energy, but Grinderman also show a more introspective side when they offer a handful of almost rhythmic ballads, a perfect example being the penultimate track, where Cave offers a woman various gifts for no other reason than to show her his love. ‘What I Know’ is an emotional presentation of the narrator, who reflects he knows the world will never give him enough and he will never be satisfied. This fine set of songs mark this apart from other recent Cave projects; it deals with pure hard rock ‘n’ roll, delving back into the expressive strengths that he seemed to leave out on his most recent Bad Seeds album, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! Although he’s still not one for the children. JOE PLATANOFF
form basic domestic tasks. This simple enthusiasm runs throughout the album, never once letting up, but successfully leaving its listeners wanting more. With a total runtime of barely 32 minutes this is hardly surprising and unfortunately, with some tracks only just breaching two minutes, it’s difficult not to wonder why the band didn’t extend some of the songs by an extra 30 seconds to truly satisfy the fans. Nevertheless, The JJR seem talented at cramming as much into their songs as humanly possible, pockmarking the album with eight bar breakdowns and classic solos, never more evident than in ‘Foghorn’. For those who love air guitar, the solos are perfect, reviving classic sounds and styles, most notably in ‘Premeditated’. Of course, up until this point, I have essentially described every decent blues rock band so you might be wondering ‘What makes The JJR special?’ The answer is the vocals. The singer, Jim Jones, has a harsher voice than expected, giving the songs an edgier, more garage-punk feel. This blend of garagepunk and classic blues shouldn’t work in theory, but in practice it delivers an individual approach to a tried and tested genre. The vocal range is surprisingly varied, making it difficult to pinpoint anyone Jim Jones might be compared
Passion, Pain and Loyalty Orphan Boy
Odds are you have never heard of Orphan Boy. I’ll be honest, I hadn’t until 80 hours ago. So, should you too discover this relatively unknown band? In a word: yes. The new album from the self professed “three scruffs from Grimsby” is an original collection of captivating tracks, wholly different from anything else you are likely to hear this year. Listening to the opener, ‘Letter for Annie’, you immediately crave more, finding yourself in the perfect mood for the rock/pop mixture that is ‘Popsong’. Tailor-made to sing along with, this is an energetic potential classic. The majority of the album seems to focus on the trio’s childhood, allowing for the songs to feel not only personal but also emotional, and the introspective and reflective ‘Some Frontier’ gives you a sense of the depth that exists at the core of the
“This blend of garage punk and classic blues shouldn’t work in theory, but in practicality it delivers” to. For instance, at points within the song ‘Elemental’, he might sound like Steve Tyler of Aerosmith, whilst at others Lemmy of Motörhead springs to mind. The mix of Chuck Berry with Motörhead might not be everyone’s cup of tea but you’ve got to hand it to the band that tries to pull it off. However you approach it, there’s no doubt The JJR are in the wrong era, stuck in the 21st Century surrounded by synthesised dance tracks and teenage pop-rock bands. Yet, whether it wants to be 1950s blues or 1970s garage-punk, The Jim Jones Revue is here to remind everyone why rock ‘n’ roll became famous in the first place. This will surely be one of the more enjoyable albums you’ll listen to this year. MATT KNIGHT band. As I eagerly moved from track to track, I kept finding my expectations being distorted; as the album would take yet another daring turn. Tracks, such as the superb closing ‘A 180 Song,’ are comprised of intelligent well thoughtout lyrics integrated into beautiful melodies and memorable choruses. Standout track ‘Anderson Shelter Blues’, demands multiple plays, a song that has to be heard to be understood. The style of Orphan Boy deserves comparisons with Arctic Monkeys and early Cure, whose passion and genre breaking qualities are evident in this beautifully written album. Having formed in 2005, released their first album by 2008, played Glastonbury four times and just released their best album to date, Passion Pain and Loyalty, it’s fair to say that you will be hearing of Orphan Boy now, and for some time to come. FRANCES RILEY
Exeposé week six
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SINGLE REVIEWs Blue Blood - Foals
As ‘Blue Blood’ opens you can definitely be forgiven for thinking Foals have grown up in the two years they have been absent. The simple, yet melodic guitar picking, mixed with Yannis Philippakis’ soulful voice is a far cry from the bold, fast paced beats and vocals featured in Antidotes. The layers that have always seemed so intrinsically part of the band’s music are gradually added: instead of being instantly surrounded by frenzied guitars, keyboard
I Don’t Bite We Are Scientists
‘I DON’T BITE’ doesn’t stray too far from We Are Scientists’ established sound. This third single, from their album Barbara, sticks to their formula of catchy guitar riffs and innuendo laden lyrics. Former Razorlight drummer Andy Burrow’s joins the band for the new album and provides a punchy drum line for the song. The single explodes into existence
and vocals, you’re invited to journey through the song with the band. Reminiscent of many of the unstructured tracks on Antidotes, the distinction between Yannis’ wistful verses and the faster choruses fades out, making way for the climax of ‘Blue Blood’. Our expectations are not met with the chaotic sound of tracks like ‘Hummer’ and ‘Cassius’, but with a controlled release, leaving us with just a glimpse of their raw energy and power. As soon as it starts, it finishes and the same melancholy sound that ‘Blue Blood’ starts
with a maddeningly catchy riff, reminiscent of the more gig friendly singles from With Love and Squalor. The guitar is confident and incessant and drives the single forward with a jaunty danceable rhythm. The lyrics are infused with cheeky insinuations and, like all parts of the single, are catchy and pleasingly repetitive. ‘I Don’t Bite’ is instantly likeable and has you singing along even on the first listen. Despite this, We Are Scientists don’t push any boundaries with this single and it would not have been out of place on any of their preceding albums. Although this is not necessarily a bad thing (and for fans of the genre this is another very listenable effort from the three-piece) it is a shame that they have neither made any progress as a band, nor been able to provide a truly excellent song. Instead this is just another good single amongst the other good singles that they have turned out before. TOM WARD
with is conjured up again; Yannis reverting to the repeated lyrics of “You’ve got blood on your hands / I think it’s my own”, replacing the distant, fragmented vocals of before. For the five minutes and 16 seconds that ‘Blue Blood’ plays, we are thrown about in a collision of old Foals and new: a goodbye to the sound that formed part of the Skins soundtrack, and a hello to a slightly older, slightly slower, but by no means slightly worse album. JESS CRANDON
Doncamatic - Gorillaz Only one month after the release of ‘Rhinestone Eyes’ from Gorillaz’ third studio album Plastic Beach, the musical project reveals its latest offering, ‘Doncamatic’, as a stand-alone single. Although not featured on the album, the track certainly encapsulates the feel of Plastic Beach, with its simplistic instrumentation and laid-back vibe. British singer, Daley, takes the spotlight as lead vocalist in place of Damon Albarn, and his feminine vocals certainly add to the lackadaisical nature of the song. Combined with a soft beat and repetitive synth line, ‘Doncamatic’ becomes the perfect background music. This is its problem. There is no distinguishable separation between verse and chorus and as a result the song never builds to a climax, making the track utterly forgettable. Daley’s syrupy contribution sadly makes the track completely uninteresting and Damon Albarn’s scratchy vocals are sorely
Weight of the World Young Guns
Young Guns, seemingly the stock choice of support band for just about every Kerrang! endorsed rock/pop punk tour in the past year and a half, have had a lot of hype afforded to them in recent months. Luckily ‘Weight of the World’, the fourth single from their debut album, All Our Kings Are Dead, justifies this to some extent. The single is in fact a re-release of the band’s first ever single from 2009’s Mirrors EP, although the song has been re-recorded and reworked a little since then. Musically, it ticks all the boxes. The song is catchy, well written, with a nice structure and you could even go
Well Well Well Duffy
Little has been heard of Duffy since her 2008 debut album Rockferry clawed its way to the number one spot in the UK 2008 Album Chart. Two years down the line, fresh from Grammy and Brit Award victory, Duffy’s back with the first single from her upcoming album Endlessly. Despite spawning ‘Mercy’ and ‘Warwick Avenue’, Duffy’s latest release exhibits all the hallmarks of a monumental let-down. The cool and soulful tones that characterised Duffy’s voice in earlier releases are still present, but ‘Well Well Well’ so overtly tries to re-capture the quirky sixties styling of Rockferry that the whole piece reeks of contrivance. The opening hook (‘Whale Whale Whale’) is agonisingly irritating. Catchy? Certainly - but annoyingly so. Those who appreciate modern artists sounding deliberately decadent will appreciate the summery jazz themes of ‘Well Well Well’, which, like ‘Mercy’ act as a kind Northern soul pastiche, albeit with a slight edge of modernity. But for all its energy there remains a sense of unnaturalness to ‘Well Well Well’. Duffy’s voice sounds hollow and sparse compared to her deep and sincere tones in Rockferry, and the back-
Music
ing too, suffers from over-production. It’s a shame because below the layers of sugary-sweet quirkiness to Duffy, there is a woman who is a superb vocalist as well as a sincere natural actress, a quality which often gave her the edge over her chart rivals, and which is strikingly absent from ‘Well Well Well’. THOMAS PAYNE
missed. Its simplicity, typical of the Plastic Beach sound, just doesn’t work with this song. The absence of a decent hook means the track outstays its welcome and quickly becomes tired. It seems unlikely that this new release will match the success of previous hits such as ‘Dare’ and ‘Feel Good Inc.’ ‘Doncamatic’ is like vanilla ice cream: pleasant enough but rather
bland, with significant room for improvement. Rather than making you want to get up and dance, its mellow and calming ambience instead makes it the perfect track to write that lastminute essay to. However, from Gorillaz we expect more than background music.
as far as saying that the neat lead guitar work stands out in the genre. It’s a personal opinion of mine that any band that uses lyrics containing the phrase “weight of the world” should be hung, drawn and quartered. Here though, it
actually sounds catchy without sounding clichéd, which should tell you something about just how good the chorus in this song is. It simply refuses to leave your head. The one drawback here, though, is that you feel like you’ve heard it all before. Lostprophets are bouncier, Kids in Glass Houses catchier and You Me at Six more saccharine, which leaves Young Guns a little in the lurch. The song itself is of a high calibre though, and as they mature and improve with age Young Guns will surely rank among the best rock bands of this decade.
“The song is catchy, well written, with a nice structure, and you could even go as far as saying that the neat lead guitar work stands out in the genre”
IMOGEN BLAKE
CHRIS COOPER
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Screen
November 8 2010
Exeposé
Calum Baker & David Brake - screen@exepose.com
NEWSREEL
THE biggest news this week surrounds the new Batman film scheduled for a July 2012 release with Christopher Nolan releasing multiple details for fanboys to revel in. The Dark Knight Rises will not feature The Riddler and Nolan has declined to use 3D for his film. The title might not set our hearts on fire, but this film should be outstanding and we can’t wait to see the final result. Also this week, 23 minutes and 49 seconds of preview footage from Tron Legacy was shown at the BFI IMAX in London. Feedback has been extremely impressive with many expressing their delight at the 3D. Fingers crossed for December. Finally, the sequels to Avatar have official release dates with filming taking place in late 2011 with Avatar 2 hitting screens December 2014. All this begs the question: why is the most interesting screen news these days related to whether or not a film is in 3D?
COMPETITION
WE are celebrating the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One in style! We are offering THREE PAIRS of tickets for the opening night screening on Friday November 19. All you need to do is email us with the subject line “I LOVE HARRY POTTER”, and you’ll get entered into the draw. All entries should be sent to: screen@exepose.com Deadline is Monday November 15.
2D or not 2D? Jonny Williams wants to see into the future of cinema.
CINEMA is having a tough time at the moment. Why would you and a group of friends pay seven pounds each to watch a movie, when mere months later it can arrive at your door in DVD form? It’ll be packed with deleted scenes, outtakes and other material which won’t remotely enhance your life, but they’re nonetheless mildly entertaining. Of course, we haven’t even got onto rental, torrents and online streaming, but you get my point. Consumer culture is taking over: you don’t go the cinema any more; the film comes to you. So why bother with the cinema at all? Let me tell you why. It’s an experience. We’ve all been there. “Should I shell out obscene amounts of my loan for an excessively large carton of coke and a huge box of popcorn?” And eight times out of ten, you do, because of the experience. “Shall I sit right at the front, so the sound deafens me and my entire field of vision is filled by the screen?” That’s a two out of ten, granted. But you wouldn’t sit 12 inches in front of your telly at home swigging out of a two-litre bottle. And so it is with the 3D experience. Let’s take the obvious example: Avatar. After 47 days in cinemas it had broken Titanic’s box office record (which took 252 days to set). It had grossed over $2 billion by the end of January 2010. Over 80% of these takings came from 3D showings of the film. The statistics show clearly that 3D cinema is an enticing proposition. Cinema has always been seen as an escape from reality; you become
immersed in the world shown on the screen, you feel the characters’ emotions, you gasp at the breathtaking special effects. For two hours, you leave the seat and enter the world projected in front of you. The failed Cinerama experiment of the ‘60s screened films with a 146° viewing angle, designed to replicate the human field of vision. On a basic level, you were literally meant to see through the camera’s “eyes”, forget the screen, and become a part of the film. The same is clearly true with 3D the world the movie creates becomes more real, more believable. Why would you want to see a film like Avatar in basic, outdated two-dimensional form when the beautiful world of Pandora can be seen more vibrant and lifelike through the glasses? Just as 3D is being used to enhance the realism of films, does this mean we should stop using digital effects and CGI? Clearly not. Yes, we can watch movies at home now on our 50 inch LCD TVs with surround sound and microwave popcorn. But it’s not the same. 3D creates a physical world, a world with depth; it fulfils the audience’s desire to escape into the world of the silver screen, which has been the purpose of cinema since the beginning.
Photo: Calum Baker
Laying the gore film to rest
Joe Johnston wants to hack the Slasher to pieces.
WITH the secular celebration of Halloween having passed over us like a looming, sugar-coated cloud, the future is looking brighter for fans of the terrifying. Horror is a bit of a dirty word amongst movie buffs. Like a wheezing, bleeding Jigsaw victim, horror hauls around a long list of gory sub-genres that weigh it down with indignity: the Slasher, the Splatter, the Torture, and the one that sends Hitchcock turning in his grave, the ‘Gorno’. The ‘60s saw the rude beginnings of the gore film with George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, a shameless champion of the
explicit, and with it a torrent of equally unrepentant Splatter films. Although we have suffered something of a gore revival in the past decade, there are reassuring signs of its impending death.
“At what point did we hand over our brains and say ‘Be my guest. I don’t need it.’?”
Late October brought the strategic release of Saw 3D. The ‘3D’ tag isn’t fooling anyone - it’s the seventh film in the series to date, a series that has increasingly required less of the viewer. At what point did we hand over our brains on a silver platter to Dr. Hannibal
Lecter and say, “Please. Be my guest, I clearly don’t need it.”? Saw 3D indulges you in blood until you are sick of it, but leaves the intellect starving. If good horror can be marked by how much you don’t see, is it surprising that the genre is on its last limbs nowadays when nothing is left to the imagination? Perhaps we can take some tips from the godfather of horror, Alfred Hitchcock, to see where we have gone wrong – for a start he preferred the term ‘suspense-thriller’ to ‘horror’. Hitchcock held that what you can’t see is far more terrifying than what you can, and therefore the audience should know as little as possible. Hitchcock’s skill for making terrifying films can only be appreciated when you consider that the majority of them had a PG rating: Rear Window doesn’t contain a drop of blood,
Laurence Morton sees nothing special in 3D vision. IT is always a worrying sign when I find myself fighting off new technology, fostering a nostalgia for ye olde ways. “I don’t want to serve myself at Tesco!”, I cry, glancing around seeing like-minded people cursing under their breath at this frustrating robot. I would propose that were the cinema not so dark, the same frowns could be seen sported by all those in the audience of a 3D movie. The government’s axe looming over 500,000 jobs in the public sector has surely put an end to children idly throwing pennies into a wishing fountain. It therefore seems odd that people are being asked to choke up extra cash for that extra dimension in new film releases. At Vue, a student ticket for Despicable Me 3D is £8.50. Compare this to a £6.80 charge for a showing in 2D. The increased price of seeing a 3D film can be blamed on the cost of producing such a picture. There was a $237 million production cost for Avatar. This is in stark contrast with the winner of Best Picture at the Oscars in 2010, the 2D Hurt Locker, which was made with a mere $11 million. It begs the question: is that extra cost worth it? Christopher Nolan (Inception and The D a r k Knight di-
Vertigo not a single severed limb, yet these remain some of the most intensely frightening films of all time. Hitchcock begat Spielberg, who went a long way in filling his predecessor’s very large boots. Duel was the film that put Spielberg on the map and it pays homage to true Hitchcockian technique. A film essentially about a 40-ton haunted truck trying to run an innocent motorist off the road, Duel is a study in cat-and-mouse suspense; as Spielberg put it himself, “It’s Psycho on wheels,” and what’s more – it’s a PG. He proved his fluency with the genre again with Jaws, but from then on began his long obsession with all things sci-fi, leaving behind that old pair of boots. Since then the gauntlet has remained untouched. M. Night Shyamalan, bless his little cotton socks, came
rector) believes the quality of 3D films is actually lower. He makes reference to the colour loss associated when moving a film from 2D to 3D. Nolan gives this as a reason for the brilliant Inception remaining a 2D film: “I find the dimness of the image extremely alienating,” Sadly, it’s all too often that the 3D element of a movie is a mere novelty. As Mark Kermode will vouch, in a 3D film the viewer is more aware they are watching a fictional movie, less immersed in the experience. This is partly because of the gimmicky way in which the technology is currently being used by directors in non-animated pictures. For example, a weapon coming towards the audience. As if those gimmicks weren’t painful enough, it turns out headaches and nausea are quite a common side effect from watching 3D. “There are a lot of people walking around with very minor eye problems, for example a minor muscle imbalance, which under normal circumstances, the brain deals with naturally,” explains Dr Michael Rosenberg, an ophthalmology professor at Chicago University. Only in 3D films do these people suffer. This is because a separate image is projected into each eye to create depth illusion. Shockingly, for a not insignificant part of the population, the effect doesn’t work at all. These forgotten few see nothing but a 2D blur. 3D films have existed since the ‘50s, when Hitchcock declared them “a nine-day wonder.” This current incarnation of the technology is surely not the final, perfected one. Indeed it appears that some directors need tutoring from James Cameron on how to use it properly. Maybe we’ll have to wait until virtual reality arrives for the next proper revolution of cinema.
close with The Sixth Sense but he’s been a write-off since, well, The Happening happened. Have we found a new contender with the director of Paranormal Activity, Oren Peli? Spielberg himself was so terrified by the film that he threw it in the bin at Paramount Studios, vowing never to let it near his home again. Peli has certainly followed the Hitchcockian instruction of giving the audience nothing and leaving the rest to the imagination; only time will tell if he can deliver a second time with his next project, Area 51. With the amount of gore films being produced in a slow decline, and a gradual rise in the intellectually stimulating films more akin to the classic suspensethriller, horror as a genre may yet live to terrify you as it once did. Let the gore film die.
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Exeposé week six
Screen
London Film Fest. Episode II
Calum Baker and David Brake, Screen Editors, and Tori Brazier comb through upcoming releases.
Left to right: Natalie Portman finally justifies her ‘acting’ vocation with a stunning turn in Black Swan; James Franco carries Danny Boyle’s new 127 Hours. ADMITTEDLY we haven’t been blown away by what appeared to be a barnstorming line-up, but this year’s London Film Festival has largely delivered satisfying returns and excellent debuts. To try and sum up an event of this magnitude is particularly tough, but here in Exeposé’s continued Festival Guide, we try to let you know what the 2010 Festival has been for us. Enjoy!
It’s the little things
We’ve been entertained enough by certain pictures, but not so much due to spectacular innovation as subtler tweaks and turns. A good example is Ken Loach’s new film, Route Irish, which boasts some mediocre writing, quality direction and fine acting. It’s by-the-numbers as Loach teams again with strong screenwriter Paul Laverty, with whom he revitalised his career with Sweet Sixteen and won the 2006 Palme d’or with The Wind That Shakes the Barley. More general Socialist themes abound as soldier Fergus (Womack) wanders about trying to uncover the sinister forces behind his friend Frankie (comedian John Bishop)’s death at the hands of an IED in Route Irish, the most dangerous stretch of road in Iraq. Plot twist: baddies are the twisted torturing psycho militias, the kind who were definitively exposed on Wikileaks soon after the film’s Cannes premiere. The film is good. Competent. It is enjoyable, with admirable intentions and largely agreeable politics. It doesn’t hold back from depicting certain horrors and fictionalising (to an extent at least) the suffering of the respective armies’ extremist minorities’ victims. An arguably reactionary tone doesn’t detract from the film, which is certainly worth seeing. Only problem is: it’s just fine.
That’s all that can be said. Julian Schnabel’s Miral, with similar war themes, is ambitious and trueto-life, beginning in war-torn East Jerusalem in 1948, with Hind Husseini (Abbass) creating the Dar Al-Tifl AlArabi Institute, providing comfort and education to orphans in need. 30 years later, Miral (Pinto) winds up at the institute, growing up largely unaware of the troubles outside her little world. At 17, upon being sent to teach at a refugee camp, she is awakened to the political turmoil and the life-threatening struggles faced by her people everyday. She falls in love with an activist and is torn between dangerously fighting for her rights, and supporting Hind’s view that education will pave the way to peace. Not trite at all, right? At times the plot does seem contrived and ‘tidy’, but Rula Jebreal’s screenplay is autobiographical, which perhaps justifies this. As an unavoidably political film, it provides an informative and non-judgmental introduction to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as a plea for peace; although like Route Irish it remains decidedly low-key throughout, lacking the hard-hitting war drama of, say, The Hurt Locker. Meanwhile, despite being the sequel to comedy hit East Is East (1999), the imaginatively-titled West Is West can be viewed as a standalone and in many ways hardly as interesting as its position in director DeEmmony’s ‘trilogy’ would suggest. It follows the Khan family of Salford in 1975, four years after the first film, and focuses on the youngest member of the household, Sajid (newcomer Khan), as he begins ‘acting up’ whilst dealing with the typical teenager and school dilemmas - watch out for a cracking empire-building politically incorrect teacher stereotype here! Tiring
of this drama, as well as his Anglicised ways, strict father George (Om Puri) decides to take him to Pakistan to stay with the family. Unsurprisingly, their welcome is not exactly toasty, and the entire trip becomes a predictable learning experience. The film, refreshingly, actually has genuine humour, and Ayub Khan-Din has written some excellent lines, with the premise of the film being based on his experiences of a similar trip to Pakistan as a teenager. There is neither a weak character nor a weak performance here. However, the film is rather conventional in its plot - you can see the ending a mile off - and some of the more serious and emotional scenes are cloying. The film, as with Miral and Route Irish, is nothing that hasn’t been done before (characters embracing both sides of their culture!), but it is certainly wittier than the average and does no disservice to the first film.
The big guns
Respite, and true interest, can be found in the films everyone was really clamouring for. Funny that. Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler, Requiem for a Dream)’s latest, Black Swan, is a psychological thriller which focuses on the world of the New York City Ballet. Portman convinces (honestly!) as the delicate Nina, selected by the artistic director of the company (Cassel) for the highly sought-after lead role of the Swan Queen in Swan Lake. However, as a demanding dual role, Nina must be able to capture both the innocence and softness of the White Swan and the eroticism and deception of the Black Swan in her dancing. There’s pressure in the theatre, pressure at home, guilt at replacing Winona Ryder’s psychotic Beth, and some sexual discovery. As
Nina struggles, she becomes paranoid that impressive newbie Lilly (Kunis) is out to steal her role, and so a twisted friendship develops. Black Swan is an enthralling and decidedly original film, although its more disturbing scenes and unusual topic do not perhaps make it a film with universal appeal. There are bizarre and frightening images from Nina’s delusions, while the dancing is beautiful to watch without overpowering the film, and the music is an excellent blend of Tchaikovsky and new original music. An extraordinary viewing experience. The closing film this year was Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours, probably the most anticipated film of the festival. We follow the true story of Aron Ralston (Franco) as a boulder traps him with very little food or drink to help him survive. It’s a thrill ride from the off, and that is due to Boyle’s fantastic style and pace. His vision and imagination turn the mundane into the positively exciting, ensuring the film never drags. Like Buried earlier this year, it relies heavily upon its lead actor, and here, Franco delivers. His utterly convincing performance brings the necessary realism to enthrall us for the entirety of the film. The finale brings both Franco and Boyle’s skills to the fore and when Ralston eventually cuts his arm off, we’ve never squirmed so much through a scene. It’s brutally well shot and brilliant. The problem? There is nothing truly new here; the title tells us how long he will be stuck there and the true story is very well known. Nevertheless, it’s one heck of a ride and well worth a watch. And so concludes a festival we’ve had only some passion for - few surprises, unless you count the hidden gems. The moral here: check out films by directors you’ve never heard of.
rATINGs 127 Hours Dir: Danny Boyle Cast: James Franco (tbc) 94 mins Released Jan 7 Black Swan Dir: Darren Aronofsky Cast: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel (tbc) 103mins Released Feb 11 Miral Dir: Julian Schnabel Cast: Freida Pinto, Hiam Abbass (tbc) 112mins Released Dec 3 Route Irish Dir: Ken Loach Cast: Mark Womack, Andrea Lowe (tbc) 109mins Released March 11 West is West Dir: Andy DeEmmony Cast: Aqib Khan, Om Puri (tbc) 102 mins Released Feb 2011
26
Exeposé week SIX
Screen
Saw 3D
Burke and Hare Dir: John Landis Cast: Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis (15) 91mins ABOUT halfway through director Landis’ ‘comeback’ Burke and Hare, I caught myself smiling. I was surprised to find I was actually enjoying the movie. This surprised me because it certainly isn’t good. It is a (sometimes) funny movie, in that vein of black comedy that we seem to do so well in Britain. It is a movie you should go to see, in order to support the revamped Ealing Studios and British film-making in general. But, I stress, this is not a good movie. Burke and Hare follows Pegg and Serkis as graverobbers-cum-murderers in 19th Century Edinburgh, a centre for medical knowledge which had a high demand for fresh corpses. Serkis delivers a great performance, with great comic timing and facial expressions. Pegg delivers a terrible Irish accent, but at least he wasn’t doing the terrible Scots from Star Trek. Burke and Hare does that peculiar thing British producers like to do, which is to fill each and every role with British comedy actors,
so that you spend half your time trying to remember where you know that face from. Presumably this is done so you don’t notice the terrible writing and bad jokes. This movie loves slapstick comedy though, so I hope you find pratfalls funny. The film captures the grim, dirty atmosphere of the period impressively. The added bonus of a 19th century setting is that female outfits were universally low-cut and tight. To put it bluntly, this film contains ‘major cleavage’. Most of that cleavage is on show by the lovely Isla Fisher. Y’know, the hot crazy girl in Wedding Crashers? The jokes are surprisingly few and far between (and the last joke of the film offended me as it was so bad), and you can predict stuff a mile off, but sometimes there are these flashes of humour from the cast; you can tell they enjoyed making it and that enthusiasm carries you along. It sucked me in, despite Bill Bailey’s obnoxious and annoying narration. Better luck next time Landis. LUKE GRAHAM
The Kids Are All Right Dir: Lisa Cholodenko Cast: Julianne Moore, Annette Bening, Mark Ruffalo (15) 106mins THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT is a funny, heartwarming movie with one big issue at the core that we can all relate to: family. No family is perfect or straightforward; siblings Joni and Laser (Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson)’s family certainly isn’t. Aside from the usual teenage hangups: friends, relationships and finding their identity, they also have two mums, Nic and Jules (Bening and Moore). Significantly, their sexuality isn’t the thing that complicates the film, but the arrival of their ‘Sperm Donor Dad’ Paul (Ruffalo) on the scene. After a few hiccups, the kids bond with him and feel comfortable. However, their parents soon feel threatened by his presence in their lives, especially Nic, who feels rejected by her kids. Unsur-
prisingly, cracks are soon forming in their marriage. Matters are further complicated when Jules and Paul move their relationship from the garden (where she is landscaping for him) to the bedroom. The most poignant scene happens just after Nic (round Paul’s with her family for dinner) discovers Jules’ hair down his shower plughole. As she sits down at the table, the camera zooms on her shaking face, the sound honing in on her breathing, everyone else’s voices fading away. Bening masterfully portrays Nic’s desperation, trying to hide the fact that her world has just crumbled beneath her. This is an unusual film, never clichéd and all the better for it, skewing the notion of the perfect Hollywood family we are so used to seeing.
Dir: Kevin Greutert Cast: Tobin Bell, Cary Elwes (18) 90mins THE Saw films are famous for their gory bloody violence; a frequent comment I receive for enjoying the films is that of being sadistic or psychologically unhinged. However, I would find it near impossible to name a series of films which has been written quite so ingeniously. Saw 3D is the final film in the series continuing on from Saw VI which ended on somewhat of a cliffhanger with Jill Tuck (Jigsaw’s wife) attempting to kill Detective Hoffman with the infamous head-mounted reverse bear trap. This film unravels with the typical Saw twists and turns, meandering through its story and wrapping all loose ends tightly and neatly into a bow placed upon the present which has taken the past six years to complete. The story, from the original film to this resolution, formed a convoluted web worthy of being one of Jigsaw’s puzzles. The 3D effects could have been utilised much more but, where used, fit and were not simply used as a gimmick for moments of cheap shock or horror. Some of the special effects were a bit questionable, with dead bod-
Due Date ies sometimes looking a bit like plastic models, though overall the artistic stylings of the past films continue through this latest edition and lend themselves to another visually chilling yet stunning piece of work.
This film also presents by far the greatest end to a film series I can remember watching, with some interesting reappearances of old familiar faces. For fans of the old films this is simply a must. In summary, Saw 3D is a simply brilliant film, though your enjoyment will be severely dependent on your having seen and appreciated the other films. MATT BAGULEY
HANA TUHAMI
ITS 1987 and mother-of-two Lucy Emerson has just moved her two boys Sam (Haim) and Michael (Patric) to the beachside town of Santa Carla which claims to be “the murder capital of the world” - and quite rightly so. Things take a bad spin for Michael when he becomes mixed up in a gang of earring-wearing, leather jacket-sporting bikers led by David (Sutherland) who, to make matters worse, are all vampires. Michael is tricked into drinking David’s blood which turns him into a half vampire and Sam must enlist the help of
LAST year saw the revival of an exciting comedy director, Todd Phillips. His film, The Hangover, was a refreshing change to the seemingly endless stream of ‘Frat Pack’ flops coming out of Hollywood, with an original script full of genuinely funny jokes which for once didn’t have to rely on nudity and toilet humour. Therefore it’s no surprise that people are expecting big things from Phillips. This film certainly has a few similarities to the aforementioned, one notably being the inclusion of bearded beauty Galifianakis as the hopeless actor Ethan Tremblay who gives an incredibly convincing performance as the most irritating human ever. Also parallels could be made between the style of humour in Due Daye, ranging between beautifully subtle and all out crude, and that of The Hangover. The storyline here is simple but effective. Peter Highman (Downey Jr.) is away in Atlanta and about to fly back to see his pregnant wife in LA before he encounters some untimely trouble with a flight marshall, thus putting him on the no-fly list. Cue Galifianakis to step in as the charitable weirdo who is driving to LA and agrees to take him to see the birth of his child. A lot of the jokes come from just the sheer incompatibility of the two protagonists. Due Date is an enjoyable film and Hangover fans will appreciate its humour. Galifianakis comes out as the star of the film, though RDJ puts in a good performance too; creating a deliciously awkward relationship with his co-star whilst presenting himself as a genuinely funny character. Phillips manages to squeeze in a few OTT Hangover-esque scenes which definitely add an extra level of complexity to the humour, but I was surprised at feeling real empathy for the characters. All in all this was always going to be put up against The Hangover and although that is a tough act to follow, I would say Due Date stands up for itself. THOMAS JENKINSON
Classic Films #7: The Lost Boys (1987) Dir: Joel Schumacher Cast: Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Patric, Corey Haim (15) 97mins
Dir: Todd Phillips Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Zach Galifianakis (15) 100mins
his new friends Edgar and Alan Frog “The Frog Brothers” - in order to save Michael’s soul before he makes his first kill, by killing head vampire David. Now, as can be expected, those of you who haven’t seen this film will be assuming the worst, the same as I would. The plot is a little typical and with the recent unprecedented obsession with vampire-related films do we really need another one to watch? However, obviously there’s a reason this review is in the Classic Films section and the reason is this: they did it first and they did a lot better. In easily Joel Schumacher’s greatest film Patric and Sutherland give stellar performances, taking cool to a whole new level and making an entire generation run out and buy leather jackets. Furthermore, the Frog Brothers give a great
comical aspect to this film allowing it to encompass any preference in genre with lines like “we unravelled in the face of the enemy. It’s not our fault; they pulled a mind scramble on us! They opened their eyes and talked.”
“Sleep all day, party all night, never grow old, never die”
Now arguably, as a horror film, it doesn’t meet every target and if you’re looking for something that will make you hide under the covers or jump out of your seat, this may not be the film for you. Also, as can be expected of a film made over 20 years ago, the special
effects aren’t perfect and there is that odd bit of cheesiness that we all love to hate. However, as I listen to ‘Cry Little Sister’ by Sisters of Mercy, the film’s theme song, trying to gain some inspiration for this article I know there’s a reason that it’s so firmly set in my iTunes Top 25 most-played albums. The Lost Boys is one of those films where the only aspect of it that ever dates is the fashion sense, as can be seen by the fact that people are still raving about it even to this day, citing great onscreen chemistry between the cast and timeless entertainment value from beginning to end. So, forget about Twilight and True Blood, this film will give a better and far more masculine edge to vampires which, let’s be honest, they really need right now. TOM BISGOOD
The Career Mentor Scheme will match you with an appropriate mentor from the Business Community or from our pool of Alumni. Mentors provide support and guidance with the aim of having a positive impact on your career planning, networking opportunities and skills development. Closing date for applications: 26 November 2010 For further information on the Scheme visit www.exeter.ac.uk/employability/ mentorscheme
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28
November 8 2010
Books
James Henderson & Jacob Moffatt - books@exepose.com
Photo: Universal
Mary Shelley’s monster was first immortalised on celluloid by Boris Karloff
FEATURE
What are you so afraid of? Laura Le Brocq, Lifestyle Editor, takes time out from attending to student’s fashion nightmares to take a look at what it means to be truly afraid. What better date than Halloween to sit rocking in a dark corner avoiding answering the door to pesky trick or treaters, and thinking about FEAR. In literature, the nature of fear and a good writer is such that you become so wrapped up in the fate of the characters that you yourself become involved in the plot. This should be true of any good book; you should be able to get your teeth firmly into it, but what about when a book has sunk its’ incisors into you? In order to frighten you, a book must go far further than a film. The plot must be more elaborate, the characters more believable, and the scene setting essential. There can be no ‘pretty blonde gets slashed first, the brunette probably survives’ formula applied here. Notice that many ‘popular’ horror films have no roots in novels because it simply wouldn’t have the same effect. With a film, there is a whole team of people creating the fear for you, bumping you and jolting you along the way and guiding your thought processes to such an extent that you barely have time to breathe, let alone pause to think ‘the dog did it, with the lead piping,
in the ballroom’. Of course, I am somewhat discounting the classic, excellent horror films, but the fact remains that with a book, the writer must struggle to keep you from simply closing it and walking away. The reason for this is that in a book, a considerable amount of the action stems from your own imagination. You must create images of the characters in your mind’s eye and instead of watching them, you somehow become them. It is similar to the way Harry Potter and his posse are able to create and vanquish a boggart in the form of the thing they fear the most; it is a product entirely generated by their own imagination. And of course, J.K. Rowling’s pen. Whilst hiding from trick or treaters, I began to think about which books scare me. I’ve read my fair share of ‘traditional’ horror; Dracula, Frankenstein and Interview with the Vampire to name a few, but didn’t find them particularly terrifying, largely due to the fact that when you are analysing them to within an inch of their fangs for sexual euphemisms, they somehow become less frightening, and end up seeming like incredibly sexually frustrated humans. In all honesty, I found Twilight far more horrifying. Horrifying that something so poorly written, something so blatantly advocating marriage as the best thing, like, ever, and so dripping in cringing sentimentality could have blossomed into a multi-million pound bestseller. In 2008, Stephenie Meyer was worth $134.2 million.
Horror based in fantasy becomes banal once you realise that you are entirely in control of the story, and if you do put down the book and give up midway through chapter three, to put it to better use as kindling or toilet paper, those werewolves won’t come and get you.
“For me, the closer to my metaphorical bone a book gets, the scarier it becomes” They won’t even come onto you. It’s a bit too Mormon. The stories that really scare me are the ones to which I can relate. I didn’t live in late 19th century England and have to go gallivanting off to Transylvania to sort out a dodgy property deal. Nor am I an exceptionally moody and pale teenager with displacement problems growing up in Forks, ‘a small town in Phoenix’ which is an apparent magnet for anything toothy, ever. What makes my teeth chatter are stories about a seemingly normal, safe domesticity, when something is wrong. I don’t just mean that the boiler has broken down, again, or that the pigeons nesting in the roof have begun to sound like a trapped child scrabbling to get out. It is the not knowing of what exactly is going on, and the fact that once you have turned the final page, it may not even then be resolved, that makes something frightening. As such, the scariest book I have ever read remains The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi. It’s a story about an eight year
girl who is rather prone to tantrums, and a bit of a loner, but after a trip to native Nigeria her behaviour takes on a more sinister edge. I read it a considerable amount of time ago and have thus forgotten some of the finer details, but I do recall that I could feel my skin crawling and the hairs on the back of my neck standing on edge throughout my reading. I would love to re-read it, but my copy has mysteriously disappeared. Another book I found surprisingly disturbing is Kazuro Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, where the suspense is held beautifully throughout and it is the characters’ sad acceptance of their fate that makes it so chilling. The brilliant twist here is the way that society is so seemingly similar to our own world, yet not far enough away to be entirely fantastical. I could continue this list, but, undoubtedly, you don’t have the same fears as me, and you’d probably tune out and use my article as kindling instead. For me, the closer to my metaphorical bone a book gets, the scarier it becomes. If someone wrote a parody of your life with just a few wrong turns and you read it, you would be a quivering wreck. In fact, you would probably be in a mental asylum, another personal nightmare of mine. But now I must leave you. Not because the sun is coming up and I must return to my coffin, but because today I found a collection of ‘Classic Thrillers’ in Oxfam, and I want to read it before my wavering candle, casting shadows in my corner, burns out.
Exeposé
Halloween may have been eight days ago now, but to miss the chance to theme an issue with all things horror would be a truly frightening decision. The horror industry is a monolith within 21st century entertainment but the majority of it stems from a handful of Anglo-American writers in the 18th and 19th centuries. Spurred on in many cases by the menagerie of changes that were brought about by the Industrial Revolution; Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Dickens and R. L. Stevenson, amongst others, fed off the fear and alienation of their contemporary world. Thus horror fiction, as we know it today was born. Some writers were inspired directly by this new technical age of man, like Stevenson and H. G. Wells, who all wrote about the terrors of new technology and of the dangers of man becoming God-like in his powers. While others like one-time theatre manager Bram Stoker transformed traditional folk stories into novels to terrify the Victorian public. Film has somewhat usurped the novel as the currency of terror in the modern day, but it serves us well to remember that the genesis was in print. Well, I hope your Halloweens have left you with a desire to make horror more than an annual thing.
Horror Trivia
Frankenstein’s monster, often mistakenly named after it’s creator, was actually not named by Mary Shelley and had yellow skin, not the grey or green that is normally shown in television and film adaptations.
Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, was better known during his own life as the Business manager of London’s Lyceum Theatre. R. L. Stevenson wrote The Curious Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in just three days, apparently under the influence of cocaine, after the idea came to him in a nightmare. Dr. Jekyll’s house, as described in the novella, is identical to that of experimental Scottish surgeon John Hunter, who lived at 28 Leicester Square at the time. Hunter had his house facing the square and his surgery at the back, where he entertained students by dissecting cadavers. The bodies left and entered the house via the alley behind on to the Charing Cross Road, just as Mr Hyde enters and leaves the premises in the book. Edgar Allan Poe’s prose poem Eureka appears to predict a cosmology similar to the Big Bang Theory, but was written 80 years before and even suggests some Newtonian principles. Poe’s canon contains many more eerily accurate predictions.
29
Exeposé week six
Books
Author Profile
Rachel Bayne, Deputy Editor, takes a look at the life, career and fate of celebrated American short-story writer, Edgar Allan Poe.
EDGAR ALLAN POE has been described as “the epitome of man” for both his macabre works and his desire for knowledge and stimulation. Famous for stories with a dark twist, a murderer and a gloomy atmosphere, Poe excelled at writing both fiction and newspaper articles. He challenged other poets to write concisely amidst a shocking atmosphere that would sustain the reader’s interest. Poe is considered to be one of the forerunners of the Gothic genre in America, and is most well-known for his raven “nevermore” and his guilt-ridden tale, The Tell-Tale Heart. His short life also embodies the Gothic, with his behaviour reflecting the guilt and anguish of many of his protagonists. Poe was born on January 19, 1809 into a family of actors who mysteriously
Thomas Payne examines some of Poe’s best known works that you may recognise, if not from the books themselves then from their various popular culture referencings. First published in 1843, The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe recounts, with vivid accuracy, the tale of a person driven to madness by the sound of the beating heart of their murder victim. Guilt, paranoia and the power of imagination pervade this classic, one of the greatest short stories of the Gothic fiction genre. Readers have, through the generations, been struck by the chilling precision of Poe’s writing in The Tell-Tale
H.P. Lovecraft’s Short Stories
At the Mountains of Madness ISBN: 0812974417
The Call of Cthulhu ISBN: 0141187069
thirteen year old cousin Virginia Clemm and moved in with her and her mother in their house in Richmond, Virginia. 26 years her senior, this marriage even in the 1800s was considered strange and perhaps helps us to understand the twisted and warped love relationships of his stories. However, many critics have argued that this relationship was the only stable period of his life before Poe moved into a state of irrationality and addiction, where he amazingly managed to publish a huge collection of macabre works, which are a major part of the American literary canon. Poe died aged 40 after being discovered walking manically through the streets of Baltimore wearing someone else’s clothes, shouting out the name “Reynolds”. He died in hospital, where his last words were noted to be “Lord help my poor soul.” Although the cause of death has not been found conclusively, it is suspected that he died of alcoholism. His death, like his works, and his life, is thwarted with darkness, and his representation of the Gothic will remain a chilling reminder of the guilt and the soul of Edgar Allen Poe.
died when he was two years old. He was then taken in by John Allen, a tobacco merchant and his wife. They never legally adopted him, but did name him, and took him with them to England in 1815. Poe had a tumultuous relationship with his foster father, which continued into his adult life. He only lasted a year at University, where he accrued thousands of dollars in gambling debt, which went alongside a growing dependence on alcohol and drugs. After debts and frustration, he went to Baltimore and he enlisted into the army. Poe’s work for the cadets allowed him the chance to publish his poetic works and move to Baltimore to pursue life as a journalist. Poe worked as an editorial assistant at the Southern Literary Messenger alongside Thomas White. Although a talented writer, he caused rifts and anguish with friends and colleagues through his taste for alcohol and his drug addiction. This became a problem throughout his literary career, and critics often explain the darkness behind his texts as the presence of opium. In 1836, he secretly married his Heart. Details of the enigmatic narrator’s crimes are horrifically acute and much of the language is tightly packed and well-worded, while still providing a rich palette of imagery and symbolism. But while Poe conveys an aesthetic of simplicity in language, it is exactly this which grossly manifests itself into a web of alternate interpretation and
meaning. He writes, ‘Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man,’ and once again we are reminded both of Poe’s masterful ability to convey complex emotion and of the haunting literalness of the narrator’s thought. In The Tell-Tale Heart, a variety of complications arise from even the most simple of sentences. Much the same can be applied to Poe’s poem The Raven. Like The TellTale Heart, the poem portrays a narrator’s frightening flight toward insanity. The lucid and memorable verse is suffused with strong imagery and passion, wholly characteristic of Poe at his most creative. And while many have argued that much of The
Raven sounds forced, contrived and somewhat overly-extravagant, I would argue that the most memorable quality of the poem can be found in the bittersweet lamentation of the narrator’s love for Lenore. The effect is distinctly human and for all the exuberance of the verse, there remains a strikingly emotive hollowness in The Raven’s relentless repetition of the word ‘nevermore.’ We can commend The Tell-Tale Heart for similar reasons. Perhaps the most profound achievement of this story lies in the multi-dimensional nature of the text. I have talked of Poe’s precision and simplicity in language, but to merely regard this as typical of much of this work would be a disservice. We see in the figure of the unreliable nature an accurate representation of what it is to be human. There are, at times, touching moments of empathy between
If you are looking for something a bit different from those good old standards of the supernatural, vampires and werewolves, Lovecraft won’t disappoint. The most famous writer in the genre of weird fiction, he specialises in mysterious beings from the depths of time and space whose existence both threatens humanity and challenges the limits of knowledge. Indeed, in Lovecraft’s tales just glimpsing the true nature of the universe can drive you insane. The novella At the Mountains of Madness is one of Lovecraft’s longer works but is still short enough to fit into the schedule of even the busiest of students. In fact, his writing is mostly short stories, which allows him to keep up a level of dread that would become tiring in a full novel. At the Mountains of Madness is an account of an expedition studying the geology beneath the Antarctic ice which uncovers evidence of Earth’s ancient extra-terrestrial inhabitants with, of course, terrible consequences. It also includes both giant
penguins and shoggoths, demonstrating the bizarre nature of Lovecraft’s imagination. The vast polar landscape, though, is one of the best features of the story; both eerily beautiful and providing a location where the fantastical seems believable. The sense of growing dread is more subtly developed than in many Lovecraft stories, avoiding his tendency to insist on terror from the first sentence and leave it nowhere to develop. In fact, the first half develops the horror elements a little too slowly and the details of the geological investigations can be pretty dry. Personally, I think that this was balanced out by the sublime visions of distant mountains and Antarctic sunsets, along with Lovecraft’s creation of a truly otherworldly encounters. Apparently Guillermo del Torro is planning a film adaptation of this novella sometime in the future, which promises to be a chilling and disturbing prospect. The Call of Cthulhu has a more mystical atmosphere despite the sci-
entific style of its writing. In this short story the initially sceptical narrator Thurston explores the evidence of the Great Old One, Cthulhu, an unimaginably old extra-terrestrial being who seeks to destroy mankind but currently sleeps in the depths of the ocean. It reads like a documentary, examining evidence and recounting tales of this squid-faced beast. Unfortunately Lovecraft’s writing style is often rather old fashioned and his racism and eugenic theories, which turn up surprisingly often, are decidedly unpleasant. If you’re not sure that his writing is for you, The Call of Cthulhu would be a good place to start as it gives a balanced view of his flaws and his moments of brilliance and won’t take long at all to read. This story doesn’t come close to At the Mountains of Madness in terms of chilling the blood, but it is fascinating to get into the details Lovecraft’s disturbingly strange world. SARA PRICE
the narrator and his murder victim before the reader is thrust back into the anarchy of the speaker’s thought. These moments of intensely powerful understanding between reader and narrator challenge us to consider our own mental stability. The murderous narrator is compelling simply because he represents humanity, with all its confusions and ambiguities. Beneath Poe’s tale lies the nagging suggestion that we are all capable of succumbing to a world of delusion, simply because the speaker of his tale is, at times, warmly human. It is hard to fault these tales which, aside from representing hauntingly macabre examples of Gothic literature, so profoundly affect the reader’s own sense of self within so few words.
Horror Trivia Before writing American Psycho, author Bret Easton Ellis extensively researched murders at the New York Public Library. The descriptions in the novel lead to publishers Simon and Schuster refusing to publish the book Japanese author Ryu Murakami’s chilling novella Audition was made into a controversial film in 2000. The film can be seen playing the background of scenes in Martin Scorcese’s Departed. Mark Z Danielewski’s groundbreaking, ergodic novel House Of Leaves began as a short story entitled ‘Redwood’. The term ‘Redwood’ is also used throughout the novel as a reference to the mysterious death of neighbourhood cats. Danielewski has, to date, turned down hundreds of offers for the film rights to the novel.
30
Books
The Curious Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson ISBN: 0141439734
You will find no ghosts or evil spirits prowling the pages of Stevenson’s gothic novella, The Curious Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Instead prepare to be disturbed by a style of horror that was newly (and controversially) emerging at the end of the nineteenth century. Written at a time of scientific discovery, psychological study and the realisation of homosexuality, this mystery story exposes the primal monsters residing within human nature. Even today, when social constraints are not as firmly binding, Stevenson’s novel disturbs his readers by blurring the line between what is fearful and what is desirable. The novella introduces a sense of mystery almost instantly. Mr Utter-
November 8 2010
son, Dr Jekyll’s lawyer, discovers that his client has left a substantial proportion of his estate to the enigmatic Mr Hyde, whose notorious reputation circulates London. Suspicious of this unlikely friendship and concerned for his client’s reputation, Mr Utterson begins to pursue the almost-invisible Mr Hyde, recording the unexplained and shocking incidents that he encounters on the way. Meanwhile, the increasingly weak Dr Jekyll spends hours shut away in his laboratory, and Stevenson tantalizingly feeds us little clues which leave us standing on the threshold of the laboratory door until the very end. Multifaceted and swarming with an ever-increasing population, the city of London provides the perfect setting for a mysterious character such as Mr Hyde (as he is aptly called) to hide in. Eerie descriptions of fog, dark alleyways and streets at midnight create that mood of horror and suspense that we so earnestly crave at Halloween. The setting also successfully mirrors the
themes of hypocrisy and duality that are central to the story, as we are exposed to both the fashionable side of London and the corrupt underworld. Like its inhabitants, this complex city has two sides; the idyllic facade, and the decadent reality. While many horror stories are based around the fear of the unknown, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is frightening because the issues raised are alarmingly close to home. We can recognise and even share the desire to disappear into anonymity and fulfil our most primal (but socially repressed) desires; we can correlate Jekyll’s revolutionary scientific discoveries to those of Darwin and Freud, both of whom revealed the more animalistic side of man, and finally we can relate to the inevitable hypocrisy that resides in almost every character in the novella. In this way, Stevenson ingeniously shows that life itself is a more than adequate subject for a spinechilling horror story. Isabelle Younane
Frankenstein; Or the Modern Prometheus Mary Shelley
ISBN: 1853260231 FRANKENSTEIN spawned from the nineteen year old Mary Shelley’s mind after she was challenged to write a ghost story by her then lover and future husband, Percy, and their friend, Byron. The essence of horror in Frankenstein comes from the creation of the monster. The monster is a man-made creature who is not natural, but at the same time is not without human emotion and needs. The unnatural birth of Frankenstein’s monster came to fruition through a nightmare in which Shelley conceived the concept of man-made life gone wrong. This coincides with the death of Shelley’s first child, who was born two months premature and haunted her thoughts when writing the novel. The darkness in Shelley’s own life
Exeposé
is mirrored in her writing, which begins with Victor Frankenstein sledding through the North Pole in search of his monster. On the verge of death he relates his traumatic story to Captain Walton. From digging up corpses in grave yards, to slicing them up and sewing them together, Dr. Frankenstein brings his monster to life through the electricity gained in a thunder storm. However, as soon as the monster breathes in life, he is abandoned by Dr. Frankenstein who now sees his “beautiful” creation as “horrific.” Shelley calls into question the extent to which the natural can be constructed. There is an abortive reaction to the monster because of his distorted, half-human self; Dr. Frankenstein turns his back on his own ‘child,’ and the monster recognises himself to be the unwanted other, saying, “You hate me, but your abhorrence cannot equal that with which I regard myself.” As the monster suffers a string of rejections and abhorrent reactions – from an innocent little boy to a matured family who he silently watched for a year – a sense of overwhelming compassion chokes the reader when the monster talks of his loneliness. In Whale’s 1931 film adaptation, one of the most memorable and emotional scenes is when the monster accidentally drowns a little girl, Maria. Whale portrays the monster’s own childlike innocence, emphasising his minimal understanding and drawing on his confused facial expression. The audience cannot help but pity the monster’s sad state. However, when it is revealed that the monster is behind not only the murder of the child, but a series of other deaths, which degrade into revenge killings, a sickly disgust overwhelms the reader. The monster, imprisoned in solitude by his own deformities, requests that Dr. Frankenstein create him a female companion. The reader is then plunged into the depths of Frankenstein’s psychological torment, that is to say: whether he can bring himself to create another dehumanised human. Yet, it is the readers who in fact are further forced to decide for themselves whether they believe the monster deserves a companion in the world. Charlie Marchant News Editor
Kartography Kamila Shamsie ISBN: 0747561508
I have to say it - Kartography is, at its most rudimentary level, a love story. This is perhaps an ill-advised way to start a review. Such a statement is generally sure to alarm the cynical among us to such a degree as to ensure that they never read the book. Fear not however; as that is an outrageous simplification and Kamila Shamsie manages to steer magnificently clear of any sort of sap or maudlin sentiment. Set in Karachi during the violent ethnic conflicts of the eighties and nineties, the novel provides a unique depiction of the proliferation of hostility and bloodshed in the Indian sub-continent.
Aside from serving as the beguiling, engaging ‘subjects’ of the story, the characters are also metaphors for the fate of Pakistan as we see them struggle to break free from the consequences of the 1971 civil war. Raheen and Karim, best friends since childhood, have grown up sharing everything. In early adolescence at the beginning of the novel, the children are timidly exploring their growing feelings for each other. Living a blissfully unconcerned life in the wealthy part of town, they are largely indifferent to the unrest. They exist instead in their own private, intimate world where they slip into a language of anagrams understood only to each other. Time passes and the number of dead surrounding them increases. While Raheen remains unflappable and oblivious, Karim’s under-
standing grows, leading to a rift in the friendship as Raheen refuses to open her eyes to the suffering engulfing their city. Eventually the conflict escalates to such a degree that Karim’s parents take him out of the country, leading to a breakdown of the relationship. The story resumes later when the characters are at university, having been out of contact for many years. When their lives unite once more both characters try to solve the mysteries of their past and seek a common truth in an attempt to reconcile themselves with their country, their legacy and each other. Running alongside the story is the parallel tale of Raheen and Karim’s parents, who together survived the 1971 war that resulted in the splitting of Pakistan. The families are extremely close as each father was engaged to the other’s
mother. They refer to this casually and whimsically as the “fiancée swap”. As the events unravel we begin to see that this incident was not as amicable as both pairs pretend, as lingering tensions impact on their children’s relationship. By the time their parents’ messy past is untangled we come to see how far this one dark event has impacted on the present day characters – from the parents’ struggle for redemption to the very basis of their children’s personalities. The story is an intensely personal affair, exemplified by Raheen’s inability to comprehend the world in any other terms than through her personal experience. Place names are excluded for descriptions of what the site means to her, for example “the cave where Zia goes to smoke”. Karim’s increasing determination to become a Cartographer
represents the growing emotional gulf between the two as he struggles to see the world as it truly is, outside their privileged, indifferent circles. Kartography is an engrossing, stimulating book which captures the devastation of war through its individual consequences on the lives of the characters. Shamsie’s talent lies in her dazzling use of language, embodied in her eloquent and precocious main characters. The humour generated from their witticisms helps to buoy the novel and prevent it from becoming too worthy or self important. Kartography is a love story; not just a love story between a man and a woman but a story about the love of words, love of a way of life and love of a city, and, as Shamsie says, Karachi is a “city invested in storytelling”. Kate Holvey
Exeposé Week six
Arts
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Rosie Scudder & Ellie Steafel - arts@exepose.com
comedy review
StewpendousLee funny Matthew Highmoor reviews comedian Stewart Lee’s new stand-up show, Vegetable Stew.
I WOULD concede that those who don’t expose themselves to a great deal of comedy should not go to see Stewart Lee’s Vegetable Stew. One reason for this is the fact that this particular show is a mish-mash of slightly unrefined ideas that are being groomed for the second series of Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle. Another reason is that Lee tends to play with the rules of conventional stand-up and getting the joke can often come from understanding the way in which Lee is subverting the convention.
“Much of the early topics of crisps and Lee’s grandad are similar to previous shows, but the sharp and unforgiving material directed towards Mock the Week and Russell Howard give the routine an interesting edge” Lee breaks down the first half of the show into three topics: charity, Adrian Chiles and the Government. The beginning of the show is what many come to expect from a typical Lee show, if perhaps a tad less playful and fun than his usual narrative-driven material. Much of the early topics of crisps and Lee’s grandad are similar to previous shows, but the sharp and unforgiving material directed towards Mock the Week and Russell Howard give the routine an interesting edge. From here we seamlessly move on to an Adrian Chiles routine that Lee confidently tells his audience will not make it past the BBC censors, due to it being a “sustained attack on character.” The first half ends with a brilliant lambasting of the vain and narcissistic Brand/Perry wedding. Lee’s ruthless disdain for overpaid ‘talent’ beautifully
compliments his material on charity and the majority of the audience go away satisfied. However, Lee seems to take pleasure in dividing his audience; singling out the area of the room that isn’t quite on board and focusing his attention on them, whilst also pretending to get worked up by their inability to grasp the genius of his material in a faux-pretentious manner. After the break, Lee shifts into a more impressive gear that is probably informed by his left-wing contempt for the new coalition government and its populist, compromising ideals. What seems to have been overlooked by most critics so far is that the entire second half is not only a searing
“Lee seems to take pleasure in dividing his audience; singling out the area of the room that isn’t quite on board and focusing his attention on them whilst also pretending to get worked up by their inability to grasp the genius of his material in a faux-pretentious manner”
attack on the smug appeasing nature of Cameron’s blue-blooded Tories, but also a brilliantly subtle send up of sub-par musical based stand up. One might expect Lee to fall back on his Alternative Comedy ‘down with Thatcher’ roots but Lee is an evolved performer who uses a
fictional anecdote that is centred around a comic verisimilitude, gently satirising Cameron’s perceived personality. All the while, the entire routine lampoons the increasingly saturated market of the musical based comedian, in which performers often get away with poor comedy by delivering their jokes as they tune up their instruments and the audience are consequently more generous to their apparent multitasking pseudo-improvised gags. Here Lee finds his inner ‘bouffon’, slamming and batting the guitar like a curious primate trying desperately to break into a coconut.
“The entire routine lampoons the increasingly saturated market of the musical based comedian [...] Lee finds his inner ‘bouffon’, slamming and batting the guitar like a curious primate trying desperately to break into a coconut” Lee finishes the show with a song that has again been criminally overlooked by the critical consensus. Not only is the imagery and metaphor used throughout the song unnecessarily complex, but also the way in which Lee composes a love ballad that somehow manages to be a satire of the Bullingdon Club is scarily sharp. I can say confidently that the song chosen to round off the show would not only put the most skilled song-based comedian to shame but even the most ambitious and lauded songwriter. On the basis of this performance, Lee’s latest BBC2 show will be understandably awaited with great anticipation from die hard comedy fans at the very least.
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Exeposé week six
Arts
art review
Paul Rooney, Bellevue @ SpaceX October 2 - November 27
IF you haven’t made your way down Fore Street and meandered off to find the SpaceX gallery yet, there is an intriguing spectacle to be seen this Autumn that is worth a look. SpaceX is the most forward thinking and absorbing source of modern art in Exeter. It is not afraid to put a pile of logs in a room and ask you to think about it. I mean this in the best sense. It is never intimidating in its presentation, but always bold in its choice of artists. Paul Rooney is the latest choice, showcasing his new work, Bellevue, a film that speaks on many levels about many things. What it articulates in its 22 minutes of madness (I mean madness in a literal sense – the video does indeed focus on madness as a central pivot) is ambiguous, vague and arguably unfulfilling. Rooney, the winner of the 2008 Northern Art Prize, has attempted something the SpaceX describes as “intricate” and “audacious” yet still admittedly a “creative confusion.” This creative confusion
is the predominant feeling I was struck by. Until watching the piece for a second time, I had little idea where I was, who I was watching and why. If this indeed matters is another question entirely. As a heads-up the piece is based upon Malcolm Lowry’s story, Lunar Caustic, about a man who admitted himself to a 1930s New York psychiatric hospital. It is not set in New York, but an old English Manor House, dripping in September rain, and surrounded by oak trees and sheep. What bearing this has on the whole affair is something which again is unsettling due to it not ever being explained. The comments that the artist wants to make are deliberately shaded in blankets of meaning, image, text and language. The ‘meaning’ is deliberately lost, like a key thrown in an ocean. By the end, the audience have no pleasing sense of gratification. I defy anyone to simply accept the images on the screen and say, ‘I understand what I have seen.’ The SpaceX also has three other works by Rooney, running until November 27. The sound installation Words and Silence plunges the reader into the world of the speaker, who happens to be an Indian call centre worker with an
ON walking into the Drum Theatre, we were immediately confronted by an usher who offered us a ballot paper and invited us to cast our vote at the end of the show, an appropriate beginning to the political play, Counted. The paper asked us to tick the statements that were applicable to us, including, “I would sell my vote for money”, “I know the names of my local candidates” and “I see voting as my duty”. This interactive opening engaged the audience and forced them to consider their own relationship with British democracy, a feeling that was sustained throughout the performance. Using a minimal set of voting booths, a desk and a projection screen, Look Left Look Right Theatre Company created a collection of scenes from interviews conducted with members of the public. Centring their focus on the Northern town of Ilkley, Counted explores real people’s
ments on the frustration of speech, communication and the limits of the linguistic world we operate in. Trees can’t speak, telesales operators don’t tell stories, and madness is not a suitable toy for market research teams to play with. Sound confusing? It is. But go and see what you make of it yourselves. ZOE BULAITIS
attitudes towards the British voting system. The company’s characterisations of the people they interviewed were detailed, endearing and vital to the play’s success. The play maintained a constant pace throughout, which at times risked a loss of interest in the audience. However, the true to life characters coupled with some standout performances captured our attention and created interest in what at times was a static play. After speaking to the Artistic Director of Look Left Look Right Theatre Company last week, we were expecting more of a light-hearted and comic piece. The moments of comedy, however, were fairly sparse and the play seemed to have a more thoughtful tone than we expected. Despite this, Counted succeeded in making us reflect on our own voting habits and when the time came for us to deposit our ballot papers at the end of the play, we were both in agreement that voting most definitely is “our duty”.
ROSIE SCUDDER AND ELLIE STEAFEL ARTS EDITORS
Editors’ Top 10 1. Chekhov in Hell Play November 4-20 Drum Theatre, Plymouth
2. Serendip
Play November 9-27 Bikeshed Theatre
3. Rum and Coca
Cola
Play November 10-13 Northcott Theatre
4. The Sam & Dave
Comedy Sketch Show November 13 The Phoenix Centre
comedy review
theatre review Counted @ Drum Theatre, Plymouth October 27
answering machine to narrate to. The most bizarre piece has to be the work that you encounter first – a pile of wood and a scrolling text. This turns out to be the narration of the inner pain of a tree who fears his own demise at the hands of man. The work is presented with thought but also a pinch of humour, a gesture that one cannot take everything too seriously. Overall, Rooney’s exhibition com-
Josie Long @ Soho Theatre, London October 27 MUCH of Josie Long’s comedy career has been characterised by a childlike excitement. So when her name is announced and out comes a belligerent astronaut, one can’t help but wonder if the Josie Long we came to know from her Fringe award-winning Kindness and Exuberance show has disappeared. That’s not to say the astronaut isn’t an amusing character. Her unbelievable rudeness and crude means of describing going “up space” does illicit laughs. However, one cannot help but be relieved when the true Josie appears on stage. With much self-awareness she highlights the weaknesses of the previous sketch, suggesting that creating a character takes more than putting on a voice but omitting herself from such a simplistic means of character creation by stating, “I wore a jacket!” Like many of her shows, Be Honourable stems from experiences Josie had, in this case, over the last year, the two most notable aspects being a break from the comedy circuit and her weight-loss. A positive, one would assume, but with the loss around the midriff came the loss of her joie de vivre and a downward cycle into the world of internet food pornography and an obsession with a food photographer from North Carolina. Throughout the show, there is the running theme of doing good, be it taking pictures of your breakfast every day for a year or creating the NHS. In tandem with this is our host’s disappointment in
her own behaviour, as she realises that going to Glastonbury does not make one an activist. One could argue that the show begins to become ‘political’ as, uncharacteristically and passionately she launches into an attack upon the Conservative party. As the majority of the audience gets reared up, the little theatre hosting a one woman stand-up show with women from the craft collective sewing on stage begins to look like a rally.
“A one woman standup show with women from the craft collective sewing on stage begins to look like a rally” However, Long’s anger is intercut with her quirky hand-drawn pictures and a hilarious depiction of Gordon Brown as a “sad bear” saving the show from too serious Conservative criticism. Even her criticism of the Conservatives features clearly structured jokes and anecdotes such as her ‘facts’ about cabinet members. One such ‘fact’ is that David Cameron goes to gigs, stands at the front, and talks loudly about how drunk he is. This final section seems like an unstructured rant that runs the risk of alienating some of the audience, but this does not undermine the strength of the first half of the show. With live crafting, an abundance of drawings, impressions and humorous anecdotes, Josie Long manages to hold her title as the undisputed champion of indie kid wit. SAPPHIRE MASON-BROWN
5. Theatre Alibi: A
Flying Visit by Daniel Jamieson Theatre November 13-14 The Phoenix Centre
6. Hardeep Singh
Kohli
Comedy November 14 Northcott Theatre
7. Proto-type
Theatre: Bonnie & Clyde Redux
Theatre November 16 The Phoenix Centre
8. The Sugar
Syndrome
Play November 17-18 Northcott Theatre
9. Owen Lloyd:
Building Materials
Exhibition November 18 The Phoenix Centre
10. Julian Clary Comedy November 21 Theatre Royal, Plymouth
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November 8 2010 Exeposé
THEATRE review
Krapp’s Last Tape @ The Bikeshed Theatre October 29
THERE is good reason for Samuel Beckett to name his main character so
bluntly. Krapp is a man who has been excreted by time. He sits at his desk, dirty, dishevelled and filled with a lifetime of wasted moments. Krapp’s Last Tape forces our eyes open to the tragedy of age. It is Krapp’s 69th birthday and he
THEATRE review A Midsummer Night’s Dream @ Kents Cavern, Torquay October 29
KENTS CAVERN provided a spectacular setting for a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Fortunately, the C Company actors did not rely on their impressive surroundings, putting on a highly comic and engaging performance. The play opened with the troop of workmen preparing to perform Pyramus and Thisbe. The actors’ surprising attire of high-vis vests and hard hats signalled that this was going to be no traditional Shakespearean performance. Throughout the play the costumes were modern and imaginatively used. The fairies were immediately distinguishable as they were adorned with fairy lights. The minimal costumes and props were almost unnoticeable because of the spectacular natural environment and enhanced the simplistic nature of the performance. Rather than maintaining one fixed setting within the caves, the performers moved their audience around from scene to scene, making good use of the changing spatial dynamics - varying from high vaulted spaces to more intimate environments. I felt this was a little overused at points and caused the performance to feel fragmented. Nowhere was this better employed than at the climax of the play when the four lovers were engaged in multiple disputes. The audience was in such close proximity that the arguments were almost uncomfortable but the tension was broken when Demitrius (Ian Mairs) was put to sleep leaning on one surprised audience member. It is a tribute to the cast that despite the stunning environment the performance itself held the focus of the audience. Out of a particularly strong cast,
Ben Benson (Oberon) certainly stole the show. His command of the audience was evident from the start and his presence on stage never faltered. However, I found Titania (Hayley Cusick) less than convincing, over sexualised and often languishing. Fortunately, her performance did not detract from the play as a whole. The actors’ spontaneity and interaction with the audience was particularly impressive. This was especially amusing at the start of the play when Puck took a small boy from the audience as his ‘changeling.’ From the surprise and delight on the small child’s face it was clear that the readiness of the actors to interact and adapt was enjoyed by all.
“Rather than maintaining one fixed setting within the caves the performers moved their audience around from scene to scene, making good use of the changing spatial dynamics varying from high vaulted spaces to more intimate environments” Presenting a concise version of the play, C Company used the natural comedy of the text to produce a successful production. Often companies desire to bring something new to Shakespeare and in doing so lose the essence of the play. However, this was not the case here and the balance that was created between modernity and tradition was highly enjoyable. RACHEL SCOTT
Arts
“He is animalistic at times, stuffing bananas into his gaping mouth and hurling the skins into the audience. At other points he becomes painfully human; head in hands, absorbed in lost moments, obsessing over mistakes, wondering where the time went” is alone. He listens to tape recordings he has taken of himself on his previous birthdays and obsesses over his youth and abandoned love. The play is striking in its simplicity: just an old man sitting at his desk, replaying the past. A table, a tape recorder (and tapes) are the only props. The Brewhouse production at The Bike Shed theatre, however, takes this minimalism to a new level. There is no stage; we are made to share the floor with Krapp. If he wanted, he could reach out and touch us. This gives the play a raw intimacy and we become part of his struggle for closure. When Krapp moves backstage to collect more tapes and re-enters, stumbling under the weight of the boxes, I nearly got up
to lend him a hand. Tom Owen, the only actor in the play, gives a gripping performance as Krapp. He is animalistic at times (as I believe Beckett intended), stuffing bananas into his gaping mouth and hurling the skins into the audience. At other points he becomes painfully human; head in hands, absorbed in lost moments, obsessing over mistakes, wondering where the time went. Rather than giving the impression of a frail old man, he appears to be buckling under the sheer weight of the past. Owen’s Krapp is a fighter, but he is fighting a losing battle. The level of intimacy in the play can be a problem. Such intense realism strips the play of its much needed com-
ic element. When Krapp spits, he spits on the same floor we are seated on and you can feel the audience shudder. His behaviour with the bananas is amusing early on but the emotional intensity of the play soon overwhelms us, stifling our laughter. When he removes the second peeled banana from his pocket, we just feel sorry for him. The contrast between the youthful, eloquent Krapp on tape and the bitter, demented present day Krapp is not just sad, but pitiful. Tragedy is one thing but gloom is another. The Brewhouse production is sometimes in danger of crossing that line. JAMES DE SOUZA
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Video Games
November 8 2010
Exeposé
Stephen O’Nion & Alice Scoble-Rees - games@exepose.com
NEwsBYTES
The world is saved! As if general gaming wasn’t productive enough as it is, a new game called Fate of the World allows players to take the helm of an environmental body tasked with saving the world. With the powers of cutting carbon emissions, or letting temperatures rise, players get all the thrill of working for a Non-Governmental Body in their own home! For all those interested, it’s available for £14.99 from Oxfam stores or digital download. Good luck you budding Norman Borlaugs! One person who will have to delay taking up the call of the planet is Andy Murray, who has been laid out with a tendon sprain in his hand because of gaming recently. Sure. Though he blames Pro Evo 11 for the strain, he wouldn’t be the first gamer to blame a hand injury on vigorous gaming. Microsoft has recently released its figures for Xbox LIVE just ahead of its planned update [and price rise] to support Kinect, stating that around 1 billion hours are spent on Xbox LIVE each month in total. And this is out of 25 million Xbox LIVE members we’re doing our bit, I hope you are too. Good things seem to come in groups for Microsoft, as GAME, Play. com and other retailers have already pre-sold their Kinect allocations way ahead of the November 10 launch date. With Microsoft scrambling additional units, it seems inevitable that soon we’ll all be waving our arms around to pause a DVD during playback. Future! In America, the games industry is taking on the Man! As the US Supreme Court considers whether the first amendment permits a Californian law that prohibits the sale of violent video games to minors. The law would class games that include “killing, maiming, dismembering or sexually assaulting an image of a human being” alongside graphic sexual material, prompting companies such as Microsoft and Activision Blizzard to challenge it along free speech lines. Thankfully several Justices have already expressed doubts as to whether this would lead to calls for films, music and deadly fairytales to also be classified under such a definition. Won’t somebody please think of the children?! An announcement that does think of the children now; Ubisoft is giving a free MJ-style white sparkly glove to all those who pre-order the dance game Michael Jackson The Experience on Wii. No word yet on whether the PS3 or 360 versions will come with a similar offer, perhaps a prosthetic nose or kiddie sized facial veils. Collect them all!
Feature
Alice Scoble-Rees, Video Games editor, shares her fears for the future of the high street game retailer.
Recently my friend counted all the new games I have bought in the last month (pictured below). I spent less on food. I’ve frequented the GAME in town so much that I’m greeted by the employees with a kind of resigned “Hello again.” One of them has even added me on Facebook. That’s a whole new level, man. But this got me thinking about how much longer chains like GAME, Gamestation, and other-electronic-entertainment-retailers-are-available will be
Review
Saw II: Flesh & Blood: Zombie Studios; Konami 360/PS3 October, 19 2010
around. In the age of cheap online downloads and widely available pre-owned copies, is the high street game store now a dying breed? Let me be clear before we begin: I hope they are not. I very much enjoy browsing the shelves of shining goodies, and sometimes getting the odd bit of cheeky DLC thrown in when I do something like, heavens to Betsy, actually buy PlayStation Move (a decision that my housemates, and indeed I myself, are still unsure of). I’m only concerned that one day I’ll skip merrily into town and be confronted with a vacated lot. I have a slight conflict of interest here, as ever since I discovered Steam I’ve loved being able to sit in the comfort of my own room and buy, download and play a game in the space of a couple of hours, without having to get up off my arse. But that’s really only for PC games, so surely the game retailers, stocking mostly for consoles, will be fine? Except that more and more is becoming available through Xbox Live and PlayStationNetwork… uh oh. Of course another big income for these stores is the resale of second hand copies of games, which is bad for the original publisher, but all good for the high street chain, as they can just keep recycling stock at a profit for as long as people bring it back to them. Except now the monster high street supermarket chains are rolling out their used game tradein initiatives. Wow, it ain’t looking good.
Saw II: Flesh and Blood is dark, painful and either incredibly meta or just badly made, depending on how you interpret the torture of playing the game itself. Evidently rushed out to capitalise on both the Halloween market and publicity for Saw 3D, Flesh and Blood is guilty of so many flaws that the game is almost as uncomfortable as the traps it involves. The first impression of Saw II is that it’s dark. Very dark. Whilst games like Bioshock and Half-Life 2 use shadow and dramatic lighting raise uncertainty and fear brilliantly, Saw II uses shadows everywhere instead. Rather than cause fear from what might be in the shadows, this had me turning up the brightness on the television to reveal ... a lighter shade of black. Such restrictive visibility is probably a blessing in disguise though as the other sights are various greys, filing cabinets and the odd scrawls in blood on the wall. My first character died not because of Jigsaw’s traps, but
Instead of banding together in the face of this new adversity, my little game stores are fighting for customers; your local Exeter Gamestation, for example, now has a placard that reads “WE BEAT CEX” underlined several times for good measure. I can’t really blame them for trying to make a profit, but it all became a bit farcical when I walked into Gamestation idly carrying a GAME bag and was greeted with a “How dare you come in ‘ere wiv that bag?” Yes, the two stores are the main UK game retailers and so offer rival deals, trade in prices, loyalty cards and so on and so forth, but, er, they’re rather embarrassingly owned by the same parent company. Smacks a little of creating an artificial air of market competition, doesn’t it?
“My little game stores are fighting for customers.”
Part of the problem, of course, is the sense of entitlement we, as consumers have, i.e. it is all out of any reasonable proportion. We want the games we play to operate at the highest specs possible, but don’t actually want to cough up more than £40 for them. Well fine, that is a lot of money, especially for students, though I will here cite the example of the Humble Indie Bundle, a bundle of independent games that the developers themselves put together for download, cutting out the middle man. The combined value of the bundle was somewhere around £50, but the developers allowed anyone who
a wooden plank that the control system seemed to think I didn’t try and walk across, and that was it, no emotional involvement or impact. That character was gone for good and I was put in the body of Michael Trapp, investigating his father’s death by stumbling about, finding repetitive traps, other inmates of Jigsaw’s hellish maze, and jigsaw pieces or case files to flesh out the back-story.
“It’s dark, painful, and either incredibly meta or just badly made depending on how you interpret the torture of playing the game itself.”
Also detracting from any tension is the quick time combat that removes skill or surprise from proceedings, depending purely on reactions and the ability to remember where a button is on the controller, reducing combat to pressing a variation X Y B in slow succession,
downloaded it to set the price at whatever t h e y wanted, right down to a penny, and the proceeds would be split between the developers and charity. Of all the people that downloaded it more than a quarter simply stole it. Yep, even when those evil corporations aren’t involved, even when it’s for charity, we’re still dicks. And if a quarter of gamers won’t even pay a penny, they’re sure not going to spend money in a high street retailer if they can get it cheaper on eBay, or Amazon, or hell, just pirate it. That’s why I make an effort to buy from my local retailer instead. It’s tempting, and indeed makes sense, to find the lowest prices you can, but I don’t want to be that one in four uncaring douchebag. Even when my housemates point out I could have got it cheaper online, and jibe about how I’m “frittering away” my money, I’m happy I paid a little bit more because I’m putting money back into a system that really needs it – profit margins in the industry are ever shrinki n g . A n d hey, I’m picking up Facebook friends along the way.
and you’ll have to avoid environmental hazards and press X at the collapsing floor or Y at the axe that swings through the open door. This need for quick time responses is obviously an attempt to keep players on their toes throughout the game, but should the occasion come when you do press the wrong button, it’s unforgiving: a straightforward death. Jump scares are fine if they’re used sparingly and serve to ratchet up fear levels, but Saw II’s idea of terror is simplistic and just makes doors irritating to open, as one in three times you know there will be something to leap out of the way of. The positives are limited only to some solid music, which actually sets a decent atmosphere in the beginning stages. But otherwise that’s largely it, making Saw II primarily terrifying for the possibility that it might be bought. Jigsaw’s ‘do you want to play a game?’ has never had such a terrify3/10 ing potential answer. STephen O’Nion Video Games Editor
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Exeposé week Six
review
Fable 3: Lionhead Studios, Microsoft; 360, October 26 2010 Many people probably expected this, but I’ll say it anyway: Fable III doesn’t live up to a lot of the hype which surrounded it during the development phase. In a way this is quite funny, since the central premise of the game is that, as a revolutionary, you make promises to people to gain their allegiance, only to decide whether or not to honour your word once on the throne. The same idea seems to have been applied to the game itself; Peter Molyneux promises a lot of things, only for the player to discover that a lot of them haven’t been kept. In a strange way Fable III feels like a step backwards from Fable II. The game has been streamlined to a ridiculous point. There are no traditional menus; instead the player views their inventory in a 3D space known as the Sanctuary. Conceptually this is quite a good idea, but entering the sanctuary, walking into the correct room, and then sifting through all the items with the right and left bumper buttons is longwinded and breaks up the action of the game far too much. Other elements that were good in Fable II have been simplified and ruined: the expression wheel has been replaced by a choice of two expressions (one nice, one rude), making this part of the game feel much more limited. Also, the touch mechanic (which was initially supposed to make use of Kinect) feels underdeveloped and also kind of weird – why does a travelling merchant need to have his hand held to be escorted through the forest?
snowflake; the lack of a traditional levelling up system made me feel like I was simply walking a predestined path that the designers wanted me to take. My hero may have had slightly different hair to someone else’s, but he still had all the s a m e skills a n d a t tributes.
Combat also feels a little too simple, with one button for ranged, one for melee and another for magic. Some of the battles are very long and just become boring, button-mashing encounters, especially when the level of difficulty is stupidly easy. Making a game accessible is fine, but it shouldn’t be possible to get through the whole game without dying once.
“Making a game accessible is fine, but it shouldn’t be possible to get through the whole game without dying once.”
The promise of ‘weapons unique to every player’ is also underwhelming and a lot less fun than it sounds on paper. I genuinely doubt that nobody else in the world will have a sword like mine, since it’s only unique features seem to be a bone handle for killing some skeletons and a curved blade for my ‘exotic’ combat style. At the end of the game I didn’t feel like my character was a unique
However there are saving graces to Fable III: the story is a lot more focused than previous efforts and the voice work is very good (Stephen Fry and John Cleese head up the cast). The music adds well to the atmosphere and the game world looks good too. It’s just a shame that these good elements are undermined by unnecessary attempts to change and simplify what was already a good game. Put all of these things alongside a complete lack of a mini-map, monstrously long loading times and numerous bugs and glitches it’s no small wonder that Fable III doesn’t meet cheers of resounding success. As you find out upon being crowned king, you can make a lot of promises, but it’s difficult to keep them all – Fable III proves just this.
6/10
Alexander Hawksworthbrookes
Feature
Catherine Gray discusses 10 features of video games that would be awesome in real life...
1. Mushrooms. Because they already look awesome, and it would be pretty useful to have a foodstuff that made you triple in size. Moving house? Have a mushroom and get it done in half the time. Going to the gym? Impress the beefy guys who last week hung you upside down from a coat hook. And if you manage to find a green one, you get a free pass to jump under a bus (to see what it feels like). 2. Epona’s Song. It’s a long walk up Cardiac Hill, it’s raining, you were up until three AM in Arena the night before, and you ate too many bacon rolls this morning. Assuming you have an ocarina to hand - which you should you need never walk again, for your pony-slave is always on hand to save the day. 3. Mario Kart Boxes. So, the guy behind you is driving like an idiot, trying to overtake on corners, flipping you off when he thinks you’re not looking. Imagine you could take him down a peg with something as simple as a banana skin. The same goes for that 150-year-old guy in front of you who refuses to go any faster than snail’s pace – just chuck a shell his way and speed away. 4. Item Music. When you finally find that folder full of all your notes that you’ve been looking for all term, don’t you sometimes wish you could have a nice little triumphant fanfare to announce how happy you are? So it’s not a Dungeon Map or a Master Sword, but let’s face it, it’s as exciting as your life gets. 5. Money in the Grass. Student loans would never be an issue again if you could make a tenner just by mowing the lawn. Or running into strangers’ houses and smashing all their pots, for that matter.
Video Games
6. Permanently Clean Clothes. Do you ever see Peach doing Mario’s laundry? No. The reason for this (other than the fact that she’s always with Bowser, the hussy) is clear: Mario’s little plumber outfit is STAINPROOF. A very useful feature in modern-day life where spaghetti sauce is always out to get you. 7. The Courting System Behind Harvest Moon. Easier for boys – just give a girl a flower or an egg every day and she’ll love you forever, especially if the climax of the presentgiving is a FEATHER – and potentially quite money-saving for girls, too. Tell him your favourite item is chocolate or expensive clothes rather than cheese or wool, though. 8. The Portal Gun. Another timesaver for you lazy people, but don’t misuse it to raid other people’s rooms or make a shortcut to the fridge. Who am I kidding, I know I would. 9. Getting Rewarded for How Much Damage You Cause to Other People’s Cars. Burnout was a great game for this very reason. Career mode is all very well and good, but nothing beats causing hundreds of dollars’ worth of carnage. Perhaps this wouldn’t make a better world, but no longer would the phrase ‘Mum, I’ve totalled the car’ strike fear into the hearts of many. 10. Pokémon. Tiny, cute little creatures who fight all your battles for you and never complain, even when you shove them into a ball the size of your palm and take all the credit. AWESOME. One that wouldn’t be so great: Tetris. Think how irritating it would be if all the building work at Streatham finished, and then blinked out of existence…
Freebies
Halloween has passed, but you can keep the horror going with Saw II: Flesh and Blood. And it just so happens we’ve got a copy on PS3 to give away! To get your hands on a copy just answer this simple question: What’s the scariest Video Game you’ve played? Best answer wins! It’s that simple, so email us at games@exepose.com to get a copy of the game I’ve called ‘dark, painful and badly made.’
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Video Games
horretro
F.E.A.R.: Monolith (PC) Day 1 Studios (360, PS3), Vivendi; PC 360 PS3 October 2005
XII: Ubisoft; Gamecube/PS2/Xbox/ PC November 2003 You wake up, dazed and sandy, on a New York beach. You are cold and wet, you are suffering from acute amnesia and the only clue to your identity is the Roman numeral XIII tattooed on your shoulder. As if this wasn’t enough, there is photographic evidence of you assassinating the president and a group of shadowy, well armed thugs are hell bent on your violent murder. XIII pitches you head first into the heart of a nationwide conspiracy, with an engrossing, fast paced storyline which reveals fragment by fragment your involvement in the whole murky affair. The story is based on a series of graphic novels, and the voice acting (David
Pokémon Red/Green: Gamefreak, Nintendo; Gameboy February 1996
People forget so easily. They think the lives of Pokémon trainers are all about the cute monsters fighting. They may have vague memories from the TV show, of an over-the-top duo with funky anime hair, attempting to steal Pikachu. That is the familiar face of Team Rocket. But they are not just Jessie and James. The games showed us how different they really were. How threatening. And yet people forget. They forget that Team Rocket was a crime syndicate, working towards world domination. And they forget how close they were to achieving their goals. Their leader, Giovanni, has the Pokémon training gyms working for
November 8 2010
F.E.A.R. does exactly what it says on the tin. I played this a few years ago and I can still remember how I could only play this game in the middle of the day, with all the lights on, and my mum telling me that “everything is going to be alright.” F.E.A.R. stands for First Encounter Assault Recon, a US Special Forces unit trained to deal with paranormal incidents. Playing as the anonymous Point Man, you and your team must deal with a crisis involving super soldiers telepathically controlled, very large robots and a The Ring-like child who keeps appearing all over the place. As Point Man moves through the Armacham Technology Corporations facility, he is subjected to various visions, from blood running down the walls to seeing comrades ripped apart by psychic energies. It’s a game that does cram in the special effects, and with good results. The game does look great, Duchovny and Adam West, for example) is peerless. As a result, the pulpy thrills it offers are still difficult to match to this day. The game sticks faithfully to its cartoon heritage, with celshaded graphics, explosions garnished with a batman style “BAAOOOM”, and the sinister “tap tap” of an unseen enemy’s footsteps betraying their presence. XIII offers a deft mixture of stealth, puzzle solving and all out run and gun carnage, each of which it handles with remarkable dexterity, along with a dazzling array of both improvised (throwing knives, ashtrays, chairs) and conventional (uzis, AK47, RPG) weapons. The only possible criticism of XIII is that it is what it says on the tin – a straightforward shooter. But in all honesty, when it handles the genre so well and offers such an excellent storyline, who cares? Owen Wood
him, without their knowledge they are ensuring that the system sends to him the most talented of trainers. But Team Rocket were bigger than that. Team Rocket take over cities. They control the system, they fix gambling; violent crime is normal to them. And so the citizens live in fear. Does anyone remember Celadon City? That should have been a warning, but again, people forget. It is easier that way, I suppose.
though a powerful computer is needed for full effect, and the action is frantic. From the very first level it begins to ramp up the scary factor, admittedly by having your character smacked in the face by a very large and very unexpected plank of wood, but even that was so surprising that a little bit of pee came out. The combat is fast paced and at times I felt desperate to find cover and/or ammunition as enemy troops bore down on me. One moment of particular terror was when I was moving through a burnt out building, when suddenly a large robot smashed through the wall in front of me. I desperately fired off every round from every weapon I had in my possession, threw every grenade, only to finish it off by kicking it in the face with the bullet time feature enabled. Terrifying but terrific. HUGH BLACKSTAFFE
one MAN / WOMAN VS THE SYsTEM / STATUS QUO à LA GUY FAWKES special edition!
Given the time of year we thought it only fitting that this issue should touch upon Halloween and Guy Fawkes. And so, dear reader, cast your eyes over some of the most brain-bending conspiracies in video games, as well as a horror themed retro that’s sure to terrify.
They have no limits, no ethical boundary. Pokémon are tools to them, and people unimportant sheep. They will do whatever it takes to seize power. And they came so very close to succeeding. But one Pokémon trainer defied them. He broke their system. He foiled their attempts wherever he found them. He stopped their takeover of Silph Corp. But people must remember, for some organisations are not truly beaten. They can only be pushed back. For when Team Rocket rise again, will we have forgotten the danger they pose? No! We must not forget. We must remember. Iain Dawson
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle: Grasshopper, Ubisoft; Wii January 2010 As with any Suda51 game, one of the most memorable aspects of the 2008 Wii release No More Heroes was its strong cast of characters, particularly the protagonist Travis Touchdown.
As an obnoxi o u s and selfish otaku, Travis spent all his time sitting alone in his motel room, playing video games and watching anime. In the 2010 sequel, Travis is back with a vengeance, literally. Set three years after the first game, the quiet town of Santa Destroy has been taken over by the Pizza Bat Corporation. Its CEO, Jasper Butt Jr., has not only supplanted Travis as the number one assassin in United Assassins Association (UAA) but is also the man behind the brutal murder of Travis’ best friend Bishop. If that
Assassin’s Creed II: Ubisoft; 360/PS3/PC November 2009 The first Assassin’s Creed may have set up the conspiracy – and a suitably stoic stand-alone hero in Altair – but, be honest, it’s Assassin’s Creed II that really ramped it up a notch. Assassin’s Creed II sees you uncovering three separate conspiracies that are also one big linked conspiracy at the same time. As Desmond, in the near future, you further unravel the Templar plot to take over the world; as Ezio Auditore in Renaissance Italy you spend years trying to avenge the murder of your family and uncover the sinister motivations behind it; using both perspectives you begin to see an even larger overarching conspiracy that reaches back to our futuristic past and
Adam and Eve. Mind? Blown. Whilst we’re technically still playing as Desmond playing as his ancestors, I find Ezio to be a much more sympathetic character than Altair. Altair seemed an
Exeposé
wasn’t enough motivation for him, the head of the UAA, Sylvia, has promised to sleep with Travis should he regain his number one ranking. So driven by a dual desire for sex and revenge our lead character begins his climb to the top. Along the way he’ll meet, and subsequently kill, a whole host of bosses; from a black Irish rapper who wields a beat box with an under slung grenade launcher, to a high school American
football player and his twentyfour cheerleaders, who fuse together into a giant robot, Power Rangers-style. The mindset of Travis and his interactions with the bizarre characters that oppose him are an essential part to what makes No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle such a joy to play.
Adam Koziol emotionless vessel that we experienced events through - albeit an indescribably badass vessel. As Ezio, however, we play through his life from vibrant young man to experienced killer for hire. We feel his loves and losses, his failures and triumphs. These very real connections make taking down the corrupt Spaniard less the main story thread of a game and more a personal vendetta. Dammit, he killed my father! Thus Assassin’s Creed II is now poised between its predecessor and its follow up, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, due for release November 19. The improvements made to the gameplay, as well as the continued advance of a conspiracy theory that would make Dan Brown blush, holds it perfect forever, before any sequels come and potentially ruin the plot or get rid of that awesome
two-hidden-bladesdouble-assassinationthrough-the-head thing.
Alice Scoble-Rees Video games Editor
37
Exeposé week six
Sport
Exeter City
Exeter XV to face Bath in the Rugby Varsity 2010 Forwards
Backs
Name: James Wilkins Position: Prop Height: 6”1 Weight: 116kg
Name: Jack Reid Position: Hooker Height: 6”0 Weight: 95kg
Name: Nick Morris Position: Second Row Height: 6”6 Weight: 115kg
Name: Jamie Flemming Position: Blindside Flanker Height: 6”2 Weight: 98kg
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Name: Tom Peddie Position: Prop Height: 6”2 Weight: 125kg
Name: Mike Canty Position: Wing Height: 5”4 Weight: 65kg
Name: Matt Goddard Position: Outside Centre Height: 6”4 Weight: 91kg
Name: George Flemming Position: Second Row Height: 6”1 Weight: 125kg
Name: Matt Donnelly Position: Openside Flanker Height: 6”2 Weight: 100kg
Name: Gus Barton Position: Number Eight Height: 6”2 Weight: 97kg
Getting Splinters
Name: Brett Richmond Position: Prop
Name: Rob Beddard Position: Hooker
Name: Ollie Marriot Position: Second Row
Name: Matt Chambers Position: Back Row
Rugby Varsity build-up Rugby Union
Max Norman EURFC
Chickens don’t usually go to the gym. Recently, however, a large brood of secretive chickens have been seen sweating and puffing on the treadmills and bench in the bowels of the University Sports Park. Just what is this strange phenomenon all about? The answer has everything to do with Rugby Varsity 2010, the biggest sporting event of your year. Speaking to their coach, a Mr McPluck, he said, “the idea was that the fitter and bigger us chickens get then the more athletically tuned they’d be.” When I asked who the ‘they’ was, McPluck, protein shake on wing replied, “well, Exeter University’s 1st XV rugby squad of course”. Thus it appears that in a strange cult of feathered fitness, the local chicken population has been exercising and bulking up with a view to sacrificing themselves to feed the hungry stomachs of Exeter’s University’s 1st XV. Whatever the motive behind the chickens’ desire to be roasted and eaten whole, the effect on our rugby players has been impressive. Such is the strange world of university sport and all the giblets that come with it. This coming Wednesday, November
10, Exeter University 1st XV will play Bath 1st XV at Sandy Park, the Home of the Exeter Chiefs. It has been described as ‘most definitely the sporting spectacle to attend this year!’ And what a spectacle it will be. ‘Please tell us more!’ – calm yourself. Since September our boys have been training hard, very hard. The comprehensive fitness, muscle and skills training have turned them into a physically superior brotherhood. At last with all their passion, aggression, skill and muscles even Popeye would be jealous of, they are ready to play the game of their lives at a packed stadium in front of you. If you went last year it’s going to be bigger and better. If you have never been before then what a night you’re in for. If you’ve never seen high quality rugby then there is no time like the present to support the university’s finest by cheering in the crowd with your friends by your side and perhaps a beverage in your hand and another balanced on your head. News just in tells us Bath University are bringing down over 200 people to cheer them on. Bath must be subdued on and off the pitch at all costs. The main event is of course the battle that is rugby, a game supposedly started when William Web Ellis ‘who with a fine disregard for the rules of football as
Name: Mike Pope Position: Fullback Height: 5”8 Weight: 80kg
Name: Will Dunkley Position: Inside Centre Height: 5”8 Weight: 80kg
Name: Chris Reakes Position: Fly Half Height: 6”2 Weight: 98kg
Name: Tom Wilmore Position: Scrum Half
played in his time, first took the ball in his arms and ran with it’ in 1823. But that’s not all. Oh no, sir! Hot drinks, food and many enjoyable tipples will be available for your consumption. The half time entertainment will leave you ‘oooing’ and ‘ahhing’ with gorgeous cheerleaders working their magic along with live match commentary from EURFC’s finest. Excuse me, a strange fear has just gripped me....are there enough tickets left? The answer is yes, but they’re selling like hot cakes so make sure you get yours. Ticket prices have been reduced to £6. Not only do you get a shiny piece of paper (Hooray!) but also FREE transport from campus to Sandy Park and back again, no worries. This event only comes round once a year so we invite you to come down and support your university rugby union team at one of the Premiership’s most desirable stadiums. For all the waving flags, echoing chants, muscular boys, beautiful cheerleaders and excellent sport you’d be mad to miss out – that’s why I’m going to get my ticket today, I urge you and your friends to do the same. They haven’t been eating chicken for nothing. Let’s show our support. Good luck boys and God Save the Queen
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Name: Mark Douglas Position: Wing Height: 5”11 Weight: 90kg
Name: Tom Chalcraft Position: Scrum Half Height: 5”7 Weight: 75kg
Name: George Moss Position: Centre
Name: Will Sandbach Position: Wing
Exeter ladies bend it like Beckham Football
Clare March EULFC Publicity Officer Exeter University Ladies Football Team have had a tremendous start to the season, firstly being unbeaten in their friendlies and easily winning their first Sunday league match 18-0. Full of confidence and with the new coach putting faith back into the team, EULFC have gone on to win their first two BUCS games in style, firstly beating Southampton Uni 1st Team 5-0 and then beating Plymouth Uni 1st Team 10-0 in their game on October 27. EULFC must keep up this spectacular form if they want to complete their aim of promotion this season after being relegated last year.
18-0
Coach Rich has set promotion as our target and nothing less will be accepted, after last weeks BUCS game he said “I can’t choose a player
of the match - everyone stepped up, this is a great benchmark for the rest of the season.” In both games Exeter dominated possession, remaining calm on the ball when under pressure and most importantly sticking the ball in the
BUCS - Western Conference 1. Bournemouth 2. Exeter 3. Southampton Solent 4. Southampton 5. Winchester back on the net on several occasions. Becca Todd (1st Team Captain) wanted to praise the new players that have joined and slotted nicely into the 1st team squad, with Jen earning players player in last weeks game. There are many players knocking on the door of the 1st team so everyone is kept on their toes and putting in the performances needed. With a Sunday League match coming up and another BUCS game against Bournemouth next week, EULFC is thoroughly enjoying the season. The commitment of the players and Rich is paying off with two
38
November 8 2010
Sport
Meet the Club Captain... Bio Name: Chris Watts
Exeposé
Boris, Babes, Balls and Broncos: The
San Francisco overcomes Denver as Wembley
Nickname: Lorenzo Von Matterhorn Club: American Football Degree: Maths and Economics Year: Three Favourite Food: Protein Hobbies / Interests: Sport, Gym, Arena What I like about Exeter: A-Football Socials / my scooter tearing up the hills.
American Football
Simon Matthews Publicity Officer
After a large recruitment drive this September, the Exeter University American football squad is now stronger than ever. Our first season last year was prolific and with the new talent we have acquired we hope to improve on our title as the best rookie team in the country. We gained this title by comfortably beating any of the other first year teams. However, as the sport is still relatively new to Exeter, it is difficult to compete with the academies that have existed over multiple years. We nevertheless still have the ability to compete with some of the best teams in the country such as UWE Bullets and the Bristol Barracuda. As a team we performed strongly against well trained and highly ranked opposition, only losing narrowly by a couple of points. We have eight fixtures this year, beginning with Bath Spa (away); we hope to convincingly beat this team as they are also relatively new to the league, and this would get our season off to a winning start. The majority of new players we have acquired have never played the sport before and fancied a new challenge away from mainstream sports such as football and rugby. Each player has the ability to try out for any position and give it a go until
What I dislike about Exeter: No £1 pint pubs /when daddy pays. Most likely to be saying on the pitch: “Its peanut butter jelly time!” “Suit up!”
they find their perfect position. As there is only one team representing Exeter University, each new player has an equal chance of being started in the first eleven. Some of the new players have already gained major roles in the starting teams looking like a very promising new prospect. We have two social secretaries who organise weekly socials on a Thursday, with one big themed social every two weeks. Also as a part of their job the social secretaries have been organising a tour to the Costa Blanca. We are hoping to go around April during the university’s break for Easter. There are different teams from around the country looking to take part and also different sports are also involved in the tournament such as rugby, football, cheerleading and hockey. We as a club feel that if any other clubs would be interested in joining the American football club on tour, they are welcome to get in touch ASAP to arrange joint travel and accommodation. The future for the Exeter Demons is looking positive, with a new head coach at the helm who has years of playing experience. Both new and old players can look to improve their skills, continue to enjoy the sport and keep up the university’s phenomenal record of sporting achievements.
NFL London
Jock Paton
In the fourth year of the NFL’s International Series, the San Francisco 49ers used a barrage of fourth quarter points to beat the Denver Broncos 2416 in London on Sunday. A dreary first half ended only 3-0 where both teams struggled to find any offensive rhythm. However, the 83,000-strong crowd was brought to life in the third quarter, after a 71-yard pass from Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton to receiver Brandon Lloyd. A play later, rookie quarterback Tim Tebow came in to score a rushing touchdown to
EULC Update Lacrosse
Tom Podd & Anna Wylie Exeter Men’s Lacrosse 1st X kicked off their first season in the BUCS Southern Premiership with a home fixture against Bristol 1st X. Having recently welcomed head
make it 7-3. 49ers quarterback Troy Smith then came to life in the fourth quarter, treating the Wembley fans to two touchdowns, before Brandon Lloyd secured a consolation score for the Broncos. Running back Gore shouldered the burden for the 49ers with 118 yards from 29 carries, while Smith threw 110 of his 196 yards in the exciting final quarter. Opposite number Kyle Orton threw for an impressive 369 yards but could not complete key plays when the pressure was at its highest. The NFL has now held one regular season game each season in London since 2007. However, it is arguable that the British fans have yet to experience what might be dubbed a ‘quality’ American Football game. US columnist
Peter King wrote that it was “brutal” for UK fans to get the 49ers-Broncos game, teams that have won only a combined three games from a possible fourteen this season. In addition, the Wembley pitch has come under criticism for its lacklustre condition each year this game is held; something many English football fans are sure to agree with. Nevertheless, perhaps neither the success of the teams that have played in London, nor the question of whether the games are memorable, even matters. As well as the main event on Sunday, 38,000 fans gathered for a ‘fan rally’ in Trafalgar Square the day before. Also, before the game on the Sunday, ticketholders had access to a ‘tailgate’ event. A tailgate is the American equivalent to a pre-match pint and on Sunday fans
coach Dan Aas to the Lacrosse programme and off the back of an intense pre-season schedule Exeter looked confident and composed, racing to an early 3-0 lead courtesy of goals from Matteo de Bessi, Joe Almond and Tom Popay. However, Bristol managed to pull 3 goals back leaving the scores level going into the 3rd quarter. Two more Exeter goals from Alex Wilby and Jens Halling seemed to have clinched the game but Bristol again
showed determination and scored three goals in quick succession to take a 6-5 lead going into the final minutes of the game. With time running out on the clock a composed Exeter move gave midfielder James Please the opportunity to level the game with a thundering outside shot. The result finished 6-6 and Exeter will take forward a lot of positives from a gutsy performance into next week’s game against Brighton.
39
Exeposé week six
NFL Comes To London calls for a London NFL team
Crossword
Sport
No. 13 by Alexander Cook
Across
1. To punctuate one’s sentences with hand movements (11) 7. The heterogametic sex (2) 8. Characterised by independent and imaginative thought (9) 9. Order (4) 10. Make wealthy (6) 12. Hub of university sport (2) 14. Part of the Kidney (7) 15. Warn; warning (5) 17. New York (2) 19. Definite article (3) 21. Goose – collective noun (6) 23. Abbreviation of most popular boys’ name 2010 (3) 24. Part of a machine (3) 25. Companion of 13 down, “Mashed potato!” (6)
Down
Sudoku
Easy
Hard
1. Genre of urban music popularized by Wiley and Dizzee Rascal (5) 2. Harsh (6) 3. Blameless (8) 4. An impressive physical specimen – Coll. (4) 5. Device used in photography to control the amount of light (8) 6. Notably Will Young for example (7) 11. Unlock (4) 13. ‘That’s the ______!’ – expression of delight, esp. in the North of England (6) 16. Periphery (4) 18. Lit. A wooden beam between two oxen (4) 19. Twitch (3) 20. Rowing machine; therefore (4) 22. Beat someone up convincingly – Coll. (3) No 12 soluntion - Across: 1. Haberdashery; 7. Eel; 9. NBA; 10. Tour; 11. Chant; 12. Ire; 13. Internal; 15. Gut; 16. Ann; 17. LXI; 18. Dampen; 20. Orpheus; 22. Satirize; 25. Satsuma; 28. Cacophony; 30. Hinder; 31. EMI; 32. IRL; 33. Owl; 34. Lao; 35. Nog; 36. Lolita; 37. Haunt; 38. Wastrel. Down: 1. Hendiadys; 2. Beast; 3. Rotor; 4. Scrilla; 5. Egregious; 6. Yacht; 7. Emanate; 8. Let one’s hair down; 14. Nun; 19. Meticulous; 21. Put; 23. Reprints; 24. Zoology; 26. Achilles; 27. Undulate; 28. Cliché; 29. Yellow.
could participate in “NFL Experience interactive games,” see the past trophies the 49ers or Broncos have won, whilst enjoying “authentic American food and drink.” The tailgate was a great success, with one fan referring to the whole spectacle as “Britain’s answer to the Superbowl.” And whilst celebrity fans such as Vernon Kay trumpet the fact that “the atmosphere is really special,” and describe how “every year it gets better and better”, the NFL has a very good reason to continue to bring games to London. The NFL generates over £9 billion of revenue a year (compared to £2 billion for the Barclays English Premiership) and the league is keen to continue to export the power of its
brand abroad. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said on Saturday that “Each year, the different barometers indicate that our popularity continues to rise. I think the next step will be multiple games (in Europe). And if that’s successful then I think the idea of a franchise here is realistic.” Questions still remain as to whether the NFL will fully catch on in Britain; or instance, many football or rugby fans become frustrated with the stop-start rhythm of an NFL broadcast. However, with 90% of the fans at the game on Sunday hailing from Britain and claims that it could have been sold-out three or four times over, an NFL franchise in London looks like a realistic proposition.
On Wednesday October 27, the Exeter Ladies 1st Team took on Bath. The match began and initial thoughts from those on the sideline were of apprehension. Bath had a fair few players with impressive stick skills and shooting abilities, particularly in attack. By half time the score was 3-2 to Exeter, and everyone round the team huddle admitted that the first half had been a bit of a shambles.
However, following a vigorous chat from the captain, Anna Wylie, and the application of Vix to clear some sinuses (their lucky charm), they were raring to go. The subsequent half an hour showed a vastly improved Exeter side. With the help of Anna Murch’s wizard stick skills and some strong defensive teamwork, they were soon soaring ahead. The whistle blew and the final score read 14-4 to Exeter.
Exeter’s Tigers on the prowl Golf
Emma Hargreaves & James Wallace
BOTH of Exeter’s BUCS golf teams won convincingly, with the 1st beating Cardiff 5-1 and the 2nd overcoming Bath 5-0. Chris Young led the way for Exeter, going out first for the 1st team. Although he did not feel he was striking the ball as well as he has the potential to, he made the scores that were needed to provide Exeter with their first point with a strong win finishing on the 12th hole with a result of 7&6. Laurie Potter played consistent golf throughout the day, producing good scores; he also secured a great win of 7&6. Emma Hargreaves made her debut for Exeter 1st, and after a bad first hole, she picked things up and played a good round of golf hitting some good bunker shots and putting solidly to provide Exeter with another point. James Wallace had a tough match and after his opponent started par, birdie, birdie, he struggled to get back into the match with his opponent holing a number of good putts. Christian Brown, 1st team captain, led his team well from the moment they
left Exeter; driving the mini bus safely; demonstrating a great round of golf; pitching the ball brilliantly and getting up and down out of the bunker on the last hole to also secure a strong win of 7&6. Phil Steen had another consistent round of golf which proved effective round the unfamiliar course with a solid performance throughout the day and the fifth player to provide Exeter with another point with an outstanding win of 7&6 meaning the overall score was 5-1 to Exeter.
“Marc dominated the back nine pushing ahead by two holes” The Exeter 2nds also came out triumphant. In the first match James Lamburn won 5&4. He played well, very steady, and charged to an early lead being 5 up after 6. From then on his steady and conservative match ensured a safe victory. Marc Breitkopf halved the second match. He played a very tight match where the lead changed hands a few times. Marc dominated the back nine, finally pushing ahead by two holes
with only two remaining. However, a dropped shot and some good play from his opponent on 17 and 18 meant the match finished all square. In the third match Reece Miller won 3&2. His long game was on fine form. with the ball flying long and straight, which placed his opponent under great pressure. Reece struggled on the greens throwing in a few 3 putts but still managing a good victory. The fourth match saw Chris Hayter win 5&4. A good performance from Hayter led to a well deserved victory: Chris was always in control of his match and earned a well-deserved first point of the season. Danny Vallis halved the fifth match of the day, another good performance against one of Baths’ top players. The game was tight from start to finish. With there never being more than one or two in it, Danny fought hard and earned a good half point in a tough match. The sixth and final match saw Tom Thornhill earn a great victory 9&8. Tom won a close game that could have gone either way. Two birdies and two bogeys meant that he finished around level par when the match ended and his score was easily good enough against a struggling opponent. Possibly the biggest BUCS win in Exeter golf history.
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November 8 2010
Sport
Meet the Exeter squad for this Wednesday’s Rugby Varsity P 37
Alexander Cook & Andy Williams - sport@exepose.com
(Wind)surf’s up
Exeter University’s record-breaking windsurfers
Windsurfing
Jenny Manby
On Friday October 22, an impressive and record breaking 48 Exeter windsurfers headed westwards to an unsuspecting caravan park in Bude for the 9th Annual student windsurfing association festival: Aussie Kiss. This was to be home to the 700 odd students who flocked from near and far (some even made the nine hour journey from St Andrews!) over the weekend. Friday night brought the opportunity to catch up with our windsurfing counterparts from other Unis, to reminisce of events gone past, and a chance to dream of the conditions that were forecast for the following day.
“Rachael Brown winning the very coveted Best Instructor Award”
Waking on Saturday morning to the sounds of hail on the corrugated roof was not quite what we had ordered, but we headed, slightly bleary eyed, and no less excited to Roadford reservoir which was to host the windsurfing for the weekend. 152 beginners headed onto the water for what would be for most their first chance to give the sport a try. With fellow experienced students offering their instruction, the beginners were taught all the basics and were whizzing around the water in no time. For the more than 240 intermediate and advanced sailors out there, some of the 36 sponsors pulled through supplying a wide variety of awesome demo kit for people to play around on. Popular sail makers Tushingham put on a rigging clinic as well as a rigging obstacle course allowing people the perfect opportunity to hone in their rigging skills. The afternoon saw wind conditions trailing off, and with lots of free red bull on hand, we headed back to Bude for the famous Saturday night party with a 999 theme.
Exeposé
Exeter’s lifeguards and skeletons (we stretched the theme as far and wide as possible) pulled some rather snazzy shapes on the dance floor showing the unis how it’s done off the water, before getting our beauty sleep to hopefully recreate this magic on the water the following day.
“Very impressive railriding and fancy sail work” After a rather loud rude awakening on Sunday morning courtesy of the club’s former president Tom BadhamThornhil, we were finally brought some clear skies with a good wind for the competitions. With an amazing four Exeter windsurfers taking part in the freestyle event and two teams of three racing we were hopeful for some good results and were not disappointed. After three rounds in the freestyle competition, Kirsty O’Callaghan showed the boys how it’s done and pipped them all to
the post with some very impressive rail-riding and fancy sail work. After a shaky start Alex Powell, Rich Maskey and Kirsty O’Callaghan came in a very respectable 4th place in the team racing with the other Exeter Team just behind in 8th. The rest of the afternoon featured a girls chat to try and keep the few ladies in the sport involved and a turf dog exhibition which was also won by Exeter’s very own Charles Prentice with his perfect execution of a retro-flacka. The prize giving brought another Exeter lady on to the podium with Rachael Brown winning the very coveted Best Instructor award. With prizes a plenty in tow and many a story to recount for weeks to come, Exeter took the enviable short journey home to catch up on a weekends sleep and to try and finally dry out. A huge thankyou to all the organisers and sponsors for making this event possible and once again surpassing all expectations, Exeter have got off to an awesome start to the season and we look forward to the next event, Nottingham Pondlife on November, 12-14.
Exeter girls claim south west title Athletics
Lucy Rogers
The 2010/2011 cross country season is well underway for Exeter University’s Athletics Club, who debuted the season in St Austell, Cornwall, in the Brooks League Cross Country on Sunday October 10. Impressive performances came from the Exeter girls team of five: Clare Hodgson, Charlotte Davies, Lucy Davies, Hannah Vosser, and Lucy Rogers, who ran the team into 4th place out of the 30 South West teams. The boys also did Exeter proud. Dan Price, and freshers Liam Stubbington, Sam Harris and Neil Ruparelia stepped up to the challenge set by the girls giving the boys a final team position well in the top half of the 107 running field. More importantly, adding to EUAC’s cross country success is Exeter Uni’s Senior Ladies South West Cross Country Relay Champions. Sunday, October, 24 saw Exeter University Athletics Club catch the train to Taunton, Devon for the South West Cross Country Relay Championships. The day started competitively with the boys and girls team being set off together, meaning the race was on between Will Cullen from the Exeter boys team and JJ Blackstock from Exeter girls. Cullen ran a strong first leg, passing to athletics fresher Sam Harris who maintained Cullen’s solid position. Exeter’s third leg came from Pete Wilby who passed onto Steve Bono who brought the Exeter boys home into an excellent 3rd team position. Outdoing the boys’ respectable team position however, were the girls team of JJ Blackstock, Lucy Rogers, and Kate Kaye. Blackstock started the champion team off with a fantastic start, finishing just behind Bristol’s top team runner and running the fastest Under 20 leg of the day. Blackstock finished strong, passing onto Rogers who clinched 1st place from Bristol. The girls’ team position was furthered by Kate Kaye who triumphed home in 1st place, giving Exeter girls South West victory.
Don’t forget Rugby Varsity!
Exeter v Bath 10.11.10 @ Sandy Park