2013/14 Week 25 Issue 608 by Exeposé

“Bald people always look old”: Nigel Farage on politics, policies and male pattern baldness Read the full interview on page 9

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Wednesday 8 May 2013 • Issue 608 • www.exepose.ex.ac.uk • Twitter: @Exepose • www.facebook.com/Exepose

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Sports Park prices to rise

Photo: Niklas Rahmel

• Peak prices to rise by 31.6% • Off-peak prices up 59% • All AU clubs to increase membership fees by £20 Owen Keating, News Editor Jon Jenner, Editor SPORTS PARK prices are increasing from this September, to reflect its new and improved facilities. The Sports Park is currently undergoing an £8million redevelopment, to be completed by the start of the next academic year. The most noticeable price hikes will affect those students who use the gym on a “pay-as-you-go” basis. The peak time price will rise from £3.80 to £5, an increase of 31.6 per cent, while the off-peak price will rise to £3.50 from its current price of £2.20, an increase of 59 per cent. Those who pay their membership fees annually will also be affected. Gold membership will cost £240, up from £225, while Platinum membership will cost £300, as opposed to its current cost of £280. Helen Schnabel, a second year student who currently uses a standard membership, said: “considering the improvement to facilities, I can understand prices being raised, though it does seem like a deterrent to those keen to start using the facilities on a more casual basis”. These facilities include treadmills, exercise bikes and rowing machines with built in televisions, some of which will also feature internet functionality. The gym will feature 200 stations; this is more than double the current gym’s

90, split across two floors, with the top floor focusing on cardiovascular equipment and the bottom on free weights. The current gym will be converted into a “high-performance centre”. The building will be known as the “Russell Seal Health and Fitness Centre”, named after the former chairman of the University Council and key fundraiser for the Sports Park redevelopment. Standard memberships, which are currently priced at £40, are compulsory for every member of an AU society, with the money being used to cover the cost of pitch and equipment hire for the clubs. Next year, this cost will be split: each AU team will add £20 to the cost of their current membership fee to cover costs, while AU members can pay a further £22 to obtain a standard Sports Park membership, making a standard membership cost £42 in total for an AU club member. Non-AU club members who wish to purchase a standard membership will pay £22, a saving of 45 per cent on this year. Phil Attwell, Director of Sport, said: “[The Sports Park] have had protracted and healthy discussions with the AU Executive about charges, recognising the extra costs in running a bigger facility while wanting to ensure that our students get excellent value for what I think will be the best gym in the South West, and probably, the best University gym in the UK.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Books: Meet past Children’s Laureate, Michael Morpurgo - PAGE 20

In review: The Forum one year on

Music: Interview with indie popsters Little Comets - PAGE 14

Sport: Takes an exclusive look inside the new gym - PAGE 30-31

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University leaps up rankings

Photo: Niklas Rahmel

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Editorial team Editors Meg Drewett & Jon Jenner editors@exepose.com Deputy Editors Clara Plackett & Emily Tanner comment@exepose.com News Editors Louis Doré & Owen Keating news@exepose.com Features Editors Alexander Carden & James Roberts features@exepose.com Lifestyle Editors Kitty Howie & Emily-Rose Rolfe lifestyle@exepose.com Music Editors Magda Cassidy & Josh Gray music@exepose.com Screen Editors Megan Furborough & Rob Harris screen@exepose.com Books Editors Elli Christie & Emma Holifield books@exepose.com Arts Editors Sophy Coombes-Roberts &Ricky Freelove arts@exepose.com Games Editors Gemma Joyce & Becky Mullen games@exepose.com Sport Editors Will Kelleher & Mike Stanton sport@exepose.com Photography Niklas Rahmel photography@exepose.com Senior Proofreaders Charlotte Earland, Lauren Swift & Vanessa Tracey

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@Exepose facebook.com/exepose issuu.com/exepose Advertising Ross Trant R.Trant@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.

Simon Dewhurst News Team THE University of Exeter has reached the top ten of a major rankings table for the first time. The Complete University Guide 2014 shows that Exeter has moved up three places to 10th in its annual league table. The improvement is mainly due to an increase in student satisfaction and graduate prospects in the past year. The University also received praise for its

environmental impact and accommodation. There has been little change in the rest of the top ten with Cambridge, Oxford and the LSE leading the way. Professor Sir Steve Smith, Vice Chancellor of the University of Exeter said: “This is excellent news and means that we are ranked in the top 10 in all the major domestic league tables. We have had a fantastic year as we have been named The Sunday Times University of the year, completed our £380 million investment programme and seen our Undergraduate applications

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for next year rise by 36 per cent.” Guild President Nick Davies said: “It is fantastic to have risen up to 10th in the Complete University Guide. Working closely with the University, the Students’ Guild has driven the agenda to ensure that students get the best possible experience while studying at Exeter. For example, in the last year we have campaigned for lower student to staff ratios, improved employability and been recognised as the most environmentally friendly student union in the country.”

Sports Park prices to rise CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Students currently make up roughly 85% of the Sports Park’s members. Next year’s price plan also involves a new off-peak time at the weekend, as well as a proposed phased payment plan, with payment deadlines coinciding with student loan payments. The rationale behind this is to allow more people to buy Gold or Platinum memberships without having to provide the whole fee up front. Prices were not raised for the most recent academic year due to fears that services for the 4,769 student members of the Sports Park might be affected by the building works, although this has not been the case. Of those members, 2,840 are standard members, with 1,369 using “Gold” memberships and 560 enjoying “Platinum” status. The number of standard members is however inflated by the students who require the Sports Park membership to be part of an AU club, yet do not use the Sports Park in an individual capacity. Statistics obtained by Exeposé from a sample week in December 2012 show that there were 3,849 total visits to the gym in that week (including non-student users), of which 764 (19.8%) were standard members. For more details on the Russell Seal Centre, turn to pages 30-31.

Exeter student wins National Undergraduate of the Year Olivia Luder Site Manager THE University of Exeter enjoyed success at the TARGETjobs Undergraduate of the Year Awards hosted by Sir Trevor McDonald OBE, on Friday 19th April. Exeter student Marie Notermans was named Arts and Humanities Undergraduate of the Year after outshining heavy competition.

“We were impressed by the calibre of all the finalists, but Marie really stood out” Helen Ogilvie, Barclays Recruitment Notermans, who studies English and Spanish, was one of five Exeter students shortlisted across five different disciplines. The students were selected from amongst 4,400 other applicants from over 140 universities for their academic and personal achievements.

The awards were launched four years ago to identify and laud the UK’s best undergraduates. Applicants undergo a lengthy application process involving online tests, essays and an assessment centre. The best ten candidates in each category are invited to attend the Awards evening. Notermans won a prestigious Barclays internship and a meeting with a Barclays CEO. Helen Ogilvie, Head of Entry Level Recruitment for the Barclays’ wealth and investment management division, was quoted as saying: “We were impressed by the calibre of all the finalists, but Marie really stood out.” Paul Blackmore, Head of Employability and Graduate Development, praised Exeter’s success and noted the University’s commitment to employability, saying:“ The combination of the University’s investment in the employability agenda combined with the increasing number of career-minded students being attracted to Exeter continues to raise our profile as a leading University.”

Photo: University of Exeter

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The Forum: One year on

• Marquee for broken doors cost £22,203 • Market Place customer satisfaction at 90% • £3,362 a year contract agreed on roof upkeep

Alumni Auditorium

FLOODED

on 22 November with Library

Louis Doré News Editor THE Forum has become the University of Exeter’s student hub since being opened by Her Majesty The Queen on 2 May 2012, having suffered floods, broken revolving doors and damage to the roof incurred from seagulls. The Forum opened to technical difficulties, as the revolving doors broke within the first two weeks of its availability to students, which, although fixed after the inital fault, broke again in November and December of 2012. As a result a marquee was externally hired and installed, the costs of which (including heating and some of the University’s own work force) came to a total of £22,203.53. There have been other maintenance issues with the Forum, including the upkeep of the glass roof which was damaged by seagulls. The damage to the ETFE pillows cost the university approximately £500 in labour work force time and required a maintenance contract of £3,362 yearly. Students also were disrupted by floods to the Alumni Auditorium and the library during the torrential rain on 22 November 2012. However, the opening of the Forum proved successful for its retail outlets in particular, with the branch of Costa becoming the most successful one in the South West and Market Place recording 42 per cent more customer transactions than the previous year. Market Place has also recorded 90 per cent customer satisfaction in the lastest survey and stocks 25 per cent more product ranges than previous years – around 4,000.

Market Place

Career Zone

sandwiches sold at £2.45 each

increase in footfall since relocation to the Forum

156,438

Roof

£3,362 agreed on yearly maintenance contract

33%

Broken Doors

£22,203 spent on temporary heated marquee whilst revolving doors were being repaired

Library

75%

increase in usage since being linked to the Forum

Exploration Labs

FLOODED

£180,000

on 22 November with Alumni Auditorium

spent on 10 table computers, used by only 31 credited modules

Other expansions in the Forum include the Exploration Labs which house surface table computers that cost £180,000 plus VAT. The ten tables (plus one spare and an additional PC server) are currently used by 31 credit rated modules and also various bookings, meetings and training sessions. The Career Zone has also amassed 33 per cent greater footfall since relocating to the Forum. The Library has also expanded since becoming part of the Forum,

improving year on year in the student and staff satisfaction poll LibQUAL+

90%

Market Place customer satisfaction following the £5.8 million investment in facilities. The amount of study seats has risen to 700, rising to 850 at peak exam time and the library became one

of the first universities to offer 24/7 library opening throughout the academic year, contributing to the increased customer satisfaction. Despite the satisfaction in the library’s services, many students remain perturbed by the £283,000 in library fines accrued over the past five years. As reported by Exeposé in February 2013, the library had accumulated £63,574 in fines in 2011-2012 alone, and the library were unable to provide an exact breakdown of where and how

the money was spent. Guild President, Nick Davies commented: “Since its opening one year ago, the Forum has become the heart of the University. Not a day has gone by where the Forum has not been fully utilised, with students using the facilities well into the night. The Forum is a fantastic accolade that the students can be proud of, and is the envy of universities up and down the country.” Additional reporting by Tom Payne

Streatham and St Luke’s building developments announced James Smurthwaite News Team A SERIES of developments are scheduled to occur in the summer vacation across both the Streatham and St Luke’s campuses as a result of a collaborative committee comprising of “academic representation across the Colleges, Professional Services and Guild representatives” with some further decisions to still be made. The Newman lecture theatres are

undergoing proposed £2.3 million changes that began on 29 April, affecting all six lecture theatres within the building. The largest changes will be made to the 350 capacity Newman A theatre. It will become similar to the Forum’s 400 capacity Alumni Auditorium, with power and data sockets being added to seats, whilst Newman C & D will be upgraded to create a “collaborative style layout”. The committee have also proposed to “upgrade A/V equipment, upgrade

seating and decor, lighting, heating and ventilation and improve access to all lecture theatres”, completing the project by August for the new academic year. Poppy Guleroglu, a History student, said, “I spend a lot of time in the Newman lecture theatres so these changes are great news! I’m glad they are improving the access, because the foyer is often overcrowded and you have to push to get through.” St. Luke’s campus is to receive its own renovations with investment in 20

teaching rooms to begin over this summer, starting at the beginning of July to be completed by the start of September, in time for the new academic year. The changes will be focused on the Medical School, Baring Court and North Cloisters buildings with the main change being refurbishment of spaces or upgrades in the audio/visual equipment. The designs are not yet finalised and will be worked on in the following months by “a stakeholder group with representation across the Guild, Colleg-

es and Professional Services”. However, not all students seem to think the proposals are a wise use of funds. Tim Lages, a Human Biosciences student described Baring Court and the North Cloisters as “old but functional” adding that they “don’t really need upgrading”. Whilst Emma Brocklehurst insisted that the changes wouldn’t “bring back the vibe to Lukes” until the “extortionate” accommodation prices are lowered.

NEWS

National Student News Jon Jenner Editor

York refuses to ratify Feminist Society THE UNIVERSITY OF YORK’S STUDENTS’ UNION has refused to ratify a Feminist Society for the second time. The Union (YUSU) based its decision on the existence of the Women’s Committee at the university, which is part of the Union. YUSU claims the societies would be too similar, which would be a “duplication of efforts” and therefore unviable in light of their finite resources. After the initial refusal, Alex Wilson, President of FemSoc, decided to appeal the decision. YUSU said that the society did not demonstrate “a unique need to become a society [ratified by the Union]”. Members of the group have responded by citing the existing example of LGBTQ Liberation and Welfare Committee, and LGBTQ social society, which are both ratified by YUSU. Members of the group have responded by citing the existing example of LGBTQ Liberation and Welfare Committee, and LGBTQ social society, which are both ratified by YUSU. FemSoc argue that they fulfil a far more unique need than these two existing societies. FemSoc argue that they fulfil a far more unique need than these two existing societies. They will have the chance to apply again for Un-

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Sunblock: Student vote launched to ban The Sun from campus Tom Payne News Team SALES of The Sun newspaper could get banned from campus if enough students vote in favour of a controversial motion to boycott the title as part of a ‘No More Page 3’ campaign. Supporters of the campaign, which started in summer 2012, say that bare breasts featured in The Sun objectify women and encourage readers to view women as sex objects. The Students’ Guild has confirmed that a vote is to be held in week three of the current term after they received a complaint from a student. If the motion is passed, The Sun will be removed from The Students’ Shop and the Guild may lobby the University, who control the Market Place,

to do the same. Virginia Walsh, a second year History student, raised the complaint with the Students’ Guild. Walsh told Exeposé: “In my opinion this campaign is really important, because Page 3 perpetuates dangerous ideas about a

“Us making a stance as a university to support this vote will not turn Exeter into an overseas North Korean colony” Deanna Quirke, Gender Equality Representative, Students’ Guild women’s worth. It creates unattainable and unnatural images of women, which can have really negative effects on girls’ body image.

“The boycott is only until the editors remove the bare boobs from the newspaper, since this is the central aim of the wider campaign.” Deanna Quirke, the Guild’s Gender Equality Representative, added: “Us making a stance as a University to support this vote will not turn Exeter in an overseas North Korean colony. However, it might just a part in granting little girls a society where they aren’t seen as decorate objects to be leered at”. The motion has provoked a strong reaction from some students. George Causer, a second year Politics student, said: “If you don’t like The Sun newspaper, don’t buy The Sun newspaper. “It’s not the job of the University to decide what is an approved publication. The University is meant to promote free speech, not repress it.”

Students revise in protest at Knightley

Photo: Niklas Rahmel

THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER has won University Challenge for the fourth time, equalling the record of Magdalen College, Oxford. Manchester also won the title last year, making them only the second team to scoop back to back wins in the competition’s 51 year history. The team, captained by linguistics student Richard Gilbert, defeated University College London, who knocked Exeter out of the competition back in the first round. UCL had previously defeated Manchester in the quarter final, but could not repeat the feat in the final, going down 190 points to 140. Manchester were banned from the competition in 1975, when the team responded with the names of revolutionary figures to every question. Trotsky, Lenin and Karl Marx were all used as answers, in a protest against the alleged elitist bias of the show, with Oxford and Cambridge able to enter individual colleges into the competition.

Nick Davies, Guild President, said it was “fantastic to see students taking the lead”, adding: “This campaign is sure to stir up involvement across campus and spark debate amongst the student body. Whichever way the vote falls, it will all be down to the student vote, which is exactly how changes should be made within the Guild.” In December 2012, the London School of Economics (LSE) controversially banned the title from its shops. Since then, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Manchester Metropolitan, Dundee and Teddy Hall Oxford have also joined the boycott. Follow the development of the campaigns via the official Guild website, or via www.exepose.ex.ac.uk

Theology wins Best Subject Tom Elliot Online News Editor ON Thursday 2 May, staff filled the Great Hall for the 2013 Exeter Student’s Guild Teaching Awards. This year, the Students’ Guild received 2,415 nominations from students. After two stages of short listing, the nominations were narrowed down to five candidates for each of the the ten categories.

ion recognition next academic year.

Manchester win University Challenge 2013

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“This year, the Students’ Guild received 2,415 nominations from students”

Callum McLean News Team STUDENTS gathered at Knightley last Thursday to protest against the move of Exeter’s Music Department to Cornwall House. The department, the biggest of its kind in the UK, is seeing central campus space halved as Knightley and Clayden are re-purposed for postgraduate space and a new department, after almost a century in use. The £2.3m renovation of Kay House Duryard already offers additional performance and practice spaces, to supplement the eight rooms refurbished for Music’s use as part of a further £1m investment in Cornwall House. The specialised Music facilities will be accompanied by three further bookable spaces within Cornwall House for other Guild societies. Dom Jinks, Head of Arts & Culture Services, explains that Knightley’s facilities are “of poor quality”, and assures students that the new, modernised provi-

sions between Kay House and Cornwall House “will provide enough space for the foreseeable future”. Jade McKenzie, president of ExTunes, told Exeposé: “Everyone loves Knightley. There’s a lot of emotion attached to this building and the atmosphere”. She also insists that the department

“The move, unfortunately, as much as no-one wants it to happen...is going to take place, so now its at the point where we need to keep trying to negotiate” Jade McKenzie, ExTunes President 2012/13 have overlooked the inevitable loss in central campus space resulting from the move, which is “what Knightley and Clayden offer.” Practicing in between lectures forms a large part of Knightley’s use, she explains, “and that’s very important because if people can’t indi-

vidually practice, they’re not going to move onto the larger groups.” Evidencing this understanding, the Occupy Knightley Movement saw most of A Cappella society, as well as representatives from Music’s other 30 societies, spread across Knightley’s various spaces, rehearsing and revising in opposition. The department as a whole is resigned to their fate: “We’re only an extracurricular department,” Jade explains, “and although we are the largest in the country for music, we don’t have the power to stand against one of their biggest academic departments. The move, unfortunately, as much as no one wants it to happen - including me - is going to take place, so now it’s at the point where we need to keep trying to negotiate.” The society is already planning how to best adapt to its new central campus space. “We see no reason why morale or performances or the sense of unity should drop just because we move buildings.”

The Gala dinner was introduced by Imogen Sanders, VP Academic Affairs, and saw staff being commended for research efforts, innovative teaching and overall teaching abilities. The Best Lecturer award went to Engineering Professor Phillipe Young. The shortlist included Dr Alex Thomson, Imogen Moore and Dr Matt Hayler. Best Subject was awarded to Theology while Law was named runner-up. Physics was named Best Research Community with last year’s winners Archaeology being named runner-up. Time was taken to pay tributes to Economics Lecturer Jenny Wren, who sadly passed away unexpectedly in March this year. James Crouch, a Masters student, said: “It’s a great way for students to give something back to their lecturers and really show their appreciation.” For a full list of the winners and runner-ups of The Teaching Awards, see www.exepose.ex.ac.uk

CALLING ALL STUDENTS THERE’S NO TAN LIKE A CONSOL TAN 179 Cowick Street Exeter Devon EX4 1AD

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There are only a few weeks left of this academic year – wouldn’t it be great to get that Exeter Award in the bag before summer? If you are leaving University this year it will help you get ahead of the 300,000 other graduates entering the job market. On the other hand, if you are a returning student wouldn’t it be great to prioritise your studies next year? Staff are waiting to mark your Exeter Award application form and Interview Experience sessions are available to book.

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courage more students to fork out for a Gold or Platinum membership, but that remains to be seen. It’s commendable that the university is aiming to provide one of the best student gym experiences in the country, but paying even more money for the privilege will be hard to stomach for more casual gym users. For current Gold and Platinum members the prospect of three times the space to throw free weights around in is fantastic, and the fact that the gym will be twice the size will result in an easier experience for everyone. But for the casual gym user – whom, whether the university likes it or not, make up the majority – it might be a lot cheaper to look for an alternative in town.

Fans of the Forum? WEDNESDAY 2 May, 2012, was a memorable day for Exeter University. Her Majesty the Queen graced Streatham Campus to open the Forum, the University’s attempt to provide a beating heart for its busiest campus. One week later, the first editorial of a brand new Exeposé team said that it would take time before it was clear if the £48 million and three years of building works were good value. A year on, another new Exeposé team have evaluated the Forum for its first birthday. It’s had an eventful year, hosting Children in Need, Pride, worldclass FRUNI lectures and hundreds of other student events. It’s a link between the two ‘sides’ of campus, and manages to bring the opposite havens of the library and the RAM under one beautifully designed roof. Admittedly, its had its fair share of problems. The iconic revolving doors, designed to keep the heat in, have broken repeatedly, resulting in student exasperation and the occasional derisive tweet. Whilst the fact that something so seemingly simple can break so persistently is amusing, the money spent on heated marquees during repair work is not. Flooding, roof repairs and a rogue seagull have also all made headlines

DEPUTY EDITORS

Running up the costs THE news that Sports Park prices are increasing for the next academic year may come as unwelcome news for a lot of students, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise. An increase in quality of services inevitably comes with an increase in price, and the Russell Seal Fitness Centre certainly seems like it will be bringing a lot of quality. Unfortunately, for the majority of students, these improvements may not justify the new prices. Most members of the Sports Park operate on a Standard membership, and being able to watch TV while you run might not justify a 59 per cent increase in peak time prices. The University hopes that more expensive pay-as-you-go prices will en-

EDITORS

for the flagship building, so it’s all too easy to point the finger at the Forum for getting off to a bad start. But it’s had a huge amount of success, particularly for it’s new Costa – which almost instantly became the most profitable branch in the South-West – and the Marketplace; the Forum’s convenience store has a 90% satisfaction rate, and has come to the rescue of many a hunger-stricken student revising in the library. The figures tell important stories, but the most important of all is obvious as soon as you step into the building. It’s a vibrant, thriving hub of campus activity, with throngs of people passing through on their way to lectures, chatting away on the benches, queuing in the Marketplace. The Forum has given Streatham Campus a much-needed heart, and regardless of the problems it has faced in its first year, that’s exactly what it was designed for. Streatham has its focal point, and even after walking through it a hundred times, parts of it can still turn your head on a sunny day. A year on from Exeposé declaring it would take time for the Forum to prove its worth, it seems safe enough to say that it has done.

Thanks to those who helped proof this issue: Vanessa Tracey, Lauren Swift, Charlotte Earland, Tom Payne, James Crouch, Bethany Stuart, Krissi Hill, Naomi Politer, Isobel Eddyshaw, Sophie Beckett, Thomas Ling, Emily Lunn and members of the Exeposé editorial team

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Is music at Exeter failing to hit the right notes? “As a finalist, it is disappointing to end my degree with what I feel is the University’s worst decision during my time here.” Emily Lunn IT was recently announced that Knightley, the music centre, is going to be closed and refurbished as a postgraduate building. As a finalist, it is disappointing to end my degree with what I feel is the University’s worst decision during my time here. I’m not going to rant about the commercialisation of education, although it’s clear that music doesn’t bring in money, and postgraduates do, so they will make a more visible “return” on the money needed to refurbish Knightley. The real issue is that the University seems to have forgotten that music has a lot of value for a huge number of students – and in terms that the University itself is eager to promote. Over 85 per cent of the students surveyed in an extensive report by ExTunes feel that music will contribute “a great deal” to their CVs. As part of the University’s drive to increase employability, we are repeatedly told that you need more than a 2:1 to stand out from the other graduates. Music

facilities impact upon student’s choice of university in the same way that sport facilities are taken into account. The ExTunes report found that the number of practice rooms available was a consistent concern for prospective students. Current students rated rehearsing above the social aspect of music, which makes the decision to halve rehearsal space even more misguided. As one of the many students who has benefited from music, especially as a way of settling in as a fresher, music here has given me some of the best of my university experiences – and I’m not alone in valuing it above the experience of my degree. The music culture at Exeter is exceptional: we have the largest extra-curricular department of its kind in the UK. More than that, the variety of music societies, social and performance opportunities make Exeter stand out from other universities. We are lucky to have a music scholarship scheme and a yearly Music Week, as well as chances to rehearse, perform, tour and socialise. The university should be supporting this unique community, and not putting students in a position where they feel they have to fight to protect it. Yes, we have Kay House, which is

an excellent space for ensemble practice, but personal practice will suffer from the proposed changes. Having only eight practice rooms for all student musicians is inadequate. Sharing Cornwall House with other societies will threaten the sense of a musical community which Knightley has created, never mind the impact it will have upon the societies who already share the space in Cornwall House. At the risk of sounding overly emotional, there are some University experiences that can’t be measured by a “Top 10” label, but are still just as valued (both personally and career-wise) by students and employees. There are a number of excellent universities that offer a good degree – Exeter is unique in its music community and underestimating this can only have a negative impact upon the University in the future. It is not nostalgia for Knightley, but rather the lack of an adequate alternative, that is so concerning for the music societies. I really hope that the final decision at the end of May will offer a better solution.

“Ultimately, with my entire grade resting on so few pieces of work what am I paying for?” Emma Holifield

Books Editor WITH exam season upon us I have suddenly suffered from the unfortunate revelation that I’ve forgotten how on earth to write an essay. My ability to churn out vaguely interesting thoughts under stressful timed conditions at A Level is a distant memory and the idea of all too soon having to produce coherent critical commentaries and thought-provoking arguments fills me with dread. Although no doubt an idea that will be ill-received by many, I am of the opinion that writing more essays would help solve this sudden panic. At A Level, my ability to write under pressure was only kept up through practice. But with such huge gaps between summative assessments, I am increasingly coming to find that each time an assignment is set I almost have to learn how to write again. Madness, I hear some of you protest, more essays is a ridiculous idea! But in my opinion, being set more frequent, smaller assessments would

actually lessen the pressure. By the end of term, when the English department seems to bizarrely think it is a good idea to put ALL their deadlines, I’m often so worn out that I produce work vastly inferior to what I could have written earlier in the term. Additionally, if more frequent work was set, each piece could count for a smaller percentage. This would provide more leeway, meaning one poor essay written during end of term madness wouldn’t bring down an entire module’s mark.

“Although I love my English student timetable (or blank piece of paper), for the cost of my degree I am receiving very little feedback” Equally, although formative essays are supposedly there as an indicator, I know I’m not alone in finding the grade I get for these is often wildly different to my summative assignments; in one module my grade differed by 22 marks! The feedback received for this formative work is also often of little use, with attempts to provide ‘fun’ preliminary

assignments meaning the rubric often bears no resemblance to summative requirements. Additionally, although the jump from school to university is huge, in first year the only writing guidance we seemed to receive was focused on the dire topic of referencing skills. Although we’re not here to be spoon-fed, having some extra guidance would be incredibly useful. And ultimately, with my entire grade resting on so few pieces of work, what am I paying for? Although I love my English student timetable (or blank piece of paper as my housemate often calls it), for the cost of my degree I am receiving very little feedback. I am in no way a workaholic asking to write more massive essays. Equally I understand this isn’t primary school, at university we’re not going to be given a gold star saying ‘keep up the good work.’ But for me, being wildly out of practice and having received little feedback, having a few bits of prior work to fall back on would relieve the pressure of exams no end, something I’m sure many would currently appreciate.

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| WEEK TWENTY-five

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Exeter’s biggest spend:The Forum Naomi Politer

I AM not going to lie, I think the Forum is a beautiful, wonderful, and well… dope place; I will happily elaborate on why. Firstly the library: I marvel at how wide the range is in

“The Forum is a great social hub. I find it reassuring.... that you can almost always see someone you know” books and subjects, and how at any random time of the day you can go in there, pick a book of whatever subject you crave and just read. It is also hard to imagine how Exeter ever made it with less study spaces because even

with the masses of chairs and desks it now contains, I often find myself roaming up and down the floors looking for a table to study at. Nonetheless study space in the library is great; especially if you wander to the far end of the bottom floor and intrude on the law library. Secondly, the Forum is a great social hub. I find reassurance in the idea that after a long day you can walk through the Forum and almost always see someone that you know and chat away since so many people are there for different reasons. There is always noise in the forum, and there’ll be bake sales, music, and a general crowd of people, which never fails to make me happy. The amount of food you can find in all the different food outlets is also remarkable. The curry on Tuesdays in the Terrace Restaurant, and the

“When I picture Exeter in my head, after the halls, the brilliance of the Forum comes to mind. It has become the heart of the University” extremely fresh sandwiches of the Kitchen Café on the second floor of Devonshire house. Then there’s the wraps at the kitchen Deli and the salads of the Market Place. Lunch at the Forum, if I’m having a busy day, is not a disappointment. And well lastly, I like The Forum because it stays open all the way through the night and it’s always a good place to stop by after The Lemmy on a Saturday night. There are probably one too many stories about drunken students walking through the bookshelves (which turn into a labyrinth) of the library and finding it absolutely hilarious that they

FOR

“There’ll be bake sales, music, and a general crowd of people, which never fails to make happy” are interrupting the people that are studying at such uncanny hours as 3 on a Saturday night. A student library wouldn’t be a student library without that. In conclusion: I think the Forum has become the heart of the University, and when I picture Exeter University in my head, after the halls, the brilliance of the Forum is what comes to mind.

COMMENT

Comments of the Week Tweet us @exeposecomment JAMES TYNDALL @jamestyndall @ExeterGuild how are you going to ensure that all finalists get tickets? why was there no message before tickets were released? #shambles MIKE STANTON @ MikeStanton1992 Can’t find my essay #livid #geography #amory EXETER GUILD @ExeterGuild The Guild has just become the most environmentally friendly student union in the UK! UNIVERSITY OF EXETER @UniOfExeter Exeter hits top ten in The Complete University Guide EXEPOSE COMMENT @exeposecomment “Should @TheSunNewspaper be removed from all University campus shops until the editors remove topless women from Page 3?” INDEPENDENT STUDENTS @IndyStudents Ethnic and gender inequalities in postgraduate study STILL aren’t being addressed says @deborahgabriel

Photo: Josh Irwandi

GUARDIAN STUDENTS @gdnstudents Why are universities scrapping their community arts projects? THE CHEESE GREATER @UCLCheeseGrater University of London this morning voted to shut down its student union ANDREW MCRAE@McRaeAndrew More forward thinking from the Exeter Library: new Library Travel Bursary Scheme. Good news for dissertation students.

Megan Furborough Screen Editor

JUST under a year on from the opening of the £48million forum, I think on it with little more than fond indifference. Sure it was all very exciting when the Queen came to open it and we got to play ‘spot the sniper’, but

“I doubt whether many students would say that the Forum has actually improved their learning experience.” other than that I doubt whether many students would say that the Forum has actually improved their learning experience. The most I can really say is that I like the swivel chairs in the Auditorium, and I appreciated the proximity of the Market Place, and

their Creme Egg deals, to my Friday 9am seminar last term. The fact that everything is connected under one roof is probably The Forum’s most useful asset, especially considering how much rain we’ve had, but you would think that the amount of money (and dirty money at that) spent on this building would have rendered it more than just a glorified walkway. The design of the forum, whilst incorporating a pretty swanky roof, does not allow for a large amount of people at any one time. There’s benches at inconvenient spots around the Market Place and the random row of trees that block the view from one side of the Forum to the other are crying out for some air that hasn’t been recycled through dozens of stressed students. Because of the congestion it is incredibly noisy in there, making serious work impossible in the spaces outside of the library – and that’s if

“Just under a year on from the opening of the 48 million pound forum, I think on it with little more than fond indifference” you can even get in without encountering door problems, leaking roofs, trapped seagulls and hundreds of perspective students milling around on open days. Similarly, the Costa and newly opened AMT coffee are great in theory, but the queues are always horrendous and I can’t help but wonder why so many university services, like Queen’s Café, would close only to open another branch of an over-priced chain. As a student living in the already costly Exeter I feel that the replacement of affordable independant branches with expensive brands is missing a trick, and it seems like a wasted opportunity to have a cheap, student-friendly coffee shop in that space.

AGAINST

“I like the swivel chairs in the Auditorium, and I appreciated the proximity of the Market Place, and their Creme Egg deals, to my Friday 9am seminar last term.” Really the main thing about the Forum is just how little it crosses my mind day-to-day. Its problems are annoyances you learn to live with, and it’s simply become part of the campus scenery now, especially for those that have never known the university without it. If it went, I might miss it, but only when I’ve forgotten my umbrella on a rainy day.

JONATHAN JENNER @JonJenner English UG wins British Association for American Studies / United States Embassy “Ambassador’s Award” NATIONAL STUDENT @nationalstudent Oxford forced to cancel live shark as ‘entertainment’ at college ball - The National Student TONI PEARCE @toni_pearce Off to university of Exeter Guild of Students teaching awards. What an absolutely stunning day to be heading to the Westcountry! UNIVERSITY LIBRARY @ExeterUniLib The Sanctuary is now closed for study & in use for exams. Pick up our Revision Spaces leaflet for info on alternative spaces across campus

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| WEEK twenty-five

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The man of the hour? Exeposé Features meet the leader of Britain’s most controversial political party, Nigel Farage Photo: uk.top99news

EXETER’S Great Hall recently played host to one of its more curious weekend events: the UKIP party conference. Campus was flooded with more than the usual amount of tweed jackets and wealthy people. When I caught up with him, Nigel Farage was quietly lurking at the back of the hall. “Can we go outside?” he asks, “I’d like to have a smoke, and they won’t let me in here.” So far, so Farage. Nigel Farage is certainly the politi-

Dominic Woodcock infiltrated the UKIP conference, and reports back to Exeposé.... UKIP’s Spring Conference, held on 23 March in Exeter University’s Great Hall, came off the back of increasing by-election success for the party, most notably with second place in Eastleigh but also second in Middlesbrough and Rotherham. The overarching message was one of progress and UKIP were quick to talk up these election results as steps forward in the battle to win a seat in parliament. The most engaging hour of the morning session was set aside for the candidates in these elections, who were celebrated like veterans returning from a victorious battle.

cian of the hour. His poll ratings are up, the popularity of the EU is down, and he is increasingly snatching the limelight from the other political big beasts. Many heavyweights in the main parties privately admit they are worried about the effect that Farage’s party, the “party for beer-drinkers, taxi drivers and patriots”, will have on the next election. And Farage knows it. “The European Elections will be an opportunity Richard Elvin, who fought for the Middlesbrough seat, highlighted ‘dramatic’ progress in the North with a 40% increase in membership. He was followed by Winston Mackenzie who offered a rousing speech that (quite literally) forced you to stand up and listen. A little more style than substance, he may well be better placed with a career in comedy rather than politics, especially considering the gaff where he confused grill entrepreneur George Foreman with the current Chancellor of the Exchequer. Diane James, the ‘hero of Eastleigh’, was the star of this group: she asserted that the recent run of UKIP successes proved that they were now a ‘major player’, claiming that they ‘set the bar too low’ in Eastleigh. Considering there were only 2000 votes between UKIP and the Lib Dems in first place, she might just be right. As the clock struck 12pm, Nigel

for us to cause an earthquake in British politics”, he says with a mischievous grin. His recent appearances on Sky and the BBC are doing more and more to solidify UKIP as a serious and distinct challenger to Labour and the Conservatives. What are they offering which is so different? “The politics of principle”, Farage explains, “We’ve got some ideas and we’re not constrained by political correctness.” He knows all too well that his greatest strength, UKIP’s place outside the ‘political class’, may be the other parties’ greatest weakness. Farage is keen on this distinction; being British politics’ most high profile ‘outside man’. He makes a point of distancing himself from the other party leaders, explaining this was part of his reasoning behind rejecting the much-speculated pact with the Conservatives after David Cameron’s promise of an EU referendum. “I don’t think I trust him. There are some people you can shake hands with and think a deal’s a deal, and I don’t really place Cameron in that category.” But he’s all too flattering about his fellow Westminster misfits. “I like Boris very much. And Michael Gove, I like Gove. If there was a different leader who would listen to our views, rather than dismiss them out of hand with insults, then maybe the situation could change.”

At this point of the interview, Farage’s phone goes off. “Hello, hel-

lo.”, he barks into his Blackberry, “I’m doing an interview, I’ll ring you back.” With a last deep puff, his cigarette burns down to the end, and he presses it into the ground with his patent leather brogues. “Where were we then?” Given the recent problems some UKIP candidates have had in the local elections, Farage knows it isn’t all rosy in the UKIP garden. “There are one or two image issues that could be more positive”, he says, “perhaps we look a little old fashioned to some people.” As it moves into poll position as the favourite for the European Elections in 2014, UKIP is facing significant teething problems. Despite its efforts in Eastleigh, UKIP was unable to secure that all-important first seat in Parliament. Farage is aware of the ongoing predicament that he tends to get higher approval ratings than his party colleagues, but is adamant that a UKIP victory in Eastleigh wouldn’t have been assured by a little Farage charm. “I’m not particularly sure I would have done any better”, he insists dismissively, but with uncharacteristic evasiveness. Given his experience losing to Speaker John Bercow in the 2010 General Election, he might be right. “I enjoyed running and I was freed from responsibilities of being party leader, which was a tremendous relief” Farage explains, with a throaty chuckle. Even on the subject of his plane crash, he seems unperturbed. “You do things in life; some of them work, some of them don’t, and it didn’t finish up very well but there you are.” But he sees many, many green shoots for UKIP in the future. While right-wing parties tend to struggle with the youth vote, Farage’s UKIP have found it a lot easier to attract a fresher,

Farage marched onstage and, continuing the triumphant rhetoric, demanded an ‘Eastleigh roar’ from the delegates. His speech was rallying although somewhat predictable. He touched down on all the key UKIP points by dismissing the three main parties as being the same, admonishing immigration and welfare policy and, of course, his issues with the European Union. Farage touted that a vote for UKIP should be seen as a ‘wholesale rejection’ of career politicians – a point which went down particularly well with the conference. As such, a vote for UKIP is ‘much more powerful’ than a protest vote because it exemplifies a movement away from the main parties that is far more than a blip. Farage then turned to Europe, outwardly mocking Cameron for proposing a referendum on Europe after the next election, deriding it as little more than a pipe dream considering how

unpopular his premiership is. As expected, he launched an excoriating attack on the tax levy placed on Cyprus, accusing the EU of ‘stealing money.’ One certainly could not deny that UKIP has a whole host of enthusiastic supporters. At the Conference, not a single speech went by without receiving the sort of rapturous and adoring applause you would expect to be reserved for the keynote speaker. Many speeches throughout the day tried to claim that they were bringing together voters from all backgrounds but the audience was dominated by the traditional Eurospectic former Conservatives that UKIP attempts to claim forms just a small part of their support base. The main issue with UKIP is that they come across as an amalgam of different ideas and views. Nigel Farage has long been stating that UKIP is not a ‘one-man band.’ The Spring Conference and increase in electoral viability

“Farage is aware of the ongoing predicament that he tends to get higher approval ratings than his party”

younger demographic. For him, Europe is their golden ticket to getting beyond the grey vote: “We think Europe is a little back yard run by a load of unelected old men. Going round universities, there is a terrific amount of support for our ideas.” UKIP’s youth wing is reinventing itself, and may well end up sizeable force in student politics.

“UKIP’s youth wing is reinventing itself, and may well end up sizable force in student politics” From the conference hall, we hear applause from the audience. An elderly lady waits patiently inside for an audience with the party leader. Farage glances towards the door, then his watch. It’s almost time for his big speech. He still has time for one last hurrah. Nigel Farage is, for the moment, UKIP’s one-man-band, but his Deputy Paul Nuttal is increasingly moving into the spotlight. “He’s very young”, Farage notes, “but he’s bald so he looks old. Bald people always look old. They look ancient at 30, and at 80 they look young, it’s very very strange.“ With that, he rolls his eyes upwards, turns on his heel, and disappears inside. UKIP has many problems, but after this conference, the party is definitely on a high. And with its politician-turned-celebrity, Nigel Farage, at the helm, we can expect to see much more from Britain’s political mavericks. JAMES ROBERTS FEATURES EDITOR shows that, finally, this claim might be coming true but with this it is proving that the party is not a united voice. Some speakers claimed that UKIP was the heir to socialist principles and supported an extensive welfare state whilst others were speaking the rhetoric of Thatcherism. The cacophony of disparate views shows that UKIP are perhaps not ready to truly challenge the main parties.

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A sport scientist’s guide to credit ratings

Confused by unrelenting economic gibberish? Us too. Ronald Liong comes to the rescue What is a Credit Rating?

CREDIT ratings are a statement of opinion about a government’s ability to repay those who have lent it money. Put simply, a government that can repay its debt on time is considered to be of lower risk than one that cannot pay its debts. There are three major credit rating agencies that issue these ratings – Fitch, Moody’s and S&P (Standard & Poor’s). Each agency has their own method of assessing risk, so their ratings may vary. These ratings include “prime” (repayment all but guaranteed – Germany, and only until recently, the UK and US), “investment-grade” (where we are now), “junk” (think Greece and Cyprus) and “default” (the equivalent of bankrupt).

What is a downgrade?

A DOWNGRADE means a cut in the rating. This normally happens when the agency thinks the country’s debts have become more risky to hold, as the country is less likely to be able to pay them. Moody’s was the first to downgrade the UK in February (from Aaa to Aa1), followed by Fitch in April (from AAA to AA+).

Why did it happen?

BOTH agencies cited the slow economic recovery as the reason for the downgrades. The government needs economic growth to help with their deficit reduction plans. The logic is simple: if the economy grows, they can collect more in tax revenues, which means they won’t have to borrow as much. Without growth, it’s much harder for the government to cut borrowing, or repay it.

What does this mean for me?

THE recent rating downgrade should have very little direct impact to you. Typically, downgrades tend to cause a weakening in the exchange rate – this means you might have to pay more for holidays abroad, or imported purchases, such as electronics, petrol and food.

Analysis

THIS move had long been expected. From a political perspective, you might say George Osborne shot himself in the foot. Even before the coalition came into power, the then-Shadow Chancellor talked about the importance of defending the UK’s AAA rating. That

is now lost (with the exception of S&P, the only rating agency which still rates the UK at AAA). Labour has been using this to attack his austerity plans, arguing for the government to change focus and get the economy growing instead.

“We only have to look at Cyprus or Greece to see what will happen to Britain if the ratings continue to fall” Regardless, the downgrade is unlikely to cause any significant changes in Osborne’s austerity plans. And perhaps it shouldn’t. Any government that is in power now (and indeed in 2015) will need to juggle between economic recovery and deficit reduction. It may be tempting for the government to introduce a stimulus package and spend its way into recovery. And perhaps this is possible – if the stimulus does get the economy growing, the government might collect enough tax revenue to offset their stimulus and cut the deficit. But should the stimulus fail, the government will be stuck with a stagnating economy and an increased debt burden – something the rating agencies will not take too kindly. We only have to look at Cyprus or Greece to see what will happen to Britain if the ratings continue to fall – higher borrowing costs, further spending cuts, tax hikes and social unrest.

“The best thing to do now is perhaps to make small changes towards cutting the deficit, while keeping the economy afloat” On the other extreme, the government might consider cutting the debt faster by raising taxes, cutting spending, or introducing further welfare reforms. But with an election looming in two years’ time, and an economy already so fragile, this is unlikely to gain any traction within the cabinet. The best thing to do now is perhaps to make small changes towards cutting the deficit, while keeping the economy afloat. From the statements that George Osborne has been giving, this government seem to have settled on their approach, and they are unlikely to change course, regardless of what the IMF and critics say.

Next Week: A sociologist’s guide to the Higgs-Boson!

Thatcher’s last goodbye

James Roberts, Features Editor, speaks of his experience at the funeral of Baroness Thatcher ONE Monday afternoon, in a sleepy London pub, the BBC announced to me the death of my political idol, Margaret Thatcher. And a week later, on a packed London street, I stood in line to say an emotional final farewell to her. I wasn’t alone: opposite me an ordered line of former paratroopers who had fought in the Falklands; next to them a restless flock of suited City investors; a coach load of Birmingham housewives and a rabble of placard-waving protestors. Looking around me, at the array of well-wishers, revellers and demonstrators, I realised that this moment perhaps better summed up the Thatcher premiership than even the best of Spitting Image sketches. The atmosphere was heavy with trepidation, but laced with pride. The occasional chanting and booing of the protestors was predictably met with

audible tutting, and a ripple of silencing applause to drown them out. But as the gun carriage approached, the pavements went silent - even the protestors.

“Mrs Thatcher will go down as one of the most important, and controversial, politicians of the post-war generation” It drew alongside us, the Union Flag billowing in the cold, crisp wind and a palpable cloud of solemnity seemed to descend on the deathly still crowds. For just a moment, everyone was united in the gravity of Mrs Thatcher’s legacy. Suddenly, the ranks of Falklands veterans shifted to a salute. Their hearts hardened by war,

Exeposé Features speaks to students about their thoughts on Baroness Thatcher’s legacy “To be honest, with Thatcher being the first female Prime Minister, I don’t think she saw it like that. What was a big thing to her wasn’t getting into Parliament and being a woman, but being a Conservative. She didn’t have a chip on her shoulder about being a woman, and I think we need to get over it.” Safi Strand, Second Year Student “The real reason we should remember Thatcher for is introducing a culture of greed that has given us the MPs Expenses scandal, the Credit Crunch and The Million Pound Drop.” Josh Gray, Music Editor

“History will judge her well. She pulled Britain out of the 70’s. She was divisive, but I think that it will be remembered that she stuck to her guns and made strong decisions.” Harry Chamberlain, Conservative Future

“I’m fed up of people that weren’t even alive commenting on Thatcher. Get over yourselves.” Chris Lodge, Masters Student

but spirits softened by the coffin of the Iron Lady. The sombre and stately music of the military procession pierced the moment, and tears rolled down the cheeks of the City boys. Without doubt Mrs Thatcher will go down as one of the most important, and controversial, politicians of the post-war generation. But for that moment during the funeral, it was far more a personal moment than a political one. The politics of Thatcher’s legacy will live on, to be debated in television studios, university lecture rooms and pubs alike. To most, her name will always be veiled in the crusader politics that defined her premiership. Certainly, to some, her funeral was a political event. But for those of us that were there, it was a personal experience that we will never forget.

“Thatcher deserved the funeral that she got. She helped pull the country out of a hard place. It was a tough time, especially in South Wales, but she made difficult decisions that had to be made, either then or 20 years down the line.“ Nick ‘Welshy’ Davies, Guild President

“I was initially worried about the costs, but it seemed like a fitting end to her life and legacy, despite what I thought about her and her policies. Everyone agrees what a fantastic thing it is to have such an influential first woman Prime Minister.” Calum Baker, XTV

Recognise, celebrate and reward the exceptional achievements of the Guild’s student groups, representatives and members.

Nominate online at exeterguild.org/guildawards

Nominations Close 9am Monday 13th May 2013

Broadening Student Engagement • Exceptional Welfare and Support • Outstanding Dedication to Charity • Outstanding Cultural & Community Contribution • Campaign of the Year • Outstanding Academic Contribution • Outstanding Student Led Project of the Year • Student Representative of the Year • Event of the Year • Student Staff Member of the Year • Student Leader(s) of the Year • Student Group of the Year • Outstanding Individual Contribution

lifestyle

Lifestyle FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @ExeposeLStyle

5 Word Thoughts We give you a hot topic, you give us 5 word nuggets of wit and wisdom. This week’s hot topic... I’d get a first if my dissertation was on... GARETH BROWNE @BrownwGareth Embarrassing myself infront of women #tragic KATE GRAY @_hownottodraw People watching in the forum. ROB HARRIS @ RJHarris93 Vodka’s influence on sprained ankles BONNIE STEPHENSMITH @BStephensmith Decadence: Eating Out in Exeter. BEX LIBERTY @bexxeh Procrastination. JONATHAN JENNER @JonJenner Fantasy books that no one’s read. MEGAN FURBOROUGH @meganfurborough The sleeping habits of cats. MILLY HINDLE @millyrose0205 Advanced tea drinking. AMEY HIGGON @BigAme Chicken in a bag. TOM BOND @tom_bond Buisness secrets of pharaohs... EMILY-ROSE ROLFE @emilyroserolfe American Television plots #lifein90210 #MadMenMentality GEMMA JOYCE @GLJoyce Skittle vodka infusion! ALICE BOORMAN @alicejboo Watching mundane property programmes #EscapeToTheCountry NIKLAS RAHMEL @niklasRen The best ways to procrastinate. NICK TERRETT @NickTerror Microwaveable frying pans. Maddi Puleston @stup1dho3 Feminist Nicki Minaj lyrics! OWEN KEATING @owenkeats Buzzfeed lists of cute animals. Get involved next time by looking out for our question on the Lifestyle Facebook group, or follow us on Twitter @exeposelstyle to get involved! Don’t forget to use #5wordthoughts.

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Revision vs Procrastination

Ben Gilbert, Online Lifestyle Editor, levels the playing field and shows that revision and procrastination don’t have to fight dirty IT’S that time of year – exams. “Oh God!” I hear you cry! No? Just me then… Regardless, one word will be popping up again and again. Revision. It’s hard, and no one likes it, but here are five ways to make your revision go a little more smoothly…

Turn off your phone Speaking of distractions… My phone and Facebook are killers. Every time I want to revise, one of them calls out to me. So turn your phone off. Log out of

5 TIPS FOR REVISION Play some classical music There is just something about playing classical music that calms me and helps me focus a bit more when I’m doing my work. But then, perhaps it is not the same for you – you may even find that heavy metal does the trick. Whatever your taste, if there’s a track that helps you focus, play it loud and proud! Find a place where you can work Again, this can differ for different people. I know a couple of people who love revising in small groups. I like that too – especially when you can bounce ideas around, but otherwise find somewhere that you can be free to work without distraction.

your Facebook password, if that helps! Choose your sustenance wisely Whatever helps keep you on the ball, eat that. Need that caffeine fix? Don’t skip it. If it helps, abuse it. No need to get ridiculously unhealthy about it, but if you crave a sugar rush to motivate you, then have it. And if you want to go catch a salmon and nibble on that, that’s okay too. Incentive! I once saw someone open a text book and place a Jelly Baby at the end of each paragraph – finish reading the paragraph, reward yourself with a sugar-filled edible baby. Couldn’t be simpler. I even saw this done with shots, but that may not help you revise really. But let’s face it, with every planned revision session, procrastination ultimately rears its ugly head. But do not fear it – it could be healthy! After eight straight hours with your face in a book, maybe some time off is just what you need… 5 WAYS TO PROCRASTINATE

Facebook. M a y b e even get someone to

change

What’s that? Sunlight? Yes, it is now the summer term, and with any luck that sunlight streaming through the window will actually stick around for beyond exams too. There’s no telling though, so drop what you are doing

First grade fashion

Milly Hindle shows you how to dress to impress in the exam hall

ALONG with our concentration spans, exam season weather seems to fluctuate just when we wish it wouldn’t. You head to the cloud-covered library in a slobby jumper, only to break into a sweat as you lug your Norton Anthology down Forum hill in blazing sunshine. Spring study fashion is often a tricky one, re-opening the on-going debate of comfort vs. classy styling. Why not revolutionise revision gear this exam season, by finding a way to combine these two necessities? Step One: The Positive POP! Neons, florals, Aztec prints… Dig out your brightest and most summery glad

rags and wear them, even if the day is grey. Studies have shown that bright colours promote a positive mental attitude, whilst your memories of wearing that cute printed cami to the beach last year will spur you on through your library day with thoughts of the summer to come! Step Two: Think Floaty and Flattering. With warmer weather on its way, layering is key to comfort. The Forum study rooms may have temperature sensing windows, but I am yet to be convinced of their reliability… Loose chiffons, boyfriend fit shirts and draped tank tops

can be teemed with a warmer cardigan, whilst effectively concealing that food baby you’re now nurturing after a pre-exam chocolate binge! Step Three: A Cheeky Cover-Up. All hail the maxi skirt! Can’t be bothered to shave your legs when you’re already getting up at seven to bag your spot in the library? Float through the Forum like an ethereal beauty in this wonderful, leg-lengthening creation. Step Four: The Vibrant Varnish. Paint your nails! There’s nothing so time consuming as nail art when you need a bit of procrastination. Slather

right now and run outside! And after you are tired of that, maybe you could even take your revision outside too? Go for a run It isn’t to everyone’s taste, but sometimes going for a run, or going to the gym can be just the right thing to take your mind off everything that is stressful at the moment. And never mind the scientific proof of endorphin release... I just find it fun. Oh, there’s a new Game of Thrones episode… Television is your friend, albeit the friend who wants to go to Arena all night before a 9am lecture. And thanks to the magic of the internet, you can catch up on almost every TV programme under the sun! Be careful though – it is easy to lose days to an entire series ... Try something new Last week, I decided to learn how to play Peter Griffin’s fabled ‘Iraq Lobster’ on guitar as a way of distracting myself from work. I’m not saying you have to do the same, but why not try something new and exciting when you have a break from your revision schedule? There’s a LOT of things going on at university that has your name right on it! Clean Time and again, I hear about how everyone’s room’s become miraculously spotless during revision and essay periods. Even people who normally can’t be found underneath their dirty clothes. I always assumed someone was stealing into people’s houses and tidying without them knowing. Then again, maybe it is just another way to procrastinate. You decide. your fingertips in a glossy summer glow (my favourite is Chanel’s Orange Fizz!) and admire them as you scribble away one never spends so much time staring at their hands as when making revision notes! If all else fails, borrow your boyfriend’s trackies as a last resort. Anything Kukri with a sports logo emblazoned on it will convince all those around you that you’re about to hit the gym after some hard-core revision. Who would guess that you haven’t exercised in years…

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| WEEK TWENTY-five

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How to kill marks

Tweets of the week Tweet us @ExeposeLStyle

Laura Le Brocq reveals how originality doesn’t always tick the right boxes and guarantee success IT was first year. I was bored of getting firsts that wouldn’t count for anything. Don’t hate me.

“Who wants to read paragraphs when I could write in rhyming verse?” In French Language, we were given the thrilling task of writing an essay entitled ‘Work: personal blossoming or way to make a living?’ It was so exciting and so memorable, that now, a fortnight before my finals, I just had to look up a word from the title. When planning my essay, I worked out how many words I could write per paragraph, and decided the best option would be seven paragraphs of 50 words each. Yes, the essay weighed in at a

“If there’s a lesson to be learnt here, I think it’s that getting creative can go too far” lengthy 350 words. Then I thought: paragraphs? Who wants to read paragraphs when I could write in rhyming verse? That would be a real challenge

for my French. My ‘poessay’ spread to an impressive three pages, double spaced. Upon its return I was delighted to find no comments whatsoever on the first page, just a couple accents I’d missed. Upon turning over however, I was greeted with a large exclamation mark, with an angry triangle drawn round it, just in case I might overlook it. “!LE FORMAT N’EST PAS RESPECTÉ!” Apparently, in spite of the fact that it was written in even-length verses, separated with a space, it was “difficult to distinguish between the different parts”. “Even if the work is original, the task has not been respected”. Fair enough. But what I don’t really understand is the mark I got. Apparently my language was more or less correct, with a few minor errors. For this I got 40 per cent. For my content I got five per cent. I presume that both parts were actually out of 50, but I’m not really sure. However, 40+5 apparently added up to my ‘NOTE FINALE’ of 50 per cent. If there’s a lesson to be learnt here, I think it’s that getting creative can go too far. And that some people can’t add up.

TOM PAYNE @TomEPPayne gd luck new @Exepose team: @JonJenner, @meg_drewett, @claraplackett, @owenkeats, @runlouisrun2013 etc. First press week starts tomorrow.

Organised fun Emily-Rose Rolfe, Lifestyle Editor, poses as your post-essay party planner RECEIVING marks for an essay/ dissertation is always received with a mixture of trepidation, fear, desperation, curiosity, and speculation. Once you have collated all the marks, the result of blood, sweat, and long hours in the library – what do you do? Giving yourself a pat on the back and a chocolate bar just won’t make the grade. So, whether you’re still slogging through exams and are looking for a light at the end of the tunnel, or if you’re feeling restless but relieved, read on… Collate a scrapbook. It sounds like something out of a 1980s American Rom-Com, but it ensures your memories aren’t sucked into the black hole, Facebook timeline. Have an art attack session with a friend or two cut out photos and captioning them takes you on a trip down memory lane, even if you don’t quite remember the snaps taken after midnight. Enjoy going Regina George on your friends. Revitalise a trip to the Beach. Cycle to Exmouth, Sidmouth or Teignmouth. This will blow the library cobwebs away and build your bikini body to perfection. Riding a bike is also very-2013, Bradley Wiggens’ Olympic legacy lives on and studies are emerging weekly about the perks of cycling. I

“Giving yourself a pat on the back and a chocolate bar just won’t make the grade” look forward to seeing your Instagrams. Train to run a marathon. Proactive and philanthropic – what’s not to love? Get a couple of your gal pals together and train daily around Exeter’s luscious scenery. Research Devon-based charities and get in touch with them, ask them what running a marathon could do for their team. Devon has a range of wellloved and respected charities. As an added bonus, you can trek through Exeter’s surprisingly good charity shops for a fun fancy dress costume. Learn how to dance. Celebrating normally translates into partying hard. Why don’t you learn how to move your body properly? Take some salsa, hip-hop, jazz, ballet, or zumba classes and impress your friends after they escape from exam stupor. Enjoy letting your hair down!

Fresh Faced and Brain Boosted PACK up this portable salad for a brain boosting lunch on the go – pumpkin seeds are great for your memory and avocado gets the blood to your brain (apparently). This recipe calls for half an avocado – use the rest to make a moisture boosting face mask! Perfect for de-stressing.

AVOCADO AND PUMPKIN SEED COUS COUS INGREDIENTS 1/2 ripe avocado, cut into chunks 1/3 mug dried cous cous 1 tsp dried Italian seasoning 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes 1 spring onion Feta cheese Handful pumpkin seeds Handful toasted pine nuts (optional) Fresh chopped parsley (optional) Olive oil Lemon juice METHOD 1. Put the cous cous in a bowl. 2. Add chili flakes and Italian seasoning to taste and stir them through.

3. Pour over just enough boiling water to cover, then cover the bowl with clingfilm so the cous cous swells.

EASIEST AVOCADO FACEMASK IN THE WORLD. EVER. Works wonders if you have dry skin.

4. Finely slice spring onion (green and white bits).

INGREDIENTS ½ avocado 1 tsp plain yoghurt Swidge of honey

5. Cut the feta into bite sized chunks – same size as avocado is a good idea. 6. Coat the avocado chunks in lemon juice. 7. Gently stir the spring onion, feta, avocado, lemon juice, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts and parsley (if using) into the cous cous. 8. Drizzle with olive oil and enjoy don’t forget to check your teeth after!

METHOD 1. Mash all ingredients together. 2. Wash your face with warm water. 3. Apply face mask and leave for ten minutes. 4. Wash off with lukewarm water and a facecloth. By Kitty Howie, Lifestyle Editor

STOX @kestockings Theres certain times in life where I think #OnlyInExeter. Seeing a student drive his brand new Range Rover is one of those times. NIOBE @niooobe On my way back to rah-rah land. See yall in 5 hours #exeter EMMA WHITE @emmalaurenwhite a month without Boston Tea Party was just too long HARRY MCCARTHY @harrymccarthy  I have to watch Psy this summer. have just been placed on suicide watch. SAM HUDSON @huddysam Just been to the happiest KFC in the world #hungover #onlyinexeter #jobprospects LAURA PEPPER @LauraJanePepper Considering reserving my spot in the library for tomo morning now #lame #thirdtermproblems ALICE BOORMAN @alicejboo A lovely gentleman offered to carry my suitcase up Paddington station stairs, his first response “Christ, have you got a dead body in this?” JAMES CROUCH @TheBig_JC  My mother now judges all the money I get in terms of how far it will go in @TheArenaExeter . That’s totally justified #AREENAAA! SELINA FRIDAY @SelinaFriday Topless Arena guy looks very weird with clothes on #notevenfit CHARLOTTE COLE @charcole14 Seriously. Revision + diet = no go. Revision + food = beautiful. #fatty #cantstop BECKY MULLEN @BeckyyMullen I have read too much OK today. Still more fun than Milton. #hairdresserreading JONATHAN JENNER @JonJenner Hold me twitter I’m so tired TOM BOND @tom_bond The inescapable aroma of sweat tinging the library study rooms. BETHAN ROBERTS @bethanaroberts oh jesus I’ve watched 8 eps of bake off today.that’s 8 strong hours of lusting after paul hollywood & his over worked grey hair #ineedhelp MIKE STANTON @MikeStanton1992 Hangover and library #nightmare

Music

Listings Wed 8 May The Pigeon Detectives Thekla, Bristol Thu 9 May Athlete O2 Academy, Bristol

8 may 2013 |

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Thu 9 May Cub Scouts Cavern Sat 11 May Sharks Cavern Tue 14 May Balthazar Louisiana, Bristol Wed 15 May Alt-J O2 Academy Bristol Wed 15 May Midge Ure Phoenix Mon 20 May Lucy Rose The Lemon Grove Tue 21 May Young Kato Louisiana, Bristol Wed 22 May Gentlemen’s Dub Club Phoenix Thu 23 May Cancer Bats Phoenix Mon 3 - Sat 8 June Arts Week Festival Various

One to Watch

Lucy Rose @ The Lemon Grove ‘“One of the country’s most promising new voices, and she’s gorgeous to boot’” Don’t miss Lucy Rose’s blissful, acoustic folk at The Lemmy. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll forget you’re in the Lemmy

Josh Gray, Music Editor, planned to talk to Newcastle’s Little Comets about their music. But then things got political... LITTLE COMETS are one of the most quintessentially Northern bands ever to make the arduous journey from their base in Newcastle to Exeter’s Phoenix Club. Sat in an Adidas jacket and overly short shorts, frontman Robert Coles is a self-effacingly un-hipsterish proposition who has no time for the media-constructed criticisms that get levelled at guitar bands, “I think these terms of ‘guitar music’ and ‘keyboard music’ are just a bit shit. It’s just music; it’s just good music and bad music’, he reasons. When I ask if his band’s continued success in drawing huge crowds of adoring fans is due to sheer hard work, Rob replies stoically that “if you’re going to do something you might as well do it properly”, a DIY ethic that certainly comes out in their show later that evening. “We did a gig in London the

“If you’re going to do something, you might as well do it properly” other night”, he recalls, “there were a lot of people there and we knew they’d come because they wanted to, not because they’d heard us on the radio or saw us on the cover of a magazine”. Sadly their night at the Phoenix is

not so heavily attended, probably due now”, Rob continues, “if you took to the absence of students during the it back 50 or 60 years ago you could Easter break who might otherwise have clearly define good and evil, black and filled the space; but those who went to white. There were so many things in the effort of turning up are still treated the world where people were just dito fast-paced and enthusiastic show. rectly opposed and so culture reflected The highlight of the evening comes to- that”. wards the end of the set, when session drummer Greenie bows out to allow the “What Thatcher did core trio of Robert, Bassist Matt and was so brutal that we guitarist Michael to bring the strippedcouldn’t go back on it. down and tantalising ‘Woman Woman’ to life before following into old fan She ended the debate” So will Little Comets’ third album favourites ‘This One’s For Dancing’ and ‘Joanna’, which get the biggest re- be a Billy Bragg-esque attack on the actions of the night from the crowd of government? “People would say that college kids who probably awkwardly it’s too much, because you’re talking lost their virginities to 2011’s In Search about something that means something’ Matt laments, “and it’s all beof the Elusive Little Comets. When asked about the transition in cause Thatcher got voted in”. When asked whether the death of Marsound from their poppier Search garet Thatcher has got people debut of 2011 to last Exeposé talking about political isyear’s bleaker ‘Life is sues again Rob insists that Elsewhere’, bassist Music and Xmedia Matt Hall answers Music on Facebook for it’s too late, as “what she did was so brutal that we that “The second more music, exclusive couldn’t go back on it. It’s album is more a picture of the way competitions, interview not that Labour lost the deopportunities & bate, it’s just she ended the the country is run more debate and changed things so and the way the peodramatically that you couldn’t ple in this country are re-open it. It’s like writing off a feeling in general”. “I think there’re are so many grey areas in life car; you just have to scrap the car”.

But let no-one say Little Comets are a cynical bunch when it comes to politics, one of their highlights in recent times was a speech Labour MP Glenda Jackson made in Parliament on equality: “It’s the first time in my life that I’ve been inspired by a current politician” Rob confesses, “I was amazed by how it must feel. I just thought ‘isn’t it a shame that most politicians are just entirely self-serving?”. And guess who they to blame for this culture of greed? That’s right, it’s Mrs. T again. “I think that one of the main things Thatcher did was make a lot of people go and vote for what’s better for them. For me that’s not the point of politics, to enrich the life of the individual. That’s what Glenda Jackson said the other day: we’ve got to recognise the inherent potential in every human being. I don’t think that happens at the moment.” Forget heart-

“We’ve got to recognise the inherent potential in every human being’ and I don’t think that happens at the moment”

break, lost loves and domestic dissension; it’s the desire for social change that’s powering the UK’s most down to earth band to achieve against the odds.

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Sanskara: An Obituary

Top Tracks for....

Josh Gray, Music Editor, talks to the soon-to-retire prog-rock heroes and Battle of the Band victors Sanskara about going out with a bang WHEN asked what they thought drove mean I know which ones I want to do, them to victory in the hotly contested but then you guys are probably like “I Campus Bands’ ‘Battle of the Bands’ wanna do these ones” sooo…’, ‘We’ll do whichever ones have my on 25 March, Sanskara are in solos’ interjects co-founder no way reserved. ‘I think and second guitarist Jeff Tam. we just wanted it more x Best of E And so what are the chances than anyone else’ shrugs e best of a few more shows in third th guitarist and founding u o y g Bringin member Viv Kirpalan, ic term? ‘It’d be nice to do a gig cal mus of your lo where we just go “This is our which is no surprise last gig”’ ponders Will ‘We’re considering this could scene heading up a gig at the Cavern at be one of the last great achievements of one of Exeter’s hardest- the end of May and we’re getting on working bands (all members but singer some festivals’ adds Viv. Despite their Will Beynon are fourth years who’ll be festival hope, Will admits that they prefer small headline shows where graduating this summer) . If Sanskara seem overly confident it’s just ‘people there who actually it’s because they have good reason to be: appreciate it’. When asked how they feel about their live shows are marked out by their outstanding musicianship and robotic moving on from Sanskara and their virtuosity and they’ve become somewhat future musical plans the band look at of a staple on the Exeter gigging scene. each other and I get the sense of infinite Bassist Chris Cooper describes their sorrow at the coming death of the band music as ‘atmospheric and heavy; not so that has given them so much. ‘For me has heavy it’ll scare you all away, but heavy personally,’ admits Viv, ‘this enough to start a pit’, as the BotB Final been the best band I’ve demonstrated. ‘I think I’d probably say been in my whole life that was the best show I’ve ever played in and probably will be for the rest of my my life’ Viv admits, ‘It was incredible’. As a reward for their victory the band life’. So halts will soon be releasing a professionally the Sanskara recorded E.P., if they can agree which j u g g e r n a u t , them songs to put on it. ‘We all have our see own favourites’ admits singer Will, ‘I while you can…

Tribes Wish To Scream Island ...............................

Out 30th May

IT’S a difficult life being an indie band these days. In the past five years, fewer new bands have appeared content to turn their guitar amps up to eleven and raise their pint to a loving festival audience. One only has to look at this year’s Reading/Leeds headliners to see that there is a vacancy up for grabs in Rock n’ Roll’s Hall of Fame. Biffy Clyro and Green Day have both been around for over a decade and it seems like an age since The Libertines came storming out of London. Camden rockers Tribes have spent the past year working on a record that channels the collective, classic melodies of The Rolling Stones, Primal Scream and Bob Dylan whilst still sounding like a band who are comfortable in their own skins. Wish to Scream takes the band’s energetic knack for writing a catchy

rock song and expands this sound with saxophone, piano and acoustic guitars to embrace rather than reject classic Rock n’ Roll traditions. Perhaps the most remarkable thing of all is that Wish to Scream sounds fresh. Tribes are not a Rolling Stones tribute band. This record is a confirmation that they are a band who want to etch their own name in the history books rather than jump on the Oasis bandwagon. The album opens with the appropriately named single ‘Dancehall’, a song that is likely to be played on the radios for the rest of the Summer. It thumps on with big choruses after choruses and hits a stadium rock high with The Rolling Stones influenced ‘How the Other Half Live’. When supporting Mick Jagger and his band in Hyde Park this June, there is no doubt that Tribes will be playing to an audience who will appreciate these songs. One sign of Tribes’ confidence on this record is their bravery to slow the tempo down on many of the tracks and let singer Johnny Lloyd tell his story with a stripped down backing of acoustic guitar, drums, bass and piano. This is especially true on stand-out track ‘One Eye Shut’. As the saxophone solo in closing track ‘Street Dancin’ fades out, you can’t help but feel content. Wish to Scream is a Summer record by an ambitious band who have found a sound that they are comfortable with. Expect to hear this album again and again for at least the next year. Who knows, maybe in three years time Tribes will be promoted to festival headliners and give Mick Jagger and co a well earned rest. TOM ELLIOT ONLINE NEWS EDITOR

A Frank Affair (I Wish) Magda Cassidy, Music Editor, gushes lyrical about the beard himself, Frank Turner, after his gig at the O2 Arena in Bristol

AFTER months of impatient foot tapping to the patriotic anthems of England Keep My Bones, April 21st marked an exciting day for folk/punk fanatics as Frank Turner headed to the Bristol O2 with his battalion of Sleeping Souls for one last preview of fifth studio album Tape Deck Heart. The venue was packed with an unusually mixed crowd, including an OAP with attitude who insisted on standing on my toes all night... I’m assuming she missed Turner’s request that we treat our surrounding neighbours with some respect, showing, if nothing else how genuinely nice both he and (most of) his fans are. The character in question was incidentally the only crowd member who didn’t adhere to Turner’s quirky request to jog on the spot during each rousing chorus of ‘Recovery’, one of the new album’s most notable tracks. We were treated to several tasters of the album’s humble offerings, from gutwrenching ‘Tell Tale Signs’ to upbeat ‘I Want To Dance’, and the notion that everyone in the crowd was hearing

James Blake Overgrown ATLAS ...............................

Out now

AS a massive fan of James Blake since hearing his chilling cover of Feist’s ‘Limit to Your Love’ and seeing his compelling set at Latitude Festival, I was extremely excited to hear what his second album had to offer. I was not disappointed. This album feels more ‘fleshed out’ than Blake’s eponymous debut. There is a sense of progression from the raw experimentation of his early work.

“Overall, the album is trance-like and captivating” Containing his trademark stripped-bare vocals and haunting chords, the title track ‘Overgrown’ sets the tone for what is to follow. If you don’t enjoy this track then the album probably isn’t

the songs for the first time made it all the more enchanting. Frank’s charisma and relentless energy had his audience captivated from start to finish as he clambered up onto the drum kit rocking out with his acoustic guitar every inch the punk rock front man of which he sings. Despite a flawless performance, Turner still managed to capture a level of intimacy with his audience chatting away as if we were old friends before pouring his heart out as if there was nobody else in the room. Turner’s captivating stage presence and passion are not lost on the record either, unlike artists like Ed Sheeran whose live quality doesn’t quite translate. Turner’s mass of loyal followers shouted every lyric as stirring old favourites ‘Wessex Boy’ and ‘Glory Hallelujah’ were played; Turner offers something for everyone, whether your thing is heritage or atheism. Closing with an apt rendition of Fastest Way Back Home, I returned to Exeter with a renewed faith in mankind and some new tracks to listen to thanks to support from Larry and his Flask and singer/songwriter George Frakes. for you. The lyric, ‘I don’t want to be a star, but a stone on the shore’ perhaps refers to how Blake is continuing to make music that he loves, instead of music for the masses. ‘I Am Sold’ and ‘Retrograde’ are my personal favourites. ‘I Am Sold’ is made up of repeated echoing lyrics that rise and fall, alternating between layers of percussion and silence. Starting with a simplistic hummed melody with Blake’s high-pitched lyrics layered over the top, ‘Retrograde’ rises up to a crescendo and then ends as softly as it begins. He is focusing on what he does best; producing songs that are built up and then broken down.

“Blake is continuing to make music that he loves, instead of music for the masses” ‘Our Love Comes Back’ is the weakest song. It is a bit too repetitive to the point of being annoying and doesn’t really go anywhere, but it is a small price to pay. (and it’s the last track, so you can easily just skip back to the beginning to enjoy the rest all over again). Overall, the album is trance-like and captivating. Although it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, it is definitely worth a listen. For fans of James Blake, ‘Overgrown’ will be on repeat. BRYONY JAMES ONLINE ARTS EDITOR

Revision 1. Laura Marling ‘Where Can I Go?’ A tantilising taster of fourth studio album ‘Once I Was An Eagle’ (out May 27th), Marling’s gorgeous Dylan-esque purr makes for perfect easylistening. 2. James Brown ‘Get Up Offa That Thing’ If it’s funk that gets your mouse mouving, Brown’s upbeat, motivational melody is sure to get you up Stocker Road and in the Library. 3.Bob Marley ‘Cheer Up’ Perfectly capturing the feelgood holiday vibe, if this doesn’t get you smiling in spite of the hours of researching ahead, you may as well give up hope. 4.Frank Turner ‘Losing Days’ Reminiscent of The Cure’s ‘Friday I’m in Love’ , Turner aims to please with an uplifting track despite the slightly depressing subject matter. 5.Michael Kiwanuka ‘I’m Getting Ready’ Positively charming, this mellow soul song will ensure your absolute preparation for the exam season.

Get in tune: online and on air Head to Exeposé Music Online for extended interviews with Little Comets and Sanskara, a chat with up-and-comers The Crookes, reviews of Peace and Devendra Banhart’s latest offerings and online exclusives such as the first of many festival reviews for Pleasure Principle www.exepose.ex.ac.uk Tune into our radio collaboration with Xpression FM Music, The Xmedia Music Show 6-7pm every other Monday, or listen back to past episodes featuring interviews with the likes of the Django Django, Alt-J, Peter Hook’s and tonnes of great stuff www.facebook.com/ xmediamusicshow

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Newsreel Michael Fassbender to star as Macbeth

Everyone’s favourite German-Irish superman is set to appear in a new adaptation of the Shakespeare classic. Producers are currently working with Snowtown director Justin Kurzel on the project, with shooting expected to start later this year.

Zach Braff has reached his $2million Kickstarter target

With over 28,000 backers, Zach Braff raised $2million in just four days in order to fund a follow-up to his 2004 directorial debut Garden State. Braff claims that raising the money independently through Kickstarter will give him greater control and final cut.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans, rejoice

In his forthcoming reboot, Michael Bay has confirmed that our favourite pizza-eating Italian-American anthropomorphic mutant turtles won’t be made into aliens, and will remain, er, mutants.

Roger Ebert, 19422013

Acclaimed film critic Roger Ebert has passed away after an 11 year battle with cancer. Two days before his death, Ebert ended his final blog post with “So on this day of reflection I say again, thank you for going on this journey with me. I’ll see you at the movies.” A very sad loss.

Shut up and play the Fitz (gerald) Louis Doré, News Editor, looks at the highs and lows of anachronistic soundtracks BAZ LURHMANN’S highly anticipated summer blockbuster The Great Gatsby has excited the film public to a level almost unprecedented. Upon the release of the first trailer we were awed but a little confused by the sprawling party shots of prohibition flappers doing the Charleston to No Church in the

“Will.i.am? Gotye? FERGIE?! Come on Baz, what the actual fuck?” Wild. “Silly Baz!” we cried! But Di Caprio and Mulligan still seemed to be amazing casting and we were swept up in the high contrast, high definition deliciousness of the stills. But then the soundtrack details were released: “Will.i.am? Gotye? FERGIE?! Come on Baz, what the actual fuck?” It seemed like the Australia director was running carefree like

Gatsby’s yellow car, mowing down the last ten years’ best songs in an attempt for his trademark loveable quirkiness. The fascination the Australian director has developed for anachronistic scores could be traced to the success of Moulin Rouge! The sight of a mustachio’d Jim Broadbent leading cancan dancing prostitutes and punters alike, wailing “Here we are now, entertain us!” was some of the most compelling cinema I’d seen. But surely taking this surreal tack with the classic American novel was a step too far, especially considering the slow, respected treatment the 1974 Redford/Farrow version gave it? The effect of sound on a film can make or break it. There’s Nicholas Winding Refn’s Drive, a film that relies so heavily on the light drumming of fingertips on a steering wheel, the radio report of a baseball game and the clunking of teeth around a toothpick to set the film’s scope (only to be crashed

Films to see before you graduate: Cry-Baby

JOHN WATER’S Cry-Baby (1990), a musical high-school romance parody, is a quirky and deliciously ridiculous take on the 1950’s juvenile delinquent genre. It tells the story of Wade ‘Cry-Baby’ Walker (a fresh-faced and brooding Johnny Depp), a member of the dangerous ‘Drape’ gang who is in amorous pursuit of the prim and proper ‘Square’ Alison Vernon-Williams (Amy Locane). Once Cry-Baby learns that Alison’s feelings are reciprocated, cue a romp of a war between the ‘Squares’ and the ‘Drapes’, interspersed with highly catchy rock‘n’roll tribute songs, French kissing lessons, motorbikes and, of course, the odd jail-break or two. Will the mismatched and yet

destined couple’s love survive the tests that ensue? Or will Cry-Baby’s sorrow be as permanent as the tattooed teardrop upon his cheek?

“...cue a romp of a war between the ‘Squares’ and the ‘Drapes’, interspersed with highly catchy rock n’ roll tribute songs” I couldn’t possibly give it away but I’m sure the clichés already have. This is, however, far from a criticism. What this film does with refreshing aplomb is expose these clichés to their max whilst playfully and lovingly pointing fun at them, reminding us of

the reasons why we fell in love with classics like Rebel Without A Cause and Grease in the first place. The ‘Drape’ gang, with quiffs and leather jackets galore are, however, far from your average high-school delinquents, epitomised in the terrifying and yet oddly captivating character ‘Hatchet-Face’ whose truly fantastic face you will struggle to forget. A few perhaps slightly misjudged scenes – the aforementioned and arguably overly-informative French kissing lesson – lead to some cringing but these moments are brief and quickly forgotten with

apart by engine roars and shotgun shells in skulls). The soundtrack was also key to the success of the film. In line with the 80’s homage it featured a synth heavy pounding of robotic voic-

“I gave the trailer one last watch, and I think Lurhmann’s going to get it just right” es and slowly swirling basslines – it’s on my iTunes and I’d argue all the former and current Screen Editors’ too. It’s not the only success story – look at Skyfall. The fact that I don’t have to clarify if it is the song or the movie in that sentence says it all. However, there are a lot of terrible soundtracks out there too – Die Another Day was awful from the moment Madonna opened her mouth. In fact, let’s compare the unforgivable let-

the next parodied and yet endearingly delivered line. With fantastic and fully committed performances from the whole cast (in-

down that was Quantum of Solace to Casino Royale by their opening songs – the Jack White/Alicia Keys’ flop against the Chris Cornell ace. Sensitivity to sound is incredibly important as it sets the mood for the film, as well as the marker for the audience’s response. With all this in mind I gave the trailer one last watch, and I think Lurhmann’s going to get it just right. Filter’s wailing cover of the Turtle’s Happy Together outlines Gatsby’s seething desire and obsession perfectly, especially against the backdrop of sultry 1920’s jazz from the Brian Ferry Orchestra. Baz is risking a lot, especially as his last film was Australia, but the focus on symbolism in the trailer and the raw emotion he brings to his projects should make Gatsby a winner. It’s not going to be the tight lipped exchanged glances of Redford and company, but the sound of the angry, confused and lost. Sounds a lot like Fitzgerald to me.

cluding bizarre cameos from Iggy Pop, Willem Dafoe and Ricki Lake) this is quite simply a film about having fun in

“Cry-Baby reminds of the reasons why we fell in love with classics like Rebel Without A Cause and Grease in the first place” every sense of the word. And if you’re still sceptical, Depp has a leather jacket and a quiff, rides a motorbike and plays guitar. Enough said?

AMY HUBBARD

SCREEN

The Place Beyond the Pines Director: Derek Cianfrance Cast: Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes, Bradley Cooper, Ray Liotta 140 mins (15) AFTER coaxing a career-best performance out of Gosling in the brutally bittersweet Blue Valentine, Derek Cianfrance returns with muse Ryan Gosling for a film that appears at first to be an ambiguous tale of heroes and villains – but is in fact about regret, redemption, and whether you can ever really get to a place beyond your past.

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of parental responsibility, he abruptly quits his stunt job and attempts to muscle in, alpha male-style, into Romina’s life in order to provide for baby Jason, despite her being with the kindly and stable Kofi (Mahershala Ali). Emasculated by losing his only source of income, he’s also frustrated by Romina, who

keeps him at an uneasy distance despite being drawn to him, sensing his mercurial nature and knowing instinctively he’s not the type built to last. A scene where he sneaks uninvited into the church where his son is being baptised and watches from the back row, with tears helplessly streaming down his face is heartbreaking to watch, breaking through his tough-guy persona, heightened all the

“This has far more in common with the fatalism of Greek tragedy...” The film begins on an ominous note. Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling), a carnival stunt motorcyclist, is a brooding, rebellious, bad-boy drifter who moves from town to town with a travelling fair. In Schenectady – Mohawk for ‘the place beyond the pines’ – he encounters Romina (Eva Mendes), an old flame from a year ago. There’s a wistful look in Romina’s eyes and a gleam in Luke’s – which turns to shock, when he finds out in due course that he’s the father to Romina’s infant son. Filled with a sudden, violent sense

Iron Man 3 Director: Shane Black Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Ben Kingsley, Gwyneth Paltrow 130 mins (12A) TONY STARK can’t sleep. Haunted by visions of aliens, gods and future unknown threats, he’s hidden himself away in his workshop, obsessively creating suit after suit, shutting the world out in the process. Following the events of the enormously successful Avengers Assemble, Robert Downey Jr plays a distinctly vulnerable Stark in the latest Iron Man offering. The usual cocksure arrogance is replaced by panic attacks and self-doubt. It takes a series of inexplicable terrorist attacks from The Mandarin, Iron Man’s most recognisable enemy from the comics, to bring Stark out of his workshop to defend the world once more. Under Shane Black, director of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and writer of Lethal Weapon, Iron Man 3 does a lot of things that most superhero films haven’t yet, and the majority of them are fantastic. After two standalone films and a dominant role in Avengers, Stark is the most experienced superhero on the circuit, so it’s fitting that his character is pushed

and developed in this film. In the process, he’s stripped back to basics, with his house, girlfriend Pepper Potts and even the computer with more personality than the whole cast of T.O.W.I.E, Jarvis, is taken away from him. Performance-wise, Downey Jr is clearly comfortable in the role that completely rebooted superhero films, his Stark flipping between suave charm, sardonic quips and a newfound anxiety with consummate ease. His scenes with Gwyneth Paltrow – who plays a more active Pep-

per, with ample opportunity to show off her abs – are overshadowed by those with ten year old Harley, played by Ty Simpkins. The backand-forth between the two is brilliant to watch, with Stark shining as an unconventional father figure. Star of the show, however, is undeniably Ben Kingsley in his role as The Mandarin. He is captivating as a terrorist beyond negotiation and without morals, holding the audience as firmly in his grasp as he seems to hold America. He steals absolutely every scene he’s in, helped largely by choppily cut montages of uprising that so often accompany modern-day terrorists. The set-pieces, as you’d expect, are spectacular, but arguably surpass anything in a Marvel film so far. Iron Man saving passengers falling from a flaming Air Force One is breath-taking, especially when considering a lot of it was live stunt work – Moonraker eat your heart out. Though the script is a little heavy on the gag-a-minute vibe, and the 3D predictably pointless, Iron Man 3 sets the bar high for 2013’s summer blockbusters, and proves that superhero films aren’t going anywhere just yet.

JON JENNER EDITOR

more by Mike Patton’s poignant score for the film, which is appropriately devastating for this moment. It isn’t long before fate gifts him an ally in the form of Robin (Ben Men-

“...a stunning and atmospheric meditation on revenge...” delsohn), a mechanic and loveable rogue who gently nudges him towards the world of bank robberies by using his ‘unique skillset’ and bike as a getaway driver, and at this point the film abruptly shifts gears; a loving family vignette with Romina and Jason violently transitions into a disturbing heist scene. But Luke gets comfortable, gets careless, and ultimately gets unlucky, crossing paths at a fateful intersection with ambitious rookie cop, Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper), starting a chain of corruption and consequences w h i c h bleeds into Avery’s life as well as the next generation.

Olympus Has Fallen Director: Antoine Fuqua Cast: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman 120 mins (15) THINK Die Hard with dialogue and you have the latest action-thriller Olympus Has Fallen. Yet despite having a cast which includes renowned actors like Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart and Morgan Freeman, the film is perhaps more commendable for its outstanding use of CGI than for its narrative ingenuity. The story follows Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), a former guard and companion of the President, as he tries to rescue the President and his son after a Korean terrorist’s assault on the White House. Though the plot is somewhat lacking in complexity, it seems the real emphasis of Antoine Fuqua’s action-thriller is on the astonishing special effects, which are both horrifying and captivating in an instance. That is not to say the story-line is tedious, but rather trivial in comparison to the visual effects. This said, the plot is ominous in its relation to current affairs regarding disputes between North and South Korea. Indeed, Butler was reportedly spooked by the similarities between the produc-

8 MAY 2013 |

Exeposé

Gritty, with the same grimy, docudrama aesthetic that made Blue Valentine feel so immediate, The Place Beyond The Pines is less bleak and more plot-driven than the former with some stunning performances, partlarly from Gosling and Mendes. Bradley Cooper is impressive if unlikeable, and Ray Liotta does a serviceable, though by now standard, turn as a corrupt cop in the second act; but as Avery’s hurt wife, Rose Byrne is sadly underused, and their teenage son AJ (Emory Cohen) grates as some kind of 1950s greaser/wannabe gangster parody, though thankfully not overshadowing an understated but haunting performance by Dane DeHaan as a 16 year old Jason. Overly long and losing steam in the final part of the triptych, this is still a beautifully realised production, even if it lacks the same sickening emotional gut punch that Blue Valentine delivered. But when it works, it’s a stunning and atmospheric meditation on revenge and catharsis. Forget about crime and punishment in contemporary backwater America; this has far more in common with the fatalism of Greek or Shakespearian tragedy with its central theme of the sins of fathers vested in damaged sons, and won’t fail to leave you unmoved.

SHEFALI SRIVASTAVA ONLINE SCREEN EDITOR tion, which completed filming in 2012, and the currently unfolding situation regarding nuclear missiles in North Korea. However, there is just a hint of paranoia in the unlikely plot. Whilst the events of 9/11 have proven terrorist attacks are a very real threat, Olympus Has Fallen takes radical activism to its extreme and has the potential to be scare-mongering in its effect.

“The real emphasis of Antoine Fuqua’s action-thriller is on the astonishing special effects” Nevertheless, the film depicts heroism and patriotism in an exciting, if not familiar, manner and it is impossible to claim that Olympus Has Fallen is lacklustre and uneventful. Complete with helicopter crashes, excessive fire-arms, collapse of the Washington Monument and the total destruction of the White House, the visual treat and noble performances by the cast ensure a thrilling viewing experience which is well worth the cost of a cinema ticket.

EMMA SUDDERICK

As Hot As... the hot or nots of this week’s film news RYAN GOSLING - A break... for how long? But w-why?! What’s that? You want to direct? WE CAN CHANGE! Please come back... the Screen editors, past and present, all miss you.

Ironing

JAMES FRANCO - Franco has been signed on to direct an adaptation of Andre Dubus III’s The Garden of Last Days. We appreciate the effort James, but no. Just no.

GUYS AND DOLLS - FOX execs are currently in the process of running the remake of the classic musical past actors Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon Levitt. The world lets out a collective sigh of indifference.

SHAUN THE SHEEP - Work has started to bring the successful Wallace & Gromit spin-off onto the big-screen. Cinemas across Wales are already preparing for the expected sudden influx of customers.

OBAMA - The President’s collaboration with Spielberg at the annual White House Correspondents’ Assocation dinner has cemented him in history as the world’s coolest politician (as if there was ANY competiton).

Iron Man

UNIVERSITY

living

University accommodation 2013/14

LOOKING FOR WORK OVER THE EASTER AND SUMMER VACATIONS? Do you have an enthusiastic approach to work? Are you passionate about customer service? Campus Services are looking for casual staff to work as part of our housekeeping and catering teams in the University residences during the Easter and Summer vacations. Rates of pay are £6.25 p/h (ages 18 to 20) or £6.94 p/h (ages 21+) HOW TO APPLY Please email birksgrange@exeter.ac.uk to request an application form. Alternatively please call 01392 725185 for an informal discussion.

FRIENDLY? APPROACHABLE? READY TO HELP? Residence Life Mentors The Residence Life Team is recruiting student team members for 2013-14. We’re looking for Mentors to offer peer support to students living in residence - in return, you’d receive full training and a rent discount on a room in University accommodation. Mentoring is also a great opportunity to develop your confidence, skills and experience as part of a friendly team. HOW TO APPLY Please contact residencelife@exeter.ac.uk for more information.

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Books

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Book Shelf And the contestants are... Take a look at the impressive Women’s Prize for Fiction shortlist and vote in our online poll!

Kate Atkinson: Life After Life

What if you could live your life again? In Atkinson’s new novel Ursula Todd gets just this chance. Sounding vaguely like a version of Groundhog Day set in 1910, Life After Life has been variously labelled Atkinson’s best work to date.

A.M Homes: May We Be Forgiven

Homes is known for her controversial fiction. Tracking brotherly tensions, May We Be Forgiven expresses discomfort with contemporary America called “flatout amazing” by Salman Rushdie, Homes’ new book could be a hot contender for the prize.

Barbara Kingsolver: Flight Behaviour

With the beautiful Appalachian Mountains as a backdrop, the touching novel charts the very human story of a young mother’s struggle against change. Previously beating Wolf Hall to the top spot in 2010 with her novel The Lacuna, can Kingsolver beat Mantel again this year?

Hilary Mantel: Bring Up the Bodies Bring Up The Bodies, the second in Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy, has already made her the only novelist to win both the Man Booker and Costa prizes in the same year. With some suggesting she’s won enough, will her recent success work in her favour or dash her chances of Women’s Prize victory?

Maria Semple: Where’d You Go, Bernadette After falling from their positions of wild success, Bernadette and her husband Elgie find themselves living in a rundown house. Told through emails, this story is full of surprises. And being the only comedic book on the shortlist, could this satirical novel tickle the judges’ fancy?

Zadie Smith: NW

Previously winning the prize in 2006 with her novel On Beauty, like Kingsolver, Smith could become the first double winner of the prize. Following the lives of four Londoners, Smith’s novel is brimming with diverse emotions in a way that shows the variety of the capital.

Will Michael Morpurgo ever grow up? Emily Lunn and Tom Bond discuss inspiration, libraries and human nature with children’s author Michael Morpurgo DEVON is lucky to have one of the UK’s most prolific and successful children’s writers, the author of Private Peaceful and Kensuke’s Kingdom, in its midst. Michael Morpurgo’s work appeals to readers of all ages and has been adapted to film and theatre, including the hugely successful adaptations of War Horse. Despite having written so much, Michael doesn’t suffer from writer’s block, thanks to some past advice from Ted Hughes, who recommended building up inspiration through “story dreaming”. If you allow enough time for your ideas to grow, then “your mind is simply full of the story” and you will be ready to write. What is important for Michael is to allow time for research, to “fill up the well of my story-making equipment all the time.” He gave us some advice that every writer could use: to avoid entertaining the idea of writer’s block, “because if you think there is such thing as writer’s block, sure as hell you’ll get it.”

“If you think there is such thing as writer’s block, sure as hell you’ll get it” As his fans will know, Michael often writes about war, such as in his latest book, A Medal for Leroy, because “you write about what you care about.” Michael grew up in post-war Britain and the memories of “bombed out London, the pity and the futility of war,” as well as his own family’s loss-

es, made him aware of how “the grieving goes on long after the bloodshed is over”. He reflected on the nature of war, saying “you go to war because you think it’s politically, nationally the best thing to do. You want to win, and everything is about the winning. But a humiliated enemy is a dangerous enemy; all you do is create fuel for the fire of the next vengeance war.” Even though his work is popular with children, it is important that his readers are exposed to a bit of “darkness”. Children now grow up “in very much the same world as adults,” and they need literature that will help them to understand a world that is sometimes more adult than their maturity and perception can cope with. “You have to write a literature which engages with them as they are, not as you would like them to be in a sort of rose-tinted world.” Writers need to reflect the complexity of the real world, “to talk about those serious things of life because I think most of us are aware that you can’t simply avoid the difficult subjects.” Most of all, it is crucial for Michael that he doesn’t patronise his younger readers, “I mean, what am I? I’m a grown-up child. So it’s one grown-up child writing a story for less grown-up children.” Nature is another inspiration for Michael, which is partly fuelled by his charity Farms for City Children, which lets city children experience a working farm, one of which is in Devon. “I’ve been in this wonderfully privileged position to be able to watch and work with young people, completely unused to animals, working alongside them

and witnessing their response to the wildness of nature.” Michael used to be a primary school teacher, and he clearly has a passion for helping others so it’s unsurprising to hear that the greatest lesson he ever learnt was kindness. He realised this when listening to his friend John Lloyd on Desert Island Discs and told us, “nothing is more important than kindness and consideration towards other people. I think in all of

“Nothing is more important than kindness” the lessons I’ve taught as a teacher in a way I was grasping towards that all the time.” His books and his teaching both focus on empathy, as Michael says that literature is “how men learn about women, it’s how children learn about old people, and with that understanding of each other comes kindness. That’s the most important lesson but I don’t know that you can teach it, it just has to be encouraged and discovered”. Michael is also involved with countless other charities including Exeter’s very own Royal Albert Memorial Museum, and public appearances - he appeared at the recent Exeter Food Festival and soon he will be speaking at the Hay Festival on the 29th May. On top of all that, and the small matter of the 120-odd books he’s written, he somehow still finds time to read. He has just finished writing his exciting new take on Pinocchio, changing the Italian original into an autobiography,

since while the original was “written primarily to teach little boys how to behave”, nowadays, “people don’t really want to be told how to behave anymore. It’s such a fun story but don’t tell it that way again because it clearly doesn’t resonate with children today”. Michael seems to know what he’s talking about when it comes to the way the book industry works so it was reassuring to hear that he was dismissive of claims that ebooks would kill physical books, remembering that “every time there’s an innovation of some sort or another everyone thinks people are going to stop reading books”. Even so, he worries about the “stranglehold” Amazon has on book sales and said the biggest question for retailers was: “How you get the book to the customer in a way which is human. I don’t think we’ve found a solution”. The precarious future of our libraries was also concerning for Michael as he talked about the first public libraries in the Victorian era, remembering how they “spread across the world, with this understanding that everyone has a right to books. It became for this country, as important at one time, as the National Health Service”. He talked about their importance for those with little money to buy books - children, students, the elderly. “It’s one of the most important social services that we have. I fear for it because at the present time it seems there is an inclination to cut what, to a lot of people, is unnecessary. But that’s simply not the case - if we don’t have access to literature we are the poorer for it”.

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Condensed Classics The Name of the Rose Umberto Eco (1980)

“Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry” A MURDER mystery in an abbey where all the monks are stereotypically untrustworthy and motives are never wholly obvious. William of Baskerville and novice Adso investigate, fighting against rigid structures which have been maintained for hundreds of years. As more information comes to light the bodies continue to inexplicably mount without any clear cause of death. However, using modern techniques of deduction William is able to recognise the root cause behind the fatalities: Aristotle’s book on comedy. Whilst this is not as enticing for a 21st century audience, a poisoned copy of the text results in, apart from the murders, the library and then the abbey burning down. Adso then concludes the narrative in later life by remembering his association with William of Baskerville, which was the most exciting time of his life. ELLI CHRISTIE BOOKS EDITOR

Kensuke’s Kingdom Michael Morpurgo AT first glance, a story about a young boy being separated from his family at sea and washing ashore on a small island with only a slightly primal old man for company sounds anything but heart warming. But this story is probably one of, if not the most, uplifting tales of human warmth and kindness as we see a friendship and strong mutual respect develop between the two very different main characters that inhabit the island referred to by Morpurgo as ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’.

“A story that reminds us human kindess surpasses civilisation” Before reading the book, I was told the story had a similar feel to Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. Although the focus of both stories greatly differs, it is easy to see why these comparisons are drawn. The descriptive elements, particularly the moments where Michael eats fish, are similar to Hemingway in make you truly taste and feel everything on the page. However, I must confess I found Morpurgo’s tale more emotive and engaging.  The narration of the book is wonderfully young and naïve and at times it feels difficult to comprehend the fact it is not simply a journal entry from the young Michael. The reader is truly able to experience all the myriad

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The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde OSCAR WILDE’S only published novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, was written in 1890. The novel achieved immediate controversy at the time of publication and has beguiled and entranced readers ever since. I was on a family holiday in South Africa when I read this short novel and I was looking very much forward to reading something which I’d heard so much about. When it was published, many reacted to the novel with outrage, with some even insisting that Wilde should be prosecuted on moral grounds. In context of the Victorian age, with its heavy, even oppressive moral values, this isn’t surprising, with the novel’s hints at homoeroticism, the ever-present theme of death, corruption and intrigue. The novel recounts the story of the extraordinarily handsome young aristocrat Dorian Gray, who sits for his friend Basil Hallward for a portrait. Basil immediately becomes besotted by Dorian due to his handsome appearance, his grace

“The novel achieved immediate controversy at the time” and charm, and before the novel was heavily censored there were hints at Basil’s homosexual desire for Dorian. The novel’s preface is entirely related to art, informing readers that ‘the artist is the creator of beautiful things’ and emphasises the importance of beauty. Wilde begins the novel with a scene in the rich aristocrat Lord Henry Wotton’s gardens, where he is relaxing of emotions with him. From the panic of being thrown overboard to the relief of waking up to water, fish and fruit, you truly empathise and care about Michael throughout. The two moments that truly convey this are his rescue in the form of a football at one point and in the shape of Kensuke in a later stage of the story.  Truly the star of the novel however, is the character Kensuke. There is nothing more touching than observing that even after countless years of isolation the human spirit still has the a b i l i t y to care for others and desire to help. From the moment he comes to the island Michael is cared for and protected by Kensuke, and it is highly doubtful he would be able survive without him. As there friendship blossoms, so does Michael’s understanding of t h e world. This is a great coming-ofage story for the young, but that is not to say nothing can be taken from it by the older generation. This is a sto-

while his friend Basil works on his painting of Dorian. We learn here of Basil’s besotted adoration of Dorian, informing Henry that ‘he is absolutely necessary to me’ and readers here are

“How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young” introduced to the incredibly powerful hold Dorian exerts over people due to his beauty and charm. Espousing a new hedonism, Henry suggests that the only two things in life worth pursuing are beauty and fulfilment of the senses, which both shocks and entrances young Dorian. When Basil has completed the portrait, which is a masterpiece conveying the youth’s almost god-like beauty Dorian remarks, in a moment which will haunt him,: ‘How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young... if it were only the other way!’ Later, after cruelly breaking off an engagement, leaving his fiancé to kill herself in despair Dorian discovers to his shock that his portrait has changed: his mouth now bears a sneer, ageing with each sin he comments. I found this a particularly creepy part of the novel and it’s cerry that reminds us that human kindness surpasses civilisation and truly prevents us from ever becoming animals.

RORY MORGAN ONLINE BoOKs EDITOR

tain to give the reader chills. Over the next 18 years, Dorian experiments with every vice and becomes increasingly notorious in aristocratic circles. He eventually loses each friend he makes, leading him on to further hedonism. After reaching his lowest point the reader believes they can predict his end. Instead, the finale is even darker. Believing that, through promising to become good, that his portrait will once more become beautiful, Dorian is horrified to learn it has merely become uglier. He then makes one final, awful decision which has consequences of equal importance to his original wish. The novel is brilliantly written; Wilde’s wit cannot be matched. He admitted that the characters were reflections of himself, and many believe that the novel provides a dark insight into Wilde’s own life. While the novel was severely criticised when it was published at the time, in the twenty-first

“Many reacted to the novel with outrage, with some even insisting that WIlde should be prosecuted” century we can fully appreciate this intriguing, compelling and ultimately sinister novel. CONOR BYRNE

Author Profile: Tao Lin TAO LIN is the author of seven works and founded the independent publishing company Muumuu House. He is wellknown for being a leading figure in the Alt Lit community, a new form of literature using the internet for publishing. While not his only style, his writing is often known for being autobiographical, very concrete and deliberately absent of conventional ways of novelistic expression. This style has been praised by The Guardian, writing “The text is conscientiously scoured of narrative ‘purpose’, ‘characterisation’, and anything else that would smack of novelistic bullshit.” This style, and Lin’s demeanour, sometimes, incorrectly, described as “autistic”, has been equally criticised, with Gawker referring to him as “maybe perhaps the single most irritating person we’ve ever had to deal with”. I first came across his writing through his large online presence. I enjoy his writing for its mundane simplicity, and because it is refreshing and doing something different with the form being simultaneously unconventional and completely logical in the expression of thought and emotion. Richard Yates feels like his most complete work, and represents him and his writing. The novel charts the relationship of Haley Joel Osment and Dakota Fanning an immensely depressed young couple who continually talk about wanting to kill themselves. With the June publication of his new novel Taipei, his cult following is expected to turn into a large one. frankie plummer

Any Last Words? In the spirit of exams we asked for the most motivating and inspiring quotes from literature to spur you on throughout the revision period Steven Gerrard’s autobiography. He got a pitchfork through his foot when he was like 6 and still went on to play for England man! Inspiring. JON JENNER Douglas Adams’ refrain of ‘Don’t Panic’ is a quote that often returns to me during the exam period. JOSH GRAY The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The idea that you can eat whatever you like and everything will turn out OK has been keeping me going since childhood. ROB HARRIS In Shanghai Baby Zhou Weihui says ‘writing is like stargazing with your head down’. That feeling of getting lost inside a universe of your own making with only a screen or piece of paper in front of you is exactly how writing feels to me. Plus it’s a more philosophical way of tackling essays and long-answer exam questions... SHEFALI SRIVASTAVA Patti Smith’s autobiography of sorts Just Kids was a literary extension of

an amazing woman - the way she talks about discovering her art, and passion for work tied up in 70s rock and roll New York makes me feel better about not knowing what I really want to do with my life. She went from sleeping rough in central park to one of the greatest singers of all time! MEGAN FURBOROUGH “Life is a message scribbled in the dark.” Vladimir Nabokov-Pale Fire. The chaos is somehow hugely reassuring. No matter what you try, you’re always scribbling in the dark, so don’t worry so much. TOM BOND Stuart Macnoie’s Cider with Roadies, his biography of sort which made me feel like I could be a big shot muso and radio presenter when I first read it. Now (no longer lusting after fame and fortune in the music world) it at least makes me feel like if you work hard enough on something you’re really passionate about you can probably give it a shot. EMILY TANNER

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Arts

Arts Diary Our regular Arts Diary column shows you all the important events going on in Exeter...

Art

News from the Sun @ Exeter Pheonix until 11 May BP Portrait Award @ RAMM until 19 May

Comedy

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) (Revised) @ Northcott Theatre 10 May Lee Nelson @ Exeter Corn Exchange 13 May

Drama Jekyll and Hyde @ Poltimore House 9-11 May The Disappearance of Sadie Jones @ The Bikeshed Theatre 16 - 20 May

Dance Ballet Black @ Northcott Theatre 8-9 May Edge Dance @ Exeter Phoenix 28 May

Festival Respect Festival @ Belmont Park 1-2 June

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Sophy Coombes-Roberts & Ricky Freelove arts@exepose.com JOIN THE FACEBOOK GROUP Exeposé Arts

The Changing Face of Comedy Ricky Freelove, Arts Editor, looks at how the comedy world has changed in the 21st century IN the last ten years comedy has undertaken a major facelift with the introduction of stadium tours, tickets selling by the hundreds of thousands and some comedians earning more in a year than the Beckhams. Just from browsing on Ticketmaster it is clear that comedy is very much a heavy weight when it comes to the arts;

“Never before has there been such popularity for the genre on stage or on TV” the category would appear bare if comedy was not a prominent section within it. However, it must be recognized that this is very much a characteristic of the 21st century. This is not to say comedy was not popular in the 20th century, however never before has there been such popularity for the genre on stage or on TV, nor has there been such money in the business. In 2010/11 Peter Kay’s Tour That Didn’t Tour, Tour sold some 1.2 million tickets and went on over 18 months, with 40 consecutive nights at the MEN arena. Similarly both Peter Kay and Michael McIntyre earned over £20 million during 2011, demonstrating how comedy is clearly a ‘big deal’ in the 21st century. So why has comedy become so pop-

ular in the 21st century? One explanation as to why comedy has blossomed in recent years is due to the exponential increase in quality of technology. Huge high definition video screens and clearer digital sound have enabled comedians to become more accessible and comprehensible for huge audiences. The rapid increase in technology is the only reason comedians like Lee Evans, Michael McIntyre and Peter Kay have been able to play in venues as large as the O2 arena. Another reason as to why comedy (especially stand-up) has become so popular in the twenty-first century is due to TV panel shows such as Never mind the Buzzcocks, Would I Lie To You? and of course Mock The Week. All of which have received huge attention over the last decade; their success on the box unintentionally advertises stand-up comedians and are perhaps responsible for the buzz for comedy this decade. Likewise, since 2004 Live At The Apollo has specifically broadcasted stand-up comedy and showcased many of the biggest acts and has advertised many, perhaps less well known comedians to fame. Interestingly, comedians appear to have taken on a responsibility to perform and entertain in TV aid programmes such as Comic Relief, Children In Need and the Royal Variety Show. Stand-up and sitcoms’ large participation in such

programmes demonstrates that the British public want to see comedy and are more likely to donate money to good causes because they have had a good night in, in their own living rooms.

“Comedians success on the box is perhaps responsible for the buzz for comedy this decade” The success of comedians on stage and on TV in the 21st century seems to

be supported by the availability of comedians regularly featured on television programmes, which further adds to their success on stage, forming a Catch-22 in the comedy world: the success of comedians on stage allows them to feature on panel shows or to play gigs which are recorded and shown on television. This then increases their popularity and the cycle starts again for their next standup tour. Many examples come to mind, such as Russell Howard, Micky Flanigan and Lee Mack.

Exehibition

An Arts Must

Each issue, Exeposé Arts will be featuring a piece of student art. This week, it’s student photographer, Josh Irwandi

Repect Festival Belmont Park 1-2 June

“THESE photographs were taken when my parents and I went on holiday to Montreux, Switzerland, last summer. “Rochers de Naye was taken when we went up the Swiss Alps on a cog train. I was particularly lucky the mist had arranged itself around the top of the mountain. I opted for black-and-white, mainly because I got a little inspired after I went to the Swiss Camera Museum in Vevey. I decided to take Montreux because normally in a good daylight you’d be able to see the clichéd image of the Swiss Alps, so I thought with the mist it would’ve been different. I was only bothered by the bottom of the image where it cuts off a bit of the Montreux panorama - I didn’t bring my tripod so I paid the price. “I am now former photographer of Exeposé and former President of Photo Soc. Apart from my mainstream interest in photojournalism, I have a background of taking landscapes. My second year was particularly tiring - doing landscape photography does take your mind off things; it’s so healthy!”

To have your art featured in Exehibition, contact arts@exepose.com

EXETER Respect is the city’s annual free festival celebrating diversity, performing, creative arts and community. Belmont Park will be covered in beautiful site decoration produced by a range of schools, community and youth groups. There will be activities and performances representing every part of Exeter’s culture, which is becoming more diverse year-on-year, with something to see or do for participants of all ages and backgrounds. Why not come and join in the community atmosphere? Paul Giblin, event co-ordinator, commented: “This year we will not have our big top, but will have a new outdoor stage and have more community activities than ever before.” There will also be a Exeter Respect Launch Party which will take place at the Lemon Grove on Friday 31st May from 9pm-2am. The night will see a range of sets over two rooms featuring performances from ARTWORK (Magnetic Man) and CRISSY CRISS (Radio 1) to name but a few. Both the launch party and the festival are a must for an arts lover’s diary.

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Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum The British Museum 28 April - 29 September 2013 THE story of Pompeii has been a popular story throughout the ages. Despite the story of Herculaneum being more unfamiliar, the British Museum manages to rectify this with their incredible exhibition about the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.

“Seeing people that have been preserved in the position they died in by ash and then kept in that position is disturbing”

The huge range of exhibits including: a baby’s cradle, the fresco of a couple having sex and the resin figure of a woman as she died, is the exhibition’s biggest pull. The British Museum successfully structure the exhibition by splitting it into Life and Death, where in the Life section they even have some rather thrilling sound effects of an ancient Roman street. The garden section is just stunning with beautiful vast frescos covering the walls. However, the other half depicting death is (in a non gruesome way) the best part. With the exhibits lit up, the semi darkness was spine chilling. Seeing people that have been preserved in the position that they died in by ash and then kept in that position by plaster was disturbing, especially the family that have been thrown back by the force of the ash where you can still see the features on the child’s face.

“This exhibition is staggering and hugely more effective than seeing another clay pot ” Yet this is exactly the point; we have all seen artefacts in a museum dating back thousands of years but the fact that these are exactly as they were in 79 ADfrom a wooden table to carbonised food, is staggering and hugely more effective than seeing another clay pot.

CRESSIDA TRAVIS

Micky Flanagan: “Back in the Game” April - November 2013 IT was on the off chance that my family had a spare ticket for Micky Flanagan’s latest show Back in the Game. Flanagan has never been one of my favourite comedians - I’m generally more of a philosophical wanderings and cutting social observations kind of person but his latest show surprised me with its personal honesty and intelligent wit, and there was enough school-boy humour to make even the most straight laced of audience members raise a smile. Flanagan didn’t offer the audience a support act for his show – which surely ran for a good two hours – a move which could have fallen flat if he hadn’t immediately captured the audience’s attention.

Exeposé

The Mormons have arrived Sophy Coombes-Roberts, Arts Editor, reviews the latest West End sensation

THE huge hype over Broadway’s smash hit musical The Book of Mormon arriving in the West End has swept the nation, taking more than £2.1million at the box office on the first night of sales, smashing all other West End records. Not only are tube stations covered with gushing reviews of the show, but genuine Mormon campaigns are cropping up all over London making it extremely hard to bypass the phenomenon. It well and truly seems that Britain has the Mormon fever. Written by Trey Parker and Matt

The 39 Steps New Victoria Theatre April 15-20th 2013 WITH all the best qualities of a spy thriller and romantic comedy, Patrick Barlow’s adaptation of John Buchan’s classic crime novel and Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 film is melodrama at its best. Using a minimal number of props and actors, the urgent spy story is transformed into a parody similar to that of a Monty Python production, without ever losing the clarity of the original storyline. The charmingly funny Richard Ede performs the role of Richard Hannay, a traditional wartime Englishman complete with tweed suit and pencil moustache, who becomes involved in a spy conspiracy. After a German spy is murdered in his home, Hannay flees Some gentle banter with the ‘lucky’ few in the front row soon made us all feel at ease before he launched into an elaborate tale about how he was unable to steal anymore since he had “got a bit of success”. The story contained some hilarious moments such as when Flanagan smuggled pies out of a service station whilst on tour and it wasn’t difficult to believe that, at least some version, of these events had happened. This is not a comic who wants to moralise and tell us how he’s grown out of his roots, but instead it is clear that Flanagan is rooted in his past and his feet are firmly on the ground. A large proportion of the show revolved around love and relationships, specifically Flanagan’s life at home with his wife and children. There were times when some may have felt that he was poking a little too much fun at his

Stone, the creators of South Park and musical Avenue Q, the musical has been greatly anticipated on the back of their previous work. Their amusement with Mormonism was obvious throughout the TV South Park which included the character of Mormon student Gary and an entire episode on the bizarre creation of the cult. There were worries that they would take the religious banter too far. However, the gleaming reviews from across the pond assured us that the show was not too crude for us Brits. Needless to say, sitting in the theatre

to Scotland in the hopes of uncovering the truth about The 39 Steps and in turn, proving his innocence. During his getaway, Hannay is accompanied by a miscellany of characters, performed by Tony Bell, Gary Mackay and Charlotte Peters, a female lead with all the poise and charisma of Rachel Weisz in Stephen Sommer’s The Mummy. The flawless four man cast embody a total of 139 character roles in 100 minutes, a skill requiring a performance accuracy achieved only by the most talented actors. The fierce deployment of lines and intentional hesitation of special effects work seamlessly together, making the audience acutely aware of the precision of the choreography and prowess of the actors. There is potential for parodies to be gauche in humour, yet The 39 Steps suffers no such clumsiness. As an audiclearly loving wife but thankfully he trod the line between comedy and insult well, joking in the encore that his wife allowed him to put certain ‘bits in’ after

“...a commercial comic, capitalising on the mainstream observational humour” he’d ‘bought her a new top.’ Inevitably these segments of the show were the ones to which the audience could most relate and raised some of the biggest laughs but the clever way in which different strands were carefully woven together by Flanagan must also be credited for the reception they received. My opinion of Micky Flanagan hasn’t drastically

awaiting the opening number with not a spare seat in the house, I had extremely high expectations of the show which has been showered with critical appraisal winning nine Tony Awards and a Grammy. But the critics got it absolutely right; The Book of Mormon is an all-singing, all-dancing musical masterpiece. The audience is transported to modern day America, where we follow the story of two young Mormon missionaries on their quest to spread the word of the third biblical book: The Book of Mormon. The two male leads: Elders Price and Cunningham are played by Gavin Creel and Jared Gertner who have both starred in the US tour, and Gertner in the original Broadway production. The Americans are superb and carry the entire performance, with Creel finding comedy in the straight talking, model student Elder Price, and Gertner delighting in the role of the idiotic sidekick. They are supported by a British cast who bounce off the Americans and are comedic in their own right. With a recommended viewing age of 18, the production contains a fair amount of brash language and blasphemous connotations which only adds to the naughty humour of the show, without ever truly offending or shocking. Yet, rather than being outrageously rude, I found the humour to be more

‘silly’ than crude. With characters such as Elder McKinley, the extremely camp Mormon mission leader and Joseph Smith: the all-American prophet, providing endless amounts of ridiculous entertainment through targeting the softness of Mormonism. One cannot help but find amusement in the bizarreness of the Mormon characters and their attempts to convert native Ugandans to

ence member I was delightfully aware that I was laughing with the actors rather than at them, making the performance more than just a spoof of the original crime story but also a parody of theatrical comedy itself. The multitude of self-conscious jokes, like the miniature railway train running downstage as we exit Kings Cross Station and the use of shadow images to visualise the police pursuit of Hannay across the Scottish

sketch show. No amount of praise can do the performance justice. Maria Aitken’s direction is theatrical genius, with moments of comic excellence that will stay with me long after the performance is over.

“The show is an allsinging, all-dancing musical masterpiece” the American tradition. As Elder Price crash and burns in his attempts, Cunningham thrills us all through his recreation of the religion involving curing aids through having sex with frogs and the prophet dying of modern day dysentery. Along with the outrageous humour, the show has all the qualities of a box office sensation. The singing is pitch perfect, Casey Nicholaw’s loud choreography sticks to traditional West End dance yet compliments the in-your-face comedy, and the cast’s performance is flawless. Fantastically funny and polished to perfection, The Book of Mormon is a true triumph.

EMMA SUDDERICK

highlands, are received by the audience with the tactful success of a 1 9 7 0 ’s changed. I still think that he is quite a commercial comic, capitalising on the mainstream observational humour which is currently so in vogue, but after seeing his latest show I respect that kind of comedy a little bit more. Abstract ponderings on life aren’t for everyone and sometimes it’s good to be able to have a laugh about the everyday.

EMILY TANNER DEPUTY EDITOR

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GAMES

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Lights, controller, action! Andrew Owens talks cinematic video gaming , falling off waterfalls, and the ongoing transformation of the single player genre THE latest instalment of the Tomb Raider franchise has been met with almost unanimous praise since its release, with fans and critics alike approving of the series’ “back to basics” approach, which painted the story of how a young Lara Croft was shaped by her ordeals on an abandoned island. But one of the most common criticisms levelled at Square Enix’s reboot was that it was often too cinematic, wrenching control away from the player during many of the games’ key set pieces, such as Lara’s hair-raising plummet down a colossal waterfall. “Quicktime events”, where the player must press specific buttons to complete a cutscene, are now commonplace in many action games. Quantic Dreams’ murder mystery thriller Heavy Rain, for example, almost entirely forgoes traditional gameplay mechanics in favour of these events, while Santa Monicas’ God of War series splices them into combat in order to unleash brutal

finishing moves. Many reviewers felt that Tomb Raider, in particular, overused the quicktime event instead of a more interactive style of gameplay.

“Cinematic events turn an isolating pastime into a spectacular communal experience” I disagree. Whilst playing Tomb Raider, I found that although quicktime sequences were common, they enhanced my gaming experience. As any gamer will tell you, battling through your new single-player purchase can become a lonely experience. Hammering away at the next end-of-level boss, whilst supremely fun for the player, can often leave spectators alienated. As someone who enjoys single-player games far more than the multiplayer that’s seemingly tacked onto every release, these cinemat-

ic moments save me from playing alone. Having been gifted with a PS3 for my birthday, I spent the evening playing the new Tomb Raider. All of my housemates, even the ones who weren’t really into gaming, sat around and watched the cinematic cutscenes and quicktime sequences that many detest. It turned the experience into an interactive movie that we all enjoyed. Their input and reactions as our hapless heroine fell down yet another sheer rock face really improved my enjoyment of the game. Without these cinematic moments, the evening could have spiralled into me blasting away at another faceless henchman, while my housemates wandered around bored out of their minds, wondering when they could have the TV back to watch Come Dine with Me again. So are cinematic quicktime events really such bad thing, when they elevate single player campaigns from an often isolating pastime into a spectacular communal experience?

Franchise Fatigue Too much of a good thing? Jack Merrell investigates the growing trend in annual franchise releases ANNUAL releases for well-received franchises were likely introduced for one of two reasons: to keep consumers interested in a developer’s game, and to make a quick profit. While this tactic has certainly appealed to the masses with big-name franchises like Call of Duty, the tactic can be highly polarising, and could affect consumer behaviour during the next generation.

“The ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ mantra has polarised the gaming community” With more multiplayer focused franchises such as Call of Duty, the success of the tactic is undeniable. Given that the latest entry, Black Ops II, raked in $1 billion in just over two weeks, it’s clear that Activision could keep milking this particular cash cow for a good while. In terms of the actual content of the series, however, it’s largely the same thing every time: short campaign, multiplayer with incredibly similar components, and an extra mode. Yet with a massive focus on the multiplayer component, a new release often means one thing: keep up, or get left behind. Each new title is developed alternately by Infinity Ward and Treyarch, which means that each developer has more time to produce their next

game, yet no real innovations seem to be made. It seems that Activision’s mantra is simply “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” - and it’s one that has polarised the gaming community. Assassin’s Creed is another example of this. The original, while somewhat repetitive, was a pretty solid game, and one that ensured that I would purchase its sequel which was a truly great game in its own right. From there it went downhill with each annual release, making Assassin’s Creed: Revelations and Assassin’s Creed 3 in particular more of a chore than an enjoyable experience. Although Asassin’s Creed 3 enjoyed the most sales of the series, it seemed that the “filler” titles between the numbered entries just were not as appealing, even to fans. Given that the series is mostly focused on the single-player experience, it seems very unusual that annual releases are deemed necessary. Many would likely agree that the titles were too similar and failed to add much with each instalment. The improvements between Asassin’s Creed and Assassin’s Creed 2 were enormous, before Ubisoft realised the commercial success to be gained from releasing the franchise year on year. Franchises without annual releases, while perhaps earning fewer sales than Activision’s behemoth series, generally include some of the most celebrated titles of this generation. BioShock Infinite

was released three years after its predecessor and has achieved worldwide recognition for its quality, despite relatively low sales compared to the genre forerunner, Call of Duty. The three year gap between BioShock 2 and Infinite made it a joy to return to the familiar gameplay, and ensured that gamers were not tired with the franchise. In other genres, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, released five years after Oblivion, provided fans old and new with an unbelievably rich, detailed, and enjoyable game. The title was eagerly anticipated by many, and while

the wait was long, it was worth enduring, enjoying 75 straight weeks in the UK charts since release.

“Franchise fatigue can cause gamers to skip titles or abandon the series altogether” It seems that the annual-release strategy is one that should be considered from several perspectives. Publishers and developers can find a large profit in

the business model, and can keep their franchise fresh in the minds of gamers. For consumers, it can unfortunately lead to franchise fatigue, with gamers skipping titles every now and then, or even abandoning the series altogether. Series like BioShock and The Elder Scrolls, however, have shown that longer gaps between releases can lead to a truly memorable game. While the wait may seem like an Infinite amount of time, the quality of the title is often worth your patience. Good things come to those who wait.

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Injustice: Gods Among Us Alex Phelps takes a look at NetherRealm’s latest ‘super’ addition to the fighting genre Injustice: Gods Among Us NetherRealm Studios

Xbox 360/PS3/Mac Out Now IS it a bird? Is it a plane? No - it’s a decent superhero fighting game. Injustice: Gods Among Us has proven to be one of the best two player beat-’emups I have played in quite some time, even surpassing their previous entry, Mortal Kombat. Injustice takes place in the DC comic-book universe, giving you the chance to play as some of their most famous superheroes including Batman, Superman and Wonder

Woman, as well as the most notorious villains like The Joker and Lex Luthor. The game looks great with sharp character and fighting animations and destructible environments that you can literally tear apart. The game allows you to beat your foes into entirely new areas during fights in some of the most chaotic and over the top transitions seen in a fighting game. One of my favourite stage transitions involves hitting your opponent into a wall with a wrecking ball, who then proceeds to hit several girders before being hit by a train. There is never a moment during a fight when you are bored with the visuals, especially when you perform a super move. These are the most

powerful moves on the game and are unique to every character. Aquaman, in his attack, floods the arena, pick his enemy up with a trident and a prehistoric mega shark swims in and devours them. These moments are certainly when Injustice is at its very best. Nothing can really match the feeling of being Superman and beating an enemy to a pulp by throwing them into buildings or hitting them into space. For me the title actually makes some sort of sense because you genuinely feel like Gods or Titans clashing in immense displays of power. The result of destroyed environments and battered enemies is the most satisfying aspect of Injustice, along with the

pure thrill of playing as some of the best comic book characters of all time.

“It’s one of the best beat-’em-ups I have ever played, surpassing Mortal Kombat” The gameplay itself flows as well as any fighter, as you expect from NetherRealm. Combos are fluid and every single character feels unique and plays in their own distinct style. Some of the best fun comes from playing with friends. Finding your perfect character and fighting your friend’s favourite gives the game a

Chances of survival: Slender Gemma Joyce, Games Editor, ventures back into the woods...

Slender: The Arrival Parsec Productions

PC Out Now BRACE yourselves. Sequel to the unprecedentedly popular Slender: The Eight Pages, and consequently one of the most highly anticipated horror games of the year, Slender: The Arrival is terrifying gamers worldwide for good reason. Holding onto the torturous fear surrounding the mysterious Slenderman’s

pursuit and capture, the game takes the best from the very basic original and places the protagonist in an electrifying narrative. There are five new maps including a house, an abandoned mine and three sets of scary woods. The music is fierce, the graphics are much improved and the horror is magnified. Curiosity killed the cat, and anyone who wants to find out about Slendy. There are countless collectible clues that flesh out the story, but search for them at your own peril, for Slenderman is never far behind. It’s enough to put the

gamer off browsing the scenery, even if it is beautifully detailed. The final stages of the game are spent frustratingly running through caves and corridors lined with Slender-scratched graffiti, and while it is tempting to stop and read it, pausing is not an option with the anti-social perpetrator on your tail. Use the bathroom before you begin playing! Additions to the original include the previously mentioned maps, a Slenderman that doesn’t look like a 2D Microsoft Paint creation, and a creepy little masked figure that is not explained entirely in the game’s narrative, but draws links with the amazing online series Marble Hornets from which the Slender series took its inspiration. Players familiar with the Youtube series and the original game will notice a lot of the similarities: you’re forced early on to play through the original agonising 8 pages, and while you keep your dodgy flashlight you’re also viewing everything through a sometimes fuzzy video camera which again harks back to the Blair Witch style of the online series. It’s not without fault, however. The game is prone to crashing, and opening doors is a nightmare. When you’re

rushing to hide, this can cause you to smash things, namely your poor keyboard, in sheer desperation. Another criticism that can be fairly ascribed to the game is its annoyingly short length. While each map has its own sometimes lengthy challenges, once you’ve played it through the next try can be done in as little as thirty minutes. But, considering the game comes in at under ten pounds, it’s hard to complain and it’s obvious that any more additions would go further in terms of narrative and length. Despite some annoyances, though, it’s difficult to believe that such a stunning horror game could gain so much attention from a developer that boasts only the original game and another ominously named Pancakes. Slender: The Arrival is neither comfortable nor satisfying at any point, but I think this is part of its appeal as a horror. You’re never in a safe zone, you never find out exactly what you want to know, and you’re constantly aware of being watched or followed. Pack your torch, your camera and your extra underwear and download it now!

competitive edge that enhances the experience, but be warned: Injustice is slowly tearing my house apart. The hatred for Catwoman and Aquaman can be heard from the street! Overall, Injustice is an action packed experience that both comic book fans and non-fans will enjoy. It combines some of the greatest comic book characters with intense and well displayed fighting mechanics. So grab your red pants, wear them over your trousers and crash land onto the world of Injustice!

Top Time Wasters What have you been procrasti-playing? The new Games Editors reveal their latest addictions

Candy Crush (King.com) is the worm in my revision apple but it’s still deeelicious! It’s basically Bejeweled on acid - with candy.

Gemma Joyce

Bioshock (2K) is the ultimate escapism for revision. Nothing puts exams into perspective like being hunted down by homocidal genesplicers.

Becky Mullen

20TH-24TH JUNE 2013

NEWQUAY TAKE OVER!

+300 ACTS +30 VENUES 4 DAYS/nights PASSES FROM 40 The UK’s best artists, labels and mischief-makers flip the greatest bits of a green field festival, transforming the UK’s premier surf haven into a 100-hour beach town fiesta like nothing before. Newquay transformed. The first Fistral Beach Main Stage, feverish dj’s in classic clubs, secret sets in greasy spoons, breaking bands in y’olde pubs, hidden rooftop raves, beach disco’s, boat parties, pool parties, surf, harbor side film festival, street art, circus, comedy, 24 hour music, cider n ale festivals, exclusive after parties, pasty parties, theatre, extreme sports competitions, from tent to pimp hotel, beach sports, workshops, kebab shop laser show and tomfoolery.

Hotels

JAKE BUGG

ALUNAGEORGE DEVLIN LUCY ROSE

FOREIGN BEGGARS LULU JAMES DUB PISTOLS HIGH CONTRAST DAVID RODIGAN SHY FX BREAKAGE SKREAM & SGT POKES DANNY BYRD NU:LOGIC METRIK B-TRAITS DISMANTLE EATS EVERYTHING WREC & DYNAMITE MC +MORE TBC JACKMASTER ROSKA WILL & THE PEOPLE SCRATCH PERVERTS THE NEXTMEN DJ FORMAT BENJI BOKO IMPERIAL LEISURE ALICE JEMIMA NEIL HALSTEAD PANDA JMAN MARC ROBERTS

THE INTERMISSION PROJECT THE DRUM MACHINE PROJECT BY THE RIVERS MYSTERY HONG KONG PING PONG HIDDEN RIDDIM ANDY H THE MAGNET MORE LIKE TREES EMILY & THE WOODS GRETA ISAAC LUKE RITCHIE SAM BEETON WOKKA SEBASTIEN MINUTEN RONDO LINX ROGUE ELEMENTS ASTROID BOYS TRUE AND FALSE TANKUS THE HENGE AUCTION FOR THE PROMISE CLUB ANNACA ERIN K TEN STORY SHARK BAIT AUDIO SLEAZE JACK LIGHT BEN JAMES THE ATTIC PROJECT GARETH LEE KOLA ROSIE & THE VANDALS BLAIR & THE MACKICHAN BAND LFM & MALI BROWN BEAR OLEE & MR MORRI MATT ANDERSON FRISKY NIPPA PHRIXUS TOM JAMES BIM N.U.M.B XANDER RAWLINS THE DAYDREAM CLUB MARTIN VITAL GLOT DJ DEMONISE JAY BEE LOVELIGHT SOUNDSYSTEM YANNICK TRICK THE FOX FELIX HAGAN & THE FAMILY WHISKY JAX ILLER INSTINCT B2B SHORTSON MODU BUDOS XHOSAH PROSPERO’S JUDGEMENT BEAR ARMS MAGNUS PUTO JASPER IN THE COMPANY OF OTHERS THE STANDARDS JAKARTA CLUB

STAGE TAKE OVERS FROM

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Feature

Somerset CCC From the Boundary: 2012 Season

Somerset were consistently strong across all formats of the game last summer but could not quite get over the finishing line and win the silverware they were seeking. They only lost one match in the County Championship but never really challenged the eventual champions, Warwickshire, despite some strong individual performances. In the limited overs competitions, they narrowly missed out on the latter stages of the Clydesdale Bank 40 whilst they came unstuck against Hampshire in the Twenty Cup semi-final. They suffered with injuries and international call-ups to key players throughout the season whilst they also had bad luck with the weather. The star players of 2012 were undoubtedly Nick Compton and Peter Trego who both had personal best seasons with the bat and ball respectively. All in all, it was a season of hope and promise but no end product which resulted in Coach Brian Rose resigning over the winter.

2013 Season

Somerset have one of the strongest squads in county cricket and should once again be challenging for honours in 2013. The new Director of Cricket is South African Dave Nosworthy who has already introduced a culture of hard work and mental preparation. Somerset’s strength lies in the batting department where they have a good blend of youth and experience. Although Nick Compton will be missing for large parts of the season due to England commitments, the likes of James Hildreth, Jos Buttler and overseas star Alviro Petersen should rack up plenty of runs. Steve Kirby and Alfonso Thomas will lead the bowling attack with support from the inexperienced Overton twins and George Dockrell. Their best chance of success may once again be in the one day competitions with canny bowlers and powerful batsmen who can regularly clear the boundary. Supporters will be hoping for the trophy drought to end in 2013 and there may never be a better time to head down to Taunton to watch some cricket.

With the cricket season underway, Simon Dewhurst takes you on a Straight off the bat: guided tour of our local County Cricket club, Somerset CCC Key Players: the Ciderboys since 2008. ognition with England and played a History Marcus Trescothick (Batsman & Captain)

Ex England opener Trescothick has been one of the most prolific county batsmen for the past 20 years. Equally at home in first-class and one-day cricket, he is renowned for his crisp cover-drives and strong slog-sweeps which helped him plunder over 10,000 runs on the international stage before stress and depression forced him into premature retirement. He still remains a terrorising prospect for opposition bowlers and will need a big season with Nick Compton likely to be away with England for the bulk of the campaign. An ankle injury sidelined him for half of last seas o n and Somerset will require h i s experience and shrewd captaincy if they want to challenge for trophies in 2013.

Alfonso Thomas (Bowler) Affectionately known as ‘The Great Alfonso’ by the Taunton faithful, Thomas has been a loyal servant for

across

He has built a reputation as being one of the best Twenty20 bowlers in the world because of his variety and temperament at the end of an innings. He can also score useful runs in the lower order although he is approaching the twilight of his career so will need to be managed carefully by the Somerset management. If he can stay fit for the whole campaign, he could be pivotal all formats.

vital role in the ICC World Twenty20 triumph in 2010. He averaged over 50 in the County Championship last year and another strong showing this time around could see him winning a spot on the plane to Australia in the winter.

Peter Trego (All-Rounder) County stalwart Trego is one of the county cricket’s most colourful characters and also one of the most consistent players on the circuit. His accurate swing bowling is a big threat on early season pitches wh i l s t his explosive batting and canny death bowling can prove match-winning in the limited overs competitions. He enjoyed his best ever season in 2012 by collecting 600 runs and 50 wickets in the County Championship and his tattooed arms will be looking do more damage this year.

Craig Kieswetter (Batsman & Wicket-Keeper) South African born wicket-keeper Kieswetter has been a key part of Somerset’s success over the past few years. His work behind the stumps has improved greatly whilst his attacking stroke play is capable of taking matches away from the opposition in a flash. He has also gained international rec-

Hildreth eyes silverware Somerset CCC Will Kelleher Sports Editor

SOMERSET top order batsman, James Hildreth is targeting getting his hands on some silverware in 2013. Perenially the bridesmaid and never the bride, Somerset are looking to end a long run of finishing second best in major finals this year. “A successful season for us obviously involves silverware. It’s what we target every year, we’ve been close in previous years and at the end of the

day we want to win trophies and we’re trying everything in our power to do that. “Naturally you want to win the Championship because it would be the 1st time the club has ever won it but ultimately we don’t mind what trophy it is.” 28 year old Hildreth still harbours ambitions of representing England, having seen the meteroric rise of teammate turned Test opener, Nick Compton. “Playing with someone like Nick Compton who is a bit older than me

shows that the door is still open if you’re scoring heavily in County Cricket. I’m always going to harbour those ambitions to play for my country, every day I’m going out playing for Somerset with that in mind.” “An inspiration not just to me but a few people. There are those chance to come into the setup late if you’re scoring a heavy weight of runs in county cricket. If you have a couple of heavy seasons with the runs you are knocking on the door” Hildreth will be a key part of a talented Somerset Squad this year.

Somerset are one of the oldest sporting sides in the country, having played their first match in 1875. They are yet to win the biggest trophy in County Cricket. However, they have been close on many occasions finishing as runners up in 2001, 2010 and 2012. Somerset’s greatest successes have been in the one day arena where they have collected seven trophies. The vast majority of these were won in the late 1970s and early 1980s when they could call upon international superstars Viv Richards, Joel Garner and Ian Botham. They have also enjoyed Twenty20 cricket since its inception in 2003 having reached four finals and collecting one title.

Key Facts

Founded - 1875 Colours – maroon, black & white Ground - The County Ground Honours – 6 O-D Trophies, 1 T20 Captain – Marcus Trescothick Overseas – A. Petersen, A. Rehman

The Ground

Renowned for being one of the best batting surfaces in the country making it particularly popular with fans of one day cricket. The wicket is traditionally flat and the boundaries very short meaning that there are always plenty of boundaries in a day’s play. With a capacity of 9,000, the atmosphere can be electric at Twenty20 matches with the crowd living every second of the action. The weather experienced in the South West is also much better than that seen in the rest of the country and when all this is added together there really is no better place to watch cricket.

Prices

LV= County Championship: Adults: £13, Children: £1 (Advance) LV= County Championship: Adults: £18, Children: £1 YB40/FLT20/Tourist Match: Adults: £20, Children: £3 (Advance) YB40/FLT20/Tourist Match: Adults: £25, Children: £3 Pint of Beer/Cider: £3.50 Meal deal: £5.70 average (Pasty, chips and a drink) Return from St. Davids: £7.20

SPORT

In the news... Volleyball Lara Salzer-Levi EUVC Publicity Officer

AFTER a jam packed first two terms, Exeter University Volleyball Club is once again organising a tournament for all of those who want to give volleyball a go. Over the 25th and 26th of May, EUVC will be hosting a two day Alumni grass volleyball tournament at St Luke’s campus (The Quad) in an effort to raise money and awareness for ‘Get Kids Going’; a charity that introduces sports to disabled children in Devon. The tournament will run over two days and will include teams ranging from four to six

Windsurfing

Rachel Ince Captain

THE weekend of the 27th and 28th of April the Student Windsurf Association (SWA) BUCS Nationals took place in Calshot, Southampton. This was the biggest and final event of the year in the student windsurfing calendar. The racing is split into three divisions; beginner, intermediate and advanced. The beginner fleet got straight into the racing and completed all their races, allowing them to watch some of the advanced racing. Yavnik Ganguly had some great races in a large fleet. In the large and competitive intermediate fleet Exeter’s Phoebe Jordon took BUCS Gold. Rory Cole and Megan Middleton also held their own in the intermediate racing. In the advanced fleet of 30+ racers competition was tough. With fairly inconsistent winds and strong tide conditions were tricky and it was very tactical racing. As has been the regular occurrence in the last few years, Exeter dominated in the female racing. With Kirsty O’Callaghan winning BUCS Gold for the 3rd year. Exeter’s Jo Wright taking

Women’s Cricket

Emily Robinson Team Member

EULCC had their first game of the season against Southampton last Wednesday at Topsham Cricket Club. With a full strength team, we were confident we could start strong and set out a good target to reach the BUCS final this year, especially after the bitter defeat of losing the Indoor BUCS final and tightly missing out on the Gold. Losing the toss, Phoebe Graham’s team were put into the field and straight away looked to dominate in the attack and took early wickets, followed by some tight bowling from Lorna Browne. Claire Thomas also

Rugby League

Will Glover RURL Captain

EXETER UNIVERSITY RUGBY LEAGUE will be represented in the upcoming Student World Cup. Goal kicking winger Xander Seddon has been called up to the Ireland squad after impressing at trials in Dublin. Seddon will compete against teams from around the globe throughout July, including England, New Zealand current Student Four Nations Champions

players each. The subscription fee is £30 per team, and to be paid to the EUVC committee over the next few weeks. Collection dates will be announced on our posters and facebook page (https:// www.facebook.com/ExeterVolleyball?fref=ts). We recommend that those interested in participating sign up sooner rather than later as spaces are limited and interest is high. With proud sponsors including KPMG and Timepiece we are sure to guarantee you a good time. Sports is a great way to relax before, during or after exam time so why not take a break and come and play some volleyball for a good cause.

8 MAY 2013 |

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Exeposé

Russell Seal Health and Fitness

silver for the second year and Rachael Ince coming in bronze for the second time. Team racing took place on the Sunday, this is essentially a relay race in teams of three. Exeter’s team coming in 3rd making it through to the final. Unlucky starting positioning in the final left them finishing in 6th. This event was the BUCS championships and the final event in the Student Windsurf Association series, which has been running since September. The freestyle series culminated on the Sunday, maintaining the high level seen throughout the year. Exeter’s Jo Wright, Dan Lytton and Rachael Ince all competed: Dan and Rachael were unlucky not to make it into the semi-finals, Jo Wright was successful, however in a tough semi, didn’t quite make the final. Other SWA series results (taking into account the seven SWA event through the year) saw Dan Lytton finishing the SWA race series in 3rd, showing what consistency can achieve. In the overall ladies series Jo Wright took top spot for the second consecutive year and Rachael Ince retain 2nd for the second year.

stood up to wicket keeping after Emily Robinson couldn’t due to illness and showed the depth in the team dynamics with some great takes and some cracking dives. After some tight bowling from scholars Fi Morris and Bryony Butcher (Fi taking 4 wickets and Bryony taking 3) and Phoebe finishing with 3 wickets, we restricted Southampton to an easy target of 33 runs. After losing an early wicket of Zoe Burrell, the 33 runs were easily knocked off by Bryony and Fi again in a matter of 3 overs. A strong performance all round by the girls and with a great start to the season, we are looking to repeat similar success against Cardiff in our next fixture! Wales and reigning World Champions Australia. The final will be held on July 24th at Headingley stadium, with the group fixtures taking place throughout West Yorkshire. Fellow fresher Alex Mills-Baker has also been selected for the Great Britain Student Pioneers tour after putting in a series of eye-catching performances throughout the year. The Pioneers are a representative side that travel to up and coming nations to help aid the growth of Rugby League. Selection is based not only on performances on the pitch, but also on the contribution made

New Gym

Will Kelleher Sports Editor

FROM the beginning of the next academic year the ongoing work at the Sports Park will be complete, with a new 200 station multi-purpose gym installed. Phil Attwell, Director of Sport, has said that this facility will be ‘the best the South West’; I went for a tour of the building site last week. With the University spending £6 million on the project and £600,000 on ‘Life Fitness’ equipment expectations are naturally high; I am sure it will not disappoint. The plans are ambitious but look to provide sportsmen and women a more inclusive, student-friendly and ultimately bigger space for exercise. The gym will be spilt into two sections, upstairs and downstairs, to separate the strength and condition-

ing users from the more cardio-vascular based exercise. Downstairs will be three times bigger than the current gym’s non-cardio area and will comprise mainly free weights. Upstairs will be resplendent with treadmills, bikes and rowing machines. Many of these will be ‘high tech’ and equipped with television screen and internet access, so you can check your emails or even watch a film whilst peddling to your heart’s content.

“The plans are ambitious but look to provide a more inclusive, student-friendly and ultimately bigger space for exercise” A few cycling machines will come equipped with screens that put you in a virtual situa-

tion to spice up your workout. Upstairs will also feature the ‘Synergie’ also-known-as ‘The Climbing frame of pain’ (pictured). This is a multi-station hub for people who want and short, sharp and intense workout. Instructor-led classes will be run twice a day here. With three more studios with sprung floors and mirrored walls, specific rooms for nutrition and exercise advice and more empty floor space, the new gym will not just be a place for your avid user. The designers and the AU wanted to make the ‘best exercise experience there is’ and have conducted many student focus groups with current non-users as well as gym addicts to get a more rounded feel to the facility. This exciting new facility will be named the ‘Russell Seal Health and Fitness Centre’, after the former Council Chair who helped

Exeposé

| WEEK TWENTY-FIVE

SPORT

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Centre to open in September

Photo: Toby Crewes

Crossword No. 48 by Raucous

Across 1. US president (6) 4. Superhero (6) 7. Dance (6) 8. US actress (6) 9. Fake (6) 11. Thoughtful (13) 13. English admiral (6) 15. Intercept (6) 17. Ni (6) 18. Fish (6) 19. US president (6)

gather funding for the project. The current gym will still be in use up until the new one is fully active and from October will be turned into a new ‘High Performance’ space for AU teams. The gym will also create new jobs in the brand new reception area, which will have a television screen streaming live BUCS score updates. Naturally the prices will be rising as detailed in the ‘News’ section but as Exeter looks to break the top five of BUCS for the first time ever, the quality of service provided is vital. The money gathered from higher membership costs will be re-invested into the AU to provide more plentiful resources for all clubs, better coaching and generally improve the ‘offer’ of sport at our University. I for one am inspired to dust off the trainers and check it out on 23 September, when they hope to open their doors for the first time.

Golf BUCS Gold THE GOLF 1st team won the BUCS Cup against Central Lancaster University (UCLAN) 7-2 at Formby GC, last Wednesday. The University of Exeter’s name will be added to the trophy for 2013 for the first time since the 2004 victory. It halts a run of seven consecutive Stirling wins since 2006 and secures Exeter’s spot as the No.1 ranked University in the UK for the 2012-2013 BUCS season. Despite UCLAN leading 2-1 after the morning session Exeter were determined to turn it around. Although being last match out, second year Chris Fleming recorded the first victory with a huge 7&6 win on the 12th green playing steady regulation golf including two birdies. Captain Laurie Potter led the singles matches and secured the second point with a fine 3&2 win in a match that was tight until the 13th hole. Dan-

ny Vallis playing No.5 nailed win three shortly after with a strong 4&3 win despite a tight back restricting his swing. Exeter led 4-2 overall and required only one point from the remaining 3 games. It was finely poised with the last few holes remaining. The golf that followed could only be described as European Tour standard. Nick Wildman holed the match winning putt on the 18th to win Exeter’s 4th point in the afternoon. This was shortly followed by a magnificent finish of birdie, par, eagle, birdie (3,3,3,3) from Chris Johnston to win 1up in a pulsating match. The perfect afternoon performance was rounded off by Katie Bradbury holing another 10ft putt for birdie on the 18th winning 2up and giving Exeter an afternoon singles result of 6-0. This left the final score an emphatic 7-2 to Exeter.

Down 1. E.g. Nimsowitsch Defence, Sicilian Defence, King’s Gambit (13) 2. Howl (4) 3. Slipper (anag.) (7) 4. Jazz style (5) 5. Gastropods (8) 6. Explosive liquid (13) 10. Related to the Christian holy text (8) 12. Big cat (7) 16. Monarch (4)

SPORT

Sport

wednesday 8 MAY 2013 |

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SPORT EDITORS

Will Kelleher & Mike Stanton sport@exepose.com JOIN THE FACEBOOK GROUP Exeposé Sport

Tennis crowned Club of the Year

Photo: Nikas Rahmel

The Final Whistle Here is your guide to a few upcoming sporting courses, classes and events Outdoor Pool Open

08:00 – 20:00 Student members from £2.30 Cornwall House Contact- 01392 722515

7, 14 & 21 May

Yoga 17:00 - 18:00 FREE Cornwall House Contact - Paul Mouland 01392 722039

8 May

Relax with Sport 11:30 - 17:00 FREE Lower Piazza

9, 16 & 23 May

Yoga 19:00 - 20:00 FREE Birks Grange Contact- Paul Mouland 01392 722039 >> The Tennis Commitee receive the Club of the Year award. Left to Right: Joe Batten (AU President), Brendan Gilson, Yvanna Kurlak, Kate Lucy and Phil Attwell (Director of Sport)

AU Awards Sophy Coombes-Roberts Arts Editor

THE ATHLETIC UNION AWARDS are undoubtedly one of the highlights of the Exeter sporting calendar. Held in the sunshine at the castle, the night celebrated the ‘Green Machine’s’ sporting success and individual achievements over the past year. The evening gave our sporting elite the opportunity to enjoy their accomplishments and appreciate those of others, in true Exeter fashion. The evening was hosted by the outgoing AU president Joe Batten, who declared that this year saw the largest number of nominations to date, which only reflects the commitment and dedication put into the Clubs and Sports this year. The prestigious Club of the Year award was won by the Tennis Club, who have had a sensationally successful season with both the men’s and women’s 1st teams surpassing all expectations in the BUCS championships. This was followed by the highly anticipated award for Team of the Year. Nominations for this includ-

ed the Golf team who made it to the finals of the BUCS Championship for the first time in six years and the Rugby Fresher’s 1st team who have only been defeated twice all season, amongst others. However, the award was won by Women’s Rugby who were crowned BUCS champions earlier this year beating UWIC in the final at Twickenham stadium. This wasn’t the only award the female ruby team came away with, as Amber Reed picked up the trophy for sportswoman of the year after being named of England’s Key Player of the 6 Nations Series.

“The Club of the Year Award was won by the Tennis Club after a sensationally successful season” The closely contested Sportsman of the Year award was won by Laurie Potter after being placed in the top five student golfers in the UK. He commented “It was an amazing day for the Golf Club with us coming from behind to win BUCS gold for the first time in 7 years and to top it off by winning Sportsman of The Year against so

many incredible athletes was the icing on the cake. I think it’s fair to say I’ll remember that day for quite a while!” Potter saw off tough competition from Tyler ‘Fastest Man on Campus’ Johnson and sports scholar Rob Coote

“It was a real surprise to be chosen. Thank you so much” Nicky Savill - Volunteer of the Year (Rugby). After winning Sportswoman of the Year last year, Emily Zaborski triumphed again coming away with Sports Personality of the Year for her three years of contribution and commitment to the lacrosse club, which has just achieved a ‘Gold Status’ from the English Lacrosse Association. Nicky Savill won Volunteer of the Year for the Netball club and said ‘There were so many deserving nominees, it was a real surprise to be chosen. Thank you so much’. Alex Calver secured Team Captain of the year for Lacrosse: “never thought I’d win it! Couldn’t have done it without the boys of the team though, they’ve made it a great season.” Dave Rogal won the Bruce Cole-

man Award for Contribution to Sport: “It is such a good feeling. To know other clubs have voted for you as well makes it even better, and I’m so thankful. There were some great vibes between all the different clubs tonight which made for an incredible atmosphere.” The Snowsports Club were presented with Most Improved Club after placing on the podium in three nation events this year and the Canoe Club won the Non-BUCS club of the year. Men’s Cricket secured the Media award for gaining a coveted place on the latest Ashes 2013 videogame. Other awards were also won by Martin Giblin (Club Captain of the year – Snowsports), Tim Chilvers (Student Coach of the year – Hockey), Tom Abel (Fresher of the Year – Cricket), Jess Collins (Treasurer of the Year - Rowing). The night culminated in an excellent fireworks display which was shortly followed by celebrations in Timepiece. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees on their achievements, and we are looking forward to many more years of sporting success as the university climbs up the BUCS rankings.

17-19 May

Certificate in Teaching Aquatics Level One 09:00 - 17:00 £295 St Luke’s Sports Centre 01392724940

19 May

Yoga Workshop 13:00 - 16:00 £10 St Luke’s Sports Centre 01392724940

Until 13 Septmeber

Summer Membership Offer £25 a month Sports Park and St Luke’s

Every Tuesday

Cardio Blast 18:15 - 19:00 Members £2 St Luke’s Sports Centre Contact: 01392 724940