HANES HYFRYD PARC BUTE Edrychwn ni ar straeon tylwyth teg a hanes parc Bute
TŶ CELF X Q3 we collaborate with Q3 on our annual arts pullout Tŷ Celf
MARCH 2020
MAGAZINE
PERIOD POVERTY an interview with the founder of the #EndPeriodPoverty campaign in Wales
2 - CSM AWARDS issue 177
AWARDS
2020 TICKETS ON SALE UNTIL MARCH 24TH
FIND INFORMATION ON THE QUENCH FACEBOOK PAGE
issue 177 Time seems to have got the better of us and we have somehow reached the penultimate issue of the academic year. Producing the past four issues has been rewarding in more ways than one and has provided many of us with a creative journey of our own, as well as numerous stories to tell of our experiences along the way. Rather appropriately, we chose the theme of stories to build upon throughout our 177th issue – collaborating the concept with both our design and written content. As is tradition here at Quench, for our spring issue we have curated our annual art pull out under the title of ‘Tŷ Celf ’ which is the Welsh for ‘art house’. However, for the first time ever, we decided that this year Tŷ Celf would be a collaboration with Q3, Quench’s onlineonly mini-magazine. Q3’s most recent issue contained content surounding the same theme, and they have built on these ideas to collate artwork in numerous creative mediums. This issue of Tŷ Celf includes photography, artwork, poetry, creative writing and even embroidery, all of which is used to explore the idea of stories and how they intertwine with everyday life. Turn to page 43 to find out more. It’s easy to say this everytime, but I honestly think that Quench 177 is my favourite issue yet. I think it truly encompasses the editorial vision that I began the year working towards, utilising design and illustration to complement the top standard written work that has been produced. The stories in this issue touch on tales of importance, including the effects of period poverty and imposter syndrome, but they also continue our local focus with an insight into the unsung heroes of Cardiff and a piece on local band The Rotanas. Personally, for the executive team at Quench Magazine, one of the biggest stories that we will go on to tell of our experience this year has just unfolded. We recently received the exciting news that Quench has been shortlisted for three national awards at the upcoming Student Publication Association National Conference in April. The first of these was on behalf of our incredible Head of Photography, Charlie Troulan, who has been shortlisted for Best Photographer. This is undoubtedly down to his hard work this year taking and editing our front cover and fashion shoots. We have also been shortlisted for the award of Best Magazine Design, so we would like to both thank and congratulate every single one of you who has taken the time to design for us this year. Finally, the most exciting nomination of the three, was a place for Quench on the Best Publication shortlist. It is amazing to receive recognition for the hard work and love that we have all put into Quench this year and this success wouldn’t be possible without the creativity and passion of our executive team and contributors. We’d also like to extend a big congratulations to our friends over at our sister publication, Gair Rhydd, who have been shortlisted four times for the awards of Best Wesbite, Best Sports Coverage, Best Science Section and Overall Digital Media. This is an incredible achievement for Cardiff Student Media and we are over the moon to be up for a total of seven awards between us. Keep your fingers crossed for us all!
KATIE MAY HUXTABLE Editor-in-Chief
EDITOR’S LETTER - 3
4 - MEET THE TEAM issue 176
Social Media Manager James Barker
Editor in Chief Katie May Huxtable
Social Media Assistants Janaki Selvaratnam and Coby Barker
Head of Illustration Elaine Tang
Deputy Editor Luisa De la Concha Montes
Head of Photography Charlie Troulan Deputy Head of Photography Ella Cuss Head of Design Orlagh Turner Deputy Head of Design Ula Rodakowska
Dear Ella... Ella Woodcock
issue 176
Columnist Phoebe Grinter
MEET THE TEAM - 5
Features Rhianna Hurren-Myers, Elly Coyle and Rebecca Astill
Culture Sofia Brizio and Neus Forner
Clebar Indigo Jones
Food & Drink Katie Duffin and Lauren Stenning
Travel Marcus Yeatman-Crouch and Molly Govus
Music Kate Waldock, Josh Ong and James McClements
Fashion & Beauty Izzy Wackett and Emily Ricalton
Download Mike O’Brien
Copy Editors Ellie Ball, Denise Dogan and Hazel Thayre
Film & TV Cynthia Vera and Laura Dazon
Q3 Editor Jasmine Snow Q3 Deputy Editors Eduardo Karas and Nicole Rees-Williams
6 - CONTENTS issue 177
CONTENTS:
Cardiff Story
8-9. Interview with Harry Clarke-Ezzidio and Stephanie Israel
Fashion & Beauty
58-59. Student-Made Pieces and Creations 60-61. Probiotics: Their Importsance In and For Skincare 62. Ava Pereira Akilu: Life of a Student Model 63. Refashioning Masculinity Within the Fashion Industry 64-69. Fashion Photoshoot: Masculine Style
Film & TV Playlist of the Issue 10-11.
Column
12. My Scoliosis Story
Features
13. Period Poverty: Why are Women Still Paying for Pads? 14-15. Sugar Babies of Cardiff 16. One Size Fits None: Saying Goodbye to Vanity Sizing 17. Let’s Have a Chat About Imposter Syndrome
Culture
18. Disney + or Disney -? 19. Ephemeral Storytelling: The Wonders of Digital Culture 20-21. A Day in the Life of an Audiobook Narrator
Clebar
22-23. Llinell Amser: Cerddoriaeth yng Nghymru 24-25. Hanes hyfryd parc Bute 26. Diwrnodau i’w dathlu
Food & Drink
27. CBD Dining 28-29. Unsung Heroes of Cardiff 30. Terrible Food Tales 31. Pizza Quest 32-37. Food Photoshoot: Blossom Cafe
Travel
38-39. One Stay, Three Ways 40-41. First Time Travelers 42. Language Barrier
Ty^^ Celf 43-50.
Music
51. Gŵdbye Venues 52-53. University Timeline 54. The Demonisation of Drill 55. Local Artist Spotlight: The Rotanas 56. Visual Albums: Beyoncé’s Lemonade 57. The Return of Swim Deep
70. After Laughter Comes Tears 71. TV Review: Shrill 72. Foot in the Door: Being an Extra 73. Forgotten TV Gems
Download
74. The Able Disabled 75. The Golden Age of Learning 76-77. STR Wars: The Holesome Story of Bruno Powroznik
Dear Ella
78. How Acne Helps: A Journey 79. Q&A
Designers:
Katie May Huxtable Luisa De la Concha Montes Alessio Philip Grain Francesca Ionescu Cynthia Vera Josh Ong Devika Sunand Craig Strachan Esther Loi James McClements James Barker Laura Dazon James McClements Cynthia Vera Josh Ong Jonas Jamarik Mike O’Brien Sai Natascha NG Amy King Neus Forner Rhianna Hurren-Myers Orlagh Turner Abby Allen Ula Rodakowska Emily Jade Ricalton Elaine Tang Rebecca Astill YeonSu Cho Alex Payne Eduardo Karas Lewis Empson Jasmine Snow Sophie Bott Lauren Stenning Nicole Rees-Williams Alex Daud Briggs Kanoon Prapaiwongs Mike O’Brien Katie Duffin Ebony Clent Su En Chan Akhi Uddin Alicia Ramos-Martinez Tomos Evans Ella Woodcock Katie Waits Luisa De la Concha Montes Muskan Arora Mike O’Brien Iris van Brunschot Josephine Von Jascheroff Peter Wolinski Rowan Davies Megan Evans Izzy Wackett Ella Rowe-Hall Asher Kay Cox Daniel Priestley Rhiannon Humphreys Phoebe Grinter Tirion Davies Emily Jade Ricalton Gwern Ab Arwell Stephanie Israel
Contributors:
issue 177 CONTENTS - 7
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8 - FRONT COVER Q&A issue 177
Cardiff Story This year at Quench we want to give you the chance to feature on our front cover. Each issue, we would love to speak to a different student about their life and how they came to study here in Cardiff. In this double interview, Stephanie and Harry talked about their experiences living in London, and how this changed when they moved to Cardiff to pursue a degree in journalism.
Stephanie Israel
Age: 21 Course: Journalism and Communications What was your life like growing up? Growing up in the Philippines, I experienced a completely different kind of lifestyle than I have now. It was laidback, almost as if I had everything handed to me on a silver platter. I was lucky because both of my parents worked abroad, which meant that my sister and I as well as my extended family received support, which afforded our everyday needs and frequent leisure. What I miss most is living with my cousins. When I think back to my childhood, they are the first people that come to mind. I loved having instant playmates even though there were frequent brawls and asthma attacks that came thereafter. Things changed when I moved to North London at 11, though. I wasn’t used to doing things on my own. I was conditioned to be fully dependent on my carers – they did pretty much everything for me. It was already difficult assimilating into a new culture, let alone having to learn certain things normal human beings my age were already capable of doing. Although I was a late bloomer, the change of environment definitely sped up my growth. I changed so much in a matter of a few years. I became more outspoken, liberated and opinionated, which, I think, are traits that are not openly encouraged in the Filipino culture, or at least in the community that I grew up in. I wouldn’t be who I am today if it wasn’t for my parents relocating my sister and I to London, the place I now call home.
How was your life at home different to your life in Cardiff? Well, the main difference is the independence, of course. Back in London, during school all the way to A levels, I pretty much had a set schedule: wake up early, go to school, come home, have a snack or two, do homework, sleep and repeat the same thing over until the end of the week.
On Saturdays, I’d either hang out with friends or stay in and learn how to do new hairstyles that I could rock in the following days, and Sundays was for church and family. Living away from home has empowered me in a sense that, for the first time, I really thought I could carve my own path in life. Even with little things like deciding what to eat for dinner made me feel so grown, and it still does. My home life was quite chaotic in London; living in small spaces meant that I barely had any time for peace and quiet, which really took a toll on me at times. I never had my own bedroom, so the idea of having my own space made me feel really excited to move out. I love having my own place, which is why I made it a point to take care of the spaces I’ve lived in and the one I have now. I really value having a personal sanctuary, a space that inspires motivation and ideas, somewhere I can just escape to and be by myself to recuperate. Even the thought of leaving behind the city I have grown to love makes me all choked up, but we move - onwards and upwards!
What aspects of your childhood do you feel influenced your time at University today? Honestly, I don’t think any aspect of my childhood influences my time at university today. Like I said, I had a completely different lifestyle growing up, one that I cannot even relate to now and am shocked, but grateful nevertheless, at being able to have lived. But in hindsight, maybe the fact that I had to relocate at such a young age readied me for the university experience. The constant moving between houses, having to meet new people and make new friends, and learning a different culture was easier and I’m confident to attribute that to the fact that I had experienced pretty much the same situation before.
What will you miss about your experience here in Cardiff when you graduate? Cardiff has been one of my most memorable experiences so far. The constant stream of newbies, the novelty of going out on Mondays and Wednesdays, doing monthly movie marathons at the local Cineworld, the list goes on and on. I will especially miss the friends I have made along the way – our too frequent discussions about crazy things that happened during a night out, going on spontaneous trips, and staying up until 4am talking, singing and just basking in each other’s company. The people I’ve met here have made my experience worthwhile and I wish to enjoy more of life with them until graduation, and after.
issue 177
FRONT COVER Q&A - 9
Interview and modelling: STEPHANIE ISRAEL & HARRY CLARKE-EZZIDIO photographs of Stephanie and Harry by: CHARLIE TROULAN design by: LUISA DE LA CONCHA MONTES
Harry Clarke-Ezzidio Age: 21 Course: Journalism and Communications
What was your life like growing up? Life was good, I was born and raised in South-East London and from pretty early on, I knew what I wanted to do: become a journalist. It sounds cheesy as hell (and straight out of a rubbish coming-of-age movie from the 80s), but ever since I was like 10 or 11, I always knew I wanted to become a journalist. I remember during my ‘edgy’ secondary school phase I was very against the idea of going to university. I obviously thought 15-year-old me knew it all, and that I could just go out in the real-world, kick some ass and make it as an established journalist… thankfully, common sense kicked in and I decided that drowning in a deep sea of academia and mounting debt was the way to go! So, being here at Cardiff, a top uni for journalism, studying what I love, means a lot to me… and makes me extremely thankful I didn’t listen to my younger self!
How was your life at home different to your life in Cardiff? Life at home was great, but I was definitely craving university and all that it entails by the time I got to the end of college. Growing up in London I got to experience a lot, I have lots of fond memories and I still try to make new ones whenever I’m home. It’s true what they say about London – it’s a giant melting pot of different people and cultures and that’s what makes London... London. And whilst I still love and miss everyone back home, especially back in my school days, I was sort of limited in the sense that my social scope was constrained to the people who went to my particular school. But coming to such a diverse and open university such as Cardiff has allowed me to meet different people from a variety of backgrounds – all who have a lot more interesting histories and backgrounds than I do. Honestly, I’ve met an interesting cast of characters over the years. Uni is just a massive melting pot of so many different people, and I’ve met all sorts of characters in my time here. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
What aspects of your childhood do you feel influenced your time at University today? I’m not sure really, I think in comparison to a lot of the people I’ve met here at uni (especially a lot of the international students), they have way more interesting backgrounds and influences than I do – I feel pretty vanilla in comparison!
However, I had a ton of influences growing up. Since I’m interested in anything and everything, I just became a bit of a sponge to a lot of things in general. Whether it’s sports, or various areas of art and culture, I just soaked it all in. But, without trying to convey big X-Factor-energy here, my parents, and my dad in particular, obviously had a big influence on making me who I am today. My dad came here from Sierra Leone in the 70s, and he had to get a job as a mechanic just to survive and keep a roof over his head. From there, he was able to build connections and eventually got high up into the world of law, where he’s worked for over 35 years, which is mental to me. So, looking at what he’s done and achieved, it makes me think “well, can I do that?”, or at least, my own version of that? But, I think just having the backing from my parents, and my mates around me to do what I want to do gave me all the confidence I need and greatly influenced who I am today. That was pretty big X-Factor- energy there, but it’s true.
What will you miss about your experience here in Cardiff when you graduate? Oh man, where do I start? I don’t know really, there’s so many aspects that I’ll miss when I eventually have to become a ‘real adult’ and get a proper job. We’re in quite a unique/weird position where we’re somewhat like adults, minus the baggage and responsibility that comes with it. I think I’ll miss the general freedom we have to live and explore and try new things. Of course, I’m going to miss all my mates, and just the general chill, student-friendly spirit that’s around. Also, I’m just gonna miss the city itself, almost every place worth mentioning in Cardiff has a memory attached to it. Whilst I’m sure it being a ‘real adult’ isn’t all doom and gloom, there is something special about this place which is hard to put into words.
As this is our “Stories” issue, what would be the number one story from your time at University that you think you will still tell people from years to come? There’s so many stories from Cardiff that’ll live long in my memory. One of the earliest was definitely the time after a night out when I was a fresher. I was so drunk I nearly drank my toilet bleach which I thought was my glass of water when I was spewing my guts out (silly fresher, I know). But yeah, I should probably leave the compromising drunken tales there. But in general, the nights out, the post night out discussions, the nights in, birthdays, the stupid amount of coffeeshop discussions… the 9AM lectures… I could go on. From everything to the big and small, those stories add up. All these things just combined into making my university years some of the best years of my life. So yeah, as soppy as all that sounds, that’s the truth. But, I’ve still got a few months left around here... so who knows? Hopefully I can make a few more memories before I leave! I just love Cardiff, it’s been great.
10 - PLAYLIST OF THE ISSUE issue 177
1 2 3 4 5 LOVE STORY Taylor Swift
MORNING GLORY Oasis
SCORES ON THE DOORS The Rotanas
BABA O’RILEY The Who
HOLD OUT Sam Fender
6 7 8 9 10 STORY OF MY LIFE One Direction
DON’T CHA Pussycat Dolls
SOMETIMES Gerry Cinnamon
THE ENERGY STORY College
NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP Rick Astley
11 12 13 14 15 GROUNDS FOR DIVORCE Elbow
YOUR GIRLFRIEND Blossoms
FALLING Harry Styles
PEGGY Orchards
LIFEBOATS (FREESTYLE) Jorja Smith
issue 177
PLAYLIST OF THE ISSUE - 11
playlist by:
JOSH ONG
design & illustrations by:
KATIE MAY HUXTABLE
PLEASE DEETE THESE BORDERS WHEN YOU HAVE FINISHED DESIGNING
12 - COLUMN issue 177
My Scoliosis Story words by: PHOEBE GRINTER design by: URSZULA RODAKOWSKA It will be 10 years on the 12th March 2020 since I underwent scoliosis correction surgery, age 12 and completely unaware of the seriousness of my ‘S’ shaped spine. I remember my parents nagging me to stop slouching and stand up straight. I would snap back with ‘I am standing up straight’, ‘leave me alone’, and all the usual gobby pre-teen responses to being told what to do by your parents. However, when one night I asked my mum for a back rub, she noticed something wasn’t right. As I lay flat on my front, she could see that my rib cage was shifted to one side. The next day I was taken to my GP and after a few different doctors and nurses had poked and prodded me, I was sent for x-rays and an MRI. To cut a long story short, I was diagnosed with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. To this day, I am still not sure what it means. The doctors weren’t sure why my spine was doing this crazy thing, but they knew it was doing it at an alarming rate, and that I needed to have spinal corrective surgery as soon as possible or things would get bad. At this age, all I cared about in the world was playing football. Whenever a doctor asked me if I had any questions about anything, my only question was ‘when can I get back to playing football?’. Being so young I was unaware of the seriousness of what my body was going through, I just wanted them to do what they had to do so I could get back to playing football with my friends. Of course, my parents were panicstricken and spent many sleepless nights being fully aware of the seriousness. The surgeon warned me, and my parents, that I might be under anaesthetic for some time while he put my spine back in place and secured it with titanium rods and screws.
Three hours later, and an inch taller due to now having a straight spine, my parents were told that everything had gone better than expected and I was now coming round in ICU. As my parents arrived, I was still on an anaesthetic high. My lovely dad began to comfort me, telling me that everything went well, I was in ICU and they were going to stay with me. And what was my response? Telling him to shut up. From that moment my parents were reassured that I really was fine. I spent a week recovering in hospital, with my mum never leaving my side, sleeping on a camp bed at the foot of my bed and having to pander to my ridiculous, morphineencouraged requirements. Despite the situation, I only remember the positives of my experience, from pretending to sleep as the hospital’s maths tutor was doing the rounds, to my parents and all the nurses celebrating after my first post-op bowel movement. Although I have cut my story very short, I choose to only remember the good things that have come from this experience. I still have minor aches and pains today but apart from that, I nor anyone else would know that I have metal rods and screws attached to my spine for life. I got back to playing football quicker than my surgeon originally thought, largely due to the incredible work him and his team of doctors, nurses and physios did, but also due to my own determination and the support and love from my family and friends. I was signed off completely after 2 years of check-ups and I have not been held back in any aspect of my life, from playing football to skiing. I have never been embarrassed or selfconscious of the 8-inch scar that runs down the middle of my back, and as soon as I turned 18, I got a tattoo to commemorate the date. All I went through, and what all the people around me went through with me, have made us better people today. Without struggles and hurdles such as these, we wouldn’t appreciate the love and support family and friends provide for us. If I hadn’t gone through this experience, I wouldn’t be the person I am today; someone who is humble, grateful, and has the best posture you’ve ever seen.
issue 177
FEATURES - 13
Period Poverty: Why Are Women Still Paying For Pads? Interview by: RHIANNA HURREN-MYERS Despite some amazing campaigns and an increase in government funding, periods continue to be stigmatised with significant consequences on every aspect of a woman’s life. Quench Features have caught up with Chisomo Phiri, founder of the #EndPeriodPoverty campaign in Wales, to learn more: What is period poverty and what are the effects? The term ‘period poverty’ is often used to discuss girls who are missing school due to being unable to afford menstruation products. However, it is fully defined as “poor menstrual knowledge and access to sanitary products”. Lack of education on menstruation is also a key part of the issue and this is important to keep in mind when campaigning to end period poverty.
Periods are extremely powerful and we women are badass for bleeding every month without dying!
Plan UK are currently the only quantitative research into the extent of period poverty in the UK.
We need a strong, collective voice to lobby the Welsh Government to take this issue seriously and invest in ending period poverty once and for all. This is why I started campaigning by creating a toolkit to empower others to do so as well. I wanted every students’ union in Wales and beyond to have the confidence to talk about periods freely and campaign for free periods.
•
Why is it important that we overcome period inequality?
• • •
One in ten girls have been unable to afford sanitary wear, and one in seven girls have struggled to afford sanitary wear. One in seven girls have had to ask to borrow sanitary wear from a friend due to affordability issues. Just over one in ten girls have had to improvise sanitary wear due to affordability issues One in five girls have changed to a less suitable sanitary product due to cost
What first inspired you to get campaigning? When I first came across the term ‘period poverty’, I was shocked to hear that the problem goes deeper than not being able to afford sanitary products. Lack of education on menstruation is also a key part of the issue. Girls are starting their periods without having the right support or products, feeling embarrassed and ashamed because they don’t know what’s happening to their own bodies, and being forced to improvise by using tissue paper or socks. This is inhumane. Every girl deserves to bleed with dignity and in the 21st century, this should not be too much to ask. I was fortunate enough to have been educated on periods, at school and by my mother, so I knew exactly what was happening to my body when mine started. My first cycle was as pleasant as it could be. I was able to access sanitary products and medication for stomach cramps. It breaks my heart knowing that not everyone is fortunate enough to have the same support and knowledge that I had. What I’ve learned is that period poverty is yet another form of gender inequality, one of which is costing girls their livelihoods, health, and education. The taboo around periods is stopping girls from getting the help they need. Periods are a totally normal and natural part of life and we shouldn’t be ashamed of them. We need a radical culture change in our attitudes towards periods and this includes men being part of the conversation as well. All pupils need to be educated on the menstrual cycle at school – not just girls.
It is not only important - it is fundamental to achieving gender equality. Women and girls worldwide cannot reach their full potential if they are being held back. No women or girl should miss out on their education because they cannot afford sanitary products, especially not in one of the world’s richest countries. We also need to tackle the wider issues of poverty and have an honest conversation about how women are marginalised in this area. We need a radical change in our attitudes towards menstruation and we must remove the shame and stigma, so people feel able to talk about their bodies. Periods are natural and it’s time we all started treating them like they are. What work still needs to be done? I will be deeply disappointed and frustrated with this country if nothing changes. In 10 years, we will see more poverty and more inequality, and more women and girls missing education. Tackling period poverty isn’t just about free sanitary products, it’s about education and breaking down the taboo and stigma. I’m so pleased that schools and colleges will benefit from free sanitary products but this needs to go further. The Government needs to provide free sanitary products in all public services like hospitals, libraries, etc. We also need to start having more open conversations about periods so women don’t feel ashamed and embarrassed. Talk about periods with the dignity that they deserve. Check out Chisomo’s period poverty toolkit here: https://www.nusconnect.org.uk/resources/nus-walesperiod-poverty-toolkit/ design by: CYNTHIA VERA
14 - FEATURES issue 177
“Young daddy. I have you know what that m 22…mmmm…not a look I hope” “So you verywellhungDom?”“ to own and control m to take full ownersh as they want to. Take family and friends if to serve you. Someon SUGAR BABIES OF CARDIFF
Imagine if someone offered to take away all your immediate financial fears in exchange for “company”. Imagine fine dining instead of pot noodles, a spa weekend in the Cotswold’s instead of a walk in Bute Park, being the plus one at a fancy business party instead of getting soaked queuing for hours in front of Pryzm. Picture someone offering to buy you clothes, take you on exotic trips and wine and dine you. In exchange, you provide your company and possibly more. Would you take them up on their offer?
include travel, monogamous, non-monogamous, investor, mentorship and even marriage potential.
With the heavy financial burden students face, it comes as no surprise that Cardiff ranked as the sixth highest sign-up rate for the website Seeking Arrangement, a dating website for sugar babies and daddies to meet. Sure, the trips and clothes sound glamorous and enticing, but what is this website really like? Is it as really as glamorous as it sounds? There was only one way to find out. So, I signed up.
What shocked me was the extreme polarity of the website and the men. As mentioned, Seeking Arrangement highlights that its aim is to bring people together for “company”, not sex, which is contrasted by the emphasis on the financial element of the process. In their bio, sugar daddies have to state their yearly income as well as their net worth. Browsing the profiles felt like doing a food shop and comparing prices and ingredients. Many also write about which type of “support” they are willing to give. For the sake of research, I messaged a man who advertised for weekends with a “young, lively, smart and beautiful woman” in exchange for a monthly allowance. After asking about my background, he flat out asked me how much a month I needed and whether I’d be willing to get physically intimate with him. When I suggested £500, he immediately replied, “Done deal”.
In the lengthy terms and conditions, you have to agree to release the website from any liability if you are harmed. Furthermore, they make a point of stating that the website is not to be used for escorting, prostitution or human trafficking. Then you get to set up your profile. This involves stating your age, ethnicity, body shape, height, level of education, relationship status, and whether you have children, smoke or drink. Next, you have to describe what you are “seeking”. Seeking Arrangement asks you to choose from twenty-eight options, some of which
I filled out the details about myself in all truthfulness and kept it fairly generic for what I was seeking. I kept my bio subtle, stating that I am a “Masters student looking for a fun time and good conversation” and uploaded a selfie showing a hint of cleavage. Once the bait was out, I waited to see how the men would approach me.
This repetition of giving and taking, needing and lacking stunned me. In most of the bios I browsed, the men advertise
issue 177
FEATURES - 15
e Barclays Premier… means ;)” “So you’re as innocent as you u do like an older very, “Seekingoneormore me. I want someone hip of me. Treat me ke me away from my you want. I just want ne please ruin my life.” themselves and the traits they are looking for in a sugar baby but also explicitly say what they are willing to offer you in terms of money, time and commitment. Phrases that kept popping up were “taking care of you”, “treating you” and “spoiling you”. This almost animalistic desire to nurture and protect as well as guide very much surprised me. I didn’t expect it to be about more than just sex.
So all in all, what is Seeking Arrangement really? Well, it depends on who you come across on the website. Whether or not you glam it up, the foundation of SA is to exchange money for sex. Sure, some men in SA seek, or claim to seek, emotional comfort and company. Although I gave myself an alias, Jade, it nevertheless felt somewhat degrading to have a price put on my body like that.
But speaking of sex, there were the men looking to dominate, own and sexually possess women. My favourite was a user who introduced himself as, “Young daddy. I have Barclays Premier… you know what that means ;)”. We connected and he messaged, “So you’re 22…mmmm…not as innocent as you look I hope” followed by “So you do like an older very, very well hung Dom?” But he wasn’t the only one to dive into what he expected. I was asked multiple times what my “hard limits” were and whether I enjoy being dominated. Interestingly, most of them expressed the desire to build a long-term arrangement. I only received two messages asking to meet the same night. One offered me, “Dinner. Bed. Breakfast. 600” and the other told me to name my price. The one that made me giggle the most, however, was a 43-year-old ginger giant from Swansea whose bio read, “Seeking one or more to own and control me. I want someone to take full ownership of me. Treat me as they want to. Take me away from my family and friends if you want. I just want to serve you. Someone please ruin my life.” How on earth he thought I would be the one for that, I do not know. But he messaged me his number and begged me to “ruin” him.
In some ways, this website is very much like Tinder. People are filtered down to their dominant attributes and looks and through those connect with potential lovers. It felt clinical. Like with Tinder, I found the process to take the romance, the thrill, and the unexpected out of the courting process. On the other hand, some of the sugar dadies seemed like lonely middle-aged men, who in focusing on their career, missed the chance to focus on romantic relationships. So in the end, it comes down to who you meet and what your values are. It can be very financially beneficial as well as provide other opportunities. However, an arrangement like this unbalances the power scales in the relationship and you should be prepared not to be treated as an equal.
words by: JOSEPHINE VON JASCHEROFF design by: NATASCHA NG
16 - FEATURES issue 177
One Size Fits None: We Need to Say Goodbye to Vanity Sizing words by: RHIANNA HURREN-MYERS design by: ESTHER LOI
Spoiler: The number on the tag means nothing. It was a few weeks ago that I was wandering through St David’s on the hunt for a new pair of jeans. I don’t consider myself a shopaholic, and, not to brag, but I have been complimented before on my laid-back, don’tspend-unnecessary-money-on-crap-clothes approach. But after two hours, I felt utterly exhausted. Coupled with a society that is obsessed with what women should and shouldn’t wear, sizing was leaving a bad taste in my mouth. In every single shop I found my fingers lingering somewhere between a size 8 to a size 12, in a guessing game I’d never been asked to play, but one I was evidently losing at. Carrying three different pairs of jeans in three different sizes to try on, I couldn’t help but think that women have enough burdens to carry into the fitting room without taking all this heavy denim in as well. What is vanity sizing? It’s no secret that there is a huge problem in the fashion industry, one that seems to rear its ugly head every time I shop. “What’s your size?” has always been an uncomfortable question, but vanity sizing is making it virtually impossible to answer. Affectionately dubbed by some as, ‘insanity sizing’, vanity sizing is where brands gradually increase the physical size of their clothing over time, but keep the labelled size the same. They essentially do this because it makes shoppers feel skinnier and better about themselves, which eventually ends up with them spending more cash. Just to be clear; yes, brands are actively labelling their clothes with smaller sizes than the cut of the item. It’s a sneaky attempt to make us feel better about ourselves and buy more, but it’s also continuing to perpetuate that age-old notion that the smaller your size, the better you are, and the repercussions are enormous. What about the waste? It’s not just our mental health that this is toying with. Recent figures suggest that shoppers return an estimated 40% of what they buy online, mostly because of sizing issues. Supposedly as well, online purchases are almost three times more likely to be returned than those bought in a store. That makes sense, because how do we as shoppers overcome the burden of unknown sizes? We order two or three different sizes of the same dress, and return whatever doesn’t fit. In the middle of a climate
emergency, these return statistics make me feel a bit sick. We all know the frustration of ordering clothes online only to not be able to get it past our thighs when it arrives. “I feel like a sausage roll”, my housemate cried out once during the middle of a particularly bank-breaking PLT splurge (£84!!!!) where not one single item fit like it did on the model. But this is not just an environmental issue – it’s an economic issue for brands too. A recent Financial Time’s article indicated a $100billion size problem in the fashion industry’s purse. “The consumer is being trained to be wasteful”, says Neil Saunders, the retail managing director at consultancy GlobalData. Isn’t it now in fashions’ hands to re-train us? What can we do about it? The brands are trying, at least. ASOS recently launched their ‘see my fit’ feature, an augmented reality tool offering its clientele a stimulated view of a product on different body types between a size 4 to a size 18. But these technologies aren’t going to help on the high street. What about one-size-fits-all, I hear you cry. But don’t you think we would leave out more people than we let in? I don’t know anyone that doesn’t have a problem with Brandy Melville’s ‘one size fits most’ approach – FYI, there is no way that one store can fit every single human body, but maybe that’s their point. Even personalised measurements present a bit of a problem. The very infrastructure of the fashion industry has meant it is far cheaper for companies to mass produce clothes. The answer, then, obviously lies in a universal sizing system, but as it stands, there is no legal requirement that would enforce brands to adhere to a certain size standard. That’s because deep down, it’s not the retailers that are the problem – it’s us and our attitudes to ourselves. Our size isn’t really that important, but the more that we continue to think that it is, the more brands will continue to make money from it, simply by fitting us in a size 10 rather than a size 12. Vanity sizing works because we’re all a little vain. But no matter how many strides the fashion industry makes, it can’t make us feel better about ourselves – it can only really make us feel like better versions. To achieve true sizing happiness, we are all going to have to remove the skinny-tint from the fitting room mirrors and answer the damn question. “What’s your size?” Mine is whatever fits.
IMPOSTER SY
issue 177
LET’S HAVE Trust me when I say this, you’re not the only person in the room feeling like an under-qualified fraud. Yes, it may feel like a pain thinking that you don’t belong every time you step into a lecture hall, office, or onto a training pitch, but it can also offer you an advantage. Imposter Syndrome doesn’t have to be your Achilles’ heel. It keeps you on your toes, and makes you proactive. You prepare, take less risks, and ultimately, remain in a more stable position than any over-confident peers. Imposter Syndrome is the feeling that you got to your position through a back door – by the people who put you in that position believing that you are more capable than you really are. First of all, this is such a nonsensical mindset to be in. It assumes that not only are you below the required level, but also your ‘employers’ or their equivalent have made a poor choice in selecting you (which they are probably hired to do). So – stop putting yourself and others down. Being critical and inquisitive is only good so long as it stays away from the self. As soon as you become self-critical and begin to doubt yourself, this overcomes your adeptness and leaves you with that sinking, all-consuming feeling that you’re out of your depth. It’s like having a constant mind blank. So of course there’s a happy medium. A week before writing this article, I put out a tweet asking for people to answer a few questions on their own experience of Imposter Syndrome. Interestingly, all those who got in touch with me were female. Their positions ranged from personal assistants, life coaches, directors, technical analysts and business owners. The fact that more women suffer is thought to be because they produce less testosterone – the confidence hormone. Dolapo Ososanya, who founded the womenswear clothing brand Taideux, spoke about how her self-doubt held her back. She said, “Feeling like I am not good enough to start my own clothing brand sometimes makes it difficult to move things as quickly as I want to, as I have to give myself a pep talk or take some time out of the business to regroup.” When I asked if Dolapo had felt as if she had benefited from it at all, she said, “To an extent, yes, because it often drives me to work harder and be more innovative in my business. Sometimes not knowing everything about the industry you work in can be a good thing because it means your imagination and creativity isn’t limited.”
FEATURES - 17
words by: REBECCA ASTILL design by: ESTHER LOI
A CHAT ABOUT This idea that being perfect won’t necessarily make you the best at your job is integral to changing your mindset. I spoke to Director Nicole Russin-McFarland, who said, “I am always learning. Being successful doesn’t make people the essence of perfection.” You can only get so far with a formulaic approach to the job. As Dolapo said, you need creativity to go above and beyond to create something amazing. This applies to university – having the confidence to suggest alternative viewpoints in essays to stand out to the lecturers; to jobs – having the conviction to go over and above your workload; and to sports teams – having the belief in yourself to try different tactics when one isn’t working. This is a sentiment also recognised by Technical Analyst Sarah S. She said that “it initially made me less confident in dealing with client issues. I would shy away from anything which would mean me putting myself forward. The positive side of this was that eventually it made me even more determined to be the best I could be. It pushed me further up the ladder than I imagined.” When I asked how her relationship with self-doubt is now, she said, “These days I’ve accepted myself for what I am. Everyone feels like they’re an imposter some time or other, but it’s how you deal with that!” The overarching theme seems to be that overcoming the feeling of imposter syndrome results in the sufferer feeling stronger than they would have without it. Carly Thompsett, who founded the Anaphase clothing store in Cardiff, said that “It did give a positive effect when I realised I had to move around the doubt. I do thank Imposter Syndrome for helping me realise I do deserve it.” A lot of people feel like they’re just getting away with it - as if they’ve conned their way in or somehow slipped through a filter. Imposter syndrome is a rumbling underbelly to success. Everyone collides with it in some form and in different intensities at some point, but it is down to you how you interact with it.
IMPOSTER SYNDROME IMPOSTER SYNDROME IMPOSTER SYNDROME YNDROME
18 - CULTURE issue 177
words by: AMY KING design by: ELAINE TANG How do you combat a social systematic issue that has existed long before your own existence? This must have been the question Disney+ creators asked themselves when they decided to implement ‘outdated cultural depictions’ messages before the viewing of classic animated films, such as ‘Dumbo’ and ‘Peter Pan’. Discussion as to whether these outdated depictions should be recognised, edited out or even be shown has been circulating the media since Disney’s decision. Popular films such as ‘Pocahontas’ and ‘Aladdin’ do not contain the disclaimer message even though they clearly contain racial and misogynistic stereotypes, demonstrating that Disney still has a long road to achieve full inclusivity and multicultural understanding.
since its release due to its racist representation of plantation workers and other characters.
Since the early 1940s, Disney’s animations can seem to suggest and represent racial and misogynistic stereotypes that were once accepted but are now recognised as chauvinist and obstructive towards society. For example, the crows in ‘Dumbo’ appear to encapsulate stereotypes of African Americans through their representation of ‘the lazy and illiterate, darkskinned labourers’, as analysed by The Guardian. Yet, these films still exist and circulate throughout nostalgic and younger generations.
Both of these media services recognise the outdated assumptions more clearly than Disney by asserting the terms ‘ethnic and racial prejudices’ as opposed to ‘outdated cultural depictions’. Warner Bros. explains the reasoning behind their disclaimer message, “while these cartoons do not represent today’s society, they are being presented as they were originally created because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed”. The company “needs to follow through in making a more robust statement that this was wrong, and these depictions were wrong,” said Psyche WilliamsForson, chairwoman of American studies at the University of Maryland at College Park.
Releasing these films on a new streaming platform is problematic for Disney whose old content evidently includes repetitively troubling and concerning stereotypes. However, withholding these Disney classics from fans and enthusiasts could be viewed as a breach of access to their extensive and much-loved movie collection. In 2011, Disney CEO Bob Iger said releasing old Disney animations on a new platform “wouldn’t necessarily sit right or feel right to a number of people today.” Arguably, the launch of films with outdated ideals in a circulation of films that are supposedly improving their social representations would counteract this improvement by polluting new, socially inclusive films such as ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’. Since the creation of Disney+’s disclaimer message, Disney + owners are using the streaming service to access the ‘Disney Vault’, containing 80 years’ worth of Disney films to decipher which and how many of those movies contain problematic cultural representations. Movies from the first half of the 20th century such as ‘Lady and the Tramp’ and ‘The Jungle Book’ (which do not include the disclaimer message), are said to be the worse. Because of similar issues, Disney movie ‘Song of the South’, from 1946, was never released for home video and hasn’t appeared on Disney streaming devices
Other streaming services such as Warner Bros. faced similar issues with their ‘Tom and Jerry’ cartoons, some of which also contain racial stereotypes and misogynistic depictions. The Warner Bros. statement calls its own cartoons out for ‘ethnic and racial prejudices’. Amazon’s streaming subscription service of ‘Tom and Jerry: The Complete Second Volume’ is accompanied by the caption: ‘Tom and Jerry shorts may depict some ethnic and racial prejudices that were once commonplace in American society. Such depictions were wrong then and are wrong today’.
This view is accompanied by thousands of the public. The Guardian notes that a Change.org petition — with more than 4,000 signatures — is encouraging the company to not ‘bury’ its release “so we can learn from history and make our own decisions.” Many American studies scholars, such as Gayle Ward from Washington University, believe the disclaimer can teach new generations how to change their perceptions of others for the better and steer away from deep-rooted racist values, “Disney’s disclaimer is a good way to begin discussion about the larger issue of racism that is embedded in our cultural history”. By acknowledging the past and not eradicating it from our memory and history, we have the opportunity as a society to re-evaluate what we believe about others and why we make assumptions based on their ethnicity, race or gender. Whilst feminism and representations of ethnic minorities in film and music is rising, the issue is still not as prevalent and contested as it should be within society due to the unjustified categorization forced upon people. Disney+’s disclaimer is just the tip of the iceberg in a systematic ideology within media and film that is still to be wholly uncovered and dissembled.
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CULTURE - 19
Ephemeral Storytelling: The Wonders of Digital Culture Your phone is face down on your desk – you’ve placed it that way intentionally. You know that if you turn it over, the tiny icons at the top of your screen will draw you in. You know that you probably have a notification, maybe someone sent you a meme, or even more temptingly, someone tagged you in something. Everything inside that screen is a permanent temptation, and you really need to finish your assignment. So, it’s better that way: phone facing down. This technique works for around ten minutes, but as soon as you see someone in the desk opposite to you smirking while they look at their phone, that’s it. You want to check your own. You want to smirk too. Welcome to the era of the ephemeral storytelling, where the stories in our phones are a fascinating endless temptation, and where seeing yourself in your phone is more mesmerising that seeing yourself in the mirror (let’s face it, we are all guilty of stalking ourselves). You know the drill, and you know how it goes: the iPhone generation, the me generation, the selfie generation, I, I, me. So, for the sake of your sanity and mine, let’s shake things up a bit. I’m not going to rant about why you should throw your phone away, or delete all of your social media accounts, because you really shouldn’t. For so long we’ve been reluctant to accept this form of being as normal; machines and humans are not nemeses. We have always been technological beings, and our reality finally is digital. Communication and survival are the reason why we invented tools in the first place. We love creating alternate visual universes, and we are fascinated by our screens, so let’s embrace this by exploring the endless possibilities that the digital age has to offer to storytelling and culture. Don’t run away from your phone, run towards it. Let me show you where to start.
words and design by: LUISA DE LA CONCHA MONTES
Michael Lipsey (@lipseymichael) What if I told you that a 78 old man out there is repurposing the aesthetic of old paintings by turning them into fragmented comics? Michael Lipsey’s art consists of simple oil painting backgrounds, with text bubbles on top of random characters that he finds online. The conversations he creates are quirky and sarcastic, often exposing the hidden philosophical and political fabric of our times. For those who think that the digital landscape is solely understood by younger audiences, he is a great example of how this is not the case. In his personal blog, he proudly embraces social media and blogging, defining our era as “a Brave New World of Brevity”.
Signe Pierce (@signepierce) Signe Pierce is an American digital reality artist who is fascinated by the idea of “turning your life into media”, as she said in an interview with Refinery29. Through neon light photographs, Inception-like videos depicting herself looking at herself on her phone, and audio-visual art installations, Signe Pierce aims to reclaim her own sexuality, femininity and identity. Her art is a celebration of urban/digital life, and it aims to reconquer womanhood by mocking pornography, and patriarchally-imposed standards of beauty. In her own words, she is “a data-dominatrix”.
Jack Stauber (@jackstauber) Best known for writing the song Buttercup, Jack Stauber is a video-maker and musician that doesn’t like to impose restrictions on the mediums he works with. By mixing his music in a way that makes it sound old and jarring, and by creating VHS-style videos that remind us of the golden era of badly-made advertising, his music videos work as an ironic ode to technological obsolescence. They are non-sensical, funny, bizarre, and often, disturbing, which works as a great representation of our modern era.
Andrea Love (@andreaanimates) Andrea Love makes enticing characters out of wool and felt, and then she uses stop-motion techniques to create fascinating stories. From a short video of a king and queen playing chess in a palace, to an apple tree changing from winter to spring, her charming and simple animations feel like they have been extracted from an old fairy tale. On her Instagram, she also shares behind-the-scenes videos of how she makes her characters and sets, bridging the gaps of accessibility and secrecy that traditional forms of art still keep.
Erik Winkowski (@erik.winkowski) If you want to visualise the expansive potential of digital mediums, Erik Winkowski’s work is your best bet. By mixing and overlapping videos, images, paintings, sound and shapes, he creates iconic “video sketchbooks” that are incredibly intriguing. In his almost cinematic universe, two-dimensional brush strokes move, turning into characters full of life. The colour palette he works with is explosive, intense and almost childish, making each piece feel somewhat nostalgic. Now you know, next time someone tells you off for being anti-social, you can simply say that actually, you are an art connoisseur in action.
20 - CULTURE issue 177 words by: KATIE WAITS design by: JOSH ONG
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR Audiobooks are a marvellous invention. Stopping to read for our own pleasure can often seem impossible with the mounds of academic reading and essays that we have to drag ourselves through. With audiobooks, this doesn’t have to be the case. You can be walking to your lectures, washing the dishes, going for a run, or driving somewhere, and listen to that book that’s been begging to be read. The one that’s been on your to-be-read list for about a year but you’ve never been able to get around to reading it.
Accents, Languages and Voices
If you’re anything like me, this will probably sound very familiar. Plus, if your course reading list is particularly tricky and you find yourself re-reading the same sentence about 50 times, audiobooks make it just that little bit easier. You can get on with daily life and still manage to get through a book or two, whether you like reading or not! But have you ever spared a thought about the narrators of your audiobooks? It may seem like a pretty simple job, reading out loud and earning a decent amount of money along the way. Unfortunately, this is not necessarily the reality. Tim Dowling, writing in The Guardian, initially described the experience of audiobook narration as ‘being akin to an exorcism’. If that doesn’t startle you at least a little bit right now, by the time you finish reading this article, you will see that Dowling’s claim is perhaps not far from the truth. Here’s a brief glimpse into the life of an audiobook narrator and the factors that make their job a lot more difficult than it may seem.
Movement (or lack of)
Many books contain characters that have specific accents, as well as those that speak their own languages, whether real or fictional. It is very important to get them right. For example, in Dowling’s article, narrator Clare Corbett discusses her experience narrating Flights, a novel by Polish author Olga Tokarszuk. The book contains Russian and Polish language and pronunciations, meaning that Corbett had to contact people who spoke the language to ensure that she was correct in her narration.
Narrators often develop their techniques in the recording studio, requiring a lot of effort, such as creating individual character voices to further engage readers. Jim Dale narrated all of the Harry Potter books and worked hard to create unique, distinct voices for each of the characters including Dobby, whose audiobook voice was inspired by someone Dale had heard in a crowded lift.
NARRATING IN THE THIRD PERSON
Have you ever had to read out-loud in front of your classmates, school teachers, or seminar tutors? Chances are, the answer will be yes. It can be a pretty overwhelming experience – tripping over words, accidently re-reading sentences, having to read complicated words that you’ve never seen before. These are issues that audiobook narrators have to power through daily, combined with the necessity of keeping still.
If a book is written in first person, you’d imagine it would be much easier to read, almost as if you become the central character. However, when it’s written in third person, with both storytelling and a greater range of characters, narrators are faced with the challenge of trying to balance narrating and acting.
So as not to create any background noise, rustling, tapping and fidgeting is not allowed. Narrators even have to make sure that the clothes they wear don’t make a sound. For those who record at home, the challenge of minimising noise is even greater without soundproofed rooms. The slightest unnecessary noise can ruin a take. Patience is definitely something that narrators need to have.
That can’t be easy. Ensuring that they don’t muddle up characters, especially if they each have distinctive voices and accents, requires a massive deal of concentration.
issue 177
CASTING
TIME If you listen to audiobooks, think of the longest one you’ve ever listened to. Whether it’s 12 hours or 20 hours, it is nowhere as long as the process of recording. Stumbling over words, having to repeat lines, paragraphs, pages and chapters can add up the time, plus the short breaks that need to be taken. It can be incredibly tedious, and can take a few days to as long as a month to perfect.
PREPARATION
Narrators spend a lot of time preparing for each and every part of their recordings by highlighting, annotating and colour-coding certain parts of the books. Accents, character names, physical descriptions, difficult pronunciations, ‘active attributions’ (such as “she yelled” or “they whispered”), are all factors a narrator has to prepare to face whilst recording. They have to make sure they read the text that they are narrating beforehand, whether that’s a week before or 24 hours before, even if they have to just skim read it. An accent or a complex name may otherwise end up being an unpleasant surprise. Audiobook popularity has rapidly increased. Due to this demand, many big celebrities are cast to read fictional books – including David Tennant, Kenneth Branagh, Stephen Fry, Scarlett Johansson and Reese Witherspoon, to name a few. However, recording audiobooks is exhausting, even for celebrities. ‘Your throat hurts. Your back hurts. Your legs hurt. Your brain hurts’ is the leading quote in Dowling’s article, highlighting the physical, as well as mental challenges that come with narrating audiobooks. That’s not to say it’s all bad – narrators can win awards, connect with authors, and perhaps most importantly, encourage and sustain love and appreciation of literature – but it is definitely not an easy job.
HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE
PLEASE DEETE THESE BORDERS WHEN YOU HAVE FINISHED DESIGNING
This may sound obvious, but the right person has to be cast for the right audiobook. ‘Voice quality’ is of great importance. Narrators cannot drink alcohol, smoke, or even eat certain foods before a reading so they don’t jeopardise the sound of their voice. There have even been incidences where authors haven’t been able to narrate their own books due to their voice quality.
CULTURE - 21
22 - CLEBAR issue 177
words by: GWERN AB ARWEL design by: YEONSU CHO
1) photo by: rhysllwyd
Cyn dyddiau cryno ddisgiau a ffrydiau, roedd y maes cerddoriaeth Gymraeg yn bodoli mewn gwedd hollol wahanol i fel y mae hi heddiw. Yn sicr, dyfodiad roc a rôl ar ddechrau’r chwedegau oedd un o drobwyntiau mwyaf diwylliant pop Gorllewinol, ond daeth y newidiadau yma ddim i’r amlwg yng Nghymru tan ddechrau’r 70au. Tan hynny, roedd y Byd Pop Cymraeg fel oedd y maes yn cael ei adnabod gynt yn cael ei ddominyddu gan gantorion gwerin, a phrin oedd dylanwad gan gerddorion byd-eang. Wrth gwrs, ni ellir dadlau bod cerddoriaeth werinol yn sefydledig mewn traddodiad Gymraeg, ond beth oedd yn apelgar am y brand yma o gerddoriaeth pop oedd y cyd-destunau gwleidyddol oedd yn cael eu trafod. O Huw Jones a’i anthem ‘Dŵr’ i holl gatalog Dafydd Iwan, roedd y Cymry ifanc wrth eu boddau yn cael cenhedlaeth o artistiaid a oedd yn lleisio’u pryderon, yn debyg i holl actifyddion y degawdau gynt. Ond daeth y themâu yma’n llawer llai uniongyrchol erbyn y 70au wrth i gantorion a bandiau ehangu’r palet a thrafod syniadau ehangach. 2) photo by: GanMed64
Pan laniodd roc a rôl yng Nghymru, roedd yna’n sydyn ymdeimlad ehangach o berthyn ymysg pobl ifanc, gyda bandiau Edward H Dafis a Geraint Jarman yn rhoi perfformiadau trydanol (yn llythrennol) am y tro cyntaf. Er eu bod yn llai gwleidyddol, roedden nhw’n canu am fod yn ifanc a’r problemau / breintiau oedd yn deillio o hynny. Ond ar y cyfan ni wnaeth cerddoriaeth werin golli tir chwaith, wrth i artistiaid fel Tebot Piws a Meic Stevens blethu’r arddull gyda dylanwadau Eingl-Americanaidd o’r 60au i greu cynnyrch i gystadlu â’r caneuon roc. Mae posib dweud mai tua’r cyfnod yma daeth cerddoriaeth Gymraeg yn fwy cydamserol i gerddoriaeth fydeang, gyda thueddiadau poblogaidd yn cael eu hadlewyrchu ymysg bandiau yng Nghymru. Enghraifft amlwg o hyn oedd y defnydd o reggae gan Geraint Jarman, a’r elfennau disgo yng ngherddoriaeth Bando. Ond rhaid nodi nad bod yn eironig oedd pwrpas hyn, ond priodi diwylliant Cymru a diwylliannau eraill y byd. Heb os, dyma oedd un o brif bwyntiau cerddoriaeth yng Nghymru, a’r rheswm y cyrhaeddodd y ‘Sîn’ anterth yn yr 80au.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/srllwyd/7575121296/in/photolist-bokJ9c-29fhsb-cxotjE-29aP4v-cxotDA-29fab7-29fkaQ-29feVo-29fbsE-29aMRz-29fgaY-29fiMh-A7XF-A7XG-NHdD-7VYrG5-bokFnM-bokHcc-bokGBt-bokGS4-bokGKi-bokGmk-5yJ3N7dR3BH-binPcr-9ufWdc-2hPhiHF-bVcnkT-7VVcKa-4U1UR-4U1U2-4dnaHQ-NCAB-7dR33R-7dR51n-7dUWLJ-7dR3YV-7dUWiq-7dR3dv/ 2) https://flickr.com/photos/32827327@N03/5199170205 3) https://www.flickr.com/photos/ganmed64/3890894342/in/photolist-6VPRkd-pAPnSL-AJCQUR-uT4ckL-K21Du2-pR3Nwb-pSY7FF-pAPwCm-25ZyjwY-6VUxK4-6VYHK9-pAPa9u-76kCmi-74Mr94-7R3EGo-pAKYu7-oWp4Tt-pAKGJE-pAHnc8-pAHwsT72yhWe-pSXPWD-pR41Zh-pAGEuB-pANyYA-oWpbuz-pT9k8t-8G7bEg-2eFSNXC-2gpwU1T-8G7ata-oWSzkb-pBguMp-pBmoru-728QLK-2hPeJW9-76nsRY-76hiuX-6WtYE3-72CaK5-72y7Ua-72y9CK-LBP47o-28F9nTm-aoWFPG-27nDJ3F-27E5C5mLBNGNC-28KwJkK-27E5yGu 4) https://www.flickr.com/photos/wfuv/19671670821/in/photolist-vYjsoi-v2489P-EboJbC-EjvQxC-72jiKM-Dps7R2-72oie9-7gtkQF-72oigL-vFj1fC-3JBdZA-EmQN5F-3kwBD-72jiUz-72oidd-72jj3x-7r5Ts8-47SwhQ-8QppEn-72oicm-72oif1-72oi95-7eQuzs72jiNR-72jiMz-72oi7N-72oijS-72oi1j-38BxAy-7eQvmj-38Bz8w-5dL8SZ-38wX5z-72jj2B-6rU3xt-72jiZv-72oi6d-38BAMG-6rYbLb-8f2hzt-6rYbTQ-6sukHi-6rYbNs-7fBzge-6rYbFS-4Sj6W-4Sj2z-2tHEq-7eQusb-6CkhKt 1)
issue 177
CLEBAR - 23
3) photo by: GanMed64
Herio’r sefydliad. Dyna oedd un o brif mottos y bennod nesaf yn hanes cerddoriaeth Gymraeg. Nid yn unig daeth cerddoriaeth unwaith eto’n fwy gwleidyddol, gyda chaneuon yn mynegi dicter at y sefydliad Prydeinig gan amlaf, roedden nhw’n ceisio herio syniadau am sefydliad yma yng Nghymru hefyd, a’r traddodiadau gwerin a roc yn yr un modd. Yn cael eu dylanwadu gan bync rhyngwladol, roedd grwpiau fel Yr Anrhefn, Maffia Mr Huws, a’n hwyrach Y Cyrff, yn cynnig rhywbeth newydd i genhedlaeth ifanc oedd o bosib wedi colli ei ffordd, gan estyn allan am y byd yn hytrach na chilio i’w gwreiddiau Cymreig. Ond efallai mai dull y band Datblygu o anghydffurfiaeth oedd y mwyaf trawiadol o’r cyfnod hwn. Roedd eu cerddoriaeth yn hollol arbrofol a di-ddylanwad, tra bod y geiriau yn ymylu ar fod yn absẃrd, ac felly roedd sawl band ifanc yn dilyn y patrwm yma o fynegiant. Er hyn, roedd ambell artist fel Bryn Fôn wedi profi llwyddiant drwy ganu am fywyd Cymreig, gan wrthsefyll grym y gerddoriaeth anghydffurfiol. Yn y cyfnod hwn, roedd hi’n ddiddorol gweld sut roedd trefi yng Nghymru yn adeiladu sinau eu hunain, sydd bron yn gwrthddweud naratif hollfydol y gerddoriaeth ei hun. Un dref a wnaeth ddatblygu ei sîn ei hun oedd Bethesda, gyda’r ŵyl Pesda Roc yn destament i hynny. Ac aelodau un o fandiau mwyaf llwyddiannus y dref, Ffa Coffi Pawb, wnaeth rolio’r carped coch ar gyfer y ddegawd nesaf.
4) photo by: WFUV Public Radio
Yr aelodau hynny oedd Gruff Rhys a Dafydd Ieuan, a aeth ymlaen i ffurfio un o allforion cerddorol mwyaf Cymru erioed, y Super Furry Animals. A chyn-aelod o’r Cyrff, Mark Roberts, oedd un rhan o grŵp arall a aeth yn rhyngwladol, Catatonia. Er i’r bandiau yma brofi llwyddiant yn fyd-eang, roeddent yn arwyddocaol i’r maes yng Nghymru gan eu bod wedi ymestyn y Gymraeg i bedwar ban byd, gan ddechrau’r symudiad cerddorol Cŵl Cymru yn y broses. Yma yng Nghymru, roedd y maes cerddoriaeth yn profi newidiadau fyth, gydag amrywiaeth ehangach o gerddoriaeth pop yn y brif ffrwd. Roedd bandiau fel Tŷ Gwydr a Llwybr Llaethog yn bennaf yn adlewyrchu cerddoriaeth ddawns drwy lens Cymreig, tra bod bandiau rap fel Tystion yn gwneud yr un peth â cherddoriaeth hip hop. Efallai nad oedd llawer o gerddoriaeth arloesol yn y cyfnod hwn, ond yn sicr, roedd arddulliau’n cael eu plethu er mwyn creu ymasiadau newydd sbon. Rhaid nodi hefyd mai dyma oedd un o’r cyfnodau mwyaf mentrus o ran gwyliau cerddoriaeth, gyda sawl tref yn sefydlu eu gŵyl eu hun cyn diwedd y 90au. Cafodd yr ŵyl fwyaf nodweddiadol, Maes B, ohonyn nhw i gyd ei sefydlu ym 1997, ac yn newid tir ers hynny. Yn ystod y 00au, roedd gwyliau fel Tân y Ddraig a Sesiwn Fawr Dolgellau yn gyfrifol am ddenu heidiau o gefnogwyr, ond ni wnaeth y gwyliau hynny oroesi fel ag yr oedden nhw. Ar y llaw arall, mae Maes B yn parhau i ddenu miloedd o bobl ifanc i’r Eisteddfod gan arddangos y gorau o gerddoriaeth pop yng Nghymru. Yn y cyfnod cynnar, bandiau fel Anweledig a Big Leaves oedd yn serennu yno, ond bellach mae degau o fandiau wedi topio’r bil. Gydag arddulliau’r 00au ar y cyfan yn adlewyrchu cerddoriaeth indie, roedd arddulliau arbrofol yn sicr wedi eu normaleiddio, gyda syniadau o’r degawdau cynt yn cael eu cymysgu ambell waith. Artistiaid fel Frizbee a Radio Luxembourg oedd y rhai mwyaf llwyddiannus yng nghanol y ddegawd, gan ysgrifennu caneuon chwareus a chyfeillgar, a oedd yn cadw rhag bod yn wleidyddol. Yn ddiweddarach, mae Candelas a Sŵnami wedi dod i’r amlwg gan ddenu ton newydd o gefnogwyr i’r maes cerddoriaeth Gymraeg, gan ddefnyddio cerddoriaeth indie o’r ddegawd ddiwethaf fel templed. Dros y blynyddoedd diwethaf, mae ton newydd o artistiaid yn creu cerddoriaeth sy’n efelychu cerddoriaeth boblogaidd fyd-eang o ran arddull ac o ran safon cynhyrchu, gan ategu elfennau hanesyddol o gerddoriaeth Cymraeg. O ganlyniad, mae’r sîn Gymraeg wedi addasu i’r oes ddigidol yn dda, a gellir dadlau, wedi cyrraedd anterth unwaith eto.
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Hanes hyfryd parc Bute words by: TIRION DAVIES design by: ELAINE TANG
Ers 1873, mae Parc Bute wedi bod yn rhan o hanes helaeth Caerdydd. Mae’r parc yn denu miloedd o ymwelwyr rhyngwladol yn flynyddol, ac yn sbarduno dychymyg y nifer eang sy’n dod i’r brif ddinas. Cynlluniwyd y parc yn wreiddiol gan Andrew Pettigrew i’r teulu Bute, fel gerddi pleser preifat Castell Caerdydd. Cyflwynwyd rhan helaeth o Barc Bute, Gerddi Soffia gerllaw a Chastell Caerdydd gan 5ed Ardalyd Bute fel rhodd i bobl Caerdydd yn 1947, yn dilyn diwedd yr Ail Ryfel Byd. Ers hynny, mae’r parc wedi’i ystyried yn ‘calon werdd’ y brifddinas, ac hyd yn oed wedi bod yn sail i arluniaeth gan J. M. Turner. Un o aelodau’r tîm sy’n cadw’r galon werdd yn curo yw Paul Collins, neu fel mae’n cael ei adnabod i drigolion Caerdydd, ‘Parkie Paul’. Dechreuodd Paul Collins gweithio fel gwarchodwr Parc Bute yn 1986, ac er bod ei rôl fel aelod o’r gymuned wedi newid, mae Paul wedi dod yn rhan annatod o’r parc i nifer. Dros y 34 mlynedd mae Paul wedi gweithio i Barc Bute, mae’n amhosib meddwl am y parc hebddo. Ei hoff beth yw’r ymwelwyr; o’r rhai sy’n dod i’r brifddinas am y tro cyntaf, i’r ymwelwyr sy’n dod i’r parc yn aml, mae Paul Collins yn hoff o drafod gyda thrigolion y ddinas. Roedd y parc yn le gwahanol iawn ym 1739. Bu nifer yn teithio i’r parc i wylio’r stôl trochfa a’i ddioddefwyr. I ogledd Bont Caerdydd, roedd y stôl trochfa yn denu pobl leol o bob gornel Caerdydd. Gwylwyr oedd nifer i hanesion menywod “atgas” yn cael eu clymu i gadair y stôl a’u trochi i’r Afon Taf tro ar ôl tro. Wrth ymgodi, os oedd y fenyw wedi’i gwlychu, roedd hi’n amlwg mai menyw “atgas” oedd hi, a dderbyniwyd y fenyw rhyw fath o gosb am ei throsedd. Amhosib oedd hi yn ôl pob sôn cael dyn oedd wedi’i wlychu. Mae’n debyg ‘ni allai ddynion fod yn atgas’. Fel rhan o hanes Prydain a Chymraeg, caewyd mynachlogydd, abatai ac addoldai ym 1536. Roedd Brodordy’r Brodyr Duon yng nghanol Parc Bute yn arfer bod yn ‘heneb gofrestredig ac yn adeilad rhestredig sy’n dyddio’n ôl i’r 13eg ganrif ’. Mynachlog Parc Bute yw un o safleoedd mynachlogydd prin sydd ddal i fodoli lle mae cynllun llawn yr adeilad yn hysbys. Cloddiwyd safle Brodordy’r Brodyr Duon ym 1887 ac erbyn hyn mae’r brodordy’n gardd addurnol. Mae plant yn aml yn chwarae ar lawr y brodordy, yn y gobaith bydden nhw’n teimlo’n talach rhywsut, ac i nifer, mae’r safle yn cael ei ddefnyddio fel amddiffynfa i’r plant. Bu nifer o blant yn
chwarae ar lawr y brodordy, gan ddychmygu mai arwyr ydyn nhw, yn gorfod amddiffyn y brodordy gyda chleddyfau o ffyn a’i ddychymyg yn agor byd newydd o’i flaenau nhw. Plant yw’r rhai sy’n ystyried llawn potensial y parc. Gan fod safleoedd hanesyddol i’w weld ar hyd Parc Bute, mae’n gyfle i blant alltudio’u hunain i gyfnod gwahanol yn hanes y Cymry. Bu’r parc yn safle perffaith i wario oriau yn fyd eu dychymyg. O hanes go iawn y parc, i hanes mae plant yn ddyddiol yn rhoi i’r Parc Bute, mae’n gyfle i’r parc hardd ddod yn le allfudo i’r ifanc. I’r plant sy’n ymweld â’r ddinas yn flynyddol, y Wal Anifeiliaid sy’n sbarduno’r dychymyg. O’r llewod i’r arth, o’r morlew i’r erlid, wnaeth William Frame a William Burgess creu rhan o’r parc sy’n cynnig cyfle i greu stori. “Be ddigwyddodd i’r anifeiliaid? Ai anifeiliaid go iawn ydyn nhw o dan y concrit? Ydyn nhw’n symud pan nad oes unrhyw un yn gwylio? Efallai wnaeth un fy nghipio a bydd rhaid imi ddod yn arwr llawnamser. Oes plant arall maen nhw wedi’u cipio?”. I’r nifer sy’n ymweld â’r parc, mae Cylch yr Orsedd yn denu sylw. Er bod nifer yn meddwl mai heneb yw’r cylch, gosodwyd y cylch ym 1978 i ddathlu bod Caerdydd wedi cynnal Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru. Mae’r cerrig a’r ardal laswelltog o’u hamgylch yn boblogaidd gydag ymwelwyr gan fod nifer yn derbyn mai heneb gyda hanes cryf yw’r cerrig. I’r ifanc, mae Cylch yr Orsedd yn debyg i’r nodweddion yn y byd ffuglennol, Narnia. Mae’r cerrig yn adlewyrchu’r Bwrdd Cerrig yn ffilmiau a llyfrau C. S. Lewis. Yn aml, ceir plant o bob rhan y byd yn dychmygu mai nhw yw cymeriadau’r byd Narnia, yn rhedeg o garreg i garreg ac yn aml yn gorfodi rhiant i ymddwyn fel llew. I’r bobl ifanc sy’n cerdded heibio’r Cylch erbyn hyn, mae’n safle llawn atgofion o fod yn blentyn ifanc heb ofidion. Wrth gerdded trwy Barc Bute, mae’n amhosib peidio sylwi ar ei harddwch. Hyd yn oed ar ddiwrnod lle nad oes modd teimlo’ch dwylo, mae’r parc yn cynnig cysur, ac mae’n teimlo fel bod y coed yn adrodd hanes y brifddinas. Yng nghanol yr Haf, pan mae’r blodau yn blodeuo a’r haul yn tywynnu, mae’n anodd credu bod dihangfa i gornel werdd yng nghanol Caerdydd, tra bod ddinas fawr, brysur heibio’r mur. Wrth fod y dail yn cwympo mis Medi, ac mae’r glaw yn bwrw, ceir distawrwydd, ac elfen o noddfa heb alwadau gwaith a thraethodau. Rhan o hanes Parc Bute yw’r bobl. O’r plant sy’n creu atgofion bythgofiadwy o ddiwrnodau yn yr Haf lle gallen nhw chwarae am oriau a ladd ddreigiau, i’r rhai sy’n chwilio am eglurdeb ac yn ei ddarganfod trwy sibrwd y dail. Er bod hanes gan y parc, hanes go iawn sy’n cael ei ‘sgwennu yn llyfrau hanesyddol, y bobl sy’n gynnig llawer o’r hanes. Ceir rhai’n dewis y parc i nodi cerrig filltir eu bywyd, ac eraill sy’n cynnig cyfrinachau i’r coed. Mae’n teimlo bod y parc yn fyw weithiau ac mae’n teimlo’n amhosib weithiau bod gwerddon fach yng nghanol Caerdydd pan mai dinas brysur yw natur y lle.
background picture by: MARCUSOBAL
issue 177
photography by: YEON SU CHO, ELLA CUSS & ABI DUDBRIDGE
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Diwrnodau i’w dathlu Mae’n rhaid imi gyfaddef nad oeddwn i erioed wedi clywed am fodolaeth “Make up your own holiday day” ar y 26ain o Fawrth tan nawr. Ond am syniad penigamp a chyfle gwych i feddwl am y pethau pwysig sydd efallai ddim yn derbyn eu cydnabyddiaeth haeddiannol yn ein bywydau beunyddiol. Mae cymaint o bethau y gallwn ni fod yn dathlu gyda’n teuluoedd nad ydynt ar hyn o bryd yn wyliau cenedlaethol. Gadewch imi gynnig rhai o’m syniadau ar gyfer dathliadau cenedlaethol a fydd yn dod â phawb ynghyd.
1) Diwrnod Dai-o-ni Dai a Diane. Am bâr. Am icons ein cenedl. Pwy well i dathlu na’r ddau yma? “Hold on, David John”, am syniad gwefreiddiol! Os ydych chi’n gwylio Pobol y Cwm (neu hyd yn oed os nad ydych chi) byddwch chi i gyd, mae’n siŵr, yn gyfarwydd â’r ‘dream team’ ei hun, ‘double act’ penna’n gwlad, a chreadigaethau gorau’r Cwm. Does dim geiriau a all gyfleu gwir apêl Dai a Diane. Mae’r berthynas rhyngddynt yn un sydd wedi ei seilio ar gyfuniad perffaith o gariad a chomedi. Felly, dyna pam hoffwn gynnig creu Diwrnod Cenedlaethol Dai-o-ni. Ie, dwi’n gw’bod, clyfar, on’d yw e? Byddai’r diwrnod yn cwmpasu twrnameintiau rygbi cymunedol ar draws y wlad, a phryd-ar-glud rhamantus ar ddiwedd y dydd. Ond pwy fyddai’n cael gwahoddiad i Ddiwrnod Cenedlaethol Dai-o-ni? Wel, pawb, wrth gwrs. Mae Bryntirion bob amser yn agor eu drysau i aelodau’r gymuned, er gwaethaf protestiadau Dai. Felly, pwy fydden i i rwystro mynediad i bobl o bob cwr o Gymru i ymuno yn y dathliadau i ddathlu Dai a Diane?
2) Diwrnod ‘Mamma Mia’ Double whammy o ddathliad byddai hwn. Heb os, mae angen cydnabod cyfraniad sylweddol ABBA i ddiwylliant y byd, ac yn enwedig y gân, y sioe gerdd, a’r ffilm, eiconig Mamma Mia. Pa ffordd well o gyfuno hynny gyda hanes a threftadaeth Cymru na drwy ddathlu Ynys Môn ar yr un diwrnod? Ein Mamma ni, wrth gwrs! Byddai’r diwrnod yn cael ei nodi gyda gig ar Ynys Llanddwyn, gyda rhai o gantorion enwocaf ein gwlad megis Dafydd Iwan, Bryn Fôn a Caz Paz yn canu rhai o hits mwyaf ABBA, gan gyflwyno sbin unigryw eu hunain ar y clasuron rhain. Os nad ydych chi’n siŵr am y syniad eto, dynai’i gyd ofynnaf i chi yw take a chance on me. Gyda phobl o bobman yn teithio i Gaergybi, am ddiwrnod Super (Trooper) fyddai hwn!
words by: TOMOS EVANS design by: JAMES MCCLEMENTS
3) Diwrnod ‘A wês heddwch?’ Ers dechrau yn y brifysgol yma yng Nghaerdydd, dw i wedi derbyn rhai edrychiadau difyr pan dwi’n dweud ambell i air yn y Gymraeg. Ar ddechrau fy amser yma, roedd rhai yn cwestiynu pa iaith oeddwn i wir yn siarad gan mai nid Cymraeg mohono. Y gwir yw, dw i o Sir Benfro, ac yn sir y Sant mae gennym dafodiaith fyrlymus, unigryw sydd angen ei gwarchod a’i rhannu â gweddill Cymru. Wês wir! Dyna pam y byddai diwrnod i ddathlu tafodiaith Sir Benfro’n syniad mor dda. Fel rhan o’r dathliadau, byddem yn cerdded pentigili o Ogledd Sir Benfro i’r De, tra’n siarad yn nhafodiaith ein sir gan rannu straeon am pan wedd hi’n ŵer yn y cŵed dŵe. Byddai gwahoddiad i bawb o bob cwr o’r wlad i ymuno yn nhaith y dafodiaith a dysgu mwy am y dafodiaith arbennig hon. Yna, wedi’r orymdaith i ddod i ben, byddem yn cynnal Eisteddfod Gadeiriol Sir Benfro, gyda’r archdderwydd yn holi’r cwestiwn anfarwol ‘A wês heddwch?’
4) Diwrnod Cenedlaethol Gwerthfawrogiad Bara Lawr Iawn, peidiwch â’m meirniadu i am y rogue choice hwn a gadewch imi egluro. Mae bara lawr yn un o fwydydd mwyaf traddodiadol ein cenedl, a fel rhywun sy’n ffan mawr o fwyd y môr, bara lawr yw un o’m ffefrynnau. Byth ers imi fynd i farchnad Abertawe gyda’n nheulu pan oeddwn i’n fach, a chael tamed ohono i’w drïo, dw i wedi bod yn gefnogwr brwd ohono. Yn ffodus i fi, mae caffi lleol yn Sir Benfro yn gweini brecwast Cymreig, sy’n cynnwys bara lawr a chocos. Pa beth gwell sydd i’w gael i ddechrau bore Sadwrn prysur? Byddai’r diwrnod hwn yn gystadleuaeth rhwng cymunedau ar draws Cymru. Mae’n siŵr eich bod i gyd wedi clywed am y crôls cawl enwog ar Ddydd Gŵyl Dewi. Wel, byddai’r dathliad cenedlaethol hwn yn gyfle i gymryd rhan mewn crôl bara lawr. Os nad ydych chi wedi blasu bara lawr eto, dw i’n addo y cewch chi siom o’r ochr orau! Felly, oes un o’r dyddiau rhain wedi cydio yn eich dychymyg ac wedi’ch hysbrydoli i fynd ati i drefnu diwrnod o’r fath? Na? Wel, cofiwch ble roeddech chi wrth ichi ddarllen yr erthygl hon pan fyddwch yn mynychu’ch Diwrnod Cenedlaethol Gwerthfawrogiad Bara Lawr cyntaf. Un peth dw i’n siŵr ohono, wedi sgwennu’r erthygl hon, yw pa mor ffodus ‘yn ni yma yng Nghymru – mae cymaint gennym i’w ddathlu!
issue 177
FOOD & DRINK - 27 words by: STEPHANIE ISRAEL design by: YEONSU CHO
The CBD industry has rapidly taken off and is steadily moving its way up to being one of the biggest newcomer industries, with many businesses incorporating the plant extract into products like skincare and food items. As CBD – short for cannabidiol – is legal in the United Kingdom, many businesses are experimenting with the ingredient, including bars and coffee shops all over South Wales with Bootlegger being the most notable mention. But why has it become such a sought-after ingredient, and what are its health benefits, if any? Cannabidiol is derived from the cannabis plant, but it is not psychoactive, as opposed to what people may commonly think. It means that, when consumed, it will not have the effects of getting “high”. Instead, studies have shown that the extract has some pain-relieving qualities and is also a promising sleep aid. It can also alleviate more serious mental health disorders, including depression, anxiety and PTSD. Furthermore, clinical trials have found that CBD extract, when taken alongside other medications, can help to reduce the chances of seizures. As for physical external benefits, CBD oils can be used to help treat acne as it is shown to have anti-inflammatory properties and can help to reduce excess oil production. However, these findings are still very much up in the air and leave a lot of room for further scientific research into CBD oils’ health benefits. Meanwhile, CBD infused food is getting a lot of attention from chefs around the world. As cannabidiol is safe to be consumed, a lot of business owners have experimented with incorporating CBD into their restaurant menus. The compound is commonly mixed with other oils, such as coconut and olive, labelled in the market as oil tinctures. The wide range of flavours available on the market make CBD an attractive addition to food and drink items, from desserts to alcoholic beverages. For instance, businesses around London such as Glow Bar have jumped onto the bandwagon and have been promoting their new CBD infused menu items. The ingredient can be mostly be found in underground, vegetarian/vegan cafes and restaurants around the UK. For example, Farmacy, a vegan restaurant in London, has developed their whole principle upon serving food that is made with ingredients that are good for your health — which apparently includes CBD, as it has made its way into their homemade truffles. They even serve afternoon tea, appropriately called High Tea, in which each afternoon delight served in the package is imbued with the extract. Also, Yogland, a frozen yoghurt establishment located in the Westbourne Grove area of London, are currently serving a hemp matcha flavour that is spiked with a whopping 40 percent CBD oil.
If you’re interested in experimenting with CBD oils in your own cooking, try to use them with food that has a strong earthy taste, like chocolate. CBD is frequently fused into brownie mixtures and slices are flying off the shelves at local bakeries around London. Try to get a hold of one at infamous vegan restaurant, by CHLOE. Their squidgy, chewy and chocolatey brownie is the perfect gateway to inspiring your own CBD brownie recipe. More simply, you can also add a drop or two of the oil into your chosen morning and evening beverages. As for coffee, a drop of the oil can elevate your cup of joe and bring out a more decadent taste - a perfect treat for days of relaxation. Meanwhile, you can get creative with CBD oils and spice up your evening cocktails by adding a millilitre of the oil into your drink. Many oils are available, ranging from fruity flavours; think lemon and orange, to stronger flavours, like peppermint or just raw, unflavoured CBD. If you want to get fancy and incorporate the oil into your meals, try adding a drop or two of the oil into your pesto sauce. Or, you could always add a dose to your soup too. The flavour the oil will add to the food will usually come from what carrier oil your CBD is mixed with, so try to just experiment with the flavours that you know you like. Using CBD oils is all about experimentation. There are no rules as to where you can and cannot put it.
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Anyone who lives in Cardiff, whether they’re born and bred or have just moved here for uni, knows how much of a close-knit community feel the city has to offer. Lately, more and more eateries are being set up with the aim of giving back to the locals and beyond. Wild Thing is just one of these spots who are focusing on bettering the local and global community in 2020. I caught up with the owner, Lauren, to talk a bit more about the cafe… So, how did Wild Thing come to be? One of the main things that got me thinking about setting up Wild Thing was a change in my own lifestyle — I used to party a lot as most people in their twenties do, and I decided to stop drinking alcohol and start doing yoga. As my lifestyle became healthier, I wanted to eat more healthy and nourishing food that was really good for me but also really good for the environment. I felt like there wasn’t a specific place in Cardiff who were doing nice, organic, local food that fitted my new lifestyle, so I decided to do it myself. What are your main goals as a cafe? Our main goals are to reduce environmental impacts, fight food poverty and get more people around Cardiff eating more fruit and veg. The cafe is very veg-centred and the menu is seasonal so that we don’t have to outsource our ingredients from afar. We also don’t do things like single-use containers and when creating our cafe in Grangetown we made sure everything was second hand. Wild Thing cafe serves all vegan food, why did you decide to set up a fully plant-based cafe?
There’s been quite a few studies out that show how having a vegan diet is the single biggest thing you can do to help the environment, and it’s often the healthiest option for our bodies. It’s even better for the environment than just eating locally sourced foods, so it was a no brainer! How important is sourcing ingredients locally to you? That’s one of the most important things for us, aside from our menu being totally vegan. All of our veg is grown in Wales, and is mostly supplied by Blaencamel farm which is all organic. We also make sure we use grains and pulses from a British company called Hodmedod’s. For ages we didn’t have chickpeas, so when they finally started supplying British chickpeas we were so excited! It is quite challenging not using certain foods like bananas in our smoothies, but we make it work well. Other than serving delicious food, what else does the cafe have to offer? We’re currently aiming to fight food poverty through hospitality. The main drivers of food poverty are lack of finance, lack of access to healthy food, and lack of education about cooking and healthy food. We’re carrying on our monthly community dinners starting this year in March, which will be with different organisations such as Oasis and Cathays Community Fridge. Each dinner will be free and on the night we’ll be providing opportunities for people to come and volunteer with us so that people who are out of work can get some workplace skills for the future. We also have some nutritional courses coming up and some hospitality workshops to teach people things like cooking and barista skills, so that they’re able to gain experience in the industry. Wild Thing is a living wage employer, why is that? Being a living wage employer was something I knew I wanted to do since we first opened. When I was in university, I worked at the bar there which paid a living wage. It really helped me out when I was studying and made me realise how important it was for people to have the calculated wage they need to live — any less than that now seems unethical. Not only is Wild Thing affordable, it’s nutritious and gives back anything it can to the community on a local and global scale — head down to their Grangetown or Cathays cafes to get involved! To find out more, go to www.wildthingcardiff.com
issue 177
FOOD & DRINK - 29 words by: KATIE DUFFIN design by: ORLAGH TURNER
images by: @WILDTHINGCARDIFF VIA INSTAGRAM
Whether it’s by using only local produce, teaming up with local charities or reducing their environmental impact, these eateries are giving a little bit back to the world — think about making them your new go-to’s to help do your bit! The Clink This unique high-end restaurant is based in Cardiff prison (no, not Pryzm). The meals at The Clink Restaurant are cooked and served by the prisoners in training who are working towards gaining qualifications in catering and hospitality. The charity aims to transform lives and provide new opportunities to prisoners in the last months of their sentences, with the aim of reducing reoffending. Not only does this charity help individuals gain new skills and opportunities, it also helps maintain a safer Cardiff for all. Not to mention, the food is absolutely divine. Big Moose Tucked around a corner on Queen Street, Big Moose cafe does some of the best coffee around, whilst also giving back to the community. This non-profit eatery holds all sorts of events — last year marked the fourth year of their disabled children’s triathlon, Supertri, which is an annual success. They also do events like music and comedy nights, and all profits from the cafe are always reinvested into good causes. I’d recommend their french toast, it definitely makes waking up a little easier. Atma Described as “Sacred Food and Conscious Living”, Atma is a vegetarian and vegan cafe that aims to be an ethical business that revives the soul. Run by the Hare Krishna movement in Wales, the cafe provides delicious healthy meals and free activities to the local community such as yoga and meditation. Atma has won several food awards, including The Observer’s ‘Best Ethical Restaurant in Britain’ title, and when you go there you can clearly see why.
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Terrible Food Tales design by: JOSH ONG
Home Cooking By Iris van Brunschot
I’ll admit I’m not the greatest chef on earth. My flatmates often look at my meals with their faces deformed in disgust. When I offer to cook for them on a seldom occasion, they often pretend they are busy. However, my skills reached a peak in the spring of 2017. Now, I hadn’t really cooked much prior to that spring, but that wouldn’t stop me from trying to make the most complicated dish on the planet, Nasi Goreng, or Indonesian stir-fried rice. After approximately an hour of mixing exotic vegetables, oblivious in my very own heaven of self-admiration, I put the dish in front of my family. I expectantly watched the spoons reach their lips and waited for the “aah’s” and “mmm’s”. But they never came. Instead, a crunchy sound escaped their mouths. I couldn’t recall putting anything crunchy in there, so I tasted a spoonful myself. The realisation hit me like it must have hit Gwen West when she found out her only talent was the omelette. Shamefully, I promised my family that next time I would remember to cook the rice before putting it in the wok.
Working As A Waitress By Megan Evans
The hospitality sector is always a means for a bad experience due to the fast-paced nature and the lack of sympathy from customers when the food is delayed. One day over Christmas, the lunch period was so busy that the upstairs floor had to be opened, which usually doesn’t happen on weekdays. When it had quietened down, I grabbed three pizzas for a final table upstairs. They had already had issues with their food as one customer was vegan and they’d been served mozzarella. I balanced them awkwardly in my hands whilst the chefs frantically rang the bell for people to grab more dishes from the pass. I walked up the stairs, and when I was about to approach the table, I dropped not just one, but all three on the floor in front of the customers. The impact of them hitting the floor meant that tomato sauce and pizza crusts were plastered all over their smart blouses. Thankfully, they were so lovely, and my over-apologising landed me with a £10 tip despite the disaster!
Kitchen Pranks By Peter Wolinski
I started working in an Italian restaurant staffed mainly by Romanian guys who were all close friends. When you start anywhere your first jobs are very basic, so I was finishing them quickly. To find more things to do, I kept asking the other guys: “what’s next?” One of them, Mihai, pulled me over and said to me, “Peter, when you want to know what is next in Romanian, you ask ‘Suge Pula?’” (ZUJ POOYEH) Grateful, I went on the whole morning using my new Romanian skills to ask everyone what task was next. Every time I did, people laughed, which I brushed off. Then, after lunch, the head chef arrived. This rotund, sweaty beast of a Romanian had a ferocious demeanour which belied his 5ft 2” stature. He gave me a task, which I speedily finished. “Suge Pula?” I therefore asked him. He went bright red, grabbed me by my whites and demanded, “Who told you to say this? Mihai?” “Uh… yes.” I then witnessed Mihai being pulled outside into the back yard, receiving an extensive reprimand in Romanian and then walking sheepishly back in, winking at me on the way. Turns out I had been requesting fellatio.
Eating Out By Muskan Arora
When I was asked out on a date for Valentine’s Day, I was very excited. Some of the thoughts that popped into my mind were trivial worries: Will he be boring? Will the rain ruin my hair? What I didn’t even consider was that I would be eating the worst tasting dinner of my life. We went to an authentic Italian restaurant and ordered some gin and pizza. So far, so good. But, little did I know this combination would be destroyed for me for eternity. The open kitchen was beautifully traditional, and the delicious fragrance of pizza set my expectations high. When we saw our pizzas coming we were so excited, but as soon as I took my first bite, it felt like I’d consumed a packet of salt. When I got to the crust, it tasted like bark. All my taste buds could feel was salt and before I knew it, I was in the middle of a coughing fit, about to be sick. To try and wash it down, I decided to take a sip of gin. Bad idea. The salt and gin combo made me feel like I was burning in hellfire — not the best first date!
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FANCY PIZZA
Score: 8/10 The square pizza fills both the box and your stomach! It’s the best BBQ base in Cardiff, with good quality toppings and amazing garlic mayo. Even though it’s on the pricey end for takeaway pizza, it was enough food to really fill us up. In addition to the large pizza, we ordered two sides, two dips and two drinks which totaled £16. Not bad! By Kanoon Prapaiwongs
P I Z Z A QUEST
FOOD & DRINK - 31 Student life wouldn’t be complete without our lazy takeaway pizza nights. Quench Food scoured the city to discover how the takeaway pizza establishments stack up.
HOLLYWOOD PIZZA
Score: 7/10 If your stomach isn’t growling by the time you’ve walked the length of Crwys Road in the evening, it can only be because you have no sense of smell. Hollywood Pizza is among the numerous eateries that fill the street with tempting aromas. Our choice was chicken, onion and green pepper toppings. By Su En Chan
BRAVA CAFE
Score: 4/10 Opening up the box to find a pathetically flat circle of dough with a sauceless parameter was a little disappointing to say the least. It was also a tepid temperature so I wasn’t holding out much hope. Once I got stuck in, it was a confusing experience. At first, it seemed as if there was a lack of tomato sauce, but as the numerous ingredients came together, it became apparent that actually, the tomato sauce was a weird, unwelcome base below the fresh flavours of yogurt, mint, lemon and pomegranate. Yes, pomegranate. It only gets stranger. The slight crunch of the pomegranate rudely interrupted the otherwise smooth texture of the pizza, and the sudden bursts of sweetness were worthy of joining pineapple as an outlawed pizza topping. For a restaurant price tag of £12.95, I was expecting a higher standard of pizza compared to what I recieved. By Lauren Stenning
DOMINO’S
Score: 6/10 I was initially impressed by the speedy delivery but I wouldn’t have minded waiting a few more minutes if they could actually get my order right. I specifically requested to swap the mushrooms and jalapenos with extra pineapple and sweetcorn so their oversight caused me great frustration. Despite this let down, the pizza did look pretty tasty and once I’d removed the unwanted toppings, the superior taste of Domino’s did not disappoint. Given that I had a discount code, I would say it was still good value for money despite them getting my order wrong. If I’d paid full price, my score would be lower. By Alicia Ramos-Martinez
SQUARE PIZZA CO
Score: 9/10 A little further away on Penarth Avenue, the clue is in the name with this one. Much like Fancy Pizza, the classic round shape is replaced by a square – no corners cut here! Here’s our verdict on the Vegetarian Hot. The unusual pizza shape initially threw me off, but it was great once I realised you get much more bang for your buck! Two ten inch pizzas cost just £14.99 which seems like a good deal to me. And most importantly, they were delicious. By Katie Duffin
design by: JOSH ONG
The Quench Pizza Quest has resulted in a clear winner: Square Pizza Co. It’s proven worthwhile to venture out of Cathays for pizza deliveries, without fear of long waiting times. Square shaped pizzas have come out on top, with Fancy Pizza’s scrumptious squares coming in a close second. What gave Square Pizza Co the edge was its impressive value for money, the best option when you just want to fill your face with as much pizza as possible. So next time you find yourself browsing Deliveroo on pizza night, you now know to go straight to Square Pizza Co!
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Blossom Cafe
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Just a few minutes away from Cathays, Blossom Cafe is a lovely venue that will leave both, your taste buds and Instagram needs satisfied.
We spoke to the owner, Selma, who told us how her family-owned business aims to create a welcoming atmosphere, where guests can enjoy a wide array of food options; from home-made cakes and desserts, to Turkish breakfast and delicious coffee.
words and design by: LUISA DE LA CONCHA MONTES photography by: PETER WOLINSKI (@PWOLSKIYO)
R ed V e elvet Cheesecak
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Opening Hours: Monday - Friday: 9AM to 5PM Saturday : 10AM to 5PM Sunday : 11AM to 4PM Location: 11 Wellfield Road, Cardiff CF24 3NZ Instagram: @blossomcardiff
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Head over to Blossom Cafe to experience a romantic culinary getaway!
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So you’ve got a bit of money to spend on this holiday, but nothing too dramatic. Well, Warsaw could be the city for you. PLACES TO STAY If you fancy Warsaw on a higher budget, I’d recommend either a hotel or Airbnb. Both are incredibly well priced given the exchange rate, and you can find some very close to the incredible Palace of Culture and Science or in the bustling old town. ACTIVITIES
words by: DANIEL PRIESTLEY design by: ORLAGH TURNER
Whilst visiting Warsaw there are plenty of incredibly fun activities for you to do. It isn’t hard to find an abundance of historical monuments, museums, music venues, theatres and bars. A particular favourite of mine is the Vodka Museum in Warsaw. They will give you a guided tour of the museum, explaining all the processes of creating the spirit and at the end they will even treat you to four vodka shots - which, whilst fun, the consequential stumble around the old town in the middle of the afternoon can be a bizarre experience. If you’re a particular fan of alcoholic beverages, take a trip to the Cocktail Bar Max & Dom Whisky where they’ll personally make you an affordable cocktail based on your request rather than from a set menu. FOOD
One city can hold many different personas, each with different things to do and see. Daniel Priestley explores three different ways you can travel around Warsaw, Poland, from the perspectives of a standard mini-break, budget break and activity break. Thinking of getting away this summer? Whilst it’s not necessarily the warmest country in Europe, if you want a cheap getaway to a really interesting and fun part of the world why not go to Poland? But where in Poland? Its capital Warsaw is often overlooked in favour of the iconic city of Krakow. Krakow, however, is filled every summer with thousands of Brits looking for a cheap stag do or alcohol-filled weekend causing overcrowding. On the other hand, Warsaw has the bustle of the capital city, the same cheap prices as Krakow, and still manages to avoid overcrowding despite this.
The old town is filled with lots of places where you can try traditional Polish food or basically anything else you may fancy. However, the best dining experience I’ve had in Poland turns away from the cultural angle ever so slightly. The InterContinental Hotel - a worldwide chain - has surprisingly cheap prices in Poland. In Warsaw they offer a bottomless brunch. Here you can find the highest quality of all the buffets you’ve ever seen with stations where they will personally make you pasta dishes and fry up any meat to order. But that’s not even the best part. This bottomless brunch lasts four hours and gives you access to endless red & white wine and most importantly - prosecco. All this is priced at just £35. How could you say no to that?
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So, you fancy all of the above but don’t have the budget to be splashing out on a £35 brunch. That’s fair enough, but thankfully Warsaw has plenty to offer the budget traveler. PLACES TO STAY You know the deal on where to stay when you’re travelling on the cheap. You will be staying at a hostel... surprise! But the good news is you won’t have any trouble finding a nice hostel for less than £10 a night. Personally, I stayed at the Warsaw Hostel Centrum but found it a bit clinical and anti-social for my taste. However, I have heard great reviews of the Oki Doki Hostel and Vava Hostel. ACTIVITIES If you want to cut your costs down via activities then have a Free Walking Tour around the old town. Poland is a fascinating country steeped in history and a free walking tour can show you round the sights in just a few hours. This is also a great place to meet people if you’re travelling solo. If you want to go out drinking then I present to you three cheap options. The first is going to the many shot bars where a shot will set you back less than a pound. The second option is a chain bar called Pijalnia Wodki I Piwa, which I can officially dub the Polish equivalent of a Wetherspoons. Not only does it have ludicrously cheap alcohol, it also has some delicious toasties. The third option is slightly more creative. Soplica is a Polish liquor that tastes wonderful when combined with orange juice, so why not smuggle a cheap bottle into a bar and mix it with orange juices. FOOD Cultural but cheap I hear you cry? Look no further than GOŚCINIEC Polskie Pierogi -a chain pierogi restaurant which offers many varieties of the delicious filled dumpling. People tend to be critical about polish food but just like the British cuisine, it can be wonderfully stodgy, greasy and sometimes, that is just what you need.
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If you want to find a way to extend your stay in Poland for very little money and perhaps get a TEFL qualification out of it (if you complete the three weeks), then consider doing some volunteering with a company called Angloville. PLACES TO STAY You’ll stay in a hotel with a whole bunch of strangers (life long friends by the end of the week). The best part of this is that it’s all completely for free. ACTIVITIES The ultimate fulfilling activity: interacting with Polish children. You’ll spend your week essentially working as a professional socialising expert. All you have to do is speak to, and have fun with, a bunch of interesting children. This is the rewarding part of volunteering as you watch the kids get more comfortable with using English in their speech. The whole week has a lovely summer camp vibe where everyone is friends with everyone and there is lots of fun involved. FOOD You get all meals in the day for free - a buffet breakfast and dinner, and every lunchtime you’ll get a three course meal where (depending on the venue) you’ll be treated to some lovely traditional polish food. This includes peirogis (stuffed dumplings with meat, cheese and potatos), golabki (cabbage stuffed with meat and rice) and ogorkowa (polish pickle soup).
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Unsplash photo by: TOM BARRETT
design by: JAMES BARKER
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TRAVEL - 41
words by: EBONY CLENT
words by: AKHI UDDIN
Despite having gone abroad previously as a young child, the first trip I can clearly remember is when I traveled to Orlando, Florida. At the time I had just turned eleven, and the idea of an eight-hour flight excited, yet intimidated me. After the initial car journey, plus hours of waiting around at the airport, I can remember how excited I felt boarding the plane. The actual plane journey itself, however, felt painfully long.
My stance on travelling matured after completing a journey into what, at the time, was the complete unknown. With parents originating from Bangladesh, a country in South Asia, bordered by India, Burma and the Bay of Bengal, I was very intrigued to understand what my sense of culture was being shaped around. This trip was critical in sculpting my perspective on a developing third world country. Whilst Bangladesh is considered one of the poorest and densely populated countries in the world, my later viewpoint found it harbours a magnitude of rare beauties.
The real experience of travelling abroad only truly began after landing. I remember being greeted by a breeze of warmth – unlike any heat I’d ever felt before – as I stepped off the plane. After waiting around at the second airport (for what seemed like forever) we finally accessed a hire car. Little did I know that what awaited was about to be the most stressful, yet most adventurous journey of my life. To put it simply, my dad refused to call a taxi as he assumed that he would have no problem driving on American roads. He was wrong, very wrong. What should have been an hour-long journey ended up being a three-hour journey! For the most part, I slept as a result of pure exhaustion. Although, from what I can remember, the time I spent awake was a stressful experience. The car drive down to the hotel involved repeatedly driving round in circles, and as a result of my dad getting confused with American road signs and directions, our car was pulled over by a sheriff! This was the first time in my life where I realised that travelling can make you feel vulnerable and isolated. A journey which had begun with intense feelings of excitement had transformed into an evening of stress, confusion and uncertainty. Going somewhere unknown can be scary. Luckily, by some miracle, we did eventually arrive at our destination. Although my parents found navigating their way around Orlando overwhelming, I began to love this new way of life. I found it fascinating how massive and spacious the area felt compared to my small hometown. The overall experience of travelling abroad was exciting and exhilarating. The journey had definitely changed my perspective on travelling. Previously, I had assumed that travelling abroad was a simple, straightforward process. However, as a result of this trip, I came to the realisation that travelling requires a lot of patience and planning. I was also aware of how tiring and overwhelming long journeys can be – especially when your trip doesn’t go quite as expected. However, none of this stopped me from wanting to travel abroad again. In fact, the whole experience made me even more eager to go out of my comfort zone and to travel the world in the future. Travelling gives you a sense of freedom and excitement unlike so many other experiences, providing the perfect opportunity for adventure and a greater understanding of the world.
Abroad. The word initially generated a flood of exhilaration. In 2009, I arrived to my destination via an 11-hour flight stopping in Dubai. I entered foreign territory, and I could not contain my elation. However, that elation was soon somewhat deflated by the harsh reality of the heat. Despite flying to Bangladesh in December, my expectations of a comfortably warm place were not met; my parents failed to notify me of how humid and hot it truly would be. With temperatures soaring to up to 35 degrees, I was easily aggravated. However, the sights eased my frustration and I soon realised that the opportunity to see the sun so frequently during wintertime was a rare experience. Residing in my parents’ hometown of Moulvibazar for a few weeks was enlightening. By the end of my journey, my joy came from scenes I only ever knew about from conversations becoming real in front of me. Though crowded, this never detracted from the evident beauty of the country’s natural surroundings. Tea gardens. Sea beaches. Waterfalls. A newfound sense of incomparable peacefulness meant I wanted to travel more and more to discover other kinds of hidden gems just like these. It was easy to acknowledge, however, that regular tourists may not appreciate such a country. Poverty is indeed widespread, which I came to realise immediately. Children were excited to greet people such as my family and I (who were apparently dressed as outlanders), seeking an opportunity to ask for money. I recall feeling so content being able to make some form of difference in these children’s lives, being the same age as some of them. Despite it being incredibly small, it still made some impact on them. It was striking to be so disconnected from the outside world; rare use of phones, minimal access to the internet, and television with an arguably disappointing selection of dramas. But I grew to revel in it, realising I was not cut off from this illusion of the outside world in Bangladesh; I was cut off from it in Wales. The difference taught me happiness should not come from being immersed in a social culture demanding the next best thing as proportionate to attaining joy; one could engage with a new culture as opposed to fearing the peculiar.
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LANGUAGE BARRIERS
design by: NEUS FORNER
By Ella Rowe-Hall
By Asher Kay Cox
There’s little dispute about it - where possible, speaking your first language is the easiest and perhaps safest option when abroad. I myself felt embarrassed by my own experience on a school trip to Germany; the purpose being to practice the little German speaking skills I had.
Growing up, my parents worked jobs with international postings, meaning I grew up in countries where the national language was not English. I was not a good language learner – I was too focused on playing Neopets and writing elaborate stories about my dogs to bother with the difficult nature of Swedish grammar. So when I first moved to Sweden, at age eight, I bothered with exactly two phrases: Kan jag klappa din hund? (May I pat your dog?), and, more importantly Förlåt, jag tala inte mycket svenska, kan du tala Engelsk? (Sorry, I don’t speak much Swedish, can you speak English?). Looking back on this now, this seems like an extremely lazy way to approach living in a different country, and if I could, I would tell myself how much better and more respectful it would have been to make an earnest effort to learn the language.
Whilst there, I bit the bullet, requesting my delicious looking honeycomb ice cream in German. Naturally for me, this tremendously backfired, as the ice cream scooper handed me a coconut ice cream – a flavour I despise. Shamefully, I walked away swiftly, too embarrassed to correct my poor linguistic mistake. Although ashamed and initially labelling this a failure, I reminisced on the ice cream scooper’s smile at my efforts. Reflecting on this, the occurrence felt not like a failure, but the closest thing to a metaphorical olive branch I could have offered to this lady and her culture. Besides, this experience also highlighted the difficulties encountered when learning a language. Many people believe in the idea of a more accessible, universal language; arguably English. However, Mandarin, being the world’s most prominent language, emphasises that despite globalisation, there’s still a sense of language diversity. Language learning is also often renounced for its laboriousness; a time consuming and often brain puzzling task. But learning a language is like marathon training – easier said than done, extremely challenging, but exceptionally rewarding. So, do the benefits outweigh the drawbacks? The image of that smiling German lady resurfaced during this consideration. A smile speaking volumes. A smile of gratitude, welcoming my imperfect yet courteous attempts to show my cultural respect. A smile I’d like to think I’d reciprocate, if I was to ever serve foreigners attempting English at my own workplace. To learn a language is to expand your own knowledge and potential to live abroad; it means being able to truly immerse yourself in the culture and community. Language is the foundation for global communication, it preserves our civilisation’s diversity far and wide, and when we attempt to use a foreign language, it is viewed as a gracious and culturally respectable action. Therefore, I encourage everyone to tackle the battle of learning a new language; to challenge yourselves, using these new skills and languages to truly explore the great pool of countries and civilisations across the world!
Language was more an issue when my older brother and I began travelling together to school unaccompanied, from our home in rural Saltsjö-Duvnäs into Stockholm Center. My older brother was eleven at the time, and our only rule was that we had to stick together, walking the fifteen minutes to the train station, taking the twenty minute commuter train, and then the underground train system until we arrived at our school, and we would make the same journey back together after school. One afternoon, heading home in an afternoon rush on the trains, I got onto the underground train and completely lost my brother. The train was packed, I couldn’t see him anywhere. I attempted to ask people on the train if they had seen him, but I couldn’t grasp the words – he normally spoke Swedish for the both of us. I ran off the train to find him, because I knew how easily I could get lost, but it was only when I was off the train that I turned around and saw that he had managed to get on the train, and that the doors were closing. My brother, using his language skills, managed to get the attention of other passengers on the train, and together they managed to re-open the doors, allowing me back on-board. The journey home was easy afterwards, but it reminds me that no matter how international we can be, there’s still so much to gain from showing respect to the country we’re living in. When you just put that little bit of effort in, you might not end up in a situation where you’re running on and off trains like a headless chicken!
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Art / Illustrations / Embroidery / Poetry / Photography
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words by: EVIE NICOL photography by: IRIS VAN BRUNSHOT
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not just when it rains not just when it rains she likes to go to the forest when it rains. time tried to convince her that she preferred summer but the sun didn’t tap against the windows it didn’t invite her outside it didn’t enclose the town in dreary mists. she takes a hood over an umbrella when it rains. the wind doesn’t like her umbrella it gets angry and the rain becomes unpleasant and the cold gets bitter. you have to welcome the water when it rains. she likes the way the drops get plumper when they fall beneath the tree and she can feel even smaller, and she can feel insignificant in a different way.
the forest is best when it rains. she’s enclosed, like the town it feels like she’s indoors the mud gets softer the mud feels like the carpet in the living room. but she hates the living room not just when it rains. that carpet isn’t home to forest nymphs and fairy circles and fairy lights aren’t the only decoration. she likes to go to the forest not just when it rains. it gets her away when mum and dad leave the doors open because they’re too high to think because they’re too drunk to notice. they don’t know that she likes when it rains or the forest or that she hasn’t been to school for two weeks or that she’s in danger she’s been to the forest a few times she’s been watched a few times.
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Poetry in Pen I only ever write poetry in pen so that it’s harder to erase so that nothing can be removed without a trace so that every mistake becomes a crossed out blur but is not forgotten I only ever write poetry in pen because my pencils became too dull I used my pencil sharpeners for something else to sharpen a life that had become heavy and blue anyone can figure out all that’s separating that blade from your skin is a screw I only ever write poetry in pen because I like the color I like it so much I soaked my hair in it and earned the nickname “Blue” It took me a long time figure out the irony when someone calls you something that sweet it’s hard to see I only ever write poetry in pain I’ve come to the conclusion that it might be the only interesting thing about me I challenge you
to think of a single artist worth remembering who was happy, no, they all write poetry in blood Art is always, carved into the flesh of the artist the only constant in a morphing from one pain to another We bend over to kiss the feet of everything that has ever hurt us it has made us beautiful Poisons will seep through the pores in your skin out of your mouth like smoke course through your veins penetrate every cell in your brain and make you beautiful Every hand he lays on you is a victory it will just drive you to grip a pen to stop the trembling Take every person you’ve loved, and leave them every book you’ve cherished, burn it keep your eyes wide open to all the misery in the world and write a poem in pen. words by: EMMA AXEN
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46 - TY CELF issue 177 stuck in a lift with a stranger and the smell of you (note: I’ve let go) The smell of you follows me into a lift, And I know it doesn’t belong to you this time, But still I find myself back in your bedroom in the summer heat, The smell, cloying, Your body sticky with it, I feel lightheaded - I need to get out but I’m stuck in a lift with a stranger and the smell of you, I watch the last of the oxygen, as it crawls out from the sardine can corners, And I breathe you in until I’m left with nothing but. I let myself feel the way it scrapes down the back of my throat, Spicy, earthy, Not entirely pleasant, Not entirely un, And I wonder why it is that my memory clings to parts of you Like the side of a sinking ship, Not ready to let go words by: HEBE FRYER
Temporary Did you think that I was a skyscraper big enough for a weekend getaway? I am a one bedroom apartment small enough for a lifetime of love Did you think that I was a street lamp that only burns until the morning light? I am a crackling fire beside your bed that blazes warmth throughout the night Did you think that I was a subway that you could leave when things fall apart? I am a Sunday walk in the park that ever so slowly mends your heart Don’t come here with your expectancy and make something temporary out of me words by: JASMINE SNOW
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Born in the West, Raised by the East
My grandfather initially set off from his small village in Sylhet, Bangladesh to travel to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj, the religious pilgrimage Muslims take part in. Somehow, he ended up on the wrong ship which sent him to the United Kingdom. He arrived in London with practically no money and limited English, a few years later, he owned one of the most successful garment factories in Brick Lane. Brick Lane is notorious for its thriving Bengali community, it is here that my grandfather created his home away from home. words and embroidery by: RHIA DANIS
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48 - TY CELF issue 177 God is a Woman Did it ever occur to you that God may be a woman? With luscious locks that linger on in the laps of men. Treacherous waters all created by a daughter, She could be a wife, a grandmother or a friend, On each day she slaved away bearing gifts of Earth and light, Day seven she paints her delicate nails a rosy and rougey red. She starts to shape sunsets shining bright with orange, yellow and red, Evening and morning beautifully caressed by such a powerful woman, Time divided with day and night amongst her sketchings of light, Oceans shrouded in darkness now alive in view of all men, “Let there be light!” and so it was gifted to Earth by a friend, Twilight and dawn are swirled with a paintbrush by your daughter. Skies and seas blueprinted on Earth by hands of your daughter, She gently pushed the waves into shore as coral reefs burned red, Her clouds crafted over Cosmo’s while chuckling with a friend. Details daringly revisioned to embellish her essence of woman, Firmament since constructed without prying eyes of men, Above water’s depths heaven basks in golden feminine light. She perched on the planet’s throne creating land below this light, Grass planted and grown nourishingly by your daughter, She called for fruit yielding allotments without ownership by men, Nature born within bushes bearing berries of red. All while applying mascara to express herself as a woman, Tree’s towering as tall as heels that she lends to a friend. Living creatures that she adopted and made at once her friend, Where there is life there is food grown by her invention of light, She takes the rib of man to form a beautifully equal woman. Then others are made continuously by perseverance of your daughter, Etching humans with eyes so wide, noses so round and tongues so red, She pores over sun, moon and stars without the muscles of men. She finally wipes her brow clear of clammy comments from men, On the final day she unwinds and spends time with a friend, Pausing from her creation with a face worn with blushing red, Taking the time to teach her mind to focus on her light, She could be their wife, their grandmother, their daughter, Yet she emblazens her most bright when God appears as a woman. The world does not solely get created by men, Dreamt up it evolves under the soft glow of female light. It is surely created by someone’s wife, grandmother or friend, Pulled together by the persuasion of your daughter. Remember this, great things are formed by fingernails rougey red. When all ends together as one, you’ll envision God as a woman.
words by: CHLOE VENABLES Art by: NICOLE REES-WILLIAMS
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Starry Night Over the Rhone Ah, but the stars over the East lit us up from the gloom, How we so loved their glow softly blanketing the sky, The cafes could be empty, but our love consumes the room. Though we huddle for warmth and the flowers are no longer in bloom, Twelve’s darkness is evident, though daylight may push, shove and try, Ah, but the stars over the East lit us up from the gloom.
Art by: AMY KING
Light dreamily dances across the quayside, spun from the moon I presume, We stay enveloped in each others arms, worries slowly floating by, The cafes could be empty, but our love consumes the room. He says he will love me until the day I’m encased within a tomb, I know I will love him for always, until sleeping dogs no longer lie, Ah, but the stars over the East lit us up from the gloom. His eyes twinkle like diamonds, mine like flames of passion they fume, Sparkling until we’re made only of stardust, above the clouds so high, The cafes could be empty, but our love consumes the room. words by: CHLOE VENABLES
Editor-in-Chief: Jasmine Snow Deputy Editors: Nicole Rees-Williams Eduardo Karas Art: Amy King
Illustrations: Jasmine Snow Poetry: Evie Nicol Hebe Fryer Chloe Venables Emma Axen
Photography: Iris Van Brunschot Embroidery: Rhia Danis
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GŵIDBYE VENUES
One of the independent venues’ greatest enemies appears to be the common landlord. Venue closure is often due to rising rent prices, increasing business rates, and landlords believing that they can bring in a greater profit by changing the purpose of the building (to create flats, offices, shops, etc.). A music venue isn’t always seen as a valuable enough contribution to the community – as with the case of 10 Feet Tall, which was closed in order to “improve the balance” of Cardiff ’s City Centre, making way for potential restaurants and office spaces. Across the bridge in Bristol, the situation is similar to Cardiff. Both the Star and Garter and the Bierkeller, equally beloved venues in the city, announced closure within the same week in 2018. Before this, Bristol had also recently seen The Fleece, Thekla, the Fiddlers Club, and the Brunswick Club threatened with closure, due to a mixture of redevelopment plans and noise complaints. This is unsurprising, as in 2015, UK Music reported that half of the city’s venues had been affected by noise complaints, redevelopments or potential planning – a very sobering statistic.
GŵIDBYE VENUES
words by: RHIANNON HUMPHREYS design by: ORLAGH TURNER image by: TY VIA FLICKR Cardiff ’s music scene has been subject to colossal changes over the past year with the closure of several key grassroots venues in the area – notably Gwdihw, Buffalo, and most recently, 10 Feet Tall. If Cardiff, a so-called ‘Music City’, can’t keep some of its most valued venues open, what hope is there for anywhere else? Unsurprisingly, Cardiff is not the only city that is struggling to keep its independent venues. According to Insure4Music, on average, one music venue has closed every month in the UK over the past 2 years and an alarming 15% have closed in the past 15 years.
However, it’s not just grassroots venues that are at risk. Even the UK’s most iconic industry venues aren’t safe; 2016 saw the redevelopment of Denmark Street, aka Tin Pan Alley, once the centre of the London music scene, to make way for more commercial enterprises. To put its significance in perspective: it was here that NME had its first office, Jimi Hendrix, the Sex Pistols and the Kinks (to name but a few) recorded, and countless more performed. The Kinks’ lead guitarist Dave Davies expressed concerns that the area would become ‘soulless’ and ‘sterile’ – a sentiment that can be applied to all areas facing the closure of its venues as a result of redevelopment. Although nearly 36,000 people signed a petition to save the site, it was ignored, which is a situation that seems not too dissimilar to the result of the 20,000-strong petition to save our Guildford Crescent in 2019. The fact that this issue is so widespread paints a dire picture for the future of music in the UK. Those who dismiss the closure of these venues as trivial forget that every band and every artist has to start from somewhere, and these grassroots venues are where they can thrive and grow. Not only that, but live music, especially in the case of local bands, represents the heart and soul of the community it’s performing in. They’re a place for people to come together, form friendships and discover music that they may love for a lifetime. For many, the closures are nothing short of cultural vandalism. Once these venues are seen as in the way or inconvenient, they seem to become disposable to developers and local councils, regardless of whether the community campaigns to save them or not. So, what can be done about it? Some suggest that the solution is pushing for a change in legislation in order to protect music venues. One such change is the introduction of the agent of change principle, which forces developers to redesign their buildings to be soundproof instead of forcing the closure of nearby venues due to high noise levels. This is a step in the right direction, as the weight of responsibility would be on the developers, rather than the venue owners, who often don’t have the money or legal power to protect the venue. The bill was passed in 2018, but as of yet only applies to England, so venues in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are still just as at risk as they were before. Bills need to be put forward by each country for nationwide change – and with the rapidity with which venues are closing in Wales, we can only hope this happens soon. Although larger legal changes are necessary, there’s something we can all do as individuals, too. Support your local music scene. By doing this, not only are you supporting budding musicians, but by contributing to the popularity of these spaces, you are helping to prove to developers and your local council that these venues are valuable to the community you live in.
52 - MUSIC issue 177 design by: ALESSIO PHILIP GRAIN
U n i v e r s i t y Ti m e l i n e We thought this article would be a fun way of documenting the music present at key events and periods that you tend to experience across most people’s time at University. Whether it’s blasting out Mad World at 4AM during Third Year exam season in the ASSL or enjoying the freedom and lack of work in First Year, these songs aim to serve as a way of musically documenting your University life.
Not Nineteen Forever The Courteeners Are you even an Indie Girl if you don’t post an Instagram with this song as the caption on your nineteenth birthday? Jokes aside, this 2008 timeless corker has been a long staple of university alternative culture. It’s unlikely that you’ll ever be able to make it through a whole night at Propaganda without hearing it at least once. Not only that, but it’s almost guaranteed to get dark fruits Twitter flinging their bucket hats across whatever location they happen to find the song playing in. Granted, the song also serves as the facade for the musical sycophants of the world; the ones who will tell you how much they love ‘The Courten-ears’ (with special emphasis on the ‘ears’ bit). The song does have a reputation for being the ultimate entry level vanilla genre track, but I find that argument to nonsensical indie elitism. It’s a classic for a reason, and that’s because it’s an absolute powerhouse that’s guaranteed to make any crowd have a good time alongside having a metric f***tonne of pints cascaded into the air. Despite my love for the band and their B-sides, I have no issue with this song lying on everyone’s university timeline; the more people listening to it, the better.
words by: JOSH ONG
This Feeling Alabama Shakes When I first scanned my keycard a week later than everyone else, I was fumbling with the door when I saw two of my flatmates leaving. It was an awkward and brief interaction which would dominate my first week on university, always feeling a bit on the outside. I had to face what no one ever prepares you for when you’re all packed up for university: loneliness, coming in waves. My room felt suffocating and empty with the grey notice board hovering above my bed in such a mocking way, as if saying it’s always had company and I had nothing. I started watching the BBC show Fleabag, looking for someone or something I could relate to. No one ever tells you how much media you will consume in your first weeks of uni trying to do, or to feel something. I finished the show and sat there listening to This Feeling over the sounds of my neighbour’s laughing with other people. The first week is terrifying, it’s different, and far from home, but I’ve spent all this time, trying to find my way here, and that always made it worth the lonely start.
words by: FRANCESCA IONESCU
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Fluorescent Adolescent Arctic Monkeys For me, this song represents a very specific time span for any fellow indie freshers alike in first year. This admittedly great track by Alex Turner and his Sheffield gang from way back in 2007 is the bridge, the gateway drug if you like, for the fresher tired of hearing Beyoncé and Kanye for the first month at University. Around say mid-October maybe even early November you may have decided enough is enough or you’ve just been tempted to test the waters to seek out any other fellow indie brethren. So, you add this banger to the queue one Monday night’s Quids in pres. You scan the room holding your dark fruits, with bated breath to see how the room reacts. The song’s rolling rhythm, slick hooks and fist pumping downbeats are the perfect encapsulation of the indie scene. Arctic Monkeys practically created one of the pillars of the indie religion with this tune, it’s basically a manifesto at this point. And with any luck, your fresher-self will have transitioned into the ‘good stuff ’ and before you know you’re on your way to a Clwb Ifor Bach Propaganda night with a group of kids kitted out in flares, band t-shirts and an uncomfortably large amount of denim and corduroy.
words by: CRAIG STRACHAN
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words by: JAMES MCCLEMENTS From the Kiwi indie nutcase’s latest album, Jassbusters, this track truly represents those classier Second Year nights. No longer plagued by Talybont silverfish and 4 am fire alarms, you’re now living with who you want to live with, have got your own sofa and a patio. You’re a slightly more responsible adult now paying those utility bills and having to sort out your recycling game. The track represents those nights you can kick back with a glass of Lidl lager, which you of course pretend is a nice glass of posh red wine, and think about how well you are truly maturing a year and a bit into your Uni ‘education’. A full 9 minute nu-jazz, jangly guitar vibe sesh, it provides ample soundtrack for all manner of homely affairs. The track encapsulates any real occasion. A classy afters, a night in cooking with the whole house attempting to recreate your mum’s lasagne with mixed success, or general late nite chill vibes. It’s a versatile track for a time in your life where you need to be a little more versatile. Less Pryzm, more Blue Honey Night Cafe. Less 300-large enrolled modules, more 20 seater ‘oh my lecturer is also my seminar tutor?’ Big moves are being made.
Charlotte’s Thong Connan Mockasin
photo by Alessio Philip Grain
PLEASE DEETE THESE BORDERS WHEN YOU HAVE FINISHED DESIGNING
54 - MUSIC issue 177 Let it be said once and for all: drill is inherently a violent genre. Born from the slums of South Chicago, where more Americans have been murdered than in Afghanistan and Iraq combined, drill bubbled under mainstream culture until early 2012, when industry titans Drake and Kanye West took a fancy to it. The increased attention spread the sound and accompanying culture to London where it has grown to become almost as popular as its American counterpart, thanks partly to its similarity to grime, which has been embraced by UK culture since the early nineties. Both strains of drill are rooted in gang culture, and the music within is united not by it’s production style, but the culture, lyrics and mentality. There’s no doubt that the songs are cruel, blood soaked and treacherous, but so were the streets that inspired them. Rising stars of the genre have been plagued not only by their crimes, such as Unknown T and the group Harlem Spartans (the majority of them are living their new found fame in a jail cell) but by new legislation. Last year, rappers Skengdo and AM were handed a nine month suspension sentence simply for performing one of their songs, thanks to the introduction of the CBO ban. This legislation reinforced the notorious 696 assessment form that had allowed police to shut down drill shows on a whim, and which was later abandoned thanks to issues of racial profiling. With Scotland Yard removing almost forty drill music videos from YouTube, we have moved beyond protection and into an era of undiluted paternalism, where the police have the legal power to decide which music is moral enough to be listened to. This blanket censorship ignores the people and the human element in this marginalised generation, such as Mr Strange, who recently came out as drill’s first openly gay rapper, and tracks by the artist Lowkey, who’s consistently released tracks lamenting the loss of his friends and family. History is certainly cyclical. Every generation has seen at least one genre of music be crucified publicly. In the early 20’s it was jazz, in the 50’s it was rock, in the late 80’s it was hip-hop and in the early 90’s it was metal, punk, Frank Zappa and anything else that Tipper Gore disliked. The common threads that linked these genres was that they were dominated or created by black musicians, and the bulk of them were unapologetically critical of the status-quo. Social conservatives have used emerging genres as a proxy for their prejudice for over a century. Ironically, a University of Missouri study conducted last year found that pop music was the most violent and degrading genre of music of the past decade, but with it’s easy going sound and vapid messaging, it gets a free pass in the court of public opinion. At the risk of sounding pretentious, Thomas Jefferson once said that every generation needs a revolution, but he forgot to mention that they also need a soundtrack to go alongside it. For this generation, it will certainly be drill. This entire conversation ignores the practical limitations of banning anything, let alone music, which can be accessed readily by the 1.5 billion people on YouTube alone. Top down bans of everything from the American Alcohol Prohibition, to modern day Marijuana criminalization and plastic bags have failed thanks to constantly being undermined. Every new instance of drill censorship is another headline for Britain’s left wing newspapers, that will then introduce the music, lyrics and culture to hundreds of new unsuspecting potential drill fans. Furthermore, artists such as INK, Freek, OneFour, 2M, Blacky and 970Block have launched the genre globally, with emerging scenes in Ireland, UAE, Australia, Sweden and Spain respectively. There’s little chance of it dying out in the two established scenes, with rappers like Polo G, and Sheff G continuing the American legacy, and DigDat and Headie One carrying the torch for the UK. Violence is the beating heart of drill, and attempting to remove it would be a killing blow for the fledgling genre. Where both the media and politicians deliberately miss the mark is about what this violence represents: drill is the symptom of societies that are riddled with systemic inequalities and terminally infected with austerity that rewards and expands class divisions. Drillers are brutally and candidly presenting to us the cracks in the bedrock of our society, cracks which cannot be plastered over simply by silencing and deplatforming them. We don’t need moral panic. We need change for the most vulnerable in our country.
words by: ALEX PAYNE design by: ESTHER LOI
THE DEMONISATION OF DRILL
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local artist spotlight:
the rotanas
Live dates: 25th March - The Dublin Castle, Camden 30th March - The Lanes, Bristol 15th April - The Bunkhouse, Swansea 16th April - The Dublin Castle, Camden 17th April - The Exchange, Bristol 24th May - Noon Til’ Night Festival, Swansea 8th August - Face Value Festival
Named after your favourite take away on Chip Alley, The Rotanas are now a concrete name in the Cardiff music scene. Formed in May 2017, this indie rock band have made quite a name for themselves, quickly moving from playing front room shows in house parties to stages all around the UK. The release of their new single, Scores On The Doors, has already found a place in modern music, with repeat plays on BBC Wales and network plays in the USA on Sirius XM.
the ready, the crowd sung along passionately to an acoustic set of the beautiful Caught On Camera. That’s the beauty of The Rotanas — they can deliver punchy rock riffs with heavy bass lines and fast paced drums, but they can also strike your heartstrings with soft melodies and surprisingly touching lyrics. It’s no wonder Caught on Camera was added to Radio X’s evening playlist late last year, with the station branding their tunes “anthemic Britpop sounds”.
When listening to singles like Meet Your Maker, it’s easy to see why long-time BBC radio presenter and veteran of the indie scene Janice Long played them after The Beatles and Liam Gallagher. Their fresh sound meshes with that old rock and roll style we’ve come to love, and their live shows never fall short of their recorded tracks. Their 2019 single Mood Light never fails to get the crowd’s feet off the floor, and it isn’t too long before a mosh pit opens up in the centre of the room. Written by guitarist James Wilson, the song’s riff sticks in your head like a fly that won’t go away — but you don’t want it to.
Riding on the wave of selling out Cardiff ’s iconic Clwb Ifor Bach, the band have shared stages with the likes of Black Grape, Pete Doherty, Bang Bang Romeo and Kyle Falconer of The View. In last year’s Shimmer Sounds festival, they gave the crowd what they came for, playing alongside rising UK stars such as Temples, The Blinders, Black Honey, and Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard.
2019 was a good year for the self-proclaimed ‘gritpop’ band; it saw the four old uni mates take the Isle of Wight Festival by storm on the This Feeling Stage. They also played three sold-out headline shows in their hometown of Cardiff which were each electric in their own ways. To see The Rotanas live isn’t just to listen to their music — the packed out rooms they play in always seem to become one with a strangely moving atmosphere as the crowd sings along with front man Harry Watton. You can always count on their charismatic lead singer to get involved with the crowd, and on the boys to have a laugh with the fans in front of them. In their headline October show, a power cut struck The Big Top, but it didn’t stop the show from carrying on. With phone flashlights at
The appeal of The Rotanas seems to lie in the way they relate to the crowd — they’re still just a bunch of lads finding their way in life, living for the best moments. Speaking of the meaning behind their latest single, Scores On The Doors, songwriter James Wilson said, “The song’s about people who go home too early on a night out instead of staying out with their friends and seeing where the night may go. Too many times I’ve witnessed people leave early before the night has even properly started, and they’ve missed out on some of the best nights I’ve ever experienced.” Pack in a crowd of twenty-something year olds, some red stripe and you’ve got the recipe for a raging show. If you’re looking for a new band to get into, this is the one. Come down to a local show and you’ll be forever hooked on the sound and attitude of The Rotanas.
words by: KATIE DUFFIN design by: ESTHER LOI photographs by: THE ROTANAS
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How Beyoncé’s Lemonade became the Gold Standard for Visual Albums “Take one pint of water, add half a pound of sugar. Add the juice of eight lemons, the zest of half lemon. Pour the water from one jug, then into the other several times. Strain through a clean napkin.” Beyoncé beautifully recites her grandmother’s lemonade recipe, a monumental metaphor that showcases Black southern culture through the image of a generational passing-down of a sacred familial heirloom that will serve as the title for one of the most ground-breaking music albums of the twenty first century. Lemonade is an unconventional elevation on the visual album that has influenced the creativity of fellow artists and undoubtedly inspired the production of similar works of art. A lyrical autobiography of immense emotion that breaks the façade of the godly celebrity persona and brings ‘the real’ to the audience. Ultimately, it is a journey of heartbreak, forgiveness and self-discovery that revealed unbelievable truths of Beyoncé’s marriage to Jay Z. A visual exposé, if you will. “I tried to make a home out of you. But doors lead to trapped doors. A stairway leads to nothing”, the first spoken words of the album intuitively commence Beyoncé’s testimonial, establishing how the artistry of Lemonade is so distinct from previous works. A fluid structure and complementary therapeutic spoken word element is what elevates its emotional impact, reaching far beyond simply sharing a personal experience of heartbreak. The album offers so much more. Its accompanying film gives the album a multi-dimensional quality and is an eye-opening and remarkable piece of poetry, a documentation sectioned into eleven stages that complements each track displaying their well-defined individualities. Each song is a humble ode that, when compiled together, curates a beautiful masterpiece, conveying the destructive but rewarding stages of handling infidelity and a transparent message of the importance of self-discovery. Intuition, the first poignant stage of the album, offers an introduction into Beyoncé’s journey. Its effortless transition from intuition to denial indicates a necessary interactive urge with the audience, as Beyoncé plunges from a city building top, landing unexpectedly into a bedroom filled with water unzipping her black overall like a snake shredding its skin in hopeless desperation for a new life. The grittiness of the rock style in Don’t Hurt Yourself is a perfect encapsulation of Beyoncé’s anger that transcends into Sorry, an unapologetic declaration of apathy towards the man who betrayed her that is slowly masked by Beyoncé’s emptiness as she pleads “come
back, come back” in the seductive 6 Inch. A dramatic volta occurs, smoothly separating Beyoncé’s spiritual reclamation now featuring authentic sounds and images of Black southern culture. Through the visuals of Love Drought, she references the Igbo Landing suicides of those refusing to submit to slavery in early nineteenth century that strikingly highlights the roots of Black oppression but honours Black strength and resistance. The beautiful mixture of allusions to her cultural roots, biblical recitals and imagery of powerful heroines bring Lemonade to an awe-inspiring conclusion representing Beyoncé’s spiritual resurrection and desire to seek redemption whispering one of the album’s final lines; “oh I’ve missed you, my love”. An overall prevailing piece of virtuosity, Lemonade’s scope reaches afar merely providing exceptional music but has offered unforgettable live performances and a high grossing world tour. Beyoncé’s tour de force has ultimately and respectfully surpassed all of the conventional boundaries of music releasing and music marketing strategies. Prior to the announcement of her most personal work to date, it was the powerful delivery of Lemonade’s lead single Formation that anticipated that something extraordinary was to occur. An unexpected appearance at 2016’s Super Bowl Halftime Show gave Beyoncé the ideal opportunity to delicately expose the themes of the album before its release. What could have been simply another annual Halftime Show turned into a powerful political statement the moment a marching band parted, revealing Beyoncé paying homage to Michael Jackson and the Black Panther movement, a fulfilled commemoration of Black iconography. Releasing the visual album allowed Beyoncé to expand the Lemonade franchise further with the announcement of her Formation World Tour, strategically marketed and advertised immediately following her appearance at Super Bowl 50. 2016 justly captured the superstardom that Beyoncé has assumed for over twenty years of her unstoppable career. It has been evidenced through Beyoncé’s timeless demonstration that music and film are creative cousins, both possessing the ability to encapsulate a range of emotions, alongside beautifully conveying and celebrating cultural roots. Lemonade is a cultural phenomenon that will be etched in the history books forever. An overwhelming triumph for Beyoncé. We, the audience, applaud. But she can’t hear us.
words by: ROWAN DAVIES design by: NATASCHA NG
issue 177
THE
N R U ET OF
R
words and design by: JAMES MCCLEMENTS Swim Deep’s Where the Heaven Are We is an album that any self respecting 2010s ‘indie kid’ would’ve generously sported in playlists, repped to their mates, and probably had a signed copy lying around. The B Town boys proudly represent a vibe we all fondly look back on, effortlessly soundtracked by their slick guitar licks and indie pop demeanour. After a four-year hiatus, Swim Deep are back with a new album, new lineup and new spirit. The band has now embarked on a self-styled ‘comeback’ tour which saw them play the usual haunts across the UK, as well as reaching far flung festivals in China and East Asia. We got a chance to chat to the Brummie rockers when they stopped by Cathays for their Cardiff date. Sitting backstage in the snug Albany Road venue The Globe with beers in hand, an excited but subdued frontman Austin Williams confessed: “We haven’t toured in years. I didn’t know what to expect at all so it was kind of surprising. I feel like we haven’t walked on stage for a crowd who’ve all wanted to see us in years. It’s really nice to have our own crowd, and to remember our own crowd”. Swim Deep were once kingpins of the indie scene, true icons and dreamboats before being shunted by their record label after the release of second album Mothers to supposedly poor sales, or whatever excuse their label gave them. “I’d say the first record was all fun and games as we were quite a buzz band. The two heads of RCA were really excited about the second album when we played it to them. But then we didn’t deliver them another Where The Heaven Are We, and that’s what they were expecting.” Keyboardist and key member James Balmont interrupts Ozzy,
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annoyed about bringing up the past affair: “Well no, they were actively encouraging everything we were doing the whole time and then they just changed their mind when it wasn’t selling any copies. And then that was our fault all of a sudden.” “But that’s fair, I get that, if you don’t make a label money then why are they giving you loads of money? Whatever, I’ve got no gripes about that, I think it was just really fun to get signed – it was like a milestone. It might not be anymore but it was like a dream come true. I don’t think you get many bands these days that release more than two albums out on a major label before they go elsewhere. It’s all just the same pattern, I think we’re really proud that we got to the third record. We could have just done the same as everyone else and just stopped.”
M I SWE P D E It works for some people, but I don’t think I’m gonna help any people by doing it. I think it’s important to be politically aware, because there’s lots of music that’s political, but people are not watching Newsnight every night. Slowthai, for example, him doing the whole ‘Fuck Boris’ thing is probably the easiest thing you can do in music right now, but it’s still really important that you do that. He comes a from a place that’s been fucked by the Tories for so long.” Swim’s new drummer, French musician Thomas Fiquet chips in: “It doesn’t have to be a criteria for an artist to be political. As a new member of Swim Deep I thought that it really refreshing not having to worry about this”.
I hope if anything we’ve kind of shown you can persevere through anything. Because change is good.
“We just want to make people feel good”, said Austin reasserting his ethos for the band, “But it’s hard isn’t it? I can see all these things just being taglines and Swim Deep saying ‘forget about politics’. That’s not necessarily what we’re trying to say.”
“You know, we’ve recorded an album, one of our best, and we’ve done it without a label. It was really hard but we did it, so I think we’ve proven you can do it without a label, it’s just like obviously you don’t get loads of cash, billboards and stuff like that.”
Aside from the odd negative vibes on the new record, I suggested it does a great job at feeling euphoric. “I think euphoria to me would be like everything’s falling off you - all of your worries dissapear and you feel elevated. And if we can capture that and make people feel like that, then that’s pretty spot on with me.”
The band have been honest detailing how being dropped from their label changed their lives. Austin ‘signed on’, with his financial and mental hardships being a strong theme in the storytelling of the new album. I asked whether they consider themselves a political band. “Yes, but it’s more social commentary with the new album. I’m not shouting ‘Brexit!’ because that’s not gonna help.
“It’s definitely something we want to try and capture on this record, just that feeling of having fun. When we were writing the music for this album, we were quite frustrated for long periods, so when we finally started having these songs that made you feel good, it made us feel really excited. That’s when we realised that is something we want to share with people.”
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Student-Made Textiles Pieces and Creations Leather jacket inspired by the punk subculture Taking inspiration from the raw culture of the late 1970s, this jacket was inspired by the broken subculture of punk. Drawing upon basic and iconic ideologies that are associated with this rock genre, the jacket itself was constructed of pleather materials, using a recycled vintage jacket to create the pattern pieces of this complex design. This made the jacket sustainable in its creation, using recycled components and the up-cycling of an unused garment to create the foundations of this piece of clothing. The design takes influence from brands such as Vivienne Westwood – a key inspiration behind the punk movement. Westwood helped to create and promote the punk subculture, using her designs to show a political anarchy that undermined the 1970s government and followed the beliefs of the popular punk band, The Sex Pistols. Westwood worked with her then-husband, Malcom McLaren, to fund the punk movement, opening up their first shop SEX on Kings Road, London. My jacket design takes inspiration from this iconic movement by using durable materials, such as leather, that connote the strength and power of the punk movement during its time of importance. As well as this, the jacket incorporates printed designs of vinyl records, symbolising the music structures that punk brought to the fashion industry. The use of reds and blues also play on the anarchist beliefs that punk withheld throughout society. In doing so, this constructed colour scheme helps to demonstrate the anger and skepticism towards a structured and rightwing government that constrained the liberal and young society of 1970s Britain.
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FASHION & BEAUTY - 59 words by: INSERT NAME HERE design by: INSERT NAME HERE
Textiles wall-hanging inspired by Parisian culture My other textiles piece is inspired by the composition of Parisian culture. The piece itself was made for my A-Level Textiles exam, which consisted of a question asking us to consider the ways in which we can challenge composition and change the embedded structures of specific recognisable items, such as architecture. As a result of this, I decided to focus on the different buildings, visual appearances and architectural designs based within the French capital city of Paris. My first point of focus was, obviously, the most iconic building in Paris – the Eiffel Tower. After this, I then drew upon other visual representations that are symbolic of Paris, but not as widely known. I took inspiration from the clocks within the Musee D’Orsay and the installations placed outside of one of the most globally-recognised shops and fashion labels within the world– Louis Vuitton, recognising their sun installation, which is placed outside of the Place de Vendome store every Christmas and New Year. I followed the guidelines of challenging composition by focusing on different aspects of each building, drawing upon their beautiful constructions, whilst focusing on them from an unrecognisable point of view. This allowed audiences to be engaged and intrigued by the piece, meaning that they have to pay visual attention to the wallhanging in order to work out its influence and the inspiration behind my design. Each circle of the design was inspired by a particular Parisian building, emphasising the importance of this city upon both the fashion and artistic worlds. As well as this, I also hand printed each building, creating the screen-prints out of lino-print drawings that were used to shape my influence behind this particular topic. The circles were made out of recycled embroidery hoops. I then painted them black to fit the colour scheme of my final design. I specifically chose this colour scheme of metallic shades and blacks to help emphasise the sleek designs of Paris, resembling its beauty and its elegant impact upon a world of visual arts, such as the fashion industry. There were no particular fashion influences behind my wall-hanging design; however, I was influenced by Andy Warhol’s pop art designs, which consisted of repetitive patterns and structures. This is similar to the construction of Parisian buildings, especially the ones that I was most influenced by, as they resemble a constructed creativity that is held within a structured frame of metal work and concrete bricks.
words by: EMILY JADE RICALTON design by: DEVIKA SUNAND
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PROBIOTICS:
THEIR IMPORTANCE IN AND FOR SKINCARE words by: EMILY JADE RICALTON design by: ELAINE TANG
According to the official NHS website, probiotics are categorised as live bacteria and yeasts that help support the digestive system through a variety of different health benefits. They’re usually found in food items, such as yoghurt or fermented vegetables, and have supplementary benefits to the way that our stomach digests the foods we choose to eat. Now, you’re probably wondering why this is featured in the Fashion and Beauty section of Quench Magazine, and I can quite clearly see why – it is a food product that appears to have no benefit on the way we look. However, probiotics play an important role in the appearance of our skin. They help to supplement the digestive system, meaning that the way our gut works has a great impact on the appearance of our outer features. As nutritionist and online blogger, Jessica Sepel states, when your gut is functioning properly your body will respond with a great efficiency, showing side effects of better skin, energy, mood and immune function; after all, your stomach is where 70-80% of the immune system is based. However, if your digestion is slacking, or you struggle with digestion-based issues, such as IBS, you may experience hormonal imbalancements, skin issues and, of course, the dreaded ‘bloating’; also more professionally known as water retention, my worst enemy. You see, your digestion has a key role in the way you feel. Not only can it prevent these issues, but a good digestive system means that your body is able to absorb nutrients efficiently, clear toxic build ups and reduce inflammation of the body, all of which help to improve the appearance of our skin. Even though this may seem like a hard or difficult task, as many of us tend to be unaware of the solutions to better digestion, it can actually be quite simple. For many of us, these solutions can be found in staying hydrated, eating healthy fats and other ‘clean’ foods, as well as consuming a range of probiotic rich supplements and digestive enzymes. By supplementing the missing probiotics to the stomach, we are able to reduce skin conditions that consume the confidences found within our appearance and daily lives. As claimed by Goop online, probiotics can help cure skin conditions such as rosacea, psoriasis, eczema and acne, all of which are usually caused through inflammatory issues found deep within the processes of the body – the gut. It has also been found that digestion issues can trigger episodes of depression and anxiety, making the stomach a key factor of our overall mental and physical wellbeing. You see, this isn’t just about skincare, it’s about looking after yourself and the natural processes of which your body should work. It’s about the importance of your health.
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Not only can probiotics come in the form of supplements, with many nutritionists recommending that you take a probiotic consisting of 30 billion colony forming units (the more the better, basically), but they can also be found in some healthy foods. This mainly consists of fermented foods, such as apple cider vinegar, cultured vegetables, sauerkraut and kombucha; all of which sound disgusting, but can actually be quite nice (I personally avoid the apple cider vinegar). Probiotics can also be found in some yoghurts and kefirs, which, according to some reports, tend to work for the majority of people and be extremely efficient without the help of further supplements. However, if you are dairy-free or vegan, a common occurrence within people with stomach issues, this may be a problem. As someone who is intolerant to dairy, I find myself avoiding these products, supplementing with fermented foods and the use of tablets. But, according to some health food websites, which are stereotypically overpriced, you can purchase vegan friendly products that are just as efficient as their animal-based alternative. People who are opting for a dairy-free option are able to purchase water, kefir and almond yoghurt, meaning that the solutions of tablet supplementation can be avoided. Even if food and consumption doesn’t interest you, some beauty brands have now started to incorporate probiotics into their skincare lines, emphasising the importance that they have within the improvement and general care of our appearance. Elizabeth Arden, a major American skincare brand, have recently released their Superstart Skin Renewal Booster, a product that has been purposely made to improve the issues caused by poor digestion and a lack of flora culture within the stomach. According to Elle, the serum helps to strengthen the probiotics within our skin by moisturising and hydrating it through the use of sea fennel and other refined ingredients. Now, I don’t know if that’s just me, but I’m sold. Even though I’m aware that this article evidently has a strong focus on the wellbeing of our bodily systems, I wanted to emphasise the importance that taking care of our bodies can have upon the visual aspects of our beauty routines. Not only can a good skincare routine fix issues of acne and outbreaks, but so can the love and attention of our inner systems. It is just as important to look after your health as it is to look after the way you look. After struggling with a range of digestive issues myself, I found my skin was constantly breaking out, causing my confidence to diminish and forcing me into a state of insecurity that wasn’t normal for a teenage girl to experience. Even though I don’t believe the way we look should determine the way we feel about ourselves, I did find myself being affected by this, forcing me to find other products that might have affected the appearance of my skin. Just three years later, I now focus on my health a lot more, and I must say, I have seen a dramatic change in not only my breakouts and acne, but also my digestive health. Yes, you can use the most expensive products in the world, but if you have a poor digestive system, it will never cure the problems you want to fix.
So, speaking from experience, if you are struggling with your skin, then try out the variety of probiotic solutions that I’ve suggested throughout this article. I hope this change in perspective on the definitions of beauty and beauty-related products can help you too. Remember to always consult a doctor before taking tabletforms of probiotics and consider visiting your local GP if your digestive health is in a serious condition of poor function.
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Ava Pereira Akilu LIFE OF A STUDENT MODEL
interview by: IZZY WACKETT design by: NATASCHA NG
As one of America’s most famous fashion photographers, Bill Cunningham once said: “Fashion is the armour to survive everyday life”. Fashion provides people with different creative outlets, which you can constantly change and modify, enabling you to display your own aesthetic expression. Perhaps, this is why year after year countless number of young people aspire to be a part of this dynamic business. With just a quick tap on Google, copious websites can give you information on how to be the “next top model”, spurring on interests and dreams of making it ‘big’ in this industry. Maybe these aspirations come from the glorified success of modelling and the wealth they flaunt on their social media pages. However, for others, they see the career of a model as a chance to enhance their creativity and artistic flair. With the number of aspiring models increasing drastically over the last decade, many young students studying at university now use part-time modelling as a quick fix for a bit of extra cash. For some, the ability to manage university workload and modelling may be intense, however this hasn’t stopped part-time uni student and part-time model, Ava Pereira Akilu from moving from strength to strength in the fashion world. Here at Quench Magazine, we were lucky enough to get an interview with Ava, an up and coming model who also undertakes a BA in Journalism, Communications and Media at Cardiff University. We spoke to her about how she manages her workload with her studies, and what fashion means to her. QUENCH FASHION: When did you start up your modelling career? AVA: I started modelling in 2016 and I was scouted by an agency called Oxygen Model Management. I was scouted again in 2019 and moved to an agency called Bookings.
QF: How has the fashion industry changed since you first started? AVA: The biggest change that I have noticed is that there has been an increase in the inclusion of plus sized models. Many agencies now have a curve board which works exclusively for curvier women. QF: What have been the most frustrating and gratifying experiences whilst modelling? AVA: Castings are quite frustrating as they entail a lot of waiting around; sometimes the casting directors can be rude. Partaking in London Fashion Week for me was very exciting and fun. I walked a runway for a couture designer called Kolchagov Babra, it was a great opportunity to meet really nice people, and it was very interesting to see what goes on behind the scenes of a fashion show.
QF: As a student model, how do you manage to balance work and university life? AVA: Whenever I have a break at university (such as reading weeks) I will model part-time, but I always prioritise my university workload.
QF: When you are not busy modelling, what is your favourite thing to do? AVA: When I am not modelling, I like to hang out with my friends and family. I love to cook with my friends at uni! Sometimes, I go to one of the local pubs and a have catch up with the girls. QF: Who do you look to for guidance when your work life gets stressful? AVA: My friends and family are really supportive, and when I am overwhelmed with work they help me prioritise what needs doing. QF: As a female model, what does fashion mean to you? AVA: I feel as though fashion is art, which tells a story. Fashion shows are very meticulously planned, and they reflect the designer’s personality, and the emotions they are going through at that time in their life.
QF: Do you think the industry is taking enough steps to becoming more diverse? AVA: I do believe the industry is becoming more diverse and there is much more inclusion than there has been in the past. This shows within the industry, as companies such as ASOS are now using plus size models and minority groups. However, I still feel as though there are a few more steps to be made towards complete inclusion in the industry.
QF: Have you encountered any set backs or resistance from any part of the industry? AVA: I felt as though my past agency was not pushing me enough, which can sometimes occur within this tough industry, hence why I moved agencies. Developing myself as a model with my new agency has taken time, but has been worth it as I now have a strong portfolio. QF: What advice would you give any students wishing to take up a modelling career whilst still at university? AVA: I would suggest that you manage your time well and prioritise your work. I would also suggest remembering that patience is really important within this industry, as some models don’t necessarily take off straight away, but being persistent is key to success in the industry.
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Refashioning Masculinity Within the Fashion Industry With the rise of feminism, it seems no surprise that the fashion industry has played a significant part in the social commentary and representation of both femininity and masculinity. Whilst genderbending A-listers like Timothée Chalamet, Billy Porter, Lu Han and Harry Styles are stepping out in fearless fashion choices, the continuation of the traditional ‘suit and tie’ look seems to be turning into a redundant form of dress in 2020. Indeed so many people take risks on the red carpet, but this tends not to consistently translate into everyday style. As an exception to the rule, 26-year-old Harry Styles seems to possess no qualms when subverting the stereotypical masculine trends that have been socially internalised for years. After spending five years in the pop sensation group One Direction, Styles’ trademark flares, painted nails, floral prints and pearl necklaces give rise to a new wave of fashion that influences the construction – or rather deconstruction – of traditionally gendered masculinity tropes. A recent instance even showed Styles sporting a Gucci handbag as he made his way through Heathrow Airport in early February; meanwhile his collaboration with, and hosting of, the 2019 Met Gala served to epitomise this trend in all its ‘camp-themed’ glory. In a way that sets him so far apart from his stylistically conventional wardrobe of the One Direction days, Styles’ fearless emergence into the experimental side of gender-fluid clothing continues to pioneer a new way for masculinity to be viewed and represented in the public eye. As if to join this evolution, social commentary on dangerously conventional masculinity types has even begun to infiltrate the highend fashion scene. For his Men’s Fall 2020 collection in Milan, Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele debuted a show that seemed in explicit dialogue with how, as his show notes comment, “toxic masculinity produces oppressors and victims at the same time”. As well as being staged around a motif of nostalgia and a revision to turn back the clock, Michele’s collection featured a metamorphic retreat to childhood with his models showcasing grass stains, school uniforms, knitted dresses and blouses. By purposefully styling his collection around androgyny, Michele imposes the deliberate irony surrounding the unrestricted nature of clothing before society’s stereotypical imposition. The freedom of his show therefore exhibited the increasing need for designers to use their voices and call for the destruction of contemporary oppressive masculinities within the fashion industry. Whilst Michele drives a fantastic way forward in terms of his message, he simultaneously warns of the strict status of masculinity. In an interview with Vogue, he adds “this is not a narrative that excludes or rules out mainstream masculinity; on the contrary, I want to talk about how complex it is to be a man […] this means growing up maybe in a different way because the world of men is very diverse and full of different elements like the feminine world”. words by: ABBY ALLEN
By no means does this article imply that certain fashion traits should be enforced or stipulated; however, it simultaneously translates that when looking back historically, there are some ways that men’s fashion have implied a binary way of masculine dress. In the same way, fashion itself has been inherently thought of as a strictly female-driven practise in terms of those who participate and experiment with clothes and brands. The need for gender-fluidity within these exclusive environments is no less apparent than in The Business of Fashion’s discussion of identity misrepresentation: “Surveys conducted by CSMM found that only 7 percent of men globally relate to the way masculinity is depicted in the media”. The ability of masculinity to be created, performed and reinforced through the visual culture of fashion and the media is greatly unparalleled; only through identifying the way in which this interacts with our own internalised views of masculinity, may fashion really begin to deconstruct our perpetuated schemes. Expressing, reforming and deconstructing masculinity through fashion is something that is constantly being redefined- and that’s okay. There is no set way in terms of how to dress regarding sexuality and identity; however only with an open dialogue between the historically binary representations can the new, improved and representative visual culture begin to emerge. Similarly, the solution of gender equality does not lie strictly within fashion, however the experimentation of this new aestheticism does pioneer an important drive to challenge preconceived gender tropes. For a celebrity to dress a certain way can indirectly educate a new generation of young men, it can lead and represent them in a way they’ve never been shown before. As a result, the way we view masculinity in fashion is undeniably subject to change; the diverse representations of masculinity within a heterogeneous society, and the actions of figures such as Styles and Michele are simply a drop in the ocean of change that can normalise a non-linear form of dress, rather than being resigned to the monotony of traditional masculinity. In this feminist-driven change to combat and recuperate male representation as well as female, there emerges a new form of communication through clothing that conveys a figurative tonality between both the traditional and divergent modes of masculine dress. design by: CYNTHIA VERA
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Masculine Style
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photography by: CHARLIE TROULAN design by: ORLAGH TURNER models: DILL TOOTILL & ALFIE WIGNAL
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70 - FILM & TV issue 177 design by: JAMES BARKER
We know them for their comedic performances, but what about their dramatic capabilities?
By Lewis Empson Adam Sandler is one of the biggest names in the comedy film genre. Synonymous with box office success alongside ruthless critical panning, some of his films hit the infamous 0% rating. His casting in the Safdie Brothers’ Uncut Gems caused obvious confusion and severe scepticism due to its complete isolation from Sandler’s prior body of work. However, this scepticism quickly lifted through Sandler’s transformation into professional jeweller turned gambling addict Howard Ratner. Sandler’s usual comedic shtick is nowhere to be seen here, instead we are presented with a slimy, scheming businessman doing anything to stay afloat in the New York underbelly. Watching him portray a character that is the polar opposite of his standard archetype – constantly referring to sex, violence and illicit activities – is a bizarre yet deeply engaging experience. All of this is aided by a beguiling and captivating performance from Sandler (a performance which notably caused stirs when it was omitted from the 2020 Academy Awards nominations), who authentically conveys Howard’s immense pressure to the extent that we feel his stress and anxiety entirely. Uncut Gems has flown under the radar for many and is certainly worth your time, especially to witness a side to Sandler that no one will expect.
By Mike O’Brien No other actor embodies the essence of comic-turned-dour than Jim Carrey. His retreat from the limelight in recent years, save for his appearance in Sonic The Hedgehog, has faded him from public consciousness – but in the 90s, he was front and centre. His indomitable energy and manic charm peerlessly conquered slapstick comedy for the better part of a decade. In 1994 alone, Carrey entranced the world with The Mask, Dumb and Dumber and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, and that momentum carried on through the millennium with Bruce Almighty. Carrey’s is a tale of two diametric legacies: one as the funnyman of his era, and the other a tortured dramatist with a cult following. But in the midst of his prolific filmography sits a curious midpoint between the man behind The Mask and the demon on the set of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: his performance in Peter Weir’s The Truman Show (1998). In Truman, Carrey’s character discovers that his life is a carefully architected reality TV show, and this slow-burning realisation is a coalescence of Carrey’s cinematic dual-identities. The oblivious Truman in the film’s first act is charming, eccentric, an organic purveyor of laughter. But as the truth sets in, his once-affable comedy becomes a disguise through which he sinisterly disarms the actors around him by creating unreactable scenarios that veer off-script. By the film’s third act, Truman is neurotic, vengeful, and any joke he makes is merely a reflexive and compelling expression of grief at his synthetic life. The Truman Show is the culmination of Carrey.
By Sophie Bott In Hollywood, there are many male actors categorised as ‘the funny guy.’ They step into any role and it’s the familiar style, pace and jokes that we all know and love. Steve Carell is a prime example of this theory, with characters Michael Scott from The Office or Andy from The 40-Year-Old Virgin, he is endearing and undeniably hilarious. Therefore, Carell’s transition to the dramatic role of John DuPont in Foxcatcher (2014) was especially shocking. Foxcatcher explores the disturbing true story of a wrestling team headed by John DuPont, a rich benefactor, who invites Olympian Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) to train with him to win another gold medal. Steve Carell’s performance is standalone and career defining. He was physically unrecognisable, designed to look like the real John DuPont, which Mark Ruffalo himself described as ‘repellent’. Even Carell’s voice is unsettlingly calmer, slower and deeper, creating a deeply harrowing energy within the film. However, the moments of silence are far more disturbing than actual dialogue. Carell’s ability to create a disturbing atmosphere with his mere presence is a true artistic skill. Director Bennett Miller’s comment that suggested ‘all comedians are dark’ shows how Hollywood’s ‘nicest guy’, is dramatically capable of far more than given credit for.
By Alex Daud Briggs Shia LeBeouf wasn’t doing well as the main lead in Michael Bay’s Transformers movies. Since then, he’s shown his true prowess with roles in films such as Peanut Butter Falcon, Borg vs McEnroe and his infamous “Just do it” YouTube video. But what may be his best role is his part as James Lort in the 2019 film Honey Boy, a film which LeBeouf wrote based on his own experiences. Honey Boy centres around Otis Lort recounting his childhood working as a child actor in Hollywood. He lives in a small hotel with his father James (LeBeouf), a registered sex offender and recovering alcoholic. James is manic and aggressive, clearly abusive to his son. You quickly grow to hate, yet pity him. It almost seems like he wants to be a good father, but watching his son achieve stardom while he ruined his life causes his resentment to get the better of him. LeBeouf plays this hostility perfectly, probably because he experienced it first-hand. LeBeouf had a hard time with his own father and the screenplay of the film began as a therapy technique of LeBeouf ’s PTSD. He poured all of his hatred and love regarding his childhood to play his character, making the film extremely personal and all the more tragic.
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Annie starts season one miserably picking at a plastic container with a “thin menu” of what is supposedly meant to be pancakes. She goes for a coffee and a fitness instructor takes hold of her, attacking her with patronising comments like: “Your wrists are tiny. You actually have a really small frame”. Followed by a blow to the stomach: “You could be so pretty” because “there’s a thin person dying to get out”, as if her body isn’t hers but a shell hiding who society wants her to be. If that’s not enough, her overgrown man-child, f*ck-buddy and sortof-boyfriend, who sneaks her out through the back door because he is embarrassed to let his housemates see her, often messages her “F*ck?”, devoid of any sense of romance or emotion. Bad luck clings onto Annie like a leech wanting to suck the life out of her when she finds herself pregnant, even though she had taken the morningafter pill. Perplexed, she asks for an explanation from the pharmacist who informs her that the morning-after pill is only dosed for women under 175 pounds. As shocking as it may seem, the entire healthcare industry hasn’t developed emergency contraception for plussize women, a massively important message that demands more mainstream attention. Feeling lost but sure of her decision, Annie has an abortion a few episodes later “before it becomes illegal or something” as stated by her housemate, Fran, an unapologetically black lesbian. All the while, she has a heart-breaking and tough confrontation over a lifetime of body-shaming from her mother. Her strides towards selfempowerment and setting boundaries are always met with problems that spread like unwanted germs, yet she perseveres and finds inspiration in all types of places that fuel her desire for liberation, even if the world is often against her. For example, whilst walking into town she is in awe at a plus-size woman she spots. Dressed in a red suit and matching hat, she radiates confidence as though she were a vibrant sunset. Though she doesn’t exchange any dialogue with her, she follows her for a little bit –not in a stalker way– but simply admiring her. This one-sided encounter acts as a push for her to be more daring and vivacious, and even a bit rebellious. Her confidence reaches new heights in the fourth episode after swimming in a sea of self-love and acceptance at a plus-sized pool party. Later on, Annie arrives late to her office’s forced ‘fun bike ride’, and her abrasive, insecure boss bombards her with insults, calling her lazy and sloppy because of her weight. Rightly outraged with anger and an inspiring, newly found hope, she decides to unleash her true feelings on the judgement she’s had to endure due to her weight in an unauthorised blog post for her work. Titling her post Hello, I’m Fat, she explains that “This is my body. It is MINE. I am not ashamed of it in any way. In fact, I love everything about it”. Annie strikes out at the obesity epidemic and fat-phobia, calling out the callous and deeply damaging culture of fat-shaming. It’s important to understand that Annie’s article simply isn’t her ranting after being
triggered because someone commented on her body. She uses it to highlight how society is so threatened and, in many ways, repulsed by people taking back control and ownership of their bodies. She even starts reclaiming negative terms that are used to pigeonhole people as she gets harassed by an internet-troll hiding behind a keyboard of insecurity and self-loathing. (She confronts him at the end of season one and throws a brick at his very expensive car!) Though Annie exhibits normal insecurities and self-doubt, she isn’t at all bothered by her weight. She doesn’t care that she’s fat, nor she does try to change herself because she finds power in her weight. Annie herself never saw her body as an issue. Society does, and it projects these unhealthy ideas and microaggressions in subtle ways. Shrill is the story of Annie. Yes, she’s fat but her story isn’t about her struggles to lose weight to mould herself to suit destructive societal norms. It’s about her fulfilling her goals, finding herself and defying expectations of what her body should look like because her body is hers. The show doesn’t at all present an idealised world of selfconfidence, it doesn’t gloss over the discrimination, judgement and isolation felt by fat people, either. It slowly and subtly unwinds the pull and push of being body positive, liberated and comfortable in your skin in a culture that vigorously tears down plus-size women.
words by: CYNTHIA VERA design by: JAMES BARKER Still courtesy of Hulu
PLEASE DEETE THESE BORDERS WHEN YOU HAVE FINISHED DESIGNING
How do you think fat people who love their bodies go about navigating in a society that constantly tells them they’re wrong for being free and confident? Well, look no further than to Aidy Bryant’s Shrill, an American comedy series based on Linda West’s memoir, Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman. Borrowing events from West’s own experiences, the show follows self-proclaimed “fat” twentysomething aspiring journalist, Annie, as she tackles adulthood and the never-ending complexities of relationships with other people and herself. Shrill is a comedy in the same way Netflix’s Easy is a comedy, or the way Lena Dunham’s Girls is a comedy. You laugh, but not too much, or too often. But you laugh. It’s humanised, frustrating and earnest. An exploration into adulthood and the different ways of navigating a ruthless and flawed society.
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Being An Extra The film industry is an impenetrable fortress in which only the luckiest can step in. But there is one often forgotten way to make it on the sets of worldwide productions without having someone open the door for you. Don’t expect this article to teach you how to glide through the grand entrance. Today, we’re going through the back door, baby.
want to have a look at Key Castings, PhoenixCasting, and Mad Dog, or anything you can find from the key words ‘casting’ and ‘extras in the UK’ on Google. Stay away from anything that makes you pay a registration or subscription fee for extra work. Don’t forget: being an extra is a job. You don’t pay your manager to be a barista, do you?
Let’s be clear: your willpower is not enough. You’re going have to revise your arsenal if you want to approach the beast. It starts with good photos of yourself; not the type you’d put on Tinder or Instagram, those will get you crushed immediately. Every casting agency has its own criteria, but generally, your first weapons will be a head and shoulder portrait and a full body standing shot. Bring along your phone (a UK number is essential), your email, your bank account information, and a valid ID. You’re almost good to go. The last thing you’ll need is measuring tape. You’re about to discover the size of (almost) every part of your body.
Now that your profile is complete, you wait. You can apply for jobs you think you’re suitable for and then wait again. Sometimes you receive a call from an unknown number asking what you are doing this Friday. Most of the time you won’t, but what are the odds exactly? I often hear people saying they’re not pretty enough to be an extra, but being an extra doesn’t have anything to do with beauty. Casting agencies are looking for people to appear in film and TV to represent the world as realistically and hence, as diverse as it is. Sometimes they will look for the exact trait you don’t like about yourself. Your skills are taken into account too; speaking another language or knowing how to juggle could be the very reason they call you. You never know what to expect when you land a part as an extra. Sometimes you won’t even make it on-screen because you were cut out in post or because you were cast for one part of your body only. Shoutout to the time my hands achieved more fame than I ever will because they were the same size as the lead actress’; I’ll never receive a phone call as disturbing as the one
It’s time to meet your smuggler: the casting agent. You need someone to guide you through the land, a seasoned warrior who knows what to feed the beast. There are plenty of agencies out there, but don’t be overwhelmed. What you want to look for is an expert in casting extras. Start with Universal Extras; it’s free and easy for students to register, and they sometimes hold open castings in town where they will take your photos. You may
time this unknown number asked me to send pictures of my hands. Being cast as an extra could lead you anywhere; from an abandoned school in the countryside of Wales for a Channel 4 drama, to a concert stage for Bohemian Rhapsody. In an industry as thriving as the UK’s, there is space for everybody. It’s a fun occasion to be pampered by professional makeup artists and hairstylists and finally know what you would look like in a Victorian gown or a nurse uniform. You also pretty much get paid to wait, a lot. Between scenes you will have time to explore the sets and meet tonnes of cool people. If you’re lucky, you might even get to talk to a famous actor or actress. Don’t count on that though, chances are you’ll only see them from afar. And then, months later, you sit in the cinema to watch a movie you were part of, and you feel one of the most gratifying sensations running through your veins. Albeit minorly, you contributed to something larger than yourself. Surrounded by many passionate people from the film industry united together to craft art, you were this tiny yet essential cog in the matrix. You get to say, “I was there.”
words by: LAURA DAZON design by: ALESSIO PHILIP GRAIN
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Forgotten TV Gems design by: ALESSIO PHILIP GRAIN Do you ever find yourself remembering a scene, specific character or weird saying from a show you used to watch but you just can’t remember what it was called and when it existed? Or even if it existed at all. A couple minutes of reflecting with feelings of despair pass by, then, EUREKA! Lightning streaks of memories jolt your brain up, clarifying that the name of that show that’s buried deep into the shallows of my mind. Here are some of our favourite hidden gems buried deep into the archives of cancelled shows that people might have forgotten.
words by: CYNTHIA VERA
AWKWARD
Glue
Let’s go back to MTV’s 2011 high school comedy that is, well, awkward. Though it never hit Gossip Girl level of fame, it’s a warning tribute of the genre with mixtures of satire and homage to its predecessors. AWKWARD. follows 15-year-old suburban high-schooler, Jenna Hamilton, after a hilarious accident in which she falls and breaks her arm, which is then confused as a suicide attempt. She embarks on her high-school journey as the average girl in a semi-permanent high-five, who tried to kill herself. Oh, and she also receives an anonymous “Letter from A Friend” with a list of 8 suggestions that she should try again, because as she was then, she “could disappear and no one would notice”. Witty, sarcastic, raunchy yet deeply sincere, the tone of the show captures the anxieties and humbling experiences of being a teenager in the ever-morphing world of high-school filled with “Sophomore Sluts, Queen Bee-atches and Best Friends for Never.” (These are my favourite episode titles out of the 89 episode titles. Classic high-school tropes!)
Depicting English country-life from the perspective of young teens, Glue explores the interconnecting relationships and struggles of adolescence within a small friendship in a village called Overton. The night after breaking into a grain solo, Romany Gypsy Cal, youngest of the friendship group, is found dead underneath a tractor. Speculation and blame are explored through multiple characters, allowing secrets of his love interests, troubled past and family ties to unravel. In a rural town where everyone knows everyone, questioning who was responsible for Cal’s death and why from the very first episode causes speculations and secrets to unfold. As deaths increase around the village, desperation for the truth of Cal’s death does too. In the end, it is revealed that revenge and love are always the killer. Whilst enveloping adolescence, sex, drugs and relationships, the series also vividly depicts South East England and its rural decay through its scenes of scrapyards, racetracks and the scarce farming industry in which the village relies on. Alienation is explored through the appearance of Gypsies, such as characters Eli and Cal, and economic struggles are showcased through characters contemplating applying for University over staying and saving their families farms. Parallels between wealthy racehorse owners and farmland owners demonstrated the economic divide existing in the English countryside where effects of the North-South divide could lead to conflicts, furthering the mystery and motives behind Cal’s questionable death.
words by: CYNTHIA VERA
Freaks and Geeks Freaks and Geeks is a cancelled comedy drama show created by Paul Feig and produced by Judd Apatow that spanned a strong cult-following and notably featured actors like James Franco, Seth Rogen or Jason Segel before they were famous. The show was set in 1980’s in a high school in the US. It followed two groups of students: The Freaks, the pot-smoking, class-cutting “bad kids” and The Geeks, the nerdy, weird and oppressed freshmen. It was known for its authenticity, a bleak tragically comedic tone and story lines which included standard high school fare such as drugs, alcohol and school done differently. Nothing was ever glamorised, the school itself was a place of oppression and bullying and the characters themselves were awkward, uncool and hit with disaster after disaster. The show had a way of including serious issues such as death, divorce and failure into its characters’ lives who were then left to deal with the consequences, finding refuge in the relationships with their friends. Nostalgic fans of Freaks and Geeks should check-out Undeclared, which was created by Judd Apatow and is set in a university, featuring some of the actors from Freaks and Geeks and similar themes. words by: JONAS JAMARIK
words by: AMY KING
Due South Due South deserves to get much more attention than it gets. The story follows Benton Fraser, a character who is not very liked in Canada because he put a fellow Mountie behind bars. After being transferred to the Canadian Embassy in Chicago, Fraser decides to briefly work with Ray Vecchio in the Chicago police force, and just never really stops hanging around in his free time. What makes the show so important to me is that it’s absolutely hilarious, exciting and really wholesome. Fraser never stops using his weird Canadian tactics to catch criminals, which ranges from superhuman hearing, to following a dog’s trail by scent, to quirky Inuit stories which don’t seem to go anywhere. Ray offers a lovely American stereotype to every case, and Fraser’s deaf, lipreading Half-Wolf Diefenbaker is just adorable. Even though this combo does not seem like it would work very well, every episode has a fitting and very wholesome end. So, if you are into handsome and oblivious Mounties, hilarious –yet sweet– American stereotypes, deaf lip-reading wolves who help solve crimes, and wholesome comedies, PLEASE watch Due South. words by: SAI
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words and design by: MIKE O’BRIEN
Mike ‘BrolyLegs’ Begum is without question one of the most extraordinary and exceptional individuals in the history of competition, let alone eSports. He suffers from arthrogryposis, a condition that disrupts muscle development. His legs are so badly affected that he is physically unable to walk, and his arms, whilst slightly mobile, are severely motor deficient to the point that he cannot grasp or hold objects. Day to day life is a mountain climb, with almost every dimension of his life requiring assistance. Since Begum is physically unable to hold and operate a controller or an arcade stick with his hands, he learned how to play Street Fighter using only his mouth - and he’s internationally recognised as the best Chun-Li player in Ultra Street Fighter IV. Begum’s relationship with video games began when, on his second birthday, his parents bought him the Nintendo Entertainment System. His father wanted to test what his son was physically capable of and find recreation they could enjoy together. Eventually, Begum found himself experimenting with games, one of which was Street Fighter II. Fighting games often require precise and complex technical inputs, involving multiple button presses at a time and whilst performing directional inputs on a stick/pad. Most people would have a hard time consistently nailing the input for a dragon punch. But BrolyLegs, against all odds, outmanoeuvred his genes to elevate his game further than most able-bodied competitors could ever aspire to reach.
Because his disability caused him to struggle with social cues and interactions, he had a hard time when fighting against psychologically aggressive opponents at times.
BrolyLegs’ performance is a marvel. Beyond passing glances, it’s rare that I find myself paying much attention to the playercam during a set. When BrolyLegs is on, I can’t look away from it. From moving the stick of his Xbox 360 controller with his cheek to pressing the buttons by applying tongue pressure through his lip, the mere act of using the controller at this level is artistry. In-game, it’s riveting how BrolyLegs’ disability is expressed through his playstyle. BrolyLegs plays Chun-Li, ironically a character famous for oppressively pressuring her opponents with her long leg game. Since his disability prevents him from fast movement or reaction-based punishes, BrolyLegs uses Chun Li’s legs to wall out his opponents and force situations that make the most of the buttons he can access with his mouth. Since the days of Ultra Street Fighter IV, he’s become a Grand Champion in Street Fighter V, and remains one of the most fearsome Chun-Lis in the world.
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The Golden Age of Learning words and design by: MIKE O’BRIEN
There’s no first world problem like option paralysis. In our digital world of plenty, the abundance of things to see and do can leave us exhaustedly inactive, especially when it comes to learning. Fortunately, learning is easy to incorporate; the hard part is figuring out what to learn. To help you begin, here’s a variety of tools that you can engage with on the commute, at the gym, in the kitchen, or anywhere you might otherwise be dimly scrolling through Instagram feeds.
YouTube
Podcasts
YouTube is a goldmine for free education. There’s a documentary for every subject out there, and most have such high-quality narration that you can listen whilst doing something else. Next time you go to put on another episode of that Netflix show you’re watching for the sake of it, pop one of these on instead.
Podcasts grant you the magic power of eavesdropping on fascinating conversations between people smarter than you. These are perfect for the gym, for background chitchat during chores, or for journeys you might have spent listening to music instead.
Kurzgesagt – Thoroughly researched educational animations on a variety of current topics. Most videos have a scientific focus, but it’s always wellcontextualised and accessible without being condescending.
No Such Thing as a Fish – A funny, relaxed trivia podcast made by the QI research team. Great for learning random and amusing facts to tell at parties. Not afraid to get raunchy.
Crash Course – Like Kurzgesagt, but live-action and covers a wider variety of ground. Crash Course is like having a charismatic teacher give you a comprehensive breakdown of anything, supplemented by excellent data visualisation.
The Economist Asks – Anne McElvoy talks to people from across the political spectrum for about 45 minutes. This woman is not afraid to call out claptrap or ask hard questions, but it never feels adversarial. Quality journalism with a global focus. It’s not always politics or economics, but it is very dry.
Oversimplified – Amusing lowdowns on major historical wars. The most entry-level history channel, Oversimplified is charming, but sometimes doesn’t know when to let a joke go. Jay Foreman’s Politics Unboringed – A hilarious and informative intro to the function of British politics – great if you’re an international student looking to get caught up.
Books Years ago, deep in the annals of human history, mankind used to etch symbols onto a series of sequential pages. These fascinating artifacts were known as ‘books’, which people used to ‘read’. I recommend delving into this archaeology. I suggest buying an eReader; a dedicated device will aid your commitment and avoid distraction. The Kindle Paperwhite is ideal.Fitting neatly into bags and spacious coat pockets, you can easily squeeze in a good read on the bus. You can get thousands of classics for free at Project Gutenberg and install them on your Kindle with a program called Calibre. As general starters, I recommend A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, Andrew Marr’s A History of the World, World, William Strunk’s The Elements of Style, Style, and George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.
You Are Not So Smart – A critical thinking podcast that attempts to deconstruct ‘self-delusions’ by training yourself to scrutinize the world (and yourself) more discriminately. Be ready to put your thinking hat on: this is not light listening. NPR’s Planet Money – Planet Money turns worldwide economic news into digestible stories with excellent production value. Freakonomics Radio – From the author of the critically acclaimed Freakonomics comes an excellent current affairs podcast that dives into topical issues with a no-BS tone. There’s over four hundred episodes by now, so there’s bound to be something that interests you. The Joe Rogan Experience – Alright, hear me out. Yes, Rogan chats some rubbish from time to time. He will mention DMT at every turn, and the words ‘it’s entirely possible’ will be etched into your mind forever. But his podcast is so frequent, so casually conversational, and hosts such a maddening plurality of relevant guests that it’s become a precious resource for keeping in touch with general affairs. It’s one of the most popular podcasts in the world for a reason.
Before you embark, let me bestow upon you a hard but necessary truth: you need to be fundamentally interested in whatever material you engage with. That might sound obvious, but far too many people buy The Selfish Gene out of intellectual insecurity instead of genuine intrigue. They quickly end up burnt out and feeling like they can’t absorb anything. Read the right books for the right reasons. You need to read because reading interests you, not because books will make you a clever clogs.
PLEASE DEETE THESE BORDERS WHEN YOU HAVE FINISHED DESIGNING
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STR WARS: words and design by: MIKE O’BRIEN Do me a favour. Pull up YouTube right now and watch a short
video called OBJECTS THAT I’VE SHOVED UP MY ARSE. It’s not graphic – but you should definitely wear headphones. When YouTube’s ever-questionable algorithm brought OBJECTS THAT I HAVE SHOVED UP MY ARSE to my attention, I assumed it was merely a hysterical exemplar of today’s meta-crass, avant-garde meme culture. But when I noticed it was uploaded almost eight years ago, I suspected there was more behind this ‘Bruno Powroznik classic’ than met the eye. Little did I know that this intrigue would reveal a bizarre, profound, and unwittingly touching journey of a mentally ill economist who finds his true sexual identity in the face of prejudice. Without further ado, I invite you to lube up and join me on the chronicle of sodomy extraordinaire Bruno Powroznik. Bruno can be traced back as far as 2004, when he terrorised a property market discussion forum called HousePriceCrash. com (HPC). Taking no prisoners, Bruno immediately gained notoriety as a forum menace by verbally assailing a group of property investors who would become his eternal nemesis: the agents behind the sell-to-rent scheme, or, STRs. When the Great Recession hit, unemployment skyrocketed, endangering many homeowners with the threat of eviction. Investors saw this as an opportunity to snag property bargains, offering to buy homes from the financially challenged for ~70% market value and then rent it back to them at a slightly reduced monthly rent. It may seem a mutually expedient solution: investors score cheap property, and imperiled homeowners get to stay for a reduced monthly rate by forfeiting ownership. But to Bruno, STRs were uber-capitalist sociopaths making big bucks off the back of a national catastrophe – and he made no secret of it. On HPC, Bruno was monstrous, attacking STRs with online abuse the likes of which I had never encountered prior to investigating this story. Bruno launched websites solely to berate individual members of the forum. These were long, garish, and terrifying indictments that ranted on for almost 4000 words. In one site, he targeted an STR named Gavin Greenway, writing “I would
love to eat Gavin Greenway’s liver”. In 2008, he uploaded a YouTube video declaring he would bring an assault rifle to an HPC pub meeting and “give the STRs what they richly deserve”, for which he was arrested. Bruno was discharged after police dismissed his video as an empty threat, and his channel was terminated afterwards. Despite the ire he invoked, some developed a genuine enjoyment of his videos as entertainment, downloading them for preservation. Thirteen years later, a handful of enthusiasts uploaded their archive of Bruno’s bizarre videos for all to see. Cacophonic and chaotic, yet somehow stylistically consistent, they were shambolic piecemeal rants delivered in an oddly rhythmic fashion. The experience is further enhanced by the
unapologetic use of IIMPACT FONTTand a lo-fi Windows Movie Maker sheen. They have a strangely hypnotic charm, and Bruno’s insanity lends a surreal authenticity to the videos as unpredictable streams of consciousness. Among his uploads was an armada of anti-STR propaganda, one of which makes the absurd allegation that the government is colluding with STRs by deliberately tanking economic prosperity to provide property bargains. But of all his antiSTR videos, one struck me as a subject of particular interest: ‘WOMEN PREFER HOMEOWNERS, NOT RENT FOREVER LOSERS’. In this two-minute speech, Bruno expressionlessly lectures into the world’s smallest microphone that STRs can’t attract women. The video is laden with wild suppositions and casual misogyny, claiming that, because they no longer own their own property, STRs cannot pull, lack “high quality beaver”, and suffer from sex withdrawal symptomps like “penile dysfunction”. The allegations are so specific that, surely, Bruno must be projecting. It’s rare in life that our hunches are confirmed as aggressively as the aforementioned. In ‘I AM HAVING TROUBLE CHATTING UP WOMEN’, Bruno confesses his difficulty engaging with the opposite sex. It’s odd, but initially sympathetic. It’s akin to reading a sad high-schooler’s diary, with laments including ‘WOMEN TELL ME THAT I SMELL’, ‘WOMEN JUST DON’T SEEM TO LIKE ME’, and the surely
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THE HOLESOME STORY OF BRUNO POWROZNIK Poe-inspired ‘MANY WOMEN FIND ME REPUGNANT’. It’s hard to imagine why women don’t find Bruno a fine enough bachelor. That is, until about a minute into the video, where it descends into cries of ‘I NEED A WOMAN TO FULFIL MY DEPRAVED SEXUAL URGES’ and ‘I NEED A WOMAN TO MAKE MY DINNER’.
of poetry. When you transcribe this video and format it as a traditional poem, it gains a sense of sincere vulnerability:
Ignoring the unignorable misogyny for a moment, there is something ensnaring about this cutting introspection. In the history of human expression, I cannot name a more concise nor a more devastating revelation of one’s vulnerabilities. Anything remotely comparable, like scathing confessional poetry, is building towards some grander moral, a statement of some kind. Bruno’s confessions, meanwhile, are so unambiguously self-contained that nothing is left to the imagination. It’s easy to dismiss the enjoyment of Bruno’s work as the crass indulgence in the ramblings of a puerile madman. But is it so different to surreal theater? A Harold Pinter play is orchestrated nonsense. It compels the audience to find meaning in the inherently meaningless. Bruno offers a similar appeal. He provides a surreal authenticity that Pinter could never offer. Perhaps there is little divide in cultural value between a Pinter play and a Powroznik classic.
I wish to break free from my male body
By now I’m entranced by the rabbit hole, transfixed by Bruno’s unique brand of boundless confessional chanting. But I soon discover that alongside STRs, Bruno has a less amusing target: LGBT people; his endless websites making biblical proclamations that gays are hellbound. It’s clear that Bruno is mentally ill, but his rampant misogyny, disturbing threats, and indefensible homophobia mar the visage of the hysterically mad economist into one of bitter, if unwitting, intolerance. After rummaging through dozens of videos, I stumble upon one that shocks me, but upon reflection makes perfect sense: ‘I AM A WOMAN TRAPPED INSIDE A MAN’S BODY’. Stylistically, it bears all the classic Bruno characteristics but one: his raging tone. For the first time, Bruno speaks with sombre sobriety, and it forever alters the way I approach his videos. They’re idiosyncratically wild for a reason: it’s how he expresses himself. I see it now as a strangely unique form
My body is my prison I am the prisoner
To become the woman that I am. It marks the beginning of a radical and beautiful transformation. Bruno embraces not only her identity, but her sexuality. She even releases videos detailing the best places in London to meet other gay men for sex discretely, warning that, in some areas, she has experienced homophobic attacks that left her fearing for her life. In the game changing ‘MY RECTUM IS MY VAGINA’, Bruno speaks gleefully with a newly feminine cadence, donning a bright blonde wig she twirls proudly. The video is a guide to anal experimentation for novices, recommending various lubricants and techniques. It’s Bruno at her happiest, cleansed of the hatred that once consumed her and helping others explore their sexuality. But there’s one quote of particular interest to me: “buggery is enjoyable because the act of buggery is taboo […] it is a form of rebellion against society”. Suddenly, the true meaning of ‘OBJECTS THAT I HAVE SHOVED UP MY ARSE’ reveals itself: Bruno isn’t hiding anymore. It’s an earnest, shameless, and revelatory declaration of who she truly is, and a proud defiance of the repressive animosity she overcame. The objects you see around this page are more than curious playthings; they are tools of rebellion. There is beauty and bravery in Bruno’s journey. It’s a testament to the serendipity and anthropological worth of YouTube, how we can veer from sniggering at ‘STIFF COCKS’ to witnessing a vicious hate preacher overcome his anguish and embrace the woman inside. Bruno Powroznik’s story is a parable; it’s never too late to make peace with yourself, and no one needs to be a slave to hatred forever.
78 - DEAR ELLA... issue 177 was alone in, which gave me strength. The second was that this number meant not enough is being done to target the mental health side of acne and other, similar conditions. Lessons
HOW ACNE HELPS: a journey What if we didn’t have to be acne ‘sufferers’ like the headlines say? What if there is a lesson to be learnt and advantages to be reaped from our acne journeys? My Story Four years ago, after a particularly rubbish break up, my face decided to gift me with acne. It started with little bumps under my skin on my forehead but as time went by they erupted all over. It completely stripped away my self-confidence. I spent hours googling and watching videos online about how to get rid of it. I stopped eating dairy, stopped taking my contraceptive pill, stopped going out. I did everything the internet told me to do in order to get rid of it. Time and time again the articles would read “acne sufferer”. Side by side pictures of people who had gotten rid of it and were so much happier than before told me that I couldn’t be happy because I still had it.
1.
As I became increasingly fixated on my skin, I found that my other insecurities seemed to melt away. I suddenly didn’t care I had a ‘chubby nose’ or ‘bulky shoulders’. I repeatedly told myself that if I could just have clear skin, I would love myself. I promised myself that I would. I am still working on this. My acne forced me to love and accept the parts of myself I never thought I could because, in my head, they were insignificant issues in comparison to my skin.
2. It taught me that what you look like actually means nothing. The
first two years saw me sacrifice so much. Sometimes in the hope that it would help improve my skin and sometimes because I was too embarrassed to be seen. Because I had my acne for so long I really had no choice but to stop doing this. To brave it. When I finally did, I realized that it made no difference to what I could do, the fun I had or how people treated me. For some reason, I thought my friends would think I was dirty and not want to hang out with me. I had actually convinced myself that the people who had been in my life for six years would see me differently because of my acne. Confronting my own preconception of this thought process showed me that I am worth so much more than my exterior and that my friends were pretty good. I learned about my more abstract qualities like my humor or my loyalty. Once I started focusing more on the type of person I was becoming, not only did I worry less about my skin but it became such an insignificant part of my own selfperception. I wasn’t just the girl with acne. I distracted myself from my acne by making sure I could be the best version of myself (sounds cliched, I know).
3. As a teenage girl, I had based my self-worth around my looks, and the opinions of others about them. My acne showed me how toxic this mindset was and I began to value me for me, with less adherence to the views or perceptions of my peers.
The irony is, these articles and videos tried to aid me by telling me how to get rid of it. They told me that it had to be gone for me to be pretty and happy. Therefore, that is what I believed, and every day that I woke up without clearer skin was a day I didn’t feel good enough.
4. I promise you that nobody notices it as much as you do. I bring
The first two years I spent feeling irrationally sorry for myself and branding myself ugly to anyone who would listen. Then, post one of my textbook diva meltdowns about leaving the house – my mum rolled her eyes, looked me in mine and basically told me to get over myself because it was just my skin, and nobody cared what I looked like as much as I did.
The media’s representation of acne, whatever its intentions are, only reinforces the insecurities of those who have it. We need to learn how to view ourselves differently, to know that skin deep means nothing. Focusing on living with acne and finding its silver lining rather than obsessing over how to get rid of it made me see so much within myself that I wouldn’t have done if I never got it.
Ouch. However, it set something off in my brain. I had let myself believe acne was a part of me and it wasn’t. It had nothing to do with who I was, how I came across or what anyone thought of me. My acne story or ‘journey’ isn’t about how I got rid of it, it is how I’ve not only accepted it but used it to better myself. I did some fact related research and found that, according to dermatologist Dr. Anjali Matho, acne affects about 80% of the population at some time in their lives. Not only this but 10 million people in the UK admit to having a skin condition that has affected their mental health. To me, this meant two things. The first is that my problem was not something I
up my acne to friends and they seem shocked that I had it. Showing them pictures they seem impartial to it. ‘Oh, I never even noticed’. My acne didn’t stop me from having fun, I did.
If you are struggling with acne and it is affecting your everyday life and function then there are loads of things you can do: - Your GP will be able to recommend a course of treatment to help improve your mindset - There’s also the British Association of Dermatology’s website ‘Skin Support’ with lots of mental health resources for people suffering with skin conditions.
Wellbeing and Counselling service wellbeingandcounselling@cardiff.ac.uk +44 (0)29 2251 8888
issue 177 I am not normally one to approach people, however recently I have been seeing a girl in the gym that I find really attractive. We have spoken briefly a few times but I do not know if it is totally inappropriate to express an interest to her while she is trying to work out – I just don’t know when else I would get the chance. This is a difficult one because, there is definitely a bit of ambiguity about approaching someone in the gym. It is good that you understand there are boundaries when it comes to this. If you have spoken before then it may be a good idea to build a stronger relationship through this. You have to be careful and respect their space. If you do decide to approach them then the use of mitigating strategies to make sure they don’t feel intensely opposed upon. Outline to them that you are aware they may not be impressed with the approach. This way they may not feel as intimidated.
My housemate has just started to sleep with one of our friend’s ex-boyfriend. She has no intentions of telling our friend and I feel so guilty knowing and not saying anything – what shall I do?
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Q&A with ella My dog died recently, and I am really sad about it. I am embarrassed about how badly I am dealing with this as I feel like everyone just thinks I am being stupid as it is just a dog. How can I get over this without coming across a bit stupid?
There is nothing to be embarrassed about, some people feel their emotions more than others and losing a dog is hard for anyone. Your friends will happily talk you through it and I am sure that speaking to your family will help as well. Grief needs to be addressed not buried and if you want to give yourself the best chance at healing then the last thing you need to be doing is not facing up to how you feel. If you think that you’re really sad and it is starting to prevent you from carrying out your normal daily tasks then please reach out to the university services, NHS or private. This may be a symptom of something deeper than just the loss of your dog.
This is a really hard situation to be in – tearing your loyalties. As much as you may want to tell the friend, and it is totally wrong that your housemate is not speaking to them – it is not your news to share. I would take the stance that, if it comes up or if you are asked then there is no need to lie. The best thing to do is try and persuade your housemate to have the conversation because, realistically it will come out and it will be better for everyone it comes from her. Just remember that the situation is between the three involved and not you.
My boyfriend has just gone travelling for 3 months, the time distance is huge so we can barely even speak online. Breaking up isn’t on the cards, I just want some advice as to how to get through this time without being sad all the time. Unfortunately, this is a problem that many of us face over the course of relationships. We are at the age where people have to go and do things for themselves. I would suggest just being busy. I know you probably want to wait around for the windows in which you can talk but this is not sustainable. Throw yourself into you work, you can use this time without distraction for good. Make plans with your friends, even if it is just to make pasta and watch TV. It may help to try and make a schedule with your boyfriend – with a set time to call. This way you have something to look forward to without throwing away valuable time just waiting for a random opportunity. Also, remember that three months really isn’t that long in the grand scheme of things and if you make sure you’re busy and remind yourself that he will be having a great time too – the time will fly by.