Palatinate Indigo Issue 715

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indigo

indigo W

elcome to the Valentine’s Edition of indigo. February brings with it a bundle of snow and summatives, but Indigo hopes to enlighten singles and couples alike to make the most of the Month of Lurve with recipes, dating tips, romantic music and love poems to suit the occasion. See how many allusions you can spot in the short story below. Tell us what they are at indigo@palatinate.org. uk, there’ll be a prize for the winner.

proof pick-up lines to charm potential lovers in Klute and Studio this coming Valentine’s weekend... Let us know how you get on at indigo@palatinate.org.uk

Features

This Edition’s indigo Inspiration has been: Nick the One Man Band JK Rowling’s inspiring speech to Harvard Graduates over on www.ted.com Durham’s Waterpolo win! (Finally) DULOG’s West Side Story James Bond theme tunes Brothers and Sisters Dylan Moran Anchorman

Pick-me-up down in Durham Town indigo’s list of the most effective, fool-

Indigo

Let’s convert our potential energy to kinetic energy.

Maths: Would you like to see my log?

Grab your gilet, you’ve pulled.

Someone hand me a map! I’m lost in the sparkle of your eyes.

Let’s see if we can solve this equation: You plus me minus clothes divide legs = ...

When God made you, he was having a very good day.

Food

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indigo loves...

Avatar deleted Sex Scene soon to be revealed in the DVD. Tendrilshag anyone?

Valentine’s Day Movie Released 12th Feb with a packed cast of Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Patrick Dempsey, Taylors Lautner and Swift, Ashton Kutcher and more.

Do you have your library card with you?

Good, because I want to check you out.

Glee Album Volume 1 out in the UK on 15th Feb on iTunes.. Don’t Stop Believing!

I learnt in Biology today that your body is over 75% water, and I’m really thirsty...

You have 236 bones in your body, want one more?

Love Heart

H

VINTAGE COLLECTIVE

is fingers looked purple, almost grey next to the shiny redness of the heart on the plate. Some people have qualms about eating them, but he’d never understood it. So different in texture from all the other cuts of meat.

Sat comfortably on the edge of the table, where Bella used to perch. The fabled centre of all man and beast’s sympathy and feeling began to bleed a thin red water.

“Feeble, lifeless”, he jeered at it, his nose creased as the air around him absorbed the smell.

It hadn’t smelt at all to start with. Not when it was fresh, when the arteries were still smattering the immaculate white walls at

every palpitation of the ownerless organ.

He liked white walls.

But gradually the stench wooed him. He sniffed in the bodily stink, the fumes of death that curled and two-stepped through the stillness.

The mess was another thing. He couldn’t stand mess. Now the whole room gurgled with mess, with blood. Blood fountaining off the table, spitting and hissing around the white of the floor. Blood chequering his jeans. Blood weeping from the walls. Blood, blood: an unending wilderness of blood...

In the middle of all the blood: the heart, the heart...a centre of calm amid the chaos.

He remembered how she had chased butterflies in the meadows. When he’d wanted to embrace his boyish violence...She had looked like the white flowers whose heads he tore off and crushed as he ran through the fields.

He had loved her then. When she was all to him and he to her.

And tonight, on Valentine’s Day, she had seemed that girl again. The air was making her eyes glisten; the wind made them water; her girlish features shimmered through and hovered a finger’s breadth above the whorish outfit of the woman she had become.

‘Swordfight?’ he asked. She nodded coyly.

It was the first time she had accepted the challenge. As he picked up...

Pick up the knife. Pass her the knife. Pass her the knife. She’s smiling, youthful. Forever.

Eyes closed.

He glanced down. Wished that the whole of her was there. He sighed. Heart would do.

Job/Internship/ Law Firm application forms, the bane of our once-simple lives.

The lack of a Frost/Nixon moment for Blair in the recent Iraq Enquiry

Everyone falling on the damn ice.

And no sports matches going ahead.

indigo hates...

COVER IMAGE: JONATHAN ALLEN

Indigo

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Lifestyle Features

Philippa Hardy

A

t the risk of sounding like Scrooge suffering from a severe Christmas hangover, I have to admit that I find Valentine’s Day one of the most irritating of the year, from the restaurant booking rush weeks beforehand to the never-ending rows of sickening cards in Clinton’s.

But it’s the presents that really get to me... on a day that isn’t a birthday, isn’t Christmas, isn’t anything at all in fact, why are presents supposed to be the sign that you really are loved?

I would personally prefer it if my boyfriend was nice to me for the other 364 days of the year, rather than saving up all his romantic effort for one over-hyped 24 hour extravaganza. However, in the spirit of love and friendship I decided to embrace the commercial onslaught and consider what really would make the perfect Valentine’s gift. I decided there were several categories under which these could fall – I’m sure some sort of flow chart quiz à la Cosmopolitan magazine could be made, “What kind of man is your boyfriend?” but I’m afraid you’re going to have to make do with some old-fashioned bullet points.

1.The Romantic Getaway

Not for the financially challenged or those prone to film-worthy daily fights, this couldn’t fail to at least show very good intentions. It’ a cliché, but Paris looks lovely at this time of year...

2. The Personal Gift You know the drill: CDs, photo montage, if you’ve made it you’ve got brownie points.

3. The Valentine’s Theme All those classics: roses, chocolates, risqué underwear that’s only going to be worn because you’ve bought it. It might be unimaginative but it still shows you care.

4. The Perfect Gift If by some miracle you’ve managed to divine what that killer perfect gift is this year then you’ll probably have the hard task of repeating your feat next year, congratulations!

If the whole idea of presents and everything they stand for makes you break out in a cold sweat, boys, don’t despair. One woman’s nightmare is another’s heaven and I’m sure if you’ve managed to hold onto her thus far you’ll at least be able to pick the right card. Besides, once the art of present giving has been mastered, you’ll then have the satisfaction of knowing she’s almost certain to be running around every shop in Durham trying to find yours.

If all else fails, just claim you don’t believe in Valentine’s DayWhile I don’t think it’s any sort of reflection on a relationship, it is always amazing to receive a wonderful present, and if this really is the one day of the year your boyfriend’s going to pull out all the stops then you might as well make the most of it!

And for those of you without one, count yourself lucky to be outside the grasp of the money-grabbing corporations, gather your friends and do something that makes February seem a little less joyless than it seemed before!

8 Mistakes Singletons Make Single? Here’s why!

1. Being too creepy Boys who hang around the Klute dance floor waiting to romantically sidle up and start grinding on the nearest passable female (you know who you are) - please don’t.

5. Being too aloof

Ok, so I said don’t be too eager in point 4, but there is such thing as being too detached...so do show some interest so your beloved knows they’re onto something at least. It’s all a balancing act really...ahh the complications of love...

2. Being too Facebook stalkerish 6. Being too try-hard Do not add them the next day. Or the one after that. Better yet, wait for them to add you. And don’t accidently drop into the conversation you already recognise them cause you’ve Facebook-stalked them...

Mostly referring here to those girls who feel the urge to dress like they’re on the beach rather than a stone’s throw away from the North Pole. If you look easy, you’ll come across easy.

7. Being too jealous

You’ve just met and are already asking for his/her lecture timetable to arrange when to spend time together - never a good idea...

You’ve had one date and are already questioning him/her on past partners/ platonic friends. Or you glare at/threaten to beat up (delete as appropriate) the onthe-prowl guy/girl eyeing up your catch in Studio. Remember you’re the one who’s made it into their heart/trousers.

4. Being too clingy

8. Being too intense

3. Being too full on

Call me outdated and all that but it is NEVER acceptable for the girl to text first.

You’ve got to make him work...

LILLEY01

Pick of the presents

It is never, I repeat, NEVER, acceptable to use pet names. Ever. Enough said.

Evolving love: a closer look at Modern Relationships Mei Leng Yew

Romance either makes your toes curl in horror or your heart flip with warmth and at this time of year, there is no avoiding the subject. With Valentine’s Day being the first major celebration after the New Year, February is always the month that we are most aggressively bombarded with advertisements of the romantic kind. Suddenly, we cannot escape weekend getaways for two or the latest collection of sweaters and apparently, nothing says love like a diamond can. Interestingly, despite the diversity of gift options on sale, all these advertisements have one thing in common; heterosexuality in the most traditional of forms. Images of besotted sweethearts, committed couples and endearing old-timers fill our screens, each of them a smiling endorsement of the traditional heterosexual partnership.

Howev- er,

society is ever-changing and the general maintaining separate households. These public is growing increasingly tolerant of weren’t people kept apart by work comunconventional love, as proven by the remitments but who had decided that they sults of the British Social Attitudes survey would rather sleep in the house next door taken in 2008 which found that only 36% to their loved one instead of in bed beside of the British public regard them. The homosexual acts as “alnumber of LAT “The general public is ways” or “mostly” wrong. couples is set to This is compared to 62% growing increasingly toler- rise, especially of people in 1983. Faced many highant of unconventional love” asprofile with a progressivelymore celebriliberal and accepting culture, romanticties are firm advocates of the lifestyle. The comedy scriptwriters and the suits director Tim Burton and the mother of his behind his-and-her marketing campaigns children, the actress Helena Bonham Cartmay soon need to rethink as previously er have been together for nine years yet live unheard-of relationships evolve out of the in adjacent homes in Hampstead, London. closet doors and into the mainstream.

Carter calls this the “ideal setup” explaining One relationship trend that is already that “we can visit each other whenever we frequently mentioned in the press is Living want and have our privacy too”.

Apart Together (LAT). A On the opposite end of the spectrum is couple choosing to cothe asexual relationship. This pair may live habit before marriage together as a couple and enjoy cuddling or is fairly commoneven kissing but they have no sexual attracplace but in recent tion for each other or indeed, anyone at all. times, even those Reasons for forming an asexual relationwho have made a ship vary from couple to couple. Some long-term promise want to commit to a life-long companionto each other are ship with a close friend, some adopt and opting for LAT. In raise children together and others may 2005, an estimated have romantic urges but not sexual ones. two million couples This is a love that stands at odds to the sexwere committed both obsessed society we live in today. to each other and to Another unusual relationship is the trans-

by Alex Mansell

sexual couple. A man and woman may be stricted love between all three people. This dating or even marry before one of the subculture has a growing voice through the pair chooses to undergo gender reassigninternet where people meet on forums to ment surgery. The other person must then offer each other advice on issues such as decide if they will stay in this relationship, ‘poly-parenting’ and dealing with jealousy. even though they may have never felt any The internet has also led to virtual sexual inclination towards their partner’s relationships forming. More sophisticated new gender. The other option would than traditional online dating, games such of course mean leaving the person they as Second Life allow users to create their love. This is clearly a difficult and delicate own version of reality onscreen. They form situation for all involved but for those friendships with other users and through who choose to stay with their partners, their fictional characters, become involved it is a choice made out of commitment, romantically. Couples whose characters are understanding and a love so strong that it married online may even get engaged in transcends all physical boundaries. real life, all before they have met face-toA fourth unconventional arrangement face. is the ménage a trios or the triad. Here, With the evolution of the internet, inthe reference is creased media attention not to a one-off acceptance from “In a modern day triad the and threesome or the wider public, the relationship is grounded on social landscape of Britto the underground criminal is changing rapidly. equality, and mutual respect” ain organisations However, it is unlikely of Asia, but to a that the number of any domestic arrangement where three people of the above types of relationships will ever who live together are also all involved with surpass that of heterosexual cohabiting each other sexually. This is not the same as couples. Nevertheless what is certain is that polygyny, when one man has several wives. love comes in many different forms and In some cultures, a man can take another whether we like it or not, the conventional wife regardless of any objections that his heterosexual marriage appears to be going first wife may have whereas in a modernthe same way as top hats and cassette day triad, the relationship is grounded on tapes; old-fashioned and outdated, it will equality, mutual respect and ideally, unresoon be best left to the past.

Indigo

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Features Undercover Being bi - the best of both worlds Agnostic The Alpha course describes itself as “an opportunity to explore the Christian faith in a relaxed setting”. It began at a church in central London in the late 1970s, initially as a means of presenting non-Christians with the basic ideas behind Christianity. By the nineties, the course had grown into something of an international movement, with denominations across the world taking it up in the hope of appealing to non-churchgoers.

Now, there’s an Alpha for everyone: courses operate in prisons, the armed forces, large companies and senior citizens’ groups. I’m attending the student Alpha, designed and marketed with university-goers in mind.

In Durham, the course has been run as a joint venture between local churches for the past few years. Financed through wealthy donations to the national Alpha machine, Christian students volunteer to promote and lead the course. From an impressive poster campaign, to tasty home-made curries, those involved work extremely hard to make it as appealing as possible to potential converts.

I’d been asked to go along by a close friend – a life-long Christian and member of King’s church. Since meeting him on the first day of University, I was very aware that faith was a large part of his life. In freshers’ week, as well as enjoying the typical activities, he and other Christians were busy deciding on which Durham church they’d like to join. Whilst this never got in the way of forming a brilliant friendship group, it was clear that the churchgoers wouldn’t feel at home until they’d found a place to suit them.

Inside, Alpha’s stated aim to help participants feel comfortable and relaxed shone through. Home-cooked food, background music and chatty hosts meant that at times I forgot what the evening was really about.

Opening the meeting, we were shown a video promotion for the course, featuring Bear Grylls, professed Christian and celebrity figurehead for Alpha.

“That’s the cheese over with” laughed the speaker, clearly uncomfortable with the commercial side to the course.

“Christians” he said, “want to be asked the worst questions”. The volunteers relished the opportunity to talk to others about their own case for Christ, asserting “There’s nothing we want to avoid”. I believed him, trying to formulate a devastating question in my head.

Asked at that moment, it would have been “is there any korma left?”

I was persuaded – I’m going to take the full course, do the homework and ask the questions. If I don’t buy it, I’ll come out a well-armed atheist. If I do, then Bear Grylls might just have changed my life.

Thom Addinall-Biddulph

I

my life with a guy or a girl, really depending on who happened to be the One. People do seem to get confused about bisexuality though; either seeing it as being ‘greedy’ or willing to sleep with anything that moves, or as being ‘straight-plus’, i.e. really heterosexual but open to other things (or,

have had a strange experience over the past five years of sexuality, inasmuch as I’ve had to come out twice. Once, as being gay, in 2005; and then again in 2008 when I realised that I was in fact bisexual.

Of course only the first one was potentially fraught with “Being bi means being, major difficulty, though in fact it wasn’t, as it transpired more or less, at the everyone at my school had apparently made the centre of the spectrum” assumption I was gay years ago anyway. I can’t say I exactly went out of my way to hide it. On coming out at university in for that matter, first year at Durham, I was asked if it might gay-plus). be simply because I hadn’t encountered Now I do girls much. I attended a boys’ school, believe only gaining girls - for the first time in 400 sexuality years - in the Sixth Form. I didn’t think this is a specwas the case, but since being at Durham, trum: where inevitably I have far more contact some with the other sex, I have found that I really people am attracted to both sexes, and - here’s the are key - both physically and romantically. I’ve only actually been in love with guys, but have now had crushes on girls.

So this was the important thing for me: the realisation that I could see myself spending

entirely straight or gay, some fully bi, others generally straight but happy to have gay experiences, or vice-versa. But, for me,

sexuality just like hetero or homo, not, as people I’ve encountered often seem to believe, an inability to decide between those two poles. I know I’m not straight (just ask anyone who “People do seem to get confused went to my school), but I also know I’m not gay, as in attracted about bisexuality; either seeing exclusively to men.

For a long time I did waver it as being ‘greedy’ or willing to about this- I’d come out as gay, and was strangely embarrassed sleep with anything that moves” about deciding and revealing that I was happy to date girls as well. I feel extremely strongly being bisexual about gay rights, and found myself wormeans being, rying that anti-gay campaigners would more or less, use examples like mine to prove that it is at the centre a choice, or that gay people are really just of that confused heterosexuals. That is, obviously, spectrum, fundamentally wrong: I couldn’t choose not vastly not to be in love with the (male) person preferI loved throughout Sixth Form, nor can I ring choose not to find, say, Lily Cole attractive. either I am genuinely equally attracted to both sex. genders, in both the primitive sexual sense, It is and in the spiritual and aesthetic sense; a and as far as I’m concerned that places me firmly as bisexual.

Durham LGBT’s annual Q Week, with events and discussions, launches 8th Feb. To find out more visit www.durhamlgbta.org.uk KATIE GIBLIN

14 Feb: A day of desperation th

Daniel Dyson

F

ebruary is a strange time of year. ples in Durham is hardly the best feeling The unpredictable weather, the odd in the world. But it seems a step too far to number of days in the month, and the jump into bed with just anyone when feelabandonment of every standard one has ing vulnerable just when looking for their prospective partner once February 14th rolls around.

What is it about that day which causes people to hook up with the first thing that shows some interest? My friends, I say one word. Desperation.

We all do it. When it comes to Valentine’s Day, the normally reasonably intelligent people of Durham seem to lose their brains and revert temporarily to primal instinct. College bars and the few clubs Durham has as watering holes are the home of many a stupid decision. All that’s missing is the soothing David Attenborough commentary on the indiscretions of man.

“It’s practically possible to It’s practically see the self-respect possible to see seeping out of the room as the self-respect seeping out of the night goes on” the room as the night goes on and depressing when, come February 15th, many a person will find themselves wondering what on earth because they were thinking when they wake up somebody told us that today is the day that next to Mr or Miss Wrong. we celebrate romantic love. Certainly, it’s Sure, Valentine’s Day is a bit of a drag. hardly a responsible thing to do.

Finding yourself single and feeling lonely Whilst promiscuity has its benefits, the when surrounded by the plethora of couend result has got to be that all involved

end up feeling good about themselves rather than perpetuating a cycle of negativity and selfdisgust which is

UNDERGROUND IMAGES

Indigo every fortnight becomes a spirituality shopper in the marketplace of religious groups in Durham.

This week our writer attends Alpha at King’s Church...

too often the case this time of year.

What’s more, thanks to the dark side of the Durham grapevine, word about any misdemenours will eventually get out onto college and lecture hall gossip-train and

you’ll constantly seem to be doing a walk of shame.

I think the problem is that most people in Durham have major ambition and aren’t used to failure. Valentine’s Day can remind people that, despite their stellar marks or track record at college sport, life isn’t perfect for them and this can be a bitter pill to swallow. Yet despite most of the population being in their early 20’s, barely legal adults in the grand scheme of things, there can be such a rush to settle down. Many people I know have started thinking about moving in together or getting married, which, whilst good for them, can seem alarming if you’ve never had a second date.

At the end of the day, Durham is hardly known for its diverse range of backgrounds. We are all quite similar to each other really and this makes comparisons between our own lives and that of our friends all the more easy. It’s simple enough to say that we should try and judge ourselves by our own standards, and not by the ones of others around us, but hard to put into practice. Getting overattached to somebody who throws a crumb of affection your way when you’re the only one left single never ends well and it’s probably for the best that Valentine’s Day falls on a lazy Sunday this year. If you’re feeling down, grab a group of friends and do something worth celebrating rather than commiserating. Life, and time at Durham is way too short to spend depressed.

And, as the old adage states, good things come to those who wait.

Indigo

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The hidden joys Calling all Durham boys... of the Library The A-Team

Alex Mansell

we’re still at it!”, but remain happy in the knowledge that they are not alone in their suffering.

And let’s not forget the culinary delights associated with the library. What better way to refuel and indulge yourself for dragging yourself there? For a start, there’s

You may have read the title of this article and laughed. Let’s face it, the words ‘library’ and ‘joy’ don’t often come together in the same sentence, but I implore you hear me out on this one, for in the library can be a found a number of simple and exciting pleasures…

“Now I’m not advocating Something that shouldn’t be getting frisky next to underestimated are the views we get from the library. And no, Flaubert, but I will point out I’m not talking about the tottythat doing your thing in a spotting potential (although this is, admittedly, pretty good). I’m public place isn’t illegal” talking about the lovely view we get of the Cathe amazing white thedral; one time chocolate and I was struggling raspberry to write an muffin in essay when the YUM a friend café. If suggested you I move haven’t seats so had I could one see it, yet, and do so.

BAM, And I was then inthere’s stantly always inspired the to work.

New Inn Ok, so that just across didn’t actuthe road, where you “Let’s not forget that the can get together New Inn is a pub; many a with a few friends summative has been disruptto forget the trauma ed by a cheeky drink.NATASHA Not CORAL that is essays for an hour or that I’d recommend that... ” two over one of their famed burgers. And let’s not forget that the New ally happen but as long as you can get your Inn is a pub; many a summative has been hands on the right desk, you’re guaranteed disrupted by a cheeky drink. Not that I’d recommend that... a lovely backdrop with great daydreaming No one can deny that one of the best potential during a particularly dull piece parts of the library is that fantastic noise of work. when taking books out, that ‘DOOThe social aspect is another highlight DOO-DOO-DOO-LOOO’. A wonderof the library. I’m not saying there’s an amazing atmosphere, but you’re practically fully satisfying sound that makes taking guaranteed to bump into two or three peo- out a book, even if you’ll never turn a page ple you know, and then you can lament the of it, oh so worth it.

Finally, if, like me, you’re getting sick of woes of work together. And if you haven’t work getting in the way of uni, one way of seen them for a while, it provides the permaking a statement would be to...erm...get fect opportunity to catch up, something that can be hard to arrange during the hec- it on, shall we say, among the bookshelves.

Now I’m not advocating getting frisky tic Durham term. Of course, sometimes a light-hearted chat is refreshing too and can next to Flaubert, but I will point out that give your brain enough of a break to get on doing your thing in a public place isn’t illegal, as long as you keep it discreet and with your work. expect a certain level of privacy. So do at And it’s not just the people you know least choose a horrendously unpopular that can break the boredom, but the section and try not to cause any damage... people you don’t. There are the annoyAlthough it seems like one of the least ing ones who provide amusement when appealing things to do in Durham, a visit they put their phone on silent but know to the library can actually be full of fun! everyone can hear it vibrating, crying out Ok, so maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, to the world, “Look at me, I’m POPUbut it’s not all bad. So forget all thoughts LAR!” But solidarity can also be found there, like when two people who’ve started of sitting on Facebook or staying in bed at 3pm and are still there gone 10pm share all day and head down to Durham’s new place to be... exasperated looks that say “Can’t believe

S

fairly normal, we’re painting a picture of ourselves:

o it was the New Year in Durham and I found myself contemplating my options for the fate of my love life. There was obviously the obligatory “I’m a second-year English Lit student yet ill-advised Quaddy-driven Klute rebound pull, culminating in hiding in the from Trevs, with a fondness for most toilets and texting friends to come on a things embarrassing, whether it be Agatha rescue mission. But I had both been there, Christie novels, sci-fi telly (still mourndone that and been chucked out by the ing the loss of my beloved Buffy here), or bouncers when I finally emerged from the crappy indie music usually favoured by loos into the empty club. There was always acne-ridden fifteen year old boys.

“Despite this rather lame collection of the even less advisable option of a bit of the old friendcest which would inevitably hobbies, I also give pretty good conversabecome public knowledge after yet an- tion and rack up some pretty sweet extracurriculars in the form of other unnec- esRussian lessons (just don’t sary game of “Do you have what it demand anything near ‘I Have Nevfluency), er…’ takes to represent your Then I realised college on a blind date?” my new bedtime reading, in the form

of chick lit book ‘A Brand New Me’

by Shari Low, had in fact provided me with the answer. Only instead of test driving guys from different signs of the zodiac as the heroine does for her career, I would put the JOHN AND KETURAH dating abilities of boys from every single college in Durham to the test. So it’s up to me and another girl to split up the colleges and go on eight dates each to determine what Durham has to offer., amd more importantly, which college offers the best bachelor.

It’s going to be a be hard job, but someone has to do it! After all, surely it’s all in the name of science?

As any Durhamite knows, college rivalry is evident in every aspect of uni life, from the best rugby team to the most hardcore drinkers. Now we want to see which college can hold their own on a new playing field: the Durham dating scene. Can you join the battle of the bachelors and make your college come out on top?

We’ll be judging you on that ridiculously Durham concept of ‘banter’, so wittiness and smooth talking are on the agenda.

A good sense of humour is definitely a prerequisite.

Let us point out that myself and my fellow singleton are going to remain anonymous, known only as the A-Team, just to make sure it is a genuinely “blind” blind date and no Facebook stalking can ruin the fun! Just to assure you we are

Profile 1:

sure I’m just lovely!

“I look forward to the challenge of seeing which colleges fit the bill in terms of suitable bachelors....bring on the boys!”

How it will work...

1) If you consider yourself or a friend worthy of representing your college in a blind date, get in touch!

2) Meet us for the date at a given time and venue.

3) Smile! Our photographer will take a photo of us at the start of our date. Be warned - it will feature in Palatinate!

4) Seduce us with sparkling wit and fine conversation.

5) The date will end...but will the romance continue?

6) A report of how the date went will appear in subsequent editions of Palatinate.

7) In the final edition of this year we will declare to the world which college has the best bachelor.

“ We want to see which college can hold their own on a new playing field: the Durham dating scene.”

Palatinateing, working for the Newc Theatre Royal and working for DUSSD. “I originate from Londontown, or like to think I do, so find the strangest thing about Durham its bubble-like quality! So I hope to help cultivate some intercollegiate friendships in the process of this social experiment, whilst enjoying some damn good meals, fine(ish) glasses of wine and fantastic conversation at the same time!”

Profile 2: “I’m a Cuth’s second-year studying French and want to see if Durham boys can impress me with their knowledge of the language of love. Or something like that.

“I enjoy anything involving fun, and most things involving alcohol. I like to think I’m funny but am yet to find someone who agrees...

“Palatinate, shopping and basketball feature heavily on my list of priorities. Be warned though that as a professional journalist I’m a lot to handle: critical, cutting and difficult to please. Other than that I’m

How to nominate yourself or a friend: It couldn’t be easier to apply for a date! Simply e-mail us with: 1) The name of the applicant 2) His college 3) A few lines describing hobbies, interests and good qualities E-mail to:

feature@palatinate.org.uk We will respond via e-mail to let you know if you’ve secured a date.

Good luck!

Be warned that successful applicants will have their dates rated and written about in a future edition of Palatinate!

Indigo

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Food & Drink Recipe: White Chocolate Swiss Truffles

Are you a food fashionista?

Who knew? Fashion trends and calories do actually go together...

PAUL ROTH

FLICKR ID: ROCKYOFACE

Emily Betourney

Love it or hate it, Valentine’s Day is upon us once again. Cards, flowers and confectionary once more stop being everyday objects, to become vital symbols of just how much we love each other. There is however, no need to panic. Imagine the surprise on the face of your significant other when they receive not only delicious chocolates this February 14th, but delicious homemade chocolates.

This simple recipe for white chocolate Swiss truffles is quick, easy, versatile and somehow seems more heartfelt when given as a gift than the box of chocolates on offer in the supermarket this week.

Try using several of the suggested decorating techniques for an indulgent selection, wrap in coloured tissue paper and give in a (not necessarily heart-shaped, red, satin) box for a stress and argument free Valentine’s Day. 2 Tablespoons Double Cream 200g White Chocolate, broken into small pieces.

2 Tablespoons Baileys ½ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract Makes 20 1) Pour the cream into a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water and heat gently until warmed through.

2) Using a metal whisk, whisk the broken chocolate pieces into the cream until melted.

3) Take the bowl off the heat and whisk in the Baileys and vanilla extract until well mixed.

4) Cover the bowl with cling film and leave to cool before chilling in the fridge for an hour or until a set yet pliable consistency is reached.

5) Using a small ice cream scoop or melon baller (or even a teaspoon), scoop small balls of truffle mixture and decorate each using a few of the following: Rolling in chopped nuts, Drizzling with melted dark chocolate, Dusting with cocoa powder, Dusting with icing or vanilla sugar

Fiona Hicks

2009, however, is now over, and so is the rage for these comforting indulgences. ood, like any consumer good (pun New year, new trends, new experiences intended), is subject to the fickle awaiting your taste buds. fluctuations of fashion. Whether Rumour has it that the obsession of we realize it or not, what and how we eat 2010 is going to be….wait for it….Scanis heavily influenced by the cultural trends dinavian cuisine. Bet you spotted that one of the time. Remember bread during the coming, didn’t you?!

Atkins years? You may as well have been It may seem a little random, but the eating pickled kittens, the looks it would Scandinavians’ focus on fresh, earthy have garnered you. produce very much Partial to a bit of sufits in with the cur“Rumour has it that the shi? Thanks to M&S, rent food climate and their wonderits drive towards food obsession of 2010 is and fully convenient health. With vast snack-size packs, it wild areas – both going to be ... is one of a number on land and in the of crazes that sucsea – foods such as Scandinavian cuisine” cessfully made the fresh fish, game and transition into the seasonal vegetables mainstream. form the basis of Just as the latest Burberry trench will many Scandinavian dishes. Dispel any have an uncanny replica in Topshop, every preconceived notions you may have (if food fad will eventually find its way to the any – I certainly didn’t) of boiled and bland high street. It becomes convention, loses its platefuls, modern Nordic food is diverse allure, and eventually becomes outmoded. and bursting with flavour.

Yup, fashion is ruthless.

Smoked salmon is probably the most faWhile the Lady Gagas of this world mous import from these northern regions. were rocking the fashion scene with bizarre This is something of an internationalized and futuristic get-ups in 2009, the food version of the traditional gravlax – thinly world, by contrast, was enjoying a bit of a sliced raw salmon, cured in a mixture of renaissance. Rising up against the drearisalt, sugar and dill, usually served with a dill ness of the repression (blah blah blah... and mustard sauce. you’ve definitely heard it all before), sweet, It is often a key ingredient in the popular colourful, happy confections became all Scandinavian lunch: Smørrebrød, or openthe rage: enter the cupcake. topped sandwiches. Literally meaning Hearkening back to childhood with ‘butter and bread’, there is much room for its romanticized retrospective on the experimentation and creativeness with this domesticity of home baking, these little dish! treats were being served up everywhere Why not try incorporating a bit of Not just at our very own cosy café Vennels, Nordic-ness into your day by making but also in the halls of the Ritz on delicate your own? Add ½ tsp or so of dried dill to silver platters . some cream cheese (or natural yoghurt,

F

if you want to be really healthy) and stir lemon (and juice the rest – this will be used together. Spread this mixture onto some later) and simmer in a pan with about 1 lightly toasted rye bread, top with a slice tbsp oil. Fry each mackerel fillet on a high or smoked salmon and a few prawns, then heat for approximately 2-3 minutes on drizzle with a little lemon juice. A lighter each side, until the skin is crispy. Take the version of the ubiquitous cream cheese potatoes and beetroot out of the oven and bagel, this little snack will keep you full for stir in 2 tbsp crème fraiche and the lemon a surprisingly long time. juice from earlier. Season with salt, pepper The beauty of smørrebrød is that they (and chives if you have them) and serve are designed for self-assembly, so you with the fried mackerel. Simple and tasty! can put pretty much whatever you like Don’t be fooled by this abundance of on them. Pâté with a rasher of bacon and healthiness though, the Scandinavians are mushrooms resembles another Scandinaalso fond of a sweet treat. Denmark, after vian staple, but nutella with banana also all, is the home of the Danish pastry. At goes down very well!

Christmas time, Swedish families traditionAnother great thing about Scandinaally make seven different types of cookies, vian cuisine is that, although flavoursome, one of which is the decadent choklad it is very understated. The cooking is often biskvier– almond cookies topped with a wonderfully straightforward: it does not mound of chocolate butter cream and iced skimp on flavour but it is not fussy. Food is with dark chocolate. left to taste like itself.

Marzipan is also a very popular ingrediYou’re having fish? You’re blooming well ent, so if you have any left over from your going to taste the own Christmas sea, not a balsamicput it “You’re having fish? You’re celebrations, vinegar-and-sweetto use! Top Rich Tea cherry-reduction, biscuits with a layer blooming well going to thank you very of marzipan and dip much. Pan-fried in melted chocolate taste the sea, not a mackerel with pofor a Nordic inspired tatoes and beetroot delight. It’s nothing balsamic-vinegar-andis a great example: to rival the fancies of easy, colourful, and Trina Hahnemann sweet-cherry-reduction, brilliantly good for (Denmark’s answer you, it epitomizes to Nigella Lawson), Nordic nourishbut it will taste thank you very much” ment. darned good.

To serve 4 So there with people: chop 400g of potatoes and 300g have it, a sample of 2010’s culinary craze of fresh baby beetroot into chunks, drizzle to entice and inspire you. If all else fails, with around 2 tbsp olive oil and bake in simply grab a danish from Caffe Nero and the oven for 40 minutes at 200 degrees. wander down the street safe in the knowlMeanwhile, lightly salt and pepper 4 fresh edge that, in terms of food at least, you are mackerel fillets. Grate the zest of one a bona fide fashionista.

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Travel

A whole new world with you

StylishTravel

Palatinate on the top three romantic travel destinations this Valentine’s Day DAANIEL SILVEIRA

Kathryn Balls

1.

Margaret Anderson once said ‘Paris is the city in which one loves to live’ so why not take your loved one there this Valentines. Whilst we’re all for trying new things, Palatinate is not going to try and contest this city’s dazzling romance credentials.

Inspiring countless poets, artists and lovers, Paris truly is where the heart is.

Home to beautiful cobbled streets and numerous public gardens, we suggest all good boyfriends book a last minute flight and head straight to the capital of love.

The city offers a variety of accommodation from pushing the boat out and booking a suite at the five star Champe Elysee Plaza complete with Jacuzzi (and if you book in advance they’ll even include a Swarovski crystal for your valentine in the deal) to booking a dorm room at one of the many hostels. Though note to all couples, please be considerate to the other sleepers.

Paris J’taime; The capital of love beckons you and your loved one

2.

An alternative to splashing out and heading cross channel is to hold back on the cash but make up for it in effort.

What greater gift can you give your loved

In the day you can visit the art galleries of Montmartre, let the hours fly by with some wine at a traditional café or even climb the Eiffel Tower.

Either way, you’ll feel at home, surrounded by fellow beautiful couples wherever you look.

Matt Thorpe

“Book a last minute flight and head straight to the capital of love”

one than marriage?

We suggest all hopeful young couples head to Gretna Green come Valentines Day. Follow in the footsteps of many a young runaway bride and get married over the anvil. Only a few hours north of Durham you can travel here via car, public transport or even try your hand at hitchhiking.

This charming town of lawful union resides in the Dumfries and Galloway district of Scotland. Gretna Green also holds host to a variety of pubs so after the ceremony you can go for a well-deserved pint. Please bear in mind though that Palatinate accepts no responsibility for any consequential increase in the Durham divorce rate or lawsuits from angry parents.

3.

This could be you

Say you are lazy, poor or in the early stages of your relationship…we have found the answer. Durham’s top romantic travel destination is none other than the dark path along the river.

Not satisfied? If you’re yet to find a partner though, Palatinate suggests Klute dance floor, standing on North Road around 2am or alternatively sending your preferred choice of spouse some flowers.

Otherwise we suggest those who are happy, single and carefree travel anywhere they like and make the most of the stress free possibilities of relaxing in your own company or with your friends. Though just in case the festivities do begin to get to you, we hear Vatican City is great for avoiding couples.

A Beginner’s Guide to PiggyBacking Step 1: Locate a partner.

JAMES DUNN

Arriving in the city I passed the Spanish Steps which went on for miles. I was about to climb my Everest but gave up and changed direction as the sun oozed colour, and not fire, over an Italian couple holding hands.

Step 2: Jump on partner. s Jame

“Singletons, avoid Rome at all costs” Tourist style, I followed the map in my hand and headed towards the Trevi fountain. I couldn’t help but stare at the statues which dreamt their centuries away and dug in my pocket for a coin to throw in, as the tale tells you will return to Rome. Me being very much single, I noticed the endless amount of young Italians in Love, kissing in every corner and the constant whispers of Cara Mia. I hid behind my ray bans and wandered in search of comfort, which of course came in the form of food.

After eating my sixth nutella ice cream of the day I made my way to the Colosseum, and was instantly harassed by a drunken gladiator who found it amusing to poke me with a plastic sword. En route to the Vatican

Dunn

After passing first year with a smooth 40% I thought a mini break en seule was in order. Rome seemed like an obvious choice for a culture-vulture Anthropologist, you’d think anyway.

Having had my flight delayed for two and a half hours (thanks Ryanair), I arrived in Rome at midnight with a delusional vision of goddesses on vespas, all the pizza I could dream of and my choice of relics to fill the visit with. Back to reality, in my attempts to become an alpha male, I thought I’d escape the taxi queue which, by this point was so long I thought I was going to fossilize. Stumbling across a local man sporting a Mario-esque afro, he started saying “Taxee Taxee”. At first I was a little sceptical but hey, “when in Rome”, and hopped in. By the way, I learned to hate that phrase.

Driving by some PVC-fashioned prostitutes 30 minutes later, I realised the driver had no idea where he was going as we passed them for the third time. Reaching the hostel, reluctantly and majorly ripped off, I coughed up 65 Euros, checked in and passed out.

A Piggyback is...

When you jump on someone’s back and make them carry you places.

Did you enjoy your piggyback?

Yes I did.

Do you prefer piggybacks or walking?

Definitely piggybacking.

Did you get on with your partner?

Mainly, though he’s jewish so we had a bit of a kosher/piggy issue.

Do you think its importaznt to find the right partner for a piggyback?

Evidently, only piggyback with someone special to you.

How would you rate piggybacking out of ten?

92%/10

“Durham’s top romantic destination is none other than the path along the river”

When in Rome...

Ben Kasstan

Each edition we test out one of Durham’s many forms of travel. This week our volunteer Signe Holm tries out the ‘coupley’ mode of travelling known as the piggyback.

We suggest a night time trip though hear it’s already popular with other amorous couples so maybe check for an all clear first.

Then why not take your partner’s arm and go for a romantic stroll (or stumble) in the dark.

The cold northern chill will offer you more reason than ever to snuggle up to your valentine. For the adventurous, you even have the option of skinny dipping in the murky river if your heart so desires. Word of warning to couples though, be careful if you deter off the main path, nettles are said to lie in the grassier areas.

A beautiful evening view of the Coloseum, best seen with a partner

I was wondering what God had installed for this excursion... little did I know my demise would consist of public humiliation.

Waiting to get into St Peter’s, I thought my prayers had been answered as an Italian bella asked for a lighter. I took it out of my bag and chivalrously set it alight, along with her long brown hair. F My Life.

Trip over, I headed to the airport and tried to check in, only to be told my flight

left the day before. Having visions of my card being declined or my bank manager having a coronary, I paid for a new flight and sighed.

A heads up to anybody avoiding the Roman romance would be a few days in Berlin, why not immerse yourself in Germany’s energetic City of Design. But singletons, avoid Rome at all costs.

Step 3: Success.

Photography: Delaney Chambers

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Food

Are you seriously fur - real?

Travel

Fashion

Rachel Aroesti explores the ongoing debate over fur as an essential fashion item

S

have a way of springing back, seemingly new and interesting all over again. Rather than a mink stole with attached feet being something creepy an old eccentric aunt would wear, it has become something desirable, exciting and

luxurious.

In the Nineties, fur was the subject of a movement that rendered it deeply unfashionable. The PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) “We’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” campaign, featured five of the most famous models of the day, 1993 saw the then ECHOFORSBERG

ome of you might be under the impression that the widespread wearing of fur had been consigned to history as gauche and unnecessarily ostentatious, but most trends

Many people believed that the twenty first century is the time to consign fur clothes to the rubbish bin, not just the vintage shop

Calvin Klein model Christy Turlington excuse. With rails and rails of vintage fur pose for the campaign. coats costing as little as £50 cramming the So how did the fashion industry go stalls of Portobello market on a Friday, from such provocative critique to, at best, there’s no doubt that the demand is there. ambivalence?

However, it is still a fur coat and now you, A major figure behind fur’s renaissance the consumer, are fuelling a demand for is Anna Wintour, the editor of American freshly slain animal skin with a small but Vogue and possibly the most powerful entirely tangible contribution to fur’s woman in the renaissancein fashion industry. popularity.

“A major figure behind It’s no coincidence In the complex that she is one of and slightly messy fur’s renaissance is the few who will debate surrounding loudly defend the fur fur, only a select few industry. Her blasé Vogue’s Anna Wintour ” remain unscathed. attitude and extreme H o w e v e r influence has made her a target for PETA, boycotting fur does not give everyone as, presumably, has her argument for moral kudos, because they still likely to be a wearing fur: which is, quite simply, that she leather-wearing and meat-eating hypocrite. wants to. As defences go, it has to be one of There really is no argument that covers the the simplest, if spectacularly blinkered. hypocrisy, only suffice to say that leather While the reason behind wearing and meat are such an intrinsic part of something is often, justly, personal western culture that giving them up would preference, the total lack of consideration be a challenge for most. on her part is slightly infuriating. Yet Anna For the moment at least, through animal Wintour vs PETA is by no means a simple rights campaigning, a fur coat still calls case of good against evil. up images of animals being skinned alive PETA’s vials of vile-smelling liquid, for the majority of people, so to wear fur packaged as a Wintour fragrance are their despite this is certainly a self deception latest response to the fashion maven’s or worse, a complete lack of any thought tireless promotion of fur.” These may, process at all. as intended, taint fur with a foul smell, The sad truth is that there is no but unfortunately they do the same for watertight argument against the wearing of the campaign, making PETA the far less ethically-sourced fur, only that it carries the attractive party to ally with. uncomfortable reminder that we have not Unfortunately, the fur wearers do have moved away from the totally unnecessary the zeitgeist on their side. Vintage clothes killing of animals. are in their heyday, and are environmentally We can only hope fur doesn’t lose all its friendly, which has alleviated the guilt negative connotations that organisations which is felt by those who wear vintage fur. have worked so hard for and that this totally But like paying £60 for an old jumper, gratuitous and barbaric practice will dive in vintage is not a reason to buy fur, it’s an popularity again.

Fashion shows with a conscience

Hatfield support world’s poorest country

SARAH LAGGETT

Child of Sierra Leone’ and specifically towards projects in Makeni, an area of unimaginable poverty. Street Child Makeni aims over a 25-30 month period to enable children to move from a hopeless life on the street to a secure environment settled back in communities and families. Tickets are £8 per person. Exclusive VIP tables are £25 per person, entitling you to attend a champagne reception, wine and goodies on your table and a complementary gift bag.

Contact: hccfs10@durham.ac.uk and go to www.street-child.co.uk Britain has long personified all things cool. A centre of creativity and style, serving as an emblem for exquisite taste and rebellious fashion. A melting pot of different eclectic styles where women in their pearls walk the same streets as the angst ridden punk. With cobbled streets and it’s very own castle, Durham in many ways personifies everything quintessentially English. So what better theme is there for the Hild Bede College Fashion Show than

SARAH LAGGETT

HATFIELD COLLEGE CHRAITY FASHION SHOW

The Durham College Charity Fashion Show has become somewhat of a tradition. With infamous auctions and creative choreography accompanied by an overflow of wine and an electric soundtrack, the College Charity Fashion Show has long been established as one of the biggest college events in the social calendar.

This term Hild Bede and Hatfield Charity Fashion Shows are set to raise the bar, with both committees determined to create a night of glamour and excitement.

There is however no fear that fashion will become a mere accessory to the spectacle with stylists securing an exciting range of inspiring collections. The events are much more than a chance to see pretty girls in heels and shirtless rugby players they are an opportunity to raise awareness and money for some incredible charities.

The Hatfield College Charity Fashion Show will be a display of glamour and exclusivity. But the principal drive behind the committee this year is undoubtedly to raise money for the charity ‘Street

HATFIELD COLLEGE FASION SHOW

Emma Spedding finds out why college fashion shows are model examples of charitable endeavours

British parade for cleft palate charity

an incorporation of all those things which are fabulously British. The event will take place on 2nd March at Caedmon Hall and will showcase fantastic clothes from Durham and Newcastle, dances, musical performances and beautiful models to the sound of iconic British tracks.

The proceeds from the event will go towards ‘The Smile Train’, a charity which provides cleft lip and palate operations in small developing countries.

Unlike many charities with different goals and projects, The Smile Train is dedicated to solving a single problem: cleft lip and palate. Clefts are a major problem in developing countries where millions of children suffer from unrepaired clefts.

Most cannot eat or speak properly and are unable to attend school or secure a job, facing a difficult existence of shame and isolation.

Tickets are £8 and VIP £20.

Contact: a.g.farmbrough@durham. ac.uk for ticket enquiries or how to get involved, visit www.smiletrain.org

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Features

Wrap up warm with your man Forget an ice cold Christmas. It’s Valentine’s Day which always seems to fall at the coldest time of year. So we’ve paid a visit to Durham’s Ding Dong Vintage and some fluffy fur coats and silkily soft scarves.

Single or not, why not head down there too and get your hands on some fantastically warm outfits for yourself?

Stylist: Sophie Ogilvie Assistant Stylist: Daisy Bell Photography: Jamie Seligman Models: Al Blackborn Felicity Baines Hannah Ashman Andrew Fremlin-Key

Food

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Arts Visual

Since October 2008, or thereabouts, the British economy has been flapping and floundering like a tadpole in a rapidly evaporating pond. It is only to be expected, then, that the purchase of a picture for that irritatingly bare wallspace in the corner of the kitchen might be postponed until the drought passes.

“How could I possibly justify buying a landscape of a favourite holiday spot, when the holiday itself has temporarily been forgone?” you might ask.

Admittedly, as a student, you probably wouldn’t ask exactly that. And according to statistics, the art-buying public have not been pondering the problem too much either. Christie’s global art sales for 2008 (£2.8 billion) were down on those from 2007, but were still well above those of 2006 (£2.51 billion).

The crux of the economic crisis is certainly beginning to take its toll now: sales for the first half of 2009 were considerably less than half of the previous year’s takings.

Then again, Edward Dolman, Chief Executive Officer of Christie’s International, said, “While overall sale volumes have declined...sustained price levels throughout the period demonstrate that art has continued to hold its value”.

Admittedly this isn’t a particularly fair sample. Long-established auction houses sell to the rich and famous, who have been comparatively untouched by the recession. Smaller art dealers have reported drastic drops in sales with damaging consequences. The Modern and Contemporary departments have noted “falls of 50 per cent in prices [as] the order of the day”, according to Julian Roup of Bonhams.

Arguably, though, Modern art has always been something people are more likely to goggle at in a gallery rather than buy to put up on their kitchen wall, so it is no surprise that the already niche market has become more so. But why is it that, in general, the art market has not dried out?

Just look around your room at the posters of celebrity icons or eternal paintings which have become tatty with familiarity. Think of the odd collection of objects your parents have at home – maybe the splodges of paint put to paper by five-year-old you. Now imagine your room or your home without them. Dull. Unloved. Pockmarked with scars from someone else’s Blu-Tack. A physical reminder of the trying times.

Art will always be necessary, even if this necessity can’t be justified in words, or the art itself is just a pencil drawing by you.

Oscar Wilde ambiguously said, “All art is quite useless”. I beg to differ. So the figure in a sculpture can’t go out to work to get some more cash. But it can give you mental freedom to reflect and escape; it makes you smile and wonder.

That unnecessary smoothie-maker should be sacrificed for one small picture every time.

Palatinate explores the volatile nature of artists in love

Tamara Gates

T

hroughout history artists have been notorious for love affairs with their models; Picasso, Klimt and Schiele to name a few. It makes sense: a young, beautiful muse posing, often naked, for a man that will observe her body for hours at a time is bound to create some form of chemistry.

This may seem like an ideal situation for some, with a great deal of Titanic-esque romantic potential, but the hot headed and volatile nature of many artists just doesn’t bode well for the long term.

A perfect example of this is the famously rocky relationship between Auguste

Rodin and Camille Claudel.The French sculptor Rodin diverged from traditional themes such as mythology in his work and instead celebrated individual character and physicality. He was notorious for his scandalous affairs with his models, despite having a long term and no doubt long suffering partner, Rose Beuret.

But it is hardly surprising that an artist whose work involves moulding the human form with his bare hands should also be passionate about it in reality. Rodin and Camille met in 1883 when she was only 17, an encounter that began ten years of a tempestuous and fateful relationship.

Camille and Rodin never lived together, but she resided in Paris and became his student, assisstant and muse. For a brief period they had an intense love affair fired by their common passion for sculpture.

They inspired one another and her talent soared along with her love for Rodin.

Rodin’s vision for sculpture gained international acclaim and one of his most beautiful and famous pieces is ‘The Kiss’, inspired by his young mistress. However, as he rose to fame and began to be compared

“Notorious for scandalous affairs with his models...”

“Competitiveness now festered in their relationship...”

dialogue perfectly conveys the rage, struggle, jealousy and madness that crept into their affair and overtook the passion that had once existed.

Some of Claudel’s most memorable work was produced after her relationship with Rodin had taken a dramatic turn for the worse and her sculptures became barbed and twisted. She was developing her own style and breaking away from Rodin’s influence, yet tragically losing his affections at the same time. Her initial desirability had diminished, and consumed with jealousy she created ‘l’Age Mur’, which depicts her grief as Rodin leaves her for Rose Beuret.

Camille grew increasingly psychologically disturbed and by 1906 her madness became more pronounced.

She even destroyed some of her own sculptures and showed signs of para-

noia, accusing Rodin of leading a conspiracy to kill her. Tragically their relationship had benefitted Rodin’s work, but led to Camille’s insanity. Eventually she was sent to an asylum where she spent the final thirty years of her life.

Madness, devestation and destruction are somewhat an inevitable result from such a volatile pairing, and it’s certainly not for everyone. But no one can deny the passion of artists, particularly Rodin: “My very dearest, down on both knees before your beautiful body which I embrace”.

“...tragically losing his affections at the same time...”

to Michelangelo, Camille struggled to have her work recognised, one of the drawbacks of being a woman in nineteenth century France. Competitiveness now festered in their relationship and from there on in it began to deteriorate.

A dramatic and stormy affair will always make a great movie, and Camille’s rich life story is depicted beautifully in the 1988 film Camille Claudel. Gerard Depardieu plays Rodin, who continually torments Camille (Isabelle Adjani), telling her “you search for pain, you get drunk on pain”, which slowly introduces the idea of the psychological problems that Camille began to experience in reality. Their impassioned on-screen Claudel’s despair as Rodin leaves her

Rodin’s most famous sculpture, The Kiss (1889) depicts his passionate relationship with Claudel

RODIN/HSLO

Rosanna Boscawen

Books Visual Arts Arts

Fateful Encounter

CAMILLE CLAUDEL/TITOU.NETH

Art: worth more than bullion?

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FLICKR ID: CLIFF 1066

Academy accolades

It’s time to roll out the red carpet!

Ed Massey

T

he Academy Awards take place two weeks later than usual this year, with all eyes firmly fixed on the battle between James Cameron’s box office smash Avatar and his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow’s critically acclaimed The Hurt Locker. With a few differences in the nomination process this year (the Best Picture will be chosen from a category of ten films), as well as the presence of two hosts for the first time in the Awards’ history, the anticipation surrounding the ceremony is growing by the day.

The explanation given by the Academy for expanding their Best Picture category is to give credit to a wider variety of genres.

This year’s nominees range from animated comedy fun in Up to hard-hitting drama in Precious. The suits of Hollywood have long been accused of a pompous approach in

“Bullock is well placed for an award” their film acknowledgement. Last year, for example, The Dark Knight failed to gain a nomination (Heath Ledger’s posthumous award aside) in any of the non-technical categories, despite overwhelming box

“... the ‘Razzies’ have come a long way...”

The award instead went to Sean Penn’s portrayal of gay rights activist Harvey Milk.

This was the year, incidentally, in which the Californian State Supreme Court first overturned a ban on same-sex marriage, then backtracked a few months later as a result of a public vote. Many claimed the voters had turned their back on the long time troublemaker Rourke in favour of making an unnecessary political statement.

This year Jeff Bridges and George Clooney appear to be the front runners at the beginning of the awards season for their respective leading performances in Crazy Heart and Up in the Air. Bridges hinted at the amount of well-directed charm

Who’ll be heading home with an Oscar this year?

required in Hollywood in an interview earlier this month: “Those awards things are just filled with people you’re supposed to remember and whose name you forget”.

Perhaps the smooth talking Clooney would be a safer bet come March 7th.

One awards ceremony with no case to answer for is the Golden Raspberries, the antithesis of the Oscars held the preceding night in honour of the worst films that year.

Now approaching its 30th ceremony, the ‘Razzies’ have come a long way from being seen as low-level, unimportant sniping.

Such is the ceremony’s increasing fame, Halle Berry received her 2005 Raspberry for Catwoman in person, holding her Academy Award in her other hand, and proceeding to thank her agent for selling her the role. An amusing image , and sporting, but the joke faded as her career

remained a shadow of its former self. Leonardo DiCaprio recovered his Hollywood poise more successfully having suffered the same fate in 1999, when he took home Worst Screen Couple for his portrayal of twins in The Man in the Iron Mask.

If one believes that 2009 was a good year for film, it looks like it is set to be a bad year for the Razzies. However, an early look the Golden Raspberry pre-nominations sees some intriguing prospects.

Sandra Bullock, for example, is well-placed for a film first: simultaneous Academy and Raspberry glory, for her critically-lauded performance as Leigh Anne Tuohy in The Blind Side, and her near-psychotic display as Mary Horowitz in All About Steve. Come the end of February, one can only hope she has chosen to pander to the right voting demographic.

FLICKR ID: SWEET ONE

Palatinate celebrates the finest American import to hit our screens. ««««« Daniel Dyson

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last couple of weeks, you’ve probably heard of the latest American TV import to hit our screens – Glee. For those who aren’t in the know, imagine if High School Musical was made into a TV show, except remove all the cookie-cutter Disney kids and their implausible chastity and replace it with people who, whilst incredibly acne-free for high school kids, are accidentally getting each other pregnant, struggling with disabilities or trying to maintain popularity whilst singing in a choir. It sounds incredibly cheesy – and it is – but that is all part of the appeal.

Forget Skins and its assortment of flat, hedonistic characters; Glee deals with life issues that are just as relevant but in a surprisingly poignant way and set to a fantastic array of music. All of the cast have backgrounds in musical theatre and it shows. The big production numbers are few but faultless, choreography spot on and yet it never feels like the producers are

putting style over substance as both are in abundance and this has paid off big time.

Audiences are huge, the show has practically been a Twitter trending topic from Day 1 and after the show, the songs covered in the just-aired episode are released on iTunes in a marketing ploy that is a stroke of brilliance.

One of the show’s main strengths is its ability to make you like songs you never would have dreamed of listening to otherwise. Matthew Morrison’s rendition of Kanye West’s hit ‘Gold Digger’ or the cast’s cover of Avril Lavigne’s ‘Keep Holding On’ are two good examples of songs that seem so much catchier than the originals.

Certainly, in the case of Lavigne’s song, if the cast can make a rather mediocre ballad sound good, then that’s talent.

Special mention has to go to Jane Lynch’s portrayal of acerbic PE teacher Sue Sylvester, who delivers a much needed shot of vodka to the show’s otherwise milkshake formula. Her comic timing of brutal lines is second to none such as her remark that “If I have a pregnant girl doing a handspring into a double layout, the judges aren’t going to admire her impeccable form, they’re going to be wondering if the centrifugal force is going to make the baby’s head start crowning”.

Date Movie With V-Day on the way, Film and TV Editor Alison Moulds looks back at her love life in films...

office success and a largely positive critical reception. Many pointed to the film’s comic book status as its own downfall.

Doubt, on the other hand, was carried to the brink of Oscar glory seemingly by the presence of Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman alone, two actors on whom the Hollywood sun frequently shines.

Indeed, Mickey Rourke’s cold snub at last year’s ceremony, despite being a clear favourite, seems an even clearer indication of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts’ ulterior motives in their voting process.

Feeling Glee-ful Glee E4 Mondays, 9pm

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A shot of vodka in an otherwise milkshake formula

Whilst Lynch’s character does seem quite stereotypical at first glance, the more you delve into the lives of the show’s leads, the more you realise that the predictable formulae you’re used to with most runof-the-mill TV shows don’t ring true with Glee. Gay characters have accepting fathers, manipulative cheerleaders are surprisingly likeable and sometimes things don’t all work out okay in the end. which makes a much-needed change.

Of course, the show isn’t perfect.

Whilst the show has amassed an army of fans, affectionately known as ‘Gleeks’, it’s important to remember the show is still on a creative high and for now at least, can do no wrong. Heroes was once TV’s darling before the bubble burst, and now it’s on

the verge of cancellation. For example, Glee’s plot in which the wife of the choir’s mentor has a fake pregnancy is stretching it and there isn’t enough of the peripheral characters. Yet if you can get past the few stumbles the show makes, then you will be rewarded in abundance.

The show isn’t about realism, amazing as it would be to see the American Football players of Durham bust a move to Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies’. It’s about feeling good. It is refreshing to see something which picks you up and makes you feel good about yourself. As the tagline goes, it’s a comedy for ‘the underdog in us all’ which couldn’t be more true. It is impossible to watch the show without a ludicrous grin on your face. It’s called Glee for a reason.

My romantic life began at the tender age of six, sitting through a Land Before Time marathon with a school chum.

Whilst my assumption that this was most definitely ‘it’ was a little naive, the playground relationship that stemmed from these humble beginnings did, in fact, shamefully prove to be my longest relationship.

It was certainly more romantic than my first ‘proper’ date. After a painfully lame school disco, I secured a date with a boy substantially shorter than myself but considered ‘cool’ because he abbreviated his names using text speak. We arranged a double date to see Spiderman. Only the lads brought extra mates, one early showing Jay-from-TheInbetweeners-esque tendencies. I can’t say I remember much of the film. Not due to any illicit adolescent fumblings in the back row, but rather more due to the fact we constantly scarpered to the toilets to discuss the others.

I hoped that this world of awkwardness would disappear and would suddenly upgrade to ultimate sophistication at uni. Needless to say I was wrong and found my first uni romance beginning with awkwardly sitting beside the boy on an uncomfortable bed watching 28 Days Later, next to a loved up couple snuggling up in all the scary bits.

My last relationship began in much the some way only with certain added improvements: namely that we were a) alone and b) sharing a love of Joss Whedon-penned sci-fi. It still took a few more days and VKs before he plucked up the courage and made a move, but those early days of intimacyinduced butterflies were all thanks to Joss himself. Our late night viewings set off a chain of nearly nine months of break ups and make ups, accompanied by an eccentric DVD diet of Coupling, House and Futurama.

What lesson I learnt from these albeit limited experiences was never to judge by choice of film, rather by the experience offered with it. Whilst we remain students strapped for cash, the old DVD trick is the best solution to wooing, so here’s to three years of awkward moments in the dark seeing every film you never wanted to see!

Indigo’s Top 10 Love Films 1) Brief Encounter 2) Casablanca 3) Gone With the Wind 4) Brokeback Mountain 5) Beauty & The Beast 6) (500) Days of Summer 7) The Notebook 8) When Harry Met Sally 9) High Fidelity 10) Dirty Dancing

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Is the first drama production of the decade worth talking about?

Talking Heads Wig and Mitre Productions The Assembly Rooms ««««« Lorna Cruickshanks

F

Tom Elkid played 50 year old Graham naturally and warmly. As in the first piece ‘Bed Among the Lentils’, the second, ‘A Chip in the Sugar’, was engaging and at times very funny, yet complimentary to the tragic

“Tom Elkid played 50 year old Graham naturally and warmly...”

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Manipulating woman Cruelty pays a visit to the Assembly Rooms The Shape of Things First Person Theatre Company The Assembly Rooms

««««« Rosanna Boscawen

Neil Labute’s The Shape of Things is deeply funny and full of cruel proleptic ironies. It is also horrifyingly close to reality, questioning the motives behind each individual in a relationship and showing a darkness and force of will in human nature that no one wants to acknowledge.

Under Adam Usden’s direction, First Person Theatre Company captured the nuances of power and its movement within relationships with an intensity which showed sensitive understanding of a play whose characters have no sympathy for one another. Elizabeth Clayden, as the feisty art student Evelyn, was in control from the moment she casually graffitied the scene’s location on the white wall at the back of the stage. Her American accent separated her from the other three characters with its persistent and threatening edge. This power permeated her character, from her collectedness at an uncomfortably long moment in the café to her physical dominance in the intimate bedroom scene.

This contrasted well with Steffan Griffiths’ Adam and his unfailing comic timing, which elicited much laughter on more than one occasion.

Even at the end when his anger finally escaped (still with traces of Adam’s initial shyness and modesty), his words were riddled with wit which exhibited his intelligence.

That Adam seemed to be completely ignorant of this – which is effectively his individuality – and conscious only of the fact that his anger might be another part of Evelyn’s creation, made the cruelty of the transformation all the more poignant. The tension between Clayden and Griffiths was never quite dissipated as Clayden left the stage without uttering her last thought, crucially transferring the uneasiness of the characters into the auditorium as all good theatre should.

Callum Cheatle and Rebecca Mackinnon portrayed Adam’s friends Phil and Jenny with an endearing sense of comfort.

The cosy setting of their lounge emanated warmth (which Evelyn and Adam

discreetly remained outside of). This scene posed the only real problem which was not quite overcome: although Jenny and Phil’s relationship is meant to be far more relaxed, they do have their arguments. These felt a little hurried over, as their frustration with each other was lost in the attempt to maintain propriety in their friends’ company.

Nevertheless, in her scene in the park with Griffiths, Mackinnon conveyed Jenny’s nervousness through telling body language, coyly twirling her hair moments before giving the oblivious Adam a lingering kiss. In spite of her differences from Clayden’s Evelyn, Jenny too has control over Adam, but Mackinnon’s dominance was careful and soft as she tenderly and pleadingly held his hand.

Cheatle was similarly powerful in his scenes with Griffiths.

The brilliant directorial touch of sitting the two boys to one side of the stage in the campus scene to reflect their submission by the fairer sex still left room for power play between them. There was a blend of comedy and violence driven by jealousy as he stood up and sat down, ever unpredictable for the guilt-ridden Adam, who at times felt a little too restrained during this scene.

The way in which the unease reached its climax as the realisation of what her piece actually consisted of permeated through the auditorium with murmurings of disbelief for me exemplifies the strength of this production.

It was subtle and unforced, and as Adam, Jenny and Phil sat with the audience watching Evelyn’s presentation, pity pervaded. The bathetic final scene in which Griffiths sat eating an apple, trying to understand, was a little too pointed for me after a play of such delicacy, and the biblical allusion felt contrived; it is a compelling story in its own right.

However, it seems unnecessarily fussy to deliberate over such a small detail when the staging and set were otherwise strong, from the white stage which contrasted with Evelyn’s immorality to the film clips which seemed to give credibility to her relationship with Adam but distanced it further from reality by making it a production in itself. This was an oustanding piece of theatre, and is to be admired all the more for the complexity - and sadism in some cases - of the characters, which were captured so effectively.

“ Cheatle was similarly powerful in his scenes...”

PHILIP WALSH

PHILIP WALSH

or Wig and Mitre’s first production, Talking Heads was always going to be a risky choice. Alan Bennett’s works are award-winning, tender pieces and it is easy for amateur productions to get them dramatically wrong. Luckily, the three monologues chosen for this performance were coupled with under-stated, sensitive, believable acting and wonderful direction.

Bennett’s observation of strained relationships, fear, guilt, and attitudes to death, religion, isolation were realised accomplishedly and movingly in this production.

When contrasted with the beautifully mundane details of the characters lives, it was hard for the audience not to be charmed.

The opening monologue gripped the audience’s attention from the outset and did not lose it. In fact all three pieces were captivating from start to finish, no easy feat when one predominantly still actor is the sole focus for half an hour of dialogue.

Steffi Walker was magnificent as Susan aka ‘Mrs Vicar’, whose failed dreams and housewife plights demonstrated Bennett’s interest in the everyday hardships of everyday people. Through Walker’s expressive changes between sadness and comedy, discussing Tom Elkid, Steffi Walker and Rebecca Mackinnon as their Bennett alterthe competition egos in this classic piece of drama (clockwise) amongst the parish women in flower arranging, dinner parties, her affair with the tone of Bennett’s monologue.

The final piece was effectively saved until grocer Ramesh Ramesh, and slowly buildlast, being the most heart-rending and least ing to her acceptance of her alcoholism, the humorous.

In ‘A Cream Cracker Under the darkly comic yet poignant life came across Settee’ 75 year old Doris had fewer quips, brilliantly. despite the comic despair at her helper Zulema and the devious plan of re-hiding a cream cracker under the settee to get her fired. It was by far the most obviously moving. Doris was played so beautifully by Rebecca Mackinnon who touchingly portrayed the helplessness of getting older, the tragedy at the death of both her husband and stillborn baby and who, after falling when dusting and declining help, chooses to live life on her own terms.

Director Fergus Leathem did well not to encourage over-acting in the production, staying true to Bennett’s masterpieces. The

set and lighting were simple and worked to draw you into the character’s lives.

The costumes of Talking Heads definitely deserve a mention too. Graham’s beige

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and green attire and Doris’ whitened hair and granny-blue dressing gown worked delicately and, deliberate or not, the ladders in Susan’s tights reflected her monologue ingeniously.

Talking Heads was skilfully realised and thoroughly enjoyable. Wig and Mitre Productions are one to watch after this first performance, the first one to hit the Assembly Rooms this decade and hopefully not the last.

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Glitz and glamour abound as NYC pays a visit LORNA URWIN

TIM FOSTER

This modern reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a classic in its own rights as DULOG shows West Side Story DULOG The Gala Theatre ««««« Rachel Bailin

When I heard that a production of West Side Story was being put on by DULOG, my interest was immediately piqued. The New York cynic in me instantly vocalized its doubt that the spirit of my home town, so woven into the fabric of this musical, could ever be grasped by anyone other than a New York native. How could the pulsing energy of this city, the intensity of its streets and its people, ever be successfully interpreted in Durham, England?

However, I am happy to now report that my original misgivings about this production were proven wrong by what turned out to be, in general, a solid production with a wonderful cast.

“I am happy to report that my initial misgivings about this production were proven wrong... ” West Side Story takes place on the West Side (duh) of New York, where two gangs are currently warring over territory. The stench of racism lies heavily in the air.

At a high school dance, Riff, the head of the Jets, has decided to ask Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks, to a war council to decide upon a time and place for a rumble to settle the dispute once and for all. Sadly for everyone, Kiff’s best friend and prominent Jet member, Tony, espies Bernardo’s younger sister, Maria, and the two fall in love on the spot. For some odd reason, this doesn’t sit well with anybody except the two enamored teenagers, and violence is sparked. Not to totally spoil it for everyone reading, but Bernardo and Kiff are both killed in the rumble. Plot twist: Tony is Bernardo’s killer, acting on revenge for his fallen brother. Maria forgives Tony and the two decide to run away, only for Tony to be shot dead by Chino, Maria’s scorned lover, as he runs into Maria’s arms.

Becca Collingwood, as the young, innocent Maria is entirely enchanting, an opinion that I’m absolutely positive would be seconded by anyone who saw this production. Collingwood’s voice soars over the theatre, clear as a bell and twice as beautiful. But her talent does not stop here. I had heard that Butler had decided to include the balletic duet between Maria and Tony, and although this is a risk to take (it could seem stupefyingly soporific) Collingwood made it one of the highlights of the show.

As astutely pointed out by Doug Gibbs, the show’s Tony, without this ballet, Maria’s forgiveness of Tony would seem entirely implausible. However, Becca Collingwood floated across the stage, so

left much to be desired, especially for the girls. The 1950s provide such a wealth of opportunity for fashion, but the costume designers decided to settle upon the cheesy clichés. Understandably, budgeting will place a restraint on decisions like these, but the Jets girls were made to look like prom-night rejects while the Sharks girls, with a few exceptions, were made to look cheap and trashy. Their costumes looked more like something Jordan might don on her next man-trapping night out rather than what a Puerto Rican would have worn in the 1950s.

Happily, the set made up for the shortcomings in the costume department. With impressive brick buildings, and some really great dated advertisements for Coca Cola and Pepsodent toothpaste, the set helped build the feeling of the urban jungle that is New York. In addition to this, the orchestra and its conductor did composer Leonard Bernstein proud, making the music a real highlight of the show.

“...thoroughly entertaining and... entirely exceptional” The cast of West Side Story enjoying themselves before the darkness of 1960’s racism changes their lives forever in this DULOG production

delightful that not a single person in the theatre was looking anywhere else. On top of this, Maria is a difficult character to make authentic, and yet Collingwood pulls this off with apparent ease. Although I doubted that I would feel any of the telltale prickling of tears when Tony’s death came rolling around, Collingwood dragged this emotion out of me with her heart-rending final speech as she threatens to turn the gun which killed her love on her community and, finally, herself. She was so beautifully heartbreaking that the entire audience was spellbound.

“Collingwood. . . was so beautifully heartbreaking that the entire audience was spellbound” Unfortunately, this performance was not echoed in the portrayal of Tony, played Doug Gibbs. Although his voice was good, the character lacked spirit. The movement in Gibbs’s songs seemed contrived and awkward. I was puzzled by his accent, with a hint of Australia coming through, rather than a New York native. Of course, I must pause here to mention that I saw the play on opening night, and naturally, first night jitters may have kept the cast from settling completely into their character.

A few more bright lights of this production were Anita and Bernardo. Bernardo, played by an excellent Ben Starr, was the

most believable portrayal of this character I have seen in a long time. He was a live wire, his energy emanating from the stage and undoubtedly inspiring his fellow castmembers. He was a plausible patriarch of the Sharks, silently exerting his authority over his peers and entrancing the audience in doing so.

Anita was well-played by Becky Grosvenor-Taylor. Although a few of her initial quips were lost due to microphone levels being somewhat off, her performance of ‘A Boy Like That’, one of the musical’s key pieces, was superbly done.

Grosvenor-Taylor managed to balance the angst and anger of the widowed Anita.

In fact, the entire supporting cast did well in their roles. The Sharks were wonderful in their performance of ‘America’, and ‘Mambo!’, exuberant and fully island flavoured. If their accents more often than not strayed from the distinctive intonation of Puerto Rico, it is but a small complaint.

However, I was disappointed with the portrayal of the Jets boys, at least for the first half of this musical. They seemed like cartoon versions of gangsters; jutted out jaws and arms held out stiffly from their sides, as if their machismo had inflated their bodies like big, testosterone-filled balloons so they physically couldn’t hold their arms normally. Thankfully, the choreography picked up rapidly after this, coming to a peak of energy in the ‘Mambo!’ scene and hitting a wonderfully somber note during Maria and Tony’s balletic duet.

Regrettably, there were some problems with sound level, most notably in the scene of Tony’s death. When Chino, Maria’s spurned boyfriend and Bernardo’s best friend, fired his gun as Tony runs across the stage, the bang of the pistol was so loud

that the audience practically jumped out of their skin and then started laughing selfconsciously at themselves for their fright, utterly destroying the moment of Maria realizing that Tony had been shot. This was unfortunate, since it is such a poignant and important moment, so hopefully in the future, productions will think twice before setting the level of their sound effects to eardrum-blasting levels.

The costumes in this production sadly

Despite a few shortcomings, this production was thoroughly entertaining and, in places, entirely exceptional. Emma Butler proved herself to be a talented director with an eye for both the aesthetic and cerebral aspects of this musical. I was impressed with the amount of dedication from the cast and the crew and the standard that DULOG holds itself to. The story of West Side Story is one that pervades our society today: racism and hatred are still very much alive, and this production did its part in showing how destructive those views are.

What’s On? Thursday 4th February Sweet Charity - Trevelyan College Musical Company Trevelyan College A lighter side to 1960’s America, this offering from Trevelyan College is up your street if you need another musical fix. £4.50 DST, £5.00 NUS, £6.00 - 8:00pm Thurs 11th February - Sat 13th February Equus - THIS Theatre Company -The Assembly Rooms THIS Theatre Company’s production is definitely worth checking out even if the prospect of a naked Daniel Radcliffe on stage is minimal. £4.50 DST, £5.00 NUS - 7:30pm Thurs 11th February - Sat 13th February Measure for Measure - Caedmon Hall - Hild Bede College Shakespeare appreciators will be sure to enjoy this take on the Bard’s dark comedy. £3.50 DST/HBT, £4.00 NUS - 7:30pm

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Reviewed: Two hotly anticipated albums of 2010 stretched into a credible follow-up record.

Thankfully, Contra proves that Vampire Weekend’s geek-chic rock niche has many more miles left and much more talent and ideas to offer, the album itself an uplifting thirty-five minutes of elevating and joyful pop, with not a dark cloud heard on the record.

Musically, Koenig and his three compatriots clearly have no intention of conforming or migrating to the indie-rock mainstream: Contra is a kaleidoscope of musical influences, with everything from African steel-drum tribalism in ‘Horchata’ to Pink Floyd-esque psychedelic orchestral pieces (‘I Think Ur A Contra’), to Afro-Caribbean urban (‘Diplomat’s Son’) present.

“Contra is a kaleidoscope of musical influences... ”

Vampire Weekend Contra

Tony Barrett

Contra sees the return of US East-Coast outfit Vampire Weekend, the sophomore album to their 2008 platinum-selling selftitled debut.

A band of four Ivy League graduates led by vocalist-guitarist Ezra Koenig, the album proved to be a healthy, witty antidote to the generic dearth of landfill indie that had plagued the decade, revelling in their intellectual, preppy background to deliver a catalogue of diverse and wonderfully bi-

While Vampire Weekend are seemingly determined on being anything but pigeon-holed, they are still at their glorious best when repeating the winning formula of two-minute frantic bursts of up-tempo pop energy, so successful with ‘A-Punk’: the similarly-structured ‘Holiday’ and ‘Horchata’ are album strengths, as is lead single ‘Cousins’.

Unfortunately, arguably where the album slows down and mellows, on occasion it tends to drag and feel prolonged. While songs like ‘Oxford Comma’ and ‘Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa’ were well-loved in 2008 for their quaintness and intricacy, Contra’s similarly-slow paced follow-ups such as ‘Taxi Cab’ feel repetitive and stretched at times.

However, these speed bumps should not detract from an overall remarkable record and welcome burst of fresh air.

zarre songs. Influenced by African guitarbased pop and Western classical music – a conjugation the band dubs Upper West Side Soweto – with lyrics covering diverse topics from imperialism in Africa to the punctuation mark, an ‘Oxford comma’, Vampire Weekend offered refreshing, bliss-filled bursts of three minute-pop, with ‘A-Punk’ and the aforementioned ‘Oxford Comma’ in particular becoming festival favourites.

The infamously difficult second album thus sees the band negotiating the risk of suffering a similar fate to fallen stars like The Darkness, their alleged uniqueness proving to be merely a novelty not capable of being

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Palatinate takes a listen to brand-new releases from Vampire Weekend and Local Natives

Local Natives Gorilla Manor Ben Swales

Winter: ‘tis the season to be nostalgic. It’s a season which invites an aching for the past - an aching to return home. Winter is a genre, with its own conventions; its music is wholesome, reflective, melancholic even.

Think Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes and now Local Natives, kind of... For while the former are both rooted, for the most part, in thoughtful ennui, Gorilla Manor seems to emerge from the soupy gloom of Bon Iver and the Fleet Foxes’ folksy soundscapes with some urgency. Imagine if Vampire Weekend were from Los Angeles instead of New York, via the Pacific North-West.

The album is peculiar, beguiling even, and it’s extremely difficult to pin down to a conventional genre: hence ‘winter’ is its genre, or is it? Gorilla Manor for me was not love at first sound either. It takes some listening to in order to appreciate its little idiosyncrasies to get your head around the sheer variety of songs; and the reckless abandon with which it treats continuity between them, but after a few listens it’s addictive.

Their real strength lies in their ability to

create an album in which none of the songs are repetitive, and unlike Kings of Leon, the lead’s voice isn’t the overriding force of the act – it may be sacrilege to say it, but I do get bored of Caleb’s desperately unique voice, however brilliant it is.

Not only are they not boring, they’re surprising: songs suddenly change direction and end somewhere new, unexpected.

They’re obviously influenced by Fleet Foxes, but Fleet Foxes are restrained, and even when they break out one of their fantastical instrumentals, there’s a sense of reservation there. This is certainly not the case with this lot. On ‘Sun Hands’ for example, the shouty vocals build up and fade, then we get a break before it erupts into a wonderfully anarchic chant, followed by a destructive, Pete Townshendesque instrumental, bridging back into reality before the end choral flourish.

Give it a listen, then you’ll get the whole fixation with winter and the past. By the end of it I was mooching around on Facebook looking at old photos. For me it really did invoke nostalgia, although this may have been helped by the six inches of snow outside my window when listening to it. Who knows, who cares? What matters is that the music did elicit a response other than apathy – something I’m finding increasingly rare in music these days.

“The album is peculiar, beguiling even...”

The LoveGIG Album: Durham students release debut album on iTunes JONATHAN SIMPSON

Jonathan Simpson

Whilst the LoveGIG Album was actually released on iTunes back in November, it hasn’t received as much attention as it should have due to its grassroots promotion by word of mouth. Recorded by a collection of Durham students it’s a debut project that’s just the start of some very promising musicians’ careers.

As all good music originates, it was

the result of some mates who had a heart for creativity and some kick-ass talent. Having made a name for themselves through various acoustic events such as their own ‘A Glimpse of Christmas’ and ‘LoveGIG’, and leading the Durham acoustic circuit at events like ‘Strum!’, there was a massive local appetite for some digital media.

There’s something in it for everyone.

With seven lead vocalists on the various tracks, and spanning a myriad of genres, it’s

bound to be a winner.

Adam Baring’s ‘Candyshop’ will get your foot tapping, while Jack Champness’ ‘The One Who Is Strong’ will soothe many a stricken heart this Valentine’s season. The soaring harmonies are sure to make you the centre of attention while humming along to them in town. Jake Wanstall’s emotive ‘Bethan’s Song’ has been likened to Radiohead’s ‘Creep’ by other reviewers.

My personal highlights of the album were Champness’ downright groovy Joy and Metal and Middleton’s anthemic ‘Wind In These Sails’.

When asked about the vision of the album, Jonny Middleton (3rd year, St Mary’s) said, “LoveGIG is a group of friends, following Jesus, seeking to express God’s love through fresh, creative means”.

Middleton’s admission that the underlying inspiration is rooted in a deeply personal faith, while being evident in the songs, is

never pressing or proselytizing. Rather, it is an invitation, which is summed up in the first few lines of the album: “Have you ever felt real love before?

So much more than a rose could ever say. Have you ever cried your eyes in pain? Oh, let real

“... just the start of some very promising musicians’ careers.”

love touch your heart”.

Artists on the album: Jonny Middleton (St Mary’s), Jake Wanstall (Trevs), Jack Champness (St John’s), Adam Baring (Hild Bede), Steve Coulson (St Aidan’s), Jo Hobson (Hild Bede), Becca Stockwood (Trevs).

Just type in ‘LoveGIG’ into the search bar in iTunes to find it.

What’s On? Thurs 4th Feb - Shockwaves NME Awards Tour 2010 @ Newcastle O2 Academy with The Maccabees, Bombay Bicycle Club, The Big Pink and The Drums Saturday 13th Feb - STRUM! Saturdays @ Cellar Door Friday 12th Feb - Vampire Weekend

@ Newcastle O2 Academy

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The greatest alternative love stories

Poetry Corner

Alice Graves prescribes some literary therapy for relationships that could change your life

A

list of the greatest love stories ever told If you’ve never told them how What an amazing oversight, but what an would undoubtedly be inundated you feel... opportunity for a fantastic novel. Hornby’s with the classics. The brooding, dominatThe Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro work is enfused with ing, speechless man and the headstrong Ishiguro’s Booker Prize winner is more the eccentricities of the girl who finally realises that she loves, of a how-not-to, demonstrating how it male idiom, obsessive not hates him: Emily Bronte’s Wuthering could all just pass you by. It follows the over music; the proHeights, her sister Charlotte’s Jane Eyre, story of Stephens, a butler in the post-war tagonist runs a record Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. The era about to embark upon new employstore, and totally recog‘doomed affair’ that punishes women for ment whose present is tied up in his lost nisable. Truly hilarious, their inability to repress their sexuality: past. The novel is beautifully written, it’ll have you lolling Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, heart-breakingly showing a man’s your head off. A great one for the men out Flaubert’s Madame Bovary. there that are sick of Twilight, and for the “Star-cross’d” soulmates girls that don’t quite forced to split forever: Boris get their boyfriends.

Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago, and the original love story If you can’t let Romeo and Juliet. go…

Undeniably, these are The Accidental - Ali classics for a reason: they Smith are fantastic, timeless reads.

Easily my favourite The fairytale for the current book on this list, and ideal generation, Stephanie Meyer’s not just for relationships Twilight series, that you’re holding on to, arguably employs but a whole load of physiMr Rochester’s dark cal, mental and emotional secrecy and Heathweight that won’t shift. cliff’s subdued violence because these traits appeal to something timeless within Romantic, but not recommended for use as bookmark... ourselves.

Yet do these novels, so well known and so well-loved, really internal emotional struggle in conflict with ever portray real his moral values, and his love, or are they painful decision to never escapist fantasies, let his passion ripple the constructed to smooth surface of his manipulate our dignified life. emotions and provide tempoIf you want a rary relief from man’s opinion… the genuine High Fidelity - Nick troubles of life?

Hornby WinCleansing: Ali Smith’s prize-winning novel I would like to propose a new list, which Hornby’s debut novel caused an ner of may not be the ‘greatest’, and is in no way absolute sensation as we suddenly realised the Whitbread novel award and shortlisted complete, but if you read them, might just that the modern male psyche, with all its for the Booker Prize and Orange Prize, it give you that thunderbolt moment that doubts, anxieties, hopes and imperfectells the story of a disjointed family on holicould save your relationship. tions, had never been properly explored. day in Norfolk who are visited by a woman

City at Night

named Amber that shakes them roughly out of their banal existence.

Gorgeously written, and guaranteed to make you want to spring clean your life.

The brash sigh of a night-passer slanting the shutters and the dead dawn stretched thin on the sharpening streets to the step of strangers who use up sound in the now calming city

“...for the girls that don’t quite get their boyfriends.”

If you’re in a long distance relationship…

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“If you’ve never told them how you feel...”

“...guaranteed to make you want to spring clean your life...”

Word of the Week

A man who likes to nibble on a woman’s earlobes.

Coming soon...

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This raving, listening closeness of the sleepless in-between hour that pumps the head like a fullbreasted bird, my swan covered consciousness A Leda stumbled from her portrait scanning the sum of this growling spread where the world shuts itself away

If you want all of these and more…

From space in which we are not beautiful!

Those past pastoral lands that our presence perishes, a gash in the white world body.

Essays in Love - Alain de Botton This novel, written by writer, presenter and philosopher Alain de Botton, is highly innovative in its form and style; simultaneously a novel with chronological storyline, an exercise in practical philosophy, (i.e. using it in everyday life to solve problems), and a psychological analysis of human behaviour in relationships. Ideal for anyone and everyone, as it’s highly accessible and contains every relationship situation, from first butterflies to adultery and from living together to divorce and its aftermath.

And it is we who must still live out our own mythology upon this crusted mound of making, Under the same birds.

Serena Gosden-Hood

Obituary: J.D. Salinger

Untitled

The notoriously reclusive author of Catcher in the Rye dies aged 91

James Underwood

The literary world has lost an author who never wanted to be a part of it. On Wednesday 27th January 2010, J.D. Salinger passed away in his New Hampshire retreat, around which he once built a huge wall.

The Catcher in the Rye was his only novel, but he only needed to write one. Published in 1951, and described as “the manifesto of disenchanted youth” it is one of the most infamous texts of the last century. Still the subject of much controversy, Catcher has been banned, had teachers sacked, and inspired one man to shoot John Lennon.

Conversely, it has become part of the rite of passage for young people, its voice lending itself to that particular brand of teenage angst and awkwardness that has been unrivalled since. Apart from Catcher, Salinger published very little, and fiercely opposed anyone that tried to write about him. A few short stories about the fictional Glass Family series were published in The New Yorker, but nothing more, and nothing equalling Catcher’s reputation.

It is often said that Salinger spoke through his infamous protagonist, Holden Caulfield, to express his own disenchantment with the establishment that he found so disappointingly lacking. Perhaps, then, the opening of the

novel is the best insight we have: “I don’t feel like going into it, if you really want to know the truth”.

PAINTING: ROBERY VICKERY, IMAGE COURTESY TIME MAGAZINE

Gynotikolobomassophile

The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger OK, so you probably haven’t been separated by different time periods, but Niffenegger’s novel definitely deals with the pain of being away from your loved one. The novel’s greatest success is its believability, you’ll find yourself thinking you might have time-travelled upon waking up after a particularly heavy night out. Whilst its theme is Wellsian, its structure is original, cleverly using its limitations (as in the Grandfather paradox – you can’t go back in time and kill your Grandfather) to dramatic effect, adding suspense and mystery to the central classic love story. A trimph of the love between true soulmates over the distance that parts them.

“...his only novel, but he only needed to write one...”

Habitual hermit: J.D. Salinger

Creativity crouches, A mouse in my pen To trap or to coax is my call, The clotted creative How to sieve the thought clear?

- Enigma aims punches - I fall.

To rip up the page With the contours of mind Is the kick to my cobblings today, To crochet my feeling With dizzying noise Lest the verse-seams should silver and fray

Sarah Trotter

Games

Photography

Leisure Crossword Challenge

Sudoku

Futoshiki

Crossword Clues

Down 1 Footballer’s position, eg (2,7) 2 Log (5) 3 Breach (3) 4 Swift battleship (9) 5 To give banter (5) 6 Colourlessness (6)

7 Be unsuccessful (4) 8 Item of surgical equipment (6) 13 Barrels (5) 15 Collections (9) 16 Aisles, roadways (5) 18 Talent (9)

Stage Arts

19 Something easily accomplished (6) 21 Chased after (6) 23 Caterers (5) 24 London gallery (4) 25 Thievery (5) 28 Anger (3)

Across 1 Shade of the rainbow (6) 4 Pipe (4) 9 Calculate (3) 10 Becomes present (7) 11 In the manner of (1,2) 12 Elevated (5) 13 Of heating (9) 14 Second place competitors (7-2)

17 Lather, foam (5) 19 Sediment (5) 20 Wet through (9) 22 Butchers (9) 25 Object (5) 26 Become flat (3) 27 Mesh (7) 29 Utilise (3) 30 Appeals (4) 31 Well-known economy car (6)

The objective of Futoshiki is to place the numbers 1 to 6 in such a way that each row, and column contains each of the digits 1 to 5.

However, at the same time, the numbers must obey the inequality constraints initially specified between some of the squares. These must be honoured as the grid is filled out. ***Author of crossword: Edmund French

Photography Competition Winner Robert Burgess

Theme: World in Motion

This was a photo of one of the cyclists in Le Tour De France a couple of years ago.

I like the way that the speed of the cyclist has been conveyed in the photo, whilst still keeping him in sharp focus, and also

showing some of the cheering spectators in the background.

Camera: Canon EOS 400D Lens: Tamron 55-200mm f/3.5-5.6 Exposure: 1/250 sec @ f/7.1 (ISO 100)

Eleanor Harlow - Disposable Camera “Prolonged and extreme heat.. leads to a great deal of confusion for the numerous beach-goers.”

Next Theme: Light at Night Deadline: Saturday 13th February. Entries to photography@palatinate.org.uk