Platform Magazine - December 2009 by Nottingham Trent Students Union

w w w.pl at for m- on l ine.net

D e cemb er 20 0 9

“I’m in”

Nick Grimshaw

Setting up a business

Woolly jumpers and Christmas parties

The Saturdays Wild girls living for the weekend

Pill-Popping Peril

Christmas Crackers

A guide to festive films

Winter Warmers

The hottest seasonal fashion

The dangers of prescription drugs

Idlewild

Giving power to the people

Vintage Dining

The return of the Fifties diner

Contemporary

Nottingham The art of the gallery

www.platform-online.net Editor-in-Chief Glen Davies

glen.davies@su.ntu.ac.uk

Designer Stephanie Combs

stephanie.combs@su.ntu.ac.uk

Deputy Editor Andrew Trendell

deputy-editor@platform-online.net

Online Editor Aaron Lee

online-editor@platform-online.net

News SUB-Editor Jennifer Rosewarne

news@platform-online.net

Community SUB-Editor Nik Charity

community@platform-online.net

Music SUB-Editor Tom Warmsley

music@platform-online.net

Film SUB-Editor Becky Wojturska

film@platform-online.net

Photography SUB-Editor Stefan Ebelewicz

photos@platform-online.net

Arts SUB-Editor Alexander Britton

arts@platform-online.net

Fashion SUB-Editor Rebecca Uren

fashion@platform-online.net

Editor’s Letter

he British love a good whinge. We love complaining even more than we love tea, queuing, vomiting in the street and Chlamydia. Christmas and its build-up is a wonderful time of year, but we can’t resist talking about how early the shops sell the tinsel. Not exactly the most pressing issue, is it. Despite this, our first issue got you in a praising mood. Although I was quietly confident in the new look of Platform Magazine, I wasn’t quite prepared for people’s reactions. Either everyone at Trent is a chronic white liar, or you all genuinely appreciated what we’ve done here. So thank you. You’ve just created the world’s largest ego. However, I’m afraid we’ve barely even got into first gear at this stage. From this issue we have three new sub-editors on the team – Alex on Arts, Nik on Community and Becca on Fashion – so that we can dazzle you with even more brilliance. They have been hard at work, developing these sections to provide plenty of reading material to adorn our handsome pages. Platform-online.net is also now live, bursting with the meaty goodness of everything we can’t fit into the magazine. And, believe me, that’s a lot of meat. We’re talking more meaty goodness than a beef farm. In Texas. Between these pages, which, I have discovered, have a wonderful smell that might even be better than petrol, you will find direct instructions on how to enjoy December. We’re telling you what to talk about, what to listen to, what to wear, where to go, how to get fit, how to get fat, what to think and even which Christmas presents to buy. Grabbing your eyes and twisting in this issue is a look at what happened at GameCity and a peek inside the city’s new crown jewel, the Nottingham Contemporary gallery. Whether you think its design is modern and sleek or uglier than Rolf Harris in a thong, the place is certainly impressive. So as you get ready to eat five times your own body weight in a week, go shopping for yourself when you should be buying presents for others and rush to finish your work to free up your holiday, remember what we’ve told you in here. Enjoy yourselves. From myself and all of us here at Platform Magazine, have a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Food & Drink SUB-Editor Molly Woodruff

food@platform-online.net

Travel SUB-Editor Lucia Miyashita

Glen Davies, Editor-in-Chief

travel@platform-online.net

Platform Magazine

Gaming SUB-Editor Aaron Lee

gaming@platform-online.net

Health SUB-Editor Danielle Almond

health@platform-online.net

Sports SUB-Editor James Haigh

sports@platform-online.net

Editorial enquiries | Email the relevant address on the left Press/PR enquiries | Email platform@su.ntu.ac.uk Advertising enquiries | Contact BAM Student Marketing on (0845) 1300 667 or www.trentstudents.org/student_marketing

Cover Photo by Stefan Ebelewicz Thanks to Hickling & Squires Print Solutions - www.hickling-squires.co.uk. This publication is printed on sustainably-sourced recycled paper (80% recycled, made up of 10% packaging waste / 10% best white waste / 60% de-inked waste fibre / 20% virgin totally chlorine free fibre) using vegetable-based inks. Platform is an independent publication and any views expressed herein are not necessarily those of the Editor or of the Nottingham Trent Students Union and its Elected Directors and Officers. Companies advertised in Platform are not necessarily endorsed by Nottingham Trent Students Union. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior permission of the Editor.

Contents News

Film

Food & Drink

5 | Uncovered and Unsafe

25-29 | Film Reviews

43 | The Reincarnation of the American Diner

7 | Taking Control 8 | BNP: lived by the sword... and wounded by it

Nativity!, A Hard Day’s Night, Ghost, Moonwalker, The Merry Gentleman, Law Abiding Citizen

Community

Photos

Interview : Idlewild

19 | Saturday’s Child

p56

Arts

Gaming

Cover Story

55 | The Live Aid of Games

34 | Welcome: Nottingham Contemporary

56 | Culture Fest

13 | What is Community?

17 | The Wild Blue Yonder

54 | Israel

p34

12 | Blast from the Past

Music

Travel 51 | Paris

32 | Jack Penaté @ NTSU

p22

15 |Trent Watch

Dotty’s Cafe, Larder on Goosegate

30 | Union News & Events Find out what’s happening this month in your students’ union

9 | How to Solve Unemployment

46-49 | Restaurant Reviews

38 | Wanted: Zeitgeist. Apply within.

OneBigGame

GameCity Squared

58 | Gaming Reviews Modern Warfare 2

Interview : The Saturdays

20 | Kraut Out Loud

Fashion

Interview : The Twilight Sad

21 | Christmas with the Grim-ch Interview : Nick Grimshaw

22-24 | Gig Reviews

Editors @ Rock City, Little Comets @ Rescue Rooms, Enter Shikari @ Rock City, Kano @ NTSU, Dananananaykroyd @ Bodega Social

39 | Clothes Show Live 09 40 | This winter explained

Health 59 | Prescription Drugs 62 | Men’s Health

41 | Xmas Party Outfit Ideas

63 | How to cope with a hangover

42 | O Come All Ye Faithful Vintage Fiends

63 | Freshers Flu or Swine Flu?

| Nottingham Trent Students Union Magazine

News

Uncovered and Unsafe | Taking Control | BNP: Lived by the sword... and wounded by it

Edited by Jennifer Rosewarne | news@platform-online.net

Uncovered and Unsafe

This city doesn’t exactly have the best crime reputation. So it’s perhaps surprising that so many students don’t insure their belongings. Sian Lomas-Morgan looks at the dangers.

niversity has officially started. You’ve made friends, begun lectures and most importantly you’ve discovered all the best student bars in town. But while you’re having the time of your life, have you thought about the imperative things that also come with university? It’s easy to forget but have you really thought about insurance and the ramifications of ignoring it?

This may not seem as much as a priority when attempting to afford books, clothes and nights out. However, did you know that the average undergraduate student according to Sainsbury’s finance has an estimated £3,500 worth of items in their accommodation? These aren’t just high tech items such as mobiles, Playstations, iPods and laptops, but also belongings such as textbooks, jewellery and household essentials such as kettles and toasters.

Sainsbury’s finance conducted research regarding students and insurance between 23rd and 28th July 2009. The sample consisted of 1,000 interviews with students at 134 Higher Education institutions and discovered vast results. Firstly over 400,000 undergraduate students are being admitted into universities a year with around over 475,000 of them moving into student accommodation. One in three of them have no insurance cover for their items, which means that there is £573 million worth of uninsured items laying around within student accommodation in the UK. There’s also approximately £14,000 worth of items per student household making it rich pickings for any eager burglar. This worrying matter is highlighted by Sainsbury’s Home Insurance Manager Ben Tyte who says: “With an estimated one in three students falling victim to some sort of crime

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News

each year, it’s worrying that so many students go off to university without any insurance cover in place for their possessions. He adds: “However, before splashing out on insurance, students should certainly check to see if their parents’ household contents insurance policy might provide cover whilst they’re studying away from the family home, and also to check that this cover will be adequate should they need to make a claim.” This is important considering 10% of students aren’t even sure they have adequate cover.

It is important to remember that insurance doesn’t just cover theft of the property as contents insurance means you can claim on accidental damage, accidental damage on other equipment and water damage including that induced by adverse weather conditions. Having content insurance may seem like money you don’t want to waste but you never know what situations are around the corner. Sainsbury’s home insurance index reported that a shocking 527,000 home insurance claims were made in the first half of 2008 although this is said to have fallen to 373,000 in the same period of 2009. The average size of claim for these periods was £918 and £735. Lucy Hunter the Sainsbury’s Home Insurance manager said: “Our index shows the huge impact adverse weather conditions can have on the number and value of home insurance claims made. The first quarter of 2008 brought particularly severe conditions, and storm damage in that quarter accounted for 21.8% of all claims made. For the six months overall, storm damage was still the second most prevalent claim in 2008, accounting for 15.9% of claims made. In the first half of 2009 it only accounted for 8.5% of claims”. Even through extreme adverse conditions are rare it doesn’t mean that they don’t happen and more importantly it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen to you. Investing in home contents therefore is viable for numerous reasons. Can you really afford repairs that mount up to hundreds of pounds when you’re paying thousands for your degree? Sainsbury’s can offer up to £5000 of insurance and don’t forget that some university accommodation offers sufficient cover for home contents. You make think it’s an extra chore, but in the long run it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

| Nottingham Trent Students Union Magazine

Taking Control The misplaced generation takes matters into their own hands. By Jennifer Laura Rosewarne

he past year has seen the media blighted by stories of the recession. If it’s not a moral panic about rates of unemployment, graduates fleeting the United Kingdom for enhanced job prospects and David Cameron and Gordon Brown undermining us as the misplaced generation, it’s something else. As everyone prepares to take a deep breath and prepare for further negative news, not everything is a case of glass half empty. If the crisis isn’t causing panic amongst thousands of students, for some, it’s having an increasingly positive effect as one company in the East Midlands is experiencing.

Of the approximate 947,000 graduates that are unemployed, Business Link East Midlands has seen over 2,000 students sign up to receive information on starting up their own business. Why? David Polkey, spokesman for the regional service says: “The job market for graduates is increasingly difficult with more competition for less jobs. Many students are seriously considering self employment as an alternative career path, using their qualifications to set up their own business.” This news comes following numerous attempts from government schemes in a bid to attack the current problems in the United Kingdom. Back in July 2009 a new campaign ‘Backing Young Britain’ was created in an attempt to create thousands of opportunities for young people struggling in the current economic climate. In conjunction with a £40 million fund to support 20,000 internships, Secretary for state of work and pensions Yvette Cooper, business secretary Lord Mandelson, Ed Balls and John Denham had high aspirations for the ongoing campaign. The scheme that has aims including providing work experience places to help young people learn about work, as well as offering a mentor network, has had its criticisms however. Sean Figg, of Youth Fight For Jobs , another company trying to fight the crisis said: “The vast bulk of placements they are offering are available only to long term 18-24 year olds, and are explicitly limited to 6 months by the government – what about the rest of unemployed young people?” It’s clear that there are still problems with more graduates than there are jobs available every year. Business Link East Midlands are aware of this and are trying to advise that there are more options available should students need them. “We want to ensure they have access to the wealth of expert advice and support Business Link can offer when they need it, whether that’s during their studies or when they graduate.” With almost half of employers reducing their graduate employment targets for 2009, The Business Link start-up service has been visiting colleges and universities across the east midlands to converse with students who want to start their own business. With advisors offering information on subjects including marketing, finance and ICT, there is a extensive array of information to help entrepreneurs through their first year of business and beyond. For more information on starting your own business, visit www.thinkbusiness.org.uk

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BNP: lived by the sword... and wounded by it By Thomas Clarke

ne topic that seems to be on the tip of everyone’s tongue recently is the BNP, with their appearance on Question Time being the fuel for fierce debate around the country. Of course, for many it’s the condemning of the BNP and its status as a political party. The party’s leader Nick Griffin appeared on the political panel show with a number of other politicians including the former home secretary Jack Straw. Before the broadcast, there was large opposition to the appearance of the far right party on the programme with some people believing their appearance on such a mainstream show would validate them as a party and give them a platform from which to preach their racist and discriminatory views. Despite this, the broadcast did go ahead (with 5 million more viewers than normal) but turned into more of an attempt at character assassination, rather than a scrutiny of the BNP’s abhorrent values and policies.

When Griffin was fielded questions about his policies and views though, the real BNP did rear its ugly head as he labelled Islam a ‘wicked faith’ and called openly gay people ‘militant homosexuals’; invoking language from the homophobic thirties and forties, which displayed the party’s views to be utterly outdated. The appearance was a crucial one and although not handled ideally, could go to show the voting public that a vote for the BNP isn’t just a throw away vote and two fingers to the current government, but a real threat to our modern and diverse Britain. This threat had already been realised in June when the BNP won two seats in the European elections, from both the North West through its leader Nick Griffin, and Yorkshire and the Humber through Andrew Brons, the former National Front leader. Question Time should have been the chance to hold them accountable for their views and policies, destroy the masquerade and

| Nottingham Trent Students Union Magazine

diminish the threat of a minority racist movement but sadly accountability in any form of politics seems to be a bygone situation. Barry Turner, lecturer in Media Law and Public Administration at NTU, welcomed the debate that Question Time opened up for Britain but questioned how well it had been put to use saying: “The appearance of Nick Griffin on question time was absolutely correct. The BNP whatever its abhorrent philosophy on race has two elected representatives in the European Parliament. As such it is entitled to air time on publicly funded media. If they had used the opportunity to put proper questions to Griffin on policy the audience would have been able to see that the BNP is a lunatic fringe rather than a political party.” He boldly added: “The BBC wasted the opportunity.”.

Photo: Creative Commons © Kerry Buckley

News

Community How to Solve Unemployment | Blast from the Past What is Community? | Trent Watch

Edited by Nik Charity | community@platform-online.net

How to Solve Unemployment Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re all scared of unemployment once we graduate, but one such person came up with a cunning solution. Freddie Williams, Managing Director of StudentToys.co.uk, tells his story.

s a graduate of June 2008, the economic climate did not appear to be one of doom and gloom. The economy was in apparent good health and the prospect of getting a job did not spark fear into every graduate and unemployed person in the country. The job market was buoyant and with a solid 2.1 BA Hons in Politics from a top ranked university, the University of Nottingham, I thought that perhaps employees might be phoning me up. It was with this in mind which inspired many in my situation to look forward to a year out before the inevitable lifetime of hard work in an office began.

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Community

> 10

I managed to find work in a local pub and was to work full time up until December when I was to be on a plane to Canada to do the ski season that I had looked forward to for so long. As we reached September the bottom seemed to fall out of the UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economy and all hell broke loose. Being a little smug though, I thought to myself that it is just as well I am not applying to jobs right now and that by the time I get back from Canada it will have blown over and I will walk into a job. Not quite so, apparently.

empty due to a certain global recession, but that really was the last thing on our minds as we were whizzing down black runs and three-sixty-ing off of rocks. However, as with any holiday the ski season had to come to an end, and so it was after having spent every penny I had (well, that the bank would lend me) that I returned to England in the middle of May. I was finally resigned to maturing and going out and getting the good job that I was hoping would enable me to move out from my parents place.

December came, the ski season had arrived and we had an amazing time, partly due to the fact that the ski slopes were

Not having been too interested by the economic doom and gloom whilst away, I now found myself returning to England

| Nottingham Trent Students Union Magazine

ing rejection letter, I decided to take matters into my own hands. This is when StudentToys.co.uk was created. I wanted to start my own business, and the market I knew more than any other was the student market. What I wanted to do was to create a single student shop that sells all the things that students buy. As a big kid myself I wanted to start off in the market of fun products and so fancy dress, big boys’ toys and posters were the things I decided to incorporate first of all – all products that I knew students were buying, but from a number of different places. A budget of zero and a maxed out overdraft would have been enough to put most people off the idea of setting up a business on their own but, again, as an optimist, I just saw it as a challenge... and a challenge it was. I snapped up the domain name of StudentToys.co.uk as I felt that it had an element of fun about it, along with a certain amount of mystery that could appeal to students and intrigue them into checking it out. The fact that I knew diddly squat about website design or about setting up a business from scratch were again not enough of a deterrent to stop me from giving it a crack. ‘That’s what the internet’s for,’ I thought to myself. ‘Google will tell me these things, Google knows all.’ And right I was... kind of. After trawling through the internet for days and weeks, phoning different website companies and getting quotes in the thousands, I finally found what I was looking for, and used an online free web template to create my store. So, having found a web store, I thought that it might be a good idea to find something to sell. My first thought was that I would use drop-shipping – a way to sell that means you take the orders and then the suppliers send the item to the buyer and then you take any profit after what the suppliers charge you. This would mean that I would not have to buy any stock and so my risk would be limited. The major problem with this was that I could not find drop-shippers that would sell the low cost products that I know students buy, and so therefore there was no point and no sense in using this method. So, the riskier option it was then. I would have to buy stock. An issue with this was of course the buying aspect, as buying seems to be rather difficult without any money to do it with. Not a problem – I would increase my hours working in pubs, I thought, and so I managed to get a second pub job and saved about £300 to buy the stock I required to start.

amongst the most depressed job markets that had ever been seen in the UK. Ever the optimist, I thought ‘well, it may seem a bit crap but then again I know my value and it really won’t be too long before employees will be fighting for me’. So three months later having seemingly applied to every job in the country and having not so much as received an interview I started to get a little concerned. By this time having spent a short period claiming jobseekers, I had returned to my old job doing part-time shifts down the local pub so that I could pay my parents some rent.

There it was, StudentToys.co.uk was a reality (well, after setting up a business account, payment methods and a load of other stuff), and it was now my job to do the hard part: sell things – a chapter that is now starting to be written. And so here I am, telling you about StudentToys.co.uk, partly to inspire you from the doom and gloom of the global recession and depressed job markets, and partly because you might decide that, after all, what you have really been missing from your life is a giant elephant fancy dress costume at a bargain price.

Thoroughly fed up with receiving rejection letter after bloom-

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Community

Blast from the Past Anne Scoley: 1973 -1976, Law Words by Nik Charity Nik Charity: Tell me about your life since Trent. Anne: Trent: long hair, short skirt ( I could only afford one – didn’t drink much either, but managed a pack or two of Gaulois each week – so cool) and very tight jeans. Then off to Holborn to become a baby Barrister, entirely because my father (who, in retrospect, did know better than I did) insisted I got some sort of qualification. I had a spell with Lloyds of London on their Law Reports and organising niche legal conferences, and from contacts there got four job offers and I opted for a City shipping firm (huge fun, lots of travelling, learned loads), then property litigation in Sussex, general commercial litigation back in London, a Partner in East Sussex in commercial litigation, and now back in my home city of Norwich dealing with VAT fraud, and back to being a humble assistant solicitor (ie no more Partners’ meetings to got to! Yippee!). A pretty mixed employment bag, but is does cover 33 years so not as flighty as it might first appear, and was determined by putting children and family first. NC: What are your fondest memories from studying at Trent? A: Nottingham! A lot has changed, but so much of it for the better; traffic used to pour between The Castle Pub and Nottingham Castle. There should be an NTU campaign to reintroduce “Slab Sqaure”. The Arboretum in the autumn. Falling in love for the first time. My huge, cold but fantastic bedsit in the final year. My friends, some of whom are still great friends. Mr. Chua, the Contract Law lecturer, who used to eat daffodils at the annual law department dinner, and who told me I spoke so softly I would never conclude an oral contract . Russell Heaton; very left wing as far as I recall, but a huge brain and told me I ought to get a 1st – I failed him. The Company Law lecturer who has stories of being an arms dealer; still think he was trying to compensate for being a tedious lecturer. The department moving into Chaucer and having a proper lecture theatre heated by cow dung (or something – very very green for the 70s) where we mercilessly teased a very timid Family Law lecturer who was reputed to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of all European train and bus timetables... NC: What advice can you give our current Law students? A: Treat your degree as a springboard for a career which does not necessarily have to be in the law. This is a purely personal view, but if you do follow the legal route, stay away from big firms; choose a firm where you will be appreciated as an individual and have the time and energy for a life outside work. Hang on to your beliefs and accept that even the best` Judge sometimes gets its wrong.

| Nottingham Trent Students Union Magazine

By Nik Charity

rom the perspective of a closeknit selection of people, like a neighbourhood or something, ‘community’ is a wonderful word, linked with all of the most warm and fuzzy imagery that a single word might offer – ‘togetherness’, ‘harmony,’ and all those other showstopping numbers. But at university, each of us is thrown into a bowl with thousands of people we don’t know and most of them we probably never will – and yet we call it a community. Yes, community is a very difficult word, because at the same time as we are each of us alone, we do all still have that one thing in common - a single extricable link. You may chant if you wish… “T…R...” and so on…

It is our identity (oh, that’s a nice word), individual or collected, that defines us. For the rest of our lives, we will be branded as the party loving students. Our university has long been reputed as a heavyweight mob of boozers… and what of it? As a community, we all come together with our differentiating, and sometimes colliding, aspects and build the single yet varied identity of our student body. Oo, that’s another good word; body.

updates on what ‘goings-on’ are going on, but we also want to hear from you, the community itself (its called Platform for a ruddy reason). We want to know your ideas, or read your own articles. We want to see your poetry, or photography… or whatever else. Fill up the blogs with your problems and advice, write in with whatever you like, and send it all to community@platformonline.net or go to www. platform-online.net.

For all intents and purposes, it simply means ‘us’; what we think and feel, how we get along, and what our needs might be. So, with that in mind, this year the Community section will still be giving us local

Get on it, Trent.

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Community

Trent Watch By Nik Charity

ast week we were alerted to plans that the Metropolitan Police wants to put armed officers in crime-hotspots around Greater London. The units in question will come from the CO19 branch - our own version of American S.W.A.T. teams - the very same chaps who killed Jean Charles de Menezes in broad daylight as a terrorist in 2005. He wasn’t a terrorist, incidentally. The papers have heralded this is one of the most premature actions made by a police force in recent history, and there is nationwide speculation as to whether we can trust the police with that kind of local control.

Do you know how many cities in the first-world have beatcops armed with semi-automatic weapons? Not many, and the last time we witnessed any in this country was after the tube station bombings, so evidently this kind of decision is only made in the worst circumstances (in London, the Met. is specifically targeting locales of Gang Warfare, so the rest of us have little to worry about). Then again, the whole decision had been made without the knowledge of the Met. Authority Chairman, Boris Johnson (lol), so the question of how local councils are treating crime is on everyone’s lips. This got me thinking: Nottingham has a reputation for its crime, including gun crime, and it may be too bold to say we are in quite the same position as Londoners, but crime is something we must take seriously. For instance, as soon as I arrived at my new house here at the start of term, I heard about a burglary and a violent assault on my street, only a few days apart. The latter resulted in my street being cornered off as a crime scene, with police tape and everything – exciting stuff, I assure you; but not for the people who lost their possessions, or for the individual who could have, by any stretch of the imagination, lost his or her life. Nottingham may be a small city in the grand scheme of things, but the threat of crime is very real; as students, with households varying from two people to ten or maybe more, we essentially have targets painted on our front doors, saying ‘my house is full of expensive stuff, would you like to take a look?’ The point I am trying to make is, be aware. If the crime in this city has hit home for you, this is the place to talk about it; so post your comments, opinions and advice on ntucommunityplatform.blogspot.com, or email me at community@ platform-online.net.

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Want to save money? Then become a regular user of NTSU services and be rewarded for your loyalty. Just pick up a loyalty card from any NTSU bar or shop on any campus and start saving today!

Free coffee when you buy 8 coffees at any NTSU coffee bar

Meal Deals Only £2.99. Buy 5 get 1 free @ any SU Express (free meal can only be claimed on Saturday / Sunday)

Music

Edited by Tom Warmsley | music@platform-online.net

Th e Wild Blue Yonder

Interview: Idlewild Words & Photos: Andrew Trendell

lose your eyes. Imagine ‘a flight of stairs falling down a flight of stairs’. That was how Idlewild were famously described at the dawn of their career. Open your eyes. It’s more than ten years later. From the fiery and shambolic posthardcore exuberance of their early days, the band have travelled the sonic spectrum taking in folk music and elegiac pop-rock. Having been around the block as much as Idlewild have, you’d imagine that they’d attracted a dedicated hardcore fanbase and grown savvy to the tricks of the record industry. For their latest album ‘Post Electric Blues’, not only have they utilised both of these attributes to great effect, but also made one of the most beautiful and coherent albums of their career.

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Music

Following the mainstream success of their third album, 2002’s ‘The Remote Part’, Idlewild’s two following albums would suffer at the hands of record company incompetence and bad promotion. For their latest release, the band cut out the middle man between fans and band, and asked their followers to pre-order the album before it was recorded to fund the release; a risky move which met great acclaim. Guitarist Rod Jones tells us: “For the year preceding the making of the record we’d been having a bit of a rant. The record company in particular had been spending so much time trying to catch people who illegally download music rather than encouraging people to actually buy it; which is of course a much more positive way to go about it. I came up with this idea of doing this pre-order thing which felt like it was a good way to get people involved and caring about music again. It just gave us that feeling of being in control again. We’ll definitely do it again in future. It was a really positive experience for everyone.” So positive, that their sense of ease on the record is almost tangible. Fans may be surprised to hear new frivolous flourishes to their sound. Rod explains this tone: “The reason we sound so comfortable is because we had the freedom to try out so many things. I think what comes across more than anything is the sense that we’re having fun, which we did so much more on this record than we have in a long time. We weren’t interested in making another noisy and brash rock record, because we’d just done that.” Having gone through a series of peaks and troughs commercially, the band’s artistic integrity loyal following have never floundered. Rod explains their survival: “We’ve made a living out of doing this for fifteen years now and I don’t think that’s an underachievement. We’re in the lucky position of having a really loyal hardcore fan base that’ll come and see us play

“T

he record company in particular had been spending so much time trying to catch people who illegally download music rather than encouraging people to actually buy it. This just gave us that feeling of being in control again.”

every time. If you just play excessively then you’re going to make a living out of it. If you keep going then you might get some radio play or you might not. It’s not really something that we lose sleep over.” Tonight, Rescue Rooms sees young and old bound together in a blissful celebration of band’s integrity and glittering legacy. Keep it up; you still hold the world in your arms.

To read this and all other Platform interviews in full, head over to www.platform-online.net

| Nottingham Trent Students Union Magazine

SATURDAY’S CHILD Interview: The Saturdays While The Saturdays are busy riding the success of their latest album and enjoying the fruits of being a hot girl group that isn’t Girls Aloud, they find some time to talk to Platform about the new album, the Spice Girls and trashing photo shoot sets. Interview by Thomas Warmsley Thomas Warmsley: Hello Mollie Saturdays, how are you today? Mollie: I’m good thank you; we are just in a car on the way up to Newcastle at the moment. TW: Oh very nice. M: Exciting! TW: So your single ‘Forever Is Over’ stormed the charts last month and came in at a respectable No.2. Are The Saturdays satisfied? M: Oh of course, we are over the moon. It’s the first off of our new album and our new material, so for it to be the second best single in the whole country is amazing. Top of the charts would be nice though, but number two is certainly close enough. TW: Your new single ‘Ego’ came out in mid November, could you tell us what that track is about? M: It’s quite different to ‘Forever is over’ which had a rock sound, whereas ‘Ego’ is quite dance-y and has an electro edge to

it. Definitely a track you would want to hear in the club - it’s about being with a guy who is just a nightmare, and being done with him!

TW: You recently did a shoot for FHM and I hear you managed to completely trash the set? Will it be coming out of your wages?

TW: And of course your latest album ‘Wordshaker’ came out back in October, do you think you have grown as a group since your 2008 debut ‘Chasing Lights’?

M: (laughs) Let’s hope not! Yeah we did, oh god it was a nightmare. The shoot was in this expensive house and we had to do a shot where all five of us were jumping on this bed, and it just fell off completely from the wall.

M: I think this album is definitely more mature with a bit more variety, but I hope will still appeal to our fans. And I think we have improved performing, just knowing more about our sounds and what works as a group. So hopefully it’s a better album.

TW: The video on your website is hilarious. M: Oh god, we were so scared. All of us were screaming in our underwear, so I hope it was worth it for the shot!

TW: I think you’re the start of a new wave of girl groups, who were the girl bands that you looked up to?

TW: Your band being called The Saturdays, what are you doing this Saturday night?

M: I was more in to boy bands than girl bands; I loved Backstreet Boys and Nsync of course. But I did love Spice Girls, I think they are all of our idols and have such huge personalities and songs. Girls Aloud as well, when we were first on a tour with them and we finally got to meet them, I didn’t know what to say!

M: Well actually, we’ve got a gig at Wembley Arena, I think for the Girl Guides. We are performing twice during the day and can’t wait; it’ll be such a privilege to say we have performed at Wembley. Although normally on a Saturday we’ll be watching X-Factor!

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Music

KRAUT OUT LOUD

Interview: The Twilight Sad Interview & photo by Andrew Trendell

Andrew Trendell: What themes do you explore on the new album ‘Forget The Night Ahead’?

AT: Your sound is quite enigmatic and refreshingly hard to pigeon hole…

James: The title basically explains it. Some nights I did forget, some nights I wanted to forget. The lyrics are inspired just by people that I know and stories from home.

James: There are a lot of lazy journalists that like to try and put us in certain places and I’ve seen some ridiculous examples. Someone once invented a genre called ‘Nu-Gaze’ for us. It just sounds rubbish and gay.

AT: How has the band evolved since the last album?

AT: What inspires the band?

James: As a live band, we actually are a live band now, whereas before it was just rough and shambolic. We were just playing and drinking as much as we could.

Andy: We all listen to a lot of different stuff so I think that might help with the song writing. I can’t really find anything that I like these days. Everything is sh*t. I listen to a lot of Kraut-rock, and 80s silliness. I like a lot of the Trojan Records catalogue too.

Andy: Aye, it’s true. The aim was be as f*cked and noisy as possible, now the aim is to be as f*cked and noisy as possible but quite good at the same time. Maybe we’ll pull it off. AT: You recently supported Mogwai on their US tour. Did you learn anything from touring with such a god-like band? James: Mogwai gave us a lot of advice and were really good to us. They said we reminded them of themselves when they just started out. It was amazing to just watch a band like that do what they do and do it with a bit of dignity and respect. We

learned from that.

| Nottingham Trent Students Union Magazine

James: I don’t listen to music to feel inspired, I listen to say whether I like it or if it’s sh*te. I watch a lot of films for inspiration. Elton John is good. Maybe we’ll do a kraut-rock version of ‘Candle In The Wind’ soon. That would sound really good. Maybe we’ll do a Nu-Gaze, near-Glasgow-music-scene version of Rocket Man with a Kraut-rock bass line. You down with that? AT: Hell yes.

Christmas with the Grim-ch Interview: Nick Grimshaw The face of BBC switch and host of new music – the amicable ‘Grimmy’ talks to Platform about life on Air, the Radio 1 Christmas Party and woolly jumpers. Interview by Thomas Warmsley

TW: Most of us know you from TV and the glory days of T4, but now you have immigrated to the world of radio. Which have you found a more enjoyable experience? Nick: I guess they are totally different, but I’ve really enjoyed doing them both. Radio is instant and live, you never know what is going to happen or where the show is going to take you. The other night on our show I mentioned ‘Henry the Hoover’ and then we got like 500 texts in response. TV is just as fun though, you get to have another go at it although there is a lot of waiting. I think 90% of my TV job is waiting and waiting. TW: You have your prestigious evening show, and also BBC Switch with Annie Mac. Who are your favourite new bands around at the moment? Anyone we should be keeping an eye out for? N: I really like this band called Chapel Club, who have only done a handful of gigs. I’ve been listening to the Mike Snow album, who produced Britney’s ‘Toxic’ but now have decided to give up pop and make this really good album. Oh, and our record of the week is by a band called Muchuu who are worth checking out. TW: And of course you have the Radio One Christmas Party 2009 coming soon. Could you tell us a little about that? N: It’s going to be on December 21st, live from Maida Vale. We’ll have about 6 bands coming in, having a big party and get them to play a few songs and hook up. The XX and Simian Mobile Disco will be coming in and just a mash up of all different artists. And of course lots of Radio 1 DJs - from 7 till midnight. TW: By the looks of it, festive jumpers are back in a big way this Christmas. Will you be donning yours for the party? N: I’ve already bought one! A big black cardigan with massive snowflakes on it, it’s a good look and it’s only just November. TW: Oh, a jumper that’s fashionably safe for radio then. N: It’ll look great on air! TW: Who do you think will make Christmas number one? Any tips? N: It’s got to be X-Factor hasn’t it? It’ll be hard to beat. I hope ‘Jedward’ win. TW: And what would you say your new year’s resolution would be for 2010? N: Maybe go and see more bands, as it’s now hard to do during the week with the show. I haven’t been to a gig in ages, so maybe to make sure the weekends are devoted to going out and seeing bands.

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Music Editors @ Rock City - 23rd October 2009

Words by Zoe Turton | Photo by Andrew Trendell

midst the blackness, the tall ominous figure of lead singer Tom Smith can be made out. Opener ‘In This Light and On This Evening’, the title track of the new album, proves a brave song to open with. Throughout the set the band aren’t totally comfortable with playing the new songs from their third and latest album.

Once the band break into second track ‘Bullets’, the crowd erupt and the band settle as they give the crowd exactly the live energy they were anticipating. The weaker spots in tonight’s performance definitely come from the new album. When up against the stronger tracks from their first two records they feel slightly out of place. Despite the fact Editors are the kings of doom and gloom, some of these new songs like ‘Walk The Fleet Road’ and ‘The Big Exit’ are even too depressing for them, and don’t have the uplifting crescendo that are usually the highlight of their live set. The highlight actually comes from early B-side ‘You Are Fading’. It’s thunderous drumbeat and haunting vocals have everyone watching in awe, throbbing as they are bathed in strobe lighting. As Tom introduces his fellow players, he shows that he is a very passionate front man, and still so interesting to watch. The encore includes ‘Papillon’, which gives hope that Editors haven’t lost their way completely with the new stuff. Although last song ‘Fingers in The Factories’ storms in as a very powerful ending to the set, it brings to light that on this evening the new songs lost the battle against the old.

| Nottingham Trent Students Union Magazine

Little Comets @ Rescue Rooms - 17th October 2009

By Drew Heatley

hen you forgive them for their camp name and for arriving onstage looking like a poor imitation Kooks, you find Little Comets are actually not that bad.

It’s their strange array of percussion instruments suspended from an intricate pulley system that also catches the eye – even a kitchen pot hangs next to the bassist to aid them during their set. It’s their catchy riffs and melodies that really impress, despite the mic difficulties that sometimes dog the Rescue Rooms. The affable Geordies strum through half a dozen tracks to warm up the mass of Fred Perry polos waiting for the Twang, debut single ‘Adultery’ being the stand-out track. Yes, there are a lot visual irritations with this identikit Indie band, but if you close your eyes Little Comets aren’t out of this world, but they’re definitely worth a listen.

Enter Shikari @ Rock City - 21st October 2009

By Dan Russell

capacity crowd in Rock City excitedly await the St Albans quartet to take to the stage. There is an atmosphere of uncertainty for many as tonight sees the performance of tracks from new album ‘Common Dreads’.

When Shikari take to the stage, the screams and roars from the crowd are enough to smash a thousand light bulbs. The four piece launch straight into the first song with as much energy as the young crowd, if not more. After finishing the first song with great success the band launch straight into the second, but their efforts are shattered due to a fault with the bass. After several minutes and a heartfelt apology, the show is back on track. Apart from the music, the obvious highlight is the lightshow, and what an effect it had. Once the band had blasted through their set with precision and accuracy (taking a short break somewhere in the middle to rant about politics) the time came for the encore: ‘Sorry, You’re Not A Winner’ followed by the latest hit ‘Juggernauts’. The lights cut the smoke-filled air like a light-sabre through Luke Skywalker’s arm as the sound penetrates the atmosphere and peoples chests alike. After the technical hitch at the start things couldn’t have gone better for Enter Shikari. They loved every second and more importantly so did the crowd.

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Music

Dananananaykroyd @ Bodega Social - 22nd October 2009 By Thomas Warmsley

ananananaykroyd know how to party. The Glaswegian six-piece have shocked and transfixed with wanderings of what exactly goes on in the band’s collective brain. Since their debut release ‘Hey Everyone!’ in April they have been a band to watch closely and have reaped the rewards of curiosity that comes with having such a ridiculous band name. The attention has earned the group their first headline tour, accompanied tonight by the likes of dinosaur Pile Up and Super Adventure Club who manage to lubricate proceedings with their own raucous exploits.

Kano @ NTSU - 21st October 2009

By Joe Wass

half-packed audience came to see British rapper Kano, making his second appearance at Nottingham Trent Students Union. Coming in from the rain only to be met by metal detectors and a heightened security presence, it felt like walking through airport security rather than into a student union.

With the wait for Kano seeming to take forever, more of an audience gathered. Kano strode on to his new track ‘Rock N’ Roller’ and from the first beat it was clear that he was here to take over. With the atmosphere getting more vibrant by the minute, Kano lifted the roof with a solid performance, showcasing old songs from his first three albums, with huge crowd-lifters in the form of ‘Ps and Qs’, ‘Hustler’ and ‘Nite Nite’. Sandwiched between these was ‘Against All Odds’ - released with D n’ B phenomenon Chase and Status – and which sent the crowd in raptures, as the confident Kano swaggered the stage. The 45-minute set came to an end with Kano strolling off stage to the rampant shouts for an encore from the crowd, to which he duly obliged – performing his new single ‘Rock N Roller’ for a second time. Rather than just focusing on his new material that has reached a further audience, Kano came out with a diverse set, bringing back older songs that true followers will have appreciated. Although the curfew put the night to an earlier end than first thought, Kano stole the show with a superb performance and will no doubt be welcomed back with open arms.

| Nottingham Trent Students Union Magazine

Dananananaykroyd are anything but generic. Fronting the band are tandem vocalists Calum Gunn and John Baillie Junior, who bring something refreshingly different to the band’s pop-metal sound. The band begin with opener ‘Watch This!’ where Calum Gunn blurts “Hiya! Watch this! Watch this!”. Hypnotic to say the least, as most of the audience find the compulsive onstage energy hard to shun. The bands antics between songs are entertaining, although at times painfully akin to something that would go down well on ‘Dic and Dom in Da Bungalow’. During the interlude of ‘Some Dresses’, vocalist John Baillie instigates a ‘wall of hugs’, forcing easily influenced 14-yearolds to run at each other, arms spread. Ingenious, but nevertheless weird. The band end with favourite ‘Pink Sabbath’, by far one their most frantic offering, which holds vital to tonight’s youthful audience who clearly hold unrefined energy over any dexterity. As with many bands that crave attention, their shock tactics end up just being dull and tedious. At least Dananananaykroyd are there to greet you with a goody bag of punk pop humour and a party hat.

Film

Film Sub-Editor | Becky Wojturska

ell it’s finally the end of the year – and what a year it’s been. We have lost legends like Farrah Fawcett, Patrick Swayze and of course the great Michael Jackson. However, we also celebrated 50 years of The Beatles. To celebrate the lives of these people, we have reviewed some of their films (which also happen to make great, cheap stocking fillers.)

Don’t forget it is Christmas soon and now is the time to start giving, whether it’s by having a festive sponsored dress up or selling your unwanted clothes and DVD’s and donating the proceeds to charity. It feels better to give than to receive and I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas and look forward to seeing you in the New Year.

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Film

Nativity! (TBC)

Directed by: Debbie Isitt Starring: Ashley Jenson, Martin Freeman, Marc Wootton, Alan Carr, Jason Watkins Released: 4th December 2009

rimary teacher, Mr. Maddens (Freeman), has been handed the daunting task of organising this year’s nativity play. This is a feat that comes with more pressure than usual – he will be competing with his old friend/rival, smug private school teacher Gordon Shakespeare (Watkins), to win over the Coventry Telegraph’s harshest critic (Carr), who had previously slammed Mr. Maddens’ attempts in favour of the gloating Mr. Shakespeare’s. If this isn’t enough for Mr. Madden to cope with, the head teacher brings in a loopy teaching assistant to help him along, the intolerable Mr. Poppy (Wootton), whose consistent hyperactivity and irresponsible antics are just too much to bear. The sub-plot is Mr. Maddens’ split from the love of his life, Jennifer (Jenson), which allows Freeman to show us his capability of taking on a lead role. The main entertainment, however, comes from the natural performances of the children, who completely steal the show. Most of them were cast in open auditions around the Midlands – it is certainly refreshing to see a location other than London being used for a British film, with Nativity being filmed and set in Coventry. There are a couple of tearjerker moments, although these are outweighed by the humour and general feel-good dynamic of the film. Absolutely adorable, hilarious and heartwarming, this is a 100% cheesy Christmas film which should ensure that you leave the cinema feeling full of festive spirit. Melanie Ward

Check out more film reviews on www.platform-online.net

| Nottingham Trent Students Union Magazine

Classic Film Reviews Moonwalker (PG)

Directed by: Jerry Kramer Starring: Michael Jackson, Joe Pesci, Kelli Parker, Sean Lennon Released: 26th December 1988 “A movie like no other” Join the King of Pop, Rock and Soul as he takes us into another world where shooting stars make wishes come true, good conquers evil and children can body-pop.

A Hard Day’s Night (PG)

Directed by: Richard Lester Starring: Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Wilfrid Brambell Released: 6th July 1964

Moonwalker follows Michael as he and three children are being chased by badman Mr. Big (Pesci) after discovering his plan to make every kid in the world take drugs. Michael must now protect himself and the children of the world in this short yet fast-paced fun film.

This wonderful rock’n’roll comedy adventure take us through a ‘typical’ day in the life of the Beatles in which they travel to London to perform a gig. As is the case with most Swinging London films, all does not go to plan and there are many hilarious hiccups along the way.

Ghost (12)

What makes this film unique however, is the music performances that will transport you back to the sixties and have you reaching for your beehives and mini-skirts (maybe not the guys.)

Walking back from a night out, lovers Sam (Swayze) and Molly (Moore) are attacked with Sam being brutally murdered. But he becomes a ghost – crossing the great divide to say goodbye to Molly and to protect her from the man who caused his death. He enlists the help of psychic Oda (Goldberg) who provides the bulk of the laughs - shocked to find that her psychic act isn’t an act at all.

The boy’s personalities really shine through in this film and with witty one-liners, iconic music and a crazy, scary Granddad (Brambell), A Hard Day’s Night is an absolute classic that will have you laughing and singing. Becky Elizabeth Wojturska

The scene in which Moore and Swayze get all sensual over a spot of pottery to The Righteous Brothers’ Unchained Melody, is one of the most iconic rom-com scenes of all time but what makes Ghost so successful is that it isn’t ‘just’ a romantic comedy. With a stellar cast and a top soundtrack, Ghost is a romping rom-com come crime thriller come sci-fi adventure; and it is its multi-faceted nature which makes it so watchable (again and again). Fraser Wilson

Directed by: Jerry Zucker Starring: Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg Released: 5th October 1990

Do not be fooled into thinking that this is a film just for the kids; Moonwalker starts with a musical biography of Michael’s career and the film itself contains the music videos for ‘Leave Me Alone’, ‘Come Together’ and the legendary full-length version of ‘Smooth Criminal’ (which with its unbeatable and artistic choreography is reason enough to watch the film.) With animation, cars, robots and spaceships this heartwarming film will bring out the child in all of us. Becky Elizabeth Wojturska

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Film

The Merry Gentleman (TBC)

Directed by: Michael Keaton Starring: Michael Keaton, Kelly MacDonald, Tom Bastounes Released: TBC

he Merry Gentleman is a sombre, melancholy drama focusing on the chance meeting of two solitary individuals who find solace in the company of one another.

We are introduced to the fragile Kate (MacDonald) who has relocated to Chicago to escape her violent husband, meanwhile, Frank Logan (Keaton) is a hitman with a quiet worldweary persona. After some time, Kate meets Frank in a cute, socially-awkward exchange. He is gentlemanly and endearing, whilst MacDonald plays the role of Kate beautifully as a warm, charming young woman; independent yet vulnerable. They grow closer over Christmas and Valentine’s Day – but both being very private individuals, they do not know of the other’s background, which causes an inevitable feeling of discomfort for the audience as policeman, Murcheson (Bastounes), gets closer to discovering Frank’s identity whilst striving to win Kate’s affections. Keaton’s direction does not rely on action or dialogue to carry the film and is not rushed. It takes its time as an unconventional relationship develops between Frank and Kate. This is not a love story as such, but combines subtle comedy with overall drama and hints of suspense, crime and romance. The intentional slow-pacing of the film may not be to everyone’s taste, but it makes for a sophisticated and touching story that is at least refreshing for a Hollywood film. Melanie Ward

| Nottingham Trent Students Union Magazine

Check out more reviews on www.platform-online.net

Law Abiding Citizen (18)

Directed by: F. Gary Gray Starring: Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx Released: 27th November 2009 “It’s better to get some justice then no justice at all” This is the statement by-the-books lawyer Nick Rice (Foxx) lives by, believing it better to play it safe than to take a risk and possibly lower his crime-punishment percentage. But this is tested when his newest client Clyde Shelton (Butler), after witnessing his wife and daughter being brutally murdered, puts his faith in the law system to deliver justice. Nick plays it safe but manages to only get one of the murderers on death row whilst the other man goes free after a short sentence. Ten years later, the two murderers have been brutally murdered themselves, and it appears that Shelton has decided to take the law into his own hands. After being arrested the murdering continues with Shelton’s vengeance now threatening everyone involved in his families’ case that let mercy overrule justice and also the whole legal system. The only problem is, Shelton is already locked up whilst the killing continues. Every seemingly random move he makes is orchestrated to perfection and as more people die the less time Nick has to find out how Shelton is doing it and to stop him before he kills him or worse, his family. This film has the works; car explosions, bombs and a fast-paced thrilling storyline that makes it an unforgettable action film. It also has many touching moments that at times allow you to sympathise with Shelton, making this a film that will have you thinking, laughing and jumping. Becky Elizabeth Wojturska

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Union News & Events

Student Parents H

ello everyone, my name is Rebecca O’Reilly and I am the NTU student parent officer, I started a BA (Hons) in Health and Social Care in 2007, when my little boy was 9 months old and it was a challenge to say the least, but we knuckled down and when we mastered a routine and sorted out the right childcare that year, the second year flew by. I now go into my third and final year with my second baby due in March 2010, being pregnant at university can sometimes be very tiring and very lonely but with help from the students union, course tutors and other students, I’m sure this year will be as good as the rest. Within NTU there is an unknown number of student parents and what seems like a support system that is part time and unpractical - I and the students union are keen to change this in order to ensure student parents are more informed and supported. Being a student parent itself can be tough at times; there is no extra help or extended deadlines, so imagine doing everything

an average student does now, but with a child involved. My children are my main motivation for being here but sometimes everyone needs a little extra help, whether that means talking though your childcare options, ensuring you’re getting all the financial help you’re entitled to, applying for extra time or even something as simple as just having a coffee and a chat with other student parents - the chances are that all of us are finding the same difficulties. So whether you’re in your first, second or third year, please do not hesitate to get in contact with me or the Students Union to make your university experience a little easier. We are also looking to start a student parent group in order to find out what issues are affecting us. Rebecca O’Reilly All student parents are invited to Byron House Refectory on City Campus on Tuesday 15th December at 11-1 pm for the chance to get together and have a coffee and a chat with other student parents. If you would like to know more and are interested in coming along for a coffee and chat then please email Rebecca at N0190141@ntu.ac.uk, or Ruth.Cannavan@su.ntu. ac.uk for more information.

World Record Attempt @ NTU On Saturday 5th December, between 11 and 12, the BBC will be asking audiences across the UK to do one thing for nature by planting a tree at their local breathing place. We might even break a Guinness World Record or two, for the most number of trees planted across the UK within one hour. But we need your help to make this happen! Are you up for a challenge? To book a place, or to find out what other one day challenges initi8 have on offer this year contact: jennie.mann@su.ntu.ac.uk

| Nottingham Trent Students Union Magazine

Free Stride Training & Development Sessions on offer in December: Sessions @ City: Boosting Your Potential Programme: Exam Techniques - Tues 1st December 4-6pm Building Your CV - Tues 8th December 4-6pm Business Management and Leadership Programme: Managing Projects - Wed 2nd December 3-5pm Perfect Public Speaking - Wed 9th December 3-5pm

Sessions @ Clifton: Boosting Your Potential Programme: Exam Techniques - Wed 2nd December 2-4pm Building Your CV - Wed 9th December 2-4pm For more info and to book a place go to www.trentstudents.org/stride

NTSU Entertainments this month: Climax @ City - Every Saturday during term time (9:30pm)

Double Vision @ Clifton - Every Friday during term time (9:30pm)

Assault @ The Pulse â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Fortnightly Fridays during term time - Dec 11th (9:30pm)

Tone Club @ The Pulse â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Fortnightly Fridays during term time - Dec 4th (8pm)

Giggle @ The Point - Mon Dec 7th (8pm)

Kinki Christmas @ Ocean - Mon Dec 14th (9:30pm)

Last Day of Term @ NTSU (City) - Fri Dec 18th (midday-3am) Photo: Daniel Iley

See www.trentstudents.org for more info www.platform-online.net |

Photos Jack Penate @ NTSU 25.10.09 Photos: Patrick Taylor

| Nottingham Trent Students Union Magazine

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Arts

Welcome: Nottingham Contemporary | Wanted: Zeitgeist. Apply within.

Edited by Alexander Britton | arts@platform-online.net

Nottingham

Contemporary The opening of Nottingham Contemporary is one of the biggest cultural events to take place in the city for over 40 years. Alexander Britton goes to see if the hype is justified. Photos by Jasmyn Decuypen & Stefan Ebelewicz

| Nottingham Trent Students Union Magazine

ottingham has always marketed itself as a city with potential and, with the opening of one of the largest contemporary art galleries in the country, this potential is finally being realised: Nottingham Contemporary is a space worthy of hosting some of the world’s finest contemporary art. Viewed from a distance, it seems that the lurid green walls are temporary hoardings, yet it is only when the building is up close that the workmanship involved can be appreciated. The giant lace patterns that adorn the building’s cladding suggest a desire to acknowledge Lace Market’s past, rather than attempt to place a beacon of modernity in an area steeped in history. Like or loathe the colour – one critic claimed that it resembled a packet of Benson and Hedges – the building clearly exudes ambition, and with an opening program featuring David Hockney and Frances Stark, the aspiration to create a world-class setting for world-class contemporary art is clear. The automatic doors slide noisily as the interior of the building is revealed. Comparisons with the Angel Row Gallery are obvious yet necessary. The inadequacies of the former home for contemporary art in Nottingham become all the more apparent when compared with the new setting. At times, the Angel Row Gallery felt like a school sports hall hammered into shape to fit the needs of ‘culture’.

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Arts

In contrast, Nottingham Contemporary clearly takes influence from the artists that exhibited in warehouses throughout the latter part of the 20th Century, most notably in New York and Berlin. The galleries themselves walk along this tightrope of industrial grittiness and contemporary gilding, but not in an unsettling manner. The art remains the focal point of each room rather than being there to decorate the architecture, with colour used sparingly but effectively in the building’s interior.

The overwhelming feeling of Nottingham Contemporary is one of openness, with large windows along the building’s façade allowing passersby on street level to peer into the galleries. Upon exploring the lower floors of the building, it is clear how well the space has been used. One of the architects, Adam Caruso, pointed out that, “The close relationship between the interior of the building and the topography of the land means that the character of Nottingham Contemporary has emerged from the site.” The sandstone cliff that creates the hill of Fletcher Gate has been carved into, which creates the rather unsettling effect of still being at ground level even following a descent of two flights of stairs. On the lowest floor – for ‘ground floor’ would be a misnomer – lies ‘The Space’. This prosaic name is somewhat fitting; the area currently hosts a cinema screen, but with a temporary stage lying behind and seating available, the possibilities of this area are numerous. The site, one steeped in history, having formerly been a Saxon fort, a medieval Town Hall and a Victorian railway cutting, is now host to one of the most important cultural sites in Nottingham. Nottingham Contemporary was a massively ambitious project, but one that was almost necessary; the city was yearning for a space to display some of the finest modern art. The project has been a long time coming, and as long as the programme continues in the vein in which it has started, there is no reason why Nottingham Contemporary cannot be the success that it promises to be.

| Nottingham Trent Students Union Magazine

he recent opening of Nottingham Contemporary in the city centre marks a great day, as Nottingham shows its potential. Each of us choose to live in this city, and our city of choice is modest in its beauty. It has hidden gems in the nooks and crannies around the Lace Market and beyond, and the new art gallery does not betray this trait. Nottingham Contemporary is a perfect example of this, in fact – its asbestos, half built look is a shroud for what is within. As you approach the entrance, you will notice a distinctive but subtle floral pattern emerge from the concrete cylindrical spaces over the doorway – a noticeable detail, with an intent noticeable to any person, despite his or her knowledge of art and design. Personally, I am unfamiliar with modern art – I might even go as far as to say I dislike it. But Nottingham Contemporary was able to tell me that the beauty lies in the details, and this was the mind with which I entered the gallery. In the various pieces of work by Frances Stark and David Hockney on display, even an art ‘know-nothing’ can find something pleasing, some hidden beauty. For instance, the American, Stark, had delivered a great many pieces from her own collection – an idea I liked the sound of. It is also easy to notice the vast lengths of time spent on each piece, despite its simplistic nature or apparent lack of planning. But the details, they hold every thing – whether a sentence is written over and over in perfect symmetry or a piece of paper is cut out only to be stuck in place again. To an art buff these probably have some fantastically profound intentions but to me they at least show devotion to the art, if nothing else.

I need not even bother to mention Hockney – we all know he’s amazing, of course. So to wrap up, Nottingham Contemporary is a modest and attractive space, a feather in the city’s cap and it will prove its worth in no time. As well as gallery space, Nottingham Contemporary offers facilities for art cinema, and regular discussions on the work and other events. I think it’s going to be hard for you art-folk to avoid. Nick Charity

s much as people – myself included – love to revel in the failure of a multi-million pound venture funded by the taxpayer, Nottingham Contemporary is genuinely a big fat success. You don’t feel like you’re in humble Nottingham anymore – where Broadway cinema is as close as you get to high culture – but in London, New York or Paris. It’s a ‘proper’ art gallery. And for the philistines out there, the café and toilets are pretty damn good too. While modern art may not be for everyone – like the couple loudly berating the first Frances Stark collage they came across (“I could knock that up in an afternoon” “Yeah, it looks like a 5-year-old did it”) or the actual 5-year-old who felt that one of Hockney’s most valuable works could be best appreciated with his grubby little hand – the fact that it’s free and it’s here should be celebrated. So pop in on your lunch hour or do Stark one weekend and Hockney the next or take your Mum next time she comes to visit. Assuming that the Speedo clad duo strolling among the visitors were hired by the gallery (and not just exhibitionists), they weren’t the best way to bring Hockney’s California paintings to life. Both the Stark and Hockney collections were so good, however, they could not be detracted from. And, if director Alex Farquharson is as capable as he seems to be (he was interviewed for BBC2’s The Culture Show) then Nottingham’s journey through contemporary art looks in safe hands, after a thoroughly auspicious start. And my personal highlight? Finding out that Hockney had a major thing for Cliff Richard. Frazer Wilson

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Arts

Wanted: Zeitgeist. Apply within. By Alexander Britton

t seems somewhat wrong to write the eulogy for the past decade before it has finished. Yet, as the unrelenting stream of days continues to lead us toward the ‘Tens’, it seems only right that the spirits of the previous ten years are evoked and held up to scrutiny. How will we view this decade in the future? It isn’t certain. Perhaps the past decade will be seen as one of great artistic ineptitude. Or, perhaps this decade will be seen as the founding stone upon which a century of creative genius shall be built. We cannot be sure; such is the dilemma of attempting to analyse the wave whilst riding upon the crest of it.

The evocation of previous decades lead our minds to drawing a thousand images, the Sixties with their excess and flamboyance, the Eighties and the emergence of the MTV generation, and the Nineties with their retrospective glances to previous decades. The art produced during these times was, in most cases, a fair and accurate representation of the times: Warhol with his embracing of brand culture within his work stood up awkwardly against the ‘protest’ folk of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, yet both were prevalent feelings at the time. In short, therefore, the 60s can be summed up – somewhat simplistically – by these two opposing positions in art: acceptance of, and protest against, modern living. What, then, of the ‘Noughties’? This decade has seen events that have radically altered our perspective of the world, to the extent that any sense of cultural hegemony that increased globalisation promised was extinguished as soon as nineteen ‘martyrs’ climbed aboard planes on that fateful day in September. However, rather than attempt to resurrect a society that was enshrouded by uncertainty, art seemed to become shy and retiring. In its place, regressive pseudo-art took over, the novels of Dan Brown with the evocation of the Renaissance period, and X-Factor, with a wink back to television talent shows of the 1960s. This love-affair with retrospection has been made possible by the internet. The impact of technology upon the consumption of art cannot be understated. We can consume cultural artefacts from previous decades as easily as we can appreciate contemporary work, and therefore this obsession with retrospection is hardly surprising. Society has become akin to the small boy in a large toy shop: overwhelmed by choice. We are still over-awed at the possibilities of the internet that we haven’t begun to harness its power to progress artistically. “Art is dead. But the student is a necrophiliac. He peeks at the corpse in cinéclubs and theatres, buys its fish fingers from the cultural supermarket,” Vaneigem wrote in 1967, but he could just as easily be writing about contemporary society, with the location of this ‘cultural supermarket’ changed to your home, your office, wherever you want it. Also, the nature of the consumption has changed. In this society where we seek immediate satisfaction, if the art is challenging, complex, or worst of all, true, we vote it off X-Factor style from our minds. Everyone is a critic, or rather; everyone has the potential to be. We link, love, and share if we appreciate something, and deride if we do not. If the portrait of the previous decade that is painted here appears bleak, it’s because, for the most part, it was. Yet, faith must not be lost. The thought that there are no more boundaries to push and that everything has been done before have been banded about for centuries. It is the shock of massive potential that is causing this lull, and once art becomes unstuck from novelty, the past decade will merely be a footnote in the history of the world, but an important one nevertheless.

| Nottingham Trent Students Union Magazine

Fashion

Clothes Show Live 09 | This Winter Explained... | Xmas Party Outfit Ideas | Wishing You a Lush Christmas O Come All Ye Faithful Vintage Fiends...

Edited by Rebecca Uren | fashion@platform-online.net

Fashion Sub-Editor Rebecca Uren

ello everyone, I’d like to introduce myself as the new fashion sub-editor for this academic year 2009- 10. I’m Becca, a second year art and design student studying Fashion Communication and Promotion. As a fashion and shopping obsessed human being, I am going to bring you pages bursting full of gorgeous fashion related articles every edition.

This edition you can read about the amazing Clothes Show Live that is quickly coming upon us, much to my unobtainable excitement, stunning outfit ideas for the Xmas period, and much more genius inspiration as to what to buy friends and family this year that’ll leave them with a smile big enough to rival the Cheshire cat himself. I wish you all a very magical Xmas, and have faith in you all to bring the New Year in with style! Lots of fashion love, Becca. x

Clothes Show Live 09 Celebrating its 21st birthday this December, the Clothes Show Live is predicted to be more explosive than ever before. Taking place from 4th- 9th December at the NEC Birmingham, what better way to kick off the Christmas party season than with a spectacular 6 day fashion and beauty extravaganza? With the launch of a new party themed catwalk showcase in the fashion theatre, complimented with hot male models and dynamic dancers, you’ll be left gasping at the mouth. Experience all the hottest fashion and beauty trends and killer looks for the festive season, shopping from your favourite brands and boutiques at mega discounted prices, to colliding in real life with this year’s amazing celebrity line up. The Clothes Show Live 09 has it all. Head to the blue zone to find that ultra stylish one off piece guaranteed to turn heads and make you the front of attention. Or aim directly to the pink zone to receive head to toe pampering by on hand experts and cosmetic gurus, offering tips on the latest beauty trends and how to master the application for the must have styles for the season. A date for all fashion gurus to scribble in your diary. Rebecca Uren Buy your ticket online from www.clothesshowlive.com.

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Fashion

This winter explained… To help you make the most of the pennies you’ve saved up for your new winter wardrobe, here’s a selection of the main trend-ticking must haves to invest in immediately. By Rebecca Uren

Back to the forties countryside Moving further back from the massive 80’s revival we saw this summer, this 40’s trend couldn’t be more different. A much more modest and grown up fashion, with a utilitarian colour palette, bringing us warm, earthy, grape shades, simple wartime cuts and a longer hemline. Both Luella and Prada gave this trend their own twist, and if these two fashion royalties are supporting the war time look, then who’s to argue?

Cable Cosiness If the colder weather is making you crave something warm and cosy to snuggle up in, then cable knits are your saviours this winter. The bigger the knit, the better, as you watch your frame sink smaller and smaller in this dominant knit. And who’s to complain with that?

Work like they used to (biker boots) Looking like they’ve been through their yester-years, these boots are the main footwear staple pieces to be seen strutting your swagger in day or night. Best worn with the laces loosely undone at the top, pair with snug knitted grey leggings and a check shirt for lectures, and get your legs out in a pair of hot pants shorts for cocktails with friends later on.

Tweedy Treat Tweed is no longer reserved just for the high class women. This winter welcomes a big comeback of tweed, accompanied by a whole new range of exciting ways to wear it. Wear it both for evening glamour, or down for a warm, easy-going day look. Tweeds a perfect way to add some original edge to your look, and you don’t just have to stick to trademark black and white, as coloured tweed, especially vampire red, will have you sitting high on top of the fashion throne this season.

Dynasty Diva Defying the credit crunch, many designers sent out beautiful, decadent collections made up of velvet, quilting, lace and lashes of jewels. D&G dazzled out, summing up the look with bustier dresses, quilted skirts, and puffed out sleeves, all accessorized by many theatrical accessories. Wear the look by either embracing the lampshade silhouette, with a waist clinching/hip rounding dress, complimented with a royal, theatrical curtain tie belt. Or for the not so brave, add a bit of dynasty to your outfit with layers of full-on jewels a magpie would envy.

Animal Magic There’s nothing Bet Lynch about this trend this winter, as pieces spell out A list luxury and glamour all around. From coats to tights, or bags to scarves, leopard print is a roaring must and is definitely hot on trend to be seen wearing. Now appearing in all major high street brands, various different animal prints are on offer for us to relish in choice. Or perhaps you fancy something more different? Then take a rummage through your local vintage shops and see what bargain masterpiece you emerge with.

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Xmas Party Outfit Ideas: By Rebecca Uren

Take your Xmas Saturday night style inspiration from this Alexander Wang lookalike dress – available at ASOS.com, this dress is a sure way to do the designer look on the high street. Team it with emerald blue accessories (all TOPSHOP) to add a punch of colour, and give the fashion pack a run for their money with this killer look.

Blokes, we know how hard it is to pull together a Xmas party outfit without the help of your mum/girlfriend/best mate for that ‘does it look alright?’ advice. So to help you out here’s an unbeatable Xmas ensemble that’s a fail safe way to keep you looking cool and smart in the party season. We’ve teamed M&S cufflinks with Topman straight leg trousers to give the outfit a touch of class, but adding the cheeky colour popping tie to give you that ‘smart/casual’ appeal that will have the ladies ready and waiting under the mistletoe!

I have never really had a need or want to venture into the perfumed world of Lush. I always thought the bath bomb was a bit over rated, they remind me of those Christmas presents from distant relatives and church fate raffle prizes, somehow you never get round to using them but if you do they cause you more stress than relaxation, and all this combined always made me walk on past Lush. So when I was asked to review the Lush Christmas gift boxes, I was expecting a bath bomb bonanza that over loaded my senses for all the wrong reasons. However, what I found was a well thought out Christmas gift for every budget that actually accounts for 50% of Lush’s Christmas sales and I can see why they are so popular. As soon as I entered the store I was hit by the fantastic visual presence of the gift boxes, that can only be described as creating a Santa’s grotto effect on the store. There are stacks, piles, and bundles of wrapped up gift boxes cleverly disguised as Christmas presents and the inner child in me just couldn’t’t

Want all eyes on you this party season? This look is all about glamour – and not for the faint hearted! Staying true to the corset trend is this beautiful Lipsy dress, black and corseted at the top with a deep purple skirting; a perfect alternative to the LBD. Glam this look up to an even higher voltage with sequined and bejewelled shoes and necklace (both Miss Selfridge), not forgetting the party staple clutch (ASOS.COM) that completes the outfit. Who needs a man on your arm when you look this good all by yourself?!

Blokes, want to keep it simple and sweet this season for those Xmas dos’? Look no further than the high street. River Island have a great selection of smart shirts that teamed with Burton Menswear trousers and ties, will magic you from ‘beers with the lads’ to ‘martinis at the bar’.

help but get excited. Overwhelmed with the choice, luckily my Lush assistant was on hand to tend to my every bath bomb need. I really couldn’t’t have deciphered the Lush descriptions without her, I didn’t know whether I needed a “Snow Cake” or a “Candy Cake” or if it would better to go for a “Satsuma Santa” or a “Mr Butterball”. Lush have been so clever to make their gift boxes engaging, witty and overall make the recipient feel very special. Apart from people who don’t have baths I don’t know a single person who wouldn’t beam from ear to ear if they received one of these for Christmas and I am putting it in capitals on my Christmas list.Rosie Coverini

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Fashion

O Come All Ye Faithful Vintage Fiends…

As Christmas approaches upon us, many of us are taking a hammer to our piggy banks to afford presents for our nearest and dearest. If you’re strapped for ideas for your Secret Santa budget, or want to avoid giving your dad the same old pair of novelty socks, why not consider Nottingham’s fruitful offering of vintage shops. As the demand for individual, expressive style has rocketed over the past decade, the vintage scene is now receiving the attentions and recognition it has long deserved. And it’s this time of year that it really comes alight, providing the perfect venue to find unique and inexpensive gifts. We’ve picked out two hidden gems to review, all within a ten minute walk of the City campus.

Kathleen and Lily’s (205 Mansfield Road)

Boasting an impressive collection of 1940s to 1980s fashion, jewellery, home wares, gifts and haberdashery; Kathleen, Lily and their legion of Stitching Bitches (their words not mine) are dedicated to ‘fighting the mundane’. Speaking to Lily, who was duly in the process of nipping in the waist of a 1980s military jacket, she informed “Unless we find something utterly perfect, we re-work and customize everything, even if it’s just altering the length or fit by a few inches’’. From the accessories laid out on offer to us- dominoes brooches, scrabble tile studs, plastic army soldier earrings, Rubik’s cube and Lego necklaces –someone has certainly raided a vintage toy warehouse and created a truly inspired collection of eclectic eccentricities. With a 10% student discount, what more persuading would one need? Best Buy: These stunning brooches (left) are handmade from vintage buttons by contributors ‘Doo Dah and Whatsis Name’; a bargain at just £6.50.

Celia’s Vintage Clothing (66-68 Derby Road)

Don’t be fooled by the terrifying fancy dress masks in the window, if you have the courage to venture within, you will be rewarded with a veritable treasure chest of goodies. Highlights include a great selection of costume jewellery and real leather bags, as well as friendly staff. “We love students,” said a helpful assistant, whom willingly unlocked every cabinet in sight in order to get closer looks. “When you guys are around is when we’re always busiest.” this fabulous 1980’s gold knitted batwing top with sequin cuffs and waistband, and this beautifully-made leather briefcase-style handbag is £18.50; the perfect present for a stylish mummy. Best Buy: This fabulous 1980’s gold knitted batwing top (right) with sequin cuffs and waistband, along with this beautifully-made leather briefcase-style handbag; the perfect present for a stylish mummy. Laura Percival

lways opening up envelopes to be faced with the most hideous designed Xmas card you think you’ve ever seen, and then pretending that it’s actually mega cute and has such a personal touch to you?

Well avoid any of that this month and get down to Topshop to pick up your box of fashion hot Xmas cards Kate Moss would be extremely proud to receive. Described as ‘the most stylish bunny’, Fifi Lapin is collaborating with our most loyal fashion brand, Topshop, to bring us the most original and unique Xmas cards this season. Forget about presents this year, gracing the covers of cards wearing exclusive pieces of Topshop’s Christmas trends, these cards are going to be the only thing seen at the top of wish lists. With profits of the cards going to Topshop’s chosen charities; Fashion Targets Breast Cancer, Age UK, and Teenage Cancer Trust, you’re doing your good deed for charity too. Guaranteed to be a big hit with all. A card you will want to frame, hang and cherish for years, buy your box now and spread some stylish love. Rebecca Uren

| Nottingham Trent Students Union Magazine

Knitting their way to £20,000

With the prospect of having to raise around £20,000 in need to showcase final year knitwear collections later on next year, fourth year Fashion Knitwear students need all your love, help and charitable spirit Trent. Throughout the year they will be organising various fundraising events and are in need of your true Trent support to donate any spare change to help them reach their target. Help the fundraising start of with a bang by getting involved in sponsoring some of the year group in a 24hour knit happening soon. Look out for posters around campuses giving out further information. With shows every year becoming even more creatively organised, it’s a pretty confident statement to say your money will be put to an excellent need. The more you donate, the better the show can become. Let’s make history and make sure this year’s is the best. Rebecca Uren

Food&Drink The Reincarnation of the American Diner | Dotty’s Café | Larder on Goosegate Edited by Molly Woodruff | food@platform-online.net

The Reincarnation of the American Diner

Chrome, big cars with tail fins, and huge jukeboxes are things you probably won’t find in an English pub. But there is a touch of Americana in this one, as William Moor explains. >

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Food & Drink

I sauntered into The Old Angel Inn, somewhere deep within the Lace Market, having heard a great deal about the world’s best burgers that are, apparently, served here, in what seems to be quite an unlikely but fitting venue for such a reputation.

On entering this fine establishment my ears were beaten to a pulp by the blaring hardcore punk blasting from the juke box. My eyes struggling to take in all the intricate tattoos on the bodies of customers and staff alike. Hours of work, and hundreds if not thousands of pounds spent creating masterpieces. With all due respect, this artistry is quite a contrast to the pubs interior. Plain, wooden floor, plain tables, plain seats, band posters blue-tacked to the wall and a couple of homemade chunky wooden tablets that sandwiched the burger menu within – it was these I was here for. I ordered a pint from a tattooed bar maid, with bright green hair, sat down and picked up a menu – a few pages of laminated paper with a list of forty five burgers, enclosed in two pieces of wood that are held together at one end by string. Woah, woah, woah, back right up. Forty five burgers? Are you serious?

I ordered my Metallica Kill ‘em All burger (after much deliberation) with the lady behind it all, Annie Spaziano – A bright orange haired yank, hailing from Providence, Rhode Island. Or south of Boston if that’s easier. “There’s a diner where my brother lives out Seattle way, he lives in the town where Twin Peaks was recorded. It’s all based on this diner where it says a cherry pie and a good cup of coffee.” She begins with the added ‘w’ in coffee. ‘Cwoffee’. Her accent shining through, despite having lived in England for sixteen years. She continues. “They had 65 burgers. I took a picture of me, I’m like ‘this is amazing! Sixty five burgers!’ and I thought ‘that’s so stupid, that’s so ridiculous.’ I was like ‘Shit I got to do this. “McDonalds and Burger King and all those places stole the idea from the diner because the diner is meant like a pub. “Like the way the English pub is here, is where you meet friends and you hang out...the only difference is it’s sad ‘cause there’s no beer. That’s why I like it better here.” She said before emitting her husky laugh. “The family diners and stuff, they died out quite a lot and it’s really horrible to see, ‘cause that’s such a deep cultural American thing, y’know? “It’s still there. Some of, like, the old ones are still, there but a lot of them died out when the fast food chains came in... So fast food: PLERGH.” She swept back her tangerine hair, and let out another husky, enthusiastic laugh. “All that whole burger idea and everything; that was ripped off.”

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combs back her hair with her fingers and chooses her words carefully. “It kinda kills me cos I don’t make as much money cos I’m big on my ingredients. I’ll get there eventually. If I get busy then maybe I’ll start making money.” Despite money seemingly an issue, she isn’t disparaged one bit. “I’ve got to make more menus but I’ll be adding more things like Jacket Potatoes and kinda more English kinda stuff too. I’m gunna do Eggs Benedict for breakfast, and Texas French Toast. Oooh, it’s good. It’s big and fat, y’know? Like Eggy Bread, sort of thing, but it’s like the breads, like, thick. Big hunky chunky, with sausage and eggs and hot maple syrup. Uh, it’s amazing.”

nnie came to England in her mid twenties with a suitcase and a guitar, and worked with horses whilst playing in bands. After that, all she wanted to do was come back.

So she did, and started a gourmet cookie business. When that wasn’t working, she didn’t know what to do. “I came into The Old Angel, sat down, had a pint with Sean (the manager)...” She beamed at me like an excited child. “I had some bunch of cookies and gave them to all the staff here and everything, you know? “I was like ‘What you doing with the kitchen now anyway?’ “He’s like ‘Nothing, we need a new cook and stuff.’ “I just kinda was like ‘Well, I’ll do it’ “He was like ‘Yeah, you wanna do it?’ “I was like ‘Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! I’ll do it. I’ll do the kitchen.’ “And he was like ‘Yeah, alright.’” She pauses, as if amazed at how life turns out. “And that’s how it literally started. And

I’m sat there and just drinkin’ a pint and I’m lookin’ around I was like ‘Yeah this place needs burgers. It just needs burgers.’ She lets out another burst of hysterical laughter and, without breathing for air, begins again. “Then literally that night, I think I woke up at like 3 in the morning, and I was like “SHOOM!” She imitates herself bolting up out of bed, her orange hair flying behind her. “‘Oh my god I’ve got the kitchen to myself it’s my kitchen.’ I just freaked out. I was so excited. I made the whole menu. I spent like 10 hours, like, just the first day just devising. Annie is more than happy to talk about herself and her new business. She’s only been doing it for a few months now and money seems tight, but this doesn’t seem to affect her. “All pubs sell their meals so cheap because it’s cheap, because they get everything frozen and they get everything that’s already premade. I’ve got my reputation and I’ve got my home made food and I’m like... ‘y’know?’” Her food is, as she put it herself: “way more homemade, kinda mom ‘n’ pops style and it’s so much better, so much better.” “This is a bar for younger people.” She

“If I could I’d just do tonnes of stuff but I can’t. I’m trying to think of the burgers as one chunky thing and then I’ll do other stuff like nachos and, y’know? Kinda stuff like that.” She’s the perfect stereotypical example of the American women who I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. She’s open, more than happy to help out in any way she can even if it puts her out, and she’s loving – of everyone and everything. She is 100% percent from the heart, and this comes through forty-five fold in her burgers. So take a step out of the safety of Horn In Hand’s comfy two quid beer and burger, Calvin Harris (Who?), Ugg boot environment. Take a walk to the Lace Market and step into The Old Angel and sample The Reincarnation of the American diner. Take cash, not card, keep an open mind (music wise), be inspired, and eat the best burgers in the best pub. You won’t regret it. Annie can cater for anyone. So if you’re a veggie, vegan, or have a craving for a Jagermeister infused burger, she’ll be more than happy to cater to your needs. In her own words: “If anybody wants to give me a challenge, give me a challenge.” http://www.theoldangel.com/anniesburger-shack.htm

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Food & Drink

Restaurant Review Dotty’s Café

197 Mansfield Road Finding Dotty’s Cafe was like coming home. The welcoming feel of the quant vintage-style tea room hit me as soon as I stepped through the door. Within this treasure chest of teapots and trinkets I could just imagine my own mother setting the table and laying out endless amounts of homemade treats in anticipation of my arrival. Dotty’s Cafe is a feast for the eyes, let alone a ‘blast to a past’ way before my time. As I enter, two prim women wait daintily behind the glass counter in paisley print. I spend time choosing from the selection of fresh herbal tea’s (ranging from lemon verbena to peppermint) all carefully ordered in glass jars on shelves above the counter. I opt for a pot of jasmine and whilst I wait for water to run out the old-canteen urn, My eyes catch sight of an array of

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vegan frosted cupcakes; ‘Lavender hill mob’, ‘Peachy keen’... And undoubtedly I am very keen.

I sit, sipping slowly out of the adorned china teacup, spending as long as I can in the presence of hoarded teapots, china cats, polka-dot coasters and old broken clocks. I hear the waitresses nattering away like gossiping housewives on the table opposite as the radio blares out music.

Lunch at Dotty’s can be hearty and/or healthy. All food is vegetarian with a wide range of vegan options including locally sourced pasties, middle-eastern quinoa and rustic Mediterranean pasta salads, which are all homemade onsite.

I then had the feeling, that at Dotty’s cafe, time really had stood still. Alice Gale-Feeny

A broad bean, garden pea and artichoke salad was my choice; a fresh and light mix of ingredients with an ‘English allotmentgarden’ influence.

Outside seating area. (There are just 5 tables inside so large groups would be unadvisable.)

Alternatively, an American-style veggie cheeseburger with fries and salad (and an endless choice of sauces) was consumed by a trendy couple in the corner. The young woman slurped on a carton of strawberry soya milk- a lactose-free equivalent to a milkshake, and I imagined us all as characters in ‘Grease’ : their next stop, a movie at the ‘drive-in’. Dotty’s has a slightly well-worn feel to its interior, but in a homely sense its imperfectness seems natural and fitting with the casual atmosphere within.

Take away available. Cost (Food): Inexpensive (Prices range from £2 upwards for pasties/wraps/salads, build-your-own sandwiches and Veggie/chilli burgers available.) Cost (Drinks): Cheap (Prices range from £1( pot of tea for one) to £2.25 for a large Mocha (soya available) milkshakes and juices also available.) Opening hours: Mon - Fri 9-5, Sat: 10-5, Closed Sunday’s.

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Food & Drink

Restaurant Review

Larder on Goosegate

Goosegate, Hockley

s I walked up the steps to the entrance of the second floor Larder restaurant I admit I felt a little nervous.

From the street I could see the gorgeous amber glow from the chandeliers and lots of trendy diners sitting in the window looking down on the bustling streets of the very fashionable area of Hockley. Would it be too posh for me? Would my student get-up of a creased, neverironed top and jeans make me stick out like a sore thumb? I can happily say I didn’t.

Once inside my doubts melted away as the warm and cosy atmosphere washed over me. The homely interior and friendly staff made the restaurant so relaxing and cosy while the beautiful chandeliers gave it an elegant yet unpretentious edge. A very attentive waiter took our coats and showed us to our candlelit table where he read us the tantalising list of specials ranging from freshly caught crab to braised lamb shank on a bed of potatoes and spring onions. My friend went for the latter after we had both tucked into a steaming bowl full of butternut squash and goats

cheese soup to start – which, to say I’m not a lover of soup, was to die for. For my main I opted for prime rump steak served with hand cooked chips and seasonal vegetables.

Prices for some of the best seasonal British cuisine you will taste in a long time are acceptable with main meals starting from about £14 and desserts and starters costing around £5.

We both adored our meals and had it not been for the other diners and common decency stopping her I’m sure my friend would have licked the last remaining dribbles of the mouth-watering jus off her plate.

The majority of the food is sourced locally with an extensive list of wines to wash it down with – we chose the Waters Edge Rose which I have to say I am still craving.

When the small but varied dessert menu came round our eyes lit up seeing two of our favourite puddings on there. I had a twist on an old fashioned favourite of raspberry bread and butter pudding while my friend gallantly went for the Belgian chocolate brownie which I would have chosen had it not been for the size of my ever expanding waistline. This quite possibly was the highlight of our meal even if we had to sneak the last remaining bits of brownie into our purses for later (well...it was just too good to leave).

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This is an ideal place for a date or to take your parents when they visit rather than dragging them down your local for pie and chips in front of the football. The setting in the historic grade-two listed building with all its little quirks and beautiful features makes it a restaurant with real charm and character – it truly is worth a visit. Molly Woodruff Special offer on Tuesday through Friday at 6-7pm – 2 courses for £10 and 3 courses for £15. They also offer a Sunday roast with all the trimmings (see menu right) each week - 2 courses for £12.95 and 3 courses for £15.95.

Larder on Goosegate Sunday Lunch Menu:

Starters Butternut Squash & Rosemary Soup with Fresh Goat’s Curd (v) Wild Mushrooms on Toast (v) Warm Salad of Squid, Smoked Bacon & Watercress Pressed ‘Old Spot’ Pork Terrine Isle of Shuna Mussels, Chives, Cider & Cream Slow Cooked Rabbit & Olive Ragu Main Courses Crispy Belly Pork, Cotswold White Chicken Breast or Crown of Red Leg Partridge with Roast Potatoes & Yorkshire Pudding Sea Trout, Parsley Mashed Potato, Shrimp & Saffron Sauce Puy Lentil ‘Shepherd’s Pie’ (v) 7oz Rump Steak, Chips, Leaves & Larder Ketchup All main courses are served with Eden Farms Organic Vegetables Puddings Raspberry Bread & Butter Pudding Lemon Posset with Warm Spiced Autumn Fruits Belgian Chocolate Brownie Caramel Parfait Artisan British Cheeses

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Travel Paris | Israel

Edited by Lucia Miyashita | travel@platform-online.net

Paris

It is pure, undeniable fact. Everyone in the French capital is beautiful, immaculately dressed, and supremely cultured. Lucia Miyashita spent a long weekend in the City of Light.

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Travel

We arrived at our hotel at 11am after flying from East Midlands airport at the ungodly hour of 6.45 in the morning. Despite the beginning of chilly, autumnal weather in England, it seemed unseasonably warm in Paris and I instantly regretted wearing a jumper and leggings (although my boyfriend warned me about this as we left home.. but I hate admitting he’s right). We dumped our suitcases in our room and set off towards Notre Dame, stopping en-route for a re-fuel at a café. After lunch, we wandered around the impressive cathedral, but only through the free bit – we were on budget, and Paris can be bloody expensive. We walked through the Louvre art gallery, with its eclectic mix of traditional and contemporary architecture, and then on to the Jardin des Tuileries. This is Paris’ most central

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garden, connecting the Louvre and the Avenue des ChampsElysees. We walked past locals playing chess games, traditional hidden cafés and couples kissing by the fountains. Yet by the time we reached Champs-Elysees, I realized wearing my £8 Primark pumps was not the most sensible choice as I hobbled along the glamorous street. As the sun began to set, we reached the end of the Avenue marked by the iconic and romantic Arc de Triomphe. Although we searched for a French cuisine restaurant where to dine, we ended up settling for pizza instead. The next day began with an attempt to get our heads round the oh-so-confusing metro system. Eventually, we made it to the Eiffel tower for a picnic on the grass. That was before we were hounded for our leftovers by a group of beggars. So it was

Photos: Lucia Miyashita then a hop, a skip, and jump over the river to the hill-top area of Montmartre. This Parisian artistic district is full of cafés and restaurants and is always bustling with tourists. We dodged our way past street artists offering to paint us portraits and ended up in front of the beautiful Sacre Cour cathedral. Sitting on the steps we watched two men argue over a can of beer. You can’t blame them really – beer costs around 7 pounds a pint in the French capital. That evening we returned to an impressively lit up Eiffel Tower. An hour of queuing and I was facing two of my biggest fears, heights and rickety old lifts. However, as I stepped out of the top lift and saw the lights of the city sprawled out in front of me, I forgot about how high up we were.

On the last day we visited the Pompidou Centre. This building is known for its ‘inside-out’ architecture and is well worth a visit even if you don’t venture round the gallery inside. Instead, as the keen photographer I am, I dragged my boyfriend to a nearby photographic gallery, which proved to be excellent. There was just enough time to scour some of the amazing vintage shops near the Pompidou Centre until I was cruelly dragged away and reminded I had a flight to catch. After three fabulous days in Paris I would definitely recommend a trip to the City of Light.

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Travel

hen I travelled to Israel I had very little knowledge about the place, no more than what I had learnt about it from the news. I knew the basics, and I thought I knew enough. Wrong.

My first encounter in Israel was not a pleasant one. We were stopped at the immigration desk by a woman who bombarded me with questions at five in the morning, asking me why I was entering Israel, who I was planning to see and where I was going to go. Surprisingly, we managed to get through in the end, and as soon as we stepped into the city we melted in a scorching heat of 30 degrees, before the clock had even ticked 6 am.

Israel By Hanne Pollack

We were driven into Jerusalem by an angry Israeli man who was barking random Hebrew phrases into his walkie-talkie phone. Thanks to a sturdy seat belt, we arrived safe and sound, and I settled into my small hostel in the east of the city. This area is predominantly Arab, which proved to be very interesting as the people were in the middle of Ramadan, their Muslim fasting month. One morning, when we were standing outside our hostel having our breakfast of bread and water, a woman started talking to us in Arab. It took us a few minutes to understand what was going on, but it turned out we were rudely enough eating and drinking outside, which was not allowed there. We spent six days with Jerusalem as our base, travelling to other sites such as the Dead Sea, Jericho, Bethlehem, and Hebron. We reached Palestine two days into our trip. Our driver took us to Bethlehem where he introduced us to his family. It was there that I realized the extent of the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. The wall that divides the two places was a giant grey block of cement, put up to protect the two nations from one another. A safety measure, in other words. The city had much to offer. We visited mosques, synagogues, places Jesus had touched and influenced, all of which have now turned into churches. Bumping into religious groups who were out on a pilgrimage became a daily event. We also drove up to the Jordan River, where we met several people waiting in line to be baptized. The Sea of Galilee, where Jesus was said to have walked on water, proved to be an excellent place to sunbathe and swim. From there we moved on to the ancient city of Caesarea, and then on to Tel Aviv and the Mediterranean Sea. Those few days at the beach felt very well earned. After 11 days in Israel, I had to pack my bags and head back to Nottingham. That, however, was easier said than done. After three different security checks where I was body searched, questioned twice, and asked to explain my entire life story, I left Israel with heavier impressions than when I arrived, and with a few heavier souvenirs as well. I will definitely go back someday, and hopefully by then its political situation will have calmed down. Yet without any doubt, Israel is one of the most interesting countries I have ever visited.

| Nottingham Trent Students Union Magazine

Gaming The Live Aid of Games | Culture Fest | Modern Warfare 2 Edited by Aaron Lee | gaming@platform-online.net

SPECIAL REPORT:

The Live Aid of Games

The game industry is now the most profitable entertainment industry worldwide, yet it isn’t known for being the most charitable. That could be set to change thanks to a new charity organisation, OneBigGame. Formed in 2007, OneBigGame aims to improve the lives of children around the world by raising funds for charity. Just as Live Aid raised money for charity by releasing music, OneBigGame will publish a broad range of non-profit games, created pro bono by wellknown names in the games industry.

There are already several games-related charities around, but OneBigGame is drawing on the talents of the development community to create entertaining games with the added benefit of supporting a good cause. A minimum of 80% of all donations to OneBigGame will be going to two major charities - Save the Children and the Starlight Children’s Foundation. Games will be available for a limited exclusivity period, ranging from 4-12 months, with all net earnings of its non-profit releases also going to charity. More than 15 games are currently in development from established developers like Shiny founder David Perry and Revolution Software’s Charles Cecil. At GameCity last month, Masaya Matsuura, president of NanaOn-Sha, revealed WINtA - a new music rhythm game launching for the iPhone next year.

and downloadable platforms. There will also be versions available for mobiles. All participating non-profit games will be published by OneBigGame through its own dedicated games portal. “We hope to be raising money for charity as well as giving the industry something back, namely a number of innovative new titles,” said Martin de Ronde, director of OneBigGame. Aaron Lee

Games will be released for consoles, PC

Show your support for this charity movement at www.onebiggame.org

impressed. Upon first glance, comparisons to Tetris and Lumines are likely, but Chime couldn’t be more different. Placing shapes to construct the music, the action is quick and lends itself to multiple strategies. Easy to get into but hard to master - Chime has the accessibility of a great puzzle game in the making. Plus, all proceeds will be going to charity.

“The driving vision behind Chime has always been to make a good video game... OneBigGame have been a brilliant publisher to work with because they’ve given us the freedom to make the game we absolutely want to make,” said Ste Curran, creative director at Zoë Mode. [Chime will be available on Xbox Live Arcade this winter.]

Chime for Charity OneBigGame’s first non-profit title to be released will be Chime, a puzzle game coming to Xbox Live Arcade this winter. Created by Zoë Mode, it’s a block puzzle game blended with music creation elements, and features contributions from musicians including Moby and Paul Hartnoll (Orbital). Chime tasks players with covering a number of different grids with irregular shapes, each connected to a sound effect from the different music tracks, to form rectangular blocks, called quads. As players slowly cover the grid, they will be building the background music up in a unique way. We recently had the chance to try it out and were more than a little

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Gaming

Cultur L GameCity squared up for a festival of fun. Aaron Lee reports.

ast October students, local residents and game developers from around the world descended on Nottingham’s city centre for GameCity Squared, a five-day festival focusing on the culture, history and people behind video games.

Thousands of people visited the huge tent that was constructed specifically for the event in Market Square, directly in front of the Council House. The GameCity video game festival, which celebrated its fourth year, hosted more public events than ever this year. And all of them were free of charge. Visitors had the chance to check out a bunch of great indie games and an origami tribute to the 1984 video game classic, Elite.

There was also a range of special one-off events, including a live reading (backed by choir) of sci-fi novella, The Dark Wheel, and a live playthrough of the year’s most nature-friendly game, Flower, in the Exchange Arcade. For those wanting a bit more ‘rough n’ tumble’, we trotted along to experience Crysis: Live! - a real life version of the

jungle-roaming first-person shooter, in which you were tasked with recovering a laptop, while a team of blindfolded marines attempted to paintball you in the kneecaps. Needless to say, we didn’t make it to the extraction point.

GameCity welcomed a number of respected guests this year, including Lord Puttnam, who opened the first GameCity in 2006 and Keita Takahashi, creator of Katamari Damacy and Noby Noby Boy.

In possibly the most surprising announcement of the month, it was revealed that Takahashi would be designing a new playground for Nottingham. The area chosen for redevelopment is Woodthorpe Grange Park, just on the edge of the city. At the playground announcement, which was held in the Council House ballroom, Iain Simons, festival director of GameCity, described the early stages of planning. The final version of the playground will be fit for children, grownups, and apparently even dogs. Takahashi was very enthusiastic about including something of a “dog slide” on the land’s natural hillside.

For full coverage of GameCity Squared, including interviews and in-depth reports, visit www.platform-online.net

| Nottingham Trent Students Union Magazine

re Fest Designing a playground is more complicated than it may first appear, especially with all the health and safety planning, but Takahashi feels it’s “not much different from game design.”

There were a few questions about the possibility of a giant Katamari ball showing up, but somehow we don’t think the council would ever agree to such a thing. Whatever the outcome - family fun or canine calamity - a brand new playground designed by a Japanese game guru surely is one of Nottingham’s most ambitious cultural projects to date.

creator and president of NanaOn-Sha, Masaya Matsuura, delivering the BAFTA Vision Statement. More than 120 people filled the ballroom to witness Matsuura’s vision for the future of music games. During his presentation, he explored what part music plays in society and his own life as a musician. Matsuura then unveiled WINtA (War Is Not the Answer), a new music rhythm game in development for the iPhone, and then proceeded to demo it live. WINtA is part of a larger charity initiative called OneBigGame (see previous page). Matsuura hopes that, as music and games continue to evolve, creators will use them as a force for positive expression.

Keita Takahashi – designing a new playground for Nottingham

Across all five days of the festival, visitors had the opportunity to play the recently released Lego Rock Band, culminating in a one-day ‘Brickstock’ festival on Halloween. A stream of would-be rockers wowed the passing crowds with their ostentatious performances, with tracks including Blur’s ‘Song 2’, Katrina & The Waves’ ‘Walking on Sunshine’ and Ray Parker Jr’s ‘Ghostbusters’. With heroic displays of rhythm game excellence and the odd (embarrassingly) sparkly jacket, good times were had by all. But this year’s main attraction had to be PaRappa the Rapper

Closing his talk, Matsuura said, “the future is in our hands, so let’s all do what we can to make it bright.” Bringing yet more exciting events and fascinating speakers to the heart of Nottingham, GameCity reached new heights once again.

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Gaming

Game Review Modern Warfare 2 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)

makes up for it. Not to mention the intel hidden throughout the levels, Achievements, Trophies and the various difficulty settings. On top of all that, this is one game that you will want to play through again and again.

Possibly the most anticipated sequel of all time is finally here. Ever since the 2007 release of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare which set the standard for first-person shooters this generation, raising the bar not only for intense single-player action but for fast and furious multiplayer mayhem - all eyes were on the developers, Infinity Ward, to deliver the sequel.

Now if you thought that was enough, the single-player is just a fraction of what this title has to offer. After the revolution that was COD4’s multiplayer the challenge is on for Modern Warfare 2 to top it. The evolution of that experience is here with perhaps the biggest new feature being customisable kill streaks: Harrier jets, attack helicopters and AC130 gunships are all at your disposal to wreak havoc online.

Publisher: Activision Released: Out Now

For newcomers to the series the setup goes a little like this: Modern Warfare 2 is set in a fictional yet realistic future where the world is engulfed in war and terrorism. Most of the story is told between missions via mission briefings. But the real gut-punch of the storytelling comes from the absolutely stunning set pieces and scripted events, which only get more impressive as the story goes on. The game thrusts you into action packed situations that you could only dream of before panic stricken battlefields, snowmobile chases, covert military operations just waiting to go wrong. Modern Warfare 2 is a thrilling action experience like no other that easily rivals the intensity of a summer blockbuster. There’s barely any time to catch your breath as you experience the twists, turns and downright shocks throughout the single-player campaign. As with the previous instalments in the series, it isn’t the longest campaign, clocking in at around five hours. However, the experience is just so satisfying it

Perks are also back and have evolved. You can now level up your perks. For instance, if you’re using ‘Sleight of Hand’ for faster reloading, and you get a certain amount of kills using that perk you will gain the ‘Sleight of Hand Pro’ perk which offers even faster reloading. Plus, there’s the brand new ‘Death Streak’. As the name implies this is pretty much the opposite of the kill streak. If you die a certain amount of times in a row without getting any kills, you can gain extra health or copy your killer’s perks loadout to even the playing field. So, Modern Warfare 2 lives up to the hype (as if there was ever any doubt). Established, solid shooting mechanics, monolithic set piece events, an engaging single-player campaign, massively deep online multiplayer and thrilling co-op objectives. If you’re a Call of Duty fan or even a fan of action games in general you need this game... right away. Stuart Kent

See reviews for Modern Warfare 2, Forza MotorSport 3, Ratchet & Clank: A Crank in Time and more at www.platform-online.net

| Nottingham Trent Students Union Magazine

Health

Prescription Drugs | Men’s Health | How to cope with a hangover | Freshers Flu or Swine Flu?

Edited by Danielle Almond | health@platform-online.net

Prescription Drugs: The Legally Dangerous Medicine

By Susan Mintern

hen you hear the word ‘drugs’ the likelihood is that illegal substances such as cocaine, heroin, weed, ecstasy or crack are the ones that spring to mind, not prescribed medication such as painkillers, sleeping pills or anti–depressants. The use of this medication is on the increase and is a growing problem here in the UK.

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Health

The recent death of Michael Jackson was caused by Propofol, a strong sedative, amid wider speculation that he was misusing a range of prescription medications for years before his untimely death. The deaths of both Heath Ledger and Anna Nicole Smith were attributed to an accidental overdose of a combination of prescription drugs. Ledger had six different types in his system including the anxiety medications Valium and Xanax, as well as the painkiller Oxycontin (commonly referred to as ‘hillbilly heroin’); while Smith had ingested nine separate kinds, including sleeping medication. DJ AM is another high profile victim, his cause of death being acute intoxication due to the effects of seven prescription medications, one of which was the painkiller Vicodin. Rock star Ozzy Osbourne has spoken publicly of the ease with which he obtained such drugs saying, ‘I was hooked on them pills for a long time and I’d bullshit the doctors to get whatever I wanted. Hotel doctors are easy to bend’. The days of the rich and famous overdosing on whichever street drug was most popular that week have faded into oblivion alongside X Factor’s credibility as a talent competition. Now the stars are dying from drugs that are just as lethal as the previous set, but with one distinct difference – they are legal. However, abuse of legally distributed drugs is not just a celebrity problem but a global one, with addiction to these drugs an issue 10 times bigger than addiction to the illegal variety. So what is fuelling the increase in usage and therefore addiction to these legal drugs? Doctors who readily hand them out to millions of unsuspecting patients are one answer; despite being aware of the acute side effects, this has not changed their attitude to prescribing. So as long as patients trust

their physicians (which they do, without question) they won’t realise either the effects or the long-term damage certain pills can inflict. And the sideeffects can be numerous and frequent. Those associated with tranquillizers and sleeping pills include cognitive impairment, cross addictions to other drugs, and they can also create issues with anxiety and depression, not solve them as they are advertised to do. The other reason behind the growing addictions is, invariably, profit.

wolf in sheep’s clothing? It is big business, so much so that more is spent on marketing and promotion of drugs by the pharmaceutical companies than on research and development i.e. checking that what they are peddling to the public is safe. Anti-depressants such as Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Luvox, Wellbutrin and Effexor and others with similar alien-sounding names rake in the chips for these companies with worldwide sales in the billions of pounds.

The prescription drugs industry is worth a staggering £400 billion globally with American sales accounting for half of that figure; incidentally, in the US these types of drugs account for more deaths than either cancer or road accidents. But why should that matter when the pseudo-scientists in suits are getting generations of clueless citizens hooked on the medicinal

As with so many things, America has set a precedent with the level of distribution of this medication, which the UK looks set to follow. The total number of prescription items dispensed in England increased by nearly two thirds between 1998 and 2008, and the number of such items supplied in England during 2008 increased by 5.8 percent from 2007. Anti-

| Nottingham Trent Students Union Magazine

depressants are a particular cause for concern, considering theirusage has risen by 10% annually over the past four years. The NHS issued an estimated 31 million scripts for Prozac in 2006, and 1.5 million people in England are thought to have become unknowingly addicted to Valium and other tranquilisers. There are, of course, people that take them to get high on a night out, fully aware of their emotional effects. Professor Heather Ashton of Newcastle Uni says tranquilisers ‘are now taken illicitly in high doses by 90% of drug abusers worldwide’ and so are part of the party drug scene. The time frame in which a person can become reliant on sleeping medication is very small, it is only 2-4 weeks and then adverse effects and withdrawal kick in. 60% of patients report these symptoms. Joan Gadsby, a former prescription drug addict and now an author, lecturer and public

speaker on the dangers of this medication, explains that, ‘Prescription drug addiction to benzodiazepines (tranquilizers and sleeping pills) is far more gripping and debilitating than addiction to heroin or cocaine. Withdrawal is recognized to be more difficult, more prolonged and can last months or years depending on the years of use, dosage and the concurrent prescribing with other drugs.’ Then there is the issue of access to the pills for the addict or unwary customer. A doctor is soon rendered redundant when you discover that typing ‘prescription drugs to buy’ into Google yields over 7 million results. There is little to no monitoring of online pharmacies or suppliers, a lack of regulation that can have serious repercussions for those buying in bulk. Although there are hundreds of thousands of sites advising you how to buy prescription

drugs safely online and to apparently ensure that what you order is definitely the same as what you receive, the fact that such potentially harmful drugs are so easily available to buy over the internet, without a prescription, is extremely disturbing in itself. This danger was further established after a 22 year old girl died last year from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs she bought online. Amy Elizabeth Pain hoped they would treat her insomnia and period pain but failed to realise how low of a dosage was harmful. The coroner in the case, David Bowen, expressed his alarm saying, ‘I am concerned at the evidence I have heard at the apparent ease that drugs... can be obtained by the internet.’ With regards to students visiting their GP complaining of stress, anxiety or low moods due to a heavy uni workload, I can say from personal experience that it pays to do your research. My GP wanted to put me on the anti-depressant Seroxat for my mild stress levels a couple of years ago, and had I not looked it up online and discovered that there were serious concerns that it was extremely addictive even in small doses, such as the one I was prescribed, I might well have started to take it and suffered the consequences. Knowledge is definitely power in this instance so ensure you know the facts about what you are being prescribed.

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Health

Men’s Health

Top 5 Temptations: Food Whether it’s a dirty kebab after a big night out, a cheeky pack of Pringles on a quiet Thursday evening, or just an outrageous addiction to Jaffa cakes, we all have our weaknesses when it comes to food. Some more than others perhaps, but even the healthiest of us out there still have those foods that make us weak at the knees. Tom: A keen rower who represents Trent at a high level in the sport. Tom is the club’s social sec, and a self confessed health and gym freak to boot. Top 5 Temptations: Chocolate, Pizza, Chips and Pitta, Chinese, Ocean Burgers Ed: Mr Trent Rugby. Ed takes no prisoners on the pitch and is just as ruthless with his eating habits. Well most of the time. Top 5 Temptations: Pizza, Maltesers (2 bags each cinema visit), Cheese, Ben & Jerry’s, Chinese buffet Pete: Describing himself as a ‘natural athlete’, Pete likes to think that he takes care of himself and his body through what he eats. Top 5 Temptations: Kit-Kat Chunky – Peanut, Sausage Rolls, IKEA Meatballs, Dominoes, Jaffa Cakes

Let’s hear it for the boys. Matt Proudfoot takes us through his top health tips specifically for men.

Some Alternatives: Chinese - Home-made Stir Fry: All it takes is to buy some noodles, some stir fry veg, some meat and a low fat stir fry sauce for a quick, easy and delicious meal. Turkey is cheaper than chicken and just as good, and quorn is a great alternative as it is cheap, high in protein and low in fat. Chips and Pitta - Tuna Pitta: Eating after a night out is not great in massive quantities as there is no time to burn it off before bed. However it is very useful to mop up all that alcohol, so replace chips with tuna and have a healthy, high protein snack before getting under the covers. Pizza – Pitta Pizza: Pitta bread, tomato puree, cheese, topping. Don’t knock it before you’ve tried it. Maltesers - Popcorn: Popcorn isn’t actually that bad for you at the cinema as long as it’s not coated in too much salt or sugar. Ocean Burger – NO OCEAN BURGER IS THE ONLY ALTERNATIVE TO THIS TREAT.

Know Your Calories 1060

The number of calories found in a 715g Tesco Korma Curry sauce – that would take a 3 HOUR swim to burn off, and that’s just the sauce. Curry sauces like this one are used by many of us and can be deceptive due to the number of calories per 1/5 of the jar that is written in small print on the front. They are also filled with saturated fat, sugar and salt – so use curry powder and add your own flavours to have yourself a healthier korma and not feel so bad about those 3 poppadoms beforehand.

907

The number of calories that can be found in a regular pot of Pringles, that’s the equivalent to 7 packets of regular Walker’s crisps. Pringles are enough to tempt any of us and for those who aren’t bothered about the calories then the saturated fat and salt levels found in a full pot should make you put it down before you get to the bottom.

220

The number of calories found in a regular VK – so just 4 on a Wednesday night amounts to a full roast dinner. If this is an all too familiar sight for you (perhaps with a straw bent round the top) then spare a thought before you next guzzle one down to the sheer amount of sugar that they contain.

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GYM TIPS Muscle of the Month - Obliques We’ve all seen Brad Pitt in Fight Club and we all want to look like that. Our side abs muscles are also known as obliques, and below is the perfect gym free exercise to train them. Lie on your back, with your legs raised directly over your hips. Your knees should be slightly bent. Place your hands at your sides with the palms down. Use your lower abs to raise your hips off the floor and toward your rib cage, elevating your feet straight up. Simultaneously twist your hips to the right. Hold, then return to the starting position. Repeat, twisting to the left. Do 10 repetitions to each side.

Freshers Flu or Swine Flu?

s students, with our new found daily party lives, we are more likely to be hit by colds and the flu which we have dubbed ‘Freshers Flu’. Never the less it is very important that you look out for the symptoms and prepare yourself. Swine flu or the H1N1 virus, has some of you will know, has the same symptoms as the common flu you get around this time of the year, such as:

How to cope with a hangover... To best cope with your hangover obviously you know that you could just avoid it altogether, but to some that clearly won’t even come into consideration and wouldn’t be much fun at all. So what’s the best way to carry on drinking all night long and wake up feeling relatively headache-free with at least the ability to make it to your lecture? Ever noticed how alcohol makes you need the toilet a lot more? This isn’t just because you’re drinking more than normal, but because your body is trying to flush out the poison. This means that your body becomes dehydrated and needs more water to go to those vital organs, such as the brain, which will punish you for ignoring it in the morning with a monster headache if you don’t. The easiest technique to combat this is to drink water in between your alcoholic drinks. No, it’s won’t feel the same as downing consecutive Sambuca shots, but it will taste nicer and make the next day a bit more bearable. Another great tip is to eat before you drink. This food, especially fatty food, will help to soak up the alcohol so that it takes longer for it to enter your bloodstream. Take care here though because it does mean that you won’t get drunk as quickly so don’t just drink more to compensate for this. As well as preventing hangovers, the right type of food can also become helpful in curing them. Eggs are the miracle cure the morning after the night before because they contain a chemical called cysteine which breaks down the toxins in your body that caused the hangover. Also, eating fruits like bananas, or even toast, is essential because they contain sugar which will help to boost your energy levels. If all else fails however, I implore you not to fall into the trap of the ‘hair of the dog’ myth. The idea that if you keep on drinking you won’t have to deal with a hangover is clearly untrue. You will only be postponing what will become an even worse hangover. Always remember that prevention is better than cure. So enjoy your night out, take the advice given here and drink responsibly. Deb Hayes

• A runny nose • Coughs • Sneezing • Loss of appetite • Aching muscles • Fever • A sore throat • Tiredness If you do think you have Swine Flu, the only way to be sure is to get it checked out. Don’t just diagnose yourself and then immediately prescribe a week off lectures. Just because you have a runny nose, or a sore throat doesn’t necessarily mean that you have swine flu, that queue outside the club last week wearing just a tank top and some Trent army shorts could have also had something to do with your symptoms as well as all that screaming and yelling over the loud music. If you do think you have swine flu this is the government issued information that can help you to put your worrying minds at ease. If you haven’t already you should go and register with a GP in Nottingham or on your university campus, this makes it quicker and easier for a clinic to see and help you if you ever get sick. There are also websites that you can go to if you have any questions about Swine Flu because they won’t let you into the doctor, walk in centre or hospital if you suspect you have Swine Flu, it’s a pandemic don’t you know? www.direct.gov.uk has an Pandemic Flu information section on the website that gives you details and helpful advice on what to if you suspect you have swine flu. You can also have you symptoms assessed on the website or you can call 0800 151 3100. Alternatively you could also visit the NHS direct website, www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk, or call 0845 4647. You can also visit the NTU website (www.ntu.ac.uk) to find out more about what NTU is doing to help protect its students against the H1N1 virus. Remember to catch it, bin it, kill it. Protect others by protecting yourself. Kennie Morrison