Redbrick. Est 1936
Print. Digital. Mobile.
22nd-28th February 2013 Vol. 77. Issue 1427. www.redbrick.me
Simon Furse condemned over open day protest motion
NEWS // PAGE 3
Exclusive Interview by Aqib Khan Private First-Class Justin Watt - the Iraq veteran responsible for exposing the rape and murder of Abeer Qassim Hamza by US soldiers '...the men we had lost were now dishonoured. I felt betrayed, disgusted, ashamed...' COMMENT // PAGE 6-7 Keep up to date with all of the latest Election coverage online at www.guildelections.co.uk
Megan Jones on the controversies surrounding the 'Best Picture' Oscar
Beth Coveney and Josh Holder investigate NME's Awards tour in Brum
#guildelections13 A collaborative project with Redbrick, Guild TV and Burn FM.
FILM // PAGE 27
MUSIC // PAGE 22
2 | 22nd - 28th February 2013
Compiled by Christopher Pembridge Weather by Hannah Findley
@RedbrickNews NATIONAL
EUROPE
Jury discharged in Vicky Pryce trial
Greece hit by more strikes over austerity measures
Vicky Pryce, the ex-wife of the cabinet minister Chris Huhne, faces retrial next week after a jury failed to reach a verdict, described by the judge as ‘absolutely fundamental deficits in understanding’. She is accused of taking speeding points for her then husband.
ENTERTAINMENT
Emeli Sande honoured at Wednesday's Brit Awards SCIENCE
ASIA
Contact to International Space Station lost
Syrian capital struck by car bomb explosion
At around 1445 GMT on Tuesday, NASA lost contact with the International Space Station after data relay systems broke down. The crew were later able to contact Earth via Russian ground systems whilst attempts were made to reconnect with controllers in Houston.
STORY OF THE WEEK
Oscar Pistorious bail hearing continues Details have been emerging of the night South African paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorious shot his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at his bail hearing. If denied bail, he could face months in prison before the full trial begins. 12 noon Saturday
EUROPE
WEATHER
$50m diamond heist at Brussels Airport
More cold weather on way for Birmingham
Around $50million worth of diamonds were stolen in an armed robbery on Tuesday from Brussels airport. The thieves disguised themselves as police officers in order to gain access to a Swiss bound aircraft. No shots were fired during the raid.
Saturday will be very cold and breezy, with a risk of snow during the day. Highs of 2ºc will feel more like -2ºc. Sunday should be cold but dry, highs of 3ºc. The colder, cloudy weather will continue into the beginning of next week, but the chance of rain is low.
Redbrick Editorial Editor Raphael Sheridan
Marketing Manager Eimear Luddy
Deputy Editors Lexie Wilson Owen Earwicker
marketing@redbrick.me
Digital Editor Chris Hutchinson Art Director Alexander Blanchard Photography Editors Anna Kirk Charlotte Wilson photography @redbrick.me
Music Editors Lily Blacksell Jonathon Milnes Josh Holder
Travel Editors Chloe Osborne Zara Sekhavati Will Spence
music@redbrick.me
travel@redbrick.me
News Editors Patrick McGhee Ashley Kirk Zahra Damji Beth Clarke
Television Editors Charlotte Goodwin Russell Webb Abigail Salter
Food Editors Izzy Gibbin Jemima Lovatt Gemma Bridge Lynette Dakin
news@redbrick.me
tv@redbrick.me
food@redbrick.me
Film Editors Natasha Lavender Aisha Bushby Josh Taylor
Science & Technology Editors Sam Atkins Andrew Spencer Tom Rich
Comment Editors Daniel Baird Elisha Owen James Dolton
film@redbrick.me
comment@redbrick.me
technology@redbrick.me
Multimedia Editors Molly Garfoot Matthew Hewson Max Powley
Arts Editors James Kinsey Rebekah McDermott Jenna Clake
Life&Style Editors Lucy Whife Megan Nisbet Megan Jones
Sport Editors Tim Pearson Felix Keith Matt Clark
multimedia@redbrick.me
arts@redbrick.me
lifestyle@redbrick.me
sports@redbrick.me
Junior Art Directors Lauren Wheatley Akhil Kothari Anita Baumgärtner Julia Jablonska
Proofreaders Naomi Baldwin Louise Curry Hannah Dove Lucy Haffenden Emily Hickey-Mason Ashley Kirk Megan Kissane Senior Editorial Rebecca Mee Assistant Bethany Prottey Isabel Mason Amy Saul Faye Simpson Sophie Tollet Emily Trivette Editorial Assistants Elizabeth Waind George Bearman Hannah Coates Alicea Francis Ellie Jarvis Ravina Khela Hannah Mason Ella Parsons Francesca Seabourne Ellie Smallwood Charley Ross
ASIA
Cameron visits India to forge closer ties
Redbrick Guild of Students Edgbaston Park Road Birmingham B15 2TT 0121 251 2462 editor@redbrick.me Redbrick is printed through www.mortonsprint.com 01507 523 456 Advertising Contact Linda Langley in Guild Marketing on 0121 251 2524 Designed and typeset by Redbrick Copyright (C) Redbrick 2013 The views expressed in Redbrick do not necessarily reflect those of the editors, the Guild or the publishers. If you find an error of fact in our pages, please write to the Editor. Our policy is to correct mistakes promptly in print and to apologise where appropriate. We reserve the right to edit any article, letter or email submitted for publication.
Education. Student ambassadors condemn VPE's protest motion
Will Siddons @WSiddons
www.redbrick.me/news | 3
Ashley Kirk News Editor
@AshleyKirk92
Simon Furse, Vice-President (Education) at the Guild of Students, has this week come under criticism from Student Ambassadors at the University of Birmingham. A letter, currently signed by over thirty students, was given to the VPE on Monday, regarding his motion 9K (Action), submitted to the next Guild Council. It states, ‘I urge you to submit an amendment to your motion to remove “disrupting university Open Days” as an example of possible action and such an amendment was submitted to your motion at the last Guild Council.’ Many Student Ambassadors at the University have reported that their job has been made harder by protests specifically designed to disrupt open days in the past. There is concern that this motion will see such disruption becoming more common in the future. The letter goes on to urge Furse to remove the specific targeting of open days, arguing that, ‘the University employs a number of student ambassadors to work on Open Days and disrupting such days may compromise student ambassadors who morally support and endorse the action but who may be asked to ignore it. ‘The Guild should not be placing students who it is supposed to protect and represent insuch a difficult position and am asking that you give serious consideration to submitting the aforementioned amendment.’ At the time of printing, there were 30 signatories to the letter, including Sandhya Trott (Women’s Open Place Guild Councillor) and Ollie Cosentino (Vice President of Activities & Development). Sandhya Trott, Ambassador, Guild Councillor and coordinator of the letter, told Redbrick, ‘It's disappointing that our VPE, who was elected to represent students regardless of whether or not he agreed with them, is continuing to overlook the fact that many students feel that the motion will compromise them in their role as Student Ambassadors. ‘Instead, he is deciding to shrug it off, on more than one occasion, by saying that he “doesn't un-
derstand the point.” The Guild is designed to represent and protect students; including this clause in the motion will put students, who may actually agree with the action in principle, in a very difficult situation - those very students the Guild is meant to represent and protect from such situations.’ Dear Simon, I am writing to you in regards to motion 9K (Action) which you have submitted for the forthcoming Guild Council. Whilst you make a number of valid points in your motion and I agree with the premise of it, I urge you to submit an amendment to the motion which removes ‘disrupting university Open Days’ as an example of possible action, and such an amendment was passed when the motion was initially submitted at the last Guild Council. The university employs a number of student ambassadors to work on Open Days and disrupting such events could compromise students who morally support and endorse the action, but who may be asked to ignore it by university staff members whilst at work. The Guild should not be placing students, whom it is supposed to protect and represent, in such a difficult position and I am asking that you give serious consideration to submitting the aforementioned amendment. Yours Sincerely, Sandhya Trott (Women’s Open Place Guild Alastair Cowen, Lead Student Ambassador, commented that targeting Open Days is ‘not good for current or prospective students. It is not an effective way of getting their message across to University management, and only makes current students’ jobs harder.’ Ambassadors also highlighted a specific Open Day in November 2012, where protesters were handing out fliers to prospective students, advertising them as ‘Information about the University of Birmingham’. The fliers actually contained facts regarding the protest.
Sexual Health. Birmingham comes tenth in new report card Patrick McGhee News Editor
@Patricksmcg
The University of Birmingham has ranked joint tenth alongside the University of Liverpool in a new Sexual Health Report Card. The Report Card has been produced by DrEd.com and aims to measure the quality of sexual health services at universities in the UK. Explaining the purpose of the report, the DrEd website stated, 'In light of recent government cuts to sexual health services, we decided to create a benchmark, so that universities can track their sexual health services and work to improve their areas of weakness.’ The website also explains the methodology of the report, stating that, 'The research involved extensive data capture via student welfare representatives on campus, along with follow up secondary research on those centres and “mystery shopper” approaches.’ Sexual health facilities at each university were then assessed based on several different categories, including hours of operation, quality of information and the availability of contraception. The University of Birmingham scored highly in the 'Location' and 'Special Events and Testing' categories, receiving A grades, but received an E grade for the 'Campus Info' category and an F grade for 'Website Ease of Use' category. Universities were also awarded degree-style classifications based on the research, ranging from '1st' to '3rd'. The University of Nottingham was ranked first overall and received a first, while the University of Birmingham and the University of Liverpool were ranked joint tenth and received 2:1s, ahead of the University of Oxford, Imperial College London, the London School of Economics, Durham University and Manchester University among others.
'I'm not surprised that we came tenth. I think we do a lot on sexual health here at the Guild, with condoms available from both the ARC and my office, and this year's SHAG week was a big success for Sexual Health Awareness. However, I think this "report card" should be taken with a pinch of salt, I'm not overly sure on what the data is actually based on, such as which campus facility has been used to score us on availability of "drop ins". Generally I support this campaign and believe that students should be concerned about sexual health. But I do wonder whether these report cards would be more informative if they included whether any of these provisions are easily accessible to students elsewhere in their respective cities.'
Katherine East Vice-President (Welfare)
Report Card Birmingham
C Drop Ins or Bookings D Location A Sexual Health Info on Website B Opening hours
B Campus Info E Special Events and Testing A Sexual Assault F Student Rating D Website Ease of Use F Contraceptive Access
4 | 22nd -28th February 2013
names of hairdressers. For example, the team stated one of their favourites cryptic clues as, 'Which Arabic hero was involved with the Forty Thieves? Ali Baba.'
'The win was made greater by the fact that our fifth housemate bet that we wouldn't win, saying that if we did, he would pay for him and our sixth housemate to join us in our prize trip to America.' Harry Proud
University. Birmingham team win national iQuiz competition
'50% More Moustache' were down by four points after the first round alone. However, they finished the event by eliminating their deficit and winning,
beating the University of Warwick's team, 'God works in Quizterious Ways', by a slim one point. The prize for the closely fought competition was a two-week trip to California, with all expenses, but food, paid for. The team had already won a year's i subscription by winning the regional round. Harry Proud, one quarter of ‘50% More Moustache’ stated after winning, ‘It was unbelievable. We were all a bit shocked, and a bit tired from racking our brains all evening. The most we’ve ever won before is £40 at Gunnies. We're really pleased that we've won that national round. The win is made greater by the fact that our fifth housemate bet that we wouldn't win, saying that if we did, he would pay for him and our sixth housemate to join us in our prize trip to America.’
Ashley Kirk Online News Editor
@AshleyKirk92
On Tuesday 15th February, a team from the University of Birmingham beat 17 other teams of students, representing different universities, gathered at Birmingham's Ikon Gallery to win the national final of the iQuiz. Each team had already qualified in regional finals. '50% More Moustache', the team from the University of Birmingham, won the event, beating off competition from other Universities, including Warwick, Oxford and Newcastle. The
team consisted of undergraduate housemates from Selly Oak, Harry Thorpe (fourth year, Natural Sciences), Harry Proud (fourth year, Physics), Richard Tasker (fourth year, French and Music) and Jonathan Jones (fourth year, Physics). The quiz itself was compiled by Birmingham alumnus and Assistant Editor of the Independent, Simon O'Hagan. It included a news round and general knowledge. However, he also added the 'Hairdresser Round', a round entirely dedicated to puns seen in the company
Ashley Kirk @ashleykirk92
Birmingham. Sars-like virus causes death at QE hospital
Three men jailed over Hagley Road shooting Zahra Damji News Editor
Olivia Wilson @OKWilson_
Jasmine Northover
Ashley Kirk
Reporter
Online News Editor
@jasminesarah14
It has been reported that a patient infected with a respiratory illness, similar to the deadly Sars virus, has died. The patient, a young boy, was being treated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham. The hospital has confirmed that he died on Sunday morning, whilst offering its sympathies to the suffering family. He is believed to have been infected by the virus after his father was admitted into an intensive care unit at a Man-
@AshleyKirk92 despite signs that the virus is spreading
chester Hospital, having become infected with a new type of coronavirus on his travels to the Middle East and Pakistan. Three members of his family have now been affected by this virus, all of them being treated in the UK, including an additional patient flown in from Qatar for special attention. Globally, out of the twelve people known to have been infected with the virus, six have died. The threat to the general population is believed to be small,
in people. The virus is closely to related to one found in bats, one potential cause of the outbreak. Professor Ian Jones, from the University of Reading, has stated that 'given the previous health status of the patient it may be premature to assume the death was a result of the infection but even if it was, it is unlikely to signify a change in the virus. 'No general virus spread has been reported meaning the risk to the public remains very low.'
@zahra_damji
Three men convicted of shooting and robbing a man on Hagley road last June were sentenced on Friday 13th. The victim was robbed of his mobile phone and wallet after being shot in the face with a BB gun, kicked and hit over the head with a wrench whilst walking home along Hagley Road. The 35 year old was later hospitalised for head injuries. Shaun Evans, 20, was sentenced to six years after being found guilty following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court. 21 year old Mitchell Taylor and Mohammed Arif were also sentenced to five years and three months after pleading guilty. Detective Constable Neata Simpson, from Birmingham South CID, commented saying, ‘Evans, Taylor and Arif carried out a vicious and prolonged attack on their victim that was completely unprovoked. ‘They left a man in hospital with serious head injuries and all just to steal a wallet and a mobile phone. We will take strong action against anyone who commits this kind of violent crime and we hope these sentences will bring some comfort to the victim and his family.’
www.redbrick.me/news | 5
Minimum £5 card spend introduced on campus Sofia Karttunen Reporter
University in NASA collaboration
@Zophy92
Food outlets at the University of Birmingham have recently introduced a minimum spend of £5 on purchases made on a credit card. This marks an increase from the old minimum spend of £3 in all University-run coffee shops. The minimum spend does not apply to independent food outlets such as Costa Coffee and Starbucks. Some students have expressed their dissatisfaction with the decision to raise the limit for sums payable with cards. Freddie Lindesay, addressing the University, stated ‘I would like you to reconsider this minimum spend or perhaps allow customers to pay the transaction fee, so that they wouldn’t have to buy some dodgy looking chocolate bar in future. 'You are essentially forcing [students] to spend an extra £2 on top of the original £3 minimum spend.’ According to the Guardian (2011), the average transaction fee for a debit card is approximately 20p.
Patrick McGhee News Editor
Louise Warren
Sam Tunnicliffe
@patricksmcg
The University of Birmingham is to collaborate with NASA on new research into climate change. In a statement on its website, the University said, ‘Birmingham scientists are taking part in the first scientific collaboration of its kind, where British and American scientists are trading skills and expertise and are using an unmanned robotic aircraft to gather high altitude atmospheric data.’ The statement went on to explain that, ‘One of the NASA campaigns, the Airborne Tropical Tropopause Experiment (ATTREX), has a sister campaign just starting in the UK – the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) CAST project: Coordinated Airborne Studies in the Tropics.’ According to the University, ‘The Birmingham team will provide a model to simulate the behaviour of very high, very cold, almost invisible clouds which are important in moderating the amount of water entering the ozone layer, which,
in turn, is important because water in the stratosphere can destroy the protective ozone shield. The new 'drone' robot aircraft provides new ways of probing the air as it moves towards the ozone layer, challenging the model simulations with unique observations.’ Rob MacKenzie, Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University, commented that, 'The CAST project will provide a unique insight into how water enters the ozone layer and so will help us predict how that protective layer will behave in a warmer-and-wetter future.’ The project is being led by the University of Cambridge, in association with the Universities of Birmingham Edinburgh, Hertfordshire, Lancaster, Leeds, Leicester, Manchester and York, as well as the UK Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh. For the next year, the research team will be preparing for the first of the CAST-ATTREX high altitude flights, which are scheduled to take place in January or February 2014.
Strike. BUCU approves strike action
Zahra Damji News Editor
@zahra_damji
Members of the Birmingham Universities and Colleges Union (BUCU) have voted in favour of industrial action in a ballot held earlier this month. While the plans must still be approved by UCU national officers, the BUCU committee have described the decision as 'an impressive expression of support for the branch’s dispute over performance management and redundancies.' In a statement since given to Redbrick, BUCU said ‘The BUCU committee also welcomes the fact that the Guild of Students recently passed a motion in support of strike action. ‘That staff and students jointly appreciate the importance of defending staff jobs and avoiding staff stress - in the interests of securing quality higher education at the University of Birmingham, is an important step towards achieving our goal.’ The move is described as a 'response to the University management’s campaign of forced redundancies and aggressive management tactics that many of our members perceive to be of a bullying nature.' The Union's proposals, which were heavily criticised by the Head of College of Social Sciences, Professor Edward Peck, and the Head of College of Arts and Law, Professor Michael Whit-
by, will see a series of strikes beginning with a half day on Thursday 28 February, continuing intermittently for three weeks and culminating in two full days in the fourth week. Support for repeated strike action is unprecedented for the Birmingham branch of the UCU but the 48% turnout, which an online statement by the Union described as 'far higher than any we have had amongst BUCU members in previous ballots for industrial action' is thought to show 'a strong yes vote' in favour of the proposals. A statement from the University said ‘The University was disappointed with the ballot and feels that there is no justification for strike action, particularly as the Union has said that strike action would be targeted at disrupting teaching. We are actively engaging with Birmingham UCU and national UCU representatives in a series of constructive discussions to try to reach a common position on the approach to managing performance and the steps which are taken in seeking to avoid redundancies. Birmingham UCU has acknowledged that some progress is being made in these discussions. In the light of the continuing discussions, and our continuing efforts to mitigate the effects of restructuring, we remain hopeful that industrial action can be avoided.’
Louise Warren
6 | 22nd - 28th February 2013 @RedbrickComment
Exclusive Interview
Tale of a Whistleblower: A Different Kind of War Hero Aqib Khan interviews one of the most famous American veterans
of the Iraq War, Private First Class Justin Watt. Watt came to public attention in 2006, for revealing the gang-rape and murder of a 14 year old Iraqi girl by US soldiers, in what is now known as the Mahmudiyah Killings. The event displayed Watt's up-most humanity and courage in unimaginably dangerous and tense circumstances. In 2007 the story was adapted into a major Hollywood motion picture by Brian De Palma, the director of Scarface, called Redacted. What made you want to volunteer in the army? Was it mainly a feeling of wanting to defend your country after 9/11, or were you vested in the President Bush’s claims in the build-up to the War in Iraq? It was a number of things - mainly the 9/11 attacks. It’s a strange story - believe it or not, I had planned on enlisting well before 9/11. I had always had great respect for soldiers, as my father was a veteran of the army post-Vietnam. I was always amazed with his unbreakable will, his tenacity and his toughness. I admired it so much that I wanted to cultivate the same qualities in myself. I had planned on joining the navy to become a SEAL; there was a program where you could enlist with a friend, and go through SEAL training together. Two weeks prior to shipping after I had turned 18, my friend bailed on me, and the computer specialist job on the SEAL teams no longer existed. I dropped out of the program and my ambitions for military service were put on the back burner for years. After 9/11 I was cleaning my room. My girlfriend had broken up with me recently, and I was throwing away all of our pictures etc. I went into my desk drawer, and found my DEP id card (for allowing me on military bases to train etc.) - and I noticed the ship date. 9/11 - 2001. I felt like somebody was in my place. I felt like I had let my country down. I enlisted, and 12 days later I was in basic training in the army. My job was infantry, with the 101st airborne (air assault). I wanted to do something significant. I wanted to fight on the front lines. I wanted to help people. I wanted to defend my country, and help the Iraqi people get rid of what we thought was a horrible dictator. What years were you deployed into combat? What were your objectives? I was deployed from 05-06 with the 101st. I knew I wasn’t fighting a conventional army right away. It was as I expected. My objectives were to disrupt and destroy antiIraqi and anti-American forces in the region of the Sunni Triangle. What happened to you in Mahmudiyah, with the other marines, how did you come to the knowledge they had raped and
murdered Abeer Qassim Hamza along with her entire family? What triggered you to want to tell the authorities when you found out, and how did you cope in Iraq for the remainder of your tour knowing if they found out you were planning on telling the authorities, you would have been murdered? There were death threats against me in theatre - and yes, I would have been killed had they not moved me into a different unit and had the offenders arrested once one of them confessed. I was sitting in the tent with my team leader, Sergeant Yribe. Earlier in the day, Al-Qaeda forces had overrun one of our undermanned checkpoints and abducted two soldiers, and were in the process of torturing them to death. At that point we were two of maybe 14 guys of the starting 30 we deployed with who were not dead/ maimed/evacuated out of the country. We were alone in a tent, and just talking about how messed up this deployment was. How it was so unbelievable they would send us to cover such a huge and combat heavy AO without more soldiers. We were just trying to cope. He then said to me - ‘you know what else is messed up? You remember that family that got murdered back in March?’ I didn’t remember at first, we found tons of dead families/people on a day to day basis from sectarian violence. He told me about the family that had the girl that got burned, and the little girl that got murdered. She was about four. I remembered after he filled me in on the details. He said ‘that was us man, that was Green’ - referring to PFC. Steven Green. I couldn’t believe it - I was appalled. In one sentence he had totally dismantled every sliver of honour we had in that deployment. Every good thing we did every hospital we built, every school we protected. We guarded the first ever democratic election in Iraq. All of those accomplishments were now meaningless and more importantly, the men we had lost were now dishonoured. I felt betrayed, disgusted, ashamed... and even more so - I was angry. I said we had to turn him in. He told me no - that God would judge them. It wasn’t our job. I didn’t accept that. I knew nobody would ever find out about it if we did nothing. He told me not to tell anybody and
he went to sleep. I laid there... trying my best to piece together what I heard - trying to figure out how it was physically possible. From a tactical perspective, I knew after thinking about it - that it was impossible for a single man. No way could a single soldier sneak outside of a checkpoint without being caught by our own guards, hump 200m through shit terrain and canals - break into a family’s house and pull security on a family while conducting a rape - then murdering them with a ak47 and a shotgun - and at the same time have the checkpoint not hear a single shot. I knew that there were more people involved. I knew that it took more people to commit the crime, and I knew it took more people to cover it up. I referenced my log book I kept of all the sig-acts that happened on a day to day basis. I found out who was at the checkpoint that day, and I decided to confirm my suspicions. Coincidentally - I ran into two other soldiers from my platoon up at the base we were at. I pretended I knew more than I did - because I knew they were there at the checkpoint the day the family was murdered. I knew they had a part in covering it up. I pretended I knew what had happened - that somebody else had told me. He believed me and confirmed all the details for me. I did it under the pretence that Yribe used. I started the conversation by talking about how messed up it was - our boys were missing, being tortured to death, and to top it all off I had just found out that that happened. He told me everything. After I knew my suspicions were correct, and had information from a man that was there, who confessed to me directly that he took part in the cover-up - I knew I had to turn them in. How? That was the question. I decided the best course of action was to alert a group outside my chain of command and let them tackle it from the outside. They could plan an extraction for me, to get me out of the area before they arrested the people involved. Like all things in the army - this didn’t work out. The guy I trusted with my life to be covert and notify the authorities went to the Commander. He decided that he was going to conduct his own investigation. In the process, he let everybody know that it
1
Fig 1. - Iraq Fig. 2 - Private First Class Justin Watt. Fig. 3 - Abeer Qassim Hamza, aged 7.
was me who accused them of the crimes, and tried to leave me out there with them at a checkpoint in the middle of the Sunni triangle. Lucky for me - one of my friends saved my life and broke ranks and forced the Commander to take me out of there. His name is John Diem - and he is a fucking hero. He saved my life that day. I was extracted and brought for questioning by CID to fob Mahmudiyah. I was kept in confinement for three days being interrogated. They thought I was lying, trying to get out of the army. I stuck to my guns, and didn’t budge. I was terrified though - by this time I had realised there was no evidence. There was just my word against theirs. They threatened me with charges - false official sworn statement, perjury etc. They wanted to dishonourably discharge me and put me in jail. I was destroyed. It was hopeless. Because of the commander decision to blow the whole thing up and let everybody know what was happening, all the criminals had time to get their stories straight. It was my word against five people. On the day we did the funerals (we didn’t have the bodies recovered yet, but Al-Qaeda had released videos of them being tortured/ killed - so we knew they were dead) for Tucker, Menchaca and Babs, Howard, one of the criminals who covered it up broke
www.redbrick.me/comment | 7
The Sunni Triangle An area defined by its high population of Sunni Arabs, located roughly between the cities of Baghdad, Tikrit and Ramadi, and also contains within it the cities of Samarra and Fallujah. These cities were subject to the most intense fighting of the Iraq War, with almost 100 Coalition fatalities in just one month of fighting in Fallujah, and over 1,400 killed in Baghdad alone. The close proximity of the cities, high casualty rates for Coalition soldiers, resistance fighters and civilians, earned the Triangle the title of the ‘most dangerous place on Earth’.
3
2
Read the rest of this compelling interview online: www.redbrick.me/ comment
Because of the poignancy of the Mahmudiyah killings and Brian Depalma, you’re the most famous American veteran of Iraq. Did you know Redacted was in production? If so, did anyone come to you for advice on how the film should look or on the script, for it to be accurate?
I can’t prove it - but that’s what happened in my eyes.
during interrogation. He confessed that while he had no part in it - he was there and covered it up for the criminals - Cortez, Barker, Speilman and Green. He also told them that Yribe had covered it up as well. Yribe copped a plea deal right away for immunity. With their testimony, the story broke and everybody knew I was telling the truth. I would have died, for sure. Murdered by my own men - had it not been for John Diem saving my life, forcing the Commander to pull me off the line at that checkpoint and bring me up to the base he was at. I would have died if it wasn’t for the CID agent who broke Howard during interrogation. But he did - he broke him, and then everybody knew I was telling the truth. The only part left was owning it to the world. Once the investigation started, an embedded reporter caught wind of it and blew the story open. His name was Ryan Lenz. To this day he has protected his source, but I think I know; I believe the source knew I was a good soldier - I had many friends die, I had gotten blown up, shot at, and picked up pieces of my friends and never quit once. I never asked for a break. I never felt sorry for myself. The source knew I wouldn’t lie - and knew that I wouldn’t try a stunt like this to get out of the army. I think that when the source found out that they were trying to charge me with crimes they leaked the story to the reporter to keep me safe.
you (he laughs). I’m not exactly a big deal. I rent a house in Salt Lake City. I work a job. I have a girlfriend - I live a normal life. I worry about bills etc. just like the rest of the world.
How did Americans react when you returned, knowing you had brought other American Soldiers under the weight of the law? The soldiers who broke the My Lai Massacre were called traitors and denigrated, were you treated the same? Some people called me a traitor, I got some death threats - and many thought I was a hero. My friends all turned on me because I got a lot of attention from the media, and I was the only one who looked good, and all of them were branded as disgraceful soldiers - even though 99 per cent of them have served honourably and never did anything wrong. It was hard. It was the hardest time of my life. Soldiers have a code of honour. The army is the most trusted group in our country - proven by studies that have been done. We are not perfect - but our creed demands that when things go wrong, we own them. In this case - to the world. Most Americans supported me - they don’t want their soldiers murdering innocents. Most soldiers support me now. My story is taught at West Point. Are you satisfied with the sentences given? And how did the trial and media coverage change your life? I have no opinions of the sentences. It is not my job to determine what the army or civilians deem fit for punishment. I believe in our system - and the system did what the system did. As far as the media coverage goes - nobody has any idea who I am except
If I was in a room with Hitler, UBL (Osama Bin Laden) and De Palma, and I had a gun with three bullets, I would shoot Brian De Palma three times. His film is an abomination. He never asked for facts - he took a horrible event, twisted it around to suit his ends, profited from it - and gave me and a lot of other people a bad name. Fuck Brian De Palma - it’s not accurate at all, and he should be tried for what he did. I would never actually hurt him - but I wish I fucking could. A lot of the culture of any war that surrounds the reality is the gravity of a soldier’s first kill. Can you remember the first person you killed? Did you hesitate? Along with that, for the average person, where war is what they see on the six o’clock news comfortably from their sofa or in the theatre, was the fighting similar to how it’s made out in Hollywood? It was more intense. Having somebody try and take your life is more intimate than the strongest love you have ever felt. More intimate and intense than the strongest fear - or even joy. It’s the most intimate and intense thing in the world. I do remember the first person I killed - he was trying to kill me, and no - I did not hesitate. He was about my age. 22-23 years old. People don’t die how they do in movies. It’s not a quick shot to the chest and they drop. Unless you hit somebody in a small horizontal rectangle overlapping both eyes, about 2 inches in height, they will not die right away. (Brain stem shots essentially). We don’t train for head shots either. It is too hard to hit - and unreliable. When you are experiencing an adrenal dump because you are in a life or death scenario, or what we call a body alarm response (fight or flight), your gross and fine motor function go out the window. Your sense of time is altered. You get tunnel vision. Your breathing becomes erratic - and you might be capable of only 50 per cent of what you are during training. I shot him centre mass until he dropped - probably 12
to 15 times in about 2 - 2.5 seconds, then moved on once he dropped and continued to engage the other insurgents once he was no longer a threat. Hesitation will get you killed. He was still alive when we did our SSE. (Sensitive site exploitation). This is once we have cleared an objective, and we are looking for Intel, identification, weapons, money, documents etc. After we cleared the objective and established security, it was our duty to provide medical aid to the wounded enemy forces and our own. The one I am talking about, my first kill was still alive. I will never forget the way he looked. He was surprised - sobbing a bit in disbelief. I think he thought his god was going to protect him. He must have thought his god was going to save him, and destroy me instead. This is why I know there is no god now - and I think all religion is a disease upon the world. I also realized at this moment - that there are no good guys and bad guys. It occurred to me, and this may sound naive, but nobody wakes up and thinks they are the bad guy. That man who died, fighting against me that day, woke up committed. He woke up committed to the fight, thinking he was the righteous one. That he was fighting against evil. I woke up that morning thinking the same thing. I used to kill with anger in my heart. I used to take it personally. After that day it all changed. The scariest thing in the dark is us. Him, me - it’s all the same. I was his nightmare; he was mine - both evil in each other’s eyes. Both of us thinking that our side was right, and that god would save us and smite the other. I know now there are no evil factions in the world. Everyone is justified in their own mind. Perception really is the only truth, and violence really is the only authority - at least the root of all authority. There is no dignity in a violent death Aqib. You don’t get to tell your wife you love her. You don’t get to say goodbye to your children. There is no music, or slow motion camera pan. You die on a dirty floor, a million miles away from home, bleeding all over yourself - suffocating on your own blood - until you pass out from low blood pressure. He expired when we were trying to save him. I do not know his name. A professional will always try hard to save his enemy. Intelligence that can be gathered is crucial. Alive enemy are always better than dead. There is also honour in it. We always tried hard to save the enemy we captured. Redbrick Comment would like to thank Private First Class Justin Watt.
@AqibKhan_
8 | 22nd - 28th February 2013
Less Stigma, More Compassion Rachel Deevey @rmdeevey Nearly 450 million people worldwide are estimated to suffer from a mental condition. With this high statistic in mind, it is surprising the positive press mental illness gets is next to nothing. It appears to still be a topic shunned and ignored by the British public, despite it affecting one in four of us. Mental disorder appears to be the topic on everyone’s minds, but not their lips. The stigma associated with mental instability is such that conditions like OCD, forms of Depression and Dementia have gone underground; with only a brave few ashamed sufferers admitting to having a mental condition. Terry Pratchett is one of this select group. An acclaimed children’s author with works such as the Discworld series, making him Britain’s best-selling author of the 1990s. Pratchett now devotes his time to raising awareness for mental health, following his diagnosis of Alzheimer’s in 2007. Pratchett released a number of fly-on-the-wall documentaries, following the day-to-day challenges of Alzheimer’s. This documentary, as well as my own personal experience with the disease, kickstarted my interest in the subject, and the realisation that mental illness needs to be addressed and talked about. The NHS’ insistence on treating mental conditions as a ‘sickness’ does nothing to remedy the negative connotations of being diagnosed with having a mental disorder. A 19 year old student diagnosed with OCD, Kate*, exclaimed her astonishment at being offered antidepressants to ‘cure’ her condition, whilst being told any therapy or counselling would be unavailable for six or more months whilst she battled uncontrollable compulsions alone. The prevalent ideology within the health service of prescribing a pill to a patient and sending them on their way, I find to be a scary sign that it is time to address the issue of mental disorders and the ways in which we help and treat sufferers. Kate’s experience with the NHS whilst she sought medical help is too common an occurrence amongst sufferers of mental disorders. She described the system as like 'jumping through the hoops of self-referral', being given countless leaflets and having to 'sort it out myself' which is a challenge in itself being as Kate describes, 'very vulnerable' due to mental instability. In a 2011 survey by The Health and Social Care Information Centre, 76 per cent of people said there are insufficient existing services available for people with mental illness. David Brindle stated in a recent publication of ‘The Fundamental Facts’ by The Mental Health Foundation, that, 'We are not giving mental health the attention demanded by its impact on society.' He goes on to warn, 'Mental health presents one of the greatest challenges that current and future generations will face.' With this in mind, it is a worrying thought that as much as three quarters of five to 15 year olds with mental health problems are not in contact with mental health services. When asked whether she was aware of mental conditions, previous to her diagnosis, Kate replied, 'I can’t remember a single mention of it at school.' She went on, 'the media perpetuates a set image of sufferers of mental illness that it is difficult to break free from.' The tabloid’s heralding of celebrities’ mental conditions as a sport makes me question how productive the press is in counteracting the stigma attached to mental instability. The media coverage of Britney Spears’ too public breakdown in 2007, that led to her referring herself into a drugs and alcohol rehabilitation centre after shaving her head is a notable example. Rather than promoting awareness of mental instability, the media circus that surrounded the story only increased public perceptions of sufferers of mental conditions as crazy, unstable and marginalised characters. However, there is a recent trend in celebrities admitting to suffering from mental conditions. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Mel Gibson are public figures who have admitting to having Bipolar Disorder. This leads me to wonder: if the celebrities and role models we look up to are comfortable disclosing their experiences with mental conditions, then isn’t it time we, the British public, come to terms with the prevalence of mental disorders within our society.
@rmdeevey
*names have been altered to protect anonymity
News Views Dan Baird. It's the question on everybody's lips, what exactly happened in the Pretorian home of Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius in the early hours of 14th February? There have been conflicting reports. Neighbours heard shouting and screaming, he thought Miss Steenkamp was an intruder, there was a bloody cricket bat and steroids found in his home, the list goes on. Pistorius appeared in court the other day protesting his innocence in 'the strongest possible terms' and claiming that he shot his girlfriend three times through the door of their bathroom because he thought she was an intruder. Pistorius is a national hero in South Africa and this week has seen many South Africans rally behind their blade runner.
CRIME
AFRICA
Giles Longley-Cook. This Wednesday marked the 88th birthday of African revolutionary, ruthless dictator and incompetent economist Robert Mugabe. Rumour has it that the old tyrant credits his longevity to a deal with the devil made long ago, although the Prince of Darkness himself has been quick to deny all such accusations and is attempting to distance himself from the disgraced ruler (Mugabe that is). All over Zimbabwe, at least we think it was Zimbabwe we were looking at, that or one of the pictures sent back by the Mars curiosity robot, people have been coming out to celebrate the news, only to go home disappointed as he is in fact still alive.
James Dolton. The BBC’s rather feeble Comment section ‘Magazine’recently bolstered its usual tawdriness by leading with a genuinely intriguing piece on how strong familial ties in Italian culture restrain the workforce through gross nepotism damaging employment opportunities. It was fascinating, but I was disappointed by was the lack of genuine comparison to the state of affairs in this country. It seems that every high-flying internship and placement is found because of guiltily mumbled “contacts”. There is no doubting or question that parents will do anything to aid their little darlings into the fields of work. However, this should never obscure the path of those with the talent and without the surname, or social mobility is severely weakened.
BUSINESS
www.redbrick.me/comment | 9
Have you met TED? by Julia Bayer
Don’t get me wrong, I love uni and I don’t mind the lectures, some I would even say are interesting but it’s not often you sit in a lecture and really care about what they’re talking about, and that’s where TED comes in. The Technology, Entertainment, Design conference (TED) originated in California, Silicon Valley in 1984. A bunch of geeks got together to exchange ideas on topics such as the ones implied in the name. Since 2006, the not-profit organization, with its tagline of “ideas worth spreading”, has gone global. It has conferences worldwide, celebrity involvement left, right and centre
(Jamie Oliver, Al Gore, Steve Jobs) and a billion viewers watching its online talks. But why is it so popular? I guess to start with, TED covers a lot of different topics and new talks are uploaded nearly every day. There are dialogues about whether God exists, life without legs, vulnerability, how to be a successful leader and live before you die by Steve Jobs himself and of course so much more. But what’s better is that all the talks are given by people at the top of their profession, people who really know what they’re talking about and because they’re so passionate you can’t help but
feel inspired. One of my favorite talks was by a lady called Candy Chang. She had lost someone who was very important in her life and it made her think about the power of death and what people want to achieve before they die. So she wrote on a wall in New Orleans ‘before I die I want to’ and before long people had rewrote the sentence all over the wall with different wants: hold her one more time, eat a salad with an alien, see my daughter graduate, and so on. Because of passionate people the wall has gone on to be created in over 30 countries and in 10 different languages, liberating people from
thoughts they never dared to speak. If I had to pinpoint why I like TED so much, it’s because it’s real. It discusses topics we're often too scared to think about, and more than that spend life avoiding, because the reality is so unpleasant. But you watch people cry on stage and share their deepest, darkest secrets and it becomes okay to admit you’re scared because the rest of the room is too. There’s a talk for everyone, regardless of interest, so get watching, because I really do believe it’ll make your day that little bit happier.
@jay10bay
10| 22nd - 28th February 2013
The Need for
Go Green Jemima Lovatt When I arrived at the University of Birmingham just over six months ago, I thought of it as falling into a very liberal political sphere and that this would be reflected in its attitudes towards the environment. In fact there are a number of very sustainable points made in the University’s policy but, in my opinion, students are not doing enough. As this thought crossed my mind I logged onto my Facebook, a regular activity for us all whilst procrastinating I am sure. There before me, my point was proven. A contemporary of mine from my Sixth Form who has gone on to read Biology at Bristol University has embarked upon a Climate Forum to raise awareness of the ways that we can really change the world around us. This kind of forward thinking action sets the precedent for making real strides forward in dealing with the environmental challenges our generation will face. To inspire and encourage those who understand more of this subject than myself, a mere historian, I asked my contemporary at Bristol, Jack Farmer, to run me through the basics of how he sees the problems and what he hopes to achieve through the upcoming Bristol Climate Forum. What are the main issues? We exist at a defining point of history. Resource depletion, biodiversity loss, uncontrolled climate change and rapid population growth will all put extreme stress on our society and its life support systems within our lifetime. In the face of these challenges it would seem that change to our way of life is inevitable. However the real question is what kind of change do we really want? Can we use these challenges to create a more efficient society, a more global society or perhaps a more local society? These are the questions that we hope to begin to address at the Bristol Climate Forum. We want to get students to begin to think about what world they wish to live in. Students will form the next generation of leaders, thinkers and consumers and so our question; 'What World Do You Want To Inherit?' is vitally important. To do this we have invited some fantastic speakers who are all at the forefront of the sustainability movement to share their experience and opinion. We also have a format that encourages
@Jemimamy creative thinking and discussion, intended to allow all attendees to discuss their ideas and (we hope) come up with the next big thing. To read more check out our website; www. bristolclimateforum.org What can students do in their everyday lives? Personally my belief is that ‘everyday lives’ is quite a misleading phrase, because in my opinion some of the best things students can do are not always part of the everyday routine. For example, turning the lights off and turning your boiler down both help (and please keep doing them), but if we really want to affect the status quo it cannot be through these simple actions. One of the ways that I believe students can make a difference is through lobbying. For example, I could cycle to uni every day (I don’t – there is a very big hill) and I would be very fit but it wouldn’t really change anything major. At the same time lobbying the University for creating a free bus service into the centre could save students money and reduce emissions from excess car use. Lobbying the government on issues is a lot harder, but if you can organise the support, then it is definitely worthwhile. Another way is to educate yourself on some of the environmental changes that we face as a society. There is an amazing amount of literature out there on the subject, which is very interesting and may lead you to question whether some of the decisions you hear about on the news are well thought through. Finally, and most importantly, is that if you have an opportunity to get involved in a charity, an enterprise or in my case a forum, then grab it with both hands! There is so much potential in the next few decades for society to reinvent itself as something more communal and with a higher intensity of jobs. In other words the slightly over propagandised ‘Green Economy’. At Birmingham it seems to me that there is a lot of thinking and very little doing, I hope that this article will inspire someone who understands the intricate and complex challenges of our environment to take action.
Professional
Information
Advice
e n e M chem S
Information
Contract checking
S
Mediation Campaigns
Friendly
Assistance
Committed
Advice ent r d o u Guidance t t
Friendly
Guidance
Mediation
Signposting
Friendly
hardworking individuals who are available to work Moving in
Friendly
Professional WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE PART SupportOF Help Support Campaigns Signposting Contract THEchecking TEAM THAT WELCOMES NEW Mediation STUDENTS INTO UNIVERSITY ACCOMMODATION AND HELPS THEM SETTLE INTO UNIVERSITY LIFE? Signposting
Advice
Email: mentors@guild.bham.ac.uk Call: 0121Support 251 2395 Support Professional Campaigns
Contract checking
Help
guildofstudents.com/studentmentors
Campaigns
Assistance
Committed
IF THIS IS YOU, THEN MAYBE YOU COULD BE A MEMBER OF THE WELCOME TEAM FOR 2013/14. Professional
‘Like’ us on: facebook.com/studentmentorscheme Signposting Contract checking Follow us on Twitter: @StudentMentors1
12| 22nd-28th February 2013 @RedbrickFood
The New Inn Gemma Bridge Online Food Editor
The New Inn, located at the top end of the high street in Harborne, has been revamped and is now a pub that is contemporary, but retains its original features, and it really appealed to me. The New Inn is a steak and ale house that specialises in rare breeds of beef and, since renovation, the restaurant has gone from strength to strength and is now raved about by all who go to enjoy an evening of delicious food and drink. The steaks, which are sourced from organic Longhorn cattle, are particularly delicious, but in addition to steaks there is a variety of tasty homemade dishes on offer from traditional fish and chips, to slow roasted beef roulade. When I recently went to The New Inn to see for myself what everyone was raving about I was encouraged by how full the restaurant was. I think this was probably due to the fact that I went on a Wednesday evening, as it was steak night which meant that steak and chips were being sold for ÂŁ10. In addition to the
great food on offer there were some lovely drinks too, with home-made cocktails being served from ÂŁ4. Due to the affordable offers, I thought that The New Inn would be a perfect place for a good quality and affordable student meal, and so I decided to try it out myself. Upon arrival my first impressions were good with a noticeably relaxed atmosphere and nice music being played. I was a little taken aback as I was seated at a table just in front of the bar and although it was warm I was rather close to a family and those enjoying drinks at the bar. The service, however, was impeccable, with drinks served within minutes of ordering. There were a range of drinks on offer from the real ales and wines that you would typically expect in a local pub to an extensive cocktail list which suggested that the New Inn was a more sophisticated and contemporary meeting-place. I decided to just go for a soft drink, but was
very tempted by the cocktails. I also chose not to have a starter, despite there being an enticing array on offer, and instead fully enjoy the main, however when the time came to order mains, I found it hard to choose between the appetizing dishes- not such a bad thing! I eventually decided, despite it being steak night, to go for the beef roulade, which was substantial, and although it was delicious, with soft beef and super smooth mash, I soon regretted my decision upon seeing the juicy steaks that people were ordering which came with fat, triple-cooked chips and a side order of veg. So next time I go, which I will very soon, I shall make sure that I have the steak- so I can see for myself if it is as good as it looks. All in all, I had a lovely evening, and I would recommend The New Inn to anybody looking for a relaxed evening, with good food and drinks at an affordable price, and a location which is close to uni.
www.redbrick.me /food | 13
Bodega
Bar and Cantina
Maddie Kilminster Food Writer
It’s a Friday night and we’re grateful we booked; clearly we are not the only ones for whom the warm, welcoming allure of Bodega proves irresistable in the pouring rain. We are greeted by vibrant walls, rustic wooden tables and stipped-back metal chairs as we shake off the cold. Our table will be a few moments but there is a bar downstairs where we can wait. Given that it is already 9.15, in any other restaurant this would be an infuriating wait whilst our stomachs rumble. However, once we clamber down some unlikely-looking stairs to the left, we are met with the alien world of the Sugarloaf Bar. It is a reassuringly quirky underground cavern that clearly does not take itself too seriously. The skull-adorned walls and the DJ in full-flow in the corner evoke a refreshing blend: Mexico’s Day of the Dead discovers the bussle of Soho. A Corona with lime for him and a margarita for me. Having been cocooned for the last half an hour by the buzz of fusion music and the most fascinating people-watching since the Olympics, we are suddenly called back upstairs to the land of the living. Why can’t every meal out start with a preprandial carnival experience? We find the menu simple and user-friendly as we are not left with the usual confusion between burritos, quesadillas and tortillas! Bodega is doing something different. At fair prices you experience a South American take on western classics like the burger or the steak. Sweet potato wedges (batatas fritas) transform the staple of
chips and standard burger buns retire to make way for tortilla wraps. The street food section that allows you to enjoy fresh, alfresco bites made with the refinement of restaurant dining. We remark on the pleasing portion sizes which relieves every plate with a sprinkling of rocket salad. As reluctant as I am, I cannot resist a glance at the dessert selection. I have in my mind the recommendation from my friend that I 'must try the doughnuts there'. I find the doughnuts in question under the name of churros. Despite being slightly concerned by the rich sounding description on the menu, we take the plunge and share them. Once again pleased by the modest portion size, we revel in dunking these cute dough shapes into the viscous caramel sauce whilst chuckling at the jovial banter going on between the waiters and waitresses as they begin to pack up. This place really does sing carnival from its walls to its food to its staff! We wander out around at midnight, satisfied with our brief adventure into Birmingham’s little bottled Brazil, and ready to recommend a visit to our friends.
14| 22nd - 28th February 2013
Science and Tech Online Editor
Tom Rich
SCIENCE
@RedbrickSci&Tech
Science is changing and the battle to secure funding for research is becoming harder each year, but could crowdfunding become a tool to end the drought? In 2012, Ethan Perlstein from Princeton University raised 25,000 dollars to fund a few months of work into the effect of Amphetamines on brain cells. He cited a lack of the basic understanding of these interactions as a cause for slowed addictionrelated drug discovery. In recent months many such crowdfunding campaigns, which often seek relatively small amounts of money, have sprung up on websites like Petridish and Rockethub. A lab in Uppsala, Sweden, bucked that trend by seeking £1.5 million crowdfunding to launch clinical trials in humans of a virus that may kill neuroendocrine cancer cells. The results in mice are said to be hugely promising, but when extraordinary claims are made especially those concerning the treatment of cancer - thoroughly good explanations are required. Why does this lab not already have the requisite funding? Apparently, the treatment is not patented, so no venture capitalists can be enticed, but why not? Regardless, author Alexander Masters, awed by the lack of funding for a treatment for Steve Jobs` cancer, launched a crowdfunding campaign which raised £250,000. The fight to raise money continues. Questions remain about the widespread appeal of science to potential donors. Often, the true benefits of scientific research are far removed from the primary research people will be funding, and whereas supporters of a video game on Kickstarter may get a copy upon release, free access to the data emerging from research may be a less enticing reward to the general public. Nevertheless, crowdfunding may just be another spur in a larger wheel of change. Many scientists are looking to break down the barriers of science publishing and funding, to end the journals' hegemony over peer-review by making it open source and to begin publishing papers independently. Further, crowdsourcing initiatives are also on the rise - exemplified in recent years by Playstation 3 owners contributing massive processing power for Stamford`s protein Folding At Home. Altogether, a new era of science is emerging as technology liberates information, ideas and funding, although whether science embraces these concepts fully is yet to be seen.
Kickstarter: New Games Console OUYA Chris Starkey Writer
Science and Tech Editor
Sam Atkins
GAMING
Without a doubt, OUYA is one of the most ambitious crowd funded projects. What makes OUYA so interesting is that this project is not only trying to build a new gaming console, it is attempting to revolutionise the game console landscape. By running an open version of Google’s Android system OUYA has been designed around the simple premise that the user is in control of their experience, rather than the traditional closed ecosystems provided by Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft. All that said, it was able to make its funding target in 8 hours and over its initial 24 hours a backing was made every 6 seconds. When the funding closed, OUYA’s funding was 9 times its target of $950,000. From this, it is clear that there is demand for such a device, as well as the power that crowd funding can provide. Without said funding, it is difficult to imagine this project progressing, no investor would likely believe that with only $9million a small company could produce a novel games console, let alone build itself a new home in a town ruled by the mighty three that are Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft. Anyone with a $99 (UK price yet to be announced) OUYA console will be able to write, build and sell their games on the OUYA Store. It is this USP that defines and separates OUYA from the mainstream systems. It also harks back to the origins of gaming itself, when young gamers had to manually copy the code for a game into the console before being able to play it, this feature allowed early gamers to write their own programs and create their very own games. As OUYA uses the Android operating system even someone with a basic knowledge of coding, or even just the drive to give it a go, will be able to do so. On top of that, the hardware of OUYA itself will be available for tinkering, how the community adapts OUYA may end up similar to the crazy alterations performed on the Xbox Kinect. It will be very interesting to see what the community creates, as the user base grows hopefully some very unique and impressive games will be offered for the community to play and enjoy. This is exactly what crowdfunding was created for, the community have provided the financial resources in order for OUYA to be produced and will be creating content for the console after launch too. One of the requirements for a game to be put on the OUYA Store is it has to adopt a free-to-play model, showing how the ecosystem for OUYA has been built on such important principles as openness and community building. Since OUYA’s announcement many other companies have revealed their own open game systems, such as Gamestick and Valve’s Steam Box. The Gamestick is another example of crowd funding, showing that the community has a real desire for this new type of games console. Although none have gone to market yet the competition in this new field of game consoles is heating up rapidly. Where these consoles take the market as a whole could be very defining, how the likes of Sony and co react to these newcomers will be equally as interesting as the new consoles themselves.
Crowdfunding has been an unground means of raising money for projects for many years, but it took until February 2012 for mainstream consumers to get on board. It took one of the industry’s leading figures, Psychonauts creator Tim Schafer, to announce a crowdfunding initiative for a new classic point and click adventure title. Double Fine Adventure was promised to take the company back to their roots in the point and click genre, the lack of support from a publisher in this seemingly niche genre forced Double Fine to think outside of the current strategy for games development. Initially asking for just $400,000 it took less than 8 hours for this goal to be passed. Promotion amongst the gaming press and through social media caused a huge influx of interest. The final tally a month later was a mighty $3,336,371, at the time the highest amount of money the site had seen. Interest was so high that Double Fine had to offer rewards past the usual $10,000 mark, even offering a role in the game to those who were willing to invest enough. Inspired by Double Fine, hundreds of indie developers began pitching ideas on Kickstarter. The main attraction in funding videogames is the connection with the process. Part of the deal with Double Fine Adventure has been an ongoing documentary series taking players through every step of the creation process. Keeping in contact with the people who are set to enjoy the final product has worked out for lots of developers. iPhone/iPad game Republique for instance was funded based on the reputability of the developers involved. From the games that have managed to be completed and released to the public, FTL: Faster Than Light is the most well known. Nominated for various Game Of The Year awards in 2012, it simply would not have found an audience or been commercially viable, the $200,000 funding allowed for extra promotion and an extended final experience. The indie gaming landscape has become much more vast than anyone could have predicted and crowd funding has made it even easier for developers to find an audience. AAA $100 Million projects may not be going anywhere, but at least the little guys have now got an even greater chance for success.
www.redbrick.me/tech | 15
GitHub: German E.coli Outbreak
Soumya Perinparajah Writer
The O104:H4 strain of E.coli caused an outbreak in June last year, originating in beansprouts on a farm in Northern Germany. The bacteria caused infections primarily in Germany, but also in many other countries including Spain, Sweden and even the UK. After the Beijing Genomics Institute released the genomic sequence of the strain, it was the crowdsourcing platform GitHub that propelled the subsequent analysis of the strain. Founded in 2008, GitHub is a web-based service that ‘hosts’ projects enabling a ‘crowd’ to respond to it. The links to Crowdfunding are obvious, here the currency being the minds of those volunteering. In the case of the E.coli strain, the ‘crowd’ was an expert international group of scientists including microbiologists and bioinformaticians. The beauty is that any new information that came to light could be added as it was found, creating a mutual place where all things concerning the E.coli strain could be pooled. In essence, it can be likened to Facebook, where ‘social networking’ allowed a substantial, up-to-date vault of knowledge on the strain to be created. There is information available on genomic details of the strain, and announcements and individual analyses by those contributing. All online entries are credited and attributed, and most importantly, it is all in the public domain; simply typing GitHub E.coli into Google brings up the project, ready for your perusal. Whilst also being home to an online community constantly adding their ideas and thoughts, using crowdsourcing in this way also helps to make science research more transparent. Crowdsourcing is gaining a greater presence in the science world, as it is the perfect way to code the massive amounts of data generated as a result of research, so called ‘Big Data’.
The
Crowdfunding
Issue
TECHNOLOGY
Andrew Spencer Science and Tech Editor 2012 was an incredibly busy year for crowd funded tech innovations. It saw the rise of many different kinds of gadgets and devices. From smart watches to child-friendly electric dolls houses, websites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo are packed with technology that may have taken years to take off without the support of crowdfunding and the media exposure it has generated. The Pebble Watch raised over $10 million in funding in July on Kickstarter, making it the most successful project crowd funded to date. It is one of many innovative ideas that have gained a huge excess in funding on the amount originally asked for. The creators set just a $100,000 goal initially. The bonus of receiving a much higher pledge than requested means that the developers can use the extra money to improve the final product and include features they never may have expected to introduce in the initial versions. There have been some wacky technology successes including the BugASalt, a self-firing gun which fires salt at pesky insects to kill them off. The lightbulb has also been reinvented with a new device called LIFX. This bulb is connected to WIFI and can be controlled entirely from the owner’s phone allowing its brightness and colour to be freely adjusted from anywhere in the house. Other projects have set aims to help provide the developing world with affordable, green tech. A light that harnesses the power of gravity in order to store energy and create illumination raised almost $400,000 on Indiegogo last year. It is very clean and green and is expected to have a big impact on those without access to reliable electricity sources. Many crowdfunded devices have been successful because they bring expensive gadgets into every consumer’s home with a cheaper, but still strong, alternative. Whether a 3D printer like Form 1 or Remee, which is a sleep mask that aims to let the wearer have control over their dreams, cheaper versions of currently unaffordable gadgets is a fundamental benefit that crowdfunding has brought to the industry.
Indiegogo: Luci Lights Up The World Claire Harris Writer
Remember the Selly Oak blackout? Well imagine coming home at the end of every day with no switch to simply flip and provide light. If there were no street lamp to light your way back to your house, how safe would you feel? Did you know that almost half the world’s population have no access to electricity? Instead they rely on dangerous and costly methods of lighting. MPOWERD aims to end energy poverty with simple yet innovative and affordable ideas to bring light into people’s homes. They have spent the past year developing Luci, a durable solar-powered lamp which only requires 4-5 hours of sunlight to provide a whole night of bright light. Their aim is to distribute these lanterns amongst third world communities to provide them with safe and reliable lighting. The local impacts are astonishing; girls can go to school instead of collecting fuel, women feel safer walking the streets and children can study at home in the evenings. Energy poverty is a major factor in many of these communities’ financial poverty, so this kind of lighting would save families a great deal of money which they would have spent on fuel. Lucis have already been successful when used on a small scale, but by raising money on indiegogo, the team hopes to bring their global vision into reality. They don’t want to just stop there either, with plans to investigate new and improved solutions for energy poverty. As of this article, they have raised $15,000 of their $50,000 goal. The aim is to supply as many families with the device as they can; for each $25 donated, a family receives one. Crowdfunding platforms can provide many opportunities for ventures such as these to take place. So, working together really can change the world!
16 | 22nd - 28th February 2013
Review
@RedbrickArts @RedbrickArts
Birmingham Royal Ballet
Aladdin @ The Hippodrome
The Birmingham Royal Ballet is currently staging the UK premiere of Aladdin. Forget pantomimes or Disney films - this is a spectacular show of fantastic dancing and witty storytelling. Nao Sakuma was sublime as Princess Badr al-Budur (Jasmine for the Disney educated among us), whose elegance and poise throughout was phenomenal. The two male dancers who performed the Lion Dance deserve a particular mention too, especially the one who danced beautifully despite being bent double and in the dark as the rear end. Having said that, the same could really be applied to every one of the dancers; there was simply no weak link to be found. Watching the ballet was an utterly mesmerising experience. The fights between Aladdin and the palace guards were dynamic and used the stage to its full. The concluding dance in the Cave of Riches stood out for me too, with the contrasting identities of each jewel creating a spectacular fusion. Smaller groups representing the different jewels all danced separately and then came together at the end. Of these jewel dances, the rubies, - Ambra Vallo and Tyrone Singleton - were, for me, the most impressive. The quality of the production as a whole is showcased in the ability of the ballet to move the audience emotionally with some great laugh-outloud moments without any words. The music provided by the live orchestra also helped to make the experience truly immersive. As someone more used to going to the theatre than the ballet, I was drawn to the sets. They were spectacular and really enhanced the atmosphere of the performance. The Cave of Riches was truly amazing, be that the steps that resembled bones, or the stalactites that hung from the ceiling and changed colour depending on which jewel the dance was about. The setting of Princess Badr al-Budur’s bathhouse was really sumptuous too. After this performance I have to say that I would rush at the opportunity to go to the ballet again and I would really encourage anyone who loves watching a performance, even if y o u know nothing about dance, to go along too.
Emily Rushgrove Critic
www.redbrick.me/arts | 17
Future Plays
Lulu.com
Plays
Books
Big Break
Read
Advice
Marketing
Publishing Readers
Author
Plays
Poetry
Hacks
Self
Tips
Business
Profit
Grub Books Published Street Scribblers 50 shades of grey
Proffesional
Web
Future
Bard
L
ike it or not, self-publishing cannot be ignored. It is fast-growing, completely accessible, and responsible for some of the most infamous books produced in the last 12 months (50 Shades of Grey, anyone?). With a variety of technological advances including the e-book, this really is the era of the rise and rise of self-publishing. So what is self-publishing? It basically does what it says on the tin: the author is solely responsible for writing, editing, designing the cover and interior, formatting, pricing, distribution and marketing. With all that work, one might begin to wonder why they should put in all that effort. Joseph Sale, an English with Creative Writing student at the university, who has self-published three novels and a poetry collection, says that it gives him the opportunity to make money doing what he loves without having to wait for the ‘big break’. Moreover, with self-publishing opportunities being so readily available, publishers are now considering self-publishing a rite of passage, much like getting an agent; if you sell self-published works successfully and receive good reviews, your future work is less of a gamble to invest in.
You are your own marketer. Once the novelty of writing and designing has worn off, the writer has to reach the realisation that they actually have to sell their work. Okay, so I’m selling it to you a little. What else is good about it? Well, there are people out there who want to help you. Joe uses www.lulu.com, a website that provides a ‘print on demand’ service; they make the books as they sell, taking a small amount of the book’s price as their profit. This system is perfect for new writers: there is no lump sum payment, which means writers won’t be fulfilling the stereotype of half-starved, deranged artists. The website will also provide you with a variety of choices (pamphlets, paperback, hardback, illustrated, etc.) and even allows you to create your own covers in the ‘Cover Creator’. Joe recommends purchasing your own un-copyrighted pictures, art, or images from a site called Fotolia, and then using it for your cover. Lulu’s service is perfect for self-starters, the fiscally-challenged or control-freaks that don’t want anything to happen to their ‘baby’. However, as with most things, there must be some drawbacks. What are selfpublishing’s weaknesses? Firstly, you are your own marketer. Once the novelty of writing and designing has worn off, the writer has to reach the realisation that they actually have to sell their work. Joe advises that poetry is slightly easier to sell, due to the vast number of open mic nights available in major cities. It’s simple: if you go to a poetry event, read out your work and people enjoy it, you’ve done the best kind of marketing possible.
Just make sure that you aren’t just pestering people: give them lots of free stuff to enjoy – i.e. blogs, videos, comments - and also support their work and events. The novel, however, is slightly more difficult to self-market, as it really can’t be presented in the same way (unless you have an extremely captive audience), and is more expensive to purchase. Currently, Joe is releasing his novel The Door in the Mountain in episodic segments. He releases an episode to his website for free every Wednesday morning, and also gives his readers the opportunity to purchase the paperback book in full. Releasing your novel in
Bard
e-books
Novel
Writing
Books
Joseph Sale
Feature
episodes also provides scope for the business-savvy. Once you’ve got a readership or fanbase, you can start charging for episodes of your next novel, and offer onlineexclusive deals. Furthermore, with social media you can pretty much reach anyone in the world. Twitter and LinkedIn are great platforms for self-promotion. Joe’s debut poetry collection Unconstructed Constellations has been picked up in America and by a couple of editors who he met on LinkedIn through discussion-forums about poetry. Just make sure that you aren’t just pestering people: give them lots of free stuff to enjoy – i.e. blogs, videos, comments - and also support their work and events. You don’t get something for nothing.
If you don’t want to pay to physically publish your book, publishing an e-book is infinitely cheaper, and can be sold to anyone with internet access, an e-reader or e-reader app. Another – and what Joe considers the main – drawback of self-publishing is that you are your own editor. You can edit as meticulously as you like, but an editor (or editing team) will be able to be far more thorough. Additionally, without anyone to give you professional advice, formatting mistakes can be made. Joe admits that selfpublishing has been a learning process, having published his first novel Dark Age Heroes with ‘ridiculously tiny text’. However, learning from these mistakes ensures that they will not be made again, and ultimately ensures that the writer improves throughout their career. So, what’s next for Joe? He’s considering converting his work into e-books. It’s a market that definitely needs to be tapped: people love their tree-friendly e-readers due to their practicality and the reduced expense of books. If you don’t want to pay to physically publish your book, publishing an e-book is infinitely cheaper, and can be sold to anyone with internet access, an e-reader or e-reader app. With such accessible software and open opportunities, it is easy to see why so many writers have started to self-publish. Whilst some are embracing the revolution, others are sceptical, and blame it for ruining the literary world. Yes, while we’re now bound to get an influx of vampire ‘mummy porn’, we’ll also get some hilarious parodies, and we might even meet the next Kerouac. Who knows? Jenna Clake Online Editor
18 | 22nd - 28th February 2013 @Redbrick @RedbrickTravel
Travellettes Abroad
Hannah Detheridge ponders about to safe go on 21st... A female insight intowhere staying onher your adventure.
Elizabeth Waind Travel Writer
There are many preconceptions of what the experience of travelling as a woman will be; primarily, that travelling as a woman outside of the western world, you will be harassed and groped by the local men, if not worse. Before embarking on a big trip in a new and exciting country, you’re likely to be scared by such warnings from friends or family, and perhaps even told simply not to bother going. But rest assured that you should not give up on your travelling dreams and hide away in your mother’s utility room cupboard just yet, as most of these preconceptions are, 99% of the time, misconceptions. Of course, when travelling in a new and different country, it is always important to be aware of your
"You should not give up on your travelling dreams and hide away in your mother’s utility room cupboard just yet..." surroundings and take precautions that you wouldn’t necessarily take when walking through the streets of your familiar hometown. But it is not necessary to spend every waking moment of your travels expecting to be mugged on
the next street corner. Some popular travel destinations can be dangerous places, for both male and
"It is also always important to consider how the culture of the area you are visiting may differ to your own in terms of attitudes towards women..." female travellers. But most trouble can be easily avoided by using some common sense – don’t walk around alone at night, don’t carry large amounts of money with you, be careful with things like ensuring that you’re only getting into registered taxis etc. But also ensure that you dress modestly in general, in terms of both wealth and also in order not to incur unwanted male attention. Don’t wear expensive looking clothes in poorer areas or wander around with a flashy camera hanging from your neck. This is just asking for trouble, as you’re dangling your wealth in front of people who could only dream of owning such things. When travelling abroad it is also always important to consider how the culture of the area you are visiting may differ to your own in terms of attitudes towards women. The less effort you make to adapt, the more attention you will draw to yourself. In terms of dress
and for example, ideas vary widely across different cultures. Some things are of course obvious, but others less so – you wouldn’t wear the bikini top and hot pants that you might wear wandering along the beach of Kavos whilst exploring rural Nepal, for example. However, it might not occur to you that having your shoulders on show at all can be seen as inappropriate in that part of the world, and thus wearing a T-shirt rather than a vest top would be the better choice. You may not agree with the customs of the place that you are visiting, but if you want to avoid attracting excess attention or unintentionally offending the locals, you should make some effort
"It might not occur to you that having your shoulders on show at all can be seen as inappropriate in that part of the world..." to adhere to them. Women are also expected to behave in certain ways in some cultures. Again, it’s obvious etiquette not to let out a huge belch in the middle of your meal in a nice restaurant – even us Western gals know this – but you may not consider that kissing your boyfriend in public in India may be offensive to local passersby. In many areas of the world, public displays of affection remain to be some-
thing disapproved of. In South Asia it is also often frowned upon for women to smoke, whereas it’s second nature for the men. At a break station on a long bus journey you may find that all of the local
"In South Asia it is also often frowned upon for women to smoke, whereas it’s second nature for the men..." women will run to the toilets – not necessarily to use the loo, but to have a fag. They smoke, but not in front of the men. However, the locals are usually used to and accepting of female travellers behaving slightly differently regarding certain things – I wouldn’t suggest you need to follow suit in filling the toilets with smoke. So, next time you’re considering travelling in South America, India, or elsewhere beyond the regions of your back fence, don’t hold back because of the horror stories your grandma tells you over a cup of tea and a biscuit. It can be dangerous for travellers in many areas of the world, but if you use your common sense and do your research, you shouldn’t let it put you off travelling. Experiencing other areas of the world is a fantastic thing – it’s fun, fascinating, and somewhat enlightening. So I would advise you to hop on the next plane out of here, with your sensible clothes and secure money neck-pouch in hand.
www.redbrick.me/travel | 19
Airport Rant. Travel Editor Chloe Osborne divulges all about her airport-related anger I have a friend called Molly*. Molly is my friend because I like her calm, good natured and mild mannered temperament, her tolerance, her generosity, and her open-mindedness. But Molly has a very interesting personality trait. When she gets behind the wheel of her car, Molly transforms from a chilled-out chick into a screaming road bitch with an attitude problem so severe towards other drivers that sitting in the passenger seat next to her is what I imagine it would be like being a co-pilot on a Spitfire manned by a particularly angry and eccentric, possibly drunk, Second World War captain as he ploughs his plane into an oncoming barrage of Nazi aircrafts. Molly’s capacity for road rage is truly incredible, her anger is so fantastic to view, that if I were able to harness her fuming outbursts and sell tickets to see it, like going to see the bearded woman in an old fashioned travelling circus, I would probably make enough money to fund both my Selly Oak rent and buy some toilet paper, which in my current state of second year poverty I generally steal in industrial size rolls from the Soak pub toilets. Molly, I am sad to say, is likely to suffer from an anger-induced heart attack one day soon. Road rage for her is a serious condition which she cannot control or overcome, unless she takes my advice and insures me on her car so I can chauffeur her around and save her from death, if not from a stress-induced heart attack, then from being throttled by one of her passengers. Many people suffer from road rage. Desk rage, trolley rage and bike rage are also common rages to happen upon in day-to-day life. My time of rage however comes not on the road or in the supermarket, but sadly, valiantly and uncontrollably, at the airport. There is really nothing that I find more irritating than standing in a queue, hot, sticky, and often hungover, waiting for a group of tourists, be they Americans, Spaniards, French, Geordies or United fans to move along, shut up, and stop their kids whining, than when I am at an airport. I’m normally a pretty tolerant and chilled out type of person, so the discovery that I suffer from this inward (and a bit outward) tourrets-like foul -mouthed anger when I am welcomed by the Ryan Air “help” (ha!) desk into the airport was a pretty bizarre experience for me. Suddenly, all thoughts of my approaching holiday vanish. All excitement to don my bikini or snow gear is replaced by surging despair and edging irritation at my fellow passengers, and quite often, too, at my suddenly incompetent friends, one of whom has probably forgotten something. As we check in our luggage, down a triple priced Starbucks, move through passport control, and are forced to strip off our potentially-dangerous Primark
The Best Worst Travel Chat-up Lines
belts in security; everything becomes annoying. Why have they made me remove my earring, when I have just remembered that I have 16 lighters in my make up bag that have gone totally unnoticed? Why will that mother not realise that her horrible brat is screaming its lungs out because its slobbery noo-noo is lying on the floor? When will this IDIOT in front of me stop talking in loud Portuguese to his undoubtedly equally loud and idiotic Portuguese mate on his unnecessarily flashy phone, and sort out his sodding boarding card, so that I can squidge my now sweat-soaked body past his into my teeny tiny baby sized seat and attempt to block out this horrendous experience with a bottle of Easyjet’s crap, costly mini rosé? These are the hate fuelled thoughts that consume all the pleasure of flying. It is truly awful. I sound like a fanatical nut job, I know, but I just cannot help myself! From the pilot (why does he have to drawl out his sentences soooo slowly) to the stewardess (yes, I do have my seatbelt on, thank you for making sure but I really wish you wouldn’t) to the passengers (why is that kid still crying?!), I am truly, an airport bitch. Airports are annoying. It is a true and universally acknowledged fact that the journey to your destination, if it involves a plane, cannot be anything other than riddled with stress, boredom, and bouts of panic as you or your mother/father/friend/sister misplace all your belongings at least once. The food is always overpriced, the staff generally unhelpful and the whole experience feels designed to test your patience. This is just the way it is for the airport traveller who is not either under the age of six, or flying first class all the way. But most seem to deal with the sitch much better than me. Perhaps all my pent up stress waits in a corner of my brain like an evil little goblin until I step through the automatic doors of Terminal 2, at which point it unleashes its power and turns me into something out of Paranormal Activity, I just don’t know. Not even the exhilarating experience of flying, which as Russell Howard described it, is basically being propelled by oil through the air, very fast, in a tin can, can bash me out of my misery. I must try to get some Valium prescribed for my next adventure...
*Molly is not the real name of my friend. I have changed her name for legal reasons. Molly may also have been made up for narrative purposes.
"Did you overstay your visa? Because you got 'fine' written all over you."
"Are you sure you're not a tower? Because Eiffel for you."
"Are you heading to India? 'Cause I'd Goa anywhere with you!"
"Are you from South England? 'Cause you Brighton up my day."
20 | 22nd - 28th February 2013
www.redbrick.me/lifestyle
@RedbrickLifeStyle
The Future of the Fashion Show
Topshop Unique A/W'13 Collection
"Topshop is a phenomenon" New York Times "Brimming with sparkles, a muted palette and the low ankle heel" "The fashion industry of the 21st century is built from fashion bloggers, tweeters, instagrammers"
Life&Style Editor Lucy Whife takes a look at the ever-evolving digital world and its effect on London Fashion Week @LucyWhife
In a recent interview with the Editor of British Vogue, Alexandra Shulman, Shulman discussed the development of the ever-evolving digital world during her career. She compared the popularity of photobooths in the 1980s to the present generation’s use of Instagram undeniably, a faster, slicker and more efficient way of taking and sharing photos instantly. But you don’t have to be the Editor of Vogue or even work in the fashion industry to realise the importance of the digital world. The fashion industry of the 21st century is built from fashion bloggers, tweeters, and instagrammers, to such an extent it’s hard to imagine a relatively recent time when readers couldn’t pick up the latest fashion news within minutes from their iPhone or iPad. There was a time when fashionenthusiasts had no option than to wait patiently for the anticipated monthly edition of their favourite magazine. Yet those days are long forgotten, and, now, the connection between the digital world and the fashion world has never been so succinct.
In the midst of London Fashion Week, British brand Topshop has once again pulled it out the bag, making London proud with an innovatively digitalised preview of an outstanding fashion-forward collection. Teaming up with Google+, Topshop launched its Unique collection at Tate Modern (where else would be appropriate?) last Sunday, giving an insight into the way fashion can fully exploit the opportunities the digital world offers. Arguably, as a high street brand, Topshop still needed to validate its place at London Fashion Week as it previewed on the same day as the likes of high-end Vivienne Westwood and Paul Smith – and it certainly did. Cara Delevnigne, the iconic ‘model of the moment’ opened Topshop’s show, wearing a patent skirt, crop top and over-sized coat which quickly proved to be some of the staple items for this collection. Followed by the gorgeous Jourdan Dunn, the collection contrasted 70s-inspired fabrics and knits with futuristic patents and structured silhouettes. Brimming with sparkles, a muted palette and the low ankle heel, Topshop proves
to be bang on trend for A/W. What’s more, Topshop took their collection one (digital) step further. Live streaming from their YouTube channel, shoppers were able to FROW from the comfort of their living rooms witnessing the collection at the same time as the invitees. If any of us had been lucky enough to FROW, I should add, we would have been sat along from Kate Bosworth and 1D’s Louis Tomlinson (if only...) Even more impressively, Google+ enabled Topshop to do the unthinkable, which only a digital era like ours could allow. Aside from live streaming, watchers were able to immerse themselves in an interactive experience; viewers could see what was happening behind the scenes backstage, view the catwalk from a camera on the model’s clothing or be a Topshop buyer and put together their own Topshop Unique collection online. New York Times has claimed that ‘Topshop is a phenomenon’ and judging by today’s performance, Topshop is undoubtedly proving to be exactly that.
www.redbrick.me/lifestyle | 21
Dear Agony Aunt & Uncle... I have been dating my boyfriend for just over three months now. Everyone says we are the perfect couple and I have honestly never been so happy. Pete* is particularly generous – always treating me to dinner (outside of Selly!) and for my birthday last month he bought me a Michael Kors watch (for which I was desperate!) So all in all, I’m a happy girl. However, last week it was Valentine's Day. Like a good girlfriend, I told Pete we didn’t have to celebrate this over-commercialised, expensive day – fully aware that he’d still plan a Valentine's evening for us. Only, he didn’t. He didn’t buy me a bunch of flowers, he didn’t even buy me a bloody card! I know I said I didn't want to celebrate it - but it was our first Valentine's together and I was so looking forward to it. I think this is a pretty clear sign that I don’t mean enough to him but my friends say I’m overreacting. Am I being too high-maintenance or am I right to feel this disappointed?
She says... Marianne Lampon Life&Style Writer
@MarianneLampon
As you’ve been used to him treating you to special things, I can understand that this may have been a bit of a let-down for you. It’s true that however commercialised Valentine’s Day is, it is still nice to receive at least a card to show that your man cares for you. I don’t think you’re overreacting too much. When a girl says: ‘Don’t get me anything’ let’s be honest, it does usually mean the opposite and you do still expect some sort of gift! In saying that, maybe you’ve come to expect a lot from him considering he’s treated you to lovely things before, and if you said you didn’t want to celebrate then I guess that’s what he thought you really meant. In all fairness though, he did what you asked - he wants to make you happy, so I completely understand why he stuck to your suggestion of not celebrating. If you’ve been going strong for three months then that’s a great sign, you clearly do mean a lot to him, so don’t worry about that. However lovely it is to receive gifts from him, remember there is much more to a relationship than getting nice presents and going for meals together etc.! Make sure you carry on appreciating him for who he is and continue to care for him. Don’t let a small blip like this get in the way of something special you two have.
Hannah Coates Editorial Assistant
He says...
London Fashion Week: Fashion galore for us to feast our eyes on.
Ed Robinson & Ryan Tanna
The Galdem: Cara Delevingne, Rita Ora and Rihanna partying together? Coolest. Galdem. Ever.
Life&Style Writers
We hope you are sufficiently embarrassed after re-reading your question in this widely-read paper and have come to your senses. Firstly, we hope you've enjoyed the copious gifts and unnecessary meals 'out of Selly' that you've been showered with, despite your gentleman not having the obligation of a commercialised day to materially prove his affection for you. In our experience, it's the thought that count, not gifts, although with your new watch weighing you down that's probably hard for you to appreciate. Valentine's Day goes two ways. In your outrage, you didn't mention anything you've ever got for him, he must be dying waiting for steak and ... day. You've only been dating for three months and it sounds like you're onto a winner with Pete - three months to us means a sandwich in iLounge, maybe. Your friends say you're overreacting, we'd be inclined to agree - he probably should have bought you flowers but it's no reason to question his feelings. He clearly likes you, and on a student budget he can't be treating you all the time. Maybe he's waiting for some appreciation from you - and not just the fellatio kind. We hope it all works out, but if it doesn't at least you've got that watch.
Keira deemed too 'sexually suggestive' Susie Dickey Life&Style Writer
Fierce
Pancake Day: Whether you like them savoury or sweet, it was a day of true happiness. Gemma Arterton on Graham Norton: She punched a tramp for squeezing her bum. What a lady. The BRITS: Another awards ceremony to excuse ourselves from work. Contact lens solution: It saved Sam Woodhead, a very attractive gap year boy, from dying in the Australian outback. Hats off to the unassuming liquid. JT and JB: A.K.A. Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel. Definitely the coolest couple in town.
The Pope: Bye Benedict, it’s been great.
@SusannahDickey
Keira Knightley dismounts her motocycle and strides into the decadently furnished hotel room, all tousled hair and sultry pout. The photographer is instantly captivated and helps her prepare for the photo-shoot, the chemistry unmistakable. Before he can kiss her, however, she is gone, smouldering eyes glancing up at him as she departs, leaving nothing but her scent. The Coco Mademoiselle advertisement is instantly recognisable, and instantly iconic; minimalist, subtle, and stylish. However, the advert has now been banned from children’s television, held to be too “sexually suggestive” by the Advertising Standards Authority. Chanel has defended the campaign, saying, "The photographer helped the actress remove her boots, rather than her clothes, as part of a wardrobe change during the photo shoot." The fashion house also pointed out that the ad was in line with most viewers’ expectation of perfume advertising, but according to the ridiculous criteria of the ASA, the image of Knightley wrapped in a bed sheet and the “clear sexual tension” is just too much for young children. This is yet another incident of an ASA power trip: declaring a perfectly reasonable ad campaign to be “inappropriate” because it dares to show a woman in a
capacity other than that of a housewife up to her elbows in Fairy Liquid. In 2011 the Marc Jacob’s Oh Lola! fragrance campaign was banned from the UK, because it showed 17 year old Dakota Fanning holding an oversized bottle of perfume between her legs. Despite the perfume’s distributor, Coty UK, receiv-
ing no complaints regarding the nature of the image, the ASA decided that the length of the dress, the appearance of her leg, and the position of the bottle ‘drew attention to her sexuality’. Fanning herself hit the nail on the head with her re-
action, “It’s like, ‘Why are you making it about that, you creep?’ If you want to read something into a perfume bottle, then I guess you can.” It’s not just the threat of those potentially fatal, highly dangerous innuendos that have the ASA quaking with fear and climbing aboard their soapboxes. A Miu Miu campaign involving Oscar-nominated actress Hailee Steinfeld was yet another victim of the overly fervent ASA. In the images, the 14 year old is modestly dressed, with no risqué skin exposure and no erotically placed fragrance bottles. So, what could possibly have possessed the media watchdog to banish the ad from Britain? Unbelievably, the ASA objected to the actress’s location, beside a railway track, because it was supposedly suggesting youth suicide. Is there no end to this insanity? It would seem that there are no lengths the ASA won’t go to in order to censor fashion advertising, despite them being no more sexualised that the average Herbal Essences ad. Fashion is about celebrating beauty, and the female form is a crucial part of that celebration. It’s time the Advertising Standards Authority abandoned these archaic opinions of how women should be portrayed and adopted the ideas of the 21st century.
Martine McCutcheon: Had £500 extensions placed in her recently-declared-bankrupt head of hair. Completely understandable. Easter Eggs Everywhere: Everywhere you turn. Too early. Too tempting. Rochelle from The Saturdays' Tweets: About her loved up married life with ‘Marv’ from JLS. Please get a room. Child stars: Pitt and Jolie’s 4-yearold child, Vivienne, is to star in a Disney film. $3000 dollars a week at FOUR. Doomed. Chris Brown: Where do I begin? Should permanently be in the Finished section. The World: Apparently the meteors are coming for us all.
Finished
22| 22nd - 28th February 2013 @RedbrickMusic
.
Lads on Tour.
On 16th February, the 2013 NME Awards Tour came to Brum. Beth Coveney and Josh Holder investigated. Redbrick meets. Peace
Redbrick meets. Django Django
Live Set. Peace
Halfway through their stint opening the NME Awards Tour, I caught up with Birmingham indie four-piece, Peace, ahead of their hometown show at the O2 Academy. They seem to be enjoying the tour, unable to pinpoint and agree upon a particular standout show, but unanimously agreeing that hometown shows are the best ones and they’re looking forward to the night ahead.
It’s been a whirlwind 12 months for Django Django. Since releasing their debut album in January 2012, they’ve been nominated for a Mercury music award, toured the world and highlighted the musical capability of coconut halves for live performances. Despite this, the band claim that the last gig of 2012 was their personal highlight of the year: 'it was quite emotional, it was a couple of days before Christmas, and the crowd were really up for it. We thought it was going to be the last show of touring this album, but then obviously we got asked to do this tour.' With the band headlining the NME awards tour, they explain that 'the way we play live is quite different to how we recorded the album. We play the songs very differently, much more stripped back. There’s probably more energy in them, and of course we have matching shirts.' Despite having a limited back catalogue, the band never include covers in their live sets: 'We’d rather stretch our own tracks out to like 20 minutes, which is what we do, with sort of 12” disco edits of all of our hits.' Their debut album has clearly been well received by both fans and critics alike, and the band believe it's because it’s 'great fun and quite adventurous. I think there might be something in the escapist nature of the album that people really enjoy, like science fiction and fantasy films, when we’re in the middle of a recession.' Although they’ve been touring heavily, Django Django clearly have their eyes set firmly on their next album, with the aim to finish the recording process by the end of the year. 'Dave’s been talking about the palette of sounds that he’s got in his head that he’s eager to explore, but in terms of lyrical content we’re not sure yet, it’ll come out in the wash'.
With an early slot – the venue was still filling up when they began their set – the night started with local indie band Peace. The prestigious opening slot of the NME Awards Tour has been responsible for launching the careers of the likes of Florence and the Machine and Azealia Banks, so who knows what it will do for Peace.
'We got the best songs and just played them.' While it’s only recently that Peace have come to our attention, billed by many as one of the ‘big things’ of 2013, they’ve been making music together for years. Lead vocalist/guitarist Harry Koisser and bassist Sam Koisser are brothers, Harry then met drummer Dom Boyce and claims after a rocky start they became good friends, and when Dom brought along guitarist Doug Castle, Peace was born. When I asked about their – non-Google-friendly – band name, Harry explained 'It’s just a mindset really. It seemed really straightforward, but you can take it how you want to take it. It is what it is I guess, it’s quite provocative, if you want it to be. It just seemed right for us', and Sam simply added 'it’s bold. It says a lot about us'. We’re only a month and a half into 2013 and it’s already been busy for Peace. They talked about their New Year’s Eve show at Club NME: '20 minutes after midnight – first show of the year. Start as we mean to continue'. With plans lined up for festivals this summer, and with their album tour - especially the overseas part - top of their agenda, Peace have definitely got a lot to look forward to. Their debut In Love is set for release on March 25th, and Harry – the main songwriter – explains how the process of making In Love was far different to that of their EP Delicious. 'We got the best songs and just played them. We weren’t experimenting with our sound any more, we were more just us. We did it a lot more naturally, we weren’t thinking about it as much'. In response to comments that Delicious showcased a diverse mix of sounds, Doug adds that, on the album, 'The songs are still quite varied, but a similar sound'. So the band seem to have settled on a sound, though no one’s quite sure what it is yet. Harry admits 'I’ve no idea how to describe it. Kind of confused maybe, I don’t think it knows what it is. We’re not just going for one particular thing, we’re kind of going for everything. We’re literally influenced by most things, most music that we've heard. I was just listening to Bruno Mars – massive influence.' BC
'I think there might be something in the escapist nature of the album that people really enjoy when we're in the middle of a recession.' So with an album to record, what’s the plan for 2013? 'Festivals! Last year was amazing for us. This year we’ll hopefully be doing some European festivals, and of course writing. We’ll hopefully start to work some new tracks into the set over the summer.' With a new album to record, and more live shows planned, it sounds like it’s going to be another sensational year for Django Django. JH
They opened with three songs from their upcoming debut album to a rapturous reception from the crowd, but it’s when the opening riff of ‘Bloodshake’ kicked in that they really went crazy. The melodic single ‘Wraith’ was probably the standout track of their set, provoking sing-alongs and dancing throughout the venue. Another highlight was the stunning rendition of their ballad ‘California Daze’, with its beautiful harmonies and floaty guitar sounds translating perfectly from the record to the gig. They closed with ‘Follow Baby’, with an anthemic sing-along chorus that proved a crowd favourite and finished their set off smoothly. Peace’s set was well constructed and full of energy from start to finish, reminding us why they’re one of 2013’s most exciting bands and why they deserved a place on this tour – and it’s clear that they have made their hometown of Birmingham proud. BC
www.redbrick.me/music 23
Live Set. Palma Violets
Live Set. Miles Kane
Live Set. Django Django
Palma Violets have managed to ride their wave of hype with huge success, releasing two storming singles and garnering themselves a devoted legion of fans, many of whom appeared to have pushed their way to the front of the O2 Academy for the band’s performance. Though their set was let down by some disappoin-
For me, the gig was all about Miles Kane, former Rascal and Last Shadow Puppet. Since going solo in 2010, the Wirral rocker has gone from strength to strength, and from the moment he swaggered on stage it was clear he was going to give headliners Django Django a run for their money. Bursting straight into his latest single ‘Give Up’, Miles filled the venue with catchy hooks Britpopinfluenced riffs, and he already had the audience in the palm of his hand. He seized the opportunity to showcase some new music which went down incredibly well, but it was his already established hits that made the set a success. Responding to Miles’ rallying the crowd between songs in a Gallagher-esque fashion, they were getting more and more excited as the set progressed, and he seemed to thrive off of that. His style and stage presence bear a striking resemblance to that of Paul Weller, which became especially evident during standout track ‘You’re Gonna Get It’ – cowritten with Weller himself. He closed with wild and thunderous renditions of crowd favourites ‘Inhaler’ and ‘Come Closer’, which ended with an extended singalong call-and-response between Miles and the crowd, proving he wasn’t wanting to leave the stage, and I’m pretty sure no one in the crowd wanted him off just yet either.
Django Django were the night’s headliners, and they certainly didn’t disappoint. Although there was initial concern that their cool synths would be too far of a departure from the thundering riffs that had taken over the venue until now, this turned out to be unfounded, and by the end of the night, they’d well and truly succeeded in getting everyone dancing along.
ting mixing that appeared to follow Spinal Tap’s motto of turning everything up to 11, the band performed an unrelenting set that mixed in familiar favourites with album tracks from their debut album. The highlight was ‘Last Of The Summer Wine’, with its stunning jangly riffs highlighting the band at their best, and their success in rousing the entire room to belt the chorus of ‘Best Of Friends’ was particularly impressive. Unfortunately, tracks from their forthcoming debut were a mixed bunch. ‘Rattlesnake Highway’ radiated energy and the crowd fanatically bounced and moshed for its duration, whereas ‘14’ plodded along without any great ardor, or even melody. Regardless, Palma Violets show great promise, and the comradery between the two frontmen gives the band a unique twist. With a little more work on their showmanship, and a few more songs to choose from, Palma Violets will be unstoppable. JH
'He looked 100% at home on stage, and his incredible amounts of confidence (while avoiding the inevitable cockiness) along with catchy, noisy rock songs could have easily had him mistaken as the NME Awards Tour headliner.' The crowd were absolutely buzzing by the time Miles’ set was over, and he was hands down the standout performance of the night. He looked 100% at home on stage, and his incredible amounts of confidence (while avoiding the inevitable cockiness) along with catchy, noisy rock songs could have easily had him mistaken as the NME Awards Tour headliner. BC
'Even the most sceptical audience members found their feet tapping and their heads bopping.' Opening with their debut album’s introductory track and continuing into ‘Hail Bop’, it became immediately apparent that their live show had a vastly different sound to their studio recordings. Whilst the components are the same, the layers are stripped back to their rawest form and you really get to appreciate the individual instruments. Django Django have some incredible riffs, and when paired with their superhuman drummer, who somehow managed to keep the whole thing in time, it resulted in an aweing sonic display. Their set quickly churned through their album’s tracks, with each having its own unique twist to distance it from the studio recording. ‘WOR’ was one of the set highlights, with Jimmy Dixon’s frantic bass playing. ‘Default’, their biggest single, was well received, but the greatest crowd reaction was the result of ‘Life’s a Beach’, where even the most sceptical audience members found their feet tapping and their heads bopping to the irresistible surf rock riffery. Django Django describe this kind of show as the most daunting for them, since the audience aren’t necessarily already fans of theirs, but they love the challenge of trying to win them over. Judging by the crowd’s fervent reaction, it would appear that they were successful. JH
For all the latest album and single reviews visit redbrick.me/music
24 | 22nd - 28th February 2013
Streak!
@Redbrick @RedbrickTV
Daisy Follett TV Critic
I literally cannot think of anything I would want to do less than streaking. It just seems like such an awful, awful idea. Which is why when I heard about this documentary, Streak! The man who can’t keep his clothes on, I was curious to see if I could glimpse a bit of the psychology behind this eccentric pastime. It follows Mark Roberts, a prolific streaker who over the last 20 years has bared all at nearly 500 events, ranging from Crufts to the Superbowl, as he prepares to retire from streaking for good. There are a few problems with this documentary; firstly the angle it adopts is a bit odd, it mixes anecdotes about his streaking with a whole “What he’s doing now” thing, which doesn’t really work as all he’s doing is trying to find a job. Despite this, the voiceover is weirdly serious throughout - I don’t know if the narrator thinks he’s Louis Theroux or something but he talks about Mark getting naked as if it’s a matter of national importance. It actually becomes quite annoying, and as a bonus he also manages to irritate Mark while they’re following him
around. The story about streaking at the Superbowl is a highlight; buying front row tickets and disguising himself wearing a referees uniform, he was able to make it to the centre of the pitch. He danced naked in front of 100 million people before being tackled and carried away. This story is mixed in with slightly weirder anecdotes about how he “lightened up” a friend’s mother’s funeral by whipping his kit off and jumping on a van. As for the psychology side of things, apparently it all stems from a “you only live once, might die tomorrow” school of thought. He’s actually quite the philosopher; “as my tattoo says, if you can think it, you can do it. Although actually, I thought I could do this streak, but I can’t. So maybe I should get that tattoo removed.” I think that might be wise. It all comes to a massive anticlimax when his planned Final Streak Ever (the X-Factor) just doesn’t happen, because he doesn’t want to do it anymore, and it’s all a bit awkward. Overall this programme takes itself a little bit too seriously. It's carried along partly by the fact that Mark seems like a nice guy, but there’s just not enough subject matter to fill the hour and by the end it’s a bit boring. I guess I just don’t care that much about streaking.
A documentarythat follows Mark Roberts, a prolific streaker, as he prepares to retire from streaking for good.
Where can you get the best football coverage? In the realms of football there are numerous debates that frequently crop up: who is the best player in the world; which is the best team currently or indeed ever. One that is seldom explored, however, is the medium through which us fans consume the on-pitch action and that is the television coverage. Live action and highlights are transmitted largely from four different stations – BBC, ITV, Sky and ESPN. But which of these four is the best? A good starting point is probably to first look at the competitions that each channel offers, gauging how much screen time each is afforded. The BBC is the cornerstone of English football with the traditional Match of the Day (MOTD) format gracing our screens every Saturday night showing the highlights of the day’s Premier League games. Furthermore the inception of Match of the Day 2 on a Sunday night since 2004 has ensured that fans of any Premier League team don't have to miss out on their team’s action just because they played a day later. And it’s not just Premier League football that the BBC can boast, but also highlights from every game in the football league on their aptly, if not imaginatively named, Football League Show; as well as coverage of the League Cup competition throughout the season. For the keen observer, you will notice that amongst all of this coverage, most of it is just highlights with the occasional Championship game and League Cup tie broadcast live. The real opportunity to
broadcast live games comes in the World Cup and European Championships where continents unite to watch and celebrate football. Their live games are the only ones that don’t contain adverts and put them at an immediate advantage for coverage over its opponents. Also hosting World Cup and European Championship football is the ITV team, who do, unfortunately, have adverts...incessantly. On top of the tournaments, ITV has every England qualifying game and friendly making them the channel on which we are mainly forced and crow-barred to watch the national team inevitably fail. When they aren’t showing international football they have the oldest cup competition in England, the FA Cup and the most sought after in domestic European football, the Champions League. Unlike the BBC, the majority of ITV’s football coverage is live games, centred around cup football as it also has rights to the Europa League which is often demoted to ITV4 as opposed to its other coverage that takes pride of place on ITV1. Also relegated alongside the Europa League is the African Cup of Nations which has just taken place - people paid very little attention to it (Nigeria won, by the way). On to the channels that require a viewer to part with their cash for the privilege to watch their coverage. Sky Sports has shown Premier League games since the league’s introduction in 1992, bringing with it new features such as the permanent digital on-
screen graphic scoreboard that many viewers take for granted nowadays. Normally showing between two and four games in a weekend, Sky Sports has taken prominence in live Premier League coverage. Much like ITV, Sky has rights to the Champions League, but has the ability to show far more games, usually eight at a time during the group phases. Moreover, Sky has the rights to international football, but crucially not England or either of the major international tournaments, for now at least. Lastly, they broadcast the most intriguing League Cup ties that are thrown up and come into their own as the competition nears its conclusion at the semi-final stage, providing coverage of both legs from each game. Finally the newest channel to English football coverage is ESPN who have managed to muscle in on Sky’s dominance of Premier League broadcasting. Although their schedule is far lighter, they always cover the late kick-off in the Premier League on a Saturday. Building on that, they have gained rights to the FA Cup and share the number of ties that they show with ITV, incorporating Friday and Monday games into the schedule, which have become a slight issue for the traditionalists of the competition. Whilst it is clear that there is a gulf in the number of competitions and live action between the channels, there is also a great cleavage between their coverage. This can be judged predominantly by their presenters and pundits and to a lesser extent commentators and camera work. Stalwart of the BBC and MOTD is much loved footballing legend, Gary Lineker. The face of Walkers crisps is very natural on camera and engaging
as a host. We trust his ease of navigation around the issues surrounding the games that he presents, and his handling of colleagues as well as the random stats before certain games. Not so well received is his Irish counterpart Colin Murray. The MOTD2 presenter is to be replaced by Mark Chapman at the start of next season. People have commented that he is too abrasive towards his pundit peers and that he tries too hard to force his own opinion on the game, despite never having played at a professional level. Personally I feel that he is lively and enthusiastic and gives the programme a new energy that it was devoid of when it was hosted by Adrian Chiles, but more on him a bit later. Lastly on the BBC is Manish Bhasin who, unfortunately, lacks Murray’s charisma. His show covers the second tier football and he is very much the second tier of football broadcasting and in danger of relegation, surely? Now back to the aforementioned Chiles. ITV lured him over from the BBC, initially, to present new breakfast show Daybreak and to be the captain of their flagship football broadcasting. Why they spent so much money on this transfer is ludicrous to me! His agent must have talked up his abilities no end to land a job like this. Needless to say the grumpy West Brom fan is no longer scaring children in the morning before they go to school, just everyone else, as he ‘presents’ the various football games that ITV employ him for. Chiles is most definitely the Fernando Torres of the football presenting world. In saying that Chiles is marginally better than Matt Smith
www.redbrick.me/tv | 25
My Big Fat Gypsy Valentine Rosie Pooley TV Critic
@rosiethings
This past Valentine’s week, Channel 4 decided to flog out their sure-fire ratings hit, the gypsy community, and give us another dose of the extremely glittery My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. This time we meet Ina Casey, a 16 year old who is marrying her boyfriend that she dated in secret before being discovered by her uncle - an engagement swiftly followed. We also meet up with Danielle and Brendan from the last series, who are marrying one day after Danielle turns 16; but can they really live up to Danielle’s dream of a white wedding when Brendan faces a prison sentence? These young brides are the latest offering of gypsy weddings for our viewing pleasure, and in spite of their age, these girls know what they want and it involves a lot of big dresses and even bigger hair. With Valentine’s Day in the title you may think that there would be an overly romantic theme for this oneoff special, but My Big Fat Gypsy Valentine offers its audiences nothing new. The weddings involved neither took place on Valentine’s Day or seemed to have any relation to the
romantic tradition and what was also strange was that it aired on Monday 11th February, a full three days before the actual day. It may have been better if we were given an overview of how a gypsy courtship comes about, from
the gypsy tradition of grabbing that sees male gypsies literally grabbing girls straight off the campsite, and how this somehow transpires into the true love the girls have always wanted - but too little too late for Channel 4
commissioners, who seemed to have missed the mark this time. Despite the familiarity, there were still some moments of My Big Fat Gypsy Valentine that made it watchable. Husband-to-be Brendan embarked on a stag-do that would have made anyone nervous and there were also some brilliant cameos including a jolly Catholic Priest who is called in to bless Brendan and Danielle’s caravan, before cheekily suggesting to bless the marriage bed as well. However, the real star of the show was Ina’s 8-yearold cousin Theresa. The wise little girl gave us an overview of what gypsy travelers think about love and how she doesn’t want to fall in to the trap of marrying too young. She tells us that it is not her dream to cook and clean, and quite frankly, speaks more sense than any of her older siblings. For the most part My Big Fat Gypsy Valentine was business as normal; there were dresses made of wallpaper, crystals and diamonds bejeweling every inch of clothing, and hair that defied gravity. Although with the link to Valentine’s day being little more than incidental, it feels like this set-up is becoming all too familiar and unless something new comes our way, for some people, it may mean our love affair with gypsies may soon be over.
Russell Webb TV Editor
@rwebb92
– no not the Doctor, although he would do a better job, I’m sure. Smith should not be in front of the camera as he poses awkward, clearly pre-determined questions to his laughable pundits (again, more on them later). Although they have fantastic games to cover, ITV really don’t have the presenters to front the show. Also lured away from the BBC was Ray Stubbs, now presenting ESPN’s coverage in a very natural way, as he did for his former employers. As their coverage isn’t very extensive at this point, they only need Stubbs as a front man. His interaction with his footballing pros is very easy and sounds more conversational, making for much more pleasant viewing. Sky had to have a massive overhaul of their presenting staff after Richard Keys and Andy Gray were embroiled in a sexism scandal that caused the loss of their jobs with the network. In their place came Ed Chamberlain and Ben Shephard. Whilst neither of them are spectacular at their job, they are like a good central defensive midfielder, doing the necessary work to keep the team – in this case programme – ticking over and running smoothly. They had big boots to fill and have done it admirably. Presenters are pivotal towards the enjoyment of football coverage; however, the crucial element, for me at least, is the pundits. Despite the furore surrounding Andy Gray there is no doubt that the Scot was a fantastic football pundit and commentator and will be immortalised by his ‘take a bow’ saying that encompasses any game of Fifa or real life game. Therefore the person that replaced him had even bigger boots to fill than
either Ed Chamberlain or Ben Shephard for Sky. At the time it was a controversial choice to employ the recently retired, former Manchester United captain, Gary Neville. Many people, myself included, were sceptical that this was the right appointment. How right they were and how wrong was I. At the moment Neville is the freshest and best football pundit currently in employment. His original thoughts and ideas on the processes of the game are something to be truly admired and aspired towards. He is accompanied on the punditing chairs most often by Jamie Redknapp, Graham Souness and Glenn Hoddle who are, in their own right, very interesting pundits to listen to. Their job is made even more difficult because their analysis has to come as the game is being played and it is a credit to them that they are so insightful and fascinating. On the other hand are the ex-pros employed at the BBC. Once upon a time Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson were saying very interesting things about football that had never been heard before. Fast forward a couple of decades and the same old things that they were saying are now exceptionally boring and the record really does need to be changed. Recently retired Alan Shearer is not much better as he has taken up the mantle of saying obvious things that the average football fan can identify. I have noticed that they appear to be trialling potential new pundits, mainly on the sister show MOTD2 such as Dion Dublin and Pat Nevin who, unlike the Liverpool FC fossils, do have new and interesting things to say on the matter of Premier League
football. I for one would like to see more of them and less of the old ‘dream team’. As they have less air time it is perhaps easier for the pundits on ESPN to say things that are not tired and haggard. Nonetheless, they employ outspoken pundits in their own right in the form of Robbie Savage, John Barnes and Kevin Keegan. Together they boast a wealth of football knowledge and controversial opinions that tend to stir debate in their often pitch-side ‘studio’. Perhaps if they were given a bit more air time, we may get bored of what they have to say, but for now, it is very enjoyable to watch football on ESPN. Things couldn’t be further on ITV. I have already established my dislike for their presenters and now it’s the pundits’ turn. Just because you were a fantastic football player and have managed a team in the Premier League clearly does not mean that you make a good pundit: ahem, Roy Keane. Chiles always appears afraid of the former midfield bruiser which first and foremost makes for uncomfortable viewing. And then there is the useless ‘knowledge’ that the Irishman incessantly forces upon us alongside England anti-hero Gareth Southgate. The only shining light is another BBC import, Lee Dixon. He was the one pundit with fresh insights that didn’t get enough air-
time on the Beeb and so moved...to get less airtime on the advert-filled, nonsense-talking ITV coverage. When the pundits aren’t talking nonsense they have the great Andy Townsend to sit on the fence of every issue as he tip-toes and pussy-foots around the big calls and decisions that need to be discussed on the highlight reels. The crux of good coverage is dependent upon the actual coverage. Whilst the BBC has no adverts and can give full concentration to the football, most of the analysis is wasted on trodden ground by pundits that need to retire and let other people take over. The other three stations all fall victim to the advert overlord that dictates much of their coverage; however two of the stations make the most of their time on air and one of them simply does not. Three guesses for which one that is. Of course, it’s ITV. The channel is frustrating to watch and I have to busy myself whilst they ‘analyse’ and chat their way through five excruciating minutes before the next inevitable ad break. So we are left with the new boys versus the experienced pro. As plucky as ESPN’s coverage is, it just isn’t up to the high standards set by the Sky team, although their day-long coverage of last year’s FA Cup final was phenomenal. With the best pundits and clearly the best programming, Sky Sports really do produce the best football coverage.
26 | 22nd - 28th February 2013
@RedbrickFilm
TopThree
George Valentin and Peppy Miller The Artist (2011)
Newsreel JONATHAN FAGG Critic
The outlook is bleak as Andrew Pollard delves into dystopian dramas #1 The Road
#2 The Time Machine
#3 The Matrix
'Top Three' may be a misleading title, since I doubt anyone’s going to enjoy the end of the world, but it really doesn’t get any more hopeless, bleak or generally traumatising than Viggo Mortenson and young Kodi Smit-McPhee's journey through the ruined world penned by Cormac McCarthy. As we follow their attempt to avoid cannibals and starvation, it’s clear there has never been a more harrowing portrayal of the strength of love in the face of utter nihilism.
Regardless of what you think of the most recent incarnation of H.G. Well’s hallowed tale (let’s face it, this 2002 version was only really salvaged by Samantha Mumba’s frankly transcendent performance), its intriguing prophecy of humanity's evolutionary bisection and the genesis of the terrifying Morlocks is a classic. If nothing else, I gotta tell you a post-apocalyptic world ain’t so bad when you’ve got obscure 90's pop royalty to keep you company.
The majority of The Matrix sees Neo playing limbo with bullets in the late 20th century, but the brief glimpse we do get of 'The Real World' is a nightmarish wasteland filled with rubble and random leather armchairs. The endless fields, in which humans are grown like crops and harvested for whatever bio-electricity is, are a truly iconic dystopia. And let’s not forget those incredible waterslides waiting for anyone stupid enough to swallow the red pill.
OscarSilverscreen Redbrick revisits two recent winners in time for Sunday's Academy Awards
No Country for Old Men The King's Speech THOMAS LOFKIN Critic
ALICE WELEMINSKY-SMITH Critic
Director: Ethan Coen and Joel Coen Cast: Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones
Director: Tom Hooper Cast: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham-Carter
If ever there was a film more deserving of four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, you need look no further than The Coen Brothers’ 2006 masterpiece No Country for Old Men. The film begins with everyman Llewellyn Moss stumbling upon a botched drug deal while hunting deer in the West Texas desert. Here he discovers a suitcase containing a small fortune and decides to quite literally 'take the money and run'. What follows is a tense cat and mouse thriller, as Moss is pursued by the enigmatic and monstrous Anton Chigurh, a sociopathic hitman hell-bent on retrieving the stolen cash. Masterfully played by Javier Bardem, his performance of Chigurh earned him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. And rightly so, as it is safe to assume that until you have seen him in action, you will have never encountered a more terrifying onscreen presence than Chigurh. Unusually, the film features virtually no soundtrack, relying entirely on the actor’s dialogue, which is expertly delivered. This cements the film’s tense and eerie atmosphere. One scene in particular, which features Chigurh, a gas station attendant and a peanut wrapper will make your heart stop. With an intelligent and often darkly humorous script expertly penned by the Coens, and truly deserving of its Best Adapted Screenplay accolade, No Country for Old Men is a violent and unrelenting thriller that goes above and beyond the conventional levels of cinematic tension and delivers a film that will have you completely mesmerized right up until its chilling conclusion.
With a plot seemingly as thin as your grandma’s net curtains, it appears at first that The King's Speech could be just a nice little costume drama good enough for, well, your grandma, but certainly not an Oscar scooping triumph. However, director Tom Hooper’s mastery lies in his ability to turn the seemingly mediocre into a forceful drama. This is edge-of-your-seat stuff, and you'll be just as tense when wondering whether the king will manage to get his next word out, as when the cannons blast in Hooper’s current Oscar competitor Les Misérables. Hooper’s subtly powerful cinematography certainly helps to make this film feel bigger than its story, but much of the quiet greatness of this film also comes from some incredible performances by the cast. Geoffrey Rush plays the king’s unorthodox and common speech therapist Lionel Logue with a fantastic delicacy and real warmth, and Helena Bonham-Carter shows herself to be brilliant in a role outside of her usual off-the-wall type as the king’s quietly snobbish wife. But of course, it is Firth’s perfect performance as the king himself that really lifts this small story to its Oscar winning heights, and his brilliantly balanced performance as the man with all the power who cannot speak to use it is the film’s true achievement. Just like the king, this film certainly does have a voice, and trust me, it’s one you want to hear.
Despite receiving almost entirely negative reviews, A Good Day to Die Hard is doing rather well financially, making over $25 million in its opening weekend. In contrast, Twilight wannabe Beautiful Creatures, based on the novel of the same name by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, has bombed.
Since Disney acquired the Star Wars franchise, Ewan McGregor has asked to star in an Obi-Wan Kenobi centered spin-off, and a film focusing on the early days of Han Solo has been announced, with rumours of Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford returning to the main installments of the franchise.
Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones) will star in the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past. Although his part has not been revealed, he is rumoured to be playing the main villain in a plot aiming to sort out the franchise’s tangled continuity with a time travel story.
www.redbrick.me/film | 27
Prestige or Politics: Is the battle for Best Picture just a game? Life & Style Online Editor and avid Oscar fan Megan Jones talks us though the controversies and conspiracies surrounding film's most celebrated award ceremony 'It's totally subjective. Pitting people against each other. It's the stupidest thing in the whole world,' commented the star of this year’s The Master, Joaquin Phoenix, on the annual award ceremony. Though it seemed likely that such remarks would strongly diminish his chances of a third Oscar nomination, Phoenix was indeed nominated but the critically acclaimed drama and its director were snubbed. Are the Academy Awards a prestigious affair, where the best films of the year are honoured, or, as film critic and infamous Oscarhater Mark Kermode believes, 'a celebration of bland mediocrity over genuine innovation'? With the 85th Academy Awards just days away, this is the most important period in the film calendar. Actors, directors, producers and their crews don their most expensive gowns and tuxedos for a celebration of the ‘best’ films of the year. Here lies the first problem. As the stars traipse their way down the seemingly never-ending red carpet, they are seldom asked fine details about their films, but rather about their sartorial choices: 'Who are you wearing?' is an all too familiar turn of phrase from the mouth of Ryan Seacrest. This issue is perhaps minor, and something I admittedly enjoy, when compared with the most criticised element of the Oscars and the Award Season as a whole: the films themselves. What do Citizen Kane, Vertigo and 2001: A Space Odyssey all have in common? These films, which frequently top ‘Best of All Time’ lists never won Best Picture. Martin Scorsese didn’t win Best
Director until 2006’s The Departed, meaning that Taxi Driver and Raging Bull both missed out, and Kubrick, Hitchcock and Fellini are just a few of the fantastic directors never to have been awarded Best Director. Is Russell Crowe a better actor than Leonardo DiCaprio because he’s won an Oscar? Does Meryl Streep really deserve all of those nominations? I could go on. Think of your favourite film. Do Oscar wins sway your decision? Though it’s always a welcome addition, I doubt they do. There is also the question of what is more important, the quality of the film or the quality of the film’s marketing campaign? Cue producer extraordinaire, Harvey Weinstein. If you want an Oscar nomination, he is the go-to guy. Notorious for his Oscar-pushing campaigns, Weinstein and his company have been behind Best Picture winners such as The King’s Speech, The Artist and this year’s contenders, Silver Linings Playbook, Django Unchained and The Master. It is not just The Weinstein Company that are responsible for such huge advertising campaigns around Oscar season (Skyfall, anyone?) but most big studios, leaving little indie flicks way below the radar. All this ranting aside, and despite our awareness of the politics of the Oscars, they remain undeniably important and newsworthy, with our BAFTAs increasingly emulating them. I certainly rush to see the Best Picture nominees and an Oscar win works wonders for a film’s success and reputation. In addition, moaning and groaning has slightly
decreased after the expanding of the Best Picture category in 2009, in order to, in theory, include bigbudget blockbusters after The Dark Knight was well and truly snubbed. If we look at this year’s nominees, they are broader than ever. There is risk (Django Unchained), controversy (Zero Dark Thirty), humour (Silver Linings Playbook), box office success (Les Misérables) as well as lowbudget indies and first features (Beasts of the Southern Wild). Pleasantly surprising was Amour’s nomination, proving that foreign films are no longer being confined to their minor category (last year’s winner, The Artist, may have been French but no one spoke) and it is, arguably, the best made film of last year. That said, it doesn’t have the entertainment value of Argo, the powerhouse performance of Lincoln or the tension and pace of Zero Dark Thirty. If recent wins are anything to go by, Argo seems to be the race’s front runner, so what exactly is the Academy’s definition of ‘best’? Say what you will, but the Oscars are a celebration of the innovation, creation and art of the film industry, and though the same directors, actors and producers often pop up, we can’t really complain that any of this year’s nominees are awful. Omissions and irritations will always occur, so why not focus on and celebrate what is nominated instead of what isn’t? You never know, the Academy may surprise us this year.
28 | 22th-28th February 2013
@RedbrickSport
Birmingham City building for the future Tom Garry Sport Correspondent
@TomG_BurnFM
Local Championship side Birmingham City received a big boost last week as the club’s academy was recommended for Category Two status, something typically reserved for Premier League sides, following a full audit of the youth development set-up at Wast Hills training ground, a site also used by sports clubs from the University of Birmingham. The news comes after several firstteam breakthroughs for young players who have come through the ranks of the youth academy. Jack Butland, Great Britain’s first choice goalkeeper at last summer’s Olympic Games, and Nathan Redmond, who made the headlines after a series of exciting displays in last season’s Europa league competition, are both products of the club’s youth programme, and Academy Manager Kristian Speakman explained how progress for these emerging talents has helped to motivate the even younger players: ‘I think it’s a massive inspiration because it shows that they can do it too. We’re a very small, family-orientated football club and the young players will be saying, “If they can do it, I can do it”. I think the biggest thing for any football club is giving them the opportunity to play on the pitch and what all the young players at our football club can see is that there’s a manager who’s willing to put them on the pitch and there’s a football club with a real drive to getting young players in the team.’ Speakman was also keen to praise those in charge of the club, with the academy working well despite a number of negative stories in the press regarding the club’s financial status, adding: ‘The Chairman and the board have been fantastically supportive with the investment in the training ground and I think you’ve got to give a lot of credit to them, as well as our staff at the football academy who have really worked hard to try and make sure we get as high a grade as we possibly can.’
'Good players practice what they're good at. Great playes practice what they're not good at.' As well as nurturing the player’s technical progress as footballers, the club also take responsibility for the player’s development off the field too, playing a key role in the local community. ‘We’ve got a real clear vision and strategy’, said Speakman. ‘It’s not only
about the boys who do well footballwise, (and there’ll only ever be a certain percentage who do that) but it’s also putting a strategy in place for the ones that don’t make it. There’s got to be a support mechanism in there to get them into other football clubs, maybe other tiers, or other streams of life, whether that’s as a coach, as a teacher or going to University.’ Often, the biggest challenge for young players is being spotted at an early age. However, in July 2012, University of Birmingham centre-back Christian Burgess signed for Middlesborough, another Championship club, aged 20. This move will have a given hope to a number of University players and Speakman offered further encouragement: ‘I don’t think there’s ever an age when people are past it. We’re always looking for players at any age-group.’ One of the real success-stories at Birmingham City is Calum Reilly, who joined the club aged 7 and, after making his debut against Sheffield Utd in the FA Cup last season, has gone on to make 12 first-team appearances this season, scoring his first goal away to Huddersfield last month. Reilly, a boy-hood Birmingham fan, told Redbrick Sport how much it means to him to be playing for the club after being with the academy for so long. ‘The fact that I’m a Blues fan makes it a lot easier. The biggest thing for me is to stay in the team and keep my feet on the ground. There were times (as a youngster) when it was difficult and you wonder if you’re going to reach your dream, but the coaching is so good, they push you through.’ U18s coach, Steve Spooner: ‘We always say to these players: good players practice what they’re good at. Great player’s practice what they’re not good at. They need to realise themselves what they’ve they need to work on, for their own game. It’s one thing having good facilities, but the nitty gritty is coaching. You can have a wonderful facility but then you could have a coach on a car park and the players will still improve.’ The future looks bright for the club, with more young stars coming through the ranks. England’s U16s star Foday Nabay, born in Sierra Leone, caught the eye of many Premier League clubs including Manchester City, but chose to join Birmingham. While the first team’s results this season might not be providing much cheer, the city of Birmingham can clearly be very proud of the club’s youth Academy.
Nathan Redmond
Calum Reilly
Foday Nabay
Jack Butland
www.redbrick.me/sports | 29
ICC Champions Trophy 2013 International cricket comes to Edgbaston this summer and brings opportunities to volunteer as well as spectate Felix Keith Sport Editor
@FelixKeith
The ICC Champions Trophy 2013 comes to the UK and promises to be one of the sporting highlights of the summer. The competition sees the top eight ranked nations take each other on in the One Day International (ODI) format. The matches will be played across three venues: The Cardiff Wales Stadium, The Oval and Edgbaston throughout June. Birmingham’s Edgbaston Stadium has been allocated some cracking fixtures, opening with England vs. Australia on 8th June and also featuring India vs. Pakistan on 15th June. The home of Warwickshire CCC also becomes the first venue outside of London to host the final of a global men’s tournament on the 23rd June. The tournament could provide a perfect day out in the sunshine as it happily coincides with the end of the exam period. The introduction of tickets for under-21s should also provide incentive,with prices ranging from £10-£25, while tickets for under-16s are £5 for the entire tournament. With the first allocation of tickets having already sold out for the big games, maybe it is time to look ahead and book some postexam entertainment. The tournament comes at a crucial time in the international schedule for England. The squad will will take part in the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 before beginning their home defence of the Ashes in late June. The ODI scene is extremely competitive with India, England and Australia the current top three ranked teams, but South Africa, Sri Lanka and Pakistan will also stand every chance of reaching the final. The tournament is therefore set up to be a fantastic event and hopefully the home advantage should see England through. Tournament Director, Steve
Elworthy, said: ‘This will be a terrific opportunity for fans to see the world’s very best One-Day sides in action over the space of less than three weeks. The fixture schedule has also thrown up a host of exciting head-to-head contests.’ The competition also offers the opportunity for volunteers to support this highly anticipated event. 18 year olds and over can apply to be a ‘Cricketeer’ in six areas: activation / entertainment, accreditation, venue / general team, ticketing, media and hospitality. The tournament will require 900 volunteers across the three venues, with roughly 340 allocated to Edgbaston. The initiative aims to build on the success of schemes like the Games Makers Programme from London 2012, to benefit both volunteer and the venue. Volunteering will provide useful experience, enhance your CV and employability and could lead to further involvement in sport. If you volunteer at Edgbaston you will be working alongside University of Birmingham alumnus Darren Franklin, who is Cricket Development Officer for the Warwickshire Cricket Board. Darren is a great example of how volunteering can lead to employment. He studied SPECS (Sports, Physical Education and Coaching Science), graduating three years ago. As well as playing cricket for the University 1st team he also took on a role as a community coach to local schools. He then became a volunteer coordinator, tasked with developing participation in the local community. He now helps at local cricket clubs increasing participation and developing youngsters. The university is lucky enough to be located near Edgbaston and the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 promises to provide some great entertainment. Whether relaxing after exams in the British sunshine, or experiencing a volunteering role - Edgbaston is the place to be for cricket fans this summer.
For anyone interested in volunteering, visit: http://www.ecb.co.uk/development/volunteering/icc-champions-trophy-2013/
30 | 22nd - 28th February 2013
Sport View. Preparing for the fall Matt Clark Online Sport Editor
@MatthewClark46
What the tragic death of Reeva Steenkamp has revealed this week is the extent to which the ‘sports-industrial complex’ (the ever increasingly licentious relationship between the sports industry and the media) has gone into complete overdrive. Oscar Pistorius, the South African sprinter who currently stands trial for the murder of his 29 year old girlfriend, is the most recent and most extreme example of how the sports media machine (particularly in Britain and the United States) continues to generate myths regarding the superhuman nature of athletes which can cause so much damage and hurt in the world of sport. These days, we seem ever more determined to make heroes out of the world’s leading sportsmen. Rather than accepting them for what they are, normal human beings with abnormal talent – we insist on attributing to them superhuman characteristics, (placing them on a pedestal above the rest of society - a platform reserved for those with a work-ethic/determination we could only dream of). The proponents of the sport-industrial complex seem convinced if we couldn’t or didn’t revere athletes in this way then hardly anyone would bother following sport on television, and perhaps they’re right. We don’t have to look very far into the past to find recent examples of where this championing of leading athletes by the media has backfired spectacularly. In 2009 Tiger Woods, the epitome of professionalism in golf, was exposed as being a serial-adulterer. Lance Armstrong, who overcame cancer to win the Tour de France was shown to be a systematic illegal-drug abuser. And one of the most respected veterans of British football, Ryan Giggs, had his reputation destroyed beyond repair in 2011 by the details of a sex scandal. Male athletes have become the embodiment of success in the modern world. Young people across the globe regard them with the admiration that society once only reserved for its soldiers and war heroes. What separates Pistorius from these examples however, is that his story was capable of inspiration without any accompanying myths. Comparisons could be drawn to Karoly Takacs; the Hungarian pistol shooter who won Gold Medals in 1948 and 1952, shooting with his left hand after his stronger right hand was irreparably injured by a faulty grenade, whilst training in the army. What these two men accomplished has become the definitive stereotype of sporting myths, where an athlete conquers adversity through discipline and
willpower to achieve his goals. Pistorius imitated this character in his biography ‘Blade Runner’, saying that his ‘example can be an inspiration to those who, like me, have experienced and struggled with a physical problem’, but the remarkable thing about the Olympian, was that he didn’t have to.
Even without all of the glowing reports of his character in the media, people could appreciate and respect his achievements, whether they cared about athletics or not. Any thinking person on the planet should be capable of realising that sportsmen aren’t necessarily great role-
models, even though most of us are guilty of buying into the illusions the media builds around them. But with Pistorius there was never a sense of being conned or persuaded into believing something untrue. The world’s admiration for him seemed based on a personal appreciation and respect, which is surely what made the news on Valentine’s Day hurt that much more. In the saddest circumstances possible the world was forced into realising that athletes are not infallible. But is anything going to change? Recent history suggests two things: the world’s fascination and demand for exceptional sportsmen and heroes continues to grow, whilst the ability of athletes to live up to hype around them is decreasing. It doesn’t take long to come up with a list of ‘wonderkids’ once tipped to be a future legend and now practically forgotten Freddy Adu, Ricky Rubio, Michelle Wie etc. It isn’t hard to understand why this is the case. As we promote athletes more and more we’re pushing them further and further away from reality. As their personalities/personal brands become so greatly elaborated, as people, they are in fact becoming more confined. For sportsmen being paid tens of thousands a week and for whom opportunities to take drugs and commit adultery just present themselves on a silver plate, our capacity to empathise is constantly diminishing it’s almost unreasonable for the rest of us to expect them not to go through the same sort of challenges that everyone else in life goes through. This becomes doubly true when the spotlight is turned on these men from such ridiculously young ages. It seems we’re destined to learn nothing from the case of Pistorius. Instead of taking the opportunity to step back and attempt to put things in perspective, the sports-industrial complex demands we begin the search right away to find replacements that we can adore just as much. The vacancies left in the hearts of sports fans the world over caused by the iniquities of Woods, Armstrong, Giggs, etc will doubtlessly be filled by other equally flawed men in due time, in some cases they arguably already have. As we bare witness to tragedy once again, regardless of whether Pistorius is found guilty or innocent, it should be worryingly clear that whilst sporting heroes come and go (often in shame) only our disturbingly and dangerously increasing obsession with placing these men upon unattainable platforms, looks set to remain.
www.redbrick.me/sports | 31
Page 31 Sports Shorts
Tweet of the Week
Online this week @McIlroyRory
Heroes... Lionel Messi The Argentinian maestro scored twice in the first half against AC Milan to single handedly overcome the Italian team’s two goal lead from the first leg. Barcelona went on to win 4-0 and qualify for the next round of the Champions League.
Tiger Woods Tiger secured his second title of the year at the World Golf Championship in Doral. Whilst the final winning margin was only two shots, in reality it was never in doubt, holding the lead after every round. He is now one win away from the world number one spot.
Test Cricket
Rory McIlroy says in few words what everyone was thinking on Tuesday night:
Joel Lamy ponders England's form following their draw in the first test in New Zealand.
'Messi... Unbelievable... #enoughsaid'
Weekend Wager F1 Season Preview
9/4 France have had a disastrous Six Nations. They started as one of the favourites, but are yet to win a game. They currently sit bottom of the table with three losses and one draw. Should they fail to win their last game France will pick up their first wooden spoon in Six Nations history.
James Froom looks ahead to the up coming season and considers the favourites for the driver and constructor championships.
Men's Rugby 2nds Won 76-0 Aston 1sts Women's Lacrosse 3rds Won 16-1 Lincoln 1sts
Six Nations Result of the Week The netball 1sts qualified for BUCS finals with a big win over Cardiff 1sts in the semi-final. Ellie Jones assesses England's ugly win over Italy last weekend and considers whether England have the ability to win the Grand Slam.
5. What is the last event in the decathlon?
1. Red Bull-Renault 2.Warwickshire 3 Jason Leonard 4.Wigan Athletic 5. 1500m
The Redbrick Crossword Completed crosswords to be submitted to the Redbrick office, located in the Guild basement
They triumphed 53-20 to book their place in Leeds on Tuesday.
...and Villains Mickey Arthur The Australian cricket coach controversially dropped four players for failing to make a presentation on how to improve the team following defeats in the opening two Tests. Surely this won’t help the already struggling side?' Heather Watson and Laura Robson After their success last year many would have been expecting them to continue their progress up the rankings. But after both losing in the first round at Indian Wells, their form must be called into question.
Interested in being part of Redbrick Sport? Get in touch: sports@redbrick.me @redbricksports Redbrick Sport
Donovan Mike Crossword Editor
This week's prize is a personal tour of the Redbrick office with our Editor, Raphael Sheridan
Scribble box
Men's Rugby 1sts Lost 17-15 Edinburgh 1sts
Redbrick Sport Quiz
4. Who is the only team in the football league never to be relegated?
Phone Number:
Women's Lacrosse 2nds Won 11-1 Loughborough 2nds
Men's Squash 2nds Won 5-0 UWE 2nds
3. Who is England's most capped rugby union player?
Email Address:
Women's Hockey 2nds Won 3-0 Women's Hockey 3rds
Women's Tennis 2nds Drew 6-6 Cambridge 2nds
2. Which English county did Brian Lara play for?
Name:
Men's Football 1sts Lost 1-0 Cambridge 1sts Women's Football 2nds Drew 0-0 Nottingham Trent 1sts
1. Which team won the constructor champsionship last year?
Please complete this form before you hand in your completed crossword to the Redbrick office.
Results - 13th March
Across
Down
3. Birmingham based a capella group, The __ of Pitches (4) 5. Large mammal (8) 7. To sleep or nap (3) 9. London contemporary art gallery, The __ Modern (4) 10. Unnecessary (8) 12. American intelligence department, abv. (1,1,1) 13. Insects before metamorphosis (6) 15. Angel's headpiece (4) 16. Long state of unconsciousness (4) 17. Antogonist in the film, '2001: A Space Odyssey' (3) 20. Wild Western bar (6) 21. To ponder deeply (8) 22. Infamous line from Star Wars, 'It's a __!' (4)
1. American prison also know as 'The Rock' (8) 2. Film starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise (4,3) 3. An obstacle race containing hurdles and water pits (12) 4. The largest island in the Inner Hebrides (4) 6. Former Deputy Prime Minister, John __ (8) 8. Ski run (5) 11. Tomb Raider protagonist (4,5) 14. Country bordered by Georgia and Azerbaijan (7) 17. English actor who starred in 'The Elephant Man' and 'Nineteen Eighty-Four', John __ (4) 18. Capital of Peru 19. Legend of Zelda protagonist (4) 23. Teletubby (2)
~1~~~2~3``4~~ 5``6````~~7`8 ~`~`~`~`~~`~` 9```~0```-``` ~`~`~`~`~`~~` ~`~=``~q```w` e```~`~`~`~`~ ~`~`~~~`~r``` ~~~`~~~`~`~`~ t`y~u~i`````~ `~`~`~~`~`~`~ o```````~p``[ `~`~`~~~~~~~`
Redbrick. Est 1936
Print. Digital. Mobile.
22nd-28th February 2013 Vol. 77. Issue 1427. www.redbrick.me
Simon Furse condemned over open day protest motion
NEWS // PAGE 3
Exclusive Interview by Aqib Khan Private First-Class Justin Watt - the Iraq veteran responsible for exposing the rape and murder of Abeer Qassim Hamza by US soldiers '...the men we had lost were now dishonoured. I felt betrayed, disgusted, ashamed...' COMMENT // PAGE 6-7 Keep up to date with all of the latest Election coverage online at www.guildelections.co.uk
Megan Jones on the controversies surrounding the 'Best Picture' Oscar
Beth Coveney and Josh Holder investigate NME's Awards tour in Brum
#guildelections13 A collaborative project with Redbrick, Guild TV and Burn FM.
FILM // PAGE 27
MUSIC // PAGE 22
32 |22nd - 28th February 2013
Birmingham FC academy Tom Garry went down to Birmingham City's training ground to meet some academy players.
p28
www.redbrick.me/sport
Sport View Can sportsmen ever live up to the image portrayed by the media and sponsors?
RedbrickSport
p30
Brum's beginners bring home gold
Charlotte Wilson
@wilsonscribbles
Charlotte Wilson Photography Editor
@wilsonscribbles
Despite the chaos and confusion caused by a cancelled venue and the recent poor weather, several of the University of Birmingham Boat Club’s crews still emerged revelling in success from the rescheduled BUCS 4s and 8s Head Race. The weekend was split according to experience with beginner crews competing along a 3km course on Saturday followed by intermediate and championship teams down a 5km stretch on the Sunday. UBBC entered a total of 12 crews over the course of the weekend with several rowers racing multiple times across a single day. In a rare instance in the world of university rowing, the conditions were favourable: clear, flat waters with a spot of sunshine and boy did Birmingham make the most of it! The weekend was positive from the off. Saturday saw the men’s Beginner 8+ put several other crews to shame by placing a solid 18th out of 47, a result that far surpassed their own expecta-
tions. Similarly, the women’s Beginner 8+ ranked a commendable 7th out of 36 with a stretch of 8 seconds separating them from the following crews. Yet the victory of the day went to the men’s Beginner 4+. Despite only having trained together once before, the crew of Matt Townsend, Alex Wyganowski, Harry Allen, Alex Ozegovic and coxswain Charlotte Wilson retained their composure and delivered a solid performance that saw them seize the gold from under the blades of 23 rival universities. ‘This is a great achievement for the Beginner boys,’ said Bowman Alex Ozegovic. ‘We’ve only been rowing as a crew for the past two months so it’s a great positivity boost and shows, with hard training, it does pay off! Hopefully with more dedicated preparation we can cause real damage on the water in the coming months and years.’ Riding on the euphoria from the previous day, the men’s Intermediate
8+, which contained all four of Saturday’s gold winners plus a few seasoned racers (Jake Baldry, Harry Seager, Oscar Warner, Chris Berry and coxswain Katherine Eyles) took to the water alongside 27 other crews. Tensions were high and the hour wait at the start line excruciating, but at the word go the athletes left their nerves and their competitors in their wake and crossed the finish to secure a Bronze medal. On the women’s side of the Intermediate 8+ category, Birmingham achieved both 8th and 15th which left the girls keen to be this year’s dark horses in the eagerly-awaited Regatta season which commences in May following the Tideway Head Race and Women’s Head of the River Race; the biggest head races on the rowing calendar. Not to be outdone by their other squad members were the three championship crews, a collection comprised of a women’s 4x, a men’s 4+ and a women’s lightweight 4-. Although they nar-
rowly missed out on medal winning positions, they all racked up valuable BUCS points in their highly competitive divisions by taking 4th, 5th and 7th place respectively. As the weekend drew to a close, Tania Griffin, the Men’s Intermediate Coach, praised the squad on their victories: ‘The performance and attitude of the whole club this weekend was excellent, and each and every each athlete did themselves, the club and the University of Birmingham very proud.’ But, like any good coach, she is already looking forward. ‘This is early on in the season for us, and whilst the results are excellent, there is still a lot of hard work to be done to keep us on track for where we want to be in the summer.’ Although the months ahead look to be full of early mornings, crippling training schedules and enough pasta to feed an army, for now UBBC can celebrate the triumphs that made this year’s BUCS the most successful one the club has seen in several years.