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Friday 17.05.2013 Volume 64
Issue
Controversy sparked by Summer Ball line-up
By Daniel Mitchell
The expectations were high as the announcement for the Summer Ball line-up came round again this year. With Blur, Daft Punk, Dizzee Rascal, Justin Timberlake and Kasabian all apparently headlining, many students seemed deflated when it was announced that Feeder, the act that headlined the Summer Ball in 2009, were to return. Students took to social media site Twitter to both vent their frustration and express their delight with some students claiming that the line-up was ridiculous and that they felt let-down whilst others suggested that it was outstanding and they couldn’t wait nor hold their excitement for June 15th.
Some students said the line-up was ridiculous and they felt let-down Some possible reasons for the controversy starting are that the other Universities’ Summer Ball acts include Sub-Focus, Greg James, Labrinth, Rudimental and Bastille whilst students studying longer degrees will now see Feeder twice. The announcement definitely seemed to be the talk of the campus for many days and even the new Facebook group, ‘Things Reading Students Don’t Say,’ had something to say with their post getting well over two-hundred likes in a matter of hours.
University of London Union closed
Music Picture of Feeder from www.feederweb.com In reply to these issues, RUSU President, James Fletcher, commented that: “Other Student Unions will have a bigger budget than us but we want to engage with all of account before we make a decision. Ultimately, our Bars and Entertainments Team are paid to manage this process and make a final decision on the acts that we book, after engaging with students and gathering opinions on potential acts. We hope that students enjoy the Summer Ball and respect how we have tried to suit the tastes of as many students as possible.” The line-up was never going to
please every student but this year’s line-up, which consists of Feeder, James Arthur, Funeral for a Friend, High Contrast, Danny Howard, Tich, Ayar Marar and Delta Heavy, definitely has a variety of musically talented artists.
“We tried to suit the tastes of as many students as possible” When we spoke to Ayah Marah, she told us that: “I am absolutely looking forward to playing the Summer Ball and I can’t wait.”
She continued to say: “Delta Heavy and High Contrast are good friends and old collaborators, so I am really looking forward to seeing them again. I have a few big singles to come as well as being on tour a great deal and building my record label ‘HUSSLE GIRL’ so watch this space!” This year was also the very first time that the line-up was announced on the University’s radio station, Junction 11 and the RUSU President stated: “The student media team did a great job and it was a brilliant act.” Send us your views on the line up via twitter or follow us on twitter @Spark_News_.
RUSU says relax -with pigs By Daniel Mitchell
On Friday 15th May the RUSU says relax campaign brought a petting farm to the campus and it was a roaring success. Students really enjoyed themselves and appreciated the fact that they had a chance to have a break from revision. Several students even commented on social media sites that they were gutted they couldn’t make it. Sally Brown, a first year student studying Law, commented that: “It’s
What’s Inside? News 3
the best procrastination technique in the entire world. It’s a good way to get out and do something interesting that’s not book work.”
“The best procrastination technique in the world” RUSU says relax is a campaign to help students during the examination period to ensure that they are prepared for their exams, eating
healthily, taking regular breaks and looking after themselves. Sophie Davies, VP for Welfare and Representation stated: “RUSU says relax is all about reminding people to study and prepare for their exams whilst reminding them to take a break and relax. It has been a really successful campaign and we’ve had lots of people saying that it has made them feel so much better, especially at the farm with the help of the pet therapy.” More events for RUSU says relax include: a free film night with pop-
corn, yoga classes, Zumba classes and a free cupcake making session.
Pigs and other farm animals featured in the RUSU petting zoo
16
Funeral for a Friend: what you need to know for the summer ball
Food
20
Using food as your secret exam weapon
Sport
32
Reading kicked out from Premier League by Man City
2 News
Friday 17 May 2013 Spark*
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York Uni refuses Feminist Campus Central prices unfair to society students? By Abi Gammon
York University’s recent decision to refuse to, for the second time, create a Feminist Society, poses the question why Feminism is still needed. When the death of Margaret Thatcher reached the world Barack Obama paid an undeniably endearing homage to her saying “she stands as an example… that there is no glass ceiling that can’t be shattered”, it is Obama’s recognition of the ‘glass ceiling’ that is most pertinent in ascertaining the relevance of Feminism today. With the semi-recent publication of the Global 500, the annual ranking of the world’s largest corporations, it is evident that the ‘‘glass ceiling’’ still very much exists.
“A highly criticisable decision” With not one woman being present as CEO for one of the top ten companies and a minority of only thirteen being present as CEO in the entirety of the 500 list, women have clearly remained firmly beneath the impenetrable ‘glass ceiling’. Long were the days when Feminism was a fully fledged political movement for equality, just because women gained the vote, became writers, gained jobs and can earn their own money does not mean that inequality does not exist. That is not to say that women have not made great gains but the
Global 500 clearly demonstrates that the inequality of women is still very much apparent. Carys Williams the RUSU women’s officer commented on the issue saying that ‘’Feminism on campus is such an important issue and despite what many people think is more relevant than ever. Barriers such as Lad Culture, the chilly classroom theory and being underrepresented in student politics on a national level still affect students. A Feminist Society or a Women’s Group is a safe space where anyone can voice concerns or opinions, is a forum for discussion and is a platform for campaigns.’’
‘’Feminism on campus is such an important issue” Feminism is still clearly relevent to not only society but also to student life, York’s failure to see the necessity for a Feminist society is a highly critisisable decision, with the issues surrounding the equality of women clearly still needing to be addressed. Later this term some lecturers from the English department will be giving a feminist talk organised by the Women’s Campaign on Lad Culture on campus and its effects on student life. The NUS Women’s Campaign has recently released a report on this subject, a current concern that faces students. The talk will take place on 19th June at 6pm in Palmer 103.
Problems with peeking parents? By Daniel Mitchell
A new site has been developed for students in higher education that allows them to make the most of their time at University. Unii is a new, student only social network aimed at being a one-stop shop for students in higher education, helping them to make the most of their time at University, and keeping their parents at bay.
“Great for hiding from parents and possible future employers” Obviously things happen at University that your parents don’t want to see or know about yet most of your friends probably will and this site finds the ultimate balance for this. In summary, this site is brilliant for hiding from parents and possible future employers. Unii conducted a study which revealed that parents stalk their children more than they do not stalk their children and most of these parents had discovered things which they later regretted. Swearing, drunkenness and nudity all
featured in the top five regrettable discoveries list.
By Kitty Ruskin
“Campus Central offers students convenience and delivers what students want. RUSU is proud that it has valuable services like Campus Central and Little Learners Nursery which make a value contribution to student services like Student Activities and Student Advice” – James Fletcher President of Reading University Students’ Union. Yet do you do most of your shopping at Campus Central? My flatmates and I didn’t go there last week when we needed to buy cereal. At Sainsbury’s a packet of Cornflakes is £2.09, at Campus Central it would cost us £2.35. I didn’t go there yesterday for Flash. Compared with Tesco’s price of £1.05, Campus Central sells the same product at the price of £2.34. In spite of it’s incredibly convenient location, I wouldn’t go there regularly to buy any other of my essentials either. That seems to be the same way for most other students, too. It just works out to be too expensive. But for a store centrally catered towards students, surely low prices would be more appropriate? Being in such a convenient location, a store in the middle of campus with great deals and low prices to rival big brands such as Tesco’s, Sainsbury’s and Asda, sounds exactly what students would want. However, this is the Student Union shop, and all of the profits are re-invested back into improving facilities and services in the Student Union. “It is important that the Students Union has a number of services like Cam-
The new social networking site is able to stop this from happening as anyone wishing to sign up to the site needs a university email address which upon registering has to be verified from the account itself. Unii’s aim is to help students build and maintain their own network amongst fellow students whilst encouraging them to participate in the student lifestyle through societies, clubs and events. It also has a comprehensive jobs board showing the latest internship placements, helping students to find their first crucial placement when or before they graduate. This new social network is a great way to meet new people, find the latest job information and hide your strangest secrets from your parents. So make sure to check it out!
group-buying on behalf of millions of students.” James added. “Recently we have commissioned external consultants and gather constant feedback on the use of the shop… to advise us on the best use of the space in the shop. We hope that students approve of the new arrangements. We work with our group buying consortium, NUS services ltd, on finding the best and most relevant promotions for students at reading” RUSU would like to gather your feedback about campus central. This is a perfect opportunity for students to feedback on their experience so that the student experience can be continually approved. You can fill in the Campus Central feedback survey on the RUSU website at http:// www.rusu.co.uk/news/article/6001/ Campus-Central-Short-Survey/. The survey closes Monday 27th May.
Caveman conversation BY LAURA ARMSTRONG
“Drunkenness and nudity all featured in the top five regrettable discoveries”
pus Central and Little Learners Nursery that actively contributes funding into the services that students want.” Fletcher would like to add that “we encourage student feedback on all our services including Campus Central”. There is also a limitation of range at Campus Central. The only shower-gel they sell, for instance, is of the Co-operative range. Palmolive is sold at £1.04 at the moment at Boots, compared to the Co-operative Lime shower gel, sold at Campus Central at £1.69. “Campus Central buys all of its products through NUS Services Ltd (NUSSL). This is the group buying consortium of the student movement. Even though NUSSL doesn’t have the buying power of the big four supermarkets, it does save students around the country money by
When thinking of cavemen, the archetypal image would be of a rather, hairy, smelly, grunting person, probably not someone who would be able to hold a conversation. This could very well be a true perception. However in relation to grunting, new research has emerged showing that our ancestors may have used up to 23 recognisable words.
“Cavemen may have been using words that could be recognised in some way today” The research from the University of Reading has used a statistical technique to establish claims that people living in Europe during the Ice Age, around 15,000 years ago may have been using words that could be recognised in some way today, including: ‘I’, ‘you’, we’, ‘hot’, ‘man’ and even ‘worm’.
Mark Pagel, Professor of Evolutionary Biology, who led the research, based his methods on the idea that some words evolve so slowly over time that they can retain traces of their own history dating back as far as 10,000 or more years. By looking at how often we use different words and their role in our language the model could predict the origins of the words. In effect, attempting to trace back through the complex family trees of language reinforces the idea already presented by linguists that one interwoven family tree could unite 7 major modern day languages. Research has previously relied on the idea that words sharing sounds would have common ancestry. The idea in this research was that by combining the two techniques that Professor Pagel’s team proposed, means that they could now be confident in the ancestry of particular words as opposed to words sounding similar completely by chance. Professor Pagel and his research team are not new to this field of research, having built up knowledge
of the evolution our 7,000 living human languages. His knowledge of the patterns in language and the criteria of words that become extinct and those that last, gave him a reliable foundation upon which to base his research. Professor Pagel explains: “We discovered numerals, pronouns and special adverbs are replaced far more slowly...once every 10,000 or even more years...words used more than about once per thousand in everyday speech were seven to ten times more likely to show deep ancestry”
“Our ancestors may have used up to 23 recognisable words” The intricacies of the Ice Age way of life are still open to debate but it would seem there is more to your typical hairy caveman than mammoth hunting and grunting, even if they were hairy and smelly at least it would appear they could talk!
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Spark* Friday 17 May 2013
University of London Union faces closure, assets confiscation Calum Mcintyre Rogers
Oxbridge Essays: Cut the crap! By Laura Armstrong
The University of London - the federal university comprising of institutes including UCL, KCL, LSE and Queen Mary - is to shut down its students’ union. A review of ULU was requested by five college students’ unions in 2012, prompted by their considering of withdrawing their membership of ULU. Its findings were published early this month. ULU President Mark Chessum has vowed to fight the decision, accusing the decision of having been made in response to ULU’s actions against tuition fees amongst other student oriented campaigns. ULU has functioned as a representative body for UL students since 1921 but has faced trouble in the past few years over electoral turnout rates. Turnout to ULU elections in 2013 was around 2% of its potential electorate of 120,000 students. The review commented that college unions were “uniformly critical of ULU’s track record in delivering its representational responsibilities” and further, “ULU’s core governance [was] not trusted [by College SUs] to deliver consistent, robust democratic representation”. The assets of ULU are to be used for student services within the independent colleges. ULU’s
ULU has operated from its building on Malet Street since 1957 building on Malet Street would purportedly continue to offer student services including its swimming pool, gym and bars. Response to the decision among UL students was mixed - some College SUs, including that of UCL and Royal Holloway, were opposed to the ruling. In an open letter to their University’s Provost, UCL’s SU said they had “grave concerns” over the ruling and that the ruling was not backed up by the review’s own findings. Others celebrated the ruling, condemning Mark Chessum’s resistance as “turkeys voting against Christmas”. NUS
President Liam Burnes commented that the mandatory membership of UL students to ULU may have contributed to UL student illfeelings against the union, though he regretted that UL’s review panel did not feature UL students. The changes are projected to occur by July 2014. A petition to ‘save ULU’ has been launched, and ULU has called for a “national mobilisation” for Student Unions across the UK on May 22 - the day the UL Trustee Board will meet to discuss the future of ULU. More information can be found on ulu. co.uk.
Champagne good for you? By Jonathan Billington
Many have dreamed of the day when alcohol is finally announced as ‘good for you’ and here it is! Well, almost anyway; Scientists at the University of Reading have recently conducted a study on the effects of champagne on memory. It was found that one to three glasses a week may help to improve memory.
Champagne can delay the memory loss associated with old age The study found that champagne could improve spatial memory which is associated with your surrounding environment, for instance, remembering directions. It was also reported that champagne can delay the effects of memory loss associated with old age and possibly delay brain disorders such as dementia. This area does need further research, however, it could be a major breakthrough, especially as Dementia is a massive medical issue in the UK, The Alzheimer’s Society
reported that ‘There are currently 800,000 people with dementia in the UK.’. Studies such as this one could be very beneficial to help lower this number. They also reported that ‘Delaying the onset of dementia by 5 years would reduce deaths directly attributable to dementia by 30,000 a year’ which relates directly to the findings of this study, which could be a start to achieving this goal. Professor Jeremy Spencer who works at the University Of Reading and was one of the leading scientists of this study, stated that “These exciting results illustrate for the first time that the moderate consumption of champagne has the potential to influence cognitive functioning, such as memory. Such observations have previously been reported with red wine, through the actions of flavonoids contained within it. However, our research shows that champagne, which lacks flavonoids, is also capable of influencing brain function through the actions of smaller phenolic compounds, previously thought to lack biological activity. We encourage a responsible approach to alcohol consumption, and our results suggest that a very low intake of one
to two glasses a week can be effective.”
“Moderate consumption has the potential to influence cognitive functioning” The long term effects seem to be very beneficial from drinking one or two glasses of champagne a week and I could definitely think of worse ways people try and stay healthy. But don’t break out the bubbly too soon, the study has not yet been conducted on humans. Obviously it will be a while until we hear the results of any such study as the processes take longer in humans than in mice (which were used in the study). However, it could be the start of a breakthrough in the field of human cognitive functioning and the results are fascinating to say the least. Want your views to be heard? Tweet us @Spark_News_ or email us at news.spark@reading.ac.uk we are always on the look out for new and relevant news stories.
News 3
Oxbridge Essays is a company boasting contracts with over 2000 academics from leading universities from which any level university essay can be ordered. The company advertised a ‘money back guarantee’ if the student did not achieve the required grade: “we guarantee that you will receive at least the grade you order. If not, we’ll give you your money back.” However If the customer was to read the terms and conditions of the company they would discover that the company explains this does not represent a form of a guarantee in any way. The Advertising Standards Authority were very keen to investigate this further. Oxbridge Essays states that the essays they produced to order were to be used as a guideline and simply demonstrated a model answer that would achieve the grade that was ordered. The guarantee is therefore saying that the essay example that they provided, would achieve the required grade and if it didn’t then you could have your money back. However, Oxbridge Essay informs its customers that the essay has to be altered to make it your own but if the essay is changed, the guarantee is therefore void. If the customer chose to receive the guarantee and submitted an
Oxbridge essay as their own work, then they would most likely be breaking the University’s rules and also breaching the copyright of the company. So to conclude, anyone trying to buy an Oxbridge Essay will find themselves somewhere between a rock and a hard place. If this isn’t enough to be put off of using Essay writing companies, it is not very cheap either as prices vary from £95 to an outrageous £10,000. The standard 2:1, 2000 word essay would set the customer back £330 on average with an extra £100 per page of research. It would seem despite the extortionate prices that many students have in fact been tempted by this service. Oxbridge Essays claim on their website that: “since 2006 Oxbridge Essays has provided 64,248,500 words to over 16,000 happy customers”. Oxbridge Essays have been receiving complaints caused by the misleading nature of the advertisement and the Advertising Standards Authority has banned the advertisement stating that they have told the company: “not to state or imply that they could guarantee grades, or that customers could get their money back unless they held robust evidence that this was the case.” Please remember that it is exam time and you can’t buy yourself good grades, so get revising!
Free money! By Daniel Mitchell
Every student wants some extra cash and this is, in theory, what the TV Licensing agency is offering. TV Licensing reminds students that those moving home this summer to claim a refund on their TV License worth £36.37, or in student terms a free takeaway dinner, predrinks and a night out. Eligible students need to have a TV Licence and be leaving halls or rented accommodation and returning home or to another licensed address.
In student terms a free takeaway dinner, predrinks and a night out This money is eligible to students as the TV Licensing agency offers refunds for each quarter and any students who purchased their TV License at the beginning of the academic year will have a full quarter remaining when they leave at the end of the term. Spokesperson for TV Licensing, Glen Morris said: “With exams fast
approaching and the Easter term coming to an end, the student refund is fantastic news for students who planned ahead and bought their licence at the start of the academic year.”
“A great opportunity for students to repair their bank balances” Phil Davis, Chair of the National Association of Student Money Advisers (NASMA), added: “The summer is a great opportunity for students to repair their bank balances, and it’s important they use every opportunity to do so. Getting a refund on the unused three months of a TV Licence is a really easy step to take.” We would like to point out that this is not an automatic process and students wishing to claim a refund will need to apply for it. To arrange a refund, or for further information, simply visit: www.tvlicensing.co.uk/studentinfo, or call TV Licensing on 0300 790 6090. After all, what student doesn’t want some free money?
4 WEATHER & SPARK PASSIM
Friday 17 May 2013 Spark*
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Weather forecast for the week ahead Rebecca Emerton This weekend will bring unsettled weather due to a frontal system to the East of the UK, causing wet, showery conditions. Cloud cover will be extensive throughout the weekend, with little chance for sunshine. Friday will remain relatively dry but cloudy all day, with a chance of some light showers in the late morning to early afternoon. Temperatures will range from around
6̊C in the early morning, climbing to 12̊C by mid-afternoon. Saturday will be slightly warmer during the day, up to 14̊C and relatively dry, however some scattered light showers are possible in the afternoon, between 3 and 8pm. We may see some sunshine on Saturday breaking through the generally overcast conditions. Sunday is looking to be the worst weather day this weekend, with heavier showers likely in the morning, be-
coming lighter into the afternoon and evening. Over the next week, conditions are to remain the same, with periods of rain and showers alongside windy conditions. For much of the week, skies will be overcast, but with some opportunity for sunny intervals. Temperatures are below average for mid-May, and are
Spark* Passim Every issue we look back at our archives and bring you something feature in Spark*
This issue the 2002 Agric Society subtly allude to the nature of their Bacchanals
unlikely to reach above 14̊C over the coming days. The Met Office is currently predicting a return to slightly warmer weather at the beginning of June with some more sunshine, but showers are still predominant in the forecasts, across the UK. Follow @SparkWeather on Twitter for more regular updates, news
and photos. Ask weather-related questions and send your photos of interesting weather and sights around campus! (Note: This is a student project and forecasts are not a product of the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading)
Spark* Friday 17 May 2013
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DEBATE 5
Debate
Is cosmetic surgery an overpriced solution to everyday insecurities? Charley Martin
Yes
Cosmetic surgery is not medically necessary but nonetheless has found a niche market with insecure women and men so paranoid about wanting to morph into versions of Big Brother contestants and cartoon characters that they will pay thousands of pounds to be chopped and changed. Since when did it become normal to pump ourselves with industrial silicone gel and get portions of our face lobbed off? Quite frankly, cosmetic surgery has got out of hand and whilst it originated during the First World War to help people regain some sense of normality in their lives after a horrific accident or illness, the masses have taken it upon themselves to find flaws on their body that were never really there and suck them off, cut them out and tighten them up. Cosmetic surgeons are making a fortune from people’s everyday insecurities. I challenge anyone to find a person who is totally content with the way they look, however instead of being encouraged to embrace our appearance, we’re fervently encouraged to change it. Few people are satisfied with their body image and they will be increasingly hard to find if the media continues to bombard us with images of airbrushed models, adverts for boob jobs, teeth whitening, liposuction, tummy tucks and my personal favourite, Botox. As a nation we’re well on our way to becoming the dystopian vision of the residents of the Capitol in the Hunger Games with distorted and unnatural bodies. Our generation will be the first of many to come with a retired population who refuse to age gracefully and continue to fill their wrinkles with face numbing, expression stilting liquid. If we continue to be confronted with images of the perfect human then our insecurities with our own bodies will only increase and fuel a rise in cosmetic distortion. And with demand, comes price. Women will pay £3000-£4000 for someone to clumsily grate their nose down and what’s terrifying is that this is being normalised. The cosmetic
surgery industry in the UK alone is worth £2.3bn and is expected to rise to £3.6bn by 2015, an absurd amount of money to be spending on surgery which can be life threatening and isn’t even necessary. Something that’s fuelling the lust for ‘perfection’, whatever that is, is the market for fillers and injections over the internet. It is now possible for pretty much anyone to inject themselves with wrinkle eliminating facial stiffener which is a crisis waiting to happen and has established a lack of sincerity with which people undergo these expensive and frankly dangerous procedures. Even the PIP breast implant scandal hasn’t frightened people off the hunt for an ‘exclusive’ physique but the irony of the situation is that the people who are longing to become more beautiful, more shapely, more toned than Joe Bloggs, are going to end up looking exactly like Joe Bloggs! The normalisation of these bizarre processes means that people undergo expensive and unnecessary surgery more lightly than they should and what’s worse, are being encouraged to make these changes through advertising and social pressure. After much researching of the various procedures I have been shocked to discover that one can banish ‘radish calf’ (overly muscle-y legs) or even get an ear lobe lift... What do you buy for the body that has everything? It is a slippery slope from your first botox injection to undergoing serious surgery, and people are willing to pay extortionate amounts of money and risk health problems all for the sake of morphing into the ‘ideal’ human. It’s becoming the case that to stand out you will need a normal, unmanufactured body! The cosmetic surgery market is fuelling our insecurities and turning us into a nation where the new normal will be constantly surprised looking faces and too-perfect silhouettes. Our relentless hunt for a designer body has left us with no sense of what is normal and introduced insecurities to us we had never even considered.
Harriet Weston
I challenge anyone to find a person who is totally content with the way they look
Cosmetic surgery helps people, be they men or women, finally accept their bodies
One can banish ‘radish calf’ (overly muscle-y legs) or even get an ear lobe lift
No
Cosmetic surgery is overpriced and is often used to solve everyday insecurities. However, for some people, these insecurities rule their lives: they focus all the negativity they have received in their lives onto these insecurities until they believe all will be right by removing the source (be that a wonky nose or lingering fat). Picture a young woman who has just left university and is about to start a new job. Despite her excitement for this job, it is dampened by her anxieties over her skin. It is lumpy, dry in certain areas and often red. For her, this is what people see when they meet her, leading them to believe she doesn’t wash properly or take care of herself. And if they’re thinking that, then how could her new work colleagues believe she is up for the job when she can’t even manage her face? This line of thinking quickly culminates into a variety of scenarios, such as being fired over incompetence, never getting married, chasing away potential friends – until her anxieties cause her sleep deprivation which worsens her skin condition and she falls into depression. It is sad when people like this cannot hear their loved ones say how beautiful they are. As overpriced as it is, cosmetic surgery offers a solution to this. It has recently been slated for being trivialised and I don’t disagree. Yet when it helps someone accept their body and themself, you cannot put a price on the comfort and joy it will give them. Suddenly they can walk around, head held high, confidence boosted because they feel they are finally on an equal footing with people. There is the risk that they find other flaws and become addicted to quick-fixing their problems. I do agree that cosmetic surgery’s media image is portrayed for the vain and rich, however there are serious benefits to having cosmetic surgery which should not be swept under the tide of bad press it has recently received. Late last year, the BBC reported on the results of a survey conducted by Girls’ Attitudes, the results indicating how girls do not
find marriage to be their ultimate success in life (whereas the boys found it something to aspire to). The report highlighted how 68% of girls would consider cosmetic surgery, because they believe women are judged more on looks than skill and I believe this is correct insofar as the media is concerned. Newspapers, films, advertisements – they all pump out perfect images of women and men, indicating that this is the standard by which society judges and deals out success, as well as it being the only way to gain the attention of a sexual partner, or a job, or even a friend. Reading an article once on whether a female friendship group could survive knowing what everyone earned annually, I was shocked. The article advertised how women’s relationship with one another was trivial, bitchy, shallow and unforgiving – an insinuation I didn’t even consider being a problem. For if you aren’t comfortable being around people, such as being comfortable enough to express what you earn, then they most likely are not your friends. This can apply to the attitude towards cosmetic surgery, with the exception of being unable to simply up and leave your insecurities to find comfort elsewhere. It may have a vain and shallow image, but cosmetic surgery does help build confidence. If a person has already decided that their looks are not acceptable, then that decision is not going to change quickly, no matter how comfortable they feel with friends or the family love and support they have. Girls look at the glamorous celebrities and see how strong they look, the respect and love they receive, and believe it is down to the way they look. They start to see a pattern that those who fit in are pretty and thin, and begin to look at their own bodies. They are taught to see their flaws before their actual, real life beauty by a cutthroat society which does judge superficially. Cosmetic surgery helps those people, be they women or men, finally accept their bodies. Where onlookers see a vain person, the individual sees someone who can finally fit in and not be discarded as average or weird.
6 POLITICAL COMMENT politics.spark@reading.ac.uk
Friday 17 May 2013 Spark*
POLITICAL COMMENT Beyonce: feminist role model News in brief The Queens Speeech: no Geoffrey Rush neded Unlike Firth’s heartwarming tale of stutters and speeches, it will be the politicians and not the therapists writing this oratory. In a myriad of topics discussed, some highlights included a new immigration policy, designed at the height of the E.U. vs Cameron catfight, it is expected to allow foriegn criminals and terrorists to be easily deported, and cracking down on illigal immigrants gaining emplyment, benefits or drivers lisences. One does wish the Queen had a little more input in some of the less important parts of this. Surely more than half a decade of statemanship would grant Her Majesty the courtesy to crack a joke half way through, or perhaps a limerick? Its all a bit of a farce anyway!
Out of the Stocks! A little good news coming our way on teh financial markets! It seems that with greater market confience in Europe, boosted by German manufacturing and the fortunes of many of the larger nations, ours included, to non ‘triple-dip’ has lead to a mild upsurge, the first in months. The Dow Jones now rates above 15,000 for the first time since the crash, and the FTSE has responded with a 30 point jump, followed in quick sucession by the German markets and taking a cue from the Japanese. Does this mean we’re now out of the frying pan? Only if we really like the fire! There’s still a lopng way to go before a real recovery can take its course, but politicians on both sides of the asile will look to this as a beacon upon which to grasp. Will Milliband take down the quantative easing? Or will Osbourne be finally villified and prove that, to the amazement of many, he does know what he’s doing? Only time will tell.
Keeping David’s seat warm for Labour
or just another model? Nathalie Lowe
It seems for the inhabitants o. South Shields have taken well to their abandonment by former Foriegn Secretary David Millibad. In good form, they switched the silly name of Milliband to the hyphonated silly name of LewellBuck, thus tempting me endlessly to make “bucking the trend” jokes in the title. This is no surprise. Labour safe seats are few and far between but South Shields has elected a Labour candiate for the last 80 years. What is surprising is the staggering downturn in support. Milliband first made it in for the 2001 with a majority of 14,000 (56%). Now, Lewell-Buck has had to make do with only 6,000 (26%). Hard times are ahead in South Shields, as unlikley as it seems
Back in the Business It seems that sex is not, in fact, the be all or, more importantly, end all in politics. At least, this can be said of the elected Republican nominee and former Governor Mark Sanford won back his old seat in North Carlolina. Sanford, who fell off the political wagon after tearfuly admitting “hiking in the Appalachian Trail” was code for spending a week with his mistress..in Argentina....with public money. Paying a fine of almost $70,000, he came to a spectacualr comeback in a district that republicans had won for the past 30 years, which is honestly less impressive than it’s been made out. More importantly, he took 55% of the vote from Elizabeth Colbert Busch, sister of the noted TV satirist who has now switched his alligence to North Carolina for the betrayal. Will “hiking the Appalacians” be our new watchword for the maritally restless? Probably not, but its nice to know voters can do something for adulterers in these trying times!
So British writer Rakhi Kumar penned an open letter to Michelle Obama about Beyoncé. The First Lady called Beyoncé a ‘role model’ for her daughters, and tweeted that she was ‘so proud’ after her Superbowl performance, which Kumar takes issue with. Role models for females, especially young females, is an issue which hugely interests me. The truth is that a lack of strong, successful and inspiring female role models does seriously affect girls, and so on the surface, this seems to be a letter that I would support. Kumar says ‘it’s time to stop suggesting to very young girls that ultimate feminine success… comes with the need, or the expectation for them to undress.’ And it is! It totally is. But I’m not sure that Beyoncé truly is perpetuating this expectation at all.
Kumar seems to stop sounding like a feminist writer, but instead like a sexist one.
Quickly into the letter Kumar seems to stop sounding like a feminist writer, but instead like a sexist one. She degrades and shames Beyoncé for wearing ‘high heels and sheer tights’ whilst ‘shaking her butt on stage’ during her Mrs Carter World Show Tour. It is a sexist person who attacks a woman for having a sexuality, a sexist person who tries to dictate what a woman can or cannot wear on her 65 show world tour, a sexist person who dismisses women in the music industry as ‘no more complex than dolls’. The worst part of the letter is when she describes Beyoncé as a ‘glowing ball of soullessness’ for wearing a ‘sheer see through body suit’ (even though it in fact isn’t see through, the nipples you see are not Bey’s but constructed from sequins.) It’s true that sexualisation does not automatically equal power for Insert headline here - - women, and it’s true that young girls should know this. But tearing down a hugely successful Political Comment is still on the lookout for writers to fill headlines and and talented woman for wearing get opinions across. You need no background in writing or journalism, sexually suggestive clothing isn’t what we’re looking for are opinions and ideas. Do you disagree with something we’ve said? Or perhaps want to see empowering either. Kumar body polices Beyoncé and makes it seem your opinion put forward? Or just want to write and beef up the CV. acceptable for others to do too. Contact us at: (Think Tina Fey as Ms Norbury in Sparkpolcom@gmail.com
Bootilicous? Businesswoman? Rakhi Kumar takes issue ‘Mean Girls’ – ‘you all have got to stop calling each other sluts and whores. It just makes it ok for guys to call you sluts and whores.’) When in fact, a woman who is in charge of her sexuality, however she may choose to define or display it, is a wonderful and powerful woman.
Think Tina Fey as Ms Norbury in ‘Mean Girls’ The idea that to be feminist one must refrain from being sexual, from wearing heels or sequined body suits, is first of all ridiculous, but also extremely out of date. This myth is what stops a lot of people from declaring themselves feminists. I’m sure Rahki Kumar had the wonderful intention to open
eyes to the dangers of hyper-sexualisation of women in the media, but in fact her letter reinforces the oppression that encourages us to restrict what is ‘appropriate’ for women to do or wear, and consequently assigns their value accordingly. One of my favourite quotes is from Erin McKean, who said ‘You don’t have to be pretty. You don’t owe prettiness to anyone… You don’t owe it to your mother, you don’t owe it to your children, you don’t owe it to civilization in general. Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked “female”.’ And whilst it is vital that women everywhere understand this, it’s just as vital that we don’t attack one another for choosing to be so under the guise of feminism.
Spark* Friday 17 May 2013
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Local election: round up Adam Roberts
UKIP are back from the parties and down to work this week as their newly elected councilors take their position at the desks while their former occupants put their faith in their governing comrades at the Dept. of Work and Pensions.
With a “successful” turnout of just above 35%, this was a poll test of the political classes, the
Clegg was left feeling similarly disheartened with his own parties strategy. He noted the change his party had undertaken in the past few years, proclaiming that “the Liberal Democrats are on a journey... a journey from a party of protest, to a party of government”. This left UKIP leaders exctatic, proclaiming a victory that one must admit is impressive. (See: Nigel Farage is a happy man
UKIP have seen rises before, and falls. It would take little work from the Tory high command to rally the troops in many of these areas, with key Tory heartlands such as Cambridgeshire having fallen foul of the Liberals last year, and have been known to be fickle with their affections. The possibility of falling back into the latest craze could be too much for UKIP to bear, if they loose their issues spread in the next election they may be looking at peaking far too early.
Milliband glowing from either their council victories or recent resignation of his dear brother.
every-man of England and Wales having other things to do. Turnout spiked as always across the nation, with few true highs (not a single poll above 60%) but some highly worrying lows. Gainsborough Hill, for example, elected its council with the staggeringly low 17% turnout. Does this therefore truly predict the mood of the country? Sadly, it would seem so. This 30% will be those steering their peers in the community and the country come the 2015 elections, and the major three parties must do better if they want to steer away from a true UKIP
indeed). The same goes for Labour, Milliband glowing from either their council victories or recent resignation of his dear brother. He seems adamant that his party is finally back on course for a victory in the next election, but the figures simply dont suggest it. Mr Milliband will have to do much better to impress the nation if he wants the top prize.
upset.
Spare a final thought for the much anticipated party (some years ago now) of the Greens. aAnother respectable push for them, five more seats up and slowly but surely, much like the costal erosion that has them somewhat concerned, they are making their way into the homes of England, and could be a real
Gainsborough Hill, elected its council with the staggeringly low 17% turnout Prime Minister David Cameron seemed undeterred, but spoke out against the apparent UKIP gains in key Tory heartlands, meriting a change in overall strategy. It seems the Tory tactic of insulting UKIP is finally over, with Cameron begrudgingly atmitting that after such huge gains they are a force to be reconed with, adding that “It is no good insulting a political party that people have chosen to vote for,”. Deputy Prime Minister Nick
The obvious winners would seem to be UKIP, with a rise of 1735% in council members.
threat come the 2050 elections. A full analysis of the results proves upsetting for all involved. The obvious winners would seem to be UKIP, with a rise of 1735% in council members. However, when one analyses the breakdown it is easily noted that many of the gains stem from the traditional right-wing heartlands where
Labour are hardly on the up, taking only 2 councils and not gaining the decisive 30% of the vote that remains the benchmark for those wishing to lead the country. Their projected national share comes close at just under 29%, enough to unnnerve their Conservative rivals, but Labour have consistantly under-performed in terms of their predicetd vote shere in the last 2 local elections.
The liberals? Don’t write them off just yet. While Clegg has been somewhat stifled on the topic of re-election, close party sources quoted in several high end broadsheets confirm that the party strategists are looking to just make it through. One senior quted official notes that “the indications we’re getting so far show the Lib Dems remain strong in our held parliamentary seats, which is what matters for 2015. Our focus for 2015 is to do well where it matters most - in seats we can actually win.”. Looks like the Liberals will be trimming the fat in two years, hoping beyond hope they can scrape through enough for a second hung parliament and, one can only assume, a more fulfilling relationship with Labour.
Political comment 7
much more effective and sucessful party machine come the 2015 elections, and if they fail to hold these valuable council gains through the coming years the press speculation will soon drop.
This should be seen by the major three parties as what it is, a phenominal strategy based around a protest vote This should be seen by the major three parties as what it is, a phenominal strategy based around a
protest vote, with UKIP garnering the support of the millions effected by the lackluster politicing of the coalition. Should they be concerened? Most certaintly. But truly worries? Doubtful. This now becomes a governmental issue. One or two high profile sucesses, particularly in the area of Europe, and it could be curtains for UKIP. With party splits and the latest protest vote over the E.U. showing the panic in the Tory ranks, it seems there could be much more for the Conservatives to worry about after all.
Nigel Farage is a happy man indeed Adam roberts
Its a good day for Ukippers as they storm into random council seats as seas of angry voters sweep the nation! Or at least thats what they would like you to belive.
Admittedly no-one can deny they’ve done well, a rise of 139 seats in a single year is remarkable for a party that has only two or three years name recognition, with really only a single issue agenda that has been hilariously overlooked in terms of a local council’s ability to do the impossible. While “cutting counil taxes”, UKIP will also “improve care for the elderly” “oppose NHS cuts”, “improve road care as a priority” and “upgrade public transport”. They’ll even take away road tolls for those pasky foriegn lorries they like to harp on about. So in comes a party that will cut your taxes and then spend...what exactly? That, fortunately, is the beauty of the democratic system, as much as we may lament the options at least we have some.
Thanks heavens its given the sound-bite fueled menace of a leader something serious to talk about. Nigel Farage (out of curiosity, would we have to change the pronunciation of his name? no-one that anti-european can have so many french accents in their name?) is on his finest form, noting that voters were “sticking two fingers up” to the established parties, and . One shouldnt complain, its rather refreshing to hear a politician speak his mind, or at the very least show the ability to engage it. Of course, if the Conservatives can ever get serious about their referendum, and with Cameron dealing a little more than the small meaningless jabs to his fellow E.U. leaders, maybe they can prevent an even bigger struggle in 4 years time. Farage has his eyes on the prize, and if Cameron cant pick himself up off the mat its 10 and out, that is, out of Number 10 at least.
The true prospect of UKIP spliting the difference? Unlikley at best. The true prospect of UKIP spliting the difference? Unlikley at best. Farage will be the first to realise that the local elections are one thing but the Gerenal will probably be more than even he can handle. While their local presence is strong they will be tackling a
‘Does anyone know what we do now? Anyone?” Farage celebrates his Party’s win with more than a couple of pints it seems.
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film&TV
Iron Man 3: More of the same (but that’s okay) Directed by: Shane Black Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Guy Pearce, Gwyneth Paltrow Runtime: 130mins Genre: Sci-Fi/Action Nathan Taylor
By now, you probably know the score. In Iron Man 3, Tony Stark butts heads with a seemingly foreign terrorist threat secretly backed by one of his own American competitors, all while grappling with his own affliction of the week (In this case post-traumatic stress from the events of The Avengers). Eventually, and with some assistance, he thinks of a clever way to conquer his demons and returns to strength fighting the foe.
The quality of the action has been kicked up a notch So, while Iron Man 3 doesn’t exactly tread new ground, it does represent a return to form after the disappointment that was Iron Man 2, improving in every conceivable area. The jokes are funnier, with Ben Kingsley portraying an extremely entertaining villain while comedic relief is provided by the Iron Man Suit Mark 42 in a similar style to the Dunce Robot from Iron Man 1
Robert Downey Jr. is excellent at simultaneously portraying Tony Stark as a sexy superhero and an emotionally-crippled mess, or that Gwyneth Paltrow is brilliant as his sensible assistant trying to keep him sane.
while Iron Man 3 doesn’t exactly tread new ground, it does represent a return to form
and the bumbling bodyguard from IR2 being written out of most of the film, praise be. The quality of the action has equally been kicked up a notch. Tony spends a large portion of the film stranded in a Tennessee village without a functioning powersuit, providing the writers with an excellent opportunity to remind us that Tony Stark is the Hero and not the Iron Man, when he is attacked by immortal lavamen and fights
them off with a microwave (it makes sense in context.) Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) also gets an action-promotion from assistant to ass-kicker on a couple of occasions – firstly as a result of the buggy Mark 42 latching onto her rather than Tony in the middle of a fire fight and then again later on in a fashion to awesome for me to spoil for you. The actors are all tried and tested, so there’s really no need for me to reiterate for you that
Don Cheadle is also in the film. To conclude, Iron Man 3 is exactly what you’ve come to expect from the Marvel Cinematic Franchise. Characters we know and love creating explosions and tension while Stan Lee shoehorns himself into the film wherever he can. Also, the stinger isn’t worth sitting around past the credits for; it’s just a quick joke featuring a cameo by Bruce Banner.
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Star Trek Into Darkness: Boldly continuing the franchise Directed By: J.J. Abrams Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Benedict Cumberbatch Running Time: 132mins Genre: Sci-Fi Jonathan Edney
I was not a Star Trek fan before J.J. Abrams’ 2009 reboot, and although I haven’t gone insane in my geek appreciation of the Enterprise adventures, I have since maintained a passive interest in the Trek universe (I do have another sci-fi series taking up my time/DVD shelves after all, see this issues TV review). Now that the exposition and characters are established, Into Darkness can boldly go into adventure mode, and the film certainly does so, with the opening sequence beginning at the end of a mission to observe an indigenous species that has gone slightly wrong. Following that, a former Starfleet employee, John Harrison (Cumberbatch), blows up an important data centre, killing civilians in the process and the
Enterprise is dispatched to take him out. One thing that this film has over its predecessor is an improved villain in the menacing form of Benedict Cumberbatch. His steely expression combined with a chilling voice makes a lasting impression, and his aggressive fighting style establishes him as a force to be reckoned with. His agenda is initially unclear and he can easily manipulate others but there is an emotional truth to his agenda rather than sheer megalomania.
The other stars of the film are undoubtedly Chris Pine’s Kirk and Zachary Quinto’s Spock. The film’s funniest and most heartfelt moments come from their relationship and they fully inhabit their characters, which is particularly challenging for Quinto, as Spock is seemingly more about logic than emotion. This perhaps leaves the other crew members with less to do but Karl Urban’s Bones McCoy and Simon Pegg’s Scotty manage to inject comic relief so that the film, despite its title, remains light
and Zoë Saldana’s Uhura makes the most of her screen time, even bringing her ‘Neytiri’ side out briefly. The visuals benefit strongly from the 3D, as spears and space debris come flying out of the screen and space is given a depth of field. Green screen is often combined with some real elements to create a convincing universe, no matter what planet we’re on. The standout sequence is Kirk’s space jump, this time with added debris to make things more interesting! It is the quieter moments that make the most impact, however, with a clever twist on a scene from an earlier Trek film, and there are other nods, such as the return of the Klingons and the presence of Carol Marcus (Alice Eve), that may be lost on non-Trekkies but are handled effectively so that they hint at things to come without being overly distracting. Only one ‘cult’ moment for the fans seemed out of place. Into Darkness doesn’t quite have the same ‘wow’ factor as the (technically) eleventh film but it still manages to hit the right buttons
and be an emotionally satisfying and thrilling ride, which bodes well for J.J. Abrams’ next foray into space: some other franchise with ‘Star’ in the title…
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FILM NEWS IN BRIEF - Roland Emmerich has elaborated on his direction for further Independence Day films, which would be an extended take on the alien’s mythology
Spark* Friday 17 May 2013
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FILM&TV 9
TV Review: Doctor Who but she is not afraid to challenge the Doctor on his secrecy and alien tendencies. In Hide, she finds it difficult to grasp the ease with which he sees the beginning and the end of civilisation and the mystery around her allows for many tense scenes as the pair figure each other out.
Coleman has a sparkling rapport with Matt Smith
Starring: Matt Smith, Jenna-Louise Coleman Episodes: The Bells of St. John, The Rings of Akhaten, Cold War, Hide, Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, The Crimson Horror, Nightmare in Silver, The Name of The Doctor Jonathan Edney
[This review features spoilers if you have not seen the second part of Doctor Who Season 7 - Editor]. After yet another curveball from Steven Moffat in killing off the new companion Clara (Jenna-Louise Coleman) in The Snowmen, the first episode to air in the 50th year of Doctor Who sees the Doctor finally discover another version of Clara in the present day. Coleman has a sparkling rapport with Matt Smith that develops as the series progresses. Her maternal and caring nature comes into play often
Matt Smith is as impressive as ever, effortlessly behaving like he has seen so much despite also behaving in a socially inept fashion. His new outfit (complete with bow tie) makes him as cool (or not) as ever and he carries the series through its barmiest moments, not least when addressing a giant sun and arguing with a Cyber Planner inside his own head. The opener The Bells of Saint John investigated the sinister possibilities of the Internet if it downloads people’s souls via the creepy Spoonheads while providing the spectacular sight of the Doctor motorcycling up the Shard! Celia Imrie gave an icy turn as Miss Kizlet, although the grand plan was ultimately revealed as belonging to the Great Intelligence, a villain from the Patrick Troughton
era now embodied by Richard E Grant’s Dr Simeon following the climax of The Snowmen and foreboding an imminent reappearance. The return of the Ice Warriors in Cold War brought the surprising twist of seeing one leave its armour, creating a claustrophobic thriller that will hopefully lead to more of the lumbering green giants. Hide upped the creepiness factor in a haunted house story with a sci-fi twist and the delightfully macabre The Crimson Horror saw the return of the bizarre but hilarious trio of Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax in a love-letter to Gothic horror and Victorian melodrama, complete with grainy flashback, Northern accents and kung-fu.
suffered from annoying children and wasted secondary characters, although Matt Smith’s dual performance, plus homages to his predecessors and earlier Cyber stories, lift events. The finale, revealed to be called The Name of the Doctor, will, according to showrunner Steven Moffat, “change the course of Who forever”, promising to reveal the mystery behind Clara as well as the Doctor’s greatest secret. 50 years later, will the question be answered: Doctor Who? The final episode premieres on BBC1 tomorrow at 19:00.
Matt Smith is as impressive as ever Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS promised much and mostly delivered, providing tantalising glimpses of the Doctor’s ship. I’m still trying to get my head around the timey-wimey ending, not entirely convinced if it worked… The Rings of Akhaten had a lot of singing and not much plot, the only real clunker of this run and Nightmare in Silver upgraded the Cybermen with more speed but
Olympus Has Fallen: Triumphs over the clichés Directed by: Antoine Fuqua Starring: Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman, Dylan McDermott, Aaron Eckhart Running Time: 120mins Genre: Action/ thriller Michelle Badipe
When I first heard about this movie I was quite skeptical. When I first saw the trailer I chuckled to myself as one of the characters uttered, “The United States does not negotiate with terrorists” because those overly used words had already established the film as a cliché ‘American’ blockbuster without a plot. However when I watched the movie I was surprised to find that I enjoyed the film incredibly. There are some plot issues, and the originality comes into question seeing as Channing Tatum has a film coming out in a couple of months titled White House Down which is about a very similar scenario. However Antoine Fuqua has skillfully directed a very enter-
taining action movie, one that isn’t overloaded by copious amounts of explosions and nonsensical violence. Fuqua managed to get the perfect balance between toe tapping suspense, and visual violence. Olympus has Fallen is definitely one of the best action movies I’ve seen this year.
there is a good amount of balance between the suspense and the action The movie follows the story of Mike Banning, who begins as the head of security for the President of the United States of America. A series of unfortunate events cause Mike to fall from grace and he is let go from his job. However a terrorist attack on the White House by a Korean terrorist group causes Mike to prove his worth to the president of the United States. The movie is two hours long, so I was quite surprised that it only took a couple of minutes before the main action started. The viewer is instantly thrown into the chaos, and though this does seem rushed
and lacks development, it actually makes sense. Sometimes in real life when a city experiences an act of violence like a terrorist attack, it’s unexpected. Citizens are immediately thrown into the flames and the carnage. There is no time to pause. Antoine Fuqua captures this perfectly by throwing the audience into the action as soon as possible. In addition, as I mentioned earlier there is a good amount of balance between the suspense and the action. There are three different scenarios the movie focuses on, scenes with the terrorists and the hostages, scenes with key members of the United States government, and scenes focusing on Mike Banning’s journey. Each scene is carefully connected to the other to provide enough information, but also to effectively put the audience on edge. Finally the movie had enough plot twists to add to the suspense, and the plot twists were not misused or unnecessary, they connected with plot. Overall I’d say that despite its cliché content Olympus Has Fallen, is definitely worth watching on the big screen.
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FILM NEWS IN BRIEF - J.J. Abrams has got off to a good start with Star Wars Episode VII - bringing filming back to the series’ ancenstral home in the United Kingdom!
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FILM&TV
Dead Man Down: AKA Colin Farrell Broods Directed by: Niels Arden Oplev Starring: Colin Farrell, Noomi Rapace, Dominic Cooper, Terrance Howard Running Time: 117mins Genre: Thriller/Crime
This is probably because their characters are actually endearing. Huppert is excellent as the touching and yet comedic mother, bustling through life with her little bits and pieces and obvious concern for her daughter. Rapace is equally excellent when she’s bringing her tortured character to life, and I would also happily watch almost two hours of her getting revenge on the man who scarred her.
Siobhan Whitebread
Dead Man Down is halfway towards a good film, and by halfway towards a good film I mean that they made two films and then decided to roughly squash them together. The main plot appears to be that Colin Farrell is looking for revenge on a mob boss (Terrence Howard) who killed his wife and daughter and tried to kill him too. To attempt this he has got rid of his Hungarian accent (yeah, apparently he’s Hungarian), infiltrated the mob boss’ gang and murdered a few people just to keep on the safe side. Things get complicated, however, when the scarred woman (Noomi Rapace) who lives across from him witnesses one of those murders and decides to use him for her own purposes.
The second plot of the film involves tupperware and is, strangely, a lot more interesting. But, then, pretty much everything in the film is a lot more interesting than the supposed main plot. The second plot centres around Rapace and her mother (Isabelle Huppert). They really do discuss tupperware, and manage to throw cookies in there too. It is endearing, and touching, and strangely fascinating – I really would’ve rather watched almost two hours of their charming relationship.
...they made two films and then decided to roughly squash them together. It would’ve been more interesting than the main plot that the film was trying to shove down my throat, at least. Dead Man Down was obviously trying for something, but I have absolutely no idea as to what that something was. It was largely incoherent, I only worked out what the hell was going on about thirty minutes from the end. The main priority seemed to be explosions over plot.
Oh, and Colin Farrell brooding. Farrell isn’t my favourite actor, I will admit, but I at least respect him as an actor of vague competence. In this film he broke out into actual emotions about twice, and the rest of the time was filled with brooding. On balconies, in cars, even while preparing to shoot somebody – just brooding, in a quasi-constipated way. Dead Man Down is a film that has a lot of virtues, but suffers from the fact that most of them are in the second film that was tacked onto the first. It is a film that wants to be about three films with three different plots, and so overreaches itself and ends up mediocre as a result. I ended up wishing that the explosions would just go away and leave Isabelle Huppert to talk about tupperware, and that is a sentence that I really never expected to type.
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21 & Over: Doesn’t live up to the hype of its trailer Directed by: John Lucas and Scott Moore Starring: Miles Teller, Justin Chon, Skylar Astin Running Time: 93mins Genre: Comedy Niki Igbaroola
After the controversy surrounding Seth McFarlene’s ‘We saw your boobs’ Oscar opener, it was highly amusing and refreshing to come across a movie which took great pains to repeatedly objectify its male characters for the amusement of the audience. Directorially, this was a sound movie with well filmed scenes and excellent chemistry between characters. However, praise for the move ends here. Whilst one can understand the logic behind Jon Lucas and Scott Moore’s decision to create a college themed version of their hit franchise The Hangover, I could not help but wonder why this same logic did not deter them from thrusting this movie into box office. 21 & Over explores the relationship between three childhood
friends played by Milles Teller of Footloose, Skylar Astin of Pitch Perfect and Justin Chon from the Twilight Saga as they reunite in their final year of college to celebrate Jeff Chang (Chon) turning 21. The characters are highly cliché; the Chinese student being pressured into medical school by over-bearing parents, the 4.0 grade average student who has a set plan for his future and the college drop-out worried about being left behind. The story occurs over one night with many mishaps befalling the three friends as they attempt to return a drunken Chang home in time for an interview which has been set up by his menacing father. Unlike its predecessor The Hangover, the events of the night out are what shape the plot. The audience witnesses every vomit induced, publically indecent and occasionally genuinely amusing moment. The problem with the attempted humour within this movie was that many at times it was predictable and at others it was simply vulgar.
The story is further made uninteresting by the addition of a love story between the most straight-laced of the friends and a fresh-faced fun loving all American sorority girl complete with the very wellknown last minute dash to declare feelings scene that is present in every good romantic-comedy.
The characters are highly cliché Whilst this might read as a harsh review of this movie, I must point out that these thoughts were all formed as I watched the movie. Rather than be swept away by the ‘fun’ scenes being acted out in front of me, I kept wondering why only one of the friends ended up drunk beyond all comprehension despite all the friends consuming the same nausea-inducing amount of liquor. I am of the belief that a good movie should inspire its audience to embrace its improbabilities without question. Spending money at the cinema to watch this movie is not something I would recommend as the loose,
haphazard story lines gives it an air of being unresolved which leaves you feeling cheated. This is definitely a movie in which the trailer promises to deliver a great deal more than the movie can.
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The Top 10 Cinematic Punches to the Face Matthew Crowe
10) Hangover (2009)
In an unexpected cameo (unless you saw the f*****g trailer) Mike Tyson shows off his aggressive side. That’s what Phil Collins’ music will do to you.
9) Fight Club (1999)
“I want you to hit me as hard as you can”. Edward Norton’s character responds with a very pathetic hit around the ear. Still counts.
8) Conan the Barbarian (1982)/Conan the Destroyer (1984)
To get prepared for destroying Predators and T1000s, Mr. Schwarzenegger prepared himself by punching defenseless camels. In a Loincloth.
7) Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
Jason pulling a girl underwater in Friday the 13th may be iconic, but I’ll always remember him punching a man’s head clear off his body.
6) Road House (1989)
There are a total of 49 face punches in this movie. Oh and there’s Patrick Swayze ripping out a man’s throat. Those were the 80’s.
5) Rocky II (1979)
There are a few punches in this film, but I’m going for the one so good, it knocked BOTH participants to the floor. The Drama!
4) The Wicker Man (2006)
Oscar winner Nicolas Cage dons a bear suit and runs off to punch a woman. And we were expected to take all this seriously.
3) Blazing Saddles (1974)
Mongo punches a horse to the ground. The horse must have been well trained, a lot actors can’t get their queues right. Actors: Take notes.
2) Raging Bull (1980)
THE iconic boxing movie and an iconic shot of a competitor punched in slow motion. I imagine this didn’t require a lot of takes.
1) Back to the Future (1985)
Never has there been a punch more deserving, more heroic and more satisfying; George McFly knocking out Biff and getting the girl. BIFF, BAM, POW!!!
FILM NEWS IN BRIEF - Warner has pushed back 300’s sequal (titled 300 - Rise of an Empire) back until March 2014, having been intended for August 2013...
Spark* Friday 17 May 2013
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FILM&TV 11
Evil Dead: Not inventive but certainly effective Directed by: Fede Alvarez Starring: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci Running Time: 91mins Genre: Horror Matthew Crowe
The original Evil Dead helped spawn the careers of both Spiderman film-brat Sam Raimi, and B-movie legend Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams. The mixture of horror and campiness make many horror fans today consider whether the original was MEANT to be funny. This is no doubt something Raimi took into account when creating the masterpiece that is Evil Dead 2, an arguable remake in its own right.
This movie relies more on atmosphere than predictable “jump scares” Be warned though that there is no confusion going into this movie:
Have you heard about the ‘Scandal?’
Starring: Kerry Washington, Darby Stanchfield, Colombus Short, Tony Goldwyn Airing: More 4/Channel 4 Niki Igbaroola
From the creator of the award winning medical-show, Grey’s Anat-
Evil Dead (2013) is straight up horror. It is this fact that to some people would be a detriment; the recent release of Cabin in the Woods helped to make a wider audience aware of traditional horror tropes that Evil Dead uses. But although this movie sticks to the original five young people in a cabin format, it is aware enough to both give us an explanation for their refusal to leave (believing their possessed friend to be going
through drug withdrawal) and not sticking too close to the “jock, virgin etc” format. To reveal much of the content of this movie would feel too much like telling you the jokes of a comedy. The plot acts much like the tracks on a “House of Horror” ride; it only really comes off its rails (in a good way) with an ending which literally paints the house red, and part of you however wished that it came off its
tracks sooner. Despite this it was great to see a movie in the Saw era that was unapologetically grungy and gory, yet never felt like a sadistic experience. You could tell that these effects were practical, and as a result every cut and tear feels real and adds to genuine tension the movie conveys. Also, as opposed to the Paranormal movies, it’s good that this movie relies more on atmosphere than predictable “jump scares”. Campbell was always going to be a tough act to follow, so the movie settles the problem of not finding a replacement for the character of Ash, by not having one at all (although they in solve this disappointment in a “Marvelesque ” end credits sequence). The problem though is that they do not replace him with any character that is interesting, memorable or even that likable; the closest we get in this respect is Jane Levy’s Mia, only even then this was perhaps a missed opportunity (wouldn’t it have been great to see someone with withdrawal symptoms fighting a hoard of Deadites?). This movie also contains probably the most annoying, idiotic teacher this side of a John Hughes movie.
Even though this movie follows many beats of the original (including the infamous tree scene, which even Raimi considers to be “the product of an immature mind”), Evil Dead (2013) has enough individual moments to exist in its own right. If you want to see a decent Evil Dead remake, watch this movie. However if you want to watch a GREAT Evil Dead remake, watch Evil Dead 2.
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TV Review: Scandal omy comes the ground-breaking drama Scandal. Shonda Rhimes has created a show which trumps every other out there: one which manages to entice its viewers anew with every episode.
For more Film & TV reviews, articles and features, head over to Spark* Film & TV Online at:
The show grapples with ideas of trust, loyalty and love The drama stars Kerry Washington; seen last year in Quentin Tarantino’s Oscar winning movie Django Unchained. Washington play the illustrious Olivia Pope known by every high powered, informed person in the nation’s capital as a ‘professional fixer’ with personal links to the President of the United States and his administration. Pope and her team make it their mission to fix any situation be it kidnapping, bribery or murder accusations and they NEVER fail. The team refer to themselves as ‘Gladiators’ and strive to exude an exterior of impenetrable perfection but a part of the beauty of the show is watching them unravel whilst rallying in support of one another. The show grapples with ideas of trust, loyalty and love and through every episode, the viewers, along with the characters, are forced to question the measures that can and should be taken in order to prove
loyalty. The dynamic between the cast of this show is testament to the decisions made by the casting team and the prowess of the actors.
A part of the beauty of the show is watching [the team] unravel whilst rallying in support of one another An intrinsic aspect to the plot narrative is the relationship between Pope and the President, played by Tony Goldwyn. The feminist in me initially tried to dredge up some anger at this cliché addition of the powerful woman being weakened by the love of a man but the anger could never be made manifest. The writers in their cleverness construct the interactions between these two characters in such a way that they are both destruc-
tive forces towards one another. There is something hypnotically beautiful about watching these two seemingly powerful characters repeatedly build and destroy one another, seemingly forever unable to stay permanently away from each other. The constant shift of the power dynamic between them is a new take on what could be a cliché relationship. If you think this is the ‘Scandal’, think again. In Washington D.C everything is a scandal waiting to happen and what is ‘Defiance’ and how does the C.I.A know what you had for dinner last night? Scandal is both realistic but at the same time wholly unrealistic and it is its ability to shock and cause you to doubt even the most trust-worthy looking characters that makes it worth adding to your must-see list.
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FILM NEWS IN BRIEF - it could be a long shot but it looks as if a director has finally been tied (oops) to the film adaptation of Fifty Shades - Joe Wright
12
MUSIC music.spark@reading.ac.uk
Friday 17 May 2013 Spark*
music FEATURE:
Ahead of their Summer Ball appearance, Rachel gives us a guide to Funeral For A Friend...
Hymns’ merging into one. Historically, singer Matt Davies likes to talk to the crowd during the instrumental beginning and he may ask you to split up for the Wall of Death. You have been warned.
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Memory & Humanity (2008)
Funeral For A Friend: What you need to know rachel price
It’s not often there’s a band on the bill for the alternative few amongst us, even less often is there one of the biggest post-
hardcore bands to emerge from our music generation. You may or may not know Funeral For A Friend’s music, depending mainly on if you were in the emo crowd at school or not, so here’s a quick guide to each of their full-length albums to prepare you for their
live set. There’s something for everyone; songs to get a circle pit going and songs to get lighters out to. Whether you’re at the Jagermeister stand or on the dodgems, drop everything for these guys and you will not be disappointed. See you in the mosh pit.
The release of FFAF’s fourth LP on their newly formed record label Join Us saw them go from playing Main Stage gigs at Reading Festival to smaller, intimate venues closer to home. The band seemed to have gone in a backwards direction, dropping the more mainstream sound of Tales… and returning to the vein of CD&DIC. You may notice the appearance of fellow Welsh band Lostprophets’ guitarist Lee Gaze singing backing vocals on ‘Beneath the Burning Tree’.
Arguably one of the most gamechanging debuts from an alternative band of the 21st century so far, Casually Dressed & Deep In Conversation put FFAF directly on the map. Raw, powerful and unusually melodic for a band of this genre, this album quickly gained the band a tremendous following and even ten years later they still incorporate the singles into their live sets. NME rated it at number 17 in their yearly album list for 2003 and it has recently been allocated a spot onto Rock Sound’s ‘101 Modern Classics’ list.
HHHHH Songs most likely to play live: - Juneau - She Drove Me To Daytime Television - Escape Artists Never Die
Hours (2005)
Tales Don’t Tell Themselves (2007)
This beautiful collection of songs dominated the emo scene in the mid-2000s by balancing the same soft-heavy verse-chorus patterns employed by many of the early 1990s grunge bands. With much less screaming and a lot more poetry, it’s a record pleasing to the softer ear yet still retaining the ferocity of their debut. And if that wasn’t enough, the female backing vocals on the track ‘Streetcar’ were recorded in a studio right here in Reading.
Tales… is to FFAF what St. Anger is to Metallica. The songs from this concept album are catchy, radio friendly and slightly more pop than anything else they’ve released. Any fans from the beginning will probably not admit to liking it and the band rarely play anything from it live, despite its commercial success. It lacks the heavy rawness found on the first two offerings, but there are still some great vocal melodies and intricate guitar riffs. Look out for the key changes.
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Songs most likely to play live: - Roses For The Dead - The End of Nothing - Recovery
Songs most likely to play live: - Into Oblivion - The Great Wide Open - Walk Away
- Sixteen
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Conduit (2013)
Songs most likely to play live: - Kicking and Screaming - Rules and Games
Yes, they’ve had a new album out this year. And it’s awesome. Equipped with new drummer Pat Lundy (formerly of London-based metal band Rise To Remain) and the average track being two and a half minutes long, FFAF are louder and more energetic than ever. Davies stretches his vocals to the limit but there are still plenty of crowd-pleasing sing-a-long opportunities. A sensational return to form from the Welsh five-piece and you can witness it right here at the RUSU Summer Ball. Don’t miss out!
- Waterfront Dance Club
Casually Dressed & Deep In Conversation (2003)
Songs most likely to play live: - This Side of Brightness/Old Hymns - Damned If You Do, Dead If You Don’t
HHHH Welcome Home Armageddon (2011)
Songs most likely to play live: - High Castles - Best Friends & Hospital Beds - The Distance
Critically successful Welcome Home Armageddon was the band’s message to the music industry that they are back. There are plenty of decent tracks on this album that appeal to fans old and new, as the band appear very much in their comfort zone with non-stop high energy, coming straight out of the blocks with the first two tracks ‘This Side of Brightness’ and ‘Old
What’s your opinion on this year’s Summer Ball line-up? Tweet us your responses @MusicSparkRDG
music.spark@reading.ac.uk
Spark* Friday 17 May 2013
INTERVIEW
This week, Peace talk music videos, festivals and mayonnaise... 5 weeks. Although we did spend a lot of time playing pool. You’ve really blown up as a band in the last few months. Has the rise to fame taken you by surprise at all? It doesn’t really sink in to be honest. The only time that we really notice it is when we play shows and suddenly the whole crowd is singing along. We’ve also got a lot younger fans than we thought, so that’s a bit surprising. But since we’re always touring and on the move we never pay attention to the outside world, only to what we’re doing.
Peace Interview patrick scott and seb potts
Having just released their debut album In Love and embarked on a massive national tour, indie rockers Peace are fast becoming one of the UK’s most notable groups. We caught up with Harry and Doug from the band before their gig at Reading’s Sub89 for a chat...
Hi there Peace. Could you tell us a little about yourselves? We are four young gentlemen who play music. It can be quite loud. How’s the tour been for you so far?
Various Artists The Great Gatsby OST interscope
siobhan maguire
With the anticipated release of ‘The Great Gatsby’ this week, it seems only right that some attention is paid to the film’s soundtrack. Costing a whopping 60 million pound to make, starring some of the world’s most prolific actors and actresses and having Jay-Z working on the scores, the film
MUSIC 13
It’s been amazing. All the shows have been sold out, which has really added to our experience; they’ve definitely been the best shows we’ve done as a band so far. Now that our album’s out the crowds we’ve played to know the words to all our songs, so they’re coming to see us because they like what we do, rather than just out of curiosity. That creates a great energy. How was recording the album? It was quite easily actually. We recorded it in the same place and with the same people that we did our original EP with, so it was all pretty natural. We chose the 10 songs that we felt were our best, tried to keep them as close to how we did them live as possible, and the whole process only took about can only be a success. The soundtrack is one of the most interesting things I have listened to in a long time. The whole soundtrack has this richness, this intensity that unnerves me to some extent. I am still unsure as to whether I love it or I hate it, and I have a feeling this is how I will feel about the film itself. When asked where they inspiration came for the tracks, director Baz Luhrmann placed all of the credit upon Fitzgerald, the author of the novel. Claiming that Fitzgerald was a modernist, writing in the moment and that is infact what he has tried to recreate within the music, the Jazz vibe being incredibly apparent.
The soundtrack has a richness and intensity that unnerves me Alongside this classic 1920’s feel, it is obvious where Jay Z’s input comes in, the blend of both Jazz and Hip-Hop ringing through
You made the shortlist for the BBC’s Sound Of 2013 this year as well, how did that feel? We didn’t really notice at firstwhen we were nominated we didn’t really know how big it was, but after telling people about we realised it was a pretty big deal. I think it turned people onto us who hadn’t heard of use before, but it’s better to gain fans from touring and working hard, rather than from being on some poll. What’s your favourite track on the album? Toxic was fun to put together- it was the last one we recorded, and it ended up being quite entertaining. Sugarstone is good too, though we haven’t done it live yet. Although that’s a difficult question to answer, because we’ve all got tracks we like for different reasons. Did you have any main influences whilst recording? every track. The cover of Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black for example echoes a deep RnB bass. The Beyonce and Andre 3000 cover is one which has grown on me each time I have heard it, yet it is worth a mention that Winehouse herself would have fitted every ideal for the musical element of this film. Other songs like Sia’s Kill and Run are awe inspriring. The vocals leave little to be desired, and the track itself tells a story, the filmic quality running from start to end leading its listener on a journey. Other artists who appear come from every spectrum of musical genre, Jay Z himself, Lana Del Ray, Nero and Jack White all feature. As does Florence and the Machine. The song Over The Love has to be one of her best, her vocals are simply outstanding. As a whole I would recommend a listen, so that you can come to your own conclusions. It is different, interesting and intriguing.
HHHH
Not really, we generally did what felt natural to us. Obviously we would have been influenced by certain things, like the music we listened to when we were growing up or what our parents always had on. But we didn’t consciously look to anything in particular for inspiration. Is it difficult getting used to being on tour for long periods of time? We were touring pretty much non-stop for last year, and when we weren’t we were recording, so we’re very used to it now. But we’ve always done a lot of live shows; it’s what we know, and in the past we’ve had to share one hotel room between six of us on tour. If anything, it’s getting a lot easier.
“We play shows and suddenly the whole crowd is singing along” Your music videos have been getting a lot of attention, what were they like to do? They’ve all been really fun. Each one’s different and a new learning curve, plus all of the directors we’ve worked with have been really talented, and they’ve all provided really creative and interesting ideas. We’re shooting a new video at the moment actually, which will be a sequel to one of our other videos. Though we can’t say much more about it...
You’ve got a lot of Festival appearances this summer, are you looking forward to those? We’re all really excited about them. We’ve all gone to Reading since we were younger, and playing Glastonbury is a real privilege. Although it’s going to be weird going to festivals and seeing the other side of how they work.
“These are definitely the best shows we’ve done as a band”
What are your plans after finishing touring? I don’t think we will finish touring, this is it every day from now on! We’ll eventually get another album out next year, which Harry has already started writing for. But for the rest of this year, we’re just concentrating on the touring side of things. And finally- have you got any embarrassing tour stories? We have a few, but most of them involve our merch guy, who hasn’t really been on tour before this so he’s new to the whole experience. There’s a story involving him and mayonnaise, and some other things that he’s not particularly proud of. Check out sparkmusic.co.uk for a review of Peace’s album ‘In Love’! vocals of Shakka matching the soft ambient beats in the background. Wretch filters through with his distinguishable rapping, which as with his previous work really marks the song as his own.
There is quite a lot of hype around Wretch 32 With shorter verses and more
Wretch 32 feat. Shakka Blackout ministry of sound
siobhan maguire
centrality upon the chorus, Wretch doesn’t try and take centre stage on the track, however this does not work to his disadvantage as the tones blend perfectly. This is
With his second album just around the corner there is quite a lot of hype around Wretch 32’s return, and his single Black Out proves that he is fully deserving of such attention. The song marks a change of direction from his previous tracks, with the calming
sure to be a high charter, and I’m excited about what direction his new album will take.
HHHH
14 ARTS&BOOKS
Friday 17 May 2013 Spark*
arts.spark@reading.ac.uk
Arts&BOOKS Mountains of letters, oceans of words Peter and Alice Review Noel Coward Theatre, London Olivia Jeffery
‘Mountains of letters, oceans of words’ are packed into John Logan’s new ninety-minute play. It brings to life the genuine 1932 meeting between Alice Liddell Hargreaves and Peter Llewelyn Davies, the inspirations to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and JM Barrie’s Peter Pan. Taking place in a London bookshop, we see these two people (played by Dame Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw) discuss their lives, and of growing up in the shadow of
their famous literary counterpart. Entering the Noel Coward Theatre, you are immediately drawn to Christopher Oram’s fantastically detailed set, into the malodorous, old-fashioned bookshop with its leather-bound books and peeling-paint doors. This set is
later lifted to reveal the childhood worlds of Peter and Alice, as a crayon-coloured proscenium arch decorated with images of Captain Hook and the Mad Hatter take its place. Dame Judi Dench takes on the role of the real eighty-year old Alice with vigour; her quick wittedness creates a ripple of amused laughter around the auditorium. When returned to her childhood world, she is gladly reunited with Carroll (played by Nicholas Farrell), and loses her almost cold exterior (and her limp) as she skips around the stage. But we also see her fragile side, as we learn of the traumatic loss that she has suffered (losing her sons in WW1). Ben Whishaw plays a slightly uneasy Peter and is more reserved
in remembering his childhood. His seems not quite as happy as Alice, to be reunited with Barrie (played by Derek Riddell). There seems to be a darker, more sinister side to Barrie explicitly seen when Arthur, Peter’s father dying of cancer seems hesitant at allowing
Max Lucy Snow
Mr P, Puppy, Max Without you in life something lacks We remember your waggily tail and glittering eyes Your funny bark, oh I hate goodbyes. The double dog lock and your Bonio The memories fall as tears in our sorrow Your black and white fur, badger boy Your Meggy ear, your squeaky toy. The luxury dog, an irreplaceable friend Forever in our hearts, it’s love we send. But now you’re in puppy heaven Because you died aged 15 times seven. So run in the clouds and chase the birds, Our love for you can’t be put into words. Now eat all your dinner and doggy snacks You’re always in our memories, our baby max.
him to look after his sons. We see the relationships that Peter and Alice had with their respective authors are deep and complex ones that control the rest of their lives. The real-life Alice and Peter also interact with their literary characters, a young Alice (Ruby Bentall) enters the stage through a trap door, whilst Peter (Olly Alexander) appears flying through the air. These two characters cheekily answer back to the other characters; supplying some much needed light heartedness. The whole play conjures up memories and nostalgia of childhood, its’ fantastic set, fantastic script and, fantastic acting is well worth seeing, even if you do leave cathartically drained. Until June 1st 2013.
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We are in the thick of it... Revision Advice Ellen North-Row
1. DRINK PLENTY OF WATER- KEEP YOUR BRAIN HYDRATED 2. KEEP UP YOUR ENERGY LEVELS- GRAB A BANANA OR A SMOOTHIE TO GO (OR A BAG OF MINSTRELS IF YOU’RE FEELING CHEEKY) 3. MIND MAP IN GROUPS AND GET THOSE CREATIVE JUICES FLOWING 4. TAKE REGULAR BREAKS OUTSIDE- IF IT’S SUNNY GO SIT ON THE LAWN 5. WHETHER IT’S IN THE LIBRARY OR AT HOME, FIND A SPACE THAT WORKS FOR YOU 6. READ OUT YOUR NOTES ALOUD, LIKE YOU’RE PRESENTING A LECTURE…IT HELPS HONEST! 7. MAKE A PLAN AND STICK TO IT 8. TAKE SOME TIME OUT- WHETHER IT’S HEADING TO OXFORD FOR A DAY TRIP OR A NIGHT OUT IN Q, IT’S IMPORTANT TO CHILL OUT. 9. DON’T FRET- PICK OUT WHAT YOU ENJOY AND WORK WITH IT 10. FINALLY, GIVE YOURSELF SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO AT THE END- PLAN A HOLIDAY, GO TO SUMMER BREAK/BALL OR JUST SIMPLY GO OUT WITH YOUR MATES. (AND LET’S NOT FORGET TO SET YOUR BACKGROUND TO THE INCREASINGLY POPULAR PIN-UP HOTTIE, RYAN GOSLING, TO MOTIVATE YOUSELF IN TIMES OF NEED.)
Spark Friday 17 May 2013
interview.spark@reading.ac.uk
INTERVIEW 15
interview This week: Interviews with Oxford OTC we’ve told a few Officer Cadets to turn up a little bit less in the past so that they can get the best degree they are capable of. We know that activity here does not equate to academic achievement, but being organised enough to participate in UOTC events can help. We train concurrently to the Oxford University terms for two hours on Tuesday nights and spend five weekends training in the field a year and have a two-week summer camp. Over the year it’s about 24 days and 24 evenings in total.
Officers’ Training Corps allow students to experience military life Lily Brown
Firstly, an interview with Adjutant Edward Hodgkin of Oxford Officers’ Training Corps. What does OTC stand for? It stands for University Officers’ Training Corps. Oxford UOTC has members from the Universities of Oxford, Oxford Brookes, Reading, Gloucestershire and the Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester. Please could you provide a brief description of the University Officers’ Training Corps? Oxford UOTC comprises about 200 cadets and 40 staff and gives University students the opportunity to participate in military training, including taking part in adventurous training expeditions such as skiing and diving. We do this with a view to educating them as to what a military career can offer and what the army does. What would you say is the best way to become involved in the OTC? The single best way to become involved – which I recommend – is to visit our stall at your University’s Fresher’s Fair. Having done this you will learn details about our recruiting and selection weekend, the next of which will be in October 2013. As we’re more than half-way through the year already, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until then to join but we look forward to seeing you. What would you say are the main benefits of joining the OTC during a student’s time at university? We totally understand that the employment market is ruthless. What we aim to offer, therefore, are things that are going to make our young people stand out from
the crowd, be it through a training qualification such as sailing Day Skipper, or the character required to lead.
The UK employment market is ruthless Once students have joined the OTC what kind of activities can they expect to be taking part in? Initially we’ll immerse them in what we call ‘green training’, which means exercises in the field. Even basic things like living outdoors, which the army does a lot, are demanding. Once they’ve got the basics other things such as sport and adventurous training opportunities will arise. Would you recommend joining the OTC to someone interested in joining the military after they have graduated from university?
Yes. Anyone interested in joining the military could not fail to learn more about the organisation by spending time here, if for no other reason than to work out better how you and the army get on. Moreover, we offer leadership training, for potential officers and future captains of industry to develop their leadership style. How much time is expected of those who are a part of the OTC during the week and would you say this is built around optimising the balance between studying for a degree and being in the OTC?
Oxford UOTC is fully aware of the academic demands being made on students and our ethos is unequivocally ‘Degree First’. In fact
Our ethos is unequivocally ‘degree first’ What rewards can a student gain from being involved in the OTC?
Apart from military and adventurous training qualifications, a student can gain the tremendously rewarding sense of camaraderie that is unmatched in many other activities and walks of life. We’ll give you a new perspective on what you previously thought yourself capable of as well. Not forgetting, of course, that for all this privilege you also get paid. We also interviewed Ben Pascoe and Emily Butler of the OUOTC. When did you join the OTC and what made you join?
Ben: I joined Oxford University OfficerTraining Corps (OUOTC) in October of 2012, I have always been interested in the military and after attending the selection weekend, where you get to really see what it has to offer, I was certain that OUOTC was for me. Emily: I joined the OTC at the same time as Ben, though I’m in my second year of University. It was mentioned to me by a friend during my first year, so I looked out for them at Freshers’ Fayre this year, and after a ten minute conversation with one of the Officer Cadets I was sold! What do you study here at Reading?
B: I am in my first year studying War, peace and International Relations. E: English Literature and Politics.
Do you feel being part of the OTC compliments studying for your degree?
B: My course obviously has a military slant to it which OTC is very useful in. Also as part of the Officer Selection process, which you can undertake in OTC, you are encouraged to keep up to date with current affairs both in Britain and worldwide, this overlaps with studying International Relations perfectly. E: The OTC is designed especially for university students, so that it doesn’t impact at all negatively on your degree. More importantly though, and I think it’s partly what sold it to me, you come out of University and you’re not ‘just another graduate’ which I think a lot of us are scared of being with the job market looking the way it is. Do you have military aspirations for the future?
B: Definitely, after University I aim to attend the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and gain a commission in the Regular Army. E: I’m not sure yet, if I’m perfectly honest. I’m very seriously considering joining the Reserves, but I’m also really interested in work as a journalist, so I guess the two aren’t that similar! What would you say are the benefits of being part of the OTC?
B: OTC allows you to try new things that you may never have even thought of trying before, this ranges from the Military training with both the OTC and other units to the adventure training that could see you on top of a Welsh mountain or off on a sailing expedition. The Social life within OUOTC is certainly not to be turned down, with various dinners taking place throughout the year, we’ve actually just had the May Ball - the last formal of the year, and they are all easily some of the best nights I have had since coming to University. If that wasn’t enough you are paid for everything you do with OTC, including Military and Adventure
Training as well as all your travel expenses, there really is nothing to lose! E: I have to say I agree with everything Ben said! For me though, it’s also a great opportunity to prove to yourself what you’re really capable of. I’ve done things over the past year that I would quite possibly have never done in my life had it not been for the OTC and I’m really proud of myself.
Without hesitation, yes! Would you recommend joining the OTC to other students?
B: Without hesitation yes, even if you’re not sure then come along and see what you think! E: Absolutely. You don’t have to be a big hench lad to do this, and neither do you have to want to join the army. I’m 5ft 5” and while I’m at home I’m probably reading a Shakespeare play or baking but that doesn’t matter. If you have a little bit of determination and you want to do something a little different with your time then it’s an opportunity not to be missed. What advice would you give to a student considering joining the OTC?
B: If you’re considering joining OUOTC then just have a look on the website for any further information you need, there is also contact information on there. There are medical requirements that need to be passed, although this is all done on the selection weekend as well as a risk reduction run, again this takes place on the selection weekend. In terms of interference with academic studies there is nothing to worry about, as I wrote earlier, you can choose to do as much or as little as you want and the OTC always encourages you to keep your studies as a number one priority.
Want to write for Spark*? Email us at interview.spark@ reading.ac.uk
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Graduate careers in Audit, Tax and Advisory
Friday 17 May 2013 Spark*
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18 BEAUTY
Friday 17 May 2013 Spark*
beauty.spark@reading.ac.uk
BEAUTY
Gone Fishing from Topshop
Introducing... RiRi Woo by M.A.C!!! Sabina Rouse
Elle Turner
A fashionable twist on the classic Ruby Woo shade, the long awaited RiRi Woo Lipstick has finally been launched by MAC. Selling out in a record breaking mere three hours, the lipstick faces scrupulous reviews from bloggers and make up artists alike. With Rihanna’s flawless and ever-changing make up, and MAC’s solid reputation as one of the worlds leading cosmetic brands, it made sense that the two team up to debut her new make-up range with. Not one to shy away from collaborations, Rihanna earlier this year debuted her ‘Rihanna for River Island’ cloth-
For the perfect summer mani, why not check out Topshop for some seasonal shades. My personal favourite is this beautiful soft greenmint shade, and the name “Gone Fishing” sounds adorable! At £5, they won’t break the bank plus their fast drying and long-wearing - BONUS! So get your shop on and go fishing for some charming summer shades!
ing line at London Fashion Week AW13 which was met with great success. RiRi Woo, the first of the four collections MAC has debuted by Rihanna, is described as being a ‘vivid cool red with a matte finish’ is sure to please every skin tone and complexion. Rihanna cited that the popularity of the original Ruby Woo was what led her to be inspired to create her own lipstick and base it on the classic go-to red colour that uses for the perfect red lip every time. Despite being sold out in three hours, RiRi Woo will be back on Mac.com in June along with the second collection of the collaboration.
Celebs’ cellulite busting secrets!!! Elle Turner
From products, to juices, to body brushes, these celebs have tried it all, and they’re ready to share their cellulite busting secrets with you! According to the Daily Mail, Frankie Essex swears by Palmer’s Cocoa Butter, which has been voted the UK’s favourite cocoa butter for its rich, creamy texture and Vitamin E extracts, plus at a pocket-friendly £3.77 from Boots, you can’t go wrong!
Katy Perry is allegedly a huge fan of Celluvera Cream which is clinically proven to reduce the appearance of cellulite but at $69.95 (around £45) per bottle this stuff doesn’t come cheap!
is no stranger to baring her bare legs along the runway. Apparently she swears by boosting her antioxidant intake in the form of white tea, which you can get for as little as £2 at the local supermarket.
By swapping products for healthy juices made of carrot, ginger and beetroot, Alesha Dixon claims to detox her way free from cellulite. You could always try blitzing your orange peel by trying out these veggie juices at home.
Finally, Miranda Kerr swears by body brushing daily, which is claimed to “promote movement of the lymphatic system, improve circulation, and leave your skin feeling softer and smoother”.
Queen of the catwalk, Kate Moss,
So if you suffer from cellulite, why not try these tips and tricks?
Summer scents: Check out these fresh fragrances! Laura Armstrong
1. Diesel Zero Plus Feminine (approx £10 for 75ml) The mix of floral scents is perfect for any time of year yet reminiscent of that used in sun cream, perfect for bringing out the sunshine feeling when the British weather disappoints.
2. Calvin Klein Contradiction for Women (approx £22 for 100ml) You can rarely go wrong with a Calvin Klein fragrance, they are popular across the board. Contradiction is credited for being a mix of floral and woody scents but a great and similarly priced alternative is the ‘CK IN2U’.
3. FCUK Friction for Her (approx £12 for 100ml) Discovered through a secret Santa this is undeniably great value for money for an everyday perfume; the citrus and vanilla blend gives a real tropical feel.
4. Meow! By Katy Perry (approx £22 for 100ml) If you can get over the name and the cat-shaped bottle then you should really give this fragrance a try. It is sweet but incredibly more-ish, technically it is a florally blend but smells deliciously like candy floss.
All fragrances smell different to different people and on different skin, so when you’re scent shopping this year, make the most of testers and enjoy!
5. Davidoff Cool Water Woman (approx £20 for 100ml) The citrus/fruity scent is light and a great summer’s day perfume. Although this scent is not overpowering there is a milder deodorant spray available which makes a great cheaper alternative!
Spark* Friday 17 May 2013
fashion.spark@reading.ac.uk
FASHION 19
FASHION The cost of fast fashion Wide leg trend Charlotte Coster
Tsui chung
If you look at the label of any item of clothing from your wardrobe, more often than not it will state the words ‘Made in China.’ Or ‘Made in Thailand.’ Or Bangladesh, Thailand, India…in fact, anywhere where there is a vast number of poverty stricken people who can be taken advantage of. This has come to our attention in the most shocking way possible after the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory near Dhaka, Bangladesh. The factory was condemned as unsafe just the day before the tragedy. Despite this, the workers were still forced to come in and now the death toll exceeds 500 people, causing fury throughout the world. Everybody likes to grab a bargain, me included, but the majority don’t (or prefer not to) think about the knock on affect that the cheapness of clothes has on real people struggling to make a living out of this in the East. And now this is an issue that we can ignore no longer. Not only are we aware of the lack of money that these workers are paid, the violence, abuse and the
Wide leg trousers, as seen on the latest catwalks of Chloé, Stella McCartney and Mulberry have also been spotted on celebrities such as Victoria Beckham, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Lauren Conrad, making them the hottest trend of the season. Inspired by the 70s, the wide leg trouser has usually been forgotten in favour of the maxi skirt, but now it’s making a comeback! However, the wide leg trend can be tricky to pull off because it can lead to a disaster. For the majority of us, wide leg trousers can be overwhelming, so keep it simple with trousers in one colour, a crop top and heels to enhance your height and give the illusion that you have never-ending legs! Or why not opt for a lightweight fabric such as silk or linen, which are perfect for keeping cool in the summer weather. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different prints and patterns; try teaming them up with a white blouse and strappy sandals to achieve casual, effortless chic. High street stores Zara and H&M both have a range
horrible working conditions, but also that these people’s basic human rights of health and safety are not being adhered to. This is not what fashion should be about. Fashion should be an outlet for design, comfort and an extension of art in a wearable form. And these things should be extended to everyone’s lives as well as the fashion itself. Unfortunately, with the clothes in shops such as Primark being as cheap as they are, people tend to forget about others or any of these values that the fashion industry
tries to promote. This diminishes the values and enjoyment of the fashion and is not a true representation of the fair and just working place that the industry is trying to create. Finally, fashion is also an expression of who you are so no one wishes to indorse what this shocking event has shown to the world. Hopefully now, the highstreet and the governments will work to amend this travesty and the lives of those who died will not be wasted.
of beautifully patterned trousers in stock, ideal for creating an elegant silhouette. You can easily shorten the length of the trousers yourself so you’re not swamped in fabric because, you know, not all of us have legs like Beyoncé.
Ultimately, it’s all about the styling and once you find a style that suits you then you can easily pull off this look. Whilst this may a spring/ summer 2013 trend, wide leg trousers can easily be updated to fit any season. I personally love this trend and think it’s an amazing excuse to channel my inner Bohemian!
DIY: Clutch bag Guilty pleasure buys Emily Glanfield
Mollie Fifi
This Easter, I needed a clutch bag. I had previously seen the white envelope clutch, by Acne, on Neta-Porter for nearly £300 – certain-
ly not within student budget. However, this gorgeous black envelope clutch is most definitely within a student budget as it is a seriously easy and cheap DIY project! When people ask me where I bought my bag, it is very satisfying to say, “I made it!” To begin you need to cut out a cardboard base (I used an old cereal box) to create a shape like Figure A. Later on, you will need to fold along the lines so make your base depending on how big you want your bag. You then need to fold your material (I bought mine from Fabric
Warehouse for £1) around the base and attach it using fabric glue (or leather glue if you use a leathery material like mine) making sure the edges are tight and clean. Leave this to dry before folding. Fold your clutch into place so you are able to stitch the sides together. Finally stitch on a button or popper fastener. There you have it! A designer looking envelope clutch at literally 1/300th of the price!
Guilty pleasure buys. Whether it’s a new blazer or that beautifully cut LBD you’ve had your eye on for a few weeks, we’ve all done it: snapped up those guilty pleasure buys (GPBs for short) and hidden them away in the wardrobe. It’s that time of year when we’re all stressed up to our carefully outlined eyes, about the on-going examinations. GPB’s are a way to de-stress for a few precious moments and revel in their glorious newness and your temporary distraction from your exams! I’m certainly guilty as charged as regards to GPBs over the last few weeks. My beloved ‘jazzy’, as one house-mate remarked, Topshop trousers certainly satisfied my GPB need for all of about twenty-four hours, until I spotted the new-season collection that had dropped in Zara. With a collection so full of flowing silhouettes, coral-brights
and paired down chic who wouldn’t want to buy it all? Before a major, financial fiasco occurred a friend kindly reminded me the rent was due that day, so I left empty
handed. An online ‘window shop’ could have very nearly emptied my bank account as I was ‘just browsing’ through the McQueen collection on net-a-porter.com (the whole time telling myself I was researching for future articles to write). I found myself at this point
tapping into Google equivalent Italian to UK sizes for Alexander McQueen shirts… Luckily at this point, got a phone call from my Mum asking what I wanted for my upcoming Birthday. So, luckily for me I mentioned a rather stunning cocktail dress I’d been lusting after. A week later I received a very exciting package from Karen Millen, the day before my Birthday. So luckily for my bank account my topshop trousers didn’t get a new BFF in the form of a GPB, they are now proudly hung next to my great-gatsby styled birthday dress. However there are some rather splurge worthy collections dropping into the high street at the moment, namely Miss Selfridge’s new season pieces with opulent layers of lace and tulle in pastel shades, and Mango’s statement monochrome pieces. Just don’t bring them out ALL at once, your house-mates won’t be too pleased when you can’t pay your share of the bills next month and yet miraculously you had a white shift dress arrive in the post from Oasis yesterday…
20 HEALTH&FOOD
Friday 17 May 2013 Spark*
health.spark@reading.ac.uk
HEALTH Eat your way to summer exam success Everyone knows that a proper diet can keep you fit, healthy and happy. But a suitable diet can also improve your memory, logical thinking and reduce stress, all of which are crucial during the upcoming exam time. Just follow the tips given below to help you improve your exams without spending endless hours poring over your books.
are extremely important when it comes to studying. Whilst magnesium improves your memory and reduces stress, potassium boosts your concentration, so you won`t get distracted while studying for your exams. You can easily find magnesium and potassium in fruits, especially dried fruits and bananas, vegetables, particularly beans and spinach, in dairy products, nuts and, you’ll be pleased to find out, in dark chocolate!
ing that it’s good for your health, you might need to think again. Some fats are strictly necessary not only for physical, but also for mental health: omega acids are especially worth considering. Because they boost brain function, they can boost your concentration and logical thinking, which are very important during the exam time. Try increasing your intake fish, shellfish and olive oil.
Boost your minerals
Embrace the fat
Our examination period varies from 2 to 4 weeks. During this time we have to be constantly focused on studying and then sitting the exams. Selecting the right food combinations can help you avoid highs and lows in your energy levels. Choose complex carbohydrates, like whole wheat bread and oatmeal, and valuable proteins, like fish, eggs and beef. Although sweets or white bread give you energy as well, you will find that it runs out quickly, so try to reduce these during the exam period.
Andrzej lenartowicz
Both magnesium and potassium
If you avoid all types of fat, think
Keep your energy up
Wake up and smell the coffee Some studies have shown that the caffeine in coffee, if taken
excessively, can reduce the levels of magnesium and calcium in our bodies, dehydrate us, and cause peaks and troughs in energy levels. However, in the short term, caffeine boosts concentration and improves short-term memory, so drinking a cup of coffee straight before the exam could be a good idea. Just remember that caffeine is addictive, so don’t make the mistake of relying on multiple cups of coffee several times a day instead
of getting a good night’s sleep to give you energy. But even the best diet won’t help you get the best examination results if you don’t put the effort into other factors as well, such as getting good quality sleep, and continuing to exercise regularly, and taking regular breaks to prevent you feeling overwhelmed. Finally, what helps most is... studying! So work hard, and use diet as a pleasant way to boost performance.
The rise of the realistic mannequins Sarah Lienard
In March this year, a photo of socalled ‘plus size’ models (pictured middle column) in Sweden went viral, attracting thousands of likes, shares and retweets. Åhléns, the Swedish company that introduced the models in 2010, use different shapes and sizes of mannequins to reflect the differing shapes and sizes of its customers. At first glance this doesn’t seem such a ground-breaking concept, so why has it attracted so much online and media attention?
The average size of a shop mannequin is a UK size 4-6. The average woman in Britain is a size 14. The mannequins used in Sweden range from a size 8-12, and are referred to as ‘plus size’ models. In reality, these mannequins represent a healthy and average size and shape, but the warped ideals of the fashion industry (in which the ‘perfect’ shape is extremely tall and extremely thin) classifies these mannequins as ‘plus-size’, implying that they are heavier than what is normal or acceptable. Although it is possible to be slim and healthy, these sizes are unrealistic and unattainable for the majority of people without resorting to unhealthy and disordered eating habits. A study in 1992 considered that as the average woman requires 17% body fat in order to menstruate, if a modern mannequin were real, she would not have periods at all – just one criteria which doctors use to diagnose anorexia. She would also likely have a BMI low enough to diagnose the condition. Considering that mannequins have become even smaller in the two decades since the study was done, it really is time to assess just what effect they are having on us, both individually, and as a
society. Those that think that the issue is being blown out of proportion need to consider that it is not just ‘slim’ that is being advertised as attractive here – it is glamourised emaciation. In 2011, ‘GAP’ came under fire for using extremely frail models for their ‘Always Skinny’ jeans (pictured left hand column), sparking anger from bloggers who slated their promotion of ‘deathcamp chic’. ‘Club Monaco’ has also been criticized for using manne-
quins with deliberately designed and alarmingly protruding spines – often seen in people with dangerously low body weights (pictured right hand column). Contrary to media myths, this is not just an issue that affects women. In 2010, Rootstein, a British mannequin manufacterer, brought out a male model with a 35in chest and a 27in waist - 11in smaller than the average British man. Considering that the Department of Health reported that the number of men being treated for eating disorders increased by 90% from 2003-2005 alone (and the real figure is estimated to be even higher), this is surely cause for concern. Some argue that mannequins are unlikely to trigger an eating disorder in people that aren’t already predisposed to develop one. Nevertheless, these mannequins feed into the cultural perception that only those that are medically underweight are beautiful or fashionable. In 2007, the British Medical Association expressed it’s concern about the use of the very thin models on which shop mannequins are based, saying that “the degree of thinness exhibited by the models… is both unachievable and
also biologically inappropriate and provides unhelpful role models... putting pressure on women to view their bodies as fatter and heavier.” Psychology aside, from a fashion perspective, wouldn’t it make sense to model clothes on a variety of mannequins, so that there are products that will look good on everyone? Shouldn’t we have mannequins that are tall, short, thin, curvy, broad and narrow, representing a range of ethnicities and ages? After all, clothes don’t come in just one size or shape - and neither do we.
Spark* Friday 17 May 2013
health.spark@reading.ac.uk
HEALTH&FOOD 21
Food Travel the world... From your plate Katy Richardson and Sarah Lienard
Can’t wait to go on holiday this summer, but still stuck inside doing revision? Why not take your tastebuds on a holiday instead. This issue, we’ve got an international theme, with recipes from Greece and Scandinavia, and (for those who are studying so hard they don’t have time to cook) offers on Chinese, Thai and Italian (well... Dominos) to fuel your study sessions. First up is a selection of Greek dishes from our very own Greek goddess, Katy Richardson.
Method: First, place the grated potatoes in a sieve and allow the water to drain from them, then tip into a large bowl and add the remaining ingredients. Next, get all messy and mix all of the ingredients together with your hands until thoroughly combined! Take teaspoons of the mixture and shape into ovals, around 2 inches long and 1 inch thick, slightly flatten them to stop them from rolling away. Fry them in oil for 15 minutes, turning them frequently until golden brown. And there you have it - it’s that simple! This recipe makes about
Keftedes (Greek meatballs)
30 keftedes so you can freeze some to save for another day. Share with friends and family, with some tzatziki or greek yoghurt, along with a fresh salad and some pitta bread perhaps? Enjoy!
1/4 cup of uncooked rice, boiled as the packet instructs Parsley Salt & pepper 1 Beef stock cube 2 teacups of tomato juice
this way works out much cheaper, and much tastier too! You can experiment with adding different flavours, such as herbs, spices, or even finely chopped sweet peppers, to change it up.
Stuffed vegetables
Method: Open up the peppers by cutting the lid off and removing the seeds inside. Place the peppers into a saucepan and boil for 5 minutes with a pinch of salt. You don’t want to boil them for too long otherwise they’ll go soggy! Drain the water, then in a separate pan fry the onion, garlic and mince with a little bit of butter. Add the rice, parsley, salt and pepper, beef stock and tomato juice to the mixture and cook for 1 or 2 minutes. Fill the peppers with the mixture and place on a baking tray. Bake for an hour at 180°C. The great thing about this recipe is that it’s so easy to change, stuffed courgettes also work really well. Try altering the filling, using cous cous instead of rice, add some halloumi maybe, whatever you like!
Ingredients: 225g cracked chickpeas ½ level tsp bicarbonate of soda 4 cloves of garlic crushed The juice of 1 ½ lemons 2 tsp tahini paste 4 tsp olive oil 1 tsp salt Sprinkle of ground pepper 2 tsp finely chopped parsley
If you don’t eat enough of your veggies, this is the recipe for you you won’t mind eating this! Ingredients: (makes 6 peppers) 6 big peppers, (Green, yellow, red, orange, whatever you fancy!) 1 onion 2-3 Garlic cloves 250g beef mince Butter
Meatballs don’t have to just be served with tomato sauce and pasta. Here’s a Mediterranean twist on a dinner classic that you can make instead that’s simple, easy and delicious. Ingredients: 500g minced pork 500g minced beef 1 finely grated large potato 1 onion finely chopped 1 oz fresh breadcrumbs ¼ cup chopped parsley 1 egg ½ tsp ground cinnamon ½ level tsp dried mint Salt and black pepper Vegetable oil for frying
Homemade houmous Ever fancied making your own dip to go with some pitta bread? Here is a homemade recipe that makes a traditional flavorsome houmous. Yes, its easy to buy in a jar, but
Method: Place the chickpeas in a saucepan and add the bicarbonate of soda. Cover with cold cover and leave to soak overnight. The next day, drain the chickpeas and place again in a saucepan. Cover with cold water, and bring to boil. Cover them with a lid and leave them to simmer for 1 ½ hours, or until tender. When ready, drain the peas, and reserve one cup of the water from the pan.In a blender or food procesor, blend together the chickpeas, lemon juice, garlic, tahini paste and the reserved cup of water that you saved. Process the mixture until smooth and then add the final ingredients, olive oil, salt & pepper and the chopped parsley.
Scandinavian gravlax Foodie deals Ebba FredRiksen
Scandinavian food is a new trend on the food horizon. Chefs like Jamie Oliver travel to the Sweden in his Jamie Does series, restaurants in the region are receiving Michelin stars (Danish Noma anyone?) and Scandi- inspired restaurants are popping up in places like New York. So what is the deal with Scandinavian food, what is it,
where is it and can we make it? Salmon is common in the Scandinavian kitchen and now after Easter, with a bit of luck, you can find it on offer. For every kilo of salmon use 1 dl of salt, 1,5 dl of sugar, a bit of dill and 20 crushed white pepper corn. Make sure to freeze the salmon for two days either before or after the curing. This is kills any pathogens in the meat.
Use a salmon side with the skin on and check that there are no bones left. If you find some pull them out with tweezers. Mix salt and sugar in a bowl and chop the dill and crush the pepper corns. I find it easiest to put the salmon in a freezer bag then rub the dill and peppercorn on the meat side. Pour in the salt and sugar mixture and rub that in too. There will still be a lot of salt and sugar in the bag after rubbing it in - but don’t worry, the fish will still absorb the flavours. To be sure that no water escapes the bag put another plastic on top of the first one. Now all you have to do it to leave the salmon side for two or three days in the fridge and turn it over a couple of times a day. On the last day remove the salmon from the bag, scrape of the excess salt and sugar with a knife (do not rinse the salmon with water!), cut it thin and eat with boiled eggs, a salad or potatoes. Delicious!
Sarah Lienard
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Two’sday Tuesday: buy one medium or large pizza get another one free. Offer valid all day every Tuesday, and the cheapest pizza is free. See ww.delivery.pizzahut. co.uk for full details.
25% off food bill, including starters, mains and desserts, until 2nd May. See www.zizzi-offers.co.uk for more details.
Kitchen88 Asian ready meals, £1.99 for a noodle meal or £2.49 for a rice meal. Choose from Thai Green or Red Chicken Curry, Black Pepper Chicken or Sweet & Sour Chicken with Jasmine Rice, Chicken Korma or Satay Chicken Noodles. With generous chunks of chicken breast, fresh ingredients, and less than 500 calories in the rice meals- what better way to fuel up for revision?
22 ADVERTISEMENT
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SCIENCE&TECHNOLOGY 23
SCIENCE&TECHNOLOGY The history of the science of fashion EMMA BULLOUGH
As this year celebrates the 75th anniversary of the public launch of nylon, an essential constituent of hosiery, it leaves the question begging: what has science done for fashion? Such a simple reaction rocked the fashion industry identifying a clear and unwavering link between the worlds of science and fashion Any woman will tell you what an essential part of their wardrobe tights are and we owe their existence to the scientific advance that produced nylon back in October 1938. The polymer nylon can be produced via a polycondensation reaction, where two simple monomers are combined, forming water as a by-product. Such a simple reaction rocked the fashion industry identifying a clear and unwavering link between the worlds of science and fashion. However with the continuing ability of tights to ladder so readily, clearly there is still room for improvement. ‘Fabrican’ is an instant fabric sprayed-on The prescence of polymers in fashion doesn’t end with tights.
More recently, in 2000, fashion designer Manel Torres invented the ‘Fabrican’ with the help of some chemical engineers. ‘Fabrican’ is an instant fabric sprayed-on using an aerosol can, creating washable and re-usable clothes, which have been demonstrated at London fashion week in 2010. Inside the can is a liquid suspension of fibres, which when sprayed, cross-link creating the instant garments. The spray works on any surface and can be used to form intricate patterns. It is also available in several colours and scents Back in 2008 Karl Lagerfeld, the designer for Chanel, helped models step out of the dark ages by designing high heeled shoes with light bulbs built into the heels. They may not involve a complicated chemical reaction, or the invention of a new phenomenon, but they did require a degree of technical input. Things like: how do you create working light bulbs that aren’t too hot to the touch? Or how are you going to power them? And how do you stop them shattering when stood on? These would all have had to have been considered, all on top of the obvious issue of
making the shoes aesthetically appealing. The massive crackling nail polish trend of 2011 was all down to a slight difference in chemical structure compared to that of normal nail polish. Nail polishes usually comprise of butyl acetate or ethyl acetate, in crackling nail polishes ethanol is also present, either in place of or along side the normal solvents. All the solvents evaporate when exposed to air, only ethanol evaporates more quickly. As the solvents dry at different speeds, the constituents that are still wet pool together and form cracks in the surface. Infinity accessories has its roots in maths and physics As we enter 2013, the tie between science and fashion grows ever stronger as it leaks into high street stores, via Topshops launch of a range of chemistry and other sciences inspired t-shirts. Laser cut clothing is another trend that wouldn’t have been a possibility not that long ago, but thanks to the recent improvement in technology and price of the machines responsible, they’re now everywhere. Also the current, viral trend, of infinity accessories has its roots in
maths and physics where it would normally be employed in equations. The relationship between science and fashion has been a long one
and won’t stop here. Where’s next for the Odd pairing? Who knows? But I feel sure we will see much more from the duo. Proving that geek really can be chic.
Climate change and the anthropocene in Britain MIKE BELL
This is the second part of the last issue’s article Global warming, climate change and the anthropocene in Britain and all that Geo engineering a solution to the global warming climate change problem. One suggestion is to spray Sulphate from high flying planes so that Sulphate aerosols could reflect sunlight back into space and thus cool the planet. It would work it seems, until you consider what would happen. The Sulphate aerosols would become condensation nuclei and would then fall as Sulphuric acid rain. No thanks! Enriching the surface water of the oceans with Iron has been tried and plankton blooms did follow, on some of the times. The problem is that the costs were high, and the only certain results are the profits the enrichment company makes from the carbon credits it claims. It is easier and cheaper to just stop hunting whales.
One idea, which was presumably dreamt up by a manufacturer of ping-pong balls, was to release billions of ping-pong balls into the Arctic Ocean in order to increase its Albedo - the solar energy/ light that is reflected from the ocean back into space. I agree Geo engineering an increase in the albedo of the Arctic is a good idea. Cooling the Arctic by reflective sunlight back into space would increase the temperature difference between the Arctic and the Tropics stabilise the jet stream and reduce the number and scale of blocking events. Floating ping-pong balls does not seem to be an environment friendly way to do it. Since the dawn of civilization the Aral Sea has benefited the climates of the world. With its 66,000 km₂ it did contribute to moderating temperature, humidifying air and land. The death of the Aral Sea, caused by crop irrigation, altered weather patterns permanently, creating more continental extremes as weather fronts no longer encounter the moderating humid-
ity from the evaporating Aral Sea. This drying up of the Aral Sea is considered by many environmentalists to be the biggest environmental disaster of all time, which may only be eclipsed by the total meltdown of Earth’s Ice Caps. The Soviet Union had a plan, to divert water from other major rivers in the Aral Basin to refill the Aral Sea. Unfortunately, the Soviet Union collapsed before this plan was realised. The region surrounding the former Aral Sea is now a salt scorched desert. Refilling the Aral Sea with what is essentially waste water would turn an enormous desert into an enormous food producing carbon sink. The Romans, who built one of the earliest plumbing systems – aqueducts that transported water for miles to where it was needed, could have done this, and would have done this, so why don’t we? There are vast regions of central Asia that are now desert but could become food producing
carbon sinks with a little Roman Hydrological house. My idea is to anchor polypropelene buoyed ropes stretched between the islands of Nuuanu, the islands of the Sulu Archipelago, and Elsmere Island and Greenland, in order to prevent the dispersal of sea ice in these areas, into the North Atlantic. Sea ice is more
reflective than ping pong balls, not using ice breaking ships would also help stabilise Arctic sea ice. By allowing ice shelves attached to land to remain connected to sea ice. If we want to experience long hot summers in Britain again we must increase the Albedo of the Arctic. Well that’s my idea, what’s yours?
24 GAMING gaming.spark@reading.ac.uk
Friday 17 May 2013 Spark*
GAMING The Humble Double Fine Bundle Gabrielle Linnett
Often seemingly brilliant offers come with conditions which are at first hidden; but the Humble Bundle is the exact opposite. People pay what they want for the bundle of games. It’s possible to pay less than £0.65 for the three games, but Humble Bundle organisers do put a limit of more than £1 to also get Steam keys for the games. But with the Humble Bundle, paying more really does pay off. In addition to the three listed games, if customers pay more than the average person they receive an extra game and if they pay $35 or more they get a fifth game with the additional benefits of a ‘slacker backer’ for the Kickstarter project. Finally, if gamers pay £45.50, or more they get the five available games plus a limited edition Double Fine T-shirt. To reiterate: this is a bargain! A far cry from the amount it would cost to buy these games and the T-shirt separately. The currently available bundle
is from Double Fine developers, but the developer changes with each reoccurrence of the Humble Bundle. The bundle offered by Double Fine consists of Halloween themed RPG adventure game Costume Quest, platform based Psychonauts and Stacking which is an adventure puzzle game revolving around Russian dolls, each with special abilities ranging from flirtation to farting. The Humble Bundle website provides videos displaying each of the games so no buyer has to shop blind. Due to the ‘name your price’ nature of the offer, you cannot buy only one or two of the games. But even if you only like one of the games, they can be such good value that it would be worth buying the three and not play the others. The ‘above average’ game is Brütal Legend. Alongside characters voiced by the likes of Ozzy Osbourne and Lita Ford, play through Brütal Legend as Eddie (Jack Black) in a group of rockers
to defeat the enemy demons. Not what many would call a serious game; enjoy Brütal Legend as an adventure of awesomeness, which you can get for £5.22 alongside the previous three games. Finally, the almighty £25 or more game Broken Age, previously known as Double Fine Adventure. First seen on Kickstarter, Double Fine appealed for $400,000 of funding for the final game in this bundle, but they actually achieved a total of over $3 million. Clearly a lot of people liked the look of this game. Although the pledge period has ended, the Humble Bundle allows gamers to become ‘slacker backers’ which entitles them to beta releases of the game on PC, Mac or Linux, the Steam code upon completion and access to private forums featuring concept art and development updates. The Double Fine website offers this at £20, but through the Humble Bundle gamers can get all of this, plus the other 4 games for a minimum of £25.
The game itself is an “old school adventure” about a girl, selected by her village as sacrifice for a monster, and a boy living on a spaceship under the care of a motherly computer, who want to break free and determine a different fate for themselves. Humble Bundle customers can also decide where their money goes once it leaves their online pockets. When buying the games, customers can choose what proportion of their money goes to two
charities chosen by the developers of the Humble Bundle. If, after your exams, you want to play some fun games and do so without taking away from your celebratory budget, check out the Humble Bundle for some inexpensive and feel-good gaming. Using Mac? Not to worry because these games will be cross-platform and also available through Steam. Follow the Humble Bundle online for updates on future bundles, as this one ends May 21st.
“tears” to rapidly develop quantum physics and further his cause. Taking a job to recover from massive gambling debts, you play the role of Booker DeWitt, a former soldier and anti-union strike breaker turned private detective sent to “bring us the girl and wipe away the debt”. Cryptic as ever, the start of the game sees you taken via boat to a nondescript lighthouse by the nonsensical Lutece twins where a shuttle (read: chair with rockets attached) takes you to Columbia’s welcome centre, a shrine to Comstock. After a compulsory baptism and almost unnoticeable
tutorial level in Columbia’s annual fair, Booker is outed as the “False Shepherd” and Bioshock: Infinite starts to really show off. Shortly after, Booker reaches the tower holding Elizabeth, Comstock’s daughter, the damsel in distress you’re sent to save and easily the most useful companion character in any shooter. More useful even than Half Life’s Alyx Vance, though sadly less developed, Elizabeth will find and throw you money, health, whatever pickups she can find during and outside of combat as well as unlocking safes and secret areas. With her ability to tear open holes to other dimensions, Elizabeth was locked away from birth by Comstock until she came of age to take his place, protected by a giant mechanical bird. Once she’s freed, the story begins to unfold properly, with plenty of interesting twists and a liberal application of quirky but original characters who feel very genuine in their actions and beliefs. The plasmids from previous games (serums that gave you special powers once injected) are replaced by Vigours, which are effectively the same thing but more exciting and significantly more violent. Possession lets you force machines or people to fight for you, but each person that you do commits suicide afterwards,
particularly brutal if they’ve only got a blunt weapon. Murder of Crows sends in angry crows to tear away at the flesh of enemies, damaging and distracting them, though less offensive options can levitate or knock over and stun enemies and Devil’s Kiss throws a fiery grenade, which can be upgraded to a cluster bomb. Weapons are plentiful, ranging from the standard pistol/machine gun/shotgun range to include a minigun, bouncing-grenade launcher, RPG and incendiary shotgun. Ammo is also abundant, one of the major benefits of setting the game in a non-defunct environment is that everything hasn’t been used up yet and vending machines are well stocked. Instead of Big Daddies and lunatic citizens, you’re set against a plethora of enemies from standard cannon fodder to heavier challenges including a robotic, minigun-wielding George Washington; mysterious, crow-wielding members of the Fraternal Order of the Raven; or Infinite’s main enemy, the dreaded Songbird, Elizabeth’s “protector” built by Comstock to ensure her captivity. Where the series has previously focused on what would happen if science was allowed to run wild, Infinite tackles the much more real
issue of race divide and religious extremism. The not-so-subtlynamed Vox Populi are a rebellious faction inside Columbia, the oppressed masses of non-white residents who are ruled over and policed by Comstock’s pro-white, pro-Christianity soldiers. Children’s attractions around Columbia show youth indoctrination that the citizens are aware of but pretend to ignore, and a surprising scene of two children smoking around the corner from their ignorant parents, suggest Infinite’s happy to poke holes in the American dream. In what has become public controversy, it pushes the questioning to the founding beliefs of religion and it’s appropriateness for encouraging multiculturalism in society. The world is a pleasure to explore, with a well-developed history and society that has parallels with many western societies of the time. Combat is brilliant – despite criticisms for violence, each power and weapon has strategic value for particular play styles or situations. This will be either the most fun or most intelligent game you play all year and could easily be both; Bioshock: Infinite is a fun shooter, an intelligent action game, and a brilliant example of games as an art form.
Bioshock: Infinite Callum duffy
Bioshock: Infinite is the spiritual successor to 2KGames hugely successful Bioshock series. This time set in the lofty heights of the flying city Columbia, the visuals are a far cry from the sunken city of Rapture. Instead of waterlogged darkness, Infinite treats you to an evocative display of breathtaking scenery in what at first looks like a functioning utopia. Reinventing himself as “the Prophet”, Zachary Comstock rules over Columbia with futuristic technology far beyond it’s time, exploiting inter-dimensional
In Patnership with www.ZiiP.co.uk
Spark* Friday 17th May 2013
travel.spark@reading.ac.uk
TRAVEL 25
trAvel Plan your Summer Adventures ... Zoe Dyson
If you have ever been to China, particularly rural China, you may understand what I mean when I say that I lived like a celebrity! My experience of China was teaching in a small town (similar to a large town in the UK) called Shuangpai.
It made me feel really proud of what we were doing The majority of people in the town had never seen a foreigner let alone 16 foreign teachers! None of the volunteers spoke Mandarin (let alone the local dialect) and many of the people in the town did not speak English. They were still so excited to meet us and tried hard to communicate. We would constantly be stopped for pictures
and everyone wanted to talk to us. At night we were also invited along to the local square, where the whole town meets to dance and play games. I have honestly never felt more welcomed into a community. The other volunteers were from Europe, Canada and America. There were also volunteers from Beijing who travelled across China to work with us as translators for the children. We all got on really well and I still keep in contact with many of them. We stayed in the boarding school and I shared with a girl from Poland and two girls who studied near Beijing; they soon gave me the nickname ‘bad housewife’ due to my inability to hand wash my clothes! It was not exactly Five Star accommodation but the staff were so accommodating! They made all our food to suit our tastes (The region was famous for its spicy food and they did not
Travel on a budget... Ellen North-rOW
Desperate to avoid a dull, wet and lackluster summer? Here’s a few fantastic holiday tips for you to consider, which will relax you from all that exam revision and give you something to look forward to.
Ellen‘s Tips for budget travel: Don’t be fooled by the pricey travel agents! Do it independently with your mates and bag yourself a bargain, you’ll be surprised at what you can find! Avoid the nasty high season prices and make use of September before term starts. It is ideal not only because is it cheap, but you stay clear of families and have plenty of time beforehand to earn some cash or get some work experience. Book last minute. There are always great deals to be had if you
are brave and committed enough to monitor the airline price comparison sites. Check online. Building on the above point, lastminute.com and even teletextholidays.co.uk (yes, it’s still running!) I’ve found have the best offers. Tap into iPhone app iFlight to check worldwide flights and even the weather at the airport. Get hold of your mates and book hostels together! If there are enough of you, you will end up booking a room to yourselves and if not you’ll have a brilliant time getting to know all your new roomies after the legendary hostel bar crawls.
Completely lacking in funds and desperate to head off?
think we would be able to handle it – they were right!) and we also got invited to local restaurants for free meals which was awesome. The project was for six weeks, teaching children between 12 to 16 year olds. It was a bit of culture shock seeing how lessons are normally taught in China (similar to a university lecture in the UK), and it was definitely a culture shock as well for the children when we started our lessons! At first when I tried to get them to talk, play games or draw pictures they looked at me like I was crazy, but they soon started to enjoy themselves.
Mountains, crab fishing in a river and had dinner with the local government One of the highlights of my trip was when I taught them ‘thank you’, and they had to make a thank you card for someone. I honestly did not expect the mountain of cards I got at the end of the lesson! They said how much they loved us being there, and how they had grown to enjoy English lessons thanks to us. It made me feel really proud of what we were doing. I also loved all of the adventures we had with the local teachers! We went up into the mountains; crab fished in a river and had dinner with the local government (as you Avoid planes and island hop off by ferry, use the hovercrafts and catch buses. It’s a nicer way to get around as you top up your tan and is often easier to get your bearings. Hitchhike. An inexpensive and friendlier way to get to know the country. HOWEVER, only advisable if with friends, I would highly recommend especially if a group of girls or just alone to avoid resorting to this. Interrail. The cheapest way to travel around Europe. Starting at £159 for a Global Pass and £46 for a One Country Pass this is not to be missed http://www.interrail.eu.
Eastern Europe’s undiscovered beauty Check out Hvar and Dubrovnik in Croatia for beautiful crystal clear coastlines and undiscovered islands. Combine your trip with popular music festival Outlook in late August, or miss the crowds and explore in September. The quaint
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do!) We also learnt how to cook (my cooking abilities did not help my bad housewife status), serve tea and how to do Chinese painting with a local artist. The school also surprised us with a free trip. We travelled around the region and visited a national park which had been closed especially for us (this is not like a national park in the UK; in China these places are packed! Imagine a queue like in a UK theme park but to get to the amazing view at the top of the mountain instead of a roller coaster!). The trip ended with all of us fully clothed in a waterfall!! It was one of the many amazing things I did not expect when I signed up. After the exchange I travelled around China for a few weeks with one of the English teachers and three of the translators I worked with. It was interesting travelling with people who immersed us in the culture around us. On a 42 hour train journey across China we made friends with a family, learnt some Mandarin from a young girl, taught a little boy how to be a photographer (to the terror of his mother who thought he was going to drop my friends expensive camera!), and played cards with some locals (one of whom took advantage of the fact that we couldn’t explain the rules properly, and claimed to win every round, whatever his hand!). In one of the towns I visited on my own I started chatting to a local girl, who took the bus with me to show me the
hotel. When I told her I was now travelling alone she introduced me to all of her friends.
town of Hvar holds a brilliant food market, secluded swimming spots, reasonably priced motorboat hires for a day of island-hopping with your friends. Treat yourself to the famous Carpe Diem private island party, Prince Harry’s not-so-secret get away.
Marino or Budapest for a city break of thermal spas, rent bikes to see the city, for culture visit the Terror Haza Museum, walk across Chain Bridge which connects Buda and Pest, try the famous Hungarian Goulash (a hit with my friends!) and if you’re into architecture I recommend walking to the Parliamentary building, Castle Hill and going up to the top of Gellert Hill for views of the city. Consider Berlin for copious amounts of arts and culture and Prague if you feel like you could stretch your budget. Don’t fancy Eastern Europe? Try the Greek islands for understated luxury where the summer heat has finally faded and holidaymakers are on their way out. Popular hotspots this year seem to be Mykonos, Santorini and Crete. The calm, cool and crystal clear Aegean Sea is not to be forgotten!
Dangle your toes into the lapping waves and sip on a freshly made cocktail I recommend the Hula-Hula Bar, the local’s paradise which is hidden from tourists’ glimpses is an exotic catch. Dangle your toes into the lapping waves and sip on a freshly made cocktail whilst admiring the striking Croatian sunset over the coastline. Jump onboard and experience its beauty and culture before it becomes the ultimate celebrity hotspot. Visit mainland Zadar, Croatia and check out the sea organ, Organo
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I even learnt some Mandarin from a young girl! I was then invited for dinner at her house! Her whole family lived in two rooms, but there was a feast laid out for me! The pigs ears and belly were surprisingly tasty. They showed me how to make noodles, took me around the best local markets and other places I would never have found alone. In the past I would have queued up at the information desk to ask how to find a hotel, missing out on the whole experience! It was a fantastic experience for me and genuinely changed the way I travel. I loved my exchange program so much so that when I came back I joined the local AIESEC committee - everyone really should go on exchange! If you want to go somewhere to meet some of the most kind and generous people, try amazing food, see incredible sights, teach amazing children and be treated like a celebrity, go to China! It’s the last chance to apply for an AIESEC exchange for this summer! Apply at www.aiesec.co.uk Or email us: Aiesec.reading.ogx@ gmail.com for more information.
Follow @ThatsEarth and @travelchannel and of course @travel_sparkfor travelspiration and to count down the days until summer begins!
Email: travel.spark@reading.ac.uk
26 FUN&GAMES
Friday 17 May 2013 Spark*
fun.spark@reading.ac.uk
fun&games Crossword Seven Sudoku
Matthew Sapsed
This week’s Sudoku
Last week’s answer...
Answers coming in our next issue!
Cryptogram
Solve the famous phrase from Casablanca.
Across 3. Call colonist to ceremony (7) 8. Hole covered over Russia with posh booze container (6) 9. I blog to Ian drunkenly about essay submission, say (10) 10. Soldier sound (5) 11. At home, steer constant weirdly before turning over to soulless role of police chases (10) 13. Therefore, robot is heartless to a group (4) 16. Stain to student on weekend morning? (6) 18. Forced out having fought lost jockey (6) 21. Weary? Lose soul and get knotted! (4) 24. Rubbish places with rubbish piles (10) 27. Actor seen in “Text Raymond” (5) 28. Practical sort without street adds “50% volatile” to the end of their method (10) 29. Prolong former beau with care (6) 30. Journalist turns over pipes for what marker does with errors? (7)
Lost at Sea Maze
Can you work your way out of this maze?
Down
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1. I log rain badly in dissertation, say (8) 2. Get into harmony at pitch (6) 3. Guardian’s ace lost a consideration for extra opportunities (10) 4. Nerve of sitting on personal salad initially hoofs it… (7) 5. ...as lion gains, add starts to seaweed (4) 6. Disapproves of inner peel within students (6) 7. Winter compared to summer, say, or is it trendier? (6) 12. Union musicals perhaps present items (10) 14. Ram loses top to another wild thing? (3) 15. A little secretion in stadium (3) 16. Lure I lost to animal (3) 17. Irregular act rejected by Eskimo’s leading song (3) 19. What high-scoring essayist does once preceded arrangements with ideas inside (8) 20. Move boat’s last to front and dream a bit about a business (7) 22. I cannot, in clear light, establish first freezer feature? (6) 23. Preserve shelter (6) 25. Pest a termite hides in council, say (6) 26. Student accessory – a short-term boyfriend (4)
Spark* Friday 17 May 2013
editor.spark@reading.ac.uk
LETTERS 27
Letters & Events
Invitation to join Speech and Language students at black tie ball Helena Fenton
On 1st June, Speech and Language Therapy students from the University of Reading will be holding a black tie ball to join the national Royal College of Speech and Language Therapist’s ‘Giving Voice Campaign.’ This campaign aims to raise awareness of the unique role and value speech and language therapy has in transforming the lives of children and adults who have speech, language and communication difficulties, and how it can reduce avoidable costs and waste in the NHS, social care, the criminal justice system and the wider economy. Sarah Scott, a 22-year-old girl who suffers from aphasia (a communication disorder commonly ex-
perienced after a stroke) and who recently starred on Channel 4’s ‘The Undateables,’ will be joining them in the campaign, along with James Hamilton, a person who has a stammer (and an art historian who appears regularly on BBC 2 documentaries). They will describe their experiences of using the speech and language therapy services to all guests. The increasing number of guests (130 already confirmed) will enjoy a sparkling reception, three course meal and live entertainment (including No.1 Michael Buble Tribute Act as voted for by the Agent’s Association and who is currently touring the UK). If you would like to join them contact: rugivingvoice@hotmail.co.uk.
Should you have picked up a copy of Spark* during one of the summer open days then welcome to the University of Reading! We hope this issue of Spark* gives you a little taste of some of the news and events that are of interest of Reading students. While looking around your chosen department and potential halls of residence seems like the obvious thing to do during an open day, be sure to take a moment to soak up the atomosphere on campus and experience a little bit of uni life here at Reading. Have a meal in Mojos in the Students’ Union, pay the library a visit - trust me, it will be your second home in third year! - and take a walk around the lake. Everyone goes to uni to get a degree, but it’s all the rest of the experiences that make your three years memorable!
£1m to be spent on library refurbishments In a press release, the University announced a refurbishment programme for the Library . The building work is forecast to be completed by Autumn 2013, with the construction beginning June 8; library materials will be redistributed throughout the building, so students are advised to check the library’s blog to see if their studies are affected.
The second and fifth floors are due for over £1m spending each. On the second floor there will be 350 “study spaces” each with mains access in addition to group-study areas. The floor’s lighting is also due to be upgraded. The fifth floor is due to be fitted with two silent study rooms (with mains access) and a separate room for conventional reading. There
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Welcome to Reading
will also be more single-sex toilets. To avoid disrupting study the library has pledged it will try to restrict loud construction work to hours before 10am. The refurbishments have been praised by students and staff - for more detailed information, refer toreading.ac.uk/librarynews for more information.
P.O. Box 230, Whiteknights, Reading, RG6 6AZ Vol 61. Issue 3
Editorial Staff
Editor:
Sophie Harrison editor.spark@reading.ac.uk
Deputy Editors:
Calum Mcintyre Rogers deped.spark@reading.ac.uk
News Editor: News Sub-Editor:
Correy Faccini news.spark@reading.ac.uk Daniel Mitchell & Abi Gammon news.spark@reading.ac.uk
Comment Editors:
Harriet Weston
comment.spark@reading.ac.uk
Political Comment
Adam Roberts
Editor:
politics.spark@reading.ac.uk
Interview Editors:
Lily Brown & James Clayton interview.spark@reading.ac.uk
Tweet corner
This week we asked our followers to tell us about their “library fine woes”
@RURosi “Once I lost a week loan library book and had a fine of £30... So I just paid for the book - which was only worth £6! Result.”
a book I had over the back in time. Simple” summer as I couldn’t return it when my pass- @CorreyFaccini1 “I port was stolen” was threatened legal action over £2 #scared” @djkurtle “I once had a library try and change @SophsHarrison @heavystreets “I had me nearly 30 quid for a “£14.40 Sucks to be to pay my Uni library book they had on their me.” £35 because I acciden- shelves” tally kept the books Join the conversation over Christmas” @laurabtweets “I have by following us never received a fine @SparkNewspaper @CaityJMcK “£215 for because I bring books
Film, DVD & TV
Jack Marshall, Ollie FitzGerald & Charlotte Coster
Editors:
film.spark@reading.ac.uk
Music Editors:
Siobhan Maguire & Patrick Scott music.spark@reading.ac.uk
Science & Tech
Jenna Grabey
Editor:
scitech.spark@reading.ac.uk
Gaming Editor:
Tom Wood gaming.spark@reading.ac.uk
Arts&Books Editor: Lucy Snow & Ellen North Row arts.spark@reading.ac.uk Fashion Editors:
Samantha Yates & Sabina Rouse
fashion.spark@reading.ac.uk
Beauty Editor:
Elle Turner beauty.spark@reading.ac.uk
Travel Editor:
Hannah Banks & Emma Reeves travel.spark@reading.ac.uk
Health Editor:
Sarah Lienard health.spark@reading.ac.uk
Fun&Games Editor: Paroma Guha
fun.spark@reading.ac.uk
Sport Editor:
Tom Newbold sports.spark@reading.ac.uk
PR:
Alice Stentiford pr.spark@reading.ac.uk
Design editor:
Sam Winslet
Spark* is written, designed & typeset by students at the University of Reading. Printed by Newbury News Limited, Newspaper House, Faraday Road, Newbury, Berkshire. RG14 2DW. Published and funded by Reading University Students’ Union vp.studentactivites@rusu.co.uk. Spark* is completely editorially independent. Complaints should be made to the Editor, in the first instance, and thereafter to RUSU. All complaints should be made in writing. All articles, letters etc. must include a name, address, and contact number/e-mail address. These may be withheld from publication at specific request. Spark* or RUSU can take no responsibility for products or services advertised herein. Spark* reserves the right to reject or edit any submissions. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the Editor. The views expressed in Spark* do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor, particularly those expressed in the comments pages, which are often the opinions of the
28 CAREERS editor.spark@reading.ac.uk
Friday 17 May 2013 Spark*
Careers
Career events for this month TOP JOBSHOP JOBS Careers Events (please book on myjobsonline for all sessions) We’re running a number of Career Accelerator sessions after the exams, specifically for finalists who are stuck with ideas for a career, or if you need some extra support in finding the jobs and opportunities you are really interested in. We can also help you sell your skills and interests in an application form and CV ! It’s must if you’ve not secured a job yet! May Tuesday 28th •Career Accelerator for Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Carrington 101, 1-3pm Weds 29th •RED Award Evaluation / completion session 1-2pm book on RISIS for more details •Career Accelerator for Science and life Science students, Carrington 201, 1-4pm June Monday 3rd
•Career Accelerator for Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Carrington Building 101, 12-2pm Weds 5th •Interview skills for the nervous, Carrington 101, 1-4pm •Career Accelerator for Science and Life Sciences, URS building 2N10 1-4pm •What can you do with a Humanities degree? URS Small lecture Theatre 1-4pm Thurs 6th •Get a local summer job, Carrington 101 Friday 7th •RED Evaluation Session, HumSS, 1-2pm, Book on RISIS for more details Monday10th •Get ready for your summer placement, Carrington 101, 1-2pm Tuesday 11th •RED award Evaluation / Completion Session, 1-3pm Book on RISIS for more details Weds 12th
•Careers Drop ins for Sciences students 1-5pm, Careers centre, Carrington •Careers Drop in for Psychology students 12.30-2.30, Careers centre, Carrington Thurs 13th •Drop in for Arts and Humanities, 11.00-2.30 Careers centre, Carrington
•IT’s NOT TOO LATE EVENT, 11.30-2.30pm, for all students who have left everything until the very last min to organise, this is a mini festival, to help you find a summer job, internship, placement, learn about the extra careers support you can get as a graduate, find more about PG studies, Volunteering, being a club or society member and so much more! Held outside mojos if sunny or if raining, in the lower RUSU corridor (outside mojos and mondial) if raining.
Summer holidays are coming up.. What are your plans?
For full details visit www.reading. ac.uk/careers/myjobsonline Job Title: Student Ambassadors Company: University of Reading Location: on campus Pay: £6.19-£8ph Closing date: 30-May 2013 Job Title: The Times University Manager Company: High Fliers Research Location: on campus Pay: £9.51-£10ph Closing date: 31-May 2013 Job Title: Marquee Riggers Company: Cascade Events Location: Henley Pay: £7-£8ph Closing date: 27-May 2013 Job Title: Retail opportunities Company: Oracle Shopping Centre Location: Reading Pay: £NMW and above Closing date: on-going Job Title: Summer Ball Bar Staff Company: RUSU Location: University of Reading Pay: £8.01-£8.50 Closing date: 22-May 2013
Job Title: Bar Staff for Windsor Racecourse Company: student-jobs.co.uk Location: National Pay: Up to £60 per day + training + meals + uniform Closing date: 27-May 2013 Job Title: Sports Coach Company: Elms Sport in Schools Pay: £10.01-£11ph Closing date: 30-May 2013 Job Title: Translator Company: Peter Brett Associates LLP Location: Local Pay: £11.01-£12.00 Closing date: 30-Jun 2013 Job Title: Drivers Wanted Company: Charlie Williams Location: Reading Pay: £7.51 - £8.00 Closing date: 11-Jul 2013 Job Title: Food and Beverage Staff Company: De Vere Venues – Wokefield Park Location: Local Pay: £NMW & above Closing date: 11 - Jul 2013
Stand out from the crowd with the RED Award
Exams are coming to an end, and for many of you they’re already over. Your mind is probably wandering into images of sunny barbeques, holidays in faraway places, and making the most of post-exam student life…and so it should be! But the summer holidays are also a great time to think about how you can make the most of your time, without being held up by lectures and coursework. The University jobs board, My
Jobs Online has some fantastic and varied opportunities available to help fill your summer break. Whether you’re looking for a voluntary experience, a summer internship or a part time job to help pay for that holiday you’ve been planning, My Jobs Online has lots to offer. Here are a few of the opportunities currently available: •Volunteer Oxfam Event Organiser
•Summer Vacation Undergraduate Research Projects in Life Sciences •Internship opportunities at Google •Production Assistant at Changing Horizons •Studio Assistant at Eye Candy Art Group To find out more about these opportunities and many others, go to https://reading.targetconnect.net/ home.html
250,000 students will graduate from Universities across the UK this summer. With numbers like these it can daunting to even look for a summer job but University of Reading students have a unique opportunity to stand out from the crowd. The Reading Experience & Development Award or RED, as it is more commonly known, gives students the opportunity to demonstrate the portfolio of skills employers are looking for. With so many applicants to choose from companies are spoilt for choice. The RED Award gives Reading students the chance to differentiate themselves. The work experience and extra-curricular activities the scheme rewards provides you with precisely the examples you will need for an application form, CV or at interview. It can be a lot easier to complete the RED Award than you might think. The scheme recognises the activities you are involved in outside of
your academic studies and they don’t even need to have been carried out in Reading. So you can use evidence of temporary jobs you completed in the holidays. You may have helped out at an open day or been a course representative. Quite simply anything you have done while registered as a student at the University of Reading can be used to demonstrate your personal development. It’s not too late to complete the RED Award this year. So even if you are graduating this summer make sure the RED Award is on your diploma supplement to show employers how much more University of Reading students have to offer. For more information about RED please see: Website: http://www.reading.ac.uk/ internal/readingexperienceanddevelopmentaward/reda-home.aspx Email: red@reading.ac.uk or find us on Facebook
pr.spark@reading.ac.uk SOCIETY
Spark* Friday 17 May 2013
SPOTLIGHT 29
Society Spotlight On track with Reading Road Cycling club RUrcc uPDATE
peaceful countryside surrounding the outskirts of reading. There’s no better way to blow off revision stress than a ride on a nice sunny day so come join us this week.
Simon Sumner
Cycling has never been as popular in Britain as it is now. With the success of the likes of Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins over the last few years cycling has made its way into the forefront of British sport and they have helped inspire a new generation of cyclists to hit the road.
We’re on the look-out for new members of all abilities
RCC is a new society at Reading University 2013/14 will be the first year reading university has had an official road cycling club. The club has been active for the last few years without the official backing of the university, but for the club to really progress we felt it was time to join the university and become a member of the reading knights. The 2013/14 committee consists of just four, James takes the role of vice president, Laura is secretary,
Emily is treasurer and Simon is president. Over the past year the club has been meeting regularly three times a week. Two of these sessions take place at Palmer Park
Velodrome and also a weekly ride on the roads of Reading. The club is really lucky to have a Velodrome on the doorstep of the university. We have two sessions a week, on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. At first the Velodrome can seem daunting but the sessions are really fun and appeal to all capabilities; they can be used just keep your fitness up over the winter months, or for testing your legs trying to set a new personal best around the track. So whether you just want to try it out, or you think you’re the next Chris Hoy come give it a go. Our Wednesday afternoon rides are good chance to join up with the other club members and have a social ride out of the hustle and bustle of reading town, into the
The club is keen to grow in the autumn term with the committee introducing new ideas to make the club a more sociable one. A cake and coffee stop on the Wednesday rides will give a chance for the legs to recover and have a catch up with friends. We also aim to run two rides on a Wednesday to suit everyone’s preferences and ability’s, whether it’s a relaxed spin of the legs or a more testing afternoon in the saddle we’ll be able to offer both. The club is keen to participate at BUCS next year with a number of different events open to road cyclists. There is a road race, time trial, three-man time trial and a hill climb for anyone interested in cycling competitively. We are also looking to join forces with the swimming and athletics clubs for those interested in participating in triathlons.
The club offers club rides and trail courses The University club is looking to strengthen its ties with the Reading Road Cycling club.
They run events throughout the week including club rides and various time trial courses. Simon and James recently took part in a 10mile time trial in the local village of Twyford. The times may have not been the quickest with us coming first and second bottom, we hope to have a few riders that can restore the reputation of the university next term! We want to get as many new members to join the club in the autumn term not just fresher’s, so no matter what your ability come along to one of the sessions this term and get involved! Join the Facebook group for the details of all the sessions and get in contact with anyone on the committee for more details! https://www.facebook.com/ groups/rurcc/ If you are interested in being featured in the society spotlight page contact Aggie Stentiford PR at pr.spark@reading.ac.uk
30 SPORT
sports.spark@reading.ac.uk
Wigan shock City in FA Cup football by mike brown
Wigan Athletic upset the odds to pull off one of the biggest FA Cup shocks in recent years thanks to a stoppage time winner which gave them victory over Manchester City. A cagey contest came in to life during the final stages, when Wigan stunned Manchester City Pablo Zabaleta was sent off after Wembley erupted in to jubilant hauling down man of the match and emotional scenes from playCallum McManaman leaving ers, fans and in particular Dave referee Andre Marriner with no Whelan. The dedicated Chairman choice but to produce a second has been instrumental in the clubs rise to the top flight and was finalyellow card. ly given the chance to hold the FA Cup 53 years after breaking his Wigan took full leg as a player in the 1960 final. The credibility of the competiadvantage of their tion has come under scrutiny in numerical advantage recent seasons due to the monein a dramatic finale tary rewards of European football, with top teams prioritising league Wigan took full advantage of their matches over the cup. numerical advantage in a draHowever, it was clear to see the matic finale. Just when the match pain etched over the faces of both appeared to be heading in to extra City players and supporters alike time, Ben Watson sent Latics fans when the final whistle was blown. into ecstasy, nodding home a last The reality had sunk in that the gasp header from Shaun Maloblue half of Manchester would ney’s corner. finish the season trophy-less. There is no doubting the triumph Roberto Mancini has consequently was thoroughly deserved, as a been sacked just 12 months on display full of attacking intent and from winning the Premier League energy rewarded the Lancashire title in equally remarkable circlub with their first major trophy cumstances. A year’s a long time in their 81 year history. in football.
It is estimated that Wigan’s squad totalled £20 million, while City’s lavishly assembled squad is thought to have cost over £200 million. But despite the astonishing contrast in squad values, no price can be put on character, determination and team spirit, something Wigan showed in abundance.
No price can be put on character, determination and team spirit Any questions of the competition losing its romance were laid to rest as history was made. A loss to Arsenal just three days later confirmed Wigan’s relegation to the Championship making them the first ever side to win the FA Cup and be relegated in the same season. They now face the prospect of matches against the likes of Atletico Madrid and Hudderfield Town back-to-back next season. Football’s a funny game.
End of season guide:
A summary of the 2012/2013 football year PROMOTIONS Championship
Cardiff Hull Watford or Crystal Palace
League 1
Doncaster Bournemouth Brentford or Yeovil
League 2
Gilligham Rotherham Port Vale Bradford or Northampton
RELEGATIONS Premiership QPR Reading Wigan
Championship Peterborough Wolves Bristol City
League 1
Scunthorpe Bury Hartlepool Portsmouth
CHAMPIONS IN EUROPE Spain: Barcelona Italy: Juventus France: PSG Germany: Bayern Munich Holland: Ajax Turkey: Galatasaray Portugal: Porto or Benfica Greece: Olympiakos Belgium: Anderlecht
SPARK* AWARDS Team of the year
GK-David de Gea RB-Pablo Zabaleta CB-Rio Ferdinand CB-Jan Vertonghen LB-Patrice Evra CM-Michael Carrick CM-Moussa Dembele LW-Gareth Bale RW-Juan Mata ST-Luis Suarez ST-Robin van Persie
Player of the year Robin van Persie
Young player of the year Gareth Bale
WHAT CAN WE STILL LOOK FORWARD TO? The end of the footballing season is a difficult time for many. How else will our weekends be filled over the summer? For what other reason will that beer be drunk? Where will I find my moments of elation? Spark* Sport has listed the best bits of football still to come to ensure the end of the 2012/2013 season isn’t too upsetting:
PLAY-OFF FINALS Bradford v Northampton Brentford v Yeovil Watford v Crystal Palace CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL B. Munich v B. Dortmund ENGLAND FRIENDLIES v Ireland, Brazil, Scotland CONFEDERATIONS CUP Eight countries from around the world contest the World Cup warm-up tournament in Brazil
Friday 17 May 2013 Spark*
Fergie’s time is up comment by chris porter
In the last quarter of a century, the footballing world, like wider society, has altered beyond all recognition. Patience is no longer a virtue held by the many. The age of trialby-media has driven a culture of the instant, a culture of easy come, easy go and a culture of wanting something for nothing. A culture of mindless short-termism.
In the last quarter of a century, the footballing world, like wider society, has altered beyond all recognition And yet, amongst such changes, we have witnessed one of the greatest careers in sport not only survive, but flourish, by staying true to maxims that are diametrically opposed to the prevailing attitudes of the day and appear to be of an era long forgotten. An era where hard work, loyalty, trust and commitment were a minimum requirement and nobody was foolish enough to expect to achieve success without having truly earned it. It is as much a credit to Manchester United Football Club as to Sir Alex Ferguson himself that his career at one of the biggest sporting institutions on the planet spanned nearly 27 years. The club ploughed a lone furrow by rejecting the never-ending chase for quick fixes and standing by a man who established a staggering level of dominance over English football by slowly rebuilding from the bottom, meticulously insisting that every detail was put in place to ensure that success was a lasting legacy - and not a hollow façade that some have achieved, before being quickly forgotten. It perhaps explains why the level of disbelief at this announcement has been so great. Why should we really be so surprised that a 71-year old man, who has done the same job for nearly three decades and achieved everything there is to achieve, is going to retire? Surely it was to be expected sooner or later? Well, that is just it. We didn’t expect, or subconsciously didn’t want to accept its inevitability, regardless of our partisan allegiances. The football fraternity has just become so used to looking at the carnage of managerial sackings, unscrupulous agents and moneygrabbing players that it accepts them as par for the course, but has always returned to admiring the unparalleled stability that Sir Alex Ferguson has come to represent. His longevity has been a constant
source of guilt lingering in the minds of owners, chairmen and fans of every other club up and down the land. They know deep down that he has set the example that they must follow to deliver success, yet they continually fall victim to an innate impetuosity that prevents the development of a coveted, United-style dynasty. Somehow, with Fergie soon to be gone, it is as if the football industry is losing its ever-present yardstick by which everybody else has learned to measure themselves by – a deeply unnerving prospect. You only have to look at the state of cricket since the great Australian team retired or tennis immediately after Sampras to see how the ending of a defining era can stun a sport into a period of malaise.
Ferguson’s departure will no doubt have an industry-wide impact Ferguson’s departure will no doubt have an industry-wide impact. One might suggest that the widespread shock at his retirement last Wednesday was as much to do with the sad and conclusive realisation that, because of society’s now insatiable appetite for immediate results, we will never again see a manager afforded the chance to lay the foundations that we all know are essential to success, as it was the fact a 71-year old stepped away from certain further glory to spend more time with his family. His presence served as a constant reminder to the rest that avoiding the follies of mindless short-termism is the unquantifiable element to a football club’s success that no number of blank cheques will ever solve. By retiring, Ferguson not only leaves behind a glittering career, but also abandons a symbolic role as the last bastion of sense and logic in football, something the modernday game will be much the weaker without. Goodbye Sir Alex. Manchester United will miss you, but so do will the ever-changing footballing world.
Spark* Friday 17 May 2013
sports.spark@reading.ac.uk
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Reading 0 Man City 2: Match Report Dampened spirits as Madejski says goodbye to Prem
FootbaLL by Tom Newbold
Reading lost their last home game of the 2012/2013 season on a wet and windy night at the Madejski. Sergio Aguero and then Edin Dzeko secured the win for Manchester City that will ensure they finish in second place. For Reading, this was a seventh home defeat of the season.
Sergio Aguero and then Edin Dzeko secured the win for Manchester City Before the match Adam Le Fondre was named as Reading’s player of the season, but as has been so typi-
cal this year, he was only rewarded with a place on the Reading substitutes bench. How the Royals could have done with his spark. City dominated the first half from beginning to finish, drawing some fine saves from ever-impressing Reading goalkeeper Alex McCarthy along the way. It was five minutes before halftime that the team from Manchester made the breakthrough. A short corner was followed by a series of one touch passes that culminated in a side-foot finish by Sergio Aguero. It was a magical team goal, something Reading just couldn’t live with. It summed up the game. City continually had that extra qualitative advantage.
free-kicks and some long awaited pressure.
Adam Le Fondre was named as Reading’s player of the season Reading’s attempts to fight back
Aguero (above) scored City’s first were in the end fruitless however
The second half started in much the same vain as the first, although Reading did fashion an opening; Pogrebynak with a diving header expertly deflected by Joe Hart. Not until halfway through the second half, as someone shouted “that’s useless!” in reference to a wayward cross, did Reading spark into life. 15 minutes of high octane action brought several corners and
as City took control of the game again for the final five minutes. It was some sloppy play from Reading that resulted in David Silva picking up the ball on the edge of the area. He calmly fed Edin Dzeko who slotted away. Game over, season over. Goodbye Premiership from the damp and disheartened Madejski stadium.
O’Sullivan retains World Championship snooker by ellis lane
Ronnie O’Sullivan has done it again. The now five-time World Champion is once again the top player in Snooker. O’Sullivan won the World Championship last year, but since then he played only one tournament before this World Championship where he only reached the last 128; hardly the form of a champion. Yet, 11 months after his last competitive snooker, ‘the Rocket’ was re-launched at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield. It is an incredible feat to come back and win in his first competition back, but for that to be the World Championship is extra special. It would be like Wayne Rooney not playing all year and then leading England to the World Cup, or Andy Murray winning at Wimbledon after such an exodus. Such is the popularity and the known talent of O’Sullivan, that he was amongst the top 3 favourites pre-tournament with the bookies, but even then no-one was sure if he was up to it.
There was never going to be an easy road to the final; this was the World Championship. He would have to find a way past Ali Carter, Stuart Bingham and the young pretender Judd Trump, all of which have won tournaments this year. They are also all in the top 16 of the snooker world, something that ‘the Rocket’ himself had slipped out of before this competition. His results were emphatic, particularly against Stuart Bingham where he rocketed to a 13-4 victory. The final was a precession. Barry Hawkins by his own admission had done well to get that far and had surprised many of the pundits with former crucible winner John Parrott commenting “O’Sullivan would have to stop breathing for Hawkins to win”. He was a sacrificial lamb to the slaughter in O’Sullivan’s remarkable return. So remarkable because O’Sullivan only came back to “pay the school fee’s” for Ronnie Jnr. Ronnie Jnr will be sent to the best school in the land with the £250,000 prize that ‘the Rocket’ takes once again.
O’Sullivan with his son following his latest triumph at the Crucible
The Reading players marked the season climax with a laboured lap of honour at the end of the game, applauded by the few fans that remained behind.
Nigel Adkins and his team now await their Championship challenge There have been cinders of hope at times for Reading this season, and some entertaining football, but the Royals never really looked like staying up. Nigel Adkins and his team now await their Championship challenge.
Cricket cont’d from page 32... However, this jubilation was shortlived as Chichester brought their A game and raced away to a successful run-chase inside 15 overs – clearly a day to forget as far as on field matters are concerned. Unfortunately for Daniels, she picked up a hand injury meaning she wasn’t able to fully make her mark on debut. Elsewhere, the 1st XI battled hard against Hertfordshire’s 1st XI with a tense finale ending in the opposition’s favour, as Reading just missing out chasing 278, having been bowled out with 10 balls remaining. The 3rd XI, away at UCL, posted an unprecedented 274 batting first against their 2nd XI – this is was a record total for the 3rd XI. However, with short boundaries and a strong opposition, it was not to be, and Reading were restricted by fate in what was a bad day at the office for the Club. From what was the largely a day to forget, the only way is up for Reading Cricket Club as they look to push on through the summer.
Round-up: world and uni sport in brief TOM NEWBOLD
WORLD SPORT Athletics The outdoor athletics season has begun with the first Diamond League event of the season taking place in Doha last week. Highlights included a quick and impressive third place for Britain’s Christine Ohuruogu, as well as a 100m victory for London 2012 bronze medallist Justin Gatlin., who clocked a time of 9.97.
Formula One
Fernando Alonso claimed victory in the Spanish Grand Prix to close the gap at the top of the driver’s standings. Sebastian Vettel still leads from Kimi Raikkonen and then Alonso. Lewis Hamilton is in fourth. Meanwhile Red Bull remain top of the constructor’s championship standings.
Tennis Laura Robson had started to regain some form after a shaky few months, with wins over world
number four Agnieska Radwanska and multiple Wimbledon champion Venus Williams. Robson lost to Venus’ sister Serena, but is showing exciting signs of progress.
Football Rio Ferdinand has officially retired from international football, despite not playing for his country since June 2011. With 81 caps for his country, Ferdinand is now expected to sign a new contract at Manchester United as he focuses on his club career.
UNI SPORT Five-a-side
The Reading University Footy Fives Summer Tournament will take place this year on Saturday 8th June. Entry is open to anyone, and forms can be collected and returned at the Students Union reception. The tournament costs a mere £60 per team, with £100 cash prize and £100 bar tab to be won. Man of the Match drink tokens, trophies, and a photographer will also be on
offer at the undisputed five-a-side tournament of the year.
Rowing RUBC alumni Charles Counsins impressed at the GB rowing trials beating Olympian Alan Campbell. There were other noteworthy performances from PhD student Adam Freeman-Pask, who finished 2nd overall in the lightweight men’s event, and also RUBC coach (and alumni) Sam Townsend, who finished 5th overall in the heavyweight men’s single.
32 SPORT
Friday 17 May 2013 Spark*
sports.spark@reading.ac.uk
SPORT RUAC put on good BUCs display Inside...
SNOOKER: O’Sullivan again ROUND-UP: World & Uni sport in brief
FOOTBALL: Reading vs Man City, FA Cup final, comment,
Three finalists in Bedford for Reading ASA burnett
The Bedford International Athletics Stadium played host to BUCS outdoor track and field championships over the May bank holiday. The very best of Reading University’s track and field talent went up against hundreds of other athletes from other institutions up and down the UK. President Nathan Davies was first up for Reading in the 1500m heats, but found himself struggling for form as he slid back to finish in 12th place. Next up was Ben Amey in the 100m; in bright sunshine and favourable wind conditions, fast times were promised. Ben went in the 10th heat and produced a decent display for 7th with 11.90. Meanwhile the Men’s high jump qualification was under way and here lied Reading’s strongest opportunity for a BUCS medal and team points with Brian Flatley. Defending silver medallist from last year’s event in the Olympic stadium, Brian qualified easily with a clearance of 1.85m despite
the increasingly unfavourable conditions in the early afternoon. The high jump final would follow on Sunday and sadly for Brian the heights of last year could not quite be reached with a final clearance of 1.90m to finish 5th.
Andrzej Lenartowicz and Tom Fricker have great potential Back to the track as Nathan Davies and Colm Teeluck went in the 800m. Davies went in heat 6 and through some first lap elbow clashes and stumbles finished with a new PB, even after the 1500m, in 8th with 2.07. Teeluck, recently moving up from 400m to the two lap race, produced a fast first lap to stay with the leaders before the pace over the longer distance took its toll coming home in 8th with 2.13. The sun came out for the 5000m providing favourable conditions for the runners. Three heats were run, with Reading’s Asa Burnett
in the first and Tom Fricker in the second. The fact pace was too much for Burnett who is still recovering from an injury layoff, but displaying good strength in the final kilometre, Asa finished in 16:51.02 for 13th place. In heat two the pace was much more erratic with the leaders squabbling amongst themselves in the early laps. Tom sat quietly at the back of the lead group through the first kilometre before the pace was lifted. Tom gradually slipped off the back of a very high class front group but performed well nonetheless. That was not Tom’s weekend over however as the next morning he would return to the track in the 10000m B final; the fastest three times from the A and B race would take home the medals and Tom responded to the challenge admirably by finishing second in the B race in a time of 34.28.86. Also in this race was Andrzej Lenartowicz who along with Tom is a Fresher, with great potential for future years at Reading. Andrzej finished in 36.01.12 and 29th overall.
Day two of the championships saw the women’s 10000m take place. A straight final featuring Reading’s Natalie Pecoraro began in comfortable conditions on the Sunday morning. Not a big fan of the track racing side of the sport, Natalie applied herself well for 10th place in a time of 43.18.43. We also witnessed the long jump qualifiers were Sebastian Wilson Dyer-Gough jumped a respectable 6.68m to qualify for the finals, where he later went on to finish 8th with 6.61m. Only a few centimetres separated 8th and 5th place. Later on in the day, Colm and Ben returned to the track in the 200m. Both produced solid displays for 5th in 25.16 and 6th in 24.46 respectively. Reading’s participation came to a close at this year’s championships with strong indications of medal prospects and promising talent beginning to emerge. Reading University Athletics Club will now be looking towards the last BUCs events of the year in the form of the Olympic distance triathlon in June.
RUBC fly through regatta Historic day for cricket club charlie rutter
During the last bank holiday Reading University Boat Club (RUBC), competed at the BUCS Regatta at Holme Pierrepont in Nottingham, as they again stamped down their reputation as one of the best rowing Universities in the country for both men and women. The racing took part over three days with Universities from all over the country travelling to compete in the largest event in the University rowing calendar Reading University athletes found themselves on several occasions competing against athletes who boasted an international pedigree at a junior or under 23 level. Nonetheless Reading held their own and out of the 20 events entered 5 medals were won. The women’s squad had to follow the success of last year of being the best women’s rowing squad in the country which, with half of the senior squad leaving at the end of the 2011/2012 season, was going to be difficult, especially when their biggest rivals Newcastle retained their crew from the previous season and were looking to finally win gold in the championship events.
Nonetheless the squad came out of the regatta strongly with all of the University’s medals being won by the women. Highlights include silver medals for the women’s championship quad and the championship coxed four. The men’s senior squad went into the regatta as underdogs with a very poor last season, however through an intense new programme and new members entering the squad the guys held high hopes for BUCS 2013. These hopes came to fruition in particular by coming 6th in both the championship eight and the coxless fours and coming 7th in the championship pair. All three of these events held strong competition with a three time Olympian racing for the University of East London only reaching 3rd in the men’s coxless fours, and in regards to the championship eight it was the first time Reading had reached this height since the days of Olympians Sam Townsend, Bill Lucas and Alex Gregory. Therefore in the face of this competition Reading Senior Men held their own and now have
a very positive base to build on over the coming years to reach the podium for the championship events. For the novice squad it was again a pleasing result with this being for most their first experience of regatta racing. The novice men entered into the intermediate category rather than as beginners therefore facing experienced rowers and managed to make a solid impression in a highly competitive category. The novice women’s squad performed well following the success of the novice men coming 4th in the women’s beginner 8 with an extremely close battle with their third place competition ending with a photo finish and 13th in the beginner coxed four. Overall this was a successful BUCS regatta for all of RUBC with the highlights undoubtedly the medals for the women and progress for the men’s teams. Congratulations to all involved as RUBC as they now make their way to Henley.
rucc press release
The Reading University Cricket Club (RUCC) was proud to mark a landmark day in the history of the club whereby Laura Daniels, a postgrad student, became the first-ever girl to represent the cricket club in a home tie for the 2nd XI BUCS League clash against Chichester 1st XI. As the first-ever girl to take the field for the club, Daniels was unsurprisingly thrilled at the opportunity saying “it goes without saying that it is always an honour to be selected to play for your University club.” She was very much delighted to have had the opportunity and hopes that she will be able to play her part in the rest of the season in helping the Club achieve success. This has been an occasion which for the President, Badal Naik, has been long overdue, stating “I’m glad that this has finally materialised and all the hard work put in to get to this momentous day, has paid off.” This has been something that has been at the forefront of his presidential term and succeeding in getting girls to engage and partici-
pate throughout the year has been a huge delight. However he has been keen to quickly turn attention to the future and point out “this is just the beginning, and the work must continue. It is important for the club to build on this, ensuring continued development and progression which will be paramount for the long-term success of this club.” Naik remains hopeful that his vision of building a Women’s Cricket Team and raising the profile of cricket on campus as a mainstream University sport will be realised in the very near future. This is something that is very much echoed by Daniels, “I hope that we see growth of women’s cricket here at Reading in the near future and in the meantime am looking forward to a successful season.” The match itself, following an hour delay waiting for the opposition to arrive, started off brilliantly for the 2nd XI and setting what was a defendable total of 185 before the interval. This was followed by a strong start with the ball after Tea, as the opposition stumbled to 13-2. cont’d on pg 31