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TWO
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12 REGULARS OPENERS SEX HOMEGROWN FACES CALENDAR THE END PIECE
4 7 23 24 32 34
FEATURES AMERICAN SCREAMS NEW ENGLAND PATRIOT BOOKER VARIETY SHOW WITHOUT BORDERS CENTRE STAGE THE GREAT DANE SAM KEOGH ON MOP SIDEWALKS TO SOLITUDE
8 10 11 12 16 17 18 20
REVIEWS FASHION & FILM STAGE // FOOD MUSIC FILM TV GAMES // BOOKS
26 27 28 29 30 31
Editor Henry Longden Creative Director Atalanta Copeman-Papas Deputy Editor Meadhbh McGrath Copy Editor Lola Boorman Editorial Staff Gabija Purlytė // Isobel Thompson // Aoife Leonard // Eoin McCague //Sarah Lennon Galavan // Cian Clynes // Leonore Garnier Chris Rooke // Patrick Cremen // Lily Ní Dhomhnaill // Lola Boorman // Tara Joshi // Liam Maher Katherine Murphy // Cailan O’Connell // Alex Ball Photographer Suzie Bennett Illustrators Alice Wilson & Graham Haught Special Thanks PJ Moloney, Jennifer McCahill and the Trinity Publications Committee // Trinity News Senior Staff // Mark Grehan and all at Grehans Printers // Graham Haught // Hitomi Nakamura // Lizzy at Red Light Management Aaron Devine // Patrick Sturgess // Suzie Bennett
ISSUE ONE // 3
OPENERS
AN OASIS IN THE CITY
CONSOLE YOURSELF
ART The Palm Tree Seat is a charmingly functional piece of sculpture in the heart of Temple Bar. The work of Vincent Browne, author of the bronze usher outside Screen Cinema, it was commissioned some 18 years ago by Temple Bar Properties through an open competition. According to Browne, the tree was quite complex in its construction, yet it was truly a labour of love. He had lived in the Temple Bar area as a child, and his mother would complain about the lack of a place to sit while coming back from Moore Street with her shopping. Spotting the commission in a newspaper, Browne saw it as an opportunity to provide a place to rest for some tired shopper, though his mother had died many years before. The initial project, intended for a spot in old Tallaght Village, was meant to create an entire little oasis, complete with paving that suggested yellow sand and green vegetation, but the Temple Bar site did not have a budget to include this. The smaller “Palm Treelets”, which have recently returned to Temple Bar Square, were commissioned several years ago, but then removed for a long while, as the authorities deemed these may be used by drug dealers in their activities... Hopefully, though, this is not the case. Instead, I suggest that if you ever sit down into a Palm Tree Seat next to a lovely stranger, you can chat them up by telling them about the genesis of that comfortable and elegant artwork you are sharing. GABIJA PURLYTĖ
GAMES It’s not unreasonable to expect some rivalry when new consoles are launched, but both Microsoft’s and Sony’s behaviour as they both gear up for their console launches at the end of the year has simply descended into a shouting match between two children. It began at E3, when Sony dedicated about twenty minutes of their presentation to reinforcing that the PS4 can play used games — something which Microsoft’s offering had come under much scrutiny for omitting. When the strongest moment at a conference is referencing something that has been standard in the industry, while also kicking the other guy while he’s down, it probably says more about Sony than it does about Microsoft’s poor decision-making. Shortly after, Don Mattrick (former President of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business) left for Zynga, the bastion of quality gaming that gave the world Farmville. Of course, he wasn’t pushed out, it just happened to come after one of the worst-coordinated console reveals in gaming history. Microsoft reversed all of its unpopular policies, and Xbox Europe’s Vice-President Chris Lewis went on to say that Microsoft was “genuinely in an enviable position.” Presumably it’s a position envied by anyone who wants to enter the console production market — but very few others. The shouting match continued as each lambasted the others’ technical capabilities (answer: they’re both pretty much the same), and with Microsoft’s recent revelation that the Xbox One release date is just a week before that of the PS4, tensions are rising and Sony is expected to release a press statement simply saying “It’s not fair!” very soon. Meanwhile, owners of Nintendo’s Wii U must be content with playing a sequel to a reasonably popular franchise, waiting for a remake of a Zelda game, and praying that Nintendo has an original idea sometime soon. CHRIS ROOKE
PRE-CODE FILM Illicit sex, gang violence and biting social commentary: we’re talking about the ’70s, right? While New Hollywood innovators like Scorsese convinced the world that they smashed the status quo, forty years earlier a subversive group of filmmakers dared to test the boundaries of acceptability before capitulating to government pressure in the form of the Hays Code. Between 1929 and 1934, Hollywood turned its lens on the dark underbelly of the Depression era, producing a body of work that for many years stood unequaled in its depiction of the gray space between black and white morality. These particularly controversial pictures reflect the censor’s greatest concerns: sexual immorality and lawlessness. The Divorcee (1930), while the sex scenes are tame by today’s standards (think a tasteful shot of curtains being drawn), Shearer is allowed a sexuality more nuanced than the Madonna/whore dynamic and her impassioned defense of her right to be happy offers a rare insight into the inner life of the strong, pre-feminist woman. The Public Enemy (1931), this picture has been reduced in the popular consciousness to a single frame: an enraged James Cagney smashing half a grapefruit into the face of an unsuspecting woman. The film documents the rise and fall of Cagney’s ruthless Irish-American anti-hero while also managing to address the hot button topics of post-war alienation, immigration and crime. SARAH LENNON GALAVAN 4 // TN2MAGAZINE.IE
OPENERS
FRONT SQUARE FASHION
LITERARY MILESTONES LITERATURE 18th September 1917 Aldous Huxley begins teaching at Eton At age 23, modernist writer, Aldous Huxley (Brave New World, The Doors of Perception) began teaching at Eton. His ailing eyesight disqualified him from his intended medical profession and his service in World War I. He subsequently studied English Literature at Oxford University, graduating with first class honours. His career teaching French at Eton was brief and unflattering (he was remembered as hopeless) but notable in that one of his pupils was Eric Blair who would later publish under the pen name George Orwell. Orwell later published Nineteen-Eighty Four, considered the counterpart to Huxley’s dystopian novel Brave New World, which he published 17 years previously. Huxley famously sent Orwell a letter after reading Nineteen-Eighty Four in which the crux of his argument was “I’m right, you’re wrong,” although he did call the novel “fine.” Huxley spent the latter part of his life in California dabbling in experimental drug use (and writing about it) while Orwell spent a year of his life slumming in London and Paris, working as a dishwasher (and writing about it), which just goes to show that an Eton and Oxford education isn’t as stuffy as we all thought. LOLA BOORMAN
Darren Sinnott is a fourth year Drama student whose enviable locks and charming demeanor render him capable of carrying off almost any outfit. Here, he gives a lesson in how those unwilling to relinquish summer brights, might instead repurpose them. By teaming a lollipop striped shirt with dark jeans, a multi-tonal brown cardigan, and glossy purple brogues, he grounds the colour palette in earthy, autumnal tones, making it entirely suitable for afternoons spent romping through golden leaves. AOIFE LEONARD
BRUNCH OF THE WEEK HERBSTREET FOOD Situated on the waterfront of Dublin’s Hanover Quay, Herbstreet Restaurant has the perfect setting to blow away the cobwebs of the week past. Gracious service mixed with eclectic riffs of Latin jazz and a calming ambience makes it an ideal location to gather with friends and plan for the week ahead. Between 10am and 4pm Saturday and Sunday, Herbstreet’s kitchen offers more than the classic brunch fare by marrying
LONGUEVILLE HOUSE CIDER DRINKS Using apples grown on their hotel’s grounds in County Cork, the O’Callaghan family have produced a delicately cloudy, subtle cider that enjoys a perfectly balanced mixture of sweet and bitter flavours. Golden in colour and dry on the finish, it embodies the perfect artisan cider. The craft cider scene has been developing rapidly over the past couple of years, mainly in the shadows of the craft brewing industry. While cider makers as Stonewell, MacIvor’s, Highbank, and Mac’s all bring something tasty and exciting to the market, LH outstrips them all. If you’re sick of a certain artificially-orange, mass-market brand, then LH could be the cider to get you loving cider again. AARON DEVINE
its midweek breakfast and lunch menus. With savoury delights such as the inventive plaice fish and black bean taco as well as a crab and seaweed salad, one cannot argue against Herbstreet’s ambitions to distance itself from the plethora of indistinguishable cafe/restaurants saturating Dublin’s gastronomic scene. The menu also includes the prerequisite full Irish, eggs benedict and fluffy stack of buttermilk pancakes dusted in powdered sugar. CIAN CLYNES
Herbsreet are offering tn2 readers free tea or coffee with any brunch this weekend (21st-22nd) ISSUE ONE // 5
OPENERS
UPPERS AND DOWNERS
SOUNDS OF THE CITY 1
MUSIC “It’s dark but not aggressive. It expresses the struggle of growing up in London with no money.” This statement was uttered by dubstep pioneer Mala, when asked about his musical style, which he called chamber music in an interview with Alex Needham for Interview Magazine. The notion of place is something that is essential to the many genres of electronic music. When thinking of London it is the early dubstep releases that stick out in my mind. As a sound dubstep has many characteristics, the most prominent being a heavy emphasis on sub bass frequencies, a shuffling half-time beat, minor keys and melodies often incorporating tritone intervals which gives the genre its dark, sinister sound. Figures like Zed Bias and El-B laid down the foundations of what was to become dubstep on the B-sides of their releases from 1999-2000. Digital Mystikz (originally composed of Mala, Coki and Loefah) took the genre beyond these starting points by introducing a heavy amount of reggae and dub influence as well as an orchestral bent in their melodies. They began their DMZ night in Brixton, a part of London already heavily associated with reggae at the tail end of 2003, a night which was to prove vital in breaking in many of the young producers that became stalwarts of the genre. The actual term “dubstep” was originally coined by Simon Reynolds when talking about the genre’s constituents, the most prominent being those of reggae/dub and two-step garage — two musical scenes which were huge in London at the time. Given that many of the original producers came from poor South London boroughs, they had to make the most of the equipment they had, which resulted in the sparse, sinister music which has now grown into an all too easily dismissed behemoth. The original work of these artists produced some of the most innovative electronic music whose influence has moved beyond London, but could not have been possible without it. LIAM MAHER
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BETTER CALL SAUL // You may be mourning the coming end of Breaking Bad, but the story is set to continue with a spin-off series revealing the past of cunning lawyer Saul Goodman.
FKA TWIGS // With ethereal vocals and an ominous trip-hop-inspired beat that recalls Grimes and the xx, the 25-year-old is set to become one of the year’s most exciting artists. Check out her eerily seductive second EP, EP2. PLAIDS FOR AUTUMN // Tartan, gingham and checks are proving to be the season’s most definitive prints. Embrace the trend with a top-to-toe look or, for a subtler approach, go for a patterned coat and accent with all black.
NIKE AIR MAX TRAINERS // Seen on just about every street corner and street style blog, we’re ready to take a break from this tired trainer and a try a different trend on for size — we recommend the equally iconic yet understated Nike New Balance.
CHECK OUT TN2MAGAZINE.IE FOR AN ORIGINAL MIX FOLLOWING THE GROWTH OF DUBSTEP IN LONDON.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION 5
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DC COMICS // The comic book publishers showed blatant disregard for women and the queer community when they first denied Kate Kane (Batwoman) what would have been comics’ first high-profile lesbian wedding, and then hosted a contest asking artists to draw villain Harley Quin naked in a bathtub committing suicide. MEADHBH MCGRATH
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THREE’S COMPANY Meadhbh McGrath investigates the sexual phenomenon of the threesome. Whether its current form is male led, its homosociality and whether couples should ever get involved. ILLUSTRATION BY GRAHAM HAUGHT
Just about everyone has a story. Maybe they’ve done it, know someone who did, or saw three people about to do it. I spoke to a variety of people about their thoughts on and experiences with threesomes, trying to find an answer to the question: Are three really better than two? Listening to other people’s stories and reading Cosmo’s and GQ’s guides on “How to Have a Threesome,” I was struck by the universal assumption of a female-femalemale (FFM) gender breakdown. This threesome image is obviously most popular due to its prevalence in porn. Of the 28 most recent threesome videos on Pornhub, only three were male-female-male (MFM), and the titles for all three variously referred to double penetration. The emphasis is always on how the men sexually interact with the woman, not with each other. Brian, who identifies as straight, told me he would never try a MFM threesome: “I’m too competitive, I don’t think I could deal with having another guy doing it to the same girl. I’d probably get too nervous and wouldn’t be able to follow through.” Many women, however, admitted that they longed to be part of a MFM threesome: “If anyone should be randomly hooking up with their same gender with no emotional attachment, it’s guys. I just want to find a pair of cute friends who want to have sex with each other, and me...” Since we are so used to seeing fetishised images of naked women in the media, two female bodies together are not seen as a threat to heteronormativity. This homophobic stereotype considers sex between two women as “not real sex” or merely a
performance for men, whereas sex between two men is immediately branded as “gay.” Because we are never shown naked male bodies together in popular media, the suggestion of MFM threesomes is threateningly charged — sexual interaction is seen either as a manifestation of latent homosexuality or a dangerous gateway to a chain of homosexual behaviour. Consider the “devil’s threesome,” a slang term used to describe a MFM arrangement. The name obviously refers to the alleged immorality of homosexual behaviour. This ridiculous term is still used today, an example of enduring homophobic stereotype and a reminder of the insecurity many het-
told me, “There’s no way I could ever have a threesome. I am far too jealous and far too greedy.” Several other women agreed that they couldn’t handle a threesome, explaining they preferred one-on-one sex because they “like the attention.” A fellow student, Aoife, recalled: “I was asked to be a part of one as a birthday present to my mate’s boyfriend. I was up for it, but the more it was discussed, the more it became obvious that she was just doing it because her boyfriend had asked her to and she was scared she was losing his attention.” This leads to my personal rule for threesomes: Never, ever do it with your partner. I’ve heard a handful of success stories, but most threesomes involving a couple seem doomed to face an imbalance. In order for a threesome to work, everyone involved should be excited and enthusiastic about the idea and in agreement about their expectations and boundaries. In both straight and queer communities in Dublin, threesomes are very much a “novelty opportunity,” David, a gay student, noted. Threesomes, and group sex, challenge the assumption that sex should only happen between two people and illustrate that multiple desires can co-exist. However, we need to break free from the media- and porn-created image of how threesomes should play out and between whom. I would encourage more straight guys to experiment, in the hope that increased visibility of homosocial and homosexual interaction will break down homophobic stereotypes and allow people to fuck whoever they want.
“ I FELT LIKE THE GIRL WAS PUTTING ON A SHOW FOR THE GUY, REENACTING THE KIND OF PERFORMANCE SHE HAD SEEN IN PORN ” erosexual men feel over their sexuality and masculine identity. I’ve been involved in a number of MFM and FFM threesomes. On a trip to Paris, I went home with a pair of French guys. I had been kissing one of them earlier in the evening, and, as we sat outside on the balcony, he leaned in to kiss me again. Then suddenly, he pulled me into the sofa in the living room, where we started having sex. A few minutes in, his friend joined us and started touching and kissing us both. The whole experience felt extremely easy and fluid. In violent contrast, one of the least satisfying sexual encounters I’ve suffered through was a FFM threesome. The whole time, I felt like the girl was putting on a show for the guy, reenacting the kind of performance she had seen in porn. One of the women I spoke to, Sinéad,
MORE ILLUSTRATIONS AT WWW..GRAHAMHAUGHT.COM
ISSUE ONE // 7
F I L M
RUNAWAY AMERICAN SCREAMS FILM EDITOR EOIN MCCAGUE CONSIDERS THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF A COMMERCIALLY SUCCESSFUL YET CRITICALLY DREARY SUMMER FILM SEASON. The 2013 summer season smacks of disappointment. Perhaps it was our fault, perhaps we had doomed it from the start. After all, what could follow up the vintage 2012 season, the Mecca for film nerds, where we flocked in droves to see a rebooted Spider-Man, a fully assembled Avengers and the conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy? And yet shockingly, 2013 will go down as the biggest summer in American movie history. Amassing $4.76 billion at the domestic box office, 2013 leapfrogs 2011’s record of $4.4 billion. Even taking into account the fact that movie ticket prices have risen significantly due to inflation and 3D, 2013 did well, with more tickets sold than in any summer since 2007. As we turn toward the winter months and new releases from McQueen, Scorsese and the Coen brothers it is only proper for film fans to do what we do best — yes, that time has inevitably come, to cast a critical eye back, to separate the men from the boys, the winners from the losers. The answers may surprise you.
HORROR // WINNER The horror genre has sadly played third fiddle to the superhero and sci-fi fare in recent years, leaving a small (but vocal) online fan base to talk up releases such as The Collection, Piranha 3DD, The Cabin in the Woods and a variety of other gems you passed over on your way to Spider-Man. There have been some breakout surprises before (2011’s Insidious comes to mind, scaring up a $97 million gross on a $1.5 million budget) but, for a while at least, it was looking like the monsters in the closet would remain hidden. 2013 changed all that. The Purge kicked off the season earning a whopping $34 million on opening weekend, raking in eleven times its budget. Not 8 // TN2MAGAZINE.IE
to be outdone, James Wan (of Insidious fame) dominated the conversation in July with The Conjuring. Originally slated for release in January, outstanding test scores persuaded Warner Bros executives to gift the $20 million budgeted haunted house flick a prime July slot. Their faith was rewarded in spades, the film taking $41 million on opening weekend and grossing $220 million worldwide while winning critics over (with a striking 86% ‘Fresh’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes). Honourable mentions are also due to V/H/S/2 and You’re Next — both the found footage anthology and the tonguein-cheek slasher delivered strong box office stands proportional to their budget and were both praised by critics. The horror genre’s success is intriguing. Commonly perceived as a whipping boy for critics, 2013’s offerings showed that even the snootiest of buffs could get behind a good scare. But other, more alarming, factors could hint as to the genre’s good fortune. Professor Dixon at the University of Nebraska points to running time. “No one talks much about this, but a theater can schedule twice as many showings and make more money with a shorter film,” he writes. “I would say a lot of the films that didn’t do well this year were overlong.” 2013’s notorious flops The Lone Ranger and Pacific Rim ran 149 and 131 minutes respectively. In contrast The Purge and The Conjuring ran 84 and 105 minutes each, allowing many more showings a day.
A-LIST STARS // LOSER Once all you had do was slap John Wayne or Audrey Hepburn on a poster to guarantee seats to asses. While The Robert Downey Jr Show (Iron Man 3) does stand as the highest grossing film of the year ($1.2 billion), 2013 surprisingly showed that we don’t have the time of day for other cemented A-listers such as Will Smith, Ryan Reynolds, Owen Wilson, Channing Tatum, Matt Damon and Johnny Depp. After Earth, the project Smith picked over Django Unchained, crash-landed to shocking reviews and an atrocious box
F I L M
office in early June over rumours of nepotism. Audiences continued to shun the buddy cop genre with both The Lone Ranger (which lost Disney $150 million) and White House Down (with reported losses of $50 million for Sony) bombing. Damon’s Elysium resonated with critics but analysts point to its overtly political tone as its reason for only limping past its reported $115 million price tag. Meanwhile Reynolds continued his descent into insignificance with R.I.P.D. and Turbo. Our starlets fared better, commercially if not critically. Sandra Bullock’s The Heat proved that Bridesmaids’s charm and smarts do not automatically repeat if you put the painfully unfunny Melissa McCarthy in front of Paul Feig’s camera. Audiences didn’t seem to mind, with the film taking well over $200 million worldwide. Jennifer Aniston seems to have broken her post-Friends curse as We’re the Millers became the first genuine hit of her career, taking in $180 million on a $37 million budget. Only one star emerged truly victorious in every respect: Brad Pitt. His World War Z was pre sold as a disaster. The trades informed us how Pitt and director Marc Foster feuded on set constantly. Co-writers were brought in at the 11th hour, which led to costly reshoots and a ballooning budget. Thanks to a grassroots publicity tour spearheaded personally by Pitt, who would attend multiple small, regional word-of-mouth screenings, Z was pushed into the black against all odds, finally becoming Pitt’s highest grossing hit of all time at $535 million. Critics also managed to find a pulse in the zombie epic, with some praising the production and Paramount’s treatment of the property and Pitt as a fitting throwback to to both the lean smarts of ’70s studio making and the ’30s star system.
COMING OF AGE FILMS // DRAW Where was 2013’s surprise breakout hit? While previous summers have seen the likes of Midnight in Paris, Moonrise Kingdom and Beasts of the Southern Wild opening to rave reviews and calls for expansion, comparatively, 2013’s indie winners were released in the first quarter of the year with features such as Mud and The Place Beyond the Pines taking around $21 million each domestically. A lot of faith was placed in Harvey Weinstein’s excellent Fruitvale Station to be the socially conscious liberal smash of the summer, but it’s $15 million gross indicates otherwise. Despite this, one independent genre saw a massive resurgence thanks to a cluster of fantastic up-and-coming filmmakers. Coming of age stories dominated the conversation early on with Jordan Vogt-Robert’s The
Kings of Summer earning high marks at Sundance before opening to a respectable box office in June. Everybody’s favourite Dean (Jim Rash) kept the ball rolling in July with The Way Way Back. Grossing $23 million worldwide, the bittersweet comedy proved another vehicle for Steve Carell to show his range. August proved the kicker when James Ponsoldt’s astonishing The Spectacular Now stunned moviegoers and critics alike. The charming teen romance (with the best screenplay of the year) boasts an incredible 93% on Rotten Tomatoes with many critics baying for (deserved) Oscar nominations for the heartbreaking performances of its young leads – Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley. An honourable mention is due to the recent Short Term 12. The Brie Larson-fronted indie drama stands at 99% on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite no massive commercial breakouts, the number of critically regarded entries meant we were spoilt for choice in this genre.
2015 // WINNER In a summer that saw Iron Man suit up, Vin Diesel rev up and the crew of the Enterprise beam up, the biggest winner of the year was the future. 2015 in particular. Two years from now we will be composing retrospectives on a season that will yield (hold your breath), The Fantastic Four, Ted 2, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Jurassic World, Assassin’s Creed, Terminator 5, Independence Day 2, Batman vs Superman and Ant-Man with Bond 24 and Star Wars 7 left to close out the winter months. It seemed the entire summer was filled with poring over the casting rumours and tidbits that trickled down from Comic Con and D23 concerning 2015’s releases. It’s likely that many film fans longed to forget the disappointment of 2013, skip over the meagre pickings of 2014 and wake up in 2015 to find themselves in what can only be described as a movie lover’s nirvana. Count me in. So what can we (or more importantly, Hollywood) learn from all of this? That sequels are a sure fire thing (Fast 6, Iron Man 3, Monsters University)? That families will still turn out in droves for anything animated (Despicable Me 2, The Croods)? That original properties should be avoided (Pacific Rim)? Or that Brad Pitt, because he is Brad Pitt, will always be a winner. ILLUSTRATION BY ALICE WILSON WORDS BY EOIN MCCAGUE
ISSUE ONE // 9
LITERATURE
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOT
“AUNT EMILY DICKINSON AND UNCLE HERMAN MELVILLE AND UNCLE WALDO EMERSON. BEFORE I READ ALL THOSE PEOPLE I WAS EXPERIENCING ALL MY FORMATIVE AND NORMATIVE YEARS IN THE MIDDLE OF THAT VERY LANDSCAPE.” LILY NÍ DHOMHNAILL TALKS TO PULITZER PRIZE WINNER PAUL HARDING ABOUT CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, ‘CORRECT ENGLISH’ AND HIS NEW BOOK ENON, PUBLISHED BY RANDOM HOUSE. Paul Harding’s Enon is a retrospective novel. A man paralyzed by grief looks back on the lives of his daughter, his grandfather, George (protagonist in Harding’s first novel, the award-winning Tinkers), and his Puritan ancestors. On another level, an author explores the landscape of his childhood and engages with his literary forefathers. So much remembering lends itself less towards plot, and more towards images 10 // TN2MAGAZINE.IE
of the past. The story sprang, Harding tells me, from the sudden solitary glimpse of a man in a graveyard: “…like a very intricate paper cut-out silhouette, this steep little hill that was sort of studded with gravestones, with the figure of the man at the crown of the hill, skulking across the top of it. You know, underneath the moon sort of thing. And when that vision flashed in my head I just knew all at once that it was Charlie Crosby — the grandson of the guy who’s in Tinkers — … and that his daughter Kate was buried down at the bottom of the hill.” A dramatic start. “Yeah,” he agrees, “more than I bargained for!”
Pulitzer Prize winner and Guggenheim Fellow, he talks about writing as if he is being directed by the story, not the other way around. Of Enon he says: “… the characters started talking to each other all the time and I kept muzzling them … I thought ‘I’m Paul Harding the author of Tinkers in which there is little to no dialogue and no quotation marks.’ I had this weird idea that that was ‘my thing,’ like my little trademark. … [But] you can never preserve your own conceits at the expense of the story, so I did let them talk and they talked so much that I couldn’t follow them without quotation marks so I put the quotation marks in.”
LITERATURE He laughs when I use the word “archaic” to describe his language. “All I do is write formally, in correct English, and that sounds archaic for all the world these days.” But it is archaic — delightfully so. He uses words like “aspic” and “orneriness” with absolute ease. His style is by no means obsolete, however, because he slips these trinkets, little traces of an earlier time, in and around descriptions of hard drugs and whiskey binges. Besides, the risk of appearing dated is evaded by the unique, dynamic style of his writing. He writes with the cadence and flourish of a poet, and some passages could nearly be lifted out of the book and called poems. Has he ever considered writing verse? “I tried to write poetry but I could never figure out where to put the damn line breaks. So I just decided that I would write what I think of as poetry but it would look like prose. So it sort of occupies this slightly marginal or overlap position, which doesn’t really bother me because descriptions like prose, or poetry, or
prose as poetry, or lyric poetry, those are all just subsequent to the creation of the stuff. So I don’t care if somebody calls it a hot fudge sundae, I’ve found the rhythm I can write in so I just kind of do it.” Even as he creates a form that is undeniably his own, he is extremely aware of the vast literary tradition that precedes him. Born in Massachusetts, both of his books show clear Transcendental influences, his protagonists all harbouring Emersonian speculations on the soul, its relation to nature and the universe. Enon, especially, with its gothic New English landscape, is an unmistakable nod to Hawthorne. How does Harding feel about his rich literary genealogy? “I sort of love it. I feel like there’s a sort of DNA to it. I kind of feel like all these Transcendentalists are all my great aunts and uncles. Aunt Emily Dickinson and Uncle Herman Melville and Uncle Waldo Emerson … Before I read all those people … I was experiencing all my formative and normative years in the middle of that very landscape. And so then when I finally got old enough to read Thoreau
THE MAN BOOKER VARIETY SHOW Every year, critics and readers wait with anticipation for the announcement of the Man Booker Prize shortlist. When the long list is released, we dutifully note down the names of the novels, and the authors adding them to our respective reading lists, but it is the Booker shortlist which we bulk buy from Amazon (or if your social conscious is prickling, from your nearest independent bookseller). It is almost impossible to read an article on the Prize without seeing the word “diversity” crop up a few times. Indeed, Chair of the judging panel, Robert McFarlane said it is “global in its reach, this exceptional shortlist demonstrates the vitality and range of the contemporary novel at its finest.” Undoubtedly, it seems this year that the shortlist is much bigger than usual. Not, of course, in number but in the vast scope of its entries. This is one of the few years in which the guidelines for qualification have been so completely filled, with novels representing and spanning over five continents. Within each of these novels, borders are being crossed, boundaries broken, and historical and
cultural divides transcended. The list features two men and four women, both men (Colm Tóibín and Jim Crace) having been shortlisted before while NoViolet Bulawayo, Eleanor Catton, Jhumpa Lahiri and Ruth Ozeki are all on their first nominations. Crace’s entry, Harvest, has been advertised as his last whilst NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names is her debut novel, also on the list for the Guardian First Book Award. Crace, at 67, is contrasted by frontrunner Eleanor Catton who, at 28, is the youngest person to be shortlisted for the Booker. Catton’s 800-or-so page The Luminaries, is counteracted by Tóibín entry, The Testament of Mary, weighing in at only 104 pages. Notably, this year is very tough to call and difficult to categorize. There appears to be no theme running through the judges choices, no common attributes which may tip readers toward their favourites. In the run-up to the Prize announcement on October 15, TN2 will publish a series of reviews of the shortlisted entries beginning with Tóibín’s The Testament of Mary.
and all these people who make use of that landscape, I suddenly just had this astonishing cathartic experience realizing that there was this philosophical, artistic, aesthetic, intellectual tradition that preceded me, and that in some ways I was heir to that if I chose to be, and I did choose to be, because I’m just really very provincial in that way.” And does he find that he can still link back to the ghosts of these writers from centuries ago, even in a modern setting? “Oh yeah, absolutely. I think that’s one of the cool things about the act of reading itself … if you’re reading for example Emily Dickinson, or anybody who’s dead and gone, when you read her writing on the page there’s something synchronous about it; all of a sudden time is foreshortened and you and whomever you are reading, if their writing touches you, become contemporaries.” TO VIEW tn2’S FULL INTERVIEW WITH PAUL HARDING PLEASE GO TO OUR WEBSITE, WWW.TN2MAGAZINE.IE
WE NEED NEW NAMES // NOVIOLENT BULAWAYO // CHATTO & WINDUS THE LUMINARIES // ELEANOR CATTON // GRANTA FRONTRUNNER THE HARVEST // JIM CRACE // PICADOR FRONTRUNNER THE LOWLAND // JHUMPA LAHIRI // BLOOMSBURY A TALE FOR THE TIME BEING // RUTH OZKEI // CANONGATE THE TESTAMENT OF MARY // COLM TÓIBÍN // VIKING
WORDS BY LOLA BOORMAN
ISSUE ONE // 11
MUSIC
12 // TN2MAGAZINE.IE
GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE BRITISH DJ, PRODUCER AND MUSICIAN BONOBO TALKS TO tn2, ON THE EVE OF HIS EUROPEAN TOUR, ABOUT HIS ISOLATED CREATIVE PROCESS, LIVE TOURING AND MOVING FROM LONDON TO BROOKLYN.
“We’re still doing the gig,” Simon Green, aka Bonobo, informed me as he picked up the phone in Kiev. His European tour hit disaster on day one when the entirity of his equipment went missing. Originally from Brighton, Green went from playing in a band to solo artist as he isolated himself from outside influences and built his music up through looping samples and a wide range of instruments. Almost 15 years ago Bonobo’s first album, Animal Magic, showcased his distinctive jazz influences; since then his sound has naturally progressed through five albums to a rich, downbeat 4/4 house beat, most recently produced earlier this year in The North Borders. The record separates itself from its predecessors through spiralling lyrics and homegrown samples, giving his first clear nod to house influences. Expertly crafted, The North Borders and its acclaimed predecessor Black Sands are lavishly produced, layered records amounting to a sound which sits aside Four Tet, Shlohmo and James Blake in London’s ambient electronic scene. Dividing this work into individual musical sections means travelling with a six piece band from Bucharest, through Brixton Academy and onto the US and Australia. Difficulties naturally arise and are resolved, however when every piece of your band’s equipment is robbed on the first day
MUSIC
of your tour, one is naturally taken aback. I spoke to Green a few hours after he awoke in his hotel room to find…well, nothing. “We got in last night to Ukraine and then all our stuff got knicked from the hotel rooms while we were asleep. But we’re still doing the gig.” His natural frustration resounds as he spouts the suspicion of an inside job. “We haven’t really managed to replace most of the stuff, it’s kind of really corrupt out here as well so I reckon the hotel sold all the stuff basically; and now we got to deal with it.” Far from the divas or rock stars of other touring bands, the live DJ develops his music not just for the printed LP, but through the evolution of their music from the Soundcloud mix to the four month tour. Green insists that he does not let the studio form of production be affected by the prospect of recreating it live; “The thing is I treat them as two separate things, I don’t let the studio stuff be informed by whether it will work live. I treat the studio stuff as more of an electronic thing and the tour as a live thing. Then I have to try and figure it out afterwards, how I’m going to translate it.” The North Borders is the product of eighteen months in isolation crafting a record out of sounds such as coins dropping into water, crunching paper next to a mic and vocals from neo-soul star Erykah Badu. “I’ve always worked the same way you know, my music is the product of experimentation — I don’t write tunes in the traditional sense.” With a rejection of themes and solid plans, the process is long and drawn out. “I just find sounds and mess around with them and see what works, most of the tracks are ISSUE ONE // 13
MUSIC
born out of the process of experimentation. They are born out of four bar loops and stringing loads of sounds together, then I take a breather and bring the whole sound together a little bit more. Within the loops I seek the song structure.” With such an isolated and meticulous creative process, Bonobo’s move across the Atlantic following Black Sands appears to be a strange choice for effecting his music. When asked whether geographical matters such as these have any real bearing on his end product, Green retorted, “Nah, I don’t think so. Honestly, I think I’ve made a London record in New York. I think I’m transient enough not to be affected by geographical specifics.” This may be part of a bigger change in the way cities are playing a lesser part in the development of sound — a specifically large effect seems to have hit electronic. No longer are producers limited to records found in cities’ shops, the digital age provides instant access to the world’s offerings. “I think that music isn’t as geographically specific as it used to be.” Green proposed, “the way music is digested now — I think there still is a London sound, a Berlin sound — but because of Soundcloud, Boiler Room and YouTube, everything’s shared immediately that way. All artists are on the internet now.” Despite this rejection of geographical influence and the division of sound by national borders, Bonobo’s music still seems majorly influenced by London. The compact loops and chiming melodies of The North Borders reflect and add to the London landscape of Kieran Hebden, Sam Shepherd and Burial. When asked about his musical back-
ground, Green accepts that his influences are fundamentally found at home, “Yeah definitely, I always have my ears to London more than anywhere else. I definitely think that’s going to be something that carries through.” While accepting where his influences stem from, he rejects that the location of them has any effect on the music. The music is just the music. He created his alias through convenience: needing a name for his solo work he went to the most immediate source. A book about Bonobos that he was reading — Will Self ’s novel Great Apes. Similarly, his references to geography and borders are just convenient, these facades are nothing but names, his music has shifted with his taste.
ues to stay alive long after its creation. “It’s got to be just a reflection of my tastes, for the last ten years of my life I’ve been making music, so the main thing is to keep it alive, to keep it interesting — to make it exciting for myself,” he explained. For this we can be excited, two years following the release of Black Sands, we were treated to a remixed version. We hope that a similar project may be on the cards for The North Borders. When asked about what we can expect after his October 3rd Dublin gig in the Olympia, Green refuses to give much away; “I can’t tell you too much right now but there’s going to be a big live release to come out later, probably next year. I’ve got another single coming in June, and a few more remixes. But the way it’s evolving is through the live show”. Bonobo’s music and evolution seems to have been influenced by nothing but his shifting tastes, something which increasingly strikes a chord with the European and American dance scene. His music and ideology of non-nationalistic scenes makes sense in the music industry where Soundcloud, the Boiler Room and Pitchfork have taken over where local radio, the club night and the music mag have dwindled in influence. A process which owes itself to the lack of influence from without and the evolving taste presented through his commitment to touring live. His local surroundings in Brooklyn, his translation to a six-piece band, and his general lack of equipment a few hours before his European tour cannot shape an artist who moves with himself and no one else.
“I THINK I’VE MADE A LONDON RECORD IN NEW YORK. I THINK I’M TRANSIENT ENOUGH NOT TO BE AFFECTED BY GEOGRAPHICAL SPECIFICS”
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He explains that the title of the latest record, The North Borders, is derived from his feeling of ignorance flying from London to New York, not knowing what lay on the huge frozen expanses below. When asked whther big idea have influenced his music he flatly denies it, “No I don’t think so, its just a collection of music. It’s not really about geographical anything — it’s just about the music. I don’t really start a record with any momentum, I just make music that reflects where I’m at, at the minute. It’s got to be just a reflection of my tastes.” After five albums spanning nearly fifteen years, Green is still pushing his boundaries according to his constantly moving taste. This is perhaps the reason his music contin-
WORDS BY HENRY LONGDEN
Indigo&Cloth
indigoandcloth.com
S T A G E
CENTRE STAGE IN DUBLIN
THEATRE EDITOR KATHERINE MURPHY SIEVES THROUGH THE DUBLIN THEATRE FESTIVAL PROGRAM TO GIVE US THE TOP PICKS OVER THE NEXT TWO WEEKS You’ve heard it before. Kids on the street calling by your house. You re-enact scenes from fairy tales, create mountain ranges from towel, treat the floor as lava in jumping from chair to couch. A stick becomes a wand, any hat is a crown, and under the table lays a vast cavern. Everything you touch and everything you see is magical. “Come out to Play.” The perfect slogan
for this year’s Dublin Theatre Festival. One that inspires the sense of fun and spontaneity that only theatre can create, and one that engages the audience and invites them to partake. In his second year as Artistic Director of the festival, Willie White has managed to shake the image of the festival as being the conservative, middle-class older sibling of the Fringe Festival. The advertising, this year and last, focuses on the youth and energy of the festival culture that is becoming more and more infectious year after year. And the programming continues on this trend. Just take a look.
GERMINAL // SEPTEMBER 26-28 // HALORY GOERGER & ANTOINE DEFOORT. This French production aims to “conjure a universe in a black box.” Reminiscent of childhood play four performers interact with screens, microphones, mixers and intercoms in order to map their complex environment. Engaging with the audience through and around technology creates a fascinating dichotomy that young theatre-goers will both understand and empathise with. This is one not to miss, only running for three nights and tickets are selling quickly!
I’VE TO MIND HER // OCTOBER 1-6 // DUBLIN YOUTH THEATRE (DYT). Unlike other productions in the festival that try to inject older texts with a sense of youth, DYT use Sean Dunne’s newest offering to examine the responsibilities of these young performers in relation to the family and to themselves. Fringe regulars become festival newbies, and amateur youth theatre is invited to sit with the best that Ireland has to offer — hopefully not for the last time. This is an exciting opportunity to see the best of Dublin’s younger actors for a fraction of the DTF’s normal ticket prices.
THE RAPE OF LUCRECE // OCTOBER 10-14 ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY. This production seamlessly blends the fluidity of a Shakespearean sonnet with the musical abilities of Camille O’Sullivan. A gifted singer and actress, O’Sullivan has become a staple of the Dublin Fringe Festival; her progression to the Dublin Theatre Festival showcases White’s eagerness to invite this performer to shape and mould one of the oldest texts in the festival. This production premiered at the Edinburgh Festival last year and will moving to Derry in October before going back to the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2014. Lyrical and melodious, O’Sullivan can only move up.
THE CRITIC // OCTOBER 2-13 // ROUGH MAGIC. Mr and Mrs. Angle happen across a group of drama students performing his historical play in the contemporary style Rough Magic showcase brilliantly. The real magic here is that the drama students are real, gathered from DU Players, UCD Dramsoc, and the Gaiety School of Acting. Rough Magic is literally training the next generation of acting talent while injecting older, more trained actors with the vibrancy of youth and the gift of spontaneity. The Critic will be an impressive blend of 18th Century discourse and 21st Century stagecraft.
DUBLIN FRINGE FESTIVAL: A 20TH CENTURY CONCERT: ABRIDGED SEPTEMBER 17-21 //TAYLOR MAC . Taylor Mac is one of New York’s most legendary performers, meshing theatre with music and burlesque in this stunning musical montage, charting 100 years. The Fringe’s version is abridged from the upcoming 24hr concert which includes at least one song from each decade of the 20th Century. 16 // TN2MAGAZINE.IE
BOYS AND GIRLS // SEPTEMBER 17-21 DYLAN COBURN-GRAY. Spoken in verse Dylan Coburn-Gray’s script weaves through the city centre (mapping the yokes, the failed sex, and the never-ending search for the ‘craic’) of a night out in Dublin. This ambitious play interweaves four stories without ever letting them quite touch. One to watch.
F O O D
LUNCH WITH A GREAT DANE RESTAURANT ENTREPRENEUR CLAUS MAYER, THE BRAINS BEHIND NOMA, REVEALS THE SECRETS BEHIND FORGING A NEW NATIONAL CUISINE FROM TRADITIONAL CULINARY TECHNIQUES.
Denmark, 1960. Amidst a long tradition of pork, potato and rye bread, fast food and the deep freeze arrive. Danish cuisine writhes in an identity crisis, served luke-warm with a béarnaise sauce, until the cool, crisp day that chefs Rene Redzepi and Mads Refslund, and entrepreneur Claus Meyer start a revolutionary idea: A kitchen that renders edible the fjords, icy seas and twilight laplands of the Arctic states with a menu at the mercy of the seasons. Opening its doors in 2003, Noma was named Best Restaurant in the World by Restaurant magazine in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Over a lunch of mixed salad with pickled orange and ginger, Meyer describes a recent Danish past that echoes our own. He recalls growing up in a society heavily influenced by the austere teachings of priest and medic in which all pleasures, food included, were viewed with suspicion and drenched in guilt. Food was functional, nothing more, and therefore taste was irrelevant. Cooking was never, as he put it, “an act of reaching out for the beauty in life.” This lack of passion in Nordic food culture was the impetus for the three to search farther afield both geographically, into the wilderness of the Arctic states, and technically, combining forgotten skills once necessary for surviving deathly winters. And so, Noma began her maiden voyage into culinary waters unknown. A high proportion of what arrives on
the plate at Noma has been foraged and all other ingredients are either delivered by local suppliers or made in-house. Bitter greens, berries, mushrooms and regional fish — all native to the immediate Arctic surroundings. In the words of Meyer, “this is Nordic cuisine that tastes like nothing else.” A bold statement that, considering the global reception, surely comes with a touch of pride. How can one stay grounded when partly responsible for a one-time best restaurant in the world? Because, Meyer explains, the restaurant is part of something bigger. It is part of a “new culinary paradigm” that has come into being, in which chefs are “co-producers” working alongside growers and foragers. The bare ingredients themselves are as important as the skills needed to interpret and manipulate. It is a way of cooking that is “no longer egotistical but ecotistical.” It is a cooking that leaves no trace other that the after-taste of harmony between place and palate. From these noble aspirations came the Manifesto for the Nordic Kitchen. Within is found the core commandments of New Nordic Cuisine. Self-sufficient, eco-friendly and locally sourced, these core principles are, according to Meyer, “for the benefit and advantage of everyone in the Nordic countries.” Mayer emphasises that the word “Nordic” can be replaced or even left out. This could easily be the Manifesto for the Irish Kitchen, and why not? According to Meyer, “food and the act of feeding ourselves reminds us of our roots.” The food we eat is a part of our identity, our pride. The raw ingredients are there, all that is needed are a few courageous sailors to set out in the ancestral curragh and begin the search. WORDS BY MOLLY GARVEY
ISSUE ONE // 17
SAM KEOGH
ON MOP.
Can you tell us a bit more about what the exhibition is going to look like? His eyes are large white balls with a large black pupil in the centre never moves. They are framed by a furry brown unibrow the same texture but a different colour to the rest of his body. His fur is green,matted and dirty. It is especially matted in the space between his eyes and the mouth which has the effect of giving more definition to his face. In Terrestris you talked about creating a new species of sculpture – does Mop follow on from that, and how? What materials/techniques/methods are you using here? Which of these have you used before, and which are new in your practice? when is his birthday? His birthday is the first of June. What does the title Mop refer to? He is a mop for it soaks up those juices in his texture and attitude they taint his breath and his tastes and customs. He soaks up the rubbish juices and contains them because he is a mop. They are contained but spill over sometimes and produce a lesson in liberal tolerance of non-normativity. Tolerance quarantines the non-normative in a cheap binbag. Tolerance destroys difference by passing it through indifference of a cheap binbag. Oscar asks why is it better to put rubbish in landfills. Sesame street puts the question in the bin and calls it Oscar. Oscar is tied into a moral universe he has a proper place it is his nature to be grouchy. Ghettoized contained unable to lance himself as an abscess he is farmed for the production of bad taste garnished with charm. How did the idea of concentrating on Oscar the Grouch come about? Is it connected to any childhood memories? Did you like Sesame Street as a child, and what did you think of Oscar as a character back then? Carol Spinney invents Oscar. He bases the voice of Oscar on a New York cab driver who says ‘WHERE TO MAC?’ in a thick New York accent. Carol Spinney makes tacky paintings of big bird in different environments around the word like the Great Wall of China. Flying over the Great Wall of China. He has a white bowl haircut and a white goatee and jackets with no collars, First season of Sesame Street Carol Spinney controls Oscars mouth with his left hand even though he is right hand-
ed because of how the set is designed. They fix this after the first season but the left hand is evil the hand that’s controlling Oscars mouth is evil. Nuns beat his mother for using his left hand in school. But then again the boy scouts shake hands left-handedly since the left hand is closer to the heart. Was once orange but due to orange being harder to read on a black and white TV screen they turn him green. He was originally orange in the first episodes of sesame street but due to damp habituation and poor hygiene he grows a layer of green mold all over his body which produces penicillin products. Unprocessed and still growing though it is poisonous. It is not as bad as black mold in his bathroom but can still cause breathing problems. He gasps through words his laugh is gaspy ‘heh heh heh’. Green mold can live anywhere moist around the house in the fridge or attic or bin. What do you think of Sesame Street from today‘s perspective? Fuck you Oscar bad project. He is full of nostalgia and his appeal cancels everything else about him out. He can only use his fur to absorb his liquidized complaints and lazily half baked notions that there might be something interesting about over identifying with him in a lazy way that mix his laziness with his enthusiasm but the intensity of the laziness is stronger than he anticipated. A ton of laziness is the same weight as a ton of enthusiasm but laziness smells worse its flavor taints everything it touches it is more overpowering it muddies parts that might be more convincing without it when he spills milk in the back seat of a car in summer the car always smells a particular way. What is the main idea of the exhibition, in simple words? A rusty trombone Are there any specific texts that inform the ideas behind the exhibition (the discourse of “representation of the Other” is a very important one in much contemporary sociological/philosophical writing)? The dog. He lives in a barrel and he lives on a diet of mostly onions and his only real friends are stray dogs. He thinks virtue is better revealed in action than in theory which means he does what he thinks. He goes to the oracle at Delphi once and he gets told to ‘deface the currency’ so he sets about defacing roman coins for a while. After this he realizes the
oracle probably means to deface the currency of custom. So he sets about being outrageous in public as a means to show the contingency of things like common sense taste and good behavior masturbating in the market and saying “if only I could get rid of my hunger by rubbing my stomach in the same way as it is easy to get rid of my erection by rubbing my penis.” Mop will be your second installation which transforms the whole gallery space (am I right?). Do you think you will continue moving in this direction? What kind of space/experience are you aiming to create here? You know what’s right with this world? Nuttin! You know what gets me hot under the collar? You name it! And the next time some goody-two-shoes smiles and tells you to have a nice day, just remember: Don’t let the sunshine spoil the rain, Just stand up and complain! Did the space at Kerlin gallery influence the contraception of Mop, and how? His matted fur is sick. It contains putrefying food, it is damp with rubbish juice is stained from bloody condoms and coffee grinds and burst open nappies. These juices seep through to his interior where Carol Spinney can feel them stain his shirtsleeves up to the shoulders. He always remembers to keep his nails short before putting his hand up Oscar. He wretches but reminds himself he is made of the same stuff as Oscar basically. Can you tell us about Radical Love – what was the main idea behind it, what has been done so far, and whether there are any instalments planned for the future? Oscar hates himself an anxious and paranoid mess. The only time he feels ok is when he realizes he is sad he is content when he realizes this. But as soon as he realizes he is content he becomes angry because his nature is to be cranky and unhappy he can never stay steady settled down he is a mess of neurosis and anger but is ultimately motivated by love. What will your participation in IMMA’s upcoming show In the Line of Beauty consist of? Oscar GIVE HIM THE GOODS or he will burn him alive in his bin. BY SAM KEOGH.
Sam Keogh is a young London-based Irish artist. After having created a mesmerising scifi-style experience with his installation Terrestris at Project Arts Centre last summer, he is now preparing for the opening of his new solo show Mop at Kerlin Gallery on 27 September. Sam gladly agreed to give an interview on it, yet the response to the questions tn2 sent him looked like this (editing strictly forbidden). WORDS BY GABIJA PURLYTÉ
FROM SIDEWALKS TO SOLITUDE JAPAN IN A DAY BY MARIA ROMANOVA-HYNES
T R AV EL IN THIS ORIGINAL PIECE OF PROSE FICTION, MARIA ROMANOVA-HYNES DESCRIBES THE JUXTAPOSITION BETWEEN THE URBAN AND THE RURAL SHE EXPERIENCED TRAVELING THROUGH JAPAN THIS SUMMER What spirit carried me away that I found myself in Japan this summer? What spell did enchant my mind? The call of cicadas, the murmur of rain falling heavily on tiled roofs? The subtle wind in the summer blossoms embracing antique temples and shrines, the vigorous rhythm of continuous modernisation bringing on the tide of time multiple changes? It was the spirit of Japan revealing itself in the wondrous life of old Kyoto and new Tokyo, in the villages scattered in the laps of high mountains and the farms tightly cramped near the shore of an
while trying to discern to which of them my own voice responded. I arose with the sounds of the awakening road, off which I had slept the previous night. My path ran toward the pristine tropical woods of Nagano prefecture. But first I intended to glance at the most densely populated area of Japan that flourished, wildly, mechanically, in the midst of the ridges and flat fields surrounding it. By the time my car was caught up in the web of highways that mantled the metropolis, I had walked the desolate beaches of Atsumi peninsula, contemplated the view of Mount Fuji, and rested by Kawaguchi and Yamanaka lakes, their mirroring surfaces covered with low heavy fog. I was entering Tokyo from the south-western direction, and gradually the quietness of my way was filled with the engine roar of vehicles passing by. The prel-
skyscrapers of the capital refracting opalescent beams. The city was overwhelmed by crowds and cars, sharp sounds of horns piercing the air. It took me four hours to leave Tokyo behind; its restless spirit, wound up like a clock, setting everything in fast motion, did not resonate with mine. Within I heard the echoes of trains and the cacophony of human voices. What does this Ghost in the Shell pursue, what satisfies its hunger? Looking back at the city, I saw a Daedalean labyrinth that man has built so well that he can hardly escape its endless passages. The line flashed through my mind: my path is paved by the movement of travel, unreeling the world’s ravel, thus shall I flee. As I was leaving the margins of the capital, the traces of its presence began to fade away. Before I knew it, I was driving
“ I FOUND MYSELF A SPECTATOR IN THE THEATRES OF NATURE AND OF MAN, LISTENING TO THE SONG OF FOREST CHANT, AND TO THE SYMPHONY OF CITY NOISES. ”
immense sea. It was the call of my desire to wander in the culture orchestrated by the strange drum beat of Noh drama and the hollow sound of a Shinto bell; to get lost in the ambience mirrored by the minimalist lines of poetry and architecture. Entwining the urban and the rural, the modern and the traditional, the contemporary openness to the world and the long history of alienation from it, Japan turns a stranger into an unaware participant in its rich play of polarities, bursting into life on the islands where I saw thirty four rising suns. It is one day, however, that I enshrine in my memory more tenderly than the rest, for its images unfurled before me a tapestry of the most colourful contrasts. Within twenty four hours I found myself a spectator in the theatres of nature and of man, listening to the song of forest chant, and to the symphony of city noises,
ude to today’s journey was that of the business quarters of Yokohama, a city adjoining Tokyo, with a population over three and a half million. Its suburbs rolled out before me lengthy wide streets upon which men and women in suits streamed dreamily in the flow of a river to work. Tokyo was fifty kilometres away, and soon I hoped to break free from the grip of its neighbour. To my wonder, however, the troops of people did not cease after an hour of driving, neither did the white walls of the city’s buildings. It seemed that Yokohama never ended when Tokyo began, as one city superfused into the other, with no green island of repose in between. Miles upon miles of earth were clad in the concrete garment of urbanity, the land fettered in asphalt. It took me five hours to reach the centre of Tokyo, while the sun was climbing to its high zenith: the black
alone on the road leading into the mountains. Rare travellers, besides myself, disturbed the countryside’s peace. It was there, ascending higher and higher, following the mountains’ curves, that I remembered once more where I was and what I dreamt of finding. The colourless face of the metropolis was succeeded on the stage of my imagination by nature’s festive dance. I clothed each of the hidden dancers, the wind, the sunset, and the beasts, with various masks, endowed the world spreading about me with distinctive characters. Everything was full of life and yet seemed to be suspended in a state of equilibrium. My soul started awakening from her empty slumber, invoked by the rattle of cicadas and the scream of so many a bird. Having left the main road for one of the narrow sideways, I emerged into my own solitude for there was
ISSUE ONE // 21
T R AV EL
高村 光太郎｢あ AN INNOCENT TALK Kōtarō Takamura どけない話｣ Chieko says there’s no sky in Tokyo Says she wants to see the real one. Surprised, and I look up at the sky. There between the leaves of the young cherry tree, The familiar, beautiful sky Which could not be torn apart even if we tried. The smoggy blur on the horizon is the morning mist colored in peach pink. Looking farther, Chieko says The blue one appearing every day Over the top of Mount Adatara Is the real sky to her. An innocent talk about the sky. Kōtarō Takamura (1883-1956) was a Japanese poet and sculptor. This poem was first published in his 1941 collection Chiekoshō, in which he recorded his life with Chieko Takamura, his wife who passed away from tuberculosis after suffering from schizophrenia for many years. TRANSLATED FROM JAPANESE FOR tn2 BY HITOMI NAKAMURA
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nobody there but the full rising Moon, the monkeys coming down from the hills to watch the stranger, the whisper in the dark woods. I was amidst a vast tropical forest where quirky insects in the shape of a twig, or a leaf silently dwelt in the grass, where feathers of bright colours flickered in the trees’ foliage, where rivers waited for the rain to fill their deep bosoms. Following the rich odours of flowers and plants, I abandoned my car and went for a walk to discover the world of this unfamiliar beauty. I reached the peak of the mountain to greet the night and see many a ridge holding up the high sky. The vista bathed in the light of the luminous stars. I returned to the car and drove until I found a small paddy field near where I could rest for a while. In my tent, I listened to the sound of the night and the lush mirth of the forest until the lashing
rain descended, feeding the land with its pure water. Falling asleep I dreamt of how I would wake up with the sun in the morning and see two old farmers working quietly in the field. They would not disturb my sleep, they would be too suspicious of a stranger to address me. Yet, when I would be walking away, the woman would bow her head slightly and I would wave back at them, returning to the track of the road. I shall travel to unreel the world’s ravel, to hear my voice reviving out of dead silence again. And a new day will come, and new miracles will call me. WORDS AND PHOTOS BY MARIA ROMANOVA-HYNES
HOM EGR OWN
To say that Meltybrains? are an anomaly in the Irish scene is something of an understatement. Not only do they stand out from their contemporaries musically but their history, live shows, image, and above all, their composition process differs starkly from most other bands. Having written their first songs on bassist Ben Bix’s laptop while the members were attending college in Maynooth, they happened upon a formula that was to encapsulate their sound. That song was titled Meltybrains? and the Fish-bowl and was to give the band their name. Their first gig took place at a local song contest that was proliferated with singer-songwriters, from whom they stood out starkly by thrashing the stage and covering the song that advertised the Bop It toy. This history is important as it informs the band’s current aesthetic and musical attitude. While it may seem like they’re poking fun at everyone and anything simply for the sake of it, there is an important motive behind such activities. As Ben Bix succinctly put it, “it’s all about letting go and not taking yourself too seriously.” Such an attitude lends itself to more creative freedom, as the band are keen
to “only play to their own expectations” and not those of others. When it comes to writing songs “there is a one take ethos,” an approach that has resulted in the raw sound that they have become known for. It also means that the spirit of the song does not get watered down and remains true to their original intentions. Coupled with this, they reverse the normal creative process by having “a song written before we ever play it as a band.” What they mean by this is that a demo of any particular song is first made on a laptop and is then transposed onto live instruments. As they say themselves, “it’s all about instinctive writing. We put ourselves on the spot and see what we come up with.” A natural after-effect of such a composition process is that a lot of improvisation is involved, something that is integral to both the Meltybrains? studio recordings and their live show. The idea of spectacle is essential to their ethos, “[c]ompared to a lot of other bands, we have a lot of performance experience. When you go to a live show you want to see something.” At a typical gig one can expect to see various members donning their “Meltymasks,” climbing the stage or thrashing it, as well as a bevy of chocolate sauce. The masks have become a trademark, and serve an important role aesthetically and performance wise. As Brian stated, “you can do a lot more on stage when you’re wearing a mask.” This experience was something that the band are keen to transfer onto the audience members as well. At a recent gig in the Unitarian Church this Summer, they provided their audience with masks of their own in order to free them from inhibitions and provide a unique concert experience. Such actions set the band apart from others within the Irish scene and make them a group to definitely watch out for. In the coming months Meltybrains? will be putting on a variety of one off shows in Dublin, Waterford, Cork and elsewhere throughout Ireland in order to raise money for their tour of America early next year. The band also wanted it to be known that they are available to hire for house parties and that Brian is looking for love. Both offers should not be passed up. PHOTO BY SUZIE BENNETT WORDS BY LIAM MAHER
F A C E S
BENNY WHITE BOOK OF KELLS DOOR ATTENDANT
BY STEPHEN MOLONEY
T V // FIL M // FO O D // STAG E // G A M E S M US IC // L IT E R AT U R E // FA S H I O N
REVIEWS
FEATURING MADEMOISELLE C BY ISSY THOMPSON
REVIEWS
MADEMOISELLE C
FABIEN CONSTANT FASHION & FILM In France, there is a term that could have been invented for Carine Roitfeld herself: Jolie-Laide. Inevitably in English it loses much of its alluring charm and translates rather brutishly as beautiful-ugly, but in France it encapsulates the attitude of hard elegance and mannish poise that is so characteristically Parisian. Roitfeld has founded her distinguished career upon such juxtapositions; elegant and impeccable, she is the purveyor of “porno-chic,” fusing innocent femininity with a vicious sexuality. Her bold, startling images are shrouded by notoriety — it was Roitfeld who revived Gucci by shaving its logo into Carmen Kass’s pubic hair, Roitfeld who put Eva Herzigova on the front cover of The Face gnawing on a bone, and Roitfeld who published images of young girls heavily coiffed and made-up. An icon that exudes both controversy and creativity necessarily commands respect, and this is where the tone of Fabien Constant’s documentary is somewhat surprising. Instead of asking us to revere its protagonist, it asks that we like her, that we relate to the approachable, maternal character that apparently lies beneath the rakishly thin, polished façade. Perhaps I am a cynic, or perhaps I am too English to understand fully the implications of being ugly and beautiful at the same time, but I could not help but wonder how genuine this documentary was going to be. It is convenient that Roitfeld felt a sudden urge to unleash an ardent love of family life and babies when the first issue of her new magazine, CR Fashion Book, was themed around re-birth. My suspicions were confirmed in the opening scenes of the documentary, which are set in New York. Grandmother Carine is notably absent, and instead we see Roitfeld voraciously posing, all cheekbones and formidably heavy eyebrows. She then enters a room full of fanatic bloggers who are visibly salivating in admiration. A
weak-looking man in a sharp-looking suit stands to announce that meeting Roitfeld is definitively more important than meeting President Obama. He is followed by a topless Rastafarian sporting a leather bondage harness, who twirls whilst squealing that Carine Roitfeld is a goddess! This ludicrous circus of hard-core fashionistas reaches its final crescendo when a photographer leans over to Roitfeld and exclaims that he loves the shoot they are working on, it is so “bourgeois-slut.” As the documentary progresses, it becomes clear that Roitfeld is subtly removed from these extroverted and abrasively entertaining characters. If they represent the obscenity of the fashion industry, she is the observatrice, distant, calculating, extracting intangible kernels of authenticity and beauty from her superficial surroundings. Roitfeld claims to be obsessed with the cycle of life, but what Constant captures perfectly is the cyclical nature of her personality and her career, her visionary tenacity and her aptitude to revitalise brands, concepts, and even herself. Mademoiselle C is at its most powerful when Constant films Roitfeld alone, sitting on a table in her house. Sequestered from the world of fashion, which is depicted as garish and plastic, she speaks of her family and her career. She is sweet and fiercely bright, vulnerable yet immensely powerful. There is a lesson to be learnt from Roitfeld: that we must not judge too quickly. A cosy, grandmother figure she is not, but neither is she purely a hard-headed stylist. Roitfeld has realised that the French are onto something — she is ugly and beautiful at the same time, and enormously successful because of it.
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RELEASED ON FRIDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER WORDS BY ISSY THOMPSON COVER ILLUSTRATION BY ALICE WILSON
REVIEWS
D I S TA N C E F R O M THE EVENT COLLAPSING HORSE THEATRE 7-12 SEPTEMBER STAGE Characters need to be sufficiently interesting in order to hold our attention for an hour and a half of theatre-going. Unfortunately, in Collapsing Horse’s latest, the thinly sketched characters on show provide no such depth, leaving the whole venture feeling quite empty. The piece starts off interestingly enough, with great use of the cleverly designed movable set. Colm McNally’s set is consistently the most promising element of the show and in this opening scene it is made full use of, creating some excellent stage effects and providing a myriad of spaces in which to play. The set continues to be used in such a manner throughout as the four pieces of the set are re-arranged constantly to create an ever changing space for the actors to perform in. Furthermore the lighting design by Sarah Jane Shiels is aesthetically compelling and functions extremely well with the moving set, affecting the noir vibe that the show is aiming for. The problems seem to lie both with the script and the actors’ performance of it. Many of the jokes and one-liners landed flat, with only a couple of people in a packed-out audience seeming to enjoy their delivery. The performances were largely underwhelming,
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PA B L O ’ S T O R TA S CLARENDON ROW, D2 FOOD It is hard to doubt the newfound place the burrito has carved for itself in Dublin’s cultural lexicon. It may come as no surprise then that one of the instigators of this Mexican/Tex-Mex/Californian food phenomenon, Pablo Picante, have taken the leap into newer territory, introducing Dublin’s handheld-food enthusiasts to the torta. OK so a torta is basically just a sandwich. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. But I will allow Pablo (heads up, he’s not an actual person) to use whatever terminology he sees fit as his sandwiches might just be the best this side of Guadalajara. In fact, what we have here is a deconstructed burrito; the components are similar but, with tortas, we have less of the flavour-sucking starch, making for a lighter, more balanced affair that allows for the quality ingredients to really shine. But the torta isn’t what the burrito wants to be, and the former will never replace the latter. The torta is the burrito in finer clothes, the Michael Haneke to the burrito’s Michael Bay. And again it’s because the ingredients can take centre-stage.
with the notable exception of Breffni Holahan who was seemingly alone in instilling the attempted humour in the script. The stock characters, played with a real lack of energy and direction, were too two-dimensional for any real audience investment. They left us ultimately with no real interest in their respective fates. The choreography was occasionally interesting, but mostly quite messy, and lacked cohesion. At times it was hard to see what level of direction had been given, if any. Overall, I found the show to be rather disappointing, with the script and performances letting down a clever and functional stage and light design. Notable mention must be given to a very interesting and lovely soundscape by Simon Bird which, like the aforementioned stage and light designs, was undersold by the rest of the piece’s lack of charisma and coherence. WORDS BY NICHOLAS URFE
Particularly with the meat, the attention to detail comes through, with every well-seasoned, slow-cooked bite wrapped in the floury embrace of a fresh ciabatta-style roll. No longer is there some pulled pork screaming to be heard over the noise of different salsas and drowned in cream and cheese. Instead we have the “Tinga Torta,” a more sophisticated offering complete with a subtle yet delicious jalapeño aioli. The star of the menu, as its name suggests, is “El Magnifico,” an (inevitably) magnificent concoction that was rightly lauded by our friends at Totally Dublin as one of the best sandwiches in the city. Again accompanied by one of Pablo’s signature aiolis, it will make you ashamed of having eaten that chicken fillet baguette earlier in the week. The only real concern is separate to the food completely. So far, Pablo’s Tortas lacks the authentic charm and atmosphere of its busier burrito brothers. This could be down to the strange high seating that renders the downstairs space a bit awkward, or simply because punters are too paralysed by hunger-fuelled determination on their way to the burrito bar next door. Either way, Pablo is likely going to be pretty well-fed. And I doubt that will change. At least he is keeping us all pretty well-fed along the way too. WORDS BY AARON DEVINE
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ISSUE ONE // 27
REVIEWS
NINE INCH NAILS H E S I TAT I O N M A R K S COLUMBIA RECORDS MUSIC It has been five years since Nine Inch Nails released The Slip and in this timeframe, frontman Trent Reznor has become a respected figure in Hollywood, known primarily for his film scores. From major Oscar winning success, scoring both The Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for David Fincher, to more underground moves such as composing the theme to Shinya Tsukamoto’s latest installation in the cyberpunk Tetsuo franchise, he is still an outsider subverting mainstream culture. These new ventures have clearly affected Hesitation Marks, with his soundtrack collaborator Atticus Ross on board for added measure. Straying from his industrial roots, Reznor constructs a
that come straight off his 2010 film score, even down to crescendos of repetition before concluding with suddenly dim ambience, signalling that the band are not peering into greatest hits, rather morphing from their most previous efforts. This new stage in the career of industrial rock’s king is a sober reflection upon a dark past of morbidity and addiction, accepting the present as equally daunting in terms of being true to the self. Once the glitch overture of The Eater of Dreams sets the mood, Copy of A does not sound like the upbeat celebration of a recently married father of two: “I am just a finger on a trigger…/Doing everything I’m told to do/Always my intention…your atten-
cinematic, immaculately produced eclectic foray into country music, funk, African polyrhythms and R&B to exhibit a new scope on one of the most distinct bands in America. What harnesses the Nine Inch Nails sound is now Reznor’s voice, whilst the music explores the world over. Listeners might fail to recognise the once unmistakable all-out aggression that we associate with the earlier works such as The Fragile. On this, their eighth studio album, he unleashes these visceral moments as the finalizing punch on numbers including the enthralling Various Methods of Escape, or as the rusty distorted guitars on Came Back Haunted. Actually, this album borrows more from The Social Network soundtrack, rather than from any previous work in the NIN back-catalogue. There are recognisable motifs
tion/Just doing everything you tell me to.” Rather than seeking to recreate Hurt, Reznor addresses those who expect him to regurgitate past glories both lyrically and musically, fighting his corner and right to continue exploring new territories. The album is a wholly satisfying, often riveting dip into new waters; there are moments akin to Talking Heads, Massive Attack and even Grandmaster Flash that colour the darkened subject matter, without which NIN would be incomplete. By using stark contrasts, Reznor has actually created one of the truest records under his most iconic guise, highlighting classic glints of why so many people laud this band, while audaciously proving how relevant they still are to new forms of electronic music.
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WORDS BY MICHAEL LANIGAN
KEEP SHELLY IN ATHENS // AT HOME All dreamy ambience with an undercurrent of propulsive trip-hop beats, this debut from Greek duo Keep Shelly in Athens spirals and sways with impressive confidence. Their production (by a man known only as R ) has got that strange, epic and entrancing electronic sound topped off with sometimes saccharine, occasionally shrieking vocals from Sarah P that makes it all very reminiscent of The Knife — certainly, there’s a very discernibly European sound to it all. There are songs of longing romance (notably Oostende), moments of disarming dissonance (Room 14 (I’m Fine)) and even tracks that toy with the borders of rock music (Knife) but somehow there is a lush warmth that remains beneath the surface and melds their sound together as a whole perfectly. It is incredibly cohesive and thankfully never falls into the trap of becoming dull or too similar — instead it shimmers, glitches and glides, making for a beautifully diverse little pop TARA JOSHI album.
CHVRCHES // THE BONES OF WHAT YOU BELIEVE After several successful EPs, the Glaswegian trio CHVRCHES have set the stage, but the band are still dipping their feet in the water by offering a pleasing variety of songs on their debut album. At first, the winning formula seems obvious — rich, reverberating synth beats accompanied by Lauren Mayberry’s high-pitched melodic vocals to produce pacey, crowd-pleasing tracks such as Gun and Recover. Mayberry’s piercing voice allows for a spectrum of styles and experimentation on the record, from measured, poignant and quite minimalistic Tether, to rapturous and distinctively pop Lungs. Iain Cook and Martin Doherty’s lead singing in parts of the album feels rather flat (an exception being the shoegaze-influenced You Caught the Light). The album is a strong statement of intent from a collective who have not yet found their niche amongst the electro-pop community. SERGEY ALIFANOV
REVIEWS
DIANA
OLIVER HIRSCHBIEGEL FILM Going into this film I had already read that Hasnat Khan, Diana’s alleged lover described it as “completely wrong” and based on “cruel lies” as neither he nor Diana ever spoke about their relationship. The question is then can the film at least present the viewer with an engrossing and emotional story even though it has no basis in fact? The simple answer is no. The film is based on the book Diana: Her Last Love by Kate Snell, and stars Naomi Watts and Naveen Andrews as Princess Diana and Hasnat Khan. Focusing on their relationship during the last two years of Diana’s life, the film hinges on the chemistry between these two; sadly, they have none. Diana falls nearly instantly in love with this man and one is left perplexed as to why. This is not the actors’ fault as the real problem in this film is the script. Every exchange that aims to be romantic and insightful is either pretentious, ludicrous or occasionally both. In one scene, Diana walks through a hospital and inquires what it is like to perform a heart surgery for ten hours. Hasnat pauses in contemplation and tells her, looking deep into her eyes, “You don’t perform the operation, the operation performs you.” The dialogue in scenes such as this is soap operatic at best and jarring and distasteful at worst. One of the other constant annoyances in this film is the editing. Great editing is something you do not see; when it is good, scenes will flow from another, allowing you to concentrate on the film with
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no distractions. In Diana, the film can change location so quickly and abruptly it leaves you wondering why certain scenes were even included. It feels clunky and disturbs the flow of the movie, taking you out of the experience. Regardless of these issues, the film fails at a most basic level: The viewer never really feels like they come to know who Diana was as a person. Some of her major relationships with the likes of Prince Charles and her children could have been focused on more but are almost entirely glossed over. Her rebound with Dodi Fayed implies a manipulative streak to make Hasnat jealous but even that is never fully explored. The film occasionally captures her loneliness and the feeling of captivity by the paparazzi but it is not enough to give a real insight into who she was. They may put Naomi Watts in her clothes, give her the right hair and recreate famous images but she is never really Diana. Oliver Hirschbiegel created a defining biopic in Downfall, but Diana indicates that it may be time to explore other genres. WORDS BY COLUM HOLLAND
THE ARTIST & THE MODEL
K E L LY & VICTOR
FILM It is never quite explained to us why Fernando Treuba’s latest film The Artist and the Model needs to be in black and white. As the movie opens with a wide shot of a lone man sitting pensively at a table, espresso cooling below him, we find ourselves wondering, “When exactly is this film going to start?” This niggling impatience will never leave us, for the film proceeds to meander joylessly for the much-too-long two hour duration. The plot of this film isn’t hard to predict — an aging artist works with a young model and finds within her supple curves a renewed inspiration. Along the way he waxes philosophical about the nature of art, explaining to his wide-eyed muse that “no two leaves are the same” and other dictums so hackneyed that it’s a wonder Treuba even feels the need to express them. Unnecessary is, in fact, the mot du jour. The film is plagued with superfluous details, scenes that orbit around the central plot like pallid moons. And any relevant detail is spoiled — spoiled by the yet again unnecessary pervading pretentiousness that refuses to let up. This apathetic, uninspired feature builds up to an ending that is meant to be openended and mysterious, but instead seems senseless and hollow. This film could only be recommended to those who enjoy stretched out episodes of art house posturing.
FILM Kelly & Victor opens with quivering camera work and warped whispers that seem to swirl around inside the speakers. The quiet chaos of this establishing shot is tense and piques our interest. It is a perfect overture to this thrilling and subtly drawn out film about two people brought together both to their joy and to their detriment. Kelly (Antonia Campbell-Hughes) and Victor (Julian Morris) first appear as two blurry silhouettes as their eyes meet across a crowded club. There’s an instant spark, and it isn’t long before the two embark on a torrid and dangerous love affair. Their relationship oscillates between sweetly innocent — gambolling up stairs, grazing each other’s hands and elbows in chaste, affectionate touches — and intensely sexual. Director Kieran Evans skilfully keeps the audience on the edge of their seats by never maintaining a steady pace – slow, low impact scenes showing the lives of the two young protagonists apart only engender a deep yearning to see more of their explosive interactions. This slow burner of a film will at times will raise more questions than it answers, but ultimately Kelly & Victor will linger in your thoughts for days after viewing.
FERNANDO TRUEBA
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KIERAN EVANS
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WORDS BY EVA SHORT
ISSUE ONE // 29
REVIEWS
BREAKING BAD
HOT ON THE
B OX 1
TV With many TV shows, such as Lost, it has seemed that the writers barely knew what the next episode would bring. With Breaking Bad, Vince Gilligan gives us the impression that he has known from day one every step of the way. The first four and a half seasons have built up to these final eight episodes. This is it: all the pieces are in place, and from here on out, we are in freefall, clueless as to what is in store for us. Gilligan has maintained a constant climax ever since we flashed forward (yet again) to see Walt, dirty and desperate, casually uttering “Hello, Carol” to his old neighbour. We are teased with inklings of the future (the ricin, the hint towards Walt’s crimes being public knowledge, or the harrowing sight of him wearing a coat that looks a little too similar to Jesse’s). But these hints are not enough for us to fathom what might come to pass in the final three episodes. One thing we can postulate is that either Jesse or Walt will die. Their relationship was always heading for disaster, and now Jesse is done with Walt’s manipulation. He very nearly leaves, before (remarkably and somewhat unbelievably) realising that Walt was the one to poison Brock. And here in the past few episodes, we see their raw animal hatred for one another as they rush to violence. This is far from when Walt fatherly cradles Jesse upon the death of Jane, only a year before. Jesse will see Walter pay, and will die before he lets him escape justice. Through this relationship we see just how everything has changed. Since Breaking Bad returned in August, we have seen the culmination of Walter’s actions and how they have affected those he loves. Skyler, who all the way back in season one was concerned with the mere thought of her husband smoking marijuana, is now encouraging him to murder Jesse. As she
says, “What’s one more?”. Marie might have been a thief, but until now she would not for a second have demanded that a family member commit suicide. Hank becomes darker with each episode, breaking bad in his own way. His actions in finding Walt are entirely illegal, and it seems as if he would go to any length to catch Heisenberg. These characters have changed utterly in the past few episodes, and as Breaking Bad hurtles towards the finale, we have no idea what anyone is capable of. But we do know what Walt is capable of. Even now, after all his crimes, some people (including myself ) cannot help but root for him to succeed. There are others who want nothing more than to see Walt rot. For them, he is, as Jesse says, “the devil.” But the morality of Breaking Bad is confused even further in ‘To’haijiilee’ when Walt tells Uncle Jack and his family not to come to his rescue. When they inevitably do come, Walt screams with an emotion we have never seen before. He has been caught, the infamous Heisenberg, and though with this development he could escape, his first thought is the safety of his family. Gilligan achieves a perfect balance between protagonist and antagonist, with many of the audience rooting for Heisenberg’s downfall, and the rest hoping that he escapes. Then again, perhaps he wants to be caught. After all, Walt begins the show as a sad, pathetic man, regretting his past with nothing but death in his future. With his cancer now back, he is sure he will soon die. Perhaps now, more than anything, all Walt wants is recognition, and to go down in history as Heisenberg, the greatest meth cook to ever live. Thankfully, we only have three weeks to wait.
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MONDAYS // NETFLIX UK WORDS BY ALEX BALL
Brooklyn Nine-Nine // The Lonely Island’s Andy Samberg stars in this The Office-esque comedy about a slacker cop whose laid-back approach to the badge is threatened when a new Chief of Police enters the precinct determined to introduce stringent new rules.
2 Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D // Joss Whedon’s highly anticipated sci-fi drama resurrects the oncethought deceased Agent Coulson and gives us a closer look at the government agency featured in Marvel’s The Avengers and their task of protecting “the ordinary from the extraordinary.”
3 Dracula // If a Dracula film isn’t enough for you, Sky Living and NBC will be bringing you a series that follows the iconic character to Victorian London (played by Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) where he seeks revenge on those who wronged him in past centuries.
REVIEWS
KINGDOM HEARTS REMIX PS3 FILM For long-time fans of the Kingdom Hearts series waiting for the third core instalment, an HD remaster of the original game and its first two spin-offs is perhaps not what they were looking for. However, from the first frame of its opening cutscene, it is clear that Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix is one heck of a remaster. Even those gamers with a dislike of Disney and Square Enix’s cartoony, JRPG lovechild should readily admit that, visually, this game is stunning. Eleven years after its original release, the textures are crisp, the colours clearer than ever, and, over the course of 1.5 Remix’s three(ish)-game package, it’s unavoidably apparent that nostalgia can certainly be gorgeous. Yet aside from updated graphics, what does this package include? The meat of the bundle is made up of Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix, the first game in the series, but with a slew of added bonuses that were originally seen solely in the Japanese release. These include cutscenes, content and bosses, adding a deeper understanding to the complicated storyline the series is known for. Slight tweaks have also been made to the mechanics to sync it up with those of its sequel, Kingdom Hearts II, and the aforementioned exquisite graphical updates. Following Final Mix is Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, the GBA-to-PS2 sequel spanning the time period between KHI
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T H E T E S TA M E N T O F M A RY COLM TÓIBÍN
FILM Colm Tóibín’s latest offering, The Testament of Mary, shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker Prize, tells a quiet tale and sweeps behind the scenes of myth and memory to recover a single voice, a recovery of truth. The protagonist at the heart of this story is Mary, a name significant across many traditions, almost synonymous with Mother, who traces the dust-tracks of memory to unearth what is real; how her boy “became a man and left home and became a dying figure hanging on a cross.” The novel, at 30,000 words across 104 pages, has become the slimmest work to be shortlisted for the Booker, with the Chair of this year’s judging panel, Robert Macfarlane, claiming to be “drawn to novels that sought to extend the possibilities of the form.” And it is our familiarity with this story that makes for its strangeness — a little book that questions the big book of faith and long-standing tradition. Moving “quietly within the four walls” of her house in Ephesus in the aftermath of the crucifixion, a mother mourns the loss of her unnamed son, recounting her impossible experience to the two men who come to collect her words as a record of this unhappy time which they wish to celebrate in their writings. In a stark and often cynical voice, we hear a woman rise against the words that are being fed to her by men, and in the so-called “ambiguous light,”
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and KHII. It, too, features the visual updates, though it retains its “fun and strategic” (read: insufferable) card-based battle system. Also included in the console-shift to the PS3 are new trophies to be unlocked throughout both games. Unfortunately, the bundle ends on a disappointing note with the inclusion of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. Following the announcement of 1.5 Remix, it had seemed that 358/2 Days would be a full, playable game with remastered cinematics, much like Re:Chain of Memories. What buyers will receive instead is an approximately 3-hour movie, made up from the game’s cutscenes, but with no actual gameplay. While Days is not considered the pinnacle of the Kingdom Hearts series, it’s disappointing to see the potential for a great addition left seemingly as an afterthought. Long-time fans of the series will love this bundle, even with the Days let-down, and the younger generation that considers the PS2 “old school” will perhaps discover a rich, new series to explore. For gamers invested in the series, hopefully 1.5 Remix will fill the void until the eventual release of Kingdom Hearts III, whenever that may be. WORDS BY EMMIE TAYLOR
tell a truth observed “in the doorway, in the shadows where no one noticed me.” Her recollections of the “misfits” her son brought to her table, the hucksters, salesmen, water-carriers, fire-eaters and purveyors of cheap food, whose willingness to follow in a time of turmoil and change made a man “filled with power.” She is remorseless in her reading of power, patriarchy and human politics as she deciphers the nature of the events in which a man had been made to die “spayed out against the sky on a hill so the world would know and see and remember.” Yet it is our memory that Mary refutes, our assertions she questions, the world of men and the world of power she de-robes. The starkness and precision of Tóibín’s narrative gives rise to a strong voice whose “woman’s notion” speaks out against the men shouting in the night. Tóibín masterfully sheds light on a deeply flawed humanity, a crowd of misfits in and of itself. Tóibín’s Mary is indeed no madwoman in the attic, and it is the scope of this novel in the realms of the interior that best qualify it to open up the form, bringing one back to the small room in which memories in exile roam freely. THE TESTAMENT OF MARY (VIKING) IS NOW AVAILABLE IN BOOKSHOPS . WORDS BY ROSIE O’DOWD
ISSUE ONE // 31
7 DAYS FRI
CULTURE NIGHT CITYWIDE Voted last year’s Irish Times No. 1 Culture Night venue, the setting for James Joyce’s “The Dead” is our top pick for this year’s Culture Night. Visitors to the House of the Dead will get a chance to see the dining room in which Joyce set the famous meal of Gabriel’s epiphany and check out the ancient letterpress printing presses as Dubliners reaches the 100th anniversary of its publication. The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland in the South Georgian Quarter is being temporarily turned into a pop-up museum exhibiting the history of radio, featuring a variety of recordings of song, story and speech from the past 100 years. Another highlight of the night is the Edible Art installation at the Doorway Gal-
lery, where visitors can enjoy a unique exhibition of palatable sculptures and paintings from Irish bakers and confectioners. The RTÉ Concert Orchestra will give an exclusive performance in Meeting House Square of a specially commissioned fanfare by Belfast-born composer Stephen Gardner. Those put off by the commotion of the action-packed programme can seek tranquility at an intro to meditation classes at the Dublin Buddhist Centre or enjoy a recital of Choral Evensong at St Patrick’s Cathedral. Throughout the evening, Dublin Bus will be providing free buses every 20 mins between the city’s various cultural quarters with music and spoken word performances along the way. MM.
SAT 21 ST
SUN 22ND
DISCO DAZE TWISTED PEPPER
INREALLIFE LIGHTHOUSE CINEMA
Disco Daze celebrates its first birthday in the Twisted Pepper on the 21st September. Over the past year they have played host to most of the best Irish DJs on the scene such as Mark Alton, Lil Dave, Frank B, All City, Subject and many more. Expect the best in boogie, funk and disco all night in the basement. The line-up looks special with 4wrd Grad, John Mahon, Joey Cardiff and All City. Wish the boys a happy birthday on their Facebook page and get in for €8 on their cheaplist.. LM.
InRealLife takes us on a journey from the bedrooms of British teenagers to the world of Silicon Valley. Director Beeban Kidron suggests that rather than the promise of free and open connectivity; young people are increasingly ensnared in a commercial world. Kidron builds his case and asks if we can afford to stand by while our children are being outsourced to the net? The Lighthouse cinema will screen the film from 1pm, followed by a satellite panel discussion broadcast live from the Ritzy cinema in Brixton and hosted by Jon Snow with director Kidron and special guests to discuss the issues raised in the film. EM.
IN DUBLIN M O N 2 3 RD TU E S 2 4TH WE D 2 5TH TH U R 2 6TH
KAPH 31 DRURY STREET
AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D ABC
BONDAX BUTTON FACTORY
DUBLIN DIVIDED: SEPT 1913 HUGH LANE
If you haven’t had a chance to drop into Kaph, one of the latest additions to Dublin’s prospering coffee scene, this would be the time to do so. The space, which opened back in June, is at once a delightful cafe and a pop-up gallery, home to the innovative art project “Making Space.” Kaph offers various artists residency on the first floor above the cafe, where they produce, exhibit and sell their work, starting at €10. In addition to art appreciation, the cafe specialises in excellent pastries and the superb HasBean coffee, brewed over at 3FE. With friendly staff, interiors that nod to Scandinavian minimalism and a great ambience, this is the perfect spot for a quiet coffee after the first day of class. MM.
Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) of Marvel’s Avengers returns to lead the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D - a covert peacekeeping unit, which investigates supernatural activity around the globe. Joss Whedon’s TV spin-off to his massively successful 2012 superhero blockbuster is remarked to deliver impressive special effects, a diverse and well-developed crop of characters and classically deadpan Whedonesque dialogue. Having already received a standing ovation for the pilot at San Diego Comic-Con and the award for “most promising new fall series” at the Teen Choice Awards, Whedon’s new show for ABC is one to watch for Marvel fans and Whedonites alike. CO.
Straight out of Lancaster, Bondax, the talented teen duo behind some very exciting, innovative electronic productions are hitting up Button Factory on the 25th. Perhaps best known for their slick edit of ‘No Diggity’ as well as the smooth house vibes of ‘Baby I Got That’, George Townsend and Adam Kaye are making waves in the UK dance scene. With their debut album on the horizon and new track ‘Giving It All’ out 22nd September, this is looking to be a special night and might well be the last chance to catch the Bondax boys before they make it big. TJ.
For the centenary of the Dublin Lockout, a number of galleries have seized the opportunity to mark the occasion. Among these, the Hugh Lane promises a perfect mix of education and aesthetic experience. Incidentally, the history of its establishment was intimately interwoven with the Lockout and its main protagonists. The show will contain portraits of many key individuals, works by artists who became involved in the dispute and evocative illustrations of life in Dublin at the time. The impressive list of artists’ includes names such as John Lavery, Sarah Purser, John and Jack B. Yeats, Casimir Markievicz, Auguste Rodin, Sarah Cecilia Harrison, Maurice MacGonigal and Louis le Brocquy. GP. UNTIL 2 FEBRUARY 2014. FREE ENTRY
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Susan FitzG era ld , actor.
“WHEN THE CONSULTANT INFORMED FITZGERALD OF THE LITTLE TIME SHE HAD LEFT, SHE RESPONDED, ‘YOU POOR THING, HAVING TO GIVE ME THAT BAD NEWS’.” Susan FitzGerald, who died at the age of 64 on September 9th, was as familiar with the Dublin theatre scene as her family line would suggest. She was the niece and goddaughter of Geraldine FitzGerald, the film and broadway star from Wicklow. Other relatives included playwright Dennis Johnson and actor Tara FitzGerald. To dwell on her lineage, however, is to do an injustice to the personal brilliance of her career which was largely centred around the North Side’s two major theatres, the Gate and Abbey. Notable performances were seen with her understanding of Beckett and Friel but she reached far beyond the Irish repertoire, with casting roles in Zola (Madame Raquin), Dickens (Great Expectations), Stoppard (Arcadia) and Ibsen (Hedda Gabler). Her film and TV roles were overshadowed by her prevalence on stage, but included Angela’s Ashes, The Serpent’s Kiss and Fair City. The Minister of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan, called her the ‘pre-eminent stage actress of her generation’. Spending her early years in Leicester, the eldest of six children she was educated at Evington Hall convent school. The family moved back to Ireland when she was aged ten after her father took over a GPs practice in Kinsale — Susan and her sister remarkably commuted back to boarding
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school, keeping their same Latin teacher for their final exams. Her subsequent time reading English, Philosophy and History at Trinity were undeniably formative years as she met her husband-to-be Michael Colgan who would go on to take over as artistic director at the Gate. Other peers and friends included a prosperous Players’ contingent including Frank McGuinness, Chris de Burgh and Paolo Tullio. Marrying in her twenties, the couple had three children, Sarah, Sophie and Richard. At the funeral last Wednesday, Sarah said that their mother “taught all three of us what it is to love unconditionally, [and gave us] the gift of great confidence.” Her acting career continued while raising her children. Despite distraction, she believed and once said that “great actors have to live and eat and breathe their craft”, and she did. Travelling to play May in Footfalls as part of Colgan’s Beckett festival in New York, 1996; London, 1999; and finally filming it in 2000. She expressed a need for balance in the Irish woman’s dedication to their children and careers, no longer an either/or. Her tenderness would always win over in the end however, she once told the Independent “if I had a choice and one thing had to go, I would turn down the play, film, whatever. But I still think that was the right decision.”
Her prolific career showcased a woman of great elegance and wit; one critic wrote of her Beckett role, “Fitzgerald was particularly powerful in her ability to vocalize the soul’s angst through the musicality of her world-weary voice.” This was one of her most unsung qualities, the power to understand and present tragedy without desperation. Her pure reason and generosity in the face of tragedy continued to the end. Staff who were alongside her as her health deteriorated in the fight against cancer spoke of the understanding and humanity she displayed during her last days. When the consultant informed FitzGerald of the little time she had left, she responded, “You poor thing, having to give me that bad news”. Respect of her legacy will undoubtedly be carried on in the Dublin arts community, especially by the many friends who showed their support last week. The attendees at her funeral in Rathgar express the loss of one of the most deeply loved actors in the country. Guests included Brian Friel, Garry Hynes, Jeremy Irons, Sinéad Cusack, Stephen Rea, Frank Kelly and Fiach Mac Conghail of the Abbey. She was a woman who both shocked and soothed many through the display of the weariness of the world’s tragedies. WORDS BY HENRY LONGDEN