tn2, Issue 5, 2013-14

PAINT THE TOWN

WARPAINT TALK TO TN2 ABOUT THEIR NEW ALBUM.

WOMEN IN GAMING

IS GENDER EQUALITY IN THE INDUSTRY CHANGING?

TWO ISSUE FIVE

OPENERS

QUAY TO THE CITY ART Wood Quay Standing just outside the towering Civic Offices on Wood Quay, Michael Warren’s abstract sculpture runs no risk of going unnoticed. Erected in 1994, the same year that the controversial building project was completed, the sculpture goes some way towards reconciling the medieval past of the place with the uncompromising modernism of the architecture.

Wood Quay, in fact, was the centre of Viking Dublin, and remains of the Viking city were discovered beneath the site when the building development began in the 70s. Warren’s structure in red American cedarwood and Portuguese limestone evokes the awe-inspiring scale and the powerful elegance of a Viking ship, as if emerging from its underground burial. It is nevertheless an abstract sculpture, and its form is allusive rather than representational. Despite its size, the structure appears to be gracefully balancing on the low steps of the ramp which serves as its base, lifting up two of its bottom corners, rather than firmly planted in the ground. The lines of the joints between the wood planks follow the gentle curve of the side surfaces before directing themselves straight towards the sky, strengthening the vertical emphasis of the sculpture, much like the vaulting ribs in a Gothic cathedral. Coming down from the heavens, one’s eye catches the accumulated marks and scratches which now pattern the blackened wood, returning viewers to the business of everyday life and sending them on their way again.

GABIJA PURLYTĖ

WATCH YOURSELF

GAMES The watch is an interesting case study in terms of design and technological improvement. Fundamentally, the wristwatch has stood the test of time remarkably well, with almost every watch following the same basic shape and function — a testament to a useful, comfortable and well-designed accessory.

It has, however, been subject to pressures over time. More recently, there has been a push towards producing watches that can show more and more information — dates, other time zones, alarms, second counters. Opposed to that, designers such as the famous Dieter Rams have been pushing for watches that go back to basics, and display the time in a remarkably clear fashion.

As the era of the smartwatch appears to be dawning, we can see that battle of philosophies beginning again. Samsung’s Galaxy Gear, the companion smartwatch to their phones and tablets, occupies the former space: it’s large, contains a whole variety of information and features (including a camera), and, as a result, has poor battery life. The idea of charging a watch on a daily basis is certainly a new one, and is arguably very unappealing.

Meanwhile, Pebble’s watches focus primarily on telling the time, and communicating that information at a glance. Of course, it has a number of other functions, including the ability to receive iPhone notifications, but its focus on a few primary features echoes that of the famous Braun watches from the 1970s, and so is not bogged down by trying to do too much at once.

What’s key about a watch, and what no smartwatch has managed yet, is the personal statement that it offers. The huge variety of watches available mean that they go beyond being a tool to being an expression of individual style. Smartwatches have yet to reach both that level of ubiquity or choice, and it will be interesting to see if the character of traditional watches can be captured by the newer ones.

CHRIS ROOKE

HOLLYWOOD NEW AGE

FILM The Hollywood New Age that began roughly with the seminal 1967 releases Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate, witnessed a sudden and tragic death when 1980’s Heaven’s Gate was released to disastrous criticism and a box office take that contributed to the collapse of United Artists. In that thirteen-year span however, this movement (often referred to as the American New Wave), spearheaded by directors such as Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma and Francis Ford Coppola, and executives including Robert Chartoff (Rocky) and Robert Evans (Chinatown, The Godfather), saw the release of challenging, dark, post-Watergate films financed fully by the studio system. Although the individuals involved were by no means independent filmmakers, they eschewed conventional storytelling techniques and placed emphasis on often unlikeable protagonists (Travis Bickle, Benjamin Braddock) and open-ended conclusions. Surprisingly, audiences flocked, perhaps intrigued by the movement’s gritty portrayals of life. The Godfather became the first modern blockbuster while directors like Sidney Lumet (Serpico) and Miloš Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) were able to secure unprecedented grosses while never once compromising their artistic integrity. The studio’s utter confidence in these auteurs would never be replicated, the closest modern equivalent being the relationship between Warner Bros and Christopher Nolan, but while it lasted the Hollywood New Age came to represent the perfect marriage of commerce and high art.

EOIN McCAGUE 4 // TN2MAGAZINE.IE

OPENERS

FRONT SQUARE FASHION

Front Square Fashion has been desperately trying to pin down this illusive Sophister for months. His signature style of sharp-edged Scandinavian minimalism, paired with a carefree touch of accessible intellectualism, screams panache. When we finally tracked down this don of the arts-block, predictably, we were not disappointed. From the sturdy black boots to his thigh-skimming green parka, the foundations of this look are built on practicality. This is expertly offset by the flirty deep V of his jumper, contrasted with a crisp, virginal white shirt. This creative-writing student is playing the roles of both Rochester and Jane Eyre, Mr Darcy and Elizabeth, and frankly, we like it.

LITERARY MILESTONES LITERATURE January 27 1837 Pushkin is fatally shot in a dual On January 27, 1837 Alexander Pushkin was shot by one Baron George D’Anthès. The Russian author had grown jealous of the baron’s perceived flirtation with his beautiful young wife Natalya Goncharov. Provoked by spiteful gossip in the court of Tsar Nicholas I — including an anonymous letter that mocked him as “Mr Alexander Pushkin coadjutor to the Grand Master of the Order of Cuckolds” — he challenged the baron to a duel of honour. Both men were wounded, but the bullet in Pushkin’s abdomen proved fatal and he died two days later at the age of 37.

Considered the Russian equivalent to Shakespeare, Pushkin was a founder of modern Russian literature. His verse novel Eugene Onegin was described by Nabokov as “the first and fundamental Russian novel”. He also wrote some of the most famous Russian love poems, such as K***, whose exquisitely nuanced language has famously confounded translators for centuries. Interestingly, it was inspired by another woman — Anna Kern, by most accounts — and not Natalya Goncharov, the woman at the heart of the dispute that led to his death. D’Anthès, who lived until 1895, would later reveal that he had, in fact, never had relations with Goncharov.

LILY NÍ DHOMHNAILL

BRUNCH OF THE WEEK TABLE

FOOD Situated on the banks of Portobello’s Grand Canal, The Table restaurant offers one of Dublin’s more sophisticated brunch experiences. Founded by the owners of the nearby (and better known) Lenox Street Café, The Table is a hidden gem that goes widely unrecognised beyond its local clientele. Offering a fine dining experience for midweek lunch and dinner, weekend brunch is a more casual affair in this neighbourhood eatery.

ISSY THOMPSON

BROWN PAPER BAG PROJECT Trinity // 9% abv.

DRINKS The Brown Paper Bag Project is breaking the trend in how craft beers are normally produced.

With no fixed abode, they travel across Europe collaborating with friends and like-minded brewers to create an interesting and diverse range of limited edition beers. Trinity, conceived in a microbrewery north of Brussels, is a Belgian style Tripel, limited to 1200 bottles. Its 9% alcohol content is both surprising and easily forgotten upon tasting, with a light body and slight punch fueled by the champagne yeast present in the beer. Like champagne, Trinity is a beer you’ll be happy to relish, rather than drink at pace. With another beer on the way, expect bigger and even tastier things from the Brown Paper Bag Project in the future.

AVAILABLE FROM CELTIC WHISKEY SHOP

CONOR DALEY

The Brioche French Toast with Crispy Bacon and Maple Syrup (€9.50) demands the attention of any sweet toothed diner. While The Table certainly provides some great staple brunch items, guests will be rewarded for delving further into this varied menu.

The Lamb Burger served with Red Onion Chutney, Tzatziki and Fries (€14.50) is the highlight of the offering while the Pork Belly Confit on Toasted Sourdough is exceptional value at €9.95. Good value food, calming surroundings and attentive staff makes this an ideal location in which to pass a lazy Sunday afternoon.

CIAN CLYNES

ISSUE FIVE // 5

OPENERS

SOUNDS OF THE CITY

MUSIC Kingston has long been associated with the world’s most renowned reggae artists. Everyone from Bob Marley to The Congos to Max Romeo have recorded albums in the city and Lee Perry’s infamous Black Ark Studios. Established in 1973 in Perry’s back garden, the studio saw a steady stream of reggae royalty until its destruction in the early 80s.

Despite the studio’s relatively primitive set-up, Perry’s recording genius ensured that the studio’s recordings were some of the most sonically innovative productions to come out during the second half of the 1970s. One of the biggest developments to come out of Black Ark was Perry’s overdubbing technique. Using a 4 track mixer, he would overdub layers of sound effects onto the various instrumental and vocal tracks with such a degree of precision that Jamaica’s other top producers could not compete with his sound, despite possessing much better equipment such as 16 track mixers.

While Perry’s recording techniques may have been strange, they undoubtedly produced results. Doing things such as burying a microphone in the base of a palm tree and tapping it to produce a bass drum sound or getting Watty Burnett to sing through a cardboard tube covered in tin-foil to create a mooing sound, all led to Perry being regarded as both an innovator and an eccentric. He viewed his studio as a spiritual place, and would often throw fluids such as whiskey, blood and even urine into his tapes to enhance their spiritual properties.

However, a while after he recorded The Congos classic debut album, In The Heart of the Congos, Perry began to become even more erratic with his behaviours. He allegedly covered the walls of the Black Ark in indecipherable writings before burning the studio to the ground in an effort to cleanse it from the “unclean spirits” that he believed to be populating it. Others speculate that he burned it down as he was being blackmailed by gangsters who wanted a share of the profits from his productions. Whatever the cause, upon its destruction a cornerstone of Kingston, and the world of reggae, was lost. Shortly after this, Perry moved to Switzerland, and then London where he continued to make music, but none of it has quite matched the material of the Black Ark era.

LIAM MAHER

UPPERS & DOWNERS

AMERICAN APPAREL’S MANNEQUINS GROW PUBIC HAIR // Weird how one person’s naturally-occurring body hair is another’s fashion statement, but it’s cool to see a major brand “invite passers-by to explore the idea of what is ‘sexy’ and consider their comfort with the natural female form”.

LUPITA NYONG’O // The consistently chic Kenyan beauty made a stunning debut in 12 Years a Slave (her first on-screen role!) and is quickly emerging as a style icon, featured in Miu Miu’s Spring 2014 campaign.

WE CAME TOGETHER // Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd star in a rom-com parody, set to premiere at Sundance later this month. Check out the You’ve Got Mail piss-taking clip online.

VERSACE VERSACE VERSACE // The FW2014 menswear show was teeming with rodeo flair, from horse-shoe brooches and lariats to assless chaps with bandana-printed briefs. When asked about the daring look, Donatella declared, “My CEO told me I had to show a lot of product.”

OSCAR SNUBS // Inside Llewyn Davis cruelly snubbed for Best Original Song. Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks and Robert Redford completely shut out.

Nothing for Fruitvale Station. James Franco’s spectacular turn in Spring Breakers painfully ignored. Perhaps the most glaring snub — how on earth was Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa considered more worthy for Best Hairstyling and Makeup than American Hussle?

RTE IN A PANTI TWIST // Irish gay icon Panti Bliss (Rory O’Neill) censored after speaking out about homophobia in Ireland on The Saturday Night Show.

JEZEBEL // The feminist blog offered a $10,000 bounty for unretouched photos from Lena Dunham’s Vogue shoot, under the guise of shaming their photoshopping job. What it actually shows is a blog profiting off the same voyeuristic objectification it’s supposedly fighting against.

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ULTRA HIGH DEFINITION PORN // Porn company Naughty America are currently developing technology to “give viewers the ability to feel like they’re really there”.

COMING OF AGE. “OLDER MEN HAVE AN INCREDIBLE AWARENESS AND UNDERSTANDING OF A WOMAN'S BODY THAT CAN ONLY BE GAINED WITH AGE.”

W

hat age are you?”

“Twenty!”

I could practically feel my chirpy innocence shining through my eyes at him. Let’s call him Phil. He was 35, 15 years my senior. When he was learning to drive, I was learning to walk. A sexual relationship with him provoked in me a thrilling sense of the forbidden. He was far too old for me; there was no future in it — why was I so keen?

For the older individual there seems little question as to why they are interested.

Young is beautiful; any magazine will tell you that. In our early twenties we’re fresh, limber and often enjoy being unattached.

But what is it about sex with an older man that proves to be such a strong draw for the younger person?

Stereotypes suggest that younger people sleep with older men only to be appreciated physically. When you think of this kind of relationship you often think of the wise, older lover, generous and willing to guide the young man or woman sexually. Is this what compels us to seek out and engage with the older man?

I asked a young woman who had had a sexual relationship with a man twenty years older than her. She said it was his knowledge of the female body that made the experience so fulfilling for her. "Older men have an incredible awareness and understanding of a woman's body that can only be gained with age. No matter how experienced a younger guy can be, the emotional connection he made with me was the result of his wisdom as an older man, not of the number of woman he'd slept with."

“WHEN YOU THINK OF THIS KIND OF RELATIONSHIP YOU OFTEN THINK OF THE WISE, OLDER LOVER, GENEROUS AND WILLING TO GUIDE THE YOUNG MAN OR WOMAN SEXUALLY. IS THIS WHAT COMPELS US TO SEEK OUT AND ENGAGE WITH THE OLDER MAN?”

In my experience this rung true. Phil showed no insecurity and with the confidence acquired from experience he saw no problem with asking what I wanted, creating an intimate, comfortable environment.

As he was my first older sexual partner, I did not know how “good” a lover he would be. So it cannot only be my cliched expectations of sex that caused me to get involved with him. How much of the attraction to the older man is psychological?

When I asked a friend about why he was attracted mainly to older men he laughed at me and said “daddy issues?” But how much truth is there in this worn-out psychological statement? My friend paused a moment to mull over the question before reconsidering: "They’re authority figures who make you feel safe and secure. They’re success-

ful and they know the world." In a way this is the same as when he laughingly said “daddy issues”. The attraction is psychological. It is obviously not that we want to make love to our biological fathers. But we like someone in a dominating position, and in the bedroom we like the idea of a protector, someone stronger, wiser and kinder.

With Phil, I enjoyed feeling youthful, maybe even a little subordinate. He could pull me towards him with one arm and speak with such confidence and authority that I felt I could trust him sexually.

It’s no secret that a big part of achieving the female orgasm is psychological. A woman engages in the fantastical element of her sexual experience just as much, if not more, as the physical aspects. By engaging in a sexual relationship with an older man there can be an element of fantasy fulfilment. The older lover is an authority figure, who we imagine is capable of both protecting us, and controlling us.

So by engaging in this fantasy of sex with an older figure are we fetishising these men? Looking for something a little forbidden, expecting them to live up to our clichés? We may expect them to fit a certain set of characteristics that we want from this experience, and this of course won’t always be the case. In every sexual experience there are both physical and mental aspects.

And the combination of these two holds much of the appeal in a sexual encounter with an older man. For me, Phil embodied both the physical and psychological perks of the experience, but sex with an older partner is bound to differ for everyone. One thing’s for sure though, age is more than just a number.

WORDS BY ALICE KINSELLA ILLUSTRATION BY GRAHAM HAUGHT WWW.GRAHAMHAUGHT.COM

MUSIC

THE RETURNED.

Since 1995, Mogwai have steadily been pushing their unique brand of what has come to be termed “post-rock” — a sound characterised by its dense, almost orchestral arrangements and use of feedback, drones and other recording techniques that lend the genre its distinctive sound. Now poised to release their latest record Rave Tapes at the end of the month, tn2 caught up with guitarist Stuart Braithwaite to discuss the band’s composition process, their longevity and the Scottish music scene in general.

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Since their inception the Glaswegian quintet have brought out eight studio albums, numerous EPs, and in recent years have composed the soundtracks for the French series les revenants as well as a documentary on Zinedine Zidane. Their music often moves suddenly from quiet, fragile guitar melodies to an apocalyptic cacophony of noise before gently retreating back to its original, peaceful state. At other times it is deeply atmospheric, with ethereal synth lines providing the backdrop for sporadic vocals which are put through various

effects until the human voice underneath them is unrecognisable. The band stick to their guns and release mostly instrumental music, with their original songwriting template still intact.

They have stated in various interviews that they hate being told what to do musically and this independent attitude has contributed to their longevity, something that many of their contemporaries didn’t have. Braithwaite admitted that this confidence in their musical product has resulted in them still being artistically viable and

MUSIC

“ONCE YOU GO DOWN THAT PATH WHERE YOU’RE COURTING PEOPLE BECAUSE OF POPULISM, BY THE NATURE OF POP CULTURE THE CROWD WILL HAVE ALREADY MOVED ONTO SOMETHING ELSE.”

relevant, as the “bands who really listened to the A&R guys had a very boom-andbust career. They had one or two records and then people lost interest as they were pointed in a very populist direction.” This is a dangerous road to go down in the world of pop culture, where musical trends do not tend to last for too long, and audiences are fickle. Mogwai have steadily resisted this process, as “once you go down that path where you’re courting people because of populism, by the nature of pop culture the crowd will have already moved onto something else. And I think that could be a factor with us, it probably has contributed to our longevity.”

When it comes to composing, the individual band members usually demo songs that they have written themselves before

bringing them along to a practice session to rehearse them as a full band. This creative process encourages musical innovation and experimentation, something that keeps the band’s sound from becoming stale. For Rave Tapes, this process remained largely unchanged. However, according to Braithwaite for this record, the band “improvised a lot of the arrangements and more parts in the studio than usual”, something that “forced us to think on our feet a lot more”.

This process adds a degree of urgency to the new album that has not been present in their past few projects.

This commitment to their composition process and their original musical vision has not led to stale material, however. One of the most interesting cuts from Rave Tapes is Repelish, which has a spoken word piece alerting listeners to the subliminal Satanic messages hidden in records and various other conspiratorial notions. This sermon fits in nicely over the top of a textbook slab of Mogwai atmospherics. The original spoken word piece was done by an American radio personality, and was placed on a jukebox in keyboard player Barry Burn’s pub in Berlin — a jukebox whose tracklist was chosen by none other than Geoff Barrows of Portishead. Braithwaite elaborates, “[w] e tried it on the song and it worked out well but we didn’t end up using the original one because we didn’t know who did it and we didn’t want to get in trouble. So we got our friend from Chicago to copy it.” One of the things the first time listener of Rave Tapes will notice is the number of songs with vocals on them, something that has only been present sporadically on previous Mogwai albums. Another notable Mogwai trait on the new record is the ever present emotional edge of its material. Braithwaite says “I think our music has always been quite emotive, it’s something that happens quite naturally, and I think it’s a lot to do with the types of music that we’re drawn to. It’s not something that we’re ever really conscious about, it’s just omnipresent.”

The emotive element of the group’s music has seeped into their soundtrack writing especially, something that seems completely natural for a band such as Mogwai to do, given their propensity to fit in such dense emotional and atmospheric elements into their tracks. When it came to writing the score for Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait and les revenants, the composition process again remained relatively unchanged. The only discernible difference that Braithwaite pointed out to me was logistic in nature, the fact that “there are other people in the mix. You also have to

keep the director and film people happy. It’s just adding someone else into the process.”

This type of music is strangely at home in Scotland. Previous goliaths such as the Jesus and Mary Chain were well adept at crafting songs that were irresistibly catchy, but underneath this sugar coated pop song was often a highly depressing message.

When asked about the Scottish scene and the more downbeat music that tends to come out of it, Braithwaite says: “I’m sure it’s not a happy coincidence. I don’t think Scotland is unique in that aspect. I think it’s something to do with the Scottish mentality that brings that out. Maybe it’s an outsider thing.” Growing up in a Scotland that was quite marginalised “brought out a lot of great things in the arts and maybe it just snowballed from there.” Having predecessors such as The Jesus and Mary Chain was important for Mogwai’s generation as they saw that a band from similar backgrounds could “go on to make really great music and tour the world”, as well as showing many young groups “that this aesthetic could be viable.”

This aesthetic has continued to be viable, but Scotland’s musical output is not limited to downbeat shoegaze or instrumental music. Braithwaite was keen to point out that the Scottish scene is becoming bigger by the day, with electronic music in particular undergoing a huge surge in the past few years: “[A]nd it’s not just people making cool underground records — people like Hudson Mohawke produced one of the biggest records of last year. I think that will inspire another generation of kids to go and make music too and show that you can go from djing in a bar to making millions of pounds and selling millions of records.”

As well as electronica, the band scene in Glasgow has moved from strength to strength — something that Braithwaite has been keen to keep up with for future releases on the band’s label, Rock Action Records: “I think the fact that Glasgow has a tradition of music, and people moving here because of the music and to study specifically has influenced the scene. So there’s a constant influx as well of people that grew up here, and people moving here.”

As we wind down our conversation, Braithwaite jokes that the reaction to Rave Tapes “has been really good, and no one has said anything mean. I presume it’s either a mass dose of politeness or that people like it.” The latter is certainly the case, and bodes well for Mogwai in 2014, a year that will no doubt see them going on to write and release further interesting projects.

WORDS BY LIAM MAHER

ISSUE FIVE // 9

LITER ATURE

VERS(E)ATILE. MAUD SAMPSON SPEAKS TO UK SLAM POETRY CHAMPION, HOLLIE MCNISH ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA, MOTHERHOOD AND THE STATE OF RHYME IN TODAY’S SOCIETY. It was never Hollie McNish’s intention to share her poems out loud. “I always just wrote poems for myself, to sort things out in my head,” she claims. Yet in 2009 she became the UK Slam Poetry Champion and third runner up in the World Slam finals in Paris. She has gone on to perform at a host of festivals including Glastonbury and WOW Festival, and her commissions include Radio 4 Woman’s Hour, the Tate Modern and, most recently, the Dove Self-Esteem Project. Unafraid to confront contemporary and often contentious issues, including immigration, race relations, pregnancy and the chemicalisation of our food, McNish is situated at the forefront of modern spoken word and proof of the continued relevance and ever-evolving nature of contemporary poetry.

While she uses social media as a platform for her work (she is a YouTube sensation with her poem Mathematics having over 1.6 million hits), McNish is foremost a live spoken word artist; her lyrical tones, quick wit and sharp stage presence ensure her poetry is most powerful in front of a live audience. She is a counterexample to the common charge against modern poetry slams, that they reduce poetry to a competitive sport, explaining, “There are hundreds of competitions for written poetry too. For novels. For everything. I think there are so many types of poetry, so many ways of presenting it and reading it and performing it and there’s space for it all, just like there’s space for 5 million forms of music and performance.” She sees them in much the same way as she sees hiphop: “People diss it because all they see is chart stuff, a lot of which is quite onesided, not so lyrical and pretty misogynistic, and often racist or violent. But that doesn’t mean the entire genre of music is the same as that. I think it’s the same with slams.”

Her poetry reveals a social and political awareness. Having a young daughter has ensured the disposition of motherhood and “our weird obsession to separate

little girls and boys stuff — books, toys, even food and drink packaging” feature predominantly in her current work. Furthermore “the issue of voting, spying and freedom of speech I find really interesting and worrying. And migration.”

She champions gender equality through poems such as Cupcakes or Scones — an attack on the societal pressure for women to remain young-looking — and Embarrassed, named by the Huffington Post as the new anthem for women breastfeeding in public. Refreshingly honest, she is happy to call herself a feminist: “Of course I am. I was able to study, I have my own bank account, my husband no longer has the legal right to rape or beat me. I’m honoured to live in a place and a time where people have fought for that stuff. I think it’s rude to then dismiss it like we do. I do find it interesting that I get labelled a ‘feminist’ poet above all else, when I write equally about women, immigration, nature. Being a feminist doesn’t mean you put women’s rights above all else. I also hugely support children’s rights for example. Being a feminist is one part of all of that.”

She was recently featured as MTV’s Kick-Ass Chick of the Week, a channel notorious for playing music videos objectifying women in a way she is deeply critical of. She outlines her contradictory feelings towards this, “I don’t love MTV. I don’t love the word ‘chick’ even.

But I have nothing against the person who wrote that article and am really flattered and honoured to be included in it. I love a lot that MTV does. I hate a lot that it does.” She explains the challenge of negotiating autonomy within the modern media system patronised by advertising companies and corporations: “Things are complicated. I went viral because of YouTube. Again, a channel supported mainly by advertising revenue, which also plays videos where people crap in boxes and film it. I don’t endorse that!

MTV is the same. In fact most media, most funding is tangled into this whole system.” She is aware that compromises

must be made and paradoxes of commercial success embraced in order to reach a wide audience, knowing that it is too easy to make generalising assumptions about the media today. “Thousands of people work for these organisations. I think people are too black and white about many things like this. No one asks me what I feel about being on Channel 4’s Random Acts for example, or performing at sponsored festivals. But it’s much the same.”

Despite her wide-ranging success, she is no stranger to criticism, much of which has been very personal: “I’ve been called all sorts of names by people, been accused of hating white people, hating my own family, of hating men, of hating breasts, of being a slag, of being a prude, of sleeping around, of not being able to get a man.” Yet she has the strength of character to ignore the crass and irrelevant comments, remaining open-minded enough to take criticism in her stride: “My poems are just my opinions and not everyone has the same opinions, thankfully. People close to me tell me to switch off YouTube comments, but I like that open platform, it’s the one good thing for me about social media, it cuts slightly through the media hierarchy. I want to read the comments, I want to learn, and if something is argued against, I want to know why. I change my opinion all the time as I learn and talk and discuss stuff. And I learn a lot from those comments, good and bad.”

McNish’s future projects include an album of 15 poems, a book of her diary entries related to being a parent (“I have always written my diaries in rhyme, always”) and a collection of poems for children. On top of this she runs poetry workshops in schools, youth centres and secure units across the UK using poetry as a tool for social change, particularly amongst young people. Of all the opportunities her work has opened up to her, she cites this as the best: “It’s exciting to hear new poetry and to get younger people involved in expressing themselves. I love that part of my job.”

ISSUE FIVE // 11

A CASE OF WINE D. Joyce-Ahearne talks to artisan wine and calvados producers about bringing back French methods to Ireland ALL ILLUSTRATIONS BY ALICE WILSON

D R I N K

“I MAKE THE WINE IN A VERY SIMPLE WAY. I DON’T HAVE HIGH-TECH MACHINES, APART FROM A MACHINE TO CRUSH THE GRAPES AND THEN THE PRESS. IT’S ALL VERY TRADITIONAL. I LET THE WINE DEVELOP ITSELF.” Ireland can proudly boast perhaps the most important contribution to the world’s drinks cabinets of any nation.

Guinness and whiskey are international commodities and Baileys, poitín and Irish coffees are among the most widely recognisable symbols of our culture. Throughout history, our diaspora, one of our other noted claims to fame, has spread the Irish penchant for fermenting anything we can get our hands on. Hennessy Cognac was founded by Irishman, Richard Hennessy in 1765. When France’s best wines were classified in the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855, two estates, Château Léoville-Barton and Château Lynch-Bages, were, as their names suggests, originally Irish enterprises.

Today we’re seeing somewhat of a role reversal. Instead of the Irish going abroad to try their hand at non-native brews, the drink is now coming to us. Alongside the growing experimentation with traditional Irish alcohols through craft culture, there is now an apple brandy being made in Cork along the lines of the esteemed Calvados brandy, while Irish wine is being produced in Lusk, just north of Dublin.

At Longueville House in west Cork, Michael O’Callaghan planted vines and began making wine but stopped in 2000. He replaced the vines with 20 acres of Dabinett and Michelin cider apples. Giving up on wine, Michael made the leap to apple brandy. His son, William, continues his father’s work on the estate today and produces Ireland’s only vintage apple brandy. “We wanted to make an apple brandy because apples grow well in the Blackwater Valley whereas grapes don’t; it’s all down to the weather.

There is little if any difference in the method of production between what we do and the way Calvados is made.”

O’Callaghan harvests the apples every autumn and they are crushed and pressed in an oak cider press located in the cider house on the grounds. After the crushing process, the pressed juice is naturally fermented into cider, which is poured into pot stills and distilled into an apple brandy.

The brandy is matured in French oak barrels for four years and, as it ages, it draws out the tannins from the wood, resulting in a rich, dark-coloured 40% liquor.

On the other side of the country in Lusk, Co. Dublin, David Llewellyn is making his own wine. He currently produces around three hundred bottles a year but having recently planted more vines he hopes to produce over a thousand bottles from next year’s harvest. After studying Horticulture, Llewellyn’s first experience of the wine-making process was working on a small estate in Germany where the grapes were grown and the wine produced on site.

At Llewellyn’s Orchard, Llewellyn runs a similar operation. His grapes, mostly black (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Rondo, Dunkelfelder) are grown both outdoors and in polytunnels. Beginning in the late eighties, he experimented with various grape varieties seeking short season,

early maturing grapes that could grow in the Irish climate.

Though white grapes are usually better for cooler climates, Llewellyn is making more red wine. He found that the German grape Rondo works best in Ireland’s cool short summers and could set fruit and ripen.

While Rondo is a hardy grape that can be planted outdoors, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot could never ripen in the open without protection due to their heat requirement. These are planted outdoors but are covered during the growing season and the polythene covers keeps the wind and rain off so the grapes can ripen nicely.

The grapes are hand-picked in late-September to late-October, depending on the year. Whereas traditionally wine is pressed in a basket press, Llewellyn uses a rack and cloth press, usually used in the production of cider.

Having been crushed, the grapes are layered on cloth between layers of racks that are then pressed. Llewellyn uses oak chips to “oak” the wine; the wood is added to influence the flavour as it ages. The wine is then bottled on site.

“I make the wine in a very simple way. I don’t have hightech machines, apart from a machine to crush the grapes and then the press. After that, I don’t filter it, I don’t have a centrifuge [for clarifying the wine], I don’t have any sterile bottling facilities. It’s all very traditional. I let the wine develop itself.”

Grapes grown in a hotter climate will be higher in sugars and in certain tannins resulting in a wine that is more full-bodied, higher in alcohol content and deeper in colour. In a colder climate like Ireland, the grapes don’t reach the same level of sugar and this is what shapes the tastes of Llewellyn’s wines. Given the climate then, Llewellyn explains, Irish wine “is relatively light, fruity, not terribly high in alcohol, 12% is what I’d normally have.” Although the taste is comparatively weak in contrast to robust continental wines from a warmer climate, Irish wine is not without its positives. The Schönburger/Sauvignon Blanc blend has a pleasingly interesting bouquet and is a great, complex wine. The Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot blend was also very pleasant, if a little on the light side.

Irish wine is an experiment and still a work in progress.

Though he will be producing more next year, it’s not Llewellyn’s intention to go into wine production full time as it’s too risky. It’s expensive to make and this is reflected in the price of €40 a bottle. As Llewellyn said himself it’s a niche market but anyone in Ireland interested in wine should really try it to see what the terroir in their back garden can produce.

BOTH LONGUEVILLE HOUSE APPLE BRANDY (€34.99) AND LLEWELLYN’S LUSCA WINE (€39.99) ARE AVAILABLE AT THE CELTIC WHISKEY SHOP & WINES ON THE GREEN ON DAWSON STREET.

ISSUE FIVE // 13

SKIN DEEP.

Following Kate Moss’s recent fortieth birthday, it is perhaps fitting to reflect back on her illustrious career. The supermodel burst on to the scene in the early nineties with startling aplomb, purveying a toothy smile and a nicotine habit. Twenty years on, Moss is the woman who has everything, and it seems there is no stopping her. In 2012, Moss went as far as to reveal, in a rare interview with Vanity Fair, that she herself is a work of art. She has an original Lucien Freud tattooed onto her lower back; two swallows inked by the artist himself, who reputedly used to tattoo his fellow sailors during the Second World War, using only ink and a scalpel. “I mean, it’s an original Freud,” mused Moss, “ I wonder how much a collector would pay for that? A few million?”

As usual, Moss is at the forefront of a trend, embodying the great shift in the way that tattoos have come to be regarded. In recent years, they have been appropriated by the figureheads of the fashion world and experimented with in the world of art.

In Amsterdam there is a tattoo museum, whilst in 2000 Spanish artist Santiago

Sierra held an exhibition in which he tattooed four heroin-addicted prostitutes.

Tattoos have entered the mainstream. In a survey recently conducted by the Guardian, 1 in 5 adults are now inked — 29% of adults between the ages of 19-44 now have a tattoo. Previously the domain of those attempting to transgress the norms of society — punks, bikers, angst-ridden Slipknot fans — tattoos have now lost their shock factor.

In fact, they are becomingly increasingly highbrow. Disregarding Wayne Rooney — who has “Just Enough Education to Perform” across his arm — contemporary tattoos are frequently delicate etchings of obscure symbols or coded messages. Freja Beha has one that reads “serendipity is life,” whilst another, scrawled across her neck, denotes the world “Float”. Angelina Jolie, the don of celebrity tattooing, has one that is so intimidatingly academic that it is practically indecipherable. The tattoo somehow combines a Tennessee Williams quote with the Arabic word for ‘determination’, which is attached to the coordinates of her child’s birthplace.

Yet, despite the karma-related, pseudo-academic aspects of contemporary tattooing, it has not lost its edge. Tattoos are still seen to be sexy — and they sell.

Male model Ricki Hall is covered in them, and reputedly has a coffin marked into his forearm, which he is steadily filling with the names of various ex-girlfriends. Cara Delevigne spent the majority of last year persistently tweeting pictures of her growing collection, posting multiple pictures the lion she had tattooed on her finger. Gisele Bunchden has a shooting star tattooed on her wrist in memory of her Grandmother; whilst Zayn from One Direction explained the meaning behind his latest tattoo in an eloquent tweet that read, “For every1 asking what the new tatt means it says be true to who you are.” Even the latest advert for the feminine, decorous fashion house, Valentino, pictures a pair of very masculine forearms, swathed in a sleeve of intricate tattoos, clutching a pair of women’s sandals.

Tattoos have become the playthings of celebrity culture, and the focus of discerning sales teams, because they possess a

permanent aura of creativity, the lasting appeal of timeless individuality. For many, tattoos are now something to aspire to rather than to avoid — a token of personal flair, a marking of originality. Tattoos, then, are not merely a badge of style; they transcend the superficial world of fashion. They enable us to form a sense of identity in a changing world we do not fully understand.

If society really is becoming more uniform, tattooing remains a way to hold onto a part of yourself, to retain an element of colour in a world that some believe is becoming increasingly grey. In an interview with the Guardian, tattoo artist Sean “Woody” Wood tried to explain the power of tattoos, the innate vitality that they can provide: “A tattoo gives you something to live for,” he asserts, “A tattoo offers you something personal and fun and exciting in a world that can be drab… People’s souls are crying out for that. Tattoo’s are great for… getting up in the morning and looking in the mirror and thinking: look at that! A work of art, in progress.”

This idea of progress is fundamental to an understanding of the lasting power of body-art, for it challenges the traditional argument that is pitched against tattooing.

As we get older, we get uglier. Gravity is victorious — our skin sags. Tattoos become stretched, distorted, mutated. But this is a somewhat superficial perspective. For who, as they become older, has not made bigger mistakes or has bigger regrets than getting a tattoo? Who does not have bigger respon-

“TATTOOS TAKE HEED OF THE LESSON LEARNT IN THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY: WE CANNOT CONCEIVABLY STOP TIME. TATTOOS CHANGE AS WE CHANGE; THEY ARE SMALL REMINDERS OF WHERE WE WERE, AND WHO WE USED TO BE.”

sibilities or fears? There is something remarkable about the permanence of a tattoo, which becomes both a reminder of a more carefree time and a mark of progress.

Tattoos take heed of the lesson learnt in The Picture of Dorian Gray: we cannot conceivably stop time. Tattoos change as we change; they are small reminders of where we were, and who we used to be.

In a recent interview, Marc Jacobs spoke particularly poignantly on the subject of his tattoos, scorning the notion that he might reject them in times to come. He has an extraordinarily unique collection, including a picture of SpongeBob SquarePants on his arm, and a sketch of Elizabeth Taylor sporting 3D glasses — images that might seem strange and laughable to outsiders.

But to Jacobs, they are a reminder of his creative legacy, a constant souvenir of the processes he has undergone in his personal and professional life over the years. For Jacobs, they reflect the ideas behind his fashion collections, but beyond that, they are a collection of art within themselves.

Jacobs’s tattoos, in their eccentricity, represent the fundamental power that tattooing holds in the modern world: they are fun, they are unique, and they show that, although we may not have access to Lucien Freud, we can all be artists.

WORDS BY ISSY THOMPSON ILLUSTRATION BY ALICE WILSON

ISSUE FIVE // 15

THE COST OF SUCCESS.

TN2 TALKS TO JOHN WELLS, DIRECTOR OF AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, ABOUT BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN ARTISTIC CREATION AND COMMERCIAL SUCCESS. When it comes to awards contender August: Osage County, one man’s name is on everyone’s lips. Unfortunately for director John Wells, it’s not him. For the best part of a decade, Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein and the Weinstein Company, distributors of August: Osage County, have played a major role in the Oscar race. Despite two consecutive best picture wins (for The King’s Speech and The Artist) and a string of commercial successes, public opinion has soured. In countless articles, it has been claimed that a Weinstein Company picture is not so much an artistic statement as calculated product tailored to appeal to the tastes of the Academy and the white middle class. They’ve discovered a formula that has repeatedly assured critical and commercial success — pleasing visuals but nothing threateningly “arty”; big name recognition and a familiar plot. August: Osage County seems to conform to the established paradigm. Based on Tracey Lett’s acclaimed play and with a star-studded cast (Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewen McGregor to name but a few), there’s no graphic lesbian sex or extended whipping scenes here. So where does John Wells fit in? Is his role akin to that of the journeyman director working under the studio system, obligated to conform to already established stylistic conventions? Or does his passion for the material run deeper than Weinstein’s detractors would have you assume?

As Wells tells it, Weinstein looms large in August: Osage County’s journey from stage to screen. Indeed, his involvement in the project stemmed from a lunch meeting with the producer. “I’m with Harvey Weinstein and he asked me about an actor ... He said ‘He’d be wonderful in August: Osage County and you should direct it.’ And then we went onto something else as Harvey often says things like that. I get back to my office and my agent called and said ‘So you’re directing August: Osage County?’” he recalls. “That’s Harvey. He has instincts about things and he follows those instincts so I was glad I was on the receiving end of it.” Speaking with the quiet confidence of a

Hollywood insider there’s no doubt Wells knows how to play the game, having played it for over 25 years. While he made his directorial debut in 2010 with The Company Men, Wells is best known as a television producer whose credits include ER, The West Wing and the US remake of Shameless. When asked whether his background in production affects his role as director, he is candid, pre-empting a few critical barbs that have been launched at him since the film premiered. “I occasionally get to be what I call ‘the good boy director’, where I’m more concerned with getting the day [shot].”

While it’s clear that Wells is at home in the realm of money men, he is also concerned about the art. Exhibiting an almost reverential devotion to preserving the emotional power of the play, he and Letts spent 18 months adapting it and constantly revised the screenplay during filming. It’s the story of a dysfunctional Midwestern family who are forced to come together in the home of shrewish matriarch Streep after the disappearance of her husband. When asked about the experience of shooting on location in Osage County, he expressed a desire to capture the specificity of the often overlooked state. “There’s a desolate beauty to Oklahoma that is rugged and austere and isolating,” he remarks, “[The actors] interacted with people who lived there and heard the language, the way people speak which is not really Southern. It’s much more Midwestern and individualistic. I think that was all essential to building this sense of place . . . and giving the audience the sense of going somewhere they hadn’t gone before.”

An integral component of Lett’s play is the family house itself, an imposing two-storey set that looms large on the Broadway stage. The 100 year old house used as the main location similarly became the centre of the film, both on and off camera. “It allowed us to have this place that came to be the home for the family, that we all felt was the home,” he explains. “The actors actually drove every day towards this house so it’s like returning home.” While Wells

generally speaks of the stellar cast as an ensemble, Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts are the clear stand-outs, their portrayal of the central mother/daughter conflict having garnered them both Oscar nominations.

“The language is dense and complicated.” he admits. “There’s no day you can come to set and have it be an easy day. They brought craft and professionalism.”

So what does Wells see as the defining statement being made by August: Osage County? “The basic fabric of the piece is about family. . . For generations people had lived in one place and there was a societal way in which everyone took care of each other; the children took care of the parents and the grandparents, and that has collapsed in the United States,” he explains.

“When events happen in the family, you’re suddenly confronted with these questions of who is going to look after the parents and how can we work together as siblings when we haven’t been around each other for years. You think you’re one thing and you walk through the door and you’re suddenly that person you were when you were 13, 14 years old, expected to sit in the same chair at the table.”

In his emphases of the socio-economic underpinning of the narrative, Wells reveals his firm grounding in the material, a quality both admirable and damming. Blame it on auteur theory; we’re used to seeing directors as grand visionaries who occupy a ephemeral sphere removed from the specificities of film production. Wells was able to recall the exact cost of the Oklahoma house that features so prominently in his film. Yet, there’s something very refreshing about his lack of pretension and genuine gratitude for the opportunities he has been afforded. The composition of directorial fraternity is not unlike the crowded dinner table that features prominently in August: Osage County in that it features many distinct individuals united by a common purpose. With the support of Weinstein, there’s nothing stopping John Wells from pulling up a chair.

WORDS BY SARAH LENNON GALAVAN

When The Fool, Warpaint’s debut album, first arrived the press was not primarily focused on their music. Instead, the spotlight was directed on the fact that they were an all-girl band, shrouding their musical identity in convoluted Californian comparisons and trivial stories about celebrity boyfriends. Their newly-released second album is self-titled, which suggests the band have a newfound certainty and self-confidence in their sound; something that will rightfully propel the stories to concentrate on the music. Certainly for drummer Stella Mozgawa, the final addition to the band’s line-up, this second album was the first chance to work on songs from the ground up, and the title accordingly implies a sense of finality in their identity. All swirling, low-key, woozy guitars and airy yet sultry beats, Warpaint’s sophomore LP is ultimately a more refined, grown-up affair than their slightly less ambient debut. In addition to Mozgawa’s more assertive presence on this album, the development in their sound more generally is perhaps unsurprising given that the band have existed for ten years, with their first album coming out all the way back in 2010.

Speaking via a somewhat shaky phone line from her hotel room in New York, during a week of press before the band’s lengthy world tour, Mozgawa contemplated the notion of living up to the hype of their first album. “I think that we were lucky,” she starts, before pausing to consider, “If we were The Strokes or something it would be different. I can imagine the amount of pressure that would be put on a band like that because they had a very particular

style and it was released at a very particular moment. In a way they had a kind of contextual importance whereas we had more freedom and less expectation.” With that said, it was after the release of The Fool, and the critical plaudits that came with it, that Warpaint were selected as part of the BBC Sound of 2011 long list — the same year as nominees including the likes of James Blake and The Vaccines — which might suggest that the drummer’s response is more than a little modest.

As regards the writing process itself, it is implicit from Mozgawa’s influence on this album that the band write collaboratively.

The song-writing process works in various ways, Mozgawa explains, “Every song is different — there’s no one formula. There’s basically two ways that songs tended to be written for this album.” While the first way was more traditional, with the band working on songs together, “the other way was that one person would write a song and then eventually bring it to the band and see how we like it. Then we’d obviously hone it.” The drummer went on to say that writing songs was not, strictly speaking, something they keep entirely separate from touring. “We try and write while we jam and stuff like that. But generally it does seem to be something that we do separately from touring.”

Given the length of time between this and their last release, she noted how the past two years in particular had been spent working consistently on the new record, “This album has been a pretty all-encompassing experience. We always learn from our previous mistakes, so we look at things

M U S I C we feel that passed us by or things that we want to do differently the next time around — every time we write it’s a more refined experience.” With that in mind, Mozgawa describes what the band tried to do differently this time. “I think just…making space…having a focus. The first album had something kind of teenage about it, but this one just felt a little more mature.”

Discussing personal influences for her drumming on the new album, Mozgawa mentions a particular interest in hip-hop, “Like, J Dilla — his album Donuts was a really big influence on my sound for this.”

ticular loyalty to Los Angeles. “I wouldn’t say it’s had a particular effect on our sound,” Mozgawa says after some consideration. While it would be easy to pin this notion down to the fact that the drummer is in fact from Australia originally, that guitarists and vocalists Theresa Wayman and Emily Kokal both grew-up in Oregon might suggest that LA has never had quite the immersive effect on Warpaint’s music that is often assumed.

The band’s geographical location is not the only thing which the press seem determined to focus on, by virtue of the fact that

“WE ALWAYS LEARN FROM OUR PREVIOUS MISTAKES, SO WE LOOK AT THINGS WE FEEL THAT PASSED US BY OR THINGS THAT WE WANT TO DO DIFFERENTLY THE NEXT TIME AROUND — EVERY TIME WE WRITE IT’S A MORE REFINED EXPERIENCE.” It is an influence you can definitely hear when listening to the new tracks, with that light, fluid style of beat permeating nicely throughout the album — particularly on tracks like Hi, which has an undeniably hiphop sound.

The album was produced by Flood, perhaps known best for his work with artists such as U2 and PJ Harvey. Bringing Flood in for the second album was an exciting opportunity which the band leapt at and Mozgawa describes working with the seminal producer, in a word: “Amazing”. She explains, “He approaches every single project in a different way — he doesn’t have a particular sound. We just liked where he was coming from.” Flood’s presence is certainly in evidence, with the sounds of studio effects being far more discernible on this album than their first, overall allowing for a greater sense of an experimental vibe.

Even lead single, Love is to Die, which is by far the most obviously commercial track on the album, is rife with a sleepy, spacey atmosphere which seems to go further than any of the vaguely shoegaze sounds on their first LP. Disco Very has an almost psychedelic sound with its drawn-out bass line and somewhat disorientingly strange tempo.

For many bands, the influence of their location is incredibly important, and from the amount of press labelling Warpaint as part of an LA or Californian music scene, it is surprising that the band do not feel a par18 // TN2MAGAZINE.IE

Warpaint are an all-female band, there is, of course, a tendency to pigeon-hole them and concentrate more on their gender than their music. This is a sentiment that Mozgawa agrees with, as she notes, “I mean, some people just naturally, if they haven’t heard the music or if they haven’t come to see us play, they’ll just look at us on paper and say, ‘Oh, this is a band like Haim’, or someone like that — like, Sky Ferreira or whatever. I’ve seen so many different comparisons that are just not relevant, at all.” If there was a slight frustration to her tone when she described this, Mozgawa still seems fairly resigned to just accepting the situation, “It’s really just the way that other people react to your music, you can’t really control that.”

From talking to Mozgawa, the sentiment that Warpaint are assured as to their identity at album number two seems very much apparent. Whereas The Fool had the media murmuring irrelevantly about allgirl bands, boyfriends and California, their eponymous LP is a record that sets things straight and makes it clear as to why it is their music should be at the forefront of the discussion. With its airy beats, whimsical lyrics and beautiful, reverb-heavy melodies, the decision over the album name makes sense: album number two is definitively Warpaint.

WORDS BY TARA JOSHI ILLUSTRATION BY ALICE WILSON

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD. TN2’S EMMIE TAYLOR ANALYSES THE ROLE OF GENDER IN THE GAMING INDUSTRY, BOTH ON-SCREEN AND BEHIND IT AND LOOKS TOWARD A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR WOMEN IN GAMES.

T

he discussion of gender inequality is often an issue that sends the masses spiralling into fits of outrage or bouts of disgusted eye-rolling. Unfortunately, within the realm of video games it is also a subject that can’t really be ignored. From the advent of Mario and his incessant need to rescue Princess Peach who was always in another castle, to the quest of the mythical “nude Lara Croft” cheat, to the complete and utter shock at finding out that Metroid’s Samus Aran was a woman the entire time, video games have always been rife with issues of gender. Whether it is in relation to the female characters within games, or the women creating and playing the games themselves, the gaming industry can no longer escape the fact that it is undeniably sexist.

When considering the roles of women working within the industry, one has to look no further than next-gen consoles PS4 and Xbox One, and the publicity surrounding their releases. Following numerous reports of women — booth babes, journalists and PR personnel alike — being verbally threatened and even groped at E3 this past year, the convention now has a new nickname: “Creepy-Rapey-E3”. While many might think gross behaviour at conventions is reserved for the more vocal jerks of the world, the startling reality is that some of these reports involved convention staff, and even male writers and journalists. These were not simple acts made by hormonal, teenage idiots, but rather professionals within the industry.

Worse still is that the companies themselves are not only condoning sexism, but perpetuating it. Sony’s two-page commercial promoting the UK release of the PS4 read: “Apologies to Rosie, 22, from Middlesex. Today’s page 3 is for the players.”

Their joke was not only in reference to the “players” pun, which insinuates only males can play video games, but about the ad’s placement; page three of The Sun is usually reserved for a topless model. Microsoft also jumped on the sexist bandwagon by publishing a letter on their website meant to encourage non-gamers to try the Xbox One. Unfortunately, the letter’s first line read: “Hey honey, not sure if you’ve heard, but Xbox One is now available. That means we can start playing games like Dead Rising 3. I know, I know. You’d rather knit than watch me slay zombies.” The letter has since been taken down and apologies have been made, but the bitter aftertaste remains. All in all, 2013 was certainly not the best year to be a woman in the gaming world.

Within the games themselves there is also a great disparity, particularly when examining the differences between male

G A M E S and female protagonists. It is telling that, while Sam Fisher and Gordon Freeman are known for being complex and interesting characters, Lara Croft and Tifa Lockhart are more famous for their cup sizes than their accomplishments or personalities. Also, in the 2013 Tomb Raider release, Square Enix’s decision to include a quick-time event in order to escape an attempted rape — a threat that would never be considered for a male hero — sparked so much outrage from fans that it was changed into a less sexual throttling scene instead. Even Samus Aran was reduced to a cat-suit clad, baby-obsessed shadow of her formerly badass self in Metroid: Other M; and when a strong, fully-clothed female protagonist does emerge, like Final Fantasy XIII’s Lightning, she’s constantly subjected to complaints that she is simply a female version of Final Fantasy VII’s male protagonist, Cloud Strife. It’s difficult to be a female protagonist in today’s gaming world; one is either reduced to their physical attributes, or seen as masculine and uninteresting.

While the discussion of gender in gaming can often be a sticky issue to navigate, Bing Gordon, the co-founder and former Chief Creative Officer for Electronic Arts, and current member of the Board of Directors for Amazon, Ngmoco and Zynga, was kind enough to answer a few questions and provide insight into this history of gendered issues in gaming, as well as current efforts to mitigate these concerns. When asked about sexism within the industry, Gordon states, “I have found that most games targeted at females were created by fathers of daughters, partly because women didn’t want to take the seeming career risk. I believe that is changing, again, as a female audience becomes so important. At Zynga, the creative leader of Farmville is Maureen Fan, for example.” This demonstrates a shift within the industry to accommodate changes within gaming demographics — according to the Entertainment Software Association, women make up 45% of all gamers as of 2014. While Gordon could not speak for other companies, he made it clear that Zynga is pioneering a future with more opportunities for women within the industry through their Women at Zynga program, led by Fan and Meg Makalou, VP HR. Instead, in Gordon’s opinion, the “hardest issue is lack of females graduating with computer science degrees, since engineers make up 35% of game company population”. While the industry clearly has a long way to go in terms of closing the gender gap between its developers, as more and more women take positions of power within gaming companies, hopefully progress can be made.

Gordon also believes that with the huge growth of female audiences, these themes

“STILL, IT IS TELLING THAT, WHILE SAM FISHER AND GORDON FREEMAN ARE KNOWN FOR BEING COMPLEX AND INTERESTING CHARACTERS, LARA CROFT AND TIFA LOCKHART ARE MORE FAMOUS FOR THEIR CUP SIZES THAN THEIR ACCOMPLISHMENTS OR PERSONALITIES.” and disparities within the games themselves will change in time. He pointed out that, “before Tomb Raider, boys would not play females in games, but Lara Croft changed that. After about 2000, the ‘stigma’ of boys playing girls seemed to disappear. In about 2005, one report showed that 48% of female avatars in Everquest were actually played by males.” The Mass Effect series has also shown great effort at destroying gendered stereotypes in gaming, not only through the option to play as Female Commander Shepherd, or “FemShep”, but also through the options to carry out heterosexual or homosexual relationships throughout the games. While it is a bit disheartening that only 18% of Mass Effect players choose to play as FemShep, perhaps with her character finally featured in the trailers and on the box art for Mass Effect 3, this statistic will see a change in the future.

“My sense is that there has been more gender crossover since about 2000 in children as well as teens and adults,” says Gordon, and fourteen years later it seems that things are perhaps improving within the industry. Sexism still remains, and likely will for years to come, but any strides made toward more fair and equal representations of gender, both for women working in the industry and for portrayals of women within the games themselves, can only be positive for gamers, male and female, everywhere.

ISSUE FIVE // 23

F A C E S

NADEM REHMAN SHOP OWNER

BY MOLLY ROWANHAMILTON

ART // T EC H // MU S I C // F I L M T V // L IT E R AT U R E // GA M E S

REVIEWS

FEATURING SUPER MISS SUE

BY CIAN CLYNES

REVIEWS

SUPER MISS SUE

DRURY STREET FOOD & DRINKS The brainchild of John Farrell, the serial restaurateur behind some of Dublin’s most popular establishments such as 777, The Butcher’s Grill and Dillingers, Super Miss Sue aims to fill the void for a top-end seafood bar in the city centre. Sue is currently divided between Cervi: an Italian fish and chip shop that will stay open late into the night, and the main cafe bar that offers an inventive menu of seafood options that many Dublin diners will not have come across before.

On first glance at the menu, I was immediately lured to the Oyster shot, vodka bloody mary that finds itself among the starters. In the spirit of adventure, my dining partner and I opted for one each to begin proceedings. The oyster swims in a shallow pool of tomato vodka juice and resembled a concoction Bear Grylls would swallow on some remote tropical island. Our brave choice was rewarded by the brilliant combination of oyster and tomato sauce that balanced surprisingly well and wasn’t overpowered by intense spice and the mash of flavours which dominate many such cocktails.

For starters, I couldn’t look past the SMS Seafood Chowder while my partner went for the Battered Morsels, Clams, Cocktails and Mussels selection. My usual wariness of watery chowders was allayed by the presence of salmon and mussels sitting in the well-seasoned, rich, creamy sauce that arrived; one of the best chowders I’ve had in Dublin. The battered morsels selection came served in a simple metal tin topped with a lemon wedge and couldn’t compete with the chowder. Many of the morsels were

coated in excessive batter and lacked any great taste. She was left somewhat unimpressed by her choice.

Such was the scope of appealing options on the menu, settling on a main course was a near impossible task. Our choice was greatly aided by our waiter who demonstrated a significant comprehension of the kitchen’s offering — a welcome quality not always found in restaurants still finding their feet.

I opted for the cod, cooked a la plancha, while her selection was trout cooked in a similar fashion. The cod was presented simply on a bed of pine nut, raisin and butter sauce. This sauce was the culinary highlight of the meal. Its mild sweetness lent itself beautifully to the cod which came away at the touch of the fork. However, I found the portion size to be rather small, unaccompanied by an additional side; a minor criticism of an otherwise impressive dish. The trout was a more substantial offering, perfectly cooked and the highlight of her meal. Our only regret was not sampling more of what this menu had to offer. As our neighbours at a nearby table tucked into what was the most visually impressive seafood platter I have set eyes upon, I knew it wouldn't be long before I paid Sue another visit.

Opting not to indulge in dessert (which changes daily), our bill in total came to €51.50. Super Miss Sue is a welcome addition to the cluster of high quality but reasonably priced restaurants which comprise Dublin’s dining quarter. With a fine-dining restaurant, as well as a gin and Campari bar to open in the spring, one can’t help but feel that Sue has even more to offer.

WORDS BY CIAN CLYNES

II.1

26 // TN2MAGAZINE.IE

REVIEWS

VERA KLUTE: DEADWEIGHT RHA ART & DESIGN Currently in the RHA Ashford Gallery (dedicated to exhibiting artists who do not have commercial representation in Dublin) is the solo show Deadweight by the German-born, Dublin-based Vera Klute. Though quite small, the display is immediately striking in its variety, with works ranging from pencil drawing and oil painting to kinetic bronze sculpture and mixed-media installation. Klute not only displays admirable skill in handling each of her materials, but also, perhaps more importantly, exploits the cultural meanings they come charged with; our attitude to the sculpture of two headless chicken skeletons joined at the necks is inevitably modified once we read that the hot-pink enamel surface covers real chicken carcasses.

Klute's body of work is united by the same underlying question: it explores our perception of the outside world and of our place in it, treating reality not as an objective, external entity, but as an extension of individual subjectivity. Hitting the perfect spot in that delicate balance of funny and unsettling, the works play upon our expectations, establishing relationships which seem arbitrary on the level of everyday reality, but make perfect sense from the surrealist point of view with its dreamworld logic — it is somehow not that surprising that bronze teeth prosthetics begin rattling once approached, filling the gallery with a charming clickety-clack. The comic twist is extended even to the listings of materials used — visitors will be pleased to know that the aforementioned skeletons belonged to free-range chickens (indeed, why shouldn’t we care

II.1

CES 2014 LAS VEGAS

TECH The Consumer Electronics Show kicks off the year by showcasing some of the most interesting technologies that manufacturers think are going to take off, and some of the barmiest technological inventions around, in a sort of crazy competition for who can cause the most sensational headline.

While in the past the convention has been targeted towards the press, more recently many exhibitors have used it as a platform to garner mainstream interest in new products or advancements — and nothing says mainstream quite like Michael Bay. Despite their best efforts, everybody was upstaged by Bay, who himself left Samsung’s stage mid-endorsement after the teleprompter failed.

about the treatment of animals used in the art we consume?). In the description of another work, the term “found birds” invokes a much more specific personal experience that the commonplace expression “found objects” normally used to describe readymade objects incorporated into an artwork.

While each piece is interesting and engaging on its own, the impact is strengthened by the highly successful exhibition set-up.

Dimmed light and spot illumination create a hushed atmosphere perfectly suited for works which, in most instances, deal with the relationship between life and death. The centre of the show, both literally and figuratively, is occupied by an installation of taxidermy birds, which immerses the viewer in a paused movie scene — or in a three-dimensional version of a cartoon-strip image.

Vera Klute’s work is visually attractive, immediately impactful and accessible. Amusing, yet moving and thought-provoking, this exhibition is a wonderful addition to the first set of shows opened in the RHA this year, and is a definite point on the arts must-see list.

Until 23 February. Admission free WORDS BY GABIJA PURLYTĖ However, there was still plenty of interesting technology around.

Smartwatch company Pebble unveiled the Pebble Steel: a newly designed version of their wristwatch that uses higher quality materials, such as stainless steel and a leather strap. While the new version doesn’t include any features, it does encompass a more traditional watch design than its slightly clunky predecessor. It goes on sale for $250, and is certain to cause a stir; Pebble is widely considered to have the most complete feature set of any smartwatch currently available, and with a neater design, it’s bound to be of more interest to consumers.

While the Pebble Steel will be landing at the end of the month, the Oculus Rift won’t be hitting shores for quite some time. Unveiled at CES 2013, the Oculus Rift is a virtual reality gaming headset, that straps on to the user’s head and allows them to explore virtual worlds. The experience has been improved over last year’s model, with less motion blur and latency issues, and with an improved pixel count. The Oculus Rift team also showed off a new circular treadmill system that allows players to run around as their character while exploring the virtual world.

In the meantime, running around in real life might be a bit more interesting with a whole range of wearable fitness tools on display — mostly bracelets, which track movement, altitude and other data to calculate daily exercise. When you’ve finished doing that, you’ll be able to come home to one of 18 designs of Steam Machine gaming platform (built by a whole variety of manufacturers) plugged into your 105” curved Ultra HD (3840 x 2160 pixels) TV, as shown off

by Sony, Samsung, and LG — although Sony’s CEO Kaz Hirai predicted during the show that Ultra HD TVs aren’t going to take off for another six to eight years. If CES is anything to go by, 2014 is gearing up to be a year of wearables: with smart watches and fitness trackers on top of last year’s Google Glass, it’s likely that in twelve months time there’ll be a lot more people walking around covered WORDS BY CHRIS ROOKE in sensors.

ISSUE FIVE // 27

REVIEWS

STEPHEN MALKMUS AND THE JICKS WIG OUT AT JAGBAGS MUSIC If critics had not panned Weezer’s Pinkerton back in 1996, their follow-up efforts would likely have sounded more like Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks’ latest release, Wig Out At Jagbags and less like that nauseating excuse for a third album. That is not to say that Stephen Malkmus has mellowed to sell records, far from it in fact.

Really, it means that his post-Pavement outfit, on their sixth LP have bridged the gap between the pop punk sensibilities of early-Weezer and the volatile, unmarketable sound of Captain Beefheart.

The record opens with Planetary Motion which, one minute and four genres into pressing play, is indicative of how broad and eclectic Malkmus’

and intense psychedelic explosions on tracks such as Cinnamon and Lesbians bear all the hallmarks of 1960’s krautrock. However, to the bands credit, they do not mimic the sprawling jam sessions of these cult groups; instead boiling them down to far more effective three-minute songs, exemplified

by J Smoov’s dreamy outro.

Too often, we fear that musicians who begin with career-defining albums turn stale after two decades of relying on one beloved formula. Thankfully, this is not the case with Malkmus, who still proves that his idiosyncrasies remain untarnished on tracks such as Houston Hades and Scategories. While there are some shaky moments, notably Rumble At The Rainbo, at least

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EAST INDIA YOUTH // TOTAL STRIFE FOREVER Electronic artist William Doyle, known under the moniker of East India Youth, has been the source of music buzz ever since the release of his EP, Hostel, last year. His debut lives up to the promise of the EP, with its lush soundscapes that bring seemingly disparate electronic sub-genres together in one beautiful whole. Opening track Glitter Recession, with its melancholy pianos crescendoing into waves of synth, is particularly stunning. The fourpart Total Strife Forever tracks, interspersed throughout the record, create a sense of elegiac cohesion in the album; this epic feeling of atmosphere is enhanced by the almost wholly instrumental nature of the tracks. There are bursts of surprisingly brash techno in songs like Hinterland, juxtaposed with the more gentle moments of vocal harmony and almost festive, reverential vibes on tracks like Looking For Someone. Whilst perhaps not hugely innovative overall, Total Strife Forever encapsulates the best of contemporary popular electronic music.

TARA JOSHI

PIXIES // EP 2 influences are at present. My initial fear of listening to a forty-minute identity crisis vanished immediately, replaced with the thrilling prospect of a new and subtly diverse adventure into one of alternative music’s most intriguing and underrated songwriters. Without losing any of the attributes that make a Malkmus LP worth a spin, Wig Out travels beyond the comforts of indie rock, toying with grunge, soul, reggae, country music and brass packed codas, often with impressive results. Who says four piece guitar bands have to be dull?

Clearly taking influence from Can and Amon Duul II, it should come as no surprise to hear that Malkmus has championed German culture as an inspiration for writing this album. His wild leaps between simple melodies

they appear to come from ill-advised experiments, rather than laziness.

This represents an interesting stage in Malkmus’ career which, as opposed to being his classic loose pop chaos, is actually a more refined and rehearsed collection of songs. Unlike earlier Jicks albums, such as Real Emotional Trash, when Wig Out shifts into messy territories, it comes as carefully crafted dysfunction, rather than serendipitous moments. Much like late-Sonic Youth, he has mastered crowd-pleasing noisy moments, while still acknowledging that distortion alone cannot be artistically validating without harmonious contrasts. By challenging his own methods, here sits a fresh statement from a weird, but undeniably gifted musician.

WORDS BY MICHAEL LANIGAN

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The latest Pixies EP finds the band at a crossroads. Like EP1 which was released back in November, its follow up sounds like a band on autopilot trying, unsuccessfully, to recapture their old flare. Lead single Blue-Eyed Hexe has been described by singer and guitarist Frank Black as a better Gigantic, referring to one of the most revered songs on their debut album, Surfer Rosa. Resurrecting a group that have disbanded for years is always a dangerous move, and any new Pixies material will inevitably be compared to the band’s work when they were at their peak in the late 80s and early 90s. Their latest effort (bar Magdalena whose surreal poppy hooks work perfectly against the backdrop of sludgy guitars) sounds like rehashes of old hard-rock cliches, and one cannot help but think that the band’s reformation has run its course creatively. One hopes that their legacy will stay intact, despite their latest, mediocre efforts.

LIAM MAHER

REVIEWS

THE WOLF OF WA L L S T R E E T MARTIN SCORSESE FILM In Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, his fifth and most dynamic collaboration with Leonardo DiCaprio, has not arrived at the multiplexes with a whimper. Boasting a record-setting 569 usages of “fuck”, multiple orgies and enough drugs to “sedate Manhattan” the film was banned in Malaysia, Nepal and Kenya with 45 minutes cut from screenings in the UAE. Thankfully, Irish viewers will have the chance to experience all 179 uncut minutes of debauchery that easily ranks as Scorsese’s best film since Casino.

DiCaprio plays Jordan Belfort, who in the 90s founded a “boiler room” brokerage firm designed to lure in the wealthiest 1% of Americans under the auspices of an impressive name — Stratton Oakmont. Through a series of “pump and dump” schemes, Belfort and his band of merry men (including career-best performances from Jonah Hill and Jon Bernthal) steal from the rich, and spend the money in style. Perhaps wisely, Scorsese doesn’t exhibit the effect of Belfort’s swindles on his victims; instead his Wolf is a pitch-black comedy about the seedy underbelly of capitalism with a hidden moral centre that has outraged conservatives in America.

God help us, we’ve been conditioned for the longest time to believe that characters should be sympathetic and stories should find their conclusion using a moral compass. It is positively refreshing then that Scorsese, 71, portrays the frenzy with all the sort of coke-snorting energy, detailed depravity and manic camera movements we’d associate with a man half his age, while never once spoonfeeding the audience.

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DiCaprio throws himself completely into the role. In one astonishing set piece, completely floored by a massive overdose of Belfort’s drug of choice (Quaaludes), he crawls his way out of a country club, into his car and drives a mile down the road, all in order to stop Hill’s character speaking on a tapped phone. It is a classic piece of physical comedy that would make Jim Carrey and Jean Dujardin (here playing a slippery French-Swiss banker) sit up and take note.

Despite the confident performances, kinetic editing and assured directing, the film feels frantically long at three hours. Pushed back from its November slot to Christmas Day in the States in order to be eligible for the Oscars, Wolf carries the whiff of a hurried product.

Boredom is never an option when a master like Scorsese is the best he’s been in 20 years, and yet scenes often tick on a beat too long.

We are left with bloated sequences of depravity that serve character, but in no way plot. Conducted with a confidence unseen since Goodfellas, Wolf inevitably imitates too many of that masterpiece’s techniques, and while it is not necessarily a bad thing, the film at times leaves us watching Scorsese ripping off Scorsese.

WORDS BY EOIN McCAGUE

A U G U S T: OSAG E C O U N T Y

INSIDE LLEWYN D AV I S

FILM Tracy Lett’s 2008 Pulitzer Prize-winning play August: Osage County must be an actor’s dream. Mixing shades of Tennessee Williams, Samuel Beckett and Eugene O’Neill, I have no doubt that the interfamilial mix of melodrama and pitch black comedy, coupled with biting dialogue works wonders on the stage. As it stands, John Well’s slavishly faithful cinematic adaption falls flat on its face.

The film is not so much a drama about three grown up daughters (played by Julia Roberts, Juliette Lewis and Julianne Nicholson) summoned home after a family tragedy, as it is a chance for Roberts to out-screech her on-screen mother, Meryl Streep (clearly hamming it up, and not for the first time in recent years).

They are supported by Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Cooper and Ewan McGregor, but it is only the latter (playing the separated husband of Roberts’s Barbara) who truly leaves a mark. Indeed, in perhaps the most miscast role of the year, Cumberbatch is left stranded as the rather bland cousin “Little” Charles Aiken, clearly struggling with a mid-western accent.

Directing techniques that apply to stage do not necessarily apply to film. While some (Tarantino comes to mind) have mastered the nuances of elongated dialogue exchanges, it becomes apparent quite quickly that Wells is content to just turn the cameras on and let scene, after scene, after scene of pure, unadulterated acting wash over us, and never let us forget we are watching actors acting.

Frankly, the result is quite stifling, wooden and at times migraine-inducing.

WORDS BY EOIN MCCAGUE

FILM The Coen Brothers are known for pairing their films with memorable soundtracks, but their latest venture goes beyond this and allows music to take centre stage. Llewyn (Oscar Isaac) is a pessimistic, couchsurfing hipster struggling to make it on the 60s music scene. His sound, a repertoire of gorgeous and raw folk music, fails to meet the standards of what is marketable. Determined not to "sell-out" by adapting his image or style, Llewyn lives in abject poverty. He aimlessly navigates through life by bouncing between the houses of his more "bourgeois" friends, carrying only a guitar and a rucksack yet still hampered by a heavy heart.

The film is undoubtedly an experience of aesthetic ecstasy. The visuals are saturated in a soft grey and are characterised by striking contrast, such as the headlights of a car penetrating the dark of night, the heavy flurry of white snow against a clouded sky. The music — folk songs sung by the cast, all but one recorded live — is so perfect that it is tempting to close your eyes so as not to distract from it. It is a beautiful movie, but whether it succeeds as a story is a different question.

The plot, much like its protagonist, lacks direction. Folk music history unfurls in the peripheries, just barely out of sight, in a way that is both frustrating and tongue-in-cheek thrilling. However, this does not make up for a plot that boils down to a succession of meaningless events. If you are willing to accept this, Inside Llewyn Davis is an immersive and stunning powerhouse of a film.

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WORDS BY EVA SHORT

ISSUE FIVE // 29

REVIEWS

t

H O S TA G E S CHANNEL 4

T H E TA S T E CHANNEL 4 TV The Taste features 25 contestants, a mix of home cooks and professional chefs, out to impress judges Nigella Lawson, Anthony Bourdain and Ludo Lefebvre.

The series borrows the premise of blind judging from The Voice, as each contestant’s dish is presented, anonymously, to the panel on a large Chinese soup spoon, piled so high that we are treated to endless, hilarious slow-motion close-ups of the judges opening wide to get each towering spoonful in. However, in the second episode, Irish contestant Barry was eliminated, but only after being unveiled to the judges. When it was discovered that he had used a number of shop-bought products, he was sent home, effectively stripping the show of its claim to judging blind.

In the original American version, Nigella, relatively unknown in the US, was more of a background figure compared to Bourdain, “the Keith Richards of food”. The UK version, on the other hand, is assuredly Nigella’s show. She requires almost no introduction, and immediately assumes the role of presenter, flanked by Bourdain, offering brutal criticisms in the manner of Simon Cowell, and Lefebvre, who proves to be practically a caricature of a Frenchman, described by Nigella as “very French. Very, very, very French”.

All eyes are on Nigella. Although the show was filmed three months before her highly publicised fraud trial, it is Lawson’s first British television appearance since

then, and viewers eagerly waited to see if her career could survive the scandal.

After the first two episodes, it is clear that revenge is a dish best served with a spoon.

Nigella comes across as tough but fair, as she shifts between the roles of maternal mentor to her team (in the premiere, we see her hugging one crying contestant: “You don’t need to be afraid of responding emotionally, food is very emotional”) and scolding school-teacher in the final judging segment. Bourdain observes, “She’s nice and she’s polite, but there’s an iron fist beneath that velvet glove.”

The audience is treated to countless shots of Nigella’s heaving bosom and long eyelashes fluttering as she savors each spoonful orgasmically. There’s also plenty of her trademark sensory innuendo, as she purrs, “It would be satisfying almost to the point of sinful gratification to beat Tony and Ludo.” After a particularly impressive spoon of ravioli, she murmurs, “Instantly seductive,” and invites one young man to join “Team Nigella” with a breathy “I really want you.”

Unlike The Voice, viewers can’t share the experience, an obstacle all cooking contests face. The highlight of the show is the chemistry between the judges.

Nigella, Bourdain and Lefebvre come across as the kind of people you would definitely want to have at a dinner party.

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TUESDAYS // 9PM WORDS BY MEADHBH MCGRATH

Hostages, produced by network programming behemoth Jerry Bruckheimer and fronted by a star-studded cast, should be an addition to the catalogue of quality television available today. Based on an Israeli show, this American import had the potential to be a sparkling gem in CBS's crown.

Though it has all the trappings of a good thriller, Hostages can be summed up in one word: tepid.

The premise sounds promising: Dr. Ellen Sanders (Toni Collete) has been entrusted with the life of the President of the United States after being head-hunted to perform surgery on him. The night before the operation, however, a masked team wielding semi-automatics descend upon the suburbs and take the Sanders family hostage, telling Ellen that she must kill the President while he is under the knife or her family will die.

Heading up the team is maverick FBI agent Duncan Carlisle, who collects a group of trusted friends to aid in the plan. Far from a straightforward operation, the plot goes all the way to the top, orchestrated by the powers that be.

The pilot achieves everything that could be expected of it; it contextualises while alluding to future revelations; it puts in place a number of subplots that could interest audiences and will undoubtedly come together neatly, and it establishes the depth of its central characters. As per conventional standards, this series couldn't be faulted. Conventional is the key word here, and that is exactly what is wrong; Bruckheimier is opting to rest on his laurels and not push the boundaries of the thriller genre. The series isn't terrible, but is nothing more than a generic regurgitation of tropes that audiences have at this stage become desensitised to, thanks to the myriad of crime shows on offer.

EVA SHORT

REVIEWS

L I T T L E FA I L U R E GARY SHTEYNGART LITERATURE If you have not read Gary Shteyngart’s small but substantial body of work — consisting of novels Abusurdistan, The Russian Debutant’s Handbook and the prize-winning Super Sad True Love Story — you need to get yourself to your nearest bookshop sharpish. If you’re a well seasoned Shteyngart veteran then his most recent feat, Little Failure: A Memoir, will undoubtedly solidify the already bubbling mix of joy, schadenfreude, and nostalgia which his razor-sharp writing provides.

The market tends to be sceptical about memoirs (Morrissey’s recent contribution to this genre being a perfect example), particularly if the author is still relatively unknown and nowhere near the end of their career. Shteyngart’s new release, however, is not a tired writer’s quick-fix to bolster his bank account; it is a profoundly unique story and one which confounds almost every expectation.

Born in Leningrad in 1972, Little Failure (the title coming from the Russian term Failurchka, with which Shteyngart’s mother referred to him, we are told, “With love. Mostly.”) is about the author’s Soviet childhood and his family’s immigration to America in 1979. What initially poses itself as a generic immigrant narrative, Shteyngart confounds and subverts; Little Failure traces the life of a boy with about as many different identities as Star Trek productions. Growing up Soviet-American during the Cold War can’t have been easy, and as the Soviet Igor Shteyngart becomes the American Gary, the author describes how he struggles to come to terms with his conflicted identity in the polarised nature culture of 80s geopolitics. Indeed, the memoir presents an image of an individual flailing to find any morsel of selfhood and instead defining himself through, among many, many others: Lenin, The Republican Party,

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BA N N E R SAGA STOIC STUDIO GAMES The Banner Saga, a tactical RPG from Stoic — the threeman team formerly of Bioware — is significant in that it is one of the first entirely Kickstarter-funded videogames to see release. Lay that aside and it is still a unique and challenging game in its own right, fusing a Scandinavian aesthetic with merciless and occasionally brutally cruel gameplay.

The plot focuses on several characters in a Viking-inspired fantasy setting, beautifully designed by Arnie Jorgensen with a soundtrack composed by Austin Wintory, who previously scored Journey. It is the aftermath of a long and bitter war, a time of uneasy peace between humans and the giant, horned race known as the Varl. When apocalyptic omens coincide with an old threat

Star Trek, Chekov, circumcision (no, really) and weed.

The utterly fantastic nature of this man’s life is, for the most part, stranger than his fiction. His crisp prose style, saturated with media referentiality and parodic literary digressions immerses the reader in the author’s wild and wonderful mind. His vague memories of whimsical soviet Leningrad are juxtaposed with his complex interaction of pride and shame when describing his family’s immigrant lot, as they struggle to tick the boxes of their very own American Dream.

Shteyngart’s writing is self-deprecating but it is not self-pitying.

He very consciously heeds his father’s advice not to “write like a self-hating Jew”. His patch-worked language bows to its Russian origins, does not shy away from its shaky English beginnings, and finally, in the finished product, powerfully renders the strength, subtlety and irony the author has spent his lifetime actively constructing. Although a little overly-sentimental at times, Shteyngart makes up for this in his wonderfully defamiliarising picture of America and the psychological effect of its media, its politics and its people.

WORDS BY LOLA BOORMAN

re-emerging from the north, the game’s protagonists must decide to fortify against or flee from the coming darkness. There is a distinct emphasis on the foreseeable and unforeseeable consequences of the player’s actions. Significant events, including the deaths of major characters, can take place entirely as the result of seemingly unimportant decisions.

The gameplay is split between two distinct halves. Combat takes place in a turn-based fashion on a tiled grid. These heavily tactical sections emphasise the importance of movement, timing, and forward-thinking over stats or items. While the mechanics of combat are somewhat difficult to grasp initially, they slowly reveal a deep complexity and a potential for creativity, especially when the numerous complementary combinations of the game’s rich selection of characters come into play. The majority of the game, however, takes place in the travel screen. These parts, heavily indebted to games like Oregon Trail, focus not on combat but on the management of resources over long periods of time. The player must balance conserving food and maintaining morale in the various clans they lead, while making decisions which have an effect on the combat sections. Travelling across the game’s huge map and watching the days tick by draws attention to the story’s truly epic scope.

What these two halves have in common is their unrelentingly punishing nature. Losing a battle will leave your best characters injured, and occasionally dead, and also makes for negatively influencing the plot. Failing to manage food and numbers in the clan will lead to starvation and low morale, making the next combat sections even more difficult. On top of this, random plot events can have massive ramifications on the player’s resources while also forcing them to make difficult decisions. In spite of its fantasy setting, this game is by no means light-hearted, escapist entertainment. The theme of endurance in the face of hopelessness, devastation and war, is captured by the game’s grinding, uncompromising difficulty.

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WORDS BY EOIN MOORE

ISSUE FIVE // 31

7 DAYS SUN FRI 2 4TH

SAT 2 5TH

F.L.A.M.E FESTIVAL GRAND SOCIAL

BEERFEST BEERHOUSE CAPEL STREET

F.L.A.M.E festival 2014 squeezes Fashion, Live Arts, Music and Entertainment into one event taking place at The Grand Social on Friday 24th. As the name suggests fire dancers will welcome you in from Bachelor’s Walk.

Inside, the festival will showcase a variety of live art including the photorealistic artist Barry Jazz Finegan, live tattooing and, vitally, some graffiti. Food blogger Rob Fitzgerald (Married with Cauldron), will be rustling up a few venison and falafel burgers so no need to freeze in the latenight queue at Zaytoon.

Music will include The Radioactive Grandma (finalists in MTV Brand New Unsigned 2014), The Rattling Kind, Just Mikey, Crimson and Dues Domino. Many more are soon to be announced.

MiXim Productions will be launching its clothing line on the night, which brings together a wide range of graphic designs.

10.50 from Ticketmaster HL.

The Beerhouse on Capel Street will host 10 days of talks, tastings, and general appreciation of Irish craft breweries. Saturday’s events start at 4pm with complimentary nibbles, a guest speaker and tastings from Brú Brewery, Meath, followed by speakers and samples from another local brewery yet to be announced. Live music will also be on the scene from 7pm. Other highlights of the festival include a sampling of Glendalough Poitín on Wednesday, and Dublin-based lager, The Five Lamps, on Saturday 1 February. If free food, free beer and free live music isn’t enough to tempt you, they also have board games and a selection of quirky chairs.

LND.

A TENDER THING PROJECT ARTS CENTRE Tender Thing, directed by the formidable Selina Cartmell and running in the Project Arts Centre from 23 January-15 February, retells a universally familiar tale while simultaneously producing a wholly original work of art.

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, one of the world’s greatest love stories, has been retold countless times and set everywhere from Florida to India, but this version — written by Ben Power — has a unique twist. Rather than focusing on their forbidden courtship, it imagines what would have happened if the star-cross’d lovers had spent a lifetime together.

Once again, they are faced with

the prospect of losing each other — but through old age rather than suicide. Siren Productions was founded by Cartnell ten years ago, and has since reproduced several classical works for modern audiences, including other Shakespeare plays such as King Lear, Macbeth and Titus Andronicus (which won 4 Irish Times awards). Cartnell also won an Irish Times Best Director award for her urban reconception of Medea in 2010. Impressive and prolific Irish actors Olwen Fouéré and Owen Roe play the lovestruck couple, and Power’s script incorporates the Bard’s original poetry. On the whole, this promises to be a powerful and touching piece. Bring tissues.

KW.

IN DUBLIN M O N 2 7 TH

TU E S 2 8TH WE D 2 9TH TH U R 3 0TH

THE WORK OF MICHAEL FARRELL

OXMANTOWN MARY'S ABBEY

FLEMING: THE MAN THAT WOULD BE BOND

FLESH OF THE RUNT LAUNCH BELLOBAR

The Work of Michael Farrell is a major retrospective spanning the four decade-long career of one of Ireland’s most accomplished artists. Farrell emerged in the 1960s with works utilising motifs from medieval Irish manuscripts rendered in a hard-edged abstract style influenced by contemporary international minimalism, which he christened “Celtic abstraction”. Reacting to the events in Northern Ireland, his works later became more overtly concerned with issues surrounding Irish identity, politics, culture and history, and imbued throughout with a sharp, humorously critical attitude. The exhibition presents a wide range of work from all stages of the artist’s varied career, including the most famous, aptly titled painting Madonna Irlanda: The First Real Irish Political Picture.

RHA GALLERY. GP.

This small, bright cafe, located on a quiet corner off Capel Street, has gained a glowing reputation for its market-fresh, great-valuefor-money sandwiches. Although there is very limited seating, the cafe offers a few wooden stools, mostly facing the large windows, with one area overlooking a stencil by Irish street artist ADW. Oxmantown, which refers to the Ostmen Viking district it inhabits in Smithfield, also serves a number of delicious treats including chocolate and hazelnut brownies and lemon and poppy seed polenta cake. Despite there being only five sandwich options (the most popular being ham hock on toasted sourdough with grilled gruyére, bechamel, roast plum tomatoes and pickled onion), each one has been selected with careful attention to unique flavour and taste combinations.

MM.

It seems the (mis)adventures of the iconic James Bond are not as fantastical or unrealistic as one may think — or at least, that is what BBC America's upcoming mini-series The Man That Would Be Bond would lead one to think.

With Dominic Cooper at the helm as Bond writer Ian Fleming, the series recounts the life of Fleming as a Naval Intelligence Officer during WWII. It sets out to demonstrate how the author's life closely parallels that of his protagonist, as both were filled with alcohol, espionage, femme fatales and tailor-cut three piece suits.

ES.

The Runt, “Ireland’s oddest and most enthusiastic arts and literature magazine,” will launch their fifth issue with an evening of original performances. The magazine is a quarterly publication devoted to highlighting new Irish artists and authors.

This issue, titled “Flesh of the Runt”, contains short fiction, poetry, articles and illustrations all focused, inventively and irreverently, on the topics of Sex and Love. Featured pieces will include readings from poet Colm Whelan and the sketch “Ride Irish”, a satire on the Irish sex industry. Admission is free and “sweet treats for all and sundry” are promised, as is a Dirtiest Joke contest.

7.30PM, BELLOBAR, PORTOBELLO.

LND.

THE END PIECE

Johnnie Mae Young, wrestler.

Mae Young, America’s pioneering female wrestler died on 14 January at the age of 90.

Her last bout in the ring was just three years ago at the age of 87 and she fought in each of the last 9 decades. Her run-ins with the law and a variety of men characterised her hard-woman attitude, and her will to never go down without a fight.

Young’s best friend and comedic partner, The Fabulous Moolah (Lillian Ellison), once described how the interwar years were addressed by the wrestling circuit: “There were a lot of wild girls on the road back then, Mae was one of them. She used to like to go out drinking till all hours, smoking cigars and picking fights with big, bruising men in dark honky-tonks.” This was not the only way she challenged the male brawn of the era; she was often seen around the gym in men’s shoes, and hitched in pants with a zipper up the front. In 50s America this was unheard of.

Johnnie Mae Young was born 12 March, 1923, in Sand Springs, Oklahoma. In high school, at the age of 15 she was fighting for the boys wrestling team. Her father left during the Great Depression to find work, leaving Young’s mother to bring up Young and her four brothers. With no male authority in her upbringing, Young forced herself into a male dominant industry and got a reputation for dirty tactics and equally dirty language.

There are many stories of Young’s wild personality. She and a friend were once arrested in Reno, Nevada; after an Elmer J.

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Nelson was admitted to hospital with “multiple bruises and lacerations to the face and forehead”. Reportedly the altercation arose after Nelson had decided to call it a night following some bad luck at the tables. He awoke with his last $100 gone. The district attorney said there “wasn’t much doubt that they were the women involved”, and Young concurred saying “Maybe I did work Mr. Nelson over a little, he made advances.

Improper advances.”

“IF YOU’RE GONNA SLAM ME, YOU SLAM ME LIKE ONE OF THE BOYS.”

After starting her career in 1939, Young was fighting in Memphis, Tennessee on 7 December 1941, the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour, bringing America into WWII. Young and many others went on to define wrestling in a period when the sport naturally turned to female performers, a move which has seen permanence.

Young’s other great achievement was as an exhibitionist: a wrestler who played dirty, riled up the crowd, and usually took a beating, what is known in the industry as “the heel”. Her debut in WWF was made at the age of 75, when Jeff Jarrett invited her onto the stage, and then proceeded to smash a guitar over her head.

Young’s eccentric personality and desire

to thrill continued to the last. After a long string of WWF appearances way into her old-age, she won the 2000 Miss Royal Rumble bikini contest in Madison Square Garden. After announcing to the stunned judges that all the fans “want to see my puppies”, she pulled down her bikini and paraded round the ring. She won by unanimous decision (Channel 4 decided to forego their rights to the show).

Always the entertainer, Young often lost but had the last word. She was frightened of no one and crafted a place for women in the wrestling arena. She took part in WWF star Bubba Ray’s campaign to “powerbomb women through tables”, despite his concerns about her age the stunt went ahead.

Young reportedly confronted Ray afterwards saying “Hey hot shot, if you’re gonna slam me, you slam me like one of the boys.”

He willingly agreed.

Young led a somewhat solitary life, based around her life-long friend The Fabulous Mollah. From a young age she dedicated herself the wrestling industry which demands physical strength and an attitude to match your onstage character. Like many of the best performers, the attitude wasn’t just her character's.

She was due to appear in the WWF Hall of Fame special just eight days before her death, but uncharacteristically pulled out due to ill-health. She had been hospitalised with a kidney ailment and returned home under hospice care.

WORDS BY HENRY LONGDEN