Tn2 Magazine, Issue 3, October 25 2011

Two TRINITY NEWS

FILM

MUSIC

THEATRE

ART

BOY’S BAD NEWS

by Gheorghe Rusu

FOOD

TV

FASHION

issue 3 25 October 2011

BOOKS

GAMES & REVIEWS

Fresh Mexican Grill

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EDITORIAL & CONTENTS

MAY CONTAIN TRACES OF:

3 THE HARD WAY Alex Towers

October 25 2011

Sentence of the Issue: “Their music is a weird mixture of semi-rapped neuroses and stream of consciousness observations, with Yoni’s idiosyncratic drawl directing proceedings like a creepily eloquent and slightly disturbed child during a long car journey.”

-Michael Barry, Yoni Interview, page 7.

Special Thanks To: Erik Weiss (for the image), Clíona de Paor (for spotting all those errors), Janice Chu (for the competition), Aoife Crowley (for pointing out the faults), Nathan Williams & John Paul Pitts (for not throwing the Edtior out of backstage) & the Pubications Commitee (for the new stuff ).

4: THE OPENERS

The Godfather: The Poster, existential internet games, betrayals, cocktails, competitions , Trinity Street Style and the launch of the Tn2 Magazine website.

O

ctober is a bleak month. By now the excitement of starting college again has faded and the thought of Christmas is just another reminder that we still have November to trudge through.

This is presumably why we have a night where we can abandon the shackles of personality and dress sense and disguise ourselves as something or someone completely different. This is also presumably the reason why the Students Union have decided to run Mental Health Awareness week to try and remind everyone that things can only get better. However in an effort to tide over the rain, the dead leaves and the “look after your head” awareness leaflets we at Tn2 Magazine have once again collected an array of articles and interviews to give you some distraction, however fleeting.

In his song “I Heard Ramona Sing” Frank Black sings, “I had so many problems, and then I got me a Walkman”. With this mantra in mind we have assembled a plethora of interviews with musicians from a range of musical genres. This issue has discussions with and about artists of hip-hop, rock, lo-fi, indie rock, indie rap and whatever Tom Waits is calling his music now.

So while I am aware snobbery about music is the worst type of snobbery, I think it would be hard to not find at least one musician amongst our pages whose music can brighten up your dreary October. My recommendation to make the autumn slog that little bit easier is to listen to something completely new. Charge your iPod and fill it with things you’ve never heard before. Ask friends to recommend a band they like, or pick something at random or even just use this issue of Tn2 as a guide. Your new favourite band is probably just waiting to be discovered so you can pretend to have liked them for years.

However if you’re one of those bizarre people who claims music isn’t your thing we also have Alexander McQueen, poetry initiatives, a sex diary and an interview with film director Tom Hall in this issue along with reviews of all the upcoming things you should alternatively see or avoid and a competition on page 3.

Also we have the long awaited launch of our website, tn2magazine.ie which will have all the content you have in your hands and more.

As ever, enjoy the issue.

6: SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL Jesse ‘The Devil’ Hughes talks to Gheorghe Rusu about trying to find that delicate balance between hedonism and home life.

8: POETRY VS. POVERTY Patrick Reevell looks at charitable literary project World Watch Poetry.

9: WOLF PARADE Michael Barry interviews Yoni Wolf about his indie hip hop band’s rise to relative obscurity

10: TAKE THIS THING BACK TO BALTIMORE Alex Towers talks to lo-fi rocker Nathan Williams (aka Wavves) about being, in the words of Karl McDonald: “one of the lads”.

12: DIGITAL BLOOD Michael Barry interviews Digitalism and Alex Towers chats to John Paul Pitts of Surfer Blood.

13: SEX BORN POISON Robert O’Reilly talks to director Tom Hall about his aptly titled, rural brothel-set comedy Sensation starring Domhnall Gleeson.

14: BRANDY ALEXANDER Stephen Moloney and Hannah Little discuss Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty.

16: IT AIN’T EASY BEING GREEN Sam Marriott interviews Professor Green during his weekly shopping trip about life, lyrics and Lily Allen.

18: COSTUMES & MERINGUES The sex diary is Halloween themed this week, while Clare Kealey makes the flawless meringue.

19: REVIEWS

All the new and upcoming releases from Tom Waits, George Clooney, Justice and Steven Soderbergh as well as fashion collections, restaurants and more.

25: HOW TO/ GUILTY PLEASURES Cormac Cassidy tackles Trinity’s knitting society while Andy Kavanagh admits to having a weakness for anime.

26: BANANA (PHONE) REPUBLIC This week Karl McDonald takes on Joe Duffy’s mob-rule of Ireland and his army of befuddled Liveline followers in The Chaff.

Editor: Alex Towers Art Editor: Rosa Abbott Deputy Art Editor: Róisín Lacey-McCormac Books & Literature Editor: Patrick Reevell Deputy Books & Literature Editor: Annelise Berghenti Copy Editor: Sinead Nugent Fashion Editor: Stephen Moloney Deputy Fashion Editor: Hannah Little Film Editor: Robert O’ Reilly Deputy Film Editor: Nicholas Maltby Food & Drinks Editor: Clare Kealey Food & Drinks Editor: Aaron Devine

Games Editor: Andy Kavanagh Deputy Games Editor: Neil Fitzpatrick Music Editor: Michael Barry Music Editor: Gheorghe Rusu Online Editor: Keith Grehan Socities Editor: Cormac Cassidy Theatre Editor: Henry Longden Deputy Theatre Editor: Liza Cox TV Editor: Laura McLoughlin Deputy TV Editor: Emma Jayne Corcoran Design: Gearóid O’Rourke & Martin McKenna

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OPENERS

THINGS TO DO IN DUBLIN #3

KISS ME IF OFFENSE ART IN D U BLIN

FILM

The Halloween Monster Mash at the Screen Cinema: All this week the Screen cinema will be showing a selection of the disgusting, the hilarious and the downright horrifying. Special screenings this week include films like From Dusk Till Dawn, American Psycho, Carrie, The Silence of the Lambs, Don’t Look Now, Halloween and a special double billing of The Human Centipede, Parts 1 & 2.

ART

Through the Eyes: Although the artist Gerard Byrne primarily works with film and photography, here he presents an ambitious installation in the Irish Museum of Modern Art to question how images are constructed, transmitted and mediated. The exhibit runs until the 31st.

LIVE- M USIC

The Original Rudeboys are playing a set in the Workman’s Club on the 29th as part of their near impossible task of attempting to legitimise Irish rap. Elsewhere the National Orchestra will play a live soundtrack to film The Bride of Frankenstein on the 31st in the National Concert Hall.

LOOKS THAT CAN KILL FILM Empire, honour, passion, blood – The

Godfather is saturated with the thrilling blend they create. Four elements that shape the world of Don Corleone, his foes and family; they haunt the mean streets down which these characters must walk, and lend to Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 picture an air of something very close to cinematic majesty.

All of which was pitch-perfectly captured in Nino Rota’s celebrated soundtrack to the saga, and, more to the point, is made thrillingly visible in this near cartoon-like Russian poster for the film. What we are shown is, in vivid detail, the patriarch’s infamous ‘offer that can’t be refused’. Even as he raises his hand, the skull is already grinning: lives may be lost, but the die is cast. Small flourishes are added with the fearsome Luca Brasi reduced to looking like a tiny Beano character pinned to the top by a switchblade through his palm, while sketches of the film’s more gruesome executions are dotted in and around. It’s morbid to the core, comically direct, and tragically real. How could we say no? Ciaran O’Rourke 4

The Taking of Christ, (1602)

by Caravaggio The National Gallery of Ireland, Moving on from last issue’s installment of this series into the early 17th century, we see, in the case of Caravaggio’s The Taking of Christ, that art in Italy is still very much dominated by religious subject matter. In this work, Caravaggio has captured the moment in which Judas betrays Jesus to his persecutors by kissing his left cheek. More importantly though, the artist has also preserved for us here the inspiration behind Lady Gaga’s recent singlethe deeply symbolical Judas.

While some readers may find the religious slant which this column has taken in recent installments bewildering or maybe even offensive, it’s definitely worthwhile to consider this piece outside of its religious context and think about it in terms of the legacy which it has had over future generations of artists. Aside from figures such as Rembrandt and Delacroix, artists such as filmmaker

Martin Scorsese and photographer David LaChapelle have also been heavily influenced by the lighting and cinematic quality of Caravaggio’s art and specifically, the tenebrism of this piece is one of the finest examples in Caravaggio’s oeuvre. Tenebrism is the term used to refer to the sharp contrasts between light and dark, seen specifically in the area around Christ’s and Judas’ faces in the painting. By no means the instigator of this technique, Caravaggio certainly exploits it to its fullest potential in this piece in order to lend this intimate night scene a sense of immediacy, inviting the viewer to witness the drama as it unfolds. As a testament to Caravaggio’s masterful use of this technique, tenebrism is also sometimes referred to as Caravaggism.

Róisín Lacey-McCormac

TN2MAGAZINE.IE COMPE TITION This week we have five

beautiful coffee table books containting photography and stills from the film Anonymous. The film asks the question “What if Shakespeare was a fraud?” and this week we have a question to test your Bard knowledge. To win just email tn2@trinitynews.ie with the answer to this question and we’ll draw a winner: Which one of these plays is not a Shakespeare play?

1) The Two Noble Kinsmen 2) Cymbeline 3) Richard IV ONLINE tn2magazine.ie will be going live for your viewing pleasure. For a list of just some of the exclusive web-content just turn to page 27. All this year we will be featuring reviews, articles, blogs, competitions and more.

T WIT TER: Follow us at @tn2magazine for more updates, online versions of Tn2 Magazine exclusive content and competition giveaways. Also whatever rambling the Editor thinks are funny.

OPENERS

WHAT WE ARE READING

TRINITY STREET STYLE

BOOKS Patrick Reevell – Flann O’Brien, At

Swim Two Birds. I have, apparently, given in to the numerous understated posters littered throughout Dublin and begun reading Flann O’Brien’s At Swim-Two-Birds. I ought to have done so long ago; as many probably already know- it’s funny, absurd and libel to send to you to the pub.

Stephen Moloney- James Franco, Palto Alto. A series of short stories from Franco’s hometown in California, but after two of them I am most enthused only by the stamp-sized portrait of Franco on the back cover. I have heard great things, and wanted to see how multi-talented this great actor really is, fingers crossed...

Róisín Lacey-McCormac– Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With The Wolves. On the shop shelf, this book promised to provide me with the insight needed to contact the power of the wild woman within.

I grabbed it.

Alex Towers- Guy Delisle, Burma Chronicles. I originally sneered at the idea of this travel diary graphic novel before reading a couple of pages and becoming completely hooked. It’s the story of a Québécois cartoonist who packs up his infant son and travels to an oppressed Myanmar with his wife, a volunteer for Medecins Sans Frontières. It is also however, a hilarious, revealing and sharply honest portrait of Burma told in a deceivingly simple style. Whether Delisle is detailing the struggle to find nappies or the struggle of Aung San Suu Kyi, you won’t find a dull page.

Compiled by Patrick Reevell

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MYSELF GAME S Serving as a stark contrast to the style of flash games we’ve re-

viewed thus far, The Company of Myself delivers an impressively strong narrative structure whilst also teasing out a refreshingly original gameplay conceit in its own right. Interlaced with an unfolding tale of depression and mania, our protagonist is forced to cooperate with former versions of himself in order to reach his inexplicably compelling goal: a small, green box. Once you get your head around it, the game’s core concept proves enjoyable and challenging in equal measure. After the story is told and you’ve made your way through the game’s 20 levels of increasing difficulty, it’s clear that The Company of Myself is an exception: a free online game with tighter gameplay and more to say than many mainstream console releases. Flash games just shouldn’t be this good Neil Fitzpatrick

FASHION Rachel Murray, SS Geography, caught our eye this

week thanks to her play on proportion. The crop on the leg length is a perfect foil to that neck-breaking volume on top, and the lengthy cut of her jacket elongates from the waist up. Along with structure and texture, and one all-encompassing dramatic accessory, this is all the perfect way to amp up an otherwise subdued colour pallet. When it comes to influences and inspirations, she is practical-minded – what she puts on her back is always weather-dependent. Next, it’s the turn of “regular people I see on the street” coupled with frequent visits to style.com. Rachel cites the likes of sport-luxe champion Alex Wang and the minimal enthusiasts behind Acne. With variety being the spice of life, etc. (particularly when it comes to getting dressed) we fully endorse this sort of carry-on.

Stephen Moloney

LEMON & BASIL SMASH AT THE BAR WITH NO NAME DRINKS The bar on Fade Street probably has more names than

any other bar in Dublin. Whether you call it The Secret Bar, The Snail Bar or 3 Fade Street, you can be sure that you will be presented with some beautiful cocktails. And beautiful is exactly how I would describe this week’s cocktail. Designed by head bartender Raf Apagito, the lemon & basil smash is both refreshing and comforting. Although traditionally made with mint, the use of fresh basil provides an intriguing twist with its flavour cutting through the acidity of the lemon.

A 50ml measure of premium Hendrick’s gin means you get what you pay for, and, tasting as he goes, Apagito will ensure you get a perfectly balanced drink. He has also just set up a bartending academy alongside a collection of other renowned Dublin mixologists. Email badireland@gmail.com for more info.

Aaron Devine 5

M USIC

FABULOUS WEAPON Gheorghe Rusu talks to Jesse ‘The Devil’ Hughes talks about his Reaganist roots, his latest solo venture, and possible European future.

A

re rock stars dead? Perhaps not literally, but the ones who are still alive and used to represent the stereotype have succumbed to age and its physical and moral pitfalls - Iggy Pop is selling insurance and Johnny Rotten is selling butter, Prince needs a new hip and Axl Rose looks like a fat weeping willow that’s about to be felled by the wind. Needless to say they don’t party like they used to. The whole concept has been diluted to the point where the world’s musical superstars no longer embody or advocate the ethos of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll. We live in a world of Justin Biebers and Jonas Brothers. So who will carry the banner for old school hedonism? Enter Jesse ‘The Devil’ Hughes, the mustachioed, tattooed bandleader of Eagles of Death Metal who’s the last of a dying breed. We’re lucky he’s only 38.

With Josh Homme ( of Queens of the Stone Age and Them Crooked Vultures) producing and drumming, Jesse Hughes makes dirty garage rock for ladies to get drunk and dance to, and for him to strut and croon cheap puns to, as he says “EODM is an expression and celebration, if you will, of ‘fun’ in the quintessential rock’n’roll sense.” Now, in the aftermath of his new release Honkey Kong as Boots Electric (one of his many nicknames), a decidedly 6

more serious affair (“This one is more about love, about shit that’s corny.”), he is quick to dispel any notion that he’s losing his winking lewdness. When I ask him if this record is more more mature that his others, he responds “Yeah... in a MILF sort of way!”

Some might find it surprising then, to discover his past not only as an average Joe, but as a legit Republican go-getter. “I was a square.

Regular family man, conservative American, dabbling in politics and professional teaching and journalism. I was utterly inspired by Ronald Reagan. I saw my civic duty to serve my country as a politician. I wasn’t where I wanted to be in my life, but I was about two years away from my first political campaign.”

Suddenly shaken by divorce (“the big D,” he states simply the reason for the lifestyle change, and the awakening that followed “It’s like I was a werewolf my whole life but

“IS THE RECORD MORE MATURE THAN THE OTHERS?...YEAH IN A MILF SORT IF WAY”

I didn’t see my first full moon till I was 30”), he and Homme recorded EODM’s first album with all Jesse-penned songs.

Eight years and three records later, he is cruising until he takes Honkey Kong out on the road, relaxing in his LA home when I call. I get his hilarously ridiculous voicemail twice, and when he picks up he apologises, explaining he was “busy looking at my naked girlfriend”. The girlfriend in question, one Tuesday Cross, until recently an adult actress, is also his bassist. “I made her try out, I was harder on her than on anyone else and she made it,” he says, getting choked up, which could be either a bong hit or a genuine tear. Or both. “She is a music fiend and she’s always secretly played bass. Believe it or not, she’s such a rebel, she chose a more... intense.. lifestyle,” he skirts around her former profession, “but she’s a musician at heart.”

On that most favourite theme of Jesse’s, girls, is built Honkey Kong. “I think this album is purely just for girls. It’s like a love letter for ladies. I didn’t realise it when I was making it, but that’s what it is.” But wasn’t his previous material no less preoccupied with women?

No, Eagles of Death Metal “is horny-orientated. Because I’m straight, it happens to be directed at ladies.” The other shift on the record is that in style: gone, for the most part, are the fuzzy riffs; in their stead come looming funk

“IT’S LIKE I WAS A WEREWOLF MY WHOLE LIFE BUT I DIDN’T SEE MY FIRST FULL MOON TILL I WAS 30”

keyboards and effected drums - a “Gary Numan butt-fucking George Clinton attitude” due in no small part to co-writer Money Mark.

“I went to him specifically to help me achieve the sound that I wanted. I was really primarily influenced by the Beastie Boys’ Check Your Head when I went into making this record.

[Producer] Tony Hoffer ( known for his work with Beck, Phoenix and Foster the People) came in at the very end to add the spices that would really step the album up a grade.”

The album is rife with guest contributions.

“I was fortunate that I got to be a mad scientist and when the music said, ‘I need this,’ I was able to call Howard Jones from Killswitch Engage. You’re only as good as the people you surround yourself with, and I got to pull from the best. Juliette Lewis was instrumental, because she helped me see music in a more

theatrical sense and gave me some insight into how to write.” Josh Homme’s guitar solo on “Dreams Tonight” is conspicuously almost inaudible. An intentional mixing decision?

“Of course! I love the guy, he’s my best friend, but I can’t have him in any way supershine me on my own record, Jesus, are you kidding me?,” he explains with an affectionate giggle.

The high production value stands in contrast to his main band’s more lo-fi technique, and although his Boots Electric persona is decidedly more adventurous in terms of lyrics, instrumentation and vocals, to Jesse it doesn’t come close to the wildness of EODM: “It’s usually just me and Joshua in the studio, so fucking far out of our minds that there’s no hope of us touching earth. Sometimes you blow up an oil fire with dynamite, you know?

This is actually me at my most tame.”

This tameness seeps through to the more personal aspects of Jesse’s life, too, and yet it stands at odds with his image, in delectable contradictions. Even as an embodiment of all things rock’n’roll, he stands by his ethics.

“You live your life by example, by everything you do, and conservative is mostly about what you don’t do. The conservative mentality in this respect is not wasting money and not being stupid, loving your family, believing in tradition, and keeping your word.”

He’s settling down with a former porn star.

He loves his family, and shows it with tattoos.

He’s a responsible father, when he’s not out on the lash. “The two never mix. I guess you handle your shit. I’m a rock’n’roll animal but I’m also a dad, the two exist at the same time in different worlds. I’m always in family mode, but when I’m on tour I’m on tour, and there’s a difference between drinking a beer and being an alcoholic. I like to party at party time.”

His future ambitions, and the motivation behind the solo album, have to do with Jesse’s fascination with a more behind-the-scenes role. “I want to be a producer, I love all the elements of it, I am fascinated by it. I wanted to see what shit I learned and put it to use. Mostly I wanted to cast my own spells.” Coupled with the upcoming transatlantic tour, “Joshua’s gonna set me up with his format and I’m gonna invite a series of musicians into a studio in England and in Germany. Like a Desert Sessions in Europe.”

Lastly, I ask about the under-publicised but hilarious incident wherein Axl Rose, in characteristic mood swing, fired what he called “the Pigeons of Shit Metal” after one opening slot but still had to pay them for the full tour.

“I don’t really have a rift with Guns ‘n Roses.

Axl was kicked out of the club of rock’n’roll and I was merely the messenger,” he recounts calmly. “I’m actually actively trying to get him to do a Christmas album with me.”

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BOOKS

REMEMBER THE GIVER Patrick Reevell talks to the creator and contributors of World Watch Poetry n the next four months, 750,000 people are likely to starve to death in the Horn of Africa. 29,000 children have already died and 13 million people are now affected by the drought that has followed two rainless years. Faced with such catastrophic figures, one might justifiably ask, what use is poetry?

But for Ciaran O’Rourke, Trinity student and founder of an original charitable literary project, the answer came before the question: “a thought came to me, small at first, probably smug, but nonetheless too sturdy to ignore: that poetry means something” he says, “for most people, to read or write a poem is, on some level, to live in hope.”

Over the summer , O’Rourke conceived the World Watch Poetry project and began writing to some of Ireland’s poets with requests for poems. And they responded, sending him pieces and wishes for success.

The next letters were addressed to Concern, which promptly offered its enthusiastic support. Difficulties followed, copyright disputes threatened, but in July 2011 the WWP website went live, creating an online collection of poems by some of Ireland’s best living poets, including Seamus Heaney, Derek Mahon and Brendan Kennelly, intended to raise both awareness and funds for the poor around the world. The poets were asked to donate poems according to the themes of ‘Hunger’, ‘Thirst’ and ‘Education’ leaving them free to interpret the terms as they saw fit. The end result is an eclectic and often beautiful anthology of texts, some well-known, others less, and each embedded with a link to Concern’s donation page.

The poets’ reasons for joining the project are as varied as their contributions: some modestly confess to sharing O’Rourke’s

“ONE EDITOR WAS REPORTED TO SAY ‘FAMINE IS JUST A BIT FUCKING BORING ISN’T IT?’” 8

feeling of helplessness, partially alleviated by the site; others offer more high-flown motives, Brendan Kennelly stating vatically that “Poetry lifts the spirit and animates the body.”

The risk of misjudgement is high- the reality of famine threatens to leave many poems seeming trivial, if not parasitic; Theodore Adorno’s famous prohibition- “After Auschwitz no poetry”- hangs heavy here and not all the contributors share Kennelly’s certainty.

Galway writer, Nuala Ni Chonchuir worries, “we in the West can’t really understand the circumstances Concern works in”.

Warnings of famine in the Horn of Africa began appearing last November, but major coverage and significant appeals were absent until July. For aid agencies working in East Africa, familiarity is the great enemy- the nightmarish repetitiveness of these disasters begins to breed disinterest: one news editor at a major channel was recently reported as saying, “Famine’s a bit fucking boring, isn’t it?”.

But the poems were not written in response to the crisis in Somalia and most not to any other humanitarian disaster- instead they were produced on themes more familiar to readers living in Western Europe.

The result can be uncomfortable, the inevitable embarrassment of the privileged meeting the disadvantaged: lines such as Derek Mahon’s, “Waking these days I sometimes think myself / Back in that attic with its empty shelf./ Strangely enough, it was enormous fun”, here lose their innocence. But the effect is thought-provoking, as when Ni Chonchuir’s Victorian anorexic’s fantasies are perverted: “I might sometime be thin enough/to be welcomed to their world”.

F. Deane expresses an idea common to most of the poets involved in the collection, when he says “Poetry points beyond the everyday by immersing itself in the ongoing spiritual energies of the everyday”. The poems, most often, are not intended to express the full horror of famine, the likes of which none of the writers here are likely to have experienced, they are supposed to suggest it, to bring the reader to the edge of his own emotions to the point where he understands that what he

calls “thirst” is only the beginning.

But terror or guilt are not O’Rourke’s goal, his project is to produce hope, whether among many people or few: “to hope is often to help” he says. While the WWP may certainly have a long way to go in raising awareness, the poems contributed to it speak as much of the desire to help as of the ability- it is up to the reader now whether the project ultimately achieves both. Visit the site and donate at http://worldwatchpoetry.blogspot.com/ MERCATOR He of the continents elongated, through the grid of latitude, longitude, dropping like honey from a comb, to the hemisphere of slowed time south of history.

Somebody once, in outer space, adjusted the light and the earth changed colour, blushed. Bad conscience the bottom dropping out of power perspective, myth. The faces in the changed mirror longer than they thought, the fate of the body, drawn up, a ladder into the attic of the mind, let down again to wander, to graze through sub-millenial days, the cycle of crops and starvings, human knowledge grain by gleaner’s grain. © 2011 Harry Clifton

MUSIC

WOLF AT THE DOOR Michael Barry talks to Yoni Wolf about his band Why?’s distinctive breed of indie hip hop. f he wasn’t programmed to destroy clichéd mixed metaphors, you could say that Yoni Wolf is a man with his fingers in many pies. Everything he does seems to merit the prefix “post-”, and he lends himself very well to apocalyptic music journalism buzz labels like “post-record industry Renaissance man.” He is currently the chief vocalist and lyricist for Why?, a Bay area indie-hop outfit whose music is a weird mixture of semi-rapped neuroses and stream of consciousness observations, with Yoni’s idiosyncratic drawl directing proceedings like a creepily eloquent and slightly disturbed child during a long car journey.

He was formerly a member of the muchcopied and influential alternative rap group cLOUDDEAD. He has been involved with several bands on the Anticon label, of which he is co-founder. Why? are probably best known for the almost-crossover success of their third album, Alopecia, and the further flirtations with the mainstream on their fourth album, Eskimo Snow. They are currently doing a “sit-down tour” in anticipation of their as yet untitled fifth, though Yoni is as open when discussing his past projects as he is when discussing his current ones.

Coming after Alopecia, many saw Eskimo Snow as an abrupt departure for the band, partially by virtue of it being comparatively categorisable. This is despite the fact that many of the songs on both albums date from the same period. Yoni explains this by asserting that despite the overlap in chronology the two albums were always conceived of as being very different. “Eskimo Snow was actually originally mixed and mastered before Alopecia was finished. Alopecia was released first because I wasn’t happy with how Eskimo Snow

sounded. I decided that, before I remixed that, I would just fuck it and go and work on the other record. It was more where my heart was at.”

A lot of the sounds and themes explored on Eskimo Snow were similarly explored on the excellent solo album by Yoni’s brother, and Why? bandmate, Josiah Wolf, which came out at about the same time. Yoni admits that there was some level of creative overlap between the two projects. “They do have a kind of similar aesthetic, in a way. Although I prefer Josiah’s record, to be honest!”

“I LOVE DUBLIN...I FEEL LIKE PEOPLE REALLY RESPECT MY LYRICS THERE, AND UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM TRYING TO DO” Yoni admits that the album that Why? are currently working on is closer in tone to Alopecia than to Eskimo Snow, but also asserts that certain aspects of it make it markedly different to both albums. “It knocks more. It hits heavier. It’s a little more aggressive and sarcastic maybe. We’re making it percussion heavy and bass heavy, and making the vocals nice and clear. Though I won’t really know until it’s fully done.”

There is a significant amount of fresh meat

on the Anticon roster, with bands like Baths and Son Lux giving the label a more varied musical focus than it perhaps had during its days as a sonic swingers’ party.

Despite these new additions, Yoni does not see the label’s ethos as having changed significantly, and believes that the spirit of collaboration is still there. “I think we’re doing what we’ve always been doing. Maybe at the very beginning Sole (former manager of Anticon) and a couple of other guys might have had an idea that we were going to be some kind of Wu Tang Clan thing, which was never really realistic, and never happened. The label’s always been a mechanism to just put out good records.”

A good example of this continuing collaboration is Yoni’s involvement in the production of (Anticon rapper) Serengeti’s album Friends and Family last year. He says that he had a great time working on a relatively more straightforward hip hop album, though “Friends and Family is still weird and twisted and lo-fi. Geti’s a great guy, and he’s coming on this tour with us. I loved working on it, and I would love to move into producing for other artists, maybe with my brother.”

Yoni is really excited about playing the Dublin show, and a cautious inquiry on the topic yields lengthy praise for Irish audiences. “I love Dublin man. The main thing that I really like about Dublin is the people. They’re like really warm and receptive, and really literary. I feel like people really respect my lyrics there, and understand what I’m trying to do, and I really appreciate that. The idea of poetry isn’t so foreign to people there. It seems like it’s more of an innate thing there. I really can’t keep up with the partying there any more though, Jesus Christ!”

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M USIC

10

NO HOPE KID Alex Towers reflects on lo-fi band Wavves after talking to lead singer Nathan Williams

ow bands open concerts are becoming an increasingly talked about event.

Lady Gaga hatches from an egg carried by greased up underwear models. Madonna reenacts the crucifixion with a disco ball cross. The Rolling Stones will only come on following 20 minutes of their logo being displayed and a full fireworks display. It was therefore rather refreshing when Nathan Williams opened a recent gig in a much less adorned manner.

Taking to the stage dressed in a yellow raincoat he stumbled, slightly stoned up to the microphone and belched into it loudly before murmuring the single word “Wavves” and then launching into his 2009 release “No Hope Kids”.

Wavves are the band you wish you had when you were 16. They make thrashing, warped stoner noise that veers between the apathetic and the anthemic. You have probably heard Wavves being played on promos on MTV or at the inevitable point in a house party when someone sticks on “So Bored” so everyone can nod their heads along to it’s catchy guitar snarl and lethargic lyrics so they pretend they are teenagers again. With 2008’s Wavves and the 2009 follow up Wavvves, Williams carved out a distinctive sound blending lyrics about teenage ennui and doing drugs with a washed out 60’s surfer rock feedback.

But for all their bouncy apathy Williams’s early releases remained somewhat stunted. It was as if he was reveling too much in doing the same thing, something that many in the gossipy blogging world said was brought on by his early and pretty immediate success.

“It really started when a friend made me send some crappy demos of stuff I was doing when I was with Fantastic Magic” he tells me backstage after a festival gig supporting Guided By Voices, “Then Fat Possum told me to come to New York and I signed with them and things just got crazy”. But when did you break away from Fantastic Magic and become Wavves? “ It kind of happened after I got signed” he explains, “I was with them in San Diego playing shows but then when I was picked up people started talking about the music. It was a crazy experience. Still is a crazy expierience”.

“WHEN I SIGNED WITH FAT POSSUM THINGS JUST GOT CRAZY”

The “crazy experience” Williams refers to is really only the tip of the iceberg. After much critical rumblings that Williams talents lay in home recordings rather than live acts Wavves was announced to play a set at Barcelona’s Primavera Sound Festival in 2009. At the time the band consisted solely of Williams and drummer Ryan Ulsh and they hadn’t exactly been able to channel their sound into a sustaining live show. But from the moment they took to the stage the audience could feel there was something deeply wrong with Williams.

What started as bickering between the two band members over sound-checks gradually began to turn into something slightly more sinister. As the audience became increasingly frustrated an increasingly manic Williams began to strum random chord progressions and attempted some half-baked versions of “Summer Goth” and “So Bored”. But then he decided to start making fun of the audience and make long pontifications about how much better California is over Spain and how “cool” Primavera is.

As the audience began throwing bottles and shoes Ulsh decided he couldn’t take anymore of his petulant band mate and poured a cup of beer over Williams head, earning the band’s only applause of the evening. When Ulsh stalked off stage Williams screamed “Come back here, motherfucker, we’re not done yet!” He was wrong though. They were done. As stage managers dismantled the set Williams continued to try and play his set, directing tantrums at everyone within shouting distance until he fled the stage, reportedly headed for the Mediterrian.

If ever a Behind the Music was made about Wavves this would be the episodes “carcrash” moment. It would have been the moment where Williams realizes the error of his ways and begins to turn his life around. They won’t ever make a Behind the Music about Wavves. He’s too good for that trash. But the Barcelona incident did mark a turning point of sorts. When asked about his onstage meltdown by Pitchfork he was typically upfront about it “I can’t fuck up once? If people think that I’m not going to fuck up, there’s no reason to even come and watch me”. Williams did apologise for the incident and admitted to being on a cocktail of ecstasy, valium and xanax for the show. He cancelled the remainder of his European tour and went back to California to think about things while the music blogosphere worked itself into a frenzy of snarky comments about him.

Williams rebuilt Wavves without Ulsh, replacing him first with Zach Hill from Hella then roping in Billy Hayes and Stephen Pope of the late Jay Reatard’s band. This line-up

“WHEN I ASK IF HE IS CUTTING DOWN ON THE DRUGS HE RESPONDS, LAUGHING “NO MAN, I’M STONED RIGHT NOW” released Wavves third album, and best to date, King of the Beach in 2010 which earned them the best reviews of their career, places on the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World soundtrack, the snide ire of Hipster Runoff and support slots for the likes of Phoenix and Guided by Voices.

However Williams is also known for his relationship with Bethany Cosentino of the achingly sunny Best Coast. With the recent break up of indie power couple (if such a phrase could ever be legitimately used) Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, it’s reassuring to know their replacements are at hand. Although their constant back and forth over twitter on subjects such as Costentino’s cat Snacks, iCarly and curious looking bongs can be a bit much, the union is one that seems to spurn each other on creatively, even if they do occasionally cover similar topics, albeit from different perspectives. At the 2010 Primavera Sound festival Best Coast played a funny cover of “So Bored” on the same stage Williams had his breakdown the previous year.

But for the moment Wavves continues to walk the fine line between producing immature music in a slightly more mature way.

When I ask him about his new material he tells me he’s working on keeping up the professionalism. “We’re working on some new stuff for our new record called Life Sux. There’s a track on there I really like and I think people are going to like and another which is actually pretty slow. Much slower than anything we’ve done before.”

Life Sux shows that Wavves is, in his own way, getting more comfortable with making albums that have more of a studio sheen to them. It’s still straggly lo-fi. It’s just studio lo-fi. But with songs like “I Wanna Meet Dave Grohl” you can see that Williams is progressing to a more developed sound. Not mature, as that would be entirely counterproductive for a Wavves song. But certainly developed.

But has this newfound appreciation of production meant Williams has cut down on his drug intake? Williams laughs when I ask him and says, “No man, I’m stoned right now”.

11

M USIC

THE GREEN PARTY Sam Marriott talks to acclaimed British hip-hop artist Professor Green about his rise to fame, influences and the concept of “selling out” aving reached great success as the freshest rap artist to come out of the UK over the last year, I spoke to Professor Green (aka Stephen Manderson) while he did his weekly shop at Waitrose supermarket. This Hackney born jack-the-lad once had a place at St Paul’s School but turned down a scholastic trajectory for a genuine hip-hop education, sourced in the battle ring, earning a name for himself as a freestyler; the most ‘off-the-top-of-the-head’ wordsmiths of the rap world. With a string of awards to his name, his once crooked teeth set straight, a first album which reached number two and collaborations with made musicians such as Lily Allen, he explained what was coming up next.

“What do they call it? Yeah the difficult second album. It came really easily to me though,” he boasted mildly before relenting to a good measure of what he calls “the British self-deprecation” found infused in so many of his tracks, “You know, when I write melodies in my head they sound perfect but when I actually sing, unfortunately it sounds like me.”

Immediately it was evident that Green has struck a balance between the ‘aggy yoot’ he once embodied way back when, whose prevalence is marked in tracks like Upper Clapton 12

Dance, an ode to life in the East End where there are “all these cats looking to lash on your goodies;” and the eloquent young man who broke away from the throes of the rap game to win over a more mainstream target audience. The road was a long one.

“It took 8 years to make my first album.

Until then all I’d done was battle. I released a mixtape, an EP and one single; it was a stagnant situation. Then the label went under and it looked bad but I think it was an important part of the journey because I wasn’t ready then.” The label he refers to was The Beats, owned by The Streets frontman Mike Skinner, which took a turn for the worse in 2008 leaving Green and associated acts such as Example and the Mitchell Brothers to fend

“I THINK IT’S IGNORANT FOR PEOPLE TO EXPECT ME TO MAKE THE ONE SONG OVER AND OVER AGAIN ”

for themselves. “I started doing things which I shouldn’t have been doing. I went through a couple of things, you know my Dad took his own life and then a year after that I got stabbed in the neck – I just started wondering what I was doing it for. My life wasn’t really progressing, and as much fun as I found the music it was just a hobby.” However, things got better almost as quickly as they turned sour when Green met Lily Allen, or ‘Lils’ as he affectionately calls her.

From his meeting with Allen and collaboration on the track ‘Just be Good to Green’ he found a new image, one that left behind the frustration at his fruitless experience of music thus far. The transition was incredibly fast from the more genre orientated label he had once been with to the commercial behemoth that is Virgin Records. In spite of this Green had anticipated the necessity for easier music which didn’t only blitz listeners with hard bars about the code of the streets, composing popular tracks such as ‘I Need You Tonight’ and ‘Stereotypical Man’ years before the move over. At the suggestion that he may have consciously begun to gear his music toward the chart formula, where “if you get a certain producer to compose a hook and you make a dance song, you’ve automatically got a number one,” he snaps, ‘What, as if I somehow left

behind my roots? I think it’s ignorant for people to expect me to make one song over and over again.” Though he hastened to sooth the conversation with the personal insight that “there is a happy side to me, it might not rear its head too often but it does exist.”

He raises a fair point, that as a rapper one has to decide whether to remain in obscurity or ‘sell-out’ to a degree. He tells us of the early days when he used “to roll with Skinny(man,) Jehst and Taskforce”, all UK hip-hop heavyweights. “I wasn’t really exposed to that even until later because there wasn’t that much of it around; I used to be a big Jungle fan before I got into hip-hop.”

The plain fact is that either you pull a Dizzee Rascal and start making music with David Guetta, turning track names from ‘Hold Ya Mouf’ to ‘Holiday’ or you stick with what you know, carry on making “hard, hard music purely that’s what they live” and end up either in jail, or dead, or like JME. It’s easy for speculators to claim that popular music nowadays is abhorrent, perpetuated by the recyclable offspring of soulless initiatives such as X-Factor; but one can hardly blame characters like Green for taking that step to stardom. In fact, though not one of the serious culprits, he accepts that music made in a purely profitable vein “loses its integrity and it loses its voice,

“THE TRINITY BALL WAS CRAZY... YOU LOT JUST FUCKING HAVE IT” it’s not really made for a purpose other than getting to No 1 and that’s not the aim is it?”

Conceding that today’s music isn’t quite what he wished it was, he explained the influences which brought him to the sound he coined for himself. “I’ve not adapted that much you see, I still use the same musical features that I brought from the beginning. I listen to everything from Portishead to Nirvana.

All those influences are still prevalent in my music. My favourite rap artist is still the Notorious B.I.G and I listened to a lot of US hiphop because there was more of it than in the UK.” On the topic of his lyrics he pensively described the writing process “Instead of sitting down and working out what rhymes with what, it comes more naturally. One thing I avoid is the typical bravado you hear so much today, it bores me to listen to it. You need a level of cockiness, that’s good – it’s appealing. I take the mickey out of myself as much as anyone. Too many people take themselves

too seriously man!”

That said, Green has had his fair share of real life; namely his father’s suicide, the drugs and the attempt on his own life outside a London nightclub – events which he has taken in his stride and channelled into his music, adding a refreshing dimension to the standard materialistic content of most mainstream ‘tunes’ today. “ A line I spit at the end of “Avalanche” is ‘the damaged become dangerous’ because we know we can survive and that puts us in a very powerful position.”

Professor Green (who earned his name because, he claims “I was a keen horticulturalist when younger, I had green fingers.”) is playing in Dublin on 29th October at The Academy, where he promises to lay down ‘“Anything and everything man. They’ll be old songs, new songs – I’m really excited to show everyone the new stuff but keep old fans happy.”As the interview ended he reminisced on his set at the Trinity Ball last year, “It’s crazy, you lot just fucking have it!”

We certainly haven’t seen the last of Green, who definitely stands a cut above a majority of popular UK urban acts around now, but whether we can expect much more than that is questionable. He may not be Biggie, but he is a clever, decent and talented guy and that’s more than can be said for Dappy.

13

M USIC

FEEL IT CLOSING IN

hen not demonstrating an embarrassingly superior grasp of English than the native speaker interviewing them, Digitalism have in the space of two albums managed to carve out a highly credible niche for themselves, despite superficially falling under the dreaded Eurodance umbrella. Such has been the demand for the band that the duo only got the time off necessary to record their most recent record I Love You, Dude at the beginning of last year, and released it last July. They are currently touring in support of the album, with a gig in The Academy on the 30th of October.

One of the ways in which Digitalism gained such exposure was through their high-profile remixes. Jence explains that there are usually several reasons as to why they’d want to remix a given song. “(For example) The Cure thing (“Digitalism in Cairo”) was an homage. Usually it’s carefully selected, or if the guys who ask us are nice or if we have time.

Though the last time we did a remix was two or three years ago, and the last one we did was for ourselves. We wanted to start work on our own stuff.”

The band was also very canny in their use of non-traditional methods of getting their music out there. Their profile rose considerably after their inclusion on a Kituné label compilation and the soundtrack to “Fifa 2008”.

“We are huge fans of video games, so being asked to have our songs on them is mainly an honour for us. We’re good friends with the Kitsuné guys too. We didn’t really think about it, but it is necessary to take steps to avoid being lost in the big pile of stuff that is released.”

One of the main developments on ILYD is a new enthusiasm for collaboration, an example of which is the use of on-off Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas on the track “Forrest

Gump”. “We wanted to learn a bit more about songwriting on this album. We thought that he (Julian) might be the right guy for the song.

He was enthusiastic about it. He kinda ran out of time though, but he sent us about thirty seconds of recording, which we incorporated into the song.”

Despite certain similarities in sound to some of the heavier, more meandering electro acts, Digitalism’s songs usually clock in at under five minutes, and have a definite pop sensibility. Jence admits that this instantaneity was, “a conscious decision. You want to be on point and not waste time or anything during a song. Every part of every song should be something you look forward to, so if someone wants to hear a part again, they have to play the song again.”

Michael Barry

are more than just the sum of a great song I talked to lead singer John Paul Pitts backstage after a supporting gig.

“I don’t believe in rushing albums. The reason Astro Coast turned out so good was because we spent a long time wrestling with it” he says “We’re in no rush. I think a lot of bands, where they go wrong for their second album is that they rush into it.”

When I ask about what I, in hindsight, rather foolishly declare to be his ‘East Coast sound’ Pitts is keen to emphasise that he doesn’t think Surfer Blood’s sound is geographically orientated. “West Palm Beach is kind of geographically isolated from the rest of the country and there’s not actually much new music that comes through there. So when you start a new band you kind of have to start

your own scene” he explains. “I think that’s kind of what we had to do when we started in High School.”

With their new EP Tarot Classics being released this week, Surfer Blood continue to prove they can be depended upon for catchy guitar drenched indie rock. However Pitts’ vocals on this one seem to be moving away from the more Brian Wilson feel and towards a more Black Francis vibe, an influence he’s pretty open about. “I don’t like to think we’re influenced by one band in particular. The Pixies would definitely be a band I listened to. So are Dinosaur Jr., Pavement, Bedhead, just a lot of really classic 90’s alternative stuff”. Here’s hoping they can emulate the success of some of their influences.

Alex Towers

BLOOD ON THE WATER hether you have heard of the band Surfer Blood or not, you have probably heard of their song ‘Swim’ from their album Astro Coast. An echoing crescendo of East Coast indie rock hollering that pivots somewhere between early Brian Wilson and late Weezer and found mainstream acclaim when it became the indie rock song de jour of last year.

But with rumours of trouble in the band and having recently been chosen by Les Savy Fav to play at All Tomorrow’s Parties Nightmare Before Christmas this December, the band face a crucial juncture. Will they sink into obscurity or rise to the recognition their first album seemed to promise?

In an an effort to find out if Surfer Blood 14

FILM

UNTOLD TALE OF SCANDAL Robert O’Reilly interviews director Tom Hall about his scandalous new film Sensation

reland has never been the most open country when it comes to talking about sexuality, and even though attitudes to sex have changed in more recent times, the nation still bears the scars of many years of Catholic Church domination. Tom Hall’s new film Sensation, the story of a pornography-obsessed midlands sheep farmer loner, who ends up in a relationship with a call-girl, is perhaps more upfront about sexuality than any other Irish film in recent memory. When I asked the film’s director about his views on the effect pornography might have had on Irish society, Hall says ‘a case has been made that the repression that results from prohibition is more dangerous than the effects of liberalisation’. However, he doesn’t necessarily see pornography as a positive thing either. ‘When I was a teenager you couldn’t buy Playboy in Ireland’, says Hall, ‘now we have a broadband era where there is a torrent of sexual imagery available. Only time will tell what the social cost of this will be’, says the director, ‘but it would be foolish to suggest that it doesn’t have a de-sensitizing influence’.

Luanne Gordon plays call-girl Kim in the movie and Hall wanted the character to avoid the clichés that are often attached to representations of people who work in the sex industry on film. ‘David Simon said a good thing about The Wire once’, says Hall. ‘He claimed that the

“AS A TEENAGER YOU COULDN’T BUY PLAYBOY IN IRELAND...

NOW THERE IS A TORRENT OF SEXUAL IMAGERY AVAILABLE”

only audience he was interested in satisfying initially were cops and drug dealers’, says the director, ‘and that if he spoke authentically to their experience that was all that really mattered’. ‘I feel the same way about sex workers’, continues Hall. ‘They are so often misrepresented, either totally sentimentally or only as victims of trafficking. There have been fine films made on that subject but I was just as interested in the demand side and I suspected that the reality is more complex than we imagine’, says Hall. ‘My encounters with prostitutes as part of my research bore that out’.

Films about people employed in the sex industry also often show their protagonists taking illegal substances as a way to cope with their lives, but Sensation pretty much avoids the subject completely. ‘It didn’t seem to be part of the story I was telling’, says Hall. ‘In my research I did encounter some discussion of drug use in the sex trade’, he says, ‘but I didn’t want to make it part of the main characters’ motivation’.

Hall also wrote the film himself and when asked if it was hard to be objective when putting his own story on the big screen, he said, ‘you know the material so well that the difficulty is in trying to surprise yourself, to see it fresh. The director part of you must critique the writer and in turn the editor might wonder ‘why did you shoot like that?’ There’s a divided self involved’.

An earlier script of the film was entitled The Girlfriend Experience, but while Hall was trying to get funding for his movie, Steven Soderberg released his own movie with the same title, so Hall had to come up with a different name for the film. ‘The escort agency was originally called Sligo Sensations’, notes Hall, ‘but we relocated the story to Tipperary quite late in the day. I like one word titles and this one seemed to evoke something about the lead character’s belated discovery of feeling’, says the director.

Domhnall Gleeson (True Grit, Never Let Me Go) is brilliantly cast in the film as the depressed and anti-social Donal, who has just

“HE WAS LIKE A SPERM FILLED WAXWORK WITH THE EYES OF A MASTURBATOR” lost his father and now has to look after the family farm. ‘Domhnall came into my head early on and I more or less wrote the part for him’, says Hall. ‘It really helped to give the film an identity. Fellini was once asked why he cast Donald Sutherland as Casanova’, continues Hall, ‘and he replied that he was like “a sperm-filled waxwork with the eyes of a masturbator”. Domhnall has some of that quality’.

Some of Sensation’s wicked sense of humour and clever turns of phrase might well be lost on non-Irish cinemagoers, but the director wasn’t afraid of possibly alienating some of his audience with the dialogue in his movie.

‘When I watch films from other countries I’m aware that I’m missing some meaning’, says Hall, ‘but I like the insights they provide into other cultures. Hollywood tends to collapse these distinctions so that films can have universal appeal in a way that robs them of some of their flavour’, says the director. ‘As far as audiences are concerned, I try and tell the kind of stories that I would like to see’, continues Hall, ‘and hope there are enough people out there with a similar sensibility’.

Apart from Sensation’s onscreen pokes at Irish sexuality, behind the scenes sometimes proved just as hilarious for those involved in the making of the film. Gleeson was Hall’s roommate during the shoot and one scene in the movie has Domhnall getting it on with local supermarket cashier Melanie (played by Hall’s real-life wife Kelly Campbell). ‘The joke went around the crew’, says Hall, ‘sure why not, they share everything else!’

Sensation hits Irish cinema screens on the 4th of November.

15

FASHION

THE CREATION OF BEAUTY Stephen Moloney and Hannah Little examine Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty amid rumors it’s being moved to London

t’s a widely acknowledged truth that those within the fashion industry are an easily excitable pack, and it’s difficult to deny when thought about practically. Anticipation builds several times a year for designers’ seasonal shows, new trends are heralded with biblical fanfare, pop-up shops abound, and yet another celebrity collaboration is announced, somebody’s campaign imagery has been leaked, and envelopes are opened. To the uninitiated onlooker (and even to cynics within) it is an industry that celebrates the utterly frivolous and downright trivial.

Then, when you are all but ready to give up on the industry that consumes you as much as you consume it, something different happens. Something unprecedented is rumoured, that makes even the most hardened cynic sit up, and the most seasoned critic take notice. It is something that might actually be newsworthy, poignant, moving, and could be described with a hundred-and-one various synonyms. It was Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Following the not-too-long-ago closing of its initial (and somewhat baffling) manifestation in NYC, conversation amongst industry insiders and onlookers alike has turned to “where next?”. London it seems, specifcally at 16

the Victoria & Albert museum, is the answer.

This geographical relocation to somewhere a lot more proximate to Dublin makes the topic of this exhibition wholly relevant once again to those unlucky enough not to be in New York during its first showing (one of us saw it, the other did not). There is no longer any worry of this being a localised ‘once off’, appreciated by only a particular few in the right place at the right time.

Ultimately a reaction to the tragic and premature passing of a design anomaly and rogue amongst his peers, the exhibition, upon its announcement, would serve as a showcase, a retrospective, and a heartfelt tribute to one of fashion’s brightest lights whose fire simply could not be extinguished.

“AT THE ESSENCE OF THE EXHIBITION WAS THE NEED TO INSTILL AND REFLECT HIS PASSION”

Curator of the exhibition Andrew Bolton describes McQueen’s runway shows as “suggestive of avant-garde installation and performance art ... provoking powerful emotions”.

At the essence of the exhibition was the need to instill and reflect this same passion that he passed on from himself to onlookers season after season.

Those of particular authority and influence within the industry agreed (publishing giant ‘Condé Nast’ whose roster includes Vogue and Vanity Fair, was a major benefactor), bolstering wide support for the archive to be made public and for a lasting tribute to be put in place. The director of the MET thanked those closest to the designer; “for not only sharing their memories ... but also lending rare, surviving examples from his earliest collections”.

This reaction and the creation of a dedicated exhibition, following the culmination of much collective determination has intensified the public’s interest in this craftsman, whose talent as an artist was as supreme as his talent as a designer. It also demonstrates that the indelible impression left by such a genius is transcendent even of death.

Curated to fall within the six themes of Romanticism thought to have been embedded deeply throughout McQueen’s work, the exhibit portrays him as an artist caught

somewhere between the darker elements of the nineteenth century and the bright patterns, textures and tailoring of the future, melding together classicism and futurism. It all started as he began with his mastery of the Saville Row tailoring. Headless mannequins standing to attention in strong origami coats, rich Joan of Arc-influenced high-neck jackets and military inspired tailcoats each admired, inspected and even sketched by the public who had waited up to six hours to revel in the proximity between themselves and the last remaining artifacts of McQueen’s work.

Within ‘The Romantic Mind’, the first gallery showcased the designer’s earliest abilities for precise outfitting and tailoring with pieces such as a satin Victorian frockcoat in barbed wire pattern encapsulated with human hair from his 1992 graduate show ‘Jack the Ripper Stalks his Victims’ and from a 1997 collection a structured blazer emblazoned with ‘Thief to the Left of Christ’ by Robert Campin. Leaving school at sixteen, McQueen began a series of apprentices with various tailors and costumiers in London’s renowned Saville Row. It was this loyalty to the fundamental details of dressmaking and tailoring that stayed with him up until his 2010 futuristic collection ‘Plato’s Atlantis’ and throughout his career.

As he explained himself “I spent a long time

learning how to construct clothes, which is important to do before you can deconstruct them.”

Surrounded by industrial concrete, sombre filters of light and a faint clattering of music drifting through the crowded gallery, one cannot help a feeling of unease come as they meander through the exhibit. Alexander McQueen was revered in the fashion industry for his outlandish fashion shows, which were tastefully featured where possible throughout.

Models were instructed to appear distressed, with facial expressions of pain or terror, resulting in an audience feeling uncomfortable or disturbed by the tone of McQueen’s statements on the runway. This ambiance that evoked unavoidable unease was mimicked within the space of the exhibition. This unnerving atmosphere was captured perfectly within the gallery aptly entitled ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’. Floor to ceiling ledges and shelves displaying the intensity of some of McQueen’s visionary clothing and accessories coupled with a heady mix of video screens displaying theatrical iconic runway ‘moments’ and the seemingly eerie music that often accompanied his shows. Influenced by fetishistic paraphernalia, African tribalism and sinister Victorian Gothic elements, his visions were criticised

for their sadomasochistic and misogynistic undertones. Aided by a skilled team of jewellers and milliners, including prominent Irish hat designer Philip Treacy, ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ showcases beautifully ornate headwear contrasted with painful looking sets of coiled metal body armour and ribcage encasing spine corsets.McQueen was passionate about his Scottish heritage, devoting many collections to his patriotism for Scotland and pride in the McQueen tartan, which was displayed in the regal, ‘Romantic Nationalism’ gallery.

Rich crimson velvets, ivory tulle and gilded embellishments were focal in McQueen’s design aesthetic as he sought to publicize the political statement of ‘England’s rape of Scotland’ as part of a broader historical context.

From provocative to serene, tailor to fetishist, historian to visionary, the artistic genius that was Alexander McQueen has been truthfully reflected within this breathtaking exhibit. With the increasingly likely arrival of the exhibition to shores closers to ours, visitors can expect to travel through the annals of his work as if traveling alongside the prolific designer on his journey of triumph and torture, celebrating a love between artist and artistry, a love that (as tattooed on McQueen’s forearm); “looks not with the eyes but with the mind”.

17

SEX

RECIPE

TRICK OR TREAT The Girl That Does it in Costume TH U RSDAY: The Halloween costume. For guys it’s just

a simple matter of dressing up in whatever costume they can cobble together at the last minute based on what they can find in their wardrobes. A tuxedo? Add a toy gun and you’re agent Archer. A suit? Add a raincoat and a plastic axe and you’re Patrick Bateman. Denim shorts? Blue yourself and go as Tobias Fünke. But for us it’s harder. As the gospel according to Mean Girls reads, Halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress up like a total slut and none of the other girls can say anything about it.

FRIDAY: Coffee with the girls and the topic of costumes comes up. Lisa is being a sexy Patrick the Starfish and Katie is being a sexy Spongebob Squarepants. I tell them I want to dress up as an ironic reflection of our contemporary objectification of women and lost feminist ideals. They tell me I should show off my legs and go as a sexy Squidward (The cartoon character, not the sex act). I leave them to their perverted expropriation of children’s costumes and go home to plan my sexy Lorena Bobbit costume. I wonder where I can get a lifelike dildo? I should also remember to go easy on the amount of blood. Facebook pictures are forever.

SATU RDAY: The boy at this party seems different. I always tell myself not to go for cocksure guys, but I can’t help it. He brings me drinks without me asking for them and his smile would have had the teenage version of me frothing at the gash. He tells me he is dressing as zombie Steve Jobs. I tell him that is in bad taste. He just laughs and tells me about the time he dressed as dead Steve Irwin, complete with stingray. He asks if I want to go to an early Halloween party. I hope I can find a lifelike dildo before then…

SU NDAY: I spend three hours in front of a mirror perfecting my costume. Lorena Bobbit is not the most recognizable person. And I may have overdone it with the blood. Both arms are now wet and sticky as is my white low cut top. I go for black tights and a skirt. When I get to the party I don’t recognise anyone. I drag SpongeKatie and Lisa the Starfish to the garden for a smoke and watch a Harry Potter finger a Powerpuff Girl while a Lady Gaga vomits in the chrysanthemums. Eventually the boy shows up in his black polo neck and glasses. He’s hammered, so I catch up with him using some stolen Smirnoff. He doesn’t understand my costume. I see now that drenching myself in blood and holding a kitchen knife and a dildo may not have been the best move. He’s talking to me but he has his eye on sexy Gaddafi in the corner. I give up and go upstairs to the bathroom. I take off my tights and expensive black wig and throw them away with the knife and the dildo. Now I’m just a girl in a white top covered in blood. I stick three bags of cotton buds I found under the sink all over my blood soaked white top. I’ll be a sexy tampon. When I go back downstairs he doesn’t recognise me. Probably a good thing.

MONDAY: I wake up covered in blood with the boy beside me. I can’t believe I slept with someone dressed as a zombie Steve Jobs. Or that I let down Lorena Bobbit. He rolls over and says “what’s your name again?” Maybe I can still channel Lorena after all…

18

“I wake up covered in blood with the boy beside me... I can’t believe I slept with someone dressed as zombie Steve Jobs”

BEGINNING TO SEE THE LIGHT Clare Kealey For those of you who did not know, meringues in the past were called “pets”, meaning farts in French, because of their light and fluffy texture. I hope that this does not put you off my recipe (or your lunch) because they are the most wonderful dessert and very easy to perfect. The key to flawless meringues is in the egg whites, so make sure that the bowl you’re using to whisk them is spotless. Similarly, plastic, wet or greasy bowls will likely result in your meringues not peaking.

A helpful trick is to wipe the bowl with a lemon wedge to remove any traces of grease.

THE FLAWLESS MERINGUE

4 egg whites A pinch of salt 300g caster sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract Food colouring 250ml of cream A pundit of raspberries (or similar coloured fruit to your food colouring) 1) Preheat the oven to 140c. Line two or three baking

Submit your anonymous sex diary at http://tinyurl.com/tn2sexdiary

trays, depending on how large or small you would like your meringues.

2) Separate the eggs then place the whites in a bowl with a pinch of salt. Whisk well until soft peaks form.

Gradually add the caster sugar, one tablespoon at a time, whisking between each addition.

3) Fold in the vanilla extract.

4) Using a piping bag or a tablespoon, pipe or scoop the mixture onto the baking trays with a far distance between each.

5) For the ripple colour effect, dip a skewer or even a fork into your chosen food colour and swirl it through each meringue.

6) Place in the oven and bake for 30minutes.

7 ) To make the raspberry cream (or whatever fruit you decide on), whip the cream with a squeeze of lemon juice. Add in the raspberries whole and whisk for another few seconds until the colour of the cream changes and the fruit is well cut up.

8) Dollop a tablespoon of the cream on one half of the meringue and sandwich together with another meringue. Flawless.

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Theatre

BAD AS ME

by Seรกn Driver

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II.1

BAD AS ME Tom Waits n his induction speech to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year Tom Waits declared songs are “just interesting things to do with the air” and for those who love him, he’s as necessary as oxygen. For Waits enthusiasts this is one of the most anticipated albums of the year and I can’t help evaluating it without placing it in the context of Wait’s sixteen studio albums. His most recent, the three disk compilation of oddities and newly recorded material Orphans in 2006 earned critics favour. But where can Waits go after this retrospective covering more musical genres and incarnations than a month of festivals? The answer appears to be his own version of pop.

Barney Hoskyns in his biography of the performer claimed that while Waits may be one of the most important artists working today he has reached a plateau where any musical effort is immediately lauded and his constant search for re-invention has tired. I agree partly with this and the 13 track, 35 odd minute long (the deluxe version is longer and has two more tracks) is evidence that while Waits may refuse to tread previous ground the new material isn’t as rich as before. Even with a backing band that includes Keith Richards, Flea, Les Claypool, Marc Ribot and most prominently David Hidalgo.

The album begins with the rousing banjo lead thumper ‘Chigago’. Interestingly the first lyric; ‘The seeds are planted but they won’t grow’ is courtesy of his recent poetic chapbook Seeds on a Hard Ground showing his intentional chronological arrangement of 20

material. ‘Chigago’ raises the blood and the need for escape that threads throughout and the second entry ‘Raised Right Men’ is a bluesy riff on parenting. Waits roots himself in the chorus sounding wisely frantic but when he ventures into his usual strength of graphic characters with brief blasted lives it’s not as strong as ‘Gun Street Girl’ or ‘Get behind the Mule’. Instead of a landscape writer filled with individual details of human perversity he has become a more abstract mood painter where each layer of sound creates atmosphere that complements his lyrics and voice rather than having him lead the listener through a narrative.

The album splits itself into little units of songs where the treatment contrasts but theme is similar. ‘Talking at the Same Time’, ‘Get Lost’ and ‘Face to the Highway’ all express a dissatisfaction with the modern situation. The first; ‘We bailed out the banks, they got the fruit we got, we got the rind. Everybody’s talking at the same time’. The second is a manic nostalgic expression of devotion to his partner Kathleen Brennan. They lead to the more typical hobo lament boxcar valediction of ‘Face to the Highway’ that sounds as echoey as an Ennico Morricone soundtrack.

This is Waits’ beautiful western and one of the standout tracks.

‘Pay Me’ is one of his showbiz deconstructions of how loneliness, despair, gloom and entertainment all mingle in his human frame.

A slow grower that claims that the protagonist ‘won’t eat crow’ and has bleak lines like, ‘all roads don’t lead home my girl, all roads lead to

the end of the world’. His voice is a mournful tuba of wheezing weariness and ends with a piano coda that rises above the song like the final soughing breath. Waits use the voices of one eyed two headed no bodied circus performers but he’s stripped that freakish artifice and prefers an understated female persona.

‘Bad as Me’ is junk boxing with a mean baritone sax and harmonica and sounds like bad Nick Cave, not even Marc Ribot’s smouldering guitar can save it.

The album’s endgame finishes with three triumphs and one aberration. On ‘Kiss Me’ the pared down sound of Marcus Shelby’s bass matches with Waits voice and echoing tingling strings, especially the delicious pause between ‘Kiss Me. Once. Again’.

The last part of the album concerns twinborn passions, mortality and the survival of Keith Richards and ‘Satisfaction’ describes its title exactly. But with this and the other Richards track ‘Last Leaf,’ the album begins to turn into a mutual admiration club. ‘Hell Broke Luce’ an industrial metal attack on the American Military. A battlefield of noise with Waits leading across a soundscape where bodies explode, voices keen, machine guns rattle and nursery rhymes are used to call for body bags, complete with Marc Ribots snarling guitar. It is its own spectacle and fits into his own mini genre of soldiers songs alongside , ‘Hoist that Rag’, ‘Day after Tomorrow’ . Lingering on the edges of hysteria and exasperation he crafts the most potent protest song you’ll hear this year.

The last track could be the Waits from ‘Sight for Sore Eyes’ returned after 35 years. A chorus led bawler in his grand tradition reminiscent of yielding sentiment and storytelling skills. In an interview with Pitchfork he commented, ‘get in get out no fucking around’ was he and his wife’s new motto. I would love to hear the longer version but it seems the new abstract painter Waits will only condescend to his earlier incarnations on his fresh terms Seán Driver

II.2

I

CONTAGION

THE MARRIAGE PLOT

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Author: Jeffrey Eugenides

BOOKS The Marriage Plot is the latest novel

FILM Being human means being vulnerable,

and there’s nothing that scares us mere mortals more than a killer virus or an apocalyptic disease coming to wipe the homosapien smirks off our faces. Film directors have endlessly explored this epidemic subject matter down through the years and now it’s the turn of Hollywood workaholic Steven Soderberg (seriously between planning musical versions of Cleopatra and making two part Che Guervara biopics, when does this guy ever get any rest?) to try his hand at what we maybe should start calling the ‘spreadable disease’ genre.

The film starts on day two of the outbreak of a deadly virus that is making its not so merry way around the globe, with members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization (including Kate Winslet and Marion Cotillard) attempting to trace its origins. Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) is one of the prime suspects as a potential first host for the virus, after returning to the United States from Hong Kong, her sudden death leaving hubbie Mitch (Matt Damon) to look after their only child.

The media, afraid of a hysterical public reaction to the virus, do their usual job of trying to blur the truth, but blogger Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law) has other ideas. He believes that the US Government already have a vaccine prepared for the virus but are refusing to give it to the public because of an ulterior motive, and he’s determined to get the truth online.

Soderberg gives his film a disinfected, washed-out look, similar to the American side of the border scenes in Traffic, but

unfortunately for the viewer some of the characters in Contagion are wash-outs too, most notably Jude Law’s extremely annoying turn as an do-gooder online journalist. Most of the rest of the cast do a reasonable job of looking perpetually anxious but they fail to have any chemistry with each other whatsoever. If the director was deliberately attempting to make his film as cold as a cryogenic chamber then he does succeed in that regard, but it’s certainly difficult to warm to any of his cast (apart from Matt Damon who puts in a typically solid performance). In fact the film itself feels like it’s permanently stuck in a period of incubation and, similar to the virus itself, is just waiting to mutate into something better and stronger but unfortunately never does.

Although the dub music soundtrack, aligned with the film’s many downbeat images, makes Contagion feel like an Aphex Twin video, although the subject matter of the movie is not likely to leave audience members dancing in the aisles. Also, Soderberg takes the easy way out by choosing to have the virus spreading from Asia, and it perhaps might have been more interesting if the pathogen had actually started in the US. Scapegoats aside, the director does a reasonable job of setting up an eerie and creepily realistic atmosphere, but there’s still a hollowness to his movie that a popcorn and coke vaccination might not be able to immunize the viewer from. A decent enough effort perhaps, but we’ve come to expect a lot more from Soderberg as a director. Maybe it is time he took that well-earned sabbatical.

Robert O’Reilly

from the Pulitzer-prize winning author of Middlesex and The Virgin Suicides. The title of the book refers to the subject of its central character’s thesis and its plot hinges on the intricate love triangle of its three main characters; Mitchell, Madeleine and Leonard.

One of Eugenides’ most unique contributions to the state of contemporary fiction is his ability to elegantly appropriate ancient literary traditions; Middlesex is narrated in the style of the ancient Greek epic, and in The Marriage Plot, the author varies this approach as the characters view their lives through the prisms of different literary genres. After working her way through the canon of Victorian literature in order to write her thesis, Madeleine begins to view her own life within the framework of a Victorian novel, coming to believe that, like a Victorian heroine, the right amount of patience and understanding, will cure her manic depressive lover, Leonard.

Meanwhile, Mitchell- obsessed with the idea of marrying Madeleine- devours Christian mysticism while backpacking through Asia.

He soon begins to view his aimless meanderings as some kind of religious pilgrimage towards this happy ending. Both believe that if they stick to the rules of the genre, they will each live happily ever after.

The book moves along at a nice pace, knowing when to dwell longer at certain stages and revisiting them through the perspectives of the different characters. As the novel draws towards its conclusion, we see the characters struggle with untangling themselves from the constraints of lives confined within a literary prism: will Madeleine reach the conclusion that Leonard’s mental state is dependent upon lithium and not love? Likewise, will Mitchell pull his head out of the sand and realise that he will eventually need to assign his own purpose to life- one outside of the texts he reads?

This is an extraordinary novel in which Eugendides tests the limits of looking at life through literature while also highlighting the impact the arts can have on the way we see ourselves. Highly recommendable.

Nicholas Maltby 21

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II.2

AUDIO VIDEO DISCO II.2

Justice

RESISTANCE III Developer: Insomniac Games GAMES Resistance is a franchise that got a free

ride. As the only title of note in the Playstation 3’s infamously horrific launch line-up, Resistance: Fall of Man didn’t have to be great (and indeed it wasn’t) it just had to be good enough to tide the trigger-happy shooter crowd over ‘til stuff like Killzone 2 and Modern Warfare arrived. In this regard it was enormously successful and despite its mediocrity has managed to become one of Sony’s flagship titles. I guess ‘functional’ sells units when the alternative is Def Jam: Icon.

Having been bored by Resistance: Fall of Man and unimpressed with Resistance 2, I went into Resistance 3 with a heavy heart, certain that I was about to spend eight hours of my life in the company of yet another ‘functional’ shooter, eight hours that could be spent doing better things like socializing or eating ice cream. I’m still not entirely sure that an eight-hour Ben & Jerry’s binge wouldn’t have been more fun, but Resistance 3 is a surprisingly enjoyable.

Resistance 3 picks up where Resistance 2 left off, with Nathan Hale dead at the hands of new protagonist Joseph Capelli, and the earth still facing certain doom at the hands of the Chimera. There is a plot, but it is predictably absurd and also most likely irrelevant to anyone buying this game. Resistance has never been known for its narrative quality and while its third installment does little to improve that, it does make important strides forward in other areas.

Resistance 3 is fun and therein lies the difference between it and its predecessors. The return of health packs and the ability to carry an obscene amount of incredibly unique and interesting weapons (there is a gun that can aim and shoot through walls and a sniper rifle that can fire bullet-spraying turrets) are definite improvements. Throw in a few impressive set pieces and you’ve got more than just another ‘functional’ shooter.

Unfortunately Resistance 3 just isn’t interesting enough for these ideas to stand out in a sea of homogeneous sci-fi shooters. Not everything has to be Half-Life, but it would be nice if someone tried now and again. There’s fun to be had here, but not much else. It’s probably best to go for the ice cream then.

Andy Kavanagh 22

M USIC Audio Video Disco is the sophomore

album from Xavier de Rosnay and Gaspard Augé, otherwise known as Justice. It has been four years since their first album (named Cross- not the word, the symbol) boomed through stereos across the world as makerting men slatherd the title track “Genesis” across every car ad and television show they could find. With its genre defining glitch electro pop. It earned the duo a grammy award for Best Electronic/Dance album and placed on them a hefty weight of expectation as to what they would follow up with. So to combat rising complaints of epididymal hypertension, a peace offering has finally been put forwardAudio Video Disco.

According to de Rosnay, Audio Video Disco is lighter than their first album, referring to it as ‘daytime music’, as opposed to † ’s sometimes unapologetically apocalyptic beats. It’s “groovier” to borrow a de Rosnay expressio and the album also features more collaborations than on their first, though the interventions are barely noticeable.

Audio Visaul Disco opens strongly with “Horsepower and Civilisation”, the flagship single from the album. From a band whose lyrics rarely delved past alcohol consumption and dancing previous to this, “Horsepower and Civilisation” almost seems philosophical, declaring us to be ‘‘bound by the science that lives on the lips of the wise’’. The entire song can be viewed as a cry for embracing life on earth, as well as lamenting the materialistic culture we inhabit and propagate.

Tracks such as “Helix” and “Newlands” display Augé and de Rosnay’s (little known

until now) eighties glam rock influences, and it is here that the album loses its way. “Newlands” in particular may as well be another act, one that resembles AC/DC with a synth.

Now that may sound great, but it’s hardly what someone expecting the ribcage-rattling sonic cresendos of their first album is looking for.

“Canon” is a stylish foray back into electro, despite sounding a little too similar to “Stylo” from Gorillaz. It is measurably heavy on the synth arpeggio loops, with a continuous intense build-up of intensity until the end.

This is a theme common throughout the album. A lot of tracks merely create anticipation in the listener. Justice lead us along eagerly by the hand, pacifying us with claims that something huge is going to occur, urging us to just wait another while for placation. This merry chase leads us to “Audio Video Disco”, the closing track and second single from the album. Rather than ending the album with a bang, it ends with that sound you make when you’ve failed to inflate a new balloon. Justice’s excuses, promises of grandeur and meandering forethoughts fall foul with an infuriatingly pedestrian, boring track.

I did not hate this album. It had validating highs in places, as well as some buoyant memorable melodies. But the overwhelming emotion after listening to it is disappointment. My advice is this: wait for your DJ friend (because everyone has one, or at least knows someone who thinks they are a DJ) to search out what is passable out of the countless remixes that will arise from this crop.

Matthew Doyle

II.1

THE KOOPLES COLLECTION Brown Thomas

II.1

THE IDES OF MARCH Director: George Clooney FILM Given Ireland’s own current presiden-

tial campaigns conclude this week when we all go to vote on Thursday, the release of The Ides of March could not have been timed more appropriately.

Adapted from Beau Willimon’s 2008 play Farragut North, the film tells the story of Stephen Myers (Ryan Gosling), press spokesman for Governor Mike Morris (George Clooney), and his journey from idealist to opportunist.

The film opens on Myers rehearsing a speech, intended for Morris, saying he is neither a Christian nor an atheist. He emphasises the fact that he is an American and abides by the American Constitution; basically what brings the nation together, not what divides them.

The film is characterised at first by conversations of certainty and hope, but even these are tainted before Myers assures Morris of his belief in him.

With a total of 13 Academy Award® nominations, three Academy Awards®, 23 Golden Globe nominations and six Golden Globes between them, the cast gathered for this production is highly impressive. Fans of Philip Seymour Hoffman may be disappointed, however, as his role in the film (as Morris’s campaign manager, Paul Zara) does not entail the same quirky, mildly insane personality of characters that made him popular in films like Capote, The Savages and Synecdoche New York. The same can be said for Paul Giamatti, who plays Tom Duffy, Zara’s rival campaign manager.

Ryan Gosling (Drive, Crazy, Stupid, Love), carries the film reasonably well as the lead but attention is stolen from him by George

Clooney as Governor Morris. Clooney is charming, effortlessly confident and inspiring. The faithful support Morris has, both among his campaigners, and the voters, are completely credible. He stands apart from every other political player, except perhaps in his scenes opposite Gosling, in which the tension between the two is exciting and alluring.

Marisa Tomei as Ida Horowicz is interesting as the representative of the powerful, threatening media- ‘your best friend,’ she eerily assures Stephen- but she could have done with more screen time. The other female lead, Evan Rachel Wood, as sexy intern Molly Stearns, is pretty much repeating her earlier (and now it seems, type-cast) role as the underage seductress she honed so well in films like Thirteen and Pretty Persuasion.

Aside from the fluctuating cast however the movie is evenly paced with dramatic turns accurately placed at points where the plot is just starting to slow down, but it has to be said that The Ides of March doesn’t really have anything new to say about politics.

In fact, its slogan ‘Ambition Seduces, Power Corrupts’ is a theme that has been explored time and time again by virtually every other political film ever made. The movie does, however, make us question the distinction between making a choice and making a mistake.

It explores the concept of loyalty, and asks at what point do we put ourselves first? In the end, the film is worth watching not for what it says about what it means to be a president, but what it says about what it takes to be a human being.

Deirdre Molumby

FASHION When I grow up I want to be a Koo-

ple. With legs up to your chiselled cheekbones and a snake-hipped lover stuck to your side why wouldn’t you envisage yourself in the next ad campaign? If that seems unattainable, at least the Kooples clothing range is within grasp; all silky tees and butter-soft burgundy biker jackets to match their elegant tailoring .

The latest addition to Brown Thomas’ contemporary, youth-driven roster, I first got wind of this label eponymous with the Parisian temps de vie when I glimpsed the wellmarketed ad campaign: ‘’Corinna and Johnny have been a couple for one year’’. What initially appears as merely a smug statement of the assumed superiority of good-looking couples, soon gave way to an utterly desirable clothing collection, marketed at these groovy couples who seem to have it all- and the faux bohemian lifestyle to go with it.

What one would call a compact collection, The Kooples encompasses all one really needs in their wardrobe lifetime: tailored trousers, neutral blazers and the ever-reliable silk shirt. Their ethos seems to be that of structured modern pieces that evade the ever-present ‘fast fashion’, and right they should, as the pieces do suggest ‘investment’ rather than ‘trend’; a pair of cropped trousers with leather waist inserts will leave you €165 poorer and the leather jackets retail at €420.

Zips seem to be sporadically sprinkled on many of the pieces, but apart from that, noticeable detailing is sparse, while intricate tailoring is in high supply. The colour palette centres around burgundy, white, black, beige and a smattering of deep green (no breaking the Parisian mould there), creating no qualms about incorporating them into your lifestyle So with the sex-soaked lover off the books and the sulky French demeanour not quite perfected, save your moolah and pick up one of these versatile pieces where tailoring and a certain je ne sais quoi are the priority. With that beautiful burgundy two-piece skirt suit, maybe the male model might follow.

Isabella Davey 23

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II.1

JUNIORS Bath Avenue

FOOD The area around Grand Canal Station

is becoming a veritable hotspot for food and drink. Side by side you will find Presto’s, one of the best Fish & Chips shops South of the river, and Foodgame, a gourmet café/foodstore.

Add to that a new branch of 3FE just up the street, as well as the Michelin-recommended Chophouse Gastropub, and the diverse range of eating and drinking opportunities becomes very exciting.

The presence of Junior’s café adds to that excitement immeasurably. Although offering a tasty Italian-style menu in the evenings, it is at lunchtime when this place truly stands out.

Major companies like Google have headquarters nearby, so it is always busy with office workers on their break. However, few places in Dublin are as busy as Junior’s.

The premises could politely be described as “cosy”, so expect to cram your way past a scrum of people to get your order in. There is a greater chance of Dana moving into Áras an Uachtaráin than getting seated here during the rush hour, and the sandwiches are sometimes sold out well before 2pm.

But it’s easy to see why - they are delicious.

Choosing from simple offerings like B.L.T. to a New York deli-style Ruben sandwich, you can’t go wrong. The chargrilled chicken sandwich with lemon and basil aioli is a must, and goes well with their usual offering of tomato soup – a combination of both costing a tenner.

My only criticism on this last visit was that the soup was far too peppery for my taste.

The short walk from college means Junior’s is a must-try for anyone looking for a healthy, satisfying lunch between lectures. Just be sure to get there early.

Aaron Devine

II.1

MISS BALA Director: Gerardo Naranjo FILM Miss Bala’s opening shot of cut-out

pin-ups littering Laura’s (Stephanie Sigman’s) bedroom wall introduces ambition as 24

a major concern within the film. The travesties of Mexican drug cartels have been well explored on film, but by highlighting aspiration so early, director Gerardo Naranjo aims for something extra.

The film races from one whirlwind scene to another as the vulnerable Laura is caught inextricably in the war between drug cartel ‘La Estrella’ and the Police. She struggles to keep her identity and life, cutting a solitary and passive female shape in a world of male action and becomes increasingly numb to material success.

Narranjo employs an extreme story to exaggerate and make plain his everyday lesson: personal identity and individual meaning in this world are not found in success or reputation, but, as Laura realises as she battles to protect her father and brother - family and friendship offer our lives a purpose. Miss Bala is a racy and emotive drama with a serious and simple moral, brought into sharp focus by the horror of Laura’s world and truely some poignant acting.

Jack Ash

a wife’s duties is here profoundly conservative; asked ‘”Where do you get your opinions from?”’, she responds, “’my husband.”

Whether her own or not however, Mrs. Kennedy’s opinions regarding members of White House staff, foreign dignitaries, and JFK’s political rivals, are strikingly candid, giving readers a true sense of her time in the White House.

It is the personal details that stay with us: her spiteful vision of Martin Luther King may shock, but we are more often touched by her intimate portrait of Presidential family life. At one point, Mrs. Kennedy quotes the painter G. Sutherland, saying, “the extraordinary thing about President Kennedy was that power made him a better man”. For all its controversies and outdated conventionalities, it is hard to suppress the conclusion that her first marriage made Mrs. Kennedy a more fulfilled human being.

Nicholas Maltby

III

THE LESS YOU KNOW, THE BETTER DJ Shadow

I

THE JACQUELINE KENNEDY INTERVEWS Author: Michael Beschloss BOOKS It seems at

odds with our digital age to present audio recordings in transcript. But the written sum of conversations with Jackie Kennedy turns out to be something extraordinary.

An eminent Harvard professor, who acted as a special assistant to JFK, Schlesinger here serves to rudder Mrs Kennedy’s reminisces towards some explanation of her husband’s life. Conducted on the condition that they be witheld for fifty years before publication, the interviews take place in 1964, less than four months after JFK’s assassination. Fringed with strong grief, Mrs. Kennedy’s feelings for her late husband are reverential: she does not criticize JFK - not even once Positioning herself at odds with the emergent feminism of the time, Jackie’s sense of

M USIC One could be forgiven for thinking

that DJ Shadow takes his name from the colossal shade cast by Endtroducing, the same shadow under which most of his subsequent work seems to reside. Naturally then, the question posed on this record is whether or not he can finally become comfortable with its legacy, and just get back to making great music At first, the answer to this question seems to be an emphatic ‘yes’. Opener ‘’Back to Front (Circular Logic)’’ harks back to Shadow’s glory days, aided by some great sampling. Unfortunately this impression only lasts as long as it takes the next song, ‘’Border Crossing’’, to kick in. It is a jarring change of tack. Funky, textured electro has been swapped for what sounds like a bad instrumental Metallica covers band.

And therein lies the rub with TLYKTB. For every ‘’Back to Front’’ there is at least two illadvised attempts at rock. We know that Shadow is a great DJ, but far too much of the time he seems over anxious to show that he can try his hand at rock too. Unfortunately for all concerned, he can’t.

Michael Coleman

How to…

GUILT Y PLE ASU RES

LEARN TO STITCH Cormac Cassidy Bitches about Stiches with Knitsoc Best Overall Society in Trinity Winners, Best New/ Improved Society in Trinity Nominees and Best New Society in Ireland Nominees, it’s fair to say that Trinity’s Knitting Society hit the ground running in their inaugural year last year. I thought it worth popping along to a weekly Stitch and Bitch, “a place for people to meet and chat while practising a fantastic new skill” according to Chair Bella FitzPatrick. Sounded harmless enough and a good way to relax on a Tuesday evening, so why not learn to knit?

ONE: As you approach a room filled with enthused knitters, forget any expectations you may have. I’m all for the occasional stereotype and blissfully enjoying one’s own ignorance, but keep an open mind here, otherwise you’ll be wrong. Sure, you stumble in and notice a couple of mature students getting their weave on at the back, but they’ll probably be the last people that you do notice. You’ve got tattoos, nose, conch and face piercings, unique and varying fashion senses and two more lads than you’d been expecting. Good start.

T WO: If you’ve never knit before, immediately acknowledge that you’re absolutely shite at this and have no idea what you’re doing. Drop the pride or any attitude, just like you can’t speak Swahili, you can’t knit. It’s a different language. Your role here is much like a child being spoon-fed, you’re starving and the knitsoc regulars are here to feed you the skills you want. Seek out and soak up the constant attention, instruction and encouragement available, you’ll need it.

THREE: Listen to that encouragement (of which there’ll be plenty). If you give knitting a try you will get frustrated. No ifs, no buts, it’s shit hard. You’ll need a generous dollop of determination; the first hour and a half of learning to knit may be some of the most frustrating 90 minutes of your life. First you’ve to learn how to hold your two needles close to their points while holding onto one end of string to ensure your knots are tight enough and meanwhile completely ignore the flailing, irrelevant tail of the wool. That’s merely the first and basic principle. Then you need to learn to catch the yarn onto your left needle, which involves a few loops here and there and in the appropriate direction before getting it all on to your left needle. After doing so essentially the process involves moving the yarn from one needle to another with loops in between.

FOU R: Get the hang of it, it’s not difficult, just frustrating. Focus. Once you know what you’re doing it’s fairly straightforward and just requires a pinch of concentration. Meanwhile, at this point enjoy the fact that there’s half an hour left on the clock before the session ends, have a free digestive, chill out with the fine company you’re in and feel like God with your ability to create.

FIVE: Be pissed off that it’s over now and you’ve knit 5 lines (not many). Forget the innocent smoothie hat that you were gearing towards and pawn your pathetic attempt off to your mates as your “Movember Tash” scarf – or tash itself as the case may be. Believe it or not they’ll buy it.

If you’d like to learn to knit give Bella and co. a shout at knittingsoc@csc.tcd.ie

“Drop the pride or any attitude, just like you can’t speak Swahili, you can’t knit. It’s a different language”

K-ON!

by Andy Kavanagh

L

et’s be honest, there are very little saving graces when it comes to anime, nerd shorthand for Japanese animation. Characterisation is frequently heavy-handed, plots are more often than not completely convoluted and nonsensical and the stylistic norms that initially endear many to the genre eventually grate and leave everything looking identical.

But every so often, something genuinely impressive shines through. Spirited Away gathered much-deserved Oscar attention and Akira is indirectly responsible for inspiring The Matrix. Even lesser known names have had far-reaching effects; Cowboy Bebop predates and clearly served as inspiration for Joss Whedon’s Firefly.

It’s also much, much better.

K-ON!, while not necessarily as cool as Akira, avoids the same anime pitfalls, albeit in a much girlier fashion.

Unsure of what after-school club to join in her freshman year, Yui Hirasawa carelessly joins the Light-Music Club (the title derives from ‘keion’, a Japanese term for ‘light music’; or pop music) inadvertently rescuing it from being abolished. At first glance, the characters aren’t much to write home about; there’s Mio, the dependable grown-up on bass, Tsumugi, who is essentially the D4 of the group on keyboards, Yui, the airhead guitarist with nothing but good intentions and Ritsu, the obligatory girls-school tomboy complete with tomboy drum kit.

However, these well worn-archetypes don’t go unchallenged. Yui, in keeping with her dizzy personality, doesn’t actually play an instrument and must learn the guitar from scratch. Ritsu, for all her bravado is quietly insecure, Tsumugi is secretly determined to distance herself from her wealthy family and Mio turns out to be afraid of her own shadow. Each character is brilliantly defined and brought to life by some genuinely fantastic voice-acting and the most natural and conversational dialog I’ve ever heard in an anime.

Possibly the most endearing quality of K-On!, and the reason it hasn’t gone down well with western animefans, is its simplicity. The school isn’t haunted, there are no robots or demons and there’s no over-arching plot.

There are these girls and they’re in a band. That’s about as complicated as it gets.

It’s clearly marketed at young girls but truth be told, they don’t deserve it.

25

The Chaff

THE SLINGS AND ARROWS OF OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE Karl McDonald

he occupants of Dame Street, in their anger, are relatively clear about one thing.

They do not think that our current political system, with its factionalism and drive for political self-perpetuation, is representative of the people. “Direct democracy!” they cry, over a solemnly palmed bongo beat in the centre of the first tent circle in Dublin’s city centre since the Vikings. They haven’t done their research. Direct democracy does exist in Ireland, and it’s more powerful than most can imagine. If you have a problem, you can’t take it directly to parliament or to a vote of your peers, but you do have an extremely effective avenue open to you. You can pick up your telephone and dial 1850-715-815. Talk to Joe. RTE’s Liveline, under the careful moderatorship of former TCDSU President Joe Duffy, is a different beast entirely from the famous talk radio outlets in the world. If you call a conservative shock jock in America, he might agree with you, but that’s as far as it goes. If you call Joe Duffy, you can Get Things Done. In 2006, a mother called Liveline to air her concerns about the continuing legality of magic mushrooms, which are nigh impossible to eradicate in Ireland given the fact that they seem to just grow in great multitudes on damp grass. Her son had died, she said, as a result of mushroom consumption. Sympathies were expressed. Popular ire was voiced. And then not long later, then-Minister for Health Mary Harney passed legislation banning their use.

Somebody in 2009 had obviously heard the mushroom programme and decided to focus their anxiety about the head shops around the person of Joe Duffy too. It took longer, but this time it was less clean-cut. Head shops had popped up in every reasonably sized town in the country, and a whole generation of young people were boring the arse off their merely drunk friends with mephedrone babble every Friday and Saturday night. The moral majority, under the Liveline banner, were clashing with a group of young people who didn’t see a problem other than sheltered middle-class parents being afraid of the word “drug”. Things got hairy.

There were pickets organised and, as a result of the bright glare of media focus, certain dodgy dealings were exposed in certain head shop chains. And when one dodgy dealing is exposed, you don’t need me to 26

“Direct Democracy does exist in Ireland...and it is more powerful than most can imagine”

remind you that your aunt was telling you they’re all the same and are only fronts for the Russian mafia.

A head shop on Capel Street was burnt down, and a heavy stigma was laid on the use of “bath salts” and “plant food” for recreational purposes. But crucially, it stayed legal for long enough that there were legitimate worries about vigilante violence on a broader scale. After all, Sinn Féin were picketing some of the shops in the city centre, and they know a thing or two about intimidating purveyors of narcotics (allegedly). Joe Duffy, from some perspectives, was encouraging popular resistance to something the government hadn’t done enough about. From others, though, he was legitimising mob rule.

Anyway, they banned the head shops, because Liveline listeners are the ones who vote and donate to political parties and pay taxes and kick up a more permanent fuss about things. Meph heads either went back to just drinking or moved on to the harder, less legal stuff. But Joe did it, and it all started with one phone call. We live in a country small enough that you can actually have your individual grievance carried all the way to your desired conclusion off the loose basis of consensus indignation.

And if you’re worried about the fact that there’s a fat black Labrador in the new playground in Termonfeckin after licking your son’s hand? You can call in and complain about that too. True story. I wouldn’t be surprised if they put the dog down.

If you’re looking for more of Karl, why not download his podcast, Them’s The Vagaries? It would make his day: http://themsthevag a r i e s . t u m b l r. com/

Fuchsia Macaree

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